Immaculate Heart of Mary Catholic Church

Vocation EXPO - 30th April – 3rd May - 2009

Minutes from meeting: - Monday 9th February 2009

Core team present:

Siobhan, Fr Paul (Chair), Shan, Edward, Jo and Sunshine

Apologies:
Steve, Janie

Joined at meeting by Paul McKeown, overseeing internet site and facebook/bebo

Actions from last meeting:

• SS to email the contact details for Texaco, Total, Murco, BP in order for letters to be
sent regarding sponsorship. ACTION: SS
• SF to continue making contact with the other organisations on the list regarding
sponsorship until she receives a response. ACTION: SF
• SF to make contact with other organisations regarding sponsorship i.e. Tesco’s,
Sainsbury’s, McCain’s Funeral and Martin Reinhart. ACTION: SF
• The whole area needs to be risk assessed for wheelchairs – SN to follow up
with John Kerrison. ACTION: SN
• JF to chase the Catholic newspapers. ACTION: JF
• All to be involved in providing further information to the church regarding the event
i.e. a list of jobs that the event will require support with. ACTION: ALL
• FrP to speak to the musicians he had approached before his trip to Belize about
providing some music at the closing map. ACTION: Fr Paul
• FrP to clarify catering / facilities available for the event. ACTION: Fr Paul
• SS to action a letter to John McDonald regarding the vocation event. ACTION: SS
• JF to contact Paul Carver in relation to catering for the event to see what the costs
would be. ACTION: JF
• FrP to clarify catering / facilities available for the event. ACTION: Fr Paul
• FrP to speak with the chaplain at Douay Martyr’s regarding the event: ACTION: Fr
Paul
• Group to look out for a couple of people that would be interested in the above i.e.
taking photographs, producing a video or articles surrounding the event. ACTION:
ALL
• FrP collecting information for accommodation by 28.03.09. ACTION: Fr Paul
• FrP to contact Hayes FM regarding promotion and being interviewed in relation to
this event. ACTION: Fr Paul
• We need to produce a Flyer/leaflet and insert in the newsletter or give out after
masses. We need to also think about whether we should mention more during the
masses about the event. ACTION: Group
• PMcK to look at getting permission from the director of the Great Silence to see if we
could use some of the film on the website. ACTION: PMcK

Sponsorship

Siobhan and Shan to Coordinate

Database created including other communication?
Follow up update and strategy.
Target concerns and amount
Are there more/alternative sponsors?

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 Immaculate Heart of Mary Catholic Church
Vocation EXPO - 30th April – 3rd May - 2009

SF provided an update to the group to date about the sponsorship but explained that to date
we only have 10% towards the £10,000 total which is expected. As most of the contacts on
the list are charities it is unlikely they will provide sponsorship however Fr Paul disagreed
with this. Fr Paul reminded everyone that the organisations advertise their services in the
books and it is possible we can get money from them. Fr Paul advised that the religious orders
can be approached for money however, for all not to be too concerned. SF explained that she
would continue making contact with the other organisations on the list until she receives a
response. Action: SF/SS/SN

SF explained that she had contacted Sainsbury’s, Tesco’s Martin Reinhart, McCain’s Funeral
services for help with this event. ACTION: SF

SS also explained that he had spoken with other companies which included Texaco, BP, Total
and Murco and they have agreed to help but will require a letter to follow up the conversation.
Action: SS

Other suggestions were about advertising at the London Palladium and Sound of Music and
there was a mention from Paul McK about a film called The Great Silence and whether we
would be able to use it for the website if we had permission. ACTION: PMcK

John McDonald - SS stated that he had phoned John McDonald’s office but to date he had not
received a response. Shan suggested that at letter be sent to John McDonald. Action: SS

SN has actioned the charity receipt for any sponsorship which comes through for the event.

EXPO Event

Edward and Sunshine to coordinate

Attend meeting 6/2 –
(Liaise with each group co-ordinator. Confirm Exhibit attendee number, need for
accommodation, need for transport, and any special needs.)

Space available update

(How do we need to split out rooms - purposes, names of exhibitors and numbers where does
it start?)

EJ had met with SN to measure the rooms available for the event. EJ was currently in the
process of drawing up the plan.

Hosts
Jo and Sunshine to coordinate with support form Janie
St Raphael etc update.
How should we organize/advertise this for parishioners?
Assess how many required? Work with Expo event feedback
How should we assemble to avoid the willing few?

Accommodation
JF mentioned as did SDeS that they had spoken with St Raphael’s convent and they have
advised they would not have any rooms available during the time frame.

ACTION: Fr Paul collecting information for accommodation by 28.03.09

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Vocation EXPO - 30th April – 3rd May - 2009

Catering
Who will coordinate?
Exhibitors - Update from Paul Carver or others?
What should we be aiming to provide?
What times do we need to provide for?
How should we coordinate visitors?

JF explained that Paul Carver had been asked to do the catering for the event however, Fr
Paul wanted to know what the costs would be. ACTION: JF
JF said that she had spoken with Paul and a preference would be to look at the kitchen
however the question about whether it could be used or alternative would be using the house
kitchen. FrP seemed to think that this would not be possible and wondered whether the
church should look at using the house cook. ACTION: FrP to determine what facilities for
event i.e. Scout Hut for food, maybe house cook could do the food?

Competition

Who will coordinate?

Plan to contact schools/part of communication with schools?
CD production – self or business – update?

Schools
Fr Paul raised that the chaplain at Douay Martyr’s had been trying to get in contact with
regarding the event. ACTION: Fr Paul to speak with the chaplain

Children from all over the country had been in contact about the vocation expo but in
particular the competition.

Paul McKeown sent through an email requesting that St Joseph’s school be taken off the
mailing list for Vocation Expo.

CD
A decision about the cd rom would be more useful after the event rather than for discussion
now. Fr Paul stated that these would be sent to the schools. SF confirmed that SN had been in
contact with someone about this but was waiting for a response. Action: Not urgent – to be
dealt with towards the end of the vocation expo event.

Sunshine mentioned that it was a good idea to involve a local IT specialist school to be
involved.

Communication

Jo and Sunshine to co-ordinate

Update with newspapers?
Update with schools?
Next steps?
Have we identified all schools in a radius?

How is website developing?

When should we include Facebook?

Catholic Newspapers

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Vocation EXPO - 30th April – 3rd May - 2009

JF explained that SN’s friend has refreshed the document which she had sent out to the papers
however there had been no response to date. This has been sent to the Universe, Catholic
Herald, and Independent. Action: JF to chase the newspaper who have been contacted
JF to chase the newspapers.
PMcK suggested that any work relating to Vocation Expo should be blogged on Facebook (set
up by Siobhan and Paul McKeown) and Bebo (Sunshine DeSouza’s son had set up a group).
PMcK asked to ensure that the content was appropriate the group should have moderators
who will review all the information. EJ agreed to ask his wife to moderate with support from
SF. SF also contacted a friend who is part of HCPT and is also a teacher/chaplain and she has
agreed to review all information on the vocation expo group.

Flyer – SN actioned the flyer a few weekends ago but Sunshine confirmed that there was no
further information to entice people to get involved in the vocation expo event.

PMcK asked about whether the group had thought about the actual event and whether it
would consider using videos/photography/articles and someone to be interviewed.
- added to list for advert
- put up on line
- who would do
Action: Group to look out for a couple of people that would be interested in the above
i.e. taking photographs, producing a video or articles surrounding the event

Holidays

AOB

Fr Paul mentioned about advertising the event on Hayes FM and everyone seemed to agree it
was a good idea. Fr Paul also spoke with a TV presenter about the event.

Fr Paul provided an update regarding:

Confirmation groups
Fr Paul suggested contact be made to Westminster Diocesan to see how we can get them
involved. Sunshine asked about what work they could be involved in and JF/Fr Paul
suggested that their involvement could be with the competition and Bell House.

Friday 6th February 2009

19/20 religious groups came to the meeting however, some other people attended that were
not at the meeting in January 2009.

13th March 2009

There is an open meeting
To agree approximate map of places for the exhibitions
EJ drawing up the plans
Checklist of information as to what you need

Opening event
Fr Paul had concerns about who would open as he explained to the group that all the
organisation’s involved work in parallel. We could invite a bishop and a representative of the
Conference of Religious but he is a member of the conference. Fr Paul suggested rather than
have someone open the event but instead close the event on the Sunday afternoon.

Musicians

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 Immaculate Heart of Mary Catholic Church
Vocation EXPO - 30th April – 3rd May - 2009

Action: Fr Paul to speak to the individuals he has approached.

Other Parish Groups

Fr Paul explained that there had been a mention about the parish groups being involved in the
vocation expo and stated that it would confuse the message about what we are doing. It is
important that we concentrate on the religious and content of expo but we do need to find
ways of getting 16-18 year olds involved.

Job Form
We need to draw up a list of jobs that would be required to be done throughout the Vocation
Expo Event. ACTION: Group to produce

Next meeting: Monday 23rd February 2009 19:30-21:00 – Parish Offices