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← The Parochial Church Council Of The Ecclesiastical Parish Of Saint Andrew And Saint Mark, Surbiton

2023-12-31-accounts

2023

Annual Report of the Parochial Church Council

Registered Charity Number: 1130093

Address: The Parish Office, St Mark’s Church, St Mark’s Hill, Surbiton, Surrey, KT6 4LS Presented to the the Annual Parochial Church Meeting on 29 May 2024

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Contents

Contents
STRUCTURE, GOVERNANCE AND MANAGEMENT 4
The Parochial Church Council 4
Charitable Status 2
Objectves and Actvites 2
Public Beneft 3
Day-to-day Management 3
Sub-Commitees 3
Risk Management 4
PROFESSIONAL ADVISORS 5
Bankers and Fund Managers 5
Insurers 5
Solicitors 5
Architect 5
Organ Maintenance 5
Piano Maintenance 5
Independent Examiner 5
VICAR’S REPORT, FOR ANNUAL REPORT OF 2023 6
Introducton 6
Public beneft 6
Hello and Goodbye 7
Morning Worship on Sundays 9
Christmas 10
Marriage, Baptsm and Funerals 11
Confrmaton 12
Celebraton of St Andrew’s 150thAnniversary 12
Sub Commitees and Volunteer posts within the Church 12
Status of 1, The Mall 13
Communicaton 13
Parish Support Fund for the Diocese 14
Christan Study 15
The Coronaton 15
Eco Fair 15
SASM Junior School 15
Children and youth work 16
Uniformed groups 17
ADULT CHRISTIAN MINISTRY 18
Afernoon Bible Studies at St Mark’s 18
Morning Home Group 18
Evening Home Group 18
Discipleship Sub-Commitee 18
MUSIC 19
Adult Choir 19
Children’s Choir and new “Youth Choir” 20
Pianists 21
PASTORAL CARE 23
Outreach and Service to the Community 23
ECO COMMITTEE 23
Terms of reference 23
Overview 24
FLOWERS 24
KINGSTON DEANERY SYNOD 2023 25
SOUTHWARK DIOCESAN SYNOD 25
PROPERTY 26
St Andrew’s 26
St Mark’s 26
Both churches 27
FINANCE 29
Accounts summary 29
Income 29
Expenditure 29
Income against Expenditure 30
Parish Accounts 2023 32

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PAROCHIAL CHURCH COUNCIL OF

SAINT ANDREW AND SAINT MARK, SURBITON

REPORT FOR THE YEAR ENDED 31 DECEMBER 2023

Structure, Governance and Management

The Parochial Church Council

Members of the Parochial Church Council (PCC) hold office in accordance with the Church Representation Rules – either ex-officio; or by election or appointment at the Annual Parochial Church Meeting; or by co-option.

The following served as members of the PCC for all or part of the period from 1 January 2023 until approval of the financial statements on 17 April 2024:

Anne Barker ***

Valerie Baxter ***

The Reverend Carole Bourne *

Gary Buckley

Fiona Caldwell

Helen Goepel ***

Andrew Horn

Diana Lewis – Churchwarden and Treasurer

Christopher Madden

Toni Mitchell

Dan Nmadu

Rod Pearson – Churchwarden

The Reverend Janice Price

Katherine Reed – PCC Secretary and Churchwarden

Jackie Robbs*

Emma Rush

The Reverend Robert Stanier – Chairman

Michael Smith –Churchwarden * and **

Ian Wilson ***

Eileen Wingrove

Notes:

** Denotes a member who joined the PCC between 1 Jan 2022 and 14 May 2023

*** Denotes a member of the Kingston Deanery Synod

Anne Oram served as Minutes secretary from November 2023.

The PCC is responsible for making decisions on all matters of general concern and importance to the parish, including deciding how the funds of the PCC are to be spent. All eligible members of the congregation are encouraged to register on the Electoral Roll and to stand for election to the PCC.

Charitable Status

The PCC has charitable status and the members of the PCC are the trustees. The charity is registered with the Charity Commission under the number 1130093.

Objectves and Actvites

The sole charitable object of the PCC is the promotion of the Gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ according to the doctrines and practices of the Church of England. In furtherance of this object the PCC has a statutory responsibility to co-operate with the minister in promoting in the parish the whole mission of the church, pastoral, evangelistic, social, environmental, and ecumenical.

The PCC continues to achieve its primary object by:

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Public Beneft

The Trustees are aware of and consider the guidance of the Charity Commission on public benefit including, in particular, the specific guidance on charities for the advancement of religion. The charity fulfils its public benefit requirement through the provision of opportunities for public and private Christian worship in its two churches. It provides teaching in the Christian faith. It offers pastoral care to members of the congregation, residents in the parish and others. It supports other charities throughout the world. It organises outreach social activities for church members and others in the community including a Christmas Day lunch for people who would otherwise be alone. It contributes to the work of the wider Church of England, particularly in the Diocese of Southwark.

Further information about the charity’s activities is provided later in this report.

Day-to-day Management

The PCC has delegated some of its functions (but not its trustee responsibilities) to a number of groups and people who report regularly to the PCC. In addition, certain individuals, including the sacristans and the director of music, fill specific roles in the running of the parish and are authorised to incur expenditure on behalf of the PCC within prescribed limits.

Sub-Commitees

These committees produced helpful work and met regularly, with the exception of the children and young people committee.

A list of the sub-committees reporting to the PCC (some of which have delegated budgets in support of their work) is set out below, and reports from the subcommittees are contained in this Report.

Risk Management

The PCC has reviewed the risks to which it may be exposed, and it considered that the systems which have been established are suitable for the minimisation of such risks,

for safeguarding the assets of the PCC, and for the prevention and detection of fraud. A risk register is maintained which is reviewed annually by the PCC.

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Professional Advisors

Bankers and Fund Managers

National Westminster Bank plc, 10 Victoria Road, Surbiton, Surrey KT6 4JY

CAF Bank Ltd, 25 Kings Hill Avenue, Kings Hill, West Malling, Kent ME19 4JQ

CCLA Investment Management Limited, 85 Queen Victoria Street, London EC4V 4ET

Insurers

Ecclesiastical Insurance Group, Benefact House, 2000 Pioneer Avenue, Gloucester Business Park, Brockworth, Gloucester GL3 4AW

Solicitors

Winckworth Sherwood LLP, Minerva House, 5 Montague Close, London SE1 9BB

Palmers Solicitors, 89-91 Clarence Street, Kingston upon Thames KT1 1QY

Architect

Sue Kent BSc Dipl. Arch RIBA, Inspecting Architect, Howard: Fairbairn : MHK, Chartered Architects, Lambourn House, Redlands, Coulsdon, Croydon, Surrey CR5 2HT

Organ Maintenance

B C Shepherd & Sons, Pipe Organ Builders, 1 Mill Ridge, Edgware, Middlesex HA8 7PE

Piano Maintenance

Victor Kee, Piano Tuning and Repairs, 126 Amyand Park Road, St. Margarets, Twickenham TW1 3HP

Independent Examiner

Timothy Brown, A.C.A., 50 The Ridings, Surbiton, Surrey KT5 8HQ

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Vicar’s Report, For Annual Report of 2023

Introducton

2023 was a year of continued recovery after Covid, with some notable celebrations, in particular the King’s coronation, and St Andrew’s 150[th] anniversary. It was also marked with sadness as a greater number of congregation members with really significant involvement in the life of the church died than would be expected in any given year.

Public beneft

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Hello and Goodbye

In terms of welcome, in September, Janine Turland joined the parish office as overall Property Manager, taking over from Clare Chesterman to work alongside Janene Olivier whose work is more focused on administration in the parish.

The Reverend Janice Price, who had originally joined the parish twenty years ago as a reader, was ordained priest in 2023 at All Saints church, Kingston and presided at the eucharist for the first time in July.

Toni Mitchell completed her training as a Southwark Pastoral Auxiliary’ and was licensed at Southwark Cathedral on October 8[th] . She was received in her new role by the congregation on October 15[th] . It is wonderful that she brings her wisdom and fun to this role, especially after Sarah Stokes’ departure (see below).

The Reverend Michael Johns-Perring completed his curacy and left in March to become priest in charge at St Fillan’s Episcopal Church, Buckstone, on the outskirts of Edinburgh. In his time with us, he had a wonderful combination of pastoral sensitivity, gentle humour and dedicated work ethic: among many things, he co-ordinated the Eco Committee, the Audio Visual Committee, served as Deputy Chair of Governors at SASM Junior School, and led the Tuesday evening Bible study group. He has been greatly missed.

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Sarah Stokes stepped down as SPA. She has given over a decade’s worth of commitment to a variety of areas in church, including visiting the elderly, galvanising the Sunbeams group and being a wider source of pastoral support for a host of people in all sorts of situations. She will continue to be involved in some of these areas, but not in a formal role.

Clare Chesterman left after eleven years in the parish office. She was the first parish administrator after both the refurbishment of both churches in 2012; as well as conducting herself with patience and kindness and being a welcoming first point of call for many to the church, she pioneered the way the halls and buildings could be let, as well as helping out in numerous ways with church administration. It is a sign of how much work she did that effectively her job has been expanded, as two people now take 40 hours to do what originally was a 25 hour a week role. In the summer, she was recruited by the diocese to join the Bishop of Southwark’s office in Trinity House.

2023 had an unusually high number of funerals, both of people who died within the parish who were mostly unconnected with church, but also among some core members of the congregation. Just to mention people who were regular members of our worshipping community:

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All are greatly missed. May they rest in peace and rise in glory.

Morning Worship on Sundays

2023 saw a steady growth on 2022, as people who had moved into Surbiton during Covid times gradually started trying out coming to church, and the regularity of worship to God being offered came back into people’s lives; this increase took place even though over a dozen regular attenders have either died during the year, or stopped being able to attend in person because of health issues.

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Sunday morning attendance
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Sunday morning attendance Linear (Sunday morning attendance)
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The above chart shows Sunday morning atendance since 2008, including adults and children for all morning services, but avoiding double counts if possible. The 2020-23 fgures include Zoom atendance as well as in person atendance. For 2023, the average on Zoom is just 5.

Within the services on a Sunday morning,

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Overall, in church attendance, there has been continuous growth in each of the last three years: it is just that the fall in the Covid Year, 2020, was so great that overall in-person attendance is still 10% lower than in 2019.

Zoom attendance continued to decline from its high of 2020 and 2021, as people are happier to come to church in person. However, Zoom is proving an invaluable way of helping those who are ill for a time and house-bound to be able still to attend services as well as some people coming from further afield. The ability to livestream services is of increasing importance as part of our offer for occasional offices.

In another note about the return to worship after Covid, most people are happy now to receive the sacrament in both kinds, but for some people, this is still something they hold back from. People tend not to shake hands at the Peace as they used to: perhaps people prefer it this way.

Christmas

From 2009 to 2019, the explosive growth in Christmas attendance – more than doubling in ten years - was a significant feature of the church’s life: this took a knock with the Lockdowns, but 2023 showed a continued rebuild and attendance is back to where it was in 2015 and 2016.

The graph below is the cumulative attendance total for: Parish Christmas Carol service, Christingle services on Christmas Eve, Midnight Mass and Christmas morning. (It does not include the 3,000 adults and children who attended a school carol service hosted at St Mark’s church.)

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Christmas At t endance
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Marriage, Baptsm and Funerals

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"Occasional offices" at St Andrew and St Mark
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Baptisms Marriages Funerals
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Funerals continued to be offered at a higher frequency than has been typical this century. The presence of the Reverend Carole Bourne has been critical in enabling this to be possible, especially after The Reverend Michael JohnsPerring’s departure. However, the post-Lockdown boom in baptisms has now subsided. For most of 2023, very few people were coming forward for marriage, but happily that has shifted. Although there were only nine marriages between 2020 and 2023, a further nine are due to take place in 2024, more than in any single year since 2018.

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Confrmaton

Two adults from the congregation, Eva Kortvelyesiova and Sylvie Tyler-Moore, were confirmed by the Bishop of Kingston, the Right Reverend Martin Gainsborough, at a service on 8[th] October, 2023 at St John the Baptist, Malden after a series of confirmation classes given by the vicar.

Celebraton of St Andrew’s 150[th] Anniversary

Work on the construction of St Andrew’s Church began in 1871, and was completed in 1872. At the time of its 150[th] anniversary in 2022, unfortunately, problems with the internal ceiling at St Andrew’s had meant it was declared unsafe to enter the church (see previous year’s report) and so the anniversary was marked a year late, on July 15[th] , 2023, with a glorious afternoon eucharist, including a specially commissioned piece of music, sung by the joint children’s, youth and adult choirs, ‘Come and See’ written by Russell Hepplewhite, based on Jesus’ words to St Andrew in the first chapter of John’s Gospel. All this was followed by a slap-up tea. Most of the previous vicars of St Andrew’s, still living, were able to attend, and thanks was given for the chance to worship in this amazing building for the last century and a half.

Sub Commitees and Volunteer posts within the Church

2022 continued the committee structure first re-introduced in 2017.

All the committees – ‘finance’, ‘discipleship’, ‘charity and social action’, ‘eco’, ‘social’ – produced helpful work and met regularly. The ‘children’s’ committee did not meet as it was hard to find a core membership moved away or was indisposed. Three new volunteers started to offer leadership at Sunday Club, however, which is a good sign. The standout achievement was the Eco-fair coordinated by the Eco-Committee.

Valerie Baxter’s knee injury meant that she had to step back for a time from her duties as sacristan. Many people, including Helen Goepel and Anne Barker, assisted with her duties.

Michael Smith was forced to step down from being churchwarden, to which he had just been elected, because of health issues.

Diana Lewis held the role of both churchwarden and treasurer; Katherine Reed became a churchwarden as well as being secretary.

It is a perennial cry that there are insufficient volunteers for the tasks to be done, but it should be noted that this year there have been challenges in getting the right balance of volunteers who are free and able to give time to a

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number of 0roles in church. There was no Health and Safety Officer in post in 2023, for example. While it is wonderful when people volunteer, it should be hoped that the role is not too onerous. It could be a good time to review the church’s expectations on volunteers, and it may be necessary to pare back some activities in order to focus on others.

Status of 1, The Mall

It is worth noting that 1, The Mall, is still technically owned by the parish on an equity-linked loan from Southwark Diocese and the Church Commissioners. The parish pays the interest on the initial loan (made in the early Nineties for around £125,000), but the Diocese and the Church Commissioners own the equity in the house.

Any repairs and work are paid for by the diocese, and after The Reverend Michael Johns-Perring left, a considerable number of refurbishments were made at the property in the summer of 2023 for whoever lives in it next. The diocese’s plan, for the last six years, has been to buy out the Church Commissioners and then fully own the property, with an awareness that it is likely to continue to be used by curates at St Andrew’s and St Mark’s. A meeting was held in October with the vicar and the treasurer from the parish side, and the head of finance at the diocese and the outgoing diocesan secretary, where the diocese’s desire to do this was reiterated.

The parish, at that point, would cease paying interest on the loan. However, in each of the six years, there has not been sufficient funds in their capital plan to do this. Thus, the financial arrangement at 1, The Mall, which was surely intended to be temporary at its inception thirty years ago, is still in place.

It is hoped that a curate will arrive to live there from mid-2025, and in the meantime, there may be a commercial let: this is handled by the diocese.

Communicaton

Online forms of communication continued to be important.

Arguably, the central hub of parish communication has remained the extended reach of the weekly email, which by the end of the year was going to around 588 subscribers, with an ‘open’ rate of just over 60%. This continues to be a key method of communication for church events and prayers, and for Zoom codes to be disseminated.

Our Facebook page is another significant hub, including general parish news.

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Our website has done well, but is due an update. Our YouTube channel had 195 subscribers at the end of the year. The channel had a total of 11,000 views in 2023, a figure disproportionately enhanced by two sermons summarising the vicar’s view of same sex blessings and marriage in the Church of England, which garnered 8,000 views between them, reflecting intense online interest in that area. Emma Rush has taken charge of editing the Parish’s feed on X, formerly known as Twitter, and ensures 1 or 2 posts come out each week, boosting our presence there.

A typical sermon video had only about 60 views, though ten sermons reached an audience of over 100.

The magazine, ‘Spire and Tower’ has not been issued since The Reverend Michael Johns Perring left the parish. No one has been able to give the time and energy to get it going. To some extent, this is compensated by the online content being generated by the parish, but it is a loss.

Parish Support Fund for the Diocese

Chart Four: giving to Southwark diocese by the parish

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In anticipation of the rise in the cost of utilities and other inflation related costs, in 2022, the parish opted to lower its PSF contribution for 2023. Recognising that things were on a surer footing, but still not easy, the 2024 contribution to the diocese PSF represented an increase of 4%.

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Christan Study

In 2022, home groups were reintroduced, with a Tuesday evening group meeting roughly fortnightly. Even after The Reverend Michael Johns-Perring’s departure there was also a fortnightly Bible study at St Mark’s, led by Jackie Robbs, with such healthy numbers that they have gone into two groups.

The Coronaton

After the successful Jubilee party in 2022, the Church marked the King’s Coronation in the summer with a special breakfast in St Mark’s, followed by a screening of the Coronation on the big screen. Hugely popular; over 300 people joined, and there was a jovial atmosphere in general, but at the actual point of coronation, a genuine bit of awed silence came over the church.

Eco Fair

The parish staged its first Eco-fair on Saturday June 3[rd] , an event aiming to make people consider living more sustainable lifestyles. There were a host of stalls, including people making ornaments and jewellery from recycled materials; shops offering ‘refill’ services for soap, washing liquid, shampoo etc.; local beekeepers. Money was also raised from the Blue Marine Foundation. The project received a grant of £1,300 towards the staging, from Kingston Council, and was organised overall by Tessa Stanier. Over 300 people came through the doors and the event achieved its purpose.

OTHER SECTIONS

SASM Junior School

SASM Junior School has thrived under its headteacher, Matthew Gates, working well alongside the new deputy head, Sarah Crowther. Their choir performed again at the Christmas Fair.

People who have served as Foundation Governors this year are: Reverend Robert Stanier, Ruth May, Lucy Davis, Shafaly Khan and The Reverend Michael Johns-Perring. Diocesan governors are Anne Barker and Joy Aboim.

The vicar has continued to serve as chair. The quality of support offered by the parish in this way is a major contribution to the wider Surbiton community.

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Children and youth work

There is no question that the biggest demographic in the congregation affected by the Covid Lockdowns was children. Instead of seeing 30-45 children on a Sunday across the morning services, as was the case between 2015 and 2019, we now see 20-30 children on average. This is still considerably higher than in most Anglican churches, but less than it could be and less than it was.

The biggest story in terms of children’s work in the parish in the last fifteen years has been the 9.15am informal service for families with young children. Before then, the parish had 15-25 children on a Sunday. It was the introduction of the regular service which brought the numbers up to 40 or 45 children at its peak about six years ago. The hope has been that toddlers at the St Mark’s informal service would ‘transfer’ up to Sunday Club at St Andrew’s. This does happen, but much less often than we would like it to. This is a factor of having two services following on from each other at different church buildings. It requires significant commitment as a parent to move from one to the other.

So this is a significant block to growth, but the split in services at different churches has advantages in other ways.

If a parent is aiming at just the one service, the success and sense of fun of the 9.15am service means there is a ‘drag’ on numbers attending Sunday Club. Numbers at this in 2023 were relatively few: from six to ten children in 2019 to two to six children in 2023. Nonetheless, those who attend enjoy it and the leadership volunteers are more secure than they have been in some time. The model is still viable.

The second big success story has been the introduction of the children’s choir, which is now split into two, which overlap: the children’s choir for those of primary age, and the youth choir for those of secondary age. Starting with about ten children, this now has about twenty children at rehearsals and services. This has been able to offer something sufficiently compelling for children who have started as very young children to stay on as they get older.

In 2017, the parish advertised for a priest to take overall oversight of the children’s work in the parish. This is still a possibility, but would require considerable financial investment.

There is not a single lay volunteer who has felt able to give the time and commitment as Celia O’Neill did, for many years.

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Plans for confirmation classes for teenagers and admission to communion classes for eight to nine year olds were there in 2023 but did not come to fruition. It is hoped that they will take place in 2024.

Uniformed groups

The 1[st] Surbiton scout group continues to meet in the Scout hut with its Beavers, Cubs, Explorers and Scouts. These come to church twice a year for Mothering Sunday and Harvest Sunday. The church link with the Brownies has not yet been restored after the divide caused by Covid.

RS

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Adult Christan Ministry

Afernoon Bible Studies at St Mark’s

For a long time, Friday afternoon has proved a popular time for Bible study with 15 people regularly attending the group. In April a second group was started on Tuesday mornings, partly made up of people transferring from the Friday group, and partly with new members. The Friday group finished their study of Paul’s First Letter to the Corinthians, then had some one-off sessions looking at the Ascension, the election of Matthias to the group of apostles and the theme of poverty. The group then embarked on a detailed study of the book of Revelation. The Tuesday group started off with a study of the Sermon on the Mount. Meetings were led by Jackie Robbs in Room 2 at the back of St Mark’s.

Morning Home Group

A group at the Wickendens’ house continues to meet regularly to study the Bible, now meeting in the mornings. They continue to host an annual agape meal, at which one of the parish’s priests presides.

JR

Evening Home Group

The evening home group continued to flourish after The Rev Michael JohnsPerring’s departure in March. We meet every other Tuesday in different homes. In 2023 we read and reflected on ‘Phoebe’ a Biblical novel by Paula Gooder. This was followed by reading Romans together and sharing thoughts. We emphasise informality and social fellowship, and were pleased to welcome new members in 2023, as well as saying some goodbyes.

FC

Discipleship Sub-Commitee

The Committee had a fairly quiet year, awaiting new members after the departure of The Reverend Michael Johns-Perring. They continued work on setting up a Parish Reading Room (formerly Meeting Room 1) at the back of St

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Mark’s and a box for prayer requests was added. Posters giving service times at St Mark’s were created, along with a new Welcome leaflet for visitors. In the autumn, the Committee began work on organising the next parish quiet day at Wychcroft Retreat Centre (to be held on Saturday 18[th] May 2024).

JR

Church Breakfasts

The Church Breakfasts continue to be valuable on the first Sunday of most months. The congregation enjoy conversation and friendship over rolls with sausages, pastries and chocolate biscuits, all washed down with coffee. On a regular Sunday there are about 40-50 people, and for Children's Choir months, there are nearer 80 that come and join us in the hall. All proceeds go to the Charity of the Month and average between £*0-£100 plus per month.

CM

Music

Adult Choir

After the upheaval of the closure of St Andrew’s in 2022, it was good to return to our regular structure of choral services throughout 2023. Although the number of singers in our adult choir remains very modest, our regular pattern of sung services operated successfully throughout the year, including the extra services scheduled for the Christmas and Easter periods.

We have been fortunate in recruiting some new sopranos and altos to our choir during the year. Sadly, two long term members passed away during 2023, both of whom will be much missed. The adult choir numbers, therefore, remain low with only about 14 adults (including only one tenor) currently on our books as regular singers, the same as last year. We have again been able to call on a few additional voices from our congregation to join us for Evensongs, carol services and other more musically demanding occasions, and a huge thanks to them for their continued support. Given that our choir numbers were around 20 singers prior to Covid, it is an ongoing frustration that we have not been able to get close to regaining that number in 2023. Various ideas have been discussed in relation to recruiting more singers including the setting up of Choral Scholarships, an initiative to be considered further in 2024.

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Having said that, our regular membership has been loyal and have done their utmost to try to maintain the choral music to the best that can be achieved given the available resources and for that we should all offer them our thanks!

One notable highlight of the year was the choir’s participation in the 150th Anniversary of St Andrew’s Eucharist Service on 16th July. The Parish commissioned an anthem from composer, Russell Hepplewhite, entitled “Come and See” to be sung at this service. The work is written specifically for both our Adult and Children’s/Youth choirs and was a tremendous success. We sang a psalm to a chant written by one of our basses, with an anthem by Elgar also featuring as part of that service.

We took our annual trip to sing Choral Evensong at a UK Cathedral, joining once again with the choir of St Matthew’s. Saturday 24th June saw us travel to Rochester Cathedral on a steaming hot day. We sang canticles by Murrill, an anthem by William Harris, as well as the Responses by Humphrey Clucas. The choirs are due to sing at Salisbury Cathedral in October 2024 and negotiations are currently underway to possibly sing at St George’s Chapel, Windsor Castle in May 2025.

Children’s Choir and new “Youth Choir”

Numbers in the Children’s Choir and our new Youth Choir have continued to grow throughout 2023 with a steady attendance of around 15 young people attending across the two groups. The choirs managed 5 five-week modules (rather than the usual 4) last year due to the extra rehearsals in the Summer for the aforementioned 150th Anniversary Service at St Andrew’s in July. They all worked tremendously hard to prepare the music for that service, particularly the commissioned anthem by Russell Hepplewhite which had a specific part written for the Children’s Choir. The Youth Choir also started to sing some harmony during 2023 with the boys in the group with changing voices venturing in the world of singing either alto or tenor. The new Youth Choir has been a tremendous success with a small but steady group of teenagers singing, most of whom have come up through the Children’s Choir, but we have had a couple of new members join us externally too, which is encouraging. It was lovely to take that group for an evening out at the Kingston Escape Rooms followed by burgers at 5 Guys! The social side of each group seems to still be thriving with many friendships made despite the children and teenagers individually attending many different schools. The arrangement of rehearsing the Children’s and Youth choirs separately, but with

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a 15 minute “crossover” in the middle where both choirs practice together for a short while, seems to be working well.

Pianists

A huge vote thanks, as ever, must go to our team of pianists who play for the non-choral Sunday morning services throughout each year. They are very much the unsung musical heroes of the Parish and go about their business with a calm and almost clandestine expertise and professionalism and we just couldn’t do without them. We welcomed a new pianist to the list at the end of 2023 who will be ready to start on the rotas in 2024 although this only takes the number of pianists to 3 – we could do with more, of course!

SM

Pictures below...

SASM’s & St Matthew’s Choirs rehearsing before Evensong @ Rochester Cathedral

24th June 20

SASM’s Adult, Youth & Children’s Choirs rehearsing before the 150[th] Anniversary Eucharist @ St Andrew’s Church. 16[th] July 2023

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Pastoral Care

Outreach and Service to the Community

In 2023 the following charities were supported. USPG £441,

Bishop's Lent Appeal £657, Christians Against Poverty £345, Christian Aid £1208, Princess Alice Hospice £1125, Matabeleland Link £489, ABCD £1170, Oxygen and Street Pastors £300, Welcare and Children's Society £2464. The total amount raised was £8202.

In summary four international justice, church support and development charities were supported together with 3 local charities.

Regarding social action, the Christmas Day lunch was a great success with 50*6 meals distributed either in person or to homes. The monthly Be Well Hub lunches continue to be popular for both fundraising and social contact. A number of people are coming regularly, both from among the congregation and from the wider community. In October 2023 tins from the first Bring a Tin Sunday were distributed to Surbiton Community Fridge and the Alfriston Day Centre. All food donated through the boxes in both churches are given to Surbiton Community Fridge and Alfriston Day Centre. On the first Thursday of the month, tea and coffee and cake continues to be offered for those in church after the mid-morning communion service

JP

Eco Commitee

Terms of reference

The purpose is to proclaim and protect the gift of God’s creation, in the light of the climate emergency and to help us be aware of the impact we have on the world God has given us and to find ways to be better stewards of our one planet home.

The scope and duties of this group were to reduce the environmental impact of both churches and to spread awareness of ecological issues. Members encouraged parishioners to take practical steps to care for the environment both locally and globally. Partnerships were also formed with other organisations both locally and nationally.

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Overview

Meetings were once every two months. This will be subject to review in 2024.

Invitations were made to individuals to attend some meetings as guests to assist the Committee in its deliberations.

2023 saw the development of the Eco Action Plan which included a move towards ‘paper-free’ services. A highlight of the year was the Eco Fair in June.

Energy Audits were carried out in September and we joined the Kingston Environment Forum in October.

Forward plan: to build on the Eco Church Silver Standard awarded in 2022 by aiming for Gold in 2024 and to have a designated church notice board.

Budget: up to £200

BC

Flowers

Thanks are due to Jackie Page, who has now stepped down from her role of overseeing flowers at St Andrew’s church, which she performed for several decades; in that time, she has put in tireless work creating church flowers and finding volunteers to support her week to week, plus doing the beautiful flowers at Easter and Christmas, along with daffodils for Mothering Sunday and sprays of rosemary for All Souls.

In January, a workshop was held. Seventeen people came and enjoyed coffee, cake and flowers. There were about eight fabulous displays created and enjoyed by the congregation the following Sunday. We now have a lovely group ready to create further floral displays through the liturgical year. If anyone is interested in joining this group please contact the Church Office, who manage the rota week to week.

CM

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Kingston Deanery Synod 2023

‘Rooted in my Parish, connected by my Deanery, supported by my Diocese’

Kingston Deanery Synod comprises seventeen parishes, all of which are situated within the boundaries of the Royal Borough. The purpose of the Synod is to bring together the representatives of these parishes in order to promote the work of Christ’s Church in the Kingston area. The Synod provides an opportunity for representatives to meet three times each year to share experience of the life and work of their churches, to discuss topics of mutual interest and to work together throughout the year on Synod’s agreed priorities as set out in the Deanery Mission Action Plan.

Clergy are members of the Synod and each church elects lay representatives every three years. The Area Dean is appointed by the Bishop of Kingston with clergy having an opportunity to express their preference: Synod members elect the lay chairman. This parish has four members on Synod: Anne Barker, Valerie Baxter, Helen Goepel and Ian Wilson. Principal matters which came to the fore during the year were:

Southwark Diocesan Synod

For information, Ian Wilson is a representative of Kingston Deanery on the above. An informative report of the proceedings can be found in The Bridge newspaper. (See Diocesan website.)

IW

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Property

St Andrew’s

The main activity during the year involved the replacement of the two old central heating boilers, which had gone beyond the point of being economically repairable. This was preceded by the installation of a water defiltration system to clean the pipes. The new boilers and pressure management system were installed in April. Disappointingly, the new Boiler no 2 subsequently failed in November due to a fault in the circuit boards, but was successfully repaired.

The other significant item has been the project to restore the three lancet East windows which dates from 1872 and is gradually deteriorating with age. Bowing of some of the panels is causing distortion to the lead matrix and stress fractures in some of the glass sections, leading to leaking. On the basis of a Condition Report which had been prepared by an accredited conservator, and their subsequent estimate for the works which was received in April, an application for a faculty to carry out the restoration was submitted to the Diocese of Southwark in June and formally approved in December. In the meantime a further quotation was sought from Auravisions Ltd, and as it was considerably more favorable than the first one, they were appointed as soon as the faculty approval came through. It is expected that the works will be carried out in late summer 2024.

Otherwise, routine maintenance work was carried out as issues arose; Nigel Knowles fitted a replacement hydraulic damper to the glass front doors in March, for which we are extremely grateful. In the kitchen the dishwasher was replaced in May, and the water-heater and ceramic hob in August. There are on-going problems with the boiler control panels which Environmental Control Partnership are being asked to resolve.

Weighill Builders Ltd were asked in April to quote for attending to the outstanding items of reparation required by the Quinquennial Inspection Report which was carried out in August 2021. After a very long time in preparation, possibly because of the disparate nature of the many items involved, the quotation was eventually received in November, and works are expected to begin in Spring 2024.

St Mark’s

In January the boiler control panel failed, which resulted in no heating in the church or hall during the coldest month in the year. It was repaired by

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Dunamis, but as a result of this the decision was taken to enter a contract with Environmental Control Partnership, the manufacturers of the panel, to allow remote access to the control panels in both churches, so that in many cases issues can be dealt with without incurring expensive call-out charges.

The Quinquennial Inspection was carried out in September 2022 which highlighted some 50 items requiring attention; Weighill were invited to quote, but have not done so yet, as they are concentrating on the items for St Andrew’s, and it may be that another contractor will be sought in the meantime.

A proposal had been received from NET Coverage Solutions Ltd to erect a mobile phone mast in the spire, and this was discussed at the PCC meeting in October. All the arrangements and installation would be carried out by NET, who would then pay SASMS a rental fee, so that it would provide an income for the church. The PCC considered the proposal with regard to the principle of allowing such use of the church, and the issues arising out of the public perception of risks to health, of accessibility to a range of services including some adult ones, and any pastoral or practical implications. It was decided to continue with negotiations with NET which are still on-going.

The immersion heated broke down in August and was repaired.

Both churches

Kingston Council awarded a grant in June for a feasibility study to install solar panels into the roofs of St Andrew’s and St Mark’s, and subsequently energy audits were commissioned in both churches.

The resultant reports advised that the use of solar panels in churches, whilst perfectly feasible, is awkward because they mainly generate electricity during the day and in the summer, when the churches are largely not being used. During the winter, when heating demand is high, there is relatively less electricity generated because the days are shorter and there is less sunshine. Batteries can be used to store electricity for subsequent use, but are extremely expensive. There are however other measures that could be taken to reduce energy costs, such as destratifiers which are small fans fitted with a thermostat which can be used to return warm air from a high level (eg the roof space over the nave) down towards the congregation; and more simple devices to restrict heat loss via draughts.

Additionally, it was considered that it would probably be unlikely that we would get planning permission for St Andrew’s, which is a Grade II listed building.

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In view of this it was decided to pause active pursuit of the solar panel project for the time being, and in the meantime to investigate some of the other measures suggested to restrict energy use.

On a completely separate subject, John Kelly made a photographic record of all the stained glass in both churches in June, for which he is to be thanked.

RP

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Finance

Accounts summary

2023 was a normal year with a regular pattern of worship and outreach, and the lettings of parish halls and other rooms have been at almost full capacity. Inflationary pressures have increased costs and volatility in the energy markets has had a significant adverse effect on the expenditure on utilities during the year.

Income

The PCC budgeted for recurring unrestricted income of just under £264k assuming a normal year for lettings and continued planned and one-off giving following the pattern of previous years. In the year, the recorded unrestricted income rose to £276k against a comparable figure in 2022 of £266k. The improvement against budget arose from increased interest payments as interest rates rose during the year, and two grants neither of which had been anticipated in the budget. The first was from the Diocese to offset costs of parish admin staff supporting the vicar in his role as Area Dean; the second was from the Listed Places of Worship fund for VAT on buildings work at St Andrew’s. Overall, unrestricted income was around £10k higher than 2022.

In addition to the recurring income above, the PCC received a legacy from the estate of the late Mary Rice, an interim distribution of £150K which was invested in a deposit account with CCLA through the Diocese as Custodian Trustees.

Expenditure

The PCC budgeted for recurring unrestricted expenditure of £278k. The actual unrestricted expenditure was around £256k, an improvement against budget for recurring items. The one-off cost of renewing the boilers at St Andrew’s of £33k was in line with budget expectations. Overall unrestricted expenditure came to some £289k.

· Our contribution to the Parish Support Fund was £96k, on budget but lower than our contribution in 2022 (£114k*)

· Expenditure on utilities increased significantly to £38k in the year compared to £29k in 2022. Increases in electricity costs were particularly high as our contract came up for renewal at the height of the volatility in 2022. The

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contract for electricity negotiated from September 2023 halves the unit costs of the previous contract.

· Expenditure on clergy housing reduced with the departure of our curate in March 2023: the remaining costs are the interest payments on 1 The Mall which will continue at around £4k a year going into 2024.

Income against Expenditure

We suffered a deficit of £11k of recurring income over all expenditure (including the boiler replacement at St Andrew’s), which becomes a surplus of £139k when the legacy of £150k is taken into account.

In the budget for 2024, the totals for recurring income (£267K) and expenditure before major works (£266K) represents a closely balanced budget. Major works, which will be approved by the PCC as the year progresses, will be funded mostly from reserves.

Assets

The church continues to hold investments in CCLA. These were increased by the deposit of £150K from the legacy from the late Mary Rice. No investments were sold during the year, and the unrealised value of investments increased by £59K during 2023.

Going Concern

In considering the question of Going Concern, the PCC will continue to meet its commitment to balance recurring income and expenditure in the medium term. With the increase in the level of reserves in 2023, and the anticipation of a further legacy notified (see Note 13 on budget assumptions), the PCC is confident that one off and other major items of expenditure can reasonably be met in the medium term from investments.

Finance and Income Sub-Committee

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The Finance and Income Sub-Committee met during the year to discuss and make recommendations to the PCC on the investment of the £150K legacy.

Reserves Policy

It is the policy of the PCC that the parish’s regular expenditure should broadly match its regular income over the medium term. The parish will hold a strategic liquid reserve against unforeseen or foreseen future expenditure. The PCC will determine the appropriate amount but the unforeseen reserve should represent at least six months’ budgeted expenditure. Longer-term reserves are held and may be spent on authorised projects or initiatives. Examples of future expenditure may relate to the fabric of our two churches, the organs in our two churches, or charitable support. Any such future projects will be clearly identified and approved by the PCC and expenditure on such projects budgeted and monitored. It is the policy of the PCC to use the CBF Church of England Funds, managed by CCLA Investment Management Ltd, to invest both its cash and longer-term reserves..

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Parish Accounts 2023

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