Worship and Wildlife garden
Waiting for Joe Falzon to announce date of next working party.
Ecumenical nature walk and picnic
Completed and reported on website.
Loaves and fishes picnic
Mary O’M to talk to Guide Leader Julia Crudgington (but not yet because this is a Lenten indea).
LiveSimply banner
Nothing to report – except that Teresa had found a longer pole we might want to use.
LiveSimply enhancements to the Liturgy
There was a fairly long discussion about the Creation Mass on 6th October. General agreements were:
Roger to speak to Fr Bryan about using the liturgy sent to
him from St John Bosco in
Teresa agreed to tutor the children to sing some verses of the song at 9.15am. She will liaise with Jo Gribben who is leader that day.
The children will bring a gift to the altar after their liturgy session and place in the baskets to be provided by Teresa. They will then face the congregation to sing. (The suggestion to bring up fresh veg and fruit was discounted.)
Mary O'M will ask Susan Scripture to include the LiveSimply hymn at the 11am Mass (but not at Holy Communion).
This will be a busy Sunday as, in addition to the above, Florence Wells is to be baptised and it is also the CAFOD Harvest Fast Day collection.
Craft club household hints
Linda had plenty of tips ready to be published. These had been
compiled from numerous sources including the Monday Craft Club. It was
agreed we should use as many of the latter as possible and the hints must be
short and catchy. Linda will select about 10 random ones at a time and
pass these to Roger who will be responsible for submitting one a week to Fr
Bryan for publishing in Briefly and they will also be
put on the website. Teresa was aware of a small booklet and it might be
appropriate to leave a few copies at the back of church.
Reduce carbon footprint of energy use
Roger reported that the Finance Committee had agreed to switch the electricity supply for the Presbytery to a renewable energy supplier such as Good Energy or the Cooperative. The FC observed that this would not only reduce our carbon emissions by about 8% (3.86 tonnes of CO2) but also cost the parish about £300 less. They therefore agreed to give the £300 to the LiveSimply group to use in whatever way it thought appropriate. Examples might be to help fund the garden project or buy carbon offsets.
Teresa also noted that various improvements to the Presbytery would be taking place to conserve heat including window replacement and proper insulation.
Other ideas for action were discussed briefly:
Limit the use of lighting by erecting signage at light switches to remind people.
Get comparison of typical costs and submit to parishioners as flyers to see if any can be persuaded to switch to a renewable supplier. Indicate the % of green energy in the mix. Ask parishioners to pledge such a switch.
Ask parishioners to make suggestions as to how parish should respond to this challenge.
Carry out parish survey to see what individuals have done in the last 2 years to reduce their domestic carbon footprint.
Leave the Car at Home Weekend might show a small reduction in our overall parish carbon footprint but we shall need to collect data on the day if this is to be assessed.
Linda explained that this would only need a few of us to assist one Saturday afternoon for perhaps an hour or so. She will talk further to the school about how and when.
Walking to Mass campaign
The Leave the Car at Home Weekend is on 14/15th September. There was a good deal of discussion about the event and its logistics:
It was agreed that the best way to collect data on the day
was through reply slips to be filled in at the end of
Roger had produced a table showing the walking distances from all roads in which at least one household is mentioned in the parish register. This can be used to ‘persuade’ some people they don’t live too far to walk!
We may have speakers at Mass on 7/8th Sep and some simple posters. The talk would include some feedback on what LiveSimply Sustainability progress we have made so far.
Linda will ask her daughter to see if Mrs Bosher would promote the event at a School Assembly during the week before.
Roger will try to collecting pledges after Mass 7/8th and at the Fun Run picnic.
It was agreed that children should be rewarded with stickers on their way out of church. Roger had found a source of round labels and would attempt to produce the stickers.
Eco-friendly hall refurbishment
Nothing to report but have asked if a water meter can be installed and what type of hand dryers are being fitted.
LiveSimply and Autumn Festival synergy
Julian not present so nothing discussed here.
Tree planting scheme
Teresa agreed to take ownership of this action. She will remind Fr Bryan to take forms to baptismal classes and similar groups. We should have an item put in Briefly whenever there is space. More direct targeting of parish groups should be organised as well (including uniformed, bereavement and confirmation).
Properly monitored recycling scheme & food waste composting
Roger and Mary I need to talk to all ‘stakeholders’ with the object of devising an integrated system which can be audited. Persons and sources identified for consideration were Nick Babb (Cubs), Matthew Wright (the bar), Breda Ford (various including Counting Room), Pre-School, general paper and publications in church.
Children's bulb planting project
Mary O'M will be contacting Suzanne Horner.
Environmental information on website and handouts
Roger had started this and hoped to publish in the next couple of weeks.
CAFOD
Connect2:
Roger to raise at the next J&P meeting to see how the members think we should report back to the parish.
Younger parishioners contribution to liturgy
Mary O'M will talk to relevant leaders about their liturgical response to LiveSimply in due course.
Shoe Rafiki
Completed.
Hold a Rich Man Poor Man dinner
It was agreed at the last meeting that we would use Kainmari Curry Night as accounting for the Rich Man Poor Man dinner and tick that off.
Sponsor a child or children overseas
Mary O'M will be contacting Suzanne Horner.
Foodbank and Manna Centre
Nothing to report except that Foodbank collections have progressively decreased in weight of food donated. Small amounts continue to be left each week by concerned parishioners. These are taken to the Foodbank about once a month.
Brownie badge work relating to environment and world issues
Mary O'M will be contacting Suzanne Horner.
Visit the housebound by keeping them informed
Perhaps the pack could be updated and another attempt to circulate made.
General discussion points
These items were not discussed due to lack of time.
Are we really changing the behaviour of parishioners and how do we perceive this? Anyone prepared to switch to a renewable electricity supplier would demonstrate their commitment for example. But how many parishioners have, in some way or other, been moved by LiveSimply?
And finally…
You will have read in Briefly that Archbishop Peter will visit to celebrate the 11am Mass on Sunday 13th July 2014. I have suggested to Fr Bryan that this would be wonderful opportunity for the following things to happen (as well as celebrating the 75th anniversary):
The
We could be presented with our LiveSimply award
The Mass could be held outside, celebrated from the
This assumes we have a successful audit by June latest.
Any other business
Linda asked if we might add another activity to our
LiveSimply plan. She is a volunteer at the Cardinal Hume
Centre in