Minute book

The minutes are mainly those of the Management Committee, to which was also reported the annual meeting of the congregation. This meeting elected the officers and was presented with the annual statement of accounts. The Committee meanwhile continued to manage the business of the church. An interesting aspect of the minutes is the freedom which the Committee had to call for application and to interview applicants for the post of minister in charge before submitting a name to the Bishop

The following items are included:-

Inside front cover: List of official appointments and important events, 1885-1901

f.2v. announcement by the Rev. O.J. Vignoles of his forthcoming resignation, June 1885

f.3v-4. discussion on search for a new minister to recommend to the Bishop, August 1885

ff.4v-8. list of applicants; decision to invite possible selected ones to preach and take some services; final choice, November, December 1885, January 1886; the man selected subsequently having made unacceptable requests for altering the services, the Bishop suggested another name, February 1886

f.9. report that The Rev. G.S. Jellicoe had been licensed and taken up his duties in March, September 1886

f.10. report of the gift of a small harmonium by Mr. Vignoles, June 1887

f.12. note of a legacy from Miss Pickford, January 1888

f.14. agreement to repaint the church, April 1888

f.16v. newspaper cutting reporting annual vestry meeting [July 1889] - also ff.21v, 33, 34v, 35v, 1890-1894

f.19. report on Mr. Jellicoe's resignation on being appointed elsewhere and announcement that Mr. John Cooke was the Bishop's nominee; decision to adhere to the practice of chanting the Psalms on one Sunday evening in the month, June 1890

ff.20v-21. agreement on tender for paving the approach to the church, June 1890

ff.22v-32. discussion concerning the purchase of a new organ and its cost, September - December 1890, January, February, August 1891

f.30v. newspaper cutting reporting the opening of the new organ, Ascension Day 1891

f.34. decision to make two new windows, August 1892

f.38. note concerning Mr. Cooke's long illness, September 1895

f.39v-41. minutes concerning the building of a school room, June 1897; agreement on cost - leasehold ground already held in trust etc., - gas fittings and furnishing etc. - all reported as complete, and agreement to let the room for evening church purposes, January 1898

f.42. agreement to let the classroom, to Mr. Dixon's Orchestral Society, June 1898

ff.44v-45v. discussions on money-raising to improve the organ, November 1900, April 1901

f.48v. newspaper cutting reporting in full J. Cooke's first sermon, 9 July 1890