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← The Parochial Church Council Of The Ecclesiastical Parish Of Winchcombe With Gretton, Sudeley Manor And Stanley Pontlarge

2025-12-31-accounts

THE PAROCHIAL CHURCH COUNCIL OF WINCHCOMBE

WITH GRETTON, SUDELEY MANOR AND STANLEY PONTLARGE

The Parish of

Winchcombe

ANNUAL REPORT

for the year January – December 2025

presented at the Annual Parochial Church Meeting

Sunday 12 April 2026

WINCHCOMBE PAROCHIAL CHURCH COUNCIL

ANNUAL REPORT January - December 2025

1. LEGAL & ADMINISTRATIVE INFORMATION

THE PAROCHIAL CHURCH COUNCIL

Meets to share with the Priest-in-charge in deciding, and in implementing, parish policy. It is legally responsible for the church buildings & furnishings and for parish property. The PCC is a charity, and registered with the Charity Commission during 2009.

ELECTED TO STANDING COMMITTEE (F&GP)

Chair Churchwardens Treasurer (Charlie Bagnall 2023) PCC Secretary Sue Crownshaw

PCC CO-OPTED TO FOSP

The members of the PCC are (as of 11 April 2026):

CLERGY (EX OFFICIO)

Rev’d Capt. David Penny CA – Chair (2023)

CHURCHWARDENS (EX OFFICIO)

Simon Andrews (2018) (Vice Chair 2019, Churchwarden 2020) Sue Proctor (Churchwarden 2024)

Simon Andrews (2023) Sue Crownshaw

METHODIST OBSERVERS (NON-VOTING)

Trevor Upton

THE LOCAL MINISTRY TEAM 2025

Revd Mike Holloway Revd Michael Hand Revd Rob Pestell Revd Wendy Ruffle

ELECTED PARISH REPRESENTATIVES

ST PETER’S, WINCHCOMBE

Abbie Shurmer (2019) Cathy Wilcock (2020) Elizabeth Atkinson (2021) (PCC Secretary 2023) Morag Adlington (2024) Steve Carter (2024) Felicity Hall (2024) Chris Haslam (2024)

ADDRESS FOR CORRESPONDENCE

St Peter’s Centre, Gloucester Street, Winchcombe, GL54 5LU Telephone: 01242 602067 spc@winchcombeparish.org.uk www.winchcombeparish.org.uk

CHARITY NUMBER: 1138071

8 x vacancies

DEANERY SYNOD (EX OFFICIO – ELECTED EVERY 3 YEARS)

Geof Adlington (Deanery Treasurer 2022) Sue Crownshaw (2023) Charlie Bagnall (2023) 1 x vacancy

FINANCIAL ADDRESSES PCC’S BANKERS

from 2023, The Cooperative Bank

INDEPENDENT EXAMINER

Mrs Jennifer Soltau, F.C.C.A. Cotswold House, Gloucester Street, Winchcombe, GL54 5LX

CHRIST CHURCH, GRETTON

Vacancy

ST MICHAEL’S, STANLEY PONTLARGE

Paul Badger (2025)

WINCHCOMBE PARISH With Gretton, Stanley Pontlarge and Sudeley Manor Sunday 12 April 2025 at 11.45 – St Peter’s Church, Winchcombe

AGENDA

1. WELCOME AND PRAYERS

2. APOLOGIES FOR ABSENCE

3. ANNUAL MEETING OF PARISHIONERS

4. ANNUAL PAROCHIAL CHURCH MEETING

5. READERS TO BE EX-OFFICIO FROM 2026

6. ELECTIONS

7. THE APPOINTMENT OF INDEPENDENT EXAMINER

8. ELECTORAL ROLL

9. CLOSING PRAYER

3 ANNUAL MEETING OF PARISHIONERS

a) Minutes of The Annual Meeting of Parishioners held on Sunday 6 April 2025 at St Peter’s Church, Winchcombe

Present: Revd David Penny, Charlie Bagnall (Treasurer), Elizabeth Atkinson (PCC Secretary), together with approximately 57 others on the electoral roll.

1. Welcome and Prayers: Revd David Penny welcomed those present and opened the meeting with a prayer.

2. Apologies for Absence were received from Sue Fleck, Katy Bagnall, John and Jackie Hayter, and Lynn Gorman.

3. ANNUAL MEETING OF PARISHIONERS: for those on the Electoral Role and those resident in the Parish – ie the whole community.

Minutes of the AMP held on 17 March 2024

The minutes were made available prior to the meeting – in hard copy or by email.

The minutes were approved.

There were no matters arising.

Election of two Churchwardens

The meeting was asked to elect the Churchwardens for the coming year. There were two nominees for the two church wardens. They were Simon Andrews and Sue Proctor both current Churchwardens. The vote to elect them was carried unanimously. The meeting expressed their support and many thanks to Simon Andrews and Sue Proctor for their hard work since the last APCM.

There being no other business the annual meeting of parishioners closed and was followed by the Annual Parochial Church meeting.

Elizabeth Atkinson

PCC Secretary

April 2025

Approved:

Date:12 April 2026

b) Election of Two Churchwardens

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4) ANNUAL PAROCHIAL CHURCH MEETING

a) Minutes of the APCM held on Sunday 6 April 2025

1. Minutes of the APCM held on 17 March 2024

The minutes were distributed prior to the meeting.

The minutes were approved as accurate.

2. Matters Arising: there were no matters arising from the minutes.

3. Review of progress & achievements: This would be covered by the reports as tabled including the priestin-charge’s report.

4. Annual Report of the PCC as tabled – Hard copies were available in the back of Church for three weeks before the meeting, and the report was available electronically.

Looking forward to 2025, we now have 3 paid members of staff (Director of Music, Parish Administrator and Youth Leader. This was both exciting but expensive, and this coupled with increases in utility costs have meant the PCC has set a budget for 2025 which will result in a deficit of £50,000. This is only sustainable in the short term so will need to be monitored carefully and reviewed next year. The income from adhoc donations was more than double what had been budgeted for in 2024 and in answer to a question on where the donations were coming from, there was no particular source. It came through visitor donations through the card reader and donations from occasional services such as baptisms, weddings and funerals. Another comment was made about the signposting for cash donations, which was not clear. A question was asked on what action was being taken to increase the planned giving which had decreased and David Penny stated that there was a meeting taking place on Tuesday to address this issue.

Charlie Bagnall thanked Jennifer Soltau for her work as Independent Examiner.

David Penny expressed his thanks to Charlie for his stewardship and all his hard work.

ii) Priest-in-charge Report:

2024 proved a year of challenge and opportunity. David stressed that he was grateful to all members of all churches for the jobs that they undertake within the churches. This includes all the seen and unseen practical jobs that get done as well as the time given as stewards etc. What they do is important, valuable and valued. New members are coming into the church. David is also very grateful for his Ministry team. He feels very blessed to have both the readers and the retired clergy who undertake services and ministry both within the three churches and the wider team. He is in awe of the dedication and hard work of the team under the leadership of Steve Carter for the work on the Awesome project which started a year ago and which has signs of growth. He is also pleased with the work of the Pastoral team under the new leadership of Morag Adlington.

David also gave heartfelt thanks for the work and dedication of the churchwardens, Simon Andrews and Sue Proctor. Without them the ministry of the church would be greatly diminished.

iii) Churchwardens’ Report:

The Churchwardens’ Report had also been circulated and Simon Andrews summarised. He wanted to thank the many volunteers that kept the church going throughout the year. Particular thanks to Chris Sands, John Ursell and Gareth Moseley for their help following the vacancy of the role of Musical Director. Thanks to those who have given many years’ service and have now felt it was time to step down: Jane Wain as Wedding Administrator, Gill Worthington as Toddler Lead, Lynne Banks as Safeguarding Officer. Gareth Moseley was appointed the new Parish Administrator in 2024 and the appointments of the new Director of Music (James Willshire) and Youth Worker (Bryoni Newell) were made in early 2025.

The transfer of St Mary’s Sudeley to the Sudeley Estate was completed in February 2024. The restoration of the roof of St Michael’s, Stanley Pontlarge was also completed in 2024.

There were a number of social events that took place in 2024 including the Parish Fete which was headed up by Stewart Aylward.

iv) Safeguarding Report:-

.The report from Lynne Banks on activity in 2024 has been circulated. Gill Worthington was still undertaking the DBS checks for which the parish was very grateful. A new Safeguarding Officer was being sought.

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v) Diocesan and Deanery report

Geof Adlington highlighted the main activities from the Diocesan and Deanery Synods in his reports. This included the new 2026 Parish Share Model that was being introduced and which would impact all parishes across the diocese and deaneries including Winchcombe.

vi) - xiii) Other Reports

Reports were also received from the Readers, Pastoral Care Team, Flower Arrangers, Bell Ringers, Eco Church Group, Stewards and Toddler Time. Thanks were given to each of the Teams involved.

e) Questions and discussion on other reports as tabled :

A question was raised on the environmental cost of having lilies at Easter, bearing in mind they had to be flown in. This was noted and would be passed onto the flower team for consideration of alternatives.

4. Readers to be ex-officio from 2026:

David Penny explained that he was proposing that the readers became ex-officio members of thePCC. This would take effect from the APCM in 2026. The decision rested with the APCM. The majority were in favour of the change with 2 abstentions.

5. Elections:

  1. Election of Deanery Synod Representatives: Geof Adlington, Susan Crownshaw and Charlie Bagnall were current deanery Synod representatives. There was still one vacancy but there were no further volunteers.

b. Election of PCC Representatives:

There were 7 vacancies on the PCC. There were two nominations – from Stewart Aylward and Paul Badger (St Michael’s, Stanley Pontlarge)

6. The Appointment of the Independent Examiner:

Jennifer Soltau was happy to be appointed again as the Independent Examiner. All voted in favour of her appointment and David Penny thanked her for her work and for her continued appointment.

7. Electoral Roll:

The revised electoral roll stood at 201. This was slightly down on 2024 (216) but it was a full revision this year which inevitably takes off people who have moved, died or no longer wish to be on the electoral roll of whom we were not aware.

2025. Closing Prayer:

The meeting closed at 13.10 with all saying the Grace.

Elizabeth Atkinson

PCC Secretary April 2025

Approved:

Date: 12 April 2026

b) Matters arising from the Minutes

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c) Review of Progress and Achievements

This will be covered by the reports as tabled including the priest-in-charge’s report.

d) Annual Report of the PCC as tabled:

i. PCC Finance report for Year ended December 2025

This is the second year in which the accounts have been prepared using our online accounting system, Expense Plus. In the following pages you will find the same information that is usually provided, but in a new layout.

Summary

In last year’s report, I made it clear that we would be budgeting for a significant loss of at least £50,000 in the year to December 2025. I explained that this loss was unavoidable as long as the parish continued to pay an administrator and a director of music, and meet its steadily growing Parish Share against a backdrop of increasing costs, in particular heating. So it has turned out. The balance sheet value has dropped from £446k to £390k, a loss of £54k, the budgeted income and expenditure loss being exacerbated by under performance across our CCLA investments. You can see a clear breakdown of the change in the total value of our funds at Note 1.

1 Assets and Liabilities

To fund our ongoing losses, I have had to cash in both our deposit accounts and £25k from one of our investments. This means our investments have reduced from £323k to £290k and our cash in hand, i.e. all our current accounts, have dropped from about £68k to about £43k. In the bottom half of the balance sheet you will see that most of these losses are sustained by the General Account, the other significant negative being against the Pioneer Ministry Fund.

Income and Expenditure

At the suggestion of the PCC, the Pioneer Ministry Fund, which we are using to fund our youth work led by Bryoni Newell, has been separated out because the latter was budgeted for when the money was designated some years ago so should not be lumped in with 2025 budgets.

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2 Fund Movement – Summary Report

This report is a useful way of looking at the financial position of all our funds in one place, including those that have not been active this year. I have sorted it in ascending value of net movement to make it easier to see where the main activities are.

Looking Ahead

We committed to continuing all our activities last year in the certain knowledge that this would result in a significant loss in our funds. Despite our best efforts our overall giving has not increased while costs have continued to rise and so the planned £50,000 deficit has indeed come to pass. We also acknowledged that we cannot carry on this way indefinitely or the wonderful revenue generation efforts of our predecessors will be reduced to nothing in a few years. Eventually we may have to take drastic steps to reduce our outgoings, but our next step will be to have a conversation with the Diocese about our level of Parish Share which is now clearly not sustainable.

Charlie Bagnall, Treasurer February 2026

8

Parish of Winchcombe Assets and Liabilities 2025

Parish of Winchcombe Assets and Liabilities 2025 Parish of Winchcombe Assets and Liabilities 2025 Parish of Winchcombe Assets and Liabilities 2025
Total
Prior Year
Current Assets
Cash 43,222.00 68,314.00
Accounts Receivable - -
Prepayments - -
Non-Current Assets
Fixed Assets 57,000.00 57,000.00
Investments 290,439.00 323,079.00
Current Liabilities
Accounts Payable 359.00 2,539.00
Deferred Income - -
Non-Current Liabilities
Long Term Loan / Mortgage - -
Net Current Assets 42,863.00 65,775.00
Total Net Assets (Assets Minus Liabilities) 390,302.00 445,855.00
Represented By
General (Unrestricted) 317,217.00 368,817.00
Chime Machine (1002) (Restricted) 5,696.00 5,696.00
St Peters Bells Fund (1003,2003) (Restricted) 445.00 846.00
St Peters Organ Fund (1001, 2001) (Restricted) 14,718.00 14,718.00
Christ Church Gretton I (1010, 2010) (Restricted) 2,462.00 2,356.00
Vicar and Church Wardens (1014) (Restricted) 3,051.00 3,051.00
St Peter’s Church Flower Fund (2300) (Unrestricted) 669.00 669.00
St Michael’s Stanley Pontlarge (2020) (Restricted) 6,196.00 822.00
Pioneer Minister (YCW) Reserve (2250) (Designated) 34,786.00 43,299.00
IT and Video Fund (1013) (Restricted) 932.00 932.00
Christ Church Gretton General Fund (GRE) (Unrestricted) 126.00 126.00
St Michael’s Stanley Pontlarge General Fund (SP) (Unrestricted) - -
St Peter’s Eco-Church Fund (2350) (Unrestricted) 568.00 616.00
Coffee Fund (Unrestricted) 168.00 168.00
Christmas Hampers (Restricted) 11.00 -
Minor Appeals (no GA) (Restricted) 15.00 15.00
Fresh Expressions (Restricted) 723.00 723.00
Children’s Ministry (Restricted) 1,792.00 3,000.00
Choir Social Fund (Restricted) 625.00 -
Choir Music Fund (Restricted) 102.00 -
Total 390,302.00 445,854.00

9

Parish of Winchcombe Income & Expenditure 2025 Unrestricted and Restricted Funds

Income

Category Fund Actual Income 2025 Budget Budget
Received
01 -Tax Efficient Planned Giving General 50,502 58,000 87%
02 – Other Planned Giving General 5,470 4,200 130%
03 – One Off Gifts, Collections General 6,393 7,000 91%
04 – Other Giving and Donations – Recurring General - -
05 – One off gifts, Other General 18,259 19,000 96%
06 – Special Appeals General 10,000 -
08 – Legacies Received General 5,000 500 1000%
07 – All Tax Recovered through Gift Aid General 13,667 16,000 85%
09 – Recurring Grants General - -
10 – Non Recurring Grants General 2,230 -
11 – Fundraising Events General 5,659 8,000 71%
12 – Dividends and Interest General 10,904 12,000 91%
13 – Income from Properties General - 100 0%
14 – Total Parochial Fees Income General 17,612 20,000 88%
15 – Bookstall, Magazine General 5,762 6,000 96%
16 – Room Lettings General 156
17 – Income from other Church Activities General 44
18 – Insurance Claims General
19 – Reimbursement of Costs by Other Parishes General
20 – Sale of Fixed Assets General
21 – Service Fee Re-imbursement by GDBF General
22 – Other Income General 3,818 1,000 382%
Deanery costs recovered from Diocese General
st Peters Bells – Donations St Peters Bells Fund (1003,2003) 342
VAT Recovered via LPW scheme St Peters Bells Fund (1003,2003)
Christ Church Bequests Christ Church Gretton I (1010,
2010)
Christ Church other income Christ Church Gretton I (1010,
2010)		 105
St Peters Flowers Donations St Peter’s Church Flower Fund
(2300)		 5
05 – One off gifts, Other St Michael’s Stanley Pontlarge
(2020)		 5,600
10 – Non Recurring Grants St Michael’s Stanley Pontlarge
(2020)		 3,698
Events Income inc 850 St Michael’s Stanley Pontlarge
(2020)		 2,986
VAT Recovered via LPW scheme St Michael’s Stanley Pontlarge
(2020)
05 – One off gifts, Other St Peter’s Eco-Church Fund (2350) -
Christmas Hampers Donations Christmas Hampers 180
Childrens Ministry – Grant Income Children’s Ministry
Childrens Ministry General Donations Children’s Ministry
Choir Social Fund Donations Choir Social Fund 693
Choir Music Fund Income Choir Music Fund 102
Total Income £169,187 £151,800 11%

10

Expenditure

enditure
Category Fund Actual
Expenditure		 Total Budget Budget
Spent
39 – Insurance General 12,183 12,500 97%
42 – Administration Costs General 5,426 5,500 99%
43 – Other church expenses / provision of services General 5,282 3,000 176%
46 – Music Costs General 1,788 2,500 72%
55 – Service Fee remittance to Visiting Minister General 150 0%
56 – Payment of Costs to Other Parishes General
57 – Deanery Costs General 344
58 – Sundry Expenses General 23 50 46%
36 – Clergy Housing Costs General
40 – Cleaning Costs General 629 600 105%
41 – Minor Repairs / Routine Maintenance General 5,184 6,000 86%
44 – Churchyard Maintenance General 1,317 2,800 47%
45 – Flowers General 20 200 10%
47 – Heating and Lighting General 15,362 13,000 118%
48 – Water Rates General 941 500 188%
59 – Major repairs/redecoration to Church Building General 8,435 7,000 121%
60 – Major repairs/redecoration to other properties General
61 – Alterations/Extensions to Church Building General
30 – Fundraising Costs General 699 800 87%
49 – Costs of trading inc magazine General 4,900 5,500 89%
31 – Donations / Grants to Charities General 2,520 2,500 101%
32 – Parish Share General 91,279 91,279 100%
51 Parochial Fees Remittance to DBF General 3,424 3,000 114%
52 - Parochial Fees Remittance to Visiting Minister General
53 – Parochial Fees Remittance to other Third Party General 6,268 7,500 84%
54 – Parochial Fees Remittance to other PCC General -
33 – Salaries and Wages General 17,848 17,000 105%
34 – Clergy Expenses General 1,638 3,800 43%
35 – Other Expenses General 12,209
37 – Local Mission and Evangelism Costs General 144 300 48%
38 – Children and Youth Work Costs General 963 3,500 28%
50 – Governance Costs General -
70 – Pastoral Care General 450 400 113%
St Peters Bells – Expenditure St Peters Bells Fund (1003,2003) 743
Christ Church Major Repairs/improvements Christ Church Gretton I (1010, 2010)
Christ Church Minor Repairs / Improvements Christ Church Gretton I (1010, 2010) -
St Peters Flowers expenditure St Peter’s Church Flower Fund (2300) 5
59 – Major repairs/redecoration to Church Building St Michael’s Stanley Pontlarge (2020) 3,324
St Michaels Event Fundraising Expenses St Michael’s Stanley Pontlarge (2020) 1,250
Transfer of fundraising proceeds to FoSM St Michael’s Stanley Pontlarge (2020) 2,336
44 – Churchyard Maintenance St Peter’s Eco-Church Fund (2350) 218
Christmas Hampers Expenses Christmas Hampers 169
Childrens Ministry – Materials Children’s Ministry 1,208
Childrens Ministry – Other Staff Expenses Children’s Ministry
Choir Social Fund Expenditure Choir Social Fund 58
Choir Music Fund Expenditure Choir Music Fund
Total Income
 208,586
 189,379
 10%
Surplus (Income– Expenditure) -£39,399 -£37,579 -5%

11

Parish of Winchcombe Income & Expenditure 2025 – Pioneer Ministry Fund

Income

Income Income Income Income
Category
Actual Income
Total Budget
Budget Received
Donations to Youth Work 11000 0 n/a
Fundraising Event income 23 0 n/a
Expenditure
Category Actual
Expenditure		 Total Budget Budget Spent
Youth Work Activity Expenses 2165.28 0 n/a
Youth Work Employment Costs 16891.5 15000 113%
Youth Work Staff Expenses 479.39 0 n/a
Net Surplus / (Loss)
-8513.17 -15000

Parish of Winchcombe – Fund Movement Summary 2025

Fund Name Opening
Balance		 Income Expenditu
re		 Fund
Transfer
s		 Investme
nt Gains
(or
Losses)		 Net
Movement		 Closing
Balance
General (Unrestricted) 368,817 155,476 199,275 -161 -7,640 -51,600 317,217
Pioneer Minister (YCW) Reserve (2250)
(Designated)		 43,299 11,023 19,536 0 0 -8,513 34,786
Children’s Ministry (Restricted) 3,000 0 1,208 0 0 -1,208 1,792
St Peters Bells Fund (1003,2003) (Restricted) 846 342 743 0 0 -401 445
St Peter’s Eco-Church Fund (2350)
(Unrestricted)		 616 0 218 171 0 -48 568
Chime Machine (1002) (Restricted) 5,696 0 0 0 0 0 5,696
St Peters Organ Fund (1001, 2001)
(Restricted)		 14,718 0 0 0 0 0 14,718
Vicar and Church Wardens (1014) (Restricted) 3,051 0 0 0 0 0 3,051
St Peter’s Church Flower Fund (2300)
(Unrestricted)		 669 5 5 0 0 0 669
IT and Video Fund (1013) (Restricted) 932 0 0 0 0 0 932
Christ Church Gretton General Fund (GRE)
(Unrestricted)		 126 0 0 0 0 0 126
St Michael’s Stanley Pontlarge General Fund
(SP) (Unrestricted)		 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
Coffee Fund (Unrestricted) 168 0 0 0 0 0 168
Minor Appeals (no GA) (Restricted) 15 0 0 0 0 0 15
Fresh Expressions (Restricted) 723 0 0 0 0 0 723
Christmas Hampers (Restricted) 0 180 169 0 0 11 11
Choir Music Fund (Restricted) 0 102 0 0 0 102 102
Christ Church Gretton I (1010, 2010)
(Restricted)		 2,356 105 0 0 0 105 2,462
Choir Social Fund (Restricted) 0 693 58 -10 0 625 625
St Michael’s Stanley Pontlarge (2020)
(Restricted)		 822 12,284 6,910 0 0 5,374 6,196
TOTAL £445,855 £180,210 £228,123 £0 -£7,640 -£55,553 £390,302

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Parish of Winchcombe 2025 Accounts – Notes

13

14

ii Report for 2025 by Rev’d Capt. David Penny – Priest in Charge

As ever it has been a busy year with so much to be thankful for.

The New Year brought with it a new start in the worshipping life of the parish with the appointment of James Willshire as our Director of Music. The effects of his appointment were soon felt, with the choir bolstered by his support and leadership, and the launch of a new service at St. Peter’s which we called Winchcombe Worship. The trial of this informal and modern service in the evening of the 2[nd] Sunday soon translated into a regular morning service on the 1[st] Sunday of the month. We are blessed to have such a variety of services on offer across the parish, and blessed to have a ministry team that can provide them. Healing services also became more frequent as we held 6 at the Wednesday morning Eucharist and 6 on a Wednesday evening. Conversely the PCC took the decision after discussion with me, that evening services at St. Peter’s on the 2[nd] and 4[th] Sunday of the month were no longer viable. The Evensong services on the 1[st] and 3[rd] Sunday of the month continue to be supported and valued, and these will rightly continue. Whilst the Church is about more than counting how many people come week by week, it has been reassuring to see a number of new people at St. Peter’s and numbers at both Christ Church and St. Michael’s remaining steady.

In January we appointed Bryoni Newell as our Young People’s Ministry Leader. With her established links with school and young people, she was able to get off to a flying start as we picked up where WAM left off; over the year her work has developed and grown. Through her work we are not only meeting the needs of the young people of the parish today, we are also sowing the seeds of faith that will bear fruit in Gods good time.

The ministry team has reduced slightly in number as Cliff Cocks retired from Reader ministry and took the honour of becoming Reader Emeritus. Cliff has been a faithful servant of the church as Reader for many years, and whilst his humility would not want a huge tribute, it is only right and proper to give a note of thanks for his ministry amongst us. Thankfully, although Cliff has hung up his scarf, he is still very much part of the church and now ministering in different ways – and long may that continue.

Being church is far more than coming to services, and it has been good for us to have time together at various social events over the year. The most significant of events was the celebration of 850 years of ministry and prayer at St. Michael’s, Stanley Pontlarge. The celebration was kicked off with a wonderful concert with the CK Gospel Choir and we finished the year on the feast of St. Michael and All Angels with a special Celebration Songs of Praise. My thanks to the Stanley Pontlarge team for organising everything – as you would expect from this team each event was brilliantly organised and the refreshments hit the spot. The Faith Lunches after the main service at St. Peter’s have also been a real joy, bringing the congregation together in an informal way, creating a greater sense of family; as have the other events in the parish such as the Whist Night, progressive supper, summer Fete and CS quiz.

In July we spent some time at Christ Church thinking about the future. Recognising that we are fewer in number than we would like to be, we started to think about what we might do to reach out into the community and invite people in. Small steps will lead us to make bigger changes, so for now we are trialling an afternoon service on the Second Sunday of the month to engage with families and will look at starting a Life Group in 2026.

The integrated project at St. Peter’s is making steady progress – these things always take a long time to get from concept to completion, so don’t lose heart. Conversations with the church community have informed each of the subgroups, and I would hope that over the next few years plans will translate to action.

15

A meeting in the autumn with Revd Kate Stacey helped the PCC, Gretton Mini Meeting members and members of St. Michaels think about the governance structures of the church. PCC meetings, whilst enabling us to fulfil all our Parish wide legal obligations, have not always helped every church to feel part of the meeting. Often PCC business struggled not to be St. Peter’s centric, and St. Peter’s and St. Michaels had no mechanism to discuss mission and ministry in their particular church and community. The proposal was therefore put to PCC that we reduce the number of PCCs to 4 a year and have (about) 4 Church Mini Meetings a year in each of the 3 churches. This will allow each church to have space to discuss issues relating only to them without clogging PCCs with items that are of little or no interest to the other churches. The aim of this will be to enable greater ownership of locally decided missional decisions and increase buy-in to the PCC from all churches.

Churches Together in Winchcombe (CTW) have had a good year. Not only has Meeting Point continued its valued weekly coffee mornings, but we also took part in the Winchcombe Country Show and sang carols on both days of the Winchcombe Christmas Markets. As ever the various members of CTW took part in the Remembrance service, each church or group leading an aspect of this important yearly remembrance.

As ever I finish with a word of thanks to you all for the part you play in the life of the Church in this parish. It is a joy and privilege to work with you to grow God’s Kingdom in this place. Thank you for all that you do – whether that is something upfront and visible, or something in the background. Together we are greater than the sum of our parts; and together, under God, we are a blessing to those we are called to serve. May we always be open to what God is inviting us to join in with as we live the Gospel.

Rev’d David Penny

iii APCM COVERING 2025: CHURCHWARDENS REPORT

2025 has seen continued development of the strands of Parish work as articulated in the Parish strategy.

The number and geographical spread of services with associated musical support within the Parish has been maintained with the active support of our retired clergy, Readers and volunteers. It may seem to some as an annual ‘ritual’ to say so, but our genuine thanks to them all and we remain very lucky to be so relatively well endowed with such pro-active people. We achieved full and well attended Easter, Advent and Christmas services in the Parish, with the strong support of our new Director of Music, James Willshire, and the choristers, as well as a number of welcomers and supervisors who made themselves available to manage the anticipated numbers of attendees at the major services. Our bells are still ringing with a new lick of paint on the frame in St Peter’s and the ringers have new blood though they are not complacent regarding seeking new recruits.

Service attendance at St Peter’s is steady with the hint of a growing number of younger attendees and – hooray – some younger children. St Michael’s remains healthy and stable whilst Christ Church is still an area requiring some attention that is being addressed with local initiatives. St Mary’s, although no longer the responsibility of the Parish, continues to have a loyal cohort for its Summer Evensong services with the added benefit of reinforcement from the transitory visitors to Sudeley Castle, and supported by some fine a cappella musicians.

The Parish remained engaged with the wider community through its involvement in the typical round of town and area events with the additional special activities of the 850[th] anniversary of the founding of St Michael’s celebrated with a walk and highly successful concert, and the hosting of a rogation walk picnic at Christ Church. Additionally, both VE and VJ days were remembered. Despite some challenges regarding the temporary non-engagement of Encounter Church, Churches Together in Winchcombe has become more focussed this year exemplified for example by its activities at the town’s Country Show and Christmas Festival.

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We again, through the medium of St Peter’s Centre, have been able to offer a “Warm Space” – with an associated grant from Tewkesbury Borough Council – for the town’s youngsters in conjunction with the forming of our new Beacon group under the guidance of our Young People’s Ministry Leader, Bryoni Newell, who started with us in March. Bryoni’s dynamism has also seen the respective initiation and continued development of association with both Winchcombe and Winchcombe Abbey Primary schools. The Awesome programme of youth engagement is going well under the guidance of Steve Carter and Revd Wendy Ruffle, and the Ministry team’s continued engagement with the primary schools in Gretton and Winchcombe has proved to be very welcome. Finally on the younger people’s front, we have seen the initiation of BLAST (Being Light and Salt Together) in the latter quarter of the year, catering for the faith development of our younger attendees to Sunday morning services at St Peter’s. Now the work of getting this up and running is complete, we seek volunteers to progress this simple to run development.

The Parish was actively involved in the provision of volunteers to support other groups in the area, in the ramping up of food bank support, and with Pastoral care which has been successfully re-focussed through the efforts of Morag Adlington and a small dedicated team.

Socially, we have been as active as ever with a number of fundraising activities; some tried and tested, but some new ideas. In particular, we would highlight the ever-popular book fair overseen by Kate Robinson, a hugely enjoyable fête put together by Charlie Bagnall and his committee, a very well supported Crafters’ Fair overseen by Sue Proctor, and the town Christmas Fair stall by Lisa Martin and Revd Wendy in conjunction with another well attended Christmas Tree Festival organised by Abbie Shurmer. Our Social Committee has been active in pulling together events particularly in St Peter’s, and whilst it has some new younger blood, readers are asked to consider their availability.

The weekly Parish “Signpost” bulletins have, we trust, continued to keep Parishioners up to date with wider goings on, whilst the Parish magazine continues to be very well received and is included in the welcoming packs now prepared for new arrivals in houses in the area. We understand that effective information flow plays an important part in maintaining the cohesion of our community and Revd David’s communication questionnaire has allowed some focussed development in this area though still work in progress. Regarding social media, our thanks to Deborah Penny taking the social media bull by the horns to upgrade our profile in the town, and to Abbie Shurmer and Julia Hall who have stepped up when needed. However, their own commitments mean we will be actively looking for someone to oversee this area in 2026.

Other major achievements or events include:

Much practical work has been achieved and below is a summary of some of the bigger projects that have been taken forward in addition to the continual round of safety checks and small fixes undertaken. Our thanks to those individuals or organisations shown in brackets, and Deputy Churchwardens for their involvement in work in addressing many of these issues, and the Friends of St Peter’s (FoSP) and St Michael’s (FoSM) for their respective financial support.

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We have said goodbye and hello to a number of personalities with lead roles within the Parish. Some are mentioned elsewhere in the wider report, but we saw the standing down of: Lynne Banks as safeguarding lead with our Parish Administrator, Gareth Moseley, undergoing the necessary training to take on the role; Cliff Cocks as one of our long service Readers; and Martin Gorman as Concerts Secretary with Richard Sharp taking on the role supported by David Allen. They have all served us loyally for which we thank them and wish them good fortune in their respective future endeavours. In turn, we welcomed James Willshire as Director of Music in January and Bryoni Newell as Young People’s Ministry in March.

However, it was with great sadness that we heard of the death of the Reverend Canon John Paul Hoskins, Residentiary Canon and Precentor of Worcester Cathedral. JP moved from us after some six years as our Priest-in Charge to go to Worcester and our continued prayers are with Liz and Suzanna.

Finally, whilst we inevitably will not have thanked everyone who deserves it, the continued voluntary contributions by the PCC, choir, bellringers, stewards, welcomers, sacristans, vergers, holy dusters, coffee makers, flower arrangers etc, etc in St Michael’s, Christ Church and St Peter’s are not taken for granted. Thank you to all our volunteers but we remain ready to accept new names to fill more gaps.

Simon Andrews

Sue Proctor

Churchwardens, Winchcombe Parish

iv Christ Church, Gretton Report

Services at Christ Church were held as usual on 2[nd] and 4[th] Sundays, alternating between Morning Worship and Holy Communion. Following services, we go up to the village hall, where the Gretton Hub is held every two weeks, to join in for refreshments and social time with other residents of the village. Morning Prayer is held as a short informal service on Thursday mornings at 9:00 am. Our Mini Team meetings are held every two months.

We have been pleased to be able to provide rehearsal space for the Octavo singing group several times during the year, as they like the acoustics in the church, and we are hoping that they will put on a fundraising concert for us in the future.

On 17 May we held our annual spring clean to make sure the grounds and the interior of the church are clean and tidy. Thanks go to those stalwart members who took part!

In June we were very happy to have a smart meter installed, with the result that the meter does not have to be read and submitted manually every month.

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On 27 July Rev. David Penny held a forum in church to discuss ideas as to how to encourage more people to attend church. He kindly provided breakfast for us!

Towards the end of November several members of our congregation attended a session about the way ahead for the governance of the parish, so that it is not always so St Peter’s-centric.

On 19 December the village school held their carol service in the church; a large number of parents attended, with some sitting on the floor at the back of the church.

Our own Crib and Carol Service was held on Christmas Eve at 4pm, packed as usual with many people standing. Thanks go to the Flower Fairies for making the church look so beautiful, and thanks also to the people on the cleaning rota who make sure the church always looks spic and span through the year.

Susan Fleck

v St Michael’s, Stanley Pontlarge

During the year we continued to hold Holy Communion services at 9.15am on the first and third Sundays of the month.

At the beginning of the year, the windows on the North Side were repaired, part funded by a grant secured by Simon Andrews and the FoSM.

2025 was a very special year for us as we celebrated the 850[th] anniversary of St Michael’s and we held a number of events. The first was on Sunday 11[th] May, when an ensemble from the renowned CK Gospel Choir held a concert in the church grounds. It was a wonderful day, enjoyed by all the 120 people who came. We also raised a substantial sum for church funds.

On 28[th] September we held a Songs of Praise and we were delighted to welcome Archdeacon Katrina as part of our 850[th] anniversary celebrations. James Willshire and the choir from St Peters provided the music and sang for us, including favourite hymns that parishioners had chosen. Everyone stayed after the service for our customary refreshments in the churchyard.

At the beginning of September, we also held our Harvest Festival. We decorated the church with flowers and produce from our gardens and vegetable patches, and held a collection for food and other items for the local foodbank, with drinks and nibbles in the churchyard afterwards.

In December we held our Carols by Candlelight. The church was decorated with foraged greenery and candles. Adults and children chose their favourite Christmas readings and poems to read, including a poem specially written by Annie and Evie ‘A Christmas Pause of Thanks’. The church was full and we enjoyed mulled wine and refreshments in the church as it was a wet evening.

We are very pleased that Duncan Westerman now plays the organ for us for all our services.

Gill Badger

vi Safeguarding Report for APCM 2026

Lynne Banks retired as the Parish Safeguarding Officer (PSO) in April 2025. No volunteers came forward to take on this role so Churchwardens acted as temporary PSO. In June Abbie Shurmer volunteered to become PSO. Unfortunately, due to personal circumstances, Abbie was not able to continue and resigned at the end of October. Churchwardens again took on the role. Mr Gareth Moseley, our parish administrator, became PSO on 1[st] January 2026. CW concentrated on ensuring all the appropriate training was completed. This is an ongoing task.

Grateful thanks go to Mrs Gill Worthington for managing all the parish DBS checks. There were no safeguarding incidents to report.

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vii Diocesan & Deanery Synod reports.

Diocesan Synod Report

The Diocesan discussions at the beginning of the year focussed on Safeguarding policy, the progress on Environment Objectives of the Diocese, and finance report for Parish Share in 2024. Finance dominated the subsequent meeting in July

In the second half of the year our attention turned to progressing of Deanery Strategic plans and discussion around key themes that have emerged - • Deanery Operation Leads • Collaborative Ministry The year concluded with an introduction to a racial justice initiative being introduced to the Diocese which seemed to be mostly about data gathering in the first phase. Then there was a big debate about plans to recruit Deanery Operating Leads in 3 of the deaneries, how they would be financed, and what the role could entail.

Deanery Synod report

The work of the Deanery began with the picking up on initiatives by the diocese to support ministry and mission in the Deanery and developing the Deanery Strategic Plan (DSP). The former included presentations to the Synod by Amy Todd, Youth Connector North, Winchcombe and Kate StaceyCollaborative Ministry Lead: Lifelong Learning

Amy Todd advised that it is recognised that children and youth leaders in rural areas felt disconnected and Youth Connectors were brought in to correct this. She advised that youth groups in North Cotswolds were being well managed. The greatest need there currently was perceived as being in the Cotswold High School where a chaplaincy role is being created. The T&W Deanery Synod needs to think about our youth and decide what is needed for our youth groups, where the focus should be how we can work together and utilise resources.

Kate spoke about positive discernment whereby people are recognised for what they are good at, and encouraged to pursue a ‘pathway’ such as working with children and families, pastoral visiting, and lay worship leads and lay funeral ministers. Deaneries need to identify the pathways relevant to its needs that her team can then support.

However, the main focus of the Deanery was on the development of our DSP in association with DBF team from the Diocese. The three mission area groups of our deanery developed a similar list of priorities, namely

  1. schools with a view to chaplaincy opportunities

  2. youth and children’s work

  3. needs of new people moving into the area

  4. equipping lay people and deepening discipleship

Geof Adlington

viii Readers Report

Readers have served throughout the parish in 2025 as ministers, deacons and preachers at Sunday services. We lead worship at other times and in other styles, too, including Awesome; evening worship at St Peter’s; school assemblies and services during Lent and Advent. We also support Julia and John in the parishes North of Winchcombe and have conducted services in Great Washbourne, Snowshill and Wormington – especially at Easter, Christmas and Remembrance Sunday.

This year, we were sad to say an official "goodbye" to Cliff Cocks, as he hung up his blue Readers' scarf after more than 30 years of service, although he is still very active in other ways at St Peter's. We are delighted that he is now a "Reader Emeritus" and thank him enormously for the care and support that he has given to us as a team of readers over the years.

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One highlight of the year is the great progress that Steve Carter and team have been making with the Awesome meetings at Winchcombe Abbey Primary School. These are encouraging and growing new families in faith and there is a true sense of enjoyment and fellowship. Our fortnightly meetings with the wider ministry team involve the inevitable mundane activity (keeping up with the rotas) but are greatly enhanced by interesting discussions and spiritual development.

Although we are not ordained, we are licenced by the bishop to lead worship and we are tasked with enabling people to recognise Christ's presence in our community. Readers are often described as ‘theologically educated and culturally engaged’; a description we are all working hard to live up to in order to fulfil the role we're lucky enough to hold.

Fliss Hall

ix Youth/Beacon Report

1. Overview

Over the past year, our youth ministry has continued to grow in reach, depth, and visibility across schools, churches, and the wider community. Through open-access youth provision, school-based work, pastoral care, and collaborative partnerships, we have engaged with young people at key points of need, offering consistent presence, practical support, and hope.

At the heart of everything we do is a commitment to being a safe, welcoming space where young people are valued, listened to, and supported, while demonstrating the love, grace, and hope of Jesus through weekly, relational ministry.

2. Open Access Youth Club

Engagement

Pastoral Support

Practical Care

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Opportunities and Development

Trips and Activities

3. School-Based Youth Work

Secondary School Engagement

Pastoral Support/Chaplaincy Role

Christian Union (CU)

Experience Christmas

Primary School Engagement

4. Faith, Values, and Ethos

Across all areas of our work, we have intentionally:

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5. Partnership and Community Engagement

6. Conclusion

This year has been marked by growth in trust, reach, and collaboration. Our youth ministry is increasingly recognised by schools, churches, and statutory partners as a valuable presence within the community. Most importantly, we have walked alongside young people at critical moments in their lives—listening, supporting, feeding, encouraging, and pointing them towards hope. We remain committed to continuing this work, deepening relationships, and responding faithfully to the needs of young people in the year ahead, so long as maternity cover can be sourced.

Bryoni Newell, Youth Ministry Team Leader

x BLAST (Junior Church Report)

BLAST Kids Ministry is for all children of primary school age. We gather together at the start of Sunday Service and then head to the St. Peter Centre for some fun exploring with the Bible and learning about faith in Jesus. BLAST runs on every second and fourth Sunday in the month and we started back up in September 2025 with a team of five: Pippa Willshire, Simon Andrews, Sue Proctor, Angie Dean and Bob Dean.

Our first term focused on the Gospel of Mark, learning about Jesus’ baptism, the healing of a leper, the lame man who was made to walk and the blind man who can now see. We also had a special Christmas Lego inspired class telling the story of the Nativity. We have had a core of five children through the term. I would like to thank Pippa for her help and guidance in setting up the group, but sadly she and her two children are no longer able to make the Sunday journey to Winchcombe. So we could do with some more children to bolster the group as well as a couple more helpers to assist. Any primary school age children and their parents are most welcome at St. Peter's, so do come and join us!

Bob Dean, Lead for BLAST in 2025

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xi Toddlers Report

I took over running Toddler Time in January 2025

We meet every Thursday from 10.00am-11.30am throughout the year, including school holidays. I have a dedicated and supportive team of 10 wonderful helpers.

Early in the new year, Wendy Ruffle very kindly designed a bright and informative new poster/flyer for T.T. The extra advertising, along with Wendy's regular social media posts and of course the closing down of the local playgroup, saw our numbers rise steadily throughout the year and can regularly have 15 toddlers/babies attend with their parents, grandparents or carers.

Our numbers rising did cause the slight problem of space! The Lady Chapel could not comfortably (or safely) hold this amount of children and adults. Rev. David kindly came to our rescue and with some moving around, T.T was designated extra space in the church aisle leading up to the Lady Chapel. This has proved a huge success, giving us room to spread out comfortably.

Each week the children have a wide selection of toys to play with. These are now in organised and labelled boxes. We also offer sand and water play and playdough. We have a craft table each week, where the children enjoy sticking, painting and colouring. Where possible, we make an effort keep the weekly craft activity topical to the time of year and also tie it in with our story. We also decorate cupcakes, sow seeds and even made a Guy in November. The children enjoyed making cards for Mother's Day, Father's Day, Christmas and Easter. We have a wonderful new display board to present the children's work, which is refreshed every few weeks.

In April the children all enjoyed Wendy Ruffle's visit to tell the Easter Story, along with fabulous props and an Easter Garden.

In June we promoted T.T at the church fete with a playdough table, bubble machine and flyers. In August we held a Teddy Bears Picnic, when the children (and adults) brought along their teddy to a picnic lunch. We sang songs, decorated biscuits, made craft, wore masks and read stories all teddy related. At this time, we also said our farewells to children leaving T.T to start school in September, giving them all a "Good Luck Starting School" card.

The week before Christmas, we had a festive party. The children enjoyed sweet treats at snack time and we provided mince pies for the adults. The whole team of helpers came along. We were also very grateful to some retired members of the team who came to wash up! The children went home with a small, hand knitted stocking (courtesy of Pam Mitchell) with a few token gifts inside.

Once again T.T took part in the Christmas Tree Festival and the children all enjoyed making decorations to hang on our Christmas tree.

We have an up-to-date risk assessment and all the team have undertaken safeguarding training. I thank Rev. David for his regular visits to T.T throughout last year.

Karen Almond - Toddler Time Leader.

xii Pastoral Care Team Report

2025 was a very challenging year, with little apparent progress made in redeveloping Pastoral Care in the church. Much of this was due to my own health problems, which unfortunately got in the way, and appeals for further support at services did not result in any new volunteers.

After reviewing the Electoral Roll last spring and identifying over 20 people who would benefit from pastoral support, I became concerned about our lack of Pastoral Visitors. However, discussions with

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former Visitors revealed that all of these individuals were being supported “unofficially” by caring members of the congregation. I would like to offer a huge thank you — you are creating the warm, caring community that God calls us to be.

For this informal system to work well in the longer term, however, it is important that any concerns are flagged up to Revd David or myself so that I can visit and help where possible.

So, what has been achieved? Our Home Communion Team continues faithfully providing a muchappreciated service for those unable to attend church, including for people recovering from illness or hospital stays.

A Prayer Line has also been established and is proving effective. The team includes Revd Penny, retired Clergy, Readers, the Prayer Ministry Team, and the Pastoral Team. This completely confidential service is available to anyone seeking extra support, with prayers offered only with permission of the subject. Names are included in Sunday Intercessions only when requested.

We also have a small team who send cards to mark the first anniversaries of bereavements where funerals have been conducted in the Parish; this has been warmly received.

In September and October, we hosted the Ageing Gracefully course by Ian Donald, attended by people from St Peter’s, Encounter Church, and Bishop’s Cleeve; this was generally felt to be helpful and informative.

Finally, a small practical support team is now available to help with minor tasks such as changing light bulbs or taking someone shopping. As always, please chat with me about areas where we can develop.

Morag Adlington

xiii Music Report

The choir this year has seen a period of gradual growth with the arrival of new members. The aim at the start of the year was to encourage the choir in their weekly duties and to foster a sense of enjoyment and belonging in members. With the arrival of new singers joining the regular roster of singers the choir is in a healthier position now than it was in January 2025. Highlights include festival services with special choir involvement, such as the Advent Carols service – that was potentially the highlight of the year – and the 9 Lessons and Carols service in December. A particular highlight, and one which gave the choir a huge boost in confidence, was the Evensong in September when we were joined by members of the choir of St John’s College, Oxford.

This year has seen the purchase of a new piano for the church, thanks to a generous gift from one of our members. This will allow for a greater variety of concerts in the future, and will open up the church to bookings by outside organisations.

Much work has been done this year to develop the first Winchcombe Music Festival to be hosted by St Peter’s. This will proceed in May 2026. We have been fortunate to be in the position to make a bid for funding, from the previous music festival, that will hopefully enable ours to become a staple part of the yearly calendar of the town.

Winchcombe Worship services have become a regular part of our worship, with a small but enthusiastic core of musicians taking part. It would be great going forward if more musicians were happy to contribute in this area, and it was great to see Katy Bagnall leading the singing at the most recent service.

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Evensongs at Sudeley Castle will continue, this year including a visit from the Chamber Choir of Cheltenham Ladies’ College.

James Willshire Director of Music

xiv Stewards Report

Stewards’ Team: We now have 16 regular weekday stewards and 5 who do monthly Saturday duties, with 12 vacancies in the weekday timetable where new stewards are still needed. We have been delighted to welcome Bob and Angela Dean to our number in recent months, and a big thank you to everyone for your wonderful ongoing contributions which are hugely appreciated by so many.

Overview: by far the majority of our visitors come from the UK, and many of these are local to Gloucestershire or indeed Winchcombe (it is perhaps surprising how many locals have never before been inside St Peter’s). This year the furthest afield UK residents came from Sumburgh in Shetland 715 miles away, and some came from Guernsey in the Channel Islands and also a family from the Isle of Man. There were also significant numbers from the North East, Liverpool area, Central and Southern England. Beyond the UK we have had visitors from all over the world. A compilation of numbers based on the records we have in the visitors’ book, the stewards’ visitor count and the pins on the maps reveals some interesting data, with the following standout headlines:

Visitors’ book: We have had noticeably more visitors who have come in as part of their pilgrimage this year, either along the Cotswold Way, or particularly St Kenelm’s Way. We also have some lovely drawings (mostly from children), together with many wonderful words of encouragement and thanksgiving for our church and what we represent and offer to the visitors. Some of the comments are not in English, and thanks to the internet I have been able to translate from many different languages, including Spanish, Japanese, Arabic, Chinese, Italian and Greek.

As with 2023 and 2024, the most used adjective for visitors’ reactions to St Peter’s was ‘BEAUTIFUL’ and we have also had many comments on the interesting history and displays, the high quality of maintenance of the building, the East Window and the stained glass, the lovely calm and prayerful atmosphere, and above all very many extremely appreciative comments on the friendly guides, stewards and members of the congregation who demonstrate our welcoming vibrant church community – well done everyone!

Comments: below are some of the more interesting messages we have received:

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Maps and pins: we have purchased two new replacement maps which are hanging on the screen behind the stewards’ desk and which provide a nice visual record of where some of our visitors have come from.

New steward volunteers : as ever, it would be lovely if anyone would like to offer an hour or so of their time on a weekly basis to join the stewards’ team.

Katy Bagnall

Xv St Peter’s Eco Church Group

We realise that the Gold award is a very big step up from Silver but are determined to do our best to achieve that. The first stage was for Jennie to go through the A Rocha Eco Church Survey[1] (held on the SPC computer) with Gareth (approx 3 hours on 4[th] July), to determine our priorities. This revealed separate tasks to be followed up by Gareth and the Group. Gareth is obtaining the necessary information on the building and energy use, while we have started to focus on two main areas for development:

  1. embedding the Eco Church message in St Peter’s, emphasising the importance of caring for the earth as a more regular theme in worship and teaching

  2. developing our links with the wider community through more contact with

  3. Winchcombe Green Town

  4. Winchcombe Abbey Primary

  5. Winchcombe School (which is a certified Eco School)

We are most grateful for Gareth’s enthusiastic support for Eco Church.

Churchyard

1 There are 5 sections to the Survey: Worship & Teaching, Buildings & Energy, Land & Nature, Community & Global Engagement, Lifestyle

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result of which we were asked to write an article for The Weekly Bulletin (Diocesan news) which appeared on 12[th] August.

Community Links

Membership of our Group

We look forward to continuing to promote the values of Eco Church in 2026 through the challenges of working towards Gold.

Jennie Davies

Xvi St Peter’s Flower Arrangers

We have continued to provide a floral arrangement next to the altar every week, except during Lent and Advent. We have also decorated the whole church for Easter, Harvest and Christmas and provided appropriate flowers for Remembrance Sunday.

It has been a very difficult year for the Group. Money and (wo)man power have been in short supply. There are now only 6 of us and this was reduced to 4 at Christmas as 2 were out of commission following operations. We would love to recruit a few more willing hands to help out, if only on special occasions.

Summer 2025 was so hot for an extended period that fresh flowers were lasting only a few days and needed watering every day. We decided that this was impossible to sustain and resorted to artificial flowers. We now have a small supply of artificial flowers and also access to others owned by a member of the group. These will help to tide us over difficult periods especially when members are unavailable or flowers are too expensive.

At Christmas, in addition to fresh greenery and flowers, we used a lot of artificial material. That is not unusual for Christmas and is a quick way for a few people to make a bold statement in a large building. Thank you to Lynn Gorman for the donation of artificial garlands, foliage and flowers.

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We continue to support St. Peter’s drive to a more sustainable future. We have stopped using floral foam and encourage visiting florists not to use it either (with limited success). We continue to search for suppliers of local, or at least British flowers. This is proving very difficult but we will keep looking.

Margaret Holloway

Xvii St Peter’s Bell Ringers

We are just about managing to keep our heads above water with ringer numbers, although we could always do with more. We have lost a couple during the last year, and have recruited to replace them. Our band now is aging considerably, but our new recruits are (a bit) younger!

We have come to the conclusion that holding open days, whilst enjoyed by all, are not the answer, as those expressing an interest are generally not local! So, recruitment has to be by word of mouth, locally.

Edward Kain has now retired as Steeple Keeper and David Oliver (one of our latest recruits) has taken over. Our thanks go out to Edward for the work he has put in over the last number of years. The condition of the bells and their fittings are now in good order, as this last year has seen the total repainting of the frame (now a beautiful blue) by a Cheltenham ringer, who only charged for transport and brushes, etc. The main expense was the cost of the paint. However, by applying for various grants we managed to cover the cost ourselves, with no expenditure to the PCC.

We have had to replace the last tail-end of one of the new ropes, as this was fraying badly. All ropes are now in good order. We have managed to maintain a band for Sunday morning Services, and the occasional additional service. Weddings are now down to only one or two a year. We generally manage to hold a practice every Wednesday.

Clare Pritchard has given notice that she will be resigning as Tower Captain, having held the post for almost 50 years! It is hoped that one of the younger ringers will take over. This will be decided at the Ringers AGM on April 1st .

Clare Pritchard

Xviii Report of the St Peter’s Church cleaners, otherwise known as The Holy Dusters

We are a group of approximately 8 people who have agreed to undertake to clean an area of St Peter’s Church on a monthly basis. The Church has been divided into areas - the chancel, the right-hand nave, the left-hand nave, the back of the church and the porch area - and we work in small teams of 1 or 2 people per area. We spend 1 – 2 hours a month and do this at a time that is convenient for each team and individual. It needs to be when the church is not in use for services or events.

There are many people, both regular and visitors who come into the church in a week and depending on the weather the church can gather quite a lot of debris over time. Many of our visitors remark on how the church looks both beautiful and cared for.

We would love to have more people to come and join us in our cleaning efforts as several of our number are no longer able to help. If you are interested in helping, please see either the Churchwardens or me. We look forward to keeping the St Peter’s Church looking cared for in 2026.

Elizabeth Atkinson

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e) Questions and discussion on reports

f) General questions and discussion

5) READERS TO BE EX-OFFICIO FROM 2026

6) ELECTIONS

a) Deanery Synod Members

7) THE APPOINTMENT OF INDEPENDENT EXAMINER

8) ELECTORAL ROLL

9) CLOSING PRAYER

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