2024-12-31-accounts

Parish of All Saints St Leonards and St Ives

Ringwood Benefice Annual Report for 2024

Aims and Purposes

St Leonards and St Ives Parochial Church Council (“PCC”) exists to promote the Gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ according to the doctrines and practices of the Church of England. The PCC has the responsibility of working with the incumbent in promoting in the ecclesiastical parish the whole Mission of the Church, pastoral, evangelistic, social and ecumenical. The PCC also liaises with Ringwood PCC in the work of the Benefice of Ringwood with Ellingham and Harbridge and St Leonards and St Ives. After the departure of the Revd Matthew Trick in June 2022 the Benefice was in vacancy until September when we welcomed Revd Stephen Miles as the new incumbent. St Leonards and St Ives PCC is also responsible for All Saints Church Centre, which is attached to All Saints Church.

The Benefice of Ringwood with Ellingham and Harbridge and St Leonards and St Ives

The Parish of St Leonards and St Ives is part of Ringwood Benefice, a two parish Benefice with the Parish of Ringwood with Ellingham and Harbridge. Following the arrival of Revd Stephen we are currently working on a new vision for the Benefice going forward.

Objectives and Activities of All Saints Parish

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 All Saints.

The PCC maintains an overview of worship throughout the parish and makes suggestions on how our services can involve the different parts of the community.

When planning our activities for the year, we have considered the Charity 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 worship and prayer; learning about the Gospel; and developing their knowledge and trust in Jesus, and by providing pastoral care for people living in the parish and Mission and outreach work.

To facilitate this work it is important that we maintain the fabric of All Saints Church and the Church Centre.

Achievements, Performance and Benefit to the Community

Electoral Roll. During 2024 there were 68 parishioners on the Electoral Roll of whom 11 were not resident in the parish. At APCM 2023 there were 68 parishioners on the Roll.

A Welcoming Church. New people joining All Saints have found a warm & vibrant welcome and are now serving our church in various ways. In times of need and crisis, people who normally never step across a church threshold are often drawn there to pray or just sit wondering what life is all about. All Saints is normally open every day for those who seek a silent place of refuge.

Worship, Prayer and Ministry

The weekly Communion service on Thursdays is very well attended, and we are grateful to the retired clergy who assist with leading these services, particularly this year when we were in vacancy until September.

Sacred Space: This is 20 minutes of silent contemplation/ meditation held on a Thursday afternoon prior to major Festivals and is open to all who seek peace and quiet.

Home groups. One group continues to meet on ZOOM.

Ministry to St Ives School. All Saints Church has had a good relationship with the school for a number of years and we were delighted to host their Christmas Service. The school choir, The Treblemakers, has also performed during the 2 annual Church Fayres.

St Leonards & St Ives Ex-Services Club . Our Links with the club have continued through the shared focus on Remembrance Sunday with a service in church followed by a Remembrance ceremony at the club.

Usual Sunday attendance

The average attendance reported for 2024 was 32 adults and 0 children. (2023, 25adults and 0 children.)

Deanery Synod

The Parish is currently represented on Deanery Synod by Gill Tybjerg, who also leads the Deanery’s link with Mission partners in Kinkiizi Diocese, Uganda. Deanery Synod’s role is mainly to look after mission and pastoral matters in the Deanery, to help parishes

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deliver the Diocesan strategic priorities and to monitor and support the allocation of Parish Share across the Deanery to the Common Mission Fund.

The Church Centre

The Church Centre is made available on reasonable terms to those organizing activities in the community. It is mostly used by a variety of groups developing mindfulness and physical well-being. Bourne2Sing choir also use the church for practice.

Pastoral Care

The Licensed Lay Minister Mrs Ruth Freeman led our response to pastoral care to those who seek it, allowing local people who may otherwise be immobile or housebound to take part in Christian worship, fellowship and companionship from the comfort of their homes. Short acts of worship were also provided for residents in some of the local Care Homes.

M inistry to all ages

All Saints Parent and Toddler Group for young children and their carers meets on Wednesday mornings in the Church Centre. It continues to be very popular.

Messy Church provides a safe and accessible space to explore the Christian faith in an informal and creative way. Drawing otherwise unchurched families from the local area it has grown a strong sense of community amongst those who attend it. Numbers have increased during the year which is very encouraging.

Families and Youth Work . Provision for Young People and Families in our parish in 2024 was provided by Benefice wide activities coordinated by the Benefice Youth, Children and Families Group.

Warm Space, a new initiative in 2023 run weekly during the winter months to provide a simple soup lunch and fellowship in the Church Centre continued in 2024. It has proved popular with older folk living alone.

Major Events The church provides a focus for the local community to come together on Remembrance Sunday and for other events. A very popular Community Carols event was held at Braeside Village Hall in December.

Ecumenical Relationships The parish is a member of Churches Together in Ringwood and District and encourages the congregation to take part in its activities.

Churchwardens’ Review of the Year

We have been without an Incumbent for the majority of the year, and this has placed an additional burden on many, but particularly our retired clergy, our LLM, our BCM and our Parish Administrator. Behind the scenes, many more work tirelessly to enable the life of All Saints to continue, and we take this opportunity to thank them all.

Other Activities during the Year

Meetings of the PCC The full PCC met in person seven times during the year.

Health & Safety (incorporating Disability, Safeguarding & Inclusion)

By combining common sense practicality with legal compliance our church ‘health & safety’ strives to present a safe environment in a legislative framework. All statutory checks were completed during the year.

We are also ‘user friendly’ for wheelchair users (we promote the provisions of the Disability Discrimination Act) and those no longer as able-bodied as perhaps they used to be, and equally to safeguard and be inclusive to those both old and young who may be vulnerable. All Saints Church and PCC has a comprehensive Health & Safety and Disability Policy , together with Safeguarding, Inclusion and Child Protection Policies .

The PCC complies with its duty undersection 5 of the Safeguarding and Clergy Discipline Measure 2016 (duty to have regard to House of Bishops guidance on safeguarding children and vulnerable adults). Safeguarding, Inclusion and Child Protection Policies were adopted by the PCC on 12th January 2010, were extensively revised and updated in April 2014 and reviewed by PCC in 2023. All those working with children and vulnerable adults are covered by DBS checks. All PCC members are also subject to DBS checks. The PCC formally passed a ‘Photography of Children Policy’ on January 20th, 2014.

We have a comprehensive formal Risk Management Register of the overall hazards and risks to which the PCC believes the Parish is exposed, which is appraised and reviewed annually. This is underpinned by Risk Assessments for Fire, General, Safeguarding & Inclusion, which are done either formally (written and recorded) or informally (appraisal and assessment) across a range of social events and church activities.

Accidents, Incidents & Emergencies can, and do, happen – and to meet these contingencies we have readily available emergency First Aid, mobility, and disability aids, with procedure and information notices displayed. We also now have a defibrillator attached to an outside wall giving access to the whole community. Dedicated parking,

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ramps, external night lighting, and professional-standard care and compassionate expertise also enhance what may be appropriate in given situations.

Environmental matters In endeavouring to meet the target set by the Church of England that all churches should aim to be net zero carbon by 2030 and resulting from the very generous donation given by Mr and Mrs S Gray who are members of our congregation, we were able to install an air sourced heat pump in our Church Centre to replace its aging and failing gas boiler. All our electricity is purchased from renewable sources such as the wind and apart from the gas fired cooker in our kitchen, the Church Centre is wholly carbon free for light and heat. We are now in consultation with the Diocese in connection with our need to replace the ageing gas heaters in the main church.

Fabric maintenance We continue to care for the fabric of our church to the best of our ability. The last Quinquennial inspection revealed some possible significant challenges to the structure of our building which the PCC will address in the coming year.

Social Events and Fund Raising and Stewardship.

Social Events We held several successful social and fundraising events during 2023 enabling us not only to reach out to the community but also to raise valuable extra funds for the church.

Stewardship Maintaining adequate income to meet increased operating costs and replace losses from deaths and departures is a continuing task. A high proportion of our stewardship members give either through the Parish Giving Scheme or by bank standing order. Most gift aid their gifts, and we would encourage all those who do not to consider gift aiding their gifts as we get 25% of the gift in addition back from HMRC. In fact, we no longer have envelopes as we can now claim Gift Aid under the recently introduced small donations scheme, meaning that we can and do claim this percentage back from HMRC for the plate collection and other small monetary gifts we are given.

Giving January 2024 to December 2024

Given per year	PGS	GA Donatons	NGA Donatons
Over £1,000	£21,074	£1,800	£0
£999-£500	£2,820	£0	£1,400
£499-£250	£2,272	£780	£0
£249 or less	£550	£320	£85

Given per year	Donors	Total giving	Per week	% of
giving
Over £1000	6	£22,874	£439	73.5%
£999-500	6	£4,220	£81	13.6%
499-250	9	£3,052	£58	9.8%
£249 or less	8	£955	£18	3.1%

Total Donors 28 Total Stewardship giving £31,101 Total Gift Aid recovered £7,038 For tax reasons, many “donors” represent two people.

Financial Review

Unrestricted Income in 2024 was £61,885 and restricted income was £21,730 totalling £83,615; £98,784 was spent to provide the Christian ministry from All Saints Church. This included our full contribution of £38,912 to the diocesan common mission fund (parish share), most of which is spent providing the stipends, pensions and housing of clergy, and the training of their successors.

Our minimal governance costs form part of the Church Running expenditure.

The account shows expenditure in 2024 exceeding income by £15,169

The balance of funds carried forward at 31 December 2024 totalled £79,289 (2023 £73,978). The financial viability of the Parish rests on the very generous unrestricted legacies received from Miss Elizabeth Redman in 2007 and Mrs. Margaret Clarke in 2017, which equate to most of the total net assets of the Parish.

During the year we transferred our bank account to Lloyds Bank plc to make use of its secure online banking system. We have free banking at present but will be charged for using the facilities provided with effect from February 2025.

Reserves Policy. It is the PCC’s policy to maintain a balance on Unrestricted funds which equates to approximately six months unrestricted payments, (about £45,000) to cover emergency situations which may arise from time to time, and to provide resources for carrying out maintenance work on the structure of the buildings when required by quinquennial inspections or other needs. In doing so, note is taken of any Restricted funds available for maintenance and other activities. It has been our policy to invest our fund’s balances with the Winchester Diocese Board of Finance Loan Fund, and the CBF Church of England Deposit Fund.

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The Future

We cannot continue to run a deficit every year and are working to try to reduce our costs and at the same time grow our congregation for the longer-term future of the Church. We will also be considering other fund-raising methods that do not require a lot of manpower to manage. We had a Quinquennial Inspection in 2024 so will inevitably have costs arising from this once the report is issued. We will probably need to make some difficult decisions over expenditure during the next year or two.

Administrative Information

PCC members who have served from 1 January 2024 to the date of this report are: Incumbent: From September Revd Stepehen Miles Wardens: Mrs Lynne Wilson (from APCM 2023) Mrs Frankie Hester (from APCM 2023) LLM Mrs Ruth Freeman

Representative on Deanery Synod Mrs Gillian Tybjerg (until May 2026)

All Saints Church is situated in Ringwood Road Service Road, St Ives. It is part of the Diocese of Winchester within the Church of England. The correspondence address is All Saints Church Office, Ringwood Road Service Road, St Ives, Ringwood BH24 2NS.

Structure, Governance and Management

The Parochial Church Council (PCC) is a corporate body established by the Church of England. The PCC operates under the Parochial Church Council Powers Measure. The PCC is registered with the Charity Commission as Registered Charity Number 1155076 THE PAROCHIAL CHURCH COUNCIL OF THE ECCLESIASTICAL PARISH OF ALL SAINTS, ST LEONARDS AND ST IVES. The method of appointment of PCC members is set out in the Church Representation Rules.

Elected Members: Mr Christopher Ross Until APCM 2025 Mr Paddy Hester Mrs Cherry Brooks Until APCM 2026 Mrs Carol Sowerbutts Mrs Joan Evenden Resigned October 2024 Mrs Pat Stone Mrs Alison Davis Until APCM 2027 Mrs Andrea Emblin Co-opted Canon Peggy Jackson ) Resigned July 2024

Day to day management is the responsibility of the Incumbent, The Wardens and the Church Maintenance Manager, Mr Paddy Hester, the Treasurer and the Parish Administrator Mrs Lisa Hover.

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The PCC operates through the following committees.

Standing Committee

Has power to transact the business of the PCC between its meetings, subject to any directions given by the Council. Non-ex-officio members are elected annually.

Wardens, Outreach and Worship Committee

Acts as a forum to discuss, evaluate, review, innovate and where necessary, facilitate Mission/evangelism within the Parish of All Saints, St. Leonard’s & St. Ives. Acts as a forum to discuss, evaluate, review, innovate and, where necessary, facilitate the introduction of new service formats for our church worship to develop.

Finance and Maintenance Committee

Advises the PCC on financial and maintenance matters.

Social and Fund-Raising Committee

Organises fund raising events and social events which also raise funds.

Stewardship Committee

Advises the PCC on Stewardship policy.

Communication Committee

Manages the production of Good News magazine on behalf of the PCC and coordinates all communications activity.

Health and Safety and Disability Committee

Advises the Vicar and PCC on Health and Safety and Disability matters.

On behalf of the PCC, Revd. Stephen Miles, Chair

31 March 2025

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Ind•p•nd•nt Exabmln•rPg R•port to th• PCC of All Salnts St L•onards and St Iv•s. Thls Report Is prepared for the accounts of the PCC for the year endl￿d 31 December 2024 whlch are detsiled on pages 6 lo page 13. The individual responslbllltles of the PCC and the examiner are as follows.. The Charfty Trustees (The PCC mernbers) conslder that an audit is nol necessary for the year ending December 2024 urKler sectlon144 (2) And therefore, an examlnalion by an Independent examiner Is requlred: The responsibility of the independent examiner 18 as follows". 1) Examine the accounts according to the requirements under sectk)n 145 of the 20118Ct. 2) Follow the procedures as laid down In the General Dlrections as given by the Charfly Commissionef s sectlon 14S(5Xb) of the 2011 Act. State wthother any contravenlng matters have been dlscovered. The Em hasls of the Inde ndent Examlner's statement Thls Examlnation was carried out with direcl understandlng and In accordance wilh the General Dlrectlons given by the Charlty Comm1881on as outlined above. 1)The Examinatk)n was carried out using the Charlty Commlsslon for Englar)d arKJ Wales Independent examlnatlon of charity accounts checkli8t (CC32a) 2) The Examination included a revlew of the accountlng records kepl by the PCC and a comparlson of Ihe accounts presented wrth the8e records, 3) The examlnatk)n also includes con8lderatk)n of any "unusual Items" or any dlscoverfes In the accounts whlch may have requlred explanation8 from the PCC. Fortunately, only one mlnor clarification of the Lloyd's paylng in system separating cash and cheques was necessary. Thls examlnatk)n does not provlde all the ￿ferenCing1eVtdence requlred in a full acrJ)unt audit but was carried as required vr￿eT the requirements outlined above. My Independent Examlner's report: During the exarnination of the account there were no Items found that requlred furiher explanatk)n. 1) This I believe gives reasonable cause to be able to, with regards to the requirements or 8) Record the accounts records as belng in accordance with section 130 of the 2011 Act. b) To prepare accounts whlch have not been prepared vthere these accounling requirements have been met. 2} to which. attention shoukl be glven to ensure proper understandlng of the accounts be reached: Also, as a final statement the accounts were found to be fully transparent and compliant arKI vKre ￿mpared to the Bank statements for November arKI December and found trj be (x)rr8Ct. Slgnod Martln Hugh08 1210212025 (Trea8urnr Rlngw(K*d Rotary> Annual Report for 2024 page 14