MINUTES OF PCC MEETINGS

St George’s Parish Church

Parochial Church Council

Minutes of the Meeting held on Wednesday 31st January 2024

 

Vice Chair: Mr P Raven

 

Present: Mrs M Lee, Mrs K Raven, Mr P Raven, Mr A Smith, Mr A Talbot, Rev D Loughran

 

Apologies: Miss H Raven, Rev L Harper

Mr P Raven as Vice Chair opened the meeting with a bible reading from John Chapter 3 v22-36 followed by a reflection. Mrs K Raven led in prayer.

 

Urgent Business

• DBS Checks for all PCC members and those leading services

 

All PCC members are required to be DBS checked and Mrs K Raven is to forward a link to all members for this to be carried out. Also all members must complete the online Safeguarding Basic Awareness and Foundations training and again Mrs K Raven is to forward the link to members. Mr A Smith informed PCC that he would act as the ‘leader’ of the cleaning team on a Friday morning so as to cover the safeguarding aspects. This was agreed by all.

• Amplifier for Chancel Speakers

 

This amplifier has been taken away for repair by Stage and Studio Services Ltd.

 

The minutes of the PCC meetings held on Wednesday 15th November and 17th December 2023 had been previously circulated and were signed by Mr P Raven as Vice Chair as a true record of the proceedings. It was also agreed to make those minutes available on the noticeboard. Rev D Loughran asked for GPDR purposes if PCC members were happy for names to be printed in minutes displayed on the church noticeboard. All were happy for this to be done.

 

Matters Arising

• Porch Lighting (removal of pigeon nest)

 

Again due to the financial position it was agreed to carry this forward. Mr A Smith agreed to move the decoy pigeon in the porch to see if this helped.

 

Building Care group report

 

Roof Project: Faculty has now been approved. It was suggested to go to Shropshire Historic Churches Trust for a grant to help with the cost of this project. Mr A Talbot agreed to investigate this.

 

Future Service Pattern

Following our association with East Telford Benefice, the Sunday morning service at St George’s will continue to be at 9.30am each week. Most Sundays will be a Holy Communion service apart from the 2nd Sunday of the month when a Morning Prayer service or an alternative lay-led service would be held.

 

Mission Action Plan

• Info Leaflet for new attendees

 

Rev D Loughran informed PCC that Kerry Debenham would be prepared to organise this for us if we told her what information was to go into the leaflet. An easier to follow service booklet was also discussed.

 

• Photo Board: PCC Members

 

This will be printed when frames have been provided by Rev K Evans. Also photos of Rev D Loughran and Rev L Harper are to be taken at some point and it was agreed to ask Mr J Cross to carry out this out when available.

 

Growing Together

• Relationship with St Georges School: The relationship is very good at the moment. Rev L Harper has now become the ex-officio Foundation Governor at St Georges school and has just attended her first governors meeting at the school. The school will come into church for Experience Easter. Also the school will be coming into church on the 21st February for a ‘Celebration of Song’.

 

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• Relationship with Wombridge: The monthly joint Prayer Group continues to meet. Although numbers fluctuate from month to month, the time is valued by those who attend.

 

• Relationship amongst ourselves: After a short discussion, it was agreed that Rev D Loughran would speak with the Friday group about which fundraising activities they might be able to commit to.

 

Safeguarding

Rev D Loughran agreed to speak to one or two members of St George’s that she felt would be suitable candidates for Safeguarding Officer. All were in favour. Rev D Lougran also informed PCC that the Safeguarding Statement was out of date and needed to be renewed. It should be renewed at each annual meeting. Mr A Talbot agreed to look into this.

 

Finance Report

Mr P Raven handed out the current financial position. The current account stands at £1,095. Parish share payments were not quite up to date with £528 still owed for January 2024. The restricted fabric fund stands at £21,725. From 2023, Mr P Raven highlighted that the PCC had met its commitment to four charitable donations of £300.

 

Fundraising /Events Schedule and Progress against budgets

Mr P Raven handed out a draft fundraising sheet which was handed to Mr A Smith to discuss with Mike and Jenny Ward. Upcoming events are:

Pancake Evening – 7.00 pm in church

Quiz Night – 21st February at 7.30 pm in the social club.

 

Electoral Roll Applications

There were no new applications.

 

Forthcoming Services

Ash Wednesday 14th February – 7.30 p.m. at Wombridge Church

Easter Sunday – 9.30 am St Georges

Patronal Festival – 9.30 am 21st April

 

Date of Next Meeting

Wednesday 13th March at 7.30 in church

Annual Parochial Church Meeting – 9.30am on Sunday 17th March

The meeting closed at 9.10 p.m. with the Grace.

 

 

(Signed) P.G Raven                                                                           Dated 13 March 2024

( Vice-Chair)

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