the p(Lrish of WHITEHAVEN Parochial Church Council Parish of Whitehaven (Charity Number 1130849) (The Parochial Church Council of the Ecclesiasb'cal Parish of Whitehaven. SL James ) Annual Report and Accounts for the year ending 31 December 2025. Registered Offi￿. St Nicholas Tower. L(AVthw Street Whltehaven, cumb￿ CA28 7DG Parish Offi￿. Tel ￿hrtehaVeA (01946) 4585( ivwiYarl2urclu]ear)Yxi.riMiiJclitsrclV12.1101 Parish of Whitehaven - Annual Report of the Parochial Church Council for the Year Ended 31" December 2025 Aim and purposes The Parish of Whitehaven's d7afitable object is the promoting in the e(￿lastiCal parish the whole mission of the Church. The Parish of lthitehaven PCC has respons*)ility for ctroperating wrth the incumbent, in promoting in the ecdesiastical parish the whole mission of the Church. pastoral. evangelistic, social and ecumenical. It has rna1ntenan￿ responsibilities for St James and St Nicholas Church buildings and St. James. Parish Hall and Communty Centre. Objectives and activities The PCC seeks in atl it diEs to futfil the mission and vision statern￿ of Parish Mission SthtspHenL- By God's grnce, ¢0 grow God's Kingdom in l*%itshaven Lsion Sthten&•nL. To grow disciples of(dl ages The PCC mairrtains an overview of both WQT5hip. involvement with the two Church of England schools within the Parish and the Servi￿ to the cx)mmunty provided by St NIc*￿IaS Centre and St James Parish Hawcommunity Centre. Achievements and perf0m￿nCe The PCC has a mission action plan {revieNved in Feb 2023). The mission action plan set the direction for the year fission Actton Plan Outreach to schoolslyoung people Pastoral Care Outreath through St Nicholas Centre Finan Eco Churc1￿￿et Zero Cart)on by 2030 Ministry to families and the elderly and house bound continued to be the focus during 2025. A new famity service held monthly was introduced in 2￿24 arKI has gone from strength to strength with 8 regular families attending. Those btinging chFldren for bapt5sm are encouraged to attend. The toddler group finished in the spring due to dwindling numbers. After-school activty sessions were introduwl airrEd at famfiies with primary age children. These developed into Jesus and Me Church which are being held during school holidays. An after school bell ring group was started and has a regular group of children from the junior school attending. Mini Messy Church is run for the infant sch(y)l. P4e2of 16 Our Cuppa & Crack group meets b%eekly. It kYovKJes an opportunty for people to come togettw to chat and take part in activiiies. Tr pastoral team visit those who a￿ unable to attend church services. home communtons are offered arvj monthly *rvices are held in the local residential homes. The laity, ckrgy and ￿T￿latiOn govemoTS continue to support the church schoob. The schools held a number of joint Servi￿ dUrir￿ the year which were well attended by parents and guardians. The Christingle Servi￿ was VEII atterKled. The PCC started work to address the financial position arnl held a successful stewardship campaign in the auiumn. St. Nicholas continues to flourish wtth 'mission' at the heart of its wotk. The (￿fe. staffed by volunteers, is open three days a week offering a Yrami welcome. The Parish Hall is used by MultiCu￿ra1 Cumbria as a venue whith hokls drop in sessions for refug* livirvJ in West Cumbria. A full programme of social and fund-taistng events were enjoyed by many. The parish is part of the Central Whitehaven Mission Community. made up of representatives from Anglican, Methodist. United RefomEd and Salvation Army churches. During the yeara number of events were held. A retreat awayday was organised and was well attended. The monthly dementia friendty Servi￿ held in St Peters Communty Centre continues to be well supported by people from the par￿. All mission actsvitEs carried out during the year have been done with the bve and support of the great chU￿h famity we have at SL James and St. Nicholas. Church Oryanisalions The Mothers, Union fiourishes with a INety aThJ vatEd pr(yJramme with guest speakers, meeting monthty in St Nicholas Centre. The fvlothers Union conlinues to seek opportunFbes to support families within the communty. The MU organised a o)mpetÉtson with the infant school to design the front cover of the church magazine. The branch again supported 16 days of activism for Violen￿ against women and the MU Rise Up Campaign. Toiletries were collected donated to the local hostel for womenlchildren flee domestic violen￿. Eucharist, Remembrance. Advent and Lent servi(Es were hekl throughout the year. Church Attendance There are 126 parishioners on the Church Ele(*oral Roll {Dec8ts 2(r25). The average weekly attendance at Sunday and mid-week Eucharist services is 70, the new family service averages 11 adults and 9 children. There are around 169 in the worshiping community. The Mothers. Union bTanch has a ￿￿MberShIp of 31. 8 infants and children and 4 adult were baptised. 7 alults wEre confirmed. There were no rnarriage ￿[vices. 16 fvneral services and 5 crematorium services during the year. Page3 of 16 Buildings The church buiklings are generally in a gocxl state of repair. During tt￿ year, a number of small projects were completed including the redecoration of St Nicholas Chapel. Energy audits were carried out on all buikjings. Vvhitehaven Town Council continue to provide fvrKling towards the rnairrtenan￿ of St Nicholas gardens. A wotking group betw&n the Parish. the Town Council arKI Cumberfand Council manages the ex[￿dIture. Tr Parish is gratefvl to the Town Council for its contnbution. Financial Review Total receipts for the year were £118.593 and are detailed in the financial statements. £140,165 was spent in providing the Christian ministy within the Parish including the contrFbution to the DIO￿an ministy offer. £8.929 was spent on major ￿pair[UnproveMent projects. £1.140 was spent by the Mission Communty. The net result for the year, was a net decrea* in funds of £35.651. The balan￿ ￿trIed fonNaTd on unrestiicted funds vtas £99,078. The balan￿ of£18.928 on designated fijnds is principally mainiained to support the upkeep of St Nicholas Centre and the Parish Hall. Reserves Policy It is the policy of Ihe PCC to maintsin adequate r￿enleS for the futtjre Maintenan￿ and upkeep of services. Of the unTestricted ￿nds. an operating reserve of £60.000 (6 months operating costs) arKI a £15,IX)O emergency reser4e have been set aside. The remainder of the Unrestr1d￿ reserves is available for investment in future UnproveN￿nt projects and for the outreach of the ministry. The PCC continues to actively seek grants to contribute to future major restoration work as well as promoting a programrne of fun&raising acbvibes. Plans for the Future The Mtssion Action Plan ￿ntinueS to set the direc*on for firtU￿. Plans indude the continuation of eno)uraging children and young families to attend thurch. JAM (Jesus And Me) church is running in each school holiday. and the numbers involved in Family Servi continue to slowty gr(P￿. We are hoping to partner with Networt( Youth Church in the establishment of an in school choir for both Junior schools in the parish and possibly hosting a weekend evening event ¢Jccasionally for secondary school ag￿j children. The diocese has offered the parish an opportunty to host the life Exhibition" in conjunction with Whitehaven Mission Communty. Our older parishioners are as inportant to us as Cuppa & Crack continues to be well supported and therefore definitely filling a need. And with this clierrtele in mind an early evening Communion Servrce has just been intr(xJUC￿ once a month. Tho* who ￿n't make it Page4 of 16 to church are visite(l at home and offered C(xnmunion. The rest of our worship continues with a slight increase in attendan￿. There have been a couple of study groups this last year. which would be good to continue. The Gallery Project. to make one of the galleries in church into a knuseum. focusing on the areas mining history. especialty aimed at the sthool aged children, and also showcasing artifacts frc#n the former chuth of Vvhitehaven. This is proied is progressing. The PCC continues to consider its environmentsl footyrint. Quinquennial inspections are due in 2026. Social and ￿nd- raising events are planned that will ￿lebrate the Rectorfs 30 years of ordained ministry and promote opportunities for fellowship. The PCC will ernbra￿ the Dioce￿ forAU refreshed vision. Follow Dolly Care Deeply Speak ￿0￿{Y T￿d Gerttiy Structure, governance and management The methc