YOUNG PEOPLE’S GROUPS – COMMON FUND CONTRIBUTION – EXTERNAL LIGHTING – ADMINISTRATOR – JUNIOR CHOIR DIRECTOR
The PCC met on 15 July and will meet again on Monday 16 September.
At the July meeting we received an update on junior church activities from Helen Evans, the Chair of the Children & Young People’s Working Party, and also heard from Ayla about the new group for 11-14 year olds, who would be getting together for regular informal discussions and social activities, as well as plans for a similar group for older teenagers and young adults.
As always at this time of the year, we were asked to agree on the amount that HPC will contribute to the Diocesan Common Fund for next year. The London Diocese depends on contributions from parishes to this fund in order to finance clergy salaries and other expenses of the church’s mission. Many parishes have difficulty meeting their share of these expenses and we are one of the fortunate few that can afford to pay more. The PCC agreed that we should commit to an increased contribution of £90,000 next year (up from £87,000) although as matters stand at present this will leave us with a budgeted deficit at the year end. Our Treasurer Inigo Woolf reminded us of the importance of regular donations by congregation members, which enable us not only to pay for HPC’s own activities but also to help with the wider mission of the Diocese in areas less well-off than ours.
Inigo also updated the meeting on the plans to improve the lighting around the exterior of the church, for which a planning application has now been submitted to Camden Council.
Following the news that David Moore would be leaving us in September, the PCC discussed the recruitment of a new junior choir director and a new organist (two posts which need not necessarily be filled by the same person). The PCC also agreed to proceed with the recruitment of a full-time Parish Administrator, hopefully by November, and expressed its gratitude to Judy East and Jon Siddall, who between them have covered the running of the parish office on an interim basis for the past few months.