Hagley Parochial Church Council
Minutes of the meeting held on Monday 15 January 2024 at 7.30pm at St Saviour’s.
Present: Richard Newton, Sue Priest, Margaret Rankin, Kim Topham, Sharon Bryant, Becky Hindmarsh, Wendy Jones, Bob Jones, Kate Aldridge, Jenny Moulder, Chris Spencer, Michael Norris.
- Opening Prayers: The Rector opened the meeting with one of the Diocesan prayers for growth and vision.
- Apologies: David Trewin, Richard Scarth, Malcolm Roberts, Margaret Henderson, Gill Richards, Paul Evans, Judy Day, John Gowar, Diane Mottershead, Iain Wright, Barbara Albert.
- Minutes of meeting held on 20 November 2023: These were approved and signed.
- Matters arising from the Minutes:
- Safeguarding: The Dashboard is up to date. Michael and Margaret Norris have taken the Leadership Safeguarding training. The Diocese is encouraging all PCC members to do the Domestic Abuse training online. Jenny will send details out to PCC members.
- Wi-Fi at St John’s: The Wi-fi is in place and there is good reception by the font. The donation station needs to be securely attached and as there is no plug nearby, an extension lead will be required. The next step will be to programme with the donation software.
- Sound System at St Saviour’s: The engineer will be coming to check the system on 23 January. John Gowar will attend.
- Electronic Card Reader for Donations: The Parish Office will order a further station for St Saviour’s.
- Contact: The December/January edition is in the new all-colour style. Extra copies were printed to give away at Christmas services at Church and at the Hagley Christmas event in the village, to encourage new subscribers. A new style subscription form has been enclosed.
5. Festival and Events:
- Ex Cathedra Carols: The event went well and was a sell-out. The team worked well together, and we will look to book another concert in December 2024.
- Christmas: Services went well. 120 attended Nine Lessons and Carols this year, which was a big increase from last year. The Crib service at St Saviour’s attracted a large congregation of 250 with standing room only. Next year stewards will direct people to seats. Lower numbers attended Midnight Holy Communion at St John’s, and 50 on Christmas morning. The Sunday after Christmas (31 December) was very well attended.
- Lent: The York Course ‘God has no favourites’ will be used this year. The Lent group will be on a Monday evening at St Saviour’s 7.30 pm for 5 sessions. Invitations will also go out to the Free Church.
- Easter: Compline will be held on Zoom during Holy Week, as it has been well received in previous years. There will be a Family service on Good Friday at St Saviour’s and a more reflective service at St John’s in the afternoon.
6. Finance
a) Treasurers Report: Iain provided the attached report before the meeting.
b) Other Matters from the Finance Committee: Unfortunately, Iain was unable to attend, but the PCC voted on the
items raised by Iain in his covering letter. The PCC voted unanimously to pay £54000 for our Ministry Share for 2023, and to make up any missed payments up to this amount. Clent have paid £22000 in 2023. The PCC voted not to make any extra payments for 2022 of £11000, or £14000 for 2023, due to the financial position of having made a loss in both years.
- Church Fabric and Church Hall: David Trewin provided an up to date report to the PCC – attached, read out by Sue. St John’s: Leaves have been cleared from the guttering. St Saviour’s: New heating in the Parish Office is working well. Leaves have been cleared from the guttering. The faulty lighting in the Vestry is being attended to.
- Churchwardens items: Richard has spoken at morning services to encourage volunteers to be Churchwarden. Bishop Martin has expressed concern that we don’t have a full team and he would ideally like to see volunteers from the younger generation. The Funeral Team and the Baptism Team are working well.
- Brief reports:
- Eco Church: There will be a meeting on the 31 January when the team will fill in the form to apply for the Bronze Eco Award.
- Music Festival: The flyer has been printed. The next meeting is on the 18 January. Paul Taylor will preach at the festival Evensong. He is a musician and organist and was Archdeacon of Sherbourne in the Salisbury Diocese.
- Social Events Group: Tickets are going well for the pancake party. As the tickets for the Panto on the Saturday matinee were sold out, a small group are going to the Wednesday evening performance.
- Hagley Hub: This collaborative project is going well. 40 people attended last week and enjoyed delicious cakes provided by Hagley W I. Multi generations are attending. The kitchen is cold so the oil filled radiator from the Parish Office will be used as required.
- Electoral Roll: 117 with 94 living inside the Parish and 23 outside the Parish.
- AOB/Correspondence:
The ‘all-colour’ Contact magazine has been well received. The editorial group meet monthly and would ideally like another volunteer to get involved with the editorial side to work with Adam.
David Hoskins has retired after 3 years as Area Dean, and is replaced by Andrew Sillis (vicar of St Thomas, Stourbridge).
Sharon reported that a recent incident at the Hagley Hub highlighted that the First Aid kits and Accident Books need upgrading. Two separate kits are needed – 1 for the kitchen and one for general use in the Hall, along with updated Accident Reporting books. A Burns kit will also be required for St John’s due to the number of candles in use at events. The PCC are happy to purchase these kits and Sharon will obtain. Jenny will take a lead on any Safeguarding issue.
Sue will contact Porters, who have offered to do gardening during their Community Engagement week in April, to suggest St Saviour’s grounds.
The Book of Remembrance at St John’s needs updating. Richard will collate the information as Ivan Boswell has offered to fill in the book.
The next meeting is on Thursday 21 March 7.30 pm in St Saviour’s Church.
The meeting closed with The Grace.
Chairman............................................................................. Date : 21 March 2024