ADVENT The Par15h Ou St Birinus fcovert th 2nd July *J• SIMaty5 Tr ds E￿s*u￿￿, &J ThÈLhurth congwllyon Satuvday 18Alatth2OIY ILD Isco )n song 51 Marfs & St Leonar¢fs Wallingford open fo God, open ro all un ilys Ing￿.￿¥ Wallingford Parochial Church Council uborM￿< S￿laY t%thll•¥ 6:sopm, fjtmory,: Annual Report & Financial Statements 2023 ## **Table of Contents** **1. Aim and Purpose ............................................................................................................................................................. 3 2. Objectives and Activities .................................................................................................................................................. 3 3. Financial Review .............................................................................................................................................................. 4** 3.1 Financial Summary ..................................................................................................................................................................... 4 3.2 Reserves Policy .......................................................................................................................................................................... 4 3.3 Grant making policy ................................................................................................................................................................... 4 3.4 Stewardship ............................................................................................................................................................................... 5 **4. Churchwardens’ Report ................................................................................................................................................... 5 5. Report from Parish Safeguarding Officer ........................................................................................................................... 6 6. PCC Vision Groups & Sub Committees .............................................................................................................................. 6** 6.1 Worship & Spirituality Group .................................................................................................................................................... 7 6.2 Outreach & Nurture Group ........................................................................................................................................................ 8 6.3 Social Responsibility Group ..................................................................................................................................................... 10 6.4 Standing Committee ................................................................................................................................................................ 10 6.5 Communication Group ............................................................................................................................................................ 12 6.6 Choir ......................................................................................................................................................................................... 13 6.7 Bellringers ................................................................................................................................................................................ 13 **7. Cherishing God’s Earth ................................................................................................................................................... 14 9. Plans for the Future ........................................................................................................................................................ 14 10. Structure, Governance & Management ......................................................................................................................... 15 11. Administrative Information .......................................................................................................................................... 15 12. Wallingford Team Ministry ........................................................................................................................................... 16 13. Wallingford Deanery Synod........................................................................................................................................... 17 14. Annual Financial Statements ......................................................................................................................................... 19 15. Independent Examiner’s Report .................................................................................................................................... 28** Wallingford Parish Annual Report and Financial Statements 2023 - Registered Charity No. 1129240 2 ## 1. Aim and Purpose The Parochial Church Council (PCC) of St Mary-le-More’s (St Mary’s) and St Leonard’s has the responsibility of cooperating with the incumbent to promote the whole mission of the Church, pastoral, evangelistic, social and ecumenical. As a parish, we aim to become a living and loving example of Jesus Christ in our community, to be **open to God, open to all** . The PCC is also specifically responsible for the maintenance of St Mary’s Church and St Leonard’s Church. ## 2. Objectives and Activities The PCC is committed to enabling as many people as possible to worship at our churches (in-person or online) and to become part of our parish community. Our services and worship put faith into practice through prayer and scripture, music and sacrament whilst our outreach activities strive to look beyond ourselves to share the love of Christ as we serve and connect with the community. When planning our activities and priorities for the coming years in 2017, we identified three main priorities, which we have continued to progress: - Development of our provision of worship, taking into account people’s busy lives and their requirements for alternative forms of worship - Development of ways to encourage local residents to be part of our church, whilst nurturing our current congregation. - Development of the role of a Children and Families Worker to further attract, support and encourage young people to be lifelong Christians. To deliver these priorities, the PCC has a number of Vision Groups and sub-groups: **----- Start of picture text -----**
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In addition: • the responsibilities of the **Standing Committee** include finance, buildings and stewardship, • the **Choir Committee** focuses on the musical aspects of our worship, and • a **Communication** stream runs through all groups. These sub-groups meet independently and report back to the PCC when the council meets. A new focus in 2019 involved ‘ **Cherishing God’s Earth’** and is inspiring us to think about how we can express our care for God’s world in our lives and through our worship and teaching, buildings and land, our local community engagement and our personal lifestyle choices. This mission aspect of our church continues to run through all our vision groups and resulted in our churches being given an **Eco Church Silver Award** by the A Rocha foundation in 2020. Our parish offers many services and activities to reach out to as many people as possible. Services normally include two Eucharist services every Sunday and another on Thursday mornings; sung or choral Evensong on Sunday evenings and a monthly Family Service. In addition, online Morning Prayer is via Zoom from Mondays to Fridays and on Wednesday evenings we have a Prayer with the Heart service for contemplative prayer and reflection, also via Zoom; this service was introduced during Covid when inperson attendance was difficult, but it has proved so popular we have kept it in this format. See Section 6.1 for more details on our worship. Wallingford Parish Annual Report and Financial Statements 2023 - Registered Charity No. 1129240 3 Activities include a robed choir (both adults and juniors), a music group, Emmaus and Bible Study groups, bellringing and various children’s activities (Children’s Church, JAM - Jesus and Me; Tiny Toes Toddlers’ group and Baby Singing) as well as social groups such as The Fellowship, and coffee mornings twice a week. The hiring of St Mary’s helps to make the church a vibrant focus of life in the town. The ability to remove the chairs in the church allows it to be a very flexible space and our diverse hirers in 2023 included the Country Market and Local Producers’ Market, monthly meetings for U3A and The Wallingford Historical and Archaeological Society as well as weekly choir rehearsals, for an additional two choirs to our own, and several concerts and recitals. It is also used as a Polling Station when requested. We aim to keep St Mary’s open daily for both parishioners and visitors, for anyone who wants to find peace at the heart of bustling, everyday life; a place for quiet contemplation and prayer as well as enabling an understanding of the church building in the history of the area. Finally, we provide two buildings, where life events such as weddings and baptisms are celebrated with joy and thanksgiving, and funerals with respect and compassion, allowing us to give thanks for the loved one, time to reflect and think, and to entrust him or her into God’s care. In 2023 there were 158 parishioners on the Church Electoral Roll. We celebrated 9 baptisms, five weddings and one Wedding Blessing. Thirteen funerals were held in our two churches during the year; in addition, our parish clergy officiated at a further funeral at a crematorium. The PCC has complied with the duty under section 5 of the Safeguarding and Clergy Discipline Measure 2016, fully recognising its duty to have due regard to House of Bishops' guidance on safeguarding children and vulnerable adults. See section 5 for a report from our Parish Safeguarding Officer. The PCC has considered the Charity Commission’s guidance on public benefit and works to provide a welcoming atmosphere and suitable facilities for all people. St Mary’s, in particular, is available for wider community use and during the year is normally used by several groups unconnected with the church; further details of activities for the public benefit are given throughout this report. ## 3. Financial Review ## 3.1 Financial Summary As a church we lived within our means during 2023, with income slightly exceeding expenditure. Giving by standing order, envelopes and plate collections was down by about 5% on 2022, but coffee sales are now established back at pre-pandemic levels, and income from church lettings - helped considerably by the Winter Recitals series of concerts - is higher than it has ever been. The sharp rise in utility costs due to the war in Ukraine caught up with us as our fixed price arrangement for electricity and gas is adjusted every September: the cost of heating and lighting our churches was three times higher in 2023 than in previous years. We have also had to start a programme of roof repairs (evidenced by the appearance of scaffolding on a number of occasions) which will continue for a few years. We have weathered the storm of pandemic, interregnum, high utility bills, and roof repairs in relatively good shape. However, we do need to address the decline in giving and the fact that the first phase of the roof repairs has used up a great deal of our reserves, so now that the interregnum is over a new stewardship campaign will be considered for 2024. I am very grateful for the support I receive from Jenny Harden and Judith Pengilley: without their help and encouragement it would not be possible for me to look after our church finances. ## 3.2 Reserves Policy It is the policy of the Wallingford PCC to maintain as a reserve approximately three months of general running costs (amounting to £30,000) plus a further amount as contingency for quinquennial and other works arising. The target level for this contingency is £90,000 giving a total target for reserves of £120,000. ## 3.3 Grant making policy The total of donations made by the PCC, plus collections taken at special services (including Christmas, Easter, Harvest), should approach 10% of the PCC's unrestricted income. The management of this giving is delegated to the Social Responsibility Group. The current practice is to support at least one UK charity and one overseas charity. One of the charities must be Christian based. Collections for emergency disaster appeals and one-off charities are agreed by the PCC. In 2023 due to reduced income and increased costs in other areas we were not able to achieve quite the level of giving set out in the policy (about 7.5% rather than 10%). Wallingford Parish Annual Report and Financial Statements 2023 - Registered Charity No. 1129240 4 _Stephen Harrison PCC Treasurer_ ## 3.4 Stewardship There was no stewardship campaign during the year. ## 4. Churchwardens’ Report This past year of the interregnum was a time of ups and downs; great challenges and great joys. Through it all, we have enjoyed support and encouragement and there is also a sense of having moved forward as a Team rather than standing still and waiting for a new incumbent. Much of our time has been spent in planning for the appointment of our new Team Rector. The writing of the Team Profile was a collaborative affair, the first meeting to draw up this document took place in January and was well attended by all the parishes and interested parties from our local community . We “ brain-stormed” our ideas and then also worked on the “ Person Specification” and “ Draft Advertisement”. Following a number of formal meetings we had all 3 documents drawn up for approval by the Diocese. A small team with excellent IT skills did a great job of making the Team Profile look exciting and interesting. A large amount of Emma’s time has been taken up with planning and preparing our worship. This has included ensuring we have an officiant in place to lead our worship week-in-week out. It has also involved working with the officiant and Director of Music in preparing the orders of service for various times and seasons of the year such as Advent, Lent and Holy Week – and for a second year round! We would like to record our sincere and heartfelt thanks to the Team Vicar, and to the retired clergy in our benefice, licensed lay ministers, visiting diocesan representatives and lay members who have been taking our weekly services **.** The retired clergy have also covered for weddings, funerals and baptisms. Our Verger has been assisting at funerals and weddings. It required two rounds of advertisements before we were able to interview, and then appoint, Revd. Sarah Nesbitt following a unanimous decision by the 10 people on the interview panel. We would like to record our thanks to the members of the PCC for all their help, good ideas and general enthusiasm as we have navigated our way through the interregnum. There are 3 sub committees: Worship and Spirituality, Outreach and Nurture and Social Responsibility. Please take a look at their reports to see all that has been happening in the last year. We have 2 Deanery Synod Reps keeping us in touch with all that is going on in the wider church locally, and also a member of our congregation who serves on the General Synod. We are grateful for those that do so many unseen activities in serving our church and community: those who take communion to Rush Court, those who visit members of our congregation at home and those who keep an eye on each other through our parish network group leaders. ”The Fellowship” group meets monthly; they have enjoyed talks on a wide range of interesting subjects. As well as learning, the group provides a social time with delicious tea and cakes in the home of one of our parishioners. Our 4 Service Wardens check that everyone and everything is in place at the start and end of each service. We have 2 sacristans who keep things in order at St. Leonard’s, preparing for the services and locking up the church. We have 2 volunteers who manage the health and safety checks and another who arranges the bi-annual checks of our electrical equipment, emergency lighting and fire extinguishers. In addition there have been those who have diligently planned our rotas and co-ordinated our volunteers to help as readers, intercessors, sidespeople, welcomers, sacristans, sound desk and livestream operators, cake and coffee makers and servers/“washer uppers”, brass, linen and general cleaners, flower arrangers, money counters, DIY fixers, and more …. Please forgive us if we have missed any activities out - there is always so much going on to make our church life run smoothly ! We are so grateful to all who offer to help in any practical way but also to those who pray for us ; this too is an important part of how we live out our faith and our mission day by day. We’re grateful to the small team who has led and sustained our Morning Prayer during this interregnum and for those who lead and attend Prayer with the Heart. Our Safeguarding Officer has overseen everything to do with training, safer recruitment and any safeguarding concerns. She works closely with the Diocesan Team to ensure that we remain committed to safeguarding children, young people and vulnerable adults to worship and grow in Christ safely. Assisting her is our DBS administrator. Our Children and Families Worker moved on to pastures new in the summer and so we have needed the help of more volunteers to continue to offer JAM (Jesus And Me - Children’s Church),Tiny Toes, Baby singing and the craft activities before the family services. All activities have continued and are a vital part of our role within the church but also the local community and we very much hope to build on these foundations in the future. Our Director of Music and the choir have had a successful year with a visit to Coventry in the summer but also with outreach activities involving children from our local schools who have performed in concerts at St. Mary’s. Christmas is always a highlight of the year for the choir, and this year was no exception; they had a hectic schedule of carol concerts in church and in the community. As well as their special activities, they share the joy of music at all our regular services together with the band at our Family Services. We are blessed indeed to have such a rich musical heritage and we thank all those in the choir who help enhance our worship with music and singing and those who play instruments in the band. Emma has been very grateful for the ongoing help, support and wisdom offered by our Director of Music in planning and preparing for our services. Wallingford Parish Annual Report and Financial Statements 2023 - Registered Charity No. 1129240 5 Our accounts have been monitored by our PCC Treasurer who has given sound advice and guidance on all our finances. Our Treasurer’s Assistant gives invaluable support by managing the week to week handling and banking of money, and much more besides. With our Treasurer’s advice we have taken some big decisions on how to spend our financial resources this year, of particular importance as we have embarked on some major building work. Emma has been overseeing the repair work of our ancient buildings during the interregnum; it has been challenging and time consuming but we are making progress. The Friends of St Mary’s & St Leonard’s have been a constant source of support financially for the upkeep and work required on our ancient buildings. After many years of dedication and hard work the chairman and secretary have retired and others stepped up. We are enormously grateful to those who give of their time in this way. Our PCC secretary is our “go-to person” concerning the day to day church diary. She’s had a busy year with paperwork, meeting organisation, minute taking, IT installation (we have Wi-Fi now), managing the church rentals, communications, and much more ….not to mention the Christmas Tree festival which took a lot of planning but brought many smiling faces through our doors. The Rectory has been visited weekly during the vacancy and is now being let to new tenants so responsibility has now passed back to the Diocese. The Bellringers have had a busy year with extra ringing for the Coronation, as well as the regular bells that we love to hear before our Sunday services. So it’s been a year of “pulling together “ and now we hope we have firm foundations on which to build and grow. One of our volunteers described her service to us all as “a privilege”. We echo her sentiment and look forward with joyful anticipation to the year ahead. _Jacquie Hughes & Emma Cross Churchwardens_ ## 5. Report from Parish Safeguarding Officer Linda Hull has been in the role of Parish Safeguarding Officer (PSO) since June 2022. In order to fulfil the role effectively, she has completed a range of training included basic, foundation and leadership training, as well as PSO induction training and modules on both safer recruitment and domestic abuse. Safeguarding is a standing item on PCC agendas, and at each meeting Linda provides an updated Action Plan taken from the Parish Safeguarding Dashboard. The PCC continues to comply with the duty under section 5 of the Safeguarding and clergy discipline measure 2016 (duty to have due regard to House of Bishops guidance on safeguarding children and vulnerable adults) and to ensure both policy and practice are set in line with the most recent guidance from the Church of England and Diocese of Oxford. **Safeguarding Policy, Guidance and Information** : Our Parish Safeguarding Policy is reviewed annually following the Annual Parochial Church Meeting (APCM) and is in line with Promoting a Safer Church. This year we have also reviewed our procedures in response to allegations or concerns. We make good use of materials provided both by the Diocese and by the Church of England in ensuring our Safeguarding procedures are appropriate. We are working on collating information on the Parish Safeguarding Hub provided by the Diocese, which will ensure that records are kept in a consistent and accessible format and can be reviewed as necessary. This year has seen a significant amount of safeguarding training amongst our volunteers; for example, all PCC members are required to complete basic and foundation level training, as are those working closely with children or vulnerable adults. For most other roles within the church, basic training is appropriate. Online training is accessible to anyone who may be interested via the Church of England Safeguarding Training Portal and can be completed at your own convenience. **Safer Recruitment and People Management** : We have made considerable progress with this area of work over the year, with volunteer role descriptions, a wider set of activity risk assessments and procedures which are followed for new appointments, both paid and voluntary, such as the taking up of references. Again, ensuring the correct training is in place for volunteers is crucial and ongoing, along with ensuring appropriate checks are in place for all new appointments. Emma Cross (Churchwarden) and Linda have completed the Safer Recruitment training pathway and have worked together, particularly since Hannah Smith moved on from her role as Children and Families worker, to ensure that all activities running for children and young people are run in line with safeguarding requirements. A range of concerns and queries have been raised to the PSO, with advice and support sought from the Diocese as required. On occasions it is simply a matter of checking guidance on the Diocesan website, such as to ensure an appropriate format for risk assessment is being used. However, where a safeguarding concern is raised/shared, it is expected that advice will be sought directly from the Diocesan Safeguarding Team, and it is for them to discern whether further action is needed. For example, we have ensured that appropriate information is clearly displayed in church for people to access if they are concerned about the safety and wellbeing of a member of the public, as we know that people will visit a church in times of distress and when they need assistance. _Linda Hull Parish Safeguarding Officer_ ## 6. PCC Vision Groups & Sub Committees Wallingford Parish Annual Report and Financial Statements 2023 - Registered Charity No. 1129240 6 ## 6.1 Worship & Spirituality Group We began the year with planning and preparing for Lent and Easter. Due to being in vacancy, the group decided that it was best to follow the Diocese of Oxford’s _Come and See_ Lent material – and that in doing so it would bring a sense of newness as we had not followed _Come and See_ in this way before. This initiative focused on the Beatitudes; a guide for living a Christian life given by Jesus during his Sermon on the Mount. The _Come and See: the Beatitudes_ leaders guide was used as a basis for the weekly group meetings held on a Monday evening via Zoom. Each session included time for reading the Beatitudes and then learning, sharing, and reflecting on them, alongside watching a film by Bishop Steven. The weekly session was well attended and run by Emma Cross and Gavin Wood. Hannah Smith and Janine Bailey created an ‘all-age’ Beatitudes prayer trail in St Mary’s to accompany our _Come and See: the Beatitudes_ journey. The trail had a number of stations, each of which was designed to engage with one of the Beatitudes through prayer but also through offering a reflection on what it might mean to our lives today. As part of _Come and See: the Beatitudes_ , a ‘Stations of the Beatitudes’ service was held in St Mary’s. This involved journeying together around each of the Beatitudes stations and stopping to meditate at each station. At each station, there was a scripture reading, a reflection and a concluding prayer. This service was designed and led by Emma. Despite being in vacancy, we were able to follow our normal pattern of worship throughout Lent and Eastertide thanks to Christopher Evans, John Hutchinson, Chris Tuckett and Kevin Beer. Emma, the priests (officiants) and Judith Ward worked together to produce the service booklets for Holy Week. John Hutchinson wrote some beautiful reflections for our Good Friday Final Hour service based on Archbishop Stephen Cottrell’s 2023 Lent and Holy Week book entitled _Godforsaken: The Cross - The Greatest Hope of All._ During ordinary time, the Worship and Spirituality group returned its focus on what it could do to progress its vision: _‘We enable people to be the best they can be in God’_ . Despite being in vacancy, the group felt it was important to consider one of the ambitions of our vision: The offer of ‘personal discipleship plans’. We invited the Revd Tina Molyneux, who was the then Diocesan Head of Discipleship and Social Justice, to a special meeting to inform us more about what personal discipleship plans were about and how we could offer it to our parish, given that we were in vacancy. Gavin Wood created a plan for this and promoted the initiative in September, including a display board in St Mary’s. We have subsequently decided to put this initiative on hold, as we did not get a huge response, and due to the continued vacancy. We used our special order of service for the Season of Creation in September to reflect how we live our lives and the choices we can make to continue to ‘Cherish God’s Earth’. We also created a ‘Creationtide’ display in St Mary’s sharing information about this year’s theme of “Let Justice and Peace Flow”. During Kingdom Season in November, we supported the running of various services, including the All Souls service. At a subsequent meeting, we discussed how fitting, reflective and spiritually uplifting the Remembrance Sunday liturgical performance of Tudor music was. Thank you to John Hutchinson, Judith Ward and the choir for all their work in their careful uniting of worship and music. We also supported the development of our new Family Service ‘Heroes of Faith’ theme which started in September. Thank you to Christopher Evans and Linda Hull who led and supported this act of worship following Hannah’s departure, alongside others, including Jean and David Simmons. Our attention then focused on Advent and Christmas; our second of the vacancy. We selected the Archbishop of York's Advent book, _Stick with Love_ by Arun Arora. Janine Bailey, Charlie Brampton and Emma Cross designed the _‘Way of Love’_ Advent course which was held in St Mary’s on a Wednesday evening. This involved a reflection from Stick with Love before spending some time reflecting and discussing it, followed by a short period of silent prayer, and closing with Compline. We were able to follow our normal pattern of worship in Advent and Christmas with many thanks to Christopher Evans, John Hutchinson, Chris Tuckett and lay minsters and lay members of our church. We were very kindly supported by Archdeacon David Tyler and Bishop Gavin who took our Eucharist at Midnight and Christmas Day. Emma, the officiants, and Judith Ward worked together to produce the Advent Carols, Nine lessons and Carols and the Crib service booklets. The Longest Night service was kindly prepared and lead by Luke Whitcomb who involved a number of members of our congregation in reading and leading prayer. It was a joy and delight to witness the church bursting at the seams at our two Crib services, led by Gavin Wood. Throughout the vacancy, Morning Prayer has been sustained thanks to the faithfulness of Clare Stephenson and those who attend this church office via Zoom. The leadership of Prayer with the Heart is now being carried out by Janine Bailey and Charlie Brampton. The weekly Prayer with Heart on zoom is being sustained, however, a break has been taken from the monthly Prayer with the Heart Vigil service in St Leonard’s. Wallingford Parish Annual Report and Financial Statements 2023 - Registered Charity No. 1129240 7 The following table explains our service provision: |**St Leonard’s**|Every Sunday|08:00|Holy Communion (Book of Common Prayer)| |---|---|---|---| |||18:30|Sung or Choral Evensong (Book of Common Prayer)| ||4thSaturday|20;00|Prayer with the Heart Vigil| |**St Mary’s**|2ndSunday|10:15|Family Service, preceded by crafts at 09:45| |||11:30|Said Communion (Common Worship)| ||All other Sundays|10:00|Parish Communion (Common Worship)
with Children’s Church JAM(Jesus & Me)| ||Every Thursday|11:00|Holy Communion (Common Worship)| |**Zoom**|Every morning (Mon - Fri)|08:30|Morning Prayer (Common Worship)| ||Every Wednesday|20:00|Prayer with the Heart| _Emma Cross On behalf of the Worship and Spirituality group_ ## 6.2 Outreach & Nurture Group ## 6.2.1 Outreach & Nurture Group – General The group were very conscious that our activities in 2023 would be influenced by the fact that we were in a vacancy. It was clear that both our outreach to the wider community and the nurture of our parishioners would be more critical than normal. We considered the diagram on the right, which had been introduced to us by Revd Charles Chadwick, Parish Development Advisor for Oxford Diocese. The circles illustrate how close people are to church activities and services and how frequently they attend church; those in the outer circles attend rarely (e.g. marriages, funerals, Easter & Christmas) whilst those in the centre are regular attendees. We considered the question: **How can we encourage/help people to move towards the centre?** With these two thoughts as backdrop, we looked at how we could respond better to life’s big moments: baptisms, marriages and funerals. Some initiatives were implemented in 2023, whilst others await our new Team Rector for further discussion. We now provide Godparents with a special Godparent’s card at baptisms and invite wedding couples to special services (such as Easter and Christmas) and the reading of their Banns as well as send them a wedding day card. Small steps but which may lead to something. An Afternoon Tea for Newcomers was held in April, which was appreciated by all; we believe it helps them both to feel part of our community and also to integrate and build relationships. We also linked in to the Town Council to understand events that were being planned and to work out how we could interface to these events. We created presentations for their “Reduce, Reuse and Recycle” and “Wallingford for All” initiatives early in the year. In addition we helped to organise the Curfew Bell Celebration in July, when the bell ringers and the choir also played key roles. We felt it was important to hold more team events than normal, to support each other during the interregnum, and therefore organised a Team Picnic with Evensong in June and a Team Pilgrimage in July. The latter was led by Revd Kevin Beer, Team Vicar, and followed the St Birinus Way from Blewbury to Dorchester; it was a very enjoyable occasion, despite the very wet weather! The day trip in August, to support the choir singing Evensong at Coventry, was also very enjoyable, and also quite wet! As always, it was very special. _Team Picnic – July 2023_ Wallingford Parish Annual Report and Financial Statements 2023 - Registered Charity No. 1129240 8 The big event for the year, was the “Christmas Tree Festival with a difference”. Instead of real trees, we took the environmentally friendlier option of using cones made from stiff paper and invited diverse groups to decorate them. There were some very imaginative entries and some very positive comments from people who came to see them. Groups who decorated the cones covered a wide range from nursery schools and Brownies to care homes including shops, local associations, choir, bell ringers, a charity etc. As well as the launch of the festival on the town’s Christmas shopping day, we also organised a Story Time For Children, Carols For Care Home Residents and an informal, cabaret-style concert.Thanks to Judith Ward, our Director of Music for organising the concert for us. With the Worship and Spirituality group, we created a Nativity Trail around the windowsills of St Mary’s during Advent. The Tree of Remembering, where people can hang a star on the tree to remember a loved one, seemed more successful in its new position just outside the clergy vestry, particularly on the day of the town event. The Festival was a catalyst for a large number of people (adults and children) to enter the Church. Although the whole group participated in making this event such a success in the planning and execution, special thanks must go to Jane Anderson for the initial idea and her creativity throughout. To encourage fellowship after the services, mulled wine was served after the three carol services (Advent Carols, Nine Lessons & Carols and Epiphany Carols), which was very well received. This year, the group took on a new responsibility, Caring for Carers in the Community, run by Val Wolsey. This group, which meets monthly, had been funded by Wallingford Medical Practice. However when the practice decided they wished to withdraw, the group was taken under the umbrella of the Outreach and Nurture group. Carers Oxfordshire speak very highly of the group, which provides a valued service to the community. I would like to record my thanks to the other members of the group and also thanks to those beyond the group who support this vital aspect of our church life. _Wendy L Muggeridge On behalf of the Outreach & Worship Group_ ## 6.2.2 Children and Families Hannah Smith, our Children and Families Worker, left our parish at the very start of September, to take up a new post as the Children and Families Ministry Leader for the churches in Thame and Towersey. This report outlines some of the Children and Families ministry we have enabled to happen as a parish before and after Hannah’s departure, and during this period of continued vacancy. - Hannah visited St Nicholas’ school to carry out assemblies. Following Hannah’s departure, this sadly was not something that we could enable. We are grateful to Linda Hull and Jane Evans for their work in continuing important links as Foundation Governors. - The vacancy gave Hannah the opportunity to lead our Family Services on theme of the parables. This included preparing the service booklets and talk for each of the Family Services. - During Lent, Hannah worked with the PCC Outreach and Nurture group to plan and prepare an all-age _Come and See: the beatitudes_ prayer trail in St Mary’s. Hannah also incorporated the _Come and See: the beatitudes_ family resources into Jesus and Me (JAM). - Mothering Sunday involved our local Brownie group helping us make posies and these were distributed during our Mothering Sunday Family Service, which was also led by Hannah. - Tiny Toes, our toddler group, enjoyed an Easter party in church, with a treasure hunt, themed games and an Easter story gift, together with invitations to our Easter activities in church. - In the summer, we ran our annual children and families Wildlife Discovery event at St Leonard’s. Once again, it involved a nature trail, discovery stations and craft activities working alongside Wild about Wallingford. - Craft activities were available to children and families who visited as part of the Curfew Bell event and for the Bunkfest weekend thanks to Hannah, the Outreach and Nurture group and volunteers. - We started this year’s ‘Heroes of Faith’ themed Family Services in September. We invited children to dress-up as superheroes, and extended the invitation to those families of children that have been baptised. - We decided to continue reaching out to our children and families through a monthly newsletter, Hannah produced one weekly. The new monthly newsletter was timed to be issued just before our Family Service. - We have been able to continue JAM thanks to offers of support Hannah had put in place before she left. We are very grateful to the continued support of members of our congregation – you are all stars! - Following Hannah’s departure, we were able to secure a volunteer to help continue our important outreach into our local community through Tiny Toes toddler group. Baby Singing continued too. Wallingford Parish Annual Report and Financial Statements 2023 - Registered Charity No. 1129240 9 - We enjoyed celebrating Christingle, and supporting the Children’s Society, as part of our light themed December Family Service. We enjoyed the larger than life Christingle! - The Outreach and Nurture group involved children and families craft activities into our Christmas Tree Festival with the support of volunteers. - This year we reverted to offering two crib services, as the church was very full last year – as it was this year too. Thanks to the team who made this happen. After prayer and reflection, we decided not to backfill Hannah’s role. This wasn’t an easy decision. However, we only have around 18 months of funding left in the children and families worker’s budget. A reminder that this role was funded through a generous gift. We felt that any new appointment must involve our new incumbent. Also, that we as a church must be clear about what it is that we want to achieve with the remaining months of funding. It goes without saying that it has been a challenging year due to the continued vacancy and Hannah’s departure. Despite this, we have been able to continue to engage with children and families through our love of God, giving of our time and talents and strengthening of our network of volunteers. I have opted not to put many names into this report because I simply do not wish to miss anyone. It is also because there have been so many who have enabled our children and families work throughout the last year. Through doing so, we have given children and families within our church, local community and schools the opportunity to connect their story with God's story, and in some way growing them in faith as disciples of Jesus Christ. Emma Cross _On behalf of Children and Families work._ ## 6.3 Social Responsibility Group The Social Responsibility Group aims to raise awareness of social and justice concerns and to link these with our charitable giving. Our chief concern this year has been to respond to international emergencies while also supporting local Oxfordshire charities, particularly those known personally to us. We are always open to suggestions and recommendations from members of the congregation. Our two nominated charities supported by the PCC were Sue Ryder (our local Hospice) and the Sharp Memorial School for the Blind in India (with whom Jeanette Sharp has a special connection). Both charities keep us updated on their work. Pat Griffiths took the lead in coordinating collections for Christian Aid Week and arranged for a speaker at the Morning Service in St Mary’s. Pat also organized envelopes to be available in the churches for two weeks in November to raise money for Christian Aid’s Middle East Crisis Appeal. Charlie Hughes has agreed to relieve her of this responsibility from now on. We are all grateful for the very many years that Pat has fulfilled this role and for her enthusiasm and dedication. Our group has organised special collections throughout the year in aid of the UNHCR, Prison Phoenix Trust, Children on the Edge, British Ukraine Aid, The Gatehouse, Cruse Bereavement Support, Amnesty International, Wallingford Emergency Food Bank, Style Acre, See Saw and the Red Cross Emergencies Appeal. We held cake sales for Fair Trade week and at Harvest Festival and were grateful for the many and delicious home-made cakes contributed. We welcomed a speaker from the Prison Phoenix Trust and had hoped that Hannah Smith, our former Children and Families Worker, might be able to come and talk about The Gatehouse where she used to work, but unfortunately her new job keeps her busy every Sunday. In total £9,453.44 was donated to charitable causes in 2023, including £3,000 from the PCC for our nominated charities. This does not include donations made directly to charities by members of the congregation via their websites. The card reader at the back of the church makes it easier for those who come to church without cash to contribute to the special collections. We are also endeavouring now to give direct to charities by bank transfer and so do away with the more complicated process of issuing cheques. A Christmas food collection for the Food Bank was carried out during November so that the needy could be given their Christmas goods in time for Christmas, and our annual ‘Reverse Advent Calendar’ collected more “day-to-day” supplies during Advent for delivery in early January. Thanks to Gavin Wood for organising these, and other collections, throughout the year. We are very grateful for the work of Philippa Bomford who has now retired from the Committee. I am glad to be helped in my role by Jacquie and Charlie Hughes, Jo O’Reilly (who kindly looked after the bank transfers of the Christmas collections) and Pat Griffiths. _Elizabeth Gordon On behalf of the Social Responsibility group_ ## 6.4 Standing Committee ## 6.4.1 Fabric Wallingford Parish Annual Report and Financial Statements 2023 - Registered Charity No. 1129240 10 ## 6.4.1.1 General A great deal of 2023 saw the Standing Committee, Emma Cross in particular, progressing a significant project to deliver priority actions from the 2021 Quinquennial Inspections (QIs) of the two churches by our Architect, Henry Sanders of Hestia Architects. The QIs raised concerns about the condition of the leadwork on the roofs of both churches. At St Mary’s, this has caused water ingress into the nave and the aisles, at several locations, as well as falling plaster from height. Water ingress was also occurring in the west end of St Leonard's. Also identified in the QI for St Mary's was the condition of the tower roof timber beams. As part of the QI actions for St Mary’s, and as communicated in the 2022 APCM report, a structural engineer completed an inspection in August 2022, following a competitive tender process. This included a detailed inspection of the tower roof which determined that it was in poor condition, with decaying beams due to water ingress. He recommended and designed a ‘prop’ to be installed just above the steel frame supporting some of the bells. The prop design is such that it will not support the beam currently, only in the case of the beam moving or collapsing. In this event the prop and steel frame would support the failed beam. All these actions were of high priority for us to address, and required careful thinking, planning and consideration. As communicated in the 2022 APCM, our architect had just completed the initial design phase to scope the potential roof repairs at St Mary’s – again in response to the 2021 QI actions. Early in 2023, we moved into Stage 3 of the project; the technical design. This involved our architect managing a tender process for the work required; the tender was sent to five companies, of which one returned a proposal. Due to this we had to re-tender, which led to a delay of 4-6 weeks. The architect reviewed the proposals and gave his recommendation, and the PCC Standing Committee did the same – especially given the lessons learnt from previous building work. After this review and following up of the references, and some intelligence gathering concerning the financial firmness of the company, the PCC approved the project and the choice of contractor, Warren & Neale Roofing & Conservation Ltd. This was all completed by late summer. However, following the receipt of the tender we did not have sufficient funds to carry out all the programmed works. The PCC Standing Committee decided to split the project into two phases. Phase 1 of the project will include, in summary, St Mary’s tower roof, south aisle roof and internal boarding plus St Leonard’s roof abutment. Phase 2 of the project will include St Mary’s north aisle roof. Phase 1 will impact on our reserves, despite receiving a generous donation from The Friends of St Mary’s & St Leonard’s. We will need to apply for grants to help us progress Phase 2. The contract for Phase 1 of this work was signed in October and the roof prop was installed in November. The roof works were due to start in October, but there was a problem with the lead supply chain, and a new start date of January 2024 was agreed. List B faculty approvals from the Archdeacon of Dorchester for the work to be carried out were obtained. Dealing and achieving all of this during a continued vacancy has been very challenging for many reasons, especially when the PCC Standing Committee members were carrying additional responsibilities. ## 6.4.1.2 St Leonard’s Despite having had its annual service during the summer, the boiler failed to start in the autumn, this was fixed by the heating engineer. SODC, who are responsible for maintaining the churchyard and perimeter walls, have repaired the gate to the churchyard, which had come off its hinges, and have cut back some trees, including the one that was cutting into the corner of the Apse. We are waiting for them to come back and prune the cherry tree and to cut back some trees which are impacting a neighbour of the churchyard. Members of The Wallingford Green Gym continue to visit the churchyard twice a year to maintain the churchyard. We are also grateful to the St Mary’s churchyard working group who supplement their work when appropriate and to Wallingford Town Council who maintain the grassed areas. ## 6.4.1.3 St Mary’s As reported in the 2022 Annual Report, the structural engineer also considered the condition of the chancel due to the ongoing failing plaster issue from the purlins. His recommendation was to complete monitoring using tilt meters to understand the reason for the movement in the purlins. Receiving a quote from structural engineers for the tilt meters became a very projected exercise, which resulted in us making a complaint to the company. With the allocation of a new structural engineer, we were advised to go with a “live with it” situation. This is where we allow the building to move and for the purlins to slide in and out of the wall, depending on the season or weather conditions, without the fear of falling plaster. The feasibility of this “live with it” option was subject to a high-level inspection to examine the condition of the purlins. Our architect advised us to incorporate this work into our contract with Warren and Neale. In the meantime, we had to deal with a chancel that was out of action to the choir due to the risk of failing plaster. So we employed a contactor to make the purlins safe through removing further plaster until we had awarded the contract for the leadwork. Again, dealing and achieving all of this during a continued vacancy has been very challenging. This work also required List B faculty approvals from the Archdeacon. Due to historic water ingress, we also suffered a failure of plaster at height in the kitchen area just before a Sunday morning service. Thankfully, nobody was injured and we immediately closed the kitchen area. We had to employ a contractor to remove further plaster to make safe and be able to re-open the kitchen. The area will be re-plastered once the leadwork in the south aisle is ## Wallingford Parish Annual Report and Financial Statements 2023 - Registered Charity No. 1129240 11 completed. It took us some time to organise and secure a professional as we do not have a builder on our books. It was this contractor who removed further plaster from the chancel. The following tasks were also actioned: - Service of the boiler - Failure of boiler - Failure of downlights in the south side of the nave - Failure of motion detector in accessible toilet - Problem with emergency lighting - Handle attached to the wall in the accessible toilet came away from the wall In addition, the following situations were raised with SODC, who are responsible for maintaining the churchyard and perimeter walls: - west wall of the churchyard - north pathway, including one of the ground level memorial stones which is cracked and broken. - concern with the gate in the churchyard, which was swinging into the road; SODC subsequently installed a stopper to prevent this We are grateful to the St Mary’s churchyard working group who do so much to care for and maintain the churchyard throughout the year – including both the north and south areas of the church ## 6.4.2 Health & Safety (H & S) Regular weekly checks are being carried out by Helen Swan in St Mary’s and Andrew Harvey in St Leonard’s. These cover floors, stairs, carpets - looking for anything in poor condition, trip hazards etc. A more detailed check takes place once a month to include fire extinguishers and paths and steps outside. Every three months a general check of the whole of both building takes place, including all plugs and sockets, as well as a review of the accident book. Annual fire extinguishers and PAT testing of both churches took place and 6-monthly maintenance of fire alarm and emergency lighting was carried out. Thanks to Charlie Hughes for leading on this, and also dealing with any of the remedial works required. The emergency evacuation procedures were tested via 6-monthly fire drills. We had 2 thefts in St Mary’s, both from the Clergy Vestry. _Emma Cross On behalf of the Standing Committee_ ## 6.5 Communication Group The new team website www.wallingfordcofe.org.uk , covering all three parishes in the Team (Crowmarsh Gifford and Brightwell cum Sotwell as well as Wallingford), was successfully launched towards the end of 2022; it is modern & dynamic, and designed to meet the needs of locals, visitors and newcomers alike. It is used to good effect to promote upcoming services and events as well as a source of information for congregation, newcomers and visitors to find out more about what we offer. Thanks to Jane Anderson for designing and creating this website. The distribution list for the Weekly News email continues to grow and it is now sent to over 290 email addresses every week. This email details the services and events for the coming week and beyond. A handful of paper copies are made available at both churches for those who do not have access to the internet. Following the successful introduction of livestreaming Sunday services and Funeral services as well as Zoom functions for some of our hirers, broadband was installed in St Mary’s to provide a more consistent service and to allow us the possibility of further developing what we offer via this technology. The livestreamed Sunday morning service at St Mary’s still attracts a number of regular viewers and is a vital link to the church for these members of our parish and beyond. We also ran Zoom sessions for TWHAS (The Wallingford Historical and Archaeological Society) monthly meetings, thus allowing people at home to join the presentation being held in St Mary’s. Posters, flyers and invitations were produced throughout the year promoting special services and events, and articles were published in local magazines when appropriate. Thanks to an early start in our planning for Advent and Christmas (see Section 6.2.1 Outreach & Nurture Group), we were able to give those who attended our All Souls service, at the end of October, invitations to The Longest Night service and the Tree of Remembering. Our social media platform (Facebook) continues to be used to communicate latest news and promote special services and events; and the TV screen near the door in St Mary’s provides visitors and congregation alike a glimpse at our diverse services and activities. Wallingford Parish Annual Report and Financial Statements 2023 - Registered Charity No. 1129240 12 Unfortunately, despite extensive testing, the connectivity problems at St Leonard’s remain and it is therefore very unlikely that we will be able to livestream any services from there until we have broadband installed. _Wendy L Muggeridge On behalf of the Communications Group_ ## 6.6 Choir With the parish spending all of 2023 in a vacancy, a feature of this year has been working with different clergy from both within and outside the parish. The Director of Music and the choir are very grateful to all of them for maintaining the opportunity for us to continue to enjoy making music for the parish. More frequent team services have brought more trips to the other churches within the team, which have also given us the opportunity to be accompanied by Tom Blackburn, the organist at Crowmarsh. The major focus for the early part of the year was the performance of _Captain Noah and his Floating Zoo_ by Michael Flanders and Joseph Horowitz. This was a wonderful collaboration between the Wallingford Parish Junior Church Choir and the choirs of St John’s Primary School, Fir Tree Junior School, and St Nicholas Infant School. Thanks to the hard work of the school staff and our own Linda Hull the whole team put on a fantastic show, involving 60 children, complete with stage set and choreography. Older junior choir members also played an important supporting role, as did Pete Orton in providing extra accompaniment. Thanks also go to the choir committee for their support, including managing a far larger audience than we were ready for! The church was completely packed, and we raised £289.15 for the Wallingford Food Bank. Meanwhile, the senior choir prepared for a Good Friday performance of _The Passion of Christ_ by Arthur Somervell. This rather neglected work features choruses, solos and hymns for the congregation. Soloists from the choir were joined by Robin Barry as the Evangelist and Andrew Darke as Jesus. We were accompanied by Sue Huntingford-Ledger on the piano. Summer brought a new event to the town – the celebration of the Curfew Bell. The choir were requested to sing a song to bless the bell, in words written by one of the organisers, Jason Debney, to a new arrangement of the medieval tune “Orientis partibus”. This was all part of a pageant including a new Mummers’ play and brass fanfare, complete with blessing from Archdeacon David Tyler. It was all such a success that next year’s event is already in the diary! The choir’s summer tour took them to Coventry Cathedral, a new venue for many of them. With Introits as well as the usual Evensong and Eucharist music to prepare, there was plenty to challenge the choir and they more than rose to the occasion, drawing these comments from clergy and congregation: “great sound”, “could hear every word of the psalms – the mark of a good choir”, “great to hear light and shade”, “choir is stupendous” and “please come again!” We were accompanied by Mathias Herbst and were joined by his wife, Heike, plus a couple of extra singers in the tenor and bass line. There were a good number of juniors too, several of whom had never done a cathedral weekend before. They did us proud. Overall, there was a lovely family feel to the weekend, which included a fun evening at the Cosy Club – many thanks to Cath Lidbetter for organising this. A highlight of the autumn was a wedding at which we shared the music-making with a certain Howard Goodall, who happened to be a family friend of the groom. We were treated to a live performance of _Loving Kindness: an Eastern Blessing_ for soprano, cello and organ, which was very special. Following the success of last year’s liturgical performance of the _Requiem_ by Fauré, on Remembrance Sunday the choir sang a Tudor Service of Remembrance combining music from the Mass for Four Voices by William Byrd with settings of parts of the Burial Service from the 1549 Book of Common Prayer. While marking the 400[th] anniversary of the death of William Byrd, our aim was to draw attention to how the religious divisions and resulting oppressions of his time are still present in many parts of the world today. Grateful thanks go to John Hutchinson for his enthusiasm, sensitivity and wisdom in helping to put this service together. The Advent and Christmas Season brought the usual round of carol services, which brought the choir some new music and were very well-received. The juniors, helped by a couple of seniors, performed in the Christmas Tree Festival Showcase concert, joined again by the St John’s School choir. Numbers for carol-singing were stronger this year, helped by some congregation members whom we were delighted to have joining us. We were blessed to have the Archdeacon at Midnight Mass and Bishop Gavin on Christmas morning, wrapping up the year of visiting clergy in style, and we look forward to the arrival of our new Rector, Sarah, in March 2024. _Judith Ward Director of Music_ ## 6.7 Bellringers Wallingford Parish Annual Report and Financial Statements 2023 - Registered Charity No. 1129240 13 We have had a good year, maintaining the ringing for all services and extra ringing requested. Numbers have remained strong. We have had three new ringers start with us, one starting to learn to ring from scratch, two others joining us having learnt to ring elsewhere and now living in Wallingford. Numbers at practice nights have been generally high with the chance now to do at least some ringing on 10 bells on most Thursdays. Good progress has been made by our “learners”. At the time of writing this report, we have rung 5 quarter peals during the past year. One of these was for the coronation, an occasion also marked by general ringing at which every member of the band (including learners who were just starting to handle a bell) had the chance to ring. A quarter peal was also rung on the occasion of the town’s celebration of the curfew bell in July. We were delighted that the tower has now been declared safe for peal attempts. By the time of the APCM, there will have been at least one attempt at a full peal and we hope to be able to restart peal attempts on a regular basis (after Covid and also safety concerns for the tower). A successful outing in Hampshire involving a number of ringers from our tower ,as well as a number from elsewhere, took place last summer and everyone was very grateful to Karen for making all the arrangements. We also entered a band for the Branch 6- bell striking competition and were placed a very creditable 4[th] . All the ringers are very grateful to the PCC for their support in funding all the required maintenance to keep the ringing going. _Chris Tuckett Tower Captain_ ## 7. Cherishing God’s Earth We have had a quiet year with Cherishing God’s Earth due to the continued vacancy and my time commitment and role in this, along with the significant building works. I have very much enjoyed being your Cherishing God’s Earth champion. During the season of Creationtide, I communicated that it was my intention to step down from this leadership role in view of my capacity. Nobody has stepped forward as yet but I am grateful to the person who offered their support. I have not been in a position to take forward this offer of support due to the continued vacanacy. As you will read throughout this report, we have managed to make some small but positive contributions to Cherishing God’s earth through our PCC vision groups. These have included the following: - Working with Wild about Wallingford to organise the nature discovery trail for children and families in St Leonard’s churchyard. - Celebrating the Season of Creationtide through worship and prayer. - Making our Christmas Tree festival as a green as possible _Emma Cross Cherishing God’s Earth Lead_ ## 9. Plans for the Future Our main aims for 2024 and beyond include the following: - **Welcome the Team Rector** – following the Church of England’s recruitment process during 2023, Revd Sarah Nesbitt was appointed as the new Team Rector for the Wallingford Team. She will be licensed on 6 March 2024 to start her ministry in the benefice. - **Safeguarding** – we will continue to raise the profile of Safeguarding within our community, ensuring that volunteers for activities with children and vulnerable adults have the training required and developing our use of the Parish Safeguarding Hub to record information consistently. - **Safeguarding –** Prof Helen King, who in her work on General Synod has taken a particular interest in safeguarding, will be talking at both the 10:00 and 18:30 services on 4th February. - **St Mary’s -** Carry out Phase 1 of the lead replacement project and continue to apply for grants for Phase 2. - **St Mary’s –** As the boiler is c. 20 years old and therefore nearing the end of its life, we hope to pick up the report done by the Building Services Engineer in 2022 and progress it with the Diocesan Advisory Committee (DAC). - **St Leonard’s –** Appoint a Structural Engineer to review cracks in the Apse. - **General** – hold a Stewardship campaign to address the issue of declining giving and the need to increase our reserves - embed a monitoring and maintenance schedule - develop a long-term strategy for our buildings i.e. 5-20+ years - work with SODC to resolve some maintenance issues associated with boundary walls and gravestones - **Lent** – it is anticipated that a Lent study group will be run, in-person and/or online via Zoom. Wallingford Parish Annual Report and Financial Statements 2023 - Registered Charity No. 1129240 14 - **Choir Tour** – the choir will be visiting Salisbury Cathedral and St Albans in May and August respectively. It is anticipated that at least one parish outing will be organised for parishioners to attend a service. - **Communication -** we hope to investigate the possibility of further developing the use of our broadband. - **Outreach & Nurture -** A programme of events will be planned, including a Newcomers’ Morning Coffee or Afternoon Tea to welcome new residents. Also, following the success of mulled wine after the carol services, we hope to plan a program of food and drink events for the congregation throughout the year, starting with a Pancake Breakfast just before Pancake Day! ## 10. Structure, Governance & Management The method of appointment of PCC members is set out in the Church Representation Rules. Membership of the Wallingford PCC consists of the Incumbent (Team Rector) when appointed, two Churchwardens, Deanery Synod representatives, one Licensed Lay Minister plus lay members elected by those who are on the Electoral Roll of the church. All those who attend our services are encouraged to register on the Electoral Roll and stand for election to the PCC. Election to the PCC is for a three-year term, although immediate re-election is possible. We are permitted 12 lay members on the PCC, governed by the number of people on the Electoral Roll. Churchwardens are elected annually and serve for a maximum of six consecutive years. Re-election is possible after at least one year’s break. Deanery Synod representatives are elected every three years, according to a schedule set by the Diocese of Oxford and governed by the number of people on the electoral roll in the year preceding the elections. The next date for elections will be at the APCM in 2026. Based on the number of people on our electoral roll in 2022, we are entitled to 4 representatives. The members of Wallingford PCC are trustees of the charity and, as such, responsible for making decisions on all matters of general concern and importance to the parish as well as managing the parish’s finances. The PCC met five times during 2023, via a mixture of Zoom videoconferencing and in-person. Given its wide responsibilities, the PCC has a number of committees and groups, detailed earlier in the report, each dealing with a particular aspect of parish life. These committees and groups are responsible to the PCC and report back to it regularly with recommendations of their decisions when appropriate, for approval by the PCC. ## 11. Administrative Information The Parish of St Mary-le-More and St Leonard is situated in Wallingford, Oxfordshire. The churches are, together with those in Crowmarsh Gifford and Brightwell-cum-Sotwell, part of the benefice of Wallingford, which is within the Wallingford Deanery in the Diocese of Oxford within the Church of England. Wallingford PCC registered as a charity on 21 April 2009. The details are: Charity Name : The Parochial Church Council of the Ecclesiastical Parish of St Mary-le-more and All Hallows with St Leonard & St Peter, Wallingford Noted Working Name: Wallingford Parochial Church Council Registered Charity No.: 1129240 Charity Address: 30 Castle Street, Wallingford, Oxfordshire OX10 8DL Bankers: Lloyds plc., Market Place, Didcot, OX11 7LQ Independent Examiner: Caroline Webster. UHY Ross Brooke Suite I, Windrush Court, Abingdon Business Park. OX14 1SY Trustees of the charity (PCC members) who have served at any time from 1st January 2023 until the date this report was approved are: |Name|Office|Elected| |---|---|---| |**_Vacancy_**|Team Rector|_ex officio_| |**Emma Cross**|Churchwarden & Deanery Synod representative|_ex officio_| |**Jacquie Hughes**|Churchwarden_(Chair since 20/11/22) due to interregnum_|_ex officio_| Wallingford Parish Annual Report and Financial Statements 2023 - Registered Charity No. 1129240 15 |**Stephen Harrison**|PCC Treasurer|2023| |---|---|---| |**Wendy Muggeridge**|PCC Secretary & Deanery Synod representative|_ex officio_| |**Gavin Wood**|Licensed Lay Minister|_ex officio_| |**Prof Helen King**|General Synod Representative|_ex officio_| |**Jane Anderson**||2022| |**Marie Amey**||2021| |**Philippa Bomford**|_Resigned March 2023_|2021| |**Charlie Brampton**||2023| |**Milli Eaton**||2023_for 1 year_| |**Oliver Garland**||2022| |**Peter Howarth**||2023_for 2 years_| |**Charlie Hughes**||2022| |**Amanda Simons**||2023| |**Hannah Smith**|_Resigned August 2023_|2021| |**Helen Swan**||2023| |**Luke Whitcomb**||2021| ## 12. Wallingford Team Ministry The parish of Wallingford is part of the Wallingford Team Ministry, along with the parishes of Crowmarsh Gifford and Brightwell-cum-Sotwell. The team clergy representatives of the Team Council are The Team Rector and the Team Vicar. Our previous Team Rector retired on 16 December 2022; the Team Vicar is the Reverend Kevin Beer. The parish representatives of the Team Council are lay members of their PCCs and are elected at the first PCC meeting following the APCM; in 2023 these were: Emma Cross & Jacquie Hughes (Wallingford), Michael Drury (Brightwell-cum-Sotwell) and Margaret Foster, Eva Thompson and Linda Parker (Crowmarsh Gifford). Licensed Lay Ministers are also entitled to be members of the Team Council, but none currently attend. In the absence of the Team Rector during the interregnum, Jacquie Hughes has been chairing meetings. In addition, the PCC Treasurers of the three parishes are normally invited to the meeting in the autumn to discuss the Parish Share. The Team Council discusses and acts upon matters of general interest to the three parishes and also any specific matter that might be delegated to it by the Parochial Church Councils. There were three Team Council Meetings in 2023: ## **19[th] January 2023;** Items discussed included the introduction of the new Website and the duties which would be carried out by Clergy and Lay People during the Interregnum. The Churchwardens each gave a resumé of the recent events and services over the Christmas Period, the comments were all quite positive. In addition Brightwell advised that they had held their services in the small room during the very cold weather; an informal meeting reference the Interregnum had given some useful feedback. Crowmarsh advised that the mystery of online Faculty applications had been sorted and now the Faculty for the Servery and Loo can be dealt with. There had been a large lump of plaster fall from the ceiling over the south aisle; the privet hedge destroyed by the fire had been replaced. Wallingford reported that following a wonderful Advent Season, Christmas had gone very well, with people volunteering and had been a good start to the Interregnum. Kevin advised that Revd Sue Booys is a new PTO (Permission to Officiate) for the Archdeaconry and our Team. There followed a review of options for Lent and House Groups; and services for the next four months were determined. Kevin advised that Mission Statistics were in hand across the Team. ## **1[st] June 2023** Jacquie thanked everyone across the Team for their input to the Team Profile, and felt that it had been a real collaborative Team effort, and that the Section 11 and 12 meeting had been challenging. Kevin informed the meeting that Margaret Foster had stepped down as Churchwarden after 21 years which left just Linda Parker as the only Warden in Crowmarsh. The plaster repairs to the roof in St Mary Magdalene had been completed at a cost of £9,800. Wallingford Parish Annual Report and Financial Statements 2023 - Registered Charity No. 1129240 16 Revd Sue Booys recently covered the Sunday services in Brightwell and Crowmarsh and had found it difficult. Following the installation of Smart Meters, St Mary Magdalene had been fortunate to receive a refund of overpaid DD’s. Michael informed the meeting that Margo had stepped down as Churchwarden leaving him as the only one; also the Safeguarding Officer had stepped down, so Brightwell is looking for another one. There had been a fantastic Church Fete, possibly boosted by the attendance of Mr B Johnson. Emma re-iterated that the decision to delegate to the ‘Team’ the work of the Profile had been a good one. Although they had split the work between them Emma doing the Building work and Service Planning and Jacquie doing Safeguarding, Health and Safety and all the rest it was still proving hard work, but their working methods complemented each other. It was noted that they had been advised that attendance numbers could drop during the Interregnum – this hasn’t happened, due mainly to the work of the retired clergy. Come and See – was well received as were the ‘Beatitudes’ which Emma had organised around the Church in St Mary’s. In Crowmarsh and Brightwell the ‘Come and See’ video by Bishop Steven was used during the Sunday Services. House Groups also used the Come and See material. The Advert went out 12[th] May with a closing date of 11[th] June; the shortlisting meeting will be in St Mary le More on 14[th] June. Kevin asked the question regarding Safeguarding – is it possible to have just one Officer for the whole Benefice? Unfortunately not, each Officer comes under the auspices of each P.C.C. ## **16[th] November 2023;** As yet still no definite Parish Share figure from Deanery. Wallingford Standing Committee will send over to Kevin details of occasional Service/Organist Fees; Mike will send Brightwell Fees to Wallingford and Crowmarsh – standardise Fees across the Benefice. Wedding Pack details need updating; send downloadable pack to Wallingford, though there is no set format, details down to the individual Church PCC. Linda reported - that the Harvest Art Competition had had some success with a number of Entries. The ‘Open the Book’ initiative has been well received with Adults reading, and the children at schools in both Crowmarsh and Brightwell showing an enthusiastic response. Mike - reported that at least 3 Leavers had received Bibles and are now reading them. One from Brightwell coming to Confirmation classes; 1 Family adamant that they will only be confirmed in St Agatha’s – the Bishop is agreeable to a Morning service. Michael reported the Quinquennial Inspection had shown that there is water damage to St Agatha’s tower. The PCC are hoping very soon to be able to say they have a ‘Parish Safeguarding Officer’. A Prayer Space for School in Church coming soon; a Mini Art Sale raised nearly £1,000; the Village Choir were currently rehearsing for a Concert to raise Funds; recently paid £120 for Organist, and received an electricity bill for £800. The 8am Service at St James Brightwell is likely to be shelved; make the Church just a Festival Church; the Quinquennial Inspection is due. Emma – reported that work on the Tower was due to water ingress and required replacement of lead etc. Remarked that the Interview for Team Rector had been very good, this comment was agreed by all those present. Noted that a busy Christmas period to come. Some people still very willing, but getting tired. Volunteers were helping with the children now that Hannah has left. Kevin led the Harvest service and attended at Fir Tree School. Kevin led the Remembrance Day Service, and said that the whole had been very stressful, he feels that a conversation between all Organisations involved needs to be had before next year; he noted that 10 people had fainted and were looked after by St John’s Ambulance people. _Margaret Foster, Temporary Team Council Secretary_ ## 13. Wallingford Deanery Synod The Deanery Synod provides PCCs with an important link between the parish and the wider structures of the church. Meetings are jointly chaired by the Area Dean (Revd Dr Andy Lord) and the Lay Chair (Gordon Gill). The Deanery includes parishes in Didcot, Great Western Park, Harwell, Chilton, Cholsey, Moulsford, Hagbourne, Blewbury, Upton, the Moretons, the Astons, Wallingford, Crowmarsh Gifford and Brightwell-cum-Sotwell. Four Deanery Synod meetings were held in 2023, with three meetings of the Standing Committee. Meetings continued to focus on the Wallingford Deanery Mission Action Plan (MAP) which has four key focus areas: _1. Development of ministry to children, young people & families_ _2. Developing our outreach to new & settled communities_ _3. Development of appropriate patterns of worship_ _4. Development of the Ministry in the Greater Didcot Garden Town area, both financially & structurally._ **The first Deanery Synod meeting** in February focussed on the third area – worship. Representatives from across the Deanery spoke about different forms of worship that incorporate music to inspire potential ideas for other parishes. Information was shared about choirs, organs, orchestras, ‘2[nd] Sundays’, worship services led by guitar and keyboards, family services, ‘open mike’ sessions, contemporary music, recorded music, intergenerational services, videos, etc. Feedback from subsequent group discussions included recommendations for the use of worship in outdoor situations and care homes, and that bellringing should also be seen as part of worship. Items of business included thanks to Wendy Muggeridge ,who was standing down as Deanery Synod Secretary. Ali Adams was elected to take over the role. Jason St John Nicolle was elected to the role of Clergy Rep. The Area Dean asked for a volunteer as Deanery Treasurer. Malcolm Edge and Nigel White had accepted roles as Deanery Environmental Leads. Wallingford Parish Annual Report and Financial Statements 2023 - Registered Charity No. 1129240 17 **The second Deanery Synod meeting** in June started with the re-election of Gordon Gill as Lay Chair. Revd Rebecca Peters was introduced as new Vicar of Cholsey & Moulsford, and Revd Jeremy Parsons as the new Vicar of Harwell & Chilton. Debbie Lord was elected as the PTO Rep to Synod. A report was received from Professor Helen King, the deanery’s linked General Synod Rep. The meeting was about sharpening our focus towards intentional mission, and led to thoughts about relationships, invitations, small group sessions, going out into the community, baptisms/marriages/funerals drawing people into church, initiatives outside of Sunday morning services, and the need for prayer and theology. It was also noted that we need to rethink our ideas of what church is, given our changing times. Our finances are set up to bring people into existing church, but mission requires us to go out. This particular area of thought will be followed up at the February 2024 Synod. There was discussion about future financial planning, based on the discussions at Synod the previous April. Votes were held on The Future Financial Plan and the Share Allocation for 2024 and were carried. **The third Synod in July** was focussed on the Environment, with Bishop Olivia attending as the lead speaker. It started with a video clip from the April 2023 Climate Action march in London. Bishop Olivia’s keynote talk covered pollution and loss of biodiversity, and she showed a scarf knitted for the diocese with different coloured stripes showing temperatures for Reading 18632022, reflecting the impact of El Nino and global heating. The Church of England is aiming for net zero across all activities by 2030. Much of the problem is due to our actions, but there is still time for us to help, with the years to 2030 seen as crucial. For individuals, consume in moderation (need rather than want), recycle-reclaim-refill). Be far-sighted and see this as a thing of faith, discipleship, duty. The focus moved to local examples – Wallingford’s Wildlife Discovery Programme, Cholsey’s Forest Church, Church Churches Climate Action Group, the Diocese’s Ecochurch programme. Professor Helen King gave an update on her role/time at the latest General Synod. **The fourth Synod was in November** . Yvonne Morris, the Discipleship Enabler for the Dorchester and Oxford Archdeaconries, gave a follow-up talk to a previous one on Children, Young People and Families, asking ‘where are we now?’ post-pandemic. The Church of England intention is to double the number of active young disciples in the church by 2030. The diocese is looking at a transformational increase – from existing small numbers via a series of shifts. How will the national church enable new volunteers? (27,000 needed nationally, with 3000 new staff). We need to explore options locally with churches where there is currently no children’s work, through to churches where children’s work has continued from pre-Covid. Yvonne’s talk was followed by local examples of working with children and youth, e.g. invitations to non-church children to decorate Christmas trees, various different styles of services in schools, the ECHO youth project, prayer spaces in the local library. This was followed by Yvonne reminding everyone that working in 1:1s or 1:2s brings excellent results: we should not be concerned about small numbers. Revd Mark Bodeker was on sabbatical, and the Area Dean would be taking a sabbatical from April 2024. Revd Hugh Boorman had just retired from his time at the Ladygrove church (which coincided with its 30[th] anniversary): recruitment is for a House for Duty role. Deanery Synod members were invited to join a group discussing ideas for the Diocese’s ‘Youth bid’ for national funding. _Ali Adams, Deanery Synod Secretary_ Wallingford Parish Annual Report and Financial Statements 2023 - Registered Charity No. 1129240 18 14. Annual Financial Statements Wallwryf¢Kd p￿h￿ Churth ￿Ul￿oI Re￿terEd Ch¥fty Number 1129240 ANNUAL P£PORT FINM4a*L STATEKNTS forthe ended 31 D￿rnber Z023 Statement of Financial Activitie5 Income Endowments from: (Notè Zl 11T.742.41 119.•2.41 139.781.01 18,9*11 tI.&VP.13 1¢91&11 14122.52 10.616.LS 8.174.n 174.73 Towttome IW.6n.37 J.ry).t)) 164.4Z7.37 In.621.(V) Expeftdftu￿ on: (Note 31 2.155.58 15S.771. I%,771.￿ 145,037.64 ToLIl• *nd￿ 158.917.17 158,Y27.17 1¥&,447.P lou rV*j￿*sbelOrt)¥kn 1.745.10 J.TJ).tYJ 9.•5.10 2&173.31 Translers (Note 121 75.(0).th) ,LXw).ts) . ￿.￿.(¥) befvtE¢Jther ES 1.745.10 5,495.10 16,173.31 Other rKow15ed gaIn￿lI0￿5> GI￿a￿tC￿L￿1TrE5Imerta5￿ts[1I￿el41 2.W.67 15.855.17 17,895.94 . 22.4Q.44 mo%*menth)funds J.785.n 3.7Y).O) 19.855.27 23.>>1.04 3.ns.67 Recondllailon of funds T￿lund5b[￿ fDrw*d 2*).•15.69 - l.W.l* 161.331.85 W,961.42 4*,235.55 29J.2th.42 1.183.92 177.1fj7.12 472.352.4$ 4¢%1.42 Wallingford Parish Annual Report and Financial Statements 2023 - Registered Charity No. 1129240 19 wait1n￿Ord p￿h1￿1 Church Cwndl P2tstevEd Charfty Number 1129240 *JINUAL REpORT￿d FINANCIAL STATEWEIITS lor the ended 31 L￿rnber 2013 Balance Sheet Flxed assets Twayets IF4x¢n 4.W.57 177 571.Y6 195 47. 195.467.W 181.In.5) Current a￿ts (p￿e6> Cathètt•*JrhJkn 10.4423 11.119.56 In.073.46 161.6&I.45 la1.511.￿ In.￿5.02 Llablllues 5.637.13 6.017.13 I76.w.￿ 2￿￿.7*.￿y 4ll.352.46 418.9fy1.41 Represented by (Note 121 Unrestrfc 113.5WI.63 1N.In.03 8.179.43 IQI.IBI.14 4.1(•.15 4.ItM.15 I9,￿. 17.4SL. 9.411.57 5.119.A) 15,441.93 2.657.35 2.657.35 11.015. 7.24S.4) End¢)wment 21.glJ.75 >J.￿.2? 155,237.37 141,269.53 Fund50flthe thurth 4n.352.* 418.961.42 Wallingford Parish Annual Report and Financial Statements 2023 - Registered Charity No. 1129240 20 Walllnglord P￿la1 Chwch Coundl Reglsiered Ch¥tty Number 1129240 ANNU￿ REPORT FINANCIAL STATEI*NTS lor the ￿ ènded 31 t*cember Z023 Note 1- Accounting Policies theStsi*mt)*ofRttthMmttth#Prxite. kcthwth8￿dR£f￿t￿¥tyCFwtsleffKt￿e l J¥w))19theWiPIFRS11QI"I. Funds Incoming Re50urce5 va￿￿tary￿CQrne kn￿me frnm r￿s￿d kJxesoftkn*stmènts•id otherf&Ed axèts Resources Expended Flxed Assets (onsecr4ted knd bu¥kny Short term deposits and c Wallingford Parish Annual Report and Financial Statements 2023 - Registered Charity No. 1129240 21 Wallingford Pxothial Churth Coundl Reqfstered Charfty Numkr 1129240 NU*L REPORT and FIN*%CIAL STATEA•£NTS for the ￿ar ended 31 t*cember 2023 Note 2 - Incoming Resources 2023totsl ￿21t¢￿Il DDnatlons ieg&les 79.195. 2.&85.Cl) 79.195.IK) ,719.IX) 3.819.04 2.685.(L) 2.639.62 2.639.62 4,411.67 195.16 f28.4J 12&43 {595.31 7.595.31 16,011.83 Tax recty4w*¢))r4rtAhl 412.76 Ar 21.16L76 24,IPI.4) 14Kles l.D)J.r•J In.r•J 1,ro).co 5,0)J.CO I,no.o) 3.882.91 ITL ted 914.28 914.28 DoftathThs￿d skncon* gJblOt* 111,742.4J 3,Tts).o) 115,492.￿ 139,781.01 Charltable artmtles c￿￿￿5￿$ 6.810.5t 6.810.51 6.3rJ.02 5.133.r•J 7.(￿. 5.133.CO 7.W2.60 5,651. 4.258.X) . l￿ts. a￿Ck￿fee5 18.￿.11 18.94&11 16.281.52 Other tr&llng &tMtles CtrArth fLYKlra 21,￿?.13 I1,￿9.13 10,626. AttML*sftsr fUnds￿btOtI￿ 21,￿￿.13 I1,￿9.13 10,626.( Investment Income 4,819. 3.345.27 4,829.4G 3.345.27 4,784.20 1.147.31 Btharwj IDYe*mentkncorne wb¢ots 8.174.n .774.73 IW.6T4.37 164,422.37 In.621.fYJ Other Incomin resources Otherkncomkn reyjurtes￿btOra Incomin resour￿5 and totals IéQ.6TI.37 1.75D.( 164.422.37 ITI.621.1fy Wallingford Parish Annual Report and Financial Statements 2023 - Registered Charity No. 1129240 22 Wallln￿ord Puothlai Church Coundl Reotstered Ch¥lty Number 1129140 *JINLIAL REPORT¥￿ FINANCIAL STATEKNTS for the ended 31 L￿fftbef 2013 Note 3 - Resources ExperKled Palslno funds fun45e nthJrEgJbtDt* 2.155.é8 i.xuc 1,5)).O) i.xYJ.o) i.yA( l.Yffj. 64.51lll 0.￿71 64.51118 67.90.7D 8.t4.63 9.361CIJ 9,363.0) 11,811.53 5.Wl. 9,7Tr.7Y 9,7PY.Tr 8.690.14 9,919.12 8.101.• 1.151.]6 1.15T. 1,011.64 4.831.14 597.72 6.597.n 9.(0 119.(1) 21.In45 9.6b5.62 303.11 313.11 ia5.35 Il219.78 13.215.78 4.fth.$7 4.￿.$7 1%.771.59 1%.771.59 145.037.61 PE*urce5 ex nded 917.27 15B 917.17 146 411.71 Note 4 - Statement of Staff Costs Wallingford Parish Annual Report and Financial Statements 2023 - Registered Charity No. 1129240 23 ReO#eTeil Owlty Number 1129240 NU*L P£PORT￿d FIM*JICIAL sfATEMEirr5 forthe Far ended 31 Dxember 2023 Note 5 - Detalis of Certaln Items of Expendlture Note 6- Grants to Mission5 and Charities Disposal of Special Collections GMr4. remef and de￿￿7pment Tol H(Jrn* mls%loTh 15.0) To 5ocul¥ch¥ltles To 1.YSJ.O) To 5.th5.(0 && 5*75 1.ZILL71 i￿.15 iJ&* F*T¢&*.¢*Èsril 51.•) )J.31 22*67 Itj 15 To￿l¢r 9.M.14 Wallingford Parish Annual Report and Financial Statements 2023 - Registered Charity No. 1129240 24 Wallingford Pxothial Churth Coundl Reqfstered Charfty Numkr 1129240 NU*L REPORT and FIN*%CIAL STATEA•£NTS for the ￿ar ended 31 t*cember 2023 Note 7 - Fixed assets 2023 trf•l T￿￿1? li￿d ajuets C05t 122.W.62 Bala￿e(arr*￿tO¥Ward 122.(b9.62 *aUmUl￿ d•pr•d*bn 117,469.1 4.W.57 f( a￿￿e(arrEl l(Yward 122.(b9.62 Netbookyakne 4,14)).57 tt5rnt LKK&Ya￿￿ttsEgyJ￿2O21wasf￿A￿.s7.. liwa5￿T￿*JtOI￿)in￿23. FI￿d a%2tkn¥Ptrnts{￿*￿ l&Jte 141 177,571. 17.815.94 IAatkrtv&tatoYJ 195.467. Note 8 - Debtors Debtor5 J W* Giftawj 7Z.21 10.41&23 10.44&23 11.rp)7.35 OebtOW5total 10.41&23 10.44&23 11.169.56 Note 9 - Cash at Bank 2023tthi 2922WI Cash at Bank 129.5*1Q 173,018.67 X).499.14 C8FIfy)J (Rewvel CBF1W5 RLth memcf￿1 76.(th.43 TJ.618.07 16,025.47 14,939.T2 2n.on.46 261 636.46 Currenta55etstot Wallingford Parish Annual Report and Financial Statements 2023 - Registered Charity No. 1129240 25 Ow*yNumber 112*240 IINIthL Flw•4lc￿ sfAIE1￿WTs lorth*sw•tsdod 31 DK*Mb•r 2023 Note 10- Creditors 1*.* IXIO 3JIL 6J7.13 Note 11 . Commltments Note 12 Funds Ibl.171ai 154￿51 I￿.￿91 . 113SD]. ¥J i.]&0.)5 4.*X15 19.513.11 lOJ)]. S119.JD 1x411. Peitr*toO.StWTw¢rFL 2.W.)5 l657.35 IIM.•] i.W.5J 21,911. Y61. LJI I AS Wallingford Parish Annual Report and Financial Statements 2023 - Registered Charity No. 1129240 26 Wallingford Pxothial Churth Coundl Reqfstered Charfty Numkr 1129240 NU*L REPORT and FIN*%CIAL STATEA•£NTS for the ￿ar ended 31 t*cember 2023 Note 13 - Analysis of Net Assets between Funds CUvrErbt￿Ir Fwvjs Fw Fwts 18.2￿Tr 113.SW.63 149.￿1.1¥ 177.187.12 195.467. 276.884.56 13.7UI.75 Total 113.5W.63 167.881.95 13.7UI.75 17T.187.12 471 352.46 Pr•vtrtUS T*iLIl Fw Fw 4.tW.51 16.24111 161.331.85 182,In.53 2th,788.B9 179,577.46 77,25&68 9,952.75 T￿11 184,178.03 93,498.79 9.952.75 161,331.85 448,961.42 Note 14 - Details of Investments IOZ3totsL ZDlZtrt41 CCL4shNE5.stLaThv￿1kn￿e 85.261.77 77.929.84 CCLIStrAre5.St LecfArdsC 6£41&7D 58,Z51.(11 CCLISFAre5.StLecford5L¥