MINUTES OF THE
MEETING OF THE PAROCHIAL CHURCH COUNCIL, ST. BARNABAS CHURCH, LINSLADE, HELD ON
TUESDAY,
Present:
Jo Thomson Keith Saunders
Catherine Dyer Wyn Jones
Miranda Soper Alison Cudby
Carol
Oakman
John Deighton Maureen Gadsby
Nick Moore Carolyn Birch
Marian Dye Janet Miller
Mike Finney John Vickers (for part of meeting)
Apologies: Simon Soper Vicki Faiers
Valerie Stewart Russell Stannard
Catherine chaired the meeting
The minutes of the meeting of 24th May were approved, proposed by Keith and seconded by Jo. All agreed.
Matters arising:
56/04 Children and Holy Communion. – The date for
Jenny Hyson’s visit is confirmed as
1/05 Appointments – There have been no volunteers to be another representative for Churches Together. Catherine and Wyn will approach individuals. Janet Miller is to join Buildings committee.
4/05 Affiliation to Faithworks – Keith has started the process to join this. There is a conference in November that will be well worth attending.
6/05 a) St Mary’s kerbstones – Notices have been circulated about the proposals. There has been some response both to the parish office and to John. There has been a question about the stability of the headstones once the kerbstones are removed. The closing date for consultation is 16th July.
New items for this meeting:
7/05 Summer Fete
The Fete was a great success. There was a good atmosphere all day and everything ran smoothly thanks to the organisation of Marian and Miranda who stressed they had full cooperation from everyone involved. The balloon launch helped to make the day so successful and our thanks are due to the “army” of young people who turned out very early in the morning to prepare the event.
Miranda and Marian wish to form a small committee to plan future autumn and summer fairs. Carol has said she will join them and they will find one other person. Nick proposed and Janet seconded forming this committee. All in favour.
8/05 Sound system
Nick explained progress so far. It has been agreed that a mixer box in the nave is needed and the best place to put it is on the North side on a pew beside the pillar at the back of the church. This has added to the quote, which is now £7858.50, but will vastly enhance the sound system for more events. Nick will check whether a full or an archdeacon’s faculty will need to be applied for.
John proposed and Alison seconded that the appropriate faculty be applied for and for Nick to proceed as soon as possible. The project will be funded from the Biley fund. All in favour.
9/05 Parish Magazine
John Vickers was thanked for taking the time to attend the meeting in order to explain about his involvement with the Parish Magazine. The magazine has been produced in various forms for over 100 years and John had some early copies to show how it had developed. He took over as editor about 8 years ago. The cost to parishioners has not increased since 1992, largely because of the advertisers revenue. About 18 months ago the magazine was brought up to date following comments made in a survey. The centre “Sign” was removed that gave an additional 4 pages for local news. This means that John has 10 pages to fill each issue. The cut off date for articles is the first Tuesday of the preceding month. He has to put all the articles in place before he takes it to the printers, subsequently collect the copies before they are counted ready for the individual distributors by the last Sunday of the previous month – quite a tight schedule. John explained he couldn’t start filling pages until he has all the copy because of fitting it to the size of the page – overlong articles cause him trouble but not as much as not receiving anything. He welcomes any articles and does his best to include them as long as they are received on time. Keith suggested that all PCC members and other Church organisations try to contribute to the magazine on a regular basis. John was thanked for all his hard work.
10/05 Hall update
a) To agree membership of Parish hall committee. – As previously explained, the membership needs to be a balance between Church, PCC and users in the community. Keith suggested that the committee is made up of 1 councillor nominated by the Town Council, 3 members of user groups (such as Age Concern and CVO), 2 Churchwardens (ex officio), PCC treasurer, Dave Darvill and John Faiers. Jo proposed and Nick seconded that this is accepted. All in favour.
b) Hall ownership – Keith is waiting for a letter about the title deeds from John Rees.
c) Faculty application – The faculty application for the link has been submitted. We have already got planning permission, so once we hear about the faculty, we can proceed. Keith discussed options for the way forward. There are 3 options as to where to start – link and hall; refurbishment of hall; link. There are advantages and disadvantages with all options – starting with the link first could give impetus to the project but may increase the overall costs; if we wait until there are sufficient funds to start link and hall together, we are not going to be able to start until well into next year and risk losing some of our promised grants. No decisions have been made but Keith talked about raising funds, especially the low funds we have received in gifts. If we are serious about the hall, we have to show that the congregation are financially contributing to it. It costs about £10 per week per person on the electoral roll for our church to survive. The Stewardship group is to look at ways to increase giving to the church.
11/05 Treasurer’s report
a) Parish share – The Deanery have been looking at different ways of calculating the parish share. At present, it is based on the population of the parish, the electoral roll and whether or not there is an incumbent. The proposals disregard the presence of an incumbent. This helps some parishes but not Linslade and our share would increase by 6.6% if the new calculations were used. Jo put the point that any increase over the normal should be staggered. Nick suggested 1% over the average increase for our deanery would be more appropriate for Linslade. There is obviously a need for transitional arrangements and Jo will reply accordingly for Linslade.
b) Church
toilet – Jo has a quote of about £7,000 to refurbish the toilet in the church
that is in desperate need of improvements because of health and safety issues.
The question was raised as to whether we need a toilet in the church once the
link is built. The architect has not yet given his recommendations so we shall
wait until after Jo has discussed this with him before any decision is made.
12/05 Security of the building
Concerns have been raised about the security of the church premises. Doors have not been locked properly, candles not extinguished, and other factors. There is a need for an immediate key audit. This has been passed to the buildings committee, chaired by Nick, and they are asked to report their progress to the next PCC meeting.
13/05 Church survey – Let the people speak
This report of an ecumenical survey on reasons for the decline in church-going, has been sent to PCC secretaries. Catherine introduced it. She, along with others who had read it, did not support many of the findings, as the responses reflected a wish to turn the clock back and failed to see that the church needs to change to respond to a world that has changed. But it did reveal the need to make more opportunities to discuss faith and encourage Christian nurture and quality pastoral care. Catherine asked for this to be discussed further at a future PCC meeting.
A more realistic and challenging report is the report to the forthcoming General Synod of the Resourcing Mission Group. This is available on the website www.cofe.anglican.org/about/gensynod/agendas/july05.html - listed under papers for Monday 11 July.
14/05 Any other business
a) Deanery
Synod
Mike reported from the Deanery Synod meeting held on 9th June. Finance has been covered in previous agenda items. Mike mentioned a Learning for Life meeting to be held in the autumn and the sad news that Mark Berry will be leaving as the deanery has been unable to raise the funds for him to continue. (A copy of report is attached)
b) Flower
arrangers
The flower arrangers met recently to decide on the future, as there has been no one willing to replace Barbara Marshall. It was decided to continue with present arrangements for the major festivals but in future artificial seasonal flower arrangements will be placed in the Sanctuary.
Barbara has been in charge of
flower arrangements for many years and our thanks are extended to her for all
her work. Jo will present her with an appropriate “thank you”.
c) A new RC Bishop of Northampton, Peter Doyle, was consecrated today.
d) Make poverty history
Friends of the earth and
The meeting
concluded with The Grace at