Dorchester Deanery Children's Group - Meeting Minutes

Minutes of meeting held on Monday 24th January 2005.

Present: Allen Knott (Chairperson), Gill McCourtie, Phyllis Brown, Chris Brown, Lydia Hampshire, Lauretta Kerridge

Welcome: Allen welcomed everyone and opened the meeting with prayer.

Apologies: These had been received from Richard Cox, Revd. Philip Lambert and Beth Buchan.

Minutes of last meeting: The minutes from the last ‘proper’ meeting of Deanery Children’s Group (21st September, 2004) were agreed and signed.

Correspondence:
* Grateful thanks had been received from all beneficiaries of the proceeds from sales of ‘And Another Thing!’. Lauretta has copies of these letters which detail how the money is being used.
* An email had been received from Synod Rep, Beth Buchan offering to advertise the Church Taster Day at Deanery Synod. The meeting was grateful for this.
* An email had been received from Karen Curnock recommending two new reps to the Deanery Children’s Group. Karen will now be stepping down as representative for Cerne Abbas.
* Booking & Risk Assessment forms had been received from St. John Ambulance for first aid cover at the Church Taster Day.
* Chris had received thanks from Philip Lambert (on behalf of the Parish of Dorchester) and Anne Comben (on behalf of St. John Ambulance) for donations given as a result of the collection at the ‘Carols on the Green’ event.
* All reps should have received a copy of the 2005 Women’s World Day of Prayer Children’s Worksheet. Lauretta has a few spare copies still available to anyone who has been missed.

Newsletter: It was agreed that a second Dorchester Deanery Children’s Group newsletter be produced and sent to all PCCs in the Deanery. Allen would write a suitable article advertising the Church Taster Day. Lauretta would arrange for the newsletter to be posted to PCC Secretaries.

Carols on the Green: Once again it was felt that Carols on the Green had been both enjoyable and well attended. £62.60 had been received in programme donations on the night; Allen would contact Colin Lucas to confirm receipt of the cheque sent to Durnovaria Silver Band. The meeting was unanimous in its decision to put on a Carols on the Green event in 2005 and grateful to Allen for agreeing to ‘MC’ the proceedings once again. A provisional date for this was Friday, 9th December, 2005. The availability of St. George’s Church would need to be ascertained and the possibility of a meal afterwards at the Judge Jefferys Restaurant explored.

‘O Taste and See’: Church Taster Day, Martinstown, Saturday, 14th May, 2005:
The remainder of the meeting dealt with the forthcoming Church Taster Day and preparations for this.

* It was agreed Martinstown Village Hall should be visited in order to clarify the number of rooms and amount of space available for workshops. The Church could also be visited. The ‘site visit’ would be carried out by Lydia, Chris and Lauretta who would liase with Booking Secretary, Tessa Clark, regarding a convenient time.

WORKSHOPS:
* Bell ringing: Revd Rosemary Bassett from Martinstown would be checking the availability of her husband, Trevor, for leading this workshop. It was noted that Chris White could also be asked to be involved. Lauretta would make sure Chris’s telephone number was passed to Trevor.

* Prayer: Lauretta would confirm with Diocesan Children’s Adviser, Janet Delaney, that she was happy to lead the prayer workshop. Suggestions for an appropriate venue included Martinstown church or approaching Rosemary with a view to using the Rectory.

* Stained Glass Windows: John Callum would run this workshop at his studio in Dorchester. It was thought unlikely that numbers would require the use of minibuses and those participating could be taken to Dorchester by car.

* Flower arranging: Wendy Durrant was a name which was put forward for this. Her availability was yet to be confirmed.

* Drama: Lydia would ask Sue Wylie if she would be able to take a Drama workshop.

* Art & Craft: Lauretta would speak with Archdeacon Paul Taylor. Gill would check the availability of Martinstown Breakfast Club leaders, Geraldine and Dick to assist with this.

* Singing & Instrumental Music: Gill would be willing to lead a music workshop. The grade the children had reached with their instruments would need to be taken into consideration for this workshop. Gill would also contact Margaret Skinner who may be able to lead the singing. Dick’s house could provide a venue for the music workshop and Gill would speak with him about this.

* Banner Waving: It would not be possible to hold a Banner waving workshop, however, Rosemary had a contact with skills in Liturgical Dance. Lauretta would follow this up. Rosemary also knew of a potter living in the village and the possibility of a pottery workshop could be explored.

All arrangements for workshops would need to be made by the next group meeting.

ADDITIONAL ARRANGEMENTS:
- Posters: Lydia would produce posters advertising the day. The group would cover the cost of a colour printer cartridge.
- Length of workshops: It was noted that three hours may be too long to spend on some of the workshops and as a result they may lose something of the ‘Taster’ element. On the other hand, if workshops were too short those taking part would not have opportunity to explore any topic in depth. Some workshops may more naturally lend themselves to an hour and a half (for instance handbell or bell ringing). These therefore could be split. The running order for these could be:
10 – 11.30 am: Workshop 1
11.30 – 12 noon: Break
12 – 1.30 pm: Workshop 2
Stained Glass was one of the workshops which would require the entire three hours.
- Age of participants: The group agreed that the day be for to 10 – 15 year olds.
- Lunch: Gill reported that asking the village pub to supply food for lunch may not be feasible. Allen would contact ‘Case & Brewer’ Fish & Chip shop in Dorchester to see if food could be ordered in advance and collected from them at a pre-arranged time. Letters would then need to be sent to all participants detailing menu options (as was the case at the ‘Bish & Chips’ event).
- Refreshments: Phyllis agreed to take responsibility for refreshments on the day and would make arrangements for tea, coffee and squash to be available.
- Cost: Chris reported that the Group finances currently stood at £1038.55. It was therefore agreed that the day could be largely subsidised by the group with participants paying £1 on entry as a nominal fee towards the cost of the lunch. It was noted that the cost of hiring the village hall was very reasonable. The group agreed it would like to make an additional donation to Martinstown Church.
- Arrival: The badge machine would be hired and there would be opportunity for all those taking part to make name badges.
- Activities: Games and quizzes would need to be available at lunchtime. It was suggested that Rounders could be played in the field behind the church. Lydia would produce some quiz sheets which could be completed in the hall if it was a wet day.
- Child Protection: The importance of children’s safety on the day was discussed. It would be the group’s priority that someone who had been checked by the Criminal Records Bureau (CRB) would be present at each workshop and nominally in charge of the welfare for that group. Each participating parish would need to provide an adult who agreed to take overall responsibility for the care of the young people from that parish. A form would need to be signed by these adults agreeing in writing to take on this role.
- Photos: Chris would be the official photographer. It was noted that an agreement would need to be signed by parents before their children were included in any photographs.
- Letters/forms: All correspondence regarding the day would be sent out to parishes immediately following the next group meeting.

A.O.B.: It was noted that while Wendy Fobister could no longer play an active role in the group she would like to continue to receive information from the group. Lauretta would therefore make sure that Wendy was included in all mailings.

Date of next meeting: This would take place on Monday, 21st February, 2005, 7.30 for 7.45 p.m. and would be held at ‘Lydia’s’, 14, James Road, Dorchester.

It was unanimously agreed by the group that Jonathon Hampshire’s chocolate chip muffins were off the highest quality and thanks were expressed to the Hampshire family for their kind hospitality, the muffins, mulled wine and marshmallows in melted chocolate.
 

End of Meeting.