THE SOCIETY OF FRIENDS OF LITTLE MALVERN PRIORY

Minutes of the Committee Meeting held at 28 Avenue Road on Tuesday 9^th February 2010

The Meeting started with a prayer.

Present

Revd Canon Knowles, Chairman, Sir Nigel Nicholls, Treasurer, Col Mathew, Secretary, Mr Appleby, Mrs Berington, Mrs Booth, Dr Burge, Mr Chatten, Mr Johnson, Lt Col Steel, Mr Williams.

Apologies

Mr Pierce, Mrs Webb.

Minutes of the last Meeting

These, having been circulated, were agreed.

Matters Arising

Lt Col Steel said that he had booked the Welland Village Hall and Mrs Webb had confirmed her readiness to supervise the provision of food.

The Chairman was to produce the Order of Service, which would include a photograph of Marian Tosello and a narrative of her connections with Little Malvern Court to be written by Dr Burge; he would arrange for this to be printed by E-W Publications and would send a copy to the Bishop. The Treasurer said that the cost could be covered by the surplus from the Tosello donation for the window.

Dr Burge showed a collage she had made of photographs of Marian Tosello produced by Mrs Berington. This was admired by the Committee and it was agreed that it should be displayed during the dedication ceremony.

Lt Col Steel reported that the repair was nearing completion and the PCC would be informed of the cost when this had been received.

Lt Col Steel said that the installation was being studied and the cost would depend on the difficulty to be faced in drilling through the stone wall: a very rough estimate put it at £200. He mentioned that the tap would provide a means of hosing down the yew berries on the churchyard path, which were a safety hazard at certain times of the year, and it would ensure a water supply should the water butt run dry again.

Mr Johnson added that the tap would also end the need to use the kitchen to fill watering cans which could cause health and safety hazards.

The Chairman explained that signs on the public highway were the responsibility of the Worcestershire County Council and he was examining the problem with them. An application would cost a non-returnable £100 and we should have to pay for the erection and maintenance. He thought that the cost could perhaps be met from the donation of £1,000 Mrs Dore had recently made for the use of the church.

The Chairman said that the planned visit to the Cathedral on 11^th January had been cancelled because of the weather, but the response had been disappointing. This was a concern because the Dean had arranged the visit especially for Little Malvern Priory and was to have conducted the pilgrimage after the service personally.

It was agreed that the Chairman should discuss with the Dean the possibility of a visit in the autumn. If this could be arranged, he would ensure that the congregation was made aware of the privilege the Dean was offering. The visit would start at 5.00 pm with tea in the cathedral café, followed by Evensong and then the pilgrimage. He would notify the time set for the start of the pilgrimage for those who felt that attending both the service and an hour-long tour round the cathedral would be too tiring. He felt that the party should be at least twenty strong.

Before presenting the accounts, the Treasurer drew attention to new guidelines introduced by the Charity Commission. There was no longer a requirement to forward the Accounts and Report if income was below £25,000 and if it fell below £10,000 there was no need for the accounts to be audited by an independent examiner. He felt nevertheless that our annual audit should continue, even if income, whichpwilliams@piersplowman2.freeserve.co.uk was normally well above £10,000, were to fall below it. Peter Bradford was prepared to undertake this. The Committee agreed to the proposal.

Turning to the accounts, the Treasurer said that, although our expenditure had remained roughly the same, our surplus had dropped from £9,029 to £2,438. Our reserves now stood at a little over £135,000.

The income from subscriptions remained much the same, with membership dropping by one to 113. Donations were down by £1,000, but the Hawthorne Trust, generous as ever, had provided £1,000 towards the Parish Share as well as contributing towards the insurance. The Little Malvern Court Open Gardens had raised £1,344 thanks to the generosity of Alex Berington. The sale of booklets and cards was up by 10%, mainly because of the sale of the church guides and Jeremy Webb’s monograph on the impact of the Civil War. Sadly, much of this was offset by a drop of £5,000 in our investment income because of a sharp reduction in interest rates: in 2008 the Church of England Investment Fund had averaged 5%, in 2009 it was 1.5% and in the last quarter only 0.6%.

Our main expenditure had been £4,200 for the Memorial Window paid out of Mrs Tosello’s donation, £835 on roof repairs and the annual contribution of £1,500 towards the church’s running costs.

The £2,438 surplus for the year had brought our reserves up to £135,292. This might seem high, but we must budget for increases in expenditure in the future, in particular if ever we should have to pay for a non-stipendiary priest. The Chairman endorsed this warning: he had no intention of leaving at present but inevitably his chaplaincy would come to an end at some stage and it was right that we should plan accordingly.

The Committee approved the accounts and the transfer of £1,000 to the PCC from the donation of the Hawthorn Trust.

The Treasurer thanked Peter Bradford for auditing our accounts once again. We were greatly in his debt.

The Chairman expressed his gratitude to Sir Nigel for the trouble he had taken in preparing the accounts and for the clarity of his presentation.

There had been no official visits to Little Malvern Priory or information required from the archivist since the last meeting of the Committee.

The Burial register had been brought up to date, and a beautiful new map of the site of the burials/ashes had been drawn by Irene Tretheway.

Alex Berington had produced information about Marian Tosello (the donor of the new stained glass windows) and an article had gone into the Pewsletter in time for the dedication. She was mounting some photos of Marian for display at this event.

Sarah Ann Bradford had continued her efficient supervision of the sale of cards and booklets and had kept the Treasurer informed.

Mr Chatten said that the support of the Friends might be sought to pay for a new chancel carpet which was expected to cost about £600. The Treasurer proposed that we should approve expenditure up to £1,000 and this was agreed.

Lt Col Steel mentioned that our Quinquennial Inspection was due in October. Some expense was to be expected apart from the cost of the inspection itself. Other possible costs included repairs to the heating system and the tuning of the organ.

Mrs Berington said that Lt Col Both had agreed to mastermind the running of the Open Day. Everything was under control and notices calling for volunteers would be going up shortly.

The theme for the displays in church this year was to be ‘Elgar’ and Dr Burge was to co-ordinate preparations.

Our visit to the Musica Deo Sacra in Tewkesbury Abbey was to take place on Monday, 26th July 2010.

The Chairman welcomed Mr Peter Williams who was to take over as Treasurer to the PCC. His appointment as an ex officio member of the Friends’ Committee was approved.