Wardens’ Meeting

Thursday 1st December

7pm in The Church Hall, Perranarworthal.

Welcome and Opening Prayer

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PRESENT: Revd. Karen Wilson (KW), Anne Ramsden (AR), David Simmons (DW), Paul Stuart (PS).

 

Welcome and Opening Prayer.

 

Apologies: Martin Davey. AR asked that we note our sorrow that Martin could not be present.

 

 Minutes of last meeting:

·       As the meeting set for 1st December 2022 was cancelled, the minutes of the meeting of 2nd September 2022 were agreed and signed as accurate.

 

Matters arising:

·       Joint bank account. This has still not been set up. AR reported that Trish Holmes has said the problem lies with Lloyds bank in London due to an internal matter. The meeting felt the issue needs resolving a s a p. PS will write to Lloyds if necessary. AR will follow it up with Trish Holmes. It was also felt that the 3 Treasurers be asked to meet and resolve the matter. KW to action. All in favour.

 

Worship Rota - PinC and Ministry Team oversight:

·       KW confirmed that this matter is firmly within the remit of the Ministry Team rather than CWs. This will be discussed at the next Ministry Team meeting.

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Rotation of Chair for CW meetings:

·       PS forwarded the idea that Chairmanship of CW meetings should be rotated. KW agreed. The idea of each chair acting as host was raised during the discussion. The host will raise a proposed agenda and circulate for agreement in good time before the meeting. All supported the ideas as they could help to ensure more involvement in planning and discussion by Wardens. Proposed by PS, Seconded by KW. Unanimous vote in favour.

  

Frequency of Meetings:

        There has been discussion about increasing the frequency of  meetings on other occasions. The meeting noted that AD Paul has suggested this and it has also been discussed during the mediation process. Meeting felt it would be advantageous to   move to a six-week pattern, and that this meeting should be seen as the first of that rota. Future meetings would be as follows: 3rd May 2023 at Devoran, chaired by Church Warden from Devoran; 14th June 2023 at Feock, chaired by Church Warden from Feock; 26th July 2023 at St. Piran’s, chaired by Church Warden from St. Piran’s. KW to attend meetings when not in the chair. The rota to be reviewed after a full rotation. Proposed by KW, Seconded by AR. Unanimous in favour.

 

Purpose of CW Meetings:

   The following were identified as the team responsibilities:

·       Support for each other

·       Support for the Priest in Charge

·       Assisting each other with issues as they arise.

·       Sharing information

·       Identifying and sharing good practice

·       Ensuring each church and other assets are maintained in good order.

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   AOB:

·       The meeting held a discussion about how to make progress with The Waterside Benefice. All agreed it should be an ongoing discussion and always held in the forefront of our minds and activities.

·       Outreach is seen as vital, and each church has a responsibility to play its part, both in and for its own community as well as for the other activities and initiatives in the Benefice. CWs should play an integral part in these matters.  

·       CWs are very important as leaders in their communities and churches and should always be aware of how they lead and set examples. This includes setting an example in services and in the wider community.  

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Date of next meeting:

·       3rd May, 2023 at Devoran. Chaired by Devoran CW. 7PM.

         Meeting closed with the Grace at 8.50 pm.

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Church Wardens' Meeting Friday 2nd September, 2022 - pm at Devoran Parish Centre 

1. Opening Prayer

Present: Revd. Karen Wilson (KW), Anne Ramsden (AR) David Simmons (DS) Paul Stuart (PS).

Apologies: Martin Davey (MD)

2. Minutes from previous meeting

Agreed and signed.

3. Matters Arising

• Devoran’s website still active and showing as unsafe. AR to follow up, as she’s had contact with Will Charnley already.

• Use of buildings: PS asked that he receives Hall and other bookings, events etc to put on the website.

4/. News from each church. 

• Devoran and St. Piran’s reported services and outreach activities going well. Forthcoming events in hand. No written information from St. Feock in MD's absence. 

• Benefice bank account. Still not active. PS said it would be better for each church to pay its share of Karen’s expenses individually as the current arrangement was supposed to be temporary. It is now 9 months since the Treasurers agreed to set it up and it could no longer be considered temporary. AR will contact Devoran’s Treasurer to ascertain the position and let the Wardens know a s a p.

5/. All Souls Service.

• Agreed to be held on 30th October at 10.00am. As it’s the 5th Sunday of the month it will be a Joint Benefice Holy Communion Service taken by KW. This is scheduled for St. Feock.

6. Advent (27th November - 24th December) and Christmas Services - planning ahead for the Ministry Team meeting (7th September).

The meeting dealt with planning ahead of dates for Carol Services, Christingle, Nativity, Crib, Christmas Eve, Christmas Day, St. Stephen’s Day services and agreed dates for each.-

7. Use of buildings - ‘warm places’

• The forthcoming electricity prices increase and its likely impact on our churches and communities was discussed. Suggestion was made that we look at providing something warming to the parishes. Perhaps a soup kitchen type idea once a week on a lunchtime. Wardens to take back to PCCs.

8. AOB

None

9. Date/venue of next meeting

1st December at St. Piran’s at 7.00 pm

Closing Prayer 

CHURCHWARDENS MEETING – THURSDAY 9TH JUNE 2022

PRESENT: Revd. Karen Wilson (KW), Paul Stuart (PS), David Simmons (DS), Anne Ramsden (AR), Martin Davey (MD).

MINUTES OF LAST MEETING:

Agreed and signed.

MATTERS ARISING:

PS raised the fact that Devoran still has not dealt with the removal of their own individual website. Their front page has links only to the Devoran parts of The Waterside Churches website, which is not equitable. Also, the URL bar for the Devoran website shows it as being unsafe. AR expressed surprise that this was still live and promised to deal with it.

WORSHIP WITHOUT WALLS

Itinerary for Archbishop Justin (JW): Friday 17th – Clergy Dinner; 7.30 am Saturday 18th – Service for all on Zoom; 9.00 am – Eucharist in the Cathedral; Evening JW attending Shanty week in Falmouth; Sunday 19th – morning – JW probably in Liskeard.

Sunday 19th June, 10.00am: St. Feock – Outside service near the church. Archdeacon Paul to preach. Devoran – Outside Service on Devoran Village Field; Revd. Karen to lead. St. Piran’s – Service outside Perranwell Centre, including bacon baps and refreshments; Jane Darlington to lead. There will be flowing Waters service at Devoran in the Parish Centre on Sunday 19th at 6.00pm. KW to let us have the orders of Service for the 10.00am Sunday Services.

SUCCESSION MANAGEMENT

KW asked each church warden to identify how many years into office each is and what their intentions are for succession planning. MD is into an agreed year’s extension and will carry on for as long as his PCC wants him to. PS said he is also into a year’s extension. He will not leave his church without 2 wardens, but recognised that there needs to be new people coming through. DS is in his 5th year and will decide whether to stand again for a 6th year later. AR wants to step away and spend more time in mission work. She is hoping to develop 2 people so that they may take on the roles “in the fullness of time”. KW said that it’s important to have 2 wardens in each church.

SECURITY

There has been vandalism and theft from various churches in the diocese, so we should ensure our arrangements are up to scratch.

USE OF BUILDINGS

KW encouraged wardens to make sure that our buildings and halls are used as much as possible. They need to be worked harder. MD noted that St. Feock’s hall was fully used each week. PS said that it’s important that the website showed bookings and booking procedures. AR said she will ensure he receives details for Devoran a s a p. Both other churches are already on the site.

JUBILEE

Please let Paul have pictures and stories so that our weekend celebration is the 3 churches may be properly seen on the website.

AOB

PS asked that Wardens meetings be scheduled to happen before Ministry or Pastoral meetings as those meeting could then be informed of what the wardens had discussed and decided, because such issues may well have an impact on the others’ meetings. All agreed. MD asked about the progress of St. Feock’s idea of increasing fees by 20%. PS said St. Piran’s PCC have met and agreed, but reserved the right to review as and when it is felt necessary. AR said Devoran have not yet considered the matter. KW wanted it noted that she is able, as Priest in Charge, to reduce or waive certain fees if she felt the case warranted such help. The wardens hoped that would not be necessary and that KW would consult the church concerned before making such a concession.

MD asked that the St. Feck entry about their bells on the website be changed so that it showed 3 bells instead of 1.

MD raised the matter of Easter Sunday. He said that having to hold the service at St. Feock at 11.00am resulted in a halving of the number in the congregation and there was discontent as a result. KW said it would be put on the agenda for the forthcoming JCC meeting. MD said that St. Feock couldn’t promise to have anybody in attendance at that meeting., AFTERNOTE: THE MATTER WILL NOW BE DISCUSSED AT A NEWLY ARRANGED JCC ON 23RD JUNE AT 7.00PM AT DEVORAN.

DATE OF NEXT MEETING:

2nd September, 2022

Meeting closed with Grace.

Church Wardens' Meeting - Thursday 3rd March 2022 - 6pm at Devoran Parish Centre

1. Apologies: 

None

WELCOME: PURPOSE OF THE CWS MEETINGS:

KW stressed that it’s important that CWs in the Benefice meet regularly and on a scheduled basis in order to share experiences, successes, difficulties, discuss plans for the future, support each other in all sorts of ways, to identify things that other groups (Ministry team, Pastoral Team, etc) need to be aware of. Also, to deal with matters from JCC and identify where those issues need CW activity and to be an integral part of our Benefice having positive mission.

2. Minutes of previous meeting:

Agreed.

3. Matters Arising:

PS noted that Devoran’s individual website (devoranchurch.org.uk) is still live and active, despite it being agreed that it would be taken down. The front page of that site shows that it is labelled as “unsafe” with the padlock symbol in the URL bar showing this. It contains direct links to The Waterside Benefice website. AR said she has discussed this with Will Charnley at Devoran, who doesn’t see how it’s unsafe, and wants to keep the site running. PS indicated that he will contact Will to resolve the matter.

4. Easter Services:

KW distributed draft rotas for April and Holy Week. She highlighted the problem on Easter Day, when the 3 churches need a Eucharist but lack of clergy means timing will have to change. She stressed this was a unique situation. After discussion about availability of clergy, it was decided that St. Piran’s would be at 9.30 am with KW, Devoran would be at 10.00AM with the Revd. Jeff James and Feock would be at 11.00am with KW.

ST. Feock to hold APCM on May 1st.

5. Website - addition of information from all three churches:

PS distributed the website statistics for January and February, 2022 and said that he will produce the figures on a monthly basis. The figures showed how many times each page on the site had been viewed, which sources were used to access the site and what type of devices were used as well. The idea is to help identify where the site needs improvement, pages that could be removed or changed, introduce facilities that help make it as user friendly as possible, and to use it as a digital outreach tool in support of the Benefice’s overall mission and ministry. PS stressed that unless he is given material he cannot put it on the site and asked that all 3 churches discuss at PCC and elsewhere how they can add value to the site and send PS more items. Services and Events pages are particularly important as they make the information public and accessible. He will bring the same message to other meetings. Examples of items that could be added were posters and Benefice Youth Pages. PS said he will also liaise with Jane Darlington to get the social media figures in future months.

6. Buildings:

KW reported that On the Way has already highlighted the fact that churches and church halls needed to be used more and become much more central to the communities in which they are situated. It should be part of mission and outreach that our buildings are used more. PS said that church Hall bookings can be shown on the website, which will help potential users identify availability and show how much they are used and what for. Please let him have the information. St. Piran’s Church Hall is already on the site.

7. Feedback from OTW consultation and update:

KW gave the timetable for feedback and Deanery plan. All consultation about fruitfulness to be finished by the end of February, 2022. OTW teams will then meet and collate the information. This is for 11 churches in our case. A plan will then be drawn up and presented to the Deanery. Sustainability was also involved. The situation is that the Deanery is £100,000 short and the Diocese £284,00 down. Obviously, this cannot continue, so OTW will be a useful tool to help make decisions about the sustainability of churches and the number of stipendiary clergy. Groupings will obviously be considered. KW stressed that nothing is “off the table.”

8. AOB:

Preparation for “London Bridge” was discussed and all 3 churches should ensure readiness with a framed photograph and a book for condolences. There will be explicit instructions whenever the notification is given.

9. Date of next meeting:

Thursday 9th June.

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Churchwardens' Meeting - Thursday 2nd December. 6.00 pm at Devoran

Welcome and Prayer

Present: Rev’d. Karen Wilson (KW), Martin Davey (MW) for St. Feock, Anne Ramsden (AR) for Devoran, David Simmons (DS) and Paul Stuart (PS) for St. Piran’s, Perranarworthal.

Apologies: None

Minutes: Agreed.

Matters Arising: None

Safeguarding: 

St. Feock - complete. Devoran and St. Piran's in process.

DBS Checks:

St. Feock - complete. Devoran and St. Piran's in process.

KW raised the idea of having one Safeguarding Officer for the Benefice. AR agreed it would be a good thing. MD said that Safeguarding was very important and it is crucial that it remains as tightly controlled as possible. PS and DS thought it will need each PCC to consider this idea, as it may represent a potential step towards the unification of PCCs. It will be discussed at PCC meetings and fed back to this forum. In the meantime all Safeguarding training and DBS checks need to be completed.

December Rota and Following Months:

The Ministry Team have met and agreed that Rev'd. Jonathan Rowe's move to alleviate the situation at Highertown Church is not ideal for this Benefice. However, the Rotas for the coming two months have been adjusted to minimise the effect. Services will proceed as projected, but the personnel has been changed in some cases. 

AOB:

PS raised the issue that password protected PCC Members' Areas for the website have been offered. Please let him have the details to ensure this is done. There has been a recent example of Zoom being hacked and unfortunate activity being shown. PS said that people need to be very careful about ensuring Zoom access details are kept safe. He offered to put a Zoom request box on our Contact Us page. This would also mean that KW could hold Zoom sessions with people seeking services, if a face to face meeting was not possible. PS raised the subject of Devoran still having a live website for its church which is unsafe. It has direct links to our Waterside website and these need to be removed, as they represent a potentially unsafe situation. AR will follow up at Devoran.

Date of Next Meeting:

Thursday March 3rd at 6.00pm at Devoran

Closing Prayer

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Churchwarden’s Meeting - Wednesday 1st September at 7pm. Perranarworthal

PRESENT: Rev’d. Karen Wilson (KW), Martin Davey (MW) for St. Feock, Anne Ramsden (AR) for Devoran, David Simmons (DS) and Paul Stuart (PS) for St. Piran’s, Perranarworthal.

Welcome and Opening Prayer - Revd Karen

1. Safeguarding/DBS and training

KW asked each church for an update about DBS checks and Certification and moved on to seek information about the training situation in each church. MW reported that St. Feock is up to date on both counts. AR said she would check the situation at Devoran, but felt there was probably some work to be done. PS said that the Safeguarding Officer at St. Piran’s is in the process of checking up, but those who needed DBS had certification. KW said that JCC members need to do the basic training and that DBS certification covers those on the JCC.

2. Church Attendance

KW was keen to ascertain how the Covid 19 pandemic had affected attendance. AR said there had been a slight drop but nothing significant. PS reported numbers had been steady with no worrying trends. MD reported that numbers had slightly increased. With an average of 45.5 each Sunday. Each church said that it was confident that the small number of people who are still to return will do so as we gradually emerge from the strictures of Covid 19.

3. Covid-19 restrictions and risk assessment

Each church reported that risk assessments were continually monitored with the aim of gradually easing the tight restrictions that have been necessary. No particular issues were apparent. The wearing of masks, distancing and singing were the areas currently being dealt with.

4. Maintenance issues

AR said the refurbishment was almost complete with painting being the last task to be done. MD said St. Feock church had a few slates on the roof to be dealt with. PS said the main concern at St. Piran’s was trees in the closed churchyard. Work had been done to remove the most immediate potential danger of falling branches and the local authority has a plan to deal with the remaining problems. There is an email audit trail on what has been happening, but there is concern that the work is not being done as rapidly as it should. The fall of a large tree some time ago was mentioned by DS. The bell tower has had its window openings made safe from incursions by birds and squirrels.

5. Pastoral issues

KW asked for referrals to be sent to her so that she can follow up any case that may need a visit from her. She has received these from Devoran and St. Piran’s. MD for St. Feock said there were none at present. Each church has developed its own way of looking after members of the congregation who needed help. MD said that a group of carers were meeting at Linden Hey on a regular basis to share experiences and hopefully improve their provision. The problem of carers themselves being in need of help was raised and she had noticed households struggling with both carer and cared for in need of help. PS highlighted the problem of people at Treliske hospital waiting to go home being held up due to lack of care provision by the local authority as well as care problems at home. KW said she has already made several home visits and asked that the details of those considered to be in crisis and/or in need of a visit should be passed to her. She is making sure she keeps a record of her visits.

6. Churchyards

Each church has a plan of churchyards, either on file in the safe, and/or on computer. There is space available for the foreseeable future in each location. DS mentioned that Perranarworthal Parish Council is responsible for the spaces now available in the graveyard at St. Piran’s, but the interment and children’s areas had space available and remained under the control of the church.

7. Quinquennial Inspections

Inspection at Devoran is due in 2025, St. Feock had an inspection last year and St. Piran’s two years ago. No worrying problems have been identified.

8. Sidespeople, Servers and welcomers

No problems were reported at St. Feock and St.Piran’s, with each church having sufficient volunteers to cover these activities, as well as reading and intercessions. AR, said Devoran is short of sides-men on one week and may have a problem depending on what Adrian and Mandy Walker decide about supporting Evensong. A solution is being sought.

9. AOB

a- MD asked whether the use of Vergers could be shown as compulsory in the weddings information on the website. PS said the fees for all our activities were shown on the website as either compulsory or optional, reflecting the C of E regulations. Our own website cannot portray Vergers fees as compulsory because they are not. However, KW said that she is firm that Vergers need to be included in wedding fees when she visits potential wedding couples, and will continue to make every effort in that direction. 

b- MD asked KW whether e-mails that she sends could be targeted clearly as being for the attention of somebody with a specific role. KW said she sends emails to those who need the information being sent, and if she would like a response she asks for it.

c- The need to use BCC for data protection was mentioned.

d- KW said the rota for the Christmas period was being worked on and she was waiting for information from St. Feock as to their wishes in order to complete the work and publish a draft. MD gave details of what St. Feock would be doing and KW said she’d look at the overall picture and produce a plan a s a p.

e- AR suggested a card be sent to Esther Pollard in to thank her for the administrative work. Agreed.

10. Date of next meeting

Wednesday 1st December at 6.00 pm at Devoran

Closing Prayer

The meeting closed with prayer