11 attendees: OC = Owen Clutton, DB = Diana Betts, PL = Peter Lowe (Secretary), MM = Mary O’Mahony, JA = June Adams, RW = Roger Wright, TW = Teresa Wells, SH = Simon Howell, JW = John Warren, BF = Breda Ford, AM = Angela Martin.

Apologies were received from: Clare Fisher, Fr Bryan, David McCabe.

1. CAFOD LiveSimply award scheme

MM and RW reported on progress so far and also completed an interview on behalf of the LiveSimply Group. It was agreed that J&P would pursue the Connect2 scheme which would enable LiveSimply to register this as a substantial action in the Reaching Out category.

BF offered to take blankets to Fr Arbo at Tolworth in the next couple of weeks. They are currently stored at RW’s house.

Connect2 is the CAFOD scheme which enables parishes to communicate with and support communities overseas. Those present were agreeable to this being one of the possible activities which J&P could sponsor for LiveSimply. More information is available at: http://www.cafod.org.uk/fundraising/connect2/countries where each of the 6 countries is listed from which a parish might choose a community. They are:

El Salvador

Cambodia

Brazil

Bangladesh

Rwanda

Ethiopia

RW to contact CAFOD for more information about how the scheme works.

2. Orpington Foodbank collection

RW said that FB had agreed to re-advertise the next collection in Briefly. The flyer has been updated because certain items are currently more urgent than others, e.g. sugar, tinned meats.

DB, JA and OC agreed to deliver the goods collected to the Foodbank on Monday 16th April.

RW to send them location details of the delivery. He said it is easier to carry the bags from the back of church to the cars rather than use wheelie bins. It should take 20-30 minutes to load up.

3. Traidcraft stalls

BF said there would be no problems having some items for sale in the repository. In fact the sale of chocolate could draw in children and their parents may be inclined to buy other items in the repository.

OC asked if separate accounts would have to be kept and BF confirmed this was not necessary.

DB suggested the full stall should be run every two months to see how it goes in terms of staffing. OC agreed that once a month is probably too frequent for the full stall.

BF is responsible for ordering repository supplied. Repository staffing is fairly informal with volunteers sometimes being sought on the day.

RW suggested we should get the hybrid scheme running first before asking others to assist.

MM wondered if DM is too busy to set up and run the stall that he might still be able to do the ordering of stock.

BF noted that the stock is stored in the cupboard next to the repository.

RW said that it can sometimes be difficult to find things like tables.

SH noted that sometimes the church doors were still open half an hour after everyone had left and this was a potential security issue.

BF said Geoff organises the float for the stall and this stays in the locked cupboard with the stock overnight on Saturday. After 11am Mass it can be taken to the Counting House.

RW stressed the practical advantage of running the stall on a weekend immediately after a J&P meeting where possible. This would allow the group to identify available volunteers and agree the rota.

TW asked if it was possible to run a stall in the hall. The difficulty would be insufficient footfall for sales compared with the back of the church.

OC will speak to David about ordering and the general logistics of running the Traidcraft stall in future. It was agreed to adopt a hybrid system with fewer major stall dates but have a selection of items always in sale in the repository. There will be no stall on 22nd April as advertised.

BF requested that OC ask DM to order more coffee for use in the hall kitchen.

4. Southwark Easter Message

Fr Michael Scanlan had circulated reflections on J&P for Easter. OC commented onhow his words related to the work done for the Foodbank and UTA.

RW observed that Fr Michael is the Southwark J&P chaplain and spoke at the J&P Spring assembly.

BF noted that he was the priest who went out to confront rioters in Woolwich.

5. Petition to free Linda Carty

RW had noticed about 35 names form the parish on the petition which seemed like a very favourable response to Fr Bryan’s appeal, especially given that the total number of signatories was not more than about 1,500. We have not heard any more about her fate.

6. UTA Workshop

OC: This would be held on 10th April. It would be good to hear from Matt Gibbs about how our financial support has been employed.

7. Any Other Business

OC asked if the meeting time should remain at 8.00pm, or move to 7.45pm. The consensus was to stick to 8.00pm.

RW said there are a lot of suitable online petitions around at the moment. How do members feel about being sent e-mails about these? A positive response was received.

He also suggested we should be writing letters to our MPs. Subjects might include food security, which is driving up prices for the poor.

With regard to biofuels, Harvest Energy (filling stations – one on Bromley Common) gets its renewable quota from waste oil only.

On the time and talents database, three people said they wanted to join the J&P Group. Perhaps we should follow them up?

OC said that Clifford Longley was a good speaker at Holy Innocents.

CAFOD Water Aid – droplet action has not been taken yet. The card just needs sending off.

FB: The cards are designed to put pressure on the PM to act.

PL: I would have liked to have gone on the Olympic Park Peace Walk. Perhaps if there is not another one planned I could organise one for the parish?

OC: The next meeting will be on Wednesday 25th April 2012 at 8.00pm.

There being no other business, the meeting closed at approximately 9.30pm.