PCC Minutes: Monday 27th March 2023
St Luke’s Church, Grayshott
Meeting 403 of the PCC in Timothy Room at 7.30 pm.
Present:
PCC Members: Edward Tobin (Chairman), Sheila Austin, Philippa Whitaker, Clive Loder, Frankie Kelly, Allison Sutcliffe, Penny Thomas, Ros Balfour and Viv Ward.
Alice Murphy joined the meeting at 7.50pm
In attendance: Dan Bennett (Youth Minister)
1. Welcome: The Vicar was unwell but asked that the meeting start with Luke chapter 11 – the Lord’s prayer. This was read by Sheila Austin and was followed by a prayer by the chairman.
2. Apologies received from: Revd Jeremy Haswell, Jeremy Hassell, Revd Elizabeth Knifton, Chris Grocock, and Clive Purkiss.
3. Minutes of PCC Meeting 402 on Monday 30th January 2022
The minutes were agreed. A copy of the minutes was signed by the chairman.
3a. Action List
⚫ Sharing the Load: No changes had been received by Viv Ward. A vacancy still exists for the PCC champion for outreach / hospitality.
⚫ Energy Efficient Measures: Viv Ward confirmed that we were achieving the best prices with the Parish Buying programme which included over 1000 churches.
⚫ Parish Funding Programme (PFP): nothing to report
⚫ i-Know church training: nothing to report
⚫ Risk assessment for youth activities: Dan Bennett confirmed that he had made out a risk assessment for the Easter Holiday Club on 4th/5th April. Numbers of children have had to be limited to 30 due to limited numbers of volunteer helpers and there is waiting list. All helpers must be DBS tested.
4. Safeguarding Officer changes
Penny Thomas and Hilary Loder have offered to take over as joint safeguarding officers from Angela Haine who has been safeguarding officer for many years. Angela will present her annual report at the APCM.
The proposal was put to the PCC by Sheila Austin and seconded by Clive Loder. It was approved unanimously by the PCC (Penny Thomas abstained).
PCC members were very grateful for Angela’s work.
5. Annual accounts and Treasurer’s report
Viv presented the Accounts for 2022 to the PCC. He proposed that they be accepted and this was seconded by Sheila Austin. The PCC gave unanimous approval. Viv had shown the accounts to the independent examiner, Christopher Kelly who was satisfied they could be presented at the APCM.
Regarding the quarterly accounts, Viv said that the General Fund had come in with a small deficit of £3,075. This was better than anticipated which he attributed to parish members keeping expenses to a minimum and also fundraising activities such as a concert in church in December. However the youth fund has had very little money coming in since April 2022 when a previous very generous donation ended. There was therefore a deficit of £7k against a budget of £12k.
For the current year, there is still a £41k deficit (£29k general fund & £12k youth fund). Viv said that a lack of volunteers is a big problem. There is a reduction in regular giving once again. Lucie Thornton (Vicar’s PA) is encouraging room hire to bring in income.
Ros Balfour asked which church groups were paying and which gave donations.
Viv commented on the income from Grayshott Concerts which is good (£3.5k is due). Parish Breakfasts and the Women’s Group make donations of any profits.
The Thursday lunch club had already paid £331 this year.
Cleaning the church rooms had been a problem but this had now improved.
Viv reported that the Babes and Toddlers group were donating £150 to church funds. He understood the ring fenced account had a balance of £210. However, the assistant churchwardens had been told that a fund of £400 had been identified in a separate account relating to the Babes and Toddlers group. The only signatory on the account was Barbara Johnston (previous Vicar’s PA). Viv will liaise with the relevant parties as some expenses will be incurred for the repair of their toy shed in the churchyard.
6. Church Development Plan and Archdeacon’s Visitation
The Venerable Paul Davies, Archdeacon of Surrey, visited the parish on 1st March.
In preparation for this, the Revd Richard Lloyd had visited the parish on 6th February to help finalise the Church Development Plan as part of the Parish Needs Process. This was available on one drive for PCC members to review prior to this meeting.
The 3 main headings were:
⚫ Growing Discipleship – which includes plans for an alpha course and other outreach.
⚫ Establishing small groups.
⚫ The Financial Situation – and encouraging regular giving.
Jeremy has since had a working lunch with the archdeacon to discuss matters raised.
Richard Lloyd will be hosting a meeting at St. Luke’s on 15th May to discuss setting up small groups and will include representatives from neighbouring parishes.
7. Reports:
Vicars’ Report:
Although he was unable to attend this meeting, Jeremy had prepared a 2 page report for PCC members. This gave a comprehensive summary of activities going on within the parish and specifically thanked those concerned. He also summarised the archdeacon’s visitation on 1st March.
Churchwardens’ Reports.
Fabric:
Edward presented his report thanking the assistant churchwardens for their efforts in church maintenance and the churchyard gardening team in tidying the churchyard.
New LED lighting to replace the fluorescent lights in the Timothy Room should not cost more than £600. The lights in the kitchen are also being upgraded.
In the churchyard, the flower borders are being tidied and may be re-stocked with shrubs and bulbs. There has been the offer of a donation to help with these expenses.
Although not requiring a faculty, a large mirror has been erected by the residents of Church Lane in the holly edge bordering the churchyard opposite the end of their lane. This was after verbal approval was given by the vicar although the size and prominence of this had not been made apparent before it was put up.
The residents will be asked to have the back of the mirror painted dark green to blend with the hedge (at present it is white).
The archdeacon still has to give his permission for a permanent bench to be placed at the north end of the churchyard in memory of Kitty Holden.
Administration:
Sheila Austin thanked Richard Pimm (Fire Safety Officer) for his training session for the sidesmen on 15th March.
She thanked Clive and Gill Purkiss for their fundraising efforts by hosting paying guests for Sunday Lunches. This has already raised nearly £1,000 for church funds.
Children and Youth Report:
Dan presented his report. The Holiday Club dates were confirmed as:
• 4th/5th April at the pavilion by the recreation ground
• 26th - 28th July at St. Edmund’s School (by kind permission of the headmaster)
Dan said he intends to hold a fund-raising curry evening on Thursday 4th May for youth funds. Sheila recommended a system of tickets (up to 48 – the capacity of the Timothy Room). The price will be £15 / ticket. There followed a discussion about publicity and (if alcohol is to be sold) a temporary event licence from East Hants District Council.
Dan suggested that tickets might be paid for by credit card which prompted a discussion – see other business – below.
Pastoral Report: Ros Balfour presented her report and gave an account of a diocesan training day that she and Liz Tippett had attended.
Prayer & Discipleship Report: None (Brenda is still on sabbatical).
8. Other Business
Electronic payments by credit/debit card
It was questioned whether payments (including donations) might be made to the church electronically by a card reader. This is possible in many churches but until now the outlay costs have appeared to be excessive. Clive Loder pointed out that this was discussed by the PCC last year. He has researched suppliers and the cost would be around £375 for a fixed unit which could be set up in the church and left unattended. The transaction charge would be 1%.
Sum up is already available for contactless payments but Viv cautioned that entries on the bank account are poorly indexed making it difficult for him to identify the sender. This unit requires wi-fi and cannot be left unattended.
Some PCC members offered to finance the set up charges for the unit in church.
This was proposed by Clive Loder and seconded by Penny Thomas and, on this basis, PCC members gave their unanimous approval.
Marking on church wood block floor
These had been noted in the last two weeks and appeared to be due to a child’s scooter skidding along the floor. The floor had been restored and sealed in January 2021. It was definitely not caused by Grayshott Concerts who had not been using the church during this period. Clive Loder offered to attempt to remove the marks using an industrial floor polisher. A notice would be posted asking that scooters are not ridden in church.
The meeting closed with a prayer at 8.40 pm.
The date of the next meeting 19th April 2023 following the APCM.