ALL SAINTS CHURCH,
KEMBLE
SUNDAY 31st MAY 2026
TO BE HELD AT 11.00am IN CHURCH
ANNUAL VESTRY MEETING
AGENDA
1. Welcome and Prayer
2. Apologies for absence
3. Minutes of previous meeting
4. Matters Arising.
5. Election of Churchwardens
ANNUAL PAROCHIAL CHURCH MEETING
AGENDA
1. Apologies for absence
2. Minutes of previous meeting
3. Matters Arising
4. Treasurer’s report
5. Reports:
- Rectors Report
- Churchwarden report
- Open the book
- Fabric report
- Report on Choir
- Eco report
- Source & Source seekers
- Little Fishes
- Cirencester Deanery Synod APCM report
- TLC
- Kemble Bell Ringers
- Safeguarding
- All Saints PCC Members
6. Approval of Safeguarding Children and Vulnerable Adults Policy Statements
7. Election of PCC members
8. Election of Deanery Synod members
9. Any other Business
Minutes of Kemble All Saints Church
Annual Vestry and Parochial Church Meetings
Sunday 27th April 2025
Annual Vestry Meeting
1. Welcome and Prayer
The meeting was held in church after the Benefice service in Poole Keynes.
Jill Kingston welcomed everyone present and led with an opening prayer.
2. Attendance and Apologies for Absence,
In addition to Jill Kingston (Chair), Mark Wilton (Treasurer), Jean Whitehead (Secretary), 17 members of the church were present. Apologies from Cadie Aspray, Rachel Jago, Gabi Preston-Phypers, Howard Davies, Brian and Pat Ayres.
3. Minutes of previous meeting on 20th May 2024
The minutes were accepted unanimously as a true record of the meeting. Proposed Juliette Jago and seconded Mark Wilton.
4. Matters Arising
There were no matters arising.
5. Election of Churchwardens
There were no nominations for a new Churchwarden. Jill is happy to continue on her own for another year and then a second one hopefully to see in a new vicar.
However she will only do the second year if accompanied by a second churchwarden for her to train.
The meeting closed at 11.38am.
Annual Parochial Church Meeting
- Attendance and Apologies for Absence
Jill Kingston chaired the meeting. Attendance and apologies as per the Annual Vestry Meeting.
2. Minutes of the Previous Meeting
These were accepted as a true record of the previous meeting on 20th May 2024. Proposed Binnie Rank seconded Juliette Jago.
Agreed unanimously by a show of hands.
3.Matters arising
There were no matters arising.
4.Treasurer’s report and Appointment of Independent Examiner
Treasurer’s report
Treasurer’s report For the Year Ended 31st December 2024
In 2024 we had a surplus of £46,378 in the Main Account.
Receipts in 2024 were £116,644 (2023 £70,240), including the income from the Legacy from Penny Wheeler of £44,324, the Fete this year of £6,249 and a higher level of Trust Income of £6,692.
Payments in 2024 were £70,266 (2023 £59,443), including Parish Share of £36,295 (2023 £25,674), and £9,106 on Youth Work in the Benefice. Admin costs of £4,031 include the commencement of the Benefice Administrator for eight months, the allocation of which is yet to be agreed by the Benefice.
From our Fabric Account, we spent £3,504 on maintenance and repairs, plus £ 6,123 on Architect’s fees associated with our Re-Ordering Project.
We continued our target of paying 10% of budgeted income to charitable causes, a total of £6,000.
Our net assets on 31st December 2024 amounted to £198,782 (2023 £151,911) including Legacy Account Balance of £89,083 (2023 £84,593) and CBF investment fund of £43,679 (2023 £41,477).
We also have an investment in the Gloucester Diocesan Trust investment fund valued at £45,389 (2023 £44,374).
The internal Annual Accounts were approval by the PCC at the meeting held on 28th January 2025.
Approval for Wenn Townsend as our independent examiner for 2025 to be discussed at the APCM on 27th April. The cost for 2024 is £876 incl VAT and proposed at £600 incl VAT for 2025. I recommend that we do maintain a professional check on our accounts particularly as we ramp up the search for grants and the spending on the re-ordering project.
Mark Wilton (Treasurer) spoke through his annual report and explained the presentation of the accounts now being on a “Cash basis”.
It was agreed at the APCM that we should continue to employ Wenn Townsend as our independent examiner for 2025,
5. Reports
The following reports have been approved by the PCC:
- Pepita and Lay Readers
- Churchwarden report
- Fabric report
- Choir
- Eco report
- Open the Book
- Cirencester Deanery Synod
- Parish News
- Kemble Bell Ringers
- Safeguarding
- Family service and Sunday school
- Little Fishes
- All Saints PCC Members
All reports were agreed: Proposed by Mark Wilton and seconded by Juliette Jago: approved unanimously by all those present.
6. Approval of Safeguarding - Children and Vulnerable Adults Policy Statements
Overall Parish Safeguarding Officer and Parish Officer for Children (Rachel Jago)
The Safeguarding Annual Report for children and vulnerable Adults Policy was approved. Proposed: Martin Kingston, Seconded: Judith Miles.
Martin Kingston expressed a vote of thanks on behalf of all present to Rachel Jago for all her committed hard work as our safeguarding officer. We remain at level 3 (top level).
7.Election of PCC
All Saints have a rolling 3 year PCC membership.
For re-election this year were, Martin Kingston and Cadie Aspray. Both members agreed to continue.
A new PCC member, Tom Barrow, was nominated by Jean Whitehead: seconded by Martin Kingston.
Colin Rank (ex-Synod member) was nominated by Jean Whitehead and seconded by Mark Wilton.
Mark Wilton (treasurer) was nominated by Judith Miles and seconded by Binnie Rank.
We still have vacancies for further new PCC members so we should approach people who might be willing to stand and encourage them to join the PCC.
8. Election of Deanery Synod Members
None required.
9. Any Other Business
- Judith Miles – Palm Sunday walks. Judith would like consideration to be given to those who are unable to take part in the walks for various reasons. eg allergies, disabilities etc. Possibility of reinstating a meet in All Saints with prayer and short walk in Kemble. It was agreed that this would be considered in readiness for 2026.
- Renewal of Parish Electoral Roll; This is carried out every 5 years and Juliette Jago has very kindly taken over the role of Electoral Officer from Jill Kingston. The number at the time of this APCM was 95 parishioners.
- Pat Ferris gave thanks to all persons who open and close the church daily as without them visitors would have no access. Jane Russel has now stood down and Jade Hill has replaced. Pat is to give the list of persons to Jill.
- Binnie Rank offered a big vote of thanks to Jill Kingston for all her hard work and commitment as Churchwarden throughout the year and for arranging so many outside clergy to lead many of the services for the benefice whilst without a Vicar. Our appreciation was unanimous by all present.
Mark closed the meeting with a prayer.
The meeting closed at 12.03pm
ALL SAINTS CHURCH KEMBLE
PCC REPORTS 2026
Curate’s Report
Churchwardens
Open the book
Fabric report
Report on Choir
Eco report
Source and Source seekers
Little Fishes
Cirencester Deanery Synod -APCM report
TLC
Kemble Bell Ringers
Electoral Roll
Safeguarding
All Saints PCC Members
APCM Report – Rev Dr Steve Bullock
Since joining the benefice in June, I have been warmly welcomed by each parish, church, and the wider community. It has been a privilege to get to know so many people and to share in the life of our churches and communities.
Over the past six months, I have enjoyed making connections with others by participating in a variety of local events, including summer fetes, rounders matches, coffee and cake gatherings, quiz nights, and Christmas fayres. These occasions have highlighted the active involvement of church members with their neighbours, building relationships and demonstrating Christ’s love in action. The talents and dedication of our community have been truly inspiring.
Visiting each church community and supporting worship and discipleship across the benefice has been a joy. I am encouraged by the number of people volunteering for different roles and using their God-given gifts in so many ways. The willingness to serve across the benefice is making a real difference locally, as reflected in the strong attendance at Christmas activities.
As I prepare to begin my role as priest in charge from March 16th, I am excited about the future. I plan to undertake a listening and visioning process across the benefice, seeking a renewed sense of where God is leading us in worship, discipleship, and mission. I invite everyone to begin praying now, so that together we may discern the Holy Spirit’s guidance for our next steps as a benefice and as the local church.
Thank you for making my family and me feel so welcome. I look forward to working with you all as we continue to grow and serve together.
Kemble Church Wardens report
This last year has been busy but the most noticeable change compared to the one before was the arrival of Steve Bullock as Curate with responsibility for 6 months in June with the possibility of that being extended. The curate replacement was successful with Steve being licenced as Priest in Charge on March 16th 2026.
As regards the Church Wardens’ role itself, this has been made so much less arduous by the willingness of many of the previous wardens to help out in many different ways. This was particularly evident in the period December - February when I was away a lot. I would particularly like to express my appreciation to all of them.
The other person I’d like to mention is Toto Walls as she has now settled very smoothly into her job as administrator, taking responsibility for much of the behind the scenes work. I feel we are very lucky to have her and her presence should free Steve to give his time to using his own gifts to the full.
I look forward to the role of Church Warden including much more recognition as having shared duties and responsibilities in the future.
Jill Kingston
March 2026
OPEN THE BOOK
As in previous years, Open the Book times on a Thursday morning in Kemble School have been much enjoyed by the children and well supported by the staff who are good at finding ways to make the key emphasis of each story relevant to the children.
We have a team of 12 very supportive and enthusiastic people and for the moment all is well although we are aware we are an aging group with many in our 60’s and 70’s.
We particularly enjoyed having Luke Campbell joining us when he was with Sportily.
We will be sorry to see Judith Miles leave us at Easter and thank her very much for all that she has given to Open the Book over many years
Jill Kingston
March 2026
ALL SAINTS CHURCH KEMBLE
22/1/26 FABRIC REPORT 2025
Quinquennial Report
The last Quinquennial report was carried out in 2022 and highlighted a number of routine maintenance items to be addressed over the following five years. These include some pointing on the exterior and repainting on the interior some of which has already been addressed. Nothing serious was thrown up. A copy was circulated to the Church Wardens. The next survey will be due in 2027.
The Architect’s summary last time was as follows:
“The building is considered to be in fair condition overall. There are some missing and cracked slates which should be replaced. Parts of the rainwater disposal system require overhaul and redecoration. There are defects in the masonry walls which need to be repaired and some cracks which should be monitored.”
I am grateful to Howard Davies for his help with matters to do with the roof. As he has now stepped down from helping in this area the survey which he had hoped to oversee has not taken place. The roofers we were hoping to use have not carried out the work we had asked them to do.
I think it is time to seek alternative trades to carry out a survey and to proceed from there. Fortunately, the roof is quite sound and there is no obvious requirement for repairs.
I have two suggestions:
- https://www.facebook.com/cotswoldstoneroofing Jonathan Adye from Malmesbury.
- https://cotswoldroofer.com/ Again from Malmesbury.
Wall cracks to Chancel interior
Following a long hot summer in 2025 I noticed that the internal wall cracks in the Chancel area had increased in number and severity. I therefore contacted the Architect, and he came out to inspect the situation for himself. He was not concerned about what he saw and felt it was no worse than when he last inspected it in 2022. He concluded as follows:
“My advice is that we wait and see what happens over the course of the next year but if you want reassurance from a structural engineer, I would suggest that we contact James Birdwood at BTA Structural Design.”
PIR External Lighting
I reported last year that the PIR outside lighting had been staying on while no pedestrian traffic was evident.it remained switched on during the day.
The electricians were asked to examine the system and repair it. This they did but the problem arose again during the Autumn of 2025. Following further modifications it appears to be operating as it should.
In addition, two exterior flood lights, one on the ground and one on the Tower Parapet malfunctioned and were replaced.
Reordering
At a meeting of the PCC on 20th October following a meeting of the Legacy Committee, it was decided to accept the new proposals and to carry out a wider consultation with the Parish. Following which the new proposals which are greatly slimmed down from the original designs should be discussed with the DAC prior to Petitioning for a Faculty.
The new proposals are in 3 distinct parts covering the Exterior approach to the church, the Porch and the Nave and Interior. Please see Minutes of 20th October 2025 for the detail.
Bench to commemorate Penny Wheeler
A bench has been purchased to commemorate Penny Wheeler. The Bench itself was £240 and the engraving was £250. A permanent location needs to be found.
CRHR
22-1-26
CHOIR REPORT 2025
I am incredibly proud of the choir who have risen to ever greater heights in 2025 with the challenging music they have been presented with without complaint. They have sung in both Latin and German with only a modest amount of grumbling and I believe everyone was delighted with the end results.
It has been a static year membership-wise. We continued to advertise for new members throughout and although a couple have joined, we are still in need of a few more basses in particular! I am delighted that 11-year-old Liv joined the choir at Christmas to sing the solo for Once in Royal David’s City – magical.
To many the choir exists simply to create music. However, I believe that its true success lies in the community formed by coming together and the atmosphere which emerges from it. The regular commitment of so many working together creates an energy of its own.
Robin Bigwood has accompanied the choir with aplomb and patience, and we are incredibly grateful for his continued commitment to the cause!
Zoë Wolton
Choir mistress
Eco Church report - April 2026
On the new Eco Church criteria from A Rocha, we are still on a bronze Eco Church award working towards silver.
Eco Church and All Saints, Kemble
- Eco Church is now a regular item at PCC meetings so we can maintain our progress and widen involvement.
- We have continued to minimise paper waste by using the screen for services and making the paperwork and reports for the APCMs available through the Thameshead website, although we recognise the importance of signposting, so people know how to find them - the Pewsletter will be useful for this as we can give the direct link to the documents.
- We held services in Creationtide 2025 to celebrate the glories and challenges of the natural world, during which we built a bug house, Bugopolis, in the churchyard.
- We are working on a waste policy for users of the church.
Eco Church, the Benefice and the Deanery
- We have introduced the Pewsletter, which sends out a weekly bulletin of events across and beyond the Benefice. This contains links to help people navigate their way to items on the website. We currently have 64 subscribers.
- We have introduced an Eco Church section of the website to encourage participation across the Benefice and to provide links to useful local services.
- In June 2025 Rosemary Bailey, the Eco Church Ambassador for Cirencester Deanery, led an inspiring Deanery Synod session on sustainable church flowers. Beth Bruce-Gardner, sustainable church flowers champion, demonstrated wonderful arrangements using locally sourced and seasonal flowers and alternatives to floral foam.
- In November 2025 TLC invited Beth Bruce-Gardner to demonstrate how to create sustainable Christmas arrangements.
Eco Church and the community
- We are very grateful to members of our church community who regularly maintain the churchyard to keep it tidy - special thanks go to John Tarratt, Ian Czapiewski and Colin. We would welcome anyone who would like to help with this, in particular with weeding the path.
- In 2025 we liaised with the Parish Council about a mowing regime for the churchyard, however this still needs work to ensure the mowers understand the areas to be mown.
- In November, we had a working party in the churchyard to clear the area under the canopy of the ancient yew tree.
- With the co-operation of the Parish Council, we participated in No Mow May and June’s Love Your Burial Ground Week with Churches Count on Nature. We invited the community to share any findings on a board in the church porch. (113 species identified so far: 78 plants, 3 fungi; 32 in/vertebrates)
- With the support of Kemble Community Gardens, we have planted a sensory garden, which we are maintaining for community use.
- We have written a monthly Eco Church article for Parish News to keep the local community informed about our progress and suggest ways of engaging with environmental actions in our villages and beyond.
Juliette, Rachel and Martin (Eco Church Committee)
Source Service (Family Service)
These services happen on 3rd Sunday of the month unless the calendar dictates a change, such as Mothering Sunday, Easter and Remembrance.
Service highlights for this period tend to focus on our outdoor services such as the Pentecost Picnic in the Park with whole church family dramatic telling of the story, Garden praise with DJ Steve in residence and Creationtide, in the church yard which took the place of Harvest so that could be a more formal service in the church. The Christmas Crib service gathers reputation with 186 attending this year with most of 120 knitted angels finding new homes around the village.
A special thanks must go Colin and Binnie for their generous hosting of the Garden Service and BBQ, Judith Cutler for her work liaising with GDASS and arranging the collections of toiletries and gifts and to Karen and Ian for helping with this and their monthly delivery of items to the food bank.
It seems that services satisfactorily make use of both live and streamed worship, with huge thanks to our musicians. Puppet sketches remain a staple in most of our services, and more are taking place ‘in the flesh’, we will look to include more participatory drama in the coming year as well as interactive children’s songs. We are conscious of the impact of testimony so also wish to include these where possible.
The Kemble Kids Church what’s app group has proved a good source of communication and added to the Pews letter.
Sunday School (Source Seekers)
This now happens on the first Sunday of the month, during Morning Prayer. Children, and parents, if they wish, come to The Prayer Room, adjacent to Kemble House, where we focus on one of the readings of the day. There will be interactive discussion, activity, craft and prayer. Attendance varies with anything from one family to five but small or large it is always special in its own way. Once back in the service we are almost always asked to share what we have been doing and it is lovely to see the children growing in confidence as show and tell!
Cadie Aspray
March 2026
Little Fishes
Little Fishes continues to have a good following and has grown again in number this year; we have now between 15-20 children and their parents or carers. While only having one child go to school last September we have 5 or 6 going this year however there are several 1,2 & 3 years olds coming on up.
The wonderful ‘grannies’; Pat Ferris, Linda Shaw, Julia Clarke & Anne Wilton with occasional support from Liz Ardel and Margaret Bush, provide tea or coffee to the adults, cake was a short-lived treat as became too tempting for children, this does still get brought out on special occasions. Water and a biscuit are given to the children who are required to sit and eat together around a table.
Special sessions are held at Christmas, Easter and the end of the academic year with visits from Father Christmas, telling of related stories and the giving of presents.
While children play with the variety of toys and equipment, we often sing songs and nursery rhymes, always finishing with the ‘Little fishes’ song. This has grown in popularity again. Jade Hill very kindly adds to our afternoon by running a craft activity every other week.
The setting up and clearing away is conscientiously supported by Ian Czapiewski, Toto Walls and David Russel.
The parish council kindly gave us some money this year to buy replacement toys that had been damaged by mice and damp for which we are very grateful. The new storage facilities in the garage are working well.
This year we have put on display an ‘about us’ and ‘good practice’ guideline to help encourage the safe and efficient running of our group for all.
We are very grateful to the church for supporting our hire of the hall. Money for heating and some supplies are taken from donations, but I know that many of the kitchen helpers happily supply milk and biscuits. While we do not charge for Little Fishes it would be good to see some increase in giving via bank transfer if not in cash. This year we will investigate a giving QR code or having a sum up machine available.
Cadie Aspray
March 2026
Cirencester Deanery Synod Report 2025
Summary:
Lay Chair: George Collins, Eco Church representative: Rosemary Bailey
During the year, Rev Andrew Cinnamond and Rev Canon Graham Morris stepped back from their roles as Area Dean for unexpected health reasons. Rev Jackie Colburn, ordained local minister in Bibury, accepted the bishop’s invitation to become Area Dean.
Synod also licensed our new Deanery Reader Warden, Liz Collins
At each Deanery Synod there is an emphasis on Safeguarding with members being urged to keep their PCCs up to date.
In October our new Archdeacon, Katrina Scott, joined the discussion on Parish Share and our Deanery Strategic Pathway (Plan.) Our Deanery along with Wotton under Edge and Gloucester City have been given the go ahead to appoint a Deanery Operations Lead to support the administration involved in the Mission work led by our Area Deans and Clergy. Emma Anderson has been appointed and started work on 8 December 2025. Her base will be in The Old Department Store, Cirencester but she will be visiting each benefice to learn about the activities running in our churches.
In addition, each Synod meeting has had a particular focus to share good practice in our churches:
March Synod: Celebrating Worship
After a presentation by Yvonne Penn from Christian Aid Synod received talks from five people about leading different types of worship.
Ian Richings, Lay Worship Leader from Elmstone Hardwick outlined a successful worship format of candlelit Celtic Prayer especially for Evensong or outside in summer.
Michele Maund, Lay Funeral and Bereavement minister, who also works with elderly people. She gets to know them and their families. She began by chaperoning but now takes complete funerals. Her original concern about the lack of a dog collar was unfounded.
Rachel Jago explained what Cafe Church is and how it can help mental health. People share worship, ideas and food together in a relaxed, safe environment.
Pam Thorogood described the use of Interest Tables, likening them to Nature Tables in primary school, which provide a multisensory way of bringing the Bible to life.
Gerald South talked about Outdoor Worship, eg taking a church service outside, leading a walk and worshipping on the way. Publicity is important in advance and refreshments can be included e.g. a picnic. The biblical basis is the way Jesus preached outside using illustrations from his surroundings and feeding people.
June Synod: Eco Church - Sustainable Church Flowers
Beth Bruce-Gardener, an ambassador for the Sustainable Church Flowers movement which started in Harpley, Worcestershire in 2019, https://suschurchflowers.com. They aim to make all church flower displays biodegradable, local, seasonal and foam free. Beth used aluminium wire to support a magnificent arrangement of local flowers from her garden and from a local grower. We were asked to talk to our church flower teams and PCCs to develop policies for church users who can also be sustainable not only for weddings but for funerals. Flowersfromthefarm.co.uk is a list of British growers. Farewellflowers.co.uk is a list of suppliers of sustainable funeral flowers.
October Synod: Church Giving
Archdeacon Katrina Scott outlined the Parish Share allocation for 2026 which will be a 2.6% increase on the 2025 Parish Share. She stressed that this was only a guide. PCCs had to submit to College Green by November their proposals for Parish Share amounts, so that a budget to support ministry work across the Diocese could be set. The Diocese is seeking to reduce the need for the Deanery to dip into reserves by creating more efficiency and better transparency across the Deanery, thus giving Parishes confidence in contributing to Parish Share, therefore the initial cost of the Deanery Operation Leads is from the sale of the Leckhampton Glebe.
November Synod: Music and Spiritual Healing
Rev Pauline Setterfield gave an inspiring presentation about the role of music in spiritual healing with musical illustrations.
Report for Thameshead Ladies Connection
Thameshead Ladies Connection (TLC) aims to bring together women of all ages from across the Benefice for fun, faith, friendship and food. Our group caters for and welcomes all ladies in our parishes of faith and none. Our current team of organisers currently includes Julie Allen (Coates), Aileen Shaw (Sapperton with Frampton Mansell), Lucinda Turner and Toto Walls (Kemble).
We aim to host our events at different homes across the Benefice and we are self funded through donations that we receive from those who support TLC. Further details about our vision and mission can be found on the Thameshead Benefice website under the TLC Q&A section.
Over the past year we have held five events featuring different speakers and Aileen Shaw has hosted three vision boarding sessions at her home.
Each of our events starts with a warm welcome from the TLC team, a variety of refreshments and an opportunity to mingle and chat with others attending. In April we met in Kemble and heard from Caroline Phillips who spoke about her journey through grief after the sudden loss of her husband at a young age. In June we gathered in Poole Keynes for cream teas and a fascinating talk and Q&A with Bishop Rachel. September’s event was held in Sapperton and featured an interesting talk from one of our regular TLC attendees, Kate Bridges. Kate spoke about how she spreads God’s word during her travels and cruises. Our November meeting in Kemble has a Christmas focus with mulled wine and mince pies on offer. We enjoyed a wonderful talk and demonstration from Beth Bruce-Gardner about sustainable floristry and watched as she created a Christmas table centrepiece.
Aileen Shaw’s vision boarding sessions have also proved very popular with various individuals and groups of ladies attending for a morning of reflection, creativity and life-planning.
TLC events have been well-attended this year with approximately 20 ladies attending most events with up to 40 for our mid-summer and Christmas events.
Kemble Ringers and Ringing at All Saints, Kemble. 2025
Kemble Ringers
We are still a band of 7 Ringers, with an infrequent 8th band member. Time marches on and the average age of the band is now about 80 so additional resource is still needed. Discussions ongoing with area.
Kemble Ringers are competent for weddings and celebrations occasionally up for a challenge but practically as a group we are now just maintaining the group, the bells and basic ringing. We still welcome Richard, a regular visitor from Cirencester for practice nights but unfortunately his sons have moved on to other locations and rarely visit. Shame as they challenged us to improve!
Thanks to Everitt once again being tower Contact and secretary.
Activities
We rang in the New year at Midday and in May for the Legion Bells to mark the end of WW2. In March, we hosted a training a day for the Glos & Bristol area along with other local towers and we also hosted a branch meeting (Ciren area). There was only 1 wedding, in August.
Visitors rang in January, 2 in May, July, September and November. Mainly Wiltshire and Gloucester towers but also from Oxford & Witney area and Bromyard area.
Tower
The Tower and Bells are still in good condition. Last inspection and maintnenace of bells was Mid Feb.
Ringing Chamber – (where we sit, stand and ring)
Generally OK but probably needs some TLC to make it more comfortable.
The electrical box got slimmed down last year and it’s made a difference, thank you to maintenance.
Currently in discussions with Ian about use of Church network, to provide better visibility of brides exiting the church, Internet access to online resources that we can use when practicing and in the longer term use of simulators to help ringing practice with new recruits.
Plans for 2026 We still need to get new ringers. We have had one expression of interest but they can’t start until later this year. 2026 Events We currently have three weddings scheduled for June 6th. August 1st & August 22nd
Rick Applegate
Electoral Roll 2025
The Electoral Roll is the parish church’s register of electors. Joining the Church Electoral Roll means that you can vote on Church matters, attend the Annual Parochial Church Meeting (APCM) and stand for election to the PCC and synods. Every sixth year, all churches have to prepare their Electoral Roll from scratch – last year was one of those, so people had to reapply to join the Roll for Kemble Church in April 2025.
The number of people on the Roll in April 2025 was 95. Since then, two people have moved away from the area and one has applied to join the Roll, so the number on the Roll in March 2026 is 94.
Juliette Jago, Electoral Roll Officer
Safeguarding Report – March 2026
Safeguarding continues to be a high-profile and high-priority topic in the Church of England and across the UK as a whole. In the words of Bishop Rachel, “safeguarding is integral to our mission and ministry—it’s not an ‘add-on issue.’”
In recognition of this, Kemble Church remains committed to improving its safeguarding practices, reflecting on what makes a positive safeguarding culture, and developing policies and procedures as required to reflect national guidance.
Kemble Church remains at Level 3 (the highest level) on the Parish Safeguarding Dashboard portal, which tracks our compliance in a number of areas. Safeguarding is a standing agenda item at each PCC meeting, which ensures that it remains at the forefront of everything we do and reduces the risk of becoming complacent. Our policies are reviewed annually, as are the displays and support information related to safeguarding topics (available in the church porch and the green folder upon entering the church).
This year, several members of the congregation have undertaken or refreshed their safeguarding training at a range of levels. There has also been an increase in the number of people trusting their instincts and seeking support or guidance where they have had concerns, which has been positive to note.
As ever, thank you to George Collins for his guidance and support across the Benefice, to the Diocesan Safeguarding Team for their extensive expertise, and to Kemble Church as a whole for its commitment to making church communities safer. It is a real privilege to serve a congregation that has embraced safeguarding as wholeheartedly as Kemble has, and I have been so encouraged by the ways in which people have understood the importance of safeguarding in all areas of their lives, including their ‘front lines.’
For further information, please contact me: rachelhjago@gmail.comRachel Jago, Parish Safeguarding Officer
March 2026
ALL SAINTS KEMBLE PCC
PCC EX OFFICIO MEMBERS
PRIEST in CHARGE Rev Dr Steve Bullock
CHURCHWARDEN Jill Kingston
SECRETARY Jean Whitehead
TREASURER Mark Wilton
SYNOD MEMBERS
Karen Czapiewski
Rachel Jago
Juliette Jago
PATRON Binnie Rank
PCC ROLLING MEMBERSHIP
3 Year Membership ending 2028
Martin Kingston
Cadie Aspray
Colin Rank
Mark Wilton
Tom Barrow
3 Year Membership ending 2027
Howard Davies – retired 20th October 2025
Gabriella Preston-Phypers
3 Year Membership ending 2026
Jean Whitehead