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

PARISH CHURCH OF ST ALBAN, NORTH HARROW

A registered charity in England & Wales no. 32600

ANNUAL REPORT

and

FINANCIAL STATEMENTS

of the

PAROCHIAL CHURCH COUNCIL

for the year ended 31st December 2020

Incumbent: The Revd Kate Tuckett The Vicarage Church Drive, North Harrow HA2 7NS

On maternity leave with effect from 16 August 2020

Interim Vicar during maternity leave: The Revd Dr Sarah Archer The Parish Office St Alban’s Church Hall Norwood Drive North Harrow HA2 7PF

Bankers:

The National Westminster Bank

Branch: Station Road, Harrow

also at

the CBF Church of England Investment Fund

and Virgin Money PLC 307 Station Road Harrow

1

PARISH CHURCH OF ST ALBAN, NORTH HARROW

Honorary Solicitor: Mr Christopher Noyce Lovell, Son & Pitfield 9 Grays Inn Square Grays Inn London WC1R 5JT

Independent Examiner:

Mr Alan Mitchell 33 St Thomas Drive Pinner HA5 4SX

2

PARISH CHURCH OF ST ALBAN, NORTH HARROW

Contents

Foreword by the Reverend Dr Sarah Archer

Page

Annual Report and Financial Statements of the PCC for the year ended 31 December 2020

Appendix – group and activity reports

3

PARISH CHURCH OF ST ALBAN, NORTH HARROW

FOREWORD by the Reverend Dr Sarah Archer

What a difference a year makes. And what a year! By the time you read this we will all have sat through three lockdowns and there are those of our number who read the annual report last year who are no longer with us: some due to Covid-19, others whose passing was made so much harder by Covid-19. Even given the restrictions of the last year there are still so many who have worked so hard to keep whatever show we were allowed to have on the road, and while I want to take the opportunity to thank them here, please do approach them yourselves to let them know how much their work is valued.

As you will discover, our buildings have been well maintained, and there have been new initiatives during these Covid-19 times, not least the installation of an audio-visual (AV) system that has proved its worth many times over. But despite the fact that this year has been unusual, both because of lockdown and because of Vicar Kate’s maternity leave, it has not been a time when things have been on pause.

Lent began in the usual way, even though the storm clouds of Covid-19 were gathering. Once lockdown was underway Kate helped us continue to develop our confident and compassionate worshipping community by moving swiftly online, with a team supporting regular morning and evening prayer on Facebook and maintaining the Eucharistic focus for our worship. The new AV system has helped our worship be more inclusive, and the PCC quickly approved the purchase of an extra camera which has enabled us to record life events. The Altar project has continued, with designs drawn up and a full consultation planned once restrictions are lifted.

We have not lost sight of our commitment to be multi-generational in focus. Our pastoral visiting team moved online or over the telephone, ensuring all those living alone were kept in touch and that everyone received a call over Christmas. You will also read more about how we have enabled our ministry to children and young people to continue in various forms during 2020. With the agreed funding for our Youth Ministry ending in September 2021, the PCC agreed to commission Jason Royce of Souster Youth to help us review our Youth Ministry, and this has helped the PCC to consider not just our Youth Ministry but also more general issues connected with the growth of our church.

It has been more of a challenge to grow and strengthen our capacity for mission and outreach during lockdown. Sadly the drop-in café is suspended and the Tamil Ladies group has had to come to an end. However, we continued our involvement with local schools, particularly through the memorable art project which saw hundreds of paper doves of peace flying inside the church, and some online assemblies. We maintained our support for Harrow Citizens, Firm Foundation and the Foodbank, contributing to their work through our Mission Fund. Throughout the year we have made generous contribution to charitable purposes, with £4,321 donated through the church, including £3,846 from our Mission Fund.

We also had our first trial of Alpha online, with over 20 people logging in each week, some from outside our congregation. Going online also helped our fundraising: we held a very successful (if not hugely polished) Quiz Night and Auction of Promises in November. We’ve also made improvements in our website and communications, setting up a Hootsuite account to enable social media posts to go out in a more scheduled fashion and moving our weekly Newsletter to Mailchimp. The biggest project was the set-up of iKnow Church in October: this is a church management system which has helped us over Christmas with ticketing and, once we’ve ironed out the gremlins, will make our rotas talk to each other a bit more as well as provide a secure way to check in young people into activities and communicate with our contacts. It also integrates fully with the Church of England’s Life Events Diary; enabling us to more effectively follow up our missional contacts.

4

PARISH CHURCH OF ST ALBAN, NORTH HARROW

After lockdown our place as a centre for community life also took a hit, with many of the organisations who usually occupy our hall being unable to meet. However, this has not impeded our progress towards making our church building more welcoming, most notably through the completion of the installation of the audio-visual system, but also through our plans to install underfloor heating powered by a ground source heat pump.

This, of course, will contribute to the fifth strategic aim of our Vision Action Plan: to care for creation as an integral part of all that we do at St Alban’s . The PCC agreed this year to join with the Church of England’s commitment to be net carbon neutral by 2030, and we were delighted to receive an A Rocha Bronze Eco Church award. We also now have a dedicated page on our website explaining more about what this means and giving helpful advice for individuals wishing to reduce their impact on our fragile planet.

While there are many to thank I would like to pay particular tribute to Tom Johnson, who has not only taken over the role of Treasurer this year but whose vision for the AV system proved prophetic, and whose hard work to get the system up and running is living proof that no good deed goes unpunished! My grateful thanks go also to Ally Vallance, Adrian Holloway and Gerry Devine for their faithful and professional support and encouragement, to the ministry team for all they do and to Ray Barber for his patience, diligence and hard work on behalf of the PCC, and particularly for his work on this report.

5

PARISH CHURCH OF ST ALBAN, NORTH HARROW

THE YEAR ENDED 31 DECEMBER 2020

St Alban’s Church is situated in The Ridgeway, North Harrow. It is part of the Diocese of London within the Church of England. The correspondence address is The Parish Office, St Alban’s Church, Norwood Drive, North Harrow, Middlesex HA2 7PF.

The Parochial Church Council (PCC) is a body corporate (PCC Powers Measure 1956, Church Representation Rules 2020 and a charity registered with the Charity Commission (no. 1132600).

PCC members who have served during the year ending 31 December 2020:

Ex Officio members Incumbent Vicar The Revd Kate Tuckett Interim Vicar The Revd Dr Sarah Archer Churchwardens Adrian Holloway Alison Vallance Assistant Church Warden Gerry Devine Deanery Synod Representatives Ray Barber Alison Chester Mo Hatton Tina Ryan Emma Garner Elected members Gerry Devine Eileen Eggington Elizabeth Fisher Malcolm Grant Tom Johnson

Chair until maternity leave commenced August 2020 From August 2020

PCC Secretary

Until September 2020 Elected Sept APCM Assistant Churchwarden

Treasurer to complete 2019 accounts Treasurer for all new work

Julia Powell Pauline Prince Tina Ryan Elected Sept 2020 Pauline Schofield Norman Shurrock Marcia Singleton Caoimhe Sweeney Tamer Tahsin Until Sept 2020

Elected Sept 2020

6

PARISH CHURCH OF ST ALBAN, NORTH HARROW

Statement of Responsibilities of the Members (Trustees) of the Parochial Church Council (PCC)

The Trustees (PCC members acting collectively) are responsible for preparing the Trustees’ Annual Report and financial statements in accordance with applicable law and United Kingdom Accounting Standards (United Kingdom Generally Accepted Accounting Practice) and in compliance with Guidance from the Charity Commission.

The law applicable to charities in England and Wales requires the Trustees to prepare financial statements for each financial year which give a true and fair view of the state of affairs of the charity and of the incoming resources and application of resources of the charity for that period. In preparing these financial statements, the Trustees are required to:

The Trustees are 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 as amended, the Charity (Accounts and Reports) Regulations 2008 and the Parochial Church Council Powers Measures. 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.

Declaration on reporting serious incidents

There were no serious incidents or other matters relating to the PCC during the 12 months to end December 2020 that should have been brought to the Charity Commission’s attention but were not.

This report, including the accounts and financial statements, of the Trustees was approved by the PCC on 24 March 2021 and is signed on behalf of the PCC by the Vicar, subject to the satisfaction of the Independent Examiner, whose signed Report accompanies the Accounts.

The Revd Dr Sarah Archer, Interim Vicar and PCC Chair

7

THE PARISH CHURCH OF ST ALBAN, NORTH HARROW

ANNUAL REPORT OF THE PCC

Aim and Purposes

St Alban’s Parochial Church Council (PCC) has the responsibility of cooperating with the incumbent, the Revd Kate Tuckett and, during her maternity leave, the Revd Dr Sarah Archer, in promoting in the ecclesiastical parish, the whole mission of the Church, pastoral, evangelistic, social and ecumenical. The PCC is also responsible for the maintenance and upkeep of the church building, church grounds and hall complex of St Alban’s, The Ridgeway, North Harrow.

Objectives and Activities

The PCC is committed to enabling as many people as possible to worship at our church and to become part of our parish community. Much imagination and lateral thinking has been expended by our clergy, wardens, the PCC and others in enabling this commitment to continue to be fulfilled during the Covid19 restrictions. This will be a recurring theme, with rightful expressions of gratitude, at many points in this annual report. Our services and worship put faith into practice through prayer and scripture, sacrament and music. This year has increased our use and reliance on communication technology to enable us to worship, hold meetings and engage socially remotely wherever we may be. This also means that our congregation and visitors may include people who have spotted us online and join us for a taste of what we have to offer. New opportunities and new challenges accelerated by a world changed by the pandemic.

We have a Vision Action Plan (VAP) which is a “live” document that is kept under review. It is used as one of our reference points when planning our activities for the year and committing to major expenditure. We have considered the Charity Commission’s guidance on public benefit and the supplementary guidance to charities for the advancement of religion. We try to enable everyone to live out their faith as part of our parish community through:

The five main objectives of our Vision Action Plan have been added to by a sixth objective, and now are:

Vicar Sarah has already highlighted how we have continued to fulfil these objectives in her foreword to this report. we are grateful to both Vicar Kate and Vicar Sarah for their inspiring leadership and commitment to the mission of God’s church here at St Alban’s and in the wider world.

Responsible and prudent management of our finances, together with maintenance of the fabric and grounds of the Parish Church of St Alban and the church hall complex, are central to facilitating this work.

8

THE PARISH CHURCH OF ST ALBAN, NORTH HARROW

£633 per day

This is how much it costs to run St Alban’s and deliver our mission.

About half is funded by direct giving and Gift Aid.

For the rest, we are dependent on our community fundraising (such as church fairs), rental income from our two properties and church halls, plus existing legacies and external grants

Vicar Kate led us into Lent 2020 on the theme of Peace and Reconciliation. However the Covid-19 lockdown soon terminated church attendance for several months. Church at Home services were held during lockdown and have continued during the times that in-person socially distanced and Covid secure worship could resume in church, so that those wishing to remain secure at home can continue participating. The audio-visual system came into its own to improve this connectivity. This has also enabled those who were unable to attend through infirmity to resume or maintain a church link.

Sadly the planned festival to mark our 90[th] anniversary as a parish was cancelled, as were the major fund raising June Fair and Christmas Bazaar. The Treasurer and others in the finance team explain in detail the repercussions of this reduced income further on in this report.

Despite the restrictions on being able to meet in person as a church, the section on Mission & Outreach shows that we have not shrunk away from service to the local and wider community.

Our work with young people in the church and wider community is led by Chris Nalder, our Youth Leader, assisted by Britney Awuah our sessional Youth Support Worker, with some voluntary assistance from within the parish. Vicar Sarah has explained that we have undertaken a review of this activity so that we can take stock of what we have achieved, help us decide how the service should develop in the future, and be ready for new funding bids ahead of the expiry of current external funding contracts.. A more detailed report on work with young people on the church premises, in our local schools and the community in general can be found by Chris Nalder on page 41.

During the year the PCC reviewed and updated its Reserves and Legacy policies.

We have a worshipping community of about 240. At the end of the year there were 207 parishioners (211 in 2019) on the Church Electoral Roll. The average weekly attendance counted during October was 150 (compared with 147 in 2019), including 24 children (24 in 2019).

Once again, we were delighted that around 25 people from the Muslim community at Mahfil Ali, North Harrow joined us at our Christmas Midnight Mass.

Further details of how our parish organisations and link groups have been able to work within the constraints of Covid-19 security are mentioned in their reports below.

Structure, Governance and Management

The PCC, rather than St Alban’s Church, is registered as a charity with the Charity Commission and all PCC members are trustees of the charity. The Church Representation Rules (part of the legislation covering how the Church of England is administered) set out how PCC members are appointed and elected. The PCC comprises the incumbent (our Vicar) who also chairs the PCC, churchwardens, representatives at the Deanery Synod, lay members elected by people in the congregation who are on the electoral roll of the church, and any co-opted members. All those who attend our services or as members of the congregation are encouraged to register on the electoral roll and stand for election to

9

THE PARISH CHURCH OF ST ALBAN, NORTH HARROW

the PCC.

The PCC is 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. New members receive an initial induction into the workings of the PCC and the responsibilities of a trustee. As well as scheduled business meetings, the PCC normally has at least one extended session or away day to explore topics in detail (a Saturday morning Zoom session in November 2020 was used to discuss the review of our youth service in depth). Training opportunities are often provided by the diocese and other outside bodies.

The full PCC had six scheduled business meetings and one additional business meeting to discuss the youth strategy. When Covid-19 restrictions on meetings started to be introduced in March, all PCC meetings were held online via Zoom. Despite some limited availability of technology and some inmeeting gremlins, this year’s PCC member attendance averaged out at a creditable 75%.

Individual attendance was as follows:

Possible meetings Attended
The Revd Kate Tuckett 4 4
The Revd Dr Sarah Archer 3 3
Ray Barber 7 7
Alison Chester 7 0
Gerry Devine 7 7
Eileen Eggington 7 7
Elizabeth Fisher 7 6
Malcolm Grant 7 7
Mo Hatton 7 1
Adrian Holloway 7 7
Tom Johnson 7 7
Julia Powell 7 4
Pauline Prince 6 2
Tina Ryan 7 7
Pauline Schofield 7 5
Norman Shurrock 7 4
Marcia Singleton 7 7
Caoimhe Sweeney 7 5
Tamer Tahsin 4 4
Alison Vallance 7 7

Given its wide responsibilities, the PCC has a number of sub-committees, each dealing with a particular aspect of parish life. These committees are currently the Standing Committee that acts on behalf of the PCC between meetings of the full Council, Buildings and Grounds, Finance, and Mission and Outreach. They are all responsible to the PCC and report back to it regularly, with minutes received by the PCC and discussed as necessary. These meetings also took place on Zoom from March onwards, as did those of Anglicans in Harrow (the deanery meeting that is now open to all Anglican church members and incorporates the Deanery Synod) and the meetings of Churches Together in North Harrow.

10

THE PARISH CHURCH OF ST ALBAN, NORTH HARROW

The PCC works hard to ensure good governance and compliance with church, charity and other national legislation. A range of policies and procedures are in place, and kept under regular review for Safeguarding; Drugs and Alcohol; Health, Safety and Welfare; Lone Working; Equality and Diversity; Social Media; Conflicts of Interest; Reserves; Legacies and Data Protection Regulations (GDPR), together with procedures for complaints, grievances and disciplinary matters. Arrangements are being made to make all the policies and procedures available in church and the church hall for all to see.

Conflicts of Interest

As charity trustees, all members of the PCC are legally obliged to act in the best interests of the PCC. Conflicts of interest can arise when, for example, PCC members may also be trustees of other charities that have applied for funding from St Alban’s, or there may be personal or family circumstances. The PCC manages conflicts of interest through an agreed policy which sets out the arrangements we have in place to identify any conflicts of interest and to deal with them appropriately. The policy also applies to all members of PCC sub-committees and working groups. This involves committee members declaring any conflicts of interest at each meeting, leaving the meeting if appropriate to do so when the relevant item is discussed, and not voting when a vote is taken. Specific conflicts of interest arising in the year are reported in the Accounts.

Risk Management

The PCC places great importance on the safety and security of its employees, church members and all those from the community who use our church buildings and facilities. It aims to reduce and maintain all risks to as low as possible while carrying out a vital and mission-led role in our community.

The PCC minimises the major risks to which it is exposed through regular meetings of the Standing, Finance and Buildings and Grounds Committees, as well as the PCC. A continuing concern is our dependency on the income from our two church residential properties, legacies and hall lettings to make up the shortfall in income from individual giving, the latter reflecting falling numbers in line with the national trend in declining church attendance. We are grateful to everyone who reviewed their giving this year when church income has fallen because of Covid-19 restrictions, and some personal income has been challenged by changes in the national economy.

Robust financial controls are in place. An annual budget is agreed by the PCC before the start of each financial year and reviewed against expenditure by the Finance and Standing Committees, and the PCC, on a quarterly basis. The scope of church insurance policies is reviewed as part of the renewal process. Safeguarding is given high priority and is a standing item at every PCC meeting. Any incidents are reported to the PCC by our Safeguarding Officer, and our safeguarding policy statement is kept under review.

We seek as a church to be as open as possible in all we do. All church members are encouraged to bring any concerns about how the PCC operates, or about a risk perceived as not being addressed, to the attention of the Vicar or Churchwardens either directly or via the PCC Secretary.

Looking Ahead

As you will see from the Financial Review and Accounts, we are heavily dependent on rental income from our halls and properties and our existing legacies, as well as Gift Aid returns and what we raise at our fairs, to cover our day to day costs. The income from the fairs did not happen in 2020 and regular giving was reduced. However we want to rise to the challenges and continue to work through our Vision Action Plan to continue God’s work in this parish, the wider community and our own personal development. This includes our youth programme, developing our church as a community hub, introducing important energy conservation measures, and carrying out essential maintenance. This almost certainly means that we need to look for external funding as well as doing our best to generate our own resources.

The Annual Report for the Harrow Deanery Synod by Robert May, the Synod’s secretary follows. This

11

THE PARISH CHURCH OF ST ALBAN, NORTH HARROW

is then followed by a report on the synod’s meetings and work by Tina Ryan, one of our lay representatives. Tina’s report expands on some of Robert May’s discussion, including further reference to break-out discussion groups which have been encouraged in the deanery meetings.

Staff and Volunteers

We would like to thank all our staff and many volunteers who work so hard to support our church community, carry out administration, sing in our choir (when they have been able), keep us informed about parish news, keep our buildings in good repair and the church grounds attractive year-round. We are particularly grateful to our Churchwardens Alison Vallance and Adrian Holloway, with Gerry Devine as assistant Warden, who have worked so tirelessly on our behalf, and our financial team led by our Treasurer Tom Johnson and his predecessor Malcolm Grant, who have managed our finances with such care and dedication.

We thank our Parish Administrator, Shirley Clements, who has kept the Parish Office running on site and from home during lockdown. We are grateful to Enid Church for her long tenure as editor of the Monthly Matters magazine, and to Shirley for taking that on in addition to her other work. Like so much of our paperwork, the pandemic restricted it to an online publication for most of the year and the foreseeable future.

The PCC Secretary personally thanks Vicars Kate and Sarah for their leadership and encouragement, the Churchwardens, Treasurer, Pauline Schofield (Governance and Compliance Officer), the PCC for their support, all who have contributed to this report, and my family for allowing me to spending so much time on the computer on PCC-related matters.

Ray Barber, PCC Secretary, March 2021

ANGLICANS IN HARROW (THE HARROW DEANERY SYNOD) ANNUAL REPORT FOR 2020

2020 has been a difficult year for our churches due to the Coronavirus Covid-19 pandemic and the restrictions imposed by the National Government and the Church of England, in order to protect the vulnerable members of our communities. Use of our churches for public worship has been restricted for much of 2020 and many churches have been conducting services, coffee contact meetings, children’s teaching and home groups, using the internet and various online software. We have adopted the working title of “Anglicans in Harrow” in order to emphasise that our meetings are aimed at engaging all church members on key issues relating to our Deanery Strategy with the overall purpose of working together to see God’s Kingdom come.

The three-year Deanery Synod from 2017 to 2020 was due to end in June 2020 with elections for lay parish representatives on the new Deanery Synod taking place at the 2020 March/April APCMs. The Church of England agreed to delay the start of the new three-year Deanery Synod until 1 December 2020, with APCMs held by the end of October 2020. Accordingly, a new Deanery Synod was elected too late for the initial meeting of the new Deanery Synod to be held in 2020 and so this was delayed into January 2021. There were therefore only two meetings of the Deanery Synod during 2020 and the format of the meetings needed to change.

The 5 February session was held at St Anselm’s Church Hatch End with the theme “Outreach and Mission”. Members of the parishes were encouraged to attend this meeting and to participate in the parish-centred discussions following the talk. We welcomed Bishop Ric Thorpe who shared the Diocese’s thoughts on how churches can reach out to their communities, including church planting and activities outside their buildings. Revd Malcolm Finlay spoke about the launch of Hope Church Harrow View to serve the new housing development on the ex-Kodak site. Subsequent to the meeting this church was launched publicly in October 2020 and is currently providing services and an Alpha Course online. St Anselm’s church provided Opening Worship, a Parish Profile and refreshments. A summary

12

THE PARISH CHURCH OF ST ALBAN, NORTH HARROW

of the feedback from the parish discussions was attached to the minutes of this session. Andrew Morgan was elected as a Foundation Governor of St John’s Church of England School, Stanmore.

Plans for a Deanery Prayer Evening at St Mary’s Harrow for “Thy Kingdom Come” on Wednesday 20 May had to be postponed to 2021.

The 22 July session was held online using the Zoom software. It was encouraging that so many members of the Synod were able to join this meeting. Opening Worship was conducted by Revd Simon Durrant of Christ Church Roxeth. The main purpose of the meeting was to share what the churches were doing to continue their Mission and Ministry during the restrictions, to share what plans they had for reopening, and to encourage the churches to try new online methods. Four Applications for grants of £1,000 from the Deanery Mission Fund had been received and these were presented to the Synod. All four were approved: St Alban’s North Harrow for part funding of the youth support worker, All Saints Harrow Weald and St Edmund’s Northwood Hills for audio-visual equipment for the live streaming of services, Mosaic Harrow (based at St Paul’s South Harrow) for an intercultural outreach event with music and drama. The Deanery Accounts for 2019 were approved, subject to independent examination. Reports on three recent sessions of the London Diocesan Synod and of the July sessions of the General Synod were received.

Robert May, Honorary Secretary, Harrow Deanery Synod

Harrow Deanery Synod - PCC lay member’s report 2020

The Deanery synod met for two sessions this year. We were able to hold our meeting in February in person at St Anselm’s Church in Hatch End but following the Covid-19 restrictions, our second meeting in July was held on Zoom. Our representatives this year from St Albans, in addition to Kate Tuckett, were Ray Barber, Alison Chester, Mo Hatton and me.

In February Bishop Ric Thorpe gave a presentation on the need to revitalise or create new worshiping communities. Capital Vision 2020 had set a goal of creating 100 new worshipping communities in London, of which 75 had already been planted. The aim of London Diocese 2030 Vision was that every parish should aim to start a new worshipping community. He suggested that any church should be able to be a church-planting church within its parish by holding a new service in the current building or seeking out community buildings, schools or cafes that could be used to plant another church. He gave several examples of what had been done by parishes in London where small groups had planted a congregation which had grown fairly quickly. We then met as individual parishes to consider how we might revitalise our church or create a new worshipping community. In our group we suggested we could continue to promote Messy Church and the outreach possibilities of our monthly coffee morning within our community; to develop our relationship with local schools and the North Harrow Community Library; and to consider the area to the West of our church.

The Area Dean, Ian Dowsett, then introduced Rev Malcolm Finlay who has been appointed as Church Planting Minister for the Deanery supported by One Church Harrow (a Resource Church comprising St Peter’s West Harrow, St Paul’s South Harrow and Christchurch Roxeth). He informed us that there had been an increase in the population of Harrow by 32,00 from 2001 to 2011 which presented an opportunity to reach out to those who do not come to church. He was gathering a team together to explore how this could be done with the aim of reaching out to ten per cent of the population in Harrow over the next ten years.

Our July meeting was held on Zoom. Ian Dowsett thanked all the churches in the Deanery for their hard work during the lockdown period. Different churches gave examples of what they had been doing. This included sharing online services and many youth groups, house groups and coffee mornings had been held on Zoom. Malcolm Finlay shared what a team from St Peter’s West Harrow, St Paul’s South Harrow and Christchurch Roxeth had done to plant “Hope Church Harrow View” and that discussions were being held with St Jerome’s school about meeting there. Mohan Seeveratnam shared

13

THE PARISH CHURCH OF ST ALBAN, NORTH HARROW

how Mosaic Harrow were reimagining church and had held sessions to discuss race, ethnicity and culture.

In respect of Synod business, there was unanimous approval for grants from the Deanery Mission Fund to be given to four churches, including St Alban’s. We had requested a grant of £1,000 for our youth support worker for eighteen months. The Deanery Accounts for 2019 were approved. Reports of the three meetings of the London Diocesan Synod were circulated and a verbal report was received on the recent session of General Synod attended by about 400 people on Zoom.

Tina Ryan, Deanery Synod parish lay member

CHURCH PREMISES (FABRIC, GOODS AND ORNAMENTS)

We all had plenty of plans in place going into 2020; the same being for the upkeep of our church estate. Sadly, due to the pandemic, some work that we intended to complete in 2020 has been put on hold, hopefully to take place in 2021. I am glad to say though that we were still able to achieve a fair amount of work within our church.

As always, we need to say a huge thank you to our group of volunteers within our church that have helped over this past year, despite the restrictions placed on us all. We are eternally grateful and appreciate all the help we get, Thank You.

Our estate continues to be maintained in a very good condition and plans are in place to continue this throughout 2021, along with catching up on some of the work we were unable to achieve in 2020, although some of these plans are dependent on what restrictions we still face during 2021.

Below is a list of all the work that we managed to complete in 2020:

Area behind the Guide shed and the front of the boiler house cleared, rubbish disposed of including the old church sign.

The car park marked out with spaces including four accessible bays for disabled drivers.

We laid a paved area in the car park to house our rubbish bins so they are now away from the front of the church.

Bushes removed from the railings by the choir vestry door to improve the security in that area. We have refurbished and painted the cupboards in the choir vestry. Air vents were put in the upper cupboards to prevent damp setting in.

The flowerbeds in front of the church maintained, along with the bushes outside the hall pruned. We have fitted metal protectors to the hall ceiling lights.

The guttering was replaced around the Jubilee Room.

A key safe has been located outside the hall to enable approved users to let themselves in and out (obviously adhering to protocols while doing so!)

We have relaid the paved area from the car park to the bicycle stands, along with the Garden of Remembrance.

We have replaced the broken paving stones on the small plinth edge to the church grounds.

We have lifted the uneven paving by the west door, due to cracks appearing in the porch wall. Possibility of this causing uneven pressure on the paving stones (there is some more work to be carried out on this).

A new audio-visual system has been installed in church, which includes three cameras and a large projector screen.

We replaced the fuse board in the boiler room to bring it up to date and compliant.

As you can see, we still managed to complete a fair amount of work, which has helped us maintain and grow our church within the local community.

14

THE PARISH CHURCH OF ST ALBAN, NORTH HARROW

The following are projects currently on going within the church and we hope to complete some of them in 2021:

The possibility of a new storage area in addition to the shed currently shared by the youth group and Messy Church.

Renewal of the church heating system. New tea point within the church. New altars for the Lady Chapel, main altar and a portable nave altar. Painting the church office and St Martin’s Room. Levelling the lawn area around the church and planting the small leaved lime tree.

The Covid-19 restrictions have meant that the hall complex was only available for full use during the first three months of the year, but we have kept in contact with all the regular hall users regarding when we will be able to open it again (restrictions permitting).

The church residential properties continue to be let giving a much needed boost to church income. The flat in Whittington Way was let all year with no major issues. The house in Frobisher Close also continues to be let with no major issues. Both properties are managed by Gibbs Gillespie. Many thanks to Julia Powell who is the parish contact with the agents and gives much time to these properties.

Thank you to Anne Mahon and Val Austen for the upkeep of our gardens over the year.

A huge and well-deserved “Thank you” from all of us to Tom Johnson for his tireless work on the new audio-visual system we now have in the church. This has meant we have been able to stream our services to our congregation, and others that have not been able to attend church and when we have had to close the church.

Alison, Gerry and I thank all the various people who have helped over the last year to keep our church and surrounding areas kept well and ready for use.

Adrian Holloway

Church Warden & Chairman Buildings and Grounds Committee

ANNUAL SAFEGUARDING REPORT

For the purposes of the APCM report, Parish Safeguarding Officers (PSO) have been asked to respond to Section 5 of the Safeguarding and Clergy Discipline Measure 2016 and so I have responded to each section as follows:

Child Protection

“The Church of England, in all aspects of its life, is committed to and will champion the protection of children and young people both in society as a whole and in its own community.

It fully accepts, endorses, and will implement the principle enshrined in the Children Act 1989, that the welfare of the child is paramount. The Church of England will foster and encourage best practice within its community by setting standards for working with children and young people and by supporting parents in the care of their children.”

15

THE PARISH CHURCH OF ST ALBAN, NORTH HARROW

PSO response

The Diocese Safeguarding Policy of November 2018 has been formally adopted by the PCC and encapsulates best practice for faith organisations. The new wording has been adapted by the PSO/Deputy PSO and Vicar and will be formally adopted at the PCC meeting in May 2021.

All organised events follow policy at all times. Regular events include Choir, Serving Team, Sunday School for 3-9 year olds, Young Explorers for 10-14 year-olds and all events organised by our Youth Leader for young people aged up to 18 years (and above). Some of these activities have been suspended for periods of lockdown but virtual activities have taken place. The Diocesan Safeguarding Team (DST) is fully aware of activities and have been consulted to ensure guidelines are in place for virtual activities which are followed at all times. Chris Nalder is our Youth Leader and continues to comply with all Safeguarding procedures and measures. The PCC has in place a Social Media policy which incorporates Safeguarding measures to help staff and volunteers stay safe online for their own safeguarding and to put in place a procedure if online activity raises any safeguarding concerns.

We also run a Messy Church event monthly (suspended during periods of lockdown or other Covid19 restrictions) where children are under the guardianship of parents and carers so normal Safeguarding policy does not apply. However, procedures are fully complied with regarding photography and digital image permissions, as they are with our one-off events such as the Summer/June Fair and Christmas Bazaar.

Cathy Tahsin remains in post as Parish Safeguarding Officer and Alison Vallance as Deputy Safeguarding Officer. Alison Vallance is also a Churchwarden.

“It will work with statutory bodies, voluntary agencies and other faith communities to promote the safety and well-being of children and young people. It is committed to acting promptly whenever a concern is raised about a child or young person or about the behaviour of an adult, and will work with the appropriate statutory bodies when an investigation into child abuse is necessary.”

PSO Response :

There have been no disclosures under Child Protection policy since the last APCM. No investigations are currently ongoing. I am aware of which statutory bodies we need to share information with and am prepared to collaborate fully with all statutory bodies if or when necessary.

“The Church of England is committed to encouraging an environment where all people and especially those who may be vulnerable for any reason are able to worship and pursue their faith journey with encouragement and in safety. Everyone, whether they see themselves as vulnerable or not, will receive respectful pastoral ministry recognising any power imbalance within such a relationship.”

PSO response:

PSO and Deputy PSO have worked closely with Vicar Kate Tuckett to ensure anyone in need of

16

THE PARISH CHURCH OF ST ALBAN, NORTH HARROW

pastoral care has received this in a respectful manner and there have been no concerns regarding exploitation of any power imbalance regarding such ministry. Work is continuing with Vicar Sarah Archer who is currently providing cover for Vicar Kate’s maternity leave.

Safeguarding Adults

“All church workers involved in any pastoral ministry will be recruited with care including the use of the Criminal Records Bureau disclosure and barring service (DBS) when legal or appropriate. Workers will receive training and continuing support.”

PSO Response:

DBS checks are complete and fully up to date. Level One online training has been completed by all those recommended to do so by DST.

“Any allegations of mistreatment, abuse, harassment or bullying will be responded to without delay. Whether or not the matter involves the church there will be cooperation with the police and local authority in any investigation.”

PSO response:

Policies and procedures have been followed at all times. Advice has been sought from DST where necessary and followed accordingly. No referrals to DST have resulted in the need for further action with other agencies on behalf of St Alban’s Church.

“Sensitive and informed pastoral care will be offered to anyone who has suffered abuse, including support to make a complaint if so desired: help to find appropriate specialist care either from the church or secular agencies will be offered.”

PSO response:

Any other instances of pastoral care have been offered where appropriate, but which have not fallen under the Safeguarding framework.

“Congregations will often include people who have offended in a way that means they are a continuing risk to vulnerable people. The risks will be managed sensitively with the protection of adults and children in mind.”

PSO response:

All or any agreements of such nature are confidential and are being/will be managed appropriately by DST/PSO/members of supporting teams.

Other information:

We continue to be committed to promoting Safeguarding within the Parish.

Cathy Tahsin, Parish Safeguarding Officer

17

THE PARISH CHURCH OF ST ALBAN, NORTH HARROW

FINANCIAL REVIEW 2020

Introduction

This year has been an exceptional year. As a result of the pandemic much regular activity was cancelled. This has impacted every part of the church life.

Impact of Covid-19

Overall income to the church was greatly reduced. For much of the year, all hall rentals were cancelled, there were no services with collections taken and this had a major impact on appeals for charities. The fair and bazaar were cancelled as were all concerts in the church. Much planned spending was stopped or reduced, this included the cleaners for the hall and the gardening around the grounds. The project to level the grassed area on The Ridgeway side of the church was postponed as was the revaluation of the church hall. All electric, gas and oil heating were turned off. There was some increased spending resulting from the situation, the church now has two Zoom accounts one for services / meetings and the second for youth work. We have purchased hardware and software to allow services to be recorded and edited, the office phone was upgraded and calls diverted to the Parish Administrator at home. Some of these were small items others larger. It is difficult to put exact figures on the impact but at the end of the day the income to the church was £17,000 down on last year and expenditure was £2,000 higher.

During the year our general funds fell to a level where there was a risk that we would be unable to meet our regular commitments e.g. common fund. The PCC agreed to setting up a Covid-19 contingency fund and £50,000 was transferred from the Lorna Barnett Legacy to this fund. The Lorna Barnett legacy fund is a designated fund which has been allocated to mission work, this is under the control of the PCC and is currently used for the support of youth work. This legacy fund has a large working capital and by moving the £50,000 it was reduced to £66,000. At the year-end there remains £15,000 in the general fund, so the contingency has not yet been drawn on.

Looking forward, the pandemic will continue to impact on the church finance in the coming year. It is difficult to measure at this stage when we will have to draw on the contingency fund but the expenditure from the general fund exceeds income by between £4,000 and £5,000 a month. We are dependent on annual incomes in September from Gift Aid claims and VAT refunds, by April we will start to spend from the Covid contingency fund. The £50,000 in this fund should maintain our current running costs with some leeway until September 2021, when we can expect the Gift Aid claim to come in. It is the stated intention of the PCC to put the £50,000 back into the Lorna Barnett Legacy fund as soon as possible, though this will not happen in the next 3 years.

Statement of Funds (See note 10 of the Church Accounts) The church accounts give balances at 31st December 2020 of £23,675 in General Funds, £1,842,426 of assets and £262,002 of Designated and Restricted Funds, giving total funds of £2,128,103. The following transfers were made in the current year.

General Funds of the Church and Hall

The General Funds of the Church and Hall at the year-end were £23,675,

Restricted funds

These are funds that can only be used for defined purposes at the year-end were £55,676, this being mainly the Youth Fund.

Hall General Fund

The Hall general fund is aimed to be kept at £10,000 and excess is moved into the Church General Fund, during 2020 £65,000 was moved from the hall to the church General funds.

18

THE PARISH CHURCH OF ST ALBAN, NORTH HARROW

Legacy Funds

The £55,000 moved in 2019 from Legacy to General Funds was returned to the Legacy Fund at the start of the year. During the year £45,000 was moved to the Audio-visual fund for the completion of the project, £1,000 was moved to the Tea Point Fund to give working funds for the planning stage of this project. There was a legacy of £2,000 received.

The Lorna Barnett Legacy Fund

As explained in the Covid-19 section £50,000 was moved to a new Covid contingency fund to ensure financial stability through a difficult 2 years. it is intended this will be returned but this will not happen before 2024 and could be later. The fund was further reduced by a transfer of £12,000 to the Youth fund.

Frobisher Close Fund

This fund is now aimed to be maintained with a £10,000 contingency for building maintenance, all income that exceeds this is transferred to the Church General Fund. In 2020 £15,000 was transferred to the General Fund.

Vicarage Fund

This fund is used for the day to day running of the vicarage and aims to save towards redecorations to be completed between incumbents. In 2020 the fund has a net increase of £525.

Charity Donations

The church made Charity donations from collections and giving from Mission funds totalling £3,846.

Home £ Overseas £
Mission Fund – Firm
Foundation		 1,000.00 Christian Aid donation 20.00
Eco Church Membership 125.00 RailwayChildren 141.00
Mission Fund – Citizens UK 1,000.00 Royal British Legion 222.86
Mission Fund – move of
piano		 413.00 Childrens Society 288.00
Mission Fund – Parish
cards		 228.60 Save the children Yemen
Appeal		 288.75
Mission Fund – Tamil
Project		 118.73
Total 2885.33 Total 960.61

2021 Budget

The 2020 PCC approved church budget is on page 33. During the year, the PCC updated its five year budget, this year’s budget is compared with actual spend for the last two years. There is a section at the bottom that shows how legacy money is being spent. Within our plans for the future are projects for addressing the heating of the church, the improvements needed for the Organ, provision of a Tea Point at the rear of the church and replacement of the Altars.

19

THE PARISH CHURCH OF ST ALBAN, NORTH HARROW

Thanks for Support

I am very grateful for the support over the past year from many people, in particular I would like to thank our Vicars Kate Tuckett and Sarah Archer, and our Churchwardens Alison Vallance, Adrian Holloway and Gerry Devine, for their encouragement. The day-to-day management of our accounts involves many people in particular I would like to thank Malcolm Grant for the tidy way in which the accounts were handed over in January and for all his support over the year, to Steve Singleton for the way he managed, tided and passed the hall accounts on before moving to Yorkshire, Norman Shurrock for his constant management of the Planned Giving and his monthly reconciliation of the income, Ken Alder for tracking and reclaiming the VAT over the year, Pauline Scofield for her attention to detail and Jane Spencer-Davis who manages the payroll, deals with Gift Aid Claim and has prepared the year end accounts.

Tom Johnson, PCC Treasurer, March 2021

20

THE PARISH CHURCH OF ST ALBAN. NORTH HARROW CHARITY COMMISSION Independent examinerfs report on the I Fo￿ FNGIAND AND WALES accounts Section A Independent Examiner'$ REPQrt Re￿rt to the trustee membeis of f14" vA%t'lS// <.144 yo{// On accoufits lorth• y•ar I ended I 31st i132g. Set out on pages report IO Ihet￿￿1eeS on rny examinat￿ of the accounts of Ihe above charity Ilhe TNsl'l for the year ende Responsibiliti&s and basls ol repfjrt As the chariws ￿SleeS. YOLS are responSi￿e for the preparat￿ of the atwunts in accordance wilb the reguKnenls of the Charities Act 2011 l-lhe AL%'I. I report In r88p8cI of my ex3Tnination ol the Trust's accounis carned oui under sedion 145 of the 2011 Act and in ¢8rrying DUI my exaTn1n8t￿n, I have foBowed all IhF appI￿a￿e Direction5 giw by the CharSty Cijrnmlssi seGtJn 1451Sllbl of the Act. Independent rrha thariiy's gross inrAThe exceeded £250.000 aTh11 a¥n qualified lo examÉne¢$ st•t•ment undertake the examination by being a qu3lrfied memberof Iinsert name of aWiE8016 ￿Sted bodyll. Delele I l ifnot8ppli¢&bl8. I have wmpleled my exarnination. I confirm that no malerial TTratter5 have come lo my attention in connection ￿th the exgrninalion lotherthan thai disclosed be>)w'l vthich gives me cause lo believe thai in. any rnalErial re$pecl. the aCCOLJniing records were not kept in accordancB wth sedion 130 of th8 Charilies Act, or Ihe accounts did not acrx)rd wlh the 8ccouNing refxjrds", OT Ihe accounts did not comply with the applicable requiretnents cOn￿mIng the fonh and wnleni Df accoun15 set wl in the Charities (Accounts and Reports) Re9ulabons 2008 olher Ih8n any Tequirern8nt that the accokjnts give 8'1ru6 and fair viewbthich Is nol 8 m8rtar considered as part of an 5ndependenl examinathm. I have no concems and have comts aLYDSS no Qther matter5 in ccnnedon with the examinaiion 10 Nvblch aii6nlion Shou￿ be drawn in Ihis report I order 10 enable a proper under5tsnding of Iht a¢counis lo be reached. ' Please trel&te Ihe WO￿ in rh& brackets ifthey do not&pply. Slgned.. Ilam8-. l-fL I¥.- Rolevani profess*omal qual11ic4tionlsl or body rrf4 rfl 194 IER Oct 2018 21

THE PARISH CHURCH OF ST ALBAN. NORTH HARROW Addres8'. Section B Disc105ure Only COTnplete rf tre examiner n*ds to ￿9￿light mattets of concern13eÈ CC32, IndepRrKlenl examinaiion of ¢hardy accwnts" directio[￿ anrt guidance for exarninwsi. Give here (let•ll6 off any itern$ thai the examiner wi$he510 di5dos& IER October 2018 22

THE PARISH CHURCH OF ST ALBAN, NORTH HARROW

PAROCHIAL CHURCH COUNCIL OF ST ALBAN NORTH HARROW

BALANCE SHEET AT 31 DECEMBER 2020

Notes
Fixed assets
Tangible fixed assets
5
Investments
6
Total fixed assets
Current assets
Debtors
8
Short term deposits incl. CBF/CCLA
Cash at bank and in hand
Creditors: amounts falling due within one year
9
Net current assets
Total assets less current liabilities
Creditors: amounts falling due after one year
9
NET ASSETS
7
Funds
Restricted funds
10
Unrestricted funds
10
Fixed Assets
10		 2020
£
1,467,426
375,000
1,842,426
2,236
237,354
46,400
285,990
313
285,677
2,128,103
-
2,128,103
55,677
230,000
1,842,426
2,128,103		 2019
£
1,472,254
375,000
1,847,254
2,906
276,226
58,320
337,452
4,140
333,312
2180,566
-
2,180,566
40,773
297,539
1,842,254
2,180,566

The notes on pages 25 - 26 form part of these financial accounts.

23

THE PARISH CHURCH OF ST ALBAN, NORTH HARROW

PAROCHIAL CHURCH COUNCIL OF ST ALBAN NORTH HARROW STATEMENT OF FINANCIAL ACTIVITIES FOR THE YEAR ENDED 31 DECEMBER 2020

Notes
Incoming resources
Voluntary income
2a
Activities for generating funds
2b
Income from investments
2c
Church activities
2d
Other incoming resources
2e
Total incoming resources
Resources expended
Costs of generating voluntary income
3a
Fund-raising trading costs
3b
Church activities
3c
Governance Costs
3d
Total resources expended
Net incoming/(outgoing) resources
Gains/(losses) on revaluation of fixed & Investment
assets and transfers
5/6
Net movement in funds
Total funds brought forward at 1 January 2020
Total funds carried forward at 31 December 2020		 TOTAL
TOTAL
Unrestricted
Restricted
FUNDS
FUNDS
Funds
Funds
2020
2019
£
£
£
£
116,704
52,301
169,005
177,567
1,484
-
1,484
9,278
15,626
-
15,626
16,103
26,166
4,956
31,122
41,938
22,823
-
22,823
19,700
183,167
57,257
240,424
264,586
122
-
122
164
6,383
-
6,383
3,579
225,654
60,353
286,007
241,693
375
-
375
375
232,534
60,353
292,887
245,811
(49,367)
(3,096)
(52,463)
18,775
(18,000)
18,000
-
111,683
(67,637)
14,904
(52,463)
124,691
2,139,793
40,773
2,180,566
2,055,875
2,072,426
55,677
2,128,103
2,180,566

24

THE PARISH CHURCH OF ST ALBAN, NORTH HARROW

1. Accounting policies

a Accounting convention

The financial statements have been prepared in accordance with the Church Accounting Regulations 2006 together with applicable accounting standards and SORP 2019.

They follow the historical cost convention as modified by the inclusion of investments at market value. The revaluation of fixed assets (freehold land and buildings) was last undertaken in 2019. It was intended to the church hall this year but due to the COVID situation this has not been possible. The financial statements include all transactions, assets and liabilities for which the PCC is responsible in law. They do not include the accounts of church groups that owe their affiliation to another body, nor those which are informal gatherings of church members.

b Funds accounting

Funds held by the PCC are:

Unrestricted funds - general funds which can be used for PCC ordinary purposes

Designated funds - monies set aside by the PCC out of unrestricted funds for specific future purposes or projects.

Restricted funds - a) income from trusts or endowments which may be used only on those restricted objects provided in the terms of the trust or bequest; b) donations or grants received for a specific object or invited by the PCC for a specific object. The funds may only be used on the specific object for which they were given. Any balance remaining unspent at the end of the year is carried forward as a balance on that fund.

c Incoming resources

All incoming resources are accounted for gross.

Voluntary Income

Collections are recognised when received.

Planned giving receivable is recognised only when received. Income tax recoverable on Gift Aid donations is recognised when received. Grants and legacies are recognised when the PCC is legally entitled to the amount due.

All other income

All other income is recognised when it is receivable.

Gains and losses on investments

Realised gains are recognised when the investments are sold

Unrealised gains and losses are accounted for on revaluation on 31 December.

d Resources used

Resources expended are accounted for on an accruals basis and are accounted for gross.

Grants

Grants and donations are accounted for when paid over, or when awarded where the award creates a binding obligation on the PCC.

Church Activities

The diocesan parish contribution to the London Diocese Common Fund is accounted for when paid. It was paid in full in 2020.

25

THE PARISH CHURCH OF ST ALBAN, NORTH HARROW

e Fixed Assets

Tangible fixed assets

Consecrated and beneficed property of any kind is excluded from the accounts by s.96(2) of the Charities Act 1993.

Movable church furnishings held by the Vicar and Churchwardens on special trust for the PCC and which require a faculty for disposal are accounted as inalienable property unless consecrated. They are listed in the church's inventory which can be inspected. For inalienable property acquired prior to 2000 there is insufficient cost information available and therefore such assets are not valued in the accounts. Individual items acquired since 2000 where their value at acquisition was £1,500 or more, have been capitalised in the accounts and depreciated over their useful economic life (see note below).

All expenditure on consecrated or beneficed buildings and individual items costing under £1500 are written off in the year they were incurred.

Depreciation

Depreciation is calculated to write down the cost of tangible fixed assets costing £1500 or more, excluding freehold properties, over their expected useful lives. The rates generally applicable are:

Hall kitchen & piano (see note 5) 10% straight line Fixtures and fittings 25% straight line Computer and other electronic equipment 30% straight line

No depreciation is provided on freehold property as it is the PCC's policy to maintain these assets in a continual state of sound repair. The useful economic life of these assets is so long and residual values so high that any depreciation would not be material. These assets will be subject to annual impairment reviews. Provision will be made if there has been any permanent diminution in value.

f Current Assets

Amounts owing to the PCC at 31 December in respect of fees, rents or other income are shown as debtors less provision for any amounts that may prove uncollectible.

Short-term deposits include cash held on deposit either with the CBF Church of England Funds, or at a bank or building society.

g Reserves Policy

It is PCC policy to retain in our General Fund 3 months unrestricted funds to cover any emergency situation that may arise. The balance of £23,675 in the General Fund at the end of 2020 is less than the target of £65,000. However, this is covered by a transfer of £50,000 into a COVID-19 contingency fund, which was created with the agreement of the PCC.

The PCC is aware that it still has significant Designated Funds in both its Legacy Fund and in the Lorna Barnett Fund. A 5-year financial assessment has been undertaken which identifies a number of projects in support of our mission and could be used also as emergency funding. The Lorna Barnett Fund is designated for Mission purposes and specifically by the PCC for Youth development until the PCC agrees otherwise.

There are currently no known significant outstanding works. All other anticipated risks have been included in the 5-year finance plan and reflected in the 2020 budget at the end of this report, together with provision for improved visual systems and a ‘tea bar’ to enable greater use of the church premises for mission.

26

THE PARISH CHURCH OF ST ALBAN, NORTH HARROW

2
Incoming resources
a
Voluntary income
Planned Giving
Gift Aid Donations
Other Tax Efficient Giving
Other
Youth Leader Appeal
Tax recoverable
Collections at services
Charity Collections at services
Sundry donations and appeals
Grants
Legacies
b
Activities for generating funds
Church Fair & Bazaar
c
Investment income
Property
Dividends and interest
d
Income from Church Activities
Fees from weddings etc
Church Lettings
Church hall lettings etc
Messy Church
Youth Leader & Activity Fees
e
Other incoming resources
Rent from Church Property
Vicarage Provision
Mission Fund
Total incoming resources		 TOTAL
TOTAL
Unrestricted
Restricted
FUNDS
FUNDS
Funds
Funds
2020
2019
£
£
£
£
77,892
-
77,892
77,366
6,540
-
6,540
6,170
2,023
-
2,023
2,763
-
-
-
-
23,236
-
23,236
20,530
2,080
-
2,080
4,677
-
866
866
4,456
2,933
5,445
8,378
14,105
-
45,990
45,990
37,500
2,000
-
2,000
10,000
116,704
52,301
169,005
177,567
1,848
-
1,848
9,278
1,848
-
1,848
9,278
14,460
-
14,460
13,968
1,166
-
1,166
2,135
15,626
-
15,626
16,103
1,548
-
1,548
1,133
518
-
518
1,020
24,100
-
24,100
36,974
-
72
72
115
-
4,884
4,884
2,696
26,166
4,956
31,122
41,938
22,823
-
22,823
19,700
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
183,167
57,257
240,424
264,586

Income overall decreased by £24,162. The situation with COVID 19 resulted in a fall in hall lettings, all church lettings were cancelled, the fair and bazaar were cancelled. Also, there were reduced appeals for charities during the year. The grants received in the year for youth work was £8,490 higher than last year.

27

THE PARISH CHURCH OF ST ALBAN, NORTH HARROW

3
Resources Expended
A
Costs of generating voluntary income
Church Fund costs
B
Fund-raising trading costs
Events
Property rental- agent fee
C
Church Activities
Missionary and charitable giving:
Giving from Planned Income
Other Charitable Giving
Overseas:
Home:
Ministry costs
Diocesan parish contribution
Other clergy costs
Church running expenses
Church maintenance / Improvements
Upkeep of services
Upkeep of church grounds
Parish Houses
Clergy House Costs
Children & Youth Work
Church hall running costs
Bank charges
Sub Total
D
Governance costs
Independent examination fee
Total resources expended		 Unrestricted
Restricted
FUNDS
FUNDS
Funds
Funds
2020
2019
£
£
£
£
122
-
122
164
122
-
122
164
195
-
195
734
6,188
-
6,188
2,845
6,383
-
6,383
3,579
-
2,767
2,767
7,125
-
-
-
828
-
1,554
1,554
1,341
-
4,321
4,321
13,922
89,656
-
89,656
88,331
1,425
-
1,425
1,330
32,234
-
32,234
37,658
65,213
-
65,213
15,185
5,078
-
5,078
10,549
11,078
-
11,078
3,606
3,020
-
3,020
519
431
-
431
537
-
56,032
56,032
43,304
17,323
-
17,323
31,127
196
-
196
253
225,654
56,032
281,686
232,399
232,159
60,353
292,512
245,436
375
-
375
375
375
-
375
375
232,534
60,353
292,887
245,811

Church Maintenance and improvements is £47,076 higher than last year this is caused by £44,749 spent on the visual audio system and £9,000 spent on a piano, these payments were made from Legacy funds. The increased expenditure on church grounds was caused by the levelling of the paved area in front of the hall, the replaying of paved boarder around the grass and levelling of the path in the garden of remembrance, this was taken from general funds.

28

THE PARISH CHURCH OF ST ALBAN, NORTH HARROW

4 Staff costs

A Wages and salaries

2020 2019
£ £
54,763 55,922

During the year the PCC approved expenditure on, a part time director of music, a part time administrator, a full time Youth Leader and a part time youth support worker.

B Payments to PCC members

There were no disclosable payments in respect of PCC members, nor persons closely connected to them, nor other related parties in the year.

5 Tangible fixed assets

Tangible fixed assets
Cost or valuation
At 1 January 2020
Additions/revaluations
Disposals
At 31 December 2020
Depreciation
At 1 January 2020
Provided in the year
Disposals
At 31 December 2020
Net book amounts
At 31 December 2020		 Freehold land
Church
TOTAL
and
buildings
equipment
£
£
£
1,450,000
28,031
1,478,031
-
-
-
-
-
-
1,450,000
28,031
1,478,031
-
5,777
5,777
-
4,828
4,828
-
-
-
10,605
10,605
1,450,000
17,426
1,467,426

The freehold land and buildings comprise the parish house at 6 Frobisher Close, Pinner and the church hall. The value of 6 Frobisher Close was re-assessed in 2019 by our property agents, Gibbs Gillespie. The existing value of the church hall at £775,000 is retained (last re-valued in 2015 on advice from the Diocese) it was planned to re-evaluated in 2020 but this was not possible due to the COVID 19 situation, it will be re-evaluated in 2021 by suitably qualified property surveyors. In 2014 the parish fitted a new kitchen in the church hall and purchased a piano for the ABRSM exams at a total cost of £41,989. Depreciation was set at 10% per year, with a written down value at 31[st] December 2020 of £16,796 for the kitchen and piano (which is no longer being held at cost). In 2018 Buildings & Grounds purchased a gazebo for the hall at a cost of £2,518. It is being depreciated at 25% per year in line with the basis for fixtures and fittings. At 31[st] December 2020 it has a written down value of £630.

29

THE PARISH CHURCH OF ST ALBAN, NORTH HARROW

6 Investments

Investment Property Leasehold Property Total £ £ At 1 January 2020 375,000 375,000 Additions/revaluations - - Disposals - - ---------- ---------At 31 December 2020 375,000 375,000 --------- ----------

The Parish owns a leasehold property, with more than 81 years on the lease remaining, at 80 Whittington Way, Pinner as part of the Lorna Barnett Legacy fund. The net income from this let property is used for the mission and outreach of the church under the control of the Lorna Barnett Legacy Fund, including our youth worker to provide match funding finance alongside specific grants so will be available to top up the Youth Fund as agreed by the PCC if necessary. Due to the length of the Whittington Way lease no depreciation has been included. This Leasehold property has been re-valued by our Property Agent, Gibbs Gillespie at end 2019 at £375,000.

Net book amounts Land & Buildings Church Total Equipment £ £ £ At 31 December 2020 1,825,000 17,426 1,842,426 ======== ====== =======

30

THE PARISH CHURCH OF ST ALBAN, NORTH HARROW

7
Analysis of Net assets by fund
Investment fixed assets
Current assets
Long term liabilities
8
Debtors
Income tax recoverable
Prepayments and accrued
income
9
Creditors: amounts falling due within one year
Accruals for utilities and other costs
Creditors: amounts falling due after more than		 Unrestricted
Funds
£
1,842,426
235,001
-		 Restricted
Total Funds
Funds
2020
£
£
-
1,842,426
50,676
285,677
-
-
2,077,427 50,676
2,128,103

one year		 2020
2019
£
£
-
579
2,237
2,327
2,237
2,906
2020
2019
£
£
313
4,140
313
4,140
2020
2019
£
£
-
-
-
-

31

THE PARISH CHURCH OF ST ALBAN, NORTH HARROW

10 Statement of funds
Balance at
31st Dec
2019		 Transfers,
gains or
losses		 Income Expenditure Balance at
31 Dec 2020
£ £ £ £ £
Unrestricted Fund
General fund - Church 22,233 17,408 119,440 143,877 15,204
General fund - hall 66,537 -64,843 24,100 17,323 8,471
Total General Fund 88,770 -47,435 143,856 161,200 23,675
Designated
COVID-19 Contingency 0 50,000 0 0 50,000
Legacy/In Memoriam 69,655 9,395 2,252 9,695 71,607
Lorna Barnett Legacy 116,867 -62,000 14,460 3,187 66,140
Frobisher Close 7,743 -14,800 22,823 6,020 9,746
Visual Project 0 44,880 0 44,629 251
Tea Point 0 1,000 0 225 775
Altar 7,345 0 0 2,200 5,145
Vicarage 2,000 960 0 431 2,529
Tamil Group 127 0 93 119 101
LibraryProject 32 0 0 0 32
Total Designated Funds 203,769 29,435 39,628 66,506 206,326
Restricted Funds
Mission Fund 1,414 6,000 0 2,767 4,647
CharityCollections 1,924 0 938 1,554 1,308
Organ/Music 2,929 0 0 0 2.929
Organ 0 0 5,000 0 5,000
Youth 34,505 12,000 51,319 56,032 41,792
Total Restricted Funds 40,773 18,000 57,257 60,353 55,676
Fixed assets 1,472,254 - - 4,828 1,467,426
Investments 375,000 - - 0 375,000
Total funds 2,180,566 - 240,424 292,887 2,128,103
Unrestricted Fund

32

THE PARISH CHURCH OF ST ALBAN, NORTH HARROW

Income(£000) Budget 2021 Budget 2021 Actual 2020 Actual 2020 Actual 2019 Actual 2019
Plannedgiving 86 86.5 86.3
Collections at services 2 2 4.7
Tax Recoverable 21 23 20.5
Fund Raising 9 2 9.3
Church activities 4.9
SundryIncome 13.9
Bank Interest 1 1
House Rental 37 37 35.8
Church 2.5 0.5
Hall 30 24 37.5
Youth Leader:
- Grants 30 46 37.5
Other Grants 31
Legacy 2 10
Charitycollections 0.8
Vicarage Provision
Total Income 218.5 224.8 291.4
Expenditure(£000)
Cost of voluntaryincome 0.1 0.1 0.2
Fund raisingcosts 1 0.1 0.7
LDF 89.7 89.7 88.3
Ministrycosts 2 1.4 1.3
Upkeepof services 10.5 5 10.5
Children & Youth Work 51 56 43.3
90th celebrations
Mission Fund 6 2.7 9.3
Church RunningExpenses 33.4 32.2 37.7
Church Maintenance 12 15 15.2
Church Development 16 50
Upkeepof churchgrounds 4 11 3.6
Church hall costs 25 17 31.1
Parish houses 5 3 0.5
Clergyhouse costs 0.5 0.5 0.5
Bank charges 0.3 0.4 0.3
Governance costs 0.4 0.2 0.4
Total Spend 256.9 284.3 242.9
Net Surplus / Deficit -38.4 -59.5 48.5
Spend from Legacy
General L – Development 16 50 42
LB Legacy- Youth 12 15 20

33

THE PARISH CHURCH OF ST ALBAN. NORTH HARROW PAGES 34AND 38 ARE BLANK 34

THE PARISH CHURCH OF ST ALBAN, NORTH HARROW

Fund Designation /
Reserve Value		 Description Income Outgoings
General fund
– Church		 Unrestricted
RV £30K		 Used for the running of the church Church collections,
regular giving & non-
designated income		 Running costs of the church
including heating, lighting, wages
and all regular costs
General fund
- Church hall		 Unrestricted
RV £10K		 Used for the management of the
church hall, This Fund will be
maintained with a limit of £10k for
operational needs, further income will
go to the General Fund – Church		 Income from lettings to
the organisations that
hire the hall		 Running costs of the church hall
including heating, lighting and
other regular costs. When the Fund
exceeds £10k income will go to
General Fund – Church
COVID
Contingency
Fund		 Unrestricted Used as a reserve fund to be used in
the event of being unable to pay bills
from the General funds, during the
COVID Pandemic		 With agreement of the
PCC £50k transferred
from the Lorna Barnett
Legacy fund.		 To cover the running costs of the
church if no funds exist in the
general funds for the church or the
hall. Full £50k to be paid back to
the LB legacy over time.
Library
Project		 Designated
RV Zero		 A church project to run a lending
library of books and raise awareness of
new books published		 Church funds and
donations, topped up if
needed from the General
Fund		 Purchase of books and production
of notices in the church
Legacy
Fund		 Designated
RV Zero		 Holds funds bequeathed to the church
or gifts that have no designated
purpose when received		 Legacies and donations
to the church given by
individuals without a
requested purpose		 At the discretion of the PCC to
projects as seen fit but not used for
general running of the church
unless as directed by the PCC.

35

THE PARISH CHURCH OF ST ALBAN, NORTH HARROW

Lorna Barnett
Legacy		 Designated
RV £10K		 To manage the Legacy of her house
left to the church in the Lorna Barnett
will		 From investment rental
income and interest
from Bank account		 The running cost of the property in
this fund and for parish Mission
and Outreach at the discretion of
the PCC
Frobisher
Close Fund		 Designated
RV £10K		 Church property for possible future
clerical use - currently let This Fund
will be maintained with a limit of £10k
for operational needs. Excess will be
transferred to General Funds		 Rental income Property maintenance costs &
agency fees, When the Fund
exceeds £10k income will go to
General Fund – Church
Youth Fund 1 Restricted
RV £15K		 A Fund to support the parish outreach
to youth in our Parish and the
surrounding area.		 Various Grants and
donations for the
development of youth
activities.		 This fund is spent under the
control of the PCC on the youth
and children work of the Parish
Youth Fund 2 Designated
RV Zero		 A Fund to support the parish outreach
to youth in our Parish and the
surrounding area.		 £1k a month from the
Lorna Barnett Legacy		 This fund is spent under the
control of the PCC on the youth
and children work of the Parish
Altars Project Restricted
RV Zero		 A project to replace the current Altars
in the Church and Lady Chapel and
provide a portable Nave Altar.		 Grants, Legacies, Parish
appeals and fund raising
for this project.		 Under the control of the PCC for
the provision of the new altars
Altars Project Designated
RV Zero		 A project to replace the current Altars
in the Church and Lady Chapel and
provide a portable Nave Altar.		 Allocation of parish
funds and of legacies
with no stated purpose
at discretion of the PCC		 Under the control of the PCC for
the provision of the new altars

36

THE PARISH CHURCH OF ST ALBAN, NORTH HARROW

Vicarage
Fund		 Designated
RV Zero		 Fund to ensure we are able to decorate
and complete minor repair to the
vicarage in line with Parish obligations		 From parish funds at a
planned rate of
£125/month from parish
planned giving		 As needed at the discretion of the
Church Wardens.
Mission Fund Designated
RV Zero		 To Support the charitable outreach of
the Parish at the recommendation of
the Mission and Outreach Committee.		 A monthly allocation of
£500 from planned
giving to this Fund each
month		 In line with Parish guidelines at
the recommendation of the
Mission and Outreach Committee
to the PCC from available funds.
Charity
Collections		 Restricted
RV Zero		 To hold funds collected from appeals
and fund raising for any named
Charity		 Collections, Donations,
Appeals and fund
raising for the named
Charity		 To the named Charity with any
gift aid that can be reclaimed by
the church
Organ Restricted
RV Zero		 To hold funds for the replacement of
Organ		 Grants, Legacies, Parish
appeals and fund raising
for this project.		 At the discretion of the PCC for
the provision of the new Organ
Organ Designated
RV Zero		 To hold funds for the replacement of
Organ		 Allocation of parish
funds and of legacies
with no stated purpose
at discretion of the PCC		 Under the control of the PCC for
the provision of the new Organ

37

THE PARISH CHURCH OF ST ALBAN. NORTH HARROW 38

THE PARISH CHURCH OF ST ALBAN, NORTH HARROW

Church Fund Secretary’s Report

Financial Results (three year comparison)

2020 2019 2018
Standing Orders (84) £77,002 £74,157 £72,619
Envelopes (21) £9,453 £12,147 £11,495
Total Fund income £86,455 £86,299 £84,114
Average monthly
giving
per member £68.62 £63.08 £57.93
per individual £50.38 £46.70 £43.40
Membership Members Individuals
At 1st January 2020 113 154
ADD joined in year 1 1
DEDUCT left in year -9 -12 note 1
At 31st December
2020 105 143 note 2

note 1: 1 member died, 4 moved, 4 no activity

note 2: 94 members gave tax-efficiently by Gift Aid, Give as you Earn, Charities Aid Foundation or Charities Trust; their contributions made up 96.78% of total giving (2019: £96.22%)

As a result of Covid-1919, envelope giving fell considerably, as members found it difficult to bring their envelopes to Church regularly, but there was a welcome increase in members converting to standing orders, so total fund giving increased very slightly by £156 over the previous year, a very creditable performance under the circumstances.

It was not possible to run a stewardship campaign in 2020, but we were grateful to the 15 existing members who increased their giving during the year, and which almost made up for the losses from leaving members.

Norman Shurrock, Church Fund Secretary

Gift Aid

Gift Aid recovered in respect of the General Fund during the year was approximately £19,750. In addition, smaller amounts were recovered in respect of charitable donations.

Most members of the congregation already Gift Aid their giving. If you do not and would like to discuss it with me, I am happy to do so.

And thank you to everyone who does give under Gift Aid. As you can see it makes a huge difference.

Jane Spencer-Davis, Gift Aid Secretary

39

THE PARISH CHURCH OF ST ALBAN, NORTH HARROW

APPENDIX -Group and Activity reports

The Choir

Our Choir presently consists of about 15 singers aged from 9 years upwards, and in non-Covid-19 times we enjoy singing together under the leadership of our Director of Music, Paul Jeanes. 2020 has been a most unusual year. It started well with Epiphany Carols in January and later our usual Ash Wednesday Service in February, but in March the impact of Covid-19 resulted in the church being closed and services continuing online. Unfortunately, singing has been recognised as a high-risk activity, so the choir was not able to gather when the church re-opened in July.

We were very sorry that we could not offer the usual Carols by Candlelight at Christmas. The proposed open-air carol singing was cancelled too, but a few of us managed to sing an anthem at Midnight Mass.

For 2021, we hope in the not-too-distant future to begin rehearsals, and to lead music at Sunday services once again.

Penny Johnson

Messy Church

Since the last APCM Messy Church has not met due to the Lockdown periods. During this time we have kept in touch with our Messy Church families through seasonal emails from Messy Church leaders and clergy at Good Friday 2020 and Christmas 2020. A ‘virtual’ Messy Church was put together for Good Friday 2020 with online resources and links and at Christmas and Easter 2021 activity bags were made to share with families, the feedback we have received has been wholly positive

.

Once restrictions are lifted, we will need to review and reorganise our team and set out a plan for the future of Messy Church at St Albans with a view to a relaunch, possibly in October 2021.

Carys Grom and Sarah Carter

Sunday School

Since the first lockdown Sunday School has continued to meet virtually on Zoom throughout the period. Eight regular members of Sunday School have attended at 9am on Sundays and Sarah Hart and Chris Nalder joined the team during this time. Meeting virtually has presented challenges and it is not the same as meeting in person for young people, especially as their school learning was also virtual. We continue to use the Roots online resources as a guide to our sessions, this matches the lectionary and some of the resources were adapted to suit virtual Sunday School.

Families of Sunday School children video recorded their children playing various parts in the 2020 Nativity play. This, and the singing of Away in a Manger, were edited for screening at one of the Advent Sunday services and online.

Our main challenge for the future is the lack of a younger group of children coming up to sustain Sunday School when our current cohort move up to the older groups in 2022.

After restrictions are lifted we will met as a team to review Sunday School provision on Sunday mornings for our current cohort who are now becoming more involved in Church life; through serving, the choir and involvement in services, and to plan for the future.

Carys Grom

40

THE PARISH CHURCH OF ST ALBAN, NORTH HARROW

Annual Report on the work of St. Alban’s Youth Services (SAYS): January - December 2020

‘ Christian outreach to, engagement with, and education of young people: Young people’s personal, social, faith, and leadership development ’

Over the last year SAYS have worked with 165[1] young people aged 10-19, and a further 18 aged 8-10, in our youth clubs and groups: ‘ Passport ’ -our Saturday evening youth club; ‘ Games Room’/ ‘Games on the Green ’ -our Wednesday afternoon after-school club; the weekly Lunch Club we run at Nower Hill High School; and ‘ Young Explorers ’ and ‘ Youth Squad ’ - our faith development groups (run with those who have some link with the church).

Highlights this year have included[2]

Over 6 sessions, we asked what Holy Communion is and why we celebrate it,

as we looked at being connected through Jesus, being rescued through Jesus, being forgiven through Jesus, being at peace though Jesus,

and being gathered together with Jesus as we remember his death for us.

Key Progress/ Movements : Community Outreach -> Youth Clubs

1 figures do not include all those young people coming to our church services (eg. youth-led / holy communion services)

2 for more details and photo galleries please see: www.stalbans-nh.org.uk/youthprogramme.htm

3 Only counted: those we know their name, year group, and whom we have met on more than one occasion

41

THE PARISH CHURCH OF ST ALBAN, NORTH HARROW

Key Progress/ Movements : Youth Clubs and Church & Faith Development

Lockdown summary

*We ran three Zoom video call group sessions per week -every week:

Weds ‘ Games Room Online ’ for 8-12 yr. olds : we grew this session up to 18 young people per week, including those who live too far to be able to make it to the physical after-school session. Was good to build relationships with some parents and siblings through this, too, given the access ‘into homes’ so to speak.

Saturdays ‘ Youth Club Online ’ : calls for 10-12yr olds and 13+ respectively:

We have chatted and positively engaged with up to 26 young people per week, including welcome & check in, announcements, games, discussion, and our ‘corona challenge’ weekly competition which was designed to get young people sharing their lives, recognising their gifts/skills, and recognising the needs of those around them.

Sundays Youth Squad / Young Explorers Online : 90-minute call for all 10-18s involved with church. These calls included time each week looking together at a PeaceMakers theme. PeaceMakers was to be the next Youth-Led Service, but lockdown beat us to the launch, so we used the material creatively to engage our young people instead – exploring what God wants to bring about in us -as well as through us- in His world

We looked at Jesus’ teaching and activity on everyday themes like peace in the midst of suffering , anxiety , mental health & healing, anger & protest , justice & injustice , troublemakers & forgiveness, and peace in tough/dark times.

Summer Highlights

The result? A very significant series of events and activities, with zero sickness.

Our Spaced Out three-day Summer Holiday Club with 30 young people ran across seven venues at Harrow School, and involved our young people in:

4 NYA - The National Youth Agency is the sector lead for Youth Work in the UK.

42

THE PARISH CHURCH OF ST ALBAN, NORTH HARROW

the holiday club offered a practical paid & supervised work placement for seven 18-21 year-olds, who included two graduates of our youth group programme.

As well as some amazing opportunities for fun, learning and development, and interaction with friends, our young people had the opportunity to relax and reflect in a ‘ chill out zone ’ themed around the awe and mystery of God’s creation and universe.

The side activities helped pose the question whether all the balances and ratios critical for life on earth to flourish could really have happened by chance: Young people were invited to roll dice to see how close they could get to those extreme odds!

Staffing Changes

In September, Jess Campbell, our Youth Support Worker, moved to full-time work at a local high school. She has been particularly amazing through the lockdown period and will be greatly missed by our younger girls. However it has been great to welcome one of our ex- Youth Squad members back in a temporary role as we look to recruit a longer-term replacement. Britney Awuah is doing a really great job.

Funding

Thanks to the ‘anchor’ of grant funding from three charitable trusts and direct financial and in-kind funding from this church, we were able to meet our budget requirements for the year, without the need to furlough staff. Externally sourced grants and donations were in the region of £40,000 for the year In addition we were again most grateful for local project funding from the Young Harrow Foundation, London Youth, and the Jack Petchey Foundation, as well as to Harrow School for their generous donation of facilities for us run our summer Holiday Club there.

Failures

(i) Outreach and Detached Youth Work have not been consistent this year, due to the impact of lockdown, but also our detached youth work partner organisation has been through three team management changes this year. Our main energy for outreach has been in the dual contexts of getting Schools Work going, and running Games on the Green after-school drop in the church grounds along side a busy main road where young people and parents walk home from school. (ii) Schools’ work in our local primary schools has also been derailed by lockdown. Agreements in place related to workshops and assemblies (Primary schools) and supporting teaching of Christian faith segments of RE curriculum (Nower Hill), have both been put on hold.

(iii) Sadly our two planned residential trips for May half-term and October half-term have both had to be postponed due to Covid-19-19 restrictions.

Peace-Making Project

A key project agreed with our church leadership this year was on Peace Making .

(i) We did manage to get primary schools and our uniformed organisations involved in the 1[st] phase of our Peace Making workshops, where hundreds of simple origami doves were made by local children (with prayers for peace written on the wings) and installed high in the church, alongside a powerful textile exhibition, and a recycled gun-metal sculpture. The second phase was due to start the week in March when lockdown started, so the only planned workshops on PeaceMaking and Conflict Resolution actually delivered were with our local Brownies & Guides packs. The Sunday evening Youth-Led service was also cancelled.

43

THE PARISH CHURCH OF ST ALBAN, NORTH HARROW

(ii) We also hosted a listening exercise, in partnership with Harrow Citizens, on Youth Safety and Youth Violence – which involved a number of young people in the local area with lived experience of violence sharing their thoughts and prompting discussion on what is needed to help young people feel safe. The results were shared with local faith group leaders and councillors, but the planned trip with core young people group to meet the Mayor of London had to be cancelled.

Support, Partnership, and Youth Work Review

We have seen some fantastic answers to prayer and encouraging signs this year. We are so very grateful and inspired, as always, by the support and partnership of young people, parents, churches, local organisations, and our core funders. It has been great to receive messages of thanks and support from our parents, as well as from Nower Hill School.

We are looking forward to seeing the outcomes and recommendations of the youth work review commissioned by the PCC in October 2020 which will shape provision from September 2021. This will have included feedback from an independent consultant youth work specialist, as well as survey feedback from our young people, parents, the congregation and partner organisations.

Toddlers Group

The group had 40 child members when we had to stop due to the Covid-19 conditions. The membership figure refers to the number of children, but each is accompanied by at least one adult so full attendance would comprise at least 80 people altogether. These include two sets of twins and two sibling groups. We charge one price for a single child, with siblings half price. We had two dads and three grandads with their grandchildren, eight grandmothers and two childminders. We have had an increase in grandparent members some of whom are returning previous members who came with their own children and now bring their grandchildren. We have stayed in contact with members during the lockdowns through Facebook and WhatsApp. We have not been able to meet in person (as with other toddler groups) because of the way the sessions are run: free playing, the children being able to move from activity to activity and interact with each other, and singing and action rhymes and the number of members we have. We hope to return as soon as it is possible and are reviewing with safety guidelines.

Christine Barber-Ryder

Mission and Outreach Annual Report 2020

The M&O Committee acts on behalf of the PCC in supporting links between our parish and external organisations, recommending causes which could benefit from parish appeals and advising the PCC on the allocation of the Mission Fund. It maintains liaison with ACAT (Action by Christians Against Torture); ALMA (the Angola London Mozambique Association); and MACS (Malawi Association for Christian Support, whose Project Officer Eileen Eggington is a member of the M&O committee). Locally we encourage support for various groups in the voluntary sector including Harrow Citizens, Foodbank, the Voluntary and Community Sector Forum, and North Harrow Community Library.

M&O promotes the vital need to reduce our parish - and personal - impact on the environment and achieve sustainability within the resources of our planet. St. Alban’s achieved a bronze level Eco Church award in 2020 and we are working towards silver, and eventually gold, status by showing our care for God’s creation and taking practical steps towards minimising the parish’s carbon footprint. We are aiming to achieve net zero carbon by 2030 or sooner: An ‘Eco-team’ is now working on this and would welcome new members.

The Mission Fund, through which the parish allocates a proportion of its income to charitable giving, is administered by M&O. Applications are encouraged from any member of the congregation on behalf of charities whose aims meet the five marks of mission of the Anglican church, and are evaluated by the M&O Committee. Allocations in 2020 included £1000 each to Firm Foundation and Harrow

44

THE PARISH CHURCH OF ST ALBAN, NORTH HARROW

Citizens, and the project to provide new accommodation for single homeless people which both these organisations are working on will require further support in 2021. Contributions were also made towards the costs of the reading project for Tamil Ladies, the A Rocha charity which manages the Eco Church scheme, as well as support to enable an inner city church make a significant improvement to its musical worship. The Mission Fund also covered the cost of Christmas cards which were distributed to almost 2000 homes in the parish by our Youth Team.

Church collections were significantly depleted due to closure of the church due to the Pandemic, and reduced level of activities for much of the year. However a total of £1,239 was collected and passed on to charities including the Seed Sowers Charity (Malawi), Railway Children, Royal British Legion, and Christian Aid, whilst the Christmas charities were Save the Children Yemen appeal and the Children’s Society. Foodbank donations were delivered to Harrow Foodbank and Roxeth Community Church Foodbank on the Rayner’s Lane estate, but online cash donations were encouraged during periods of church closure.

Parish youth work activities have been under review and the committee received a presentation from an external consultant, prior to the PCC awayday which led to the setting up of the Steering Group on Youth Work towards the end of 2020. The activities of Messy Church and Open Church, and liaison with Churches Together, Harrow Interfaith and SICM (Mahfil Ali) are also encouraged by M&O as part of our parish outreach.

Friends of St .Alban’s maintains contact and support for members of the congregation who are housebound or unable to attend church regularly, and this was augmented during the lockdowns by encouragement of ‘phone buddies’ and regular phone contact with anyone in the parish who lives alone or needs company during periods of isolation as a result of the Pandemic. Many of the social and fund raising events which normally take place throughout the year had to be curtailed or cancelled in 2020 and will hopefully be resumed during 2021. This will be vital in making the Mission and Outreach of our parish more effective in helping serve the needs of the community in North Harrow.

Gerry Devine

Drop-in Café

The ‘Drop in’ Café, commenced on the first Wednesday morning in April 2018 and has continued since on the first Wednesday in every month, from 10.30 a.m. to 12 noon. This has proved to be a successful venture until March 2020. Due to the Covid-19 19 Pandemic, Drop In café’ was discontinued until it is safe to progress with the project.

Our aim is to provide a relaxed atmosphere for members and visitors who can enjoy a chat over a cuppa and a piece of cake if they so wish.

It would be nice to continue this venture as soon as it is possible to do so.

Jai Mahadeo

Church Opening

It has become very difficult to recruit new volunteers to open the Church on non-Service days. This project obviously requires a great deal of thought and discussion as to whether we should continue or replace it with other ideas.

Church opening was also discontinued in March 2020, due to the pandemic.

Jai Mahadeo

45

THE PARISH CHURCH OF ST ALBAN, NORTH HARROW

Ecumenical and Inter-faith

Churches Together in North Harrow (CTNH)

2020 has been a very challenging year for everyone and from March onwards CTNH’s commitment to bringing the churches in North Harrow together to explore the Christian faith became very challenging indeed.

The year started as usual with the Week of Prayer for Christian Unity in January. Due to the low attendance previous years a new format was tried with just two services in the week rather than six. One on Wednesday January 22[nd ] at St John Fisher Church was attended by 40 people and the other on Saturday January 25[th at] North Harrow Methodist Church was attended by thirty people. The theme for the services was set by the Churches of Malta and was ‘Unusual Kindness’ reflecting the ‘unusual kindness’ shown by the people of Malta to Saint Paul when he was shipwrecked enroute to Rome. A light lunch was enjoyed after the service on both occasions.

On 3[rd] March St Albans Church hosted an evening with Marian Partington on the theme ‘Walking the Path of Reconciliation’. She talked about her own journey of forgiveness for Fred and Rosemary West who killed her sister and the work she has developed since around restorative justice. Thirty five people from the churches in North Harrow attended what was a very moving and inspiring talk.

Lent House Groups were the next item on the agenda on the theme of ‘Life Attitudes – Beatitudes for Lent’ and two groups started the discussions but, sadly, when lockdown came the groups had to be abandoned. It is hoped we may be able to return to the theme in 2022.

Two Lent Lunches took place, at St George’s Church and Elmfield Church, but the rest had to be cancelled. This was disappointing for everyone, especially as we usually request donations for St Luke’s Hospice.

None of our usual Easter walks and services could take place so the next time the committee met was at the AGM in June which took place over Zoom. Roy Millard took over as Chair at that meeting from Kate Tuckett as she prepared to take her maternity leave.

The September committee meeting was able to take place in person whilst observing social distancing and we are grateful to Elmfield Church and Roy Millard for organising that. Tentative plans were made for the Advent Service which Revd Dr Sarah Archer, covering Rev Kate Tuckett’s maternity leave, from St Albans undertook to arrange in whatever format was allowed.

Next year’s Lent Lectures were also discussed and Roy Millard had secured five chaplains working in different fields to give the talks.

We were back to Zoom for the November meeting and Rev David Tuck undertook to explore the idea of a Quiet Day in September 2021.

We are also hoping to arrange a Week of Accompanied Prayer next year and Marguerite Kuhn will investigate that for us.

The Advent Service was streamed live online from St Albans Church on November 29[th] and made available afterwards as a recording. It was viewed live by 45 people and at least 193 people viewed the recording later which was very gratifying.

46

THE PARISH CHURCH OF ST ALBAN, NORTH HARROW

Our annual carol singing in North Harrow was another victim of the pandemic and we must pray that we are all able to overcome this dreadful virus and pursue our aims in person some time next year.

Jill Sloley

North Harrow Muslim/Christian Dialogue

The survival of this group, which includes members from North Harrow Methodist, Mar Thoma and St John Fisher churches, through a very difficult year owes much to the enthusiasm and friendship of Jamil and Anila Hashim.

We had two meetings on Zoom in 2020 and much informal contact, including a lively multi-faith tea party in September. We were delighted to welcome once again a substantial number of Mahfil Ali members and Sheikh Jaffer Ladak, the Imam from the Stanmore mosque, to our Christmas Midnight Mass during the brief un-locked period. 2021 has begun hopefully: a Zoom dialogue exchange on Conversion, with a record number attending.

English conversation for Tamil Ladies

The effects of the Covid-19 pandemic together with death, sickness and old age have, sadly, brought this small piece of community service to a premature end after 63 sessions with the ladies of the Tamil Elders Association of Harrow.

We are hopeful that there has been some progress in language learning but much more certain that the commitment to learning together by the 8 members of our congregation and around 20 Tamil ladies ( nearly all practising Hindus) has been a catalyst for mutual respect, understanding and friendship for all. We are deeply grateful.

Uniformed Organisations

2nd A Headstone Brownies

In 2020, the 2nd A Headstone Brownies adapted to extraordinary circumstances extremely well. On Monday 16 March 2020, Girlguiding issued an email that advised all face to face meetings were to cease immediately. At the time, there were 17 Brownies, 6 Young Leaders and 5 Adult Leaders who found that the Brownie term had ended quite abruptly. After a three week hiatus of meetings, during which the UK went into lockdown, Brownies and Young Leaders were sent home from school and the Adult Leaders adapted to working from home while looking at ways in which we could continue Brownies safely, on Tuesday 7 April 2020, the Brownies began meeting again but this time online via Zoom on Tuesday evenings from 6.30-7.00pm. Hosting meetings online had an added bonus that two of the Adult Leaders, who were at university, could join in and stay connected with the pack.

Brownie meetings were then held online for the rest of the year on Tuesday evenings during termtime. In this time, Brownies came together to enjoy activities such as Scavenger Hunts, quizzes and crafts. The Brownies also worked towards several badges, beginning with Mindfulness to help create a calmness in the chaos. Then, Brownies gained their Grow Your Own (Gardening) Badge and Archaeology badge before the summer holidays.

In the autumn term, Brownie meetings continued online during which Brownies packed Harvest boxes to give neighbours/food banks safely, gained their Baking and Space badges, and enjoyed crafts (decorating poppies for Remembrance Sunday and making Pom-poms) and games (autumnal themed scavenger hunt). For a couple of weeks, some of the Young Leaders re-joined the meetings online to help inspire the Brownies and complete the missing weeks for their Bronze Duke of Edinburgh award scheme. Most of the Young Leaders are studying towards their GCSEs this academic year so have been

47

THE PARISH CHURCH OF ST ALBAN, NORTH HARROW

present too often online but they have indicated that they would like to return later in 2021 after exams have finished.

Pack Holiday last year was booked for a weekend in July 2020 at the Paccar Scout Campsite in Chalfont St. Peter. Sadly, this had to be postponed until 2021.

At the end of 2020, there were 12 Brownies as some had left when they turned 10 and of those some had gone on to become Guides with the 2nd Headstone Guides. Since the meetings moved online, there had been no new Brownies joining the pack but the pack has welcomed new Brownies since the start 2021.

2nd A Headstone Brownies continues to engage with St. Albans Church. Before the UK went into lockdown, the Brownies hosted a Brazilian carnival themed Pancake Party, which welcomed members of the congregation and the 4th Headstone Cubs. St. Alban’s Church Hall also hosted the Pinner & Headstone District Brownie Disco in early February and the 2nd A Headstone Brownies very much enjoyed dancing to their favourite songs. The disco also went towards their Dancing badge, with Brownies also dancing a Ceilidh, composing a Samba and choreographing their own stories through dance in meetings during early 2020.

Elizabeth Fisher (Brown Owl)

2nd Headstone Guides & Senior Section

The 2[nd] Headstone Guides & Senior Section continue to enjoy many challenges and experiences year on year.

Since the start of lockdown in March 2020 we have continued to meet online. Inevitably some girls have left as zoom is not for them but thus far, we remain a thriving unit of ~35 girls with some very committed leaders and young leaders. The guides are aged between 10 -14 ½ years old and after that the girls that want to stay join our Senior Section. We normally meet on Fridays (term time) from 7- 9pm in the Church Hall. Since lockdown we have met online for about 1 hour. The girls come from various backgrounds, schools, faiths, and cultures but the one thing in common is friendship.

The girls have enjoyed participating in new challenges online whether that be learning new skills, cooking, yoga or having fun with a magician one week and an artist another week. They have continued to do badge work too and celebrate cultures and learnt about disabilities; all which they have enjoyed despite the challenges of zoom!

As we could not enjoy our planned weekend camp to Paccar Chalfont heights in July 2020 (fingers crossed for summer 2021!), we organised a virtual sleepover where the girls enjoyed cooking breakfast, cooking marshmallows over their own fires, sleeping in different places whether that be inside or outside the house and handicrafts. All enjoyed this unusual camping experience.

Guiding is a great organisation and will have a huge, positive impact on the girls’ lives in the future.

Sue Till

8th Headstone Brownie Pack

Sadly this Brownie pack closed down in 2020.

4th Headstone Scout Group

As an affiliated group to St Albans Church, 4[th] Headstone Scout Group celebrated it’s 90[th] Birthday in 2020. Sadly many of our activities planned for 2020 had to be postponed, these included many camps and sleepovers including our 90[th] Birthday camp, day trip to Brownsea Island and Bournemouth beach again to celebrate our 90[th] Birthday and renew our promises, plus many

48

THE PARISH CHURCH OF ST ALBAN, NORTH HARROW

fundraising and social events too.

Back in January 2020 none of our members and especially our Leaders thought we would end up supplying a varied quality scouting programme via zoom.

At the start of the year as a scout group we were lucky enough to be able to celebrate our 90[th] Birthday with a sleepover at the Battle of Britain Bunker – Uxbridge. This trip was open to all sections, Beavers, Cubs and Scouts and 40 young people attended plus 12 adults. Whilst at the bunker our young people got to visit the control room that Winston Churchill had sat in whilst the Battle of Britain took place. We had West London Astronomers join us and we even got to look through telescopes and see the surface of the moon. As a group we got to sleep in the museum under a spitfire plane and was a magical experience for all.

Sammy Jackson, Group Scout Leader

49