“HOPE” was the theme of the Evensong service at St Lawrence Church, Alton, last Sunday which included the licensing of Reverend Rachel Sturt as an Anna Chaplain and assistant priest of the Parish of the Resurrection.

Debbie (Thrower) Thompson, who was appointed as the first Anna Chaplain in Alton seven years ago, showed a video about the work of Anna Chaplains which was filmed in Alton and is being shown in various dioceses around the country.

Having pioneered Anna Chaplaincy in Alton, Debbie now works with the The Gift of Years initiative run by the Bible Reading Fellowship, which aims to inspire, equip and enable churches across the country to meet the spiritual needs of older people.

The Anna Chaplaincy model is a core element of The Gift of Years and is now being replicated around the country where there are 41 Anna Chaplains in various places, including Rochester, Chichester, and other parts of Hampshire.

Rachel is the fourth Anna Chaplain in Alton, taking over from Helen Jesty who has just completed three years providing spiritual care services for older people, and joins Debbie (who still works one day per week in Alton) and Jonathan Rooke as the Anna Chaplaincy team in Alton and Holybourne.

Having served in the Wrecclesham parish since 2010, Rachel said that it was the months that she worked in a residential home for retired clergy that highlighted the spiritual needs of older people and gave her a calling for this worthwhile ministry.

Sunday’s service was led by Reverend Andrew Micklefield and was attended by 130 people, including Rachel’s family and friends and people from the various churches of the Parish of the Resurrection and Alton Methodist Church.

The Right Reverend David Williams, Bishop of Basingstoke, conducted the licensing of Rachel and then spoke on the theme of ‘hope’ – an attribute that Anna, the faithful older woman in Luke’s gospel, had as she waited for the redemption of Jerusalem and that hope was realised when Mary and Joseph brought the eight-day-old Jesus to the temple to present him to the Lord. It is Anna who inspired the title for the Anna Chaplaincy. The Bishop went on to explain that Anna Chaplains are bringing hope to the older people within our community.

The Anna Chaplaincy is part of the Greater Alton Project, which is the result of a Covenant signing by the Anglican churches in the Church of England’s Parish of the Resurrection and Alton Methodist Church.

Anna Chaplains visit various residential and nursing homes, sheltered housing complexes and private homes in Alton and Holybourne. Anna Chaplaincy is a person-centred, non-judgmental ministry for people of strong, little or no faith at all.