2025-12-31-accounts - The Parochial Church Council Of The Ecclesiastical Parish Of St James', Clitheroe

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RECTOR'S REPORT

Rev Sam Cheesman

Last year the APCM was ably chaired by the then Lay Chair of PCC, a clear sign of St James’ parish being in a period of vacancy. Interviews followed and the patrons presented a candidate to the Bishop who licensed, inducted and installed him on the 6[th] September 2025.

I feel privileged to write one year later as that candidate and now as your Rector.

The year has been marked

for me by subtle change, joy, opportunity, excitement and challenge. Sentiments I think have been shared more widely across the congregations.

Below I will highlight some of the main matters of consideration from this year past and the year/s to come.

Congregations – “Let the message of Christ dwell among you richly as you teach and admonish one another with all wisdom through psalms, hymns, and songs from the Spirit, singing to God with gratitude in your hearts.”

Our two Sunday services are in good heart from my perspective and filled with positivity. The sermon series on Colossians seems to have been very well received and many small groups have joined in with further study and discussion which has added much depth.

Some changes to the service have been implemented, such as returning the Eucharistic Prayer and distribution of Communion to the end of the service and

making sure the first third of the service is truly suitable for all ages.

Church attendance has increased over the last 6 months but until we have reliable data over a longer period of time we will not be able to confirm what the clear picture looks like.

The Wednesday morning service continues to be in good health in various ways and is a service particularly marked by wonderful fellowship and pastoral care. It is a joy to be at. We most usually use the lectionary readings for the day and I lead 3 services out of 4 with the 4[th] Wednesday being led by one of our capable LLMs.

Without Borders has become well supported in numbers and now seeks to grow into maturity as a service in its own right. With the right support and capacity in place it can offer something very much in line with how we worship at St James but with a slightly different vibe at a different time than the morning services.

We have had a number of requests for baptism from across our congregations – children, young people, adults, people new to faith and people deciding now is the right time. We have also had a couple of requests for renewal of baptismal vows and also for confirmation. This is all very exciting and have had baptisms in February, March, April and May. Praise God.

Visit to King’s Highway Church – “There is one body, but it has many parts. But all its many parts make up one body.”

At the end of January/start of February I was delighted to be able to visit our link parish in Eldoret. It was extremely useful and massively joyful for a number of reasons:

I was able to link with the church leadership, particularly Henry and Fred who currently run the

church and church-plant. Getting to know my fellow ministers was lovely and important.

Visiting the Church School was a great opportunity to see all that had recently been put in for them by St James’ and others, as well as what they still very much need was good.

Seeing some of the ministries, people and places first hand will make my prayers for them much more meaningful.
Preaching on Sunday was great fun.

We will now continue to strengthen the link under Sam Johnson’s leadership, and particularly focus on how we impact each other’s worshiping life in the dayto-day. Many people have asked about a larger trip to visit our brothers and sisters in Kenya. The leadership and people at King’s Highway are desperate for us to do so and we can now look at organising one that best serves them.

Half Penny Meadows – “see I am doing a new thing, do you not perceive it? I am making a way in the wilderness, new springs in the desert places”

The new houses being built on the old Standen Estate will eventually see almost 2000 new people live in that part of our parish.

The Christmas Carol Service on the estate was our first event on the estate and was a joy with 140 attending; it felt as though there was an open door for us to do more. Becky

designed a fantastic family treasure hunt around the estate over Valentine’s weekend and into Half Term which focused on the love of God. The next event being worked on

at time of writing is a family worship together style event on the afternoon of Palm Sunday.

The hope is still to have a worshiping community at the school which meets consistently on a Sunday afternoon from September onwards but have more work to do on leadership capacity to allow this to happen well and in a sustainable way. It might not be weekly to start but could be fortnightly or monthly. Please pray for this.

Staffing – "Whatever you do, work at it with all your heart, as working for the Lord, not for human masters..."

Helen Potts stepped back her hours as Childrens and Families Minister and the PCC chose to back fill her hours by employing a Children and Families Worker. Becky Wright came on board to fulfil these and presently has a focus on: the after school Bible club, the work on Half Penny Meadows and supporting family faith at home.

The PCC have also supported the employment of a Worship Leader to be paid for using a specific gift kindly given for ministry in St James. My hope is that this person will not simply help us to continue worship as congregations, but will lead us in mission using music and the arts.

A new vision – “Hear, Oh Israel”

The current vision document comes to an end at the conclusion of this year and it is therefore my plan to have a new vision which will take us through to 2033 - 2000 years since the death of our Lord.

It is not my vision which I wish to discover, or even that of the wider leadership of the church. My hope is that God’s Vision for St James’ church for the next few years is made clear to us and a period of discernment is currently underway to attempt to do so. This has included a wide and thorough period of consultation which has gathered as many opinions/ interpretations as possible, followed by a PCC away day to see if the church leadership was hearing the same or different things, and now I will work with a smaller group to determine how to turn what has been heard into a vision which impacts our structures, mission and ministry. Advent Sunday 2026 will be the day we hope to share the new vision with the church.

CHURCH WARDEN'S REPORT

Graham Haldane

As I write this in February 2026, it could be too easy to forget how important a transitional year 2025 was for St James’ Clitheroe. Sam Cheesman has settled in really well as our new Rector, and we have settled with him, but this time last year Mark Pickett had just retired, and we were entering the hopes and unsettling period of a vacancy. Vacancies can be challenging for many churches, but thanks must go on so many levels and to so many people for how we came through it so well. We had supportive advice and guidance from the diocese, Trustee Patrons and PCC reps who worked well together, a PCC and Leadership Team who helped steer us steadily through the period, and a faithful staff team who carried on fulfilling their roles ‘above and beyond’ during the uncertainty they faced along with the whole congregation. A range of creative and well-planned social events also helped to maintain and develop our bonds as a community and welcome new people to it.

When we started our ‘Year of Prayer’ last January (see separate report), one of the key elements at the beginning was to express gratitude, both for all we have as a faith community in St James’, but also for all that Mark and Della expressed through their ministry among us for over 21 years. We were so sad to see them leave, but they were given a great send off over a final weekend, and we know that the Holy Spirit still has his hand on them and will use them in new ways in the seasons of life to come.

in the Higher Standen estate. Outreach work in various schools continues and develops, many new children, youth and families are connecting with our various groups, and we are regularly seeing new people joining our worship services on Sundays. With the Love Clitheroe BBQ morphing this year into June’s ‘Live at the Castle’ and ‘Church at the Castle’ and the parish mission weekend coming up in September, these will be just some of the missional highlights to come in 2026. As Blackburn Diocese sums it up in their headline for 2026, and Sam has preached so consistently since starting, it’s ‘All About Jesus’.

It was great to see so many people involved in the prayer and consultation process that helped to inform our Parish Profile, which in turn attracted a good field of candidates for the role of Rector. With a thorough process in place, it was all the more a joy to see Sam emerge through it as the one we felt God was calling at this time to lead St James’. Sam comes with a great history in his various roles, including as a priest in Blackpool, school chaplain in Lancaster and most recently Chaplain to the Bishop of Blackburn. We welcome Mairi and Lydia too and look forward as we enter the next stage in the history, present and future of St James’ Church.

Prayer in all its forms, individually and collectively, will continue to underpin our mission and all that we do. Mission is also going to be central as we move forward, and it’s been so exciting to see the beginning of new things developing

FINANCE REPORT

Naomi Lynas

While 2025 was quite a turbulent year in terms of church leadership, it was a very steady year in terms of finance. Our income had increased significantly towards the end of 2024, and this increase was maintained throughout 2025. This is really wonderful, testament to the faithful and generous giving of St James’.

We also had an increase in terms of income to our investments, due to higher interest rates, and our overall income was over our budget by £10,400. Our total income for the year was £334,306, and £317,183 of this was from regular giving, cash or card giving and Gift Aid.

One thing that is interesting is that our Gift Aid amount was slightly lower than expected. If you’re able to Gift Aid, please do check that you have completed the Gift Aid declaration – it allows us to claim 25% extra on your giving at no cost to you!

While our income was higher than expected, our expenditure was broadly in line with expected spending. Increased attendance mean we spent more on fellowship and catering, and we had a big expenditure for Mark Pickett’s retirement party in February. However, this was offset by a number of factors. There was a lower than expected expenditure in Children and Families ministry due to a slight gap between Helen reducing her hours and Becky joining the staff team. Our gas bills were lower than expected, and tight controls on office spending meant we ended the year in a surplus in terms of our regular spending.

That surplus (£11,000) will be added to our Mission Giving pot for distribution in 2026, and it has been wonderful to see God’s faithfulness once again.

We received two wonderful legacies and an incredible gift in 2025.

Many of you will remember Barbara Dennett. She left St James’ church £115,000 from her estate, which we will put towards capital projects, and I’m sure there will be much more communication about this forthcoming. We also received a legacy from the estate of Mary Stott of £18,000, which has also been allocated towards capital projects.

We completed two significant works in 2025, both funded partially by previous legacies. The North Stained Glass Window was releaded in early 2025 after having been boarded up for a number of years. It’s really wonderful to see it in its full glory, having been completed releaded and with a number of pieces repainted and replaced.

The East Window had also suffered from some damage, and was repaired in Spring 2025. The majority of this was covered by insurance.

The other big piece of capital work we had done in 2025 was a complete refurbishment of the toilets and vestry (although the majority of the vestry work was completed at the end of 2024). This came to a total of £40,000, and eventually included replacing the vestry flooring where we had dry rot. This was almost entirely funded by legacies. These significant gifts have made a huge difference to the fabric and longevity of our building and ultimately to the impact of our mission.

Finally, as Sam started his ministry at St James,’ we received a wonderful one-off gift of £80,000, to be used to bless his time here. What an incredible act of generosity and grace! Again, this has been set aside but we are not planning to spend this on capital projects.

As ever, I am extremely grateful to Jonathan Frank for his steady reporting and scrutiny of our finances, and to Sue Clark for the day to day book-keeping. If you have any questions about our finances or your own giving, please do get in touch.

FABRIC REPORT

Andrew Stevens

Over the last twelve months the most significant work on the church fabric has been the complete renovation of the toilets. This comprised new tanked floors, new sanitary ware and cubicles and re-decoration. The gents were modified to replace the urinal with a third WC and the hand basin was repositioned. Finally, a new fold down baby changing table was added to the disabled toilet to allow dads and wheelchair users to care for babies after the necessary elimination of the old changing table in the gents. The cost of this work was covered from legacies that had previously been left to church.

The other major work in the last year was an example of God’s amazing provision for our church here at St James’. After the retirement of Mark and as our parish entered our recent vacancy the Diocese decided to sell the old rectory on Woone Lane and buy a new modern house for our new incumbent Sam and his family. This means that the PCC will no longer be responsible for a large, difficult to heat and maintain out dated rectory. However we have had to keep an eye of the old rectory through half a year until the Diocese managed to sell it, this included keeping the heating ticking over through the cold months to ensure no pipe bursts and once into early summer keeping the grass cut and the garden tidy, thank you to everyone who has helped Naomi, Graham and I with this task.

As a PCC I think we can now say that after a few years or hard planning and expense we have got the fabric of the church in a decent condition for the coming year and apart from the odd small maintenance job we can look forward to a comfortable year in our lovely church building. Looking further into the future I think it will be obvious to everyone that it is, at times, a tight squeeze. This is due to increased numbers of regular worshippers, the increased staff team and the amazing increase in regular youth attenders both midweek and at the second Sunday service. Please be assured that this dilemma is under constant review by your PCC who will keep you fully informed of any concrete plans and proposals as we continue to grow God’s kingdom here at St James’.

ST JAMES' YEAR OF PRAYER

Graham Haldane

“Now to him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to his power that is at work within us, to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, for ever and ever! Amen.”

With this verse from Ephesians 3:20 as our starting point, we set off on an adventure in prayer in 2025. Building on the encouragement that all churches receive to pray during a vacancy, we felt we should have a focused and varied ‘Year of Prayer’ that would include not only praying through the vacancy process and for our new Rector, but praying for all aspects of church life and our wider mission.

At the heart of the Year of Prayer was a regular rhythm of Sunday evening and Wednesday morning prayer. Thanks go to all of those who engaged with and led these sessions, particularly those core people who committed themselves for the year. We must never underestimate the immediate and long-term effects of those prayers.

In the first months of the year, our focus was on Gratitude – for all that we appreciate about the life of St James’ Church and for Mark and Della’s years of ministry among us – and Dreaming Big. The verse in Ephesians above helped us to think and pray about what church could look like and what we were looking for in our new Rector. A series of consultation meetings, including prayer, contributed ultimately to our collected thoughts in the Parish Profile.

In addition to the weekly pattern, various prayer events were held. On a Saturday in April, people from all ages joined in the Great St James Parish Prayer Walk. The church was available during the day for ‘non-walkers’ to pray, families and younger children walked in the morning from the church via the castle to Turret House, then in the afternoon a mainly adult grouped walked the remainder of the parish boundary, which was far more extensive and rural than many expected. We held a Holy Week of Prayer in April, on the theme of Living Hope, joined in the Global 24/7 Week of Prayer in September, and finished the year with an Advent Half Night of Prayer in December.

Our indoor prayer labyrinth with the outline of the parish taped to the floor was a hit - and even made it onto the cover of the Church Times!

The labyrinth in the Castle Grounds provided more opportunities for contemplative prayer.

It’s also been good to know that people from St James are engaging with prayer in many other ways: individually, as families, in small groups, corporately in intercessory prayer on Sundays, and in joining with other Christians, for example at Turret House of Prayer and in the growing powerhouse that is Pray for Lancashire.

In 2026, our emphasis will be on encouraging everyone to pray in many different contexts and situations, but we will be aiming to have at least one prayer ‘event’ each month, including e.g. prayer walks, prayer weeks/nights and joining in broader prayer opportunities such as Pray for Lancashire.

2026 was also a ‘Year of Prayer for Growth and Renewal’ across Blackburn Diocese, and the following prayer concluded the majority of our meetings and events:

God of mission,

Who alone brings growth to your church Send your Holy Spirit to give Vision to our planning, Wisdom to our actions, Joy to our worship, And power to our witness.

Help our church to grow In numbers, In spiritual commitment to you, And in service to our local community,

Through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen

CHILDREN AND FAMILIES

Helen Potts

As I look back on another year, once again I’m so grateful for so many blessings.

God always giving immeasurably more than I can imagine.
God’s promise that I do all things through his might and strength and not mine, turning my weakness into strength.
The prayerful support and encouragement of my God family at St James’ Church.
God’s provision and empowering of an amazing team of volunteers that serve faithfully. They are a blessing and it fills me with joy to plan and lead with these incredibly gifted and creative people, who are such wonderful reflections of Jesus to the children and families they serve.

I want to share their voices in this report, along with thoughts from the individuals who are hopefully blessed by each part of the ministry and so you will find many quotes dotted through this report.

Kingdom Kids

What a wonderful year we have! We are so blessed to have many new families engaging with Kingdom Kids and Tiddlers. We have a strong group of Year5 and Year 6 children who are growing in faith, ask incredible questions as they think out faith and are a real joy to be with when they pray.

One of our challenges going forward is that we have a really small cohort of Year 3 and 4 children; we are praying faithfully for more children of this age.

There are challenges as each week we strive to meet the needs of all our children, those more established in faith and those new to faith or growing in faith. Finding ways of presenting Jesus in engaging ways to ensure every child leaves the morning sessions having an opportunity to have an encounter with God. We

always include extra activities, a quiet book corner, sensory toys, LEGO, playdoh to help meet this variety of needs.

Each week is a blessing, but don’t take my word for it…

‘Kingdom Kids doesn’t settle for a quick Bible story and then free play, every session is prayerfully prepared and delivered meaning the children come away with new knowledge of

God which in turn furthers their relationship with Him. As we sit as a family having our lunch on a Sunday, the kids love sharing what they’ve learned and the fun they’ve had.’ Parent

‘Kingdom Kids is fun and it helps me learn about Jesus’. Child

‘I like playing the games and learning about Jesus’. Child

‘The leaders are supportive and everything is faith based, backing up all we do at home as a family’. Parent

Each week is a blessing, but don’t take my word for it…

‘Tiddlers allows my child to hear another voice and for me it allows me to sit in church and hear the teaching.’ Parent.

Disciples Stepping Out (Kid’s Council)

Our Kids’ Council have had a busy year planning activities that they can invite their friends and other children to; activities that allow them to have fun and share wonderful truths about Jesus. In March they organised a Silent Disco, where every ticket was sold! Games in the garden where lots of families had an amazing time and the Bible Breakfast in January, because they wanted to tell their friends about the Bible!

So many blessings, but don’t take my word for it…

‘I love having lunch with the others!

It is a wonderful opportunity to make things happen in the life of the church.

Kingdom Tiddlers

Tiddlers is our preschool group and creche. It is a safe and fun space for these youngest of children to start encountering the love of God. We firmly believe that no child, no tot, is too young to know and feel the love of God and this year we have continued to ensure this happens by always rethinking and evaluating, by prayerfully preparing materials.

Each week the children follow the same routine, beginning with a snack and simple story, then games, toys, craft and the special Tiddler prayer and praise time.

Every Sunday these wonderful tots have heard God’s word, prayed, praised and encountered God’s love through the love of their leaders.

'It is really satisfying to see our hard work happen and for people to enjoy what we have planned.’

Little Fishes

Little Fishes continues to be a thriving community on a Monday morning. Every week there are new friends, nearly always coming on the recommendation of another family. The group is a warm and welcoming play group for underfives and their carers. We love to provide a relaxing and accepting safe space, our prayer being, that Jesus is reflected in this warm hospitality. We always pray a prayer

of blessing over the families as they leave and we love to celebrate important festivals. We dressed up at Christmas to tell the Nativity story, we will tell the Easter story in an age-appropriate way and hunt Easter eggs, we have a sailing off into the sunset pirate party to celebrate and pray for our school starters. WE love to invite the families to Popcorn and to church.

So many blessings, but don’t take my word for it…

‘It’s a wonderful that so many families come and are known by name, that it is such a welcoming and creative space.’ Team member

It is a joy to be involved and chat to the lovely parents and grandparents.’ Team member.

Waymakers (formerly Rockin)

Rockin was wonderful and had been an amazing blessing over the years. However, we were facing many challenges and so we felt that we needed a bit of a reboot and revamp. So, in the Autumn we felt it right as a team to spend time doing just this. The result was a name change, so now we are ‘Waymakers’.

Waymakers is somewhere children can feel safe, loved and accepted. A place they can

discover more about Jesus, have fun and meet friends. Our Vision is to create an irresistible, spirit filled environment, where children can journey with Jesus, deepen their faith and discover their spiritual inheritance as children of God. A key feature at Waymakers are the prayer stations. We all love the prayer stations, introduced instead of discussion groups, with the aim of helping the children respond to the Bible story of the night.

So many blessings, but don’t take my word for it…

'I adore Waymakers! It’s wonderful to sow seeds and see our children flourish and we are seeing it happen!!!!!' Leader

activities including science experiments, craft, painting, prayer spaces, cold cooking and physical challenges. The UV spy pens have become a regular and well-loved feature for decoding Bible verses; we all love Claire’s reflections stood around the altar together at the end, at the end of one session we had children reading Bible verses over their parents…so special!

So many blessings, but don’t take my word for it…

It is wonderful to see the development of relationships between us and the families.

Popcorn

What a year we’ve had leading Popcorn. It has been wonderful to welcome so many families and help them explore God’s truths in fun filled activities as families together. There is a great team of leaders who share the planning and facilitating. Each session starts with a creatively told Bible story, followed by

It is a blessing to see the engagement of the families with the quiet reflections at the end of the sessions. Leader

Popcorn provides a wonderful opportunity to welcome families from our local schools into church (many of who do not attend a Sunday service) and to pass on

our faith to them in fun and engaging ways.

I love that we are talking about Jesus, not just to the children, but to the whole family. Leader

School

Our links with school are stronger and broader than ever. Becky, Sam and me all go into school to take assemblies, lead clubs and take RE lessons. We’ve loved welcoming the school to church for special services, seasonal productions and for RE lessons.

In the Autumn we ran a prayer space in the new building to soak the new classrooms in prayer. Soon we will be sharing Easter Prayer boxes

St James’ School afterschool club, Bible Diggers and Excavate, continue to be popular with 20+ children enrolled for each. Children continue to be excited to learn more about God and talk with confidence about Him. Parents receive a slip of paper sharing the session’s story, to facilitate conversations of faith at home, and have been appreciative of this.

So many blessings, but don’t take my word for it…

‘People who don’t come to our church are coming into our church! It’s so exciting!’ Kid’s Council member

Christingle

Last year we were overcrowded, so we decided to move to two Christingle services. We were of course a bit concerned that they would both seem a bit empty, but we felt it was the way to go. Both services were full to bursting! Over 560 people came to hear the good news that this baby really was God, that this story is a true story, that this is real. Another immeasurably more moment.

What a blessing!

'Helen and Becky bring such positive energy to our school, sharing Jesus through their work and example...we are really privileged to have them'. Headteacher. More highlights this year…

Light Night

This year we wanted to take Light Night out to the community. We wanted to take the light of Jesus out and let the light of Jesus shine bright on what can be a dark, dark night. It was amazing! A real wow, ‘immeasurably more’ night. There was such an amazing sense of being light bringers in a dark world. People getting involved and loving being involved. Hot chocolate on the church steps with lovely friendly faces engaging with passes by, some who came into the church We set up a trail around church family houses, who had stained glass windows displayed and lit up with messages of hope. They sat outside giving out sweets and Bible verses, being lovely to people going past. When I walked around the

trail, it was amazing how these lights in the community stood out so brightly in the darkness.

And…the Kids Council helped plan and organise the event.

YOUTH REPORT

Lucy Skelton

This year we have seen God do some amazing things with the young people that we connect with either in schools, at outreach based activities at the church or through our discipleship based groups. We have seen young people choose to follow Jesus, we have given out over 10 Bibles to young people who have asked for one and we have seen young people, who last year we reported had decided to follow Jesus, move forward with Jesus and make significant progress in their understanding and commitment to Jesus.

Connecting activities

Typically the first time we meet a young person it is within one of our connecting based activities or groups. These activities may happen in school or at the church. The aim is to build relationship with young people and gradually have more opportunity to share the gospel as well as invite the young people to other activities which have a more Bible teaching focus.

Our connecting activities this year were…

4 lunch time clubs in three High Schools (Ribblesdale, Bowland and CRGS) with a overall attendance of 90 young people
Hot chocolate club – this happens at the church after school, average attendance around 10.
Youth Club, Friday evenings, average attendance 30- 40

Our school lunch-time clubs are still very popular and we have met new young people over this year. Some of whom have simply seen the posters in school, others have been brought along by young people who already attend. We have had the joy of seeing some of these friends then brought along to other events, activities and groups that we run outside of their school. Such as youth club, Wednesday evening youth and trips.

Hot chocolate club has been able to run weekly this year which is superb. We have got a core group of around 10 who attend each week. We have created a programme of different activities to do with the young people as well as keeping it a safe space to be after-school. Hot chocolate club is particularly good for helping young people who may have never been in the church before, to cross the threshold and have a positive experience with the team and other young people.

Youth club has been a bit quieter this year as we have lost some of our year 11s, but we have gained new young people who are gradually bringing more and more of their friends. Over the year we have looked at all sorts of different topics, we have just finished ‘Junk in, Junk out’ where we looked at what we feed our souls with, we looked at the effect of those who influence us, music, social media and pictorial media such as YouTube. We thought about how the damage that putting the wrong stuff in to us is invisible at first on the outside, but how it makes a lasting impact on the inside.

Changing activities

Over the last twelve months we have ran two different changing groups.

Wednesday Youth (412) – 412 has increased in numbers to consistently around 30+ each week. As our church youth numbers have increased to over 50 young people (these are young people who attend either/or Sunday morning and Wednesday evening, we have now started small groups for them. Each group has around 10 young people in it and 2 youth leaders. The people in the small group stays the same and up until February half term the small groups have been meeting once a month during the Wednesday evening youth session. The young people have been very positive about having their own small group, and after half term we increased the frequency to twice a month, with the aim that we will be in small groups 3 times a month in September. The youth still begin the evening with some hang out time, then some sung worship led by themselves before heading to their specific room with their leaders and fellow small group youth. The weeks we don’t have small groups we have an altogether Bible study time after sung worship, these groups are much more fluid.

Sunday morning youth – We are still consistently having around 20+ young people choosing to come out to Sunday youth during the 11:15am service, yet we have also got at least 10 young people who choose to stay in for the whole service. We are still using three rooms and require three leaders each week to

allow us to do so. By splitting in to three groups we find that discussion is easier and the young people find it easier to focus.

Faith to Fight – Faith to fight is our termly lads get together, planned and ran by our older lads. Faith to fight has met this year and the lads continue to find it a useful time to be together and support each other in their faith.

Sisters in Christ – The girls have also continued to meet this year with Sisters in Christ. The girls really enjoy their time together and take great care in their planning and running of the event.

Youth Baptisms – We have had two young people baptised this year. It was wonderful to hear their testimonies and be there for the baptisms. We have more young people wanting to be baptised this year coming.

Engaging activities

Young leaders – Our young leaders continue to be a massive help on a Friday evening at youth club. It is great to see them gradually become more confident, not just with helping out, but also with leading discussion times, leading games and activities and making suggestions in planning meetings. We currently have 5 young leaders on a Friday evening.

Youth worship team – The youth worship team continues to meet each Sunday after the 11:15am service. It has grown quite a lot this year, we now have 3 pianists, 1 who is very confident, 1 who is gaining confidence and 1 who has just recently joined. We have had a new young people join the youth worship team after becoming a Christian last year and starting to attend the Sunday service at the end of the last school year. He is a very good singer but is also gaining confidence on different instruments. We were very thankful to Tesco Stronger Starts grants, who gave us £500 to use towards the youth worship team. With this money we purchased a second hand iPad and software for those using the piano to give them access to modern sounds. 2 entry level bass guitars and 2 entry level electric acoustic guitars. The aim of the bass guitars and electric acoustic guitars is to enable more young people to begin on a journey of learning them. We now run a beginners guitar group on a Friday afternoon, this is ran by one of our young people who is a skilled guitarist, we have 2 young people who attend this small group with her. We have also given both bass guitars out on loan to 2 of our other young people and they are gradually getting more confident on the bass guitar. We have had 3 new young people start drum lessons with myself during the week, one of whom played the drums in the youth Christmas show. The youth worship team is large and has varying skill levels, yet they work hard to support each other, they have a rota for worship on a Wednesday evening and all that are happy to, have the opportunity to play then, we also have the opportunity for them to lead worship as part of the Sunday services a few times a year, and they lead at both Faith to Fight and Sisters in Christ. It has been particularly lovely to see our second year of year 10s taking the step to begin playing with some of the adult worship teams as well as with the youth worship team.

We not only teach the young people how to take part with the music side, we also teach them the tech side by showing them how to do the sound engineering, lighting and presentation software. This year our young person who has the role of sound engineer under the direction of one of our leaders, has also been showing a new young person how to look after the sound. It is great to see young people teaching other young people, and to see them each grow through doing so.

Youth led dance group – we have started a new weekly fun dance group which is led by some of our youth. The young people who go enjoy their time

together putting together dances to Christian songs, which they will be able to use at events such as Sisters in Christ. They also spend time thinking through what movements can be put to worship songs so that they can be more accessible to our children on a Sunday morning.

Special events

In the last twelve months the youth have had the opportunity to attend the following events.

Abide youth event – Abide is not running until October this year, it will have had an 18month break by the time the next one happens.

Satellites youth camp – This last year we took 43 young people to satellites , which is 13 more than last year! We had a fabulous time and saw young people choose to follow Jesus. The team were amazing as they always are. With lots of very long days and very late nights, they gave their absolute best to each young person who came.

Blackpool Pleasure beach – this year we did a trip to Blackpool pleasure beach. We took 28 young people, some of whom had not been on a trip with us and some who had only been to a school club. We did rides in the morning, then in the

afternoon we split into 3 groups, one group did ice skating, one did adventure golf and the third group did more rides. We then ended our trip by getting fish and chips to each on the coach.

Youth Weekend at Church – We held a youth weekend at church at the beginning of March. We had 30 young people in attendance, most stayed over for both nights, and a few just came for the Saturday. The weekend included 2 worship and teaching meetings, late night worship slots, free-time to just hang out together, team challenges, prayer spaces and of course two sleepovers. Our theme was Faithful and we looked at what it meant to be faithful with each other, faithful to God and how God is faithful.

Youth Christmas Show

Our Christmas show this year followed the journey of the Magi as they followed the star. The youth all worked so hard on all the different aspects of the show. The charity that the youth chose for proceeds to go to was Cancer research and with the kind donations from those attending, they raised just over £200.

Non-club based schools work

Bowland R.E day – We hosted Bowland R.E day once again this year, with around 100 year 11s spending a lot of the day at the church as well as visiting other places of worship in the town. At the end of the day they have a question time which involves someone from each place of worship to sit together and answer questions that the young people have prepared. Unfortunately for the school the only people able to do that part was myself, Ian Humphreys from Trinity Methodist church and our own Sam Cheesman. It was lovely for the three of us to be able to share with the young people about what we believe and have opportunity to share the gospel message as part of our answers to their questions.

Ribblesdale once again had their year 7 harvest assembly at the church, it was great to welcome them and the staff in and to share a message about harvest with them.

What an incredible year, seeing young people’s lives completely changed by Jesus is such a privilege, one of the young people who chose to follow Jesus last year, said to me the other day ‘I used to message my friends when I felt stressed, now I open my Bible and I have been astonished how much that helps, I now read my Bible so much and can feel how it and praying makes a big difference in my life.’

Thank you so much for all your support of the youth ministry. Please keep the team and young people we meet in your prayers.

CAP DEBT CENTRE

Matt Wood

What has gone well?

One of the main positives that we have seen with Clients over the last year is how people are accepting and responsive to prayer. We always offer to pray with clients during every meeting which has been received better than ever before over the last 12 months.

When answers to prayer take place, we are in a privileged position to proclaim and encourage clients that God knows, listens, and because he loves us, will never turn away.

Many breakthroughs have worked out in seemingly impossible situations and circumstances, so proclaiming the Gospel truth in these opportunities continues to go well.

The Money Coaching team have adopted a new strategy toward how we promote and engage people with our courses which has seen attendees commit to attending. This is a huge improvement on last year when two of our courses had to be postponed.

New volunteers continue to commit to serving our community across both services.

At the beginning of 2026 we celebrated one of our clients becoming debt free. Over Christmas 2025 one client engaged with a Church based activity.

What requires support, improvement and prayer?

Overall referral number are low this year, this is mainly due to new referrals being on hold throughout Jan and Feb as training on our new Debt Help Platform training was being rolled out.

Please pray for Matt as navigating training for and using an entirely new casework system continues to take place.

Continuing to promote our services effectively is something that requires ongoing focus. Many of our recent referrals are from word of mouth, which is great, so please keep CAP in mind and in conversations so that awareness can continue to be supported throughout our community.

PASTORAL CARE

Peter Williams

The Pastoral Team continues to work hard towards their basic remit of keeping people connected to God, and keeping people connected to the church family - the church community.

Much of this is done through small groups where small group leaders keep a pastoral watch over each in the group, often supporting them and caring for them through changing or difficult circumstances. There has been much of this activity over the previous year - often unseen but always valued. Thank you so much to those who continue to undertake this wonderful service - you know who you are!

Occasionally the circumstances are such that a matter might be referred to the Leadership/Ministry Team or the Pastoral Team in confidence -and there have been several of these during the year. Members of these teams have prayed with, counselled, worked with and supported those in need.

Additionally the Pastoral Team has continued to visit those older or infirm members of the church family who, themselves, have worshipped and served with us over the years and now find this difficult or, indeed impossible. Anne Williams has joined the team as a “diary keeper” and we hope that this ensures we are more consistent in whom we visit and how regularly. Our visits include a bit of socialising and news sharing, sometimes home communion for those that want it, and always prayer.

We have also been called in (twice) to pray with people from other churches in the care homes in our parish, as they are dying.

Twice a year we pastorally review the church membership list to ensure we have maintained some sort of connection with everyone in the church family who wishes this.

We work in parallel with Allison Lord - our Anna Chaplain - whose remit is to visit and build links with other older people in our parish who haven’t directly got a connection to our church; part of our church’s mission.

All this work carries on mostly unseen, and unpaid, and we are very grateful to the great people who form this team and serve God by keeping people connected with Him and with His family here.

WORSHIP

Jonathan Berry and team

Over the past year, the worship team has continued to serve St James with commitment and faithfulness, leading the church in worship through music and song.

During the year, Jonathan Berry stepped back from the role of Worship Team Coordinator due to a career change and various other personal reasons. Rachel Shelley has also stepped back from the worship team during the past year.

In response, the worship leaders have collectively taken on additional responsibility to sustain this ministry. We are very grateful for this shared leadership, with particular thanks to Ellie Wood and Jenna Potts for the significant support they have provided during this period.

While the passion and heart of the team remain strong, the worship team is currently experiencing increased pressure in terms of capacity. When St James moved from one to two morning services over a year ago, it was hoped that the size of the worship team would grow accordingly. Unfortunately, this increase in team size has not yet taken place. As a result, a relatively small team is now supporting two weekly morning services, which has led to the team being stretched in order to ensure consistent provision for Sunday worship.

We want to express sincere gratitude to everyone currently serving on the worship team. Team members are generous with their time, deeply committed to the church, and passionate about worshipping God and leading others to do the same.

St James has a bold and exciting vision for mission and outreach, led by Sam, which the worship team wholeheartedly supports. At present, however, the team is finding it challenging to sustain existing commitments, let alone expand to support a wider missional vision. We recognise that God has richly blessed the St James worship team with gifted and faithful musicians. At this time, the primary challenge appears to be a lack of leadership and coordination capacity.

A strong and well-resourced worship team is an important part of a missional church, helping to create a welcoming, accessible, and safe environment for all to worship God, and Making it easier for people to invite others to church. The worship team is working closely with Sam and others to explore long-term solutions that will strengthen and sustain this significant and central ministry.

Our prayer is that, with God’s guidance and the right support, worship will continue to shape and drive St James as we seek to build God’s kingdom here in East Lancashire. We would welcome prayer, wisdom, and practical support from the PCC and wider church as we discern how best to address this leadership and capacity challenge.

KINGS HIGHWAY PARTNERSHIP

We were delighted that our new Rector, Sam, was able to visit Eldoret in January and to spend time with Henry and Fred so early in his incumbency. I know how much the visit means to King’s Highway Church and how much if helps them feel connected to the worldwide church.

Sam Johnson

We have been incredibly blessed by the deepening and strengthening of the partnership between St James and King’s Highway Partnership in Eldoret, Kenya, over the past 12 months. Following the visit to Kenya by Sam Johnson in January 2025 we have looked to make our partnership more visible across the life of the church, and also to have more regular contact with King’s Highway to support and learn from each other.

Pastor Henry and Pastor Fred are becoming regular faces to our Sunday congregations as they regularly record messages of greeting and encouragement. A particular highlight was Pastor Henry being able to preach on Philippians 2 at our King’s Highway Celebration Service in October, when we were encouraged to ‘make my joy complete by being like-minded, having the same love, being one in spirit and of one mind’. During the service we were able to learn more about Kenya and Eldoret, and to understand something more of the partnership agreement where we commit to walking with and alongside each other ‘in humble and relational ways as we call on King Jesus to fix the root cause of our brokenness’.

A few weeks after our special service the church family enjoyed a King’s Highway brunch in November, where we launched our Partnership Booklet, and many thanks to Graham Haldane for creating such a helpful document. We were also able to set up a new WhatsApp Group to help keep Church Family members informed of what is happening at King’s Highway Church and school.

The relationship between St James’ School and King’s Highway School also continues to develop. As part of the end of year celebrations at our school in the summer there was a ‘Kenya Day’ where children came dressed in the colours of the Kenyan flag and donated money so that the children at King’s Highway School could join in the celebration too. Many thanks to Charlotte White at the school who has led on the partnership for the past six years; Charlotte has now moved on but Jonathan, the headteacher, has continued to lead the partnership with enthusiasm and joy.

Finally, I am really pleased that one of the key promises in our partnership agreement is now in place. In both Eldoret and Clitheroe we were keen to ensure that we prayed together regularly in ‘real time’. This has now been happening for nearly 10 months, when on the second Friday of each month we ‘WhatsApp’ pray together at 8am for half an hour. If you would like to join this meeting then please see Sam Johnson.

Throughout the next year we will look to hear the voice of Eldoret more within our church as we introduce various people from King’s Highway Church to St James and follow some of their stories and lives. We will also continue to support the King’s Highway Church financially particularly with regards the training and education of young people, and in their ministry to widows. Please continue to pray for the church in Eldoret and for its leaders.

MISSION GIVING

2025 was the first year when our Mission Giving budget was actively ‘capped.’ Back in 2023, PCC decided that, in order to protect the mission that happens from this church, our Mission Giving budget would be capped. This meant we would have a break-even, rather than a deficit, budget.

In 2025, we had £33,520 to distribute, which was 10% of our income in 2024. We were aware that there was likely to be a significant decrease in Mission Giving funds to give away between 2025 and 2026 so we set aside £6295 as a buffer between the two years, and gave the remainder away as follows:

So in 2025, we looked carefully at how we allocated our Mission Giving budget. We moved it to a percentage-based model, knowing that the amount available for Mission Giving was likely to fluctuate much more than it had in previous years.

We also created an ‘emerging church seed fund’ specifically for new projects that are birthed from St James’. We have often found that people have ideas or passions for a project, but we don’t really know how to finance that, and we end up working backwards to cover the cost. We’d rather be proactive, and to say ‘we have X amount to help launch this mission project.’ This also specifically targets one of the criteria of Mission Giving, ‘supporting new ministry and the emerging church.

Our Mission Giving percentage based model is now as follows:

Many of these projects will be familiar to you if you have been following Mission Giving for any years. Some of these projects have been on our list for many years, but there are a few which may be unfamiliar or have changed.

Gateway Counselling is a project of Ribble Valley Gateway Trust, offering affordable counselling sessions by professionally qualified counsellors to individuals who self-refer, having been signposted by GPs, local businesses, churches, care agencies, friends and family.

CAP Blackburn is a new CAP Debt Help Centre, run by St Luke’s Church in Blackburn. Blackburn had a CAP Centre for a number of years, but when the centre Manager retired, the centre was closed down. St Luke’s launched their centre in 2025 and asked us for financial support.

You may notice that we support more UK Partnerships than overseas partnerships. We would love to establish a wider range of overseas partnerships, so if you are involved with an overseas project which supports one of our 5 Mission Giving criteria, please do get in touch with us.

One of the wonderful things about having a surplus in 2025 is how God will use this to bless other projects. Despite putting a cap on Mission Giving, God has really shown his generosity and faithfulness, and we will have a similar amount to give away in 2026.

OUTREACH

2025 was a strange year in terms of outreach. I’m sure you’ll have heard about The Quiet Revival, based on some research from The Bible Society. We’ve certainly seen something similar.

Over the past year, we’ve seen:

Primary aged children wanting to come to church and bringing their parents
Little Fishes mums (some from a few years ago) starting to attend on a Sunday
A number of our young people making the decision to follow Jesus and be baptised
New people attending every week, and many of them attending regularly
One memorable lady wandering into the office mid-week and announcing she’s just become a Christian

In fact, the number of new people at services in the Autumn was almost wonderfully overwhelming. What was interesting is that these people weren’t

looking for a peripheral activity; they were looking for a worship service. They were looking for an encounter with Jesus.

Not all of these people have got connected, but the majority of them have, whether that’s through attending the ‘faith basics’ course that Sam put on with Tracey Cross in October, or directly joining a small group. Our Welcomers have done an absolutely wonderful job in connecting new people but this is a good opportunity to remind ourselves that welcome is everyone’s responsibility. It has been a real joy to see some people be quickly noticed and engaged in conversation, but it’s also easy to overlook people we perhaps don’t know so well. Sometimes the conversations someone has on their 4th time attending are more important than the first time.

We’ve seen this continue into the new year, and once again, it’s not unusual to have up to 10 new people attending on a Sunday morning. So there’s a real challenge for us who are established worshippers – how are we supporting these new people to become new and deeper followers of Jesus Christ?

Where we have deliberately extended invitations, the response last year was overwhelming. Easter was joyfully packed to the rafters. We moved to 2 services for Christingle, and invited widely, thinking that it would be awful to have 2 halfempty services. But I don’t think any of us expected to have nearly 600 people show up!

We held our first event for about 6 years on the Standen Estate – Carols around the Oak Tree. We only managed to finalise a date for this about a week before, so the invitations had a short time to get out – but nearly 150 people showed up. I’d only printed 50 song sheets so we were a bit short! What was particular wonderful about this event is that there are definite events planned as follow up, with the aim of launching a worshipping community on Standen estate, and it’s been great to have Becky Wright take a lead on this.

As does happen occasionally, Carols at the Castle was affected by terrible weather, but we still had 1000 people show up. The event was fully booked, with 2500 planning to attend, but the wet weather proved too much for many.

There was no Love Clitheroe barbecue last year. The team took a ‘fallow year,’ giving us time and space to prepare for the launch of Live at the Castle in 2026. This will be a huge weekend of outreach, with a free music and arts festival on the Saturday and Church at the Castle – a big open air worship service on the Sunday. Mark your diaries now for 27th and 28th June!

2026 will also see our Diocesan Centenary weekend, marked by a weekend of outreach in every parish in the Diocese. Plans are still coming together for our events, but that will be held on 11th -13th September.

WHO'S WHO

Sam Cheesman Rector

Naomi Lynas Opera�ons Manager

Helen Po�s, Children & Families Minister

Becky Wright Children's Worker

Lucy Skelton Youth Minister

Ma� Wood, CAP Centre Manager

Rector Sam Cheesman

Discipleship Coordinator (incl. Small Groups)

samcheesman@stjamesclitheroe.co.uk 07928-752917

Ruth Haldane ruthhaldane@gmail.com 07454 022950

Operations Manager

Naomi Lynas naomilynas@stjamesclitheroe.co.uk 07563-584658

Pastoral Coordinator

Peter Williams homeofhobart@btinternet.com 07792 481373

Administrative Assistant

Sue Clark sueclark@stjamesclitheroe.co.uk

CAP Centre Manager

Matt Wood matthewwood@capuk.org 07860 617992

Children and Families Minister

Helen Potts helenpotts@stjamesclitheroe.co.uk

Children's Worker

Becky Wright beckywright@stjamesclitheroe.co.uk

Youth Minister

Lucy Skelton lucyskelton@stjamesclitheroe.co.uk

PCC members (2025/26)

Sam Cheesman(Chair) Janet Sanderson (Lay Chair Jonathan Frank (Treasurer) Naomi Lynas (Secretary) Sue Clark Graham Haldane Ruth Haldane Debi Hardie Oliver Pettitt Lucy Skelton Andrew Stevens Becca Thornber Will Weston Janet White Peter Williams Ellie Wood Michael Wright

Church Wardens

Graham Haldane grahamhaldane@stjamesclitheroe.co.uk Andrew Stevens 07922-610300

Deputy Warden

Roger Price Safeguarding Officer Nick Shelley Nicholas.shelley@btinternet.com 07547374386

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REGISTERED CHARITY NUMBER: 1131419

Report of the Trustees and

Financial Statements for the Year Ended 31 December 2025

for

The Parish Church of St James Clitheroe

Bennett Kirkhope Smith Chartered Certified Accountants Suites 5 & 6 The Printworks Hey Road Barrow Clitheroe Lancashire BB7 9WB

The Parish Church of St James Clitheroe

Contents of the Financial Statements for the Year Ended 31 December 2025

	Page
Report of the Trustees	1 to 8
Independent Examiner's Report	9
Statement of Financial Activities	10
Balance Sheet	11
Notes to the Financial Statements	12 to 19
Detailed Statement of Financial Activities	20 to 21

The Parish Church of St James Clitheroe

Report of the Trustees for the Year Ended 31 December 2025

The Parish Church of St James Clitheroe is registered with the Charity Commission as the Parochial Church Council of The Ecclesiastical Parish of St James' Clitheroe. It is also known as St James' Church Clitheroe.

Background

St James PCC has the responsibility of co-operating with the Rector, the Rev'd Sam Cheesman in promoting in the ecclesiastical parish the whole mission of the Church, pastoral, evangelistic, social and ecumenical. It also has the maintenance responsibilities for the Church Centre complex of St James', St James' Street, Clitheroe. It has responsibility in the employment of an Operations Manager, Youth Worker, a Christians Against Poverty Centre Manager and a Children's and family worker. Finally, it has an important role to play in the support of St James C of E Primary School.

STRATEGIC REPORT

A full review and strategic report of St James' can be found below in conjunction with the Annual Reports to the APCM.

Page 1

The Parish Church of St James Clitheroe

Report of the Trustees for the Year Ended 31 December 2025

OBJECTIVES AND ACTIVITIES Objectives and aims

The main aim of the charity is promoting in the ecclesiastical parish the whole mission of the Church, with an emphasis on the following:-

Education/Training - The Prevention or Relief of Poverty
Overseas Aid/Famine Relief
Religious Activities

These objectives are realised by making grants to organisations, providing buildings/facilities and open spaces, and providing services to communities at home and aboard. The measurement of the success of meeting these aims is provided by the responses from the recipients of our charitable grants and services, as well as through financial performance figures for grantmaking, donations and expenditure of the PCC through charitable activities.

All charitable activities that take place are for the benefit of the public and the wider community as a whole in conjunction with the Charity Commission's guidance.

The articles of religion describe the marks/objectives of a church as including the following: fellowship, preaching, worship and the administration of the sacraments.

A new fellowship planning team has brought us together as a church family and also allowed us to be a welcoming place to be for visitors with events such as a ceilidh and pie and pudding night . Brunch between services and church family celebrations have brought much joy in being together. More of these are already in the planning.

As a new rector I have chosen to increase the amount of preaching that I have done over the first 6 months of my ministry at St James' and we have had preaching series on Jesus (a good place to start), Old Testament Prophesies regarding the coming Messiah, the Letter to the Colossians, the spiritual practices of Jesus and The Lord's Prayer. The next sermon series will focus on social justice issues from the eyes of the minor prophets. We are truly blessed with wonderful preachers in the church and we also need to look to who the next generation will be. In March we ran a 'try preaching' day which I hope will have meant a few people felt called to share with others what they are hearing from God.

Our sung worship is how many people feel themselves temporarily transported into the throne room of God as well as being a draw for newcomers. Our instrumentalists and singers as committed as they are gifted, and our worship leaders work extremely hard to lead us in the very thing we were created to do. We have lost a couple of worship leaders for good and right reasons and the burden on them as a small group has been intense. To better support them as well as allow us to use worship as a driving force for mission the PCC have decided to use a financial gift given to the church to employ a part time Worship and Creative Lead. This is currently in process.

Without Borders, a half night of prayer, Carols at the Castle, Carols at the Oak Tree and prayer spaces have been some stand-alone opportunities for worship which St James' has led or contributed to. We are also blessed to have partners such as Turret House of Prayer and our other local churches which enhance our worshipping life. Of course the consistent, weekly opportunities to join together in prayer and worship are the heartbeat of the church, supplemented with large festival days and celebrations.

Administration of the sacraments has brought real joy to the church. We have had a large number of baptisms and still have requests for more. We have also had a number of requests for a service of confirmation. This is not something that has happened at St James' for some time but is a beautiful service where people are able to give their testimonies, renew their baptismal vows and have a bishop pray that the Holy Spirit will fill their life.

Page 2

The Parish Church of St James Clitheroe

Report of the Trustees for the Year Ended 31 December 2025

These things are all designed to equip us for mission, both individually and as a church. This is not our mission but God's, in which we join. His mission is the restoration of all things and the coming of His Kingdom of perfect peace, justice and perpetual worship of the Son. We cannot achieve things (only He will) so it is slightly unfair to place it as an objective of the church within the APCM report, however, we are called to do what we can where we can.

Prayer for growth and renewal may well be the most important mission activity we could take part in this year past. We have also reshaped our midweek outreach to children, worked consistently in and with schools, run a 'new to faith' course and are currently running an alpha course.

A new worshipping community on the Half Penny Meadows estate is one way we are seeking to do this in the coming year, and the Parish Mission Weekend in September will be a great opportunity also.

Most of the above happens acutely in our small groups which meet at home, church and other locations. These are places of pastoral care, fellowship, prayer, worship and study.

Page 3

The Parish Church of St James Clitheroe

Report of the Trustees for the Year Ended 31 December 2025

ACHIEVEMENTS AND PERFORMANCE Context and Review of the Year

The congregations on Sunday and Wednesday have both experienced numerical growth, thanks be to God. This follows substantial prayer for growth and renewal, targeted marketing of services, exceptional children's and youth work and a movement of God's Holy Spirit.

Financial stability has also been a mark of this year and must therefore come with a huge thanks to all who give financially to St James'. It was decided to set a break-even budget for the first time in many years as our reserves were approaching the minimum expected by the Charity Commission. By God's grace we met our budgeted requirements for the year and were also able to maintain our mission giving which supports partners in ministry.

Children's Ministry and Youth Work (led by Helen Potts and Lucy Skelton) are both flourishing with large numbers and great ideas. There are too many highlights to mention them all but I must name: Satellites, Light Trail, Kids Counsel, Popcorn, School visits, Youth Christmas Show, Little Fishes Pop-up Nativity, boys/girls gatherings and much, much more. Employing Becky Wright to take up hours dropped by Helen Potts has been an excellent appointment. Her focus is currently on the work on Half Penny Meadows, afterschool club and supporting worship at home.

Seeing a number of people become debt free through the work of CAP and Matt Wood has brought great joy to the church and is a clear marker of the Kingdom of Heaven which we seek to be realised here in Clitheroe. This is just one aspect of what CAP does and I am extremely grateful for all their work in the town and further afield.

A renewal of our link with King's Highway Church in Eldoret under Sam Johnson's leadership this year will bring life to the mission and ministry of the church and opportunities for prayer, learning and discipleship. Keep an eye open for a possible trip to visit our brothers and sisters next year.

Our Operations Manager, Naomi Lynas, is invaluable and a huge asset to the church. Her pastoral yet details centred approach is a ministry we likely all benefit from more than we even realise and the leadership she showed in vacancy last year must continue to grow to the great benefit of the church. Sue Clark supports the wider team with a particular focus on financial administration. Her work is diligent and allows us to make decisions based on accurate data.

Our building is maintained to a high standard by David O'Neill, our long-serving cleaner, who serves diligently every weekday morning before most of us are even awake.

Our PCC is high functioning and sparky. Ideas are suitably tested there and added to by a diverse group with diverse backgrounds and opinion - although there is room for further diversity in the group. They take their role as trustees seriously, understanding the need for good governance to support the work of the church. Safeguarding remains a standing item and something of upmost importance to the group.

Volunteers continue to be the backbone of the church and none of the above could be achieved without them. St James' must be a place where the gifts that God has given each person can be deployed for the good of the wider Church, and we have so many gifted and dedicated people who are willing to do this I am often moved beyond words. St Catherine of Sienna said that, when we do what we are created to do we set the world on fire. I love seeing this happen across our various ministries at St James' and I cannot thank our volunteers enough for all they do in Jesus' name.

Page 4

The Parish Church of St James Clitheroe

Report of the Trustees for the Year Ended 31 December 2025

FINANCIAL REVIEW

FINANCIAL CONTROLS

We adhere to our financial policy. Our systems are overseen by a team of 3 (Treasurer, Admin Assistant and Operations Manager) who report bi-monthly to the PCC and also to the APCM. We use Xero accounting which pulls information directly from our bank account. Our internal financial controls are reviewed annually. There have been no financial risks in the past year.

Any breaches of privacy or finance must be reported both to the Charity Commission and to the Diocese of Blackburn. The organisation is not currently facing any particular risks.

REVIEW

At the end of the reporting period, the total income into the PCC was £461,150. The majority of our income was from regular giving £248,516 and gift aid £76,151. There was also a net gain on investments of £4,420. Total expenditure was £394,690, leaving a net income of £66,460.

The total reserves held in the surplus account at the end of the reporting period is £424,218 of which £199,114 are restricted funds and £225,104 are general funds.

There are no designated funds at the year end.

Reserves are held to enable the PCC to continue to operate as an entity and meet any liabilities it may have, and to allow the PCC to continue in its ongoing activities in spreading faith and worship within the local and wider community.

The PCC is being managed and administered as a going concern.

Page 5

The Parish Church of St James Clitheroe

Report of the Trustees for the Year Ended 31 December 2025

STRUCTURE, GOVERNANCE AND MANAGEMENT

The PCC operates through one committee with a number of teams that meet between full meetings of the PCC.

The Standing Committee, the only committee required by law has power to transact the business of the PCC between its meetings subject to any directions given by the Council.

In order for the PCC to carry out its function of leadership, development and decision making, a number of teams have been set up with the following terms of reference:-

Vision and Alignment Team

To have a big picture view of where God may be leading us
To bring possible areas to develop, to the Leadership Team
To ensure that ministry aligns with the current vision

Leadership Team

To ensure implementation of vision in each ministry area. (Including determining and modifying strategy)
To set strategic, measurable and time quantifiable goals, and then monitoring progress

Fabric Team

To oversee the day to day maintenance of the church buildings
To work closely with the Church Administrator and Development Officer in the carrying out of work to the building
To ensure the work from the Quinquennial Inspection is carried out
To report to the PCC work needed, planned and completed

Finance Team

To oversee the finances of the church
To support the Treasurer in the setting of yearly budgets
To ensure the church is kept informed about Christian Stewardship including the envelope scheme, direct debit giving, legacies etc.
To bring a financial report to each PCC meeting

Teaching Team

To oversee the Worship Services at St James
To monitor and evaluate the needs of the worshipping community
To produce a termly teaching programme

Each team reports to the PCC where decisions are made.

The PCC has met 8 times during the year. Minutes, or written or verbal reports of meetings, or groups were received by the PCC and discussed where necessary.

REFERENCE AND ADMINISTRATIVE DETAILS Registered Charity number

1131419

Principal address

St James Church St James Street Clitheroe Lancashire BB7 1HH

Page 6

The Parish Church of St James Clitheroe

Report of the Trustees for the Year Ended 31 December 2025

Trustees

Members of the PCC are either ex-officio or elected by the Annual Parochial Church Meeting in accordance with the Church Representation Rules. Members of the PCC, wardens and deputy wardens are nominated and the elected.

The Rector is the chair of the PCC, and there are a number of ex-officio roles which are appointed rather than elected: staff members, treasurer and secretary. PCC members are elected for 3 years and can serve for 2 terms.

Incumbent	Rev'd Mark Pickett Chairman (Retired February 2025)
	Rev'd Sam Cheesman Chairman (Appointed February 2025)
The following people have served on the PCC during the year:-
Wardens	A Stevens
	G Haldane (ALM)
	R Price (Deputy appointed May 2025)
Deanery Synod	R Haldane (LLM)
	S Clark (ALM)
Appointed/Elected members H Potts (Resigned 2024)
	E Wood
	N Shelley
	J Frank (Hon. Treasurer)
	N Lynas (Secretary ex-officio)
	L Skelton
	A Groves (Resigned May 2025)
	P Williams (LLM)
	D Hardie
	C Watson (Resigned May 2025)
	W Weston
	J Sanderson
	M Moore (Resigned May 2025)
	Oliver Pettitt (Appointed May 2025)
	Jenna Potts (Appointed May 2025)
	Rebecca Thornber (Appointed May 2025)
	Janet White (Appointed May 2025)
	Michael Wright (Appointed May 2025)
Bankers	Barclays Bank UK Plc
	Manchester City Offices
	PO Box 357
	51 Mosley Street
	Manchester
	M60 2AU
Investment Advisers	The Blackburn Diocesan Board of Finance Limited
	Diocesan Offices
	Clayton House
	Walker Office Park
	Blackburn
	BB1 2QE
Solicitors	Houldsworth Solicitors
	4 Duck Street
	Clitheroe
	BB7 1LP

The following people have served on the PCC during the year:-

Page 7

The Parish Church of St James Clitheroe

Report of the Trustees for the Year Ended 31 December 2025

REFERENCE AND ADMINISTRATIVE DETAILS Independent Examiner Alice Mary Smith Bennett Kirkhope Smith Chartered Certified Accountants Suites 5 & 6 The Printworks Hey Road Barrow Clitheroe Lancashire BB7 9WB

Approved by order of the board of trustees on ............................................. and signed on its behalf by:

................................................................. Trustee

Page 8

Independent Examiner's Report to the Trustees of The Parish Church of St James Clitheroe

Independent examiner's report to the trustees of The Parish Church of St James Clitheroe

I report to the charity trustees on my examination of the accounts of The Parish Church of St James Clitheroe (the Trust) for the year ended 31 December 2025.

Responsibilities and basis of report

As the charity trustees of the Trust you are responsible for the preparation of the accounts in accordance with the requirements of the Charities Act 2011 ('the Act').

I report in respect of my examination of the Trust's accounts carried out under Section 145 of the Act and in carrying out my examination I have followed all applicable Directions given by the Charity Commission under Section 145(5)(b) of the Act.

Independent examiner's statement

Since your charity's gross income exceeded £250,000 your examiner must be a member of a listed body. I can confirm that I am qualified to undertake the examination because I am a member of the Association of Chartered Certified Accountants, which is one of the listed bodies.

I have completed my examination. I confirm that no material matters have come to my attention in connection with the examination giving me cause to believe that in any material respect:

accounting records were not kept in respect of the Trust as required by Section 130 of the Act; or 2. the accounts do not accord with those records; or
the accounts do not comply with the applicable requirements concerning the form and content of accounts set out in the Charities (Accounts and Reports) Regulations 2008 other than any requirement that the accounts give a true and fair view which is not a matter considered as part of an independent examination.

I have no concerns and have come across no other matters in connection with the examination to which attention should be drawn in this report in order to enable a proper understanding of the accounts to be reached.

Alice Mary Smith

The Association of Chartered Certified Accountants

Bennett Kirkhope Smith Chartered Certified Accountants Suites 5 & 6 The Printworks Hey Road Barrow Clitheroe Lancashire BB7 9WB

Date: .............................................

Page 9

The Parish Church of St James Clitheroe

Statement of Financial Activities for the Year Ended 31 December 2025

Unrestricted fund Notes £ INCOME AND ENDOWMENTS FROM Donations and legacies 440,412 Charitable activities Directly relating to the work of the church 11,288 Grant - Investment income 2 4,420 Total 456,120 EXPENDITURE ON Charitable activities Directly relating to the work of the church 388,665 Fundraising costs 1,085 Total 389,750 Net gains/(losses) on investments (365) NET INCOME/(EXPENDITURE) 66,005 RECONCILIATION OF FUNDS Total funds brought forward 159,099 TOTAL FUNDS CARRIED FORWARD 225,104	Restricted fund £ 640 - 4,390 - 5,030 4,940 - 4,940 - 90 199,024 199,114	31.12.25 Total funds £ 441,052 11,288 4,390 4,420 461,150 393,605 1,085 394,690 (365) 66,095 358,123 424,218	31.12.24 Total funds £ 298,252 11,597 2,500 4,340 316,689 329,507 - 329,507 1,039 (11,779) 369,902 358,123

The notes form part of these financial statements

Page 10

The Parish Church of St James Clitheroe

Balance Sheet 31 December 2025

Unrestricted fund Notes £ FIXED ASSETS Tangible assets 5 6,820 Investments 6 40,486 47,306 CURRENT ASSETS Debtors 7 20,622 Cash at bank 228,237 248,859 CREDITORS Amounts falling due within one year 8 (19,034) NET CURRENT ASSETS 229,825 TOTAL ASSETS LESS CURRENT LIABILITIES 277,131 PROVISIONS FOR LIABILITIES 9 (52,027) NET ASSETS 225,104 FUNDS 10 Unrestricted funds Restricted funds TOTAL FUNDS	Restricted fund £ 199,024 - 199,024 - 11,219 11,219 (11,129) 90 199,114 - 199,114	31.12.25 Total funds £ 205,844 40,486 246,330 20,622 239,456 260,078 (30,163) 229,915 476,245 (52,027) 424,218 225,104 199,114 424,218	31.12.24 Total funds £ 204,767 40,558 245,325 16,383 162,346 178,729 (24,033) 154,696 400,021 (41,898) 358,123 159,099 199,024 358,123

The financial statements were approved by the Board of Trustees and authorised for issue on ............................................. and were signed on its behalf by:

............................................. Trustee

The notes form part of these financial statements

Page 11

The Parish Church of St James Clitheroe

Notes to the Financial Statements for the Year Ended 31 December 2025

1. ACCOUNTING POLICIES

Basis of preparing the financial statements

The financial statements of the charity, which is a public benefit entity under FRS 102, have been prepared in accordance with the Charities SORP (FRS 102) 'Accounting and Reporting by Charities: Statement of Recommended Practice applicable to charities preparing their accounts in accordance with the Financial Reporting Standard applicable in the UK and Republic of Ireland (FRS 102) (effective 1 January 2019)', Financial Reporting Standard 102 'The Financial Reporting Standard applicable in the UK and Republic of Ireland' and the Charities Act 2011. The financial statements have been prepared under the historical cost convention, with the exception of investments which are included at market value, as modified by the revaluation of certain assets.

Income

All income is recognised in the Statement of Financial Activities once the charity has entitlement to the funds, it is probable that the income will be received and the amount can be measured reliably.

Expenditure

Liabilities are recognised as expenditure as soon as there is a legal or constructive obligation committing the charity to that expenditure, it is probable that a transfer of economic benefits will be required in settlement and the amount of the obligation can be measured reliably. Expenditure is accounted for on an accruals basis and has been classified under headings that aggregate all cost related to the category. Where costs cannot be directly attributed to particular headings they have been allocated to activities on a basis consistent with the use of resources.

Tangible fixed assets

Depreciation is provided at the following annual rates in order to write off each asset over its estimated useful life.

Freehold property	- not provided
Church Equipment	- 10% on cost
Plant and machinery	- 15% on cost
Computer equipment	- Straight line over 3 years

Taxation

The charity is exempt from tax on its charitable activities.

Fund accounting

Geneal 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 financial statements 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 nor those that are informal gatherings of the Church members.

Page 12

continued...

The Parish Church of St James Clitheroe

Notes to the Financial Statements - continued for the Year Ended 31 December 2025

2. INVESTMENT INCOME

INVESTMENT INCOME
	31.12.25	31.12.24
	£	£
Other fixed asset invest - FII	1,278	1,093
Deposit account interest	3,142	3,247
	4,420	4,340

3. TRUSTEES' REMUNERATION AND BENEFITS

Four Trustees have been employed by the PCC within the year.

Helen Potts - Employed as a full time Children and Family Minister and was remunerated with a gross salary of £25,574 in the year 2025. This included pension contributions of £3,325. Pension contributions by the PCC were £1,279.

Sue Clarke - Employed as a part time Office Assistant and was remunerated with a gross salary of £4,178 in the year 2025. This included pension contributions of £293. Pension contributions by the PCC were £125.

Naomi Lynas - Employed as a full time Operating Manager and was remunerated with a gross salary of £30,623 in the year 2025. This included pension contributions of £1,707. Pension contributions by the PCC were £732.

Lucy Skelton - Employed as a full time Youth Minister and was remunerated with a gross salary of £34,202 in the year 2025. This included pension contributions of £1,537. Pension contributions by the PCC were £659.

Trustees' expenses

Out-of-pocket expenses were reimbursed to trustees in 2025 as follows.

Gifts Heating allowance Phone/Broadband Activities/refreshments for children Books, postage & stationary Mileage & travel Service expenses Subscriptions Repairs and renewable resources Training & development Catering & hospitality Other	£ 13 500 266 1095 481 90 405 284 3,689

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continued...

The Parish Church of St James Clitheroe

Notes to the Financial Statements - continued for the Year Ended 31 December 2025

4. COMPARATIVES FOR THE STATEMENT OF FINANCIAL ACTIVITIES

INCOME AND ENDOWMENTS FROM Donations and legacies Charitable activities Directly relating to the work of the church Grant Investment income Total EXPENDITURE ON Charitable activities Directly relating to the work of the church Net gains on investments NET INCOME/(EXPENDITURE) RECONCILIATION OF FUNDS Total funds brought forward TOTAL FUNDS CARRIED FORWARD 5. TANGIBLE FIXED ASSETS Freehold property £ COST At 1 January 2025 199,024 Additions - At 31 December 2025 199,024 DEPRECIATION At 1 January 2025 - Charge for year - At 31 December 2025 - NET BOOK VALUE At 31 December 2025 199,024 At 31 December 2024 199,024	Church Equipment £ 80,650 - 80,650 80,649 - 80,649 1 1	Unrestricted fund £ 298,252 11,597 - 4,340 314,189 324,907 1,039 (9,679) 168,778 159,099 Plant and machinery £ 103,624 1,176 104,800 100,131 827 100,958 3,842 3,493	Restricted fund £ - - 2,500 - 2,500 4,600 - (2,100) 201,124 199,024 Computer equipment £ 21,786 2,273 24,059 19,537 1,545 21,082 2,977 2,249	Total funds £ 298,252 11,597 2,500 4,340 316,689 329,507 1,039 (11,779) 369,902 358,123 Totals £ 405,084 3,449 408,533 200,317 2,372 202,689 205,844 204,767

Page 14

continued...

The Parish Church of St James Clitheroe

Notes to the Financial Statements - continued for the Year Ended 31 December 2025

6. FIXED ASSET INVESTMENTS

FIXED ASSET INVESTMENTS
	Unlisted
	investments
	£
MARKET VALUE
At 1 January 2025	40,558
Revaluations	(72)
At 31 December 2025	40,486
NET BOOK VALUE
At 31 December 2025	40,486
At 31 December 2024	40,558
There were no investment assets outside the UK.
Cost or valuation at 31 December 2025 is represented by:

			Unlisted
			investments
			£
Valuation in	2020	and prior years	13,281
Valuation in	2021		1,278
Valuation in	2022		(5,206)
Valuation in	2023		2,992
Valuation in	2024		1,244
Valuation in	2025		(365)
Cost			27,262
			40,486

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continued...

The Parish Church of St James Clitheroe

Notes to the Financial Statements - continued for the Year Ended 31 December 2025

7. DEBTORS: AMOUNTS FALLING DUE WITHIN ONE YEAR

7.	DEBTORS: AMOUNTS FALLING DUE WITHIN ONE YEAR
		31.12.25	31.12.24
		£	£
	Income tax recoverable	14,328	9,862
	Prepayments	6,294	6,521
		20,622	16,383
8.	CREDITORS: AMOUNTS FALLING DUE WITHIN ONE YEAR
		31.12.25	31.12.24
		£	£
	Taxation and social security	1,150	2,005
	Other creditors	29,013	22,028
		30,163	24,033
9.	PROVISIONS FOR LIABILITIES
		31.12.25	31.12.24
		£	£
	Provisions	52,027	41,898

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continued...

The Parish Church of St James Clitheroe

Notes to the Financial Statements - continued for the Year Ended 31 December 2025

9. PROVISIONS FOR LIABILITIES - continued

Quinquennial
At 1 January 2025
Quinquennial expenditure provision
At 31 December 2025
Mission Payment
At 1 January 2025
The Persecuted Church cards & stamps
Good News For Everyone (Gideons)
Christian Solidarity Worldwide
Ribble Valley Food Bank
A Rocha UK
Open Doors
Charis Ministries
The 180 Program
Mark Dyer - Training Fund
St Lukes Church
Mission Tithe expenditure provision
At 31 December 2025
Provision for CAP
At 1 January 2025
CAP monthly contribution
CAP expenditure provision
At 31 December 2025
Provision for KHC
At 1 January 2025
KHC Wifi donations
At 31 December 2025

£
8,170
5,000
13,170
£
29,561
(295)
(1,250)
(1,250)
(1,500)
(2,700)
(1,250)
(4,660)
(1,250)
(3,000)
(1,500)
23.991
34,897
£
3,960
(3,960)
3,960
3,960
£
207
(207)
-

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continued...

The Parish Church of St James Clitheroe

Notes to the Financial Statements - continued for the Year Ended 31 December 2025

10. MOVEMENT IN FUNDS

Designated Funds

There are currently no designated funds held in unrestricted funds.

Restricted Fund

Grants SpaceHive Ltd - Grant for love clitheroe Current Liability for SpaceHive Ltd Grant Lancaster Foundation - CAP Worker Paid as wages to CAP Worker FieldFenn Trust - Grant for Youth Ministry & Band Expenditure on Youth Ministry & Youth Band Rotary club for Mega Mondays Holiday fun Expenditure on Mega Mondays Groundwork UK Grant for Youth Band Expenditure on Youth Band	£ 11,129 (11,129) 2,500 (2,500) 1,265 (1,265) 125 (125) 500 (500)

Grants received for the assistance of paying towards staff wages have been expended as such in the year. Other Grants for the Youth Ministry and Band and Mega Mondays holiday club were expended on relevant activities in the year. The Grant from Space Hive Ltd is for Love Clitheroe, which has now become a part of Ribble Valley Gateway Trust, with the grant being transferred to them after the 2025 financial year.

Capital Projects Fundraising Capital Projects Fundraising	90 90

Fundraising for the purposes of future general capital expenditure projects has taken place during the year. The funds have not been expended and are therefore carried forwards.

Donations Donations for CAP worker gas oven Expenditure on CAP worker gas oven	550 (550) -

Donations provided with restricted covenants have been expended within the specified covenants in the year, leaving no surplus restricted funds from this income stream.

Restricted funds Brought forwards 01.01.25 Movement in year Restricted funds carried forwards 31.12.25	199,024 90 199,114

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continued...

The Parish Church of St James Clitheroe

Notes to the Financial Statements - continued for the Year Ended 31 December 2025

12. RELATED PARTY DISCLOSURES

Transactions with related parties to trustees totalled £468 in the 2025 year: £240 was paid to the spouse of a trustee for a Ceilidh band performance at a fundraising event. £228 was paid to the company of a trustee for the printing of branded clothing for PCC events.

There were no transactions with related parties to trustees in the 2024 year.

Page 19

The Parish Church of St James Clitheroe

Detailed Statement of Financial Activities for the Year Ended 31 December 2025

	31.12.25	31.12.24
	£	£
INCOME AND ENDOWMENTS
Donations and legacies
Covenanted Gifts	248,516	223,621
Other Donations	98,021	11,958
Bequests	18,364	9,725
Income Tax Recoverable	76,151	52,948
	441,052	298,252
Investment income
Other fixed asset invest - FII	1,278	1,093
Deposit account interest	3,142	3,247
	4,420	4,340
Charitable activities
Fees	2,439	1,268
Pastoral centre	7,476	6,650
Sundry income	1,373	3,679
Grants	4,390	2,500
	15,678	14,097
Total incoming resources	461,150	316,689
EXPENDITURE
Charitable activities
Church running expenses	36,464	45,606
Insurance	3,262	3,068
Church maintenance	54,951	7,440
Upkeep of services	429	822
Diocesan quota	105,551	94,888
Clergy expenses	2,617	5,592
Administrator	4,303	3,886
Support costs	6,734	5,887
Youth & childrens workers	63,781	65,488
Operations Manager	32,345	31,920
Quinquennial	5,000	4,999
Mission	23,991	11,749
Youth ministry	9,523	5,191
Children's ministry	8,503	5,280
Discretionary	-	582
CAP Workers	11,945	10,412
CAP ministry	3,960	11,460
Outreach	4,716	836
Catering	3,040	1,751
Carried forward	381,115	316,857

This page does not form part of the statutory financial statements

Page 20

The Parish Church of St James Clitheroe

Detailed Statement of Financial Activities for the Year Ended 31 December 2025

	31.12.25	31.12.24
	£	£
Charitable activities
Brought forward	381,115	316,857
Discipleship	140	610
Administration Costs	8,454	8,223
Subscriptions	2,503	2,092
Independent Examiners Fee	1,140	1,460
Bank and credit card charges	253	265
Fundraising costs	1,085	-
	394,690	329,507
Total resources expended	394,690	329,507
Net income/(expenditure)	66,460	(12,818)

This page does not form part of the statutory financial statements

Page 21