The Anglican Journal is the independent national Newspaper of the Anglican Church of Canada.

From the latest issue: Cartoonist’s role at meeting of bishops a bit sketchy.

Posted by Dave at 2:24 pm on May 4, 2008 and filed under Cartooning, Anglican goings-on, Religion, Lambeth 08.

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I thought it would be useful to have a definitive list of the SSG (former SPCK) shops and their current status along with information about who owns the building (as that will be the most important factor influencing the likely future for each shop).

This is the situation as I understand it on 21st April 2008. Please note that there are likely to be some errors here for a few days at least until people correct them. The details I have put here are no doubt incomplete - it would take a long time to tell the whole story for each shop but I have tried to explain the situation concisely. If you can help to improve what I’ve written it would be much appreciated.

In north to south order (more or less):

Newcastle
Building owned by SPCK, but subject to 7 year covenant(1). The shop is currently open.

Carlisle
The building is rented. The shop closed on 31st March 2008 was reopened with new staff. Current status: open.

Durham
Durham Cathedral bookshop. There was controversy in October / November 2007 when the manager was sacked following negotiations about the possible transfer of the shop. The cathedral authorities allowed this to occur without public comment. A new company has now been set up to run this shop, the exact status of which is unknown. The shop is currently open.

York
Shop building owned by SSG (gifted by SPCK, October 2006)(2). The shop is currently open. Update: The shop building is being sold.

Bradford
Shop building owned by SSG (gifted by SPCK, October 2006)(2). The shop is currently open. Update: The shop building is being sold.

Sheffield
Shop building rented. The staff were sacked on February 5th and the shop closed following an exchange of press releases between SSG and the Cathedral authorities, but it has now reopened with new staff. The shop is currently open.

Lincoln
The building is rented. The staff were sacked on February 5th and the shop closed. The shop was reopened, but closed again on Friday March 14th. The property is being advertised as available to rent (property Reference: CP7383). The shop is closed.

Chester
Building owned by SPCK, but subject to 7 year covenant(1). The shop is currently open.

Norwich
The building is rented (?). The staff were sacked on February 5th and the shop closed. As far as I am aware it is now open again.

Leicester
This shop was said to be independent, but I don’t know whether that is the case or the details of the arrangement. It has been renamed ‘Christian Resources’ and has a basic website here. The shop is currently open.

Birmingham
The status of this shop has changed several times in the last couple of months. As far as I am aware it remains open at present.

Cambridge
The building is rented. The shop building is being let, meaning that the shop will close, but at the time of writing it is still open.

Worcester
Building owned by SPCK, but subject to 7 year covenant(1). The staff were sacked on 7th February and the shop is apparently being run by just the manager. The shop is open.

Hereford
Building owned by SPCK, but subject to 7 year covenant(1). It has been said in the comments on this site that this shop is closed, but I have no further information. Another report says that the shop is now semi-independent. Can anyone confirm this?

Cardiff
The shop was in the City Church United Reformed Church and SSG had the premises at a peppercorn rent. The shop closed permanently on 31st March 2008, but there are plans for something new - see this webpage.

Bristol
The original building was sold by SPCK and was not part of the transfer to SSG. The building used by the shop for the last year had been rented. The shop was closed permanently towards the end of March 2008.

London
The building was rented. The shop was closed on Friday 11th April 2008.

Canterbury
Shop building owned by SSG (gifted by SPCK, October 2006)(2). This shop was to close, but was then reprieved. As far as I am are it is currently open. Update: The shop building is being sold.

Salisbury
Building owned by SPCK, but subject to 7 year covenant(1). The shop is currently open.

Winchester
Building owned by SPCK, but subject to 7 year covenant(1). The current manager rents the building from SSG but the shop is now independent in terms of stock etc. The shop is open.

Chichester
The building is an historic church owned by the Diocese of Chichester. SSG uses it rent free but are responsible for the upkeep of the fabric of the building. At one point a plan to turn it back into a church was mentioned by Mark Brewer. A new company has been set up to run this shop, the exact status of which is unknown. The shop is open.

Exeter
Shop building owned by SSG (gifted by SPCK, October 2006)(2). The shop made the news in October 2007 when the entire staff resigned. The shop is open. Update: The shop building is being sold.

Truro
Shop building possibly owned by SSG (gifted by SPCK, October 2006)(2) or owned by SPCK and subject to a seven year covenant. I am told that this shop is now semi-independent. The shop is open.

Notes:
(1) If certain conditions are met the ownership of these buildings transfers from SPCK to SSG after 7 years - I make that October 2013. From the 2007 SPCK Annual Report: “SPCK also agreed to grant leases to SSGCT, at peppercorn rents, on certain other freehold properties for a period of seven years, after which time they will be transferred to SSGCT if the SPCK Bookshops Group remains in operation on an agreed basis.”
(2) Again, from the Annual Report: “In the event, it was decided by a unanimous vote at the trustees’ meeting that the bookshops should be transferred to St Stephen the Great Charitable Trust. This charity undertook not only to take on all the staff and to try to keep all the shops open, but also to ensure that the stockholding carried a breadth of materials from a variety of Christian denominations, including those of differing views on contentious current debates.
This transfer seemed significantly better than any achievable alternative, leaving the staff in place and the Society with the opportunity to re-group and begin to move towards a more sustainable financial future”

In case anyone is confused:
SSG: Saint Stephen the Great Charitable Trust run by Mark and Phil Brewer. Took over the running of the bookshops in October 2006. Also known as Third Space Books on some occasions.
SPCK: Anglican Missionary society founded in 1698. Former owners of the bookshop chain. SSG was allowed to trade under the SPCK name until October 2007.

Summary of ownership of the buildings:
If my maths and information are correct:

• 4 or 5 shop buildings were given to SSG.
• 6 or 7 shop buildings are still owned by SPCK, but subject to a 7 year covenant.
• The rest of the buildings are rented or (in one or two cases?) subject to a rent-free arrangement of some sort.

Posted by Dave at 8:23 pm on April 19, 2008 and filed under Anglican goings-on, Save the SPCK, Religion.

10 Comments

I’ve posted a cartoon about Bishop Gene Robinson’s non-invitation to the Lambeth Conference on the Church Times blog. Also a brief observation on the fact that Wesley Owen are to be the official bookshop of the conference.

Don’t worry - I’m not going to write something here every time I make a Church Times post. But I might sometimes say something here when I’ve drawn a new cartoon, especially during these first few weeks whilst there are people wandering aimlessly up and down the corridors trying to work out where my cartoons are and which room they are supposed to be after the coffee break.

Posted by Dave at 11:54 am on March 11, 2008 and filed under Cartooning, Blogging, Anglican goings-on, Religion.

3 Comments

As you’ll have noticed I haven’t been commenting and drawing much about Anglican goings-on. This is a temporary state of affairs. But I couldn’t resist making one or two insignificant remarks about the fact that the ‘Gafcon’ alternative Lambeth Conference has been rearranged so that the ‘political’ bit is now only for invited dignatories. You’ll need to go elsewhere for in-depth analysis of course, but just one or two things that I noticed:

From the Gafcon site:

Participants will include bishops and their wives, key clergy and laity

I wonder how many of each the bishops are allowed to bring.

From the Gafcon brochure (pdf):

When those who are invited indicate their acceptance to the Primate, or lead Bishop, they will be issued with a unique “pilgrim number”.

If anyone reading has a pilgrim number please write in. I will give a prize to anyone who can prove that their number is in single digits.

Posted by Dave at 8:39 pm on February 19, 2008 and filed under Anglican goings-on, Religion.

5 Comments

I had a great time at General Synod on Wednesday. Apart from meeting various people it was absolutely fascinating just to watch the general goings-on. I was there as a guest of a future client, and whilst I wasn’t directly doing any drawing I did make plenty of notes. The diagram above is a raw sketch (unlike my normal highly-polished diagrams).

One of the excitements of this particular Synod was the introduction of new electronic voting devices which I imagine are a bit like the ones they use on ‘Who wants to be a millionaire’ and other such shows. On Monday the Synod was given training and some practice votes were held. Alasdair Cutting, whose Synod blog has lots of synodical happenings, has blogged about it:

A practise vote was set up on Monday - a ‘vote of the whole house’ that ‘This synod ask the Business Committee to acknowledge Valentine’s Day’ was passed by a significant majority of the whole Synod.

However a following motion, a ‘vote by houses’, that ‘Valentine’s Day be celebrated by each bishop buying chocolates for their diocesan representatives at Synod’, was passed by both of the lower houses, but the House of Bishops voted it down. Because ‘votes by houses’ require a majority in each house to be passed, it meant that bishops were let off the hook from buying their diocesan representatives chocolate for Valentine’s Day. But, woe betide any bishops who do not…!

Meanwhile, whilst I was observing I wa also being observed. Peter Ould, who was watching my every involuntary movement:

Finally, a big thank you to Dave Walker, who (even if you didn’t realise it) entertained me by being sat across the gallery from me and moving his head in slight motions every so often. I know you’re concentrating hard on cartoons and the like Dave, but you ain’t half amusing when you get a good idea!!!

Thanks Peter. I had no idea I did that, but now when I need an idea I will move my head in slight motions and see what happens.

Posted by Dave at 12:41 pm on February 15, 2008 and filed under Church, Anglican goings-on, Religion.

5 Comments

I’m off to General Synod today. I’ve never been before so it is all terribly exciting. I don’t usually get out and about much.

It appears from Ruth Gledhill’s Synod video that support for the Archbishop is widespread:

The Facebook group entitled ‘The Archbishop of Canterbury is a good man‘ is up to about 1250 members at the time of writing - not bad for a couple of days.

Posted by Dave at 9:56 am on February 13, 2008 and filed under Church, Anglican goings-on, Religion.

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An Essex church is offering free weddings. The cost of the service, the choir, the organist, the verger and the heating is being waived by the church, Holy Trinity in Springfield. The fees normally cost £280 alone. From the Chelmsford Diocesan website:

Valentine sweethearts can tie the knot for free at a Chelmsford church. Romantic Rev Tim Ball, vicar of Holy Trinity Springfield, believes that marriage is best. So he’s waiving the cost of the service, the choir, the organist, the verger and the heating.

And the good news is that the offer will be available throughout the year.

“My church believes that marriage is best for couples, for children and for the community,” says big-hearted Tim.

“So we have put our money where our mouth is. We will pay all the costs of the service in the church. We are offering a free marriage service to parishioners because Holy Trinity is a good place to celebrate love and commitment.”

Presumably the organist, choir, verger and the man who turns the handle on the boiler have been consulted.

Before you all rush off to get married there I should make you aware of the small print. One of you has to live in the parish or you have to be ‘full and regular members’. Not full or regular, full and regular. It’s both/and, not either/or. There is also a marriage preparation evening which must be attended and an optional 8 week ‘bolt-on’ course all about ‘the basics of the Christian faith and what it means for today’.

In the unlikely event that you meet these criteria and happen to want to get married this year and happen to be a reader of this blog - what are you waiting for? Give the ‘Romantic Rev’ a call.

Update: I asked Rev Tim how they could afford to do it and he has kindly got back to me. Everyone is being paid as per usual. The church has made a decision to foot the bill. Here’s a section of his response:

These are our points for doing it. (I would say that we are doing it for people who live in our parish - it is not for the whole world.)

• We want to say how important we think marriage is, best for couples, best for children, best for society.
• We want to express our faith in generous giving - we don’t want to say we will ‘do it for Free’ - but that we will ‘pay for it’ because we have to pay the fees to the diocese, to the organist and for the verger etc, - so it is not just a case of not collecting the fee payable to the PCC.
• We would like to highlight the fact that the Christian marriage service expresses a higher ideal of committed love than any other wedding service.
• We hope we might encourage couples who aren’t married to consider it, or even to do it.
• We want to put our money where our mouth is - in that sense it is sacrificial, we see it as an investment in the kind of society we would like to see as bearing the marks of the kingdom of God.

Posted by Dave at 6:59 pm on February 12, 2008 and filed under Cartoons, Church, Anglican goings-on, Religion.

20 Comments

If like me you believe that the Archbishop of Canterbury has been treated remarkably unfairly by certain sections of the media in the last few days then why not, if you are on Facebook, join this group, entitled ‘The Archbishop of Canterbury is a good man’. Let’s see whether we can get it to really take off and send a message to the wider world.

The group was set up today and includes a number of General Synod members who would like to counteract the unkind sentiments expressed by a few of their number in the press. The aims are as follows:

Joining the group affirms that you believe:
1) The media has misinterpreted the spirit of what Dr Williams was talking about in his lecture
2) As an intellectual, and a spiritual leader, Dr Williams should feel free to express a carefully considered opinion.
3) That Dr Williams is one of the most gifted minds in Britain, and his views should be given careful consideration.

As it happens General Synod starts tomorrow in London. All being well I shall be going along on Wednesday for the afternoon session. I will be making observations.

See this post by ‘Cranmer’ in which he links to some examples of the sort of nastiness that needs to be counteracted by good people everywhere.

Posted by Dave at 6:17 pm on February 10, 2008 and filed under Current events, Anglican goings-on, Religion.

31 Comments

I’m more or less ignoring the Archbishop and Sharia Law controversy. All sorts of nonsense is being spouted and you don’t need me to point to it. I find it all quite wearying if I’m to be honest.

First of all, see this on the Archbishop’s own site: What did the Archbishop actually say?

For contributions that are more useful than anything you’ll find here see Bishop Alan, Kester Brewin, Doug at MetaCatholic Richard Peat, Matt Wardman and Distinctly Welcoming.

I think Paul Vallely is talking good sense with this column: Williams is snared in a trap of his own making - Independent.co.uk.

Meanwhile, The Times has an Exclusive (in bold letters). The story is that someone, somewhere is calling for the Archbishop to resign but wishes to remain anonymous. It is apparently a senior Church of England clergyman, presumably one who does not have the courage of his convictions.

If you would like this unnamed senior Church of England clergyman to resign please write in anonymously , or get someone else to do it for you.

Update: Good comment by Richard: connexions » Blog Archive » The Archbishop & Sharia (2)

Further update: Justin Lewis-Anthony unpacks Rowan’s speech a bit.

Posted by Dave at 3:38 pm on February 8, 2008 and filed under Church, Current events, Anglican goings-on, Religion.

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So claims Mark Brewer, owner of the SSG (former SPCK) chain of bookshops in the title of an e-mail containing the following press release:

SAINT STEPHEN THE GREAT LLC A U.K. CHARITY (1119839)

For Immediate Release
Contact: J Mark Brewer
January 29, 2008 (01) 713-725-4788

DIOCESE OF SHEFFIELD TO ORTHODOX CHRISTIANS:
“NOT WELCOME HERE”

Whilst touting itself as “a place for all people,” the Diocese of Sheffield of the Church of England has issued this message to Orthodox Christians: “Stay Away.”

The Sheffield Diocese has been engaged in a campaign against Orthodox Christians and those who would “further Orthodox mission.” The Diocese hopes to drive SSG out of business because SSG has an Orthodox “aim.” In what can only be described as a mockery of Christian charity and ecumenicity, the Sheffield Dean and Chapter wrote SSG’s trustees:

“Because of the stated aims of the St Stephen the Great Trust to further Orthodox mission, we feel unable to support the bookshops at the moment by purchasing goods ourselves, or by recommending to our visitors that they visit your shop in Sheffield.”

In contrast, Churches Together in England – which includes the Church of England – “is a visible sign of the Churches’ commitment as they seek a deepening of their communion with Christ and with one another, and proclaim the Gospel together by common witness and service. Its strength comes from people from different traditions finding new ways to work and worship together.”
[http://www.churches-together.net]

The SSG “shop in Sheffield” is the Sheffield Cathedral Bookshop. It which was transferred to SSG, an Orthodox lay charity, in 2006.

According to Mark Brewer, SSG’s chairman, Sheffield’s hierarchy – from the Bishop all the way down – have rebuffed numerous attempts at dialogue.

“The Cathedral’s letter came out of nowhere and was a complete and utter surprise. It was absolutely devastating to think that our charity’s bookshop would be singled out because we are Orthodox Christians.”

Nevertheless, 4 months have now passed, and the Diocese’ boycott remains firmly in place with its position as intransigent as ever. Consequently, SSG is having to consider its options, including whether it can continue a viable trade in Christian books on the Cathedral close at 8 East Parade.

I’ve done my best to preserve the formatting - the original document can be downloaded here (pdf, 54kb)

Update (5th February) : Canon Dr Joanne Grenfell of Sheffield Cathedral has issued the following statement:

Sheffield Cathedral has had a fruitful relationship in the past with the adjacent bookshop [1], formerly owned by SPCK, and now under the management of the St Stephen the Great Charitable Trust.

There have been reports in the church and national press about the management of the chain of bookshops, which the Dean and Chapter have followed with interest. Indeed, the Chapter has discussed various issues of concern relating to the St Stephen the Great Charitable Trust, though, as with all Chapter discussions, these must remain confidential.

We do not feel able to make any further comment on the bookshop or the St Stephen the Great Charitable Trust.

The ecumenical relations between Sheffield Cathedral and our Christian brothers and sisters across denominational boundaries are generally excellent, and we hope that this will continue to be so.”

ENDS

[1] There is no Cathedral close, and the bookshop is not in premises owned by the Cathedral.

Posted by Dave at 10:49 am on February 4, 2008 and filed under Church, Anglican goings-on, Save the SPCK, Religion.

16 Comments

The new Church of England ‘Olympic Tsar’ was licenced yesterday at St Paul’s Cathedral. He is shown here with a three handed bishop: one hand adjusting the microphone, one hand engaged in a service sheet tug of war and one hand holding the great big book.

I wanted some information on tsars and what they do, so I looked it up. ‘A male monarch or emperor, especially one of the emperors who ruled Russia until the revolution of 1917′ apparently, but it can also be ‘a person having great power; an autocrat’ or ‘an appointed official having special powers to regulate or supervise an activity’.

Looking at Google News it appears that there are drug tsars, flood tsars, food tsars, design tsars, trash tsars, tourism tsars, canal tsars and dementia tsars. These are either in existence or being called for by someone or other somewhere or other.

If any tsars are reading please write in and tell us what you are a tsar of and how being a tsar is different to being a non-tsar.

The C of E Olympic tsar, by the way, will do the following:

Duncan’s role is to work on behalf of the Church of England with the ‘More than Gold’ structure and with LOCOG and the LDA. The aim is to help mobilise the churches of London and the nation to serve and witness to the Olympic movement in producing the best possible games and ensuring a positive legacy for East London.

If anyone would like to explain what this means then feel free to write in as well.

You might remember, by the way, that I posted about this post in December 2006, along with this cartoon which I plan to repost each and every time the Olympics is mentioned anywhere by anyone:

Tsar-tsar for now.

Posted by Dave at 5:56 pm on January 24, 2008 and filed under Anglican goings-on, Religion.

15 Comments

You might remember the story of Tom Ambrose, the Cambridge Vicar who has been appearing before a tribunal to see whether there has been pastoral breakdown in his parish (here are some Church Times reports from last year to remind you: 1, 2).

Today’s reports in the Times and Cambridge News are saying that Tom Ambrose is to be sacked - ‘‘Bully’ vicar Tom Ambrose to be sacked‘ was the headline in Ruth Gledhill’s first piece, though later on after she had heard from Tom on the phone (blog link worth reading) the story was softened to ‘Vicar branded a liar and a bully should be sacked, tribunal rules‘. The Cambridge News also has an article.

I have little inside information, but it really does appear from the outside as if justice has not been done. John Pettigrew, an ex-blogger whose opinion I trust who was at the Tribunal, and he says this in Ruth’s comments:

Yes, Tom has lost. Personally, I have little idea why. He’s not always a sensible man, but he is not the monster he’s being painted as. And it is certainly the case that there is no breakdown between “the parish” and the priest. There is a breakdown between certain members of the PCC and the priest, and quite a bit of collateral damage scattered around. At the Tribunal itself, I had the distinct impression that the prosecuting lawyer was simply trying to score points and to unsettle witnesses, rather than the proceedings being a tribunal seeking facts.

(Update) Also:

The view of most of the “ordinary” parishioners at Trumpington (i.e. those outside the circles of politics that bedevil the parish) seems to be that this has been a power play from the moment Tom arrived in the parish. Neither side is guilt-free, but I am perfectly clear in my own mind where the causes lie, and they’re not with Tom. To dismiss him would be a manifest injustice.

I recommend reading the whole post if you’re interested in more background.

This is the Trumpington church website. I suspect John has something to do with it as he is good with that sort of thing.

Those who pray might like to remember Tom and his wife Gill at this present time.

Update: Reports like this one from HR zone really irritate me:

1. They’ve lost the quotes around the word ‘bully’ (as used by the Times) from the headline, thereby telling the reader that the vicar in question is guilty
2. The other side of the story isn’t reported, and there is no link to enable the reader to hear the other side of the story.

Posted by Dave at 11:16 pm on January 23, 2008 and filed under Current events, Anglican goings-on, Religion.

9 Comments