A group of local churches in the Peasedown St John, Shoscombe, Foxcote and Wellow area have appointed a new administrator, after she recently moved from Oxfordshire to Bath.
Joyce Martin, from Bicester in Oxfordshire, took up the role after experiencing a ‘miracle house sale’ and a strong calling to visit Bath after a twenty year gap.
She said: “In April 2014 I visited Bath with my husband, Stan, for the first time in over 20 years. For some reason Bath kept coming up in our everyday lives so we decided to pay a visit.
“We had a great weekend and both returned home feeling that we were meant to move to the area. In May last year we decided that if God wanted us to move we would put our house up for sale and see what happened.
“We called an estate agent on a Saturday afternoon, he took photographs that same day and by the evening it was on their website.
“The following Saturday the agent showed several people around and by the end of the day we had five offers at or above the asking price!
“To cut a long story short from putting our home up for sale – where we had lived for 25 years – to living in Somerset took eleven weeks.”
After moving to Bath Joyce spotted that the St J’s Group, the Anglican churches led by Revd Matthew Street south of the city of Bath, was looking for a new administrator.
“With a background in administration, I decided to apply for the post and was appointed to the role in September,” added Joyce.
The role itself has evolved overtime with the administrator playing a key day-to-day role in the everyday running of the churches.
Responsibilities include writing service sheets; preparing rotas for Sunday worship and special events at Christmas and Easter; booking weddings, christenings and funerals; keeping parishioners informed of church events; managing volunteers and overseeing use of the church hall in Peasedown St John.
Previous administrators for the St J’s Group of churches over the last eight years believe the role has prepared them for a whole range of opportunities later on in life.
The churches’ first ever administrator was Nathan Hartley, who served from 2007-2011.
He said: “I look back on my days as part of the St J’s Group with fondness. Working with Revd Matthew Street, in particular, was a huge learning opportunity that’s helped me to develop skills that I could later use in the world of local politics, and in the public relations and campaign management work I now do across the country.
“I wish Joyce the very best in her new role and am sure she’ll be an asset to the villages she is working in.”
To contact Joyce about anything church related at St John’s Peasedown, St Julian’s Wellow, St James’ Foxcote, and St Julian’s Wellow call 07982 241414 or email [email protected]
For more details about the work of the St J’s Group, readers can follow them on Twitter, @stjsgroup, or visit their website, www.stjsgroup.church, which includes details of future events, the church’s work in the community, activities going on during the week and live recordings of Sunday sermons.