THE PARISH OF TARPORLEY: ST HELEN, ST JOHN AND THE HOLY CROSS, ST THOMAS
Annual Report of the Tarporley Parochial Church Council and Accounts for the Year Ended 31[st] December 2021.
What follows is a brief report of our Parish life in 2021.
In some ways 2021 seemed little different from 2022, as Covid-19 continued to disturb and disrupt normal life in 2021, as lockdowns and rules changed at a bewildering rate, amid vaccination programmes and new variants. However, 2021 was also a significant year in the parish as we moved from a period of vacancy and welcomed a new Rector to the parish. As this report shows, while Covid19 continued to ensure that there were plenty of frustrations and setbacks, there was also new life and new starts.
My thanks go to our Curate Revd Julian Osborne, Church Wardens and officers and members of our PCC for their unstinting hard work and complete support.
I hope that you will take encouragement from this report as evidence of God’s love and blessing unfolding in our Parish despite the challenging year we have shared.
I pray that 2022 will be a year when we reflect on who we are as church, and how we can continue to share God’s love in Tarporley, Eaton, Cotebrook, Rushton and Utkinton.
With every blessing
Jim
Revd. Jim Bridgman Rector of Tarporley
The Parochial Church Council of the Ecclesiastical Parish of Tarporley A Registered Charity: Number 1130496
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Aim and Purposes
St Helen’s Tarporley Parochial Church Council (PCC) has the responsibility of cooperating with the incumbent, in promoting in the ecclesiastical parish, the whole mission of the church, pastoral, evangelistic, social and ecumenical. The PCC is also responsible for the maintenance of the Parish’s three churches: St Helen’s Tarporley, St John and the Holy Cross Cotebrook and St Thomas, Eaton their attendant churchyards and The Done Room. In pursuing these aims and purposes the PCC has due regard to the Charity Commission’s concern for public benefit.
Objectives and Activities
The PCC is committed to enabling as many people as possible to worship at our churches. Our services are open to all, and we are committed to making and keeping our churches, both during and outside of worship, welcoming sacred spaces where people can encounter the presence of God, sanctuary from an often-stressful world and, if they wish it, a place in a welcoming and caring community. When planning our activities for the year, both our regular worship and our extra activities, we have considered the Charity Commission’s guidance on public benefit. We are open to all and actively encourage participation in our services and activities from all sections of the community believing as we do that every person is made in the image of God. We try to help each other grow in knowledge and love of God and his son, our Lord Jesus Christ, through our worship and prayer and discipleship activities believing that the good news of the gospel enriches and gives purpose and direction to life. And we try to follow this teaching and communicate God’s love for all people through our pastoral and outreach work.
Achievements and Performance
1. Worship and Prayer
Following Georgina's retirement at Christmas the parish entered a period of interregnum. We were very blessed to have our Curate Julian Osborne taking the majority of services supported by Trevor Davies, Richard Tuckwell and others. Our thank go to Julian for all his work and support throughout the year.
Unfortunately, there was another lockdown due to Covid and all services were suspended in our three churches from 19th January until 28th March (Palm Sunday). During that time Julian organised and sent out a service each week for parishioners to follow at home and he also arranged and led a Lent Book Club with discussions each week on a book by Dr Hannah Steele called "Living his story". As restrictions lifted, Julian was able to lead a Good Friday vigil in St Helens with music and images based upon the stations of the cross. Easter Sunday was also celebrated in church, albeit without singing, but with the inaugural use of the screen and projector to help us celebrate the timeless truth that “He is Risen!” Weekly worship continued, and it was not long before all three churches were re-opened in line with careful risk assessments and Church of England guidance.
On September 1[st] , we welcomed Revd Jim Bridgman and his family to the parish, as Jim was Instituted as Rector of Tarporley. We were honoured to have not one, but two bishops in attendance for the service, as Bishop Mark of Chester was joined by Bishop Sam, the newly consecrated Bishop of Stockport (who was also completing his first day at work that day!).
For the first time in a while, St Helen’s was full without a masked congregation and the service was further enhanced by the ability to sing, which the congregation took great delight in! The service was followed by wine and biscuits in the Done Room.
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During the autumn we were able to hold some of the ‘normal’ features of the liturgical year – in October we held Harvest services at all three churches, and were able to collect donations to the MidCheshire Foodbank; Messy Church made a welcome return in October as a special ‘Muddy Church’, outside St Helen’s in the wooded area, where the theme was Creation, and youngsters and families were encouraged to use natural materials found in the woods and graveyard to help recap the Genesis creation story; at the end of October, we held an All Souls’ service at St Helen’s, where the theme was ‘The Sea’, encouraging bereaved families to gather and draw comfort and hope from Jesus’ ability to calm the storm (both on lake Galilee, and the storms of our lives) in what was an especially difficult year to lose a loved one; despite a number of changes and restrictions, we were still able to gather for the annual Remembrance parade and service, with a shortened parade down to the War Memorial with a time of Remembrance and silence outside, before moving into church. The Rector also helped to mark a short time of prayer and silence around the war memorial in Eaton, accompanied by the reading of the names of the fallen and The Last Post by younger members of church and local community.
During Advent, a small group met in person and online to read a new Advent book: An Advent book of days by Gregory Cameron, and those who came and read it enjoyed engaging more deeply with the characters and events of the Christmas story.
As Christmas approached, we held a very successful Christingle service at St Helen’s at the start of December and were able to also offer usual Christmas services such as Lessons and Carols, crib services and Christmas Day services. The rise of the Omicron variant meant that plans were adapted and changed, and many people used their common sense and judgement in deciding when and if to congregate, especially as we inched closer to Christmas day. Sadly, the usual carol service at St Thomas’ was cancelled, and a plan for an outdoor carol service at The Drays was eagerly anticipated until Storm Arwen intervened and blew away the marquee! Hopefully 2022 may allow the plan to come to fruition!
We are grateful to the many who worked hard to make it possible for us to return to worship safely and to all who returned or took an active part in our services, whilst being fully understanding and supportive of those who were unable so to do.
Due to the continued disruption of the pandemic, the usual attendance figures submitted to the Church of England remain anomalous, so are not included here for a second year. Congregation members are returning to church, but with so much uncertainty and sustained infection, many people are understandably still cautious.
What this year’s enforced closure of our Churches has shown is how important the buildings are to our whole community not just as places of worship, but also as places of stillness, sanctity and prayer. The PCC is grateful to all who help to fund, maintain, clean, decorate and keep our churches open, inviting and safe spaces for all to spend time. Being a listed Church, medieval in origin and situated in the heart of the Village of Tarporley, St Helen is the most accessible of our churches and it receives many visitors. People come for many reasons, but most to spend time in quiet and prayer.
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2. Pastoral Services and Activity
The PCC recognizes that our ministry and churches offer a very important and unique resource at particular moments in people’s lives. It is a joy to be asked to baptise and marry people and share this celebration with family and friends and a privilege to be able to offer help and support to others through our funeral ministry. Rather than dictating the content of these services we work hard with all concerned to make sure that, within a Christian setting, they have a service that holds meaning for them. Such pastoral services mark important rites in everyone’s life and the Church extends the welcome and compassion of God to all people, regardless of their beliefs or background.
In addition to organizing and delivering the service itself the churches are involved in baptism and marriage preparation, helping families prepare for and organize funerals and following up with bereavement visits. Whilst the Clergy undertake most of this work they are supported and enormously helped by the Parish Pastoral Team formed of representatives from all our churches. The PCC also acknowledges the foundational importance of the informal visiting and pastoral care that takes place every day as members of our churches look out for and take care of each other and their neighbours and members of the wider community.
This year, our usual level of activity has been severely disrupted and curtailed by Covid and so again annual figures cannot be compared. Despite changing restrictions, some baptisms and weddings were able to proceed this year, and it was a joy to be once again involved in the happier times of the lives of those in our community. However, 2022 looks like it will be the year when many of the postponed weddings of the past few years will finally take place, so the summer looks to be a busy time!
3. Community Connections
Despite a year when so much outreach and activity has had to cease strong links have been maintained with all five of our local schools and pre-schools, two of which are Church of England schools.
Both Revd Julian and Revd Jim have been busy in supporting our church schools, both on the governing bodies, via regular Collective Worship in school, and through lesson visits for staff and pupils, as well as organising tours and lessons at St Helen’s. It was a real privilege to welcome both Tarporley CE Primary and Utkinton St Paul’s into church for a joint Harvest service, and separate carol services and nativity plays. We also welcomed the Done Room Preschool into church for a wonderful Christmas show; these are always fantastic ways to extend God’s welcome to the children and their families. Revd Jim has also been invited to Eaton primary on a number of occasions since the autumn, talking to classes about church buildings, the incarnation and the story of Christmas.
The PCC also agreed to buy a Fairtrade chocolate Christingle for every pupil in our two church schools, delivered by the clergy during an explanatory Collective worship and an invitation to the Christingle service at St Helen’s, which many children came along to.
Relationships with our local councils, organisations and businesses continue to be built upon.
The Link continues to keep the community updated with church life, and since the autumn the parish now has a social media presence via its new Facebook page, as well as (from Advent Sunday) a weekly email sent to nearly 400 contacts, sharing weekly readings and prayers and upcoming services and events from the three churches.
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The PCC offers its thanks to all who work to share the life of the Church and the love of God: all who tell and invite others to services and events, those who contribute articles, edit and put together the information we can share and ensure its successful distribution, and those who work to keep our website up to date. In Covid times all of this has proved even more important.
Before Christmas, there were a number of opportunities for community engagement through carol singing: from a (very wet!) community carol singing on the High Street on the weekend of the Tarporley Christmas Event, carol singing on a Friday night outside at the Alvanley Arms with members of St John and the Holy Cross, community led carols in Eaton in place of the carol service, and the usual Christmas Eve carols before the crib service.
Sadly, once again many of our concerts, social and fundraising activities also had to be cancelled this year. It has been very hard not to be able to gather together, share meals, coffee, prayer, worship, music, stories, hugs and laughter, but our priority throughout the year continued to be keeping people as safe as possible so that when restrictions are finally lifted everyone will be there to gather together and give thanks to God.
So, 2021 has been a year of endings, and new beginnings, plenty of uncertainty and challenges, but we can see the presence of God with us throughout, with hope and faith that God will continue to lead and guide us throughout 2022, whatever that may bring.
4. Financial Review and Independent Examiner’s Report
Our thanks go to all involved in ensuring the smooth running of our Parish finances. First and foremost, we recognise the hard work and commitment of our Treasurer, but we also recognise the contribution of the many who help with: collecting and counting monies, banking the same, overview of our stewardship, and administration of our giving and gift aid. As with all our volunteers this important work is undertaken with cheerfulness and reliability. We are indeed blessed to have the help of so many and we thank you all. We also express our thanks to our Examiner for her expertise and support. The full accounts can be found in Appendix A beginning on page 8.
COVID continued in impact on our finances throughout 2021 with fewer people attending services, reduced fund-raising events and reductions in giving Over the past two years since the start of COVID, we have seen our income reduce by £52,200 which is directly attributed to COVID (churches being closed, lack of fundraising and weddings etc).
The careful stewardship by the Treasurer and Wardens, expenditure reduced by £39,235 over the same period, reducing the negative financial impact of Covid upon Parish finances. Our thanks to all those who continued to give by monthly standing order throughout the vacancy and church closures. The figures quoted above exclude income from the sale of assets and quinquennial work on the fabric of St Helen’s.
We also express our thanks to our new examiner Rob Hall of Mitchell Charlesworth in Chester for his expertise and support.
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5. Reports from Our Three Churches regarding Fabric
The PCC thanks all who have worked, often unseen, throughout the year to maintain our buildings and keep our communities so vibrant.
St Helen’s church carried out the remaining work which was highlighted in the last quinquennial report – namely work on some stained glass and the boiler house roof.
There weren’t any fabric repairs undertaken at St John’s and the Holy Cross and St Thomas’ churches.
6. Structure Governance and Management
The PCC is a corporate body established by the Church of England. The PCC operates under the Parochial Church Powers Measure. The PCC is a Registered Charity. As trustees of the charity the PCC members are responsible for making decisions on all matters of general concern and importance to the parish including deciding on how the funds of the PCC are to be spent. There is a Standing Committee comprised of the Incumbent, 2 Church Wardens, Treasurer and Secretary of the PCC and one representative from St Thomas and one from St John’s. This Committee will consult only in extremis when a decision must be made between PCC meetings. The full PCC met six times during the year both in person and on Zoom.
Given its wide responsibilities the PCC has a number of committees, each dealing with a particular aspect of Parish Life, but all these committees report back to the PCC for decision making.
Safeguarding
The PCC considers that it has, to the best of its knowledge, taken all reasonable steps to comply with the duty under section 5 of the Safeguarding and Clergy Discipline Measure 2017. St Helens Parish Church takes its duty and obligation to protect all extremely seriously. We have adopted the national Church of England's robust procedures and guidelines. You can find out more about the national policies and procedures at www.churchofengland.org/safeguarding.
If you have any safeguarding concerns or issues of a safeguarding matter then you can find useful contact information below and at www.chester.anglican.org/socialresponsibility/safeguarding
In line with the diocesan regulations on safeguarding the PCC has adopted a Policy Statement on the Safeguarding of Children and Adults in the Church. There are notices in the Church providing contact details for Childline and Family Lives and also contact details for the Rector and the Parish Safeguarding Officer should anyone wish to speak privately and in confidence on safeguarding issues.
Following ThirtyeightOne guidelines there are currently 6 volunteer leaders and assistants with clear and current DBS certificates and who have completed the Basic Awareness and Foundation courses in Safeguarding; these people coach bellringers.
Due to the pandemic, organised activities in church for children were put on hold and the majority of adult volunteers who held clear and current DBS certificates will now need to re-apply as certificates are no longer valid. However, until a new programme of children's activities requiring adult supervision or teaching is scheduled fresh applications will not be made.
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The PCC thanks all the volunteers for their time and commitment given in running these activities and for their understanding in having background checks completed. We take the safeguarding of our children and vulnerable adults in church extremely seriously and DBS checks and procedures ensure all who are vulnerable as well as those who volunteer are protected. All non-church activities being run on a regular basis in the Done Room have also been checked as per diocesan guidelines to ensure that safeguarding policies are in place and that they too are covered by all necessary certificates, procedures and insurance. No safeguarding issues have arisen in the past year.
Electoral Roll
The Electoral Roll of the church is a list of people who consider themselves to be members of one of our three churches including those who are housebound or unable to attend regularly. Everyone is welcome and forms, available in our churches or from the Electoral Roll Officer, are completed by each individual (over 16 and baptised). We are grateful to our Electoral Roll officer who oversees this work. After the annual revision in 2021 the Electoral roll stood at 190
(2020: 199 2019: 191 2018: 202 2017: 198 2016: 205, 2015: 185)
Malpas Deanery Synod Report
There were two meetings of Deanery Synod. The first meeting in April welcomed our new Rural Dean - The Revd Tim Hayward and paid tribute to the Revd Canon Ian Davenport who has retired after 10 years as Rural Dean.
At the second meeting in September Phillip Posnett was elected as Lay Chairman following the retirement of Marion Randles after 8 years. There will be an episcopal visit from Monday 27th June until Wednesday 29th June in 2022 when the Bishop will visit churches, schools, homes in the Deanery as well as undertaking a Prayer walk.
Administrative Information
At the APCM on Sunday 23[rd] May 2021, the following were elected unopposed:
For a period of three years:
Marjorie Rathbone, Michael Scott, William Spiegelberg
No election was necessary for the remaining members of the PCC:
For a period of one year: (now for re-election in 2022) Paul Bullen, Alastair Findlay
For a period of two years: (now for re-election in 2023) Simon Corradine, Mike Kiddle, Anita Langford, John Meredith and Rosemary Lilley
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APPENDIX A
THE ANNUAL ACCOUNTS AND INDEPENDENT EXAMINER’S REPORT
The Parochial Church Council St Helen’s Church, Tarporley
End of Year Financial Statements
Year ending 2021
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Statement of Financial Activities
| Unrestricted funds Designated funds Restricted funds Endowment funds Total funds Prior year total |
|
|---|---|
| Receipts Planned giving Collections and other giving Other voluntary receipts Gift Aid recovered Other receipts Activities for generating funds Investment Income Receipts from church activities Total income Payments Cost of generating funds Missionary and Charitable Giving Parish Share Clergy and Staffing costs Church Running Expenses Hall Running Costs Church Repairs & Maintenance Hall Repairs & Maintenance New Building work Governance Costs Total expenditure Net income / (expenditure) resources before transfer Transfers Gross transfers between funds - in Gross transfers between funds - out Other recognised gains / losses Gains / losses on investment assets Gains on revaluation, fixed assets, charity's own use Net movement in funds Total funds brought forward Total funds carried forward |
38,293 — — — 38,293 45,331 19,563 7 366 — 19,937 22,563 — 12,000 — — 12,000 120 12,515 — — — 12,515 17,507 11,601 94,695 1,000 — 107,296 11,067 3,857 9,769 — — 13,627 8,115 68 24,506 4,671 — 29,246 5,015 10,992 — — — 10,992 5,661 |
| 96,891 140,977 6,037 — 243,907 115,380 462 — — — 462 1,580 — — 300 — 300 300 68,131 — — — 68,131 67,624 7,554 936 — — 8,490 3,697 18,158 — 663 — 18,821 25,068 33 7,611 — — 7,644 10,054 — 22,809 — — 22,809 10,264 — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — |
|
| 94,340 31,356 963 — 126,660 118,588 |
|
| 2,551 109,620 5,074 — 117,246 (3,208) — 150,000 12,352 — 162,352 — — (162,352) — — (162,352) — — — — — — — — — — — — — |
|
| 2,551 97,268 17,426 — 117,246 (3,208) |
|
| 54,308 45,336 28,078 — 127,723 130,932 |
|
| 56,859 142,605 45,505 — 244,970 127,723 |
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Balance sheet
| Total funds Prioryear funds |
|
|---|---|
| Current assets Investments Cash at bank and in hand Net current assets less current liabilities Total assets less current liabilities Total net assets less liabilities Represented by Unrestricted General fund Designated ALTAR FRONTAL FUND Rectors Leaving Fund UNRESTRICTED ST HELENS UNRESTRICTED ST JOHN UNRESTRICTED ST THOMAS CHOIR FUND CHILDRENS SOCIETY & OTHERS DONE ROOM St Helen's Fixed Projector & Screen St Helens Fabric Churchyard Footpath St H General Mission Fund HEARSE HOUSE Restricted DIVIDENDS REST ST THOMAS PARISH CHURCHYARDS_Note 1_ RESTRICTED RELIGIOUS EDUCATION RESTRICTED ST HELENS (FORMER CONS CHARITY) RESTRICTED ST JOHN St John's Churchyard UNRESTRICTED ST THOMAS Agency collection Funds of the church |
134,645 50,744 110,324 76,978 |
| 244,970 127,723 |
|
| 244,970 127,723 |
|
| 244,970 127,723 |
|
| 244,970 127,723 56,859 54,308 416 416 — — 85,482 3,041 1,770 1,549 16,306 16,198 1,955 1,955 — — 14,372 4,003 — — 4,288 — 15,350 15,350 1,064 2,000 1,598 821 6,415 5,745 17,578 2,567 1,816 964 1,625 1,925 14,829 13,095 3,193 3,734 46 46 — — |
|
| 244,970 127,723 |
Statement of assets and liabilities
| General Designated Restricted Endowment Thisyear Lastyear |
|
|---|---|
| Current assets - Cash at bank and in hand Bank Current Account - CCLA (CBF) deposit account - Petty Cash - Totals Current assets - Investments CBF C of E Investment Fund - CBF CoE Investments - Income Shares - Totals Grand total |
28,593 48,796 31,629 — 109,019 75,940 1,223 — — — 1,223 980 81 — — — 81 57 |
| 29,898 48,796 31,629 — 110,324 76,978 26,980 18,789 13,875 — 59,645 50,744 — 75,000 — — 75,000 — |
|
| 26,980 93,789 13,875 — 134,645 50,744 |
|
| 56,879 142,585 45,505 — 244,970 127,723 |
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Notes:
Note 1 – Parish Churchyard Restricted Fund. A decision was made to charge grass cutting to general funds rather than Parish Churchyard. This means that all grass cutting for 2019-2020 was reallocated in 2020. This is why this fund has increased by £15,000.
Financial Report for the year Ending 31st December 2021
Our total receipts for 2021 were £243,907 but this included one-off receipts of £136,005.
These one-off receipts included the realising of assets (sale of Hearse House and cashing in of a legacy), donation towards redecoration of The Rectory, a COVID restart grant for the Done Room, VAT reclaim for St Helen’s quinquennial and an insurance claim for stolen microphones and hearing loop.
Excluding these entries, our underlying income was £107,902. Our income for 2020 was £115,300, so it is £7,398 less.
Part of this decrease was due to the ongoing effect on COVID which meant that congregations were still less than pre-pandemic and greatly reduced fund-raising activities.
As well as this, we have seen a decrease of £7,038 in standing order receipts which also impacts on the gift aid we can claim, reducing this by £5,000.
On the positive side, our fees for weddings and funerals increased by also 50% to £10,992. We also received more for letting out the Done Room.
Our expenditure for 2021 was £126,660 which also contained the following one-off costs – St Helen’s quinquennial, Rectory redecoration, replacing stolen microphones and hearing loop and the fees relating to the sale of Hearse House. These total £30,690, making our underlying expenditure £95,959.
This is £22,619 less than 2020. Part of this is due to not having a Rector until September, 50% reduction in the insurance premium for St Helen’s and less being spent on Done Room repairs. Whilst we incurred some St Helen’s quinquennial costs in 2020 these were £12k less than in 2022.
Despite our reduced income, we managed to pay 100% of our Parish Share which totalled £68,131 We also paid our fees for weddings & funerals to the Diocese in full.
We placed some of our staff on furlough in 2021 and claimed some of their salaries from HMRC’s Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme.
We have reviewed our Reserves policy and have decided that we can reduce the period we need to reserve for from six to three months. This is due to the fact that our Standing Orders give regular income and we have decided to invest more of our income which will result in receiving more dividends. Items we reserve for are: Utilities, Parish Share, Rector & Staffing costs, Insurance, Organ and Bell Maintenance, Grass Cutting & Done Room Costs.
In addition to the figures presented, the PCC has a stewardship responsibility for other capital assets.
Anita Langford Treasurer 8[th] February 2022
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