Snippets from the PCC meeting – 10th December 2019
Among the items discussed at the December meeting of the PCC were:
Harvest Produce
At Harvest Festival it has been the custom for gifts to be brought to the services in thanksgiving to God for the harvest. Traditionally those gifts would often have been of fresh produce which had been grown by the giver. In more recent times we have encouraged the giving of non perishable items such as tinned and packet foods – which can then be donated to the food bank – and discouraged the giving of perishable items, which may end up being thrown away.
In practice almost all of the donations are brought by the school children to the school service. Some fresh produce is used as part of the decoration of the church, although this year there were not as many apples as usual as there were not many available.
We reviewed our policy in this area. Whilst it might be thought that food banks, nursing homes and similar establishments would be grateful for fresh produce they are in fact unable to accept them. This year the harvest donations which we sent to the Wolverhampton Food Bank filled a van and were probably worth at least £1,000.
We agreed to continue to encourage donations of tinned and packaged goods which can be used by the food bank and to encourage the use of fresh produce as part of the decorations, where appropriate.
Donations
The PCC’s practice is to make charitable donations equal to 10 per cent of its voluntary income. This year we had a very successful Bells Run and all of the profits from that were shared between Acorns Children’s Hospice and St Chad’s School, which each received just over £2,800. We also gave £2,000 towards Terry Braithwaite’s project for a borehole in Uzuakoli, Nigeria.
In addition to those we continue to make annual donations to a range of home and overseas charities. The PCC decided to keep the total of those at £3,000, which was about the same as last year, and decided to make the following donations:
- Overseas Mission Fellowship (OMF) £250
- World Vision £250
- Us (formerly USPG) £250
- Christian Aid £250
- Save the Children £150
- Embrace the Middle East £250
- Compton Care £400
- Staffordshire Historical Churches £100
- The Haven £200
- Air Ambulance £100
- Little Brothers of the Good Shepherd, Wolverhampton (soup kitchen) £300
- Pattingham Parent & Toddler Group £100
- Salvation Army £150
- Alzheimer’s Society £100
- RNLI (Royal National Lifeboat Institution) £50
- Black Country Neutological Alliance £00
- TOTAL £3,000
Rotas for 2020
The rotas for the first three months of 2020 have been sent to the volunteers, mostly by email. They will, of course, also be available in the magazine as usual but it would be helpful if people make a note of their duties when they receive the rota. As always those who need to swap are asked to arrange their own swap and make a note on the master rota which will be at the back of the church. To help remind those on duty in the first week of the month, the first week of the next month will be included in the magazine.
Fabric matters
Work on the organ has been completed; extensions to the choir desks in the chancel have been fitted; and the clock has been repaired and is now working well. We are awaiting for the outcome of the application for the faculty for the Lady Chapel and are continuing planning for the improvements to the West Door area and the North Aisle.