St Joseph’s Catholic Church, Epsom

Minutes for Parish Pastoral Council

Meeting Thursday 17th July ‘03 8^th Meeting

Present: Michael Brennan, Richard Davieson, Paul Killoughery (Carlos De Souza), Jan Madden, Tony Prince, Margaret Rates, John Sharpe, Chris Sibthorp, David Walsh, Alice Williams (Selina Hough). Apologies: Fr William Davern, Theresa Kenefick, Michael Tripp, John Turner.

1.Opening Prayer and Reflection from Alice Williams

2.In remembrance. The Parish Pastoral Council wished to express their sadness at the recent passing of Anne Govind. Her quiet but steady contribution to the running and life of the Parish will be irreplaceable.

3. The Organisation surrounding the Ordination. The Ordination at the Church last week was very moving. The organisation around the service was beautifully and professionally planned. Everyone involved must have worked so hard. It did show the premises group had made excellent use of space, stewards etc for the parking and the new steps to enter the site from the field were very effective.

4. The Parish Meeting on Thursday 3^rd July. It was a shame that the Parish attendance was so poor. Perhaps we needed more advance notices and alos to link it into some other occasion or event rather than clashing, as this time, with a St Joseph’s School meeting. Many thanks to David Walsh who, as Chair of the Council, prepared and gave a presentation to the meeting on our work so far. Thanks also to John and Christine Turner for organising the refreshments.

3.Golf Day John Sharpe and Tony Prince have worked hard on the Golf Day being organised for Tuesday 9^th September by John Ryan on behalf of the Parish. A letter re sponsorship has been sent to 100 local businesses. 5 out of 18 holes have now been sponsored and half the teams of four to play have already signed up. John Ryan has had wind donated for the evening and a number of items for the auction. Ore items are needed to make the evening a success and at present there are no diners for the meal. This uis an area where the PPC might be able to help by spreading the word around the Parish and also making and displaying posters and putting notices in the Newsletter and at the end of Mass .

5. Parish Finances. The current Parish Group is to be augmented by additional helpers recruited by Fr Bill to spread the workload. The contribution of Anne Govind to, amongst other things, the smooth running of the Gift Aid Scheme will be sorely missed. There is a real need to increase the revenue of the Parish as a whole and an appeal and update of ways in which parishioners can help will take place in September. One area that could increase revenue without hurting anyone’s pocket would be Gift Aid. If it could be shown that the way to allow the Parish to claim back Tax from the exchequer is in fact simple the Parish could really benefit rather than waste the opportunity. It was noted that there may be some confusion amongst Parishioners between the Parish funds and the Relocation Fund and that this too might need to be addressed in September. Other suggestions were the use of the newsletter to remind parishioners and also direct mailing to those who have signed gift aid forms in the past. The PPC will liase through Michael Brennan with the Finance Group to see exactly how they would like to proceed and how we can best help.

6. Parish Groups. All those 121 people who completed a form have been sent a letter of thanks on behalf of the Parish and lists of new and existing volunteers have been sent to the Parish Group Co-ordinators .A note needs to be put in the September newsletter to let respondents know that they should have been contacted and reminding others that they are always welcome to volunteer.

Next meeting: Monday 15^th September 03 at 7.30p.m. in the Fr Chatterton Room.

The meeting closed with us all looking forward to the summer break.

Closing Prayer.