2025-12-31-accounts - The Parochial Church Council Of The Ecclesiastical Parish Of Holmer With Huntington

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Registered Charity Number 1135577

Report of the Trustees and unaudited financial statements for the year ended 31[st] December 2025 for the Parochial Church Council of the Ecclesiastical Parish of Holmer with Huntington

Holmer with Huntington & St Mary’s, Hereford Annual Report for the year ending 31[st] December 2025

The trustees present their report with the financial statements of the charity for the year ended 31 December 2025. The trustees have adopted the provisions of the Statement of Recommended Practice (SORP) 'Accounting and Reporting by Charities' issued in March 2005

Reference and Administration Details

The parish has three churches St Bartholomew's, St Mary's and St Mary Magdalene. There is also Holmer Parish Centre. The Parochial Church Council of the Ecclesiastical Parish of Holmer with Huntington is a Registered Charity No 1135577

Parish Contact Address is Holmer PCC The New Vicarage Holmer Hereford Herefordshire HR4 9RG

Independent Examiner: Mark Eckley 14 Wentworth Road, Hereford HR1 1YP

Parish Website: http://www.holmerchurch.org.uk

Members of the PCC are either ex-officio or elected by the annual Parochial Church Meeting in accordance with the Church representation rules. During the year the following served as members of the PCC from May 2025 onwards:

Vicar Rev Wayne Davies - from July 2024 Churchwardens Mr Peter Maxwell and Mr Clive Medows Chapel Wardens Mrs Margaret Hampshire (Huntington), Mrs Sheila Tolson (Huntington) & Mrs Cynthia Hartland (St. Mary’s) Deanery Synod Members Mrs Barbara Hartland, Mr Peter Maxwell, Mrs Maggie Love & Mrs Gill Waring-Jenkins re-election due in 2026 Secretary Mrs Jane Tate (left Sept 2025) & Mrs Janice Gough Treasurer Mr Gerald Ridley

Elected Members In theory three are appointed each year for a 3-year period 3 years ending April 2027 Janis Gough, Wendy Burge, Dave Cappleman 1 year ending April 2025 Mike Jefferis – deceased Jan 2025 2 years ending April 2026 Rose Vodden, Mike Beardall, Judith Topping Co-opted: Brian Hubbard 2 years ending April 2026; Hannah James-Fagg 3 years ending April 2027. Sarah Stevenson 3 years ending April 2027 Ex-officio: Nancy Thomas – Reader Emeritus; Mary Maxwell – Dedicated Deacon

Structure, governance and management

The Parochial Church Council (PCC) is a corporate body established by the Church of England. The PCC operates under the Parochial Church Council Powers Measure. It is registered with the Charity Commission.

There are currently no policies and procedures for the recruitment, induction and training of PCC members. Copies of the Archbishops’ Council and Charity Commission’s booklet “Trusteeship – An Introduction for PCC Members” are made available to new PCC members.

Apart from the Standing Committee of the PCC, the Church has no official sub-committees.

Objectives and activities

Our Mission Statement is ‘Showing Jesus Christ to those around us.’

Public Benefit

The trustees of the Charity are aware of the Charity Commission’s guidance on public benefit in The Advancement of Religion for the Public Benefit and have had regard to it in their administration of the Charity.

The trustees believe that, by promoting the work of the Church of England in the Ecclesiastical Parish of Holmer with Huntington it helps to promote the whole mission of the Church (pastoral, evangelistic, social and ecumenical) more effectively, within the Ecclesiastical Parish, and that in so doing it provides a benefit to the public by:-

Providing facilities for public worship, pastoral care and spiritual, moral and intellectual development, both for its members and for anyone who wishes to benefit from what the Church offers: and Promoting Christian values, and service by members of the Church in and to their communities, to the benefit of individuals and society as a whole.

Church Attendance. There are 137 names on the Church Electoral Roll (2025)

The average Sunday attendances at Holmer during 2025 still fluctuates, however we see an average of 70 adults and 10 children on a normal Sunday. At Huntington, average congregation was 15. St Mary’s Grandstand the average was also 15. Christmas attendances were up on 2025. Church ‘n’ chips continue to have a regular attendance, but numbers do vary. Our Sunday services have continued to be recorded for YouTube and these recordings are appreciated.

We are fortunate as a church to have several life groups, the hub, busy bees, encounter, Open the Book and outreach events. Jane Tate our children’s and family worker was made redundant at the end August 2025 as we were unable to secure funding for another three-year term. Jane then resigned her role as parish administrator to take up a chaplaincy role with Hereford Diocese. Debbie Lewis applied for the position after the role was advertised and was successful and has been in place since September 2025.

During 2025 there were 31 baptisms, 3 weddings, 28 funerals, 12 funerals at the Crem and 7 interments of ashes at Holmer. Huntington had 0 baptisms, 0 weddings, 1 burial and 3 interments of ashes. There were no life events at St Mary’s Grandstand Road.

Christian Giving: Our Churches support Scripture Union (SU), Church Pastoral Aid Society (CPAS), Children's Society, Bible Society, Tearfund, Serving Africa Mission, and CMS on a regular basis. In addition, we support Christian Aid Week and the Samaritan's Purse Christmas Shoebox appeal. Any disaster appeals are channelled through Tearfund. We have also started a discretionary fund within the church.

Rev Wayne Davies (Vicar)

The Parochial Church Council of the Ecclesiastical Parish of Holmer with Huntington Report of the Trustees for the Year Ended 31 December 2025

Financial Review 2025

We thank God for his goodness and provision for all we have done for him and our community of faith, for without him we achieve nothing.

We are a busy church with many activities and four buildings to care for, this means that we need to ensure our money is used wisely and after careful consideration by our PCC. It is important that we fund adequately our activities such as church and chips, Sunday Clubs, training and outreach into the community. We also need to ensure that our buildings are maintained to a high standard and make improvements when necessary.

The quinquennial inspection of the parish church was done in 2024. The architect itemised a number of investigations and repairs that need to be carried out. To date these have not been done and therefore the costs are not seen in the 2025 accounts.

Early in the year, it became apparent that there was a substantial shortfall in funding for the children’s and families worker, Jane Tate. After careful consideration, the PCC decide to terminate the post of CWF and thus Jane was made redundant. Jane was thanked for all her work with families and children during the 9 years in post. As required by employment law Jane was paid a redundancy package of £3148.

I would like to take this opportunity to thank everyone most sincerely for their generous giving during the year, through the Parish Giving Scheme, by standing order, cheque or cash. The great thing about the PGS is that the money given and the Gift Aid are both paid directly into our cash account as regular monthly payments, which helps our cash flow. Through the hard work and dedication of our Gift Aid officer we have claimed back as much tax as we can for all money given outside of the parish giving scheme.

The main funds for the charity are held in two accounts, a CAF (Charities Aid Foundation) account and a CIOF deposit account, which both hold restricted and unrestricted funds. In addition, there are two designated funds held in separate bank accounts, Junior Church and Busy Bees. Throughout 2025, all these funds have had credit balances.

It was agreed by the PCC at the end of 2024 to increase our Parish Offer by 7%, thus being an expenditure of £63,460. The PCC are pleased to report that the Parish Offer was paid in full for 2025.

As in previous years, the work of the three churches continued with the church centre and St Mary’s being used well to support community groups and church outreach and at the same time generate substantial revenue.

Reserves’ Policy

The PCC has agreed to keep at least £20,000 in reserve to cover general operating expenditure in case of an emergency interruption to our regular income cash flow. If our reserves fall below £20,000, then we would need to have an emergency meeting of the PCC to consider a suitable course of action and response.

This policy was reviewed by the PCC at the PCC meeting on 9[th] October 2025 and the reserves held will now be £30,000 as from 1st January 2026.

Gerald Ridley (Hon Treasurer)

The Parochial Church Council of the Ecclesiastical Parish of Holmer with Huntington Report of the Trustees for the Year Ended 31 December 2025

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The Parochial Church Council of the Ecclesiastical Parish of Holmer with Huntington Report of the Trustees for the Year Ended 31 December 2025