2022-12-31-accounts

Annual Report of the Parochial Church Council for 2022

The Parish Office, 1 Highland Road, London SE19 1DP 020 8761 5927

www.gipsyhill.org.uk

Registered Charity Number: 1133804

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Contents

Section 1: Ministry and discipleship

Welcome – Rev Jonathan Croucher .................................................... 3 Worship, teaching and prayer ............................................................ 4 Children and Youth Ministry .............................................................. 8 Church Community and Pastoral Support ........................................... 9 Farsi ministry ................................................................................... 12 Welcoming into church .................................................................... 13 Together with the community .......................................................... 15 Church building and hire .................................................................. 19 Mission partners – Jonathan Croucher ............................................. 20 Deanery Synod report ...................................................................... 20 Section 2: Resources ........................................................................... 22 Trustees and leaders ........................................................................ 22 Electoral Roll ................................................................................... 24 Buildings and fabric ......................................................................... 24 Income and expenditure summary ................................................... 25 Annex 1 - Governance and administration ........................................ 26 Organisation of activities within the parish ...................................... 27 Statutory Responsibilities ................................................................ 28 Annex 2 – Full Financial Report ........................................................ 29 Annex 3 – Financial Policies .............................................................. 43 Annex 4 – Independent Examiner’s Assessment ............................... 45

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– Welcome Rev Jonathan Croucher

Welcome to our report on the life of Christ Church in 2022. The year has been something of a bridge between living with restrictions under Covid and seeking to return to a life without legal constraints but still with the reality of Covid.

2021 ended with the imposition of new restrictions, following a hesitatingly open Christmas. And so the early months of 2022 proceeded with yet more uncertainty as to what was to come. In light of that, perhaps one of the most moving services of the year was Easter Sunday, the first major festival without serious concerns over Covid. With no clear idea of who might come out to church that morning, we were delighted to have a full church with over 200 people – regulars, families and friends, and visitors. It gave us real hope that church life might begin to settle into a new normal. The year truly has seen the abundant restoration of much that had been lost, as well as new and exciting opportunities that the Lord has opened up to us.

Our ministry to a growing Farsi-speaking community has developed significantly over this year, bringing real blessing to our

existing fellowship as well as to the community of asylum seekers, living locally and farther afield. You can read more about this ministry in the report but we have seen God’s provision and blessing generously bestowed as we have responded in faith to this new work. We are looking forward to the development of this ministry with the funding from the central church that will see Emma Lowth staying with us for another five years.

As we progress through 2023, it's clear that life after/with Covid is unlikely ever to be quite the same. We continue to live stream services in the morning and it is an encouragement that many join us online - those who are unable due to ill health to attend as well as families and friends of congregation members all around the country and beyond.

We continue to discover what it is to be the body of Christ in these times of challenge, and pray for God’s continued leading and blessing of our ministries here in Gipsy Hill.

As ever, words cannot adequately express my great thanks for all who continue to serve in so many different ways in the life of our church, for those living as salt and light in a world that increasingly rejects the notion of God, and those who give so generously financially and otherwise to sustain the life and ministry of a church.

Rev Jonathan Croucher, Vicar, April 2023

Mission Action Plan

Christ Church’s mission action plan sets our vision for our church, and provides us with a focus as we seek to respond to God’s call on us as a community of faith.

Our Purpose

We are here to…

• build up a worshipping community of faith in God that is welcoming to all.

• equip and encourage one another to live our daily lives as disciples of Jesus Christ,

• serve God, in the power of the Holy Spirit, in our church, our communities and our world.

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Our Vision

We want Christ Church Gipsy Hill to be a community of faith that, in its welcome and worship, is open and accessible to people of all ages and backgrounds.

In the life of the church, its worship and activities, we want to share the good news of the gospel of Jesus Christ and grow together in faith and in understanding as we seek God’s will in every area of life.

We are committed through accessible and relevant bible based teaching and prayerful worship to equip one another as disciples of Jesus Christ as we serve Him in our diverse daily lives. We want to provide space to ask difficult questions, share our doubts and deepen our faith.

Through energetic ministry with children and young people we hope to nurture new generations of believers to their own active faith.

We celebrate the love of God for all of creation and recognise our calling to respond to God’s love by proclaiming the good news of Jesus Christ and by loving and serving our community and one another.

We want to engage prayerfully with the needs and challenges in our local community, our nation and the world, encouraging one another, nurtured and empowered by the Holy Spirit, to respond individually and collectively to God’s call to seek justice and love mercy.

Section 1: Ministry and discipleship

Worship, teaching and prayer

Staff and Ministry team

The year began with the shocking news that Helen Williams, our long term administrator and playpen leader, had suffered a severe brain injury caused by an aneurism. During several weeks in intensive care, when it seemed Helen’s life was hanging by a thread, she was surrounded in prayer here at Christ Church and among friends around the country. Over the months that followed, and despite the severity of the original injury, Helen has made incredible progress, and whilst frustrated that there are still ongoing struggles, Helen continues to regain her strength. She decided in July that she would not come back to church and instead focus on getting well and rebuilding her life down in Warlingham. We are so grateful for all she has contributed to the life of our church over many many years.

With Emma Lowth and Luke Whiteman in their curacies, Jenny Thomas working as Families and Pastoral Minister and Josh Prendergast expanding his role as youth intern to cover many ministries in the life of the church, we have been joined by two new staff in the office. Jeanette Bell joined us in September, working two days a week as church administrator. Charlotte Carpenter joined us shortly afterwards as operations manager, working three days a week, and taking on a big chunk of church management from Jonathan. Ina Oakes and Sepi Black have made a wonderful contribution as cooks for Open Door and Foodhub, and both Ina and Jon Caddell have kept the church buildings clean and in good order over the year.

Along with Pauline Simpson, in her role as lay reader, we have continued to offer a range of preachers, with Pete Moorey and our Archdeacon Simon Gates as part of the regular team, Gemma Birt on placement with us prior to her ordination in June, and welcoming also Rachel

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Lillycrop, who is discerning her call to ordination, and Jon Fox, an ordinand in training who was on placement with us for six weeks in the autumn.

Sunday morning services

During the year we enjoyed a gradual return to normality following the Covid restrictions. On Palm Sunday we removed the requirement to wear masks, and it was a joy to see people’s faces again. From September we resumed sharing the peace in the usual way, and also receiving the chalice at communion, while remaining mindful that some members of the congregation wished to remain more cautious.

Our 10.30am services, alternating between Holy Communion and Morning Worship, have continued to attract a wide range of people from different backgrounds, races and ages, including a good number of asylum seekers, mostly Farsi speaking. Several people have returned to church but we are still livestreaming the services for those who for various reasons prefer to watch from home, and we plan to continue this for the time being.

Having had occasional 9am Holy Communion services during the year, we re-introduced these regularly on the first Sunday of the month in the autumn, and had All Age worship at the 10.30 services on those days.

Sermon series on Sunday mornings

Spiritual disciplines

From January until Easter we looked at some of the spiritual disciplines, spending a month on each of scripture, prayer and fasting, with a final sermon on Sabbath rest. For each of the first three we had an introductory sermon followed by three specific aspects of the topic. These were based on Richard Foster’s book “Celebration of Discipline” and were really helpful on a practical level at helping us to engage with God.

John’s gospel

From Easter until the end of July we unpacked passages from John 1-6, looking at some of the main themes of the gospel, and specific encounters between Jesus and individuals, the crowds and the authorities.

Isaiah

For our autumn series we looked at the theme of Restoration, from Isaiah 40-55, taking sermon titles from Bishop Steven Croft’s book “Comfortable Words”. This looked particularly at God’s words of comfort to the exiles in Babylon, with the promise of the return to Jerusalem, and the series included the four servant songs, which as well as prophecy relevant to the exiles also point to the coming of the Messiah, Jesus. This was a particularly helpful series in our current situation of coming out of Covid and the restrictions and difficulties so many had faced during the previous two years. For the All Age services we looked at similar themes using New Testament passages.

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Inspire

Inspire, our twice-monthly evening service, continues to offer a complementary worship space on Sunday evenings for those seeking a contemporary charismatic service style with plenty of opportunity to pray for one another. Over this year, our topics have aimed to complement the main teaching in the morning services, with a series on “Who You Say I Am” taking us through 1 Peter, a series on “Restoration” looking at the healing miracles in Mark’s Gospel, and we have kicked off 2023 looking at “Walking with Jesus”.

Music

Our musicians and singers serve so faithfully, leading us in worship on Sundays. This year has seen a few new members join the musical worship team at Christ Church, and we are so grateful to each one. In particular, it has been brilliant to see younger members contribute their gifts in our All Age music group on the first Sundays of the month, whether on keyboard, guitar, singing or cajon.

This has also been the year in which we have learnt to sing praise in Farsi! Thanks must go to Sepi Black for her patient training in pronunciation and also for her wonderful translation of a song for our Carols by Candlelight – Somewhere in Your Silent Night, Jaaye sokoot shabe to.

Mid-week Communion

Recognising that many still felt uncomfortable coming into a full church, we began offering in 2022 a monthly mid-week communion service along with a light lunch beforehand. It has proved to be a lovely welcoming social occasion and we have been able to offer transport for those who find the journey to church difficult. The intimacy of the communion service has been a real encouragement and joy to share in.

Easter and Christmas services

On Maundy Thursday we had a service of Holy Communion with footwashing, commemorating Jesus’ actions at the Last Supper. Luke led our Good Friday meditation at the cross, which included congregation members being invited to paint our initials on the wooden cross, to identify ourselves with those Jesus died for. On Easter Sunday we were blessed with a bumper congregation including a large number of visitors, joyfully celebrating the resurrection of Jesus (and enjoying some chocolate!)

Our Christmas services followed their usual pattern; the Christingle was preceded by an hour of craft with a variety of activities put together by Luke and led by various members of the congregation, which was followed by tea for the first time for three years. The carol service, on a Saturday this year to avoid clashing with the football world cup final, had the usual mixture of congregational carols, choir items and readings, and was followed by mulled wine and mince pies. The nativity was devised by Emma with plenty of congregational participation and featured Josh as the angel Gabriel on the church roof! Again, this was followed by tea which was much appreciated. The midnight service was as usual quiet and reflective, Christmas morning much livelier and very joyful. We were delighted to welcome plenty of visitors to all of our services and activities, and it was wonderful to be able to run them without restrictions.

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Confirmation

After completing the Alpha course in Friday night youth, two young people decided they wanted to be confirmed – Hannah Venters, and, from Emmanuel, Tyler Antrobus. We were delighted that they were joined by two adults, Rachel Lillycrop and Siobhan Cran. We welcomed Bishop David Atkinson, one of the retired bishops in the diocese (formerly Bishop of Thetford). It was a joyful occasion and not least to welcome the family of Angela Venters back to Christ Church.

Prayer

We have continued to livestream Morning Prayer from the chapel on Tuesday and Thursday mornings at 8.30am. As well as staff and one or two others in the chapel, there is a small but committed group of people who watch from home, either live or later in the day, and who really appreciate being able to join in with the liturgy and prayers.

Our Wednesday evening monthly prayer meetings have mostly been hybrid – some meeting in the vicarage, others joining on zoom. We have prayed for individuals, our church, the local community including poverty and Foodbank, the overseas mission organisations we support, Ukraine and other parts of the world which desperately need our prayers. It is always a really worthwhile time, and we would love to have more people joining us.

On Good Friday morning Pauline led the annual prayer walk around the parish, where we stopped at different places within the parish to pray for the church, residents of the Central Hill and Berridge Road estates, local businesses and schools. As usual we carried the wooden cross as a witness to the community, and we were able to speak to a few people as we walked around.

Environmental Focus

Having achieved the silver eco-church award in 2020, we have struggled to maintain our eco-focus as we come out of the pandemic. Stuart Mitchenall's terracing on the embankment alongside the Goodliffe Hall waits invitingly for volunteers to take on responsibility for planting. We need to resurrect some of our programs aimed at encouraging engagement with environmental issues across the congregation and our community in the course of 2023.

Emmanuel

Jonathan's role as priest in charge of Emmanuel has continued, although as the ministry at Christ Church returned to a regular pattern he has only been able to be at the church on a Sunday once a month. The congregation at Emmanuel is small – about 15 adults in total, with between six and 10 children – but they are committed to ministry and to the worship at church. As well as Sunday morning worship at 10am, they offer an after-school club and a separate youth club on a Friday evening in the Emmanuel Youth and Community Centre, adjacent to the church, which also hosts the Foodhub that we have set up jointly with Norwood and Brixton Foodbank. You can read more about the work of Foodhub below.

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Children and Youth Ministry

Christ Church’s children and youth work saw growth in 2022, after the disruption of Covid in the past years. The Church reinstated old clubs and activities and started new initiatives reaching out into our community.

The pre-school age group and their parents have formed a strong and growing group, with outreach into the community through the Playpen stay and play group, and now in the Diddy Disciples group that meets during the church service. The Diddy Disciples group on Sunday has grown a good number of regulars who bring their children into the hall during the service.

The Raise the Praise and Shine groups were closed during the year but in 2023 RTP has been rebooted and targeted towards the pre-school age group with some success.

For Primary School aged children we have continued to run our Sunday School group and in May also started an ‘After School Club’ to reach into our community. The Sunday School meets during the morning Sunday service and they play games, do crafts and learn Bible stories. During 2022 they have looked at the stories in Genesis, the significance of the Easter story, Jesus’ ‘I am’ statements and the Christmas story. The Sunday School is run by a small and wonderful group of volunteers. In September there was a revamp of the volunteer rota with several people stepping up and joining the rota which allowed us to create two age groups again. The numbers of children at the Sunday School have slowly grown during the year and into the New Year, but for the group to continue to grow more leaders will be needed.

The After School Club was started in May 2022. The club is an hour and half at the end of the school day on a Tuesday, inside the church and hall. The club involves snacks, games, crafts and Bible stories. When we started the club we did a couple of days outside the church giving out flyers and milkshakes to passers-by. This created relationships with several families who now send their children along.

The Club also has several regular church families, whose children have been good at inviting their friends! The club regularly gets 20 children, and has now reached capacity due to the limited number of leaders we have available at this after school time slot.

In the week before Easter 2022 a one day holiday club for primary school children was run, teaching the Easter story, building Easter gardens, playing games and singing songs. The numbers were quite low in comparison to past holiday clubs, but it felt like an important step back to normality after Covid.

We have re-connected with various local primary schools after Covid. Several of the Paxton classes came into the church at Easter 2022 to talk about the significance of the festival. Using Emmanuel Church as a venue, Luke has talked to several classes of children from Elmwood School about the Church and its role in society. Luke is also involved as a governor at St Luke’s school, West Norwood, and takes regular assemblies there.

In the youth age group we have both a Sunday Morning group during the service and a Friday night group. These groups are open to 11-18 year olds, though most of those who attend are in the younger half of this category.

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The Sunday morning group has been blessed with good numbers throughout 2022. The group grew in September as 5 girls moved up into Year 7 so there are regularly over 10 youth members present each Sunday morning. The session is run by a team of experienced leaders, though we are in need of new leaders for this group. Over the year we have looked at topics including Old Testament characters, Christian commitment, along with seasonal teaching at Easter and Christmas.

The Friday Youth group began early in 2022 with the Youth Alpha course. It takes place at Luke’s house, the Emmanuel Vicarage in Clive Road. The group is normally around 10 in number and there is a Christian discussion, with food and games. After Youth Alpha finished we continued to do courses on prayer, Christmas and Big questions. There have also been multiple socials, like Pizza in the Park, Film nights, bowling and board games.

We hope to further expand the Youth ministry in the coming year and are looking forward to taking them away for a weekend in May 23.

I want to take this opportunity to thank Josh, who was our Youth intern for the whole of 2022, for all his work with the children and youth in the church. And also to thank all the volunteers who make all this work possible. It is such a blessing to see the children and youth grow in knowledge and start on the road of faith.

Church Community and Pastoral Support

Home groups

Some people dream about becoming a film star. Others wish they were astronauts. But everyone dreams about having a hot tea with friends on cold nights, occasionally eating a cake together, sharing their struggles with each other, praying for each other, and being surprised by the wisdom of each other when they discuss God’s revelation. Everyone dreams about being a member of a homegroup. (Though not everyone is aware of this!)

For some of us this is a dream come true. Our homegroup has 9 regular members and a few more former members with whom we are still in touch. We are a happily diverse group with many different occupations, age groups (although we could do with one or two younger members), personal interests, etc. One of us goes to another church, but the rest are keen members of Christ Church. We meet fortnightly at Kati & Zoltan’s but we gather for socials at the homes of other members two or three times a year. These events usually involve good conversations and a decadent amount of excellent food, contributed by all the members. In our fortnightly bible studies we tend to follow the sermon series using material provided by the church, which means that most recently we have been studying the Book of Acts. Normally we are far ahead or behind the sermons on Sundays, but this term our discussions have almost always followed the sermons fairly closely. We are invariably amazed by how much God is teaching us through our group discussions. Jesus promised that wherever two or three disciples come together he will be there, but now we know that this also includes, as an added bonus, that the wisdom of each disciple is multiplied by the number of people present.

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Extra note

There are also home groups led by Anthony and Pam Merifield, Chris and Victoria Kelly, Luke Whiteman, Pauline Simpson and Sophie Williams, and a daytime group led by Yvette Croucher. There is always room for others to join a group – do speak to Jonathan.

Pastoral care

We are very fortunate that within CCGH we have a culture of care that has been developed over many years. So many people take time to care for one another that often needs are met without clergy/staff having to be involved. As a staff team we do try to keep abreast of the needs within the congregation. We regularly do home visits, especially when people are housebound, taking communion to them when appropriate. We also particularly focus on new people who have visited the church, seeking to get to know them and get them integrated into the congregation. It has been encouraging to see a number of new people join and get involved over this past year. We would love to involve more people in pastoral visiting and are seeking to develop a team to be involved with this.

We have a wonderful dedicated team of 12 people who make up our pastoral prayer team. Needs are shared via email, as and when they arise, so that we are instantly praying into situations. Every other month we meet to pray together, which is always very encouraging. This is a completely confidential group ministry which is a joy to be able to offer to people. Many have been blessed to know there is a dedicated team praying for them and we have seen many answers to prayer.

Parenting for faith

Ali Seal brought this course to our attention and after looking at the material we decided to run it during the later part of the autumn term, October – December 2022, to test out the material and to see how it was received.

For convenience we ran it on a Thursday after Playpen and before school pick up time. Although we knew this time excluded many parents who are working, it worked well for a number of our mothers who were on maternity leave, including Ali, who helped to run it. Tracy and Sarah, two helpers from Playpen stayed on for the afternoon to offer child care for any children who came along too; Bea really enjoyed her time with them.

In total 12 people attended, though most weeks we were only 6-8. We had 4 mums on maternity leave, 4 grandmothers, 3 parents of older children and Josh who does a lot of work with children and youth.

Each week there were teaching videos followed by group discussions and exercises. The material helped us to see what church and faith look like from a child’s perspective. It gave us tools and ideas of how to encourage children and young people to grow in their own faith, especially giving them time and space to hear from God themselves rather than trying to give answers. It was very lovely having the mix of ages and experience which led to great discussions. There was much love and care shared amongst the group.

We felt most of the material was very helpful and we hope to run the course again at a time which would suit more parents.

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Mothers’ Union

Prayers by Candlelight . For the past eight years or so, we have met in the autumn to celebrate “Prayers by Candlelight”. This is an occasion where we meet on a Sunday evening at dusk, to pray for our children/grandchildren as they return to school, university or the workplace. We usually start with an appropriate Bible passage that comes to our attention regarding the Lord’s place in our lives and in the lives of our children. One by one, we light a tealight for the children that we pray for, mentioning them by name and sharing, if we so wish, special requests for our named children.

We are in the process of assembling a “Portable Prayer Chit” with the names of those we are praying for and a general prayer that they come to know the Lord as their loving, heavenly Father, provider and guide throughout their lives.

Clothes for Iranian Babies and Refugees . As a branch, we collected clothing (washed, ironed, packed in tissue paper, and nicely packed in boxes) for babies and adults of this lively community within our church family. The message “With love from members of the Mothers’ Union” was written on the side of the boxes. Distribution was made by a couple from Christ Church who are well acquainted with the community.

Wreath Making . The MU Christmas Wreath Making was very well attended this year. There were more men and teenage boys than usual attending as part of their families. Planning and buying (accessories, foliage and fresh basic fir wreaths) meant two early morning trips to Covent Garden Market for some of us. We had a “Blind Tasting Competition” for the best mince pie (Aldi v. Fortnum and Mason). “Miss Christmas”, a local personality, turned up to make her wreath. We gathered into a big circle to hear her special poem and sing merrily. Great fun.

Mothering Sunday. The church flowers comprised of blossoms and spring flowers are a seasonal gift to Christ Church by members of the MU. The prepared posies are distributed on the Sunday in remembrance of all mothers and those who have “mothered” others over the course of their lives.

Wedding

On 27[th] August 2022 Claude and Carol Taitt were married. Carol has been a long term resident of the parish and more recently a member of the congregation. Luke took the service on a very happy day for all in attendance.

Deaths

Iris Smith

Iris had been a member of Christ Church for almost 40 years, joining after her move with her beloved husband Charlie to Crystal Palace in 1974. She made many lifelong friends here, and was, in particular, a great friend and support to Cyril Tennant, the vicar at the time she joined. Iris was a great woman of prayer and was very involved with the crèche, and, later, with Playpen, our toddler group, and would often be seen helping at church events and preparing flowers. Over the last 10 years, Iris’s eyesight affected her confidence, and she was seen less often at church services, but continued to pray regularly for those who asked for prayer and for the church community as a whole. She was delighted to become a grandma in 2018. Her health had begun to

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deteriorate and the isolation of Covid affected her badly. She died peacefully at Saint Christopher’s, with her children Mary and Richard close by.

Michael Davies

Michael died suddenly on Boxing Day 2022 while visiting family with Sue in Oxford. His death came as a real shock for everyone – despite his almost 90 years, Michael was in good health and good spirits. Michael had also been a member of Christ Church, with Sue, for over 40 years. He had served on various occasions on the PCC and as church treasurer, playing a significant role in the reconstruction of the church after the devastating fire in 1982. He was, as many described him, a quiet saint of the church, who, with his cheerful and encouraging nature, was such a blessing to all who knew him and whose kindness, wisdom and support has been a particular encouragement to each of the incumbents over those four decades.

The Queen

As we go to print on this annual report, preparations are underway for the marking of the coronation of King Charles III. The death of HM Queen Elizabeth II in September 2022, brought to an end the longest reign of any British monarch. Her funeral was a moving tribute to her service and duty, and to the Christian faith, of which, in recent years, she had spoken more openly and publicly. We televised the service live at Christ Church and, all who were present, even remotely, felt very much involved in marking the death of someone who had come to be almost universally, and globally, respected.

Lancelot Andrewes Medal

The Bishop of Southwark occasionally bestows the Lancelot Andrewes medal on individuals in the diocese by way of recognition for “godly service and zeal for the gospel”. We were delighted in November 2022, that Bishop Christopher awarded the medal to Pauline Simpson, our lay reader, PCC secretary and ministry team member. Jonathan presented the medal to Pauline on her 70th birthday at the morning service.

Farsi ministry

It seems a lifetime ago that 2 young Iranian men arrived at Christ Church one morning in September 2021 and were so warmly welcomed by Antoinette and then Hamid Momtahan. In the 18 months since then, we have welcomed hundreds of Farsi-speaking men, women and children through the church doors, many of whom have already encountered Christian faith through the underground church movement in Iran. We are so grateful for God’s miraculous guidance and provision as we’ve been learning to do church together and to grow our pastoral and discipleship provision among this group of people, each of whom is precious to us and to God.

In the last year we have started holding Hub worship events, aiming to offer worship services in Farsi every month or so, which have been made possible through the diverse contributions of members of the community and the support of English congregation members. These events have also been of benefit to smaller groups of Farsi-speakers attending other churches in Southwark Diocese. There has also, of course, been food!

With the incredible support of Sepi Black, and the arrival of Rev’d Susan and Ali Shirdel, and latterly with Richard Winborn joining the team, too, Emma was able to host the Farsi Alpha course on Wednesday nights over Autumn 2022 for more than 40 individuals. The day of teaching on the

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Holy Spirit, with guest speakers Aptin Samadi and Atena Sameri, was a particular highlight. It was a joy to see 12 choose to be baptised in January 2023, having completed the course. We have continued our Wednesday night provision in 2023, offering a course in John’s Gospel focused on the “I Am” sayings, and offering everyone the chance to discuss their thoughts on the Bible passage in small groups.

One of the incredible gifts but also most humbling experiences of this time has been having the opportunity to learn about Persian culture, and the realities of life in Iran and Afghanistan. A series of film nights begun in January 2023 showcases the talent of Iranian cinema whilst also opening up the culture to those of us following the subtitles.

Community gatherings have included amazing meals shared, and opportunities for music and dancing. Our Persian Christmas party attracted more than 100, and Nowruz was the absolute icing on the cake (or really that should be tahdig at the bottom of the rice pot) as more than 250 celebrated the ancient New Year festival with a cultural presentation, a quiz, an incredible meal, a professional dancer, and, of course, a disco right to the end of the night.

We finish this reporting period with the wonderful news that we have been granted Strategic Development Funding to continue this work over the next 5 years, as part of Southwark Diocese’s vision for Hub churches which can support important new ministries across the Diocese. We very much look forward to Emma’s licensing in June as Associate Minister to lead on this work.

Welcoming into church

Open Door

Open Door, our weekly drop-in, has grown in numbers during the year, so that we now welcome up to 50 people each Tuesday for tea and coffee, and a hot lunch with home-made cake for pudding, all free of charge. People come for different reasons, but mostly for a welcoming space and a sense of community, and many friendships have been formed. After lunch there have often been activities such as card games, quizzes and craft, and more recently the community choir.

We are indebted to Ina Oakes and Sepi Black who produce delicious meals, and our team of bakers whose efforts are always appreciated. We are also really grateful to Iain Khan-Gilchrist for continuing to travel some distance to volunteer each week, along with the core Christ Church team of Emma, Josh and Pauline.

Moving into wellbeing and community choir

We were blessed to receive sponsorship from Lambeth Public Health in partnership with Norwood Forum to run two different weekly wellbeing events as part of Tuesdays at Open Door. Roshi’s community choir brought people together to sing a variety of different songs in a variety of different languages after lunch! And Diane Aben’s very popular gentle exercise class, Moving into Wellbeing, was a fantastic addition to our Tuesday mornings, bringing a growing number of folk fresh from their exercises into Open Door for lunch and chat afterwards.

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Magnolia Club

The Magnolia Club is a drop-in group which meets at Christ Church on Wednesdays from 2:00 – 4:00 pm and is specifically designed for those with dementia and their carers. It is administered by Age UK (Lambeth) and assisted by local volunteers. Its purpose is to provide a congenial atmosphere where people in similar situations can gather, have a cup of tea and biscuits, chat, learn about the practicalities of living with dementia and assist with memory retention. This is encouraged through, among other things, exposure to music, art, poetry, picture quizzes, and looking at/touching and talking about objects that attendees may have encountered during their lives. Magnolia Club welcomes volunteers who would like to participate in this useful and highly enjoyable group.

Playpen

Throughout the year Playpen has continued to provide a safe and friendly space for local parents, carers, childminders, nannies and grandparents to bring their babies and toddlers to. We pray as a team before each session and it’s been lovely to have non-Christian members both prompting us to pray and bringing their own prayer requests into the mix. One of the things we’ve frequently prayed for is that those coming will make good connections whilst at the group, it’s been great to see this prayer answered: parents connecting with each other and with childminders, younger mums being supported by the grandmothers, two sets of adoptive parents meeting whose girls have now become great friends. One day two grandparents were sitting and having a cup of tea and chat, they hadn’t come together; the wife of the gentleman informed me that they were a brother and sister who never had time for a catch-up because they were both so busy looking after their respective families. How good is God!

None of this would be possible without our wonderful team of volunteers, three of whom have been coming to Playpen for more than 30 years! Obviously the big change of the year was Helen no longer being here; she’s been greatly missed but her legacy lives on, she left so many good practices in place for us to continue. This was especially apparent and helpful as we prepared for our Christmas parties. These were a great success and were appreciated by all.

We said goodbye to Tim in the summer; he had been coming for more than 20 years to lead the singing session with his guitar. He and his guitar have been missed. We are grateful for his commitment to the group over so many years. We welcomed Sharon onto the Thursday team, she brings great enthusiasm and has proved to be a valued member of the team. Jenny and Christine take overall responsibility now.

One of our biggest challenges this year was managing when there were teachers’ strikes; most of our team have school age children so wouldn’t be with us. For the first day we did have to close but for subsequent days we have managed to stay open, much to the delight of many. Also, due to the boiler issue in the main church, this year we have only been using the Goodliffe hall. We have had to limit the toys which are put out, eg no ride on cars or slides, which is a shame, but it has meant everyone getting more involved in clearing the toys away before song time, something we hope to continue even when we return to using the Narthex again.

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Attendance continues to regularly be more than 30, and we often reach our capacity of 45. We have to laugh that even when we put out our notice to say we are full, some people just ignore it and still come in........we must be doing something right!

Together with the community

Norwood and Brixton Foodbank

Fuel increases, food prices rising, other utilities all going up, school holidays, new school uniform at the beginning of the year, benefits cut, redundancy, eviction, poor housing – just a few additional contributions to people finding themselves in crisis and needing help from Foodbank and the numbers are rising.

As our data is released at the end of April we expect to see an increase on the previous year and there are concerns about what the future looks like.

However things are going well. Our second hub opened at Immanuel and St Andrew, Streatham Common, in May 2022 and our third hub opens shortly at the top of Brixton Hill in Brixton Methodist church. We took on another signposting officer in September to increase our capacity to support those needing help to complete online benefits forms, find information and other help they need.

We were also successful in getting grants to re-think how teams work in the warehouse and so release more of the managers’ time to work strategically, They are actively involved with the work of the Trussell Trust, supporting their campaigns and encouraging others to work towards ending the need for Foodbanks.

We are now more involved in work in Croydon after the Trussell Trust foodbank in Croydon had to stop its work and we were able to avoid clients having nowhere to turn to and to continue supporting clients sent by the borough.

2022 was completed on a high as we managed to get out over 1000 parcels in one week before Christmas.

Elizabeth’s MBE

Everyone involved with or supporting the foodbank was delighted that Elizabeth was awarded a richly deserved MBE in the 2023 New Year’s honours list for her inspiring leadership, particularly during the pandemic. She has said that it acknowledges the work of an amazing team of staff and volunteers, but that work wouldn’t have happened without her.

3[rd] Gipsy Hill brownies

We began the year with badgework and then celebrated World Thinking Day by thinking about peace and the Chinese new year of the tiger by decorating tiger biscuits. Several girls gained their Express Myself badge, which included making sock puppets and using them to tell a story.

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The highlight of the year was a weekend camp in July, thankfully not TOO hot, which included cooking pizzas on barbecues, a mini funfair and finished on Sunday morning with a colour run. We also said goodbye to three of our older Brownies after camp.

In September, we welcomed some new Brownies and In October we learnt about Parliament during Parliament Week, and joined in the District Christingle Service in early December. To celebrate Christmas we had a games night and decorated gingerbread men and stars.

We have spaces and any girls aged 7 to 10 would be welcome to join us.

Emmanuel Foodhub

The hub was started at Emmanuel Church Hall in October 2021. It is a partnership between Christ Church, Emmanuel, Foodbank and Centre 70. Each Thursday the hub is open between 11am and 2pm. Teas and coffees are provided, and then a hot meal at lunchtime. Alongside the food there are advisors from Foodbank and Centre 70 who work with the guests, helping with various advice.

The hub started very quietly in 2021, but during 2022 the numbers attending have greatly increased. The impact of the cost of living crisis has been seen in the guests attending the hub. An exercise class was started in September before the hub. It has been particular good to see community forming in the club with many guests attending even when they don’t want to see the advisors.

We would like to thank all the volunteers who make the club happen, and particularly to our chefs Ina and Sepi.

Lambeth health and well-being

Lambeth Council have invested significantly in well-being projects post-Covid. Our Open Door kitchen support of those in need during the pandemic had laid sound foundations for renewing connections with Lambeth and their new team focused particularly on health and well-being in Gipsy Hill ward, one of the most deprived areas of the borough. The opening of the Foodhub with Norwood and Brixton Foodbank generated significant interest and Lambeth's well-being team soon regarded the hub as a key point of contact with the local community. Through those relationships, we have partnered with Lambeth on a number of initiatives, including the health and well-being bus bringing vaccinations, health advice, and physiotherapy services to the local community, stopping at both Foodhub and Open Door once a month.

We successfully applied for funding from Lambeth both for additional services at Open Door (a chair based Pilates class and community choir) and for the Youth and Children's work at Emmanuel Community Centre. We were then invited to apply for funding from the Health Inequalities Fund for Foodhub/Open Door, receiving £9,250 which covered our core operating costs for a six month period. It also enabled us to employ Louise Macgregor to engage with our visitors in identifying issues around accessing healthcare and other support in the community. The report Louise has made to Lambeth Council will, I'm sure, have an impact on how they provide support and services moving forward.

Other organisations that have received funding from Lambeth have also networked with us at Open Door and we have been able to offer a mental health first-aid course with local charity "it's a

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playground" and have had two visits from the Beacon Trust to morning services, offering blood pressure and other essential health checks for the congregation.

Friends of Gipsy Hill fete

July 10th 2022 was a bright and sunny day, perfect weather for the Friends of Gipsy Hill Summer Fete at Long Meadow.

We set up our stall within the marquee with other local charities. On our table we had a variety of leaflets advertising different activities which go on within the church, a craft activity: butterfly making, 'guess-the-number-of-sweets' inside a jar and a good old fashioned game of shove ha'penny. We had a rota of people who took turns to be available at the stall throughout the afternoon.

All in all the fete was a great success with many people attending and lingering in the beautiful weather. Our stall was busy throughout the afternoon as people of all ages enjoyed the activities on offer. Through this we were able to engage in lots of conversations, making connections with many local people. It was good to be part of this local event, raising the profile of the church and its people.

Central Hill fair

As part of the Gipsy Hill health and well-being project, with a number of other organisations we were represented at a well-being fair on the Central Hill estate, renewing our existing relationships with the residents association and other local organisations, including the youth hub run by the Rathbone trust and with Norwood Forum.

Carol singing around the Gipsy Hill Christmas tree

It was -2 degrees Celsius on the night of our third annual carol singing around the Gipsy Hill Christmas tree – the coldest one yet! But our hearts were warm as a diverse crowd of around 50 carollers gathered outside the Great Southern pub to sing, along with our good friends from the Friends of Gipsy Hill. Jonathan’s fingers just about avoided frostbite on the keyboard, and Pete’s ice-cool saxophone riffs were a welcome addition as Emma did her best to add aerobic actions to everyone’s favourite carols.

It is rumoured that the songs were heard far and wide in the parish – presumably to the merriment of all.

Street doctors’ first aid course

With the support of a member of St Stephen’s South Dulwich, we hosted a training session from Street Doctors, providing training for first-aid response for those who have been stabbed. It was shocking to hear of the numbers of young people who have been victims of stabbing in this borough and the significance of immediate and appropriate first-aid intervention, which could so easily save lives.

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Churches together in Crystal Palace

Churches Together in Crystal Palace unites 13 churches of different denominations – three Anglican, two Roman Catholic, the Methodist, Salvation Army, Baptist, Korean, and four independent Pentecostal churches. A group of committed lay people from different churches meets every month for prayer at the Methodist Church, usually led by one of the ministers.

A coordinating group manages fundraising and events and in 2022, alongside the regular Good Friday Act of Witness at Sainsbury’s which now regularly draws over 100 people, the Salvation Army hosted a songs of praise event, and the Enabling Group held a fundraising afternoon for the Jubilee at St Margaret Clitheroe.

Pancake party

The pancake party at Christ Church on Shrove Tuesday is not huge, but always great fun, drawing together people from across the generations. About 90 pancakes were made and eaten, with 11 being eaten by one person (who will remain nameless). Particular thanks to Yvette Croucher for cooking a vast pile of pancakes, even though she could not be present in person.

Church fun day

On Saturday 19[th] March 2022 Christ Church hosted a Fun Day. There was a bouncy castle in the church, with various craft stalls, a café and a Zumba session. Due to the impact of Covid we hadn’t had many of these events in the preceding years. The event attracted lots of church members, particularly those with children. The event also attracted several families that didn’t attend the church. It was a positive event for our community in the recovery from Covid.

Cream teas in vicarage garden

On a happily warm and sunny afternoon in May, Jonathan and Yvette hosted two sittings for afternoon tea, ably supported by Helen Gates and Yvette's mum, Kay. We enjoyed the sunshine, delicious home-made scones and tea, beautifully served in bone china cups and saucers. A real treat!

Summer barbecue

The summer barbecue suffered a couple of postponements due to weather (too hot) and illness - but finally took place in August. Again, we had a beautiful day (at least before the rain came), and the vicarage garden and upper church hall were full to bursting. Despite a minor crisis in the cooking schedule, we fed well over 100 people, very amply. Many thanks to the wonderful volunteers on the barbecue, and to both the team of servers and clearers, and the Iranian volunteers who made up some beautifully decorated salads.

Harvest Supper

Nearly 100 gathered for our Harvest Supper from across the congregation. On this occasion, this was a celebration of Persian cuisine, superbly cooked by members of our Farsi community and we also had an opportunity to hear a little more of the experiences and testimonies of some. It was

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particularly wonderful to be able to come together for this occasion after Covid lockdowns had prevented it for so long.

Quiz night

On Saturday 19[th] November there was a quiz night in aid of Tearfund. The quiz was run by Luke and Josh, with rounds for all the family; particular highlights were the amazing towers made from spaghetti and marshmallows! We also had delicious food cooked by Ina. It was well attended and a good opportunity to spend time together with other members of the church family. The winning team included the vicar!

Mini fair

We decided to hold a low-key cake and craft fair this year, with tea, cake, and craft on sale on a Saturday afternoon in December, and then after the service on Sunday. As ever, the Christ Church cake stall was wonderfully supported, along with some wonderful donated crafts – including some delightful quilt mats and bags made by Glenys Lawrence, and the event raised an astonishing £700 towards Open Door and Foodhub.

Church building and hire

Church buildings

During Covid, one of our main hall users, Team Dance, offered an incredibly popular online dance school that saw many youngsters join in for the first time. When the opportunity to return to inperson teaching returned, Lucy's dance school was able to fill upstairs and downstairs all day on Saturday to ensure adequate social distancing and cleaning between classes. As the restrictions relaxed, it became clear that the demand for classes continued and the dance school now continues to fill the halls during the day on Saturday, so we no longer take occasional party bookings. It has given us a significant increase in regular hall income and lightened the administrative load considerably.

During the week the hall is also used by Team Dance on Mondays, Wednesdays and Thursdays; Slimming World use the Narthex on Thursdays, and on Tuesdays we have Zumba downstairs and Crystal Palace Community choir upstairs. Finally, during the weekdays, Diane Aben runs Pilates classes on Wednesdays and Friday mornings. All of this means the halls are now as fully booked as we can cope with.

We had problems with the heating systems, both in the hall and church during 2022. We undertook some repair work to pipework in the upper hall, but the church heating system ultimately proved incapable of repair and in 2023, we are in the process of replacing that system.

The buildings are generally maintained in good condition, with great thanks to Stuart Mitchenall for his work in undertaking many repairs and general maintenance, and to Jon Caddell and Ina Oakes, our cleaners, who keep the building clean and tidy. Thanks also to Anthony Merifield for his continued work keeping the garden and ground clear and tidy.

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Flowers

Patsy Easter continues to provide delightfully attractive flower displays for the church, occasionally assisted by others. It is so transformative in the simplicity of our modern church building to have fresh flowers arranged each week and Patsy, with Ron providing practical support, offers this ministry so generously and beautifully week by week. We are so grateful to her. If you would like to get involved in flower arranging, even if only once a term, or if you would like to learn a bit more about what it involves, please speak to Patsy or Jonathan.

– Mission partners Jonathan Croucher

The relationships with our long-term mission partners have slightly taken a back seat this year as other priorities have occupied us. We still pray regularly for them, with one mission partner being prayed for each month in morning services.

Our mission giving policy is to give 10% of financial donations to the church to our mission partners. This has enabled us to give approximately £5000 per year to Tearfund, and £2500 per year each to CSW (Christian Solidarity Worldwide), CMS, supporting our link mission partners, Eric and Rhena Clouston, and to Spinnaker, the charity that provides Christian RE content for local schools. We have, in addition, this year, been able to continue to make an additional donation of £2500 to John and Lynne Quanrud to support their work in Albania.

Although we do not give financially, Norwood and Brixton Foodbank is a key mission partner and our Christmas collections are donated to the Foodbank. We have a giving point in the church lobby, which is regularly filled and deposited at the Foodbank in Streatham and many of our congregation volunteer in different ways.

Deanery Synod report

Due to two unexpected cancellations due to illness and calendar clashes with parish activities, Synod only met formally once in 2022.

Synod met at Emmanuel Church West Dulwich in November to discuss issues of mental health and parish ministry. Rev Cathy Wiles, who had served as a mental health chaplain in the NHS, and Rev Andrew Wilson, a retired mental health nurse and Chair of the Croydon mental health charity APCMH, addressed Synod on some of their experience of supporting those with challenging mental health situations in parish ministry. There was a particular theme of building safe communities where individuals could be heard and where there was an openness to sharing issues around mental health, as well as a recognition that all of us are likely to experience some form of challenging mental health in our lives.

We held our annual deanery Ascension Day service at All Saints West Dulwich. The combined choirs of All Saints, St Peter’s and St Leonard’s led the musical worship beautifully and our speakers were from L’Arche London, with an inspiring sermon from two members of the L’Arche London community with whom All Saints has very close connections.

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In March Synod met for its final gathering of the triennium, with a fascinating evening visit to the West Norwood Cemetery, with Synod meeting in the Crematorium Chapel with a focus on death and dying. Hosted generously by Kim Hart of Lambeth Amenity Team we were served wine and cheese, heard a little about the fascinating history of the cemetery, including a short video of the unique Gothic Catacombs, and then used the Church of England’s new Gravetalk material to open up a conversation around death and dying.

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Section 2: Resources

Trustees and leaders

Trustees are the elected, co-opted and ex officio members of the PCC. Trustees who served during 2022 are:

Post	Name	Elected	First Elected
Vicar	Rev. Jonathan Croucher	Appointed 17/09/12
Curate	Rev. Emma Lowth	Appointed 30/06/19
Curate	Rev. Luke Whiteman	Appointed 26/06/21
Reader	Pauline Simpson	Licensed 27/10/03
Warden	Janet Boyce	15/05/22	2022
Warden	Rachel Skeath	15/05/22	2021
Deanery Synod	Anthony Merifield	02/05/21	2014
Deanery Synod	Beverley Fray	02/05/21	2021
Deanery Synod	Pauline Simpson	02/05/21	2021
PCC member	Susan Dalton	02/05/21	2018
PCC member	Nicklav Jegede	02/05/21	2021
PCC member	Christopher Kelly	02/05/21	2021
PCC member	Chibuzor Madu	02/05/21	2021
PCC member	Jonathan Maytom	02/05/21	2017
PCC member	Pete Moorey	02/05/21	2021
PCC member	Joshua Klein	15/05/22	2019
PCC member	Catherine Mitchenall	15/05/22	2022
PCC member	Sophie Williams	15/05/22	2022
PCC member	Norma Simon	Co-opted 12/09/22	2022

The vicar, curates, reader, wardens and deanery synod representatives are ex officio.

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Office holders

Christ Church is reliant on the time and expertise given by its members and the PCC to fulfil key and statutory roles. Officers of the PCC at the end of 2022 were:

Chair Jonathan Croucher

Vice Chair Janet Boyce Secretary Pauline Simpson Treasurer Christopher Kelly Electoral Roll Officer Pauline Simpson Gift Aid Secretary Francis Howcutt Health and Safety Jonathan Croucher Safeguarding Jonathan Croucher, Pauline Simpson and Jenny Thomas

Paid Staff

Pastoral minister Jenny Thomas Operations manager Charlotte Carpenter Church administrator Jeanette Bell Cleaners Ina Oakes and Jonathan Caddell

Leaders and volunteers

Christ Church relies on its members to lead and support our activities. This includes setting the strategic direction as well as leading a range of ministry, outreach and community activities. Leaders at the end of 2022 were:

Brownies Christine Woolley

Flowers Team Leader Patsy Easter Home Group Co-ordinator Jonathan Croucher Home Group Leaders Evening groups led by Chris and Victoria Kelly, Anthony & Pam Merifield, Zoltan & Kati Schwab, Justin Kueh, Pauline Simpson with Sophie Williams & Paul Cochrane, Luke Whiteman, and a daytime group led by Yvette Croucher

Mothers’ Union Jodie Lomax

Open Door Iain Khan-Gilchrist, Josh Prendergast, Emma Lowth, Pauline Simpson Pastoral Care Co-ordinator Jenny Thomas Pastoral prayer team Jenny Thomas Sunday School Luke Whiteman

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Website Rob Seal

Youth Group leaders Josh Prendergast and Yvette Croucher

A number of teams of volunteers support the smooth running of services and other church activities co-ordinated through a termly service rota produced by Pauline Simpson. They include the ministry team, the prayer ministry team and the music team and a considerable number of lay people reading lessons and leading intercessions. Regular services continue to be supported by a pool of stewards and welcomers, collection counters, coffee makers, sound and overhead projection system operators, flower arrangers, Sunday School helpers, church working parties etc.

Attendance

Average Sunday attendance during 2022 was 102 adults and 23 children. We have continued to livestream services using Facebook live; it is difficult to tell the exact number watching these, but around 20 per week.

Total attendance on Easter Sunday was 214, at special Advent services (Christingle and Carol Services) 238. Attendance at the Christmas services on Christmas Eve and Christmas Day was 344 including the Nativity on Christmas Eve. In 2022 there were 45 baptisms including 37 adults, mostly from our Farsi community, 1 wedding, 3 funerals held at church and 4 at crematoriums.

Electoral Roll

The roll has been updated in April 2023, and comprises 147 members, which is a decrease of 7 (6 added, 13 removed) from the last roll in 2022. 98 are female and 49 male, 40 live in the parish and 107 outside, though due to the location of the church within the parish many of these live within easy walking distance of the church.

Buildings and fabric

Under Church of England rules, the churchwardens have personal responsibility for movable furniture and ornaments and joint responsibility with the incumbent for consecrated buildings (in our case that means Christ Church, but not Berridge Road or the Goodliffe Hall). However, funding for the maintenance of these items is provided by the PCC and so these items are now reported below.

We are up to date with urgent repairs identified in the quinquennial architect’s inspection in 2021, and are now working through other things. There hasn’t been a huge amount of work done in 2022; there have been repairs to both the kitchen and office roofs and some decoration. Routine maintenance in the church and hall has been carried out regularly by Stuart Mitchenall, to whom we are extremely grateful.

At the beginning of 2023 the church boiler has broken down irreparably and will need to be replaced during the year.

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Income and expenditure summary

2022 was a positive year for the finances of Christ Church.

The net cash surplus before a change in investment values was just over £25,000 (2021: £40,000) This surplus reflects the continued support from the congregation, with income from donations remaining the same as 2021 at around £160,000, as well as an increased return on the use of our buildings, which generated a further £60,000, (2021: £45,000).

The total income for 2022 was around £242,000 (2021: £226,000), the balance of income being made up of income generated by the activities that we run - £16,000, and dividends from our investments of £6,700.

On the expenditure side, 2022 saw us returning to activities that had been put on hold throughout the Covid pandemic. This meant that expenses rose to £217,000 for the year (2021: £202,000). In particular, our cleaning expenses rose by £7,000 to £14,500 with the increased use of the building.

The other significant increase was our contribution to the Diocese, which increased by £5,000 to £97,000. Although a vicar’s salary is less than the average wage, the full cost of providing one incumbent to a parish is around £81,000; salary plus housing, pension contributions and training come to about £50,000, the rest is the allocation of the cost of running a diocese. This made us a net giver to the Diocese of around £16,000. The surplus is used by the Diocese to support smaller parishes that cannot meet the full cost of an incumbent, which we can view as being part of our mission giving as we recognise and respond to God’s generosity to us.

Our youth work continues to benefit from the Goodliffe Endowment, the income from which has covered the cost of our intern and our work with young people, although the value of the underlying investment fell quite substantially this year. The market value of the investment was £224,166 at the year end and it generated an income of £6,672.

Many of our other ministries also benefit from grants received during the year. The church received around £8,000 in grants for the work of Open Door, in all its guises, and for the Farsi ministry. We also received a £1,400 unrestricted grant from the Diocese to help with the extra costs of heating over the winter months.

The church now holds £137,000 in free funds, with a further £32,000 in designated funds – money set aside by the PCC for specific purposes – and £43,000 in restricted funds.

We will need to spend some of this cash on the new boiler, probably around £50,000, but we are delighted that with the continued support of the congregation and good management of our resources we will still be able to invest more into the ministry of the church to bring the Good News of Jesus Christ to the people in our community and beyond.

Many thanks to all those who have given their time, money and talents over the past year, all of which has contributed to our healthy financial position.

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- Annex 1 Governance and administration

Name

The Parochial Church Council of the Ecclesiastical Parish of Christ Church Gipsy Hill are the trustees who administer Christ Church, Gipsy Hill. Other names used by which the charity is known are Christ Church, Christ Church Parochial Church Council and Christ Church PCC.

Address

Christ Church is situated on the corner of Highland Road at its junction with Gipsy Hill. It is part of the Diocese of Southwark within the Church of England. The correspondence address is Christ Church, 1 Highland Road, London SE19 1DP.

Legal Status

Christ Church PCC is a registered charity under number 1133804.

Governing Documents

Christ Church PCC has two approved governing documents: The Parochial Church Council’s (Powers) Measure 1956 as amended and the Church Representation Rules (contained in Schedule 3 to the Synodical Government Measure 1969 as amended). A new version of the Church Representation rules was published at the beginning of 2020.

Appointment of Trustees

The Church Representation Rules specify the composition of Christ Church PCC who are the trustees of the charity. Christ Church PCC is made up of ministerial appointments, lay church wardens elected by the parishioners annually during April or May, and lay members of the PCC and Deanery Synod elected for a three year renewable term also elected at the Annual Parochial Church Meeting, together with co-opted lay members with defined responsibilities. The chair of trustees is the incumbent for the time being and during any vacancy an elected member of the PCC. All eligible Church attendees over 16 are encouraged to register on the Electoral Roll and stand for election to Christ Church PCC. When recruiting a new trustee, requests for nomination are published in Christ Church. When considering co-option Christ Church PCC has regard to the requirements of any specialist skills needed.

Aims

The primary aim of Christ Church PCC is the promotion of the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ according to the doctrines and practices of the Church of England.

Objectives

Christ Church PCC has the responsibility of supporting and co-operating with the incumbent in promoting the whole mission of the Church, pastoral, evangelistic, social and ecumenical in the ecclesiastical parish and for continuing that work during the absence of an incumbent. The PCC has maintenance responsibilities not only for the Church building but also for the Goodliffe Hall adjacent to the Church and the Berridge Road Community Church and Gardens.

Supervision

Various aspects of parish life are supervised by the hierarchy of the Church of England including particularly the Lambeth South Area Dean (Rev. Jonathan Croucher), the Archdeacon of Lambeth (Ven. Simon Gates), the Bishop of Kingston (a new appointment in 2023) and the diocesan Bishop of Southwark (Rt. Rev. Christopher Chessun). Significant changes to the Christ Church building have to be authorised by the Chancellor of the Diocese of Southwark through the faculty jurisdiction, in addition to any planning or other permissions required by law.

As a charity, the Trustees must have regard to the Charity Commission’s guidance on public benefit, and in particular, the specific guidance on charities for the advancement of religion. The

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activities described in Section 1 of the Annual Report demonstrate our commitment to participating fully in the life of our local community, welcoming all-comers to our worship and activities, and seeking to serve those in our community in many different ways.

– Internal governance PCC report

During 2022 the PCC had 6 “normal” meetings, plus a meeting to approve the accounts before the APCM and an awayday in September. We spent quite a lot of time looking at our MAP, and how much of it is still relevant post pandemic. At both the June meeting and the awayday we had extensive discussions about our joys, challenges and hopes for the future, as well as looking at some of the detail of the MAP. We also decided to continue with online provision of services as they are still much appreciated by some people. At our March meeting we looked at the diocese anti-racism charter and had presentations from 2 members of the Kingston area MEACC who gave us plenty of food for thought from their experiences of racism both within and outside the church. Racial justice and inclusion is a topic we have revisited, especially in the light of our growing ministry with the refugee (mostly Farsi speaking) community. We have also discussed finance, staffing needs, provision for children, admitting children to communion, and our ministries to the local community.

We had previously adopted the diocese safeguarding policies introduced in 2019 and are always mindful of the need to safeguard children and vulnerable adults, following the house of bishops guidance, and dealing appropriately with any incidents which arise. Currently we are up to date with DBS checks. In January 2023 we ran the diocese foundations safeguarding training which was very helpful to all who came. The current parish safeguarding officers are Pauline Simpson and Jenny Thomas, working alongside Jonathan.

Special thank go to Anthony Merifield for about 30 years’ service on the PCC, many of which have also been as churchwarden and deanery synod member. He has been a tireless servant of the church during that time, has been meticulous in all that he has done, and kept the rest of us on our toes! He has decided to retire at the 2023 APCM, and we will miss his wisdom and input. Thank you Anthony!

Organisation of activities within the parish

– Ministry Team led by Jonathan Croucher

This group is responsible for leading and preaching at services, planning sermon series, and oversight of discipleship in the church.

– Pastoral Ministry led by Jenny Thomas

The pastoral prayer team – meeting every six weeks to pray for pastoral needs in the church and available to pray for particular or urgent needs as they arise.

The pastoral visiting team – meeting every month or as necessary and organising visits or support for those in particular need.

The prayer ministry team – praying with people during or after Sunday worship.

– Home Group Leaders led by Jonathan Croucher

Home group leaders meet termly to plan study series, share needs and plan for the future.

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Children, Families and Youth Ministry

Our work in this area is coordinated by different people: children (Luke Whiteman), youth (Josh Prendergast and Yvette Croucher), Playpen (Jenny Thomas), Mothers Union (Jodie Lomax) and Pastoral Care (Jenny Thomas).

Overseas Mission Group

This group is responsible for the relationships with our overseas mission organisations, with appointed ‘ambassadors’ to develop the relationships throughout the church (CMS – Pauline Simpson; Tearfund – Rachel Skeath; Christian Solidarity Worldwide – Nicklav Jegede; John & Lynne Quanrud – Trena Dickinson). Bettina von Hornhardt looks after publicising these and the home missions we support.

Buildings Committee

This group reviews and commissions building management and maintenance for the church buildings.

Other Needs

Other groups are formed from time to time as the need arises.

Statutory Responsibilities

As trustees the PCC has statutory responsibilities for safeguarding and health and safety. The PCC has adopted the diocese’s safeguarding policy ‘A Safe Church’, which was updated during 2019. Pauline Simpson and Jenny Thomas are the Safeguarding Officers working alongside Jonathan Croucher. Those working with children and vulnerable adults have undergone Disclosure and Barring Service (DBS) checks. All regular users of Parish buildings are required to lodge copies of their safeguarding policies with the Parish.

Safeguarding Report

We are currently up to date with DBS checks, and no-one is allowed to teach in Sunday School or youth group until their DBS is complete. A number of Sunday School leaders and PCC members attended the Foundations safeguarding course held in church in January 2023. There are occasional issues that arise with, or are disclosed by, vulnerable adults, which are always reported to the diocese safeguarding team and no further action has been required.

We are aware of how quickly someone can become vulnerable, and are aware of the importance of complying with procedures.

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– Annex 2 Full Financial Report

Approval

The custodian trustee for the Goodliffe Hall Foundation is the South London Church Fund and Southwark Diocesan Board of Finance. The Trustees approved the Financial Statements at its meeting on 9[th] May 2022 and the attached statements have been independently examined by Simon Lewcock, FCCA. His assessment of the accounts is at Annex 4.

Accounting Policies

The financial statements have been prepared under the Church Accounting Regulations 2006 in accordance with applicable accounting standards and the current Statement of Recommended Practice, Accounting and Reporting by Charities and applicable accounting standard FRS 102.

The financial statements include all transactions, assets and liabilities for which the PCC is responsible in law. They do not include financial statements of church groups that owe their main affiliation to another body nor those that are informal gatherings of church members. Nor do they include expenditure funded by insurance claims where the contractor was paid directly by the insurance company.

The financial statements have been prepared under the historical cost convention except for the valuation of investment assets which are shown at fair value. As is normal for parishes in the Church of England, expenditure on buildings fabric, systems and fittings is not capitalised but written off as incurred.

Funds

Restricted Funds are those given for a particular purpose and currently comprise the Goodliffe Endowment Youth Work Fund and various funds in respect of small specific donations not yet spent.

Unrestricted funds are not subject to any restrictions regarding their use and so are available for application on the general purposes of the PCC. Funds designated for a particular purpose by the PCC are also unrestricted.

Endowment Funds are funds, the capital of which must be retained permanently and comprise the Goodliffe Endowment, which was given to provide income to support youth work in the parish and so all the income derived therefrom is allocated to the Goodliffe Endowment Foundation Youth Work restricted fund.

Income and Endowments

Collections are recognised when received by and on behalf of the PCC. Planned giving under Gift Aid is recognised only when received. Income Tax recoverable on Gift Aid donations is recognised in respect of income recognised during the financial period. Grants and legacies to the PCC are accounted for as soon as the PCC is notified of its legal entitlement, the amount due is quantifiable and its ultimate receipt by the PCC is probable. Lettings and rental income is recognised when earned. Other types of income are recognised when earned. Dividends are accounted for when due and payable and interest entitlements are accounted for as they accrue.

Grants

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

Activities directly relating to the work of the church

The diocesan parish share is accounted for when due and any parish share unpaid on 31 December is provided in these financial statements as an operational (though not legal) liability is shown as a creditor in the balance sheet.

29

The activities of the church are supported by a number of volunteers. This includes ministry, administrative and other general support. No salary costs are incurred in relation to volunteers. Any out of pocket expenses incurred are reimbursed by the church.

Fixed Assets

Consecrated and benefice property is excluded from the accounts by § 10(2) (a) and (c) of the Charities Act 2011.

Movable church furnishings held by the vicar and church wardens on special trust for the PCC, and which require a faculty for disposal, are accounted for as inalienable property unless consecrated. For inalienable property there is insufficient cost information and therefore such assets are not valued in the financial statements.

All expenditure incurred in the year on consecrated or beneficed buildings and the repair of movable church furnishings is written off. This includes the amounts spent in 2015 on the Goodliffe Hall redevelopment, which included repairs, refurbishment and property improvement.

Current Assets

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

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

Liabilities

Costs incurred but not paid at the year-end are recognised as liabilities.

Going Concern

The PCC has assessed whether the use of the going concern assumption is appropriate in preparing these financial statements. The PCC has concluded that there are no material uncertainties related to events or conditions that may cast significant doubt on the ability of the charity to continue as a going concern.

Critical accounting estimates and judgements

In preparation the financial statements, the PCC has not been required to make any significant judgement or estimates

30

FLVIDS ￿￿05 159.760 97 I￿476 I6DA76 2(bl 14• 17 672 6A53 791 7,933 ISJ71 750 17,341 IZ.644 217 14605 EXPENDifL4LE DItxÈ￿tl ￿p￿)rt lswth•rk 31bl 7.YJJ 619 7aL%7 4.328 77J95 Idlr• wio 241&) 31dl 5.716 7.324 1774 TOTIIXPEP4rxwAE IA619 117353 %$ XllJ57 IIET WIC(MEIItMFfiirxniNEI 24.259 956 25,216 3L775 3976 TW45FE15 125.75 31.921 JL92L 24.259 956 129.n81 145421 JLM ¢IOL 31.921 7L191 ROJGHT FOW14ADAT I J•IIU*RI 144.433 42.462 253.924 4•JS19 iU.658 34.361 222.W3 369.0 Jfj&69Z Z53JZ4 31

F4h Fur FLWID5 FIPID5 In¥eslrnents 214.166 4.166 25J.924 151914 I￿.[6? 43.4J8 ISO.475 1268 179.318 41.41E 122.736 151.jfil 152 197.5DJ 10.615 10.625 625 IQ625 I￿.?4] 46.152 IB6.595 4JSJ77 ,74J FW405 rJener•l iU433 IUJ3J It4￿3 144433 31 25.49$ 25.495 245 24 17.912 17.922 17.922 17.922 43.115 42A62 224.1fj6 224.165 253.924 253.924 4M 4JSJ77 32

CMIt Ctr￿C￿ GlpJ¥ Hll 4rtOJnrkn8 ￿￿Thd￿ds and the current sthtenni olRtcrffimtndtd Practe, Reprrtryty Charttle5 ¥pibbbè actourtkn8stsndèrd fR5 IDIL Iinatxial 4fLWthat 01￿￿ ¥thèr nof tr)setr4r ère Inforniai8aththWtILMth meffthr5. MrK thi theyinclude t4￿&ture￿1thd by ihe pldirtttlyby 5tJtrmentskn beenpfyred underthe hlstNal m5tain4n¥on e¥xtofty olln¥estmtnt xets ¥È al mthet Isnrxrn￿ for parfshÉskn tht ctr￿h tsf Ebi8W, StÈmsand bu¢ ￿rI￿¢th ofl ￿ thcwred. Nestrtied F￿nd$arethasea￿ lor•p•rtuLarwpose¥*1 the r>Jllle Endtr•M￿iy￿th W(¢k Fund •nd ¥arnus ie5pu¢olymallwcht< speni uNewcted lundsare nc4 subiettto testrKtmsreydkn¢the¥ use150 ¥e av¥WAe for4mmch￿ ofi the lewal wrp05e5 ofits pcc FurtlsOe5wied tr • byihe PCC¥e ovr¥esirwd Fund54￿fv￿￿￿ the (apui must be perM￿tty¥d (l￿￿1$e ifrryx￿Iifte Endo•meN. t¥hich ¥As8tsn tsprrAde Inctffdeto suppyt Y￿rth Work kn tht partsh and soal tht ir&ornÈdtthped therefrorn Is allrL4t¢4 10 theGoth•ifre YtyAh Wort resirtied lund. Coctsons¥e rerqn15ed rtith•l b¥•rrtl<MI beh¥f olU PCC Plan￿d under Glltlxl t5 reL0￿￿ed onlyknen receKd. kn¢tymeTufecty4vableofi r￿fi￿j rerwk5ed kn reswt iwn6ed d￿￿the￿￿￿1 Grants ard rttsto the Pccare Irrf assrth asthe PCC iSnQt¥bed of tts ertllltfflenithE due ts Msuftlrnae recL*Pt bythe PCC & probat4e. Letiknp renui Ip<¢4Ye is recrqfv&oé wr 33

SLeiiiert Icf WLwrtyurkniofflSEUat￿. FLYIn￿￿n￿l PTQFQrtythero1slnsuftlrrt<ostlnlarTrAt JIThereIthTè5￿thè55pl54re nLY¥d 5TatmenE5. oli￿￿•r￿y¢0rl￿ufiVem1 ydry¢orKem. 34

1111 ote5to thE Fbn￿Ll1l 51aithYffts Toiil V&L¥w￿￿e10DnatIt1tli) Relu￿r irfomè fv¢)mdww5 irrryular fromdonor CdloLtKJns 121n2 3J 13L241 3.391 Loii earles Gbftljd I59.7f￿) 159,7fAJ 16D.476 ArtMtsfv9eMrthin9fvn ttin8% and refit￿ Intt4Yie Erts Cther 4(5•) 353 5•) Interost 17 17 17 17 L774 1774 Fees Enwnuel Foodhub 3.J14 650 73 7591 117 35

Fw th2yew enthpd 311)ttemb&T IOZZ iozz Tthl T•tsl 97.( 97.(hX) 9LC at￿lM￿￿trY￿sts In li x•rkO¥ers￿S 1.150 io.fjyj U.431 114Jl Qperb Dooi

)J63 30.163 9.159 62D 5.913 1.161 2¢281 iQ025 B41 PIOPts1y rontal tosts. Expenses relioJrsed WorsNA m￿S￿lA￿d￿l T￿￿phOn0 PriMif% Sta0￿tryI SUF5 IhargEs& Alteres OffKe EqLMpmentIPtr￿*w 670 841 331 23D 6.819 1.034 337 655 Catrrry & entertaM￿ni J37 lJ5l ot￿r lewAmnmerrtall 491 71067 71.fjJ6 73.C67 4￿3 4.fj43 .123 14.665 55 4.fj75 l7Jg 6MJg FuM￿UlE 114 174 ￿lId Other rnanttnan Total rocur 32.310 661 4.6b) 23.4 Other lff4Y¢Mrnent5 27.614 4,626 32.110 IL344 2¢1 36

flpy MMI otesto the StffAts 21122 Toi•l To￿1 Py8r(#Jp 619 619 1.6C 619 619 TOT￿￿PE11D￿llvwÈ 626 ioj 2￿1 IL34q IJA55 PIErwitlTrAEIIEXPENDITUREI 146261 24.159 111344 3L775 14.6161 26 ItL3441 11344 BROUGHT FORW￿lDAT IJ•IIUA IID)) 20.OCO 6S8 I68￿1 37

Noiesto the FIn￿tI•l 5ts1eIl￿lS 2021 TOT I. IIKOME & EPIDOWMEllf5 Fun FIWIDS Fur FINIDS 2fol Vokniwyln(thMe u￿f from Ocmlys iire¢ul¥ tromdthwfs CdbeLlknns 128.n2 3Jg1 Loii 128.n2 3.391 13LIJI 13L281 Gif¢Ald 26.626 159.700 26.626 L55.7(1) 21695 160.476 IflJ.476 Lethryiand rental IKLyn E¥en 59.895 253 253 Other 50.14B Interest 17 17 6.6n 6,672 6.6n 6A53 453 6J53 791 pl￿r￿ 1774 1,774 3.114 ErMi•nud Foodhub Gr￿1 Inrfjme 7.933 7,513 9.3JJ 12.7S7 4.7X) 9,750 4750 17,342 7.938 J2.644 l2.644 24IW3 12.644 ZZ7J63 14605 16303 38

c1wlstow￿ fjlpsy Mlll 1022 Fur Fthd D¥est)n & feÉs 97.( 97.( gID)) IKO 92.0 3lblotherrnl￿￿tryC01ts Chèrttab Gr￿ts1￿ Intr UK Cha￿10t4e Gr￿ts1o1 10.693 10.693 4.326 2.513 30.26J 11431 LtO2 13A3L 21 4.326 2.513 2&54a JQ025 L37l &2Y6 Pro¢￿¥ renui Eipenses r•rrthfsed Wofshlp. MU￿( & Audlo TepPine 620 5.9J3 1.361 5.YJJ 1.361 332 charyes& hitsie51 6.029 1.034 1.431 5.625 6SS Caterin8 &entertak￿￿t Professknnal lees 337 1351 1351 494 494 72.6B6 7.933 .619 73.C67 432B 77.39S 39

Ch15t cl￿¢￿ Gwy Hlll TOT FLWD5 4￿3 8.123 8.123 14.665 55 4526 &039 Can¥ Fumrture 55 274 274 Other Man￿na￿e To￿1 re¢LW lrtwo¥emehts to CO￿e£￿ted 32JiO 11310 23.4 32310 32.310 28.169 IAcihths 619 619 5,716 5.716 5,716 7.314 3,774 3.774 3.774 4.393 615 11725J 193J55 L957 AFFCOM5 stsllcosts salary. t￿S￿d penslw in re￿ th￿e mtsmbersof tre ernpltyrtd by￿(hUrth In theyw (202Q twol. DUW 20ZI l￿d￿rth retthd £nii11021.' £LI.6441 undérthe Go¥rNeni'scoIoncrfl￿S J¢)t+ Rètenthm ￿heMe. NO￿￿t￿T￿St￿eS r2tep•Éd a)Yre￿￿tratI)rtfv0rnthethurth. 40

Glpsym Noiei l• tht FlnvKll 51•¢•Y•Ats INVESTMEPNS lorward Lossin vah 253.9Z4 29.7$81 224.166 &)othlfle ErJ¢￿r￿.. Fundshetd by the Swlhi(￿￿ Chufth Furo 5(Arthw¥kOxeson Bowd ol Flnance asCusto&•iTiustee be￿￿Off Ihe P¥tsh.(0MprW￿rn1r¢C1 #l¥wimenis in 5Wk5. 5h¥es and #wes￿en1$ lh • mirtttY•lud. TOTAL TOT FUMDS IrKwe T•xrtco¥enb dtois Olher deblWS L161 1.163 1.163 iJ50 &Y62 L39) 1.350 PAYE sa*ry ￿au￿b &125 1,5 &U5 &125 2.5txJ 10.625 10.625 41

Ihrlil Glpjy Hlll r4ottt tts the ￿r￿cIal ststen￿ls Frrf ZDZE 4. FUIID5 IhKon Trardlers ut1R￿1 General 112,433 227. 14,626 4.625 1195.9781 ,sg2 12.[ 8ulldiThgS Wofklng E3ptt313nd [￿tIng￿t 2D.￿D 144.433 E7.E63 1203h]41 163.69E Goodllffe EndcwlrnU￿ YoLrth Wo 24.54 17.g22 41,462 6.ET2 15.7161 17.933 113NYI 25.4 17.g22 43,41 GDodlifte Foundallon 253.g24 129.7581 224.165 d Total 44D,S19 241,468 IE47MIII 43fj,277 g. REiATED P￿RTy TIL•jI￿rK)ll Toial h4entlAaUe d￿￿3￿10￿5￿￿1e bw PCC n)pmber5 tothe I¥￿e E27.51Mb12D2L: £3&tKKb C¥t3ln Trustees In￿[ small CbfpixÈt relaliOtI Icbcthrfch aL1iwltle5. lull. 42

– Annex 3 Financial Policies

Financial controls

The financial controls are intended to ensure that the parish’s funds are protected by requiring an appropriate segregation of duties. These updated policies were approved by the PCC at the beginning of 2023.

Cash counting

All cash received during each Sunday service is placed in the safe and then counted and recorded on a monthly basis by two individuals before being banked by a third person. The individual responsible for the banking collates the counting forms and other information which is then entered into the accounting records by the external bookkeeper.

Book keeping

The posting of all payments into the accounting system is made by the external bookkeeper, who is not authorised to sign cheques or make payments.

Spending Authorisation

Up to £100 - may be authorised individually by the Vicar, a church warden, or other member of the staff team

Up to £500 (plus VAT) – may be authorised by the Vicar (including authorising the expenses of other staff members)

Between £500 and £1,250 (plus VAT) – may be authorised by two of the Vicar, church wardens or treasurer

Up to £2,500 plus VAT – may be authorised by the standing committee

Expenditure of over £2,500 (plus VAT if payable) must be approved by the PCC.

In general expenditure over £1,250 (plus VAT) should require the obtaining of two or more quotations, and expenditure of over £2,500 three quotations. Within their approval limited, the Standing Committee or PCC may determine that urgency, specialism or other circumstances justify proceeding with only one quotation.

Payment Process

The process for one-off payments by direct bank transfer is that the vicar approves and signs off the payment schedule for regular outgoings and other expenses up to £500 (ie within his payment approval level), other than his own, and for expenses that have been approved by the PCC or Standing committee in advance and are being paid in accordance with that approval.

For all other expenses – ie those above £500 or those of any amount which are being paid to the vicar - two signature approval from wardens and treasurer is required.

Cheques require two signatories.

The property committee has been authorised to spend up to £5,000 each year for small items of expenditure on maintenance, no individual payment to exceed £2,000 without PCC approval.

43

Financial reserves

It is a requirement of trustees of a registered charity that they adopt a policy on the maintenance of reserves. This is normally expressed in terms of an amount sufficient to fund normal activities in the event that income ceases or the organisation has to be wound up. Our policy is to maintain in reserves the sum of £12,000 in respect of urgent property expenditure and £20,000 as general reserves.

Investment policy

The Goodliffe Foundation is a fund bequeathed to the Church from which income may be spent on children and youth work. The funds and are held on behalf of the PCC by the South London Church Fund and Southwark Diocesan Board of Finance as Custodian Trustee.

Some years ago, all the funds were invested in the Church of England Central Board of Finance Investment Fund whose stated investment objective is:

“to generate capital appreciation, high and rising income and a long term total return in excess of its benchmark, whilst adopting an appropriate ethical investment policy. It invests mainly in equities in the United Kingdom and overseas but may also invest in fixed interest securities and commercial property. In this way, it aims to be suitable for up to 100% of a church trust’s long-term capital."

Mission Giving

The PCC has a longstanding commitment, which remains in place until varied by a subsequent PCC, to donate 10% of general giving (ie not property income or legacies) to its mission partners. Decision on recipients have been delegated to the Mission Committee.

44

Annex 4- Inde endent Examinerfs Assessment INDEPENDENT EXAMINERS REPORT ON THE ACCOUNTS FOR THE YEAR ENOEO 31 DECEMBER 2022 To the Parnthlal Cl￿rCh c￿nE11 ol Chflst Church, Glpsy Hlll This report on the account5 of the PCC for the year ended 31 December 2022, whKh are attached to Ihls repon, is In respea of an examlnarion carrled out under the Church Accountln8 Regulauons 2C(6 I'the Re8ulation51 and the Charities Act 20111'the Act'l. R•spirtlw rsP￿bIl5les of trustee5 ¥nd &Y•mlner As members of the PCC you are reS￿nsIble for the preparation of the accounts: you conslder that an audit 15 not required forthis year under sertlon 144121 of the Art and that an Indeperdenl examination is needed. It Is my responslblllty to: - examlne the accounts under section 145 of ihe 2011 Act,. - follow the procedures lald down In the General DlrectSons gfven by the Charlty CommSsslon under sectlon 14515llbl of the 2011 A£t,' and - state whether partlcular matters h•ve come to my attentoon. B•sls of Independent ex•mlnerfs ststement My examination was carried out in accordar)ce with General Directions given by the Chafiry Commlss6on. An examlnation Includes a revlew of the accountlng records kept by the PCC and a omp3rison of the accounts presented wrih those record5. It also includes consideration of anv unusual items ordlsclosures In the accounts, and seeklng explanatSons from the PCC COn￿rnIng any su¢h matters. The procedures undertaken do r￿t provide all the evidence that woukl be required in an audit. and consequently no opinion 55 given as to whether the accounts present a'true and fal view and the report is limited to those matters set out in the statemeni ￿lOw. Ind•pend•nt •xamlner's statement Since the Church's gross income exceeded £250,(KQ your examlner must be a member of a bodv listed in 5e¢iion 145 01 the 2011 Aa. I confirm that l am quallfled to undertake the examlnation because l am a memberof the AssocSatlon of Chartered Certlfied P£countants IACCAI. which 15 one of the Ilsted bodies. In connectlon wlth my examlnatlon, no matter has come to my attention.. 111 whlch gSves me reasonable cause to believe that in 4ny rnaterial re5pert the requlrements.. to keep accountin8 records in accordance with sertion 130 of the 2011 Art: and to prepare accounts which accord wilh the accouniing rewrds and which cofflpty with the requirements of the 2011 A¢t, as also contalned In the Re8ulations, have not been met. or 121 io which. In my opinion. attenth)n shDuki be drawn. In orderto enable a Proper un(iefstandln8 of the accounts to be reach d. S.A. Lewc¢xk FCC4 Windsor Lodge Mlllfleld Aoad Hounslow TW4 SPN 2￿ April 2023 45