Minutes of the PCC Meeting
Held on Monday 6th July 2026
| Action | ||
| 1 | The meeting opened at 19.12 | |
| 2 | Attendance | |
| · Chiaz Alozie, Fiona Clarke (PCC Secretary), Helen Cracknell (Churchwarden), Matt Ellson (Churchwarden and Vice Chair), Matt George, Ben Haughton-Scales (Curate), Livvi Haughton-Scales(Curate), David Meleleu, Alan Palmer (Deanery Synod), Martha Senabulya, David Wells, Ruth Wium.
· Apologies: Dawn Airey (Chair), Jackie Brooks-Cheesman, Melanie Hartung (Deanery Synod), Sandi Rance. |
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| 3 | Previous Minutes | |
| The Minutes of the Meetings held on 13th April and 26th April 2026 were approved by all who had been at the meeting and were signed off by Matt Ellson. | ||
| 4 | Matters Arising | |
| · People, including some PCC members, still need to do the Raising awareness of domestic abuse training as well as the Basic awareness and Foundations levels of the Safeguarding training, plus DBS.
· Communion Table – this arrived by has an error in its text. It will be returned to the prison to be corrected before September. · The printer was moved to the Curates’ house and the plan is to set up the church office and move the printer there in August provided the Wi-Fi issues have been resolved. · Martha has now signed the Declaration of Interest and Fitness to serve paperwork. · Photos of all new PCC members were received and the “Who’s Who” section of the website has been updated. |
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| 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) · HC congratulated the team on the number of youth and also for maintaining links with Redwell School. · There is a meeting with the children and young people volunteers on Sunday to thank them. · No decisions to be made.
3. Wholeness in Jesus/ Wellbeing (DA); Prayer (JBC). – · Prayer Ministry – o PCC members had training in February but some still do not feel equipped or comfortable to do this on Sunday mornings after the service. Also the new PCC members did not have the training and others were absent. Ben will liaise with Jackie to see if she can repeat the training to all PCC members. |
BHS |
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| 6 | Finance Report – See Appendix 4 | |
| Treasurers Report
· HC sent questions to Dale the meeting: o I notice Giving is down by about 75% compared to this time last year, are there any factors PCC should know about? I presume that you mean down to 75% of what the total this time last year. According to Jem, lost a major regular contributor towards the back end of last year. Combined, the increase in Sum up giving is less than the reduction in contributed loose plate. There is a specific reason for the online giving but I can’t provide that in detail without disclosing the donors. o It is disappointing we have only contributed £11,000 to the diocese, what would you estimate the amount we are likely to pay by the end of the year? I’ve contributed all available up to the end of April and then, as my report states, I contributed a further £3,500 which is the balance on the unrestricted funds at the end of May. As for estimating, that is difficult to say as there is so much moving. For example, in May someone kindly paid £287 via the Sum up machine which was then repeated in June and this is new. To be honest, unless the giving increases significantly, it’ll be a lot less than last year. o I am assuming the increase in Administrator’s wages is due to increase in hourly rate, am I correct? Partly and of course that is governed by the National Living Wage. If I recall, there were a number of months last year when the Diocese took some time to bill the amounts which then caught up in June. o Have the hall hire cost gone up? There was a long period last year when it wasn’t billed for which there was a catch up paid in October. o Has there been a major church running expenses to explain the expenditure of £1340. We paid the CCLI in April which was settled in July last year. RESTRICTED MONEY o What is the MES Grant? Ministry Experience Scheme grant of £5,600 received September 2025. Approved by PCC 21/7/2025. It is pays approx 70% of the cost of Chiaz, our intern. Runs until end of August. o Has there been some expenditure out of the Building Fund to explain the £2129 decrease? Signage at the school £1775, movement of the printer from the vicarage at start of Dawn’s sabbatical £354.
· Overall income is down and we cannot reduce costs. |
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| 7 | Church Priorities for the next six months | |
| For the past 3 years we have had three clergy. We have two for the next six months whilst in transition and then will be reduced to one when a new incumbent is elected. Therefore our practices need to change to be able to manage the reductions.
A discussion followed on the following three questions: 1. What are we doing well? 2. What can we do better? 3. What aren’t we doing that we could/ should be doing? No conclusions at this time. |
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| 8 | Parish Update – see Appendix 5 | |
| · Nothing to add. | ||
| 9 | Approving New Groups/ Activities | |
| Proposal: – To hold three picnics after Sunday Services on 14th June, 5th July (both retrospective) and 2nd August.
Proposer CA Seconder ME All were in favour. |
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| 10 | Safeguarding Policy | |
| · The new safeguarding report was agreed by all, subject to the title and contact details of Victoria Kellett being updated, and all signed it.
· AP raised a query on the wording and following the meeting contacted John for clarification: o Q. Items 14 and 15 reference visiting and/or transporting vulnerable adults, one of which suggests that you shouldn’t go alone, carry out a risk assessment and carry a mobile phone and some ID. My question is ‘What do we mean by vulnerable?’ We have, for instance, a rota for transporting two elderly people to and from church on a Sunday morning, who require attention, but who I would not describe as vulnerable. I have also visited members who could not leave their home unaided o A. You are right to raise the issue. A few weeks ago, we had an email discussion with the churchwardens and clergy. The CofE distinguishes between a formal church-organised rota where, for example, the church might decide to offer a lift service to church or other events, and people can then sign up to it, and an informal arrangement between friends. The former would need to follow the guidance from the safeguarding policy, so DBSs, training etc would be needed, but the latter wouldn’t require this. We decided in our email discussion that the arrangement that currently exists with the two elderly people is more like the latter and so the need for DBSs etc is not required at this stage. However, if the arrangement in future became more formal, then we would need to review it. The same principle applies for visiting people in their own homes. If it is a formal church-organised activity then DBSs, training would be needed. However, if you are visiting as a friend, then these processes don’t apply. Although this doesn’t apply to the issue here, V and B would probably technically be counted as vulnerable as a result of their age, although we all know they are both feisty when they need to be! |
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| 11 | Deanery Synod Report – See Appendix 7 | |
| · No questions or comments | ||
| 12 | Dates of next meetings: | |
| PCC meetings:
· PCC – Monday 14th September 2026 19.00. · PCC – Monday 9th November 2026 19.00. · PCC – Monday 18th January 2027 19.00. · PCC – Monday 1st March 2027 19.00. · PCC – Monday 19th April 2027 (To approve reports for APCM). · APCM – Sunday 23rd May 2027 as part of Sunday Service. |
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| 13 | The meeting closed at 21.03 after open prayer and closing prayer by Chiaz. |
Appendix 1– update on Key priority 1: Discipleship
- Worship:
In June 2026, we started a sermon series on ‘The Church,’ based on the passage about the early church in Acts 2:42-47. This passage highlights four key practices (or ‘pillars’) that were foundational to the early church: the apostles’ teaching, breaking of bread, prayer (and worship), and fellowship. Each week, we have been looking at a different pillar and considering how this relates to us as a church now. By doing this, we aim to put foundations down for understanding who we are as a worshipping community and God’s purposes for us. We hope this will lead to further conversations of who we are as a worshipping church and how we might continue to develop in our worship of Jesus through lots of different areas of ministry life.
- 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)
- 1st Sunday in the month (Revd. Livvi Haughton-Scales)
The group facilitators continue to meet every couple of months to support one another, reflect on what God is doing among the groups, and prayerfully discern how they can best support the discipleship of the church.
Recognising that, apart from one church family, none of our families have made it into a connect group, I (Livvi) started a monthly connect group back in September, which takes place after the café style services. Overall, there have been challenges for this group all being able to meet together at once and we have often had small numbers or not been able to run. In the last few months, we have been able to meet in the play park next to the school with hot drinks and snacks, and more people have been able to join due to children of the families being able to use the play park while it is sunny. It has led me to wonder, though, if this has become more similar to extended church time, rather than a specific connect group. It still has value due to the opportunities for people in the church to connect further with one another, but hasn’t led to opportunities for prayer and bible study as first hoped. Perhaps other options could be considered as a means of helping families and others struggling to attend connect groups to grow in their faith. One idea that has arisen is the development of prayer partners or groups that can meet together on an ad-hoc basis, without the limit of a fixed time.
It was said that in the Monday 19th January meeting report, when members of the PCC gathered to discuss the overall direction of the church, 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, so we hope that some of these steps might enable the PCC to continue thinking about how connect groups can be a place of people being nourished and strengthened in their faith.
Revd. Livvi Haughton-Scales.
No decisions needed from PCC at this time.
Appendix 2 – Under 18s Ministry
We continue to 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! Although in this time of transition it is hard to fully say how our church will fit with this vision, we still see it as highly important and will look for ways in the coming months to lay the groundwork for how things might develop in the future. We continue to have lots of children as part of our services on Sundays and many new families are visiting and joining our church.
We have raised just over £53,000 to employ a part time children’s and youth worker but have not been able to appoint anyone so far. We are trusting God’s timing and provision. This post may be something that a new incumbent considers once they are appointed, but has been put on hold for the time being while the church discerns the next steps.
All under 18s groups continue to use the Energize resource.
We now have many parents/guardians in our church who have completed the relevant safeguarding procedures enabling them to support the under 18s ministry on Sunday mornings, which is wonderful and we are so grateful for their support of this ministry.
Ministry Experience Scheme
In September 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. We are so thankful for all he has given and it has been a pleasure to see how he has grown and developed in this role, becoming an incredibly central and valued member of our staff team and our church. Sadly, his internship will be coming to an end in August 2026. Please be praying for Chiaz as he discerns God’s next steps for him and we hope Chiaz will continue to be a key part of our church even after his internship ends, although we leave that in the hands of God – His purposes for Chiaz’s life and where He might take him next.
- 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. Over the summer, we plan to gather the Sunday Youth and Children’s Leaders together to thank them for all they do, to hear their thoughts on how the groups are going, and to look ahead to the next academic year. One change we are looking to implement is to inform the youth/children’s leaders in advance of the Sunday service preaching topics, so they have the option of preparing sessions on these subjects too, to provide more connections between the youth/children’s groups and the rest of church.
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 as well.
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 last year due to both the rent increasing and the numbers of children attending decreasing. It is hoped that in the near future, once a new incumbent is appointed and particularly if we appoint a children and youth worker, that something new will be discerned and imagined.
School’s work
We have continued to have good relationships with both our schools in the parish. After a recent meeting with Claire Head, the Headteacher of Redwell Primary, we were excited about the possibilities of how we could continue to support and become embedded in school life. This is an incredibly exciting proposition for any new incumbent, as it is a huge privilege to have a non-church school that is so open to the presence of the church. It is also, hopefully, exciting for any lay people in the church who have a heart for schools work and especially Redwell Primary School, as there is a lot of scope for many to get involved in this. Glenvale Church of England Primary School continues to grow and it is anticipated it will take around 10 years for it to be fully open. There will be lots of new ways the church can support and partner with Glenvale too, as the school continues to grow in its identity as a Church of England School.
The main ways we support both schools are through assemblies, collective worship, attending school performances, supporting school events, year 6 transition sessions and leading wellbeing groups. Wellbeing groups are something we have been running for many years at Redwell Primary School, but we have started to run these at Glenvale Primary School in the past year as well.
Revd. Livvi Haughton-Scales.
No decisions needed from PCC at this time.
- Youth Ministry
The poster above highlights the church’s current youth work activities.
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 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.
Rayo, who is a young person herself, stepped up to lead the year 8 and above group once a month and did a fantastic job. However, due to her beginning her GCSE exams, she could, understandably, no longer continue to lead this group. As a result, we have had to combine the year 6/7 and the year 8+ groups again. Although this has helped us to manage the different groups for the time being, it is not an ideal long-term solution.
If you feel God prompting you to help support these young people in their faith journeys, please speak to Livvi, Ben or Amanda, our administrator who puts together the children and young people’s team rota.
As it currently stands, our Sunday Morning Youth team is as follows:
- Chiaz and Jackie lead our year 6+ group once a month and have 2 people who help support. 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. We need to find others who can support this group on a regular basis.
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 8.
The number of young people attending has been noticeably lower this term and we have had to cancel several sessions. This is perhaps understandable during exam season, but we are monitoring this to discern if we are still supporting the discipleship of our young people in the best way. Most of the young people are connected with church. Our prayer is that they would all continue to build friendships and explore faith in Jesus together.
We have recently experimented with using a new resource called ‘Make Disciples’ alongside the Energize resource to which the church subscribes, which has covered sessions on topics including Anxiety & Peace, Loneliness & Belonging, and Significance & Purpose. 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.
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.
- 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 undertaking significant school exams– 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
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.
Revd. Livvi Haughton-Scales.
No decisions needed from PCC at this time
- Creations Craft Group
The Creative Crafts Group is a wonderful group of people. We meet up at the Ock ‘n’ Dough every Monday, including Bank Holidays, from 10 am. The members are always ready to help each other when mistakes happen, as I know – being a very grateful recipient of help! Our conversation is as interesting as ever, talking about the previous day’s service, theological points, family issues, and crafts, to name a few! We had breakfast together one Monday and will do so again, as it was a great time.
Sandi Rance.
- Prayer
- The WhatsApp group for prayer is working very well, with fast responses from all involved.
- On 28th March, we held a day of prayer and fasting, as it was felt that we needed to pray urgently for world events.
- We had 24 half-hour slots, during which time the person listed would pray using a list of suggestions. We managed to fill each slot.
- At the end of the 12 hours, those who were able to met to share a simple meal and break the fast together, with more prayer and a plenary time.
- Coincidentally (or not?) This was the day that the conflict began in Iran. Therefore the prayers seemed especially relevant and this was what we prayed for that evening.
- Since the day of prayer was successful and well supported, we are considering holding more, especially now that we will be entering a period of interregnum. The benefit of this is that people can pray wherever they are without the pressure of having to attend an event.
- As always, huge thanks go out to all of the prayer ministry team for their faithful service.
Jackie Brooks-Cheesman
No decisions needed from PCC at this time.
Appendix 4 – Finance Report –
At the end of May we have £79,883 in the church account, this is divided between two areas. The non-restricted area has £3,478 in it whilst the restricted area has £76,404. I shall make a contribution of £3,500 to the Parish Share 2026 early in June.
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:
RESTRICTED MONEY
Appendix 5 – Parish Update
We continue to see new people dipping their toes in with us and now some are beginning to become part of the church community.
Developments this year include:
- Signage has been placed outside Glenvale Church of England School, enabling us to be a strong presence on the estate and in the school.
- We have gained access to Wi-Fi in Glenvale Primary School, but the Wi-Fi connection is not as strong as would be preferable for us moving the printer to the parish office. Ben continues to follow up on this and, hopefully, the printer will be able to be moved soon.
- The clergy and the wardens will put time aside in August to organise the parish office and church storage for the new academic year.
- We have cleared the shed at Redwell Primary School and moved anything important for the future of the church to Glenvale Church of England Primary School, and disposed of anything no longer needed.
- The communion table has been made for our Sunday Services and has been collected and brought to Glenvale Church of England School.
Revd Livvi Haughton-Scales
No decisions needed from PCC at this time
Appendix 6 – Safeguarding Report
The course ‘Raising Awareness of Domestic Abuse’ is now one of the 3 compulsory courses for validating the DBS certificate. 17 members of church have done the course (up from 11 in January this year), but there are still 9 who need to do it. I will contact people again and we may set up a special NWAC evening when our Safeguarding Hub Co-ordinator can come and lead the course.
We currently have two people who have expressed an interest in doing volunteering for children’s work at NWAC and they have been forwarded the relevant information for applying for a DBS and the training courses needed. Two other people have done the Basic Awareness and Foundations training.
John Gilyead – safeguarding Officer
Appendix 7 – Deanery Synod Report
- We were welcomed – this was our first meeting of our 3-year term
- ‘Thy Kingdom Come’ (prayer initiative for between Ascension and Pentecost) was recommended as a helpful resource
- We were invited to prayerfully visit prayer stations around the church (at Gt. Doddington). Each station focused on a sentence from the Lord’s Prayer
- We were informed of the new Bishop of Brixworth – Dr Alex Hughes – starting in July 2026 and replacing John Holbrook who has moved on
- A reminder that the deadline date for church accounts to be submitted is 28thJune 2026
Alan Palmer – Deanery Synod Rep.