THE PARISH CHURCH OF ILKLEY ST MARGARET
Minutes of the meeting of the Parochial Church Council of St Margaret's, Ilkley held on
Thursday 29th September 2022 in the Parish Hall.
Fr Alex Crawford in the chair. Meeting started at 7.30pm
Present:
C Beaumont, R Beeson, Fr A Crawford, A Eaton, C Gibson, G Hartley, J Smith, A Stretton, P Tooke, T Warnes, B Whittaker, S Williams, T Williams
1. Apologies: B Harrison, H Pilling, M Still
2. Minutes of the last meeting: Proposed by A Stretton, Seconded by G Hartley and unanimously approved.
3. Matters Arising: Bethany Harrison was stepping down as PCC Secretary for family reasons. The meeting expressed its heartfelt thanks for all she has done. Her term of office would have ended at next year’s APCM in any case. In the interim, Catherine Gibson is to continue to take the minutes, with some support from Helen Pilling; and Bethany has offered to work with her successor to ease the handover.
4. Finance: Philip Tooke gave a detailed and very helpful explanation of the organisation of St Margaret’s finances (see the attached document, Endowment and Restricted Funds as at September 2022). This document will, in future, be added to our Accounts. Philip asked the PCC to approve it, which they did. Fr Alex asked that our thanks to Philip for all his hard work should be recorded.
Our Gas had been on a two-year fixed rate, which was due to expire the next day. This fixed rate was low, and the new rate is set to be seven times that level. However, the church should benefit from the Government Cap, which (it is hoped) would bring the increase down to three or four times the previous amount. Philip is going to take weekly meter readings. The church takes the bulk of the cost of heating: the hall is much more economical.
Stewardship Renewal Proposal: Alison Stretton explained that, as a consequence of the increase in gas prices, it was proposed to hold a Stewardship Renewal campaign this year, and a letter and response form was being prepared. There would be no pressure on people to increase their giving, but we have a responsibility to ask, and everyone would be given the opportunity to join the Parish Giving Scheme. Sunday 6th November was the proposed date for Stewardship Sunday. There was one objection to the date on the grounds of its closeness to Remembrance Sunday, but it could not be postponed without clashing with other events; and it needed to be early enough to have an impact on our finances in the winter. Alison added that doors and windows will be kept closed this winter, and that the heating would be turned down. 6th November was accepted by all but one.
5. Safeguarding: Catherine Beaumont had provided a written report. We needed to review the Parish Safeguarding Action Plan; and she explained that Anne Eaton’s appointment as Warden necessitated the substitution of her name and contact details on the document, Dealing with Safeguarding Allegations or Concerns Procedure, and our voting to accept it. Both were agreed.
She had obtained diocesan approval for us to provide Safeguarding training in-house, in stages, using the online programmes, since several volunteers are unable to access it online themselves and the Diocese is not providing face-to-face training at present. She was promised a set of workbooks, but they have not yet arrived. She thought the training might be started in January. This was agreed.
Some church groups are failing to advise her when new volunteers are recruited, and she would appreciate suggestions as to how safer recruitment might be adopted more comprehensively.
In view of the considerable amount of work required of the Parish Safeguarding Officer, she would like someone to share the role, and Christine Butler had agreed (having previous experience in the job).
Fr Alex asked that our thanks to Catherine be minuted.
6. Wardens’ Items: Alison Stretton said that, although we now have two Wardens, she would like the Rota of Deputy Wardens to continue, so that at any of the major services, there would be a Warden and a Deputy Warden on duty.
Speaking about the Christmas Services, she said that there would again be a grid showing the extra jobs involved, and they would be appealing for offers of help. This year, the Advent Procession has been moved to the evening of Advent Sunday (27th November), with the Christingle on the afternoon of the following Sunday (4th December). The Lessons & Carols will be on the evening of Sunday 18th December, and on Thursday 22nd December CTI is participating in the national initiative “Blue Christmas”, aimed at those who find it difficult to rejoice at this time. On Christmas Eve (Saturday 24th December) the Crib Service is at 4pm and “Midnight Mass” begins at 10pm (which, Fr Alex pointed out will be midnight in Bethlehem).
Westville House School will hold their Christmas Service at St Margaret’s; and Fr Alex will be going in to the school to conduct monthly assemblies.
The Christmas Tree Festival will run Friday 2nd - Saturday 3rd December: seventeen or eighteen trees have so far been confirmed.
7. Fr Alex’s Items: The Vicar reported that his father, Fr Kenneth Crawford, would be retiring from salaried ministry at the end of October, and will be moving to Leeds. They were both keen that Fr Kenneth should be licensed to assist Fr Alex in the role of Associate Priest (with Permission to Officiate). The PCC supported this unanimously.
8. Deanery Synod: Ros Beeson introduced a request that all PCCs and deanery synods should debate the following proposal from the Inner Bradford deanery Synod:- "This Synod would welcome the Church of England withdrawing its opposition to the distribution of wine in individual cups at the Holy Communion.” The general consensus of the PCC was that St Margaret’s did not want to go down that route, but had no objection to others doing so.
9. Church Fabric and Hall: The Minutes of the latest meeting (15th July) had been circulated. Various regular maintenance jobs had been completed. Fr Alex was still looking for a Hall Manager.
10. Church Communications: Catherine Cheater said that they were continuing work to simplify the website. Fr Alex added that we were getting more engagement with our Facebook page. He also stated that, in the absence of anyone willing to take on adverts and subscriptions for the Parish Magazine, it would be produced without adverts. Past subscribers would be circulated, asking if they would like to renew their subscriptions.
11. Outward Giving: Alison Stretton reported that at the Harvest Festival £500 had been given to JJ Nshumi together with a further £241.25 raised on the day; and the most recent Cake Stall produced over £170 for the Mission Fund. The main discussion was about the Christmas Appeal, in the light of this year’s extra strains on people’s finances, and St Margaret’s own difficult financial situation, especially in regard to heating costs. The four services at which the Christmas Appeal was normally made were the Lessons & Carols, the Crib Service, Midnight Mass and Christmas Morning. Fr Alex and Alison had discussed whether all the money received at these services should go to help with the church heating or be split between St Margaret’s and a charity. Fr Alex suggested that we should not ask for extra donations this year, but rely on the collections at those four services. He asked us to give the matter thought and prayer: we would revisit it in November. (Subsequently the PCC were asked to indicate by email their approval or otherwise of the charity suggested by the Outward Giving Group, Inn Churches, and this was agreed.) Any Other Business: There was none.
The meeting closed with the Grace at 9.45pm.
St Margaret’s, Ilkley
Endowment and restricted funds as at September 2022
This description of the endowment and restricted funds was approved by the PCC on 29
September 2022.