Hagley Parochial Church Council
Minutes of the meeting held on Thursday 3 April 2025 at 7.30pm at St Saviour’s.
Present: John Gowar, Margaret Rankin, Michael Norris, Jenny Moulder, Sharon Bryant, Alan Smith, Sarah Piper, Fiona Taylor, Margret Tindall, Sue Priest, Barbara Albert, Tom Owen, Wendy Jones, Bob Jones, Mark Taylor, Kate Aldridge, Diane Mottershead.
Opening Prayers: Tom opened the meeting with prayers.
- a) Apologies: David Trewin, Bill Green, Paul Evans, Becky Hindmarsh, Chris Spencer, Gill Richards, Iain Wright
b) Minutes of meeting held on 23 January 2025: The Minutes were approved and signed by Tom. Proposed by Mark Taylor, seconded by Michael.
- Matters arising from the Minutes:
- Memorial Book at St John’s: The memorial book will be taken to Hilton Studios in Lichfield to be updated.
3. Finance: The Treasurers report was distributed prior to the meeting. Mark emphasised the need to ensure we get
the best deals for energy and waste removal. We are currently working at a financial deficit and need to be mindful of all expenditure. Thank you to Mark for getting the accounts finalised and independently examined for approval at the AGM.
4. Praying and investing for the future: Tom ran through the documents he presented at his interview for the challenges and priorities that we had highlighted in our Parish Profile. We are to celebrate what is existing and already happening in our parish. The heart of these priorities is evangelism. Tom shared the sheet showing how different generations interact with our information through different mediums. The greatest increase in engagement is coming through our social media and website. One of the priorities on our Parish Profile is our desire to grow our youth section. To this end Tom would be looking at the potential of investing in a Youth Worker. We could get a Diocesan grant to help with this, depending on the number on the Elector Roll. As we are not a church school, it will take us longer to develop our relationships with schools. Tom is looking to develop worship in both the traditional and contemporary styles and new worshipping communities. These are considered by the Diocese, to be a form of service in a different style to that which we hold already e.g. Lego church, acoustic church. It needs to include an act of praise, prayer and communion. We are looking to attract a different group of people to those who attend church already. We would be looking to invest in 2 TV screens to supplement the more traditional printed booklets. Tom suggested we split into 3 groups: Communication, Community, Worship, to think, pray and share our thoughts on the 3 themes. Jenny produced a word cloud as the starting point for creating and building our vision of the future of our worship in the parish.
5. Evangelism: Covered in the above exercise.
6. Festivals and events:
a) Lent: 52 people attended the courses held in the day and in the evening. It attracted some who don’t already come to services.
- Easter: The service schedule will be promoted on social media and leaflets.
- Fabric:
a) Heating Report: The Rector and the Churchwardens visited a church in Oxfordshire to investigate chandelier heaters as a replacement for the boiler at St Saviour’s which is becoming difficult to repair as the parts are obsolete. The aim is to become carbon neutral by 2030. It is possible to segment the church for heating and takes 20-30 minutes until the pews felt warm. Further information will be collated for a full report to be presented to the PCC.
- Brief Reports:
- Eco Church: The group met last week and will time the meetings so that they can give more regular updates to the PCC. St Saviour’s and St John’s have reached the Bronze level. There are a lot of improvements required to be implemented to obtain a Silver award, and the group are working out the priorities. They aim to communicate these to the church community as a whole and also give regular tips to the congregation. Tom is in discussion with Butch, the cleaner, about changing to eco-friendly cleaning products. Sue will obtain Fairtrade tea and coffee for St Saviour’s. Lynda Julier will be asked to purchase eco-friendly consumables for the hall.
- Social Events Group: The group are working on plans for events during the year and would like to make the group a Benefice Social events group, including Clent. There is a Christian Aid Quiz on 17 May at the Free Church Hall.
- Outreach: The proposals for 2024 outreach were proposed by Fiona Taylor and seconded by Kate Aldridge. Sue will send the funds to: The Way, Midwife Bereavement and Rainbow Service The Dudley Group NHS foundation, Hearing Dogs for Deaf, Wycliffe Bible translation.
- Churchwardens: Fiona read the short report covering the recent defibrillator course held, the security course run by the Diocese and the church visit to see the heating chandeliers (as above).
- Hagley Hub: Continues to be a successful multi-generational community event. There is a growing number of gentlemen who attend.
- Church Hall: Mark has done a sterling job of getting the accounts and returns to the Charity Commission up to date. They are currently reviewing costs of running the hall and standardising hire charges.
- Electoral Roll: Stands at 57. 47 within the Parish, 5 living outside the Parish. This is a new ER for 2025 and numbers are expected to continue to grow.
- Safeguarding: Jenny (Hagley PSO) and Natalie (Clent PSO) are working together and meet with Tom and Kim regularly. They are looking to hold an in-person safeguarding training for those who find it difficult to go online.
- Any Other Business:
- Contact Magazine: the magazine is currently paused. The editorial group do not have the capacity to produce a monthly magazine especially due to 2 resignations, and it was negatively affecting those on the committee. There was a lack of contributors, particularly from Hagley, which resulted in the latest magazine being Clent centric. The feasibility of continuing with the magazine is being reviewed and at the most it would be a bi-monthly publication and be produced without undue stress on those volunteers on the committee. As there will be no magazine in March/April/May, £3 will either be returned to subscribers or if publication starts up again 3 free magazines. Advertisers have been contacted.
The next meeting is on Thursday 22 May 7.30 pm at St Saviour’s.
The meeting closed with Grace.
Chairman............................................................................. Date: 22 May 2025