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2022-12-31-accounts

The Parish Church of

ST LUKE, ECCLESTON Annual Report of the Parochial Church Council for the year ending 2022.

Knowing Jesus, Growing in Jesus, Showing Jesus to Others

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REFERENCE AND ADMINISTRATION INFORMATION

St Luke’s Church Eccleston, St Helens. The parish is part of the Diocese of Liverpool and its official correspondence address is:-

St Luke’s Church

Knowsley Road, Eccleston, St Helens, Merseyside, WA10 4PU.

Tel No 01744 21173

Email address: - info.stlukeeccleston@gmail.com

The Liverpool Diocesan Board of Finance acted as Custodian Trustee for the inalienable property of the church.

For the period 1[st ] January 2022 until the date of approval of this report, the following people served as members of the Parochial Church Council:

Clergy Rev H Coffey* Team Rector
Rev G Banton* Team Vicar
Rev Sonya Doragh* Team Vicar
Lay Readers Miss D.L. Wright* Lay Chair
Deanery Synod Rep
Mr D Thorpe* Deanery Synod Rep Appointed Oct 2022
Churchwardens Mrs L Rose* Retired May2022
PCC Mrs K Grant
Mrs D Kelly
Mr T Kelly
Miss A Hayes
Mr K Lancaster Retired May2022
Mrs L Llewellyn
Mrs J Moore PCC Secretary
Up to May 2022
Mrs L Rose Treasurer Appointed May2022
Mrs K Sawyer PCC Secretary
From May 2022		 Co-opted up to May
2022.
Appointed May 2022
Mr P Anderson Assistant Treasurer Co-opted member

Ex-Officio members are indicated by *

The following were appointed at the PCC meeting on 13th June 2022 as sidespersons: - Mrs. B. Bird

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Mrs K Grant Mrs. M. Rew

The following have responsibility roles: -

Safeguarding Officer: Miss. D.L. Wright Electoral Roll Officer: Mrs J Thorpe Gift Aid Secretary: Mrs. J Griffiths MBE

Team Rector: - Rev Helen Coffey, St James Vicarage, 159a St Helens Rd, Eccleston Park, Prescot, Merseyside. Tel No: - 07742 590672. Email: - helentcoffey@gmail.com

Team Vicar: - Rev Gareth Banton, St Johns Vicarage, Crossley Road, St Helens, Merseyside. Tel No: - 07444 811428. Email:- garethbanton@gmail.com

Bankers: - Royal Bank of Scotland, Ormskirk Street, St Helens, Merseyside,

Independent Examiner: - Mr. P. Horton, c/o St Luke’s Church, Knowsley Rd, St. Helens.

Architect: - Nicholas Rank, Butress, Manchester

STRUCTURE, GOVERNANCE AND MANAGEMENT

The Parochial Church Council (PCC) operates under the Parochial Church Councils (Powers) Measure 1956 and the Church Representation Rules as at 2017.

The PCC is a corporate body established by the Church of England. The PCC operates under the Parochial Church Council Powers Measure and is a charity currently accepted by order from registration with the Charity Commission.

The method of appointment of PCC members is set out in the Church Representation Rules. All church members are encouraged to register on the Electoral Roll and stand for election to the PCC. The PCC meets on a monthly basis with the exception of January, August and December.

Day to Day management of the church is exercised by the Standing Committee, the only committee required by law. It has the power to carry out PCC business between PCC meetings and considers strategic issues which may affect the church.

Members of the Standing Committee are: - Miss. D.L. Wright (Lay Chair)

Mrs. L. Rose (PCC Member) Mrs. J. Moore (PCC Secretary) Retired June 2022 Mrs. K. Grant (PCC Member) Appointed June 2022 Rev. H. Coffey (Team Rector) Rev. G Banton (Team Vicar)

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Related Parties:

Queen’s Park Primary School, St. Helens – the Priest-in-Charge of St Luke’s Church, Eccleston is an ex-officio member of the school governors. This is Rev. Helen Coffey, Eccleston Team Rector and Kate Sawyer as a Foundation Governor.

Individual PCC members receive external training as and when deemed necessary by the PCC. Training may include trustee responsibilities, basic health and safety, risk assessment and management and Safeguarding procedures.

Financial Risk:

An annual budget is prepared to ensure short term viability. Actual results compared with the budget are reported to the PCC at every meeting. The investments held by the PCC are only made in low-risk funds approved for charity use. All assets are insured and levels reviewed annually. The PCC has approved internal controls for annual accounts, cash and cheques handling are implemented.

Compliance with Law and Regulation:

The Diocesan Safeguarding guidelines (Parish Safeguarding Handbook - Promoting a safer church) have been adopted by the PCC. The PCC have the ultimate responsibility for all aspects of Safeguarding at St. Luke's. Safer Recruitment procedures are followed as directed by the Liverpool Diocesan Safeguarding team and all appointments need to be referred to Rev. Helen Coffey, the Team Rector.

The Diocesan policy gives clear guidelines for procedures to follow regarding recruitment. It also gives clear guidance to follow in the event of a Safeguarding issue.

The Diocese use an online system for DBS checks and all those in positions requiring a check have gone through this process. These are renewed regularly.

All leaders and helpers in groups involving Children and/or Vulnerable Adults are required to complete a confidential internal information form, following the diocesan ‘Safer Recruitment’ guidelines and procedures.

All PCC members have undergone an online DBS check.

Readers are required to complete Diocesan Safeguarding training and St. Luke’s Readers have either completed the training or are due to attend training in the near future.

The PCC continues to be diligent in monitoring legal compliance and changes to legislation.

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AIMS AND PURPOSE & OBJECTIVES AND ACTIVITIES

The general functions of the PCC are stated within section 2 of the Parochial Church Councils (Powers) Measure 1956.

St. Luke's Parochial Church Council (PCC) has the responsibility of co-operating with the incumbent, in promoting in the ecclesiastical parish, the whole mission of the church, pastoral, evangelistic, social and ecumenical. The PCC is also responsible for the maintenance of the Church & Community Centre, Knowsley Road, St Helens.

When planning the objectives for the year, the PCC gave consideration to the Charity Commission’s guide on public benefit.

Mission and Outreach Support

The commitment to contribute 10% of the income to missions and charities was maintained with the PCC authorising the distribution as follows: -

(figures in brackets relates (figures in brackets relates (figures in brackets relates (figures in brackets relates (figures in brackets relates to FYE 2021)
CMS (Eric & Sandra Reed) £1,385 (£1,549)
CPAS £345 (£388)
Bible Society £345 (£388)
SGM Lifewords £345 (£388)
St Helens Street Pastors £695 (£774)
Tear Fund £1,040 (£1,549)
United Christians Broadcasting £345 (£388)
Hope from Above (Tim & Carol Derbyshires) £695 (£774)
St Helens Safe Families £0 (£774)
Hope Centre £1,385 (£774)
Simeons £345 (£0)

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Vicar’s Report:

2022 was my first full year with St Luke’s, having arrived in September 2021. It has been a pleasure serving the community and getting to know & you all better. It’s been a good year for St Luke’s, as we’ve continued reestablishing ourselves after a tumultuous 2020 and 2021. You can see below by the trend line on our total attendance, that we’ve grown steadily as a church over the past couple of years. Some folks have returned to worship following the pandemic and a number of newcomers have joined our church family too.

Fit For Mission. Early in the year the PCC was engaged in a lot of discussions and consultations about the Fit For Mission Project proposal in the Deanery. The project, amongst other things, proposed consolidating the PCC’s in the deanery into a single legal entity, making the deanery one parish with multiple churches and congregations. After a lot of prayerful discernment, the PCC voted unanimously not to opt into the project, as did St John’s. The Eccleston Team will eventually need to be disbanded or changed, but at the time of writing, (April ’23) we’re still unsure what the future shape of our ministry will look like. Almost certainly we will be joined together as a benefice with St John’s Ravenhead, but also possibly with St James with St Matthew’s (as they opted out of the FFM project in January ’23). There is certainly strong support for this in all our church PCC’s. We are about to start conversations with the Diocese and Bishops Planning team about this.

LYCIG. In October the PCC also began a learning journey with an organisation called Leading Your Church into Growth (LYCIG). Tom Kelly, Diane Wright and I went on a conference in October and have been attending learning workshops, and we’re now in turn, teaching the PCC what we’ve been learning. Our hope and prayer is that this learning journey will help our church to grow in a number of areas: numerical, spiritual and missional. We’re encouraging all church members to be praying regularly for growth (you’ll find the LYCIG prayer at the end of our annual report). Let’s be thankful and praise God that we are already seeing the church grow!

Food Pantry. At the start of the year our Food Pantry got under way after lots of preparation. It’s been wonderful to see that ministry flourish, reaching more and more local households and

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helping stop a tremendous amount of food waste. The rising cost of living and climate change are two hot button issues facing our nation. I’m so incredibly pleased that St Luke’s is doing its part on both through the Food Pantry on both matters, and the whole Food Pantry team deserve a huge amount of recognition for the work they do week in and week out. Christian mission is often perceived as being about souls and spiritual matters, rather than physical things like bodies and the earth. But mission and ministry have always got to be about both. Living well and caring for our creation is Kingdom work.

Christmas. One thing I’ve learned about St Luke’s is that it’s a church people love to come to for the big occasions. We can certainly pull a crowd. For our Carol service we had around 140 people, and our Crib Service hosted around 90 people, mostly excited young children!

Kids Church. In the final quarter of the year, we were preparing to launch our Kid’s Church provision (which started January ‘23), recognising that for Sundays to work for families with young children we need to provide reliable and consistent provision. Julie Parry graciously stepped up as lead, and we began conversations in October and November with the Kid’s Church at St John’s to see what we can learn from them and how we can work together. (It’s been going well, but we’ll report on that next year!) Again, continue to pray for growth in this ministry.

Community Centre. Just before the end of the year we experienced a number of difficulties with the community centre, including a number of serious leaks. The centre was deemed unsafe and hurriedly moved things like toddler group and the food pantry into the church space. The PCC decided to take the opportunity to develop and improve the community centre, which has been looking tired for some time. The centre is home for several community groups, and it represents the bulk of our church’s outreach into our local community. As such, we want it to be attractive, welcoming and user-friendly. As 2023 began work began to dry the building and assess the damage, revealing more and more issues. There’s a lot to do but it’s exciting that by our next annual meeting our community centre will look and feel quite different!

Thankyou. There’s more to say but I want to finish by saying a big thank you to everybody at St Luke’s. You are what makes the church such a vibrant family of Christians. Many of you do so much for our community life, and many of you give so generously making all these wonderful things possible. Recently, I’ve found myself very inspired by this prayer from the Church of England (it’s actually from the Marriage service!) but it feels like such a good prayer for our community as we look bravely to the future.

God of wonder and of joy, grace comes from you, and you alone are the source of life and love. Without you, we cannot please you; without your love, our deeds are worth nothing. Send your Holy Spirit, and pour into our hearts that most excellent gift of love, that we may worship you with thankful hearts and serve you always with willing minds; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

Rev Gareth Banton – Team Vicar

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ACHIEVEMENTS AND PERFORMANCE

The PCC is delighted with its achievements set out in the previous and following section. The following section highlights the areas of activity and performance.

The electoral roll (April 2020- 105) is now 107 people, 67 of whom are non-resident in the parish. During the year 4 people have joined and 2 are deceased.

Worship: - This average attendance over the year was 42 adults and 3 children. This is just based on ‘ordinary Sundays’ and doesn’t take into consideration major festivals and baptism services which can artificially boost our numbers. We average 2 connections on Zoom each Sunday. We have continued to provide a ‘Zoom’ service for all the churches in the Eccleston Team. This is later uploaded onto our YouTube channel. In January 2023 we will be launching our Kids Church.

We held 20 baptism services during the year. 11 funeral services were held at church, and we held 3 at the crematorium. There were 2 wedding services.

We have a small team of church family members who make handmade gifts for our baptism children to mark the occasion of Welcoming them into the church family and for the adults we give them a Bible.

Church Buildings

We initiated some investigation and quotation work regarding asbestos in the building during 2021. In January 2022 the actual work was undertaken to deal with the asbestos found in the basement boiler room. For this work to undertaken safely the buildings was closed Monday to Friday for a week. There was no disturbance to the Sunday Service.

In February the gas boilers were serviced in both the basement and the centre, and Fire Extinguishers were serviced during the year.

This year we had a number of leaks around the community centre the first was in the accessible toilet caused by the water heater servicing the toilets above in the ceiling. The ball cock was not working, but this was repaired. A couple months later we had the ceiling down in the kitchen due to the thermostat not working. The water had heated, building up steam in the loft area therefore the plaster got wet over a period of time. Repairs to the water heater was completed and the ceiling was patched over in the kitchen.

In December, during the week with the bad freeze, the community centre flooded affecting the boiler room, kitchen, pantry, toilets, corridor and the main hall. The water was shut off immediately and the plumber came out and fixed 3 bust pipes but said there was a lot of frozen water in the loft are and we may have more burst pipes once it had started to thaw. The decision was made to contact the insurance company and make a claim. We closed the community centre immediately and moved the food pantry into church and notified the groups and gave them the option to more into church rather than close.

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The PCC would like to thank the volunteers who clean the church weekly, flower arrangements in church and look after the gardens around church throughout the year.

Staffing

We employ a cleaner for 4 hours a week to clean the community centre during the year. The Eccleston Team Toddler Group Co-ordinator was for 16 hours per week until September, and then it was reduced (at the employees request) to 12 hours per week.

There are many volunteers who fulfil roles at St Luke’s in a variety of ways. There are too many to name individually and if we had to pay for this work, it would cost us thousands of pounds. The PCC are truly thankful and appreciative to all the people who serve the Lord in St Luke’s and within the Eccleston Team in whatever role that is.

PASTORAL SUPPORT

St. Luke’s Prayer Meeting - Co-Ordinator Stina & Dave Foxford

Year 2022 brought a fundamental change to the operating of our usual Prayer Group at St. Luke’s Church. In- person attendance was very low after the pandemic and it was felt by the three/four of us who attended that this wasn’t really viable in the long run. Therefore, we had to make the difficult decision to continue to ‘meet’ through WhatsApp.

It is impossible to say how many actually use the prepared Prayer Guide every first and third Monday, but responses have been encouraging. There is also the option of choosing the Prayer Guide in one’s own time as the Guide is published also in Being Church email by Rev. Helen Coffey. Monday WhatsApp Prayer time at 8pm includes 2 songs, a short Bible based reflection and plenty of prayer pointers. We ‘meet’ for about half an hour.

Due to the personal circumstances, there were some gaps between the usual routine of Prayer Groups, but we ‘met’ seventeen times over the year. This included the special Thy Kingdom Come – based Prayer time.

Our topics were varied and we prayed for many countries. The topics were: Chinese Church in the UK, Ukraine – Russia War, Energy Crisis, St. Helens Town, St. Luke’s and St. Matthew’s Local Food Pantries, Fit for Mission 2 and PCCs, Interceding for Individuals, The Nationality and Borders Bill, Living Costs Crisis, The General Synod of C of E, Copenhagen, Chicago & Hong Kong, Food Poverty in the UK, Conservative Leadership Contest, the Prime Minister, Wildfires, King Charles III and the Royal Family, St. Luke’s former Vicar Peter Gilroy, DRC, People on Our Sick Lists, Modern Slavery ( to mark Anti – Slavery Week ), East African Crisis, Young People & Youth for Christ ( to mark Anti- Bullying Week ), Christians in Russia, Indonesian Earthquake, Christians in Qatar, Christmas Events in Our Team, Christmas time and People Who Might Struggle.

Needless to say, that we prayed a lot and for many people around the globe! Thank you so much to everyone who has taken the time to pray as praying and interceding is so valuable and it makes a difference in people’s lives!

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I hope that everyone who takes part in our Prayer times enjoys them as much as I do and benefits from the contents of the Prayer Guides.

COMMUNITY ACTIVITES

“ Teddies ” Toddler Group – Team Leader Julie Parry

This is our first full year since returning after covid, and has been very positive. We had 101 families on the register of which 76 are regular attendees. Our increase in numbers has been through word of mouth from our current "Teddies".

We have had three leavers’ services at the end of each term, where we present a Bible and wish them good luck in their new school environment.

Tea, coffee, juice, snacks and toast are very popular and our wonderful volunteers are always kept busy. Our craft area is well loved and we provide a variety of activities.

On a sad note, our Team Leader Karen Grant and Toddler Group co-ordinator April Banton have both stepped down. However, all the volunteers have worked together to fill the gaps they both filled wonderfully.

5[th] Eccleston St Luke’s Brownies – Leader Eagle Owl Sue Brindley

We started the year with our new leader Gill Crosby. Our first meeting the girls enjoyed running about on a roadway in the hall indicating as they turned. The spring term plan was to complete a set of ‘skills for my future’ live smart challenges. We had a delayed Christmas party on 17[th] January, we had a meal and play on the soft play equipment at the Black Bull. This worked well as the hall was out of action. Cheshire Forest’s Commissioner’s husband came with a range of wood working tools to show the girls. They all had a go at hammering nails. We finished these challenges with the girls all making their own fajitas. We stopped in the middle of our ‘live smart challenges’ to celebrate ‘Thinking Day’ in our unit on 21[st] February thinking about Brownies around the world. We ended the term making Mother’s Day cards, icing Easter biscuits, and making Easter cards.

The Summer term found the girls choosing the ‘Explore’ part of ‘have adventures’ this included some outdoor activities. However, our first night back we celebrated St Georges day on 24th April. The girls then took part in learning some compass points, foot care, mapping skills and ended with a penny hike around the local streets.

Gill made crowns for the girls to decorate to celebrate the Queen’s jubilee and Sue make a celebration cake to share. On 13[th] June we made cards with paper shirts and ties on and heart coasters for Father’s Day. We did the Aviation badge looking at how things fly and making paper planes to fly down the hall. The term ended with a promise ceremony for three girls, followed by Hannah and Gill. Gill had by then completed her Adult Leadership booklet and become a Leader

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who can run the Unit. Many thanks to Alison Nurse who has supported the Unit during Gill’s training and signed off many clauses in her Leadership file. We also celebrated the girl’s achievements and said goodbye to the girls moving up to Guides.

The Autumn term started with a beetle drive. The girls chose to work on ‘be well’ section of the programme looking at mindfulness and feel good activities. This included being filmed making videos ‘motivating others to move’ which were watched at the end of the meeting by the girls and parents before being deleted.

Another activity enjoyed by all was counting bubbles not sheep to go to sleep, with the girls’ all blowing bubbles and then leaving with a bottle of bubbles to use.

After half term we had the girls bring in ‘junk’ to make mini golf courses and ended the night with the girls’ all playing rounds of golf on the courses they made. The last weeks of term girls made a range of Christmas crafts including sewing felt Christmas trees, making personalised calendars, button bauble cards, table decorations and crackers. On 19[th] November we enjoyed a day at Gulliver’s World taking part in their Christmas cracker activities. This was arranged by Hannah as part of her ‘Adult Leadership’ qualification. The girls all enjoyed the rides, decorating biscuits with Mrs Christmas, the show during their meal. They then had then the magical trip by train to Santa’s grotto seeing all the animated creatures in the woodland scenes on the way. The following weekend Sue attended the County weekend at Waddow the ‘Girl guide training centre’ in Clitheroe. Our year ended with a party buffet and traditional party games.

Sue Brindley & Gill Crosby Unit Leaders Hannah Davies Leader in training & Helen Brindley Occasional Leader.

Food Pantry – Co-ordinator Jean Moore

After much prayer and planning, St. Luke’s Food pantry opened its doors on February 2nd 2022. We started with 12 volunteers (who were all church members) and on our opening day we had 25 members joined up which included some of the volunteers. We, now, have around 25 volunteers including people from our local community and around 170 members. Each week we collect surplus food from a number of local supermarkets and shops as well as purchase meat from a local butcher. We get a weekly delivery of food from Fareshare and every fortnight, we have a donation of food from Morrisons from their customer donation point. In addition to this we purchase goods in bulk from Morrisons and from charities such as HisChurch and InKInd direct. Currently, we are seeing around 70 people a week using the pantry. For £4 a week, members take home around £15-20 of food. We have been able to keep the price at this level despite rising costs to ourselves thanks a number of grants that we have been able to secure and also the generosity of people from our church family and from the wider community who have made either financial donations or donations of goods. It is very much appreciated and our thanks go out to all these people for their generosity. We also offer a clothes exchange for our members. They are able to take clothes, including school uniform, shoes, toys etc.at no cost. We also encourage people to

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donate items for these tables as a way of encouraging community spirit as well as recycling. Members are also able to buy books and CDs for a small cost which goes into pantry funds. We offer free

refreshments each week and a listening ear when required. Each week, there is a member of Citizens Advice in attendance at pantry who is there to be able to signpost members and to offer advice. In October, we held a Harvest Supper for our members with hotpot from Cotthams and in December, despite the flood in the centre kitchen, we held a film and hot dog night, where we showed the Nativity. Both of these events were offered free to members, once again thanks to the generosity of our church fellowship. At Christmas, each family who came along, were given selection boxes for each of their children and a Christmas card. Thanks to all those who donated selection boxes. Each week, more than 75 volunteer hours go into providing the food pantry which lasts for 21/2 hours. I would personally like to thank all the volunteers for their commitment to this cause and I know that the members who come along each week would also join me in this. As the cost of living crisis continues to worsen, we know that this provision is valuable to our members and we would ask you to pray that we are given the strength to be able to continue to offer it and that the Lord will continue to provide as He has done in the past twelve months.

Tea and Toast – Co-ordinator Lorraine Rose, Julie Parry & Lorna Llewellyn

As 2022 progressed and the number of Covid restrictions disappearing, the cost of living starting to increase and the success of the Food Pantry. A small group from the church family prayed what could we do to help more and decided to start in October 2022 a drop-in Tea & Toast morning 9am-11am on a Tuesday for the local community. With a suggested donation of £1, To help combat loneliness, safe space to talk, to form new friendships and a warm space to come.

It has been a slow start some weeks we had people who are not connected to the church calling in and other weeks only the volunteers. It is early days and we will continue in this ministry and ask for your prayers.

Hobby Hub – Co-ordinator Susan Stewart

Hobby Hub met weekly throughout the year, starting the year on zoom but we were back to meeting in person in St Luke’s Community Centre from February onwards. We have a regular group of 8/9 people meeting each week, who have worked on a range of crafts and often just to be in the company of others. It has been great to welcome men and women as well as young and not so young and we have seen strong friendships being built.

During the year we took the decision as a group that we would each start contributing 50p per week and we’re delighted to be able to make a contribution to St Luke’s for their generosity in letting us use the facilities.

We had our first Christmas Celebration, deliberately arranged on the same evening as the Mens Night and invited ladies from across the Eccleston Team of churches to join us for for a night of fun, fellowship and friendship. It was a great night and we definitely had lots of fun!

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St Luke’s Indoor Bowls – Co-ordinator Alan Cresswell, Allan Taggert & Charles Johnson

2022 was another successful year of bowling on the mats in the Church Centre. On average about 10 people could be found on Thursday afternoons puzzling over the contours of the floor in the hall. We were joined by some new bowlers (both male and female). Even if the mysteries of the slopes and dips in the floor prove too challenging for us, we always enjoy the break for refreshments. Alan has shown great discernment in his choice of biscuits for us. If only we could bring the high level of skill shown in our washing up and drying to our efforts at bowling!

St Luke’s Men’s Group – Co-ordinator Alan Cresswell, Charles Johnson & Allan Taggart

In Spring 2022 we were finally able to restart our monthly Men’s Meeting at the Black Bull. Gareth Banton helped us make a great start with a talk about his experiences of “Wild Camping”. We then had some very informative sessions hearing about electric vehicles (some of our ladies wanted to attend that one!) and later in the year on the history of Taylor Park. We held our usual Bowls Night at Prescot and Odyssey Bowling Club. Our curate, Gregor, entertained us with tales from his time as an aircraft engineer travelling the world to fix 747 jets. One first for us was a Christmas event with hotpot supper and a good sing-song. It has been great to see men from all our team churches joining us. Thanks go to our organising committee, to the ladies who help us with creating publicity materials and to the Black Bull. We look forward to more enjoyable evenings in 2023.

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FINANCE

Regular giving and donations increased by just under 1%, compared to the same for 2021, whereas our regular commitments (gas, electricity, water, insurance, etc) have increased by 45% during the year, with the bulk of this increase being due to the increase in gas and electricity, as we were on a considerably low fixed tariff until October 2022 but then saw a large increase after. Also, the usage increased this year compared to 2021 as the church and hall were not used as much that year.

Our Parish Share contribution for 2022 was maintained at more or less the same level as 2021, although there was no one-off credit against our payments from the Church Commissioners as had been received during 2021, and hence appears to be an increase of £4,200.

Although people joined the Parish Giving Scheme during 2021, the uptake of this did not continue through 2022.

Payments associated with the vicarage have remained consistent compared to 2021, although they now do only account for the telephone line and broadband connection.

All other costs associated with the vicarage (i.e., council tax, water rates, etc.), which were incurred because it was occupied by Rev Gregor Stewart and his family during his Curacy, are now accounted for separately under the ‘curacy costs’ line and are paid for by the 4 churches of the Eccleston Team as shown in the ‘curacy income’ row under the income section. The rent of the vicarage is covered by a curacy grant from the Liverpool Diocese.

A large one-off maintenance cost was incurred during 2022 for the removal of the asbestos lagging and debris around the church boilers in the basement.

We have received a total of £5,760 in tax recovery from regular income. This is lower than during 2021 as tax recovery only been received for 8 months of the year.

Income from hall lettings has increased compared to that in 2021 as community groups continued to return, although it was not back to the pre-covid level.

We have been extremely fortunate to receive several bequests from former members of the church, totalling £16,111, during the year.

We have received investment income totalling £2,795 from the bequest investment fund, which is available for the PCC without any restrictions. This was slightly higher than that received in 2021, even though funds had been withdrawn to pay for the asbestos works, as general interest rates increased.

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Performance of Investments from the fund accounts held with the Central Board of Finance from the sale of the school have been good with dividend payments and interest achieving £2,281 which is available to the PCC for restricted items, although the market value of the actual shares has decreased by 12.6%.

FINANCIAL REVIEW

At the end of the year, between the main deposit and current accounts there was a total of £1,962 available as general funds, there is also £99 available for church upgrade works and a further £1,024 received from Liverpool Diocese and the team churches towards the curacy costs.

.

The market value of the investment fund from the bequest donations was £82,068 which is available to the PCC without any restrictions. There was also a further £12,877 in restricted funds which are available for the PCC to use for restricted purposes.

Agent Transactions

The PCC acted as a financial agent for the following people / organisations: -

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Plans for the Future

“Knowing Jesus, Growing in Jesus, Showing Jesus to others”.

Be on your guard; Stand firm in the faith;

Be courageous; be strong. Do everything in love.

DECLARATION

The trustees declare that they have approved the trustees’ report above.

Signature Full Name: - Rev. Gareth Banton Position: - PCC Chair Date: - 28th April 2023

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The Parish Church of ST LUKE, ECCLESTON

Financial Statement for the year ending 2022.

Knowing Jesus, Growing in Jesus, Showing Jesus to others

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PAROCHIAL CHURCH COUNCIL OF St Luke's, Eccleston FINANCIAL STATEMENT

For the year ended 31 December 2022 Receipts & Payments Account (Rev 2)

Receipts
Voluntary receipts
Regular Giving
Planned Giving - Gift Aid
Planned Giving - Parish Giving Scheme
Planned Giving - Other
Loose Plate Collections
Tax Recovered - Gift Aid
Tax Recovered - Gift Aid on Small Donations
in memoriam
members' payments
grants
other donations
special appeals
Receipts from activities for generating funds
refreshments
copy printer income
hall lettings
other income (incl cards)
Receipts from Church activities
PCC Fees
Donations from Verger
Receipts from investments
Bank & CBF interest/dividends
Other receipts
Weekend income / outings
Insurance claim
Curacy Income
St Luke's Pantry Income
Grants
Donations
Members Payments
Other Payments
Total Receipts		 Unrestricted
Designated
Restricted
Total
funds
funds
funds
2022
£
£
£
£
23,489
23,489
6,920
6,920
4,570
4,570
4,220
4,220
5,760
5,760
0
16,111
16,111
1,828
1,828
1,500
1,500
3,090
112
3,202
0
67,600
328
328
7
7
5,587
5,587
1,454
1,454
7,376
3,679
3,679
0
3,679
2,802
2,281
5,083
5,083
0
0
11,238
11,238
11,238
12,210
12,210
1,697
1,697
9,398
9,398
419
419
23,724
79,516
36,901
2,281
118,699		 Total
2021
£
25,954
6,164
5,132
1,619
9,417
0
57,337
370
0
1,193
0
107,187
19
0
2,292
865
3,176
3,026
0
3,026
4,973
4,973
0
0
11,525
11,525
6,000
121
0
0
6,121
136,008

Page 18 of 22

PAROCHIAL CHURCH COUNCIL OF

St Luke's, Eccleston FINANCIAL STATEMENT

For the year ended 31 December 2022 Receipts & Payments Account (Rev 2)

Payments
Church activities
Missionary giving
Parish share
Working expenses
Vicarage costs
Curacy Costs
Wages
Church heat/light
Church insurance
Evangelism (incl anniversary)
Church Maintenance
Upkeep of services
Equipment
Copier lease/mtce
Community centre maintenance
Community centre running costs
Weekend accommodation/ outings
Refreshments
Other working exps
Church upgrade works
St Luke's Pantry
Fees
Equipment
Purchases
Other Purchases
Total Payments
Excess of Receipts over Payments		 Unrestricted
Designated
Restricted
Total
funds
funds
funds
2022
£
£
£
£
6,925
1,326
8,251
51,035
51,035
1,593
1,593
630
630
10,723
10,723
2,410
2,410
4,060
4,060
3,191
3,191
822
822
18,937
18,937
198
134
332
515
515
1,031
1,031
1,679
1,679
7,976
7,976
0
242
242
1,568
354
1,923
0
0
115,350
1,575
1,575
2,783
2,783
10,895
10,895
416
416
15,669
102,297
28,722
0
131,019
(22,781)
8,180
2,281
(12,320)		 Total
2021
£
10,980
46,835
1,766
620
11,756
2,855
2,133
3,108
572
1,643
473
204
1,215
823
5,241
0
68
2,797
10,858
103,948
500
2,973
0
0
3,473
107,421
28,587

Page 19 of 22

PAROCHIAL CHURCH COUNCIL OF St. Luke's, Eccleston

STATEMENT OF ASSETS AND LIABILITIES

For the year ended 31 December 2022

Unrestricted Designated Restricted Total Total
funds funds funds 2022 2021
£ £ £ £ £
Cash Funds
Bank current account (3,031) (3,031) (9,214)
Bank deposit account 4,994 1,122 6,116 15,063
Community Centre account 10,713 10,713 2,658
Church Board of Finance Deposit Fund 0 0 1,302
Church Board of Finance Deposit Account (764001) 3,588 3,588 1,307
Fund bank accounts and cash 1,669 1,669 2,059
Total bank current and deposit accounts 1,963 12,383 4,711 19,056 13,174
Investment Assets
CBF Investment Fund (Old School Sale) (764002) ** 37,816 37,816 42,836
CBF Fixed Int Investment Fund (Old School Sale) (764003) ** 38,802 38,802 44,875
CBF Fixed Int Investment Fund (Bequest) (764004) 44,942 5,349 50,291 70,152
CBF Investment Fund (Bequest) (764005) 37,126 3,940 41,066 53,161
167,975 211,024

** Investment Assets were previously managed by the trustees of Greenhalls Ecclesiastical Charity. These have now been transferred to St Lukes Parochial Church Council.

Other Monetary Assets Other Monetary Assets (all in respect of unrestricted funds)
Income tax recoverable from HMRC from August - December 2022 Income tax recoverable from HMRC from August - December 2022 4,435 674
Liabilities (all in respect of unrestricted funds) (all in respect of unrestricted funds)
None 0 0

Approved by the PCC on ….............................................. and signed on their behalf 27th November 2023

Rev Gareth Banton PCC Chairman

Peter Anderson PCC Assistant Treasurer

Page 20 of 22

NOTES TO THE ACCOUNTS:

  1. These financial statements have been prepared in accordance with the Church Accounting Regulations 2006 using the Receipts and Payments basis.

  2. The following assets are recognised but are not necessarily valued in the Statement of Assets and Liabilities: Freehold land and buildings comprising the Church Centre Various items of ICT and audio visual equipment

Various tables and chairs purchased in 2010

  1. The expenses paid to clergy may include a small, immaterial proportion which relates to their function as PCC members. No other payments were made to PCC members.

  2. The movements in designated funds during the year were: .

b/fwd c/fwd
1 Jan 2022 Receipts Payments 31 Dec 2022
Discretionary fund 366 0 0 366
Flower Fund 38 102 134 6
Hospitality 99 0 0 99
Ladies' Fellowship 0 0
Family Events Fund 57 0 57 0
Boys Brigade 204 0 204 0
Teddies Tuesday 322 1,838 1,389 771
Luke Inn 544 544 0
Luke There 428 0 0 428
St Lukes Puppeteers 0 0
2,059 1,940 2,330 1,669
  1. Receipts and payments for the Community Centre are included within the PCC accounts but are identified separately as follows:
Receipts
Hall lettings
Grants
Contribution from (to) St Luke’s Church
Total Income
Payments
Community centre maintenance
Community centre running costs
Centre Cleaning Costs
Total Expenditure		 £
2022
5,587
0
5,748
11,335
1,679
7,976
1,680
11,335		 £
2021
2,292
0
5,305
7,597
823
5,241
1,534
7,597

Page 21 of 22

IDdeperydeTrt Kxather's Reprt R¢port to the Par(¥bial Cbutch CouDcRI WC)of St Luke'5, EccleSts￿ StHeleDS ooth¢ ¥couats forth¢ y¢8r ¢Mded 31° DrKmb¢r2021 a$ 5¢tout on page¥ 18 to 21 ofy0urArthu4RA￿. The PCC are respoDsible for the preparatiort of thac¢tyJllts. They collsidertF&t an audit isrot requiredf this yearuAdtts#tioA 144of th¢ Cbltities A¢t 2011 (th¢ Chatiii¢s Ad) aLd that att Inde￿n&￿t ¢x4mitiAtion 18 Athled It is Myrespo￿￿11lty to.. • ¢xan3itK the a¢¢ounls se¢tiott 145 of the Chotiti¢s A¢i • to folltswtheprLth laiddowll ID thegeneral DireetiQD5 givenby the amrity CA)•￿i￿On lutmkr se£tiOD 145(5Mb) of th¢ Charities Act), and • to state whetherparticulzrroattu5 h8ve corne to my atteJtion. Basls of IndepeDdentexwDffiner¥ stAtement My examinattott WL8 carritt1 wt in xcopdatv wtth gellerai D￿￿titi￿S given by the Charity Commission. An examiDatiOKL includes a re¥Aew of the accoutttin8records keptby the PCC and acomparison of tb¢ accounts prcgcnted with those record5. ItaJsD includBs ¢ollsidtratii)n of aDyunustsal items ordisct05ures ill the a¢￿￿￿$. and s¢¢kingexplatsations fromthe PCC ADY $u¢h nutr￿5. Th¢prw¢duT4% und¢rtaken do not ptovidc all thc tbat wodd b¢rquit￿ in an audit. and conw4Uthtly th) opioion is giv¢a asto wh¢thcrtb¢ accounlspEesenta'tmeand f8ir'view al￿ thereFQrt 15 limit￿10 tbose motters sttout ittttjo statement beLow. IndepeDdeDt examlDer'$ stAtement InwmiKtion with my exami￿tio￿ 00 matt¢rh•s wtD¢ tomy att¢ntion". l}which 8ives me rea￿nable6&￿e to be]i¢v¢ thatiry. atsy rnaterial r&4pect. therequirem￿lI • kn keep8w￿tLtlg rewrds in a(¥or￿¢wlth s¢¢tion 130 of the char￿tleSAtL. • to prepa￿a¢Count$ whi¢h a¢¢ord wathth¢ a¢¢oUfttu1gr￿td$ 4nd¢ompty with the accounting reqUIre￿ts ofthe Charities Aethave not beeu mel OF 2) to Whic￿ in my0pinio￿ attcnlion SIKuld￿ dr&wiJ in orderto en￿le a properundersts of the accounts to be reached. IE'$ Name.. PA￿L ad&es5: L+ vAio SYA Page 22 0122