**STRICKLANDGATE METHODIST CHURCH ANNUAL REPORT** ## **1 SEPTEMBER 2022 TO 31 AUGUST 2023** The Aims and Objectives of our mission continue to be - to encourage a personal faith - to share a life of fellowship and mutual support - to reach out to the community in Christian service - to co-operate with other Christian churches These are in line with the Methodist Church nationally which seeks to respond to the ’ Gospel of God s love in Christ. During the year being reported on, members have been encouraged to follow the Methodist Way of Life which encompasses the following areas: ## **Worship & Prayer** All public acts of worship at Stricklandgate Methodist Church are open to members of the Church and non-members alike. The same applies to the teaching of Christianity through sermons, courses and small groups. A variety of preaching styles are offered by our minister, supernumeraries and local preachers. We have also sought to encourage members to participate by reading, leading prayers, playing instruments. Attendance remains lower than pre-pandemic levels, mainly because of the increasing age and infirmity of members. However, we regularly have between 40 and 50 at our Sunday services. A midweek communion service during Lent was appreciated by those who attended. There continues to be a prayer space at the front of the church for people to use and a prayer chain that offers prayer on behalf of people in need. The Thursday afternoon meditation service, offering a quiet space, continues to attract a regular following of 1520, drawn from several different denominations (and none). Over the year we’ve continued to develop relationships with our sister church in Sandylands, sharing a joint newsletter and regular united services, including a very successful one on Christmas Day. Stricklandgate Annual Report 2022-2023 ## **Learning & Caring** This year has been a difficult one, as number of significant people have died, become more frail or full-time carers. Membership at the end of this year was 105 members, a loss of 10. There were another 26 people on our community roll, plus 5 retired (supernumerary) ministers were part of our fellowship. Our pastoral co-ordinator has developed home worship sheets for people who can no longer attend worship physically and a communion service has been held in Wainwright Court, a supported living complex near the church. In January 2023 we were delighted to appoint a pastoral worker for 16 hours per week to help support our more elderly/housebound members. The role has been a huge success and many have expressed appreciation of her ministry, It has been a particular blessing in a year when so many have died/been unwell. The role was originally funded for 2 years by a legacy left to the church. During the next year we will consider how we might extend this. There are now 3 housegroups available where members meet in private houses to share faith and support each other on a weekly/monthly basis. During the early part of the year, some members joined friends at Sandylands and Anglican friends to look together at the Bible Course, putting all the books of the Bible in their context. It is hoped to repeat this for people unable to attend in an evening. Other groups that meet are Friendship Group (fortnightly on a Thursday afternoon, with a variety of speakers and a regular attendance of over 40, both church and non-church members) Stitchers (a space where church and non- church members can meet to share their crafting skills). ## **Service & Evangelism** Throughout the year, the church has continued to support various charities around the world e.g. Medic Malawi The church premises continue to be well used by community groups. There are active Rainbows, Brownies and Guides troops plus several choirs, a singing group for mums and babies meet on a weekly basis. Stricklandgate Annual Report 2022-2023 Child Contact use the premises on alternate Saturdays to enable parents and children to maintain their relationships. The Well Community meets 2 mornings a week, supporting people recovering from drug and alcohol addiction. The Church also provides accommodation for the South Lakes Talking Newspaper Association and a studio for a local artist. In January 2022 we were pleased to be one of six Kendal churches that funded the launch of a CAP (Christians Against Poverty) debt centre to provide drop-in advice and support for families struggling to manage in these hard economic times. This commitment has been renewed and we’ve been pleased to have the debt centre manager update the congregation on progress and ongoing challenges. ## **Stewardship & Giving** Each year the church raises funds during Advent for good causes. During Advent 2022, £591 from the extra present appeal was sent to Medic Malawi In December 2022, church members and others made up, and sent approximately 100 ‘Boxes of Hope’ to Romania for children who would otherwise not receive any gifts. Along with other Churches in Kendal we continued to support the local food bank. ## **Ecumenical Relationships** Throughout the year we continued to work with other Churches in Kendal to look at ways we could come together within a Mission Community. An online meeting of ministers in Kendal and District has met regularly to share good practice and discuss how we can work better together in the future, sharing gifts and skills. This has resulted in several prayer/quiet days being organised, plus the regular carol singing in the town, Good Friday Walk of Witness and Easter Sunday Morning service at Kendal Castle. This year there was also an ecumenical Pentecost Praise at the Castle. Discussions are ongoing about closer working as part of the 3 Mission Communities, covering Kendal and surrounding villages. Stricklandgate Annual Report 2022-2023 ## **Property & Finance** The property continues to be well maintained. The quinquennial review has taken place and all matters that need to be are in hand. Work is continuing to address a recent fire risk assessment and look at how to meet the challenges of the Methodist Church pledge to reduce its Carbon Footprint. We continue to successfully rent out our former caretakers’ cottage. During the year we’ve had a legacy left which helped fund our pastoral worker (see above). Our current treasurer has indicated they wanted to step back. Going forward we are planning to spilt the role to make it more manageable. Rev Melanie Greenall Jan 12[th] 2024 Stricklandgate Annual Report 2022-2023 |**Stricklandgate Methodist Church, Kendal**|**31 August 2023**|||**Stricklandgate Methodist Church, Kendal**|**31 August**|**2023**| |---|---|---|---|---|---|---| |Receipts||22/23|21/22|Payments|22/23|21/22| |||£|£||£|£| |Regular Giving :Envelope oferings||2365|4382|Circuit Assessment|58725|57631| |Cash oferings||6594|4851|Music & Worship|830|745| |Standing Orders||41299|42029|Church Admin
Photocopier|284|253| |Tax Recovery||12482|12531|Publicity, Newsleter, Post,etc|918|962| |Donatons & Legacies||21477|25926|Accountancy, Payroll Fees|425|400| |Bank Interest and TMCP investment income||5415|1620|Phone & Internet|385|323| |General fundraising||12|172|Bank Charges|130|146| |Property - Rent / Letngs||25306|25054|Pastoral Worker, payroll plus expenses|7409|0| |Contributons from internal Church organisatons||803|1557|Caretaking
Caretaker Wages, Tax, NI|8580|7669| |||0|320|Cleaning materials, etc|160|294| |||0|800|Property RepairsMajor repairs/improvements|4833|7660| |||0|0|Servicing & Maintenance|3498|6170| |Church Admin||1710|0|Equipment|100|960| |Sundry Income||0|1352|Garden|0|17| |Grants||0|0|Utlites
Gas|2251|2491| |Gifts||0|500|Electricity|3409|1196| |Insurance Claims||0|0|Water|394|323| |Benevolent Fund||0|0|Trade Waste charge|0|0| |Total Receipts (as Standard Form of Accounts)||117462|121093|Church Insurance|4630|4058| |||||Connexional Subscriptons|1000|5500| |||||Donatons|750|610| |Special Collectons (see notes)||2739|4154|Gifts|25|0| |OVERALL TOTAL RECEIPTS||120201|125247|Benevolent Fund: restricted funds|0|200| |Excess of income over exp per std form acs ( ignoring|spec colls)|16744|22154|TMCP charges|332|340| |||||Miscellaneous & rounding|1650|991| |||||Total Payments (as Std Form of Accounts)|100718|98939| |||||Special Donatons (see notes)|2739|4154| |||||OVERALL TOTAL PAYMENTS|103457|103093| |**Stricklandgate Methodist Church, Kendal**
Balance Sheet at
31 August 2023
22/23
Assets
HSBC Bank plc
38825
Barclays Bank plc
509
Royal Bank of Scotland
205
Charites Aid Foundaton
14486
Central Finance Board
52802
Trustees for Methodist Church Purposes
114640
Total Assets
221467
Represented by
Unrestricted Funds
General Fund
104040
Model Trust Fund No 1346:
Interest Fund
74416
Endowment investment
40224
114640
218680
Restricted Funds
Benevolent Fund
373
Friendship Group
509
Stricklandgate Sttchers
205
Under 5s Group
1700
2787
Total funds
221467|21/22
39568
214
203
8932
40560
116424| |---|---| ||205901| ||87296
74416
42008| ||203720| ||373
214
203
1391| ||2181| ||| ||205901| ## **Stricklandgate Methodist Church, Kendal** Notes to the Accounts 2022/23 ## 1. General Fund |Fund||| |---|---|---| |Balance 1/9/2022
Excess Income over exp 22/23
Less excess relatng to Benelovent Res Fu
Excess of income over Exp unrestricted
Less rounding
Balance 31/8/2023|16744

0|87296


16744| |||| |||104040| ## 2. TMCP Model Trust Bequests Trust No 1346 Trustees Interest Fund |Balance 1/9/2022
No gain or Loss
Balance 31/8/2023
3.TMCP Model Trust Bequests Trust No 1346 Managed Mixed Fund
Endowment Investments
Balance 1/9/2022
42008
Investment Income
Interest
2361
Dividends / Fixed Interest
1239
3600
Less TMCP Admin Charge
332
Net Income Received
3268
Paid out income
-3268
0
Unrealised Gains and Losses
0
Gain on Revaluaton
4800
Loss on Revaluaton
6584
net unrealised loss on TMCP Model Trust
-1784
TMCP Total funds 31/8/2023|74416
0| |---|---| ||74416


| ||40224| ||114640| ## **Stricklandgate Methodist Church, Kendal** Notes to the Accounts 2022/23 |4. Church Organisatons: Income
Under 5s Group
Friendship Group
Stricklandgate Sttchers
5. Special External organisatons Collectons
World Mission Fund
All We Can (ex MRDF)
Mission in Britain
Fund for Human Need
Easter Ofering
Boxes of Hope
Karibuni Children
Christan Aid
Extra Present Appeal: Medic Malawi
6. Connexional Subscriptons
7. Donatons
Christans against Poverty CAP
Dementa UK|0
200
603| |---|---| ||803| ||770
60
10
205
380
50
97
586
581| ||2739| ||1000
600
150| ||750| CHURCH RECEIPTS AND PAYMENTS ACCOUNTS THE METHODIST CHURCH STANDARD FORM OF ACCOUNTS Strickland ate Methodist Church FOR THE YEAR ENDED 31 August 2023 Kondal Clrcuh Clrcult no. 0913 Rgglst•r•d Charlty - Charlty R•gl•trthn numb•r If not a registered charity Her MaJe•ty8 R•venue and Customs Glft Ald number (The HMRC number is equivalent to a registered tharity number in tems of evidence of charitable Status and may be used to give to donors or grant funders wishing to see evidence of the organisation's charitable slalus. Methodist chantses in England and Wales that are not registered charities are excepted from registration under Ststutory Instrument 2014 No.2421 1126962 Mlni$tor. Church Slewardy.. Slllanno Flynn Stu•rt H•111￿1[ Anna B•nn•tt Susanna Myeock Janot Kltchlng Anne Pater Sylvla FrlèTrd Chrl8llne Thoma• Alan Reed Mlch••l Pear￿n Lynn Doherty Treasurer. Davld Brlan Bames Final SFA 31.08.23￿5 1of5 ACCOUNTS FOR THE YEAR ENDED 31 AUGUST 2023 Stricklandgate Methodist Church Church SECTION A Unmtrl¢t¢d R•8trlctsd Totslj Ihi• Fund• Funa¥ year Totals la8t al RECEIPTS Offerin s and Tax reeovered Bank and CFB int8r&sl and Inveslm8nt income 62.740 62.740 63,793 5.415 25,3C6 5,415 25,306 24001 117.462 1,620 25,054 30,626 121,093 a4 Lattin a5 Other receipts TOTAL RECEIPTS 24,001 117.462 a6 la71 SECTION B b1 PAYMENTS b2 Circuit Assessment or Share 58,725 $8,725 57,631 b3 Donation8 1,750 1.750 6,110 14,807 Re airs and Maintenance utilil*s Ilnsurances, water har e8, heats'n htin 8.431 b5 10.685 TMCP admin cha 332 332 b7 Other payments TOTAL PAYMENTS 20.795 100.718 20,795 1110.718 12,323 98,939 b8 Ib91 SECTION C NET RECEIPTSIPAYMENTS FOR THE YEAR c1 a648 16,744 Total fundts brouoht foThArd from last year ¢2 161,712 373 c6 139,931 Sub total c1+c2 178.456 373 c4 Transfers and ad uslmonts c7 ¢5 TOTAL FUNDS AT END OF YEAR 178,456 373 178.829 162,086 SECTIOM D FOR INFORMATION ONLY: MONEY RECEIVED AND PASSED ON TO EMRNAL ORGANISATIONS Ith980 amounts arn not to ￿ Includ•d In totsl r￿?5 tsfi ur•• alMw•l d1 Balance brou ht f0Th￿rd from188t d2 Offerin sIGrfts- receiv￿ for extemal nisaions d3 OfferingslGifts - pa86&J lo external organi8atKJns 2,739 4,154 d4 BALANCE STILL TO BE PAID (d1+d2-d3) of5 SFA3108 23.xls Stn'¢*la ate Metkxyist Church C￿T¢￿ RCH •J4DIFtrE THEC SEcT￿N . IirnmJwrttlh¢Chwcth ￿lho￿Or￿nthd ?1 *VJ lo￿¢hw￿ e(*JrKWChunXi tr*¥UIN. f4ote t Intern81 norM*￿￿e Reotrw*d fvTrJs bed•ty t* fryany M*WrJt wrpose. Tfms I￿lon b2 omrlètsd toarriwe81 the gros3 ewwJitL¥EtoYsclthe grc6s tsNe&M*J. tt*nth8A()>ua> method ofatc￿ts NDA DIFFERENT FORM rryjsl be u2&1 trj rw)rtthtxcr4mts (atè kle¥KKthst￿￿Iti). pknwrefBr*Jthe￿kn thsreuwth.roj b&t￿en the O￿tr nd unr*¢ted Di8thetO￿nK5￿￿8. INTERNAL ORGANI3AM¢)NS CIEd Fr&•Trd•M Gruu 214 Strfck *08t 625 206 LSnd•r Fl¥q• Gro Or •12 Chur¢h *ccr*tnt• (tea OIOUDhttr•Thv4rd Irfth P•ll• 2-totsi• col¥mThl 117,42 100,711 1¢744 l¢n 162.065 17 829 BY CHURCH 120A63 101116 17yO 163.893 111243 Cwbnuo on 4 #p&rnt•8h•bt necw8aryond tola￿f&￿rd TOTALRECEPTS TOTAL PAYMENTS 8ECT1014 F LOSING LANCES CHLKI¢H- CA8M FUP408 HELD4t 31 t2023 Bank CuiieniAD>Junt Bank D• ¥itAcwJ Cenkni Finonr* 8owd Trutstst$ trfv*thcNJI6icThrth Pu 74.416 74,418 o￿ar SUB TOTAL. Ch￿reh •¢¢oyb Totsl fund8 he￿ by IntemAI baaw8 total trom 4bo¥el1of21 e12 TOTAL CA8H FUND8 HELD gY¢WRCH 163,893 SECMON G At 31 2023 OYHER ASSET8 *nd LIABlUI￿a ndud• LaTrJ & Bu1￿1 e nw 1¢ ou*r ￿8￿￿tIeS r4 Indtyonty FL￿d5 hdd $t￿¢￿ty31 ￿r￿n(¥ Bcwd f5 Fund5 hdd atTruBteeB PuweB SFA31 ?of5 Name ofchurch. Declarations and Scrutiny I confirn that these Receipt and Payment based ￿)Unts for th8 to 31 August 2023 have been prepared from the records of the Church and that thty include all fund5 under the control of Ihe Church trustees. Ignaiure of iroasurer ............ . Post Code. PM•ntstlon to th• Chuff¢h InMt••• I confirm that the annual report and acts)unts for the y•or ended presented lo the meetlng of the Church trustees held on ......... 02* Signaturg of thè Chalr of th• m89ling Name of the Chair ol the meeting Date... Independent Examlnefs Report to th• Trustees of tho Strlcklandgats Methodl8t Church Ch*rfty Numb•r. 1126 R••poTh•lbllltl•• and ba•h of r•port I report to the trustee8 on my examinatK>n of th8 accwffl8 of the stricklandgata. Church for the year ended 31 August 2023 set out on pages 1... to . .9. As the Church's trustees. you are responsibbe for the preparatlon ol the account8 in xcordance with the requirements of the Charikn89 Act 20111'th8 Act'l. I rèport in respect of my examination of lh• Church's accounts carried out under secth)n 145 of the Act and, in c8rrw.ng out my 8xaminathM, I have folkTh¥8d all tho applicablè Dir•¢bMs gp4en by the Charity Commission under 5eth.on 14515}Ibl of the kt. ' deleté or circle as approprialo F￿￿5FAs￿.￿.22. 4ofS Name of Churth .. Strieklanth3ate M8tPb)dist Chur Independent Examinerfs Slatoment I have completed my examinats'on. I confim) that no material matters have come to my attention in connection wrth the examinats'on that in, any material resp8Ct'. ich g￿e m6 cause to b81ieve Ihe accountlng recor(18 were not Kept In accordance ¥Mln sects.on 130 of the Act; or the accounts do not accord with the accounting records. I have no concems and have come across no other matters in connection the examination to which attèntion should be drabvn in this report in order to enable a proper understanding of the accounts to be reached. I havellwmok. obtained independent verification of all investments with the Trustees for Methodist Church Purposes or held in other trusts, bank balances and funds at the Central Finance Board of th8 Methodist Church which are individually in excess of £10,000 (ten thou88nd pounds) at the balance sh88t date. Signature of independent examiner Name of independent ex8min8r .. H Bo•rdman Relevant profeswonal qualffication of independent examiner .. ret*&J ACA Name of fim (where appropriate) Addre&8 H68therLe8, Firbard(, 8edLwgh Post Code . LA105EN Date 31.12.23 delete or Gircle as appropriate Final SFA 31.08.23.￿S 5of5