The Parish Church of St John-at-Hampstead

On 17 July the PCC held its second meeting under Jeremy’s chairmanship. 
Chris Money told us about the children’s activities planned for Harvest Festival on 17 September, supporting the Send a Cow appeal.

Rosemary Loyd told us about the amazing response from Hampstead Hill School to an appeal for donations of soap, shampoo and other toiletries for the food banks supported by our church  24 bags of donated items were received, enabling us to supply the needs of the food banks and have some left over for the Simon Community and the C4WS winter night shelter.

Our Treasurer Inigo Woolf reported on the church’s financial position as at 30 June.  This was in line with the agreed budget, but our income is not covering our expenses and we need to increase the amount of regular giving by church members.  The Finance and Fund-raising Working Party is working on proposals for a longer term financial strategy, which the PCC will consider at its September meeting.  We also discussed how to make the best use of the residential properties owned by the church, taking into account that we may need to provide additional clergy accommodation if we are successful in our request for a curate to join us in 2018.

We heard that plans are progressing for the C4WS winter night shelter which we will be hosting in the parish rooms on eight Saturday nights between November and January, co-ordinated by Andrew Penny.  There has been a good response to the initial call for volunteers to help with this, and more details will follow in September.

The PCC also gave its enthusiastic support for the church to sponsor a refugee family under the government-supported Vulnerable Persons Resettlement Scheme.  This will be a wonderful opportunity for us to show our Christian mission in action and to support vulnerable people who need our help. 

Other items on the Agenda included plans for the recruitment of one or more people to develop our work with children and young people, and for the appointment of a new Director of Music after James Sherlock leaves us to pursue his studies at the Sibelius Academy.

The next PCC meeting will be on Monday 18 September, and if any church members have any questions they would like to raise, the Churchwardens or any PCC member will be happy to hear from them.