The Parish Church of St John-at-Hampstead

Tuesday, 25th April in the Moreland Hall

The formal business of the evening was to re-appoint Peter Ginnings and Sarah Knight as Church Wardens for a further year and Nicky Siddall and Nicholas White as Deputy Church Wardens. Bob Peeler, Handley Stevens, Stephen Clarke and Teri Weber were elected as trustee members, and Frances Spalding and Natasha Blumenthal were elected as ordinary members of the PCC. The electoral roll had increased to a total of 467 members over the previous year; 20 names had been added, 3 parishioners had died and 6 had moved away.

There was a general discussion about the appropriate term for members of the PCC. The 1827 Act of Parliament required there to be 21 trustees each with a term of nine years, but ordinary members could, and in some cases had been, re-elected indefinitely. With the ex officio members, the PCC had a full strength of 42 members, although attendance at meetings was generally not much over half this number. It was generally accepted that the present PCC was over-representative of the elder part of the congregation and while long memories and experience were undeniably useful, some younger blood was also desirable. It was not clear, however, that limiting the term of elected PCC members to, say, nine years (i.e. three terms of three years) to match that of the trustees, would necessarily have the effect of introducing more younger members. The younger members of the congregation did not appear particularly anxious to joint the PCC and those who did often found that other commitments meant they could not play a full part in its workings or remain long as members. So it was agreed that a publicity campaign was needed to tell the congregation about the work of the PCC and to encourage greater involvement especially at the younger end. If this resulted in a number of suitable candidates, more than the vacancies, then the PCC should consider a formal change to its rules to ensure a greater turnover of its members.

Following on from this, the Vicar introduced a more general discussion on volunteering among the congregation. Many of the church’s activities depended on volunteers but general requests for help were usually unfruitful. We all had a duty, however, not only to reflect on our own individual skills and time, and to consider what help each of us could and so should give, but also to look out for other people with talents to offer and to suggest that they should do so. This task should not be left to the Vicar alone.
The meeting had had the opportunity to read the Annual Report and the Vicar restricted himself to thanking his staff for their collaboration during the year.

He did, however, explain that the arrangement with Eden Hall (the Marie Curie Home) had come to an end and it was proposed instead that the senior curate might spend half of his or her time as priest in charge at Holy Trinity in Finchley Road and half at St John’s. Holy Trinity presented a number of challenges; its tradition, open evangelical, was different to St John’s but need not be incompatible. It had an electoral roll of 35, and a congregation of about 20 at its single Sunday service. It had, however, a prominent position on the Finchley Road a lively school (with a very different social mix from Hampstead Parochial School). There had been recent problems with its links with the church and a priority was to restore a good relationship. Holy Trinity had its own vicarage in Akenside Road. The challenges of an association with Holy Trinity would affect and benefit not only the clerical staff at St John’s, but would be an opportunity too for the congregation to be involved with a rather different side of Hampstead life to that with which they were on the whole accustomed.

Inigo Woolf presented the financial statements for the year 2005 and a budget for 2006. 2005 had turned out better than expected and, for instance, the extra expense of re-paving at the front of the church had been possible without drawing on the fabric fund. He was expecting there to be a deficit in 2006, although in the first quarter expenditure has not exceeded budget. The chief problem remained insufficient committed giving by the congregation. In 2006, the deficit would be met by surplus from previous years but in 2007 and 2008 there would be a real difficulty unless the congregation gave more. He pointed out that the Curates’ houses 1 and 3 Holy Bush Vale might not remain available for church accommodation. Furthermore, in 2008 it was likely that the parish would be required to make a higher contribution towards clergy pensions, probably some £5,000 to £6,000. Generally, however, the diocesan finances were in much better shape

The meeting ended with Bob Peeler proposing a vote of thanks to the vicar for his energy, guidance and direction over the past five years and looking forward to another five years of the same. The meeting responded enthusiastically.