2021-12-31-accounts

2021 Report and Accounts

for the Parochial Church Council

of St Nicholas Hornsea

Presented to the Joint Annual General Meeting on 26th April 2022

Aims and Purpose

St. Nicholas’ Church Council (PCC) has the responsibility of cooperating with the incumbent, the Reverend Tina Minett Stevens, in promoting in the ecclesiastical parish, the whole mission of the Church, pastoral, evangelistic, social and ecumenical.

The PCC of St Nicholas is also specifically responsible for the maintenance of the St Nicholas Parish Hall at 1 Newbegin Hornsea HU18 1AB

Objectives and Activities

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

When planning our activities for the year, we have considered the Commission’s guidance on public benefit and, in particular, the supplementary guidance on charities for the advancement of religion. In particular, we try to enable ordinary people to live out their faith as part of our parish community through:

• Worship and prayer; learning about the Gospel; and developing their knowledge and trust in Jesus

• Provision of pastoral care for people living in the parish

• Mission and outreach work

To facilitate this work it is important that we maintain the fabric of our Church buildings and St. Nicholas Church Hall.

Achievements and Performance

Annual Safeguarding Report

Training

Most members and churchwardens have done the required training but there are a few outstanding courses, mainly due to covid interrupting the program. There may be new regulations from the diocese by now. There is a need to audit and make “catch up” arrangements during 2022.

Policies and notices

We have a policy approved by all the PCCs and publicly displayed along with the information poster recommended by the diocese.

We are not aware of any safeguarding issues or concerns within the benefice at present.

J Jones

Safeguarding Officer

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Worship and Prayer

The PCC is keen to offer a range of services during the week and over the course of the year that our community find both beneficial and spiritually fulfilling.

All are welcome to attend our regular services.

Being able to gradually return to more normal worship has been much appreciated in the course of 2021, especially with the return of congregational singing.

Attendances on a Sunday morning have grown but are still lower than before Covid and we recognise that the past two years may have permanently changed patterns of attendance on a Sunday morning.

As well as our regular services, we enable our community to celebrate and thank God at the milestones of the journey through life. Through baptism we thank God for the gift of life, in marriage public vows are exchanged with God’s blessing and through funeral services friends and family express their grief and give thanks for the life which is now complete in this world and to commend the person into God's keeping. During 2021 we took services as follow:

Baptisms		Weddings		Funerals
St Nicholas	7	St Nicholas	3	St Nicholas	32

Our worship online has continued and a faithful number attend morning prayer each weekday, usually between 6 and 12. Morning Prayer reverted to online only when work commenced to repair the windows in St Nicholas but will be back in the building once these have been completed.

Others join on Sundays for Communion, which had dropped to 1 or 2 but recently 9 have been attending this way, it is very difficult to gauge exact numbers but these are an indication.

We have continued to develop and continue our online offering alongside our social media presence through shared posts and our own team producing memes and short videos teaching about the festivals and our faith. All our services and events are promoted through our Facebook page Hornsea Benefice serving the people of Hornsea, Atwick and Skipsea .

There have been more opportunities to engage with the local schools again since September. The Vicar and our Music Director have been invited in to lead assemblies in Hornsea Community Primary and we have welcomed both Skipsea and Hornsea Burton Primary schools for their end of term services.

Pastoral Care

Some members of our parish are unable to attend church due to various circumstances. Reverend Tina has visited all who have requested it, to celebrate communion with them either at their homes or in hospital. The provision of online services has greatly helped our ‘at home’ members be part of our worship together.

Revd Tina

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Electoral Roll Reports

Hornsea St Nicholas

We started the year with 109 on Roll.

No-one no longer wishes to be included.

No-one no longer qualifies as they are non – resident and no longer worship at St Nicholas.

No person has moved away. Five have died.

One new name has been added to the Roll and the total at April 2022 is 105.

Electoral Roll Officer

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St Nicholas Hornsea Reports

St Nicholas is a Registered Charity Number 1132888

Wardens Formal Report

The Wardens are pleased to report that the moveable items contained in the Terrier are in good order and repair. There has been no Visitation by or on behalf of the Archdeacon during the last year.

K. Rhodes, J. Pring, J. Moss.

Churchwardens

Wardens Report

It is customary for our church to have four Churchwardens but for the last year we have had three only and one is retiring reducing our numbers to two, unless candidates come forward. It is a great honour to be a church warden, the job is not overly onerous and is considered to be an honourable position within the church. If anyone is interested please contact one of the existing churchwardens or the Vicar.

We are also a little short on numbers for the Parochial Church Council which is elected at the A.G.M. Anyone interested can however be co-opted on to the Council at a later date if necessary. Again it is not particularly onerous – we have about 8 meetings a year – and it is a chance to become involved in the decisions made for the running of our church.

Needless to say church attendance has suffered with the Covid Pandemic but happily numbers are slowly increasing mainly due to the hard work of our vicar and her support team. Happily the vicar and our director of music now have a presence in the Hornsea schools taking the gospel to the young people. This is something that successive vicars have tried without success in the past so well done to the Vicar.

Further disruption has been caused by all the work on the East Windows. This we know has taken a long time but it has been very much a specialist and laborious procedure. We are pleased to inform you however that the work is coming to an end and we hope that our lovely church will be returned back to us better than ever in the not too distant future.

There are good things happening in our church and the weekly 3 to 5 group for young mothers and their children is proving to be very successful. I am sure that there will be more information on this elsewhere in this annual report.

Keith Rhodes

Churchwarden

Deanery Synod

Two members of the PCC sit on the deanery synod. This provides the PCC with an important link between the parish and the wider structures of the church.

Parish Hall Committee Report

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Despite the fact that Covid restrictions have been in place for most of this year, the hall has played a pivotal role in the recovery of our community.

Back in August we became aware that the Hornsea Pantry would be in need of a new home. After some consideration, the easiest solution was to give them sole use of the red room. Revd Tina drew up a bespoke license agreement for this purpose; and on 1[st] September, following the installation of a refrigerator and fridge freezer, the Pantry duly moved in, providing a life-line service twice a week for those in need of food and other essentials.

The good news is that we have an increasing number of reliable groups who use the hall on a regular basis, such as the Chill and Chat café, Lets sing, Hornsea and church without walls.

In order for this to happen, a great deal of hard work has to go on behind the scenes. As chair of the management committee, I took the decision to make the booking and invoicing systems totally paperless. Apart from this being much easier from my own personal perspective, it means that the information can be stored and accessed much more securely. The only person who has access to any personal information is myself. My computer is backed up regularly both to OneDrive and I-cloud, so I will be able to retrieve everything if I ever had a problem with my laptop. Anyone wanting to book the hall fills out a booking form. I then send out a booking confirmation email, together with the invoice. The invoice contains the account number and sort code for St Nicholas PCC so people can transfer the money to us electronically, thus eliminating the need for paper cheques which would then have to be paid in manually. Clearly this presents problems in this day and age, since the only place you can pay in cheques is at the post office. Please don’t worry if you struggle to use computers. I can fill in the form over the phone and the odd paper cheque can easily be processed. We also have a Facebook page. My thanks go to Krissie for initiating this.

On a more practical front, anyone using the hall will have noticed its transformation in terms of appearance. Tommy has been putting his painting skills to good use. The Hollis room, corridor and storage space look absolutely fantastic. Anyone would think we’d had the job done professionally! Steve has excelled himself in the garden again; and even found time to tackle a number of small plumbing jobs. Of course, I mustn’t forget to mention Marjorie, who seems to have spent most of her time this year scrubbing skirting boards, cleaning out cupboards and mopping floors to within an inch of their lives! We have also taken the decision to pay Rob Andrew to clean the toilets twice a week. So many people have commented how lovely our hall looks. My heart felt thanks go to everyone who has helped to achieve this.

For me, the highlight this year was on 29[th] June when I gave a talk to the East Riding Village Halls Network (ervhn) about our hall. I owe a huge debt of gratitude to Nerys, who was instrumental in creating what turned out to be a promotional video for the hall. The talk was well received and everyone was very complementary about both the quality of the video and the way in which we managed our hall.

So what next? Well, there’s still a mountain of work to be done, particularly regarding the upper story. The Committee aim to achieve the quality mark under the Hall Mark scheme during 2022. This scheme is free of charge; furthermore, it would tell the world what we already know. Our wonderful hall, which, only a few years ago had a tenuous future, is very much alive and well! Thanks be to God!

Nicky Dixon

Chair of St Nicholas Parish Hall Management Committee

Ecumenical Relationships

North Holderness Churches Together disbanded in 2021 as the structure was no longer working. The church is a member of Christians Together in Hornsea and our relationships continue to develop. It has been a joy to welcome and work alongside friends in our sister churches in many events and services.

Revd Tina

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Choir Report

During the last 12 months, Covid 19 restrictions changed the way the choir operated during services. Music was produced by the Vicar as part of the online services and as restrictions lifted, the piano was added. The choir adapted to the numbers that were allowed as the church opened up. 6 members of the choir were allowed to sing, socially distanced and in accordance with the strict Covid guidelines. Congregational singing was prohibited until the summer of 2021. Despite this, music remained as part of the service.

The Director of Music role was discussed over this year and plans were made to expand the choir to all ages, making opportunities for younger singers when restrictions were lifted and schools were opened again.

Leonie Creswell

Director of Music

Financial Review

Total receipts on unrestricted funds were £47,046 (2021: 41,231) of which £24,941 (2021: £29,277) was unrestricted voluntary donations, including £1,198 (2021: £4,729) from Gift Aid, though a claim is pending with HMRC.

£64,574 (2021: £64,991) was spent from unrestricted funds to provide the Christian ministry from St. Nicholas’ Church, including the contribution to the diocese as our Freewill Offer of £30,000 (2021: £12,000).

The Freewill Offer should be seen in the context of the cost of our incumbent (stipend housing and pension), notionally £51,000 and shared across the Benefice.

The net result for the year was an excess of payments over receipts of £17,528 (2021: £13,338) on unrestricted funds.

Adding bank and deposit balances brought forward at the beginning of the year, the balances carried forward at 31st December on all funds totalled £80,977 of which, £45,251 is held in restricted funds.

The funds breakdown is included in the accounts for the year. Funds include a legacy amount set aside by the PCC in accordance with their Legacy Policy to develop music and youth work and a further legacy to seed a Vicar’s Discretionary Fund (£3,000).

The Families at 3 Fund is from a grant received from the East Riding Council to equip and run the project, of which 50% was received up front and the balance will be received in May 2022.

The Lady Chapel Fund of £5,000 will be used in part-payment of the windows repair costs: the major funder of this being the Church Lands Trust (Feoffees).

It should be noted that the costs of heating both the church and hall are substantial and will increase greatly in the coming year due to the current price of both gas and electricity as our contracts are up for renewal (April 2022). The best price will be obtained by looking at alternative providers.

Reserves policy

As of 31[st] December 2021 the PCC holds a balance of £35,726 in unrestricted funds.

The PCC aims to keep approximately four months running costs in reserves. This is also to cover emergency work needed on the Parish Hall. To achieve this we will keep

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a reserve of £20,000. This amount to be reviewed by the PCC annually and increased at least by inflation (whichever is the greater of C.P.I and R.P.I at the time)

This policy was adopted by the PCC on 18[th] February 2021 and will be reviewed at the next convenient meeting.

Structure, governance and management

The method of appointment of PCC members is set out in the Church Representation Rules. At St. Nicholas the membership of the PCC consists of the incumbent (our vicar), churchwardens, and members elected by those members of the congregation who are on the electoral roll of the church. All those who attend our services are encouraged to register on the Electoral Roll and stand for election to the PCC. The PCC members are responsible for making decisions on all matters of general concern and importance to the parish including deciding on how the funds of the PCC are to be spent.

The full PCC met on an ad hoc basis during the year as a result of the ongoing Coronavirus pandemic. Where possible, uncontentious decisions were taken by email. Given its wide responsibilities the PCC has a number of committees each dealing with a particular aspect of parish life.

These committees, which include ministry and mission, growth and outreach, fabric, and finance, are all responsible to the PCC and report back to it regularly with minutes of their decisions being received by the full PCC and discussed as necessary.

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Administrative information

St. Nicholas’ Church is situated on Newbegin, Hornsea. It is part of the Diocese of York within the Church of England. The correspondence address is 9 Newbegin, Hornsea, HU18 1AB. The PCC is a body corporate (PCC Powers Measure 1956, Church Representation Rules 2006) and a charity registered with the Charity Commission.

PCC members who have served at any time from 1st January 2021 until the date this report was approved are:

Ex Officio members:

Vicar

Revd. Tina N Minett Stevens

Churchwardens:

Keith Rhodes John Moss Judi Pring

Elected Members:

(and other positions held eg Deanery Synod rep and dates of leaving for those who left after the 1[st] January 2021).

PCC Secretary

Judi Pring from April 2021

PCC Treasurer

Vacant (role split between the Vicar and Churchwardens)

Deanery Synod Representatives

Judi Pring Eileen Harris

The Parochial Church Council

Barbara Booker (died March 2022) Nicky Dixon (Lay Chair) Sue Fox resigned 11[th] February 2021 Eileen Harris Judy Jones

Co-Opted Members

none

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ST NICHOLAS’ CHURCH HORNSEA

Registered Charity Number 1132888

Accounts for 2021

PRESENTED TO THE ANNUAL PAROCHIAL CHURCH MEETING ON Tuesday 26[th] April 2022

2021 Treasurer: Vacant (Role undertaken by the Vicar & Churchwardens)

Examiner: Robert L Orry

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Report bythE Independent Examiner to the members of St Nicholas thurth Hornsea I report on the accounts of St Nichola5 Churdb for the year ended 31st December 2021 y examination did not amount to an audr(. Nothin£ has come to my attention in connertion 7rth my examination which gives me cause to believe otherwise than that the ￿l￿nts accord wrth the accounting records of the churth. l am not aware of any matter to which attention needs to be drawn in order to obtain an understanding of the accounts. Signed.................. January.D￿¢rn￿r?02l Fwxl 31.1231

St Nltholas Church Bank Rec 3tst December 2021 Balance peT bank staternert 31.12.21 81801.25 Less cheques not presented 824.32 Add lodgernents not presented 80976.93 Bank3CCOUnt Balance b/f 69053.55 Receipts 103063.35 Payments 91139.97 Balance clf 30976.93 172116.90 172116.

st Nlcholas Church Accounts to 31st December 2021 Unrestricted Receipts 47046.27 Unrestricted Payments 64574.16 Overspend for year -17527.89 Bank Deta?Is Balance at bank 80976.93 Designated funds Feoffees Organ Clock Lad:y Clrdpel Wicar discretion Fund Familiès @3 Youthlmusic 20000.00 t0701.00 2352.00 5000.00 .3000.00 368.15 3829.50 45250.65 Available funds 35726.28