## **PARISH OF ST JOHN THE BAPTIST, GREAT MEOLS** ## Annual report of the Parochial Church Council (PCC) for the year ending ## 31[st] December 2025 The principal function of the PCC is “to promote, in the parish, the whole mission of the Church, pastoral, evangelistic, social, and ecumenical.” The PCC members are also Trustees, and, therefore, stewards both of the mission and the resources of the Church, ensuring that it is solvent, well-run and delivering its charitable outcomes. In addition, the PCC is responsible for the operation and maintenance of the Church Centre. PCC members were: |PCC members were:|| |---|---| |Vicar|Gillian Rossiter (Until 31 January 2025)| |Readers|David Moss| ||Lesley Young| |Churchwardens|Steve Symes (Assistant Treasurer)| ||Martin Hodson (Until May 2025)| ||Tim Smith ( From May 2025)| |Representatives on|Lesley Young| |Deanery Synod|Claire Barnard| ||Daniel Branch| ||Eunice Moss| |Pastoral Worker|Chris Branch| ||Andy Liston| ||Alex Calvert| |Elected members|Steve Austin (Treasurer)| ||Clive Burgess| ||Julie Burgess (Until September 2025)| ||Rowan Connell| ||Sue Dutton (Secretary)| ||Steve Gee| ||Martin Hodson (From May 2025 until August 2025)| ||Clare O’Connell| ||Adele Sedgwick| Both the PCC and Standing Committee met on six occasions each in 2025. Safeguarding is a constant agenda item, and a Safeguarding team led by Chris Branch aided by Clive and Julie Burgess have continued to ensure that not only our Safeguarding policies are up to date and comply with the Safeguarding Dashboard Level 3 but that the ministry team and all members of the PCC have completed the safeguarding training required by their role. There is no denying that we were devastated to learn of Rev Gillian’s forthcoming retirement at the end of January 2025. Throughout January, Gillian worked with the ministry team and church wardens to ensure that church life would continue in her absence until a new incumbent was appointed. When asked about the future of our Parish and if we would have a new full-time vicar the answer was always “Yes’. St John’s has faithfully paid its Parish share and has been a beacon and example of good work.” The archdeacon agreed St John’s was a great example of a church working for its community and very outward looking so all will be well! Rev Gillians final service on 26[th] January 2025 came round all too quickly. The responsibility for the many and varied activities of the church was shared out so that we could continue our ministry and community activities as normal. We are lucky to have so much support, not only from our parishioners but also our local community. Steve Symes and Tim Smith were appointed by the PCC to represent them in the Vacancy process, which involved consultation with the PCC and the Archdeacon. Throughout February and March producing our Parish Fact File and Parish Profile dominated the work of the PCC. Thanks to everyone who has contributed to these, and those who also responded to the questionnaire that was circulated. Your responses were analysed and continuing our outreach work and growing our congregation, particularly with youngsters, featured high on the topics mentioned. The Archdeacon, Mike Gilbertson, and Rural Dean, David Vestergaard, joined us at the PCC meeting in March to give us useful feedback on the first draft of our Profile. They emphasised the need to take our time writing the profile in order to get it ‘right’ and to give St Johns time to reflect on what we are looking for in our next vicar. Once the necessary documentation for the vacancy process ie our Fact File and Parish Profile, were complete the advert was published on the Chester Diocese website with interviews planned for early July. In the meantime, activities continued much as before, and we kept finding all the things that happened behind the scenes, that Gillian just did! It was lovely to welcome Bishop Julie to our Easter Day service and to witness Jonny O’Connell being confirmed. Notice was given to the residents of the vicarage, and we were pleased to hear that as it has been rented out by the Diocese for the past 13 years, the Diocese would undertake any refurbishments that were needed, St John’s did not become financially responsible for it until these were completed **.** At the Annual Parochial Church Meeting in May we welcomed Tim Smith back as a Church Warden together with Steve Symes. Martin Hodson was thanked for his contribution to church life as a warden over the past two years and we wish him well as both he and Natalie continue with the next stage of their Ministry course. Martin will remain as a member of the PCC. Jean Hodgson, Gill Childs and Hazel Moon were also thanked for their contributions and support to the PCC as they stepped down, and were replaced by Steve Gee, Julie Burgess and Martin Hodson. The process to find a new vicar for St John’s continued as, following interviews in July, it was decided not to appoint, and a new advert was published. Steve and Tim met with the Archdeacon to discuss the next steps to take. Meanwhile, the wardens, David, Lesley and the PCC continued to organise and monitor the everyday services and activities of the church, and we are ever grateful to the visiting retirees who have led our services, and continue to do so. Our September PCC meeting opened with a presentation on the diocesan ‘Parish Giving Scheme’ which would run alongside our present ‘Planned Giving’ but would greatly reduce the administration work done by David and the finance team with regards Gift Aid claims. The PCC agreed to register for the scheme and a number of the PCC agreed to trial this before opening up to the rest of the parish. All contributions and Gift Aid claimed will still come to St Johns. We hope to roll this out to the parish in the new year 2026. Throughout the year, Steve continued to monitor the church building, including roof repairs and blocked drainpipes! We were pleased to hear that the church heaters had been repaired thanks to a generous donation, and the perseverance of Steve, so we should be warm this winter, You may still get wet if you sit under the continuing leak in the lady chapel, although this has been considerably lessened but still needs attention. Steve has also done battle with sorting new accounts with energy suppliers, water rates and council tax for the church and vicarage. Thanks go to Steve for all the time and work he gives to these matters on top of all the other roles he has at St John’s. The PCC reviewed annual donations that are made by St Johns and agreed that they would remain the same in 2026 ie Tanzanian Church £600, Sat-7 £600 and the Bible Society £500. All other donations made are raised by fund raising events such as the Christingles - £650 to Children Society; Carols on the Green - £250 to MIND; Jig Saw Sale - £760 to Kids Connect. The Meols Community Choir and Great Meols Primary School Concert in October raised £1000 in aid of the RNLI. Our relationship with Great Meols Primary school continues to flourish and they visit for educational activities and, Harvest and Christmas services while the school ‘Ambassadors’ have helped with our ‘Soup at Home’ packing and deliveries, and the school choir sang at our community Christmas lunch. Other outreach activities include a Place of Welcome Café, Swap Shop with our partner church, St Chads, providing support for struggling families, The Big Shed Project provides furniture for emergency accommodation and baby equipment particularly in liaison with Heart4Refugees. All these church activities and the additional children’s events including Messy Church, Pancake Fun, Light Party etc would not happen without the support of all those (too many to list) who volunteer to help. Thank you to you all. As the Parish vacancy continues into 2026, we must not take our situation to heart. This is not a reflection on our parish of St John’s, but a national problem and we are not alone in our search. We must just pray that we will soon find a new incumbent to lead us forward, and in the meantime continue with the good works of the parish. PAR&8H OF ST JOHN THE 8APTIST, GREAT ¥erJLS TR&4SURER3 REPORT FOR YEAR END ACCOUNTS TO 31 OECEIIBER 2025 RECEIPTS AND PAym￿s ACCOUNTS Plew Ilnd my rwtas fdb*B: 1The ndPa Receipts and Pa￿ts an£ty￿s Balance sheet 2 Maln hlghllghts- Overdll there was a negativ& r1wM￿ of£3,C66.37 oxniy*- Excess payThents over recety*s 1,047.55 Decrease in the valuakn clvwestrr 2.(X)8.82 P8r sunvnary page 3.056.3 is impc¥tantto note the deficit Thrttdes c•ie off d￿￿.(*￿ arKI crf4yDx£2&(iXI. WIth￿t these thè d8fic41*ryJhJ have apwox. £28.0￿. to coverour cost& To ryt Iy6t y•ars w th4 basic 8fAJrc4 crf IrR￿ffle ol(rledi(ms. pkn&* Grft does not (X)V8r our Parish Share.Frythis reason c￿nUe to erKtyJage ￿"s￿e￿[S tolc4"n the tlaTrned gving seheme and lribjte as rTwch &8 Ihey c*. l a￿0 need ID remmd every* ol the Pwish &￿"ng sc4￿me htith is r￿a¥a￿alle. ￿￿1h sLwn8 of us haviTrJ akeady enriAknJ.Th SL*8me Is n8wJs mue fi￿rnl￿5 svJrrirg up. 2025 comments and rn￿n hlghlghts b Rocqlpts 1 Ml purpDse dDnatirA￿ iTh*Jde dcmati(ns c1£20.IMI as &xNe. 2 Hanngd GwiThJ stsndlng rxder8*tre drwi ¢x 2024 by akVDxQOIYJ. 3 One off heaters ftJThY of £4,th) ar8 ¥Mlhln a fvnd *ith PCC disL¥thn tr usage. 4 T8x recoverable on ¢3ftAid is up 2024 Llue to the Off dc￿atr￿S atrthie. 5 Hall 14tre up du8 srme itwns r￿18S1￿al￿￿ Imm dC￿atiC￿s incna*J ratas and actiwty. . 8 Investment income InL¥ea5￿ slghty due to the on d?￿rt during lh8 aThJ int8r8St rat8s &*nges 7 Income frcwn k¥Eddirgs and fwra15 Smi￿r crffip8￿j lo 2tr24. 8 Grants and IrAuran(* dalm 01 £9,984 were repairs as be￿. 1 Parish Sharn inms&J in the yearby 3% to £94.788 2 Tot81 runnirq costs ￿ simibr at £12.FA)512024 £13.161) Rumling indude gas. ekrtric, IrwJrnM8. *￿er￿d Gas Costs ￿relesS in 2025. 3 Major Tepairs c<￿￿$t of:_ RcM)f repalts £8.650 part Ix)vwed by 1fvj￿￿ thrn rttelpt £8￿. Replac8ffl￿t Ighting £1.895 part eov8r&l by grart r?￿lp1 £1,510. /l.g .*Qc PARISH OF ST JOHN THE BIPTIST. GREAT UEOLS TREASURER% REPORT FOR YEhA END ACCOUNTS TO 311)ECEIABER 2025 RECEIPTS AND PAYMENTS KCOUl￿8 Pag8 2 1 Inve•tsnent -COIF Ltyacy Res¢r¥e Curmtm*ket y￿Ue 2025 £101.025. a lo 2024 ty £2.C 2 Bank. dIp￿1￿ and cath - 2025 £71,146 a repres￿ a dthaee on 3J24 of£947 3 Fwid tsatwfer5 N8t tran8fets Inlo Keighuey Tn￿ dep)YtarX￿rt frrxn B*days to ei28028. being n8t lff p0y￿￿ ov8r r￿ty.. 4 The Keiqhtley Tntjt ln1wtn￿ ¥•luatlM at 31M2f202S stood *a470111. Sl Johns Is orty to quartwty incane as in(kn1￿1 in r8Apts. 5 8udpt 2026- draft atts tlm• ofwrlung this Thks Dv8rn11 Sho￿ PayTh￿ts exceedir¥J ¥Ét8ipts by a[pr￿]Mat￿Y £35,[￿￿1 . It aswm&* no Large off donatic￿$ as in 2025 ￿ Ihat usual ￿y[￿ts 11 be at 8 simlar lev81 *ith a few 8xcepl*Th. Thi% rwnforces my comnN8rts above regardir¥J tha need tr ir¢¢Yn& A￿uftts approyal thanks l ￿)sh to offer the 8coJunts for 2025 to the rneety f￿ltsr apyDwal. l Mish to thank RLknwt Srnith FCA and everyo1* lnvc4v￿I in the PCC TA￿ helwl me d￿Ing the SW. In paitiujlar Steve s￿ In addrflrm b) Ns dules as Ward8n. S Austin Salnt John the Baptst Rocelpts and Payments kn￿nt For th¢ period from 01 January 2025 to 31 Decembèr 2025 9&385J4 1CQI85SI 129,OS328 )2049J 18,334.79 125284 2.17 17￿7132 11617 11, 141515AI 16W PAsing￿n￿ 3J732 1￿￿6 13&tth.11 &4cfj￿ 9229 13f.42116 1Tr1I) 5J41 17JSUO r4WA21 {438.rn {1JM75$ 17A55MI 15159115 I744￿ 151A17JP 171¥J6 174WTJ 147WI XA71J5 n•rnl D••lgnat•d R•¥trktsd Th￿￿ar Last￿•1 tlonadons 4nd kngacl•• 0101.[kn￿ 011Q.GkPld.èr* I￿45) 47N94A) 1.D37JKJ 13&5.42 2P55fy) 2414233 10A4095 483733 7.B70J9 17.347 11,th75 4W.O) 14253 cth1.7a¥r￿Iw￿L￿Lfft(j￿lij 17J47 Z0117S Dmatlons and l•gado*Tot* X385J4 4500.+X 1O18B5J4 129.05328 kncom from ¢harlloble •thltlo• 1101. arpJfirn* 1a1.cth 2fft1J)) 2,8B1AI 2A68.D) 8519.79 6J9711J 10XIg1 kn¢omè from ch¥ltabl• athltl•s Tota15 20A04JO 18.3x79 Investments 1252ts4 1,252.84 S5117 knv••tmnts Total• 35Z17 Qthor 1.Td4 1.rJ4J 7 I262.￿rth￿￿ 1261.￿11*￿*trer￿ 4401 &401 5.159.74 Oth•r Totsls 11.669J6 17,071a2 11617.68 Recev)ts &andTa¢als 131.613N {s￿A¥j WIJ6 I41￿15￿0 166J57J2 R•lslTrg fund* 722 26820 207.32 Raisini lund& Totals 20820 Exp•ndtturo on tharltablo •trtlvlll•• 3]&P.25￿1)w1rf2 G•n•r•l DO￿#￿*t•d Endovmxnt Ihls ￿ar LaÉt s•¥ 1.17 13 J5 1328 35 4Q53 9¢.n8.T2 92P27JB 1870.Wkntharitss 1910.Mristyrwshslw 2170.E0￿ 2a)1.Pwihtsrir¥J￿ ￿188￿ 9¢.rn.72 70DJ 4,413E7 &WA7 1AW5 11)2057 170 4.413SI 1A0335 170 1MJ &171 40455 A1 1m18 1fj73Z2 fj) 2m.usf0r￿$r￿*•sIko￿r• tJ75-RrstlidTrarir¥J 1.67322 27495 274 15.46 1&46 7.01339 487Sg 615.47 2410.C1•￿￿￿r0J.￿S 58221 23 Z774ffj3 74.78 Z484 224&3 5791> 5041 138.B85.05 139.065.11 i.f)) srn &841 1.69 1.62120 Exp8ndllur• on £h*llabl• •thlll¢% To 13181116 Oth¢r exp•ndllur• 41 58A1 9n7T 1X)D) 29121 S121 621A7 7.￿1{￿) 2512.etht￿ge& 1409aO 9329.89 Olher •xpe#dknp T•t* 13&099A6 1,62120 WI - 14156255 1450232 ?.￿￿1p￿*2￿2 M2rn925 3IMW2024 Flx•d 101,02 101.02&56 Total Flx•d •MI• 103,034.38 C¥rr•nt 188•ts 8￿￿71 39*1211 21828.14 11.767.73 37,51111 2221621 21 71.14&n 7Z,09326 U•blllttes 67S.91 Uabllltt•8 676A1 Net*M•t 8urphJs{d•lldll 171.394J6 174A50.n R•aeN•• 17.85ts) 151,&]7.02 4.W.11 174850.73 174.4￿￿ T•lal P*Mr¥•s 171.ts1.36 147KS171 1515Bg.15 21.421.&5 158 Tthi 174hxrJ P.22rrn)WIL11 CHARITY COMMISSION FOR ENGLAND AND WALES Independent examiner's report on the accounts Section A Independent Examinerfs Report Report to the trustseslmembers of Parish of Saint John The Baptist , Great Meols On accounts for the year ended 31 Decembfrr 2025 Charity no (rf any) 1131062 Set out on pages One to four I report to the trustees on my examination of the ac(x>unts of the above charity (Ihe Trusf) for the year ended 3111212025 Responsibilities and As the charty trustees of the Trust, you are resFonsible for the preparation basis of r8POrt of the amnts in &J))rdance with the requirements of the Charities Act 2011 (Ihe A￿). I report in respect of my examination of the Trusfs aC￿Unts carried out under seclion 145 of the 2011Act and in ¢arying out my examination, I have followed the ap￿Icable Directions gI￿￿n by the Charity Commission under sedion 145(5)(b) of the Act. I have completed my examination. I confimi that no material matters have Cor￿ to my attention in COnn￿li0n wth the examination which gives me cause to believe that in. any material resrect: accounting re(x)rds were not kept in a(xordance with section 130 of the Act or the a￿Unts do not a￿Ord with the actounting records Independent examinerfs ststement I have co1￿mS and have cx)nE across no other matters in connection ryth the examination to which attention should be drawn in order to enable proper Unde￿ndIng of the acry)unts to be read￿1. Signod: Name: Robert Smith Relevant professlonal quallficationls) or body (rfany): FCA Address: CIO St John The Baptist Great Meds Forest Road Meols . Wrral