Category: Parish council minutes

Present:

• Fr Kevin Thornton
• Stephen Spooner (Chair)
• Belinda Barber
• Jacinta Campbell
• Gill Foster
• John Green
• Eva Kaltenthaler
• Jayne Middlemas (minutes)
• Greg Ryan
• Anne Shepherd

Apologies:

• Jim Conway
• Stephen Parker

1. Fr. Kevin led the prayer.

2. The minutes of the last meeting were approved.

3. Arrangements for AGM in May.

We discussed whether to hold the AGM on a Tuesday evening as last year or to move back to Sunday after Mass instead. It was agreed that having a single Mass on a Sunday didn’t work very well and the preference was to keep to Tuesday evening. The date was agreed as Tuesday 19^th May 2015. The evening Mass would be moved to 7pm and the AGM would start at 7:30pm.

Stephen mentioned that several parishioners had felt that last year’s AGM was too brief and that there should have been verbal reports from each section. It was agreed that each sector would nominate a member to speak for a couple of minutes about their sector’s activity over the previous year and also any plans for the coming year. Stephen would also speak about issues the Parish Council would like to address in the future and invite further ideas. Derek Hemmingfield would be asked to present the financial accounts for the past year. Written reports would be produced and displayed on the Church wall and website as usual.

It was agreed that wine and soft drinks should be provided at the start of the meeting and tea, coffee or wine and cakes at the end of the meeting. Stephen agreed to arrange the drinks and several Parish Councillors agreed to bake cakes.

It was agreed that the AGM should be publicised in the Franciscan and also that there should be a poster in the narthex advertising it. Jayne agreed to produce a poster.

It was also noted that six Parish Councillors were due to step down which would leave only five members. The constitution states that there should be a minimum of nine Parish Councillors (in addition to Parish Priest) so there is an urgent need to recruit at least four (preferably more) new members. It was agreed that Jayne would put a note in the Franciscan requesting new members and that existing Parish Councillors would try to recruit new members personally. If sufficient new members could not be recruited then the Parish Council would need to look at changing the constitution and combining some of the sectors or leaving them without a representative.

4. The Call, the Journey & the Mission.

Parish Councillors had read the document prepared by the Bishops of England and Wales. It was agreed that individual responses were more appropriate than a joint response collating views from across the Parish. It was agreed that we should continue to encourage parishioners to respond by including it in the Franciscan.

5. Church maintenance.

The first stage of the refurbishment had been completed. This included new lights and hand dryers in the toilets and the fitting of a dishwasher in the kitchen. John was still trying to identify a suitable time for the work on the floors to take place.

John had received a request for redecoration of the hall, new curtains and the fitting of blackout blinds for the roof windows. It was agreed that blackout blinds should be fitted and that the hall, kitchen and toilets did need repainting. However, the existing curtains were felt to be adequate. Stephen agreed to contact a local decorator for a price for the repainting work. John agreed to find out prices for suitable blackout blinds.

Jim had been looking at getting a notice for the car park. St Wilfrid’s had said they could make one but that they wouldn’t be able to put it
up.

6. Communications.

Jayne reported that she had been asked whether the children’s sheet could be added to the church website each week as a way of encouraging children to understand the Gospel if they didn’t come to Church each week. She sought the views of the Parish Council on whether they thought that people would use it enough to justify the time involved. The Parish Council didn’t feel that many people would use it and so decided that we should not put it on the website. Jayne will inform Louise of this decision. Jayne also agreed to explore existing internet resources explaining the Gospel to children and consider providing a link to these from our website and also occasionally in the Franciscan.

7. Pastoral Care and Community.

There is a poster in the narthex about an Ethiopian afternoon in April organised by Hallam Churches Together. There will also be the ‘Good Sing’ at Nether Green Methodist Church in May.

8. Justice and Peace.

The next Justice and Peace meeting will be at the end of April.

9. Spirituality.

There is a Taizé service next Tuesday and a day on ‘Music and Spirituality’ on Saturday 18^th April.

10. Nurture

Nothing new to report.

11. Any other business.

Stephen reported that there is a band within the Parish who would be willing to play at a Parish Social though they would prefer to use the Parish Centre at St John’s Ranmoor rather than the Assisi Hall as the acoustics were better. It was agreed that it would be good to have some social events for the Parish but the current Parish Councillors felt that it would be better to hold them in the Assisi Hall to reduce costs (St John charge £50/hour so the cost for hall hire was likely to be £250 to allow rehearsal, setting up and clearing away time). It was agreed that the Parish Council should try to form a social committee after the AGM and they should consider this further.

Greg Ryan suggested considering some type of lay formation within the parish.

Father Kevin reported that British Gas had contacted him offering to remove the standing charge if he would sign a two or three year contract. As this was a considerable saving he had agreed. The Parish Council endorsed this decision.

The contract for the photocopier ran out in August. We will be getting a new photocopier for a slightly lower fee.

12. The meeting closed with a prayer at 9:30pm.

Next meetings:

AGM – Tuesday 19^th May. Normal meeting – Tuesday 21^st July.

Action points.

• Each group to produce a written report for the AGM and send to Jayne by Sunday 3^rd May.
• Jayne to format sector reports, add to church website and print for church wall.
• Stephen to ask Derek Hemmingfield to present the financial report.
• Stephen to arrange drinks for the AGM.
• Volunteers to bake cakes for the AGM.
• Jayne to produce a poster advertising the AGM.
• Jayne to put a note in the Franciscan requesting new Parish Councillors.
• All to speak to parishioners and encourage them to join the Parish Council.
• Stephen to obtain a price for repainting the hall, kitchen and toilets.
• John to find out prices for blackout blinds.
• John to continue to liaise with Clare Gavin to identify a suitable time for the work on the floors.
• Jayne to inform Louise that the Parish Council don’t think the children’s sheet should be added to the website.
• Jayne to explore internet resources explaining the Gospel to children.

Present:

• Fr Kevin Thornton
• Stephen Spooner (Chair)
• Belinda Barber
• John Green
• Jacinta Campbell
• Eva Kaltenthaler
• Jim Conway
• Jayne Middlemas (minutes)
• Gill Foster
• Anne Shepherd

Apologies:

• Greg Ryan
• Stephen Parker

1. Fr. Kevin led the prayer

2. The minutes of the last meeting were approved.

3. Maintenance

The maintenance team presented quotes for the various improvement works that had been proposed. Stephen thanked the maintenance team for all their hard work and said that they had done a splendid job. Stephen checked with Father Kevin regarding whether the Parish had the money to pay for all the work. Father Kevin reported that there wasn’t sufficient money in the Parish bank account but that the Parish had money in the Diocese account. We would need to write to the Diocese to ask for some of our money back but he didn’t think that this would be a problem.

Replacement of the hall floor was discussed. It had been agreed that refurbishment of the existing floor was preferable to a brand new floor as any new floor would need be soft wood rather than hard wood. 2 options had been quoted for. It was agreed that option 2 (surface etch) was preferable as it would mean that a similar repair could be carried out again in future to further extend the life of the floor.

Father Kevin was concerned that the automatic lights may turn off when someone was still in the toilets. It was agreed to check with the company whether the lights would remain on for a specific length of time and whether that time reset if a new person entered the toilets or whether they would remain on as long as they detected movement within the toilets.

It was agreed that the minor plumbing repairs in the toilets should be carried out as soon as possible and that John should check with Clare Gavin to identify a suitable time (i.e. with no hall bookings) for the other repairs to take place.

4. Justice and Peace

The minutes of the Justice and Peace meeting on 12^th January 2015 are attached.

The Parish Council agreed that the money raised by the children’s liturgy group during advent for Syria and Gaza Strip would be matched with Parish funds. This brings the total raised to £292.44.

There will be a cake sale after Mass on 8^th February.

The CAFOD campaigns on climate change and international slavery were discussed. The Parish Council will await further information from the Justice and Peace group during lent.

5. Spirituality

Stephen thanked Jacinta and Greg for their organisation of events during Advent.

Jim asked whether anyone had looked at the document on the synod of the family. They had asked for feedback but he couldn’t find out how to give feedback or what they wanted feedback on. It was agreed that everyone would look at the document and see if there was scope for individuals or the Parish Council to respond or whether we should ask Father Kevin to respond on the Parish’s behalf. We agreed to discuss this further at our next meeting.

6. Nurture

Nothing new to report.

7. Pastoral Care & Community

There will be a ‘Songs of Praise’ event organised by Hallam Churches Together at Nether Green on Sunday 24^th May. It will focus on hymns by John Wesley. Each church in the area is asked to choose a hymn. Gill and Belinda will ask Greg to choose a hymn on our behalf.

The Crosspool Festival will take place between Friday 26^th June and Sunday 5^th July.

Hallam Churches Together are organising an event on food in November.

8. Communications

Nothing new to report.

9. Any other business.

Father Kevin reported that our Gas contract was due to end in February. He wasn’t sure whether we should stick with British Gas or move to another company. He asked if anyone understood these things but no-one did.

There was a brief discussion on the AGM which was scheduled for May. It was felt that it may be better to hold it on a Sunday rather than a Tuesday evening. It was also noted that several Parish Councillors would be stepping down. This would be discussed fully at the next meeting.

10. The meeting closed with a prayer at 9pm.

Next meetings:

Tuesday 17^th March and Tuesday 19^th May.

Action points.

• John to check how the timer on the toilet lights would work.
• John to liaise with Clare Gavin to identify suitable times for the refurbishment work to be carried out.
• John to arrange for the minor plumbing works to take place as soon as possible.
• Everyone to read ‘The Call, the Journey and the Mission‘ document before the next meeting.
• Jayne to add ‘The Call, the Journey & the Mission to the agenda for the next meeting.
• Gill and Belinda to speak to Greg about the Songs of Praise event on 24^th May.
• Jayne to add the AGM to the agenda for the next meeting.

Present:

• Fr Kevin Thornton
• Stephen Spooner (Chair)
• John Green (Secretary)
• Eva Kaltenthaler
• Jim Conway
• Jacinta Campbell
• Anne Shepherd
• Gill Foster

Apologies:

• Belinda Barber
• Jayne Middlemas
• Stephen Parker
• Greg Ryan

1. Matters Arising – None

 

2. Minutes were approved.

 

3. Questionnaire responses

A total of 47 questionnaires were returned, the following positive responses were obtained.

1. Taizé Services – 37
2. Bible study group – 10
3. Day on music and spirituality – 18
4. Day on spirituality of ageing – 10
5. Film club – 16
6. Event on Islam – 12
7. Fundraising for Syria,Gaza,Iraq – 15
8. Fundraising for St.Wilfrid’s Centre – 18
9. Lunch Club – 6
10. Social events – 22

The Parish Council agreed to look at those which had 12 or more supporters.

Any other ideas / comments ?

• Morality in popular media
• Walking group ( two supporters )
• More joint masses
• Exploring Evangeli Gaudium (copies to parishioners)
• Youth club
• Put parish at service of local community
• Put hymn numbers in chapel
• Doctor Who evening
• Events for children at weekend

4. Maintenance

Notes of meeting held 15th October 2014

1. Roof: Pete Shaw will be asked to check the roof, with particular attention to the rooflights which leak during wind-driven rain. (This work had already been commissioned and has now been completed)

2. Floor in hall: TG to advise on suitable contractors to visit to advise on refurbishment.

1. Roger Hyde Limited: The national experts in this field. 01787 463348. www.rogerhyde.co.uk
2. A more local firm is 4D Contract Flooring in Leeds www.4dcontractflooring.com 0113 345 0406
3. Fleetway – this name was mentioned on site by Fr Kevin, but I am unable to find any details of them. If there are records in the parish office, this would be helpful. (John to get)
4. Electric blinds for roof lights to protect the floor.

3. Kitchen: There are different options for refurbishment:

1. Full strip out of kitchen cupboards, worktops, sink, tiling and flooring. This could be undertaken by a suitable general building contractors. Recommended firms include:
   1. B4G Sheffield
   2. Russco & Son Builders
   3. Neway Building Services
2. Replacement of the kitchen doors, drawer fronts, and possibly worktops. Suitable suppliers include:
   1. JA Horne Starlight, Sheffield
   2. Chesterfield Kitchens
3. Replacement of the existing ‘safety’ sheet vinyl flooring. This flooring is grubby due to incorrect maintenance. It could be cleaned using a suitable cleaning machine, but due to its age and some heat damage, the better option would be to replace in a new ‘safety’ sheet vinyl. The flooring must be ‘slip-resistant’ to reduce potential risk. A suitable material is Polyflor Polysafe Standard. Suitable contractors to supply and fit are:
   1. Pyramid Linoleum and Carpets Sheffield
   2. Aizlewood & Casson Flooring Ltd Sheffield
4. Food safety: Guidance on basic food hygiene is available on the Safety Toolbox website’s Information Centre as well the Food Standards Agency (FSA) website and the HSE website.
   1. Registering premises: The advice from Safety Toolbox is: “If food is prepared regularly on your premises (usually on five days or more in any period of five consecutive weeks) then you must register your premises with your local authority environmental health department. This enables the local authority to keep a record of all food businesses in their area and to carry out periodic inspections of registered premises to ensure they operate in a safe and hygienic manner. Most parish premises do not need to register their premises but if you are in any doubt you should contact your local authority environmental health department”. On the basis of the information provided on the current nature and frequency of food preparation, the premises at St Francis of Assisi do not need to be registered.
   2. Provision of a dishwasher. Provision of a good quality domestic dishwasher that dries crockery, cutlery etc at a high temperature may be worth considering for convenience, although the long wash/dry cycle time may cause inconvenience at times. Use of such a dishwasher would reduce the use of drying cloths e.g. ‘tea towels’, which can cause spread of bacteria.

4. Gents lavatories: Issues to consider include:

1. Control on urinal flushing cistern. The current arrangement of a drip-valve has been prohibited by the Water Byelaws for many years as it wastes water. It is essential to fit a solenoid valve to the water supply to the flushing cistern linked to a Passive Infrared Detector (PIR) equipped controller. This will ensure that the cistern only flushes when someone enters the lavatory and then at regular intervals to ensure cleanliness. Suitable controllers that would require a plumber to fit are:
   1. Cistermiser IRC valve – mains or battery powered.
   2. Marnic Water Watch valve – mains or battery powered.
2. Damage to ceiling above urinal flushing cistern. This damage has been caused by the splashing/spray from the drip-valve filling the cistern. Its replacement by a suitable control valve on the water supply should stop future problems. The current damage can be dealt with by scraping off the damaged paintwork and fixing a small panel of white plastic sheet to the ceiling above the cistern to mask the damage.
3. Extraction fan. The extraction fan does not appear to be working. The fan should be checked, cleaned and repaired if necessary. If the fan is only controlled by an manual ‘on/off’ switch, a PIR-controlled switch should be fitted so that the fan only starts when someone enters the lavatory and then turns off again after a preset period. This task will require the services of an electrician.
4. Provision of new hand drier. High speed hand driers are expensive. Fitting would require an electrician. It is also advisable to fit tiling or a plastic wall cladding to the wall surface below the drier to reduce the staining by water droplets. Examples are:
   1. Dyson Airblade DB: Circa £650 excluding fitting.
   2. Airforce Eco: Circa £260 excluding fitting.
5. Lighting. To avoid the risk of the lights being left on for an extended period, it would be possible to fit a PIR detector to the lighting circuit so that the lights are switched on and off automatically in response to the lavatory being entered. This could be done at the same time as the extraction fan is checked. New light fittings can be fitted from a wide variety of suitable fittings.
6. Redecoration. The walls and ceilings can be repainted relatively cheaply. In addition, decorative wall tiles or plastic cladding panels could be fitted to dado level.

5. Ladies lavatories: Issues to consider include:

1. Extraction fan. The extraction fan does work. The fan should be cleaned to improve its effectiveness. If the fan is only controlled by an manual ‘on/off’ switch, a PIR-controlled switch should be fitted so that the fan only starts when someone enters the lavatory and then turns off again after a preset period. This task will require the services of an electrician.
2. Heating radiator. The radiator is damaged by rust and requires replacement. The rust has developed due to physical damage to the paint to the radiator exposing the mild steel surface, which has then been subject to water droplets from use of the hand drier located immediately above the radiator. It would be sensible when replacing the radiator to use a smaller double-convector type radiator which would not extend under the hand drier (existing or replacement – see above).
3. Quarry tile flooring. There are a number of damaged and loose quarry tiles to the floor. These should be replaced and the whole floor regrouted to ensure it is free of trip hazards and can be properly maintained.
4. Lighting: Possible automatic switching (see above).
5. Redecoration. The walls and ceilings can be repainted relatively cheaply. In addition, decorative wall tiles or plastic cladding panels could be fitted to dado level.

6. Accessible lavatory: (This lavatory was not viewed during the meeting and the following notes have been provided by John Green subsequently).

1. Hot tap: This requires some attention.
2. Hand drier: Possible replacement (see above).
3. Lighting: Possible automatic switching (see above).

7. Main internal doors to church: The concealed floor spring requires repair or replacement.

1. Post meeting note: BS Doors to attend to replace floor spring at a cost of £285 + VAT. (Already completed)

Note that the paved area outside the church will be repointed in the Spring of 2015 and the moss will be removed from the north elevation of the church roof.

Tom Garrud
Diocesan Property Manager
24th October 2014

Parish Council members are asked to look at all these areas for improvement and come prepared to discuss them at the next meeting. If you know of contractors please mention them.

Jim Conway to think of notice for Parking For Church Users Only and Access For Disabled Driver and ways of slowing cars as they leave the car park and cross the footpath.

Justice & Peace

Ask Sarah Baker for bank details to support the food bank.

Needy Parishes Fund, Sick and Retired Priests Fund and Emergency Collections will be doubled by the Parish. Childrens’ Liturgy Group will do something for the Middle East during Advent.

Spirituality & Liturgy Group

Advent Reflection on Monday 1st December at 7.30 pm in the Blessed Sacrament Chapel.

Taizé Reflection 16th December at 8.00pm

18th April 2015 Music & Spirituality Day 10.30-16.00

Pastoral Care & Community

Another two people have joined the group bringing a wheelchair visitor

There is a concert at St Luke’s this weekend.

Julie Hull is stopping the card making for Goodwill Village.

Next meetings:

Tuesday 20th January; Tuesday 17th March

Present:

• Fr Kevin Thornton
• Stephen Spooner (chair)
• Belinda Barber
• Jacinta Campbell
• Jim Conway
• Gill Foster
• John Green
• Eva Kaltenthaler
• Jayne Middlemas (minutes)
• Greg Ryan

Apologies:

• Stephen Parker
• Anne Shepherd

1. Fr Kevin led the prayer.

2. The minutes of the last meeting were approved.

3. Arrangements for the Parish Day.

It had previously been agreed that we will have a single Mass at 10am on Sunday 5th October for the Feast of St Francis.

As the AGM was held in June, it was agreed that the purpose of the Parish Day was a social event to bring together the whole parish. We had previously discussed having stalls to publicise the work of various groups in the parish but it was felt that it was too late to organise this. There would be no formal agenda but a suggestion box/flip chart would be provided for parishioners to note ideas of what they would like the Parish Council to do over the coming year. In addition, Parish Councillors would wear name badges and mingle in case Parishioners wish to raise anything with them.

It was felt that it would be too early for a shared lunch but that we wanted to offer more that coffee and biscuits. It was agreed that red & white wine, juice, lemonade and tea and coffee would be provided. Parishioners would be asked to bring cake/scones to share.

4. Ideas for what the Parish Council should do in the coming year.

Parish Councillors made the following suggestions for things the Parish Council should do over the coming year.

• Refurbish the toilets
• Revive the luncheon club
• Hold training for readers
• More on evangelisation
• Bible Study Group
• Children’s creche during the week
• Develop a more formal way of determining what people in the Parish want
• Reach out to people in the community
• Get a dishwasher
• Encourage more people to join the rotas for the various ministries
• Hold occasional Youth Masses

There was some discussion of these ideas and some were felt to be difficult to pursue (e.g. luncheon club had worked well in the past but professional caterers would be expensive and the kitchen probably wasn’t up to standard, we have already tried to get people to join rotas in the past). Others (e.g. children’s creche, youth Mass, Bible Study Group) would only work if there was demand for them in the Parish and past experience (Lectio Divina group ended due to falling numbers, attendance at Little Fishes is low, it was difficult to find young people willing to carry out the Ministries at previous Youth Masses) seemed to suggest that there wasn’t.

It was hoped that the suggestion box at the Parish Day may help to identify what the Parish wants. It was also agreed that it would be good to have a more formal questionnaire later in the year.

It was agreed that we should do more on evangelisation and we would think about setting up a sub-group of 4 or 5 people to take this forward. It was agreed to obtain quotes for refurbishing the toilets (painting, new floor and installing new hand-dryers and lights). It was also agreed to get a plumber to look at the kitchen to see where a dishwasher might fit.

5. Brief reports from each section

Liturgy, Spirituality &amp Faith Formation – the Inspir Guided Prayer week had been cancelled due to limited interest.

Justice &amp Peace – the Justice &amp Peace meeting was cancelled due to illness so nothing to report.

Youth Work &amp Nurture – Confirmation was going ahead on 22nd September. 3 members of the Parish are doing the Catholic Certificate in Religious Studies.

Pastoral Care &amp Community – the will be an Ecumenical event in Lent.

Maintenance – nothing to report but John and Jim will get together before the next meeting.

Communications – Jayne is going to update the Parish Council organogram.

Next meetings:

Tuesday 18^th November and Tuesday 20^th January.

Action Points

• Jayne to include a note in the Franciscan about the Parish Day.
• Stephen S to buy name badges for Parish Councillors for the Parish Day.
• Jayne to buy wine, juice and lemonade for the Parish Day.
• Stephen S to arrange for a suggestion box at the Parish Day.
• John and Jim to arrange quotes for refurbishing the toilets for discussion at the November meeting.
• Stephen to arrange for a plumber to visit to advise what would be needed to install a dishwasher.

Present:

• Fr Kevin Thornton
• Deacon Stephen Parker
• Greg Ryan
• Eva Kaltenthaler
• Stephen Spooner
• Anne Shepherd
• Lyndsey Reynolds
• David Hughes
• Julie Hughes
• Grazyna Swales
• Penny Watt
• Claire Byrne

Apologies:

There were no apologies.

1. Opening Prayer

Fr. Kevin led the opening prayer.

2. Approval of the last minutes and matters arising

The minutes from the January 2017 meeting were approved.

Matters arising

Greg Ryan has reviewed the sound system and this is currently fit for purpose.

Eva and Ann have reviewed the facilities provided in the toilets. Hand towels have now been provided to complement the hand drying equipment. The changing facilities for babies/toddlers are adequate.

Sheffield Parishes meeting 30.3.2017. Chris Dingle and Lindsey Reynolds have agreed to represent our Parish. Greg Ryan and Stephen Parker will also be
attending. The meeting will provide an opportunity for discussion about planning for the future in the Deaneries.

3. Any other Business

• Grazyna and Penny discussed concerns that future “matched funding” for charities may be ceased by the Government. There was agreement by council members that the parish would hold an appeal for the South Sudan crisis on 2.4.2017. Stephen Spooner agreed to talk after both Masses on 26.3.2017 to raise the profile of this devastating crisis. The Parish has agreed to “match” the money raised at this collection.
• The Children’s liturgy. Claire has emailed the parents of children currently attending the Childrens liturgy. It has been agreed that a pilot study will be
  conducted regarding the Children’s liturgy being facilitated in the upper room of the church after Easter. David Hughes stated that a risk assessment of the room
  and stairs would have to be carried out. It was agreed that children making their First Holy Communion should remain in church and participate in the Mass. Greg Ryan will discuss this with Rose.
• Laudato Si’, the second encyclical of Pope Francis. Lindsey attended this discussion along with Jenny King. A plan on how we can respond to Laudato Si’,
  “On Care for our Common Home” is to be discussed.
• Organ tuning and wooden stools. The organ is to be tuned in September 2017. Greg will dispose of some of the wooden stools as they are unsafe.
• Father Kevin informed the council that he had received a letter of thanks from St Marie’s school. This was with regard to a donation made for a Cross
  in the Prayer garden.
• Bishop’s conference. Pope Francis wishes to focus on the views of Catholic youth. A youth poll is to be conducted which will look at young people’s views on Faith and the Church.
• The next Justice and Peace meeting will take place during the third week in April 2017.
• There will be a Taize evening on 4.4.2017 at 7:30pm. There will be no mass on that evening
• The maintenance tool box is almost currently up to date for our Parish.
• The Annual General meeting will be held on Tuesday the 16th of May 2017 at 8pm. Refreshments will be provided. Council members will be giving a small
  presentation on achievements/experiences over the past year. There will be a request for new members for the Parish Council and a new Chair for the meetings.

4. Closing Prayer

Stephen Parker led the closing prayer.

Present:

Fr Kevin Thornton

• Alex Krzyz
• Belinda Barber
• John Green
• Jayne Middlemas
• Rose Krzyz (Chair)
• Jim Conway
• Gill Foster
• Jacinta Campbell
• Stephen Parker
• Philip Rostant

Absent:

• Stephen Spooner
• Eva Kaltenthaler

Fr. Kevin led the prayer.

1. The Minutes of the Last Meeting were approved . Jayne suggested a few grammatical and spelling corrections to the amended constitution which were approved by all. Rose asked Jayne if she could amend these errors and pass on a copy to her. Jayne kindly agreed to do this.

2. Matters arising:

Philip Rostant explain the legal position regarding the parish council, and his fears as to what will happen if in the future parishes might amalgamate and the parish of St Francis would have a parish priest that did not approve of parish councils. He explained that Canon Law mandates a financial committee but not a parish council, and so in that situation the parish council could still meet up but the parish priest could choose to ignore all its recommendations. John pointed out that that was the reason why the change was made to Item 1. Under Meetings in the constitution to now read “The council shall meet at the discretion of the chairperson and/or the request of the parish priest.”

Philip felt reassured that the other changes that were made were for the constitution to better reflect current practice. Rose added that the best way to ensure the survival of the parish council is to make sure that it reflects the opinions of all parishioners and that it is open and transparent in all its work.

3. Annual reports from various sections:

Pastoral care & Community: Gill and Belinda presented their annual report which reflected the good work done in enhancing the involvement of the parish with ‘Churches Together in Hallam’. On behalf of the parish council and the parish of St Francis, Rose thanked them both for the sterling work they did in promoting this area of parish life.

Maintenance: Alex reviewed the work done in putting in the handrails in the church and in providing safe access into the church on icy and snowy conditions. The spreader is now in place. Chairs in the Parish Hall have been cleaned. Access to the Tool Box has been established, but a new meeting needs to be put in place, since Alex, John nor Jim could attend the proposed dates in March.
The women’s toilets need to be given a face lift. Notices look scrappy and give a poor impression to visitors. The hand drier might need replacing. This was evident at the Margaret Silf meeting.

Spirituality: Jacinta presented the Spirituality report. There has been a development in the liturgical events taking place for Advent and Lent. The last event with Margaret Silf, was attended by around 40 people, with only around 25% belonging to the parish of St Francis. Jacinta asked the question if the parish council thought it was right to put on these programs to our expense to benefit, in the main, others outside the parish. There was unanimous agreement that these liturgical events are to continue and to be encouraged and advertised in the parish and beyond. On behalf of the parish council and the parish of St Francis, Rose thanked Jacinta and Stephen (in his absence) for the sterling work they did in promoting the liturgical life of the parish.

Justice & Peace: John referred back to the Justice and Peace report presented at the last meeting. Rose thanked him for keeping the parish council updated on the work of the Justice and Peace group.

Communication: Jayne presented an updated report on the visits to the parish website. This continues to be a very useful communication tool when parishioners are away, or when visitors come to our area. On behalf of the parish council and the parish of St Francis, Rose thanked Jayne for the sterling work she did in communicating the events taking place in the parish council to all parishioners.

Youth & Nurture: The Holy Communion programme is half way through completion. The confirmation date has been set for the 22nd September at 7.00pm. Rose asked Stephen Parker if he would put together a programme which others could deliver. The division of topics to different members of the community meant that the task was not too onerous. Rose offered to help with one or two of the talks.

4. Arrangements for AGM

Fr Kevin could not be there at the proposed date of the 20th May, so the date was changed to the 3rd June. The draft items to run as follows:

• 7.30pm Start. Rose reads out the annual report, announces new members and dates of next meetings (15th July and 16th September)
• Followed by the financial report read out by a member of the financial committee.
• Any questions? Distribution of evaluation leaflets (What have we done well? What can we do better?)
• Cheese and wine / soft drinks.

Important Dates:

3rd June 7.30pm

AGM

5th October

Parish Day (Joint Mass and Parish Fair)

15th July
16th September

Next PC meetings

Action Points

• Fr Kevin to inform finance committee of new AGM date and time
• All to send electronic copies of their annual report to Rose
• Alex and Rose to look to refresh toilets
• Gill to finalise Good Friday arrangements
• Rose to book hall for the 3rd June
• Rose & Alex to provide cheese, biscuits and wine for around 40 people
• All parish councillors that can, to meet at the parish hall at around 6.45pm to arrange seats and eats and to help with washing up

Present:

Fr Kevin Thornton

• Alex Krzyz
• Belinda Barber
• John Green
• Jayne Middlemas
• Rose Krzyz (Chair)
• Jim Conway
• Gill Foster
• Stephen Spooner
• Jacinta Campbell
• Eva Kaltenthaler

Absent:

Stephen Parker

Fr. Kevin led the prayer.

1. The Minutes of the Last Meeting were approved . Rose asked if anyone could keep paper copies of final drafts to pass on to next council for archiving. Jayne kindly agreed to do this.

2. Matters arising:

1. J&P group discussed food banks with Sarah Baker and she will finalise things with Fr Kevin regarding any collection boxes. There was slight confusion whether the boxes should be for food collection items or money donations; there are advantages in both.
2. Tom Elliot has yet to approach Fr Kevin to arrange a date to give the HCPT talk after Sunday masses.
3. The Christmas cards for St Wilfrid’s were sold.
4. Jim, John and Alex now have access to the Health and safety Tool Box. Alex will not be able to make the suggested dates for the Diocesan meeting and has informed Tom Garrud John might be able to make the meeting, and if he does attend, he will cascade down information.
5. There was a decision taken to publish the minutes on the website, leaving out any sensitive information that might jeopardize the privacy and safety of the parishioners of St Francis. This will further increase the transparency of the work of the parish council.

3. Parish Council constitution:

There was some discussion regarding the PC constitution, this may be important as parishes may have to amalgamate in the future and it may be the case that a particular parish priest may not want to have a working parish council. In this case the situation may have to be taken to a higher level, since the parish priest presides over parish matters. The opportunity was taken to update information on the constitution, which had not been done since the 13th April 1986. This will make it more relevant to the parish as it works in the present. Rose took notes as what members thought were suggested amendments and will circulate the updated constitution to other members of the parish council.

4. Good Friday event for Hallam Churches together.

A Good Friday event has been arranged with churches together. Stephen Parker will do a simple reflection on Good Friday starting at 7.30pm. Gill has drafted a leaflet to advertise the event, which she will show to Stephen for approval.

5. Report from various sections:

Pastoral care & Community: see above

Maintenance: Spreader in place ready for the first snow/ice. Alex and Fr Kevin have the key for the store room where it is kept. At the moment Alex will deal with contingency plans and delegate when he is away. A more definite plan of action might need to be developed as needs arise in the future. The women’s toilets need to be given a face lift. Notices look scrappy and give a poor impression to visitors. The hand drier might need replacing. Alex to look into the matter.

Chairs in the Parish Hall have been cleaned

Spirituality: The Spirituality programme is up and running. Members of the parish council approved a donation of £150 from parish funds to Margaret Silf. Places will need to be booked, but no charge will be made. Note change of date to 15th March. The event will take place in the parish hall.

Fr Kieran will be running his parish retreat from Friday 4th July to Saturday 5th July. He will celebrate mass on the Saturday in Fr Kevin’s absence. Stephen Parker to set out the altar.

Justice & Peace: Refer to attached minutes of last meeting. The J & P group would like a notice to go up, similar to the Spirituality one and asked Fr.Kevin for space on the notice board to advertise their events. They would also like a community event to showcase the parish and possible fund raise as a secondary objective. The prime objective of such an event would be to gel the parish together, in the absence of the shared meal following the parish day in October.

Communication: The number of visits to the parish website has steadied at 71/week. The homepage was the most frequently visited, followed by the newsletter. It is evident that parishioners are looking to the website as an important way to access information. Also see attached report.

Youth and Nurture: The Holy Communion programme starts on the 12th February with an introductory talk. Fr Kevin gave Rose a list of children to be enrolled. There are 12 children to be enrolled. The mass of enrolment will take place on Sunday 16th February. Rose is to email all parents with the proposed programme. A few young people have expressed a desire to be confirmed. A notice will go out in the Franciscan asking for those interested to inform Fr Kevin He will then see if there is enough interest to ask Bishop John to confirm in our parish at the end of the year.

AOB

Rose read out a card from Rosie Rostant on behalf of the serving team, thanking the council for the gift of books on the Parish Day.
Important dates for your diary:

Next meeting

1st April , Bring section report to be published. *NB not third Tuesday as usual

AGM

20th May to decide on details at the next meeting

Parish Day

5th October. Joint mass and Parish Fair

Action Points

• Rose to amend constitution and circulate
• Alex to look to refresh Toilets
• Gill to finalise Good Friday arrangements
• Rose to email parents re Holy Communion programme.
• John to cascade information on Tool Box from meeting on the 20th or 22nd March.
• Jayne to print copies of minutes to pass on.

Communications Sector report – January 2014

Parish website

We have continued to update the church website regularly, adding the newsletter each week and also changing the box on the home page to show forthcoming events.

During advent and Christmas we replaced the photo of the church on the home page with the Advent/Christmas banner to give the website a new feel.
The number of visits to the church website remained at an average of 71 per week in 2013.

 

The busiest day of the year was Christmas Eve when 61 people visited the site. Between Sunday 22 December and Christmas Day, there were 114 unique visitors to the website.

The most visited pages throughout the year were as follows:

Page	Number of page views
Home page	3,790
Newsletter	1,718
Contact us	805
Activities and Groups	682
Times of Services	567
Calendar	302
Parish Council 2012-2013	297
The Diocese & the Parish of St Francis	283
The Liturgy and Prayer	272
St Francis Parish Day consultation	263

Parish e-mail

I have continued to respond to e-mails received. The numbers received seem to have fallen recently. Normally in the run up to Christmas, we receive several asking for Christmas Day Mass times. We displayed these on the website homepage this year from early December which seems to have been useful as we had no e-mails this year asking about them.

Franciscan

I have continued to produce the Franciscan each week. The volume of material fluctuates but is usually manageable.
We try to make it available on the website from Sunday each week (though occasionally it doesn’t get up there until later). In a typical week, around 20 people download it from the website, though in some weeks as many as 40 or 50 people download it.