Cynon Uchaf Ministry Area Council Key Decisions 27th Jan 2026

What was Decided at the MAC:

On Tuesday 27^th Jan we were updated on the work done following the MAC in October.

This fell into three projects.

Communications:

Christy Law and Finance:

Safeguarding:

We also approved a Sustainable Worship Plan and heard an update from the St Elvans Heritage Trust

Safeguarding:

In October it was agreed Fr Hywel and Andrea Harford would meet to make sure everyone who needed DBS had one and that all training was up to date. Nearly all DBS have been processed and Level B training has taken place in St Elvans in Jan and Level A will take place in by the April MAC. This project is nearly complete.

Charity Law and Financial: 

In the October MAC it was agreed to setup a finance project to address two central issues:

(i)                  To create a plan the MA fully compliant with financial charity law and bring this plan to the Jan MAC meeting for approval

(ii)                To create a delegation of financial responsibility document setting out who is allowed to spend and what approval they will need to do so. This document must be guided by Clarity, Accountability and Transparency. Bring the document to the Jan MAC for approval

The MAC has approved a Finance policy and Action plan which will being the MA in line with charity law and good practice. This can seen on the Cynon Uchaf website in the Ministry Area Admin Page. A summery of the policy and actions are shown below.

Summary:

Most of the finance policy is restating current charity law and good practice withing the charity sector. As we are behind with the accounts and will have to explain why, we must be whiter than white when it comes to our financial governance. The policy sets out the roles of each of the officers and defines terms such as designated and restricted funds.

Plan to implement finance policy:

·         To submit the 2023 account to the charity commission with a covering letter explaining why they are incomplete. (Feb 2026) Fr Hywel will give you a copy of the letter on request.

·        

To recommend to the MAC that all monies in Church accounts to be designated as fabric funds to be used for the maintenance and development of the given church buildings. (Jan MAC meeting)

·        

For the old parishes of St John’s Aberdare and St Fagans Aberdare to pay 75% of common fund. St Winifred’s and St Lleurwgs to pay remaining 25%

·        

To combine running costs of St John’s Aberdare and St Fagans from Jan 2026

·        

For each church to have one current & deposit account for fabric funds and for the MAC secretary to keep a central record of all bank signatories. (April 2026)

·        

To buy all sacristy supplies centrally with an approved budget.  (February 2026)

To set a budget for the MAC (March finance meeting 2026) 

Communication Issues:

At the Oct MAC it was agreed to setup a communications team to complete the following tasks:

1.      To work to create a MA weekly sheet

2.      To work to create a MA weekly email

3.      To work to create a MA magazine

4.      To explore the use of Church Suite Software

The team met in November and have produced a MA weekly sheet & email. The MA magazine was published in Jan 28^th and five people have been trained in Churchsuite which is working well.  

Sustainable Worship Plan

This was approved by an 11 to 1 majority vote and a detailed description is in a separate document. This can be found in the news section of the website in a separate article.

St Elvans Heritage Trust Report

A series of spiritual talks and services have been planned for the rest of the year to compliment the work of the trust and bring both trust and church together.

Month	Heritage Box / Event	Pints with Aquinas	Christian Services
Jan	Gwyl Plum Sant	Quiz	Licencing of Hywel
Feb	Gwyl Plum Sant	Talk on Monks and Science	-
March	Holy Week	Talk on Holy Week History	Holy Week
April	Space	Quiz	-
May	Red Flag	Talk on Christian Revolutionary saints	Service praying for Justice in our world.
June	Time	Quiz	-
July	Caradogfest	Talk on Welsh Hymns	Songs of Praise
August	-	-	-
September	St Elvans 175	A walk round symbols in St Elvan’s explaining what they mean	Stations of St Elvan’s. A prayer walk around the church using symbols in prayer
October	Aberfan	Quiz	Aberfan Memorial
November	Remembrance	-	Remembrance
DecemberTalk	Christmas	Who is Santa	Christmas

Fr Hywel