2023-12-31-accounts

Report and Accounts for the Parochial Church Council of The Church of the Ascension, Bitterne Park

Contents

........................................................................................................................ 1 Trustees’ Annual Report (TAR) 2023
Vision and Values....................................................................................................................................................... 3
Welcome.................................................................................................................................................................... 4
Encountering Jesus.................................................................................................................................................... 5
Sunday Services..................................................................................................................................................... 5
Prayer..................................................................................................................................................................... 5
Life Events.............................................................................................................................................................. 5
Alpha...................................................................................................................................................................... 5
The Rising Generation........................................................................................................................................... 6
EDGE (Every Day God Encounters)........................................................................................................................ 7
Deep community........................................................................................................................................................ 8
Small Groups.......................................................................................................................................................... 8
Social Events.......................................................................................................................................................... 9
Loving mission............................................................................................................................................................ 9
Ascension Running Community............................................................................................................................. 9
Wellbeing Café and Social Prescribing.................................................................................................................. 9
Townhill Christmas Presence.............................................................................................................................. 10
GrACE.................................................................................................................................................................... 10
Market Place and Basic Clothing Bank................................................................................................................ 10
Community Art Group......................................................................................................................................... 11
Personnel................................................................................................................................................................. 11
Facilities.................................................................................................................................................................... 11
Financial Review...................................................................................................................................................... 12
Structure, governance, and management.............................................................................................................. 13
The Parochial Church Council (PCC).................................................................................................................... 13
Attendance and Electoral Roll............................................................................................................................. 13
Southampton Deanery............................................................................................Error! Bookmark not defined.
Safeguarding........................................................................................................................................................ 14
Administrative information..................................................................................................................................... 14

Vision and Values

Vision

To see God's kingdom come to our communities through making and growing whole life followers of Jesus.

Values

We are a warm and welcoming community, rooted in the good news of Jesus Christ, hungering for the in-filling, presence, and empowerment of the Holy Spirit, and seeking to love the world in the name of Jesus. Therefore, we value:

Encountering Jesus

Our highest, greatest privilege and deepest joy is to have a relationship with Jesus. It is this relationship with Him that defines our lives. We are called to be His disciples, follow Him, worship Him, and be shaped by Him. We believe that our lives are changed forever when we encounter Jesus through the Holy Spirit.

Deep community

Church is family where you can find your home. We seek to live generously, practice hospitality, release creativity, and have hearts of compassion. It’s a place where we encourage one another to discover and follow God's call on each of our lives.

Loving mission

God is on a mission to reconcile all things to himself. Together we are called to join him in that mission, creatively and prophetically engaging with our local area, and seeing people come to faith and communities thrive.

Welcome

Welcome to the Annual Report of Ascension Church in Bitterne Park for 2023. I am so grateful for all God is doing in and through the Ascension Church family. I am grateful for the time, gifts and financial support that has been given. For all those who serve on the different teams, from worship, hospitality and welcome, youth and children, small group leaders, and so much more. We would not be able to do what we do without you.

Throughout the past year, we have experienced remarkable growth and development, both spiritually and practically. I want to warmly welcome Luke, our new assistant Children’s and Youth worker. Over the last year, we have continued to see growth in our Children’s and Youth work within our church and local schools. We have seen a notable increase in the number of children and youth actively participating, thanks to initiatives like Scooch, an after-school drop-in, and our collaboration with New Community to support the Christian Union at Bitterne Park Secondary School.

Furthermore, our partnership with the Diocese and the Church Army has established the Edge Hub at the Old Housing Office in Townhill Park. This community space has quickly become a focal point for social interaction and engagement, warmly welcoming all who enter. We eagerly anticipate how God will continue to work through this initiative to bless our community.

I am delighted to introduce Steve Waterton as our new small group coordinator, whose leadership has facilitated the growth and deepening of our small group ministry. Additionally, the establishment of a dedicated prayer team under the leadership of Jacqui Finney and Ginny Balchin signifies our commitment to seeking God’s guidance and wisdom in all that we do.

Our collaboration with Southampton City Mission and other organisations has also flourished, particularly through the Marketplace in Townhill Park and the weekly drop-in café run out of our café in partnership with the local NHS social prescribers’ team. We also continue to take responsibility for the environment seriously and are delighted to announce that we have been awarded the Silver Eco Award. These endeavours reflect our commitment to meeting the practical needs of those in our community and to caring for God’s creation while sharing the love of Christ.

As we look ahead, our vision remains focused on seeing God's kingdom come to our communities through the making and growing of whole-life followers of Jesus. Where we value encountering Jesus, fostering deep community, and engaging in loving mission. With God's guidance, I am confident that we will continue to see His Kingdom flourish in Bitterne Park and beyond.

We will continue to discern God’s guidance and look forward to another exciting year ahead.

I warmly commend this report to you.

Revd Simon Robertson, Vicar

Encountering Jesus

Sunday Services

Throughout 2023 we have continued to gather, in person and online, to worship together. We believe we are changed through these opportunities, whether in praise and sung worship, preaching, prayer or Eucharist, at home or at Ascension, God is at work.

On Sundays, we have continued to offer two distinct services each week. A quieter, more formal, 9.00am Eucharistic service and a 10.45am service which is more informal and contemporary and has specific provisions for children and young people. In addition, we have continued to offer occasional evening services of praise and prayer. Our Edge+ service in Townhill Park met weekly at the start of 2023, moving to fortnightly after the summer. The church family continues to grow steadily across all services, in depth and in numbers.

Prayer

Prayer ministry is an integral part of the life of our Church, and we seek to allow time to pray for one another when we gather to worship. Ginny Balchin and Jacqui Finney have taken on the role of developing and heading up our Prayer Ministry Team at Ascension. We have run four Prayer Ministry Training sessions since November and had the privilege of training 23 people from our congregation. During the 10:45 service members of the Prayer Ministry Team, identified by lanyards, will stand to the sides and offer prayer during ministry time. Please do come forward! We’d love to pray with you!

We have also started monthly prayer walks around the parish. These are normally on the last Sunday of the month, meeting outside Ascension at 7pm. We walk around the parish in small groups of 2 or 3 asking the Holy Spirit to come and welcoming Jesus into our neighbours’ homes, schools, business, medical centres, churches etc. We were recently led in prayer to see this work as digging trenches around the parish for the Holy Spirit to flow and we believe that our prayers are having a meaningful impact on our community! Please do consider praying simple prayers such as ‘ Come Holy Spirit; we welcome You here’ for your neighbours as you walk/drive around where you live and please do join us.

Life Events

There were eight baptisms and one thanksgiving/dedication Service held during 2023. There were two weddings conducted, one renewal of wedding vows , two funerals and one service of thanksgiving in our church, and a further four conducted by our team at a Crematorium. There were five interments of ashes in Ascension’s Garden of Remembrance and one at Holy Saviour, Bitterne.

Alpha

In 2023 we had the joy of running several Alpha courses. These have been a wonderful opportunity for people to meet, build community and relationships, and ask questions about faith. We’ve seen a broad spectrum of backgrounds and had great discussions! With your prayers and support we hope to continue this work in 2024.

Charlie Gibbs, Ordinand

The Rising Generation

During the last year we have continued to see growth, in all areas of Sunday Children’s and Youth work , with around 130 children on the books, making up 36% of our worshiping community. The increase in our youth group has led to the formation of an older youth group both on a Sunday morning and a Weekday evening. It has been exciting to see the kids grow in worship and prayer, engaging with the Sunday morning worship in the main service and their own groups. We are very excited to develop our youth worship band with the aim of seeing young people more actively involved in wider church ministry. As in previous years, the youth begin their time together with breakfast and fellowship, and all the children have a full programme that involves role-play, drama, worship, games, object lessons, a craft. Our heart is to see children and young people grow in their relationship with Jesus, walking in the fullness of his plan for their lives, knowing who He says they are and sharing that faith with those around them.

With the employment of Luke, our Youth and Children’s Assistant, it has been lovely to be able to restart ‘Scooch’, a drop-in for the Bitterne Park Secondary School pupils where we see around 100 students each week and is a wonderful addition to the work in Christian Union at the Secondary school which has been growing rapidly with pupils bringing their non-Christian friends. It has also been a privilege to be invited into the school to speak on different panels at BP Secondary with other religious leaders across the city, enabling young people to ask questions about our faith and views.

We have also enjoyed our continued involvement working together with Highfield, St James in the Park and Community Church to host ‘Youth fest’, both a Winter addition and summer camp for young people across nine different churches across the city. The numbers have continued to grow as well as the anticipation of what God will do.

Our annual Light Party was a great success, with the youth helping to run it. With an ‘underwater’ theme, it was attended by over 250 people. It was great to see so many of the dads in the community getting involved in a tug-of-war! My personal favourite was the nine-foot whale bubble blowing whale that hung from a reverse underwater ceiling display, the shark gauntlet and the underwater cave.

Because children, families, and the wider community are so interconnected, we also try to develop relationships with families. For example, a low-cost wreath-making workshop before Christmas for 90 people was a wonderful opportunity to come together, ‘pause’ and chat and creatively celebrate the festive season. In the next term we are running Parenting workshops which we hope will not only be helpful for our church community but continue to make links with the local community and the various schools work that we engage with.

It was also lovely at Christmas to be present in ‘ Christmas in the Triangle’ running a craft table and chatting to parents and children was a real privilege and it is lovely to see those inter-church relationships deepen.

Jo Szedlak, Children & Youth Worker

EDGE (Every Day God Encounters)

The Church Army Southampton Centre of Mission in Bitterne Park has had an eventful year. We said goodbye to Claire Lingard who left her role of Pioneer Evangelist in early 2023. Ruth Hills continues as the Lead Evangelist and there are plans to advertise for a part time person to work alongside her. Footsteps, the parent and toddler group continues to be very popular. Ruth has stepped out of leading it, to enable her to focus more on the work in Townhill Park. Helen Pain, ably assisted by Emily Marshall continues this vital ministry to the local community. The greatest joy of Footsteps continues to be the overlap between it and EDGE+, the fresh expression emerging in Townhill Park, and the 10.45am service.

At the beginning of 2023 we continued to look for premises in the Townhill Park area. In September we were given access to 121-123 Meggeson Ave. A wonderful team of volunteers have cleaned, fixed, sourced, and painted furniture and fittings and, on 20th Jan 2024, we opened EDGE Hub. We had two very well attended half term events, with craft, games, coffee and cake. It was exciting to see the Hub buzzing with crowds of people having fun. The Hub is open currently four mornings a week as a cafe and we are beginning to hold events, such as community creative events and Wriggle and Rhyme, there to draw in the community. Our hope and prayer is that the Hub will be at the centre of community in Townhill Park, where people of any or no faith background can feel safe, loved and accepted. Your prayers for all the work God is doing are much appreciated.

The Tuesday morning group, EDGE Disciples, is a wonderful small group that meets to grow in faith and understanding of walking with Jesus. There is a hunger to know Jesus and, thanks to Emily looking after the children, we have wonderful meaty discussions about being Jesus' disciples. Since the Hub opened this group, and the evening group, have moved to the Hub. It is fun to be having a lively Bible debate in the corner of the cafe, whilst others-within earshot, go about their business.

Tuesday evening's EDGE meeting is a lovely community, supporting and encouraging one another beautifully; we love our time together. We have been watching The Chosen together and have had some interesting discussions as we see the Bible fleshed out for them. Working out our faith together in amongst the complicated messiness of life is challenging, but as part of a community is so much more fun.

EDGE+ continues to meet on Sunday afternoons. We meet fortnightly now, rather than weekly, as we await the new person in post. We average around 35-40 people, including children. We have games and craft each time we meet, with a Jesus story and a meal together. This continues at Townhill Park Community Centre, as the Hub is sadly not suitable for the Sunday meetings. It is a joy to hear children ask their parents "Is it EDGE this week? Oh, why not?!!!" We do hope to return to meeting weekly in the coming year.

EDGE Parent Support Group, at the Family Hub (SureStart as it was) in Townhill Park, cooperation with the local council, ran for two terms, with local mums as volunteers. Whilst we had a couple of regular mums, it never really took off and this group has been reinvented as Wriggle and Rhyme at the EDGE Hub.

This summer we were particularly aware how many families were not able to go away, so we decided to hold a two-day Summer Fun event on the Green. We had loads of cake, thanks to all who donated, drinks, craft, very silly games and, best of all, a pop-up farm with pigs, sheep and a pony. Families came, with picnics, for the whole time and we were blessed with no rain!

Ruth Hills, Lead Evangelist

Deep community

Newcomers

We have had the pleasure of welcoming 73 new people this year who have joined us here at Ascension. This has been across the whole breadth of our community, from the 9:00 service to Edge+, in our youth and children’s groups, and our 10:45 congregation. To celebrate this, we have held two Newcomer Meals over 2023 – a wonderful opportunity to share a meal with and get to know new members of our community. We are delighted with how Jesus is bringing people to us, and we would love to see this continue.

Small Groups

Steve Waterton joined the team in April of 2023 as our Small Group Co-Ordinator, working to develop our small groups and support our small group leaders here at Ascension. Since that time, we have clarified the purpose of small groups and produced a five-point document to describe what we are aiming at (available on our website).

We have gathered small group leaders together each term to envision them in their role and to give some helpful training- providing assistance with both resource materials to use in groups and the pastoral care of group members. There has also been a consistent effort to encourage our congregation to seriously consider joining a group despite the many pressures in life that we all struggle with. Behind the scenes we are constantly looking for potential new leaders and hosts and working on the process of the formation of new groups. We have updated our website which is a work in progress and we continue to pray and to strive towards a discipleship culture at Ascension which is primarily worked out in our small group structure. We have nine small groups, two of which are daytime and the others meeting on Tuesdays, Wednesday and Thursday evenings respectively. Encouragingly two of these groups were new for 2023 and are already at capacity. We are planning to launch two or three new groups in 2024.

For those of you reading this report and not part of a small group may I take the opportunity to encourage you to consider getting involved. It is in small groups that people can get close enough to know each other, to care and share, to challenge and support, to confide and confess, to forgive and be forgiven, to laugh and to weep together, to be accountable to each other, to watch over each other and to grow together. Personal growth does not happen in isolation. It is the result of interactive relationships. Small groups are God’s gift to foster changes in character and spiritual growth and God’s gift to you as you identify with His church here in Bitterne Park.

Steve Waterton, Small Group Co-ordinator

Our Seniors Group came to a close in November 2023 after being faithfully run by Barbara Winsborough and team for three years. Over 2023 the group continued to meet every other month on a Saturday afternoon. Chris started each afternoon with twenty minutes of Armchair Keep Fit to music, followed by tea, cake and time to chat. During tea, Jennifer Bunn sold photographic cards in aid of Macmillan Cancer Support. After tea the group continued with a talk, music or quiz and a variety of interesting subjects and entertainment were arranged throughout year. The Ascension Staff Team would like to extend our thanks to Barbara and all the ladies who supplied and served the tea and cake and to all who helped make this group such a success. If you feel called to support or lead our Seniors Ministry here at Ascension, please do get in touch – we would love to hear from you.

Ladies group continues to meet on most 1[st] and 3[rd] Friday afternoons in the cafe area at Ascension where we enjoy a mix of talks, quizzes, craft and social events. We continue our charitable fundraising and in 2023 after a talk from an Anna Chaplain we raised £300 to help Caraway in their work with older people in Southampton. Next year we will be celebrating 50 years as a group and as well as having original and longstanding members continue to warmly welcome new ladies to join us.

Frances Samphire

Social Events

We have enjoyed running social events again this year – creating opportunities for the whole church family to unite socially or worship together creatively. We celebrated the Kings Coronation weekend with Pimm’s and Cake on the Saturday and a Church Picnic on the Sunday, we held a Volunteer’s Thank You BBQ, baked potato Sundays and, of course, our Christmas Party! All of which were well attended and a wonderful opportunity to spend time together. With the help of our Youth, we also held a very successful Quiz and Chips Charity Night, raising £330 for World Vision. As well as socialising together, we also worshiped together at special services, a particular highlight being our stripped back Maundy Thursday service and Meal, where we reflected on Jesus’ last supper as we worshiped and ate together. If you would like to get involved in helping out at events such as these in the future, please do get in touch with the office.

Loving mission

Ascension Running Community

The Ascension Running Community continues to offer a weekly 5km community social #RunAndTalk activity as well as a term-time Friday morning ‘School Run’ - a gentle run in Riverside Park followed by coffee at Woodmill café. Our focus remains promoting mental health and wellbeing through running together. Often people open up more easily while running - sharing what’s going on in their lives, which enables supportive relationships to grow as well as opportunities to signpost to further help where appropriate. Our activities also offer the safety of running with others on dark winter evenings, the company of a friendly community and the physical activity itself (with physical and mental health benefits). This year we hope to develop an activity to support young people during their exams – encouraging them to take a break from revision and to get physically active for the benefits this brings (improving concentration, reducing stress, improving sleep etc).

Anna Gordon, Run Leader

Wellbeing Café and Social Prescribing

In May 2023, with the arrival of the warmer weather, we saw the natural end of our weekly "warm spaces" Wellbeing Café, a welcoming space where anyone from the community was able to come and relax, chat, and have a free drink and something to eat. In its place we now host a drop in café each Tuesday afternoon, in partnership with the NHS Social Prescribers from Living Well Practice. This is a wonderful opportunity to meet people, build community and access other healthcare services for wider needs. We'd love to see more people getting involved, attending, and considering serving as part of the team at this amazing outreach opportunity!

Charlie Gibbs, Ordinand

Townhill Christmas Presence

Over Christmas, we again ran the Townhill Christmas Presence – a fun filled day in Townhill where families, identified as being most in need, were invited to share a meal, enjoy some festive crafts and, most importantly, pick out and wrap some gifts for members of their family to be given on Christmas Day. Through the amazing generosity of our congregation, this project saw over 100 gifts donated and £2000 received in cash donations to be spent on gifts for the project. Through this project 80 families had gifts they would otherwise not have been able to afford. The 'shop' was so well stocked Lorna and Ruth went door knocking around the area on the day, inviting other families to join us; their joy and incredulity at the invitation was a delight to see. "That's exactly what my daughter wanted...and I could never have afforded it." one mum was heard to exclaim.

Ruth Hills, Lead Evangelist

GrACE

GrACE (Greening Ascension’s Community and Environment Steering Group) is championing moves to enable our Church - as an organisation, and individual members - become more aware of our carbon footprint and seek to reduce it. This is a response to climate change (the Church of England has set the goal of being carbon neutral by 2030) and an effort to live in ways that are kinder to God’s wonderful creation.

Last year, thanks to the church leadership and management, we achieved our aim to get the Silver Eco Church award, and this year seek to embed all the gains that have been made into our Church life and encourage church members to live more simply. We also look forward to new ventures to celebrate God’s creation and take care of it as He would like us to. Keep an eye on our Facebook page (accessed via the GrACE page on our website)

Helen Pain, GrACE Group Co-ordinator

Market Place and Basic Clothing Bank

We continue to partner with Southampton City Mission and others to run the Market Place initiative from the community centre in Townhill Park. The aim of the Market Place is to offer “choice and dignity through a personal selection of discounted, quality, fresh, refrigerated, and frozen food products to supplement people’s weekly shopping.” They are also intended to be small, welcoming communities offering all the health and wellbeing benefits of regular contact with a supportive network of peers and friends. Additional support is offered by having regular visits and workshops by other charities and agencies such as Social Prescribers, Debt Advice and Mental Health nurses.

We also continue to provide a venue for the weekly Basic Clothing Bank . Numbers continue to be high, due to the ongoing cost of living crisis. This year we clothed 2,168 people, up from 1,906 in 2022. Clients continue to be from mixed backgrounds: single parents, couples, families, unemployed, refugee, homeless, retired, part-time, and full-time workers; those referred in because of a tragic life event, because of addiction or mental health struggles and those who are just not coping financially in the current climate. We continue to have regular clothing donations, which allows us to ensure there is a wide selection of clothing available for the clients. As always, it continues to be a privilege to operate this free service and welcome people into the space with dignity, respect and warmth.

We continue to collect food donations to pass on as well.

Peter Goodall, Associate Minister

Community Art Group

We continue to host to a Community Art Group in our building. Membership in the group remains stable as those leaving are replaced by those on the waiting list. It was gratifying to see the funds we raised a couple of years back being spent on refurbishing and equipping the new EDGE Hub, run by our attached Church Army member and team at Townhill Park. This year’s Hampshire Open Studios Exhibition will run from 17[th] to 25[th] August, and we intend to use the proceeds of painting sales etc to support cancer treatment/ research this time round. We thank the PCC for allowing us to hire the main hall of the church for our regular meetings and also as the venue for our annual exhibition.

Dave Hewett , Painting Tutor Jenny Hewett, LLM

Personnel

2023 saw some changes to the staff team. We said goodbye to Claire Lingard who left her role as Pioneer Evangelist at the beginning of the year. We also said goodbye to Ann Devereux who left in May to finish her training at another local parish. We are grateful to both Ann and Claire for their time with us here at Ascension. In May, we had the joy of welcoming Luke Shutler to the Ascension Staff Team. Luke joins us as our Assistant Youth and Kids Worker and brings with him a wealth of enthusiasm and experience working with young people – we look forward to how this new role helps to shape our ever-growing ministry for the rising generation. Following his Discipleship Year, Charlie Gibbs officially joined the Ascension Team in September as an Ordinand.

Both Lorna and Marc have continued their curacy training with us this year. Revd Peter Goodall continues to serve as our Associate Minister with us part-time, and Simon continues to lead us as the vicar alongside his shared role of Joint Area Dean.

As ever, our staff here at Ascension are supported by those who serve on teams, without which we would be unable to carry out even a fraction of what we do. We would like to take this opportunity to thank every member of our congregation who serves with us here at Ascension.

Facilities

The ongoing care of our building has continued to be a priority this year as we work through our annual building maintenance schedule. We also continue to address the areas of one-off maintenance highlighted in our latest Quinquennial Report, including updating our lightning protection system, replacing areas of church flooring and removing vegetation which was causing damage to the fabric of the church. Looking ahead to next year, we are planning major repair works to our flat roofs and some of our internal walls.

Lizi Fewtrell, Operations Co-ordinator

Financial Review

2023 has been a good and stable year for us financially. We have seen a steady increase in regularly giving which is wonderful and has allowed us to expand our work. Income from hall hirings has also increased during 2023. We still own and rent out the house at 25 Lacon Close, and this also provides a good income. Our medium-long term investments have increased in value by around 10% recovering majority of the loss seen in 2022.

Expenditure was in line with our planned budget and the Parish has met all of its routine commitments including salaries, and the Diocesan Common Mission fund.

I’d like to thank the staff team for being prudent with their expenditure and generally keeping to the agreed budget.

Reserves policy

It is PCC policy to maintain reserves equivalent to three months’ running costs at £27,000.

It is our policy to invest the short-term investment fund balances with the CCLA Church of England Deposit Fund, and the remainder in the CCLA Church of England Investment Fund.

Tim Nutt: Treasurer

Structure, governance, and management

The Parochial Church Council (PCC)

The Parochial Church Council (PCC) is a corporate body established by the Church of England. The PCC operates under the Parochial Church Council Powers Measure and is a Registered Charity. The PCC members are responsible for making decisions on all matters of general concern and importance to the parish including deciding on how the funds of the PCC are to be spent. The full PCC met in person 9 times during 2023.

At the APCM, Andy Gordon and Loz Foskett agreed to continue in their roles as Church Wardens and were duly appointed. Tim Nutt agreed to continue in his role as treasurer and was duly appointed. There were three PCC members who stepped down after completing their terms of service: Christoph Szedlak, Jackie Cooper and Helen Pain.

The elections of their replacements were conducted as set out in the Church Representation Rules and Becca Bartlett, Kevin Reynolds and Nneka Igiri were all appointed to the PCC.

We would like to thank all who served on the PCC during 2023. For full details of the current PCC please see back page.

Attendance and Electoral Roll

The average weekly attendance , at Ascension, counted during October, was 112 adults and 51 children at our Ascension Services, and 21 adults and 19 children at our EDGE+ service. We continue to offer a live YouTube broadcast of our 10:45 service, with an average of 33 views per week during the same period.

All those who attend our services are encouraged to register on the Electoral Roll to enable them to vote for the PCC membership and to stand for election themselves. The electoral roll has been prepared in accordance Church of England rules. During 2022-2023, we had 3 members leave the roll and we have received 11 new enrolments. Therefore, at the APCM on 23rd April 2023 the number on the electoral roll was declared at 113.

Frances Samphire stepped down from her role as Electoral Roll Officer at the 2023 APCM. Anna Gordon has agreed to take on the management of the Electoral Roll within her role as Parish Administrator.

Safeguarding

The Safeguarding of children and vulnerable adults continues to be a priority at Ascension. We have continued to comply with section 5 of the Safeguarding and Clergy Disciplinary Measure 2016 (duty to have due regard to the House of Bishops' guidance on safeguarding children and vulnerable adults).

Over 2023 we have continued to work through the Parish Safeguarding Dashboard to ensure that we are compliant with all safeguarding regulations and best practice.

Becca Bartlett agreed to take on the role of Safeguarding Officer and was duly appointed.

Any Safeguarding concerns can be reported to [e-mail]

Administrative information

The Church of the Ascension is on Thorold Road, Bitterne Park, Southampton SO18 1HZ. It is part of the Diocese of Winchester within the Church of England.

The correspondence address is

The Parish Office, Ascension Centre, 1 Thorold Road, Bitterne Park, Southampton SO18 1HZ.

We continue to Bank with National Westminster Bank, and our Independent Examiner is Jonathan Marchant.

Registered charity number 1128861

PCC members for April 2023 – April 2024:

Chair Revd. Simon Robertson Church Wardens Andy Gordon, Loz Foskett Secretary Lizi Fewtrell Treasurer Tim Nutt Deanery Synod Sam Nichols

Other Members

Revd. Marc Allez, Revd. Lorna Allez, Peter Goodall, Becca Bartlett, Rosemary Haughton, Nneka Igiri, Kevin Reynolds, Sunke Trace-Kleeberg and Alex Walker.

Ex Officio - Ruth Hills (Licensed Lay Worker)

Approved by the PCC 18/03/2024. Signed on their behalf by Simon Robertson

Bitterne Park Parish Statement of Assets and Liabilities As at: 31 December 2023

	As at 31/12/2023 As at 31/12/2022 £ £	As at 31/12/2023 As at 31/12/2022 £ £
Current assets Cash at bank and in hand	29,054.49 45,364.83 2,773.06 17,557.53 971,157.59 886,978.83 1,002,985.14 949,901.19 952,583.47 903,336.02
CBF Church of England Deposit Fund
CBF Church of England Investment Fund at valuation
Net current assets less current liabilities
Unrestricted
Unrestricted - General fund
Represented by Designated Designated - Garden of Remembrance Designated - Tithe Restricted Restricted - Running Club Restricted - Lift Maintenance Restricted - Hardship Fund Total Designated and Restricted Funds Funds of the church	39,051.37 36,115.00 7,350.53 7,350.53 1,341.85 1,341.85 1,500.00 1,500.00 1,157.92 257.79
	50,401.67 46,565.17 1,002,985.14 949,901.19
Total Income Total Expenditure	£169,522 £155,452 £200,568 £179,383

Approved:

April 2024

Bitterne Park Parish Receipts and payments Selected period: 01 January 2023 to 31 December 2023

From To			01-Jan-23 01-Jan-22 31-Dec-23 31-Dec-22
General fund (Unrestricted) Income Donations and Gift Aid Alms Freewill Offerings Gift Aid Total Donations and Gift Aid Other trading activities Hirings Takings Lacon Rent Easter Lilies Total Other trading activities Investments Dividends Total Investments Other income Events External Funding Fees Wreath Making The Christmas Presence (TCP) Youth & kids subs Youth Weekend Miscellaneous Refunds Staff Leaving Gift Total Other income Total income Expenditure Building Cleaning Electricity Fire Protection Gas Insurance Maintenance, fixtures and fittings Parish Phone/Broadband Refuse Water General			2,936 2,204 78,983 72,611 16,345 12,504
			98,264 87,319 13606 12,426 0 227 14400 - 119 -
			28,125 12,653 25,715 25,754
			25,715 25,754 2,684 2,613 - 2,829 4,575 5,365 1,710 - 2,650 - 1,718 1,980 - -100 - 140 - 103
			15,317 10,950
			167,422 136,682 8,097 6,034 7,289 3,052 474 560 10,594 4,538 5,536 5,322 9,322 11,226 932 899 865 802 1,297 1,914

Marketing Bank Charges Children and Youth Community Engagement Deanery Synod Fees Equipment Events Social Events Outreach GRACE Group Hospitality IT Operations Leader's Lunch Licences Music Office expenses Real Easter Eggs Sanctuary Stripe Charges Students The Christmas Presence (TCP) Worship Team Expenses Youth Weekend Staffing Administrator Costs Children & Youth Worker Costs Curates' expenses Distribution of external funding Hire Deposit return Discretionary fund Assistant Youth Worker Costs Ops Co-ordinator costs Ordinands' expenses Outreach worker's expenses Payroll Costs Staff training Vicar's expenses Diocese Common Mission Fund (CMF) Fees CEMES scheme expenses Total expenditure Excess of Income over Expenditure Brought forward balance Transfers to/(from) Total carried forward balance of Remembrance (Designated) Fund Income Freewill Offerings Dividends Total income			699 514 364 260 6,765 - 1,216 934 75 - 1,221 8,179 1,598 1,963 2,145 1,336 38 50 1,224 1,431 3,616 4,699 284 - 1,153 1,442 170 290 2,068 2,455 58 - 405 3,508 439 - 115 637 2,284 1,490 1,012 403 1,906 - 12,612 11,743 28,379 - 1,179 2,889 - 1,825 - 240 355 692 12,706 - 16,438 8,964 0 45 3,281 2,486 512 237 1,125 1,646 707 389 44,664 38,628 2,419 2,074 - 57
			197,637 135,868
			-30,215 814 51,312 74,398 -1,360 -23,900
			19,735 51,312 — - 1,046 1,040
			1,046 1,040

Garden of Remembrance (Designated) Fund

Expenditure

Gardening 1,427 Total expenditure 1,427 Excess of Income over Expenditure -381 Brought forward balance 1,161 Total carried forward balance 781 Family & Children Worker (Designated) Fund - Merged in General Fund for 2023 Income Takings - Events - Refunds - Total income Expenditure Children and families - Courses and training - Equipment & Books - Events Social - Children & Youth Worker Costs - Light Party - Total expenditure - Excess of Income over Expenditure - Brought forward balance - Transfers to/(from) - Total carried forward balance — Hardship Fund (Restricted) Income Freewill Offerings 125 New Wine Support 849 Total income 974 Expenditure General Support 432 New Wine Support 1002 Distribution of external funding - Electricity - Maintenance, fixtures and fittings - Total expenditure 1,434 Excess of Income over Expenditure -460 Brought forward balance 258 Transfers to/(from) 1360 Total carried forward balance 1158	1,427	1,427		1,170
	1,427			1,170
	-381 1,161			-130 1,291
	781			1,161 2,628 1,562 83
	- - - - - -			4,273 4,127 100 190 2,602 27,175 -
	- - - -			34,194
				-29,922 — 29,922
	— 125 849			— 199 -
	974			199 - - 678 100 100
	432 1002 - - -
	1,434			878
	-460 258 1360			-678 875 60
	1158			257

Charities

Tithe (Designated) Fund

Expenditure

Charities Total expenditure Excess of Income over Expenditure Brought forward balance Total carried forward balance lose (Designated) Fund - Merged into General Fund for 2023 Income Rent Total income Total expenditure Excess of Income over Expenditure Brought forward balance Transfers to/(from) Total carried forward balance d - Lift Maintenance (Restricted) Fund Income Donations and legacies Freewill Offerings Total income Excess of Income over Expenditure Brought forward balance Total carried forward balance ion Running Club (Restricted) Fund Income Takings Total income Expenditure Courses and training Equipment Events Outreach Salaries Total expenditure Excess of Income over Expenditure Brought forward balance	-	-	3,000
	-		—
	- 7,350		-3,000 10,350
	7,350 -		7,350 13,200
	-		13,200
	— - - -		—
			13,200 - -13,200
	— —		— -
	—		-
	— 1,500		- 1,500
	1,500 80		1,500 57
	80 - 80 - -		57 1,169 189 9 2,901
	80		4,270
	0 1,341		-4212 5,554

Lacon Close (Designated) Fund - Merged into General Fund for 2023

Lift-Fund - Lift Maintenance (Restricted) Fund

Ascension Running Club (Restricted) Fund

Total carried forward balance

1,341 1,341

There may be minor discrepancies in the totals if the pence are not being shown