Certificates from the Parish Archive
Do you need a certificate to prove that you, or your child, was baptised or received some other sacrament at St Philip Evans? We are happy to help. Under new data protection laws, children gain the right to ask for their own certificate, and parents lose that right, when the child is old enough to understand the issues involved. We assume that a child reaches this maturity around the age of 12 unless evidence to the contrary is provided.
Under the new GDPR regulations, we can only release personal data to the person it concerns, or to the parent of an immature child, unless you hold a legal document giving you rights over someone else's personal data. How can we establish that you have a right to a certificate? We can post it to the address written in the sacramental register (the address given at the time the sacrament was celebrated) - or we can hand it to a person who comes to our office carrying photo-ID proving that they have the same name as the person or parent named in the sacramental register.
Please note that this means that parents cannot collect certificates on behalf of their adult children living elsewhere who might be, say, preparing for marriage. The paperwork can only be mailed to the originally-registered address or given or mailed to a person whose photo-ID proves they are the subject of the data. We know this will cause inconvenience, but this is what the law now requires.
Claire Watkins, the parish archivist, works in our archive most Fridays. You can contact her using the form below, please state the name of the person, the date of birth, the kind of record required (baptism, confirmation, reception, first communion, marriage, funeral, or the special baptism certificate for the purposes of marriage
issued not more than six months before the date a wedding is due), the approximate date on which that sacrament was celebrated - and how Claire can contact you to arrange handover of the data after checking your identity. You can also ring her on Fridays, usually between 2 pm and 4 pm, on 029 2073 1061.
Please note we only started keeping a First Communion Register in 2015. Records for other sacraments have been kept since the establishment of the parish in 1975.
There is no charge for issuing certificates, but donations are always welcome.
Please remember to check your email address is spelled correctly, and allow 2 Fridays for a reply in case Claire is on leave.