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2024-12-31-accounts

Annual Report 2024

Priest-in-charge

Priest-in-charge Rev James Harvey Enquiries 01325 264 905 admin@holytrinity-darlington.org.uk Find us online at www.holytrinity-darlington.org.uk holytrinitydarlington holytrinitychurchdarlington

Contents

Welcome .................................................................................
Review of the year .................................................................
Why are we here? ..................................................................
Structure, vision & priorities ..................................................
What do we know about ourselves? .................................
Achievements & performance
Worship .............................................................................
Nurture ..............................................................................
Growing ............................................................................
Caring for God’s creation .............................................
Buildings ...................................................................................
Working together in Darlington ...........................................		 3
4-5
6
7-9
11
12-13
14-15
16-18
19
20
21
Administration ......................................................................... 22-23
Finance & reserves ................................................................. 24-25
Governance & Management ............................................. 26

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Welcome to our Annual Report and welcome to Holy Trinity in 2024.

Here’s some of my memories of 2024 – new people joined the church, Mary Yasini was ordained priest and presided at Communion at a joint Holy Trinity/St Cuthbert’s service, we prayed almost every Monday morning of the year, the music group welcomed new members, we ran a holiday club for 40 children for 3 days, we had our first full immersion baptism in March, followed by two young people in November, Amy & Dan and then Adrian and Catharine got married, we mourned the deaths of Colin Randolph, Alan Stewart and Lizzy Boyd, we grew our team of vergers, we started a youth group, we celebrated the 50th anniversary of Pierremont Youth & Community Centre with great hospitality and we topped the Diocesan leader board for using our contactless giving machine.

In the spirit of pruning, we stopped two things in 2024: at the end of the year we halted our evening services and the Partnership for Missional Church programme – both contained elements of pain. However, both were a sign of maturity: that we have the courage to stop things and create space for God to speak into, and that we could acknowledge when we had gone down the wrong path. We started down the road of how we handle things (our character) being more important than the things we achieve.

Personally, two significant things happened this year. I took a 3 month Sabbatical and St Cuthbert’s church drew lots of my attention. On the surface, largely Holy Trinity was unaffected by these events, which is a tribute to the people of Holy Trinity, the resilience of the church and the support around me. I am deeply indebted to all of these.

Finally, allow me to thank everyone who is part of Holy Trinity in any way – you are who make the church. Thank you to my clergy colleagues who covered my Sabbatical so seamlessly, thank you to the Churchwardens and the Standing Committee who I know work tirelessly for Holy Trinity, thank you to those I suspect work tirelessly for Holy Trinity, and thank you to all who work quietly behind the scenes making Holy Trinity run as beautifully as it does.

This is how we know what love is: Jesus Christ laid down his life for us. And we ought to lay down our lives for our brothers and sisters (1 John 3:16). May the example of Jesus inspire us to continue to serve others in word and deed.

James

Rev James Harvey (Priest-in-charge)

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Review of the year in pictures 11 ,rri Ill

Review of the year in pictures 11 li IJ

Holy Trinity Church’s parochial church council (PCC) has the responsibility of cooperating with the priest-in-charge (or during a period of interregnum with the Bishop) in promoting the ecclesiastical parish, the whole mission of the Church, pastoral, evangelistic, social and ecumenical. The PCC is also responsible for the maintenance of the church building in Woodland Road.

The PCC has legal ownership and direct management responsibilities for Walkington House, the church hall in Vane Terrace, DL3 7AT (which is vested in the Durham Diocese Board of Finance for and on behalf of Holy Trinity Darlington PCC).

The PCC also has legal ownership of Pierremont Hall, Pierremont Road, DL3 6DG (which is vested in the Durham Diocese Board of Finance for and on behalf of Darlington Holy Trinity PCC). Pierremont Hall is run by a separate charity, Holy Trinity Youth and Community Centre Management Committee, registered charity number 507430, which has full responsibility for the management, maintenance and operation of the building. This charity is constitutionally separate from Holy Trinity Church PCC although we keep up to date with the charity as several members of our church are trustees of HTYCCMC.

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 Holy Trinity. The PCC maintains an overview of worship throughout the parish and works on trying to provide services and events that suit the needs of our local parish. We also work with our sister church, St. Cuthbert’s, to carry out joint services and some shared events. Our services and worship put faith into practice through prayer and scripture, music and sacrament.

Our vision for Holy Trinity is to be a flourishing, active and diverse congregation serving our community and rooted in God’s love and are now set to focus on our priorities of children, young people and families; building the involvement and leadership of the laity; events and festivals; God’s creation; differentiated ministry; and growing in prayer and faith.

We are looking forward to continuing to develop and refine our priorities over the next twelve to eighteen months with the appointment of a new Assistant Minister before the end of 2025.

Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways submit to him, and he will make your paths straight. (Proverbs 3 v5-6)

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How we work

Holy Trinity Church structures the life of the church under 5 areas: Worship, Nurture, Growing, Buildings and Administration. Around each of these areas and seeking to influence all of them is our sixth area – Caring for God’s Creation circling around everything we do.

Each PCC member is part of one of these teams and our church business is conducted using these areas.

All of the 4 ‘ministry’ areas (Worship, Nurture, Growing, Caring for God’s Creation) will take forward the work of one or more priority area identified in our vision process.

Partnership for Missional Church

As a church, we signed up to a process called Partnership for Missional Church (PMC) which aims to help us to become more missional as a church. It is a 3-year process in four phases – listening, experimenting, focusing and celebrating. A growing core team from our congregation were attending the meetings. We were on a journey of spiritual discovery, walking with God and one another. The ‘missional’ part of PMC was us trying to become more active within our community which allows us to spread God’s message. We want to live out our vision. We reached the experimenting phase of our journey and were working on our missional adaptive challenge which is ‘to develop opportunities to reach out to 11-16 year-olds and their families with the relevance of Jesus’. This was being driven forward by the ‘Give it a Go Team’ working alongside Rev Mary, Rev Steph and our fledgling Youth Group. During the course of our year experimenting the PMC Core Team realised that our missional adaptive challenge was not the right fit for our church and had taken us down the wrong road on our journey, therefore the PMC process was placed on pause. We look forward to discerning a way forward with the process in coming months.

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In 2022 we discerned our current vision by listening and seeking to gather views from across our congregation and our community. From more than 70 different responses we developed our vision, values and priorities. Because of the consultative nature of the process, the vision we discerned belonged to everyone:

Holy Trinity aims to be a flourishing, active and diverse congregation serving our community and rooted in God’s love.

From all our consultation and conversations, we identified six priorities to drive our activity and channel our resources. Our priorities at this stage are:

We have focused on some of these more than others.

Over the past year or so, we have identified that this is the right time to review our vision and priorities to ensure we are fully focused on God’s call for Holy Trinity in this season. This is one of the key roles for the Assistant Minister early on, so that their insight, gifts and skills can also shape the way forward for Holy Trinity in these next 5 years.

Children, young people and families

Building the involvement of the laity

Current aim: Enable more children, young people and families to discover God’s love, follow Jesus in their daily lives and be a full part of the Holy Trinity church family.

Current aim: Enable all people to explore their strengths, gifts and talents in the life of Holy Trinity.

Progress: lay involvement in lots of spaces, including leading services, governance, leadership courses, small groups, children’s ministry, prayer ministry and tech.

Progress: dedicated Children and Families Worker, Jam Club, S Club 11, Youth Group, Holiday Clubs, Messy

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Events and Festivals

Current aim: To build an intentional presence in our community.

Progress: Carol singing in the park, Christingle, Heritage Open Day, Quiz night, Feastivals, Good Friday Act of Witness, Palm Sunday Procession.

Differentiated Ministry

Current aim: To understand the needs of each member of the whole and wider church family according to their stage of faith journey and tradition and develop relevant and engaging services and activities.

Progress: 9.30 worship, The Four, All-Age worship, home groups, Mothers’ Union.

God’s Creation

Current aim: To explore our God-given responsibility to care for and nurture Creation and to increase our connection and contribution to nature.

Progress: Bronze A Rocha award

Growing in Prayer and Faith

Current aim: To develop a culture at Holy Trinity of prayer and learning about our faith so that it becomes a regular part of our lives and we feel confident sharing it with others.

Prayer: Prayer breakfasts, prayer walks, Lent talks, Silence Sacrament Sharing Scripture, World Day of Prayer.

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More of the year in pictures ap io

We plan to review our vision and priorities in 2025. We have already been thinking about what we do well and what we can develop more as a church:

OUR STRENGTHS

AREAS FOR DEVELOPMENT

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Holy Trinity is well known for its 9.30am service – it is a service which seems to encourage and challenge, inspire and edify people, and one which people look forward to each week. Some things people like about this service include: variety of services, musical choices, relevance to me, uplifting feel, preaching quality.

The investment of a permanent audio-visual system has significantly enhanced our services of worship and huge thanks go to the ‘tech team’ for making our services accessible and visually appealing.

We continued with our pattern of having All Age services on the second Sunday of the month – these remain engaging, creative and a highlight for many.

We continue to offer prayer ministry to people during communion on a monthly basis and hope to increase the frequency of this it continues to be well received.

At the start of the year we continued our pattern of fortnightly evening services with Evening Prayer on the 2nd Sunday and a bespoke services on the 4th Sunday. These have been largely lay led. We reviewed our evening services in June and found they were valued by those that come, but they lack a wide appeal. In light of this we stopped running our regular evening services and are looking for new opportunities to engage with our community in a fresh way.

Messy Church has continued monthly during the year largely attracting families who don’t otherwise come to church – many are baptism or wedding families. We started S Club 5 half way through the year to offer something more age appropriate for 8-12 year-olds – this meets at Pierremont Youth centre. Meanwhile JaM club has continued to be offered on the 3rd and 4th Sundays and more recently every Sunday apart from when an All Age service is happening. Dionne McCreedy, our children & families worker has continued to lay some good foundations for the future.

Flower arranging took place from Easter to Advent, with additional seasonal input from two congregation members not on the fortnightly rota who like to add to displays in church at our three festivals, which include harvest and Christmas. The team said farewell to one stalwart member, who moved to the South of England, and welcomed two newcomers. In August, a small group were pleased to provide and arrange flowers for the wedding of a couple in the church family. In 2024, the team numbered a dozen, but ideally needs 16 to cover all the available slots, leaving scope for more to join in 2025. Some choose to do this as a way of remembering a loved one at a particular time of year, others as part of their worship, using materials from the natural world in thanksgiving to the Creator God.

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70 WORSHIPPERS on average worship every week at Holy Trinity

3,640 WAFERS are consumed in Holy Communion

20 BOTTLES OF PORT used for Communion wine

87 SERMONS

364 HYMNS sung or played

COUNTLESS PRAYERS

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We all need nurturing – in my garden the new seeds needs nurturing, so do the fruit bushes in order to bear much fruit, and so do the established plants. Nurturing is for everyone in churches too – both in receiving and in giving.

Nurture in Holy Trinity in 2024 ranged from coffee after our services (a growing activity!), to monthly Sunday lunches at Tre Amici, to Round the Table evenings – mixed gatherings sharing food, fellowship and fun together, to poetry evenings, to taking home communion to those unable to get out. Supporting one another and embracing newer people is a really important part of the Holy Trinity family.

So too is growing in prayer and faith – one of our six key priorities as a church. This year two new small groups started up, one on a Wednesday and one on a Thursday evening, the group who did the Alpha course in the first part of the year led the next Alpha course for a new set of people, we ran a Lent course entitled Lifeshapes exploring discipleship through the lens of everyday ‘shapes’, we introduced prayer ministry at our services and held quiet or retreat days in Advent and the summer.

All these are varied expressions of our growing priority to delve deeper in our faith. If we are to truly live out our faith seven days a week (not just one), we will increasingly invest more in our discipleship and live more and more out of the riches of Christ.

St Francis most famously said ‘it is in giving that we receive’, so it is really important we create opportunities for people at Holy Trinity to nurture others. Some do this by leading a small group, by serving coffee, by taking home communion to others, by praying for one another, by noticing things about others and telling them, by organising retreat days, by giving lifts to church, by sending encouraging cards or emails, by leading prayers. We look forward to creating more opportunities in 2025.

The Mothers’ Union meets monthly with a varied programme of interesting speakers and activities. During the year they have attended services with other groups in the deanery and the diocese. They also enjoy each other's company at a monthly coffee morning which is a time of friendship, laughter and sharing. The group supports the home and overseas work of the worldwide Mothers’ Union charities and locally supports the Women’s Refuge in Darlington and the Salvation Army Christmas Toy Appeal in addition to St Teresa’s Hospice and TearFund. They extend a warm welcome to any who would like to join the group.

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APCM MEAL following our APCM to say thank you! HARVEST MEAL in Pierremont to celebrate the 50th Anniversary PASSOVER MEAL prayer, worship, food and music

200 MINCE PIES consumed over Christmas

36 BOTTLES OF MULLED WINE drunk over the Christmas period

12 SUNDAY LUNCH gatherings at Tre Amici

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Holy Trinity Darlington Facts & Figures– outreach
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65 PRESENTS delivered to children and school leavers across Darlington £500 DONATIONS to CAP, Tearfund, St Theresa’s and Kings Foodbank 24 REGULAR HOME COMMUNIONS carried our at local care homes and the homes of people in need

3900 CHRISTMAS CARDS DELIVERED

£568 DONATED TO CHRISTINGLE

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Growing’ is the aspect of the faith life of our church which looks outward to our community with the aim of touching more lives with the love of God. In practice this involves social media presence, social events, fundraising activities and engagement with schools and the local community.

Links to nurseries, schools and higher education are developing well. We now have links with George Dent nursery, Upperthorpe Nursery, Reid Street. Links with Queen Elizabeth Sixth Form College (QE) continue to grow.

Our Facebook, Instagram and web pages are regularly updated with photos, news, music, uplifting quotes and much more. We hope that anyone looking for a church using social media will find a flavour of our church life.

As a church we have decided that it is important to reach every home in our parish with our Christmas cards. With almost 4,000 homes in our parish this is no small task and the weather is rarely kind in December. Our intrepid team of volunteers were up to the task with some taking the opportunity to pray for the parish as they deliver the cards.

We have been delighted with the work that our children and families worker has been doing. Dionne has a wide remit across schools, church and community plus much more! She has continued to make her mark within the Holy Trinity community with Messy Church, S Club 5 and JaM Club and continues to make links with schools and local nurseries.

In the run-up to Christmas, our Silent Santa Appeal was a great success – we collected

many gift bags full of Christmas gifts for children and care-leavers which were given to children and young people in our town who may not have received any Christmas gifts.

In December, our community carol singing event in Stanhope Park has gone from strength to strength.

We have had a quiet year for fundraising events with a Games Night.

Participation in the Redeeming our Communities (ROC) event provided food for thought about ways in which different organisations in Darlington can work together.

We have continued our support of local charities St Teresa’s Hospice, King’s Church Food Bank, CAP and one overseas charity Tear Fund. We were able to give these four charities £500 each as one-off donations to support the good works that they are doing.

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10 MESSY CHURCH gatherings

2 BOWLING OUTINGS for S Club 5

1 CHRISTMAS TREE decorated by the children of our church

240 TEAS EATEN at Messy Church gatherings

40 YOUTH GROUP MEETINGS this year

36 JaM (Jesus and Me) sessions at Sunday worship

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The Caring for God’s Creation Team aligns its work with the Fifth Mark of Mission : "To strive to safeguard the integrity of creation and sustain and renew the life of the Earth." We aim to protect and care for creation by considering how both our church and individual members can reduce their carbon footprint. This supports the Church of England’s goal for all churches to achieve net zero carbon emissions by 2030 .

Since 2024, we have been using two key frameworks to guide our efforts:

  1. The A Rocha UK Eco Church Project – This provides a holistic approach to reducing our environmental impact, encompassing our church building, churchyard, community engagement, worship practices, individual lifestyles, and global connections . The program includes a progression through bronze, silver, and gold awards as we work towards net zero. We received the Bronze Award in September 2023 , and we are now working towards achieving Silver.

  2. The Diocesan Net Zero Carbon Plan – This framework focuses specifically on actions related to our church building . Our work is divided into three stages:

  3. Quick wins

  4. Medium-term goals

  5. Long-term goals

This plan is being implemented in collaboration with the Building Maintenance Team and includes tasks such as maintaining gutters, repairing a broken window, and servicing the boiler.

In addition to these structural efforts, we continue to integrate care for creation into our spiritual life. Throughout the year, we have held services celebrating God’s creation and regularly include prayers for the climate and the environment in our worship.

We also take practical steps in our daily operations:

Looking ahead, we will continue to encourage everyone to make at least one small change that can have a positive impact on God’s creation , and we remain committed to our transition toward greater sustainability .

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Buildings
Holy Trinity Darlington
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Holy Trinity Church was consecrated in 1838, having been built as a chapel of ease for St Cuthbert’s to accommodate Darlington’s expanding population in the 1830s. We currently have a capacity of around 400.

It is chastening to consider the rich tapestry of people who have crossed the threshold of Holy Trinity Church over the course of the past year since our last Annual Report. This includes our regular adherents, occasional attenders, friends and families, visitors, and those drawn to us in the passing. They come to participate in a multitude of activities including our regular services, more specific worship experiences, special services such as weddings, baptisms and funerals and social and cultural opportunities. They come for a range of purposes including worship, fellowship, training and church meetings. They are drawn by circumstance in the present and echoes from the past. They range across the spectrum of age. Whatever their individual characteristics and circumstances, a consistent refrain that is offered is the recognition of the specialness of the sacred space that our building offers, and the opportunity it provides to be in the company of the Lord.

This is the underlying motivation for our stewardship activities throughout the year. It encompasses regular maintenance activities such as drain and guttering clearance, cleaning and clearing and annual servicing and maintenance (e.g. PAT testing, boiler maintenance and alarm maintenance) as well as more reactive repair and replacement. This year, in particular, we have been all too aware of the forthcoming mandatory Quinquennial Review (QQR) that will be undertaken of the building ‘state’. It was in this context that we reviewed the condition of our external stonework and implemented repairs, re-pointing and replacement highlighted by the findings, predominantly along the southfacing nave. Whilst this was, in itself a significant piece of work, perhaps not unexpectedly, in the course of its completion, further work relating to the state of an original chimney stack was identified and subsequently addressed. Further actions relevant to the QQR continue to be progressed. If this past year has taught us anything, it is that the maintenance of a 19th Century building is like painting the Forth Rail Bridge-never finished! In this context, it is important to acknowledge the legion of helpers who give so generously of their time, efforts, expertise and monies which permits this work to be progressed.

In similar vein, it is important to acknowledge the work of the relevant Council Departments involved in overseeing the maintenance of the Churchyard-supported by our own effortswhich brings joy to so many not only in the congregation, but across the local community.

Walkington House . In the light of the continuing rental of the premises by ‘Bijoux Bits’, the maintenance support and requirements for the property remain limited. It is however recognised that the longer term aspiration is to promote its more active community useage.

Holy Trinity Youth and Community Centre (Pierremont). Though continuing to be owned by Holy Trinity Church, responsibility for the management and maintenance of the site is delegated to the HTYCC Management Committee. This year the centre celebrated it’s 50th anniversary with a harvest lunch in the hall.

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As a church we are very aware that we do not exist in isolation – we are stronger by our connections both within the Anglican church and with the wider Christian church in our town.

Deanery synod

Our church is part of the Deanery of Darlington and sends two representatives to Synod meetings to represent our church. In 2024 the lay representatives were Robert Eden and Caroline Stewart. These meetings not only provide us with a link to the wider church in Darlington but also allow us to contribute to the recommendations that the Deanery makes to Diocesan Synod and the Bishop’s Council for plans for the Deanery area.

The Deanery Synod met three times in 2024 with an additional deanery day in October 2024. The topics covered during the year included:

Churches Together & One Voice Darlington is a forum for all churches across Darlington to meet together for sharing and furthering the work of Christ in our town. Church leaders also meet each month to pray for our Town and this remains vitally important and a source of joy and support.

2024 was a busy year with five specific events held under the banner of CTD: a gathering for the Week of Prayer for Christian Unity; the Break4Lent series of talks and fellowship on Monday mornings in Lent; a service at the Pease Monument on Good Friday; a General Election Hustings at Vineyard; and a 13 mile prayer walk around the Churches of Darlington. All were both well attended and well appreciated, and great opportunities to pray, eat, listen, worship and walk with those from different churches. Thank you to all who joined in demonstrating and celebrating our unity in Christ.

How good and pleasant it is when God’s people live together in unity! It is like precious oil poured on the head, running down on the beard. For there the Lord bestows his blessing, even life forevermore. (Psalm 133)

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Electoral roll & worshipping community

The Church of England is governed by a system which joins lay people with the Bishops to make decisions. The Electoral Roll is the church’s register of electors.

Every 6 years the Electoral Roll has to be compiled afresh and everyone, including people who have been on the Electoral Roll in previous years, needed to reapply in 2025. Inevitably this has led to a decline in the numbers reapplying to be on the new Electoral Roll.

In the same way that being on the civic electoral roll gives the right to vote in parliamentary and local elections and referenda, joining the church electoral roll means that you can vote on church matters, attend the annual parochial church meeting (APCM) and stand for election to the PCC.

It has been encouraging to see our worshipping community continuing to grow during 2024. Our best estimates of our worshipping community over the past 5 years are as follows:

Being on the Electoral Roll is therefore the entry point and demonstrates a formal way to participate more fully in our part of His Church as part of the “Body of Christ”.

You can, of course, be a full and active member of Holy Trinity without joining the Electoral Roll.

The numbers on our electoral roll are as follows:

follows:
APCM
2025		 APCM
2024
Resident in the parish 41 46
Not resident in the parish 46 48
Total on the Electoral Roll 87 94

Health & safety

Health and safety is a stewardship responsibility that we take seriously at Holy Trinity. Our ‘environment’ is subject to the same force of such legislation as any other. We are therefore required to ensure that we undertake the necessary risk assessments for our buildings, group activities and public events, and keep abreast of and remain compliant with all aspects of relevant legislative developments. This responsibility lies not only with designated church officers, but all of us in the congregation. This was evidenced last year, in relation to fire safety and management, where developments in statutory requirements coincided with us being reestablished within the local Fire Service inspection regime. All aspects of our activities that fall within such Health and Safety legislation will equally have to be subject to continuing evaluation, and where relevant, development. In this, we look to the congregation for support and encouragement in our on-going efforts to meet these obligations.

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Safeguarding

We are committed to looking after the wellbeing and dignity of absolutely everyone in contact with our church, whether part of our congregation, visitor, clergy or volunteer. Safeguarding is everyone’s business.

Everybody working or volunteering with our Church should understand it, even those who don’t work directly with children or adults at risk. We follow the House of Bishops guidance policies and have our own Safeguarding Officer, Helen Morgan.

Our policies for working with Children and Vulnerable Adults have been agreed by the PCC and are displayed in Church and the Bell Tower – this includes following a ‘Safer Recruitment’ process for all new volunteers working in these areas. All members of the PCC and other members of the Congregation, where applicable, have received appropriate safeguarding training and our DBS checks are up to date, The PCC has agreed lists of those members of the Congregation who are approved to work with

children and vulnerable adults.

Our website and Facebook pages continue to follow safeguarding good practice, with particularly careful consideration being given to safeguarding online. In conjunction with Durham Diocese the PCC has agreed social media good practice guidelines.

The Church of England has experienced turbulent and testing times recently and further safeguards are required. These are set out on the Diocesan Parish Dashboard Monitoring System which the Holy Trinity Safeguarding Team have up-dated. An Action Plan has been created to ensure that we are 100percent compliant as soon as possible.

We have requested, and received, advice from the Diocesan Safeguarding Officer, Beth Miller, during the year.

If you have any concerns about safeguarding please contact our safeguarding officer, Helen Morgan.

PCC membership 2024

Clergy licensed to the parish

Priest-in-charge: The Reverend James Harvey Curate: The Reverend Mary Yasini Pioneer Priest: The Reverend Steph Price

Elected or appointed lay members

Elected:

Pauline Huntley re-elected 2024 for a three year term Kath Wood re-elected 2024 for a three year term Tracy Dunn elected 2023 for a three year term Pru Farrier elected 2023 for a three year term Mary Grimes elected 2023 for a three year term Jonathan King elected 2023 for a three year term Helen Morgan elected 2023 for a three year term Chris Hawkes elected 2022 for a three year term Viv Whitham elected 2021 - retired 12[th] May 2024 Co-opted: Lis Bows Co-opted 18[th] June 2024

Ex-officio members of the PCC

Eleanor Blackburn Churchwarden - re-elected 12[th] May 2024 Stan Renwick Churchwarden - re-elected 12[th] May 2024 Robert Eden Deanery Synod representative (elected 2023 for a three year term) Caroline Stewart Deanery Synod representative (elected 2023 for a three year term)

PCC Officers

Lay Chair Eleanor Blackburn PCC Secretary Robert Eden Treasurer Caroline Stewart Minutes Secretary Tracy Dunn Safeguarding Officer Helen Morgan

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2 Corinthians 9:7: "Each one must give as he has decided in his heart, not reluctantly or under compulsion, for God loves a cheerful giver."

As a church we have set our financial target to break even every year on our normal operations. By doing so we build sustainable reserves that enable us to fund our future vision at Holy Trinity. We actively manage our finances by maintaining an ongoing conversation about regular giving, committing to a parish share amount that is affordable and focussing on our other costs to ensure that we achieve the best pricing for our large expenditure items.

The good news is that we achieved break even again in 2024 on our ‘normal’ operations (if we exclude depreciation costs and one-off major stonework repairs). After 3 years of breaking even we are now in a great position to move forward with our vision for Holy Trinity in the fortunate position of secure finances.

Where does our income come from?

As a parish, we do not receive any state funding and rely on the generous giving of our church family and visitors. We are very grateful to all those who contribute financially to our church.

Regular giving by standing order and the Parish Giving Scheme and the Gift Aid recovery on these donations continue to be backbone of our income. We have a card reader in church to enable donations by card. We now receive similar amounts by card and by cash in the collection plate on a Sunday. Donations and giving by any means are always gratefully received, but we would encourage anyone who has not already done so to take the opportunity to start giving via the Parish Giving Scheme as it eases our administration (and is easy to use by the person giving too!).

During 2024 three weddings, one renewal of vows and seven funerals were held in church – the PCC fees for these services are included in our income for the year.

In the year we received two grants totalling £1,100 grant towards the establishment of a toddler group and the fledgling youth group.

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What does it cost to run our church?

The majority of our costs relate to our Parish Share and looking after our buildings. ‘Parish Share’ is the money that we pay to the Diocese of Durham which pays for our minister’s stipend, training for lay people and clergy and supports all aspects of the mission of the Diocese. It enables us to continue to offer regular worship, in addition to baptisms, weddings and funerals, and those services which bring the community together at Christmas, Easter and Remembrance.

Our largest annual cost continues to be our Parish Share to the Diocese – and this year we honoured our guided pledge commitment of £35,500.

The church building costs are our next largest expense — utilities, security and insurance being the majority of the costs. This year we undertook some significant maintenance on the church building stonework which cost £23,500 and goes some way to ensuring that the building is in good condition.

We are part of the national Parish Buying Energy Basket which gives us the bulk buying power of thousands of churches to obtain competitive prices for our gas and electricity. Gas and electricity costs have had a rollercoaster ride over the past 3 years since the start of the Ukraine war. This year our utility costs were 10% lower than the previous year, but they are still significantly higher than before the utilities crisis. Each year we retest our insurance by receiving alternative quotes for our insurance cover which confirmed that our current provider, Trinitas Church Insurance Services, continues to be the lowest cost.

As a PCC in 2023 we decided to contribute £3,000 to St Cuthbert’s PCC towards the cost of our children & families worker post as part of our commitment to children, young people & families. This year we decided we continue this support this post by committing to £3,000 for the next 3 years.

Reserves & reserves policy

At the end of the year the PCC held total cash funds of £83,846 (2023: £103,192). Our funds are held for a variety of purposes: to ensure that we can operate as a going concern in the future; to fulfil our charitable objectives; and, to fulfil the requests made by donors of funds.

Within our PCC we have two types of funds – restricted and unrestricted funds, summarised as follows:

Restricted funds (£12,177) – these are held under trust law and so can only be used for specific purposes, as agreed with the donor. For example, money donated for the flowers in church, will be held until we purchase flowers to decorate the church. At the end of the year, we had restricted funds for flowers £243, for Walkington House £9,960, for organ repairs £1,000, for the new toddler group £500 and for the youth group £474.

Unrestricted funds – the remainder of the PCC’s funds are general, unrestricted funds which are sums that are freely available for general use towards the work of our church and our charitable mission. Of these unrestricted funds the PCC has designated money to withstand any short-term financial requirements.

Our reserves policy is to hold a minimum of 6 months operating costs (approximately £35,000) and £20,000 to pay for emergency repairs to the fabric of the buildings. These funds are held in our cash accounts and are available immediately should the need arise. Our total unrestricted cash funds at the year end of £71,169 are in excess of our minimum reserves policy requirement.

You can read more about the detail of our finances in our financial statements which are available on request.

25

Holy Trinity Church is situated on Woodland Road, Darlington, DL3 7BQ. It is part of the Diocese of Durham within the Church of England. The Parochial Church Council of the Ecclesiastical Parish of Holy Trinity, Darlington is registered charity number 1162481 with the Charities Commission for England and Wales.

Good governance is fundamental to our sustained success as a church. With it, we are best placed to deliver on our mission and achieve our objectives. It enables all our people to use their skills, along with our resources, to best effect. It helps us to ensure that we are compliant with relevant legislation and Church of England guidelines, have managed the risks we are facing, overseen our standard of operations and supported a positive culture. We review our charity governance, adhering to the Charity Governance Codes and regulations for England and Wales and Church of England guidelines.

Management of our church

The PCC, as trustees, set and agree the overall direction, strategy and culture of our church. They lead by example and support the priest-in-charge in the daily delivery of our activities. The PCC also evaluates the risks we face and ensures that we have appropriate policies and procedures in place to minimise those risks and by doing so, ensure that we meet our legal and compliance requirements as a charity.

PCC members are appointed under the rules set out in the current church governance guidelines, the Church Representation Rules. All who attend church are encouraged to register on the electoral roll and once on the electoral roll are entitled to stand for election to the PCC. With the exception of the priest-in-charge, all PCC members are volunteers. Our current PCC members are displayed on a noticeboard at the back of church and are listed on page 20.

The two churchwardens are important lay leadership roles in our church. They are elected at the APCM and serve a term of 12 months (but often stay for longer). The official rights and responsibilities of churchwardens are laid down in Church Law. The role is extremely varied and, aside from working closely with the incumbent, covers management, maintenance, and ministry. Our churchwardens are the people who look after our buildings and are the smiley people making sure that all our services run smoothly. We are very grateful for the commitment and service that our churchwardens provide. Our thanks go to Stan and Eleanor for committing to their roles and ensuring the smooth running of our church.

The standing committee of the PCC consists of 5 members of the PCC (the priest-in-charge, secretary, 2 churchwardens and treasurer). This group meets in between PCC meetings to plan the agenda for the PCC and to deal with any day-to-day concerns, emergencies or urgent business that may arise in between PCC meetings.

The PCC is supported by many other church members who volunteer their time to support our work, either individually or as part of a larger team. We would like to acknowledge and thank every one of them – their hard work makes our church the vibrant and welcoming community that it is.

26

27

HOLY TRINITY 4RLIII¢TOM Al 28

PAROCHIAL CHURCH COUNCIL OF HOLY TRINITY, DARLINGTON

Financial Statements

for the year ending 31 December 2024

PAROCHIAL CHURCH COUNCIL OF HOLY TRINITY. DARLINGTON YEAR ENDING 31$1 DECEMBER 2024 Page2 of10 Independent Examlnerfs report To the Parochial Church c￿nCil of Hoty Trinity, Darlington This report is on the accounts of the PCC for the year ended 31 December 2024 which are set out on pages 3- 10 following in respect of an exaTnination carried out in attordance wrch the Church Accounting Regulations 2fJ)6 I'the Regulations.), and sertion 145 of the Charities Art 20111.the Act'l. Respectlve responslbllltles of the trustees and examlner As members of the PCC you are responsible for the preparation of the financial statements, and you consider the audit requirement of the Regulations and section 144121 of the Act doe5 not apply. It is my resFrfJnsibility to issue a report on these accounts in accordance with the terms of the Church Accounting Regulations 2006. My examination was carried OLrt in accordance with the general directions glven by the Charity Commission under section 14515llblof the Art and to be found in the Church guidance. 2011 edition. The examination includes a review of the accounting record5 kept by the PCC and the comparison of the accounts with those records. It also includes considering any unusual items or disclosures in the financial statement5 and seeking explanations from you as trustees concerning any such matters. The procedures undertaken do not provide all the evidence that would be required in an audit, and consequently I do not express an audit opinlon on the view given by the accounts. Independent Examlnerfs Statement In connection with the examination no matter ha5 come to my attention: 111 which gives me reasonable cause to believe that in any material ￿$pert the requlrements: lal to keep accountin8 records in accordance with section 130 of the Act- and Ibl to prepare accounts In accordance with the accounting records and to comply with the requirements of the Act. as also contained in the Church Accounting re8ulations 2006 have not been met,. or 121 to which, in my opinion, attention should be drawn in order to enable a proper understanding of the account5 to be reached. David Park 38 Swaledale Avenue Darlington DL3 9AL 10 May 2025

PAROCHIAL CHURCH COUNCIL OF HOLY TRINITY. DARLINGTON YEAR ENDING 31st DECEMBER 2024 Page 3 of 10 statement of Financial Activities 2024 2024 2024 2024 2023 Unrestricted Designated Restrictgd Totsl fvrbJ• Totsl funds fvnds In¢omo from: Donab"ons and legacies In¢ome from ¢harilable Othtsr tra¢Jing ath"vrties Investments Total Incom• 21a) 21b) 21¢) 21d) 65.712 3,649 2,811 1.429 67.141 3.649 3,146 3.878 77.814 88.720 3,866 3,813 2,832 2.832 73.218 1.764 98,526 Expendlture on: Raistng funds Expe￿drtu￿ on charitth 8¢lNities Totsl ¥xp¥ndlturn 21el 2(fj 195 103.410 103,605 402 102.957 102.957 453 75.540 Ngt in¢omg 1 (9x￿ndIt￿re) T9￿ur¢￿ belor• tran•fern Transfers befv4een funds N•t mov•m•nt In lund8 {29.7391 2,832 1.116 125.7911 22,986 129.7391 2.832 (25,791} 22.986 Totsl fund• brought lon￿rd 1 Jan 218,e 58.236 11.C61 287.￿3 264,977 Total fund• c•rrf•d forw•fd 31 C¥•c 262 172 Balance sheet 2024 2023 Total fund• Totsl lund¥ Not• Flxed ag80ts Tangible a8set8 169 922 169.922 183,329 Current a•• Deblors Cash at bank and in hand 9,508 2,472 103 192 105.664 93.354 Llablllti Creditor5'. Amount8 falling thje in cth year 1,104 1,030 N•t currnnt al￿￿ 1•8• curY•nt Ilabllltl88 92.250 104,834 Total not aMet• le•• Il•blllil 262.172 287.963 Reprmented by: Unr••trl¢tsd Gènèral fund Daslgnatèd Building fund General expen89$ fvnd Piano fund Tower fund Restrfcted Flower knnd Organ fund Toddlers fvnd Walkin9ton House fijnd Youth & children fund 188.927 218,666 22,485 36.693 21,332 34,994 1,000 910 910 243 1,000 500 9,960 474 101 1.000 9.960 Funds of the ehur¢h 262.172 287,963 Approved by the Parochial Church Council on Tuesday Tr April 2025 and s￿ned on its behaff by. R8v Jamgs Haryey PCC Chairman The notes on pages 4 - 10 form part of these a￿oUnts. QM•ry

PAROCHIAL CHURCH COUNCIL OF HOLY TRINITY, DARLINGTON YEAR ENDING 31[st] DECEMBER 2024

Page 4 of 10

Notes to the Financial Statements

Note 1 - Accounting Policies

The financial statements have been prepared under the Charities Act 2011 and in accordance with the Church Accounting Regulations 2006 governing the individual accounts of PCCs together with the applicable accounting standards, FRS102 (2016) and the 2016 version of the Statement of Recommended Practice, Accounting and Reporting by Charities (SORP(FRS102)).

The financial statements have been prepared on an accruals basis under the historical cost convention. The financial statements include all transactions, assets and liabilities for which the PCC is responsible in law. They do not include the accounts of church groups that owe their main affiliation to another body, nor those that are informal gatherings of church members. The activities of Holy Trinity Youth Centre are not included in the accounts of the PCC as it is a separately registered charity.

Funds

Restricted funds represent donations or grants received for a specific object or invited by the PCC for a specific object. The funds may only be expended on the specific object for which they were given. Any balance remaining unspent at the end of each year must be carried forward as a balance on that fund. The PCC does not usually invest separately for each fund. Where there is no separate investment, interest is apportioned to the individual funds on an average balances basis.

Unrestricted funds are general funds which can be used for PCC ordinary purposes.

Designated funds are general funds set aside by the PCC for use in the future. Designated funds remain unrestricted and can be moved to other general funds if the PCC so decides. The PCC has designated general funds for the purpose of building repairs, funds to cover approximately 6 months church running expenses, and funds to purchase a new electric piano for the music group.

Incoming resources

Planned giving, collections and donations are recognised when received. Tax refunds are recognised when the incoming resource to which they relate is received. Grants and legacies are accounted for when the PCC is legally entitled to the amounts due. All other income is recognised when it is receivable. All incoming resources are accounted for gross.

Resources expended

Grants and donations are accounted for when paid over, or when awarded, if that award creates a binding or constructive obligation on the PCC. The diocesan parish share is accounted for when due. Amounts received specifically for mission are dealt with as restricted funds. All other expenditure is generally recognised when it is incurred and is accounted for gross.

Fixed assets

Consecrated and benefice property is not included in the accounts in accordance with sections 10(2)(a) of the Charities Act 2011.

Movable church furnishings held by the vicar and churchwardens on special trust for the PCC and which require a faculty for disposal are inalienable property, listed in the church's inventory. For anything acquired prior to 2000 there is insufficient cost information available and therefore such assets are not valued in the financial statements. Subsequently no individual item has cost more than £1,000 so all such expenditure has been written off when incurred.

Freehold land and buildings comprise of the hall at Walkington House, Vane Terrace and the Youth Centre on Pierremont Road.

PAROCHIAL CHURCH COUNCIL OF HOLY TRINITY, DARLINGTON YEAR ENDING 31[st] DECEMBER 2024

Page 5 of 10

Note 1 – Accounting Policies (continued)

Walkington House was constructed by the PCC in the garden of 12 Vane Terrace (the house at 12 Vane Terrace was gifted to the parish in the 1960s and sold in 2013). No cost information was available for the property and the brought forward carrying value is the PCC's estimate of current market value of similar property in the local area. No depreciation is provided on Walkington House as the currently estimated residual value of Walkington House derives mainly from the value of the freehold land which would not depreciate. Any resulting depreciation from an estimate of the building value is viewed to be immaterial.

The Youth Centre on Pierremont Road was constructed in 1974. The land and building are property of the PCC. The centre is operated by the Holy Trinity Youth Centre Management Committee (charity number 507430). No cost information is available for the property and no value is attributed to it in the accounts.

Fixtures, fittings and equipment used within the church & hall premises are depreciated on a straight-line basis over the useful economic life of the assets (ranging from 4 - 20 years). Individual items of equipment with a purchase price of £1,000 or less are written of when the asset is acquired.

Note 2 - Analysis of income and expenditure

2024
2024
2024
2024
2023
Unrestricted
Designated
Restricted
Total
Total
£
£
£
£
£
2(a) Income from donations and legacies
Planned giving – Gift Aid
Planned giving - other
Loose plate collections
Donations appeals etc – Gift Aid
Donations appeals etc – other
Tax recoverable on Gift Aid
Legacies (see note 8)
Grants (see note 9)
Other funds generated
Total		 35,774
-
-
35,774
36,414
4,730
-
-
4,730
4,617
6,774
-
-
6,774
5,451
1,664
-
-
1,664
9,182
5,380
-
329
5,709
3,158
11,390
-
-
11,390
11,399
-
-
-
-
1,000
-
-
1,100
1,100
17,499
-
-
-
-
-
65,712
-
1,429
67,141
88,720
2(b) Income from charitable activities
PCC fees for weddings and funerals
Assigned fees for weddings and funerals
Parish magazine sales
Total		 2,409
-
-
2,409
2,545
1,240
-
-
1,240
1,321
-
-
-
-
-
3,649
-
-
3,649
3,866
2(c) Income from other trading activities
Walkington House lettings
Fundraising events
Other fundraising
Total		 2,200
-
-
2,200
2,400
611
-
335
946
1,400
-
-
-
-
13
2,811
-
335
3,146
3,813
2(d) Income from investments
Bank and building society interest
Total		 1,046
2,832
-
3,878
2,127
1,046
2,832
-
3,878
2,127
INCOME TOTAL 73,218
2,832
1,764
77,814
98,526

PAROCHIAL CHURCH COUNCIL OF HOLY TRINITY, DARLINGTON YEAR ENDING 31[st] DECEMBER 2024

Page 6 of 10

Note 2 - Analysis of income and expenditure (continued)

----- Start of picture text -----
2024 2024 2024 2024 2023
Unrestricted Designated Restricted Total Total
£ £ £ £ £
2(e) Expenditure on raising funds
Costs of stewardship campaign - - - - -
Costs of fundraising events - - 195 195 402
Total - - 195 195 402
2(f) Expenditure on charitable activities
(i) Parish share / Deanery share 35,622 - - 35,622 35,235
(ii) Clergy & staffing costs
Contribution towards children & family 3,000 - - 3,000 3,000
worker
Verger, organist & bell fees 448 - - 448 953
Clergy fees 62 - - 62 -
Working expenses of incumbent 239 - - 239 250
Parsonage – water & phone 1,276 - - 1,276 911
Parish training and mission 1,233 - - 1,233 1,477
Youth & childrens activities 536 - 266 802 595
6,794 - 266 7,060 7,186
(iii) Church running costs
Insurance 4,975 - - 4,975 4,533
Depreciation 12,595 - - 12,595 7,638
Electricity, gas & water 7,504 - - 7,504 8,366
Church maintenance 242 - - 242 1,097
Security 1,453 - - 1,453 1,345
Cleaning 1,808 - - 1,808 63
Service costs 1,228 - 187 1,415 1,322
Church equipment 440 - - 440 234
Administration 471 - - 471 1,302
Printing & stationery 2,172 - - 2,172 1,521
Bank charges 53 - - 53 90
32,941 - 187 33,128 27,511
(iv) Church major repairs
- - -
Church major repairs 23,540 23,540
23,540 - - 23,540 -
(v) Charitable giving (see note 10)
Home mission 1,050 - - 1,050 1,200
Secular charities 600 - - 600 500
Relief and development agencies - - - - 300
Missionary societies 500 - - 500 262
2,150 - - 2,150 2,262
(vi) Walkington House running costs
Electricity, gas & water 874 - - 874 783
Insurance 223 - - 223 210
Repairs & maintenance - - - - -
Cleaning - - - - -
Depreciation 813 - - 813 1,951
1,910 - - 1,910 2,944
Total 102,957 - 453 103,410 75,138
EXPENDITURE TOTAL 102,957 - 648 103,605 75,540
TOTAL NET INCOME / (EXPENDITURE) (29,739) 2,832 1,116 (25,791) 22,986
----- End of picture text -----

PAROCHIAL CHURCH COUNCIL OF HOLY TRINITY, DARLINGTON YEAR ENDING 31[st] DECEMBER 2024

Page 7 of 10

Note 3 Fixed assets for use by the PCC

2024
2024
2024
2024
2023
Unrestricted
Designated
Restricted
Total
Total
£
£
£
£
£
Fixed assets - Tangible assets
(net book value)
Church servery
Church heating system
Church roof alarm
Church notice board
Church carpets
Church chairs
Church photocopier
Church AV system
Walkington House building
Walkington House windows
Walkington House kitchen
Holy Trinity Youth Centre
Total		 22,127
-
-
22,127
24,138
17,413
-
-
17,413
19,545
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
36
913
-
-
913
1,235
1,848
-
-
1,848
2,352
378
-
-
378
702
27,243
-
-
27,243
34,508
100,000
-
-
100,000
100,000
-
-
-
-
262
-
-
-
-
551
-
-
-
-
-
169,922
-
-
169,922
183,329

Changes in fixed asset values during the year are summarized as follows:

Holy Trinity Walkington Walkington Church Total
Youth House House fixtures,
Centre fixtures, fittings &
fittings & equipment
equipment
Gross book value 1 January 2024 - 100,000 22,832 139,745 262,577
Additions (see below) - - - - -
Disposals - - - - -
Gross book value 31 December 2024 - 100,000 22,832 139,745 262,577
Depreciation 1 January 2024 - - 22,019 57,229 79,248
Disposals - - 0 0 0
Charge for the year - - 813 12,595 13,408
Depreciation 31 December 2024 - - 22,832 69,824 92,656
Net book value 1 January 2024 - 100,000 813 82,516 183,329
Net book value 31 December 2024 - 100,000 - 69,922 169,922

PAROCHIAL CHURCH COUNCIL OF HOLY TRINITY, DARLINGTON YEAR ENDING 31[st] DECEMBER 2024

Page 8 of 10

Note 4 Current assets - Debtors

2024
2024
2024
2024
2023
Unrestricted
Designated
Restricted
Total
Total
£
£
£
£
£
Tax recoverable on Gift Aid donations
VAT recovereable under LPWGS
Prepayments & other amounts receivable
Totals		 4,631
-
-
4,631
2,472
4,708
-
-
4,708
-
169
-
-
169
-
9,508
-
-
9,508
2,472

Note 5 Current assets – Cash at bank and in hand

2024 2024 2024 2024 2023
Unrestricted Designated Restricted Total Total
£ £ £ £ £
Current assets - Cash at bank and in hand
Barclays current account (10,883) 4,899 12,434 6,450 19,814
Darlington Credit Union deposit account 15,533 - - 15,533 15,266
CCLA (CBF) deposit accounts 5,452 56,168 - 61,620 68,011
Cash in hand - Flower funds - - 243 243 101
Total 10,102 61,067 12,677 83,846 103,192

Note 6 Current liabilities – creditors falling due in less than one year

2024
2024
2024
2024
2023
Unrestricted
Designated
Restricted
Total
Total
£
£
£
£
£
Current liabilities – creditors due < 1 year
Other invoices relating to the year
Wedding deposits
Total
604
-
-
604
530
-
-
500
500
500
604
-
500
1,104
1,030

Note 7 Fund movement by type

2024
Opening
£
2024
Incoming
£
2024
Outgoing
£
2024
Transfers
£
2024
Closing
£
Totaled by fund type
Building fund (Designated)
Church running expense fund (Designated)
Flower fund (Restricted)
Organ fund (Restricted)
Piano purchase fund (Designated)
Toddler Group (Restricted)
Tower Fund (Designated)
Walkington House Fund (Restricted)
Youth & Childrens Work Fund (Restricted)
General fund (Unrestricted)
Total funds
Totaled by fund status
Unrestricted funds
Designated funds
Restricted funds
Total funds		 21,332
1,133
-
-
22,465
34,994
1,699
-
-
36,693
101
329
(188)
-
243
1,000
-
-
-
1,000
1,000
-
-
-
1,000
-
500
-
-
500
910
-
-
-
910
9,960
-
-
-
9,960
-
935
(461)
474
218,666
73,218
(102,956)
-
188,927
287,963
77,814
(103,605)
-
262,172
218,666
73,218
(102,956)
-
188,927
58,236
2,832
-
-
61,068
11,061
1,764
(649)
-
12,177
287,963
77,814
(103,605)
-
262,172

PAROCHIAL CHURCH COUNCIL OF HOLY TRINITY, DARLINGTON YEAR ENDING 31[st] DECEMBER 2024

Page 9 of 10

Note 8 Legacies

The PCC received legacies from the estates of the following persons during the current and prior years:

2024
2024
2024
2024
2023
Unrestricted
Designated
Restricted
Total
Total
£
£
£
£
£
Legacies received
Maryan Boxell
Total		 -
-
-
-
1,000
-
-
-
-
1,000

Legacy in 2023 of £1,000 for the organ received from the estate of the late Mrs Maryan Boxell who served as a churchwarden.

Note 9 Grants received

2024
2024
2024
2024
2023
Unrestricted
Designated
Restricted
Total
Total
£
£
£
£
£
Grants received
DDBF mission grant – youth group
DDBF mission grant – toddler group
National Lottery Community Fund
DDBF energy grant
Benefact Trust grant re AV project
DDBF grant re AV project
Thomas Metcalfe Barron Fund
Total		 -
-
600
600
-
-
-
500
500
-
-
-
-
-
9,960
-
-
-
-
2,139
-
-
-
-
2,300
-
-
-
-
3,100
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
1,100
1,100
17,499

In 2024 the PCC received two micro-grants from the Diocesan Board of Finance for energizing growth through mission and evangelism. The grants are to support the costs of the youth group and the toddler group.

During 2023 the PCC, working with the Tees Valley Community Asset Preservation Trust, was awarded £9,960 from the National Lottery Community Fund “Awards for All” grant scheme for capital funding to bring Walkington House hall back into use as a community centre. Work has not yet commenced on Walkington House. In the event that the works are not undertaken, the monies will be repayable to the National Lottery Community Fund.

As part of the National Church funding allocation, the PCC was awarded an Energy Support Grant of £2,139 from Durham Diocese to support parishes facing increased energy costs in the winter of 2022/23.

We sought grant funding to support our Audio Visual project and were successful in receiving awards from Durham Diocese Board of Finance £3,100 and Benefact Trust £2,300.

The PCC has in the past received an annual grant allocation from the Thomas Metcalfe Barron Community First Fund. The grant conditions are that the funds are to be used to support activities linked to the festive season for the benefit of the elderly of the parish. There were no distributions from the fund in 2024 or 2023.

PAROCHIAL CHURCH COUNCIL OF HOLY TRINITY, DARLINGTON YEAR ENDING 31[st] DECEMBER 2024

Page 10 of 10

Note 10 Charitable and other giving

The following charitable giving payments were made during the year:

2024
2024
2024
2023
Unrestricted
Restricted
Total
Total
£
£
£
£
A Rocha UK
CAP (Christians Against Poverty)
Christmas Journey (St Matthew & St Luke’s)
Churches Together
Kings Church Foodbank
ROC (Redeeming Our Communities)
St Teresa’s Hospice
Tearfund (including Tap & Toilet Twinning)
Total		 -
-
-
100
500
-
500
500
50
-
50
50
-
-
-
50
500
-
500
500
100
-
100
-
500
-
500
500
500
-
500
562
2,150
-
2,150
2,262

The PCC selected two local charities and one overseas charity to support over the coming year - Kings Church Foodbank, CAP, St Teresa’s Hospice and Tearfund. By championing these charities, we hope to increase our understanding of their work as well as increasing our support for them.

We continue to support for the Kings Church food bank by collecting food and cash donations in church on behalf of the food bank. All food and donations collected in the boxes in church are given directly to the foodbank and do not form part of the PCC accounts.

Note 11 Agency Payments

The PCC receives funds on behalf of other organisations (for example charity collections and diocesan statutory fees for weddings and funerals) which are then paid to the relevant organisations. These ‘agency’ receipts and payments are administered through the PCC bank account but do not form part of the activity of the PCC and are not included in the preceding accounts in this report.

During the year the PCC administered the following agency payments:

2024
2023
£
£
Durham Diocese statutory fees for weddings and funerals
Retired clergy fees for weddings and funerals
The Children's Society from the Christingle service collection
Royal British Legion from the Remembrance Day service collection
Cancer research from funeral collections
Mothers’ Union from funeral collection
St Teresa’s Hospice from funeral collection and light up a life service
Tear Fund from harvest collection
UK-Med Earthquake appeal
Family Help Charity from funeral collection
Total		 2,078
1,348
495
579
568
583
150
407
560
496
400
-
92
-
-
688
-
272
-
154
4,343
4,527

PARCCHIAL C+4URCH COUNCIL ( HOLY TRINtTY, DARLINGTON YEAR ENDING 31 OECEMBER 2024 P•p20110 Independent Ex•mln•rfs repxt To the Parochlal Church Cwndl of HotrTrfnlty, Oarfhwton Th15 repNI Is on the accounts ofthe PCC for the year ended 31° December 2024 whth ore set out on pages 3- 10 following in respect of an examinatKn carried out in accordance with the Churrh Accountin8 Re8ulatknns 2CQ6 {'the Regulaiions'l. and sectlon 14S of the Charits Act 20111'the Att'l. R•sP•rtiv• rq5pon5ibifrti•5 afth• tnfjtW5 and wmihpr As memters of the PCC you are responslble for the preparation ol the financlal 5tatement5, and you tonsiderthe audtt requiremeni of the Regulations and sertion 144121 of the Art does not app￿. It Is my resF<nslbillty to issue a report on these accounts In accordance wrth the terms of the Church Accountlng Regulatlons 20C6. My examination was carried out in accordance wRh the Beneral directlons 8lven by the Cha￿ty Commission under section 14515Mb)of the kt and to be lound in the Church guidance. 2011 edtknon. The examinailon Indudes a revlew of the accountin8 ￿CordS kept by the PCC and comparison of ihe actounts with ihctse records. rt also includes n5idering any unusual iteffls or disclosures in the financial ststements and 5eekin8 explanatlons from you 35 trustees concernin4 any $uch matters. The procedureg undertaken flo noi provSde all the ￿￿dence that would be reouired in an audit, ar)d consequently I do not express an a￿lIt oplnlon on the view 8lven by the accoun Indepertdert Ex•mlnerfsStaiement In conneciion wlih the examlnation no matter has come to my attentlon.. 111 which gfves me reason•ble cause to believe that in any materal respe<t the requirements: lal to keep actountin8 record5 In attordante wtth Sect￿￿ 130 of Act; and {bl to prepare accounts In accofdance with ihe accounting records and to COMP￿ wllh the requlremenis of the Act. as also contaSned Sn the Church AccountlnB re8Ulat￿n5 2(KJ6 have not l*en meL' or 121 lo whlch, In my opinlon. attentk¥n should be drawn in orderto en31￿e a proper understsrKJing of the accounts to be feached. David Park 38 Swaledale A¥enue DarlinEton DL3 9AL IO" Mav 2025