Parochial Church Council Notes

Meeting on June 3rd 2009

Parochial Church Council Meeting: Wednesday 3 June 2009

The meeting began with a short Act of Worship, introduced for the first time by Revd Wilson.

Matters Arising: The meeting learned that the Plant Sale had raised £820 for Church Funds. The many people involved in the success of the day were congratulated and thanked for their efforts. The event will be repeated on 24th April 2010.

Vicar’s Matters: The sum of £670 has been collected for Christian Aid from envelopes in Church and the ever-popular Coffee Evening hosted by Teena Blanshard. [The editor apologises for not putting an announcement about this in the magazine, she had been informed. But clearly Teena didn’t need it!]

The PCC is to be one of the beneficiaries from the distribution of funds held by the Hatfield Physiotherapy Service. Mrs Liddle agreed to represent the PCC at the Presentation Evening, when she will collect a cheque for £500. The Social Committee will receive £400 towards the costs of the Over-70s Christmas Lunch.

Finance: Giving overall is down on the same stage last year, a fact not surprising in the current financial situation. However, the Gift Aid claim is yet to be submitted – a very valuable source of extra income provided by those givers who pay tax and are prepared to use the Gift Aid envelopes widely available in the church.
(More details can be obtained from any member of the PCC)

Mr Watson is attempting to have our Parish Share retrospectively reduced; if successful, it will lessen our projected deficit for the year.

Fabric: An application for a grant from English Heritage is near completion and will be submitted in spite of us being turned down last year. As the cost of High Level stonework is estimated at around £240,000, it is essential that the PCC seeks outside funding.

Members discussed the PCC Fabric Committee Process, wherein it was agreed that potential projects presented by the Architects would be brought to the PCC before the Fabric Committee. It is vital that a competent person is found to co-ordinate Fabric matters – administration, communication, contractor site visits, liaison between the PCC and the Architects etc. At the moment, the Vicar is doing 90% of this work, at the expense of time that could be spent in Ministry.
(Perhaps one of our readers might be interested? Please contact Revd Wilson: 840280)

Following advice and options presented by the Tree Surgeon concerning the damage caused by the roots of the Bird Cherry trees to the footpath on the south side of the church, it was reluctantly agreed that the trees must be removed. Something more appropriate will be planted in their place.

Some of the iron guttering has degenerated and fallen off – there will be an interim replacement of plastic guttering.

Social Committee: All tickets for the Theatre Trip to see the musical “Seven Brides for Seven Brothers” on Thursday 23rd July are sold.
(Watch out for details of other activities in the magazine and the newsletter!)

Other Events: Strawberry Tea – Sunday 5th July in the Barn

Garden Party – Saturday 11th July – boxes for donations are now in church. Please give generously to support this annual event.

Next PCC Meeting will be on Wednesday 1 July

Jill McGarvie, PCC Secretary