Keith Robinson, the Diocesan General Secretary, plans to visit us on the 31st October. This will be an important meeting; all parishioners are welcome to attend. Mr Robinson will give a short address and then be prepared to answer our questions. The PCC are particularly anxious to know more about diocesan financial planning.

Jane Newan, our Children's Advocate, gave the PCC details of the revised Child Protection Policy of the Diocese. Jane agreed to continue for at least another year as our Children's Advocate.

Freda Evans outlined the salient features of the Data Protection Act as it affected the parish. In brief, we may say that any data the parish keeps on any person must be agreed by them and accessible to them for checking. In the main this consists of a name, address and telephone number, and for Stewardship members the amount of their giving. This last item is confidential, known only to the recorders and treasurer.

Paul Peterken presented the half-yearly accounts. He reported that the Finance Committee are uneasy about the mechanism presently employed to determine each parish's contribution to the Common Fund. There is no logical formula; we are merely asked to increase our previous year's giving by a fixed percentage. The Committee feels that this leads to an uneven sharing of the financial burden.

There is also concern about the Diocesan use of funds. These points have been made to the Deanery Synod by our representatives and to the Diocesan Synod by the Vicar. Notwithstanding this we will meet the amount we are requested to give as we have always done in the past. Next year this will be £49,000.

The convenors of the four groups who have been working on our Mission Action Plan reported on their progress. The groups considered: Communications, Children and Youth, Worship and Outreach and Properties. There were many ideas from the groups; similar conclusions were reached from their different starting points. All shared the outreach ideal. By our building, our displays, our messages, our meetings and our worship we must show warmth and welcome. We have to show our commitment and the relevance of what we believe.

The meeting considered the outline plans produced by our architect for an extension of the west porch to provide an "Open Door" welcoming look to the church and a staffed church office. It was generally agreed that an extension was very necessary if many of our plans were to be realised, but more discussion was necessary before a firm decision was made.

Source: The Spire Magazine - 2001 October