PCC Minutes: Monday 26th September 2022
St Luke’s Church, Grayshott
Meeting 400 of the PCC in Timothy Room at 7.30 pm.
Present:
PCC Members: Revd Jeremy Haswell, Edward Tobin, Jeremy Hassell, Alice Murphy, Allison Sutcliffe, Viv Ward, Philippa Whitaker, Penny Thomas, Floss Mitchell, Ros Balfour, Clive Purkiss and Sheila Austin.
In attendance:
Dan Bennett (youth minister)
1. Welcome and opening prayer
Revd Haswell opened the meeting in prayer.
2. Apologies: Revd Elizabeth Knifton, Chris Grocock, Clive Loder, Frankie Kelly
3. Minutes of PCC Meeting 399 on Monday 6th July 2022
Floss Mitchell suggested that for clarity in the Equality & Diversity section of the Draft Minutes, after “requirement” the words “ for PCC membership” should be inserted. Penny Thomas asked that the bracketed comments about legal training be deleted.
With amendments the Minutes were agreed and signed by the chairman (Revd. Jeremy Haswell).
3a. Action List
1.Update on Sharing the Load (STL). Sheila Austin said she would be contacting all StL Champions reminding them of the need for Budget requirements to be submitted before 19th October.
2. Parish Fundraising Programme (PFP). Sheila Austin informed the meeting that every issue of the September Grayshott Today had included a Village2Church leaflet, but more fundraising initiatives were needed. Viv Ward updated the giving situation saying an additional £861 per month which is equal to an increase of £9k since the launch of the Appeal and this was encouraging.
3.Iknow Church training. Revd Haswell said this training was still ongoing, but he hoped his new PA would help.
4. Risk Assessment for Youth Activities. Edward Tobin said the Risk Assessment for the Holiday Club was completed.
5. Health & Safety Procedures. Edward Tobin advised the meeting that no update had been addressed as the Assistant Church wardens had not met.
6. DBS Clearances for all PCC members. Penny Thomas reminded all members that it was essential for them all to undergo the DBS training. This was available on the CofE website, and it was very important that everyone undertook this training. Any signs of safeguarding concerns were reported to the Vicar, Safeguarding Officer (Angela Haine) and a written report kept. Penny added that churches, in particular were vulnerable because anyone could join and therefore we all needed to be alert for any indication of safeguarding concerns. She stated that it was the PCC responsibility to ensure the church was a safe place. Viv Ward asked how often we needed to do the training and the answer was every three years. Penny said the training can be found on safeguardingtraining.cofeportal.org. and PCC members need to complete the basic awareness course but it is worth continuing on to the Foundations course which provides more information and insight. It is particularly important to be able to recognise the kind of behaviour which might constitute abuse and to know what you must do if you are concerned or should do if someone reports something to you or confides in you.
Viv Ward also asked if a replacement had been found for Angela Haine, but Sheila Austin confirmed that only negative responses so far had been received.
4. Outward Giving Group. Revd Haswell reminded the meeting that a summary of all the organisations which receive Outward Giving grants were given at the last meeting. Penny Thomas asked if St Luke’s could hold Gift Days for the organisations, in view of the reduced amounts available which might help. Floss Mitchell said it was important to tell the congregation something about the organisations we give to , explaining that if we received more, we could increase our Outward Giving. It was important to publicise where the money is going. Revd Haswell confirmed this was happening before lockdown and would be picked up again. The recommended allocations for grants were listed for approval. Proposed by Floss Mitchell, Seconded by Philippa Whitaker. 10 in favour; 1 abstention.
5. Equality and Diversity Policy. Revd Haswell thanked Penny Thomas for producing the policy and adopting it was a positive step. Proposer : Penny Thomas, Seconded Floss Mitchell. Passed unanimously.
6. Services Update. Covered in Vicar’s Report.
7. Modern Slavery adopt Policy. Allison Sutcliffe explained that the emailed document from The Clewer had only been received recently, and the “Make it Slavery Free” document replaces the proposed policy provided at the last meeting. There are 8 suggestions to try and bring slavery awareness to all. It is hope St Luke’s can sign up to 3 of the suggestions – the most important being on safeguarding and the training. Allison added she would be keen for the Churchwardens to do The Clewer training as it covers many aspects of their responsibilities. The main thing was for churches to be aware of this subject. Allison explained that The Clewer Initiative was the Church of England Modern Day Slavery arm. Revd Haswell said it was all about justice and being aware and he asked Allison to name 3 of the suggestions:
1. Enroll key individuals on safeguarding training.
2. Signposting.
3. Purchasing decisions – After discussions it was agreed that purchases for the
after service refreshments would be fairtrade where possible.
The meeting agreed these suggestions would be adopted.
8. Reports
a. Vicar’s Report: National Mourning. Revd Haswell said how pleased he’d been with how we had collaborated with the Parish Council over events covering the Queen’s funeral and the mourning period. Floss Mitchell commented on St Luke’s church service following the death and how Susie Millard’s short tribute video fitted the mood and was so good. The evening Compline service was also touching and well received.
Recruitment. The PA vacancy had been widely advertised; 6 replies were shortlisted to 3. One found employment so the panel, Clive Purkiss; Penny Thomas and Revd Haswell, interviewed the remaining two. The decision to appoint Lucie Thornton was unanimous.
Volunteers. Sheila Austin said that St Luke’s had been asked to take on the organisation of the “Christmas is Coming” concert, again. This needed the full support of the PCC and practical help. Revd Haswell explained it was held on the first Sunday evening in December. It brought in the community, was ticketed and has a bar. It is a concert and a fundraiser. Viv Ward said it was the only fundraising event we had this year. After discussion it was agreed given the community aspect and the possibility of raising much needed funds. Dan Bennett asked why St Luke’s no longer ran the bar for Grayshott Concerts. Edward Tobin explained that several years ago St Luke’s couldn’t find volunteers to do this so Grayshott Concerts found alternative people.
Services. Revd Haswell said that a previous meeting had discussed what would be done on the third Sunday morning. He had asked Anna Finey to discuss what the options were. Her findings were put to the PCC and Revd Haswell acknowledged that he hadn’t handled the situation well. His concern was the need for consistency at the 10.30am service, so people knew what they were turning up for. The Head of Grayshott School has a massive passion about getting the children into church, so that it normalises their being in church. Revd Haswell confirmed his hope that we improve how we reach out to young families and Grayshott School, as seen in the report from Susie Millard which showed the progress in this regard. Susie and Dan are planning school assemblies in church and will be doing the usual Christmas services. Revd Haswell wanted the bridging with the school and Babes & Toddlers to continue. He added that he would be meeting Anna Finey in the near future and hope for reconciliation. The plan was to have the third Sunday as a Family/Youth service. There had been comments about Baptisms and Holy Communion being in the same service. Revd Haswell agreed it was better not to have them at the same service, but some families are restricted on dates.
Floss Mitchell asked what the plans were for live worship on Sunday mornings. Revd Haswell replied that it was very much his wish but progress was slow. Viv Ward asked if we could advertise for a worship leader, and Penny Thomas was asked to look at such adverts and report back to the PCC. Philippa Whitaker raised the issue of a choir and organist and Revd Haswell said he hoped to raise a choir for the Christmas services. Edward Tobin asked if it was planned that Worship Teams, for Contemporary & Traditional styles would be set up again. Revd Haswell replied that a number of committees needed to be considered.
Energy. Revd Haswell said with the increasing cost of energy we might have to be making some difficult decisions about charging for it. Everyone needed to be aware of unnecessary use.
b. Administration Team Report. Edward Tobin reminded the meeting that a decision was needed about the company to maintain the church clock. The choice was between Smith’s of Derby and Cumbria. It was proposed by Edward Tobin to employ Cumbria; Seconded by Philippa Whitaker. Passed unanimously.
The grant for the leaf collector/mulcher had been received from East Hampshire District Council (EHDC) and thanks were expressed to Councillor Tom Hanrahan for his help.
The church boiler needed a new fan. The cost for Ampella to affect the repair was £985.32 and this would be covered from the building fund.
Sheila Austin asked, on behalf of John Haine (Electoral Roll Officer), if the PCC agreed that we should use the revised Diocesan Electoral Roll Form instead of the current form. We will need to gather emails and telephone numbers for social and fundraising purposes separately, as these are prohibited on the Diocesan form. This information is legitimately obtained via our current GDPR form. The meeting agreed to this.
Sheila added that Gill and Clive Purkiss had offered to help with the Appeal Fund by inviting 4 people to a full Sunday roast lunch at a cost of £25 each. All income would be donated to the Appeal Fund. This kind offer was appreciated by all.
c. Finance. Viv Ward pointed out the major things the PCC needed to be aware of and that the accounts reflected the situation to end of June.
General Fund, at the end of the first half of the year we had a surplus of £1300
which was nearly £10k better than budget. This included the first tranche of the PFP and the huge savings being made since setting the budget, i.e. not employing a worship leader or choir master. Viv could not yet calculate the change to our energy costs and also when and if regular giving might change. However he had calculated a figure of a deficit of £(14k) which was better than budget by £18k and this was encouraging.
Youth Fund. Although there wasn’t as much coming in, a regular giving of £5k per year for three years had been received. This together with a possible grant from Grayshott Parish Council (if successful) would obviously improve the figures. In addition we have been given a grant from EHDC, solely for The Base, of £7k a year for three years.
Reforecast. The total Reforecast for the combined General Fund and Youth Fund is still a deficit of £(29k) which hopefully will improve with more from the PFP but more work on income needs to be done.
2023 Budget Viv said now was just the right time to be addressing this and he asked members and StL Champions to let him have any extra spending needs before 19th October. He explained that once the PCC had approved the Budget not every small item of expenditure had to be referred back to them. Sheila Austin said she would email all Champions to encourage them to help Viv in this task.
Room Bookings. These would need to be reviewed for 2023.
Vicar’s Relief Fund. There remains £5,759 in this fund.
Independent Examiner. Revd Haswell gave a vote of thanks to Jonathan Tippett who had served in this role for 10 years and approaches were ongoing for a replacement.
Parish Share. Viv announced that the new rate had just been received and was an increase of 0.45% to £96,425 for 2023.
Rend Haswell gave huge thanks to Viv for his diligence in keeping us on track in so many ways.
d. Children & Youth Report. Further to his report Dan Bennett confirmed the ratio of leaders to young people was 2-20 but this was only single sex and more volunteers were needed. Although a recent Sunday had more people helping Sunday School need regular helpers. It was encouraging that 3 young people, attending The Base, were working towards their Duke of Edinburgh’s Awards and Dan was helping them undertake leadership roles. It was agreed a letter of thanks from the PCC be written to EHDC thanking them for the grant to The Base. A Steering Group of Jeremy Hassell, Dan Bennett and Alice Murphy will ensure the promises made in the application to EHDC are met.
e. Prayer & Discipleship
A vote of thanks was given to Brenda Schwartz for her work in this area and the picking up on Home Groups was noted.
f. Pastoral. In her report Ros Balfour said it was time for a meeting with interested parties to consider the best way to move forward in this area.
9.Any Other Business. Susie Millard had provided a report on the involvement with Grayshott School, which was positive and exciting highlighting increased activities between St Luke’s and the school.
The meeting closed 9.45 p