minutes of a meeting of the parochial church council, st. barnabas’ church, linslade, held in the choir vestry at 8.00 p.m. on 16th January 2003

 

Present:

Catherine Dyer

Nick Moore

 

Keith Dally

Melvyn Gardner

 

Wyn Jones

Janet Miller

 

Anna Barrett

Fran Morrow

 

Alison Cudby

Jayne Humphreys

 

Keith Saunders

Carol Oakman

 

Charles Griffin

Jim Pickering

 

Rebecca Pickering

Russell Stannard

 

 

 

Apologies:

Jo Thomson

David Darvill

 

Valerie Stewart

Sue Smith

 

John Deighton

Simon Soper

 

Winston Forde

Maggie Stannard

 

 

 

Absent:

Maureen Gadsby

Graham Gill

 

The meeting opened with prayers

Minutes of the meeting of 19th December 2002

 

A motion was proposed by Fran and seconded by Wyn that the minutes be approved.  The minutes were signed by Charles, taking the Chair, as an accurate record of the meeting. 

Matters arising from the minutes:

 

42/02

Parish Hall.  Responding to a question from a member of the council, there was approximately £11,000 in the restricted hall fund.  It was suggested that refurbishment could be undertaken in a staged way; however, the question was still relevant as to its suitability to our purposes.  The same applied to the cottage.  It was suggested that lottery funding could be applied for.   The Diocesan architect had been contacted and he would be getting back to the Churchwardens with a view on how other parishes had coped with the problem.  It was agreed that we needed to consider exactly what the parish required in terms of office space, meeting rooms etc., and to discuss this at the next meeting.

44/02

Report of the Worship Committee

Catherine had written to the Choir secretary and had received a detailed response from him on the issue of Evensong.  The letter was read to the P.C.C. and its contents noted.  Russell pointed out that he had gone to speak to the Choir and explained that it was the duty of the Choir to meet the musical needs of the services as determined by the incumbent and the congregation’s elected representatives in the P.C.C.   It was agreed that a response should be sent on behalf of the P.C.C. by the secretary.

45/02

Removal of Pews.  Catherine said that the Diocesan Yearbook instructed parishes contemplating changes to the church building to contact first the Diocesan Advisory Committee for advice.  The secretary of the committee had been contacted and a response from her was awaited.  Catherine suggested an open P.C.C. meeting to discuss what sort of church we wanted and how this should be reflected in our style of worship.  The point was made that the pews committee should be asked to take the work forward.  It was agreed to await news from the D.A.C and then to consider a parish meeting.

 

New items:

 

50/02

To approve a budget for the Buildings Committee for 2003 of £500

The budget would give the Buildings Committee a free hand in order to carry out minor repairs as and when needed.  If any one item was to cost more than £200, it would have to be referred back to the full P.C.C., and likewise if the £500 was overspent.  Carol proposed and Janet seconded a motion in favour of allocating such a budget and the motion was carried nem. con.

51/02

To check progress on the Parish Plan

It was agreed to have reports from all the “Sharing Life” groups at the APCM.  As some of the targets had not been met and some of the targets were possibly unattainable from the start, the P.C.C. should consider the construction of a new plan after the APCM.

52/02

To discuss the posting of PCC members’ photos on the website

It was agreed that P.C.C. members would be asked to opt to have their photos displayed on the website.  It was agreed that the site would display only names against the photos and not addresses or any other details.  It was agreed to circulate a list for those members willing to have the photos displayed to sign.  

53/02

Finance

In the absence of the treasurer, Charles reported that Jo had paid the portion of the  Parish Share as agreed at the last meeting.  Catherine raised the issue of giving church organisations a budget for the year. It was commented that some groups (e.g. the Sunday School) had their funds paid out of restricted funds, whereas other groups appeared to have their own financial arrangements.  The precise status was not clear of income received directly by organisations such as the Choir: should this be considered as church income or not.  These were important issues which needed further discussion.

 

Anna stated that Churches Together had requested payment of our annual donation of £200.  This item was referred to Jo.

54/02

Any other business (if notified to the Secretary before the meeting)

There was no other business.

 

The meeting closed with The Grace at 9.30 p.m.