Julie Francis is a newly commissioned Anna Chaplain with Avon Valley Churches – six churches on the edge of the New Forest. Following her service on October 6, Julie writes:
'I worship at Holy Ascension Hyde Church, where I am a lay worship leader and part of the Pastoral Team for the whole parish. My Commissioning service took place on Sunday October 6 where I was commissioned by Canon Michael Anderson. It was a wonderful service with prayers - including the Anna Chaplaincy prayer- and poems and a wonderful sermon by Michael in which he talked about Simeon and Anna, linking it to our roles as servants of the Lord. The second half of the Service was Holy Communion where I was pleased to serve.
I started volunteering for my church way back in 1999 when I lived in London and became a volunteer driver at our Respite Care Centre. This was something I could do with my son who was only six months or so at the time. The elderly people I collected absolutely loved seeing my son as I dropped them off for the day to have a cooked lunch and quality time with friends at the centre.
In 2001 I moved to the New Forest and returned to work full-time for quite a few years. In 2018, I became a Chaplaincy Volunteer at Salisbury District Hospital, as part of the Chaplaincy Team, undertaking weekly visits on most of the wards. Unfortunately when Covid hit, like many organisations, all volunteers were unable to come into the hospital.
Once volunteers could return some months later there were quite a few changes at the hospital, with new staff and others retiring. I am now assigned to the Burns and Plastics Ward where I notice quite a few elderly patients and providing them with much needed spiritual care is an absolute joy.'
'Couple this with the average age of our parish congregation and it was not difficult to see a need for an Anna Chaplain in our parish. My colleague Mary Melbourne became our first Anna Chaplain, who worships at one of our other churches and I decided to follow suit.'
'Between us, we visit three care homes monthly and fortnightly where we bring the residents a 30-minute service comprising favourite hymns and the Lord’s Prayer, together with a Bible reading and reflection. I began to introduce props to help with the reflections such as Joseph’s coat of many colours, 10 gold coins (where we hid one of the coins) and Noah’s Ark, to name but a few, working closely with the care home managers.
'We also hold a twice-monthly friendship club at a local pub, where those who might be lonely, bereaved and those with some mobility issues can meet up for a cuppa and a biscuit. It is a wonderful atmosphere.'
Since my commissioning as an Anna Chaplain a week ago, I have organised the Hyde Pastoral Care Team to be more user-friendly, ensuring that the people in our community of the 4th age who are perhaps unwell, or housebound are telephoned and visited on a regular basis. We also advertise the services of an Anna Chaplain in a monthly local residents’ magazine.
The next project that Mary and I are going to organise is a church service (perhaps twice a year) where carers, residents, the lonely and the house bound are able to come to church for a short Communion service along with their favourite hymns. This will be an opportunity to give thanks to the carers as well as a chance for people to be taken to church. We shall provide tea and cake after the service and this will also be an opportunity for carers to network and for residents to have an afternoon out of their normal surroundings, meeting new friends.'
'It is a very exciting time for us in the parish and our main aim always is to provide spiritual love and care for our older generation, to unite together in God’s love of us all and to embrace the whole of God’s family – with the emphasis that nobody is too old to be part of the body of Christ.
There is of course always more to do, and with two Anna Chaplains in our parish, who knows what God has in store for us going forward?!'
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