2020-12-31-accounts - The Parochial Church Council Of The Ecclesiastical Parish Of St Michael Sutton Court

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St Michael’s Church Elmwood Road Your local church

Annual Report 2020

Why we exist

We want to be family for our local community – a church where everyone feels welcome and appreciated.

We want to be a place for joy and for consolation. A place where people learn and flourish and find out what it means to live a wholehearted life as a disciple of Christ. And how we can all bring love and peace to the world around us.

VICAR’S REPORT

What a year! Full of challenge and opportunity – with many sad times but also with many joys.

I want to start this report by saying an enormous thank you to everyone who has supported and encouraged others in so many ways.

We have a wonderful Churchwarden, Sue White, who has been at the forefront of all we have done as Church and in the community and I cannot thank her enough for all her hard work and kindness. Here she is outside the Centre at the start of Lockdown 1 when we were collecting food and supplies for frontline staff at our hospitals.

Many others have helped enormously too.

My clergy colleague, Rev Gary Piper, has enthusiastically upskilled and joined me in producing many wonderful online services and events. Our Secretary, Linda Woods - despite having challenging health issues all year – has administered our Church Council matters. Our Treasurer,

Jordan Hiebert, has kept a careful eye on finances and helped to steer us through really challenging times.

Staff members have also worked incredibly hard. We are very grateful to our Worship and Youth Leader, Hansol Kim, who has helped so much with the technical challenges of getting our services online and much more. Sue Riley, our Administrator, has got us much better organised, especially through the establishment of a great database and admin system on ChurchSuite – thank you. And Jan Cunningham, our Music Director, has continued, behind the scenes, to encourage and inspire the work of the Choir.

Many people have helped generously in looking out for people who have been isolated and struggling to make ends meet. Thanks go especially to Lesley Pendlebury, Simon Wethered, Ginny Fowell, Karen Doe, Alison Newbold and Sue White – who have helped with everything from food parcels to phone calls. And, of course, thanks to the very many people who have given financially to both Church funds and our special COVID hardship fund.

It’s been a year like no other year before. And we have seen and heard of some terrible suffering and sacrifice. But it’s been a year where we have pulled together and grown closer together as a Church and community. And, for that, we are all very grateful.

There’s a great sense of God at work bringing hope and change for the better out of all that has happened. And that is so exciting. Challenging times continue but we re-commit ourselves to following Jesus and playing our part in God’s work.

We pray for renewal of both the Church and the world around us. And all blessings for the future.

Once again it has been a huge privilege to serve as Vicar at St Michael’s.

Thank you all for being the best ever.

Yours in Christ Martine Oborne, Vicar

SECRETARY’S REPORT

EPORT	EPORT	EPORT
Membershipof the PCC
Name	Designation	Term expires
Martine Oborne	Vicar	Ex-officio
GaryPiper	Assistant Minister	Ex-officio
Susan White	Churchwarden & LayVice Chair	Ex-officio
Florence Olimba	Churchwarden from November	Ex-officio
Anne Glyn	DeanerySynod Rep	Ex-officio
LesleyPendlebury	DeanerySynod Rep	Ex-officio
Susan Chamberlain	DeanerySynod Rep	Ex-officio

Linda Woods	PCC Secretary	April 2023
Siew Walton	Member	April 2023
Sonia Cromey	Children’s Champion from 2021	April 2023
Vacantplace	Member	April 2021
Bisola Nwakodo**	Member	April 2021
Emma Prunier*	Member	April 2021
Jordan Hiebert	Treasurer	April 2022
Vacantplace	Member	April 2022
Steve Turner	Children’s Champion to 2021	April 2022
standingdown at APCM * standingfor re-election
The Vicar, Churchwardens and Deanery Synod members are all ex- officio members of the PCC.

The PCC works with the Vicar to discuss ideas/plans and jointly to make decisions. The PCC is responsible for the repair of the church, the furniture, the equipment and anything that can be moved, as well as other property such as the Centre. It is also responsible for the financial affairs of the parish and, with the Vicar, the PCC has responsibility for the type of services which are held. St Michael’s PCC has 9 members, with 3 members elected each year. Other than the Officers, where continuity needs to be maintained, members are encouraged to have a break after they have served a term or two on the PCC. The PCC has complied with the duty under section 5 of the Safeguarding and Clergy Discipline Measure 2016, in relation to having due regard to House of Bishops’ guidance on safeguarding children and vulnerable adults.

In last year’s report, I noted “things were different” but, in 2020, the Pandemic took us all to new places, including Zoom for PCC & Standing Committee (SC) meetings from March onwards. The APCM (the Annual Parochial Church Meeting), also on Zoom, was delayed until November 2020.

At this meeting, Sue White was re-elected Churchwarden and we were delighted to elect Florence Olimba as our second warden, after 2 years with one (very hardworking) Churchwarden.

We begin our PCCs with 15 minutes Bible study and prayer and we try to balance discussions between mission and business. In 2020, the PCC and SC met as usual six times during the year but the SC met an additional five times to consider the constantly changing circumstances arising from Covid 19. The matters discussed at the PCC meetings were affected by the pandemic, of course, but also included:

The new carpet in the naïve aisles
Arrangements for the Archdeacon’s Visitation
Agreement to set up a charity “Friends of St Michael’s” which will raise funds to help with the upkeep of the church and for community projects (viz the Summer Party) *
Resourcing for children’s Sunday Groups *
Thursday Morning “Drop-in” Support Centre – offering basic help with PC skills, letter writing, completing application forms, as well as a friendly face and a cuppa *
Pandemic matters: Lockdown 1 - moving everything possible online and agreeing the SC would make day-to-day decisions, reporting back to the PCC; reopening the church and holding services in a Covid-secure manner until closing again at the beginning of 2021
Funding – being open with congregation and asking for extra support from those who were able to help; setting up and offering funds for parishioners in need
Hope School – the school we’re supporting in Bulawayo
ChurchSuite – our new database for keeping all church data in one place
Major issues with the Church building (viz damage caused by invasion of pigeons; leaking roof; flooding of boiler-house causing heating to breakdown)
unsurprisingly these three items have all had to be put on hold for the time being

Do please think and pray about serving as a member of the PCC – a paper is available from the Vicar if you would like more information on what it entails. It can be a very affirming experience and, while we hope you will want to serve for three years, a shorter term can be accommodated. Elected members are expected to prioritise attending PCC meetings – the dates for the year are circulated well in advance.

If you have thoughts, ideas, concerns please do share these with the Vicar, Churchwarden(s) or a member of the PCC. If you’d like to put forward items for PCC discussion, you should submit them to the Vicar for consideration by the SC (which actually sets the PCC agenda).

Linda Woods, Secretary

ELECTORAL ROLL REPORT

Because the Annual Meeting was held in the autumn last year, we reported at that meeting, both on the Electoral Roll numbers in April 2020 (131) and the number in October 2020 (133). Since that time there has been a further rise in numbers and the latest figure as of 25 February 2021 is 138, with a small number of forms outstanding which may lead to a further increase in Roll numbers over the coming months. At the same date, 58% of the members were female. The percentage of members living outside the parish has remained fairly stable at around 40%.

Ian Peacock, Electoral Roll Officer

WORSHIP REPORT

We started out this year with no idea of what was lying in store for us.

When Lockdown 1 came, we suddenly had to move all our worship from in-person services to online. This was a huge challenge but thankfully we had the help and knowhow of Jordan Hiebert, our Treasurer, who worked with our Worship Leader, Hansol Kim, to produce weekly services on YouTube. And also to help the Choir to produce wonderful anthems and hymns all recorded by individual Choir members in their homes and cleverly mixed together to produce the wonderful recordings that we have all enjoyed.

Similarly, Jordan and Hansol have worked together to build a wonderful Worship Band which has also produced excellent recordings of many worship songs.

Our thanks go to every member of the Choir who has helped and contributed – Sally and Nick Floyer, Clare Harrison, Chris Ainsworth, Hannah Ainsworth, Helen Batten and her daughters – Amber, Scarlett and Daisy, Bella Davies, Steve Newbold, Stella Nicholson (who has continued to sing from her home in Vienna), Richard Norris, Caroline Simonds (who has been singing from the Isle of Wight), Sue Thackray, Anna and Holly Watkiss, Peter Wickstead and Beryl Yorath.

And thanks to all the Worship Band members – Hansol Kim, Jordan Hiebert, Pintusorn Antsey, John Graham, Russell Hargreaves, Morwenna Spencer and John Walton.

Holy Week and Easter were in lockdown. But this did not stop us from having a beautiful service on Good Friday, including a very moving film produced by Caroline Simonds about her family’s wartime experiences. And Easter Day was a wonderful celebration online – with many children making wonderful Easter bonnets.

During the summer we enjoyed some wonderful evening services in the garden, led by Hansol.

Despite being in Lockdown 2, we led a moving Act of Remembrance in Elmwood Road on Remembrance Sunday, with the Choir singing and with Oliver Keegan playing The Last Post and Reveille on his trumpet.

Although getting back to small in-person services from time to time, mostly we were online. In the run up to Christmas we had a series of All Age services and carol singing on December Sunday evenings around the tree. Sue’s son, Steve White, very kindly put beautiful lights in the magnolia tree – which have been a great symbol of hope for the community during the dark winter nights.

Christmas Eve and Christmas Day services were online but much enjoyed and appreciated.

Thanks so much to everyone who has helped.

Martine Oborne, Vicar

CHOIR REPORT

Well, not exactly business as usual this year, but the choir has certainly learnt new skills!

Our last normal service as a choir was on March 13; the following week lockdown was announced and after a lot of heart-searching the CofE ruled that live worship would have to cease from the next Sunday – Mothering Sunday. We felt very despondent, but then Jordan Hiebert, whose skills turned out to be far wider than playing the piano and keeping the books, suggested that we might be able to make recordings. He sent us a link to Eric Whitacre’s virtual choir for inspiration and gave us speedy instructions in how to record ourselves at home singing our own parts to a backing track, which he said he could edit into a virtual St Michael’s choir for inclusion in the planned YouTube services.

Eight brave souls were willing to give it a go using a backing track we found for Mozart’s Ave Verum on a website of free accompaniments, and the result was so surprisingly acceptable that we decided we could both use it in the Palm Sunday Service and tackle more recording. Unfortunately with the church closed it proved impossible for Jan to record accompaniments for us on our own organ, so with the Easter services coming up we had to find a way of commissioning our own tracks to music of Jan’s choice, and we had a very lucky break.

The Chiswick Choir were already rehearsing on Zoom instead of in the St Michael’s Centre; the

conductor recommended a musician and we were able to make contact with him that very Saturday. He agreed to record tracks for us and was able to provide a lot of technical help to the singers by adding instructions and ‘clicks and counts’ – in effect virtual conducting to tell us when to start and come off and at what tempo to sing. So we commissioned tracks for a marathon of four Good Friday and Easter pieces all to be recorded and edited within a few days, and Jordan set up a section for the choir on the St Michael’s resources website for tracks and voice recordings to be uploaded and used from.

After that steep learning curve we were off and we haven’t missed a Sunday or special occasion since,

recording a new piece almost every week, though we have occasionally repeated an archive piece to give everyone a break. Very soon Jordan handed over to Hansol who was taking over management of the digital services, and he has become a really tremendous editor, working with us to hide our mistakes and tweaking the balance to make us sound as good as possible.

We were delighted when live services resumed in the late summer and for a few weeks a restricted choir of six or seven people were allowed to sing one piece live each week with Jan playing and the singers socially distanced across the chancel, but virtual services also continued so the virtual choir carried on recording for those.

Martine decided in September that it was not going to be safe or sensible to hold our usual carol service with 200 people in church, so in October we started planning a virtual carol service, our biggest undertaking of the year. This was to be a mix of live recording by a small choir and bigger pieces from the virtual choir, and we planned a live recording session for late November. We started testing live recording with Hansol and Luke after Sunday services. Everything was thrown up in the air by the sudden announcement of the second lockdown. We found ourselves with five days to decorate the choir stalls, decide what we could actually sing without proper practice, muster a chamber choir and soloist able to make it, and have a big recording session before the church was closed again. It was very lucky we had already done the testing, so that after a short rehearsal we were able to get four pieces down before the readers arrived to do their bit.

The virtual choir had five pieces to record for the carol service as well as keeping going with music for regular services and getting ahead with Advent, and we slotted in a couple of extra Christmas numbers as well, which was very lucky as soon after the brief resumption of live services in December the arrival of the new Covid variant forced the PCC to decide reluctantly to cancel all the planned live services over Christmas. As soon as it became clear that the new variant was likely to lead to further restrictions, we commissioned some Epiphany music, and indeed there was only one live service after Christmas before we were back in full lockdown which at the time of writing seems likely to continue well into the spring.

Looking back over the year, we are proud that the choir, alongside the splendid band set up by Hansol and Jordan, who have also been recording weekly songs for virtual services, have been able to

contribute to Martine’s tremendous work in keeping the congregation active, engaged and attending services whether live or virtual. We have had a lot of feedback that people have been enjoying the music and we now have a catalogue of some 60 pieces which we can draw on for services to mix with the new recordings we are currently working on for Lent and Easter.

Special thanks are due to the trebles Anna, Holly, Lucy and Chloe (and their parents) for joining in with a number of recordings despite having far too much screen time already with virtual home school; to Stella Nicholson who has faithfully contributed from her home in Vienna, as has Caroline from the Isle of Wight; to Hannah and Chris Ainsworth who have made many recordings, especially for the carol service and other feast days, despite having both moved away from Chiswick; to Jordan for the idea and to Hansol for helping us execute; to Jan for programme planning and support; to Liam who has made all our tracks and provided so much support to our performance; and to everyone who has sung. And a special handclap to the faithful group who have made almost every single recording from the outset! We are longing to be back in church, singing in the choir stalls with a full choir and with Jan at the organ!

Sally and Clare, on behalf of the choir – virtual and otherwise

And a personal note from Jan: I have been unable to contribute technically to what the choir has been doing in the past year but greatly admire the results. None of this would have been possible without Sally’s boundless energy, enthusiasm and encouragement, or Clare’s eagle eye for detail and quality control. A very big thank you to all involved. As soon as we are able to resume full practices and services I look forward to singing together again and to welcoming new singers of every voice, especially trebles, tenors and basses.

Jan Cunningham, Director of Music

SIDESPEOPLE / WELCOMERS REPORT

We’re very grateful to the team of helpers who worked as usual from the start of 2020: Ron Gould, Deni Rivoal, William Brumel, Kathleen Birch, Steve Newbold, Trevor Roberts, Ros Watts, Siobhan Patton, Ginny & Pierre Fowell, Tom French, Guy Hedge and Caroline Gill. Of course, there was a lot of stop-start during the year which meant they weren’t able to continue as normal. Nevertheless, when in-person services took place, we needed someone to welcome people, as well as to keep a record of names and contact details and this continued on and off throughout 2020. Hopefully, these stalwart helpers will be back in their roles in 2021 and will take on board Covid related duties.

Linda Woods

HOUNSLOW DEANERY SYNOD REPORT

In 2020 we only had two meetings of the Hounslow Deanery Synod, one in person in February 2020 at St Leonards Church Heston and one Zoom meeting in December. This was due to the pandemic and the rules about meeting. It’s been a difficult year for everybody including churches and it has been a juggling act to adapt to the ever-changing rules and regulations. At the start of the pandemic during the first Lockdown all churches were all closed, then they were allowed to open in the summer with rules. At the moment (Feb 2021) St Michael’s Church is open to private prayer from 12-4pm during the day and all services are online. The online services include morning prayer, evening prayer and Sunday services. There are also Bible groups, meditation and quizzes online on zoom. The are 3 Deanery Synod Representatives from St Michael’s; they are Lesley Pendlebury, Susan Chamberlain and myself.

At some meetings Rev. Martine Oborne and Florence Olimba attended on behalf of St Michael’s.

The first Deanery Synod meeting of the year was in February 2020 at St Leonard’s Church Heston. It was the last in-person Deanery Synod meeting for the year 2020. I had a full car; this included Lesley, Florence, Martine and myself. We were made welcome by Rev. Sandra McCalla and in her welcoming comments she informed us that the naturalist Sir Joseph Banks (1743~1820) was laid to rest at the Church, as if we were expected to know who he was!!! I had to look him up on my phone, the church dates from the 14[th] Century. Richard Area Dean announced that he was moving on. There was no announcement of the New Area Dean. We had an update Deanery Mission Program Our 2030 Vision’. The Mission Statement isFor every Londoner to encounter God in Christ’. The main focus to be in the parishes. We discussed community activities that this could be carried out. Richard explained that the Bishop of Kensington, Bishop Graham would visit all the Deaneries in London in 2020. Each deanery in London would be given a month that the Bishop could visit that deanery, Hounslow deanery would have June /July. We discussed what kind of events we could do. Some of the suggestions were tea parties, street parties, book clubs, pub quizzes and lunches. Bishop Graham had agreed to attend St Michael’s Church Street Party in the summer 2020. Sadly, a lot of these plans had to be cancelled due to Lockdowns and Covid-19 rules about meeting up with others.

The next meeting of Hounslow Deanery Synod did not take place till December 2020. This was due to the pandemic and Lockdown restrictions about meeting. Therefore this meeting took place on Zoom. Lesley, Susan, Martine and myself represented St. Michael’s. There was an introduction to the new Area Dean Rev Sarah Guinness, Vicar of Parish in Brentford. There was a welcome to new Representatives and thanks to those representatives standing down. There were elections for the representatives to the Deanery Synod since the last meeting. Sarah made the opening comments, we were joined by Bishop Graham from his sitting room for this meeting. There was two talks - Martine Oborne on Evangelism and Zoe Philips on Youth. Then finally Bishop Graham a presentation with PowerPoint on Our 2030 Vision’, which is plan for the next 10 years. The Mission Statement forOur 2030 Vision’ is `For every Londoner to encounter God in Christ’. Much of it was covered in the Deanery Synod Meeting in February 2020. The Bishop took question at the end of the meeting.

In conclusion It is hoped we can do more with `Our 2030 Vision’ now we are coming out of Lockdown restrictions; full in June if all goes to plan!!! It has been a challenging year for all and under all these restrictions I think the team at Saint Michaels have been great at keeping everything going and the services online. I’ve been joined on Zoom by people from all over the world, so our missionary has gone global at St Michael’s. Hopefully this year 2021, we will be able to meet more often in person at church and the Deanery Synod. Sadly the first meeting of 2021 of the Deanery Synod will be again on Zoom in March 2021.

Anne Glyn, Deanery Synod Rep

FABRIC REPORT

April 2020, we found ourselves in lockdown and church as we knew it changed, our building was empty and unused, our door was closed not even a mouse could be heard. The pigeons took advantage of this and moved in and what a mess they made. It took 3 visits from pest control to establish how they were getting into the building l am pleased to say they have moved out and remain on top of the roof and banned from coming into church again!

We were able to have the rest of our lovely carpet laid and l think those of you who have seen it will

agree it looks very nice.

Lockdown meant we needed to work hard to get our services online and to do this to a good standard a new camera was purchased.

When we were able to open church again, we needed to remove all soft furnishings and books from the pews. Thank you to Clare, Florence and Lesley who helped to bag up the prayer cushions and put the bibles in the bookcase.

The vicarage had a new kitchen which took much longer than expected to be fitted due to Covid restrictions.

The roof has been an ongoing issue and is in need of repair. It has over 200 cracked tiles and the flat roof needs repair. Thankfully, we have received a grant from the Kensington Area Board; many thanks

to Linda for filling in the paperwork. We hope the work will be completed over the next few months.

We had a flood in the basement of the Centre which caused the boilers to stop working. After the insurance investigation it was found the drain outside the centre door had collapsed causing the water from the pump to be pumped back into the basement. We have a new pump; the drains have been mended and we are in the process of looking at new boilers and getting quotes. Thankfully, this has been covered by insurance the boiler room is still being dried out. l would like to thank Nick

Floyer for his ongoing help and support which has been much appreciated. l am thankful that we are now having some milder weather and it will not be so cold in church until the new boilers are replaced.

I would like to thank all the lovely people who do so much behind the scenes, polishing the brass, washing the linen, etc.

Thank you also to John Gill and his team who work so hard keeping our gardens looking so beautiful.

Thank you again to Nick Floyer who purchased a shed for us to store things in.

Finally, l would like to thank Linda and the other past wardens who have been a huge help to me and l hope l can rely on your continued support.

Sue White, Churchwarden

CHILDREN’S AND YOUTH MINISTRY REPORT

A big challenge for the Church this year has been keeping in touch with children and young people. We are very grateful to parents, despite all the challenges of staying home, working and trying to home school, have encouraged children and young people to keep engaging with their faith and learning about Jesus.

We had a sermon series on Jonah and here are Erin and Xander with lovely illustrations of the story.

Thank you so much and to others – such as Haru, Mille and Ibby and Lara and Annabel, who did lovely pictures of Jonah and the whale (or the big fish – if you insist on being Biblically accurate!)

On many other occasions, children delighted us by making recordings and sending photos and showing us what they were doing at home.

Millie and Ibby made some wonderful ‘Pentecost spinners’ at Pentecost – reminding us of how the Holy Spirit stirs us all up when He comes.

At Youth Club we continued to meet on Tuesday evenings online, when it was not possible to meet in the Church gardens or in the Centre. We’ve had some wonderfully funny times together, playing charades and other games – as well as reading and discussing Bible stories.

Hansol has been a great Youth Club Leader and thanks go to him as well as the team – Rev Gary Piper, Juan Manuel Mosucha-Linares and Caroline Simonds.

Martine Oborne, Vicar

PASTORAL CARE AND OCCASIONAL OFFICES REPORT

It’s been impossible to visit people for most of the year – but that has not stopped us phoning each other, meeting up online and in the summer, having some lovely ‘limited numbers, socially distanced tea parties in the Church gardens.’

Thank you so much to everyone who has helped with these and attended – we hope to do these again in 2021 whether we have COVID restrictions or not.

There have been sadly no marriages and only one baptism – we managed to squeeze in the baptism of Ruella Olimba between lockdowns and this was a very lovely celebration.

There have been four funerals. Neil Munroe, who was related to Ginny Fowell and her family, died in December 2019 and we held a funeral service for him in January at St Paul’s Hammersmith. Mary George, Sue Thackray’s mother, died at the end of May and we had a lovely service at Mortlake Crematorium at which Sue sang Dafydd y Garreg Wen . Cynthia Singer, Rebecca Singer’s mother, died in September and we had a service in Church for her. Beola Lambert (the sister of Melvina Taylor) also died in September and we had a service for her in Church.

Martine Oborne, Vicar

COMMUNITY ENGAGEMENT

Our pancake party in February was one of the very last events before social gatherings came to an abrupt end because of COVID. Here is Paolo Ko enjoying a pancake.

In the first Lockdown we collected lots of gifts from the community for those in need. Many people contributed, both those we know from Church and those in our community. And we are very grateful to you all.

The pandemic has brought us closer together as neighbours. We rang the Church bell at 6pm on Christmas Eve and many people living nearby

came out to wish each other a merry Christmas and to have a few socially distanced moments of good cheer on our doorsteps

Sue White, Churchwarden

MORNING PRAYER AND BIBLE READING GROUPS REPORT

It has been lovely to lead Morning Prayer this year and have our services online and well attended.

A total of 40 people have joined in these services with daily attendance averaging around 6-10 people. Being online has enabled those who live far away to join in these services. And we’ve had a lot of fun and learnt a lot, reading our Bibles and praying together.

Bible Reading Groups have continued online, on Tuesday mornings and Wednesday evenings, and have been popular. We are discovering how strange and fascinating our Bibles are and how reading the whole Bible helps us to have a better and fuller understanding of who Jesus is.

Martine Oborne, Vicar

FUNDRAISING REPORT

In 2020 we raised a total of approximately £7,500 (including Gift Aid) for external charities and local community initiatives. The most significant of these projects was the completion of the Hope School

(Zimbabwe) classroom campaign: we were able to send the second and final £5000 tranche by October. The other major external fundraising activity in 2020 was our COVID relief fund: used to help those from the church and in our community experiencing hardship and loss of income due to the pandemic. Contributions to the fund totalled £1928. Disbursements from the fund in 2020 totalled £930, with further need anticipated in 2021.

Like many organisations and charities, we experienced a large loss of income in 2020. For us, this mainly stemmed from a loss of centre rentals due to COVID restrictions throughout most of 2020. To offset these losses, we also engaged in some internal fundraising activities: an online auction which raised £3835 and sale of Pierre Fowell’s Elevations of Grove Park II prints which raised £234.

A big thank you to all who made financial contributions and participated in fundraising efforts! Jordan Hiebert, Treasurer

PLANNED GIVING REPORT

Thank you to all members of our planned giving scheme!

Your regular donations allow the PCC to plan and execute the church’s financial plans with confidence. In 2020, participation was broadly consistent with recent years: we had 74 individuals or families contributing to the scheme.

While participation remained similar, we saw average weekly contributions rise 9% to £15.05 as givers responded to a significant loss of income from centre rentals due to COVID restrictions.

If you are not yet a part of the planned giving scheme and would like to learn more, please pick up a leaflet at the back of the church or contact me directly. Even a small amount makes a big difference!

Jordan Hiebert, Treasurer

ST MICHAEL’S CENTRE REPORT

It’s no surprise that bookings for the centre and church were severely curtailed for most of the year with an ensuing drop in church income. Fortunately, the Montessori nursery was able to continue most of the year, except for one half-term.

We had a handful of bookings in the centre over the summer when restrictions permitted, then some after-school clubs were able to resume for the autumn term. We also managed to accommodate Chiswick Choir for some of their rehearsals in the autumn by opening up the church. We had a new booking from Kew House School for their carol service in the church, which we hope they might repeat. And a new weekly Sunday morning drama club for children provided much-needed income for the centre.

But the overall lack of funds meant we had to postpone our plans to re-varnish the hall floor and carry out some decorating works. Problems with the church & centre boiler and central heating started in December 2020 and became a major issue. Many thanks to Sue White and Nick Floyer for their help on this.

Positive news:

The new ChurchSuite system has greatly simplified the booking and invoicing for the centre and the church.

No Christmas would be complete without the St Michael’s Players’ Pantomime! They put on an amazing online performance and very generously asked their online viewers to donate to the church. We are extremely grateful for their collection of £2,268. Thank you.

Julia Watkiss

ST MICHAEL’S PLAYERS

Like all organisations, the St Michael’s Players has faced the challenge of trying to keep going during the pandemic. We sadly had to mothball our planned Spring production of Life and Beth by Alan Ayckbourn at the last minute and the restrictions never quite lifted enough, or for long enough, for us to get back into the St Michael’s Centre and put the production on again.

What does a theatre group do when it can’t use its theatre? In the early months we ran a number of social events online – play readings, ‘pub’ quizzes and discussions of the excellent National Theatre at Home productions. However, as the pandemic continued, we were all itching to do some actual theatre. So we decided to try the technology we were all using to chat to friends and family. Hence, in September we used Zoom coupled with YouTube to screen a live production of the classic Greek tragedy Agamemnon by Aeschylus, translated by Ted Hughes. We had not tried classic Greek theatre before, but the formal style suited the on-line format very well; whilst the technology meant that we had cast members performing live from as far afield as Greece and Italy! Deesh Mariwala’s assured direction ensured we had lots of positive feedback from a truly global audience with viewers in America, Canada, Malta and Liverpool to name just a few!

On the back of this success, we decided that COVID was not going to get in the way of the St Michael’s Players Christmas Panto. Chris Hulatt grasped the Directorial challenge of taking the traditional format and adapting it for the screen and in December we broadcast a live, on-line production of A Christmas Carol by Alistair Clinton based on the famous Dickens story.

With lots of practice and ingenuity we were able to work in most of the traditional panto elements including “its behind you”, “oh not it isn’t” and custard pies in the face. The live screening and recording has now been viewed over 1250 times and is still available via the St Michael’s Players website: Christmas Carol - St Michael's Players, Chiswick (weebly.com). We invited the audience to make voluntary donations and this raised over £2,250 for the St Michaels PCC. The production was dedicated to Malcolm O’Neill, committee member and long-time supporter of our group who sadly died in October after a long illness.

So in the end we were able to find a way to keep running and to maintain our, now, 71 year unbroken run of productions. Next up for us is our live on-line production of Dylan Thomas’ Under Milkwood on 16[th] April – details on the website. Then we are all hoping that we can resume productions in the hall and finally bring Life and Beth to the ‘real’ stage.

Bryony Wilman as the ghost of Christmas present and Neil Dickins as Scrooge in A Christmas Carol .

Arabella Harcourt-Cooze as Clytemnestra in Agamemnon

Alastair Dewar, Chairman – St Michael’s Players

St Michael’s is a broad friendly church with a lively vicar and a modern outlook, driven by traditional Christian values.

We seek to be a spiritual haven from the everyday pressures of life in a beautiful church building.

The Revd Martine Oborne vicar@stmichaels-elmwoodroad.org St Michael’s Church, Elmwood Road, Chiswick W4 3DY Tel: 020 8994 3173

www.stmichaels-elmwoodroad.org Charity No. CC:1149114

Thanks are given to a number of people who provided photographs to enhance this Report, including: Nick Floyer, Alastair Dewar and Martine Oborne

Annual Finance Report PCC of St Michael's Sutton Court Year ending 31 D8camb8r 2020 Prepared on 07 May 2021

Table of Contents Independent Examineffs Report ... Financial Activtties by Class...................... . Statement ol Cash Flows............................. Balance Sheet.. 2,7

Indep8ndent Examineffs Report Independent examlnerfs Report to the PCC af St Mlfhaevs Churth Chisvaltk I report to the PCC of St Michael's Church Chiswick Ithe PCC) on my eMInatIon of the accounts of St Michael's PCC for the year ended December 31" 2020. Resp£msibilities and basls ol the report As members of the PCC you are responsible for the preparation of the accounts In accordance with the requirements of the Chorities Act 20111?he Acf) I report In respect of my examination of the PCCS accounts carried out under section 145 of the 2011 Art and carrying out my examination I have followed all the applicable Directsons given by the Charity Commission under section 145(5Hbl of the Att. Independent examinerf$ st•tement I have completed my examination. I confirm that material matters have come to my attention in connertlon wlth the examinatiori 8ivÉng me cause to believe that in any material respect: accounting CordS were not kept in respect of the PCC as required by section 130 2. the accounts do not accord wlth those records; or the accounts do not comply wth the appllcable requirements concerning the fom and content of atcounts set out in the CharFtie5 {Accounts and Reports) Regulations 2008 other than any requirement that the accounts give a true and fair VIe whlch Es not a matter considered as part of an independent examinatlon. I h4ve no concems and have come across no other matter5 in connectlon with the examlnation to whlch attention should be drawn In this report in orderto enable a proper understanding of the accounts to be reach Slgned: Name: Fran FCG4 Relevant wof sional qualification or membership of professlonal bodles (If any)- ACCA Address: Building 3 Chiswick Busine55 Park. 566 Chiswick Hlgh Road. W4 5YA Date: 0710512021 FMA Acmnfants Ltd CtuS%* Road W4 5YA Irc(A- lyl419 S PCC ol St Kth"thael's Suttrm Cwr. 317

Financial Activities by Class January - D8ceffjb&r 2020 TOTAL INCOME Donations and legacies Alphabeats £knnations General Donations General Donations {Gfft Aid Eligible) Totsl General DorAlk Give to Gru4Y 171.75 3,061.89 13,254.84 16lTa 57,896.04 7.500.00 88.07 171.75 3.119.59 13,254.84 16,374.43 57.896.04 7,500.00 88.07 57.70 57.70 LegaeS Relreshmenls Donations Se)vice Collections Service Collections IGift E1Ible) Totsl SeTr*e Collecttons 1.191.50 2,198.01 sa891 88.60 85rt50.70 1.191.50 2,198.01 3W.51 88.60 Wdl Saf8 57.70 Facilty Rent Centre R6nlat Income 0.00 37.755.95 37.755.95 602.00 Church Rent Income Tat Fadlmy Rent Grft Reclaim 38.95 17.347.15 38.357.95 17,347.15 0.00 m0[ Fundraising Auction Proceeds 2,185.00 2,185.00 250.00 COVID-19 Fund 250.CQ COVID-19 Fund (Gift Atd Eligiljel Total COVID-19 Fund Elevations Prints 1.678.CK) 1.928.IXI 1,678.00 1.928.CKI 234.28 H¢¥)8 School Hop8 Schoc4 (Gift Aid Eljgiblel Total Hy Sthool Total Malor Fundr8iStrvJ Statutrjry Foes Collected Totd IrKme TOTAL 4.181.73 1,511.85 5.693.58 7,621 4,181.73 1,511.85 5.893.58 10.040.86 2,141.00 153.395.36 153,39526 2.41928 2.141.00 145.716.08 145.n6.08 7,879.28 EXPENDITURES Accounting Costs AdvertisinglPromotion Bank charges Card Proce&%ing Fees Common Fund Contribution 902.40 902.40 273.76 273.76 178.34 178.34 89.25 89.25 85,200.00 51.10 85,200.00 51.10 Cost of Fundraising Faulity Costs Centre Maintenance 1.523.12 1,523.12 PCC of St TrAh&1'$ Suyin CfNJrt

(knral FuThls R05blthd Funds TOTAL Centre Running Costs Church Maintenance Church Major Expenses Chur¢h Runniro Costs UlS1ilies Trtal Fadlty Cosls Insurance 2.390.82 2.993.76 6.620.31 2.390.82 2,993.76 9,839.25 2,938.48 8,212.51 27.897.94 4,414.17 1.191.96 2.295.59 3.864.1)0 698.35 3,218.94 2.938.48 8.212.51 4.414.17 1.191.96 2,295.59 3,864.00 Missionlministry Costs OfficelGeneral Administrativo Exp8nses Organist and Choir Outgoing Grants COVID-19 FUTh Hope School Total Outgoiw Grarts SociallRefreshment Costs 158.37 1,430. 10.008.93 11,597aO 1,430.00 11,030.50 13.158.85 557.31 1,021.57 1A61 557.31 Staff Costs 19,321.23 I.76 19.321.23 180.76 1.042.00 45.90 StafFNolunteer Appreuation SlatLrtory Fee Paym9nts Training and Events Travel arxl Accommodation 1,042.00 45.90 12.40 12.40 Upkeep of ServThs Youth Club Costs 1.762.70 191.54 1,762.70 191.54 162,631.20 (9.tJ5A4) 147014. P.098A8) 14,81624 (7,136.96) NET OPERATING INCOME OTHER INCOME Interest Income Tolgt Oihar IrK#JThe OTHER EXPENDITURES Church Centre Depreciation 14,059.611 [4.059.61 4.124.15 £2.02527 14.059.61} (4.059.61) 4.124.15 £15.111.69) NET OTHER INCOME NET INCOMEIIÉXPENDITURE) £17,136.96) PCC of St kqthKkel's n Crt &7

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Balanc8 Sh8et As o-. Dacember 31. 2020 FIXED ASSET TwvJlblg &8sots Church Centre Deprec4ation Total Church Contre Tota Tangl8 a888ts T(rtal Frxed Assot CASH AT BANK AND IN HAND Current - Metro Oparatirtg Current - Metro Pety Cash Total Cash at an(1 In haiKI CURRENT ASSETS Employee Cash Advanc8S Totd Currant Ass818 NET CURRENT ASSETS 405.961.00 97,2.66 503.393.66 503.393.66 503O93.66 19,915.10 322.38 100.Tr) 20.337.48 CREDITORS.. AMOUNTS FALLING CIUE WITHIN ONE YEAR Creditors Total Trad8 Cr8dllor8 Total Creditors: amounts tallir¥J due wiihin on• y NET CURRENT ASSETS ILIABILITIESI TOTAL ASSETS LESS CURREW LEABILITIES 1,224.00 1.224. 1.224.CKI 19.113.48 .507.14 CREDITORS: AMOUNTS FALLING DUE AER MOFIE THAN ONE YEAR LDF Loan - Lighting System 2,666.66 2.666.66 £519040.48 TOTAL NET ASSETS ILIA81LITIESI CHARITY FUNDS Opening Balance Equity Retained Earnings Surplusl{Delicitl ftmd$ 516,809.98 8,142.19 15,111.691 £519040.48 Signed on behalf of the Pareehial Church Counul of the Ecdesiastical Parish of Sl Michael sutt Court.. Rev. Martine Obome Chair Susan White ChurcMvarden PCC of Sl MKhael's Suttoi) court 7.,7

Annual Finance Report PCC of St Michael's Sutton Court Year ending 31 D8camb8r 2020 Prepared on 07 May 2021

Table of Contents Independent Examineffs Report ... Financial Activtties by Class...................... . Statement ol Cash Flows............................. Balance Sheet.. 2,7

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