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2020-12-31-accounts

St Gabriel’s Church, Aldersbrook Annual Report for year ending December 2020

1. PCC Review of the Year

The PCC led by Fr. Martyn continues to oversee the life of St. Gabriel’s in its wider relationships within the West Roding Mission Partnership and Redbridge Deanery, and the community of Aldersbrook. Fr Martyn continues in his role as Area Dean, and alongside Amelia Hart as secretary began a 12 month term leading the West Roding Mission Partnership.

Fr Chris Smaling, deputy head at a school in Islington continues as SSM associate priest, to offer key support as ex-officio member of the PCC, and in the development of missional strategy. Fr Mark Kenny remains associate priest at St Gabriel’s as well as working in changing full-time teaching and chaplaincy role in secondary education and occasional ministry in the parish of St Margaret’s Ilford where he lives.

The PCC met 9 times in the past year, including a mixture of Sunday and Tuesday meetings. In 2020 the PCC looked at ways of reaching out more effectively to the wider community had developed a proposal and publicity for a new monthly service for children and families, which it hoped to start after Easter 2020 but was curtailed due to Covid 19 lockdown restrictions.

The year began well with a grant to towards paying for the refurbishment of the car park which was arranged to complete in January, but due to weather conditions and Covid 19 was not completed until later in the year. The electrical works were completed in the hall.

New outreach mornings where set up in church, with stay and play on Mondays Tai Chi on Thursday mornings, there would also be a Golden oldies singing group on Tuesday afternoons for the older generation in the hall. Becca was to arrange activities for the younger generation through her youth work.

We then had lock down and needed to change all our plans. Fr. Martyn had PCC meetings and all church services arranged on Zoom. By midsummer fund raising was curtailed and the hall was closed. But by creative thinking saw a photographic grow your own vegetable show, a Covid 19 Cook Book organised, a Thanks Giving Quiz Night, and an invitation Quiz Night organised on Zoom with great success. Then an inspired table top Christmas Market organised in the car park.

Christmas services were organised as ticketed entrance events, also on Zoom and you tube which once again proved a great success. The Carol and Crib services (run twice to enable capacity) were particular highlights.

Other Activities Parish Hall

The hall remained a busy place for the first 3 months of 2020, hosting a variety of regular users including Pre-school, Uniformed Groups, Playgroup, Dance Class, Pilates, Yoga, Football, Gamestaars, Knit and Natter, Badminton as well as private party bookings and charity functions. This came to an abrupt halt in March with Covid restrictions stopping all activities. The only user who was able to return during 2020 was the Pre-school, with the obvious financial implications for church income. The PCC is most grateful to Nick Riley for managing the hall bookings so effectively.

Aldersbrook School

St Gabriel’s continues to have a good relationship with Aldersbrook School through hosting school events that cannot easily be accommodated in the school hall. For obvious reasons these have been almost non-existent in 2020, with class visits to church in the early part of the year only.

Pastoral Care

Pastoral care is of prime importance at St. Gabriel’s. The pastoral team, Amelia Hart, Margaret Filer and Dotsy Horsford provided support by listening, talking and praying with parishioners who needed a little additional support. This includes visits to parishioners at home, care home or hospital prompted by illness, bereavement or isolation. Home Communion may also be offered during one of our Pastoral Visits.

Pastoral care had to be adapted or suspended in 2020 because of the global pandemic. The first lockdown in March 2020 meant places of worship were closed for in person services. St. Gabriel’s moved onto holding worship online. Pastoral Assistant, Amelia Hart, spearheaded and co-ordinated a team that included Margaret, Dotsy and Clare, to ‘ring around’ to stay connected with parishioners. The team shared the task of contacting parishioners by telephone to offer pastoral support and updates on church notices. In particular, those who were isolated, vulnerable and shielding or those who have no access to modern technology were ensured to be supported. This remained the main way of pastoral support throughout the year. As restrictions eased, we were able to resume some face to face contacts by arranging doorstep visits or walk in the park. It was reassuring to find that most parishioners are resilient and often have their own friendship groups that provided mutual support.

Other pastoral activities including home visits, home communion and hospital visits were suspended. So were groups such as ‘Connections for Older People’, Tai Chi and the planned monthly ‘Goldies Sing-along’, Bereavement Cafe and Crown Court Chaplaincy.

Restrictions lifted early last summer, Churches were re-opened for private prayers, then In-person services with mask and social distancing in place and no singing. Some pastoral activities resumed briefly before the second Lockdown in October. Little ‘Bags of Cheers’ were made and delivered to parishioners to lift their spirits. It was disappointing to end the year in another lockdown.

In the coming year, the Pastoral team will:-

Stewardship, Fundraising & Mission Giving

It has been a challenge this past year to keep our stewardship and fundraising on track during the Covid pandemic. We thank all who continue to support the church through regular giving in the various methods – this is the core source of support for our mission as a church and we are grateful that so many already had in place Standing Orders, Parish Giving scheme accounts or other planned giving that continued during lockdown. This aspect of income held up well this past year, and was bolstered by some generous one-off donations.

Thanks also to everyone who organised and helped with fundraising events. Besides the income, more importantly, they strengthened our fellowship by having fun together and are a means to reach out to the wider community, especially during these isolating times. We produced a lockdown cookbook, had a bingo night, a Christmas market outdoors, took part in the jumble trail and had our own treasure hunt and quiz, and thanksgiving quiz.

We had amazing success with online support for Christian Aid in 2020, surpassing pre-covid fundraising efforts through the organisation of Sue Mutter and the help of many others. We also broke parish records for Carol singing fundraising for the Children’s Society in December and raised money to support Refugee Welcome Wanstead through the Vicar’s virtual London Marathon fundraising.

St Gabriel’s continues to support three charities with the money raised from tea and coffee after the service: A Rocha International (an environmental charity with reach into conservation – our overseas charity); Inclusive Church our national charity supporting inclusion in all aspects of church life; and Project Malachi a local homelessness project spearheaded by the Salvation Army in Ilford. Despite raising very little money due to no post-service refreshments we were able to contribute to each of these charities in 2020.

Outreach/Publicity

A communications group continues to work to fulfil our commitment to be an inviting church. This has worked on our Twitter, Instagram and Facebook presence as well as the more traditional means of fliers, posters and noticeboards.

We have been limited in the more traditional methods of communication with the parish in postcards and magazine, but have been able to deliver two publications in 2020 and prepare to return to more distributions in 2021.

9. WWA Youth Work

We had such a different year in 2020, but God moved mightily. Incredibly the church shone bright and adapted quickly to lockdown restrictions moving online using Zoom for all our youth groups. Throughout lockdown, Signpost and The Bridge youth clubs were offered more frequently than normal, meeting weekly and provided a great way to check in with one another, have fun and explore faith. We also offered game afternoons on Tuesdays and Saturdays, and on Sundays held a weekly youth Bible Study, prayer & check-in. Our summer CampAquasports- moved online with daily devotions and a Zoom night. Opening again in September, our clubs met face-to-face and it was so lovely to see each other once more. Becca developed a new vision and strategy to ultimately glorify God in all we do, working in unity across our MMU, making followers of Jesus through the leading of the Holy Spirit. By the time lockdown two hit in November, we moved everything online smoothly, and launched a social media account to host an online youth worship night, daily posts to connect young people to God & joined in with the #PrayerForTheNation- with the Church of England- praying daily Live at 6pm together across the UK. The Youth Music group were able to support Christmas Services, youth groups had face-to-face Christmas parties, and gift boxes delivered of Christmas treats to families just before lockdown three began.

A lot of change this year in so many ways, but the church has remained, often on the frontlines serving where it can, and Jesus steadfast, the rock

we all needed. It has been powerful to witness many young people grow in faith in this season, taking more time to pray for others, read scripture, and to take time to think and reflect, to question what is going on. Some struggled deeply with mental health, with boredom, with loss, with grief, fear, and doubt, and many discovered that thankfully God is with us in the good and the storms. He remains. We have an incredible team who believe in investing time, energy, talents, and skills into the lives of young people in our church, as well as our wider community. Thank you, we are so grateful for all the support, volunteering and prayers gifted. Thank you church family. May God bless you as you continue to honour the LORD and serve in His Kingdom. With lots of love, Becca. wwayouth@hotmail.com 07490 459850

Church Building / Fabric

A fairly peaceful and unusual year for work on the fabric of the Church and the Hall.

The carpark was resurfaced in July and transformed the broken uneven surface to a smooth tarmac finish. The work had been due to take place at the end of March but was delayed due to the lockdown. We now have a safer and more attractive surface with the added benefit that the area is now used by youngsters on skateboards and scooters.

For many years there has been a problem with water from the side aisles roofs backing up and entering the building. Regular clearing of the roofs is necessary, and this year we have installed new ‘cages’ on the drain outlets to reduce the problem of blockages.

Repairs and repainting has been carried out where water had caused damage on the wall near the statue of Our Lady. There is still a rather mysterious intermittent leak nearby over the organ loft. This is due to be investigated.

Work has started on the boxing in of the new heating pipe work in the glass box and behind the font. Some safety measures have been carried out in the organ ‘blower’ room. This involved installing a safety cage over the drive shaft of the blower.

The Church is very aware of the use of gas for heating the Church and the Hall and the urgency of moving towards a carbon neutral solution. A revised scheme for an air sourced heat pump system was considered, but

the capital cost and the removal of the Government incentives prevented this going ahead. At present the installation of solar panels on the Hall roof is under consideration. Our list of future projects to the Church include:

Future work to the hall include:

So, once again, no shortage of challenges in the years to come.

Finance Review

Total receipts on ordinary Unrestricted funds were £88,908 (2019: £123,741) and those of Restricted funds were £311 (2019: £2,492) providing an overall income total of £89,219 (2019: £126,233).

£107,740 (2019: £139,116) was spent to provide the Christian ministry from St Gabriel’s Church. It also includes the contribution to the diocesan parish share, which largely provides the stipends and housing for the clergy our contributions for 2020 were reduced during the last 4 months of the year due to significant shortfall in revenue from coronavirus. The sum that the churches in the Deanery have had to find is shared between the churches according to a formula that is based mainly on a head count of the congregations.

The net result for the year was an excess of payments over receipts amounting to £18,522 (2019: £12,883). This was due to a shortfall in income due to coronavirus restrictions preventing normal operation of the church and church hall.

Considering bank and deposit balances brought forward at the beginning of the year, the balances carried forward at 31 December amounted to

£52,319 (2019:£ 71,152) for Unrestricted and Designated funds and

£2,906,302 (2019:£ 710,544) for Restricted funds. It must be noted that this large rise is as a result of revisions by our insurer to the insurance value of the church hall.

Reserves policy

It is PCC policy to maintain a balance on unrestricted funds (if possible), which equates to approximately six month’s unrestricted payments, to cover emergency situations that may arise from time to time. The balance of Unrestricted and Designated Reserves total £52,319 at the year-end is slightly under this target.

DEANERY SYNOD REPORT

Deanery synod meetings in 2020 were very limited due to the covid pandemic, with meetings cancelled and then a single zoom meeting in November to prepare for Synod elections and new Standing committee appointments due in January 2021.

Review of Objectives for 2020 and New objectives for 2021

1. Community

Objectives for 2020

1. St Gabriel’s commits to continue to engage with the climate emergency and take forward our PCC resolution to be a zero Carbon church by 2030. The next step towards that aim is an Eco Church Award.

2. To work towards an older people’s outreach event with Goldies.

Objective 1 was met with Bronze award attained. Objective 2 was in place to be met until Covid prevented such gatherings from occurring

No new objectives have been set for 2021, with the priority being to build back stronger as a parish from Covid-19

2. Developing our skills and growing leaders

2020 Objectives

1. Through a new Sunday morning service to develop opportunities for both young and old to be part of leading and directing a new venture for St Gabriel’s.

This objective was set to be met until Covid restrictions prevented the new service from starting. No new objectives have been set for 2021.

3. Worship 2020 Objective:

To start and develop a new monthly service called The Sunday Feast to meet the needs of families and children new to Aldersbrook or new to church

This objective was set to be met until Covid restrictions prevented it from taking place. No new objectives have been set for 2021.

The PCC Membership

The PCC Membership The PCC Membership
During the year, the following served on the PCC:
Incumbent Fr. Martyn Hawkes From May 2011
Associate Priest Fr. Mark Kenny Ex-officio
Associate Priest Fr. Chris Smaling Ex-officio
Churchwardens Rachel Port 2020
David Plumbley 2016
Deanery Synod Reps Kevin Thomas 2020-2023
Pat Pratley 2020-2023
Teresa Smith 2020-2023
Elected Members Lilian New 2020-2023
Dotsy Horsford 2020-2023
Sue Maudsley 2018- 2021
Ken Lang 2018 – 2021
Rachel Port 2018-2021 (elected c/w)
Nick Riley 2019-
Hon Secretary Ken Lang 2019-
Hon Treasurer Nick Riley 2019-

Other officers

Safeguarding Officer Caroline Ferguson Pastoral Assistant Amelia Hart Stewardship Officer Sara Bertrand Youth Worker Becca Kemal Electoral Roll Officer Sara Bertrand Data Protection Officer Sara Bertrand

Structure, Management and Governance

Operates under Parochial Church Councils Measure. Is a Registered Charity, Charity number: 1129673. Appointment of PCC members are according to Church Representation Rules. Subcommittees are currently: Standing, Pastoral, Worship and Fabric.

Function

Responsible to co-operate with the incumbent to promote the ecclesiastical parish, the pastoral, evangelistic, social and ecumenical mission of the church. To follow the church’s objectives as set out in the Mission Statement. Members of the PCC are ex-officio or elected by the Annual Parochial Council Meeting in accordance with the church representation rules.

Independent Examiner: Robert Munden Name of Bankers: Cooperative Bank PLC Registered No. : 990937

Facts and figures Electoral Roll: Number registered: 111 Number residing in the parish: 64

Worship

There are normally two Sunday services, Holy Communion at 8:30am and Parish Sung Eucharist at 10am (with healing on the first Sunday of the month). Mid-week Holy Communion service is held each week on Wednesday at 11am. Approximately monthly there is a Sunday Evensong. Also monthly are services of, prayer and contemplation at the blessed sacrament followed by Eucharist, on 2[nd ] Tuesday at 8pm, and Contemplative prayer on 4[th ] Tuesday also at 8pm. On Monday-Thursday, Morning Prayer is at 8am with Evening Prayer at 5pm.

This pattern had to be adjusted in 2020, but much was able to continue online. Our new “Sunday Feast” service aimed at Families and children did manage a tentative start during the year, but then had to suspend until a restart in 2021.

When in person services were possible, average communicant numbers at Sunday 10am and Wednesday 11am services were estimated to be at about two/thirds normal levels, (ie:Sun 40, Wed 10), with others participating online.

Communicants at major festivals:-

Easter Sunday - 0 (Easter was during first full lockdown) Christmas - 107 72 (Much reduced by anticipation of Jan2021 lockdown)

Occasional Services in 2020 :-

There were 0 Baptisms, 1 wedding and 3 funerals in church.

Lent and Advent Quiet events could only be held virtually, however an Epiphany Messy Church event was run in January before Covid intervened.

We also have a Spiritual Book Club and a Bible Study Group. We usually run a biennial Parish retreat to Pleshey, and also run an annual three parish pilgrimage with St Luke’s, Ilford and St Margaret of Antioch, Ilford in September each year, but obviously neither of these were possible in 2020.

St Gabriel's Aldersbrook End of Year Financial Statements Year Ending 2020

Forthe wiod from 01 Janu•y 2020 to 31 Decembgr 2020 totslfvnds S￿?￿$ 3IOJ5 126233A6 107.7) 1•7.740.22 139.115M {t8mL6n 310J5 V¢1.rn {12M 21&13 ?1&131 21&13 (215.13) (430.26} Z19&447.L al￿.447.[ 119&757JS 1176x520 111W2A31 7WJS 2x75 71•￿%1 781.695.81 794J7824 195i621m 781.695M1 28 70W.9S H&Ad¥y CJb 58.75 S8.75 (kn¥FwKI Charty F￿d ¢huKh FuThJ ¢Ji H•¥knu Futhl 1,11Q(13 19W.IXJJ.fD 7D4.553.LKt 81&C FgbriCF￿ Fk￿WF￿j 157.D) 151.C ¢Jgan Ar 34A3 3.591.99 3.594.93 Y+)Jth Fw>J 815.10 82&10 82&10 01 2￿21 pa￿ 1

Statement of Assets and Liabllilies (by fundl Prev￿U$ bO￿nCe Balance Tanyibte assets Chutth Fund 7fy1.&53.00 704,553.IXI Cash at bankand In hand 46.T25SB 65.3fd.33 260.00 Chaty FurJ Fst W0￿jwar 1.110.03 759.74 232.00 owtr Fund Hdiday Cljb Or9an FurKI 15Y 58.75 3,594.93 137. 58.7S 3.W.93 355.(K) ChapLq Y(xth Fund 82&10 757 825.10 11.L9.001 SI￿7$￿5 70,26&85 General*uatt 4.912.40 4.91140 4￿2￿0 491140 348.18 348.18 348.18 34&18 4112 42.12 4112 4112 184.92 59.34 826.74 Charity Fwxl 1rnJlO 59.378AS 76,640.55 DI W 2021 Paga 1

Prevlous balance 757 1502281 75T 15W61 7S7.56 {$11226) Grand Total 1958,621.09 781.695.81 ¥rf4 2021 Pa98 2

Alder5bnx>k SLGabrfel Re￿Ipts and payments SeleGted period: 01 January 2020 to 31 December 2020 From 01 January 2020 To 31 December 2020 01 January 2019 31 Dtremb8T 2019 Note General-General lund IUnYestrl¢ted) Fund GrftAid. B* 15.951.Tr) 6.54& Z744.fX) 11.714.55 869.37 1,665. 12,815.D) 8.431AO 1.954ALI 14.513.31 1.480.20 4.719.02 4320.00 1.361.09 661.18 One-off Grft grf15 4.524 29320 1,152.¥2 143.14 56.70 1.00 6.546.70 3.628.57 5.OW.00 PAessy 7.582.13 191192 343.￿1 6473211 1.97& 11243.15 3,663.00 28233.74 f426&15 31.89&74 9.409ffj3 1.69&1X) 31.55 11281.85 825.69 58.77 81o.rKJ Ew Furmlra 11,13&38 1197L31 1Q.55 10.55 128. 8.160.00 2,488.00 1.350.IK) Rent frun Hall Flgt 4160 12,124.90 907.55 123.74O.61 Ra￿a￿alu¥￿Js 22&C(J 351.90 313.96 I 2021 Paga 1

From 01 January 2[120 To 31 DeeernbBr 2020 01 January 2019 31 De¢eml)trr 2019 Note 3.027.54 53.484.L 4.1W.00 1.74Q.DJ 1.821.fAI 1561.80 64.741.f 4235. 1&84.00 616.iKJ 3.3T/.09 475.38 6Y2.e2 3,C67.43 240.00 Z.535.OJ 3,507.52 753.50 6,412.63 1.449.44 2.420.99 2,554.90 1275.67 12.10 3,4D).13 66E.17 4.rxy).Ix) 6.5WJ21 orga￿P1ar￿) bmig etc Z5>J.14 2.847.80 1.f3628 Clxu¢h daaniw et¢ W(x5hry) Expet 1.79325 1145.39 1,￿.39 Churth tunrnYJ. gas 685.59 6722 ity). 124.07 1744.161 151.84 1113.15 15S.65 (780.(K)I 1.395.n 1.646.59 189.31 Hall Fkt Ects)ty 1,48824 1.540.49 H815 rUnr￿ry. 825.12 3.328.96 24328 10.30128 9.596.00 10.170. 134.5T4.51 107.74022 135.010.97 118.&316n 70.860.95 5102828 111.270261 82,131.31 70.860.95 ot knI 2021 Page 2

From 01 Januwi 2020 To 31 Oecember2020 111 January 2019 31 De¢ember 201 260.00 260.00 BuildsngGt- Bullding Grants Fund {Re5tr1cted) Fund Charlty- Chaifty Fund IR•strret8d) Fur 1.547.08 2￿.95 7,547.08 225.n 22&n l.T1185 Expenditu 4.IW4.¥2 4004.92 2￿.95 819.08 12232.071 3.051.15 819.lyd 1,110.03 01 W" ￿21 P*J83

From 01 January 2020 To 31 Dec•rn￿ 2020 ot January 2019 31 De¢ember 2019 Note Ch¥ehHIBlg-Churth Hall Bu4dlrtg Fund IRestrithffj Fund 704.&5&(XI 2.t&fj.447. 900,0ty).00 704,553.00 704553.00 Chur¢hHoat. Church H•allry Fund (Restrw Fund Fabri¢- Fabric Fund IRestricW FUE VIMPROJ . Flrst World War Menwial Proieci ID8swJnaleffj Fund ZJ2.DJ 23100 232.ljo Flowers. Flower Fund IRestrl¢ted) Fund 20.00 2th00 Expendmu 1￿.[m) 100.00 I80.￿1) 217.rx) 137. 157.00 137.00 01 2￿21 PaJe4

Fmm 01 202 To 31 D•¢•mbBr 2020 01 January 2019 31 De¢embeT ￿19 Club- Holltsy ¢￿b IDeslWd} Fund 58.75 58.75 58.75 .75 Organ .(￿n Fund IRestri¢ted) Fund 3.594.93 3.5￿93 3,509.93 3,S94S3 Snkctcy. Snoresbroo* Cowt Cl¥qpkninty (Resfylttttd) Fund 355.tKJ 355. 35&00 355.00 355.ofl Youth-youth Fund (Restrktedl Fund 825.10 825.10 825.10 825.10 Cerbtonary- Centenary ID8slgnat¢dl Fund 01 W 2021 P•J8 S

From 01 January 2020 01 January 2019 To 31 DecembeT2020 yé Decern￿ 2019 INSUL. ChuTth Insulatlon Rwtw¥al IRestrkW Fund Emerg2010. Emeryency Appeal 2010 IReslrKW Fund leonMosai¢. konA1090i¢ (Restslcted) Fund Office. Office Fund IRestri¢W Fund Parafft. Parapet Restrlcted (Restricted) Fund TFG-Trme For God Voluni*erlDe5iynaiEdl Fund 01 W 2Q1 P¥)&6

Independent Examiner’s Report to the PCC of St Gabriel’s Parish Church, Aldersbrook, Wanstead.

This report on the financial statements of the PCC for the year ended 31 December 2020 is in respect of an examination carries out in accordance with the Church Accounting Regulations 2006 (‘the Regulations’) and section 145 of the Charities Act 2011 (‘the Act’).

Respective Responsibilities of the PCC and the Examiner

As members of the PCC you are responsible for the preparation of the financial statements; you consider that the audit requirement of the Regulations and of the Act does not apply. It is my responsibility to issue this report on those financial statements in accordance with the terms of the Regulations.

Basis of this Report

My examination was carried out in accordance with the General Directions given by the Charity Commission under section 145(5)(b) of the Act and to be found in the Church guidance, 2011 edition. That examination includes a review of the accounting records kept by the PCC and a comparison of the accounts with those records. It also includes considering any unusual items or disclosures in the financial statements and seeking explanations from you as trustees concerning any such matters. The procedures undertaken do not provide all the evidence that would be required in an audit, and consequently I do not express an audit opinion on the view given by the accounts.

Independent Examiner’s statement

I have completed my examination. I confirm that no material matters have come to my attention, other than that disclosed below, in connection with the examination which gives me cause to believe that in any material respect the requirements.

In carrying out my examination I noted the following:

Robert Munden FCCA 1A Woodlands Avenue Wanstead, London, E11 3RA