## **FINANCIAL REPORT FOR ST KATHARINE’S CHURCH – CHARITY NO. 1144084 – 2022** ## _Please read the following report in conjunction with the balance sheet which follows._ Writing this report feels a bit like watching the Phoenix rise from the ashes of covid! We have looked out for each other, seen a need and acted on it and continued to search out how we can help to support those around us. New initiatives have been organised to allow people to come together – young and older – and our congregation numbers are back to pre-covid times. All this is much more important than pounds, shillings and pence – although we do need your financial support to allow us to grow and offer yet more worship opportunities to the people in our community. So, I hope this report will help to put some meat on the bones of the figures in the balance sheet – please always know if I can help with any questions regarding finance I will be happy to do so. Just give me a ring on 01204 691575 or see me in church. Our planned giving schemes help us to do just that – plan! We can rely on the envelopes coming through the collection plate (£13,867) and the standing order payments dropping directly into the church bank account (£27,120) and together these cover our regular expenditure, excluding the Parish Share. Plate collections and gifts in the “one off” envelopes (£5,690) are much appreciated and do help with the many extras that crop up throughout the year. If you do support St. Katharine’s by donating in this way, please consider switching to regular giving through the envelope scheme or by standing order. If you are a tax payer it would allow us to claim back the tax you have already paid on your gift which would add another 20% to your donation. If you have any queries about this just ask me or our Gift Aid Secretary – Chris Skinner. Thanks to everyone who generously donated to any of our church funds during 2022 you have helped tremendously. People have directed most of their support to the restoration of the three clock dials (£9,279) which now look resplendent and oh how we missed them! The demijohn has provided the opportunity for visitors to show their appreciation for what we are trying to improve at St Katharine’s and the candle tray collection has covered half of the cost of candles during the year. Many thanks to the willing volunteers who have stepped up to help in the coffee shop after services and encouraged us to stay and have a chat – your donations have covered the cost of providing drinks and biscuits for many occasions throughout the year! Loved ones who have gone before us are remembered through the Memorial Fund which funded children’s bibles, altar linen, palm crosses, items for the baptism bags, confirmation gifts, 2 chairs with arms and tops up the flower fund when needed. The Organ Fund grows by donations throughout the year and when we had a problem with the blower back in April it was reassuring to know we had the £1900 to cover the repair. Stitch and Knit have decided to move their bank account and consolidate it with the church accounts but it will be run by them – income 4i & expenditure 28e. Our Youth Sections – Sunday School, Messy Church, Wiggle Worship and Baby Rhyme Time have all benefitted from donations from Blackrod Education Trust, Blackrod Town Council, Bolton Council Community Trust, The Mayor’s Fund and the Scarecrow Festival, totalling £1470 with the remaining income coming from individual donations. Through your generosity we are able to provide the equipment, craft resources and refreshments for all the children’s sessions and we are hugely grateful to all the volunteers who make these times such fun. Sincere thanks to our Gift Aid Secretary, Chris Skinner, who regularly reclaims the tax paid by us all from HMRC which in 2022 amounted to just over £10,000. This gives us a huge boost in fulfilling all our financial obligations during the year including the Parish Share. St Katharine’s was kindly remembered with a legacy in the will of Audrey Fairhurst during the year, and it enabled us to buy an ex-demo printer outright when our contract with Arena came to an end. The cost was £1680 but we are now able to avoid ongoing rental costs month on month. We received a grant from Allchurches Trust of £1800 to help with the cost of the repairs to the stone mullions which amounted to £20,000. 1 As a registered charity with a listed building we are able to reclaim the VAT from Listed Places of Worship paid on restoration work which needed to be done and we claimed £3,909 from the roof repair and the restoration of the stone mullions. With restoration work to be done and storm damage to be repaired we needed to really step up with fundraising activities and this we certainly did, doubling our efforts as we were allowed to open up after the covid restrictions. It took a lot of courage from a lot of people but the Blackrod community backed us to the hilt and over £11,000 was raised. The results: Spring Fair - £1296; Plant sale - £1661; Scarecrow Festival - £2170; Band concert - £924; Christmas Fair - £3491; Gravepots - £270; Christmas Post 2021 raised £204 (paid in 2022) and £236 in 2022; Bric a Brac £160, and throughout the year cards, jigsaws, pens, and history book sales amounted to over £500. Easyfundraising (which comes from items you buy online) raised £319 and if you are an online shopper and would like to nominate St Katharine’s as your charity please have a word with any of the Events team or Mary Pryle and we can explain how it works. All fundraising comes with expenditure and in 2022 all expenses, which amounted to £1468 for the Fairs etc, were covered by the efforts of the monthly Coffee Morning team and all who regularly support them. The plant sales and the band concert tickets covered the expenses from those two events but the monthly refreshments, book sales and raffle covered everything else. The interest income of £798 was paid on the two savings account we have and are shown on the balance sheet. St Katharine’s Church supported the families during 21 funerals during 2022 and 6 burial of ashes and our thoughts are with you all. We shared the celebrations of 4 weddings and many baptisms too. Our facilities are used weekly by the Pilates class on Monday evenings and Blackrod Community Choir on Saturday mornings, and in July Blackrod Women’s Institute joined us to use the Upper Room. Their room hire helps with our heating bills. 350 magazines are printed every month off site. The sales income, and the advert fees cover the cost of the printing - £1974, the Parish Pump fees and stationery costs. We are deeply grateful to Mary Pryle who still puts the magazine together every month, to Colin Chater who delivers to the delivery team and to the willing volunteers who get them through the letter boxes. A heat donation is requested from every wedding and every funeral as the heating is on 9 hours before the event and in the winter months overnight. £70 was the suggestion which operates throughout the Westhoughton team. During the summer when the heat is not required funds are diverted to help with the cost of cutting the churchyard grass. Rev Angela and the clergy at St Bartholomew’s, St John’s Wingates and St James’ Daisy Hill are allowed to claim for telephone, postal and petrol expenses and the relative PCC’s are obliged to pay the rates and water rates on the various vicarages. These expenses are shared and this usually means that we receive a refund on a quarterly basis. Charity collections amounted to £4821: Disasters Emergency Committee – Afghanistan £179; Ukraine £288 + £117; Pakistan £160, all donated from retiring collections after services in church. Breast Cancer Charity – £100; World Day of Prayer £155; Lent boxes for USPG £270; International Aid Trust – Harvest collection £879 + a £40 personal cheque; British Legion £226 collection at the Service of Remembrance; Children’s Society boxes £296 and the Christingle collection £258; Christian Aid £1892; Special thanks to Barbara Miccoli and the Christian Aid team who went above and beyond in their efforts to raise the funds for the charity with a concert, sponsored steps, as well as the house to house collection through the parish magazine. Diane Cashmore headed the Children’s Society team and Barbara Worsley organised the lent box collection – thank you to all who donated. 2 There was also an overwhelming response to the Toy Service and toys were passed on to Fort Alice Women’s Refuge in Bolton. Weekly the donations for the grub tub are taken along to Urban Outreach by Peter Wynne for the food bank. Floats used throughout the year at different events are drawn and repaid within the accounts. Diocesan fees are collected as instructed in line with national guidelines and passed on as are the fees for the verger, organist and bell ringer. Fees for one of the weddings were paid some time ago and transferred when the event took place consequently there is a difference between the income and expenditure figures for 2022. ## **EXPENDITURE** Cost of fundraising already covered. Coffee shop expenditure is almost covered by the weekly donations. Stewardship costs cover the printing of the weekly envelopes and these costs have been reduced as people change to standing order donations. Parish Share is paid by every parish in the country and is based on the results of various surveys that you have answered during the year. It is used to pay half of the stipendiary payroll, housing costs, educational support and diocesan operating costs. We have been able to pay our full share once again in 2022 through your continued support and will receive approx. £1000 as a bonus for paying in full. We are blessed to be able to enjoy the talented expertise of Garyth week on week and the singing of the choir under his direction. It makes the joys of Easter and Christmas extra special. Also, thanks to Ruth P, for stepping in when required. Ministry expenses have been covered earlier along with the vicarage expenses. Apart from the use of the youth donations discussed earlier the funding received has covered the purchase of tables and chairs, musical instruments and everything needed to celebrate worship with this wide age range of children. Books, jigsaws, storage boxes, toys, disco lights, Christmas gifts as well as craft materials from Pritt sticks to diamonds and rubies! Messy Church has also received grants and funding to help with the food costs for the children and families – so welcome in these uncertain times and £520 of their specified expenditure has provided their tea at the end of the Saturday sessions. The teams work so hard to make these times memorable for everyone – you are appreciated. The Film Club had to close during covid but it is wonderful to see that Vivien Birchall and her team have started up during the year as Afternoon Matinee and is now self-financing but has the full support of the PCC in case of need. Our insurance has been renewed with Ecclesiastical Insurance who specialise in covering church buildings at a cost of £4644.25. General maintenance this year covered electrical work £869; fire alarm & new battery £360; roof repairs £1890; replacement flags – St George and the Union Jack; heating checks £531; organ blower & electrics £2287; cleaning of some windows, carpet and gutters totalling £475. Cleaning and kitchen equipment £359. Outside, the Eco corner was set up with the pond pots, compost and plants. The whole churchyard had many cuts and trims from April through to November totalling £1590 – many thanks to Denis Flatters and Jonathan Bowker for keeping on top of things. Office expenses included £695 for the BT telephone; extra printer ink £218; leaflet stand £28; smaller office supplies £79 and the payment to Eurodigital for the printer £1680, covered with the legacy gift. Postage stamps and paper purchases are as shown. PCC expenses included refunding £410 to the Diocese as they had paid twice for the setting up of Wiggle Worship! Rhea Howard & Barbara Miccoli attended a First Aid course - £333; new tree lights £63; Christmas services banner £84; flowers, gifts for two 80[th] birthdays, a golden and a diamond wedding, and Bishop Mark’s retirement all totalled £160; hot water bottles in the choir £32; Songs of Praise biscuits £27; leaving 3 gift for our churchwarden Ruth and various items for the buffet; The Memorial fund paid for the console table; baptism bibles and Sunday School presentation books. ## Candles cost £717 and £313 was donated through the candle tray; bread & wine £227. Worship items £656; flowers £672; 6 licences for music £968; 2 chairs with arms £254; Baptism welcome packs £365; confirmation bibles & prize giving £103; children’s bibles £28; lectionaries £63; netting for the flower curtain £45. Most of this was covered by the Memorial Fund. Lottery licence, Data Development support and Information Commissioner Office totalled £140. ## 2 visits to tune the organ by Nicholsons £515; Our gas is provided by British Gas for the body of church and Opus Energy for the upper & lower rooms and under the tower. Our contract with Opus ends in Feb 23 and when the British Gas contract ends in May 24 we hope to combine the two. SSE are our electricity providers until June 24. ## Waterplus rates were £276. Magazine - shows the annual cost of printing by CZ Design. We paid £146 per month from January – June, and £178 from July with a £30 excess for a colour magazine in January. The cost reflects the national increase of paper in this year. The CRUX magazine of the Manchester Diocese is now provided free and copies are available from church. The subscriptions to Parish Pump and the Lectionary online amounted to £47.99, and we refunded £37.50 to a business that had ceased trading shortly after paying for the advert. Our rental of £247 per quarter for the printer ended in February and our contract with Arena ended in November. The deal we have arranged with Eurodigital began in December so we are hoping to see significant savings during 2023. The clock restoration was £9,279; the conservation work on the stone mullions was £19,539 and £2491 for architect fees. £3909 in VAT was claimed back. Charities, floats, fees all discussed. During the year the Stitch and Knit group decided to consolidate their funds into the church account but it will be run as a separate fund for their use. As you will see the deficit this year is £17,194.21 due in the main to the repairs to the stone mullions and the roof. These funds have been taken from our reserves. The difference between the excess of expenditure figure on the analysis - £17,616.33 and that shown in the accompanying balance sheet £17,194.21 is the difference between the 2022 and 2023 insurance figures - £422.12 as the payment needs to be shown in the year which it covers. ## The bank account is £9758.66 with all items cleared. CBF No 1 contains all our “Funds” – Memorial - £4831; Youth – 1962; Bellringers - £692; Coffee Mornings – 1810; Organ - £4911; Restoration - £747; Stitch & Knit - £315; Afternoon Matinee - £200, which totals £15,468. CBF No 2 - £39,915 are our reserves, down by £20K this year as we utilised some of these for the restoration work. £5, 000 was also transferred over to the bank account as a buffer in case we were short for paying the insurance bill. This amount will be transferred back in the new year. I do hope you feel that the PCC are using the money wisely which you have so generously given to St Katharine’s. We shall continue to manage the finances with care and ensure we can pay our way in the foreseeable future whilst maintaining the building for future generations. None of this would be possible without your support, be it financial, volunteer hours on one of the rotas, helping with the youth groups or in one of the roles within our church services. If you would like to be more involved just have a word with Rev Angela or the churchwardens and thank you for taking the time to read this report. _**Jean Hibbert – PCC Treasurer.**_ 4