Parochial Church Council

PCC Summary Documents

To give a flavour of the work of the PCC we have included the summaries of the PCC meetings.

Each document is available as a PDF file from the links below.

June 2010

May 2010

March 2010

February 2010

January 2010

November 2009

October 2009

September 2009

July 2009

June 2009

May 2009

Trustees’ Annual Report for year ended 31 December 2009

Reference and administrative information

The PCC is a registered Charity No. 1132087
The part-time Benefice Administrator is Mrs S Addison, Laurel Cottage, Church Street, Barford St Michael, Banbury OX15 0UA.
The trustees, members of the PCC at the time of this report, were as follows:

Structure, governance and management

 The PCC is a corporate body.  Its governing documents are the Parochial Church council (Powers) Measure 1956 as amended and the Church Representation Rules.
 PCC members are recruited in a number of ways.  The clergy and churchwardens are members by virtue of their office.  Deanery Synod representatives are elected by the annual church meeting (APCM) and hold office for three years.  Other members of the PCC are elected for a 3 year term, or co-opted, so arranged that about one third of the council will retire each year.

The PCC makes all decisions corporately except that the Standing Committee has delegated powers to make decisions between PCC meetings subject to keeping the PCC informed as fully as necessary.  The Standing committee met 3 times in the year 2009-10 with an average attendance of 78%.
 
In accordance with recent changes to Charity Commission requirements the PCC is now a Registered Charity No 1132087.
 
The PCC is responsible for all parish finance, its management and control, including the appointment of treasurer.  Members of the PCC are responsible for keeping accounting records, which disclose with reasonable accuracy the financial position of the PCC and which enable them to ascertain that the financial statements comply with the Charities Act 1993 and the Statement of Recommended  Practice ‘Accounting by Charities’ 2005.  The PCC is also responsible for safeguarding the charity’s assets and hence for taking reasonable steps for the prevention and detection of fraud and other irregularities.  The PCC is also required to ensure that the financial statements are examined by an independent examiner or auditor prior to presentation to the Annual Parochial Church Meeting.  A full statement of the financial policy is available for inspection. In preparing the financial statements, the PCC is required to:

Select suitable accounting policies and then apply them consistently
Make judgements and estimates that are reasonable and prudent
Follow applicable accounting standards and statements of recommended practice, subject to any material departures disclosed and explained in the financial statements
Prepare the financial statements on the going concern basis unless it is inappropriate to presume that the charity will remain in operation.
There are the following committees and sub-committees, the aim of which is to reduce the amount of detail that the PCC needs to discuss, thereby giving more time for spiritual matters.

Standing Committee– To take care of Council business between PCC meetings and to make decisions referred to it by the PCC.
Finance– to receive instructions from the PCC as to spending and in the light of which to set a budget.
Hempton– to oversee church life at St John the Evangelist, Hempton.
First Sunday— To plan the less formal First Sunday services and procure requisite materials.
Charitable Giving— To review our system of charitable giving and propose alterations if necessary.  To select recipients of our charitable giving.
Repairs and Maintenance— To oversee repairs in the church and churchyard.  To liaise with the architect.  To receive reports from the Health & Safety officer.
Kitchen— To arrange catering after services and for special events.
Child Protection— To ensure that the Church acts in accordance with the Diocesan guidelines on the protection of children.  To develop and continue work within the parish specifically aimed at children and young people.
 
The parish is part of the Deddington Deanery in the Diocese of Oxford.
 
During the year the PCC has reviewed all the risks faced by the charity and has put in place measures aimed at managing those risks.  The risk assessment was compiled using a pro-forma provided by Ecclesiastical Insurance.

Objectives and activities

The objectives of the PCC are defined by the Parochial Church Council (Powers) Measure 1956 as ‘to co-operate with the minister in promoting in the parish the whole mission of the Church, pastoral, evangelistic, social and ecumenical’.
 
The main activities of the PCC are:

• the provision of regular public worship that is open to all.
• the provision of sacred space for personal prayer and contemplation.
• the provision of pastoral work including the visiting of the sick, the elderly and the bereaved.
• the teaching of the Christian faith through sermons, home groups, children's meetings and links with the local school.
• the promotion of the Christian faith through various events for the elderly, parents and toddlers and other special needs groups organised by the PCC and through the distribution of the parish newsletter.
• the support of other charities involved in Christian outreach and development.
  
   

The PCC met 10 times in the year 2009-10 with an average attendance of 80% at the meetings.

The parish has traditionally aimed to give 10% of its unrestricted income each year to other organisations involved in mission in the UK and overseas or involved in humanitarian relief and development work.  However the employment of a full time Youth Worker has taken the local element of this giving.  The full-time Youth Worker resigned in August 2009, and so far the PCC has been unable to replace her.  Volunteers are filling the gap temporarily. 

 
The parish relies on the voluntary work of so many people and the PCC very much appreciates their service to the churches and the local community.

Achievements and performance

 There are now 2 thriving home groups and 2 prayer groups.  These groups are helping to deepen the spiritual lives of the members.
 The electoral roll and attendance at Sunday services have remained at last year’s levels.

 

Iain Gillespie

Deddington C.E. (A) Primary School  Report  for The Parochial Church Council 2009-2010

The school has had another successful year within the Parish and we would like to thank everyone for their continued support for the work we are doing both in the school and in our wider community. We have continued our work on collective worship with the support of Father Hugh, and until last July John Dane. These meetings take place every term and plan the worship both in school and in the church that we would like to take part in during that term. The team ably led by Mrs Libby Knox plan around a values based theme and include additional areas from the Church Lectionary.  It has been good to welcome Cannon Hugh Marshall to the team this year in his role as Governor with responsibility for Collective worship. The team have also led the reviews of both our RE Policy and out Collective Worship Policy.

We were sad to say farewell to John at the end of the summer. Both he and his family had played such a key role in our school and its pastoral care. We hope they have settled well into their new home.
We also introduced our new Prayer tree this year along with all the usual celebrations and services for Corpus Christie, Harvest, Remembrance and Christmas. In addition we are really looking forward to welcoming the choir form South Africa next month and especially our special friend Marina, the Headteacher from Thelesho Primary School. 

We are so lucky to have such a wonderful building on our doorstep and this allows us to do many things that other schools cannot, such as performances and taking part in Communion services. We have enjoyed taking part in the First Sunday services and I hope this is something that will continue next year.
 Finally I would like to say a very personal thank you to the congregations of all the Parishes the school is involved in. As you may know I leave my post at the school at the end of this academic year and it has been a privilege to be part of the growing community and the close links the school has with the church and particularly Father Hugh. In times of real need he has been here for both myself and the school and hope this relationship goes on growing from strength to strength.                          

Judith Tinsley Headteacher

Parish Archive

In 2002 the Oxfordshire Records office acceded both the Deddington Parish Council and Deddington Parochial Church Council archive to the National Records Office in Kew.

• Deddington Parish Council: minutes 1894-1962 (4945)
• Deddington Parochial Church Council: records (4986)

Copies of these documents are available from:

 
The National Archives,
Kew,
Richmond,
Surrey,
TW9 4DU.

Tel: +44 (0) 20 8876 3444

Deddington Parish Registers