Andrew took the chair in Stuart’s absence (he is on 2 weeks much deserved annual leave). Andrew opened with a reading from Psalm 121 with a reminder to lift up our eyes – sometimes in Parish Council we can get locked in the weeds.

The Rector’s report was prepared by  Stuart in advance. He reported on a number of matters:

• Community Lunches – the last community lunch was very good, we look forward to next month with Angela Brun, Opera Australia soloist and Little Sheep parent who will be singing to us.
• Mothers Day weekend and the numbers across all the congregations
• Staffing – Jassen Rose has now been formalised as organist at St Peter’s much to the appreciation of the congregation.
• Welcome afternoon tea – we have invited 27 people who have started coming to SHAP recently to an afternoon tea at the Rectory
• Link Missionaries – we are farewelling Andrew, Abi and Timmy Buchanan as they return to Indonesia.

The Wardens and Property report were presented.

• We are very pleased to report that we have a donation in memory of Toni Russell which will be used to resurface the driveway using pebble-crete from the Mine owned by the Russell Family in Northern NSW. The work will be done at the end of June in the school holidays.
• The steps at St Michael’s up to the office have been completed
• We have received permission to go ahead with the works to repair water damage at St Peter’s Hall following the recent inundation. The wardens are looking at ways to ensure that we make the hall more flood proof.
• We have the opportunity to apply for community grants from NSW State Government. After discussion it was decided to review opportunities including a piano at St Peter’s, window repairs in St Michael’s Hall and electrical repairs.
• Staffing Matters Marion Auld has accepted a full time job at UNSW, so she will be moving on from the communications role at SHAP. Marion is to be congratulated on this role, and the Parish Council posted a vote of thanks for the work she has done.

A discussion was held on giving to the church. Four months into the year we are ahead of our budget, so if we could increase our giving by 10% we would be well placed to expand our ministry, particularly with youth and kids.  We can do that by bringing on more people as regular givers. A lot of worthwhile ideas were discussed, mostly about communicating a clear vision to the community of how ministry could be expanded. We also discussed opportunities to make the opportunity for giving via bequests more visible.