StAndrew and St Peter, Blofield Annual Report And Financial Statements Of the Parochial Church Council For the year ended p December 2024 Registered Charity No ll516 Rector: Vacant Santander UK plc Barclays Bank plc Independent examiner:
Blofield Church - Annual Parochial Church Meeting – 28 April 2025
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PCC Annual Report of the Church of St Andrew and St Peter, Blofield For the year ended 31 December 2024
Background
The PCC has the responsibility of cooperating with the incumbent in promoting in the ecclesiastical parish the whole mission of the Church, pastoral, evangelical, social and ecumenical. It also has the maintenance responsibility for the Church building.
Objectives and Activities
The PCC is committed to enabling as many people as possible to worship at our church and to become part of our parish community at Blofield. The PCC maintains an overview of worship throughout the parish and makes 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.
When planning our activities for the year, the incumbent and the PCC have considered the Charity Commission’s guidance on public benefit, and particularly the specific guidance on charities for the advancement of religion. We believe we provide a benefit to the public by:
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➢ providing resources and facilities for public worship, pastoral care and spiritual, moral and intellectual development, both for its members and for anyone who wishes to benefit from what the Church offers.
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➢ promoting Christian values, and service by members of the Parish to the community, to the benefit of individuals and society as a whole.
To facilitate this work, it is important that we maintain the fabric of the Church.
Membership
Members of the PCC are either ex-officio or elected by the Annual Parochial Church Meeting in accordance with the Church Representation Rules. During the year the following served as members of the PCC:
| Incumbent: | Vacant | Revd Kevin Billson retired on 30thSeptember 2024 |
|---|---|---|
| Wardens: | Yvonne Mack | (from May 2024 to May 2025) |
| Stephen Wales | (from May 2024 to May 2025) | |
| Deanery Synod | ||
| Representatives: | Yvonne Mack | (from April 2023 to April 2026) |
| Roy Allgood | (from April 2023 to April 2026) | |
| Jenny Jenkins | (from April 2023 to April 2026) | |
| Hon. Secretary: | Avril Tyrer | (from May 2024 to May 2027) |
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Blofield Church - Annual Parochial Church Meeting – 28 April 2025
| _____________ | _____________ | _____________ |
|---|---|---|
| Hon. Treasurer: | Martin Tyrer | (from May 2024 to May 2027) |
| Elected Members: | ||
| David Pilch | (from April 2023 to April 2026) | |
| Avril Tyrer | (from May 2024 to May 2027) | |
| Martin Tyrer | (from May 2024 to May 2027) | |
| Caroline Wales | (from May 2022 to May 2025) | |
| John Kelly | (from May 2022 to May 2025) | |
| Gill O’Brien | (from April 2023 to April 2026) | |
| Amy Webber | (from April 2023 to Dec 2024) |
Committees
The PCC operates through a number of committees which meet between full meetings of the PCC:
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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 directions given by the Council.
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Pastoral Care Committee – Although this is no longer a formal team, there are many church members and visitors at our services who receive pastoral visits and care from members of the laity. In addition, this is complemented by the Anna Chaplaincy Spiritual Care activities and initiatives led by Revd Sue Shillam in her role as Anna Chaplain in the Blofield Benefice.
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Fabric Committee – This is no longer a formal team. The church wardens are responsible for all aspects relating to the soft fabric of the church, and the Fabric Officer is responsible for considering and organising or undertaking remedial repair work or replacements not requiring faculty.
During the year the PCC met on 5 occasions with an average attendance of 81.7%. Along with routine business they dealt with the following topics:
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Resurfacing of the path from the Lych Gate to the North door.
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Installation of CCTV cameras.
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Diocesan Warm Hubs grant.
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Various children’s activities held at the church.
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Various sociable and fund-raising events.
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Maintenance of the war graves in the churchyard by the Commonwealth War Graves Commission
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Roof leak in the kitchen.
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Repair of the churchyard wall by the Parish Council.
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Pastoral help in the village.
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Authorisation of Stephen Wales as an Authorised Worship Assistant.
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Nomination and training of David Pilch as an Authorised Worship Assistant.
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Blofield Church - Annual Parochial Church Meeting – 28 April 2025
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Digitising the Blofield Churchyard graves.
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Replacement of the existing lighting in the church.
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Replacement of the sound system.
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Replacement of the shed.
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Eco Church.
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The retirement of Revd. Kevin Billson.
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Management of the church during interregnum.
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The Parish Council Winter Pressures grant.
Retired Clergy
We are grateful for the support given to our church community by the Revd. Canon Judith Wilson (retired), Revd. Canon Pat Atkinson (retired) and Revd. Ron Ingamells.
Ministry Team
The Rector, Revd. Kevin Billson, retired on 30th September 2024. As from the 1st October 2024, the church has been in interregnum. The church is additionally served by a Ministry Team - the Revd. Sue Shillam, Revd. Canon Pat Atkinson, Revd. Canon Judith Wilson and the Revd. Ron Ingamells. In addition, Margaret Mallett is part of the team as a licensed Lay Minister.
Authorised Worship Assistant
Stephen Wales was formally authorised as an ‘Authorised Worship Assistant’ by the Bishop in 2024. David Pilch was recommended by the Rector and the PCC to be authorised as an ‘Authorised Worship Assistant’ for Blofield Church and to be involved in non-Eucharistic worship. Formal authorisation comes from the Bishop.
Church Attendance
The electoral roll for 2024 was 98 (2023 was 96). The average attendance at the regular Sunday 11am service was 52 adults and 2 children (2023 was 50 adults and 2 children). The Easter Day service at 11am had an attendance of 75 and 15 children (2023 was 74 adults). The total number for the Christingle, Christmas Eve and Christmas Day Services was 350 adults and 170 children (2023 was 310 adults and 177 children).
Review of the Year
The pattern of Church services has been:
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Each Sunday at 11.00 am, alternating between Holy Communion and Morning Worship services.
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Each Tuesday at 9.00 am, Benefice Morning Prayers were held via ZOOM. The Benefice Morning Prayers were discontinued when Revd. Kevin Billson retired at the end of September 2024.
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Each Wednesday at 9.30 am, there is a Benefice Service alternating between Holy Communion and Morning Worship services.
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Blofield Church - Annual Parochial Church Meeting – 28 April 2025
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Additional services are held at the Church festivals. On Ash Wednesday, a service was held for the combined benefice. On Good Friday, a service was held outside in front of the porch.
At Christmas, we held a number of seasonal services, including the very popular ‘Christingle’ service and a Carol Service.
We were pleased to welcome Blofield School for their Carol Service at Christmas.
There were 4 baptisms, 1 wedding, 7 funerals which took place in church and 5 at the crematorium plus 3 Interment of Ashes.
The Church is open every day from 9.30am until dusk for anyone who wishes to find a quiet place for prayer and contemplation, and for all who wish to enjoy our heritage, or to make a donation at the collection point for the Norwich Food Bank.
The West End Café, Open Doors and Play Church Baby & Toddler Group provide a welcoming place for anyone who wishes to call in for refreshments, a light lunch, or to meet or make new friends.
Throughout the year, the West End Café is also used to serve refreshments for a walking group, visitors, sociable events, fund raising for charities (such as Hand in Hand and Vidiyal Trust), and fund raising for the church (such as Sunday afternoon concerts, Annual Summer Garden Fete, Annual Sponsored Cycle Ride, Christmas Craft Fair, Lenten and Harvest lunches), and occasionally for funerals and weddings. We are grateful to Yvonne Mack and the Toddlers Team, the Hospitality Team and all those who regularly help to organise and facilitate these events.
Outreach continues amongst more senior members of the community with monthly lay-led services held at Manor Lodge and Manor House.
Finance Overview (Martin Tyrer)
This year we were able to make a contribution of £38,960, our full allotted figure, towards our Parish Share allocation.
Thanks to the efforts of our Social Events Team, we held a number of fund-raising events in the year. These were well attended and supported and raised £8,394 in total. We also held events to raise monies for charities and appeals that totalled £2,095.
Monies raised from weekly coffees on Sundays, West End cafe, toddlers and Open Doors made a significant contribution to funds of over £3,500.
We received a grant in November of £500 to provide hampers and small gifts for our local community.
We had a major repair to our boiler this year costing over £2,000. This was paid by transfer from our Fabric Fund after a generous donation and we will be able to reclaim the VAT amount.
We also received two legacy payments totalling £3,500 and £3,000 of this was allocated to our Fabric fund.
Our endowment held by the CofE Deposit fund showed a decrease of £50 during the year to £4,169. Monies held in our bank accounts increased by £1,675 to £6,851.
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Blofield Church - Annual Parochial Church Meeting – 28 April 2025
Our contract for the supply of gas which has been very favourable to us runs out in November 2025. The indications are that our new contract will be a lot more expensive given current trends.
I would like to thank Jim Morley for his continuing advice and support. Jim continues to handle our Gift Aid applications as well as other items. Also, thanks to Maureen Martin for checking our accounts this year.
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BLOFIELD CHURCH
ACCOUNTS at 31 December 2024
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PAROCHIAL CHURCH COUNCIL OF ST. ANDREW & ST. PETER, BLOFIELD
NOTES Y/E 31 DECEMBER 2024
| 1 | PLANNED GIVING | ||
|---|---|---|---|
| Through Gift Aid | 22549 | ||
| Other envelopes | 2497 | ||
| 25046 | |||
| 2 | GENERAL DONATIONS RECEIVED | ||
| General Fund | |||
| General donations | 1346 | ||
| West End Café, Play Church & Open Doors | 4098 | ||
| 5444 | |||
| Restricted Funds | |||
| Fabric Fund | 5000 | ||
| 3 | GRANTS RECEIVED | ||
| Wi- Spire | 100 | ||
| Norfolk Churches Trust (cycle ride 2023) | 405 | ||
| Broadland District Council (hampers) | 500 | ||
| War graves commission | 15 | ||
| 1020 | |||
| 4 | RAISED FOR CHARITIES AND APPEALS | ||
| Children’s Society | 434 | ||
| Vidiyal Trust | 297 | ||
| Norfolk Churches Trust (cycle ride 2024) | 417 | ||
| Hand in Hand | 946 | ||
| 2094 | |||
| 5 | FEES RECEIVED | ||
| These are statutory fees due to the | |||
| PCC for weddings and funerals | |||
| with charges made by the PCC | |||
| 6 | FUND RAISING | ||
| Concert by John Farmer & Emma Nuule | 438 | ||
| St. Gregory's Orchestra | 724 | ||
| Mundesley Choir | 420 | ||
| Garden plant sale & refreshments | 211 | ||
| Summer fete | 1492 |
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Blofield Church - Annual Parochial Church Meeting – 28 April 2025
| _____________ | _____________ |
|---|---|
| January Quiz | 986 |
| Barbara’s Quiz | 126 |
| Gonville & Caius concert | 760 |
| John Farmer concert | 340 |
| Christmas Fair & Christmas cards | 1937 |
| Chanters Jigge concert | 390 |
| Treasure Hunt | 90 |
| Wreath making | 480 |
| 8394 |
7 INCOME FROM ENDOWMENTS
For churchyard maintenance. The Brewster income is for the upkeep of the lychgate with any surplus for church repairs.
8 DONATIONS MADE
| BADCOG | 50 | |
|---|---|---|
| National Churches Trust | 60 | |
| USPG | 275 | |
| Norfolk Churches Trust | 10 | |
| Church Mission Society | 275 | |
| Supply of hampers to residents | 545 | |
| Royal British Legion | 270 | |
| Vidiyal Trust | 0 | |
| Norwich D A of Ringers | 10 | |
| 1495 | ||
| 9 | CHURCH RUNNING EXPENSES | |
| Insurance | 4110 | |
| Gas | 3130 | |
| Electricity | 975 | |
| Water | 207 | |
| 8422 | ||
| 10 | CHURCH & EQUIPMENT MAINTENANCE | |
| Organ tuning | 170 | |
| Roof Alarm | 735 | |
| Flameskill | 127 | |
| Sundries | 181 | |
| 1213 | ||
| From other funds: | ||
| Flowers | 36 |
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Blofield Church - Annual Parochial Church Meeting – 28 April 2025
| _____________ | _____________ | _____________ |
|---|---|---|
| 11 | BLOFIELD NEWS COSTS | |
| Paper | 163 | |
| Copying | 225 | |
| 388 | ||
| 12 | COSTS OF REPAIRS | |
| Boiler repair | 2358 | |
| 13 | COSTS OF FUND-RAISING EVENTS | |
| St. Gregory's Orchestra | 215 | |
| Mundesley Choir | 100 | |
| January Quiz | 120 | |
| Gonville & Caius concert | 223 | |
| Chanters Jigge concert | 190 | |
| Concert by John Farmer & Emma Nuule | 210 | |
| 1058 | ||
| 14 | CHURCH ADMINISTRATION ALL FUNDS | |
| Copyright licences | 496 | |
| Copying | 498 | |
| Postage and stationery | 245 | |
| Less costs of Blofield News | -368 | |
| Food, wine, coffee | 263 | |
| 1134 |
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PAROCHIAL CHURCH COUNCIL OF ST ANDREW AND ST PETER, BLOFIELD
STATEMENT OF FUNDS
| 2024 | 2023 | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| £ | £ | £ | £ | ||
| BELL FUND – Restricted Fund | |||||
| Receipts | |||||
| Donations and deposit interest | 76 | 50 | |||
| Payments | - | - | |||
| ______ | ______ | ||||
| Excess of receipts over payments | 76 | 50 | |||
| 1431 | 1381 | ||||
| _ | ______ | ||||
| Deposit account at 31 December 2024 |
1507 |
1431 | |||
DEVELOPMENT FUND – Designated Fund |
|||||
| Receipts | |||||
| VAT grants and deposit interest | 36 | 29 | |||
| Payments | |||||
| Contractor re kitchen and floor alterations | - | - | |||
| Contractor re church decoration | - | - | - | - | |
| ____ | ___ | ||||
| (Deficit) of receipts over payments | 36 | 29 | |||
| Deposit account at 1 January 2024 | 685 | 656 | |||
| _____ | ___ | ||||
| Deposit account at 31 December 2024 | 721 | 685 | |||
| RENEWALS FUND – Designated Fund | |||||
| Receipts | |||||
| Transfers from the General Fund | |||||
| Deposit interest | 37 | 30 | |||
| Payments | |||||
| - | - | ||||
| - | - | ||||
| __ | _ | ||||
| (Deficit) of receipts over payments | 37 | 30 | |||
| Deposit account at 1 January 2023 | 704 | 674 | |||
| _ | ______ | ||||
| Deposit account at 31 December 2023 | 741 | 704 |
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PAROCHIAL CHURCH COUNCIL OF ST ANDREW AND ST PETER, BLOFIELD
ACCRUALS 31 December 2024
| Creditors | Debtors | ||
|---|---|---|---|
| Crown Gas | 548 | Wi - Spire | 100.00 |
| Electricity | 198 | Gift Aid | 791 |
| HMRC | 100.00 | ||
| 846.00 | 891.00 |
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PAROCHIAL CHURCH COUNCIL OF ST ANDREW AND ST PETER, BLOFIELD OUR ACCOUNTING POLICIES
Basis of financial statements
The financial statements have been prepared in accordance with the Church Accounting Regulations 2006 and the current Statement of Recommended Practice and Accounting and Reporting by Charities (SORP 2005) using the Receipts & Payments basis which includes income as received and expenditure when irrevocably paid.
The financial statements have been prepared under the historical cost convention except for investment assets, which are shown at market value. The financial statements include all transactions, assets and liabilities for which the PCC is responsible in law. They do not include the accounts of other Church groups that owe an affiliation to another body, nor those that are informal gatherings of Church members.
Fund accounting
Unrestricted or General Funds represent the funds of the PCC that are not subject to any special restrictions regarding their use and are available to the general purposes of the PCC.
Designated Funds are monies set aside by the PCC from the General Fund for a particular use, but the PCC have the right to change their decision on the use of them. They are generally invested in a separate deposit account.
Restricted Funds are amounts received for specific purposes and which cannot be applied by the PCC for any purpose other than that for which they were given. These are generally invested in a separate deposit account unless held for a short period only.
Endowment Funds are funds the capital of which must be retained either permanently or at the PCC’s discretion, the income derived from the endowment is to be used either as restricted or unrestricted income funds depending upon the purpose for which the endowment was established in the first place.
Statement of Assets and Liabilities
The following assets are recognised but not necessarily valued in the Statement of Assets and Liabilities:
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Movable church furnishings held by the churchwardens on special trust for the PCC and which require a faculty for disposal.
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Land and buildings held on behalf of the PCC (none in 2024).
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Other fixtures, fittings and office equipment where the PCC is free to dispose of such assets without faculty.
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Investments held beneficially by the PCC.
The following assets are recognised, and a monetary value given as part of the description in the Statement of Assets and Liabilities:
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Amounts owing from the Inland Revenue where a formal claim has been made and by way of note when the claim has yet to be submitted.
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Any other amounts owing to the PCC.
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Legacies where formal notification of entitlement and amount has been received at the end of the year by the PCC.
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Closing bank balances as shown in the receipts and payments account.
The following liabilities are recognised:
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Any arrears of Diocesan Parish Share.
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• Creditors for goods or services.
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