2022-12-31-accounts

MARKET HARBOROUGH PARISH CHURCH ST DIONYSIUS

ANNUAL REPORT & FINANCIAL STATEMENTS

of the

Parochial Church Council for the year ended 31[st] December 2022

Team Rector:

The Rev. Barry Hill

Joint Team Vicars

The Rev. Phil Bryson The Rev. Vicki Bryson

Bank:

HSBC Bank Plc 15 High Street Market Harborough

Independent Examiner:

Stuart Hayward Nathan Charles Accountants 8 Eckland Lodge, Desborough Road Market Harborough, Leics LE16 8HB

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Contents

Subject

Page

Proceedings of the Parochial Church Council and Activities of the	Proceedings of the Parochial Church Council and Activities of the
	Parish for 2022.
Statistics for Mission Return	see Team Annual Report	2022
Membership of the PCC		4
Review of the Year		5- 10
Treasurer’s Report		11
Accounting Policies		12
Independent Examiner’s Report		13
Statement of Financial Activities		14
Summary of Balances		15
Notes to the Financial Statements: Incoming Resources		16
Notes to the Financial Statements: Resources Used		17
Statement of Investments		18
Budget for 2023		19
Dorothy Smith Bequest Forum		20
St Dionysius PCC Community Hall (Audited)		21

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Market Harborough Parish Church Registered Charity Number 1133101

ANNUAL REPORT and

FINANCIAL STATEMENTS

of the Parochial Church Council for the financial year ended 31 December 2022 which have been prepared in accordance with the Church Accounting Regulations 2006 and proceedings of the Parochial Church Council and activities of the Parish for the year ended 31[st] December 2022 and for presentation to the Annual Parochial Church Meeting on 19th April 2023.

THIS REPORT refers to the Parish of Market Harborough and its church dedicated to St Dionysius in the Gartree Deanery in the Diocese of Leicester.

Background

The church is located in the High Street in the centre of the town of Market Harborough and its address for correspondence is: - The Secretary of the Parochial Church Council, Bamburgh,13 Summers Way, Market Harborough, LE16 9QE up until 24[th] May 2023.

As from 1 November 1997 Market Harborough Parish Church became part of the United Benefice of the Market Harborough, Transfiguration and Lubenham Parishes, with Great Bowden becoming part of the Team in February 2007 (and formally through Pastoral Measures in March 2008).

By the end of 2022 the clergy within the Harborough Anglican Team of Churches comprised:- The Rev Barry Hill, Team Rector (part time), The Rev Phil Bryson & The Rev.Vicki Bryson, joint vicars as from 1[st] September 2022. The Rev Andy Giles, full-time interim Associate Priest to lead Connect Church and to Minister as Acting Team Vicar to St Dionysius Church until 1[st] September 2022, The Rev Stephanie Hill, Associate Priest (part-time), Rev Hils Corcoran, Team Vicar of St Peter and St Paul Church (part-time), Great Bowden, The Rev Alison Iliffe, Team Vicar of the Transfiguration (St Nicholas, Little Bowden and St Hugh’s, Market Harborough) and The Rev Jack Wixon, Associate Priest of All Saints, Lubenham up until 26[th] June 2022, The Rev Rob Leveritt, Team Curate and The Rev Tom Grant, Church Planting Curate.

The role of the Parochial Church Council is that of an accountable executive body with the responsibility to review and to regulate appropriately the affairs of the parish. It is required, as stated in the Parochial Church Councils (Powers) Measure, 1956, to co-operate with the minister in promoting in the parish the whole mission of the Church, pastoral, evangelistic, social and ecumenical.

Committees

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

Church Hall Committ ee whose task is to maintain the structure and condition of the Church Community Hall as well as to organise external bookings and the Hall’s finances.

Fabric Committee whose task is to monitor the Church building, goods and ornaments of the Church and, when necessary, propose structural repairs and alterations to the Church building and maintenance of the goods and ornaments.

Finance Committee which includes a churchwarden and the Treasurer.

Outward Giving Committee whose task is to make proposals to the PCC for church giving to outside organisations both home and abroad.

The Re-Ordering Committee

This is the temporary committee formed to oversee the re-ordering of the Church, the start date for which is still undecided.

Standing Committee

This is the only committee required by law. It has the power to transact urgent business between meetings of the Council should the need arise and has consists of the Team Vicars, Associate Priest, Church Planting

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Curate, Vice Chair of the PCC, the Churchwardens, PCC Secretary, PCC Treasurer, Leaders of the 4 Functional areas and Chairman of the Fabric Committee.

The Team Statistics for Mission Return has now been transferred to the Team Annual Report.

Membership

Members of the Parochial Church Council (PCC) are either ex-officio or elected at the Annual Parochial Church Meeting in accordance with the Church Representation Rules. During 2022 the following served as PCC members:

Ex-officio members:

Chair. The Rev. Andrew Giles (Acting Team Vicar until 31[st] August 2022 The Rev Phil Bryson & The Rev Vicki Bryson, Joint Team Vicars as from 1[st] September 2022 Vice Chair. Roger Brookstein Honorary Secretary. Anthony Sharp Honorary Treasurer. Angie Hill Licensed Clergy. The Rev Barry Hill The Rev Stephanie Hill The Rev Andrew Giles The Rev Tom Grant (Part) Churchwardens. Roy Ayliffe Roger Brookstein Readers Lydia Tebbutt Deanery Synod Roy Ayliffe Representatives Roger Brookstein Elected members Kevin Armstrong of laity Christine Etherington Veronica Gamble Thomas Sandham (Part) Co-opted Samantha Peverett

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REVIEW OF THE YEAR

What a difference a year can make! A year ago we were partly gripped within the Covid pandemic; now it is rare to see a mask being worn and Covid seems to have taken a place within the number of illnesses that we are all potentially liable to catch, but for which we have a reliable vaccination to assist in preventing this. Life has nearly returned to normal, with face-to-face Church services, meetings and social events returning to some normalitywe even held a very successful Church Fete in June under the overall organisation of Samantha Peverett and her Fete Committee- except that Covid has and still continues to affected the numbers attending Church services.

In September we saw the arrival of Phil & Vicki Bryson as joint vicars working as a job share. This obviously ended the vacancy, which Andy Giles had managed very well in the position of Acting Team Vicar. We have all been grateful to the considerable effort made by Barry Hill in achieving the permission from the Diocese to advertise for the vacancy to be filled.

Thanks to serious world events, particularly with the invasion by Russia of Ukraine, this Country has suffered financially, and we have seen inflation rise to levels not seen for many decades. Not only has this affected all our lives but the knock -on effect has caused suffering to Church income as well and it is difficult to see when this crisis will end.

The Review once again covers the 12 calendar months of the year ending 31[st] December 2022.

At the 2022 APCM, held in Church at the normal time of April, we were pleased to welcome Rachel Buckby and Steve Tayler to the PCC and Rennie Quinn joined the PCC once again for a further term. During the year Thomas Sandham unfortunately had to step down from the PCC for personal reasons. Samantha Peverett was elected as a member of the PCC on a coopted basis for one year. Ken Hook was equally co-opted onto the Standing Committee to ensure that the Fabric Committee, which he continues to chair was properly represented.

During 2022 the full PCC met seven times, two of which were held ‘ virtually’ and five in person. In May we held the first Team meeting of all team PCCs at St Nicholas Church. Each PCC held their own meeting, for about an hour, after the Team get together. The Standing Committee met 5 times during the year. Our very able Vice Chair, Roger Brookstein, chaired all Standing Committee and full PCC meetings until the arrival of our two new vicars on September 1[st] .

The following are some of the items discussed by the PCC during the year.

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Re-ordering of The Church

The Faculty obtained for the Re-ordering had a life of 2 years which ran out this year. and the separate Faculty acquired for the Organ refurbishment in May 2021 will run out in May 2023. The focus once again has been concentrated very much on trying to obtain the funding to enable both projects to commence. As reported in last year’s Annual Report, we employed a Fund-raising firm-Craigmyle Funding Consultants- to assist us with this gigantean task. At the time of writing this Report, various ideas have been put forward but there has been no substantial success, which to a great extent has been due to outside influences, such as the steep rise in inflation over the last twelve months, caused in the main by a large increase in energy costs. This has of course meant that fund raising has proved far more difficult and the Grants that we have applied for have not been successful as yet. We are indeed hoping that the Heritage Lottery Fund, to whom we have applied may be interested in joining the Church into their wish to expand the Heritage of Market Harborough focusing on the Battle of Naseby in the Civil War. No re-ordering can now commence without obtaining a further Faculty from the Diocese.

The Craigmyle Campaign leadership continues to demonstrate, with the PCC’s approval their plan for there to be a genuine commitment to the church being more widely used by the local community-St Dionysius becoming a Worshipping Hub with facilities for the Community. If we are successful with our bid from the Heritage Lottery Fund, the focus would indeed concentrate on the considerable heritage of Market Harborough and its main Church.

The Heart of Harborough Group, continues to be chaired by Rennie Quinn with Chris Etherington taking the lead of The Heart of Harborough Funding Group. Both continue to keep their patience and enthusiasm to see this important venture through to its conclusion.

New Pattern of Services

The trial pattern of services started in 2021 has for the moment become semi-permanent, but it is not popular with all. The creation of The Limitless Church, with a Youth Focused Congregation, was planted in St Hughs and is run by The Rev Tom Grant and Josh Tayler. It does seem to be working well and developing satisfactorily as a Team Group

Safeguarding

As always, Safeguarding has continued to underpin all we do at St Dionysius, with regular meetings taking place between all Team Parish Safeguarding Officers to ensure that things continue to run smoothly. We continue to use the Policy adopted by the PCC in September 2021. In addition, the PCC approved a proposal in March that when a volunteer's Disclosure and Barring Service( DBS) or safeguarding training was due for renewal, their role would be reviewed and safer recruitment completed for all roles that had not been safer recruited originally to ensure transparency in all our processes.

Training continues to be an ongoing process, with the Church of England recommending additional training for PCC members in domestic violence. This

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training can be completed online along with the Safeguarding training that needs to be completed on a regular basis.

Sarah Hix

Finance

At each PCC meeting we receive an update report from both the Chair of the Finance Committee, Rennie Quinn and The Honorary Treasurer, Angie Hill.

This last year has continued yet again to be very difficult from a financial point of view, partly because of the after- effects of the pandemic in that there still remains an understandable reluctance on behalf of some members of the congregation to return to pre pandemic Church attendance and giving. A very substantial deficit has continued to increase throughout the year. Every effort continues to be made to improve the financial situation and as in 2021, the two generous bequests granted to us a number of years ago and brilliantly managed from an investment point of view by Ian Clarkson, provide an invaluable back up and support, even with the turmoil in the investment market experienced through the year, thanks to a large extent to the Ukraine invasion. One of the more positive developments this year has been the resurrection of the Church Fete and the recommencement of a number of face-to-face fundraising events which has very much included regular Cream Teas, which are always well supported. The Finance Committee keep The Parochial Church Council fully aware of the financial situation.

A decision has now been taken to reduce the deficit by reducing the annual contribution we make to the Diocese, rather than relying on monies from the two bequests already referred to earlier . This was far from an easy decision and we will not see the benefit until 2023, when the reduction will take place. The Honorary Treasurer’s Report will no doubt go into more detail.

The Community Church Hall

Ken Hook, who was Chair of the Community Hall committee and who, together with Pat Hook, had brilliantly managed the Community Hall for some 30 years retired officially in May 2022. The management of the Community Hall then passed pro tem to Andy Giles, as it had not been possible to find anyone to take over the management as a volunteer.

By the end of the year no one had been appointed as permanent Manager and the PCC were considering paying for a Manager to look after the bookings and the Hall maintenance for a period of 6 months whilst a more comprehensive plan was decided upon. The Dorothy Smith Bequest Forum were to be asked to fund this temporary appointment...

Fabric

The Fabric Committee ensures that a careful and watchful eye is always kept on the Church Building and Fabric of the Church and Ken Hook remains Chair of this Committee. Certain

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work on the Fabric of the Church during the year went ahead as and when required and much of the required repairs following the recent Quinquennial Inspection were completed. However , there were a number of important areas of repair that were still being discussed at the year end by the PCC, which it is hoped will soon be concluded and action taken early in 2023. These were- the remaining parts of the requirements noted in the last Quinquennial Report; Conservation of the Tower & West Door; a new boiler, work on the Belfry and New Notice Boards.

We have once again been considerably assisted financially by the Friends of St Dionysius, The Dorothy Smith Bequest Forum, The Cox Wall Charities and The Market Harborough & Bowdens Charities.

The PCC has been kept abreast of all new work and repairs to the Church and Ken Hook has continued to involve himself in much valuable work keeping a close eye on the Church building.

Peregrine Falcons.

In my Annual Review last year, I included details of efforts to erect a nesting tray in the Lucarne Window of The Spire of the Church for a pair of Peregrine Falcons. Both the Fabric Committee and the PCC agreed at that time, that provided the Church does not have to contribute financially to this exercise and provided a Faculty is obtained, then they will support the venture which is being overseen and to be paid for through the Leicestershire and Rutland Ornithological Society and the local nature group.

Although the PCC has done all that is necessary unfortunately the Leicestershire and Rutland Ornithological Society and the local nature group, have so far been unable to raise the funds to undertake this work, so until funding is forthcoming there will be no further progress made and no Faculty applied for.

The Electoral Roll

Steve Sherwood, our Electoral Roll Officer, has ensured that we followed all the necessary Church Rules governing the Electoral Roll Register during the year.

As at 31.12.22 the total number on the Church Electoral Roll was 198 (Last year’s figure at 31.12.21 was 205).

Other Subjects discussed

Outward Giving

The Outward Giving Committee present their proposals to The PCC once a year and once again they were unanimously accepted by the Council. The only change was that because

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the Street Pastors had had to close, through lack of pastors, the donation for that organisation should be given to The Churches Together Forum and their Good Friday Screen in the Square. Despite the difficult state of our finances, we are proud to be the Church within the team giving the largest Outward Giving donations.

Steve Tayler joined the Outward Giving Committee following the sad passing of John Ball, who was the Chair of the Outward Giving.

The Children & Family Development Work

We received regular reports from Dawn O’Connell , Families Development Worker during the year.

Climate Sunday

Climate Sunday, introduced into the Church’s calendar last year, took place on Sunday 11[th] September 2022.

Sustainable Harborough Community.

The PCC is keep regularly informed of the activities of The Sustainable Harborough Community.

Corporate membership of Launde Abbey.

The Council continues to hold corporate membership of Launde Abbey.

Deanery Synod

The new Gartree 11 Deanery Synod met regularly during the year and Roy Ayliffe & Roger Brookstein were St Dionysius Church’s representatives, who gave regular reports to the PCC.

Various fund-raising events for the Church.

The number of fund-raising events organised during the year increased slowly but surely during the year as people got used to meeting face-to face once again. The Fete was resurrected in June and was a great success and there is now a proper Social Events Committee that is moving forward with exciting ideas for this coming year, with a Fete again – this time on Saturday July 1st. The 200 Club thrives under the organisation of Mary Clarkson and the Cream Teas never stop, organised so well again this year by Angie Hill and as ever were very successful.

Christmas Cards

We once again managed to produce and deliver Christmas cards this year to those on the Community Worshipping List. Interestingly the distribution of these cards took on a different

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form. Each member of the congregation was asked to take approximately six cards and deliver them by hand to neighbours and friends.

Cards for Good Causes.

Because we were unable to accommodate the Cards for Good causes in 2020 and 2021 because of the Pandemic, we were not asked to assist this year, which was a pity and their stalls within the Church are usually well patronised..

Various regular reports

For completeness and for those who are not too certain what is and what is not discussed at the PCC, apart from those areas already mentioned and including some as well, we receive regular reports from the following throughout the year: -

The Diocesan Synod The Deanery Synod The Churches Together Forum The ECO Church Working Group The Children & Families Development Work The Friends of St Dionysius

For those of you who would like to keep up with the activities of the PCC during the year, the Minutes of each meeting are now placed on the Church website once they have been - - approved by the PCC:- http://www.harborough anglican.org.uk/teamchurces stdionysius/

Please remember the majority of this Review has been based on those matters discussed in PCC meetings during 2022.

Anthony Sharp PCC Honorary Secretary 19.4.23

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TREASURER’S REPORT FOR THE YEAR ENDING 31[st] DECEMBER 2022

2022 has seen normality beginning to return to our Church life, particularly when we were delighted to welcome our new Vicars Phil & Vicki Bryson, and it is hoped that we can now have stability in our Church life.

We must give enormous thanks again to our faithful team of Clergy and volunteers who have kept us all going during the Pandemic and of course another huge thanks for the generosity of our congregation enabling us to help those still concerned about returning to Church.

Our Parish Contribution for 2022 amounted to a total of £108,000 – Thanks once again to the Generosity of the Richard Wall/Jack Cox Fund and The Dorothy Smith Bequest Forum. This year we have needed to reduce our Parish Contribution to £88,000 and we hope now to keep a near balanced budget going forward. We have to remember that our Parish contributions help to support all our wonderful clergy and the work they do.

I feel that it is important to remind ourselves again at this stage that all of our Rector’s stipend and expenses, all of Pep Hill’s and Andy Giles’ stipend and expenses are funded directly by the Diocese.

The 2022 Statement of Financial Affairs shows a Deficit of £2042; It is to be noted that this figure would have been considerably more without the assistance of Dorothy Smith Forum and the Cox/ Wall Fund.

• 1) Once again, the 200 club has been successful – If you would still like to join, please do contact Mary Clarkson or myself.

• 2) We were able to hold near normal Easter and Christmas services this year although with reduced congregations.

We had NO legacies again in 2022 so PLEASE CONTINUE TO THINK ‘LEGACIES’

It is crucially important at this time, that as custodians of the church affairs, we remain aware of the need to maintain the underlying sustainability of our expenditure compared with our income. Our main priority for 2023 is again to continue to make all possible efforts to keep our budget in check.

The accounts are presented this year in the SOFA (statement of financial affairs) format as laid down by the Charity Commission I hope that they remain reasonably clear. Some observations to note are: -

• 1) The Stock Market has reduced in value owing to the rise in interest rates affecting especially the Dorothy Smith Bequest capital.

• 2) Planned Giving is holding steady however, not increasing much, so we do still need to be ever vigilant.

We sincerely hope that 2023 will continue to improve.

I would like to end this report by once again asking for ‘God’s continuing guiding hand’ in all we do

ANGIE HILL, Honorary Treasurer,

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AccouDtiDE Policies 8 applieabk to Mrket Harborough PCC F¥fid# ounts i￿1￿￿ all trarLwi0￿ &wets liabilities for whith PCC is Tespxbnsible in law. lly &) J¥Jt xcounts of church 8rrM4)s tnAin affi11￿10n io another Colleciiorts are reco8nised whth rtttivtsl by or th behalf of the PCC. Planned giving rettivable ￿ Gift Aid is only when receiv￿. Income Tax recovffabk on Gifl Aid in rtr4yiseAI when I￿1)me is reco8nised. Grnnts and legxies to PCC are Xc1)un￿ for •s ￿ as PCC is Thytiri￿ of its legal entitl¢mrn4 th anM)UDt is quontifwbk 4￿j its ultimate rKtio by the PCC is rA%)thly rnid by th¢ fde. prty 5imilw cvents are xcount&J for DivideThts are for when due aryj payable. InreM entitlcmcnts arc xcountyj for a8 c￿. TIX ￿¢0¥¢[￿b￿ iw4Mne 15 reco8nil in the same I￿unI1￿8 ycar. Ilnffali+Kd gains ￿ los￿ forl￿ Thalu￿10n of investnKnts ￿ 31 DecembEr. biThling obli¥Blion on the PCC The DI￿￿$#A Cofttritrmrtiott is for Any Contrilmrtion UN￿ldI0verpOid at 31 December is ryovid￿ for in xrounts (wall￿1 (Ilwh a le8al) liabilily 4NI 18 51LOWI] ￿ a urylitorldeior in the Bala￿¢ SheeL Flxod ￿￿ets Consttrated of Any kiThl is cxclth fn>m the TM)U￿ by 5.96(2Xa) of the Charitiu Ath 1993. Movable church furnidllty trdd by ts Viw Chw¢hwardeDs 4xYial tru￿ for thc PCC. aTrJ which require a fxulty fLY di4MMal. afE As inAlienable prow unle58 lied in chwch's InventLYy whith can be insp￿1￿1 (At any le￿o￿Abl¢ time). For ali¢noble WOpe￿ xqwred (2LKMI) is inwfficient cosl infornJAtion available and thaEfore ￿ &wts Ke iti ta¥M Invttstmcnts e morket v•lue rt Jlst Amounts owing w the PCC * 31 Dxwixr ID re5pe¢t of (Yots income are shown SIMJrt.term &&x)sits ittlwk cuh Idd on de￿￿11 eiflu with thE CBF Church of England Fun or ￿ the i*DL 12

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STATEIOEIITS T¢)i•l 11.364 213 To Icqcts) It>) 4.111 81 7017 213 T4x•I 171•71 Totsl 40iiiiB 7JM 7102 147 251 291 Tota 11931 1112 199.n2 J>X1)• 17

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Dorothy Smith Forum Financial Report for 2022 for the APCM 2023

Capital Value

On December 31[st] 2022 the value price per share was 2,064.59 per share. The total value of the CCLA investment fund was £116,058.24 from 6,259.66 shares

On January 1[st] 2022 the value price per share was 2,341.81 per share. The total value of the CCLA investment fund was £154,577.73 from 6,600.78 shares

The war in Ukraine in 2022 and energy crisis affected finance markets worldwide adversely, but prices started to recover towards the end of the year Reduction in number of shares during the year was to fund St Dionysius contribution to the Children and Families development project.

Bank Account Bank balance January 1st 2022 2022 INCOME Income from shares received this year Bank interest) TOTAL income during 2022 Balance after income	£4,920.95 £3,898.69 £ 46.99 £3,945.98 £8,866.93

2022 Expenditure (for details see report
in Parish Life- APCM)
Total expenditure during 2022	£4,079.00
Bank balance December 31st 2022		£4,787.93
Unspent allocations from previous years
Clergy discretionary fund for parishioners	in financial hardship	£200.00
Unspent Allocations from 2022-microphones & stands Contemporary
Worship Group		£587.00
Other unspent allocations from 2021- retreat and school Nicholls Prize		£280.00
Total unspent allocations		£1,067.00
This leaves available for spending in 2023		£3,720.93

Dorothy Smith Bequest Forum:Ian Clarkson (Chair), Ken Hook, Brian Tanner, Chris Etherington, Garry Davies. March 2023

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COIIE OME L•wN4 F• 12382 881 670

)29 5495 22 7(Kl C 358 18 12e12A7 MH8S knr*Jnt 115. 371.32 TOTAL 110 2noa8 ID aa.3. 20 21