## **Queens Road Unitarian Free Church, Urmston** **Founded 1884** **Built 1900** ## **Minister: Rev Danny Crosby** ## **ANNUAL REPORT 2020** **Web: www.ukunitarians.org.uk/urmston** **Registered Charity No. 1082910** ## **ANNUAL REPORT 2020-2021** ## **Queens Road Unitarian Free Church** “Unprecedented” has been the word of the last year. No one could have predicted the circumstances that we have had to face since the last Annual Report was published. The pandemic has affected all of us terribly. It is something that has affected the whole world and not just our free religious community. This has made ministry particularly challenging for me personally and for all of us as a community. The first thing I want to say to you all is thank you for doing all that you can to support one another. It is not over yet, but there is light at the end of the tunnel with the continual roll out of the varies vaccines. So let us continue to hold and support one another. There is much work to be done as we heal as a community, society and world. As a free religious community, I believe that we have much to offer and this will certainly be my focus this next twelve months. Yes, healing and supporting we as a community, but ministering to a wider world too. Sadly, we lost both Alan and Margaret Darbyshire last year. There have also been other challenges for many of us healthwise. We have stuck together through it all. I have been unable to offer my usual presence and I thank those that have helped out and offered support. Worship has been different this year. We have been on Zoom, broadcasting live. Thankfully for periods we have been able to offer live worship, if under strict and challenging conditions, I know that this has meant a lot to those who have been able to attend. I have also offered a broadcasted services on Zoom from Dunham Road. I also offered a variety of other online activities through the week, all on Zoom such as “Living the Questions? Our Common Search for Meaning”, “The Colours of Grief”, “Consolation, Sorrow and Joy: Together in Poetry and Prose”, a weekly quiz and coffee morning. We have also ensured that worship material has gone out to all connected to the community by post and email in order to take care of our spiritual needs. During the first lockdown I recorded many devotional videos and well as stories through the character “Cap’N Dan”. This did come to an end in the summer, but I know it helped people through that very challenging time that was the first lockdown. So what about the future. We will need to find ways to connect with the wider Urmston community. This is a real challenge. I feel confident that our free religious tradition has much to offer the wider community as it attempts to heal following ravages of the pandemic. Let us endeavour to do so whilst also taking care of our personal needs. Love and respect Rev Danny ## **FROM THE CHAIR** The difficulties faced by the congregation for the last 12 months or more is well documented by fellow officers and so I am not going to repeat them. The Sunday zoom services were critical to keeping us as a congregation together, for these I thank both Danny Crosby and Caroline Jones of Dunham Road for the organisation and ability to make them available to us. During this whole period of uncertainty it has been heartening to hear many members of Queens Road keeping in touch with each other, mainly by telephone, checking on wellbeing and offering help if and when needed, thank you all for this . Church life had to carry on and for this I thank our minister Danny Crosby, treasurer Frances Teagle, secretary John Poskitt , building manager Graham Harrison , and calendar editor Eric Jackson . Although on resuming socially distanced services our numbers are somewhat reduced that Queens Road spirit still abounds, for this I thank all who sometimes in very difficult circumstances attend and support these services. I think that more than ever this year it has been my privilege to be your Chair. Derek A Brown ## **SECRETARY’S REPORT** The first Covid lockdown began in April 2019 and obviously since then our church life has been severely disrupted. For many months Danny presented services from Dunham Chapel which both congregations accessed via zoom. This was a learning experience for us all but it did mean that we were able to stay connected. An added benefit was that people who weren’t able to attend services in person could join in and still feel part of the church community. Services in church began again in April 2021, although to begin with the congregation was not allowed to sing. We were also not allowed to use our pipe organ and so CD’s of the hymns were used. More recently we have been able to use the organ and sing and we can serve tea and coffee after services. Since we returned for services the average attendance has been ten, although in recent weeks it has been a bit lower. Zoom activities have now generally stopped and we look forward to church life returning to normal. John Poskitt ## **PREMISES REPORT** Looking back at the report I did last year, I realise that I had included much that occurred in the early part of 2020. This included the work carried out by DJ Roofing in March 2020 to install higher capacity guttering and replace the leadwork round the chimney stack. I also reported on the work carried out by my nephew Max to re-plaster the water damaged areas in the schoolroom, the difficulties we had procuring finishing plaster, and later the redecoration of these areas. I mentioned that Maurice Blake, the gas engineer, had found that one of the seams of the cast iron central heating boiler was leaking when he visited to re-light the pilot light, and that the boiler would need to be replaced. The cast iron boiler originally installed in the early 1990s was eventually replaced by a Potterton Paramount 60Kw wall hung condensing boiler between late November and early December 2020. The original boiler was gravity fed from a header tank in the loft. The new boiler is directly fed from the water supply, so the header tank is no longer required. A low loss header has been installed, the purpose of which is to separate the dirty water circulating round the radiators from the clean water in the boiler itself. The one downside of the new boiler is the complexity of its controls. Although after careful study of the instructions, I was able to set the appropriate on and off times for each day, getting the boiler to achieve a target temperature that we want rather than it wants is as yet an unresolved issue. The skirting board, referred to in last year’s report, was installed in the church by Gwyneth Hare’s husband, Chas. This is of a similar woodgrain appearance to the vinyl flooring which was fitted in 2018, and has improved the appearance of the floor edging. During periods of very heavy rain we have found that water is leaking in badly along the stage sliding doors and into the boiler room. DJ Roofing have applied a sealant paint to the leadwork of the valley gutter above, but this has not solved the problem. Graham Harrison ## **TREASURER’S REPORT 2020** We have had to cope with an extraordinary year, but in spite of periods of lockdown during surges of the Coronavirus pandemic, we have managed to keep going with the stalwart attendance of our regular members and visitors, the rent of the Ballet School, and the vital support of the Manchester District Association’s generous grants. Upon examining our auditor’s report, some comparisons with the previous year stand out, mainly for the following reasons: ## **GENERAL FUND** ## INCOME - Offertories, Donations & Subscriptions (£3,557.70) fell by £1,786.68 owing to the Lockdown between the middle of March and early September, plus a brief closure in November. This was later compensated for by a ‘loss of earnings’ grant of £2,000 from the MDA, which also covered Use of Premises losses during this period. - Gift Aid Refund: I calculate that HMRC owes us £666.97 for the year 2020. - Use of Premises: Loss of £847.76 due chiefly to Covid19 restrictions. - Grants Received: This includes the extra ‘loss of earnings’ grant from the MDA referred to above, and a ‘special situation’ grant of £2000 at the beginning of Lockdown in March 2020. ## EXPENDITURE - Hymn singing and organ playing being banned, as they cause a vigorous air circulation, we ceased paying our organist in March and no organ maintenance took place – a saving of £1,063.48 over last year, but sadly missed by the congregation. - Maintenance of Building & Grounds was very active this year, with the purchase of a new central heating boiler (£3,357.33), plus its installation and some extra fittings (£1,521.75); also some more work on the roof (£1,350.00). - Caretaking, Cleaning & Supplies: hand-sanitizing equipment to combat Covid19 cost us £990.28 above the normal cleaning routine, plus an extra £278.93 for plastering materials. - Printing, Stationery & Publishing cost us only £98, since email was used for most communication and information this year. - Donations & Subscriptions: the apparent discrepancy between the £698.00 of 2019 and the £145.00 of 2020 was due mainly to the General Assembly Quota from 2018 being paid in January 2019. - Miscellaneous expenditure fell back to normal after the 2019 payments for the leafleting campaign and the fee for our new auditor. ## **HUNDRED CLUB ACCOUNT** - Tickets Purchased: Remains virtually the same. - Debtors: The figure of £202.45 refers mostly to prize winners at the monthly draw who did not cash their cheques by the end of the year. - Prizes Issued: More cheques were cashed in 2020. - Repairs & Maintenance: We continue to fund the smaller maintenance costs from this account. Large ones, such as new boilers and roofing are paid from the General Fund. - Council Licence Fee: Trafford Council has ceased to send us demands for this. All things considered, we have managed very well, as our accountant, Ruth Owen, remarked. A big thank you to the Ballet School for soldiering on and marking out the safety limits on the floor, to all those who work so hard to keep the premises looking so clean and attractive; and to our invaluable Church Officers, Derek Brown, John Poskitt and Graham Harrison. Frances Teagle Treasurer 16[th] July 2021 ## **Queens Road Unitarian Free Church, Urmston** **Founded 1884** **Built 1900** ## **Minister: Rev Danny Crosby** ## **ANNUAL REPORT 2020** **Web: www.ukunitarians.org.uk/urmston** **Registered Charity No. 1082910** ## **ANNUAL REPORT 2020-2021** ## **Queens Road Unitarian Free Church** “Unprecedented” has been the word of the last year. No one could have predicted the circumstances that we have had to face since the last Annual Report was published. The pandemic has affected all of us terribly. It is something that has affected the whole world and not just our free religious community. This has made ministry particularly challenging for me personally and for all of us as a community. The first thing I want to say to you all is thank you for doing all that you can to support one another. It is not over yet, but there is light at the end of the tunnel with the continual roll out of the varies vaccines. So let us continue to hold and support one another. There is much work to be done as we heal as a community, society and world. As a free religious community, I believe that we have much to offer and this will certainly be my focus this next twelve months. Yes, healing and supporting we as a community, but ministering to a wider world too. Sadly, we lost both Alan and Margaret Darbyshire last year. There have also been other challenges for many of us healthwise. We have stuck together through it all. I have been unable to offer my usual presence and I thank those that have helped out and offered support. Worship has been different this year. We have been on Zoom, broadcasting live. Thankfully for periods we have been able to offer live worship, if under strict and challenging conditions, I know that this has meant a lot to those who have been able to attend. I have also offered a broadcasted services on Zoom from Dunham Road. I also offered a variety of other online activities through the week, all on Zoom such as “Living the Questions? Our Common Search for Meaning”, “The Colours of Grief”, “Consolation, Sorrow and Joy: Together in Poetry and Prose”, a weekly quiz and coffee morning. We have also ensured that worship material has gone out to all connected to the community by post and email in order to take care of our spiritual needs. During the first lockdown I recorded many devotional videos and well as stories through the character “Cap’N Dan”. This did come to an end in the summer, but I know it helped people through that very challenging time that was the first lockdown. So what about the future. We will need to find ways to connect with the wider Urmston community. This is a real challenge. I feel confident that our free religious tradition has much to offer the wider community as it attempts to heal following ravages of the pandemic. Let us endeavour to do so whilst also taking care of our personal needs. Love and respect Rev Danny ## **FROM THE CHAIR** The difficulties faced by the congregation for the last 12 months or more is well documented by fellow officers and so I am not going to repeat them. The Sunday zoom services were critical to keeping us as a congregation together, for these I thank both Danny Crosby and Caroline Jones of Dunham Road for the organisation and ability to make them available to us. During this whole period of uncertainty it has been heartening to hear many members of Queens Road keeping in touch with each other, mainly by telephone, checking on wellbeing and offering help if and when needed, thank you all for this . Church life had to carry on and for this I thank our minister Danny Crosby, treasurer Frances Teagle, secretary John Poskitt , building manager Graham Harrison , and calendar editor Eric Jackson . Although on resuming socially distanced services our numbers are somewhat reduced that Queens Road spirit still abounds, for this I thank all who sometimes in very difficult circumstances attend and support these services. I think that more than ever this year it has been my privilege to be your Chair. Derek A Brown ## **SECRETARY’S REPORT** The first Covid lockdown began in April 2019 and obviously since then our church life has been severely disrupted. For many months Danny presented services from Dunham Chapel which both congregations accessed via zoom. This was a learning experience for us all but it did mean that we were able to stay connected. An added benefit was that people who weren’t able to attend services in person could join in and still feel part of the church community. Services in church began again in April 2021, although to begin with the congregation was not allowed to sing. We were also not allowed to use our pipe organ and so CD’s of the hymns were used. More recently we have been able to use the organ and sing and we can serve tea and coffee after services. Since we returned for services the average attendance has been ten, although in recent weeks it has been a bit lower. Zoom activities have now generally stopped and we look forward to church life returning to normal. John Poskitt ## **PREMISES REPORT** Looking back at the report I did last year, I realise that I had included much that occurred in the early part of 2020. This included the work carried out by DJ Roofing in March 2020 to install higher capacity guttering and replace the leadwork round the chimney stack. I also reported on the work carried out by my nephew Max to re-plaster the water damaged areas in the schoolroom, the difficulties we had procuring finishing plaster, and later the redecoration of these areas. I mentioned that Maurice Blake, the gas engineer, had found that one of the seams of the cast iron central heating boiler was leaking when he visited to re-light the pilot light, and that the boiler would need to be replaced. The cast iron boiler originally installed in the early 1990s was eventually replaced by a Potterton Paramount 60Kw wall hung condensing boiler between late November and early December 2020. The original boiler was gravity fed from a header tank in the loft. The new boiler is directly fed from the water supply, so the header tank is no longer required. A low loss header has been installed, the purpose of which is to separate the dirty water circulating round the radiators from the clean water in the boiler itself. The one downside of the new boiler is the complexity of its controls. Although after careful study of the instructions, I was able to set the appropriate on and off times for each day, getting the boiler to achieve a target temperature that we want rather than it wants is as yet an unresolved issue. The skirting board, referred to in last year’s report, was installed in the church by Gwyneth Hare’s husband, Chas. This is of a similar woodgrain appearance to the vinyl flooring which was fitted in 2018, and has improved the appearance of the floor edging. During periods of very heavy rain we have found that water is leaking in badly along the stage sliding doors and into the boiler room. DJ Roofing have applied a sealant paint to the leadwork of the valley gutter above, but this has not solved the problem. Graham Harrison ## **TREASURER’S REPORT 2020** We have had to cope with an extraordinary year, but in spite of periods of lockdown during surges of the Coronavirus pandemic, we have managed to keep going with the stalwart attendance of our regular members and visitors, the rent of the Ballet School, and the vital support of the Manchester District Association’s generous grants. Upon examining our auditor’s report, some comparisons with the previous year stand out, mainly for the following reasons: ## **GENERAL FUND** ## INCOME - Offertories, Donations & Subscriptions (£3,557.70) fell by £1,786.68 owing to the Lockdown between the middle of March and early September, plus a brief closure in November. This was later compensated for by a ‘loss of earnings’ grant of £2,000 from the MDA, which also covered Use of Premises losses during this period. - Gift Aid Refund: I calculate that HMRC owes us £666.97 for the year 2020. - Use of Premises: Loss of £847.76 due chiefly to Covid19 restrictions. - Grants Received: This includes the extra ‘loss of earnings’ grant from the MDA referred to above, and a ‘special situation’ grant of £2000 at the beginning of Lockdown in March 2020. ## EXPENDITURE - Hymn singing and organ playing being banned, as they cause a vigorous air circulation, we ceased paying our organist in March and no organ maintenance took place – a saving of £1,063.48 over last year, but sadly missed by the congregation. - Maintenance of Building & Grounds was very active this year, with the purchase of a new central heating boiler (£3,357.33), plus its installation and some extra fittings (£1,521.75); also some more work on the roof (£1,350.00). - Caretaking, Cleaning & Supplies: hand-sanitizing equipment to combat Covid19 cost us £990.28 above the normal cleaning routine, plus an extra £278.93 for plastering materials. - Printing, Stationery & Publishing cost us only £98, since email was used for most communication and information this year. - Donations & Subscriptions: the apparent discrepancy between the £698.00 of 2019 and the £145.00 of 2020 was due mainly to the General Assembly Quota from 2018 being paid in January 2019. - Miscellaneous expenditure fell back to normal after the 2019 payments for the leafleting campaign and the fee for our new auditor. ## **HUNDRED CLUB ACCOUNT** - Tickets Purchased: Remains virtually the same. - Debtors: The figure of £202.45 refers mostly to prize winners at the monthly draw who did not cash their cheques by the end of the year. - Prizes Issued: More cheques were cashed in 2020. - Repairs & Maintenance: We continue to fund the smaller maintenance costs from this account. Large ones, such as new boilers and roofing are paid from the General Fund. - Council Licence Fee: Trafford Council has ceased to send us demands for this. All things considered, we have managed very well, as our accountant, Ruth Owen, remarked. A big thank you to the Ballet School for soldiering on and marking out the safety limits on the floor, to all those who work so hard to keep the premises looking so clean and attractive; and to our invaluable Church Officers, Derek Brown, John Poskitt and Graham Harrison. Frances Teagle Treasurer 16[th] July 2021 ## Independent Examiner’s Report to the Trustees of Queens Road Unitarian Free Church, Urmston. Registered Charity No: 1082910 | report to the trustees on my examination of the accounts of Queens Road Unitarian Free Church, Urmston for the year ended 31st December 2020. ## Responsibilities and basis of report: As the charity trustees of the Trust you are responsible for the preparation of the accounts in accordance with the requirements of the Charities Act 2011 (‘the Act’). | report in respect of my examination of the Trust’s accounts carried out under section 145 of the 2011 Act and in carrying out my examination | have followed all the applicable Directions given by the Charity Commission under section 145(5)(b) of the Act. ## Independent examiner’s statement: | have completed my examination. | confirm that no material matters have come to my attention in connection with the examination giving me cause to believe that in any material respect: 1. accounting records were not kept in respect of the Trust as required by section 130 of the Act; or 2. the accounts do not accord with those records. | have no concerns and have come across no other matters in connection with the examination to which attention should be drawn in this report in order to enable a proper understanding of the accounts to be reached. Signed: GE Name: Ruth Owen Address: Crossing Cottage Green Dicks Lane Date: /4/o¢/2o 2 Pilling Preston PR3 6HS