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This year we have reached the stage in the six-year cycle when a new church electoral roll has to be compiled from scratch. This means that everybody who wishes to be on the roll, regardless of whether they are on the existing roll, needs to complete a new application form. These forms are available at the back of church in both St Martin’s and St Mary’s Pixham, and from mid March should be available to download from the website, stmartinsdorking.org. Completed forms must be submitted by Sunday 27 April at the latest; they can be handed to me (Elizabeth Dobson), to a warden or sideman at a service, or delivered to the Church Office in the Christian Centre.

What is the point in being on the roll? You can be every bit as much part of the worshipping community without it. However, membership of the electoral roll entitles you to vote at the annual parochial church meeting, and to stand for election to the PCC. There is also some significance for St Martin’s and St Mary’s as a whole: for example, the number of people on the church’s electoral roll determines how large a representation our parish has in the higher layers of church governance (Deanery Synod and upwards), and more broadly it is used as one measure of a church’s health. (Those with long memories should note that the size of the roll no longer has the bearing it used to on the amount of money a church pays to the Diocese, so that is not a reason to keep the numbers low.)

There are three declarations you have to make to qualify for membership of the roll: that you are aged 16 or over; that you have been baptised; and that you either live within the parish or have worshipped regularly at St Martin’s or St Mary’s for the last six months, and count yourself a member of the Church of England (which may be in addition to membership of another denomination). If you are wondering whether you live in the parish, by all means ask me. The parish is shaped something like a fat C, with St Paul’s parish occupying the space in the middle: as a rough guide, east of Cotmandene and the bypass, north of Marlborough Hill and Arundel Road, and west of Vincent Lane and Coldharbour Lane, you are probably within St Martin’s parish.

Elizabeth Dobson, Electoral Roll Officer 

A summary of St Martin's APCM reports and accounts from the APCM which took place on 12 May 2024 can be downloaded below.  Paper copies are available at the back of the Church.

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