2024-12-31-accounts - The Parochial Church Council Of The Ecclesiastical Parish Of Richmond With Hudswell

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St Mary’s Church, Richmond with St Michael and All Angels Church, Hudswell Annual Report 2024 For the Period January to December 2024

Registered Charity 1132585

St Mary’s Church, Richmond with St Michael and All Angels Church, Hudswell Sle

Aims and purposes

St Mary’s Church, Richmond with St Michael and All Angels Church, Hudswell Parochial Church Council (PCC) has the responsibility of co-operating with the Incumbent, the Reverend Canon Martin Fletcher, in promoting the ecclesiastical parish, the whole mission of the church, pastoral, evangelistic, social, and ecumenical to the people of the town of Richmond and the village of Hudswell. The PCC is also specifically responsible for the maintenance of St Mary’s Church, Richmond and Hudswell churchyard.

The Wider Church

The United Benefice of Richmond with Hudswell and Downholme and Marske is in the episcopal area of Ripon under the Bishop of Ripon, The Right Reverend Anna Eltringham within the Diocese of Leeds.

Objectives and Activities

Worship in the churches has continued and developed, based on regular, mainly eucharistic services with the addition of non-eucharistic services particularly directed to all ages from young to old. Retired, visiting and Licensed Lay Ministers provide a major contribution to our services.

The PCC is committed to enabling as many people as possible to worship at our church and to become part of our parish community. The PCC maintains an overview of worship throughout the parish and makes suggestions on how our services can involve the groups that live within our parish. Our services and worship put faith into practice through prayer and scripture, music and sacrament.

When planning our activities for the year, we have considered the Charity Commission’s guidance on public benefit, and particularly the supplementary guidance on charities for the advancement of religion.

We try to enable ordinary people to live out their faith as part of our parish community through:

Worship and prayer; learning about the gospel; developing their knowledge and trust in Jesus.
Provision of pastoral care for people living in the parish.
Missionary and outreach work.

To facilitate this work, it is important that we maintain the fabric of the church of St Mary’s Richmond.

Achievements and performance

Worship and prayer

We continue to welcome all who wish to attend our regular services. This includes Sundays, major feast days and some weekdays. On Sundays the 8am Holy Communion continues to use the Book of Common Prayer (1662) pattern. On the first Sunday in the month we have our ‘informal’ noneucharistic Morning Worship which is inclusive of all ages whilst during the rest of the month we have our eucharistic Parish Communion at 10am. We also offer Fun-Key Church, Café Church and Choral Evensong.

We have regular mid-week Communion Services each Wednesday at St Mary’s and Thursday at Holy Trinity Chapel. Morning Prayer takes place at 8.30am every Tuesday to Friday at St Mary’s.

Many of our services and occasional offices are live streamed and available online via YouTube and Zoom or by telephone for those who prefer this method thus opening up our worship to a wider audience around the world as well as to those who are unable to attend our services in person.

St Mary’s Church, Richmond with St Michael and All Angels Church, Hudswell Sle As well as our regular services, we enable our community to celebrate and thank God at the milestones of the journey through life. Through baptism we thank God for the gift of life; in marriage, public vows are exchanged with God’s blessing; through funeral services friends and family express their grief and give thanks for the life that is now complete in this world and commend the person into God’s keeping. During 2024 we celebrated 6 baptisms, 3 weddings and held 12 funerals. We also provided ministers for 4 funerals and cremations outside the parish.

The Rector’s involvement in the community includes being trustee of various local charities, acting as Chaplain to Richmond Town Mayor, the Company of Fellmongers, the Company of Mercers, Grocers and Haberdashers, the Richmond branch of the Royal British Legion and to the Green Howards Association.

We keep the church open for visitors and for private prayer during daylight hours and there is a votive candle stand for those who wish to light a prayer candle.

St Michael and All Angels’ Church, Hudswell was formally closed following resolution of access across a privately owned field. The vision is that the church will become a hostel for walkers and cyclists visiting the Yorkshire Dales.

Fabric and Churchwardens’ Report

Fabric Report

Diocesan faculty and planning permission secured for a step free access path to the south door with an external rest bench.

The work was satisfactorily carried out on time between October and December 2024 thanks to principal contractor Staley Stonework. Funding was from a variety of sources including the UK Shared Prosperity Fund. the Lottery Fund, the Friends of St Mary’s, other grant-giving bodies and local donations.

During this time the south door was closed and, with the help of volunteer guides, principal access was changed to the North door. Access is now again through the south door.

As part of the project, a small accessible car park was created in a section of the Rector’s garden. This area has been leased from the Diocese by the PCC for a five year term.

The unused Norman font was moved from inside the church to the south entrance of church with associated brass plaque describing its origin.

The marginally overdue Quinquennial inspection has been arranged for January 2025

Continued work on wilding an area of the graveyard in association with Buglife.

Lightning conductor inspection carried out.

Electrical installation report together with minor repairs.

Portable appliance testing carried out.

Bells inspected by Taylors foundry.

Fire inspection and fire extinguisher maintenance carried out.

Removal of Ivy and unblocking of Southeast downpipe.

Ongoing issues with central heating leaking. Leak testing and repair planned for 2025.

St Mary’s Church, Richmond with St Michael and All Angels Church, Hudswell Sle

Churchwardens Report

We welcomed our new curate Rev’d Lorna Heatley in November and said a fond farewell to our previous curate Paul Sunderland and his wife Jeanette as they moved to Kirkbymoorside.

We continue to ensure the church is open every day to welcome visitors for worship, prayer, or those interested in local history and ancestry.

We provide volunteer welcomers for services.

A locally organised song squad for children takes place on Monday evenings and Fun Key church takes place once a month. This is in addition to regular Sunday services, café church and a weekly service in Holy Trinity Chapel in the marketplace.

Friends of Saint Mary’s church arrange concerts in the church building including Blues in the Pews evenings. The church also hosts school concerts, military carol services and the like. As the largest “open access” community space in Richmond, the church is pleased to host many other community events and concerts including Swaledale Festival, Station Singers and Richmondshire Choral Society concerts throughout the year.

The Church hosts the Green Howard’s Chapel which we maintain.

The church hosts the town’s Remembrance Day, Civic services and Green Howard’s Day services. On many occasions, including Christmas services, the church is full, often with standing room only.

We are very fortunate in having a number of retired clergy and one lay preacher who are able to share the load with the Rector and Curate. Our Church Warden Emeritus is invaluable in the day-to-day running of the church, this especially so in the absence of a verger team.

We have an audiovisual system used during most services enabling us to upload services to YouTube and make them available on Zoom as well as enabling us to project services onto the drop-down chancel screen. This enhances our outreach and allows for more flexible services. Careful attention is paid to children’s safeguarding issues when recording.

David Frankton Wendy Pritchard Peter Trewby

Pastoral Care

The Pastoral Team meet every 6 weeks to consider those who may need pastoral support and who would be best placed to provide that support. Pastoral care is undertaken in many ways across the church and our community: practical assistance from The Happy Bodgers, bereavement support through After The Cards and individual prayer support via the Prayer Circle and pew sheet, listening, visiting and home communion. The team has also supported the annual All Souls-tide Service of Light which is much appreciated by those who attend. We regularly review the support we provide to ensure it always meets pastoral needs.

Education

The links with the CofE Primary School, Trinity Academy Richmond, and the joint CofE and Roman Catholic Secondary School, St Francis Xavier School (SFX), continue to flourish. The Rector sits on the local governing body of each school and members of our congregation are foundation governors at both of the schools.

St Mary’s Church, Richmond with St Michael and All Angels Church, Hudswell Sle At SFX we have continued to work closely with the school chaplaincy co-ordinator, and we have seen pupils increasingly involved in the creating and planning of activities and whole school worship. We have welcomed pupils to services in St Mary’s and the Rector and Curate are regular visitors to the school. It has been delightful to watch the children grow in their own personal faith and follow the ethos of the school.

We conduct collective worship at the Primary School every Tuesday and the school community is welcomed at St Mary’s for special services and visits throughout the year.

Mission and Evangelism

The mission of the church is in part provided through the regular worship and work of the clergy and laity of the parish including the PCC.

Support for the activities of the church elsewhere include support for the Children's Society through an annual Christingle service. The monthly ‘Charity of the Month’ voluntary retiring collection continued successfully throughout 2024 to support both British and international charities.

Representatives of the Church are trustees of local Charity Trusts and are members of the local Town Council.

Ecumenical Relationships

The formal organisation Churches Together in Richmond was wound up some years ago, although most of the joint activities within the Christian communities in Richmond have continued much as previously.

Activities in 2024 included a shared meal in the Week of Prayer for Christian Unity and a Good Friday Walk of Witness.

Richmond Churches continued to provide food contributions for the StoreHouse foodbank.

Other Groups and Organisations

A Thursday morning Toddlers Group continues to meet in the Methodist Church Hall catering for children up to 5 years old and their adult carers. Refreshments and a warm welcome are provided by a team from Richmond Methodist Church and St Mary’s.

The Mothers Union continues as an active integral part of parish life with various events including (as The Belles of St Mary's) providing refreshments for parish events. Primulas are distributed on Mothering Sunday. We supported all the Mothers Union appeals, donated to the warm Hub at the Methodist Church (including members volunteering regularly) and the Colburn village hub. Christmas and Easter gifts were given to residents at the Beacon.

A book group has been set up and meets monthly to study various Christian books. Poetry and Puds meets monthly to reflect on a wide variety of poetry, with the bonus of puddings.

The Ladies group meets on the last Friday of each month at the Morro Lounge in Richmond Market Place. “After the Cards” meets on the first Wednesday of the month also in the Morro Lounge to provide support for bereaved people.

The regulars of the “Yarns” knitting group continue to meet at The Restaurant at Greyfriars, on Flints Terrace, Richmond on Friday mornings and welcome occasional visitors.

A Men’s Group has been established and meets on the evening of the first Thursday of the month in the Town Hall pub in Richmond Market Place.

St Mary’s Church, Richmond with St Michael and All Angels Church, Hudswell Sle

Community Links

Within the broader community, concerts and other events were held during the year in St Mary's by Richmond Choral Society, the Station Singers, the Swaledale Festival, Reeth Brass Band, The Richmond Books and Boots Festival, Richmond School, Trinity Academy Primary School and the Band of the Royal Armoured Corps.

Safeguarding

There were no safeguarding issues to report.

Safeguarding has been actively adhered to for many years, in line with Diocesan guidelines. Efforts are made to ensure that all taking part in, and particularly those organising, church activities are aware of their responsibilities and trained appropriately. Actions include featuring safeguarding on the home page of the church website, making information on appropriate contacts for anyone needing support more readily available, recording the roles undertaken by members of the congregation and identifying who has had safeguarding training and at what level, and/or DBS clearance. A team headed by the Safeguarding Officer keep track of all relevant information via the Diocesan Safeguarding Dashboard and report to the PCC on a regular basis.

Financial review

Our annual accounts have been prepared using the Receipts and Payments method.

This report illustrates our financial position at our year-end 31st December 2024:

Total receipts	£ 250,628
Total payments	£ 266,746
Our total financial assets at the end of the year were	£ 109,393
Comprising
HSBC bank accounts	£ 26,233
Deposit Fund held with CCLA	£ 10,000
Investment Fund shares held with CCLA	£ 73,160

Receipts

The church’s day-to-day running costs could not be met without those people who give financially on a regular basis. We would like to express our thanks to those who continue to support us in this way as regular planned giving helps parishes with their financial stability. The £58,892 received in 2024 represented 49% of the amount being received into the church’s General Fund.

Planned giving receipts were lower than in 2023 but this was due to us sadly losing several donors who gave by bank standing order. However, the number of donors giving via the Parish Giving Scheme (PGS) rose from only four at the beginning of the year to nineteen by the end of the year, a response in part to a Stewardship Sunday presentation in October. As was said at the presentation, it would be greatly advantageous to our Treasurer if more of our regular donors, as well as any new donors, would consider joining the PGS.

St Mary’s Church, Richmond with St Michael and All Angels Church, Hudswell Sle

Designated income amounted to £124,261, the majority being funds received into our Access 4 All Fund. Thanks go to Peter Trewby who succeeded in acquiring eight grants totalling just over a hundred thousand pounds to go towards the cost of installing step-free access to St Mary’s as well as a new car park.

Payments

This year the Diocesan Parish Share Request was £96,422 (1.2% higher than in 2023) and the PCC were able to make a contribution of £77,138, but this only represented 80% of the total. The Parish Share Request is our contribution to funding clergy stipends, housing and pensions and the resources to maintain ministry and mission across the Diocese of Leeds.

Outcome

The net result for the year was a (negative) excess of receipts over payments (i.e. a deficit) of £4,666 on unrestricted funds. Major contributors to this deficit were a £1,400 increase in electricity costs and a £5,800 increase in gas costs. Having taken out new contracts in 2025 it’s anticipated that these costs will decrease.

Designated Funds also saw a deficit, amounting to £12,972. However, almost all of this was the balance of payments experienced by our Access 4 All Fund. Restricted funds saw an excess of receipts over payments (i.e. a surplus) of £1,520.

Including bank and deposit balances, the unrestricted funds available at the end of 2024 were £36,233, a decrease of 30%. The value of investments (in restricted and unrestricted funds) increased by £1,637 (2.2%) as compared with the end of 2023.

Reserves policy

It is PCC policy (in line with Diocesan recommendations) to aim to maintain a balance on unrestricted funds that equates to at least three months’ unrestricted payments to smooth out fluctuations in cash flow and to meet emergencies. This is equivalent to £25,000. The cash balance of £26,449 held in unrestricted funds at the year-end met these aims.

Deanery Synod Report

Synod acts as an intermediary between the Parochial Church Councils of each parish in its Deanery and the Synod of the Diocese as a whole. The Rector, three lay members of the PCC, and a lay Diocesan Synod representative are members of Richmond Deanery Synod which covers the most northerly part of the Diocese taking in mainly Swaledale and the area to the East towards the A19 south of the River Tees.

During 2024 Synod met in February, June and October.

Electoral Roll

All who regularly attend our services or are members of our congregations are encouraged to be registered on the Electoral Roll of the parish and take part in the Annual Parochial Church Meeting and to stand for election to the PCC.

Following the production of a new Electoral Roll there are now 135 parishioners on the Roll, of whom 22 are not resident within the parish.

There have been 22 new entries and 36 removals as they are either deceased, have moved away or have not re-registered.

St Mary’s Church, Richmond with St Michael and All Angels Church, Hudswell Sle

Volunteers

We would like to thank all volunteers who make our church the place of peace and rest that it is. They demonstrate their realisation of the importance of the sustainability of the mission and ministry of the church within the communities of Richmond and Hudswell.

Structure, governance and management

The PCC is a body corporate (PCC Powers Measure 1956, Church Representation Rules 2022) and is registered with the Charity Commission, registered number 1132585. The PCC operates under the Parochial Church Council Powers Measure. The method of appointment of PCC members is set out in the Church Representation Rules. The membership of the PCC consists of the Incumbent, Assistant Curate, Licensed Lay Ministers, two Churchwardens, three members of Deanery Synod and laity members elected by those who are on the Electoral Roll of the church. There may also be co-opted members. Members of the PCC are responsible for making decisions on all matters of general concern and importance to the parish, including deciding how the funds of the PCC are to be spent.

Given the wide range of responsibilities in a benefice of this size, the PCC has a number of subcommittees/teams which look after particular areas. These sub-committees which include finance, fabric, worship, charitable-giving, fundraising, communications and pastoral are all responsible to the PCC and report regularly on what has been discussed at their meetings. They make recommendations to the PCC for decision and action and confirm completion of actions previously authorised by the PCC.

Administrative information

St Mary’s Church is the parish church of the town of Richmond and is situated on Station Road, Richmond. The now closed St Michael and All Angels’ Church was the parish church of the village of Hudswell and is situated back from Hudswell Lane, towards the western end of the village. The parish also includes Holy Trinity Chapel in Richmond Market Place (originally part of a Chapel of Ease within the bailey of Richmond Castle). The United Parish is part of a larger benefice, which also includes the Parish of Downholme and Marske having the churches of St Michael and All Angels, Downholme and St Edmund, Marske, the benefice being part of the Diocese of Leeds within the Church of England.

St Mary’s Church, Richmond with St Michael and All Angels Church, Hudswell Sle

Parochial Church Council (PCC)

PCC members who have served at any time from 1[st] January 2024 until the date this report was approved are:

Ex-Officio Members

Rector

Reverend Canon Martin Fletcher

Assistant Curate

Reverend Paul Sunderland (until February 2024) Reverend Lorna Heatley (from June 2024)

Churchwardens

Wendy Pritchard Peter Trewby

Synod Representatives

Colin Hicks (Deanery) Ian Short (Diocesan, until July 2024) Susan Welch (Deanery)

Elected members

John Challis (until APCM 2024) Linda Curran (from APCM 2024) Reuben Digan (co-opted July 2024) Sharon Digan David Frankton (from APCM 2024) Pamela Holland (co-opted until APCM 2024) Alan Judge (co-opted until APCM 2024) Carole McCormack (from APCM 2024) John McCormack (until APCM 2024) Annette Richardson Stuart Rowan Susan Scrafton (until APCM 2024) Isobel Short (from APCM 2024 for 2 years) Stephanie Williamson

Officers

Paul Carnell (Treasurer) Colin Hicks (PCC Secretary) Alan Judge (Electoral Roll Officer) Pamela Holland (Safeguarding Officer, until November 2024) Jan Beeton (Safeguarding Officer, from November 2024)

St Mary’s Church, Richmond with St Michael and All Angels Church, Hudswell

Trustees Annual Report Approval

Approved by the PCC on _____ and signed on their behalf by the Reverend Canon Martin Fletcher

St Mary’s Church, Richmond with St Michael and All Angels Church, Hudswell

Appendix 1 St Mary's, Richmond, with St Michael's and All Angels, Hudswell PCC

RECEIPTS

Church activities:

St Mary’s Church, Richmond with St Michael and All Angels Church, Hudswell

St Mary’s Church, Richmond with St Michael and All Angels Church, Hudswell Se St Mary's, Richmond, with St Michael's and All Angels, Hudswell PCC Financial Statements for the Year Ended 31 December 2024 Further analysis of Receipts and Payments (1)

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St Mary’s Church, Richmond with St Michael and All Angels Church, Hudswell

Further analysis of Receipts and Payments (2)

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||||| |---|---|---|---| |Church|running expenses| |Church|building| |Upkeep|of|services| |Hudswell|Churchyard| |Organists|&| |Music|costs| |Other|church|running| |Church|repairs|and| |Repairs|to|roof|after| |Inspection|of|fire| |Roof|maintenance| |Bell|service| |Gutter|maintenance| |Lighting|works| |Lighning|Protection| |Electrical|Inspection| |New|lawnmower|for| |Boiler|repairs| |Tuning|&|repairs|to| |Cost|of generating funds| |Parish|magazine| |200|Club| |Hire|of Town|Hall| |Contactless| |New work to|the|church| |External|floodlights| |Access|for|All|project| |New|car|park|project| |Roof|alarm| |Installing|Defibrillator| |Other|payments|

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St Mary’s Church, Richmond with St Michael and All Angels Church, Hudswell

St Mary’s Church, Richmond with St Michael and All Angels Church, Hudswell Sle

Appendix 2 Rector’s Report

The PCC’s plans for 2024 were to consolidate our objectives set at the 2023 PCC Away Day, namely to:

grow spiritually (by expanding our range of services and home groups)
extend our community engagement (through greater involvement in community events)
improve our viability (through numerical growth and by developing the use of St Mary’s as an events venue).

Our plans to grow included attracting more young families to church life. This involved offering a more inclusive all-age service on first Sundays, with something for children at the 10am service on the other Sundays as well; a re-launch of Fun-Key Church and a wider range of youth activities; plus both extending our schools outreach and developing our young singers.

All this in turn required us to strengthen our lay leadership and publicity, and to improve access to the church – mindful of the fact that solid growth is not something which can take place instantly, but rather needs careful planting and patient nurture. However, having said a fond farewell to Paul and Jeanette Sunderland in the February, as we eagerly awaited the arrival of Lorna Heatley in the June we were afforded us the opportunity to develop our lay leadership rather more quickly than might otherwise have been the case. In particular, it was heartening to see so many individuals and teams step forward to plan and to lead our monthly all-age service, Morning Worship. This is but one example of the way our ‘core team’ is growing: as we continue to attract newcomers, new people are becoming involved in all aspects of church life.

Other highlights are the huge success of Friends’ events, which have both firmly established St Mary’s in the life of the wider community and helped improve our financial footing, and the completion of our step-free access project which now truly gives Access for All. This has been complemented by Lorna’s presence amongst us: she quickly established herself across all aspects of church life, bringing with her an impressive skill-set. This includes a natural ability to relate to people of all ages, and through Lorna’s media and IT expertise our publicity and outreach has been developed greatly.

As we look back over 2024, we are thankful for the progress we have made, and I am grateful to you for the part you have played. Whether serving ‘up front’ or supporting behind the scenes, whether active in the community or carefully supporting us prayerfully and financially, thank you for what you do.

Our PCC will be meeting for another Away Day in May 2025, when short-term plans will be made within the setting out of a long-term vision. Please be praying for our representatives on the PCC – and please let them know where you feel God is calling our church to be in the months and years to come.

Martin Fletcher Rector