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2020-12-31-accounts

knowing Jesus and making him known in our community and beyond

2020 Report and Accounts for the Parochial Church Council of Huntington,

Earswick and New Earswick, York

Section Page
Aims and Purposes 2
Objectives and Activities 2
Achievements and
Performance		 Worship & Prayer 2
Youth & Children 4
Pastoral Care 5
Mission & Evangelism 6
Weddings, Baptism, Funerals 6
Deanery Synod & Diocesan Synod 6
Building & Fabric 7
Finance Review Current Year 9
Funds 11
Reserves 12
Structure, Governance and Management 14
Administration 15

Aims and purposes

All Saints and St Andrew’s Parochial Church Council (PCC) has the responsibility of co-operating with the incumbent, the Reverend Ian Birkinshaw, in promoting in the ecclesiastical parish the whole mission of the Church, pastoral, evangelistic, social and ecumenical. The PCC is also specifically responsible for the maintenance of the church buildings and grounds of All Saints and St Andrew's, Huntington, York.

Objectives and Activities

Our statement of purpose is “Knowing Jesus and making him known in our community and beyond”. The PCC has this in mind in all its planning and decision making. We are committed to enabling as many people as possible to worship at All Saints and St Andrew’s Church (whether in person or online), to become part of the church community and to live out their faith. The PCC maintains an overview of worship, pastoral care and outreach.

When planning our activities for the year, we have considered the Commission’s guidance on public benefit and in particular the supplementary guidance on charities for the advancement of religion.

We seek to enable people to live out their faith in Jesus Christ as part of the church community by:

To facilitate this work, we continue to develop and maintain the fabric of the church buildings.

Achievements and performance

a) Worship and Prayer

We worship in a variety of idioms to meet the spiritual needs of the local community. In 2020 our usual pattern of Sunday services and midweek worship was disrupted by the Coronavirus pandemic.

From 22 March to 31 December the majority of our services and prayer meetings were conducted online as follows:

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Sunday 10.30 am: Livestreamed Sunday Worship via the church Facebook page. Services are usually broadcast from the preacher’s home with contributions from other church members via Zoom or pre-recorded. When restrictions allow, we livestream a monthly family service or special event (e.g. Christmas carol service) from All Saints or St Andrew’s. There is opportunity for fellowship via Zoom following the Sunday morning service.

Sunday Worship and activities for children and families via the church YouTube channel.

Monday - Saturday at 12.00 noon: Livestreamed Daily Prayer via the church Facebook page. Supported by a weekly prayer sheet which can also be used by those without internet access.

Monthly Parish Prayer and Mission Prayer meetings via Zoom.

Monthly Messy Church via the church YouTube channel, supported by activity bags.

Other livestreamed services have included Reflections by the Cross on Good Friday, a Memorial Service for the bereaved on Remembrance Sunday, and a Christingle Service on Christmas Eve.

When restrictions allow, with appropriate safety measures in place: Sunday 4.00 pm. Holy Communion at St Andrew’s. Sunday 7.00 pm (fortnightly): Youth Church at St Andrew’s.

Sunday 9.30 am (monthly): Forest Church at St Andrew’s for children and families.

Saturday 10.00 am: Private Prayer at All Saints.

Other in-person opportunities for worship have included Carol Singing in Huntington and New Earswick, and three services of Holy Communion on Christmas Eve and Christmas Day.

We currently have nine Small Groups, most of which have continued to meet weekly via Zoom. The remaining groups have found alternative ways of engaging with the group material and supporting one another.

Development of the New Worshiping Community has progressed gradually throughout the year. A small, core group has met on a weekly basis online as it was evident that starting something fresh in terms of ‘gathering a new group’ would be harder than first thought.

However, the group have continued to explore the use of additional online resources that promote social community via social media, and finding these helpful in offering a framework to develop an online worshiping community

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where the main thrust is to connect with new people not normally connected with church. The Youth & Pioneer Leader has received ongoing support and guidance from the Multiply team within the Diocese in shaping and developing this work.

b) Youth and Children

At the start of this year we welcomed our new Children & Family Worker and completed the transition of our Youth & Children’s Leader to Youth & Pioneer Leader. This enabled a greater clarity of roles allowing further development of leadership within this area of ministry. This enabled the Children & Family Worker to take over the leadership and co-ordination of Sunday morning groups, monthly Forest Church at St Andrew’s, primary school linking, increased involvement with Tots and Messy Church and take on co-leadership of Thursday Club.

This change released the time needed for the Youth & Pioneer Leader to commit more time developing the New Worshipping Community.

Throughout 2020 we endeavoured to continue to run a variety of regular provision for children and young people in our community. In January, this included running a Youth Alpha at Thursday Group for older youth, with a weekend away in the Lake District, combining the Holy Spirit sessions alongside walking and all sorts of other adventuring.

In March, however, we moved online using Zoom to complete Youth Alpha successfully, which enabled us to stream and ‘screenshare’ the films and enable discussion together in groups.

From March to July, all but one activity was being held online – using a combination of Zoom, Facebook and YouTube. The after school Drop-In activity could not carry on which was unfortunate, as it had previously been thriving. The ‘Look into the Bible’ key stage one assemblies for the primary schools continued by recording them on video in partnership with YoYo, and sending them to the schools, which proved very welcome.

New initiatives, such as the Pentecost trail, a Pumpkin trail and the Christmas trail, have been a blessing to families in the church and wider community.

Some in-person gatherings were started from the end of July, according to appropriate guidelines and restrictions. Two teenage girls became Christians over the summer. Both girls are regular attenders at Thursday Group and through the autumn term became part of a small discipleship group also.

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As the year developed, Kidz Klub and Forest Church continued when Covid-19 restrictions allowed. However, through September, as ongoing restrictions made it harder to meet, we were forced to think again and work more creatively as to how we ran things as we had done before. For example, we took the opportunity to establish a fortnightly Youth Church service at St Andrew’s on Sunday evenings as well as new small groups for discipleship. By half term we had developed a broader range of youth work than we had before lockdown, with only drop-in still missing, as it could not run according to restrictions. By November a further lockdown stopped the flow of what we had developed as everything went back online.

Despite all the complications this year has thrown up, our Youth & Pioneer Worker and new Children & Family Worker have effectively applied their creativity, flexibility and skills to tackle head on the range of situations presented in trying to maintain our vibrant Youth and Children’s work. It is credit to them that by working well together, doing what they can with what they have, they have been able to continue to reach, bless and make disciples amongst children, young people and their families in our community.

c) Pastoral Care

As the beginning of the year took us down a route none of us expected, we more than ever had to fall back onto the processes and networks we have set up over the past few years to care for each other. We immediately strengthened our pastoral relationships by strengthening our links with each other, whether with another individual or a group. In this way, we aimed to ensure that we all felt positively connected and involved in some element of our church ‘conversations’.

In many ways, therefore, the whole church has shared in the work of pastoral care this past year, whether praying, shopping, cooking, visiting, distributing, telephoning etc. We have heard many testimonies of kindnesses offered to one another and we are grateful to God for His many blessings to us and his protection on us at this time.

Frustratingly, the Pastoral Visiting Team were unable to complete home visits as usual but have maintained their contact by telephone. The Telephone Prayer Chain operated as usual providing a means of urgent prayer and contact when needed. We used our Office networks to identify those not using electronic systems and recruited a small team of volunteers who could safely deliver paper copies of the weekly bulletins, service details, and other information when appropriate. At every opportunity and at many times all members of church, especially our elderly members, were encouraged to use

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the Church Office as first port of call to raise any problems or difficulties they had, and these in turn were delegated to those who could help in the most appropriate way. Our Small Groups, whom we consider to be the front line of pastoral care, and Staff Team also provided much needed care for those caring for others.

d) Mission and Evangelism

Whilst Covid has challenged us in the way that we have been able to engage with people beyond the immediate church family, it has also presented us with significant possibilities through use of the internet.

Alpha ran in the usual way January - March. In October, we started a new Alpha Course online which proved excellent. The ability to attend the course by those who would not normally be able to because they live or work some distance from a physical venue has been a key advantage. Also, there has been a greater openness to engage in conversation and discuss questions which Alpha does not answer.

Over the Christmas season, alongside the youth and children’s initiatives and the public acts of worship, we undertook a number of mission initiatives which focussed on helping to tell the Christmas Story to those beyond the Church Family. These included:

e) Weddings, Baptisms and Funerals

During 2020 there were 2 Weddings, 3 Baptisms and 37 Funerals.

f) Deanery Synod & Diocesan Synod

From March the Covid restrictions forced live Synod meetings to be abandoned until they were resumed by Zoom in the autumn.

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The emphasis at Synod level has been on how churches can adapt to reach a wider section of society, moving from being a ‘self-preservation society' towards the membership of each church becoming an active missionary centre in their community. Our new Archbishop, Stephen Cottrell, summarises the approach as each of us setting out to ‘live Christ’s story’. The vision continues to be one of building for the future, recognising the need for some radical changes in our approach to mission, which is the primary focus, and to our structure to provide the interconnections and resources to significantly increase our impact on the society of today. The current challenges facing the Diocese and Church of England as a whole are real. We need to reach a much wider section of the community to see more people discovering the fullness of the Christian faith. Only then will there be committed and sustainable growth in the church. We need to become a church of missionary disciples to achieve this.

The coming year will be one of consultation between deanery leadership teams and PCCs to identify new ways of providing the mixed approach needed to reach the disparate sections of modern society, utilizing modern technology and mobilising as much of the church as possible for the mission.

We believe that as a parish we are already actively pursuing the vision by developing and running several alternative church service formats for children, young people and families; in holding events for older people such as Cake and Company; in establishing a new worshipping community; and by seizing the opportunities forced on us through lockdown to explore and utilise electronic systems such as Facebook and Zoom to hold worship services, run Alpha online and hold fellowship and prayer meetings.

g) Building & Fabric

During 2020, the Church Wardens have worked with the staff team to support the weekly services and all other activities of our parish. We are also supported by the Building and Fabric Working Group to maintain and improve our church buildings, the churchyard and the grounds. At the beginning of the year work was carried out at St Andrew’s to refurbish the hall floor; this is heavily used and is now coming towards the end of its life.

This year has been a challenging one. We have worked closely with the Health and Safety Officer, and Standing Committee to keep on top of the latest guidelines and risk assessments required during the pandemic. Whilst both church buildings were closed for some of the year, regular security and maintenance checks were maintained. Sadly, we needed to repair the roof at St Andrew’s following metal theft during the closure. All Saints also suffered

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vandalism to the path lights; these were made safe whilst plans for more robust replacements are being made.

When government restrictions allowed, we were able to put measures in place to provide a Covid-secure venue for the Ladybirds nursery at St Andrew’s and funeral services and private prayer at All Saints. Teams of volunteers have also undertaken work to maintain and improve the grounds at both our churches and also at the associate minister’s garden. The churchyard at All Saints has been a very popular spot this year for members of our local community passing through on their daily walks. We are working hard to build positive relationships with the local community and engage them in our environmental improvement plans for the churchyard.

We are especially thankful to all those who have helped this year. Special thanks are given to our cleaning staff and volunteers who have worked hard within the extremely demanding conditions to enable us to keep safe and provide Covid-secure buildings for both our church family and our community users.

Despite the difficulties of this last year, we have continued to make progress in planning improvements to church fabric and facilities.

At All Saints Church , following the relocation of our stone font, we were encouraged to celebrate its location. We are bringing together a scheme for a new vestry screen, improved lighting and floor coverings. Consideration is also being given to a more central position for musicians. Appropriate Faculties will be managed by the PCC over the next two years.

At Saint Andrew’s church, we have continued to invest significant time and effort to pursue our development of the building which was begun four years ago. More significant plans to construct a north nave have now been prepared This was in the plan of the original building however the work was never carried out. A new scheme has been developed in consultation with different groups and in discussion with the PCC. Local authority planning permission has been approved and a faculty submission registered. Although Covid restrictions have slowed progress in this area, plans are being developed to engage with the congregation and church groups.

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Finance Review

2020 Results (Current year)

The total receipts for the parish unrestricted/designated funds were about £217,024 a fall of £12,686 on 2019. Given the exceptional circumstances of 2020 we were grateful that our Regular Giving was sustained at £126,563, only £2,000 down on 2019. Our Harvest ‘Gift Day’ had a wonderful response of £26,344, some £5,000 higher than 2019. Gift Aid, from 2019 giving, contributed a further £36,780. Additionally, we received around £4,400 from the CJRS ‘Furlough’ scheme and a £2,500 Small Business Grant to help match some of the losses due to the pandemic. Areas where we lost income included fees £4,000, hall rent £4,800 and collections at services £3,900.

About £208,080 was spent on general running costs and providing the Christian ministry by the parish some £15,500 lower than 2020. This reduction includes around £4,000 of postponed maintenance work and a similar reduction in our Freewill Giving in acknowledgement of the Furloughing of our Assistant Minister. Other reductions were in consumable items and utility payments due to our much-reduced activity. Our Freewill Giving, to the Diocese, of £116,192 remains our largest expenditure, which still covered our actual costs to the diocese which include stipends, housing for the clergy, clergy training and a contribution to the cost of running the Diocese. This was increased by some 1.4% to maintain our objective to fully meet our costs. Other increases include a general rise in costs due to inflation and our new ‘Children and Family Worker’ staff member.

Donations made by the PCC during the year, including the tithes on 2019 Gift Day and 2018 planned giving, were made to the International Justice Mission (IJM), The Island N1 (York), York Schools & Youth Trust (YoYo), Family Matters (York), Tearfund, Foodbank (York) Open Doors and One Voice (York). We made one off donations to the British Legion Poppy Appeal (Remembrance Day) and Children’s Society (from the Christingles) in lieu of those usually made from collections at services. We have also assisted our community focused users of our hall with one off reductions in rent in recognition of their restricted numbers and income.

The net result for the year in unrestricted/designated funds was beneficial with payments exceeding expenditure by some £7,747. The PCC agreed to distribute this surplus as follows; £3,000 to our Outreach and Mission fund to provide for the continued employment of our Children and Family Worker and £4,747 has been allocated to reserves for 2021 in anticipation of a further 8 months of significant disruption. The surplus resulted from the Gift Day income, additional Furlough income and higher savings in consumables.

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Overall, our finances have been sustained through the pandemic so far and we are in a reasonable position to sustain and grow our mission. One area of concern is an underlying reduction in our Regular Giving when compared to our objective to grow this year on year.

Our designated ‘Crestview’ fund continued to receive significant income from the Crestview Church in Texas, £12,600 - this is a major contribution to the salary of our Children and Family Worker. This support continues to mid 2022 when we aim to sustain the role from a growth in other income. The PCC also supports this role from the Outreach and Mission fund, which was also in receipt of a generous legacy (£10,000) in 2020.

Restricted funds increased by £2,370 during the year. The increases were in funds received early to support our Multiply initiative in 2021 (£4,000). Many of our plans for 2020 were postponed and hence some intended spend has not be incurred.

The overall financial situation is set out in the Receipts and Payments report below and further detail is available on request.

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Funds

The PCC use several funds. The general (unrestricted) account covers the day to day running costs of the church; this is supported by designated funds for specific PCC activities. There are also restricted funds which are only used for the purpose for which they were established. Funds are held in three bank accounts; one current, one immediate access saving account and one higher interest savings account. The small Charity Fund holds money on behalf of the John Hodgson & Mary Ann Gibson charities and is controlled by its own trustees. The detail of our funds and holding accounts is set out in our ‘Financial Policy’ which is available from the Parish Office.

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Reserves

Our reserves policy is reviewed annually as part of the budget setting activity. The overall principles of our approach are that reserves will only be held for specific reasons which include a graded range of cover for our running costs (3 to 6 months), an allowance for unplanned maintenance work and mitigation for our forecast budget deficit. Our current reserves requirement is set at £101,164, built up as follows:

PCC also agreed that a further £4,747 be held in reserve on a temporary basis to cover the residual effects of the pandemic and an expected shortfall in income in 2021 due to not being able to attract some hoped for grant funding.

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ANNUAL REPORT OF THE PAROCHIAL CHURCH COUNCIL OF HUNTINGTON, EARSWICK & NEW EARSWICK For the year ended 31[st] December 2020

Independent Examiner's Report to the members/trustees of the Huntington, Earswick & New Earswick Parochial Church Council

I report on the accounts for the year ended 31[st] December 2020.

Respective responsibilities of the Trustees and Independent Examiner

The trustees are responsible for the preparation of the accounts. The charity’s trustees consider that an audit is not required for this year under section 144(2) of the Charities Act 2011 (the 2011 Act) and that an independent examination is needed.

Having satisfied myself that the charity is not subject to audit under company law and is eligible for independent examination, it is my responsibility to:

Basis of Independent Examiner's Statement

My examination was carried out in accordance with the general directions given by the Charity Commission. An examination includes a review of the accounting records kept by the charity and a comparison of the accounts presented with those records. It also includes consideration of any unusual items or disclosures in the accounts, 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 no opinion is given as to whether the accounts present a ‘true and fair view’ and the report is limited to those matters set out in the statement below:

Independent Examiner's Statement

In connection with my examination, no matters have come to my attention:

  1. which give me reasonable cause to believe that in any material respect the requirements

  2. to keep accounting records in accordance with s.130 of the 2011 Act; or

  3. to prepare accounts which accord with these accounting records

  4. have not been met; or

  5. to which, in my opinion, attention should be drawn in order to enable a proper understanding of the accounts to be reached.

Rachel Hillman BSc (Hons) ACMA, CGMA Certified Institute of Management Accountants

16[th ] March 2021

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Structure, Governance and Management

Organisational Structure

Our PCC is appointed in accordance with the Church Representation Rules. Our PCC consists of the incumbent (our Vicar), Associate Minister, Deacon, Churchwardens, Youth & Pioneer Leader, and members elected by our congregation, who are on the electoral roll of the church. All those who attend our services are encouraged to register on the Electoral Roll and support/ stand for election to the PCC.

The PCC members, as trustees of the charity, are responsible for making decisions on all matters of general concern and importance to our parish including deciding on how the funds of the PCC are to be spent and the appointment and care of our staff and volunteers. Members receive initial briefing and an annual training on the workings and responsibilities of the PCC. PCC members normally serve for three years with a limit of 6 years in any one period of service.

The March PCC meeting was held on the eve of the first national lockdown. In order to facilitate efficient decisions and help manage church business during lockdown, an expanded Standing Committee was agreed by co-opting two additional PCC members.

The remaining PCC members and Working Groups continued in their roles until we were able to hold our Annual Parochial Church Meeting in October. The Standing Committee updated the Parish Contingency Plan to ensure the smooth running of the church should one or more key member of staff become unable to carry out their usual duties.

The Standing Committee met online on 12 occasions, at various intervals including weekly, fortnightly and monthly, as needs arose. We continued with this plan until November when the whole PCC met online as a full group again.

Risks and Issues

Our PCC and working groups maintain a series of Risk logs that match our activities. Each element is reviewed annually and reported to the main PCC. Mitigations include the use of recognised CofE policies and practices for addressing risks around Safeguarding, Child Protection, Data Protection, use of Charity Commission guidance on the control of our finances and a structured set of inspections for our buildings. Where necessary we have documented our own specific policies for the application of more general guidance, and these are reviewed annually. Activity based risk assessments are produced for both regular and occasional events for which the PCC are responsible.

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Other than the Pandemic no major new risks have been reported to the PCC over the year and the PCC remain vigilant in the areas of Safeguarding, Health and Safety reporting and care of Volunteers and Staff through regular reporting and agenda items.

Administrative information

All Saints Church is situated in Church Lane and St Andrew's Church on Huntington Road in the Huntington suburb of York. The parish is part of the Diocese of York within the Church of England. The Parochial Church Council (PCC) is a charity registered under the name: The Parochial Church Council of the Ecclesiastical Parish of Huntington, Earswick & New Earswick. The Charity Number is: 1130268.

The following PCC members have served between 1 January and 31 December 2020:

Rector

The Rev’d. Ian Birkinshaw Co-chair

Associate Minister

The Rev’d. Chris Park Co-chair

Deacon

The Rev’d. Judith Lindsey

Wardens: All Saints

Mrs Alison Hodgson

Mr John Farrall (from October 2020)

Wardens: St Andrew’s

Mrs Elizabeth Barker

Elected Representatives to the Deanery Synod

Mrs Heather Richardson (until December 2020) Dr Martin Rose (until December 2020) Mr Peter Aspin (from October 2020)

(Mr John Farrall and Dr Christopher Bell are also Representatives to the Deanery Synod)

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Elected Members

Mrs Jackie Aspin PCC Secretary Mr Keith Blanshard Mr Andrew Coombes Treasurer/Lay Vice-Chair Mrs Sue Duffield PCC co-Secretary (until October 2020) Mr Ben Griffiths Mrs Barbara Hemingway Dr Christopher Hughes (until October 2020) Mr Jonathan Leach Mrs Jane Mandley Miss Janet Stephen Mr Phil Vince (until October 2020) Miss Shelagh Wynne

Co-opted members

Mr James Simister Youth and Pioneer Leader

Ex-Officio Members

Dr Chris Bell

Diocesan Synod Member

Approval

Our report was reviewed by the Standing Committee on 1 March 2021 and approved by the PCC on 15 March 2021 and signed on their behalf by the Reverend Ian Birkinshaw (PCC Co-Chair).

Rev’d. Ian Birkinshaw, Rector

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