Parochial Church Council St John the Baptist Batheaston with St Catherine Registered Charity No. 1127364 Annual Report & Accounting Statements for the Year Ending st 31 December 2023 DIOCES4 OF Bath&Wells Living the story. Telling the story. PART l- Annual Report for the Parish of 5t John the Baptist, Batheaston with St Catherine 2023 by the Vicar of the United Benefice of Batheaston with St Catherine & Bathford The Reverend Lauretta Wilson As we look back over the past year together, let's begin with gratr'tude.. borrowing the hymn words, Lord, for the year your love has kept ond guided, urged and inspired us, cheered us on our Way, sought us and 5(3ved us, pardoned ond provided, Lord of the yeurs, we bring our thanks today. We do bring our thanks and our appreciation of how God has blessed us this year.. In our two churches here, as indeed across the benefice, we have been able to provide a pattern ot services over each month that reflects the diversity of worship styles within the Church of England- Tradits'onal Book of Common Prayer Evensong, Holy Communion services with both tradits'onal and more modern liturgies, and Welcome Church -an informal service to encourage discussion. It is always our hope that this variety of services means that everyone feels welcome in our village church and whether we have been quiet and reflective, ch2ting about our faith or singing God's praise exuberantly, we thank God for meeting us in these services. This year we have been luckier with the weather, and we now have heated seat fd cushions so St Catherines, services on the 1$1 and 3 Sundays at 3pm have all gone ahead. Do feel warmly encouraged to come up the valley if you'd like to experience something a bit different- it's a beautr.ful space and the faithful congregation there are very welcoming. The richness of our pattern of services would not be possible without a team of people playing their part- so a huge thank you also to Sarah and Jacquie for their work leading services, to Will, Marian and Julia whose musical talents are very much appreciated and to everyone who take5 their turn preparing prayers, reading and keeping the Vicar on track Ithank you Paml. It is with sadness that we have just said goodbye to Will as our regular organist, but we hope th is will bring an opportunity for a new season- if you're reading this thinking, 'I'd love to play my flute some times, then please do let someone knowl The Joint services, every 5th Sunday alternate between St John'5 and St Swithun's are really good in themselves and they are also helping us to grow together as a benefice - if you're not in the habit of coming to these- please do- if you need a lift, please let someone know. We have also begun JAM every fourth Sunday at 3.'30pm in St John'5. This came from the Allsorts toddler group that runs each Tuesday morning in the Village Hall. After Serena left, I have made it a priority to be there- mostly just chath.ng with parents and one mum said that if we ran an Afternoon service with Bible stories, she'd bring her kids- so thi5 15 itl We have had about 8 children at these services, some families have faithfully come each month, and for everyone who has been there they have been good occasions with fun, friendship and faith growing between us all. My thanks to Sarah and Jane who contribute ideas and join in with the running of the service and also share tea afterwards. A real highlight for me is sharing tea not only with the familie5 present but also Wlth other members of the congregation who've come to the service to welcome others and make tea- please do feel warmly invited if you'd like to join in. Please do continue to pray for all the children in the village and give thanks for our village school where l am welcomed to lead a weekly assembly land also offer some maths helpl, a lot of work but so important. We know that our faith is about much more than Sunday worship and l am very grateful to Sarah who faithfully continues to offer both online study and an online Compline service each week, this is a great blessing to those who cannot come out to services and is available to anyone - please do ask Sarah if you'd like to join in. As I'm writing this we are in the middle of our Lent Lunches and we have welcomed some excellent speakers thi5 year. They really have been a blessing in that they have helped us to catch a glimpse of that Life in all its fullness that Jesus came to bring and have shown us where we can join in with what God 15 doing in the world. Thank you if you have been part of the regular group that have shared their lunch and enjoyed the Speakers. Please do let me know your ideas for who we can invite next time. Our PCC are always ready and willing to hear new ideas and proposals and I would like to thank each and every one of them for their hard work, time and commitment. We have been very blessed this past year with two excellent churchwardens- Rob Mimmack and Keith Masdin, a brilliant Treasurer John Cornfi'eld and now a part-time Administrator Zoe Hill. I know you'd want me to thank them all for everything they do. Both of our churchwardens have said that they will be stepping down next year so we will need two more volunteers- Rob will work alongside a new person if needed and the job is not onerous as long as the Vicar is in post- I love this job and have every intentr.on to stay so God willing there will not be another vacancy for the foreseeable future. Of course we must look forward too, in faith and hope, trusting that the One who ha5 brought US through this past year has plenty of surprises and challenges and blessings in store for us in this coming year. We have our curate Jane joining us in July- please do keep praying for her and her ministry across the benetice. A linal Thank you- for the privilege of being your Vicar- with my prayers as always. Lauretta PART 2- Financial Review and Statement of Accounts The Accounts and Financial Statements for the year ended 31" December 2023 are part of the Annual Report. The account5 have been independentlyexamined byTom Case ACAwhose report is included. As in previous years the Parochial Church Council IPCCI identifies and accounts for a number of restricted and designated funds as well as an unrestricted General Fund, in accordance with charity law. Restricted Funds comprise money which has been given to the PCC with a restriction on its use for particular purposes. Such funds cannot be used for other expenditure without the permission of the donor or, if this is not possible, the Charity Commission. Restricted funds held in 2023 were as follows.. St John Repair Fund.. Money collected through fundraising to repair the church building. Parish Admini5trator.' Grant from the Diocese Fund for Church Growth towards salary costs. St John Internol Repairs and He(Jting.' A fund established for the improvement of the interior of St John5 church including improved heating, lighting and decorations. 5t John Flowers.. A fund for flowers in St John St Catherine Legacy & Fobric: Money donated specifically for 5t Catherine's Church including legacie5 St Catherine Music Fund.. Income from the Strutt Trust for the provision of music at 5t Catherine'5 Church Friends of St Catherine's Church.. Donations from Friends of St Catherine for expenditure on St Catherine's Church as agreed by the PCC in consultation with the Friends of St Catherine Fund in memory of Dororthy Topham Fund in memory of Skip Short-life restricted funds have also been established and spent on specific projects. There are also a number of 'designated" funds which have been set aside by the PCC for particular purposes but which can be used for general purposes if required. Two of these are the St John Special Designated Funds held to ensure that legacies to the church Ithose from the late Ted White in 2019 and David Ireson in 20211 are spent in a manner appropriate to a legacy at the discretion of the PCC. The St Catherine Designated Fund is used to track expenditure on the running costs of St Catherine's Church. This is held at zero at the year end with excess expenditure being met from the restricted St Catherine Legacy Fund. In 2023, £25,000 was transferred from the Deposit Account IReservesl to subsidise day to day expenditure. The main areas of outgoings in 2022 were.. l. Parish Share1£32,3661 is a large expense representing 46% of the total expend iture. This will increase to £44,180 in 2024, an increase of 36%. This is following an increase in 20221£39,2571 and 3 reduction in 20211£39,3581. 2. Administration costs1£7,3141 included salaries for l employee for a full year and I employee for January and February. 3. The PCC donated to a range of charities selected by the PCC.. St Francis Hospital £1,000.00 Genesis Trust Bath £1,000.00 Eatheaston Youth Club £1,000.00 A number of events were organised in 2023 which benefited local and national charities which are excluded from the accounts- Penny's Pantry £562.00 Christian Aid Week £411.56 Christian Aid Syria/Turkey Appeal £iio.00 5. Repairs to church buildings.. Heated cushions for St Catherine's £9,897.80 Part Payment of the Audio System £3,444.00 Total £13,341.80 We held a number of fund raising events in 2023 which raised funds for the church and also brought in new faces to the events. Income £119.00 É4,233.19 £180.50 £557.41 £2.023.38 £700,55 £3.000.00 £10.814.03 Costs Balance £0.00 £119.00 £560.97 £3,672.22 £0.00 £180.50 £45.25 £512.16 £0.00 £2,023.38 £548.22 £152.33 £0.00 £3,000.00 £1,154.441 £9,659.59 Concert 30th April 2023 .Village Fete 'Grow Batheaston Art Trail ,Auclion of Promises Christmas Tree Festival Sound System Notes: lil The village fete also raised £562.00 for Penny's Pantry on the Gate. lill The cost of sound system is excluded from the above table. £8,092 was recovered from HMRC during the year representing tax of gift aid payment received in the year. The three-year fixed price contracts for supply of electricity and gas which ha5 shielded the PCC from recent severe price rises came to an end in December 2023. The cost of heat, light and power was £2,141 in 2023. A new three-year contract Wa5 agreed in December 2023, however the costs are forecasted to be 116% per annum higher. Batheascon with St Catherine's Receipts & Payments Account (or the yeor ended 31 December 2023 2023 2022 Receipts Donacions )nd Leg2Cies'. Fllnned givmg Cdlecrion& don3tions & othergfvlng Irhcoffle tax rEcoYered L08ac￿5 Oiher Trii ding actrrfityes Mapli￿/BOoks￿ll saleslHall Lelthw etc Irwme from other PrOPQrtks Annual Fe¢elw￿￿t1 21.949 4.140 7,067 590 ZZ.539 10.740 8.092 1.00 5.590 460 i.wo 545 375 375 1.468 362 362 90 4.IZ7 7.814 3.th)0 ReceipL5 Irom1nvesEmenrs'. Interert & diyidends 5.852 5,852 2.615 Recwp15 frorn Charitable acriyllies.. ParothvJl lee5 Oiher Receipts Insurinc8 cLiim5 3.208 3.208 2.528 178 sa￿ proteed5 from fixed assets L03n5 rucewed O¢her 385 1.458 1.203 Tutal Re