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Climate change hits hardest the poorest countries and poorest people of the world, and it is our responsibility to safeguard God's creation and achieve a just world. The Church of England Environment Programme exists to help us with this responsibility and the Eco Church scheme is a way to get all parts of our church life working to care for creation. Eco Church is a scheme run by A Rocha UK equipping churches to care for God's creation through their worship, buildings, land, community engagement, and individual lifestyles. Furthermore, by completing an online survey, churches can be considered for an Eco Church Award at either Bronze, Silver, or Gold level. There are five areas that a church must demonstrate environmental engagement in order to receive an award: Worship and teaching Embedding creation care in worship, prayer and learning Management of church buildings Finding energy efficient and innovative ways to manage our places of worship Management of church land Nurturing spaces for people and nature Community and global engagement Transforming local and global communities and ecosystems Lifestyle Living joyfully and sustainably as followers of Christ Eco Church is a current agenda item for our PCC meetings, and our Eco Champions have begun to assess the Eco Church survey and develop plans in order to help our church become more eco-aware and eco-friendly. You will be hearing more over the coming weeks and months... In the meantime you can view more information about Eco Church from this link: https://ecochurch.arocha.org.uk/ Plus here is a link to one of their promotional videos: https://arocha.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2022/11/2-minute-overview-of-ARUK-1.mp4

We joined together on Sunday 14th April at 3pm to worship and support candidates taking an important step in their Christian discipleship. We had 7 candidates to be confirmed and 4 candidates being admitted to receive communion. It was a joyous occasion led by the Bishop of Winchester, Rt. Rev'd. Philip Mounstephen and Rev'd. Rachel Noël. The youth confirmation course included the making of flat breads which helped to shape the liturgy for this service. During the opening hymn, the congregation was invited to add flour to a bowl followed by some salt during Confession. Water was added to the mixture during the Hymn 'Down Mountain The River Flows' and then some oil before the Gospel Reading. Following the Gospel reading, the mixture was kneaded and cooked to make bread before being shared amongst the congregation in the breaking of the bread at communion. Thank you to everyone who helped to organise, played a part and came along to provide support... Below are a handful of photographs taken during the service...

We held a Harvest Lunch at St. James following our Harvest Service today, open to anyone who wished to join us. It was a lovely time of fellowship and sharing, giving us the opportunity to give thanks for the food that we have and the beauty of creation. Thank you to everyone who came along, and to those who helped in the organisation, preparation and cleaning up afterwards.

In addition to our Harvest Service today, we welcomed the children of St. James Primary Academy and East Cliff Pre-school into church for their Harvest services during the week. Thank you to everyone who donated dried, tinned, long-life foodstuffs. These will be handed to the Bournemouth Foodbank this week.

The Parochial Church Council (PCC) is the official Committee (Council) dealing with the business of our Church. The PCC is responsible for the financial affairs of the church, and the care and maintenance of the church fabric and its contents. At the moment the members and roles of the PCC at St. James are: Vicar, Rev'd Rachel Noël Churchwarden, Val Lakey Treasurer, Lesley Dixon PCC Secretary, Sue Quinn Ministry Team, The Rev'd. Pam Schollar and Sheila Munnery who organise the Church services Fabric Team, chaired by Christopher Horn who deals with the important job of maintaining our Church building Pastoral Team, chaired by Sheila Munnery who looks after the needs and concerns of our congregation Safeguarding, led by Suze Burgas Val and Ron Powis are our long term advisers and other PCC members include Steve Frost (part of the Fabric Team) and Suze Burgas who is learning the ropes for the future. Meetings are held bi-monthly with representatives from each of the Teams. Anyone can ask to be on PCC and can be elected at the AGM, generally for a term of 3 years. Although our meetings are to formally conduct the business of the Church, the atmosphere is informal. We look forward to all new members joining us and interested parties should talk to our Churchwardens. Further information regarding the key roles and responsibilities of Church Office Holders can be found in this link.

In commemoration of the Coronation of King Charles III on Saturday 6th May, Churches across the country were invited to ring their bells to mark the Coronation. St. James' Church was open from 3pm to welcome anyone into the church who wanted to have a go at ringing the St. James' Church bell, and also to view the artwork and giant replica crown produced by St. James' Primary Academy and Church. Many thanks to the Social Team who provided refreshments. Some images of people enjoying ringing the bell are below...

Bishop Debbie and Bishop David have recently written to the whole Diocese with the guidance in relation to Holy Communion and the Common Cup. This guidance, and a questionnaire for the congregation of St. James', can be found on the St. James' Church website. We should be grateful if questionnaires can be completed by Sunday 4th June 2023. The link to the questionnaire alone can be found here - https://forms.office.com/r/1V1NnDM2Zq

A crowdfunding page was recently set-up to raise £1000 for the refurbishment of the wrought-iron gates of the WW2 Memorial at the entrance of the drive leading up to St. James' Church. The refurbishment is now complete and the gates are back in their place. Thank You to everyone who contributed and played a part in their refurbishment... Further details about the service personnel commemorated and the WW2 Memorial Gateway dedication service can be found at the following link: https://stjameswarmemorials.wordpress.com/wwii-memorial/

Some photos from the Pentecost Service, also celebrating the Queen's Platinum Jubilee on 5th June 2022 can be found at the following link... https://www.stjamespokesdown.co.uk/portfolio-collections/my-portfolio/pentecost-queens-platinum-jubilee

The culmination of the St. James' Church celebrations to commemorate the Coronation of King Charles III, comprised an All-Age Service with uniformed parade and KidzWorship, followed by celebratory cakes and refreshments.

Friday 5th May saw the start of the Coronation Celebrations for St. James' School and Church. The St. James' Primary Academy and the Church have been working together to make the most of our celebrations, including the creation of a giant replica Coronation Crown. Separate short services were held for the children of Key Stages 1 and 2 to mark the Coronation of King Charles III and for them to share their art and music, accompanied by our organist Barry Hall. The children were able to dress in red, white and blue and wore crowns. The church remained open after the services serving refreshments for parents and children, enabling them to view the Coronation artwork and crown. Below are some photos of the occasion....

Thank you to everyone who supported Holy Week at St. James' Church. Here are a few photos taken by members of the congregation during the various activities and events. Sunday 2nd April - Palm Sunday 10am All Age service, including blessing & distribution of palms Friday 7th April – Good Friday 10am – Creative all age Good Friday service 10:55am – Walk from St James Church to Fisherman’s Walk 11:15-11:45am Churches Together in Southbourne & Boscombe Service at Fisherman’s Walk Bandstand Sunday 9th April – Easter Sunday 6am Dawn Service at the beach 10am Easter Sunday Eucharist including re-affirmation of baptism vows and Easter Egg Hunt