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Present: Orla Calotier, Stephen Dalzell, Carol Humpherson, Doug Magor, Tricia Shingles, Berni Walsh and Fr Peter Wilson.

 

The Parish welcomed Paul Elliot, Andrésy Co-ordinator for Oundle Town Council, to the meeting. Paul provided some background on Oundle’s Twin Town of Andrésy, about 13 miles from Paris and 20 miles from Versailles Palace. Both Oundle and Andrésy are keen to rekindle its links with one another, through cultural exchange across the many diverse groups in Oundle. In particular, Andrésy’s Catholic Church would like to establish a relationship with our Parish. Next June, Oundle Town Council expects to welcome visitors from Andrésy for the Oundle Carnival. The Parish Council agreed to explore this further by promoting ‘twinning’ with Parishioners to gauge interest. Stephen undertook to send a Christmas Card to the Catholic Church in Andrésy as a first step.

 

The minutes of the meeting held on 16^th September, 2009 were approved.

 

Confirmation: The Confirmation Mass on 10^th October received very positive feedback. The Retreat Day at Turvey Abbey was greatly enjoyed by the candidates and Alex Heath’s contribution was particularly good.

Church Wall: Coles provided a quotation for the installation of railings at the deepest drop of the wall. The quotation costed for wooden, wrought iron and galvanised wrought iron. It was agreed that the latter would be most appropriate at a cost of £1,823, plus vat.   In addition, hedging would be planted in the spring. The Parish would contact Aidan Lynch from the Diocese to seek approval from the Historic Church Committee and Highway Authority.

 

St Wilfrid: As 2009 marked the 1300th anniversary of the death of St Wilfrid, a suggestion was made for the renaming of our Church to St Wilfrid. After discussion, it was decided to take no further action.

 

Retirement: Mim Magor offered her resignation from the Parish Council. The Parish expressed its gratitude for Mim’s contribution over the years. It was agreed not to seek a replacement.

 

Deanery Steering Group: Tom Spencer will represent the Parish on the Deanery Steering Group responsible for formulating a strategic plan for the medium to long term future of the Parish and Deanery. 

  

 

Finance:  Fr Peter gave an update on the 2009/10 budget, showing an Ordinary Income of £43,500. Although there was a slight drop in the weekly plate collection, this was compensated by an increase in monthly standing orders. Overall a figure of £34,000 was anticipated for collections. At this stage, the figure of £2,800 for Fees was probably over optimistic. The Ordinary Expenditure of £36,900 was currently in line with projected figures. A figure of £8,884 would be carried forward for 2010/11.

 

Buildings: The internal decoration of the Presbytery hallway would take place in November/December in line with the budget. Coles of Oundle have been employed for some minor repair work. It is hoped that the minor works figure of £2,000, after payment to Coles, would go some way to covering the cost of the Church railing as discussed above. 

 

With regard to the 2010/11 financial year, the internal lighting of the Church would be given proper consideration. To this end, contact has been made with the lighting specialist responsible for St Peter’s Church and a meeting has been arranged for January 2010.

 

In addition, steps would also need to be taken with regard to the next stage of the Church roof, ie the north elevation over the Sanctuary. 

 

The Diocesan Property Surveyor, Mr Aidan Lynch, will be contacted to ensure that any proposed lighting and roofing work is approved by the necessary authorities, including the Diocesan Historic Churches Committee. Mr Lynch would also be asked to investigate the availability of grants for the above works.

 

Currently, the GLP team were down one catechist, but were managing.

 

First Holy Communion classes were scheduled to start on 18^th November with seven children. An enrolment Mass would take place on 10^th January, 2010 and the 16^th May was chosen for the First Holy Communion Mass.

 

 

Marius has confirmed his availability for Midnight Mass and Mass on Christmas Day, with Tricia looking after the Children’s Mass on Christmas Eve.

 

The Parish would ascertain first how many children were available on Christmas Eve before planning a simple tableau.

 

Parishioners would be issued with a booklet from the Prayer Trust as well as the times of Christmas Services.

 

 

The Deanery Steering Group has commenced its task of creating a local ground plan for our pastoral area. To this end, the Parish has been asked to complete a questionnaire and undertake a guided review with a small representative group of Parishioners. Several names were suggested to form part of this group. Discussion took place about whether specific challenges relating directly to our Parish would be addressed within this small representative group and how these issues would be incorporated in the local ground plan. 

Christmas Carol Challenge: The Parish was invited by Oundle International Festival to take part in this community event on Monday, 14^th December. Stephen undertook to pull a team of singers together.

Christmas Events: A children’s Christmas Party has been organised for Saturday, 12^th December at the Joan Strong Centre. The Chequered Skipper in Ashton has been booked for the Parish’s Christmas Lunch on Sunday, 13^th December at 12.30 pm. On Sunday, 20^th December, mulled wine and mince pies will be served after the 11.00 am Mass.

 

 

The next meeting of the Parish Council is Tuesday, 26^th January at 7.30 pm.