PRESENT
Fr. Tom Egan, Eddie Albert, Gregory Howard, John Wilson, John Donnelly, Brian Hunt, Pat Bolger, Joe Sutton, Peter Coleman, Celia Webb, Patrick Madigan and Jane Landi.
APOLOGIES
Ramon Landi, Fr. Kevin Moule, Clyde Webb and Marianne Ahearne.
OPENING PRAYER
The meeting started with a prayer.
MINUTES OF THE LAST MEETING ON FEBRUARY 23rd.
The minutes were signed as correct.
MATTERS ARISING
BUS STOP. This still hasn’t been resolved. The school are not happy with the stop so near to their new gates. If we speak to LT together with the school it may carry more weight. People waiting at the stop are throwing rubbish over the fence into the space between the road and the playground.
FAIR TRADE STALL. We will write to Michael to thank him for all he is doing for the parish with the Fair Trade Stall.
PAPER SHOP. This has done very well since the review at Christmas. We will also write to Phil and Rita and thank them for their work.
PAINTING CHURCH FLOOR. This will not be done before the Confirmation and First Communions have taken place. Probably do it towards the end of May.
DISCRIMINATION/HEALTH AND SAFETY. A representative of Precision is coming on 28th April to survey the site.
Gerard, Peter, Jackie and Eddie have met to discuss how we can help parishioners with practical advice during the recession.
TEN TEN. They have moved into the back room behind the kitchen. They are very grateful that the parish has been able to help them. They are putting on a show in May in the school and would like to do a performance in the Hall if we can fit them in. We would not expect to be raising funds from this event.
They have offered to run Confirmation “away-days” for us, in the face of the closure of Southwell House. A copy of their recent newsletter was handed round and spare copies were put in the porch for parishioners to read.
FINANCE
Page 1: Income to March 09 = £42,000, which is a drop on previous years.
Easter and Christmas stipends are not regularly in the same quarter, eg. Easter was March last year and April this year.
Pound a Month draw is in the wrong place on this report, and needs to be re-assigned.
Total recurring income is down £13,000 on the same period last year – much of this is due to Easter/Christmas income as stated above.
Recurring expenditure for the period is £45,000
Our Diocesan Assessment for the year has gone down - £14,000 for the quarter against £16,000 last year.
£7,400 in repairs – mostly to the church roof.
Net recurring income is £7,000 for the quarter – down on the two previous years.
Page 2: Parish Activities of £13,000 is fund raising – eg. January Sale, Bench Appeal.
Total income/expenditure for the quarter is -£50,000: the deficit is mostly due to the new benches. The bank balance at 31st March 09 has gone down from £195,000 to £145,000.
We still have the Gift Aid for 08/09 to claim. This has been an expensive quarter because of the benches.
Upcoming Expenditure items
Covering for Sanctuary floor. Is there someone who can advise us as to the best type of covering?
Storage for new books. Chris Fanning has recommended that we look at caging the book cases we’ve already got as new cupboards are too expensive.
Bigger oven in the Hall Kitchen. What do the likely users think?
Storage shed on the patio. Tidy up what we’ve got first.
FUND RAISING
Gift Aid will be applied for as soon as the lists have been prepared. Patrick will also list the Benches Appeal envelopes.
BBQ will be booked for July.
Celia and Clyde are planning a buffet lunch for 4th October and another hot sit down meal for next February.
There are no concerts planned at the moment.
WEBSITE
Picture galleries are now possible. Pictures of the February Sunday Lunch and the Parish Pilgrimage amongst other things have been posted.
PRAYER AND EVANGELISATION
The Lenten Talks went well. Fr. Tom and Fr. Kevin spoke about St Paul’s letters to the Thessalonians.
Holy Week was well supported with a prayerful atmosphere.
There will be a Confirmation ceremony and two First Holy Communion Masses in May.
Our catechism classes are always battling against the steady reduction in children’s involvement in their faith. Children who do not attend Catholic schools can be very unaware when they come to us, but they have responded well to the classes. Their parents are supportive and they are willing and happy to learn, unlike older children.
Could the Confirmation classes have their “away day” earlier in the course? Would it help break the ice for them? It is very hard to get teenagers to participate in the classes.
OUR LADY OF LOURDES SCHOOL
Peter Coleman has had a chat with Miss Wells. Several children have joined the 11.15 choir.
Two new assistant heads have been appointed to the school from September.
PARISH HALL
There are still some problems with people misusing the toilets. The Scouts have been spoken to after an incident at the end of term, but we now have a problem with the toddler group who seem to be blocking the pans.
PARISH TEAM
Fr. Kevin has settled in well and is proving popular with the people. Fr. Damian has gone to SPEC at London Colney.
ANY OTHER BUSINESS
STOLEN CHURCH KEYS. The keys were pinched from the paper shop door one Sunday morning and the cash box was emptied of an estimated £100. It is thought it was the same man who stole a handbag from the office. A new lock has been put on the sacristy door, but the other keys will not get him anywhere he can’t go during the day when the church is open. It is very hard to keep an eye on everything on a Sunday morning.
There are now two sets of keys – one for the paper shop and another for the weekly servers.
People holding collections at funerals need to be told to keep an eye on them.
CHILD PROTECTION. Nicky and John are meeting with Peter Turner on 20th May.
Half a dozen forms still need to be completed. Those that have been done will need re-doing soon.
Nicky is looking for an assistant with a view to handing over. She has been doing the forms for about seven years now. There have been some who have helped in the past – would they be interested in taking this task on?
Fr. Kevin will take over the organization of the altar servers rota.
FUTURE MEETINGS
Finance Team 13th July at 8 pm
19th October
AGM 28th June at 7.30 pm
Parish Council 21st September ?
9th November at 8.15 pm
The meeting ended with a prayer.