St Matthew s Westminster Parchial Church Cuncil Minutes f a Meeting held n Tuesday 21 May, 2013 Present: Fr Philip Chester (PC) (Chair), Alastair Calcutt (AC), Maria Gayle-Rgers, (MGR), Fr. Peter Hanaway (PH), Jane Kennedy (JK), Lee Lieske (LLk), Sebastian Lyle (SL), Hilary Rwland (HR), Tamara Katzenbach (TK), Hilary Rwland (HR), Steve Willis (SW),Tby Yrk (TY). Lisa Martell (LM) and Rebecca Feeney (Pastral Assistant) were in attendance. 1 Aplgies Aplgies fr absence were received frm: Kate Barlw (KB), Grace Hskin (GH) Liz Lyle (LL), Sue Lwsn (SML), Emily Nrman (EN), Eithne Risner(ER), Rachel Whittaker(RW) and Rb Cupland (RC) (Pastral Assistant). PC welcmed the Venerable Bill Jacb, Archdeacn f Charing Crss, wh was attending as part f his Visitatin and Cann Jane Hedges, Archdeacn f Westminster, t the meeting. 2. Minutes f the meeting held n April 7th 2013. The minutes were agreed and signed as a crrect recrd. 3. Matters arising All matters arising were cvered under ther agenda items. 4. Electin f PCC Vice-Chair, Secretary & Treasurer AC was prpsed as Vice-Chair by MGR, secnded by SW and elected. JK was prpsed as Secretary by TY, secnded by AC and elected. TY was prpsed by JK, secnded by HR and elected. 5. Reprt f the Treasurer There was a deficit fr the first 4 mnths f 5,463 which cmpared t a surplus f 2,631 in 2012 and a frecast deficit f 2,600. The main variances were: St Matthew s Huse 20 Great Peter Street Westminster Lndn SW1P 2BU phne 020 7222 3704 fax 020 7233 0255 e-mail ffice@stmw.rg website www.stmw.rg
- a large and unexpected rgan repair bill f 3,100 which had made a bit f a dent in the figures. - Utility bills were much higher than last year due t clder weather. This was despite having transferred ur energy cntracts t the Parish Buying Scheme. - Incme frm the clergy huse was dwn (quiet start t the year) and repair csts in the clergy huse (rf mainly) were up. - On a mre psitive nte, the cnference centre remained prfitable (nt reflected in the PCC accunts). Up t the end f May 2013, the cnference centre had made 6,000 prfit (althugh we shuld expect sme lsses ver the summer). Giving remained rbust, increasing again this year. The clergy huse cntinued t generate incme. Our inaugural Cmmunity Outreach Prject, a new initiative which sught t raise funds fr cmmunities utside the church but with a clse cnnectin t us, was a great success. 460 was raised fr ur primary schl t buy new bks fr the schl library which it desperately needed. Prfessinal marketing shuld help stimulate bkings. Sme thughts fr actin: - Prmtin f the cnference centre acrss ur cngregatins. - A search fr trusts and funds t supprt the PA prgramme. - Implement a system t allw guests t arrive in the huse ver the weekend and in early evenings (might we discuss this at the PCC as it is nt smething we can ask the PAs, r Piedad, t d)? This culd generate a few thusand a year. - Stewardship campaign (pssibly Autumn 2103). The Treasurer cncluded that generally, there was n need fr panic, nly cncern. The church was mre up t date with paying expenses and meeting the bligatins f running csts than ever befre, and there was a cushin f cash t sit n if need be (ver and abve the 40,000 frm the winding up f the trust fund in 2011). 2
PC praised the excellent accunts and als thanked LM fr her wrk. 6. Reprt f the Parish Priest PC prpsed that Sin Hughes-Carew became a Minister f Cmmunin. This was agreed by the PCC. Rta frms still needed t be returned s that the Pastral Assistants culd cmpile the rta until the end f August. The PCC was asked t think f sme ther causes fr the Cmmunity Outreach prject. Anglican Cathlic Future PC thanked PCC members fr attending the launch f Anglican Cathlic Future and the Pastral Assistants fr their help with the rganisatin. Centres were develping in ther cities and PC requested help frm vlunteers. RC (Pastral Assistant) had been accepted fr training fllwing his attendance at a recent Bishp s Selectin Cnference. Revue PC thanked MGR fr arranging the Revue the previus weekend and JK and PH fr the presentatin n the first vicar f St Matthew s. The summer lunch prgramme wuld be starting n Sunday June 2 nd. Fdbank It had been suggested that St Matthew s shuld supprt the Westminster Fd Bank which was being run by Westminster Chapel. It was suggested that churches shuld have a lunch at which dnatins f fd culd be made. Actin: AC wuld liaise with Fr Peter Hysn regarding the scheme. Reader Training The cst f training f Readers was shared between the individual, the Dicese and the PCC. PC prpsed that the PCC shuld pay 250 twards the cst f training Edward Barlw. This was agreed. Cffee Van and frecurt Unfrtunately the pilt f the cffee van frm Candcffee n the frecurt did nt materialise. Anther cmpany was interested in the pprtunity. The redesign f the frecurt wuld cst between 20-30,000. It was pssible that funding might be available frm the Eurpean Reginal Develpment Fund, as a result f linking the verall imprvement prject with the aim f reducing energy csts. The 3
lighting cnsultants wuld be visiting the church the fllwing day. The cvered windws wuld nt be pened up due t the high cst f the wrk. Use f Scial media St Matthew s was n Facebk and was being tweeted (under the cntrl f the church). The Archdeacn cmmented that website addresses/barcdes were ften put n church ntice bards utside the church. Actin: PC t investigate if website address and barcde culd be added t church ntice bards. Friends f St Matthew s The next event wuld be a visit t Westminster Abbey n June 19 th. Artist in residence Lydia Bauman explained hw she wanted t engage with the cngregatin and public as she was wrking in the church twer. She was willing t give talks n art n a mnthly basis at St Matthew s which wuld als increase the publicity fr the Cnference Centre. Her meetup grup n the subject f art fr the uninitiated had ver 130 members. She was als willing t exhibit her wrk. PC suggested that a talk n art culd als be a future Friends event. 7. Cann Jane Hedges, representing ur Patrn, the Dean and Chapter f Westminster Cann Jane Hedges explained her rle as Archdeacn f Westminster in relatin t the Abbey patrnages. She fund it a very gd way f keeping in tuch with the wider church. Cann Jane explained that the Abbey patrnage churches shuld cnsider the Abbey as a friend. Passes were available t enable members f the cngregatin t visit the Abbey withut paying the entrance fee. She summarised a number f frthcming events in cnnectin with the celebratins f the 60 th anniversary f the Queen s crnatin: lecture, service, exhibitin and pen evening fr the lcal cmmunity n 12 June. She publicised the Cellarium Cafe which was near the Abbey and the Natinal Pilgrimage n 19 Octber. 8. Parish Visitatin The Archdeacn f Charing Crss, The Ven Bill Jacb The Archdeacn said that he was generally encuraged fllwing his earlier meeting during the Visitatin and had been impressed with the financial management system. He reprted that the Church f England was ne f the mst significant rganisatins in Lndn; the ttal parish incme in 2011 had been 106 millin f which 22 millin was raised fr the Cmmn Fund. He reassured the PCC that the Church f England 4
was nt a failing institutin financially in spite f the negative press reprts and it was ahead f ther Christian denminatins. The Archdeacn was keen t find ut frm the PCC what they cnsidered was ging well, recent changes, the current challenges and areas fr develpment. Summary f PCC respnses: Ging well: Cnference Centre, high standard f liturgy. Recent changes and develpments: new financial system, develpment f Junir Church; mre respnsibility being taken by cngregatin rather than slely clergy led activities; the credit crunch had raised difficult questins; links had been made with small grups etc in the parish. Current challenges: raising incme and achieving Missin Actin Plan bjectives. Areas fr develpment: increasing giving, children s activities. Rachel Whittaker and Sue Lwsn jined the meeting. 9. Annual return t the Charity Cmmissiners The Treasurer reprted that the annual return had been sent t the Charity Cmmissiners fllwing the APCM. 10. Any ther business Missin Actin Plan Printing the Missin Actin Plan wuld be tabled at the next meeting. Humidifier fr the rgan - PC reprted that this wrk had been dne. Dispsal f church pulpit PC reprted that a furniture cmpany was interested in acquiring the pulpit. The DAC will be cntacted and an applicatin fr a faculty will be made fr its remval. 11. Dates f future meetings PCC meetings wuld be held n Wednesday July 10 th, Mnday September 16 th and Wednesday Nvember 20 th. Summary f actin pints 6 AC wuld liaise with Fr Peter Hysn regarding the Fdbank. 5
6. PC t investigate if website address and barcde culd be added t church nticebards. 6