Minutes of the PCC Meeting held via Zoom on Monday 14 September 2020
Action | |||
1 | The meeting opened with prayer | ||
2 | Attendance | ||
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2a | PCC Membership | ||
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All | ||
3 | Previous Minutes | ||
The Minutes of the Meeting held on 22 June 2020 were agreed; proposed by Chris Gledhill, seconded by Elizabeth Holbrook and carried unanimously. | |||
4 | Matters Arising | ||
a
b
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Vacant Posts - The following posts have still not been filled
PCC and Ministry Leaders Day Report - Has been done and sent to all church members |
Melvyn | |
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5 | Ministry Leadership Team Reports | ||
a. b. c.
d.
e. f.
g.
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The only report received back was from Helen Downey. Ali and Mark Middleton usually do a couple of the reports but with them moving on their responsibilities are being shared out. The only reports outstanding are from Jackie Brooks-Cheesman and Melvyn Pereira’s which are updated below.
Chris and Elizabeth will be ensuring that there is a contact for each area of the Church program for the future. Prayer – prayer meetings and bulletins continue Pastoral Care – No changes Children’s Work – Ruth, Maria and Sally will work as a team and produce future reports Youth – 1. Maria and Ruth will look after Ignite 2. One of the older youth groups has been disbanded 3. Reboot – struggling to man – meets monthly – needs a leader – Elizabeth is liaising with Mel re maintaining contact at present – young people outside the Church family also go to this group so it is important to keep that link and not lose those youngsters who don’t have a natural Christian sense of leadership, and this is a good area for praying over 4. Melvyn , Elizabeth and Chris to discuss whether one of the children’s leaders should come to the Ministry Leaders Team meetings Mission/Evangelism – Nothing to report Friendship – Homegroups – one of the homegroups has been disbanded due to several members moving to pastures new. The continuing members have been divided up between the remaining homegroups. The Ladies group needs a new leader as June will no longer be available, but it is hoped that Dawn will take this on when she takes up her new post. The group has about 12 – 13 members and have been meeting face to face but are no longer able to with the Covid Rule of Six. Worship - Melvyn has completed the leading and preaching rota until the end of January 2021. Maria Seaman is a new leader and preacher. Re the Sermon Series we continue until the end of the Sermon on the Mount; in November there is a Remembrance Service and a Stewardship Service; then the Advent Series “preparing for Jesus”; In the New Year there is a short series on the Spirit Filled Life. Melvyn has asked Rob if he will oversee this |
Elizabeth
Melvyn/Chris/ Elizabeth
Melvyn |
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6 | Parish Boundary Discussion | ||
After an extensive discussion – see Appendix 1 attached – it was decided that Chris, Elizabeth and Melvyn will discuss it further at their meeting tomorrow and report back to Archdeacon Richard.
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Melvyn/Chris/
Elizabeth |
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7 | Finance | ||
a.
b.
c.
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Treasurers Report – We are doing quite well
Signatories/ new accountant updates - Sally Quincey is now an official online authoriser as well as Chris, and they can both authorise payments. Melvyn’s laptop –
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8 | Trustees Report/ Annual Report/APCM | ||
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Melvyn
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9 | Safeguarding Policy | ||
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10 | Interregnum preparations | ||
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Melvyn/Chris/
Elizabeth
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11 | Hope into Action – update | ||
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12 | Churches Together in Wellingborough and Deanery Synod | ||
Nothing to report | |||
13 | Any Other Business | ||
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Elizabeth
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14 | Date of next meeting | ||
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15
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Chris thanked Melvyn on behalf of the PCC for his, and June’s, service over the last 13 years and wished him the best to enjoy his new life. – God’s got More!
The meeting closed with prayer |
Appendix 1 – Parish Boundary
Background:
- Melvyn contacted Archdeacon Richard and asked him what can be done about the Parish Boundary as Gleneagles would like the whole of Glenvale Park to come within our Parish, which makes sense as Glenvale will be part of Wellingborough Borough and it would be odd for part of it to come under Great Harrowden Parish.
- Archdeacon Richard organised a meeting with Melvyn and Rev. Toni Smith (Vicar of Great Harrowden) to discuss it.
- It initially met with some resistance but Rev. Toni agrees that she sees the sense of Gleneagles working in Glenvale. Melvyn suggested Gleneagles and Great Harrowden working together. However, as pointed out by Archdeacon Richard, Great Harrowden does not have the resources and only has an older membership of about 10 - 15 people in their Parish. Richard suggested producing a set of questions for the PCCs to discuss.
- Toni’s PCC met and felt that they didn’t have the resources but how would Gleneagles feel about having Great Harrowden in Gleneagles’ Benefice. This adds another question about waiting until Dawn comes into post as the new vicar.
Discussion:
- The Gleneagles PCC felt it unfair to discuss it without Dawn being a part of the discussion as she has just accepted the post of Gleneagles’ vicar and may not wish to take on the added responsibility of being Vicar for Gleneagles Anglican Church and Great Harrowden Church.
- Another option suggested was for Great Harrowden to close and the members go to Little Harrowden.
- Chris and Elizabeth have the email chain with discussions between Richard, Melvyn and Toni so far.
- One concern raised by Chris for taking on Great Harrowden is the Church building itself, which has historical significance with wall paintings etc. and is likely to need substantial funding to maintain.
- Helen pointed out that funding for this would be available and suggested gathering information so that we have some knowledge to discuss with Dawn when she is in post, e.g. What funding is available?; grants?; what architects have done in similar buildings?; possibly someone to visit the church itself to have a brief look at the state of the building?; look into whether there is a Trust fund attached to it for maintenance?
- Chris suggested he and Elizabeth meet with the Churchwardens of Great Harrowden.
- Elizabeth pointed out that we need to tread carefully without giving the impression that this has already been agreed.
- Jeremy guided the meeting back to the main question – Firstly,
- Do we want the whole of Glenvale Park and possibly Great Harrowden in our Parish?
- If yes, then what are the possibilities and what do we need to know beforehand?
- Do gentle research
- Elizabeth emphasised that we need to remember that Great Harrowden are a Parish in their own right and we should not be giving the impression of a takeover.
- Chris suggested postponing it until Dawn is in post and for her to decide and possibly meet Vicar to Vicar.
- Melvyn reminded the meeting that some of the discussions have already been done
- Elizabeth suggests that if we are considering speaking to Great Harrowden, Chris and herself should first speak to Archdeacon Richard to establish the legalities and sensitivities and discuss the way forward.
- Carolyn had been doing some desk research and Glenvale will have about 9000 people and could grow to 12000 within 10 years
- Jeremy reminded that Dawn will not be in post until the end of the year and will need time to settle in and look at the plan for the next five years so realistically it will probably be six months before being ready to consider this and proceed formally.
- Heidi also reminded the meeting that they haven’t started building the houses yet so there isn’t any urgency
- Melvyn feels it will be a good idea to visit the church, find out a bit about the building, such as whether it has toilets and running water, and do some basic research, and Chris and Elizabeth to speak to Archdeacon Richard first and come up with a plan as to how to research/ proceed.
- Jeremy suggests there is value in having an informed discussion with Dawn and proposes a kind of business position paper to set out in one place the background/ context/ possible options to think about and discuss before Dawn arrives so that it can be put to her as, “This is what we are thinking about, this is how we may go about it, this is how we have been feeling about it and praying about it”. Jeremy is happy to help with it. Melvyn says there is already the beginnings of this sort of paper and Chris, Elizabeth and Melvyn to discuss it further at their meeting tomorrow and feedback to Archdeacon Richard.
Appendix 2 – Possible Church School in Glenvale Park - Reply from Duncan Mills – CEO of PDET September 2020
My understanding from discussions with the schools’ strategic planning manager at Northamptonshire County Council is that the first school for Wellingborough North (Glenvale) is planned to open in September 2022 or September 2023. The second school is planned September 2030. Before then, we have been made aware that the consultation on a new school for Stanton Cross will held in Spring 2021.
Currently, these schools are likely to be subject to the ‘Free School Presumption’ process i.e. mini competition run by the LA. We are currently in the process of making a similar application in Towcester for a school due to open in September 2021. Of course, with the demise of NCC we will be dealing with a different body in 12 months’ time, that being the successor unitary authority and things may be different. Assuming that the new unitary authorities do not change how they manage these processes (and that is a huge assumption - new bodies can sometimes do things differently, if only to show that they are different), we just need to monitor when the consultations take place and respond to the application processes, when and where we decide it is appropriate to do so. We are unlikely to be successful in all of the Free Schools bids and there would be questions about our capacity to manage too many in any case. All we can do is monitor for the consultations and make the applications. Support from you and your colleagues will be welcomed.
For anyone who wishes to make contact with Duncan Mills please call 07523 512956