2024-12-31-accounts - The Parochial Church Council Of The Parish Of St Thomas The Apostle, Trowbridge

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

St Thomas the Apostle Parish Church Annual Parochial Church Meeting

7.30pm on Tuesday 29[th] April 2025

	CONTENTS
1.	Agenda	4
2.	Minutes of 2024 meeting	5
	REPORTS
3.	Core, Deanery and Administrative Activities
	3.1. The PCC in 2024	11
	3.2. Deanery Synod	12
	3.3. Electoral Roll	13
	3.4. Safeguarding	14
	3.5. The Parish Office	15
	3.6. Cradle Roll	16
	3.7. Verger Report	16
4.	Pastoral Care
	4.1. Lay Pastoral Team	17
5.	Mission
	5.1. Kingfisher & Outreach on Paxcroft and Castlemead	18
	5.2. Mission Awareness Group/Overseas Mission	20
	5.3. Messy Church	21
	5.4. Parent and Toddler Group	22
	5.5. Mini Meet	23
6.	Children and Young People
	6.1. Crèche , Scramblers and Climbers	24
	6.2. Explorers	24
	6.3. Pathfinders and Apprentices	25
7.	Worship
	7.1. Worship Teams	26
	7.2. Prayer Ministry	27
	7.3. Hospitality Team and Social Events	28

7.4. Flower Team	28
7.5. Media and Technology	29
8. Midweek Groups
8.1. Cell Groups	30
9. Social/Outreach
9.1. Church Weekend Away	31
9.2. Trowbridge Women’s Shed	32
9.3. Morning Break	34
9.4. The Island	36
9.5. Tom’s Shed	36
10. Buildings
10.1. Fabric Committee	38
11. Trowbridge-wide Activities
11.1. IMPAX	41
11.2. Christian Action in the Trowbridge Area (CATA)	42
11.3. Soup Run	43
11.4. MenUnited – Trowbridge	44
11.5. Town Chaplains	44
Appendix: Accounts for 2023	45

1. AGENDA

Opening Worship
Apologies
Minutes of 2024 Meeting
Election of Churchwardens
Election of PCC Members
Presentation of Accounts for 2024
Election of Independent Examiner for 2025
Reports:
a. PCC Proceedings in 2024
b. Deanery Synod
c. Electoral Roll
d. The Fabric of the Church
e. Safeguarding
Presentation of Inventory and Logbook
2024 Reports from Organisations
Any other matters of Parochial or Church concern*
‘God at work’ – review and discuss
Please notify a Church Warden by the Sunday 27[th] April

Minutes of the Annual Parochial Church Meeting held on Tuesday 30[th] April 2024 at 7.30pm at St Thomas’ Church

46 people were in attendance at St Thomas Church.

1. Opening Worship. Allan and Paul led a time of prayer and praise.

2. Apologies: Received from Angela Grist, David Bowater, Anne Polden, Kevin Wright, Carrie Farnell, Helen Shields, Jean Stanford

3. Minutes of 2023 Meeting – were duly received and approved with correction Gordon Leeder to read Graham Leeder.

4. Election of Churchwardens – Allan had received nominations for Paul Edwards proposed by Geoff Heard and Harriet Heard; and John Chettleburgh proposed by David Bowater and Gordon Russell. These are therefore duly elected.

5. Election of PCC Members – there were three vacancies on the PCC (for 3 years) and one (for 1 year).

New rule announced as follows:

There has been an addition to Section M9 of Church Representation Rules, concerning the election by the APCM of lay representatives to the PCC.

Previously, if the number of candidates for election did not exceed the number of seats available the candidates were declared elected without a vote. Under new rules, any person entitled to attend the APCM may, in these circumstances, move a resolution that a vote be held on whether each candidate should be elected. If the resolution is passed, the meeting votes on whether each candidate should or should not be elected.

No one requested a vote.

Nominations had been received for:

Christopher James (Jamie) Farnell (proposed by Harriet Heard seconded by John Chettleburgh);

Esther Brown (proposed by Martyn Whittock seconded by Christine Whittock); Lyndsey Wright (proposed by Pat Kerbey seconded by Ruth Chettleburgh). All for 3 year term.

Pat Kerbey to be elected for one year, continuing as Treasurer until having handed over the role to an incoming team (proposed by Val Saxby seconded by Geoffrey Tate).

All voted onto the PCC unanimously.

Robert Jones was thanked following the end of his service on the PCC.

It was proposed to coopt Peter Hancock onto the PCC at next PCC meeting (he can’t be elected as needs to have been on electoral roll for 6 months) could convene EPCM or elect at next APCM.

Last year Hannah McNab was coopted at first PCC as Youth Worker and this is planned to be repeated.

Robert Jones to continue as Deputy Warden (with responsibility for Holy Trinity)

A prayer of blessing was said for all those on PCC team, commending a strong team in anticipation of the forthcoming interregnum.

Full list of PCC members therefore becomes: Natasha Bristow, Alison Bennett, Harriet Heard, Mandi Archer, Simon Wright, Pat Kerbey, Esther Brown, Jamie Farnell, Lyndsey Wright.

Deanery Synod members: Christine Whittock, Ruth Chettleburgh, Marjorie Wade LLMs: Martyn Whittock, Judy Wright Angela Grist.

6. Presentation of the Accounts for 2023. Pat Kerbey presented the report as set out in the booklet, noting last year the PCC reluctantly set deficit budget of £15k but ended with surplus of £1.4k - adding praise to God and giving thanks to all who faithfully give.

2024 budget - agreed £19k deficit as worst case scenario.

Accounting year clarified to be calendar year i.e. 1 January to 31 December.

The accounts were received with thanks.

Question from Linda Puttock: “Our Treasurer informs me that we no longer have an active building fund at St. Thomas’. As we are letting our premises out very regularly and this regular use will inevitably result in more wear and tear than if we were only using the premises purely for our own purposes I wonder whether it would be wise to ask the PCC to reactivate the Buildings Fund and put a percentage of the lettings fees into that account to help defray the costs of repair and replacement resulting from heavy use and also build up an amount to be used for ongoing refurbishment and modernisation.”

The treasurer responded that there is indeed no active building fund - we do have money available for repairs and refurbishment - every year a sum is allocated for maintenance (the 2024 budget allocates £2k, which is the same as last year and didn’t spend all of it). Rent £14.4k cost £13.4 so 1K profit. In the past we have fatter years and money saved in designated funds. Any money given for specific purpose is put in a restricted fund. PCC can decide to move amounts for one pot to another.

In the past a portion of the rent from cottage used to go to building fund – not the case now.

Q. Do the designated funds appear in pie chart? No, they feature in full accounts.

Fundraising money confirmed as ‘Sundry’ income.

Pat confirmed that she is moving house so sadly will be leaving St Thomas in the autumn and has suggested the role of Treasurer be divided into 3 roles so they can support each other. Thank the Lord there are 2 people already interested who will be considered for approval by PCC.

7. Election of Independent Examiner for 2023

Pat asked the APCM to defer the appointment of an Independent Examiner to the PCC. As our income is less that £1million we don't need a full audit and so the examination could be carried out by a competent, independent person rather than a chartered accountant.

Allan expressed huge thanks to Pat our ‘church treasure’ not only in role as treasurer but for her wisdom and support over the years.

8. Reports:

a) PCC proceedings in 2023
b) Deanery Synod
c) Electoral Roll
d) Fabric of the Church
e) Safeguarding

Were duly received and approved.

9. Presentation of Inventory and Log Book. Paul presented the ‘Terrier’–

recording all the assets of the church. APCM received the inventory and log book. Confirmed that the Inventory is checked when new church warden appointed and at the quinquennial check which falls this year.

10. 2023 reports from organisations

Allan noted his thanks to all the authors of those reports and gratitude for all the work done mostly by volunteers.

11. Any other matters of Parochial or Church concern Question from Philip Puttock:

“Most members of the congregation don’t know when the PCC meets, or indeed what its role is, and are therefore unable to pray meaningfully (or at all!). Is it possible for the dates of the PCC meetings, any significant

items on its agenda, and a summary of its discussions to be published, perhaps in the Monthly News?”

Agreed that this is possible and those present asked what would be most helpful with following suggestions:

Send key items a week or two before;
Dates are set for whole year so could be in notices;
Paragraph in Monthly News summarising meetings;
Could be on website but would need to consider confidentiality.
Secretary confirmed that currently anyone on electoral roll is entitled to request copy of minutes from office.

Also confirmed that notice of PCC meetings should be posted on door of church 10 days prior to meeting.

(Break for drinks - thanks to Geoff and Kay Carter for providing refreshments)

12. Vicar’s address:

Reading from Colossians 2:6-. Allan echoed Paul saying he was overflowing with thankfulness when he hears of struggles of other parishes. Committed fellowships caring for one another. Strong sense of mission and Christ focussed worship in all three congregations. Thankful for team ready to lead during interregnum. 2 PCC’s and one staff team made up of reps from all 3 churches supported by Frankie in office and Treasurers. Post of vicar is exciting and attractive proposition. There is real hope for fulfilment of our visions for the parish. Very positive meeting with Bishop and others to discuss proposals for funding for mission in Trowbridge.

Rural Dean Jane Palmer is sadly leaving post as is Archdeacon so very grateful for team covering the next year.

Church wardens Paul Edwards and John Chettleburgh shared plans for interregnum -

Planning for running of the church and structures in place:

Working closely with St John’s PCC as will share the new vicar with St Thomas/KFC

Church wardens have official role during the interregnum

There is a Standing Committee (Vicar, Wardens, Secretary, Treasurer and Church Administrator)

A Service Planning Group (started when Allan was in hospital) continues to meet to ensure cover for Communion and all services.

Pastoral Team

KFC’s own staff team

All make up structure for interregnum period

For the rest of the calendar year all main services at St T and St Johns are covered - yet to cover communion at BCP services, residential homes and KFC but have been blessed with resources inside and out of church so hope to be able to cover all and very grateful to God for this.

14[th] July Bishop Andrew will take Communion Service - St Johns will join St Thomas’. He is also going to St Johns in October.

Allan has put together plans to deal with queries about Baptisms, Funerals and Weddings and has been making contact with other clergy in Trowbridge to support us.

Small group focus has come at the right time as important during interregnum. Time of interregnum is not a time of pause rather we look for God’s blessing on this time.

Process for appointing a new vicar:

3 main groups involved - PCC, Diocese and the Patron (CPAS - Church Pastoral Aid Society).

Pre-vacancy meeting has taken place with support from Patron and Archdeacon. When Vicar retires, the Diocese send out Notice of Vacancy.

PCC will appoint people to create Parish Profile for prospective candidates to give them an idea of life and character of church and paint and exciting picture of the parish and give an idea of the kind of vicar we are seeking.

CPAS have provided a useful leaflet on Parish Profile with questions the church should be asking.

PCC secretary will set date for Section 11 meeting when the draft profile will be approved and PCC reps chosen to be part of application process and decide how to advertise.

Patron will shortlist candidates supported by Diocese and PCC reps. Those candidates invited to parish to look before interview.

If we don’t feel any of the candidates are right, we are not forced to appoint but can go through process again to make sure the person is God’s choice – praying and discerning along the way.

So far:Church Wardens of St Thomas’ and St John’s have made contact with CPAS via zoom.

Mike Duff and Archdeacon Sue met with PCC at pre-vacancy meeting 23 April 24. There is no queueing behind other vacancies in Deanery as CPAS lead the recruitment process.

PCC have invited Paul and John to draft the parish profile.

Idea is to draft May to August - to be reviewed by CPAS and Diocese and PCC and by September hope to have profile ready for Church to consider. Set 8[th]

September for afternoon of prayer over the profile.

Schedule 11 meeting when profile is ready and request advertising - around end of September.

Important to listen to God and not rush.

Very keen to hear views from congregation - PCC will consider how best to structure involvement of church family.

Please be praying as we have witnessed so many times God’s provision when we seek His will.

Questions from those present:

Approx. time frame? Advertising and interviews 2-3 months - they have to give 3 months notice so end of March at earliest.

Requested that questions suggested by CPAS be added to monthly news or notices.

Suggestion that PCC consider clear structure for congregation to feedback so that these are obtained BEFORE September to consider where the church is today. Perhaps questions with a date for response.

Confirmed by Wardens that the information from Church weekend at home and away will also be fed into process. September set as a date as views may change as we work without a vicar.

Suggested that staged responses would be useful – e.g. we could ask for views from Junior Church before next JC meeting.

Suggested those not in small groups and have less to say publicly also need to be considered.

Encouragement to people to attend church prayer evenings once a month to pray about this important decision.

Allan expressed his confidence that the church will be in safe hands without him. The meeting closed with the grace.

REPORTS

3. Core, Deanery and Administrative Activities

3.1 The PCC in 2024

The Parochial Church Council met six times. PCC members are representatives of those on the electoral roll and, as such, I have tried to ensure that summaries of meetings are communicated to church members before the official minutes become available (which cannot be distributed until approved at the subsequent meeting 2 months later). If members of the church have particular issues they wish the PCC to consider, please email me and I will ask the Chair of the meeting to add them to the agenda if appropriate.

The PCC connect with the wider Church of England through the Bradford Deanery and Salisbury Diocese, and we consider each report from the Deanery Synod meetings and any matters arising.

Members act as trustees, looking after financial and other assets (such as the fabric of the Church buildings). At our March meeting we unanimously approved the End of Year Financial Reports and throughout the year we receive regular financial updates. We agreed which groups should benefit from Church giving at home and abroad and approved an increase in these gifts to make sure our church tithe amounts to 10% of our annual income which is something we have always prioritised. We are also asked to consider larger budget requests and try and reduce expenditure where possible.

Huge thanks go to Pat Kerbey for her hard work and dedication to the role of Treasurer and thanks to God for answering our prayers (my prayer request in last APCM report) by providing us with a replacement team comprising Lyndsey Wright and Esther Brown.

Safeguarding is always on the agenda and Martyn Whittock updates us with regards to policy as this is an area of key importance. We also receive regular updates on our various mission groups and training which our members are undertaking.

Our 2 churchwardens have alternated chairing our meetings during the interregnum and have led us brilliantly. The PCC have also had the

privilege of approving the Parish Profile and appointing our parish representatives to appoint our new vicar. There is not enough space within the APCM booklet to write all I would like to say in thanks to our Church Wardens and entire congregation for ‘keeping the ship afloat’ during this time. It has been a real blessing to see everyone stepping up to complete work normally done by the vicar. In particular, it has been wonderful to benefit from the gift of preaching that God has given Paul and John and to be blessed by visiting clergy. Allan Coutts expressed his confidence that the church would be in safe hands without him and indeed it has. That said, we are all very pleased to have appointed Simon Pope within less than a year and excited about the future of our church.

Allan Coutts commented that chairing St Thomas’ PCC was a positive experience and this is not always the case for church leaders. The PCC have just approved a declaration of commitment to care for our new Vicar and we will endeavour to make sure the meetings continue to be positive for Simon Pope.

Harriet Heard (PCC Secretary)

3.2 Deanery Synod

Bradford Deanery

There were 3 meetings during the year held at Atworth, Upper Studley and Keevil. Rev Jane Palmer retired as Rural Dean at the end of July and Rev Jake Eggertsen was appointed in her place. The year also saw Allan’s retirement and the appointment of Jenny Nelson to Holy Trinity, Bradford-on-Avon and Chris Hunter to the Canalside parishes. Deanery Synod elections were held and Dawn Sawyer, Chris Hicks and John Joy, were elected as laity and Rev Jake Eggertsen and Rev Charlie Thomson as clergy representatives, there is one clergy vacancy.

The first part of each meeting covers the business and updates on the latest information on Kadugli and Making Jesus known activities in our churches. After refreshment, kindly provided by the host church, we have a speaker or discuss a specific topic and this year we heard from:

Rob Jackson spoke about the Bridge Youth Project which is a Charity celebrating 30 years of visiting a wide range of schools across Wiltshire and beyond enriching school communities in areas of spirituality (faith), wellbeing (hope) and advocacy (love).

Ven. Antony Macrow-Wood, Director of Finance for Salisbury Diocese, came and explained to us the outline of the new 60/40 Parish Share System. 60% allocated to benefices according to the ministry deployed there (the cost element) • 40% request allocated according to their Worshipping Community (the membership element).

A discussion on “A Safer Church: A Deanery Wide Discussion in the Wake of Church Abuse Scandals”. Jake gave the background on this and we split into groups to discuss several questions on people’s perception of the church and our own safeguarding policy. This was followed by a time of feedback which Jake would be taking back to the Deanery Synod.

All these meeting have provided us with information and ideas to bring back to the church as well as forming contacts with other churches and learning from them. We look forward to Simon joining us for our next year.

Ruth Chettleburgh, Chris Whittock and Marjory Wade

3.3 Electoral Roll

Every effort has been made to accurately update the Electoral Roll, through email, phone calls, personal contact, Royal Mail and home visits.

Salisbury Diocese sent out a PDF Electoral Roll Form which complicated things a lot.

We have lost a few members of our church family over the last year partly due to the closure of Kingfisher Church. - but have also been joined by an encouraging number of new faces. Total on the Electoral Roll is now 152.

John Reynolds, (Electoral Roll Officer)

3.4 Safeguarding:

As we are required to do, our Parish Safeguarding Policy document is updated where necessary and agreed by the PCC at the first meeting of the new PCC in May each year.

Martyn Whittock and Liz Atkins are our Parish Safeguarding Officers; Martyn with oversight of safeguarding issues regarding our children and young people, Liz Atkins for vulnerable adults. Martyn has overall PSO responsibility. In the autumn the return of KFC members to St Thomas’ coincided with Jean Foy moving to another church. This means that one ‘safeguarding umbrella’ now covers the parish, meeting as one church.

Frankie Smith in the Church Office oversees:

(a) The ‘Safer Recruitment’ process and attendant record keeping.

(b) DBS verification & actioning, in order to achieve DBS.

People are encouraged to take their ID into the Church Office (during office hours), if they can, during DBS verification. Those who cannot do this during Church Office opening hours, can do this DBS verification process with Jo Deacon, who will do the ID verification and then let Frankie have the details to action. This means that St Thomas’ has two Verifiers: Frankie Smith and Jo Deacon.

In line with requirements, the names of the Parish Safeguarding Officers and contact details are included in the church’s Safeguarding Policy document, on the Church Notice Board, the Church Website, and also (via a link) on the online platform ‘A Church Near You.’ Since the last APCM a dedicated safeguarding email address is now in place and publicised.

Each Sunday a slide – on the rolling notices – reminds those in the congregation of the safeguarding policy and the names (with photographs) of Martyn and Liz. Martyn also regularly verbally reminds the congregation regarding safeguarding, during the notices at the start of church services.

We continue to have a large number of church members who have DBS clearances for our church, which reflects both the willingness to undertake roles with children, young people and vulnerable adults and also the many areas of ministry within the church community. A list of all those with DBS clearance is kept in the Church Office.

In addition, church members undergo periodic safeguarding training – in keeping with their areas of ministry and responsibility – in line with diocesan and general CofE policy. A list of people who have undertaken this safeguarding training, including their role and which modules have been completed, is kept on the Church Office system.

The PCC has adopted the diocesan policy on Domestic Abuse and a number of church members have completed training in this area, along with Safer Recruitment Training (in line with the church policy on recruitment).

In accordance with the requirements imposed by Section 5A of the Safeguarding and Clergy Discipline Measure 2016, the PCC is

committed to ensuring that all relevant persons (as specified by Section 5A (2) of this measure) are aware of the required code of practice with regard to safeguarding of minors and vulnerable adults.

Martyn Whittock, Parish Safeguarding Officer (PSO)

3.5 The Parish Office

2024 has been a year of change in the office I have seen many people leave, firstly Allan and Janet. I wish them well in their retirement but what a change that has made to the office, firstly moving from the Vicarage to the rooms. It is lovely to see people as they come and go, and I have conversations with and get to know so many more people now but also it has been a new way of working without Allan to call upon. Very shortly after Andrew left when Jane took up a new post in London and again, I wish them well in their new life, but he was such a support to me in the office. Anastasiia came to join me for a term, I now have Sharon assisting me.

I have also lost Pat who from the beginning has been my support and back up in the office, this is a new development, and I have yet to see how I’ll manage without her endless guidance. Again, I wish her and Geoff a wonderful adventure in their new home and a fantastic future, but she will be missed in the office.

There have also been changes with technology, especially a new printer that I think will make life a little easier as there have been Fridays that have seen me pulling my hair out when the old printer simply said ‘NO! I won’t’ when it had had enough.

2025 will also have its changes and challenges I’m sure, I am looking forward to Simon’s arrival but with it will come a new way of working as I’m sure he will have his own way of doing things. Still I’m praying that the next 12 months things in the office will become more settled.

Frankie Smith, Church Administrator

3.6 Cradle Roll

Children on the Cradle Roll are those who were baptised or dedicated at St Thomas’ or Kingfisher churches. They receive a birthday card from the church each year up to and including their 5[th] birthday. At the end of 2024 there were 14 children on the Cradle Roll.

Margaret Hewitt

3.7 Verger Report

I took on the Verger role approximately 1 year ago on the recommendation of Kevin Wright (Verger), I have been doing the main role of verger on my own for the last 6 to 8 months, I have been doing all communions and morning worship services since then without missing a single Sunday. I set up all items ready for communion and have now started using a silver jug for the wine which looks smarter on the altar, I change the altar cloth colour as and when required, I do a count of the children’s groups and congregation each Sunday which is then entered in to a register also money totals from the offering plate is also entered in the register by the admin, I have been given a full set of keys and in most cases have been left to lock the church and church

rooms each Sunday. I will have done one funeral on the 11th April 2025 and one service of remembering a member of church congregation in 2024. I do think we need an actual white altar cloth and not keep using a two tone one if it’s possible to supply. I have also taken on the task of putting the ramp out each Sunday before the service. I am able to answer most of the questions asked by the congregation.

Steve Bolt (St Thomas Verger)

4. Pastoral Care

4.1 Lay Pastoral Team

Due to the Interregnum this has been an unusual year for the Pastoral Team as our task is to help the Vicar with the pastoral work of the church. We had valued Allan’s attendance, input and encouragement at our meetings and have missed him greatly. We are currently a small group but have benefitted from the involvement of Angela Grist as part of her role as an LLM.

We have continued to care for and support members of our church family as much as possible, particularly those suffering ill health and times of difficulty. We have aimed to build on the contacts made at the Pastoral Care Forum last year, particularly in relation to Small Groups. An increased number of people now attend these and for those this is the first point for fellowship, support and prayer for the individuals and their families. We now have an accurate record of those currently within these groups thus identifying those who are not included and are at risk of being more isolated.

We continue to update the Prayer Topics on the Weekly Sheet and to contact those people. A considerable number have had serious illness or surgery during this year, and we give thanks that many are now recovered and able to participate in church life again. A few of this Team have assisted with transport to church and to medical

appointments and we are very grateful to other people who also took on this role. We also focus on welcoming new people attending Sunday Services and helping them to get to know more about the church. We

have welcomed those members of Kingfisher Church who are now attending St Thomas’ and very much value their presence with us. We look forward to a new phase of ministry here and new challenges in caring for the family of our church.

Liz Atkins, Ruth Chettleburgh, Rosemary and Keith Earley, Angela Grist, Marjory Wade

5. Mission

5.1. Kingfisher and Outreach on Paxcroft and Castlemead

It seems fair to say that 2024 was a year of “ups and downs” for Kingfisher Church. As most of you reading this will know, we stopped meeting on Sunday mornings at the end of October last year, after Alison Bennett took the very difficult decision to step down as leader. By then we had been meeting regularly at The Mead School for over 15 years and were a valued presence in the school. (When we stopped meeting, the response of at least one member of staff was “I didn’t attend, but it feels wrong that there won’t be a church meeting in the school”.)

Our services in 2024 tackled themes including:

what it means to worship a holy God
the “Servant Songs” in Isaiah
parallels between experiences of the Jews in Exile (drawing on Ezekiel and Daniel) and Christians living in an atheistic world.

Over the 15 years, we have developed strong links with the schools: we have led assemblies, helped at school events, acted as mentors, volunteered as helpers in classes and served as mentors, governors / trustees. We have also taken the gospel message into the schools, both at Christmas and at

Easter, using varied presentation styles. We have dressed up, played the parts of key characters, shared activities with them and made time to answer their questions. Even in Covid, an intrepid team made an outdoor presentation of the Christmas story, using a large wooden camel which took three people to animate it! We also put up wooden crosses outside the schools twice a year: covered in flowers at Easter and poppies for Remembrance.

We have also engaged the community beyond the schools, supporting the local toddler group and Impax youth group. The

local pub is the venue for our Christmas carol singing and for our Easter Monday Easter Egg Hunt: they usually approach us to book the next event before we get around to asking them.

If you ask Kingfisher members what they miss, now that we are no longer meeting to worship every Sunday, it’s often the sense of closeknit community which had developed through worshipping together as a smallish congregation every week. Several Kingfisher members are much happier in smaller settings and are finding it challenging to adjust to a larger congregation. As John Chettleburgh alluded to in a recent morning service, there was a completely different dynamic across all parts of the service: including worship, prayer, preaching and fellowship.

When we stopped meeting on Sunday mornings, we agreed that we were keen to continue our regular prayer meeting on a Sunday evening and our outreach in our community. These activities are linked as we make time to pray for our local schools and their needs (this includes asking them for prayer requests); we also ask God to give words of encouragement which we can pass on.

We are still warmly welcomed in the schools to support their RE curriculum and present the gospel. We are very grateful for the

enthusiastic support we receive in this from members of St Thomas’ and other local churches.

We prayerfully look forward to finding out what God has in store for us and our community over the next 15 years.

Thank you again for your support

Stephen and Alice Bull (on behalf of Kingfisher and those reaching out on Paxcroft Mead and Castle Mead)

5.2 Mission Awareness Group/Overseas Mission

The Mission Awareness Group met 6 times in 2024. We seek to help church members to be involved and support overseas mission and to provide information and understanding about the missions we support. Our mission representatives are shown in brackets.

Church Mission Society through our link missionaries David and Azaria Pocasangre in Guatemala (Robert Jones)
Ugandaid (Jane Bullock and Pauline Butler)
Mercy Ships (Caroline Fone)
Arab World through Al Kalima (Ed Greening)
Flame International (Andrew Sharland)
Bible Society (Celia Russell)

We also support Sudan and South Sudan through the Diocesan Deanery Link and we support Tearfund.

Many members support the work of Compassion through sponsorship of children (Ty Butler).

The following mission focusses were held during the year.

Church Mission Society (CMS), January- February. David and Azaria Pocasangre spoke at the mission focus service on 25 February which was followed by a bring and share lunch.
Ugandaid, March-April. Steve and Helen Edwards spoke at the mission focus service on 28[th] April. A soup lunch was held after the service with an auction of promises which raised funds for Ugandaid. Towards the end of 2024 St Thomas' started sponsoring Omar Pius who is a student at The Nile Valley

Institute in Jinja.

Mercy Ships, May-June. Ed Sheffield spoke at the mission focus service on 9 June.
Arab World, September-October. Ed Greening spoke at the mission focus service on 27 October.
Flame International, November-December. Ian Fall, Flames' outreach officer, spoke at the mission focus service on 24 November.

We had a focus on Compassion at the service on 21 July with Ty Butler speaking..

We are encouraged by and thank members for the wide support for mission at St Thomas'. We continue to explore ways for our church to engage fully with overseas mission and welcome any ideas and feedback. Andrew Sharland 5.3 Messy Church We've had another good year at Messy Church and have run 5 sessions over the year, missing the Christmas session due to a storm. Between 5 and 13 families have attended each session, ~~=~~ the majority are from outside the Church, plus

Andrew Sharland

team families. We have a real core of families who return whenever

they can and we've really been able to build relationships with them. It is a joy to see Dads coming along as well as Grandparents.

We are very grateful to John Chettleburgh who joined us for a session on “Looking after the World God has given us”. John helped the

children to make a Bug Hotel which can be seen in the Church grounds and led the families in the story. Thank you also to Martyn Whittock who led the story on Easter and New Life. It is so valuable to have men from the Church coming in as it helps to build links between Church and Messy Church and is a great help with some of the older boys. I'm

not sure who had more fun, Martyn or the children, sending eggs down a zip wire!!

The time in Church is always lively and we aim to make the stories as interactive as possible. The singing times have really grown in joy and dancing which is great. We experimented at the recent March session and Martyn led the parents in a question and answer session about what words / ideas they associate with Easter and inviting questions, this time was very productive and many questions were asked. We had a very lively time with at least 20 children doing an activity at the back of Church!

The monthly Evening Chat Times have continued, we have had 4 different people attending and regularly have 2 people. The discussions have been very open and wonderful. Please join us in praying that God will continue to show us how to give these adults opportunities to explore the Christian faith.

We're so grateful to our band of helpers who regularly come along and join us in interacting with our lovely families and to our faithful prayer partners. We really couldn't do it without you! If you think you could contribute in either of these ways please have a chat with one of us.

The Messy Church Team

5.4 Parent and Toddler Group

We've had another good year at Toddlers, full of noise, fun and building relationships with our families.

We continue to run one session on Monday mornings and this is working well. Having discussed at length what plans to put in place if the number of children attending continued to rise, they have now fallen. Since last September between 20 and 30 children have been coming along, which is perfect for continuing to grow relationships. We continue to pray each week that God will send along who He wants to come.

One exciting development this year has been that 2 long term very committed members of Messy Church and Toddlers have joined our

team. They are young and have lots of energy, as well as being still in the young family stage so their help is invaluable.

Also, last summer Ruth Brooks-Martin who ran the New Parent, New Baby Group which ran alongside Toddlers left her role and Spurgeon’s have not continued with the sessions. We are very sad to lose our link with Ruth and this group, it has been such a wonderful link. It may affect our numbers too as a small but steady flow of families filtered into our sessions and brought their friends.

We held a Teddy Bear's Picnic for our Summer Event last year. Lots of families came along including one who had moved on to school. It was lovely spending time with these families playing games and doing craft. A big group of parents and older children also helped us to pack up very quickly as the rain headed in. Thank you so much to all the Church members who helped on that day.

Christmas and Easter have been celebrated by telling the stories and each child being given a book to hopefully look at through the year. Thank you to Martyn whose acting out of the stories always goes down well. We've missed Allan being part of these celebrations, he always prayed for all the families and was very much part of the after-party sausage and chip lunch.

So thank you as always to our wonderful team and members of our Church family who support and pray for us. Thank you especially to our Lord who hears those prayers and blesses us all in this work.

The Toddler Team

5.5 Mini Meet

The happy, relaxed, sometimes very noisy, mornings that are Mini Meet continue to happen on Thursday mornings at St Thomas'. We run very small informal sessions and at present have 6 families on our register. We don't advertise the group but invite families who may need a little bit of extra support or company. This gives us the opportunity of getting to know the families quite well as well as

relationships being built between them. In November we were invited to the wedding of one of our ladies; 7 of us, past and present

members, went along and we had a great time. It was such a privilege to be part of such an important part of this family’s life.

Please join us in praying that as we spend time with these families, God will give them a hunger to know more about Him.

The Mini Meet Team 6. Children, Young People and their Parents

6.1 Crèche, Scramblers and Climbers (3 – 7-year-olds)

This year had been a tricky one for the Scramblers and Climber's team, with various commitments resulting in the need for a new person in the leadership team. Gemma Mason has taken on the role of a leader in the group, to allow Ruth Chet to step back from leading. Thank you, Ruth, for your many tears service, and thank you Gemma for coming on board. I coordinate the rotas and oversee the group, and Chris Whittock continues to also lead. The number of children regularly attending is less than 12 months ago, averaging 6 children per week. The group welcomes children aged 3-7 years, with a separate area set up for younger children (and their parents / carer) at the back of church. We have a team of volunteers, who usually help at Scramblers once a month. The children follow Urban Saints material and usually focus on bible characters, Jesus’ ministry, and key biblical narrative. Teaching is fun and usually includes a craft element. Thank you for your support.

Anita Bowater

6.2 Explorers (7 – 11-year-olds)

Explorers aged 7 to11 meet every Sunday with Caroline Fone and Harriet Heard taking turns to lead supported by Claire Silk, Janet Murphy and Anne Marie Gibson. We read a passage from the bible and learn from it with the aid of quizzes, craft and games. We love to learn bible stories through craft, drama and games. We have 12 on the register with irregular attendance but when they all come it is wonderful as we can play more exciting games and produce mini

dramas The children are really good at answering questions and remembering bible stories and as leaders we are always still learning. It's a lovely group to help with - if anyone is interested in getting involved then please speak to Harriet.

Geoff & Harriet Heard

6.3 Pathfinders (11 – 14-year-olds) & Apprentices (14 – 18-year-olds) 1*/ There has been some big changes in the Pathfinder and Apprentices groups this academic year. Following Hannah stepping down from her role as youth worker, the Apprentices group (ages 14-18) leadership team were very short on staff. The Pathfinder group (ages 11-14) had a lovely full leadership team but were very short on young people. This meant that it made sense to combine the groups giving us the new, improved ‘PathApp’ group now lead by myself and ably supported by John Chettleburgh, Gwen Kearley, Naomi Frost and David Bowater. This has made for a fun and dynamic group where the young people can mix with a wider selection of friends and where the older ones can model and support the younger ones. The run up to Christmas was fun and we very much enjoyed preparing for the All Age Christmas Service. It was lovely to see so many taking on roles in the drama (including our very own Scrooge Samuel!) and music. We finished the year with a very competitive Christmas social based on the popular quiz show ‘Taskmaster’ with David Bowater being the scary taskmaster and tasks that involved writing on each other’s backs, throwing hard boiled eggs and much more besides! Since Christmas we have been running a Youth Alpha Course with brand new, updated material. Our sessions have started with cake (kindly provided by members of the congregation and for which we have been very grateful), drinks and games. We have then watched the video presentations, pausing at regular intervals to discuss questions. The materials have been of a very high quality and have involved teaching and testimonies taken from around the world and pertinent to this age group and have, in the main, been well received by the group. The young people have been brilliant at inviting friends along

and we have regularly numbered between 15-20, so much so that we have had to move out of the Audrey Prentice room into the Church Lounge and watch the videos via projector.

We very much enjoyed the Youth Alpha Day (aka the Holy Spirit weekend) where Lyndsey and Simon Wright did a fantastic job of catering for us with homemade pizza. We also treated ourselves to dessert at The Little Dessert Shop before a game of a rounders in the park. As well as being blessed with great food and weather we also had Beth and Jay Cook with us in the afternoon to lead us in worship and prayer. It was a real privilege to see the young people praying for each other and experiencing God’s Spirit in what may have been a new way for many of them. The weekend was rounded off by a wonderful visit from Bishop Andrew who gamely answered our questions – and we saved the particularly difficult ones for him!

At the time of writing, we still have a couple of sessions of the course left to run and are praying about how we should follow and build on it. Please join with us in praying about how to continue to best support such a talented, fun-loving and caring group for which we, as a church, are truly blessed to have.

Helen Shields

7. Worship

7.1 Worship Teams

Through our sung worship we aim to lead people in worship to God and into his transforming presence.

Our worship team has continued to provide sung worship for Sunday services and events throughout the year with a mix of stylescontemporary to traditional. Our Christmas services particularly include the full range of ages across the church, and Easter also typically draws our wider team together for a bigger music group. Thank you to everybody who has played/sung/ shaken/ rattled and rolled or even composed music for us throughout the year.

As a whole team we have aimed to meet monthly to pray, practise, learn new repertoire and provide an opportunity to develop musical skills. This is a great opportunity for team and prospective team to come and have a go and grow in confidence without the pressure of a service. Please come and speak to me if you are interested in getting involved.

We have been blessed to have Peter Heard join our worship leadership team for this year alongside Paul, Jennie and myself/Carrie, this has been particularly helpful whilst Judy has been away on placement since the autumn. As a leadership team we meet termly to pray, plan and coordinate Sunday worship.

A huge thank you also to our amazing PA & AV team who support us so well throughout the year (the unsung heroes - pardon the pun - who serve us week by week!).

Carrie Farnell

7.2 Prayer Ministry

We are a small team who have a heart to pray with church members and to see God working in the lives of those in the church. Prayer ministry is offered after most morning services.

We hold a monthly meeting which is open to all church members. Typically, this includes a short reflection and a time of prayer.

In February this year, Judy Wright gave a training session on prayer ministry following the guidance provided by New Wine which is the basis for the prayer ministry offered at St Thomas'.

We would like to see more people joining the prayer ministry team and for prayer ministry to continue as an integrated part of the ministry of our church. God is faithful in pouring out his love and power. We are excited by all that God is doing and has in store for us as we look forward to Simon and Elle joining and leading St Thomas'.

Andrew Sharland

7.3 Hospitality Team and Social Events

Hospitality and social events have developed over the past year.

The first experience that visitors to our church on a Sunday morning have of our hospitality is the warm and cheerful welcome they receive from the “Welcome Team” outside the front door. The Team do a wonderful job standing outside whatever the weather – we are all very grateful to them.

Drinks after the service are provided by a dedicated band of helpers (we could always do with more) and this offers the whole church the opportunity to be hospitable and seek out newcomers and those on the fringes and engage them in friendly chat. Serving coffee in church has encouraged more people to join in which has been of great benefit.

Social activities have developed over the year. We have reinstated a Harvest Supper (after a break of many years), and added a Burns Night Event to our usual “get togethers” which have included the Suppers for Six, and our August Afternoon Tea. Unfortunately, other activities meant that this year we did not have our annual Sunday Roast Lunch but hopefully it has not vanished from the Calendar for ever.

The Team is always open to discussing new ideas – so please get in touch if you have an idea to put forward or if you would like to help in a practical way.

Kay Carter and Linda Puttock

7.4 Flower Team

The 6 members of the Flower Team work on a rota to provide flower arrangements within St. Thomas’ Church every week, except during Lent. Three times a year the whole team decorate the Church for Easter, Harvest and Christmas.

We would love to have a few more members so new people would be most welcome, either on a regular basis or to help at Festival times. We are not asking for professional florists, just a simple vase of flowers is all that is needed. If you are interested in joining us or contributing to the

cost, perhaps on a Sunday that has a special meaning for you, then please talk to Barbara Rogers or Marjory Wade.

Barbara Rogers

7.5 Media and Technology

We continue to be grateful to the teams of people who manage our sound system, projection and livestreaming in our Sunday services and at other events in the church. These teams are led by Simon Wright (sound) and Rob Slater (projection and livestream). The sound and projection play a key role in worship and events in both St Thomas’ and Holy Trinity buildings.

Our regular livestreaming of services provides a valuable link to those who are unable to attend or who miss services. The ability to livestream from the church is also much appreciated during weddings, funerals and other events. Viewing figures vary quite a lot, but typically a Sunday morning service may have between 5 and 10 live viewers and then climb to anything between 30 and 100 views in the next week or two.

We continue to review our use of technology in the management of the church. This includes ensuring that our IT equipment is fit for purpose, and for this reason we have replaced a number of items of equipment during the year.

In parallel with writing the Parish Profile, we also did some work to bring the information on our website up to date. During 2025 we plan to look at introducing church management software to help with some of the routine administration tasks. We continue to put more of the church’s documentation onto a cloud server so that it is all available in one place to those who need to access it.

Paul Edwards

8. Midweek Groups

8.1 Small Groups

When I took over the role of Small Group Coordinator in March 2024, it was agreed with Allan that the term Small Groups would be used to encompass the seven different groups: four Cell Groups, two Home Groups and one Connect Group. Since then, the Connect Group ceased meeting, while three new Small Groups have started. Currently, 90 people are members of one of nine Small Groups. During the year, several folks have left due to circumstances like moving away, while 25 people have either rejoined or joined a Small Group for the first time.

The groups meet at different times and on different days. Two new sets of leaders came forward in April 2024, responding to God’s prompting to use their gifts in this way. This enabled new groups to be established and some movement of people between groups.

During the year, I have had the privilege of twice visiting and participating in all 9 groups enabling me to better understand the different character of each group and to get to know the members. The group leaders have met together with me each term to pray together, share group news and discuss study topics.

Last Spring, there was an overwhelming request from Small Group Leaders for a) themes in the study material, if possible, connected to sermon series, and b) study material to be available well ahead of the meeting date allowing leaders adequate preparation time.

Consequently, during the last year, two separate sermon series with connected study material have been prepared ‘in house’, Christians in ACTion and Kingdom of God. My thanks to Martyn Whittock for preparing Notes on these topics which were then combined with discussion questions. Thanks, also, to all the gifted folks who delivered the two accompanying sermon series.

Most Small Groups used these materials, at least in part. For the rest of the year, group leaders have chosen study material suitable for their own group covering a wide range of topics and books of the Bible.

Following discussion with Small Group Leaders in Spring 2025, all nine groups have chosen to follow the LICC Gateway Seven Study Guide to Mark’s Gospel for part of the summer term.

During Lent 2025, seven groups suspended their Small Group meetings, coming together in church for The Lectio Course. The two other groups followed the same Lectio Course in their Small Group setting.

As a church, our thanks are due to the Small Group leaders for the way they lead, facilitate and pastor the folks in their Small Groups. Small Group meetings are a key time in the week when church members can get together around the Word of God and share their lives together in fellowship and prayer, deepening their own walk with Jesus and equipping them to be more effective in reaching out to those around them.

We started the year with seven groups, we now have nine which are nearly full to capacity. There are many folks not yet in a Small Group. My prayer is for more leaders to come forward with gifts to lead new groups to accommodate more people!

Alison Farnell

9. Social/Outreach

9.1 Church Weekend Away

What a great time at Viney Hill!! The weather was so kind to us. Praise the Lord!

About 46 people of all ages camped – either in their own tents or the on=site tents – and some were lucky enough to be in the wooden huts that had electrical pints and a heater!! 8 people stayed off-site but close to Viney Hill – 7 in a local inn with the ensuite bedrooms being described by oner person as excellent and others as not very good – they were in fact somewhere between the two and perfectly adequate for the not-so-hardy!! One person had the luxury of her own camper van on a site nearby. And 6 people came as day visitors.

On site there were activities to be enjoyed – 22 of our group in age ranging from about 6 to early 50s – took part in the high rope and leap of faith challenges. The high ropes were as the ‘label says but the leap of faith – wow! It entailed a climb up rungs on a 10 metres pole – when at the top climbing on to a platform about half a metre square and then jumping forward to grab a trapeze swing set away from the column – some people even went back for a second go and a few even did it

blindfolded. Wow it was scary – and I that was just watching it!! Another group of about 11 did canoeing in the afternoon

There was lots of good food, good fellowship and good fun. The camp fire singing after the BBQ on the Saturday evening was great – the highlight being seeing the young people arm in arm swaying to the delight of

Country Rose, West Virginia’ (the John Denver song) to the accompaniment on guitars from Peter and John. AND those of us staying at the inn were lucky enough to hear another rendition of the same song at the birthday party that was happening at the inn when we got back for the night!!

Thank you to all who organised it both in advance and at the weekend, especially the very eager washer-uppers!!

We are now looking at a weekend away for 2025

Pat Kerbey

9.2 Trowbridge Women’s Shed

In October 2025, the Women’s Shed will be celebrating its fourth birthday! We have now welcomed more than 300 women through the doors of Holy Trinity. We seem to have someone new almost every week dropping in and numbers are gently increasing with around 35+ ladies here every week.

The Shed has been supported by a Team; Judy, Lyndsey, Claire, Shelley, Julie, and Yvonne who welcomes people in on the desk and takes the subs. We were able to contribute £600 to the running costs of Holy Trinity for 2024 and £1000 for 2025, as well as making a £100 contribution for the broadband connection when the cost

inadvertently increased for a short period. The money we receive also funds marketing and the website, with the majority used for refreshments and craft materials.

We meet every Wednesday morning at Holy Trinity to enjoy friendship, support, refreshments and crafts. Most are 60+ years old, but we have increasingly seen younger women, some fitting it around their work patterns. During the school holidays we encourage the ladies to “Bring your Girlies to the Shed” and they join in with the crafts. A number of the ladies are sharing their skills and talents and are leading small groups, for example, felting, crochet, air-dried clay modelling and art.

Last Summer there were outing to Weymouth and Slimbridge, as well as groups going to the live opera and ballet at the Odeon. There is a regular Monday morning breakfast meet-up at the Albany. Local health centres often recommend us and the social prescribers drop in and support some of the ladies to help them settle in. We made crochet poppies for The Down cemetery for Remembrance Day last year, and Claire and Shelley co-ordinated our Christmas Tree for St James. The theme was “what do you find special about the Shed” and the ladies wrote on cards to hang on the tree. Their comments were touching and reminded us all of the importance of friendship, creativity and community.

Some of the ladies are now attending events at our church and other churches. Of course there are some ladies who are part of other churches, but the majority are not. Some regard the Women’s Shed as their church! We continue to see some come to faith and others renew their faith. We regularly pray after the Shed, for those who ask. We are beginning to share Bible stories around the tables and more and more faith conversations are happening.

After much prayer, we have made the decision to remain closely affiliated to St Thomas’, but to continue our mission to the women of Trowbridge, the Deanery and CATA more independently, for mostly practical reasons. I am reminded in 1Cor 12:12 that “just as the body is one and has many members, and all the members of the body, though many, are one body, so it is with Christ.” St Thomas’ is part of God’s big plan for our area and it will be good to continue to build the kingdom together with others.

I spend about 1.5 days a week coordinating everything, with the support of Claire, Shelley and Yvonne, now that Lyndsey has other duties at church. We also needed a separate bank account and a card machine to reduce the complexities of being cash-only. As I will be moving to Holt St Katherine’s for my curacy for the next three years and beyond, it would have left a big commitment for someone else to take on, as Simon and Elle begin their ministry at St Thomas’ and St John’s.

Please continue to pray for the Team, who faithfully serve by putting out tables and crafts each week and provide support to the ladies. We would love to speak to you if you feel called to be involved in this ministry. Please continue to pray for everyone who comes through the door that they will experience the love of Jesus and go home refreshed.

Bless you, Judy Wright

9.3 Morning Break

The Morning Break continues to meet in the Church Rooms every Friday morning. During the winter months we meet from 11.00 to 1.00 pm for coffee and a chat (and sometimes a very informal Quiz) and then a light lunch of soup (usually homemade) and a roll. In the summer we meet from 10.30 to 12.30 for coffee, cake and chat.

We are really grateful for the way the Lord has encouraged us during this year, our numbers have grown and sometimes we can be as many

as 25 (we are rapidly outgrowing the Audrey Prentice Room!). The group are really supportive of each other and are ready to give encouragement and practical help when members encounter difficulties, illness or bereavement. We were all very sad when one of our number, Michael Dowell, sadly died suddenly at Christmas. However, we are so glad that Celia still joins us week by week.

We have had two “special events” during the year at Christmas and at Easter when we have had a Buffet Lunch with some entertainment. It has been our pleasure to welcome some members of our congregation who are not regular guests at the Morning Break. Everyone has really enjoyed these events and it has been good to offer food, fellowship and fun as well as some gentle “seasonal” input together with an appropriate gift for each of our guests to take home.

It has been particularly encouraging to see some of our guests joining in main church activities such as the Carol Service, the Easter Monday Walk, the Harvest Supper and Quiz, the Burns Night Supper and the August “Posh Afternoon Tea”. It is also rewarding to see one of our gentlemen joining in MenUnited events. We have also started offering our guests printed copies of the Monthly News which they are all eager to accept.

This year some of our Volunteers have had to step down due to age/infirmity/illness so the group is now facilitated by 5 teams of volunteers and caters for any who would like companionship during the week whether they are just neighbours of the church or church members. It would be really good if we could move back to having 6 teams so if you fancy a nice chat, a delicious slice of cake and meeting new people why not come along one Friday and perhaps think about joining a team.

We look back in gratitude for the blessing it has been to us to spend time with our guests and we look forward excitedly to what the Lord has in store for us in the coming months.

Geoff Tate and Linda Puttock.

9.4 The Island

Holy Trinity church is the venue for The Island after school drop-in, so called because the church, standing on the roundabout by Trowbridge station, is in the middle of the surrounding roads.

The Island is open on Tuesdays from 3.00-4.45pm for secondary school children in school years 7 to 11 (ages 11-16 years) on their way home from school. The numbers attending over the last year have varied between around 25-40 with young people from all three local secondary schools, John of Gaunt, Clarendon and St Augustine’s. There is no set programme but there are a number of available activities including badminton, snooker, Xbox, board games, crafts and football. These are all enjoyed while some of the young people chat, have time out, appreciating not having to engage after a day at school, do homework or make up their own games. We offer hot chocolate, cold drinks, doughnuts and cookies, there is a long queue at serving time.

It is a joy to offer this facility to the young people and to get to know some of them. Some have come regularly since The Island started in January 2023, we have seen others for shorter periods, and a few have returned after some time away.

Geoff & Harriet Heard

9.5 Tom’s Shed

My role as a Commissioned Lay Pioneer followed a commissioning service at Christchurch Warminster on the 12[th] of February 2020. Just three weeks before the UK Covid Outbreak! So, a difficult time to find out where God was leading me in this new role. I had recently taken early retirement from work and initially got myself involved in seven different community groups. I found that I enjoyed working in the community very much and how easily I could share my faith when the time was right. This year I’ve decided to stand down from four of these community groups to release the necessary time needed to concentrate on both the Trowbridge Men’s Shed and Tom’s Shed.

Tom’s Shed is now in its second year and continues to grow. We now have 21 members on the books, but we’ve also lost three due to ill health. Tom’s Shed is a social Shed, where the guys spend more time chatting, drinking tea, and eating far too many biscuits before they do anything else! This said we do have some model making going on, colouring style pattern books and games such as crib and dominoes. We also provided the 2024 Men’s Shed Christmas tree at the St James Church Christmas tree festival with a handmade tree, complete with decorations.

In 2024 we introduced six outings during the summer months, this proved to be very successful and it was a delight to see the guys enjoying a good time out together with lots of banter! We visited car and train museums, Portsmouth Old Docks. There was a summer outing to the beach at Weymouth. We travelled by train, with a cuppa and a bacon roll on arrival, followed by a superb fish and chip lunch, a pint in the harbour pub and ice creams on the beach to finish the day off. It was then time for the train ride home, most fell asleep! We have plans for 2025 including the Air Fleet Museum, a canal boat trip, Go Karts for some(!) and a return trip to Weymouth.

Some of the guys have recently shown an interest in making things from wood. This would not be possible in the church hall; therefore, we’ve decided to join Trowbridge Men’s Shed one day a week at their new premises, Marsh Farm, Hilperton.

Tom’s Shed has been very successful as a place where guys can improve their wellbeing and make new friends. They feel safe under the wing of St Thomas Church, and they appreciate that the Church is providing a place where they can come together. There have been an increasing number of conversations about God. As a pioneer I have seen the success and difference this has made to their lives. There are trusting relationships, and I’ve been able to draw alongside most, providing support and kindness. It’s also been a privilege to see how the guys have come to support each other.

Kevin Wright (Tom’s Shed Organiser)

10. Buildings

10.1 Fabric Team

General

Energy & Energy providers

Our energy contracts expired in 2024 both at Holy Trinity and St Thomas’. Our new provider at both churches is now YU Energy. The move at Holy Trinity was quite simple but at St Thomas’ this took months partly as all our electric meters had postcodes and the church didn’t have a postcode. We established a postcode for the church with Royal mail as this was necessary with moving the office to the church, but problems still ran on for months. Pat Kerby finally, through the energy Ombudsman, gained significant compensation from our previous company and we were able to make the switch.

5 yearly EICR electrical safety checks were carried out at both churches. Kevin Wright did some remedial work to reduce the bill at Holy Trinity.

Quinquennial inspections were carried out at both sites in May. No major issues were identified requiring urgent action.

St Thomas’

The Church Hall stability continues to be monitored by DH Surveys. There seems to be little difference in the measurements in the last few years.

Flies in the church: After an attempt to rid the church of an infestation of cluster flies, we discovered the presence of bats meant that we couldn’t fumigate the building. We will have to live with them for now. Room Hire : During 2024 there were quite healthy bookings of our church rooms and hall. On Track alternative educational provision has been a significant hirer bring welcome income, but this has obviously increased the wear and tear on rooms.

Tables : To cater for the demands of users more collapsable tables and a trolly store were purchased in March.

The electric Hall heaters were cleaned in March by Kevin Wright.

The Audrey Prentice Room was refurbished over the summer. This included a new kitchen unit (Kevin Wright), repainting the walls (John Bullock), new chairs ordered (Geoff Tate), new flooring and a wall mounted TV.

The Outside Lighting had been an issue for some time. The lights on the corner of the church walls over the carpark had been broken and the light on the stone pillar seemed to be shorting after wet weather. By the end of the year, lights for the church wall had been purchased and installed but the problem had not been rectified.

Lightning conductors were tested in May

Over the year Geoff Carter was busy doing several odd jobs including mending and refurbishing St Ts noticeboard on St Ts Road. He’s also fixed shelving for Mini meet & Messy church in the large cupboard on the steps to the hall.

The church office was moved from the vicarage into the former creche just inside the church rooms through the summer. It was equipped with a doorbell, blinds and an external postbox and the carpet was cleaned. Transferring the phone line from the vicarage proved a little more difficult.

As the creche room was repurposed as the new church office over the summer, we created a toddler and family corner at the back of the church with a movable bookcase, carpet and toys craft materials and

carpet.

Grass cutting & Gardening. David Mayell who has been our grounds man wanted to relinquish his grass cutting duty. We are now employing Jamie Chapman to cut the church grounds and during the Interregnum he also managed the vicarage lawn. David continues to look after the borders around the church and especially the pathway. Vicarage garden There were vicarage garden working parties in August and September as the church took responsibility for the garden in the interregnum.

The Vestry. Kevin Wright and Steve Bolt did a deep-clean of the vestry in the summer.

A water leak at the stop cock in the halls was discovered in the autumn which contributed to our water bill increase. This took a few plumber visits to resolve.

The deterioration of the Hall floor meant we needed to tape up damaged sections prior to a decision about the future of the floor. We are grateful to Steve the cleaner for his work on this.

Holy Trinity

The rebuilding of the Boundary Wall was completed by early summer after much communication with the Town Council and Diocese.

Repainting of the Church Doors was completed in August.

The Boiler had been causing problems throughout the winter and Robert Jones spent many mornings checking that it had fired up on days it was needed.

Robert also ensured the flower beds around the church look tidy and colourful.

Rainwater was seeping through the Porch ceiling and led to a collapse of some of the plaster. Roof repairs were carried out to remedy the issue.

In November the church carpet was cleaned and made a huge difference to the appearance of the interior. We will consider doing this more regularly to try to maintain the carpet in a good state .

John Chettleburgh and Paul Edwards

11. Trowbridge-wide Activities

11.1 Impax

Impax is a youth group which meets in the Paxcroft Mead Community Centre from 7:30pm to 9pm on Wednesdays during the school term for young people aged 10 to 15 (they can start from the beginning of the school term in which they turn 10). The youth group is overseen by the Urban Saints organisation who cover training, safeguarding, literature/resources and advice on best practice but on the ground is run by a small team from St Thomas’ Church (although historically the

group also had volunteers from other Trowbridge churches). We have been greatly helped by parents and students volunteering occasionally but would love a couple more regular helpers, so please get in touch to find out more if you think you could help.

Impax has had another great year with between 15 and 20 children regularly coming on Wednesdays, a large number of these not attending any church. We typically run some games, a tuck shop and lead a short talk / discussion about Jesus. We took an extended group of 35 children and young people to Spree Southwest last June and several of our young people took significant steps forward in their relationship with God during the weekend. This year we have also run our annual trip up Westbury White Horse for wide games and donuts in the dark, our Christmas safari supper supported by various hosts on Paxcroft Mead and run a sleepover with activities in the church rooms. The children have enjoyed hearing from several visiting speakers on Wednesdays and if you have a passion that you’d like to share with our young people we’d love to welcome more visiting speakers over the coming year.

We are also aiming to occasionally relocate and meet at Holy Trinity on a Wednesday, using some of the games and equipment that the Tuesday after-school Island club uses. Our hope is that we may be able to encourage children at the Island to come along to Impax in a familiar environment and that this may act as a bridge to them joining in more regularly with our Wednesday sessions on Paxcroft Mead.

Please pray that God will continue to bless Impax and that he would help us find new volunteers and encourage new children to join the group. Also pray for our 8 or so Year 10s who will likely move on from the group after the summer, that God would continue to work in their lives.

Matt Young and the Impax Team (Richard, Ruth, Geoff, Laura and Abigail)

11.2 Christian Action in the Trowbridge Area (CATA)

(Christian Action in the Trowbridge Area)

Sharing God’s love with the people of Trowbridge.

CATA is a loose association of churches providing an opportunity for us to work together to share the love of Jesus with Trowbridge, in both word and action. There are currently 12 member churches of which St Thomas is one and which has always played a leading role in supporting CATA. Forums to discuss, report and share are held every 2 months. The Officers currently serving are Chair - David Ross (Cornerstone Christian Fellowship); Deputy Chair - Geoff Tate (St Thomas); Communications – Chris Andrews (West Lavington Baptist Church and Cornerstone); Treasurer - Jean Covington (St John’s West Ashton). We have recently amended our Statement of Faith and Practice so that each Officer will serve for 3 years, with the option of standing for re-election if they wish.

The main events during the past year were - The Good Friday March of Witness/Joint Easter Celebration; Praying over Trowbridge from the Westbury White Horse; the CATA Annual Celebration at St James Church and The Living Nativity. In addition to these annual events, CATA facilitates several initiatives including Street Pastors; Town Chaplains; Soup Run; Storehouse Foodbank and Nexus; Trowbridge Debt Advice Centre; MENUNITED Trowbridge; Wiltshire Youth for Christ.

In conjunction with Trowbridge Town Council, a directory of some of the community groups active in the town has been produced. A Trowbridge Community Action Forum is in its fledgling stage, and it is hoped that it will serve to provide networking opportunities for local faith and community groups to share experiences, best practice and identify any overlaps or gaps in service.

We have much to thank God for in the way churches co-operate in reaching out to the community.

Geoff Tate

11.3 Soup Run

The Soup Run team have been so grateful to have the help of Ruth Chettleburgh in sorting out the ‘manning’ of serving guests. We have also welcomed onto the team Hilary whose regular help has been invaluable. All this has made the operation more flexible and no longer just relies on Joan Bond and myself.

Numbers of guests seem to have increased drastically over the year – we can regularly get 15 plus. Of course not all guests are homeless but have varying problems which necessitate them using the soup run. We now include fresh fruit along with the sandwiches and soup/coffee. At Christmas the Carter Small Group prepared the usual Christmas goody packs which are always gratefully received.

Of course, none of the above could happen without our faithful team of sandwich makers. We have had to say goodbye to Pat Kerbey, a sandwich provider for many years so there is a vacancy for someone to come onto the rota and provide a loaf of ham sandwiches

approximately four times a year. Please let me know if you feel you could take this on. Both sandwich makers and ‘runners’ – we all play a practical part in showing Jesus’ love to the marginalised in society.

Celia Russell & Joan Bond

11.4 MenUnited – Trowbridge

MENUNITED- Trowbridge

2024 has been a really good year – with wonderful speakers at all the seven events at Trowbridge RFC. In response to popular demand, we now have an extra Curry Evening in November. The Rugby Club continues to offer an extremely good venue for us.

Prayer underpins everything we do, as we strive to follow God’s vision for us in 1Timothy2 verses 1 to 8. Our Monthly Prayer Meetings are held at Bethesda Baptist Church – we have an interesting selection of guest speakers from Church Leaders.

The monthly Lunch Club, at The Kings Arms, has up to 25 men joining together for fellowship and a really good meal each month. We have more than 220 men on our Email Contact List extending well beyond Trowbridge.

Our Email Address: menutrow@gmail.com Website link: https://menunited-ba14.uk/home-page

Please pray that the Lord will continue to use MENUNITED, to be an effective force in promoting Church Unity, reaching the unsaved and holding up our nation in prayer at this crucial time.

We pray that everything we do will: ENCOURAGE

EMPOWER

and EQUIP men to get the best out of life John Reynolds

11.5 Town Chaplains

We are 8 people from 7 different churches. We go out every Wednesday morning – market day. We meet at 9.15 to pray for the morning ahead. We always work together in pairs. Usually, two pairs go out and we agree which route we will take, so we don’t visit the same shops! (There are about 80 businesses on our two routes.) We go into each shop and say ‘Hello. How are things?’ Often, we just have a little chat about the weather or ask how business is going. If the shop is busy, we don’t interrupt – the idea is to support the businesses not stop them working! Sometimes, we will just give them a wave and a smile if we can catch their eye. Some of the people miss us if we don’t get to see them and will ask us ‘Where were you last week?

The aim is to show concern for each person as an individual and to show them they are valued. Some of the shops are run by one person who is on their own for a lot of the day. When we go in it can give them a chance to chat to someone and be heard. Many of the shop keepers and stall holders enjoy us visiting – Their faces light up when they see

us. They trust us if they have issues they want to discuss and will sometimes even ask us to pray for them. One week recently we collected their thoughts on the town and how it could be improved and fed their thoughts back to the Wiltshire Council survey.

We would love to have some new volunteers. It’s 3 hours once or twice

per month and you would be welcome to come round with us one week to see how it works – do ask me if you are interested.

Alice Bull

Appendix:

2024 Annual Report and Accounts for Annual Parochial Church Meeting 29 April 2025

Firstly, on behalf of the PCC a huge thank you to all those who gave to the finances of the church in 2024.

The audited accounts show that during the year our church income exceeded our expenditure by almost £18,000. Praise be to God for this – it was a much better outcome than we had expected (starting from a reluctant acceptance by the PCC of a £19k deficit budget in January 2024).

How was this achieved – partly by increased giving by some church members, but the increase in income for the use of the church hall, church rooms and, to a smaller extent Holy Trinity, was very much from On Tracked Education - they paid the church in the region of £22k for their use from April to December.

On the expenditure side we saw an increase of £7k on our Deanery Share; salaries and pension contributions were less than anticipated due to some staff resigning and not being replaced, and fell by rose by £3.3k; and the cost of utilities across the St Thomas campus and Holy Trinity increased to over £25,000 – this being due to increased use of the facilities and also problems with British Gas and a refund has been received in 2025 for this.

BUT this £18k ‘profit’ was incredible and we give praise to God again for His incredible generosity. And again, a huge thank you to everybody

Now to Him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to His power that is at work within us, to Him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, for ever and ever! Amen. Ephesians 3:20,21

2024 income

fees and interest cottage Income £231.7k HT Rent rooms rent Hall rent church … Giving Gift Aid @ 2024 costs 2025 budget Giving 144.3 134.9 Gift Aid 30.4 29.5 Church income 1.5 1.5 Hall Income 7.3 7.5 Rooms Income 26.8 18 Holy Trinity income 6 4.5 Cottage 9 9.3 Fees and interest 6.4 5.4 231.7 210.6 ~~Ae~~ The hall and rooms income figure in the budget just assumed 3 months use by On Tracked Education as we aren’t assured of a longer term use by the group.

2024 expenditure

----- Start of picture text -----
Grounds [Children/youth] Expenditure £213.8k
Cottage Admin Sundry
Maint
Utilities
Ss
Share
Insurance
Salaries
----- End of picture text -----

Salaries
		Giving
	2024 costs	2025 bud	2025 budget
Share	94.3		94.2
Giving-Some of the
tithe wasn’t paid until	18.9		24.5
2025
Salaries	38.6		30
Insurance	9.8		10.2
Utilities	25.4		24.2
Maintenance -Inc
refurbishment of AP	11.8		18
Room
Cottage	0.9		1.1
grounds	1.2		1.8
Children/ youth work	1.5		2.4
Admin	4		4.3
sundry	7.4		8.9
	213.7		219.6

2025 budget as agreed by the PCC in January 2025

The PCC reluctantly agreed a £9k deficit budget. We had ‘trimmed it’ as much as possible, but leaves us with very little room for manoeuvre.

----- Start of picture text -----
fees and …
cottage Income £210.60k
HT Rent
rooms rent
Hall rent
church …
Gift Aid Giving
S>
Grounds [Children/youth]
Admin Sundry [Expenditure £219.6k]
Cottage
Maint
Utilities
Share
Insurance
Salaries
Giving
----- End of picture text -----

All things come from You, and of Your own do we give You

Pat Kerbey, Treasurer to 31/12/2024

Charity number 1132916 The Parochial Church Council of the Parish of St Thomas The Apostle Trowbridge Report and Accounts For the Year ended 31 December 2024 Oakensen Limited Chartered AOuntallts Bryer Ash Business Park Trowbridge Wiltshire BA14 8HE

Th¢ P#ro¢hi&l Church Countu of the Parlsh of St Thomas The Apostle Trowbridge Trustees Annual Report The trustees presellt their amiual r¢port 2nd accountg for the year ended 31 December 2024. The board of trustees are satisfied wth the perforniance of thr charity during the year and the position at 31 December 2024 and consider that the cbarity 15 iu a go(d position io continue its activities dill8 the coming year. and that the ¢hariWs assets aTC adequate to fifil its obligations. oWECs AND ACTIVITIF.S Si Thomas, is a Parish cornniunity nling in two c01bgretiQS (St Thomas ttnd Kingfisher CThurch) at thre¢ locations (St Thomas,. Holy TIinity aT]d the Mead School). We describe ourselves as a 'Chrislfocuse4 communtyf4eingJ churchfamily.. This up our'DNA'. hrist focussed OEnmunity facing hurck family Surely church is by d¢fmition Chrlst-foeusedry Sadly. Mot always. We can start out wtth the best of intentions bu¢ in the relendess dejnands of keeping the show on tbe road drill Before you know it. church end up being more about church, thLn 2bout Jesu& What l5 supposed to be the fragrance of life to society around can cotne to have a sliglttly musty SLllell. And if that process goes UnChk¢d (God forbid) the arotna of Christ is r¢plar¢d by th¢ stench of rott¢nnw and day. Therefore. ubove all else, we strive to make Jesus Christ the cenlre of all we are and do. The Commtsnlty Foelng dynamic of tbe parish con be seen ill many of St Thomas, activities, whtle the whole raison d'etre of Kingfisher Church is to bring 'friendship. hope and healin¥ to Paxcroft and Castle Meads. Archbishop of Canterbury William Temple famously said. The church is the only institution that exists primarily for the benefit of those who are not its members., More recently Bill Hybeb has said, The Ioc81 church is the hope of the world,. ThÉs missional emphasis 8 intcgral to who we are and is one of the driving principles of our Church Buildings Development projects at botb St Thomas, and Holy Trstiiry. Church F4mdy. Of all the New Teslament images for the Church (Body, Bride. Temple etc.) the one which resonates most deeply and fits us best is the Family of God. We are a congregation of all ages and backgrounds who know we belong together and care for one another because we have the same Father in ljeavert. Whilst wc prioritise work wilh Children and farnilie& w¢ a150 seek to be a community vthere singk widowed and div¢)Tced people are valued every bit as nwch as those who currently livtt in family units. We also have a signifiC*t number of folk who hav¢ rais¢d their familics. and mally ar¢ now rdiTed playan importallt part in the life of ourchurches. ACHIEVEMEIYTS AND PERFORMANCE The Community of Trowbridge Trowbridge. the county town of Wihs.hiK lies about ten miles to the south-rast of Bath. With a populatioD of over 37,OtM), it 18 (he third largest town in W11tshire after Salisbury and ChippenhanL There are good rail and road link& with acces% to LApndon and the Mtdldnds via the M41M5. Tn)vknridgc is les5 afflueThi than some Wiltshire lowns. with the advantage that propety ts more affonlable. A Govetnment FutLW&S granl ha5 enabled a large amount of work io be don¢ in smattellillg up the towll, in the hope of attracting new InVt¢t in tIL¢ town's rthvelopmcoL Ther ha8 beeTt major h08tng developments with niore being planned on the outskn.rts of the town. A major hotel. cinema and restaurant area pri>vide leisur¢ &ctiviti¢s. Tn)wbridge Civic Centr¢ houses the Tovm Louncil offi¢ gnd Towist infortnation LerLtro and there are fvrther shops and food outlets just across the River Biss. It is hoped that u long-await¢d rcd¢velopment of the fornier Bowrs factory sit¢ will bcgiu SOOIL

The Parochial Church Council of the Parish of St Thomas The Apostle Trowbrldge Trustees Annual Report The headquarters of Wiltshire Council tn Trowbridge is a flagship civic buildtn& although illCTeaSJ horne•WOTking Ipartly resulting tT07n the COVED paYJdemi¢) is Changing the face of l(ul governmcni. The town's population itt¢ludes settled communities from Eastern Ewope, the West Indies. Morocco and other African countrie£ and in the last few years includ¢s ¥ $ignifi¢8nt number of Ukrainian RefiEg¢es Social probl¢w3 arc chÈ¢fly associat with drES and alcohol and homelessness. In additian io local auihority prowmmeb. Trowbridge ben¢fits grcatty from 8 wide rdnge of national ar local volunteer orgallisationy providin¥ social abS15tance. Stalistics indicaie that the incidence of crime is sigllificanily lowcr than for the county as a whole all major c2legories. Trowbridge h&8 a Minor Injuries Uni( a new Health Centre and a nnber restdential and nursing hoinek The nearest gvnernl hospital is in Bath, and th¢r¢ Ès aTL excellcnt hospice. DoTOthy Hous& neaTby in Winsley. St Thoms$' P$h Buildings In 1870 the new church of St Thomas opened to serve th¢ growing numbeT8 of mill workers living on the nort side of the town. built by Major Thomas Clark (Mill owner and Dcputy Lieutenant) at his own expense! The . • patish wos latIv¢1Y $tnall consisting of th¢ ar¢a b¢tw¢¢n St Thomas, Road and the Down. FollowiM8 th¥ threat of Closure, the ¢ortgregation grew ste2dily fom the l960s.and now has a lively ¢vangelicaVcharisn)atic ministry with a strong emphasis on children and famÈlie5. In 21X)O the xearby housing development of Paxcroft Mead was added tt) the parish and in 2009 Kingfisher Chur¢h Cst Thotnas, on th¢ Mead) was planted in th¢ Mead School. In 2010 8 section of th¢ fonmer Trinity parish (the Broadtn¢ad area) w&8 also add¢d to the parish. including Holy Trinity Church ('The Cliurch on the Roundabout) recla&sified as a Chapel of Ea In addition to the ¢hurch itsdf. St Thomas. ¢ampus comprises a cottage {currently let). an ageing Hall {19605 erak a good suite of Roon (added in 1990) and the Vicardge (built in 1970). As well as being used ext¢ttsiv¢ly by our oivn Longregation and group4 we also welcome m&ny outside community orgttnisations into our buildings. These rcgularly include On Tracked Alternative ucational Proiision. GUIdBrowniGS1Raib¥s, U3K AA, CaTneY& Club. Footli8ht4 Stagecoach. Trowbridge Philharnionic Choir. family CQDf¢rence& Lboirs and dralltiC groupsy Ma¥icai Music and rDally one-off tvcnts. Kn this way. both &ites provide a valuable r&source for the local ¢Munity and help to pay for th¥ir upkcep. L(Jc81 Schuol% use the churches for SOTne setvices, especidlly at Christmas. Projects are underway for the development of all our buildings with 4 view to better factlitating what alteady happens and extending our mission and ministy throughout the 21st Century. An impressiv¢ reord¢r5ng of St Thomas,, along with significant impjxsirments to Holy Trinity wEr¢ undertaken in 2018-9. Phase l of the I)evelnpment Project for both buildings is now complete aT the major challenge is when to begin fulldrnistng and p18nning for St Thotms. Phast 2 {Teplacing the c.hurch H1 and remodelling the Rooms and entrancc a&). Thought will also need to bc givcn to possÉble partnerships within Dioct4 Deanery and local eommunty to %ecwc the long.t¢rn) fuwye of Holy Trinity. PUBLIC BENEFIT St Thomas, Chur¢h PTovidts weekly senqces open to all. activiti&g for young peopl4 and parent and toddler groups. Services are provided in hOOlS and Tesidential ho, Trith pastoral Ca for the elderly. It supports charities in ihe UK and abT()ad. and ChaplainLy in Wilishire Council and TTowbridge Town Centre.

The PrhR91 Church Countil of the Parlsh of St Thomas The Apostle Trowbrldge Trustees Annual Report FINANCIAL REVIEW The ¢Ilty made an op¢ratiooal surplus of £14.617 (2023 - deficit of r2,415). RESERVES POLICY The unrestricted fund r#presents the charitys free r{rV which are reiained to providc initial funding for activiti¢s and 8¢n¢ral running cogts of the Church. Th¢ serVeS should wv¢r at l¢&qt thrce nv)Dths norn]al expendiNte. REFERENCE AND ADMtNISTRATIVE DETAIIS C.haTTrty number. Rebristered Office.. Our Adv4tsors 1132916 York Buildings. Trowbridg<VTltshI BA14 8wr FaMIners. Ballkm.. Oakcnsen timit¢d, Bryey Ash Business Pk. TrnwbTidg< WiltshirG BA14 8HE ILSBC 46 For¢ 8treeL Trowbridge, Wiltshire. BA14 8EL CCLA Senator Hous& 85 Queen VictorRa StreeL London. bC4V 4ET Trn$tefs James Coutts- until June 2024 Paul Edward John Ch¢ttleburg Harriet Hd Patricia KeTbey Natssha Bristow EstherBro ChTiStopher barnell Angela Grisi Robert.lones- until A[ Christine WhItt(k Martyo Whittock Judy Wri¥hi LndSeY Wright- from April 2024 Simon WrÉght Madeleine Ar¢h¢r Ruth Chetteburgh Mariori¢ Wad¢ HanDah Cox- until July 2024 Alison Bcnnctt- unlil October 2024 Pctcr Hancock- from Octobtt 2024 Stcphen Bull - from Octobei 2024 Helen Shtelds- from October 2024 STRUCTUR& GoVERANcE AND MANAGEMEiYr GovernlngDocument The Pari)chiai Church CouDci] is an unincorporatcd association Eoverned by a wrilton constitutio updated and agrLYd in 2014. Appointment of trustees New trustees are selected and appointed by those on the Church Electoral ROIL for an indefinite period of servic¢.

The Parochlal Church Councll of ihe Parish of St Thomas The Apostle Trowbridge Trustees Annual Report Organtsatlonal structure Allan Coutts was Incumbent of St Thomas. for25 years until June 2024. He had responsibilities for St Thoinas aud 2150 the Sm] village patisb of West Ashton on the e8Stem edge of Trowbridge until he retired in June 2024. St Thomas, has 3 Licw¥ed tay Ministws (Martyn WhittocK Angela Gtist and Judy Wright) as well as tean of Licence41 PasÉoral A.l$tantS and Commissioned Lay Pioneers. Anoiher mcfflber of OUT cowegation is training to bccon]e an LLM while Judy Wrigbt is workmgtowards ordillation in 2025. There are no retired clergy in theparisli. A Staff Team was reinststed to guide the church thUgh the intcrregllunu the teaEn eoDslStiThg of St Tbom8s ChurehwardeT]4 I St Sohn's Churchwardens and the three LLMS. The PCC (Paroehial Church CounetD is the body respotible for the finance and fabric of the church. It has 18 membcr& part clected, part ex-officio. and meets bi-monihly. All of its members are TSte¢s. We h#ve two Chur¢hward¢n4 Paul Edward$ and John Ch¢ttl¢burgh. and thr¢¢ A$$istynt ChurChwaTdeT one hllvtng special respoDSLbTlity for Holy Trinity. Pat Kerbey h&4 S¢Tvcd as Treasurer for a number of years. Any urgent business that occuts between PCC meelings is dealt with by the Standing Conimittee coiisisting of the Vicar. Churchwardens, PCC Secretary and Treasurer. The Vicar was supported by a Serviee Leadership Team. Our parish Safe8Lwding Team ¢onsi8ts of mart Whittock (with responsibility for thildren), Liz Atkins (with responsibility for vulnerable adults). and until September Jean Foy (with rcsponsibility at Kingfisher Church}. Pat Kerbey was Safeguarding Administrator and Verifier. Pald staff volunteera. At the stsrt of the year. our salaried staff consisted of Church Administrator {Fr2Trki¢ Smith). Admin A&4iStant (Andrew Palmer). Yoth Workcr (Hannah Cux). Kingfther Leader (Alison Bennet} and cleaner (Steve Martin}. During the year the Admin Assistallt {July), Youth work¢r (July) and KiDgfisher Lder (October) all left our enwloymenl and we have not yet filled these posts on a penr}ent basis. W¢ remain cxtremely areful to members of the congregation who giv¢ th¢ir tim¢ and ¢n¢rgy so willingly in the nunTrerous oth¢r rol that are n¢cd¢d to ¢n5U thc smooth running of a church of this si7e. These include ihe Verger& all those involved in Finan¢4 Buildings maintenance. Junitsr Churcl Youth WOTK Worship Tcams. Sound 8nd AV dcsks. Small Group Leaders. Toddlers and Messy Church. Prnyer Ministy. Hospitality and Maintenance Teams. Morning Break plus those who gi lifts and und¢rtak¢ countlcss other jobs which enable us to function. The Pastoral T nststin8 of LPAS (Lay Pastoral Assisfants) also fulfil invaluable role earing for the churGh family. Wlder links. Beyond Trowbridge, St Thomas. Churcb pjays a lijll wart in the sltuctur¢s of the Church of Englanl includtDg Bradford Deanery Synod. Th¢ ¢huwh Supports ¢h&TIti and mi5$ions boih national and overseas. giving l 00/0 of our kn¢ome annually. We have a Mission Awareness progrdmEn¢ and speakcrs from various missions come to speak at our morning serviLes thToughuut the year. M¢mb¢TS of our CODgreg&tious trequently attend traiDing ev¢nts Tun by Salisbury Diocese, Tr4ew Wine. LJCC and other Christian networks. We are woOKiA¥ towar(Ls 'Eco Church. ststst5.

The Parochi41 Church Council of the Parish tsf St Thomls The Aposde Trowbrldge Tru5tee5 Annual Report For some years. StTFAomas' has been on¢ of thedriving for¢es b¢hind CATA {CbrAsti8n Aetion in the Trowbridge Area): Menunited (wh?ch holds very succewful Big Breakfasts and CuryNights as well as reglarmen'S prayer meetÉngs alld Iwiche5)" aDd many joint compa5sioll mini5tri¢s {5uch as Street Pastors. Nexus Homeless Drop In, Soup RuT]. Town Centre Chaplain& Storehouse foodbank and th¢TrowbYidge Debt Adw"ce Service). Holy Trinity al as a venue for many ditknt events and activities including Church and school 5orvic¢5: Thc Island aftcT sth90l club for Old childF¢n; and WomeD'5 Shed. Tom's she {Men's Shed) meets ai Si Thomas.. In 2024 livcstrcamed scrvices coDtinucd to PTOVC iDvaluabl¢ for thosc unablc to att¢nd and othcE5 wishing lo 'uL¢h up. lat¢r. A number of ftew people have joined the Fegular congregatiDns and several quick]ybecome very actively involved. Kingfisher Church on Paxcroft Mead clothl in Septemberafter 15 years followng ihe reS]tiOn of th¢ part-timc church Icadcr, Alison Bcnnel. M051 mcrnbcr5 of the Kingfisher congrwtioTh have turned to St Thomos.. And w¢ itifrnd to ¢ontinu¢ to maintain the mission on Pax¢roft M¢a(L In December, tbe church conducted assemblies and a Living Nativity atth¢two Ptilnary Schoo15 on the Mead. Cbildrcn's and Youth Work continues to bc c¢ntral to our mi8510 andwe ate currently advertising For a new Youih Worker. Irnp Group at PaKcroftMead continues to thyive and 'The Island" after school drop in 8tHoly Trinity r¢gularlyha$ wdl ov¢r 30 ytsung people who play gAin&s and so¢iglise with our conutiitted volunteer leaders. Community facing outreach remains central to ourDNA. Women's Shed and Toin's Shed have become firnily esÉabltshed' with the Morning Break meeting in the Church Rooms every l*riday moming. This grew out ofthewami Spaces initiative, serwng soup and bread in the winter and coff¢e and cake in th¢ sw7llner. A 8ood core of I-churCh mernkn frointhc local neighbourhood attend regularly. joined by church members who value the company. Each month teanLS also visit and lcad a service of worship in two residential care homes in ourparish. Finally. other significallthappeniThgs ill St Thomas. oTrerthe yeArhave been motkthly ChUb Player Meeting& a successful Lent coe. an are& Ukrainian Service. a music concert with BÉthop Andrew. an adult Baptism and sunimer services at Holy Trinity. The Soctal Team organise social events when po&sTblc one rnolsth. Thesc 4Te for church Tntynb¢TS 8nd also for gllts, and have ncludcd Suppers for 6. quiz nights. afternoon te4 games evening and other fun events. One (peciallY sad occasion w&5 thc neral of our dcar frien Reverend Reubcn Dunnin Tetired priestwho had served the churches in pastyears. In July we held a lovely farewcjl party forAllan Coutts and his Ivif< Janet. who ar¢ now ¢Djoyang Tclir¢ment in Chestcrficld. We ar¢ gruI For all thgt Allan did in his lead¢r5hip and wg eagerly looking fonvaTd to appointing a ncw vicar coming lo take God's work on in the Iwo parish¢s in 2025. Bjsks The major risks to which the ¢haTity is exposed as identitied by the trustees, have been reviewed and sYSt¢n QT procedures have been estsblish¢d to manage th¢)se risks.

The Parochi Church Council tsf the Parish of St ThomA8 The Apostle Trowbrldge Trustees Annual Report RESPONSIBILITIES OF THE TRUSTEES The trustees are r&%pongible for preparing the Trustees Annual Report and the fin¥ncial Statements in a¢cordatt¢e with appli¢abl¢ law and United Kingdom Accounttng Sthlldards ( United Kingdom Generally Ae¢'¢pled Awounting Pjxctiee). The truslecs are to prqyare financia] statrincnts for eacb financial y¢ar wbAch gtv¢ a true and fair view of the state of afFairs of the charity and oFthe incoming resources and application of resources, in¢luding th¢ Tn¢orne and ¢xpendithr< OF the charity for that period. In pr¢pkring financial statements. the trjsiees are requtred to: - sel¢ct suitable accounting policies andthen apply them consi5t¢ntly. - observe the methods &id principles in tbe Charities SORP: - m&k¢ judgemertts and estint¢S that are reasonable and PTudent: - state whether applicable UK Accounting Standards have been foll0v4. subject to at]y material departures dTsclosed And explained isl the fitwicial statements; - prepare the financial statem¢nts on th¢ going con¢¢rn ba5]5 unless it is iDappropri&te lo presume that the charity will continue in operation. The Trustee8 are also responsible for mxintainillg tqllate aeeouftting re¢ord8 which disclose with reasonable accuracy at anytime the financial position of the charityand which are suificient to show and explain the charity's tratiOnS Imd enable thelll to ensure ihat ihe financial stat¢ments comply with regulations made under th¢ ChaTiti¢S ACL Th¢y aT¢ klso responsible for s&feguardiDg th¢ assets of the cbarity alld hence for tsking Èrasonable steps for the prevention #nd d#tectioD of fraud and other irr¢8ulaTiti¢s. INDEPENDENT EXAtW4ER Mr David Oakensen FCA ot Oak¢nsen Limkted was appointed as ind¢p¢nd¢nt ¢xamin¢r for the year. 11/8/201S Thi& reportwab approved by theTrustees of tbePCC on...... ..................... Paul Edwords Trustee

The Parochial chrCh Council of the Parlsh of St Thomas The Apostle Trowbrldge Statsment ofFinancial Actii'ities For the year ended 31 De¢emb£r 2024 Unrestiieted Restrieted Funds Funds Totsl Fullds 2024 Total Fundx 2023 Notes INCOME AND ENDOWMENfs FROM: Income from donalions and legacies Income from chatitable activiti& 144276 88.053 144,276 103.093 131,281 77.174 15.040 TOTAL INCOME IIND Eh'DOWMEiYrs 232J29 15.(140 247,369 208.455 EXPF.NDITURE ON.. Exw)dibJTe on d)aTitable activities Other ¢xp¢nditur# 209.720 3.978 19,104 228,824 207,893 2,977 TOTAL EXPENDITURE 213,698 19.104 232.802 210,870 Net {expenditure)Ilncome before InvestmeDt gaiTrs 18.631 (4.064} 14.567 12.4151 Net gains on inveslm¢nts Net (expeDdltlETeyincome 18.631 (4.0(A) 14.567 (2.415) Gross trnnsfers between fund$ 18.631 (4.064) (1415) ReeoncllltEon of funds: Totsl funds at l January 2024 74,830 29.769 104,599 107.014 Totsl fyvd8 at 31 December 2024 93,461 ?5.705 119.166 104.599 There were tto rectignised gains and lo&ses other tham those shown in the abo StatemeDt of Financ&al Actlvities.

The Parochial Church Council of the Parlsh of St Thomas The Apostle Trowbridge Balanee Sheet As at 31 December 2024 Note5 2023 Current a4sets Dcbtors Cash at bank and in hand 649 123.556 106.662 106.662 Credfitors: amounts falllDg due wSthin one year (5,039) (2.063) Net curTtnt assets 119,166 104599 et 8ssds I l9,l66 104JW Represented by: UnF¢stricted funds DeS1)ted f¢]nds Restricted funds 60,610 32,851 25.705 39.568 35.262 29.769 io 119.166 I04.599 11/3/25 Approved bythe Tn]st<¢s of thePCC on..................... Paul Edwards Truce

The Parothlal Church Counell of the Parlsh of St Thom88 The Apostte Trowbridge Notss to the Attounts For the year ended 31 December 2024 l A¢¢ountlng polkles Basis OfOn1{A& The charsty constites a public benefit entity as defjned by FRS 102. The financial statcmcnts havc i*e prepared in accordancc with Accouniing and Rcporting by Chariti£s: Statcmoot of Recommend Pr&¢ti applicable lo charitics preFwing their accouT]ts in awordancc ihe Financial Rcporting Standard applicable to the United Kingdom acd Republic of JTelaDd (bRS 102) issued on 16 Juty 2014. the Financial RepoTling Standard applicable in ihc Unitrd Kingdom and R¢publÉc of frcland IFRS 102), the Charttics Act 2011. the Companies Act 2006 and UK GenerallyAccepted Practice as itapp1t from l January 2015. JncominR ruoiirces IncoJne 15 recogni5ed when it 15 received. Gift aid tax claiDk8 ar¢ calcu]ated on the acc[15 basis to ensure that the funds rewgnised in th¢ 5atD¢ accounting period as the gift. Re50UTCeS erpended Resources ¢xpend¢d are recognised in the pertod they are inCUTred and ]lUde any VAT. Costs which are directly attnl)utable to meeling charitable objects #re classified ag pmvision of charitable service& These costs are directly allocated to actÈvitie& Costs associated with the general Nnning of the charity which are not attributable to meeting eIribIe objects are classified a8 management and adminithtioll Costs. FAnds Unrestrkcted fimts ¢an b¢ us¢d in x¢¢ordan¢¢ with the charitAble objects #t the dis¢rdion of the trustees. R¢stried ftfftd5 Can only b¢ used for particular purposes within the objects of ihe charity. Restrictions arise when specified by the donor or vknen funds are raised for partteular restricted puryoses. Expenditure which meets these criteria is charged to the fuAd. Further explanation of the natsre 2nd purpthse of each fi]nd is inLluded in the not&s' to the financial statements. Dehth Debtors are recognised at the amL)uni duL Prepaynents are Wdlved at the amount prepaid nel of trade discounts du¢. Creditors are recogni¥ed where Ilie charity has a present obligalioD Tesulting from a paslevent t])at 1] Probably result in the transfer of fwids to 8 thrd paty and the amount du¢ to settl¢ the obligati'ou call be measured or estimated lIably. TaK471ion The charty is Ex¢mpt frorn tsx on income 8na gains falling Ththin scctian 505 Df the Te5 Act 1988 or section 252 of the Taxation of Chargeable Gains Act l992 to the extent that these are applied to its charitsble objts. Judgements and key¥oUr$ ofestsin4tion uncertainty The preparation of the financial statements requires management to make judgements. ¢stimates and assiimptions that affectthc arnounts reporte¢l These estillmtes and judgements are ¢ontinuAlly r¢view¢d and ar¢ based on experienee arLd other factOTS. including expLXtations of fijture events that are believ¢d to be rnsonable under the circumstances. No si£rLifLcantiudgen]ents have had to be made in preparing these fingn¢ial staternents.

The Parochial Church Coundl of the Parlsh of St Thomas The Apostle TrowbrRdge Notes to the AccouDts For the year ended 31 Deeember 2024 2 Income from doBatiolls legaeies Unrestrleted Restrieted 2024 21123 Plannal giving Donations 136.580 7.696 144.276 136.580 7.696 144.276 123.564 7.717 131,281 3 Income from charltsble acttvltles Unrestrl¢trd Restrlrte 2024 2023 Gramts Cjift aid refunds Church rcnt Hall income Room iTrcoH Cottage income Holy Trinity income Parent and Toddler inwnL¢ 30.425 1.463 7277 26,850 9.0(X) 5.993 640 1.349 30.425 1.463 7277 26.850 9.000 5.993 640 lJ49 27.779 585 5.666 8.793 3.782 555 498 1,231 3.010 11275 Sundry iTJcome Interest Ukrdine family support 5.056 5.056 15.040 15.040

The Panhlal Church Council of the Parish of St Thomas The Apostle Thiwbrldge Notes to the Actounts For the year ended 31 December 2024 4 ExpeDditure 00 ehxritable ¢tSvhles UBrestrlcted Restricted 2024 2023 Deanery share Vi¢ars ¢xpenses Chllr¢h giving Ukraine family support Salaries Pensxon Training Rent Insurance Heat and light Cleklljing Water Rep&irs and iertewals Cottage expenditsre Grounds Flardshtp fund Parent and Toddler expendibjre Youth work Cell 94.286 256 18.811 94286 256 18.811 18,434 37,567 1.080 899 1.087 9.805 23.607 lJ93 1.765 11.878 861 1,172 670 562 1.509 87J02 234 20.075 15,167 40.615 18,434 37567 1.080 899 1.087 9.805 23.607 1.393 1,765 11.878 861 I,172 268 .539 9.005 18.931 1,586 1.228 4.164 748 1212 670 562 IJ09 448 1.911 45 1242 1.058 25 1.776 1.120 286 1,776 1,120 286 Music and licences Audio visual syster 209.720 19,104 228.824 207.893 5 Other expenditsre Unre5tricÉed ReriCted 2024 2023 'relephone and broadband Siationery Websitr costs Subscription and fees Accountancy Bank chargas Equtpment expensed 1232 795 336 1232 795 336 122 1.092 155 246 ,001 379 175 122 900 90 310 1.092 155 246 3.978 3.978 2.977

The Parochial Chur¢h Councll of the Parlsh of St Thoma5 The Apostle Trowbridge Notss to the Accounts For the year ended 31 December 2024 6 Analysis of staff c05ty trustee TeMUeT4ti0n expenses the Cost of key m4nageD)ellt personnd Salaries alld employers NIC Employ¢rp¢nsion ContribOnS 37.567 1,080 38.647 40.615 41.705 No employees hod employee benefits excess of £60,000 (2023: none). Th¢ ¢harity IfUs¢¢¢s wer¢ Dol paid or received any oth¢r benefits from employment with the Trust in the year (2023: £njl) nor were they reimbursed expenses during the year (2023: £nil). No charity tNstee recekved payrwit for professional or other services supplied to the cbariry{?023: £nil). The fjjll tin equivalelltnutnber otstsff for the charity is 2 {2023= 2) 7 Debtors 2024 2023 Other debtors 8 Credltors: amounts falling due witltin one year 2024 Accnjals aTtd deferr¢d into Other credttors 3.995 5.039 1.163 2.063 9 UnTestrlcted funds Bance as at I J#NM#ry 2024 In¢offtiDg resources OulgolDg rosour¢¢s 2nd tr*4slers Bance as at 31 December 21Tr24 and transfers Charitable fund5 39.568 234.178 (213.136) 60,610 DeilEMated Funds". St ThoThws Repair knd St Thom&s Heating fimd Iloly Trinity f leatimg fund Holy Trinity Repair fijnd St Thomas Hall Repairfund St Thomas Hall Heating fuiid Redundancy reserve Developmcnt Fund reserve Parent and Toddler gtvup 4.000 7.000 4.000 1,51K 1200 iJoo 4.989 10.000 73 2200 1.500 2.500 10,000 151 (2.489) (562) 74.830 234818 (216.18n 93.461 12

The Parochial Church Countil of the Parlsh of St Thomas The Apostle Trowbrldge Notes to the A¢¢ounts For the year ended 31 December 2024 10 Restricted re5erve5 Bal#u¢e a5 Xt Bal¢¢ as at 31 DecembeT 2024 2024 Expendltsre Hardship fund mSve Bmwn HolyTrinity Fabric fund St Thomas Development ffijnd Development fund 3.088 632 10.000 1263 8.843 23.826 (670) 2.418 632 io.(NJo 1.263 8.843 23.156 (670) Ukraine Fwnily fund 5,943 15.040 (18.434) 29.769 15.040 (19.Iii4) 25,705 11 ADihTsls ofnet *55ets betweeD fu]MJs h'et eurreut Total R&strided funds Designated funds UnreBtricied fiinds 25.705 32.851 60.610 25.705 32.851 60.610 Net assets at th¢ erKI oftheyear 13

The Parochial Church Couneil of the Parfish of St Thomas The Apostle Trowbridge Independent examiner's report to the members of The Parochial Church Council of the Parish of St Thomas The Apostle Trowbridg I repLft on my examination of the aOntS of the ¢l)0rity for the year ended 31 December 2024. whi¢h ar¢ set out on pages 7 to 13. Responslbllliles and bas1$ of report As the charitys trustees, you aTe responsible for the prq)aralion of th¢ ac¢ounts in accordance with the requirements of th¢ Charities 2011 {'th¢ A¢l'). I report in respect of my examination of the charity's accounts carried out und¢r se¢lion 145 of the 2011 Act aEid in ¢wing out my ¢xamination. I have followed all the applicable Directions given by th¢ Charity Commission under s¢ction 145(5){b) of the Act. IndependeDt examlner'$ slatement I hav¢ compl¢tcd my examination. I confirnj that no mat¢rial matt¢rs hav¢ ¢om¢ lo my attention in connection with the examinatii)n which gives me cause to believe that in, any material TPeCt.. the accounting records were not kept in accordance with section 130 of the Charities Act. or t]ie accounts did not accord with th¢ ac¢ounting rccords; or thc accounts did not comply with the applicable requirements concerning the forn] and content of accounts set out in the Charities (Accounts and Reports) Regulations 2008 other than any requirement that the accounts give a 'tru¢ and fair, vi¢w which is not a matter consider¢d as part of an indep¢nd¢nl examination. I have no concerns and hav¢ ¢ome a¢ros$ no other Tnatters in ¢onne(tion with th¢ cxamination to which attention should b¢ drawn in this rcport in order to enable a proper understanding of the accounts to be reached. David (hkensen FCA Ind¢p¢nd¢nt Examiner Oakensen Limitcd Chart¢r¢d A¢¢ountants Bryer Ash Busilless Park Trowbridge Wiltshire BA14 SHE