PCC Minutes: Monday 20th May 2024
St Luke’s Church, Grayshott
Meeting 410 of the PCC in the Church Hall at 7.00 pm.
Present: PCC Members: Revd Jeremy Haswell (Chairman), Sheila Austin, Clive Purkiss, Clive Loder, Hilary Loder, Anna Lescure, Graeme Bowerbank, Jeremy Hassell, Alice Murphy, Anne Gale-Jones, Philippa Whitaker, Viv Ward.
In attendance: PCC Secretary, Edward Tobin
1. Welcome and opening prayer
Revd Haswell opened the meeting at 7.10pm. He expounded John 6 35-40 and said a prayer.
2. Apologies
Susanne Wavre
3. Minutes of PCC Meeting 409 on 25th March 2024
The minutes were agreed and signed by the chairman.
4. Elections, co-options and appointments to the PCC
Chairman – Revd Haswell
Vice (Lay) Chairman – Sheila Austin
Treasurer – Viv Ward
Standing Committee – Chairman, Churchwarden, Treasurer, PCC Secretary, 1 PCC member (Alice Murphy) and 1 vacancy for another PCC member.
Finance Working Group – Vicar, Churchwarden, Treasurer, Stewardship Recorder, Congregation Member (Jonathan Tippett), PCC Member.
Stewardship Recorder – Barbara Johnston
Electoral Roll Officer – John Haine.
Human Resources (HR) Officer - Clive Purkiss
Secretary – Edward Tobin
Parish Safeguarding Officers & Validators: Hilary Loder & Penny Thomas
(this was changed at Hilary’s request from the previous outdated titles)
Vacancies remain for one churchwarden, one PCC member and one deanery synod representative.
All these appointments were proposed by Clive Loder
and seconded by Philippa Whitaker
and approved unanimously.
5. Safeguarding
Hilary presented her report to the PCC including 2 handouts.
She said that the PCC is asked to sign up each year to the Church of England’s document “Promoting a Safer Church”. All PCC members were happy with this, and the vicar signed a copy of the document.
ilary went through the 2 algorithms she had handed out to PCC members.
The first was the initial procedure for reporting a safeguarding concern, incident or allegation. Although emails to the Parish Safeguarding Officer (PSO) can be made directly by email, telephone calls to the church office or diocesan office may be constrained by office hours. Sheila discussed the procedures in the church office. In an emergency, the police should be contacted by phoning 999.
The second handout went through the next steps.
There is a standard reporting form to the Diocesan Safeguarding Officer which Hilary showed to the meeting. Accurate recording is essential. Hilary emphasised that confidentiality is imperative. In many instances, she would not even tell the other PSO or the incumbent.
Clive Purkiss asked about when the accused gets to hear about the allegation. Whoever makes a disclosure is required to report the information to a safeguarding officer. Usually, the discloser never hears anymore.
There was a further discussion about further examples of past incidents.
There is a requirement for us to report safeguarding incidents to the Charities Commission, but this is dealt with by the Diocesan Safeguarding Officer. Hilary gave further examples.
Both the Vicar and Hilary (PSO) stated their complete confidence in the process.
Hilary asked that the PCC adopt this policy to which all present agreed.
She then discussed the action plan that had been circulated to the meeting.
Each organisation within the church was listed and showed when it was fully compliant. Penny Thomas will be working on this with the organisations listed.
Hilary asked that the PCC adopt the action plan and all present agreed to this.
The copy was signed and dated by the chairman.
Viv then asked about training courses in safeguarding. Hilary explained levels 1,2 & 3 in Penny Thomas’s safeguarding report. PSO’s receive an email when PCC members complete a course or when they are out of date. Hilary said that, for PCC members who were unhappy about doing the online courses she would be happy to train a group. She discussed some widely publicised previous cases within the C of E. Graeme Bowerbank supported her by saying that the processes are there to protect you.
6. Proposal for a Fridge Freezer in the kitchen to replace the old fridge.
Sheila had circulated a proposal to the meeting, but the treasurer had not had time to read this. He was concerned that the proceeds from the “Winter Warmer” event had been earmarked for general church funds. Other needs for improvement were discussed.
Anne Gale-Jones asked whether we could withhold our parish share once again.
The treasurer replied that we would need to discuss this with the diocese.
The vicar explained that the “model of ministry” would not change while he was incumbent, but we might not have a full-time minister as the next incumbent or our parish might be amalgamated with a neighbouring parish.
Hilary encouraged the PCC to look to the various grants that might be available to us. There followed a discussion about various grants.
The vicar confirmed that a donation had been received to cover the increase in the administrators’ salary.
Graeme asked the meeting to confirm that the total cost of the fridge freezer would be just £600. Clive explained the technical details of installation. The treasurer confirmed that the Winter Warmer proceeds were £580. However, there had been an anonymous donation of £350 so the contribution from the Winter Warmer proceeds would be £250.
This was proposed by Clive Loder and seconded by Philippa Whitaker.
The treasurer abstained from voting but all others in attendance (11) agreed.
7. New Bench for New Cremation Plot Area.
The vicar said that a generous donation had been made to pay for a bench overlooking the New Cremation Plot. This would be sited in a bay of the north wall of the church between the buttresses.
Proposer: Vicar
Seconder: Jeremy Hassell
It was approved unanimously.
Hilary Loder warned that the condition of churchyard benches need watching as some have been in a dilapidated state. Sheila Austin confirmed that this is a new bench, and she would be applying to the diocese for permission to place it.
8. Post Alpha Discussion Group
Chris Grocock (LLM) would like to start a group to “mop up” people who had completed other Alpha Courses.
Chris was asking the PCC to approve him exploring the possibilities / practicalities.
The PCC gave their unanimous approval.
The Chairman thanked the PSO’s – Hilary and Penny for their work.
The meeting finished in prayer at 8.34pm
The next PCC meeting will be held at 7.00 pm on Monday 22nd July 2024.