The St Nicolas PCC met at Church on 17th July during which the following matters were discussed:
- Broadband in Church: there is a plan to install broadband in church to further establish the church office facilities, provide a phone line and create the ability to show things in church live using the internet. The current issue is agreeing the route into church. It is hoped to complete this installation (privately funded) in the next couple of months.
- The Heating Problem: The PCC is seeking answers from heating consultants regarding our best options for the future and this matter will be resolved at extraordinary meetings of the PCC going forward.
- Hitcham and Taplow Society Magazine: We will have an article about St Nicolas Church in the Autumn edition together with an invitation for our community to support the church through the Parish Giving Scheme.
- Tree Felling: the large (dead) pine tree behind our war memorial has now been felled to ground level eliminating the risk of it falling. The cost was just over £2000.
- 2nd World War Names on our Memorial: the Hitcham and Taplow Society are continuing to research the names of the Taplow fallen in this war. It will not be possible to have these names engraved before Remembrance Sunday this year.
- Summer Fete Outcomes: the meeting looked at a Church involvement review report on the fete which clearly showed that the fete was a great success for our church both in terms of income (£1600) and our involvement with our community. We heard that arrangements for next year are already underway (the date is Saturday, 13th June, 2020) and we are resolved to build on the success of this year as we move forward. [Ask any PCC member for a copy of the review report].
- Report on PCC recent ‘Away Day’: The meeting felt that this event was important in establishing our priorities and planning for the future. The Mission Statement and Aims were agreed (related to Worship, Mission and Fellowship) and the many ideas suggested and recorded will be considered by our developing sub-committees: Finance, Buildings, Worship, Mission/Outreach, Social, Fund-raising. All PCC members are members of at least one of these sub-committees which tend to meet in alternate months to the full PCC. It was agreed that we need to recruit non-PCC members to these sub-committees as part of our stewardship: sharing time and talents.[Ask any PCC member for a copy of the PCC Away Day Outcomes]
- Finance and the Parish Share: it was reported that our expenditure (including the parish share) continues to outstrip our income by at least £10K per year and selling assets will not solve this problem much longer. The importance of meeting our parish share – with a 2.2% increase this year was unanimously agreed; the benefits of being part of our Deanery and Diocese were fully appreciated as was our responsibility in supporting churches in the most deprived parts of our Diocese. The Finance Committee pointed out that if everyone on the Parish Giving Scheme paid £1 per week more, we would be much more able to live within our means. The meeting also agreed that we should be contributing more to charity and two suggestions were made in this respect: Help for Heroes and USPG. There will be more information on the way forward shortly.
- Forthcoming events: reference was made to the Bishop’s visit to the Deanery on 20th July, the Concert on the afternoon of 28th July, and the next Confirmation (including two people from St Nicolas) at St Mary’s Church, Slough on 6th October.
