MINUTES of the Parish Council meeting held in St. Dominic’s Room on Wednesday 17 th July 2002.

PRESENT

Sean O’Leary Chairman

Father Gordon Read Parish Priest

Valerie Bartlett

Jan Cody

John Costello

Adrian Griffiths

Wendi Hayes

Maureen Horn

Helena McInally

Miriam McInally

Pat Richardson Secretary

Jadwiga Smith

Andrew Sparrow

The following officers were duly elected for the coming year:

a) Chairman Sean O’Leary

b) Secretary Pat Richardson

4. Welcome/Membership

Sean, as the new Chairman of the Parish Council, welcomed everyone to the meeting and said that there were a lot of challenges ahead, not least evangelisation. The ladies of the parish had their prayer group but with the disbandment of the Knights it was important to try to do something for the men. Whether this was a prayer group for men or an informal group giving an opportunity for more involvement in the parish, it was important that this issue be considered. As parish representative to the Diocesan Pastoral Council, Valerie had attended her first meeting and the next meeting was scheduled for the beginning of September at St. James the Less in Colchester. With the departure of Michael Bradley from the parish, Andrew had taken on the role of Parish MC.

Other things to be addressed in the coming year were the groups in the parish, which needed to be revamped and refreshed. It would be helpful if all groups could be represented on the Parish Council and members were asked to consider this if they were not already part of a group. Members were asked to come to the next meeting with a group report which included the aims and objectives and a brief outline of plans for the year ahead.

 John Costello agreed to be part of the Finance/Building group.

A membership list would be circulated with the minutes. (See copy in Minute book)

It was proposed that a Social Group led by Jan Cody be formed. Jan said that having been involved in many of the events run by the Knights that she would like to try and continue many of these and hopefully, introduce some new ones. There was a lot of talent in the parish which needed to be tapped into.

The Minutes of the meeting held on 22 nd May 2002 were AGREED and duly signed.

· Tiptree Car Park

The weeds in the car park had been treated and it was hoped that the problem would not recur. The situation would however be monitored. It was noted that the boundary trees had been cut back.

· Tollesbury Parish Property

Letters had been written to Fr Arthur and John Madden, current Trustees, and Gerald Curran, from the Diocesan Finance Office, had been asked to find the legal documents relating to this matter.

Fr. Gordon said that as the land had been cultivated for 12 years there could be a problem claiming ownership and any litigation would be extremely expensive. It was felt that the current value of the land, which was agricultural, would not be very great, but if circumstances were to change and the land were to be used for building purposes, then the value would be greatly enhanced. Legally the matter was in the hands of the Trustees and any further developments would be reported through the Parish Council..Page

· Young People/Music

The young people’s music, which was a new venture for the parish, had been an outstanding success. Sean raised the issue as to whether the parish should have a director of music. Fr. Gordon said that it was important that events were co-ordinated and that the people of the parish were given notice of events, through the newsletter. It was particularly important that Phyllis Chine, organist at Kelvedon, be kept informed. The Spiritual & Liturgical Group to take on this responsibility.

With the imminent departure of Anne Jackson, Coggeshall would be without music and following a suggestion Katie Cody would be approached to see whether she would be able to help fill the gap. It was suggested that taped music could be used but Fr. Gordon said that this was not always very successful.

· Knights of St. Columba

It was hoped that much of the work carried out by the Knights would continue - in particular the senior citizens Christmas lunch. Funds for this and the sponsoring of the young people to go to Lourdes were raised by, e.g. sponsored walk, quiz night, race night and Jan said that she would speak to Phil Harrison to seek advice as to how these functions were organised and whether any funds remained.

· CaFE

Videos obtained by Tom McInally had been circulated around the parish and feed back would be reported to the Spiritual & Liturgical Group.

· Fr. Gerald

It was noted that arrangements would be needed during his stay with us to provide Fr.Gerald with transport.

About 40 people had attended the meeting and as well as the Chairman’s address reports had been received from all the groups including Finance. A number of contributions had been received from the floor and 5 new members had been elected to the Parish Council.

It was suggested that next year the reports should be given from the front of the meeting, as it had been difficult at times to hear what was being said. Fr. Gordon suggested that a loop system be borrowed.

A meeting of the working group had taken place to discuss what they felt had gone well and what needed to be changed. Concern had been expressed as to the amount of people who had attended and whether the fact that the Kelvedon Festival which was on at the same time might have had an effect. It was generally felt that the numbers were good bearing in mind that the fete ran from 12.30 p.m. until 4.00 p.m. The overall takings had been up on the previous year..

Other suggestions discussed were:

· Hold it on a Sunday following the 11.00 a.m. Mass

· Hold it on a Saturday but move it to Tiptree where there would be adequate room for the stalls on the car park and in the event of adverse weather room for everything to be moved inside. This venue might also attract passing trade.

· Hold it on a Sunday at Tiptree in the afternoon finishing in time for Mass

As there were a large amount of goods left from the fete Jan suggested that these be taken to a car boot sale rather than recycle them. This was agreed and Jan and John said they would organise this.

ACTION: JAN AND JOHN

Following discussion it was provisionally agreed that the Christmas Bazaar should take place on Saturday 16 th November 2002 at Tiptree. Jan to liaise with Jean Mullane about the date of St. Luke’s Christmas Bazaar and report back.

ACTION: JAN CODY

a) Missals

Fr. Gordon raised the issue of purchasing Missals for 2003. After much discussion it was agreed that 150 Missals should be purchased at a cost of £3.50 each. Parishioners would have an opportunity to purchase a copy for personal use and the remainder to be divided up between the three Mass Centres for weekly use by parishioners.

b) Health & Safety

Fr. Gordon said that Nick Ezra had carried out a health and safety check on parish properties and had been generally very pleased with his findings. Areas to be considered and addressed were:

· Provision of a toilet at Coggeshall

· Wiring at Coggeshall

· The toilet at Tiptree was not suitable for disabled access. This could possibly be addressed by moving the partition between the toilet and the kitchen thus making the toilet larger and the kitchen smaller.

· The access to the toilet at Kelvedon was not adequate for wheel chair access. The main reason for this being the position of the heater, which also caused a problem for access to the ramp.

c) Fr. Frank

With Fr. Frank leaving the parish to take up his new post at Springfield on the 6 th October it was felt that there should be a special Mass followed by a parish celebration. A number of dates were considered and Adrian agreed to speak to. Anne to see whether it would be possible for Fr. Frank to celebrate the 11.00 a.m. Mass at Kelvedon on a Sunday close to his departure. A collection would be arranged and final details for the day would be decided at the next meeting of the Parish Council.

ACTION: ADRIAN GRIFFITHS

d) Maintenance

Sean said that a request had been made that the kitchen at Tiptree be refurbished. Some electrical work was needed as well as new units. This matter would be referred to the Building and Maintenance Group.

ACTION: SEAN O’LEARY

e) Parish Website

Andrew said that he would like to up-date the parish website and include the weekly newsletter and minutes of meetings. If anyone had any other ideas then Andrew would be happy to include them. Pat said that she would e-mail the newsletter for inclusion.

f) Michael Bradley

A letter of thanks to the Parish Council from Michael was circulated.

g) Tom McInally

Helena said that Tom, with the backing of the Parish Council, would be happy to carry out the role of ‘caretaker’ and liaise between the parish and Fr. Gordon. This was agreed.

It was agreed that the date of the next meeting would be:

Wednesday 4 th September 2002

The meeting to take place in St. Dominic’s Room, Kelvedon at 8.00 p.m. following 7.30 p.m. Mass.

Download / View minutes as PDF file:   PCMINSJULY2002.PDF

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