HOLY TRINITY CHURCH SOUTH WOODHAM FERRERS

Minutes of the Joint Church Executive committee meeting

On 1St December 2014 in the meeting room at Holy Trinity

MEMBERS PRESENT.

Rev Carol Ball, Bob Hemmings, Frank Lo, Maureen Graham, Jane Richards, Kath Gable, Rev Sue King,Judith Radley, Peter Blackman, John Emmines, Fr Niall. (Apologies if I missed anyone)

Carol opened the meeting with a prayer.

JCC EXECUTIVE.

1)APOLOGIES

Tricia Tutin, Rosemary Tidmarsh. Steve Gallagher.

2)Minutes of the last meeting were agreed and signed.

3)Treasurers report

Steve not present, report received on 2nd December and distributed for comments at that time.

Report as follows,

Overall bank balance is £11,264 in credit, made up of £6,819 current account, £1,549 in Business Premium and £2,896 in Methodist deposit account.

This figure is nearly £4,000 more than the start of the year of £7,280. During the course of the year our income exceeded the expenditure by £6,363.

In terms of expenditure the total spent on utilities and insurance were as forecast. The exception being repairs and maintenance which was the lowest in 5 years.

Steve then suggested cutting the contributions made by the congregations by a total overall of £2,000.

I forwarded Steve’s email to the other members as per Rev Carol and the consensus was to leave the contributions as they are. The notable points of objection agreed by all that replied are;

a)H.T. is an oldish building,

b)We should look to have a detailed refurbishment and renewal plan for say the coming 5 years. We know repairs etc can be expensive.

c)We need to build a reserve for depreciation.

We also at the meeting discussed the condition of the carpet, whether to clean or replace and the kitchen was mentioned again. We need Steve to say how much is in the budget for the kitchen.

Thank you Steve the proposal looked attractive in the short term, but it was agreed to leave the contributions as they are, by all that replied.

4) Any other Matters

No matters arising.

5Fabric Report

Notes from the Fabric and Property Committee meeting Nov 2014

Report from the Property and Fabric Committee for JCC December 1st 2014

  1. Cross outside: We continue to investigate the safety of the cross. We have a quote for £500 an hour approx - Frank will find 2 more quotes; we hope we can bring this to the JCC on December 1st for permission to proceed.
  2. Fire safety: we have a letter from the Fire Brigade saying they haven’t been able to access the premises for their regular inspection. Frank Lo will arrange the inspection.
  3. Kitchen: B&Q can’t do it as we’re not domestic premises, but we continue to work on this. Do we have a budget?
  4. PAT testing - Neither school is keen to share the cost of this, despite our shared use of the premises. However, we as a church need to go ahead with our own PAT testing and this is in hand.
  5. Health and Safety – Frank had previously drafted a Health & Safety policy and Frank’s number is available for property users to contact him if they have any concerns.

We have yet to be notified of a date for Fire Marshalls’ training to replace the cancelled date.

  1. The screen is stuck in the ‘down’ position. It is hoped that it can be put back in order for it to be used for Christmas services.
  2. The radiator in the R.C. /Methodist vestry is being monitored as there appears to be a leak.
  3. The name of George Ball is to be taken to the PCC as an additional rep for P & F, to replace Sue Benjamin who has resigned.

We thank Sue, Matt, and all continuing members of the P & F committee for all their hard work.

Notes from meeting;

When Frank receives a letter of confirmation from the Surveyor, he will let Kath know and she will write a letter of thanks to him.

The fire brigade needed access to the church, Frank to contact them re access.

George Ball will replace Sue Benjamin on the committee as the Anglican fabric rep.

We still need one from the Catholics and Methodists.

Kath reported the Catholics have just had their AGM and will look to appoint from the committee.

Thank you to Rosemary for the Christmas tree and all the work that went into making it look lovely.

Thank you to Sue and Matt the retiring Fabric members for their years of contribution.

6WORSHIP AND OUTREACH REPORT.

Holy Trinity Worship and Outreach Committee

Minutes of the Meeting held on Monday 17th November 2014

Present:

Revd Carol Ball (Chair)

Peter Blackman

Sheila Jenkins

Judith Radley

Revd Jane Richards

Rosemary Tidmarsh

Tricia Tutin

Apologies for Absence:

None

  1. Minutes of the Last Meeting/Matters Arising

The minutes of the last meeting were agreed with the following amendments:

  • Town Carol Service is on Friday 12th December not 7th December
  • Rosemary Tidmarsh to be noted as one of the two RC members along with Peter Blackman
  • Masses to be held on 26th December (St. Stephen’s Day) and 1st January to be added to the Christmas schedule
  1. Review of Events
  • Not the Last Night of the Proms – very well received and enjoyed. Requests to repeat in the future!
  • World War 1 event – the presentation was very well attended by the schools as well as the wider community and approximately 70 people stayed for the service. The Army Chaplain provided very positive feedback and the event received good coverage in Focus
  1. Worship of Each Congregation
  • Methodists – Sadly a number of the congregation were experiencing illness and other issues which was resulting in a fluctuation of numbers attending services.
  • Anglican – it was noted that there were regular requests for Baptisms
  • Roman Catholic – it was noted that there had recently been an increase in the number of young families attending Mass
  1. Worship Together
  • Christmas – Revd Carol presented the latest version of the timetable of Christmas events and services.
  • It was noted that there would also be Roman Catholic Masses on 26th September 2014 (St. Stephen’s Day) and 1st January 2015.
  • The Advent Course will commence on 26th November in Church. Revd Sue will be leading the first session and the course will be using Bishop Stephen’s book “Walking Backwards to Christmas” as a resource.
  • The Christmas tree had been purchased
  • It had been proposed that the joint Anglican/ Methodist Christmas Day Service would take place at 10.00am rather than 10.30am
  • Senior Citizens Carol Service (17th December) – transport arrangements to be confirmed
  • Windle Court Carol Service – this has been arranged for 22nd December
  1. Special Projects

None noted

  1. Civic Responsibilities
  • Healthcare Group – The Chief Executive of Mid Essex Hospitals Trust had given a presentation to the group.
  • Bereavement Service - Peter reported that the Community First Responders had been considering staring up a “death café” and that he had had some discussion with Paul King about this.
  1. Activities with other churches in the town.
  • The Town Carol Service would take place on Friday 12th December at 7.00pm and was being arranged by Revd Lindsay
  • Christian Council Meetings were being held monthly alternating between Mondays and Wednesdays to enable both Father Niall and New Life Church to attend. The next meeting would take place on 3rd December
  • Bar ‘n’ Bus – at a presentation given by the Bar ‘n’ Bus at the Christian Council concern had been expressed about the financial position of the project. The only church to make a regular contribution is New Life although other congregations do have retiring collections. It was suggested that a contribution could be made through the JCC
  • Passion Play – Hornchurch were holding a Passion Play in 2015. Peter reported that The Passion Trust had been received seed corn grant funding from the Jerusalem Trust for use in putting on new Passion plays, which could include new venues in Essex. It was also noted that the BBC Lent Series which featured Kenton had won a Gillard Silver Award.
  1. Committee Membership
  • Rosemary informed the group that as she was no longer an elected member on the PCC she wasn’t sure if she would be able to continue as one of the RC reps on the committee but would do so for the time being
  1. Any Other Business

None noted

  1. Date and Time of Next Meeting

Monday 9th February 2015 at 8.00pm at the Vicarage

The Advent course started last week please encourage people to come.

Light up a Life is on Sunday 6th December at 4pm.

The Bar n Bus have a funding concern especially as the number of youngsters attending are going up.

There are varying reports as to whether new volunteers are needed.

7A.O.B.

A member of the Anglican community asked if she could put up some pictures of the Passion play in the meeting room. It was agreed she could as long as there were not too many.

Fr Niall closed the meeting with a prayer and Rev Sue said the Blessing.

Date of the next meetings.

Wednesday 4th March 2015

Wednesday 10th June 2015 AGM.

PLEASE NOTE ALL MEETINGS START AT 7.30PM

Signed Chair of JCC Holy Trinity…………………………………………………………………..

Dated……………………………………………………………

Seconded by…………………………………………………………………………………………………

Dated………………………………………………………………