Minutes of St Cuthbert's
Parish Pastoral Council Meeting

Present: Fr A.T. Currer, C. Kear, F. Newton, M. Harvey, M. Doyle, G. Bolton, A. Doyle, J. McLean, S. Penswick, A. I Doyle, J. Urquhart, S. Milner, D. Hughes, M. Fleming, N. Brown, S. Brown, M. Hindle

Apologies: D. Crookes, J. Marsland, M. Laing

The meeting opened with prayer.

1. Minutes of the previous meeting were accepted.

2. Matters arising: – None

3. Reports from sub-committees/groups:

Building: The building committee has met twice since the last PPC meeting.
Completed and ongoing work.

Parish room
The account for the Parish Room is still not finalised due to some outstanding work. 
i) lights in the passage leading to the entrance to the Parish room are now working satisfactorily.
ii) The lighting and condensation to the well is still to be resolved.

Roof lead replacement is complete.

Church decoration  The successful contractor was Durham Decorators and the work is approximately 90% complete.

Lady Chapel stained glass window. The window has been removed and is being refurbished by Abbey Stained Glass.  However the Historic Churches Committee has expressed some concerns and a meeting is to take place on the 18th March to discuss the issues.  (Specifically whether a secondary layer of amber glass should be retained or removed.)

Choir loft balustrade and refurbishment.  Proposals are being drawn up to submit to the HCC for approval.

Church main entrance gates are in need of refurbishment to restore them to a safe operating condition.  Ongoing

Thoughts on improving the appearance at the entrance to the church.
In the absence of any ideas coming forward it has been decided in conjunction with the decorations to remove all existing notice boards from the porch and replace them with new to be sited in the narthex where the bookshelves were.  The books shelves are being replaced with a bespoke trolley which can be wheeled to the centre of the narthex when needed and placed to one side when not in use.  The notice boards and trolley are being made at St Margaret’s centre.

Programmed and essential work

Church Lighting.  The church lighting is in need of replacement on safety and financial grounds.  It is intended to begin work on a scheme later in the year.

Guttering to rear of church A scheme is being drawn up to repair and or replace guttering at the rear of the church some of which is leaking and is accessible without the use of scaffolding.

Other Work

Remotely operated garage doors. It has been recommended by the property manager that due to the location of the garage doors in relation to traffic that consideration should be given to making the doors to operate remotely.  This may mean replacing the doors completely.

Window and ventilation to spare room.
An application to the listed buildings authority has to be processed. Ongoing

Stonework  A bid for funding is to be prepared and submitted to English Heritage, this is likely to take some time and it is anticipated to be two to three years before a contractor is on site providing the bid is successful.

Health & Safety

Church evacuations to be arranged now fire alarms are complete.

Inspections
Gas up to date, due September 2010.
PA testing up to date, due March 2010. Date has been arranged for inspections and testing.

4. Catholic Society: 

Fr. Tony introduced Miriam Hindle as the new Catholic Society representative.

There is an increase in the number of Freshers and talks have been well attended.  The mailing list stands at 400 with 80 active members. The Chaplaincy dinners are very popular.  There have been two visits to Ushaw and 25-30 attended the retreats. There will be a new Executive next term and there were more contested elections at the AGM than previously.

5. Churches Together in Elvet & Shincliffe:
 
Since the last meeting, the usual cycle of activities and events has taken place, including:

-   the Christmas and Holy Week Cards for door-to-door delivery;
-    taking a leading role in the New Year’s Eve Service at Durham Cathedral, with one leader, a reader and 6 children from this parish taking part;
-    repeating last year’s pattern of prayer during Unity Week instead of having a specific and “standalone” service;
-    we rested our Lent talks with the intention of allowing space for “The Big Read” activities.  However, a lack of clarity as to the resources available led to us not being able to arrange specific events.  We took the opportunity, however, of preparing a flyer detailing a number of Lenten activities across Durham.

Looking forward, we will be:

-    reviewing how and what our respective churches communicate to our congregations and the wider community;
-    looking to how we can work more closely with the newer Christian groups in Durham
-    participating in this year’s pilgrimage to Holy Island on Saturday 3rd July.


6. Liturgy & Music: 

A. Doyle reported that it had been a long time since the last meeting.  There will be some significant differences in the revised Missal.  It has been suggested that the changes be phased in.


7. Justice and Peace:

The Justice and Peace Folder is in the nartex.

Updating “10 ways to make a difference”

The Advent wreaths made £70 which has been sent to India.

The Fair Trade stall is making a profit and £129.84 was sent to CAFOD last year.

Churches Together-Christian Aid help needed in May.

Proceeds from the Lent lunches will go to the CAFOD Haiti appeal.

The next meeting is on 29th April 2010.

8.  Diocesan Meetings:

    1) Council of Laity:  The Bishop doesn’t see the value of it.
    2) Diocesan Pastoral Council:  Every Pastoral Area will be represented.
   3) Lenten Meditations:  Not even mentioned in Parishes.  A lot of work went into them so a disappointing result.
There will be a Day of Recollection in May.

9. Financial Report: 

1. The Annual report was submitted to the last meeting.
 
2. We currently have £42K on deposit and £34K in the current a/c.
 
3. We need to reserve £30K for outstanding payments on the parish centre.
 
4. We like to keep £10K free reserve.
 
5. Therefore we have about £35K to spend on Parish projects similar to those mentioned in the building committee report.
 
6. The stonework will need at least £100K.

10. Items from the Parish Priest:

The main focus of Fr. Tony’s report was the restructuring of parishes within the Diocese.  The Bishop will be having meetings in all the Deaneries.  As there are now fewer priests it is inevitable that some Churches will have to close.  There will be local decisions on how to cope with fewer priests.  A lot of concern was raised as to the effect this will have on communities.  We are seen to be in a fairly favourable position but nothing can be taken for granted and we cannot afford to be complacent. 

11. Any other business:  None

12. Date of next meeting: Tuesday 8th June 2010.  This will be the AGM

Restructuring of Parishes will be an Agenda item at this meeting.

The meeting closed with prayer.