## **BURY ST EDMUNDS METHODIST CIRCUIT** _(Registered Charity 1135971)_ **ANNUAL REPORT FOR THE YEAR ENDED 31 AUGUST 2022**
## **CIRCUIT MINISTERS**
Reverend Jason Vinyard 14 Well Street Bury St Edmunds IP33
1EQ
Reverend Rita Carr 12 Shakespeare Road Stowmarket IP14 1TJ Reverend Ruth Ridge 4 Kedington Court Acton CO10 0XB
## **CIRCUIT STEWARDS**
Mr Bill Humm 52 Farriers Road Stowmarket IP14 2NS Mrs Jane Brooker 34 Churchill Drive Sudbury CO10 1NZ Mr Francis Carr 12 Shakespeare Road Stowmarket IP14 1TJ Mr Andrew Walker 14 Horsecroft Road Bury St Edmunds IP33
2DU
## **CIRCUIT TREASURERS**
Mr Richard Meadows 16 Greene Mews Bury St Edmunds IP33
1QL
Mr Richard Wild (Assistant) Palmers Cottage The Green Woolpit IP30 9RQ
**THE TRUSTEES** are those persons appointed by the Circuit Meeting under Methodist Church rules. The Circuit Meeting is grateful to Jane Brooker, Francis Carr and Andrew Walker for coming forward as stewards. The Circuit post of Secretary remains vacant.
**THE CIRCUIT** is the primary unit in which local churches express and experience their interconnection in the body of Christ for the purposes of mission, mutual encouragement and help. The Circuit comprises 9 churches and has a Methodist team of two and a half ministers covering a mainly rural area of some 500 square miles. There were 3 active supernumerary ministers and 11 local preachers. From time to time services are held on a local arrangement basis if no minister or local preacher can be found.
## **THE CHURCHES**
The churches, their membership and attendance numbers were as follows. Membership November Attendance
## November
2021 2022 2021 2022 Bradfield 7 7 9 Glemsford 8 8 N A 12 Ixworth 14 12 7
Needham Market 36 34 because 22 Northumberland Avenue 20 18 25 Old Newton 18 17 of Covid 14 St John’s Sudbury 70 67 45 Stowmarket 32 33 29 Trinity Bury St Edmunds 124 107 50 **Total 329 303 213**
Churches’ annual assessment contributions to Circuit expenses are set out in note 1 to the accounts. The Circuit Meeting is grateful to churches for maintaining their payments during difficult times.
## **CIRCUIT ACTIVITIES**
Activities across the Circuit are largely back on track following the Covid disruptions. Circuit services on Zoom were retained. These were held fortnightly on Sunday evenings, sometimes with communion. They are enormously appreciated by people unable to travel. Circuit now issues a greatly expanded bi-monthly newsletter. This enables the individual churches to report on and to share their experiences widely and to publicise forthcoming events so that they can be attended by members and friends from across the Circuit.
## **CIRCUIT PROPERTY**
At the start of the year the Circuit was faced with a backlog of work on the manses. At Stowmarket the boiler and kitchen needed to be replaced. The Well Street manse had been badly neglected and required substantial repairs and refurbishment to stop further deterioration and to bring living conditions up to an acceptable level. The manse at Sudbury continued to be rented out. The Circuit remained responsible for the maintenance and management of the premises at Cotton, which had closed for worship at the end of 2019-20. The future of the building is currently being reviewed.
## **CIRCUIT FINANCES**
The Circuit’s financial objective is to meet expenditure on its ongoing activities from its ongoing income, both accounted for in Part A of the statement of financial activities, though it is open to Circuit Meeting to supplement the amount available from reserves if there is a case for doing so. Part A of the accounts show a deficit of £72,030. This was due entirely to the high expenditure of £97,644 on the manses, which exceeded the original budget provision by £76,600. (see the previous paragraph.) The extra expenditure and its draw down from reserves had been authorised by the Circuit Meeting. Part B of the statement of
financial activities shows income and expenditure on other activities. Taking account of these the accounts show an overall deficit of £100,958.
Net current assets at the end of the year were £254,818. Allocations, in accordance with the Circuit’s Reserves Policy, by the Circuit Meeting were as follows:
£
90,000 six months’ expenditure as recommended by Connexion (working capital)
50,000 Eco-church projects
30,000 Mission – faith and spiritual nourishment
20,000 Post Covid relief where need can be demonstrated
25,000 Extra administration support over three years
24,000 Remaining work on the Well Street manse
239,000 Total of allocations.
BSECircuit 08.03.23
## **BURY ST EDMUNDS METHODIST CIRCUIT 14/03 STATEMENT OF FINANCIAL ACTIVITIES - YEAR ENDED 31 AUGUST 2022**
||Note|2021-22|2021-22||
|---|---|---|---|---|
|||Unrestric-|Restric-||
|||ted|ted||
|**PART A ONGOING ACTIVITIES**|||||
|**INCOME FROM ONGOING ACTIVITIES**||£|£||
|Assessments|1|158,903||0|
|Rent from manse||15,600||0|
|Interest||1,207||0|
|Other||15||0|
|**TOTAL INCOME FROM ONGOING ACTIVITIES**||**175,725**||**0**|
|**EXPENDITURE ONGOING ACTIVITIES**|||||
|District assessment||30,385||0|
|_Ministerial support_|||||
|Ministers' stipends and pensions|2|91,538||0|
|District travel fund|3|4,700||0|
|Manse council tax and water|4|6,213||0|
|Manse maintenance|5|97,644||0|
|Manse insurance||2,199||0|
|Telecommunications||1,296||0|
|Supernumerary preaching fees||829||0|
|Removal costs|||||
|_Administration and other_|||||
|Administrator (part time)|2|7,089||0|
|Ofce expenses and TMCP fee||3,797||0|
|Quinquennial inspections||325||0|
|Donations and gifts||0||0|
|Management rented manse||1,225||0|
|Bank charges||77||0|
|Other||406||0|
|**TOTAL EXPENDITURE ONGOING ACTIVITIES**||**247,723**||**0**|
|**SURPLUS / DEFICIT ONGOING ACTIVITIES**||**-71,998**||**0**|
|**PART B OTHER ACTIVITIES**|||||
|Annual District Advance Fund Levy|6|-6,718||0|
|Funds transfer - from Cotton|7|1,835||0|
|Ongoing costs - Cotton premises|7|-5,614||0|
|Grants to Churches|8|-14,500||0|
|Pension Reserve Fund contribution|9|-3,300||0|
|Mission initiatives||-663||0|
|**TOTAL NET SURPLUS/DEFICIT ON YEAR**||**-100,958**||0|
|**ADD FUNDS START OF YEAR**||**1,372,776**||**0**|
|**FUNDS AT END OF YEAR**||**1,271,818**||**0**|
## **BURY ST EDMUNDS METHODIST CIRCUIT 14/3 STATEMENT OF ASSETS AND LIABILITIES AT 31 AUGUST 2022**
|||31 August 2022|31 August 2022|
|---|---|---|---|
|||Unrestric-|Restric-|
|||ted Funds|ted funds|
|||£|£|
|**CURRENT ASSETS**||||
|Debtors and prepayments||3,302|0|
|Central Finance Board account||162,173|0|
|Model Trust Funds - held by TMCP||107,821|0|
|HSBC current account||20,727|0|
|Cash||87|0|
|**TOTAL CURRENT ASSETS**||**294,110**|**0**|
|Creditors due under 1 year|10|39,292|0|
|**TOTAL NET CURRENT ASSETS**||**254,818**|**0**|
|Fixed assets - Manses||1,017,000|0|
|**TOTAL NET ASSETS**||**1,271,818**|**0**|
|**REPRESENTED BY**||||
|General fund|11|||
|Benevolence fund|12|||
|Model Trust Funds - held by TMCP||||
|Manses titles - held by TMCP|13|||
|**TOTAL**||||
Signed: _V Humm_
Senior Circuit Steward
2021-22 2020-21 Total Total
|£|£|
|---|---|
|158,903|126,561|
|15,600|15,600|
|1,207|924|
|15|2|
|**175,725**|**143,087**|
|30,385|32,015|
|91,538|90,068|
|4,700|3,050|
|6,213|5,305|
|97,644|21,475|
|2,199|2,072|
|1,296|977|
|829|257|
||5,217|
|7,089|4,797|
|3,797|9,788|
|325|1,275|
|0|100|
|1,225|1,576|
|77|0|
|406|798|
|**247,723**|**178,770**|
|**-71,998**|**-35,683**|
|-6,718|-7,688|
|1,835|14,015|
|-5,614|-3,094|
|-14,500|-2,000|
|-3,300|0|
|-663|0|
|**-100,958**|**-34,450**|
|**1,372,776 **|**1,407,226**|
|**1,271,818 **|**1,372,776**|
2
31 August 2021 Total Total £ £ 3,302 2,672 162,173 152,426 107,821 193,264 20,727 32,875 87 90 **294,110 381,327** 39,292 25,551 **254,818 355,776** 1,017,000 1,017,000 **1,271,818 1,372,776**
145,997 162,512 1,000 0 107,821 193,264 1,017,000 1,017,000 **1,271,818 1,372,776**
Date:
Mar 12, 23
+
## **BURY ST EDMUNDS METHODIST CIRCUIT 14/3**
## **ANNUAL ACCOUNTS 2021-22**
## **NOTES TO THE ACCOUNTS**
## **Accounting policies**
_**Basis of accounting**_ These financial statements have been prepared under the historic cost convention, except as noted below in respect of the valuation of manses, and in accordance with Statements of Recommended Practice: Accounting and Reporting by Charities, and applicable UK accounting standards and the Charities Act 1993. The estimated net realizable value of the manses has been incorporated in the accounts. There has been no change in accounting policies from the previous year.
_**Reserves**_ Total net current assets at the end of the year were £254,818. Circuit policy is to hold unrestricted reserves equivalent to about six month’s expenditure. The Circuit has drawn up a reserves policy which considers how funds in excess of that can best be used to meet its charitable objectives.
_**Incoming resources**_ All incoming resources are recognized once the Circuit has entitlement to them, it is certain they will be received and the monetary value of incoming resources can be measured with sufficient reliability.
_**Resources expended**_ Liabilities are recognized as resources expended as soon as there is a legal or constructive obligation which commits the Circuit to the expenditure. All expenditure is accounted for on an accruals basis and has been classified under headings that aggregate all costs relating to that category.
_**Irrecoverable VAT**_ Irrecoverable VAT is charged against the category of resource expended for which it was incurred.
_**Tangible fixed assets**_ Tangible fixed assets are capitalized if they have a cost in excess of £2,000 and can be used for more than one year. The only such assets are the manses in Bury St Edmunds, Stowmarket and Sudbury.
## **1 Assessments**
Assessments are based on perceived ability to pay as indicated by the average income of each church over the previous five years. Allowance is made for any extraordinary income such as bequests and grants. The total assessment required to support circuit is then shared between the churches pro-rata to income. Assessments received were:
2021-22(£) 2020-21(£) Bradfield 7,162 6,047 Glemsford 2,000 2,000 Ixworth 6,000 5,251 Needham Market 10,690 8,367 Northumberland Avenue 11,270 8,226 Old Newton 11,654 8,661 St John’s Sudbury 41,760 35,018 Stowmarket 13,304 9,786 Trinity Bury St Edmunds 55,062 43,205 **Total 158,902 126,561** Total income in 2020-21 was some £31,500 less than expected due to the closure of Cotton Church and relief granted to churches unable to pay the full amount due to Covid.
|**2 Staf costs**|2021-22(£) 2020-|
|---|---|
|21(£)||
|Stipends and salary
|74,802
71,898|
|Pension contributions
|17,951
17,378|
|Employers N I|5,874
5,590|
|**Total**
|**98,627 94,866**|
|Number of full-time employees|2.8 2.75|
## **3 EADTF East Anglia District Travel Fund**
The District operates a pooling arrangement whereby every Circuit contributes the same amount per minister and the ministers claim on the fund for their actual travel expenditure incurred. The cost in both years was much reduced due to Covid-19.
## **4 Manse council tax and water**
Payments increased because of the loss of the council tax single occupier rebate and higher water consumption by a family.
## **5 Manse maintenance**
Expenditure included the cost of an extensive programme of essential repairs and refurbishment works at the Well Street Manse (£75,545) and a new bathroom and kitchen at the Stowmarket Manse (£20,564). The resulting deficit on ongoing activities of £71,998 has been met from reserves.
## **6 Contributions to District Advance Fund**
A levy of 2.5% on the first £100,000, 5% between £100,000 and £250,000 and 7.5% above £250,000 is applied by the Trustees for Methodist Church Purposes (TMCP) to the Circuit Advance Fund as at 1 September and paid to the East Anglia District Advance Fund.
## **7 Cotton**
The transfer of funds from the accounts (now closed down) of the closed Church included the outstanding gift aid claim. Expenditure was mainly on the empty building insurance policy and minimal heating to protect the building’s fabric.
## **8 Grants to churches**
Grants to churches were: £10,000 lift refurbishment at Trinity; £2,000 lay worker at Sudbury and £2,500 essential repairs at Stowmarket.
## **9 Pension Reserve Fund**
All circuits and churches were asked by Conference to contribute what they felt they could afford to this fund.
## **10 Creditors**
This item includes advance payments totaling £36,760 from churches of their first quarterly assessments for 2022-23.
## **11 General Fund**
The fund now includes provision of £1,250 to meet Ministers’ future removal costs. The fund will be built up by this amount each year until it is needed.
## **12 Benevolence Fund**
A Circuit Benevolence Fund has been set up to enable the Superintendent Minister to make confidential discretionary grants to relieve poverty and distress. The current funds of £1,000 have been transferred from the general fund and as such are of designated rather than restricted status. However, it is intended their use should be limited to purposes of a benevolence nature.
## **13 Manses**
The manses are owned by the TMCP but are managed on their behalf by the Trustees of the Bury St Edmunds Methodist Circuit. As such their value is only
reported in these accounts as a convenience to the owners TMCP. The book value is stated as £1,017,000, which the Trustees consider to be prudently conservative. In the event of a sale the Circuit would receive 80% of the first £100,000 of net proceeds and 60% of the remainder. Valuations will be reviewed in 2022-23.
## **14 Trustees**
None of the Trustees, or persons connected with them, received any remuneration or other benefits from the Circuit or any connected organization as a result of their office during the year.
## **DECLARATIONS**
## **1. TREASURER**
I confirm that I have prepared the accounts from the records of the Circuit and that they include all the funds under the control of the Circuit.
Signature _R J Meadows_ Date _1 November 2022_ Circuit Treasurer
## **2. INDEPENDENT EXAMINER’S REPORT TO THE TRUSTEES OF THE BURY ST EDMUNDS METHODIST CIRCUIT**
This report is on the Circuit accounts for the year ended 31 August 2022.
## **Respective responsibilities of the Trustees and the Examiner**
The Circuit’s Trustees are responsible for the preparations of the accounts. The Charity’s Trustees consider that an audit is not required for this year under Section 144 of the Charities Act 2011 and that an independent examination is required. It is my responsibility to examine the accounts under Section 145 of the Charities Act. **Basis of the Independent Examiner’s Report**
My examination comprised a review of the accounting records kept by the Circuit Treasurer and a comparison of the accounts with those records The procedures undertaken do not provide evidence that would be required in an audit and consequently I do not express an audit opinion in the view given by those accounts. **Independent Examiner’s statement**
In connection with my examination no matter has come to my attention: a) which gives me reasonable cause to believe that in any material respect the requirements to keep accounting records in accordance with Section 46 of the Charities Act, and to prepare accounts which accord with the accounting records and to comply with the Accounting Act have not been met, or
b) to which, in my opinion, attention should be drawn in order to enable a proper understanding of the accounts to be reached.
Signature _S J Cook_
Date _8 March 2023_
Stephen Cook MA FCA 84 Whiting Street Bury St Edmunds IP33 1NZ
## **3. PRESENTATION TO THE CIRCUIT MEETING FOR APPROVAL**
I confirm the accounts have been presented to the Circuit Meeting on 23 March 2023 and were approved.
Signature of the Chairperson of the meeting _Revn Jason Vinyard 23 March 2023_