The Parochial Church Council of Cheltenham St Paul
Annual Report and Accounts Year ended 31 December 2021
Trustees Report
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Administrative information
St. Paul’s Church is situated in St. Paul’s, Cheltenham. It is part of the Diocese of Gloucester within the Church of England. The correspondence address is St Paul’s Old School, St Paul’s Rd, Cheltenham GL50 4EZ.
The Parochial Church Council (PCC) is a registered charity with charity number 1130330.
PCC members who have served from 1[st] January 2021 until the date this report was approved are:
| Incumbent | Rev R Widdecombe | Chairman |
|---|---|---|
| Wardens | Mr B Booth | Vice Chairman |
| Mr J Platt | ||
| Elected Members | Mr C Meredith | Treasurer until 27/07/21 |
| Mr M Constance | ||
| Mr N Denniss | ||
| Miss S Hillman | ||
| Mr M Hirst | ||
| Mr A Jenkins | ||
| Mr S Russell | ||
| Mr D Chatfeld | ||
| Mrs L Constant-Ford | ||
| Mrs J Fellows | Until 30/11/21 | |
| Co-Opted Members | Mrs A Burton | Treasurer from 27/07/21 |
Structure, governance and management
The method of appointment of PCC members is set out in the Church Representation Rules. All Church attendees are encouraged to register on the Electoral Roll and stand for election to the PCC.
Objectives and Activities
St. Paul’s Cheltenham PCC has the responsibility of co-operating with the incumbent, Roger Widdecombe, in promoting in the ecclesiastical parish the whole mission of the Church, pastoral, evangelistic, social and ecumenical. It also has maintenance responsibilities for St. Paul’s Church and associated property.
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A chievements and Performance
Church attendance
There are 114 people on the Church Electoral Roll; this number is the same as last year. There were thirteen PCC members throughout the year. The average weekly attendances, counted during October, were 96 adults and 40 children, but these numbers increased significantly on special occasions such as the Christmas services. Changes in the risks of the coronavirus pandemic continued to affect attendance at different times in the year.
Review of the Year 2021
The impact of the coronavirus pandemic, social restrictions and lockdowns continued throughout 2021. There remains a need for people to heal from and process their experiences, and this has perhaps evolved in 2021 to learning how to ‘live with’ Covid-19 and its effects on our society. We have continued to see a pattern of pre-covid Church activities being reevaluated or reimagined, and continue to feel a strong call to act slowly and wisely with regards to which activities we give our time and resources.
A key theme which has emerged during 2021 is the call to deepen personal discipleship journeys and equip church members for the next season; our church activities will facilitate and focus on this into 2022. Changes in our staff team have also reminded us of the value and importance of empowering and training everyone, and this too will be a key priority moving forward.
Gatherings
2021 began with another lockdown, and changing social restrictions meant we had to adapt our programme throughout the year. Unlike previous lockdowns in 2020, churches were able to stay open for gatherings, and so we continued to use a ‘mixed-mode’ of engagement; remaining open for those who wanted and were comfortable to attend, whilst providing a YouTube livestream for those who weren’t. Most church members had returned to ‘in person’ church bye the end of the year, with only a few still to take the plunge. Around 25% of our weekly attendance has tailed off, however this appears to be made up of occasional attenders rather than committed members.
From January to September, our mornings focused on intergenerational worship for all generations to engage with together, while our evening gatherings provided a quieter, more reflective space. With restrictions on singing in place at various times throughout 2021, we took the opportunity to gather outdoors at Easter, Pentecost and Christmas. In September, we ‘relaunched’ our Children’s and Youth Sunday Ministries and this marked a shift back to primarily in-person meetings.
Community Mission and Care
Community mission took a big hit in the latter stages of the pandemic. Whilst we were able to care for a good number of our community in the early stages, that need settled down and our missional opportunities reduced. Highlights however included the opening of our foodbank in partnership with Cheltenham Elim Church and the Trussell Trust. This operates every Friday and has proved very valuable. Another highlight was the return of our Christmas Craft Fair in person in December.
Staffing
2021 was another year of significant changes in our staff team. Isaac and Maddie Watson moved on from St. Paul’s in the summer as Isaac prepared to begin ordination training. Simon and Jennifer Fellows left us at the very end of 2021 as they prepared to finish Simon’s ordination
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training with Trinity Cheltenham in 2022, where Simon will serve his curacy. We were delighted to be able to recruit Kris Forster into the full-time Youth Pastor position in October and Jemima Downing into a fixed-term training contract for the role of Children’s Pastor in September.
Fabric Report 2021
There weren’t many significant changes to the building in 2021. The PCC continued to prioritise building maintenance and fulfilling the recommendations of the quinquennial survey.
Our continued ‘big item’ is the creche development project. The progress on this in 2021 continued to be slow, due not only to the pandemic but also the illness of our architect. It is hoped that progress with the application will accelerate in 2022.
An unexpected but significant partnership which arose in 2021 was with The Coconut Tree restaurant, who erected a temporary outdoor seating area on the church lawn to allow them to have customers in line with social restrictions on hospitality at various times throughout the year. The PCC was pleased to be able to facilitate this for a local business at a difficult time. The donations received from The Coconut Tree were distributed by the PCC to various organisations who particularly benefited from the support during the pandemic. A retrospective faculty was granted and, in 2022, the grass will need reseeding as a result of having the temporary structure on the lawn for a number of months.
The clock repairs took place early in the year and the clock is working again for the first time in many years. We are still getting to grips with adjusting the time, but hope that will soon become settled.
PCC Report
PCC had five full meetings, in November (2020), February, March, April and June, before the Annual Parochial Church Meeting (APCM) in July.
Much like 2020, the PCC spent less time on buildings than in previous years. The building project continued to experience slow progress due to both the pandemic and unavailability of our architect for a number of weeks.
The PCC spent the majority of it’s time on discussion around worship and activities in the continuing pandemic, such as in-person gatherings, our online presence and livestream, the Coconut Tree ‘Pop-Up’ on the church lawn and the use of resources and the church’s focus once we begin to emerge from the pandemic. The Hardship Fund, which had been set up in the previous year, was reviewed and it was found that this was being used less but was still a valuable support to a number of members of the church community.
Jennifer Fellows continued in her role as Safeguarding Officer, and the church’s safeguarding practices and policies were reviewed and approved for the next year in April.
A key decision undertaken by the PCC was the safeguarding of a 3-year contingency fund for the Youth Pastor position, in order to provide a level of job security for applicants to the role. Other financial actions included approving the previous year’s accounts and approving the 2022 budget, for which the PCC was confident to approve a deficit.
Finally, PCC once again reviewed the policy on mission giving. We will continue to give at least 10% of unrestricted income to external giving. In 2020, we supported four main mission partners, AFIRM (India), Church Army/Superkidz (London), Development Aid Nepal and Rapha Medica (Nigeria), and also made sizeable donations to GodFirst Church (Barry), The Rock, Cheltenham Borough Homes, Chris & Abi Arnold in Kenya, Christians Against Poverty, The Salvation Army and
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International Justice Mission. The donations from The Coconut Tree between April and October were distributed as extra gifts to AFIRM India, Development Aid Nepal and Rapha Medica, as well as a donation to the Sri Lankan Mission Partners of Trinity Cheltenham.
Financial Review
On ordinary unrestricted funds total receipts were £213939 and total payments £205099. On restricted funds total receipts were £800 and total payments £4425. The largest item of expenditure was £63600 for staff employment. Total receipts were therefore £214739 and total payments £209524 giving a net result for the year of an excess of receipts over payments of £5215. Details can be found in the Financial Statements.
It is PCC policy to maintain a balance on unrestricted funds (if possible) to cover emergency situations that may arise from time to time. The PCC has funds restricted to the Vestries Building Project, Membership Hardship, Community Hardship and Organ.
It is PCC policy to invest fund balances in accounts that are covered by the Financial Services Compensation Scheme.
Approved by the PCC on 06.04.22 and signed on its behalf by
Roger Widdecombe Chairman
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| THE PAROCHIALCHURCH COUNCILOF ST PAUL CHELTENHAM | |||||||
| FINANCIALSTATEMENTS FOR THE YEAR ENDING 31 DECEMBER 2021 | |||||||
| RECEIPTS AND PAYMENTS ACCOUNT | |||||||
| Unrestricted | Designated | Restricted | Total | Total | Notes | ||
| Funds | Funds | Funds | 2021 | 2020 | |||
| Incoming resources | |||||||
| Voluntaryincome | |||||||
| Plannedgiving | 167761 | 167761 | 184499 | ||||
| Collections,donations and othergiving | 3955 | 6000 | 640 | 10595 | 36941 | 1 | |
| Income tax recovered | 34079 | 160 | 34239 | 41517 | 2 | ||
| Legacies | |||||||
| Activities for raisingfunds | |||||||
| Lettings | 1168 | ||||||
| Investment income | |||||||
| Interest and dividends | 790 | 790 | 1468 | ||||
| Income from charitable activities | |||||||
| Parochial fees | 1037 | 1037 | 117 | ||||
| Other incomingresources | |||||||
| Other | 317 | 317 | 855 | ||||
| Total receipts | 207939 | 6000 | 800 | 214739 | 266565 | ||
| Resources expended | |||||||
| Charitable activities | |||||||
| Donations/grants to charities | 26550 | 26550 | 30665 | ||||
| Mission and evangelism | 7245 | 7245 | 10872 | 3 | |||
| Parish share | 58700 | 58700 | 60040 | 4 | |||
| Clergyexpenses | 3868 | 3868 | 3361 | ||||
| Church runningexpenses | 24496 | 24496 | 28349 | 5 | |||
| Churchyard maintenance | 1704 | 1704 | 1674 | ||||
| Cost of raisingfunds | |||||||
| Runningcosts | |||||||
| Support costs | 5727 | 5727 | 3285 | 6 | |||
| Administration costs | 60382 | 9210 | 69592 | 77134 | 7 | ||
| Other | 3732 | 4425 | 8157 | 12682 | |||
| Major expenditure | |||||||
| Repairs to church buildings | 3485 | 3485 | 1590 | 8 | |||
| Repairs to other buildings | 606 | ||||||
| Capitalpurchases/additions | 600 | ||||||
| Total resources expended | 169339 | 35760 | 4425 | 209524 | 230858 | ||
| Net(outgoing) incoming resources | 38600 | (29760) | (3625) | 5215 | 35707 | ||
| Transfers between funds | (38600) | 38600 | |||||
| Net(outgoing) incoming resources | 0 | 8840 | (3625) | 5215 | 35707 | ||
| The Parochial Church Council of St Paul Cheltenham | |||||||
| Annual Report and Accounts 2021 | |||||||
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| THE PAROCHIALCHURCH COUNCILOF ST PAUL CHELTENHAM | |||||||
| RECEIPTS AND PAYMENTS ACCOUNT | |||||||
| 2021 | 2021 | 2020 | 2020 | Notes | |||
| Payments | Receipts | Payments | Receipts | ||||
| Missions andCharities Fund(Designated Fund) | |||||||
| Church Army | 1700 | 1800 | |||||
| SuperkidzCommunityTrust | 1700 | 3450 | |||||
| AFIRM India | 4400 | 5250 | |||||
| Rapha Medica Project | 4400 | 5250 | |||||
| Development Aid Nepal | 4400 | 5290 | |||||
| Salvation ArmyVictimCare Fund | 500 | 500 | |||||
| CAPCheltenham DebtCentre | 1000 | 1000 | |||||
| InternationalJustice Mission | 1500 | 1000 | |||||
| The Rock | 2000 | 1000 | |||||
| PSALMS | 1000 | ||||||
| GodfirstChurch Barry (R&RGronow) | 2200 | 2200 | |||||
| CBH -St Paul's Events and Activities | 1000 | ||||||
| Agape Freedom Fighters | 1008 | ||||||
| Chris and Abigail Arnold(Kenya) | 1600 | ||||||
| Trinity Sri Lanka missionpartner | 1000 | ||||||
| Children'sSociety | 150 | 150 | |||||
| CommunityFund | 500 | ||||||
| Donations | 6000 | ||||||
| Tax refunds | |||||||
| From PCC General Fund | 14800 | 27398 | |||||
| Deficit | 5750 | 3000 | |||||
| Totals | 26550 | 26550 | 30398 | 30398 | |||
| Contingency Fund(Designated Fund) | |||||||
| From PCC General Fund | 23800 | 15414 | 9 | ||||
| To Youth Pastor Fund | 105000 | ||||||
| Income | |||||||
| Expenditure | 511 | ||||||
| Surplus/Deficit | 81200 | 14903 | |||||
| Totals | 105000 | 105000 | 15414 | 15414 | |||
| Vestries Building Project Fund(Restricted Fund) | |||||||
| Donations | 6000 | ||||||
| Tax refunds | 1500 | ||||||
| Expenditure | 600 | ||||||
| Surplus | 6900 | ||||||
| Totals | 0 | 0 | 7500 | 7500 | |||
| The Parochial Church Council of St Paul Cheltenham | |||||||
| Annual Report and Accounts 2021 | |||||||
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| THE PAROCHIALCHURCH COUNCILOF ST PAUL CHELTENHAM | |||||||||
| RECEIPTS AND PAYMENTS ACCOUNT(CONTINUED) | |||||||||
| 2021 | 2021 | 2020 | 2021 | Notes | |||||
| Payments | Receipts | Payments | Receipts | ||||||
| Community Fund(Restricted Fund) | 10 | ||||||||
| Member donations | 1110 | ||||||||
| Tax refunds | 275 | ||||||||
| Net communitymeals expenditure | 275 | 611 | |||||||
| Net communitymeals income | 40 | ||||||||
| Gift to FeedCheltenham | 267 | ||||||||
| Donation from PCC | 500 | ||||||||
| Deficit/Surplus | 235 | 1007 | |||||||
| Totals | 275 | 275 | 1885 | 1885 | |||||
| Hardship (previouslySamaritan) Fund(Restricted Fund) | 11 | ||||||||
| Donations from members | 600 | 21450 | |||||||
| Tax refunds | 160 | 1528 | |||||||
| Grant(Barnwood Trust) | 500 | ||||||||
| Gifts to members | 4150 | 8581 | |||||||
| Deficit/Surplus | 3390 | 14897 | |||||||
| Totals | 4150 | 4150 | 23478 | 23478 | |||||
| Organ Fund(Restricted Fund) | |||||||||
| There were no transactions in either 2020or 2021. | |||||||||
| Youth Pastor Fund(Designated Fund) | 12 | ||||||||
| FromContingencyFund | 105000 | ||||||||
| Rental received(24SPSN) | 1200 | ||||||||
| Salaryand Rentalpaid | 10410 | ||||||||
| Surplus | 95790 | ||||||||
| Totals | 106200 | 106200 | |||||||
| The Parochial Church Council of St Paul Cheltenham | |||||||||
| Annual Report and Accounts 2021 | |||||||||
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| STATEMENTOF ASSETS AND LIABILITIES | |||||||||
| Unrestricted | Designated | Restricted | Total | Total | Notes | ||||
| Funds | Funds | Funds | 2021 | 2020 | |||||
| Fixed assets | |||||||||
| 24St Paul'sStreet North | 250000 | 250000 | |||||||
| Current assets | |||||||||
| Cash funds | |||||||||
| NatWest current account | 20000 | 65776 | 26042 | 111818 | 106604 | ||||
| Virgin deposit fund | 85000 | 85000 | 85000 | ||||||
| Shawbrook(CAF)deposit fund | 15000 | 70000 | 85000 | 85000 | |||||
| Total current and deposit accounts | 20000 | 165776 | 96042 | 281818 | 276604 | 13 | |||
| Other monetary assets | |||||||||
| Income tax recoverable | 8324 | 38 | 8362 | 9800 | |||||
| VAT refundable | 59 | ||||||||
| Youthpastor house deposit | 1263 | 1263 | |||||||
| Miscellaneous assets | 450 | 450 | |||||||
| Total other monetaryassets | 8774 | 1263 | 38 | 10075 | 9859 | ||||
| Total current assets | 28774 | 167039 | 96080 | 291893 | 286463 | ||||
| Total assets | 28774 | 167039 | 96080 | 541893 | 536463 | ||||
| Liabilities | |||||||||
| Utilitycompanies | 1038 | 1038 | 901 | ||||||
| Diocese ofGloucester(fees) | 274 | 274 | 199 | ||||||
| Missiongiving | 140 | 140 | 208 | ||||||
| Other liabilities | 250 | 250 | |||||||
| Total liabilities | 1562 | 140 | 0 | 1702 | 1308 | ||||
| Assets less liabilities | 27212 | 166899 | 96080 | 540191 | 535155 | ||||
| The Parochial Church Council of St Paul Cheltenham | |||||||||
| Annual Report and Accounts 2021 | |||||||||
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| THE PAROCHIALCHURCH COUNCILOF ST PAUL CHELTENHAM | |||||||
| NOTES TO THE ACCOUNTS | |||||||
| The financial statements have beenprepared in accordance with the requirements of theChurch Accounting | |||||||
| Regulations 2006usingthe Receipts and Payments basis. | |||||||
| Moveable church furnishings held bythe churchwardens on special trust for the PCCand which require a faculty | |||||||
| for disposal are recognised but not necessarilyvalued in theStatement of Assets and Liabilities. | |||||||
| The expensespaid to the incumbent and to Mrs Fellows mayinclude a small immaterialproportion which relate to | |||||||
| their functions as PCCmembers. Mrs Fellows received£22537 as assistantpastor. Thispayment includes | |||||||
| pension contributions. No otherpayments were made to PCCmembers. | |||||||
| Note | |||||||
| 1 | Analysis of donations and othergiving | ||||||
| Grant fromChurch of England for clock repair | 2000 | ||||||
| Unrestricted donations | 1955 | ||||||
| TheCoconut Tree donations | 6000 | ||||||
| HardshipFund donations | 600 | ||||||
| CommunityFund donations | 40 | ||||||
| 2 | The 2021 figure relates to donations received betweenOctober 2020andSeptember 2021 inclusive. | ||||||
| The 2020figure relates to donations received betweenOctober 2019andSeptember 2020inclusive. | |||||||
| 3 | Analysis of mission and evangelism costs | ||||||
| MayFayre | |||||||
| Craft Fayre | 432 | ||||||
| Hub | 16 | ||||||
| Alpha | 246 | ||||||
| Children | 2179 | ||||||
| Youth | 3603 | ||||||
| Other mission costs | 769 | ||||||
| 4 | Agrant of£15000was received from the 'Bias to the Poor' Fund. This is shown as a reduction in ParishShare. | ||||||
| 5 | Analysis of church runningexpenses | ||||||
| Training | 500 | ||||||
| Discipleshipandpastoral care | 430 | ||||||
| Prayer and worship | 3267 | ||||||
| Servery | 50 | ||||||
| Vicar's discretionaryfund | 160 | ||||||
| Utilities | 5211 | ||||||
| Hire of rooms | 7000 | ||||||
| Minor capital expenditure | 1860 | ||||||
| Cleaningand materials | 3535 | ||||||
| Servicingand other routine church maintenance | 2484 | ||||||
| The Parochial Church Council of St Paul Cheltenham | |||||||
| Annual Report and Accounts 2021 | |||||||
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| THE PAROCHIALCHURCH COUNCILOF ST PAUL CHELTENHAM | ||||||||
| NOTES TO THE ACCOUNTS (CONTINUED) | ||||||||
| Note | ||||||||
| 6 | Support costs are the expenses of the assistantpastor,theyouthpastors,the trainee children's worker,the | |||||||
| administrator and thepersonal assistant. | ||||||||
| 7 | Administration costs consist of the employment costs of the assistantpastor,theyouthpastors,the administrator | |||||||
| and thepersonal assistant(£63600),visitingspeaker costs(£650)andgeneral administrative expenses(£5342). | ||||||||
| 8 | Repairs to church buildings is the cost of the clock repair. This was offset bya£2000conservationgrant from the | |||||||
| Church of England. | ||||||||
| 9 | The PCChas decided to hold onlyworkingcapital(defined as one month's unrestricted expenditure,which in 2022 | |||||||
| will be approximately £20000,in itsGeneral(unrestricted)Fund and to hold anysurpluses in theContingencyFund. | ||||||||
| Everymonth a regular transfer is made from theGeneral Fund to the Mission andCharities Fund to ensure that | ||||||||
| sufficient funds are available to make missiongifts when required. Followingthis the necessaryadjustment is | ||||||||
| made between theGeneral andContingencyFunds. | ||||||||
| 10 | TheCommunityFund was set upto assistpeople in the local communitywho are not church members but are in | |||||||
| particular need. It is fundedprimarilybydonations from members. | ||||||||
| 11 | The HardshipFund is funded entirelybychurch members and is used to assist other church members who are in | |||||||
| particular need. | ||||||||
| 12 | The Youth Pastor Fund was set upto cover the costs of the newlyappointed Youth Pastor for the next threeyears. | |||||||
| 13 | The£20000in theGeneral(unrestricted)Fund reflects thepolicydescribed in note9. The£96301 restricted | |||||||
| monies comprise£259remainingfrom the 2014 Wolfson Foundationgrant to be used for window refurbishment | ||||||||
| (this is held in the designatedContingencyFund), £81330in the restricted Vestries BuildingProject Fund, £1434 | ||||||||
| in the restrictedOrgan Fund, £12506in the restricted HardshipFund and£772 in the restrictedCommunityFund. | ||||||||
| The designated Missions andCharities Fund contains£5250,the Youth Pastor Fund contains£95790and the | ||||||||
| ContingencyFund contains£64736designated monies. | ||||||||
| The Parochial Church Council of St Paul Cheltenham | ||||||||
| Annual Report and Accounts 2021 |
11
Ind•p•nd•nt •uminorfs rwrt to th¢ PCC of St Paul's Chdt•nharn
I report on th4 XGourrt5 of the chanty for the year er1 31 DÈcember 2021.
Re9ctIve resp¢IbIlIti•S of tru•te¢s •nd ¢x•mlner
The charity's rustegs ar• r51b fDr the preparation of Ihg xcounts. The charty's trLtstees
consider that an audit is not required for this year under sects 144121 OF the Charlties Act 2011 (the
2011 Acl) and that an independent examinatson is needed.
It is ry responsibility-
to oxarrrine the xcounts under s•ctson 145 of the 2011 ACL.
follow th• procedures laKI down in the ger>•rnl Dirodiws gr¥en by the Charty C¢Jmmissv
undo( sèction 145{511b> of ihe 2011 Act, and
to sL*e whéther part¢ular matters have t¢>me to my 3ttenttt.
8•gis of Ind•p•nd•nt •Xami$ report
My examinjtion was carried oui In accordance wi(h the genera5 Direcb"ons giv•n by the Charity
Comrnission. An examination inclua•s a review of the accounts.ng records kopl by IhÈ chan'ty and
CAynparison of the aCCnts prgsented with th0 re¢d$. It abo includes consideration of any
uftusu dL%ck6ufES in the aCnIS and seelo'rrfJ expknatsoAs from you a5 tru51ee5
CcernIng any such mattÈts. Th prc