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2023-12-31-accounts

CHURCH OF SAINT LAWRENCE HATFIELD ANNUAL PAROCHIAL CHURCH MEETING

to be held in St Lawrence Church on Wednesday 24[th] April 2024 at 7:30pm

St. Lawrence Hatfield PCC Registered Charity Number 1127942

“St Lawrence is at the centre of our community; where all are welcomed and accepted and where God is worshipped and faith is nurtured.”

Introduction

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The PCC is pleased to provide this booklet containing the annual reports in advance of the Annual Parochial Church Meeting (APCM) on Wednesday 24[th] April 2024 at 7.30pm at St. Lawrence Church, Hatfield.

The reports have been written by representatives of the groups and committees and are once again a credit to all their hard work and dedication. We would like to say thank you for everything they have done again this year.

Please take some time to enjoy reading them before the meeting to learn about our achievements in 2023/4. This will also save us a great deal of time and allow for a more meaningful discussion to take place on issues which warrant more of our attention at the meeting. If you have any queries or comments to make, there will be ample opportunity during the course of the evening.

We hope that once you have finished reading this report you will be very impressed by all that is taking place and we hope it will provide you with some real food for thought!

It might prompt questions such as “is there anything I could be doing for my Church?” or “how can I support the church’s mission?” If it does, please speak to any member of your PCC.

We trust that you will continue to pray for each other as we serve Christ in all that we do!

ANNUAL PAROCHIAL CHURCH MEETING

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Wednesday 24[th] April 2024 AGENDA

ANNUAL MEETING OF PARISHIONERS

  1. Welcome and Prayers

  2. Election of Churchwardens

ANNUAL PAROCHIAL CHURCH MEETING

  1. Apologies

  2. Minutes of the Previous Meeting: Wednesday 5[th] May 2023 page 4

  3. Matters Arising

4. Annual Reports 2023

5. Elections and Appointments 2024/2025

6. Address: the Chair

7. Any Further Questions or Comments

8. Dates to Note

9. Closing Prayer

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APCM 2023 Minutes

The Parish Church of St. Lawrence, Hatfield Registered Charity No: 1127942

ANNUAL PAROCHIAL CHURCH MEETING 2023

Minutes of the Annual Parochial Church Meeting held at 19:30 on Wednesday 5[th] May in church.

Present

Rev’d Canon Liz Turner-Loisel, Rev'd Gill Salter, Rev’d Joyce Barker, Vera Owen, Viv Stubbs, Beryl Adamson, Brian Adamson, John Alick, Gill Atkinson, Sandra Beadle, Tim Beadle, Andy Deakins, Hilary Dinsdale, Dianne Fox, Chrissy Grindle, Anita Jepson, Glenys Mashford, Terry Raper, Carol Rashid, Anne Render, Rachel Ridler, Maureen Scott, Glynis Smith, Philippe TurnerLoisel, Cath Watson, Stuart Watson, Barbara Young, Rosh Milner, Coralie May, Mark Johnson, Susan McQuade, Anne Kitchen, Maureen Raper, Jean Rowley, Rhianon Clark, Hazel Henderson, Tim Sweed

Welcome and Prayers

Revd Liz opened the meeting by welcoming everyone and leading the prayers. The core message was based on the recent Deanery Confirmation service, led by Bishop Pete, where the theme was ‘Shine as lights for Christ’, a crucial message in a world where there is so much darkness in different forms

ANNUAL MEETING OF PARISHIONERS 19.35

Revd Liz reminded us that this part of the meeting is for anyone who lives in the Parish. She asked for prayers for the perpetrators of the recent act of vandalism, when church windows had been smashed at the rear of church. She reminded us that this will be a costly repair and it would be good to get the support of the community..

1. Election of Churchwardens

In spite of many reminders throughout the year, there were no other nominations. So we were very grateful that Viv and Vera have agreed to stand again. Revd Liz expressed her gratitude to them for this.

Vera Owen proposed by John Alick and seconded by Glynis Smith. Viv Stubbs proposed by John Alick and seconded by Glynis Smith.

As no vote was necessary, it was proposed that Vera Owen and Viv Stubbs serve for a further year.

Proposer:- Mark Johnson , seconder:- Beryl Adamson All present were in favour.

Rev’d Liz had pleasure in announcing that Vera and Viv would serve their eighth term of office.

She reminded us that their term of office actually ended a year ago and she stressed we need to work together to give them our support. She ended by repeating our thanks as their experience will provide a period of stability in the interregnum.

The meeting was closed at 7.50pm with the message that the following meeting could only be attended by those whose names were on the electoral register. (no-one needed to leave)

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ANNUAL PAROCHIAL CHURCH MEETING

1. Apologies

There were apologies from Jill McGarvie, Susan Spencer, Peter Render, Karen Blair

2. Minutes of the Previous APCM Meeting – held on Wednesday 11[th] May 2022 in church. These had already been agreed at the 1st PCC meeting in June 2022, but Revd Liz pointed out that now they need to be approved by those present at the 2022 APCM meeting.

The minutes were agreed to be a true record Proposer:- Anne Render Seconder:- Glynis Smith All who were present at last year’s meeting were in favour

3. Matters Arising There were no matters arising.

4. Annual Reports 2022 - 2023

a) Electoral Roll report since the last Annual Meeting. The electoral roll now stands at 137

Of the eight people we lost from last year, 5 have died - Kenneth Atkinson, Betty Bateson, Bernard Evans, Margaret Mountain, Lilias Smith and 3 moved away-Beryl Leary, Pauline Sophianou, Kim Styles

We gained one person, Abbie Beadle. There were no questions from the floor.

b) Annual Report on the proceedings of the PCC. No issues were raised

c) Safeguarding Report Revd Liz ask everyone to consider the offer of safeguarding training and she assured people that Rachel would support with the on-line access. Vera wishes to step down as Safeguarding Officer so that creates a vacancy which needs to be filled.

7.55 Tim Sweed arrived

d) Financial Statements of the PCC for the year ending Dec.2021

Revd Liz explained that Karen, the PCC treasurer, was unable to attend the meeting and any questions we were unable to answer would be passed on to her for clarification. She pointed out that the increase in income was due in part to the use of card machines, in particular as Rachel ensures they are prominently placed when people leave her services/activities.

Stuart Watson requested that the designated funds are allocated as soon as possible. Revd Liz explained that Covid and the length of time it takes for faculties to be granted has not helped their speedy allocation.

Stuart also asked if the accounts had been audited. Revd Liz confirmed that the independent examiner’s report is available for public perusal, that FaithStarLLP were rigorous and gave a congratulatory report on the work of our treasurer.

There were no further questions or comments so a proposal was made to accept the accounts for 2022 as detailed in the booklet.

Proposer:- John Alick Seconder:- Terry Raper

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All were in favour

e) Annual Fabric Report

Thanks and congratulations were given to Terry for his thorough and detailed report.

Revd Liz went through each section for comments/corrections and she also provided more background information on

f) Project Manager’s report

h) Deanery

P52 Revd Liz informed the meeting that Rev Justine Smith has left the Marshlands so there is now a vacancy once again in the Deanery. All were encouraged to attend the Deanery Open Meetings, the next one being in June

k) Ministry, Worship, Discipleship, Pastoral Care

P54 Rev'd Liz expressed her gratitude for the inclusive ministry which takes place at St Lawrence. She stressed that every member has a part to play in ministry and she encouraged everyone to think what they could contribute to the life of the church. In the next few months the leadership team will be setting up a pastoral care team.

l) Centenary project Worker’s report

P57 Rachel was congratulated on her report, not least for the gorgeous pictures which so colourfully portray that people are important. Revd Liz stated she is doing a fantastic job.

n) Activities of the Parish

o) Communications and Administration

Revd Liz talked about how we have developed a mixed mode of working-

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Parish Office and the Vicarage

5. Elections and Appointments 2023/24

For the APCM 2023 there are five vacancies,

Term of office ending 2023 4 vacancies Term of office ending 2024 1 vacancy Term of Office ending 2025 0 vacancies

Nominations are as follows:-

Andy Deakins proposed by Maureen Scott seconded by Glenys Mashford Mark Johnson proposed by Vera Owen seconded by Beryl Adamson Janet BARBARA Young proposed by Glenys Mashford seconded by Anita Jepson Tim Beadle proposed by Beryl Adamson, seconded by Sandra Beadle Sandra Beadle proposed by Tim Beadle seconded by Beryl Adamson

Revd Liz explained the procedure of the rolling programme of 3years with 4 members in each group. However, members can resign at any time

In the group whose term of office ends in 2023, Susan Spencer decided to step down after 2x3yrs, so Mark Johnson, Andy Deakins and Barbara Young will be joined by Tim Beadle. There being vacancy in the group whose term ends next year, Sandra Beadle agreed to join them, so she has a year to decide if she enjoys the role.

All present agreed to these appointments and arrangements

Revd Liz thanked Susan Spencer for her support and contribution to the life of the church through her service on the PCC. The secretary was asked to send a card and flowers to show our appreciation.

There being no other nominations, the two existing reps stood for re-election:Chrissy Grindle proposed by Beryl Adamson seconded by Barbara Young

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Glenys Mashford proposed by Barbara Young seconded by Anita Jepson and were duly elected for a further 3 years

It is proposed that we continue with FaithStarLLP as our independent examiner for the next year.

Proposed by Chrissy Grindle, seconded by Rosh Milner. All were in favour

6. Address: Revd. Canon Liz Turner-Loisel

Revd Liz introduced her address as a ’New era in the Church’

7. Any further questions or comments?

Revd Liz introduced this section with a brief update on Dunscroft Church

The meeting was then opened up to questions from the floor:-

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8. Dates to note a) Date of the first meeting of the PCC: Monday 5[th] June 2023 at 19.00 in church b) Date of the Archdeacon’s Visitation: Monday 19[th] June 2023 a) Date of the next Annual Meeting: Wednesday 24[th] April 2024

Closing Prayer -

The Diocesan Vision prayer followed by an appropriate ending prayer which began with the words …God of power, may the boldness of your Spirit transform us

The meeting ended at 21.05

These minutes were discussed at the PCC meeting on 5[th] June 2023 and, with the amendments, were deemed to be a true record subject to approval at the 2024 APCM

Proposer :- Mark Johnson Seconder:- Terry Raper

Signed:- Vera Owen____ Date:- 24/4/24

The Parish Church of Saint Lawrence, Hatfield: Registered Charity No. 1127942 ANNUAL REPORT 2023/2024 Introduction

In July 1997, the General Synod accepted Church Accounting Regulations which included the requirement that an Annual Report should be presented to the Annual Parochial Church Meeting (APCM). This document was to inform parishioners of the proceedings of the Parochial Church Council (PCC) and the activities of the Parish generally, and was to be quite separate from the Statement or Address the Incumbent may wish to make to the meeting.

The PCC must adopt the report before it is presented to the APCM and the Independent Examiner must see a copy before he can sign the Accounts.

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Electoral Roll

No names have been added and one has been removed.

The roll was completed between Wednesday 27[th] March and Tuesday 9[th] April and there are now 136 names on the new electoral roll.

The new roll will be on view at the back of church (near the south door entrance) for 14 days prior to the Annual Parochial Church meeting on Wednesday 24[th] April 2024

Glenys Mashford, Electoral Roll Officer

Secretary’s Report

Legal maters:

The Church of Saint Lawrence is situated in the town of HATFIELD in the Ecclesiastical Parish of HATFIELD in SOUTH YORKSHIRE and is in the Deanery of Snaith and Hatfield. The situation of the Church is on Cuckoo Lane, Hatfield, Doncaster, DN7 6RX. The correspondence address is The Parish Office, 3 Vicarage Close, Hatfield, Doncaster, DN7 6HN.

The following people were members of the PCC during the months May 2023 – April 2024 and, as such, were therefore Trustees of the PCC:

Rev Liz Turner-Loisel ex-officio Priest-in-Charge , (May- September 10[th] 2023) retired, leaving Parish in interregnum Rev Gill Salter ex-officio Curate Mrs Viv Stubbs ex-officio Church Warden , Reader, Safeguarding Officer Mrs Vera Owen ex-officio Church Warden , Chair of PCC Oct 2023 onwards , Mrs Beryl Adamson ex-officio Reader Mrs Chrissy Grindle ex-officio Deanery Synod representative Mrs Glenys Mashford ex-officio Deanery Synod PCC Secretary, Mrs Carol Rashid ex-officio Reader , Ordinand

Elected lay representatives

Term of Office ends 2024 Term of Office ends 2025

Mr Terry Raper Buildings Officer Mrs Anne Render Assistant Treasurer Mrs Rosh Milner Project Manager, Vice Chair Mrs Dianne Fox Mrs Karen Blair Treasurer and Giving Sec Mr Andy Green Safeguarding Officer Mrs Sandra Beadle Mrs Glynis Smith

Term of Office ends 2026 Mr Tim Beadle Mr Andy Deakins Mrs Barbara Young

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Mr Mark Johnson

The PCC (Powers) Measure 1956 states that the PCC “… is to co-operate with the Minister in promoting, in the parish, the whole mission of the Church – pastoral, evangelistic, social and ecumenical.” The PCC seeks to do this to the best of its ability. This is achieved through various sub - committees, ministry teams and fundraising groups:

Standing Commitee: Future Incumbent(vacancy), Churchwardens, PCC Secretary, PCC
Treasurer, Assistant Treasurer and Assistant Churchwardens,
Buildings Ofcer and Vice Chair
Barn Regeneraton Steering Group: Brian Adamson, Terry Raper, Tim Sweed, with fundraiser, Vera
Owen
Service Leaders Team: Future Incumbent(vacancy), Curate, PTO Minister, Readers, CPW,
Worship Leaders and Churchwardens
Children’s Ministry: Rachel Ridler
Café Church teams
Schools
Safeguarding Ofcer when appropriate
Pastoral Team: Future Incumbent(vacancy), Curate, PTO Minister, Readers,
Pastoral Workers, Pastoral Visitors, (with ability to co-opt where
necessary)
Strawberry Tea: Vera Owen and other co-opted members
Garden Party: Maureen Scot, Hilary Dinsdale, Terry Raper and other co-opted
members
Harvest Supper: Vera Owen and other co-opted members

Review of the Months June 2023- March 2024

There have been 9 PCC meetings and 3 extraordinary meetings, one of these being held on a Saturday morning to formalise our vision statement for the Church. The majority of our meetings were held in Church, however the decision was made to hold them in the Barn during the colder months, subject to it fitting in with the childcare providers. It is definitely a warmer space! At the beginning and end of all our meetings, we ask that God is at the centre of all we say and decide upon. Minutes are kept and these are available to view on request, once they have been approved by the PCC at the subsequent meeting.

Revd Liz made the decision to retire in September 2023. We thank her for all she has contributed to St Lawrence over the years through her leadership and spiritual guidance and wish Philippe and herself a long and happy retirement. Vera Owen has taken over as Chair of the PCC during our

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interregnum. Thank you, Vera.

As Trustees, it is important that the PCC is kept up to date with all matters relating to the life and fabric of the Church and the minutes record any proposals which have been voted upon during any specific meeting. The agenda of each is varied and the following is a brief overview of what has been covered over the past few months. Much of the discussion is based around Parish Updates, under the subheadings of

a) Project Manager : in her role as P M, Rosh has kept the PCC informed through verbal and written reports. You will see from the month-by-month breakdown in her report, how much has been achieved again this year and we are so grateful for her knowledge and perseverance in bringing these projects to a conclusion. Rosh has also masterminded the production of the Parish Profile, a document which our church needed to produce before the Diocese would consider advertising for Revd Liz’s successor, and we wish to extend our thanks both to herself and to Revd Clive Hogger who supported and advised her on the format and contents.

b) Centenary Project Worker: Rachel has produced monthly updates and attended most of our meetings to ensure the PCC is well informed of events and also to seek approval for her proposed activities. Her report is a joy to read, most especially the news of the one big leap of faith which took place in September when Rachel introduced a twice-monthly Café Church into our revised order of services.

We thank God for her enthusiastic faithfulness and commitment and are so pleased that this is also recognised at Diocesan level.

c) Fabric: Terry, with his invaluable store of knowledge of the fabric of the building, has worked with Rosh to keep the PCC informed on issues relating to the Barn and the Church building. It is worth pointing out that, as a result of his detailed reports in these booklets, the church holds an invaluable archive of church and churchyard maintenance dating back many years to inform future generations. d) Old and New Barn:

The Old Barn now receives a regular income from a nursery tenancy which has extended to 5 days per week during term time, and also monthly coffee mornings.

When Revd Liz first retired, the PCC were informed of the uncertainty of the future of the Vicarage and the Parish Office, which resulted in the PCC spending a great deal of time researching and discussing various options for the latter. However, at the time of producing this report, there doesn’t appear to be the same urgency to find an alternative site, although the Barn and its suitability for future plans, will be on the agenda in the coming year.

e) Eco- church: there is a regular slot at the meetings where members have been informed of

f) Deanery and Diocese: The PCC has received information on the Diocesan and Deanery Synods. Our Area Dean has continued the format of the deanery meetings to an Open session for all during the first half and all members are encouraged to attend.

g) Finances: Again this year , Karen, as treasurer, has done a fantastic job in organising the church finances and she has kept the PCC informed with regular updates on all the different accounts. She has worked extremely hard to find the best deal for our electricity. (with our present provider, the cost was due to rise by 200% when our old contract expires.) You will hear at the APCM that Karen is resigning from the PCC as her 3yrs are at an end, but she has kindly offered to support the person

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who takes over her role until the end of the year. A huge thank you for all you have done, Karen. h) St Edwin’s Church: In November, in spite of the fact that St Edwins has not been used for many years and that many members of its former congregation are firmly established as part of the St Lawrence family, the Church Commissioners declared themselves to be in a position to submit a draft proposal for its closure. Legal notices had to be displayed ; however we are hopeful that all will soon be resolved and a new incumbent will be the vicar of a new benefice which will unite our two parishes.

i) Church services:

The PCC has made the following decisions:-

Events and Fundraising:

Once again, the PCC has authorised the many events which are held by the various committees and individuals in support of our wonderful building and its mission and ministry …Strawberry teas, Garden Party, Autumn and Spring Fayres, Yard sales, Concerts and many other family events.

Finally an important message from our chair:-

‘The members of the PCC are voted on by yourselves and they are the way you air your views on how our Church performs. The Annual Church Meeting is where the members are appointed. I hope we have a good turnout for this year’s meeting and that new people come forward to swell our ranks as new blood brings new ideas and stimulates growth.

God blesses and cares for you. Vera’

Glenys Mashford PCC Secretary

Safeguarding 2024

I was very pleased to take over the role of Safeguarding Officer from Vera Owen and would like to thank her for her advice and support over the past 12 months. We are very lucky at Hatfield St Lawrence to have a safeguarding team consisting of myself, Viv Stubbs and Rachel Ridler, who are not only experienced in working with children and young people, but who are also very accessible and available in person at most church services. However, the safeguarding of our young and vulnerable church community is the responsibility of everyone, so I would like to take this opportunity to thank all those individuals who responded to Vera’s call to take up the offer of Safeguarding training during the last year. I hope you found the training useful and informative and please continue to encourage others to take advantage of this free and valuable online resource. Support is available to help church members access online training offered through the Diocese of Sheffield, so please ask if you are interested.

Andy Green. Safeguarding Officer

Finance

Treasurer's Report 2023 Accounts

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Bank balances as at 31st December 2023

Bank balances as at 31st December 2023
St Lawrence Hatield PCC Account £ 21,138.29
St Lawrence Barn Management Account £ 6,615.20
St Lawrence Barn Regeneraton Account (New) £ 32,149.75
St Lawrence Hatield PCC Organ Fund Account £ 2,003.55
St Lawrence Eliza Roe Account £ 3,896.62
St Lawrence Hatield PCC Account- 31267655
Reconciled Bank balance as at 31stDecember 2023 £ 21,138.29
Cheque not presented (1) £ 62.40
Designated/Restricted - see table below £ 5,853.59
Available for PCC use £ 15,222.30
St Lawrence PCC Account- £21,138.29

It has been a challenging year - 2023 has been the year of several large upfront expenses for the PCC bank account. The window repairs, following vandalism, have cost in excess of £15,000, the Church Clock repair cost £2,156, the Church Noticeboards cost £2,124.00 and the electrics for the organ cost £1,638. The good news is that we are, hopefully, able to claim £10,640 from the insurance towards the windows. In addition to this Rosh and I have completed an on-line form to claim the VAT back on the windows, the clock repairs and the electrical work for the organ. If the claim is successful we will receive £3,127.38 for VAT costs. We have also received some very generous donations from the Church and wider community, namely, £1,525.00 towards the clock repair, £906.15 towards the new noticeboards and £850.00 towards the window repairs. The PCC bank account will look much healthier once the insurance and VAT claims have paid out.

Income from wedding fees and funeral fees is slightly up overall whilst income from all collections is broadly similar to last year. Banking Orders and Giving Envelopes income is up overall due to the donations received towards the clock repairs and new noticeboards otherwise they would be broadly similar to 2022.

We continue to be grateful for all the hard work put in to the many fundraising events each year. A total of £7,353.71 was raised and participants were able to enjoy Strawberry Teas, a Spring Fayre, a Garden Party, and a Christmas Fayre amongst others. This is remarkable in the current economic climate. Well done to all involved!

We are also thankful for a grant of £7,075.10 from the Endowment Trust to cover the costs of our Project Management worker for 2022. A further request for a grant from the Endowment Trust for 2023 for £12,676.16 has been submitted, this grant will cover the vital Project Management work, the shortfall for the CPW Worker plus £850.00 to cover the Parish Office rent. (See breakdown below for CPW Worker).

Grants were also gratefully received from Sheffield Diocese - £500 towards set up costs for Café Church and £3,150 towards Energy Costs. We are also thankful to John Isle for his support – he didn’t invoice for a replacement barn back door lock. It is worth £80.00 to us and was a Merry Christmas from him.

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We thank you all for your continued generous giving, either regular or one-off payments by bank transfer, card reader, cash or cheques. We are appreciative of the continued positivity towards online banking as an alternative to cheque and cash payments and also the use of card readers for donations/payments. One small thing to mention is that the Church receives your total donation if you pay by Bank Transfer; all alternative forms of payment receive charges in one form or another. We receive bank charges on all cheques paid in or out of the account at a cost of 40p per cheque and each £100 cash, paid in or out, is charged at 40p, in addition to this we are charged £5.00 per month fees for each account. The charge to use the Card Reader is currently 1.1% on each transaction ie every £20 = 22p and every £10 = 11p.

However, you choose to make your donations we are grateful.

As a Church we have written far fewer cheques this year, instead, making payments by bank transfer, this has kept bank charges relatively low.

Gif Aid

In September, we received £8,455.07 from HMRC for our 2022 Gift Aid Claim. I started the claim back in February - it was a lengthy process setting up a new Government Gateway to change the names on the HMRC system which still had the name of the Treasurer from 7 to 8 years ago!

Once the Gift Aid claim was agreed and paid to us, I was able to submit two further claims to HMRC using the ‘Gift Aid Small Donations Scheme (GASDS)’ for 2021 and 2022, this is the first time we have claimed GASDS. GASDS is a top up on small cash donations. Charities and Community Amateur Sports Clubs can claim a top up payment of 25% on cash donations of £30 or less without the need for a Gift Aid declaration. The maximum claim for GASDS is £2,000 per annum. A GASDS claim can only be claimed once a successful Gift Aid Claim has been made for that year. I am pleased to say we have received a further £4,000 for GASDS - £2,000 for 2021 and £2,000 for 2022.

CPW

I am really pleased to tell you that once again the CPW Worker has managed to raise a very substantial amount towards her salary costs through two very large grants - £10,000 from the Liz and Terry Bramall Trust and £5,000 from the Tween Bridge Wind Farm Foundation and also just under £600 for her Sponsored Walk. In addition to the grants, the CPW Worker is supported by very generous one-off donations and regular monthly contributions from many donors for her work. The total raised towards the CPW Worker salary costs for 2023 is a very impressive £18,629.84.

Unfortunately, now that we pay 100% of the CPW salary (this was previously subsidised by the Diocese) the large sum raised does not cover the total annual salary cost for 2023 of £23,196.20 (this figure includes on-costs and is not the amount the CPW receives). The shortfall for 2023 is £4,566.36. Following the PCC meeting at the beginning of January 2024, PCC have approached the Endowment Trust to request a grant to cover this shortfall along with the PM costs and the Parish Office Rent. We have requested £12,676.16 (£7,259.80 PM costs, £4,566.36 CPW shortfall plus £850 PO rent).

CPW Resources

The CPW works extremely hard to fund all the projects and groups that she runs raising a significant amount through donations and grants. We are very appreciative to Hatfield Town Council and DMBC for their contributions to the CPW work and also to Ongo Communities for their contribution of £1,000 towards the 2023 Summer Club and a further £1,000 towards the 2024 Summer Club. The Yard Trail and Pre-loved Uniform Sales have also made a significant contribution to the resources that can be purchased for the children’s and youth groups.

CPW Resource costs for 2023 £7,447.77 Page | 15

CPW Resource income for 2023

£8,654.94

A total of £3,427.62 remains in Designated/Restricted Funds from previous years.

Designated/Restricted Funds

c/f 2017 For Retreat £1,000
20.11.18 Memorial Candle Stand £293.76 (£264.74
candlestandspaid 2022)
3.12.18 Blanshard Memorial £ 632.21
30.8.20 Chaplain Altar Cloth £ 500.00
31.8.21 Children + Family £3427.62 (£3116.35 C/f 2020
+ £310.17 2021
+ £1.10 2022)
Total Designated/Restricted £5,853.59

NB As agreed at PCC, £300 Designated funding was transferred to the Barn Management Account for the heaters. Also, the Social Committee fund carried forward from 2020 used £457.87 for L-TL retirement meal.

St Lawrence Barn Management Account

Reconciled Bank balance as at 31[st] December 2023 £6,515.20 Cheques not yet presented Nil Available funds £6,515.20

I am pleased to say that the Barn Management Account is in a much better position than during the previous couple of years. The regular rental income from KayDans Childcare and their contribution to the gas and electricity bills have made a huge difference. Starting in September 2023, they increased their provision to 5 days per week term time from the original 4 days per week. I invoice them for the rental termly and also for gas and electricity usage.

A few groups have hired the Barn for coffee mornings and other events during the year and we look forward to more groups/individuals hiring The Barn going forward.

NB In 2022 PCC transferred £3,500 to the Barn Management Account so that the utility bills and insurance could be paid. This money is still in the Barn Management Account and will hopefully be transferred back to the PCC account during 2024.

St Lawrence Barn Regeneraton Account

Reconciled Bank balance as at 31[st] December 2023 £32,149.75

£1,216.00 for 100 Club Subscriptions for 2021 and 2022 were transferred from the Barn Management to Barn Regeneration in March 2023. A further £540.00 for 2023 100 Club Subscriptions has also been paid into this account.

The Barn Regeneration Account is reducing by £5.00 each month due to bank charge

CCLA Deposit Fund Barn Regeneraton Account

Account Number 635153001D

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Balance as at 31[st] December 2023

£146,367.88

(Balance as at 31[st] December 2022 £141,822.59)

PCC Account 2023 2022 Notes
£ £
190507 190507
INCOME
Collections
Baptism £1,758.00 £1,968.76
Funeral(PCC) £2,688.09 £4,379.20
Funeral(Charity) £3,392.23 £3,519.49
Services £5,766.84 £3,692.59
Wedding £943.09 £1,137.93
Total Collections £14,548.25 £14,697.97
Donations
Cash Envelopes £4,538.00 £4,360.20
Bankers Orders £23,114.00 £23,545.99
Yard Trail £0.00 £0.00
Refreshments £0.00 £0.00
Other £5,697.46 £3,192.46 2023 Donations towards
Clock,/Noticeboards/Windows/Retirement
Total Donations £33,349.46 £31,098.65
Fees (PCC)
Funeral £4,174.00 £4,374.00
Wedding £4,378.00 £3,866.00
Total Fees £8,552.00 £8,240.00
Fees For Passing On
Funeral £9,377.00 £10,942.00
Wedding £6,318.37 £5,436.00
Total Fees £15,695.37 £16,378.00
CPW & PM
CPW Salary £18,629.84 £11,601.86 100% cost from April 2023
CPW Resources £8,654.94 £7,826.02
PM Contributions £0.00 £0.00
Total CPW & PM £27,284.78 £19,427.88
Grants
HC BuildingTrust £0.00 £0.00
Endowment Trust £7,075.10 £5,887.50 PO Rent+PM Costs
Dunscroft Church £0.00 £0.00
SDBF £3,650.00 £0.00 Grants for Energy£3150/Cafe Church £500
Robert Forster £0.00 £200.00
Total Grants £10,725.10 £6,087.50
Fundraising

Page | 17

|Yard Trail
£0.00
£0.00
Plant Sale
£0.00
£141.20
~~Garden Party~~
~~£1,996.47~~
~~£2,255.92~~
~~Cake Sale / Refreshments~~
~~£1,643.08~~
~~£869.20~~
~~Trumpet Concert~~
~~£0.00~~
~~£605.00~~
Strawberry Tea
£516.25
£520.56
~~Spring Fayre~~
£1,092.50
£1,486.69
Christmas Fayre
£1,630.46
£1,708.44
Other
£474.95
£1,097.45
~~Total Fees~~
~~£7,353.71~~
~~£8,684.46~~
~~Other Income~~
Magazine
£1,017.65
£1,159.43
Legacy
£0.00
£5,000.00
Gift Aid
£12,455.07
£8,067.42
2022 Gift Aid + 2021 & 2022 Gift Aid Small Donation Scheme
Total Other Income
£13,472.72
£14,226.85
~~TOTAL INCOME~~
~~£130,981.39~~
~~£118,841.31~~
Page | 18
EXPENDITURE
~~Common Fund~~
~~SDBF~~
~~£40,008.00~~
~~£40,008.00~~
~~Total Common Fund~~
~~£40,008.00~~
~~£40,008.00~~
Church Premises
Parish Office Rent
£850.00
£850.00
Insurance
£7,732.40
£7,100.62
~~Electric~~
~~£2,700.36~~
~~£1,533.65~~
~~Gas~~
~~£2,838.00~~
~~£3,086.66~~
Water
£90.30
£30.97
Internet
£216.30
£31.66
Technology
£247.08
£863.09
Scheduled Maintenance/Services
£2,570.65
£1,738.79
~~Service/inspection for Intruder~~
Alarm/Lightning
Protection/Church
Heater/Security Cameras
Ad-Hoc Repairs
£20,169.48
£2,867.92
2023 Windows cost £15,054 +
Clock Repair/Noticeboards,
Heater Repair
Total Church Premises
£37,414.57
£18,103.36
Vicarage Premises
Water Rates
£579.31
£532.31
Total Vicarage Premises
£579.31
£532.31
Fees
SDBF
£4,655.00
£4,325.00
Workers
£10,896.20
£9,680.00
Received on behalf of other Churches
£0.00
£110.00
Total Fees
£15,551.20
£14,115.00
CPW & PM
CPW Salary
£26,863.13
£7,695.37
2023 Cost £23,196.20 Total
includes 2022 Backpay
Expenses (Direct)
£952.18
£1,030.02
Expenses (Messy Church)
£75.82
£373.35
Expenses (Children)
£6,419.77
£6,421.55
PM Costs
£5,939.80
£7,136.32
2023 Cost £7,259.80
Total CPW & PM
£40,250.70
£22,656.61
Other Costs
Admin
£2,870.28
£831.26
Independent Examination/
Retirement Gift L-TL/Book
Grant/Stationery/Card Delivery
Bank Charges
£244.27
£247.89
Clergy Expenses
£0.00
£0.00
Magazine
£0.00
£275.10
Ministry
£1,249.54
£1,415.88
Mission
£802.90
£296.40
Licences
£770.28
£715.17
Fundraising paid to charities
£3,359.20
£5,021.79
Transfer out to Barn Account
£1,425.00
£3,500.00
£300 Barn Heaters/Disability
CM/Donation
Total Other Costs
£10,721.47
£12,303.49
TOTAL EXPENDITURE
£144,525.25
£107,718.77
NET INCOME
-£13,543.86
£11,122.54|Yard Trail
£0.00
£0.00
Plant Sale
£0.00
£141.20
~~Garden Party~~
~~£1,996.47~~
~~£2,255.92~~
~~Cake Sale / Refreshments~~
~~£1,643.08~~
~~£869.20~~
~~Trumpet Concert~~
~~£0.00~~
~~£605.00~~
Strawberry Tea
£516.25
£520.56
~~Spring Fayre~~
£1,092.50
£1,486.69
Christmas Fayre
£1,630.46
£1,708.44
Other
£474.95
£1,097.45
~~Total Fees~~
~~£7,353.71~~
~~£8,684.46~~
~~Other Income~~
Magazine
£1,017.65
£1,159.43
Legacy
£0.00
£5,000.00
Gift Aid
£12,455.07
£8,067.42
2022 Gift Aid + 2021 & 2022 Gift Aid Small Donation Scheme
Total Other Income
£13,472.72
£14,226.85
~~TOTAL INCOME~~
~~£130,981.39~~
~~£118,841.31~~
Page | 18
EXPENDITURE
~~Common Fund~~
~~SDBF~~
~~£40,008.00~~
~~£40,008.00~~
~~Total Common Fund~~
~~£40,008.00~~
~~£40,008.00~~
Church Premises
Parish Office Rent
£850.00
£850.00
Insurance
£7,732.40
£7,100.62
~~Electric~~
~~£2,700.36~~
~~£1,533.65~~
~~Gas~~
~~£2,838.00~~
~~£3,086.66~~
Water
£90.30
£30.97
Internet
£216.30
£31.66
Technology
£247.08
£863.09
Scheduled Maintenance/Services
£2,570.65
£1,738.79
~~Service/inspection for Intruder~~
Alarm/Lightning
Protection/Church
Heater/Security Cameras
Ad-Hoc Repairs
£20,169.48
£2,867.92
2023 Windows cost £15,054 +
Clock Repair/Noticeboards,
Heater Repair
Total Church Premises
£37,414.57
£18,103.36
Vicarage Premises
Water Rates
£579.31
£532.31
Total Vicarage Premises
£579.31
£532.31
Fees
SDBF
£4,655.00
£4,325.00
Workers
£10,896.20
£9,680.00
Received on behalf of other Churches
£0.00
£110.00
Total Fees
£15,551.20
£14,115.00
CPW & PM
CPW Salary
£26,863.13
£7,695.37
2023 Cost £23,196.20 Total
includes 2022 Backpay
Expenses (Direct)
£952.18
£1,030.02
Expenses (Messy Church)
£75.82
£373.35
Expenses (Children)
£6,419.77
£6,421.55
PM Costs
£5,939.80
£7,136.32
2023 Cost £7,259.80
Total CPW & PM
£40,250.70
£22,656.61
Other Costs
Admin
£2,870.28
£831.26
Independent Examination/
Retirement Gift L-TL/Book
Grant/Stationery/Card Delivery
Bank Charges
£244.27
£247.89
Clergy Expenses
£0.00
£0.00
Magazine
£0.00
£275.10
Ministry
£1,249.54
£1,415.88
Mission
£802.90
£296.40
Licences
£770.28
£715.17
Fundraising paid to charities
£3,359.20
£5,021.79
Transfer out to Barn Account
£1,425.00
£3,500.00
£300 Barn Heaters/Disability
CM/Donation
Total Other Costs
£10,721.47
£12,303.49
TOTAL EXPENDITURE
£144,525.25
£107,718.77
NET INCOME
-£13,543.86
£11,122.54|Yard Trail
£0.00
£0.00
Plant Sale
£0.00
£141.20
~~Garden Party~~
~~£1,996.47~~
~~£2,255.92~~
~~Cake Sale / Refreshments~~
~~£1,643.08~~
~~£869.20~~
~~Trumpet Concert~~
~~£0.00~~
~~£605.00~~
Strawberry Tea
£516.25
£520.56
~~Spring Fayre~~
£1,092.50
£1,486.69
Christmas Fayre
£1,630.46
£1,708.44
Other
£474.95
£1,097.45
~~Total Fees~~
~~£7,353.71~~
~~£8,684.46~~
~~Other Income~~
Magazine
£1,017.65
£1,159.43
Legacy
£0.00
£5,000.00
Gift Aid
£12,455.07
£8,067.42
2022 Gift Aid + 2021 & 2022 Gift Aid Small Donation Scheme
Total Other Income
£13,472.72
£14,226.85
~~TOTAL INCOME~~
~~£130,981.39~~
~~£118,841.31~~
Page | 18
EXPENDITURE
~~Common Fund~~
~~SDBF~~
~~£40,008.00~~
~~£40,008.00~~
~~Total Common Fund~~
~~£40,008.00~~
~~£40,008.00~~
Church Premises
Parish Office Rent
£850.00
£850.00
Insurance
£7,732.40
£7,100.62
~~Electric~~
~~£2,700.36~~
~~£1,533.65~~
~~Gas~~
~~£2,838.00~~
~~£3,086.66~~
Water
£90.30
£30.97
Internet
£216.30
£31.66
Technology
£247.08
£863.09
Scheduled Maintenance/Services
£2,570.65
£1,738.79
~~Service/inspection for Intruder~~
Alarm/Lightning
Protection/Church
Heater/Security Cameras
Ad-Hoc Repairs
£20,169.48
£2,867.92
2023 Windows cost £15,054 +
Clock Repair/Noticeboards,
Heater Repair
Total Church Premises
£37,414.57
£18,103.36
Vicarage Premises
Water Rates
£579.31
£532.31
Total Vicarage Premises
£579.31
£532.31
Fees
SDBF
£4,655.00
£4,325.00
Workers
£10,896.20
£9,680.00
Received on behalf of other Churches
£0.00
£110.00
Total Fees
£15,551.20
£14,115.00
CPW & PM
CPW Salary
£26,863.13
£7,695.37
2023 Cost £23,196.20 Total
includes 2022 Backpay
Expenses (Direct)
£952.18
£1,030.02
Expenses (Messy Church)
£75.82
£373.35
Expenses (Children)
£6,419.77
£6,421.55
PM Costs
£5,939.80
£7,136.32
2023 Cost £7,259.80
Total CPW & PM
£40,250.70
£22,656.61
Other Costs
Admin
£2,870.28
£831.26
Independent Examination/
Retirement Gift L-TL/Book
Grant/Stationery/Card Delivery
Bank Charges
£244.27
£247.89
Clergy Expenses
£0.00
£0.00
Magazine
£0.00
£275.10
Ministry
£1,249.54
£1,415.88
Mission
£802.90
£296.40
Licences
£770.28
£715.17
Fundraising paid to charities
£3,359.20
£5,021.79
Transfer out to Barn Account
£1,425.00
£3,500.00
£300 Barn Heaters/Disability
CM/Donation
Total Other Costs
£10,721.47
£12,303.49
TOTAL EXPENDITURE
£144,525.25
£107,718.77
NET INCOME
-£13,543.86
£11,122.54|Yard Trail
£0.00
£0.00
Plant Sale
£0.00
£141.20
~~Garden Party~~
~~£1,996.47~~
~~£2,255.92~~
~~Cake Sale / Refreshments~~
~~£1,643.08~~
~~£869.20~~
~~Trumpet Concert~~
~~£0.00~~
~~£605.00~~
Strawberry Tea
£516.25
£520.56
~~Spring Fayre~~
£1,092.50
£1,486.69
Christmas Fayre
£1,630.46
£1,708.44
Other
£474.95
£1,097.45
~~Total Fees~~
~~£7,353.71~~
~~£8,684.46~~
~~Other Income~~
Magazine
£1,017.65
£1,159.43
Legacy
£0.00
£5,000.00
Gift Aid
£12,455.07
£8,067.42
2022 Gift Aid + 2021 & 2022 Gift Aid Small Donation Scheme
Total Other Income
£13,472.72
£14,226.85
~~TOTAL INCOME~~
~~£130,981.39~~
~~£118,841.31~~
Page | 18
EXPENDITURE
~~Common Fund~~
~~SDBF~~
~~£40,008.00~~
~~£40,008.00~~
~~Total Common Fund~~
~~£40,008.00~~
~~£40,008.00~~
Church Premises
Parish Office Rent
£850.00
£850.00
Insurance
£7,732.40
£7,100.62
~~Electric~~
~~£2,700.36~~
~~£1,533.65~~
~~Gas~~
~~£2,838.00~~
~~£3,086.66~~
Water
£90.30
£30.97
Internet
£216.30
£31.66
Technology
£247.08
£863.09
Scheduled Maintenance/Services
£2,570.65
£1,738.79
~~Service/inspection for Intruder~~
Alarm/Lightning
Protection/Church
Heater/Security Cameras
Ad-Hoc Repairs
£20,169.48
£2,867.92
2023 Windows cost £15,054 +
Clock Repair/Noticeboards,
Heater Repair
Total Church Premises
£37,414.57
£18,103.36
Vicarage Premises
Water Rates
£579.31
£532.31
Total Vicarage Premises
£579.31
£532.31
Fees
SDBF
£4,655.00
£4,325.00
Workers
£10,896.20
£9,680.00
Received on behalf of other Churches
£0.00
£110.00
Total Fees
£15,551.20
£14,115.00
CPW & PM
CPW Salary
£26,863.13
£7,695.37
2023 Cost £23,196.20 Total
includes 2022 Backpay
Expenses (Direct)
£952.18
£1,030.02
Expenses (Messy Church)
£75.82
£373.35
Expenses (Children)
£6,419.77
£6,421.55
PM Costs
£5,939.80
£7,136.32
2023 Cost £7,259.80
Total CPW & PM
£40,250.70
£22,656.61
Other Costs
Admin
£2,870.28
£831.26
Independent Examination/
Retirement Gift L-TL/Book
Grant/Stationery/Card Delivery
Bank Charges
£244.27
£247.89
Clergy Expenses
£0.00
£0.00
Magazine
£0.00
£275.10
Ministry
£1,249.54
£1,415.88
Mission
£802.90
£296.40
Licences
£770.28
£715.17
Fundraising paid to charities
£3,359.20
£5,021.79
Transfer out to Barn Account
£1,425.00
£3,500.00
£300 Barn Heaters/Disability
CM/Donation
Total Other Costs
£10,721.47
£12,303.49
TOTAL EXPENDITURE
£144,525.25
£107,718.77
NET INCOME
-£13,543.86
£11,122.54|Yard Trail
£0.00
£0.00
Plant Sale
£0.00
£141.20
~~Garden Party~~
~~£1,996.47~~
~~£2,255.92~~
~~Cake Sale / Refreshments~~
~~£1,643.08~~
~~£869.20~~
~~Trumpet Concert~~
~~£0.00~~
~~£605.00~~
Strawberry Tea
£516.25
£520.56
~~Spring Fayre~~
£1,092.50
£1,486.69
Christmas Fayre
£1,630.46
£1,708.44
Other
£474.95
£1,097.45
~~Total Fees~~
~~£7,353.71~~
~~£8,684.46~~
~~Other Income~~
Magazine
£1,017.65
£1,159.43
Legacy
£0.00
£5,000.00
Gift Aid
£12,455.07
£8,067.42
2022 Gift Aid + 2021 & 2022 Gift Aid Small Donation Scheme
Total Other Income
£13,472.72
£14,226.85
~~TOTAL INCOME~~
~~£130,981.39~~
~~£118,841.31~~
Page | 18
EXPENDITURE
~~Common Fund~~
~~SDBF~~
~~£40,008.00~~
~~£40,008.00~~
~~Total Common Fund~~
~~£40,008.00~~
~~£40,008.00~~
Church Premises
Parish Office Rent
£850.00
£850.00
Insurance
£7,732.40
£7,100.62
~~Electric~~
~~£2,700.36~~
~~£1,533.65~~
~~Gas~~
~~£2,838.00~~
~~£3,086.66~~
Water
£90.30
£30.97
Internet
£216.30
£31.66
Technology
£247.08
£863.09
Scheduled Maintenance/Services
£2,570.65
£1,738.79
~~Service/inspection for Intruder~~
Alarm/Lightning
Protection/Church
Heater/Security Cameras
Ad-Hoc Repairs
£20,169.48
£2,867.92
2023 Windows cost £15,054 +
Clock Repair/Noticeboards,
Heater Repair
Total Church Premises
£37,414.57
£18,103.36
Vicarage Premises
Water Rates
£579.31
£532.31
Total Vicarage Premises
£579.31
£532.31
Fees
SDBF
£4,655.00
£4,325.00
Workers
£10,896.20
£9,680.00
Received on behalf of other Churches
£0.00
£110.00
Total Fees
£15,551.20
£14,115.00
CPW & PM
CPW Salary
£26,863.13
£7,695.37
2023 Cost £23,196.20 Total
includes 2022 Backpay
Expenses (Direct)
£952.18
£1,030.02
Expenses (Messy Church)
£75.82
£373.35
Expenses (Children)
£6,419.77
£6,421.55
PM Costs
£5,939.80
£7,136.32
2023 Cost £7,259.80
Total CPW & PM
£40,250.70
£22,656.61
Other Costs
Admin
£2,870.28
£831.26
Independent Examination/
Retirement Gift L-TL/Book
Grant/Stationery/Card Delivery
Bank Charges
£244.27
£247.89
Clergy Expenses
£0.00
£0.00
Magazine
£0.00
£275.10
Ministry
£1,249.54
£1,415.88
Mission
£802.90
£296.40
Licences
£770.28
£715.17
Fundraising paid to charities
£3,359.20
£5,021.79
Transfer out to Barn Account
£1,425.00
£3,500.00
£300 Barn Heaters/Disability
CM/Donation
Total Other Costs
£10,721.47
£12,303.49
TOTAL EXPENDITURE
£144,525.25
£107,718.77
NET INCOME
-£13,543.86
£11,122.54|Yard Trail
£0.00
£0.00
Plant Sale
£0.00
£141.20
~~Garden Party~~
~~£1,996.47~~
~~£2,255.92~~
~~Cake Sale / Refreshments~~
~~£1,643.08~~
~~£869.20~~
~~Trumpet Concert~~
~~£0.00~~
~~£605.00~~
Strawberry Tea
£516.25
£520.56
~~Spring Fayre~~
£1,092.50
£1,486.69
Christmas Fayre
£1,630.46
£1,708.44
Other
£474.95
£1,097.45
~~Total Fees~~
~~£7,353.71~~
~~£8,684.46~~
~~Other Income~~
Magazine
£1,017.65
£1,159.43
Legacy
£0.00
£5,000.00
Gift Aid
£12,455.07
£8,067.42
2022 Gift Aid + 2021 & 2022 Gift Aid Small Donation Scheme
Total Other Income
£13,472.72
£14,226.85
~~TOTAL INCOME~~
~~£130,981.39~~
~~£118,841.31~~
Page | 18
EXPENDITURE
~~Common Fund~~
~~SDBF~~
~~£40,008.00~~
~~£40,008.00~~
~~Total Common Fund~~
~~£40,008.00~~
~~£40,008.00~~
Church Premises
Parish Office Rent
£850.00
£850.00
Insurance
£7,732.40
£7,100.62
~~Electric~~
~~£2,700.36~~
~~£1,533.65~~
~~Gas~~
~~£2,838.00~~
~~£3,086.66~~
Water
£90.30
£30.97
Internet
£216.30
£31.66
Technology
£247.08
£863.09
Scheduled Maintenance/Services
£2,570.65
£1,738.79
~~Service/inspection for Intruder~~
Alarm/Lightning
Protection/Church
Heater/Security Cameras
Ad-Hoc Repairs
£20,169.48
£2,867.92
2023 Windows cost £15,054 +
Clock Repair/Noticeboards,
Heater Repair
Total Church Premises
£37,414.57
£18,103.36
Vicarage Premises
Water Rates
£579.31
£532.31
Total Vicarage Premises
£579.31
£532.31
Fees
SDBF
£4,655.00
£4,325.00
Workers
£10,896.20
£9,680.00
Received on behalf of other Churches
£0.00
£110.00
Total Fees
£15,551.20
£14,115.00
CPW & PM
CPW Salary
£26,863.13
£7,695.37
2023 Cost £23,196.20 Total
includes 2022 Backpay
Expenses (Direct)
£952.18
£1,030.02
Expenses (Messy Church)
£75.82
£373.35
Expenses (Children)
£6,419.77
£6,421.55
PM Costs
£5,939.80
£7,136.32
2023 Cost £7,259.80
Total CPW & PM
£40,250.70
£22,656.61
Other Costs
Admin
£2,870.28
£831.26
Independent Examination/
Retirement Gift L-TL/Book
Grant/Stationery/Card Delivery
Bank Charges
£244.27
£247.89
Clergy Expenses
£0.00
£0.00
Magazine
£0.00
£275.10
Ministry
£1,249.54
£1,415.88
Mission
£802.90
£296.40
Licences
£770.28
£715.17
Fundraising paid to charities
£3,359.20
£5,021.79
Transfer out to Barn Account
£1,425.00
£3,500.00
£300 Barn Heaters/Disability
CM/Donation
Total Other Costs
£10,721.47
£12,303.49
TOTAL EXPENDITURE
£144,525.25
£107,718.77
NET INCOME
-£13,543.86
£11,122.54|Yard Trail
£0.00
£0.00
Plant Sale
£0.00
£141.20
~~Garden Party~~
~~£1,996.47~~
~~£2,255.92~~
~~Cake Sale / Refreshments~~
~~£1,643.08~~
~~£869.20~~
~~Trumpet Concert~~
~~£0.00~~
~~£605.00~~
Strawberry Tea
£516.25
£520.56
~~Spring Fayre~~
£1,092.50
£1,486.69
Christmas Fayre
£1,630.46
£1,708.44
Other
£474.95
£1,097.45
~~Total Fees~~
~~£7,353.71~~
~~£8,684.46~~
~~Other Income~~
Magazine
£1,017.65
£1,159.43
Legacy
£0.00
£5,000.00
Gift Aid
£12,455.07
£8,067.42
2022 Gift Aid + 2021 & 2022 Gift Aid Small Donation Scheme
Total Other Income
£13,472.72
£14,226.85
~~TOTAL INCOME~~
~~£130,981.39~~
~~£118,841.31~~
Page | 18
EXPENDITURE
~~Common Fund~~
~~SDBF~~
~~£40,008.00~~
~~£40,008.00~~
~~Total Common Fund~~
~~£40,008.00~~
~~£40,008.00~~
Church Premises
Parish Office Rent
£850.00
£850.00
Insurance
£7,732.40
£7,100.62
~~Electric~~
~~£2,700.36~~
~~£1,533.65~~
~~Gas~~
~~£2,838.00~~
~~£3,086.66~~
Water
£90.30
£30.97
Internet
£216.30
£31.66
Technology
£247.08
£863.09
Scheduled Maintenance/Services
£2,570.65
£1,738.79
~~Service/inspection for Intruder~~
Alarm/Lightning
Protection/Church
Heater/Security Cameras
Ad-Hoc Repairs
£20,169.48
£2,867.92
2023 Windows cost £15,054 +
Clock Repair/Noticeboards,
Heater Repair
Total Church Premises
£37,414.57
£18,103.36
Vicarage Premises
Water Rates
£579.31
£532.31
Total Vicarage Premises
£579.31
£532.31
Fees
SDBF
£4,655.00
£4,325.00
Workers
£10,896.20
£9,680.00
Received on behalf of other Churches
£0.00
£110.00
Total Fees
£15,551.20
£14,115.00
CPW & PM
CPW Salary
£26,863.13
£7,695.37
2023 Cost £23,196.20 Total
includes 2022 Backpay
Expenses (Direct)
£952.18
£1,030.02
Expenses (Messy Church)
£75.82
£373.35
Expenses (Children)
£6,419.77
£6,421.55
PM Costs
£5,939.80
£7,136.32
2023 Cost £7,259.80
Total CPW & PM
£40,250.70
£22,656.61
Other Costs
Admin
£2,870.28
£831.26
Independent Examination/
Retirement Gift L-TL/Book
Grant/Stationery/Card Delivery
Bank Charges
£244.27
£247.89
Clergy Expenses
£0.00
£0.00
Magazine
£0.00
£275.10
Ministry
£1,249.54
£1,415.88
Mission
£802.90
£296.40
Licences
£770.28
£715.17
Fundraising paid to charities
£3,359.20
£5,021.79
Transfer out to Barn Account
£1,425.00
£3,500.00
£300 Barn Heaters/Disability
CM/Donation
Total Other Costs
£10,721.47
£12,303.49
TOTAL EXPENDITURE
£144,525.25
£107,718.77
NET INCOME
-£13,543.86
£11,122.54|Yard Trail
£0.00
£0.00
Plant Sale
£0.00
£141.20
~~Garden Party~~
~~£1,996.47~~
~~£2,255.92~~
~~Cake Sale / Refreshments~~
~~£1,643.08~~
~~£869.20~~
~~Trumpet Concert~~
~~£0.00~~
~~£605.00~~
Strawberry Tea
£516.25
£520.56
~~Spring Fayre~~
£1,092.50
£1,486.69
Christmas Fayre
£1,630.46
£1,708.44
Other
£474.95
£1,097.45
~~Total Fees~~
~~£7,353.71~~
~~£8,684.46~~
~~Other Income~~
Magazine
£1,017.65
£1,159.43
Legacy
£0.00
£5,000.00
Gift Aid
£12,455.07
£8,067.42
2022 Gift Aid + 2021 & 2022 Gift Aid Small Donation Scheme
Total Other Income
£13,472.72
£14,226.85
~~TOTAL INCOME~~
~~£130,981.39~~
~~£118,841.31~~
Page | 18
EXPENDITURE
~~Common Fund~~
~~SDBF~~
~~£40,008.00~~
~~£40,008.00~~
~~Total Common Fund~~
~~£40,008.00~~
~~£40,008.00~~
Church Premises
Parish Office Rent
£850.00
£850.00
Insurance
£7,732.40
£7,100.62
~~Electric~~
~~£2,700.36~~
~~£1,533.65~~
~~Gas~~
~~£2,838.00~~
~~£3,086.66~~
Water
£90.30
£30.97
Internet
£216.30
£31.66
Technology
£247.08
£863.09
Scheduled Maintenance/Services
£2,570.65
£1,738.79
~~Service/inspection for Intruder~~
Alarm/Lightning
Protection/Church
Heater/Security Cameras
Ad-Hoc Repairs
£20,169.48
£2,867.92
2023 Windows cost £15,054 +
Clock Repair/Noticeboards,
Heater Repair
Total Church Premises
£37,414.57
£18,103.36
Vicarage Premises
Water Rates
£579.31
£532.31
Total Vicarage Premises
£579.31
£532.31
Fees
SDBF
£4,655.00
£4,325.00
Workers
£10,896.20
£9,680.00
Received on behalf of other Churches
£0.00
£110.00
Total Fees
£15,551.20
£14,115.00
CPW & PM
CPW Salary
£26,863.13
£7,695.37
2023 Cost £23,196.20 Total
includes 2022 Backpay
Expenses (Direct)
£952.18
£1,030.02
Expenses (Messy Church)
£75.82
£373.35
Expenses (Children)
£6,419.77
£6,421.55
PM Costs
£5,939.80
£7,136.32
2023 Cost £7,259.80
Total CPW & PM
£40,250.70
£22,656.61
Other Costs
Admin
£2,870.28
£831.26
Independent Examination/
Retirement Gift L-TL/Book
Grant/Stationery/Card Delivery
Bank Charges
£244.27
£247.89
Clergy Expenses
£0.00
£0.00
Magazine
£0.00
£275.10
Ministry
£1,249.54
£1,415.88
Mission
£802.90
£296.40
Licences
£770.28
£715.17
Fundraising paid to charities
£3,359.20
£5,021.79
Transfer out to Barn Account
£1,425.00
£3,500.00
£300 Barn Heaters/Disability
CM/Donation
Total Other Costs
£10,721.47
£12,303.49
TOTAL EXPENDITURE
£144,525.25
£107,718.77
NET INCOME
-£13,543.86
£11,122.54|Yard Trail
£0.00
£0.00
Plant Sale
£0.00
£141.20
~~Garden Party~~
~~£1,996.47~~
~~£2,255.92~~
~~Cake Sale / Refreshments~~
~~£1,643.08~~
~~£869.20~~
~~Trumpet Concert~~
~~£0.00~~
~~£605.00~~
Strawberry Tea
£516.25
£520.56
~~Spring Fayre~~
£1,092.50
£1,486.69
Christmas Fayre
£1,630.46
£1,708.44
Other
£474.95
£1,097.45
~~Total Fees~~
~~£7,353.71~~
~~£8,684.46~~
~~Other Income~~
Magazine
£1,017.65
£1,159.43
Legacy
£0.00
£5,000.00
Gift Aid
£12,455.07
£8,067.42
2022 Gift Aid + 2021 & 2022 Gift Aid Small Donation Scheme
Total Other Income
£13,472.72
£14,226.85
~~TOTAL INCOME~~
~~£130,981.39~~
~~£118,841.31~~
Page | 18
EXPENDITURE
~~Common Fund~~
~~SDBF~~
~~£40,008.00~~
~~£40,008.00~~
~~Total Common Fund~~
~~£40,008.00~~
~~£40,008.00~~
Church Premises
Parish Office Rent
£850.00
£850.00
Insurance
£7,732.40
£7,100.62
~~Electric~~
~~£2,700.36~~
~~£1,533.65~~
~~Gas~~
~~£2,838.00~~
~~£3,086.66~~
Water
£90.30
£30.97
Internet
£216.30
£31.66
Technology
£247.08
£863.09
Scheduled Maintenance/Services
£2,570.65
£1,738.79
~~Service/inspection for Intruder~~
Alarm/Lightning
Protection/Church
Heater/Security Cameras
Ad-Hoc Repairs
£20,169.48
£2,867.92
2023 Windows cost £15,054 +
Clock Repair/Noticeboards,
Heater Repair
Total Church Premises
£37,414.57
£18,103.36
Vicarage Premises
Water Rates
£579.31
£532.31
Total Vicarage Premises
£579.31
£532.31
Fees
SDBF
£4,655.00
£4,325.00
Workers
£10,896.20
£9,680.00
Received on behalf of other Churches
£0.00
£110.00
Total Fees
£15,551.20
£14,115.00
CPW & PM
CPW Salary
£26,863.13
£7,695.37
2023 Cost £23,196.20 Total
includes 2022 Backpay
Expenses (Direct)
£952.18
£1,030.02
Expenses (Messy Church)
£75.82
£373.35
Expenses (Children)
£6,419.77
£6,421.55
PM Costs
£5,939.80
£7,136.32
2023 Cost £7,259.80
Total CPW & PM
£40,250.70
£22,656.61
Other Costs
Admin
£2,870.28
£831.26
Independent Examination/
Retirement Gift L-TL/Book
Grant/Stationery/Card Delivery
Bank Charges
£244.27
£247.89
Clergy Expenses
£0.00
£0.00
Magazine
£0.00
£275.10
Ministry
£1,249.54
£1,415.88
Mission
£802.90
£296.40
Licences
£770.28
£715.17
Fundraising paid to charities
£3,359.20
£5,021.79
Transfer out to Barn Account
£1,425.00
£3,500.00
£300 Barn Heaters/Disability
CM/Donation
Total Other Costs
£10,721.47
£12,303.49
TOTAL EXPENDITURE
£144,525.25
£107,718.77
NET INCOME
-£13,543.86
£11,122.54|Yard Trail
£0.00
£0.00
Plant Sale
£0.00
£141.20
~~Garden Party~~
~~£1,996.47~~
~~£2,255.92~~
~~Cake Sale / Refreshments~~
~~£1,643.08~~
~~£869.20~~
~~Trumpet Concert~~
~~£0.00~~
~~£605.00~~
Strawberry Tea
£516.25
£520.56
~~Spring Fayre~~
£1,092.50
£1,486.69
Christmas Fayre
£1,630.46
£1,708.44
Other
£474.95
£1,097.45
~~Total Fees~~
~~£7,353.71~~
~~£8,684.46~~
~~Other Income~~
Magazine
£1,017.65
£1,159.43
Legacy
£0.00
£5,000.00
Gift Aid
£12,455.07
£8,067.42
2022 Gift Aid + 2021 & 2022 Gift Aid Small Donation Scheme
Total Other Income
£13,472.72
£14,226.85
~~TOTAL INCOME~~
~~£130,981.39~~
~~£118,841.31~~
Page | 18
EXPENDITURE
~~Common Fund~~
~~SDBF~~
~~£40,008.00~~
~~£40,008.00~~
~~Total Common Fund~~
~~£40,008.00~~
~~£40,008.00~~
Church Premises
Parish Office Rent
£850.00
£850.00
Insurance
£7,732.40
£7,100.62
~~Electric~~
~~£2,700.36~~
~~£1,533.65~~
~~Gas~~
~~£2,838.00~~
~~£3,086.66~~
Water
£90.30
£30.97
Internet
£216.30
£31.66
Technology
£247.08
£863.09
Scheduled Maintenance/Services
£2,570.65
£1,738.79
~~Service/inspection for Intruder~~
Alarm/Lightning
Protection/Church
Heater/Security Cameras
Ad-Hoc Repairs
£20,169.48
£2,867.92
2023 Windows cost £15,054 +
Clock Repair/Noticeboards,
Heater Repair
Total Church Premises
£37,414.57
£18,103.36
Vicarage Premises
Water Rates
£579.31
£532.31
Total Vicarage Premises
£579.31
£532.31
Fees
SDBF
£4,655.00
£4,325.00
Workers
£10,896.20
£9,680.00
Received on behalf of other Churches
£0.00
£110.00
Total Fees
£15,551.20
£14,115.00
CPW & PM
CPW Salary
£26,863.13
£7,695.37
2023 Cost £23,196.20 Total
includes 2022 Backpay
Expenses (Direct)
£952.18
£1,030.02
Expenses (Messy Church)
£75.82
£373.35
Expenses (Children)
£6,419.77
£6,421.55
PM Costs
£5,939.80
£7,136.32
2023 Cost £7,259.80
Total CPW & PM
£40,250.70
£22,656.61
Other Costs
Admin
£2,870.28
£831.26
Independent Examination/
Retirement Gift L-TL/Book
Grant/Stationery/Card Delivery
Bank Charges
£244.27
£247.89
Clergy Expenses
£0.00
£0.00
Magazine
£0.00
£275.10
Ministry
£1,249.54
£1,415.88
Mission
£802.90
£296.40
Licences
£770.28
£715.17
Fundraising paid to charities
£3,359.20
£5,021.79
Transfer out to Barn Account
£1,425.00
£3,500.00
£300 Barn Heaters/Disability
CM/Donation
Total Other Costs
£10,721.47
£12,303.49
TOTAL EXPENDITURE
£144,525.25
£107,718.77
NET INCOME
-£13,543.86
£11,122.54|Yard Trail
£0.00
£0.00
Plant Sale
£0.00
£141.20
~~Garden Party~~
~~£1,996.47~~
~~£2,255.92~~
~~Cake Sale / Refreshments~~
~~£1,643.08~~
~~£869.20~~
~~Trumpet Concert~~
~~£0.00~~
~~£605.00~~
Strawberry Tea
£516.25
£520.56
~~Spring Fayre~~
£1,092.50
£1,486.69
Christmas Fayre
£1,630.46
£1,708.44
Other
£474.95
£1,097.45
~~Total Fees~~
~~£7,353.71~~
~~£8,684.46~~
~~Other Income~~
Magazine
£1,017.65
£1,159.43
Legacy
£0.00
£5,000.00
Gift Aid
£12,455.07
£8,067.42
2022 Gift Aid + 2021 & 2022 Gift Aid Small Donation Scheme
Total Other Income
£13,472.72
£14,226.85
~~TOTAL INCOME~~
~~£130,981.39~~
~~£118,841.31~~
Page | 18
EXPENDITURE
~~Common Fund~~
~~SDBF~~
~~£40,008.00~~
~~£40,008.00~~
~~Total Common Fund~~
~~£40,008.00~~
~~£40,008.00~~
Church Premises
Parish Office Rent
£850.00
£850.00
Insurance
£7,732.40
£7,100.62
~~Electric~~
~~£2,700.36~~
~~£1,533.65~~
~~Gas~~
~~£2,838.00~~
~~£3,086.66~~
Water
£90.30
£30.97
Internet
£216.30
£31.66
Technology
£247.08
£863.09
Scheduled Maintenance/Services
£2,570.65
£1,738.79
~~Service/inspection for Intruder~~
Alarm/Lightning
Protection/Church
Heater/Security Cameras
Ad-Hoc Repairs
£20,169.48
£2,867.92
2023 Windows cost £15,054 +
Clock Repair/Noticeboards,
Heater Repair
Total Church Premises
£37,414.57
£18,103.36
Vicarage Premises
Water Rates
£579.31
£532.31
Total Vicarage Premises
£579.31
£532.31
Fees
SDBF
£4,655.00
£4,325.00
Workers
£10,896.20
£9,680.00
Received on behalf of other Churches
£0.00
£110.00
Total Fees
£15,551.20
£14,115.00
CPW & PM
CPW Salary
£26,863.13
£7,695.37
2023 Cost £23,196.20 Total
includes 2022 Backpay
Expenses (Direct)
£952.18
£1,030.02
Expenses (Messy Church)
£75.82
£373.35
Expenses (Children)
£6,419.77
£6,421.55
PM Costs
£5,939.80
£7,136.32
2023 Cost £7,259.80
Total CPW & PM
£40,250.70
£22,656.61
Other Costs
Admin
£2,870.28
£831.26
Independent Examination/
Retirement Gift L-TL/Book
Grant/Stationery/Card Delivery
Bank Charges
£244.27
£247.89
Clergy Expenses
£0.00
£0.00
Magazine
£0.00
£275.10
Ministry
£1,249.54
£1,415.88
Mission
£802.90
£296.40
Licences
£770.28
£715.17
Fundraising paid to charities
£3,359.20
£5,021.79
Transfer out to Barn Account
£1,425.00
£3,500.00
£300 Barn Heaters/Disability
CM/Donation
Total Other Costs
£10,721.47
£12,303.49
TOTAL EXPENDITURE
£144,525.25
£107,718.77
NET INCOME
-£13,543.86
£11,122.54| |---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---| |Plant Sale

EXPENDITURE||£0.00||£141.20||||||| |||||||||||| |~~Garden Party~~

~~Common Fund~~|~~£1,9~~|~~96.47~~||~~£2,255.92~~||||||| |||||||||||| |~~Cake Sale / Refreshments~~
~~Trumpet Concert~~
~~SDBF~~|~~£1,6~~|~~3.08~~||~~£869.20~~
||||||| |||~~000~~||~~£60500~~
~~£40,008.0~~|~~0~~||~~£40,008.00~~|||| |
Strawberry Tea
~~Total Common Fund~~||~~.~~||~~.~~
||||||| ||£5|16.25||£520.56
~~£40,008.0~~|~~0~~||~~£40,008.00~~|||| |~~Spring Fayre~~
Church Premises|£1,0|92.50||£1,486.69||||||| |Christmas Fayre
Parish Office Rent|£1,6|30.46||£1,708.44
£850.0|0||£850.00|||| |Other

Insurance|£4|74.95||£1,097.45
£7732.4|0||£7100.62|||| |||||,|||,|||| |~~Total Fees~~
~~Other Income~~
~~Electric~~|~~£7,3~~|~~3.71~~||~~£8,684.46~~
~~£27003~~|~~6~~||~~£153365~~|||| |||||~~,.~~|||~~,.~~|||| |Magazine
~~Gas~~|£1,0|17.65||£1,159.43
~~£2,838.0~~|~~0~~||~~£3,086.66~~|||| |Legacy
Water||£0.00||£5,000.00
£90.3|0||£30.97|||| |Gift Aid
Internet|£12,4|55.07||£8,067.42
£216.3|0|2|022 Gift Aid + 2021 & 202
£31.66|2|Gift Aid Small Donation Scheme|| |Total Other Income
Technology|£13,4|72.72||£14,226.85
£247.0|8||£863.09|||| |~~TOTAL INCOME~~
~~£130,9~~
Scheduled Maintenance/Services|~~£130,9~~|~~81.39~~||~~£118,841.31~~||||||| |||£2,570.65|||||£1,738.79||~~Service/inspection for Intruder~~
Alarm/Lightning
Protection/Church
Heater/Security Cameras|| |Ad-Hoc Repairs||£20,169.48|||||£2,867.92||2023 Windows cost £15,054 +
Clock Repair/Noticeboards,
Heater Repair|| |Total Church Premises||£37,414.57|||||£18,103.36|||| |Vicarage Premises||||||||||| |Water Rates||£579.31|||||£532.31|||| |Total Vicarage Premises||£579.31|||||£532.31|||| |Fees||||||||||| |SDBF||£4,655.00|||||£4,325.00|||| |Workers||£10,896.20|||||£9,680.00|||| |Received on behalf of other Churches||£0.00|||||£110.00|||| |Total Fees||£15,551.20|||||£14,115.00|||| |CPW & PM||||||||||| |CPW Salary||£26,863.13|||||£7,695.37||2023 Cost £23,196.20 Total
includes 2022 Backpay|| |Expenses (Direct)||£952.18|||||£1,030.02|||| |Expenses (Messy Church)||£75.82|||||£373.35|||| |Expenses (Children)||£6,419.77|||||£6,421.55|||| |PM Costs||£5,939.80|||||£7,136.32||2023 Cost £7,259.80|| |Total CPW & PM||£40,250.70|||||£22,656.61|||| |Other Costs||||||||||| |Admin||£2,870.28|||||£831.26||Independent Examination/
Retirement Gift L-TL/Book
Grant/Stationery/Card Delivery|| |Bank Charges||£244.27|||||£247.89|||| |Clergy Expenses||£0.00|||||£0.00|||| |Magazine||£0.00|||||£275.10|||| |Ministry||£1,249.54|||||£1,415.88|||| |Mission||£802.90|||||£296.40|||| |Licences||£770.28|||||£715.17|||| |Fundraising paid to charities||£3,359.20|||||£5,021.79|||| |Transfer out to Barn Account||£1,425.00|||||£3,500.00||£300 Barn Heaters/Disability
CM/Donation|| |Total Other Costs||£10,721.47|||||£12,303.49|||| |TOTAL EXPENDITURE||£144,525.25|||||£107,718.77|||| |NET INCOME||P
-£13,543.86||||ag|e | 18
£11,122.54|||| |Opening Bank Balance||£34,682.15|||||£23,559.61|||| |Closing Bank Balance||£21,138.29|||||£34,682.15||||

Barn Management Account 2023 2022 Notes
£ £
190507 190507
INCOME
Grants
DMBC Grants £0.00 £0.00
Total Grants £0.00 £0.00
Other Income
Rents Income £637.50 £181.00
KayDans Childcare Rents Income £7,054.41 £923.10
100 Club Subscriptions £540.00 £636.00
Cash In £296.84 £12.50
Transfer in from PCC Account £1,400.00 £3,500.00
Total Other Income £9,928.75 £5,252.60
TOTAL INCOME £9,928.75 £5,252.60
EXPENDITURE
Barn Premises
Insurance £753.48 £713.19
Rates £1,212.32 £0.00
Gas £485.13 £311.75
Electric £563.90 £437.23
Water £240.66 £171.40
Facilities - Scheduled Maintenance £182.65 £146.10
Facilities - AdHoc Repairs £1,301.94 £24,497.00
Total Barn Premises £4,740.08 £26,276.67
Other Costs
Bank Charges £71.44 £68.65
Transfer out to Barn Regen Account £1,756.00 £0.00
Transfer out to PCC Account £272.84 £30,463.75
Total Other Costs £2,100.28 £30,532.40
TOTAL EXPENDITURE £6,840.36 £56,809.07
NET INCOME £3,088.39 -£51,556.47
Opening Bank Balance £3,526.81 £55,083.28
Closing Bank Balance £6,615.20 £3,526.81

Church Fabric Report 2023

Routine Maintenance & Cleaning.

The church intruder alarm was serviced in September, and the roof alarm in October. The organ, after a 9-month period of being out of use, was re-serviced in December 2023, and the piano in June. The re-testing of our lightening conductors was due in July, and carried out late in August at a cost of £204.00 inc Vat. All portable items of electrical equipment within the church, Barn & Parish Office were portable appliance tested on 13/06/23, with no problems reported. The quinquennial fixed electrical inspection was last carried out in April 2018 for both the church and the Barn, and therefore was due in April 2023. We obtained a quote, but then the inspection was put on hold awaiting the repairs to the organ cable. The fixed electrical inspection for the church was finally carried out on 13/02/2024. A couple of minor defects were reported, which Fowlers are expected to return to rectify during March.

The heating system was serviced in July, before the start of the current heating season.

In lieu of an annual maintenance contract, church members have carried out some work themselves, inspecting and cleaning out low level drains & drainage gullies, also emptying silt traps during June, September & December; however, the higher-level roofs, gutters, and drainage pipes to my knowledge have not been cleaned out this year.

Following the retirement of our existing fire extinguisher service engineer; a routine inspection was carried out on all our fire extinguishers (02/01/24) by an alternative company – Micro Alarms Ltd, a subsidiary of our electrical contractor Peter Fowler Electrical Ltd. All but 1 were found to be now passed their 10-year maximum life. Subsequently, all had to be replaced. The total cost to provide & install replacements for 2 x 9 ltr water, 1 x 3kg powder, & 3 x 2kg CO[2] extinguishers, including up-to date signage & stands, and the preventative maintenance check, came to £315.05 +Vat.

Regular, fortnightly interior cleaning has continued this year, though unfortunately there are now only two teams, one of which includes our church wardens, who have again borne the brunt of the cleaning. In previous years, teams

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were made up of 2, 3 & 4 members, each team expecting to clean the whole church 6 times per year. Unfortunately, we have lost a lot of those previously loyal members through death over the last few years; and those who remain are obviously still desperate for more help as we all get older. Two teams, now means that the job comes around every month. I would therefore like to appeal yet again for new members to join the group and expand the now extremely small but hardworking and dedicated team. If anyone feels they could raise an additional team, this would be greatly appreciated, and would make the task less frequent and thus easier on all the existing teams, – please contact either of your church wardens. Whenever you are in church, please help us by helping to clean up any spillages / food as soon as possible, also important towards discouraging mice from entering and staying in our church.

Insurance Policy.

I told you last year that the PCC had started to re-consider the church’s insurance, as the renewal approached in November 22, how we had used Ecclesiastical Insurance for many years, had always been happy with them and that they were by far the most widely trusted insurance company used by the Anglican Church, and churches in general. I also told how a newcomer to the church insurance market (Trinitas Church Insurance) has come onto the scene, and several churches in the diocese have recently transferred, due to lower premium quotations. The PCC thought it worth approaching them for a quote, and a Standing Committee meeting was convened on 19[th] December 2022 specially to review and compare the new quote with the 2023 revised premium from Ecclesiastical. I told you that the PCC had found the comparison tricky, with a number of questions and clarifications being needed to compare properly, and since the current period was very close to expiry, the committee eventually made the decision to stick with Ecclesiastical for another three year term, but to keep an eye on Trinitas, and see how they perform as the years progress and use of them becomes more common.

Last year then, our insurance premium for 2023 from Ecclesiastical was £6,903.92 + insurance premium tax of £828.48 = £7,732.40 for the year.

Our revised premium for 2024 (the 2[nd] in this current 3-year term) will be £7,120.19 + insurance premium tax of £854.41 = £7,974.60, or £664.55 / month, or £153.36 per week!

The new insurance value for total loss was also raised last year to £16,375,000.00.

For your information, this value, is not the cost to fully re-build our church should it burn / fall down. The assumption is, that this figure would provide enough to replace the roofs, the windows (glass), the interior fittings and doors, and to re-build the top 2 ft of the walls, at eaves level, should we be unfortunate enough to have a serious fire. It is assumed, that most of the stone structure will survive and require only minor repair.

Vandalism, General Repairs & Minor works.

Unfortunately, we have had 3 serious incidents of vandalism to the church windows this year,(more about that later,) and in June, the Barn gate was vandalised, suffered damage, and a tin of black paint poured over the gate post.

In September, Philippe and Johnny spent some time swapping and adjusting the hinges for the cupboard doors in the kitchen, Philippe also replaced the hinges on the toilet seat, and re-fixed the thin vertical panel adjacent to the toilet door which had become loose. Later he returned and swapped the hinges on the kitchen cupboard doors, (cupboard which contains the glasses), and adjusted the hinges on the chair cupboard doors to ease their opening. He also removed and replaced the rusted bottom hinge for the gas-meter enclosure door and did some welded repairs to the chair trollies to make them more stable.

Improvements have also been made to the raised platform behind the Lectern, with 4 vertical handles and trim strips being fitted, and a replacement piece of carpet to match the Chancel carpet. The platform is movable but is mostly kept in place to provide improved and stable access for our clergy & readers. Finally in December of this year, (after Liz had officially retired), Philippe also did some minor repairs in the Parish Office, including the replacement of a fluorescent light starter, smoke alarm batteries, a timer, and an element repair on the electric fire. He also repaired a broken cable for the boundary microphone (used as a table mic during Communion).

I reported last year, that in October, a small team including myself, Andy Deakins & John Alick, were able to make satisfactory repairs to the wood and plastic mesh window guard for the northern Belfry window, on the west side. It took us a couple of hours, and we all came down extremely dirty, but happy with the result. Following more seriously windy weather in January of this year, I was forced to make more temporary repairs to the northern Belfry

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window, on the east side. This was very much a temporary / emergency repair to try to keep the pigeons out, and I shall have to try to employ the larger team to make more permanent repairs to this east side window very soon.

Other minor repairs may have taken place this year, completed by some of our members, and these may not have been recorded anywhere in this report if I have not been made aware of them. Never-the-less we are grateful for all help in these matters. These would include general lighting / lamp replacements, woodworm monitoring, vacuum cleaner repairs, mower & strimmer repairs amongst many others.

Not a repair, but you may have noticed the introduction of a new coffee machine, and new round, folding tables which are now being used regularly. These have all been bought using grant money towards the start-up of Café Church, for which Rachel was successful in applying.

Also, not a repair, but on 26[th] October, Vera received some advice from the Church Buildings Council, on how to spot, and what to do if you have any RAAC (Reinforced autoclaved aerated concrete). It is of course clear that a grade 1 Listed building such as ours does not have any concrete roofs. Nothing to worry about there then.

Quinquennial Inspection (Q.I.).

I have previously reported that in 2019, we had appointed a new architect, Mr. Andrew Boyce, of Ferry & Mennim Architects of York; and I also reported that our quinquennial inspection had been completed on 21[st] August 2019, and a full Q.I. report received on 18[th] November 2019. I previously gave a detailed summary of how this report was written and organised, listing some of the major statistics, the recommendations, suggested repairs, and their respective priorities. If anyone would like to see a copy of this comprehensive document, please ask. Unfortunately, as it is a quinquennial inspection, it means that a new inspection is due this coming year, so we shall need to book that in with our architect.

I have also explained, how COVID had delayed meetings between ourselves, and our architect such that it was not until after the November 2020 meeting that we had drawn up a brief project plan to list some of the actions and priority tasks we had decided upon to take forward. We have completed some of those tasks which were easy to close out, such as seeking confirmation & dates of surveys and inspections etc, and an update to our list of church contractors, however these will continuously need to be revised, whenever details change.

We have only completed one of the major items on our project plan of 2021, which was the need to commission a full glazing survey for the church. The planned repairs following on from that have not actually been actioned yet. Further down on the project plan (not necessarily in importance; but in achievability at that time), there were some inspections and potential repairs to some roofs, re-seating of the flagpole, modifications to the flagpole fixings, and repairs to the Belfry window guards.

Whilst we have made repairs to the Belfry window guards, these have been more of an emergency fix rather than a planned upgrade.

Throughout the last 5 years, it feels as though we have always been busy, but the longer-term plans on the list have not moved forwards much; whilst many different tasks have come up and changed our original focus. As the tasks we have been dealing with this year end, it would be good to try to take stock and work out from our QI report what we feel has been done and not done.

We will of course be getting a new QI examination soon, followed by a new report later in the year.

The new report will be essential in establishing new priorities. Also, now that we have been established as a Major Parish Church, we will be required to create a Conservation Management Plan, which is a much longer-sighted plan of the future development of our church, and which will be partially driven by the QI report and partially by our own perceived direction in terms of building development.

In the meantime, the PCC needs to re-assess and create a new plan of priorities to take us forward into the longer future, so a quick review of what is still urgent and could be done in the coming year would still be useful.

The Glazing Survey & Report.

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One of the major items on the project plan, originating from the Quinquennial Inspection and the meetings with the architect, was the need to commission a full glazing survey for the church, to determine the condition and priority of each of our windows, so that we could push some forwards as an acceptable repair project. You may remember that my report in 2021 gave full details about the organizing and planning for the glazing survey, and then a summary of the results of the finished report from the glaziers. If anyone would like to read either, please ask. A copy of the report was passed onto the architect, for him to add his own notes about the stonework. As I wrote in my report for 2022, there had been little progress moving forward from the glazing survey, and no contact with the architect on this subject as then. Our focus however had been on other items in 2022; such as church yard closure, major parish church application, Barn refurbishment, and the faculty application for replacement notice boards, candle stands & pews. Our intention as those items completed, was to re-focus on the priority windows and agree a programme of repair works from those described, be they glazing, or masonry repairs and to get on with the faculty applications and repairs to those windows as soon as was practically possible. Unfortunately, four incidents of malicious damage to our windows, were once again to change our priorities.

The first incident of vandalism was discovered on the 3[rd ] of May by our churchwardens in preparation for our APCM later that night. When told about it, many members of the community and of course those from our own congregations, were deeply saddened by this terrible news. The crime was reported, a crime No. obtained (144/83683/23) and our Insurers informed. On the 5[th] Rosh spoke to our architect and the glaziers and organised for them to visit on 23[rd] May to inspect the damage, and to begin to quote and plan for the repairs. They also planned to look at the “at risk” window over the North Aisle, “Devil’s door” with a view to start on that as a first project for window renovation. On the 6[th] , Philippe had a good look round, and located other cracks to windows which could have been related to the same incident or may have been more historical. At the visit on 23[rd] May, Johnathan & Ruth Cooke (Stained Glass Conservation), Josh (the Diocesan Buildings Officer) & Andrew (our architect), alongside Rosh & Vera; initially found 8 areas which they thought were recent areas of vandalism. The damage was suspected to be by small stones and / or sticks passed through the window guards, on the windows of the south and west walls of St Catherine’s Chapel. They also suspected football damage to the main East Window. The Cookes went away to quote for the repair of those, alongside some earlier known damage, as recorded in the survey, and for the repairs to the window above the North Aisle door.

On 31[st] May, a comprehensive quote was received from Stained Glass Conservation, to cover only the recent vandalism repairs, and which described in detail the repair methodology for each individual window and segment. The quote totalled £6,500.00 and covered stained glass repairs to the East Window (I), panels 2a, 2b & 2d, the east window within the Chapel (sII), panels 1b & 1d, all of which would need removing & returning to their unit for repair, and panel 1a on window sII which could be repaired in situ. There was also a shattered piece of plain glass in panel 2c - window sIII, a holed piece in panel 1c and 6x multi-fractured pieces in panel 2c of window sIV. For the stainedglass repairs, they estimated that 70% of the glass was re-usable.

(Note! - window identification codes corresponding to the previously mentioned glazing survey).

Damage to other windows was not included in this quote, and the repairs to the window above the north door (nX) was also due to follow. Recognising the need to obtain a second quote for insurance purposes, recommendations for an alternative were sought from the Cookes, and from our architect.

On the evenings of 5[th] & 8[th] July (just after our Garden Party), we suffered 2 further bouts of vandalism to our windows. On the 5[th] , the “RAF” window (nVII) in the North Aisle, was targeted, and on the 8[th] the Clerestory windows (NII, NIII, NIV & NV) (upper windows in the North Nave) were targeted possibly by an air rifle. The incidents were both reported to the police, and to our insurers, and we were disappointed to find that these last two incidents would each count as separate claims, and that all incidents incurred an excess charge of £250.00 each.

On 12[th] July, Rosh met with a second prospective glazier, and asked him to quote for the damage so far. On 13[th] July, we received that second quote from Stephen Hunter - Stained Glass. This quote did cover all repairs to date, including the RAF window & Clerestory windows, with each window being itemised separately. In comparison to the quote from Stained Glass Conservation however, the detail and methodology was scant, and the work to the East window and Chapel windows (comparable to the earlier quote from the Cookes) totalled £10,600).

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On 16[th] July we suffered yet more damage to the “RAF Window” (nVII), and to window sIV, within St Catherines Chapel. Once again this was reported to the police and to our insurers.

On 17[th] July, Rosh wrote to the DAC and requested permission to apply for an emergency faculty to repair all the damage. She listed the details of all incidents, and the quotes obtained for the work so far. She informed them that we were getting windows nVII and sIV boarded up after the recent further damage, (having previously been told that windows would need to be boarded up for an emergency faculty to be granted). She also stated that the PCC would like to install CCTV cameras, as a matter of urgency and asked whether this could be carried out as a List B application under section 1.10.

Additionally, Rosh asked the Cookes to quote for the repairs to the recent damage that they had not previously seen and quoted and marked up a plan of all damaged windows. She then also asked for suggestions from the Town Council and our Area Dean for names and recommendations of reputable local CCTV installers & examples of their installations.

On 20[th] July, Vera & Glynis Smith met with the CPSO to discuss the incidents and potential ways in which they may be deterred. It was decided that Streetscene (who look after our churchyard) or the Council’s tree team, if necessary, could remove some of the lower tree branches on the north side, and thus reduce the amount of tree cover hiding the perpetrators. A wildlife camera was to be fitted as an interim, which might catch or deter offenders. They were also promised that the Neighbourhood Response Teams would regularly patrol our church.

On 31[st] July we had a visit from a loss adjustor acting on behalf of Ecclesiastical Insurance. She was met by Vera and Rosh, and explained what was covered by our policy and what was not. The details of each claim were explained and mutually agreed until a full settlement figure could be established. The loss adjuster also agreed with our choice of preferred contractor for the repairs. At the PCC meeting on 7[th] August, the PCC formally agreed to apply for an emergency faculty for permission to repair the windows, and to use Stained Glass Conservation as our preferred contractor.

On 8[th] September, the DAC Secretary informed us that they would not be able to grant us an emergency faculty because our windows had not been boarded up, despite previously also saying that if they were boarded up then a normal faculty would suffice! This news was met by all-round disappointment, but never-the-less Rosh began the process of applying for a full faculty permission. Unfortunately, this meant reworking the statements of significance & need etc and the updating and inclusion of various attendance statistics to re-submit with a full faculty application. It also meant another couple of meetings with Josh to go through and finalise it all. Shortly after that, Rosh was told that we could proceed under a List B proposal since there were no plans to alter the existing window guards (which had been suggested in July, but later rejected on the grounds of aesthetics and on need).

On 27[th] September, the DAC secretary sent the details of our window repair proposal to the Archdeacon for List B approval, and we were informed on the 29[th] that it had been granted on the 28[th] .

Having been approved, plans were quickly put into place, to try to get the repairs completed before the weather turned colder, and before Christmas plans were affected. Scaffolding was due to be erected on 31[st] October, for safe access to the Clerestory windows, and it was hoped that they would be repaired, and the scaffolding removed by mid-November, but by 4[th] December at the latest. There was no requirement for scaffolding for any of the other repairs. The scaffolding did go up starting on 31[st] October, Clerestory repairs were completed quickly, and the scaffolding was removed in time for a wedding on the 11[th of] November. The various panels of the stained-glass windows were removed and taken back to the glaziers for repair, and we existed with those parts of the windows boarded up for about 6 weeks. The low-level plain glass was repaired / replaced with relative ease, but also professionalism, such that it is difficult to see where repairs were made. (The different level of cleanliness of the glass is the only give-away). The stained, East Window (I) and Chapel window (cII) panels were re-instated on 18[th] / 19[th] December, just in time for Christmas, and again the quality of the work blew us away.

The total bill for the repairs came in at £15,054+vat, including the scaffolding hire (£3500). The invoices were paid in December. As I write, we await a re-payment from Ecclesiastical Insurance for £10,640.00. This is based on the cheapest quote, but includes no payment for scaffolding or vat, and is also reduced by the 3 excess payments of £250. Rosh and Karen have also applied for and have been granted a payment to cover the vat from all the repairs

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for 2023, from the Listed Places of Worship Grant. The PCC will also be requesting a grant from the HCBT for the non-VAT elements of the repairs to the RAF window and the Figure of Christ damage in the East Window.

The repairs also threw up a couple of interesting anecdotes. On the Chapel East window (sII), the Cookes found some old pencil writing on one of the bits of glass – instructions probably from the original artist (Hardman – c 1887) to reburn that piece of glass! They also discovered that the image of Simeon blessing Christ as a baby previously had 6 fingers on his right hand, a fault arising out of previous repairs, which they corrected when they had to re-draw that whole hand for this repair. The Cookes have also offered to hold a future event for us, possibly a talk to go through the restoration and repair story. This could be a useful fundraiser for future projects, but also remarkably interesting & informative for many.

For those who might prefer a pictorial view of the damage / subsequent repairs (all-be-it quite small).

Other than preliminary discussions in May, there has been no further discussion re the repairs to the window above the “Devil’s Door” (nX). I am not aware that a quote was received from Stained Glass Conservation yet, however, as the complexity & quantity of the other repairs increased, the urgency for that repair diminished. We will hope to put it back on the agenda for this coming year, hopefully it will be easy enough to plan around the coming QI inspection.

The Hatfield Church Building Trust & The Friends of the Hatfield Church Building Trust.

I again need to mention the work of the Hatfield Church Building Trust, and of the Friends of the Hatfield Church Building Trust, who work so tirelessly to raise money to fund most of our major project expenses.

I should briefly like to mention at this time Mrs Cath Watson who sadly passed away in November. Cath was a long serving member and chair of the Hatfield Church Building Trust. She was also a PCC member and member of the former Fabric Committee, with a deep-seated interest in all things historical, and particularly our church which she loved and gave her time in the care of. You will remember that I also reported last year on the sad deaths of Mrs Jean Waters and Betty Bateson, two other stalwarts who unfortunately also passed away, in February of last year.

This last year, Hatfield Church Building Trust have not been asked to pay for anything towards the upkeep of our church building. Though we have had some large expenses in the window, clock, and organ cable repairs, these have so far been paid for by the PCC and some generous grants, coupled with an insurance claim on the window damage. As these bills now get finalised this year, there may be a relatively small shortfall, which the PCC might request as a grant from the Building Trust, but the request has not been made yet. This year the building trust did once again apply for and receive a grant for the service on our church clock from the Town Council. As the clock was repaired in December 2022, its annual service has only just been carried out, and as I write the fee for this has not yet been claimed from the Building Trust.

The Hatfield Church Building Trust kindly informed us in 2019, that approximately £30,000 was “available” for us to spend on projects that year. Since then, we have spent little from that figure, so presumably this is still available to use, when some of the projects we are currently working on are finished! I know that both groups are keen to see

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and support a project, such as a future window repair programme, and would like to get back into a more active and targeted fund-raising role. We will again look forward to this in the coming year.

I should again like to pay tribute to so many members of our church, and those from the public, who continually support the fundraising efforts throughout the years. Without their help, it is unlikely that we would be able to achieve half of what we do to improve and maintain our magnificent building.

Church Maintenance Programme.

Historically, pre-2018, we employed Bridgett Conservation (Building Restoration) Ltd from Tickhill, to carry out an annual inspection of our roofs, eaves and parapets, roofing gutters, fall pipes, gullies, and underground drainage pipes, and to clean / clear them of any leaves & other debris. This was part of an annual maintenance program for which we paid around £300.00 + vat per year. We did not re-employ them after 2018, because of the problems we had faced in 2016/2017, with some of the repairs, the quality of the work, their diminishing availability and difficulty in contacting them.

Since 2018 then, we have tried to carry out some of this work ourselves and had cleaned and examined some of the roofs and gutters of the church, and the surface gulley’s & underground drainage pipes.

In 2022, some clearing of roof gutters & down pipes was done by a small team including Johnny, Stuart & Pete, however much of the roof guttering was not done as the higher-level work is not really possible for the aging team that we now have. In 2023 then, none of the higher-level work has been carried out. At ground level, the silt traps and underground drainage pipes and gullies have been cleaned out at least twice, (12/06/23 & 28/09/23) thanks to Philippe, Johnny, Stuart & Pete.

Last year I stated that we needed to pick this up and try to find a new contractor to take on this work. We did make a start at this with Rosh speaking both to Josh Hunter and Andrew our architect in July and asked them to supply a couple of names of contractors whom they thought might be suitable. A couple of names were offered at the time, unfortunately we have failed to take this any further forward and not contacted any of them about services they may offer, and respective costs. Therefore, I repeat that in the coming year, the PCC really do need to discuss at length with our architect, diocesan buildings advisor, and colleagues from other churches, and to investigate and decide whether to try to renew the maintenance contract with Bridgetts, or to go with an alternative.

Church Re-ordering – Removal of Unfixed Pews.

I reported last year, quite extensively, of our plan and subsequent quest to dispose of some of the free-standing pews from the back and south side of our church. The plan emerged in 2021, and the quest took us all the way through 2022 getting the appropriate permissions. I explained at length about the requirement to create statements of significance and of need, and about the too-ings and fro-ings of the faculty application. Our quest involved significant trawling of archives and questioning of our elders and was coupled with visits and advice from both our architect, the DAC buildings advisor, and the wider DAC panel. There was also a DAC requirement to have a preapplication consultation visit from Historic England, the Victorian Society, and the Georgian Group; all to accurately ascertain the age and origin of those free-standing pews.

As reported last year, a report by the Georgian Group was received on 7[th] December 2022, it talked about those pews viewed, and suggested which elements were recommended to be retained, and which were probably suitable for disposal. The full report is available should anyone like to read it, but as a taster the following paragraph is typical. “ These pews and frontals were probably put together in the early twentieth century reusing woodwork from a variety of sources in their backs and ends. The seats and bible shelves themselves appear to be all of early twentieth century date, as are a few of the seat backs and ends. Whilst not an expert in church seating of this period I would feel reasonably confident in suggesting that these pews are not of great significance as they are not of a high standard of construction, or of an attractive or innovative design. Neither do they appear to stylistically relate to the church’s other high-quality fittings by Temple Moore (1912) or Brodrick and Lowther (1896). Some of the reused woodwork contained within them is however of historic interest.”

That same report was used for guidance, as we considered each pew deciding which ones had to be retained and which were suitable for disposal / possible re-purposing into storage. They were each marked accordingly using

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coloured stickers. Out of the 13 free-standing pews in church, 2 were to be retained due to having the date and carving on the pew end. The pew situated in the Choir Vestry was to be retained, along with a further pew due to it having a possibly Georgian back panel behind it. There were also two pew frontals which were to be retained, which will be considered for their suitability for inclusion into a future storage facility (cupboard/s or chest/s) yet to be designed. Ultimately then we planned to remove and dispose of 9 free standing pews.

On 8[th] December, Rosh again submitted the faculty on the online faculty system, such that it would once again go before the DAC on the 13[th of] December, with the report from the Georgian Group, and with another from the Victorian Society expected by the end of the week. As part of this faculty application, formal requests for consultation were sent out to the Victorian Society, to Historic Buildings and Places, and to The Society for the Protection of Ancient Buildings. The deadline set for any response was 1[st] February 2023. Responses re the pews were finally received from the Victorian Society 17[th] Jan 2023. They were happy to defer to the DAC and Georgian Group opinions and so had no objections; also from Historic Buildings 23[rd] Jan 2023, who again endorsed the observations of the Georgian Group and had no further observations to make, other than to commend us for the research done on the matter.

We finally received faculty permission to remove the pews in June. The PCC once again discussed the removal in May and decided to take in expressions of interest at the Garden Party, to discern whether there might be any take up for a sale to interested members of the community. 12 expressions of interest were received that day, so we decided that to organise an auction was the fairest, and hopefully most profitable way to dispose of them. In August, Rosh found a local auctioneer who was willing to sell our pews, forgo any commission & also to collect them from church. Originally the PCC tried to set a reserve price at £200.00 / pew however this was later reduced to £150.00/ per pew when none sold the first time. After 3 months, when only 3 had sold, the reserve was fully removed from the remaining pews. Finally, in December 2023, all the pews have now been sold, raising £900.00 in total for church funds, and opening up more space at the back & North & South Aisles of our church.

The Hatfield Family Wall Monument.

I reported on the removal of the Hatfield family wall monument in my 2021 report although the actual removal took place on February 8[th] , 2022. It was removed following concerns from our architect about its stability during his visit as part of the glazing survey. I reported that the remaining parts of the monument which used to hang in the Choir Vestry were removed as a matter of urgency, with special permission from the Archdeacon, and were transported, along with other parts of the same monument which had been removed some years earlier, back to the workshop of the stone mason, Matthias Garn to undergo some minor repairs.

Andrew, our architect visited on 23[rd] May, primarily to view the window damage, but he also looked at the Vestry wall, the original site for this monument, and stated that he would contact Matthias and ask him to quote for preliminary wall repairs and the monument’s replacement. We had received a quote to simply repair the tablet and pediment as recently removed, however we need a revised quote for the full repair including the repair / replacement of the additional parts removed many years ago. There was initially some talk of potentially re-siting the monument into a more prominent position, however this was later rejected, as it felt necessary for us to reinstall it in the Chapel where it had been originally placed, and with the Hatfield family vault over which it had been placed.

Currently then, there have been no further discussions or developments on this, and I am not aware that these quotes were ever actually received (by us). The prioritization of this project waned as we concentrated on other priorities, and we have not followed up on this again yet. Though a good future project, there is no actual need to rush into putting the monument back up. In the first place, a full faculty application will be needed. We might also be able to apply for grant funding towards the full cost of the repair and re-instatement. As our Quinquennial inspection is due again this year, I suspect that this project may see a further delay in 2024.

Major Parish Church Designation.

I told you last year, that the PCC had decided to apply, and were fortunate enough to be successful in being designated as “A Major Parish Church.” Rosh and our former Diocesan Buildings Officer were fundamental in getting

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this designation through, and our notification was received 27[th] July 2022. This designation can only be good for us, as it is intended to help us obtain funding for projects in the future.

As part of the Church Building’s Council work to support keeping churches open and sustainable it has been looking at defining the different roles of its buildings, and defined a Major Parish Church thus: -

Major Parish Churches (MPCs) comprise over 300 of the largest and most significant churches in England.

An MPC has all or most of the following characteristics: -

MPCs are recognised as historically significant parish church buildings with a different scale of

opportunities and challenges faced, compared to the vast majority of other CofE buildings.

Major Churches are likely to require a higher level of attention for the Diocese and the Council due to their special functions, significance, and potential.

Secondly and following on from the above: - MPCs are of such size and significance that having a Conservation Management Plan (CMP) for the building is highly recommended.

A CMP allows everyone to agree on the values and significance of the church; and should be used to inform all decisions that affect the building. It can help in the success of grant applications, faculty applications, listed building consent and scheduled monument consent.

Notwithstanding the above, it does not mean that getting faculty approval, or obtaining funding for all future projects will be easy. All projects will still need to comply with the full faculty and governance processes and compete with other projects for limited funding; it does however mean that there is more funding available to those churches designated as MPC’s. At this stage, we have no evidence that this designation has helped us with either our recent faculty applications or grant applications, but it certainly has not harmed them.

As mentioned above, we need to begin work on a Conservation Management Plan with our architect as soon as possible. This will again help to prioritise & put long term plans in for major repairs / improvements. The fact that we are due a new QI report this year, will I guess probably delay beginning a CMP until at least 2025.

Microphones, Sound System, Hearing Loop & Digital Broadcast.

I reported last year, of a grant for £1,000.00 which Rachel had been granted to update the technology in the church, and on how it had been spent on replacing the sound mixing desk, a new projector, a remote-control screen, 2 new microphones for the Pulpit & Lectern, and a selection of interconnecting cables. I told you that the new microphones were installed by Philippe in April 2022.

I also reported last year that the microphones, though being new, had been playing up quite a lot. Unfortunately, the unreliability of these microphones and other parts of the system has continued throughout 2023. The biggest part of the problem with the lectern and pulpit mics is apparently due to a poor connection between the goose neck and its base unit. We ensure that they are plugged in properly, and all is fine, but it only takes a couple of adjustments of the neck, and the connection dis-lodges, and the crackling and bangs start. On top of the above, because they are loose standing on the Lectern / Pulpit, they have been knocked to the floor and damaged a couple of times and sometimes handled roughly by children and adults during normal adjustments and usage. They also pick up the knocking sounds of the mic wobbling on the lectern and the lectern wobbling when leant upon. Philippe had tried to find a solution, by wedging the plugs in place, and did complain to the manufacturer, but having had no joy we probably need to re-consider their replacement again.

(They were not overly expensive at around £25 each).

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As you are probably aware, Philippe has been integral in sorting out most of the issues over the past few years, which have seen changes & repairs in amps, mics, & repairs to at least one of the speakers, the inclusion of the laptop and a couple of re-configurations of the wiring, with some elements left in and some taken out temporarily or permanently. Most of this he has done himself, and then informed me later by email. Unfortunately, due to circumstance over the last few months, some elements have been amended / repaired with little or no email communication, and only a verbal comment. Though I have been happy for him to carry all this out, it has left me in a current position of now not being fully aware of which elements are working properly and which are currently not in use, and why.

As Liz and Philippe have left now, I /we need to regain this knowledge to be able to make quick and effective repairs / replacements, as necessary.

Repairs / amendments by Philippe that I am aware of, include repairs to the above microphones in June. The pulpit mic had been snapped and he tried a repair using Superglue on it but not successfully, then again using Araldite. He also re-configured the lid of the wooden box protecting the sound desk equipment, with the addition of another layer. This layer is intended to allow us to have a stable position for the laptop above the desk, and houses and protects the receivers for our wireless/ hand-held microphones. Philippe also recently repaired the Boundary mic cable (used on the communion table), re-soldering a broken wire, probably caused through its regular movement before and after services. (That mic is not and cannot be permanent in that position under the crossing).

At the September PCC, because of some of the ongoing problems with the sound system and mics in particular, Tim Beadle offered to call in a friend, to have a look at our system and to do a full report on it. (The man in question was Ken Sylvester, a designer & builder of sound systems, who also hires out PA equipment and occasionally looks after the sound systems for Stainforth, Fishlake, Sykehouse and Kirk Bramwith churches). The PCC agreed to this suggestion. At the October meeting the PCC were told that Tim and Ken had spent around 4 hrs looking at the system, they had disconnected and tested most things, and had found various faults, with some speakers, microphones and amplifiers reported as being faulty. They had then re-configured and re-connected the equipment, having removed some of the faulty equipment. Perhaps understandably, specifics as to which speakers / mics / amps etc were faulty were a little vague in that verbal report, however a full written report was expected to clarify what had changed, and what possibly needed to change.

Unfortunately having not been present at that review, I was again left unsure as to which items of equipment were deemed good and in working order, and which had been removed, or deemed as being faulty and in need of replacement. It would have been useful for me to be able to go through the system with them, and I might have been able to explain some of the historical problems, reasoning behind some of the positions, and cable routings etc. It would also have enabled me to create an up-to date sketch of the system and how it was configured, with details of the equipment fitted etc, to replace an older drawing which was accurate up to a few years ago, and now needs to be somewhat revised. As I write, that written report has not yet been received.

Following that intervention, we have had further problems with the sound system, with the main speakers occasionally not working, and the microphones again causing trouble such that the PCC were still concerned for the health of the system as a whole and understandably in need of something that could be relied upon for services, especially for weddings & funerals. At the December meeting of the PCC Rosh suggested that we called in Rev’d Philip Ball to review our system once again. Philip is the adviser to the DAC on audio & video equipment. Again, as I write, a date has now been set for that review meeting on 20[th] February. Hopefully, dependent on the outcome of that review, we may be able to make appropriate changes to bring the sound system back to reliability.

In January 2023, the PCC had brief discussion about the most effective way to use Julia’s legacy money to enhance our services, thinking specifically of services where the organ is not normally used. (Julia Halls, had been secretary to the PCC, and a long-standing worship leader & chorister at our church). Gill Salter & Chrissy Grindle had both asked other clergy and IT / technical staff about what works well in other churches. Gill reported that many use Bluetooth via their phone. Chrissy said that if a YouTube channel is created, this has the facility to both download visuals & to live-stream.

Rosh confirmed that we do already have a YouTube channel, which had live-streamed several services in the past. Rev’d Liz explained that Spotify is £9.00 /month subscription, but would pay for itself quickly as it is much cheaper

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than downloading tunes from Amazon etc. In February, Liz confirmed that she now had Spotify on her phone, with a playlist of hymns and that it was available to be borrowed by other members of the Ministry Team for downloads etc. (I believe since Rev’d Liz’s departure, this phone has become the church mobile phone – now with the wardens). Spotify has been successfully used many times this year and can be blue toothed directly to the sound desk. We do, however, need to be cautious and check the version downloaded, as sometimes the words and number of verses can vary from that used in our hymn books. Currently other options for playing digital music include the normal CD player, and a laptop, which allows us to play CD’s directly from the PC, we could use it to select specific tracks and create play lists if required etc. We could also upload CDs, and other songs stored on USB sticks, phones, etc if families request special, personal music / songs not available for public download. It will also allow us to record sermons digitally.

I believe the question about what to do with Julia’s legacy is still un-decided and under consideration by the Ministry Team.

I told you last year about the installation of the internet router and QR code and card readers.

These have seen increasing use this year, especially at weddings and funerals, and by couples and families for the paying of wedding / funeral fees etc. In August we discovered that the free service supporting our QR code platform had ceased to operate earlier in the year and so the old QR code was now dead. The replacement service would cost £30-£60 monthly to reinstate. The PCC decided that it was not worth re-instating it. Rosh had contacted the bank and I Know Church to see if either of them could offer a linked QR code we could start using, and was told in both cases, “No.” She then contacted SumUP who are the software operators for our card machines, and they were arranging for us to have access to a QR code which would link to our sumup account. She also found that we can access a QR code from our account with Give a Little which is linked to the newer CollecTin reader.

Rosh was successful in setting up the required web campaign and we again have a QR code that works. (The new QR code is on display and available around church and on current internet & paper documents, and if scanned, will forward the scanning device straight to our church giving site).

On the subject of card readers, the CollecTin card reader does have various ‘campaigns’ on it which allows the payee to indicate what the payment is for; however, the smaller card reader does not.

Please could anyone who uses that card reader for the payment of fees for life events either print out a duplicate receipt and give to our Treasurer with a note on the back or just let her know that you have taken a card payment and what it is for, so that it can be recognised and properly allocated.

Finally, if anyone would like a tutorial on how to operate the CollecTin device so that you may advise members of the public, please ask, and we will willingly arrange a session.

Also with the church internet connection, any legitimate users can log on to the network within the church if they need to. – If you have a need to, please contact Rosh who can provide connection details.

Finally, we would still like to hear from any willing individuals who might like to operate some of this technical equipment for us. If you or someone you know would like to volunteer to help to drive the PA system for some of our services or would like to record and broadcast our services for us; then please contact the church wardens. Current operators would value some additional help, it can be very burdensome when volunteers are few and services many.

The Church Clock.

Last year I reported extensively about the breakdown and subsequent repair of our church clock.

I reported that it had broken down on 11[th] August 2022, that the drive motor which had been playing up for a few years previously, had finally given up and would not run for longer than 2 mins. Our existing maintenance contractor had previously confirmed that the current motor was obsolete, and when it eventually failed then the whole motor & drive mechanism would need to be replaced. I reported that we considered two different contractors, and differing levels of repair, but finally went with our existing, long-term maintainers, to install a replacement mechanism. I reported that Smith of Derby had fitted a T1R clock movement to drive the clock hands through the

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mechanical clock, as per the existing unit, and supporting the T1R, an auto restart unit (ARU), to re-start the clock at the correct time following any power cuts and to complete the GMT/BST time change automatically. The hourly chime mechanism was left as existing because there was no history of problems with this part of the mechanism. The replacement clock mechanism was installed on 10[th] January 2023 by Smith of Derby, at a cost of £2,467.00+vat, and we also upgraded the electrical supply connection box, completed by Fowlers Electrical on 9[th] January, to ensure the electrical system was safe and suitable to accept the new clock wiring. I also reported that we had received some money towards this cost, by generous private donation, and that the rest would be paid for by the H.C.B.T.

Since the installation then, I am please to say that we have had absolutely no problems with the clock this last year. So much so, that when the clocks went back in October, I completely forgot about having to alter the church clock, and for the first time in 40 years, it did it all by itself, and nobody really noticed! It also performed the BST advance in March all by itself, though that was more noticeable as the clock stopped for 11 hours beginning at 2 a.m. to achieve the 1-hour advance.

As I write, the church clock has just received its annual service by Smith of Derby, on 19[th] January 2024, with no problems reported.

We look forward hopefully to many years of trouble-free running, and less trips up the tower for me!

I can now admit to a little celebration, I can finally retire from that job at last!

Unfortunately, we could not ask for a grant from the Town Council for the clock repair, as their policy is that they cannot fund invoices that have already been paid, and grants are applied for in March. We did however receive the usual grant for the on-going clock maintenance costs from the Town Council. Vera had applied for this via the H.C.B.T. and it paid out £203.00, which was subsequently repaid to the PCC from the H.C.B.T. to re-imburse the fee paid. Following the repair, we also applied for and have recently received a payment as VAT relief against the clock repair under the Listed Places of Worship Grant scheme. Thanks particularly to Karen & Rosh for working together to secure that.

The Church Organ.

Our church organ was planned to be bi-annually maintained by Malcolm Spink of Leeds.

Under normal circumstances the two services are planned to occur in June / July and again in December. Our organ was last given a routine service & re tune in December 2021, in preparation for our Christmas services, and during which no real maintenance work was needed. Unfortunately, neither of the scheduled organ services occurred in 2022, though thankfully our organ performed well throughout, with no problems, and the overdue services ran into the beginning of 2023. As the weather began to warm up, moving from Winter into Spring, we were just about to organise the spring / summer service when our organ was put out of action by a faulty supply cable.

The organ failed before a funeral on 18/04/2023, and though Vernon & Brian tried to locate and operate the circuit breakers, they could not get the circuit breaker to stay in, it tripped out again with a bang and a flash! Consequently, they could not start the blower and the funeral had to be conducted with Vernon playing the piano rather than the organ. I joined Brian later that evening to re-look at it and agreed that there was a definite fault. We needed to get Fowlers in to look at the circuit and attempt to trace the fault. Vera initially called Fowlers in within a couple of days to check the circuit. Fowler’s electricians tested the circuit and declared that it was a cable fault, with a short circuit to earth on the yellow phase and stated that the cable would need to be renewed.

It is perhaps worthy of note, that the cable in question was not newly installed when the electrics for the organ were upgraded in 2011, or when the electrics were upgraded, and additional sockets put in as the new floor was laid at the west end in 2007. This cable pre-dated both installations and was actually installed with the earlier electric lighting & general installation of electricity in 1971. (Date for installation of blower motor, and plaque near light switches).

Fowlers made a second visit to church on 04/05/23 meeting Brian & Vera to try to establish a sensible route for the new cable, and to give us the required quotation. They considered and discussed a couple of options.

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At the same time, in order to specify a new cable, it seemed sensible to confirm the load required by that cable, so I also contacted Bob Stevens of British Organ Blowers Ltd (whose name was listed as being the installers of our blower motor, with the type listed as X7B).

He told me that “X7B blowers are fitted with a 1 horsepower, 0.75kW motor which nowadays is usually a singlephase motor, but there are still quite a few three phase motors out there. He told me that a 3 phase, 1.5mm[2] cable to the blower would be sufficient as run current will be around 2 Amps.”. he followed this up by email and included the data sheet for the blower type. He also offered the possibility of converting the blower from the current three phase model to a single-phase model, which they had done “many times,” and which could be repeated for our organ if it would make the installation of a new cable any easier. I passed this info on to the team, and to Dean at Fowlers so that he could begin to compile a quote. On 09/05/2023 Brian and myself were successful in gaining entry to the blower motor and were able to photograph the name / rating plate to confirm the running current as 2.25 A, and the installation date as 1971. It is fair to say that there was some nervousness at the thought of converting the blower to single phase, so this option was never really pursued, partially because the installation of a single-phase cable did not look that different to installing a 3-phase cable.

An email from Dean Fowler on 10/05 discussed a couple of the options for replacing the 3-phase cable.

He had rejected the initially favoured option to run the cable from the ringing room distribution box as previously discussed, on the grounds that they would be unable to fix the cable to the wall high up in the tower. The new preferred plan, was to split the 3 phase cable which currently feeds the heating system, and install a new distribution board, at the bottom of the stairs, route a new armoured cable through the wall running it underground outside the North Transept, then bring it back in to church through the wall into the Vestry, and route it above the vestry screen to the organ isolator / starter.

That quote came through on 18/05/2023 (DF/16164/0523/SW) and was considered by the members of the Standing Committee. Most members of the Standing committee felt that they were happy to just get on with the repair, however Liz was concerned that a faculty might be needed and therefore recommended that we seek our architect’s advice.

On 23/05/23 Vera & Rosh met with Andrew Boyce our architect & Josh Hunter our Diocesan Buildings Officer, in church, and advised them both of our plan, which they both thought reasonable.

On the question as to whether a faculty would be required, they were unsure, but thought it likely to need a faculty, however it could be reasonable to ask the Archdeacon for consent. Following more discussion between Rosh & Josh, and the DAC office, further details were requested, so I sketched our first plan explaining the details of the proposed cable route, in accordance with the Fowlers’ quotation. The plan and quote were then shared as part of the initial faculty application process / discussions.

On 22/07/2023, Josh visited again to discuss the organ cable installation on site, (also window repairs & CCTV installation). At this point, DAC advice back to Rosh suggested that this proposal was going to require a full faculty application, also suggesting that a revised route – without the cable exiting and re-entering church might be preferable as it might then be possible to get it put through as ‘List B Repair’ – i.e. without requiring full faculty.

On 15/09/23 I once again, met Dean Fowler in church to discuss a newly devised internal only route. The plan was still to splice into the heating cable and fit a new distribution board at the bottom of the stairs, but this time to route the cable under the Transept wooden seating plinth, and removing existing cement repairs within the stone floor, following the route of an antiquated gas pipe (from the era of gas lighting)! On the 18/09/23 Dean Fowler quoted against the new plan, and I drew up the revised plan detailing the revised route, with photographs. On 19/09/23 the revised plan, photos & quote were sent by Rosh to our architect, buildings officer & the DAC.

On 21/09/23, we were told that the new plan looked like a list B application, but that it would need an ok & advice from both our architect & the DAC’s organ expert. On 26/09/23 Rosh requested additional info re the history and timeline of our current problem, and background info - dates & costs of the “Organ Restoration”, for inclusion into the formal application, to which I replied on 30/09/23.

(FYI, the Organ restoration was born in March 2003, & the work finally finished in September 2011). On 27/09/23 Rosh uploaded all the documents she had for the application, following up afterwards with additional information as it came in. On 23/10/23, we received support of the proposal, and specific but relatively minor advice

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from our architect re the cable installation, the major point being that we employ a monumental mason to repair the stone floor following the cable installation, rather than the electrical contractors. On 27/10/23 the list B application with all supporting information was formally submitted to the Archdeacon for a decision. The Decision came on the 28/10/23, and our permission was finally granted by the Archdeacon, but with the proviso that we complied with the advice as given by our architect and the DAC.

On 16/11/23 I met with Dean Fowler to run through the plan again, and to share the architect and DAC points of advice. (We had planned to meet 10 days earlier, unfortunately Dean became unwell with COVID, so could not attend). Dean was pleased to hear that we had finally been granted the permission to repair our cable and was happy with the advice from the architect. He promised to go away and order the materials, and to fit our repair in as soon as possible. He was aware that we would really like to use the organ for Christmas services, and that we would need to get the organ serviced following the cable repair. True to his word, the electricians from Fowlers came on 21/11/23, and completed most of the installation. On the 22[nd] they finished and tested the circuit and the blower. Vernon came along and tried the organ, (he was reported as being quite excited)! Having played a few tunes, Vernon assessed the organ as working well, and requiring only a routine service and re-tune, which he would organise with the organ builder as soon as possible. The final cost for the installation of the replacement cable was £1,365.00 +vat, as per Fowler’s revised quote of 18/09/2023, and this was paid in December.

Our organ was finally serviced and re-tuned in December 2023, with only minor faults requiring rectification. It was used at Christmas and performed well and has performed well since. Everyone was overjoyed to have the organ back in working order, if rather dismayed that it had taken so long. Vera sent a thankyou card and chocolates into the office for Fowlers, to thank them for their support and for fitting in our repair at short notice. Our organ is currently used for weddings and funerals on request, for special services, but less so for general Sunday services. Organs do slide out of tune steadily, so a regular service & re-tune is recommended, and with Vernon’s advice we will be contacting the service company towards the Summer for another service. The PCC will need to consider & discuss with Spinks the benefits of a single / dual annual service agreement, and maybe try to agree a more flexible service approach for servicing going forward.

Whilst our organ was out of service, there were many concerned requests for updates on progress, not least because we had about a dozen weddings booked for the year, and regular funerals as is normal. Many wedding couples and bereaved families had to be told that the organ was out of action, and that we were working on repairing it as soon as possible, and that we could offer only the piano or CDs etc as a current alternative. Many people did opt for Vernon playing the piano, and it coped surprisingly well despite having not been used or tuned for several years. We did get the piano tuned in June, and at the same time asked the tuner about the possibility of getting it re-furbished. He had the opinion that it was not worth the expense, and we would be better served to replace it. The PCC also discussed the possibility of getting a Clavi nova (a digital piano) as a replacement, which was also a recommendation from both Liz and Vernon. With initial estimates of around £3000.00 we have not pursued this option any further yet, mainly because the piano did not let us down, and we were concentrating on trying to get the organ fixed. The PCC may come back to this at some point in the future.

Heating.

During this last year, our heating system does seem to have behaved quite well. The system was serviced in April 2022, and then on 27[th] July 2023. This service was a little late due to a missed email. No problems were found at the service, although we were advised that the fan drive belts would be due a change at the next service. The service was carried out by a colleague of Bill, who is our usual engineer, and Philippe again asked about a software change to add a “program cancel” button onto the screen to simplify our programming of the system. This amendment was mentioned in my report last year and expected to be completed during this year. The chap said that he was aware of the request, and that Bill was too, and that we should expect a visit in a few weeks to do the software update. Unfortunately, this update has not yet been carried out, and it looks like we may have to submit another request and remind Bill (who does the programming himself). Just as a reminder then, this request is to add a “Cancel” or “Advance” button, so that we can easily cancel a program part way through its cycle and advance to the end. This is currently difficult and requires us to amend the stored program to get the system to stop. The problem there is that you cannot then re-enter the same program parameters for next week without re-starting the current program again; you must go away and return the next day to re program the very program you just cancelled. I guess this just

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has not been followed up since the announcement of Liz’s retirement, and we should try to push for it with this year’s service.

Since that service then, there have been a couple of call outs. The heating failed to start on 6[th] November and reported a burner fault. Vera was able to reset it, and it did start up and run ok then. It started up again the next day but failed again on the 8[th] . Having been called out, Bill came to fix the heating on the 8[th] and told us that there was an intermittent fault with the ignition transformer. He was able to clear the fault but said that any future recurrence may require a replacement transformer – the cost of this call out was £140 +vat. Since then, I have not been made aware of any issues of failing to start, and we have not really had many complaints about the temperature being too cold with the heating on since then, so it all looks good for now.

I told you last year about a preliminary discussion between Rosh and Eddie Murphy from Ollio Consultancy who is the DAC Heating Specialist. Rosh gave him a brief outline of our current heating system in church, and told him we were seeking advice on options for the future to make it more effective etc. He visited on May 9[th ] (2022), and spoke to Rosh, Vera, Philippe & Brian. He looked at our church heating and was going to send a report under the remit of his role as advisor to the DAC.

I am not aware that we have ever received this report, perhaps we should try to chase it again. He did comment that if he were going to design a heating system for a church like ours in terms of building and use, the last thing he would come up with would be what we have! Having said that, since the system is currently functioning reasonably well, he suggested we consider incorporating something like De-Stratification fans to get the heat where it needs to be, when we come to submit some of the plans and faculties for major works we are envisioning over the next few years.

In addition to the above and arising out of discussions with the Diocesan Buildings Officers and from the Diocesan maintenance workshop held at Hatfield on 15[th] August. Rosh has signed us up for a project with a local company called Cherubim, who are a small, local company working in partnership with the Diocese of Sheffield. They are working to create digital tools to help churches manage their buildings and have recently received funding from Innovate UK to explore new ways of assessing the thermal performance of historic church buildings. In its commitment to the wider church’s net zero route map the Diocese has partnered with Cherubim to test new, innovative ways of measuring the impact of methods to lower the carbon footprint of some of our most historic and complex buildings.

We have been asked to host (along with up to 100 other churches) several environmental monitoring sensors which track temperature and humidity, in the main spaces of the buildings.

Readings from these will be used to assess the effect of factors such as heating patterns on different building materials, over a period of around 18 months (including winter 2023 and winter 2024) to inform decisions on interventions which might reduce energy consumption. The aim is to explore ways in which the cost of heating church buildings might be reduced, and the levels of comfort may be increased in an economically sustainable way. They are keen to see if simple, ground-level fixes by on-site staff/volunteers can make a difference. It is hoped that the results of this survey might have a positive knock-on effect for churches and the communities they serve, along with progress towards the Church of England’s net zero by 2030 target.

Rosh contacted Cherubim and signed us up on 6[th] November. An event for interested parties around the Diocese was planned to be held at Hatfield on 27[th] November, but this was later postponed until spring 2024. Cherubim sensors then, have been placed around church (South Chapel and Pulpit) and one on the top of the tower. These should not be moved; the initial intention is that they will be left for 3 months and are recording temperature / humidity levels as and when heating is turned on/off over that period. The data will presumably be charted / graphed and compared with that of other buildings with different heating regimes. Follow-up surveys may follow under differing conditions. Some may remember that I ran a group of 5 similar digital surveys at Hatfield in 2004, with 7 sensors around the church, altering aspects of the heating conditions each time and taking 63,000 readings. I am therefore particularly interested in this new survey and look forward to maybe getting more involved and seeing the data it throws up, though this is unlikely to be seen in its entirety until 2025.

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I put the following couple of sections in last year, and I am un-ashamedly going to repeat again this year, as we have recently been informed by our Treasurer that we were on a fixed tariff for gas for the past few years and that it expires this year. Our heating bill is likely to increase by 200% this year, even with looking around for the cheapest tariff. We shall look forward to that with horror!

Our current heating system, for those who do not know, is gas fired. We are all acutely aware of the soaring prices for gas (and other types of fuel too), and this trend is unlikely to ever reverse as fuel sources are reduced, and as we strive towards greener energy sources. Inevitably then, this has led us to consider installing an alternative heating system. There are many options to consider: - Types of heating such as electric radiant heaters, underfloor electric, under floor warm air, a piped hot water & radiator system. Each will have different benefits and failings, the running costs of each may vary significantly now, and in the future. Some systems will be easier to install than others, in terms of permissions. Which type of fuel should we opt for, to be cheapest in the long term? We could consider installing solar panels to offset our energy costs, but these are never likely to be able to supply our own needs fully. The relative success of each against the other is not easy to work out. The one thing that all systems will have in common, is that they are likely to be extremely expensive to install.

Unfortunately, our church is an enormous single space to heat. As a Grade 1 Listed Building, it is unlikely that we will ever be able to insulate our walls or fit double-glazed windows to improve our efficiency and lower our bills that way. We might choose to section off parts of our church to make individual sections easier to heat, but this has implications into how we use our building going forwards, so this would also need to be very carefully considered at the same time. The PCC / Fabric committee have discussed this whole topic in the past, but not in depth recently.

I think that in recognition of the current fuel pricing trend, heating will be on the agenda again very soon and will certainly need to be considered in conjunction with our long-term re-ordering plans for the church.

The Christmas Lights.

The Christmas lights worked well on the top of our tower again this year. Many thanks to James Scott for helping me with the rope installation and to Andy Deakins who helped with the lighting installation and James again for helping with the removal. I am pleased to say that there were no problems with the lights yet again, 9 years after purchase, and still not a single lamp lost yet; (we used to replace about 80 of the old lamps per year, which at that time would cost us about £50.00 per year). These lights are much loved and often mentioned by many of our locals and visitors alike.

The Church Armour

Some of you may remember that our church used to have some pieces of Church Armour on display. For many years now, this armour has been in the care of the Royal Armouries at Leeds. It is currently on display there, and in the past has been on display in the Tower of London. We signed a loan agreement in April 2021, to enable us to leave the items there; and gave permission for photos to be included in a new book titled: Armour of the English Knight: Continental Armour in England 1435 – 1500. That Loan agreement comes up for renewal in May this year. In October we were notified about a problem with the “Environmental Controls” at the Leeds Armouries however this temporarily escaped us during the interregnum, and we have only just reviewed it this February. There is however nothing for us to be overly concerned about, and the PCC agreed that the relative humidity level variations quoted appear to be quite minor over the period, and that our objects are still being kept in a more protected environment than they ever were when installed in our church. Despite this fault and pre-empting the fact that we have not agreed a new extension to the loan agreement yet, I see no reason why we would not agree. Also, in 2021 we had re-enquired about the possibility of getting replicas made and receiving some literature, which we could keep in our church. Whilst yet we have not received anything physically, a response from the Royal Armouries did say that they were considering the possibility of replicas, so we should probably chase this again soon. It does us no harm to keep mentioning it.

For anyone interested, I would recommend you visit the Leeds Armouries and look out for our armour. It is apparently quite rare and is significant to historians of this period.

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The Barn

The quinquennial (5 yearly) fixed electrical inspection for the Barn was last carried out by Fowler’s electricians in April 2018, and therefore was due April 2023. Following the refurbishment of the Barn, the system would have been fully checked over and certified then (August 2022). We need to find the certificate from that point, and if not fully encompassing & therefore not suitable, we will need to book a fixed electrical inspection as soon as possible. The portable appliance (PAT) testing was carried out on 13[th] June 2023, along with the church and parish office. The fire extinguishers were largely replaced rather than serviced, in January, and in conjunction with those in church. The intruder alarm received a service call in September, with no real problems exhibited. Unfortunately, we had to call the engineer out in November, when the alarm could not be set. The Chubb engineer said that the PIR in one of the garages was severely damaged by water ingress, was obsolete, and that they as a company are unable to get parts for our system anymore. He therefore disarmed that sensor leaving that garage un-alarmed. He also added a new code to avoid using the same numbers on the keypad, which was still sometimes awkward. (The original code will still work). He suggested we ask Secom to quote to put in a new system as Chubb can no longer get parts for our system, and he was aware that Secom were installing a new alarm system in church. The current system is still working (with 1 garage down), but we shall probably try to get it upgraded this coming year. The leak in the corner of the garage needs to be addressed too (where the drainpipe from the next-door property discharges onto our roof). Additionally, the duration of the external light (on the PIR operated light at the top of the external stairs) has been increased to around 3 mins, following a PCC request, that it did not stay on for long enough.

I told you last year that the Barn was now in regular rented use by Kaydans childcare. All parties seem to be happy and coping with the general agreement, which did see the Barn used 4 days per week during school term time; and involved both them and us, notifying each other of usage plans, putting things away and getting them out again afterwards, whenever the other party was going to be using the property. The whole task cannot be too onerous, since this September, the PCC agreed to their request to raise their usage to 5 days per week. A joint spreadsheet is being maintained by Kaydans and us, for gas / electric use, for accurate utility bill allocation, and again seems to be working well.

Kaydans are also aware that the bulk of the grass cutting on the Barn field will be done by Street Scene on a Monday, (unless it falls on a bank holiday) and accept they will have to keep the children in whilst this is done.

I told you of the refurbishment & decoration of the Barn last year too. Since then, we have added a wooden dado rail to the walls, to protect them from damage caused by the chair backs.

Barn usage has also grown since the refurbishment and re-opening. Rachel uses it regularly with the Little Lions and Hatfield Heros groups, especially during the summer months. The PCC has used it for most of its meetings, there have been a few Saturday coffee mornings, and some of the Sunday evening services were held in the barn over the winter period to cut down on church heating costs.

Despite this, usage of the Barn has not returned to pre-COVID levels. COVID caused some of the previous regular users to transfer to larger premises, and some groups to fold. Regular Saturday coffee mornings have largely transferred across to the library, where it is larger, and they do not charge fees.

I also told you of the wooden shed belonging to Kaydans in the corner of the car park, and the PCC’s plans to procure a similar shed for our storage purposes. The purchase of that second shed was agreed by the February PCC, procured & situated slightly in front of the Kaydans shed. It is used for the storage of some of our Barn chairs & tables, when not in use, and some of our children’s toys / equipment used by the children / youth groups. The extra space also enabled Vera & Rachel to lead a team in May to tidy out and re-arrange the content of the garages and shed, thus making the more extensively used equipment easier for them to access. Unfortunately, the equipment had to be rearranged again in November when one of the alarms PIR’s failed, and the more expensive equipment was moved to be under the protection of the working PIR.

During April to July, the PCC discussed the “Ransom Strip” around the Barn & Vicarage as had existed since the vicarage land development of 2001. Specifically, the strip between the Barn and the property formally known as St Lawrence House (7 high street?), extending 1mtr either side of the fence. The prospective purchasers of that property had requested right of way over the strip and asked that we sell them the strip for personal and vehicular access, (they wished to use it on their side of the fence for parking). A discussion followed and the PCC decided to Page | 36

decline the sale and seek the advice of Michael Lindley (Diocesan Surveyor) as he met with Rev’d Liz to talk about the Vicarage. Advice received from Michael Lindley in July was towards guarding the public right of way and to not sell the said land. As the PCC voted, all were in favour that it should be retained with permission for pedestrian right of way but not vehicular. Having passed on our decision, that specific idea now appears to have been dropped by that buyer, though the issue of the whole ransom strip is still relevant for the entire site around the vicarage if that were to see any new development.

Also in June, the PCC received a verbal request to clear some of the bushes & vegetation at the border of the barn field where it adjoined a neighbouring property and was pushing over the fence. Tim Beadle and a small team did clear some vegetation, but also reported that vegetation was not the cause, it was in fact just a damaged post causing the fence to lean. The PCC also agreed to contact an arboriculturist to prune some of the trees /bushes at the back and around the field, and additional tidying of the field occurred in preparation for the Garden Party and other summer events. Thanks to all those who helped in that and with the regular cutting of the field. The ride-on mower has not been serviced in 2023, and therefore is due a service in spring. The PCC should also decide how many mowers we need to use and store in the garages, as the bulk of the Churchyard and Barn field mowing is now carried out by Streetscene. Philippe has maintained an on-going battle with the moles and their damage to the Barn field and Vicarage Garden. This is likely to become a bigger problem when he is no longer here, and we end up paying for our pest control. Watch this space, or rather the Barn field!

On 26[th] of June, the Barn gate was vandalised, suffered damage, and a tin of black paint poured over the gate post. The vandalism was reported to us by Kay of Kaydans nursery, who also reported it to the police and obtained a crime no. for the incident. We have not heard anything since!

Finally in June, The PCC received a grant from the Town Council for £500 for gazebo replacements.

This came through Rachel, who had applied for the grant towards replacing old gazebos for the Garden Party and for children’s events. 3 heavy duty/good quality pop-up gazebos were bought with the money, with the intention of disposing of the more broken / difficult to erect current ones and replacing those with these new ones. (The new gazebos were not actually used for the Garden Party in 2023 as this was held inside, however they have seen use, and will certainly see plenty more use over the coming years). Thankyou Rachel for your sterling work!

The new electric garage doors were serviced on 11[th] August, Tim met with the engineer and observed what the service consisted of. The cost was £99 +vat to service both doors, but he also charged us for an additional £60.00 for a replacement mounting bracket, which was out of alignment and bent! The service did not seem to consist of much, and we hope to be able to do a bit of oiling & greasing ourselves in future, without calling out an engineer annually, and only requiring an engineer for actual repairs.

The Parish Office.

The Parish Office - fixed electrical inspection was carried out in April 2022 and therefore will be due for a re-test in April 2027. The Parish Office PAT testing was carried out on 13[th] June along with the church & Barn and failed only a single extension lead. That extension has been replaced with one from the Barn which was un-used at that time.

I reported last year about a problem with the office computer not receiving emails at the beginning of the year, which had turned out to be an unknown change in our internet service provider. During that time, any number of emails might have been lost. At that time then, the old email address for the office was let go, and we were still trying to retrieve any emails between 10[th] December 2022 to end February 2023, however I am not aware that we were ever successful in that.

In February, Rachel set up a new email address for the Parish Office, which can be used going forward, and which is linked to the new website. Details below: -

Website: www.hatieldstlawrencechurch.com Email: hello@hatieldstlawrencechurch.com

Another temporary problem with the computer meant that emails did not reach the Parish Office again in May, however Philippe was able to sort the problem quickly and all has been well on the IT front since then.

I reported last year about the re-decoration of the Parish Office and Vicarage following a shower leak in the flat

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above, and that the shower then leaked again. The Diocese finally replaced that shower and instructed us in February to re-call the previous contractor to re-decorate as required within the office and Vicarage.

Additional items of minor maintenance activity also carried out by Philippe at the Parish Office have included the replacement of the starter for a flashing strip light and renewal of the battery in the smoke alarm. He re-set the kitchen radiator timer, which was operating at the wrong times, and pointed out that there was a manual “Change” button, which when pressed would switch between on and off if heat were needed during un-timed periods. Philippe also swapped the timer which was next to “Rachel’s desk” for a double pole switch, making that heater into a manual on / off – i.e. not timed.

Philippe also pointed out that the electric fire within the fireplace in the office does still work, however the top bar is broken & requires replacement, and he had intended to replace it before leaving. At this point I believe it to still be un-completed, whilst Philippe has had problems with his hands over the last few months. In any case, the fire will probably be scrapped shortly, if the Diocese do sell the Vicarage and Parish Office. Moss and algae were cleared from the cobbles around the Parish Office, which had become quite treacherous when wet.

At an extraordinary meeting of the PCC on 11[th] February, Rev’d Liz announced to us that she planned to retire. This brought with it the probability that the Diocese would sell the Vicarage and look for a more modern replacement elsewhere and meant that we would be likely to lose the Parish Office.

Several discussions have followed, where options to replace the Parish Office have been suggested, including the redevelopment of the Barn garages into an office space. Vera met with John Allen who handled most of the recent Barn refurbishment and asked his opinion about turning the garages into an office. He said that it was a possibility, however, would require us to raise the height of the garages, preferably a new pitched roof, provide some sort of frontage rather than the roller doors, damp proof, insulate & obviously decorate. It probably should have its own toilet and would still end up being quite small. We would also be losing a lot of our storage space. Ultimately, he advised extending the old Barn, or the new build would be better.

It should perhaps be noted that the new Barn planned by the PCC and Barn Regeneration Committee had always anticipated this possibility and had already included for the re-housing of the Parish Office. That project is however still some way off, needing more funding, and re-submitted plans. The PCC still needs to fully re-assess the project and decide on its viability, weighing the benefits of a larger space to us, and to an expanding town; against currently reduced public usage, which in turn reduces the probability of attracting outside funding. This was, and still is, the position since 2020.

Other considerations have included a porta-cabin type temporary building and steel storage containers; although because the Barn is part of the Hatfield High Street Conservation Area, what we would be allowed to do within the site is quite limited.

Vera agreed to talk to the DMBC conservation officer about it, and she and Rosh organised a meeting with him in October to enquire what we might be allowed to do. He was adamant that portacabins and temporary buildings would not be acceptable in a conservation area. He liked our current plan for the new build and was extremely positive about it, but also understood our urgency and concerns. He promised to come back with some suggestions about what might be possible in terms of extension or new build, and how he might support us getting through the planning stage as quickly as possible. He did not see a problem as there is enough room, the tree is not an historic one, and we had already been granted permission to chop it down under the previous new build plan. If we were to go down the line of an extension, he would like to see the apex end of the current Barn building retained.

Other meetings with the Diocese such as the diocesan building maintenance event held at Hatfield, have also seen the new build plan viewed and commented on positively by many people.

Ultimately then, this is all still undecided, and certainly no official decisions have yet been made on the subject. This is partly because we are not yet 100% certain of the Diocese’s plans for the Vicarage. The PCC are still weighing up alternatives. Foremost in our minds is also whether it is necessary, and fairer to make such a decision before our new incumbent comes; or whether it is better to wait until the new incumbent can help and lead us in the decision, in whatever direction that decision takes us. If we wait, how long do we wait? Decisions like that cannot be taken within

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a week of moving into our Parish! All the above then, weighs against the urgency of the prospect of losing the use of our Parish Office quite soon.

Fire Risk / Health & Safety Policy/ General Risk Assessments etc.

As mentioned last year, the Fire Risk Assessment, General Risk Assessment and the Health and Safety Policy were all updated for 2019 following the Ecclesiastical Insurance templates. These procedures as such have not been reviewed since. I started the process of re-reviewing the above documents, and have downloaded the latest Ecclesiastical Insurance templates, and starting with the Fire Risk Assessment, with the others to follow, I copied over and amended some of the details as necessary and forwarded on a revised Fire Risk Assessment in March. However, we still need to complete it! When complete, these documents will need to be reviewed, accepted, and signed off by the PCC. The details to change are largely contact details, service timings & average attendance details, and we also need to note changes in our storage – particularly the clothing etc in the Vestry, and the additional children’s area & equipment storage – as part of recording what and where combustible items are kept, and who is at risk and when.

We need to keep these documents up to date, it is a requirement of the Archdeacon’s visitation to the Churchwardens for him/her to see them. Our insurance company could withhold payment if they were non-existent or too far out of date, and some of the funding organisations demand to see them from time to time as we apply for grants.

Our Churchwardens carried out a successful fire escape trial in March 2023, a repeat is now due – listen out for the shout!

As you are aware, since COVID, we have operated under revised rules and guidance with regards to receiving Communion. Though much of the singing, distancing & mask restrictions are now long gone, things have not returned to how they were pre-COVID. Since mid-2022 we have been sharing Communion using the “Intinction Method” of dipping a wafer into the wine. We have recently added an alternative and now also offer wine from the “Communion Chalice” for those who wish to receive it this way. We continue to follow a cautious path, trying to maintain the safety and confidence of our most vulnerable, whilst slowly relaxing our restrictions. We hope that you will agree that we are at least heading in the right direction, though some restrictions may be with us for some time yet and some former practices may never actually return.

The Church Intruder Alarm / Roof Alarm.

The church intruder alarm was serviced on 28[th] September 2023, with the Barn intruder alarm done on the same visit. The Chubb service engineer checked both systems over and declared both healthy.

The annual service for the church alarm was £192.05, and for the Barn it was £182.65.

Beginning at the June PCC, and following the vandalism to our church windows; the PCC had begun to talk about installing CCTV to protect the windows, potentially replace the roof alarm, and were also considering the same company updating & taking on the Church’s current intruder alarm maintained by Chubb.

At the Extraordinary PCC meeting of 26[th] August, the PCC accepted a quote from Secom to take over the former Chubb intruder alarm system (as well as the supply & installation of CCTV equipment).

Additional quote to take over the Current Chubb Intruder alarm comprised the following:

Take over of a non-Secom intruder alarm system.

Installation of a New Signalling device linked to Secom Command and Control Centre = £ FOC

Installation of New Bell box and 2nd decoy Bell box £ FOC

Initial testing of the system and set up £ FOC.

Installation of a New Alarm Panel and Keypad = £250

Annual Monitoring and Maintenance of the Intruder system = £360 (£ 192.05 with Chubb)

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This includes labour.

TOTAL inc Yr. 1 Alarm maintenance and monitoring £ 3967 exc VAT.

All prices subject to Vat. & valid until the end of September 2023

Early in December, The Secom engineers attended and replaced the old control panel and keypad, relating to the Chubb intruder alarm system. The existing codes were retained, but the method of setting the alarm with the new panel has changed slightly. The existing PIR’s & door contact switches were all retained in their current positions, and only the control panel & keypad side of the circuitry was changed. You may remember that I reported last year that the proximity detector contacts on the South Door (the one we all use), was intermittently sticking, and we had called Chubb in a couple of times to look at it, then it suddenly got better. After the new installation in December, we again had trouble with the new alarm not setting because of the door contact, with the system reporting a failure in the “Tamper Circuit.” We had to have it remotely re-set 3 or 4 times, which required a lengthy phone call each time because it was a “Tamper Fault”. Having complained that the system was less than a month old, they did apologise and sent an engineer to replace that contact. Unfortunately, he was unable to do that, because he found it was a “Volt-drop” problem due to the distance between the contact and the control Panel. In the end then, the door contact was taken out of circuit, and a PIR sensor used instead to capture the opening of the doors. Since that point we have had no further problems with the South Door and entry into church, however I have just received notification of a trip of the system caused by the PIR adjacent to the safe. Upon investigation there was nothing to see, and the alarm was able to re-set easily. We will monitor for further spurious tripping etc.

Also early in December, Rachel had a problem with the Barn alarm system. It would not set and would go into alarm mode straight away after the time-down when setting. An investigation found that the PIR for the left-hand garage was faulty and had been damaged by a roof leak. Unfortunately, that type of PIR was also no-longer available and could not be replaced. In the short term, that PIR was also taken out of circuit, the content of the two garages was swapped and re-arranged by Rachel, Vera & Team. Thanks to them for that. In the coming year, we shall probably look to update the whole Barn alarm too, possibly again going with Secom such that all our security is with the one company.

The roof alarm system was last serviced 18[th] October 2023 by E-bound AVX Ltd.

I reported last year that following the service on 3[rd] October 2022, we started to have problems with intermittent tripping of the roof alarm, and that despite getting some strategic tree branches lopped, the incidents became even more frequent in late October and November. The 15[th of] November saw 3 activations between 8.00 & 8.30pm, and the 16[th] saw another 2 activations at 8.00. & 8.10pm. Each time, a member of our church investigated, with either Philippe, Brian, and Vera & Rhys attending, and walking around our church to discount foul play. In each case, they drew a blank with identifying any probable cause. An Owl or other large bird of prey was suggested as a possible cause. Finally, these activations stopped as suddenly as they started in Late November 2022. I also reported that we had thought that we had opted out of the “Night Guard” cover, whereby a guard comes to investigate any activations during the hours of darkness, after the guard took almost an hour to respond to the activation in December 2020, and Philippe had volunteered to do the investigations. Unfortunately, throughout the above series of incidents, despite our having opted out of the “Night Guard” cover, the alarm company had sent us several bills for attendance by the “Night Guard.” These bills (which are supposed to be paid as required, and on top of the annual service agreement); had at the time not been paid, and we were in dispute, and re-examining the terms of the contract, to ensure we were getting the service we asked for and not paying for anything that we didn’t ask for. Also, for some reason, notifications suddenly seemed to have switched from phone calls to notification by email – usually noticed a good few hours after the event, and not particularly useful, if someone was expected to attend.

At the beginning of 2023 then, in theory we were still logging any instances of the roof alarm going off, when notification was received, by phone or email, and whether a Night Guard call out bill was received. During the earlier part of the year though, we had no more issues. In June, the dispute with E-Bound was finally resolved but not really to our satisfaction, because we eventually paid those outstanding call out fees. (It was also at this point that we started to talk about installing CCTV, and potentially dropping our contract with E-bound AVX Ltd at some point in the future) The Nightguard callouts alone had cost us £2,247.00 over the last 12 months.

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On 24[th] July, Liz reported 3 more activation calls in the one night, in the early hours, and with only an email notification after the event. Further discussion at the PCC meeting on 7[th] August suggested additional contact with the alarm company, and again suggested CCTV as an alternative. Mindful of the impending interregnum, the PCC agreed that Vera will now be E-Bound’s first point of contact, with Tim, Viv, and Rosh next in line, I also agreed to support, but being less local, it was less useful.

At the Extraordinary PCC meeting of 26[th] August, the PCC accepted a quote from Secom to supply & install CCTV equipment and stated their intention to terminate the contract with E-Bound from an appropriate date once the CCTV had been installed.

Following the annual service of the roof alarm, which took place on 18[th] October, annoyingly it went off 3 times on the 20[th of] October in quick succession around midnight. They rang the first time, so Vera & Rhys went up and had a look around, noting only large birds flapping and taking off on the North side of the church. On the 28[th of] October it went off twice more in quick succession again around midnight, with Vera & Rhys again investigating and nothing to see. Yet again, on 7[th] ,8[th] , and 11[th] December the alarm went off, with Vera & Rhys again attending. Thankfully, incidents seem to have stopped again, I am unaware of any further incidents since December, but it certainly feels very seasonal, so maybe large birds are the culprit. This is partly re-assuring, but I am sure is extremely frustrating when you are called out of bed in the dead of night to investigate. Huge thanks to Vera & Rhys for taking this potentially dangerous, but certainly a nuisance, task on. For more details on the CCTV installation, see below, but collectively we cannot wait for it to be fitted!

Proposed CCTV Installation.

It was at the PCC meeting in June, that the idea of installing CCTV equipment to protect our windows and roofs was first mentioned following all the recent vandalism and graffiti last year too. On 10[th] July Rosh began submitting a grant application to the Home Office towards the cost of CCTV installation under the Protective Security Scheme for Places of Worship and Associated Faith Community Centres.

As part of the application form, she was required to say, 'how the incidents made us feel and how they impacted us'. She put the question out to the PCC and not surprisingly received many replies, with frequently-used words used being senseless, angry, upset & frustrated. (The grant application was finally submitted on 15[th] August). Rosh had also started a list B application for CCTV installation, and had been in contact with the DAC secretary, architect, and buildings officer re this. Later Rosh went to see the Town Council Clerk who sent details of the firm they use at the cemetery. She also obtained the name of a firm that installed CCTV at Scawthorpe church, and asked our Area Dean whether he knew of other churches around which might have any recommendations.

On 1[st] August she contacted Secom who did the CCTV for the cemetery as recommended by the Town Council, and Allsecure who installed her own system making an appointment for the 9[th of] August for them to visit and to quote. Liz was concerned that both companies should be made aware that we are a Grade 1 listed building, and all the restrictions that that might involve, she also offered the name of another local company for Rosh to contact & consider.

At the PCC Meeting of 7[th] August, the members agreed to the following proposal: “Following extensive damage to the stained and leaded glass, sustained over recent months, the PCC agree to proceed with all necessary measures in the installation of CCTV”.

Rosh and Vera met with Greg from Allsecure, and James Hughes from Secom, on the 9[th ] &10[th] of August to discuss our requirements. Later, to aid the quote, Rosh supplied drone photos of our roofs, and James asked about what type of access had been used by the roof alarm company, to get onto our roofs. Having received the answer that access has always been by ladder for the roof alarm company, both during installation and at annual maintenance visits; James decided that in the interests of safety for the installation team, he would like to come back and reassess for access using a cherry picker. This he did on 15[th] August, returning on 22nd August, and meeting Josh Hunter the Diocesan Buildings Adviser to discuss and agree more details so that we could proceed with the list B

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application. The Secom quote was received on 17th August. Rosh also examined the current contract that we had with Ebound AVX for the roof alarm, to establish the notice & procedure for cancelling that contract should we choose to do so. On 23[rd] August, Josh confirmed that following further discussion with the DAC secretary, the installation of CCTV equipment should go through as a list B application.

Following the receipt of the Secom quote, a special meeting of the PCC was called on 26[th] August, specifically to discuss the quote and hopefully to move it forward. Alongside the quote, the following information was also supplied.

The Secom quote for CCTV surveillance system comprised of the following:

4 x Hikvision Junction Box for Dome Camera White

1 x 4G Router

All cables required.

Cherry picker for area access.

Labour installation and setup @ £ 3,357

Additional quote to take over the Current Chubb Intruder alarm comprised the following:

Take over of a non-Secom intruder alarm system.

Installation of a New Signalling device linked to Secom Command and Control Centre = £ FOC Installation of New Bell box and 2nd decoy Bell box £ FOC

Initial testing of the system and set up £ FOC. Installation of a New Alarm Panel and Keypad = £250

Annual Monitoring and Maintenance of the Intruder system = £360 (£ 192.05 with Chubb) This includes labour.

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TOTAL inc Yr. 1 Alarm maintenance and monitoring £ 3967 exc VAT.

All prices subject to VAT. & valid until the end of September 2023

The PCC discussed, and were recommended to agree the following three motions:

‘Following review and discussion regarding the proposal from Secom, we accept the quote outlined in their letter of 17.8.23 to supply and install CCTV, as outlined in that letter, and wish to proceed with all necessary actions to realise said installation as soon as may be practically possible.’

‘We also wish to terminate our contract with E-Bound Ltd with effect from an appropriate date once CCTV has been installed.’

‘We also wish to accept the quote from Secom in the forementioned letter, to take over and upgrade our intruder alarm system and accordingly wish to terminate our contract with CHUBB for the Church security system when suitable.

All three proposals were agreed.

After compiling all the necessary documentation, including details of all window damage, to serve as the reason for the proposal, the letter & quote from Secom, detailed spec from Secom (inc map & plans showing proposed camera locations) & a record of all PCC proposals; the list B application was submitted on 4[th] September. There was still no news on the grant application for funding.

On the 23[rd of] October, our architect Andrew Boyce provided his comments on the CCTV. & intruder alarm proposal, re-iterating his contentment with the proposal, but also passing on some specific guidance re the fixing for the camera mounting brackets to be within mortar joints where possible, and the routing of the cables to follow the lines of architecture and preferably be painted out to a stone colour (can be done with some stone dust in the paint mix). With everything now in place, the list B application was sent to the archdeacon for approval on 27[th] October, and on the 28[th of] October we were informed that it had been approved, with the following additional conditions:

• Details of cameras & other equipment, their proposed location and the location of any cable runs are submitted to the archdeacon when the archdeacon is consulted on the proposal to undertake the matter.

• Regard is paid to any guidance issued by the Church Buildings Council relating to privacy and the protection of personal data.

• Any work to an electrical installation is carried out by a person whose work is subject to an accredited certification scheme (as defined in rule 3.1(6)).

Rosh informed Secom that we had been given permission on 28[th] October, and the order was signed a few days later.

Early in December, the Secom engineers attended and replaced the old control panel and keypad, relating to the Chubb intruder alarm system, (as reported under intruder alarm). They were due to return around 10[th] December, to start installing cables for the CCTV system. When the installation team arrived, they were more than a little concerned about their own safety and had no real plan as to how they could mount the cameras or route the cables. They called in their Health & Safety Advisor, who agreed it was not safe to continue. The building was much taller and more difficult than they had seemingly anticipated. The project unfortunately had to be stopped for a re-think.

Rosh arranged for the Secom engineer to visit again on 18[th] Jan 2024, I also met with the two of them, and together we tried to pull together an alternative scheme which did not involve working at the heights required by the previous plan. I produced a sketch plan in line with our discussions, which has been fed back to Secom for a requote. As we stand currently then; a new plan has been formulated, which involves more cameras fixed to the lower walls, is designed to protect the windows, and prevent access to the roofs, thus giving secondary protection to the roofs. This plan has been drafted, and costed, at £4,581+vat, (previous cost was £3,357+vat), and now includes the following equipment:

6 x Hikvision AcuSense 4MP Turret Dome Cameras (Higher spec cameras than previous quote)

6 x Hikvision Deep Base Junction Box for Turret Dome Cameras

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1 x 8 Channel NVR with 6TB storage

1 x 4G Router (for remote viewing)

2 x 4 Port PoE Switches

3 x Hikvision Dummy Cameras for front of church .

For that additional cost (£1224) we get a better 4G router (+£282+vat), the cabling has almost doubled, 3 dummy cameras, and 6 instead of 4 real cameras, and at a higher specification than previously.

The annual maintenance fee will remain the same at £140.00.

The PCC discussed, accepted the new scheme, and revised quote at its meeting on 4[th] February.

We hope that the new scheme will still meet with the approval of our architect, the DAC, and archdeacon etc, but are anticipating that a new list B application will be required. As you can imagine, we are extremely keen to get this system installed, and to hopefully put an end to the costly and largely pointless turn outs when the current roof alarm falsely trips.

Churchyard

The churchyard maintenance team have continued to work at keeping our churchyard clean and tidy. Their numbers have reduced, and their ages increased, however they continue to do us proud.

A big thank you then is due to all those volunteers who continue to work so hard keeping the grass cut, and the paths and graves clean, generally throughout the year, but more particularly as we get into wedding season, and around the times of our larger church / community events. Thanks also, to those (including members of the public) who tidy up the cans and bottles and chocolate wrappers etc, which regularly appear.

Once again, anyone wishing, and / or able to offer any help in this task going forward, please contact either churchwarden, or speak to those dedicated few gardeners.

I reported last year that the transfer of responsibility for our churchyard maintenance had finally been accepted by DMBC in January 2022, despite our churchyard having been officially closed since 1888.

I reported on the discussions throughout 2022, with Street Scene, the department given the responsibility of our maintenance, sorting out the level of their responsibility, and trying to agree a sensible shared plan with our own team also contributing. Our own team would continue to perform some cuts during the summer months, and thus maintain optimum tidiness during the summer season. We also discussed and agreed certain areas within the church yard to be left as “Wilding and wildlife friendly zones.” During 2022 then, the only working visit from Street Scene did not involve cutting any grass, although they did apply weedkiller soon after the November meeting. Following all the discussions, Street Scene added us to their wider local authority portfolio for 2023 and told us that we could expect “up to 13 cuts per year during the growing season”.

2023 then saw the first actual grass cutting by Street Scene, and to be honest it has all gone very well.

The Street Scene teams have been reported as friendly and helpful, and there seems to have been no problems with any real overlapping of the two teams. We are very pleased with their work, so I feel we should pass on our thanks and congratulations to the whole team and their team leader. If you see them in the churchyard at any time, please pass on this message of thanks.

The annual churchyard survey to check the stability of the gravestones within the churchyard was last completed on 3[rd] September 2022; with a quick walk round by myself during a wedding, in which I observed no real changes worthy of note. I have not repeated this survey in 2023, partially because responsibility now rests with DMBC. Having said that, forewarned is forearmed, so it would be useful to re-assess ourselves occasionally. We have not received any notification from our own maintenance team, nor the Streetscene teams that there are any gravestones which they consider to be more unstable or in need of any specific maintenance; though our own team have continued to uncover a few more which were previously buried in the undergrowth. The pointing between the York stone slabs of the south path has almost disappeared and some slabs are now loose in places. This has been

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noted to be deteriorating within my survey for the last couple of years and appears in our QI report. The pointing now needs to be replaced, and the slabs re-fixed; but we need to be careful how we proceed, because DMBC has the responsibility, and we do not want them to tarmac the path. I guess the sensible approach would be to try to get a quote, and then try to agree a sensible split to the bill.

You may remember that in 2019 we had instigated a full churchyard (and a Barn) tree survey to be conducted in line with BS 5837 to assess the current health and condition of each of our trees. Having received the report in June 2019, the PCC acted on its urgent recommendations, including the felling of some trees and the removal of branches, and crowning of others, with removals of some self-set small trees handled by our own maintenance team. I told you last year that for 2023, we would need to look at some of the trees which were advised to have work done within 3 years and which had become due.

A copy of the tree survey was handed to the Street Scene team leader, and immediate requirements discussed. I am un-aware of any tree work having been conducted as a direct result of the survey.

The only tree pruning that I am aware of, was within the Barn field in June, in preparation for summer events, and the lopping of some of the lower branches of trees on the north side of the church by street Scene in July, in response to a request from us to reduce the coverage seen by the vandals causing the damage to our windows.

You may remember I told you over the last few years about a couple of on-going projects within the churchyard. One of these was the path between the south porch and the carpark. I reported last year that the ledger stones that made up that path had become more un-even forming a trip hazard, and that Rosh had contacted the council in January regarding it and within 2 days a team had visited, lifted it, removed the offending tree root, and re-levelled that section of the path. They also painted the step edges. Unfortunately, that paint ran in the rain that followed, but the Street Scene team have said that they will repaint when better weather arrives. You may also remember that the PCC had previously discussed and drawn up simple plans to lower that path and to create a level path from the carpark to the church, with the intention of improving access for all. The recent formation of the Disability Inclusion Group once again brought this topic back into our PCC discussions. On 23[rd] May, Rosh & Vera met with Andrew Boyce (architect) & Josh Hunter (Diocesan Buildings Officer). This meeting was primarily to talk about the window damage, but they also took advantage of the opportunity to discuss options regarding this path. They discussed the feasibility of installing railings or lowering the level of the ledger stones for the path from the carpark to the south door. They received an emphatic directive that we should not waste our time considering it. The DAC would never agree to it. In explanation, 3 reasons were given: 1) The path was laid at that level for a good reason, 2) There is already disabled access to the south door from the car park via the footpath on Station Road, 3) The introduction of railings would not be feasible or allowed.

I reported last year that the wooden frame for our notice board had collapsed in the storms of early December 2021, and then rather extensively on the process and trauma of obtaining a faculty to install 2 new replacement notice boards. As I wrote last year, the faculty had not been finally granted but was expected to be so at the March sitting. We had ordered the notice boards, in anticipation, and when complete they were to be stored at the manufacturers until such time as they could be erected.

We finally received faculty permission to install the new notice boards in June! The notice boards were already in storage at the manufacturers; so, after a couple of queries on potential storage sites when delivered to us, Rosh organised for them to be delivered on 23[rd] May, and to be temporarily stored in the church porch. She also contacted Bob Allan at City of Doncaster Council as he had offered help with the installation of them. Following on from that, Bob requested of us a map of the churchyard, detailing the position of graves. This was partially to do with installation of the notice boards, but also for its wider impact on the regular grass cutting within our churchyard, and which his team were now carrying out for us. Unfortunately, we have only a few hand-drafted surveys of graves which are kept in the Parish Office, and of which the Vicar had a copy. Some do have hand-drafted sketches of locations. There is also a plan which I have used over the years, but that only details current graves and stones which had been deemed to pose some element of risk. Our anticipation is that none of these are complete, and that accuracy with respect to grave positions may vary, and none will give us details of burials for which there is now no visible stone / marker. Therefore, when it comes to installing notice boards, they were likely to be of little use.

Regarding the plans / info that we do have; there have been quite a few surveys done of the gravestones within our

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churchyard over the years. Inevitably these will have varying levels of coverage and accuracy over the plotting of individual stones, and where dedications and inscriptions have been recorded. The PCC do have an ongoing desire to try to consolidate all this information and using modern technology, to try to create a more comprehensive and usable list/plan. We would be pleased to hear from any volunteers willing to embark on such a task.

Having received the notice boards on 23[rd] May, one arrived damaged having fallen in transit, so Rosh organised a replacement which arrived on 6[th] June (although they did not collect the earlier scratched panel as they had stated). The 4 posts were set in position at the two planned locations within the churchyard on 26[th] July, the boards themselves were fitted the following week.

One board then is to the west of the churchyard and overlooks Station Road, the other is to the south and overlooks the carpark. In terms of cost, the total for the 2 noticeboards was £2,124 plus £263.20 for the planning application, giving a total of £2387.20 +vat.

Disability Inclusion group

At the 1[st] meeting of the new PCC, on 5[th] June, the PCC were shown an example of a “Disability Inclusion Policy”, which was read and discussed, with a view to amending it as necessary to fully meet our own requirements and adopting it as our own church policy. The PCC decided that the terminology in the viewed policy did not reflect present day guidelines relating to gender; and that we should consult with Jackie, Mark, and Sandra in respect of their perceptions of accessibility within our church building and its activities. We also planned to appoint a “Disability Champion” – and to open the appointment to any volunteers within the whole congregation, by placing a notice in the newsletter.

We decided to return to the subject in July to give us the opportunity to identify & consider issues from different perspectives. At the July meeting, we appointed Sandra Beadle as Disability Champion of the Disability Inclusion Policy Working Party, and an interest to join the working party had been declared by: Stephen Rivers, Jackie Hatch, and Mark Johnson, who the PCC accepted, also leaving it open to anyone else interested. Rosh and Glenys had also found copies of other disability policies that would prove helpful to use towards the wording of our own policy.

The Disability Inclusion Group held their first meeting on 6th July. They studied the policies to hand and produced a first draft of a policy to fit Hatfield Church. (This first draft was later reviewed by the August PCC). The group felt it was a very productive 1st meeting, they spent time discussing all forms of disability and noted that their task was more than just writing a policy. They had a preliminary discussion about some of the issues found inside/outside of our church and suggested some items to be discussed further at the next meeting. Suggestions included: both the inner doors being opened during services to ease access, gaining access to the south chapel, live streaming, hearing loop, access via the gates next to the kissing gate & placing a suggestion box in church to capture any concerns of others.

In her role as Disability Champion, Sandra B had sent an e-mail to Glynis Smith about the path from the carpark to the porch. Glynis had forwarded it to the relevant authorities on the council, however speaking as a councillor, she urged caution in our expectations of what the council’s response might be. We need to appreciate the council has limited resources and, while they will act, we need to be aware that the gaps may only be patched and that may not meet our expectations. She advised that the PCC needs to be pro-active in our dialogue with the council. Rev’d Liz also cautioned that as a sub-committee of the PCC, they should not act on any proposals that have not first been approved by the PCC. Sub-committees can gather data, obtain quotes, and make suggestions etc, however any formal communications authorising work must first have the approval of the PCC and have undergone due process regarding DAC advice & faculty authorisation, as necessary.

The new Diocesan Disability Champion visited the group’s August meeting and was extremely impressed with the representation of the team, and the openness of the discussions. They re-tweaked the first draft policy into a second draft, in line with PCC suggestions from their August meeting.

The September meeting of the PCC accepted that 2[nd] draft as our official Disability Inclusion Policy. Sandra spoke of the group’s on-going conversations, obtaining a suggestion box, and was very keen to identify the different disabilities across all age ranges. Contacting Coppice School and checking the criteria for a “Child Friendly Church,” were both suggested. It was noted that it is a few years since the church achieved that award, and it would

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be good to get it re-validated. It was also announced that Vera was planning to join the group at their September meeting.

The October meeting of the PCC was told that our Disability Inclusion Policy was now on display in the porch, and a box for anonymous/signed suggestions is now located at the back of church. Sandra had also actioned an audit, booked herself on a course for disabilities and has actioned in-house training for the spring through the charity ‘Through the Roof’ network. She had also signed our church up, so that we now show on the map as a welcoming church and signed herself up to become a disability champion within the diocese. The group had also begun to research costings and potential support from the diocese for a lift to the chapel and inner glass doors at the porch. Tim spoke of the uneven slabs down the north aisle which might cause problems for those with mobility issues. It was suggested to advise members of the congregation likely to be affected to use the south aisle to access communion.

At the groups October meeting, they further discussed the possibility of a lift into the chapel, and removable ramps to the Communion Table, thinking about access for communion at the table, and about brides/grooms/family members with disabilities etc. The discussion went a little further when Tim and Vera met with a sales representative to discuss a lift into the south chapel. Various problems were identified which meant it is not currently a feasible option. They plan to research the feasibility of a portable stair lift in 2024. The possibility of glass doors at the south entrance has also been put on hold until next year.

Following a fruitful & encouraging discussion with the Diocesan Disability Advisor, Sandra was advised to begin raising money for disability issues, which would be helpful when applying for funding for larger projects in the future. The question was asked of the November PCC, who agreed that it was possible to start raising money generally for disability issues, but cautioned against any advertising which might wrongly suggest that we were raising money for a particular project, until the validity / possibility of the project as being acceptable had been assured by the DAC, and until that project had been formally launched by the PCC. On the back of that, the PCC were told that the group would like to start to hold regular coffee mornings in the Barn to generate further funds but would need further help with staffing and supply of baking, tombola & raffle prizes. Sandra also suggested that the church could be used as a “Warm Space” once or twice a month, however Vera pointed out that the library is already open for that each day, is more disability friendly and is also far cheaper to run than the church. Coffee & fellowship in church continues to be available after the Wednesday service.

Rosh and I agreed to meet up with the group in the new year, to talk them through the processes of the faculty system. Glynis expressed a caution about who they approach for funds. The local authority, for example, will want sight of our finances, plus we do need to be sensitive of the fact that we are a church, not a library or community centre.

Sandra has since registered as a ‘Through the Roof’ champion, and the group has created its own WhatsApp group to ease internal communications.

ECO Church

You may have noticed within the church magazine and the weekly newsletter, that our church has been increasingly involved in an initiative called Eco-Church. This is a Church of England initiative.

General Synod voted in February 2020 for the whole of the Church of England to achieve net zero carbon by 2030. The vote recognised that responding to the climate crisis is an essential part of our responsibility to safeguard God’s creation and achieving a just world. Obviously, climate change, sustainability, recycling, etc are all incredibly prominent issues, and very much in public focus currently. Chrissy Grindle & Glenys Mashford are our voluntary champions in this and have attended numerous conferences & events over the last couple of years.

A “Churches Count on Nature 2021” conference which Chrissy & Glenys attended; suggested that many things could be done to improve our environment as individuals, such as saving energy, re-cycling more and wasting less etc, but many things could also be applied to the church too.

One of the important things that they took from the conference was that churchyards are extremely important places for our plants, animals & insect diversity, that they are well “managed” by volunteers, and that if all churchyards could be put together, they would cover an area the size of Exmoor.

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Making all our churchyards more diverse, could have an enormous impact on our environment.

Having fully accepted this philosophy, I reported last year on the changes we had made within our churchyard, and our churchyard cutting regime during 2022. I told you that we had installed bird feeders and bird boxes, hedgehog boxes and compost stations in the churchyard and in the Barn field too. We also considered and decided upon which areas of the churchyard to leave as wilding zones. The youth continue to be extremely keen and involved looking after all this. I have already told you under the churchyard section, that Street Scene had discussed and agreed to work with us maintaining the wilding zones within the churchyard, and they were extremely impressed with our plans and progress.

Towards the end of 2022, data was compiled, and survey forms filled in as we applied for the Bronze Award from A Roacha. (A Rocha is a UK award scheme for churches in England and Wales who want to demonstrate that the gospel is good news for God’s earth, and whose vision is “for churches of all denominations to care for creation as an integral part of loving their neighbours and following God faithfully.” The actions we had already taken, (and continue to take) count towards a prestigious Eco Church Award at Bronze, Silver, or gold level. By completing their eco survey, we were able to gauge where our church currently stands in relation to the three different levels, and an award might also be forthcoming. In January 2023 then, the PCC were told that we had been granted an Eco Church Bronze award from A Rocha. On a wider note, the Diocese of Sheffield was itself granted a Bronze Eco Award in August, due to the dedication and hard work of their registered Eco Churches. Over the last couple of years, the number of Eco Churches has gone up from 16 to 61, nearly one third of all churches in the diocese. 24 of those Eco Churches now have awards: 15 Bronze, 8 Silver and 1 Gold. Sheffield Cathedral and Church House have recently gained their bronze awards too. Sheffield Diocese needed over 10% of churches registered and more than 5% with awards, to gain their bronze award, and they are well over that target!

Unfortunately, in June, we received a complaint from Travis Primary School, suggesting that the compost pallets were assisting access to the school grounds for vandals, and / or being used as platforms for throwing stones, and rubbish into the nursery area of the school grounds. Chrissy and Glenys had investigated the suggestion and found that the wall on the cemetery side was low enough to access without the aid of the composters. Revd Liz wrote to the school to convey our findings and invited them to inspect for themselves. The school were still keen to have the composting pallets removed or re-sited, so in September the PCC approved a decision to remove the pallets, as they were now hardly used, because Street Scene take all their waste away.

I told you last year, of the “Big Garden Birdwatch” which took place on 28[th] Jan 2023, and at which Glenys & Dianne sat in our churchyard recording what they saw and heard. Unfortunately, they did not actually see many birds, though they heard some higher up in the trees. They were hopeful however, that with the wildflower seeds being planted, they might see an increase in small mammals & insects, and an increase in the bird population too for this year. The “Big Garden Birdwatch” in January 2024, has now also taken place, however I am not aware of anyone sitting this year to record the statistics. Hopefully, there were still improvements to the numbers of creatures around, even if no-one was there to see it! With luck (and a bit of work) next year’s statistics will prove this to be true.

Our project to replace all our low energy fluorescent stick lighting with even lower energy LED’s is still ongoing, we are now at approx. 70%. The changeout is steady because the impact is not so large. The immediate change of the remaining 48 bulbs would save only 190 watts per hr. Our current trend is to changeout 16 (2 pendants worth) every few months, as the fluorescent sticks fail.

Beryl and Glenys attended a Diocesan Net Zero open meeting on 7.2.23. There they heard a plea to all churches to fill in the ‘Energy Footprint Tool’ as the Diocese has funding for supporting Net Zero and data was needed to help them target where it can be most effectively spent. This is the first milestone on the Church of England's ‘Route Map to Net Zero Carbon by 2030.’

The diocesan energy footprint tool aims to calculate the energy used by each church annually. By creating a database including energy costs, age, size, construction materials, type of heating and lighting schemes, and hours of usage, within our churches. The diocese aims to build up a picture of where we all are, and where the most successful schemes are within specific church types; such that they can then look to decide where targeted help and advice needs to go to cut carbon emissions and costs for our churches.

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In March 2023 we filled in our details for 2022/2023. The deadline for entries to be included in national statistics is the end of July 2024. The diocesan website states that “Overall, the Energy Footprint Tool helps build a national picture of our baseline and progress towards becoming net zero carbon by 2030. It also allows you locally to know where you are starting from and how much progress you are making.” I am not aware of whether we are now required to fill in another year’s worth of usage data or not, but if not, how can it be tracked annually?

The Committee

Since the former “Fabric Committee” was disbanded in February 2019, all decisions and matters relating to the fabric of our church building have been discussed and handled directly by the PCC, or the Standing Committee of the PCC. (The former fabric committee was a sub-committee of the PCC and therefore brought recommendations only, and all decisions came from the PCC anyway). We did this to take away a level of meetings and reporting thought to be unnecessary during COVID.

Liaison with our architect, the Diocesan Advisory Committee (DAC), and the various contractors is mostly managed by Rosh, our project manager, and by our church wardens, with occasional help from others willing to meet and look after contractors. As predicted, Rosh, appointed as our project manager to work on a part time basis, has made a significant difference to our committee and its outcomes. I am sure that you will agree from my earlier reporting, that she has done that. I believe that we have seen substantial progress in the last years, mostly through the efforts that Rosh has put in. Through her leadership and doggedness, she has pushed and prodded the DAC, DMBC, other external organisations, and at times us too, to maintain the momentum on our priority projects. She has done this whilst also mentoring Rachel, our Centenary Project Worker.

We are still keen to find more additional help with the regular maintenance chores. Not least the cleaning. A small group have already been keeping an eye on the regular, and minor maintenance tasks, and have undertaken them as individuals or in small groups as they came up, and on the request / instruction of the PCC / churchwardens. If anybody would like to offer themselves to help with some of the maintenance tasks, please see myself, Rosh, or the churchwardens or anyone you know already involved in this type of work. We would love to bring you on board.

Many thanks to all our members and helpers for their support, and for all the work they do to keep the church running, in the practical roles they each fulfil. Thanks especially to Philippe, Viv and Vera, the Parish Office staff, and all the others who contact, and meet the various contractors. Thanks also to all the willing volunteers who have helped us to accomplish some of the minor maintenance tasks throughout the year. Obviously as we move through our interregnum, we must face the loss of Philippe and all the time he spent on minor repairs to many, many things. We have also lost the point of contact and organisation which came through Rev’d Liz, but we will carry on.

We on the PCC are acutely aware that the Hatfield Church Building Trust, and indeed “The Friends” are still keen to see a new project started such that they can donate some of their funds towards it, and thus maintain the enthusiasm of their members who support them. Unfortunately, there has been little in terms of ‘Major Works’ completed in recent years. In 2019, we were pleased to have taken a couple of large steps forwards, in our appointment of a new architect; and in having received the new Q.I. report. Unfortunately, since then we have seen delays in the completion of any of our bigger plans, by the pandemic and its restrictions, and then by organizational & process changes within the Diocese. More recently of course we have spent our time on sudden, but necessary, repairs rather than improvements and the repairs recommended within our QI. I ask you all to bear with us then, as we continue to move steadily forwards on those tasks we select as our priorities. I must also repeat that none are more frustrated by the apparent lack of or slow progress than those of us who are involved with fabric issues. The workload, especially in an ancient and listed building such as ours is extremely large; even the seemingly smallest items can be complicated and need careful consideration and discussion; and priorities can change suddenly.

Also significant in causing delay, is the fact that we are asked to try to consider doing many things at once, in a grand scheme; as the DAC (and prospective funding bodies themselves) would apparently have us do; instead of doing smaller repairs individually. It seems to me to make it overly complicated, a little unfair, and ultimately much harder to do anything. I know that Rosh has struggled with this over the last couple of years; and it is evident that what should have been a quite simple request to replace a notice board, has been hugely impacted by being included within a single faculty involving pews. Things that we might expect to get passed in a single DAC sitting have taken almost 2 years to get through to completion. Nevertheless, we cannot just do what we want, even when we know

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what we would like to do. Certainly, for any larger schemes where we hope to obtain outside funding, then we must comply with the wishes of the funding bodies as well as the DAC, and we always must operate within the current faculty rules etc.

Looking on the brighter side, the steps that the Diocese and the Church of England took to simplify the faculty process to relieve us of some of the difficulties and restrictions these rules impose upon us, do seem to have been for the better. I reported last year that a new 2022 amendment to the Faculty Jurisdiction Rules came into effect on 1[st] July 2022, which revised the listings of those items which require full faculty approval, those which can be undertaken without faculty or any consultation (List A), and those which can be undertaken without faculty but still require consultation (List B).

I also reported last year that we could now apply for faculties on-line, and as you can see from the above, this process has been used quite a few times recently. I also reported last year that as part of its new strategy and transformation, the Diocese had appointed some new Diocesan Buildings Officers to help the parishes in this work, and again you will have noticed from the above reports, that Josh Hunter and his predecessor Viv Cooling, have been regular visitors and very helpful over the last couple of years. On 19[th] September, The Diocesan Buildings Officers hosted a Diocesan maintenance workshop at our church, with attendees from around the Diocese, and speakers from Ecclesiastical Insurance and South Yorkshire Fire & Rescue. Five of our church members attended and found it useful, especially the sharing of each church’s specific problems and frustrations, and the ability to share advice and encouragement. Finally, the re-organisation of the Diocesan “Church Care” website with a menu of “handy links” to the faculty jurisdiction rules applicable to almost any given subject has made the seeking of advice and the decisionmaking process much simpler. This again, is designed to help churchwardens and all those involved with care towards church buildings, to comply with all the complicated rules and obtain relevant permissions.

Hopefully all these systemic improvements will help us move forward more easily in the future. It is becoming increasingly important that our churches can modernise and become useful spaces, otherwise they might eventually become unusable, dis-used, and eventually fall down!

In Summary

As you can see, 2023 saw the committee and several individuals again busy and involved with many minor repairs and general maintenance activities. The current team are like minded and work well together. There has been completion on a couple of outstanding jobs, such as replacing the noticeboards and removal of the free-standing pews, started last year. We have also repaired our organ and the damage caused to our windows through needless vandalism.

All of this has diverted our concentration away from any planned repairs following the results of our window survey, which was completed to supplement our Q.I. inspection report. We hope that 2024 might see some window repairs borne out of the earlier survey results. We still have several outstanding jobs which were started a few years ago and remain uncompleted, but we carry forward into 2024 a renewed desire to progress some of these to completion, especially as some are still priority repairs detailed within our Q.I. report. Following on from here then, we would still like to do a plan of all our wall mounted monuments, so that we can commission a survey of those, and thus prioritise the work needed there.

Changes within the Diocese and its systems seem to have been positive so-far, and our experience of putting in faculty applications and List B applications has increased massively. Some thoughts and plans for a larger re-ordering of our church have begun, and we are considering disability issues too. We again hope to rejuvenate the new committee and to re-enthuse the Hatfield Church Building Trust and the Friends for the future benefit of our church building and our community.

Terry Raper – Buildings Officer.

Project Manager’s Report

Hatfield St Lawrence Church 2023

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Introduction

I have continued in engagement on behalf of the PCC on project managing various pieces of work. This has been rewarding, interesting and at times challenging but at all times the sense of openness, partnership and common vision has been present as we seek to further the Lord’s work here at St Lawrence.

I am delighted to present my report for the year since the last APCM in May 2023. This report covers the period March – 31[st] December 2023 , and should be read alongside Terry’s excellent and comprehensive Fabric Report which goes into forensic detail in terms of many of the projects I have been leading on!

As will become clear in the format of the report, I report on a monthly basis to the PCC on progress and issues relating to the projects I am taking in hand.

Centenary Project

Line Management of CPW, including processing expenses , fundraising and networking emails and phone calls and supervision. Rachel and her support group attended a Network Day in July 2023! A group of us also attended a Thanksgiving Service for the project at Rotherham Minster on May 13[th] . This group has a key role in praying and supporting the work on a daily basis. Rachel and myself and her contracted line manager meet on a 6 monthly basis at least to review progress and support her in her action plan for the year.

Rachel has now been with us for 4 years and, as in the terms of our partnership with the Diocese Centenary project , and since last year we now cover all her costs . We have been blessed to have the sacrificial financial support of those who contribute on a monthly basis towards her salary costs . These individuals are increasing in terms of numbers as folk see the difference being made in the church and community and also some individuals have raised the amount given, for which we are most grateful. We have continued during 2023 to secure sufficient income through donations and grants to almost cover our contribution for Rachel’s salary. Securing ongoing Funding for the year ahead is a key priority for Rachel and myself.

Smaller grants and awards have been invaluable in bringing in the funds for free crafts and events throughout the year , our Summer club and work with the Youth. Our presence and outreach within the schools and local community bears witness to God’s blessing on the Children’s , youth and families work in the Parish.

Rachel and I continue to work together in the Parish Office for a few hours most Tuesdays..pop in and say hello!

Finance

Work continues under PCC guidance , and in close cooperation with our Treasurer:-

March 2023

Work in March 2023 included details relating to the formal arrangement for the churchyard to be maintained by Street Scene Grounds Dept under a service level agreement with DMBC .

I was also working extensively on the final stages of our Faculty applications for the new notice boards and removal of the freestanding pews, including public consultation and the design and ordering of the notice boards.

We began investigating membership of the Association of Major Churches.

April 2023

Saw me heavily involved in resolving issues relating to rates for the Barn. Going through correspondence and progress previously made and contacting the Valuations Office Agency and City of Doncaster Business Rates Dept. We were able to resolve the issue satisfactorily.

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May and June 2023

Was taken up with work relating to the pews and notice boards, the Vandalism to our wonderful windows. Meetings with Architect, Diocesan Buildings Officer and the Conservation Glass experts. Work relating to the relationship with KayDan’s childcare rental of the Barn is also part of my remit. Again , relating to faculties and the relationship with the Diocesan Advisory Committee, lots of research and prep in terms of faculty and permissions required for repair of the electric supply to the organ and repair of the windows.

During the year we have maintained positive relationships with staff at the Diocese. Our Diocesan Buildings Officer Josh Hunter is always helpful and the DAC secretary is now a firm ally and support.

July and August 2023

In July, we finally reached the end of the process we began in September 2022 to remove the pews and erect 2 notice boards! As reported last time it was a grindingly slow, complicated and laborious process which involved preparing around 30 documents (3 of which were over 20 pages long!) / plans and photos to submit and liaising with DMBC planners and the Georgian Group, the Victorian Society and Historic Buildings and Places. A period of Public Notice consultation was also required.

The disposal of the pews was undertaken by the Doncaster Auction Centre who kindly forwent any commission, and the pews were sold at their monthly auctions during the latter part of the year. The notice boards were expertly installed by our friends at Street Scene.

We continued to hold training for those involved in bookings and events on the I Know Church platform.

I also identified and set up a free QR code for our giving to replace the defunct and about to charge a fee for replacement code.

Being quite busy months for graveyard upkeep I met and contacted the supervisor and director of our contract on a regular basis.

Gill Salter and myself spent a day at the Doncaster Archives going through the records they have relating to the church at the end of July.

The major focus of my work during August and towards the end of the year was relating to the repair of the windows and the organ and also the installation of CCTV . I am sure Terry will be including far more detail than I ever could, but I served as the individual liaising between ourselves and all contractors , DAC, Architect and the insurers. Many hours spent filling in forms and meetings on site.

Plans were also made to replace the church burglar alarm and take out a new contract with SECOM who were installing the CCTV system.

September - December 2023

During the latter months of 2023, I continued to lead on the CCTV, organ repair and windows repair. List B applications to the diocese were submitted, which whilst a little easier than full faculty, still required copious reports, plans, pictures and diagrams to be prepared and uploaded.

A Diocesan Maintenance day was held here on September 19[th] . It was run by the Diocese and we welcomed attendees from Fishlake, Auckley, Pollington and Snaith, as well as 5 from St Lawrence.

I also met with Doncaster Council heritage Officer and Vera in September to discuss the Barn plans. Meetings relating to the churchyard maintenance during the period took place.

List B approval was granted at the end of September for the window repairs so the process of getting these repairs done began in earnest.. A good deal of project management between all parties to try and get the repairs effected in as speedy, safe and co-ordinated way as possible followed!

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A Major Parish Churches event took place in Rotherham on October 3[rd] . 4 of us attended , following this we agreed to work with Cherubim, who install environmental technological sensors to plot thermal challenges in buildings. 4 sensors have been installed in church.. watch this space!

List B approval was granted on October 28[th] for the repair to the electric supply to the organ and installation of CCTV. The organ work was subsequently carried out satisfactorily. Unfortunately it transpired that the initial proposal for the CCTV camera settings was not practicable owing to health and safety concerns for the workforce, so we had to engage with the contractor to come up with a suitable alternative plan which is ongoing at the time of writing this report.

In December I began the process of compiling and writing our Parish Profile on behalf of the PCC :This is the document which is used as the basis for the recruitment of our next Incumbent.

I continue to enjoy the challenges raised and remain encouraged by the support and optimism for positive change I have encountered from all quarters! Thank you to everyone who has been a part of my work during the year in whatever guise! I would like to especially thank Rev Liz for her support and oversight in my role and, following her departure, Vera and Viv.

Rosh Milner , Project Manager

Hatfield Church Building Trust

We have continued to receive regular monetary donations from the Friends of Hatfield Church and have provided a grant to the PCC of £1,055.00 to meet the shortfall cost of the organ electrical supply and window repairs.

We were greatly saddened by the death of Cath Watson and hope we can continue to manage the Building Trust in a manner she would approve of .

Vera Owen - Chair

Deanery and Diocese Report 2023-24

Snaith and Hatfield Deanery Reps:

Revd Liz Turner-Loisel, Diocesan Synod Rep, retired September 2023. Chrissy Grindle,

Glenys Mashford, Deanery treasurer

A deanery is a group of churches within a diocese. The purpose of a Deanery Synod is to act as a layer between the diocese and the churches in aspects which affect all the churches involved, and encourages the sending and receiving of information and opinions. There are 22 churches in our Deanery of Snaith and Hatfield. It is the biggest deanery, and in a recent pairing up of deaneries we were paired with Adwick. We met together at Adwick in 2022 but realistically we don’t meet often.

In 2023/24, all the Deanery Synod presentations have begun as open ones for all, with the business section for Deanery reps held at the end.

The June 2023 Deanery meeting was held in Goole where we were joined via Zoom by David Castle the Net Zero Carbon Project Officer. He reminded the meeting of the CofE’s 5[th] mark of mission ‘ to strive to safeguard the integrity of creation and sustain and renew the life of the earth’.

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He outlined the Net Zero roadmap for 2030 and we learned that Bishop Sophie is head of the Diocesan steering committee for Net Zero. We are blessed with so many ancient churches in our deanery; however, unfortunately, they are responsible for the most CO2 emissions. David advised that we should try to offset what we can’t reduce and, on this theme, Revd Tim, our Area Dean, informed us that he has bought himself an electric bike to get around Thorne. This gave rise to a discussion on electric charging points

Snaith and Hatfield Deanery

The October meeting was held at Hatfield and it was really well attended. There were 3 interesting short presentations:-

In November, Bishop Pete and some of his staff arrived from Sheffield for the day. There is the possibility of a large amount of funding from the Church Commissioners to support parish initiatives in the Diocese and the Bishop told us to ‘think Big’ in our subsequent discussions.

The visit itself proved beneficial in other areas as it is generally felt that Sheffield do not realise….

a) what an enormous ‘spread out’ deanery we live in, with large (in area) rural parishes.

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b) what a huge parish Hatfield is, with the prospect of being bigger still. At present, we include Dunscroft, Dunsville, Hatfield, Hatfield Woodhouse and Lindholme, but added to that there are the new builds on Doncaster Road and also the projected Unity Development.

However, both the above factors were acknowledged in the feedback from the day.

As reps, we support the culture of synod meetings now being open to all as it is important to build relationships with other congregations and to share ideas and expertise. This has been demonstrated recently when we were able to request Revd Philip Ball, the vicar of Rawcliffe, Hook and Airmyn, for his advice on how to improve our PA system in church. Please do take this as a personal invitation to join us at the next synod, which will be on 5[th] June at Fishlake.

Chrissy Grindle and Glenys Mashford , Snaith and Hatfield Deanery Reps.

Churchwardens

This year we have the treat of two reports from our amazing churchwardens.

We thank God for the 7 years they have smilingly served this church and its community in such a demanding role.

Viv writes:-

This year has seen quite a lot of changes, possibly the most significant being the retirement of Revd Liz and Philippe in September. They will both be very much missed. We are very grateful to the members of our congregation who have stepped up to help us over this period of interregnum. We are thankful too for the help we have had from other clergy. Revd. Tim Mitchell, Eleanor Robertshaw, Michael Towse, Chris Bishop have come to help with a variety of services, including baptisms and weddings. We have also been very glad to have the support and guidance of the Associate Arch Deacon Clive Hogger.

The support we have had has enabled us to continue as usual and to move forward with our Mission Action Plan and preparation for Focal Ministry.

Another change this year has been the introduction of Café Church on the first and third Sunday of each month which is a welcome addition to our service pattern.

We are grateful that despite the vandalism to the windows we have been able to continue to worship in church despite the scaffolding, and we rejoice to see the windows fully restored. We are also very happy to have the organ back in service. It is a joy to hear Vernon playing it once again. It is good to see our building being used by our community for the Uniform Bank, Little Lions, the Noisy Children’s Choir and to welcome the Cubs who have been to look and explore as they work towards their faith badge. We were thrilled too to host the planetarium in August so fostering our links with the library.

We were especially blessed during the Christmas period by visits from all the local primary schools giving all the children the opportunity to experience our wonderful building. A new initiative has been the visits of the older children from the Chace School who have come to join us for coffee and fellowship on Wednesday and they love to lend a hand with serving drinks, washing up and using the vacuum cleaner. They were a real bonus helping putting up the Christmas trees. It is always a delight to have them here.

We continue to pray that God will call people to come forward into this position, and for a new incumbent. We will of course be more than happy to support them.

Vera writes:-

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2023 is the last year we will be wardens in tandem. We have loved being the Viv and Vera team and have been blessed by our involvement in our wonderful Church. We are confident God is sending new wardens to look after our Church. If the PCC wishes Vera will continue as a deputy and we will both offer our services as sides people to support our new Wardens and new Incumbent. We are most grateful to Rosh and team for putting together an amazing Parish Profile, we are certain there is someone out there itching to come and join us. Glenys has been a tower of strength and information to PCC and Jill and Chrissy have dug deep and manufactured service sheets and flyers at very short notice to help us keep the show on the road. St Lawrence is blessed by having such a talented and selfless backroom team.

Going forward if you have skills you can share with us please offer, you will become part of a warm and friendly team who are blessed by the work they do and greatly appreciated by the congregation even when we get it wrong.

We cannot sign off without thanking Vernon for his music, Karen for making money more understandable, our cleaners aided by the young people from Chase school for keeping us clean, our welcomers and refreshment gang for being just so welcoming and everyone else who go to make St Lawrence what it is - a beacon of Christian love.

Vera Owen and Viv Stubbs

Training Log April 2023- March 2024

The following training has been undertaken during 2023/24

-Ongoing Ministerial Development

-Safeguarding Basic and Foundation Level

-A Cappello Course -GDPR essentials -Health and Safety Essentials -Food Hygiene level 2

-Equality, diversity and inclusion

-Raising awareness of Domestic Abuse -Diocesan Maintenance day -Implementation of Heritage Tourism

-Faith in later life and warm spaces

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-Ministry Development

Ministry, Worship, Discipleship and Pastoral Care

Services have settled into a regular Service Pattern with the introduction of two Café Church services per month (see CPW Rachel’s report).

Extra to these have been Special Festivals and events in the last year on the occasion of:-

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At present the Service Leaders’ Team consists of Revd Gill Salter (Assistant Minister), Revd Joyce Barker (retired with Permission to Officiate), Beryl Adamson (Reader), Viv Stubbs, (Reader), Rachel Ridler (Centenary Project Worker).

Plus Carol Rashid (Ordinand) when she has been able to give time from the myriad of assignments and placements required in her training. We shall miss her when she moves on to her Title Parish after Ordination in the summer. We wish her well.

The service leaders have met on a roughly monthly basis with the Churchwardens to plan rotas, any special services and to support and encourage one another. Rachel has joined them whenever possible.

The Team works well together, sharing the workload, showing care and concern for each other in mutual support, especially when illness or family emergencies require a sudden change of plan.

It has been good that others have also shared in the leading of worship – and have exhibited their various gifts in doing so. Perhaps you too would like to join them?

Last year, Liz’s address was entitled, “Every Member Ministry”.

TEAM = WHOLE CHURCH

She spoke on the Apostle Paul’s Letter to the Corinthian Church likening the membership to a human body with all its different parts functioning in different ways in order to support the whole. (Look again at this on Page 54 of the 2023 APCM Report or ask Glenys to send you an attachment).

Whatever your gift or ability (one version quotes Paul using the word ‘helps’ in his list of gifts present in the Church), there is a place for you to share in the ministry of Hatfield Church. You may even find you have gifts you didn’t realise you had though you may find yourself out of your comfort zone initially. Even the members of the Leadership team have experienced that but guided and enabled by the Holy Spirit we can all take our part in the witness going out from Hatfield Church.

Revd Joyce Barker

Centenary Project Worker report

Children’s Work

March 2023-March 2024 has been another very busy year for our youth, children’s and families ministry. We have moved firmly from the planting stage of ministries, to looking at how we can grow and make them more sustainable, making them really fit the dynamics of the community here in Hatfield. It has been a year of rethinking some things and seeking God in the way forward, especially with our Messy Church and families service provision.

Thank you once again to everyone in the congregation, PCC and leadership team who have supported me this year, especially when discerning where to take Messy Church. The feedback and guidance were very valuable and has enabled us to launch something new which is embedding families into the church congregation more fully. Please join me in praying for all the ministries below:

Messy Church/Café Church – In September 2022 I felt that God was saying to prayerfully review if Messy Church was serving our needs. After a rigorous review and 6 months of prayer, I presented to the PCC in

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March/April 2023 a model of moving to Café Church on a more regular basis. This would make it an intergenerational service rather than just focussed on children, with a mixture of styles of worship. We moved from once a month to a fortnightly service to provide more chances for people to attend. We also decided to try to include the children and young people in the leading of the service wherever possible.

In June time once agreed, interest evenings were held to allow current Messy Church volunteers and those who attend, plus others interested in joining Café Church to input on the format for the new service, and a Café Church team was formed. We decided to launch it in September 2023 at the start of the school year. Attendance has fluctuated from between 30-60 people most weeks, with many families regularly coming along, and other congregation members coming along and enjoying the informal style of worship. A huge thank you to all those who have joined the team – from crafts, café, set up, tech and talk team. We would love to have more helpers and people contributing so please do get in touch to join in. Each week has three different styles of sung worship (contemporary, children’s and more traditional), we also include a small bit of simple liturgy, some drama sketches, an interactive all-age talk and response activities such as crafts and prayer stations.

Hatfield Heroes Youth – Our youth group has grown again this year to 17 young people on our register and a more stable volunteer team of “hot chocolate makers”. This has been supported by me taking on some extra hours with the Centenary Project as the “Doncaster Youth Hub Co-ordinator”. We have been attending these half-termly events as a group anyway for the past few years, where the young people get to meet other young Christians and have time together. Events we’ve attended this year included Summer Social on the Barn Field, UV Party, Christmas Live Lounge, Winter Olympics Theme Night and Rock Up Trip @ Meadowhall.

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We have carried on with our passion to be heroes in our local community by taking part in HOPE Doncaster, a weekend of social action for youth groups across Doncaster, and other one-off activities. During HOPE Doncaster the young people went out litter picking and washing road signs, as well as painting in our Toddler corner and sorting teddies for the garden party. We also did other one-off litter picks around Hatfield and have spent time making items for sale at events, such as recycled candles.

This year we were also able to take 10 young people and 3 leaders on the train to Breathe Deep, the Diocese Youth Event at Sheffield Cathedral, and this was very impactful for them. This was an increase on the 7 young people we took last year, and some of them this year have indicated they would like to run workshops at the event next year, a clear next step on their faith journeys. They joined in whole heartedly with the worship and workshops, and relationships between them grew.

We had a great trip to see Jesus Christ Superstar the musical at Hull New Theatre, where again the young people could engage with the narrative of the cross and what Jesus has done for them. We have linked this in with doing the Youth Alpha Course videos together from September onwards, challenging them to answer life’s big questions.

We welcomed three Year 6’s to the group in September (including my own son!) and are praying for the same again this year – if you know anyone with a current Year 5 pupil do link me up with them so they can be invited along. We have also had a few new members who have been invited by their friends.

Summer Holiday Club – In July/August we ran the Spies R Us Family Summer Club over one full week with approximately 50 children attending each day. We had four mornings in church with songs, drama, bible stories and crafts, as well as spy themed activities such as laser maze, nerf shooting gallery and escape room puzzles. We received funding this year from Ongo, a local social housing provider, and that meant we could provide packed lunches every day for the children (provided by the Barn Kitchen) as well as have an afternoon of inflatable fun in church on the Friday to celebrate together. Our outdoor fun day on Wednesday got rained off unfortunately!

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Schools – Schools work has continued to flourish this year, with a very busy lead into Easter with delivering the Holy Week chalk path at four local primary schools and Easter Escape Room activity for Year 7 and 8’s at Ash Hill Academy. I delivered the “It’s Your Move” prayer workshops in four of our local primary schools for Year 6 pupils before the summer, and our 3rd year of the Backpack Blessing Roadshows took place in September, where I visited all 5 local primary schools to pray over them and hand out bag tags with this years bible verse on:

“If anyone belongs to Christ then he is made new. The old things have gone, everything is made new” 2 Corinthians 5:17

We had harvest festivals, RE lessons and then over 3000 people came into church for schools Christmas Services and activities for our busiest December since I started here. I delivered my first ever CPD session for teachers at Ash Hill Academy where we did a “Grill a Christian” where they could ask me any questions they wanted about faith! I would love to be able to offer this to other local schools for their teachers too.

We also welcomed Philippa Cousins as the new headteacher at Travis St Lawrence School after they joined DSAT, and we have made a more consistent plan for Collective Worship services in church. I am praying that relationships between church and school will strengthen under this new headship.

Little Lions Baby and Toddler Group – Our toddler group continues to be a solid weekly date, with a large register of families connecting in with it. We have some great relationships with those coming along, including some grandparents who help pack away at the end. A big thank you to our volunteers over the last year - Abbie, Tim, Leona, Gill and Charlotte. Abbie has been starting to take up more responsibility for the group since September too. She organised a very successful visit from our local PCSO with his police car and from guinea pigs Holly and Daisy.

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Special Occasions – It has been lovely to see even more families really engage with our services over Easter and Christmas this year, with all ages welcomed at our Pet Palm Sunday service (with visiting donkey) and Easter Sunday (where the Noisy Choir sang “Lord I lift your name on high” accompanied by Sam on the ukelele), as well as a full church for Christingle, the Tower lights switch on and two bustling Christmas Eve Services (with 400 in attendance across the two time slots). We also enjoyed celebrating the King’s Coronation together, with families enjoying the shared lunch.

Free crafts in church/half term activities – Our free crafts in church sessions have continued (alongside other seasonal activities) every half term holiday, including a nature themed one in May half term and Treats in the Churchyard for Halloween. Families really value this time to drop in, spend time together and

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not have to spend money during the holidays. We are very grateful to our three local councillors for funding this over the last year and into 2024. This is often the first connection for new families to church.

Pre-Loved Uniform Bank – This has continued to go from strength to strength with our busiest year yet. We raised over £790 in 2023 through uniform sales, and the church has proved to be an excellent location as people know where it is. We have continued to run fortnightly open sessions as well as providing stalls at the Garden Party, Christmas Fayre and Spring Fayre. Our Christmas jumper swap was well used again, and our volunteer team has grown, partly due to Donna having to step away from midweek sales to take on a new job. We have been joined by Erin, Cheryl and Mishelle and hopefully the team will grow even more in 2024.

I am sure I have missed out many other things from this report (WILD Away Days with the children, the yard sale trail and more), and I’ve been told by many people that I do too much! But I know that it is work worth doing as it means that the love of God and the message of the gospel is being shared with the next generation here in Hatfield. Please join me in praying for 2024/2025 as I continue this work here in Hatfield, my fifth year as your Youth, Children’s and Families Worker.

Rachel.ridler@centenaryproject.org.uk

07851 991286

Befriend me on Facebook for regular updates on my work - “Rachel Youthworker”

Rachel Ridler

Eco-Church 2023-2024

Hatfield St Lawrence is a

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Bronze A Rocha Eco- church

We were very proud to receive our award earlier this year and were very encouraged by the support we received from the wider community. Thank you to all. A Rocha have as their vision that churches will care for creation as an integral part of loving their neighbours and following God faithfully .

Here are some of the main events since the last APCM:-

So thank you for reading this and for the support you are giving to make a difference in our community. Next year, we could all be celebrating Silver!

Chrissy Grindle and Glenys Mashford

Disability Inclusion group

We were set up last year by Reverend Liz and ,at the moment, are a committee of 6 but we will always welcome new members. We started by up-dating the Church Disability Inclusion policy, this process took several months until it was eventually approved by our PCC in September 2023. Since then, we have held several meetings and have decided on the following changes to church to make it easier and more comfortable for people with disabilities.

We decided to raise funds for glass doors at the side entrance of church with a pressure pad so the door would open when stepped on it, I believe that these changes would benefit both the disabled and the

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church, as it would help keep the church warmer and also people could see what was happening in church and perhaps be encouraged to join us. We also would like to put a lift to the side to the Lady Chapel, which would allow people with disabilities to use the chapel. We would also like to install a further toilet making it easier for people in wheelchairs to use.

We realise that this is going to take time to complete. We have held two coffee mornings raising almost £350; we are hoping to carry this on in the future, with a pie and peas supper with games of bingo. I also really want to arrange some social activities for the disabled and elderly people in church if possible.

I would like to close this with a quote from our policy:- ‘The parish of Hatfield and its PCC are committed to providing an environment which will promote and work towards the full and equal enjoyment of all human rights and freedoms by all people, including those with disabilities, and to promote respect for their inherent dignity.’

Sandra Beadle

Activities of the Parish

While all the sections in this booklet are important, the next reports serve to remind us that God is not to be found solely in the church building, he is present 24/7 in our communities.

Ladies Fellowship and Bible Study Group

Fellowship and Social Group

Our meetings are held on Friday mornings between 10.15 and 12 noon . As a small group of 5 we enjoy the social aspect of the group as well as the friendship. We start with a time of catch-up of the previous weeks’ events and we finish with a cup of tea and cake.

Our bible study for 2023 included discussion of the following people and topics.

Judas Iscariot, Humility, Love your Neighbour, Restoration of Peter, Mary, Muslims, Peace, Trust in God, Ascension to Pentecost and The Lord’s Prayer. We also looked at ‘Creation and our pledge to God’

We try to look for the meaning of the passage we are studying and how the subjects affect our lives in the current day.

My favourite topic was Creation which we covered through reading the passage in the Bible as well as through ‘Godly Play’. This opened up a wide range of opinions from everyone. We talked about poaching and conservation, games reserves, over fishing and the extinction of species.

We also discussed environmental issues e.g. water pollution – accidental or intentional. We agreed that we could not do anything to change the big issues, but we were able to do our bit in our homes and gardens. We are responsible for the wonderful world that God has given to us and however small our actions we should look after it.

A highlight of the year was when Beryl Adamson joined us and performed a service of communion which was really special for us as a group.

Anita Jepson and Susan Spencer

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Annual Garden Party 2023

Many thanks to everyone who helped with or attended and supported our Annual Garden Party held this year on 8th July.

Thank you to all the stallholders, and to many friends for helping to set everything up, and for clearing away afterwards.

The day was most enjoyable and well attended, despite the threat of bad weather eventually forcing our decision towards “Plan B”, and to hold the event entirely within Church again. (The fateful decision was finally taken Friday evening to hold the event in Church because all weather forecasts were predicting thunderstorms and torrential rain for most of Saturday).

The school display was especially good again this year, and still as popular as ever. Many thanks to Helen and her team from Woodhouse Primary, and we hope to see the return of Travis St. Lawrence and other schools next year, as they were unable to attend this year. It was good to welcome the Stephanie Maskill School of Dance to their first attendance at our Garden Party, and the return of the McLeod Academy of Irish Dance; both displays were enjoyed and highly complimented by many. Thanks to the Hatfield Open Mic Performers who stood in for the Markham Main Band who were unable to join us this year due to a clash with their annual Brass Band competitions. Many people commented that they found the atmosphere to be a very friendly one. The afternoon teas were popular – as usual; the children’s games were busy, and the mix of stalls too. Many people enjoyed watching and listening to the performances, others enjoyed a good chat and a catch-up, though this was more difficult in the tightly packed and noisier interior of the church.

The amount taken on the day was £2,201.17; and after deducting all known costs, the profit from the event was just short of £2000, all of which went towards General Church Funds. This is a wonderful amount, and one which was raised entirely within 3 hours!

It is also important to note that the event is not just about being financially successful and raising money, though the additional money raised is necessary to keep our church running. The Garden Party is also one of our major opportunities to meet and interact with the wider community, and it is important that we do this well, and give them something to enjoy and remember, so that they will come and join with us again.

I believe that it can be taken as a tribute to all the hard work and effort put in by all the stallholders, entertainment groups, and helpers, both on the day and in the weeks prior to the event that the Garden Party went according to plan and was so successful.

Once again, a sincere THANK YOU to all who have helped in any way with the organisation and running of any part of the Garden Party. Thank you also to all those who donated prizes or items for the stalls. we couldn’t have done it without you. The final total is entirely due to the kindness and generosity of so many of our church and community members.

It is extremely re-assuring to know that reliable help is available when planning events of this scale, and we are fortunate to have a large and regular team of helpers to call upon.

A good day’s work, helping to ensure our church will still be here in the foreseeable future.

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The committee have taken an early decision to move next year’s Garden Party to the 1[st] week in July to avoid missing out on the Markham Main Brass Band again, who are booked for another regular event in Durham on the 13[th] .

We look forward seeing you all again at the 2024 event – 6[th] July (1[st] Saturday in July).

The Garden Party Committee.

Hatfield Community Library Games Activities

In 2017 our Church had an idea to improve our offer of friendship and fellowship and the Games Cafe was born.

We partnered with the Library ( they the space and warmth } and a simple idea has blossomed into what it is today a thriving hub offering far more than games.

Monday afternoon is Bridge club averaging 10 players ,Tuesday morning is board games and mahjong 16+ regular attenders. Both groups have room for expansion so do come and join us, even if like me you do not play, it is a good place to meet.

Vera

Parish Magazine 2023/24

Our parish magazine would not exist in its present form if there weren’t many regular contributors, collators and distributors, and people who forward it electronically, and offer it to visitors in church. Yes I edit it but I don’t do the other bits, and CERTAINLY couldn’t do it all! So a huge thank you to all of them from everyone who sees it .

It's a bit of a minefield being an editor. Very few people directly comment about the magazine, and I really thank the people who do, but I know those who don’t aren’t complaining! It’s good to know that Uncle Eustace is appreciated, and that I’m forgiven having a mini-rant about unsustainable Christmas presents – let alone all that wrapping paper! But how much do I put in about the war in the Holy Land where there are two sides to it all? Should I comment on the Church of England difficulties with historical abuse? Could I – should I – say anything about fasting in Lent, what will non-church people think? If I put in a challenge such as The Big Plastic Count is it really any of my business? There are lots of decisions, and if I don’t have comments or requests I’m working in the dark!

And then there’s juggling local competition and not clashing! The wonderful Rose at Thorne St Nicholas also uses Parish Pump, a website for church magazine editors, but recently we had the same cover 😯 which made us both smile, we knew how we’d grabbed it gratefully!

I just have to remember that each magazine is on its way to recycling but will be looked at first, so I’m not precious about mistakes. But I also have to remember that it is a window into the church both in Hatfield and the wider world, that it’s a diary check, that it proclaims our beliefs - indirectly at times, that it helps us to pray, it helps us to question, it helps us to share. If there is anything you want to share please write in, a comments page would be really interesting! maghatieldchurch@gmail.com or on the back of an envelope handed into church!

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So keep reading, keep thinking, and praying and sharing, and keep laughing at Uncle Eustace.

Chrissy Grindle, Editor

DN7 Community Foodbank

Another busy year with an increasing number of clients. We have more refugees than ever before causing great hilarity as we try to explain what baked beans , rice pudding and custard are for to non English speakers. We continue to be grateful to our suppliers and most especially for your generosity, our shelves would be bare without you.

Sadly, one of our long-standing volunteers Geof Jones died this year ,he stood outside in all weathers during lockdown greeting our clients and was always a guaranteed non judgemental listening ear, we sorely miss him but are confident he continues to watch over us.

If anyone has a heart for kindness and spare a few hours please come and join us.

Vera Owen

Crafty Women report 2023/24

Crafty Women has completely recovered from lockdowns! We re-started last year as a Bring-Your-Own craft group, and although we generally bring crafts that are do-able while sitting at a table chatting there is a range of beautiful things being created before our eyes. And the conversations are beautiful too! One exciting one from this week was “I’ve been to sewing group and learned how to do a new block” – which was meaningless to many of us, but really important to anyone who understood! Then there was the diagram to help memory for how to do “the block”! Other conversations were regarding the difficulties and patience needed when no longer driving, some good news, health issues for us and loved ones, how to get rid of squirrels – or not, how to survive without a vicar, but we’re not all church people so we didn’t talk about that for long! There are occasionally teary eyes, through sadness as well as laughter, and very much mutual support.

It's not directly an outreach group. In my childhood Bible I had a map of the temple in Jerusalem, and there was a Court of Women in the Inner Courts– which you could enter through the Beautiful Gate of course! But there were Outer Courts with screens through which Gentiles could not enter, one area of which was the Court of Gentiles. I’m not sure whether Crafty Women is in the Court of Women or the Court of Gentiles, metaphorically speaking, but I do know absolutely that God is not in the Most Holy Place when we meet on each first Monday of the month, but is present with us.

Chrissy Grindle

Refreshments in Church

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We really enjoy refreshments in church after a service, especially when it’s not our turn to prepare and clear away! It’s so good to sit and chatter, to catch up with people, to not have to make a drink or get the biscuits out, to not have to do the washing up!

A great many people take turns, they come early and stay late, buy the milk and biscuits and make sure the coffee is ground not beans! They take home the teatowels and wash and return them. We thank them all for their care. We especially thank Coppice School sixth formers who come on Wednesdays as work and general experience. They work hard, and carefully, and certainly add to our conversations, they are a breath of fresh air!

So if you want to join in ask the wardens or Chrissy, it’s never hard work, and after all, if you do the washing up it means you’re really family !

Chrissy Grindle Communications and Administration

Administration is carried out by a number of people and we are so grateful to all of them for their expertise and their faithful service to our church and its community – in particular

We must acknowledge that all this couldn’t be achieved without the support of the Endowment Trust which funds the office and its resources. On this subject there needs to be a special mention to Stuart Watson, who has been a tireless and astute Financial Advisor to this Trust and a faithful friend to Hatfield St Lawrence for so many years. He will be sadly missed and we wish him well as he moves closer to his family.

We have tried to continue with the communication patterns which were created during lockdown, however we do apologise if some of you have not been receiving the information as regularly as you used to. Please do get in touch so we can remedy it. We do want to let you know what’s going on in your church.

Our main means of communicaton are:

All our events, services etc. are published on this and we also share some of them on other community Facebook Pages such as DN7 Community, Hatfield Residents notices….. This page has an Inbox where we receive requests for baptism, weddings, information, help…..

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Please note this has changed to hello@hatieldstlawrencechurch.com

Phone: 01302 350591 – please note that the office isn’t staffed all the time so do leave a message and we’ll get back to you asap. The Parish phone number is 07990449263

Help needed please

The Parish Office is well used but still requires a cleaner. It doesn’t get very dirty so once every 10 days would do the job. Please speak to the churchwardens or Jill if you can help.

The Future:-

God willing, he has got plans for a new incumbent for us in the not too distant future. Please pray for that person, our church and its communities.

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