St. Ann’s / St. Mary’s
Deepcar / Penistone

Parish Forum Minutes

16th March 2015

Attendees:
Maureen Aldous / Fr Stan Maciuszek / Deacon John Wright
Pat Deakin / Ann Roberts / Kath Wade
Ann Whitfield / Laura Twomey / Ray Aldous
Paul Cotterill / Pat Punt / Christine Wood
Brendan Lally / Maureen Garvey / Nora Carr
Doug Carr / Peter O’Brien
Apologies:
Marianne Wilkinson / Mandy Aitken / Phyl Lally
Kaye Ward / Peter Twomey

Review of minutes and actions from the last meeting: 20th October 2014

Action / Update
Core Group to provide an update on hall bookings at St. Ann’s / Maureen Aldous is the primary point of contact for hall bookings, and her details are on the parish newsletter. However there is a small group of parishioners who will be sharing the responsibility.
Core Group to provide an update counting rota for weekly collection’s at St. Ann’s / Brian Tonner has produced a rota for counters at St. Ann’s, however there are concerns that this isn’t being followed. There is also a requirement for additional counters at St. Mary’s. It was agreed that an announcement should be made at both churches.
Core Group to provide an update on volunteers for the maintenance of the grounds at St. Ann’s / An announcement was made at morning Mass on 15th March asking people to help Fr Stan on Saturday 28th March – morning or afternoon – with the garden and grounds at St. Ann’s.
Paul Cotterill proposed that we establish a maintenance team from the volunteers. Ann Roberts noted that there is a crack at two points on the wall at the front of church. Fr Stan will investigate.

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St. Ann’s & St. Mary’s Parish Forum minutes – 16th March 2015

Action / Update
Parish Forum to update on how the Evangelisation of our Catholic faith is progressing / Paul Cotterill reported that the advert placed in the Look Local during Advent generated no response, however people did overhear it being discussed in a local pub as a good thing. Therefore, Paul would like repeat the advert during Holy Week. Decision: The Parish Forum agreed that the Finance Committee should provide the funding for the advert.
Paul Cotterill also agreed to look at advertising mass times in the Look Local in the weekly What’s On section.
Core Group to update the Parish Forum with where we are with refurbishing the kitchen at St. Ann’s / Mandy Aitken provided feedback through the Core Group chair that the refurbishment is ongoing.
Core Group to update the Parish Forum with the shed at St. Ann’s / The shed is up and is currently being used to store items belonging to the St. Ann’s Drama group. However, it is available for small groups.
Core Group to update the Parish Forum on the example newsletters from other Parishes / Maureen reported that the Core Group had reviewed the example newsletters from other Parishes. They felt that we are unable to ask the school secretary to do more with the newsletter than currently delivered.

Update from St. Ann’s School

Deacon John outlined that as most people now know the school is an Academy, this means that it receives its funding directly from the Government and is accountable for buying in services. A new team of Governors has now being in place for a year, led by Anne Donnelly, with two sub-committees underneath them. The HR and Finance Committee is led by xx, Deacon John leads to the Standards sub-committee.

The Diocese’s inspection of religious education rated the school as requiring improvement. Deacon John has a meeting with John Cape next week and will be providing feedback on the improvements made.

With regard to Standards, the children’s attainment is above average in Reception and Year 5/6. However, there are still concerns in the middle of the school due to the lack of stability of teaching staff. Mrs Hilton has agreed to teach until July, and recruitment is underway for a new teacher to be in place from September. All children are on an upward curve.

Future organisation of the Diocese

Deacon John noted that Bishop Ralph has asked the Vicar General, Fr Des Sexton, to visit all Deaneries in the Diocese to review the current arrangements for mass and to discuss the position with regard to having an aging priest population. In Doncaster they are moving towards having a hub church with satellite churches. There will be a meeting on 17th March of the Bishop and the clergy to discuss how we make preparations. However, Deacon John asked us all to pray for Barnsley.

Gift Aid for Visitors

The Core Group had discussed the issue and decided not to pursue as there aren’t enough visitors to the Parish. Nora Carr challenged this decision, as it is not the place of the Core Group to decide, but to consider the agenda for the meeting but the Parish Forum should make the decisions.

Doug Carr advised the Parish Forum that he estimated that the Parish had lost approximately £300 in unclaimed Gift Aid last year.

Decision: The Parish Forum gave Doug the mandate to produce the envelopes which will be given to visitors by those who meet and greet those attending mass at both churches at weekends. It was felt that the envelopes could also be used for baptisms, weddings and funerals, as well as mass intentions.

Action: Doug to produce the envelopes for both parishes.

A line will also be placed in the parish newsletter about the envelopes.

Parish Newsletter

Discussion returned the Parish Newsletter, and the examples that Chris Wood had shared at a previous meeting. Chris will investigate how much it costs to produce the examples provided. However, it might be possible to set up a new template for the newsletter with the static content, for the school secretary to update.

A further update will be given at the next meeting.

Celebrating St. Mary’s 50th Anniversary

Peter O’Brien updated the Parish Forum that the lighting has been upgraded and the church decorated. A commemorative bookmark and cookbook are in production.

A list will soon be available at St. Ann’s for people to indicate if they will be attending mass on 31st May so that numbers can be catered for.

Fundraising is underway to meet the costs of decoration, donations from St. Ann’s would be welcome.

There was a request for one of Doug’s quizzes. He agreed to put one on.

Pat Punt is pulling a display together, and wondered whether there is any archive material at St. Ann’s?

Action: Ann Whitfield will send a copy of the CD produced for the 150th Anniversary of St. Ann’s to Pat.

Election of Core Group member for St. Mary’s

Maureen Garvey was proposed by Kath Wade, seconded by Chris Wood and duly elected to the Core Group. The group now has a full complement of members.

Action: Maureen Aldous to send a list of Core Group members and their contact details for the Parish website to Ann Whitfield.

Action: Laura to email Maureen a copy of the Core Group constitution.

Any other Business

Programme for Holy Week: Fr Stan has produced a programme of masses for Holy Week. Pat Punt raised the question about the timing of the Easter Vigil mass at St. Mary’s. Fr Stan explained that he is trying to ensure there is a mass at both churches. The programme was agreed.

The Parish Forum asked Fr Stan to announce the watch after the Easter Vigil and explain why it is important.

Action: Laura to email the school secretary and ask them to place a reminder on the Parish Newsletter about the re-commissioning of Ministers for Holy Communion at mass on Maundy Thursday.

Meeting Dates

Core Group / Parish Forum
8th June (St. Ann’s) / 22nd June (St. Ann’s)
5th October (St. Mary’s) / 12th October (St. Ann’s)

Fr Stan closed the meeting with a prayer and blessing.

Summary of Action Points

Action Points
22/10_06 / Core Group to consider approaching the Lottery Fund to pay for the required refurbishment of the kitchen at St. Ann’s
16/03_01 / Doug Carr to produce Visitor Gift Aid envelopes for use at both parishes.
16/03_02 / Ann Whitfield will send a copy of the CD produced for the 150th Anniversary of St. Ann’s to Pat Punt.
16/03_03 / Maureen Aldous to send a list of Core Group members and their contact details for the Parish website to Ann Whitfield.
16/03_04 / Laura Twomey to email Maureen Aldous a copy of the Core Group constitution.
16/03_05 / Laura Twomey to email the school secretary and ask them to place a reminder on the Parish Newsletter about the re-commissioning of Ministers for Holy Communion at mass on Maundy Thursday.

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St. Ann’s & St. Mary’s Parish Forum minutes – 16th March 2015