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2022-12-31-accounts

St Hilda's APCM 2023 St Hilda's Ashlord

ANNUAL MEETING OF PARISHIONERS AND PAROCHIAL CHURCH MEETING OF ST HILDA’S CHURCH, ASHFORD, MIDDLESEX TO BE HELD ON SUNDAY 30[th] April, 2023

AGENDAS

ANNUAL MEETING OF PARISHIONERS

The Chairman reads the Convening Notice

  1. Prayers and welcome

  2. Minutes of the Vestry Meeting held Sunday 29[th] May 2022.

  3. Election of Church Wardens: Adjudicators to be nominated by the Chairman

ANNUAL PAROCHIAL CHURCH MEETING

  1. Apologies for Absence

  2. Minutes of the Annual Parochial Church Meeting held Sunday 29[th] May 2022

  3. Matters arising

  4. Report of the Electoral Roll Officer

  5. Election of Representatives:

To the Parochial Church Council - 4 people for 3 years

To the Deanery Synod – 3 places for re-election in-line with Synod election rules.

Adjudicators to be appointed by the Church Wardens

Appointment of the Independent Financial Examiner

  1. Vicar’s Reflection

  2. Church Warden’s Report

  3. Treasurer’s Report and presentation of Church Accounts

  4. Stewardship Report

  5. PCC’s Annual Report for 2022

  6. Deanery Synod Report

  7. Reports of Church Groups

  8. Any Other Business (Must be notified in writing to the PCC Secretary 72 hours prior to the meeting) .

  9. Date of next year’s Annual Parochial Church Meeting

CLOSING PRAYERS

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MINUTES OF A JOINT MEETING OF THE VESTRY AND THE PERSONS WHOSE NAMES ARE ON THE ELECTORAL ROLL OF THE PARISH OF ST. HILDA, ASHFORD HELD ON SUNDAY 29th May 2022

Present : Chairman Fr. Joseph Fernandes Licensed Lay Ministers Carolyn Clark Rosalyn Young Churchwardens Roberta Bedford Frances Forsbrey Treasurer: Darran Buttigieg Secretary: Elizabeth Bate (for APCM) Electoral Roll Officer: Jane Dobbie

and 34 people supporting the meeting in the Church

Apologies were received from Christine Makriel, Linda Bishop, Rebecca Fernandes, John Hunt, Betty Hunt, Melvyn Rouse, Chris Brown, Gordon Clark, Jane Dobbie, Robert Dobbie

Vestry Meeting

1. Convening Notice .

2. Minutes of the Vestry Meeting held on 25[th] April 2021 via Zoom :

That the Minutes be accepted was proposed by Rosalyn Young, seconded by Rosemary Greenwood, and agreed unanimously.

3. Election of Churchwardens :

There were one nominee:

Name Proposer Seconder Mrs Roberta Bedford Mariane Tank Paula Gething

There being no other nominations, Roberta Bedford was duly elected as Churchwarden for the coming year. Roberta was thanked for agreeing to continue and Frances Forsbrey for her service and support over the previous years.

4. Report of Electoral Roll Officer :

Jane Dobbie had supplied her report and this confirmed that the number on our New Electoral Roll is 175. Of the total number, 64 are non-resident in the parish. We had 5 roll members who we had lost and 5 new to the roll, hence remaining the same total as previous year.

Jane was re-appointed as Electoral Roll Officer.

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MINUTES OF THE ANNUAL CHURCH MEETING OF THE PARISH OF ST. HILDA, ASHFORD HELD ON SUNDAY 29[th] May 2022

Present: As for Vestry Meeting,

1. Apologies for absence were received from Christine Makriel, Linda Bishop, Rebecca Fernandes, John Hunt, Betty Hunt, Melvyn Rouse, Chris Brown, Gordon Clark, Jane Dobbie, Robert Dobbie

2. Minutes:

That the Minutes of the Annual Parochial Church Meeting held on 25 April 2021 be accepted was proposed by Frances Forsbrey seconded by Alison Garner and agreed unanimously.

3. Matters Arising: none.

There were 5 nominees:

Name Proposer Seconder Mariane Tank Roberta Bedford Elizabeth Bate Rosemary Greenwood Paula Gething Linda Bishop Liz Brian Jane Dobbie Robert Dobbie Chris Brown Chris Maddock Roberta Bedford Chris Davenport Andrew Rickson Alison Garner

There being no other nominations, Mariane, Rosemary, Liz, Chris Brown and Chris Davenport were elected as Lay Representatives for the period 2022-2024 and were thanked for stepping forward.

Expression of thanks is recorded Frances, Christine, Darran and Denise for the support they have provided.

. 4b. Election of Deanery Synod Representatives: there is one vacancy for a two year period.

Name Proposer Seconder Chris Maddock Rosemary Greenwood Alison Garner

Chris was thanked for stepping forward.

4c. Independent Financial examiner:

5. PCC Annual Report for 2022 - This was circulated in advance of the meeting and displayed in church.

6. Deanery Synod Report - This was produced for all parishes in the deanery by the Area Dean.

7. Reports of Church Groups and Committees – A booklet containing all reports had been circulated to all members of the Electoral Roll prior to the meeting by either email or by post. It had also been on display in St Hilda’s.

Rosalyn Young explained that Feed My Sheep had not met, hence no report had been supplied.

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8. Treasurer's Report and presentation of Church Accounts - see the Financial Statement. Darran Buttigieg reported: As Treasurer, I have prepared the financial statements under the Church Accounting Regulations 2006 in accordance with applicable accounting standards and the current Statement of Recommended Practice Accounting and Reporting by Charities (SORP 2005). The financial statements were audited by Peter Connolly in his capacity of Independent Examiner on 25[th] April 2022 and his report is included in the financial statements.

I’ m not going to go through the detailed accounts as normal, they are presented in the documents as just mentioned.

St Hilda’s Church endured another difficult year on the back of COVID 19, the accounts reflect a loss of £5,757 for the year, however, this masks the true financial performance for several reasons.

If you discount the items I have mentioned, the impact of which means St Hilda’s Church made an operating loss of £24,321 in 2021.

As you can see from the accounts, we ended the year still maintaining our reserves, which I will come back to shortly.

Before I do so, I would like to say a few thank you’s to those who have helped me during the year with the maintenance and keeping of the financial records

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As I have mentioned over the 7 years that I have been Treasurer, the Church really needs to pull together and develop a robust fund raising strategy and hold regular events for all age groups across the parish, not only to raise funds but also to bring new members of the parish through the church doors.

This is more critical than ever, as following a mistimed decision to exit from the Parish Buying scheme for gas late last year, coupled with the current energy crisis has resulted in a significant increase of gas costs, we have now entered a new fixed term contract but the rate exceeds what we were paying previously. This rate is not sustainable for a long period of time and a creative fundraising approach is an absolute necessity to help us weather this storm in the short term.

Finally, as I mentioned I am stepping down as Treasurer of St Hilda’s after 7 years in the role, however, you may not be aware that Denise and I made a life changing decision last September and have decided to relocate down to Hampshire with all going well we will be on the move with the family sometime in July.

We will be sorry to leave the parish as we have many fond memories and made many friends over the 20+ years we have been part of this church. It sounds like we are moving far, but in fact it is only 60 or so miles away, and if anybody is in the local vicinity you are more than welcome to pop in for a cuppa and a slice of cake. We will also be sure to pop in as we will still have family in Spelthorne.

Thank you everybody from the bottom of our hearts for the friendship, love and support you have all given us and the family over the years, we will miss you.

There were no questions on the account.

Darran was thanked by Father Joseph for his role as Treasurer, Denise for her role as Parish Administrator and for their faithful service at St Hilda.

The date of next PCC meeting was proposed and accepted as Tuesday 7[th] June 2022 at 19:00.

9. Churchwarden's Reports

We confirm that in accordance with the law governing the Office of Church wardens during the last year we have

Thanks were expressed to Frances, Christine, Darran and Denise for their support to our Church.

Fabric of Building Report (Stuart Young)

Church Works during 2020

The defective sump pump in the Crypt area was repaired by a local electrician (Dr Sparky).

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Following receipt of a Faculty the external brickwork joints to the Baptistry were resealed and the defective plaster to the ceiling above the Font was also repaired and following which the ceiling of the Baptistery area was repainted all by a specialist contractor with inspections being carried out by the Diocesan Architects.

Areas of the floor finish around the Font were tested by a specialist contractor who confirmed that they contained asbestos. A specialist contractor was therefore employed (Amstech Limited) to remove and seal these areas, they also carried a comprehensive inspection/testing of all of the joints in the carpeted flooring in the church, and the joints were subsequently sealed. Sealing of the joint between the carpet and the West end wall of the church was also carried out.

Church and Church Hall

During October 2020 repair works were carried out to defective external light fittings some of the fitting had to be replaced as well as replacement lamps fitted.

Activities Report (Roberta Bedford)

Do you remember that TV programme “that was the week that was”? Well, I think we can say 2020 was that was the year that was.

It started off quite normal, we had a fantastic Burns night with an even bigger uptake on tickets than last year, there was lots of laughter and dancing and I hope I can say a good time was had by all.

Burns night was followed by Shrove Tuesday when we cooked pancakes in church on various small hot plates, there were lots of different toppings and they were delicious, a few people from other churches joined us and they were made to feel very welcome.

The very last event we had in our normal start to the year was a jumble sale, as it was already advertised, we went ahead with it, however, we were already hearing about this Covid 19 virus that was beginning to spread, so we wore protective aprons and gloves to sort the goods and serve and Mike Davenport sat in the entrance of the hall and sprayed everyone who wanted to come inside, despite all of this we made a good profit.

Sadly, a week later we were in lock-down and it would be many weeks until we would be back in our church.

Due to the lockdown a few volunteered to ring round to the more vulnerable members of the congregation to have a chat and ensure all was well with them. Darran and Denise set up a weekly newsletter to let everyone know what was going on and keep everyone in touch.

But where there’s a will there’s a way, Fr Joseph ever resilient began to stream the Sunday services from his study via his mobile phone and ably assisted by Elisabeth, Rebecca and Gabriel and sometimes a little glimpse of Bella the dog. Those of us fortunate to have internet could watch the service on Face Book or U-tube. This form of our Sunday worship went on for several weeks, until Fr Joseph was allowed to stream the services from the Church.

At this time Chris Maddock was a great help sorting out the filming and between Chris and Fr Joseph we settled into a pattern of Sunday services. During this time, it was heartening to see many names popping up as watching the service that we didn’t recognise. It seemed that we were attracting a new congregation all be it on line.

As the choir were not allowed back into church, Chris and Paula decided to record the choir so that the recordings could be used during the service.

The first rehearsal took place safely distanced in Paula’s back garden – I hope the neighbours enjoyed it as much as we did. Then Chris began to e-mail both music and words of the hymns and we recorded them in our homes, we either e-mailed or WhatsApp the recording to Chris and he very cleverly blended the individual voices and made them sound amazing.

During the year we mastered Zoom and after a few false starts for some of us we held our PCC and standing committee meetings via this app, with many a shout of you’re on mute, when someone was speaking and had forgotten to put their sound on.

Later in the year we were allowed back into church, however, a safe distancing risk assessment had to be put in place and seats had to be booked via the parish office. A team led by Paula spent couple of Saturday afternoons thoroughly cleaning the church, marking the floor with arrows

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showing the one-way system in and out of the church and with the aid of a 2-metre stick, safe distanced the seating. Eventually we had to remove the static wooden seats to give greater flexibility to the seating and enable more people to take part in the service.

To keep us all safe and sanitised, there are hands free sanitisers that Alison set up and everyone is given a sanitiser to use before communion.

We were at last able to have a choir in church, however, sadly no other singing was allowed. It was all very different to what we were used to and what with face masks and long lockdown hair, it was sometimes hard to recognise people. Our live streaming took on a very professional touch with the Lovely Ozzy setting up his equipment every Sunday a filming the service and we were the envy of many.

Our APCM along with other churches was held in October again via live stream. Stuart decided to stand down as church warden and Frances kindly stood and was voted in to replace him. My thanks go to Stuart for all the hard work he has carried out to keep the church building standing. Just before Christmas we went into another lockdown and church once again was closed and services once again were live streamed curtesy of Ozzy and Chris.

So, despite the country being in lockdown St Hilda’s was still going strong. Everyone has played a part in this, however, there are a few thank you’s I must give.

First to Fr Joseph for always being there for all of us and keeping St Hilda’s very much in the forefront. His promotion to Area Dean is well deserved. To Darran and Denise for producing the brilliant weekly newsletter and organising delivery to those who are without Wi-Fi. To all who help deliver and keep in touch with the more vulnerable members of our church family.

Paula for her rigorous risk assessment to keep the church safe to use and for her collaboration with Chris in choosing hymns and music and keeping us all in tune. Chris Maddock for his hard work in first setting up the recording of the services and doing a brilliant job in recording the music and hymns, thanks to Melvin Rouse for recording some of the music, Frances and Rosemary for cleaning and sanitising the church every Wednesday after the service to make it ready for Sunday worship. Christine Makriel who served at the Altar most Sundays and finally to all the readers and intercessors and do you like me try to guess who is reading each week.

As always there is so much done behind the scenes to keep the church running smoothly that we do not see, and my thanks to all of you for all your hard work and commitment. It has been my privilege and pleasure to serve as your church warden.

11. Resolution to enable postal voting at Future Annual Parochial Church Meetings:

These have been on display in church, and were included in the documentation issued before the meeting.

12. Benefice's Reflection

One of the purposes of this year’s APCM is to reflect on church life from the previous year of 2020, and, of course, of all that still applies. If we look at all the things that changed since the first lockdown in March and all that is currently lacking in or church community compared to what was before. When all is stripped away and all pared back to a Facebook broadcast, then that is tough, very tough. Although, there is some hope in that, as I will mention in a moment.

But looking back to what church life was like before COVID should be a source of encouragement. It reminds us that we capable of so much more and that when restrictions are lifted, then we know that we can re-build our worshipping community.

But we should not underestimate the challenges which lie ahead in rebuilding our church community. There is no doubt that COVID has increased the financial pressures and put on hold many of our more social outreach activities. Things improved between the first and second lockdown, and we were able to worship together for a while, before we had to close down our doors again just before Christmas, but with the hope of the vaccine programme being rolled out. The reason to be hopeful also originates for reasons which I will explain. Firstly, because stripped back of all the extras which go with church life, the social functions, coffee morning, the boot sales, the concerts, and going back to basics is not the worst thing in the world. If we are to look for good in the situation then there are some parallels, albeit of course not the same, with the early church. They prayed together and shared communion before they put together a social calendar.

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Whilst only priests are required by Canon Law to celebrate the daily offices, our church community was encouraged to be united in prayer every day at home.

My hope and prayer are that having been stripped back to the basics of our Christian life and worship, that we have the people and the spirit amongst us to put some things back together. But as we do that, I would also urge a spirit of discernment. The task of 2021 is not to re-create the church of 2019, 1919 or 1819. The task that lies ahead of us is to discern what we can do with the resources we have, what we need to do given the community we inhabit and, most importantly, what God calls us to do in this place. If we want St Hilda Ashford to have a spiritual heart, then we are not to use COVID as an excuse to back off and let other people get on with it, because if everyone does that, then I can show you what has happened to many churches throughout the Kensington area and the Diocese of London, who either are facing closure or have become church plants. Sisters and brothers in Christ, no matter how long you have been here and no matter what roles or jobs you have done for this parish before, you are not the past of St Hilda, you are its present and its future. You are called to pray, to evangelise, to worship and to play our role in the life of this parish, whatever that may be. Because everyone has a role in God’s economy.

In 2020, despite the pandemic, outreach still took place. We strengthened our partnership with HMP Bronzefield, through the ongoing collaboration with chaplaincy and the art department. In terms of chaplaincy, a joint project looking at ways to reintegrate women into the local community upon release from prison, as well as supporting Simeon in his ‘Through the Door’ ministry. He was duly Co-Opted to the PCC at the November meeting, as a link person between the prison and the parish. In terms of the art department, the women decorated a fabric Christmas tree, which was then displayed at church, as visual sign of the existing close relationship between prison and parish. We continued with the Foundation Governorship of Ashford Church of England Primary School, with Donna Hester as governor. After several years as governor, Lisa Richardson stepped down as a foundation governor for St Hilda, for which we are deeply grateful. As a result of the vacancy, Clare Marland, was appointed as foundation governor in November, and we welcomed her to the role. We look forward to a closer relationship with the school.

There is also a connection with Bishop Wand, through my role as Foundation Governor, and taking collective worship.

Since becoming the Area Dean for Spelthorne in March, it has meant an increase in my workload, but at the same time a bigger involvement with the life of the Diocese and a stronger connection with other parishes in the Deanery.

The gifts from the Harvest Festival went to the local food bank at the Salvation Army, which has become a lifeline throughout the pandemic for many families who are struggling financially. As were not able to meet up in person during the lockdowns, and there were many people who did not have access to the internet, it was important to find a way to stay in touch. With this in mind, the idea of a weekly newsletter was born, which Denise and Darran took upon themselves to put together and distribute. It has contributions from across the community and has been well received and much appreciated.

The Ministry Team has not been able to operate in the same way throughout the pandemic. With Rosalyn on sabbatical, Carolyn carried on reading the Gospel, and preaching, when possible, as well as keeping an eye on the Facebook page. Later on the year, she took over facilitating the Tea & Chat after the Sunday service. Denise also facilitated Tea & Chat on a Tuesday morning. Both have provided much needed opportunities for those attending to have social interaction via Zoom. We also welcomed Fr Steve, who has retired, and his wife Liz to the parish. We look forward to their involvement in the worship life at St Hilda.

A big thank you to all the readers for keeping this invaluable ministry going, and to Frances for overseeing it. Also, thank you to Frances for all the behind the scenes work as a sacristan, and to Alan Sloan for organising the crucifer rota. I particularly would like to thank Christine Makriel for all the quiet but most appreciated help.

Junior Church tried to meet best possible in between lockdowns, and we are grateful for Christine Taylor’s oversight, in collaboration with Elizabeth Bate, Chris Davenport, Elisabeth Santos and Gordon Clark. Thank you for holding it together under trialing circumstances.

Rosemary Greenwood, together with the editorial and collating teams, faithfully carried on producing Crossroads. However, with the number of contributions drying up and no one to take

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over from Rosemary, with a heavy heart it was decided to stop it for now. A big thank you goes to Rosemary and the rest of the team, namely Val Scott, Mike Davenport, Terry Rickson and Chris Holliday, for all their hard work, and to those who advertise in it for their sponsorship.

The Hall Committee, namely Steve Smith, Val Scott, Elizabeth Bate, Chris Davenport, and Jenny Cayley, after many years of commitment and service to the parish, by overseeing the day to day run of the Church Hall, agreed to bring it to a close, as their oversight was transferred to the newly created Church Fabric Committee, composed by Steve Smith, Elizabeth Bate and Stuart Young, with the involvement of both Church Wardens, in order to centralise and streamline ongoing maintenance of both church and church hall.

Part of the function of the APCM is to acknowledge all the areas of church life and those who contribute to them. to them. This event is a reminder that church is not something done in isolation, but it is only possible using the different silks and callings of many people from this church. Whilst I can’t thank everyone in this reflection by name, there are some people that I must thank personally, not only on my own behalf but on behalf of us all.

Firstly, everyone should know that this church and this parish simply could not function without all the hard work of Denise, our parish administrator, my PA, supporting me in my role as Area Dean, and PCC Secretary! Unless you have seen behind the scenes of how the parish works you probably have no idea of how much there is to do but the newsletters, orders of services, admin work, photocopying, and many other tasks, plus trying to get any sense out of the vicar is a massive job. All this on top of being the PCC secretary. Thank you, Denise!

A huge thanks to Stuart who stepped down as a Churchwarden at the 2019 APCM, and to our current Churchwardens Bobbie and Frances, and Stuart. They have been hugely supportive and hardworking. Unless you have been a churchwarden it is hard to imagine just how much goes into the job but, a bit like being a vicar. I truly appreciate all they do.

Huge thanks also to Darran who has done a magnificent job as treasurer, and supported Denise in her varied roles.

Of course, we also need to thank the PCC and Deanery Synod members who give up evenings throughout the year to help guide the life of the church. Huge thanks to everyone who has served in that capacity and to those who have put themselves forward for the new PCC. I would also like to acknowledge the hard work of the Standing Committee, overseeing the day-to-day business of the parish. One important undertaking was to plan the return to church after the first lockdown, for which I am grateful to Paula, Elizabeth and Christine Makriel.

One of our chief characteristics in this church is the high standard of our music and our choir. I must therefore offer huge thanks to Chris Maddock for keeping the choir going throughout the pandemic, making full use of technology in unprecedented ways. Also, huge thank you to Paula for supporting Chris, and the members of the choir, for augmenting our worship so beautifully every week.

One essential part of the corporate worship in absence over the least year has been the live streaming of the services. We are deeply grateful to Chris Maddock for overseeing it and Ozzy Etis for recording it without ever asking for anything in return, as a way to serve the local community.

Thank you to those who contributed to the cleaning of the church when open, namely Bobbie, Frances, Rosemary and Chris Holliday.

What comes next for St Hilda’s over the coming year? As already flagged up, we do face a number of challenges in the year ahead and, whilst celebrating our blessings, we need to face the future realistically. So, there are challenges ahead, but there are also opportunities. I think that the biggest growth opportunity for the church comes from learning how to be of service to those around us. We are surrounded by endless need, whether our eyes are open to it or not, and if we seek to serve that need in the name of Christ then that is the best possible witness to the effect that being Christians has had on our lives. To serve others out of love, to be open with them about why we do it and to help them to find ways into making a response of their own is, in my view, far more powerful than only fiddling with our worship and hoping that people will come. We need to be such good Christians out there that people will be clamouring to know what goes on in here. We also need to increase our fellowship and discipleship, particularly to those who have joined the parish recently.

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This is a good place, filled with good people, and there is no doubt that God is at work in this community. We must treasure that and not take it or each other for granted.

13. Any other business:

Fr Joseph explained that Lay Ministers are ex-officio members of the PCC and a vote was requested to appoint them as voting members. This was agreed unanimously.

Joyce & Melvyn Rouse proposed a vote of thanks to Chris Maddock for his work with the choir,music and livestreaming of the services.

14. The date of the next APCM is Sunday 30th April 2023

The meeting closed at 12.20pm with a prayer.

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REPORTS FOR 2023 MEETING

ST HILDA'S CHURCH

ASHFORD, MIDDLESEX

ANNUAL REPORT and FINANCIAL STATEMENTS

For the year ended 31st December, 2022

Incumbent

The Reverend Joseph Fernandes 8 Station Crescent Ashford Middlesex

Bank

Nat West Bank Ashford Middlesex Branch 5 Woodthorpe Road Ashford Middlesex TW152RN

Independent Examiner

Mr Peter Connolly 33, Carlyle Road Staines Middlesex TW18

The Parochial Church Council of St Hilda Ashford Charity Number 113411

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Saint Hilda's Church, Ashford, Middlesex

Annual Report of the Parochial Church Council

for the year ended 31 December 2022

Saint Hilda's Church, Ashford, which is part of the Diocese of London within the Church of England, has the responsibility of co-operating with the incumbent, The Reverend Joseph Fernandes, 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, Church Hall, Vicarage and 34, Woodthorpe Road, Ashford, Middlesex TW15 2RU.

The Parochial Church Council (PCC) is a charity, the Charity Number being 1134119

Incumbent The Reverend Joseph Fernandes
Licenced Lay Ministers Carolyn Clark
[Ex-officio & Deanery voting member]
Rosalyn Young
[Ex-officio voting member]

PAROCHIAL CHURCH COUNCIL 2022

Appointments are for 3 years in the first instance with the option of serving for a second term of 3 years. After a total of 6 years members must come off the PCC but can be re-elected to serve again for 3 years after a break of one year.

Appointed for Due for re-election
APCM 2020 – 2023 Christine Makriel 2ndTerm To end 2023
APCM 2021 – 2024 Gordon Clark 1stTerm APCM 2024
Paula Gething 2ndTerm APCM 2024
Year 2021 The Reverend Stephen Brian Co-opted
APCM 2022 – 2025 Christine Davenport 1stTerm APCM 2025
Christopher Brown 1stTerm APCM 2025
Liz Brian 1stTerm APCM 2025
Rosemary Greenwood 1stTerm APCM 2025
Year 2022 Nick Gething Co-opted

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Elected by PCC members – due for re-election in 2023.

October 2022 John Swaffield January 2023 Frances Forsbrey

Three Deanery Synod representatives are elected for three year terms.

Appointed for Due for re-
election
APCM 2020 – Elizabeth Bate 2ndTerm APCM 2023
2023
Carolyn Clark 1stTerm APCM 2023
APCM 2022 – 2023 Christopher Maddock 1stTerm APCM 2023

Two Churchwardens : Churchwardens are elected annually up to a total of 4 years.

To be decided at Vestry Meeting

Assistant to the Churchwardens

Members of the PCC are either ex-officio or elected by the Annual Parochial Church Meeting in accordance within the Church Representation Rules. All Church attendees are encouraged to register on the Electoral Roll and stand for election to the PCC. During the year, the Council met 12 times. The PCC operates through a number of committees.

Standing Committee

This is the only committee required by law. It has the power to transact business of the PCC between PCC meetings, subject to any directions given by the Council. The Standing Committee oversees the finances of the PCC. The committee includes the Vicar, Churchwardens, Treasurer, Secretary and Vice Chairperson.

Stewardship Committee

The Stewardship Committee deals with giving to the Church through the Stewardship Scheme and with encouraging members of the congregation to organize their planned giving. They ensure that tax is reclaimed on donations where applicable.

Church Attendance

On 29[th] May, 2022 there were 175 names on the Church Electoral Roll. Of the total number 64 were non-resident in the parish. The average Sunday attendance counted over a 4 week period during October, was 71 adults and 10 children. (Figures for 2021 were 59 and 17 respectively). Additionally, Church at Home (Facebook) 85 (2021 – 226). This reflects that more have returned to worship in their own churches since COVID. The figure for 2021 was also down on the previous year 2020 – 327. At Christmas 244 people attended special services for the congregation and local

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community (2021 – 172). Those attending schools Christmas Services was 600 (2021 – 550).

129 people attended Christmas Eve and Christmas Day (2021 – 127).

Vicar’s Reflection for 2022 (Father Joseph Fernandes)

Part of the function of the APCM is to acknowledge all the areas of church life in the previous year and those who contribute to them. This annual event is a reminder that church is not something done in isolation, but it is only possible using the different skills and callings of many people. I would like to affirm all who are involved in different areas of the life of the parish. It is rooted in agape , an expression of faith and commitment to serve one another and ultimately God.

The Ministry Team is a blessing to the life of the parish, through the ministry of Fr Stephen, Mother Pamela, Rosalyn, Carolyn and Mother Helen Calner. Mother Helen continued her second year placement at St Hilda’s. Her ministry has been very much valued, and she has made a very positive contribution to the life of the parish. After a fruitful and memorable time at St Hilda’s, she is leaving in the summer to start her curacy in London, subject to finding a parish. Equally, we await to hear if she will be ordained priest in the summer.

A big thank you to all the readers for keeping this invaluable ministry going, and to Frances for overseeing it. Also, thank you to Frances for all the behind the scenes work as a sacristan and to Alan Sloan for organising the server's rota.

Junior Church has been working hard to reconnect with the younger families. We are grateful for Christine Taylor’s oversight, alongside the Junior Church leaders. Thank you for holding it together as we navigate the post-pandemic.

I would like to acknowledge the contribution made by Laura, the new parish administrator. She had a steep learning curve dealing with all the loose ends and catching up with all the different elements of the role, but I am pleased to say she is doing an extremely efficient job.

Liz Brian has also excelled as PCC Secretary and brings fresh insight and knowledge to a role, which is not always fully appreciated in its complexity.

Bobbie Bedford was re-elected as Church Warden at the APCM. Alongside Frances Forsbrey, in a supporting role, they have been incredibly hard working. Huge gratitude to both. Without them, the church could not function properly. On behalf of the parish and at a personal level, I would like to offer my deepest gratitude for all they have done over the past year, sacrificially at times.

The PCC has been outstanding in commitment and contribution to the life of the parish. I would also like to acknowledge the hard work of the Standing Committee, overseeing the day-to-day business of the parish, particularly the invaluable contribution made by Paula Gething and Elizabeth Bate, who amongst several things have been directly involved with the ongoing logistics surrounding St Hilda’s House. I would also like to thank Deanery Synod members who give up evenings throughout the year to contribute to the life of the parish and the deanery. Chris Brown has worked tirelessly as treasurer, which turned out to be a more complicated task than originally envisaged, after Darran and Denise Buttigieg moved house in the summer. They were committed members of St Hilda’s for many years and will be missed.

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One of our main contributors to the liturgy in this church is the choir. I must therefore offer my gratitude to Chris Maddock for his knowledgeable and gentle leadership, with the help of Paula, Rosemary and Carolyn.

One essential part of the corporate worship absence has been the live streaming of the services. We are deeply grateful to Chris Maddock for overseeing it and Ozzy Etis for providing the equipment. It has provided an invaluable lifeline to those who are not able to attend the services in person. The sides people and those looking after the refreshments at the end of the service are very much appreciated. Thank you to all who contribute.

Thank you to those who contribute to the cleaning of the church, under the guidance of Frances, for such an important role in keeping the church looking beautiful. Alison Garner and Pauline Milton’s beautiful flower arrangements have also contributed to the latter, although it has been challenging to procure affordable flowers, due to the increase in the cost of living.

A special mention to Chris Davenport, for her invaluable contribution in looking after the church hall with the bookings and ensuring everything runs smoothly. Thank you to Mike Davenport for supporting Chris.

In 2023, we commended to God our beloved Queen Elizabeth II, who died in September. The church was opened for those who wanted to write a message in the book of condolence and pay their respects. We also mourned the death of longstanding, faithful and committed members of the church family. We remember with much fondness, Jo Wood, Jenny Granger, Penny Pinfold, Peter Wilson and Terry Rickson. They will be greatly missed, and our consolation is that they are now in Glory.

In December 2022, it was announced that I would be leaving St Hilda’s at the end of May 2023 to become the Rector of St Mary’s with All Saints Acton, in the Willesden Episcopal Area. It was a very difficult decision to make, based on family and ministerial reasons and by no means a consequence of any disappointment with the parish, on the contrary. It will be sad to say goodbye and I thank you for making us feel so welcome during our time here. It will always be part of my journey in ministry.

The parish is in a very good place to navigate the vacancy and I pray for the season ahead at St Hilda’s. Together, St Hilda’s is stronger.

What comes next for St Hilda’s over the coming year? The vacancy will bring several challenges. Notwithstanding, it is important to celebrate the blessings God has given to St Hilda’s. Yes, there are challenges ahead, but there are also opportunities. I think that the biggest growth opportunity for St Hilda’s comes from learning how to be of service to the wider community. We are surrounded by endless need, whether our eyes are open to it or not, and if we seek to serve that need in the name of Christ then that is the best possible witness to the effect that being Christians has had on our lives. To serve others out of love, to be open with them about why we do it and to help them to find ways into making a response of their own is far more powerful than only fiddling with our worship and hoping that people will come. We need to bear witness to the Christian faith in the public square and invite others to come along. We also need to find ways to increase fellowship and discipleship, particularly for those who have joined the parish recently.

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St Hilda’s is a good place, filled with good people, and there is no doubt that God is at work in this church community, albeit this is not an excuse to be complacent or to take each other for granted.

The challenge of 2023 is to avoid recreating the pre-pandemic model of being a church. If St Hilda’s is to find the spiritual heart of this parish, it needs to discern further what God is calling the church to be, and to do in Ashford. It is paramount to be good stewards of existing resources.

No matter how long people have been in the parish, all are part of the present and its future. All are called to pray, evangelise, worship and play a role in the life of this church community, whatever that may be. Everyone has a role to play in God’s economy. Everyone is valued, recognised and loved by God.

Church Warden Report (Roberta Bedford)

I confirm that in accordance with the law governing the Office of Churchwardens during the last year we have

Once again, a huge thank you to Frances Forsbrey for taking on the role of a second church warden in all but name. Frances has played a major part in negotiating with many building contractors in order to keep the church and hall in good order. Over the past year things have been back to normal, still ensuring the church is cleaned weekly to minimise the risk of spreading the COVID virus acknowledging the fact that it is still out there in the community, also providing hand sanitisers to use before communion.

We continue to live stream our Sunday service for those who are unable to attend church in person, hopefully making them feel still very much part of our church family.

Our church attendance for the Sunday services is growing in numbers with almost everyone staying behind to have coffee and fellowship.

The Wednesday Eucharist service is very well attended and we now have around 20 staying for lunch each week and the weekly food deliveries from Surplus to Supper are most welcome, with very little waste.

Of course, our surge in numbers is mainly due to the warm welcome we give at St Hilda’s also to our ministry team. Fr Joseph, Fr Steve, Mother Helen, Mother

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Pamela, Carolyn and Rosalyn. We have enjoyed some wonderful sermons from them all over the past year and look forward to many more.

Our aim to open the church to the local community is going well. The local schools hold their Carol Services here and Fr Joseph and I were privileged to welcome 90 5 year-olds from Ashford Park School talking about Christmas and singing their Christmas songs, they also for the second year provided us with decorations they had made for our Christmas tree.

Due to the large open space, we have begun to hold our jumble sales here in church, also our Christmas fayre. We have had several very enjoyable euphonium concerts here during the spring and in December we had a Turkiye and Tinsel meal, a great use of this wonderful space.

We now have some lovely new seats in church, thanks to the sponsor a chair campaign. Gone are the old cumbersome uncomfortable wooden chairs replaced by lovely light grey padded seats. Our thanks go out to everyone who sponsored the chairs.

Once again thank you to everyone who helps to keep the church in good order, a lot of work goes on behind the scenes, so that we can enjoy our services in a clean, well-ordered church. We have a great Standing Committee and PCC, who keep everything ticking over and wonderful music thanks to the leadership of Chris Maddock.

This is my last year as your Warden, it has been a real privilege. I would like to thank you all for your fantastic support. I really couldn’t have done it without you.

Church Property Report: (Fabric) – Frances Forsbrey

Church Hall

Last year, 2022, we saw our church hall functioning at full capacity with Chris Davenport managing the high demand of requests for hire from both our regular and one-off hirers.

Throughout the year all the required checks/inspections were carried out namely, British Gas inspected and serviced the boiler and gas meter, Chubb Fire & Security inspected and tested the fire extinguishers and fire blankets, Kingsmead Testing Services Ltd the PAT testing on all the portable electric appliances, Doctor Sparky Ltd carried out electrical repairs, Fullers Builders Ltd cleaned all the outside gutters ( providing photographs of before & after) and Infinity Electrical Innovations Ltd the 5 year Fixed Wire Testing survey carrying out remedial work where necessary. With all having passed certificates were issued with copies placed in both the Maintenance Inspection File and the Church Log Book, likewise a set of the gutter photographs were also placed in each of the files. We continued with LSR Cleaning Services Ltd cleaning the entire premises daily Monday to Thursday and twice on Friday. In addition to this, maintenance tasks were carried out sometimes more than once, for example dealing with repairs to both the ladies and gentlemen’s toilets, strip lights replaced where necessary and drip bars replaced on the exterior of the fire exit doors opening on to the passageway from the main hall and checking the main hall’s ‘false’ ceiling. A new dishwasher was purchased and plumbed in, and drains cleared of falling debris from trees. Again, we have Jon Bate, Michael Smith, Steve Smith and Jon Swaffield to thank, I don’t know what I would have done without them, always there giving their time whatever the problem, gentlemen thank you so much.

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Chris Davenport continued as hall Booking Secretary, keeping precise records of who, when and for how long. Chris always gives an excellent service to us and our hirers drawing in much needed revenue, thank you so much Chris.

Church

In February last year we said ‘goodbye’ to the old Eucalyptus tree that was in the farleft hand corner of the car park, what a difference that made, thank you Paula for managing this. Our gardening team beavered away through the year clearing the overgrown flower beds and pruning the shrubs. I don’t doubt all comers are welcome, many hands make lighter work plus it’s a good way of getting to know each other more and sharing gardening tips.

The necessary annual checks were carried out, British Gas tested / serviced the two boilers, B C Shepherd & Sons tuned and serviced the church organ, Chubb Fire & Security tested/serviced the fire extinguishers and fire blanket, Watson & Watkins Ltd serviced the organ blower and humidifier, Kingsmead Testing Services Ltd carried out the PAT Testing on all the portable electrical appliances, Fullers Builders Ltd cleaned all the gutters.

Bacon Protection Management inspected/tested our lightening conductor and Infinity Electrical Innovations Ltd the required 5 Year Fixed Wire Testing carrying out remedial work where necessary. With all having passed, certificates were issued with copies placed in both the Maintenance Inspection File and Church Log Book, likewise a set of photographs in respect of the gutter cleaning. The weekly team continued cleaning the church, come and join us if you have a spare hour on a Thursday morning we arrive at 10.30am. As in most years there were other little jobs that just got done without any fuss or bother, a big thank you to all concerned, you know who you are.

Dyno Rod attended to the church drains, BT London installed a new router and three wi-fi booster units, 50 more grey chairs were purchased together with 2 more stacking trolleys, Abeera Technology installed CCTV to both the interior and exterior of the building, Lodge Brothers Funeral Directors installed a wooden bench in the Millennium Garden, Jon Bate repainted the signs in the parking for disabled bays and J M Groundworks Ltd replaced a manhole cover in the car park.

Vicarage

The annual gutter maintenance was carried out by Fullers Builders Ltd in October (a set of photographs were supplied copies placed in both Maintenance File and Church Log Book) and during the year a new kitchen tap was fitted. Whilst there is provision in our budget for redecoration of one room per year, on checking with Fr Joseph and his family they did not consider there was a need.

Health and Safety Risk Management Policy (Christine Makriel)

Although the PCC is not required to report on its risk management policy, the PCC takes it very seriously and receives regular reports from the Health and Safety officer. A recovery plan is in place to assist the local community in the event of a disaster, and further work will be carried out on risk management issues as required. Christine Makriel continued as Health and Safety Office.

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Financial Review (Christopher Brown – Treasurer)

Each one must do just as he has purposed in his heart, not grudgingly or under compulsion, for God loves a cheerful giver. (2 Corinthians 9:7)

Total receipts on unrestricted funds were £137,262 of which £73,802 was unrestricted voluntary donations, a further £8,700 was from Gift Aid. Restricted donations of £7,370 were also received as shown in the Financial Statements. Tax totalling £3,037 has been recovered under Gift Aid on donations received via Parish Giving Scheme (PGS), however a further £6,189 needs to be claimed from HMRC against the following Gift Aid Receipts, which includes ad hoc donations given under the Gift Aid Small Donations Scheme (GASDS).

Giftaid Giftaid
Source Amount Claimed Total Unclaimed
Parish Giving
Scheme 13601 3037 16638
Stewardship 16755 16755 4189
Looseplate 7462 7462 1866
GASDS
Donations 538 538 135
6189

Voluntary income has decreased slightly year-on-year however once the tax has been recovered there will be a net gain of £4,532, a 5.5% increase. May we continue to give to the Lord what he has gifted us.

Fund raising activities improved in 2022 from £36,720 : 2021 to £46,799 : 2022, the PCC would like to thank all those who gave their time and support in making these events so successful.

Fetes, bazaars & other fund raising events: Amount
Hope Into Action-Clothing bank clothing 70
Summer Jumble Sale 607
Christmas Bazaar 1,149
Turkiye & Tinsel 955
Events Total 2,781
Church & Hall Lettings 43,988
46,769

The freehold house at 34 Woodthorpe Road continues to be let under short term tenancies under the Hope into Action housing scheme, St Hilda’s Church primary mission within the community, working in partnership with Bronzefield and Spelthorne BC.

We were grateful for a pecuniary legacy of £3,000 from the Hornby Lonsdale Estate. £1,120 was spent from unrestricted funds to support the Christian ministry of our brothers and sisters of the Holy Cross, Murrupula, Mozambique.

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Notwithstanding the cost of repairs and maintenance - the Church and Church Hall cost £1001 per week to run - we further have a duty to contribute to the Dioceses of London Common Fund to support our ministry and wider infrastructure.

St Hilda’s PCC originally committed £61,000 the Common Fund for 2022, however in May it emerged that the Church & Hall gas bills had been based on an estimated reading for over 30 months and we were presented with backdated charges totalling £13,645.

At this time the Church’s funds were under severe pressure following the economic impact of the COVID-19 pandemic and therefore the PCC suspended payments to the Common Fund whilst the PCC negotiated a settlement with Total Energies which was successfully concluded with a reduction of £5,561.

Reduced payments to the Common Fund were resumed in the last quarter of the year resulting in a total of £25,930 contribution to the Common Fund 2022. St Hilda’s PCC is grateful to the Diocese of London for their support and understanding. The Diocese of London has suggested a target contribution of £87,775 from each parish to meet their annual administration costs and having stabilised our financial position the PCC has the confidence to commit £45,000 to the Common Fund. The PCC is further committed to maintaining general (unrestricted) reserves which equate to 3 months running costs including the Common Fund. We can report that at 31 December 2022 this objective was fulfilled having a credit balance of £11,844 in our bank current account and £29,402 our CBF Church of England Deposit Fund. Our restricted reserves, monies held for specific use, at 31 December 2022 were in credit balance at £22,003.

In closing, we are pleased to report that overall, 2022 ended on a positive footing enabling the family of St Hilda to continue with our Christ-based mission in Ashford and the wider community.

St Hilda’s Stewardship Report for 2022 (Christopher Brown)

Planned giving, (Stewardship) during 2022 amounted to a total of £39,977, an increase of

£2,072 on the previous year. This total was made up of three categories of giving:

• Parish Giving Scheme PGS - 18
• Church Stewardship (Standing Order) - 23
• Church Stewardship (Envelope) - 1

The amounts given, Gift Aid claimed from HMRC, and number of donors for each of the last 10

years are shown in the following table:

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----- Start of picture text -----
Received
50,000
43,918
45,000 39,608 42,850 40,452 39,491 39,929 41,203 39,977
40,000 37,905
33,963
35,000
30,000
25,000
20,000
15,000
10,000
5,000
0
2013 2014 2015 2016 2017 2018 2019 2020 2021 2022
----- End of picture text -----

Donors

----- Start of picture text -----
90
80
70
60
50
40
30
20
10
0
2013 2014 2015 2016 2017 2018 2019 2020 2021 2022
----- End of picture text -----

The total number of contributors to Stewardship in 2022 was 42, down 16 on 2021, which explains the drop in Stewardship income, however this was offset by other income sources.

£8,215 was donated during 2021 for other miscellaneous categories such as baptisms, Easter lilies, loose plate collections, various events, innovative fund-raising initiatives, with a further non-GASDS contributions totalling £29,980 via legacies, Charities Aid Foundation, St James Senior Boys School, DCMS Scheme and not forgetting our Parish Lunches and Breakfasts.

These donations were generously provided by not only those under stewardship, but also those in the wider congregation and parish.

Finally, we are still looking for a volunteer who can take on the leadership of the Stewardship Team

for 2023 and beyond. Whoever takes on the role will continue to be ably assisted by Pauline Milton

and Chris Brown, who will continue to manage the administration of collecting Gift aid from HMRC.

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PCC Report (Liz Brian – Secretary)

A summary of the PCC meetings held from the APCM in 2022 until December 2022 capturing actions and recommendations and information not captured in other reports.

June 2022 - Our newly elected PCC met for the first time on Tuesday 7[th] June, 2022. The following officers were presented – Mariane Tank, PCC Secretary, Christopher Brown, Treasurer along with those remaining as officers and new members. A list of sidespersons was read out and agreed. The following were also co-opted onto the PCC – Fr Steve Brian, Nick Gething and Simeon Sturney who would be invited as a guest. There was much discussion regarding our finances as the increase in gas prices, reduced income and only one tenant at St Hilda’s House had left us with a large deficit and a payment plan was drawn up. Interviews were in place to find a Parish Administrator and the job description was discussed. Bronzefield Prison was helping us to find a new tenant for St Hilda’s House and had also requested using the Church for training purposes. The kitchen area in Church has been improved with a fridge and freezer from the late Peggy Pinfold. Plans were in hand for our Platinum Jubilee celebrations.

July 2022 – The PCC welcomed Mary Spredbury – Kensington Area Finance Adviser. We are in a better place financially than previously but there were still outstanding costs and we are negotiating with the energy company regarding previous payments. It was agreed to suspend our contribution to the Common Fund (monies we send to the Diocese) until our financial situation has been further resolved but we expect to recommence with a payment in August, 2022. Discussion regarding Stewardship including a Stewardship presentation prepared by Jim Iddiols who was the current Stewardship Officer. PCC was informed about the Parish Giving Scheme as it helps the Church to plan finances more effectively. Christopher Brown will take over the Stewardship programme as Jim Iddiols plans to step down from the role. A vote was taken regarding the change of time from 9.30 am – 10 am and it was agreed this to be trialed from the beginning of September, 2022. Agreed that Bronzefield can have use of the Church for training purposes from August to December, 2022. CCTV equipment to be installed in the Church and grounds prior to the Church being open during the day.

September 2022 – The meeting started with Compline remembering her late Majesty Queen Elizabeth II. Finances – we had a surplus in July and August and were able to contribute to the Common Fund in July and August. PCC agreed to increase the amount and to review again in the New Year. We have saved money by changing our energy supplier. Rosalyn asked for permission to officiate and this was agreed by the PCC. Happy Tots (Playgroup using the Church Hall on a regular basis) has changed to a new owner and PCC are drawing up new agreements as advised by the Diocese. The Church will be open during the mourning period for the late Queen and there will be a book of Condolence for signing. Discussion around the Mission Action Plan especially a strapline that can be used. We have employed a new Parish Administrator who has recently started work.

October 2022 – Liz Brian has taken the role of Secretary of the PCC. Simeon Sturney informed us of current and former tenants of St Hilda’s House and plans for the next tenant. Bobbie has been given the Shalom Award from HOPE into ACTION for her services as a member of the Friendship Group. Our finances have improved due to the reintroduction of the weekly collections at the main service. Update on

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Happy Tots and the need to have a formal evaluation for the rental charge we should be making. The Playgroup has a new manager who is keen to welcome Father Joseph to talk to the children and would like a Nativity Service in Church. November 2022 – John Swaffield was welcomed as a new member having been voted in electronically by the existing members. Simeon Sturney gave us an update on St Hilda’s House and efforts to secure a new tenant for the property. Bronzefield Prison have agreed to fund a key/empowerment worker to support the tenants and to link with us. Formal valuation regarding renting the Church Hall has been carried out. Further discussion on our Mission Action Plan and changes will be made and presented to the PCC meeting in January, 2023. Recommendation that it would be good to walk as a whole to the Memorial for the Remembrance Day Service rather than as individuals or in smaller groups. Forthcoming events – Turkiye and Tinsel in the Church on 17[th] December.

Spelthorne Deanery Report (Father Joseph Fernandes)

With the lifting of restrictions, Synod was once again able to meet in person rather than by zoom in February, June & October. Synod meetings provide an opportunity for sharing news and enjoying friendship with the clergy and lay representatives from the eleven churches within the Spelthorne Deanery.

Clergy moves within the Deanery – there were no appointments, retirements or resignations this year.

The February meeting featured a presentation by The Reverend Jonathan Rust Director Of Mission for Kensington Area on “Living in Love & Faith”(LLF) which is one of the pillars of the London Diocese Capital Vision 2030. His talk, illustrated with slides, acknowledged that human sexuality, relationships and marriage can be a difficult subject to discuss for those of the “baby boom” generation and that the Church has often appeared to be out of touch with modern society and not welcoming to all people in our communities.

Fr Robert Thompson (a member of General Synod) spoke and led a discussion on The Parish System at our June meeting. Amongst items discussed were: What animates us about Jesus? What do we feel about Church Plants?' How do we offer a welcome to those from a different cultural background? Also, how do we ensure that by “growing younger” we do not alienate older members of our congregations? Our final meeting in October heard from Alison Tsang, from the Diocese, who spoke on Compassionate Communities & Modern Slavery. Her talk highlighted key areas: Caring for God's creation; Mental Health & Isolation; Refugees, Asylum Seekers & Modern Slavery; Money, Debt & Food Insecurity; Safer Communities for all young people and Housing & Homelessness.

Annual Finance meetings were hosted by Archdeacon Richard Franks & The Reverend Mary Spredbury (Diocesan Finance Officer).

During the year reports were given by Nick Wood-Dow and Carolyn Clark on issues discussed at the London Diocesan Synod.

At the October meeting synod approved the appointment of Mrs Jayne Brownlow as Deanery Representative on the Board of Governors of Laleham CE School. Finally the following were elected to serve on the Standing Committee of the Deanery Synod: Fr Joseph Fernandes (Area Dean); The Reverend Simon Douglas Lane & Fr Stuart King as Clergy representatives. Norman Head (current Lay Chair); Deborah Bull and Jo Child were elected as Lay representatives.

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WORSHIP AND LEARNING

House of Bishops’ Policy Statements

St Hilda’s PCC ensure that we comply with the duty under Section 5 of the Safeguarding & Clergy Discipline Measure 2016, in relation to having due regard to House of Bishops’ guidance on safeguarding children and vulnerable adults (as below).

House of Bishop’s Policy Statements

St. Hilda's PCC ensure that we comply with our duty under Section 5 of the Safeguarding & Clergy Discipline Measure 2016, in relation to having due regard to the House of Bishops' guidance on safeguarding children and vulnerable adults.

Child Protection

The Church of England, in all aspects of its life, is committed to and will champion the protection of children and young people both in society as a whole and in its own community.

It fully accepts, endorses and will implement the principle enshrined in the Children Act 1989, that the welfare of the child is paramount. The Church of England will foster and encourage best practice within its community by setting standards for working with children and young people and by supporting parents in the care of their children.

It will work with statutory bodies, voluntary agencies and other faith communities to promote the safety and well-being of children and young people. It is committed to acting promptly whenever a concern is raised about a child or young person or about the behaviour of an adult, and will work with the appropriate statutory bodies when an investigation into child abuse is necessary.

The Church of England is committed to encouraging an environment where all people and especially those who may be vulnerable for any reason are able to worship and pursue their faith journey with encouragement and in safety. Everyone, whether they see themselves as vulnerable or not, will receive respectful pastoral ministry recognising any power imbalance within such a relationship.

Safeguarding Adults

All church workers involved in any pastoral ministry will be recruited with care including the use of the Disclosure and Barring Service when legal or appropriate. Workers will receive training and continuing support.

Any allegations of mistreatment, abuse, harassment or bullying will be responded to without delay. Whether or not the matter involves the church there will be cooperation with the police and local authority in any investigation.

Sensitive and informed pastoral care will be offered to anyone who has suffered

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abuse, including support to make a complaint if so desired. Help to find appropriate specialist care either from the church or secular agencies will be offered.

Congregations will often include people who have offended in a way that means they are a continuing risk to vulnerable people. The risks will be managed sensitively with the protection of adults and children in mind.

Gordon Clark and Elizabeth Bate continue as Parish Safeguarding Officer and Children's Champion respectively.

Junior Church (Christine Taylor)

In January 2022 it was lovely to welcome Rosalyn Young back to the team after her sabbatical. Rosalyn’s absence prompted us to compile a handbook which we can offer to prospective new leaders.

In early January, we had a Godly Play session on Baptism, which was well attended by an unusually large age range; however everyone seemed to enjoy the activity. In February three members of the team were able to attend a Deanery Youth training at Saviours. It was a really worthwhile and inspirational experience. We held our Good Friday workshop with a small group of children. We told the Easter story, studied the Stations of the Cross, completed lots of Easter craft, made Easter rock cakes and finished with a noisy act of worship.

Sadly, we had to discontinue the monthly all-age worship sessions organised by Simon Shutt of FACT (Family Awareness and Children’s Trust) due to poor attendance despite circulating the dates, advertising in the weekly notes and direct approaches to parents.

Concerned about retaining our older children we decided to trial a system whereby we would split the group, and leaders would prepare for either younger or older children with age appropriate activities. Unfortunately, due to inconsistent group size and varying age profiles it has not really succeeded.

We continue to use Roots on the Web as our main teaching resource, although we no longer print off the activity sheets. We also decided that when the leader felt the material inappropriate we would explore some of the Old Testament stories, which we did in the Summer Term.

In the Autumn we held a small Light Party using Scripture Union resources. We held a Christingle service at the beginning of December – my thanks go to ladies of the Mothers’ Union who helped prepare the Christingles and to Rosalyn who helped conduct the service. Our year ended with the Crib Service on Christmas Eve however, the idea of dressing as a Nativity scene character was not very successful but the musical instruments were!

I would like to thank all the members of the team, Rosalyn Young, Gordon Clark, Elizabeth Bate, Beryl Rickson and Elisabeth Santos who give their time so willingly.

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Weekly Bible Study (Carolyn Clark)

This group has been meeting weekly on Wednesday evenings at 7.30pm having recommenced after lockdown. Meetings often include a chat over tea or coffee and take place at church in the Lady Chapel. Leadership of the weekly studies is rotated but there is no pressure to take a turn if you do not wish to; in the same way there is no pressure to read aloud or share an opinion if members do not wish to do so. We begin and end with prayer, including relevant local or personal situations at request. The subjects studied are chosen after group discussion and have included James, Isaiah, Ruth, Titus and Philemon as well as one or two of the psalms; a relevant series is usually chosen for Lent and Advent. This Advent our topic was ‘Long Expected’, based on the Christmas carol ‘Come Thou Long Expected Jesus’. We usually have 5 or 6 members attending, but others drop in as and when they are able. Indeed, we welcome visitors and those who would like to see what goes on each week.

Feed My Sheep (Rosalyn Young)

We had 10 sessions with friends old and new. Amongst the topics considered were The Dead Sea Scrolls, writing of the books which now make up the Hebrew and Christian Scriptures placing them in an historical context: with a look at the language used. We looked at two strong and influential Mediaeval women: St Hildegaard of Bingen including listening to her music and our patron Saint, Hilda . We have looked at the history of some of the Popes – a topic to which we shall return at a future date. There was also a look at the Book of Common Prayer, where we ended with saying BCP evening prayer and Occupations in the Bible

We have shared knowledge and insight, and laughter and friendship fuelled by a cup of tea and a slice of cake. With money from the tea and cake fund we were able to donate £50 worth of goods to the food bank box at the back of the church.

Ambling Through Acts (Father Steve Brian)

How did the church begin? What was it like to be part of that early group of apostles? Since February 2022 a group has been meeting to explore the origins of the church as seen through the eyes of St Luke and recorded in the Acts of the Apostles. We have been getting to grips with the issues they faced and making connections with our own experience of the church in the twenty-first century. We meet on the first Thursday of every month in church at 7:30pm for about an hour and a half, finishing with Compline (Night Prayer) and coffee. The sessions are open to everyone and new joiners are always welcome. No previous knowledge necessary!

Choir and Music Report (Chris Maddock, Paula Gething, Rosemary Greenwood, Carolyn Clark)

St Hilda’s church choir continued to provide musical accompaniment for the main services during the course of the year. 2022 saw the return of members who had shielded throughout the pandemic and in addition we welcomed several new ladies to the choir. We continue to practise in the church each Friday from 7pm and have

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been working well to enhance our ensemble and intonation. Whilst we still manage four-part harmony, it would be nice to have a few more voices – particularly in the lower ranges (i.e. men!)

During the year we introduced some new hymns, familiarising the congregation by playing the tune before and after the service during the preceding weeks. The music for services is based on the lectionary readings and carefully selected by the team listed above. Efforts are made to include both well loved, traditional items alongside some contemporary music. We prepare a Taizé chant most weeks – although it is not always used.

We rely heavily on recorded music, and huge thanks to Peter Pritchard who supported us with live organ accompaniments on occasion, and Melvyn Rouse who has provided some beautiful recorded accompaniments and a selection of recorded organ voluntaries. The “eagle eared” of you may also have spotted a couple of accompaniments that Chris himself produced totally electronically on his computer. In addition to singing at the weekly family Eucharist and festival days, the choir also led a Taizé service in Lent, a choral devotion from The Cross of Christ on Good Friday, supported Easter Saturday, several funerals, The Nativity Festival, Lodge Brothers’ Candles of Remembrance service in December and our Christmas Carol Service. At Christmas, we celebrated the Feast of St Lucy in Swedish, and thank you to Helen for her patient coaching with the Swedish pronunciation. We even fielded an impromptu vocal group for the Türkiye and Tinsel fundraiser.

Altar Servers’ Report (Alan Sloan)

Altar servers fulfil a very important function within the church. Their role dates back to the early days of the church, when priests were accompanied by an acolyte on their travels.

Today altar servers’ roles in the church are usually as listed below albeit, as a result of COVID-19, there have been some variations as we gradually move forward to a new normal.

The Crucifer is the person who carries the big processional cross. We have different crosses for different times in the year. Normally we have a large, decorated cross but in Advent and Lent a small wooden cross is used to reflect the mood of the season.

The Acolytes work in pairs and they both carry candles. In the olden days, when churches weren’t lit quite so brightly, they had a very important role ensuring that when the Gospel procession went down into the body of the church there was enough light on the Gospel book for the priest or deacon to be able to read it. They also fulfil other roles at the altar, such as bringing the vessels to the altar so that it can be laid up for mass and helping the priest wash his or her hands.

St Hilda’s Church currently has a team of 8 altar servers, as listed below, who are always willing to help with any task to keep our services in Church running smoothly. Primarily they assist at the 9.30, now 10 o’clock, Sunday services but they also assist with the Wednesday morning 11 o’clock service and other special services e.g. confirmation, candles of remembrance, St Hilda’s day, Easter Eve and Midnight Mass.

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During the last twelve-month period the number of available servers reduced by two. First, in July, Darran Buttigieg and his family moved to Sarisbury Green in Hampshire and we thank both Darran and his wife Denise for their contribution to St Hilda’s. Second, following a period of reflection, Emma Wrightson decided to stand down as a server in August and we thank Emma for her many years of service.

As mentioned above COVID-19 had a significant impact on all our lives including the roles of servers, which were initially severely limited, although, following the successful immunisation programme(s), a number of changes have gradually been introduced to reflect the improved situation e.g. The Crucifer now leads the reader for the Gospel reading and with effect from the beginning of Advent was accompanied once again by both Acolytes. By the end of the year the servers had resumed the majority of their duties including assisting with Holy Communion and also receiving the collection from the congregation.

Alan Sloan is the Head Server/serving team liaison representative and acts as the focal point between the servers and Father Joseph. This entails:

Updating altar servers about any changes in process/procedure Completion of the end of year report Production of both the servers’ and chalice duty rotas.

We would always welcome new members to the team and would give the support and training to undertake this role. If interested please contact a Churchwarden in the first instance.

List of servers:

Frances Forsbrey Sally Goulden Chris Holliday Christine Makriel Peter Makriel David Saville Alan Sloan Barbara Warne

An asterisk* signifies where a server has additionally been appointed by the Bishop of Kensington to assist with Holy Communion.

St Hilda’s Mothers’ Union, Report for 2022 (Chris Davenport)

Our AGM in March, followed by afternoon tea, was attended by 23 members. Twelve Long Service Awards were presented.

We continue to hold our monthly Mothers’ Union Corporate Communion Services.

We have all enjoyed our lunchtime meetings: January A talk by our Ordinand in Training, Helen, on her life before joining the Ministry team at St Hilda’s.

28

February A talk by Fr Steve Brian, a firm supporter of the Mothers’ Union, who
has recently retired and returned to Ashford, joining our Ministry
team.
March A talk by Rosalyn Young, one of our Lay Readers, about Flowers in the
Bible.
April Thoughts for Easter with poems and readings.
May Memories of the Queen and Royal Family, with pictures, souvenirs
and photographs.
June After hearing an interesting talk by two of our members, on flower
arranging, and a demonstration, the 25 members at the meeting
made their own table decoration.
July The Wave of Prayer Service followed by tea and scones.
September Summer Memories of holidays and places visited during this year and
in the past.
October A talk led by one of our members on the History of Ashford, with
many contributions from other members on the changes they have
seen over the years.
November The theme - Remembrance. We shared our family reminiscences with
poems, photographs, medals, other memorabilia and prayers.
December Carols and Christmas Music with mince pies.

In all, a very successful year for St Hilda’s Mothers’ Union.

St Hilda’s Flower Team (Alison Garner)

This year has been interesting thanks to the cost-of-living crisis which has caused the cost of fresh flowers to increase yet again. This may be a small thing in the scheme of general living, but to the Church’s budget it can be rather expensive. The hiring of the church to Bronzefield Prison, which has helped the church’s funds and therefore difficult to complain about, was an issue for the Flower Team. Access to the Church and at certain times access to the tap for water made the team’s work testing at times.

Pauline, Alison and the Flower Team have done their best to create wonderful displays each Sunday and the celebrations throughout the year, especially with the lilies at Easter and the pedestals and column decorations at Christmas.

Weddings have not been too arduous this year as most brides have their florists create their church flowers and then take them for the reception. All we ask is that the Flower Team are made aware of the wedding dates and colour choices so we can co-ordinate the church’s pedestal to the bride’s colour scheme.

At the end of the year, it was agreed that two silk floral displays will be created and to be used on a regular basis in conjunction with fresh flowers to help save money yet celebrate the wonders of God’s creation within the Church.

The Flower Team was fortunate to receive a very generous bequest from a Church Member’s family at the end of the year, this will help to continue the floral displays throughout 2023, we will continue to use the silk displays to help the donation last longer.

29

We are always looking for new members to join the team, we are planning to hold lessons for those who would like to learn. These will be held on a Saturday morning during 2023.

The Flower Team

Pauline Milton, Alison Garner and the wonderful members of the Flower Team

COMMUNITY

Outreach (Father Joseph Fernandes)

In 2022, St Hilda’s House went through further developments. In March, I attended the Hope Into Action annual conference in Peterborough and was the speaker in one of the workshops. It was an opportunity to share with others about the St Hilda’s House project. We ended the year with one tenant in the House and the good news of a second one joining in January 2023. The project has placed considerable strain on both our finances and people’s resources, but we remained determined to see it through, as a key part of our missional engagement within the local community. Simeon Sturney has been an outstanding Empowerment Worker and we could not have made it this far without his involvement. The befrienders have also proved invaluable in their interaction with the tenants.

We continued with the Foundation Governorship of Ashford Church of England Primary School, through our two foundation governors, and I took collective worship once a month. There is also a connection with Bishop Wand, through my role as Foundation Governor, as well as taking collective worship. The connection with Ashford Park has gone from strength to strength and we hosted learning visits from the children, including Christmas.

The gifts from the Harvest Festival went to the local food bank, based at the Salvation Army, which continues to provide a lifeline throughout the pandemic for many families who are struggling financially.

St Hilda’s House Report (Simon Sturney)

Five women in 2022 called SHH ‘home’ supported by seven befrienders (volunteers) and a further small group of support volunteers who have assisted with inspecting the house, form filling and general assistance.

St. Hilda’s Church has been extremely faithful in providing for the tenants and supporting me in the day-to-day running of the house, even at great cost to themselves. Hope Into Action requires that mattresses have to be replaced each time a tenant leaves and the requirement to pay for fuel via a pre-payment meter, on the most expensive tariff means the tenants have struggled during the cold weather. The money from the sale of clothing donated through the “blue bins” in the church and the hall brings less than £50 per quarter and more fundraising is needed both to maintain the house and to provide incidentals for the befrienders, like funding a cup of coffee in a café with the tenants or fuel if they use their own car to drive them somewhere.

30

The windows were replaced by UPVC double glazing in January thanks to a grant and various minor repairs were carried out as necessary inside the house. Grateful thanks go to Jon Bate for his hard work.

The ministry of St. Hilda’s House is known in the local and Diocesan community, Bronzefield and the wider Ministry of Justice sector, by supporters of Hope Into Action, the local council and the local Churches Together groups. The local council has offered to consider assisting with the financial shortfall from the house and conversations are taking place.

Regrettably, we were not able to have more than one tenant in occupancy for most of the year and consequently have struggled to find appropriate tenants to fill the ‘voids’ and who will get on with each other. There is a significant workload associated with applying for housing benefits to cover the rent and dealing with adjustments when a tenant leaves.

I will be stepping down from the role of Empowerment Work in February and a new person will have to be appointed. YI Bronzefield is looking into it. As we approach 2023, there is optimism about the future of the house.

Activities/Social Report (Roberta Bedford)

We have had a good year as far as the social events that have taken place this past year. It began in January with the first of the Euphonium concerts, they have all been well attended and thoroughly enjoyed by all.

In February we began our Parish Breakfasts with compliments to the chefs, they provide a great cooked breakfast and the numbers attending have grown throughout the year. There is usually a guest speaker covering many subjects. The breakfasts have brought many people into church that normally wouldn’t have come into the building. We want to show people that the church is for everyone.

On Shrove Tuesday we held what is becoming a yearly event a pancake party, lots of pancakes and toppings enjoyed by all.

As COVID is still out there and still catching some of us, it was decided that we now hold our Jumble Sales in church, it is a much bigger space than the hall and as we had such a huge amount of jumble it proved an ideal space.

We had a wonderful party for the Queens Jubilee, with a lovely selection of foods and a special celebratory cake ordered from the Jolly Bakers.

We opened the church to the Jumble Trail for people who either did not have their own garden or just wished to hold their stalls inside. We were able to provide refreshments which proved to be very popular.

The Wednesday church service is proving to be very well attended with more and more people staying for lunch, our usual attendance is about 20, with more and more staying to lunch. Surplus to Supper deliver a huge range of foods and sometimes flowers and we have very little waste.

In November we had a Karaoke night, it was fantastic such fun and who knew we had so much talent in St Hilda’s? This is going to have to be a yearly event now. We also held our Christmas Fayre in church. And December bought our usual influx of schools wanting to hold their Carol services here at St Hilda’s as we are the ideal size for huge gatherings.

All of the above takes a lot of time and work to organise. Thank you for all who helped throughout the year. We are always looking for people to give a hand in these events, so if you are able to help at all, please let me know.

31

St Hilda’s Entertainers’ Annual Report (Mike Davenport – Secretary)

President: Fr Joseph Fernandes Chairman: Sue Pinfold Secretary: Mike Davenport

Being able to put on a May Play in 2022 confirmed that St Hilda’s Entertainers have well and truly returned to the stage after the ending of the COVID lockdown. We had the benefit of a brilliant script to bring us back with a bang. It was a very lively comedy, Wife in the Fast Lane , written by our very own Neale Winter. One of Neale’s aims when writing scripts is to involve as many of our members as possible. This he achieved with a cast of 11, under the very capable direction of Steve Smith. Many of the cast had been in our first re-opening production of Sleeping Beauty in December 2021, so it was good to welcome them all back. It was also good to welcome back Anwen Fuller, Laura Allen and Craig Entwistle. Much of the comedy was in the style of a farce, with immaculate timing of entrances and exits. It was good to know our backstage crew had lost none of their skills in putting on a Play. The set and props, lighting and sound were excellent. At the end of the Friday performance, Gloria Smith, our NODA Representative joined us on stage to present two NODA Accolades of Excellence for our May 2019 Play, Mother of All Parties, one award was for the overall production and the other for Best New Play.

Neale, in collaboration with Dylan Harvey, also wrote the script for our 2022 Pantomime, The Mermaid’s Tale . Again, we were more than fully stretched, the script calling for 16 principal parts, plus a chorus of mermaids, mermen and ship’s crew. To boost our numbers we took great pleasure in welcoming five new members, Diane Stahlmann, Jess Shore, Lois Clark, Shannon Clark and Graham Sheath. Even so, the script called for much doubling up and, in some cases, tripling up, involving splitsecond timing. It was also time to bring back two hilarious sketches, the mop drill and an entirely original version of ‘If I were not upon the stage’. Our cast, scenery, costume and choreography teams, and the Prompt, were absolutely fantastic. Thanks to everyone involved, including our very appreciative audiences.

For The Mermaid’s Tale , we took the very sad decision not to involve children. Previously, we have always been delighted to include youngsters in our pantomimes, but we are now more aware of the strict requirements of child protection and safeguarding. In particular there is a need to provide children with their own facilities, mainly their own specific dressing rooms and the constant supervision provided by licensed chaperones. We do aim to do all we can to involve youngsters again, but we need to be certain we meet the licensing requirements of the local authority before we do so.

In the summer, Neale and Ayse Winter kindly hosted a very successful barbecue.

Our overall financial surplus for the year enabled us to make a donation to St Hilda’s of £4,300, specifically towards repairs to the Hall roof, and also £500 to the local Salvation Army Food Bank.

32

Long Service Awards have been presented to Craig Entwistle (5 years), Rosalyn Young (10 years) and Maggie Rolfe (15 years).

Our Play for May 2023 is Murder In Play , featuring a Play within a Play, written by Simon Brett and directed by Sue Pinfold. It requires 8 actors, 5 women and 3 men, so we welcome back Laura Allen, Rachel Barnes, Kim Cooper, Anwen Fuller, Jess Shore, Craig Entwistle, Steve Smith and Neale Winter

St Hilda’s Entertainers relish the part they play in the life of St Hilda’s Church and the wider community. Long may it continue.

3[rd] Ashford Rainbows, Brownies and Guides – 2022 (Chris Davenport)

The girls of 3[rd] Ashford Rainbows, Brownies and Guides, their Guiders and Young Leaders meet each week at St Hilda’s Church Hall.

All the Units have been working on their Theme Awards of Know Myself, Express Myself, Be Well, Have Adventures, Take Action and Skills For My Future. All these challenges are gauged for the abilities of the various age groups from 5 years to 14 years. With the girls keen to earn such a variety of badges, some of them have been able to complete Girlguiding Bronze, Silver and Gold Awards.

During the year, the Guides take part in service in the community. This year it included running the Tombola stall at St Hilda’s Christmas Bazaar, raising £132 for Church funds. They also helped with Front of House duties for the two weekends of St Hilda’s Entertainers’ pantomime, The Mermaid’s Tale.

As the months go by, we are pleased to see how the girls grow in confidence and rise to the various challenges as they progress from Rainbows, to Brownies and Guides. It is not only rewarding for the girls, but also for their Guiders, who give their time voluntarily. They encourage and guide the girls and boost their self-confidence in their efforts by organising and running exciting activities for the girls.

St Hilda’s Church Hall provides a much-appreciated safe environment in which our 80 girls can come together for the fun and friendship of weekly meetings.

Chris Davenport Guide Guider

33

APPENDIX A PARO HIAL CHURCH COUNaL OF ST. HIiDA's HFORD MIDDLESEX 8ALANCt SHEET Forthe ye&rendi￿ 31 De¢emlxr2022 UND5 JNOS Funcbonal prokrtv hhertment woperty 850,(XXI 850,1Th1 325,OLKI 175,1W 325.LK 1.175.CUI O L175.1 Eebt¢rsand prepayrtpnts ashatbankand ￿ hand IL￿8 67.652 8&720 758 79M6 45,649 66,717 22,(h)3 22.Tr73 Credr¢ors-amountsfall¢n8duewithin we year 6.204 6,2 TotilAs8ets 1,235513 21C03 1,257516 L247,564 Credittys-arr￿yntsfallf￿8dueaftQr0ne L2a5 16 I47￿4 Unre5triLted Restricted L235.513 1.235.513 22,(NJ3 L220,861 26.703 22.￿3 zi sij ptc The Pccacknowtedgeand 8ccepttheircdle¥-Uve resE￿nsI￿"11tyfOren5u￿ngadequatefith4Th￿?1 ¢ontrotsare maintsNd and yoperbooksand Thesefinanri31 Statementswweapproved tythe Pccon 16IChin023 aw1rnwilkn￿￿thDtofStN￿da.5 PCC

APPENDIX A Indepondent Examinerfs Report to the Members of the Parochial Church Council ('PCC') of St Hilda's Church. Ashford, Middlesex I report lo the memtrs of th$ PCC on the accounts for the year ended 31 Ce¢omb&r 2022 as sel out on the attaehod pages. This report Is mad8 solely lo the memters of the PCC in accordance with Sects'ons 145 of the Chanties Act 2011. My work has b88n undertaken so that I might st818 lo PCC member5 those matters 18m required lo stsle lo them in an Inde￿ndern1 Examiners re￿rt and for no other purws8 To the ftjllesl extent pemitted by law, I do nol 8ccept or assume responsibility lo anyone olher than thg charty and th8 members of the PCC for my examin8ts.on work. RespeGtSYe rMpon•lblll¢l¢• of PPC MEwnben5 and Eumlner The PPC members are r8sKK)nsible for the preparatson of the accounts They consider that an audit Is not required for this year lurKSer Sects¢)n 144 of thé Charities Act 2011 1.the Charitses Act'll and that an independent examination is needed. 1115 my responsibility to.. 8xamine th8 aco)unts un¢r Seth"on 145 of the Charibes Act.. to follow procedures laid In the Gen9ral Direclions given by the Chanty Commissioners lunder Section 145151 Ibl of the Charitses Acll.. and to slate ￿ether paTb"cular matters have ccme to my attention. Basls of Independent Examln*• statement My 6xafflinali(￿ wa$ carried out In accordane8 wrth the General Direthons gwèn by the Charty Commission. An examination indudes a revi&¥ of the aCc￿UntIng recor¢Js kept by the charity and a comparison of the acry)unls prosenled wlh Ihosg records. 11 also Indudes wnsiderab'on of any unusual rtem5 or d1sdosu￿S in the accounls. and seekina explanations from the members of the PCC concèming any such matters. The procedures undertaken do not provide all the evidence that would be required in an audit, and consequenuy no view Is given as lo whether Ihg accounts present a 'lnJe and fairf view and the rewrt 15 limited lo those rrtatters Set out in the Statement below. Independant Ex8mln•e• 8tat•mont In rJ)nneclion wlh my examinats'on. m matter has come to my 8ttanlion' 1. vthich 9IV8s me reasonable cause lo b911eve that In any matenal respect the requirements to keep accountsng records in accordance wth Se¢ts'on 130 of thg Charities Act ,'aThJ lo prepar8 accounts vthich &CDrd wrth th8 ac￿UntIng records and CLYnply with tho accountsng requirements of the Charities Act have not teen mel,. or 2. to which, in my opinion, attents.on Should be drawn in order lo enable a Pro￿r understanding of the accounts to be reaLY)èd. N8me'. P8ler Connolly 33 Cadyle Road. Stsines, TW18 2PU 16 April 2023 Address." Dale

APPENDIX A

PAROCHIAL CHURCH COUNCIL OF ST. HILDA's, ASHFORD, MIDDLESEX

STATEMENT OF FINANCIAL ACTIVITIES For the year ending 31 December 2022

----- Start of picture text -----
NOTE UNRESTRICTED RESTRICTED TOTAL TOTAL
FUNDS FUNDS 2022 2021
INCOMING RESOURCES £ £ £ £
Voluntary income 2(a) 73,802 7,370 81,172 82,829
-
Activities for generating funds 2(b) 46,779 46,779 36,720
Income from investments 2(c) 13,680 - 13,680 9,071
Church activities 2(d) 3,001 - 3,001 5,932
- - -
Other incoming resources 2(e) 12,898
TOTAL INCOMING RESOURCES 137,262 7,370 144,632 147,450
RESOURCES EXPENDED
- - - -
Cost of generating voluntary income 3(b)
Fund raising costs 3(c) 546 - 546 482
Church activities 3(a) 118,501 711 119,212 136,232
-
Investment management costs 3(d) 14,922 14,922 10,493
Bronzefield - - - 6,000
TOTAL RESOURCES EXPENDED 133,969 711 134,680 153,207
NET INCOMING RESOURCES 3,293 6,659 9,952 (5,757)
GAINS & LOSSES ON INVESTMENTS - - - -
These financial Statements were approved by the PCC on / /2023
TRANSFERS BETWEEN FUNDS 11,359 (11,359) - -
ACCOUNTING PROCEDURES ADJUSTMENT - - - -
NET MOVEMENT IN FUNDS 14,652 (4,700) 9,952 (5,757)
BALANCE B/F AT 1 JANUARY 2022 1,220,861 26,703 1,247,564 1,253,322
BALANCES C/F AT 31 DECEMBER 2022 1,235,513 22,003 1,257,516 1,247,564
----- End of picture text -----

APPENDIX A

PAROCHIAL CHURCH COUNCIL OF ST. HILDA's, ASHFORD, MIDDLESEX

NOTES TO THE FINANCIAL STATEMENTS

For the year ending 31 December 2022

1 ACCOUNTING POLICIES

The financial statements have been prepared under the Church Accounting Regulations 2006 in accordance with applicable accounting standards and the current Statement of Recommended Practice Accounting and Reporting by Charities (SORP 2005).

The financial statements have been prepared under the historical cost convention except for investment assets, which are shown at market value. The financial statements include all transactions, assets and liabilities for which the PCC is responsible in law. They do not include the accounts of church groups that owe their affiliation to another body, nor those that are informal gathering of church members.

FUNDS

Restricted funds comprise (a) revenue donations or grants for a specific PCC activity intended by the donor and (b) monies set aside for a specific purpose as agreed by the PCC. Where these funds have unspent balances , interest on their pooled investment is apportioned to the individual funds on an average balance basis.

Unrestricted funds are income funds which are to be spent on the PCCs general purposes.

INCOMING RESOURCES

Voluntary Income

Planned giving, collections and similar donations are recognised when received. Tax refunds are recognised when the incoming resource to which they relate is received. Grants and legacies are accounted for when the PCC is entitled to the use of the resources, their ultimate receipt is considered reasonably certain and the amounts due are reliably quantifiable. Dividends are accounted for when declared receivable, interest as and when accrued by the payer. All incoming resources are accounted for gross.

Other Income

Rental income from the letting of church premises is recognised when the rental is due.

Gains and losses on investments

Realized gains and losses are recognised when the investments are sold.

RESOURCES USED

Grants and donations are accounted for when paid over, or when awarded, if that award creates a binding or constructive obligation on the PCC. The diocesan parish share expected to be paid over is accounted for when due.

FIXED ASSETS

Consecrated property and movable church furnishings

Consecrated and benefice property is not included in the accounts in accordance with s.10(2)(a) and (c) of the Charities Act 2011.

Movable church furnishings held by the Vicar and the Churchwardens on special trust for the PCC and which require a faculty for disposal are inalienable property, listed in the church's inventory, which can be inspected (at any reasonable time). For anything acquired prior to 2000 there is insufficient cost information available and therefore such assets are not valued in the financial statements. Subsequently no individual item has cost more than £1,000 so all such expenditure has been written off when incurred.

Other fixtures, fittings and office equipment

Individual items of equipment with a purchase price of £1,000 or less are written off when the asset is acquired.

Investments

Investments are valued at market value at 31 December.

APPENDIX A

PAROCHIAL CHURCH COUNCIL OF ST. HILDA's, ASHFORD, MIDDLESEX

NOTES TO THE FINANCIAL STATEMENTS For the year ending 31 December 2022

----- Start of picture text -----
2. INCOMING RESOURCES Unrestricted Restricted TOTAL TOTAL
Funds Funds 2022 2021
£ £ £ £
2(a) Voluntary Income
Planned giving - gift aid donations 39,977 39,977 40,166
- -
Tax recovered on planned giving 11,927
- -
Planned giving - other
Loose plate 7,462 7,462 3,785
Sundry donations 388 388 15,441
Other tax recovered - - 758
Donations, appeals, etc. 25,610 4,370 29,980 10,718
Grant income - -
-
Legacies 3,000 3,000
Memorial book 365 365 35
Flowers - - -
- - -
Specials
73,802 7,370 81,172 82,829
2(b) Activities for generating funds
Fetes, bazaars & other fund raising events 2,781 2,781 7,760
Church Hall lettings/ Fund raising 43,998 43,998 28,934
Photocopying - - 25
PV Income - - -
Misc. - -
-
46,779 46,779 36,720
2(c) Income from investments
Interest 758 - 758 30
Rent 12,922 12,922 9,041
-
13,680 13,680 9,071
2(d) Income from church activities
Crossroads - - -
Weddings (122) (122) 915
Funerals 2,596 2,596 4,628
- - -
Baptisms/ Confirmation
Other 527 527 389
-
3,001 3,001 5,932
2(e) Other ordinary incoming resources
Insurance claims - - - 2,198
Bronzefield - - - 10,700
- - -
12,898
TOTAL INCOMING RESOURCES 137,262 7,370 144,632 147,450
----- End of picture text -----

APPENDIX A

PAROCHIAL CHURCH COUNCIL OF ST. HILDA's, ASHFORD, MIDDLESEX

NOTES TO THE FINANCIAL STATEMENTS For the year ending 31 December 2022

----- Start of picture text -----
3. RESOURCES EXPENDED Unrestricted Restricted TOTAL TOTAL
Funds Funds 2022 2021
£ £ £ £
3(a) Church Activities
Missionary giving 1,120 1,120 58
Flowers 1,398 1,398 377
Insurance - Church 9,264 9,264 7,721
Insurance - Hall 859 859 1,861
Junior Church 352 352 336
Maintenance - Church & Church Hall 7,514 7,514 16,426
Purchases - Church & Church Hall 7,861 7,861 9,073
Memorial book - - -
Ministry - Clergy expenses 2,562 2,562 395
Ministry - Common Fund 25,930 25,930 62,000
-
Ministry - Other clergy expenses 4,598 4,598
Ministry - Wedding fees 2,466 2,466 422
Organist & choir costs - - 415
Running cost - Church 5,960 5,960 5,409
Running cost - Hall 5,024 5,024 2,399
Sundry 623 711 1,334 412
Utilities - Electric 971 971 3,347
Utilities - Gas 25,540 25,540 5,982
Utilities - Other 909 909 1,347
Administration 7,210 7,210 6,861
People/ Cleaning Costs 8,340 8,340 11,391
118,501 711 119,212 136,232
3(b) Cost of generating of voluntary income
- - - -
Costs of appeals
- - -
Stewardship activities
- - - -
3(c) Fund raising/ Events costs
Fetes, bazaars & other 546 546 482
546 - 546 482
3(d) Investment Management Costs
Insurance - St Hilda's House - - - 283
Maintenance Costs - St Hilda's House 9,247 - 9,247 6,908
Running Costs - St Hilda's House 5,324 - 5,324 245
Admin Costs - St Hilda's House 350 - 350 2,973
Running costs grounds - - - 84
-
14,921 14,921 10,493
3(e) Other
Bronzefield - - - 6,000
TOTAL RESOURCES EXPENDED 133,968 711 134,679 153,207
----- End of picture text -----

APPENDIX A

PAROCHIAL CHURCH COUNCIL OF ST. HILDA's, ASHFORD, MIDDLESEX

NOTES TO THE FINANCIAL STATEMENTS For the year ending 31 December 2022

4. People Costs

During the year the PCC used the services of part time cleaners for the church hall and an administration assistant for the parish office but no payments were large enough to attract social security costs.

A small immaterial portion of the expenses paid to the incumbent may have related to his services as chairman of the PCC. Payments for Office administration totalled £1,573 for the year.

No other payments or expenses were paid to any other PCC member, persons closely connected to them or related parties, other than for professional services rendered.

5. Fixed Assets

£
Opening Balance
Additions
Gains & Losses in the year
Closing Balance		 850,000
325,000
1,175,000
-
-
-
-
-
-
850,000
325,000
1,175,000
Church Hall
St Hilda's House
Total

St Hilda's Church Hall in Stanwell Road, Ashford, Middlesex was brought onto the balance sheet in 2007 in order to comply with the Statement of Recommended Practise (SORP) for Charities as revised in 2005 and the Church Accounting Regulations 2006. The initial valuation was based on its current value to the PCC. The PCC believes that the residual value of the property exceeds its current use value and therefore has decided to adopt a policy of doing an annual impairment review rather than depreciating its value over its useful life.

The property known as St Hilda's House, being 34, Woodthorpe Road, Ashford, Middlesex is held for investment purposes and is shown in the accounts at market value. The last valuation was 31 December 2011 and was carried out by The Frost Partnership, Ashford, Middlesex.

6. Debtors and prepayments

£
Receivables Church
Receivables Hall
Total
7. Creditors
£
Creditors and accruals - Church
Creditors and accruals - Hall
Total
All amounts are due within one year		 2022
2021
20,900
511
168
-
21,068
511

2022
2021
6,204
7,880
-
-
6,204
7,880

8. Long Term Creditors

There are no Long Term Creditors as the final instalment of £2,500 was repaid to the Diocese of London in 2022.

9. Restricted Funds Held

£
Balance at 1 January 2022
Incoming resources
Resources expended
Moved from general fund
Interest Allocated
Balance at 31 December 2022
The breakdown and movement of restricted funds are:		 Alford
St Hilda's House
Bronzefield
Total
10,502
11,501
4,700
26,703
-
-
-
-
-
(4,700)
(4,700)
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
10,502
11,501
0
22,003

9A Non Restricted held by CBF

General reserves held in the CBF account are £ 33,742