Notes of meeting held in the Community Centre, St Helens, at 11.00 on Thursday 17 October 2019
Present: Ali Morley, Sylvia Beardsmore, Fiona Jepson, Jane Marlowe-Dauncey, Rose Gillett, Andrew Bradstock, Helen Bradstock
- Apologies were received from Mary Jackson, Ruth Egerton and Liz Fletcher
- Eco Church Sunday afternoons
We decided to return to including worship in the sessions. We will start with a short act of worship/reflection led by different people – either on an ‘open forum’ basis or as agreed in advance. Sit in the choir stalls. Gather at 3.30 pm, worship 3.45 pm, then our Eco Church activity, then food. Food will be on a ‘bring and share’ basis, co-ordinated in advance by e-mail. Until the kitchen is built we will have an old-fashioned high tea of savouries, cakes and hot drinks, not soup. Bring own re-useable mugs.
Arrangements for next Eco Church, 27 October: Fiona – bread; Ali – cheese; Rose – salad; Helen – savoury muffins; Mary (to be asked) – cake; Sylvia – chutney. Helen will lead worship.
3. ‘Working with schools’ policy
The draft policy was agreed subject to two changes:
- under ‘Rationale’, para 2, line 3 – delete ‘radical’ and insert ‘inclusive’;
- under ‘Rationale’, point 4 – add ‘including the animal kingdom’ after ‘natural world’
4. St Helens School tree planting
Ali has been working with the school and we have a slot after an assembly to run a workshop. Children will plant seeds which will be returned to them as a sapling when they leave the school. They will be encouraged to appreciate how some things last a long time. We need to store the seeds when they are planted: put out a call for 7 cm plastic pots. Keep these in the churchyard. Christy will construct a way of supporting them, e.g. in a raised bed.
Next Eco Church on 27th: find the right place for the raised bed, fill pots and look for seeds.
We also need to find land for trees – we should approach the National Trust and PCC. There is also glebe land.
Volunteers to help: Ali; Fiona; Rose; Helen; Sylvia. All will need to be DBS checked. Sylvia will action this.
5. Brading School plans
Ali will do a Monday assembly at Brading on plastic, along the lines of her presentation at Ryde School. Nettlestone School has a strong awareness of plastics – Sylvia to arrange with head teacher for Ali to an assembly there. Fiona to help at Nettlestone, Sylvia at Brading.
6. Bottle Refill Scheme
This has been going well with sessions at several coffee mornings so far. We are raising awareness, and about £100 has been taken. The dates of the next few coffee mornings were noted, Sylvia to ask Royal British Legion if they would like a stall at their coffee morning on 16th November as the hall is double booked . Fiona’s friend Rosie will help at stall on 16th November but not 9th.
7. Craft Workshop 30th November
Ali has had a conversation with someone who will bring upcycling crafts to try. This is an afternoon event to encourage people to pick up skills that may be dying out (e.g. knitting and sewing) by visiting different craft tables.
Ali is to advertise this event at the coffee morning in the Community Centre on 26 October along the lines of ‘come and make something eco-friendly for your friends and family for Christmas’.
8. Pond project
Rose confirmed that we do need a Faculty from the diocese for this.
We will need the details of the design of the pond, including the depth, to apply for a faculty. What do we want it to look like? Ali has spoken to Rob, our gravedigger, who will dig the pond. He has already drawn up some plans. Ali invited him to Eco Church on 27th but he can’t make it. Will come another time. Cost may be £1,000, plus the cost of the Faculty (£200-400), but there is money in the churchyard fund. Jane knows of a pond specialist on the Island who we might contact after discussion with Rob. Ali may also be able to find a specialist.
9. Native Tree planting in Churchyard
The Woodland Trust offers packs of saplings for planting. We’re interested in hazel and rowan for planting hedgerows.
We agreed we should apply now for the hedgerow pack. Delivery March 2020.
10. Walking Group
A plan to visit all the churches on the Island, using the book Pastoral Pilgrimage by Victor Vivian. We’ll start with Yarmouth to Freshwater on Thursday 14 November, meeting at Viewpoint carpark. Jane to organise. People to bring a picnic. Ali to advertise it around the deanery. This is more about visiting the churches than purely walking. Short prayer/reflection in each church visited, and find out something about the church
11. Diocesan pilgrimage map (and future plans)
Ali has received a letter from the diocese asking for info about St Helens Church and a photo for use in a forthcoming guide book. We might find some useful material in the ‘Profile’ document drawn up before Ali was appointed. A better resource would be one available on-line. How do we develop a pilgrimage trail?
12. Eco Church Gold Award Application
Ali explained how she completed the on-line application form and has put a lot of evidence showing how we meet the Eco church targets on the website: https://thehavenecochurch.wordpress.com/going-for-gold/. There is an arrow with a drop down menu, to the right of the “Going for gold” tab, where you can see evidence for the different categories. We need to know more about this as we will be asked questions when the assessors visit.
13. A.O.B.
- The recycling system at church is not working.
- Bins are needed inside and out and some education/ signage is needed.
- we need to speak to the flower arrangers about not using oasis, which is non-recyclable.
14. Date and time of next meeting
Monday 25th November, 2.00 pm.
The Haven Eco-Church 