A brief note of some of the discussion and decisions made at the Vestry meeting of March 2022

Safeguarding
We approved the appointment of Elaine Ford as safeguarding officer

Holy Week & Easter
We noted that during Holy Week there would be simple services at 6pm on the first three days, followed by a Liturgy on Maundy Thursday. There would be an ecumenical three hour service on Good Friday and the Stainer Crucifixion. On Easter Saturday there would be the Great Vigil of Easter and at 1030am a children’s event in conjunction with Old St Paul’s, to be held there. There would be no Evensong on Easter Day

Operations
There has been a definite upsurge in bookings, with 4 or 5 enquiries a day, particularly for the summer period. The new fire alarm system is about to be installed. In general there was good news from the recent inspection of the electrical wiring, but some work is needed. Various repairs have been carried out to the chapel and its roof. Iain is keeping an eye on the operation of the roof pump, designed to avoid floods in future.

Ukraine
Following discussion on the various meetings and conversations that have been happening the Rector proposed suggested that Vestry set up a small group, convened by Azeem, to take things forward. Vestry agreed.

Communication
We discussed some issues raised by members of the congregation who have felt that communication on some issues has not been what it might. The Associate Rector and Andrew agreed to explore ways in which this might be improved, including through the use of the website and social media.

Congregation Directory
We discussed some of the issues around reintroducing a congregational directory and noted that the idea of an optional Directory had been tried before the pandemic but the response had been very patchy. The risk of people being scammed if personal information were widely available was a concern. The associate Rector suggested that people who wanted to contact someone whose details they did not have could contact the office to ask them to ask the person concerned to contact them.

Vacancies
We are still in need of a vestry secretary and also need a representative to sit on the board of the Together Trust to replace Anne Pankhurst, who is standing down.

Green Audit
Following Vestry’s discussion Andrew has contacted the various relevant groups to inform them of Vestry’s support for the GGG’s proposals. The Group will be meeting representatives of Together, and representatives of Edinburgh eco-congregations soon thereafter. The SEC has now produced guidance for congregations on Net Zero. The Rector and Andrew would meet in due course to discuss this.

Just Festival
A recording of No Alleluias: A Requiem for 2020, performed at Just Festival in August 2021, is now available on the Festival’s website.

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