Building Work
At the recent meeting of the PPC, members of the Finance Committee brought us up to date with maintenance work on the church premises. Work on the roof of the main hall has now been completed, as has the flooring of the hall corridor, the repair to the drain and other works. The side doors of the church have been stained and varnished, the hall eaves repaired, the church eaves repainted and of course the church itself redecorated. The flush system in the gents toilets has been replaced, resulting in a water saving that has put us in credit with the water company. Two of our parishioners have been working on repairs to the kneelers, a task that is nearly finished.
Several large jobs remain to be tackled: the guttering of the hall, secondary double glazing for the main hall, new heating for the hall (possibly with a single boiler as one of the existing ones is beyond repair), the re-laying of paving slabs around the hall and lawn, and a permanent ramp up to the hall forecourt from the church. We agreed that while it would be a good idea to set a budget for the year, we would not do so until quotes had been obtained for the most urgent jobs.
Fundraising is continuing at a slower rate after the end of the three-year campaign, which raised over £70,000. The most expensive item in the above list will be a new boiler (a necessity if we are to let the hall commercially), and a special fundraiser and /or a special collection may be devoted to this.
Other Matters
We felt that fundraising has an important role in bringing the parish together. A ‘social group’, drawn from as wide a cross-section of the parish as possible, would be the best way to continue this function by organising a variety of social events, which might at times raise money too!
The ‘Celebrating Family’ meetings run by Caroline Dollard were poorly attended, perhaps because people were not clear as to their purpose. It was decided that Caroline should be invited to the parish to tell us about it in more detail.
We discussed opening some of our PPC meetings to the parish at large; the exact way in which this might be done has not yet been decided.
Events
English Martyrs’ Players will be staging Peter Gordon’s Murdered to Death on 16–18 July.
One Voice and Churches Together in York are organising a prayer event for Pentecost Sunday, 31 May. Prayer on the Walls 5.45–6.00 pm; Prayer in the Minster 6.30–8.30 pm. For more information go to www.onevoiceyork.org
There has been a request for the hall to be used as the venue for a Catholic Open Day, with displays about Catholic faith and life. The feeling of the PPC was that our hall is not in the best location for such an event; it would be better to hold it in a place where there are a lot of people passing by who might be attracted in.
We also discussed the possibility of arranging joint social events with Our Lady’s. This is something that the ‘social group’, when formed, could take on board.
Finally, we thought it would be an excellent idea to have a parish outing/pilgrimage, perhaps to Bede’s World (Jarrow) or Lindisfarne.