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The Parish of St. Bartholomew Westhoughton St. Bartholomew St. George St. Thomas

Annual reports for 2023 Presented to the apcm Monday 29[th] April 2024

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The Parish of St Bartholomew Westhoughton

St Bartholomew St George St Thomas

ANNUAL PAROCHIAL CHURCH MEETING: MONDAY 29[th] APRIL 2024, 7.30pm ST BARTHOLOMEW’S CHURCH

AGENDA

Welcome and Opening Prayers
Apologies for absence
Minutes of the Annual Meetings held on Monday 24[th] April 2023 [which are attached below] and matters arising

Annual Meeting of Parishioners:

Election of two churchwardens for the year 2024 - 2025

Annual Parochial Church Meeting

Elections and appointments:
i. Two deputy wardens each for St Bartholomew’s, St Thomas’s and St George’s (who will be ex-officio members of the Parochial Church Council)
ii. Four representatives for Deanery Synod for the period 2023 – 2026 (who will be ex-officio members of the Parochial Church Council) – 1 vacancy
iii. Two further representatives from St Bartholomew’s, St Thomas’s and St George’s to serve as members of the Parochial Church Council
iv. Up to eight people to serve as members of each of the church councils of St Bartholomew’s, St Thomas’s and St George’s
v. Appointment of Independent Examiner
Annual Reports for 2023:
i. Team Rector’s Report
ii. Churchwardens’ Report
iii. Secretary’s Report on the Proceedings of the PCC
iv. Church Electoral Roll Report
v. Honorary Treasurer’s Presentation of Accounts
vi. Safeguarding Officer’s Report

3. Any Other Business relevant to an annual meeting (chair to be notified BEFORE the meeting begins)

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4. Date of future Meetings:

Archdeacon’s visitation – Tuesday 18[th] June 7:30pm Bolton Parish Church [closest one but other dates and venues are available]
Next PCC meeting – to be set
Annual Parochial Church Meeting 2025 Monday 28[th] April
Closing prayers

There will be a short meeting of the newly constituted Parochial Church Council immediately following the Annual Parochial Church Meetings

AGENDA

Appointment of
a. PCC treasurer
b. PCC secretary
c. Vice chair of the PCC
d. Safeguarding officer
e. PCC Standing Committee [usually Rector, vice chair, Parish wardens, secretary, treasurer]
Co-option, if required, of further PCC members
Appointment of Sidespeople
Any other urgent business

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Parish of St Bartholomew Westhoughton St Bartholomew, St George, St Thomas

Meeting of the APCM Monday 24[th] April 2023 at 7.30pm

held at St Bartholomew’s Church

Attendance: Revd Carol Pharaoh (chair), Ed McHale (Acting Secretary), Christine Andrews, Elaine Simkin, Joan Warner, Jean Tonge, John Owen, Lynn Owen, Sarah Barry, Pat James, Joan O’Reilly, John Moore, Hilary Moore, Alan Morris, Angela Greenall, Graham Andrews, Revd Andy Jones, June Crook, Ryan Battersby, Rachel Dawber

Following other meetings: Revd Angela Wynne [by Zoom]

Apologies : George Twist, Ollie Younge, Helen Thompson, John Thompson, Sue Robinson Todd, Kath Norman, Sylvia Oakes.

AGENDA ITEM	DISCUSSION and ACTION
Apologies for Absence	Attendance and apologies were noted on the signingin sheets and are listed above.
Introductions:	The rector welcomed everyone to the AGM and opened the meeting with a reading and reflection from 2 Timothyand the Collect for St George’s Day.
Minutes of Previous meetings	The minutes of the previous APCM held on the 25thApril 2022 had been circulated to those signing up to attend the meeting electronically or in a paper form. After a number of corrections, mainly to individuals’ names, on the proposal of Elaine Simkin,seconded byAndy Jones,these were accepted unanimously.
Annual Meeting of Parishioners: Election of Two Parish Wardens 2023 - 24	Joan O’Reilly and Ed McHale had both consented to stand and had been duly proposed and seconded. There being no further nominations, they were appointed to the two posts of Parish Wardens.

Annual Parochial Church Meeting	Elections and Appointments The followingwere all duly proposed seconded and appointed
Deputy Wardens: [2 per church]	St Bartholomew’s: Christine Andrews /VACANCY St George’s:John Moore / Pat James St Thomas’ Graham Andrews_/ VACANCY_
Deanery Synod: 4 representatives	Christine Andrews, Elaine Simkin and Joan O’Reilly were duly proposed, seconded and appointed, leaving one vacancies to be filled. It was noted that theseposts were for a threeyearperiod.
Elected Members to PCC: [2 per church]	The following were all duly nominated, seconded & appointed St Bartholomew’s:Jean Tonge / Rachel Dawber / George Twist_[co-opted] St George’s:June Crook / Sarah Barry St Thomas’:_VACANCY/VACANCY
Elected Members to DCCs	The following were all duly nominated, seconded & appointed St Bartholomew’s– Sue Robinson-Todd / Linda Casson St Thomas’– Claire Smith / Gail Stocks / Caroline Darby St George’s- John Thompson, Angela Greenall Thanks were recorded to those who have served on our committees but have chosen to stand down this year namely Kath Norman [retiring from PCC Secretary, St Bartholomew’s committee secretary and Deanery Synod], Sylvia Oakes and Claire Smith standing down as St Thomas’ PCC reps and Sarah Sloan who has stood down from St George’s committee.

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Appoint of Independent Examiner	Nigel Ginniff proposed by Graham Andrews, seconded by Elaine Simkin and duly appointed. A card and book token has been presented to Nigel with thanks for his work as Independent Examiner this year.
Annual reports
Team Rector Churchwardens PCC secretary Church Electoral Roll Honorary Treasurer & Independent Examiner Safeguarding Group reports	These had all been circulated prior to the meeting either by e-mail or as a paper copy. It was noted that the electoral roll stood at 184 as of 24/04/2023. A very belated report from St Thomas’ committee received too late to be included with the e-mailed and printed reports was read at the meeting. The reports were accepted_en bloc_unanimously with thanks to all who had prepared them.
AOB	None relevant to the annual meeting
Date of future meetings	Archdeacon’s Visitation– Tuesday 13thJune 7:00pm at Bolton Parish Church is our most local service St Bart’s Committee THURSDAY 11thMay 7:30pm Next PCC meeting – Monday 15thMay 7:30pm St Thomas’ Committee – Monday 22ndMay St George’s Committee – Monday 26thJune 7:30pm Annual Parochial Church Meeting2024 – Monday29thApril[planned]7:30pm

	PCC MEETING
Appointment of Elected Officers	The following were duly proposed, seconded and appointed: PCC Vice Chair:Ed McHale PCC Secretary: vacant – appoint at next PCC meeting / review again in September PCC Treasurer:Graham Andrews Safeguarding lead:Joan O’Reilly PCC Standing Committee:Clergy, Parish Wardens, PCC secretary, PCC treasurer,Elaine Simkin
Election of Sidespeople –*note these are now* *elected by the PCC* *rather than by the* *APCM*	John Thompson, Jean Tonge, Lynne Owen, John Owen, Claire Smith, Gail Stocks, Kath Norman, Les Downes Further Sidespeople may be appointed by the PCC at any time during the year.
Appointment of Foundation Governor – St George’s	It was proposed from the chair that Pauline Hann be appointed as a Foundation Governor at St George’s school. Pauline is a regular and active member of St John’s church and has a career in education. Thisproposal was accepted unanimously.
AOB	On behalf of the parish, Ed thanked Revd Carol for her leadership through the year and we all wished her well for her three month sabbatical from mid-Mayto August.
Closing Prayers	The meetingclosed at 8:20pm and was followed bycheese and wine.

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TEAM RECTOR’S REPORT 2023

‘…but those who wait for the Lord shall renew their strength, they shall mount up with wings like eagles, they shall run and not be weary, they shall walk and not faint.’ Isaiah 40.31 NRSV

2023 was both a fulfilling year and a sad year for me. Fulfilling in that I had the privilege of taking a sabbatical. The sad part came when my lovely Mum, who had struggled with ill-health and frailty for a few years, died on the 7th November. Through it all, I have known the strength and compassion of prayer and the care of many people. Thank you.

During my sabbatical I was fortunate to be able to go on a bird of prey experience day. As part of the day, I had the joy of holding a golden eagle named Sienna. Remembering the feeling of size, weight, power and seeing close up the beauty of such a glorious creature on my arm still gives me goose bumps. It was a moment that I will never forget. Golden eagles are, of course, renowned for their size and strength and their impressive eyesight. An eagle’s eye is a much different shape than a human eye, giving an eagle a much larger image than we can see. Its retina has much more concentrated rod and cone cells – cells that send sight information to the brain. As result, it is estimated that an eagle can see clearly about eight times as far as humans can, allowing them to spot and focus in on a rabbit or other animal at a distance of about two miles. We might use the expression that a person is ‘eagle-eyed’ meaning they notice everything, even very small details.

In 2023, within our churches we have seen signs of vision, growth and strength. The number of people attending our churches grew. St Thomas’s Church started holding Café Church style worship on a Sunday morning monthly. St George’s Church have been working more closely with St George’s School, with members of the school community coming to services regularly. Mid-week services at St Bart’s, both at Café Church and the monthly Wednesday Service, have grown numerically. The parent and toddler group at St Bart’s Church became a more intentional Christian group and morphed into Wiggle Worship. Our three churches have begun to engage with the Eco Church agenda and started thinking a little more deeply about being good stewards of God’s creation. We held many different and enjoyable social and concert events across our churches. We celebrated the King’s Coronation with events and special services. We welcomed 40 children into our church families as they came with their families to our churches to be baptised. 8 young people and 1 adult were confirmed by Bishop Matthew at our Team Confirmation Service held at St John’s Church. 2 couples were married at St Bart’s Church. We had the privilege of showing support and comfort to 42 families who lost a loved

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one through death. We supported many more people as they experienced difficult times of illness, sadness and anxiety. We engaged with our Church Schools and Community Schools for a number of different services throughout the year and once again held our Experience Easter event. Thank you to all who serve and care for people of our churches and community.

We thank God for Readers Alan and Elaine who lead and preach at our church services throughout the year. Thank you to our ALM Christine for the work that she does at St Thomas Church and at St Bart’s Church. Thank you to our Café Church Team who are inspirational in the energy and creativity they show week by week. Thank you to our Church Wardens Ed and Joan and all the Deputy Wardens Graham, Pat, John and Christine for their dedication and commitment. Thank you to our parish treasurer Graham, and the individual church treasurers Claire, Elaine and John. Thank you to Ed for taking on the role of PCC secretary. Thank you to Jean for being a lovely verger at St Bart’s Church and for overseeing the Luncheon Club. Thank you to all who hold other roles in our church, from children’s and youth workers to sidespeople, musicians to singers, cleaners to gardeners, bell ringers to refreshment makers, from DCC members to PCC members. Thank you to everybody who has helped our churches grow and be strong in 2023.

I am once again indebted to my colleagues across the Team for their support, creativity, strength and resilience. You are all gifted and special people. May God continue to bless all you do. Ignite Youth, our Team Youth Church, is continuing to flourish with new members and leaders which gives me great joy to see. We continued to offer different house groups and study groups within the Team Ministry throughout the year. Although these are not as well supported as we would like to see, we do see this as an important part of our ministry and witness. Do have a word with me if you would like to know more about the events and opportunities we have to grow in our Christian faith.

As a parish, we struggle financially to meet all our expenses. St Bart’s Church building increasingly needs attention. In the coming year, we will look again at how we might increase our income to meet these challenges. Thank you to all those who give sacrificially of their time, talents and money. May God bless you richly.

There is so much that is good in our churches. There are always challenges and more we could do to serve our community. We need to be eagle-eyed, not only to notice what God is showing us, but also to have a much broader vision of what is possible and what new things God is calling us to. We need not to look back but forward. We wait in trust, knowing God

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will renew our strength and pray that God will enable us to soar like an eagle to achieve great things for him. God will work amongst us and will show us the way. The adventure continues in 2024.

Be Thou my vision, O Lord of my heart Naught be all else to me, save that Thou art Thou my best thought, by day or by night Waking or sleeping, Thy presence my light.

(From the hymn, Irish 8th century, translated by Mary Elizabeth Byrne (1880-1931))

With love and prayers,

Rev’d Carol Pharaoh

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PCC Treasurer’s report to Annual Parish Meeting regarding 2023 accounts

1. Income

Overall income was almost the same as in 2022 being just £135 lower at £100608[1] .

Looking first at direct giving, this was £409 lower in 2023 than in 2022. However, in 2023 there were no memorial donations (£2000 in 2022), so the other 2023 direct giving was in fact £1591 higher than 2022. Total 2023 tax refund on gift aided donations were up on 2022 by £1187 but this most likely down to timing of 2022 claims to HMRC.

Other voluntary giving was down in 2023 by £2973. Notably £4932 of the decrease came from wedding and funeral fees but of course part of this is subsequently paid to the diocese. Concerts and events income was up by a pleasing £1759, so congratulations to the events team.

Appeals income remains low at £646 for the parish, spread across the Royal British Legion, Children’s Society, Tower Fund and the Turkey/Syria earthquake appeal

The value of our investments rose by £1967 in 2023. This is not a real gain unless we sell the investments, but needs to be shown as a consolidation adjustment to balance the books.

Bank interest became a significant item in 2023 with the rise in interest rates, St Bartholomew’s receiving £2267

The income from the 200 club has fallen again by £65 as we have further members have cancelled their subscriptions. St Bartholomew’s church had an income of £2078 for hire of the meeting room, but sadly the renter has concluded that the business is not viable and has since moved out.

Clergy cost sharing within the Team reflects the total clergy costs for the four parishes in the Team split in the ratio of the four Parish Share allocations. The cost sharing procedure brought us an income of £650 from the other parishes. We are currently going through discussions with the diocese regarding the parish share for 2024 as are St James and St Katharine’s. The outcome of these discussions is likely to affect the split between parishes in our cost sharing agreement.

Each of the three district councils in our parish pays money to the PCC towards the shared PCC expenses including parish share. Again, this is not real income for the PCC, just a transfer within the parish, and so is removed from the external account with a consolidation adjustment. This year the PCC received £43219 from the three district councils up from £38812 in 2022. The £10412 HMRC refund is not included in the £43219 as the claim is made for us by the diocese and they retain the refund towards our parish share.

The only significant extraordinary income in 2023 was the grant from the diocese of £1580 in total towards energy costs. This has been paid over to St Bartholomew’s district council as St Thomas and St George’s have very minor energy costs.

So in summary, some ups and downs leading to an income compared very close to that of 2022.

1 Numbers in this report have been rounded to the nearest pound

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2. Expenditure

Our Parish Share for 2023, previously known as quota, was £68200 of which we paid £49112 including the HMRC refund, or 72%. This is £4298 more than in 2022. As already noted, we are in discussion with the diocese over the parish share for 2024 to 2026.

The lower wedding and funerals income than in 2022 resulted in a £2000 smaller payment to Manchester Diocese. This accounts for almost all the reduction in expenditures under the services heading, the lack of payments to bellringers being balanced by higher church service costs and payments to the verger.

Outreach was quite similar in total to 2022. Training and education costs were up but Youth work costs were down. This is probably due to small changes in allocations to these similar headings. St Bartholomew’s had a £500 cost for events but this was more than covered by the increased events income.

The rectory costs were similar to the previous year. Adding the costs for church and churchyard maintenance also gives a similar amount to 2022. Energy costs however were £2857 higher than in 2022 which had itself been higher than 2021.

Printing, stationery and postage costs were brought down by £514 from the high of 2022. The high £772 sundry cost was the refund of wedding payment for a ceremony that was cancelled. Telephone and internet costs were down by £220 with a revised BT contract, but they have increased prices substantially for 2024. Insurance costs increased by £297 across the parish. The £1580 transfer between accounts was from the PCC account to St Bartholomew’s for the energy cost grant.

Grants to the church schools was £1773 down on 2022, in particular there was no grant to St Thomas school this year. The grant to the Royal British Legion covers two years as the 2022 grant was in fact paid in 2023.

Overall, the total expenditure for the parish of £109052 was £4924 higher than in 2022, so with similar incomes the deficit for the parish increased to £8444.

3. Statement of main assets.

The revaluation of investments up by £1967 has already been mentioned.

The total held in various St Bartholomew’s funds was £76374, down from £83063 reflecting the £6689 deficit at St Bartholomew’s in 2023. As in the notes to the account £21078 is designated for church building and tower work. St Thomas and St Georges ran deficits of £864 and £1222 respectively.

The total monetary assets of the parish at 31[st] December 2022 were £136003 which was £8445 lower than the previous year (which was itself £1400 lower than 2021).

G P Andrews

PCC Treasurer, 17/03/2024

2023 draft annual accounts.pdf

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Parish Churchwardens’ Report for 2023 – to be presented at the 2024 AGM

At the 2023 APCM Joan O’Reilly and Ed McHale were elected to the post of Parish Wardens.

Largely this has been a year of consolidation after the restrictions of the COVID pandemic, seeking to keep the improvements made in recent years and build on some of the advancements made.

During the year many things have been able to run or have been introduced:

New Year’s Day fell on a Sunday in 2023 allowing us to have a joint 11:00am service with refreshments including bacon butties served before the service.
Office Hour continues on a Monday morning [drop-in] or Saturday mornings by appointment.
The Monday morning 9:30-11:00am Toddler Group and Wiggle Worship has increased in numbers.
The Civic Service for Mayoral Service was held with a good attendance from members of the Town Council.
In March St Bartholomew’s hosted the 2023 World day of Prayer Service prepared by the people of Taiwan.
Remembrance Sunday services continued, again limiting attendance at the 10:00am Civic Service. The Act of Remembrance at the War Memorial was streamlined and much improved in 2023 and we will look at ways of
Switching on of the Town Lights Carol Service continued in its new format. Only a limited number of schools will take part in person on a rota basis, the other schools contributing recorded items. Admittance was by ticket only to prevent unsafe overcrowding. We are happy to look at arrangements including the issue of ticket distribution with the schools and are working with the Town Council at the future of this event.
A Confirmation Service was held in November at St John’s Church in Wingates with a good number of candidates led by the new Bishop of Bolton, Revd Dr Matthew Porter. This year we ran again the two longer Saturday preparation sessions which worked well. We are looking, however, at moving the Confirmation back to a Spring date in 2024 to fit better with Sunday School / Ignite Youth terms.
The Team Youth Church continues to meet monthly at St John’s Wingates on a Saturday evening; more help with running this is sought.
We have been able to continue Sunday schools at St George’s and St Bartholomew’s with many thanks to all who lead these and especially to Joan O’Reilly for co-ordinating this and organising all the DBS checks and child / vulnerable adult protection training [do read her report]
In Spring we were able to run a full programme of Lent, Holy Week and Easter services. The Easter Experience was also reintroduced in 2023 following the break for Covid. We continued the Stations of the Cross on a Monday evening and used material produced by CAFOD in the worship which was much appreciated. On Good Friday we held a Young People’s drop in workshop at St Bart’s between the more formal services at St James’ and St Katharine’s churches. This proved very popular with many craft events and attracted a good attendance.
We continue to run a large number of baptism services. Many thanks to those who give up their Sunday afternoons to staff these. We also run a baptism preparation evening each month; many thanks to Carole Bullough who has taken on organising the baptism preparation session and also writes out all the certificates and candles for the services.
We have held a small number of wedding services in 2023 with some booked for 2024.

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Cafe church services have run on a Wednesday at St Bart’s from 3:45 -4:30pm during term time and are proving very popular. It many thanks again to the team who plan and staff these as well as providing refreshments.
We were able to run some face-to-face study groups during 2023 including one on Prayer and a Lent course based on the film “West Side Story.” We a wide range of Lent events planned in 2024 including more daytime / family friendly events.
A Book Club organised and led by Revd Andy Jones was started during the year
The All Souls Memorial Service was held and attracted a greater attendance than in 2022.
We ran a full programme of Christingle and Christmas Services; although attendances were greater than 2022, they were still not at pre-pandemic levels. Of note, no young people attended on Christmas Day. We were able to run crib services at St Thomas’ and St George’s. For the Christmas Dinner on Jesus in 2023, we collected selection boxes; this proved a very popular item and we exceeded our target. Our local schools returned to hold their Christmas events at St Bartholomew’s.
The monthly Wednesday Communion Service followed by Luncheon Club continued at its new time of 11:00am at St Bart’s with thanks to all who run this.
Following St Bartholomew’s Patronal Festival at the end of August, we were able to have a “bring and share” lunch.
In May, we were able to hold the Christian Aid collections in our churches.
Revd Dr Malcolm Wearing organised a Team Retreat in May 2023 and is planning a further one for May 2024.

Publicity:

The expanded Pewsheet Plus and is now e-mailed out to 85 - 90 people each week [& a hard copy to those who have requested one]. The pewsheet is also available from the church website with many thanks to Neil Belch for maintaining this.

We have started looking with Neil Belch ways of redesigning the Website and moving it to a new platform.

The death of Joan Warner, who contributed so much to the parish including much of the leg work on the pewsheets each week, is much felt. There is currently no back-up for the pewsheets.

We still continue to produce posters and publicity for services and events which appear on the internal and external church noticeboards, St Bart’s railings and, again thanks to Joan O’Reilly, in shops & sites through the town.

Staffing:

Revd Carol Pharaoh took a sabbatical for three months in 2023.

On a Diocesan level, Revd Dr Rachel Mann replaced Revd Jean Burgess as Archdeacon of Bolton [following her move to the Winchester Diocese] and Revd Dr Matthew Porter was installed as Bishop of Bolton following Mark Ashcroft’s retirement.

It is of note that the staffing plans for the local mission partnership [effectively the former Deane deanery] require a cut in stipendiary clergy from 6 to 5 by the end of 2025 although there is as yet, no strategy for this.

We also welcomed Pauline Rowley as the new Westhoughton Town Clerk in 2023 and have been working closely with her in developing Civic services including the Town Lights Christmas event and Remembrance Sunday.

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Parish Share / Finances:

There are still issues about parish finances and our inability to pay the Parish Share in full. We did not run a Stewardship Campaign in 2023 but would look to hold one in 2024/25 which, learning from the lessons of 2022, would be much more church focussed rather than Parish based. A discussion & agreement meeting to set a three-year plan for a more realistic Parish Share was arranged for March 2023.

The Parish social events committee has organised a number of events throughout 2023 continuing into 2024 raising funds with events including

Houghton Weavers Concert
A St Patrick’s Day concert run by Ged and Sue Robinson-Todd
The annual Bolton Chamber Orchestra Concert [run by Ed McHale]
An autumn fair [much appreciated by stall holders and those attending]
The Brixi Singers Christmas performance of Handel’s Messiah [run by Ed McHale, and again much appreciated]

St. Bartholomew’s Building:

During the year a Buildings and Maintenance committee was re-constituted, currently chaired by Ed McHale, to prioritise work across the church and tower and to split these into a manageable set of smaller tasks.

Membership: Revd Carol Pharaoh [rector], Joan O’ Reilly, Ed McHale [Parish Wardens], Graham Andrews [PCC Treasurer], Ged Robinson-Todd [Bell Ringers], Linda Casson [secretary], Ryan Battersby [Tower Captain]

All the usual testing of electrical and emergency equipment has been completed along with routine annual services and maintenance.

In 2023 we had a number of additional building works:

There are ongoing issues with boiler failures resulting in some days without heating. Further work to the boilers was scheduled in March 2024.
We are progressing with options for lighting the church path. The faculty has been submitted and is on display in March 2024. Funding for this is in place following a bequest from Joyce Cunliffe.
Robinsons visited in April 2023 and prepared a report on the initial dry rot treatments for the tower and choir vestry. A List B faculty for the work was submitted and finally received in March 2024 so we hope that this work can progress soon. Funding for this work is in place and this will allow a more substantial appraisal of the progression of the dry rot and the further work needed.
Following a break-in during 2022, there were repairs needed to the vestry cupboard door which were completed with thanks to Revd Malcolm Wearing
There has been some work completed on the columbarium and in clearing guttering at the top of the tower
The next project will be to seek some companies to assess the state of the church roof and to itemise and cost any remedial work needed to make it watertight
Following the failure of some lights in the church, particularly over the choir gallery, we have started to look at options for replacing the bulbs with LED lighting that would be cheaper to run and help with Eco Church status, whether this would necessitate changing all the light

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fittings and whether we should move to a new lighting system with bulbs at a lower level around the walls of the church which would make changing broken bulbs much easier and cheaper.

Ongoing issues with the PA system have been noted and we are experimenting with replacement batteries, system settings and training in microphone use; one option is moving the control desk into church so we can adjust it more easily in situ rather than remotely.

As we cannot expect to raise funds to pay our annual bills on top of the additional funding for repairs, we have also set up a small group to look at grant-giving bodies to see what would be involved in applying and the amounts we could hope to receive. This has met infrequently but we are looking at grants available from the Diocese to support some of this work as well as National Lottery Heritage funding for the larger scale works.

Coronation Celebrations:

We marked the Coronation of King Charles III in 2023 by distributing a book of prayers to each member of the congregation which ran from Easter Day to the day of the coronation itself. On the weekend of the Coronations our bell ringers rang additional peals, we held a Civic Service at St Bartholomew’s and the Brixi Singers provided a concert of Royal Music with organ music by Ed McHale, some of which had been featured at the Coronation in Westminster Abbey earlier that wekend.

We apologise if we’ve missed anything and thank all those who work across all our churches, in many other unsung roles, who keep the many activities across the parish running so well. It must be noted, however, that much is done by a very small group of people and we need to look at involving a greater number of volunteers and succession planning if we’re going to be able to continue to run the number of events that we do across the year.

Nothing happens without an enormous amount of planning, co-operation and paperwork and we’re grateful to Christine Andrews, Pat James and Graham Andrews who serve as deputy wardens in the parish taking on a lot of additional duties at the different churches as well as our readers and clergy. We also remember especially the work put in by John Moore as deputy warden at St George’s and pray for Hilary and his family at this time of loss.

Joan O’Reilly – Parish Warden

Edward McHale – Parish Warden

2023/2024

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PCC Secretary Report 2023/4

PCC Members April 2023 – APCM April 2024

*Clergy:

Team Rector – Revd Carol Pharaoh Team Vicar – Revd Angela Wynne Curate – Revd Andy Jones

*Readers Emeritus:

Alan Morris / Elaine Simkin

*Churchwardens:

Joan O’Reilly [Safeguarding Officer] / Ed McHale [PCC lay chair / acting secretary]

*Deputy Wardens:

St. Bartholomew – Christine Andrews / vacancy St George – John Moore / Pat James St. Thomas – Graham Andrews [PCC Treasurer] / vacancy

serve until APCM in 2023 *Deanery Synod Representatives:

Christine Andrews / Elaine Simkin / Joan O’Reilly / vacancy

Elected Members:

St. Bartholomew – Jean Tonge / Rachel Dawber / George Twist St George – June Crook / Sarah Barry St. Thomas – vacancy / vacancy

*** = ex officio members

At its first meeting immediately following the APCM, the PCC appointed the sidespeople for 2023/4 and appointed to post

Graham Andrews PCC Treasurer Ed McHale PCC Vice Chair / PCC Secretary

Rector / Wardens / PCC Secretary / PCC Treasurer to form the Standing Committee

The PCC has met regularly during the year with standing agenda items including

reports from individual church committees
reports from church schools within the parish [noting the changes in head teachers and appointing school governors]
Treasurer’s report
Electoral roll updates

During the year, we have accepted the 2023 Diocesan fees for occasional offices and the revised fees, begun the process of looking at Eco Church [and have delegated this to the

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individual church committees where it is a better fit], accepted the Terms and Conditions for various PCC subgroups looking at Social Events, Buildings and Maintenance, Communications and Grant Funding and considered the Mission Community outreach proposal for May 2024.

Ed McHale PCC Secretary

St. George’s Church Committee report 2023 for 2024 APCM:

Clergy Revd Andy Jones Churchwardens:

Joan O’Reilly / Ed McHale [committee chair]

Deputy Wardens:

Pat James / John Moore

PCC Reps:

Sarah Barry / June Crook

Elected Reps: John Thompson, Angela Greenall

Throughout 2023 attendances have been growing slowly but steadily through the year.

Sunday School continues and meets on the first and third Sundays during the first part of the Communion Service. We have arranged that the young people sit together in a block when they join the second half of the service. We have a good number of leaders [namely Sarah Barry, Angela Greenall, Carole Walsh and Pat James] but numbers attending fluctuate. The Sunday school have been meeting in the school room recently and have updated the noticeboards to include a Prayer Tree and Fair Trade noticeboard

We are currently running a service pattern with Communion services on the first and third Sundays and Services of the Word on the other Sundays.

Thanks to the school caretaker who has helped us by setting out the Church for us which has made Sundays easier.

During the year:

we have experimented with holding baptism services at St George’s at 11:00am on request.
we celebrated the 27[th] anniversary of opening on St George’s day and sent out invitations to all via the school but the take up was disappointingly low. We welcomed some members of the school to the Mothering Sunday and Harvest services.

-- we were able to celebrate with our young people who were confirmed at the Team Confirmation service in November at St John’s Church, Wingates by Bishop Matthew, our new Bishop of Bolton

16 | P a g e

we booked a stall at the St Bartholomew’s autumn fair [as well as assisting in setting up, clearing away and helping on other stalls] fund raising for St George’s with second hand books and a wine raffle
on Mothering Sunday 2024, five of our young people took communion for the first time following the Belonging to God course.
we have held two Games Afternoons at St George’s which have proven fun and popular
we have been able to provide refreshments after the service on special occasions
the committee has agreed updates to the consent forms and produced a contact details form
John Thompson has been looking at the St George’s Eco Church proposals, recognising that as a church meeting in a school, our options are limited
Simon Bramwell attended a meeting to discuss the various building improvements taking place at the school over the coming months including the LED lighting, remodelling the entrance and refitting classrooms.

We are grateful to all at St George’s for their generous giving meaning that we have almost paid our portion of the Parish Share in full again in 2023 especially the majority of people who give to the church by direct debit / envelopes. We have also done the usual fundraising during the year including both an Advent and Lent challenge as well as the smarties tube challenge.

Many thanks also to the committee for their tireless work each week especially John & Helen Thompson [for the powerpoints, financial stewardship and music], Samuel Greenall [for running powerpoint services], Pat James and Sarah Barry who undertake the wardens’ duties and represent us on the parish committees and to all including Angela Greenall and June Crook who serve on the St George’s committee. It is with much sadness that we heard of the death of John Moore on 6[th] April 2024 who had contributed so much to St George’s over the years as deputy warden, committee member, PCC member and gave us so much of his time in a practical way often in a “first there, last to leave” capacity. Our thoughts and prayers are with Hilary and the family.

In 2024 we look forward to working with the school and its new head, when appointed, in developing the links as we move forward together.

Ed McHale

St George’s Committee Chair / Secretary

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St. Bartholomew’s Church Committee report 2023 for 2024 APCM:

Clergy Revd Carol Pharaoh [chair]

Readers Emeritus Alan Morris / Elaine Simkin

Churchwardens:

Joan O’Reilly / Ed McHale [vice chair / committee secretary]

Deputy Wardens:

Christine Andrews / vacancy

Deanery Synod Representatives:

Christine Andrews / Elaine Simkin [ St Bart’s treasurer] / Joan O’Reilly

PCC Reps:

Jean Tonge / Rachel Dawber / George Twist

Elected Reps:

Sue Robinson-Todd / Linda Casson

St Bartholomew’s committee has met regularly in 2023/4 and, at its first meeting, co-opted Ollie Younge onto the committee.

During the year:

In line with the Ecclesiastical “Keeping People Safe” self-assessment toolkit, EJM has updated the St Bartholomew’s
Health and Safety Policy Statement
Health and Safety Policy
Fire and Evacuation Policy
The Terms and Conditions of various sub-groups were discussed and agreed
Progress towards Eco Church Bronze level status has been discussed
There have been updates on the various building projects underway, including faculties for the external lighting and initial dry rot treatment and investigation in the church and tower; internal lighting; PA system; roofing repairs; vestry cupboard door repair.
There is a regular financial statement from the treasurer
Relevant services and events are discussed
There is feedback from Sunday School, St Bartholomew’s school

Ed McHale

St Bartholomew’s Committee Secretary

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Data Protection Report for 2024 AGM

Our church forms including remain compliant with the Data Protection laws.

As a Parish we continue to e-mail out the weekly pewsheet and occasional special advertising [e.g. for Easter, Mothering Sunday, Harvest or Christmas]. Regular attendees from our congregation have signed up or e-mailed to request which publications they wish to receive and can withdraw approval at any time by e-mailing the Parish office.

Baptism / wedding families who have indicated consent when booking will receive the special advertising. Anyone can remove their names from this contact list simply by sending an email reply.

We are not aware of any non-compliance with Data Protection in 2023 and no complaints have been raised. The policy was reviewed and there were no revisions to the policy made in 2023.

The churchwardens continue to oversee Data Protection but would be pleased to hand this on to a Data Protection Officer appointed by the PCC now that the policies are in place and the workload known.

Ed McHale

St. Bartholomew’s Church Choir Report for 2024 AGM

We have been able to return to singing a full complement of hymns at Sunday services and have contributed anthems and special pieces at services in Advent, Lent and Easter.

Highlights of the year included the Services over the Coronation weekend the Parish Carol Service.

My thanks must go to those who come and practice weekly whatever the conditions. We have faced a lot of health issues over the last 12 months and it’s good that we can act together as a support group.

Recruiting new members is always difficult. We are always open to new members of any age – please just come and have a word with me.

Ed McHale

Director of Music

==> picture [455 x 57] intentionally omitted <==

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TOWER REPORT 2023

Life in the tower continues to grow from strength to strength whilst the tower structure continues to decay. We have several new starters ranging in ages, who are all doing very well. Ringers from different towers continue to visit from across the country to experience our fantastic octave of bells.

There were two highlights of 2023. The first being the coronation of Their Majesties The King & Queen; matching the ringers of Westminster Abbey and watching via a TVscreen set up for the very occasion, the bells rang out at the exact moment of crowning, both before and after the service, and including a successful quarter peal in the evening. Secondly was the launch of the exhibition in Bolton Museum displaying life in our tower as documented by Marge Bradshaw. It was a fantastic 3 month display and I’m grateful to all those who managed to get along to it.

A personal highlight was our successful quarter peal in October to mark the 20th anniversary of the death of our former tower captain, Geoffrey Fothergill. Seven of the eight ringers rang on the day of his funeral, and it was touching to have everyone together again to ring for the occasion.

Weddings have been scarce in their number, but otherwise we have continued to do our part on Sundays, Remembrance, Christmas etc.

Social nights have included meals at Casa Nostra, The China Room, Ewe, Tamarind Table, not to mention up the tower. We even held a mightily successful Ceilidh in the back room of church!

Thankyou as always to those who continue to support us.

Ryan Battersby Tower Captain

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St. Bartholomew’s Safeguarding Report 2023

All who work with children in the Parish, Parish Warden, Deputy Warden, all PCC members and those who take communion into homes all have up to date D.B.S.

Everyone has completed their on-line training and I have no concerns regarding any safeguarding issues in our parish at the time of writing this report. In 2025 everyone in our parish will have to update their D.B.S. and training.

Joan O’Reilly

Safeguarding Officer

St. Bartholomew’s Sunday School Annual Report for 2023

Sunday School meets on the 1[st] ,3[rd] and 5[th] Sunday of the month. We have decided to now run Sunday School on the 1[st] , 2[nd] and 3[rd] Sunday of the month with the 4[th] Sunday being an all age worship with children and adults taking part in the readings and prayers.

It can vary how many children come into Sunday School, the numbers range from 6 to 20.

I would like to thank Rachel, Helen and Nicola for all that they do as leaders. Also we would like to thank Andrea and Tracy for supporting the leaders. We are hoping to get a new leader named Linda in September.

We must not forget that these children are the future of the church.

Joan O’Reilly

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Café Church Report

Café church is going well with about 15 -20 adults and 20 -30 children tea coffee juice and biscuits is offered at the start.

At 3 -45 we start the service first we go through our worship ways e.g. turning off phones listen and to be quiet when the leader is speaking.

We than say sorry to God, light the candles, sing and then the bible reading followed by the talk we then go on to prays sometimes lead by the children

We finish with an activity and then say the Grace.

Thank you to all who help with the service and refreshments.

Thank you to all who give donations also to Lanete for her sandwiches cakes and all who bring biscuits and Martin who helps us to tidy up

From the Café Church team.

Wiggle worship report.

Monday mornings are going very well we have about 14 adults and roughly about 16 toddlers.

We start at 9 30 am when the toddlers have toy time, we also have activities which goes with wiggle worship.

10 30 is tidy up time where all adults and toddlers help.

After wriggle worship starts all join in with the song then a story connected to the activity followed by our special prayer. Then we finish with more singing and bubbles

Joan, Christine, Elaine Linda and Carol

Electoral Roll Update

At the date of the APCM, there were 182 names on the electoral roll.

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The following reports were received late, after the submission deadline had passed and were not presented to the PCC but copies were available at the APCM.

Ignite Youth (Team Youth Church)

We continue to see Ignite Youth flourish to help provide an event each month for our youth across the team. We have continued to meet at St John’s once a month and our thanks go to the PCC at St Johns and from all the Team PCCs for their prayers and support. Also, to Alisdair Cole & Tim Eden (St John’s treasurers) for administering the TYC funds.

We have had up to 21 young people attending once a month on the third Saturday evening of the month. Our sessions have included “Belonging”, “Generosity & Social Action”, “Strength in the Spirit” and “Advent Pledges” We continue to run this as a Youth Church where they focus on a bible passage, prayer and bible breakdown. Also, all our activities, crafts and games are linked to the theme. Also, spending time over food and having fun evenings at our Summer BBQ and Christmas Party.

As in previous year’s we encouraged new Year 6’s to join us after the summer and continue to keep links with confirmation classes and see our young people taking part in church services across the team. This year they presented an Advent scene that they made to all our churches to display as a “thank you” for all our support.

We have to say a big thank you to the volunteers who make this happen for our youth, Caroline Smith, Claire Billings, Lisa Orrell and Tracey Thornton from across the team to help support running Ignite Youth. We continue to promote the work of Ignite Youth and pray that more volunteers will come forward from other churches as we need more support.

We also want to thank Jo Haslam from Children’s Changing Places team who provided support to get Ignite Youth off the ground and her ideas for our sessions along. Also, to Reverend Andy Jones, who is our main clergy lead from the Team.

We have continued to meet with Bolton West Mission Community youth leader, led by Reverend Vinnie Whitworth, and have seen this network develop in providing support and encouragement to us all. God is working in our youth across the team, and we are so thankful. This has led to joint events including Catalyst Youth Weekend in June where we saw 8 of our young people attend and around 35 in total from around the Mission Community. Susie Mapledoram, our Diocese Youth Worker led 3 sessions and we had wonderful times of worship. We had lots of fun too including hunt the leader and, of course, Smithills Ice Cream. More events are planned in 2024.

Please pray continually for Ignite Youth as we see them continue to come to each event and help them on their journey with Jesus.

Evelyn Eden & Andy Glynn

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St Thomas’ Team Vicar’s Annual Report 2023-24

Church Council…

Once more I am very grateful to the Church Council at St Thomas’s for all their support and input. Graham and Christine open up the church each Sunday and set out the pews / seats and set up the altar if it’s Communion. They also clean and hoover if necessary, welcome people and keep us stocked up with all we need for the services. Graham looks after the rota for readers and sidespeople.

Claire has kept the accounts in order and claimed our gift aid back. She recently set up a QR code which we hope will encourage those with no cash! Claire is usually the one who opens up if Graham and Christine are on holiday. Many thanks to her for all she does.

Thanks to Gail for being the Secretary and taking the minutes. Gail also makes the refreshments after services and also during Café Church, often single-handed. I particularly appreciate a cup of tea before I go back up the hill to St Katharine’s. Gail has also been providing some gorgeous flower arrangements for us which brighten up the church.

Thank you to Caroline for being on the Committee and for her involvement and suggestions and also being a valuable link between church and parents.

Thank you to all those who contribute by doing the readings, being a sides-person and welcoming people, those who man the CD player if necessary. Your participation is very much appreciated.

Meetings…

The Church Council has met several times over the year. A major concern has been how to encourage increased giving as we badly fall short of our Parish Share contribution. The plate collection is very poorly supported. The card machine is used by some people and the QR code will provide a further option. There have been some new standing orders which is encouraging. We had a successful sweet stall at the School Picnic in Summer and on the back of that booked a table at the Autumn Fair at St Bart’s but that was not as lucrative as there were not enough children there.

We also had a stall at the Christmas Fair at St Thomas’ which also brought in a little extra.

School Picnic - thanks to our young assistants who could add up quicker than us!

—=eaf

Services

Café Church has continued over the year about one a month. The families do like this service and the older congregation have been very supportive. The families can a tea / coffee / soft drink / muffins / biscuits / pastries etc.

There is an activity and often a quiz for the more mature members. We use the projector and screen for the service and try to keep it informal.

24 | P a g e

In July we had family event after church: “We’re going on a Bear Hunt”. Although few in number, the children enjoyed an exciting adventure hunting bears as we retold the story and had a picnic afterwards.

Jayne and Chris King two of the parents have set up a Creche for toddlers and pre-schoolers. They provide lectionary related activities and this is appreciated by some of the parents and also means the main service is less noisy for those in the main body of the church.

There is still no Sunday School for the older children. If I have time and inspiration, I produce activity sheets for them to complete in church. Please pray for more volunteers.

Many thanks to Brenda who continues to play the keyboard for us on some Sundays and we use CDs for the remainder.

In November we held a Remembrance Day service with an act of Remembrance. Humphrey gave a talk about the role of Army Chaplains in conflicts.

During the year we have had 1 baptism after the main service. Thank you to Graham and Claire who stay behind to support.

In November, 2 of our young people were confirmed at St John’s by Bishop Matthew.

At Christmas we supported Christmas Dinner on Jesus, Fort Alice with our Toy Service and we held our Carol Service. On Christmas Eve we held a Crib Service and Christingle. Thank you to Christine who organised transportation, speaker for Toy Service and led our Crib Service.

Christine our ALM, regularly leads Service of the Word which enables me to be at St Katharine’s or even take a break.

Fabric and repairs.

Very special thanks to Les Downes who manufactured a new bracket to stabilise the communion rail which had worked loose due to being leaned on as people kneel and stand up.

In September the Church was repainted and freshened up.

Looking ahead…

The priorities for the coming year will continue to be how we can engage with the families so that they have a meaningful worship time.

I would like to involve the school more and have a meeting with the head teacher soon to discuss how they can support the church.

Also we are continuing to work on creative solutions for increasing stewardship of time and talents and generosity.

There is a huge amount of goodwill at St Thomas’ but we desperately need practical involvement. Your prayers that such help may be forthcoming would be very much appreciated.

Every Blessing

Revd Angela Wynne, Team Vicar.

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The Parochial Church Council of the Ecclesiastical Parish of St Bartholomew

2023 Accounts

including the churches of St Bartholomew's, St George's and St Thomas'

St Thomas St Bart's St George's PCC Consol adj TOTAL 2023 (£) 4693.46 13089.87 10357.70 0.00 28141.03 1238.00 10798.91 460.55 600.00 13097.46 58.50 0.00 58.50 2383.15 8944.19 587.73 0.00 11915.07 2040.52 5444.45 2926.93 0.00 10411.90 0.00 0.00	St Thomas St Bart's St George's PCC Consol adj TOTAL 2023 (£) 4693.46 13089.87 10357.70 0.00 28141.03 1238.00 10798.91 460.55 600.00 13097.46 58.50 0.00 58.50 2383.15 8944.19 587.73 0.00 11915.07 2040.52 5444.45 2926.93 0.00 10411.90 0.00 0.00	St Thomas St Bart's St George's PCC Consol adj TOTAL 2023 (£) 4693.46 13089.87 10357.70 0.00 28141.03 1238.00 10798.91 460.55 600.00 13097.46 58.50 0.00 58.50 2383.15 8944.19 587.73 0.00 11915.07 2040.52 5444.45 2926.93 0.00 10411.90 0.00 0.00	St Thomas St Bart's St George's PCC Consol adj TOTAL 2023 (£) 4693.46 13089.87 10357.70 0.00 28141.03 1238.00 10798.91 460.55 600.00 13097.46 58.50 0.00 58.50 2383.15 8944.19 587.73 0.00 11915.07 2040.52 5444.45 2926.93 0.00 10411.90 0.00 0.00	St Thomas St Bart's St George's PCC Consol adj TOTAL 2023 (£) 4693.46 13089.87 10357.70 0.00 28141.03 1238.00 10798.91 460.55 600.00 13097.46 58.50 0.00 58.50 2383.15 8944.19 587.73 0.00 11915.07 2040.52 5444.45 2926.93 0.00 10411.90 0.00 0.00	St Thomas St Bart's St George's PCC Consol adj TOTAL 2023 (£) 4693.46 13089.87 10357.70 0.00 28141.03 1238.00 10798.91 460.55 600.00 13097.46 58.50 0.00 58.50 2383.15 8944.19 587.73 0.00 11915.07 2040.52 5444.45 2926.93 0.00 10411.90 0.00 0.00
10355.13	38335.92	14332.91	600.00	0.00	63623.96
2708.09 531.19 0.00 3239.28 0.00 0.00 18758.00 0.00 18758.00 20.00 0.00 20.00 322.65 2497.40 106.00 0.00 2926.05 435.44 0.00 435.44 245.00 0.00 245.00 0.00 0.00
567.65	24418.93	637.19	0.00	0.00	25623.77
0.00 0.00 118.45 0.00 118.45 0.00 0.00 115.50 0.00 115.50 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 150.00 150.00 0.00 0.00 262.05 262.05
0.00	383.95	0.00	262.05	0.00	646.00
1966.73 1966.73 2267.04 3.94 0.00 2270.98 170.59 170.59 0.00 0.00 0.00
0.00	2267.04	3.94	170.59	1966.73	4408.30

Page 1

1560.00 0.00 640.00	200 club Sale of magazines and advertising space Room Hire OTHER SUNDRY INCOME Transfers between accounts Clergy cost sharing within the Team Sundries EXTRAORDINARY ITEMS Insurance reimbursement Bank Error corrections Energy costs grant from diocese Balancing adjustment	1495.00 2078.05	1495.00 2078.05	1495.00 2078.05	1495.00 2078.05	0.00 0.00 0.00	1495.00 0.00 2078.05
2200.00		0.00	2078.05	0.00	1495.00	0.00	3573.05
0.00 984.53 0.00		43219.07 649.80 383.00				-43219.07	0.00 649.80 383.00
984.53		0.00	383.00	0.00	43868.87	-43219.07	1032.80
3441.60 0.00 1250.00 60.50		120.00 1250.00 330.00				0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00	120.00 0.00 1580.00 0.00
4752.10		0.00	1370.00	0.00	330.00	0.00	1700.00

100743.10	INCOME TOTALS	10922.78	69236.89	14974.04	46726.51	-41252.34	100607.88

Page 2

The Parochial Church Council of the Ecclesiastical Parish of St Bartholomew 2023 Accounts including the churches of St Bartholomew's, St George's and St Thomas'

EXPENDITURE 2022 (£) WORK OF THE CHURCH Leadership 787.85 Ministerial expenses 0.00 PCC expenses (including parish share) 44813.69 Cof E parish share 0.00 Clergy cost sharing within the Team 0.00 Deanery & other subscriptions	St Thomas St Barts St George's PCC Consol adj 2023 (£) 450.00 477.27 927.27 7250.00 26000.00 9969.07 -43219.07 0.00 2040.52 5444.45 2926.93 38700.00 49111.90 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00	St Thomas St Barts St George's PCC Consol adj 2023 (£) 450.00 477.27 927.27 7250.00 26000.00 9969.07 -43219.07 0.00 2040.52 5444.45 2926.93 38700.00 49111.90 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00	St Thomas St Barts St George's PCC Consol adj 2023 (£) 450.00 477.27 927.27 7250.00 26000.00 9969.07 -43219.07 0.00 2040.52 5444.45 2926.93 38700.00 49111.90 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00	St Thomas St Barts St George's PCC Consol adj 2023 (£) 450.00 477.27 927.27 7250.00 26000.00 9969.07 -43219.07 0.00 2040.52 5444.45 2926.93 38700.00 49111.90 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00	St Thomas St Barts St George's PCC Consol adj 2023 (£) 450.00 477.27 927.27 7250.00 26000.00 9969.07 -43219.07 0.00 2040.52 5444.45 2926.93 38700.00 49111.90 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00	St Thomas St Barts St George's PCC Consol adj 2023 (£) 450.00 477.27 927.27 7250.00 26000.00 9969.07 -43219.07 0.00 2040.52 5444.45 2926.93 38700.00 49111.90 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00
45601.54	9290.52	31894.45	12896.00	39177.27	-43219.07	50039.17
Services 11062.00 Manchester DBF (weddings & Funerals) 1565.02 Church Services expenses 5844.00 Organists and choir 1855.00 Vergers 800.00 Payments to bell ringers 21126.02 Outreach 149.98 Training and education (inc Sunday School) 0.00 Mother and Toddler 0.00 Urban outreach 511.20 Luncheon Club 0.00 Concerts and events 541.85 Youth work 1203.03 Buildings and Equipment 2896.80 Rectory Council tax / water rates 7050.81 Church maintenance (incl. cleaning) 3124.00 Churchyard maintenance 0.00 Rectory / Vicarage maintenance 7103.54 Utilities 287.47 Flowers and materials 290.85 Purchase of church equipment 20753.47	9062.00 0.00 9062.00 460.64 1043.87 41.52 510.44 2056.47 5785.90 150.00 5935.90 2035.00 0.00 2035.00 0.00 0.00
	460.64	17926.77	191.52	510.44	0.00	19089.37
	232.83 135.59 0.00 368.42 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 319.50 0.00 319.50 500.00 15.00 0.00 515.00 222.25 222.25
	232.83	955.09	15.00	222.25	0.00	1425.17
	2929.47 2929.47 800.00 5328.73 80.00 6208.73 3766.21 3766.21 0.00 0.00 9890.60 70.00 9960.60 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00
20753.47	800.00	18985.54	150.00	2929.47	0.00	22865.01

Page 3

1845.48 0.00 5.00 661.50 1680.43 325.00 328.00 0.00 399.74 3925.35 0.00 0.00	Adminstration Printing, postage and stationery Examiner's fees Sundry Equipment maintenance / rental Telephones and internet Website fees Copyright licence Bank charges Planned giving envelopes Insurance Stewardship campaign materials Transfers between accounts GRANTS Children's society Church Schools Royal British Legion Poppy appeal Church council grants to School Governors Christian Aid Bishops fund Miscellaneous Gift for minister Bolton Hospice EXPENSES OF TRADING 200 Club winners plus licence fee Crux magazine EXTRAORDINARY ITEMS Write-back of uncashed cheques from previous year Transfer to PCC	24.98 468.20 837.60 1330.78 0.00 0.00 772.00 772.00 567.00 567.00 774.02 686.66 1460.68 373.00 373.00 163.00 188.00 351.00 0.00 411.72 411.72 814.42 2760.38 647.27 4222.07 0.00 0.00 1580.00 0.00 1580.00	24.98 468.20 837.60 1330.78 0.00 0.00 772.00 772.00 567.00 567.00 774.02 686.66 1460.68 373.00 373.00 163.00 188.00 351.00 0.00 411.72 411.72 814.42 2760.38 647.27 4222.07 0.00 0.00 1580.00 0.00 1580.00	24.98 468.20 837.60 1330.78 0.00 0.00 772.00 772.00 567.00 567.00 774.02 686.66 1460.68 373.00 373.00 163.00 188.00 351.00 0.00 411.72 411.72 814.42 2760.38 647.27 4222.07 0.00 0.00 1580.00 0.00 1580.00	24.98 468.20 837.60 1330.78 0.00 0.00 772.00 772.00 567.00 567.00 774.02 686.66 1460.68 373.00 373.00 163.00 188.00 351.00 0.00 411.72 411.72 814.42 2760.38 647.27 4222.07 0.00 0.00 1580.00 0.00 1580.00	24.98 468.20 837.60 1330.78 0.00 0.00 772.00 772.00 567.00 567.00 774.02 686.66 1460.68 373.00 373.00 163.00 188.00 351.00 0.00 411.72 411.72 814.42 2760.38 647.27 4222.07 0.00 0.00 1580.00 0.00 1580.00	24.98 468.20 837.60 1330.78 0.00 0.00 772.00 772.00 567.00 567.00 774.02 686.66 1460.68 373.00 373.00 163.00 188.00 351.00 0.00 411.72 411.72 814.42 2760.38 647.27 4222.07 0.00 0.00 1580.00 0.00 1580.00
9170.50		1002.40	4774.60	835.27	4455.98	0.00	11068.25
93.84 4916.39 0.00 0.00 12.50 0.00 360.70 0.00 0.00		115.50 0.00 115.50 1060.00 2083.19 0.00 3143.19 214.00 25.00 0.00 239.00 0.00 0.00 262.05 262.05 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00
5383.43		0.00	1389.50	2108.19	262.05	0.00	3759.74
962.50 0.00		817.50 817.50 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00
962.50		0.00	0.00	0.00	817.50	0.00	817.50
		0.00 0.00 -12.50 -12.50 0.00 0.00
-72.50
0.00
-72.50		0.00	0.00	0.00	-12.50	0.00	-12.50

104127.99	EXPENDITURE TOTALS	11786.39	75925.95	16195.98	48362.46	-43219.07	109051.71

-3,384.89	NET SURPLUS/(DEFICIT)	-863.61	-6689.06	-1221.94	-1635.95	1966.73	-8443.83

Page 4

The Parochial Church Council of the Ecclesiastical Parish of St Bartholomew

2023 Accounts

including the churches of St Bartholomew's, St George's and St Thomas'

STATEMENT OF MAIN ASSETS 2022 (£) TOTAL Investments and bequests 6,150.40 White Horse School - sale of nursery 13,997.92 G&A Grundy Memorial Fund-income to St Barts 8,344.34 Hart Common Sunday School and mission Church 4,188.94 Thomas Smith bequest 258.44 Banco Santander Shares - Monies held in diocesan account 32940.04 Bank accounts and cash balances St Bartholomew's 16,011.72 Current Acc 40013757 2,261.00 Gift aid account 80773344 61,537.41 CBF Deposit Fund 624108001D 390.46 Choir 2,802.85 Belfry Fund 60.00 Luncheon Club 83063.44 St George's 4,362.80 Current Account 325.35 Clubs and Societies reserve - Cash in hand 4688.15 St Thomas's 918.48 Current Account 4,075.18 Memorial Fund 317.46 Flower Fund 5311.12 PCC 18,443.67 Current Account	STATEMENT OF MAIN ASSETS 2022 (£) TOTAL Investments and bequests 6,150.40 White Horse School - sale of nursery 13,997.92 G&A Grundy Memorial Fund-income to St Barts 8,344.34 Hart Common Sunday School and mission Church 4,188.94 Thomas Smith bequest 258.44 Banco Santander Shares - Monies held in diocesan account 32940.04 Bank accounts and cash balances St Bartholomew's 16,011.72 Current Acc 40013757 2,261.00 Gift aid account 80773344 61,537.41 CBF Deposit Fund 624108001D 390.46 Choir 2,802.85 Belfry Fund 60.00 Luncheon Club 83063.44 St George's 4,362.80 Current Account 325.35 Clubs and Societies reserve - Cash in hand 4688.15 St Thomas's 918.48 Current Account 4,075.18 Memorial Fund 317.46 Flower Fund 5311.12 PCC 18,443.67 Current Account	2023 (£) St Thomas St Barts St George's PCC Consol adj TOTAL 0.00 0.00 6437.51 6437.51 0.00 0.00 15326.39 15326.39 0.00 0.00 8611.77 8611.77 0.00 0.00 4188.94 4188.94 0.00 0.00 342.16 342.16 0.00 0.00	2023 (£) St Thomas St Barts St George's PCC Consol adj TOTAL 0.00 0.00 6437.51 6437.51 0.00 0.00 15326.39 15326.39 0.00 0.00 8611.77 8611.77 0.00 0.00 4188.94 4188.94 0.00 0.00 342.16 342.16 0.00 0.00	2023 (£) St Thomas St Barts St George's PCC Consol adj TOTAL 0.00 0.00 6437.51 6437.51 0.00 0.00 15326.39 15326.39 0.00 0.00 8611.77 8611.77 0.00 0.00 4188.94 4188.94 0.00 0.00 342.16 342.16 0.00 0.00	2023 (£) St Thomas St Barts St George's PCC Consol adj TOTAL 0.00 0.00 6437.51 6437.51 0.00 0.00 15326.39 15326.39 0.00 0.00 8611.77 8611.77 0.00 0.00 4188.94 4188.94 0.00 0.00 342.16 342.16 0.00 0.00	2023 (£) St Thomas St Barts St George's PCC Consol adj TOTAL 0.00 0.00 6437.51 6437.51 0.00 0.00 15326.39 15326.39 0.00 0.00 8611.77 8611.77 0.00 0.00 4188.94 4188.94 0.00 0.00 342.16 342.16 0.00 0.00	2023 (£) St Thomas St Barts St George's PCC Consol adj TOTAL 0.00 0.00 6437.51 6437.51 0.00 0.00 15326.39 15326.39 0.00 0.00 8611.77 8611.77 0.00 0.00 4188.94 4188.94 0.00 0.00 342.16 342.16 0.00 0.00
		0.00	0.00	0.00	34906.77	0.00	34906.77
		8383.32 8383.32 2926.24 2926.24 61537.41 61537.41 303.96 303.96 2802.85 2802.85 420.60 420.60
		0.00	76374.38	0.00	0.00	0.00	76374.38
		3136.92 3136.92 329.29 329.29 0.00 0.00
		0.00	0.00	3466.21	0.00	0.00	3466.21
		438.68 438.68 3675.18 3675.18 333.65 333.65
		4447.51	0.00	0.00	0.00	0.00	4447.51
		16807.72 16807.72

144,446.42	Asset Totals	4,447.51	76,374.38	3,466.21	51,714.49	-	136,002.59
The use of the following funds is restricted: G&A Grundy Memorial Fund, Sale of White Horse nursery, Thomas Smith bequest, St Thomas Memorial fund. £6,944.15 in the St Bartholomew's accounts is designated to the Tower fund.

£14,134.00 in the St Bartholomew's accounts is designated to the St Bartholomew's Church, tower and churchyard.

Page 5

* . CHARITY COMMISSION Independent examiner's | FOR ENGLAND AND WALES report on the accounts

Section A Independent Examiner’s Report

Report to the trustees/ ORY Bee Fa —— ; members of | The PCC of the Ecclesiastical Parish of St Bartholomew, Westhoughton accounts for the year the year year Charity no | 1136063 ended | 31° | 31° 31° December 2023 2023 (if any)

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----- Start of picture text -----
On accounts for the year the year year
ended | 31° | 31° 31° December 2023 2023
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Set out on page

i report to the trustees on my examination of the accounts of the above charity (‘the Trust”) for the year ended 31%t December 2022.

Responsibilities and As the charity trustees of the Trust, you are responsible for the preparation basis of report of the accounts in accordance with the requirements of the Charities Act 2011 (“the Act”).

| report in respect of my examination of the Trust’s accounts carried out under section 145 of the 2011 Act and in carrying out my examination, | have followed the applicable Directions given by the Charity Commission under section 145(5)(b) of the Act.

Independent | have completed my examination. | confirm that no material matters have examiner's statement come to my attention in connection with the examination which gives me cause to believe that in, any material respect: * accounting records were not kept in accordance with section 130 of the Act or
e the accounts do not accord with the accounting records; or e the accounts did not comply with the applicable requirements concerning the form and content of accounts set out in the Charities (Accounts and Reports) Regulations 2008 other than any requirement that the accounts give a ‘true and fair’ view which is not a matter considered as part of an independent examination.

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| have no concerns and have come across no other matters in connection
with the examination to which attention should be drawn in order to enable a
proper understanding of the accounts to be reached.
Mn, MPa
signed: [_7iged] |
A J tang) | date: [SApi2028
Name: | Nigel Ginni TY A Da _ =|
| Barrister at Law of England England and Wales Wales
or body
(if any):
Address: | 13 Bankside
Westhoughton
BL5 2QP
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Relevant professional | Barrister at Law of England England and Wales Wales qualification(s) or body

IER

October 2018

i |

Only complete if the examiner needs to highlight matters of concern (see CC32, Independent examination of charity accounts: directions and guidance for examiners).

Give here brief details of any items that the examiner wishes to disclose.

IER

October 2018

2023-12-31-accounts