2023-12-31-accounts

The Parish of St John the Evangelist, Whittle-le-Woods with Clayton Brook Community Church

Annual Report 2023 Charity Number 1134259

The Annual Report on the proceedings of the Parochial Church Council and the activities of the Church To be received by the Annual Parish Meeting on 22nd April 2024

Received and adopted by the PCC on the 11 March 2024

Rev Philip Venables, Chairman

Bryn Williams & Les Jones, Churchwardens

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Legal and Administrative Information

The full name of the church is St. John the Evangelist, Whittle-le-Woods.

We are a Church in the diocese of Blackburn of the Church of England, with two worship centres, the Parish Church (St. John’s) and Clayton Brook Community Church. Each worship centre has a group of ministry co-ordinators who are responsible to the Parochial Church Council, which keeps one set of accounts. This Annual Report covers the activities of the Parish during the year 2023, referring to the parish as a whole with its two congregations and including the parish accounts.

Incumbent: Revd Philip Venables The Vicarage Preston Road Whittle-le-Woods Chorley PR6 7PS Correspondence Address: Mr Lyndon Wright 42 Clover Field Clayton le Woods Chorley PR6 7RR Parish Church Location: Preston Road Whittle-le-Woods PR6 7PS

As a church in the Diocese of Blackburn, we are a charity excepted from registration with the Charity Commissioners. Charity number 1134259

Bankers: TSB Bank plc Chorley Branch PO Box 373 LS14 9CG The Royal Bank of Scotland Plc 56 Market Street Chorley PR7 2SD

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The Parish of St John the Evangelist PCC Report

The vision of the Church is as follows:

We Seek Revival through: - Speak Out Reach Out Gather in for Christ

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During the year 2023 the following served as members of the PCC: Rev Philip Venables Vicar & Chair Bryn Williams Churchwarden StJ Les Jones Reader & Churchwarden CB Kathy Bigio Reader Deborah Green Deputy Churchwarden SJ Gill Menhennet Deputy Churchwarden CB Ed Lillie Secretary, non-PCC member Chris Woolham Treasurer Gill Lancaster Reader & Diocesan Synod Rep Alison Wynne Diocesan Synod Representative Chris Wynne Deanery Synod Representative Lyndon Wright Deanery Synod Representative Nick Brake Deanery Synod Representative (from October 2023) Irene Flack Deanery Synod Representative (until September 2023) Stuart Cross Chris Dawson Jamie Dixon - from April 2023 Anne Harris - until November 2023 Paul Haslem Susan Parkinson Gaynor Simons - until April 2023 Julie Summers

Throughout 2023 the PCC met six times in person. A co-ordinator report from each church was given at the meetings and a report from the various PCC teams as applicable. The Standing Committee met four times.

Electoral Roll report 2023

The total number of people on the 2023 electoral roll was 168 138 resident in the parish and 30 non-resident 136 from St John’s and 32 from Clayton Brook

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Vicar’s Report for 2023

After the struggles of the pandemic and the destructive effects of repeated lockdowns, Jesus’ promise, “I will build my church”, felt like just the verse for 2023, as did preaching through the book of Nehemiah in January and February. It proved harder than I thought. In particular, post-pandemic weariness has been more widespread and more prolonged than I anticipated. In addition, we had a few church members leave our fellowship early in the year, and that is always hard. 2023 was also challenging financially.

However—and these are significant ‘howevers’—in God’s goodness there were some real triumphs and joys through the year.

I was particularly thrilled that we had two excellent events that were the first we had been able to do since 2019. The first was the Clayton Brook Festival in July. In terms of attendance, happy atmosphere and good conversations, I think it may have been the best since I arrived here. It was good to have the help of Steve Haskett and a team from the diocese, too. The second event was the church day out to Chipping. We had superb teaching from Mark Simpson, excellent catering from a new company, and a lovely time of coming together in faith and fellowship. I had no hesitation in booking the hall again for 2024, straight away.

In November we hosted Christmas Adventure again. Interestingly, even though it was slightly scaled down for a shortage of volunteers, that made for a slower pace and better mingling and conversations. It was good to have hundreds through our door again and spend a couple of hours with them.

The Warm Welcome initiative at Clayton Brook, started when the fuel price crisis hit, has continued and morphed into a lovely time of friendship over lunch. The team of volunteers is at full stretch, but providing a great service.

It is very normal for youth work in churches to go up and down over the years. 2023 was an ‘up year’, with a thriving CY (Christian Youth or ‘see why’—take your pick) at Clayton Brook, led by a committed team of volunteers, and a new intake for Pathfinders at St John’s, which has grown both on Sundays and Tuesdays and gelled into a great group.

And then there is the sheer number of people serving in all sorts of ways—churchwardens, PCC, musicians, ministry team, cleaners, children’s leaders, and all those I’ve failed to mention. It is a wonderful thing. We are not a perfect church and I’m sure we can all find some faults, but I continue to be so grateful for the measure of faith, unity and mutual support which we enjoy.

SOCIAL AND OUTREACH TEAM

SOT met four times in 2023. Our main business was planning the church day out at Chipping, the women’s and men’s garden parties, Christmas Adventure and the 2024 deanery mission. We always discuss a number of other possibilities, but many of these remain on the cutting table or are put aside as future possibilities.

Philip

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St John’s Churchwarden Report 2023

In Romans 12:12, we learn to “Rejoice in hope, be patient in tribulation, be constant in prayer.”

At St John’s we have much to rejoice; we continue to enjoy a weekly Sunday Service, with a well-attended Junior Church and Pathfinders, as well as a weekly, Wednesday morning Holy Communion Service.

In January, we rejoiced in the unblocking of the drains – a celebration and answer to our prayers. There was a strange pleasure in hearing a sudden and loud gurgling noise coming from 9 feet below the ground.

The church building continued to create its tribulations throughout the year: a wasp nest, inside a difficult to reach ventilation brick; a faulty ballcock, causing the toilet to flood; a slate slipping; the sound system going on the blink; the gate falling from its rusty bracket. We rejoice in the support we received in helping to resolve many of these problems.

In January, we were blessed with the visit of Bishop Philip and his wonderful teaching of ‘Nehemiah the Superhero’. In serving God, Nehemiah was supported by many ordinary people to rebuild the walls of Jerusalem. Here at St John’s, we are blessed with many ‘ordinary’ people, who together, serve God by helping to keep the church wheels oiled and in motion. For all the wonderful work Philip does in his ministry, he is also supported throughout the year by many from our church family. It is a team effort; we give thanks to God for all who provide their time and support in the day to day running of St John’s.

In addition to the ‘usual’ Easter Services, 2023 was the first year of Easter Praise, with choir singing and readings – it was a wonderful event and a forerunner for our future annual Easter services.

April was the month when Lyndon, after many years of serving as Churchwarden, decided to hand over the keys. We thank God for the service Lyndon gave to St John’s, as churchwarden and continue to give thanks for his continued support.

On May 6[th] , the day of the Coronation of King Charles, the bellringers at St John’s were part of the national ‘Ring for the King’, when our bells rang out to celebrate the Coronation. Two of our younger members were trained for the occasion and proudly joined the regular bell ringers in celebration.

Talking of bells, I was struck by the comments of Lee Proudlove from Open Doors, who, during his visit in November, talked about hearing our bells ringing out, as he approached the church. He reflected on the freedoms we enjoy in comparison with many Christians around the world who, in fear of persecution, worship in secret.

Throughout the year, we have also had the privilege to welcome other guest preachers and speakers. In March, we welcomed David Dean from the Barnabas Fund, and Jonathan Hands, from Compassion UK, visited in July. They both gave us an insight into the work carried out by their Christian charities and how the money we provide, through our charitable giving, is spent.

It was also lovely to welcome Archdeacon Mark Ireland in August. Unfortunately, this was a day when the sound system chose to ‘play-up’ but, undeterred and with a humorous anecdote, he was able to complete his teaching and liberally distribute chocolates to the congregation.

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In September, we joined with Clayton Brook to enjoy a great day away in Chipping. We were blessed to have Mark Simpson as our speaker and the support of Doug and Helen Neville, all are from Wellfield, in Leyland, a church we are pleased to provide mission support.

In November we held our Remembrance Day Communion Service. It was also the day our shoeboxes were collected, with another wonderful response to the Christmas Child appeal.

November ended with another excellent and well-attended Christmas Adventure. It really is a joyful event and much appreciated by members of our local community – some of whom set foot in St John’s for the first time.

Along with the Carol Service, Nativity and the Christmas Day service, there was plenty for us to thank the Lord for and to rejoice at the end of 2023.

We continue to pray for the St John’s church family and the tribulations we face. We also continue to pray for the reordering of the church building.

Bryn Williams Churchwarden

Clayton Brook Churchwarden Report 2023

This year 2023 the church building is 40 years old. We give thanks and praise for His amazing provision throughout this time. The annual festival celebrated our 40th year and we witnessed the best attendance ever. Again we say thank you all who volunteered.

The building is in very good shape and the Car Park and Grounds are well maintained. Inside the building the rooms are cleaned every week and we have an annual tidy and cleaning day.

The building is used each day, either by Church Groups or by User groups who hire the rooms.

Church Users are Warm Welcome on Mondays 11-2.00 pm…Growth group Tuesdays 1-2 pm . CY groups Tuesday evening 4-6pm. Friday morning is worship group music practice as well as Ukraine Prayers. Other church users are our coordinators group and the PCC who meet as planned. The Maundy Thursday meal was well attended. The Street Pastors meet before going out into the Clayton Brook areas. We gather to pray with them and have a cuppa and cake, The Street pastors also use the building for their special meetings during the year.

We have maintained our contacts with the local school, who have used the hall for teaching on matters of faith.

We use the hall when we have prayer breakfasts and visiting speakers during the year. Firing November we again opened the building for the Operation Christmas Child appeal. This year we were a collection point and 105 shoeboxes from the parish were added to those collected and taken to a distribution site near Coventry.

Christmas time brought lots of activity, with carol services-and practice, meals & celebrations.

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During the year some groups have used What’s app. to communicate with one another, for example Warm Welcome, Growth group and the Ukraine prayer group. Parish wide, the Prayer chain uses What’s app to communicate prayers from many church members.

We give thanks for new people who have come into the services throughout the year Our Cafe Style church service has been well loved during the year. Once again we give thanks for the many people who volunteer throughout the weeks in various ways. Again we are always looking for others to come and help in all areas of our ministry together.

So we thank our God for his provision and grace through the year..

Leslie Jones, Church Warden, Gill Menhennett, Assistant Church Warden.

Warm Welcome 2023

The Warm Welcome group met every Monday during 2023, apart from Bank Holidays. It started in November 2022 in response to spiraling energy costs. We offer a warm space with a free meal, a listening ear and fellowship. We initially expected the group to finish once the warm weather arrived. God had other plans! We now have a well established group who enjoy meeting up each week. Some of our group are now coming regularly to our Sunday Service. We’ve hosted some special events starting with a Harvest meal then a 1st Anniversary lunch in November. We finished the year with a traditional Christmas meal. Our volunteers have worked hard to serve God in our community. We’ve been blessed financially too. We have received two grants which have helped with our own energy costs! We look forward to welcoming more people in 2024.

• The Warm Welcome Team

St John’s Junior Church Report 2023

We are so grateful to God for giving us a large team of leaders and helpers and for bringing in all the children and young people who attend our groups.

Each Sunday the youngest children ( Bubbles 2-6) descend to the basement for bible-based activities focusing on an interactive bible story. Prayer, singing and craft are used to reinforce the teaching and to help the children understand the story chosen from the Bible. We pray that God is growing faith in each of these little ones.

The older children ( Splash 6-8 and Searchlight 8-10) meet in the school hall. The (same) bible story is taught as engagingly as possible with the children often participating in reading different parts or taking part in a drama. The message is consolidated with questions, prayer and a related activity.

A lively group of Pathfinders (10-15) meets in the Vicarage sitting room 3 Sundays a month to study and discuss the same passage. It is exciting and encouraging to see them engaging with God’s word and asking searching questions.

Other young people in their teens also stay in church to help with AV or help out with Bubbles. We are thrilled to see the different ways in which they serve the Lord.

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Pathfinders also meet on Mondays and Tuesdays at the Vicarage. On Mondays we welcome the older pathfinders who enjoy ‘chilling’, listening to music, playing games and engaging with God’s word. We finish with a shared meal.

On Mondays, years 6 and 7 join us after school. The format is the same as above. We have particularly enjoyed some good discussions over tea when they enjoy asking Philip related or other questions.

It has been such a privilege getting to know the young people in these groups and we give thanks to God for providing the adults whose service enables these groups to thrive. Please continue to pray that these children/young people carry on growing in faith and love of Jesus. - Caroline Venables

Clayton Brook Community Church - Under 18's Report

Another year gone as we seek to introduce children to God, and to disciple them in the faith. As always, we have experienced both joys and sadnesses, but in all we want to thank God for the opportunity of working with a special group of young people.

Kings Kids has continued with a committed group of leaders / teachers, concentrating on the Old Testament through the lives of Abraham, Joseph and Moses. We also learned about the life of Hudson Taylor, the missionary to China. Our support of Justine in Ghana continues through Compassion.

Sadly the CY group for teenagers had to stop at the end of the 2022 year, but we look back on a time of fun, friendships and faithbuilding. We enjoyed outings to Cuerden in the rain, trampolining, and great games too. Each child was gifted a Bible for their own use during the year.

To our great joy, we saw both Cody and Jasmine baptised in July. Then in October, 4 of our young people completed a Communion Preparation course and are now receiving Communion along with the adult congregation.

We took part in 2 Connect meetings with young people from other Chorley churches, hosting the second of these events.

Towards the end of the year, we upgraded our TVs to more modern smart TVs with internet access, which is a great help in our teaching.

We engaged with Clayton Brook Primary School in November to do some work with specific classes, and had a Christmas service in December.

We concluded a busy year with a Christmas Party (joined by St Johns children), and in conclusion, thank all for their support and prayers.

Stuart Cross

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Worship group St John’s 2023

The Worship Team meet every Wednesday to go through the songs for each Sunday. We have been blessed with extra singers offering to help this year which has been greatly appreciated. We led the Easter Praise Service again which took the same format as the Carol Service at Christmas. The Worship team led the music along with Carolyn conducting the choir. It was a wonderful time of Praise and Worship to our Risen King. We ended the year with the Christmas Carol Service which again was a great success and really well supported by a full congregation. Carolyn conducted the choir again and Stewart accompanied Peter on the Organ with the trumpet which was a great sound. After the service, mulled wine and mince pies were served. We praise God for His faithfulness to us this year and pray for His continued blessing as we seek to serve Him in music and song. - Christine Whiteside

Worship group Clayton Brook 2023

Singing is one aspect by which we worship God publicly proclaiming His glory and holiness, expressing our gratitude to Him for who He is and for the gift of His son Jesus who brings us salvation.

At Clayton Brook we have a team of dedicated musicians and singers who help lead us in sung worship. We try to maintain a good balance of classic hymns, contemporary songs and all age worship songs from a variety of sources. We continue to meet faithfully each week to practise together the songs chosen which complement the theme of the service.

This year the team were involved in celebrating a couple of Baptisms where each of the candidates chose their favourite song. The return of the festival saw us once again singing God’s praises outside in the church car park joined by our church family from St John’s. We have continued to make good use of the Worship Lyric Video resource and occasionally update the catalogue with new songs. This year we’ve introduced 7 new songs to the congregation.

As a team, we pray that our ministry will help to create a space for the congregation to engage with the Lord and be drawn closer and deeper in Him. Amen.

St John’s – Prayer Report 2023

During the year intercessions were offered during each Sunday service for people in church and those watching on line. Thank you to everyone who does this important ministry. In April 2023 the prayer chain moved to WhatsApp and remains faithfully active for urgent or emergency prayers. An increasing number of prayers, over 100, have been requested throughout the year. Thank you to every member who prays so fervently. Tuesday evening parish prayer meetings were held once a month in the Vicarage. Small prayer groups continued to meet regularly, in person or by zoom. The church prayer diary continued to be produced monthly, which contained prayer suggestions for both churches for people involved in services, groups, meetings, activities, events, training courses, missions we support, the reordering of StJohns church, sick & bereaved, care homes and housebound, clergy, churchwardens, ALMs, our bishops and the Diocesan Vision prayer. This ensures everything and everyone is covered in prayer. The prayer diary was emailed out to our congregations, with a few printed copies sent to the housebound, and was also available in church.

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Clayton Brook Church – Prayer Report 2023

Both at St John’s and Clayton Brook we believe in prayer. During the Clayton Brook morning service we take a time for prayer for all the congregation to join in with “Lord in your mercy hear our prayer”. When we do the all-age services we encourage our young folks to say prayers. It is important for them to start to take part in all parts of the service. Every Sunday at the end of the service there is a place where any of the congregation can join with someone to get prayers for themselves or someone else. We are a praying church and extend our prayers to the people of Ukraine, which we have been doing since the war started. We meet on a Friday morning and we thank God that we can do this.

We have always had a prayer chain going around St Johns and Clayton Brook caring for people who are sick or need help. It went around by telephone. Unfortunately it was not all that successful as people would be out and not get a message. Last year Gill Wright came up with the idea to go on to WhatsApp. This has proved very successful. People can come on any time of the day and night. We can hear straight away what is wrong and we can bring them before the Lord and pray for them. God is near all those who need help straight away. Thank you Lord for all those who have been cared for may we continue to bring those who need Gods help to our Prayer Chain. Thank you God. Amen.

• June Summers

Mission Team Report 2023

The Mission Team works on behalf of the PCC to make decisions about how the 10% tithe of church income should be distributed. This amounts on average to ~£10k per year. The 10 ministries that we regularly support are Barnabas Fund, Churches Ministry among Jewish People, Church Missionary Society (CMS – Alf and Hilary Cooper in Chile), Crosslinks (Alex and Kate Phillips in East Asia), Compassion (through individual sponsorship), Open Doors, Street Pastors, Tearfund, The Salvation Army, Wellfield Church in Leyland. These were selected on the basis that they are well-established, work alongside local churches worldwide, and we have advocates within our churches willing to speak out on their behalf. Intercessors are asked to pray for our mission partners regularly, and there are dedicated noticeboards in each church outlining the work of the supported ministries.

A prayer breakfast was held in February with Colin Mottershead from the Salvation Army speaking about the work that they do to combat human trafficking. In March David Dean gave a talk on the work of Barnabas Fund in the 9:30am and 11am services, and a few people attended an evening service at Wellfield Church with Philip to show our support. An evening event was held in March at Clayton Brook with speakers Tiana Morel and Tracy Berry on the work of Operation Christmas Child (OCC) in the Seychelles. In July Jonathan Hands gave a talk on the work of Compassion UK in the 9:30am and 11am services. This year monetary harvest donations were directed to the Bishop’s Harvest Appeal supporting CRESS UK (South Sudan Diocese of Liwolo), and food donations were taken to Living Waters food bank. In October/November we took part in Operation Christmas Child supplying 106 shoeboxes (including those online) to children in Moldova and Africa, and Clayton Brook was used as a drop-off centre for OCC for one week with volunteers helping from both churches. In November we held services dedicated to World Mission with Kathy Bigio preaching at both churches, and to the Suffering Church with Lee Proudlove from Open Doors preaching at both churches. During the services this year we held focus spots on the work of the mission team and mission fund (Gill/Kathy), Street Pastors (Hetti) and Antislavery featuring a clip of Tim Ballard on whom the Sound of Freedom film is based and a

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focus on the C. of E. Clewer initiative (Kathy). We also showed video clips on the work of Open Doors, Crosslinks (Kate and Alex), Salvation Army, Bishop’s Harvest Appeal and OCC.

The mission team met twice during the year. In January we updated our Diary of Mission Team events (held between 2015-2023 – available upon request) overviewing all activities over the past 9 years. In March’s gazette Stuart Cross wrote an article on the child that Kings Kids sponsor at Clayton Brook through Compassion UK. Gill Lancaster wrote Gazette articles to highlight our church statistics on child sponsorship following Jonathan’s visit in August, and the launch and results of OCC in October and December, respectively, and gave her annual demo on how to pack a shoebox. In September Anne Harris wrote an article about her prison fellowship work. Throughout the year Cath Orr (editor) regularly highlighted the needs of Living Waters foodbank in the Gazette and published newsletters from our CMS and Crosslinks overseas partners. David Barlow continued writing articles each month highlighting the plight of persecuted Christians worldwide.

During the year we had one application to the Mission Fund, giving £250 to Tearfund’s Turkey-Syria Earthquake Appeal. We also made year end donations of £1070 (£300 to CAP at Wellfield Church, £300 to St Michael's Zambia trip, £470 Chorley Street Pastors). Sue Lillie continued to regularly rotate mission information on the noticeboard at Clayton Brook.

We would like to thank everyone who has supported Mission within our two churches over the past year, and encourage everyone to get involved. Please see our mission leaflet for more information.

Mission Team: Gillian Lancaster (chair), Kathy Bigio, Stuart Cross, Hetti Johnson, Philip Venables

Beehive Report 2023

The Beehive has had another successful year with numbers fluctuating between 20 – 30 children with their Parents/Grandparents/Childminders each week. We have a very hardworking Committee and 2 of our members stayed on after September even though their children had started school.

The highlights of the year were:April - Easter Party with Easter egg hunt and various crafts.

May - Charlotte started to do her monthly moving to music which the children loved. We had an amazing visit from Little Zoo to you who brought various small animals and insects for the children to see and feel. Needless to say this was a big hit with the children.

June - We had a wonderful day at Windmill Farm which was thoroughly enjoyed by everyone.

July - Leavers Party when we said Goodbye to those who were starting school. Oct. - Harvest Party Lunch.

Dec. - We had our Nativity Play and all the children really enjoyed taking part.

We ended the year with our Christmas Party when Father Christmas handed out a book for each child.

God has truly blessed us again this year, TO HIM BE THE GLORY.

• Christine Whiteside

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Parish Gazette 2023

The gazette continues to maintain its content and quality and produces 14 or more A4 pages per issue. It is a good source of communication and information for the parish and contains two advertisements for local businesses. The gazette was emailed out to over 120 people each month. These copies have been produced in colour and are greatly appreciated by many. Several large print copies are produced each month for church members who prefer larger print. For those who are not on email copies are distributed either by post or by hand. Thank you to Susan Parkinson for helping with this task. The Parish Gazette is also available on the church website. Thank you to everyone who has contributed articles throughout the year.

Safeguarding Report 2023

The Safeguarding Team which oversees safeguarding policy and practice within the parish met May 2023

The team consisted of the Vicar, two Safeguarding Children’s Champions, the Disclosure and Barring Service Administrator and the Parish Safeguarding Officer. The team’s terms of reference remain as follows:

• Completing the Parish Safeguarding Self Audit at least once a year,

• Reviewing the safeguarding needs within the parish, at least annually,

• Reviewing the Parish Safeguarding Policy and Procedures at least annually,

• To consider safeguarding training requirements within the parish on an ongoing basis, with particular regard to Diocesan recommendations,

• Ensuring that appropriate records are kept in a safe place,

• Signing off the Annual Safeguarding report to the PCC and Annual Parochial Church

In May the Safeguarding Team revised the safeguarding self-audit.

1. Safeguarding Policy

It was agreed that as there were no changes to the Diocesan Safeguarding Policy the PCC will continue with the current Parish policy for a further 12 months.

2. Risk Assessments

Risk assessments for activities in both worship centres will be reviewed and authorised by PCC. Work continues to centralise documents in SharePoint.

3. Electronic communications/Internet policy

Ongoing.

Safeguarding Officer attended September PCC. Promoting completion of safeguarding training for PCC members, confirming no changes to safeguarding policy for another year.

St John’s and Clayton Brook are registered for the Diocese of Blackburn Safeguarding Dashboard and Hub. This is a central register helping to manage safer recruitment and people management for all our training requirements. Parish Safeguarding Officer has completed online training for the HUB, when this is completed in full it will replace the Self Audit process.

Access to HUB is restricted to Vicar, Parish Safeguarding Officer and Barring Service Administrator

There were no safeguarding incidents during the year.

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Treasurer’s Report

Thank you to all those who have contributed financially over the past year, especially in light of the cost-of-living crisis that we currently face. The PCC is especially grateful to those

people giving regularly either via the Parish Giving Scheme, by Standing Order or by envelope, with a substantial number also gift aiding their donation.

Your giving has enabled us to continue to serve our Parish across Whittle-le-Woods, Claytonle-Woods and Clayton Brook, supporting 158 regular services throughout the year, as well as 6 additional services over Christmas and Easter. Your support has also enabled us to reach out into our community with events such as Christmas ADVENTure, and the Clayton Brook Festival, as well as enabling other social and outreach events, such as the women’s summer garden party, the men’s beer and pies event, the outreach meal at Halfway House, and our annual church family away day at Chipping.

We really couldn’t continue this ministry without your generous financial support, so thank you so much, and thanks be to God for His generous and faithful provision.

“Thanks be to God for His indescribable gift” 2 Corinthians 9:15

Unrestricted income

Total unrestricted income for the year was £101,933 , of which £82,313 was from congregational giving, £15,708 was from gift aid and £3,660 was in respect of fees retained by the PCC for weddings and funerals. As in previous years, almost all of our income (96%) comes from our congregation in the form of regular giving, donations and gift aid.

Income was down by some 13.5% compared to 2022 (£117,894), due to a reduction in planned and other giving likely due to the financial challenges faced by many households in the current economic climate.

Unrestricted Expenditure

Total unrestricted expenditure for the year was £108,863 (2022: £114,693). The largest areas of expense were:

• Ø Our Parish Share to the Diocese of £75,564 (2022: £71,834). The Parish Share paid for Philip, together with support for ministry in many of the more deprived areas of the Diocese.

• Ø Utilities and services were £11,096 (2022: £18,023) covering electricity, gas, oil, water, Council Tax, and insurance. This was helped somewhat by the support received towards our heating costs from the Energy Cost Support Grant which was distributed to all parishes by the Blackburn Diocesan Board of Finance from the national Church (see below).

• Ø Ministry and outreach spend was £4,781 (2022: £3,770).

• Ø Finally, even in these challenging times, the PCC remains committed to tithing 10% of our unrestricted income to charity which amounted to £9,720 (2022 £11,600).

Unrestricted reserves

Whilst the PCC had budgeted a deficit of almost £12,000 in 2023, thanks to careful management of expenditure and a generous response to the gift day, we ended the year with a much-reduced deficit of £6,930 . This leaves us with unrestricted reserves of £22,984 at 31 December 2023. It is the PCC’s policy to try to maintain a balance on unrestricted reserves which equates to approximately 3 months unrestricted expenditure (c£28,000).

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The PCC have agreed a deficit budget for 2024 of some £16,600 which would leave unrestricted reserves of around £6,400 at 31 December 2024. Clearly this will present a significant challenge for the PCC in 2025 and beyond, if this is borne out. However, we worship a generous and faithful God, and trust in Him that we will be able to meet our needs, as He has always enabled us to do so in the past.

Restricted Funds

The funds of the PCC also include restricted funds in relation to grants or donations received towards a specific purpose. Total restricted funds at 31 December 2023 was £436,223 , of which the majority is in respect of the St John’s Refurbishment Fund (£426,612).

In late 2022, the PCC received £3,249 in relation to the Energy Cost Support Grant which was distributed to all parishes by the Blackburn Diocesan Board of Finance from the national Church. This helped to significantly reduce the energy costs paid out of unrestricted funds over 2023.

The PCC also received a number of other grants over the year. In particular, grants totalling £2,400 were received towards the Warm Welcome space at Clayton Brook which has been running regularly on a Monday lunchtime throughout the year, as well as grants totalling £1,200 towards the Christmas ADVENTure event at St John’s held at the end of November.

Auditors Report 2023

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stJohr•thEVB￿I￿EPc C.WhM&• k)Woo statrnwTrtof FknaryQ￿1AWp5l￿rth+Ye4WETrd￿3l D•c•mb•r2023 PknnÈd(4th9 82,883 19,410 7,073 26,494 G￿l$A¢C•￿d T4xrw4w•dthtouthGffi ISJ Is F••$T￿ne￿ by PCC Ity ddhw$￿d￿n￿￿$•k 2,571 3,th7 3.751 2.647 3.rrfJ7 292 13,tos 13,357 TOTAL Irdm• .&F 9.720 11.D28 75.5e4 2.754 458 78.318 458 73.287 P¥￿h Cd 4.029 7.281 7.162 2D.021 10 fl D.254 14.478 e.498 11.307 Churth ho1￿ •ndlWMrwJ¢Xa 4.185 75 75 TOTAL R•vwu•Evp•ndlbJr• tO8.B83 14.¢J86 122.919 132.216 lAw￿p￿11 EwdlbJr• TOTNL Exg•ndibJr• NETowlpnkng rMour¢M •fid 1&Z79 8.34g IIKoncthlton of F￿dll Tr•nSf•TbthW￿ Fund Tot41 Fundsbroughtforww Totol Fund$unl￿foTWQ 29,913 23,gB4 420, 450.$96 450,859 45?.￿ Pa8e I

stJohn th&Ev4WLrtPC qWhNihl•Wood IinE•Sh•t4t31 DK•rfthr1O23 13 421018 27,IWJ 4C4913 YotslN•tA•••ts 459JQJ Th• Fu￿01th￿t￿#1ty.' 21, 438.224 .913 4￿.9¢) 14 Tothl C￿rttyF￿r￿$ 459 43TrJ59 Apprw•d byth• PCC on 11 lknreh 2024 Itv•. PhUlpV•n•bl• PCCCWr e2

$tJohB th• Ev*wWPC Qwhrflth

stJohTrlhE E¥*O&tpeowhthk¥YoDts 1647 2647 B•kinkTE 7.¢￿thablegkl 122 121

Tay 3.075 7281 Ch)1 knn'sWNk CWD 19 324 126 2.075 514 11Q9 4.781 4.4n 7.182 14 124 1.128 124 1.245 Cleayng. CW 815 B15 240 Stth$Rep3VS 0￿erC¢£￿ 4f6 4.841 525 .021 133 1116 11.478 12. Tru5tse5

14 A￿tr￿tertFUr anvJ 31 Dvmber AsinwJ F￿10￿J￿[kn Bel TovFthJ 1754 122 Cafa Lrf 122 71 125 Chutth S Br(thFffl¢FL 14 14 156 L￿ Fund Pathfint*rs 1753 73 IknPA 1B.I 421.613 1.93$ 171 1129 29 14.L

Independent Examlnerfs Report to th• Parochial Church Council rA St John tho Evangelisi Whittle le Woots. for tho year anded 31 0￿￿nber 2023. This reF¥Yt is made solely to the chari￿$ Trustee5. as a txxly, in accordance with Section 145 of the Charities Act 2011. My examination has teen undertaken so that I might state to the Tn55tees those matters l am required to sle to them in an Independent Examinerfs RepKMt and for no other purpose. As the member5 of the PCC. you are respc￿ble for the preparation ofthe accounts, and you consider that an audFt is r)ot required for thi8 year under 144 {2) of the Chartties Act 2011 and that an independent exanwnation is require It is my reSF￿1$[￿mllty to: examine the accounts under section 145 of the 2011 A¢. 2. to followthe prcwjures Iwd dcNm in the general directions gNen by the Charity Commission under section 145 {5) (b) of the 2011 Act,. and 3. to state v￿￿ther P3￿CUlar IrAt￿ have c(xne to My attention of a material Basi5 of independent examinerfs reptyt My examination was (Zfried out in ￿0rd￿ wilh the General Directions given by the Charity commissione￿ under S145151 Ib) of the Act That examinatson includes a remew ofthe accounting recths kept by the Charity and a companson ofthe accounts with those ￿OrrI$. It a150 includes considering any unusual items or disclosures in the aGcounts arsd seeking exFAanations from as Trustees ¢cfflcerning any such matters. The prc￿lureS undertaken do ncrt ￿0￿de all the evidence that would be required in an audit and consequenty I do not express an audit opinion on the VIL given by the acc(￿nts. Ind•pendent Examlnets Statamont In Connection wtth my examination, rK) matter has wme to my attentic￿. (al which gives me reason*le cause to belteve thai in any material ￿SpeCI the requirements.. 1. to keep art￿ntIng records in with ￿lon 130 of the 2011 Act. 2. to prepare ￿COUnts which acco￿ with the wiunting r￿ordS and COM￿ with the accounting r4uirements of the 2011 Act (b) to which, in my ￿InK)n, attention 5h(MJld be drawn in order to enable a proper under5tthing of the accounts to te reth&l. Signed.. Print name: lor Dated..