PARISH OF CALNE AND BLACKLAND Minutes of PCC meeting held on Tuesday January16th2018
Present:Richard Aldhous, Stan Anniss, MorciaBooton,Revd Linda Carter, Revd. Bob Kenway, Hugh Pilcher-Clayton, Mary Pilcher-Clayton, Penny Spencer, Graham Spencer, Lucette Rees, Jane Ridgwell,Jack Robinson, Derek Warnett, Kevin Wells
Apologies:Jonathan Billings,Isabella Gage,John Gibson, Lucy Hemmings, David Munday
Minutes of meeting held on November 9th2017 were agreed and signed, with an amendment to the date of the proposed Ceilidh
Review of Advent and Christmas services: It was recognised that Christmas is a really important time of year for the church as some people only come to a service at festival times. Bob expressed his grateful thanks to all those who were involved in any way with all the work that went into various services including David Bevan and the choir for the Carol Service and Jon Gibson and the team who produced the Crib Service. The Advent Meditation Course was well supported by people from all the churches and was much appreciated. There will be more events which will bring the whole benefice together, such as the Ceilidh to be held in the Lansdowne Hall at Derry Hill. St Peter’s had a good congregation on Christmas Day but felt they might need help in future years as too few St Peter’s parishioners were trying to do too many tasks. Starting on January 25th, there will be four prayer workshops run by the Prayer and Discipleship group to be held in the mornings in Church House and in the evenings at Wessington Park.
Administration: Diane Saxty is working alongside Sadie in Church House but it has been obvious for some time that the hours currently allotted to the task are insufficient. Additional hours are necessary but would involve a cost implication which must be agreed in principle. The PCCs at Derry Hill, Foxhamand Bremhill have already done this, so the following proposal was put to the table:
Calne and Blackland PCC agree in principle to giving their support for extra administration hours for the Benefice and for the cost of these being met Proposed by Bob Seconded by Morcia All PCC in favour
There will need to be a working party with two members to represent each parish; Kevin volunteered to be one of these.
Schools:. David Black will be standing down as a Governor of Holy Trinity Academy and Marden Vale Academy. – at present there are no replacements. Kathryn Miller has volunteered to be a Trustee at HT. Bob proposed her appointment, seconded by Jane, with all PCC members in favour. Marden Vale would appreciate more volunteers to hear reading.
Report from the Treasurer and Finance group: The reserve fund stands at about £37,000 which is kept separately from the general fund for covering ongoing costs. Increasingly, the parish is relying on donations and revenue from fund raising activities to help with expenses. Planned giving shows a decrease this year; many older members of the congregation no longer pay tax so are unable to gift aid their contributions. Expenses seem to be under control, the cost of the new computer software and printer being part of this.There has been a change in the amount from small donations which may be gift aided– now up to £8,000. Extra revenue accrued from the candle stand and coffee arc are all helping the situation. The Parish Share has increased,the General Fund iscurrently having to bolster the maintenance of Holy Trinity churchyard, and not much more trimming back of everyday expenses can be achieved. The budget for 2018 is likely to show a deficit of just over £5,000 at the end of the year.
The PCC were asked to adopt the accounts as put forward for presentation to the Examiner: Proposed by Graham Seconded by Lucette All PCC in favour
The PCC were asked to accept the budget as detailed by the Treasurer: Proposed by Graham Seconded by Hugh All PCC in favour St Mary’s have been left a legacy by an Edinburgh resident amounting to several thousand pounds.
Buildings Group: St Anne’s Gate Architects will be advising us on work that might be carried out in the parish. Raymond Winrow is to be relieved of this responsibility.
APCM: It has been confirmed that this will take place at 11am on April 22nd in St Mary’s
The main topic for discussion was COMMUNICATION: After the Parish Day a Communication Group was formed, consisting of five members, Jane Ridgwell, Sue Twyman, Steve Colby, Alex Grenfell and Jack Robinson. Jack reported that they have been busily involved with looking at ways communication might be improved and have created a newsletter which will be produced on a monthly basis as a vehicle for imparting information on events, dates to remember and profiles of people and groups within the parish. It might also include a prayer for the month, extracts from sermons, a homily and bullet points from the minutes. There will be no charge for the newsletter. The first issue should be available by the end of this month. They have also suggested a Who’s Who? board, first discussed by ACORNS group, which will be placed in the churches; an initial board showing members of the clergy and church officers will be completed shortly, with others to follow. A list of Sunday services will be published a bit more widely, in locations throughout the parish. A request was made that the full minutes of PCC meetings should be made available in the churches as soon as possible after the meeting has taken place.
The PCC then had a chance to vote on their preferred version of the poster and newsletter before Jack, who represented them at the PCC, takes this feedback to their next meeting on Monday 23rd January.
The date of the next PCC meeting TBC, as there is a clash of dates with the Lent course on Thursday March 8th