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2022-12-31-accounts

St. John the Evangelist Church, Hedge End Registered Charity: 1147617

Annual Parochial Church Meeting

Sunday 23[rd] April, 2023

6:00pm in Church

Everyone Welcome

(Only electoral roll members can vote at this meeting)

ANNUAL PAROCHIAL CHURCH MEETING

The meeting has been arranged for Sunday, 23rd April, 2023 at 6:00pm

In Church

Agenda

Meeting of Parishioners

  1. Appointment of Churchwardens

Annual General Meeting

  1. Apologies

  2. Minutes of 2022 Annual Parochial Church Meeting

  3. Matters arising from the Meeting

  4. Electoral Roll report and Appointment of Electoral Roll Officer

  5. Election of Parochial Church Council

  6. Approval of Annual Report

  7. Adoption of all Accounts and Appointment of Independent Examiner

  8. Proposed date of next Annual Parochial Church Meeting

  9. Question Time

  10. Concluding remarks and closing prayer.

Please bring this Agenda, the Minutes and Reports with you to the annual Meeting.

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St. John, the Evangelist Church St. John’s Church, Hedge End, Southampton, SO30 4AF

Annual Report

Aims and Purposes

The Parochial Church Council (PCC) of St. John the Evangelist, Hedge End, has the responsibility of co-operating with the Incumbent, (vacant), in promoting the ecclesiastical parish, the whole mission of the church, pastoral, evangelistic, social and ecumenical. The PCC also has over-sight of the Underhill Centre Management Committee, which is specifically responsible for the maintenance and running of the Underhill Centre (UHC) attached to the Church, which is used for Church and community activities.

Aims and Objectives

The PCC is committed to enabling as many people as possible to worship at St. John’s Hedge End and become part of the Parish community. The PCC maintain an overview of worship throughout the Parish and make suggestions on how our services can involve the many groups that live within our Parish. Our services and worship put faith into practice through prayer and scripture, music and sacrament and are exercised in such a way that they are accessible to all.

When planning our activities for the year, we have considered the Commission’s guidance on public benefit and, in particular, the supplementary guidance on charities for the advancement of religion. In particular, we try to enable ordinary people to live out their faith as part of our Parish community through:

To facilitate this work it is important that we maintain the fabric of the Church and Centre but that this is not done at the expense of mission and growth.

Administration

St. John the Evangelist is situated on St. John’s Road, Hedge End; it is part of the Eastleigh Deanery in the Diocese of Winchester. The correspondence address is the Parish Office, the Underhill Centre, 76 St. John’s Road, Hedge End, Southampton, Hampshire, SO30 4AF.

The PCC is a body corporate (PCC Powers Measure 1956, Church Representation Rules 2006) and a charity registered with The Charity Commission (Charity No. 1147647).

Structure Governance and Management

The method of appointment to the PCC is set out in the Church Representation Rules. At St. John’s the membership of the PCC consists of the Incumbent, other members of the Ministry Team, Churchwardens and members elected by those members of the Congregation who are on the electoral roll of the church. All those who attend our services and members of the congregation are encouraged to register on the electoral roll and stand for election to the PCC. The PCC members, as Charity Trustees, are responsible for making decisions on all matters of general concern and importance to the Parish including deciding on how the funds of the PCC are to be spent. New

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members receive initial guidance into the workings of the PCC and where necessary are provided with a Job Description.

The PCC had 7 meetings this year, with 80% attendance.

PCC Membership 2022-2023

PCC Membership 2022-2023
Position Name (Re-Election Due) Notes
Incumbent Vacant
Churchwardens
(Renewed every year)		 Mrs Lyn Colman
Mrs Catherine Lynch		 From May 2021
From April 2022
Deanery Synod Members
(Renewed every 3 yrs)		 Mr David Dimmick (2023)
Mr John Reynolds (2023)
Mr David Lloyds (2023)
PCC Members
(Renewed every 3 yrs)		 Mr David Taylor (2026)
Ms Marsha Hale (2024)
Mr Malcolm Thornton (2025)
Mrs Carol Watson (2023)
Mr Geoff Judd (2024)
Mr William Sambrook (2024)
Mrs Pat Brierley (2026)
Mr Tim James (2026)
Mrs Victoria James (2026)
Mrs Kathy Moore (2026)		 PCC Secretary from August 2022
PCC Bookkeeper
Other Mrs Christine Clevett PCC Secretary until August 2022.
PCC Appointments
Position Name Notes
Electoral Roll Officer Mr David Dimmick From Oct 2020
Data Protection Officer Mr David Dimmick From January 2013
Safeguarding Officer Mrs Catherine Lynch From September 2015
PCC Secretary Ms Marsha Hale From August 2022
Health & Safety Officer Mr Malcolm Thornton
Stewardship Officer Vacant From Oct 2020
Underhill Centre Manager Malcolm Thornton FromJuly 2021
Treasurer Vacant
Assistant Treasurer PCC Mr Geoff Judd FromJan 2021
Gift Aid Officer Mr Mike Furnell

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Payroll Officer/Asst.
Treasurer UHC		 Mr John Collings From Oct 2020
200 Club Treasurer Mr Geoff Judd From January 2017
Banking Cashiers Mrs Sue Garvey
Mrs Kathy Moore
Mrs Jackie Murley
Mrs Amanda Holt
Mr Malcolm Thornton
Mr Mike Furnell
Sunday Counters/
Assistant Cashiers		 Mr David Cheffy
Mrs Amanda Holt
Mrs Victoria James
Mr Geoff Judd
Mrs Kathy Moore
Mr Malcolm Thornton
Mrs Gill Travers
Sidespersons Mr David Watson
Mrs Emma Watson
Mrs Sally Lloyds
Mrs Jackie Murley
Mrs Roz Bundy
Mr Dennis White
Mrs Chris White
Mr Gerald Miller

Committees

Given its wide range of responsibilities, the PCC has a number of Committees that report to the PCC. Each Committee is responsible for a different area of Parish life. These Committees meet between full PCC meetings.

Standing Committee:

This is the only Committee required by law. It has the power to transact the business of the PCC between meetings, subject to any directions given by the council.

Finance Committee:

Meets occasionally to discuss financial matters.

Underhill Centre Management Committee:

To oversee and manage the running and activities of the Centre.

Works and Maintenance Committee:

Attends to matters relating to the Church building and fabric and the churchyard.

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Socinl Committee., Raises funds for the church fabric and maintenance and provides food and drink for the various events held throughout the year. The Social Committee runs three major events, namely, a Summer event. Harvest Supper and Christmas event. Professional Advisors The Professional advisors for the period were as follows.. Bankers.. National Westminster Bank. Hedge End and Romsev Legal.. As advised by the Diocese Jndependent Examiner.. The consolidated PCC and Underhill Centre accounts were examined by David Chard. Arran8ements for 2022 accounts were not made prior to the APCM so exarniner for the 2022 accounts could not be approved at the APCM. Note.. at the PCC meeting on 31" May 2022 PCC agreed that Colin Moore would consolidate the 2022 accounts and 03ve Chard w3s again appointed as Independent Examiner. Signed on behalf of St. John's PCC Malcolm Thornton Ivice Chairl Date Page 6 of 39

St. Johns the Evangelist Church, Hedge End, Minutes of the Annual Parochial Church Meeting on Sunday, 8[th] May 2022 at 6.30p.m.

Meeting of Parishioners

Annual General Meeting

Malcolm thanked everyone for attending and closed the meeting with the Grace.

The Meeting Closed at 7.30 p.m.

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VICAR’S REPORT

Vacancy

CHURCHWARDENS’ REPORT

At the APCM last year (2022) Catherine Lynch joined me as churchwarden; this has made things much easier as all tasks are now shared.

This past year we have been in vacancy, our thanks must go to Revd Kelvin Taylor for his continued, and valuable support throughout this time. Kelvin, the people of St John's are very grateful to you for your ministry with us.

There has been some work carried out around the church and the churchyard, details of which can be found in the journal. All work has the accompanying List A/B/faculty permissions.

Thanks must go to all those who helped run the extra services held at St. John's, especially over the Christmas period. We, Catherine and I, would like to thank everyone who helps in any way towards the smooth running of the church and our church services, sides people, servers, after service coffee team, intercessors and readers. Special mention must go to Tim James for his ongoing support with live streaming, thank you Tim; I know those at home really appreciate the ability to join with our services.

Thanks also goes to everyone who ensures the smooth running of the building, all those little jobs that no ones sees who does them, but are so important to the upkeep of the building. Malc Thornton a special thank you to you, for all your support.

Like all Church of England churches St. John's has a PCC, it is their role to ensure the fair and continued running of the church. This year has been different in as much as 5 members of PCC formed a group to write the Parish Profile. This was started at the Parish Vision Day, led by assistant Arch Deacon Revd Gary Philbrick and assistant Area Dean Revd Sarah McKelland. From this a Parish Profile was created. This was accepted by the Bishops office and the job of Parish Priest was advertised. This led to interviews, and subsequently an offer was made to Revd Phil Aindow, who formally becomes the next vicar of St John's on 24[th] April.

Thank you to all of you. Catherine and I are very grateful for your continued support of us, as churchwardens.

God Bless

Lynette Colman and Catherine Lynch

SAFEGUARDING REPORT

The role of Safeguarding officer has been fluid throughout last year. Catherine Lynch stepped down from the post in April as she had taken on the post of Churchwarden. Amanda Holt took over this post at the same time. Unfortunately, after several months Amanda decided the post was too much for her and resigned. So to make sure that the Safeguarding duties could be covered certainly in terms of doing DBS checks on those that needed it until a permanent officer could be found, Catherine has taken on the role again. She has made it very clear to the PCC that she will only be doing a limited amount of work which as mentioned includes mainly DBS checks and will step down as soon as someone can be found to take on the role.

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There have not been any outstanding incidents this year.

Catherine has managed to make sure all PCC members have been checked for up to date DBS certificates and where necessary new ones have been applied for and issued.

The DASHBOARD system was started at the beginning of last year March 2022. Unfortunately, due to reasons already mentioned this has been put on hold

Catherine Lynch

HEALTH AND SAFETY REPORT (for period ending April 2023)

I took over from Malcolm approximately a year ago and since then have been looking around the whole site, reviewing existing paperwork along with any procedures available. This has included looking at the Church insurance documentation for our responsibilities. I must thank Malcolm for the work that he had put in and the recording thereof, also for showing me where to find certain things.

It may already be known, but I am not great on a computer so will need some help in that area for which Chris (in the office) has said she would assist as required. All risk assessments, policies, procedures and general information will be held on the office computer system under a “Health and Safety” file name and may at first just be scanned paperwork documents that I have generated. This will, in the first instance, satisfy a relevant outside scrutiny inspection as everything will be “Recorded” as the law and insurance requires.

I have placed an insurance company risk calendar on the office wall and will look to comply with all of these areas over the coming years, or as circumstances require, if an earlier date is needed. There is some work to do by myself which will mainly be the physical assessments and recording of these. So, as I have said, may take some time.

At this time the current recorded risk assessments, although out of date by a short time, are sufficient to meet needs but will have to be redone soon. At that stage any remedial works can be identified and time scales, costings, work schedules can be discussed as appropriate.

If there are any problems that people wish to discuss then please speak to me directly as I would rather head off any issues before they become too large.

Ken Guy

MOTHERS’ UNION LEADER’S REPORT

This past year saw us back in action after the hiatus caused by all the covid restrictions and we have enjoyed a full year of meetings, social activities and fund-raising events.

In March, we were once again able to hold our AFIA fundraiser with our: ‘I do like to be beside the seaside’ fish and chip lunch. Despite a few people having to cancel on the day due to covid, we were still able to make £480 for AFIA.

At the beginning of July, we had our summer social at the Lone Barn where we enjoyed a meal and an evening of fellowship. This was the first time we had been able to do this annual event since the pandemic.

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In July, we also tried something a little different by visiting the Brockenhurst MU branch to support their Summer of Hope Appeal. Although it was a very hot day, we enjoyed an interesting tour of St Nicholas’ Church and then enjoyed a delicious cream tea, including Pimms, served by Brockenhurst branch members. They went out of their way to ensure that we had a lovely afternoon and we were so pleased to help support their Summer of Hope Appeal initiative.

In August, we held our own Summer of Hope Appeal with an afternoon tea in the lovely garden of one of our members, Faye. Despite the fact that it was one of the hottest days of the summer, an enjoyable time was had by all. The tea was kept simple with delicious homemade cakes, cups of tea and a raffle but we still managed to raise £238 which was been split between the Mothers' Union Summer of Hope Appeal to fund projects overseas and St John's Church.

In October, it was the turn of our branch to lead the Cathedral prayers in the Epiphany chapel in Winchester Cathedral. The theme was: ‘Are we fulfilling our stewardship to God’s creation?’ We took the beautiful flower net that had been used at the St John’s Harvest Joy event and draped this over the altar rail in the chapel as it tied in with the theme of our service. We also did something a little different by asking those gathered to write on a paper leaf a simple idea they could implement to help be a steward of God’s creation.

In December, we held our two traditional fundraising events. We had our annual evening Christmas party where we collected festive treats, toiletries, socks and gloves for the Society of St James and made £104 for Mothers’ Union funds from the raffle. We also held our afternoon Christmas carol service and festive tea, with a retiring collection which raised £136.65 for the Children’s Society. Both events were very well-attended with 40 people at the party and 47 at the carol service.

We have had a full year of meetings with a variety of speakers and thanks to Mary have started holding our monthly 50p raffle again to raise money for the purchase of baptismal Bibles. Most importantly, we also gained two new members. Three other members had not been formally enrolled and so the Mothers’ Union Membership service was held on Sunday 15th January when all these members were officially admitted into the Mothers’ Union. We made daffodil posies for Mothering Sunday and have started collecting 20 pence pieces in Smartie tubes to help fund MU projects in Bukedi, Uganda, as we have made progress in re-establishing this link. It was also our privilege this year to serve refreshments after the funeral of two St John’s Church members - Doreen Denny, a former Mothers’ Union member, and Joyce Strugnell.

Many branches are sadly closing but we are still going strong and in our own small way continue to carry out the ethos of the Mothers’ Union by demonstrating our faith in action.

Sally Lloyds January 2023

200 CLUB

The count of member number ranges started at 56 in January, peaked at 61 in March, but had dropped to 57 by December. In 2022 the club contributed £1,740 towards the Underhill Centre Fabric maintenance.

At the start of 2022 the 200 club was advertised more prominently on the everyone@stjohns distribution list and in the Spire magazine. This has resulted in several new members and some members adding additional number ranges.

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The Fund-Raising Committee would like to thank all the members for their continuing support and would welcome any newcomers to join us. If you want any further information regarding the 200 Club please speak to myself and I will happily supply it.

Geoff Judd

THE SHED

My husband Mr David Watson, built the shed from palette boards with help from our grandson Zach. At the time we all thought it wasn't going to be up for very long, but it is still there after approximately 3 years. It's looking a bit jaded now, and needs some TLC.

It has been used a lot, for all types of reasons, some religious, some for fundraising events. The community in Hedge End and a bit further away have visited it throughout the years, and we do believe it is an asset, for our church.

There is a small but hardworking folk that put the installations in it, and make an excellent job. We would love one or two more willing people to join the team. Please speak to Lyn, or myself if you think you could help. We are planning to have it re vamped in time for Easter this year. Then we can hang the crosses up.

Carol Watson

EASTLEIGH DEANERY SYNOD

Meetings: 3 Meetings were held across the Deanery.
Appointments: The only appointment made during the year was the Revd. Jono
Harvey at St. Thomas, Fair Oak. The appointment at St. John’s, Hedge
End will be made in 2023
Common Mission Fund: The returns to the Diocese had progressed through the year with
97.4%of the Parishes making 100% contribution. However at the end
of 2022 there was a shortfall of £17,673.00. The total CMF for all
Parishes in the Diocese was £8,524.585.00 (89.8%).
Reorganization: The Parish of Hound/Netley will be amalgamated with the Parish of
Hamble during 2023. There are vacancies at Boyatts Wood, Hamble
and Chandlers Ford.
Deanery Mission Action Plan Discussions took place on the Plan and the progress made through
the year.

David Dimmick (Deanery Synod Member)

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SPIRE NEWSLETTER

The Spire magazine is now online and called the Spire Newsletter, which is sent to all parishioners and to those in the community who have requested their names be added to the mailing list. At the moment the Newsletter is sent out quarterly, articles for this publication are most welcome.

Marsha Hale

WEBSITE AND ONLINE PRESENCE

Maintaining an active online presence is an important way in which St John’s can let people find out a bit more about us, get in touch and, since the COVID pandemic, watch some of our services from the comfort of their homes.

- Main Website (https://www.stjohns hedgeend.org.uk/):

Since the last APCM, David Lloyds has become an editor of our website and his assistance helping to keep it up to date is appreciated greatly. If you see anything that needs updating or think of something that appears to be missing, please let David or myself know.

Church Edit, who host our website, have recently made significant improvements to their webpage editor. In order to make full use of these updates, however, we will need to completely redo the website. As mentioned in previous reports, the website could really do with a revamp so perhaps this is not such a bad thing and is something that we need to start considering. Restarting from scratch will be quite a lot of effort. Please let David or me know if you think this is something you would like to be involved in.

A Church Near You (https://www.achurchnearyou.com/church/18453/):

Like all Church of England churches, we also have a set of pages on the Church of England’s “A Church Near You” (ACNY) website. These pages are a good way for people new to the area to find us especially in the run up to important times of the year like Christmas and Easter. Lyn became the administrator for these pages following Chris’s departure.

Facebook (https://www.facebook.com/StJohnsHedgeEnd/):

Our Facebook page is an effective way of letting people know about what’s going on. Lyn took over the maintaining of the Facebook page after Chris left. Victoria is also now able to post things if necessary. YouTube (https://www.youtube.com/@stjohnshedgeend):

We have continued to stream our 9:30 Sunday service each week over the past year on our YouTube channel as well as other services such as Ash Wednesday and Midnight Mass. Trying to gauge how many people watch our online services is very difficult however (a ‘view’ just means someone has watched more than a few seconds and trying to use the total minutes watched divided by the length of the stream is probably a bit pessimistic). Nevertheless, the number of people watching seems to have remained quite constant over the past 12 months, which suggests that it is still worthwhile.

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I would like to thank Geoff and John for making sure that our services continued to be streamed when we were away for a few weeks last summer. If anyone else is interested in helping to operate the stream please do not hesitate to let me know.

- Google Workspace and the ‘everyone’ email group (everyone@stjohns hedgeend.org.uk)

Setup during the COVID pandemic, the everyone email group continues to be well used. If you are not part of the group but would like to be, please let me or the office know. As always, if you have a need for a St John’s email address or email list or would like to help administer our Google Workspace account please let me know.

Tim James

CHURCHES TOGETHER

Churches Together group are churches from West End, Hedge End and Botley and meet once every two months. The first meeting of the year was January 13th and discussed all the events each church held for Christmas 2021. The Advent windows were beautiful in people’s houses around the Parish telling the story of the Nativity ending at the shed in St Johns carpark which became a stable and was enjoyed by all ages.

St Johns started services again at 9.30am on Sundays face to face with masks and separated, as well as recorded and streamed. People still at home greatly appreciated being included with streaming all Christmas services to their homes.

A special service for persecuted Christians was very well attended. Also the Holocaust Memorial Service.

Two lady pioneer ministers Lyn Colman and Carol Watson finished their two year training and were presented with their commissioning certificates from Winchester Diocese.

Discussions were held about what each church may do for the Queen's Platinum Jubilee in June.

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In March there was a goodbye to Karen and Chris Rowberry the retiring vicars and a video was made. St Johns is still very grateful to Kelvin and Jane's service during all the time we were without a vicar and also for agreeing to continue until we have a new one.

Lent courses were discussed to include children. Studies and reflections for spiritual growth and spring cleaning of our hearts. Hope for the future.

The Underhill Centre is gradually having groups such as the Art Group return to it. The September, Harvest Joy 3 day event was advertised.

Mothers Union had "I Do Like to be beside the Seaside" lunch to aid disadvantaged children.

In May, the Diocese decided to rent the vicarage to Winchester Cathedral for training courses and agreed to upkeep it, with St Johns to upkeep its grounds.

The shed was decorated for Easter with wooden crosses and the church was full of flowers. There was a flower cross that people could make donations in memory of a loved one and heart shaped paper to write prayers on. The Easter Coffee Morning/Plant Sale was very successful. An annual meeting was held to discuss finances and for input towards the Parish Profile. Dignitaries from the Diocese were in attendance.

Kelvin and Jane both had Covid on Mothering Sunday, so Lyn and helpers from the church stood in admirably at short notice and all went very well.

Discussions were had about an extra service and an afternoon tea for the Queens Jubilee.

In July there were discussions about the celebrations and extra services each church held for the Jubilee in June.

A new additional church warden, Catherine Lynch was elected to work with Lyn Colman.

The Salvation Army have been working very hard supporting a Ukrainian refugee family in a house on Boorley Green. There is also a lot of talk about supporting the new houses of Boorley Green. Several families that attend KCC are moving in and work is happening to get the allotments and new community centre open.

In Sept with our wonderful Queen died on the 8th so churches had muffled bells and made plans for special services. The funeral service was also streamed from St Johns.

Harvest Joy, the 3 day flower, food, scarecrow event was wonderful and very successful.

In Nov, the last meeting of the year was the first face to face and I was not allowed to attend on Zoom. We have been all on Zoom up until now. According to the Minutes it was mostly about Boorley Green new housing estate and the new community centre. As this is within the Botley area it was suggested that their church organise the provision of food after sports events and they are hoping to have a coffee morning once a month.

Suggestion to join Churches Together in Eastleigh for prayers.

Pat Jenkins

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THE UNDERHILL ART GROUP

The Art group meets on Wednesday mornings starting from about 9.30 am and goes on until 1.00 pm, although most seem to finish at about 12.00 noon. It is a very friendly group with members painting anything of their choice. There is no instruction, but advice can be readily gained from other members, some of whom have masses of artistic talent.

The current fee is £5.00 per morning and payment is only on attendance. We are averaging some 15 members per session and seem to be going from strength to strength. In fact we have now progressed from having the kettle on the trolley to the small urn…. So the answer is “Yes! We are gaining momentum and also, we do have tea and biscuits.”

Anyone is welcome to come along and join us, even those who think they’re not good enough, nobody is going to criticise your work and it’s surprising what underlying talent may come to the fore. Even a speculative “look in” to come and see “how it is” is welcomed. So, anyone thinking “What can I do this Wednesday morning?!.... Think…. “Art”

David Taylor

UNDERHILL ALE REPORT

In 2022 Underhill Ale brewed five ales:

March (St David’s Day), “David’s Ale”. A celebration of the event and the birthday of one our group. April, “Jubilee Ale” for the Platinum Jubilee celebrations.

August, “Scarecrow” and “Hedgerow Harvest”. These were prepared for the Harvest Joy event and sold there.

October, “Christmas Ale”. Two batches of this popular ale were prepared to satisfy demand; these were sold at the Coffee Morning in November.

From the sales of both of the Harvest Joy event ales and Christmas ales £200 from each was transferred to church funds making a total of £400 for 2022.

A total of £55.52 duty was paid to HMRC on these ales.

In 2022 we changed our labelling to utilise a single “easy peel” adhesive label which makes removal so much easier for reuse of the bottles. Where possible we recycle our bottles and encourage our customers to rinse and return their empties.

Demand for Underhill Ales remains high and the majority of our ales are “sold” to our core customers before they have even been bottled. We do have a problem with maintaining a supply to satisfy the demand. This is because of the lack of opportunities to brew and events to sell the produce. We also have a need for “young blood” in the brewing group as age, infirmity and other commitments makes it difficult at times to have enough support for the brewing process which requires at least two persons at all times. With the current set up we can only brew 20 litre batches so the workload is doubled when we need to increase volume to meet demand. This is something we do need to address if we are to move forward.

For 2023 we only have plans so far for a brew to celebrate the forthcoming Coronation of Charles III. This will hopefully be brewed towards of the end of March to be ready for the Coronation weekend. If there are any church events planned for 2023 with an opportunity to sell and promote our unique

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ales then we do require at least fifty days notice to allow for brewing, bottling and conditioning prior to being sold. We will continue to make payments to church funds from the profits from brewing.

Gary Morse

SOCIAL COMMITTEE

We started the year with a Quiz and Fish and Chips on a Saturday in February. Approx 60 people attended and a profit of £239 was made. Colin Moore set the questions and was quiz master. It proved to be an enjoyable evening.

We held a coffee morning in April, with a raffle, crafts and a display from the Art club; once again it was well attended. A profit of £492 was made.

The plant sale and coffee morning was held in May, but although we did not have the volume or variety of plants we usually have, we still managed to make a profit of £154.00.

To celebrate the anniversary of the opening of the Underhill Centre we held a lunch in July. Fish and chicken were the choices for the main meals and people very generously donated the dessert. Once again a good profit was made.

The main event of the year was Harvest Joy, a flower festival with Scarecrows. The organisation was well supported by the Art Club, Crafty Thursday ladies, Hedge End Gardening club and 3 local flower arranging ladies. It was staged over 2 and half days, with good interest and attendance from family, friends and the local community. Refreshments of tea, coffee and lunches were supplied by Carol Watson and a team of volunteers. The team were delighted with the resulting profit of approx., £2600.

Our final event of the year was coffee morning in November, with a Christmas theme. Well attended again and a good profit of £539.00

As with all these events the main aim is to raise funds for the church but also for people to gather and be sociable and of course outreach into the community.

With the exception of the Harvest Joy, the events are mainly organised by the 5 members of the social team, and supported by people from the congregation.

Many thanks for continuing to support the events and generously donating raffle prizes on a regular basis.

Social team Helen Humphrey, Marsha Hale, Leonie Miller, Jackie Murley and Kathy Moore

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GODLY PLAY AT ST. JOHN’S

Godly Play was our primary means of providing ministry and discipleship development to children prior to the pandemic. We have three trained Storytellers who are willing to continue and one other person willing to be trained. These four people can act as doorkeepers if needed but ideally, we would have other volunteers. Once DBS checks are up to date for the team, we will be able to offer Godly Play on 1st, 2nd, 4th and 5th Sundays if we have children attend services.

The room is set out with certain items permanently on display and there has been a focal shelf set up at key times of the year, such as Advent. This is designed to enhance the children’s experience when we run our own sessions.

Godly Play Library

Not long before the Covid-19 Pandemic, the Diocesan Resource Centre attached to Winchester Cathedral closed, and St John’s agreed to take responsibility for the Diocesan Godly Play Resources. John Reynolds and Gill Vane, worked to set up the library and to reach out to the churches who had previously used the library service. Victoria James has now taken responsibility for coordinating the library.

During 2022, the following were key areas of work in relation to the Godly Play Library:-

  1. Online Library Management System The boxes are now set up on an online library management system called Librarika which enable leaders from other churches to see what is available for loan at any time and to book out story boxes for particular dates.

2. Terms & Conditions

The PCC has agreed Terms and Conditions of Use for churches which include an appropriate charging scheme. Churches from across the Diocese can either loan on a per box basis which costs £5 per box or on an annual basis of £40 per annum which gives an unlimited number of story bookings for the year. This will enable us to maintain the boxes over time. Alongside this, we have set up appropriate GDPR consents for other churches when signing up to the library.

  1. Box Storage & Contents inventory.

  2. During the summer, the boxes were checked for completeness and rearranged in the Luke section of the Underhill Centre. These are now stored applying the logic recommended for a ‘Godly Play Room’ to support future sessions with children and young people. The boxes are grouped together in Old Testament, New Testament, Advent and Christmas, Lent and Easter, and Parables.

At present there are about 9 users registered from across the Diocese and we are working with the Head of Diocesan Communications to publicise the existence of the library and encourage wider use. Alongside this, we are working on the pages of our own website both in relation to the library and our own use of Godly Play.

Victoria James

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WORKS AND MAINTENANCE

2022 saw the major expense being the replacement of the two boilers in the UHC. The two original boilers had served us well for over twenty years. Two of the equal vintage blinds were replaced but we managed to reuse the original slats saving a considerably larger expense. We continue to slowly move the lighting in the UHC over to LED as and when the original fittings stop working.

Community Payback did an excellent job in the vicarage garden strimming and cutting back the overgrown bottom of the garden. They should be back to normal operations in 2023 so we look forward to working with them.

In 2023 the church is due a quinquennial inspection which I am aware require us to undertake some quite expensive masonry repairs which were detailed in the last inspection in 2018 and have not been completed.

Another challenge is the cost of energy of which the UHC uses a lot. So the consideration of Solar Panels needs to be high on the agenda as well as increases to hire charges or the centre will become a financial liability.

I would particularly like to thank Mike Furnell, John Reynolds, John Collings for their assistance in both research and help with maintenance tasks.

This will be my last report as Works and Maintenance Chair as I have decided to step away from this role.

Malcolm Thornton

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St. John the Evangelist Church, Hedge End Registered Charity: 1147617

Finance Report and Annual Accounts for the Year Ending 31st December 2022

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FINANCE REPORT

Year ending 31st December 2022

Throughout the year there was no named PCC treasurer. Geoff Judd continued as the PCC bookkeeper and John Collings as the UHC bookkeeper. Colin Moore kindly agreed to produce the year-end balance sheet, combining the PCC and Underhill Centre figures. David Chard kindly agreed to examine the accounts.

2022 continued as a challenging year for the PCC finances. The year ended with expenditure £15,379.07 more than income, of which £6,013.35 was due to loss of share value on investments giving an operating loss of £9,365.72.

Through the year the PCC continued to pay a £2000 monthly standing order to the diocese towards the Common Mission Fund (CMF). The church committed to paying £45,875.64 to the CMF for the year. So, an additional £21.875.64 had to be paid. It was not possible to fund all of this from regular income, so £7,875.64 was taken from legacy funds.

Due to the increase in energy prices the PCC contribution to the heating and lighting bill increased from £1200 in 2021 to £3000. At the end of the year the PCC received a grant of £1000 from the diocese to help with the energy costs.

Regular giving for the year was £33,324.48 compared to £35,371.37 in 2021, a decrease of 2,046.89. Loose plate collections and one-off gift aid donations were £4,513.97 compared to £2,611.29 in 2021, an increase of £1,902.68. Gift Aid was claimed on non-Parish Giving Scheme donations including unclaimed amounts from previous years. The overall Gift Aid claimed, Including the Parish Giving Scheme, was £9,676.01 compared to £5,251.72 in 2021.

The money raised by Fetes, Markets and Social Events was £5,322.18 compared to £875.00 in 2021, an increase of £4,447.18.

At the end of November, the PCC and UHC switched to using the cloud version of Finance Coordinator called MyFundAccounting.Online. This means that the data is hosted on servers managed by Data Developments, who supply the software, and is accessed via a web browser. Multiple users can be configured to update or read data.

As in 2022 the main challenge for 2023 is to increase regular giving so it can meet the regular expenditure. Although there are contingency and legacy funds these will ultimately become exhausted if they continue to be used to pay regular expenditure.

Geoff Judd – PCC Bookkeeper

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UNDERHILL CENTRE TREASURER’S REPORT FOR 2022

The General Fund financial accounts of the Underhill Centre for the twelve month period from January to December 2022 shows a small positive balance. However the overall accounts for the year when including the 200 Club income and Fabric Fund expenditure shows a negative balance.

The first nine months of the year saw the Centre almost financially breaking even, however Q4 has severely dented the finances with substantial increases particularly in energy, wages, repairs and centre cleaning costs. Unfortunately, the gas and electricity costs for the Centre are not subsidised by any government grant. A review showed the current fixed price agreement was a better longterm arrangement and a subsidy was not awarded. The increase to wages was due to an additional office administrator being engaged in November and whilst under training has led to dual salaries.

The Centre receives a monthly income from the 200 Club with the sole aim of bolstering the Fabric Fund which is used exclusively to help maintain the centre. This has proved very beneficial during the year since the central heating boilers needed to be replaced after 20 years of service and the Fabric Fund accounted for the majority of the finance. A big thank you to all 200 Club members for their continuing support.

During the year improved contracts for the office photocopier and the Centre’s hygiene arrangements were concluded whilst non-essential expenditure remained frozen.

Following on from the previous year the Centre has continued to be promoted through the website with the focus being on attracting new hirer’s whist retaining existing arrangements. Hire rates were revised at the start of 2022 and the current position would indicate all the long term existing hirers who are going to return have probably done so. However, new hirers have been slowly increasing together with the ad-hoc one-off activities for meetings, parties, baptisms and wakes etc.

An important aim of the Underhill Management Committee is to enable the Centre to be selffinancing. A revised hiring-rate structure is therefore to be introduced from January 2023 to help recoup some of the necessary extra expenditure whilst ensuring we remain commercially competitive.

In anticipating 2023 the monthly income to the centre should remain steady however this will be substantially negated by energy costs and general inflation together with the expectation of further increases during the year. Overall with these on-going uncertainties and challenges, the picture is of a deteriorating financial situation.

John Collings - UHC Treasurer and Payroll

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Accounting Policies

Basis of the Financial Statements

The Statements have been prepared under the Church Accounting Regulations 2006 in accordance with applicable accounting standards and the Statement of Recommended Practice (SORP 2015) for charities as well as FRS102.

The Accounts are produced on a Receipts and Payments basis as allowed, following consideration of the necessary considerations under Charity Commission Regulation CC16a, and with due respect to the following:

The statements include all transactions, assets and liabilities for which the PCC and Underhill Centre Committee is responsible in law.

They do not include the accounts of church groups (such as the Mother’s Union) that owe their affiliation to another body, nor those that are informal gatherings of church members.

Fund Accounting

Unrestricted Funds Funds that are held/spent on the PCC’s general purposes.

Incoming Resources

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Outgoing Resources

Investments

Investments are valued at market value at 31 December 2022.

Reserves

St John the Evangelist, Hedge End is a medium sized church in a reasonably affluent area. However, the demographic of the parish which St John’s serves compromises a significant number of retired individuals and the congregation of St John’s mirrors this demographic. This has an impact therefore upon the income through regular giving especially in the current financial climate. The period of the COVID 19 pandemic had a substantial effect upon the church and the Underhill Centre financially and it remains in a state of recovery.

The annual income of St John’s is approximately £70,000 - £85,000, which is generated by church activities as well as the hire of the Underhill Centre attached to the church. The Church and Underhill Centre have separate reserves and this policy relates only to the Church funds.

A strong underlying principle of this policy is that money should only be kept in reserve for specific reasons – whilst the Bible clearly indicates that we should not hoard, it is also clear that sensible planning for known events and responsibility for others (including employees) is important. The role of the church in the wider parish and serving that community as fully and effectively as possible should also be considered.

In arriving at the reserves policy, the PCC discussed the following factors:

POLICY: It is the policy of this church to hold in reserves the equivalent of three months general running costs and three months salaries. It is also our policy to hold an amount for likely building and maintenance work contained within the forthcoming quinquennial report.

This policy will be reviewed annually at the budget meeting but also after the mission day(s). In addition, the PCC will consider at the budget and reserve policy review how reserve levels will be maintained.

Any increase in investment assets will be added to the PCC running and contingency reserve.

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Employees

The church employs two part time members of staff, whose current annual salaries total approximately £10,000. The cost of the administrator is shared equally between the Church and Underhill Centre. As an employer the PCC has responsibilities to provide a Pension which is done through NEST.

Agency Elements of Income and Expenditure

These are items of income and expenditure which do not form part of the PCC income, ie, those elements which were always due to be paid to a third party. These include:

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