Jonathan's blog

For someone who nominally “doesn’t like writing”, I rather enjoy writing articles on my blog. I never particularly enjoyed English at school, but now that I have a technical job that requires me only to make brief notes, I relish the opportunity to write about something I’m interested in once in a while.

I’ve been wanting to write something for Wikipedia for some time, but there’s almost nothing I know enough about to be authoritative, but that is specialised enough that I’m the first to write about it. A few months ago I started making some notes and collecting references about St Paul’s Church in Nuneaton, where I grew up. As with most other well-intended projects, it fell by the wayside in my busy life.

However, this week I saw news of Wikipedia’s 10^th birthday, and had a slightly more personal reminder that Jimmy Wales, its founder, spoke in Bristol. This was enough of a stimulus to kick me back into action, and I spent some time transferring the article from my computer to a draft article on Wikipedia. I added some references, and after my “probationary period” at Wikipedia (at least ten edits and at least four days of membership) I was able to move the page to the live site.

So here it is – I hope you enjoy reading about St Paul’s church, Stockingford. Hopefully by the time you read this, the page won’t have been deleted by editors.

As with all good wiki pages, there’s more I want to add, and I’m sure the page will be expanded in due course.

Some time ago, back in 2001, I set up the first website for St Paul’s Church, Stockingford.

There have been a few iterations since then, but today I’m pleased to announce the latest edition.

It has been fully redesigned to include more dynamic elements, provide more useful information, and require less maintenance. It’s based on WordPress, so we (my Dad and I) no longer have to edit static HTML and mess about with FTP.

As before, the website is kindly hosted by Ridgeon Network.

My youngest brother will soon be sixteen, which means he will have come of age in the eyes of the Church of England. He was given a form to register on the church’s electoral roll, meaning he can attend and vote at PCC meetings, and probably entitles him to hold other positions of responsibility too.

However, I just glanced over the form and it seems so antiquated and difficult to follow that I am really not surprised that attendance is falling at Anglican churches!

A note for those of you who aren’t familiar with churchy stuff: church with a lower case C refers to a physical church building, or a single church. Church with a capital C means the wider Church; e.g. the Church of England. Confused?

APPLICATION FOR ENROLMENT ON THE CHURCH ELECTORAL ROLL

Full name: _________________

Preferred title: ________

Full address: _______________________

I declare that:

1. I am baptized and aged 16 or over (or, become 16* on ___)
2. I am a member of the Church of England (or of a Church in communion with the Church of England) and am a resident in the parish, or
3. I am a member of the Church of England (or a Church in communion with the Church of England) and, not being resident in the parish, I have habitually attended public worship in the parish during the period of six months prior to enrolment, or
4. I am a member in good standing of a Church (not in communion with the Church of England) which subscribes to the doctrine of the Holy Trinity and also declare myself to be a member of the Church of England and I have habitually attended public worship in the parish during the period of six months prior to enrolment.

I declare that the above answers are true and I apply for inclusion on the church electoral roll of the parish.

Signed: ______________ Date: ________

Notes

1. The only churches at present in communion with the Church of England are other Anglican Churches aand certain foreign Churches.
2. Membership of the Electoral Roll is also open to members in good standing of a Church not in communion with the Church of England which subscribes to the doctrine of the Holy Trinity where those members are also prepared to declare themselves to be members of the Church of England.
3. Every six years a new roll is prepared and those on the previous roll can re-apply. If you are not resident in the parish but were on the roll as an habitual worshipper and have been prevented by sickness or absence or other essential reason from worshipping for the past six months, you may write “would” before “have habitually attended” on the form and add “but was prevented from doing so because” and then state the reason.
4. If you have any problems over this form, please approach the clergy or lay people responsible for the parish, who will be pleased to help you.
5. In this form, “parish” means ecclesiastical parish.