Last Tuesday’s meeting of the PCC was another interesting meeting with lots of discussion. Here are the highlights. If you would like to know more, please ask any member of the PCC.
We spent a lot of time talking about building and financial issues. The blockage to the main drain has now been cleared and we have put anti-vandal paint on the back flat roof. Although we have an opportunity to apply for funding to insulate and repair the flat roofs, the PCC decided (with all the building work we had done this year) to postpone that project until after our quinquennial (five year inspection of the church) by our architect. Tabitha and Daniel have been looking at our utility bills and have found a company that will enable us to cut our bills by up to 50% (£3500 per year instead of £6000 per year for the church alonce). The PCC agreed to swap our provider. Our parish share is set at £13000 for 2010; with the building work on the church this year, it is unlikely that we will be able to pay all our parish share for this year, but we will pay as much as we can.
We reviewed the fees for weddings and funerals and recommended some revisions to the fees. We also looked at our Child Protection and Vulnerable Adults policies in the light of new and revised national guidelines and agreed to make some additions to the policy which will be looked at the next meeting of the PCC. We also agreed to put on a session for those people who have not yet attended one of training for working with children and vulnerable adults.
A donation has been received by the church from a well wisher of £1000, some of which will go towards the cost of drain clearance should our insurers not cover the full cost. The PCC decided that some of this money would be used to set up a small fund to support people who are undertaking theological training, training on behalf of the church, or to subsidise people who cannot afford to go on retreat or quiet days. Further details on this soon.
We noted the exciting development with the lunch club (see above) and the arrangements for covering Fr Stephen’s extended study leave. We were also alerted to the fact that we need to apply for a licence to cover the showing of dvd material in church (this sometimes happens in Pathfinders and in our study groups).