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Present: |
Catherine Dyer |
Fran. Morrow |
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Keith Dally |
Keith. Saunders |
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Alison Cudby |
Sue. Smith |
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David Darvill |
Simon Soper |
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Maureen Gadsby |
Maggie. Stannard |
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John. Deighton |
Russell. Stannard |
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Charles. Griffin |
Valerie. Stewart |
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Nick Moore |
Jo Thomson |
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Carol Oakman |
Wyn. Jones |
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Apologies: |
Janet Miller |
Jim Pickering |
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Anna. Barrett |
Rebecca Pickering |
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Melvyn. Gardner |
Sue Nichol |
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Absent: |
Winston Forde |
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The meeting opened with prayers
The minutes were approved unanimously as an accurate record of the meeting and signed by the Chair. In the absence of the Secretary Keith S offered to take the Minutes and thanks were recorded to Keith for this.
Matters arising from the minutes:
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15/03 |
Parish Awayday. The parish awayday had taken place and been successful. A summary of the day would be produced by Andrew Gear and it was agreed that the Standing Committee would publish the outcomes to the congregation. |
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17/03 |
Fund Raising. The 20p “trail” had already raised £50. Muriel Chandler had kindly offered to organise the production and sale of some notelets. The P.C.C. took the view that it could not afford to pump prime their production but thanked Muriel for her initiative. |
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27/03 |
Gates at St. Mary’s. The churchwardens reported that planning permission would be required and an application was being prepared. The replacement costs would be £800 but would not be covered by insurance. |
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28/03 |
Site Development Committee. Keith S reported that the committee had had a meeting and that Carol proposed and Simon seconded a motion to spend up to £1000 from the hall restoration fund on a full structural survey. This was agreed unanimously. Keith had spoken to 3 companies and had obtained estimates of the cost. |
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29/03 |
Disability audit. The results of the audit were presented to the P.C.C. and it was agreed that there were a lot of issues raised. The one issue which demanded action was the lack of disabled toilets in both the hall and the church. Other questions were less certain, in particular the question of the manoeuvring space around the church, the number of fire exits (with ramps) available for those in wheelchairs and powered opening to the north door. It was agreed to pass this for further action and discussion to the buildings committee. |
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30/03 |
Christian Aid. The outreach group had agreed to help with practical tasks associated with Christian Aid week, for example counting out envelopes. It was agreed to draw up a list of tasks required, referring to Derek’s recent article in “Barney’s Bumf”. It was agreed that the standing committee would discuss whom to approach to promote Christian Aid in the parish.. |
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33/03 |
Chairs in the Lady Chapel. It was agreed to leave this matter for the time being. |
New items:
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34/03 |
Finance Report including report from Annual Financial Consultations. The diocesan consultations had taken place. Jo reported that the diocesan budget continued to be stretched but that less steep increases in the share were anticipated in years to come. One representative at the meeting had said that the diocese was constantly urging change but that he was met with resistance at every turn. Jo reported figures quoted at the meeting which made it clear that richer dioceses tended to give less than the dioceses where average income was lowest. There remained about £10,000 to be paid to the parish share this year and £5,000 would be paid this month. We should therefore be on target for this year. It was agreed that the figures relating to average giving across various dioceses should be published. |
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35/03 |
Report from the Worship Committee Russell reported on the committee’s meeting last week. It had reviewed the recent changes. The all-age Eucharist averaged 103 communicants compared to 93 on other Sundays and by taking into account additional communicants at 8 a.m. and 6.00pm the average number of communicants on the first Sunday of the month had gone up by 27%. However, it was a lot to expect the choir to attend two long Holy Communion services in the same day. The original intention of the evening Eucharist had been to meet the needs of those who did not like the all-age service. The committee therefore proposed that the evening Eucharist on the first Sunday of the month should be replaced by Evensong followed by a shortened said Eucharist. Worshippers who did not wish to stay for Communion could leave at the end of Evensong. This would be implemented in January. A motion to this effect was proposed by Maureen, seconded by Charles and approved unanimously. Attendance at the June experimental services had been good. The committee felt that experimental services in Advent would prove problematical due to the number of other services already planned. However, it was proposed to have a youth service on December 14th at 4 p.m. involving the Deanery youth. It was already the practice for unrobed assistants to assist with the distribution of Holy Communion at weekday services and it was suggested that this should occur on an occasional basis at some of our more formal Sunday services, starting with the all-age service. The committee could consider extending this practice into other services as it became accepted. The reasons for this should be explained to the congregation. This was agreed. It was regretted that the choir had no junior members. The committee suggested that the music group might help train up younger members. It also suggested that occasionally the choir might lead a brief congregational practice before the 10 a.m. service, in order to introduce new hymns. These were agreed. |
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36/03 |
Meeting with the Choir Keith S reported that he and Russell had attended a choir practice to discuss with the choir the issue of what constituted a reasonable expectation on members of the choir. Jo read out minute 44/02 (which had been disputed by one choir member) and Russell reiterated the reason for it: the intention to remind the choir of an obligation to attend the main sung services on a Sunday. Catherine pointed out that Canon Law permitted a variety of Services of the Word as an alternative to Evensong. The P.C.C. wanted to allow for a variety of services and hence wished to encourage the continuation of Evensong along with the other services. It was agreed that Keith should write to the choir thanking it for its support and for the majority view that an expectation to attend Friday choir practice and the main sung service(s) on a Sunday was reasonable. It was agreed that minute 44/02 should stand as it supported this message. |
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37/03 |
Repair to hall doors One door being broken, David proposed that we replace the pair at a cost of £830 plus VAT. They would be similar to the current doors and would be fireproof. Russell proposed, Carol seconded a motion to do this work immediately. |
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38/03 |
Decoration of Trailblazers Room Jenny Smith had requested £100 to replace the carpet in the trailblazers’ room in the Cottage and also re-decorate the room. It was agreed to spend the money on the committee room when the room could be vacated. Sue proposed and Nick seconded a motion to take the money from the Jim Chesterfield fund. The motion was passed nem. con. Jo said that we should try to find room in the hall as soon as possible which would be better for them. |
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39/03 |
Confidentiality of PCC minutes Members were reminded that minutes were not official until they had been approved. If minutes were posted before the meeting, it was suggested that they should be marked by the secretary with the words “still to be approved”. |
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40/03 |
Any other business
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The meeting closed with the Grace at 10.00 p.m.