Street Business Meeting 4th October 2015
1. We heard Advices and Queries No 28
2. Present Sheila James, Caroline Gould, Petronella Clark, Sally Askins, Hazel Eldridge, Tony Habgood, Elaine Allen, Nadia Langley, Celia Green, Sue Monaghan, Bernard Cremieu-Alcan, Judith Badman, Margaret Chapman, Richard Clark, jane Wilson
3. Extracts from Street Elders Meeting of 3rd September 2015
Mid Week Meeting
“We think of recommending a monthly midweek meeting, possibly on a Wednesday evening, starting in the New Year. This would allow Friends and others who are prevented from attending on a Sunday to attend Meeting for Worship. We will explore what support there might be for such a meeting.” Jane Wilson has offered to co-ordinate this but it would need a group of about 4 to ensure it can happen regularly. It would be about 45 minutes in duration. We ask those interested to contact Jane
Afterword
“We feel that Afterword has outlived its original purpose and should be laid down.”
4. Resident Friend/Warden update :
Recruitment: We have advertised for a “Volunteer Warden” (rather than Resident Friend) in The Friend, on the warden’s forum and on our website. We have so far received 5 enquiries. None of these has yet returned an application form. The closing date is October 16th.
Selection & Interview panel
The Premises Committee agreed that this panel should be appointed by the Meeting. To avoid a lengthy selection process for the panel they suggest that Elders, Overseers and Premises Committee each nominate one of their number to be a member of the panel, together with the Clerk or Assistant Clerk, with the option to co-opt if needed.
This suggestion is acceptable to the Meeting and we ask that the nominations be sent to the Clerk. We authorise the panel to undertake the selection process and make a recommendation to the AM trustees without needing further consultation with BM.
Interim Period
We are very grateful to Bernard Cremieu-Alcan for all the work that he is doing to keep the Meeting going in the interim. We ask Margaret Chapman to meet with Bernard to determine how other Friends can best help
Dates of Area Meetings and Business Meetings 2016
Area Meeting venues 2016
The following venues were proposed at Area meeting
Local Meetings were asked to confirm by next November Area Meeting whether they are acceptable:
January Sat 9th Wincanton
March Sat 12th Long Sutton
July Sat 9th Street
September Sat 10th Wincanton
November Sat 12th Long Sutton
We ask AM to confirm the times of day for these Meetings. (In 2015 January and November were at 11am, others at 2pm
We would prefer the January meeting to be on the 16th to allow BM to be on the 10th of January, thus avoiding the New Year period. If possible we would like to retain some Sunday Area Meetings; which encourage us to attend Meeting for Worship at other meetings
Proposed dates for Business meeting
December 6th 2015 or January 10th if AM is changed
February No BM or AM
March 6th (AM March 12th)
April 3rd (no AM)
May 8th (No AM and May 1st is Bank Holiday )
June 5th (No AM)
July 3rd (AM July 9th)
August No BM or AM
September 4th (AM Sept 10th)
October 2nd (No AM)
November 6th
December no BM (But may depend on AM date in January 2017)
6. Courses and Conferences
1. Librarians Course at Woodbrooke 30th October with optional stayover
“Spirited Librarianship: using library resources to deepen the spiritual life of the Meeting”
We are happy to support Sue Monaghan to attend this course with another Friend if possible. Interested Friends should speak to Sue Monaghan about attending with her.
2. Catching Light – connecting Outreach and Witness 12-14 Feb 2016 at High Leigh
We are happy to support Tyna Redpath in attending this course.
QPSW Spring Conference 2016 Swanwick
Area meetings have been invited to appoint and pay the fees of Friends who attend the conference. It is hoped that Local Meetings will suggest names of Friends who might benefit from attending. We hope to be able to forward a name or names to November AM
8. Items from AM (Minutes that we have been asked to draw to the attention of the Meeting)
34/15 Coordinating Local Meeting Events.
Further to minute 31/15, which asked Local Meeting
Clerks to advise our other Local Meeting Clerks of events with the hope we avoid date clashes;news of events have mostly been circulated by our Local Meeting newsletters since June we hope this will continue; we ask those involved in distribution to continue to be vigilant.
8/15 Area Meeting Clerk 2016 to December 2017
Our Clerk was appointed till December 2015 only. We ask our Nominations Committee to consider this and report back to our November Meeting. Our current Clerk is prepared to stand for the further two years but we welcome any additional names nominations committee may consider and encourage any Friend who might feel so called, to contact any nominations committee member. Street Meeting are happy for the current AM Clerk to continue and we do not wish to make any further nominations.
42/15 QARN speaker We have heard Sheila Moseley and Rosemary Andoh of Quaker Asylum Seekers and Refugee Network speak to us on their work, the current situation and how we can support them. We have listened with love and concern for those affected. We encourage this Meeting to consider if and how we can act corporately; we ask our Clerk to collect names of those
who are prepared to act together ."We thank Sheila and Rosemary for their excellent presentation."
43/15 Speaker for our November Meeting, further to our minute 25/15 of our June Area Meeting, we have agreed that we should invite a speaker on Islamophobia to a later Meeting than November
9. Visit from Church Stretton Meeting October 16th 2015
There are likely to be about 7 Friends on this visit. Sheila James will open the Meeting House and stay for the duration of the visit. Other Friends will be welcome to assist.
10. Rotas
We feel that the current rota system for welcoming and refreshments at Meeting for Worship has been tried for a reasonable time and now needs review. We will return to this at our next BM.
11. Boundary Wall
Richard Clark, Caroline Gould and Petronella Clark declared an interest and were not present while the following Minute was written and agreed.
We have heard from Richard Clark about the history and current situation regarding the wall between the Burial Ground and C&J Clark. We are very concerned about this situation especially the proposed imminent removal of the scaffolding currently holding the wall in place.We hope that agreement can be reached quickly on the basis of a reasonable division of costs. We have been informed that Trust money can be found for a proportion of the costs on our side. We hope AM Trustees will act speedily. We forward this Minute to Richard Porter, Clerk of AM Trustees.
1. We heard Advices and Queries No 28
2. Present Sheila James, Caroline Gould, Petronella Clark, Sally Askins, Hazel Eldridge, Tony Habgood, Elaine Allen, Nadia Langley, Celia Green, Sue Monaghan, Bernard Cremieu-Alcan, Judith Badman, Margaret Chapman, Richard Clark, jane Wilson
3. Extracts from Street Elders Meeting of 3rd September 2015
Mid Week Meeting
“We think of recommending a monthly midweek meeting, possibly on a Wednesday evening, starting in the New Year. This would allow Friends and others who are prevented from attending on a Sunday to attend Meeting for Worship. We will explore what support there might be for such a meeting.” Jane Wilson has offered to co-ordinate this but it would need a group of about 4 to ensure it can happen regularly. It would be about 45 minutes in duration. We ask those interested to contact Jane
Afterword
“We feel that Afterword has outlived its original purpose and should be laid down.”
4. Resident Friend/Warden update :
Recruitment: We have advertised for a “Volunteer Warden” (rather than Resident Friend) in The Friend, on the warden’s forum and on our website. We have so far received 5 enquiries. None of these has yet returned an application form. The closing date is October 16th.
Selection & Interview panel
The Premises Committee agreed that this panel should be appointed by the Meeting. To avoid a lengthy selection process for the panel they suggest that Elders, Overseers and Premises Committee each nominate one of their number to be a member of the panel, together with the Clerk or Assistant Clerk, with the option to co-opt if needed.
This suggestion is acceptable to the Meeting and we ask that the nominations be sent to the Clerk. We authorise the panel to undertake the selection process and make a recommendation to the AM trustees without needing further consultation with BM.
Interim Period
We are very grateful to Bernard Cremieu-Alcan for all the work that he is doing to keep the Meeting going in the interim. We ask Margaret Chapman to meet with Bernard to determine how other Friends can best help
Dates of Area Meetings and Business Meetings 2016
Area Meeting venues 2016
The following venues were proposed at Area meeting
Local Meetings were asked to confirm by next November Area Meeting whether they are acceptable:
January Sat 9th Wincanton
March Sat 12th Long Sutton
July Sat 9th Street
September Sat 10th Wincanton
November Sat 12th Long Sutton
We ask AM to confirm the times of day for these Meetings. (In 2015 January and November were at 11am, others at 2pm
We would prefer the January meeting to be on the 16th to allow BM to be on the 10th of January, thus avoiding the New Year period. If possible we would like to retain some Sunday Area Meetings; which encourage us to attend Meeting for Worship at other meetings
Proposed dates for Business meeting
December 6th 2015 or January 10th if AM is changed
February No BM or AM
March 6th (AM March 12th)
April 3rd (no AM)
May 8th (No AM and May 1st is Bank Holiday )
June 5th (No AM)
July 3rd (AM July 9th)
August No BM or AM
September 4th (AM Sept 10th)
October 2nd (No AM)
November 6th
December no BM (But may depend on AM date in January 2017)
6. Courses and Conferences
1. Librarians Course at Woodbrooke 30th October with optional stayover
“Spirited Librarianship: using library resources to deepen the spiritual life of the Meeting”
We are happy to support Sue Monaghan to attend this course with another Friend if possible. Interested Friends should speak to Sue Monaghan about attending with her.
2. Catching Light – connecting Outreach and Witness 12-14 Feb 2016 at High Leigh
We are happy to support Tyna Redpath in attending this course.
QPSW Spring Conference 2016 Swanwick
Area meetings have been invited to appoint and pay the fees of Friends who attend the conference. It is hoped that Local Meetings will suggest names of Friends who might benefit from attending. We hope to be able to forward a name or names to November AM
8. Items from AM (Minutes that we have been asked to draw to the attention of the Meeting)
34/15 Coordinating Local Meeting Events.
Further to minute 31/15, which asked Local Meeting
Clerks to advise our other Local Meeting Clerks of events with the hope we avoid date clashes;news of events have mostly been circulated by our Local Meeting newsletters since June we hope this will continue; we ask those involved in distribution to continue to be vigilant.
8/15 Area Meeting Clerk 2016 to December 2017
Our Clerk was appointed till December 2015 only. We ask our Nominations Committee to consider this and report back to our November Meeting. Our current Clerk is prepared to stand for the further two years but we welcome any additional names nominations committee may consider and encourage any Friend who might feel so called, to contact any nominations committee member. Street Meeting are happy for the current AM Clerk to continue and we do not wish to make any further nominations.
42/15 QARN speaker We have heard Sheila Moseley and Rosemary Andoh of Quaker Asylum Seekers and Refugee Network speak to us on their work, the current situation and how we can support them. We have listened with love and concern for those affected. We encourage this Meeting to consider if and how we can act corporately; we ask our Clerk to collect names of those
who are prepared to act together ."We thank Sheila and Rosemary for their excellent presentation."
43/15 Speaker for our November Meeting, further to our minute 25/15 of our June Area Meeting, we have agreed that we should invite a speaker on Islamophobia to a later Meeting than November
9. Visit from Church Stretton Meeting October 16th 2015
There are likely to be about 7 Friends on this visit. Sheila James will open the Meeting House and stay for the duration of the visit. Other Friends will be welcome to assist.
10. Rotas
We feel that the current rota system for welcoming and refreshments at Meeting for Worship has been tried for a reasonable time and now needs review. We will return to this at our next BM.
11. Boundary Wall
Richard Clark, Caroline Gould and Petronella Clark declared an interest and were not present while the following Minute was written and agreed.
We have heard from Richard Clark about the history and current situation regarding the wall between the Burial Ground and C&J Clark. We are very concerned about this situation especially the proposed imminent removal of the scaffolding currently holding the wall in place.We hope that agreement can be reached quickly on the basis of a reasonable division of costs. We have been informed that Trust money can be found for a proportion of the costs on our side. We hope AM Trustees will act speedily. We forward this Minute to Richard Porter, Clerk of AM Trustees.