The date of Sally’s licensing as Vicar of North Swindon has not yet been settled. We were originally looking at August or even September but it seems that it might now be earlier than first suggested. We will let you know when the date has finally been settled.
A few issues remain to be talked over, not least the boundary change. The boundary change is not directly connected with Sally’s licensing. They are entirely separate. Sally will probably become the incumbent of North Swindon while the present boundary is still in place. Only later will it be moved. But probably not too much later.
St John’s has actually been through this process before. We started life as part of the Team Ministry of Rodbourne Cheney. Both churches were inside the same parish boundary. It was Bishop Barry who suggested that we become a parish in our own right.
As a result, we had a number of meetings with St Mary’s when we discussed which street should belong to which parish, until final agreement was reached. This time the dividing line between the two parishes of Haydon Wick and North Swindon is much more obvious.
St Andrew’s have had a long established relationship with the school at St Francis, and we want to make sure that we honour that.