Minutes of the Parochial Church Council, St. Peter’s Draycott

Held on 07/01/2004 at 8 p.m. at Villa Westfield, Wells Road, Draycott.

 

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1.     Opening prayers. 1

2.     Attendance and apologies. 1

3.     Minutes and report on actions taken. 1

4.     Any other business. 1

5.     Items for Decision. 2

5.1      Churchyard rules. 2

5.2      Lent course. 2

5.3      Parish Away Day. 2

5.4      Easter programme- Holy Week activities. 2

5.5      Charitable monies. 2

6.  Items for Discussion. 3

6.1      Treasurer's report (see separate summary) 3

6.2      Fabric report 3

6.3      Fund raising committee. 3

6.4      School report- Admissions policy. 4

6.5      Correspondence. 4

7     New business. 4

8.  Dates for future meetings. 4

9.  Closing prayer 4

 

1.      Opening prayers

Stanley Price opened the meeting with a prayer. Richard Dingley took the chair.

2.      Attendance and apologies

Julie Brown

Richard Dingley

Sylvia Dingley

Tricia Corrick

 

(all present- no apologies)

Chris Green

Colette Jeff

Wilf Lacey

Audrey Morgan

Thea Oliver

Stanley Price John Cartwright

Wendy Cartwright

Victor Skinner

3.      Minutes and report on actions taken

Minutes of 20th October were agreed as correct, with minor amendments.

Actions:

5.1              (Parish away day). The £20 was paid.

5.2              (Christmas card purchaser) This did not happen as the Parish Newsletter had all the services in it.

5.3              (Confirmation of appointment of Jeff Astle as school governor). Letter written.

5.4              (Thanks to Maureen). Letter written.

5.5              (Flower rota). A flower rota has been drawn up.

5.6              (Notice board). The wrong board arrived, and is being changed for the one originally intended. The cost is a bit higher than anticipated, at about £460. NB. The inside notice board is getting damaged by rain leaking through the porch roof.

4.      Any other business

Several items were accepted for other business.

5.      Items for Decision

5.1    Churchyard rules

·        There was a discussion about what rules we should apply to graveyard monuments, and how this would be done. Some points of view which were expressed:

Ø   We need to lay down some new rules.

Ø   Large stone urns should not be allowed, as these make grass cutting difficult.

Ø   We also need to publicise the rules to undertakers/stonemasons in the region

Ø   We cannot enforce rules in the graveyard which have not been applied in the past.

Ø   We must consider feelings in the village: this can easily be alienated.

Ø   We might wait to apply the rules strictly to any new graveyard areas.

 

·        To take this forward, we must draw up some local rules based on the diocesan rule book. ACTION: Julie volunteered to undertake this.

5.2    Lent course.

·        The "Bishop's course" is First to the Lord. It can be used ecumenically, and is being adopted by Ann Wait of St. Andrew's Cheddar for the 'Churches Together' Lent course. It is suggested that we join them: the meeting agreed.

·        Start date: week beginning 1st March.

·        There will probably be 2 venues in this benefice, and 4 in Cheddar.

·        The final evening will not be in Draycott, but will probably take place in Cheddar.

5.3    Parish Away Day.

It was agreed that we would benefit from having some outside input. Our first choice was the Greens (Dorothy and Ernest), both from their previous involvement with our parish , and also from their experience in organising retreats.

5.4    Easter programme- Holy Week activities.

·        Monday: Stations of the Cross (RC church, Cheddar)

·        Wednesday: Joint meeting of study groups

·        Thursday: Passover meal.

·        Friday: meet for a meditation at Draycott Church at 6 pm. The setting would be a Taizé service, and the meditations could be based on some from Judith Rose. We should like to involve Ian Ames-White and Nikki Devitt. Appreciation was expressed for the previous Taizé service organised by Nikki.
ACTION: CG to ask Nikki if she would be willing to contribute to this.

·        Easter: still not decided. NB. we need a group for special services to think of options for occasions like these.

5.5    Charitable monies.

·        We raised £152.16 through the Advent Lunch and the carol service. We need to disburse this money.
ACTION: subcommittee should be convened to decide: members Sylvia, Julie, Audrey.

·        Audrey was thanked for organising the Advent Lunch. This had been poorly attended- unfortunately many people were busy (although some had contributed money anyway). Audrey said that she would not repeat this experiment, as it was a lot of work considering the outcome.

6.  Items for Discussion

6.1    Treasurer's report (see separate summary)

·        The report was circulated and explained by Wendy.

·        Parish share: we only paid £3,500 out of about £10,000 last year.

·        Next year's Parish Share will be £9,583, which we must pay from an income of around £13,000. This would not leave nearly enough for our other commitments. The conclusion: we are not paying our way, and this situation looks set to continue.
ACTION: this needs serious discussion, taking into account our current fundraising plans.

·        Richard Dingley asked if we could pay John Peddar something for all the work he put in to the church repairs, and suggested £150. This was agreed by the meeting.

6.2    Fabric report

·        Richard had decided on a notice board and ordered it.

·        The floor has been completed, and is now much safer.

·        Stage 2 of the roof repairs have been completed and paid for, with the deduction of some of the hire costs for scaffolding (see below).

·        Chris reported that we still owed West Country Tiling £700.72, for the following reasons:

a.    We had previously agreed to settle our outstanding invoice with West Country Tiling (at an end-of-service meeting of the PCC in November last year), in spite of our previous misgivings. However, the invoice appeared to include the full cost of the scaffolding hire, although West Country Tiling offered in June 2003 to reduce the hire costs by 50%. We accordingly deducted 50% from the 'additional scaffold hire' part of invoice 12378.

b.    When paying the invoice, I explained our retention of the £700.72 (both to West Country Tiling and to Mr. Chedburn). They both wrote back to explain that the charges were in fact only £90 per week (half price). Checking the invoice more carefully, this is true (although they are marked '100%'  in the invoice)- the total period of the additional hire is 15 weeks 4 days, which at £90 per week is £1401.43 (the amount we were charged).
Deanery Synod report

c.    There will be a payment to make in about six months time of the outstanding retention which will be released to the contractor when any maintenance items have been attended to, and we may also have to pay the architects a final amount for his fees.

6.3    Fund raising committee

·        A Lottery Grant has been applied for, to finish off the roof. This was quite complicated to do, and had to be delivered by hand in Bristol, on the closing date. We have not heard yet. If they respond positively, the next step will be to take them through all our estimates.

·        'Enhanced fundraising committee': Victor wants to expand the fundraising committee, to increase the ideas and manpower to carry them out. He has written to the existing committee, not all of whom will be staying on. Ideally, he would like to have 10 people. They will meet on Tuesday 27th January at Victor and Rita's house.

·        The major event for 2004 will be the Cheddar Male Voice Choir at the village hall. This has been booked for the 19th June. We have renewed our license to allow us to make a prize draw.

·        Hearing loop. We should be able to get a diocesan grant for facilities for the disabled, but we require a faculty. Stanley explained the procedure, which was quite complicated and would have to involve the architect.

·        (raised by JC) Have we explored the recovery of money through insurance, for storm damage to the porch (we think this was in October 2002)? Thea had reported it to Ecclesiastical Insurance by phone, but no claim had been made.
ACTION: CG to contact the insurers.

6.4    School report- Admissions policy

The current school admissions policy does not have any positive discrimination in favour of Christian families. The governors were against discrimination, and Stanley was for it. He was interested in our own views on this before taking a line at the next school governor's meeting. In a brief discussion, both positive and negative opinions were expressed.
ACTION: The PCC should debate this issue properly when we have more time, and perhaps take a vote.

6.5    Correspondence

·        Stanley had received a memo from the Criminal Justice Group describing a domestic abuse helpline. Booklets were available.
ACTION: details to go into magazine and on notice board.

·        Parish survey- we are reminded that this must be carried out next month.
ACTION: Trish & Richard will do the required head count between them.

(NB. In view of the number of items to be discussed, the issue of hymn books and re-ordering the building- on the agenda- were postponed. NB. we should also add other issues raised for the first time last meeting- visiting, joint services)

7          New business

No new business was accepted in view of the lateness of the hour.

8.  Dates for future meetings

·        Annual Church Parochial Meeting: 25th April, 6:30.

·        The next meeting will be on Friday 6th Feb 2004.

9.  Closing prayer

The meeting closed with the Grace.

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