Secretary's Letter

Church News (Oct and Nov 2011)

We have had a Church meeting and a deacons meeting since the last Newslink. A deacons meeting was scheduled for the 20th October but there wasn’t a room available nor was there much business to transact so the deacons agreed to cancel the meeting and deal with any business that may arise through e-mail. The significant points from the meetings that did take place are:

  • The Church Meeting gladly accepted Hilda Smith’s application into membership.
  • The Church Meeting also wanted to recognise the work that Cath Blakemore has done over many years cleaning the new building. At the morning service on the 13th November Cath was presented with a card from Marc on behalf of the Church Meeting.
  • Peter described the current position with the work of the next steps group in developing our Building programme. See the opposite page for a copy of the report summary; if you wish to read the full report then please see me or Siarlys Evans.
  • The “Next Steps Group” recommendations were accepted by the Church meeting:
    • An architect is engaged to prepare plans and costings based on the briefing report produced by the group.
    • The deacons manage this process
    • That the full report be made available to members on request and that a period of consultation is held until the January deacons’ meeting
  • Rob & Fiona Harding received excellent support at the special baby unit at the Heath when baby Alistair was ill. At their request the Association is now our Charity from November to February. Our previous charity supported the Samaritans’ Teenage suicide campaign and we raised £155.70.
  • Large items in the store room have been identified for disposal. A list of these is available so that if anyone wishes to take any of the items they may do so.
  • A deacon and Steward’s duty list is now on the wall by the book case in the entrance hall. We would like to see more people at our Sunday evening services at 6.00 pm. These are quiet reflective services and a good way to bring Sunday to a close. Marc seems to save his best sermons for the evening services. The deacons will be looking at how to encourage attendance at our evening services.
  • E-petitions are a way to influence government policy in the UK. If an e-petition gets at least 100,000 signatures then it will be eligible for debate in the House of Commons. One current e- petition “Cashless Scrap Metal Trade - Amendment to Scrap Metal Merchants Act 1964” is aimed at reducing the current high rate of metal theft by making cash payment for scrap metal illegal. Churches are particularly vulnerable to scrap metal theft. Please support this by going to epetitions.direct.gov.uk/petitions/406. Pass it on to friends and others.

Here is a summary of a meeting held by the Next Steps group (doc file).

God bless,

Peter Wilkinson