## **St. Martin-in-the-Fields, Finham, Coventry**
Charity Commission Number 1133962
# **Annual Report and Financial Statements of the Parochial Church Council**
**For the year ended 31[st] December 2023**
## **Incumbent: Rev. Matthew Taylor**
## **Bank: Santander**
**Bootle, Merseyside, L30 4GB**
**Independent Examiner:**
**Mr. Jatinder Singh Birdi**
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ANNUAL REPORT FOR THE PAROCHIAL CHURCH COUNCIL OF THE ECCLESIASTICAL PARISH OF ST MARTIN IN THE FIELDS, FINHAM, COVENTRY, FOR THE YEAR ENDED 31[st] DECEMBER, 2023.
## **AIM and PURPOSE**
St. Martin's PCC has the responsibility of co-operating with the incumbent in promoting in the ecclesiastical parish the whole mission of the Church, pastoral, evangelistic, social and ecumenical. It also has maintenance responsibilities for the Church Hall, Fellowship Room and Community Hub of St. Martin's.
The PCC is a charity that is registered with the Charity Commission, Number 1133962.
## **ADMINISTRATIVE INFORMATION**
St. Martin’s Church is situated in Green Lane, Finham, Coventry. It is part of the Diocese of Coventry within the Church of England.
The correspondence address is: The Vicarage, 136 Green Lane, Finham, Coventry, CV3 6EA.
The PCC is a body corporate, operating under the PCC Powers Measure 1956 which came into effect on 2nd January, 1957 and the Church Representation Rules (within Schedule 3 to the Synodical Government Measure 1969, as amended). Members of the PCC are either ex-officio or elected by the Annual Parochial Meeting (APCM) in accordance with Church Representation Rules.
At the 2001 APCM a resolution was adopted for 12 elected members to serve on the PCC. Members elected would serve for a period of three years and one third of the elected members would retire annually. Retiring members would be eligible to offer themselves for re-election.
There are 133 parishioners on the Church Electoral Roll, of which 49 are not resident within the parish. All those attending St. Martin’s are encouraged to register on the Electoral Roll and to consider standing for election to the PCC.
The average church attendance on a normal Sunday in 2023 was 90 in person and many watching on live stream.
## **MEMBERSHIP OF THE PCC FOR 2023 WAS:**
Vicar: Rev Matthew Taylor Curate: Rev Matthew Ford Curate: Rev John Samuel Church Warden: Dr Andrew Barclay Church Warden: Mr Stan McCarthy
## Lay Reader
Dr Andrew Barclay
## Representatives on the Deanery Synod
Dr John Elton (Diocesan Synod)
Mr Godfrey Armitage (Diocesan Synod)
## 12 Elected Members
4 Deanery Synod Members
## **Re-election**
2024 7. Dave Foxwell
8. Andrew Spencer
## 2025
1. Caroline Brown
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2. Helen Spencer
3. Richard Morris
2026
- 4.Martin Bint
5. Fran Armitage
6. Jackie Cubitt
7. Alan Colliver
## **GOVERNANCE, MANAGEMENT and OBJECTIVES**
The PCC members are responsible for making decisions on all matters of general concern and importance to the parish, including deciding on how the funds of the PCC are to be spent.
The full PCC met 7 times during the year. The PCC has Working Teams which meet and report to the PCC, the Standing Committee meet before the PCC, on a monthly basis. The Teams meet between PCC meetings minutes of their deliberations were received by the full PCC and discussed where necessary.
The Standing Committee has a core of seven members who are Rev Matthew Taylor, Rev Matt Ford, Rev John Samuel, Dr Andrew Barclay, Mrs Jackie Cubitt, Mr Andrew Spencer and Mr Stan McCarthy.
Standing Committee: This is the only committee required by law. It has the power to transact the business of the PCC between its meetings, subject to any directions given by the Council. The Standing Committee also oversees the monitoring of income and expenditure and the preparation of the annual budget. It oversees the work of the building sub-committee which ensures that the Church, Church Hall, Fellowship Room, Community Hub and grounds are maintained in a high standard of repair and cleanliness and oversees the use of the premises.
## **PUBLIC BENEFIT**
The PCC continues to support and encourage a wide and growing number of church and local organisations, including the Mothers' Union and a variety of youth orientated entities.
The PCC continues with its basic mission of providing an opportunity for all in the area and further afield to join in worship and celebration of the Sacraments of the Church. All are welcome to join in our services either in person or via Live Stream.
## **VICAR’S REPORT - REV MATT TAYLOR**
Our year of discipleship began with our verse of the year John 13.35 ‘…By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another.' John 13.35. Our sermon series began with Discipleship in Marks’ gospel and we considered ‘What Makes Discipleship Hard?’. We looked then at the faith of the disciples after Easter, before settling into a series on the beatitudes called ‘The DNA of a Disciple’. We spent some time looking at discipleship in the OT (from Hebrews 13), finally landing in 1 Peter, a book with many themes of discipleship. God blessed us not only with his presence and some great times of learning, but practical signs and outworkings of discipleship.
So, I want to start this evening by giving heartfelt thanks for all the great examples of the ‘serving lives’ of our many volunteers. It has been remarked upon, by people outside of St Martin’s what a high level of volunteering we have within our church community. Let me give you some idea. Sandra and I did some calculations, now these are ballpark figures, based on guesswork, but they are an indication of the love and commitment of you all. Without you all this wouldn’t happen, it couldn’t. Most likely, they are underestimated figures.
## **Volunteer hours in 2023 est total: 5,288 collective volunteer hours across a year!**
## **not including PCC hours, church wardens or treasurer - which are all voluntary, unpaid roles (or paid staff working extra hours and not claiming overtime pay)**
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Here are a few examples bulleted (in no particular order not every volunteer is mentioned!)
- Revive’s amazing Volunteers
- Alpha - 3 courses this year all assisted by volunteers
- Alvaro work behind the scenes on health and safety
- Helen’s work to ensure that our solar panel system worked efficiently and sourcing grants
- Mary and all her Flower arrangements, as well as everything else she gets involved in
- All this alongside all the hours our Churchwardens put in
- Jackie Cubitt’s amazing, tireless, work – keeping us all on track in so many ways
- Treasurer worked almost full time often this year
- Alan Colliver working on getting tender for the repair to our Gable End wall and other building needs
- All our pastoral volunteers, and the difference they make to individuals who need support
- All those who help with children’s and youth work, week in week out
- Stay and Play volunteers.
- Those who play or sing with the worship band, all the rehearsal time willingly given
- Those who work all the tech on a Sunday for us
- Set up for events …
- Stuart and those who do the weeding and gardening outdoors – and for Caroline and Will working on the allotments supplying home grown food for revive …
- All the day to day building maintenance that has to happen …
- And though an associate group I need to mention Rosemary & Stan’s Seniors all the hours given it to the amazing group with love and care
- All in the name of Jesus Christ, and mostly they get on with it quietly and graciously and we are so very grateful.
These are just some examples and I will have missed some - there are so many I would be here all evening.
We have a wonderful team of paid staff too, who give of themselves in so many ways to the life of this church, often going beyond the call of duty - and I want to honour all of them too and say thank you, but I just want to recognise and affirm that voluntary or paid, neither is higher or less than, you are all valued as part of this church family and we are grateful for all that you give of your time, your energy and your skill.
And if you mind a little personal addendum, I have to say that amongst the highest totalling hours volunteers, one lives in my house with me, doing far more behind the scenes than you see in front you and even that is a lot.
2023 has seen amazing growth in our youth and children’s work. Lisa has built a blossoming youth group as you will see from her report, numbers are up, discipleship is growing in what has become a technology free zone where the young people seem to be engaged and happy to be away from the pressures and anxiety of social media.
Ignite has continued to thrive, as did schools work, one of the highlights seeing the vicar flossing with 6,000 other school children at a diocesan ‘Alive’ event. The year was full of RE lessons, Easter Cracked, Christmas Unwrapped and church visits. Kate worked hard to build ‘Stay & Play’ and with it a team that could carry it forward.
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2023 finally saw our Solar power coming online. It wasn’t without its hitches, plenty of them, and it took Helen’s tenacious attitude and the ability to speak Mandarin that has got us to where we are today. The anniversary of installation comes this year (’24), but it’s safe to say they have outperformed expectations.
Revive has thrived this year with the amazing help of the volunteers under the guidance of Alison. It has not been easy, we saw a member of staff join and leave in challenging circumstances. The continuing connection with our community as a place of meeting and community cannot be under stated and for some the beginning of their faith journey.
## A recent review on Google:
_‘Reasonably priced and welcoming cafe. They have a great specials menu and a great selection of cakes. A simple breakfast menu and lunch menu with lots of healthy choices. It's very child friendly too. It's a perfect place for a catch up with friends and it's has a perfect community vibe. Great alternative to the cafe in the park.’_
Financially we came close to the VAT threshold which had meant changes for 2024 as we enter the third year of trading and a third phase in its life of ministry.
However, my report this year would be missing something if I didn’t mention the Insurance work. My great thanks goes to Andrew Barclay and all he did in the face of some really difficult personal news. Special mention should also go to Jackie continuing her work as Parish and Hall Administrator but during this time also did much to help the hall users to work with the challenging changes in circumstances.
This year we also took a small group to new wine where we all survived the weather and had a good time of worship learning together.
Gospel choir Night – one mad idea leads to another as they say … the choir had grown from strength to strength and with a bulging repertoire developed over the last few years it felt like it would be good to actually perform the songs for others to enjoy now. Sandra hoped that maybe if the choir each invited a friend or two then maybe 50 people might come. But it far exceeded expectations and we sold out of tickets, with 160 attending and raised funds for two charities, MNDA and The Light House Counselling in Coventry. It was a great evening, and the choir are still buzzing, keen to do another.
Finally, our curates. Matt Ford has grown in stature as a leader here, more than a curate, and has been to many an important helper and inspiration in the life of discipleship. Finally in October, John Samuel joined us to be part of our community too being warmly welcomed by the community here in St Martin’s.
## **Curate’s reports**
## **Rev Matt Ford**
As I write my second and most likely my last curates report for St Martins (though I’m not going anywhere anytime soon!) I find much of what I wrote last year still resonates deeply. St Martins continues to not only be a safe place to train but also a very fulfilling place to train, enjoying unique opportunities that many churches would long for. I am glad that will continue not only for John but also for future curates who have the privilege to train here. It is important not to become complacent with the opportunities we have here. There will be challenges along the way (that is the nature of ministry in the church!) but the opportunities we have in our context are to be treasured and reasons to give thanks to God for. These are opportunities that continue to excite me and have helped tremendously in discerning what could be next for me. Seeing how things, such as the coffee shop, have enabled us to live out our calling as the parish church for Finham in a fresh way is so compelling, and I’m struggling to see myself in a church context that does not have something that so regularly draws the community in!
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The most compelling thing I have found about ministry at St Martins is our unique opportunity and ‘position’ in the local community. The opportunity we have as a primary hub for community groups and events is something I believe has helped, and will further help ministries flourish here. My encouragement and heart for St Martins is that we continue to take brave and creative steps in our role of partnering with God in seeing his Kingdom established in Finham. It feels like we’re barely on the edge of what God wants to do. There are more opportunities to pursue and ideas to try. It maybe costly in one way or another but I believe we can depend on God’s help, however that takes shape, when it’s something He’s looking to do.
Recently I have been invited in to the Deanery Leadership Team, where representatives from churches in our deanery meet to discuss the future of the deanery. It is an important opportunity for collaboration but also to think strategically about the deanery’s future. Thankfully, we are not in a pressing position where we are being forced to think very seriously about our deanery, which sadly many deanery’s across the Church of England are forced to. It is an opportunity to get ‘ahead of the curve’ and think through how the church across our area can work together and put things in place now (before we’re in a position of urgency) in order to see God’s Kingdom established amongst us. Questions are asked of what the church offers and what we can do differently. I’m very happy to be part of a church whose activities and approaches are taken note of and may even inspire future projects in our deanery.
The church from generation to generation is called on to speak afresh the life giving gospel of Jesus. I think we’re taking steps in that fresh creativity and I sense that God is calling us all to play a part in that, however that looks. Quite appropriately for our year of prophecy, I find I keep coming back to the words of Jesus addressing His church in the book of Revelation, “whoever has ears, let them hear what the Spirit says to the churches” (Rev 2:7). My hope is that, as a church, we continue listening out for the Spirit’s call and depending on Him as He works out His purpose and plans amongst us.
## **Rev John Samuel**
## **Reflection on Curacy at St. Martins**
As, I was imagining my new Curacy context, I was looking for some sign from God. God began to speak to me through the verses from the book of Genesis. " _Now the Lord God had planted a garden in the east, in Eden; and there he put the man he had formed. The Lord God made all kinds of trees grow_ resonate with verses from the Genesis (Genesis 2: 8-9). In the beginning verses did not make sense to me.
Moreover, when I met with Rev Matt Taylor, he showed me the Church. The verses from Genesis become apparent to me. I praised God in my heart and said, indeed, God had spoken to me clearly and showed me beforehand the place I was going to serve. St. Martins in the field, as the Church's name is, situated in the garden. St. Martins is also a place of healing, where people come to heal and become a source of healing to others. Although I am called to heal others, I need the healing at this point in my life. I am highly welcome into the community of St. Martins to exercise my gifts and talents and learn new skills from their mission into a community of Finham and beyond.
I am a proponent of servant leadership exercised by Jesus, who advised His disciples to follow in his footsteps (Matt 20:28; Matt 23:11). At St. Martins, all the clergy must work a four-hour shift once a month wearing a collar. When I did my first shift wearing a collar, it reminded me again that Christian leadership is so distinctive from the world's leadership. I love to be physically involved and help people of God, but that was quite a humbling experience. It seems to me training here at St. Martins is Jesus’ style of training to be a Christian leader by serving God's people with deeds, words, sacraments, and prayers. While helping and serving the local community at Revive Café, I could see smiles on people's faces when they saw clergy persons serving in the café. I believe it must change their entire perspective about clergy as community leaders. Helping and serving at Revive allows you to interact with community members and form
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friendships. I love this leadership style, being in the centre of the community to bless them and finding ways to put them in touch with Christ very casually.
Congregation of St. Martins is already engaging with the community through serving at Revive. And this is the heart of Missio Dei, and I feel privileged to be part of it. At St. Mattins I have opportunity to learn and gain experience in three different worship styles. Moreover, I am gaining experience in youth (Bat & Chat; after party), children (stay & play; Ignite) and school ministry.
The ministry of St. Martins fully complies with the five marks of mission.
I believe God brought me into the right Church. I am getting trained in all five marks of the mission. St. Martins is a very loving community helping me exercise and refine my gifts to become the minister God wants me to be. I am really enjoying working with my TI Rev Matt Taylor and my senior colleague Rev Matt Ford.
## **CHURCH WARDENS REPORT**
2023 was a busy year with work on the church property:-
## **Drainage work**
In March the building team established that the drain on the North side of the church was blocked by roots into a manhole near the road. So the insurers, Ecclesiastical, were contacted and they sent a company to investigate. The drain was indeed blocked and collapsed in places. The roots were from the Oak tree and Yew tree near the front hedge, both have preservation orders.
So they dug a new manhole in the car park area and bypassed the damaged area and lined the drain. A small part of the car park tarmac was also repaired.
We also established the location of the stop valves for the water supply for the church and the hall. For the vestry the valve is on the south side of the oak tree near the hedge. For the halls it is on the verge on the road side of the hedge just south of the vicarage. That stop valve also supplies the vicarage.
## **Flood damage in the halls**
In March a small section of the floor in the kitchen collapsed and an urgent repair was done. It became clear that the whole floor was damaged by a flood from a leaking pipe that had occurred in 2021 during lockdown. The flooding at that time had been extensive but it had not been recognised that the floor is a suspended floor with a void under which had probably filled with water too. So we called Ecclesiastical who came to asses and they accepted the claim. The damage was extensive involving the kitchen the fellowship room the corridor and the toilets and some in the main hall. We asked them to delay the start of the work till the start of the school holidays when the hall use would be low. Unfortunately they did not start till the end of the school holidays and the work extended into 2024. It has been a busy time keeping things going with temporary toilets and a marquee.
## **Alterations in Church**
A new bigger display screen was hung on a beam in church to enable the service leader to read the words while conducting the service.
A hand rail was also put up by the step into the vestry to help more disabled people and to prevent them scalding themselves on the radiator.
## **Allotments**
The allotment area has been developed and most of it is now in use. Danny Mc Donnell, who lives locally, has been spearheading that work. The area has been divided into small plots (most of them Danny has dug over) and all have now been taken by people to cultivate. Will Lamb is also heavily involved in establishing compost bins and cultivating an area for the Revive cafe. The far end of the allotment area near the road is heavily shaded by trees in the Medical Centre so it has been left as a wild area and a bug house has been put there. We hope a local bee keeper will also put some hives there too.
An allotment agreement has been established with the allotment users and we hope to minimise the use of chemicals on site. There are some very entrenched weeds at present!
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A local person wanted to get rid of a greenhouse. So a team of us cane and took it apart and transported it to the church where later it was re-assembled and produced some good tomatoes etc for the Revive Cafe under Will Lamb’s supervision. He also arranged for a load of manure to be delivered to fertilise the soil
Water buts were also installed on 3 downpipes on the side of the halls. These will supply water for the allotments. A path around the fence for the solar panels has also been opened up and established as access.
## **Church walls**
Preparatory work has continued on this project. It has been delayed by the work on the halls. Costs have escalated and we are seeking grants.
## **Buildings Working group**
This meets occasionally to discuss and plan repairs and projects.
## Andrew Barclay
## **Solar Panels Project, 2023 report**
Following the installation of 48 ground-based, tilt-adjustable solar pv panels in December 2022, the next step was to complete the electrical work. This entailed wiring up all the panels and installing two inverters and two batteries. UPSSolar completed that in mid March 2023.
We then needed to apply for permission from the regional Distribution Network Operator to sell excess power back to the grid and this took several months to come through. We obtained that permission at the end of July 2023.
Unfortunately, we had some initial technical difficulties pairing the inverters with our wifi, after which we noticed that the batteries were not filling as they should be. Following numerous exchanges between UPS-Solar and Solax (the manufacturer of the inverters), Solax eventually identified the problem and replaced one of the inverters that turned out to be faulty.
Despite initial installation approval from Ecclesiastical (our insurers), they changed their minds after everything was installed and declined to insure the panels. They paid us some compensation for their mistake. We are now covered for fire within the building, but not accidental damage to the panels. For that reason, we installed security fencing around the panels. The discussions with Ecclesiastical are ongoing, as they are unfamiliar with handling insurance for solar.
By the end of 2023, the panels had produced nearly 15,000 kWh of power in the 9.5 months since installation and commissioning. The system is estimated to produce around 16,500 kWh per year, and we are on track to achieve that. We are now covering about 75% of our electricity usage from our own solar generation, thereby significantly reducing our electricity costs. In addition, we exported 2292 kWh to the grid, earning £344. The dehumidifiers used a large amount of power, reducing the amount of energy we could export, so we hope that in future this may be higher.
We are very grateful for everyone’s support for the project – both financial and prayer support. The combination of grants and donations enabled us to cover the full cost of the project, without drawing on any church funds.
## Andrew Barclay
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## **Building team report 2023**
The team met a few times in person and at other times by email.
Main areas covered
- 1) **Repairs to drains from vestry side of church** . A preliminary exploration by the team established that roots from an oak tree had blocked the drain. So the insurance company were contacted and they sent Auger to investigate and sort out the situation. They bypassed the blocked area establishing a new manhole in the parking area. Then they lined the drain to prevent further roots getting in.
- 2) **Flooding in the fellowship room, kitchen and toilets** . Again this was a major insurance claim which was not finally finished till 2024. It was all handled by external contractors brought in by the insurance company.
- 3) **Replacement windows in the Fellowship room** . The renovation work included redecoration so we took the opportunity to install double glazing in the fellowship room and replace 2 external doors that were deteriorating. The PCC agreed to pay the £4,280 cost. The windows were actually installed in 2024
- 4) **Repair to church walls** . The buildings group lead by Alan Colliver were involved in drawing up the details as to what needed to be done and getting tender quotations.
- 5) **Stage lighting wiring in the hall.** Although nothing was connected there were wires dangling down from the lighting bar that looked dangerous. James Cobbett a lighting engineer that lives locally offered to help clear the situation up. So one Saturday we tidied up the wires and left some accessible at the side of the hall.
- 6) **Ecclesiastical inspection work.** Our insurers sent a team to look at various aspects of the church and recommended some remedial action. We removed some wood stored near the buildings as that was identified as an arson hazard. They also recommended fireproofing the cupboards where the inverters and batteries are located for the solar panel system. But when we pointed out that the inverters and batteries need ventilation they told us they will re-asses and visit again. We were of course unable to do much while the flood damage was being repaired.
- 7) **Allotments area.** The work on this has been spear headed by Danny McDonnell who lives near the church. He has marked out allotment areas and has dug over most of them. They are all now taken and will be in use this year. Will Lamb has cultivated an area near the solar panels for the Revive cafe. He also organised a load of manure to be delivered which was used both on the Revive are and on other allotments. Will also established compost bins for the waste from Revive kitchen
- 8) **Greenhouse and water buts.** There was someone on St Martins Road who wanted to get rid of his greenhouse and offered it for free. So a team of us dismantled it and later Will Lamb established foundations and a team re-built it with some other glass from another member of the church who likewise wanted a greenhouse removed
- 9) **Potholes in the car park.** The front car park is deterioration and some of us filled some of the holes with old lay tarmac. More will need to be done in 2024
There are a number of other areas pending or delayed by the building work such as, an electrical safety check which is overdue, re-marking out the car park, a more definitive heater for the Narthex etc.
Andrew Barclay
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## **DEANERY SYNOD REPORT 2023**
This year, Deanery Synod used the new structure for synod meetings. This included a parish presentation from the church we visited, followed by 3-short (under 5 minute) parish presentations. Each church considered areas where they have faced battle, breakthrough and blessing. This was then followed by time to pray for the 4 churches. We hope to cover all churches in the deanery in prayer over the deanery cycle. We then have a 10-minute slot for local business, including receiving an environmental report, before ending with a main speaker.
**February Deanery Synod:** This took place in St Oswald’s Tile Hill, hosted by Father Ed Backhouse, who reported on the use of funding to help outreach in and hospitality for their needy community and problems with local housing. Reports were also received for prayer from St Stephen’s Canley, Sr Luke’s Lowsonford, and St Mary’s Stoneleigh. The main speaker was Revd David Hammond who spoke about Mission Hubs, of which there are six in the Diocese
**May Deanery Synod:** This took place in St John’s Kenilworth, hosted by Revd Andrew Attwood who reported on the missional communities, growing church community events and answer to prayer for a new youth leader. Reports were also received for prayer from St Mary’s Hasley, St James’ Fletchamstead and St Martin’s Finham. Matt reported on the ‘coming to faith journey’ (First contact – Building community – Gospel exploration – Discipleship building – Growing calling), how this was working out at St Martin’s and then areas of battle (the repairs needed following the leak and the solar panels journey) and areas of blessing, including the café, repair café and allotments. The main speaker was Sarah Ashleby, who spoke about Alive 2023, the coming event at Stoneleigh Park.
**October Deanery Synod:** This took place in St James’ Styvechale, hosted by Revd Josh Maynard who reported on the challenges of having a number of buildings to maintain, encouraging growth in youth work and blessing, including a good turnout at New Wine. Reports were also received for prayer from St Mary Magdalen Chapelfields, Holy Trinity Hatton and The Assumption of Our Lady Ashow. Business items included lists of officers in the Kenilworth and Coventry South Deaneries. The main speaker was Revd Rob Harrison, Director of Ministry and Leadership who spoke on Lay Ministry. Her asked whether our churches had pyramid structures, spreading out from the vicar, through various assistant clergy and lay leaders to the whole congregation, helping the vicar who leads, or whether they had servant ministry structures where the minister is a servant and leadership exists to support the people of God. He talked about releasing people to do what God calls them to do, recognising lay people’s ministries and resourcing them and described different ways of affirming these ministries.
Sharing meetings with Kenilworth Deanery seems to be quite efficient. The meetings are chaired by the Area Dean, Revd David Hammond, with Assistant Deans, Revd Jim Perryman (Kenilworth) and Revd Andy March (Coventry South) and the Lay Chairs are Mark Lovegrove (K) and Tim Pollard (CS). The Deanery Environmental Representative wok is ably covered by Nicola Perryman (K) in the absence of a DER for Coventry South; we have been looking for a CS DER for two years now.
**Godfrey Armitage** (St Martin’s PCC, Coventry South Deanery Synod and Diocesan Synod).
## **VOLUNTEERS**
Our thanks are given to all those who freely give of their time, talents and treasure to all areas of the church’s ministry, from banking, dealing with Gift Aid, working with children, The Revive Coffee Shop, the Gospel Choir, pastoral care, administration and all those other tasks which together fulfil the holistic role of St Martin’s both in the Church and in the wider community. Thanks too to our Vicar, Matt, Curate, Matt, Curate John, the Churchwardens Andrew and Stan. Reader, Andrew and all on the PCC for all their hard work in 2023, particularly Jackie Cubitt our PCC secretary who works so hard to ensure the APCM happens efficiently. We look to the future with confidence.
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## **EMPLOYEES**
We are particularly appreciative of Jackie Bint our Parish Administrator who did a great job also administering our Hall Bookings, our part time Children and Family worker Kate Saxton who continued to make great connections with our local schools and has done a wonderful job running Stay and Play and Lisa Clamp our part time Youth Enabler who has deepened relationships and grown numbers, all of which who make a significant contribution to the mission of St Martin’s as we seek to help people Explore Faith, Love Jesus and serve our community.
## **SAFEGUARDING REPORT**
During the year, the Prayer Ministry Team began, all on the team have taken the Basic Safeguarding Certificate, the Foundations Safeguarding Certificate and the Domestic Abuse course. They have also been safely recruited and undergone a DBS check. I would like to say a tremendous thank you for all they have done as this wasn’t a two minute undertaking.
We continue to safely recruit volunteers for The Revive Coffee Shop, thank you to those volunteers for filling in forms, taking the Basic Safeguarding Training and for those who have completed references.
I would like again, to say a really big thank you to everyone who either works with children, volunteers at Revive or members of the PCC for complying with all the regulations, filling in forms and completing the Safeguarding training. All PCC’s now have to undergo the Domestic Abuse training and nearly all members have now completed it. During the year the Safeguarding Training continues to be online. A big thank you to Kate and Lisa, who have completed so many Risk Assessment forms for the groups during the year as the guidelines change.
The PCC has complied with the duty under section 5 of the Safeguarding and Clergy Disciplinary Measure 2016, which imposes a legal duty on the PCC _to have due regard to guidance issued by the House of Bishops on matters relating to the safeguarding children and vulnerable adults._
You might wonder what it means to “have due regard”, and the Independent Inquiry into Child Sexual Abuse (IICSA) observed that this legal term was not well understood. If you would like further details, please do contact the Safeguarding Officer.
The DBS checks continue to come through fairly quickly. Twenty six people have been DBS checked during this last year 2023 with many now on the updating service which means they will be checked automatically each year without having to fill in any more forms!
Fourteen people have taken the Basic Safeguarding Course, twenty one people have completed their Foundation Safeguarding Training and twenty people have completed the Domestic Abuse Course. Jackie Cubitt has also completed the Leadership Pathway and a Spiritual Abuse course. The Safer Recruitment process continues to be used for everyone in the majority of roles within the church. This included completing an Application form, Confidential Record form and references being requested. For those who have responsibilities for managing others, they are now required to complete the Safer Recruitment and People Management online Course. We continue to keep up to date with the Parish Dashboard, even though it is continually changing, especially in April 2024 as a new hub is being added, more news on that next year!
The Parish Dashboard forms the Action Plan from the Safeguarding Policy adopted by the PCC seven years ago and is a great asset, making sure all safeguarding regulations are adhered to. There are three levels and I am pleased to say that we continue to be on level three. The PCC have regular updates at each PCC meeting and have reviewed the Policies on an annual basis. Safeguarding is high up on the agenda at every PCC meeting so the PCC have regular updates and receive up to date information on Safeguarding and the Action Plan from the Parish Dashboard. Please do ask if you would like to know more about the Parish Dashboard. There is more information on Safeguarding in the Narthex, Fellowship Room and the main Hall. Thank you to everyone who has made this role so much easier by completing references, filling in forms, booking on line courses and also the support I have had from our vicar, Reverend Matt, our curate, Reverend Matt, Kate and Lisa. Thank you so much.
Jackie Cubitt - Safeguarding Officer
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## **Kate Saxton Children & Families Worker - PCC / APCM Report for 2023**
## **School’s Work 2023:**
It's encouraging to see that we continue to have a great relationship with Finham & Stivichall Primary schools **.** As you can see from the yearly timetable below, we are regularly in school meeting with the teachers and the children.
|**SPRING 1**|**5 sessions**||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
|FINHAM|10TH JAN|AM|ALL|VALUES|
|FINHAM|10TH JAN|AM|Y1|WHO & WHAT IS A CHRISTIAN? 60 ch|
|STIVICHALL|24TH JAN|AM|Y1|WHO & WHAT IS A CHRISTIAN? 75 ch|
|FINHAM|31ST JAN|AM|Y5|WHY PEOPLE BELIEVE GOD EXISTS? 65 ch|
|FINHAM|14TH FEB|AM|Y6|WHEN LIFE GETS HARD 65 ch|
|**SPRING 2**|**4 session**||||
|FINHAM|14TH MARCH||AM|ALL
- whole school|
|FINHAM|14TH MARCH||AM|Y2
SACRED BOOK - 60 ch|
|FINHAM|27TH MARCH||AM|Y5
EASTER CRACKED - 60 ch|
|STIVICHALL|28TH MARCH||AM|Y5
EASTER CRACKED - 75 ch|
|**SUMMER 1 **|**8 sessions**||||
|FINHAM|25TH APRIL|AM|ALL|ASSEMBLY - AFTER PARTY - whole school|
|FINHAM|25TH APRIL|AM|Y4|WHY IS JESUS INSPIRING? - 60 c|
|STIVICHALL|9TH MAY|AM|RECEPTION visit
PLACES OF WORSHIP - 60 ch||
|FINHAM|16TH MAY|AM|ALL|ASSEMBLY -whole school|
|FINHAM|16TH MAY|AM|Y3|WHY DO PEOPLE PRAY? - 60 ch|
|STIVICHALL|22ND MAY|AM|ALL|PENTECOST ASSEMBLY - whole school|
|STIVICHALL|23RD MAY|AM|Y3|THE BIBLE - 75 children|
|FINHAM|25TH MAY|PM|Y1 visit
PLACES OF WORSHIP- 60 ch||
|**AUTUMN 1**|**3 sessions**||||
|FINHAM|26th SEPT|AM|REC|FARMER & THE SOWER - 60 ch|
|FINHAM|26TH SEPT|AM|ALL|HARVEST - whole school|
|FINHAM|10TH OCT|AM|Y1|WHAT DOES IT MEAN TO BELONG TO A FAITH|
|COMMUNITY - 60 ch|||||
|**AUTUMN 2**|**5 sessions**||||
|FINHAM|14TH NOV|AM|ALL|VALUES ASSEMBLY - respect - whole school|
|FINHAM|14TH NOV|AM|Y5|WHAT WOULD JESUS DO? 60 children|
|STIVICHALL|4TH DEC|AM|ALL|ADVENT ASSEMBLY - whole school|
|STIVICHALL|11TH DEC|AM|Y4|CHRISTMAS UNWRAPPED - 90 children|
|FINHAM|12TH DEC|AM|Y4|CHRISTMAS UNWRAPPED - 65 children|
1 **|** Page
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## **- Summer trip 2023 with Finham Primary school YEAR 5:**
ALIVE session - It was great to be part of the faith schools event. The children and teachers enjoyed the trip to the NAC for live worship / faith / mission event - thank you to the PCC for l i th h
**Holiday Bible club -** no event due to the building work
## **IGNITE group** :
- Still recruiting new members from work in schools, which shows continuity We had 12 children for most of 2023, until the schools chose their new after school activities from Sept 2023, our numbers changed to 9.
- We opened up for younger age group to allow siblings to come together as a family group - this helped increase our numbers
- We had 2 leaders for most of 2023 (Sue Jones / Marilyn Douglas / with support of MT / MF / JS) Linda Smith joined the team towards the end of 2023.
- We have had craft workshops with Ingrid, which have proved very popular. It is great to be able to teach the children new skills such as sewing and weaving and also to reach out to members of the church to help share their skills and talents.
## **Thrive support:**
- I've been able to network and meet with Fiona and the children's leaders from around Coventry and surrounding areas this year; it is a very useful time when we all support each th d h id &
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**Family work:** mainly due to stay & play, I'm able to be more involved with families and make more of a connection with the community outside of Sunday Church.
## **Sunday Children’s Church:**
- Currently, we work with the bible reading for church, creating our own bespoke sessions, which can be time consuming in planning, however the teaching on Sunday remains joined up through all the age groups.
- We had a season of holding the groups in church as we didn’t have enough leaders or children, moving back into the hall towards the end of the year.
- We have a dedicated team of volunteers that help to grow the faith of the children in our church - this can be 2 children - to 4 children - supporting families and making church fun for the children in our provision. Sandra Taylor / Carolyn Hickton have joined as leaders, we now have 5 leaders on a Sunday, which shares the load greatly. – Marilyn & Gill Barclay have said they will step in, but they already do so much for IGNITE/Stay&Play and I worry they will burn out, as with all our current leaders, if we don’t take care of them!
- Sunday worship is still a challenge for “sporting” families, which means attendance is hit & miss -Looking to the future, I have been thinking about inviting the IGNITE Families to church and maybe running a similar group but on Sunday, still in infancy with how this might work, but would mean we may have more children, with the view of families attending church more regularly.
## **Stay & Play:**
- The community group has gone from strength to strength with over 35 adult members and their children.
- The importance of contact with families in the community has been such a rewarding time - seeing Shelly/Fergus baptised in 2023 shows part of God’s amazing work in St Martin’s.
- Being able to facilitate Jenny/Robyn with their charity work for Prem babies/families support group.
- We have purchased better storage solutions for the toys & equipment, which still need organising better, but I've been able to remove broken toys/containers, which has provided more space & boxes can be stacked away more safely.
- Thanks to Gill Barclay / Fran Armitage / Mary Greenfield on setup /social team – also the Revs, who attend this group on a rota, certainly helping the group to flourish - it would be amazing if more leaders/volunteers were available to help with the future of this wonderful group.
- We couldn’t run without our amazing volunteers.
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## **Movie Morning:**
- February Half Term 2023 October Half Term 2023
- MT / KS run, with the help of a refreshments team MD/GB/MG
- Tickets ordered through Eventbrite - free event We had a great uptake, with around 20 families in attendance at both events.
- Future proofing: The church would really benefit from having black out blinds to enhance the viewing experience & a bigger screen.
## **Youth and children’s working group:**
- Dave F stepped down from leading the group and Fran Armitage has taken up the role. We are waiting for a date for when our next meeting will be.
## **Leaders thanks:**
Summer term saw our annual leader breakfast, this was well attended and we were able to thank our leaders for all they do in the church groups. We certainly couldn't run our supervision without th i th i d d di ti It' f b l t b t f i f l
_Kate Saxton 26/02/2024_
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## **YOUTH ENABLER REPORT**
## **2023 Youth provision**
I would like to start off by saying that we couldn’t run our Youth provision without such gifted and willing volunteers therefore we would again like to Thank them. We hold a yearly breakfast but this doesn’t seem to show just how much we appreciate them. To this end we are looking at different options and the possibility of more regular gatherings. Volunteers worked tirelessly for others and we want them to know that we appreciate them.
**First contact Groups running in 2023**
Wednesday- Community Bat and Chat (Including ways to bring All Ages together safely) 35 sessions held, 5 being the lowest number and 13 being the highest. Naturally lost 1 young person to University. The local school runs enrichment activities & have held 4 strike days on Wednesday but we have still had young people attending on these days and after their enrichment activities.
- Provides a place for first contact and community building. It continues to encourage young people to explore new activities:
- Technology free club where Active sports/games and creative crafts are encouraged.
- Regular emails to parents/carers inviting them and their young people to all that we offer at the church.
● 3windowdisplays- create some engaging discussions during Harvest, Easter and Christmas. Also encourages young people to know that the free Community provision they attend is funded by the congregation.
● 3parent/ carers from the coffee shop took Easter crafts home for their young people to complete and brought them back to be part of the display. One of the young people went on to attend the community provision after this.
- Youth decopatched crosses and completed nail art for the Easter Display 2023
- Youth created Tile paintings, a creative bauble tree display and used the technique quilling to
complete the Christmas window display in 2023 ●
Invited young people along with their parent/carers who helped with the holiday club during the previous year to our leader breakfast
**Wednesday- The After party (Bible studies)** These sessions continue to provide Gospel exploration, discipleship building and growing in calling. The sessions follow the same passage as the Sunday group do. It’s a small group most weeks, with up to 4 people attending. We have ran 30 sessions this year. The young people of varying ages engage really well together, the session provides a chance to explore the gospel and grow in confidence
● Introduced an After Party challenge where the youth enabler would prepare a small challenge (instructions in an envelope) 2 volunteers would take the young people to the fellowship room/marquee and complete the challenge ready for when the session started. The enabler could clear up quickly and the group had a better chance of starting on time.
- Young people open in prayer
- Pray together as a group
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Sunday groups Snack & unwrap YOUTH Sundays & Growing in calling (ages 11-15 come out to groups, 16-18 stay in church, although any young person of Youth age group is welcome to attend the session)
## **These sessions provide a chance for our young people to socialise with other Christians and talk about their week. We discuss the same passage that is read out in church and try to be creative with the ice breaker.**
- Young people open in prayer, and pray for one another as a whole group.
● We have retained the older youth who are part of the service and use their gifts on worship band, technology and sound often. We do not note these young people in our group figures but they are such an important part of the youth provision, since they operate technical and sound decks and perform in the worship band.
- We have had family move home therefore changed churches.
- We have also welcomed a new curate who brings family/young people to us.
- Another young person has been introduced as a member of the worship band this year. Mostly playing at the Sunday evening service.
- Another young person very much enjoys being the regular person to take the collection plate round.
● We have been asked to provide references on a couple of occasions this year for one of our older youth to be part of Christian events helping out at events such as New Wine.
Parent/ carers prayer gathering We have held prayer sessions this year. We pray in general for our provision and we continue to be grateful for the people who attend. It is held every other week in term time, starting promptly at 13:00 hours and finishing at 13:20. We are very grateful for those who attend
## **Involvement in Children's provision/Transition Youth Enabler attended:**
- 28thMarch 2023, Easter cracked Styvechale school .
- 17thMay2023, St Martins stay & play
- 4thJuly 2023, Styvechale school transition day.
- 11thJuly 2023, Finham school transition day.
- 11thDecember 2023, Christmas unwrapped.
- 12thDecember 2023, Christmas unwrapped
## **Volunteers & Leaders**
● Breakfast Drop in-14th June 2023
- Safely recruited a new volunteer towards the end of 2023 who has an interest in sports and
- One of our volunteers has taken a break while dealing with home commitments but has continued to support our youth & kindly gifted a new pool table to the young people and some card crafting
- We still have a need for more volunteers at all of our youth provisions. It would be wonderful to have an emergency list of 3-4 safely recruited volunteers and people who we can call on during
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illness.
● Youth enabler has 9 weeks unpaid plus holiday to take, youth enabler attends all groups as we need more volunteers. Sunday groups cannot run during holidays unless we have more volunteers and people who are happy to lead and plan
**Networking events**
● Less frequent zoom catch ups with Thrive Youth ministries, however the ones that happen continues to be a great strength to the provision.
● 21[st] March 2023- youth enabler and a parent attended Hope leaders Youth meeting in
Cheylesmore.
● 3 young people attended a Thrive BBQ worship event. It was an enjoyable event and also allowed the youth enabler to see volunteers from local churches.
● During a community Bat & Chat session in October, the young people made and decorated windmills (these were gifted to the Ignite group for the children to have)
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Youth created Tile paintings, a creative bauble tree display and used the technique quilling to complete the Christmas window display in 2023 .
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The Window displays are not often noticed but these are an important part of first contact leading to Gospel exploration as the community group are aware that the congregation provide the funds for them to attend this free youth group and our themed window displays help us to give back to the community.
Lisa Clamp – Youth Enabler
## **MISSION WORKING GROUP REPORT**
Members of the Group Andrew Barclay Caroline Brown Helen Spencer Lynette Smith Gail Brigdon
The giving to organisations outside the church has continued this year unchanged from 2022. Direct debits were set up in 2022.
There has been some difficulty in establishing what the 10% of the general unrestricted giving in 2022 was so we continued on the figures used in 2022
For 2023 we continued to support the following organisations
|1)|Osgoods/OM|£3,600, £300pcm|Evangelism|UK/Overseas|
|---|---|---|---|---|
|2)|Lighthouse Coventry|£1250, £100pcm|Health|UK|
|3)|Thrive|£1,250, £100pcm|Evangelism|UK|
|4)|CCM|£1,250, £100pcm|Evangelism|UK|
|5)|Sat 7|£1,250, £100pcm|Evangelism|Overseas|
|6)|Mvumi Hospital|£650, £50pcm|Health|Overseas|
|7)|Mercy ships|£600, £50pcm|Health|Overseas|
|8)|Emergency fund|£400|||
||Total|£10,250|||
These organisations have been regularly prayed for in church
Andrew Barclay
## **PARISH OFFICE REPORT 2023**
The Parish Office is located at the back of church, in the Vestry and is usually open on Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday mornings. Access to the Office is through the back church door, via video link.
Jackie Bint is the Parish Administrator and has served in this role for 20 years as of April 2024, providing administrative support to St. Martin’s church, its leadership team, Revive Coffee Shop and staff members.
The administrative requirements, including record keeping, certificate issuing and invoicing for Baptisms, Marriages, Confirmations and Funerals continue to be handled by the Office.
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The Parish Office compiles a weekly notice sheet that is printed, delivered to **6** parishioners who are no longer able to attend church in person, and distributed to **97** recipients by email. Its purpose is to summarise what’s on at St. Martin’s, share information and highlight upcoming events. The Parish Office continues to handle most enquiries from the public, via email, telephone or in person.
St. Martin’s church has **28** regular Hall, Fellowship Room, Church & Field users. The premises are additionally used for many private events, meetings, and parties. The Parish Office manages all hall bookings, both regular and casual, from initial email or telephone enquiry and booking through to invoicing and revenue management. The role of Parish
Regular groups using the facilities at St. Martin’s include the following:
Beavers, Cubs, Scouts, Saints Explorers Rainbows, Brownies, Guides, Rangers Drama Tots, Artventurers, Wildlings outdoor play Art Class, Textile History Group, Craft workshops, Mothers’ Union, Men’s Fellowship Group, Gospel Choir, Senior Citizens @ St. Martin’s, Stay & Play, Ignite, Youth Group, Alpha Art Group Finham WI, ICU Steps, Coventry Adoption Group Private dance practice, Aao Miloh Group
Jackie Bint – Parish Administrator
## **MOTHERS’ UNION BRANCH LEADER’S REPORT**
We aim to show our Christian faith by helping the sustainable transformation of communities worldwide. We do this by helping to nurture strong relationships at all levels, promoting peace and reconciliation locally, nationally and globally. Our Aims are to:
- encourage parents in their role to develop the faith of their children
- maintain a worldwide fellowship of Christians united in prayer, worship and service
- promote conditions in society favourable to stable family life and the protection of children
- help those whose family life has met with adversity
- promote and support married life.
Present in 84 countries, our members are not all mothers, or even all women. They are single,
married, parents, grandparents, or young adults just beginning to express their social conscience. Mothers' Union provides a network through which they can serve Christ in their own community. This is done through prayer, financial support and actively working at the grassroots level in programmes that meet local needs.
2023 has been my second year as your Branch Leader and I would like to thank our wonderful Committee and members for all their hard work and support.
A major thank you goes to our knitting group who supply the Neonatal Unit at the hospital and also The Haven with huge amounts of items that they have made and donated, and I know they are gratefully received.
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Lenten Communion was enjoyed by us with Revd Matt Taylor with hot cross buns as usual, and for Mothering Sunday our branch donated the daffodils given out at the Sunday service.
We again took up the President’s Challenge using £200 to purchase needed new equipment for St Martin’s Youth Group, whose leader has assured us that the children are loving the new equipment and have great fun using it. We used the remaining £50 to buy sanitary products to pass on to Carriers of Hope to give out to refugees that they are working with in Coventry.
We had several speakers over the year including a missionary nurse who worked in Israel and MU members Rosie and Anne who told us about their trip to Kapsabet in Kenya as part of Bishop Christopher’s group and about meeting other members of Mothers Union there.
During the year some of our members attended Members Days at St Mary’s Warwick, St James’ Styvechale and our Advent Service at Coventry Cathedral. Our brilliant members also supported our Diocesan President and other MU branches to serve refreshments at the Cathedral to hundreds of people at Bishop Christopher’s leaving service.
At the Christmas Fair we again ran a cake stall. he proceeds of which went to help with our donations for the year.
We had our Christmas Carols service in the Marquee, where we enjoyed singing carols and enjoying the love of the Christmas story, and also the eating of the mince pies.
Finally, thank you, members and guests who are a part of our branch and to the Clergy and church family of St Martin’s who share fellowship with us, and have supported Mothers Union in their work both at home and abroad, throughout the past year.
Lynette Askew - Branch Leader
## **MEN’S GROUP ON FRIDAY’S**
We have now been running our men’s group on Friday afternoon for 2 and 1/2 years. It has been great that some of those who were there right at the very start still attend and really enjoy the group. Being able to listen and chat is so valuable when people are often in their home for much of the time with nobody to talk to. Over the last six months we have seen new members join the group which is always great and encouraging.
The use of the marquee whilst the repairs were going on in the fellowship room enabled us to carry on without interruption and it is now so good to be back in the fellowship room which looks so great.
The success of our group has enabled us at Good Neighbours to launch similar groups across the city and we are excited about a new one started soon in Abby’s church at St Paul’s. A place for men to simply meet, chat and feel welcome is so important, I am so grateful that St Martin’s has enabled us to have the space to create this group.
Dave Foxwell
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## **Treasurer’s Report for 2023**
Growth in business at the coffee shop, progress on installing the solar panels and disruption caused by the flooding in the Fellowship Room area have led to much activity on the financial front.
## **Summary**
- Overall, expenditure by the church has been greater than income for some years and continues to be so.
- Total church income rose from £191,515 in 2022 to £230,562, an increase of 20% on the previous year. 36% of the year’s income consisted of revenue raised by the coffee shop, up from about 25% in 2022.
- Income for the general fund (unrestricted church income other than from the coffee shop and Stay & Play) rose by 2% from £120,934 to £123,892, compared with an increase of 18% in 2022 and a reduction of 10% in 2021.
- Total church expenditure rose from £208,352 to £254,889, an increase of 22%. 15% of the expenditure was related to the coffee shop, compared with 12% in 2022.
- Expenditure from the general fund rose from £136,288 to £145,401, an increase of 7%. Thus both total and general fund expenditure continue to rise faster than income.
- Total expenditure exceeded total income by £24,326, up from £16,837 in 2022.
- Total assets fell from £229,237 to £222,060. A £17,150 growth in the value of investments (from £182,410 to £199,560) made up nearly all of the value they lost in 2022 but did not offset the cash deficit.
## **Income**
Congregational giving rose by 12%, from £84,877 to £95,289. Partly thanks to a stewardship campaign in the summer, giving by standing order increased from £60,622 in 2022 to £65,897 although envelope giving fell from £10,073 to £8,561. Interestingly, loose cash donations nearly doubled, up to £4,610. A card reader was installed in August but its impact so far has been modest, with £264 raised. Other donations rose from £11,735 to £15,302. While donations in 2022 were dominated by nearly £8,000 for the solar panels, in 2023 about a fifth each were for the panels and for preliminary examinations of the church walls. Among the “donations” was a gift of £2,612.69 in April resulting from Open the Book winding up their work in south Coventry. We have placed this into the restricted fund for youth and children’s work.
The coffee shop was the second largest source of income. It is now self-supporting, relying almost entirely on sales to customers with just £2,251 coming from organised events such as funeral meals. Stay and Play is also largely self-supporting with an income during the year of £2,126 from admission payments. Hall rentals, the third largest source of income, fell from £27,222 to £23,263; the 2022 figure may have been influenced by a bounce-back from the Covid pandemic. The extensive repair work on the Fellowship Room and kitchen area did not have as much impact as expected; income from bookings in the second part of the year was actually higher in 2003 than in 2022 although some one-off bookings were lost.
The church received £9,000 in grants from Community Energy Heart of England and Community Energy Warwickshire towards completion of the solar panels project. The £9,016 sundry receipts included payouts of £5,752 and £1,100 from Ecclesiastical Insurance as part compensation for flood damage and for repairs to the drains in front of the church respectively; Ecclesiastical also paid us £1,500 compensation for inaccurate information about insurance cover for the solar panels. £664 was a refund of credit from British Gas when we closed our account with them.
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We experienced difficulty in claiming gift aid from donations from October 2022 onwards and this reduced our income by about £18,000. These difficulties have now been largely overcome and we expect to reclaim this money in the first half of 2024.
## **Expenditure**
Parish share remained at its 2022 level but it will rise in 2024. The four staff members received a pay increase, backdated to the start of the year. The assistant chef for the coffee shop left at the end of November and we expect to appoint a replacement in the new year.
Following a steep increase in utility bills in 2022, which included some arrears from 2021, we moved from British Gas to Octopus who offered more competitive charges (British Gas having given notice of a substantial increase) and provide electricity from green sources, supporting our move towards sustainability. They also offer a small payment for electricity from the solar panels that we sell to the national grid. Charges per kilowatt-hour for both electricity and gas are expected to fall in 2024.
Expenditure on the buildings was dominated by completion of the solar panels, which began operation in late March; £20,731 was spent on the panels and electrical equipment and £7,380 (classified under churchyard upkeep) on security fencing that we erected because Ecclesiastical would not provide insurance cover for theft or accidental damage. £3,000 was spent on survey work in connection with impending repairs to the west wall; these will need to be extended to cover all the church walls and guttering. All these costs were met out of restricted funds but there was some heavy spending from the general fund also, for example for maintenance of the fire alarms. The intern who had been cleaning the church and hall left at the end of August and was replaced by one who is attached to another church in the diocese.
A separate report gives details of coffee shop income and expenditure. The shop continues to pay the church £450 monthly for utilities and £325 for cleaning. These payments are expected to be revised in view of the future arrangements for the coffee shop.
## **Investments**
To support cash flow, £30,000 was transferred from the CCLA deposit account to the Santander current account in March and a further £1,000 in September. As a result the balance of the CCLA account was reduced from £32,554 to £5,685 through the year. While this large withdrawal was partly to maintain cash flow when paying for the solar panels, it reflects the fact that despite generous giving by church members towards the panels and the west wall work, and the increases in regular income described above, the church’s spending still outstrips income and there is no guarantee that large “exceptional” expenditures will not be succeeded by others.
The value of the holding in CCLA income shares recovered from £125,799 at the start of the year to £137,738 by the end of 2023 as the national economy improved. These holdings paid out £3,765 in dividends, which were paid into the CCLA deposit account. The value of our endowment with Black Rock rose from £56,611 to £61,822 through the year. The church aims to transfer this holding to another fund that is more committed to environmental and ethical investments.
## **Reserves**
In January 2020 the PCC reviewed its policy on financial reserves and decided that sufficient accessible funds should be kept at all times to cover six months of essential expenditure. Based on 2022, the amount to be kept in reserve is estimated to be £122,512. Cash funds at the end of 2023 amounted to £22,500 and investment assets to £222,060.
## **Coffee shop**
The coffee shop has continued to be a success, both in terms of patronage and profitability, and it has made a positive contribution to the church’s accounts. The separate report on the coffee shop gives further details.
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## **Accounts and administration**
Andrew Spencer continued as Church Treasurer but the finances of the coffee shop have been managed by Alex Langlands, a professional accountant. The church is greatly indebted for her work and advice.
Mr. Jatinder Singh Birdi was confirmed as Independent Examiner of the church finances at the APCM in May 2022 and at the PCC meeting on 16[th] January 2024 it was reported that he would be prepared to continue in the role for this year.
The church continued to use a current account with Santander Bank. A new current account was opened with CAF Bank in March 2022 to handle coffee shop funds although at present some monies, particularly cash receipts, are still banked with Santander. In February 2023 the church opened a second account with CAF to handle church funds. It allows us to pay invoices and expenses electronically with dual authorisation, something that is not possible with Santander.
We are now using the Expense Plus accounting system to handle the coffee shop finances. The aim is to use this for all church funds but the transfer has proved slower than expected and in 2023 we continued to use the spreadsheet that Neville Hunt developed when he was Treasurer.
## **Unrestricted and restricted funds**
The church has created a new unrestricted fund to handle the coffee shop’s revenue and spending. The restricted coffee shop fund, which contained grants and donations to support the shop’s settingup, has been gradually run down to zero. The Stay and Play group has closed its independent current account, this being transferred into a new restricted fund. An unrestricted Stay and Play fund has also been set up for monies that it receives from the coffee shop.
Two restricted funds, for Rwanda and for the garden and eco-projects, contained only nominal sums and had been dormant for some time. We aimed to extinguish both funds in 2022 by spending their contents on related projects but we have since found that they contain a few pence each resulting from rounding errors. We may reactivate one or both funds for further use.
Two other restricted funds, for Youth and Missions, contain money pledged by church members for those uses. The restricted funds for the solar panels and the west wall continue in being. A new restricted fund was set up to handle receipts from the repair workshop that was set up during 2023.
## **External giving**
The church continues to make monthly donations of £100 to Lighthouse Christian Care, Thrive Youth Ministries, the Coventry City Mission and to Sat7 UK and of £50 to the Friends of Mvumi Hospital and to Mercy Ships UK Ltd. We also donated to Tear Fund to support relief work following the earthquake in Turkey and Syria.
## **Concluding thoughts**
The rise in income is still outweighed by the rise in expenditure. The cash deficit has widened from £16,837 to £24,326 and cash funds have fallen from £46,827 to £22,500. Much but not all of these shortfalls resulted from the difficulties in claiming back tax under gift aid, which we hope have now been overcome.
Continued withdrawals from the CCLA deposit fund mean that this supply is nearly exhausted and if the current deficit is maintained it will be necessary to draw upon the investment funds. This in turn will reduce their earning capacity.
Although the solar panels dominated much of the year’s expenditure and this project has now completed, the repairs to the church walls will cost up to £70,000 and this work cannot be delayed forever. We have been approaching grant awarding bodies to meet this cost but almost certainly they will not meet it in full.
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Costs are rising on all fronts. A stewardship campaign during the year has led to an increase in giving but more will be needed – not an easy proposition at a time when many people’s real incomes are falling.
A finance team was set up in early 2023 to address these issues and also some ethical matters, for example whether we should continue to use funds that invest in fossil fuels and tobacco. The Treasurer wishes to conclude by thanking the team, along with the church leaders and members, for their cheerful and encouraging support through the past year.
Andrew Spencer - Treasurer
Page 26
**St Martin-in-the-Fields PCC**
## **Accounts for the year 01 Jan 2023 to 31 Dec 2023**
## **Section A Receipts and payments**
|**Receipts**|**Unrestricted**
**to nearest £**
63,305
6,089
8,561
4,610
264
655
-
1,026
23,263
4,149
-
-
9,016
-
1,465
-
1,500
2,126
80,590
2,251
**208,870**
-
-
-
**208,870**
67,572
2,547
55,169
1,463
-
1,213
1,044
1,106
-
504
347
3,131
3,439
16,007
800
14,953
1,108
9,747
100
252
23
30,272
5,858
2,255
-
**218,910**
-
**-**|**Restricted**
**to nearest £**
2,592
9,213
-
-
-
-
531
-
-
-
-
-
-
337
20
-
9,000
-
-
-
**21,692**
-
-
**21,692**
-
-
2,512
-
575
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
24,382
7,910
600
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
**35,978**
-
-|**Endowment**
**to nearest £**
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
**-**
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-|**Total funds**
**to nearest £**
65,897
15,302
8,561
4,610
264
655
531
1,026
23,263
4,149
-
-
9,016
337
1,485
-
10,500
2,126
80,590
2,251
**230,562**
-
-
**230,562**
67,572
2,547
57,681
1,463
575
1,213
1,044
1,106
-
504
347
3,131
3,439
16,007
800
39,334
9,018
10,347
100
252
23
30,272
5,858
2,255
-
**254,889**
-
**-**|**Last year**
**to nearest £**|
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
|StandingOrders|63,305||||60,622|
|Donations|6,089||||11,647|
|Planned GivingEnvelopes|8,561||||10,073|
|Loose Plate Collections|4,610||||2,441|
|Card Reader|264||||-|
|Refreshments|655||||564|
|Receipts from Youth|-||||524|
|Weddings & Funerals|1,026||||1,971|
|Hall Lettings|23,263||||27,222|
|Interest/Dividends|4,149||||4,191|
|Tax Recovered|-||||13,321|
|Legacies|-||||-|
|SundryReceipts|9,016||||2,329|
|Repair WorkshopReceipts|-||||-|
|Fund-raising|1,465||||484|
|Appeals|-||||-|
|One-off Grants|1,500||||5,100|
|Stay& PlayIncome|2,126||||1,074|
|Coffee ShopIncome|80,590||||45,850|
|Coffee ShopEvents|2,251||||4,102|
|**_Sub total_**_(Gross income)_|**208,870**||||**191,515**|
|||||||
|**Asset and investment sales**||||||
|None|-||||-|
|**_Sub total_**|-||||-|
|**_Total receipts_**
**Payments**||||||
||||||**191,515**|
|||||||
|MinistryParish Share|67,572||||67,572|
|ClergyExpenses|2,547||||1,223|
|Staffing& Overheads|55,169||||45,191|
|Children|1,463||||1,028|
|Youth|-||||390|
|Worship,Sacramental & LayTraining|1,213||||969|
|Wedding/Funeral Fees - Diocese|1,044||||1,083|
|Music and Sound|1,106||||1,202|
|Vision|-||||-|
|Accountancycosts|504||||-|
|Publicity|347||||-|
|Administration|3,131||||2,738|
|Insurance|3,439||||3,477|
|Utilities|16,007||||16,233|
|SundrySupplies|800||||1,026|
|Buildings|14,953||||27,444|
|Churchyard Upkeep|1,108||||-|
|Mission Agencies|9,747||||13,100|
|Honoraria|100||||400|
|Fund-raisingActivities|252||||-|
|Stay& Play- Admin costs|23||||7|
|Coffee Shop- Cost of Sales|30,272||||17,806|
|Coffee Shop- Admin costs|5,858||||4,891|
|Coffee Shop - Equipment|2,255||||1,697|
|Coffee Shop- Other costs|-||||875|
|**_Sub total_ **|**218,910**||||**208,352**|
|||||||
|**Asset and investmentpurchases**||||||
||-|-|-|-|-|
|**_Sub total_ **|**-**|-|-|**-**|**-**|
Page 27
|**_Total payments_ **
**_Net of receipts/(payments)_ **
**Transfers between funds**
**Cash funds last year end**
**_Cash funds this year end_ **|**218,910**|**218,910**|**218,910**|**218,910**|**218,910**|**218,910**|**218,910**|**218,910**|**208,352**|
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
|||||||||||
||||||||||**- 16,837**|
||||||||||**-**|
||||||||||**63,664**|
||||||||||**46,827**|
|||||||||||
|**Section B Statement of assets and liabilities at**|||**the end of the period**|||||||
|**Cash funds**|**Unrestricted**
**to nearest £**
2,993
2,888
1,719
2,597
11,005
139
185
**18,534**
OK
**Unrestricted**
**to nearest £**
**-**||**Restricted**
**to nearest £**
-
-
3,967
-
-
-
-
**3,967**
OK
**Restricted**
**to nearest £**
**-**
**Status**
Unrestricted
Endowment
**Fund**
**Fund**
**_Total_**||**Endowment**
**to nearest £**
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
**-**
OK
**Endowment**
**to nearest £**
**-**
**Cost**
94,168(2017)
20,000(1995)
**Cost**
**-**
**Total Assets**
**Amount due**
**-**||**Total funds**
**to nearest £**
**2,993**
**2,888**
**5,685**
**2,597**
**11,005**
**139**
**185**
**22,500**
OK
**Total funds**
**to nearest £**
**-**
**Current value**
137,738
61,822
**Current value**
**-**
**222,060**
**When due**||**Last year**
**to nearest £**|
|Santander Current Account|2,993||||||||**12,198**|
|(less £105 agency payment made in 2024)|2,888||||||||**-**|
|CCLA Deposit Account|1,719||||||||**32,554**|
|CAF Deposit Account,Church Funds|2,597||||||||**-**|
|CAF Deposit Account,Revive|11,005||||||||**1,737**|
|Cash in Hand,Church|139||||||||**146**|
|Cash in Hand,Coffee Shop|185||||||||**192**|
|**_Total cash funds_**|**18,534**||||||||**46,827**|
|account(s))
**Other monetary assets**|||||||||OK|
||||||||||**Last year**
**to nearest £**|
||**-**||||||||**-**|
|**Investment assets**|||||||||**Lastyear**|
|CCLA Investment Account|||||||||125,799|
|Black Rock Charities UK EquityFund|||||||||56,611|
|**Assets retained for charity’s use**|||||||||**Lastyear**|
||||||||||-|
|**Liabilities**||||||||||
||||||||||**229,237**|
|||||||||||
|||||||||||
|||||||||||
|**Section C Position of funds at the end of the period**||||||||||
|**Fund**|**Starting**||**Receipts**||**Payments**||**Net transfers**||**End ofyear**|
|General|31,632.96||123,891.80||145,400.81||- 3,892||6,232|
|Youth(Restricted)|96.12||5,655.49||3,086.56||-||2,665|
|Mission(Restricted)|- 1,868.00||600.00||600.00||1,868||-|
|Repair workshop (Restricted)|-||366.80||-||100||467|
|Coffee shop (Unrestricted)|- 233.83||82,852.14||73,080.87||100||9,637|
|Coffee shop (Restricted)|-||-||-||-||-|
|Solarpanels(Restricted)|16,690.00||12,070.00||28,641.24||-||119|
|West wall(Restricted)|- 1,174.00||3,000.00||3,650.41||1,824||-|
|Garden - ECO(R)|- 0.11||||||0||-|
|Rwanda(Restricted)|0.14||||||- 0||-|
|Stay& Play (Unrestricted)|967.36||2,126.00||428.77||-||2,665|
|Stay& Play (Restricted)|716.01||-||-||-||716|
|**_Sub-total (Cash Funds)_**|**46,826.65**||**230,562.23**||**254,889**||**- 0**||**22,500**|
|Investments|182,410.03||17,150.16||-||-||199,560|
|**_Total_**
( g
p
p y|**229,236.68**||**247,712.39**||**254,889**||**- 0**||**222,060**|
|account(s))
Signed by one or two trustees on behalf of|OK||||OK||||OK
|
||Signature||||Print Name||||~~Date of~~
~~l~~|
||||||||||~~approva~~|
|||||||||||
Page 28
## **EVIVE COFFEE SHOP REPORT**
The following is a report by Revive Coffee shop accountant Alex Langland of the first year of trading.
## **Revive Coffee Shop Finances to 31 December 2023**
## **Overview of Finances**
|**Overview of Finances**|||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
|**_Cash Basis_**||**YEAR ENDED TO 31 DECEMBER 2023**||||**YEAR ENDED 31 DECEMBER 2022**|||
|||**_Unrestricted_**
**_Funds_**|**_Budget_**|**_VARIANCE_**
**_TO BUDGET_**||**_Unrestricted_**
**_Funds_**|**_Restricted_**
**_Funds_**|**_TOTAL_**
**_2022_**|
|**_INCOME_**|||||||||
|Donations & Grant Income||£0|£0|£0||£0|£5,909|£5,909|
|Bank Interest||£11|£4|£8||£2||£2|
|Coffee ShopIncome||£80,590|£62,399|£18,191||£45,850||£45,850|
|Events||£2,251|£4,000|(£1,749)||£4,113||£4,113|
|**Total income**||**£82,852**|**£66,403**|**£16,449**||**£49,965**|**£5,909**|**£55,873**|
||||||||||
|**_EXPENDITURE_**|||||||||
|Staffing||£26,750|£24,174|£2,576||£15,842||£15,842|
|Cost of Sales||£31,131|£25,066|£6,065||£17,806||£17,806|
|Other operational/support costs||£5,789|£6,185|(£396)||£5,766||£5,766|
|Equipment repairs/maintenance||£893|£0|£893|||||
|Buildingcosts & Utilities||£8,110|£8,550|(£440)||£6,317||£6,317|
|Capital Investment_(Cash Basis)_||£140||£140||£1,697||£1,697|
|**Total Expenditure**||**£72,813**|**£63,975**|**£8,838**||**£47,429**|**£0**|**£47,429**|
||||||||||
|**Net Income/ (Expenditure)**||**£10,039**|**£2,428**|**£7,611**||**£2,536**|**£5,909**|**£8,445**|
||||||||||
|_Fund Balance Brought Forward_||_(£234)_|_(£234)_|£0||(£2,770)|(£5,909)|(£8,678)|
|_Fund transfer_||_£0_|_£0_|£0||£0|£0|£0|
||||||||||
|**_Fund Balance Carried Forward_**||**_£9,805_**|**_£2,194_**|**_£7,611_**||**_(£234)_**|**_£0_**|**_(£234)_**|
||||||||||
|**_Balance Sheet_**|||||||||
|Bank Balance: CAF Bank/Square||£10,332||||£670|||
|PettyCash||£295||||£92|||
|Bank Balance: Owed to Santander||(£822)||||(£996)|||
|**NET ASSETS**||**£9,805**||||(£234)|||
||||||||||
Using the cash basis, the coffee shop accounts for the year ended 31 December 2023 **show net income of £10,039 compared to the forecast of £2,428** . The difference is mainly due to coffee shop income being 25% higher than budgeted.
## **Cash Basis vs. Accruals Basis**
Using the accruals basis, the coffee shop accounts show net income of £6,410. The reconciliation explaining the differences between the accounting bases is below:
|||**Net**||**Net**||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
|||**Income**||**Assets at**||
|||**for Year**||**Year End**||
|**Balanceper Cash Basis**||**£10,039**||**£9,805**||
|Less: Items Capitalised as Fixed Assets(inyear/to date)||£739||£12,245||
|Less: Depreciation Charge(inyear/to date)||(£2,530)||(£4,826)||
|Less: Accrued Expenses||(£2,259)||(£2,259)||
|Add Back: Prioryear accrued expensespaid thisyear||£421||||
|**Balanceper Accruals Basis**||**£6,410**||**£14,965**||
|Langlands Accountancy is the trading name of Langlands Accountancy|Limited, a limited company registered in England and Wales|||||
|Company Number 13237391 | Registered Office:|27 Ridgeway Avenue, Coventry, CV3 5BP|||||
|E: alex@langlandsaccountancy.co.uk | M: +44 (0)7789|||640409|||
Page 29
|**_Accruals vs Cash Basis_**||**2023:**|**ACCRUALS BASIS**|**ACCRUALS BASIS**||**2023: CASH BASIS**|**2023: CASH BASIS**|**2023: CASH BASIS**|
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
|||**_Unrestricted_**
**_Funds_**|**_Restricted_**
**_Funds_**|**_TOTAL_**||**_Unrestricted_**
**_Funds_**|**_Restricted_**
**_Funds_**|**_TOTAL_**|
|**_INCOME_**|||||||||
|Donations & Grant Income||£0||£0||£0||£0|
|Bank Interest||£11||£11||£11||£11|
|Coffee ShopIncome||£80,590||£80,590||£80,590||£80,590|
|Events||£2,251||£2,251||£2,251||£2,251|
|**Total income**||**£82,852**|**£0**|**£82,852**||**£82,852**|**£0**|**£82,852**|
||||||||||
|**_EXPENDITURE_**|||||||||
|Staffing||£27,583||£27,583||£26,750||£26,750|
|Cost of Sales||£30,460||£30,460||£31,131||£31,131|
|Other operational/support costs||£5,966||£5,966||£5,789||£5,789|
|Equipment repairs/maintenance||£893||£893||£893||£893|
|Buildingcosts & Utilities||£9,010||£9,010||£8,110||£8,110|
|Capital Investment_(Cash Basis)_||||£0||£140||£140|
|Depreciation _(Accruals Basis)_||£968|£1,562|£2,530||||£0|
|**Total Expenditure**||**£74,881**|**£1,562**|**£76,442**||**£72,813**|**£0**|**£72,813**|
||||||||||
|**Net Income/ (Expenditure)**||**£7,971**|**(£1,562)**|**£6,410**||**£10,039**|**£0**|**£10,039**|
||||||||||
|_Fund Balance Brought Forward_||_£2,308_|_£6,247_|_£8,555_||_(£234)_|_£0_|_(£234)_|
|_Fund Transfer_|||_£0_|_£0_|||_£0_|_£0_|
||||||||||
|**_Fund Balance Carried Forward_**||**_£10,279_**|**_£4,685_**|**_£14,965_**||**_£9,805_**|**_£0_**|**_£9,805_**|
||||||||||
|**_Balance Sheet_**|||||||||
|Fixed Assets||£2,733|£4,685|£7,419|||||
|Bank Balance: CAF Bank/Square||£10,332||£10,332||£10,332||£10,332|
|PettyCash||£295||£295||£295||£295|
|Bank Balance: Owed to Santander||(£822)||(£822)||(£822)||(£822)|
|Accrued expenses||(£2,259)||(£2,259)|||||
|**NET ASSETS**||**£10,279**|**£4,685**|**£14,965**||**£9,805**|**£0**|**£9,805**|
**Accruals Basis:** At 31 December 2023, net assets total £14,965, representing the net income generated from the coffee shop and events less coffee shop expenses. This includes restricted net assets total £4,685, which represents £7,809 income (£1,901 in 2021 and £5,909 in 2022) specifically donated for the set up of the coffee shop (spent on the new floor and coffee machine), less the depreciation of those assets to date.
**Cash Basis:** Net Assets on a cash basis are £9,805. This is lower than on an accruals basis, because the full impact of the £11,646 spent on Fixed Assets has been taken in the year in which the assets were bought, rather than spreading the cost over the life of the assets as on the Accruals Basis. On a cash basis, all of the restricted funds have been spent on assets, and so the restricted fund balance is Nil.
**----- Start of picture text -----**
Langlands Accountancy is the trading name of Langlands Accountancy Limited, a limited company registered in England and Wales
Company Number 13237391 | Registered Office: 27 Ridgeway Avenue, Coventry, CV3 5BP
E: alex@langlandsaccountancy.co.uk | M: +44 (0)7789 640409
**----- End of picture text -----**
Page 30
## **Income**
Total coffee shop income to for the year ended 31 December 2023 is 25% ahead of budget, with income being £82,852 compared to a budget of £66,403.
Sales in December 2023 were £6,730 compared to a budget of £6,500, with sales lower in December than the preceding months as the coffee shop was closed for the last week of December.
Income has exceeded budget each month of the year, with the exception of August, when sales for the month were £5,650 compared to a budget of £6,500, a deficit of £850. This is a result of the coffee shop being closed for the first week in August due to the repairs to the floor. This meant that 5 days of income were lost, which equates to roughly £1,500. Therefore, we can see that if the coffee shop had been able to open that week, sales would have once again exceeded budget for the month. An insurance claim is being put in for the lost earnings, and so the coffee shop should be able to reclaim this income. However, it should also be noted that the deficit in August has been more than made up for in previous months, and once again in October, sales exceeded budget.
Income from events is running at less than the forecast for the year, but this is compensated for by the coffee shop income exceeding budget.
Note that the income figures exclude the Stay and Play and Gospel Choir income which has been paid for through Square.
Page 31
## **Expenditure**
On a cash basis, expenditure for the year is slightly above forecast, totalling £72,813 compared to the forecast of £63,975. The increased costs are a result of the increased sales for the year to date – with cost of sales being higher than forecast by 24%.
As well as the higher cost of sales, resulting from the higher sales, there have been some additional costs which were not explicitly budgeted for:
- New microwave: £599
- Dishwasher repair£473
- Annual service of the coffee machine: £420
- Additional staff costs to cover Phil’s period of leave: £220 paid in November and £625 in December
These additional costs have been more than compensated for by the additional income generated by the coffee shop.
It should be noted that Octopus did not invoice for utility bills from mid-July to October. Invoices for mid– July October were paid in November, resulting in a coffee shop expense of £1,800 in November. Due to the cash accounting, meaning that the £1,800 is only seen in the month of payment, we see a deficit being generated for the month November. Octopus have not billed for energy use in November and December and so the expected cost of £450 pcm is not included in the accounts prepared under the cash accounting method.
## **Net Surplus**
**Overall, the accounts are currently showing a net surplus for the year of £10,039 against a forecast of £2,428** . The surplus is 313% above budget due to the higher coffee shop income than expected.
A summary of the accounts prepared on the cash basis is on page 6.
## **Bank Balances**
At 31 December, the breakdown of cash balances was as follows:
||**Coffee**
**Shop**|**Stay &**
**Play ***|**Gospel**
**Choir ***|
|---|---|---|---|
|CAF Cash Bank Current Account|£10,274|£364|£342|
|Square(Amounts notyetpaid out)|-|||
|Till Float|£57|||
|PettyCash(Amounts notyet banked)|£295|||
|TOTAL HELD BY COFFEE SHOP|£10,627|||
|Amounts owed to Coffee Shopbythe church account **|(£822)|||
|**NET POSITION**|**£9,805**|||
* The Stay & Play and Gospel Choir income is received into the Square till and paid into the Coffee Shop CAF Bank Account. The balance is transferred into the Santander Bank Account in the following month.
**There are certain transactions for the coffee shop that are paid for by the church – this includes salaries for coffee shop staff, and the coffee shop’s share of certain costs incurred jointly with the church, for example the utility and cleaning bills. On the other hand, the coffee shop income that is received in cash is paid into the church bank account. The net of the coffee shop expenses less the coffee shop income is repaid by the coffee shop to the church in the following month.
Page 32
Note that all initial start up costs for the coffee shop paid for by the church have now been fully repaid.
## **VAT Check**
At 31 December, cumulative sales for the last 12 months total **£82,841** . The VAT registration threshold is £85,000 and so there is currently a £2.2k buffer.
**----- Start of picture text -----**
Cumulative 12 month Income vs VAT Registration Threshold
90000
85000
80000
75000
70000
65000
60000
55000
50000
Actual Income Forecast Income VAT Threshold
**----- End of picture text -----**
With sales projected at £6,500 for January 2024, the cumulative 12-month total is projected to be £84.6k by the end of January, with VAT registration required in February 2024. Sales need to stay under £6,936 in January 2024 to avoid VAT registration in January.
**----- Start of picture text -----**
Forecast cumulative 12 month Income vs VAT Registration Threshold
89000
87000
85000
83000
81000
79000
77000
75000
73000
Jul-23 Aug-23 Sep-23 Oct-23 Nov-23 Dec-23 Jan-24 Feb-24 Mar-24 Apr-24 May-24 Jun-24
Actual Income Forecast Income VAT Threshold
**----- End of picture text -----**
As a result of these calculations, we will need to look at the VAT registration from February 2024.
Page 33
|Langlands Accountancy is the trading name of Langlands Accountancy Limited, a limited company registered in England and Wales
Company Number 13237391 | Registered Office: 27 Ridgeway Avenue, Coventry, CV3 5BP
E: alex@langlandsaccountancy.co.uk | M: +44 (0)7789 640409|||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
||Over/ (under)budget
1,548
145
917
1,559
451
(19)
1,292
(417)
1,158
1,223
(1,326)
1,077.34|Budegted
(153)
(174)
1,025
62
269
890
(73)
(88)
700
(88)
254
(198.77)|TOTAL PROFIT/ (LOSS)|**v**|Budegted
3,968
5,261
5,545
5,507
5,086
5,466
5,428
5,657
5,870
5,657
5,315
5,215.97|TOTAL EXPENDITURE|**v**|Staffing|Staffing|**v**|Building|Building|**v**|Admin|Admin|Admin|Admin|Admin|**v**|Cost of Sales|Cost of Sales|Cost of Sales|Cost of Sales|Cost of Sales|**v**|Budegted
3,815
5,087
6,570
5,569
5,355
6,356
5,355
5,569
6,570
5,569
5,569
5,017.20|TOTAL INCOME|Other Income|Other Income|Other Income|Donations|Donations|**v**|**Category Group**|
|||||||||Staff costs|Staff Training||Utilities|Cleaning||SundrySupplies|Licences & Software|Finance Costs - Square Fees|Finance Costs - Bank Fees|AccountancyCosts||Other Coffee ShopExpenses|Food and Ingredients|Equipment Repairs/Maintenance|Expensed Equipment|Consumables||||Events|Coffee ShopIncome|Bank Interest|One offgifts|Grant Income||**Category**|
||||1,396|||3,382||1,186|0||450|28||0|25|59|5|32||24|1,499||4|71|||4,777||4,777|||||**Jan-23**|
||||(28)|||6,060||1,479|0||450|176||0|25|77|5|709||29|2,373||681|56|||6,032||6,032|||||**Feb-23**|
||||1,943|||5,560||1,544|0||450|363||0|25|95|5|403||47|2,179||10|440|||7,503||7,501|1||||**Mar-23**|
||||1,622|||5,353||2,409|0||450|359||0|25|82|5|364||6|1,452||11|191|||6,975||6,975|||||**Apr-23**|
||||720|||6,944||2,260|0||450|181||0|25|95|5|228||26|3,548||109|16|||7,664|1,150|6,514|||||**May-23**|
||||871|||5,955||2,283|0||450|297|||25|94|5|326||49|2,172||15|240|||6,827||6,824|2||||**Jun-23**|
||||1,220|||5,624||2,030|0||164|482||0|0|97|5|306||23|2,285||41|190|||6,843||6,843|||||**Jul-23**|
||||(504)|||6,154||3,095|107||0|176||0|0|78|5|369||27|1,575||599|124|||5,649||5,649|||||**Aug-23**|
||||1,858|||6,022||2,474|0||0|341||0|0|96|5|257||44|2,554||117|134|||7,880|390|7,486|4||||**Sep-23**|
||||1,135|||7,302||2,651|0|||235||0|0|117|5|390||37|2,819|642|0|407|||8,438|711|7,727|||||**Oct-23**|
||||(1,071)|||8,602||2,596|0||1,800|29||0|0|102|5|403||67|2,995|251||354|||7,531||7,531|||||**Nov-23**|
||||878.57|||5,855.70||2,637.87|0.00|||780.02||0.00|0.00|104.17|5.00|700.00||35.98|1,566.16|0.00|26.50|0.00|||6,734.27||6,730.29|3.98||||**Dec-23**|
||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
||||**10,039**|||**72,813**||**26,643**|**107**||**4,664**|**3,446**||**0**|**150**|**1,095**|**60**|**4,485**||**416**|**27,018**|**893**|**1,613**|**2,224**|||**82,852**|**2,251**|**80,590**|**11**|**0**|**0**||**TOTAL TO**
**DATE**|
||||**2,428**|||**63,975**||**23,824**|**350**||**5,400**|**3,150**||**120**|**120**|**785**|**60**|**5,100**||**480**|**22,813**|**0**|**600**|**1,173**|||**66,403**|**4,000**|**62,399**|**4**|**0**|**0**|**Income**|**Budget to**
**Date**|
||||**314%**|||**14%**||**12%**|**-69%**||**-14%**|**9%**||**-100%**|**25%**|**39%**|**0%**|**-12%**||**-13%**|**18%**||**169%**|**90%**|||**25%**|**-44%**|**29%**|**216%**||||**Variance**
**to budget**|
||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Page 34
Page 35
St Martin-in-theIeldS PCC
Accounts for the yoar 01 Jan 2023 to 31 Do¢ 2023,
Section A Receipts and payments
Unrestn¢ts
to nearest £
Restricted
Endowment
Total fundg
to n•8$t £
65.897
Last year
to neargst £
Rocèi
t$
Sl8ndin
Orders
Donations
Planned Giving Envelopes
Loose Plate Co1ctIOnS
Card Reader
Refreshments
ReIpts from Youth
Vveddings & Funerals
Hall Letting$
InleresVDividends
Tax Re¢ove
LaCleS
Sundry Receipts
Repair Workshop Receipts
Fund-raising
Ap818
One-off Grants
stay & Play Incorne
Coffee Shop Income
Coffee Sh¢p Even15
Sub total (Gross Income)
to nearest £
to nearest £
8.561
4,610
264
655
4.610
264
655
531
1.026
23.263
4.149
564
524
531
1.026
9.016
9,016
337
2.3Z9
337
20
484
1.500
2,126
80.590
2.25 1
208 870
9,000
10.500
2,126
80.590
2,25 1
230 562
5,100
1,074
4,102
191515
A$set and investrnent sales
None
Sub totsl
208.870
21,692
230.56Z
191.515
ments
Ministry Par15h Share
Clergy Expenses
Staffing & Overheads
Children
Youth
Worship, Sacramental & Lay Trèinin
WeddinglFuneral Fees- Diocese
Music and Sound
Vision
Accountancy costs
Publicity
Administration
Insurance
67,572
2,547
55,169
1.463
67.572
2.547
57,681
1,463
575
1.213
1.044
1,106
67.572
1.2Z3
45,191
1.028
390
969
1.083
1.202
2,512
575
1,213
1,044
1,106
504
347
3,131
3,439
16.007
800
14,953
1,108
9,747
loo
252
23
30,272
5.858
2,255
504
347
3.131
3,439
16,007
800
39,334
9.018
10,347
loo
252
23
30,272
5,858
2,255
2.738
3,477
16,233
1.026
27.444
Sundry Supplies
Building$
Church ard Upkeep
Mission Agen¢ies
Honorana
Fund-ra18iro A¢t1vrtS
Sl8y & Play- Admin costs
Coffee Shop- Cost of Sa5
Coffee Shop- Admin ¢osts
Coffee Shop- Equipment
Coffee Shop- Other usts
24,382
7,910
600
13.100
4(Tr0
17.806
4,891
1.697
875
208,352
Sub total
218.910
35.978
254089
Asset and investment
urchases
Sub total
218,910
3S,978
254,889
208.352
Nèt of r•e01p(Payments)
Tvdnsfers behve8n funds
Cash lunds last yèar end
Cash funds this year •nd
10,041
3,792
32,366
18,534
14,286
3,792
14,460
3,967
24.3Z6
16.837
46,827
22.SOO
63,664
46,827
Section B Statement of assets and liabilities at the end of the period
Unrestricted
Restricted
Endowment
to t)earest £
to nearest £
to nearest £
Total funds
to nearest £
Last year
to nearest £
Cash funds
Santander Current A¢¢ounl
Ile$5 £105 a
enc
ment made in 2024
CCLA Deposrt Account
CAF DepositAecount, Church Funds
CAF Oep051t Account, Revive
C88h in Hand. Church
Cash in Hand. Coff88 Sho
Total cash funds
accountl$ll
2,993
2,888
1,719
2,597
11.005
139
185
18,534
2,993
2,888
5.685
2.S97
11.005
139
185
22,500
12,198
3.967
32.554
1.737
146
192
46,827
3,967
Unrgstrictgd
lo nearest £
Restricted
to nearest £
Endowrnent
to nearest £
Total funds
to nearest £
Last year
to nearest £
Other monata
assets
Investment assets
CCLA Investment Account
Black Rock Chaniies UK Equ
Status
UnrÈsiricted
Endowment
Cost
94,168
2017
zo,000
1995
Current value
Last year
125.799
56
li
137,738
61.822
Fund
Assèt8 rètainéd for chari
's use
Fund
Cost
Current value
Last year
Total AsBets
222.Q60
229.237
Llabllities
Fund
Amount duo
When due
Total
Section C Position of funds at the end of the period
Starting
31,632.96
96.12
1,868.00
Receipts
123.891,80
5,655.49
600.00
366.80
82,852.14
Payments
145,400.81
3,086.56
600.QO
Net transfers
End of year
6.232
2,665
General
Youth IReslriclÈ&l
Mi55ion
Restrictedl
Repair workshop IRe$tn¢tedl
Coffee shop Iunreslricledl
Cotree shop IRestricte(11
Solar
8ne18 IR&8lrictedl
Westwall (Reslrictedl
Garden- ECO IRI
Rwanda IRestricledl
Sta % Pla IUnreslri¢iedl
Sta & Pla (Restridedl
SUtotal
C8sh Funds
Invesiments
3,892
1.868
loo
loo
467
9,637
233.83
73,080.87
16,690.00
1,174.00
o.il
0.14
967.36
716.01
46,826.65
182,410.03
229,236.68
12,070.00
3.000.00
28,641.24
3.650.41
119
1.824
2,126.00
428.77
2,665
716
22,500
199,560
222,060
230.562.23
17.150.16
247,712.39
254,889
Total
254,889
acwuntlsll
OK
Stqned by orft or trustees on behawof all
Stqnature
Piint Nam•
Date of approval
£lf li*
CHARITY COMMISSION
FOR ENGLAND AND WALES
Independent examiner's report on the
accounts
Section A
Independent Examiner's Report
Report to the trustses
The PCC ofthe Ecclesiastical Pansh of St Martin in the Fields, Coventry
On accounts for the year
ended
Dember 2023
Charity no
(if any)
1133962
Sot out on pages
drtion31 s
I report to the trustees on my examination of the accounts of the above
charity ("the Trust") for the year ended
Responsibilities and
basis of report
As the charity's trustees, you are responsible for the preparation of the
accounts in accordance with the requirements of the Charities Act 2011
("the Act")
I report in respect of my examination of the Trust's accounls carried out
under section 145 of the 2011 Act and in carying out my examination, I
have followed all the applicable Direclions given by the Charity Commission
under section 145151(bl of the Act.
Independent
examiner's statement
I l if not applicable.
I have completed my examination. l Gonfimi that no material matters have
come to my attention in connection with the examination telhep
') which gives me cause to believe that in, any rnaterial
resped..
the accounting records were nol kept in accordan with section 130
of the Charilies Act., or
the accounts did not accord with the accounting records., or
the accounts did not comply with the applicable requiremenls
concerning the form and content of accounts sel out in the Charities
(Accounts and Reports) Regulations 2008 other than any requirement
that the accounts give a 'true and fair, view which is not a matter
considered as part of an independent examination.
I have no concems and have come across no other matters in connection
with the examination to which attention should be drawn in this report in
order to enable a proper understanding of the accounts to be reached.
Please delete the words in the brackets if they do not apply.
Signed:
Date:
L*l2¥
Name:
Relevant professional
qualificationlsl or body
IER
Oct 2018
Address:
Section 8
Disclosure
Only complete if the examiner needs lo highlight material mallers of concern
(see CC32, Independenl examination of charity accounts.. directions and
guidance for examiners).
Give here brief details of
any items that the
examiner wishes to
dlsclose.
IER
Oct 2018