The Parish of St Helen's Ore with St Barnabas St Helen's Ore Parochial Church Council Trustee Annual Report for 2023 Strurture. Governance & Management Charity Number: 1131079 Priest In Charge Curate Tim Bell Kizzy Penfold Wardens Simon Jones Nkk Warren Deanery Synod Suzy Eth4aTds Sard Hackett Christine Aitken Joint Treasurers Peter Bailey Jennifer Summers-Day Secretary JenniferSummers-Day Representati¥e5 of the Laty Roger Pook Roger Mitchell Lynn White Susanne Jones Jason Morton Linda Chapman-Holmes Oavid Walker Toni Lee Julia Acott The14rish of St He￿n.5 0￿ with St Barnabas Church Office, 311 The Ridge. Ha5tings, East Sussex, TN34 2RA Re8lstered Charity No: 1131079 Emall: sthelensoffice@gmail.com Tel: 01424 754290 DIOCESE OF CHICHESTER THE CHURCH OF ENGLAND St Helen's Ore Parothial Churth Counal 2023 TrusteesAnnual Report Aims & Purposes as a tharity The PCC has the responsibilty of c(kopeTrtin8 With the Priest-1n-cha￿e. the rim Bell. In: The promotion of the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ according to the doctrines and prnctices of the Church of England Promoting in the parish the whole mission of the thurth, pastordl, wcial, evangellstic and, ecumenical Developlng our vision: Cornmunity. Faith. Attion. In whkh we see the Church as an ensa8ing Faith Community, one that is ene￿ISed by Faith, whith results in an (Mrtpouring of G￿,$ Love thrwgh Action. Objectives & Activltles When planning our activities forthe year. our incumbent and the PCC have considered the Charity Commission's guidance on public benefft and. in particular, the specific guidan￿ on'charities for the advancement of religion,. The council has complied wrth the duty under section 5 of the Safeguarding and Clergy Discipline Measu 2016, fully reco8nisin8 its duty to have due ward to Hwse of Bishops, BU￿anCe on Safeguardi￿ child￿n and vulnerable adults. For this year we discussed and planned the following objettives and acdvtties to futfil our aims.. Enabling as many people as possible to worship at our churth Enabling a5 mary peop￿ as poSsIb￿ to become part of our parlsh community Teaching, baptising and nurturing new and existing believers Maintaining an overview of wotship throughout the parish Considering how servites can involve the many groups that INe within the part5h Puthng faith into pnctice, through prayer and scripture. music and sacrament Offering worship and prayer. learning about the Gospel, in small group srtuations Assisting people from all walks of life to develop their knowledge of. and trust in. Jesus Provision of pastoral care for people living in the parish Reaching Out tothe unchurchedthrou8h provisM)n of various Minist￿ and elents held throughout the year. Maintaining the fabric of the church building as a historK Centre and focus of life in Ore. Achievements & Perforniance Att•ndant* *t Worship. Public worship in 2023 has seen us conifnue with our main Sunday services at 9am at St Bamabas wbth an avera8e of 25 people. Part way through the year we moved the St Helen's Servlce time to 11am. Thls vR5 to give rn0￿ time for those who were leading and preathing to move between St Bamabas and St Helen's without feeling rushed. We alw Introduced coffee before the service at 10:30am which has gone down ￿11 and has hel￿1 build fellowship within the church communty. I am pleased to say that we have seen new people ￿lfi ourw0r5hippi￿ cornmunity. We have been Pa8e 2 of 18 St trlelen's Ore Parothial Church Council 2023 Tn￿AnnUal Rew)rt aver4ging around 55 people at St Helen's. families and thildren are 51111 low in number, but we are starting to see some slgns of growth in this area with the introductlon of a monthly all age seThice on the second Sunday of the month. All have ￿ElComed this service and enjoy its infomal and interartive nature. At Christmastime we held a Christingle Servi￿ which was ￿*11 attended by lots of families. We 3150 had our Carol services, one at St Barnabas and one at St Helen's. both were well attended attracting many visitors. Mldnight Mass Wds held at St Helen's which was a great opwrtunity to share the first communlon of Christmas. with 45 people in atterKfjance. Once again, a special Christmas SeThI￿ V47S held for the parchment trust and was an open invite to adult learning dtfficulties. It was a real blessin8 to ￿lebrate christma5 and partner with the parchment trust who do great *ork in this area. TeachiTr& Baptisin8 and nurturfn8 new and existing believers Alpho was run durin8 the early part of the year. this Vfds off the back of promoting it throughout all our Christmas events. This Was a8ain iointty run with Christ Church 0￿. 25 people partiapated in total. We held the HO￿ Spirit Day at St Helen's church hall. This ¥rdS a great day wlth many experiencing the Holy Spirit for the first time. As always Alpha Is a great opportuntty for all to explore the Christian falth, ask questlons and 8row closer to God. Following Alpha. it was clear that all the people tsking part wanted to carry on wtth some fomi of discipleship. For this we ran a Diwpleship course lookbng at spiritual disaplines. This ran up to the autumn term and the people in attendance have now formed a house group which meets every other week. Our monthly prayer eveniry are a continued 50uro of encouragement as we 8ather to prny into the vision and mlsslon of the church and also to explo￿ and encouraBe different forms of prayer in order to build up the body of Chri5L A weekly Prayer meetlng hekl at St Barnabas on Monday afternoon& averd&'r6 12 people each week. We had l Baptism. l Marriage and 2 Funernls in Church. E¥an8ellsm and pthach Happy Hand's, our toddler group has continued to grow. We have started to see families from this group joln us for church eN*nts and some Sunday services. We also held a christmas Se￿iCe for thi5 group In the church. In the summer we finished the terrn with a garden party- This avera8es around 20 children each week. Pa8e 3 of 18 St Helen's Ore par￿hla1 Churth Council 2023 Trustees Annual Report The stsrt of 2023 saw the opening of Youth Drop In's on a Thursday aftemoon. This group has reached over 40 young people during its first ￿ar and see5 a regular weekly attendance of around 15. This has been supported by developing stronger links with Chri5kn3n School Wor*ers Hasting5 (CSWHI and promotion through the CSWH Hot Chocolate aub at Ark Aleyandra. The churth has also supported St. Mary's special school to ac￿$5 the churth and deli¥er some oftheir RE curriculum. We have seen the Bumps and Babies group supported by the NCT develop svgnihcantty during the year and is now regulady attended each week by 15 mum5 and their babies. This group continue5 to work wtth community providers and has stsrted to see people cross over into the church's parent and toddler group Happy Hands. Happy Hands has been so popular during 2023 it has evolved to provide outdoor provision as well as indoor activities during session times. The provision of children's acbvrties during thurch servi￿5 continues in relatr>n to the reading for the day. September 2023 Saw the launch of All Age v￿lship on the second Sunday each month providin8 a more informal and interdctlve style of y1￿[$hip. The uniforn) groups that hire the hall have been invited to these wtth varying degree5 of success. The donations from the All A8e Harvest Celebration We￿ passed to Ore Church MI￿ Pre-sthool and the annual Christingle service 5UPPOrted the Children's Society. One-off event5 held18enernlty in school holid4sl in partnef5hip with Christ Church Ore continue to remain popular. Come Be Belong, our group that was set up to u)mbat loneliness and isolation continues at St Barnabas. This group avera8es 10 people each ThEek. Come be and belong is about makin8 Spa￿ for people just come for a cup of coffee or tea. and a chat. There is a r￿￿e of arts, crafts, creative wrStin& board games on offer for people to join in aThJ relax rfwanted. Group partiopants are encouraged to share their own skills and interests rfthey vffjuld Ilke to do so. Running Space has contlnued to grow in 2023. The idea behind Running spa￿ 15 this: every person we run with has treasure and riches within them. often buried deep under hurt and pain of abuse, abandonment. and rejection. Our purpose is to run shoulder to shoulder with you, and in runntng to help shake the dirt off eoch other's lives and pull out the treasure. "Come and run wlth u5, it mi8ht lust change your lrfe". their website slates. The group meets on a Monday morning and is led by a trained coach from Runnin8 Space. We averd8e around 8 to 10 people who run. This has been a great way to not only get fitter but to meet new people. most of wlM)m do not attend St Helen's chureh yetl TV￿ of our member5 from St Helen's church have now traln a5 coaches and help to lead the sessions. Some from this group ran the Hastiry half marathon which was a great opportunTty to raise funds for Runnlng Space and help raise its proflle. We also took part in the Out OfThe Blue Iok at Ashbumham. Page 4 of 18 St Helen's Ore Parochial Church Cwncil 2023 Trustees Annual Report At St Barnabas. groups cortinued. These indude Art group which meets on a Tuesday morning. Thi5 is open to anyone to bring their own art projects or leam new technique5 from Othe￿ This group held an art exhibition which wa5 an excellent oprx)rtunity to welcome in the lo(al community. Film club which shows films once a month on a Friday night is popular, many from the k)cal communty attend. CAMEO continued to meet each week throughout the year wtth an average of 20 people in attendance. A Christmas falr was held at St Bamaba5 at the beginning of Advent. This was a great opportunity to welcome the local community ond also promote all our Christmas even Great is Thy Faithfulness A group from St Helen's and Christ Church Ore took part in this pik)t coutse whlch wa5 run by the diocese of Chichester. We met and had input over the course of the year arKI looked at different aspett of church growth. Thts rdnged from subject such a5 colla￿lative ministry. welcome and intentional community outreach. The finding5 of this cOu￿e then went on to infonn our mission attion plan. Mlssion Aclion Plan This was reviewed tovmrds the end of the year. we found that V￿ had ach0￿￿1 m05t of the goals set in 2022. These 8oals are all linked to the Diocese's strategy for growth. which being: MoTe open, More converted to Jesus Christ. More generous. More engaged. The goals agreed for the coming year are as follows- Grow children's and youth Reach familie5 and build ￿lationShipS with schoo15. Improve discipleship of church membeo To be more open to the Holy Spirit. Empower Lay Ministrylnew beaders. Our vision to become embedded in all we do. Improve hospitality, welcome and the spirit of 8ener05ity. Each church to contribute to the common good within their community. Thlsls an on80in8 process, arKJ our mi55ion action plan wlll be rerfiewed annually to ensure we represent the community in whith we are set. Page 5 of 18 St Helen's Ore Parothial Churth Counci 2023 TrusteesAnnual Report Financial Review Total receipts were £111.707 as shown in the Financ￿[ Ststements. Giving via p1any￿d instruction and ollections at service5 amtwnted to £62.945. Tax refunds from Gift Aid wing amouTrted to £10.￿. Expenditure amounted to £151.396 resutiing In a deficit of £35.103 on unrestrKted funds and a defi(it on restricted funds of £4.586. Total net assets are £40.899 and therefore should the totsl deficit of £39,689 cortinue at the cUr￿nt rate in 2024 then all the reserves will be utilised within a )Ear. Unrestrkted reserves amounted to £35.139. Designated fvnd5 amounted to £nil forspetthc uses decided by the PCC. Restricted funds arnourt to £5.760. These L7n ￿lY be used forthe purp(b5es the funds were g￿n. Should they not be spent forthe 5tsted purww then they are *galty bound to be repaid to the give￿. £59,935 is held in (ash. bank and t￿IldI￿ society acmunts. Liabilities A £15.(￿ grant was re￿ivEd from CPAS for the Y