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WONSTON PAROCHIAL CHURCH COUNCIL

Minutes of Meeting held at 12 noon on Sunday 25^th  April 2010, at
Holy Trinity Church, Wonston.

  Parishioners meeting

 The Rector opened the meeting with prayers and welcomed the 6 parishioners present.

Appointment of Churchwardens

Revd Foster thanked Capt Betton and Lt Col Barrett for their support and work through the year as Churchwardens and also thanked the PCC for their support and offers of cover where needed..

In view of Capt Betton’s imminent overseas posting, Lt Col Barrett had kindly agreed to remain as Churchwarden in spite of living a good distance from the Parish. Capt Betton wishes to resume his duties on his return home later in the year, at which point the Archdeacon will come to swear him in again as Churchwarden in his home.

Col Barrett’s nomination as Churchwarden was proposed by Mr Cornick and seconded by Mrs Lees-Spalding. Capt Betton’s was proposed by Mrs Fitzgerald and seconded by Mr Gray. Both were agreed unanimously by those present.

Wonston Annual Parochial church meeting

Attendees

Revd Foster, Lt Col (Retd) Barrett (churchwarden), Capt Betton (churchwarden) Mr Gray, Mr Wood, Mr Taylor (Hon treasurer), Dr Lewis (Hon Secretary), Mrs Fitzgerald, and 6 Parishioners.

Apologies for Absence

 Mr Mullins, Dr Hobhouse, Mr Clarke, Mrs Betton.

 Church Electoral Roll Report

 The Electoral Roll had been revised by Mr and Mrs Cornick. Revd Foster thanked them for their work on this. Numbers on the Roll now stood at 79, 42 of whom are resident within the Parish, and 37 without.

 Minutes of the Meeting on 26^th April 2009.

 The minutes were approved by the meeting and signed by the Rector.

Matters Arising.

 There were no matters arising from the minutes from the last meeting.

PCC Annual Report for 2009

 Those present were given time to read through the annual report, which had been compiled by Capt Betton. The Rector expressed her gratitude for his work on the report.

Capt Betton briefly elucidated some of the most important features of the report. He drew particular attention to the forthcoming events mentioned, namely the open gardens and the flower festival. He also expressed his gratitude to the PCC for its support in the coming weeks of his absence.

Mr Cornick gave a brief report from the Bellringers, which follows in full detail. He drew attention to the fact that retiring ringers were not being replaced by any younger members. Mrs Fitzgerald thanked him for his continued commitment to the bellringing activities.

Mrs Fitzgerald also spoke about the continued healthy activity in stitching kneelers. One has been sponsored through the website by a couple recently married at Holy Trinity.

Hobhouse proposed that they be accepted and approvedp

PCC

Financial Statements for 2009

 A summary of the accounts as at 31^st December 2009 is included in the PCC annual Report though had not reproduced well. Mr Taylor plans to send a correct copy to the Diocese with the Annual Report.

He highlighted important issues from the financial report. The parish share allocation has been revised from £24,000 to £22,000 since the date of auditing on 24^th March.

The General Fund has a slightly increased deficit compared with the previous year due largely to the increased parish share and the inclement weather at the Fete, thereby reducing the takings. He reminded the meeting that 40% of fete income is allocated  to St Margaret’s and 60% to Holy Trinity. 10% of the latter is placed in the fabric fund and the remainder in the general fund. Legacies can only be used for their designated purpose. Donations are still being received to the churchyard fund, whose outgoings are relatively small and therefore has a healthy balance.

The fabric fund has a healthy balance, but Mr Taylor emphasized that there is no room for complacency as funds could be required for structural repairs at any time.

There is a substantial sum in the bell fund, which, he reminded the meeting, was the result of interest on a single historic bequest.

Capt Betton drew attention to the Holy Trinity website and thanked Col Barrett for his hard work in its setting up and  maintenance.

Capt Betton proposed that the Annual Report be accepted as a true record ; this was seconded by Mr Gray.

Deanery Synod Report for 2009.

Mrs Fitzgerald gave the following report to the meeting, which she had prepared as an account of Deanery Synod’s activities through the year. Capt Betton thanked Mrs Fitzgerald and Dr Lewis for their input as representatives of the PCC on the Synod through the year.

Deanery Synod Report

The Deanery Synod has met four times over the past year and Parish representatives have been able to attend each of these meetings.

Thought provoking talks and small group discussions have taken place on key issues, for example “Living in a changing church in the 21^st Century” by Michael Harley, Archdeacon of Winchester.

However, despite these discussions and a fair degree of exploration around central issues, Synod still seems to be struggling to bring clarity to the role and purpose of itself and this has been the case for over a year now.

Members of discussion groups are keen to engage with the subjects and many notes are taken but there is a level of frustration expressed by many that useful suggestions made ‘on the night’ seem to disappear without trace! 

This was highlighted at the last meeting on 24^th February 2010 and promises have now been given to write up the suggestions made so that some positive actions and outcomes can be pursued.

These include improving the Deanery Synod website Synod (http://www.winchester-deanery.hampshire.org.uk/) to make it a more dynamic and up to date source of advice, ideas and information.  It has also been suggested that some sort of on-line forum for the exchange of ideas and helpful experiences among, say, Church Wardens, Lay Readers etc., would be very much welcomed as well as cross-benefice visits between these groups and others who will no doubt have much in common with each other.

Among parish representatives there is still an air of hopefulness and willingness to improve things throughout the Deanery and a sense of common mission.  One strong opinion expressed at the last meeting and shared by several groups was that the Deanery Synod should perhaps model itself on a successful Chief Executive and whilst providing an overall vision, should focus on empowering and enabling others to carry out ministry in their own areas.  This echoed the message from Simon Swindells that ‘Ministry is in the hands of all those who are baptised’.

Sharing resources, talents and solutions to difficulties at parish, benefice and deanery level, was something that also came up time and time again.  For example, members of the smaller discussions groups all agreed that amongst congregations, there were a wealth of talented and visionary lay people and that these people should be valued, trained, supported, used and trusted to carry out a variety of roles within the church.

Sharing across denominations and inter-faith communication was also felt to be a very positive activity by many people with the emphasis on learning, understanding and possibly adopting and adapting successful ideas that might work in one’s own church.

Election of

PCC Members

Mr Clarke and Mr Gray were due to retire from the PCC and both indicated that they were willing to stand for re-election. They were proposed by Capt Betton and seconded by Col Barrett and duly accepted.

Mrs Bettina Betton had offered to stand for committee and was proposed by Mrs Fitzgerald and seconded by Mr Wood.

The remainder of the PCC were re-elected en bloc as the meeting agreed to this. They were proposed by Capt Betton and seconded by Col Barrett.

 Appointment of Sidesmen

None of the sidesmen on the current panel had requested to stand down, thus Capt Betton proposed that they should be re-appointed en bloc. This was seconded by Mrs Barrett and they were duly re-elected.

Revd Foster thanked Mr Hobhouse for co-ordinating the rota for sidesmen and readers.

Appointment of independent examiner

Capt Betton proposed that Mrs Audrey Sawden be re-elected as independent examiner . This was seconded by Dr Lewis and agreed unanimously.

The meeting expressed its thanks to Mrs Sawden for her willingness to continue to audit the PCC accounts. Dr Lewis agreed to send her a letter of thanks.

Additional Reports

Mr Cornick had previously spoken about the the Bell-ringing activity. His full report is as follows:

Holy

Trinity Wonston Church Bell Ringers

Annual Report 2009/2010

The year under review was not quite such a demanding one as the previous two years as we only rang for 10 weddings across the three Group Benefice churches with 6 bells.

Generally speaking we managed to ring for the Sunday Services at Wonston and Micheldever although, year on year, this becomes a little bit more difficult. It is clear, therefore, that unless we can recruit new ringers in the short/medium term, preferably at each of the three Group Benefice churches, but at Wonston as a minimum, then the time will come when there could be no full band at any of the Group Benefice churches with a full ring of 6 bells.

Finally, I must express my sincere thanks to all members of  the Wonston Band for their continued support over the past year. Also, I would like to thank Edmund Wratten & Coral Northeast who regularly support our Saturday practices & John Croft who helps us out when his work commitments permit

Gerry Cornick

Tower Captain

Upper Dever Valley Benefice Report for 2009

Rev’d Foster gave the report as follows:

Upper Dever Benefice:-

Thank you to members of the PCC for their support over the past year especially our Treasurer, Wally Taylor and our PCC secretary Angela Lewis.

We thank all our sidesmen, readers and coffee makers and most importantly all who have taken services during this past year, without them we would not be able to continue. They are Peter Clarke, Rev’d Duncan Strathie, Rev’d Bob Clarkson, Rev’d Mark Bailey and those from the registry.

There have been7 baptisms and 4 weddings and another wonderful fete, my thanks go to all who contributed in anyway and all who have raised funds in various ways for the Church.

Thank you to those who maintain the church, the flowers arrangers and Mary and Valerie for keeping our church so clean and all who turn up on spring cleaning days, inside and out.

Thanks go to our organists, Molly Taylor, Arnold Jarman and Tom Harrington and also our bellringers.

We had a year of different celebrations including a wonderful service in May as we celebrated the Centenary of the Rededication of Holy Trinity Church, with Bishop Michael. I would like to thank all of you who helped towards that service but especially

Peter Clarke .We had a celebration of Baptism, a Palm Procession, Mothering Sunday celebration, a concert, a service for the Royal British Legion Women’s Section and other celebrations, besides our normal services. Thank you for making these services such a success.

I continue to work with Rev'd Mark Bailey and during the past year had a wonderful group confirmation service at St. Mary’s Micheldever.

Last year Rev’d Karen Kousseff was ordained and I know that she enjoyed her time working in the Upper Dever Benefice and we wish her well for her Priesting in July.

During the past year I have attended a Leadership course, and a Working with Schools Day under Continuing Ministerial Development and also a Lent lecture, a total of twelve days.

I thank you again for all your support and work and look forward to continuing to work with you over the next twelve months as we share the love of God in this place.

She concluded by thanking Mr Taylor for his unstinting work and support to the PCC as its treasurer and also to Dr Lewis for her work as its secretary. She then presented Mr Taylor with a gift as a token of her gratitude on his retirement from the Office.

The Rector announced that Mrs Betton had offered to take over the position of treasurer

AOB

There was no other business.

Vote Of Thanks

 

Capt Betton expressed his thanks to Revd Foster for her continued and much appreciated work in the Parish and in support of the PCC. The meeting heartily agreed.

The Rector declared the meeting closed and  concluded with the Grace.

 

Capt Betton showed those present a certificate of recognition and thanks from the Diocese for their support over the year and also drew attention to the budget report kindly prepared by Mr Clarke and displayed on the porch noticeboard.

Parochial Church Council Meeting

There followed a short PCC meeting to elect officers for the succeeding year.

The minutes of this meeting are recorded separately.