2024-08-31-accounts - High Street Methodist Church Maidenhead

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High Street Maidenhead Methodist Church

Trustees Report for year ending 31 August 2024

Introducton

At the end of this Trustees’ Report is an Appendix with a copy of the Annual Report submitted to the General Church Meeting in April 2024. This gives a good overview of what we have done and what has been achieved during the previous 12 months. (The church year runs from 1[st] September to 31[st] August.)

Ministerial and pastoral oversight has been provided by Rev. Dr Pete Phillips since 1[st] September 2022 until the present day.

Objectves

The purposes of the Methodist Church are and shall be deemed to have been since the date of union the advancement of:

The Christian faith in accordance with the doctrinal standards and the discipline of the Methodist Church
Any charitable purpose for the time being of any Connexional, District, Circuit, local or other organisation of the Methodist Church
Any charitable purpose for the time being of any society or institution or subsidiary or ancillary to the Methodist Church
Any purpose for the time being of any charity being a charity subsidiary or ancillary to the Methodist Church.

Church’s Vision and Mission

Seek to enable all to encounter God in ways which are Spirit-led and celebratory, through worship which is diverse and relevant to our local communities.
To be a caring Christian community in the heart of Maidenhead

Through Learning and Caring

To be aware of the nature and context of High Street Methodist Church.
To explore the word of God, in study, prayer, and fellowship.
To offer pastoral care to members and adherents.
To support the presence and witness of the wider Christian Community within Maidenhead.
To develop disciples by nurturing faith and recognising and developing gifts; to encourage new leaders.
To value our place within the Methodist Connexion and the World Church.

Through Service

To encourage team working.
To be a prophetic and free church voice, and initiate action for social justice.
To respond to needs locally and globally.
To provide safe spaces for the community.
To support both the Methodist and World Church through prayer and action.
To work ecumenically whenever the opportunity arises and, when appropriate, with other faiths

Through Evangelism

To offer love in the name of Jesus Christ.
To confidently share and proclaim our faith in ways which are sensitive and respectful.

Brief fnancial review of the year

During the financial year ending 31[st] August 2024 the total income received was £182,429 and outgoings amounted to £141,506 leading to a surplus of £40,923. Total funds carried forward amount to £251,929 of which £70,479 are restricted funds set aside for specific projects or charitable work. Fuller details can be seen in the accompanying statement of accounts.

Structure, Governance and Management

High Street Maidenhead Methodist Church is part of the Thames Valley Circuit of the Methodist Church and is governed by the Deed of Union (1932) and the Methodist Church Act 1976 as amended March 2011. Overall control of the Circuit rests with the Methodist Conference. The Connexional Office implements decisions made by Conference and is also responsible for the stationing of ministers in individual Circuits. Connexional decisions are passed to the Chair of the District and the appropriate Officers of the District for regional implementation. The District passes the control down to Circuit level for local implementation by the Superintendent Minister, other ministerial staff and Circuit Stewards via the medium of the Circuit Meeting. The membership of the Circuit Meeting is laid down in the Constitutional Practices and Discipline of the Methodist Church. The Circuit Leadership Team comprises a Senior Circuit Steward, four other Circuit Stewards, the Circuit Treasurer, the Superintendent Minister and three other Ministers. Circuit meetings are held four times a year and are attended by the Circuit Leaders, Church Ministers, and representatives from the church congregations. High Street Methodist Church’s congregation is governed by its Church Council which is chaired by the Minister in Pastoral Charge. The Church Council consists of Church Stewards and officers nominated and voted on by the entire Church membership at the Annual Church Meeting. Council Meetings are chaired by the Minister in Pastoral Charge, as delegated by the Superintendent Minister, with those attending becoming the Trustees of the church/charity. It is the Trustees who comprise the decision-making body and who will vote on proposals put before the meeting.

Volunteers

High Street Methodist Church, Maidenhead is grateful to the Church Stewards and other members of Church Council who freely volunteer their time to attend meetings and to carry out the administrative work required in order to run the church successfully.

Legal and Administratve Informaton

Full Name of Charity: Maidenhead High Street Methodist Church

Registration Charity Number: 1129473

Date of registration 4 January 2010

Main communication address: Methodist Church Office, King Street, Maidenhead SL6 1EF

Website: http://www.methodistmaidenhead.org.uk

Peter White acted as the principal officer overseeing the day-to-day financial management and accounting for the church during the year.

Independent Examiner of the accounts: Mr David Kinna, 18 Turpins Green, Maidenhead, SL6 4QE

Bankers: HSBC 35 High Street, Maidenhead SL6 1JQ; and, Central Finance Board of the Methodist Church, 9 Bonhill Street, London EC2A 4PE

Trustees for Methodist Church Purposes: Central Buildings Oldham Street Manchester M1 1JQ

Local Trustees

The members of High Street Maidenhead Methodist Church Council Meeting are the Charity Trustees, membership being made up of church office holders, ministers and representatives appointed by the church congregation.

Minister in Pastoral Charge: Rev Dr Pete Phillips

Church Stewards: Diana Phipps, Elijah Kommu, Ilse Statham, Margaret Maskell, Pat Crowle, Ruth Hill

Treasurer: Peter White

Other members of Church Council: Ann Pfeiffer, Charlotte Crichton, Claire Boycott, Felicity Kendon, Gill Harbut, Glenice White. Jean Barnett, Joy Brown, John Statham, Judy Stimson, Karen Ackling, Matthew Edwards, Maureen Over, Pauline Joseph, Roger Neal, Tim Rayers

Appendix 1

– Annual Report April 2024.

Annual Report April 2024

“seeking to know Christ and to make him known” Registered Charity No. 1129473

Minister’s Report

I wrote my last annual report before I was signed off for a month or so with some health problems. Sadly, those health problems continue to be largely unresolved – a problem for many of us. But as I look back over a busy year, I am so glad that much of the progress we were making around a return to church life post COVID was sustained during the rest of 2023 and the beginning of 2024. We feel as though we have settled into the new routine of worship. Breakfast Church continues to thrive thanks to the help of so many people in making it work. Early morning communion on the 2[nd] Sunday of the month is the smallest of our services, normally, but a special time for reflection and praise. Our praise services have gone well with a growing openness to the presence of the Spirit and last month we were joined by others from around the circuit when it became a Circuit Service.

Worship

The 10.30 services remain as our core acts of worship each week and the new Worship Planning Group has begun to do some careful work about looking at who is preaching, what musical support is needed and how we can offer a varied diet of worship across each month. It’s good to see more and more new people coming into worship at the moment and to see how warmly they are welcomed by the congregation as a whole. High Street is a lovely family church. When we shared the peace on Easter Sunday there was such a feeling of love and acceptance of all who were there – with a care and professionalism from the musicians and singers to offer a sacrifice of praise and worship to God. But we’ve had lots of other highlights and are blessed with a variety of musical skills and traditions. Thank you to all our musicians, organists, singers!

One of the authors I’ve been reading for my work at Spurgeon’s argues that worship is God’s dating agency! It’s when we gather for worship that he meets with us. He engages with our hearts. He opens up new insights, new moments of revelation, new awareness of his presence. My passion for worship in so many forms is to give a wide range of opportunities to everyone who comes to High Street to meet with God. In the end that is the most important encounter anyone can have.

Sadly, we’ve said goodbye to too many people as well. We continue to grieve for those who have died and continue to support their loved ones and their families. It’s been good to see many of them honoured by full congregations at the Thanksgiving Service. But it’s also so good to see those who have been bereaved cared for and loved by the local church. We

continue to explore ways in which we can develop this further through continued pastoral visiting, a bereavement group, and through our annual services of remembrance.

We’re also keen to enthusiastically welcome new people and to grow as a family together. Sometimes, we need to put some more effort into this and so we’ll be looking at some new church meals – perhaps once every other month – where we can come together to get to know one another beyond the church services – more shared lunches, more opportunities to get to know one another. Indeed, it’s been good to see the walks begin again on the second Sunday – somewhat challenged by the constant rain of a very wet Spring – and all the other informal get-togethers that happen around the various grouping so many people are involved in already. But we’re also planning more, official, social events as well where we can come together to enjoy one another’s company and be one family together. Watch out for the opportunities to join in the fun and get to know more people.

Over Lent, we’ve added to the Bible studies normally run online by Jean and Ilse. During the last two Lents, we’ve run a Bible Study at the manse on the Thursday evening which has also been open to people to attend by Zoom. These have been important for us to share together in fellowship and to learn more about our faith. We’re currently looking at two ways to pick up on this. Firstly, a monthly prayer meeting at the Church on the first Thursday of the month . We’re starting the first one, led by me, on Thursday 2 May at 7pm . We’ll have opportunity to pray for different aspects of our faith – our witness in Maidenhead, our global impact, our individual walk with God, and for those in need. We’re proposing that on the other Thursdays of the month, we offer a Bible Study at the manse and online for anyone who wants to attend from either High Street or St Marks (perhaps even wider afield?). We’re going to use a different resource to support this work but a fair amount will be sharing around God’s word together.

But are there other things – are there forms of worship like Taize, Healing Services, and Global traditions of worship which we aren’t catering for. If so, then talk to me about them and let’s see how we can deepen our own experience of worshipping God in new ways.

Mission and Evangelism

One of the highlights of the year has been the increased focus on mission and evangelism through the practical work which we do through Friday Lunch Club, the Friendship Group, Art Group and Choir, supporting uniformed organisations, hosting the various groups who meet at the church and so on. But that kicked into new life on asking a few people to follow through to form the Mission and Evangelism Group. They held some fantastically popular meetings at the beginning of this year offering some social opportunities for people to come into the church buildings. Mission and Evangelism is of course our core task as a church – to

share the Good News with all people. Wesley called Methodists to share social holiness – a shared vision for our community and we are actively engaging with the Borough and with other churches to look at how we might be more actively engaged in a mission and engagement within our part of Maidenhead. But it also means a social engagement with those who come in. We need to learn new ways of creating pathways into worship – into encounters with God and allowing people to know that we don’t just run a social club at High Street – we run a place where we believe people can encounter the living God.

Finally, this GCM will be Di’s last as Senior Steward. Di’s term as Senior Steward has been one of the most difficult that anyone could have had. Ministers leaving, gaps before new ones came, COVID and the church building being forcibly closed and then the appointment of new part-timer who supported Man Utd. We need to find a proper time to celebrate Di’s time as Senior Steward – perhaps at our first monthly church lunch. But just to say that she had led the church with passion, with determination and with zeal. Often she has borne the brunt of criticism and been the first port of call for those who like to comment on the church not being run the way that they like it to be run. She has had to have the patience of Job, the forbearance of Mary, the determination of Moses! Thank you, Di, for your care of High Street during your term as Senior Steward. We look forward to the farewell do!

Revd Dr Peter Phillips

Methodist Minister, Thames Valley Circuit

Tutor and Director for the Centre for Digital Theology, Spurgeon’s College

Senior Steward’s Report

A year in the life of our church has passed quickly – I can’t believe a year has gone since we had our last General Church meeting. Pete has been with us eighteen months now and how wonderful it is to have him and we do value him as our Minister, juggling being our presbyter 50% of his time, finding time to do pastoral visits which I know are so much appreciated by those of our congregation who are sick or are housebound, bringing new ideas to our ways of worship, with the remaining 50% teaching at Spurgeon’s College in South London. Who says that men can’t multi-task!

We continue to live stream our morning services through our YouTube Channel, and although most of our congregation have returned to church to worship, as there are some of our church family who are unable to get to church, we continue with the live streaming. Indeed, some other churches in the Circuit have benefitted from this because of the expertise of our Tech Team – don’t ask me how they do it though. However, you could find out if you offer to join the Team.

Pastoral work is important part of our life at High Street. Our pastoral visitors’ work continues quietly and efficiently in the background, very well supported by Pete who always find time to visit folks who are unwell or need some spiritual healing. Felicity stood down as our Pastoral Leader last May and Ruth Hill took over. However Felicity has now bounced back to take up some of her Pastoral Leader duties again with Ruth assisting with the admin work.

It has been a sad year so far as eight of our congregation have died over the past twelve months – Chris Maskell, Alan Kendon, Su Permane, Kathleen Hazleden, Tony Stock, Mary Dixon, Ruth Holmes and just recently David Birch. We continue to pray for their family and friends.

The debate over whether we re-introduced our monthly coffee mornings/bric-a-brac sales located on the front porch of our church continued but it was decided not to. We did restart our Friday Coffee morning instead in the Wesley Hall, which included a bric-a-brac stall, but it was poorly supported and we thought it unfair to ask our volunteers to turn up with their scones and cakes with hardly anyone to offer them to.

Our Breakfast Church on the first Sunday of each month at 9am is an amazing outreach to not just our church but to the community out there in Maidenhead. The numbers attending have continued to increase. So our church offers different kinds of worship on Sundays - as well as Breakfast Church we offer more traditional services led by the Church Choir after Breakfast Church on the first Sunday, there is also a 9am Communion Service and 10.30/45am Communion service each month as well as our 10.30am Morning Worship services, and a 6pm Praise Service at High Street on the third Sunday of the month which is led by the Praise Band.

Our regular church groups/meetings continue to meet on our premises: Friendship Hour, Art Group, Choir, Praise Band, monthly Friday Lunch Club. Two weekly Bible Study groups and a weekly prayer meeting continue via Zoom.

Warm Welcome Drop-in: Several discussions were held with representatives from the Council and Brett Foundation during the winter months about High Street opening up our Kingsway Chambers premises as a drop in centre as we did last year. Our offer of help wasn’t taken up as alternative venues were found.

Daily Holy Week devotions were planned again this year. We had a Holy Communion and an Ashing Ceremony (with bacon butties) and a Maundy Thursday/Foot Washing Communion Service led by the Chairman of our District, Rev. Dr. David Hinchliffe. Pete led our Easter Sunday Service which was enjoyed by many and had a wonderful feeling of fellowship.

The uniformed organisations continue to meet on our premises - Guides, Brownies, Scouts, Cubs, Beavers and now Squirrels!. Thanks to them for organising the Christmas Fair on our behalf. Also, thanks to the Guides who tidied up the garden outside the church office/walkway to the side entrance.

Our premises continue to be hired out to groups such as the Dementia Support Group, Zumba classes, and Re-charge which is the parent and child drop-in group. Our Wesley Hall and Bromley Room are now being booked regularly for parties and other meetings. We get quite a bit of income from hiring out our premises and a big ‘thank you’ should go to John Statham who has looked after this for us.

We managed to keep our energy costs at a reasonable level this year despite the increase in charges. This was done by carefully scheduling when the heating was put on and thank you for your understanding with this if, on occasions, you felt cold on our premises.

Our Property Stewards and even ex-Property Stewards (Dave Herbert and Rosemary Holland) have once again done a fantastic job in looking after our premises. As we no longer employ caretakers, who also used to be present on site, they do a huge amount of work, spend a lot of time in opening up the church, setting up rooms, cleaning etc.

We also do not employ an administrator, and again, this work is carried out by volunteers, mainly John Statham. We hope to be able to appoint an administrator soon.

I think most of you may already know, I am standing down as Senior Steward at our General Church Meeting. It is certainly with mixed feelings that I am standing down because despite some of the difficulties I encountered, most of the time I have actually enjoyed the job. It has enriched my Christian belief, and although High Street is known to be a challenging church in some respects, there is so much good work that is done here - I love our church and the people in it. It is also good to have changes and I know that Ruth Hill, who has agreed to take over subject to confirmation at our GCM, will do an excellent job, perhaps in a different way, as we sometimes get too set in theway we do things and a new set of eyes will benefit the church I am sure. It has been great to work with Pete, despite the fact that

he is a Manchester United supporter and I am an Arsenal one. He works too hard and we must look after him. I have had great support from so many people and I am always reluctant to name them in case someone is left out, so please take this as a ‘thank you’ to the various teams and individuals who have been on this journey of mine.

Finally, we should not forget our Mission :

To be the Methodist Church in Maidenhead town centre responding to the gospel of God's love in Christ and living out our discipleship in worship and mission.
To be seen as a community hub with our church buildings being a safe space for all ages and groups to meet.

Diana Phipps

The Art Group

The art group continues to be an oasis of calm on a Thursday morning despite everything that is happening in our lives. Our numbers have been slow to pick up following the covid lockdown, but we have been glad to welcome new members with Natasha and her mother Lori. A few of us exhibited successfully at the Cookham Art Exhibition at the beginning of March, and also at their major exhibition last August. We are planning to meet to sketch and paint outdoors at the Sculpture Garden in the grounds of the Odney Club in early May as part of the Cookham Festival.

It has been a very great help to us to have the tables left up in the Bromley Room , as by far the majority of our group are physically quite unable to put tables up or down.

Ruth Daniel

The Flower Commitee

In recovering from Covid , our style of flowers in the Church has changed through necessity. You may have noticed that we now use fewer flowers and normally place just one Arrangement under the Cross. We place extra decorations at Easter, Harvest and Christmas.

Flower Donors. We value those who give flowers. Each year we “lose” some - and would appreciate offers from some fresh Donors. When we have no Donor, the cost is funded from our Flower Funds which are fast diminishing as we have lost our ability to raise funds via Coffee Mornings etc. The gift is once more acknowledged in the weekly Church Notices.

Flower Arrangers. Again, as above, we are a small Group and 9 stalwarts who take turns to do this. However we still enjoy “arranging”. and welcome any others who would like to join and decorate the Church with us.

Flowers are usually distributed after Morning Service to cheer, thank or console.

Elizabeth Barker

Communion Services

The table below shows the numbers of people receiving communion at services held during the year from 1 March 2023 to 29 February 2024. For comparison, figures are also shown for the previous year and the last pre-covid year. It should be noted that all figures include the minister and at least one steward. The columns headed ‘10.30am’ include figures for services held at 10.45am.

	2023-24	2023-24	2022-23	2022-23	2019-20	2019-20
Atendance	9.00am	10.30am	9.00am	10.30am	9.00am	10.30am
Services	10	11	3	11	8	12
Average	11	64	11	57	9	85
Maximum	22	89	14	67	16	115
Minimum	6	43	7	45	6	63

In addition, a service was held at 9.00am on Ash Wednesday 2024 with 11 communicants (19 in 2023). There was also one 6.00pm service held in the year with 24 people receiving communion. The last previous Sunday evening communion services were held in 2012-13 (3 services, average number of communicants 17, maximum 20, minimum 13)

The signs of a gradual post-pandemic recovery noted in last year’s report, have been continued in 2023-24. However, there is some way to go before the pre-pandemic low of 77 (2013) is reached.

The graph below clearly illustrates this gradual rising trend in those receiving communion at the main Sunday morning services.

Friendship Hour

65.0 Rolling average of communicants - October ‘21 to 60.0 March ‘24 10.30/10.45 services

55.0

50.0

45.0 S

It is pleasing to report that the Friendship Hour meeting continues to flourish, and a number of new members have joined this year. On average, 25 members gather each month. We have enjoyed a varied programme of talks by outside speakers, craft activities, a time of worship and birthday greeting, all of which culminates every August in our Summer Tea Party. On this occasion, other churches in the Circuit are invited to join us.

We are saddened to report that our Treasurer for the past nine years, David Birch, passed away recently. We give thanks for his excellent and careful work and we shall miss his kind guidance very much. We offer our sincerest condolences to our member, Peggy Birch.

Kathleen McGuinness

Friday Lunch Club

High Street Methodist Church Lunch Club has met 11 times since the last Church AGM with an average attendance of 30. It re-opened on 14/10/22 after lock down and since then we have welcomed 24 new diners having a total list of 47. Diners are contacted by phone before each meal.

Our thanks go to the cooks - Di, Jan. Hillary, Dorothy, Fel and the regular helpers Colin. Dave, Carol, Karen.

Kath England

Choir Report

The choir continues to practise every Friday from 7:30pm to 8:30pm. Our main role is to lead the singing in the Sunday Morning Worship Services and, although small in number, we are keen to continue the tradition of 4 part hymn singing. Sadly, three faithful members of our choir died during 2023 and we remember the valuable contribution they made to music at High Street.

Our Choir Committee meet quarterly and, using the Preaching Plan and the Church Calendar, decide on appropriate music for the next few months. We have an extensive music library which we can dip into, but we are always looking for new music especially for small choirs. This year we have introduced anthems of different styles and from a variety of composers.

We have usually sung an anthem on the first Sunday of the month and also at special services including Christmas, Easter and the In Loving Memory Service. We are very grateful to those who have joined us to swell our numbers for several anthems this year. In addition, we have contributed to two Circuit Services, singing with Thames Valley Voices and members of other churches within the Circuit. We sang two anthems at the Celebration Service for Lay Preachers and lead the singing at the Circuit Carol Service at St Mark’s.

In October five choir members took part in the 95th Free Church Choirs Festival at St Albans Cathedral, which was a really uplifting experience. We have sung several of the anthems we sang at the Festival in church this year. The Musical Director, Peter Williams, also invited us to join his choir at Ickenham URC in singing Stainer’s Crucifixion on Good Friday 2023. Four of us were able to take part in this moving performance.

Our thanks to Pippa for leading the choir, in her role as Intergenerational Music Director, from April to August 2023 and we are grateful that she is still happy to sing with us in the choir. Thank you also to our accompanists: Pat Crowle, Michael Greenhalgh and David Marks.

We are very keen to build up our numbers and if you would like to join us you would be most welcome. Please have a word with Diana or one of the choir members if you would like to know more about it.

Gill & Angela

Harbut

Pastoral Commitee

The Pastoral Committee continues to meet twice a year. Currently we have 14 Pastoral Visitors and 117 members. Sadly we have had several funerals during this last year so we miss valuable members of our church family.

Susan Permane died this year and as a visitor we miss her conscientious caring for many people. Lois Roberts has also retired as a visitor and we thank her for many years of caring and visiting.

The church family value and are very grateful for the pastoral visiting that Rev Pete Phillips manages to fit into his busy schedule.

Thank you to all those who show care and concern to many, often unknown.

Felicity Kendon

Property Stewards and Site Development Annual Report 2023

Since this time last year, several smaller items have been carried out / repaired, but thankfully, nothing too dramatic.

1) First of all, thank you to all the Property Team who have kept us going this past year. Many people carry out various tasks quietly and effectively, ensuring that our premises are ready for use for whatever is going on. Heating, cleaning, chair moving, bookings, opening / locking up, repairing, gardening, internet maintenance, computers, office supplies etc etc.
2) The main change to the buildings this year was the fitting of an automatically locking side door. This has increased security enormously – no-one can just wander in off the street unsupervised now. It does create some smiles when the door bell rings during a quiet part of a church service, but is generally seen as an improvement.

Over 60 access cards have been issued to folk who regularly come to the building during the week, or who carry out key tasks for the church. This has meant that the building can be left secure, without anyone needing to lock /unlock between uses. (e.g. after Art Club and before Beavers)

3) A smashed window in the front porch was replaced.
4) Various water heater and water pipe problems were solved.
5) The gents toilets had new LED lighting
6) Safety hooks were fitted to the wall to enable the safe servicing of our main clock. (Why were hooks never needed before, we wonder?)
7) The Wesley Hall floor was given a thorough deep clean and re-coat.
8) Normal servicing of equipment was carried out.

Continuing issues:

9) Parking continues to present problems – both with our own few spaces, and for people trying to get to services and events at our church. There seems to be little light in the tunnel, but most people find a way to manage, it seems.
10) The roof continues to leak at odd times, but when mopped up and dried out, it tends not to happen again for a long time, despite heavy rain. It seems to depend on the direction of wind and rain. We continue to monitor and pray!
11) The Wesley Hall lights will probably need to be up-graded soon, as they are difficult to reach to change bulbs, these bulbs are becoming obsolete, and they really should be changed to LEDs. If we are to continue with outside lettings of the Hall, they will probably need to be up-graded fairly soon.

Good News:

12) We have continued to have a variety of private hires this year – with quite a few birthday parties / celebrations in the Wesley Hall. These provide us with some income, and also some contact with a variety of people who would not normally come into our premises. The Thursday morning Re-charge toddlers group is often people’s first contact with our church. (So too are some of our own events, such as film shows and discos that attract outsiders.)

Also the premises have been used by companies for public exhibitions / meetings.

13) Our 4 shops and 1 residential property continue to be occupied, providing us with essential income, although the roof over the shops is getting well past its life span – as we have already seen from one flat roof repair.
14) Energy costs : Thank you to everyone for working with us to reduce our energy costs, whilst still keeping warm. Our annual heating costs were not as high as we thought they might be.

Site Development. Last year it was reported that the Site Development Group were investigating the possibility of some redevelopment of our buildings. We have had several meetings with an architect and a social housing provider, with a view to seeing what could

be done. It seems however, that given the current world financial situation, any major development scheme would probably not be viable. The group will continue to consider what is best for our buildings for the future.

Ann Pfeiffer, on behalf of Property Stewards

Safeguarding

The Church Safeguarding Policy was revised in line with the Methodist Church Safeguarding Policy and adopted by the Church Council in January. This should be read in conjunction with the Methodist Church Statement of Safeguarding Principles, and both can be found on the Safeguarding Noticeboard in the corridor. Another copy can be found in the Minister’s vestry.

The Methodist Church requires that all those who work with children and vulnerable adults should attend the Creating Safer Spaces Foundation Level Course every 4 years. Many thanks to the four people from High Street who spent 3 hours on a Saturday morning attending one of these courses in June or October 2023. The feedback from these courses has been very positive.

DBS checks are also required for those working with children and vulnerable adults and should be renewed every 5 years. I will inform people a few weeks before the renewal is due. Many thanks to Pete who has been guiding people through this process and verifying the required documents this year. Many thanks also to Kathy Rickman, Circuit Safeguarding Officer, for completing DBS checks earlier in the year and for all her support again this year. If anyone takes up a new church role involving children or vulnerable adults, please contact me and I will arrange for the training and DBS check to take place.

In October I produced some Guidelines for Streaming and Photography in Church as there had been some concerns that people were being shown on the YouTube streamed services without giving their permission. These guidelines were discussed by the Leadership Team and Church Council and are now in place.

As Church Safeguarding Officer, I continue to attend Circuit Safeguarding Meetings throughout the year to keep up to date with Safeguarding in the Circuit, District and wider Methodist Church. Philippa Read left the post of District Safeguarding Officer at the end of September. She has been a great help and support to the Circuit, and likewise Philippa has used the Circuit as a model of good practice in following the correct procedures, when training others. Clare Coles has just been appointed as the new DSO and I look forward to meeting her at a Circuit Safeguarding meeting soon.

In her final letter to the Circuit, Philippa concluded with this reminder - ‘Remember safeguarding is everyone’s responsibility’ - which is also my reminder to you all. Thanks again for your support.

Gill Harbut

Sunday Cofee

It’s been an amazing year for the Sunday coffee team …. we’ve now increased our team of helpers to 35. So, I’d like to say a massive thank you to everyone, for supporting this team of people, and for welcoming our newbies. From April 2023 to April 2024 we have raised, through the generous donations of the congregation, a massive sum of £1,167.49, and of course this doesn't include the donations made on the card machine, to the following charities: Church Funds/ Redevelopment Fund, The Benevolent Fund, The Young Carers Service, The Uniformed Organisation at High Street, Action for Children, Choir music for Christmas, The Brain Tumour Charity, Crisis, The Malaysia Fund, Water-aid and Breast Cancer Now ….so a big thank you to everyone for their generosity. Finally, I’d like to thank this great bunch of people on behalf of the congregation, for the fantastic service they provide on a Sunday after the Church service…..it’s a vital part of our fellowship, and is so much appreciated! If anyone would like to join our coffee team, then please just let me know, as you’d be most welcomed.

Karen Ackling

The Technical Team

This is the range of tasks the “tech team” undertakes.

1) Operation and setting up of all sound equipment within and around the church premises, this covers the Wesley Hall and sanctuary, as well as the use of portable PA for such events as the Christmas Fair and Walk of Witness.
2) Operation of all vision facilities within the premises, ranging from the cameras and streaming system in the sanctuary to the projector in the Wesley Hall and TVs around the suite of buildings.
3) The setting up and maintenance of the church broadband and wi-fi infrastructure.
4) Responsibility for all the PCs ( at least 6) and associated IT equipment (printers, monitors, et al). This also includes all their software.
5) Setting up (including all necessary rigging) of all event lighting in the sanctuary and hall.
6) Web design and maintenance of the church website and social media presence.
7) The team also has to be closely involved in the planned replacement of all the above facilities.

This year, very sadly, all this work has been impacted by the continuing illness of one of the key members of the team. Our prayers continue to go out to him and his family.

A full audit of the technical facilities at High Street and its likely replacement cost at current market prices, especially if, as inevitably seems will be the case in the future, professional installation is needed.

The total replacement cost of all our technical facilities, including the specialised event lighting in the church and hall is likely to be significantly in excess of £100K, which is why the team has suggested the need to create a technical budget to fund this work on a rolling basis over a period of perhaps 10 or maybe more years. This is also made more complicated by the uncertainty of the timing of any major work on our premises. The first item to need updating is the current sound desk and associated items in the sanctuary, at a current figure of around £6000. This would release the existing desk to continue for a few more years in the Wesley Hall, where it would lead a less demanding life but still provide better facilities for the Breakfast Church.

During the year High Street has continued to successfully stream to YouTube the 10:30am services held in the Sanctuary, and the reliability of our facilities has remained high.

Tim has introduced since the start of 2024 new software called Presenter for song words and liturgy, produced by Worship Tools. This is much quicker and easier to assemble and more intuitive to run than PowerPoint which it replaces. Currently the team is using the free version but there is a paid version offering more comprehensive facilities if needed in the future.

The tech team is always needing additional members, especially for sound operations which is the most critical area of shortfall. Training in all our tasks will be provided and currently this is already beginning to include some of our young people.

Roger Neal

Thursday Prayers

We have recently changed our time to 2.30pm and pray for around half an hour: for the needs of the church; the town and the world. The joint prayer time encourages us to continue through the week ahead. I have begun to sometimes put a topic for the week on our WhatsApp group. I hope this encourages some to join us in their own private prayer time.

Je an Barnett

Tuesday Bible Study

Tuesday Bible study continues. We sadly miss Dennis Howarth and Susan Permane, however we have been blessed with Brenda Cheeseman from Hampshire Avenue who joined us recently, along with our dear Emma by Marrs, making our total membership back up to five once more. We would Unknown love to have some more people join us on a Tuesday afternoon 2.30pmAuthor is licensed 4.00pm. We are reading and discussing the gospel of Mark at the under moment, as it coincides with the lectionary gospel this year. We enjoy a very open fellowship with each other which we would love to share.

Jean Barnett

Worship Planning Group

This group started to meet in September 2023 and includes representatives from different areas of church life, including, (among others), stewards, musicians, technicians, and worship leaders.

So far, the group has been involved in planning Christmas and Easter activities, which has meant a lot of discussion about the best way to provide worship for these events.

The group has not yet been able to plan worship before the preaching plan is produced so to date members have tried to provide music which complements the preacher. From now we hope to make suggestions for worship prior to the plan coming out.

It is recognised that Breakfast Church and the Praise and Preaching service have drawn in people who find those ways of worshipping more accessible, and the group is aiming to promote other ways of worshipping if possible, and to be more involved in local arrangement services.

Ruth Hill

Treasurer’s Report

High Street Methodist Church Financial Accounts Year 2022 – 23

Summary in ‘round’ numbers (to the nearest £1,000)

Our finances are divided into two categories:

General income and expenditure, and
Reserved or restricted funds.

Income for the year consisted of £175,000 into the General Account and £15,000 into Restricted Funds. A total of £190,000.

Expenditure from the General Account was £136,000, and from Restricted Funds was £7,000.

Overall cash in the bank grew from £164,000 to £211,000. (N.B. £8,000 of this belongs to one of our tenants, being a deposit against default of rental payments.)

Full details can be seen on the charts below.

Where does our income come from?

Your giving to our General Account was £72,000. When Gift Aid is added to this (£19,000 from the tax man) it brings the total of your generosity up to £91,000. Make a note of how important Gift Aid is.
If you are a taxpayer, please sign up for Gift Aid to be collected on your contributions. It increases the value of your gift by 25%.
A further part of our income results from letting of our properties. Currently all the properties are occupied which means that we gain a further £77,000 this way. This is not always the case.

How can you give?

First, and most important, on behalf of all the Church Trustees, our grateful thanks for the money and time that you give for the upkeep of the church, its work and ministry. Without these we could not continue.

The most efficient way of giving money is through a regular monthly standing order from your bank. Many members have now adopted this method. The benefits are:

It is paid whether you are in church this week or on holiday (or have forgotten your wallet!).
There are no fees deducted for the transaction.

However, be assured that we are pleased to receive your gifts whichever route you choose, be it card, cheque, cash, or through ChurchSuite. We are of course affected by inflation and welcome anything extra that you can give to offset rising costs.

This year we are also benefiting from 3 separate legacies. Have you written your will, and have you thought about giving in that way?

General Account (in pictures)

----- Start of picture text -----
Income vs Expenditure 1st Sept to 31st August 2023
£174,665.44
£200,000.00
Income
£180,000.00
£135,694.98
£160,000.00
Expenditure
£140,000.00
£120,000.00
£100,000.00
£80,000.00
£60,000.00
£40,000.00
£20,000.00
£0.00
1 2
£1,908.52 £5,004.10
Miscellaneous Interest
£72,016.052
£77,158.51
Donations
Property
Income
£18,578.26
Gift Aid
2528.55 2478.37
Adminstration Miscellaneous
54842.89
Property
75845.17
Mission
Expenditure
----- End of picture text -----

High Street Methodist Church	High Street Methodist Church	High Street Methodist Church	High Street Methodist Church	High Street Methodist Church	High Street Methodist Church	High Street Methodist Church
Income and Expenditure 1st Sept 2022 to				31st Aug 2023

				2022-23
General Income

Interest					£5,004.10
Donatons to Church Funds					£72,016.05
	Stripe			£4,160.98
	Cash			£4,454.05
	Cheques			£1,942.00
	Bank Transfer in			£60,169.02
HMRC JRS Grant (furlough)					£0.00
	Go Cardless			£1,290.00
Gif Aid					£18,578.26
Property Income					£77,158.51
	Room Rent			£14,663.53
	House Rent/Ofces/Shops			£62,494.98
Grants
Miscellaneous					£1,908.52


Total Income					£174,665.44

General Expenditure

Church Mission					£75,845.17
	Circuit Assessment			£69,976.00
	Music			£5,869.17
	Misc			£0.00
Property					£54,842.89
	Utlites and Insurance			£28,609.53
		Gas	£12,107.50
		Electricity	£7,693.67
		Water	£575.37
		Insurance	£8,232.99
	Church Maintenance			£13,370.60
	Investment Property Maintenance			£819.00
	Legal Fees			£0.00
	Caretaking Costs			£8,578.00
	New Equipment			£3,465.76
Administraton					£2,528.55
	Bank/Card Fees			£271.72
	Payroll Fees			£0.00
	Wages			£0.00
	Consumables			£1,052.45
	Telecomms/Broadband			£478.38
	IT costs			£726.00
	Audit/Ind Exam			£0.00
Publicity					£0.00

Miscellaneous					£2,478.37

Total Expenditure					£135,694.98

Income less Expenditure						£38,970.46

Balance brought forward					£126,929.54
Net Income vs Expenditure					£38,970.46
Transfer to Restricted Funds
Net Balance Carried forward					£165,900.00

High Street Methodist Church	High Street Methodist Church	High Street Methodist Church	High Street Methodist Church	High Street Methodist Church	High Street Methodist Church	High Street Methodist Church	High Street Methodist Church
Income and Expenditure 1st Sept 2022 to 31st Aug 2023
Ringfenced Funds					2022-23

		B/forward		Income		Expenditure	Closing Balance

*CHURCH FUNDS*

Benevolent Fund		£552.51		£72.75		£0.00	£625.26
Art Group		£200.00		£0.00			£200.00
Junior Church		£174.85		£0.00		£14.06	£160.79
Messy/Breakfast Church		£556.79		£0.00		£251.90	£304.89
Christmas Fair		£0.00	£1,574.12			£0.00	£1,574.12
Gif Day		£15,148.95	£0.00			£0.00	£15,148.95
Student Tokens		£0.00	£20.00			£0.00	£20.00
Library/Books		£325.00	£167.53			£224.77	£267.76
Frienship Hour		£0.00	£500.00			£100.00	£400.00
Grants		£0.00	£4,263.20			£77.20	£4,186.00
Diana's New Dishwasher Fund		£2,776.00	£0.00			£2,776.00	£0.00
Property Development Fund		£6,869.04	£5,518.62			£50.00	£12,337.66
Gang Show		£2,101.54	£0.00			£1,185.40	£916.14
TENANT DEPOSIT		£8,001.25	£55.99			£0.00	£8,057.24
Choir Fund		£191.77	£28.60			£66.86	£153.51

	TOTALS	£36,897.70	£12,200.81			£4,746.19	£44,352.32

*CHARITIES*

Water Aid		£25.50	£20.30			£45.80	£0.00
Acton for Children		£378.16	£1,222.62			£1,039.38	£561.40
Chrismas Charites		£0.00	£0.00			£0.00	£0.00
Ukraine		£251.98	£377.19			£609.17	£20.00
Missions		£0.00	£985.72			£842.47	£143.25
Whitechapel		£0.00	£0.00			£0.00	£0.00

	TOTALS	£655.64	£2,605.83			£2,536.82	£724.65

	GRAND TOTAL	£37,553.34	£14,806.64			£7,283.01	£45,076.97

High Street Methodist Church

High Street Methodist Church	High Street Methodist Church	High Street Methodist Church	High Street Methodist Church	High Street Methodist Church	High Street Methodist Church	High Street Methodist Church	High Street Methodist Church	High Street Methodist Church

			Balance sheet

				31st August 2023			31st August 2022
Assets
Cash/Cheques
HSBC	Current Account	£ 33,037.47					£ 20,259.47
	Deposit Account	£ 8,057.24					£ 8,001.25


CFB		£ 169,882.26					£ 136,222.16
	TOTAL				£ 210,976.97			£ 164,482.88


Funds

General Church Fund						£165,900.00
Benevolent Fund						£625.26
Art Group						£200.00
Choir Funds						£153.51
Friendship Hour						£400.00
Junior Church						£160.79
Messy/Breakfast Church						£304.89
Xmas Fair						£1,574.12
Gif Day						£15,148.95
Gang Show						£916.14
Library						£267.76
Grants						£4,186.00
Property Development Fund						£12,337.66
Diana's New Cooker Fund						£0.00
Whitechapel						£0.00
Ukraine						£20.00
Water Aid						£0.00
Christmas Charites						£0.00
Acton for Children						£561.40
Missions						£143.25
Student Tokens						£20.00
TENANT DEPOSIT						£8,057.24


						£210,976.97

Peter White

Church Treasurer

Our Mission is :

To be the Methodist Church in Maidenhead town centre responding to the gospel of God's love in Christ and living out our discipleship in worship and mission. We will do this through:

Worship which increases awareness of God’s presence and celebrates God’s love
Helping people to grow and learn as Christians, through mutual support and care
Being a good neighbour to people in need and challenging injustice
Leading more people to become followers of Jesus Christ

Our Vision is :

To be a visible, energetic, caring Christian community in the heart of the town, with an age range from zero to a century plus.

To provide engaging worship for adults and young people on Sunday, with Bible study, prayer and fellowship groups throughout the week.

To explore different styles of worship through Breakfast Church and other formats, in order to appeal to a wider cross section of the community.

To increase attendance and involvement through welcoming, fresh, and inviting social and worship activities.

To be financially viable through regular giving, generous donations, investments and grants.

To make our premises attractive, warm, comfortable, and inviting by refreshing, refurbishing and maintaining a high standard for the sanctuary and ancillary rooms.

To be seen as a community hub with our church buildings being a safe space for all ages and groups to meet from the Alzheimer’s Club to the Zumba Dance Class (A to Z).

To grow our relationship with the active Uniformed Organisations which have a long history of being engaged with us.

To help people in need and challenge social injustice through action and fund raising for Methodist and other local charities.

To widen our outreach, by continuing to broadcast our worship on YouTube, and by maintaining an informative and attractive on-line presence:

In Brief:

A caring Christian community in the heart of Maidenhead

Published by Maidenhead Methodist Church Address: High Street Methodist Church, King Street, Maidenhead, Berkshire, SL6 1EF Telephone: 01628 628104 (office) Website: www.methodistmaidenhead.org.uk

CHURCH RECEIPTS AND PAYMENTS ACCOUNTS THE METHODIST CHURCH STANDARD FORM OF ACCOUNTS Alaid•nhead H" h Street Methodht Church FOR THE YEAR ENDED 31 August 2024 Thamos Vallo Clrcuft Clrcult no. 36 3614 Reglstored Chartty . Charlty R•glstr•tlon numbor li not a registered charity HIS MaJesty'• Rev•nu• and Customs Glft Ald numbor (The HMRC number is equivalerrt to a registered chanty number in tems of evidence of charitable statu8 and may be used to give to donors or grant funders wishing to see evKlence of the organisation's chantable status. meth(18t charities in England arKI Wales that are not registered charities are exctspted from registration under Statutory Instrumenl 2014 No.242) 1129473 nister. Rev Dr Peter Philli Church Stewards: RuthH Margaret Maskell Elijah Kommu 18e Statham Felicity Ken(ioTh Treasurer. White Church-receipts4nd%Jayments-2024 lof5

ACCOUNTS FOR THE YEAR ENDED 31 AUGUST 2024 Maidenhead High Street Methodist Church Totsl• last SECTION A Funds a1 RECEIFITS Offerin s and Tax recovered Bank and CF8 interest and Inve5tm8nt irorne 90,594 a3 8.942 a4 L8ttin a5 Olhar r8c*ipls TOTAL RECEIPTS 27,870 27.870 28,038 182.458 14,109 186.886 a6 154,588 la7) SECTION bl PAYMENTS b2 Circuit Assessment or Share 69 976 b3 Donations rs and mainlanCe Ulilrties Ilnsurances, water charges. he8tsn hling} b5 28 610 b7 Other paym8nls TOTAL PAYMENTS 16,4L 139,028 2,478 2,478 18.884 141,806 15,622 140.441 (bg) SECTION C NET RECEIPTSIPAYMENTS FOR TME YEAR c1 a6 48 425 Total funds Ought foN8rd from last year 165 163 827 Sub total c1+c2 181460 210 252 an8fers and ad'uslments ¢7 TOTAL FUNDS AT END OF YEAR Ic3•c4) 181,460 70,489 251,929 {c8) 210.202 {c61 SECTION D FOR INFORAIATION ONLY: MONEY RECEIVED AND PASSED ON TO EXTERNAL ORGANISATIONS (th•M •mount• ar• not to be Included In total rncel urns •bov• d1 Balance ht f¢)pward from last 725 656 d2 Offerin sIGrfls . reVed for extemal sath.ons 573 d3 OfferingslGffts . passed to exlemal ¢NglsaI7S 1,272 2,537 d4 BALANCE STILL TO BE PAID d1+d2413 26 726 2of5

MawJèrthJ H" h Str¢ot Methodist CthM¥h Or . tot411 ¢dumnl BY CHURCH 261 929 TOTAL IIECEimi TOTAL •EcT F CHUN-CAlm FUIID8 HELD41 Ji B•nk 211 8 8VB TOTAL.¢hwvt •¢wthii• 210976 TOTALWH Full HELD 8YCMIJRCN 210 976 251.929 aecT G 31 3Y24 oniER A88ET8 LWALmE8 lIr & 9 007 939 f4 01 ¢tra P)d 3clS

Name of Church .. Ma•d•nh•ad Hiqh SBet M•tl¥>dl•t Declarations and Scrutiny I confirm Ihat these Receipt and pa1) based acc(ts for ts year lo 31 IgUSt 2024 have been prepared from the records of the Church and that they in¢th am fdS LXKler the contrcl of the Church trustees. Signature of treasurer .......... .. Name and address of treasurer........ G P l••lhit¢. Chwxlh. St Leonud5 HMI, W6ThJsor, SL4 4AT Prns•ntatlon to the Church trustees I confinn that the annual rep)rt and aCunts for the ye to the m88ting of Ihe Church trustees held on ..a. l.o.. ended 31 August 2024 ere11 bè. presented Signature of the Chalr of the meeting Name of the Chair of the meeting Independent Examlnefs Report to the Trustee8 of the Maldenhead Hlgh Street Methodlst Church Charlty Number.. 11294n Rospon8lbllttlH and basls of report I report trj the trustees on my examinaticffi of lh8 aCcOts of Ihe High Street melldISt Church for the year ended 31 August 2024 sel wt on pages 1 to 3. As the Church's truslees. you are responsible for the preparation of the accounts in acCOrdar vth Ihe reqiirements of the Charilies Act 2011 (Ihe Act,). I rewt in respect of my examination of Ihe Ch(Kch'$ x¢w)ts carried out under section 145 of the Act and, in cang out my examination, I have foHth•Ad aR the Direclions given by the Charity Commission under section 145(5){b) of the AL* ' delete or circle as appropnate 4rJf5

Name of Church .. Maidenhead Street MettTh Nrt 1129473 Independent Examlnerfs Ststement I have CA)mpleted my examination. I confimi that no material matters have come to my attention in connection wrth the examination (other than that disclosed below") which give me cause to believe that in. any material respect: the a(ountIng re(x)rds were not kept in ac(x*dance with section 130 of the Act; or the accounts do not accord with the aca)unting records. ' have no COnmS and have come across no other matters in connection wtth the examination to iich attention should be dra%yn in this report in order to enable a proper understanding of the accounts to be reached. Ihave not. obtained independent verification of all investments with the Trustees for Methodist Church Purposes or held in other trusts, bank balances and funds at the Central Finance Board of the Methodist Church which a individually in excess of £10.000 (ten thousand pounds) at the balan sheet date. signatu of independent examiner Name of independent examiner .Ib Kifvjfvjk .Relevant professional qualification of independent examiner Name of fin (where appropriate) Address Post Code SL&..+.A£.. Date delete or cirde as appropnate Church-receiptS-and-paymentS-2024 5ofS