S GEORGE’S PARISH CHURCH
ANNUAL PARISH MEETING
1 May 2022
REPORT OF THE PROCEEDINGS OF THE PAROCHIAL CHURCH COUNCIL.
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1.1 Since our last APM, the PCC has met on six occasions together with two informal meetings and a Special meeting relating to a safeguarding matter. At each meeting as routine items of business the Council has considered reports from the Church’s Committees and Groups, which have occurred since the last Council meeting. In addition, reports were received from representatives of Diocesan and Deanery Synods of what has occurred at meetings of the respective synods. In particular in order to keep the Diocesan Budget as sustainable as possible and at the request of the Deanery Synod we intend to work as closely as possible with our neighbouring Parishes in order to share resources.
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1.2 The Council’s Annual Meeting was held on the 24[th of] May last, with the usual items of business, namely, the election of officers for the year, ie. Andrew Pinkett as Hon. Treasurer and myself as Hon. Secretary. Mr Michael Nicholson was elected as Lay Vice Chairman. The meeting also considered the terms of office of the Lay Members of the Council and the appointment of Committees and Groups.
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1.3 As previously reported, he Council felt that the current proposal of establishing a Charitable Trust to manage and erect a new hall be paused and enquires be made to establish the possible costs involved in keeping the present building but making it “fit for purpose” for say the next twenty years. This is still the current situation.
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1.4 This has been a further busy period for the Council considering the present circumstances and ensuring the appropriate Risk Assessments have been carried out and measures taken to ensure the Church and any activities allowed have been COVID 19 secure
within the Regulations in force at that time.. The meetings have been well attended. As indicated above, reports have been received at each meeting from the various committees and Groups. The Fabric Committee have kept Council updated on the progress of work being undertaken and details of the repairs, which have been completed throughout the period. The Council have also agreed through a tendering procedure to appoint Mr John Barnes as our new Quinquennial Inspector (Architect). Repairs to the Central Heating, new Notice Boards and Flag Pole have been completed, and repairs investigated to storm damage to the Stained Glass and Roof in the Apse. (Details of this work are referred to in the Church Wardens Report.)
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1.5 It has not been possible to produce a Magazine during this period. The Council decided that we should keep our present system of publishing a Newsletter in its present form, with the publication of an expanded edition from time to time.
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1.6 During this period, it has not been possible to have many social events which would have been well supported and enjoyed by all. We look forward to this year when we can again have such events as concerts, choral evensong etc. The Friends of St George’s also have been quiet given the present situation but have managed to hold their Annual Meeting and secure some funding from donations and subscriptions.
1.6 There have been some items of correspondence received, which have been considered and decisions made on how to take them forward.
1.7 As previously reported the Council has adopted the latest Diocesan Model Safeguarding Policy and this has been updated and the Council has approved statements on various aspects of the new Diocesan Safeguarding Dashboard for incorporation into our Safeguarding Action Plan, and work on this is ongoing. Arrangements have been made for appropriate members of the church who work with children and vulnerable people to be checked and registered accordingly. The Council has received regular reports the Parish Safeguarding Officer, including the completion of Declaration forms by Members of the PCC including participation in appropriate “online” and other safeguarding training and others including those working with children, vulnerable people and others. A major part of the Councils deliberations have had regard to safeguarding, as mentioned above, informal and formal
meetings regarding a family a member of which suffered historic sexual abuse and how this involved their worship at St George’s and more widely within the Church. The PCC has supported the family as best we could having regard to the appropriate legislation including a pledge that St George’s would do everything possible to support and welcome anu survivors of abuse in association with the Diocese and the stratergies of the Church Of England. As a result, I would state that the Council has complied with its duty under Section 5 of the Safeguarding and Clergy Measure 2016 (duty to have regard to House of Bishops guidance on safeguarding children and vulnerable adults). (Further information is in the Parish safeguarding Officer’s Report).
1.8 As stated above, discussions regarding Church Services have taken place and decisions taken having regard to COVID 19 Guidance issued by the Church of England.
1.9 The “Choir Club” has continued to meet and the choir has sung at the 9.30 service on Sundays or other special midweek services. We look forward to other expanded activities as the year progresses.
2.0 Five members of the Council are to stand down this year, namely, Mr Gordon Wightman, Mr Chris Johnston, Miss June Gibbon, Mrs Katherine Hardy and Mrs Brenda Mennear. I would like to thank them on behalf of the PCC for their services to the Council and the Church.
I would also like to express my thanks to everyone for their support.
B McNally.
Honorary Secretary.
May 2022.
SAINT GEORGE'S CHURCH CULLERCOATS
ANNUAL GENERAL MEETING 2022 - CHURCH WARDEN'S REPORT
I am pleased to present this report for the year 2021/2022
Both Vivienne and I would like to give our thanks to Fr. Adrian for his support and help during the year. We would also like to thank all who have assisted us during the year. A special thank you to the Readers and Intercessors, together with all the volunteers, for their contributions and ensuring that services run smoothly. May we also thank the retired clergy who assist so frequently filling in for services, without them it would be a struggle to maintain the number of services which are offered. Maurice and Andrew continued to assist on Sundays when we were still having restricted services, but eventually we were able to improve to the extent that we restarted the system with sidesmen at back of church.
By the time that this report is read for the AGM we should be almost back to normal with everything as it was before March 2020.
We did manage to have a fish and chip supper in the hall at one stage albeit with restricted numbers, but with luck social events should now be able to return.
Churchwardens have responsibilities to the Incumbent, the Archdeacon, and the Bishop.
It may well be that after the AGM and the appointment of Churchwardens that their swearing in will be in person and not on Zoom.
We also have responsibility to ensure the inventory of Church belongings is up to date and accurate, and once again we have carried out an audit, and found everything to be
Once every two years we also have a visit from the Archdeacon who carries out an inspection, according to our records we were due a visit in 2020 but due to lockdown it never took place. Maybe this year?
I can also report that the insurances for the church buildings and contents are up to date, together with those for the church hall. Our CCLI Licence for music has also been paid. Currently the premiums that are paid for insurances are:
Church & Church Hall £10609.10 CCLI £253.28
Thank you all again for you much valued support.
Vivienne Barke
Michael Nicholson
St. George’s
Church Fabric Committee Annual Report
April 2022
Church Building
Over the year general maintenance has been carried out.
Clerestorey window and stonework repaired
September 2020
Work was completed on the repair of glass and a stone mullion on the South side of the Apse. December 2020
Fire extinguishers tested July 2021
Church and church hall appliances tested
July 2021
Church and church hall electrical installations tested – satisfactory
October 2021
Lightning conductor tested November 2021
Central heating repaired December 2020
New control box fitted to central heating
January 2021
Central heating converted to sealed system
September 2021
Central heating leak temporary repair
November 2021
Central heating leak fully repaired
January 2022
New sign board installed at front of church
March 2022
Flagpole repaired March 2022
Outstanding:
Storm Arwen damage still awaiting the contractor to carry out repair.
Major repair work to west end windows and stonework
Major repair work to rainwater down comer pipes and underground pipes
The last two items will cost substantial sums to carry out for which will need to apply for grants to complete
Michael Nicholson
Fabric Committee Chairperson
St. George’s Church, Cullercoats
– Deanery Synod Report to APM April, 2022
The Deanery Synod has met three times since the last APM. All these meetings have been led by our Area Dean, the Revd. Tim Mayfield, over Zoom, although it is hoped that the next one, which is due to take place in June, will be in person at St. Peter’s Church, Balkwell.
Each meeting has opened with prayer requests from each church in the Deanery and reports have been received from Diocesan and General Synods.
Churches have been encouraged to complete their Parish Self-Review, to work where possible across parish boundaries and to participate in the “Living in Love and Faith” course concerned with relationships and identity. The new priest at St. Mark’s, Shiremoor and Mission Enabler, the Revd. Dr. Rae Caro, has talked to us about reaching out to new estates, (such as the proposed development at Murton Gap,) and our Deanery Environment Champion, Pat Bragg, has encouraged us on green issues. We have had regular and detailed updates on finance and parish share from our Deanery Finance Officer, Iain Shaw, and a presentation from our Diocesan Generous Giving Team Leader, Joanne Christie.
New priests have been welcomed into the deanery at our synods and a Lent Course has been organised. We have a Deanery Development Group, on which our church is represented by Brian McNally.
Margaret Patterson – 01.04.22.
(Deanery Synod rep., along with Brian McNally and Aubrey Bowles)
St Georges Parish Church
Annual Parish Meeting
Safeguarding Report
The Safeguarding team has met three times since this time last year. In May of 2021 the Diocese began rolling out a Safeguarding dashboard for parishes to use to streamline and track progress on policies and procedures. Although many areas were fully compliant and as a parish, we moved swiftly from level one to level two some areas needed more work/ clarification. Therefore, what follows is a summary of the tasks that have been undertaken and new procedures that have been put in place.
Namely:-
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The PCC regularly approve the action plan generated by the dashboard as areas are completed or updated.
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The new Safeguarding Policy statement has been adopted by the PCC.
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DBS checks are being done in accordance with the new guidelines and continue to be maintained and updated.
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Declaration forms for all major groups within the Church have been recently updated and completed.
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Core safeguarding training has been undertaken by several members of the PCC.
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The newly appointed Church warden has completed her Leadership training.
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The Recruitment of Ex- Offenders Policy has been ratified and adopted by the PCC.
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The Choir Clubs risk assessment has been reviewed and updated using the new proforma.
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The PCC has approved the use of social media for its activities and ensured that there is a named person accountable for them.
Using the Safeguarding dashboard, we will continue to work on completing the areas associated with the nine church activities we have identified.
We also need to ensure that training is kept up to date by encouraging newly appointed members of the PCC to complete the Basic online training available. And that where necessary refresher courses are undertaken if three years have lapsed, and the person is still in post. This has already begun and will continue to be an ongoing focus in the following months. All training and availability can be accessed online via the Diocese.
In accordance with Safeguarding guidelines, we need to report that there have been no Safeguarding issues in this year, and this has been noted by the PCC.
This concludes the Safeguarding annual report for 2022. I would like to thank the PCC for their support and due regard for safeguarding. Lastly but not least my thanks to the Safeguarding team and everyone else for their support and contributions.
Alison French
Safeguarding Officer.
St. George’s Church, Cullercoats
- Pastoral Care Group Report to APM April, 2022
In addition to Father Adrian and myself, there are four other members of the above group (Brenda Mennear, Eleanor Cooke, June Gibbon and Shaun Mitchell) and we meet bi-monthly, usually after coffee following the Thursday Eucharist, to review the people receiving our support and to add others to our list, whether they be poorly or new members of our congregation.
Since the last APM, we have met on six occasions, once by Zoom and on five occasions in person. We are gradually resuming our visits to people in their homes, as well as praying for them and keeping in touch with them by telephone, text and email.
Thanks must go to Maggi Creese and now Father Adrian for compiling the newsletter, upon receipt of which I send out over fifty copies by email to those who have requested them. If you are not on my list and would like to receive the newsletter this way, then please get in touch. Hard copies are delivered by other members of the congregation to housebound members of the congregation and thanks must go to them for this vital part of our ministry.
In addition, the church continues to have a What’s App group and to be on Face-book, with the 8.00 a.m. Sunday Eucharist continuing to be broadcast both on Face-book and on You Tube. Thanks must go to Helen Hughes and Paul Corrigan for facilitating the recording of the liturgy.
Whilst the “track and trace” system has been abandoned, we continue to keep a list of those who attend each Eucharist and are constantly aware of those who have not yet felt able to return to church after the pandemic. As a result, several people have been added to our pastoral contact list.
We currently have two people in care homes, four Home Communicants, two sick communicants and three people on our list for pastoral care and visiting. We have two people who are poorly and with whom we maintain contact and fifteen people for whom we have concern. Some of these people are either on our weekly intercessions’ list or on our monthly prayer list.
To all who have helped, and are helping, to keep in contact with our church community, whatever their age, I send my grateful thanks and especially to the Mother’s Union for distributing baptism and wedding cards and to Brenda, Eleanor, June and Shaun for all that they do, as members of the Pastoral Care Group.
Finally, please remember to let us know if you know of anyone who is sick, or in need of our prayers.
Margaret Patterson (Reader) – 31.03.22.
HONOURARY TREASURER’S REPORT ST GEORGE’S CHURCH
FINANCIAL YEAR 2021
Before I make comments on the Accounts I would like to thank those other people who play an active and important part in managing the finance of this church. A very loyal, but small group of people meet on a Monday morning to open planned giving envelopes, reconcile loose cash, record monies against income categories and take these monies to the bank. I know that this group works diligently and unseen but make my task that much easier. I would like to thank the Planned Giving team who keep the records on planned giving and deal with all the Inland Revenue returns. Others I would like to mention are Father Adrian whom I pester regularly on financial matters ,William Burgess the Honorary Auditor whose support and help is much appreciated and Brian McNally who patiently checks and countersigns all the cheques I place before him.
Overall Surplus/Deficit
Receipts exceeded Payments by £372. Gross Receipts £91651 and Gross Payments £91278.
General fund receipts £86513 and General fund payments £76441.
Restricted fund receipts £5138 and Restricted fund payments £14837
Receipts :
Our principal receipts were
| Planned Giving | £49472 |
|---|---|
| Wedding/funeral fees | £9312 |
| Gift aid donations | £6380 |
| Collections | £5780 |
| Gift aid tax refund | £4820 |
| June 19 Gift day | £3679 |
Receipts from collections , wedding/funerals , special events were not quite back to pre-covid levels but were up from the 2020 amounts. Within the Gift aid total of £6380 was one very generous donation of £4500.
The Gift aid tax refund figure of £4820 is the amount we have recovered via the Parish Giving scheme.
The refund claim for the year 2020 we are owed from giving via direct standing orders, cheques and cash had not been paid by HMRC at the end of 2021.
Payments :
Our principal payments were
| Parish share | £40500 |
|---|---|
| Insurance | £10483 |
| General maintenance | £8595 |
| Services | £6805 |
| Gas | £4917 |
We had pledged to pay £40000 parish share in 2021 and were able to meet this and add an extra £500. We have pledged £46000 for 2022.
The General maintenance payments of £8595 included £5928 chancel repairs and £1440 window repairs.
Our contributions towards charities has continued. Half of the collections raised from weddings, baptisms and funerals is given to a charity nominated by the families. Despite the Covid-19 restrictions £1388 was donated with the money going to 12 different charities.
Friends of St Georges
The Friends loaned St Georges £5146 in 2020 to pay Architects fees. At the end of 2021 the loan was still outstanding.
HMRC
In early 2020 HMRC made an overpayment to us of £9321. At the end of 2021 they had still not asked for this money back. However on the other hand HMRC had not paid us our gift aid tax refund claim for 2020.
HSBC Bank charges
HSBC have recently started to charge charities and community groups for transactions using cash or cheque. In order to mitigate these costs we are aiming to make as many transactions using the various online automated systems.
End of Year Balances and Reserves
At year end the General fund cash balance was £35218. However the fund had liabilities of £9321 ( the money owing to HMRC ) and £5146 ( loan from the Friends ) and assets of approx. £5000 ( money HMRC owed us from 2020. The net General fund balance of £25751 equates to approx. 16 weeks normal unrestricted payments.
I would like to express my thanks to everyone for their support throughout the year.
A J PINKETT Treasurer
March 2022
ST GEORGES CULLERCOATS
Name of PCC
Receipts and payments accounts
2021
For the year from 1 January to 31 December
Receipts and payments
| Receipts and payments | Receipts and payments | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Receipts Voluntary Income: Collections at Services Tax recovered via Gift Aid Legacies received (capital value) Recurring grants Non-recurring grants Activities for Generating Funds Receipts from Church Activities: Parochial fees Other Income Sub total Planned giving net of tax Other giving and donations (recurring and non-recurring) Income from trading and other church activities Investment Income (including Property) |
Unrestricted funds to the nearest £ 49,472 12,160 7,113 4,820 1,084 1,813 36 4,447 702 0 81,647 |
Restricted funds to the nearest £ 1,492 711 0 2,936 0 5,139 |
Total funds to the nearest £ 49,472 13,652 7,824 4,820 0 0 4,020 1,813 36 4,447 702 0 86,786 0 86,786 59 1,388 40,500 4,879 4,450 886 19,210 5,365 1,632 0 78,369 8,043 0 86,412 374 0 59,962 60,336 |
Last year to the nearest £ |
|||
| 43,782 | |||||||
| 3,502 | |||||||
| 8,750 | |||||||
| 21,703 | |||||||
| 6,000 | |||||||
| 0 | |||||||
| 7,959 | |||||||
| 971 | |||||||
| 205 | |||||||
| 683 | |||||||
| 687 | |||||||
| 14,467 | |||||||
| 108,709 | |||||||
| Asset & investment sales, etc. | 0 | 0 | |||||
| Payments Costs of Generating Funds Mission / Charitable Grants Church Activities: Diocesan parish share Salaries / honoraria Expenses of clergy etc Mission and evangelism costs Church running expenses Church utility costs Costs of trading Governance costs Sub total Major repairs and building works Asset & investment purchases Total payments Receipts minus (payments) Transfers between funds Cash funds lastyear end Cash funds this year end Total receipts Costs of other activities (not fund-raising) |
81,647 59 40,500 4,879 4,450 86 14,473 5,365 1,632 71,444 71,444 10,203 (5,063) 30,078 35,218 |
5,139 1,388 800 4,737 6,925 8,043 14,968 (9,829) 5,063 29,884 25,118 |
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| 108,709 | |||||||
| 167 | |||||||
| 781 | |||||||
| 50,500 | |||||||
| 4,551 | |||||||
| 5,692 | |||||||
| 1,506 | |||||||
| 16,633 | |||||||
| 3,709 | |||||||
| 1,861 | |||||||
| 0 | |||||||
| 0 | |||||||
| 85,400 | |||||||
| 10,796 | |||||||
| 0 | |||||||
| 96,196 | |||||||
| 10,203 | (9,829) | 374 | 12,513 | ||||
| (5,063) | 5,063 | 0 | |||||
| 30,078 | 29,884 | 59,962 | |||||
| 35,218 | 25,118 | 60,336 | 12,513 |
11/06/2022
1
Statement of assets and liabilities at the end of the year
| Categories Signed by the chairman of the PCC and the treasurer or a church warden on behalf of the PCC Liabilities Cash funds Assets retained for the PCC’s own use Investment assets Other monetary assets |
2020 owed to St Georges possible to put an accurate . The Parish Hall. It is not Total cash funds (agree balances with receipts and payments accounts) Bank current account CBF deposit fund Other cash funds Details building Details HMRC Overpayment Signature Loan from Friends of St Georges Details Details HMRC Gift Aid tax refund for Details valuation on the land and |
Unrestricted funds Restricted funds to nearest £ to nearest £ 11,909 10,843 22,725 14,275 584 35,218 25,118 OK OK Unrestricted funds Restricted funds to nearest £ to nearest £ 5,000 Fund to which asset belongs Cost (optional) Fund to which asset belongs Cost (optional) Fund to which liability relates Amount due (optional) Unrestricted 9,321 Unrestricted 5,146 Print Name Rev A hughes A Pinkett |
Endowment funds to nearest £ |
|---|---|---|---|
| - | |||
| Endowment funds to nearest £ |
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| Current value (optional) |
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| Current value (optional) |
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| When due (optional) |
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| Date of approval |
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| Rev A hughes | |||
| A Pinkett |
11/06/2022
2
An Independent Examiner's Report
To the PCC of St George's Cullercoats.
This report on the financial statements of the PCC for the year ended 31 December 2021 is in respect of an examination carried out in accordance with the Church Accounting Regulations 2006 and s.43 of the Charities Act 1993.
As members of the PCC you are responsible for the preparation of the financial statements; you consider that the audit requirement of the Regulations and s.43(2) of the Act does not apply. It is my responsibility to issue this report on those financial statements in accordance with the terms of the Regulations.
My examination was carried out in accordance with the General Directions given by the Charity Commission under s.43(7)(b) of the Act and to be found in the Church guidance, 2006 edition. That examination includes a review of the accounting records kept by the PCC and a comparison of the accounts with those records. It also includes considering any unusual items or disclosures in the financial statements and seeking explanations from you as trustees concerning any such matters. The procedures undertaken do not provide all the evidence that would be required in an audit, and consequently I do not express an audit opinion on the view given by the accounts.
In connection with my examination, no matter has come to my attention:
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(1) which gives me reasonable cause to believe that in any material respect the requirements
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to keep accounting records in accordance with section 41 of the Act; and
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to prepare financial statements, which accord with the accounting records and comply with the requirements of the Act and the Regulations have not been met; or
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(2) to which, in my opinion, attention should be drawn in order to enable a proper understanding of the accounts to be reached.
Mr W Burgess
April 2022