Every so often, just when people are getting ready to go home after Mass, somebody will go to the lectern and introduce him or herself as being a member of the Parish Council, and then proceed, usually, to ask for money. So, who are these people and why do they want your cash?
Well, the Parish Council exists to help in the running of the parish, in matters both spiritual and secular. The council meets regularly, roughly every couple of months, to discuss matters relevant to the parish. You don’t even have to be a member of the Parish Council to attend: any parishioner is welcome to come along.
A typical meeting will begin with a prayer and then go on to look through the minutes of the previous session to see how the matters raised have been dealt with. Then we’ll discuss such matters as finance (as our treasurer is fond of pointing out, it costs £3,000 a week to run the parish), the parish hall and its uses and abuses, fund raising (hence our appearances at the end of Mass) and – it’s not all mammon – prayer and evangelisation.
Parish Council meetings are announced in the newsletter and on this website, and take place in the small hall, usually at 8.15pm on Mondays. The annual Parish General Meeting happens, you guessed it, each year, normally in the early summer, and is a good place to raise any concerns about the parish or pose any questions.
Please feel free to contact the Chairman of the Parish Council if you have any matters you would like to raise. My name is Edoardo Albert and my contact details can be found here.