2023-12-31-accounts - The Parochial Church Council Of The Ecclesiastical Parish Of St Paul, Woking

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Trustees' Annual Report for the period

Period start date Period end date 1 January 2023 31 December 2023

From

Section A Reference and administration details

Charity name[The Parochial Church Council of the Ecclesiastical Parish ] Church of St Paul Woking

Other names charity is known by Registered charity number (if any) 1139487

Charity's principal address St Paul’s Church, Oriental Road, Woking, Surrey

Postcode GU22 7BD

Names of the charity trustees who manage the charity

Trustee name	Office (if any)	Dates acted if not for whole year	Name of person (or body) entitled to appoint trustee (ifany)
Rev’d N Hutchinson	PCC Chair
Rev’d S Watson
Mr P Williams	Church Warden		Meetingof Parishioners
Mrs A Nearcou	Church Warden		Meetingof Parishioners
Mrs C Young	DeanerySynod Rep		Church APCM
Mrs M Tobin	DeanerySynod Rep	Appointed May14 2023	Church APCM
Mr F Priddy		Appointed May14 2023	Church APCM
Mr T Sorenson		Appointed May18 2023	PCC
Mrs M Paton			Church APCM
Mr D Rainford			Church APCM
Mr P Banks			Church APCM
Mrs B Robertson			Church APCM
Mr R Dellner			Church APCM
Mr M Archer	Treasurer		PCC

Names of the trustees for the charity, if any, (for example, any custodian trustees)

Name Dates acted if not for whole year

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Names and addresses of advisers (Optional information)

Type of adviser Name Address

Name of chief executive or names of senior staff members (Optional information)

Section B Structure, governance and management

Description of the charity’s trusts

Parochial Church Council Powers Measure (1956) as amended and Type of governing document church representation rules (eg. trust deed, constitution) Religious trust How the charity is constituted (eg. trust, association, company) Trustees are appointed at the Annual Meeting of Parishioners and at the Trustee selection methods Annual Parochial Church Meeting elected by members of the church (eg. appointed by, elected by) electoral role.

Additional governance issues (Optional information)

You may choose to include additional information, where relevant, about:

policies and procedures adopted for the induction and training of trustees;
the charity’s organisational structure and any wider network with which the charity works;
relationship with any related parties;
trustees’ consideration of major risks and the system and procedures to manage them.

Section C Objectives and activities

Promoting in the Ecclesiastical Parish the whole mission of the church.

Summary of the objects of the charity set out in its governing document

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St. Paul’s PCC has the responsibility of co-operating with its Vicar, Rev Nick Hutchinson, the Curate Revd Susie Watson and Honorary Assistant Minister, Rev Richard Hay, in promoting in the ecclesiastical parish the whole mission of the Church, pastoral, evangelistic, social and ecumenical. It also has maintenance responsibilities for the Church, Community Hall and premises at St. Paul’s, Oriental Road, Woking.

Summary of the main activities undertaken for the public benefit in relation to these objects (include within this section the statutory declaration that trustees have had regard to the guidance issued by the Charity Commission on public benefit)

Additional details of objectives and activities (Optional information)

You may choose to include further statements, where relevant, about:

policy on grantmaking;
policy programme related investment;
contribution made by volunteers.

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Section D Achievements and performance

Summary of the main achievements of the charity during the year

Church attendance in 2023 The average weekly attendance for 2023 was 58 (2022:51) in person, of whom 10(2022:9) were under 16 years old. These figures do not include special services such as Christmas, Easter, Baptisms etc. There were 68 (2022:66) Parishioners on the Electoral Roll in 2023, 42 of whom were resident in the Parish. Order Two Holy Communion service is at 9am on the 1st and 3rd Sundays of the month. The average attendance to this is 5.

Review of the PCC Year

Revd Nick Hutchinson has completed his seventh year at St Paul’s. In that time, he has encouraged the Church to pray into every situation and to be thankful for all that God does in this place. We have seen many answers to prayer.

St Paul’s has continued to be invitational in its approach to services and special events and to encourage all of us to invite friends and family to them. We have seen some growth in our numbers following this and many people have come and checked us out, some staying and making their home with us. We are a growing church.

The ministry of Rev Richard Hay, the Honorary Assistant Minister, continued to be greatly appreciated throughout the Parish and he has been a great support and encourager to everyone. Mrs Ros Banks continues as an administrator; whose primary responsibilities relate to hall hire and communications. Her efforts have greatly increased the revenue from hall hires, a much-needed income and it should be noted that she often does much more than is in her job description. Susie Watson continued as our new Children’s and Families minister. Susie haschanged her status to incumbency status. MASCOT (Maybury and Sheerwater Community Trust), a Charity limited by guarantee, was established in 2011 to work with St. Michael’s Church, Sheerwater to impact the needy Surrey communities of Maybury and Sheerwater. The work of the charity in Maybury is growing at Let’s Talk which is an opportunity for those for whom English is a second language to rehearse everyday conversation and learn something of British culture. Another thought about reaching out to the group is to run cooking sessions as a social event. A Friendship Café has been running for some time.

During the year, the PCC met 5 times (2022:6), excluding the APCM. There was an average 75% (2022:90%) attendance. A Standing Committee group met 3 times (2021:5) in the year between PCC meetings to discuss issues and prepare for the PCC, however it is to be noted that in 2023 it was decided that Standing Committee would only meet if there was something substantive to discuss, so meetings may be required less frequently.

There was much for PCC to discuss in 2023. Following a burglary in February extensive work was required to repair the locks to the church office safe, submit an insurance claim and to undertake measures to make the church more secure. There was also an extensive water leak from the church house flat in February which damaged the ceiling in the church office which led to another insurance claim. PCC has taken action following the Energy Audit by replacing inefficient heaters and upgrading some of the remaining lights in Maybury 1 to LED panels, and has

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Section D Achievements and performance

obtained quotes for installing solar panels and air-to-air heat pumps. Work has been done – and is ongoing – to investigate what grant funding is available to improve energy efficiency and reduce heating and lighting bills. Another large piece of work - for whom thanks are owed particularly to Paul Williams and to the vicar - is the installation of EV rapid charging points in the church car park which will make an important contribution to church revenues.

PCC agreed to a proposal from the Safeguarding Group for safer recruitment and people management process that provided a pragmatic, ‘light touch’ way to recruit people (both paid or voluntary) and to review job roles. The Statement of Safeguarding Policy was reviewed, agreed and adopted by the PCC for the next 12 months. All PCC members have now completed the online safeguarding courses required by the Diocese. ‘Safeguarding Sunday’ was marked by holding a safeguarding-themed all-age service on th November.

As regards the mission fund, PCC decided to support the Christian charity Open Doors (which St. Paul’s is currently supporting, but not financially) by making retiring collections twice per year.

Various homegroups and ministries to the young and elderly continue.

Buildings

The buildings are in good order with regular repairs and adjustments made as needed.

Church Family

This last year, 2023 has been one of hellos and goodbyes and one in which we have marked the life of our community with prayer, worship, and community engagement. The appointment of a new Maybury lead for Mascot has significantly increased the charity’s ability to raise issues of public health and especially mental health. The impact of St Paul’s and the organisations we support has increased and we have paid attention to how we can be a church more aware of and committed to creation care as part of our mission and witness.

Sundays

St Paul’s gathers on Sunday mornings at 10:30am each week to worship Jesus together. Communion is celebrated each week either at the early morning service at 9am or the main gathering at 10.30am. The morning service is contemporary and informal, with the first week of the month being All Age, led by Susie Watson and team. The 9am service is the Order Two from Common Worship which is more traditional and nearly the same as the BCP. On the third Sunday we also host a family learning time called Family Blaze, which is in the community halls. Parents go out with the children and this now has an older group which breaks off for more in depth conversation and bible study part way through. This is a sign of our growing ministry amongst families and children.

For a portion of the year we were blessed by the presence of a couple who were very skilled and experienced as musical worship leaders. They were able to lead us in our sung worship as part of a wider team and this was greatly appreciated by many.

The lectionary readings are followed each week during the morning service unless we are doing a particular series.

In Lent we followed a series all about creation care and how the Bible

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Section D Achievements and performance

gives us an understanding of the way we need to be stewards of God’s creation.

After Pentecost, as a church we spent time daily praying for the renewal of the Holy Spirit and listening to God. In September we had a series on the gifts of the Holy Spirit, seeking to become more aware of what the Spirit is doing around us. This has led to a decision to focus on discipleship for 2024. A number of people in the church have spoken of wonderful, supernatural encounters, through people, visions and dreams.

We held Holy Week, Easter, Pentecost, Ascension Day (Thursday), Harvest, Remembrance and Christmas services.

New Wine

New Wine took place in 2023 in Kent and a small group went. It was very good, a time of blessing to be together and worship Jesus and learn together. Even though it was wet and windy nearly the whole time, we had a great time. The children particularly enjoy their time together and their groups.

Vision and Mission

As a reminder this is our vision:

At St Paul’s we are called to:

Be a community that worships Jesus and follows him in all our lives through the power of the Holy Spirit;
Be inviting and welcoming all to be with us, to grow and resource others;
Help those hungry for meaning, wholeness and family to find it in Jesus’ kingdom;
Stand up for justice in society and the world, starting in Maybury;

We are still working on how we can become more invitational as a church and we recognise that it is not an easy thing to do. We held an Alpha course and few people came, finding out about Jesus. One was baptised and this was a cause of great celebration.

Christmas

Christmas 2023 included Nine Lessons and Carols, Christmas eve and Christmas Day. There was also a nativity drama and community carol singing in December.

Easter

This year during Holy Week we had an Agape meal followed by a Tenebrae service. On Good Friday we joined with other churches in Woking town center for the act of witness. Easter Sunday was a wonderful and joyous time, starting with the (now annual) dawn bonfire in the vicarage garden.

Social Events

This year we gathered together to mark the coronation of King Charles III in the form of a meal after church on the coronation weekend. We also held Family Fireworks in November and had a good gathering of families.

PCC

The PCC has been really engaged with things this year again and we are at our full quota of members for the size church we are. Celia is our representatives at Diocesan Synod and Barbara is our representative

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Section D Achievements and performance

with Mary Tobin on Deanery Synod. We have discussed much about the life of the church and especially in regard to our energy usage and how we can be more efficient.

Midweek

Our regular connection with local care homes has continued and it is a privilege to be able to minister to the more elderly members of the community. We have regular commitments in Bernard Sunley and the monthly service in Woking Homes too.

There is a small group that regularly comes to our Sunday services from Woking Homes, brought along by Carol Wells.

The vicar is still a trustee with MASCOT and ACROSS and regularly engages with their events and governance as do other members of the congregation at St Paul’s.

There are still strong links with New Monument School, which the vicar joins in with from time to time. The vicar is also a governor of Greenfield School, whose campus is on the Old Woking Road.

Comings and Goings

We have grown again in our overall numbers. It is wonderful that God has grown us and we must pray that this will continue and that we will grow in depth of faith too.

We saw a number of key people leave as they moved away from the area, notably Chris and Sally Watts, Helen and Daren Alder and Joe Perry who moved to New Zealand

Looking Ahead

It is really important that we live fully in the present but keeping an eye on and a step towards the future. Jesus keeps us moving and growing and calls us to an ever deeper life of worship, prayer, community and healing. We look forward to being continually shaped by the vision God has set before us. We want to be focused on discipleship in 2024, refreshing our own desire to follow Jesus and to learn of the gifts and ministries that God has given everyone of us to use wherever we are. As we do this though, I am challenged by the fact that for 2024 we have not so far planned anything that is distinctly missional or an act of evangelistic outreach. We should all be challenged by this and be praying about what we can begin to discover again about mission in the broadest sense and about evangelism specifically. Many churches are finding that they have to be creative about what they do to share the good news of Jesus with others. We need to be creative too.

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Section E Financial review

The PCC has a policy of reserves to the value of three months running Brief statement of the costs of the church. charity’s policy on reserves

Details of any funds materially There are no funds in deficit. in deficit

Further financial review details (Optional information)

You may choose to include additional information, where relevant about:

the charity’s principal sources of funds (including any fundraising);
how expenditure has supported the key objectives of the charity;
investment policy and objectives including any ethical investment policy adopted.

Section F Other optional information

Section G Declaration

The trustees declare that they have approved the trustees’ report above.

Signed on behalf of the charity’s trustees

Signature(s)

Full name(s) Rev’d Nicholas Paul Hutchinson Position (eg Secretary, Chair, Chair etc) Date March 16 2023

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----- Start of picture text -----
The Parochial Church Council of the Ecclesiastical 1139487
Parish Church of St Paul Woking
Receipts and payments accounts CC16a
For the period 01 January 2023 31 December 2023
To
from
Section A Receipts and payments
Unrestricted Restricted Endowment
Total funds Last year
funds funds funds
to the nearest £ to the nearest £ to the nearest £ to the nearest £ to the nearest £
A1 Receipts
Regular giving from the congregation 73,908 - - 73,908 72,907
Gift aid 5,014 - - 5,014 4,932
Flat rental 9,059 - - 9,059 8,970
Hall hire 16,144 - - 16,144 12,612
Other donations 5,020 884 - 5,904 36,156
Other income 12,528 - - 12,528 9,856
- - - - -
- - - - -
Sub total (Gross income for
AR) [ 121,673 ] 884 - 122,557 145,433
A2 Asset and investment sales,
(see table).
- - - -
- - - - -
Sub total - - - - -
Total receipts 121,673 884 - 122,557 145,433
A3 Payments
Parish share 67,022 - - 67,022 64,572
Staff costs 19,181 - - 19,181 23,913
Mission donations 6,158 936 - 7,094 1,139
Building costs 11,238 - - 11,238 5,197
Utility and insurance costs 19,503 - - 19,503 11,314
Office and other costs 11,207 - 11,207 7,279
- - - - -
- - - - -
- - - - -
Sub total [ 134,309 ] 936 - 135,245 113,414
A4 Asset and investment
purchases, (see table)
- - - -
- - - -
Sub total [ - ] - - - -
Total payments 134,309 936 - 135,245 113,414
Net of receipts/(payments) - 12,636 - 52 - - 12,688 32,019
A5 Transfers between funds - - - - -
A6 Cash funds last year end 58,503 7,846 - 66,349 34,330
Cash funds this year end 45,867 7,794 - 53,661 66,349
----- End of picture text -----

CCXX R3 accounts (SS)

31/10/2024

Section B Statement of assets and liabilities at	Section B Statement of assets and liabilities at	the end of the period
Categories Signed by one or two trustees on behalf of all the trustees B5 Liabilities B3 Investment assets B2 Other monetary assets B4 Assets retained for the charity’s own use B1 Cash funds	Details Details *Total cash funds* (agree balances with receipts and payments account(s)) Cash at bank and in hand Details Details Details Signature	Unrestricted funds Restricted funds to nearest £ to nearest £ 45,867 7,794 - - - - 45,867 7,794 OK OK Unrestricted funds Restricted funds to nearest £ to nearest £ - - - - - - - - - - - - Fund to which asset belongs Cost (optional) - - - - - Fund to which asset belongs Cost (optional) - - - - - - - - - Fund to which liability relates Amount due (optional) - - - - - Print Name Rev'd N Hutchinson	Endowment funds to nearest £ - - -
			-
			OK
			Endowment funds to nearest £ - - - - - - Current value (optional) - - - - - Current value (optional) - - - - - - - - - When due (optional) Date of approval March 16 2023

CCXX R4 accounts (SS)

31/10/2024

CHARITY COMMISSION FOR ENGLAND AND WALES Independent examiner's report on the accounts Sectlon A Indopondenl Examlnarfs Rowt Report to the trusteesl The Parochial Church Council of the Ecclesiastical Parish Church of Sl Paul membèrs of Woking On accounts for the year ended December 31 2023 Charity no (if any) Sèt out on pages Iremembw to IJu8 kne page number5 ef addfjonal she4ts1 I report to the Iruslees on my examination of the accounts of the above charity {"tha Tnjsl.) for the year ended Responsibilities and As the charity Iruslees ol the Trust, you are responsible for the preparation basis of report of the accounts in accordance with the requirements of the Charities Act 2011 {"the Acl'l. I report in respect of my examination of the Trust's accounts carried out under section 145 of the 2011 Act and in carying out my examination, I have followed the applicable Directions given by the Charity Commission under section 14515llb} of the Act. I have completed my exarninalion. I confirm that no material matters have come to my attention {olher than that disclosed below ") in connection with the examination which gives me cause lo believe that in. any material respect.. accounting records were not kept in accordance with section 130 of the Act or the accounts do not accord with the accounting records Independent examiner's statement I have no concems and have come across no other matters in connection with the ex8minalion to which attention should be drawn in order to enable a proper understanding of the accounts lo be reached. . Please dele e words in the brackets if they do not apply. Signed: Date= Name: PyiLI P CouArn]è Relevant professlonal qualificationls) or body (if any): Addross: 30 LknX44 É£( IUi*b (¥v nR IER October 2018