OpenCharities

This text was generated using OCR and may contain errors. Check the original PDF to see the document submitted to the regulator.

2020-12-31-accounts

Item 3

Parish of Great Burstead with Ramsden Crays

Minutes of the Annual Meeting of Parishioners (AMP) and the Annual Parochial Church Meeting (APCM) 2019 held on Sunday 18 October 2020 at 11.30am in the church hall

Attendees : Fr Michael Hall (MH) (Chair) and 21 parishioners (10 in the hall and 11 on Zoom).

The Annual Meeting of Parishioners

Apologies : Sheena Cope and Micki Lake

2 Resolution that Section 3 of the Churchwardens Measure 2001 shall not apply (disqualification where a person nominated for the office of Churchwarden has served for six successive periods of office)

Details were given in the AMP report for 2019.

Proposed by Mary Edwards (ME) that Thom Simons (TS) be allowed to continue in post beyond 2021. Thom will have served as a Churchwarden for 6 years in 2021, seconded by Margaret Flack, 16 people agreed.

Nominations had been received from Thom Simons (supported by Tamsyn Taft and Margaret Flack) and Mary Edwards (supported by Peter Furness and David O’Connell). There were no other nominations and therefore Thom and Mary were confirmed as Churchwardens for the coming year. Congratulations were offered.

Special thanks were given to Derek Oakley as the retiring Churchwarden, for his support and ministry with our church. He will continue to sit on the PCC.

The AMP closed at 11.40am

The Annual Parochial Church Meeting

The meeting began at 11.42am

1 Welcome and apologies

Sheena Cope, Micky Lake, Mark and Mary Lazarus.

2 Notification of items to be included under AOB - None

3 Approval of Minutes of the previous APCM on 28 April 2019

Minutes agreed without amendment. Proposed by Margaret Flack and seconded by Mary Edwards, 1 abstention.

4 Matters arising None.

5 Appointment of Tellers

Thom Simons and Mary Edwards kindly volunteered and they were accepted by the meeting.

Derek Oakley and Thom Simons had prepared the report that was included with papers

1

for the meeting. They were thanked for their work over the past year.

Circulated with papers prior to the meeting. There were no questions or comments.

To be able to vote people must be on the church Electoral Roll. There are now 72 names registered of whom 36 (50%) are resident within the parish and 36 (50%) are non-resident. Peter Bowyer was thanked for his work on the Electoral Roll.

9 Election of Assistant Churchwardens

This is an honorary role and anyone is welcome to find out more about the role. There was no interest at this time.

Peter Furness volunteered for this role and he was accepted. One vacancy remains.

11 Election of Parochial Church Council (PCC) members (5) Applications from Derek Oakley, Margaret Flack and Nigel Blore were agreed. Two vacancies remain.

13 Election of Billericay Schools Ministry representative (1)

Margaret Flack agreed to continue to volunteer in this role and this was agreed.

14 Treasurers Report and Accounts

Mary Edwards provided the Financial Report and Accounts and summary. She explained that there was a large deficit which was an overspend and an over estimate of Gift Aid. There is concern for 2020 as some planned givers have left the church, by a move away or death. We are very grateful to the people who are making planned giving by using direct debit or standing orders.

Mary stated that she was grateful that we had the investments and the interest accruing to help our church.

David O’Connell queried whether money from the Restricted Funds account could be used if it was needed. Derek Oakley gave an example that work is needed on the NE buttress and that we may need to access the Restricted Fund to pay for work for which the church is liable.

Nigel Blore asked about the Organ Fund and Mary explained that the fund supported the service of the organ 3 times a year by the builders of the organ and for any maintenance needed. There are no problems reported at this time.

Thanks were given to Ian Rudkins, our independent examiner, for auditing the accounts and also to Beverley Price who has assisted Mary last year. Letters of thanks will be sent to them. Completed, letters sent on 19 Oct 2020.

Mary Edwards proposed that the accounts be accepted and this was seconded by Peter Furness, all agreed. Fr Michael thanked Mary for her work as Treasurer.

15 Appointment of Independent Examiner

Ian Rudkin has kindly agreed to act as Independent Examiner.

Proposed by Mary Edwards and seconded by Jeanne Wiggins. This was agreed unanimously.

2

16 Appointment of Sidespeople

This will be delegated to the PCC.

17 Appointment of Safeguarding Officer

Tamsyn Taft has stepped down from this role and no nominations have been received. Thom Simons agreed to take on the role and would step down from his role as Data Protection officer. Mary Edwards agreed to take on the role of Data Protection Officer. These appointments were agreed at the meeting.

18 Basildon Deanery Synod Report

A written report by Mary Edwards had been circulated with the papers prior to the meeting. There were no questions and the report was accepted at the meeting.

19 Reports of Church and Community Activities/organisations

Several reports were circulated with the papers prior to the meeting and there were no questions. Fr Michael thanked everyone for their reports and their contribution to our church.

20 Any other business None

21 Vicar’s report

Fr Michael explained that when he had written the report it was at the beginning of the period when there was much uncertainty due to the challenges of Covid-19.

The meeting ended with a closing prayer at 12.20pm.

Item 6 Churchwardens Report for 2020 Mary Edwards & Thom Simons Churchwardens

It has been a strange year to be a Churchwarden – and trying to keep going in the face of Covid 19 and its consequences for our Church has been difficult for us all. We have had to make quite a few changes in the way doing things. But the Government and the Diocese still have their Rules and Requirements and we have had to work within these as best we can.

The subsidence at the North East end of the church was found to be the result of tree damage and a plan of action was agreed for the removal of the offending trees and remedial work to the NE Buttress. Unfortunately, because the Churchyard is in a Conservation Area and the necessary works required a Faculty, this required extensive liaison with Basildon Council (who are responsible for the Churchyard and will carry out the tree work), our Consulting Engineer, Consulting Arboriculturist and the Parish Architect, as well as seeking quotes from qualified contractors. The application for the Faculty was made before Christmas and we await the outcome. Hopefully, the tree work will be done this Winter (2020/21) and the remedial work to the Buttress will take place in the summer of 2021.

During lockdown, our boiler decided to stop working, and after weeks of various visits, calls, emails and strong conversations the company who said they could fix it on various different visits decided to send us an email saying they couldn’t and wouldn’t attend again. As you can imagine this left us in a particularly sticky situation as the church, by this time, had no heating for about 2 weeks. We decided that we had no choice but to call the manufacturer who came and replaced quite a few parts. I am happy to say that the boiler is now working perfectly.

3

We would like to extend our grateful thanks to all those who contributed in any way to keeping our Church Community going during this difficult time, particularly, all those involved in recording Services and live Zooming. We have had to learn a lot in a short time, but we have been able to reach out to our Congregation and beyond. A special thank you goes to Father Michael, Father Graham and Father Peter for all that they have done and still do. There have been some difficult decisions to make around when the church will open and when it needs to be closed, but we have always sought the guidance from God in our prayers to make sure we are doing the best thing for the community and the congregation.

We have continued to provide online services throughout the pandemic, something which not many churches have been able to do, they are uploaded to YouTube and the statistics of which are below:

Thank you to all those who volunteered to clean the church between services when we were able to open for a short period. I know coming out during a pandemic to clean was a difficult decision but without you we would not have been able to open the church at all. This also extends to Mary Latham, who has continued to verger funerals when we have been able to, even through the pandemic.

As you may have noticed if you have been walking past, our church grounds look fantastic, our huge thanks to Paul Butterworth, Rodney and all the grounds team who have been working tirelessly throughout the pandemic to make our grounds look as amazing as they are! Finally, we want to record our thanks to Derek Oakley, who stepped down as Churchwarden in October, to Mary Edwards, who picked up the baton and who worked alongside the Churchwardens all year to keep things going and to Thom Simons who should have stepped down after faithfully serving his full term but agreed to stay on, to ensure that we had continuity.

Item 7 Annual Report of the PCC for the Alison Ingleby year ending 31.12.2020 PCC secretary

The PCC has the responsibility of co-operating with the incumbent Priest in Charge, Fr Michael Hall, in providing in the above ecclesiastical parish, the whole mission of the Church; pastoral, evangelistic, social and ecumenical. In this respect, we very much value the continuing and regular assistance of Fr Graham Laut, a retired priest, in working with Fr Michael in many aspects of parish life. We also continue to value and enjoy the assistance of Fr Peter Clark, a retired priest who also regularly worships with us.

The PCC also has maintenance responsibilities for the church and church hall at Great Burstead and the burial ground at Ramsden Crays.

Church activities have adapted, reduced or ceased during the Coronavirus pandemic and the PCC wishes to thank everyone who has volunteered to support the work and life of our church in any way during this time. Hundreds of hours are given by our volunteers and the PCC is very aware that the whole mission of the church could not continue without such sacrificial giving.

In discharging its functions, the PCC has due regard to the Charity Commission’s public benefit guidance where relevant and to compliance with relevant legislation, including health and safety,

4

disability discrimination and safeguarding. The PCC receives regular updates on relevant matters and the Diocese provides training in various areas from which many of our members have benefited. The PCC is grateful to Thom Simons who was the Data Protection and Compliance Office until October 2020 and Mary Edwards who took over from him. Our Safeguarding Officer until October 2020 was Tamsyn Taft when Thom Simons took on the role. We thank Tamsyn for her work.

We had two Churchwardens, Thomas Simons and Derek Oakley and we are grateful to both for their energy and contribution to the life and work of the church. Mary Edwards took over from Derek in October 2020 and we thank him for his work.

Prior to the pandemic, the BCP Evensong remained on the 1[st] Sunday of each month, with our Celtic styled service continuing on the fourth Sunday, led by Fr Graham and members of the congregation. No regular pattern is emerging for the 2[nd] 3[rd] and 5[th] Sundays and this is being kept under review. Previously introduced initiatives continue. Please also see the reports from Fr Graham and others with these papers, concerning various areas of Ministry, including The Celtic Service; Ministry to the Sick and Housebound; Messy Church and Lectio Divina.

From March 2020 weekly emails from Fr Michael and Mary Edwards have kept the community updated and offered support in 2020. Weekly Pew sheets in church ceased at that time to comply with Covid guidance. A new Event leaflet was produced and we give thanks to Mary Edwards for her work on the leaflet.

We were unable to hold two main events in 2020, the annual fete and also a commemorative event to mark the 400[th] anniversary of the sailing of the Pilgrim Fathers to America on The Mayflower ship. The church has a particular link to this event as the Churchwarden Christopher Martin and his family sailed on the ship. The church has artefacts and a stained glass window marking the event. Billericay has a strong link with the events of the sailing and settlement.

We have developed a stronger presence on social media and thanks are given to Claire Morley, Thom Simons and Tamsyn Taft. We regularly promote church activities on Facebook and our website and both have been a key communication tool during the last year.

The Diocesan Proposal to “Re-Imagine Ministry” and the Deanery Plan to link up in Mission and Ministry Units (MMU’s) remains incomplete but continues to receive consideration.

We continue to pay our Parish Share in full and we thank our Treasurer, Mary Edwards, for her skill and hard work on our behalf. Of course, we could not achieve this without the generosity of our congregation and the donations received. In addition, we thank God for the generosity of those who have remembered our church in their Wills and the families who have so kindly made donations in memory of their loved ones. These gifts enable us to do so much more in furthering our Mission and in looking after our beautiful church and grounds.

The PCC

Members of the PCC are either ex officio, co-opted or elected by the APCM in accordance with the Church Representation Rules. All church members are encouraged to register on the Electoral Roll and stand for PCC Election. A list of PCC members who served during the last year is listed below. The PCC usually meets bi-monthly on Tuesday evenings in the Church hall or online by Zoom.

LIST OF MEMBERS OF 2020/2021 PCC

5

EX-OFFICIO MEMBERS :

Revd Michael Hall Priest in Charge and Chair of PCC Thom Simons Churchwarden and Vice-chair of PCC Mary Edwards Assistant Churchwarden, PCC Treasurer and member of Diocesan Synod Micki Lake Member of Deanery Synod until October 2020 Peter Furness Member of Deanery Synod

ELECTED MEMBERS:

Nigel Blore from October 2020 Margaret Flack Alison Ingleby Andrew Lingard-Kay (Assistant Churchwarden) until October 2020 Derek Oakley Fola Olukoya Carol Simons John Simons Tamsyn Taft

Committees

The PCC also operates through a number of sub-committees, which meet between full meetings of the PCC.

Standing Committee

This is the only committee required by law. It has power to transact business on behalf of the PCC and is subject to any specific directions given by the council. It is composed of the incumbent, the Churchwardens, the Treasurer and PCC Secretary and appointed members of the PCC. A maximum of 7 in all.

Church Hall

The Committee attends to all matters relating to the church hall, including lettings, maintenance and repair and financial records. Thom Simons has been our excellent church hall manager again this year and has worked very hard to ensure that the hall is well run and fit for purpose.

Communications Committee

Lead by Fr Michael, this group did not meet in 2020.

Social

Organises parish socials – it aims to break even financially and operates within its own budgetary discipline. This committee did not meet in 2020.

Church Fete

Plans and organises this traditional annual fete held in the grounds of the church, including liaison with exhibitors, entertainers, stall holders and recruiting volunteers. There was no fete in 2020 due to the pandemic.

Churchyard Maintenance Team

This is a small team that works year round to help to ensure that our beautiful church grounds are well maintained. Autumn is a time when more work is particularly needed to clear the leaves and the volunteers work hard to achieve this. More volunteers would be very welcome.

Finance Group

6

Meets annually to discuss the fees/honoraria for the following year and to provide recommendations to the PCC. The group also recommends potential donations from church funds to charities which the PCC might wish to consider and approve. The PCC try to choose recipients from local, national and church based charities and try to take into account what is topical at the time. Arranged and chaired by the Treasurer, it includes the vicar and churchwardens and appointed members of the PCC, but may co-opt non-PCC members if they are relevant to its role.

Item 18

Deanery Synod Report 2020

Mary Edwards Diocesan Synod Rep for Basildon Deanery

We normally have 4 meetings each year. The meetings are held in a different church each time and are spread across the Deanery. They normally last an hour and a half, unless there is a lot of business when they can last two hours.

All meetings have an update on Good News from the Parishes, Finance (Deanery Share), News from General Synod, and Diocesan Synod

In 2020 the triennium should have ended at the end of May but moved to end of November. Also because of the Covid epidemic the meetings were held on Zoom.

Gt Burstead are entitled to 2 members on the synod unfortunately only one person stood for election so we are carrying a vacancy

Due to Covid we only had 2 meetings:

February’s meeting was held at St Martin’s

The Rev Dave Wade spoke on New Church Communities

November’s meeting was held by Zoom

Rev M Power spoke about his job as Mission and Ministry officer

2020 Diocesan Synod Report

We have 3 meeting each year held on a Saturday, normally in the Cathedral. We always start with worship and a president address (+Peter) We discuss a wide range of topics that affect the life of the church, deanery and diocese and always include a finance update and normally in June are presented with the following year’s budget for approval, giving the Diocesan finance team time to calculate the parish share down to benefices.

Full minutes and discussion papers of each meeting are available on the Diocesan website

Due to Covid19 the March meeting was cancelled we then had meetings in June October and November on zoom once canon law had been changed allowing voting on line.

The following Topics were either debated at or followed up at the meetings

SEE of Chelmsford Parish Share and 2021 budget Approach to reducing stipendiary numbers Racial Justice Task and Finish Group Stewardship Project

Item 19

Readers and Intercessors

Peter Furness

7

Lay Assistant

Readers

2020 was an extraordinary year with the imposition of unprecedented restrictions placed upon gathered worship as from 22[nd] March due to the Covid 19 virus. For the few months up to and including 15[th] March, I was grateful to our usual team for fulfilling rostered duties in the normal way, but this became no longer possible with the church closed. However, since March, the streaming of on-line services continued on a restricted, but weekly basis for the remainder of the year and we were grateful to Jo, Susan and Alex for maintaining the readings and in reading scripted prayers in support of their respective clergy spouses when leading services. When our church reopened, some additional services with gathered worship were allowed under very restrictive conditions that unfortunately precluded the general use of congregational participation. However, streamed on-line services were able to continue uninterrupted and towards the end of the year I was indebted to Peter Knatt for organising a roster for those on the team who had the technical capability and the willingness to participate in these on-line services. I am very grateful to all those who had risen to this new challenge.

Very sadly, it is necessary to record the death of Grahame Rudkins in September. Grahame regularly read the Epistles at our 8.00am services for as long as I can remember and he also willingly helped with readings at other occasional services. He will be greatly missed as a much loved and respected member of the team.

Intercessors

The same constraints, as mentioned above, have applied to our ability to lead in prayer. Much has again been asked of our smaller team of intercessors in the opening months of 2020, so it was with great delight to welcome Peter Knatt to our team at the start of the year and we very much valued his contributions. As noted above, Peter was a great help in also organising the roster for prayers for our on-line streamed services and which have continued into 2021. I know that I am rarely satisfied in such a cause, but if anyone has used the many periods of lockdown to consider being part of our team of intercessors, he or she will be warmly welcomed and advice and guidance will always be readily available if needed. Anyone wishing to help in this way should speak with either Fr. Michael or with me.

Item 19

Church Choir

Emma Griffin-Olukoya Director of Music

The last year has certainly been one that we never could have predicted. With the outbreak of Coronavirus, we were asked to stay home and services were moved online. Although we were no longer allowed to sing in public the recorded services including two hymns did at least give us a chance to worship, albeit in a very different style than we were used to. My sincere thanks go to Thom for putting my audio recordings into the videos is such a slick and professional way. My huge thanks also go to the very generous person that lent me a very expensive microphone so you can enjoy recordings that sound much better than my limited kit would have afforded. As we look forward to coming out of lockdown we look forward to getting back into church and I can't wait for the day when the choir and I can once again join you to raise the roof singing God's praises.

Item 19 Celtic Style Evening Worship

Fr Graham Laut

The Celtic style service did not continue in 2020 however we are hopeful that we may be able to start the service up again in the future.

Item 19

Ministry to Sick and Housebound

Fr Graham Laut

8

We were unable to visit people in their own homes, residential and nursing homes and hospitals during the past year due to the pandemic. We hope to be able to visit again when restrictions are lifted.

Item 19

The Church Fete

Alison Ingleby Lead organiser

We were unable to hold a fete this year due the pandemic and the restrictions in place. Planning had begun earlier in the year however there were indications at that time that many events would not be able to be run. It is hoped that an event, but not a fete, can be organised once restrictions are lifted. Volunteers are key to our events that include the planning stage, to set up, promotion and on the day roles and we will need to consider this when planning next year.

Item 19 Communications Report

Fr Michael Hall

Last year this group did not meet, and in this new year, I suspect that the circumstances of the year will determine if we meet. Communications for us as a church are essential. We do need to look at how to communicate well with one another. At present, I don’t think we can do much more than what we are currently doing. But hopefully, when this situation changes, we can review what is presently happening and talk about what we should do for the future.

Item 19 Messy Church Report

Tamsyn Taft Co-ordinator

The Messy Church Team have been working hard creatively online since the first Lockdown in Spring 2020. Many of our conventional ways were not able to happen hence sessions for 2020 were posted online with more frequency to support families through the lockdowns. Messy Church has sadly said goodbye to one of the longest family members, who moved, but they do still access our material online, which is lovely to hear.

We have combined some of the Messy Church sessions with the worship bag material for children, posted each Sunday, where themes have overlapped.

We have covered many themes or Bible stories this year and these include: Bible Beaches, Earth Day, Holy Halloween, Ascension, Remembrance and Christmas . Some sessions are planned by the Messy Church organisation ‘BRF’ and some by ourselves.

The meetings were moved to Zoom, like lots of groups and we continued planning by email, phone and texting.

We are always needing people to help plan or help out at sessions so if you feel you can offer any - assistance please contact us at: messychurch@greatburstead church.co.uk where you will be warmly welcomed to the team. When we relaunch in the future after the Government have allowed groups to meet safely again, we hope to welcome new families and friends to Messy Church, so please spread the word. Keep a look out on social media and the church website for upcoming events.

9

Messy Church was in the process of upgrading the storage facilities in the hall for session material which commenced in planning in 2019 and was partly completed in 2020. We still need to stocktake resources for when in person sessions happen again.

Item 19

Church Hall Report

Thom Simons Church Hall Manager

As with everything during 2020 it was a very strange time.

When the Covid pandemic started I worked very hard with Dizzy Ducks (now known as Kindred) to make sure that we had strict procedures in place to make sure that everyone who entered were protected.

Kindred continued to use the hall but took breaks when the Government insisted that they needed to. During this time, the cleaning of the hall was stepped up and it was deep cleaned twice a week and completely disinfected.

Thankfully, we didn’t have any outbreaks at the hall largely, I suspect, to the work and procedures put in place.

Item 19 Church Cleaning Report

Jo Hall Church Cleaning Co-ordinator

When the church building closed in March 2020 due to the first coronavirus lockdown, the existing cleaning rota was stopped. As many of the cleaning volunteers were either considered to be in the more at risk groups or had family members more at risk if they were to contract the virus, how to resource the cleaning going forward was a key consideration before the church could re-open. I volunteered to take on the role of cleaner, initially assisted by my daughter Sarah, and put into operation the Church of England's guidance on ' Keeping Church Buildings Clean '. This includes additional cleaning of frequently touched surfaces and, depending on the church usage, may necessitate multiple cleaning sessions during the week. Therefore, to keep the cleaning to a manageable level, areas of the church have been allocated to different purposes, e.g. pews for the Sunday 10am worship and chairs in the Lady Chapel for private prayer with different entrances used, and also restricting access to the back of church and the vestry. Additional volunteers have since come forward to join the cleaning team and I would like to thank them all very much for their support.

Item 19

Social Committee

Jo Hall Lead for Social Committee

Due to the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic, lockdowns and the need for social distancing, no social events took place in 2020. Some fellowship has been possible via the Sunday 'Coffee and Catch Up' zoom meetings.

When the restrictions are lifted, we look forward to holding some events, hopefully in the second half of 2021. It will be wonderful to meet up once again!

Item 19 Prayer Circle Report 2020

Fr Michael Hall

10

Our prayer circle is open to all in our church to join. We utilise Whatsapp for prayer requests, and during this last year, we have had several prayer requests which we have sent around our circle for prayer.

Item 19

Lectio Divina

Derek Oakley Churchwarden

Prior to Covid 19, Lectio Divina had been taking place at our Church for nearly 5 years and had become, I think, a valued part of our Church life and Ministry. Unfortunately, we were not able to meet after Lockdown and that remained the position as at the end of December 2020. But the practice of Lectio Divina, once learnt, can be done at home and is something that can form part of our regular prayer life. My hope is that what the Group learnt and shared when we met, will be continuing privately and that, one day, we will be able to gather again. If you have not been able to learn Lectio Divina for yourself and would like to do so, please let me know and I can give you some tips and resources.

Item 19 Garden Maintenance Team

Derek Oakley Chairman

The Garden Maintenance Team was setup with a view to breathing life back into the grounds of the Church in a fun, Community spirit, led way. Unfortunately, this didn’t work out in 2020. It was difficult for us to meet together after the 2019 Winter, in order to carry out necessary work and we have been considerably hampered by the absence of Rodney Latham, our Groundsman, who had to undergo treatment for an injury to his foot and was unable to drive the Ride on Mower or help us. Fortunately, Rodney gave a few tips on tractor driving to Derek Oakley and we were able to keep going. It was also good to have the help, later in the year, of Paul Butterworth, a new volunteer, who has worked hard to help us keep the Churchyard clean and respectable. Our thanks to him and to all the members of the Congregation who responded to our requests for help, particularly in clearing up twigs, branches and leaves. This was much appreciated.

We are very much hoping to be able to do more in 2021 – Lockdown rules permitting.

Item 19

Newsburst

Martyn and Kathy Heald Lead organisers

Newsburst (now renamed News & Events ) Sadly there is nothing to report because delivery of News & Events has been suspended since the edition for Christmas 2019. Should production and deliveries be resumed, it is worth noting that a significant number of new houses have sprung up on almost every round in Billericay thus adding to the work involved in delivery, not to mention that we are permanently short of volunteer deliverers and will need to work hard to drum up support again.

Item 19 Church Fundraising Martyn and Kathy Heald

When in April 2020 our Church Summer Fete was cancelled due to COVID, we found ourselves with a large number of plants intended for the Plant Stall. So we decided to sell these on the grass in front of our home. Trade proved to be brisk from passers-by, dog walkers, joggers, neighbours, drivers and even a bus driver and his passengers. We found ourselves receiving seedlings, plants, garden equipment (including lawn mowers, strimmers, fruit frames, patio pots, garden tools) as people began to clear sheds and garages during Lockdown, and later friends brought along their excess fruit and veg, and Jeanne made hundreds of jars of jam and marmalade which

11

we sold. It became a local attraction within this community, and the stall lasted as long as the weather allowed (October) and raised over £2,000 for church funds (all by donations into an Honesty Box). Our thanks to all those who contributed to and supported the venture. [We are currently considering whether to repeat the exercise this year in lieu of our Fete!]

Item 19 Great Burstead Mothers Union (MU)

Margaret Flack Lead for Mothers Union

We were able to have three meetings in church before lockdown. In January we were so fortunate to have Grahame and Anne Rudkins talk to us and show slides of their holiday on the Darjeeling railway in India. This was probably one of Grahame’s last talks and we are so grateful for their talks over the years .

In February Doreen Potter entertained us with her stories and poems and in March Peter Brierley talked and showed a film about the children from Chernobyl’s visits to Billericay. Sadly these have now ceased as the organiser has retired but they still operate throughout England.

MU members took part or attended the World Day of Prayer held at the URC in March, written by the women of Zimbabwe.

We did not meet again until July when we had a socially distanced gathering in the churchyard, just for a chat. We did the same again in August and September. I was able to record a talk about Mary Sumner, our founder, for the recorded Service on 9[th] August, her commemoration day.

We had our first Zoom meeting in October for prayers, MU news and a chat. Although nor everyone could join us, we have welcomed several other members of the congregation to our Zoom meetings which have continued

Item 19

Churches Together in Billericay Margaret Flack

Lead for Churches Together

Many planned events were unable to take place in 2020 and is was sad that most events to commemorate the 400[th] anniversary of the Mayflower voyage had to be cancelled.

Foodbank Because of the pandemic there was a huge growth in demand for help and over 70 families are being looked after weekly. It was necessary to move from St. John’s church to new premises at 8-10 High Street. Thank you to all who have contributed or helped in delivery of food parcels.

Street Pastors They also moved to share the same premises and have been very involved with the food bank as their Friday and Saturday night outreach has been curtailed with the closure of the pubs. They meet twice weekly on Zoom for prayer.

Schools Ministry in Billericay (SMB) It was not necessary to furlough staff as they had enough financial resources, thanks to churches’ support so virtual assemblies and lessons were able to continue when schools were open. The team work closely with the School Pastors.

Item 21

Vicar’s Report 2020

Fr Michael Hall

Last year became overshadowed by the Covid-19 virus. It started like a relatively normal year, but it was not too long before the influence of this worldwide pandemic made itself felt. We began the

12

year having church services in our church building with singing, socialisation, and communion in bread and wine. We ended the year with all our services online, where any socialisation had to take part remotely or at a social distance, and where most of us could only receive the sacrament spiritually. Last year was a challenging year. We lost loved congregation members, where we could not give them the funeral service they deserved. We had to cancel various things that we had planned. We had to adapt quickly to the evolving situation. We had to respond to the decision made to label our parish as an amber parish in the RAG (Red Amber Green) rating system of parishes employed by the diocese to plan its long-term sustainability. It was a busy and significantly stress-filled year. A lot of work took place through many people to keep all of us safe. Also, many people had to make a continued effort to make sure that our church continued. It was not an easy year, and it was certainly not a year I am keen to repeat.

However, some good things occurred last year. We discovered that as a church, it was still possible for us to meet remotely. We worked out the means of conducting our church business while maintaining social distance. Also, we worked out how to pastorally look after one another and even have some fun together. But the main good thing that I took away from the last year was that it was going to take much more than just a pandemic to stop our church from being a good church, and I hope that all the lessons and practices that we used last year because we needed to may be used to help us be a better church for the future.

During the last year, so many people made such a difference to our church. But outside of my clergy colleagues and all those involved in the cleaning and the maintenance of our grounds, your churchwardens this last year were the true stars: Derek, Thom, and later Mary helped so much, and if it were not for them, I think things could have been vastly different. I will not be quick to forget all the effort and energy they gifted our church with this last year, and I would suggest that none of us should.

In the future, I hope for better days. I hope that we will return to a time like the beginning of 2020 where we as a church could make plans and provide the quality of worship in our church building that we all expect. Yes, I am sure there will be some changes, and while most of these changes, I suspect, are not going to change us as a church fundamentally, there might be some that sting a little as we remember what we had in the past.

But friends, we went through last year, and I believe we will get through this year. We need to remember that whatever happens, we are not alone. God has been with us this last year, and I believe that God will continue to be with us all in this new year ahead.

Whatever the challenges ahead, we will meet them, and we will overcome them. Thank you, everybody, for all that you did last year to help us as a church.

Keep safe Fr Michael

End of report

13

GREAT BURSTEAD with RAMSDEN CRAYS PCC REPORT ON 2020 ACCOUNTS

1. Accounting Policy

The Financial Statements have been prepared in accordance with the Church Accounting Regulations 2011 together with applicable standards of the Charities Act. They include the Statement of Financial Activities and Balance Sheets and a statement of Assets & Liabilities. We are a registered charity and our registration number is 1132012. When the Parishes of Gt Burstead and Ramsden Crays were merged on the 1 November 2011, we then took responsibility for their finances. The building (the worship centre) and land were sold on 19 December 2013 and the proceeds have been placed in 2 long term investments. (see note 3.11 below)

2. Funds

3. Various funds held by the PCC

of the congregation in remembrance of their loved ones. It is to be used for any project/furnishings in the church but not for everyday maintenance of the church.

4. General Account

i) Unrestricted Fund

Day-to-day cash receipts & expenditure detailed in the General Fund A/c. shows we have a balance of £18021, once I have claimed the gift aid for this year. This sum also includes £3306 of fixed assets which currently leaves £6715 in the bank. If we had not used the interest from the Capital Investment for the last 5 years we would be in real difficulties. The net movement in year was, excess expenditure over income which amounts to £9046

In the coming year we will really need to be careful how we spend our money if we are to meet all our commitments and to continue services in this beautiful building, as unfortunately we lost some more members of our planned giving scheme this year. Our main expenditure is our contribution to the parish share; which we have managed to continue to pay in full at a cost of £5205.34 per month, a total of £62,464. We also managed to continue supporting the Schools Ministry in full at £110 a month but our other charity giving was halved due to lack of income.

ii) Restricted/Designated Funds

The other funds listed on the balance sheet total £35,185 which must be retained for them, plus the £460,567 in investments. All the funds are selffunding.

5.Trust Funds held by DBofF on our behalf

The Stock Market has had a turbulent year, which has meant that the trusts have gone up and down in value.. The capital value of these and our investment funds have therefore varied.

a) We have two Trust Funds held by DBof F on our behalf,

6. Building Trust Fund

This restricted fund is not part of the PCC General Account. Details of income and expenditure show a final credit balance of £44,967.

7. Church Hall Fund

This designated fund is not part of the PCC General Account. Details of income and expenditure show a final credit balance of £94,149 including £144 in fixed assets. Receipts are mainly from regular users although it does have occasional lets. See the church hall report as to how the money was spent.

8. Current financial position and forecast of the General Fund

2020 was a very different and difficult year trying to cope with the church being open with restricted numbers or shut completely. Yet the bills still had to be paid especially the Parish Share, which pays for our priest and support from the diocesan office.

I am very grateful to the parishioners that swapped their parish giving from weekly/monthly envelopes to standing orders, or put their envelopes through the vicarage door, this was a great help in keeping us afloat. I am also grateful to the parishioners who generously gave extra donations to make up some of the shortfall in the loose plate collections and loss of occasional offices (eg Weddings and Funerals). We are also fortunate that we can use the interest from some of our investments to help pay our general bills.

I pray that during 2021 or 2022 we will have more occasional services and will be able to fund raise to make up the shortfall.

In the autumn 2021 we are due our quinquennial inspection. Let’s hope that the report does not throw up any expensive repairs. The NE Buttress is being monitored/investigated as is the chancel floor, the damage could be due to tree roots. We are waiting for the faculty giving permission to remove the offending trees and repair the buttress.

Mary Edwards Hon Treasurer March 2021

The Parish Church of St. Mary Magdalene Great Burstead with Ramsden Crays

Registered Charity :- 1132012

Reports for 2020

Incumbent: Father Michael Hall The vicarage Church Street Great Burstead Billericay Essex CM11 2TR

Bank: Barclays Bank 69 High Street Billericay Essex CM12 9AU

Independent Examiner Ian Rudkins 14 Upland Road Billericay Essex CM12 0JP