DEWSBURY TEAM PARISH
2024 ANNUAL REPORT AND INTERIM FINANCIAL STATEMENT
31st December 2024
Team Parish of Dewsbury
Annual Report 2024
On the proceedings of the Parochial Church Council and the activities of the parish generally
Administrative information
Team Parish of Dewsbury: The Minster Church of All Saints, Rishworth Road Dewsbury, West Yorkshire WF2 8DD St John the Evangelist, Boothroyd Lane Dewsbury WF13 2LP Holy Trinity Upper Road Batley Carr WF17 7LT Deanery of: Dewsbury and Birstall Diocese of: Leeds Team Rector (Designate) Rev’d Caroline Greenwood 16A Oxford Road Dewsbury WF13 4JT Bankers: Virgin Bank plc 46 Market Place Dewsbury Charity Registration 1141706 Number: Independent Examiners: Mark Ibbertson 9 Mickletown Road Methley LEEDS LS26 8HY
The PCC
PCC members who have served from 1 January 2024 until the date of this report was approved are:
Ex-officio members of the PCC:
Team Rector, Rev’d Caroline Greenwood from September 2024 Revd. Neil Walpole (Associate Priest from September 2022) Revd. Dr Dorothea Bertschmann (Assistant Priest from March 2024) Revd. Heather Thurlow (Distinctive Deacon) Mrs. Anne Robinson (Lay Reader Emeritus – retired on health grounds) Mr. Michael Booth (Lay Pastoral Minister) Miss Helen Grace (Hon. Secretary from November 2020)
Elected members of the PCC :
Mrs Lillian Brooke (Churchwarden – St John’s) Mrs Maureen Hobson(Churchwarden - St John’s) Mr Ian Wilson (Churchwarden – Holy Trinity) Mrs Alicia Wilson (Churchwarden – Holy Trinity) Mr Stuart Robertshaw (Churchwarden – Minster and Lay Worship Minister) Mr Richard Middleton (Churchwarden – Minster) Mrs Lindsey Robertshaw (Electoral Roll Officer and Lay Pastoral Minister) Mrs Maureen Dewhirst (Minster, Churches Together in Dewsbury) Mrs Ronalda Johnstone (Minster, Churches together in Dewsbury) Mrs Rita Hetherington (St. John’s, Churches Together in Dewsbury) Mr Matthew Taylor (St John’s, Churches Together in Dewsbury) Mrs Christine Patrick (St. John’s)
Mr Bill Thompson (Trinity)
Mr Stuart Irving (Deanery Synod Representative) Mr Malcolm Brooke (Co-opted to PCC from May 2024)
Structure, governance & management
The Parochial Church Council is a corporate body established by the Church of England. The PCC operated under the Parochial Church Council (Powers) Measure 1956 and the Church Representation Rules 2011. The PCC is a Registered Charity.
The method of appointment of PCC members is set out in the Church Representation Rules. All church attendees are encouraged to register on the Electoral Roll and stand for election to the PCC.
Aim and purposes
The primary purpose of the PCC is to promote the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ according to the doctrines and practices of the Church of England. The aim of the PCC is also to cooperate with the Team Rector in promoting in the Team Parish the whole mission of the church, pastoral, evangelistic, social, and ecumenical. It is responsible for all team finance and for the upkeep of the church buildings in the team.
The Team currently has a mission statement: -
‘We aim to proclaim the Good News of Jesus Christ and make God’s love real by our service in the community’
Services and Worship
Dewsbury Minster
10-30am Holy Communion –Sunday each week 12-00pm Lay-led Prayer Service – Wednesday each week with a monthly Holy Communion starting on Ash Wednesday 2025 then every second Wednesday in the month.
St John’s
10-30am Holy Communion – Alternate Sundays with Holy Trinity (weekly services to on 27[th] April 2025)
Holy Trinity
9-30am Holy Communion – Alternate Sundays with St John’s (weekly services to be resumed on 27[th] April 2025)
Clergy-led Online Morning Prayer Service, Monday - Friday
Objectives and Activities
The PCC confirm that they have considered the guidance contained in the Charity Commission’s general guidance on public benefit and, in particular, the specific guidance on charities for the advancement of religion.
The PCC has continued to fulfil the aims of the church by providing regular services of worship in each of the churches in the team when possible during 2023/24.
Average attendance in the team during the year was 106 (80 for 2023) adults and 15 (8 for 2023) children. There were 7 (12 in 2023) baptisms in the team, no (1 in 2023) weddings and 17 (24 in 2023) funerals. The Refectory continues to grow its customer base and is a valued asset to the community. Events bookings are continuing to grow as the reputation of the Minster as an excellent an quality venue with a strong hospitality offering becomes well known further afield.
During the past year, Holy Trinity and St John’s churches were on a temporary reduced fortnightly worship schedule alternating each week due to staffing capacity to cover weekly services at all three churches. The Minster continued with a weekly service that is live streamed on our Facebook page. All three churches will resume weekly Sunday Services as of Sunday 27[th] April 2025.
All that we offer in the life, prayer, ministry, and worship in the Team Parish could not be achieved without the support of a large number of volunteers who work tirelessly to make our churches places of welcome, prayer and pastoral support as well. For all of these, we are extremely grateful.
During the last year, the PCC has continued to comply fully with its duties under section 5 of the Safeguarding and Clergy Discipline Measure 2016 in particular its duty to have due regard to House of Bishops’ guidance on safeguarding children and vulnerable adults.
Achievements and performance Reports by Rev’d Neil Walpole (January to August) and Rev’d Caroline Greenwood (September onwards)
January to August
“But they that wait upon the Lord shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings as eagles; they shall run, and not be weary; and they shall walk, and not faint.” Isaiah 40 : 31
The greatest focus of the first nine months of 2024 was around praying for, searching for and preparing for the arrival of our new Rector. To this end, on Saturday 13th January, 2024, 27 members of our congregations gathered together for a day away at Christ Church, South Ossett, and, under the leadership of Bishop Chris Edmondson, made significant contributions to developing our aspirations and consolidating our hopes for our new Rector. This enabled us to put together an excellent Parish Brochure – an advert for our parish which outlined who we are as a worshipping community in Dewsbury, what we could offer the new Rector as well as the type of Rector we were looking for.
Through prayer and discernment we came up with the vision statement “As a Church we are here to proclaim the Good News of Jesus Christ and make God’s love real by our service in the community” Our brochure stated: ‘’As we look forward to 2027, celebrating 1400 years of Christian presence, ministry and mission in Dewsbury, we believe God, through the enabling power of the Holy Spirit, is calling us to go further and deeper into the following areas:
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To grow deeper in the Faith of Jesus Christ and His Word;
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To develop our gifts for Mission and Evangelism in order to draw people into a
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relationship with Jesus as Lord and Saviour;
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To grow our congregation, especially youth and families;
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To maintain and develop lively and meaningful worship;
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To raise the profile of our Church in the community.”
High on our wish list was the desire to return to weekly services in all our churches, knowing that this would mean a greater reliance on lay ministry, which we thought was something to be celebrated rather than feared.
We believed and continue to believe that such vision and aspirations, as we continue to listen to the Holy Spirit will help our church to grow. And so our vacancy was advertised and we continued to pray and to cut a long story short, God sent Rev’d Caroline Greenwood to be our next Rector.
As we waited and prayed and prepared for Caroline’s and her husband, Aidan’s, arrival we also needed to continue being church together. At every PCC meeting and at every opportunity throughout the Interregnum, I would pray for and talk about the need for unity within our church and parish. Being one together was indeed the most important preparation for us to catch a glimpse of God’s plans for our future. I can honestly say that God answered that prayer and despite some inevitable tension (tension can be a very positive thing!) we have experienced a fantastic sense of togetherness throughout what has been a tremendously difficult and challenging time - during Rev’d Simon’s illness and the interregnum. We thank God for the PCC and the whole church for the work we managed to do, we thank God for the love and grace that we have shared together during this time.
The beginning quote from Isaiah talks about waiting for the Lord. It talks about trusting God for our future and indicates an active waiting. In our waiting we had to keep going, very much relying on the promise of God to provide the strength we need to continue
His work. We give big thanks to God for all our Churchwardens over this year. Their continued dedication to keeping our churches open and running has been second to none. The churchwardens would admit though, that this couldn’t have happened without an army of willing volunteers. In our preparation of papers for our advertising for a new Rector we identified well in excess of 50 volunteers including welcome desk volunteers, choir, bell ringers, servers, ministers of the chalice, refectory team, the team at Tuesday lunch club at Trinity, the team running the Trinity Centre, welcomers, intercessors, worship leaders, those involved in school visits, readers, prayer ministry team, sound desk team, those on the PCC, treasurer work, our PCC secretary, Safeguarding Lead, the Destination 21:1 bus ministry team, pastoral team and so the list goes on and on (apologies in advance for those who have missed out), knowing that many are involved in more than one of these important ministries.
We praise God for so many talented and dedicated members of our church!
We have continued to try to provide relevant and vibrant worship in all three churches. Anyone worshipping in person or on our online Facebook page would hopefully agree that we have enjoyed some lovely worship throughout the year, led by our worship leaders (lay and ordained), preachers, intercessors, choir and Sam our musical director. Destination 21:1 bus ministry has continued to thrive and grow as we introduced an all age Bible study during our sessions, with many of our visitors engaging each week. This is real discipleship stuff – connecting with the culture and life of our visitors and working out how we encounter and respond to God. More often than not we would have in excess of 80 visitors (adults and children) each week between our two venues. This year we had our first Baptism on the bus during our ‘THRIVE on the Bus’ service in Chickenley and in March we commissioned Anjela Jones to be our employed evangelist with a view of extending our ministry further. With plans for introducing a ‘Eucharist on the Bus’ service, this ministry is looking more and more like church.
The year has been a most difficult year personally for me and particularly my wife Barbara, as we lost her mum and dad within a few weeks and later lost a nephew. We would like to thank the church, for those who have prayed for us and been an enormous support for us during this time. Reverend Caroline and Aidan joined us in September, so I will with many thanks for the incredible
hard work of many, hand over to Caroline to continue this report as she reflects on the first months of her time with us at Dewsbury Team Parish.
September to December
It was with great joy, that I joined Dewsbury Team Parish in September 2024. I have been made to feel so welcome and been blessed by such a tight team around me as I have found my feet. I would particularly like to thank Rev Neil Walpole for all the work that he has put into holding the fort in the Team Parish during the vacancy and the supportive way in which he undertook the handover of things to me that was gradual and enabled me to get a grip of things before picking up the next task.
I have been grateful, too, for the support of all of the ministry team and PCC. Rev Elizabeth Lee should be mentioned here – for her faithful and encouraging attendance at Monday Morning Prayers and Staff Meetings and her wealth of knowledge and experience. Although she died in March 2025, it seems appropriate to mention her wonderful and long ministry that was valued by so many in this report as she has been a huge loss to the parish.
I have been impressed by all that has been achieved during the vacancy and the diligence with which processes and procedures have been upheld - including the rigorous monitoring of safeguarding training being up-to-date. The only challenge has
been having someone who can adequately take on the accounting side of things with the Team Parish. Full details of the situation will be found in the Interim Financial Report attached.
The Refectory continues to increase in footfall and the events side of the Team Parish continues to grow. These are both encouraging signs, alongside the increase in average church attendance, of growth. The Alpha Course that started in September was well attended and greatly blessed all who were part of it.
Sam and the choir have been very busy during my early months here and my first Christmas was a wonderful season augmented by all that they had prepared.
At Holy Trinity Church, the Trinity Centre continues to offer important community activities that address social isolation and fullness of life for those who participate. Thes are well attended. This is achieved through the remarkable commitment of all the volunteers that are there including other helpers from the Team Parish. Holy Trinity look forward to returning to weekly worship and being a consistent worshipping presence in the community after a long season of fortnightly worship.
At St John’s Church, we had the privilege of hosting the Royal Foundation Carol Service for this area. This was wonderful occasion that was attended by many and enabled us to rekindle links with several local primary schools. This renewed contact will be built upon in the coming months so that we can encourage regular contact with the Churches. Involvement at St John’s primary School continues to deepen. There are two representatives on the governors and Reverend Neil and Reverend Caroline are both attending and taking assemblies there. They are keen to work in greater depth with the Team Parish and there are plans to offer Easter Experience to all of these schools during Lent. St John’s, too, are looking forward to the consistency of returning to weekly worship soon.
As a team, we have had the invitation to take part in a new initiative in the Diocese called Re-Weave that was launched by Archdeacon Bill. This is a three year prayer journey whereby a pilot group of parishes are invited to reflect on their local context and see what God is already doing there that we can join in with as missional activities. Some of the early activities, including looking at the story of each of the three churches, have been well engaged with by the wider congregation. The core team (Rev Caroline, Rev Neil, Rita, Ronalda and Aidan) are currently undertaking a mission audit with help from members of the congregation. At the end of the first year of this project we will then have churchwide and PCC meetings to discern what God might be calling us to do. I have been delighted by the energy and enthusiasm with which people have engaged with this and I am excited to see what God‘s plans are for Dewsbury.
The start of a new incumbency always involves a period of learning how things are done in a new context. I thank everyone for their support and patience whilst this process has taken place. There are practical things that need addressing – and the issue with the heating that has been costing so much money has started to be resolved before Christmas and the final stages of getting full control of the heating system will be complete just after Easter 2025. We pray that this will bring better control of our outgoings. It is important to balance these practical issues with times where we can dream big dreams for God‘s kingdom here in Dewsbury and I sense that this is very much on everybody’s hearts. I’m excited to see what God will do here and a journey with you all as we work towards fulfilling his plans for us and for the Town.
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Team Rector
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Churchwardens Report for Dewsbury Minster APCM – 27.05.25
We have had a good year at the Minster, especially now that we have our new Rector, Rev’dCaroline Greenwood. What an excellent appointment!!
Services – we continue to have weekly Sunday morning Communion Services led by either the Rector or Associate Priests, Dorothea or Neil.
Wednesday lunch-time services are continuing led by either Michael Booth or Richard Middleton on the 1[st] , 3[rd] , 4[th] and 5[th] Wednesday and the recent introduction of Holy Communion on the 2[nd] Wednesday led by the Rector. Numbers are small but I’m sure all who attend are appreciative of the variety.
Christmas and Easter services were well attended. Michael and Richard led a service of Stations of the Cross on Wednesday of Holy Week with the Rector giving a reflective serviceon Good Friday.
Music still plays a large part in our services with our Organist, Sam, leading the choir. This greatly enriches our worship and we are very appreciative of his input. However, the Choir is somewhat depleted with the other two Churches now having full services every week. We pray for its growth.
Room Hire bookings continue to increase with St Hild College back again for their annual Conferences. The Police Cadets come every Wednesday evening.
We have held many other bodies over the year with two organisations having a weekly booking – The Paddock Trust and a Dementia Group. Heavenly Handmade meet fortnightly, now in the Crèche. I, personally wish to thank the latter for completing my challenge to make a new Easter Banner, which was sort of unveiled on Easter Sunday. An excellent jobladies! Creative Spaces meet monthly with Rev’d Anne Wood & Lindsey Robertshaw.
The kitchen staff and volunteers do a tremendous job with the catering.
The Refectory continues to operate well with 3 paid staff, Tracy, Mark and Amelia and the many volunteers, to whom we are extremely grateful and also to the desk volunteers. Without them we could not operate.
We have, during the past few months, had again problems with the heating system which is still not sorted out as it had been on 24/7. Hopefully, we are now nearly at the end of the repairs.
A few weeks ago, we had our Quinquennial inspection and a report is still awaited.
From a financial point, income and giving is not at pre-Pandemic levels but it has increased somewhat during the year. Please give prayerful consideration to your giving each week. The accounts for 2023 are now almost finalised. Rev’d Caroline has now taken on the mantle of doing the accounts with the help from the Finance Committee members. Sam continues to pay invoices online and we thank him for that.
We have had several meetings in planning for events for our 1,400[th ] Anniversary in 2027. We have a small committee of the Rector, Stuart, Helen, Sam, Christine Patrick and myself. We are proposing a series of events between early Spring to October that year. There should be something for everybody. More details later. Sam instigated a series of Organ Recitals this year, which have proved quite successful on the first
Saturday of each month, February through to November. This will be repeated in 2026 and 2027. Please do join us at 1pm for an enjoyable hour of varied organ music. Entry is free, with a retiring collection. The Refectory is open 10am to 2.30pm on these days.
As we look to another year, let us all work together in love, perfect peace, and harmony for the benefit of the Church and its people but above all to worship our God and our Lord, Jesus Christ with enthusiasm and to grow stronger in faith with love and joy in our hearts.
RM
ST JOHN THE EVANGELIST, DEWSBURY MOOR CHURCHWARDENS REPORT 2024 PRESENTED MAY 2025
Use of the Building
The year started using a pattern of alternate weekly Sunday services with again St John’s organising and running a Good Friday and a Carol Service which were well received. The Girl Guides numbers are increasing, and they continue to use the church on a Monday evening and again contributed towards the heating.
The relationship between the church and St John’s School goes from strength to strength with two representatives on the schools governing body and with clergy and congregation involved in a range of school activities. Links were also developed with visits from other local schools particularly about understanding the Christian Faith. During the year we welcomed approximately 1200 school children for services and faith education.
We opened for the Heritage Open Days on Sat 7[th] and 14[th ] Sept with displays from our St John’s Archive,Dewsbury Sacrifices and photographs of Dewsbury Past together with organ music and St John’s children’s choir performing on the second Saturday where we had in excess of 60 visitors. We also hosted again a reception for those attending the brief lives matter service at the crematorium.
St John’s Church was chosen as one of the churches to host a special Community Carol Service which linked in with Her Royal Highness Princess of Wales Carol Service hosted at Westminster Abbey and it was a great celebration of all those who serve the community.
We again linked with St John’s School for their Christmas Fayre with Santas Grotto and Sleigh providing a great attraction.
During the year we had 3 burials and 3 Internment of ashes.
Building Maintenance
An electrical inspection was carried and a report produced on 3[rd] Sept which was satisfactory but some wiring issues still remain in the lady chapel. The fire extinguishers were serviced and items replaced as necessary in July and the intruder alarm was checked and serviced on the 22[nd ] Aug. Repairs were carried out on the main heating system heat exchanger in March and both boilers were serviced and faults rectified Oct/Nov. A PAT test of electrical equipment and a fire risk assessment were done but still awaiting the risk assessment report. The fire risk assessment outlined the problem with access at the rear of the building and in order that this was improved the floor behind the organ was raised and a step installed to improve egress.
After some concern regarding the condition of the tower top floor, its louvres and bird netting a structural engineers report was received on 1[st] Aug followed by a Quinquennial Inspection in Nov. Quotes were received for the replacement of the floor and a contractor was agreed. An online faculty was applied for and is to be revised
before it is accepted.
We were also aware of the condition of the 8 bell chime/carillon which are of special historical interest on the top floor and we received a report by John Taylor & Co outlaying their condition and what needed to be done with costs if they were to ring again.
It has been a busy year, and the churchwardens thank St John’s family and clergy for their help and support.
Church
Wardens
Lillian Brooke, Christine Patrick & Maureen
Hobson
Holy Trinity Church and Centre
Fabric report for Year 2024
There are no major fabric issues to report for this year.
All gutters were cleaned twice and drains kept clear.
Some ridge tiles were re-pointed and a roof slate was repaired in April 24 after the valley gutter was cleaned.
Following a grant of £1500 in early summer, we were able to replace all outside security lighting. We are now fully compliant with LED fitments.
Ian Wilson
Church Warden 11/5/25
The PCC Secretary’s Report for the Dewsbury Team Parish APCM on Tuesday 27th May, 2025
Since our last APCM and with the exception of the holiday month of August, the Dewsbury Team Parish PCC has held eleven meetings. These, mostly monthly, meetings have been planned and held at the Dewsbury Minster. Our average attendance of 14 was a slight reduction from the previous year but all meetings have been quorate. After almost two years without a Team Parish Rector at the helm but ably chaired by our Assistant Priest, Rev’dNeil, we were extremely pleased to welcome our new Rector, Rev’d Caroline Greenwood, who was invited to attend our September meeting and chaired her first full meeting in October. Along with Rev’d Caroline, we were most grateful and pleased to welcome Maureen Hobson who filled the empty post of Churchwarden at St. John’s and also joined the PCC officially at our October meeting. After the summer, very sadly, one of our ex-officio members, Anne Robinson, was no longer able to attend PCC meetings due to ill health. We have missed her wise and considered advice on all matters. On a happier note, after a protracted bout of ill health during this time, it was good to have elected member, Maureen Dewhirst, returning to our meetings.
Attendance was as follows: 21.05.24 – 13 present 02.07.24 – 14 present 03.09.24 – 13 present (inc. 1 via Zoom) + 2 by invitation as observers 03.10.24 – 13 present 05.11.24 – 12 present 10.12.24 – 14 present 16.01.25 – 15 present
10.02.25 - 11 present 01.04.25 – 17 present 06.05.25 - 14 present
I am enjoying developing a supportive, working relationship with our Team Rector, Rev’dCaroline, who has had an extremely busy start to her incumbency! I am also very grateful to all the members of our PCC - Churchwardens, lay members and clergy alike, for their continued support and commitment to our Team Parish.
Helen Grace (Dewsbury Team Parish PCC Secretary)
Safeguarding Report
Dewsbury Team Parish APCM - Tuesday 27th May, 2024
Making our churches safe and welcoming places to be continues to be a priority for DTP PCC. Safeguarding is reported on at every PCC meeting. As Parish Safeguarding Officer (PSO) I am a member of the Destination 21:1 Management Sub-committee which also reports to the PCC.
In my second year as PSO I have prioritised building effective Safeguarding structures within the Team Parish; ensuring main policies and safeguarding procedures are in place and reviewed regularly by the PCC, encouraging training opportunities, and developing an effective monitoring system for DBS checks. The CofE Safeguarding Handbook and onlineDashboard have been a great help and source of information. With the help of the Dashboard action plans have been submitted to the PCC at intervals during the year.
With the support of clergy, safeguarding incidents have been reported on and dealt with following recommended guidelines.
The majority of the PCC members and a good number of Volunteers have completed both Basic and Foundation safeguarding training. As I write this report and along with AnjelaJones, our D21:1 Evangelist, I am in the middle of a Safeguarding Leadership course led by the Leeds Diocese Safeguarding Team.
I have found the position of PSO a challenging one but am most grateful for the help and support of Rev’d Caroline, Rev’d Neil and the PCC.
Helen Grace
Parish Safeguarding Officer
Dewsbury Team Parish Music and Choir 2024/2025 APCM Report
Dewsbury Team Parish Choir plays a vital role in enhancing our worship, community spirit and celebrating the joy in music. Throughout the past year, we have strived to provide inspiring and reflective musical contributions that support the liturgy and bring our congregation together in worship and praise. The DTP Choir and I have dedicated so much time and talents to ensure that music remains a foundation of our churches’ spiritual life.
Over the past year, the Choir has faithfully contributed to weekly Sunday services and choir practices, offering a blend of traditional hymns and contemporary worship songs. As Director of Music, I have supported services with the organ and piano, while the choir has led congregational singing and sang a few choir anthems along the way, including Stainer’s ‘God so loved the world’ on Good Friday.
Special Services
This year the Minster has hosted a wide range of special services:
The Royal School of Church music’s Music Sunday, Remembrance Sunday, Royal Foundation Carol Service and Minster Nine Lessons and Carols.
Recently we provided the music for Holy Trinity Batley Carr for their 80[th] anniversary of VE Day celebrations, we also sang at the Minster for a civic service to celebrate 80[th] Anniversary of VE Day.
Funerals and Weddings
We have provided the music for Gail Webster’s (Choir member) funeral service at Dewsbury Crematorium and for Rev’d Elizabeth Lee’s 2 funeral services. Both these funerals were a privilege to sing and play for. We were also delighted to be asked to sing for a wedding at the Minster in April too.
Concerts/Events
The Minster has hosted a variety of concerts and music events this year: Kirklees Musica, Jenna Fan Music School, Stainers Crucifixion sung by Heritage Singers, College of the Resurrection Advent Carol service, Beverley Male Voice Choir, Simon Patterson (concert pianist), Minster Christmas Variety Concert, Mirfield Choral Society, Rodllians with Ed Whelan and the U3A Choir.
New initiatives
This year, we have introduced the Organ Recital series which has been a huge success so far! Different organists from around the country have been coming on the 1[st] Saturday of eachmonth to play. We have had a good variety of music played. It has been so good to hear the organ being played in so many different ways!
Recently we have formed a ‘Choir Committee’. The committee’s aim is to build the choir through recruitment and repertoire. We are particularly hoping to bring people from younger age groups in, to bring fresh voices and perspectives and also make the choir a place where they can learn and gain musical qualifications.
Acknowledgements
I would like to express my deepest thanks to all the DTP Choir Members whose dedication and passion for music makes everything we do special. The members of the choir have worked so hard this last year through choir practices, services and events. I am incredibly grateful for
their contribution; their support and guidance and I look forward to learning more music and accompanying them in the coming year.
sam Wilson - Director of Music
APCM 27th May 2025
New Electoral Roll Report 2025
Resident31
Non Resident21
Total52
Minster31
St Johns16
Trinity 5
Total52
Lindsey Robertshaw
Electoral Roll Officer
Interim Financial Report
The Team Parish is working diligently towards preparing financial statements that have been prepared in accordance with the Charities Act, 2011, the Charities (Accounts and Reports) Regulations 2008, the Charity Commission's Statement of Recommended Practice (SORP) on Accounting and Reporting by Charities, the Church Accounting Regulations 2006, the PCCs (Powers) Measure 1956 and the Church Representation Rules.
However, whilst provisional accounts were present presented to the APCM last year, they had not yet been successfully audited. This has been an ongoing problem throughout the year and, on my arrival, I have been doing a lot of investigative work to understand why this would be the case. Although a firm of accountants that were experienced with preparing church accounts were employed,it appears that they were not experienced with the complexity of an organisation such as the Team Parish and, as a result, the recordkeeping that had gone into the account on the software that we had, had not been accurately done to allocate costs to the appropriate cost centres.
This is a serious issue because, given the overspending that has taken place over the last few years,we need to have a clear picture of where this excess expenditure is being
made. Following the auditors instructions, the accountants have been approached on two occasions and failed to get things to the point where they could confidently be passed through audit. On the second attempt, data was lost from the software meaning that the process needed to begin again.
In my early career, I worked in accountancy and auditing so, with the permission of the Bishop and Archdeacon Bill, I have undertaken to do the data entry and set up the software in a way that gives us meaningful analysis so that we can move forward as a parish with confidence. In the early months of 2025, I will be completing this process and getting 2023 and 2024 accounts completed and signed off by Mark Ibbertson, our Auditor. One systems are in place and running smoothly, the PCC are looking at the possibility of taking on a Business Administration apprentice who can take responsibility for the recordkeeping and data input for the accounts. He/she will then take on additional administrative tasks to fulfil their qualifications within the team parish. In this way, we can make sure that everything is tight and completed in real time so that any queries can be easily resolved in real time. As the 2024 accounts get completed, the PCC will then be in a position to do some detailed work on economies and future sustainability planning. The funding of this role will be done through grants and the course fees will be paid by the government on the apprenticeship scheme.
I have informed the Charity Commission and they are aware of our situation and that we are working towards resolving it as soon as possible.
We have been protected from the impact of overspending each year by some generous legacies. However, we cannot rely on legacies as a means to fund all of our activities. Being accountable for expenditure is going to be a crucial part of next year‘s role for the PCC to turn things around.
Please pray for the PCC as they go through this process. As soon as the accounts have passed ordered, we will hold a Special Parochial Council Meeting to present the accounts to the congregation. Notification of this will be given in the same way as it does for the APCM and it is likely to be held after a Sunday service at the Minster.
ADDENDUM FOLLOWING COMPLETION OF 2024 ACCOUNTS
– ’ – Dewsbury Team Parish Acting Treasurer s Report 2024 Presented 28/6/2026
Following the completion of the 2023 accounts, there was continued working through of the issue surrounding the lack of invoicing that had taken place. This had been part of a Serious Instant Report to the Charity Commission and the situation surrounding invoicing for events and hall hire from 2023 to 2025 was remedied as soon as this omission was discovered in the summer of 2025. For the purposes of the accounts, the growing number of Accounts Receivable is expected as the monies owed were received in full in the summer of 2025. As a consequence, this matter will reach its conclusion in the 2025 accounts.
The battles to regain control of our HMRC Gift Aid account and our PAYE account continued throughout 2024 and the Gift Aid account was only resolved in December 2025. The PAYE account is now able to be used after having had to lobby to senior levels in Parliament to get the name of the person allowed to operate it changed to someone who currently was employed in the Team Parish. This means that we can now do Payroll properly. It is unfortunate that there have been significant numbers of hours put into such a simple administrative change despite providing all the evidence needed that the names on HMRC systems were no longer relevant. It has been a long and hard battle making representations that we wanted to be compliant yet HMRC were refusing to allow us to be so and fining us for their own intransigence. It was quite shocking that we needed to take this to the ombudsman, our MP and even the Prime Minister before something changed!
The 2024 accounts continue to show a significant haemorrhaging of money. Work has already been done on negotiating better contracts for utilities and insurance and several unnecessary contracts have been cancelled. Being connected now to the Major Church’s Network has provided opportunities to discover how other larger churches have reduced their costs and some of the advice gained there is still being implemented to good effect. We continue to look at ways to increase revenue through the Refectory and the use of our buildings for events bookings.
Key things to note in 2024‘s accounts are that giving and gift aid have substantially reduced by over £10,000 per annum. However, we received a significant legacy of £230,000 from Ralph Knowles in addition to the Turner legacy received in 2023. This has been what has protected us from severe financial difficulties but we need to have good stewardship this money and get spending under control so as to not deplete it too quickly. Fundraising and giving to Charity remain consistent throughout the year and the D211 bus ministry received a grant of £5000 towards their work.
Statutory fees for occasional offices are slowly starting to rise again. Because of the issue with invoicing during the year and unclear communication separating hall hire from costs of food and staffing for events, there are some discrepancies in how this information is communicated in this year‘s accounts. Income from events, their catering and staffing have been lumped together as one amount. It is desirable to find a way to separate out the day-to-day activity of the refectory from these events for accounting and decision making purposes and this is what we are working towards.
The Minster shop and Heavenly Handmade continue to make a very meaningful contribution to income for the Team Parish. We thank everyone for their hard work on this and for the volunteers who deal with the shop.
Whilst wages in the refectory considerably increased, the revenue within the refectory did not rise proportionally. In 2025 price rises for refectory sales have been implemented so we expect to see that gap closing in the 2025 account. The huge
increase in bank interest received is through the generosity of the Ralph Knowles Legacy and the interest that this earns.
We made an additional contribution to Parish Share to reflect the fact that we had received a generous donation but that the unclear financial picture at the time made us hesitant to commit more because of how much overspending is taking place.
The increase in our wages and honorarium bill is partially explained by the PCC committing part of the Ralph Knowles Legacy to paying a salary to Anjela for running the bus project over 3 years. Some donations are received during the year to cover her overtime so this is not an expense that is footed by the team parish excepting for her core working hours. 10% of the increase relates to honoraria that were awarded and the remainder is explained by increased working hours for a third member of staff in the Refectory and overtime incurred by staff in preparing food for events. As I explained earlier, the proportion of this is not clear because of the lack of invoicing and recording during the year. This will be able to be made more transparent in 2025.
We are well aware of the horrendous problem with heating at the Minster that has gone on for nearly 2 years. Whilst that is not fully to blame for the huge increase in utilities, it has played a significant part in it. We pray that the work that has been done now on the boiler and heating system will start to bring dividends to us and the new energy contracts that been recently negotiated will substantially reduce what we were paying.
It is irksome that we had to pay £960 to the accountants who failed to get our 2023 accounts through audit. However, by doing it in house, we have saved ourselves nearly £2000 to date. Bank charges are less than last year because the SumUp machines were out of action through the year and therefore there were no transaction fees. We managed to regain control of the machines towards the end of December 2024 so those costs will be back again next year.
On the surface of looking at the accounts, it appears that we are operating in surplus because of the buffer that has been created by legacies. If, however, we had not had those legacies, the excess of expenditure over income would have been in the region of £109,000. If we had continued on this trajectory, we would have run out of funds in 2025. In reality, a lot of work has been done on reducing costs in 2025 and, whilst the excessive expenditure over income is still alarming, that pace of depletion of funds was not fulfilled. We look forward to seeing the benefits of the savings made in the 2025 accounts but understand that there is still some way to go. The finance committee will be meeting in July to look in detail at all of these figures and assess the plan of action to bring to PCC.
Team Rector & Acting Treasurer
‘As a Church we are here to proclaim the Good News of Jesus Christ and make God’s Love real by our service to the Community.’
Dewsbury Team Parish
The minutes of the Special Parochial Church Meeting held on Sunday 28[th] June at 12:30p.m. in the Worship Area of Dewsbury Minster
Chairperson: Rev’d Caroline Greenwood Secretary: Helen Grace Attendance: There were 16 in attendance, 15 of which were registered on the Electoral Roll and eligible to vote
1. Welcome
As Chairperson the Rev’d Caroline Greenwood ( CG ) welcomed those in attendance and thanked them for making the time to fit into a very busy day which included the final service of Holy Trinity that afternoon.
2. Apologies
Michael Booth, Stuart Irving, Stuart Robertshaw, Maureen Hobson, Michael Hobson.
3. Presentation of the audited 2024 Annual Accounts
Following approval of the accounts by the PCC, the 2024 accounts were presented to the congregation.
Before presenting the accounts, CG expressed her thanks to the Clergy Team for stepping up and enabling her to be more focussed on completing the accounts. She also expressed her thanks to Richard Middleton for being available with information and Auditor, Mark Ibbertson ( MI ) who, having audited the accounts on Friday, had produced his report in time for this meeting.
Despite the accounts making stark reading, CG reassured those present that steps had been put in place over the last twelve months to economise and reduce expenditure in many areas.
As a result of his audit, MI was satisfied that there had been no wrong-doing. Referring to the Income and Expenditure Accounts, she pointed out that during 2024 there had been an issue with the lack of invoicing for room hires and events. This had been discovered while doing the 2023 accounts in 2025. Therefore, the income for bookings had been gradually increasing due to the back-dating of invoices, would continue be an issue in the 2025 accounts.
There had been problems in claiming Gift Aid which CG had made efforts to resolve. Permission came through to access the account on 24.12.25. This meant that income from Gift Aid showed a substantial reduction. As the 2024 accounts had been completed, Gift Aid could now be claimed.
When CG came into post in September 2024, she had made every effort to access the Team Parish’s HMRC PAYE account. She found that responses from HMRC were extremely intransigent and unhelpful. After spending many hours trying to resolve the matter, she wrote to the local MP and the Prime Minister. This seemed to resolve the problem very quickly with fines being waived.
p1/3 Under Expenditure 0n Charitable Activities, the accounts showed that money had been haemorrhaging from them, major culprits being Salaries and Honoraria, Insurance and Utility costs. CG reassured the meeting that improved deals had been sought and much improved savings would be made in the coming year with cheaper contracts.
Continuing to look at Income and Expenditure CG explained that there were some key points to note; Gift Aid had substantially reduced by over £10.000/annum and two legacies (from Sylvia Turner and Ralph Knowles) had protected the Team Parish from severe financial loss. It was important that, for the future, it was important to
plan ahead in order to be sustainable. In terms of income, statutory fees are beginning to rise again as the impact of Covid upon reducing recent occasional offices was now working through.
CG pointed out that Hall hire from bookings, staffing for events and Refectory/catering Income could not be easily separated due to the issue with invoicing and unclear communication. Whilst wages in the Refectory had considerably increased, the revenue had not risen proportionally. 2025 price rises in the Refectory had been made so this gap was expected to close. There would be further price rises in the coming months.
Running costs, e.g. heating repairs, rodent killing, photocopier costs etc. showed a large increase and heating costs had massively increased during 2024 due to faults on the system and inflation.. Repairs had been made as well as new contracts sought. Bank charges had showed a reduction in 2024 as the SumUp card machine had not been online. However, had it not been for the cushion of the two legacies the excess of expenditure over income would have been in the region of £109,000.
If this trajectory had continued without putting in savings plans the Team Parish would have run out of money in 2025.
CG informed the meeting that the Finance Committee would be meeting in early July to look in detail at the data and assess the plan of action to take to the PCC. She then asked if there were any questions from the floor.
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It was asked why Repairs and Decoration had shown zero costs. The reason given was that only major works needed to be recorded and there had been none in 2024
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Re St. John’s Building Fund (Balance Sheet) it showed a £9,450 difference in 2024. As no one could recall that amount being spent, CG said that it would be investigated and amended in the 2025 accounts if found to be an error.
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There was a query why the Auditor’s Report had not been discussed at this meeting. CG explained that this would be looked at by the PCC and was not in the SPCM’s remit.
As there were no further questions
It was then proposed that the audited 2024 Annual Accounts be accepted. Proposed – Janet Howarth, Seconded – Matthew Taylor
Following a show of hands the voting was unanimously in favour of accepting the proposal.
votes for – 15, Votes against – 0, Abstentions – 0
As a result, the audited 2024 Annual Accounts were accepted.
4. Nomination for election to the PCC
The Sec. had received a nomination for Malcolm Brooke to be elected as a member of Dewsbury Team Parish PCC; proposed by Maureen Hobson and Seconded by Michael Hobson .
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Following a show of hands, the vote was unanimously in favour of Malcolm Brook becoming a member of DTP PCC.
Before the closure of the meeting Richard Middleton asked for a vote of thanks to be given to Rev’d Caroline in appreciation of the hours of work spent, in her own time, on the accounts and saving the Team Parish accountancy costs. There was spontaneous applause from the floor in appreciation of CG’s work.
The Chair then thanked everyone for attending and closed the meeting.
Signed: …………………………………………………………………………….
Date: …………………………………………….
Dewsbury Team Parish
Income & Expenditure Account 2024
| INCOME & ENDOWMENTS Donations and Legacies Giving and Gift Aid Legacies Fundraising Non-Recurring Grants Income from Charitable Activity Statutory Fees Rental Income All Other Income Other Trading Activitity Minster Shop & Heavenly Handmade Income from events and trading (combined with room hire) Refectory (including event catering) Investments Bank Interest Received |
2022 £ £ 55,323 0 1774 45,899 102,996 5,701 5,678 7,656 19,035 5,459 n/a 38,942 44,401 1,744 |
2023 £ £ 64,264 122,952 1,572 5,000 193,788 3,002 9,801 8,474 21,277 5,110 n/a 39,019 44,129 9,205 |
2024 £ £ 53,926 230,000 1,100 5,000 290,026 3,334 1,492 6796 11,622. 4,561 10,876 40,715 56,152 9,779 367,579 |
|---|---|---|---|
| INCOME & ENDOWMENTS TOTALS |
168,176 |
268,399 |
| EXPENDITURE ON CHARITABLE ACTIVITIES | 2022 | 2023 | 2024 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Parish Share | 30,000 | 30,000 | 36,000 |
| Mission & Charitable Giving | 871 | 2,088 | 2,492 |
| Salaries & Honoraria | 31,414 | 34,567 | 56,815 |
| Clergy & Pastoral Expenses | 2,086 | 959 | 1740 |
| Equipment Leasing | 0 | 2,019 | 0 |
| Cost of Activities | 0 | 4,581 | 2,548 |
| General Running Expenses | 48,655 | 52,327 | 65,355 |
| Utilities (Gas, Electricity & Water) | 17,783 | 37,621 | 44,768 |
| Cost of Minster Shop Training | 1,387 | 3,213 | 1,522 |
| Refectory Food & Other Costs | 12,714 | 14,695 | 17,226 |
| Examination & Audit Fees | 0 | 0 | 960 |
| PCC Fees & Refunds | 1,662 | 499 | 140 |
| Bank Charges | 0 | 130 | 3 |
| Repairs & Redecoration | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Gift Presentations | 0 | 0 | 595 |
| Poor Funds | 0 | 327 | 0 |
| Miscellaneous | 520 | 1,439 | 4,976 |
| EXPENDITURE GRAND TOTALS. | 147,092 | 184,465 | 235,140 |
| EXCESS / (DEFICIT) OF INCOME | |||
| OVER EXPENDITURE | 21,084 | 83,934 | 132,439 |
Dewsbury Team Parish
Balance Sheet as at 31st December 2024
| As at | As at | As at | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 31/12/2022 | 31/12/2023 | 31/12/2024 | |
| Current Assets | |||
| Cash Book Account | 2,028 | 0 | 0 |
| Yorkshire Bank Current Account | 46,361 |
118,414 | 26,130 |
| Yorkshire Bank Current Account 2 | 199 |
10,932 | 229,223 |
| Barclays FODM | 3,208 | 3,415 | 3,514 |
| CCLA – Dewsbury Minster Trust | 66,102 |
68,221 | 71,842 |
| CCLA – St John’s Building Fund | 15,468 | 15,963 | 7,342 |
| CCLA – General Account | 3,479 | 3,591 | 3,781 |
| CCLA – Poor Fund | 2,734 | 2,853 | 2,999 |
| Team Parish Paypal Account | 1 166 | 10 | 58 |
| Cash in Hand | 195 | 195 | 145 |
| Cash Receivable | 0 | 2,022 | 12,301 |
| TOTAL CURRENT ASSETS | 139,940 | 225,616 | 357,335 |
| Liabilities | |||
| Accounts Payable | 0 | 1,742 | 1,021 |
| TOTAL LIABILITIES | |||
| NET ASSET SURPLUS / (DEFICIT) | 139,940 | 223,874 | 356,314 |
REPRESENTED BY FUNDS
| 31/12/2022 | 31/12/2023 | 31/12/2024 | |
|---|---|---|---|
| General (Unrestricted) | 35,843 |
118,469 | 221,848 |
| Designated | 20,529 | 20,841 | 46,264 |
| Restricted | 83,568 | 84,564 | 88,202 |
| TOTAL | 139,940 | 223,874 | 356,314 |
Independent Examiner's Report to the Trustees of the Team Parish of Dewsbury
I report on the accounts of the Team Parish for the year ended 31 December 2024 which are set out on the accompanying pages.
Respective Responsibilities of Trustees and Examiner
The Team Parish’s trustees are responsible for the preparation of the accounts. The Team Parish’s trustees consider that an audit is not required for this year under section 144(2) of the Charities Act 2011 (the 2011 Act)) and that an independent examination is needed. It is my responsibility to:
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Examine the accounts (under section 145 of the 2011 Act);
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To follow the procedures laid down in the General Directions given by the Charity Commissioners (under section 145(5)(b) of the 2011 Act); and
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To state whether particular matters have come to my attention.
Basis of Independent Examiner's report
My examination was carried out in accordance with the general Directions given by the Charity Commission. An examination includes a review of the accounting records kept by the charity and a comparison of the accounts presented with those records. It also includes consideration of any unusual items or disclosures in the accounts, and seeking explanations from you as trustees concerning any such matters. The procedures undertaken do not provide all the evidence that would be required in an audit and consequently no opinion is given as to whether the accounts present a 'true and fair view' and the report is limited to those matters set out in the statement below.
Independent examiner's statement
In connection with my examination, no matter has come to my attention:
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which gives me reasonable cause to believe that in any material respect the requirements
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to keep accounting records in accordance with section 130 of the 2011 Act; and
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to prepare accounts which accord with the accounting records and comply with the
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accounting requirements of the 2011 Act have not been met; or
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to which, in my opinion, attention should be drawn in order to enable a proper understanding of the accounts to be reached.
Mark Ibbertson 27 June 2026 9 Mickletown Road Methley Leeds
LS26 9HY