Held on 13/07/2010 at 8:00 p.m. at 9 Barnett’s Well, Draycott.
2. Attendance, apologies and welcome
Special item with Alison Jeffries
7a. Proposal to close the church during refurbishment
7c. Secretarial help/ book grant.
7d. Richard Dingley licensing.
9a. Events for the 150th celebrations
Sue
opened the meeting with a prayer. Tricia Heckbert took the chair.
|
Present David Cheetham Sylvia
Dingley Chris Green Tricia
Heckbert Colette Jeff Tricia
Lumley |
DC
SD CG TH CJ
TL |
Thea
Oliver Barry
Rose Sue
Rose Christine
Butler Richard
Dingley* *NB.
arrived later |
TO BR SR CB RD |
The minutes were agreed as
an accurate record, subject to minor changes.
14/05/10 – 6d. (Faculty. The
Corbel quotation had been received by DC, and circulated to PCC members by
e-mail on Monday 7th June, with a request for all responses to go to
the PCC secretary by e-mail (as the deadline was short). CG had received
replies from all PCC members, and all were in favour. We therefore requested DC
to proceed with the faculty application on the basis of the works described in
this quotation (text reproduced in Appendix).
14/05/10 – 7 b. (Viewing of
other Corbel sites). BR visited Bishop’s Lydeard where Corbel has completed
some works. There was some peeling of paintwork evident, but due to previous
inappropriate finishes applied.
14/05/10 – 7 c. (Parish
return). Done
(4 new items accepted as 7g,
8i, 8j and 8k; item 7c extended to cover book grant).
Alison (joint editor with
husband Michael Taylor) introduced the piece by giving her vision for the
newsletter. It should be a vehicle for outreach to the community, not just as a
‘house magazine’. We were all encouraged to contribute.
From initial discussion, we
agreed that the magazine was going in the right direction and contained an
excellent range of material. On the downside, some had regretted the reduction
in ‘humorous’ pieces, and for the moment the newsletter is losing money. Alison
needed clarification over the last point, which surprised her.
ACTION: DC to let Alison know the cost breakdown
Currently the church office
printing is very labour intensive, although Alison was worried about the
inflexibility of the Kings of Wessex alternative. Would we permit some slippage
in the completion and distribution, with distribution on the 1st
Sunday of the month (instead of the previous one)? All agreed- it does not
matter as long as it is consistent and we all know.
ACTION: CJ to let Heather Robinson know, who will then inform other
distributors.
On balance it would be
better for printing to go back to Kings of Wessex, perhaps with us providing
paper, as previously.
ACTION: SR to ask Kings of Wessex
There was discussion on
whether we should be publishing all the material to the website, in view of
copyright issues. If Alison had any doubts we would just publish the rotas. NB.
We were telling advertisers that we were publishing on line, so the
advertisements probably should go into the web version.
It was important for copies
to be available not only in St. Peter’s and St. Leonard’s, but also in St.
Andrew’s Cheddar. We should also have the Cheddar one available in our
churches.
The PCC thanked Alison for
her hard work and professionalism, and congratulated her and Michael on
producing an excellent church newsletter.
It would not be possible to
conduct services during the proposed refurbishment; therefore DC proposed that
the church be closed. Depending on timing, we might be able to use the school
hall (although this is also being refurbished in August) N.B. The bishop will
need to give permission for the church to be closed.
After discussion all agreed,
noting that we should use the school if possible, as not putting on a service
for a period may lead some to cease attending altogether.
ACTIONS:
We still have a vacancy for
covenant secretary. TH was prepared to take on part of this role, preparing the
tax returns. We still need someone to do the visiting element.
MOTION- Tricia Heckbert be appointed to covenant secretary, for the parts of
the role that she felt able to fulfil. Proposed- DC; Seconded-
CJ. All were in favour; motion carried.
It has been suggested that
SR has to spend too much of her valuable pastoral time on administrative tasks,
and this situation would improve if we provided her with secretarial
assistance. One option would be to hire a part-time administrative assistant.
Rod Pring (Cheddar churchwarden) knew of someone suitable (a recently retired
school secretary). He had proposed that we employ her for 4-5 h per week, at
£12 per hour, costs to be shared between the parishes on the usual pro rata
basis- duties to include typing, rotas, filing, making appointments and other
such tasks. The initial period would be 6 months after which it would be
reviewed.
In discussion we agreed that
secretarial help was probably needed, but several of us thought the proposed
£12 rate was too high. Somerset County Council would pay £8 ph.
ACTION: CG to reply to Rob Pring with our approval in principle but querying
the hourly rate.
On the topic of book grants,
it is usual for a curate to be given a book grant of £100 per year from the
parish or benefice. Would we agree to pay our share of £20?
MOTION- the PCC pay £20 towards Christine Butler’s book grant. Proposed:
BR; seconded TO; all were in favour. Motion carried.
RD has applied for
relicensing to the parish, for which PCC agreement is needed.
MOTION- Richard Dingley’s license as Reader should be renewed for the parish
of Draycott. Proposed: TO; seconded DC; all were in favour.
Motion carried.
We discussed the possibility
of a notice in the car park to discourage non-church use on Sundays. We cannot
word this very strongly as the land belongs to the diocese and currently
neither the church nor the school pays any rent for it. However we risk being
crowded out of the car park by resident parking, and residents may be blocked
in by us.
The following text was
agreed:
Warning- in use for church
car parking during church service times.
ACTION: TO has an A3 laminator and will produce a notice.
These are now out- we need
to buy at least one. This could be left in the church for sharing.
ACTION: SR to buy one and charge the PCC.
First Sunday of Sept (5th).
The start of our special services. We will have a said 8am Eucharist at St.
Peter’s (subject to decorators). The evening event will be 6pm. Chris,
Christine, Thea, Sue and Nikki Devitt will meet to discuss the format and
content of the evening service.
ACTIONS:
It was suggested that we use
the main altar sometimes rather than the nave altar. This would be most
suitable for our 8am services, where the congregation would probably sit in the
choir.
The DAC require us to
consult George Chedburn over several matters:
The last is the most
involved. Have we been adversely affected by Mendip District Council tarmacking
our paths? GC needs to pronounce if we have a case, before pursuing this.
£12,450 in fabric fund, and
£11,471 in general fund. NB. there are some significant bills in the pipeline,
including SR’s Q1 expenses.
Nothing particular to
report. They are under pressure due to a long-term sickness in staff.
The cream tea event took
place as planned.
The next event planned was
the Jumble Sale for 25th September- in magazine.
We have also arranged to hire
out the church for several sessions to a ‘hypnotherapist’ group, at £40 per
session.
·
Messy
church- October 9th.
·
Pulpit
exchange - Ken Brown on 21st November.
·
Wedding
preparation- Feb 19th.
·
Supper
evening with Nicola Sullivan at Biddisham church hall- baked potatoes and
puddings. Tuesday 9th November at 7:30.
Not for September due to
decoration.
Trish Lumley has agreed to
take this on from Linda Whittle. Thanks from us all to both.
ACTION: CG to write letter of thanks to Linda.
We are aiming at bimonthly
meetings. An extra meeting will be held for the 3 parishes- part social, part
joint business- then we will break out into separate parishes for individual meetings.
The first of these joint meetings will be Thursday October 21st in
Cheddar church rooms.
A plea from flower ladies-
please make sure there is enough space for flower accessories in the new
arrangements!
Tree pollarding- this has
gone quiet, but we cannot allow it to be ignored.
ACTION: TO to get on to Mendip District Council.
We would like to have a
week-long festival, to include different activities such as open gardens,
concerts and anything else we can think of. Gordon and Colette willing to join.
ACTIONS:
NB. Ordinations are the 1st
Saturday in July (Christine Butler!)
Next PCC meetings- Wed 8th
September, Tuesday 16th November and Tuesday 18th
January.
Next joint PCC meeting on
Thursday 21st October.
David Cheetham mailed PCC members on 7th
June 2010 re. the Corbel quotation.
This is the main text of the e-mail:
1. The total is £8020.
With VAT, this comes to £9423.50. VAT should be recoverable, provided
everything is completed before the end of March 2011.
It is highly likely that the refund scheme will then be terminated.
2. We have something over £12000 in the Fabric Fund. (Actually
£12333.34)
3. We are seeking a faculty to do all this work - if subsequently we choose
not to carry out any part of it, that is no loss. There may be a charge for a faculty,
though the literature does state “Normally there is no charge to the parish for a Faculty in this
Diocese”.
Barry is making a trip to view some of Corbel's earlier projects.
4. This quotation does not of course include moving the pulpit.
Nor does it include painting the porch nor the radiators, but I'm sure they
could be added if we thought it desirable. I had imagined that St Peter’s
people might like to “own” the work by doing some of it themselves. At no time have we
envisaged repainting the plaster ceiling, which will have to be left to a later
phase of the project, if at all.
5. We need a formal agreement from the PCC before we make the faculty application. The
deadline for the application is 14th June. Please reply to Chris right away.
6. In case anybody thinks that there must be a good reason why Corbel’s
quote is so much less than Ellis’s, I can point to two factors. Ellis were going to fill the church with scaffolding,
whereas Corbel consider it can all be done by “Cherry picker”. Ellis were going to
remove every scrap of paint from the walls and selectively repaint the plaster only, leaving
the carved stonework exposed. To be honest, Ellis were going to do it “their way”. Corbel are much more
open to compromise.