2025-12-31-accounts

Annual Reports and

Financial Statements of the Parochial Church Council of Willingdon

For the year ended 31[st] December 2025

Bank: Barclays Bank 63-67 Terminus Road, Eastbourne BN21 3NE

Independent Examiner:

MDJ Services, Unit A6, Chaucer Business Park, Dittons Road, Polegate, BN26 6QH

1 Annual reports and financial statements for the PCC of Willingdon, Year ending 2025

Aims and Purposes

The PCC has the responsibility of co-operating with the parish priest, Fr Adam Ransom, in promoting in the ecclesiastical parish the whole mission of the church, pastoral, evangelistic, social and ecumenical. It is also specifically responsible for their respective church building and the church hall.

Objectives and Activities

The PCC is committed to enabling the whole community to find faith in Jesus Christ and to worship him at church. The PCC along with the priest-in-charge, maintain an overview of the worshipping life of the parish. All our services aim to put our faith into practice through music, prayer, scripture, and sacrament.

In obedience to God’s Mission, we seek to help ordinary people in the parish live out their faith. We encourage worship and prayer, increasing understanding of scripture and deepening relationships with Jesus. We seek to provide pastoral care to those in the church and wider parish community. We hope to reach others through missional and evangelistic activity.

We are committed to encourage generous giving through our stewardship schemes and through raising funds by trading in our hall.

Achievements and Performance

Worship and Prayer

Throughout the year we held regular Sunday and weekday worship at the parish church and this was predominantly eucharistic following the liturgical seasons of the Christian year.

We took 11 baptisms, 3 weddings and 16 funerals during the year.

We also held special services such as our Taizé eucharists and a pet blessing service.

Our work as Church on the Trees continued to serve the community there and thanks must be given to the volunteers who have made the Tuesday café and worship and all other offerings possible. Particularly successful was our Community Easter and Carols services and we hope to continue to connect with the wider Trees community in ways such as this going forward.

2 Annual reports and financial statements for the PCC of Willingdon, Year ending 2025

The Church and Hall

In order to serve the community and to raise funds to meet our financial obligations we rely on our church and hall buildings to be maintained to a good state of repair. During the year of 2025 our heritage committee has been instrumental in co-ordinating the constant review and repair of the fabric of the building. Thank you to our hard-working heritage committee team.

The hall continued to be rented out during 2025.

Pastoral Care

Deacon Sue Wilkinson continues to be our Pastoral Care Co-Ordinator for the parish partnership and she oversees the provision of pastoral care. We trained and commissioned several new lay ministers of communion and along with the clergy they have taken a part in the pastoral ministry of our church. Visits were made to the sick and dying as well as opportunities given for people to discuss their cares and concerns. A bereavement group was trialled by the parish partnership in the new care home on the top of Decoy Drive.

Children and Youth

During 2025 we continued to run Messy Church activities, a big thank you to all those involved.

A Children’s Cross service was held on Good Friday.

We also held our annual crib service which was particularly well attended.

Engagement with Lower Willingdon and Oakwood schools occurred over the advent and Christmas period.

Our Encounter service continued to run and we trialled a Toddler service that we closed due to lack of wider interest.

Mission, Discipleship and Evangelism

Alongside all of the mission, discipleship and evangelistic work detailed in other parts of this report we:

• also supported Family Support Work and the food bank.

• Three adults were confirmed.

• We were involved in the Week of Prayer for Christian Unity 2025 locally, with good attendance from our congregation. The event was partly organised by Fr. Danny.

• Have run our usual courses (seeing good stable attendance) along with spiritual study days, two pilgrimages (Walsingham and Saints in Sussex) and special services. Our

3 Annual reports and financial statements for the PCC of Willingdon, Year ending 2025

lay-led Bible study group continues and has also started lay-led quiet days. We have had more of our Willingdon Quiet Days in the year. This year, for the first time for Advent, we had a lay-led book-group which was well attended. Thank you to those volunteers who have begun to engage in these discipleship activities.

Community Events and Engagement

• A pantomime was held in January 2025 and a good time was had by all!

• A summer fair was held in June 2025 which helped us to engage with the local community and raise some funds.

• A Christmas tree festival was held in December which helped us to engage with the local community.

• We continue to have reps present (along with Fr. Danny) at the Willingdon, Polegate and Hampden Park Churches Together group, and we have been involved in modest ways with some events they have run. Thanks to Annie, Lynne and Maria for their involvement.

Financial Review

During the year the PCC reviewed, and agreed to rationalise, its banking and investment structure. The National Westminster Bank & Scottish Amicable accounts were closed and the funds transferred to the Barclays Bank accounts as shown on page AFR-2 of the treasurer’s Annual Financial Report.

We started the year with combined bank and investment funds of £330,672 and ended the year with £219,903, a reduction of £110,370. Of these funds, £74,330 are held in Endowment funds and are not available to deploy, only the nominal interest it provides. Equally, a further £88,879 are held in investment accounts, and of these, £25,364 are held as restricted funds. The remaining £59,268 is now held in the Barclay’s bank accounts. (AFR-2)

Receipts

Receipts for 2025 were £116,124, a decrease of £49,769 on 2024 ( £165,893) mainly reflecting the fact that previous year included a £23,000 legacy, and a £31,605 decrease in voluntary giving. (AFR-3)

Payments

Payments for 2025 were £243,124, an increase of £40,778 on 2024 (£ 202,345 ) , mainly due to the increased spend on necessary repairs - Church House (£41,687) and the Church (£22,836). This year’s Parish Share payment to the Diocese represents only 88% of the Parish Ministry Costs and continues to present a huge commitment. (AFR-4)

The implementation and migration to the new finance systems and processes, started in late 2024 with Alpha Payrolls, has continued throughout the year and is already providing much

4 Annual reports and financial statements for the PCC of Willingdon, Year ending 2025

better clarity, although it should not be underestimated how much there is still to be done during 2026.

Reserves Policy

During the year the PCC regularly reviewed the purpose and value of Restricted, Designated and Unrestricted funds. The usual policy is to ensure that the PCC maintains a year end closing balance of at least 3 months' worth of average Unrestricted Funds expenditure.

The Unrestricted Funds expenditure for 2025 was £187,647, giving a monthly average of £16,024, therefore a reserve of £48,073 is the minimum required for 2026. The closing balance of Unrestricted Funds at £122,618 is more than sufficient to allow this.

Due to the ongoing, and very expensive, heritage repairs to the church building, the PCC will need to withdraw further investments during 2026.

Safeguarding

The parish continues to review and update all safeguarding procedures, following the current diocesan guidelines including implementing ‘Simple Quality Protects’ (SQP). The Parochial Church Council fully recognises its duty to have due regard to the House of Bishops’ guidance on safeguarding children and vulnerable adults.

Volunteers

The PCC wishes to thank all those who have volunteered in any way over the course 2024 in helping keep things running.

In particular it wishes to thank Trevor Amey for his tireless work in the maintenance of the fabric of the buildings and work as warden up to the APCM in 2025.

The PCC also thank:

• The team of volunteers for their work on the churchyard.

• The flower team for the stunning creations they make.

• Those who clean the church and care for the linen.

• Those who set up for services.

• Our servers and welcomers who help keep things running smoothly.

• Those who help with messy church.

• Our social committee for all their work on providing entertainment and food throughout the year.

• Our bell ringers who enthusiastically announce our worship to all in earshot!

• All those who work so hard on the annual pantomime.

• Our lay ministry team who do such a good job visiting people and distributing the chalice at communion.

• Our honorary assistant clergy and readers for their hard work and care.

5 Annual reports and financial statements for the PCC of Willingdon, Year ending 2025

• Our musical director and choir for the beauty they bring to our worship.

• Our worship band and singers at Encounter

• The quiet day team for setting up and running 3 quiet days a year.

Structure, Governance and Management

The method of appointment of PCC members is set out in the Church Representation Rules. At both PCCs consists of the Priest in Charge, churchwardens, and elected members. All church attendees are encouraged to register on the Electoral Roll and those who are confirmed are encouraged to stand for election to the PCC.

The PCC members are responsible for making decisions on all matters of general concern and importance to the parish including decisions on how the funds of the PCCs are to be spent. All members are made aware of their obligations as Charity Trustees and their responsibility to uphold safeguarding practices.

The PCCs meet no less than once every three months plus hold an Annual Parochial Church Meeting.

Administrative Information

The parish of Willingdon consists of St Mary, the virgin, which is situated on Church Street, Willingdon. It is part of the Diocese of Chichester within the Church of England. The correspondence address is the Parish Office, St Mary, the virgin, Willingdon, BN20 9HT. The Parochial Church Council (PCC) is a body corporate (PCC Powers Measure 1956, Church Representation Rules 2020) and a charity excepted from registration with the Charity Commission.

Following the 6 year complete renewal there are 125 people currently on the electoral roll of the parish.

PCC members who have served from the 1[st] January 2023 until the 31[st] December 2025

Priest in Charge and Chair: The Revd Adam Ransom (Ex-Officio)

Associate Vicar: The Reverend Danny Pegg (Ex-Officio) (Until November 2025) Associate Vicar: The Reverend Sue Wilkinson (Ex-Officio)

Treasurer Mr Tony Kemp Wardens: Mr Trevor Amey (Ex-Officio) (until APCM 2025)

6 Annual reports and financial statements for the PCC of Willingdon, Year ending 2025

Representatives of the Deanery Synod: Olaf Hoag (Ex-Officio) Paul Martin (Ex-Officio) Brian Waters (Ex officio)

General Synod Member: Tina Nay (Ex-Officio) (Resigned during 2025)

Elected Members:

Stephanie Anderson (Vice Chair) Sheela Didla (Resigned during 2025) Lynne Lorraine Christina Robinson (Secretary) Martin Gibbs (Resigned during 2025)

Co-opted members:

Anthony Wilson (from APCM) Jeremy Rowett (PTO lay reader) Lyn Bishop (PTO lay reader)

This report was accepted by a majority of the PCC on 3rd May 2026

Signed: Fr. Adam Ransom Willingdon PCC Chair

7 Annual reports and financial statements for the PCC of Willingdon, Year ending 2025