Monthly Archives: May 2026

PCC Meeting Minutes 13/4/26

Published 09/05/2026

Minutes of the PCC Meeting

Held on Monday 13th April 2026

		Action
1	The meeting opened at 19.07 with a message of encouragement based on Jeremiah 1:6-8.

2	Attendance
	· Dawn Airey (Chair), Fiona Clarke (PCC Secretary), Matt Ellson (Vice Chair), Melanie Hartung, Ben Haughton-Scales, Livvi Haughton-Scales, David Meleleu, Alan Palmer, David Wells, Ruth Wium. · Apologies: Chiaz Alozie, Sam Carew.

3	Previous Minutes
	The Minutes of the Meetings held on 2^nd February 2026 were approved by all who had been at that meeting, and were signed off by DA.

4	Matters Arising
	· The shed has been cleared and the keys handed over to Redwell School. · Lay PCC meeting was held re Vicar moving on. A further meeting has been scheduled for Thursday 14^th May to meet with Archdeacon Richard. · ME/ BH-S/ LH-S to chase John re Face to Face “Raising awareness of Domestic Abuse” training. · New Church signage is now in place. · Communion table has been commissioned. · Church Laptop has been set up and is in use by LH-S and BH-S.	ME/BH-S/ LH-S

5	Update on Key Priorities – See Annual Reports (Appendix)
	1. Discipleship (DA) · No decisions to be made and no comments. 2. Under 18s (DA-Under 11s/ BH-S- Youth) · No decisions to be made and no comments. 3. Wholeness in Jesus/ Wellbeing (DA); Prayer (JBC). · No decisions to be made and no comments.

6	Annual Reports – See Appendix
	· The only question was regarding Under 18s and whether years six and seven would remain as a combined group on Sundays. This will be monitored and discussed regarding the broad age range covered. There is no immediate plan to separate them due to lack of helpers at present but they may be separated again if more helpers become available · There were no other questions or concerns. Proposal – To agree the Annual Reports for APCM subject to minor grammatical changes identified. Proposer: DA. Seconder: ME. All were in favour.

7	Electoral Roll Officer
	· Marion is stepping down from the role at APCM. · All PCC members were asked to consider whether they could take on these duties as someone will need to be appointed at the PCC meeting immediately after APCM.	ALL

8	Moving the Church Printer
	· Wi-Fi in the School remains a problem. · Dan Parker, PDET rep, is liaising with the computer team to try to resolve this. · It is not possible to use the School’s Wi-Fi due to security and firewalls. · The ultimate aim is to move the printer from the Vicarage to the Church Office within the School. However, as the Wi-Fi is not currently available, it will need to be moved to the Curates’ house to be available whilst DA is on sabbatical, and it will be moved to the school as soon as Wi-Fi for church use is in place. · The initial move is planned for 30^th April. · The cost to move and connect the printer is about £300. Proposal: To move the printer to the curates’ house using funds from the Building account. Proposer: DA. Seconder: FC. All were in favour except one who abstained..

9	Parish Update
	· Nothing this time.

10	Approving New Groups/ Activities
	· Nothing this time.

11	Safeguarding Report – See Annual Reports (Appendix)
	No comments or actions.

12	Dates of next meetings:
	PCC meetings: · APCM Sunday 26^th April 2026 as part of the service, followed by a short PCC meeting. · Monday 6^th July 2026 at 19.00. · Monday 14^th September 2026 at 19.00. · Monday 9^th November 2026 at 19.00. · Monday 18^th January 2027 at 19.00. · Monday 1^st March 2027 at 19.00. · Monday 19^th April 2027 at 19.00 – To approve reports for APCM. · APCM Sunday 23rd May 2027 as part of the service, followed by a short PCC meeting.

13	The meeting closed with prayers from AP at 19.45

Appendix

Registered Charity No 1172631

“Connecting with Jesus,

with each other,

with the community”

ANNUAL REPORT

FOR THE YEAR ENDED 31 DECEMBER 2025

FOR NORTH WELLINGBOROUGH ANGLICAN CHURCH,

WELLINGBOROUGH, PAROCHIAL CHURCH COUNCIL

REPORTS OF CHURCH MINISTRY AND MISSION

Church attendance

The total of Church members on the Electoral Roll for 2026 is 78 with 13 having left and 15 added. This is a slight increase of 2 from last year’s total of 76.

Marion Darker – Electoral Roll Officer.

Report on the work of the PCC.

Membership

The PCC is made up of the following – ex officio members, who are the clergy (currently including the Incumbent (Vicar), and our two Curates (Ben and Livvy Haughton-Scales)), the churchwardens, and Deanery Synod representatives. The other members of the PCC (lay PCC members) are elected at the Annual Parochial Church Meeting (APCM):

Deanery Synod representatives fulfil a three-year term, but new rules since 2020 enable them to stand for two terms before standing down for at least one term.
Churchwardens are elected every year. They can be re-elected but can only serve up to six consecutive years and then have a break of at least one year before standing for re-election.
Elected PCC members may remain on the PCC for up to three years and stand again after a one year wait.

Elizabeth Holbrook stepped down from Churchwarden, and only one person applied for the role, at the APCM in May 2025.

Louise Harrison stepped down from lay PCC at the APCM, and three new people were elected, which made eight lay members in total. The total number of lay PCC members allowed is currently nine, calculated from the number of people on the electoral roll. Therefore, one lay PCC member position remained vacant.
Helen Cracknell stepped down from Deanery Synod at the APCM in 2025 and no-one applied for the role.
With Clergy and Churchwardens (ex-officio members) this made 12 PCC members in total.
Two lay PCC members are due to step down at the 2026 APCM having fulfilled their three year term, and Sam Carew will also be stepping down at this year’s APCM..

There is, therefore, allowance for election of an additional four lay PCC members, two Churchwardens and two Deanery Synod representative at the APCM (2026).

The PCC is empowered to co-opt two additional members after the APCM for a particular purpose, regardless of vacancies, but only until the next APCM and then they would need to be elected.

Legalities

The PCC is required to have a Standing Committee, its membership comprises the Incumbent, Curates, Churchwardens and Treasurer.

As North Wellingborough Anglican Church is a registered charity, members of the PCC are registered with the Charity Commission as trustees. The responsibilities of the trustees are detailed in the Trustees’ Report.

Responsibilities

At every meeting the PCC considers reports from those who cover areas of the three priorities highlighted in the Church Vision, together with reports from Deanery Synod and Safeguarding. The Treasurer also presents regular reports on the church finances. All are responsible to the PCC and report back to it regularly. Their reports are received by the full PCC and discussed, as needed.

Attendance

The PCC would have met seven times but two were cancelled due to illness. They, therefore, met five times during 2025, including a short meeting after the APCM, with an average attendance of 78%.

Fiona Clarke – PCC Secretary.

Vicar’s Report

“Connecting: with Jesus, with each other, with the wider community”

I would like to start in my usual way by thanking our churchwardens Elizabeth (who stepped back due to moving away) and Matt Ellson. Matt has been the only churchwarden for the last year. I also give thanks for the PCC, Connect Group facilitators and to our staff team – Amanda Allen (Parish Administrator), our Curates Ben & Livvi Haughton-Scales and Chiaz, who joined us as our Intern in September. This is a really hard working team and I so appreciate the wisdom and generosity from each individual and am privileged to work alongside them.

The major news of 2025

In previous years the parish boundaries were re-drawn so that Glenvale Park became part of our parish and as a result we changed our name to North Wellingborough Anglican Church. The next and final phase of transition happened in 2025 when we decided to make Glenvale Church of England School our new home and, after 35 years of worshipping at Redwell School, we moved to Glenvale in March! This was a huge change for the church and has taken time to get used to but I believe we are now settled and very much enjoying the new facilities. This move also meant the church could have, for the first time, its own parish office based in the school.

Since we moved to Glenvale School we see new people dipping their toes in with us just about every single Sunday. That is so exciting and now some are beginning to put their all in with us, really becoming part of the church community.

What else has been good in 2025?

The number of children and young people has increased.
Easter events and outreach.
Summer community days.
Christmas events and outreach.
Toddler group at the care home.
Creations Craft Group.
Starting a second prayer time, now on Sunday mornings, as well as midweek.
Midweek Care Home Service.
Connect groups (Livvi has started a new monthly one for those who struggle at other times).
Summer drink stop at Glenvale.
Continued schools work in both primary schools.
Start of the youth band.

Looking ahead

As we move forward there are things that still need resolving with the building, for example, sorting the shed at Redwell School, the Wi-Fi, getting the wooden communion table installed, moving the printer to the office once the Wi-Fi is sorted and working out how best to use the parish office. A new Incumbent will need to re-visit the lease with the school to iron out our wider use of the facility, such as at festival times of year, etc. A new church sign has now also been put up on the school wall, a clear marker of our permanence!

A dynamic we did not anticipate in our move to Glenvale School was that many of the new people who have come on a Sunday morning have a church back in the place they have moved from. This is usually close enough to drive back to and so we are finding that many are only coming occasionally. I hope that in time some will decide that worshipping where they live, and perhaps where their children spend most of their time, will be worth making the move to their local church, to be part of both the ministry and mission of God in this place.

There are a couple of things, that became very evident in 2025, that in my view are really important as the church looks forward:

Firstly, while we have a very large fringe, our core has grown smaller. This is partly as a result of the dynamic I outlined above, which means that there are less people fully committed and therefore less committed to serving and giving.
Secondly, the impact of Covid/cost of living crisis continues to have a significant effect, largely that there is less capacity/willingness to use our gifts for the ministry and mission of the church, or to take responsibility for particular ministry areas. This has had a profound impact in 2025. A number of groups and the more pioneering work has had to stop. For the church to go forward, it has to now address this honestly, asking itself, what does Church now look like and what are our priorities. If this is not addressed fairly swiftly, it could have a negative impact.

Moving on:

It has been an immense privilege being called to serve alongside you – thank you for journeying together. I believe I have done what I was asked to do when I came – to re-open the church post pandemic, to create a new vision, to grow the church younger, to resolve where the church’s permanent home should be and to re-shape the parish (in terms of its boundaries).

The church entered a very different phase in 2025, some of which I’ve alluded to above, and needs someone who can support and encourage the church in this next phase. But I hope I leave you with this – whoever we are, whatever stage of life we are, the Lord simply calls us to be faithful to what He has given us, to respond to where He is taking us and more importantly than anything else, to know more deeply than before that we are sons and daughters of the King of Kings…..everything flows from this place.

We are this parish’s glimpse of heaven and I have loved being part of it!

Revd. Dawn Airey – Vicar.

Churchwardens’ Fabric Report

With effect from 2 Mar 2025 North Wellingborough Anglican Church have worshipped at Glenvale Church of England School. All equipment is stored within the school (either in the Hub/ Parish office or the PE cupboard) anything not required to operate at Glenvale has remained at Redwell School being stored in the shed. All equipment is in good state of repair with minimal financial outlays throughout 2025. We are grateful to Helen Cracknell and David Wells for the purchase of new mugs for use after services.

The parish still owns land in the Redhill Farm area of the parish, in conjunction with the Diocese. There are no plans regarding this at the present time.

I would like to acknowledge and thank all of those who volunteer and work tirelessly throughout the year covering off the duties and jobs which aid in the smooth running of weekly services.

Matthew Ellson – Churchwarden.

Sung Worship Team

Team: Alex Palmer, Ben Haughton-Scales, Dan Hulland, Ezra Airey, Jasmin Childs, Kendra Okelola, Louise Harrison, Mel Hartung, Noah Hartung, Olivia Okelola, Ore Alo, Ruth Wium, Seb Goss, Steph Gledhill & Steven Follows.

I’d like to start with a huge thank you to all those who have led and facilitated our musical worship over the last year. The process of planning worship, preparing music, learning new songs, and gathering during the week and early on Sundays to practice is not without sacrifice and we are grateful for the way these people’s gifts enrich our gathered worship. In addition to the team, we are also hugely grateful to Sally Wilkins, who diligently compiles the PowerPoint slides, to those who manage the visuals week to week, and to the sound team, who have served the church so faithfully in this area and have also overseen the transition of our PA setup to our new venue at The Glenvale CofE Primary School, including the purchase of new equipment.

We have sadly said goodbye to some of the team over the past year, with Louise Harrison and Steph Gledhill having moved on to pastures new, and at times others have needed to step back temporarily. Mel and Ruth attended the New Wine Worship Leaders Retreat in March 2025 and returned with some really good ideas for us to explore and implement as a team over the year. The new youth band comprising several of the church’s young people also led musical worship for the first time at the August 2025 cafe service. They have done this every month since then and it’s been great to see them grow and develop as lead worshippers! Noah Hartung has unfortunately been unable to continue with the youth band due to his increased school workload – we wish him well with his upcoming GCSE exams.

Looking Ahead

In early 2026 we have welcomed Kayleigh Bellamy, Amy and Matthew George, Victoria Hoy and Joshua Wium to the team, and are excited to see them grow in using their musical gifts in worship over the coming months. If you are reading this, harbouring a musical gift, and are interested in exploring how you might use that to serve God and his church, please do speak to me.

Revd. Ben Haughton-Scales – Curate.

Financial Review for 2025

At the beginning of 2025 the bank account balance was £61,334, divided £63,746 in restricted funds and £(2,412) in general funds. At the end of the year following there was £79,202 in the account divided £81,776 in restricted and £(2,574) in general funds. Our restricted funds have grown during the year largely due to Children in Youth funds and funding for the MES intern.

Our Parish Share was set by the Diocese as £70,207; this was not paid in full this year and unfortunately we paid less than last year; the shortfall was £14,207. We continued to support our many Mission Partners this year.

The net income over the year was £17,868, some of this is linked to grants for the youth worker and the MES Intern. The main source of our funding still comes from the congregation, this comes into the bank account through the weekly plate, online giving, Parish Giving Scheme and the card machine.

The accounts were examined by Denton Tavara Limited and no issues were reported.

My thanks go to Helen Cracknell for starting the year as Treasurer until I took over in the summer.

We thank God for his generous provision during 2025 which enabled us to sustain ministry. We pray that this will continue.

Dale Gilbert – Treasurer – On behalf of the Finance Team.

Key Vision Areas:

Discipleship

Being a disciple of Jesus means being an ‘apprentice’, it’s a life-long, whole-life process of being with Jesus, becoming like Him and doing the things He did. (John Mark Comer).

As a church we try to encourage and enable this through regular personal prayer and devotional time, through our Sunday morning gatherings, our midweek Connect Groups, through our giving and our serving (both the church and the mission of the church).

Personal Prayer & devotion:

At least once a year we suggest a new daily prayer resource but on the church website there is a dedicated ‘reading resource’ area.

Worship & Sunday morning gatherings:

Encountering God’s presence in worship and prayer continues to be fundamental and I believe we need to continue pressing into this much more than we have to date. There have been some key changes for us on Sunday mornings, not least the change of venue to Glenvale Church of England School!

Connect Groups:

Throughout 2025 the groups changed a little and there are now 4 connect groups. It is hoped that these provide a place of love, friendship, care, biblical study, shared use of gifts/skills and ministry to one another. Thank you so much to the Connect Group Facilitators who meet together bi-monthly and have continued to work tirelessly.

Our four groups are:

Monday afternoon (Carol Maycock).
Wednesday evening (Ruth Wium).
Thursday morning (Alan Palmer).
1^st Sunday in the month (Revd. Livvi Haughton-Scales – Curate).

We recognized last year that most of our families have not yet made it into a connect group. This prompted Livvi to start a monthly connect group which takes place after the café style services. It is very early days but we are hopeful it will gain greater traction in the coming months.

Giving and Serving One Another:

A basic and important part of our discipleship is using the gifts and skills the Lord has put within us to love one another and to serve as part of His mission to the parish, and the wider world. Of course this takes many forms and includes the whole of our lives, not just at church. But during 2025 it has become increasingly more difficult to enable people to serve both in our church and missionally, within our parish. There may be lots of reasons for this, good reasons even, but it has had quite an impact on what we are able to do as a church. For example, groups have had to stop and some of our more pioneering work has also stopped. Interestingly, our financial giving has also gone down year by year and last year saw the biggest yearly drop in the last 6 years.

Moving forward

More thought is also being given to what it means to be a loving community of God’s people. We know that the early church spent much time and energy on both caring for one another and on the Holy Spirit ministry of signs/wonders/healings. As they sought to be God’s distinctive community, both of these things made them stand out from the world. There seems to be a recognition in PCC that we need to ‘get back’ to this…..

Revd. Dawn Airey – Vicar.

Care home Services

Leaders: Ben, Livvi, Dawn, Sandi, Jackie, Mel, Chiaz.

The care home services have continued to run every Tuesday at 14.30. We have been visiting Glenvale Park Care home for a number of years now and have built good relationships with the residents, residents’ families and the staff. Every week, we do a short half-hour service that follows simple liturgy and includes a few songs. This is often via video, but Ben also sometimes brings his guitar to play, which is well-appreciated. We have tried to bring in more child-friendly, Sunday school elements to the service, including familiar Sunday school songs, as a way of connecting with the long-term memory of the residents. Research has shown this to be beneficial for those experiencing Alzheimer’s or other types of dementia. This has been well-received.

Sandi and Mel have taken the leadership for services when Ben, Livvi and Dawn are not able to take the service and Sandi has taken steps to collect resources for putting the services together, in order to provide a way for the services to continue regardless of the change in leadership of the church.

Overall, this ministry has proven to be consistent and fruitful. We do not always know exactly how the services are being received, but the relationships built with those who attend have been really heartwarming and we trust that the Holy Spirit is working in powerful ways beyond what we can see ourselves.

Revd. Livvi Haughton-Scales – Curate.

Alpha

Following a successful Alpha in 2024, we were able to run another in the summer of 2025, this time welcoming 3 guests. Mel Hartung and myself co-led the sessions, with meal preparation support from Livvi Haughton-Scales. I was initially unsure whether such a small group would work, but it was really fantastic to journey together as we met weekly for an extended period of time. The guests all encountered Jesus in significant ways and took major steps along their journeys of faith in him. One highlight was our Alpha Day, which we were able to hold at Launde Abbey in Leicestershire. The venue provided such lovely surroundings in which to spend time with each other and with God, and we were able to enjoy the prayerful, meditative environment together.

Looking Ahead

Following on from the 2025 Alpha, 2 of the guests renewed their baptismal vows by full immersion at our recent baptism service in March 2026. This was a fantastic day for our church family, and I know we’re all really excited to continue journeying with them in faith in Jesus. Experience has taught me that Alpha tends to work best when you start with a core group who are committed to taking part in the sessions, then publicise the course more widely to welcome additional guests. With that in mind, if you or anyone you know would be keen to take part in Alpha (or an alternative enquirers’ course), please do speak to me to register your interest and we’ll look to form a new group at the earliest opportunity.

Revd. Ben Haughton-Scales – Curate.

Under 18’s Ministry

We take the research seriously that tells us that churches who invest in under 18s ministry grow, and those that don’t decline. The national church has a vision to see 30,000 children’s and youth workers in an attempt to double the number of children and young people in church on a Sunday morning by 2030!

But ‘growing younger’ was also what I was asked to do when I was interviewed and appointed to be Vicar here, it has therefore been a key priority for me. It is a delight to see how many families we now have as part of the church. In my first year here there were on average 5 under 16s on a Sunday morning with a maximum possible of 7. As of the end of 2025 we now have an average of 17 on a Sunday with a possible maximum of over 32 (every Sunday it seems we are blessed with new people so it’s a little hard to be as accurate now, so it’s at least 32).

We have raised just over £53,000 to employ a part time children’s and youth worker, and £2,317 was raised through the ‘100 for 100’ project in 2025. Unfortunately, we have not been able to appoint anyone as yet but it is so pleasing that the Lord has released this money to us…let’s keep praying for a creative solution for the right person.

All under 18s groups continue to use the Energize resource.

Last summer a number of the parents of our under 18s completed the relevant safeguarding procedures enabling them to support the under 18s ministry on Sunday mornings. I am delighted and it is very welcome.

However, we continue to struggle to support the teen ministry on Sunday mornings. We have more teenagers than children and in September we spilt the group into two groups (yr 6/7 and yr 8+). Both groups meet twice in the month. This continues to work very well:

Chiaz leads yr 6/7 group and has 2 people who help support where they can. However, sometimes there have been gaps and we have needed to ask someone from the children’s team to move groups at the last minute.
We also seem to be getting more creche aged children and so moving one of the children’s workers might begin to prove difficult and so we need to find others who can support the yr 6/7 group on a more regular basis.
At the moment we only have Jackie BC leading the year 8 and above group once a month. She no longer has someone to support her and you would have heard me recently let the church know this and ask for others to volunteer. There have been 2 people who have offered to support where they can, but they are already committed in other ministry areas.
Rayo who is a young person herself, continues to lead the yr 8 and above group once a month. She is doing a fantastic job!

Under 11s ministry

Sunday mornings

The under 11s continue to use the Hub room on Sunday mornings for their group. A huge thanks to everyone who leads and supports this age group and for their willingness to guide the children in their individual journeys with the Lord.

Outreach – Glenvale Park toddler group

We began this group Easter 2024. Glenvale Care home provides a beautiful room, toy storage and refreshments for this group. Some of the residents join the group also. We have around 50 families now on the register and anywhere between 7 and 16 households can turn up on any given week! This continues to be the case.

Outreach – primary aged children

PCC is aware that we did not restart Ignite after October 2025 half term due to both the rent increasing and the numbers of children attending decreasing. We were making a loss of around £40 a week during that half term and despite Livvi’s best efforts, we could not increase the numbers.

It is hoped that in the near future, particularly if we appoint a children’s and youth worker, that something new will be imagined.

School’s work

Being present in our two primary schools is a very significant part of how we serve our housing estates and the mission of the church. It is largely ministry unseen by the church but plays a huge part in what I would describe as ‘oiling’ the rest of ministry.

We continue to have a very good relationship with Redwell School which means between Ben, Livvi and I we are present on a regular basis, either through assemblies, collective worship, new parent intake evenings, Narnia prayers spaces, year 6 transition sessions, well-being groups, parent evenings and the various fayre’s and school productions.

Glenvale Church of England School continues to grow and it is anticipated it will take around 10 years for it to be fully open. I am now part of the governing body which is now called The Schools Forum and has quite a different role.

Revd. Dawn Airey – Vicar.

Ignite

Up until October 2025, the leaders for Ignite were: Livvi Haughton-Scales, Ruth Gilbert, Alan Palmer, Chiaz Alozie.

Dawn Airey came at the beginning of most sessions to help with the register or speak with parents.

Ben Haughton-Scales has helped on some weeks when needed.

Firstly, a huge thank you to everyone who has put their time and energy into continuing this group. Since April last year, we have had many good moments. We recorded an Easter film with the children last year, which we showed to their parents on the last session before Easter. This was hugely popular, a lot of parents came and many were very touched by the film that was made. We then had a chance to speak more with parents afterwards, which appeared to be a helpful time to make further connections.
We also found through conversation with the children that came to Ignite that a few had started to pray and seen God answer their prayers, and remembered well the bible stories that had been told to them.
Unfortunately, the numbers declined sharply after Easter term. During Easter term (January – April 2025), we regularly had 25-35 children, but the number went down to less than 20 every week after Easter term (May 2025 onwards). After the summer, we had another big push to get more children to come along with school assemblies and increased advertising, but the group continued to decline until we had less than ten children coming each week. In parallel to this, the rent doubled in cost over the academic year 2024/2025. We increased the cost to £3 after the summer to try to supplement this, but this may have resulted in the decrease in numbers.

We do not know fully what resulted in the numbers decreasing, but we know from conversations that many had started to go to sport or other activity groups at that time instead. It seems clear the need for the group in the community was not the same as it once was. As a result of the decrease in numbers, we were losing up to £40 each week, which is unsustainable for us as a church.

In October 2025, the leadership team in the church made some difficult decisions regarding Ignite. None of these decisions have been made lightly and we were grieved to think of this group ending, as it has been so impactful for so long. Through prayer and reflection, though, we came to the conclusion that God was directing us to end this group after October Half Term 2025. Although there is sadness in this, there is also hope for the future, as the Holy Spirit may be taking us in a different direction to continue to reach the children and families in all areas of our parish, including Redwell Primary School. One thought we considered is how groups we start could have a clear purpose of teaching about Christianity and the bible, as we can see the rise in interest in the Christian faith in the population. This gives us the opportunity to be more overt in our intention to teach children and families about this.

Revd. Livvi Haughton-Scales – Curate.

Sunday Mornings

When all the young people are there, we now have around 18 young people on a Sunday morning. That’s really fantastic news! I have given more detail at the start of the section ”Under 18s Ministry”.

2025 has been a year of consolidation and embedding in the youth ministry at NWAC:

Sunday Youth – This is the group that meets during Sunday services on 2^nd and 4^th Sundays in the month. During these times there is in-depth Bible teaching and discussion. We currently do not have enough leaders to run Sunday youth on 3^rd and 5^th Sundays in the month and have been seeking to use these as ‘Serving Sundays’, encouraging the young people to help with various aspects of the morning service (such as assisting with children’s groups, playing in the worship band, serving tea and coffee, and washing up). The new youth band comprising several of the church’s young people led musical worship for the first time at the August 2025 cafe service. They have done this on 1^st Sundays every month since then and it’s been great to see them grow and develop as lead worshippers! We’ll continue to explore other serving opportunities for the young people and are open to ideas church members might have. From September 2025, to accommodate the significant number of church young people in years 6 and 7 at school, Sunday Youth was split into two groups – one for years 6 and 7, and one for years 8 and above. We are really grateful to all those in the church who stepped up to lead and help with these groups to enable this to happen. I especially want to highlight Aderayo Adeliyi, a young person in year 11 at school, who took on the role of leading her peers in year 8 and above once a month (with support from her mother Racheal in preparing the sessions). The number of young people attending on Sunday mornings varies from week to week.

Connect Youth

This is a discipleship group which runs fortnightly on Sunday afternoons. We begin with a game and snacks, then have a time of worship, Bible teaching/discussion and prayer. 21 young people have attended the group this year, with an average attendance of 9. Most of the young people are connected with church, but we have started to see them inviting friends from outside the group to build friendships and explore faith in Jesus.

We have been following a series on Christian Lifestyle using the church’s Energize resource and have run sessions on topics including holiness, perseverance, contentment and prayer. We have continued to hold half-termly social evenings to facilitate friendship-building among the group, including games nights and an outdoor summer social.

It is a huge joy and privilege to have such a fantastic group of young people within our church family. Helping them grow as followers of Jesus is a responsibility for the whole church family, so please do take every opportunity you can to encourage them in their journeys of faith. Our prayer is that they all build really solid friendships with one another that can sustain them in their faith in Jesus throughout their teenage years and beyond. The Energize online children’s and youth work resource by Urban Saints continues to be an excellent tool for all our children’s and youth volunteers to assist with planning and preparing sessions.

During the school summer holidays, 6 young people attended the Satellites summer youth festival at the Bath & West Showground from 6^th-11^th August 2025, with Dawn and Ben as the leaders for the trip, and Tola Okelola and Chris Airey very kindly assisting with transport and caravan setup/pack down. This was a fantastic time away for the young people; the range of activities provided was excellent and the young people all had stories of encountering Jesus in new and significant ways.

Team

The church’s youth ministry is completely a team effort and would not happen without all those who support the discipleship of our young people in so many different ways: Aderayo Adeliyi, Ben Haughton-Scales, Chiaz Alozie, Dawn Airey, Ihuoma Alozie, Jackie Brooks Cheesman, Jasmin Childs and Livvi Haughton-Scales. Thank you all!

Looking Ahead

In early 2026 we ran baptism preparation sessions for 2 young people, who were then baptised by full immersion during the morning service on 15^th March. What a joy it was to celebrate with them! We have needed to re-merge the year 6/7 and year 8+ Sunday Youth groups back into one group, largely due to a reduction in leader/helper availability. The main challenge for 2026 is to ensure that the church’s youth ministry can run sustainably into the future. If you feel God may be nudging you to support our young people in any way, please do speak with me and I’d love to explore this with you further.

Revd. Ben Haughton-Scales – Curate and Youth Team Leader.

Wholeness in Jesus/ Wellbeing.

Bereavement Support Group.

Throughout 2025 we continued to have our bereavement Facebook group which has 87 people in it but we had to close the group that was meeting in person due to lack of attendance.

In recent years we’ve moved away from the language of pastoral care and more towards Christian friendship which I think has been helpful. The main way of supporting one another continues to be via Connect Groups. There is recognition that many families (in particular) have not made their way into Connect Groups and the PCC are currently thinking about this. There is also a desire from the PCC that as a church we think about what it means to be part of a loving community and how we can do this better.

Revd. Dawn Airey – Vicar.

Creations Craft Group.

The Creations Craft group was formed in December 2024 and meets every Monday in the dining area of the ‘Ock ’N’ Dough from 10:00 to 11:30.

The membership has remained steady, although we have one new member since the last report.

The participants carry out various crafts, including knitting, crocheting, colouring, cross-stitch and many other interesting crafts.

Last October 6^th, the group was given an informal lesson in making an embroidered card for Christmas. This proved to be popular, with some trying embroidery for the first time. We hope to try something else new this year.

We are, again, knitting animals for the Christmas Nativity, and painting rocks for the Easter rock hunt this year.

The group share their expertise with each other and have encouraged people to either try new things or update their skills, which is wonderful.

We hope to have a sale of work this year at church.

Sandi Rance.

Prayer Ministry Report

Prayer ministry continued to be offered during and after services throughout the year, with varying amounts of people coming forward to seek prayer for their needs, on average 1-2 per service.
With the departure of Chris and Steph Gledhill we sadly lost 2 of our most committed prayer ministry members. I thank God for their ministry and wish them every blessing in their new setting, and know they will continue to be a blessing to others.
Towards the end of 2025 it was decided to instruct PCC members in the best practices of prayer ministry and safeguarding so that they can also help with prayer during and after services. It is quite often the case that prayer ministry team members are involved in other duties such as children’s groups, worship, preaching, refreshments etc., so having extra help is very important. This training has now been implemented.

Prayer Chain

To make the prayer chain more accessible and faster in its response times, it was decided to create a WhatsApp group as this is faster than the usual email route of communication. This has been a successful initiative, with faster responses. More members have joined since the group started.
We now have 16 members on the prayer chain, 14 of whom are in the WhatsApp group and 2 who prefer to be contacted via email.

Prayer Events

For Maundy Thursday, it was decided to combine a simple meal with prayer activities, to encourage a higher attendance. Commitment to attend was secured via a small charge for food. This proved successful, with a much higher attendance than previous years, and the prayer activities were well received and utilised.
The prayer activities for the Glenvale summer activity days focused on simple ways to pray, thinking about God’s creation and our place within it. Again these were well received by church and non-church members.

Weekly prayer pointers

With the departure of Chris Gledhill in the summer, the weekly prayer email has ended for the time being until we can work out a way to start this again or replace it with another initiative which is effective.

As always, my sincere and heartfelt thanks to everyone who volunteers to pray with and for others. This is such a vital ministry and it can be tiring on a spiritual level, so I am thankful to our prayer warriors for all of their commitment to take time out of their day to pray for others.

Jackie Brooks-Cheesman.

Safeguarding Report

At North Wellingborough Anglican Church, safeguarding is treated with the seriousness it deserves. We have lots of members who give their time supporting children and vulnerable adults; DBSs, Safer Recruiting and Safeguarding Training are all important elements that back-up the work of volunteers.

Safeguarding information is displayed on the church noticeboard, website and weekly email news bulletin.

Within the deanery, there is now a safeguarding hub which enables relevant issues to be discussed.

Although I have not managed to get to either of the meetings so far, I have contributed in advance and picked up useful advice from the minutes.

During 2025:

6 new people received DBSs.
9 DBSs were renewed.
13 people did the Basic Awareness and Foundation training courses,
8 did the Raising Awareness of Domestic Abuse course (this is a new addition to the portfolio of 3 courses that volunteers are requested to do).

Thank you to everyone who volunteers at church and has done the forms and training – this certainly makes my role more straightforward.

John Gilyead – Parish Safeguarding Officer.

Deanery Synod Report

The Deanery Synod met 5 times in 2025 and heard contributions on a range of themes including:

Emerging Mission – New housing developments in the Deanery (Various Contributors)
Prison Chaplaincy (Revd Canon Helen Dearnley)
Discovering Your Spirituality (Revd Dr Judy Craig-Peck)
Good News from the Archdeaconry (Archdeacon Richard Ormston)
Discussing the Diocesan Year of Prayer (Various Contributors)

Regular updates on Finance and Safeguarding were given at each meeting.

Additional Deanery events and meetings have included regular Treasurers’ Meet-Ups, Safeguarding Hub meetings for Parish Safeguarding Officers (PSOs), and various choral services and concerts.

Looking Ahead

The church can have up to two Deanery Synod Representatives but currently does not have any. It is hoped that these vacancies will be filled at this year’s APCM.

Revd. Ben Haughton-Scales – Curate.

Approved by the PCC 13^th April 2026

Signed: Dawn Airey (Vicar) Date

PCC Meeting Minutes 2/2/26

Published 09/05/2026

Minutes of the PCC Meeting

Held on Monday 2^nd February 2026

		Action
1	The meeting opened at 19.02 welcoming Jackie from the Prayer Ministry team. Jackie went through Prayer Ministry training with the PCC then prayed for the PCC. She then departed at 19.26. The main PCC meeting commenced once she had gone.

2	Attendance
	· Dawn Airey (Chair), Chiaz Alozie, Sam Carew, Fiona Clarke (PCC Secretary), Matt Ellson (Vice Chair), Ben Haughton-Scales, Livvi Haughton-Scales, David Meleleu, Alan Palmer David Wells, Ruth Wium. · Apologies: Melanie Hartung.

3	Previous Minutes
	The Minutes of the Meetings held on 17^th November 2025 and 19^st January 2026 were approved by all who had been at those meetings and were signed off by DA.

4	Matters Arising
	· Land opposite the Ock and Dough public house. Alan, Mel and Ruth are to form a group to look into this, and what can be done with the land, and advise the PCC when done. · Church Laptop – Nearly set up. Thank you to CA.	AP/MH/RW

5	Update on Key Priorities – See Appendices 1 – 3.
	1. Discipleship (DA) · No decisions and no comments. 2. Under 18s (DA-Under 11s/ BH-S- Youth) · Attendance o Average of 16 with a maximum of 32 children and youth at Sunday morning services, which is very encouraging. · No decisions to be made and no comments. 3. Wholeness in Jesus/ Wellbeing (DA); Prayer (JBC). – · Prayer Ministry – o The new WhatsApp group has been very successful and found to be much more dynamic and useful than emails.

6	Finance Report – See Appendix 4
	Treasurers Report · A big Thank You to Dale who is very efficient. · No questions were sent to Dale to respond to before the meeting. · Planned giving is down £500.00 per month due to previous givers no longer giving. · Last year we paid £7000.00 less Parish Share. o The amount available to pay is reducing yearly and is anticipated to be an extra £5000.00 to £6000.00 reduction this year unless giving changes.

7	Parish Update – see Appendix 5
	· Shed at Redwell School o Redwell School have asked if they can use the shed as we are no longer based there. Proposal: To gift the shed to Redwell School. Proposer: DA Seconder: SC All were in favour. o Plan – To clear the shed by February half-term (Monday 16^th o DA to liaise with teams that have items in the shed. o DM to return the spare shed keys to DA · Update re new Vicar o The Archdeacon will meet with the PCC, excluding DA, BHS and LHS, to go through the process of selecting a new Vicar, the rules, Do’s and Don’ts etc. ME will co-ordinate dates with the Archdeacon and PCC to set up the meeting. o Rob Bewley will then continue the process and draw up the necessary paperwork. o At the meeting with the Archdeacon: § the PCC will draw up a Parish Profile of who we are, and what we want the future to look like. o Further along the process the PCC will need to: § Agree whether to accept the preferred Diocesan candidate. § Be brutally honest. § Consider whether BHS and LHS are the best people for the job. § BHS and LHS will also need to consider whether the job is right for them: · There is only one position that will be available. · They could share the position, if the wish to, each working part-time but one would need to be the named incumbent. · There is no law against them applying for the incumbent role where they have been curates. o For the sake of the Church, ME (as churchwarden) has the overall responsibility for the church (even above any curates) when the Incumbent (Vicar) is not available. This includes the interregnum.	DA DM ME PCC

8	Approving New Groups/ Activities
	Easter activities: · Easter Rock Hunt – Risk assessment has been done Proposer LHS Seconder SC. All were in favour. · Maundy Thursday meal and prayer stations. o To be held at Glenvale C of E School. o Adults £5.00, Children £3.00. o Can use the Hub for food preparation Proposer BHS Seconder ME. All were in favour. · Good Friday morning Family Event o To be held at Glenvale C of E School. o 10.00 – 11.30 Proposer DA Seconder FC. All were in favour.

9	Safeguarding Report – See Appendix 6
	· All PCC members need to do the “Raising awareness of Domestic Abuse” training. John has sent the link. · He has also offered to do Face to Face training. PCC agreed that this would be a good idea and enquired about whether it could be done via ZOOM. DA to liaise with John to see if this is possible and will feedback to PCC.	All DA

10	Deanery Synod Report – See Appendix 7
	o Nothing this time

11	New Church Signage – See Appendix 8
	· The Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of Peterborough Diocese Educational Trust (PDET) has reported that the church cannot have a small sign in the hall. · Instead, we can have a big board on the external wall outside the Parish Office with an arrow pointing towards the entrance. · As there will only be one sign, the cost will be less. Proposal: To accept the new single sign on the backing – see picture in Appendix. Proposer: DA Seconder: FC All in favour except one who abstained.

12	Dates of next meetings:
	PCC meetings: · Monday 13th April 2026 19.00 (to agree APCM reports). · APCM Sunday 26^th April 2026 as part of the service, followed by a short PCC meeting.

13	The meeting closed with prayers for: · Who could be the second churchwarden and who may wish to join the PCC (The applicants must be on the electoral roll, cannot be the spouse of an existing PCC member, must attend church on a regular basis). · DA as she moves towards her next calling. · Closing prayer by BHS at 20.35.

Appendix 1– update on Key priority 1: Discipleship

Worship:

Encountering God’s presence in worship continues to be fundamental for me and I believe we need to continue pressing into this much more than we have to date…….

Connect Groups:

There are now 4 connect groups which, apart from Sunday mornings, is our main discipleship, friendship and care model.

Our four groups are:

Monday afternoon (Carol Maycock)
Wednesday evening (Ruth W)
Thursday morning (Alan Palmer)
1^st Sunday in the month (Revd. Livvi Haughton-Scales)

In recognition that, apart from one church family, none of our families have made it into a connect group, Livvi has started a monthly connect group which takes place after the café style services. It is very early days and Livvi is finding it a bit of a struggle but we are hopeful it will gain greater traction in the coming months.

The group facilitators continue to meet every couple of months to support one another.

The PCC are currently thinking through what the priorities of the church are and will be as we move forward to a time when the curates will move on and there will be just one full time clergy person. In a recent extra ordinary meeting on Monday 19^th Jan, one of the things identified was that more thought is needed around our connect groups and their purpose. More thought is also being given to what it means to be a loving community of God’s people. We know that the early church spent much time and energy on both caring for one another and, on the Holy Spirit ministry of signs/wonders/healings. As they sought to be God’s distinctive community, both of these things made them stand out from the world. There seems to be a recognition in PCC that we need to ‘get back’ to this…..

Revd. DA.

No decisions needed from PCC at this time.

Appendix 2 – Under 18s Ministry

We take the research seriously that tells us that churches who invest in under 18s ministry grow, and those that don’t decline. The national church has a vision to see 30,000 employed children’s and youth workers in an attempt to double the number of children and young people in church on a Sunday morning by 2030!

But ‘growing younger’ was also what I was asked to do when I was interviewed and appointed to be Vicar here, it has therefore been a key priority for me. It is a delight to see how many families we now have as part of the church. In my first year here there were on average 5 under 16s on a Sunday morning with a maximum possible of 7. Now we have an average of 16 on a Sunday with a possible maximum of over 32 (every Sunday it seems we are blessed with new people so it’s a little hard to be as accurate now, so it’s at least 32).

We have raised just over £53,000 to employ a part time children’s and youth worker but unfortunately we have not been able to appoint anyone. We raised £2,317 via the 100 for 100 project last year. We hoped we would raise near to £10,000 through this and while some in the congregation seemed to be inspired by this and engaged really well, many didn’t.

Please keep praying and please consider giving towards this vital ministry.

In Sep 2025 we took on Chiaz Alozie as our Intern. He is supervised by Ben and spends the majority of his time working in the under 18s ministry.

All under 18s groups continue to use the Energize resource.

In recent months we have had numerous parents now complete the relevant safeguarding procedures enabling them to support the under 18s ministry on Sunday mornings. I am delighted and it is very welcome.

However, we continue to struggle to support the teen ministry on Sunday mornings. We have more teenagers than children and in September we split the group into two groups (yr 6/7 and yr 8+). Both groups meet twice in the month. This continues to work very well:

Chiaz leads yr 6/7 group and has 2 people who help support where they can. However, sometimes there have been gaps and we have needed to ask someone from the children’s team to move groups at the last minute.
We also seem to be getting more creche aged children and so moving one of the children’s workers might begin to prove difficult and so we need to find others who can support the yr 6/7 group on a more regular basis.
At the moment we only have Jackie BC leading the year 8 and above group once a month. She no longer has someone to support her and you would have heard me recently let the church know this and ask for others to volunteer. There have been 2 people who have offered to support where they can, but they are already committed in other ministry areas.
Rayo who is a young person herself, continues to lead the yr 8 and above group once a month. She is doing a fantastic job!

Under 11s Ministry

Sunday mornings

Outreach – Glenvale Park toddler group

We began this group Easter 2024. Glenvale Care home provides a beautiful room, toy storage and refreshments for this group. Some of the residents join the group also.

We have around 50 families now on the register and anywhere between 7 and 16 households can turn up on any given week! This continues to be the case.

Outreach – primary aged children

PCC is aware that we did not restart Ignite after October half term due to both the rent increasing and the numbers of children attending decreasing. We were making a loss of around £40 a week during that half term and despite Livvi’s best efforts, we could not increase the numbers. It is hoped that in the near future, particularly if we appoint a children’s and youth worker, that something new will be imagined.

School’s work

Revd. DA.

Youth Ministry

Sunday Mornings

Sunday Youth occurs on the second and fourth Sunday mornings of the month during the service. During this time there is in-depth Bible teaching and discussion.

We do not have enough leaders to run Sunday youth on third Sundays in the month and have been seeking to use this as a ‘Serving Sunday’, encouraging the young people to help with various aspects of the morning service (such as assisting with children’s groups, playing in the worship band, serving tea and coffee, and washing up). The new church Youth Band have now led musical worship at several café services – they’re doing really well and it will be exciting to see them continue to grow as worshippers of God! We’ll continue to explore other serving opportunities for the young people and are open to ideas church members might have.

Since September 2025, Sunday Youth has split into two groups – one for years 6 and 7, and one for years 8 and above. We are really grateful to all those in the church who have stepped up to lead and help with these groups, and things seem to be going well generally. However, due to Jasmin Childs being without a car and currently unable to get to church on Sundays, there is a pressing need for helpers once a month for both the year 6/7 and year 8+ groups.

The number of young people attending on Sunday mornings varies from week to week. When all the young people are there, we now have around 18 young people on a Sunday morning. That’s really fantastic news!

Connect Youth

Connect Youth is our discipleship group, which meets fortnightly on Sunday afternoons. Ben, Livvi, Dawn and Chiaz lead this group. We begin with a game and snacks, then have a time of worship, Bible teaching/discussion and prayer.

So far this school year, 18 young people have attended the group, with an average attendance of 10, although we’ve had to cancel a couple of sessions recently due to low numbers being available. We hope these have just been anomalies and that there will be a consistent run of well-attended sessions this term. Most of the young people are connected with church, though we have started to see them invite friends from outside the group too. Our prayer is that they would all continue to build friendships and explore faith in Jesus together.

For the last couple of terms, we have been following a series on Christian Lifestyle using the church’s Energize resource and have run sessions on holiness, contentment and resilience, amongst other topics. We continue to hold half-termly social sessions, which have been really good ways of deepening friendships among the young people. This is especially important, as they attend lots of different schools and may not see each other much during the week.

Other

Unfortunately, with Livvi and I completing our curacies this year and no parents able to attend in our place, there won’t be an organized group from Connect Youth attending the Satellites youth festival in Summer 2026.

Please pray for the following:

For all the young people connected with NWAC to be increasingly aware of Jesus’ presence with them.
Give thanks for those who faithfully support the church youth work activities, and pray for the development of more leaders with a heart and calling to serve young people.
For the young people in the group whose families are on the fringe of church and/or aren’t yet followers of Jesus – that the light of Jesus might grow brighter in their lives and that they might lead their families to faith in Him.
Give thanks for the musical talents of the Youth Band, and pray that the young people involved would grow as worshippers of God and develop their confidence in leading others in worship.
For those young people who are working towards significant school exams this year – that they would know God’s peace that passes all understanding, and that they would bring glory to God through their studies.

Revd. BH-S

No decisions needed from PCC at this time.

Appendix 3 – update on Key priority 3: Wholeness in Jesus/ Wellbeing

Bereavement Support Group

We continue to have our bereavement Facebook group which has 87 people part of it. It would be a wonderful opportunity for someone with the passion and skills in this area to really grow this ministry.

Care

We’ve moved away from the language of pastoral care and more towards Christian friendship which I think has been helpful. The main way of supporting one another continues to be via Connect Groups. There is recognition that many families (in particular) have not made their way into Connect Groups and the PCC are currently thinking about this. There is also a desire from the PCC that as a church we think about what it means to be part of a loving community and how we do this better.

Creations Craft Group

Nothing this time.

Revd. DA

Prayer

On 2nd Feb we will be briefing PCC members on good practices in praying with and for people during services so that they can assist present prayer ministry members.

This is very welcome as the few who are doing it week in/week out are usually also performing other duties such as refreshments, worship leading, service leading, preaching etc.

We have decided to create a WhatsApp group for the Prayer Chain to make responses faster and more accessible than email. We can also share prayer pointers and helpful information and support each other more easily.

Where possible I will still send emails for those who prefer it.

As usual, many thanks to all who give their time to this ministry area.

Jackie Brooks-Cheesman

No decisions needed from PCC at this time.

Appendix 4 – Finance Report –

Appendix 5 – Parish Update

We continue to see new people dipping their toes in with us and now some are beginning to put their all in with us and really become part of the church community.

There are a couple of things I’m still working on to resolve:

Signage outside the school building

Access to Wi-Fi and moving the printer to the parish office when Wi-Fi is resolved

Continue sorting out the parish office area

Redwell School would like to be able to use the shed that we left there when we moved. I have offered to take all the stuff out in Feb half term and would like the church to gift the shed to Redwell School for their continued use. We had initially kept it as we planned on continuing to run groups from the school but that hasn’t been possible. It does now make sense to completely vacate it.

Revd. DA

Decision for the PCC:

To agree to gift the shed at Redwell School to them for their continued use.

Appendix 6 – Safeguarding Report

In the last report, I said that all members of the PCC and all children’s workers are now expected to do the course on ‘Raising Awareness of Domestic Abuse’. 11 people have now done it, which is up from 7 in November. I have sent out a reminder email about it. We have also had an offer from the Deanery Safeguarding Hub Co-ordinator to come and talk to the PCC about safeguarding requirements and/or organise some face-to-face training on Domestic Abuse. What does the PCC think about this?

One DBS has been processed. One person has done the Basic Awareness training and one has done the Foundations training.

John Gilyead – safeguarding Officer

Decision for the PCC:

Should John arrange face to face training on Domestic Abuse for PCC members?

Appendix 7 – Deanery Synod Report

We currently do not have a Deanery Synod rep.

Appendix 8 – New signage

PCC Meeting Minutes 19/1/26

Published 09/05/2026

Minutes of the PCC Meeting

Held on Monday 19^th January 2026

		Action
1	The meeting opened at 19.10 with prayer

2	Attendance
	· Dawn Airey (Chair), Chiaz Alozie, Sam Carew, Fiona Clarke (PCC Secretary), Matt Ellson (Vice Chair), Melanie Hartung, David Meleleu, Alan Palmer, David Wells, Ruth Wium. · Apologies: Ben Haughton-Scales, Livvi Haughton-Scales

3	Minutes of last meeting etc.
	This was not a planned full PCC Meeting so the usual topics were not discussed and will be addressed at the next meeting on 2^nd February.

4	Business Signage for Church at Glenvale School – See Appendix
	As Glenvale Church of England School is our church’s permanent home, signage is needed so the public can see that we are there. Peterborough Diocese Education Trust (PDET) arrange the signage. A couple of options have been provided – see Appendix. There will also be a small sign by the church office in the school and this sign is included in the prices shown: · Large sign in same script as the school’s signage £4500. · Smaller sign on a white backing board with writing and church logo £2500. The existing material banner will be moved to in front of the fence by the school’s staff car park. After discussion: Proposal: To accept the smaller, cheaper sign, with the font changed to the cursive script of the school’s sign, plus the office sign, with funds taken from the Building Fund. Proposer: DA Seconder: SC All in favour except one who abstained. Motion carried.

5	Planning for the future
	A discussion ensued regarding the implications of the church being reduced to one clergy (Vicar) and one admin when our two Curates (BH-S and LH-S) and Intern (CA) move on. This was a preliminary meeting only and no decisions were made at this time.

6	Dates of next meetings:
	PCC meetings: · Monday 2^nd February 2026 19.00. · Monday 13th April 2026 19.00 (to agree APCM reports). APCM Sunday 26^th April 2026 as part of the service, followed by a short PCC meeting.

7	The meeting closed at 20.30.

Appendix

PCC Meeting Minutes 25/5/25

Published 09/05/2026

Minutes of the PCC Meeting

held after the APCM on Sunday 25^th May 2025

1	Attendance
	· Dawn Airey (Chair), Chiaz Alozie, Fiona Clarke (Secretary), Matt Ellson, Ben Haughton-Scales, Livvi Haughton-Scales, David Meleleu, and Ruth Wium. · Apologies: Sam Carew, Melanie Hartung, Alan Palmer, David Wells.

2	Appointment of Officers
	· Lay Vice Chair – Matt Ellson.
	· PCC Secretary – Fiona Clarke Already holds the position. v
	· PCC Treasurer – Dale Gilbert Subject to satisfactory checks. Not a voting member of the PCC.
	· Electoral Roll Officer – Marion Darker Already holds the position. Not a voting member of the PCC.
	· Safeguarding Officer – John Gilyead Already holds the position. Not a voting member of the PCC.

3	New voting PCC (including ex-officio) members’ admin
	· Declaration of Interest and Fitness to serve paperwork Completed by Chiaz Alozie, Fiona Clarke, David Meleleu.
	· DBS and Safeguarding Training Those new to the PCC were reminded that they need to complete their training and paperwork as soon as possible..
	· Who’s Who New PCC members were asked to send a photo of themselves to Fiona Clarke to be placed on the website under Who’s Who.

4	Safeguarding Policy To be accepted at the next full PCC meeting on 21/07/2025

5	Appointment of Independent Examiner All present voted to appoint Mr Darren Warren of Denton Tavara Ltd. to continue as Independent Examiner for this year’s accounts due for next year’s APCM.

6	Dates of next meetings · Monday 21^st July 2025 19.00. · Monday 29^th September 2025 19.00. · Monday 17^th November 2025 19.00

7	The meeting closed at 12.00

PCC Meeting Minutes 17/11/25

Published 09/05/2026

Minutes of the PCC Meeting

Held on Monday 17^th November 2025

		Action
1	The meeting opened at 19.05 with Ephesians 2:14-16 emphasising that the cross created a new humanity which is our primary identity as children of God (The Church). Then prayer that we live our lives in this identity and have a glimpse of who God is to our community.

2	Attendance
	· Dawn Airey (Chair), Chiaz Alozie, Fiona Clarke (PCC Secretary), Matt Ellson (Vice Chair), Ben Haughton-Scales, Livvi Haughton-Scales, David Meleleu, Alan Palmer David Wells, Ruth Wium. · Apologies: Sam Carew, Melanie Hartung.

3	Previous Minutes
	The Minutes of the Meetings held on 21^st July 2025 were approved unanimously and signed off by DA. .

4	Matters Arising
	· Benches are hard – 12 new softer chairs have been purchased. · Worship Support rota – Amanda is now compiling this as part of her role. Ruth will discuss with Ludolph as to whether he would be interested in helping. · Sunday morning connect groups – still in trial phase. · Parenting for faith – nothing further to date. · Youth worker post – A new advert has gone out. · Are PCC members willing to do the prayer ministry training with Jackie BC and be available Sunday mornings to pray with people? Awaiting training with Jackie. · PCC to help with packing away – It has felt better recently but still struggling. Trying to encourage others from the congregation to serve, so not doing anything extra. Chiaz is leading set up. Refreshments and welcome still need someone to oversee them.

5	Update on Key Priorities – See Appendices 1 – 3.
	1. Discipleship (DA) · Worship o The Holy Spirit is key. o Possibly need further teaching on the Holy Spirit, and on Pentecost. o Allow space for testimony and encourage people to share. o Time for allowing the Holy Spirit in. 2. Under 18s (DA-Under 11s/ BH-S- Youth/ LH-S Ignite) · Youth Worker o Re-advertised: § on Facebook, Community, Website. § Awaiting communication about possibly putting it on the Diocese website. § Try employment agency? o The person who had shown some interest is no longer available. o We need to pray on the right person applying. · Toddlers o A good turnout has been reported. · Other ideas – We lost Ignite and Ignite Youth and have a reduced presence in the community so we need other ideas: o Lego Church? o Forest Church? o Maybe we need to be doing something more overtly Christian? We still do: o assemblies – one per month plus o wellbeing groups. o Christmas class activities – to bring the Christmas message. Prayer is needed. 3. Wholeness in Jesus/ Wellbeing (DA); Prayer (JBC). – · Creations Craft Group – This is doing very well and new people have joined. · Prayer Ministry Training – guidelines – Jackie will potentially join the next PCC meeting.	All All

6	Finance Report – See Appendix 4
	Treasurers Report · No questions were sent to DG to respond to before the meeting. · D.A. meets with the finance team monthly. · The key thing is the Budget: o A deficit budget yet again. o Reduced Parish Share being paid. § The amount available to pay is reducing yearly. § More people are giving but they are giving less. § With people moving on some of the bigger givers have gone. § Cost of living crisis – people are unable to give as much. § We need people to commit to the church before they commit their money. § Nothing else can be shaved off to improve the state of the finances. Proposal: To agree the budget. No dissent.

7	Parish Update – see Appendix 5
	· Indoor activities o A decision has been made that all indoor activities will be at Glenvale School for now as it is too difficult to organise them at Redwell due to insufficient resources and people available to move equipment etc. · Decision about land opposite Ock n Dough. o It is still technically up for sale but there has been no recent interest. o It was agreed that, if a group of people are passionate about what to do with the land they could form a small independent group( including at least one PCC member) to work on it and bring a proposal to the PCC. o AP will speak to MH and RW to discuss if it is viable, then possibly speak to the church to see if there is any interest in setting up a group for this.	AP/MH/RW

8	Approving New Groups/ Activities
	· Outdoor Christmas activities: o Carols and Lights – Waterworks Lane 7/12/25. o Carol Service at Glenvale 12/12/25. All were in favour.

9	Safeguarding Report – See Appendix 6
	· John and Amanda are doing a brilliant job bringing everyone up to date with safeguarding requirements, including parents who have agreed to help. · All PCC members need to do the “Raising awareness of Domestic Abuse” training. John has sent the link.	All

10	Deanery Synod Report – See Appendix 7
	· BHS attended the last meeting which included reflections on: o A Year of Prayer – 2025. o A Year of Discipleship – 2026. o Shared collaborative support across the Deanery.

11	Matters scheduled for the PCC meeting for September that was cancelled.
	· Administrator contract – this was agreed by emails. · Christmas – already decided. · Sum up machine – Discussion no longer needed as new figures show that it is still viable as there is very little outlay for using the machine.

12	New Church Laptop Proposal – see Appendix 8
	· The main use will be for Services, including the PowerPoint etc. · It could be used for updating the website and PCC minutes or admin tasks as a temporary workaround if any issues with existing arrangements. · If/ when a Youth Worker is appointed it may be used by him/ her if needed. · MS Office included, with its own antivirus software. · BSL – To be sourced via Andrew Gilbert (the Church’s Treasurer’s son) with a reduced cost as we are a charity. Proposal: To purchase BSL option of the recommended Dell Pro 16 laptop for shared church use with funding from the Church Building Fund plus Microsoft Office subscription of £2.30 per month to be paid from the Church General Fund. Proposer: CA Seconder: FC Two people abstained but the remainder agreed and Quorum was reached. CA will arrange the purchase.	CA

13	Dates of next meetings:
	PCC meetings: · Monday 2nd February 2026 19.00. · Monday 13th April 2026 19.00 (to agree APCM reports). · APCM Sunday 26^th April 2026 as part of the service, followed by a short PCC meeting.

14	The meeting closed with a prayer from LHS at 20.25.

Appendix 1 – update on Key priority 1: Discipleship

Worship:

Encountering God’s presence in worship has always been fundamental for me and I’m giving this a lot more thought at the moment. I am beginning to sense that we need to press into this much more than we have to date…….would value PCC’s thoughts on this. What is Holy Spirit doing do you think?

Connect Groups:

There are now 4 connect groups which, apart from Sunday mornings, is our main discipleship, friendship and care model.

Our five groups are:

Monday afternoon (Carol Maycock)

Thursday morning (Alan Palmer)

Wednesday evening (Ruth W)

1^st Sunday in the month (Revd. Livvi Haughton-Scales)

Elizabeth and Ruth’s group have now joined together due to Elizabeth moving on and both groups were quite small. Ben and Livvi’s group has not restarted after the summer. Again, it had become small with no sign of being able to grow it. In recognition that apart from one church family, none of our families have made it into a connect group, Livvi has started a monthly connect group which takes place after the café style services. It is very early days but there are encouraging signs.

The group facilitators continue to meet every couple of months to support one another.

Revd. D.A.

Decision needed by PCC

No decisions needed from PCC at this time.

Appendix 2 – Under 18s Ministry

We are very much part of this story and have raised just over £53,000 to employ a part time children’s and youth worker. We ideally need to get a bit more in and are hoping that the 100 for 100 project will bring in a significant amount. Ahead of the summer we advertised on two occasions for a children’s and youth worker for 25 hours a week, 45 weeks of the year for a fixed 3 year contract. Unfortunately we did not have anyone apply but I am in conversation with someone who may be interested and I am due to meet them again mid-October. Please keep praying and please consider giving towards this vital ministry.

All under 18s groups continue to use the Energize resource.

Ahead of the summer I was concerned that we didn’t have enough people who were willing to help run the various groups on Sunday mornings. Over the summer I let parents know that without more help some groups would no longer run or not run with any consistency.

Thankfully a number have agreed to help more or start helping for the first time. Some are still in the process of getting through the safer recruiting processes and so it will be a bit of a struggle until that is complete. We still haven’t managed to find new leaders for the older young people on 2^nd Sundays.

Under 11s Ministry

For our under 11s and under 5s ministry we have both a discipleship stream and an outreach stream. Our discipleship stream is primarily Sunday mornings. Our outreach stream is on a Monday morning at Glenvale Care Home (under 5s) & Thursday evening at Redwell School (Ignite, those in years 1-6).

Sunday mornings

Glenvale Park toddler group

School’s work
Being present in our two primary schools is a very significant part of how we serve our housing estates and the mission of the church. It is largely ministry unseen by the church but plays a huge part in what I would describe as ‘oiling’ the rest of ministry.

We continue to have a very good relationship with Redwell School which means between Ben, Livvi and I we are present on a regular basis, either through assemblies, Narnia prayers spaces, year 6 transition sessions, well-being groups, parent evenings and the various fayre’s and school productions. Unfortunately this year we have now cancelled the Narnia prayer spaces due to not having enough volunteers to call upon to support it. Ben and Livvi are also on training in the middle of the planned dates.

Glenvale Church of England school has now started its 2^nd year and while there is still a mixed year 5/6 class, all the others are now single year groups. At some point in the coming years it will turn into a 2 form intake. We have a really good relationship with the Head and PDET, the diocesan education trust that runs the school. I will become part of the governing body shortly. Again, between the clergy we lead collective worship Thursday mornings, have a presence at the various events and fayres, the new parents intake evening and we are about to start well-being groups there also. The Head and I meet monthly and also on a monthly basis offering a drop in for parents.

Revd. DA.

Ignite
Leaders/Helpers: Livvi Haughton-Scales, Ruth Gilbert, Alan Palmer, Elizabeth Holbrook, Judy Meleleu, Chiaz Alozie, Michelle Norwood.

Dawn Airey often comes at the start to greet parents. Ben Haughton-Scales will be coming until half term to support Chiaz Alozie.

A huge thank you to all our volunteers who have faithfully been helping with this group. Ignite has seen fluctuations in numbers and different challenges in the last year and I very much appreciate the volunteers’ patience, support and positivity during this time.

Before the summer, Ignite had a few challenges that needed considering. Firstly, the rent for the school hall was due to increase to £64 from September. Dawn has now negotiated with the trust that this will be £60 instead. Secondly, the numbers of children attending had been very low during the summer term. Finally, the behaviour of some of the older boys had been challenging and had been impacting the culture of the group.

Therefore, over the summer, the team and I considered ways of combating these challenges. Following the discussion at the last PCC meeting, the session charge per child has been increased from £2.50 to £3 (both including 30p for tuck). At £60 rent per session, the same numbers from last year would allow us to break even. I emailed all the current parents to let them know the change in price and widely publicised the change in price online and through the schools.

Regarding the behaviour of some of the older boys, one thing noted by the team was the difficulty of the wide age range of the group (from year 1-6). We decided to change the structure of Ignite to separate the kids into three cohorts: year 1-2; year 3-5; and a separate group for year 6s (which is the age group of the older boys). Ben is now supporting Chiaz in leading the year 6s. The rest of the leaders will focus on the younger children, offering targeted attention for the different age groups and their needs. Rather than attempting to make them all sit together, the older group may engage in different games and teaching about Christianity that is more discussion-based. The leaders will hopefully also build strong bonds and provide Christian role models for them. Safeguarding has been considered with this and two leaders will always be present if the older children need to be taken into another room or outside.

We have had one week back so far and only seven children attended the first session. I have done an assembly at both Redwell and Glenvale Primary Schools, flyers have been sent out to all parents, and social media has been used consistently to publicise Ignite. I have also given a couple of notices at church to publicise Ignite to families within the church. One consideration at the moment is the disconnect between Ignite and the rest of the church, with no church children currently attending.

The group we had last Thursday was lovely and we thank God that we were still able to connect with these children and share God’s love with them, even though the group was small. We will keep monitoring the number of children attending and the viability of Ignite over the coming weeks. It could be that God is leading us in a new direction, to seek fruit elsewhere and share the gospel message with the children of our parish in a different way. Please be praying for discernment here. This group has been running a long time and we do not make decisions around it lightly, but we wish to be open to the possibility that the Holy Spirit may be doing something new.

Ignite Update November 2025

Unfortunately, due to increased cost of rent and a plummet in numbers attending Ignite from last year, we have had to make the difficult decision to close Ignite. We were losing between £40-£50 a week this half term, with the rent being £60 a week and having less than 10 kids attending each week (down from an average of 20 kids last school year).

We are not sure exactly what has resulted in less kids attending, as we have publicised in the exact same ways as before. From conversations with children whose siblings and friends used to attend, it seems many have chosen to do other activities like gymnastics or other sports on those evenings. We also find that very few children attend every week, which means it has been difficult to sustain consistent numbers.

We had lovely final weeks with the children that attended though. During story times, we were able to talk about Jesus and prayer, and some children shared their favourite stories from the bible that they still remembered, and shared times they had prayed and their prayers had been answered. It is always sad to end something that made such great connections, but we do believe that God may be moving us into another season of doing something slightly different, which still allows us to connect with the same and, hopefully, even more children.

Revd. LH-S

Youth Ministry

The poster above highlights the church’s current youth work activities. Sunday Youth occurs on the second and fourth Sunday mornings of the month during the service. During this time there is in-depth Bible teaching and discussion. We currently do not have enough leaders to run Sunday youth on third Sundays in the month and have been seeking to use this as a ‘Serving Sunday’, encouraging the young people to help with various aspects of the morning service (such as assisting with children’s groups, playing in the worship band, serving tea and coffee, and washing up).

The new church Youth Band have now led musical worship at both the August and September café services – they did really well and it will be exciting to see them continue to grow as worshippers of God! We’ll continue to explore other serving opportunities for the young people and are open to ideas church members might have. From September 2025, there will be a significant number of church young people in years 6 and 7 at school. Therefore, Sunday Youth will split into two groups – one for years 6 and 7, and one for years 8 and above. We are really grateful to all those in the church who have stepped up to lead and help with these groups to enable this to happen. The number of young people attending on Sunday mornings varies from week to week.

Connect Youth

Connect Youth is our discipleship group, which meets fortnightly on Sunday afternoons. Ben, Livvi, Dawn, and Chiaz lead this group. We begin with a game and snacks, then have a time of worship, Bible teaching/discussion and prayer. During the last school year, 19 young people attended the group, with an average attendance of 8. Most of the young people are connected with church, though we have started to see them invite friends from outside the group too. Our prayer is that they would all continue to build friendships and explore faith in Jesus together. For the last couple of terms, we followed a series on Christian Lifestyle using the church’s Energize resource and ran sessions on holiness, contentment and resilience, amongst other topics. We continued to hold half-termly social sessions, which have been really good ways of deepening friendships among the young people. This is especially important, as they attend lots of different schools and may not see each other much during the week. From September 2025, there are likely to be a large number of new young people joining the group, and the age range will be the biggest it’s been since we’ve been running the group. We have been considering how best to support the discipleship of both the older and younger members, and this will be a key focus as the group forms over the autumn term.

Please pray for the following:

For all the young people connected with NWAC to have a great start to the new school year and be increasingly aware of Jesus’ presence with them.
Give thanks for those who faithfully support the church youth work activities, and pray for the development of more leaders with a heart and calling to serve young people.
For the young people in the group whose families are on the fringe of church and/or aren’t yet followers of Jesus – that the light of Jesus might grow brighter in their lives and that they might lead their families to faith in Him.
Give thanks for the musical talents of the new Youth Band, and pray that the young people involved would grow as worshippers of God and develop their confidence in leading others in worship.
Thank God that the 6 young people who went to Satellites had a brilliant time and encountered Jesus in personal and significant ways during the festival. Pray that they would bring what they’ve experienced and learnt back to the group for the benefit of all of Connect Youth.

November update:

Splitting into separate year 6/7 and year 8+ groups on Sunday mornings seems to be going well generally. A big thank you to Chiaz for leading the year 6/7 group, to Jackie for continuing to lead the year 8+ group once a month, and a big well done to Aderayo Adeliyi, who has started to lead the year 8+ group once a month, and is only in year 11 at school. Thanks also to those who have been helping with these groups (Ihuoma, Jasmin, Gayle and Mope).
Connect Youth has had a really positive start to the year – at the most recent session there were 16 young people present, and a few more were unable to make it that Sunday.

Please continue to pray for closer friendships among the young people, and a deepening love of God as we meet together.

There is a real need for more adult leaders to walk alongside and invest in these wonderful young people. You don’t need any special skills or expertise – just a willing heart and an openness to supporting young people to grow in faith in Jesus. If anyone knows people in the congregation who may feel a calling to serve and invest in our amazing young people, please do speak to Ben H-S.

Revd. BH-S

Sunday Mornings

When all the young people are there, we now have around 18 young people on a Sunday morning. That’s really fantastic news! But it’s also now too big a group to be one group and we didn’t have the leaders for it. Over the summer we have restructured so that year 6/7 meet as a group in the glass pod with Chiaz as their main leader (and support on a rota basis from others). We then also have a year 8 plus group in the library. Jackie BC and Jazz continue to lead this group on 4^th Sundays but we don’t have leaders for another Sunday. We are trialling this age group leading themselves on 2^nd Sundays led by Ezra and Rayo (initially).

Revd. DA.

Satellites Summer Youth Camp

This year Ben and I took 6 young people to Satellites youth festival at the Bath & West Showground from 6-11^th August 2025; 4 of the same young people came last year plus 2 new ones. This was again a fantastic time away for the young people; the range of activities provided was excellent and the young people all had stories of encountering Jesus in new and significant ways. We are very grateful to Chris Airey and Tola Okelola, who took time off work to help transport the young people and the Aireys’ caravan. Hopefully, you would have seen the video we prepared to show the church at the end of August/Beginning of September. Unfortunately it looks like we won’t be offering this trip next year – Ben and Livvi will be due to move on and I have asked for parental support but so far that hasn’t been forthcoming. If we knew we had a children’s and youth worker then it would be potentially more possible but we would still need parental support for transporting the young people as it didn’t work very well this year.

Revd.s DA and BH-S.

Decision needed by PCC

No decisions needed from PCC at this time.

Appendix 3 – update on Key priority 3: Wholeness in Jesus/ Wellbeing
Bereavement Support Group
We continue to have our bereavement Facebook group which has 86 people part of it. It would be

a wonderful opportunity for someone with the passion and skills in this area to really grow this

ministry.

Care
We’ve moved away from the language of pastoral care and more towards Christian friendship which I think has been helpful. So the main way of supporting one another continues to be via Connect Groups. It would be helpful to have some feedback from PCC about how this is working and being experienced by the church?

Revd. D.A.

Decision needed by PCC

No decisions are needed from PCC at this time.

Creations Craft Group

The Creations Craft Group is still going strong, with a faithful core of members meeting up most Mondays at ten in the morning, including holidays. Our venue is the ‘Ock ’n Dough, which is a very welcoming place. Our tables are in a light space and we purchase hot or cold drinks from the bar.

The WhatsApp group has 17 members. Between us, we are involved in many different types and styles of crafts, including knitting, crochet, cross stitching, art, sewing of all types, card making, and mindful colouring. We are going to have an embroidery morning soon.

Last Easter we had several mornings when we decorated stones for the Easter rock hunt, which some had never done before, and some of us are currently knitting donkeys for the Carols and Lights afternoon.

The group is always very supportive, helping each other with our projects very patiently! The mornings are most uplifting and our chat, whether about church or secular things, is always interesting.

We produced some items for sale for the 100 for 100 at the Waendel Walk, but sold very few, so may look at a car boot sale or similar.

We are losing our founder and leading light soon, but Sandi and Fiona are happy to take the reins.

Sandi Rance

Prayer
Nothing to report

Appendix 4 – Finance Report –

We are expecting our refund from HMRC shortly from cash collected at church. There is a maximum of £8,000 through this scheme. The reclaim was completed but a complication occurred owing to HMRC only having the Building Fund bank account. This is in the process of rectification.

RESTRICTED MONEY

Update for November

TREASURER’S REPORT October 2025

At the end of October we have £86,865 in the church account, this is divided between two areas. The non-restricted area has £3,600 in it whilst the restricted area has £83,265

If you have any questions, then do email me on treasurer@nwanglicanchurch.co.uk

Below is the situation in the church account (unrestricted)

Non-Restricted money against this year’s budget is:

We are still expecting our refund (£4,000) from HMRC shortly from cash collected at church. There is a maximum of £8,000 through this scheme. The reclaim was completed but a complication occurred owing to HMRC only having the Building Fund bank account. This is in the process of rectification.

RESTRICTED MONEY

Budget 2026

This has been created largely based on 9ms to 30.9.2025:

Note needs to be taken that there is already a degree of risk in these numbers as a very generous donor in the PGS (£500 per month) has recently stopped attending and ceased this donation.

Appendix 5 – Parish Update

We continue to see new people dipping their toes in with us, let’s pray that we start to see some decide to put their all in with us and really become part of the church community.

I am still working on resolving some things:

The new safeguarding door has now been put in to separate the parish office area and the rest of the school.
The 2 front door issues have now been resolved: The outdoor door is locked once the service starts. The inner door remains unlocked throughout so that people can leave the building anytime without needing a fob.
We need to resolve getting access to wifi and sorting out permanent signage.
We are beginning to sort out the parish office area
The PA team are working with the person who installed the audio/visual system to resolve ongoing issues.

Revd. D.A.

Decision needed by PCC

No decisions are needed from PCC at this time.

Appendix 6 – Safeguarding Report

Since the last report to the PCC, 3 DBSs have been issued. Three people have done the Safeguarding training. We are waiting for two DBSs to be processed. Emails giving details on how to apply for the DBS have gone to two other people, but still awaiting their response.

There are several people who need to do the training.

There is now a Wellingborough Deanery Safeguarding Hub group who have met once, with the second meeting coming up in October.

Update for November 2025

Since the last report, we have learned that all members of the PCC and all children’s workers should do the course on ‘Raising Awareness of Domestic Abuse’. I have contacted everyone about this and, up to 5.11.25, 7 people have done the course with about 25 still to do it.

1 DBS has been processed, with one still in progress. 7 people have done the Basic Awareness course and 5 have done Foundations.

John Gilyead

Appendix 7 – Deanery Synod Report

We currently do not have a Deanery Synod rep.

Appendix 8 – Proposal for the Purchase of a shared church laptop

Prepared by: Chiazokam Alozie

Date: October 2025

Origin of the Idea

This proposal arises from the growing need for a reliable shared laptop for church use in preparing presentations, managing and editing media for services, and other tasks necessary to facilitate the church’s gathered worship. The current church laptop is very outdated and can no longer be used during services, which has created challenges in efficiency and coordination. In recent times, service leaders have been using their own personal laptops, which isn’t a long-term solution for the church.

Having one high-quality, shared laptop will ensure service leaders can work effectively in preparing and delivering audio-visual content for church services.

Purpose

The shared laptop will serve as a central tool for:
– Preparing service slides, video clips, and presentations.
– Managing communication and documentation between leaders.
– Editing and playing music and video content during services or community events.

In essence, this purchase will ensure the church has its own IT capability, rather than relying solely on leaders’ and members’ personal devices.

Options Considered

BSL

Configuration: DELL Pro 16 PC16250 Intel Core Ultra 7 265U Laptop 40.6 cm (16″) Full HD+ 16 GB DDR5-SDRAM 512 GB SSD Wi-Fi 6E (802.11ax) Windows 11 Pro UK English Platinum, Silver
Price: £849.70

Insight UK

Configuration: Dell Pro 16 PC16250 – Spec A: Intel Core Ultra 7 265U (vPro, 16 GB RAM, 512 GB SSD, 16″ FHD+)

Price: £1,017.59

Ballicom

Configuration: DELL Pro 16 PC16250 Intel Core Ultra 7 265U Laptop 40.6 cm (16″) Full HD+ 16 GB DDR5-SDRAM 512 GB SSD Wi-Fi 6E (802.11ax) Windows 11 Pro UK English Platinum, Silver
Price: £982.54

Preferred Option

After comparing two configurations of the Dell Pro 16 PC16250, the Ultra 7 265U model clearly stands out as the better long-term choice for the congregation. This version, available from BSL for £849.70 offers a far more capable processor, double the memory (16 GB vs. 8 GB), and enhanced multitasking performance, making it ideal for administrative, media, and ministry-related tasks such as livestreaming, video editing, and running multiple programs simultaneously. While vendors like Insight UK and Ballicom also stock this version, BSL remains the preferred option due to its lower price point. Overall, the Ultra 7 configuration delivers significantly greater performance and longevity, offering the best value for the congregation’s investment.

Funding

It is proposed that the Church Building Fund be used to cover the cost of this purchase, as the laptop will support the church’s audio-visual capability, particularly in preparation for services and events in the years ahead.

If approved, the Dell Pro 16 will be ordered with a Microsoft Office at a price of £2.30 per month (this subscription should be paid from the General Fund, rather than the Building Fund).

Conclusion

As our church continues to expand its ministry and outreach, this shared laptop will be an essential resource — enabling leaders to prepare, communicate, and present effectively. It represents a practical investment in equipping our leadership for the work ahead.

Decision needed by PCC

Whether or not to approve:
1. The purchase of the recommended Dell Pro 16 laptop for shared church use.
2. Funding of approximately £850 from the Church Building Fund.
3. The Microsoft Office subscription of £2.30 per month to be paid from the Church General Fund.