Minutes of the meeting of trustees held at St.Bernadette’s Parish Centre, Scunthorpe, on Sunday June 29 2014 at 2.00pm

Present: Simon Brittle, Nora Haith, Marie Spikings, Siobhan Hughes, Fr.Frank, John Crowley, Genny Hickey, Rita Hankey, Ann Barlow, Barbara Drummond, Kathryn Hughes, Claire Pitt, Theresa Davies, Marina Brooks (in attendance)

Apologies: Jim Dobbin, Brian Carroll, Bridget Doyle, Tony Wheat, Tony Wilkinson, Steve Barraclough, Marie Leaney, Terry Coyle, Fr.John Martin

Fr.Frank opened the meeting by offering John Crowley the condolences of all the trustees on the death of his beloved sister, Nettie, and by praying for her and also for Stuart Glasgow, who remains seriously ill in hospital.

Simon welcomed everyone and thanked the sun for trying to break through! He related the story of his neighbour doing some work at Mount St.Bernard Abbey having spoken to Simon and knowing that the agency had been there as well. Simon subsequently heard from his neighbour that the abbey felt that out group were ‘quite full on’! Fr.Frank commented that he thought the ‘mingling’ of our groups together on that day had been great – normally we all sit at tables in our own groups and don’t actually talk to each other, but being outside had helped enormously!

The minutes of the previous meeting were read, agreed and signed. There were no matters arising.

Finance – Brian had asked to resign as Treasurer after some years in the post and we had reluctantly agreed to this. There will be an opportunity to thank him more formally on another occasion. Bridget Doyle has kindly agreed to take on his responsibilities and there will be a period of transition over the coming months. Our present balances are: Current account: £7,425; Deposit A/c: £25, 973. The cost of the Llandudno trip was approximately £400 to the agency and groups made a grant to each person to help with funding. We made a donation of £500 to the sisters towards a the building of their new convent and in gratitude for their grerat kindness to the agency over many years. This was agreed by the six trustees present. A donation of £250 was made to the monks at Mount St.Bernard Abbey and the Loreto and Hinckley groups had given donations to the Poor Clares Convent and Rearsby convent respectively. Simon told us that the Charity Commission were now only interested in the actual balance of our accounts each year as our income was under £100,000, and Fr.Frank recommended that we continue to publish our accounts in the traditional matter for people to inspect them. He also re-iterated the hope that when grants are made to individuals within groups this should be recorded confidentially and signed by at least two group leaders.

Resignation and Election of trustees: Theresa Davies will be moving to Scotland shortly and therefore tended her resignation as trustee. Simon thanked her for her contribution to the agency over the years and all members agreed. She will now become an honorary trustee. Marina Brooks has agreed to replace her as tustee and in the leadership team of the Sunshine Club and at this point was formally welcomed to the meeting. Her election will be confirmed during the AGM. Simon informed us of the rules whereby three trustees have to resign at each AGM but may be re-elected. Barbara Drummond andRita Hankey agreed to resign and then be re-elected.

Annual Mass – Fr.Frank had contacted Fr.Andrew Cole, the Bishop’s Secretary informing him that he did not have to find a senior cleric to preside at our Annual Mass in the absence of a bishop. He will ask Fr.Simon Giles to do so as he was celebrating the 40^th anniversary of his ordination this year. He also told us that Fr.Peter was recuperating at the convent in Melton from further surgery and ask the trustees to keep him in prayer.

Catechesis –Fr.Frank told us of his anxiety about being solely responsible for producing a catechetical programme. He felt that this did not give due opportunity for others to take part in the planning of our year’s work and was looking for ways in which this could happen given the many commitments that people seem to have these days. The purpose of our 4 liturgies is that all of the groups should be involved and that they bring something of their work on the project to each Mass. This had not always worked out too well but on the whole we had managed. He suggested that we really need to have a full day together where we can share our ideas on a project for next year and how it might be worked out, using art, music, mime, and other interactive means. The day in January in Hinckley did not provide us with that much time to do so and often the theme was ‘sprung’ on people there and then, thus not giving them enough time to think about it beforehand. Themes had been planned for today – SS.Peter and Paul with St.Augustine – on how God can change not only names but whole people many of whom had often made mistakes, and there will be something worked out on St.Francis for the Annual Mass on September 13. We have yet to ask married couples and single people to make a contribution to this year’s project. With regard to the end of this year and next year, Simon suggested we try to do something on the Great War – people who paid the ultimate sacrifice – and possibly think about the notion of ‘The Journey’. Fr.Frank was concerned that we should have enough material for the 4 liturgies and up to 14 club nights if necessary so it would need to be worked out carefully. We agreed to meet at Mickleover with our catechists on Saturday September 20 from 11.00-4.00pm and Ann said she would book the parish centre for us. Hopefully, people will bring ideas with them and we can ‘brainstorm’; them together.

There were no trustees’ points and no further business, Simon clsed the meeting. Our next meeting will be in the Carbery Room of the Mary Forryan Centre, Hinckley on Saturday September 13 at 4.00pm.

Enclosed group reports sent prior to the meeting.

Hinckley Sunshine Club

Our main concern over the past few months has been the health of our Group Leader, Stuart, who remains seriously ill in hospital. He was in good form despite the odd painful episode with a neurological problem until about 10 weeks ago, when these events became more regular, culminating in a terrible night in Leicester Royal Infirmary when his son and Fr.Frank had to hold him down for most of the night as he was screaming in agony. He was moved to the Queen’s Medical Centre in Nottingham, where specialist surgery took place shortly afterwards. Initially this did not work so had to be repeated within a week. As a consequence of the second procedure, he developed a form of meningitis with large quantities of fluid on his brain. He has been semi-comatose since, reacting to various stimuli from time to time. His situation remains grave and we do ask you all to continue to pray for him. We have been following the ‘Saints in the making’ project and had a very fruitful visit to the Sacred Heart Convent in Rearsby, where we were made most welcome. Many of the group thoroughly enjoyed the week in Llandudno, several accompanied the 40^th anniversary Jumbulance pilgrimage and we have also been across to the pub across the road for an evening. We are looking forward to our barbecue next week and to welcoming many of the groups, as well as the Annual Mass on September 13 where we will be bishop-less but hopefully not without significance.

Leicester.

We have lost Marge and Bess = two very lovely ladies.  We visited you
in Llandudno and had a lovely day seeing you all there.    Geraldine is now fit and well again after her hip surgery and will join us at Scunthorpe.
Otherwise we have been rather quiet this year, but hope to have a few
meetings now the weather is much better.

Derby Tuesday Club Report.

Very sad to report the sudden death of John's sister, Nettie. She was a member of the Club for many years and will be greatly missed. Our condolences to John. Very pleased to congratulate Kathryn on becoming a Nana. Rachel, who was a most loyal member of the Club has recently given birth to Jack. Congratulations all round. We are continuing to work on our Saints in the making project. Fantastic day at Mount St Bernard's Abbey. Looking forward to a good day at Scunthorpe, too. Some people are lucky enough to be going to stay with Fr Frank at the Priory Hotel next week We finish the term with our afternoon at the Irish Club with our friends Steve and Maureen Gallagher.

Loughborough Group

Firstly, apologies from Tony and Marie.   Our group continues very much as usual, though we are a little less active sometimes, missing Scunthorpe being a prime example, but it is our 35th year after all so we are not quite as energetic as we once were!.  

Monthly club nights have had a variety of themes including art & craft, picture quizzes (e,g, ‘name the cartoon character’. very popular, being accessible to all), an international food night, and a celebration for Bernie’s 70th birthday.  We have also followed some of the ‘saints’ theme, which Fr Simon has led. Most recently we recycled lots of our old group photographs by making A3 size montages of just ‘head & shoulders’ which meant everyone could be featured, and makes an effective display. Tanya and Mandy joined the Hinckley Across pilgrimage in May, Tanya was ill just at the end of the week, but got back OK and has fully recovered. The Faith & Light Candlemas Mass was a lovely event, well described in the magazine, and which prompted a thoughtful article by Fr Frank on ecumenism and the Eucharist. Tony has stepped down as regional coordinator for F&L, this role is now taken by Jo Collinwood of the West Bridgford F&L group.  Jo will continue to liaise between F&L and Spanned, and of course Marie continues to be the Loughborough F&L coordinator.  

The group enjoyed the visit to Mount St Bernard’s, with many comments about being pleased to be invited on to the sanctuary for the Mass, and the interesting talk we heard about monastic life. Finally, the group celebrated Fr Simon’s 40th anniversary of ordination, a lovely day which Fr Simon really appreciated, and demonstrating how much he feels the group is ‘his family in Loughborough’.  

Scunthorpe

Our group would like to express our deepest sympathy to the families of our deceased friends Bess Mills from Leicester and Nettie Crowley from Derby. We have been very busy recently preparing for the Retreat day, It is a great privilege to host the Retreat in Scunthorpe. As most of our members live far away from each other and cover four different parishes it is not always easy to arrange to have all our members together at any set time, which makes the time we spend together very special and rewarding. Michael, Sinead and Mandy had a wonderful holiday in Llandudno  and hope  to continue to share future holidays  with our friends. Our group are looking forward to our special holiday with Fr. Frank. Thanks to Jane, Tim had a lovely visit to the sheep farm, thankfully this year all the sheep were well. Tim managed to feed two lambs at a time. He really enjoyed it and as a result of that visit Tim was invited to a house Mass at Jane's home. We went to st. Mary's in Brigg to a coffee morning in support of the carers. Our picnic at Mount St. Bernard Abbey was enjoyed by everyone who were able to go. Our forth coming events are our Annual Mass for our deceased members and all the group are going to afternoon tea at the end of July, combining a display of Irish dancing by the O'Donnell school of dance from Leeds Our Prayers go out to Tim, Betty, Stavrula and Stuart, they have not been well lately. A special thank you to Fr. Peter for his kindness to us, and all the parishioners for their help. Also to Fr. Frank for everything he has done for SPANNED.