A FREE local debt advice service is celebrating fifteen years of helping hundreds of local people and their families in Yeovil to sort out their finances.St John’s Church, Yeovil, launched the Debt Centre in partnership with UK debt and budgeting help charity, Christians Against Poverty (CAP), in 2011.During the last fifteen years, CAP’s Yeovil Debt Centre has helped over 182 households to go debt free, with a total of over £2.4 million debt repaid/ written off.They kicked-off their 15th anniversary with an acoustic concert on Saturday evening which raised over £1400 which will be split between Yeovil CAP Centre and St John’s Church.The celebrations concluded on Sunday with a special thanksgiving service, featuring stories from individuals who have become debt-free and a video message from CAP.CEO Stewart McCulloch. Attendees also heard from Debt Centre founder, Ian Croxford, as well as from other former and current CAP staff and volunteers.Mary Irwin, Yeovil Debt Centre Manager, said: “The anniversary concert was a wonderful way to mark the occasion and the music was amazing. It was also great to hear stories about some of the amazing people that have been helped out of debt over the last 15 years at the thanksgiving service.”A former CAP client said that since becoming debt free, "I am not afraid to go to my postbox - I go there everyday without worrying. Friends have been telling me how well I look now as well!"Another said: "Since going debt free through CAP seven years ago, I have been recommending you to everyone I know because you were all so helpful."Mary continued: “We want to give huge praise to everyone in debt who has contacted us for help, worked with our team, and are now debt free or making progress towards achieving that aim.“I also want to thank all the team and volunteers from our partner churches who over the last 15 years have spent countless hours supporting local people in need. Because of them, many lives in Yeovil have been changed for the better.”“This is why it’s vital we continue our work and you can play your part by helping us to raise awareness of free debt advice and by donating to Yeovil CAP Debt Centre so we can help more people. Together, we can help change more lives and tackle poverty in Yeovil.”If you’re interested in finding out more about how you can directly support Yeovil CAP Debt centre, you can contact Mary Irwin at yeovil@capuk.org.If you are struggling with your finances, you can find out more about what services CAP offers in your area by visiting capuk.org/help.
St. John's Church, 22–29 November, 10am–3pm St. John's Church is delighted to host a special photography exhibition in honour of Norman Browne's 90th birthday. The exhibition, titled "Tread Softly in This Precious Paradise," celebrates a lifetime devoted to capturing the beauty and fragility of the natural world. Norman's love of photography began in childhood, inspired by his father, who won an award for his photography the year Norman was born. His father taught him the craft and Norman spent decades working exclusively with film cameras. The exhibition features a stunning collection of landscapes from the USA, Canada, and France right through to the beautiful coastlines of the West Country. Amongst the prints featured is a striking image of Ben Nevis, taken in 1950 and developed over 50 years ago in Norman’s own darkroom. In addition, St. John’s Model Railway Group will be appearing on Saturday 22nd November, with their detailed model of Yeovil Junction. Norman was a valued member of this group for many years, contributing to the development of the model and remaining a passionate advocate for local transport throughout his life. Visitors are invited to experience this remarkable retrospective from 22nd to 29th November at St. John's Church, where Norman's work reminds us to "tread softly" and appreciate the precious world we share. Admission to the exhibition is free. Photographs can be purchased on a donation basis in support of St. John's Church & Christians Against Poverty.https://givestar.io/gs/a-photo-exhibition-celebrating-90-years-of-norman-browne
Earlier this month, during our Sunday service at St. John's, we gave a special thank you to bell tower captain, Roger Fox, who is retiring at the age of 90! Roger, who has been bell ringing since 1947, was celebrated by everyone for his dedication and service.Here, Church Warden, Lin Hann, shares more about Roger and his wonderful achievement.“An unsung hero is a person who performs great deeds or contributes significantly but receives or seeks little or no recognition, praise or public attention for their efforts according to the dictionary. This phrase is used for individuals whose hard work and sacrifices are sometimes unnoticed or taken for granted, highlighting their valuable uncelebrated actions. “On Sunday 19th at St John’s Church in Yeovil we thanked, praised and celebrated one of our unsung heroes, Roger Fox. I met Roger about 14 years ago when I joined the church at St Johns. I soon got to know that he was seen to be somewhat of a legend at St John’s. I gathered he was a legend in the way he has served the church both as church warden, looking after our building and all that that entails, but also as a bell ringer. Over the years I discovered that Roger has been bell ringing since he was 12. He rang for the royal wedding in 1947 and has rung at Westminster Abbey more than once. He was appointed as our Bell Tower Captain in 1992 and was deputy for 16 years before that. An amazing total of 49 years. Throughout that time he championed bell ringing tirelessly and taught a huge number of people this amazing skill.“A couple of years ago when Roger was in his late eighties, I found myself wondering from time to time, how he managed to climb the bell tower several times a week let alone ring those hugely heavy bells. I sat him down once with my church warden/health and safety/duty of care/retired nurse “hat” on and asked him if he was well enough or safe enough to be going up the tower. He smiled, patted me on my hand with that twinkle in his eye that suggested that the conversation was over.“This month as he turned 90, we hope he can enjoy a well-earned rest.”
Following a trial we have decided to move to an online Church Management suite of software called Churchsuite. Part of this entails transferring our Parish Directory online. This will provide us with several benefits, particularly: · Alleviating the need for the large printer in the office giving us a nett saving of @£1200. · Improving our zero carbon footprint by reducing the amount of printer consumables. · Improving our efficiency in church administration How will this affect you? – From 8 April church members will be able to have their own login to access the Parish Directory online through a portal called MYChurchSuite. Totally GDPR compliant and with good security, users can access this either through the ChurchSuite website or through a mobile app on their phone. Members have total control of what information they wish to be visible. And this information will only be accessible for St Johns Church members, none outside of our church family will have visibility or be able to access. Church members who wish to have a paper copy can still have that facility although we do encourage all church members to sign up to the online facility as this will then allow us to provide automated rota management for all volunteers and also collate data such as giving, attendance and other information that the Diocese regularly asks us to provide. Throughout March we aim to provide a number of session to show people how to login and access the MyChurchSuite portal and we will also identify several “Champions” who will be able to provide on to one support if required. The Standing Committee are confident this will be a huge benefit to our Administration/volunteer management/Youth and Childrens work and Service planning. If you have any immediate concerns or hesitations, please do come and speak to Keith Ovenden or David Matthew who can help to put your mind as ease.
