Thank you, Father...
As
Chairman of the Parish in Committee, I'm obliged to report to parishioners
a couple of times a year.
At
our AGM in late May, we were pleased to have in attendance Bishop
John Hine as part of his extended Parish visit.
Bishop
Hine heard reports from the Parish Liturgy Group, the Finance, Maintenance
Group, our Primary School Chairman of Governors (which recorded special
thanks for Neil McKenzie’s headship years), the Parish Catechesis
Group, Ministries, Pastoral Care and, of course, Father Doug’s
Parish Activity Round–Up.
You
may have read the article in our August magazine which summarised
Bishop John’s praise for the work done in our Parish under the
leadership of Father Doug, Deacon Alan Josie Boxall and Pauline Green
and involving so many people, too many to mention here. And we no
doubt agreed with Father Doug’s reflection that its real importance
and value was to encourage further good work in the future.
I
would like to be selective by highlighting here just two AGM topics.
One
is our new Parish website which also received high marks from Bishop
John and indeed, day-to-day, from our own parishioners. Many thanks
to Valerie Flisher for all her work and skill on this, in association
with Father Doug and others. It is especially useful for newer members
of the parish, to whom …….. welcome! New or not, please
have a look at the website if you haven’t already – it
will tell you so much about what goes on in an up-to-date way including
the social side. There are rotas for readers and special ministers,
mass times etc and opportunities for feedback on what perhaps is not
going so well, including from our youth age parishioners. (Incidentally,
for even young parishioners, we need some additional helpers for children’s
liturgy - please see Father Doug, Cynthia Johnson or myself.)
Secondly,
there was a major discussion at the AGM about the future of the Parish
Hall. Our thanks to Rod and Jill O’Neill for raising it and
to Rod for agreeing to head a small group to consider all the options
– from doing nothing to a complete rebuild with some differing
levels of refurbishment in between. I have to be brief here, but we
took into account all implications which included formal planning
procedures, access, parking current and likely future usage and other
matters, not least finance. The group has concluded that a significant
improvement of the existing hall involving a suspended ceiling, flooring
and toilet refurbishment, electrical work, new windows and a re-designed
kitchen, together with new furniture is what we shoud go for.
This
proposal will need to be endorsed by the Parish at the next AGM but
in the meantime the group is doing some preliminaries like seeking
estimates from builders, furniture providers etc and also the possible
ways and means of raising some £50,000. Yes, this will still
be a major spend for the Parish and we shall need to be creative in
achieving the funding.
Outside
this briefing, I would like to talk further with anyone who needs
to hear more about the group’s conclusion, For information now,
though, there is a simple plan of the proposed new kitchen pinned
up at the back of the church. Thanks to Jill, the UCM and, as ever,
Jim Durkan for their inputs – if you have any thoughts on these,
we would be happy to have them.
Finally,
on everyone’s behalf, I would like to thank Father Doug for
being our Parish Priest and his wise spiritual and temporal leadership.
There was no clearer sign of the parish’s regard for you than
at your recent 50th birthday party which you took on bravely, and
then delivered, a smashing day for all ages.
Thank
you for listening
Owen
