Bill Sanders

Together For The Harvest

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Week of Prayer 2009

A Week In The Life Of...

Bill Sanders

Bill Sanders is Vicar of St Bridget and St Thomas, Wavertree and is also Chaplain Fire-fighter with Merseyside Fire and Rescue Service. He is married to Alice and they have 4 grown up children and 12 grandchildren.

Ministry for me has become very varied and quite different from the norm and I never quite know what might be asked of me at any given time. Splitting my time between St Bridget and St Thomas (SBT) Church and Parish as a Vicar, and Merseyside Fire and Rescue Service (MFS) as a Chaplain Fire-fighter is indeed a challenge but very satisfying and fulfilling. I am on call with MFS virtually 24/7 and am called to fatal incidents across Merseyside, involving fires, road traffic collisions and other types of incidents where the Fire Service is involved. My working week starts on Sunday, having Saturday as a day off (when I can get it!), and of course is spent in church, officiating at various services and running Alpha courses.

If by any chance, I’m called by MFS to a serious incident on a Sunday our excellent team at SBT is well able to take over from me. Come Monday, as far as Church and Parish are concerned, there is the usual round of funerals for the week ahead, with their associated pastoral responsibilities. Although it is possible to go weeks without a funeral there can be between one and three per week and sometimes more, with eleven being my personal record, although that was some years ago. There are commitments to Church and Parish work, which are regular but spaced out and many occur in any week. These include Parochial Church Council meetings, residents meetings, leadership meetings, the usual administrative tasks, hospital visits and visiting the sick at home.

Being housed in a Vicarage there is a steady stream of callers for different reasons, some very interesting, some sad, with the odd threat here and there. There are of course, being Anglican, the wider Deanery and Diocesan involvements such as Deanery and Chapter meetings, Clergy gatherings, conferences and what we call Continuing Ministerial Education. Often these include eating together, which to me is a very serious business!

In terms of my role in the MFS, the week will usually include an operational role with the aim of working about two shifts per week which may be a nine hour day shift and a fifteen hour night shift. It would normally consist of two days and two nights with four days off for regular fire-fighters. Having trained as a fire-fighter in 2006 I am able to work on the front line with the crews and this gives me a much closer working relationship with operational personnel and the opportunity to discuss things which are important to them. Although presently I work at Low Hill Fire Station on White Watch, the aim is to move around different stations and different watches.

When fatalities occur which fire-fighters have to deal with, in often very unpleasant circumstances, I am involved in the debriefing process, which tries to help them talk about and deal with what they have experienced. I myself deal with my own experience of these things by talking with other ministers on a regular basis. Other things which occupy any week will include general welfare and advocacy to all personnel with MFS including non operational and non uniformed staff, a roving brief to talk with Churches and groups about community fire safety, as well as ceremonial and spiritual aspects of life within the Fire Service. All in all a very privileged situation with which to work week to week, both in the Parish and the Fire Service. The Chaplaincy motto is “For All Without Exception” because the Lord Jesus is interested in every life in every place.