Saffron Walden and Villages Team Ministry & Saffron Walden Parochial Church Council - PCC

Parish of Saffron Walden Special Parochial Church Meeting 25th January 2012 at 7.45pm in the Parish Rooms on 1st January the new Parish of Saffron Walden (part of the Saffron Walden and Villages Team Ministry) came into being. The Special Parochial Church Meeting will elect members to the new ParochialChurch Council and will be followed immediately by the inaugural meeting of the PCC. Formal notice of the meeting and nomination forms are available in St Mary's, St James and St John's. It is intended that the members of the DCC be re-nominated for their existing terms of office. At the Annual Church meeting on 22nd April 2012 there will be the usual elections to fill vacancies of retiring members, annual reports and other normal business.

Overview

On 1st January 2012, after more than two years of consultation, the current Parish of Saffron Walden with Wendens Ambo, Littlebury, Ashdon and Hadstock will split into five separate parishes, reverting to the original parish boundaries. These five will be joined by the parishes of Great Chesterford, Little Chesterford, Debden and Wimbish to form the Saffron Walden and Villages Team Ministry.

Each parish has its own churchwardens and will be governed by a PCC (Parochial Church Council) which will look after matters relating to its own church in very much the same way as the current DCCs (District Church Councils) do.

Each PCC will elect two representatives to serve on a new Team Council, together with the clergy licensed to the Team. The Team Council will enable consultation and collaborative working between the churches in the team in areas such as training, marriage preparation, administration, and confirmation courses. It will also encourage team events such as joint services and social events.

The legal basis for the new Team Ministry is set out in a Pastoral Scheme approved by the Church Commissioners on 24th August 2011. A Scheme for establishing the Team Council was approved by the Diocesan Mission and Pastoral Committee on 23rd June 2011. Both schemes take effect on 1st January 2012.

St James, Sewards End and St John's, Little Walden remain in the parish of Saffron Walden as daughter churches of St Mary's, and St Peter's, Littlebury Green continues to be a daughter church of Holy Trinity, Littlebury. Consultations are underway to formalise the status of the three daughter churches as separate Districts, with their own DCCs, within their respective parishes.

David Tomlinson will continue to lead the team as Team Rector and will share pastoral care for all the parishes with the three Team Vicars: Hilary Davey, Wendy Moore and Christopher Warren. The clergy will continue to have particular pastoral responsibilities for the churches that they currently serve - the legal structure has been put in place to reflect the current pattern. The groupings are shown in the diagram that follows.

Jenny Tomlinson, Anne Howson, Paula Griffiths, Tim Hardingham and Angela Want will also be licensed to the new team, continuing their current ministry patterns.

The new Team will be licensed by the Bishop of Colchester at a special celebratory service to be held in the New Year.

There are a number of practical steps and decisions for each church to take and the existing DCCs and PCCs have been consulting on these in the last few months. Full details of the Pastoral Scheme, the Team Constitution and the consultations on the transitional arrangements are available via the links below.

It is our prayer that this new structure, which provides local parish autonomy together with the benefits and responsibilities of collaborating in a wider team, will provide a firm framework as we share God's love with the people of Saffron Walden and surrounding villages.

If there are any queries then please contact Judith Hasler, our Team Facilitator,
team@stmaryssaffronwalden.org

Saffron Walden and Villages Team Ministry Documents:

Pastoral Scheme

Team Council Constitution

Diagram of new structure

Map of new parishes.

Report of the recent Special Parochial Church Meeting and PCC meeting held on the 25th January 2012

Following the establishment of the parish of Saffron Walden in the new Saffron Walden and Villages Team Ministry, a Special Parochial Church Meeting was held in the Parish Rooms on 25th January at which it was agreed that there should be 18 lay members elected to the new Parish Church Council, maintaining the same size as the former District Church Council. There being no other nominations, the members of the former DCC were elected to the PCC. In addition, the election of the lay representatives to the deanery synod was confirmed for the remainder of their 3 year terms.

Anna Martin was thanked for her grace and conscientiousness as secretary to the DCC but in the light of her wish to stand down, I was appointed as PCC secretary.

David Birchall and Elizabeth Cunliffe were appointed to continue their respective roles as treasurer and electoral roll officer.

A progress report was given by Paula Griffiths on a proposal to replace the external notice boards for the church and she will return with a finalised proposal after consulting the external authorities and taking into account the discussion at the PCC.

Graham Cottam reported that an architect had been selected to carry out a feasibility study of improvements to the church building and Parish Rooms to meet requirements identified in the recently produced Statement of Needs. Following a fuller presentation of the proposal for the feasibility study at a meeting of the PCC meeting on Wednesday 1st February, it was intended that a similar presentation would subsequently be made available to the entire congregation.

It was reported the a tree expert from the Town Council had visited and indicated that there is some need of pollarding and to fell an old lime tree and the last horse chestnut in the churchyard. The horse chestnut has previously been braced but the brace has now failed. The Diocesan Advisory Committee’s tree expert has advised that the PCC should proceed with a faculty application to fell the horse chestnut near the West Door and the diseased lime near the Museum Street entrance to the churchyard. In addition, he recommended that the purple plum tree near the blower room also be felled due to age and fungus damage and that the overhanging branch on the cherry tree adjacent to the Butler grave be lopped. It was confirmed that existing faculties require the eventual subsequent planting of replacement trees for those affected thereby.

David Birchall presented the 2012 budget. Whilst the budget for 2011 was for a deficit of £26,000, an exceptionally successful stewardship campaign and Christmas Fair may result in a small overall surplus at the year end when the accounts are finalised. The major expenditure in the 2012 budget is on the Family Purse and a deficit of about £6,000 is projected. A Stewardship Sunday was planned for 5th February. There was agreement on the need to make wise use of our resources while meeting expectations of quality in everything we do. God’s continuing provision of our financial needs was noted and celebrated.

The Annual Parochial Church Meeting will be held on Sunday 22nd April 2012 to enact the normal business of the annual meeting.

Clifford Want (PCC Secretary)

SAFFRON WALDEN DCC ANNUAL MEETING took place on Sunday 10th April 2011 for the election of churchwardens and deputies, DCC members (7 vacancies) and Deanery Synod representatives (6 vacancies). If you want to download the paperwork for this meeting then click on these links: Agenda for 10th April, Minutes of last year's DCC AGM, Booklet of Reports from the various DCC committees. Transition Project Annual Review.