Report on Activities of the Management Team
This is the text of the report, given by George Reid as Acting Chair of the Management Team, to the meeting of the Trustees of St John's Church on Monday, 23 November 2009. The report covers activities since the previous Trustees' meeting on 4 March 2009
Introduction
Following his appointment as Session Clerk, Glenn Walker demitted the post of Chair in September and I was appointed as Acting Chair.
I would like to start by thanking Glenn for his valued work, commitment and leadership as Chair of the Management Team since its inception and congratulate him on his appointment as Session Clerk. Glenn has, for the time being, remained an active member of the Management Team.
Since the last Trustees' Meeting on 4 March 2009, the Management Team have held 6 full meetings to discuss the management of St John's. The two main projects carried out this year have been the replacement and improvement of the church heating system and the installation of plasma screens. But much work has been carried out in other no less important areas.
Finance
A joint meeting of Session and Congregational Board on 4 March 2009 approved the division of Sunday morning duties into Hospitality/Door Duty (Session responsible) and Counting (Board responsible). The Management Team have discussed the latter on several occasions but have not been able to agree on a satisfactory arrangement. In the interim, teams have been continuing as per status quo.
The 2008 accounts, approved by Trustees on 4 March 2009, were submitted to Presbytery to be attested at their September meeting. After this they were to be forwarded to OSCR. Not having heard anything to the contrary, we can assume that they have been accepted. Details about our accounts and those of other charities can be found on the OSCR website (www.oscr.org.uk - search for our number SC004066)
Lanark Presbytery has instructed all congregations to effect a 5% per annum reduction in energy use. It is confidently expected that, as a result of the work carried out on our heating system, St John's will more than meet this target.
The purchase of a money-weighing machine similar to that used in banks to check deposits, at a cost £85, was agreed recently by the Finance Committee. This will, hopefully, eliminate errors that have, from time to time, arisen when banking the offering.
Thanks to Ken Mackie and the members of the Finance Committee for their work during the year, particularly to Ken for navigating through the complex requirements of OSCR.
Property
The previous heating system being in a poor state and beyond economic repair, the Trustees' meeting of 4 March approved plans presented by John Stratton to replace cast iron pipe work and effect associated changes/additions to heating system.
Quotes were sought from 4 companies, and, after much negotiation, the contract was awarded to Spie Matthew Hall at a cost of £26,580.12 including VAT. This work has now been carried out, the majority of it during the summer down-time, when St John's was not used for the combined services. The heating system was switched off after the morning service on 24 May and the system drained on 27 May. The old pipe work and header tank were removed in June.
The new system was commissioned on 7 August, and the first "public" trial, with the congregation, was on Sunday 9 August. The new control system allows for more precise setting of temperature in four zones. The system was set to ensure a minimum temperature if 10°C in the Church. This allows a faster warm up to using temperature and is more economical than firing up from cold. It also protects the fabric of the building from damage due to frost and condensation.
In conjunction with the upgrading of the heating system, work was carried out in the roof space to improve the insulation of the church and so reduce heat loss through the roof: The ceiling vents were sealed leaving only one open at each; and this along with 4 new roof vents will to keep air moving and thus prevent condensation; a walkway was installed to make it easier and, more importantly, safer to move about.
Many other tasks have been, or are currently being, carried out, or commissioned, by the Property Committee, both routine and one-off items including: radiator covers, upgrading the disabled toilet, on-going cycle of manse repairs and decoration, adaptations to some pews necessitated by the work on the heating system and the new AV equipment, roof repairs and gutter cleaning, re-sealing the large hall floor; boxing in of boilers;, the hall and stair have been redecorated in the Manse; a thermostatically controlled, tubular electric heater was installed in the Vestry.
A considerable amount of joinery (and other) work was done "in-house", particularly by Alex Forrest, Ken Mackie and John Stratton, and it would be appropriate to record the congregation's thanks to these, and others, for their commitment of time and effort to the project.
Outside, plans are still being considered for the improvement of the pathway outside the side door. After a long wait, SLC have, at last removed the tree stump and made good the pavement at the corner with the car park. The "dunny" was subject to a clear-out during the summer.
A new sink unit was installed in the Small Hall, paid for by Time for Fellowship.
Thanks to John Stratton, Joe Bradley and the members of the Property Committee, particularly Alistair McGillivray, for their skilled work in keeping the church and manse buildings in an excellent state of repair.
Housekeeping
Since Housekeeping was split from the Property remit in March 2008, it has been in the able hands of Alex and Moira Elliott. However, Alex and Moira have decided that for personal reasons, they would wish to step down from this role. It is appropriate, at this point, to afford the Elliotts the grateful thanks of the Trustees for the sterling work they have carried out to keep the church household working smoothly.
This year has seen a change of cleaner. The new cleaner, Julie O'Conner, took up her post on 1 August and has kept the building in a high state of cleanliness since then. The Management Team took the appointment of the new cleaner as an opportunity to review and update the cleaner's contract. It was agreed to adopt the Church of Scotland contract format. It still remains an important part of the role of Co-ordinator of Housekeeping to liaise with the cleaner to ensure the latter is working effectively and is provided with adequate equipment and materials with which to do her job.
Because of the disruption caused by the installation of new heating and AV systems, the annual early summer "big clean" was deferred to August. Professional cleaners were contracted to clean the carpets with volunteers from the congregation carrying out other cleaning tasks.
A new vacuum cleaner was purchased.
Consumables supplies are now being sourced from a local supplier, Pocketeers. The use of a local supplier is beneficial in terms of delivery and communication. It was also thought right for a local church to engage with local trades.
Some pew cushions have been steam-cleaned and replaced while others have been removed as they are in poor condition. The cost of providing cushions to downstairs pews (except transepts) was estimated to be in excess of £13,000.
Health and Safety
The resignation of Agnes Forrest from her post as Food Health and Safety Officer in April precipitated a discussion of Health and Safety concerns in general. As well as seeking to appoint a new Food Health and Safety Officer, the Management Team recognised the importance of establishing a Health and Safety policy and the creation of the post of Health and Safety Officer to over-see the implementation of this policy.
It is important to realise that, as Trustees, we are all, collectively, liable should St John's be found to be in breach of Health and Safety regulations.
This is seen as such an important issue that the discussion is still on-going. The Management Team want to be sure that we are adequately addressing the matter before making proposals to the Trustees. In the meantime, if anyone has first-hand experience of Health and Safety issues, we would be pleased to have your input. Ken Mackie and John Stratton have produced a draft H&S policy, which will be discussed at a future Management Team meeting.
We would record our thanks to Agnes for her significant and informed input to Food Safety in St John's.
Communications
While the heating system modifications are, largely, "behind the scenes", a more obvious change to the property has been the installation of plasma screens in the church. Again, at the meeting of 4 March, the Trustees approved the purchase and installation of this system. There are 2 large plasma screens for viewing from the centre and side pews and the balcony, 2 smaller LCD screens in the transepts and a smaller plasma screen facing the chancel for the minister and others who may be in the Chancel area (eg Session during Communion).
In addition, a laptop PC was purchased to control Powerpoint presentations and a box of tricks called a "Scalar" is installed which takes video inputs from various sources and feeds the output signal to the screens.
Since August, praise words have been displayed on the screens to eliminate the need to hold hymn books. Although there has been a small number of negative comments, the majority opinion of the congregation seems to be favourable. We are still experimenting with font size and style to try to address the commonest complaint: that it is difficult to see the words clearly.
As part of the AV make-over, an LCD media projector was acquired. This has already been used successfully in a number of meetings. In relation to this, thanks are due to Glenn Walker for the donation of a pair of powered PC speakers for use with AV presentations.
Much of the initial work to approach potential contractors and liaison with the company which was eventually chosen to install the AV system was undertaken by Iris Nelson, to whom I would accord our grateful thanks.
Thanks are due, also to the team of folk, which currently number 5, which ensures that the service is recorded and the praise item words are displayed each Sunday.
Hall Lets
The church hall continue to be well-used by both church and outside groups. It was thought that the opening of the new District Hall would result in a fall in demand for lets, but this has proved not to be the case with this year's requests following a very similar pattern to last year. Of the new complex, only 1/5th of the building is for hall use. Priority will, apparently, be given to St Athanasius' school and Social Work Department requirements and the capacity has been significantly reduced as compared to the previous accommodation.
With the ever-increasing cost of energy, it is important that outside organisations using our premises contribute a realistic amount to this cost. It was reported that it is in order to set an hourly rate, which has been set, initially, at £10 per hour which would defray heating, lighting, general cleaning costs. The hourly rate will be monitored over time to ensure an economical level.
The Hall letting contract was reviewed and amended to include reference to users' responsibilities with respect to Health and Safety, and the growing nuisance of discarded chewing gum and other rubbish not being adequately cleaned up.
Thanks to Helen Wyper for her work in ensuring hall lets are organised efficiently, and to Iris Nelson for organising the distribution and oversight of the electronic key-fob entry system.
Retiral Offerings
It is the remit of the Management Team to identify the recipients of Communion retiral offerings. This year, distribution was as follows:
- June Communion - Ekwendeni School in Malawi
- September Communion - Mary's Meals (an international movement to set up school feeding projects in communities where poverty and hunger prevent children from gaining an education.)
- December Communion - RNLI
- Watchnight - to be identified from DEC appeal current at the time.
The Future
As well as standing maintenance tasks, outstanding issues, in no particular order, include:
- The finalisation of a Health and Safety policy.
- The appointment of a H&S officer to oversee the above.
- The appointment of a Housekeeping co-ordinator.
- Enhancement of the AV system to include a Tilt/Pan/Zoom camera (or 2). In the meantime, we are indebted to Ken Mackie who has donated a domestic camcorder which we have begun to use in morning services.
- Upgrading the AV "control centre" desks in the north transept.
- Preparation of door duty/offering counting teams and procedures, in conjunction with Session.
- Co-option of new members to the Management Team.
- Relaying of footpath, removal of hedge and construction of a retaining wall at side of church.
- Reduction of trip hazard at front of church.
- Renovation of the basement accommodation, especially the office.
- Sourcing storage trolleys for the safe stacking and movement of the folding tables in the Large Hall.
- Investigating and remedying a leak at the fire door at the side of the church.
- Completion of upgrade to disabled toilet
Conclusion
It is quite possible that I have omitted to mention someone or something of significance, for which I apologise.
I would end my report by recording, once again, my thanks, to all the members of the Management Team, and others, who have contributed so ably on behalf of the congregation to the many tasks, large and small, dealt with by the Team throughout the year.
Added: 6 December 2009 (GR)
