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← The Parochial Church Council Of The Ecclesiastical Parish Of Edgware

2024-12-31-accounts

St Margaret’s, St Andrew’s, St Peter’s The Parochial Church Council of the Ecclesiastical Parish of Edgware

Registered Charity 1131803

Annual Report and

Financial Statements of

The Parochial Church Council

of the Ecclesiastical Parish of Edgware

For the year ended 31 December 2024

Team Rector
From 3rdDecember 2018
Revd Prebendary Francis
Adu-Boachie
1 Beulah Close
Edgware		 Team Vicar
From August 2008
Revd Simon Rea
9 Lacey Drive
Edgware		 Team Vicar
From September
2024
Revd Simon Curtis
2 Savoy Close
Edgware		 Self-Supporting
Minister
From July 2010
Revd Kostakis
Christodoulou		 Team Curate
From June 2022
Rev Albert
Danquah

Bank

CAF Bank Ltd West Malling Kent ME19 4JQ

Independent Examiner Parish Advisors Stewardship Stewardship 1 Lambs Passage 1 Lambs Passage London London EC1Y 8AB EC1Y 8AB

The PCC accepts its collective responsibility for ensuring proper books & records are maintained, for ensuring appropriate financial controls are put in place, and for the form & content of the attached accounts, which have been approved by them.

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St Margaret’s, St Andrew’s, St Peter’s The Parochial Church Council of the Ecclesiastical Parish of Edgware Registered Charity 1131803

Introduction

Edgware Parish is an Anglican Evangelical Team ministry situated in the North of London at the end of the Northern Line Underground. It is part of a vibrant, multicultural township in the Borough of Barnet. The Parish is a Team Scheme created in 1998 and includes St Margaret’s, St Andrew’s, and St Peter’s. Each church has its own full-time stipendiary minister, one of whom is the Rector for the parish. There is also a self-supporting minister, and at the end of June 2022 we were joined by a new Curate.

Administrative Information

The Parochial Church Council of the Ecclesiastical Parish of Edgware (more usually known as Edgware PCC) is the charity responsible for Edgware Team Parish, part of the Edmonton Area of the Diocese of London within the Church of England.

Each of the three District churches St Margaret’s (StM), St Andrew’s (StA) and St Peter’s (StP) within the Parish has its own Local Leadership team (LLT), to which the PCC can delegate certain of its duties and functions. The Local Leadership Teams allow more representation at a local level to encourage engagement with local mission and ministry.

Structure, Governance and Management

Organisation

The Parochial Church Council (PCC) is a corporate body operating under the Parochial Church Powers Measure of 1956. The Parish is registered with the Charity Commission under its full name, The Parochial Church Council of the Ecclesiastical Parish of Edgware, in compliance with the 2006 Charities Act, under number 1131803. The charity is more usually known as Edgware PCC or Edgware Parish.

The PCC and LLTs are governed by the Edgware Team Scheme of 2000 and the Church Representation Rules, which describe the method of appointment of PCC and LLTs members.

The LLT’s replaced the former District Church Councils following a resolution agreed at the Annual Parochial Church Meeting April 2017. The resolution agreed that from April 2018 the PCC would be made up of 4 lay members from each District Church, so the total number on PCC would be 12 Lay and 4 Clergy. This was implemented in April 2018 by natural reduction of retiring members from the PCC.

Broadly speaking the PCC has overall responsibility for finance, buildings and compliance with the law, and delegates responsibility for carrying out its primary objectives to the Local Leadership Teams.

Since 1[st] January 2024 the following served as PCC members, and were therefore the charity’s trustees:

Team Rector Francis Adu-Boachie Chairman PCC
Team Vicar Simon Rea St P
Team Vicar Simon Curtis StM
from September 2024
_SSM Associate Vicar_Kostakis Christodoulou
Parish Warden Henry Acquah from April 2021
Parish Warden Dave Franklin from April 2022

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St Margaret’s, St Andrew’s, St Peter’s The Parochial Church Council of the Ecclesiastical Parish of Edgware Registered Charity 1131803

Parish Treasurer Maureen Barnard St M Parish Secretary Maureen Barnard St M until April 2024 Sirous Esfandyari Moghaddam from April 2024 Deputy Warden Samantha McCarthy St M until April 2024 Deputy Warden Michael Sadler St A from April 2023 Deputy Warden George Mathew StA from September 2020 Deputy Warden Samuel Kofo-Kasumu StM from April 2023 Deanery Synod Barry Wynford-Dawes St A from September 2020 Deanery Synod Dave Franklin St P from September 2020 Deanery Synod Maureen Barnard St M from September 2020 Elected members. Catherine Taylor St A from April 2016 Brenda Franklin, StP until April 2024 Martina Enughi from April 2021 Daisy Lai from April 2024

Joanita Nabukenya from April 2024

In addition to the Local Leadership Teams, the PCC can call on several committees, which have the power to transact the business of the PCC, subject to terms of reference agreed by the PCC:

Objectives and Activities

Edgware PCC has the responsibility of co-operating with the Team Rector, Team Vicars and any other clergy of the Parish of Edgware in promoting the Gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ according to the doctrines and practices of the Church of England and the whole mission of the Church: pastoral, evangelistic, social and ecumenical.

The PCC is aware of the Charity Commission’s guidance on public benefit and in particular the guidance on “The Advancement of Religion for the Public Benefit” and have regard to this in their administration of the Parish.

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St Margaret’s, St Andrew’s, St Peter’s The Parochial Church Council of the Ecclesiastical Parish of Edgware Registered Charity 1131803

The PCC believes that, by fulfilling its responsibility to work together with the incumbent in the Parish and co-operate in all matters of concern and importance for the promotion of the whole mission of the Church; pastoral, evangelistic, social and ecumenical, it provides a benefit to the public by continuing the following activities:

Among other things, the PCC is responsible for the parochial budget and all expenditure, for the care and maintenance of church and hall fabric and grounds, and for any action on other matters referred to it in accordance with the Edgware Team Scheme of 2000 and the Church Representation Rules and is the normal channel of communication between parishioners and the Diocesan Area Bishop.

Vision 23-28

Becoming a Church of belonging and transformation and sharing the love of Jesus with our community.

Mission Statement:

We are committed to transforming communities by empowering people to live out God’s love and hope in a church where everyone is welcome.

Aim 2024

We aim to being a Church where people from all ages and backgrounds are welcomed to encounter the love of God in a transformational way, that we may be empowered as passionate disciples and as fully developed communities to share the good news of God with a world yearning for love.

We achieve this by working out the following priorities in the following sectors of ministry:

Worship and fellowship: To create a space of welcome and building fellowship of belonging for people from and all ages (and especially children) and backgrounds to be disciples of Christ and to promote worship that is accessible, inspirational, renewing and relevant.

Discipleship: To create opportunities and culture for growth at different stages of the faith journey and to develop leaders, ministers and volunteers for mission and ministry. The parish will do the following:

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St Margaret’s, St Andrew’s, St Peter’s

The Parochial Church Council of the Ecclesiastical Parish of Edgware

Registered Charity 1131803

Children, Young People and Families: To invest and resource Children and young people’s ministry within the church and in our communities and to grow the number of young families.

Community Outreach & Evangelism: To employ creative and relevant methods of evangelism and compassionate community action so that we may be good news to our neighbours (communities).

Develop a culture of safe living for worship, fellowship and community action .

Mission Action Plans: To be decided by Local Leadership Teams as they work out their priorities.

Strategies and Activities

Given the two-tier nature of our parish, the PCC sees its role as that of resourcing, co-ordinating and facilitating the distinct missions of our 3 district churches to carry out their own local mission and ministry aims in their distinctive contexts. It is also responsible for our finances and Safeguarding.

Contribution of Volunteers

The PCC is very reliant on the time and expertise of church members to help it in achieving its objectives. This ranges from those involved in Sunday services, including musicians and children’s workers, to those responsible for managing our finances and buildings, as well as the many who sit on the various committees and working groups. The PCC wishes to express our heartfelt thanks to all leaders and workers who contribute to the ministry of the church.

Grant Policy

The PCC gives away about 10% of its unrestricted donor income to individuals and organisations as chosen by the DCCs. The PCC reviewed our mission giving strategy and streamlined the number of charities we support as a parish to improve the impact and reach of our donations.

Electoral Roll & Church Attendance

The figures below show the roll numbers on 31[st] December 2024.

St M St A St P Parish
Electoral roll 2024 60 62 75 197
adult worshipping community 2024 45 38 71 154
youth worshipping community 2024 15 7 16 38
Baptisms in 2024 0 1 0 1
Confirmations in 2024 0 0 0
0

Review of the Year

The PCC met six times during the year. The three Local Leadership Teams met as required during the year. Minutes of the working group meetings were received by the full PCC and discussed where necessary.

Administrative and organizational structures

The Parish office is sufficiently staffed and functioning as expected. Our administrator (Eugenia) also coordinates our work in maintaining parish properties. We are thankful to our Wardens, treasurers, church officers, volunteers and clergy who work tirelessly in various parish working groups.

Stewardship was re-appointed as Independent Examiners.

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St Margaret’s, St Andrew’s, St Peter’s The Parochial Church Council of the Ecclesiastical Parish of Edgware Registered Charity 1131803

Rector’s Report

We praise God that we were able to appoint The Revd Simon Curtis as a full-time Team Vicar for St Margaret’s Church in September. We pray that he and his family will settle down in the new home soon. May I take this opportunity to thank the clergy, lay ministers and members of the Leadership Team for their ministry during the vacancy.

I would also like to express our sincere appreciation the Rev Albert Danquah for covering at St Margaret’s Church. Through his gentle ministry new people were welcomed and encouraged in ministry and I note his efforts in children’s ministry, nurture courses, monthly evangelism programme outside St Margaret’s Church, Age UK (Edgware branch) and ministry to the Eastern European group. Albert will be taking up a new post in Lichfield Diocese in June. Our prayers are with him.

The Edmonton Area welcomed a new Bishop in March, who visited the Parish during his A5 pilgrimage of prayer in June alongside the Bishop of Willesden.

Discipleship is a priority for the parish. During the year we preached and taught various themes that may help grow our relationship with God. The themes included Understanding and experiencing the Holy Spirit, Alive in Christ, Gospel of Luke, Nehemiah, favourite Psalms and themes from the Lectionary during Sundays of Epiphany. There was an emphasis on being confident witnesses and the parishioners were encouraged to be proactive in evangelism. There was an opportunity to encourage and celebrate vocations in October.

We launched the Alpha Course on 19[th] September. It was led by Revd. Kostakis and Revd. Albert with some Lay ministers in the Parish. The Course achieved some stimulating conversations. Attendances were regular and participants grappled with some challenging concepts such as healing and the Holy Spirit. The hospitality team did a fantastic job and we are thankful.

Our churches continued to provide prayer ministry regularly during or after Sunday services.

We continue to work on how we transit people on the fringes of the Church into discipleship through various creative means. This has been slow, but there are indications of people showing more interest in Christianity. More people are now comfortable in joining the Wednesday Communion service. Some have also attended the Alpha Course. Our appreciation goes to the hospitality teams, ministers and all who have dedicated themselves to community work and church life.

A Parish social was organised in July instead of a volunteers’ evening. It brought together people from all our three churches. It was an evening of variety entertainment, quiz and food. The aim was to enhance the unity of the parish and appreciate the efforts of members of the congregation in the work of the kingdom.

We celebrated Harvest as part of a Mission week using existing community events to reach out to the community. Activities included the Wednesday lunch after Holy Communion at St Margaret’s, a fundraiser for MacMillan Cancer Support & Harvest lunch at St Andrew’s, a sing-along for Together on Tuesday (ToT), Open Day at St Margaret’s, Women Arise at St Peter’s and Messy Church activities for young families at St Peter’s and St Andrew’s Toddler Group.

Following Safeguarding Sunday, we appointed Revd Simon Curtis as a new Parish lead on safeguarding. He will prepare the parish for the impending safeguarding audit in 2025, coordinate safeguarding across the parish and work with District safeguarding officers ensuring that we create a safe place for all vulnerable people.

A Parish summit was held in May at which the following areas were prioritised for 2024-2025

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St Margaret’s, St Andrew’s, St Peter’s The Parochial Church Council of the Ecclesiastical Parish of Edgware

Registered Charity 1131803

Edgware Parish continues to lead the work of the Edgware and District Churches (EDC). We successfully coordinated Palm Sunday ‘Walk of Witness’, Thy Kingdom Come Prayer initiative, Community Christmas Carols and the weekly ministers’ prayer meetings.

Reports on mission and strategy from the District Churches.

St Margaret’s Church 2024

During 2024, St Margaret’s continued to be a place of faith, support, and community, strengthening its mission through worship, outreach, and meaningful engagement with its congregation. Remaining dedicated to its vision: A sanctuary reaching out with God’s love and hope; equipping and empowering people to proclaim the good news of Jesus.

The Church continued to be led by a dedicated leadership team, comprised of Annesia, Clive, Daisy, Hazel, Jenny, Maureen, Roger, Samantha, Samuel, and Sylvia. Within the wider Parish, Samuel also took on the responsibility of Parish Safeguarding Officer, and Maureen continued to serve as Parish Treasurer. Alongside this a team of volunteers continued to give their time in a variety of ways both on Sundays and during the week. We thank all those who give their time to serve within the church family.

This year saw the end of the interregnum with the appointment of Rev. Simon Curtis as Team Vicar for St Margaret’s. Following interviews in May, he was licensed on September 15[th] in church. Simon arrived, having completed a curacy in Luton with All Saints Caddington and St John Farley Hill, along with his wife, Helen, and their six children, Isaac, Joshua, Joel, Ezekiel, Anna, and Levi. Before Simon’s appointment, St Margaret’s is grateful for the support of the wider parish clergy. Their guidance and care helped to ensure that worship and Church life remained steady, supporting the congregation and leadership team through the interregnum.

Safeguarding remained a top priority at St Margaret’s, with the leadership team dedicating time in every meeting to discussing relevant concerns and ensuring that best practices are followed. Ongoing training is completed as needed, keeping key volunteers informed and equipped to manage safeguarding responsibilities effectively. DBS checks have been completed as required to uphold the Church’s commitment to providing a safe environment for all who attend, ensuring the protection and well-being of both congregation members and visitors.

Sunday Morning Praise, with monthly Communion, and Wednesdays stayed as key Church activities, attracting new attendees. The Wednesday coffee morning, communion service, and lunch continue to grow into a distinct congregation. PowerPraisers became a weekly event, giving children more chances for praise and fellowship. Both Sunday and Wednesday services continue to be live-streamed and can be found on YouTube to watch later. The Life Group continued online weekly meetings for discussion and support, while daily prayer sessions on Zoom provided regular moments of devotion. The Church also hosted a daytime Alpha course led by Rev Kostakis, engaging both new and long-time members.

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St Margaret’s, St Andrew’s, St Peter’s The Parochial Church Council of the Ecclesiastical Parish of Edgware Registered Charity 1131803

Family film nights, held on the second Saturday of each month, offered moments of fellowship and entertainment. However, due to lower attendance towards the end of the year, these gatherings will be paused at the beginning of 2025. The church newsletter is sent out weekly to over a hundred people and was in the process of being revitalised as the year ended. Meanwhile, the Church grounds remained a valuable green space on the high street, offering the community a serene and welcoming environment. The Church and Truth Hall continued to be rented out to various groups, providing an essential resource for the wider community. This ongoing use has also remained a significant source of income for the parish, helping to support its ministries and outreach efforts throughout the year.

The church celebrated key events throughout the year, including Easter, a Summer Fun Day, Harvest, Remembrance Day, and Christmas. The festive season was particularly joyful, featuring a Christingle service, a PowerPraisers Christmas party, a Parish-wide Christmas dinner on the last Wednesday before Christmas, and the Community Town Carols event, which brought together people from across Edgware to sing and celebrate the season. St Margaret’s also hosted midnight services on both Christmas Eve and New Year’s Eve.

As the Church steps into 2025, St Margaret’s remains committed to being a family that looks to follow Jesus, living lives guided by the Spirit, and aiming to provide a sanctuary of faith, love, and hope for all, to hear the good news of the Gospel and grow in relationship with Him.

St Andrew’s Church 2024

Mission statement: We are called to love and serve our community. We achieve our goals through the following:

Worship and Disciples: To grow in our life as disciples of Jesus Christ and in numbers through inspirational worship and sound teaching in Church and life groups, so that we may be effective witnesses.

Sunday Worship continues to be our main base for discipleship, featuring our inspirational worship group. Average attendances have grown slightly from 20 to about 30 people. There are also opportunities for fellowship and learning on weekdays. We continue to meet online on Tuesday for Morning Prayer and Fridays for Life Group. There is an in-person Life group on Wednesdays.

Children and young families: We aim to provide a safe and consistent outreach programme for children and families so that we may reach younger families in the community.

The Toddler Group continues to flourish thanks to some faithful and reliable volunteers. Through good organisation and love for the community, the team continues to provide a safe place for children and friendly environment for parents and child carers.

Our partnership work with the Preschool has grown. Ministers lead various occasional services at the school and staff of the Preschool volunteer at our children’s activities.

Children’s activities were provided for on the second and fourth Sundays for the first half of the year, but we resorted to table activities following the resignation of the Children’s worker.

A new children and families’ event was introduced during the year on the first Friday of the month.

The aim of the activity is to bring the Church into contact with young families in the community so that we may inform them about the Church and share the love of God with them. The activities include a film, art, craft and lots of food and drinks. Attendances are between 40 and 75. More volunteers are needed for our children’s activities.

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St Margaret’s, St Andrew’s, St Peter’s The Parochial Church Council of the Ecclesiastical Parish of Edgware Registered Charity 1131803

Youth space started in November 2024 on Fridays. The aim was to create a safe environment where young people can come and play and develop friendships and perhaps with time be drawn to become followers of Christ. It is essentially a church-based programme for the community which runs during term time. The target group is children from Year 5 to Year 8. We have had an average of 8 children on most days though we once recorded 16 children.

Community outreach: To be instruments of God’s love by finding opportunities to present the Gospel) and assist community building.

Our goal is to reach people of all ages and backgrounds. Together on Tuesday (a group for over fifties) is a church-based group that offers a doorway into the church for non-church older members of the community. It also serves as a fellowship group for members of the congregation. The two groups mix very well and everyone seems to enjoy the activities etc. The group offers Christian based activities during the year, especially on feast days. The worship group has been employing their musical skills in bringing the good news to members of the group.

Coffee Morning continues on the first Friday of the month. It provides a relaxing and comfortable space for new people and facilitates friendly relationships.

Fabric and Presentation : To maintain the church building to a high standard and to improve publicity for the work of the Church.

The fabric and ornaments of the Church are in good condition and kept secure. A new noticeboard was installed in the Autumn. Thank you to all who help to maintain our building and keep the church clean and ready for worship and other activities, especially Catherine who has served the Church for many years.

The Leadership Team (and PCC) have granted the Preschool permission to re-develop the storeroom at the front of the building into children’s toilets and soft play area. We are exploring the possibilities of sourcing some funding for the repair of the Stephenson Hall for storage.

Our priorities for 2025 includes:

St Peter’s Church 2024

St Peter’s Church Annual Report 2024

In June we had visits from ‘pilgrims’ to St Peter’s as part of the Bishops’ (Edmonton and Willesden) A5 Corridor Pilgrimage and the Barnet Multi-Faith Forum’s Faith and Peace Walk. They summarised impressions of what they saw and heard with the same single word: “Inspiring”. This brief report will explain why: We believe that God inspires our worship. On an average Sunday 31 adults and 14 under 16s meet to worship together. While this represents a slight fall from 2023’s figures (32 and 18 respectively) it is notable that ‘worshipping community’ figures increased from 91 to 97 which perhaps suggests more people are attending less often. This is why the DCC has actively been considering ways to encourage members to move from fringe to core. One way is to offer opportunities to serve in the church so in December we publicly thanked the 22 members who have been regularly serving in our teams with a small gift.

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St Margaret’s, St Andrew’s, St Peter’s The Parochial Church Council of the Ecclesiastical Parish of Edgware Registered Charity 1131803

We thank God for the diversity of voices, races and ages in our preaching, leading and Life Group teams which includes men and women from Austria, England, Ghana, Jamaica, Nigeria and Uganda. On Sundays, we continue to offer zoom, although we still have problems with the sound broadcast. However, our weekday telephone-based prayer services and our online weekly Revive Bible Study continue to provide access to worship for those who are not able to join in person. We launched a new monthly in person Praise and Prayer meeting on Thursday evenings while our monthly Women Artise Fellowship offers inspiring teaching and good food for members.

Children and young people remain a priority in our life as a church. It is a great joy to see them joining the electoral roll as adults after their 16 birthdays. However, this does mean that the absolute number of under 16s has dropped. It is inspiring to see how they live out their Christian discipleship by serving in the church (as members of the Messy Church and AV teams, as helpers with Sunday School and serving refreshments) and serving in the world (eg as Junior Leaders at SEYP, our community youth work project and by evangelising eg by inviting friends the Youth Brunch.

Our Play and Stay Group continues to attract around 24 children and adults per week which feels like a drop compared to 2023. This has followed through in attendances at Messy Church events where we saw half the number compared to previous years, most markedly the Light Party attendance fell to 63 from 136 in 2023. However, the quality of evangelistic conversations increased and we saw 2 adults(!) joining the church directly because involvement in Messy Church. We attribute this to ‘the everyone is an evangelist, not just the preacher’ attitude of the team.

Our social outreach continues through our support for SEYP and in partnership with others for the common good. Activities include Sowing Stitches with LivingWay Ministries on Grahame Park and St Peter’s Pantry, our foodbank. Sowing Stitches received a large grant from Big Lottery and we are exploring how to set up the sewing teaching and business skills work at St Peter’s.

2024 was a year of change for St Peter’s Pantry. Council funding finally ran out for the Young Barnet Foundation who had been supporting us since COVID and we began to work with the Felix Project (a surplus food distribution hub in Enfield) and Volunteers On Wheels. We were also visited by the council’s Environmental Health inspector who gave us a 5 Star Score on Our Door for food safety. We now receive at least 300kg of food each week which we share with 12-24 individuals each week (50-60 people including families over 250 individuals each month) in ways which aim to show them respect and preserve their dignity. Additionally, we provided food for SEYP’s after school club and to help with the weekly post-communion lunch at St Margaret’s. The foodbank works closely with the Day’s and Atkinson’s Almshouses Charity who donated a new fridge when our old one died. Once again, we received generous donations from Dr Bernard Wheaton for our social outreach. We thank God all who have contributed to these inspiring ministries of blessing for our communities.

We also thank God for the Stonegrove Community Trust our partners in OneStonegrove as we work together to bless the local community. The highlight of our partnership in 2024 was the installation of a new entirely grant-funded solar photo-voltaic array on the roof. It is the largest charity-owned solar array in London with 210 panels with 415-watt output each producing over 71,000Kwh of electricity per year, bringing a carbon saving of around 14 tonnes a year, or the equivalent of planting 637 trees a year. We all pray that this will act as an inspiration for other installations to sustain our environment.

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St Margaret’s, St Andrew’s, St Peter’s The Parochial Church Council of the Ecclesiastical Parish of Edgware

Registered Charity 1131803

The inspiring work of St Peter’s was acknowledged when our vicar was invited to an Easter reception at 10 Downing Street and later mentioned by name the in House of Commons as part of Dr Matthew Offord’s contribution to the valedictory debate for MPs leaving the house. You can find it in the appropriate copy of Hansard (the public verbatim record of everything said in in parliament) Volume 750, No. 101 Column 1258.

In all things we thank God who inspires us and who “has done this and it is marvellous in our sight.” (Psalm 118: 23).

Stonegrove Estates Youth Project – SEYP

Founded as a response to the murder of Kiyan Prince, the Stonegrove Estates Youth Project has been delivering free community youthwork since 2008 under the oversight of Edgware PCC. It is led by Samantha Scott, a qualified youthwork professional with over 20 years’ experience of community youthwork. While there are synergies with the church-based youthwork at St Peter’s, the project does not deliver Christian youthwork. SEYP is developing an Asset Based Community Development approach, utilising the gifts, knowledge and passion of existing staff members to further develop delivery.

Term Time Delivery - From January to March SEYP continued to be funded by Edgware PCC to deliver open access activities in the form of an Afterschool Club. Delivery was reduced to one day a week in February and consisted of participants engaging in a variety of social, learning and physical activities with the provision of a small meal. Participants also received informal peer mentoring led by our Young Leaders.

From April to December SEYP was funded by Go London to deliver their Fun 2B Fit and Box 2B Fit activities. Sessions commenced on 30 April for two days a week consisting of socialising and learning activities, wrap around support (informal mentoring) and a meal. Football sessions were delivered by coaches who also provided mentoring support. The funding also supported the hiring of premises for the delivery of football sessions, employment of young people in the roles of young leaders and volunteers and a youth worker. There was also some focus on capacity building and sustainability activities.

During our sessions, participants benefitted in a variety of ways:

A total of 111 participants attended sessions of which 45 were new to the project. Additionally, a total of 54 term time sessions were delivered and two weeks of holiday activities in July/August, exceeding the number of sessions required as part of the grant conditions.

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St Margaret’s, St Andrew’s, St Peter’s The Parochial Church Council of the Ecclesiastical Parish of Edgware Registered Charity 1131803

Summer Activities - This delivery was funded by Young Barnet Foundation and Go London consisting of eight days delivery over two weeks, providing a program of fun activities with a meal. Additionally, we empowered young people through employment and volunteering opportunities. Go London funding was used to support this delivery due to savings made as they placed no restrictions on who could attend, meaning no child would be turned away. However, Young Barnet Foundation had the proviso that participants had to be eligible for benefit related free school meals and must register using their booking system. Following communication with the Chief Executive Officer, this issue was resolved. A total of 31 participants attended down on last year’s figures of 65.

Staffing Training and Development – SEYP provides employment and volunteering opportunities to empower young people and provide opportunities for gaining employability skills. At the beginning of the year SEYP had eight young leaders and two young volunteers on their books. Staffing was impacted in a variety of ways - staff revising for their exams, returning to university, gained full time employment. However, this was managed with the recruitment of new staff and volunteers. The recruitment of a youth leader to support the Youth Director was unsuccessful and the duties for this role was temporarily divided between the young leaders with the Youth Director taking on most of the duties, the hours of the professional boxer was increased to support the mentoring delivery and a young leader who is an assistant coach for Great Britain Youth Flag Football u15 team was recruited. The post was eventually reviewed and temporarily changed to Assistant Youth Worker. At the end of the project staffing had to be reduced to one Assistant Youth Worker, three Young Leaders and four Volunteers due to lack of funding.

Following a review of our Safeguarding Policy as part of the London Youth bid, all staff attended three bespoke training courses on safeguarding and mentoring and completed the National Church Stage 1 Safeguarding training, some completed Stage 2. Subsequently one young leader advised she was able to use what she had learned at SEYP for part of her A Level course work and one young leader gained employment in the local secondary school because of her employment with SEYP.

Finance Delivering the Go London project cost £43,500, of which £40,000 came from Go London and the remaining £3,500 was funded by the PCC. The PCC contributed a further £3,000 to help SEYP deliver its activities during 2024. Savings were made that allowed SEYP to extend the delivery of its activities from December 2024 to January 2025. Funding has become increasingly difficult to access for all youthwork, particularly for SEYP. Demographic changes following the regeneration of Stonegrove mean that the area has moved from the lowest 9% of England according to the government’s Indices of Multiple Deprivation to the highest 20%. This means that the area is now too ‘rich’ for big funders. Additionally, some funders won’t support the project because the PCC’s annual income exceeds the threshold they have set when considering grant applications.

Successful bids were made to Go London, Young Barnet Foundation and London Youth for Mentoring support training (to commence 2025). Other bids eg The Fore and Blue Spark were not. New bids are being worked on including National Lottery and John Lyons Charity.

Capacity Building & Sustainability - Capacity building was an ongoing challenge. Towards the end of the project a young leader took on the revised role of Assistant Youth Worker and although the benefits could be seen, it was too close to the end of the project to reap the full benefits. A project mentor was allocated to support the Youth Director in capacity building activities, though this did not occur until halfway through the delivery of the project. This support was good though limited due to the project only having 6 months to go. We are learning how to use the Upshot Evaluation tool.

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St Margaret’s, St Andrew’s, St Peter’s The Parochial Church Council of the Ecclesiastical Parish of Edgware Registered Charity 1131803

Further challenges remain in accessing funding especially for core as well as project funding and staffing so that we can focus on capacity building and sustainability. It has also been difficult to secure premises with the local secondary school to deliver football sessions. Despite this we are confident that our Asset Based Community Development approach will bear fruit.

Properties 2024

Edgware Parish has been blessed by God’s provision of properties to further the mission of the parish. These include freehold houses (50 Fairfield Crescent – now converted into 2 flats - and 9 Lacey Drive) and the Parish Hall site including the Scout Hut area. Other properties including the St Andrew’s/Stephenson Hall and St Margaret’s/Truth Hall and 2 Beulah Close and 2 Savoy Close (these two houses belong to the London Diocesan Fund). St Peter’s/OneStonegrove is held on a long (999) year head lease by the Diocese. However, local oversight of all the buildings remains with Edgware PCC through the Standing Committee. This report will focus on parish properties only because matters relating directly to the mission of the district churches are dealt with in their general reports.

The parish properties serve our mission by providing places for clergy to live and income through hire agreements and providing accommodation for 2 of our clergy. One flat at Fairfield Crescent is lived in by our curate while the other provides income for mission. The curate’s flat will become available in 2025 when Rev Albert Danquah moves on at the end of his curacy. It is our intention to rent the property to provide income to sustain the ministry of the church.

The missional aspect of the new photovoltaic array on St Peter’s/OneStonegrove has been discussed earlier. However, it is noteworthy from a church fabric point of view that at the same time the bell and the skylight were cleaned and the bell lighting system was repaired. This means that it is once more visible at night.

9 Lacey Drive is the home of St Peter’s minister. Issues regarding the roof leak at the property are still live but should be covered by the National House Building Corporation’s 10-year warranty scheme. Edgware PCC instructed our quinquennial surveyor to follow this up as an expert to get the issues finally resolved.

Issues also remain with the Scout Hut and land in relation to the original agreements between the parish and the Scouts in 1985. The parish is monitoring the situation with the help of Will Saxby a known and trusted solicitor. He is also advising us with regards to the Parish Hall current lease on the building which will cease in September 2025. We intend to put the property on the open market to secure best value and sustain the parish’s mission and ministry.

Trustee Working Group Report

The Children and families’ worker resigned her post due to personal reasons. We are yet to replace her. Edgware Parish employs the following staff to carry out operational administration.

Edgware Parish Communications Administrator

Our part-time administrator Eugenia Russell continues to support the mission of the parish through effective communication (online and offline) and administration. She works 4 days per week,3 days in the Parish office and 1 day at St Andrew’s.

Cleaners

We currently employ a permanent cleaner at St Andrew’s and St Margaret’s Churches. The cleaner in the Parish Hall is working on temporarily basis as the lease ends at the end of August 2025.

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St Margaret’s, St Andrew’s, St Peter’s The Parochial Church Council of the Ecclesiastical Parish of Edgware

Registered Charity 1131803

Financial Review

During the year the PCC’s income increased by £73,000 to £380,000, and expenditure increased by £15,000 to £340,000. After a modest gain on the revaluation of its investments, the PCC has reported a surplus of £40,000 (2023: a deficit of £17,000).

With respect to income, grant funding for SEYP increased by £36,000, income from letting property increased by £24,000, and one-off receipts from insurance claims increased by £17,000. The was partly offset by a reduction of £4,000 in the net income received from other sources.

With respect to expenditure, an additional £8,000 was spent on major repairs to the vicarage and to church buildings, a church administrator was employed for the whole year adding £10,000, an extra £9,000 was spent on our work with children and young people (mainly SEYP). This was offset by a reduction of £8,000 in the grants we distributed, and net savings of £4,000 in a variety of other areas.

The charity’s net assets increased by this year’s surplus of £40,000 to £665,000. Net assets comprise tangible fixed assets and investments of £397,000, cash of £239,000 (of which £191,000 is unrestricted and £48,000 is restricted) and other net current assets of £29,000.

Donations by members of PCC and close family

The aggregated donations by PCC members and connected parties were £ 32,000.

Reserves Policy

The PCC aims to hold free reserves of no less than £80,000, which equates to about 3 month’s projected expenditure so that the PCC could continue to operate should income and / or expenditure vary unexpectedly. The PCC considers free reserves to comprise the cash held in unrestricted general funds plus the cash held in the designated funds created for legacies received by the charity. At the year-end the PCC held free reserves of £172,000 and the PCC is complying with its reserves policy. The PCC notes that it has benefitted from significant legacy income in 2021 and 2020, which have bolstered the PCC’s free reserves.

Safeguarding Report for 2024

Introduction

Edgware PCC is committed to safeguarding children, young people, and vulnerable adults in our worshipping community. The safety of all vulnerable people is taken very seriously. PCC members confirm that they have complied with their safeguarding duties under Section 5 of the Safeguarding and Clergy Discipline Measure 2016.

Safeguarding Team and Responsibilities

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St Margaret’s, St Andrew’s, St Peter’s The Parochial Church Council of the Ecclesiastical Parish of Edgware

Registered Charity 1131803

Safeguarding Policy, Risk Assessment, and Preventive Measures

Edgware Parish follows the Church of England’s safeguarding guidelines, ensuring all clergy, staff, and volunteers undergo appropriate training and checks. Policies are reviewed regularly to uphold best practices, and safeguarding discussions remain a priority in PCC meetings.

The Edgware Parish Safeguarding Policy is accessible on the parish website, providing transparency and clear guidance. The Diocese Safeguarding Team continues to support the parish with best practices and oversight.

Regular risk assessment reviews are conducted across St Margaret’s, St Andrew’s, and St Peter’s to maintain a safe environment for all. Measures are in place to improve accessibility and safeguarding for vulnerable individuals, with reporting channels available to ensure concerns are raised and addressed promptly.

Incidents and Concerns

All safeguarding concerns reported in 2024 were raised with the Diocese Safeguarding Team, and all advised actions were carried out.

Training and Awareness

At the end of 2024, a comprehensive safeguarding audit was conducted to assess compliance with best practices and identify areas for improvement. Following the findings of this audit, all safeguarding training sessions and DBS checks for clergy, staff, and volunteers across all three churches will be updated as required to ensure continued adherence to safeguarding standards.

Additionally, Edgware Parish actively promotes safeguarding awareness within the congregation through newsletters, noticeboards, and services. Periodic discussions provide opportunities for community members to raise concerns, ask questions, and receive guidance, ensuring that safeguarding remains a shared responsibility. Safeguarding Sunday was observed in all three churches, reinforcing the importance of safeguarding and encouraging engagement across the parish.

Next Steps

An action plan has been created for 2025 to ensure continued safeguarding improvements across Edgware Parish. This includes, but not limited to, updating safeguarding training where required, renewing DBS certificates as needed, and reviewing role descriptions for all safeguarding-related positions, ensuring the safeguarding dashboard remains current. The parish will adopt an updated safeguarding policy at the PCC meeting after the APCM and promote this in all the relevant places. Additionally, a second person will be trained to process DBS applications (at the time of writing this has already been completed).

Conclusion

Edgware Parish (St Margaret's, St Andrew's, and St Peter's) remains dedicated to creating a safe, welcoming space for everyone. This report reaffirms our commitment to transparency and accountability in safeguarding practices throughout the year 2024 and into 2025.

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St Margaret’s, St Andrew’s, St Peter’s The Parochial Church Council of the Ecclesiastical Parish of Edgware

Registered Charity 1131803

Statement of Responsibilities of the Members of the Parochial Church Council

The PCC is responsible for preparing the Annual Report and the financial statements in accordance with applicable law and United Kingdom Accounting Standards (United Kingdom Generally Accepted Accounting Practice).

Charity law requires the PCC to prepare financial statements for each financial year which give a true and fair view of the state of the affairs of the charity as at the balance sheet date and of its incoming resources and application of resources for the financial year. In preparing these financial statements, the PCC are required to:

  1. select suitable accounting policies and apply them consistently

  2. observe the methods and principles in the Charities SORP

  3. make judgements and estimates that are reasonable and prudent

  4. state whether the applicable accounting standards have been followed, subject to any material departures disclosed and explained in the financial statements.

  5. prepare the financial statements on a going concern basis unless it is inappropriate to presume that the charity will continue in operation.

The PCC is responsible for keeping proper accounting records that disclose with reasonable accuracy at any time the financial position of the charity and enable them to ensure that the financial statements comply with the Charities Act 2011 and the Charity (Accounts and Reports) Regulations 2008. They are also responsible for safeguarding the assets of the charity and hence for taking reasonable steps for the prevention and detection of fraud and other irregularities.

Approval

This Report was approved by the PCC and signed on their behalf by:

The Revd. Preb. Francis Adu-Boachie (Team Rector & Chairman)

………………………………………

Henry Acquah (Parish Warden)

………………………………………

Dave Franklin (Parish Warden)

………………………………………

Date:

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