PCC MEETING 14th JULY 2010

The Rector welcomed Canon Christopher and Mrs Susan Rutlege (recently retired as Vicar of St. Mark's, Talbot Village) who is to give a presentation later in the meeting.

Minutes of the meetings of 12th May were approved and signed
Matters Arising:
Electrical Testing at All Saints & St. Marks Church and Hall
The periodic inspection and test of electrical fixed wiring and portable appliances and plugs has been completed with Certificates to be issued shortly. All appliances, except the Burco Water heater in the kitchen, passed tests. Minor problems such as plugs and cable restraints have been replaced or re-fixed; work ongoing to bring system up to current regulations. Safety measures to be taken for the Stage Consumer Units. Mr Hyatt has discussed their report with the contractor.
Treasurer's Report
a. Financial Statements for period to 30th June 2010 were distributed at the meeting. Mr Warner briefly summarised as follows:-
Incoming Resources: Incoming Resources from Donors were £22,725 - £900 above budget; Income from charitable and ancillary trading £1,064 above budget; Income from Investments £789 below budget by -£1,571, thus Total Budgeted Incoming Resources for the period to 30th June amounted to £29,227 with Other Incoming Resources of £4,929 raising Total Incoming Resources to £34,156.
Resources Used: Grants totalled £2,307; Activities directly relating to the work of the church were £63,381 at £52 below budget; Church management & administration of £645 was £295 above budget for repairs to the Risograph copier with Total Budgeted Resources Used for the period being £64,026. Other Resources Used amounted to £4,410 raising Total Resources Used to £68,436..
c. Funds raised from Parish Fete: This was held on Saturday 19th June at the Memorial Hall the proceeds from which being a "profit" raised of £3,950 which, as always stated, would be shared between All Saints & Saints & Heroes.
d. All Saints Restoration Fund: The Fund balance carried forward at 30.06.2010 was £446.17 including the Nicholson Bell Works balance of repair costs due.
e. Deanery response to attempt a parish share recategorisation: This was not agreed by the Rural Dean so we are to continue as a Category B parish.
Parish Fete -Thoughts, reflections, and ideas for the Future: Mr Lambert stated his first reflection is that it was a very successful day. As he said at the time, we got to 4.30pm without any rain and nobody threatening to sue us. And later we were able to work out the monetary success also. The second reflection is what hard work running a fete is and in that respect he would like recorded formally in our minutes the PCC's appreciation to all those who participated. On a rough count there were some 60 from our congregation and another 40 from outside.
He then expressed his thoughts on the fete, the first being that a successful fete takes a year to plan and needs a committed body of at least 10 to see it through. There are 9 different sections to a fete, each requiring someone responsible to plan, organise and carry them out. His second thought is how good it was that we were able to place the church right in the middle of the community, rather than our more normal peripheral situation. We established firmer contacts with the civic leaders of the parish and we were able to connect with various residents, some through their help and others just by their attendance.
This then brought him straight to ideas for the future, the first of these being the absolute necessity to keep ourselves in that contact. Parley Residents Association in their website are already calling for this to be an annual event and he quoted "Should WPRA and the Parish Council get together to see that it goes ahead?" No mention of the church at all there, which is a situation that we cannot allow to develop.
About 2 years ago Mr Timberlake came to talk to the PCC About the formation of the West Parley Parish Plan Steering Committee, basically inviting us to join in. We didn't and that Committee, which is meant to plan all aspects of Parley life for some years in advance, as required by Statute, now consists of 3 parish councillors, 2 members of the PRA, and chairman of the Memorial Hall Committee. This is the body which will deal with future fetes under its plans for social events in the parish. I do not see how this could possibly be allowed by us to happen without our involvement. Not only should we continue what we have started in trying to get the church into the heart of the community but, on a purely practical side, how can any fundraising be done in the parish without some benefit accruing to its ancient church, as no doubt would be the case without us. The next public meeting of that committee is on Friday evening (16th July) and they will of course be discussing all aspects of life in Parley, not just fetes. As a church we are involved in all aspects of Parley life and I would therefore propose that this PCC should, as a duty, elect say 2 representatives to attend the meetings and hopefully eventually join the committee. Concluding, the Rector commented that in the end the fete was driven by the church. He intends to attend the public meeting tomorrow evening and will make his points that - 2012 is the Queen's Diamond Jubilee; Fetes should be held every other year rather than annually; Civic authorities, PRA, and Church should be equal partners; the meetings to be "open" for others who may wish to attend.
Presentation by Canon Christopher Rutledge on his experiences of Parish life: Different Parishes all have unique variations so because one does it does not mean "why not us" - it is not like that. When appointed his approach was to get to know the current arrangements. The situation of the church at Talbot Village is very different to West Parley with considerably larger congregations and size of buildings. During their time at St. Marks, Capital expenditure overall for new plant was £1.25 million. They have approximately 100 Baptisms a year but weddings are going down. They hold a family Eucharist on the first, third and fifth Sundays with average regular attendance of 380 per Sunday. As Vicar his policy was to delegate management responsibility for the various departments to their well established groups. A question & answer session followed and then the Rector, on behalf of the meeting, warmly thanked Canon and Mrs Rutledge for the very informative presentation.
Update on Current Works:
a. Car Park: C&G Tarmac have confirmed the re-surfacing to commence on Monday 16th August, the car park being closed until Friday 20th August inclusive. Extension to the car park using Grassprotecta costing £2,128 plus four safety posts to highlight the raised drain. An additional disabled parking bay will be provided. A donation of £1,000 has been received from a church member towards the cost. A grant application has also been made to the Erskine-Miston Trust Fund in respect of these combined projects.
b. All Saints Churchyard- New gates installed at £182 by Resources Group using existing furniture. West Parley Residents Association are moving on to other projects. A letter of thanks has been sent to Mr Heaslip the WPRA Chairman by the Rector.
Forthcoming dates and events:
a. Changes to PCC dates: To avoid a clash with the Reading Group the dates have been moved back one week as follows:- 22nd September, 24th November, 26th January, 23rd March.
b. Occasional Services & Social events: Quiz night 10th September; Historic Churches Cycle Ride/Stride 11th September; Harvest Festival & Lunch 3rd October; All Souls Commemoration 31st October; Fireworks Party 7th November.
Rector's Remarks: Carried Forward.
There being No other Business the meeting closed with the Grace at 9.40pm

Chris Stansbury PCC Secretary