St Andrew's

Psalter Lane

Church

Annual Church Meeting 2024

ST ANDREW’S PSALTER LANE CHURCH

 

Minutes of the Annual Church Meeting held on Sunday 21st April 2024

 

1.  Prayers: Naomi led the meeting in prayer; Anna Calvert welcomed all attending and thanked the report writers and Janet Loughridge for her work on the ACM.

 

2.  Apologies for absence had been received from Janet & Bob Ash, Anna & Anthony Ashwell, Christine Hisom, Judith & Peter Roberts, Margaret Robinson, Josie Smith, Sheila Smith.

 

3.  Approval of Minutes: the Minutes of the previous Annual Meeting held on 23rd April 2023 were agreed to be an accurate record of the meeting and were signed by the Chair.

 

4.  Matters arising from the Minutes: none.

 

5.  Reports: most reports had been sent in advance by email to members and friends of SAPLC, were available on the SAPLC website, and printed copies were offered to those who requested them. Reports were tabled except those that needed comment or clarification.  

  1. General Report on the Life of the Church: Naomi’s report had not been made available in advance but was delivered verbally to the meeting. Copies would be made available, and the report added to the website.
  2. Church Membership report including Electoral Roll: report tabled.  
  3. Worship Planning Committee: report tabled.
  4. Property and Finance Committee:  

Property: report tabled.  

  Finance: Treasurer’s report tabled.

  Caroline Cripps asked:

    • Why were there so many columns on p4 of the report? – because of the Spire Appeal our income in the year exceeded £250,000, so we were required to prepare accounts which comply with Financial Reporting Standard 102; this means that the accounts contain more detail than in previous years– the extra columns are for ‘Designated Funds’.
    • Why does the value of the buildings seem to have changed? – again because of the extra funds raised by the Spire Appeal, under the current accounting system we have to include church land and St Andrew’s Hall.
    • Is there still money in the Spire account? – Yes, there was still money from this fund unspent at the year-end 31 August 2023.
    • Is the Treasurer happy with the Reserves? – Yes; as a minimum we should seek to have sufficient reserves for the next six months, and we have this. 
    • How much income do we get from Shirley House and St Andrew’s Hall? – lettings income is on p4 of the Accounts; there was a total of £70,012. Most of this was from SH, about £7000 from St Andrew’s Hall. John Cripps pointed out that there are costs for SH as well as income.

It was proposed and seconded that the accounts be received by the meeting, and proposed and seconded that Hawsons be retained as Reporting Accountant. Both Carried Nem Con.

  1. Pastoral Work (including Church Links): report tabled.  
  2. Music: report tabled.

There was a long discussion on unfamiliar hymns, and the need for a choir to lead us when singing them. To be referred to the Worship Planning Group.

  1. Interfaith Centre: report tabled. Caroline Cripps encouraged people to come to a meeting.
  2. Family & Children: report tabled.

Naomi said the Junior Church team needed help.

Clare Loughridge reported that school visits by classes from Hunters Bar School and the Girls’ High School had started again, hosted by a team of people.

Janet Clarke said that it brings joy to see the children in church.

  1. Safeguarding: report tabled.  
  1. Peace and Justice: report tabled.
  2. Eco-Congregation: report tabled. There was to be a Repair Café in church in May – people were asked to help run this, and to bring items for repair.
  1. Ecclesall Deanery Synod: report tabled. There was to be a training event on 27th April regarding accessibility for children, young people and adults with additional needs. 
  1. Circuit Meeting: report tabled
  2. Clifford School: report tabled.
  3. Brownies, other BP organisations and St Andrew’s Hall: report tabled

 

6.  Elections.

  1. Church Stewards and Churchwardens:

Julie Jordan Brown, Alastair Morris and Mary Mitchell were declared re-elected; Jan Owen was declared elected.

(Each Steward and Warden serves for 4 years from the date of first election)

 

  1. Ecumenical Church Council

Clergy, Churchwardens, Stewards, a Circuit representative (Katrin Hackett), the SAPLC Deanery Synod reps (Anna Calvert and Julie Jordan Brown), the Circuit Superintendent are ex-officio members; Methodist members can serve 6 years (but do not have to); all members are elected annually.

 

Nominations had been received for: Bill Atherton, Jenny Carpenter, Caroline Cripps, John Cripps, Joseph Dey, John Harding, Anna Harvey, Sarah Hindmarsh, Anne Hollows, Clare Loughridge, Janet Loughridge, Peter Mitchell, Rachel Morris, Judith Roberts.

All nominees were declared elected.

 

7.  Joint Church Council: The Joint Church Council is responsible for the Sharing Agreement on the church property.

The council consists of:

Methodist: the Minister (or a Circuit Superintendent if the minister is Anglican), 2 Stewards and 3 members - currently Judith Roberts, Janet Evans, Anne Hollows; Anglican: the Incumbent (or Area Dean if the minister is Methodist), 2 Churchwardens and 3 members - currently Joe Dey, Rodney Godber, Clare Loughridge.

 

It was agreed that a replacement for Janet Evans should be found by the ECC.

 

8.   Renewal of licence for Quakers’ use of Shirley House for Worship. The

Chair explained that it had been agreed at the Annual Church Meeting in 2013 that the Quaker licence should be renewed every year. Carried Nem Con. 

 

9.   Any Other Business:

  • Cheryl Collins congratulated Janet Loughridge on 30 years as ACM Secretary.
  • John Cripps said that the Property & Finance Committee would welcome new members – there was a lot going on such as SAPLC’s carbon footprint, reduction in energy usage, People were asked to speak to John if interested.
  • Naomi asked members to look at the poster produced by the children, with its focus on Jesus, who was the focus of this meeting.

 

10.  Concluding prayers: the meeting closed with the Grace.

 

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