Parish of St Francis of Assisi, and Christ the King, Minutes of the Parish Advisory Council (PAC) 22 October at 7.30 pm Parish Hall of St Francis of Assisi

Present: Apologies:

Fr Pius Mathew – parish priest Margaret Robbins Helen Zammit-Willson – chair Diana Bird Valerie German Eileen Evans Anne Aitken Chris Pilsbury Carol Wareing Kathy Home John Fernee Sharon Crump

Item Action

1. Helen welcomed everyone to the meeting. Father Pius opened the meeting with a prayer.

2. Apologies As above

3. Approval of minutes of last meeting The minutes of the meeting held on 18 June 2009 were read and accepted as a true record.

4. Action points from last meeting A reminder had appeared in the parish newsletter about Thursday evening Mass. It was decided to continue this Mass as it gave an opportunity to attend a week day Mass for those who were unable to attend in the morning.

5. Christmas services and other arrangements

Peace & Justice cards possible date of 21/22 November. If possible incorporate into bidding prayers, in the same way as last year

Children’s liturgy every Sunday of Advent

Penitential service 16 December at 7 pm

Christingle 20 December at 3 pm, followed by refreshments

Church cleaning: will need to be done on Tuesday or Wednesday before HZW Christmas. A request needs to go into the newsletter for volunteers.

1 Flowers for Christmas: A collection will be taken up on 13 December

Crib: The Barlow and McEwan families usually do Llay church, while Mike Cunnah usually does Rossett. John Fernee to confirm with Mike that he is JF still available to do Rossett this year some time after Mass on 20 December, and another person to confirm with Damian. Llay crib to be done after Christingle. Person to arrange lighting of advent candles: Rossett Helen Zammit-Willson 6 pm Saturday at Llay Carol Wareing 11 am Llay Val German Christmas Masses

Christmas Eve 11.30 pm beginning with carols Christmas Day 9 am Rossett 10.30 am Llay

6. Update on parish finances Parish Account £61,462.48 Building Fund £13,757.99 Sumy Fund £ 1,890.13

A levy of £5,394 is due to be paid to the diocese to support schools A payment of £1,354 for insurance is also due to be paid in the near future Once the building fund reaches £15,000 it will be transferred to the parish account to cover building expenses that were paid out of this account.

7. Report from Property Group Nothing to report apart from hedge-cutting in Llay and Rossett.

It was noted that the resurfacing of the car park has meant that the church stays much cleaner, without rubble and dust being brought in on people’s feet.

The question was raised whether marking out parking lines on the car park would make motorists park more considerately. It was suggested that a note should be placed in the newsletter asking drivers to be more considerate in HZW the way they park. Alternatively a note could be placed on the windscreen of cars causing an obstruction.

8. Report from Social and Fundraising Group The parish social on 12 July was well attended, with many compliments for the curry! A lot of children and families attended. Almost £400 was raised for parish funds.

The quiz night on 11 September was also successful and raised £140 for parish funds.

St Francis’ feast day celebration together with the harvest festival on 4 October was also well attended, with many gifts donated. It was suggested that a photograph should be taken of the church on this sort of occasion as a memento.

2 Forthcoming events in the church and the locality 13 November Murder mystery evening tickets are going well

17 November Ecumenical study “Songs of Advent” begins at Presbyterian chapel, Rossett. Father Pius will take a turn to lead this service on 1 December.

4 December Soup supper and carols in aid of Sumy soup kitchen

6 December Christmas raffle draw with tea and coffee. The draw will include a hamper as one of the prizes. Donations are needed to fill it.

15 December 7 pm carols at Christchurch, Rossett

19 December Victorian carol evening run by the New Theatre Group

Proposed concert of music for Lent in Rossett It is proposed to hold a concert of music appropriate for Lent, to include The Crucifixion by John Stainer. This includes Passiontide hymns to be sung by the audience.

Proposed date: 26 March 2010

This could be combined with Stations of the Cross. Date to be confirmed with Clodagh. Rehearsal in the church on the Thursday prior to the meeting.

Ladies in the congregation are invited to join with the Alyn Singers from 7 Jan if they would like to learn the work. As this is a ladies choir, male singers who already know the work may only attend the last 4 or 5 rehearsals.

Telephone number: 01244 571577

The Social and Fundraising Committee would welcome new volunteers to HZW join them. A request to this effect will be placed in the newsletter.

9. Report from the Legion of Mary representative Nothing to report at present. There are still only 2 members in the Legion. Visits have been made to the housebound and transport is provided to bring housebound to the Wednesday Club.

10. Report from Sumy representative A budget was provided for a proposed visit to our parish in 2010 by members of Sumy parish. No Cost Total Air tickets 7 £350 £2,450 Visas 7 £ 75 £ 525 Coaches 2 £340 parish budget pays this cost Spending money 7 £ 60 £ 420 Miscellaneous (food, entrance fees, etc) £ 900 £4,295 3 Donation to Sumy parish £1,500 or more

TOTAL REQUIRED £5,800 or more

Suggested financing: Sumy Fund now £1,890 Bishop’s donation £1,000 Sponsors (3 x £350?) £1,050 Duck race – May/June £1,000 Alyn Singers (Easter) £ 200 Retiring collection (July) £ 400 Parish donation £1,000 Miscellaneous £ 400 TOTAL £6,940

A note needs to go into the newsletter asking for sponsors for this visit HZW

Suggested invitees: Father Andrei Tamara Pekur Dasha Rusanovskaya Larissa Grinchenko Oleg Grinchenko Luda Miroshnichenko Sasha Yefimenko

A discussion took place on whether or not to make changes in how we continue the link with Sumy, or whether the parish should seek a new project now that the Sumy parish is in a better position than it used to be. Various suggestions were made, including the proposal to support the less well off parishes in the Sumy oblast, such as Shostka and Romny, or of asking the parish priest in Sumy what projects were most in need of support, rather than sending money for unspecified purposes.

It was decided to continue with the proposed visit in 2010 in the same way as before and to review the link at a later date, with the intention of tapering off the support we give and reducing the number of visits. We would still continue to raise money for Valentina and for the soup kitchen.

It was also decided to replace Oleg Grinchenko’s name on the list with two names from Shostka.

11. Report from Peace and Justice representative The next event to be organised is the sending of greeting cards during lent (see above).

12. Report from TCC representative The TCC are at present working with Bishop Edwin to protect faith education in . Blessed Edward Jones school is having a great deal of difficulty due to policy changes within the local education department. The fear is that it will have to close if the difficulties cannot be resolved.

4 A questionnaire is to be circulated among parents and supporters of the school in order to assist the Bishop in putting the case to the education authority.

TCC also gave evidence to the Low Pay Commission in Westminster with regard to issues affecting low paid workers.

13. Report from parish safeguarding representative The task of child protection within the Church has now been widened to include all vulnerable adults, including adults with special needs and vulnerable elderly, etc. This work is now known as “Safeguarding” and will mean many changes to what we do as a parish.

In future, risk assessments will need to be carried out on many parish activities and CRB checks are needed for anyone who runs any of the parish groups involving these categories of people. CRB checks will soon be replace with a barring and vetting scheme where names are placed on a register, so that all concerned parties will be notified when a problem arises. New guidelines have been issued by the diocese and leaflets were provided for information.

The Diocesan Safeguarding Office can be contacted as follows: Telephone: 01978 262 726 e-mail: @csas.uk.net

Thanks were offered to Sharon Crump for doing this work and attending meetings on behalf of the parish.

14. Any other business A request was made for padding for seats and kneelers, particularly in the JF front rows, to make attending church more comfortable for elderly or disabled parishioners.

A request was made for volunteers to take over the APF red box collection work from John Thompson, who is not able to do it any more. A request HZW needs to be placed in the parish newsletter.

15. Next meeting Thursday 11 February 2010 at 7.30 pm.

A closing prayer was said by Father Pius

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