The Annual Parish Vestry Meeting and Annual Congregational Meeting Sunday 25 October 2020 5.30pm (By Zoom) AGENDA and MINUTES To receive joining details please send an email to Canon Peter Dobson [email protected] Annual Parish Vestry Meeting 1. Opening Prayer 2. Apologies for Absence 3. To elect four Churchwardens 4. Any other business (if notified in advance) Annual Congregational Meeting 1. Minutes of the last meeting 2. Elections a. To elect Assistant Church Wardens b. To elect two representatives to the Community Forum c. To elect two representatives Newcastle City Centre Churches Together d. To elect four representatives to Dean Synod e. To elect Sidesmen 3. Reports a. Report from the Dean b. Report on the Electoral Roll c. Report from the Canon for Music and Liturgy d. Report from the Canon for Outreach and Discipleship e. Report from the Canon Pastor f. Report on the Finances g. Report on Safeguarding h. Report on the Community Forum i. Report on the Deanery Synod j. Report from the Churchwardens k. Report on the Common Ground and Sacred Space Project l. Report on Marketing and Communications m. Report on the Lay Intercessors n. Report on Music o. Report on the Servers p. Report on the Cathedral Bells q. Report on the Flower Fellowship r. Report on Newcastle City Centre Churches Together 4. Any other business (if notified in advance) 2 5. The Grace. Minutes of the Annual Parish Vestry and Annual Congregational Meeting held in the Cathedral on Sunday 7th April 2019. Present: The Very Revd Geoff Miller, Dean of Newcastle (Chair), Revd Canon Clare MacLaren, Revd Canon Steven Harvey, Revd Canon Jean Skinner, Revd Thomas Sharp, Ms K Sussams (Operations Director) and Ms E Robertson (Cathedral Secretary) were in attendance. 36 others were present. The meeting commenced with prayer led by the Dean. Apologies for absence had been received from Mrs M. Canham, Mrs I Heppell, Miss J. Marrs, Mrs A. Petrie, Mr & Mrs I. Roberts and Mr R. Watson. Mrs S. Hood will stand down this year as Churchwarden. The Dean thanked Mrs S. Hood for her many years’ service as Churchwarden and Sidesperson. A small presentation was made. Parish Vestry Meeting Election of Churchwardens The Dean read out the names of those nominated: Mr Chris Malcolm, Mr G. Scott and Mr Timothy Wigglesworth. An election was not necessary and the above were duly appointed to office. This being all the business the Parish Vestry Meeting was closed. Annual Congregational Meeting Minutes Minutes of the meeting held on 22nd April were approved and accepted. Report on the Electoral Roll Ms E. Robertson reported that in accordance with the requirements of the Synodical Government Measure 1969 a revised Electoral Roll for 2019/2020 had been prepared and exhibited for inspection in the Chapter Office. There were 131 names on the Roll (92 households). Election of Assistant Churchwardens The following were appointed as Assistant Churchwardens: Mr David Dunscombe, Mrs Christine Hawkins, Ms Alison Malcolm, Mrs L. McDermott, Mr Arthur Perkins, Mrs Vicki Pickering, Cathedral Chapter Mr Eric Jubb and Mr David Lawrence put their names forward for election. There were no other nominations, and both were duly elected. 3 Cathedral Council Gerald Graham put his name forward for election. There were no other nominations, so he was duly elected. Deanery Synod One vacancy remains. Community Forum Mr Raymond Watson and Mrs Marjorie Wood put their names forward for election. There were no other nominations and both were duly elected. City Centre Churches Together Dr Carys Underdown put her name forward for election. There were no other nominations so was duly elected. Sidesmen Sidesmen were re-elected en bloc. The various reports included in the Annual Report booklet were presented and accepted en bloc. The Dean’s Report The Dean thanked the staff for the preparation of the Annual Report’s Booklet. A report had not been received from the Bellringers, but this was due to an e-mail communication problem. The back lane was still a problem with dirt and mess. NE1 and the Local Authority have met and discussed this problem, although it is out of the control of the Cathedral with building works etc taking place at present it could possibly get messier in the short term. The Crypt is still drying out. It lies on a tributary which goes down to the river so even although we are trying to dry it out it will always be slightly damp. The HLF Second Stage Application will be announced in the next few weeks. Match funding of £1.6/7 million has been raised. This will be forthcoming following the decision from HLF. The Dean expressed his thanks to his staff for the long hours and hard work that has been put into the application. Further plans cannot move ahead until the decision is known (which will be around the beginning of May, following local elections). The CGISS Project will internally be known as ‘Making Sacred Space Common Ground’ to which there will be three strands of work. Inspiring Worship At the heart of the life of the Cathedral will be a thriving and growing worshipping community, that prioritises prayer, nourishes disciples, feasts on Bread and Wine. This will be led by the Canon for Music and Liturgy along with the Music Department and the Ministry team. 4 Radical Welcome Open door for everyone which will bring challenges and joys. The Cathedral will be known for its warm, inclusive hospitality offered in the name of Christ. The CGISS ‘project’ will be mainstreamed as a hallmark of the Cathedral’s mission. This will be led by the Director of Operations along with the Project Manager and the Delivery Board Empowering Worth To gain better skills and better ability to welcome the vulnerable and under privileged. The Cathedral will be a confident participant in the life of the City. The Cathedral will be boldly proclaiming (in word and deed) an authentic message of hope. The work and life of the Cathedral will demonstrate, embody and celebrate the Diocesan Mission: ‘Growing Church Bringing Hope’. The Diocese will enjoy the Cathedral as its ‘Mother Church’ and its support for the Bishop’s teaching ministry. This will be led by the new Canon for Mission and Discipleship (Canon Steven’s replacement) and the Steering Group for the Lantern Initiative. The Dean recorded his gratitude and thanks to everyone (too many to mention by name) who have volunteered in any way in the Cathedral. He also recorded his thanks to Canon Clare, Canon Steven, Canon John and Canon Jean, the lay staff, the music team and the verger’s team. The Dean informed the meeting that Canon Jean would have the title of Canon Pastor from today onwards and also that Canon Steven would be retiring at the end of May, he will be greatly missed but there will be a time to say a proper farewell nearer the time. Finance Report Kate Sussams, Director of Operations spoke to the Finance Report. The financial year ending December 31st, 2018 has been like recent years in many ways. We have worked hard to manage our income tightly and to continue to push areas for income growth. We have come in under our predicted growth (£154,579 against a budgeted deficit of £174,787) and only had to draw down £50,000 from our reserves for cash-flow purposes. Once again, income from collections has increased and this is a testament to the very generous donations our congregation give week-on-week, as well as donations from visitors through the Almsboxes, contactless donation point and candle income. Events and hire continues to be an important growth area and this year we have seen an increase on budget’ this area is not without its challenges including staff capacity and impact on the building. This year’s below-budget deficit was particularly rewarding given that there was still an income budget of £12,000 set for the café (based on 2017 performance and a budget approved in October 2017). One of the biggest successes on 2018 is yet to come! The Finance Committee and Chapter have long been concerned about the challenges of raising enough income to cover the annual running costs. Revenue fundraising is currently beyond the capacity/skills of the Cathedral team and so an application for a three year part-time fundraiser was put to the Church Commissioners as part of their Cathedrals Sustainability Fund. We were delighted to have found out in December that we had been successful and, depending on the outcome of the HLF bid, a fundraiser will be in place 5 either late 2019 or early 2020. We need to make sure that any fundraiser’s work dovetails with the fundraising being carried out for the project and also to ensure that we have maximum impact of revenue fundraising when we re-open after any capital works planned as part of the project. The HLF project (if successful) will continue to have an impact on the way our finances are presented. Revenue spend is currently recorded through our management accounts and the income recorded as a grant. In future, any HLF income will be split between revenue and capital items and we are working with our auditors about how these are recorded efficiently in our management accounts so as not to skew our year-on-year picture. In 2018, our budgeted expenditure was over £91,985 more than the budgeted expenditure; this was almost all staff costs associated with the HLF project and not budgeted for income (covered by a generous grant from the Cathedral Trust).