A GROUP of churches will celebrate many of their successes on Sunday, March 22, at a series of annual meetings.

St John’s Church in Peasedown St John and St Julian’s Church in Wellow will take a break from their regular Sunday schedule to look back at some of the highlights of the past year.

Rev Matthew Street, leader of both Anglican parishes, says they have a lot to be thankful for. He commented: “Members of all our churches take God’s call of making a difference in the community in which we serve very seriously.

“All of our churches have seen a lot of positive things happen this past year that we would like to celebrate.

“These include the continued development of our community outreach work; meeting over 200 local children at either one of our holiday clubs, Bubble Church or a school assembly; and being able to give over £12,000 away to good causes.”

The meetings will also see new people to join the Parochial Church Councils, the group of people who work along Rev Matthew in each parish to oversee God’s work.

Rev Matthew added: “Our annual parochial church meetings do have a serious element of elections, annual reports and seeking God’s guidance for the year head. But they also do have a much lighter, celebratory side where we look back at our success stories in the areas in which we serve.”

The achievements of the last year include launching the Good Neighbour Network, continuing to lead the community at annual Remembrance Sunday events, launching ‘This Is Us’ and supporting community projects like Peasedown’s Party in the Park festival.

Members of St John’s Church also play a key role in the management of The Hive Community Centre and the development of youth work at the centre while continuing their work with Dementia Friendly Peasedown.