## **THE PAROCHIAL CHURCH COUNCIL OF THE ECCLESIASTIC PARISH OF LINTON IN CRAVEN Trustees Annual Report 2022** ## **AIMS AND PURPOSES** The Linton PCC has the responsibility of co-operating with the incumbent, who was the Reverend David Macha until the end of November, promoting in the ecclesiastical parish the whole vision of the Church, pastoral, evangelistic, social and ecumenical. The PCC is also specifically responsible for the maintenance of St Michael and All Angels Linton Falls, St Peters Hebden and Church House and Church House Cottage, Grassington. ## **OBJECTIVES AND ACTIVITIES** The PCC is committed to enabling as many people as possible, to worship at the churches and become part of the parish community. The PCC maintain an overview of worship throughout the parish and suggest how services can be made more welcoming and relevant to all age groups in the parish, including visitors to the area and new residents. Services and worship help put faith into practice through prayer, scripture, music and sacrament. Openness to all enables the development of relationships with and service of all parts of the local community. When planning ahead the PCC have considered the Commission’s guidance on public benefit and advancement of religion. We try to enable people to live out their faith as part of the parish community through worship and prayer, hearing about the gospel, developing knowledge and trust in Jesus, pastoral care for people living in the parish and missionary and outreach work, creating more opportunities for growth, encompassing all ages across the parish. In order to facilitate this work, it is important that we insure and maintain the fabric of St Michaels, St Peters and Church House. ## **ACHIEVEMENT AND PERFORMANCE** ## **Worship and prayer** The PCC are keen to offer a range of services during each month and over the course of the year which appeal to the varied types of parishioners in the community so all may find services beneficial and spiritually fulfilling for them. The normal pattern of worship includes the Sunday morning Communion or Morning Prayer services at St Michael’s at 11.00 am, which enables the incumbent to take earlier services at the one of the other churches, in the Benefice (which also includes the parishes of Burnsall and Rylstone) on the same mornings. The congregation always remain at church long after the service has finished to enjoy fellowship and encourage one another. All are welcome to attend regular services as well as the special services for the annual events of the church calender, which are Family Praise services held at St Michael’s involving more outgoing and lively worship. The leadership base continues to widen for these services, with deep integrity which attracts many. A variety of music plays an important role. Wednesday morning at 10am a Simple Prayer and Holy Communion service is held in Church House jointly with the Methodists and is a truly ecumenical mid-week gathering. Wednesday evening 6 pm a service of Music Stillness and Prayer is held at Fountaine’s Chapel Linton providing a quiet contemplative time. Volunteers help with the services from Scargill, Yorkshire Camps, retired clergy and Methodists. The PCC works in conjunction with the PCC’s of Burnsall and Rylstone, and co-ordinates with them to have a pattern of services across the three parishes. The Benefice of Linton and the Benefice of Burnsall with Rylstone in the Diocese of Leeds were united to create a new Benefice named The Benefice of Linton, Burnsall and Rylstone on the 29[th] October 2019 and the area of the benefice comprises the Parish of Linton, the Parish of Burnsall and the Parish of Rylstone. The individual parishes remain sovereign and have control of their own finances, but this agreement has shown commitment to working together into the future as a united benefice with one boundary and shared ministry provision. The Licensed Lay Minister Cath Currier and members of the Laity lead non-Eucharist and family services. In addition Rod Geddes from Earby and Ian Greenhalgh from Giggleswick and other visiting clergy have taken services to minister to all the churches in the Benefice. On the months when there are five Sundays, the fifth Sunday is a combined Holy Communion Service at different churches in the benefice. The Good Friday joint parishes walk from St Peter’s Rylstone to Rylstone Cross and service at the top of the hill is well attended by parishioners and local families. During Grassington Festival in June a joint service is held in Grassington Town Hall. Special arrangements are made when Baptisms take place during Communion Services for welcoming the families who do not usually attend church. ‘Stop and Reflect’ baptism booklets have been produced for parents who are thinking about baptism, which have been well received. Service sheets including the words of the hymns and songs are printed each week which reduces the number of books and booklets the participants have to refer to which makes the services easier to follow. Harvest festival is held at St Michaels, as is a Special Lives service of personal remembrance, and the annual the Parish Service of Remembrance in November. The St Michael's parish prayer is used regularly in services and printed in the new service booklets. The Annual Meeting of Parishioners and the Annual Parochial Church Meeting were held on Sunday 22 May 2022, when 23 parishioners were present. There were 61 parishioners, on the Electoral Roll with an average weekly attendance of 30 but this number increases significantly at festivals and special services throughout the year. In addition, we enable the community to thank God at the milestones of the journey of life; at Baptisms we thank God for the gift of life; in marriage services public vows are exchanged with God’s blessing and in funeral services thanks are given for the life completed, friends and family can express their grief and commend the person into God’s keeping. 6 baptism of infants and 1 of an adult, 5 weddings,1 wedding blessing and 1 banns certificate and 18 funerals were held in the year at St Michael’s, St Peter’s and the crematorium in Skipton, including 4 with burial services, 8 funerals followed by cremation (1 at St Peter’s), 1 burial only, 3 funeral service only, 3 funerals at Crematorium and 11 interment of ashes. ## **Post Covid 19 pandemic** St Michael’s has been open all year and the visitors book records the benefit experienced by visitors who have access to the building for quiet contemplation and prayer, many make use of the prayer board. The pattern of daily reflections shared by email in the pandemic is still continuing, as are the Facebook posts and the Benefice facebook page and website. People can communicate by the daily email drop using mailchimp. In these ways the reach of the church has expanded and developed, which has been greatly appreciated by the parishioners in their homes and many more people online who do not usually attend church. Posters outside Church House also inform the community of events. St Peter’s has also been open daily. ## **Deanery Synod** One member of the PCC usually sits on the Skipton Deanery Synod linking the parish to the wider church. Then the representative reports back to the PCC the contents of the meetings. ## **St Michaels** The Church is opened to the public every day thanks to a rota of parishioners who lock and unlock daily. The buildings are generally in a sound condition. There were some damp issues in the vestry. Expenditure has been limited to routine essential maintenance. The Scheme for the renewal of the kitchen and toilet with disabled access is still on going, surveys regarding flood risk, bats and archaeology have been carried out and approval obtained from the Yorkshire Dales National Park. The funding has been set aside for this project but further fund raising will be necessary as the costs have risen by 100% over the last three years. Grants are being applied for, but the pandemic and resulting pressure on the building trade meant work has not been started. The electric organ has ceased to work and is beyond economic repair. A replacement is being sought. Jane Sayer and Joyce Milner have skillfully accompanied services on the piano. ## **St Peters** The building is generally in sound condition and necessary repairs are being carried out. The graveyard is maintained by volunteers. St Peter’s is not open for regular services, but there has been one funeral service, a Christingle Service and an organ recital during the Grassington Festival. The church is always open for quiet reflection and prayer, and for visitors to the area. ## **Church House** Church House committee manages the property including the public rooms. The self-contained flat above and adjacent Church House Cottage are let to private tenants. PCC approval is given for necessary maintenance work on the property which is widely used by the general community of Grassington and surrounding area. An upper room in Church House has been converted to an office for the use of the parish administrator, Lucy Hasledine. Work has been done to increase the ventilation of the building. There has been considerable expenditure for renewing and upgrading the electrics to current standards. A small area of land at the rear has been sold and the proceeds will be used for the development of an accessible rear entrance. The public rooms are t open again and are used by the Mothers Baby and Toddlers group. Primary and Toddler Praise services are held in Church House. ## P **astoral Care** Church House is available for public use in the centre of the community providing a meeting place and rooms for fundraising events, coffee mornings every Saturday, as well as the midweek service. When parishioners are ill or in firm and in need of support, Rev David Macha until November made home visits and Communion can be celebrated when requested. Two members of the parish are Eucharistic Lay ministers and Cath Currier is a Licensed Lay Minister. Volunteers visit those who are sick and unable to leave their homes to keep them in touch with church life. ## **Mission and Evangelism** Helping those in need is a demonstration of our faith. Helping neighbours with kindness during times of enforced isolation has benefitted the whole community. Church House is used for fundraising events. Giving to other Charities includes Martin House, Crisis at Christmas, Leprosy Mission and British Legion. The PCC has four mission partners to whom regular giving is donated: these are CMS mission partners Ben and Katy Ray for their work in Tanzania; Craven Schools Partnership for actively promoting the gospel in local schools by assemblies, plays, RE days, and worship workshops; Centre Point the youth homelessness charity, giving young people a future; and the Anglican Church in Sudan as part of the wider Diocesan link. There is a food bank collection point in St Michael’s for the growing need. Volunteers deliver the food collected to the Skipton Foodbank co-ordinated at the Skipton Baptist church. The parish magazine is a good resource for connecting with non-churchgoers and generates goodwill, giving information as to what is going on in the villages as well as important matters effecting the church. It is distributed monthly to parishioners and schools, B & Bs and hotels, and available at the Hub community centre in Grassington for villagers and visitors. Parishioners are encouraged to become Blood donors and to support refugees locally in Craven. The decision to move to voluntary contributions has resulted in the magazine being more widely read. Musical concerts held in St Michael’s and organ recitals in St Peter’s attract people who would not normally enter the church, so they can enjoy the buildings and meet parishioners. School ministry is going well. The Clergy work closely with the local schools, conducting assemblies and Collective Worship for the whole school community. Grassington and Threshfield Schools have held Harvest festival services in St Michael’s and also end of term services. ‘Table for two’ marriage preparation sessions continue to be very popular and provide a great opportunity to share fellowship across the parishes as we serve the couples getting married in our churches. These are run by volunteers from Burnsall, Rylstone and Linton parishes. The Church Website provides information about the parish at _https://linton-burnsall-rylstone.com_ and there are both parish and benefice Facebook pages which promote the life of the whole church. The development of the mailchimp email accounts readily reach an increasing number people, over 400. 130 people open our Reflection emails every day. ## **Ecumenical Relationships** The parish is part of Churches Together in Upper Wharfedale cluster of churches which usually hold a joint service in January and at Grassington Festival in June. Joint services are held in Church House each Wednesday. The PCC are committed to financially supporting Project ReVerb which ran the youth group for local 8 to 14 year olds after school club, Mum’s & Toddler Group and Toddler Praise, Collective Worship committees in schools, and a Re-wind to Christmas event at Netherside Hall for year 5 pupils from 5 local schools. The Reverb worker had to leave during the pandemic but it is hoped a new person will be appointed to that important role soon. ## **FINANCIAL REVIEW** The PCC follow the budget set by the finance committee. The income comes from planned giving, collections, donations, fees and legacies. Gift Aid claimed quarterly to assist cash flow totalled £7667.12 in 2022, £6147.88 on standing orders and gifts in envelopes plus £1519.24 under the ’ Gift Aid small donations scheme. Linton parish is part of the Diocese of Leeds. The Diocese s newer model for calculating the parish share places a massive burden upon Linton parish. The last few years have been financially difficult and 2022 has not been much better. The Diocesan share request was £42622 and again it has not been possible for this to be paid in full. The older established members of the congregation who formed the financial backbone of the church are diminishing in number and as a result the income has reduced significantly. This has been made worse by the closure of the churches during the pandemic and subsequent reduced numbers attending services. Parishioners are encouraged to set up standing orders to assist with regularity of giving and to review their giving in line with the Diocesan assumption of 5% giving of gross income on the basis that giving should not be borne out of guilt but out of faith and thanksgiving. The time of the incumbent David Macha and his successor will be divided between the three Parishes of Linton, Burnsall and Rylstone in the single Benefice. The PCCs for each parish now have 2 or 3 joint meetings a year, when possible. In order to maintain the pattern of services relief clergy are required and the cost is paid by the parishes according to the number of services they each hold. The General and Church House accounts work in conjunction, and any surplus from the Church House account is transferred into the General account. Church House Flat and Cottage produce rental income. Income and outgoings for Church House Flat and Cottage are as detailed in the Church House accounts. The No Two account received and distributed the Restricted Funds with a final balance of £54362 as shown in the financial statement. ## **Reserves Policy** It is the policy of the PCC to maintain Diocesan reserves for emergency and unforeseen expenditure, currently £53589 for St Michaels and St Peters. ## **Volunteers** We thank all volunteers who work so hard to make both the churches the welcoming communities they are for residents and visitors, in particular the Church Warden Mark Ludlam and Sidespersons and all other members of the PCC and congregation for their valuable contribution to the ministry and for keeping the church running, particularly during the period before a new incumbent has been appointed. ## **STRUCTURE, GOVERNANCE AND MANAGEMENT** The members of the PCC were the incumbent Rev David Macha until end of November, the Church Warden, the Licensed Lay minister, Deanery Synod representative and members elected by the members of the congregation who are on the Electoral Roll. All who regularly attend church services are encouraged to register on the Electoral Roll and stand for election. The PCC members are responsible for making decisions on all matters of general concern and importance to the parish including deciding how funds are spent. A standing committee of the Rector, at least one Warden, two elected members, Treasurer and Secretary can be called upon for specific issues as and when necessary. The PCC set out four clear objectives for this year, Focus on Ministry, mission and outreach; opening of church buildings; agreement of the works and plans ’ for the back of Church House and development of the toilet and kitchen project at St Michael s. The full PCC met at least 6 times during the year. Joint meetings are held with the PCCs of Burnsall and Rylstone regarding issues which affect all three parishes in the Benefice. The PCC has a number of individuals dealing with particular aspects of parish life, for Pastoral, Fabric, Finance, Communications and Social all of whom report back to the full PCC for discussion. St Peter’s has a committee of parishioners. ## **ADMINISTRATIVE INFORMATION** The PCC is a body corporate (PCC Powers Measure 1956, Church Representation Rules 2006) and a charity registered with the Charity Commission. PCC members who served during 1[st] January 2022 to 31[st] December 2022 – – Ex officio Rev David Macha ( Chairman ) until 30 November 2022 Warden - Mark Ludlam Licensed Lay Minister- Cath Currier Secretary - Richard Cook Deanery Synod - Jenni Scott - until June 2022 – Treasurer- Maureen Chaduc until June 2022 – Neil McCormack from June 2022 Elected Members- Betty Hammonds Jane Sayer – Sylvia Rowena Leder from June 2022 – Susan Arnett from June 2022 Assistant Treasurer Chris Baker (co-opted) Report to 31-12-22 P*nbchl•l CbMr¢h Co•Mell of SL Mitb*el's Liaton Bakn•c¢ Sh¢¢t•131 D¢¢¢mb¢r 2022 No UDr¢stri¢t¢d R¢8triet¢d F•nda F•nd# 2021 21J2J 10,75S .234 1965 53 J89 13 J22 41.04(J 24,076 49274 U65 53,589 7.612 19,487 1.626 53,589 Church Hol￿ AC(¢￿JU1 NuTllber 2 75J4Z 54J62 129.903 92.314 Oth¢rdtbtor8 IJ•bllltleg 1,200 CCIA-CBF Chwth FWKI &6Ql 1,601 9228 14.143 54.362 131.505 I02.142 UtTrn8tritsJ Restrictcd 84.143 J4,362 74202 27.841 131JD5 102.142 ApprovvAby th¢ Pa￿11[ Clwrdj on irl flz•U and siyrd its I*￿rby. The P4&% 3 th 7 f(on pmt of th¢5¢ *C(XLnt& Pgroehhl Church Couneil of SL Mi¢hmd'J iA•to• State￿e*l of Fi••xial Activl¢i¢s For tkn y¢4r tlldlDg31 D¢e¢nbber2022 UsreJ¢rl¢t¢d R¢•lrk¢¢d F¥nds F¥nds TOTAL FUNDS 2022 2021 N£rtc INCOMINC RFSOURCFS yo1¥n￿ryIn¢0rnefrom doNLTrrs Oiher vol¥nlury incomin% rnsoxrces JpKoming reJo*rcesfvm operallnga¢ilvi¢i¢J - to fwthgrthr CrAm¢il's obje 2(a) 2(b) 37,680 3.239 37hlO 13,739 35.777 2.338 20.5(KI 21¢) 2(dl 2(el 6.435 12.758 533 6,435 26.146 14.465 3,808 24.094 984 13J88 15.0(W) In¢omefrom invulm¢nts TOTAL INCOMING RT￿NJ%CEs 39.576 108,464 67,002 RESOURCES EXPENDED Co$¢s ofg¢neralingfvnd$ Al￿510A%1vlng0ThddQth1tIo Aeiryi¢ies directly re1thIng￿ the workoftht ch¥￿￿ Church a￿￿d￿j￿¥s1r0{iol• 31d} 3(al 31b) 1ffi90 011,955 1.690 68237 1,699 33Jll 7.282 3(¢) 2.174 2,174 1.809 TOTAL RESOURCES EXPEI¥DED 64,819 7.282 72.101 59,019 NET INCOMINGdOUTGOING} RLfOiPRCES {5342) 41.006 36J63 7,983 TRANSFER TO FUNDS TRANSFFR FROM FUNDS TRANSFER TO ENN)WMENr 115.084) 15,084 15.084 IS￿14 9.842 26522 36.363 7,983 OTHER RECOGNISED GAINS & IA)SSES &b￿fi£edbvljdllv Y,¥42 26.522 36J63 7.983 FUNDS BROUGHf FORWARDAT I JANUAKY 2022 74J02 27.841 IOL142 94.159 FUNDS CARRIED FORWARD AT 31 D£CF.MBER 2022 84.143 54.362 138.505 102.142 P4rocbiil Church Co4neil ofst. Mi¢h¥Jel's Ll•tott Notes to tht Fl#4nci•l Ststsmellts For th¢y¢ar ¢￿&￿¥ 31 lJettmb¢* 1•22 ACCOUKnNG POLICIES (coDtinued) A£tivitieA diTtedy r¢knlknJ to th¢ workof th¢ Cl¥Y¢h A prowtion of ush gAleiaiorffj frcewiu offtiin84bank paymuts Yeccipts andtsx re￿¥¢￿￿. b&￿1 the previous fi8we5. tr¢ allo￿tatIO the amount availHbl¢ for ga￿al thL98i(rtw supwL This is in 8thliti41n lo the restrict￿ fityd supwt. Flxtd A•J¢ts Cotts¢tr*tt4 pr•ytrty and m•vMIA¢ Co]t5e¢ratedand b**fi￿lpr￿pefy of any kind isexclud>J from the a¢cowts by 5.10 (21 {a) and lo) Df the Charitie5 ALt2011. Mov¢pbk ¢bur¢b fiJrni¥hiwheld by ￿ Viw ryL5pwiwI tru¥L forthe PCC. whith require a fa¢u]ty for disrwi. *e ac¢oun*d &8 inajietthte prO￿Y ￿1¢8$ cotlw￿. Tky are lisicd in the dJurch'5 lnv￿toryWm.Gh rthn be iropxttd lthi •my It￿￿*bIt￿rn¢). Fthr inili¢nthblc pror*rty acquired prior to 21rfN) tl*r¢ is ittsuffi¢ierti cost inforn1￿1on availabl¢ and th￿¢(or¢ su¢h assets are valued inthe a¢eounts. 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