Diocese Information
Please use the RCDHN link on the top right of the page.
Peoples Kitchen and Alnwick Food Bank
-please
could all food donations for People's Kitchen and
Alnwick Food
Bank have lids on where necessary.
Thank You.
Nights of Light-May
Sat 21st/28th—-Arthur Carroll—In Thanksgiving
29th—Karen Robinson—Birthday Thoughts, R.I.P.
If you would
like the Church to be lit up for a special occasion or
remembrance of a
loved one, download the form on the
Nights of Light
page on the parish website.
Minimum donation £1 per date!
Thank
You.
Feasts of the Week-May
Tue 31st—The Visitation 0of
the Blessed Virgin Mary
Wed 1st—St Justin M
Fri 3rd—St Charles Lwanga & Companions MM
USED
POSTAGE STAMPS
Please continue
to save your used stamps.
Thank You
DRIVEWAY
When driving within the church grounds PLEASE
keep to the 5mph speed limit.
Expensive gravel
is being displaced by overzealous drivers.
Thank You.
Offertory Collection
Did you know you
can pay your weekly offertory donation
via standing order or direct debit.
In these days of internet banking it is so
easy to make
a regular payment to St Paul’s RC Church,
Alnwick.
You can still gift aid your donation by
filling in the form at the back of church.
Memoriam Book
The Memoriam
Book placed on the Sanctuary and
contains the names
of family and friends of parishioners,
each written under the date of their death.
If you would like the names of your loved ones
included,
please fill in the form at the back of Church
and place it in
the box provided.
Fill in a separate form for each name, please.
Security
Please be
vigilant when you are in and about the Church.
Do not leave
your valuables unattended in the church.
Nights of Light
Our Church looks
particularly attractive at present with the flood lighting.
We depend on the
Nights of Lights scheme to fund the lighting of the church.
If you would
like to celebrate a important occasion,
please consider
lighting up our church
If you would
like the Church to be lit up for a special occasion,
please obtain a
form from the back of the Church and hand it with your donation
to Tim Sewell,
any of the Parish Council,
drop it through
the letterbox at the Parish House
or download the
form on the Nights of Light page
Minimum donation
£1 per date!
Being Admitted to Hospital
If you, a friend or relative are admitted to hospital, a
visit/Holy Communion/the
Sacraments can be arranged by the chaplaincy team.
You can contact
the chaplaincy via the hospital switchboard on 03448118111 and ask to be put
through to the chaplaincy department.
If the call is urgent,
please ask the nurse to contact the Roman Catholic Priest on call.
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Minutes of the meeting of St Paul’s Parish Council held on
Tuesday 3rd May 2022 at 5pm in the Parish Room
Present – Fr Stephen Watson (Chair), Mary Donaghey (/Minutes) June Etterley,
Edith Humphries, Sally Williams,
Eileen
Turnbull, Mark Phillips Mary Frater (Events) and Martin O’Hanlon (Building and
maintenance).
Opening Prayer led
by Fr Stephen..
Apologies for
absence
Apologies for absence received from Michelle Burgess (Parish
Administrator), Polly Bassi and Ed Sweeney.
Review of the Agenda
Agenda reviewed and agreed by those present.
Minutes of previous meeting held on 1st March 2022
The Minutes agreed and accepted as record of the previous
meeting by those present.
Matters arising from minutes and updates on actions
Action point Mary Donaghey
to follow up the need for a more formal booking system.
Completed
superseded by new action point below.
Pam Slater had provided the meeting with an example of a
proposed booking form with a rider that this would need some adaptations.
After some
discussion it was proposed and accepted that a working party be set up to
discuss the format of a booking form.
Action Point To
set up a small working party to discuss the wording of a booking form.
Mary Donaghey to coordinate with Pam Slater, Mary Frater, Martin
O’Hanlon, and Fr Stephen.
Action Point Edith Humphries will speak to Ann Ousby to see if she could help with regards to Diocesan
Newsletter as she is a writer.
Carried over from
previous meeting. Completed. Ann Ousby was spoken to but is not able to assist.
Action Point Mary
Donaghey to speak to Stanley Trafford to see if he
could help with taking photographs for the Diocesan Newsletter.
Action Point Mary Donaghey to send a letter
of thanks on behalf of the Parish Council to Rosin and Vincent Cowley. Completed.
Action Point Mary Donaghey
will contact Martin O’Hanlon regards the church clock running fast. Completed.
Action Point – Mary Donaghey
to arrange for suggestion box be placed into church for Parish council items
from Parishioners.
Held over pending cleaning of the Church.
Parish Administrator’s Report
In her absence Michelle Burgess provided a written update
which was read to the meeting.
Current Account £65,599
Deposit Account £10,174
The current account total includes £27956 that we have
received from the CATEW grant,
which will be transferred shortly to the deposit account
(as all payments for the roof repair are made from the deposit account).
We have recently received into the deposit account:
Listed Places of Worship Grant £2236
Gift Aid claim 1019/2020 £13
Gift Aid claim 2020/2021 £3641
Endowment Management Fund General £1534
Endowment Management Fund Mass Obligations
£22
Recent payments made for roof costs from the deposit
account since last PC meeting £42,791
Total roof payments so far £95,915
Building repair and maintenance
Update given by Martin O’Hanlon. The clock is now chiming
the correct time on the quarter hour.
The face hands do
show 2 minutes difference. However, rectifying the problems is costly and it
was agreed that such an expense is not a priority at this time.
The Tower floor has been repaired along with the trap
door leading into the Tower. However, there is no means to hold the trap door
open which is heavy to lift. The ladder also has not been fixed to the wall.
Jenny the architect in charge of the project has been informed with a view to
fixing the problem. The lightening straps also need attention.
There is a Health and Safety inspection due regarding the
possible presence of asbestos. The only source in the Church is in the porch
vent pipe. Following work on the Parish house there is no longer any asbestos.
We await a report following the roof repair to confirm that all asbestos has
been removed.
A new hoover is needed for cleaning the Church and a
proposal to purchase a Tittan wet and dry hoover at a
cost of £89.99 was agreed
Action Point Martin
O’Hanlon to arrange purchase of new hoover.
Friday 13th May Orange Box will attend and
remove any excess furniture such as the bookcases. There then followed a
discussion on identifying any other unnecessary items. Mary Frater mentioned
she had noticed a cupboard which needed sorting and clearing out.
Action Point Mary Frater to clean out said cupboard.
There are several large hymn books stacked by the Choir
stalls. These are larger and heavier than the normal hymn books as they contain
the music scores.
Action Point Ask Colette Boushell if
these books are needed. Mary Donaghey will e mail and
ask.
Martin mentioned that the statue of Our Lady had been moved after
he and Fr Stephen had moved it forward away from the side altar. Apparently, it
had been moved further back as it was hindering the Choir going to Communion
during Mass. The Prayer Groups which use
to meet in the Church also use the area in front of the side altar. Some present
felt that a small quiet area for private prayer was needed.
Action Point Sally
Williams to seek views on the preferred layout of the side altar.
Action Point item is to be placed in the Bulletin asking for
volunteers to help look after the Church grounds/garden.
The front and side doors need repainting which Martin
will do. The bolt on the main door which allows the second door to open needs
repair.
Christians Together in Alnwick
Mary Frater reported that the Lenten Lunches had been a
great success.
There was a good turn out from St Paul’s to help. Over
the six weeks a total of £1126 was raised which will be split between CAFOD,
Christian Aid and Alnwick Food Bank.
Good Friday service took place in the Market and was well
attended.
Fr Stephen
suggested next year we could give out small prayer cards with Christian message
out to those at the service.
Action Point Mary Frater will bring this up at the next Christians
Together meeting.
There will be a full programme of events in Alnwick over
the Platinum Jubilee weekend.
We will be
distributing a commemorative booklet about the Queen to mark the occasion. 200
copies will be purchased.
St Paul’s Church
will be open to visitors over the weekend.
Action Point June Etterley will contact volunteers
to church sit over the Bank holiday weekend.
On the 14th May there will be a China and
plant stall in the market to raise funds for Christian aid. Donations would be
appreciated.
On 19th May the Methodists will be hosting a
lunch, and everyone is invited.
The Choral Society are holding a ‘come and sing’ event at
St Paul’s on 18th June.
Another business.
Bidding prayers -Sally Williams asked for volunteers to
help with writing bidding prayers for Mass.
Sacred Heart - June Etterley
asked can we move the Sacred Heart Statue from the back of the Church towards
the front? A suitable alternative place is to be sought.
Kitchen- Mary Doanghey asked if
we could contact the Diocese to find out what our options are for a kitchen
area
at the back of
church taking into consideration our grade two listed status.
Action Point – Mary Donaghey to contact Andrew
Gillingham.
Date of next meeting to be arranged – Tues 5th July 2022
The next meeting in July will be the AGM and it was
agreed to move the meeting to the Sunday after
Mass to encourage
Parishioners to attend. Therefore, the next meeting will be the AGM held Sunday 3rd July 2022
after 9.30 am Mass
Closing Prayer led
by Fr Stephen.
