**0615** ## **Anglican Diocese of Chester – Middlewich Deanery Mid Cheshire Circuit of the Chester and Stoke-on-Trent District of the Methodist Church** ## **St Mary’s Church, Weaverham** ## **Annual Report and Financial Statements of the Ecumenical Church Council for the year ended 31 December 2023** ## **Incumbent** Reverend Paul Withington, The Vicarage, Church Street, Weaverham, NORTHWICH, CW8 3NJ ## **Minister** Reverend Janet Aspey, 38 Earls Way, Kingsmead, Northwich, CW9 8GQ ## **Secretary** Pam Thomson, 4 Barley Castle Close, Appleton Thorn, WARRINGTON, WA4 4SA ## **Treasurer** John J C Freeman, Stable Court, 20a Leigh Way, Weaverham, NORTHWICH, CW8 3PR ## **Banks** Santander, Bridle Road, BOOTLE, L30 4GB CCLA Investment Management Ltd., Senator House, 85 Queen Victoria Street, LONDON, EC4V 4ET ## **Honorary Independent Examiner** Kevin D Pickering, 5 Withens Close, Weaverham, NORTHWICH, CW8 3JJ ## **Registered Charity Number: 1135093** 1 **ST. MARY’S CHURCH, WEAVERHAM ANNUAL REPORT FOR THE ECUMENICAL CHURCH COUNCIL [ECC] FOR THE YEAR ENDED 31[st] DECEMBER 2023** St. Mary’s Church is situated in Church Street, Weaverham. It is a Local Ecumenical Partnership (LEP) between the parish church of the Church of England in the parish of St Mary in the Middlewich Deanery and Chester Diocese and the Methodist Church within the Mid Cheshire Circuit of the Chester and Stoke-on-Trent District. The partnership looks for support, encouragement, advice and overview to the relevant denominations, the Diocese and the Methodist District. The correspondence address is St Mary’s Lighthouse Centre, Church Lane, Weaverham, NORTHWICH, CW8 3NN. ECC members who have served in the year are: - |_Incumbent:_|Revd. Paul Withington|Revd. Paul Withington|Chairman| |---|---|---|---| |_Curate_
_Methodist Minister:_|Revd. Phil Bishop
Revd. Janet Aspey||To June 2023| |_Wardens:_|Vicky Rushton
Colin Weeks||| |_Representatives on_
_the Deanery Synod:_|Pam Thomson
John Freeman
David Whitfield
John Freeman||Secretary
Treasurer
Elected 2023 ACM
Elected 2023 ACM
1 vacancy| ||||| |_Methodist Stewards:_|David Whitfield
Mike Hornby||| |_Representatives from lay church_
_roles:_|Gilly Latham
Linda Jones
Jules Sanders
Mike Sanders||| |_Elected members:_|||| |Gillian Horth (né Edwards re-_elected 2023)_
Jonathan Gore_(elected 2021)_
Mike Hornby_(elected 2021)_
Sue Winnington_(re-elected 2023)_
Jerry Marshall_(elected 2022)_
9 current members
3 vacancies||Marion Wilson_(elected 2022 resigned Sept_
_2023)_
Pam Thomson_(elected 2022)_
_Bob Hough (co-opted 2023)_
_Lindsay Hough (co-opted 2023)_
_Christine Weeks (co-opted 2023)_|| ## **Structure, governance and management** The method of appointment of ECC members (trustees) is set out in the Constitution of the Local Ecumenical Partnership signed in November 2009. All Church attendees are encouraged to register on the Electoral Roll and stand for election to the ECC. 2 ## **Objectives and activities** St Mary’s ECC has the responsibility of co-operating with the incumbent, the Revd. Paul Withington and Methodist Minister the Revd. Janet Aspey in promoting the whole mission of the Church: pastoral, evangelical, social and ecumenical in the ecclesiastical parish. It also has maintenance responsibilities for the buildings associated with the church. St Mary’s is fully integrated as an LEP between the Anglican and Methodist Churches in Weaverham. We worship at the Anglican Church building with our services varied between Anglican and Methodist styles and leadership. The vision statement for St Mary’s Ecumenical Church, Weaverham is as follows: ## _**St Mary’s Church Weaverham, sharing the light and hope of Jesus with our community.**_ ## **Achievements and performance** ## _**Church attendance**_ The current electoral roll has 128 members. We have a duality of Anglican and Methodist members; members can be either or both. Attendance varied during the year, with an average attendance on a usual Sunday at 87 [79 adults and 8 children]. 25 Funerals and 4 weddings were conducted and 10 baptisms took place during the year. ## _**Safeguarding**_ The safeguarding committee has met in the last 12 months to ensure our Safeguarding Policy remains up to date and complies with the Church of England Requirements, and those of the Methodist Church. As an Ecumenical Church we must follow the policies of one of the denominations and at St Marys we follow the policies of the Church of England. This includes displaying posters which include relevant information and contact details which we do. A copy of our policy is available to anyone who may want to see it. The policy has been approved by the ECC which has complied with the duty imposed under section 5 of the Safeguarding and Clergy Discipline Measure 2016 (duty to have regard to House of Bishops’ guidance on safeguarding children and vulnerable adults). ## _**Review of the year**_ The ECC met eight times during the year with Standing Committee meetings between when needed. The ACM was held on the 13[th] February 2023. 2023 saw the continuation of Café Church, held in The Lighthouse on the first Sunday of the month. This is a more informal service aimed mainly at young families and has been successful. The service pattern for other services remains the same with a “United Service” held whenever there was a fifth Sunday. The Lent Course was initially well supported but attendance dropped off as the weeks progressed so for 2024 it was decided to run multiple courses at different times and locations in the hope of encouraging more people. At Easter we joined with The Stronghold Church who organised an outreach event called “EasterFest” which attracted many people. The coronation of King Charles III took place in May. St Mary’s joined with the other village churches in a special service at the Community Centre to celebrate the event. 3 In June we said goodbye to Rev Phil Bishop as he became Vicar of Burley in Wharfedale. A coach party from Weaverham travelled to Yorkshire on a very wet Sunday in July but we were met with a warm welcome at Phil’s Installation Service, we wish him well in his new ministry. Harvest was celebrated in October with the harvest gifts donated to the Northwich Foodbank which we continued to support throughout the year. We also enjoyed a Harvest Supper provided by The Mother’s Union. We were back to a normal format for our Remembrance Day services held in November, with uniformed groups filling the church in the afternoon. The services at Christmas were very well attended with an increase in numbers compared to 2022 at almost all services. A new event this year was “Experience Christmas”. Children from Weaverham Forest Primary School and Weaverham Primary Academy came to St Mary’s during the first week of December to visit different “stations” depicting the Christmas Story, complete with props and volunteers to provide help and explanations. Older students from Weaverham High School came to help and the whole event was very successful and hopefully it will be repeated in 2024. School Carol Services were also held at St Mary’s. Baptism preparation/enquirers’ courses - Initial requests come through the church office or from the vicar and contact is made with the parents to arrange the preparation sessions, eligibility etc. Café Church enables personal contact to be made. The enquirers’ courses have proved to be more effective on Zoom as parents do not need to leave home on a weekday evening or find a babysitter/childcare. Alpha course material has been used and it has been found to be engaging and accessible for all. Attendance was good, six weeks with two short sessions per week was better than one long session per week. The families are still in regular attendance at Café Church. The Lighthouse Café on Tuesdays continues to be very well attended by both church members and a significant number of people who don’t come to church but find a warm welcome. The Wednesday food distribution continues in the Lighthouse in partnership with Northwich Community Support. The following groups have all continued to thrive during 2023. Sticky Fingers - Toddlers group that runs every Monday during term time. YPF - Young People’s Fellowship [YPF] meets on Sunday evenings and is aimed at children in school years 7 to 11. Home Groups - We have a good number of Home Groups who meet around the village on different days, times and places. Rambling Group - Meets for occasional Saturday morning walks of 3-4 miles. Upcycling Shed and Crafts - Meets on Thursdays in the Lighthouse Annexe. Mothers’ Union - Meet every second Thursday of the month in the Lighthouse Men’s Breakfasts – 8.00am on occasional Saturday mornings – Full English and a speaker on a variety of topics. Bell Ringing – we have a thriving band of all ages who ring regularly for Sunday services, weddings and other special services and national events. We practice on a Tuesday evening. We supported the community playscheme in the summer holidays providing crafts activities, games and stories. During the year several faithful members of the congregation died and they will be greatly missed. 4 ## _**Fund Raising**_ Urgent work needed to repair part of the roof and some of the pointing was reported last year. When the work began we anticipated the following costs- **Roofing £13,000:** the roof work consists of lead weathering to copings and sills, parapet gutters, refix loose flashings and patch repairs to the tower roof. **Pointing £15,000:** pointing is needed to large areas of the external wall. **Contingency £2,000:** estimates and prices only ever go up! We need to allow for inevitable extra work and overruns. **TOTAL: £30,000** The fund-raising activities began in earnest in 2023 with a launch concert in May featuring the Weaverham Community Choir and Cheshire Music for Life Jazz Band and it was a great success. Several other successful and enjoyable concerts have taken place in church and more are planned. Other events included a “Promise Auction” and the highlight of the year was the abseil down the tower. 57 people completed the abseil and £4,500 was raised in that one event on a wonderfully sunny day in September. During the year we have raised almost £18,000. On top of this we have received grants from the Garfield Weston Foundation of £3,000 and the Benefact Trust of £2,300. The work repairing the roof has now been completed but unfortunately more damage to some of the timbers was found and had to be included in the repair. We will continue fund raising to meet these extra costs and the forthcoming pointing work, which hopefully will be completed in 2024. Support has come from the village and beyond as well as St Mary’s congregation and we are very grateful for this. We still have more work to do, so thank you to everybody who has contributed so far and we look forward to raising more funds to keep the building in good order for the future. ## **Finally** We have come through the pandemic and are making a good recovery with increased numbers at some services and more social events and with the help of God we look forward with hope and optimism to the next year. 5 INDEPEWDENT EXAMIliLRS'S REPORT TO THE ECliMENICAL CHURCH COUNCIL OF SAINf MARY THE VIRGIN, WEAVERHAM This report on the accounts of the ECC for the year ended 31 December 2023 is in respect of an examination carried out in accordance with the Church of F.ngland Accounting Regulations 2CK)6 (th¢ Regulations) and Seciion 3 of the Charities Act 1993 (the Act). As members of the ECC you reS￿nSIble for the preparation of the accounts; you consider that the audit requircmcnts of the Regul￿10n5 and Section 43Q) if the Act do not apply. It is my responsibility io issue this re￿rt on those ac¢ounts in accordance with the tem]s of the Regulatio￿$. My examination WLS ￿rIed out in accordance with the gcneral direciions 8iven by the Charity Commission under Scciion 43(7Xb) of the A¢1 and to be found in ihe Church of England Guidance. 2006 edilion. Thai examination includes a review of the a¢countin8 re¢ords kept by the ECC and a comparison of the accounts with those records. li also inclwks COfLsiderin8 any Un￿u81 items or disclosure8 in the accounts and sttkin8 explanations from you ￿ tnLS*¢S concernin8 any mattm. The procedures urxlertaken do not provide a]1 the evidence that would be ryuired in an a￿11( and ¢onwuently I do noi expTts8 an audit opinion on the view given on the acwunts. In accordance with my exarninatio￿ no matter has come to my attention which gives me reasonable cause to bclieve that in any material r¢spc¢i the rcquirements to keep accounlin8 records in accorda￿¢ with Section 41 of the ACL to prtpare accounts which ￿0rd with the accountin8 records and comply with the requir¢menl of the and the Regulations have nol been md; or to H'hich, in my opinion attention sknuld bc thawn in ordw to enable a PTOPCT understanding of the accounts to be reache Kevin D Pickerin8- Hon ￿xkpth1 ExamI￿- Febnwy 2024 ## **FINANCIAL REVIEW** There was an overall excess of income over expenditure of £55 307 helped by catching up with our Gift Aid claims, a kind bequest of £18 000 and the Raise the Roof Appeal. The latter has received 2 grants, one from the Benefact Trust of £2300 and the other from the Garfield Weston Trust of £3000. Our modest investment made a gain of £137. There was a welcome increase in tax efficient giving. The Lighthouse again made an operating surplus on the year as activities continue to increase. The fund raising group has become the “Raise the Roof Appeal” so far apart from grants raised £19 779. Unfortunately, as work has started on roof repairs more work has been found necessary costing a further £8000, raising the original target to over £30 000. Work on roof repairs to date has cost £9721. Energy usage for the year was as follows, 2022 figures in brackets. gas, church 58 229 kWh (77 580 kWh), Lighthouse 20 563 kWh (14 997 kWh) and electricity, church 4027 kWh (3852 kWh), Lighthouse 7138 kWh (7284 kWh). ## **RESERVES POLICY** Reserves policy remains to hold at least £25 000 to cover three months of normal church activities and £10 000 against any urgent repairs. The potential VAT liability is now time expired. Given the large amount of repair work to the Church following the last quinquennial report that is being helped by the Raise the Roof Appeal it is planned to review the policy on completion of the repair work and upgrades to the sound systems in the Church and the Lighthouse. Looking ahead the need to increase income including voluntary giving, encouraging legacies and supporting the Raise the Roof Appeal are ever with us. Keeping the Church in a good state of repair remains a priority, it has been agreed to increase charitable giving and our 4 energy contracts all come to the end of their 3 year terms during the year and are likely to increase. ## **ACCOUNTING POLICY** The accounts have been prepared in accordance with the Church of England Accounting Regulations taking into account the SORP 2005 revisions on a receipts and payments basis including as far as possible most Church activities being reported on a gross basis. Movable church furnishings are held on trust for the Council by the Churchwardens and would require faculty approval before removal. The Mothers Union accounts are not included as they respond to their headquarters for accounting purposes. 7 ## **ACCOUNTS FOR THE 12 MONTHS ENDING 31 DECEMBER 2023** |Notes Unrestricted Restricted
Total
RECEIPTS
£
£
£
Voluntary income
A
146383
146383
Church activities
B
16836
16836
Fund raising
19779
19779
Income from investments C1622
79
1701
**TOTAL**
**184620**
**79**
**184699**
PAYMENTS
Church activities
D 125734
125734
Fund raising
1842
1842
Salaries
1816
1816
**TOTAL**
**129392**
**129392**
NET INCOMING RES.
55228 79
55307
Gain on investments
_______
137
137
NET MOVEMENT IN FUNDS**55228**
**216**
**55444**
BALANCES AT 1 JANUARY747308
2541
749849
BALANCES AT 31 DEC
**802536**
**2757**
**805293**
**BALANCE SHEET 31 DECEMBER 2023**
**FIXED ASSETS**
Tangible asset – Lighthouse 684440
684440
Investment assets
1665
1665
**CURRENT ASSETS**
Short term deposits
E
83224
1092
83224
Cash at banks
E
34870
____
34870
**TOTAL**
**802534**
**2757** **805291**|_2022_
_£_
_93248_
_14509_

_679_
**_108436_**
_111982_

_1175_
**_113157_**
_-4721_
_-202_
**_-4923_**
_754772_
**_749849_**
_684440_
_1529_
_45635_
_18245_
**_749849_**| |---|---| The notes A to F form part of the accounts |**A**Voluntary income
Planned giving
Gift aid
68801
68801
Tax recovered
40730
40730
Other
6259
6259
Collections
4364
4364
Donations
general
2519
2519
Curate
410
410
Grants
Benefact Trust 2300
2300
Garfield Weston 3000
3000
Legacy
18000
18000
146383
146383
**B**Church activities
Lighthouse
9244
9244
Food sales
1233
1233
Fees
6359
6359
16836
16836|_66562_
_5247_
_3780_
_7443_
_3160_
_300_
_1089_
_5667_
_93248_
_6377_
_1409_
_6723_
14509| |---|---| 8 C Income from investh)ents tkposit a¢cou Wa)'leave War Memorial 1602 I￿2 20 601 20 1701 67P D Church ￿1vItieS Oitrse&s missions Ov¢TS¢&% development 3(#XI Home missions 3025 Ministy Parish sha C1￿Ul1 fee Other ministty ¢osts 3025 202J 64923 5834 7051 3426 5757 11723 64923 5834 7051 3426 5757 11723 02991 3738 5962 7310 10505 35J 5747 Church TrKaC li8hi a￿1 watrr Church numin8 and mainL Trninin8 Lighthoux Major wojects Administrnti( 7588 10206 7588 10206 125734 125734 111982 During the yur the ECC employed a ver8tt aThl relitsl on casual organists. The orBanists d￿1 with their liabiltties aTrJ payments to the ver8¢r Art small to attract ￿la1 stturity payments. ReirnbUrsell￿t of of expenses were mrak io some members ofthe ECC, all Jupmed by the r*essary invoi E Cash balantts * 31 D¢¢ember Curmit ￿Oun1 18529 Dewbit le￿￿1 83224 Li8hthouse 16341 War Memorial deF￿1t War Memorial 74 CBF slwes 18529 83224 16341 1092 6153 44622 12092 ioij 2757 120851 65409 Apprnvoj by the &UMeri￿ chU￿b COU￿11 w its n*rtinB held on 12th Febn4ry 2024 Reverend Paul Within8ton John J C Fr¢cm•n