Parish council meeting, April 15, 2021

Minutes of meeting held Thursday, 15 April 2021, starting at 1900

Meeting held by Zoom, present: Fr Joseph Welch; Stephen Griggs, chairman; Mim MacMahon, safeguarding representative; Sue Manley, health and safety officer; Sue Devlin; Stephen Donaghy, secretary
Judy Fell had recently been discharged from hospital. David Mitchell had decided not to join parish council.

Minutes of previous meeting were accepted

1 The Bishop of East Anglia, the Rt Rev Alan Hopes, will visit on the feast of St Pancras, May 12, for Mass at 1800. Mass will be in English with parts sung in Latin.

The banner of St Pancras, which had been removed from the sanctuary for Holy week, was to be put back. Discussion followed on the best place to display the banner.

2 Financial report; Money had been spent on maintenance and spending was expected to exceed income for some time as the parish caught up with maintenance that should have been done for the past 40-50 years. More parishioners are now donating by standing order and we should encourage them to do so, ideally also submitting Gift Aid forms which enable parish to reclaim tax at no extra cost to donors. Dona digital cash points (DCPs) are to be installed when wifi is installed in the church. We need to appoint a new green envelopes co-ordinator for the planned giving after Anne Pickering retired from the role. The parish council chairman is to write to Gerry Elliot to request quarterly financial statements.

3 Wifi installation in church. Delivery of equipment was being awaited. Tony Glacum and David Sparrow will install, which will allow digital collection plates to be introduced.

4 Catechism classes update. Assuming lockdown easing goes ahead as planned we intend to have some revision classes for those making their first Holy Communion to do so over the summer. Because of lockdown we cannot have a packed church with dozens of children making their First Communion together so the plan will be for them to do so in individual or small groups. No confirmations are expected before the autumn.

5 Car parking update. Barrier being made which can swing across half of gateway and be locked, with a number code similar to the back gate. The plan is to lock it except for services for a couple of months so that those who have been parking without praying in the church learn that it is not available to them any more. Parishioners will be given the code and eventually the number can be printed in the physical, hard copies of the newsletter.

6 Presbytery building works update Waiting to hear from builder.

7 Estimate for decorating the parish hall accepted and go-ahead given for the work.

8 Parish hall cleaning. Maria cleaning at moment.

9 Porch has been decorated.

10 New parish website is up and running and will be developed further.

11 Health and safety report There are still issues with social distancing at Communion and as people enter church. There was a request for an item in newsletter to remind people to observe a two metre distance. The parish chairman will check the batteries in the hall’s smoke detectors and we need to ensure weekly fire safety checks are carried out.

12 Safeguarding report. People working with children or vulnerable adults need DBS checks. Mim to go through list to ensure checks are updated

13 Contact details of parishioners. People are encouraged to complete forms so parishioners may be contacted.

14 Parish council relaunch. Secretary to draw up three or four bullet points on purpose of parish council and as lockdown eases we can seek to organise elections/co-opt new members.

15 New altar update The diocesan architect had drawn up possible layouts and council agreed that number four was the most realistic basis.

16 Any other business

Rotas – reading, counting, flower arranging etc, need to be re-established as lockdown eases.

Holy Week and Easter had been celebrated by parishioners and choir was complimented on its performance

A possible parish mission/retreat/through the night vigil was mooted for summer/Advent to mark the easing of lockdown.

17 Date and time of next meeting June 10, at 1900

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