St Albright’s Church, Stanway - Parochial Church Council

Minutes of Meeting - Friday 11^th September 2020 - 7.00pm via Zoom

Present: Rev. Tony Bushell (TB), Wendy Pagden (WP), John Bonham (JB), David Tibetts-Chaplin (DT-C), Clement Arde-Aquah (CAA), Penny Bonham (PB), Pam Higham (PH), Mark Claydon (MC), Ann Booty (AB), and Ravi Natarajan (RN).  Also by invitation Colin Wren (CW) and Jenny Wren (JW) to speak about the opening of St. Andrew’s Hall.

Referred to in minutes – Michael Topple, parish and pioneer administrator (MT)

Opening Prayers: Chairman Rev. Tony Bushell opened the meeting with prayer using the Collect for Trinity 13

Apologies for Absence: were received from Morag Bushell (MB), David Kent (DK), John Lemon (JL), and Sue Lemon (SL). 

DTC declared his interest as someone paid a fee by the PCC as organist for the church. He asked that it be noted that he is still only receiving a retainer for his services whereas he is now playing regularly every Sunday morning. TB said that would be taken up forthwith with the treasurer (DK). WP thank DTC for all his efforts in getting the church ready on Sundays. All agreed.    Action: TB/DK

Pioneer Ministry 

As WP could not stay for the whole meeting her report, which had been circulated previously, was considered first. WP highlighted the importance of the new curate, Chris Willis, coming to the parish and due to be ordained this Sunday. Although he will not be a “pioneer” and only part-time (three days a week plus most Sundays) he will be involved in the pioneering ministry and is keen to be so. Of the Children and Families’ Worker/Pioneer, WP said it was unfortunate that we were unable to appoint the first two preferred candidates but that the one to whom an offer has been made will, she believes, do very well. This person will be on part-time hours at first and would probably be part of a “jigsaw” of different persons and ministries as the pioneering develops. 

TB added that the pioneering ministry was very exciting and had huge potential. He said that it was remarkable what WP had been able to achieve even during the restrictions of lockdown. Links had been made with lots of people and particularly noteworthy was the setting up of a Foodbank hub in the hall on Tuesday mornings.

WP commended to the PCC the Café Church starting a new season this coming Sunday at 4.00pm on the theme of Stanway stories. 

WP then left the meeting.

St. Andrew’s Hall

The hall sub-committee had met on two occasions in August to consider the feasibility of opening the hall to hirers again and government guidance now allowed it. JW and CW had put a lot of work into drawing up special conditions of hire and a risk assessment. The minutes of the first hall sub-committee meeting had been provided along with the special conditions and risk assessment. Absent PCC members had sent emails on the subject to TB. JW and CW gave a short introduction to the proposal. The PCC considered the matter at great length with discussion and questions. The principal concerns were the arrangements for cleaning, and whether the hall could be reasonably safe for all users. The consensus was that cleaning should not be the responsibility of the hirers but should rest with the PCC and that all arrangements should be watertight. All those present felt that it was premature to open the hall at the moment but that the matter should be kept under review, especially in the light of the latest guidance which seems to prohibit gatherings of more than six people.

The PCC thanked JW and CW and all the sub-committee for their hard work. JW said that it had not been wasted and would be used in due course. The hirers would be informed of the decision and the situation monitored by the sub-committee.

Minutes of Previous PCC Meeting (1^st May 2020).  These were approved.

Matters arising from the minutes.

• PH reported that her training in funeral ministry was complete and that she would be licensed at a service, hopefully, at Chelmsford Cathedral on 10^th October. TB said that he was pleased that this ministry was being developed and that a working agreement with PH would be prepared.
• RN reported that all the new office computer equipment had been purchased and was now installed. There had been one or two minor glitches but these had all now been resolved and everything was working well. MT has already found it a;; very useful, especially the printer.
• JB reported that he had sent the leaving gift of £50 to Bishop Stephen
• TB reported that the letter about giving had been sent to all regular givers. It had generated quite a lot of response and some change in giving patterns.
• TB reported that the APCM was still scheduled for 25^th October but there were no guidelines yet as to what form it could take.

Matters Arising and Questions from Standing Committee and Ministry Team meeting on 12^th June.

• The Communications Group had met to discuss the broadcasting facilities in church (RN and MC are members). JB reported that he had been in contact with the company that installed the sound system in church (AED). They were able to help with our wi fi and filming needs and would give us a quote. JB has been liaising closely with RN on this project.   Action JB
• On the subject of broadcasting from church, some members expressed caution. MC said we should be aware of safeguarding and GDPR issues. CAA said we would have to be careful about people in church using other devices. JB assured them that AED were experts in this field and had done many churches already. They even said that it should not be necessary to obtain a faculty but that an archdeacon’s permission would normally suffice. CAA and RN wondered whether it would mean that people would stay away and only watch online. TB said that the livestreaming we had done so far reached out to a much wider audience and that should be encouraged.

Finance Report

• DK had provided an up to date report of financial activity. TB thanked him on behalf of the PCC, stating that we were extremely fortunate to have such clear, detailed and precise information. All agreed.
• There was discussion about the renewal of our Churchdesk subscription which is due on 12^th October. JB had authorised renewal for one year but thought that it made much more sense to go for three years as it gave a substantial discount (15%). All agreed this was sensible but it would still be a lot of money and there were insufficient funds in the general account. Several members thought that the extra should not come from the legacy fund. JB proposed that half of the cost could be borne from pioneering funding and WP had earlier agreed with this. The PCC approved this course of action – that a three year contract with Churchdesk be agreed and that 50% of the subscription should be claimed from the pioneer fund. It was noted that such a change would need to be approved by the SDF. JB also said that the subscription depended on the numbers of people recorded on the database. At present we paid for up to 500 but that limit was fast approaching. It was apparent. However, that in several instances different members of the same family were counted as separate individuals (children in baptism families for example). It was resolved that some auditing of the names and numbers was required. It was agreed that Churchdesk was an extremely useful resource and had been started because of the projected pioneering ministry.  Action JB/DK/MT.
• JB also reported on several building and maintenance works that had been carried out: the hall ventilation system had been serviced; all fire alarms, emergency lighting and fire extinguishers serviced; floodlights now have a light sensor. On the latter, JB thought that the bulbs, which are 20 years old, should be replaced with LED which use much less electricity. All agreed this should be done. JB will obtain a quote    Action JB  
• TB noted that the Green Audit referred to at the last meeting and headed by MB was underway. Data had been collected and progress was being made.
• MC asked whether the anti-beetle smoke bombs had been used in church. DTC reported that they had not but that he had them and would see to it next year.

Deanery Synod

• PH gave an oral summary of the last meeting of Synod as the written report had not been distributed. She said that the Deanery Synod had been a near duplicate of what had been said at the Diocesan Synod two weeks before. The main area of discussion was the parlous state of the finances of the diocese and that drastic steps were being taken to remedy this in terms of stipendiary clergy and other paid staff.
• TB noted that this made the formation of MMUs all the more important if parishes were going to have to share resources in the future. There had been no progress on this in Colchester since lockdown but things would soon be happening.

Safeguarding

• There were no items to report

Any other business

• JB asked how many copies of the annual report would be needed for the APCM. TB thought that until we had some indication of the nature of the meeting we could have no answer to that. He would make enquiries.     Action TB
• Some items of pastoral care were mentioned
• No date was set for any future PCC. This would probably occur after the APCM as reports for this year and financial statements had all been approved already.  

The meeting closed with prayer and the Grace at 21.20

Tony Bushell (Chair)

13/09/2020