Minutes of the Parochial Church Council of
The Parish Church of St. John the Baptist, Claines, Worcester
Wednesday 21ST May 2014
7.30pm
Venue: The Church Institute
Present: Revd. Jo Musson (Chairperson), Mr J Brady, Mrs J. Cale, Mrs R Cramp,
Mr P Kear, Mrs Caroline Causier, Mrs Madeline Ajetunmobi (arrived later), Mr G. Sansome, Mrs Sandra Ashcroft, Mrs Ann Sansome, Rev. Jennie Hayward, Mr I Cramp. (12 persons present).
Abbreviations used: CF=Carried Forward; Pr=Proposer; Sc=Seconder.
______
1) Meeting began with an opening prayer used recently at the parish awayday.
2) Apologies: Mrs G Clifford, Mrs L Deeprose, Mr Paul Fulbrook, Mrs J Hayden, Mrs J. Smallwood.
3) Previous minutes from the meeting on 27.01.2014 were accepted as a true record after minor corrections see below
4) Matters Arising – from 27.01.2014 minutes
4a – Chalice training is to take place on 28.06.2014 at 9.30
4b – Contracts CF
4c – Resurfacing of the Institute CP is going ahead.
4e – Archiving CF
4f – Film & Video licence CF
6b – see MOG report
6c – Governor at school CF
7c – the mower is now broken and we will need to replace it. This can go ahead.
11b – refer to HIM report
17a – The transfer of Kandago funds is in hand.
18c – Correction – should read “Graham and Sandra Ashcroft have donated £600 to the church, being the gifts they received at their Golden Wedding and Birthday Celebrations.”
18c – an anonymous donation of £200 has been received for children’s robes.
5) Previous Minutes from the meeting on 24.03.2014 were accepted as a true record.
6) Matters Arising - from 24.03.2014 minutes
4b – Revd Jo will ensure that she gets to meet Clive Montgomery.
5b – All those who help produce and deliver the Parish Magazine will be invited to a service to show our appreciation. [Action: Rev Jo to agree date]
5d – CF – a date is to be arranged to discuss stewardship.
7) Correspondence
a. Information has been received about the Festival of churches weekend. At Claines on the weekend of 13.09.2014 we plan to have – Bible reading; a picnic; bell ringing. This is also the ride and stride weekend.
b. PCC members have been circulated with Diocesan Budget and Future Roadshow letter. Neither the letter and its reply slip nor Kingdom people material has elicited much enthusiasm. The standing committee will see the video referred to in the letter [Action Standing committee].
8) Election of PCC and other officers
a) PCC Treasurer – Madeline Ajetunmobi. Pr=Phil K. Sc=Jill C. All were in favour
b) HIM Treasurer – Ann Sansome. Pr=Ian C. Sc=Sandra A. All were in favour
c) PCC Secretary – John Brady. Pr=Caroline C. Sc=Jill C. All were in favour
d) Electoral Roll officer – Ernie Duggan. Pr=Phil K. Sc=Sandra A. All were in favour
e) PCC Lay Vice Chair – Geoff Sansome. Pr=Caroline C. Sc=Rachel C. All were in favour
f) Mission Resources Officer – CF
9) Order of the original agenda was changed to allow time for Dave Robert’s presentation.
9. Portable Nave altar CF. Awaiting quote.
10. Paul Fulbrook has applied for the Pastoral Care and Bereavement Counselling Authorised Lay Ministry course (ALM). He is also doing the Bishop’s Certificate. The consensus of those present was that he would be very well suited to this course and the type of ministry it would lead to. Comments for his submission were required and these were provided and recorded. All were in favour of Paul applying for this course. Pr=Jill C. Sc=Sandra A.
a. ALM and Licenced Readers roles and training available needs explaining to the congregation. [Action Rev Jo]
11. Safeguarding policies – both Claines and Diocesan. These need to be formerly adopted by the PCC.
a. Diocesan policy on the recruitment of ex offenders. Pr=Phil K. Sc=John B. All were in favour of adopting this policy.
b. Disclosures policy – we are currently undertaking DBS checks – being carried out by Jean Smallwood. Pr=Rachel C. Sc=Caroline C. All were in favour of adopting this policy.
c. Handling, use and disclosure of information policy – this involves rules about the handling and storage of information pertaining to the safeguarding policies.
It was recognised that all such information should be locked away safely. Revd Jo said that she required a lockable facility in her office. Lorraine working with Jean and Rachel were seen as the people to lead the way forward in order that we comply with this policy. Pr=Rachel C. Sc=Sandra A. All were in favour of adopting this policy. It was noted that the sorting, retention and disposal of the information we have stored will be a very big job.
d Parish Safeguarding Policy Statement Pr=Jill C. Sc=Rachel C. All were in favour of adopting this policy. 5 copies to be signed. The policy must be displayed in all our premises including church, and reviewed in 12 months. [Action: Lorraine]
Ian C enquired about the implementation of these policies. Revd Jo replied that she felt the work being done by Lorraine and Jean is fulfilling our needs and the requirements of the policies adopted. Revd Jo pointed out that further training is in the pipeline for all clergy and readers and that training will then be offered for those who have responsibility for working with children and vulnerable adults. Jean S has begun the process of obtaining DBS checks for all those involved. Revd Jo asked all to be as punctual as possible with the return of paperwork and evidential documents so as to make Jean’s job a little easier.
g) Copies of all the Policies to be given to the secretary. [ACTION : Lorraine]
10) Churchwarden’s Report
a) Churchyard: Strimming has been carried out with some areas left wild. The balance between wild and strimmed seems about right. A lot of heavy work needs to be done in the churchyard. People volunteer to do some tidying and cutting but don’t remove the cuttings etc created. Removal of rubbish is proving to be a problem. Bonfires are no longer acceptable because of the nuisance they cause to our neighbours. That which was cleared in 2013 has now accumulated again. It was suggested that we pay for a contractor to clear the rubbish. Also suggested that the commercial rubbish bin be moved to opposite the tap and that the council are asked to collect it from here. [Action: Phil Kear to pursue options]
b) One of the biggest problems is wrappings, plastic etc that comes with flowers into the G of R. Wreaths too if left on graves have to be moved or they kill all the grass. It was suggested that a sheet with guidelines about such issues should be given to families when ashes are interred. [ACTION – churchyard group and standing committee need to look at the whole issue and propose solutions to the problems.]
Geoff S mentioned Mr Philips was contacted in the past with a view to extending the churchyard. Nothing came of this at the time but perhaps it could be looked at again. [ACTION : Geoff S to see what he can find out.]
c) Church repairs and maintenance: we have more jobs to do than money to pay for them! Proposal to use the Tower fund [£6,400.00] for some of the work. The paper submitted contains recommendations which were approved. [Action: PK to invite public comments re tower fund and to obtain quotes for rainwater goods]
d) Fees: PCC proposed that in line with National Church of England rates we charge £21.00 per hour for searches related to burial of ashes and genealogy. Pr=Rachel C. Sc=Ann S. All were in favour. [ACTION – Rachel and Geoff to draw up guidelines about searching.]
11) Revd Jo’s report was circulated. Sarah C’s last service was mentioned. There will, on the Sunday Sarah is ordained, be a service at Claines to be taken by David New.
12) MOG Report was circulated.
13) HIM Report – a paper was submitted. After consulting the Hall deeds it was agreed that the hall sign is to be replaced with one saying “Claines Parish Hall” and that all reference to Claines Church Hall be amended to Claines Parish Hall.
14) Events report – two papers were submitted.
15) Finance Report by Madeline – papers were circulated – please refer to these. Income and expenditure for the first quarter of the year was outlined. Our giving amounts to approximately half of what is needed. Wedding income is down.
16) At this point Dave Roberts presented the Working Party’s powerpoint about “Children and Holy Communion. Points noted [Note – this is not a synopsis of the presentation]. There was a discussion about the significance of confirmation and communion. Confirmation is a wish to confirm ones faith. But its meaning has been confused with permission to take communion. Confirmation should be something that a person chooses to do at whatever age: at baptism promises were made for me and I now accept those promises myself. A clear definition of what confirmation means will help the congregation understand this separation. Worth noting that the age at which confirmation happens has dropped over the years. Jennie – won’t confirm before the age of 14. The working group will attempt to provide more clarity about confirmation and what it becomes if children receive communion at a younger age.
Communion for children. At what age should it happen? Are the children mature enough to understand what they are doing? Yet the meaning of communion in some ways is a mystery to all of us never mind the children. One body all shared yet the children are excluded.
What will the six weeks communion training course entail? (These notes added by Rev Jo later for PCC information. Using ‘Welcome to The Lord’s Table’ as a basis and with a workbook for each child, the group would use a combination of Godly Play, workbooks and activities over seven weeks to cover the following elements:
1. Introduction: God knows and loves you (Psalm 139)
2. Birth and Baptism, Lord’s Prayer (Mark 1)
3. Learning to talk to God, praying, God’s presence
4. Saying sorry, what is forgiveness (Easter Story)
5. Connections with Communion: Trinity, Passover and Last Supper
6. Holy Communion: meanings and structure
7. Rehearsal, practicing how to approach the altar and how to receive)
Are we in a position to consult the congregation? Working party to take on coming up with definitions of Baptism; Holy Communion; Confirmation, to try and clear up the confusion that is anticipated will result. Proposal was that we move towards consultation. [Action: W.P. is to prepare the consultation presentation ready, and trial it on the members of PCC who are not on the WP before going to the congregation] The W.P. to work out the detail of the consultation process and report back to PCC. Pr=Phil K; Sc=Caroline C. All were in favour.
17) Meeting ended with the grace at 9.45
Next scheduled PCC meeting is Monday 7th July 2014 John Brady. PCC Secretary.
1