"At the Church A.G.M. three representatives were elected to represent St. James’s but subsequently the Vicar was told that, owing to our small Electoral Roll we were only entitled to two. In consequence Mrs. M. Orton and Mr. L. Melville accompanied Mr. Brunt to the first meeting, and the service which preceded it, on June 21st.

Some churches have a great many names on their Electoral Rolls and therefore are entitled to a correspondingly large representation. This, on the face of it, is reasonable provided that those names give a true picture of the size of the congregation. Although the St. James’s Roll is small, most of the people on it are regular attenders and active members of the church.

However, there are quite a few who come regularly who, for some reason or other, are not on the Roll. Therefore, on paper we are somewhere at “the bottom of the League” as far as representation is concerned but as far as financial contribution to the Diocese is concerned, we are four or five from the top! If you happen to be reading this and know that your name is not on the Roll of communicant members over the age of 17, then do contact Mr. Brunt with a view to stepping up our representation and helping St. James’s to present a truer picture of its vitality.

The Synod got off to a good and lively start. There is every chance that due to the reduced numbers people will be able to get to know one another, and there were signs that this was already happening. To help us to get to know the other churches a suggestion was adopted that instead of meeting in the same place each time we should visit various churches around the diocese. The Synod meeting has two Chairmen, a priest and a member of the laity. Mr. Bale by virtue of his office as Rural Dean is the former and the laity elected Mr. Simpson from St. Mary’s, Twickenham, as their Chairman, who, from the showing he made at the first meeting will prove to be an excellent one. Mrs. Orton was elected to the Synod Standing Committee and Mr. Alan Taylor’s name was put forward for election to the House of Laity. As news of this new form of Church Government comes in, it will be handed on to our readers in the Spire, from time to time."

Source: The Spire Magazine - 1970 August

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