Mike Bunclark, a member of the Church of St. Martin with St. Peter on the London Road, has been elected to the post of Lay Chair of the Worcester East Deanery Synod. Mike replaces Brian Hartnell, who has been in the post for over 13 years, making him one of the longest serving lay chairs in the diocese.

A deanery is a group of parishes in a particular area. The deanery synod is the elected body that enables those parishes to have a forum to discuss issues affecting their part of the diocese. Lay members are elected to a deanery synod from each parish and all clergy are members. The chair of the synod is shared between a member of the clergy (the Rural Dean, appointed by the Bishop) and a non-clerical member (the Lay Chair, elected by the lay members of the deanery synod).

Mike sees his role as providing support to the Rural Dean, the Revd Canon Ken Boyce, as well as to the deanery synod itself. He said: “I aim to be a link between the various bodies in the deanery, such as PCCs, parish treasurers, the deanery pastoral committee etc. and also provide a link between the deanery and the diocese. A key part of my role will be sharing information and making sure that everyone feels informed.”

He continued: “Much of the population growth expected in Worcester will fall into the area of our deanery, which covers Warndon, Whittington and St Peter’s among other areas. This will be a major challenge for all our churches and I am looking forward to playing my part in exploring the question of how we take the mission of the church out into the community in my new role.”

Mike has lived in Worcester since 1994. He has served as Churchwarden of St. Martin with St. Peter and currently sits on the PCC.

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The Diocese of Worcester is one of 44 dioceses in the Church of England. It covers an area of 671 square miles and includes parishes in the County of Worcestershire, the Metropolitan Borough of Dudley, and a few parishes in northern Gloucestershire, south east Wolverhampton and Sandwell.