PARISH OF CIRENCESTER with WATERMOOR

And ST LAWRENCE

Minutes of the meeting of the Parochial Church Council held on Tuesday 21 January 2014 at 7.30pm in the Parish Centre

Present: the Revd Canon Leonard Doolan

Mr Peter CotteyThe Revd Howard Gilbert

The Revd Penny LightMiss Ann Farrow

Mr Simon SmithMr Keith Brown

Mrs Margaret AustinMrs June Godsell

The Revd Gary GradyMiss Aileen Anderson

Mrs Francesca CooperMr Oliver Cooper

Mrs Michaela GilmanMr Alan Jones

Mr Chris JonesMr John Lawrence

Ms Cate LuckMrs Erica Wells

Mr Rick Williams

  1. Fr Leonard opened the meeting with prayer
  1. Apologies had been received from Mrs Susan Gargett, Mrs Fiona Hawes, Mrs Judith Ivison, Mr Benjamin Janes and Miss Penny Phillips
  1. The Minutes of the Meeting held on 10 December 2013

The heading for Item 10 was altered to read Church Halls, not Churches

These minutes were then approved and signed as correct

  1. Matters Arising from those Minutes

Item 4: It was proposed by Fr Leonard and seconded by Fr Howard that Mrs Olivia Vickerson should be appointed to replace the Revd Rosemary Franklin as the person responsible for the safety of vulnerable adults.

Mrs Vickerson is a social worker with considerable training in this area and this appointment was approved unanimously

Item 4: Mr Cottey, who was absent from the December meeting, raised concerns about the matter of sanitary/nappy bins in our buildings. He was particularly concerned that a contract had been signed with the company dealing with these bins without PCC approval.

There was more discussion about this matter, which made clear the different needs in different buildings, the unsatisfactory service being provided and the need to monitor the situation. It was decided that Fr Leonard and Mr Cottey would deal with this.

Item 4: Mr Smith reported that completion of the contract to purchase no. 6 West Market Place is expected by the end of the month.

  1. Update on the Parish Review (paper already circulated)

Mr Cottey reminded the Council of progress so far, and presented draft proposals for the job description and person specification for the appointment process for a Parish Development Manager (PDM) later this year.

There was a lengthy discussion about the relationship between current employees and the new PDM, about a realistic level of salary for the post, and about the need for the PDM to be sufficiently involved in parish life to know and be known to members of the congregations.

It was then proposed by Mr Cottey and seconded by Mr Brown that another joint meeting of the Personnel Committee and the Communication and Fundraising Group should be convened, following this PCC discussion, to agree the next stages of advertising, the interview procedure and the appointment, if appropriate.

This was agreed by a majority of 16 in favour, 1 against and 2 abstentions.

Further progress will be reported to the PCC at its next meeting on 25 February.

  1. Subcommittees

Parish Property Group (paper already circulated)

Mr Alan Jones reported on a meeting of the Group on 8 January. The main items had been related to maintenance. Nothing of significance had arisen as a result of the Quinquennial inspections. Tenders for the work on the Parish Hall toilets were due within the next few days

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  1. Secretary’s Business

Miss Farrow gave advance warning of the Annual Parochial Church Meeting at which a number of changes of personnel would take place.

It was suggested that this information should be published in the parish magazine and pewsheets and on the website, and that the Wardens should be sent details of changes related to their church congregations.

  1. Chairman’s Notices

Fr Leonard reminded members of their corporate responsibilities as Trustees for the governance of the life of the parish, and that PCC decisions must be publicly supported by all. He expressed the view that induction for new members is important.

He then announced the establishment by the Bishop of a new Society of St.Kyneburga to honour those in the diocese who had given many years of service to the church. On Saturday 8 February at 4.30pm in the Cathedral, Canon Jim Harris and Mr Brian Bruton will be welcomed as members of the Society. Fr Leonard hoped that church members would be able to attend to support them.

He reminded members that at the recent Confirmation service a formal agreement had been signed between the Upper Room Community and the parish. A Council of Reference is now to be set up to monitor this relationship, consisting of 3 representatives from the Upper Room, 3 from the parish together with a ‘Visitor’ from the diocese. Fr Leonard himself is to be one of our representatives, and the Revd Penny Light expressed an interest in being involved as did Mr Cooper. The Council of Reference will report to the PCC.

Fr Leonard also announced that the Archdeacon’s Visitation is planned to take place on 11 May at 6pm. However it became clear that this clashes with the commissioning service for the start of Christian Aid Week organised by Churches Together in Cirencester. A different date may have to be found for the Archdeacon’s Visitation.

  1. Ofsted Report on WatermoorSchool

Although the school was not judged to need an immediate re-inspection, and the general tone of the report was very positive, the report stated that the overall effectiveness needs improvement. In particular the pace of learning at KS1 is not fast enough and new systems are not yet working well enough.

Details of new admissions criteria for PowellsSchool will be reported to the PCC at the February meeting.

  1. Matters for Report from the Churches

Holy Trinity

Concern was expressed about the lighting at Holy Trinity which is being unreliable, though the wiring seems to be satisfactory.

Mr Cottey reported that fund-raising, together with grants from the Friends and elsewhere, have produced about £30k towards the cost of new heating, and that the new system is considerably more efficient and is saving money.

St John Baptist

Mr Smith reported that during a review of insurances with Ecclesiastical Insurance he had said that it appeared that the Church Commissioners had a 2/3rds liability for repair of the chancel of St.John Baptist. Ecclesiastical’s agent had said the commissioners were usually good at accepting the corresponding insurance liability, and he would provide a contact at the commissioners.

St Lawrence

Mr Williams expressed the view that the windows should be repaired rather than replaced. Mrs Godsell said that they were awaiting news of the cost of replacement from Mr Hopegood, and had been promised £5k from the Friends.

  1. There were no Reports from the Church Halls
  1. Any Other Business

Ms Luck reported on how well the Parish Office, and Mrs Bannister in particular, had coped with their work-load at Christmas

There being no other business the meeting ended with the Blessing at 8.55pm