Parish of The Sacred Heart – Parish Pastoral Council
Minutes of the meeting held on Tuesday 27th May 2025
Present: Fr Peter Raj, Fran Ludden (Chair), Clare Glenn (acting secretary), Nick Elphinstone,
Bruce McKenna, Bob Gale, Peter McKenna, Margaret Burrows, Antonia Martinez, Praveen James
Fr Peter opened the meeting with a prayer.
- Apologies: Cathy Watkins
- It was agreed to finish the meeting by 9pm.
- Minutes of the meeting on 4/3/2025 all agreed and signed.
- Matters arising: It was clarified that all churches had met and discussed the Bishop’s paper &
comments from each were sent to Fr Peter, and on to the Diocese.
5a. Health & Safety update: It was agreed that all first aiders would have refresher training.
Antonia to liaise with John at Sacred Heart to initiate. St Helen’s have recently updated their
First Aid box, and it would be advisable for St John of the Cross and Sacred Heart to do theirs.
5b. Defibrillator training – ongoing
5c. H&S inspections; the Diocese have appointed a new H&S consultant, Hannah Hulse. She will
be visiting all 3 churches in August, the relevant H&S leads have confirmed their availability. St
John of the Cross 11/8/25, St Helen’s 12/8/25, Sacred Heart 13/8/25. - Financial Matters: The final accounts have been produced for the last year with no surprises or
horrors. The income is on budget and spend in line with plans. The disabled access and path has
been completed at the Hall, the disabled toilet has not been completed to date. The bungalow is
now safe and secure, we have received good advice from the Diocese. The external decoration at
Aylsham has been completed and the settlement in the disabled toilet is being monitored. The
refurbishment in the bathroom at the Presbytery is a priority now. St Helen’s and St John of the
Cross have their quinquennial report coming up. St Helen’s need new windows in the porch and
will be seeking advice on that. The Sumup machine has arrived and David is setting this up and
will advise in due course. Michael Downs has moved back to North Wales; he can act in a
consultancy capacity at a distance. If anyone knows of someone willing to take this on, please
speak to Fr Peter. James Bibby has requested a meeting to discuss the house next to the
presbytery. This will then go to the Diocesan Finance Committee. - Parish Social Committee Report: All dates as set and events booked as detailed in previous
minutes. The next meeting is on the 5th September. Bob Gale will attend and he is to be included
in the email. Antonia to confirm the venue. - Parish Priest’s report: Fr Peter thanked all for the work on the PPC and in the parish.
- 7/8th June commissioning and recommissioning of Eucharistic Ministers to include some
practical training in readiness for Corpus Christi when receiving the wine will take place.
This will occur at all Masses and 1 minister will be needed for weekdays and 2 for Sundays. - First Holy Communion will take place on Corpus Christi.
- We have 3 candidates for Confirmation and this will take place on 25th September.
- The feast of the Sacred Heart is on the 27th June and Mass will be at 7.30pm In addition
there will be masses at SH on 24, 25 and 26 June all at 7.30pm. - The feast of St Helen is on 18th August and will be celebrated at the usual Mass on the
16th. It was suggested to have food following the Mass. - This is the Jubilee Year of the Diocese (50 years) and there is a working committee to co-
ordinate events. It has been suggested that each parish have 1 representative. Antonia to
include this in the newsletter and anyone interested please contact Fr Peter or Fran
Ludden. - Fr Peter has been chosen to chair Caritas and this will involve him being away at times.
- Pastoral Parish Councillors Reports:
- Sacred Heart are still having issues with parking in the disabled spaces. Margaret & Peter
will come up with a plan to try and help by working with the car owners. Letters are to be
put on the cars as previously agreed and Antonia will amend the parking letter to reflect
the more recent thinking. - St Helen’s had a well-attended forum meeting recently.
- St John of the Cross had no issues to report from the recent forum meeting.
- AGM – 17th July. Fran to create lists for attendance and food.
- Friends of the Holy Land: it was agreed that they would be approached to speak at all 3
churches. Antonia to arrange speaker. It was mentioned that the link with Cambodia is waning,
Pauline Andrews no longer wished to be the rep. It was suggested that this be taken to the forums
to find out the level of feeling to continue or do we need something new? Action all reps. - AOB:
- Safeguarding to be kept on the agenda as a rolling item. All DBS checks & rechecks have
been done and are up to date. Fr Peter will find someone to help Fran with this. - Census returns Data is confidential – if any information is needed Fr Peter can be
approached for this. - A discussion followed about whether to purchase mass books, sheets or screens. The idea
of screens was not favoured but accepted that the cost of Mass books was prohibitive. It
was agreed to look at a bulk purchase of missals, the cost being shared between the parish
and the individual – and this will be referred to the Finance Committee. It may be
appropriate for each church to do some fundraising to contribute towards the cost. - Peter asked if it would be possible to do some fundraising for his daughter’s nursery. It was
suggested that he speak to Kerry initially. - Praveen indicated that some of the ladies of the Indian community would like to help with
the children – if so the volunteers would need to have a DBS check.
The meeting closed at 9pm with a prayer.
Next meeting: Tuesday 9th September at Aylsham.
