- Giving: The meeting welcomed Jonathan Farnhill, Diocesan Generous Giving Adviser to lead us in developing our future funding plans. He outlined the Diocesan Parish Giving Scheme (now used by half of the churches in the Diocese) which addresses changes in how people process their money. He explained that relying on people having cash to give will lead to less giving; there is a need for chip and pin and in asking people to give, the emphasis needs to be on impact rather than costs. He said we need to move from ad hoc giving to regular giving, regular givers need to regularly review their giving and we need to attract more givers. He outlined ten recommendations for the introduction of new giving arrangements and left us with A5 folders for introducing the Parish Giving Scheme. The Finance Committee have been asked to look at these and make some proposals for our next meeting in September.
- Southside Appeal: The meeting heard that Buckinghamshire Historic Churches Trust has awarded us a £6K grant which brings our total raised to date to just under £25K (£75K required).
- Sidespersons’ Get Together: Jane said that an invitation to all sidespersons to attend a ‘thank you’ meeting at the Rectory would soon be sent out. This would also provide the opportunity to re-visit the role of sidespeople. It was suggested that others might be willing to take on this ministry; we will seek new volunteers.
- Summer Fete Review: Nicki re-iterated the sums raised and asked for views. The PCC thanked Nicki for leading this very successful event and hoped that we could establish early contact with our school to consider plans for next year. The value in linking school and church was emphasised.
- Life Treasury Proposal: All members of the PCC had attended one of two presentations on this proposal and voted unanimously to go ahead with it. It will involve some significant adjustments probably on inside of the south wall outside the Lady Chapel. Details of this scheme are outlined below.
- War Memorial Refurbishment: The meeting approved the plans to clean up our War Memorial. Our Parish Council have identified the funds for this and we are now seeking Diocesan permission to do the work – hopefully before Remembrance Sunday.
- Service Times: Last year when we adjusted the timings of Sunday morning services, we agreed to review these timings after a year. The meeting had a brief discussion about this and agreed to leave the times as they are at present and consider any changes as part of the work of our Worship Sub-Committee which is looking at the whole of our patterns of worship.
- Worship Sub-Committee: The findings from the Worship Surveys were shared and the committee thanked for its work on this so far. The group meets again in early August after which the findings will be available to everyone. The group will bring further thinking to the PCC in the Autumn.
- Safeguarding: All members of the PCC are required to undertake on online safeguarding course. The link for this is being circulated.
- Deanery Synod: Brenda Hickman provided the PCC with a report on the latest meeting which focused on the implications of the Heathrow third runway, the importance of mission in our communities and the difficulties of raising the funds needed to keep all our churches going.
- Electoral Roll: the meeting approved one new application.
- Treasurer’s Report: Our treasurer presented our current position which again shows that our income doesn’t match our expenditure. Given the earlier presentation on the Parish Giving Scheme, the meeting will look at this again in September when the Finance Sub-Committee has had a chance to consider ways forward.
- Churchyard: The meeting heard that we are contacting those with family graves regarding acceptable memorials. Over the summer, all graves will be reviewed against the stated rules.
- Extra-ordinary Meeting: The PCC will meet after the morning service on 5th August to approve arrangements for restoring the heating system.