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← The Parochial Church Council Of The Ecclesiastical Parish Of Chandler's Ford

2023-12-31-accounts

Annual Report and Accounts of the Parochial Church Council

St Boniface

St Martin in the Wood

for the year ending 31 December 2023

Annual Report and Accounts of the Parochial Church Council for the year ending 31 December 2023

Page
1. Letter from the Churchwardens 2
2. Our Values 3
3. Ministry team, worship and ministry 3
4. Achievements, performance and overview of the PCC 5
4.1 Youth and children’s work 12
4.2 Mission 15
4.3 Eco Church 17
4.4 Administration and communication 18
4.5 Ministry with older people 19
4.6 Regular social events 20
4.7 Churchwardens’ report 21
5. Review of financial activities and affairs 26
Appendix 1: Administrative information 37
Appendix 2: Structure, governance and management 39
Appendix 3: Charitable objectives and risk management
 40

1. Letter from the Churchwardens

The Churchwardens write:

We did not expect to be writing another letter in place of the Vicar again this year!

It is 18 months since we went into vacancy and there have been many challenges along the way; however, we celebrate all that we have continued to achieve as a parish.

The church family has been very supportive to us during the vacancy, both in practical ways and with prayer, and we are very grateful for this.

Although this report technically covers the period January to December 2023, at the time of writing (March 2024), we have just received the good news that Rev Penny Thatcher, our Curate, has been offered and accepted a post as Associate Priest in the Parish of Titchfield in the Diocese of Portsmouth and will be moving on to her new role in the near future.

Our thanks cannot be adequately expressed to Rev Hayley and Rev Penny, who have given selflessly of their time and love to support us during this period. It is a testament to them that we have been able to continue the level of services, pastoral support and parish activities.

As we are now advertising for our new Vicar for a third time, we pray that God has the right candidate in mind to be our new Vicar.

May God, the source of hope, fill you with all joy and peace by means of your faith in him, so that your hope will continue to grow by the power of the Holy Spirit. (Romans 15:13)

With our blessings

Lynne and Jane

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2. Our Values

Our parish vision and values were last reviewed in 2019 and need to be revisited. However, they remain relevant.

Jesus said the first commandment is ‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength. The second is this: Love your neighbour as yourself.’ (Mark 12:30-31)

Therefore, as a parish we aim to:

Love God

Love one Another

Love Chandler’s Ford and Beyond

3.Ministry Team - Worship and Ministry

Our Associate Priest, Reverend Hayley Richens writes:

‘O magnify the Lord with me, and let us exalt his name together.’ ( Psalm 34:3)

A word used continually during 2023 was ‘vacancy’ as the Parish of Chandler’s Ford continued without an incumbent minister. This is not to say, however, that the Church was in vacancy, as we discovered more and more the importance of Christ as the head of the Church, guiding us all. Jesus was very much present! Jesus was seen through the ministry of many and overseeing this amazing offering were our Churchwardens, who during vacancy take on the responsibility for the safe and efficient running of the parish. Lynne Mursell, with Una Barter until April, and with Jane Keen since April, joyfully ministered – supported by Deputy and Assistant Wardens – in so many ways that we only see the tip of the iceberg. For all we see and know, and for all that is hidden, the sincerest of thanks to them for their diligence and competence!

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At its heart the Parish of Chandler’s Ford is a worshipping community with more than 16 services each month. Sunday morning services continued to be live-streamed via Facebook into the homes of those who are unable to worship in church, and were broadcast monthly on Outreach Radio. The excellent AV team, led by Paul Anfield, continued to improve the quality and presentation of services and

extended the offering to occasional offices on request. The worship pattern introduced, following the end of Covid lockdowns, has continued during the vacancy with Sunday mornings alternating between St Boniface and St Martin in the Wood; Sunday afternoon informal services; midweek communion; and monthly 8am BCP Holy Communion, Encounter, Evensong and Messy Church. Numbers in church have continued to increase since Covid and the on-line community remains steady.

Many ministries were at work in every area of church life – too many to name but known by God, there were sacristans, stewards, rota organisers, administrators, the 4pm coordinating team, Encounter team, choir and organists, band musicians, readers and intercessors amongst others. These supported the regular services and festivals such as Easter and Christmas, All Souls and patronal festivals, as well as special services such as Ukrainian Christmas, Mission Sundays for CMS, Christian Aid, USPG, Church Army and Children’s Society, Generous June, Giving and Gift Day, Pregnancy and Baby Loss and the annual Civic Service of Remembrance for the Royal British Legion. Small groups continued in their mutual support and discipleship with most meeting in person. Prayer meetings continued online but Men@8, Women’s and Men’s Breakfasts, and Novo have returned in person to feed body and soul. Groups from church attended New Wine and Spring Harvest, returning refreshed.

The Children and Youth Ministry report outlines how young people are reached by Ewen Greenlees and Debbie Pearce. Thanks to the generosity of the parish they are employed to lead, with many willing and enthusiastic helpers, reaching the children and youth of our community. The lay pastoral team distribute home communion and visit local care homes, keep in contact with the bereaved and contact the families bringing their children to be baptised. All offer sensitive and diligent care for our community. Nothing in parish would be possible without the efficient and cheerful support of our administrator, Suzie Pavitt, and Vicar’s PA and PCC Secretary Gill Skates. Together, with a band of helpers, the church office is at the heart of church life, where much knowledge is stored and shared.

The PCC continued to support lay leaders training through the Diocesan School of Mission on the Bishop’s Commission for Mission (BCM) programme. In 2023 Stuart Divall completed BCM: Eco Care, Una Barter BCM: Pastoral, Jon Westmacott BCM: Worship and Steph Forward commenced training for the Bishop’s Permission to Preach. Thanks to all those who have responded to God’s call and for the PCC and parish for supporting their training needs.

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Reverend Penny Thatcher is reaching the end of her curacy training during which she has been supervised by Associate Priest Hayley Richens, but supported by the whole parish. We look forward to celebrating her successful sign-off early in 2024.

The PCC’s commitment for training those in ministry continued as we welcomed a new ordinand, Stacey Brooks, to our team in September. Stacey works in the parish for two days per week alongside her studies, and is already well settled in and identifying ways in which to exercise her gifts and ministry.

Rob Hayter, our Licensed Lay Minister (LLM) with Permission to Officiate (PtO), continues to lead and preach at services and to support the parish behind the scenes with great joy and enthusiasm. Hayley and Penny are grateful for the advice, friendship and ministry of Rev Peter Doores, Rev Andrew Williamson and Rev Christine Divall who, with PtO, regularly took services. We were also blessed by a number of visiting clergy from registry and especially by Rev Nick Grew and Rev Allen Edwards from our friendly neighbours at St Francis in Valley Park, as well as the support from Winchester Cathedral. A number of service leaders and preachers continue to support informal services throughout the year. Special thanks to Mel and Jon Westmacott, Stuart Divall, Steph Forward, Arpana Mukha and Rosemary Bull. Ewen continues to spend 25% of his time overseeing the 4pm informal service.

Clergy and Churchwardens have met fortnightly during 2023, joined by paid staff and LLM once a month.

The rest of this annual report details a wealth of ministry and mission in the parish and the clergy and Churchwardens are grateful for each person who serves God in this place.

4. Achievements, Performance and Overview of the Parochial Church Council

Achievements and Performance

The number of people on the electoral roll at the APCM was recorded as 317. The parish completes and returns an annual return form for the diocese, as part of the process of compiling national Church statistics.

2020 2021 2022 2023
Baptisms 8 18 31 19
Number of couples married in church 1 1 5 9
Funeral services in church 12 17 20 16
Funerals at crematorium 29 12 3 6
Easter Daycommunicants 0 61 116 202
Easter Dayworshippers 0* 67 122 273
Communicants on Christmas Eve/Day 113 126 192 181
Worshippers on Christmas Eve/Day 121 171 252 239

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*There was no attendance at church in person on Easter Day 2020 following the lockdown in place from March 2020 in response to the Covid pandemic.

The statistics above are based on services where people attended in person. We continued to have a live-streamed service every Sunday with an average of 13 people viewing live online and about 225 viewing at a later time.

The average number of adults attending Sunday services was 173 and 29 adults attending midweek Communion.

Safeguarding

Our Parish Safeguarding Officer, Anne Addiss writes:

Under section 5 of the Safeguarding and Clergy Discipline Measure 2016, PCCs must have ‘due regard’ to safeguarding guidance issued by the House of Bishops. To comply with this duty, the PCC has a designated Parish Safeguarding Officer, and has policies and procedures in place to safeguard children, young people and vulnerable adults.

There are currently 56 people with a DBS clearance certificate.

The PCC has 10 Safeguarding policies.

List of policies:

We also have a booklet, Guidelines for Visiting People at Home or in Care/Nursing Homes.

The policies are available on the parish website and also readily available in the parish office.

The National Safeguarding Team has created a range of Safeguarding Learning Pathways for people with roles within the church to complete. Seventy-seven people have completed the Basic Awareness Course and 41 people have completed the Safeguarding Foundations Course.

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We are signed up to the Parish Safeguarding Dashboard, Diocese of Winchester. This online tool helps the Safeguarding Officer and the PCC keep track of safeguarding within the parish. The dashboard links to Church of England policies, guidance and local templates.

An Overview of PCC Business this year

Our PCC secretary, Gill Skates writes:

PCC meetings were in person for all of 2023.

At each meeting, a monthly review of income and expenditure was provided, and the subcommittees presented minutes and reports of their work.

At the January PCC preparatory work was still being done before the post of vicar could be advertised. Questionnaires from the Archdeacon’s Review were still being completed by the PCC and some other members of the congregation. The post would be advertised from 31[st] March to 14[th] April, with interviews due to be held on 4[th] and 5[th] May.

Feedback from the Christmas services was discussed. All the services were very wellattended - attendance being almost back to what it was before Covid in 2020. However, sadly some of the leadership team missed out on services due to having Covid. Christmas services went well at our two care homes, Challoner House and Valley Lodge.

The PCC agreed that Stuart Divall would go forward for the BCM Creation Care course module to support his role in Eco Church.

Maddie Cole gave us an update on finances and the budget was accepted for 2023. There was a predicted deficit of £56K, with a predicted reduction in parish giving of £28K. The general reserves forecast for 31[st] December 2023 was £23K with total reserves forecast of £49K.

Anne Addiss kindly offered to take on the role of Safeguarding Officer as Gloria Brown had been in the role for the last 21 years. The Churchwardens thanked Gloria for her many years of conscientious service and presented her with flowers and a voucher.

Warm rooms, organised by Hiltingbury and Fryern Community Associations were set up for Monday mornings at St Martin’s. A team was headed up by Jean Anfield and Margaret Doores providing Warm and Tasty (soup and dessert) which would take place after the Wednesday morning communion service at St Martin in the Wood.

It was proposed that Jane Bennett be put forward as an Assistant Churchwarden for the parish.

At the March PCC it was confirmed that the parish profile and advertisement for the post of vicar had been submitted and approved, and the post would be advertised on 31[st] March for three weeks.

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The text of the annual report and the examined accounts were accepted. The Churchwardens’ Reports on the ornaments and fabric of St Martin’s and St Boniface, and the Terrier and Inventory for both churches were also accepted.

We were granted a temporary permission for the children’s areas in both churches, which have both been well-used. A proposal was accepted to make the temporary permission permanent.

Maddie Cole advised us that she would be giving up the role of Treasurer so we would be looking for someone else to take up this role. Anne Addiss and Linda Read were voted in as Safeguarding Officer and Health and Safety Officer respectively. Una advised her that her term of office as Churchwarden was coming to an end after six years, so we would be voting in a new churchwarden at the APCM.

Plans for celebrating the coronation of King Charles would shortly be under way.

At the APCM, Paul Anfield and Christine Clark were re-elected on to the PCC and Peter Hale, Peter Knight and Michael Cooke were elected as new members. Giles Richardson stood down from the PCC and was thanked for all his hard work. It was agreed that Lynne Mursell would continue in her role as Churchwarden and Jane Keen was proposed and voted in as new Churchwarden. Anne Davies, Jean Nolan, Carole Hodgson and Lynne Mursell continued their terms as Deanery Synod members.

Sandy Groves and Anne Addiss agreed to continue in their role of Deputy Churchwardens. Jane Bennett agreed to stand as an Assistant Churchwarden for the parish. Linda Read, Brian Ridsdale and Mary Shepherd also agreed to continue to be Assistant Churchwardens.

At the May PCC meeting the election of officers was held and the following people were voted in.

List of Roles

  1. Lay Vice Chair of PCC (Christine Clark)

  2. Secretary (Gill Skates)

  3. Standing Committee Secretary (Gloria Brown)

  4. Electoral Roll Officer (Anita Jarman)

  5. Treasurer (Sue Marsland)

  6. Parish Accounts Administrator (Jackie Richardson)

  7. Finance Administrator (Ann Brew)

  8. Regular Giving and Gift Aid Administrator (Jim Rooke)

  9. Parish Health and Safety Officer (Linda Read) 10. Disability Liaison Officer (Duncan McKellar) 11. Safeguarding Officer (Anne Addiss)

  10. Deputy Safeguarding Officer (vacant)

  11. Risk Management Officer (Linda Read)

  12. Data Protection Officer (Parish Administrator)

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Finance and Stewardship Committee

Lynne Mursell, Jane Keen, Sue Marsland, Hayley Richens, Christine Clark, Jim Rooke and Michael Cooke.

Parish Church and Centre Committee

Lynne Mursell, Jane Keen, Jim Rooke, Barbara Dobson, Paul Burgon, Jenny Greasley, Linda Read, Giles Richardson, Hazel Bateman, Stuart Divall, Hayley Richens and Anne Davies.

Mission Committee

Lynne Mursell, Anne Addiss, Jean Nolan, Una Barter, Jackie Richardson, Hayley Richens, Steph Forward and Pete Knight.

Communications Committee

Carole Hodgson, Paul Anfield and Pete Hale.

Standing Committee

Hayley Richens, Lynne Mursell, Jane Keen, Sue Marsland, Jean Nolan, Gloria Brown and Christine Clark.

Eco Church Committee

Stuart Divall, Hazel Bateman, Claire Brendish, Lynne Mursell, Jane Keen, Jane Bennett, Hayley Richens, Brian Ridsdale and Michael Cooke.

Peter Burnard was accepted as a new church rep for Churches Together in Chandler’s Ford , together with current reps Jackie Richardson (Chaplaincy Rep) and Liz Plummer (Church Twinning Rep).

Anne Addiss advised we have a new safeguarding policy for parish social media. This was approved, together with updates on the 15 other safeguarding policies to include Anne’s name as new parish Safeguarding Officer.

Maddie Cole stepped down from her role as treasurer and Lynne thanked her on behalf of the PCC for taking on the role in the interim and for all her hard work. Lynne welcomed Sue Marsland who had very kindly offered to take on the role of treasurer.

Debbie Pearce advised us that children’s groups were going very well. At Easter extra family activity bags had to be printed as we had over 100 people attending Messy Church! There had also been some lovely compliments from schools stating how much they enjoyed the school assemblies we had been doing.

The King’s coronation celebration was a great success, despite the bad weather with over 140 people attending, including a number of non-Church families.

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Stuart Divall completed his BCM in Creation Care and would be commissioned at Winchester Cathedral in October. The PCC agreed that Steph Forward go forward to do the next BCM Permission to Preach course.

The Ukrainian Welcome Café, which met monthly in St Boniface Centre, would be finishing in June as numbers were only five or six, as more Ukrainians have found work. Lynne formally thanked Peter and Maggie McLeod and Anne Addiss on behalf of the PCC for all their hard work with this.

There is a new diocesan fundraising resource scheme for raising grant funding. A project has been identified to upgrade our audio/visual equipment with new cameras, sound equipment and screens in both churches. Jim Rooke is heading a team to progress a proposal for funding this via the scheme.

We received one application after advertising for the new post of vicar. However, the applicant withdrew their application a day before the interview as they had accepted another post. We will be looking at re-advertising the post in early June.

Several people had completed the First Aid basic and level 3 training and a list of their names was to go up in both churches.

At the July PCC it was confirmed we would be putting forward two church projects for diocesan funding, namely the sound system at both churches and the roof insulation at St Martin’s.

Lynne Mursell and Stuart Divall gave an update on the vacancy. A shortlisting meeting took place with Bishop Debbie, the new Archdeacon Jean Burgess and the Area Dean. However, more work was needed before interviews would take place.

A list of organisations and contact details to aid domestic abuse victims was now available and would be displayed on the church noticeboards.

Sue Marsland, our new Treasurer, shared some good news regarding the budget. Our monthly income was above budget, mainly due to our appeal in the spring, and June monthly income from giving was higher than expected. This meant we should end the year with a profit. There were, however, some expenses that would require extra expenditure, namely the footpath, work on the fuse box at St Boniface and some tree-cutting.

Debbie Pearce gave a huge thank you to all the volunteers that help in Little Stars, Ground Breakers, Xplode, Messy Church and the Assembly Team. Ewen Greenlees gave some exciting news that he will be taking a small group of the youth to Satellites Youth Festival at the Shepton Mallet County Showground near Bath.

Stuart Divall gave an update on Eco Church. He is now mentoring other churches regarding Eco Church.

Linda advised that fire emergency grab boxes would be installed at both churches. These contain visual jackets, first aid and torches. They would be kept by the giving stations.

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A new footpath at St Boniface was discussed after a member of the congregation had fallen at the end of May. The yew tree had created movement in the path. A temporary repair was to be sought before a bigger project would be considered for the whole path.

We were about to trial CollecTin, which was a new electronic device collecting money in church, using bank cards.

At the September PCC , Penny introduced our new ordinand, Stacey Brook, who will be with us for the next three years.

Stuart Divall gave us an update on the vacancy, advising that much work is being done behind the scenes and particularly at a diocesan level, and asked that we continue to hold all involved in their prayers.

Sue Marsland gave us an update on finances and advised that it looks as though we may have a 7K deficit. However, this was a vast improvement on the deficit of £56k we had at the beginning of the year.

Debbie Pearce gave an update on the children’s work. The Mothers’ Union Summer Tea Party was attended by 15 families with a nursery rhyme theme. We had 50 adults and 50 children at Messy Church in September, which was an amazing number. Lots of new families are attending with much enthusiasm. Xplode returned with 27 children, which was an excellent number. School assemblies started again and were going well. Ewen Greenlees told us that the youth festival at Shepton Mallet was attended by four youth members and three leaders. There was some excellent teaching and he had received some great feedback from parents, as well as some good conversations with the youth since the festival. Fuel was following the theme of justice on Thursday evenings and Isaiah was the theme for the youth focus group on Sunday afternoons.

The parish enjoyed a day out at Hamble Country Park with a BBQ and games, and was attended by about 30 people from church.

Stuart Divall is continuing to provide guidance and mentoring on Eco Church to other churches within the diocese. We now have several subgroups within Eco Church. These are Worship and Teaching, Buildings and Land, Community Engagement and Lifestyle. Stuart Divall advised us he will be commissioned in the role of BCM on Saturday 14[th] October at Winchester cathedral.

A group led by Jim Rooke is continuing to look at funding through the diocesan fundraising initiative for updating the AV system at both churches.

Carole Hodgson gave an update on items discussed at the Communications Committee. Proposals for some basic but important changes to the parish website have been made, discussions on the use of our Spotify account and proposals to improve the various noticeboards at the two churches.

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Hayley gave an update on the many services that would be taking place leading up to Christmas, our busiest time of year. The dates were then approved for next year’s PCC meetings.

At November’s PCC it was agreed we would continue to use Spotify as the playing of commercial audio tracks in a church service is exempt from requiring a licence as it is an Act of Worship.

Lynne Mursell advised us that all employees in the parish would be sent a copy of the revised parish Equal Opportunities Policy, together with the new Dignity at Work Policy. She then gave us an update on the vacancy.

Sue Marsland advised that the deficit is looking like it will be £2k by the end of November. There was 18K of unplanned giving (including gift day). Planned giving was increased by a relatively small amount as a result of the gift day. We need £100 per person per month. Hire charges would be discussed at the next Finance and Stewardship Committee meeting in the light of increasing fuel prices. The proposed budget for 2024 was accepted unanimously by the PCC, pending a decision on hire charges which were to be discussed again at Finance and Stewardship Committee.

Debbie Pearce told us that the first light party in five years was held on 5[th] November and 36 children attended.

Stuart Divall gave an update on Eco Church. He advised us that we had almost reached our peak on targets set by the A Rocha award scheme. Brian Ridsdale had set up another eco subgroup with a focus on social, climate and justice.

The PCC approved routine maintenance to slabs on the path at St Boniface at a maximum cost of £1400. Our church architect is currently seeking advice on the falling masonry from the south side windows at St Boniface church.

4.1 Youth and Children’s Work

Youth Ministry

Our Youth Minister, Ewen Greenlees writes:

Our main groups in 2023:

Fuel – Years 7 to 13, meets every other Thursday 7.30-9pm at St Martin’s.

Leaders – Ewen Greenlees, Rob Hayter, Claire Brendish Focus – Years 7 to 13, meets every Sunday 4pm at St Boniface. Leaders – Ewen Greenlees, Pete Knight, Jo Price, Steph Forward

Fuel – Over the year we have seen a gentle increase of young people attending on Thursday evenings. This has been very encouraging, but where we have seen great growth is in the

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faith and maturity of those attending. The group has grown with the underpinning values of being real and being welcoming, and we have witnessed the group grow closer with each other and closer with God throughout the year. Part of this growth has been the introduction of regular worship and food evenings where we share food, fun and fellowship together. Of the different series that we have covered this year, the series on spiritual gifts has seen a response in young people joining the 4pm worship bands, and our series on justice engaged the young people in what God has to say on subjects that the young people are being surrounded with in the current culture.

Focus – Focus started 2023 with a series of big questions that the young people had put together. This series was well received and sparked a lot of good and meaningful conversations with the young people as we explored issues and questions relevant to them. Towards the end of the year, Focus started following the same series as the 4pm series which allowed the young people to discuss with their parents what they had learnt.

Other – We have continued to slowly grow our relationship with Thornden School, being invited to take part in another annual event for GCSE Religious Studies pupils where we had a chance to answer questions on the Christian faith and present the gospel to close to 90 young people. We are currently trying to develop a new relationship with Toynbee School.

In the summer, we took a small group of young people away to Satellites Youth Festival where they had the chance to engage in worship and teaching with 2000 other young people from across the country. This was a really encouraging event and as enjoyed by all attending despite the poor weather.

Towards the end of the year, we took two young people through baptism/confirmation preparation which was a really encouraging course and we are looking forward to baptising them in 2024.

Throughout the year we have run a series of socials to help create fellowship and fun, as well as provide opportunities for young people to bring non-church friends to the group. These have been successful and across the year we have been able to form relationships with five to ten non-churched young people.

Children’s Ministry

Our Children’s Minister, Debbie Pearce writes:

Little Stars Sunday ages 0 to starting school
4pm service
Ground Breakers ages Yr R-Yr 6 4pm service
Xplode after-school group ages Yr R-Yr 6 Tues in term time, St Boniface 4-5.30pm
Messy Church All ages Third Sunday 10am at St Boniface

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Sunday Groups

Explorers – 10am service: at the present time we do not have any children in the 10am service, therefore this group continues to be on pause. Once we have a new vicar, we will discuss how to restart this, or how we can bring children into 10am services.

Little Stars and Ground Breakers : these have continued over the last year with two children on the Little Stars register and 22 on Ground Breakers. Little Stars continues to enjoy the main theme of play, songs, stories, crafts and snacks. Ground Breakers have worked through the Fruits of the Spirit, Easter, Christmas and are currently learning about Jesus’ ministry.

Messy Church : this continues to be such a blessing and an amazing mission service, with 110 attending the January service. Debbie Peace, Ewen Greenlees and Jane Bennett continued their walk through the Days of Creation until the summer holidays and then focused on love: God loving us, loving our neighbour and loving the world. We are now focusing on God’s family. At present we feel the format of the session works well, with breakfast, service and then activities. The mornings are very busy, but we do not feel there are too many people attending. We will watch this over the next few months and discuss how we handle the growing numbers. What a blessing to have such a problem!

Other groups and events

Xplode : our after-school group continues to grow, with 31 children on our register and approximately 25 attending regularly. We have a good relationship with both the children and their families, most of whom do not attend a church. The group consists of snacks, crafts, games and a sharing time and this summer we are hoping to have an evening social.

Holiday Club : once again didn’t take place in 2023 due to staffing numbers. We are at present looking into the possibility of running one this summer, so watch this space!

Uniformed Organisations : 130 Squirrels and Beavers attended their Christingle at St Boniface. Debbie Pearce and Ewen Greenlees ran the service, helping the children to learn about the Christingle and how it helps us remember Jesus. After the service we received positive words of thanks from both the leaders and families. They have already booked for 2024! Sadly, due to the Scouting groups merging with Eastleigh, we didn’t hold a Scout Carol Service this year.

Schools Ministry : this has been an amazing year with assemblies returning to normal and schools visiting church once again. We have been able to continue our relationship with Hiltingbury Infant and Junior Schools, Chandler’s Ford Infants School and Merdon Junior School, visiting each school seven times a year, to bring Bible stories to life. This year we have also had the joy of Fryern Infants and Junior Schools, asking for assemblies once again, with Debbie Pearce working with the Children and Youth Minister from Chandler’s Ford Methodist Church, to expand her skills to lead assemblies and build her own team.

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None of our children's work would be possible without the generosity of so many people in our parish. Thank you to all those who contribute time, energy, finance and prayer into this incredibly important and exciting work.

4.2 Mission

Our Mission Committee secretary, Anne Addiss writes:

Charities everywhere have continued to struggle financially since Covid. This means our regular parish donations to Christian-led charities are more needed than ever. The Mission Committee has continued to oversee the parish mission day scheme for supporting overseas and local Christian mission organisations.

This year we donated to the work of the following organisations: USPG, Church Army, CMS, Children's Society, Fledge, Christian Aid, Eastleigh Basics Bank and Winchester Beacon. We have also given a donation to Wycliffe Bible Translators and sponsored a student in Bukedi, Uganda, for a two-year course.

This year we welcomed speakers from the Church Army and the Children’s Society. Heather Johnstone, our CMS partner, visited the parish and Mary Shepherd organised a Bring and Share lunch. This was well-attended and it was a lovely way to renew our acquaintance with Heather and hear her news. USPG were able to provide a video of their work which was shared across the congregations. Our visiting speakers significantly raise our awareness of the diversity of work being carried out by these organisations to share God’s love around the world. We would like to thank those mission representatives involved in organising parish support in 2023 and keeping us informed on their activities. We would also like to thank those who support charities through gifts of time, talents and individual donations of goods or money. The PCC has continued to support our extra-parochial giving at 10% of our income.

Dominating 2022 was the Russian invasion of Ukraine and locally our response in supporting evacuees and their hosts, which was organised through the Mission Committee. During 2023 many of our guests moved into their own accommodation and have found employment. Children are settled into schools. We have continued to support evacuees settling into new homes with store gift cards helping towards furnishings and provide other practical assistance when a need arises. Last year this sum amounted to £3,600 and we are immensely grateful to those parishioners whose donations made this possible. The last Welcome Cafe, for Ukrainian evacuees, was held in March. Our thanks go to Maggie and Peter McLeod for all their hard work in making the cafe such a success.

The parish has practically supported Eastleigh Basics Bank and Hazel Bateman continues to act as our Basics Bank champion. Thank you to all who continue to support this vital local work. This year our harvest gifts went to Winchester Beacon and Eastleigh Basics Bank. Christmas collections, apart from the Christingle collection, went to Winchester Beacon (night shelter) as we had made a large donation to Eastleigh Basics Bank. The Christingle collection went to the Children’s Society.

We thank the Mission Committee members: Una Barter, Jean Nolan, Anne Addiss (Secretary), Rev Hayley Richens, Giles Richardson (to April), Jackie Richardson and Lynne Mursell (Chair) plus new members Peter Knight and Steph Forward for all their enthusiasm

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and hard work. Jackie Richardson is the Churches Together in Chandler’s Ford representative.

Churches Together in Chandler’s Ford

Report from Jackie Richardson, one of our parish representatives:

Some new initiatives were tried in 2023 at the same time as continuing with other regular events.

Churches Together supported projects such as the ecumenical chaplaincy continued. One Chaplain retired but another has been recruited.

Some highlights:

An ecumenical Songs of Praise was held at the Methodist Church with musical accompaniment provided by Sound Worship. This was an alternative to the traditional service usually held in January in the Week of Prayer for Christian Unity.

During Lent, member churches hosted a variety of activities open to all. We are grateful to the parish for agreeing that we could use St Martin’s Church to host a screening of the film War Room.

There were many visitors to our stall at the Fryern Funtasia. As last year, we benefitted from the presence of Debbie Pearce, our Children’s Minister. She is a well-known face to so many local children! This year Steph Forward also joined us to develop the prayer offering.

Finally, we returned to Waitrose for the carol singing before Christmas. A joyful end to the calendar year.

We would like to do more but need more helpers to achieve this. If you would like to join us, please speak to Jackie Richardson.

Traidcraft

Our Traidcraft team, Angela, Elisabeth, Giles, Jackie, Hazel and Sandy, write:

Sadly, this is the last Traidcraft Report. As reported to the parish at the time, Traidcraft plc went into administration early in 2023 and no buyer was found to continue any part of the business. Whilst there have been occasional emails about plans to launch a smaller company focussing on popular product lines, nothing has come of this.

Traidcraft plc was the pioneer of Fair Trade in the UK and has left an incredible legacy.

Its charitable arm, recently rebranded as Transform Trade, now operates independently. It provides direct support and advice to producers in developing countries, and campaigns for fair trade policies and practices - www.transform-trade.org

As a group since 2021 we have been able to pay a total of £3299.54 to Transform Trade from trading surpluses and the sale of all stock following the closure of Traidcraft. Of this just over £2000 was given last year to a special fund set up to support the producers who had been suppliers of Traidcraft.

Also last year £530 was raised from the Big Brew and Swish event for the general work of Transform Trade.

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In 2022 the parish Big Breakfast raised £987.15 for Transform Trade.

Our storage cupboards in St Martin’s which were originally purchased by members of the team have been donated to the church, as well as our SumUp payment machine and tablet.

£500 has also been given to the parish as a thank you for its support of our work.

Finally, we would like to record our grateful thanks to all of you who have made purchases from us over the years to the benefit of so many producers and their families.

Weddings in the Parish, 2023

Our Weddings Co-ordinator, Barbara Dobson writes:

In 2023 we had nine weddings, spreading over the months of March to October, all of which were joyful and loving occasions. Eight were at St Boniface and one at St Martin’s. As well, we read the banns for five couples getting married elsewhere.

We had one scare when Spotify was taken over by someone else in the parish and we were unable to play the requested exit music. Fortunately, Hugh Benham was able to put his amazing, immediate touch to playing the Wedding March without music! We are so lucky to have him as our organist. As well as rescuing us on this occasion, he is asked to play some pretty unusual pieces of music, accompany choirs who arrive just before the wedding and support string quartets, etc. Nothing seems to faze him.

Paperwork keeps being modified by the Government and now everything is computerised – no more personal, handwritten certificates and registers. Ancestry research will not look the same without those aging, brown documents.

The wedding team continued to enjoy working together to make these wedding dates special occasions. Anita Jarman decided to withdraw part-way through the year due to other pressures, but we coped. My thanks to Anita for her help over the years. Linda Bidder has agreed to step in this year to assist me. Our team is Linda Bidder, Paul Anfield, Bob Everett, Jenny Greasley and occasionally Giles Richardson and even the Churchwardens! My grateful thanks to them all.

4.3 Eco Church

Stuart Divall our Eco Church chair writes:

Genesis 1:26-28 and 2:15 calls us to care for creation. As a local parish and Christian community, we are committed to the fulfilment of the Fifth Mark of Mission which is ‘to strive to safeguard the integrity of creation and to sustain the life of the earth.’

In response to this calling, the parish has defined an Environmental Policy which includes setting and implementing targets and objectives to reduce our impact upon all aspects of Creation. This is being delivered through the Parish Eco Group, chaired by Stuart Divall and comprising members of the parish who are enthusiastic about reducing their own impact upon the environment and helping others to do the same. Our Environmental Programme is

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based on five areas of our church and individual lives as defined by A Rocha, and shown below, indicating members working in each of the areas.

A baseline audit of our activities in 2022 helped establish clear and measurable targets from which the various sub-groups defined tasks and activities aimed at reducing our impact upon the environment and informing our church family on how to be good stewards of Creation. Last year, our progress resulted in achieving the A Rocha Bronze Eco Church award for both our churches.

We continue to identify and implement tasks and activities to improve our performance and reduce our impact which have included ongoing changes to the fabric of our buildings and how we manage energy, to weekly Eco Tips in the parish eNews, and regular articles in the parish magazine. 2024 will see the launch of the Community and Global Engagement SubGroup which seeks to join forces with neighbouring churches and engage with other parties to raise awareness of climate change and the impact it has upon the poor and marginalised, both at home and abroad. A further audit/review of our activities has been undertaken and we expect to be in a position to claim the A Rocha Silver award imminently.

The parish Eco Group meets quarterly to review progress against our targets and set new objectives. Whilst working toward the awards, we remain committed to encouraging all members to reduce their impact upon the environment and fulfill our responsibilities as good stewards of Creation.

4.4 Administration and Communication

The parish office is the administrative hub of the parish and plays a vital role in our mission. It is run with cheerful, calm efficiency by Parish Administrator Suzie Pavitt. She is ably assisted by Anita Jarman, Ann Brew and Anne Addiss, who carry out a range of office tasks on a voluntary basis. Jenny Greasley has done a wonderful job of dealing with the hirers for the St Boniface Church Centre and Barbara Dobson continues to help coordinate the weddings. There have been quite a few funerals this year and our thanks go to all who have helped to steward these or who have been involved with the music, sound, photo montages or livestreaming. The parish office is a good witness to newcomers and visitors to the parish. It helps tremendously with people involved with weddings, baptisms and funerals, and can be the first port of call for those in distress.

We continue to be grateful to David Lewis and Christine Clark for all that they do in producing the Parish News and for all those who have contributed to it in 2023. Our thanks also go to Debbie Pearce who continues to take photographs, used by Jonathan Pearce to produce the front and back covers of this magazine, and also to the wider team, who have faithfully distributed the magazine around Chandler’s Ford. We are very grateful to Anne Addiss and Suzie for compiling the fortnightly paper news sheet, and the emailed weekly

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news. Thanks also go to everyone who has helped to distribute the news sheet and reading packs. If anyone would like to receive Parish News electronically then please contact the parish office.

The parish website continues to be another useful means of communication with visitors and congregation alike. Our thanks go to Suzie Pavitt and Giles Richardson for all that they have contributed to keeping this as up to date as possible whilst the new website is being developed. All the services are available through the parish website at www.parishcf.church or through our Facebook page at www.facebook.com/parishcf and on YouTube. Finally, thanks go to Debbie Pearce and Giles Richardson for their assistance in keeping the parish Facebook pages and groups updated with all of the parish events and services.

4.5 Older People’s Ministry

Jean Nolan, Reverend Penny Thatcher, Linda Read and Christine Clark write:

Parish News Sheet Deliveries

The parish news sheet has, on a fortnightly basis, continued to be delivered (or posted) to 21 people who are either housebound, or unable to attend church regularly.

Cake and Chat

The delivery of cake and a door-step chat, is now much reduced. These deliveries (to five people) are now prepared and delivered as part of the Beacon Cafe offering.

Beacon Café

Beacon Cafe has been running in the parish for several years, meeting on the first and third Tuesdays of every month. It offers coffee, tea, cake, crafts, friendly chat and a warm welcome to all who attend. The number of people attending has increased steadily, with new people often popping in, many of whom become regulars. Many of the ladies who attend the pilates class at St Boniface on a Tuesday morning also visit the cafe at the end of their class. We have also had regular visitors from a local care home.

We are grateful to the team of parishioners who regularly, or on request, bake lovely cakes throughout the year for the cafe. We are thankful too for the many volunteers from the parish who give of their time to set up the tables and chairs, or to help in the kitchen, organising craft activities or chatting to those who attend the cafe. The cafe couldn’t function without them!

We were pleased to host stalls for Leprosy Mission stall and St Anne’s Hospital, Liuli, Tanzania, during November. These proved popular with those attending Beacon Cafe. We ended the year with a Christmas celebration with festive refreshments and a Christmas quiz.

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Holiday at Home

Holiday at Home continues to meet ten times a year, approximately every five to six weeks. Generally, there are about 25 to 30 guests. Everyone enjoys a range of activities including a quiz, armchair aerobics, word bingo and a couple of raffles, as well as a visiting entertainer in the afternoon.

Everyone enjoys the home-cooked lunch, particularly the puddings and afternoon tea.

The main focus is on socialising, having lots of fun and a good laugh!

A group of helpers, both in the kitchen and those helping and supporting the guests are amazing and my personal thanks goes to them all because I could not do Holiday at Home without them.

Local Care Homes - Challoner House and Valley Lodge

The parish has had links with Challoner House and Valley Lodge Care Homes for a number of years. Each has an assigned team of volunteers who deliver a monthly service - a Communion service at Challoner House and Songs of Praise service at Valley Lodge - to residents who wish to attend. Home communion can be taken to residents in their rooms, should they request it. We are also informed via staff, of requests to pray individually with a resident in their room or with a group of residents.

Throughout 2023 we continued to share love and appreciation from the parish to staff and residents with the delivery of posies on Mothering Sunday, palm crosses and chocolate eggs for Palm Sunday and Easter. Both homes invited us to lead their Christmas carol service onsite this year, with musical support from Hugh and choir members. These were times of joy and celebration for all!

Afternoon Guild

Afternoon Guild continues its regular meetings at St Martin's with an interesting and varied range of speakers each month. Membership, which stands currently at 39, has attracted several new members and we have an age range of 50-100. This regular meeting point provides valuable fellowship and social interaction while members hear its speakers and enjoy a cuppa, and is highly valued by those who attend.

Jean Nolan, Reverend Penny Thatcher and Christine Clark

4.6 Regular Social events

Our regular social events are going from strength to strength. These include Holiday at Home, Beacon Café, Men’s Breakfast, Women’s Breakfast, Mothers’ Union and Afternoon Guild.

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4.7 Churchwardens’ Report

Annual Report from the Churchwardens, including the Report on Ornaments and Fabric for St Boniface and St Martin in the Wood in the Parish of Chandler’s Ford April 2023 - March 2024

As Churchwardens of the Parish of Chandler’s Ford, we are pleased to submit this report on behalf of St Boniface and St Martin in the Wood churches:

One p arish, two churches working together

1. Ornaments and Fabric

We can confirm that the Ornaments and Fabric of St Boniface and St Martin in the Wood are in good order.

There has been one addition to the Terrier and Inventory for St Boniface – a new services register. There have been no additions to the Terrier and Inventory at St Martin in the Wood.

2. Building and Centres, including Quinquennial Survey

In February 2019 our church architect, Duncan McKellar, RIBA AABC MSc Building Conservation, completed our Quinquennial survey. This identified all of the maintenance and improvement actions which were recommended over the following five-year period to keep our buildings in a good state of repair. Activities are categorised from Cat A, which are urgent, to Cat E, which are recommendations for the future. The progress of addressing the outstanding Quinquennial actions is shown in the chart below.

Status of Quinquennial Tasks at the end of February 2024

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Notes

The three overdue items refer to:

Cat B Flaky painting on south wall of St Boniface church – this will be addressed when the windows on the south side are repaired (see below)

Cat C Side entrance door to be re-varnished – carried forward to next period

Cat C Repair to upper storage room ceiling at St Boniface – carried forward to next period

Remaining items are being addressed through our ongoing routine and cyclic maintenance works.

The next Quinquennial survey is due to be undertaken in 2024 and we are anticipating that our Church Architect, Duncan McKellar, will be undertaking this during the summer period.

With effect from 2[nd] October 2022, we went into vacancy which has meant we cannot undertake significant changes during this period. The parish financial position has also constrained further building projects.

In October 2023 a piece of masonry fell from the stone tracery on one of the leaded light windows on the south side of St Boniface church. At the time of writing the Church Architect has inspected it and is developing a solution for works to repair the stone work and adjacent window. In the meantime, part of the pew underneath the window has been cordoned off as a precaution.

Although we are unable to undertake major works during the period of vacancy, the AV project team has undertaken to apply for grants to improve our AV services and systems at both churches. At the time of writing the team have successfully raised some monies to enable initial works to be undertaken during 2024. Our thanks to the AV project team for taking this initiative and their hard work.

The same team also has a separate initiative underway to look at improving the insulation at St Martin in the Wood.

Work has been varied, for example:

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We would like to thank all the volunteers who have assisted with the repairs and maintenance by contributing their time and talents. In particular, we must call out Giles Richardson, who has coordinated the Quinquennial programme of works and undertakes a myriad of maintenance activities from unblocking toilets to managing the parish IT systems. Thank you, Giles.

The Youth and Children’s Team moved to the Canterbury room at St Boniface, creating more space in the Parish Office.

The children’s areas created by Debbie Pearce in each church last year are continuing to be well-used; the full List B faculty approval for this alteration at St Boniface has been approved with the proviso that we cover the adjacent radiator.

Our Parish Administrator maintains a register of suppliers and contractors across the parish, with dates of when servicing or checks are required.

3. Church Documents

The current church services registers, wedding, funeral and baptismal records are in order and kept up to date. From these records the annual Parish Mission Statistics have been completed and submitted to the Church of England Membership Return. The record of documents and registers appertaining to the church indicates which records are kept in various places in the churches and which registers and historical papers are in the Hampshire Records Office.

4. Faculties and The Chancellor's General Directions for St Boniface

Note that St Martin in the Wood is not subject to the faculty process.

List B application for work to repair the paved path leading to the church main entrance - with Diocesan Advisory Committee (DAC) for approval.

List B application to upgrade AV system - with DAC for approval.

List B application to permanently relocate two pews to create children’s area - approved with proviso we cover the adjacent radiator.

List B application to remove five dead elm trees in hedge adjacent to Ritchie Hall - approved and work completed).

List B application for reduction of yew tree and holly tree - approved and work completed.

List B application to replace non-compliant fuse boards in priest’s vestry - approved and work completed.

5. Building Insurance

We are insured with Trinitas, who offer a single parish-wide insurance covering both churches. This continues to offer value for money; however, this is kept under review.

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6. Other Projects

As we are currently in vacancy, we are unable to undertake significant changes or major projects.

7. The Grounds

We are grateful to the people who care for our grounds and car parks, keeping them in a good state. The grounds and gardens at both churches are regularly maintained by a professional gardener and volunteers.

Tree work was undertaken at both churches during this period (see above).

8. Church and Centre Buildings

The two church centres continue to be a valuable resource in the parish, affording us outreach and mission opportunities to the community.

The parish Church and Centre Committee met regularly during the year to ensure that the buildings and grounds were well-maintained and general maintenance was carried out (see this Churchwardens’ report section 2 above for further details on work carried out). The cleaning is undertaken by paid staff and volunteers to whom we are very grateful.

The centres continue to be regularly used by the community and the income from hirers exceeded the budget.

Our doors are not only open on Sundays, but we are part of the community walking with people at both joyous times (baptisms and marriages) and sad times (funerals). We continue to offer hospitality through regular events such as Beacon Café, Afternoon Guild and Holiday at Home; we hold children’s activities and respond to local and international needs. We are truly blessed to have the two churches and centres offering us a wonderful opportunity for mission.

9. Social Events and Community Support

Social events continue, including Men@8, Men’s Breakfast, Women's Breakfast, Mothers' Union Evening Group, Afternoon Guild, Home Groups, Beacon Café and Holiday at Home.

Parishioners continue to be generous with their donations to Eastleigh Basics Bank.

From January to Easter, working with Hiltingbury and Fryern Community, we opened up St Martin’s as a Warm Room every Monday morning; this was part of an initiative to provide warm spaces throughout the Chandler’s Ford area, supported by the Hampshire County Council Leader’s Community Fund.

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Additionally, fortnightly between January and Easter, Margaret Doores and Jean Anfield with a team of helpers, provided Warm and Tasty Lunches at St Martin’s after the Wednesday morning service.

We did not run Ukrainian cafes and social events in 2023, as we found most guests were moving into their own accommodation and had established themselves in the community. See section 6 for further details of support provided.

We had several social events throughout the year, including those listed below.

On 6[th] May, many of us gathered at St Boniface to celebrated the King’s coronation. Despite the weather we continued with our plans and even the bouncy castle came indoors. We had two screenings of the coronation in the Winchester and Salisbury rooms, picnics and, of course, a large Union flag-themed cake!

On 27[th] May, Judith James and team

organised a parish plant sale, with a coffee morning.

On 7[th] October at St Martin’s we had a parish barn dance organised by Tash and Pete Hale, with a wonderful band led by Jo Price and Duncan McKellar as our caller. The evening’s entertainment included a demonstration of Ukrainian dancing.

On 11[th] November we had a Christian Aid quiz night event organised by Brian Ridsdale with Adam Murton as our excellent quiz master.

On 9[th] December Peggy Marten and team held the annual parish Christmas coffee morning which was well-attended, with several craft tables, a cake stall and raffle.

10. Family and Young People's Activities

We are blessed with the work that our Children and Schools’ Minister, Debbie Pearce, and Youth Minister, Ewen Greenlees, have continued to do to support children and youth within our parish and community. Messy Church has grown, with over 100 people attending, many in church for the first time – what a blessing!

11. Church Life

The life of our church, both within the buildings and outreach, is supported by, and would not survive without, the tireless work of active, committed volunteers. Many people work quietly behind the scenes; all offer time, talent and expertise and none of this is taken for granted. We would like to thank everyone who keeps the church a vibrant and active part of our community.

We would like to thank all Deputy and Assistant Churchwardens and Stewards who have helped at St Boniface and St Martin’s. Thanks also go to our volunteer coffee-makers, church cleaners, sacristans, flower arrangers and office volunteers who help with admin and bookings, those who look after church heating and locking up when needed. Special thanks have to go to our talented AV team who continue to improve our sound and broadcasting, enabling people to join in our worship both within and outside our parish. Thanks to the

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parish magazine, eNews and pew sheet editors, contributors and distributors; for pastoral work; to those who take out home communion.

There are too many people giving of their time and talents to mention by name, but we are very grateful to you all.

We are very blessed with talented musicians and choristers in the parish and our thanks go to them all for enhancing our worship.

We are grateful for the invaluable support we receive from our Parish Administrator, the Vicar's PA, the PCC and Treasurer, Sue Marsland, and her finance team. Our strong governance which is in place has supported us immensely during this period of vacancy.

As detailed above, we are blessed with Debbie Pearce’s and Ewen Greenlees’ ministry and thank them for all their work and mission in the parish.

In particular, we must thank Rev Hayley Richens and Rev Penny Thatcher for their ministry, hard work, faithfulness and unfailing support – we are blessed to have them in the parish and part of our church family.

We pray that God has the right candidate in mind to be our new vicar; that they will love us as we are, but be excited to walk with us all to open the next chapter in the Parish of Chandler’s Ford.

To everyone we would like to say -

A HUGE THANK YOU!

Thank you for your support, help and encouragement during the year,

Lynne Mursell and Jane Keen

Churchwardens

March 2024

5. Review of Financial Activities and Affairs

Our Parish Treasurer, Susan Marsland, writes:

The budget for 2023 included a £56,000 deficit. However, due to various factors including a large increase in unplanned giving and an increase in room rental we have ended with net gain of nearly £9,000.

The achievements of 2023 are worth celebrating:

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There was some increase in regular giving but it doesn’t keep pace with either inflation or our plans to grow as part of the Kingdom. We are blessed that one-time donations have overcome this increasing gap and enabled us to balance the books. This is testament to the same faithful people who each year give large and small sums to enable the parish mission to continue. We have to recognise that a significant number of our church community members prefer to give in this way rather than increase their regular giving.

Overview of Accounts

Income for the year exceeded expense by nearly £9,000, resulting in a consolidated balance of £115,350 at the end of the year.

Legacies and Donations left in Memory of Loved Ones

No legacies were received during the year.

No legacies funds were spent in 2023.

Finance team

The finance team is made up of Ann Brew, Jim Rooke, Jackie Richardson and Susan Marsland, who are ably supported by Suzie Pavitt, Jenny Greasley and Linda Read in the management of invoices.

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Accounting Policies

The financial statements have been prepared in accordance with the Church Accounting Regulations 2006 together with applicable accounting standards and the Charities SORP.

The financial statements have been prepared under the historical cost convention except for the valuation of investment assets, which are shown at market value.

Funds

General funds represent the funds of the PCC that are not subject to any restrictions regarding their use and are available for application on the general purposes of the PCC. Funds designated for a particular purpose by the PCC are also unrestricted.

The accounts include all transactions, assets and liabilities for which the PCC is responsible in law. They do not include the accounts of church groups that owe their main affiliation to another body or those that are informal gatherings of church members.

Reserves

The Parish reserves policy is reviewed annually by the PCC and states:

It is the policy of this Parish to hold unrestricted reserves in the General Fund equivalent to two months budgeted expenditure. At least half of this amount should be held in deposit accounts.

The Fabric Fund is intended to cover unforeseen building problems, works identified at the next Quinquennial inspection and likely expenditure within the next 5 years. It is the intention that as it is used to fund work it will be restored up to a reserve figure of £30,000. The PCC will look to achieve this in a reasonable period of time, taking into account other demands on funds

Incoming resources

Voluntary income and capital sources

Collections are recognised when received by or on behalf of the PCC.

Other income

Rental income from the letting of church premises is recognised when the rental is due.

Tax recoverable on such income is recognised in the same accounting year.

Gains and losses on investments

Realised gains or losses are recognised when investments are sold. Unrealised gains or losses are accounted for on revaluation of investments at 31 December.

Resources used

Grants

Grants and donations are accounted for when paid over, or when awarded, if that award creates a binding obligation on the PCC.

Activities directly relating to the work of the Church

The diocesan Common Mission Fund contribution is accounted for when paid. Any contribution unpaid at 31 December is provided for in these accounts as an operational (though not a legal) liability and is shown as a creditor in the Balance Sheet.

Fixed assets

Consecrated property and movable church furnishings

Consecrated and beneficed property of any kind is excluded from the accounts for s.96 (2)(a) of the Charities Act 1993.

Movable church furnishings held by the Vicar and Churchwardens on special trust for the PCC, and which require a faculty for disposal, are accounted as inalienable property unless consecrated. They are listed in the church’s Inventory which can be inspected (at any reasonable time). Items with a purchase price of over £5,000 may be capitalised and depreciated in the accounts over their currently anticipated useful economic life on a straight-line basis, if the PCC considers this to be appropriate.

All expenditure incurred in the year on consecrated or beneficed buildings, individual items under £5,000 or on the repair of movable church furnishings acquired before 1 January 2000 is written off.

Other fixtures, fittings and office equipment

Equipment used within the church premises may be depreciated on a straight-line basis over 4 years. Individual items of equipment with a purchase price of £5,000 or less are written off when the asset is acquired.

Current assets

Amounts owing to the PCC at 31 December 2023 in respect of fees, rents or other income are shown as debtors less provision for amounts that may prove uncollectable.

Short-term deposits include cash held on deposit either with the Diocesan Loan Fund, at the bank or any other approved deposit taker.

Mission Giving and Donations

Income from investments

Dividends are accounted for when due and payable. Interest entitlements are accounted for as they accrue.

It is the policy of the PCC to allocate to Mission Giving and Donations, a sum equal to 10% of the budgeted income for each year.

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INDEPENDENT EXAMINER'S REPORT TO THE MEMBERS OF THE CHANDLER'S FORD PAROCHIAL CHURCH COUNCIL I report on the accounts for the year ended 31 D￿mber 2023. which are set out on pages 30 to Respective responslbllllies of Truslees and Irthpondent Examln•r As the Members of the Parochial Church Council, you are responsible for the preparation of the accounts," you ￿Tr$ider Ihat an audit is nol ￿Uired under sectK)n 144(2} of Ihe Charli ies Act 2011 (the 2011 Act) and that an independent examinaknn Treed￿1. It 18 ry responsibility to.. Examine the accounts under section 145 of the 2Q11 Art Follow the procedures laKI down in the General DIrect￿nS given by the Charity Commissv)ners sectM)n 145{5)Ib) of the 2011 Act.. and state whether any parbcular have come to my attention. . Ba518 of Independent Examine¢$ report My examination Was.￿rrIed oul in accordan￿ with the General DireclK*ns given by the Charty Commission. An examination includes a revw of the accounting recx)rds kept by the Chandlels Ford Parochial Church Council and a comparison of the accounts Pr￿nted with ttK)se records. It also includes considering any unusual items or disclosures in the actounts and seekn'ng explanation5 from you as trustees concerning any such matters. The procedures undertaken do not provide all the evidence that would be required in a full audrt and cC￿Sequen￿ I do not expres5 an audit opinion on the accounts. Independont Examingfs statement In connection wth my examination. matter has (xjme to rny attention.. (11 which gives me reasonable cause to trElieve thaL in any material respecL the reqU1￿MentS To keep a¢¢ounling records in accordan￿ with section t30 of the 2011 Act.. and To prepare accounts which &c4)rd with these acwnting re(x)rd5 have rtrot been met,. or {21 lo which, in ry opinion, attention shoukj be drawn in orderto enabte a proper understanding of the accounts to be reached. LAFIL Atknnsons Chartered Accountants 32 Hiltingbury Fload Chandlerfs Ford S053 SSS 29

CONSOLIDATED STATEMENTI￿ Ff4ANCL4L ACTnimES Forth• Y￿rended 31 Decembor2023 TOT￿ FUP INCOMNG RESOURCES 1{ 274,r12 283,437 31,612 11e 1271 3.271 1{ 10. 1D.WJ Oth•rth¢tyning R6ww¢e8 110 11, .151 316,031 RESOURCES USEO 2( Y1QQS 319.378 307.192 FI￿dRIl￿n0 311,712 314,9 NET 1NCOMINGI(￿TG0ING RESOURCES *4 -1.515 TRANSFERS BETWEEN FUNDS IAI Wrora 111 NET MOVEMENT IN FUNDS •ft•rtransfers -1,515 1.13) BALANCES Brought Fonvanl at 1 JANUARY2022 $1.1ff 107,528 11x398 BALANCES CARRIED F(XiWARD AT 31 DECEMBER 2023 21,851 115,458 1Q7,528 30

C¢)NSOLIDATED BALANCE SHEET AT 31 DECEITrER 2023 FLXED ASSETS CURRENT ASSETS 7.311 115.029 4744 7Q185 37.103 81kYt tem d4xits (El￿. Lw FrKI & Cash Ét bor and kn ha'NI. fAnera Fwxl 124.363 121.032 U431LITIES SIKft Tem l¢JewMn y8) 10 9.131 11710 13.710 NEfcuRRENT ASSETS 115.Z62 107,322 NEf ASSETS 11fj.458 I￿.52 FUNDS Ur￿tfiel*￿ Restd 11 Y3,807 21.851 94.182 115,458 107,528 ChriBtlne Clark (Chalmmn) Susan MaTrland (rr•asur•r) The mtas on Y2. 36 FWtofthe50•xcuts. 31

RETURN OF PARL8H FINAhfE The Accountlng Pollcles are detslknl In the page headod "Accountlng Policies" INCOMING RE80URCE8 IRECEIPTS) TOTAL FUNDS 2023 2022 Funds Fund8 Voluntary Incomg 1(81 Gfi&￿4￿ W•nn•d oi%4ng N0TrgMald•dWann•d ghl Nonknlaid•d¢dl•¢U•nJ Al otr•rdon•¥w 149.3S1 14. 6.215 151,598 114UI 14.954 6215 40.711 47,168 &oDJ 1,018 &ants 4.175 274. 283,437 Aclvltkno forG•neratlng Fu 1(bl from Fun￿￿1 827 4.210 4210 31.612 In¥e¥tmont knc¢)me 1271 32T1 1271 Incomkng Resourees frixn Church Aclfvllhs tldl 1331 7.541 1331 7.541 1353 6,2 Ewl r￿ty 10. 10.960 8.9 Oth•rlncomlng R￿oUrCeS 1101 In8w8nctsd•ff OLtrEr Far Tnd&￿•S 1.117 1,117 1.688 1,9 9,104 11,084 TOTAL INCOMING RESOURCES .157 31&1Y31 32

2 RESOURCES USED (PAYMEKrs) UN6tr￿ R•strf¢t•d TOTAL FUNDS Funds Funds 2023 2022 2(a) Church A¢UvlUos Mlon a￿￿9 and Danatio 24,LK 8#u18rcharflqs 7.818 11.426 1&795 37. 41795 hllnlsty 971 145,971 150.3r2 145.971 1￿.97￿ 1fj0.3T2 Clèrgy ff ¢0 cl￿ staff a￿￿88 ie10 49,079 61.970 51,889 ChurEh runnlng •xp•n 141 8.375 5,476 613 409 33 &381 Ytxrth wu ChlldMS wotk Ewnt cost8 Uth¢¢P{rf$￿￿s Ex￿rtU￿ an 1219 1,191 1,191 7.e17 24$53 21,tr23 hurch and C•ntr• Runrar¥ C• rL¥ch 8ThJ c￿re runnrt costs 976 36,976 Church and C•#tr• R•palr*and IAahts]h•nt• 4,187 ￿1115r￿a 4,137 310. 319,37e 307,192 2(b) Co¥tof Generathg Fund• F8irTrade cuBt of8aks 391 1.267 TOTAL RESOURCES USED 31f.712 314￿1 33

INCOME TAK RECOVERED STAFF CfATS (FuTrJed byGewal Fwth. irKJJed inth8 8Lw) Wagts •xl 41761 p￿1￿ Conlrit¥rtkY 1,758 C(OoftheYouth ￿nIStersalary¥R$fvr￿Ied byadèsrgnatedfWrEd￿rythe a￿￿￿ntf￿ndedl General hJnd5to£53.fJ)) [￿rir¥a ￿ yearts cuch emF4¢wèYÈnuwis( a P•ish th41151￿. a PA trJUEv, ay(￿M￿lSt8r. a Fat tkna Childrwts Miruster thEeGlew8 ljwrth Cakn¥. PAThENT8 TO PCC mE￿ERs bva P￿ce Is lh& KHi5h F•d£14.2T3 £1&454 G￿e￿￿e5￿ 81 Yeuth Mik¥st¥in th wJ lhey￿Va5 pad £%,IXXJ (tr £6.5Wk Hugh Benham, the husband of a PCCmember.wos ernpl¢)yed asafi orEani5t inthe parishanddurfythe ￿ar re￿IVed a salaryand fees of E&04112022.. £4,266) No othermemberof the PCCha5Te￿lVgd aDy reM￿ne￿￿O￿or0th￿r￿￿efits.Thtrtwere [￿OtherdI5dosa￿Ietr4nS3tt1Qns in Tespectof Ffcmembers. peysonsdoselyconnELtedwlth thern orothef Telated pathe INDEPENDENT EXAhlNERS REIfflJNERATTh AFLfthJ Fw<A. abtr4 1.3)D 1.20D FIXED ASSETS FOR USE BY THE PCC Lathd and klln96 Tot&1 7(al T￿91￿1¥ OROSS 8K VALLE CEPREaAIION ye4T NEf BQOKVALUE qulpmiicosbng less than UOOO The Land & CL¥nprises thy IhecuthwFth in +kws RcaJlslwio51tro rthtdtr¥tsr ofthrntMptotr Pccfron ￿ Chanberfayne Est*51. Tre Sl Si Matirts Cerths

ANALYSIS OF IIEfA85ETS BY FUND R8rfctsd F￿dI Totsl 21,B51 FaLrf FI￿1 27.015 27,015 14)1 21,851 114458 DEBT(￿s 7,311 6,744 7,311 5,744 10 LIABILITES 131 13,710 9,131 13,710 11 FUND DETAIUJ FuThJ BaL InD]rnlng C￿1901￿ ftMQQ23 Fund Bal. 31J1Y2023 ol Funts 1.151 311.712 -1,515 21,851 1.015 Fatfflc Fw#J.D8shfftJ. 17.570 445 107.52B 324146 3X+. 1144SB TR4NSFW Fr£th t1f￿r loth•F8tc F￿j 35

12 DONATIONS IGRAp¥fs TO CHARITES> The PCC mad• Ihe follw t￿ri1 MI￿on Gl¥lng . CMS USPG E&%tlwh Bl￿dI Unk Church Anry Chiltherfs Sc¢ ChfstRin Fl ARK Fasiie4h B￿¥ Bor Edith's Ft WyclTh BitrAe Tray5 ID Tokni ExtroWaTD¢hl•l glvlr4 Awrfoty ol retirtn9 colleth0￿ yclal •¥•rt8w•r• orynnld knr4xdficclMrfW piirpo8•4 and thg pro¢4ethweYo •ntlo tho ctrortM0s riall6ollhe amounts arg glvon b•low. Sur¥(rt to Icrtd Uk￿r¥S 7674 uspc Easth￿ Ba&cs B 15 713 . Tr8rtsmi Pwsh ￿ B Christsan F￿￿￿S ofStAnn¥s tr105 175 125 1&795 36

Appendix 1

Administrative information

The Parish of Chandler’s Ford is a densely populated suburban community situated midway between Southampton and Winchester. The two Anglican places of worship comprising this Parish are St Boniface church, Hursley Road, and St Martin in the Wood church, Queen’s Road. The Parish is within the Eastleigh Deanery and the Diocese of Winchester. The address for correspondence is: The Parish Office, St Boniface Church, Hursley Road, Chandler’s Ford S053 2FT.

The PCC’s banks are:

National Westminster Bank plc, Southampton City (B) Branch, 68 Above Bar Street, Southampton SO14 7DS

CAF Bank, 25 Kings Hill Ave, Kings Hill, West Malling ME19 4JQ

The independent examiner is:

Mrs M. D. F. Atkinson, Atkinson Chartered Accountants, 32 Hiltingbury Road, Chandler’s Ford, Eastleigh, Hampshire SO53 5SS.

Parochial Church Council members who have served from 1 January 2023 until the date this report was approved are:

Ex Officio

Incumbent In vacancy

Self Supporting p/t Associate Priest Rev Hayley Richens

Self Supporting p/t Curate Rev Penny Thatcher

Churchwardens: Lynne Mursell Jane Keen

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Representatives on the Deanery Synod:

Jean Nolan Lynne Mursell Carole Hodgson Anne Davies

Elected PCC members:

Christine Clark (Lay-chair) Linda Read Anne Addiss Fiona Benham Hazel Bateman Gloria Brown Michael Cooke Pete Hale Paul Anfield Stuart Divall Sandy Groves Barbara Dobson Pete Knight Sue Marsland

Co-opted for one year

Ewen Greenlees (Youth Minister) Debbie Pearce (Children and Schools’ Minister)

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Appendix 2

Structure, Governance and Management

Parochial Church Councils were given a legal status for the first time under the Church of England Assembly (Powers) Act 1919 and by the Parochial Church Councils (Powers) Measure 1921. A Parochial Church Council is a body corporate which means the PCC is a separate body from the people who serve on it and no-one on the PCC can be made liable for its debts. Being a body corporate also means that a change in membership of the PCC does not affect the PCC’s liability for its debts. Each new PCC should honour the contracts undertaken by the previous PCC.

The PCC is registered with the Charity Commission (Registered charity No.1131152). The appointment of PCC members is governed by and set out in the Church Representation Rules, and all church members are encouraged to register on the Electoral Roll and stand for election to the PCC.

There are a maximum of 15 elected members who are elected to serve for a period of three years, and approximately one-third of the elected members retire every year, ensuring both continuity and an influx of fresh ideas. There are up to 5 Deanery Synod Representatives. New PCC members are given a copy of The PCC Member’s Essential Guide by Mark Tanner. Additional advice and assistance to new members is available from the PCC Secretary throughout the year. Churchwardens and Parish officers attend training provided by the diocese when appropriate.

The Standing Committee comprises the Vicar (when in post), churchwardens, lay vice-chair, PCC treasurer, two other members of the PCC and the standing committee secretary (chosen annually by the council, non-voting). The Standing Committee transacts the business of the PCC between meetings, often at short notice, but is always subject to the direction of the PCC.

There are five sub-committees of the PCC: the Finance and Stewardship Committee; the Parish Church and Centre Committee, who are responsible for the fabric and management of their buildings and grounds; the Communication Committee; the Mission Committee, which considers both outreach and charitable giving and the Eco Church Committee. A copy of the Terms of Reference under which these sub-committees operate is available from the Parish office. Officers are appointed annually to carry out specific tasks, e.g. safeguarding, health and safety. In 2023, appointed officers are listed in the minutes of the May PCC meeting.

In addition, the PCC appoints representatives annually: one to Chandler’s Ford Community Association and up to six to the ecumenical Churches Together in Chandler’s Ford Committee.

The PCC employs a part-time administrator, Suzie Pavitt, to run the Parish office and supervise a team of volunteer office assistants. Gill Skates is employed by the PCC as parttime PA to the Vicar/Parish and PCC Secretary. The PCC also employs a part-time Children and Schools’ Minister, Debbie Pearce and a full-time Youth Minister, Ewen Greenlees.

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Appendix 3

Charitable Objectives and Risk Management

The PCC’s general functions are set out in the Parochial Church Council (Powers) Measure 1956, section 2: ‘It shall be the duty of the minister and the PCC to consult together on matters of general concern and importance to the Parish.’

The functions of the PCC are:

The Church is called to be pastoral – to look after individual people; to be evangelistic – to tell people the Good News and invite them to accept it; to be social – to help the poorer members of society and those suffering from racial, economic and other forms of injustice; and to be ecumenical – to encourage good relations with other Christian denominations. The PCC’s primary objective is the promotion of the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ according to the doctrines and practices of the Church of England.’

This shows the link between the PCC, the Deanery Synod and the Diocesan Synod. Each PCC has on it one or more members of the Deanery Synod who act as a link between the Deanery Synod and the council.

Financial objectives are outlined in the Financial Report beginning on page 26.

Risk Management

As trustees, members of the PCC are aware of their corporate responsibility to monitor and manage the risks to which the PCC is exposed. At the last review, all major risks were assessed and mitigation steps taken to ensure they were managed to an acceptable level of risk. The risk register is available for inspection in the Parish office. The PCC has appointed a risk management officer, Mrs Linda Read, who undertakes the reviews, overseen by the clergy and churchwardens.

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