A packed church of friends, families and supporters celebrated as 21 new Anna Chaplains and Anna Friends from Tadley, Silchester, Pamber Heath and Basingstoke were licenced and commissioned at St Paul’s, Tadley on July 20^th.

Anna Chaplaincy was founded by Debbie Thrower in 2010, taking action to address what she saw as a need to offer support to those in older age. Many of us will remember Debbie from her news reading days on South Today and more recently as a presenter on BBC television’s Songs of Praise, and we were thrilled that Debbie accepted our invitation to join us for this special occasion. She spoke of the history and spread of Anna Chaplaincy and presented the licences and certificates of achievement to those who had successfully completed the 9-week training programme.

There are now almost 500 Anna Chaplains across the now spreading across the UK, with the latest commissioning before ours taking place in Belfast, Northern Ireland, plus hundreds more Anna Friends supporting them. Anna Chaplaincy is best described as a 'ministry of presence', offering spiritual care, support and companionship to older people – those of faith and with none. They work in a wide range of settings, including hospitals, care homes and within the local community, with groups and on a one-to-one basis.

 The newly licensed Anna Chaplains and Friends in our area come from a range of our local churches and trained together with the enthusiastic support of Churches Together Around Tadley (CTAT).  All who completed the training agreed how 'impressive' the course had been, as well as how useful for anyone interested in their own ageing and being alongside others navigating their retirement years. The next step for the new team is to map existing local sources of spiritual support and identify the gaps where their services might be of greatest value.

A joyful service of singing, prayers and presentations ended with a prayer for God’s blessing, led by Revd Karen West, Associate Minister in the Tadley, Pamber Heath and Silchester; one of the co-faciitators of the Tadley training and a newly commissioned Anna Chaplains, followed, of course, by a celebratory tea party!

Readers can find further information about Anna Chaplaincy from the website of the Bible Reading Fellowship - https://www.brf.org.uk/what-we-do/anna-chaplaincy/ or more locally from Revd Karen West (revkarenw24@gmail.com) and Marian Hay (MarianH@bccnet.org.uk)