Yes! We did it at last! It really should be customary rather than a cause for celebration, but last Wednesday evening we held a ‘proper’ Church Meeting, following three months of being inquorate. Inevitably much on the agenda was routine rather than exciting, but we were able to ‘tick off’ several items which have been cropping up for months.
We agreed to continue our ‘traditional’ pattern of Bible Studies – first and third (& fifth) Wednesday evenings of each month at 8 p.m. and first and third Thursday mornings at 10.30 a.m. Attendance at the evening studies is still very limited, but those who usually come wanted to continue with them. The morning studies are better attended and recently two extra friends have joined us (and they’ve come more than once, which is always a good sign!) – they’re very, very welcome.
We also agreed to meet regularly for refreshments after morning services – we’ve been doing this on an ad hoc basis since the Covid restrictions eased, but Sally Moody has now agreed to organize a rota to ensure that someone is responsible for making the necessary preparations each week. It does give us all an opportunity to meet and chat (‘fellowship’ is the jargon word) – only if we wish to do so, of course.
We discussed at some length how we should celebrate our Queen’s Platinum Jubilee and the Golden Jubilee of our Congregational Federation, and we settled for a Saturday afternoon ‘Tea’ on 25th June between 3 and 5 o’clock, on a ‘bring-and-share’ basis – there will lists in the vestibule in due course to make sure that we don’t all bring the same thing! Another suggestion was ‘Fish & Chips’, but we decided that might be more appropriate for a Harvest Supper.
Once the main church doors are open, you don’t notice the handle of the bolt that secures them, but it’s been causing trouble recently and Jeannette Butler and her husband Peter have organized a splendidly welded replacement at their own expense. We are very grateful.
‘Safeguarding’ has become a jargon word in various situations these days, in connection with children and ‘vulnerable adults’ being safe and feeling safe. Our deacons have met with Rev. David Simms, the South-East Area’s Safeguarding Officer, who was satisfied with our facilities, practices and procedures (apart from a couple of details: sharp knives in the cutlery drawer, out-of-date first-aid kit, cleaning materials too accessible to children) – the Congregational Federation’s ‘approval’ may also give us access to certain funding resources from the C.F.