Last updated 24th August 2023

Protocols for publicity of events

On this page are the Diocesan protocols for the promotion of events across the Diocese, including via this website. 

The protocols exist to ensure the large number of events taking place every year are presented to parishes in a fair and manageable format and are promoted through agreed Diocesan channels only.

If you have questions about this website page please email the Diocesan Communications Manager, Ronnie Semley at ronnie.semley@blackburn.anglican.org 

• Official channels: Events publicised in our official communications channels (* see below) must be related to the mission and work of the Diocese in some way; and particularly Vision 2026 Healthy Churches Transforming Communities and its aim of being witnesses, growing leaders and making disciples for Jesus Christ.
• Individual emails: It is not possible to send events separately to parishes away from our official channels using bespoke email distribution lists because ...
  • ... it is against GDPR regulations in relation to the appropriate use of personal data to circulate material in this way - please do not ask Diocesan officers to do this and, if you are a Diocesan officer, please do not do so either on request or proactively yourself. Use our official channels.
  • ... it would create unacceptable levels of ‘inbox clutter’ for clergy and parish officers.
• Non-Diocesan events: Our churches and church halls provide venues for countless events organised by many other organisations during an average year but - we are sorry - it is simply not possible to promote those events in our official channels for obvious reasons. If you ask us our answer will have to be no. If we said yes to one we would have to say yes to all. 

Events we will promote in official communications channels include ... 

• Diocesan-wide events organised through the Diocesan Offices, Bishops’ Offices or the Archdeacons’ offices. Some examples: 
  • Diocesan Conferences
  • All training events for clergy and parish officeholders
  • Archdeacons' Visitations
  • Clergy Study Days 

• Events at the Diocesan Cathedral in Blackburn. Some examples: 
  • Major events such as the installation of a new Bishop or Archdeacon; the annual ordination services of new Priests and Deacons; Diocesan 'Festival' events and the Chrism Eucharist. 
  • Other Cathedral-organised events that may be of interest to the rest of the Diocese, such as the 'Man Alive' event for men from parishes across the County. 
  • Events hosted by the Cathedral if they are relevant to the rest of the Diocese. 

• All Diocesan-related events taking place at Whalley Abbey; the Diocesan Prayer and Discipleship Centre in the Ribble Valley

• Parish events. Some examples:
  • Mission and outreach activities
  • Fundraising events
  • Regular church activities, such as mums and toddlers groups and summer fairs 
  • Meetings of affiliated organisations such as the Mothers’ Union
  • Concerts and other forms of entertainment organised directly by parishes
  • Other one-off events organised directly by parishes

Please note that submitting a parish event (or any other event for that matter) for publication does not guarantee it will appear.

We will make every effort to accommodate everyone in some way but at any given moment we may not be able to include your event due to factors that may be out of our control. 

Submitting your event for consideration

• Website: Submissions are simple. If it fits the criteria above, just send your information to the Administrative Support Officer for communications, Karen Ashcroft, in good time ahead of the date of your event to allow for processing. Karen’s email is karen.ashcroft@blackburn.anglican.org and, in her absence, events can be forwarded to Kim Wilkinson at kim.wilkinson@blackburn.anglican.org
• Events calendar: All parishes can take advantage of the Diocesan events calendar to promote their events. The calendar is one of the most popular parts of the Diocesan website and we promote it regularly in the very popular Parish Update ebulletin, sent every two weeks to parishes. 
• E-bulletins: Due to the limited space available in the various Diocesan e-bulletins, we can’t guarantee an individual event from a parish submitted for the website will also appear in one of the Diocesan e-bulletins. Where relevant, submitted events for the website will be forwarded to the relevant team leader Decisions about the content for each e-bulletin lie with the relevant team leader. 
• Local media: All events which appear on the Diocesan website - including any from parishes that are on the website at the time - are sent in a monthly round-up to all local media; providing an additional opportunity to promote your events in an email sent by the communications manager, Ronnie Semley, which received high levels of engagement as a result. 
• Social media 'amplification': When time allows Ronnie Semley will scour parish websites or social media feeds for what's happening across the Diocese; or you can tag us on social media using @cofelancs Doing the latter makes it easier to share content with local media; so we can give your event a push directly to newsdesks using your social media post(s) and they may pick it up and run a story on it. 

* Official communications channels

• For the purposes of these protocols 'official communications channels' refer to The See, which is the monthly Diocesan magazine taken by most parishes; the Diocesan website events calendar and the various official e-bulletins sent by Diocesan team leaders (including from the Diocesan Board of Education) to parishes. 
• More on e-bulletins: Currently only 'Parish Update' goes to every member of the clergy and all parish officerholders. Other e-bulletins have bespoke audiences and they include ‘Safeguarding News’; ‘Lay Ministry News’ and Money Matters. These all have very high levels of engagement so anything which appears in the ebulletins is going to be read widely. 
• Social media: The Diocese also has several social media channels. Our limited staff resources mean it is not usually possible to promote our events individually on these channels but we will issue generic Tweets and Facebook posts from time to time, featuring links to our Diocesan website events calendar. And a further remin der that if you are organising your event locally and promote it on your local social media channels and tag using @cofelancs we can retweet and repost where possible. Basically, tagging makes it more likely we will spot your event in our timeline. 

Ronnie Semley, created February 2019 (last updated August 2023)