Hagley Parochial Church Council
Minutes of the meeting held on Thursday 25 September 2025 at 7.30pm at St Saviour’s.
Opening Prayers: The Rector’s opening prayers reflected on this moment of excitement as we answer the call to invest our time and effort in the modernisation project and the progress towards the appointment of a Children’s, Youth and Family worker for the Benefice. As custodians of the church, we must take ‘action for our future’.
- Present: Fr Tom Owen, Sue Priest, Graham Perkins, Margret Tindall, Fiona Taylor, Mark Taylor, Margaret Rankin, Sarah Piper, Sharon Bryant, Jenny Moulder. Apologies: Alan Smith, Barbara Albert, Bob Jones, Wendy Jones, Rev Kim Topham, Diane Mottershead, John Gowar, Michael Norris, David Trewin.
Minutes of the meeting on 31 July 2025: These were approved and signed by Fr Tom.
- Matters arising and AOB: The issue of the Benefice not being represented in the Hagley Village News was raised. The other churches in the village are (Life Central, Free Church, Hope Hagley). We are conscious of using our financial resources well and historically the advert hasn’t had a great impact on encouraging people to join our community despite costing £755 in 2024. It may be an option in the future to have a ¼ page advert, linked to a new and improved website. Currently the posts on Facebook have more impact.
- Finance: The finance documents were circulated prior to the meeting, copy attached, and Mark ran through them. He added that since the report the grant applied for by Alan Smith in relation to the stonework at St John's had for £4,106.52 had been received. Mark referred to the recent unrestricted legacy of £75,517.36 that had been recently received. The PCC intends to use this for specific projects. Mark commented that the PCC should consider making a donation of 10% of this legacy to other charities, highlighting the current issues around food poverty. In the meantime Mark proposed that it be moved into the CCLA deposit account to earn interest whilst we develop the plans. Seconded by Jenny and passed unanimously. Mark reiterated the expenditure protocol which the PCC previously agreed to. All those who instigate expenditure will be reminded of this. As a reminder: Up to £200 Treasurer or incumbent to authorise, £200-£1,000 the Finance Committee should authorise and over £1,000 the PCC to authorise. Clarification – the PCC unanimously voted in favour of transferring the full amount of the legacy (£75,517.36) to the CCLA deposit account. Mark put forward his opinion that some of the legacy should be donated to other charities – this was not put forward as a proposal, just a suggestion.
- Modernisation Project: We have a number of projects that we are working towards which we feel are necessary to build a church equipped for the future. We look to the maintenance of the buildings, vision for the future and developing our mission. We allow ourselves the space to recognise that God puts in place ways of financing our vision, reassuring us that we are moving in the right direction. A recent legacy from a BBC Sound Supervisor could be used for sound and technical equipment for St Saviour’s modernisation project. Donations from Mel Nixon’s funeral have been given towards this project. It will be vital to integrate the modernisation plans (heating upgrade, security measures and audio-visual equipment). Tom will get a base line estimate from a Clent resident who worked on the revitalisation project at Top Church Dudley. A laptop would be required to be compatible with software for music and visuals.
- New Worshipping Community: Acoustic Worship Night: The first service was on 14 September and was the first Churches Together service. We hope in the future that more churches will get involved eg Life Central. Members of 6 Churches were represented at the service. This style of service is intentionally different and won’t appeal to everyone. It is designed to be very different to our current services; simplified and reflective with fellowship and appeal to those who don’t find our current services and traditional language accessible. The attendance of 71 far exceeded our expectations, and some came as a result of the flyers posted through every door in Hagley. Tom welcomed constructive feedback – perhaps intersperse the songs and reflection, coffee machine capable of preparing more than one cup at a time and serve cakes.
- Evangelism: Fr Tom’s conversations with his neighbours, Jenny’s conversation with the school caretaker have all planted seeds that we pray will grow.
- Festival and Events: a) Christmas: The pattern will follow previous years with the addition of Acoustic Worship on 14 December. Archdeacon Nikki will officiate at Nine Lessons and Carols at St John’s. Tom shared his plan for next year of holding a Christmas Tree Memorial Service at the beginning of Advent at St Saviour’s. It would be a simple service where people could decorate wooden stars with the name of a loved one who is no longer here to share Christmas. The PCC thought this was a great idea and were keen for it to be brought forward for this year. Another large tree will be placed inside St Saviour’s for this purpose. The service will be held on 30 November at 4 pm. b) Remembrance Service: This will be held at St John’s at 10.30 am on 9 November. No Holy Communion. The RBL, Scouts and Guides will attend with their standards.
- Church Fabric: See attached report. The Fabric Committee will meet to schedule the works required in the Quinquennial report.
- Brief Reports:
a) Eco Church: The group met last week. There will be an Eco Group notice board in all 3 churches to raise recycling awareness and other information. Butterfly and Fairtrade themes will be integrated into the Family Services. Warm blankets will be arriving in the churches shortly. Fairtrade products are to be used where possible for cleaning and for refreshments. The group are working towards the Silver award. The group will be re-applying for Fairtrade Certification. They are trying to arrange a talk on bats as there are bats at St Leonard’s and at St John’s.
b) Social Events Group: No report.
c) Churchwardens: Fiona sent a report which was circulated prior to the meeting. 59 tickets have been sold online for Ex Cathedra.
d) Church Hall: The recent flood from the men’s toilets will be covered by insurance (less £250 excess). The Big Church and Church Hall Tidy Up will be held on 15 November in the afternoon.
MT explained this meeting was to formalise various matters in relation to the Parochial Church Hall charity (the charity) (Charity Commission number 501502) following him obtaining a copy of the Scheme Deed, copy attached, from the Charity Commission. The charity was set up in 1971 to hold the property on the junction of Church Road and Worcester Road, Hagley known as the Parochial Church Hall and when that was sold in 1972 to hold the proceeds of that sale. The capital cannot be spent as it is a permanent endowment, but the income can be used in furthering the religious and other charitable work of the Church of England in the said ecclesiastical parish. The trustees of the charity should be, per the Scheme Deed, the Rector and Churchwardens of the Ecclesiastical Parish of St. John the Baptist Hagley. There clearly had been some confusion as the Charity has been used to administer the running of the current Church Hall, which is deemed to be an extension of St. Saviour’s Church. The proceeds of the investment (currently £153,538 with CCLA in account number CB3061813) are held in the accounts of The Parochial Church Council of the Ecclesiastical Parish of St. John The Baptist with St Saviour (the PCC). The investment is held in an
accumulation fund and so the income has not been used as permitted by the Scheme Deed. The trustees of the scheme are John Gowar, Margaret Rankin and Jane Cartwright and so do not meet with the requirements of the Scheme Deed. The Charity’s only asset is the bank account with HSBC, which currently has a balance of £46,000.44.
MT wrote to the Charity Commission on 10 July 2025 to point out all of the matters referred to above and the proposed solution to transfer the investment into the Charity and the HSBC to the PCC. A copy of that letter is attached. The Charity Commission responded via email on 21 August 2025 who said “You must comply with your charity’s governing document and the law. You should take reasonable steps to find out about legal requirements, for example by reading relevant guidance or taking appropriate advice when you need to.” A copy of the email is attached. As a consequence of this response from the Charity Commission, the proposals in MT’s letter
will be implemented by the trustees (the PCC members). The proposals below were all approved unanimously:
1.The CCLA investment, account number CB3061813 will be transferred to the Charity.
2.The HSBC bank account held by the Charity will be transferred to the PCC and the balance will be set up as a designated fund in relation to the Church Hall.
3.A management committee of the Church Hall will be formed and will comprise of David Trewin, John Gowar, Margaret Rankin and Jane Cartwright who will be responsible for
the management of the Church Hall. For the avoidance of doubt this will be a sub- committee of the PCC. Fiona Taylor will continue to provide secretarial support for the time being and Mark Taylor will provide financial updates to the committee.
e) Hagley Hub: Hagley Hub have been unable to meet for the last two weeks due to a funeral and the flood.
- Electoral Roll: 85. (71 living inside the parish and 14 outside the parish).
- Safeguarding: The recent data breach has affected several volunteers in our Benefice. The National Church has provided those affected with a year’s free access to Experian for credit monitoring. All Pastoral Visitors need to be DBS checked as a matter of priority. The PCC are deeply appreciative of the work that Jenny has handled due to the Data breach.
- AOB: a) Sue Priest has indicated her intention to stand down as PCC Secretary at the next AGM in April. She has been in post since May 2012. b) ChurchSuite: An email with log-on details has been sent out to all those who submitted their information to be included in ChurchSuite. c) Children’s, youth and family worker: The advert is now live on the Worcester Diocese job vacancy page. Interviews will be held on 28 November. The successful candidate will then be publicly announced in due course. d) Church Policies: These will be reviewed and updated and then presented to the PCC for approval at a future meeting.
- Future Dates: Thursday 27 November; Thursday 15 January; Thursday 12 March. AGM 22 March at St John’s.
Chairman............................................................................. 27 November 2025