2023-12-31-accounts

==> picture [63 x 60] intentionally omitted <==

St. James’ Shere

THE PARISH OF SHERE

incorporating the villages of Gomshall, Peaslake and Shere

==> picture [228 x 16] intentionally omitted <==

==> picture [58 x 56] intentionally omitted <==

St. Mark’s Peaslake

Shere Parochial Church Council

Annual Report and

End of Year Financial Statements

Year ending 2023

Page 1

Table of Contents

1.	Ministry Report	3
2.	Financial Report	3
3.	Electoral Roll Report	5
4.	Deanery Synod Report	5
5.	Sidespeople, Welcomers and Refreshments	5
6.	Families and Children’s Work	5
7.	Flower Arrangers Reports	7
8.	Vestry Report	8
9.	Cleaners Report	8
10.	Choir Report	8
11.	Report on the Fabric, Goods and Ornaments of the Churches	9
12.	Shere Bell Tower	11
13.	Mission Support Report	11
14.	Pastoral Care Report	13
15.	Eco-church Annual Report	13
16.	Safeguarding Report	15
17.	The Parish Magazine report	15
18.	Financial Statements for the year ended 31 December 2023	17

Page 2

1. Ministry Report

Shortly after 2023 finished I wrote this to be published in our Parish Magazine: “On the window ledge of our downstairs toilet there is a small cartoon Diane placed there of Charlie Brown giving Snoopy a piggy-back. The caption reads; “In life it’s not where you go, it’s who you travel with”. Of course, she knew that “where you go” is important too – but the sentiment is clear.

For over half my life Diane was my main travel companion, but not the only one – I am very blessed not just with family and friends but also with my church and my community”.

We have spoken before about what a strong church community we have, but

==> picture [133 x 137] intentionally omitted <==

2023 really brought this home to me. I had three months Extended Ministerial Study leave over the summer, and then had Diane’s declining health, and eventual death, as my main focus in the later months of the year – but church services, events, and activities not just continued as normal, but also new things happened and were achieved.

The Arts week that was held in the Summer and the Eco Fair that was held in the Autumn both took an enormous amount of preparation and organisation – and both were a triumph. The discipleship course that we ran in the Gomshall club in October/November was well received and well attended – a sign that we are not just growing in what we do but are also growing spiritually in who we are. This spiritual growth as a congregation has continued and been built upon in 2024, and I feel is also reflected in our Sunday worship – supported by our continually growing and improving choir.

Naturally there are struggles and challenges (e.g. our outreach to children and young families) but there were also many other things achieved during the year. Too many for me to mention here but hopefully all included in the rest of this Annual Report, please do read about them.

Of course, all the above was made possible because of our Ministry Team, our Administrator Jo Norfolk, our Wardens David & Adrian and the PCC, so I am very grateful to all of them. But all those things were also made possible by the many dozens of other people who also give of themselves for the life and ministry of our church.

Shortly after my return from Study Leave I attended Charlie Hunt’s funeral and I had time, because I wasn’t leading it, to look around St James’ and notice all the members of our church community that were working so hard to make it the inspirational event that it was – not just Sarah and the ‘up front’ members of the Ministry Team, but the vergers, and the choir, and others who had stepped forward to help with all the arrangements necessary to accommodate the 500+ congregation in such a dignified manner. I was very proud of my church family that day, and then very grateful to you all when you did the same thing for me and my family at Diane’s funeral a few months later.

We’ve been thinking a lot about pilgrimage recently as a metaphor for our life journey as individuals and as a parish. I am very comfortable with the road we are travelling as a church community, and I feel very blessed by the people I am travelling with. Thank you all of you for being my companions on The Way.

Revd Tim Heaney Rector

2. Financial Report

Overall, in 2023 the Parish has incurred a deficit on our unrestricted funds (monies available for day-to-day expenditure) for the second year running of £31,000 (2022: deficit of £2,600).

Income has increased marginally by 0.7% from 2022 (£206,000 vs £204,000). However, within that figure regular planned giving, our most important source of income, has fallen by 3%. Expenditure increased to £237,000, up from £206,000 in 2022.

Income from Planned Giving through standing orders and the PGS direct debit scheme was £112,000 (2022: £114,000). The benefits of our 2021 planned giving campaign have now fully worked through and the decline

Page 3

is as a result of givers ceasing their donations, through moving away or otherwise.

Unrestricted donations rose to £17,000 (£14,900). This figure includes money collected at Carols in the Square, and a large part of the increase is through the increasing preference for cashless giving. The Goodbox contactless device at St James’ continues to collect donations from the many visitors to the church.

Collections from services decreased from over £8,000 in 2022 to £6,600. This decline reflects the general trend in society for people not to carry cash. The Old Parsonage on Lawbrook Lane continues to be let, which provided a gross income of £17,000 (£14,000), an increase of 21%, as the results of the most recent rent review are fully reflected in the annual figures.

Income from wedding and funeral fees of £11,000 reduced from 2022 mainly as a result of fewer funeral offices during the year. Magazine income was up again from £23,000 to £29,000. This is primarily because of an increase in advertising rates and advertisers returning and renewing after the pandemic.

On the expenditure side, included in our unrestricted (excluding designated) expenditure total of £237,000 (£206,000) is our diocesan parish share of £91,000 (£89,000), an increase of 1.5% (4.7%). This increase is slightly less than was predicted at the end of 2022. For comparison our 2024 parish share will increase by 5% to £95,600. Two major one-off items of expenditure at St James’ this year were £19,000 spent on repairing the roof, and £6,700 on refurbishing the South Porch.

Our mission support giving was £14,200 (£12,000). As well as donations to our long-standing regular charities of Barnabus and Amos Trust we continued to donate to the Tanzanian orphanage Larchfield. We continued to support the Camino project which you can read about elsewhere in this Report where we donated £1000. Carols in the Square raised over £4600 after costs, a stunning result, up 32% from 2022. The proceeds were shared equally between the UNICEF GAZA appeal and the Phyllis Tuckwell Hospice, who each received over £2300.

The figures for 2023 include a full year of salary payments for our church administrator and our 50% contribution towards the benefice children’s and family worker.

Expenditure on utilities, mainly gas and electricity, for our church buildings for the year was £11,000 (£10,100), an increase of 9%. This is not as great an increase as had been expected, and much less than the 45% increase experienced in 2022, and can be attributed not only to utility price rises being less than forecast, but also to results from our eco-church initiative. However we must continue to be vigilant and continue to look at ways to reduce our utilities spend, mindful that heating forms the largest part.

Expenditure on our church buildings was £34,600 (£14,900), which included the major one-off items identified above as well as other minor quinquennial repairs. There was no major maintenance expenditure incurred at St Mark’s church this year.

The net result for the year was a deficit of income over expenditure of £31,000 (2022 deficit £2,600) on unrestricted and designated funds. Adding bank and deposit balances brought forward at the beginning of the year, the balances carried forward at 31st December on unrestricted funds totaled £122,000 (2022: £149,000 and 2021: £162,000). This is the second year that our reserves have declined and is a trend that we as a church want to avoid continuing. The decline would have been more severe had we not been fortunate to benefit from an increase in the value of our investment funds lodged with the Church of England deposit fund, which increased in value by £4,900 (2022: reduction of £7,000).

We continue as part of the Camino project in partnership with the Roman Catholic Diocese of Guildford. We manage the finances. Funds are treated as a Restricted Fund, and at year end the balance was £1,900 (£3,900).

Related Party Transactions: No PCC member (Trustee) has received any benefits (2022: £0), but clergy members of the PCC have been re-imbursed expenses not exceeding £1710 (£1132) in total.

Page 4

Finally I want to thank other key members of the Parish finance team during 2023, including Stuart Madden, Ken Mead, Nick Bray and Phil Doherty and others without whose invaluable assistance managing the church finances would be much harder. In particular a special note of thanks to Nick Bray who after many years of service is handing over his role as banker for St Mark’s.

In summary the overall message this year is that we need to consider carefully how we stem the decline in our reserves, to enable us to continue thriving as a viable church delivering God’s mission in the Parish of Shere and Peaslake.

Angus Denny, Treasurer

3. Electoral Roll Report

The number on the Electoral Roll, as of 1[st] May 2023, is 173 names from 117 households (2022; 177 names from 120 households). Thank you to Howard Potter who has been the ER Officer for many years.

Jonathan Cross, Electoral Roll Officer

4. Deanery Synod Report

The proposal having been raised to reduce the number of meetings of Deanery Synod, to two each year, and then consider the consequences, in fact we managed to hold only one during 2023.

On the 6[th] July, notwithstanding an impressive list of apologies, including your lay chairman, the Area Dean Canon Roy Woodhams welcomed those who were able to attend, and he ran through a number of house keeping points, starting with the election of a new secretary to Synod, Nicola Craven-Smith. All present were in favour! Roy also said that he would like to see another member of the laity join the Leadership Team, which meets two or three times a year and presently comprises, in addition to himself, Revd. Sally Davis, Revd. Sarah Hutton, Tony Robinson the Treasurer, and myself. The meeting was pleased to vote Jill Parrott, of Bramley, into this position.

Revd. John Valentine, the Dean of the Local Ministry Programme spoke of the new initiatives in LMP, which is a non-residential theological college where ordinands and locally licensed ministers are trained, and he also introduced a two-year course offering training or retraining towards becoming a Lay Associate Minister. Attendees were invited to look to their congregations for potential candidates.

The formal decision to reduce the number of meetings to two, was made at this meeting of Deanery Synod, although not all in favour, and some suggested that more should be held, rather than fewer. However, the new arrangements are not final.

We will be holding the right number of meetings in 2024, as the first of these will be on the 23[rd] January.

Martin Betts Deanery Synod Representative

5. Sidespeople, Welcomers and Refreshments

Making people feel welcome when they come to our churches is so important. At services a lot of this responsibility falls to our sidespeople and welcomers, so we have put a lot of effort into recruiting and training these last few years. Equally important are the refreshments served afterwards.

Thank you to all of those who are members of both teams, and special thanks to Sarah Egerton (sidespeople) and Christine O’Loughlin (refreshments) who organise the rotas at St James’ and Christine Harrison who does both rotas at St Mark’s.

6. Families and Children’s Work

Little Fishes

Page 5

It has been another lovely year of Little Fishes on Wednesday mornings at St. Mark’s! We have our usual merry band of Little Fish that attend and have been delighted to welcome two new members this year. We said a fond farewell to Jackie Kennedy, who has worked as a childminder in Peaslake for many years. She has been such a faithful friend of Little Fishes over the years and she and the many children she has cared for will be much missed.

Now that Jackie has retired our regular group currently consists of 6 children and 7 adults which is lovely. All new members are welcome, and we have advertised at the recently reinstated Peaslake Toddler Group (held on the last Thursday of the month in the Village Hall). We also have links with Peaslake Nursery and School.

We have enjoyed re-telling the Bible stories - from Noah’s Ark through to the Christmas Story and many besides - singing lots of songs and being creative with crafts and colouring. The refreshments at the end provide an opportunity for the children to play together and for the grown-ups to catch up.

We are looking forward to the year ahead :-)

Shiona Bacon

Family Feast

We had some wonderful individual Family Feast meetings last year and a huge thank you is due to the team of volunteers who helped with leading the crafts and activities and supplied the sumptuous teas for the children and cake and refreshments for the adults. Lots of fun was had and it was wonderful to help the children who came to learn more about God and to see them grow in their faith and understanding. When we restarted Family Feast after the pandemic it was conspicuous that numbers attending regularly had dropped far more than with our other services. We were aware that this was a national trend however and hoped to gradually attract people back and attract new participants. Sadly, this has not been the case and although a few specific meetings bucked the trend average attendance was disappointing across 2023. In 2024 we will therefore be reviewing the services we provide to families and children and assessing the future of Family Feast going forward.

Revd Tim Heaney Rector

Holiday Club

This was another successful Holiday Club, much appreciated by children and parents. As always it was a valuable experience for young leaders too. After a reduced number of children in 2022, which was the first year it was possible to run in person after the pandemic restrictions, bookings were back in the pre-pandemic range (average daily attendance was 56). It was particularly good that the highest-ever proportion of children were booked for all four days. It was also good to see children living in Chilworth back in the numbers after their mysterious absence last year. The key concern was recruiting enough adult and teenage help for the number of children. We had enough leaders and helpers to run safely and successfully, but more would be a definite help and would also allow greater assistance for any children with special educational needs. The online booking system is proving its worth. Overall feedback from parents and children has been extremely positive and it is clear that Ian and Elaine Coules retain their gifts of communication. Next year the available leadership will change. We hope that Holiday Club will run in some form, but decisions will be needed on what is appropriate and achievable.

Revd Andrew Pearson Minister for Albury

Page 6

Schools Report

“Let the little children come to me”, says our Lord.

The children in the schools in our Parish are of great importance, and it is a real privilege and joy to have the access that we do in both our schools, in Shere and in Peaslake.

Each school has a church - led assembly each week, Shere on a Monday afternoon and Peaslake on a Wednesday morning. Four of us - Rector Tim, Rev Mike Currier, Rev Rosemary Mason and Cathy Mead, take these on a rota basis, and it is working very well. This year, we have continued to have proactive joint meetings with both schools, we use assembly topics suggested to and by the schools, and this is helping us to fit in better with their overall curriculum.

In January, the overall topic was being loving and serving our community. Starting with the Epiphany, we then showed how Jesus acted out of love, such as at the wedding at Cana, moving on to the Sermon on the Mount, then Palm Sunday and Easter. In the summer we focussed on what it means to be a Christian, using people such as St. Alban and St. James as examples. The whole emphasis was on loving one another. The Christmas term saw us with a weekly cliff-hanger of a story about a candle-maker, which leads very well up to Christmas. This was extremely popular with the children, and there was always an audible sigh when we said, “I’ll tell you the next bit next week”.

It is always a delight when the children come into either of our churches, whether that is for their Nativity plays, to explore , for example, the different liturgical colours, to join in our Harvest or Mothering Sunday or Father’s day services, to come to the War memorial as a school to lay a wreath, for their end-of-term celebrations, or for any other reason. It is very important, we feel, that they feel relaxed and “at home” in our churches, and that they come to know the love of God in their lives. We welcome them and their parents and families with open arms. Our sincere thanks go to the headteachers, all the staff and the pupils of both our schools, for always making us feel so welcome.

Revd. Rosemary Mason

7. Flower Arrangers Reports

St James’ Flower Team

Eight Ladies very kindly provide flower arrangements at Easter, Harvest and Christmas time to enable a lovely display throughout the Church. Five of these Ladies also provide several fortnightly arrangements on the pedestal adjacent to the Altar during the remainder of the year. Three of these Ladies do not worship at St. James’ Church, so we feel extremely lucky that they are willing to give of their expertise. The increased cost of flowers continues to be a problem and therefore most flower arrangers donate the cost of these. However, it would be helpful to be allocated a budget for the provision of at least the cost of the Easter lilies.

We now await the wedding scheduled for 2024 in the hope that some brides will leave an arrangement in the Church after their wedding!

Lesley Childs

St Mark’s Flower Team

Many thanks to the loyal team of Flower Arrangers who work hard to keep St. Mark’s looking lovely week by week and for the Special Festivals. This is much appreciated by the congregation and visitors.

Anne Heyes

Page 7

8. Vestry Report

St James’

It was another busy year for the Vestry Team preparing the requirements for services, then clearing away and washing up afterwards. Our thanks to the Communion Assistants who lay the altar if it is a Service with Communion.

Needless to say, Easter and Christmas are our busiest times. The church is fortunate in having several sets of Communion silverware which enables us to prepare the wine and wafers for several services in advance. Before the present team evolved, Pat Simmonds was the church’s Sacristan for 25 years. A Paten (used for the wafer to be blessed) was commissioned to commemorate her exceptional service to the church and presented to her in the Spring. This partners the Ciboreum (used for the congregation’s wafers) she gave several years ago in memory of her husband.

Cathy Mead

St Mark’s

Thank you also to the small group who continue to do a similar job at St Mark’s. It is less complicated but there are also fewer of them, so their input and support of David and Christine is much appreciated.

9. Cleaners Report

St. James’

A stalwart trio arrive at 09:00 every Saturday morning to clean St James’. Each team has their preferred way of working which means that over the course of a month, all lower-level areas receive good attention. In September we borrowed Howard Potter’s extraordinary set of extending brushes, enabling the accumulated dust and cobwebs to be banished from the ledges below the rafters then from down the full height of the walls. 17 determined souls, working as a very efficient team, ensured that all rarely touched areas and items received attention.

One member has had to retire, and we are grateful to Geri Wells for joining us as her replacement.

Cathy Mead

St Mark’s

Thank you also to those who clean St Mark’s, and especially Helen Mills who organises the rota.

10. Choir Report

The choir had a very busy and productive year in 2023. Highlighted events included a visit to sing evensong with the choir of St Nicholas in Cranleigh in January and they then joined us for our Palm Sunday evening service in April. The music for this service went from the triumphal splendour of Handel’s Lift up your heads announcing Christ’s entry into Jerusalem to more meditative and reflective works as we looked forward to Holy Week. The choir sang Taize chants for the Maundy Thursday service and then split as usual for Easter morning.

The main focus of the summer months was in preparing for the summer concert in the Arts Festival. This was a great focal point and the choir worked hard to learn some fairly demanding music including Schubert’s Mass in G and Stanford’s Te deum . The choir and audience particularly enjoyed the gospel items including Ken Burton’s Put on the armour of the Lord and Reni Arbo’s Crossing the bar.

Page 8

When the choir returned in September, we had an upswell in choir membership and by the time of writing this report we have one new soprano, two new altos and two basses. The choir sang their usual All Souls service which included How lovely are they dwellings by Brahms and Thou wilt keep him in perfect peace by Wesley. This was followed by another joint service, this time in Cranleigh, for an evening advent Carol service. This was a splendid event and, if we decide to do this annually, then it would be great to encourage more of our own congregation to join and participate. This is a well-established event in Cranleigh and seemed a fitting way to begin Advent. However, it did raise comments in the choir about past Advent services at Peaslake which I discuss further at the end of this report.

After a year in the wilderness, our plans to smarten up the choir by buying surplices was finally realised and many thanks go to Cathy Mead for gently pushing that through. We think it has made a splendid difference and they were first worn for the Carol service in December. With the influx of new members, the choir is now capable of tackling more challenging works, either because these pieces require more singers or because greater numbers allows for greater confidence! Such was the case for the Carol service when the choir sang Paul Manz’s E’en so Lord Jesus quickly come and Peter Warlock’s Bethlehem Down, both fine pieces but quite demanding in terms of tuning and ensemble. In addition, having such a capable choir is a particular strength to the community in difficult times and I know that they were honored to be able to support Tim and his family by singing at Diane’s funeral, and they did this extremely well opening the service with Faure’s Kyrie from the Requiem which was in their repertoire.

Due to later dates, Epiphany this year seemed to go on for quite a long time into January and this gave the opportunity to sing Mendelssohn’s There shall a star from Jacob come forth which has become a form choir favourite and was enjoyed by the congregation at Peaslake, although the proximity of the rather loud choir and those taking communion was commented on. We were also able to sing Rutter’s Carol of the Magi with sublime cello accompaniment from Jenny Janse. Candelmas came around and we sang Eccard’s When to the temple Mary went and we entered Lent with Wesley’s Wash me thoroughly. At the time of writing, the choir is preparing for Palm Sunday once again with the choir of St Nicholas, Cranleigh.

So, the choir has been very productive, membership is strong and we have learned a very significant amount of new music. The choir has become better and better at learning and performing new music and they should be commended for their efforts and commitments. In particular, Cathy Mead does a huge amount to ensure smooth running, Rosanna Collingwood who often helps with music and Olivia Ames-Lewis who binds our broken hymn books!

Thoughts for the future

In order to keep things moving forward I have had to mention attendance at rehearsals and services a few times. The way we run the choir is very ‘family friendly’ but I have started to ask for a little more commitment for extra services for which I am contracted to play: Palm Sunday, All Souls and the Carol Service which become difficult if numbers fluctuate too much.

Prompted by our participation at the Cranleigh Advent service, we have had a conversation about Advent services and the choir would like to pursue the idea of having the morning service on Advent Sunday at Peaslake as an Advent carol service.

It would also be good to think of lighting solutions for choir rehearsals at Shere as it can be rather dark in the winter months.

Doug McIlwraith on behalf of the Choir

11. Report on the Fabric, Goods and Ornaments of the Churches

I am very grateful to every member of our Property Team who together do so much to keep our buildings in such good repair. Special mention this year however must go to three people: Firstly, David Harrison who does so much at St Mark’s (see his report below). Secondly Roger Moulden, who as well as being the previous chair of the Property Team has taken the practical lead at St James’ for years and very kindly continued to do so in view of my situation last year. His overseeing of the quinquennial work mentioned

Page 9

below is very much appreciated. Thirdly John Parker, who has also been a member of the team for many years and has finally decided to stand down. His experience and contribution will be much missed, as will his specific input to the care of the tower at St James’ and longstanding maintenance of the Shere churchyard and graveyard.

Report on the Fabric, Goods and Ornaments of St James’ Church, Shere

As mentioned in the financial report the two major one-off items of expenditure this year were £19,000 spent on repairing the Northern slope of the Chancel roof, and £6,700 on refurbishing the South Porch (including a new storage cupboard for the flower and refreshment teams use). Both roofs were identified as part of the recent quinquennial report undertaken by the church architect – a five-yearly assessment of the condition of the church building and fabric. Other smaller but essential quinquennial work was also undertaken, and we are well on target to complete it all before the next one.

Thank you also to the Pilgrimage Team who are working on signage and decoration to improve the visitor experience for pilgrims and tourists (and all those in between).

Tim Heaney – Chair, Property Team.

Report on the Fabric, Goods and Ornaments of St Mark’s Church, Peaslake

The fabric of St Mark’s is in reasonable order with no specific defects awaiting attention. The presence of bats continues to be an issue in warmer weather both for the weekly cleaning team and at other times when sweeping up is required before an event. Other subjects are outlined below.

Routine Servicing and Inspections

Routine servicing and inspections were carried out during the year for Heating, Lightning Protection, Clock, Organ and Fire Extinguishers. This last also included the OSR and Parish Office in its’ scope.

Broadband and Card Reader

The Broadband cable was pulled through, via an agreed route, into the church on 31[st] May. Earlier, the external cable had been trenched in from the fence line through to the vestry wall, and this internal route is located via the eaves to a termination point in the sound system cupboard. Installing the cable was undertaken after prior consultation with the Diocesan Architect. On the same day the fibre inner cable was blown through. A router was subsequently installed in the sound system cupboard and the broadband made live.

A card reader was installed, initially located above the sound cupboard, but subsequently relocated to a position adjacent to the main door.

Electrics

Servicing of the church lighting was carried out involving the PIR light at the west end, the organ light, and the outside light, and including the fitting of an additional light for the choir stalls. An extension lead was also fitted to power the card reader.

Heating

The central heating system has been set to provide heating for services and events and also to come on for short periods at regular intervals for reasons of building maintenance particularly in respect of the organ and the fitted cabinets at the west end. Adgas, the heating contractor, attended to correct a leak at a radiator valve and at the same time checked all the radiator valves in the church. A fan heater has been provided for the space at the rear of the altar.

Goods and Ornaments

Goods and ornaments are generally satisfactory. It should be mentioned that the altar frontals should be kept in review to ensure that any maintenance is carried out in a timely manner.

Churchyard and Cemetery

The churchyard and cemetery have had grass cutting and strimming on a regular programme for the year depending on the seasonal needs. Trees are kept in review and the cherry tree near the church is scheduled for canopy reduction in early 2024. Thank you to Chris Lewis, my predecessor as Church Warden, for the work she does in looking after the cemetery.

David Harrison, Churchwarden

Page 10

Report on the Fabric, Goods and Ornaments of the Old School Room and Parish Office

These are generally in good condition. The water heater in the Parish Office was replaced on 8[th] November, and external painting of the building is scheduled for Spring 2024. We are also exploring the possibility of a new entrance that will provide wheelchair access.

Special thanks to Christine Harrison who oversees the day to day running of the Old School Room and all its external hires.

Tim Heaney – Rector

12. Shere Bell Tower

It has been a much quieter year for the bell ringers, despite the amount of noise that our activity creates. The biggest event was the Coronation of King Charles III for which we rang a quarter peal of Grandsire Doubles as our contribution to the celebrations on the Sunday morning after the main event. We also held a session of open ringing for anyone who wanted to join in during the hour before the ceremony began, and we recorded this with a group photograph.

We have the same band of 11 regular ringers as a year ago, and we are grateful for the occasional support of Sam Norman when he is home from university. We have been joined by Rosemary Carr, who learned to ring many years ago and is now trying to combine this with her role singing in the choir, and we were very grateful for her help at a couple of weddings last summer. We also have two new learners, Ted Horton and Carol Glasstone, who are just moving on from basic bell-handling to start ringing rounds with the band. We have been unable to recruit any young people to learn and it is a concern that we find this so difficult as most of us find that our own abilities seem to decline. At least we have had no retirements during the last 12 months, and our former tower captain John Parker continues to ring regularly, and we are very grateful for all of this.

We rang for 11 weddings during the summer of 2023, and managed to do this without needing to call for help from neighbouring towers. I believe that we also rang for every regular service that we might have been expected to mark, and several funerals in addition.

The bells themselves remain in good condition, so far as we can tell. The tower clock suffered a failure however, when the nut securing its hands fell off. Fortunately Bill Egerton was able to find the nut and restore it to its proper place so that the clock continues to display the time as well as chiming the hours.

Graham Hughes, Tower Captain

13. Mission Support Report

Contributions from Caroline Evans, Tim Heaney, Javid Kumar, Lesley Childs and Marilyn Jarrett

Our Parish gives a guaranteed source of income to four main charities. For 2023 these were:

Barnabus

The Parish of Shere has continued to provide financial support to Barnabus, the Christian Homeless Centre in Manchester, during the last year. Sky-high rents, a steep rise in no fault Section 21 evictions, family breakdowns and people’s inability to withstand the housing and cost of living crises have all converged on homelessness with the result that numbers have risen dramatically and Barnabus has many, many more people seeking their assistance. The good news is that Barnabus raised enough funds to get their supported housing project up and running. They now have three flats housing five people and a house with two tenants. Following a successful appeal through the “Big Give” they have raised enough to employ two further members of staff to support their clients further. Our Parish contributed £2,750 to the “Big Give” Appeal allowing a total of £5,500 to be given to Barnabus.

Page 11

Yvonne Hope, the Chief Executive, visited the Parish in March, and gave a lively and inspiring talk at the 10am service in St Mark’s, updating the congregation on the work of Barnabus, and answering queries/requests for further information afterwards.

Al Ahli Hospital

Due to the allocation of funds from the PCC budget to three instead of four charities from the previous year our donation to the Al Ahli increased from £2000 to £2,750. This was paid out through Amos, who will be distributing the funds to the Hospital through local intermediaries. Subsequent to the events of October 7 and the ensuing war and continuing devastation in Gaza, all donations will be used to ensure that whatever aid gets through will be used for saving lives at the existential level. Amos’ special Gaza Appeal at Christmas raised over £100,000. Despite the turmoil, the Hospital remained, in mid-January (2024) as one of a few still functioning in any capacity. It is operating with a single medical team of seven doctors serving ninety patients, as well as emergency cover for wartime injuries. The situation underlines the importance of our continuing support.

The Larchfield Orphanage

Larchfield is a purpose-built children’s home in Tanzania which serves as a safe and secure refuge for 50+ children in the Mkuranga district of Tanzania (south of Dar-es-Salaam). Many of the children are there because their families have been dislocated and destroyed by HIV.

The project also includes a centre for vocational training in agriculture and our donations are being used to fund the planting of papaya, okra and guava trees plus peanuts and lentils to aid the agricultural project and sustainability initiative. The aim is to be able to feed the Larchfield family and generate revenue by selling and distributing the produce in the market.

The Camino Project

The Mission Support group introduced a fourth charity during the summer of 2022, called the Camino Project: a partnership of three Churches working together to sponsor the resettlement of a refugee family locally. With the initial £9,000 raised, as required by the Home Office, an application for a family was made and all subsequent input, financial and other has been shared by all partners: our Parish, the Catholic Church of Guildford and Rev. Diane Peters, ex-Diocesan representative for resettlement of refugees with her Anglican Church of St Francis in North Guildford. The group had rented and refurbished a ground floor two-bedroom flat in Onslow Village in June. However, the Syrian refugee family (which the Home Office offered to us as the parents needed hospital care, and flat was close to the Royal Surrey hospital) didn’t arrive until December 2022. The Almidani family were delighted with the warmth of our welcome at their new, well-furnished home.

Over the first months of 2023 Camino team’s specialist members were busy helping the family to learn the practicalities of daily life in England - setting up a bank account, budgeting for regular payments of rent and utility services and dealing with the complex benefit system. We were later joined by a retired GP who helps with their special health needs. It took until mid-spring term to obtain a school place for their 15-year-old son, but he was finally allowed to join a pre-GCSE class in St. Peters Catholic School. Camino’s ex-teachers of ESOL provided the family with the required 8 hours English language tuition per week, until classes became available through Guildford Council.

Meanwhile team members and a few Syrian friends have shared driving the family to the supermarket and their various appointments, and to familiarise them with the surrounding area. They are now able to use the buses and become more independent. The Camino Team held a party in December to celebrate the family’s first year in England where Syrian and English friends shared genial company and an overwhelming amount of food, much of it supplied by Mrs. Almidani – an exceptional cook! Both Mr and Mrs Almidani continue to receive care from the RSCH because of their health problems.

Food Bank – we continue to collect and deliver donated food and hygiene items to the local foodbanks, alternating each month between the Salvation Army in Guildford and the North Guildford food banks. We

Page 12

delivered 15 carloads of food/hygiene products during the year. In August and December, we also delivered food to the Food Larder in Gomshall, to add to their stocks. Our local donation points are in St James’ and St Mark’s, and food purchased at the Coop in Shere can be left at the counter for the food banks.

Children's Society Boxes – £905.47 has been collected in 2023.

14. Pastoral Care Report

I am very grateful to the members of the Teams (led by Judy Potter in Shere and Anne Currier & Christine Harrison in Peaslake) who try to keep an eye out for anyone in the Parish who is ill, housebound, or in particular need. At any one time there are usually about 40 people on our list. If appropriate we will try to keep in touch and sometimes visit (possibly with home communion). Of course, we also pray for them. Each team meets regularly to make sure we are not missing anyone, and occasionally the two teams meet to update on progress.

Revd Tim Heaney , Rector

15. Eco-church Annual Report

Eco Church officers: Jenny Janse and Shiona Bacon

Our first full year of Parish of Shere Eco Church has been very active. On Sunday 15th January, Alison Moulden, Guildford diocese Environment Officer, spoke at our morning service in St Mark’s. Alison challenged us and encouraged us to make environmental sustainability and awareness a significant importance in our personal lives as well as in our church and community goals.

In November 2022 we achieved Bronze Eco Church awards for both our churches (mostly a fact-finding exercise). Since then, we have been working towards our Silver awards. This is a much larger, timeconsuming challenge with much work needed in the wider community as well within the church community. The five areas of challenge concern the environmental sustainability of our energy use in church buildings, in our resources (eg paper, refreshments, cleaning products), encouraging biodiversity on our land, a green awareness in our worship and teaching, community and global engagement, and the environmental sustainability of our individual and community lifestyles (including personal audits).

Since January 2023, we have been writing a monthly Eco Church page in Shere Parish Magazine as part of our community engagement.

Biodiversity Survey

The first Peaslake Cemetery Biodiversity Survey took place on 4[th] June. Our survey was part of the national ‘Love your burial ground week’ survey, or ‘Big Count’ organised by the charity ‘Caring for God’s Acre’. St Mark’s was one of 8 churches in Surrey to have taken part this year. Twenty-eight adults and five children helped identify and record some of the many different species of flora and fauna in the cemetery. We were particularly delighted that Dr June Chatfield, an expert in mosses, lichens, woodlice, slugs, snails (and it seems, most things to do with Natural History), came to help. It was fascinating discovering not only the beautiful flora and fauna but their fabulous names: heath bedstraw, frizzled pin-cushion moss, farinose cartilage lichen, a malachite beetle, hedgehog slug, and caterpillars from the antler moth and the common quaker and mottled umbar. Of course, we have the usual local array of bluebells, oaks, rhododendrons, foxgloves, holly etc.

Peaslake Fair

We had our first Eco Church stall at Peaslake Fair in August. As well as telling people about Eco Church we raised money to twin the Old School Room toilet with an earth toilet in Zambia, through the charity TearFund. This was so successful that we continued to fund raise at the Harvest Festival tea and Eco Fair,

Page 13

and by the end of September had also twinned both the ladies and gent’s toilets in Peaslake Memorial Hall with toilets in Nepal and Malawi.

First Shere Parish Eco Weekend, St James’, Shere, 16[th] and 17[th] September

More than 250 people attended the Eco Fair and approximately 80 people attended the film night. The weekend was organised in conjunction with Tillingbourne.Earth.

St James’ was transformed into a beautiful film venue by Christian Staunskjaer and Shere Green Cinema. The massive screen was hung from the church’s central arch for the showing of David Attenborough’s life witness statement, “A Life on Our Planet”.

Our Eco Fair was an event of many parts: colourful stalls run by conservation and wildlife charities (Surrey Wildlife Trust, West Surrey Badger Group, Surrey Dormouse Group, Friends of the Hurtwood, Guildford Beekeepers) and environmental and action groups (Extinction Rebellion, Guildford Environmental Forum, Tillingbourne. Earth). Kingfisher Farm Shop’s wonderfully tasty looking stall was filled with local produce including their delicious watercress products – encouraging people to ‘eat local’ and reduce food miles. Activities included building the new St James’ Bug Hotel (under the big yew tree), making bird feeders, colourful cloth-printing with Shere School Eco Club and reflectively choosing a pebble or shell to paint and place on the earth as a pledge to help heal our world. Youngsters absolutely loved story reading time with author Lily Murray (dressed as a ladybird) and making paper bugs.

The vegan café did a fast trade in delicious cakes, flapjacks and falafels. People enjoyed having a rummage through the pre-loved clothes swap stall, giving and taking from the produce swap stall and were inspired to pick up free packs of local wild-flower seeds.

On our Eco Church stall we tested people’s recycling knowledge and continued our mission to raise funds to ‘twin’ our local toilets through the charity TearFund, and therefore pay for earth closets to be built for communities in Africa where there is no access to sanitation.

For thirty minutes in the middle of the afternoon, the hubbub of the fair was replaced by serious, focused talks. Professor Alasdair Skelton, from the Bolin Centre for Climate Research at Stockholm University, had very generously recorded a short video specially for us, explaining the climate crisis, the cause (in simple terms), the solution (we have to stop burning fossil fuels) and questioning why after nearly 130 years of knowledge of the science, the world is not acting. Talks then explained Net Zero and how imperative it is (Simon Hallett), why we need direct action even if it inconveniences some people (Dr Rob Basto of Extinction Rebellion), about local initiatives and groups (Christian Staunskjaer of Tillingbourne.Earth, Alastair Atkinson of Guildford Environmental Forum) and an extra-ordinarily powerful speech written by 11 year old Summer Rogers, read by local youngsters CJ and Oliver. Finally there was a speech by Jenny Janse (Eco Church, on the theme of hope).

Blue hearts

In October, Shiona Bacon commissioned two blue hearts to be made for each of our churchyards. They are part of the BLUE Campaign which aims to restore biodiversity to our grass verges, gardens and churchyards. Blue hearts (on stakes) are being encouraged by Surrey County Council. Each one marks a commitment to let wildflowers and grasses grow (rather than be mowed) and help our ailing insects and birds.

Toy Swap

On 18[th] November we held a community pre-Christmas Toy Swap, in the Old School Room, Peaslake. As an Eco Church, we are encouraging sustainability through re-use and recycling.

‘Think sustainable’ Christmas Tree

Parish of Shere Eco Church entered the Cranleigh Christmas Tree Festival at St Nicolas in Cranleigh. All decorations on our tree were made by Shiona Bacon, Jenny Janse and Sandy Eve, and all made from rubbish, highlighting our world problems of unsustainability. After the festival, the tree and it’s decorations and signs were displayed in the Bray Chapel, St James’.

Page 14

Jenny Janse, Eco Church Officer

16. Safeguarding Report

The Church of England’s attitude and response to Safeguarding continues to develop rapidly: this Parish, along with the Diocese, does not tolerate abuse of any kind.

As Parish Safeguarding Officer, I am the first line of contact, together with Tim Heaney and Sarah Hutton, for any concern, however small it may seem, regarding people in our church community or parish. If any of us are alerted to a concern, we consult the Diocese’s highly skilled and experienced safeguarding team for advice – we do not solve safeguarding problems ourselves - that is for the professionals.

I also keep track of people who are required to undergo regular Safeguarding Training and DBS (Disclosure and Disbarring Service) checks. This is to ensure that the highest standard of awareness and protection of the vulnerable in the church community is maintained – of both adults and young people. Melody Barnett is our DBS validator and will contact those whose DBS need renewal, now every three years.

Safeguarding Training is required for all those who hold positions of responsibility or undertake roles within the church community - including the clergy team, the PCC, bellringing captain and choir leaders. There are 5 different training courses – depending on the role held, – from basic understanding of safeguarding to leadership, awareness of domestic abuse and recruitment - and each course has to be refreshed every three years. About 43 safeguarding courses were completed in 2023: by PCC members, clergy, bellringers and sidespeople & welcomers – and there is more to be done with new arrivals to bellringing, and people ‘refreshing’ their training.

There are public displays of our Parish Safeguarding Policy in the churches, and in prominent on the web site is a guide to how to report any Safeguarding concerns or seek help if needed.

We are well under way with our Church of England Safeguarding ‘Dashboard’ for the Parish. This is a really useful online tool which helps us to keep track of all we are required to do, which covers any church activities – or non-church activities on our premises - and generates a Safeguarding Action Plan for the PCC. We are working our way through this and have now reached the 3[rd] level, although there is always more to do, or redo, as we continue to honour our commitment to safeguarding in the parish.

The PCC and the Incumbent have a duty of care to ensure the protection of the vulnerable in the community and thus have responsibility for Safeguarding. It is a responsibility we extend to everyone, and one that we take very seriously.

Helen Murray Parish Safeguarding Officer

17. The Parish Magazine report

Editorial Report 2023/2024

Our editorial team of Rev Mike Currier, Bekah Heaney and Naia Edwards has again worked really hard to produce a good magazine packed with news and information. Their time and efforts are very much appreciated.

Huge thanks are due to Bekah for her contribution, gathering in all the reports and carrying out very professional and time-consuming proofreading every month for the last three years. She is now relinquishing her role and we after a false dawn are still looking for someone to take over the copy collecting/editing side

Page 15

of her role. Rosanna Collingwood has kindly agreed to join the team and take over the proofreading so a big thank you to her.

Highlights of the year included the King’s coronation, the Shere Arts Week and the Eco-Weekend.

We continue to print 950 copies per month with subscribers paying the full cover price of £12 for the year. Surrey Hills Print under Dominic’s management has again done us proud with great quality reproduction. And prices have been pegged at the 2023 level for the coming year, which is great news as we had to have two consecutive years of substantial hikes in advertising rates in 2022 and 2023 to offset increased production costs. This means we can keep our advertising rates at the current level – a big help for local businesses in this difficult economic climate.

Jane Kumar Editor

Distribution report

We are most grateful to all the distributors who enable over 700 people to enjoy the magazine when it is delivered to their door every month. Ken, Steve and Louisa bundle up the magazines ready to be picked up by the distributors. Margaret sends out the magazines to those that live further afield and these include subscribers from Hertford, Bucks, Yorkshire, Kent and Ayrshire. Ken receives many letters from happy readers praising how good the magazine is and stating that we are most fortunate to have such a quality magazine. During Covid it kept many people connected with the local community's activities and they were very grateful that the magazine continued to be published during those difficult times. The number of subscribers continues to go up and in one particular case their magazine is read by as many as nine people!

Ken Mead Distribution Manager

Advertising

Due to a significant increase in printing costs, a decision was taken to raise advertising rates by 15% from January 2023. This appears to have been accepted by advertisers as necessary given inflation levels. A few adverts were not renewed but this was mainly due to retirement or lack of local response. These have been compensated for by new advertisers.

Since printing costs have not gone up in 2023 it has been decided to peg the rates for 2024. Overall income is expected to remain steady due to a few larger adverts compensating for the drop in smaller ads.

Advertisements now account for 34 pages – approximately one-third of the magazine. This balance is considered to be the maximum limit, to stop detracting from the magazine content.

Advert types	No of advertisers Jan 2022	No. Advertisers December 2023	Difference
Quarter B&W	19	15	-4
QuarterColour	38	50	+12
Half Page Colour	30	28	-2
Full Page Colour	4	4	0
TOTAL	91	97

Javed Kumar, Advertising Manager

Page 16

18. Financial Statements for the year ended 31 December 2023

Notes to the Financial Statements

a) Accounting Policies

• The financial statements have been prepared in accordance with the Church Accounting Regulations 1997 together with applicable accounting standards and the Charities SORP.

• The financial statements have been prepared under the historical cost convention except for the valuation of investment assets, which are shown at market value.

b) Funds

• The general reserve includes the funds of the PCC that are not subject to any restrictions regarding their use and are available for application on the general purposes of the PCC.

• Funds designated for a particular purpose by the PCC are also unrestricted. Funds given for a particular purpose are restricted to use for that purpose.

• The accounts include all transactions, assets and liabilities for which the PCC is responsible in law. They do not include the accounts of church groups that owe their main affiliation to another body nor those that are informal gatherings of Church members.

c) Incoming resources

Voluntary income and capital sources

• Collections are recognised when received by or on behalf of the PCC.

• Income tax recoverable on gift aid donations is recognised in the same accounting year as the associated income is received.

• Grants and legacies to the PCC are accounted for as soon as the PCC is notified of its legal entitlement and the amount due.

• Funds raised by parish events are accounted for gross.

• Sales of books and magazines from the church bookstall are accounted for gross.

Other ordinary income

• Rental income from the letting of church premises is recognised for the period of rental falling within the accounting year.

Income from investments

• Dividends are recognised when receivable.

• Interest is recognised in respect of the periods for which it is earned that fall within the accounting year.

Gains and losses on investments

• Realised gains or losses are recognised when investments are sold.

• Unrealised gains or losses are accounted for on revaluation of investments at 31 December. Unrealised gains are included in the revaluation reserve.

d) Resources used

Grants

• Grants and donations are accounted for when paid over, or when awarded, if that award creates a binding obligation on the PCC.

Page 17

Activities directly related to the work of the Church

• The Diocesan quota or Parish Share is accounted for when payable. Any quota unpaid at 31 December is provided for in these accounts as an operational (though not a legal) liability, and is shown as a creditor in the Balance Sheet.

e) Fixed assets

Consecrated land and buildings and movable church furnishings

• Consecrated and beneficed property is excluded from the accounts by s.96(2)(a) of the Charities Act 1993.

• No value is placed on movable church furnishings held by the churchwardens on special trust for the PCC and which require a faculty for disposal since the PCC considers this to be inalienable property. All expenditure incurred during the year on consecrated or benefice buildings and movable church furnishings, whether maintenance or improvement, is written off as expenditure in the SOFA and separately disclosed.

Other fixtures, fittings and equipment

• Equipment is depreciated on a straight-line basis over each asset’s estimated useful life.

f) Investments

• Investments are carried at market value at 31 December.

g) Current assets

• Amounts owing to the PCC at 31 December in respect of fees, rents or other income are shown as debtors less provision for amounts that may prove uncollectible.

Page 18

Statement of Financial Activities

Shere Parochial Church Council Statement of Financial Activities For the period from 01 January 2023 to 31 December 2023

		Unrestricted	Unrestricted	Designated	Restricted	Restricted	Total Prior year	Total Prior year
		funds		funds	funds		funds total funds
Incoming resources
	Income from Donors	-		-	-		-	-
	Planned Giving	112,449		-	-	750	111,699 114,919
	Donations		17,174	-		1,880		19,054 25,426
	Collections		6,596	-	-			6,596 8,283
	Wall safe		2,044	-	-			2,044 3,000
	Events		513	-	-			513 223
	Bequests and Grants		1,660	-		2,000		3,660 7,932
	Income from Fees	-		-	-		-	-
	Weddings		5,940	-	-			5,940 5,658
	Funerals		5,014	-	-			5,014 7,199
	Income from Property & Trading	-		-	-		-	-
	Magazine		29,572	-	-			29,572 23,030
	OP Rent		17,055	-	-			17,055 13,968
	OSR Hire		1,869	-	-			1,869 1,586
	Bookstall sales		29	-	-			29 35
	Income from Investments		4,699	-	-			4,699 2,361
	Other Income		1,729	-		1,731		3,461 1,581
Total income		206,349		-		4,861	211,210 215,204
Resources used
	Mission Support & Other Giving		14,217	-		7,833		22,050 15,894
	Ministry Team		2,069	-	-			2,069 1,170
	Upkeep of Services		3,289	-		62		3,351 3,757
	Church Buildings	-		-	-		-	-
	Utilities		11,034	-	-			11,034 10,146
	Maintenance and upkeep		34,643	-	-			34,643 14,912
	Churchyard		4,457	-	-			4,457 12,353
	Other		6,466	-	-			6,466 4,685
	Music		11,768	-	-			11,768 10,739
	Diocesan, Deanery & Tower Costs	-		-	-		-	-
	Parish Share		91,033	-	-			91,033 89,622
	Deanery and Tower		150	-	-			150 90
	Events & Christian Development		13,580	-	-			13,580 11,793
	Administration	-		-	-		-	-
	Administrator		9,652	-	-			9,652 8,743
	Telephone / Internet		1,632	-	-			1,632 1,516
	Bank Charges		457	-	-			457 451
	Examiner / other		964	-		68		1,032 580
	Property and Trading	-		-	-		-	-
	Magazine		25,165	-	-			25,165 23,805
	OP		1,503	-	-			1,503 2,187
	OSR and PO		3,783	-	-			3,783 2,439
	Bookstall		1,467	-	-			1,467 3,692
Totalexpenditure		237,335		-		7,964	245,299 218,580
Net income /	(expenditure) resources before	-	30,986	-	-	3,103	-	34,089 - 3,376
Transfers:
Gross transfers between funds - in		-		-		1,000		1,000 3,000
Gross transfers between funds - out		-	1,000	-	-		-	1,000 - 3,000
Other recognised gains / losses
Gains/losses	on investment assets		4,928	-	-			4,928 - 7,057
Gains on revaluation,fixed assets, charity's own		-		-	-		-	-
Net movement in funds		-	27,058	-	-	2,103	-	29,161 - 10,433
Reconciliationof funds
Total funds broughtforward		149,278		878,900		25,591	1,053,770 1,064,202
Total funds carried forward		122,221		878,900		23,488	1,024,610 1,053,770

Page 19

Balance Sheet

Shere Parochial Church Council Balance Sheet for Year Ending 31/12/2023

	At 31/12/2023 At 31/12/2022 £ £ General Designated Restricted Endowment
Unrestricted - General Fund Designated - Rectory Premises Reserve Designated - Young People Designated - Old School Room Designated - Old Parsonage Designated - Parish Emergency Fund Restricted - Camino Restricted - StJ - General Restricted - St James - Churchyard Restricted - StJ - Spire Restricted - StM - General Restricted - StM - Cemetery Restricted - Flowers Easter Lilies Restricted - Old School Room Restricted - Choir Social Designated Restricted Fund Totals Total assets less current liabilities Liabilities Total net assets less liabilities Represented by Unrestricted Cash At Bank And In Hand Liabilities Creditors: Amounts Falling Due Net current assets less current Tangible Assets Investments Current assets Debtors Investments Fixed assets	- 875,000 - - 875,000 875,000 58,558 - - - 58,558 53,630
	58,558 875,000 - - 933,558 928,630
	4,984 - - - 4,984 7,547 57,212 - - - 57,212 55,435 13,947 3,900 24,798 - 42,646 74,510
	76,144 3,900 24,798 - 104,843 137,494
	12,481 - 1,310 - 13,791 12,354
	12,481 - 1,310 - 13,791 12,354
	63,662 3,900 23,488 - 91,051 125,139
	122,221 878,900 23,488 - 1,024,610 1,053,770
	- - - - - -
	122,221 878,900 23,488 - 1,024,610 1,053,770
	122,221 - - - 122,221 149,278 - 1,000 - - 1,000 1,000 - 600 - - 600 600 - 1,800 - - 1,800 1,800 - 875,000 - - 875,000 875,000 - 500 - - 500 500 - - 1,899 - 1,899 3,940 - - 6,952 - 6,952 6,952 - - 250 - 250 250 - - 3,295 - 3,295 3,295 - - 922 - 922 922 - - 4,765 - 4,765 4,765 - - - - - 62 - - 4,425 - 4,425 4,425 - - 979 - 979 979
	122,221 878,900 23,488 - 1,024,610 1,053,770

Balance sheet signed:

==> picture [78 x 28] intentionally omitted <==

Rev Tim Heaney, Rector

Page 20

Analysis of income and expenditure

Shere Parochial Church Council

Analysis of income and expenditure Selected period: 01 January 2023 to 31 December 2023

									Total
INCOME			General	Designated		Restricted		Thisyear	Lastyear
Income from	Donors
	0101 - PG GA (Standing Orders)		18,323	-	-			18,323	19,678
	0102 - PG GA (PGS Direct Debits)		64,128	-	-			64,128	61,989
	0110 - PG GA PGE Envelopes	-		-	-		-		338
	0201 - PG NGA (PGS & SO)		6,235	-	-			6,235	5,615
	0210 - PG NGA Envelopes and CAF		1,420	-	-			1,420	2,053
	0600 - Tax Reclaim - PG non-PGS		4,818	-	-	750		4,068	9,745
	0601 - Tax Reclaim - ex-PGS		17,523	-	-			17,523	15,498
	0450 - Donations GA & NGA		5,664	-		1,130		6,794	20,613
	0470 - Donations Online Giving		9,906	-	-			9,906	3,501
	0610 - Tax Reclaim - Donations		1,603	-		750		2,353	1,312
	0310 - Cash Collect GASDS		4,940	-	-			4,940	3,296
	0350 - WhiteE GA		1,458	-	-			1,458	2,539
	0375 - BMF Collections GASDS / NG		197	-	-			197	2,447
	0430 - Wall Safes		2,044	-	-			2,044	3,000
	0910 - Parish Events - NGA		513	-	-			513	223
Income from Donors Totals			138,778	-		1,130		139,908	151,853
Bequests and Grants
	0700 - Bequests	-		-	-		-		5,000
	0750 - Grants		1,660	-		2,000		3,660	2,932
Bequests and Grants Totals			1,660	-		2,000		3,660	7,932
Income from	Fees
	1111 - Fees - Weddings - PCC		4,065	-	-			4,065	4,103
	1112 - Fees - Weddings - Verger / Oth		1,875	-	-			1,875	1,555
	1121 - Fees - Funerals - PCC		4,079	-	-			4,079	5,849
	1122 - Fees - Funerals - Verger / Othe		935	-	-			935	1,350
Income from Fees Totals			10,954	-	-			10,954	12,857
Income from	Property & Trading
	1250 - Magazine - advertising		19,740	-	-			19,740	14,087
	1260 - Magazine - sales		1,551	-	-			1,551	1,574
	1265 - Magazine - subscriptions		8,281	-	-			8,281	7,369
	1140 - OP Rent		17,055	-	-			17,055	13,968
	1230 - Rent - OSR hire and other		1,869	-	-			1,869	1,586
	1220 - Bookstall Sales		29	-	-			29	35
Income from Property & Trading Totals			48,527	-	-			48,527	38,620
Income from	Investments
	1010 - Interest - Bank		614	-	-			614	36
	1020 - Interest - CBF / other		4,084	-	-			4,084	2,324
Income from Investments Totals			4,699	-	-			4,699	2,361
Other Income
	1210 - Unexpected Income		1,729	-		1,731		3,461	1,581
Other Income	Totals		1,729	-		1,731		3,461	1,581
Incoming resources Grand totals			206,349	-		4,861		211,210	215,204

Page 21

Analysis of income and expenditure Selected period: 01 January 2023 to 31 December 2023

Shere Parochial Church Council

					Total
EXPENDITURE	**General **	Designated	Restricted	**This year **	**Last year **
Resources used
Mission Support & Other Giving
3610 - Outward Giving - Partner 1 Barnabus	2,750	-	-	2,750	1,500
3630 - Outward Giving - Partner 3 Larchfield	2,750	-	-	2,750	500
3640 - Outward Giving - Partner 4 Amos Trust	2,750	-	-	2,750	2,000
3690 - Outward Giving - Other	5,967	-	7,833	13,800	11,894
Mission Support & Other Giving Totals	14,217	-	7,833	22,050	15,894
Ministry Team
3120 - Ministry Team - Other	1,709	-	-	1,709	1,132
3130 - Ministry Team - Training / Retreats	360	-	-	360	38
Ministry Team Totals	2,069	-	-	2,069	1,170
Upkeep of Services
3710 - Upkeep of Services - Consumables	881	-	-	881	378
3720 - Upkeep of Services - Printing	517	-	-	517	318
3730 - Upkeep of Services - Other	799	-	-	799	1,513
3740 - Upkeep of Services - Flowers	40	-	62	102	196
3750 - Upkeep of Services - Verger	1,050	-	-	1,050	1,350
Upkeep of Services Totals	3,289	-	62	3,351	3,757
Church Buildings
4510 - StJ - Gas	4,233	-	-	4,233	5,131
4520 - StJ - Electricity	3,255	-	-	3,255	2,591
4530 - StJ - Water	201	-	-	201	57
4610 - StM - Gas	2,730	-	-	2,730	1,934
4620 - StM - Electricity	613	-	-	613	432
4550 - StJ - Maintenance / Housek	32,148	-	-	32,148	10,396
4650 - StM - Maint / Housek	2,494	-	-	2,494	4,515
4540 - StJ - Churchyard	3,095	-	-	3,095	10,463
4640 - StM - Churchyard	1,361	-	-	1,361	1,890
4580 - StJ - Insurance	3,286	-	-	3,286	3,049
4590 - StJ - Other	1,466	-	-	1,466	-
4680 - StM - Insurance	1,713	-	-	1,713	1,636
Church Buildings Totals	56,601	-	-	56,601	42,097
Music
3310 - Music - Organist Fees	9,347	-	-	9,347	8,139
3330 - Music - Choir Expenses	2,155	-	-	2,155	1,205
3390 - Music - Music Licences and Other	266	-	-	266	1,394
Music Totals	11,768	-	-	11,768	10,739
Diocesan, Deanery & Tower Costs
3500 - Parish Share	91,033	-	-	91,033	89,622
3510 - Deanery & Tower	150	-	-	150	90
Diocesan, Deanery & Tower Costs Totals	91,183	-	-	91,183	89,712
Events & Christian Development
3810 - Parish Events	29	-	-	29	-
3820 - Community Engagement	2,072	-	-	2,072	549
3840 - Christian Development - Adult	397	-	-	397	1,923
3850 - Christian Development - Schools	355	-	-	355	558
3860 - Christian Development - Children & Youn	10,724	-	-	10,724	8,760
Events & Christian Development Totals	13,580	-	-	13,580	11,793
Administration
4400 - Admin - Parish Administrator	8,960	-	-	8,960	8,424
4470 - Online Giving Fees	691	-	-	691	319
4430 - Admin - Telephone / Internet	1,632	-	-	1,632	1,516
4460 - Admin - Bank Charges	457	-	-	457	451
4410 - Admin - Stationary, Postage & Books	175	-	-	175	41
4420 - Admin - Office Equipment	55	-	-	55	-
4440 - Admin - Examiner	350	-	-	350	300
4450 - Admin - PCC expenses	87	-	-	87	13
4490 - Admin - Other	295	-	68	363	224
Administration Totals	12,705	-	68	12,774	11,290
Property and Trading
5310 - Magazine - Printing	24,007	-	-	24,007	22,548
5320 - Magazine - Editor Expenses	670	-	-	670	646
5330 - Magazine - Distribution	397	-	-	397	610
5390 - Magazine - Other	90	-	-	90	-
4950 - OP - Maintenance	302	-	-	302	1,302
4990 - OP - Other	1,200	-	-	1,200	884
4710 - OSR - Utilities	2,436	-	-	2,436	1,343
4750 - OSR - Maintenance / Housekeeping	805	-	-	805	592
4760 - OSR - Insurance	541	-	-	541	503
5440 - Bookstall - Stock	1,467	-	-	1,467	3,692
Property and Trading Totals	31,919	-	-	31,919	32,125
Resources used Grand totals	237,335	-	7,964	245,299	218,580

Page 22

Movement of Funds

Shere Parochial Church Council

Fund movement summary Selected period: 01 January 2023 to 31 December 2023

Fund	Fund balances	Incoming	Outgoing	Transfers	Gains and	Journal Entries	Fund balances
	brought forward	Resources	Resources		Losses		Carried forward
Cam - Camino	£ 3,940 £ 4,861		£ 7,902	£ 1,000	-	-	£ 1,899
Rectory - Rectory Premises Reserve	£ 1,000	-	-	-	-	-	£ 1,000
General - General fund	£ 149,278 £ 206,349		£ 237,335 -£ 1,000		£ 4,928	-	£ 122,221
YP - Young People	£ 600	-	-	-	-	-	£ 600
StJ-Gen - StJ - General	£ 6,952	-	-	-	-	-	£ 6,952
StJ-C - St James - Churchyard	£ 250	-	-	-	-	-	£ 250
StJ-Spire - StJ - Spire	£ 3,295	-	-	-	-	-	£ 3,295
StM-Gen - StM - General	£ 922	-	-	-	-	-	£ 922
StM-Cem - StM - Cemetery	£ 4,765	-	-	-	-	-	£ 4,765
F-EL - Flowers Easter Lilies	£ 62	-	£ 62	-	-	-	-
OSR - Old School Room	£ 6,225	-	-	-	-	-	£ 6,225
Ch-Soc - Choir Social	£ 979	-	-	-	-	-	£ 979
OP - Old Parsonage	£ 875,000	-	-	-	-	-	£ 875,000
PEF - Parish Emergency Fund	£ 500	-	-	-	-	-	£ 500
Totals	£ 1,053,770 £ 211,210		£ 245,299	-	£ 4,928	-	£ 1,024,610

PCC Approval of the Accounts

These accounts as approved by Shere Parochial Church Council and dated 17[th] April 2024.

Signed:

==> picture [78 x 28] intentionally omitted <==

Rev Tim Heaney, Rector

Page 23

Independent Examiners Report SHERE PAROCH NCL. l1￿•p•n￿orrt Exwnin•f Report to the PCC of the Parigh of l on the ao))uqts TDr thp JpBr endwl 312L Dwrrtr arr sBt (xjt in Financial Staternellts Sect￿ ofthL8 Annual RePc￿. The rharity'5 InJ8ieAs aTh> rgsponsltAo ft>rthe prEwtats￿ of Ihe aC￿unts. TIE thiiiilfi trt&èas ￿￿$￿jer that an alidrt Is nol fhr thLR y&gr undor 144 ofthe CttaTths Azt 2DI I Ilfe Ari.") and that an vxJL¥ttht is neede(J. It my rvswnskn.lty to exarnine kn •￿nIs undèr sei•Jn 14S of ts Charts8 t4Lt the ￿K￿￿vre5 idvj ki ihè Gworal Dirocb'ons-iver, by the Ch￿t￿Y CtJmm&skjr￿S In SOCtr￿ 145,'5Xbl rf, the Chaptes Ac4 and Bas15 ollndgpftdant Examln#fs SlalEment My oxaminalvjn was ca￿le￿ out In 3CCDrdaniX th• bythc Charity Corr.mission. An e%arnn6tK￿ cf the accoL￿t￿g records kept by 17IE diliiily drid a ctsTrpar￿￿ cf the acc£wtts presenled hilh r¥txxds. h aso includes consldoratiDn of any ￿lIsUal ileiT% rjr ili¥"k)wrH% in a(%ounts. aThJ seekrig e)￿ana￿On5 Iturn the Iru3kes cKffjcem•g )y such rnattors. The ￿￿SUre$ untsrt8ken (kn noi prthvkJ• all tlp evidweb bo rBourod in an audit. arJ crnwiiwljy no is GI to whethcrthe acrrAJnb rK8senl a .11￿ and ¥iw8nd roryJt i% kne%1 tothoge attef3 SEI gut slal8MCfiI bchyw. In [L￿￿￿￿ul7 willi my Éxamina￿ffj. rm) matters Cl￿ to rny gi￿ rr eaiie& ￿ b&1￿¥0 1hat. in aiy rnatenal rB5tEcL the ?CryXlfillng wee￿S woro not kcpt in aoX¥dw￿Y￿h seclvm 130 rflhÉ CharTtstsS ALt the a(xrnnls did Th)t ￿cord with the acccwnlKIg ￿￿￿3.. or the aC0x￿t9 dKI MA (unply lli appfutde wvrenEnts ccfjcem￿g Ihp fDm 8n(J e.rm:Ant0fac(￿nts set C￿ in the Charik5 {Account5 dnd Rtstvisl RegU￿tIonS 2008 Jthertknn wiiirèmèni thai tha a0>￿￿ts a'trje an fair view which is not a part of an n¢Yar4Th1￿1 C￿n¥￿. I a¢yoss no othgr marLWB In ￿￿r.ecth?n ith examinulw lo trlch all￿tion shuJkJ bc drdvm fft Ihi% tEFKVt ￿ onr b ob13in a prw undarstandiqg of Ihe acccwDts to be ￿£thec. Mr 14.ichael Keebk ACA The Lotsge LO￿￿￿ Sir991 Shere Guildlorf GUS 9FrA 1V >)24 Page 24