Vestry Notes
The latest meeting of the Vestry took place on Tuesday, February 2 nd .
After the opening prayers the meeting began with the Chairman, the Rev.
Lesley-ann Craddock welcoming the two new Vestry members, Linda Allan
and Linda Hardie.
It was good to see new blood in the Vestry (not literally!) and both ladies
seem likely to be great assets both to the Vestry and St Oswald’s as a
whole.
Another new face at the meeting was that of Willie Whitelaw who is being
employed until March 2017 to conduct a feasibility study to see if a Men’s
Shed would be welcomed by the local community. As I think I tried to explain
in a previous Vestry report, Men’s Shed are supposed to provide space for
men to learn new skills e.g., carpentry or cooking which migh t help them to
socialise with each other in a way that men, unlike women, tend to do. This
would be of particular help to men who are unemployed or suffering
emotional difficulties but the shed would be open to anyone. Someone did
ask if that included women but that seems to me to defeat the purpose of the
exercise. Willie Whitelaw introduced himself, explaining that he had worked
with the local councils in the past but now had his own company and
described himself as a freelance community worker. He reported that he had
already found considerable interest in the project in the local area.
My only difficulty with him is his name; it suggests to me a former prominent
member of Mrs Thatcher’s government in 1979 and my first reaction when
the name was mentioned was to say “he’s dead”! But, presumably, people
younger than me won’t have that problem.
On the property front we heard that new locks were about to be fitted to the
church so that we know who has access to the building. We also heard that
John Caullay, the plumber, will be fitting 2 new central heating boilers to
replace the existing ones which are unreliable. He will also be fitting a new
kitchen in due course.
The Rev. Lesley-ann said that there would be services in Holy Week on
Maundy Thursday and Good Friday and the Easter Vigil would take place at
the 10am service on Easter Sunday.
The white cross outside the church is to be covered with moss and wire and
daffodils will be inserted in it for Easter Day. This should be a striking sight
and a good witness to the Resurrection to anyone passing the Church.
Paula Fleetwood.
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