Category: Notices

Public Notice: Faculty for new heating solution for St Nicholas Church

View the Public Notice here

As many of you will be aware our current gas boiler at St Nicholas’ Church broke down last year and we endured a winter of cold services.

The Church of England has a policy of encouraging the replacement defunct heating solutions with ones which help us to achieve our Net Zero Carbon (NZC) target, and St Nicholas DCC and the PCC support this policy.

Following an Energy Audit of St Nicholas Church, extensive consultations with the Diocese NZC officer and with heating professionals, the PCC has authorised the heating solution in the Public Notice to be carried out to enable us to have a warm Church in the coming winter.

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Request for Clergy Reference Form

Request for Clergy Reference 2025 v2 (003)Download

Applications to St George’s School – Parish of Harpenden Clergy References (‘Church Forms’)

St George’s School Harpenden requires those applying for places (under the ‘Church Attendance’ category) to obtain a Clergy Reference to meet the school’s admissions requirements. The process for requesting these references is set out below.

The Parish of Harpenden (St Nicholas, St Mary’s, All Saints Churches) does not set the requirements and we have no involvement in the Admissions Process, but we are happy to supply references confirming applicants’ involvement in Church life. 

These are based on the ‘Passport’ – the family-held record of your attendance at services over the past 24 months. You are responsible for this passport as we have no other records of attendance.

Please note:

· St George’s School Governors set the admissions policy, not the Church. Queries about the policy or the process, or about your child’s application, should be addressed to the admissions team at the School.

· The School requires church attendance at least once per calendar month for each of the 24 months prior to the date of application for a school place.

· It is parents’ responsibility to check the admissions requirements and ensure they meet them

To help us deal with requests for clergy references efficiently, we ask parents/guardians to send the following documents by email to the parish office by Wednesday 1 October 2025: 

· A completed ‘Request for Clergy Reference’ Form (available at the back of each church, via the Parish website or from the parish office by email; ) and

· A scanned colour copy of your child’s completed record of church attendance (‘Passport’).

Completed clergy references may be collected from the Parish Office by parents/guardians on Saturday 11 October 2025 between 10am and 12.00noon. 

Please contact the parish office by email at office@parishofharpenden.org or by phone (01582 765524) if you have queries or difficulties.

Prayers of Love and Faith for same-sex couples

The Parish of Harpenden (All Saints’, St Mary’s, and St Nicholas’) is pleased to welcome the Prayers of Love and Faith for same-sex couples.  All the clergy in our parish are happy to provide such prayers within a service upon request.  The PCC has unanimously endorsed this decision of the clergy and the use of the newly commended Prayers for Love and Faith.  As a parish we are committed to being an inclusive church, called to be caring, loving and welcoming to all.  Please contact the Parish Office (01582 765524) if we can assist.

Covid

WORSHIPPING SAFELY in our THREE CHURCHES:

As Covid restrictions are lifted, we hope people will feel safe returning to church. Covid has not gone away, but we are learning to live with it. We still encourage people coming to church to wear face masks and to maintain sensible spacing to protect others around them as we worship together. Hand sanitiser is available as well. We offer Holy Communion in as safe a way as possible. Our online service streaming will continue for those joining from home.