Minutes from our 2025 meeting here:
All Saints Oving with Pitchcott
Annual Parochial Church Meeting
Minutes of the Meeting held in Oving Church on Sunday 11 May 2025 at 11am
Members Present: Rev Steve Flashman, Susan Hodges (CW), Jean Goss (CW & T),
Angie Bamford (Sec/Cl), Sue Jarvis, Ann Murray, Sarah Westacott & Marc Ponsford
Congregation: Paul Bowen, Janet Brunswick, David Midwinter, Malcolm Healey, Richard Parrott, James & Alison Bush, Trish Perkins, Nicole Shields & Sarah Flashman
– Total 9 present
Minutes: Angie Bamford
| PCC/25/25 | Opening Prayer & Welcome | Action |
| PCC/25/26 | Appointment of Chair and Clerk to the Meeting Chair – Rev Steve Flashman was proposed – ALL AGREED Clerk – Angie Bamford was proposed – ALL AGREED | ALL |
| PCC/25/27 | Election of Church Wardens Susan Hodges & Jean Goss – ALL AGREED. | ALL |
| PCC/25/28 | Apologies for Absence Nick Coleman | |
| PCC/25/29 | Minutes of Previous Annual Parochial Church Meeting The minutes of the meeting held on 12 May 2024 were agreed and signed as an accurate record. | SF |
| PCC/25/30 | Election of Deanery Synod Representative(s) – Claydon Deanery Group Paul Bowen agreed to re-stand for this role. | PB |
| PCC/25/31 | Election of Parochial Church Council Members The following were proposed and agreed to be re-appointed for another year. Revd Steve Flashman (Ex-officio) Susan Hodges – Church Warden Jean Goss – Church Warden & Treasurer Angie Bamford – Secretary/Clerk Sarah Westacott Marc Ponsford Ann Murray Sue Jarvis has stepped down from PCC, thanks was given for all Sue’s hard work. Although not on PCC, Karen Boulton remains as Safeguarding Officer. | |
| PCC/25/32 | Appointment of Sidesmen/Welcomers If anyone would like to volunteer for these roles, please see Susan Hodges – who will the put names onto the rota. Susan commented that it has been mentioned that Oving Church was the most welcoming in the Schorne Team. | SH |
| PCC/25/33 | Appointment of Independent Examiner/Auditor Nick Coleman, subject to his agreement. | NC |
| PCC/25/34 | Annual Report on the PCC Proceedings: (Vicar’s Report) Following on from reports last year of young people becoming Christians on University Campuses in the US and Europe, the trend is continuing in 2025. Church attendance has risen by 50 per cent over the last six years, shattering the myth of church decline. The findings come in The Quiet Revival, a survey commissioned by the Bible Society and conducted by YouGov. The reports show that while some traditional denominations continue to face challenges, we’ve seen significant, broad-based growth among most expressions of Church – particularly in Roman Catholicism and Pentecostalism. There are now over 2 million more people attending church than there were six years ago. It’s good to have a focus for our ministry and mission, and we continue to draw from our studies in Nehemiah over two years ago, where we explored what it means to be A Sacred Space, A Safe Space and A Social Space as a church. Our aim is to create spaces for all people to benefit from the incredible heritage we have as a church at All Saints as we think about how we might grow. We continue to work together with Quainton Parish in our focus on Community Engagement – these included joint services with Quainton, the Community Choir which runs every Friday morning during School term at the Memorial Hall in Quainton, and the various fundraising initiatives and community events we organise here in Oving for the benefit of all. Our joint Plough Sunday service was held at the beginning of this year and was once again well attended by both Quainton and Oving parishes – this year we were hosted by Susan and Philip Hodges on the farm with special guests the Whitchurch Morris Dancers. Joint Praise & Worship services have been held with Quainton and the rest of the Schorne Team. Jane Vowles (licensed lay minister LLM) continues to lead one service a month in Oving – 1st Sunday of the month. She started on 18 March 2024, and this employment will be from a £15,000 Diocesan Grant which in continuing for another year. Steve’s Licence expires in October 2026. The Church Wardens and the PCC’s have begun to think about succession planning and are in touch with our new Bishop of Buckingham, Dave Bull in this regard. Conservation, Restoration and Re-ordering:- It’s been a frustrating year to say the least. After the church failed the Electrical Safety Test, we had to relocate to the Village Hall through much of the Winter. We now have temporary lighting and heating in the church. We continue to have challenges with bats – however, at the time of writing this report, things are looking more hopeful. It has now been established that we can replace the wiring without the need for a Faculty from the Diocese as long as we follow the existing electrical plan. When we come to replace the lighting and heating, we will need a Faculty. We propose to obtain three quotes for a complete rewiring, keeping, but updating the electrical connections to the lighting and heating – and we will do this as a first phase to get the church up and running again. We will then look at obtaining Faculties for new lighting and heating as was already proposed at our last APCM in May last year. As soon as we get three quotes, we will ask our long-suffering Fundraising Team to get to work in raising finance for the first phase of this work to be completed. Personal update: Sarah was made redundant from her Diocesan Post in September and after having a three-month sabbatical, is now looking for a full-time job – preferably in the Church of England. Prayers please. Finally. We are people of faith, so we must not lose sight of the calling God has given to our church and all of us who form part of this community – to live out our faith and invite others to follow Jesus too. Remember our verse for this JUBILEE YEAR: “May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace as you trust in him, so that you may overflow with hope by the power of the Holy Spirit.” Romans 15:13 | SF |
| PCC/25/35 | Treasurer’s Report Copies of the full report were handed out and can be viewed on the website. Thanks were given to Paul Bowen for auditing the accounts for many years and to Nick Coleman who has taken on this role. John Williams has successfully reclaimed the Gift Aid for us and recovered £1,517.75 this year. The Trustee Fund, held by the Oxford Central Board of Finance, for upkeep of the churchyard (including the grave of Elizabeth Pursell) accumulated interest of £81.59 and is shown in the interest received column of the income received sheet. The Church planned Giving Scheme raised £3,535.75 and an additional £480 was given for the upkeep of Pitchcott Church. The Diocese Planned Giving Scheme raised £3,591.89, plus £862.76 as Gift Aid. Sunday service collections raised £2,133.10 – many thanks to the congregation. Total amount for Planned Giving, Gift Aid & collections is £12,121.25. Donations, Fundraising, Adverts, Interest and Fees received raised £8,165.55. All of these amounts total £20,286.80, as shown on the receipts sheet. Expenses have increased and we were unable to meet the Parish Share, although an extra £1,500 was paid, making the total paid £5,100.00 – £5,977 below the £11,077 requested. Receipts exceeded expenses by £491.97, however, £2,000 from donations were given for the Church improvements that are needed – hence paying the Parish Share was unattainable at this present time. Thanks must go to everyone for supporting and helping raise funds for the much-needed repairs and improvements to our beautiful church. HSBC Current Account Total – £11,123.36 Income – £20,286.80 Expenditure – £19,858.85 CCLA Totals – £16,468.14 Pitchcott Churchyard – £2,089.99 Oving Churchyard Account – £2,614.18 General – £1,270.22 Fabric – £10,493.75 TSB Account Total – £22,213.69 Income – £20,286.80 Expenditure – £19,858.85 As of 31 December 2024 Thanks were given for all the hard work that Jean had done in the previous year. | JG |
| PCC/25/36 | Church Warden’s Report Even though we still face challenges with the Electrical upgrades to be carried out, the special services continued with the following that were held this year :- Plough Sunday with the Whitchurch Morris Dancers – 60 attendeesMothering Sunday with flowers to take homeEaster Services with egg huntRogation – hosted by QuaintonMemorial service with candlesRemembrance service with display of knitted/crochet PoppiesChristingle service with decorated orangesCarol service with mulled wine and mince piesChristmas service We’ve also held some good fundraising activities such as the Church Fete – which was hard work but beneficial, a Craft Fair (our first one), Breakfast in the Hall, Christmas Tree Festival and Plant Sale. North & South (Elaine & Malcolm) also held a Concert in the hall to raise funds for the Church, so a big thank you to them. Charities that we have donated to this year include:- The British Legion (Remembrance) Katamega – Kenya (Harvest) Children’s Society (Christingle) Thanks were given to all the team for their continued hard work and a special Thank You to Sue Jarvis, as she steps down from the PCC. Thanks were also given to Malcolm and Tessa for playing the organ/keyboards for us at the Sunday services and for Steve, Sarah & Jane for taking the services each week. Thanks also to everyone who has helped support us in anyway during the year, with the upkeep and running of our beautiful Church. | SH |
| PCC/25/37 | Safeguarding Report To be forwarded from Karen Boulton | |
| PCC/25/38 | Any Other Matters of Parochial or General Church Interest NS – Are there any Evening Services – the only village in the Schorne Team to hold these is Quainton.Please see the Village Newsletter, for a list of all the services coming up each month.Please feel free to e-mail Steve at steve@steveflashman.com if you have any suggestions to help our Church going forward.The next Parish Council meeting will be on 9 June 2025 | |
| PCC/25/39 | Closing Prayer Meeting closed at 12 noon. |
(CW) = Church Warden
(T) = Treasurer
(SG) = Safeguarding
(Sec/Cl) = Secretary/Clerk