Barley Hlll ￿rt￿hla1 ChuKh Coundl Report and Flnand•l Ststements for the ye¥r ended 31 December 2025 Rellstered tharlty no.. 1127839 barley hill church Barfey Hill hrothl41 Church C¢wndl L￿1 and admlnlstr¥tlve Inf0m￿tIon for the ye•r ended 31 De¢ffiiber 2015 Contents Pa Le8al and admlnistratlve Infomatlon Annual report of the PCC Independent examlner's report Statement of flnancial actimties Balance sheet io Notes to the accourtts 11-15 Page I Barley Hlll Parothial Church Councll L•gal and administrntlve Inforrnatlon for th• year ended 31 December 2025 Admlnlstratlve Infomiation Slnce the lifting of COVID-19 re5trirtlons Barley Hill Church continue to meet onllne and in person at St Marfs Church Thame, together with the congregations from St Marfs and St Catherine's Church Towersey. The Church forms part of the Thame Beneflce in the Diocese of Oxford. At 31 December 2025 there were 50 parishloners after revision of the electoral roll12024.. 801. During 2CQ9 Badey Hlll Parochial Church Councll IPCCI registered with the Charltycornmission for England and Wales under the name of The Parochial Church Council of the Ecclesiastical Parish of Barley Hlll (registered number 11278391. Unt51 then the PCC was a charlty excepted from registration wlth the Charity Commisslon. The charity'5 correspondence address 5s.' Barley Hlll ChU￿h, clo Thame Barns Centre, Church Road OX9 3A1 The PCC acknowledges that the operatlon of the Church is heavily dependent on the commttment of the volunteers wlthin the ￿ngregatIon in order to fulfil Its artivities. PCC members who have served between l January 2025 and 31 De￿mber 2025 are.. Ex•offKio: Andy Mcculloch Sharon Bond Team Vicar (Chairman) Safeguardlne Officer Deanery Synod Repre5entstlves: Bridget Trueman Richard Shearwood (Resigned 9, July 20251 Elected members: Al French Natasha Challoner Rlchard Potts Andrew Newton Judith Harper Carrie Priestnal Andrew Clamp Andrew Sweet Margaret Roblnson (Resigned 21. July 20251 (Resigned 9th July 20251 Election to the PCC follows the Church representstion rules published by the Church of England and a conscious effort is made to ensure It is both balanced and Inclusive of the larger congregatlon. Other relevant orlanlsatlonk Bank Uoyds Bank pl l Market Square. Aylesbury Buckin8hamshire HP20 ITD Pa8e 2 Barfey Hill Parochial Church Council Annual report of the Pccfor the year ended 31 December 2025 Achlevements •nd Performance Since the COVID-19 pandemi4 Barley Hill Church has ￿￿rShIPed with St Marfs Thame, initially online and then after lockdown at St Ma￿S Church. A trial process, including St Catherine's Towersey from 2022. of working together continues. Whilst the PCC remains the legal goveming body for Barley Hill Church, ministry is now run jointly wth St Ma￿$ and St Catherine'5. This ￿port therefore combine5 detsils for their combined ministy. although detsils of service5 for St Catherine's are repKTrrted separately. GOVERNANCE & TrUCTURE The new governance structure for St Marrfs. Barley Hill and St Catherine'5 churches, implemented during 2023. continue5 to provide an infomial Joint Church Council IJCQ and a Stsnding Committee to manage the running and finances of the combined churches. whilst retaining the legal structure5 of the e￿Sting PCC5. The combined churches operate under the informal name Thame Church, whilst retaining legal stwttu￿ and reports. We have continued discussions to formally merge the three parishes, with advice and guidance from Oxford Diocese and the ag￿ement of the Church Commissioners. We hope to conclLKle this Pro￿S$ during 2026 and reduce the govemance burden and significantly simplifythe financial procedures for the 3 parishes through them becoming the integrated Parish of Thame. WORSHIP & PRAYER Weekly church attendan￿ is typically 155 adults. 16 children and with around 18 watrhing online across the services. During the year there have been 19 baptisms and birth thanksgiMngs12024= 111. 8 wedding512024.' 5). 31 funerals in SL Mary's12024.. 17) and 8 Services at the crematorium12024= 91. There were also 25 committals of ashes services during the year12024.. 251. The funerals held at St Ma￿5 were attended by 2,336 people during the year. OUT online Morning Prayer continues to be well supported with around 15 people attending mid-week. Prayer ministry was also introduced at the end of our 9am seryices. We joined in with churches from across Thame in a week of 2417 Prayer during September as well as the quartedy un￿ed.19n1tsd prayer, worship and Prayer ministry gatherings. CHILDREN & FAMILIES Our volunteers have continued to deliver weekly kids church, monthly a11-￿e SeNi￿S. weekly toddler group Sparklers (with around 80 parents/carers and tcrfldlers) and regular assemblies at Barfey Hill School. The p)sition of Children and Families Ministry Leader was being supported by a grant from Oxford Diocese on a decreasing scale over 3-years while funds were raised from the congregation. After 2 years however, despite new regular giving. due to some regular givers moving away or dying, as well as inflation, our overall income did not increase in real terms. It was therefore necessary to make this position redundant at the end of 2025. Barley Hill P•rochial Church Counal Annual report of the PCC for the year ended 31 Dècember 2025 YOUTH We have continued without a volunteer youth leader this year. with Heather bringing a focu5 to this ministry sin joining in July. We pausej our Sunday moming youth group at the 11 am setvice, which was only attrarting 2-4 young people each week. We instead started an evening youth group, Elevate Youth. which has around 9 young people, 3 of whom are hoping to be baptised early in 2026. A great team of volunteers support the young people and we join Cornerstone youth (another church within Thamel for some of their ￿gUlar social/chill gatherings. We wll also join them for a youth weekend away in 2026 and we hope to organise a mission trip for 2027. SMALL GROUPS & PASTORAL CARE Our many small groups (Cur￿ntlY 121 continue to provide valuable discipleship and pastoral support to a significant proportion of ourcongregation. Sermon series, such as the Practicing the Way disciplines of Generosity and Solitude, were supported by small groups using the associated tea¢hing materiallwdeos. Leader5 meet temily for encovragemen( training and to facilitste communication. The more formal organisation of Pastoral Care is ongoing and being headed up by Heather and Graham. This year Graham trialled a Grief Café to support people who have been bereaved. This as well as Grave Talk lan opportunity to consider death. dying and funeral arTangementsl are planned for 2026. Those in local care homes are visited through our Anna Chaplain and we also run regular Services at ￿ local care homes and a retirement estste. MISSION & EVANGELISM As well a5 spar￿eT$ being a key outreach to local families, our wular lunch and talk for older people155+1 continl￿5 to flourish, supporting over 60 people each month. Easter Experience welcomed around 450 children from Barley Hill and John Hampden schoo15 to the church for creative, interactive telling of the Easter Story. The church co-ordinated annual events such a5 Music in the Park's free drop off and craft activitie5, and supported Carols Around the Tree enabling hundreds to gatt)er to sing carols on Christmas Eve. Key community events at Towersey are also 5UPPOrted by the church including the May Festival and Church Fete. We ran a stall at the town's Christmas Tree Light s￿tch-on event giving out chocolates and leaflets for Christmas services. This was an excellent opportunity to ervjage with the local community and successfully promoted seNices. The PCC allocates 10% of its general giving to support mission partners both in the UK arKI overseas. Each month one of these groups gives a short updatelpresentstion to the 9am and 11 am services. ECO CHURCH Having received our Bron￿ Eco Church Award at the end of 2024 our EcoAction Group continues to focus on taking steps to make the culture, buildings. churchyard and purchasing more caring towards creation. Significant work ha5 been put towards moving to an air-source heat pump for heating St ma￿$. Page 4 Barley Hill Parochlal Churth Coundl Annual report of the PCC forthe year ended 31 De¢ember 2025 COMMUNICAMONS With the help of one of our young adults we launched an Instagram account. This has 5ignrficantly increased our social media presence, helping draw younger ￿Ults to services and increase people's awareness of what the church does and is. Our systems and processes for communicating wth church building hirers. including weddings and funerals, have been improved significantly. Our Operations Manager has overseen these as well a5 developing our printed material. including a new Welcome Leaflet and Marriage Booklet. FACILITIES We engaged our architect and a quantity surveyor to produce a cost plan for a phased approach to the quinquennial work5 in ￿adIneSS for fundraising in 2026. We a150 commissioned a report on replacing the heating system, which has concluded that an air souro heat pump 15 the best approach, coupled ideally with solar panels. Negotiations of the expired lease for The Barns Centre, betsveen the church, the 8arn5 Centre Charity and the Town Council (who co-own the Cent￿ with the church) are orvJoing. ECUMENICAL RELATIONSHIPS Thame Church joined other local thurches to support Impact Thame's Lighten Up Paty and Holiday Club which werè successful. We have combined efft)rts with Cornerstone Church for our yOLrth. The United.Ignited quarter gatherings of all churthes in Thame for worship. prayer and ministy have also tontinued. with all 7 churc￿$ being represented. All this ministry is only possible with the incredible generosity of many in our community who faithfully serve and give their time and money. We are immensely grateful to all who have helped. We give thanks to God for all he has done and for all his provision throughoLrt the year. Mikè Reading ￿earn Rector), Andy Mcculloch (Team Vicar) and Heather Mcculloch {Associate Minister) Thame Church Pa8e 5 Barley Hill P4ro¢hial Churth Council Annual report of the Pccfor the yearended 31 December 2025 Flnanclal Re¥lew Income on the unrestricted fund totalled £58,32612024.. £60,586). There is a 51ight reduction in Regular 8IMng. There was no restrlcted income in 2025.12024.. £01. The PCC recelved no goods or servlces (other than the time of volunteers) free of charge or at a dSscounted level. There was no restrlcted expenditure In 202512024.. £01. There was net expendlture in the year of £7.03212024 net expenditure.. £3.8291. Overall c05ts were contained, and our Parish share y￿S increased slightly as thls Is now shared across the three parishes comprising Thame Church. Church running costs are also shared. The cash balance on the unrestricted fund at 31 December 2025 Is £63,01512024.. £69.6091. The PCC is aware of Its obligation to operate for the public benefit, and the Trustees have had re8ard to the Charlty Commission public benefit guidance IPB31. The PCC conslders it fulflls th15 requirement by contrlbuting to the spiritual life of the parish it serves as well as offering tan8ible sUPPOrt to activitles designed to ald hardship and provide help to those in need In the local and global community. Reserves The pces policy Is to maintain reserves at a minimum of three month's operating expen5es1£16,3391. The charlty's a55ets are both available and adequate to meet Its obligations. with unrestricted reserves of £63,069. Page 6 Barley Hill Parochial Church Council Annual report ofthe PCC forthe year ended 31 De￿fflber 2025 Structurei governance and marbagement The PCC is a corporate boéy establlshed by the Church of England. The PCC operates under the Parochial Church Council Powers Measure 1956. Appointment of PCC members Is set out in the Church Representstion Rules 2C¥)6. The charity is adMiniste￿d by its trustees, the PCC members. Statement of Trustees, Responslbllltles forthe year ended 310ecember 2025 Charlty law requlres the Trustees to prepare accounts for each financial yearwhich give a true and fair vlew of the state of affairs of the Trust and of the surplus or deficit of the Trustfor that perfod. In preparin8 those accounts, the Trustees are required to.. select Suitable accounting policies and apply them con5i5tently; make judgements and estimates that are reasonable and prudent; state whether applicable accounting standards and statements of recommended practice have been followed. subject to any departures dlsclosed and explained in the financial statements,. and prepare the accounts on the goin8