_**Looking to God, Looking to Care, Looking to Grow**_ **The Annual Meeting of Parishioners and Annual Parochial Church Meeting Thursday 22[nd] May 2025 at 7.00 pm in St, George’s School, Bourton** ## **Draft Minutes** ## **ANNUAL MEETING OF PARISHIONERS** **1. Opening Prayers** were said by Rev. Graham Southgate followed by a welcome. **2. Apologies:** Mona Tyler, Caroline Worthington, Steve Harris, Val Rowe, Tony Moorby, Pat Ross Hurst, Helen and Paul Bedford **3. Minutes** of the last meeting on 16th May 2024 – Approval of the minutes was proposed by Jane Parker, seconded by Ashley Kemp with unanimous approval. There were no matters arising. **4. Election of Churchwardens** _(Open to all those on the Civic and Church Electoral Rolls)_ The following Churchwardens were elected:- Margaret Martin and Harry Allen for St. George’s Bourton, Chris Reeves and Celia Cotton for St. Mary’s Kilmington, Jane Parker and Steve Harris for St. Peter’s Stourton and Val Rowe for St. Martin’s Zeals. They will be sworn into office at the Archdeacon’s Visitation on 11[th] June at St. Denys, Warminster. Ross Coad was not standing again and was thanked for his term of office. ## **ANNUAL PAROCHIAL CHURCH MEETING** _(Open to those on the Church Electoral Roll (CER)_ **1. PCC Annual Report for 2024** – Graham said that this had been approved by the PCC on 9[th] May. It has also been emailed to those on the Church Electoral Roll. There were no comments or questions. **2. Churchwardens’ reports** on the fabric, goods and ornaments of each Church and presentation of the inventories. Harry Allen presented St George’s inventory and delivered the following Fabic Report. All the fire extinguishers were serviced, as normal, in March 2024. No new ones were required this year. As reported at the last meeting the bell tower key had been stolen and a replacement could not be found. Following discussion It was agreed that the tower needed to be locked and a combination lock was subsequently fitted to ensure only authorised entry was possible. During the 2024 repointing of sections of the outside walls was carried out. Inside the church three areas of plaster were repaired; a large section at the rear on the north wall and two smaller sections on the south wall. In late 2024 a number of slates came loose on the north wall next to the tower. This was repaired in time for the Christmas service. Chris Reeves presented St. Mary’s inventory and presented the following Fabric Report. St. Mary’s had its Quinquennial this year. The north west window requires some repair and reparation and there have been some tiles off the roof. - 1 - Jane Parker presented St. Peter’s inventory and delivered the following Fabric Report. St. Peter’s had the interior ceiling decorated in March 2025 (St Peter (634436): List B application approved ref 2024-105496). With formal permissions in place, the Church team directly appointed Paul Wills (decorator for the Stourhead estate) to carry out the approved redecoration works. A scaffold was erected in early March and decorations carried out to the plaster ceilings of the Nave, North and South Aisles. During decoration Paul Wills raised concern that there were issues with parts of the cornicing. Approval was quickly sought to enable the repairs to be made whilst the scaffolding was in place. We were delighted to have received funds from the Memorial Hall Committee of £1400 and a Listed Worship Grant of £927. St. Peter’s QQI is due this year. The Church Silver is now held by Salisbury Cathedral as of November 2024, saving the LCC Bank Safety Deposit box fees. The Clock has been duly serviced and kindly paid for by Harry Parker. Ross Coad presented the inventory for St. Martin’s and delivered the following report. **Fabric** - Heating: I reported last year that we had applied for a faculty to install new modern electric heaters down the nave and chancel. I understand that this faculty approval is expected within the next month or so. We have funds reserved for this work and are expecting support from the Friends to assist should there be any shortfall. **QQ works** detailed in the report of 2022 have been attended to - where scaffolding is not required. We are indebted to the Friends of St Martins for their help towards funding the repointing of the churchyard wall. (£571 donation rec’d) We have received advice from a number of experts concerning our 2 magnificent copper beech trees and now had relevant branches and deadwood trimmed out. The Friends have also assisted with this expense. (£1500 donation rec’d). The parish now faces major decisions concerning the remainder of the QQ work. The major outstanding item is the state of the windows throughout St Martins. The East windows as well as the large West window are in very poor condition. Initial quotations suggest these will cost some £100,000 to make good for a 50+ year future. We have £7000 reserves. **Damp** is a constant QQ factor esp within the Chancel. The Rector has highlighted the connection between damp and lack of open window draught for our damp English climate. There are no windows that open throughout St Martins other than 2 at the very back of the nave. Realistically we need to develop some windows that open in the chancel as part of the windows overhaul, thus assuaging the damp. **The future** . I have outlined the realities of St Martin’s fabric and fundings above. Now the PCC and its sub committee the LCC need to develop plans concerning fabric for the future. Do we have practical confidence in the ongoing vision and requirement for St Martin’s to seek the major funding to overhaul the windows? If we manage to overhaul the windows, together with the new heating system, will the building layout be suitable for the coming generations of worshippers that many of us consider are around in the village of Zeals? The PCC have spent almost 12 months seeking to ascertain ‘what God is doing in the parish’ and therefore what we need to offer to support Him in this work. The PCC will no doubt speak to this in due course. - 2 - **3. Treasurer’s Report and Approval of Accounts** – Ashley Kemp ran through his Report, which with the Accounts had already been emailed to the Church Electoral Roll. George Bullivant proposed approval of the Accounts and Catherine Spencer seconded with unanimous approval. Margaret Martin, on behalf of Bourton church wanted to thank Ashley for the time spent on working on Bourton Trustees and record their appreciation. **4. Appointment of Examiner** of PCC accounts. Ashley Kemp recommended the appointment of Charles Vizor for another year. Catherine Spencer proposed and Glenis Allen seconded and all approved. Charles was thanked for his work on this and for carrying on. **5. Deanery Synod Report –** Chris Reeves delivered his report as follows. Heytesbury Deanery Synod has met three times discussing Pastoral Reorganisation, Vacancies and Development of Making Jesus Known. In Making Jesus known, the Heytesbury Deanery supports the Maridi Link with some funding towards the provision of 10 houses, an outside kitchen and funding towards their student fees while they are studying at the Chaima Christian College. Robert Shuler has taken on the role of Deanery Treasurer until a replacement comes forward. ## **6. Election of Deanery Synod representatives x 1** _(Open to those on the CER)_ Chris Reeves and Steve Harris have one more year. No-one came forward to fill the Vacancy. ## **7. Report on and reception of the Church Electoral Roll** Elizabeth Hames reported as follows. THE PARISH OF UPPER STOUR ELECTORAL ROLL REPORT 2024-2025 THIS IS THE COMPLETE REVISION OF THE ROLL At the close of registration for 2024 there were 99 on the roll |At the close of registration|for 2024 there were 99 on| |---|---| |_This breaks down as follows_|| |BOURTON:|There were 25 residents| |KILMINGTON:|There were 23 residents| |STOURTON:|There were 16 residents| |ZEALS:
|There were 32 residents| |NON-RESIDENTS:|There were 3 persons| This year for the new Electoral roll for 2025 the break down for each village and Non-Residents that enrolled were: |
enrolled were:||| |---|---|---| |BOURTON:|23|Residents| |KILMINGTON:
|16|Residents| |STOURTON:|17|Residents| |ZEALS:
|29|Residents| |NON-RESIDENTS:|7|Residents| TOTAL ON THE ROLL IN 2025 92 (Ninety Two) The numbers decreased by 7 persons Elizabeth was warmly thanked for overseeing the renewal. It’s quite a task - undertaken every 6 years. - 3 - **8. Election of Parochial Church Council representatives x 6** _(Open to those on the CER)_ - George Bullivant, Ashley Kemp, Caroline Worthington and Jane Joyce and were elected for a one year term. So 4 out of a possible 6 were re-elected. Graham Southgate thanked the members of the PCC **9. Date of next meeting** - tbc April/May 2025 PCC to determine. - (After the meeting the PCC set the Annual Meetings at 7.00 pm on Thursday, 30[th] April at a Zeals venue tbc) **10. Any Other Business –** Glenis Allen missed mention of Open the Book in 2024 and recognition of its work in the schools. Graham Southgate apologised for this omission and thanked her and the Open the Book team for all the work it does. Jane Joyce also apologised for this omission in the Review of the PCC. ## **11. Closing Prayer** - 4 - uvmsrou UN UNreitrfct&ls RtsTRICTED5 nAv•rtÉl INUJME Is TDxeffirknt other A11 Q￿rEl￿N•￿dV0Iun￿ryr￿￿pts. Indudlni 150 GIftAld esrecelyed thIv4 -165 and 527 T¢tslvoluDia 175 Fundratsl 824 824 Èrth IntoMÈfvo CtroJrth•lltl¥kl Fqe5'reta[n￿'ty PcCXDIm￿d1￿u5.fw￿r4ts 524 £924 230 230 OthÈrreté5 ncorna I￿rni 191 175 ToT￿l￿￿0￿E 924 924 tXPENmP Cc¢tsofkndr41ts1 its) LC Dr￿1￿￿￿tt5h￿rtllrth £￿407b￿l2O2)) 49.892 Sila￿e5 Ptt54ndhonDMrta 240 2•) NONEReLvd strff eA n5e5 0 Indud) 370 thutth ml55kn4ndv￿ ltsmr05ts 70 fjii 316 316 Churthwhnl 15 51 Church ont Co515 DfiTNtI rthur• bu1￿1 Molorrewln4tochuTChh￿K1QthErPcc L60 NÈWbuMln8thkntheth￿r¢￿.ch￿rC￿hal 227 227 227 Other r￿D￿rE￿￿t￿l 364 TOTpiEXPEt4D￿vHl 352 PAU DEAQT 512 472 Y24 P2VISÈDSU DEAOT 512 20 924 ANNED6￿￿SAND LEGAaES NUMb￿r011&￿•t￿CIellt afin Numbprofpther lann& IVÈ NumbErafnewl receryedl H INVISTmINTeA￿tyCE5 11.12.23 52 924 4838 111726 43?2 74 924 22524 Ll. 10,1 n•TrtAccauins. 24n4 77 11996 Ar(ount-P C45h m• InCBF ImR•tnd J> B7 S￿r•S￿l RufferAUouTht2a￿￿T￿￿É￿o &FWd• UllIt•dTiitknkTr￿￿d.S￿IIZOl9IaaB IM.NAtVlqrt aF TOTAL 175 47 InMrutE n•ThtE thu 190 190 13 535 535 929 929 7$0 ?( 435 275 78 16D li 392 392 6S3 663 663 663 18 36.199 5C6 29mi 28,319 752 587 537 537 ID 137 17 *si 750 95 T11•￿ JNE 473 473 14 17 37 531 580 56D 37 37 745 346 456 5561 415 3￿13 11176 la? 1187 433 Za7 CHARITY COMMISSION FOR ENGLAND AND WALES Independent examiner's report on the accounts Section A Independent Examiner's Report Report to the trusteesl members of Parochial Church Council of Ecclesiastical Parish of Upper Stour On accounts for the year ended 313t December 2024 Charity no (if any) 1131161 Set out on pages nla I report to the trustees on my examination of the accounts of the above charity {Ihe Trust.) for the year ended. 3111212023 Responsibilities and As the charity trustees of the Trust, you are responsible for the preparation basis of report of the accounts in accordan￿ wrth the requirements of the Charities Act 2011 (Ihe Act.). I report in respect of my examination of the Trust's accounts carried out under section 145 of the 2011 Act and in carrying out my examination, I have followed the applicable Directions given by the Charty Commission under section 145(5){b) of the Act. I have completed my examination. I confirm that no material matters have come to my attention (other than that disclosed below ") in connection with the examination which gives me cause to believe that in, any material respect: accounting records were not kept in accordan￿ with section 130 of the Act or the accounts do not accord with the accounting records Independent examiner's statsment I have no concems and have come across no other matters in connection with the e mination to which attention should be drawn in order to enable a proper un rstanding of the accounts to be reached. Plea he words in the brackets rf they do not apply. Signed: Date: ia. Name: Charles Vizor Relevant professional qualification(s) or body (if any): Address: Four Gables, Hazzards Hill, Mere. Warminster, Wiltshire BA12 6ET IER October 2018 111111111111111 1111111,1 r4 f¥ 1111111 I 111 illi 1111 mv