2024-12-31-accounts

The PCC of the Ecclesiastical Parish of Christ Church West Didsbury and St Christopher Withington

Trustees’ Annual Report for the year ended 31 December 2024

Reference and administrative details

The charity name.

The legal name of the charity is:- The PCC of the Ecclesiastical Parish of Christ Church West Didsbury and St Christopher Withington.

The charity’s areas of operation and UK charitable registration.

The charity is registered in England & Wales with the Charity Commission in England & Wales (CCEW) with charity number 1147596.

Legal structure of the charity.

The governing document of the charity is the Parochial Church Council Powers Measure (1956) as amended by church representation rules that came into force on or before 15 July 2021.

The trustees are all individuals.

The principal operating address, telephone number, email and web addresses of the charity are:-

Christ Church Rectory 35 Darley Avenue West Didsbury Manchester, M20 2ZD Telephone [phone] Email address [e-mail] Web address http://christchurchdidsbury.org.uk

The Trustees in office on the date the report was approved and who served during the reporting year were:-

Rev T Phipps Mrs S Atherton Mr S Baird

Mr B Bartlett Mrs J Bastow Dr A J Bradbury Prof D Kloss Mr R Lowe Mrs B Malone Rev A Meadowcroft Ms J Partington Ms E Radcliffe Mrs R Tebay (until April 2025) Mrs A Tonner Mr G Whalley Mrs J White Mr Y Dunn

Objects and activities of the charity

The purposes of the charity as set out in its governing document.

Charitable object – promoting in the ecclesiastical parish the whole mission of the church.

Summary of objects – to enable as many people as possible to worship at our churches and to be part of the parish community through prayer, learning about the Gospel, provision of pastoral care and through missionary and outreach work.

The main activities undertaken during a normal year to further the charity’s purpose for the public benefit.

Activities include:-

-Provision of worship and prayer.

-Outreach to residential homes and schools.

-Use of buildings by other Christian communities.

-Provision of accommodation for community groups.

-Providing space for concerts open to all.

-Christ Church takes part in the national Heritage Open Weekend each September, locally organized and advertised by Didsbury Civic Society under the Didsbury Open Doors banner. The church has a themed display in addition to information about parish history and various architectural and decorative features of the building.

-Christ Church is open every Saturday morning for visitors as advertised through the Heritage Lottery Fund website following extensive grant aid for roof works.

-Charitable donations locally, nationally and internationally.

-Provision of accommodation to Chorlton and Didsbury Food Bank for storage and distribution of food.

-St Christopher’s Church is used by various community groups including South Manchester u3a. The building is also used by the NHS for Health and Wellbeing sessions.

-Christ Church Hall is used by the National Childbirth Trust for classes for parents.

The trustees have had regard to the Charity Commission’s guidance on public benefit in managing the activities of the charity.

The main achievements and performance of the charity during the year.

During early 2024 the church continued normal activities despite the interregnum following the retirement of Rev Anne Pilkington in 2023. Services were held by the curate, Rev Tom Phipps, and Rev Ann Meadowcroft. Rev Tom Phipps was appointed Rector on 29 September 2024. Rev Dr Anne-Marie O’Farrell officiates on a monthly basis. Services continue to be streamed for those unable to attend in person.

In addition, Christ Church has been open for private prayer for 2 hours on Saturday. Unfortunately it is no longer open on Wednesday mornings.

Carol singing has taken place at residential homes at Christmas.

Work with local schools has continued, particularly Experience Easter.

Our buildings have been regularly used by community groups. These include services for children and adults and include karate, theatre school, Cocaine Anonymous, music tuition and other Christian groups.

Concerts open to the public continue and church buildings are used for rehearsal.

Chorlton and Didsbury Food Bank has continued to use our hall for storage and distribution throughout the year.

Donations to other charities and individuals in need were maintained at previous levels.

Regular maintenance has been carried out on our buildings.

The administration of the parish has been aided by the appointment of a Parish Administrator and Facilities Manager but both plan to retire soon.

Structure, governance and management of the charity

The methods used to recruit and appoint new charity trustees.

Trustees are elected at the Annual Parochial Church Meeting.

Bankers CAF Bank Ltd 25 Kings Hill Avenue Kings Hill West Malling Kent ME19 4JQ

CCLA 1 Angel Lane London EC4R 3AB

This report has been approved by the trustees on 14th May 2025

FINANCIAL REPORT FOR PERIOD THE PERIOD JANUARY – DECEMBER 2024

Summary

During 2024, our total income was just over £122,000 with expenditure of £113,644, therefore showing a small surplus in our accounts of approx. £8,500. This is due to the PCC exercising financial restraint during the interregnum and not committing to any major expenditure other than for necessary maintenance work such as to boundary fencing at Christ Church and repairs to the bird netting in the Christ Church tower. It should also be noted that around £4,000 of payments (for our annual charitable giving and an invoice for tree maintenance) were paid in early January rather than December, so taking these into account, the surplus would have been around half this amount.

Whilst our finances and bank balances are healthy, there should also be a note of caution as our ordinary income has dropped. In particular, the total amount we received through donations (planned giving/stewardship, cash collections at services, and contactless payments) has reduced from almost £46,000 in 2023 to just over £43,000 in 2024. Our fee income (for conducting services such as weddings and funerals) is around £2000 lower than in 2023, which was in turn £2000 lower than in 2022. Fortunately, our income from the rent of our buildings during the year was £50,589 – an increase of almost £5000 year-on-year.

The appendix to this report includes a breakdown of all income and payments.

Bank Balances and Available Funds

Bank Balance CAF Bank current account CCLA deposit account Total as at 31/12/24 Available Organ fund Hall and buildings fund Reserve Available general funds Total as at 31/12/24	At 01/01/24 £24,696 £34,373 At 01/01/24 £7,720 £879 £20,000 £30,469	At 31/12/24 £33,241 £36,198 £69,439 At 31/12/24 £8,930 £1,230 £20,000 £39,279 £69,439

Our total available funds are around £10,000 higher than this time last year, but this is due to one-off legacies totalling £11,000, which were received from our late friends Marion Davies (in 2023) and Bob Weaving (in 2024). The PCC felt it appropriate not to commit or spend these legacies during the interregnum and to revisit the matter in 2025 together with our new Rector.

Any restricted funds (those held for donor-specified purposes such as fund-raising for named charities or for the church hall) or fees collected on behalf of the diocese (for weddings, funerals, etc.) were used for those purposes. Other fund balances above have been designated by the PCC for specific purposes but are still part of un-restricted funds under charity law and can be re-directed back to general funds by the PCC.

The CCLA account includes a reserve of £20,000. It is set at this level by the PCC, with the aim of ensuring it is equivalent to approximately two months of un-restricted expenditure, which is considered sufficient to cope with any timing fluctuations in income.

Parish share

The assessed parish share for 2024 of £48,470 was fully paid through payments of approx. £37,700 and gift aid claims of almost £10,000 and a credit of £881 awarded under the diocese incentive scheme due to our full share having been paid in 2023. (The timing of when some Gift Aid payments were received means they will appear in our 2025 accounts, but were counted by the Diocese towards our 2024 parish share in line with their normal accounting practices relating to timing of payments made around the end of the year for Gift Aid claims/payments relating to the previous year.)

Flat

Rental income for 5 Montmano Drive of just over £10,000 (net of Gascoigne Halman fees) was received during 2024, similar to the previous two years, and the running costs also remained very similar at around £3,000.

Accounting and Audit

As the annual income for Christ Church and St Christopher’s was less than £250,000 during the past financial year, it is not necessary to retain the paid services of chartered accountants to produce audited accounts. Our financial statements are produced on a “Receipts and Payments” basis (reconciled against our bank accounts) and will be examined by an independent examiner appointed by the APCM and then submitted, by the PCC, to the Charity Commission.

Special Thanks

Much of the hard work has once again been undertaken by Mrs Joan White , who manages all Gift Aid claims as well as overseeing many of the weekly counts, and by Dr Andrew Bradbury and Mr Richard Lowe , who as the main co-signatories for our bank accounts, have assiduously checked and approved hundreds of online banking payments during the interregnum – all necessary transactions to keep the lights on and everything else running. (Our new Rector is now set up as an online signatory and the oversight and approval of these transactions has now passed over to him, as is our normal practice.)

Finally, thank you to everyone else who participates in the weekly counts, and thank you to everyone who gives generously to support the working of the parish which includes the invaluable support we provide to community groups and more widely.

George Whalley Hon. Treasurer

APPENDIX TO FINANCIAL REPORT

	2023	Income Receipts	2024		2023	Payments Made	2024
						Clergy
	40,587	Plannedgiving (stewardship)	38,880		707	Rectorywater	303
	3,389	Cash collections	2,391		1,635	Rector's workingexpenses	420
	2,007	Contactless Payments	1,978		2,831	Rectorycouncil tax	1,234
	942	Magazine	604		2,520	Curates' workingexpenses	1,260
	5,311	PCC fees	1,713			Churches
	45,789	Hall hire/rent	50,589		45,981	Parish share/fees to dicoese	43,866
	863	Charitable donations	1,835		12,452	Gas	7,678
	2,664	Other donations / fundraising	-		4,066	Electricity	3,256
	350	Fairtrade	38		1,042	Water	1,442
	36	Coffee	180		7,863	Insurance	8,111
	-	Flowers	665		960	Broadband	1,308
	2,572	Other	3,406		1,642	Cleaning	1,205
	10,770	Tax refunds(Gift Aid/GASDS)	7,253		2,102	Repairs/maintenance	5,949
	10,885	Flat Rental Income	10,097		2,960	Upkeepof services	2,625
					2,360	Churchgrounds	1,490
					6,172	Organist and music	6,017
					330	Sundayschools/education	55
					721	Magazine	762
					5,029	Charitablegiving	1,381
					-	Fairtrade	-
					1,505	Admin and Facilities Mgt	9,546
					8,752	Other	5,392
						Halls
					3,097	Gas	2,580
					1,437	Electricity	1,298
					1,931	Cleaning	2,878
					-	Repairs/maintenance	300
					696	Other hall expenses/refunds	150
						Flat
					3,129	Runningcosts	3,138
	126,164	Ordinary subtotal	119,630		121,917	Ordinary subtotal	113,644
	4,247	Surplus/Deficit	5,985
		Extraordinary				Extraordinary
	4,846	Hall & buildings fund	351		10,348	Hall & buildings fund	-
	802	Organ Fund	1,210			Organ Fund	-
	3,000	Transfers from CCLA			-	Transfers into CCLA	-
	10,000	Bequest	1,000		-	Other	-
		Other	-
	18,648	Extraordinary subtotal	2,561		10,348	Extraordinary subtotal	-
	8,300	Surplus/Deficit	2,561
	144,812	Total Income Receipts	122,190		132,266	Total Payments	113,644
	12,547	Total Surplus/Deficit	8,546