Held on 17/06/2002
at 8 p.m. in the church.
3. Minutes of meeting on 01/05/2002
4. Matters arising from the minutes
6. Matters arising from APCM minutes
7. Warden’s meeting with Archdeacon
8. Clergy pay and pensions survey
9. Financial position of St. Peter’s
church
10. Church representation on other
organisations
C. Refurbishment fund committee
Richard
Dingley opened the meeting with a prayer, and took the chair.
Present |
Apologies |
|
|
Julie
Brown |
Colette
Jeff |
Wendy
Cartwright |
|
John
Cartwright |
Wilf
Lacey |
|
|
Trish
Corrick |
Audrey
Morgan |
|
|
Richard
Dingley |
Thea
Oliver |
|
|
Sylvia
Dingley |
Victor
Skinner |
|
|
Chris
Green |
|
|
The
minutes were agreed as correct, and signed.
(arising from meetings prior to 01/05/2002)
7.6
(Handling of envelopes for tax purposes).
Sidesmen are now putting envelopes in the wall safe when the treasurer is not
there.
(arising from meeting of
01/05/2002)
11.2
(Fete)
A small ad has been placed in the local paper.
11.5
(Harvest-
6th October). Rodney Stoke’s is 2 weeks earlier.
(Remembrance Sunday). No feedback yet.
These were agreed as accurate, with minor amendments.
The
only matter to be discussed is that raised under agenda item 9, below.
The wardens of Draycott and Rodney Stoke recently met with the Archdeacon to discuss progress in appointing an incumbent for the vacancy in the benefice. The following were the main points to emerge:
v There is still no-one definitely in prospect
v The archdeacon was meeting with someone today who has just moved into the area, who may be a possibility.
v The archdeacon will get back to us in two weeks to report progress.
NB. the letting of the house for duty should not be any impediment to our arrangements as it is only let for 3 months at a time.
ACTION: the churchwardens will get back to the archdeacon if they have not heard anything in 2-3 weeks.
We concluded the debate on the issues, begun in another meeting. The opinion was expressed that since we could not afford to pay the current rates, let alone higher ones, we could not reasonably support any measures which involved higher expenditure. However, we decided that we should answer the questions on the matter of principle, and put the considerations of cost to one side. We answered the questions on the survey in this spirit.
ACTION: Chris to post the completed questionnaire to the Diocese.
The PCC have been mandated by the APCM to debate the following questions:
A. Our
current inability to meet the Parish Share and the serious consequences of
this.
Main points to arise from discussion
v What are the ‘serious consequences’? One of these may be to put off prospective incumbents. However, inability to pay for repairs may be equally off-putting. There are also serious consequences in failing in the upkeep of the church. The roof may fall in!
v Both church upkeep and parish share are important. However, the church upkeep it the more obviously urgent. The architect says that we should complete the roof repairs to the nave by the end of the summer, and the continued dampness in the church is causing progressive damage to the church fabric.
v It was suggested that we write a letter to the DBF (with a copy to the archdeacon) outlining our dilemma and what we are doing about it. We need to gather our facts and make a case for what we are doing.
ACTION: Chris to get the up to date figures on our Parish Share contributions from Wendy, and draft a letter to the Diocese outlining our point of view.
B.
Consider the implications of the proposal that we should maintain our worship
using the school and hall so that we could concentrate on “being the church in
the village” rather than maintaining our present church building.
Main points to arise from discussion
v We are in financial difficulties not because we have suffered a drop in income in the last few years, but because the parish share has increased steeply, and at the same time we have incurred significant expenses in the maintenance of our church building.
v The congregation of the church is not increasing significantly. We are only going to meet our financial obligations if we secure the support of the wider local community. For this, we need a credible, detailed and costed plan for church repair and refurbishment, and this needs to be launched with the maximum publicity. We have been working on plans for this over the last year.
v The church building is both an asset and a liability. The latter aspect may sometimes be more obvious to those of us who try and maintain it. However, let us not be too quick to write off its importance, to ourselves or to others. We must wait to see what our fundraising drive this year brings us before we are entitled to say that maintenance of the church fabric is a burden which is too great for us.
ACTION: We should concentrate our energies on our fundraising launch this year, and only fall back on other options if this does not yield results.
Richard provided a list of these representatives, and invited comments and amendments. The list was agreed, with one or two queries.
ACTION: The list to go up on the notice board.
(Richard Dingley). Nothing to report
(John Cartwright on behalf of Wendy). A separate financial statement was produced on behalf of the treasurer. The treasurer proposes paying a further payment of £1,500 towards the parish share this month. This was agreed by the meeting.
(Victor Skinner).
v The last meeting was on 27th May.
v There is to be meeting with the church architect soon.
v Auction of promises: £279 was pledged or collected. This was rather disappointing in view of the potential for much more (a number of promises received no bid), but there a number of ways in which this kind of fundraising could be approved.
v To launch our fund raising drive, the forthcoming church fete was considered rather small and too early. We would prefer a specific launch, and suggest an open meeting with plenty of advance publicity (including a poster campaign). We shall take advice from Fay Wilson-Rudd.
v It was suggested by Maureen that half of the proceedings of the fete should go to the roof fund and half to general funds. On all previous occasions however the church fete has gone to general funds only, and we would prefer it to stay this way.
v A wine tasting evening will be arranged.
v There will be a date for the Barry Rose concert soon!
There is to be a parade (Kings and Queens), mainly with the children in mind. However adults are encouraged to dress to the theme!
(Thea Oliver)
v The new appointee is Christian Hilton, who will be full time and work with class 3.
v Two of the younger teachers are pregnant and another appointee is to cover their maternity leave for a total of about 1 year.
v Mrs. Hitt is leaving. Unfortunately there is not time to advertise for a permanent replacement for next year. Linda Molessa will cover the post until a definitive replacement can be appointed (if possible for January 2003).
v If Mrs. Hitt organises dancing at the Fete, as in previous years, we should give Mrs. Hitt a thank-you card from the congregation of St. Peter’s, as this has always been a particular contribution of hers to our fetes over the years.
v On Friday 28th there will be a music evening in the village hall. Bring your own supper; there will be entertainments. This is in aid of the school. Please could as many as possible support the event, as it will be Mrs. Hitt’s last.
(Chris Green)
Having got together the full text of the APCM in a single document, it would be a nice idea to publish it on the website, on the general principle of ‘open government’. This openness may stand us in good stead when we come to ask the community to support us more fully.
The meeting agreed with the proposal.
ACTION: Chris Green to add the APCM minutes to the Website. Julie to put a note in the magazine.
v Deanery Choral Festival: Axbridge, July 7th at 6:30.
v Next PCC meeting: Tuesday 30th July
v Advance notice- deanery synod will meet here in October.
v Richard has offered this church to the deanery Reader’s service in May next year.
The meeting was closed by Richard with a prayer.