The first meeting of our new PCC took place last Tuesday, and with every single member present, it was quite a large gathering. We welcomed Chris Daley, Jessica Howell and Emma Ackland-Snow to their first meeting. Here are the highlights of the meeting:
We considered progress with our “Moving On” report of May 2008. We noted with pleasure how much we had been able to achieve in the past twelve months and agreed to keep reviewing progress and to put on a day for the parish in May 2009 to think about the way forward for us. At that day we will also consider the role of the PCC.
We agreed that we would continue to buy sugar from Traidcraft one month, and from local producers the following month. In our discussion we weighed the needs of support local businesses, not encouraging a carbon footprint through imports that use air miles, and our wish to support low paid workers. Because we are both a Fairtrade church and an Eco-congregation, it was an interesting dilemma!
We received an update from our energy efficiency progress group. A specialist heating consultant has visited the church and advised that the heating system we have at the moment is the best one (with all its disadvantages!) for us at the moment until we can afford to install a ground source heating system. We have met with the diocesan environmental chaplain and the city council environmental officer to consider grant aid for the areas of the church we wish to tackle, which are, in order: insulating and repair of the flat roofs, cavity wall insulation, double glazing, ground source heating system.
Fr Stephen updated the PCC on the building work. As you know, the work had finished satisfactorily, but a beer can stuck in one of the down pipes had caused severe flooding in the priest’s vestry. This means more work has to be done to replace the piping and to make good the flood damage. It is likely that much of this will be paid for by insurance, but we have been warned that some elements may not, which has financial implications for us. The PCC agreed that any additional costs would be met from our reserves, but noted that, because we are a listed building, it is possible for us to reclaim the VAT on all building works. We also thought about the possibility of anti-vandal paint on the flat roofs. The PCC also agreed to replace the water boiler in the kitchen (the present one leaks badly and is a health and safety risk) and to fit locks to the choir robes cupboard and to the servers robes cupboards to allow secure storage of personal items.
David Fleshbourne reported that we have had a lot of unavoidable expenses recently (partly to do with the building work and other essential building repairs) and that we need to be aware of this when planning future expenditure.
The PCC met in the Mary and Martha room, and we noted that the room was already being heavily used. A suggestion that we might put a book of remembrance in the room met with a mixed response from the PCC.
We thought about our resources for children in church and noted that the children’s area, whilst adequate, was not as attractive as it could be for children. We thought about the idea of having activity bags to give to children and Melanie Jackson and Jackie Howell agreed to investigate this further.
The PCC discussed what we might do with the sword that used to be attached to the front of the pulpit. It was unanimously agreed that it was not appropriate to have the sword on display in the church (both for theological and health and safely reasons) and we agreed to consult further with the congregation. Possible alternatives are donation to a museum, selling the sword or putting it in storage.
We agreed to postpone the summer fair and bbq until the new year, but the PCC were keen to repeat Back to Church Sunday in the autumn. Concern was expressed at the lack of support for car boot sales that we put on.
We were delighted to hear that Pathfinders have received a grant of £1710 from the Lincoln Youth Opportunity Panel. Pam Beattie and Jessica Howell also outlined developments with training that JJs and Pathfinders leaders have undertaken.
If you would like to know more about any of these issues, please do have a word with any member of the PCC.