PARISH OF NUMURKAH-NATHALIA

MINUTES OF PARISH COUNCIL MEETING

HELD IN HOLY TRINITY HALL, NATHALIA.

THURSDAY 16TH APRIL 2015

Welcome & Opening Prayer:

Rev. Sally Boothey opened the meeting with a prayer at 8.05pm.

Present: Rev Sally Boothey, John Stammers, Keith Schier, Norma Shepherd, Nola Smith, Beverley Leaf, Mary Muntz, Judith James, Wendy Watson, Rob Elliott, Lou amon.

Apologies: Brian Devenish.

Minutes of Previous Meeting:

Motion: That the minutes of the Parish Council held 25th March 2015 be confirmed as a true and correct record.’

Moved: Rob Elliott, seconded John Stammers.                                                                        Carried
Business Arising:       1. Rectory Heating. Serviced by “Hot & Cold”, re-aligned jets, detected a gas leak.

2. Jars for preserves. New jars fine according to Shire. Possibility of free jars from manufacturer.

3. Kotupna property. Possibly in Bendigo Diocese.

4. Projected budget for Diocese. To be included in annual return

5. Claim purchase of bibles from trust fund.

Correspondence.

Inwards: 1. Bishop: Dr Robin Sharwood.

2. Registrar: AWA Dinner postponed.

3. Registrar: Celtic Weekend 29th June St Matthews Albury.

4. Registrar:  Trends in Church Vitality.

5. CBM/BCA/Christmas Bowl.

6. Goulburn Valley Primary Care Partnership.

Outwards: 1. Letters of thanks: Margaret & Lindsay Mitchell.

Motion: That the correspondence inward be accepted and the outwards be approved.

Moved: Nola Smith, seconded Judy James.                                                                            Carried

Rector’s Report:

Our Easter services seemed to run smoothly and the numbers attending were pretty similar to last year.  Our parish commemorates Easter particularly on Good Friday and Easter Day and, although the full suite of Easter services from Palm Sunday onwards would be marvelous to offer, we don’t, I believe, have the capacity to offer and support the complete corporate worship experience.  I am, however, always open to suggestions and ideas for improvements.

* Convening of a post-Easter worship review group.

The heater in the Rectory has been looked at by ‘Hot and Cold’ and the serviceman was Danny Bloodworth from Nathalia. He was very thorough and helpful. No obvious fault could be found, but he cleaned and re-aligned the jets and looked at all the ducting under the house, adjusting a ‘loopy bit’ to make it straighter and moving the thermostat closer to the heater, so that the correct heat was monitored sooner. Hopefully, all will be well this winter! Danny also checked for gas and carbon monoxide leaks. No carbon monoxide, but there was a steady gas leak from the meter box area. The join in the pipe which came after the meter wasn’t properly sealed and any gas lost here would appear as usage. This no doubt accounts for the high gas bill. The joins have been re-taped for now and new joiners have been ordered (one was cracked). Danny will replace those when they come. No gas leaks are detectable now.

The Parish Special Events Calendar needs to be updated and I include a draft for you to look at. Are there any events coming up in the next few months that should be included?

* Information to Rector

Historical Registers. The Registrar has asked me to bring any historical registers, church histories or other documents pertaining to the parish to the Registry where they will be collected and preserved by the archivist. I will take the material kept at Numurkah, but if there is anything else from any centres, it would be good to have it looked after properly.

* Historical church or parish documents to Rector

All Saints and Holy Nativity, Barmah The service to be held in March was cancelled because Margie was to be the only congregation member and she worshipped at Holy Trinity that week. This raises familiar questions about the services of worship and the role of the Anglican church in places like Barmah which have so few active members. It would be good to have some serious thinking about this, and perhaps a course of action sketched out. The issue will no doubt arise at the Bishop’s visit in October. St Paul’s Wakiti Creek could easily be in a similar situation in a few years.

* Convening of a small committee to take suggestions, investigate options and make recommendations for future decisions about Anglican presence in Barmah.

Mission A suggestion has been made that, if people had suitable containers, their ‘loose change’ could be set aside for Mission and brought each month to church to be banked.
Check if this is acceptable to congregations and if so, distribute suitable containers and/or collection receptacles in church for monthly banking.
Rector’s Annual Leave dates This year, I will be on leave for 3 weeks in a block, in order to travel overseas to catch up with our son. He is able to have time off from late August, so I will be away from 10 September to 1 October. This will be three Sundays (13, 20 and 27 September). I have also agreed to conduct the marriage service for my god-daughter on Saturday 7 November, so I will be away on Sunday 8 November as well.

Rector to arrange replacement priest for these Sundays and a contact priest for any emergencies or funerals whilst on leave.
Budget It is likely that the financial struggle will continue and no-one has any easy solutions. Although our circumstances are not uncommon within the diocese, we need to reflect upon what that means for our congregations and our parish. Again, before the visit of the Bishop, some thought needs to be given to what our options are, how we want to move forward and what, if anything, we can and/or will do to improve our financial circumstances in the longer term. In conjunction with this issue is the concern over declining congregation numbers. This is not the same issue as finances, but for us, there is a link, and we might choose to discuss what options there are for reversing this trend also.

Convening a small group, including the Parish Treasurer, to intentionally explore and work through these issues such that suggestions and workable ideas can be put to Parish Council for wider discussion and input.
In this report, I have included *action points, and I hope that this helps. It seems like a lot more meetings, but we have to be a little pro-active whilst we can and there is no really enough time (or energy of an evening perhaps) at Parish Council meetings to engage with broader issues.

Sincere thanks again to everyone who works so hard to keep everything going – worship, finances, visiting, advertising, maintenance, hospitality, governance and fellowship!

Every blessing,

Rev’d Sally

Motion “That the Rector’s Report be accepted”

Moved: Rev’d Sally     Seconded: Norma Shepherd.                                                              Carried

Financial Report.

Cheque Account                                              $  4768.85

Investment Account                                         $  2351.62

St George’s ladies Guild                                  $    898.45

Holy Trinity Ladies Guild                                $  1460.09

Holy Trinity Mother’s Union                            $     334.05

Holy Trinity Strawberry Festival                     $   1759.53

Holy Trinity Diocese Wangaratta                    $     243.82

Betty Daniel Scholarship Term Deposit           $   8133.74

Offertory                                                          $   3602.00

Accounts payable                                             $     324.90

Motion: ‘That the financial report be received and accounts passed for payment.’

Moved: W Watson, seconded Rob Elliott                                                                                              Carried

GST Business

Catering:

Hall Hire:

Funerals:  L Gill 13th April.

Fundraising: Holy Trinity Ladies Guild Coffee Morning 13th April.

Motion: ‘That the activities listed be Input Taxed.’

Moved: Lou Hamon, seconded Norma Smith.                                                                                    Carried

11. Churchwarden’s Reports.

St. George’s:
Additional palm tree for Rectory garden.

Holy Trinity:
White ant baits to be inspected next week.

12.  Other Reports.

Holy Trinity Ladies Guild.
Coffee Morning 13th April very successful.
Street stall 15th May

Mothers Union.
Car boot sale Barmah April 26th.
Quiet Day at Barmah 26th May.

St George’s Ladies Guild.
Funeral refreshments Saturday.
Street stalls booked for July and September.

Motion: ’That the reports be received.’

Moved: Bev Leaf, seconded Judy James                                                                                              Carried
General Business:
Strawberry Festival meeting 3rd May.

Whole Parish service followed by lunch at Numurkah 30th August. Casseroles and desserts to be provided by parishioners.

Next Meeting: THURSDAY 21st MAY. St GEORGES NUMURKAH

Meeting closed with the grace at 9.24pm.

Minutes confirmed ………………………………………                 Date ………………………..