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2021-12-31-accounts

St Luke’s with St Augustine’s, New Catton Annual Parochial Church Meeting for 2021

Including the Trustees' Report and Financial Statement for 2021

for the Parochial Church Council of St Luke’s with St Augustine’s, New Catton.

Registered Charity number 1162755

The Annual Parochial Church Meeting will be held on Monday 28 March 2022 at St Luke’s Church Centre at 7:30pm.

If you are on the Electoral Roll please try and come. Please take some time to read through this report before the meeting.

This report consists of the

● Trustees’ Report I.Reference and Administrative Details page 2 II.Structure, Governance and Management page 4 III.Aims and Purposes page 8 IV.Objectives and activities page 8 V.Incumbent’s Report page 9 VI.Parish Activities page 10 VII.St Augustine’s Activities page 11 VIII.St Luke’s Activities page 13 ● Financial Statement page 22 ● Agenda for the APCM page ● Minutes of the 2020 APCM page

St Luke’s with St Augustine’s, New Catton Report of the Trustees for the year ending 31 December 2021

Page 1

Trustees’ Report for the Year ending 31 December 2021.

The Trustees present their report with the financial statements of the charity for the year ended 31 December 2021.

I. Reference and Administrative information

Church Addresses

St Luke’s Church 61, Aylsham Road Norwich NR3 2HF

St Augustine’s Church Hall Gildencroft, Norwich NR3 1DS

Membership of the PCC (April 2021-April 2022)
Name Church Role
Term ends at APCM in
Simon Stokes
 Both Team Rector Ex offico
Graham Kirk-Spriggs
 Both Team Vicar Ex offico
Carrie Sant
 St Augustine’s Parish warden 2022
DeanerySynod Rep 2023
Frances Cooke
 St Luke’s Parish warden 2022
Karen Wimhurst
 St Luke’s PCC Secretary 2022
Howard Green
 St Augustine’s PCC Treasurer 2023
NickyBurr
 St Luke’s Deanery Synod Rep 2023
VACANCY
 St Luke’s Deanery Synod Rep
Dot Lenton
 St Augustine’s Elected Lay Rep 2022
JudyReynolds
 St Augustine’s Elected Lay Rep 2022
Elwira Zwolinska
 St Augustine’s Elected Lay Rep 2025
Jean Easton
 St Luke’s Elected Lay Rep 2022
John Nicholas
 St Luke’s Elected LayRep 2025
Martin Smith
 St Luke’s Elected LayRep 2022
Simon Snell
 St Luke’s Elected LayRep 2022
Martin Wimhurst
 St Luke’s Elected Lay Rep 2025
Parish wardens 2
Elected Members 10
DeanerySynod Reps 2(+ 1 vacancy)
Diocesan Synod Rep 0
Ex Officio 2
Co-opted 0
Total possible PCC
17 Actual PCC Membership: 16
membership

St Luke’s with St Augustine’s, New Catton Report of the Trustees for the year ending 31 December 2021

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Membership of the District Church Councils

St Augustine’s DCC
Name Role Term Ends
Simon Stokes Team Rector Ex offico
Graham Kirk-Spriggs Team Vicar Ex offico
Carrie Sant Parish Warden 2022
DeanerySynod 2023
Howard Green Elected LayRep 2023
DCC Treasurer
PSO Vulnerable Adults
Phil Kerrison Elected LayRep 2023
Dot Lenton Elected LayRep 2022
PSO Children & YoungPeople
Tim Lenton Elected LayRep 2022
JudyReynolds Elected LayRep 2022
Matthew Williams Elected LayRep 2023
Elwira Zwolinska Elected LayRep 2024
VACANCY
VACANCY
St Luke’s DCC
Name Role Term Ends
Simon Stokes Team Rector Ex offico
Graham Kirk-Spriggs Team Vicar Ex offico
Frances Cooke Parish Warden 2022
PSO 2023
Karen Wimhurst Elected LayRep 2022
DCC Secretary
Martin Wimhurst Elected LayRep 2025
DCC Treasurer
NickyBurr DeanerySynod Rep 2023
Jean Easton Elected LayRep 2022
John Nicholas Elected LayRep 2025
Sam Pittam-Smith Elected LayRep 2022
Simon Snell Elected LayRep 2022
Martin Smith Elected LayRep 2022
VACANCY Elected LayRep
VACANCY Elected LayRep

Appointed by the PCC

Electoral Roll Officer: Mark Smith Safeguarding: Frances Cooke (St Luke’s: Children and Adults at Risk) Howard Green (St Augustine’s: Adults at Risk) Dot Lenton (St Augustine’s: Children) Independent Examiner: John Brydon Parish Bookkeeper: Deborah Jennings until August 2021; currently Shani Fernando.

St Luke’s with St Augustine’s, New Catton Report of the Trustees for the year ending 31 December 2021

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Our Banks

Barclays plc (St Luke’s current and deposit accounts) TSB (St Augustine’s current account) CBF Church of England deposit account (CCLA) (St Luke’s) Norwich Credit Union (St Luke’s loan guarantee fund).

II. Structure, Governance and Management

On 20[th] September 2021, a Pastoral Scheme was made by the Church Commissioners in pursuance of the Mission and Pastoral Measure 2011, the Right Reverend Graham, Bishop of Norwich, having consented thereto.

The benefice of Sprowston with Beeston Saint Andrew, the benefice of Christ Church, New Catton, the benefice of Norwich, Saint Mary Magdalene with Saint James and the benefice of Saint Luke with Saint Augustine, New Catton in the diocese of Norwich shall be united to create a new benefice which shall be named "The Benefice of Sprowston and North Norwich Team Ministry", and the area of the new benefice shall comprise the parish of Sprowston with Beeston Saint Andrew, the parish of Christ Church, New Catton, the parish of Norwich, Saint Mary Magdalene with Saint James and the parish of Saint Luke with Saint Augustine, New Catton, which parishes shall continue distinct.

Structure

The PCC is a charity registered with the Charity Commission; Registered Charity number 1162755.

It is listed in the Charity Commission Register as the Parochial Church Council of the Ecclesiastical Parish of St Luke’s with St Augustine’s, New Catton.

The PCC is a corporate body established by the Church of England. It operates under the Parochial Church Council Powers Measure.

The PCC is chaired by the team vicar. It is the decision-making body of the Parish and is accountable to the Diocese.

The PCC is responsible for making decisions on all matters of general concern and importance to the parish including deciding on how the funds of the PCC are to be spent. The full PCC met three times during the year.

Each Church has its own DCC, which is responsible and accountable to the PCC for the day-to-day operation of its church. Each DCC is chaired by the team vicar.

We pay a bookkeeper to serve St Augustine’s DCC and to prepare the end of year accounts for the PCC, a hall bookings manager for St Augustine’s, and cleaners for both churches. These are employed as contractors.

The PCC Quorum is 5 (1/3 of lay representation under current Parish scheme) which includes the team vicar and at least one member of each DCC.

St Luke’s with St Augustine’s, New Catton Report of the Trustees for the year ending 31 December 2021

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The Parish Wardens and the team vicar meet each month to plan and review the month ahead.

Appointment of PCC/DCC Members

The method of appointment of PCC members is set out in the Church Representation Rules and governed by a parish scheme which was last revised in 2018 and ratified by Bishop’s Council on 23[rd] May 2019.

All those who attend our services / members of the congregation are encouraged to register on the Electoral Roll and are then eligible to stand for election to the PCC after a 6-month period. Vacancies are advertised in each church.

Meetings

The team vicar chairs the PCC and DCCs. In the case of a vacancy, this role is performed by the churchwardens.

The PCC normally meets four times each year.

Each DCC normally meets four times each year. Additional meetings can be called by the Parish Wardens or the team vicar.

Period of Service

Parish Wardens are elected annually. All other members are elected for a three-year period. Members can stand for re-election at the end of their period of service. PCC Reps are elected annually from their DCC.

Payments to PCC Members

The incumbent receives a stipend from the Church of England and reasonable out of pocket expenses and is ex-officio chair of the PCC and the two DCCs. No other members receive any payments except for reimbursement of out-of-pocket church related expenses.

PCC Sub-Committees

Safeguarding Standing Committee

In addition, St Luke’s DCC also has a Fabric Committee.

Public Benefit

Any member of the public may take part in Church of England activities and services. The PCC also provides, promotes or facilitates services available to groups of people including children and young people, people on low incomes, the elderly, refugees, the homeless, people with mental health issues, ethnic minority groups and others in need or considered vulnerable.

The pandemic has made engagement with schools difficult. The incumbent has met with Ms Moody the headteacher at Angel Road Infant School and was asked to say a few words at their annual outdoor carol service.

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Due to the problems with Angel Road Junior School, both schools have been merged together and assemblies have not been possible.

The structure of the Church of England focuses each PCC on a specific geographical area, the ecclesiastical parish. Religious services, which are open to all, take place in the parish churches and buildings, or by agreement in other local facilities.

Within the parish, the church seeks to serve the whole community. However, not all funds will necessarily be spent on projects within the parish, as we seek to support the mission of the whole church, so may, for example, develop links with a community in another area or country. St Augustine’s for example supports charity work in Uganda.

St Luke’s gives 5% of its annual income to charities.

Risk Management

The Trustees have a duty to identify and review the risks to which the charity is exposed and to ensure appropriate controls are in place to provide reasonable assurance against fraud and error. All Barclays accounts require two signatories for making payments to external accounts by cheque or online.

The major risks to which the PCC is exposed are reviewed regularly. These include:

Operational risk management activities such as hazard management and prevention, the protection of children and vulnerable adults, insurance and local risk assessments are delegated to the DCCs. DCCS are charged with having appropriate systems and processes in place, with appropriate review intervals, to manage those risks.

Safeguarding

The following policy was agreed at the Parochial Church Council (PCC) meeting held on 21 September 2021.

In accordance with the Church of England Safeguarding Policy our two churches are committed to:

St Luke’s with St Augustine’s, New Catton Report of the Trustees for the year ending 31 December 2021

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The Parish will:

Each person who works within this church community will agree to abide by and have due regard[1] for this policy and the guidelines established by this church. The Safeguarding Officers are:

St Luke’s: Frances Cooke St Augustine’s: Dot Lenton (Children) Howard Green (Vulnerable Adults) Health and Safety: Parish Wardens Insurance, Alarms and Fire Protection:

Treasurer and Parish Wardens.

1 What does ‘due regard’ mean? Where legislation – whether an Act of Parliament or a Church Measure – imposes a duty on a person to “have due regard” to guidance of this sort, the law understands that duty in a particular way. The legal duty to have due regard means that the person to whom the guidance is directed is not free to follow the guidance or not as he or she chooses. As a matter of law, the guidance should be given great weight and must be followed unless there are ‘cogent reasons’ for not doing so (see below). What is meant by ‘cogent reasons’? ‘Cogent reasons’ are reasons that are clear, logical and convincing. It will be very rare indeed for there to be cogent reasons for not following House of Bishops guidance on safeguarding. Cogent reasons are likely to arise only where the guidance does not contemplate a particular, unusual situation arising so that it becomes necessary to take a different approach from that set out in the guidance in order to meet the particular circumstances of the case. When would ‘cogent reasons’ be applied? A person who is required to have due regard to the guidance should not simply take it on him- or her-self to decide that there are cogent reasons for departing from the guidance. Such a decision should be taken – if at all – only after case-specific advice has been obtained from both the diocesan safeguarding adviser and the diocesan registrar.

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III. Aims and Purposes

The Parochial Church Council (PCC) of New Catton: St Luke with St Augustine has the responsibility of cooperating with the team vicar in promoting in the ecclesiastical parish, the whole mission of the Church, pastoral, evangelistic, social and ecumenical.

The PCC is also specifically responsible for the maintenance of St Luke’s Church Centre, 61 Aylsham Road and St Augustine’s Hall, The Gildencroft, Norwich, but delegates this to the respective DCC.

The 2015 Parish statement states that “we are a diverse and inclusive community that values compassion and personal transformation through Jesus Christ.”

IV. 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 both churches. 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, we have considered the Commission’s guidance on public benefit and the supplementary guidance on charities for the advancement of religion. We try to enable people to live out their faith as part of our parish community through:

To facilitate this work, it is important that we maintain the fabric of the buildings mentioned above.

Worship and Prayer

The PCC is keen to offer a range of services during the week and over the course of the year that our community may find both beneficial and spiritually fulfilling. We offer alternating services of Holy Communion and Morning Worship on a Sunday.

As a result of the pandemic, a number of different measures were implemented which affected worship. Singing was not permitted in churches and the use of the Common Cup was suspended on 10[th] March 2020, which meant that the congregations could only receive Communion in one kind, with only the priest receiving both bread and wine. We also had to introduce social distancing in church and the wearing of face coverings.

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Currently both congregations worship in their buildings, with St Luke’s continuing to offer online access to the service using the St Luke’s Facebook page.

All are welcome to attend our regular services. The average weekly in-person attendance, counted during October, was 47 (18 at St Augustine’s and 29 at St Luke’s), although we did have additional people joining the service at St Luke’s via Facebook. Again, as last year, we know that there are several people who would normally attend church who did not feel able to do so - either because of their own health concerns or because of those they look after. Christmas attendance was low: both at Midnight Mass at St Augustine’s and Christmas Day at St Luke’s due to Covid and Omicron spike. However, Carol Service at St Luke’s and Beer and Carols at the Artichoke Pub were well-attended.

As well as our regular services, we enable our community to celebrate and thank God at the milestones of the journey through life. Through baptism we thank God for the gift of life; in marriage public vows are exchanged with God’s blessing; and through funeral services friends and family express their grief and give thanks for the life which is now complete in this world and commend the person into God's keeping.

This year we have celebrated 0 Baptisms, 1 Wedding and 4 Funerals.

V. Incumbent’s Report

“I thank my God every time I remember you. In all my prayers for all of you, I always pray with joy because of your partnership in the gospel from the first day until now, being confident of this, that he who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus.” (Philippians 1.3-6)

When chroniclers record 2021, I wonder what they will say? These past two years have been incredibly difficult for all of us. We’ve been living in a strange time, the likes of which hasn’t existed within living memory.

Yet, the passage above describes exactly how I feel. I feel very fortunate to be ministering in two very different, but loving communities. The fact that we have managed to get through this year together, with one another is an achievement. We have been with one another, we have prayed for each other, looked after each other, really that is what church is for.

I was overjoyed when I began this post in June to be serving in such an interesting and dynamic part of Norwich, a City I love. I have found the first few months stressful, but everyone has made me feel very welcome, and I feel very well supported.

My sincere hope is that we build on what happened in 2021 and increase our loving service to our community in 2022. That we would not be afraid to take risks, and that with the hope we have within ourselves, and the help of the Holy Spirit, break ground into the new pastures where God is leading us.

St Luke’s with St Augustine’s, New Catton Report of the Trustees for the year ending 31 December 2021

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Rev. Graham Kirk-Spriggs

Let’s continue to go forward as partners and friends in the Gospel.

VI. Parish Activities

a) Electoral Roll Report

This year’s roll has been an update and there has been 1 name removed and 4 names added. My thanks to Fran, Carrie and Graham for their help with this year’s electoral roll and these are the figures I have when the roll closed on Sunday 14th March 2022.

There are currently 43 people on the roll at St Luke’s church. This figure compares to 41 in March of 2020. We very sadly lost one member Mary Fuller during the year, and our thoughts and prayers go out to her family and close friends.

St Augustine’s Church currently has 20 people on the electoral roll, which is 1 more than last years roll.

This gives a total parish figure for both churches for this year’s electoral roll of 63 people, compared to 60 in 2021.

Mark Smith Electoral Roll Officer

b) Deanery Synod

The Deanery Synod met four times in 2021 including the annual Ascension Day communion in May, and an extraordinary meeting in July to elect new representatives to the Diocesan Synod.

In February, the Synod shared ideas and resources for Lent and Easter, including those that could be used digitally. A report of the Diocesan environmental working group was presented, with actions being taken at a Deanery level shared including St Luke’s accreditation as a ‘bronze’ level Eco church.

The November meeting was Revd Canon Simon Stokes last meeting as Rural Dean. He was presented with a card and a cheque as a token of thanks. Revd Margaret McPhee was also announced as his successor. Revd Stokes outlined the structure of the new Sprowston and North Norwich team ministry, and then a presentation was given by Iain Turner of the Norwich Foodbank about the new Pathfinder project they are embarking on with the Trussell Trust. The project aims to develop and implement a new strategic plan to help reduce the need for their services. Churches in the deanery are encouraged to partner with the foodbank on the initiative.

Deanery synod representatives for the parish are currently Nicky Burr and Carrie Sant.

Nicky Burr

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c) Summary of our Finance Report

See the St. Augustine’s report (VII c) and St Luke’s report (VIII e) below and the Finance report.

VII. St Augustine’s Reports

a) St Augustine Warden’s report

This has been a challenging year as church warden, with lots of changes to manage! Moving to a team ministry has been much helped by meeting with church wardens from the other churches on a regular basis and I have really enjoyed doing this.

Trying to steer a median path through ever changing Covid regulations was less pleasurable, but the gift of our new team vicar Graham has been a wonderful encouragement.

We have managed several special events in spite of Covid and have kept a continuity of contact with the local community. Our medieval fair, complete with medieval encampment in the church yard, a medieval service and medieval kitchen, was a lot of fun.

We have enjoyed several other community events. We had a course exploring spirituality lead by Debbie, a Halloween party, a Christmas carols cafe and our midnight service in the old church.

Most recently, we have seen quite a number of new faces and have started opening the hall on a Thursday morning, "St Augustine's Open House" for coffee, crafts, chat, bible study, depending on what people fancy doing. This group has grown to about ten people in just a few weeks.

I have been wonderfully supported in my role by Judy as assistant church warden, by Tim doing rotas, by all those who lead worship, by Matt, Howard and Phil with maintenance matters, by the ever-faithful Robert who looks after us all setting up, clearing up, cutting grass raking leaves disposing of rubbish etc etc. He is amazing: we are so blessed to have him with us.

I step down from this role now and leave the job in the hands of Judy and all those who I know will support her as they have supported me.

Carrie Sant

b) District Church Council (DCC)

Our DCC meetings have been crisply chaired and always enhanced with generous hospitality from the hosts in the various places we have met. They are characterised by an ability to get business done because of the large proportion of congregation in the meeting. Thanks are due to everyone for their time and deliberations and especially Revd. Graham Kirk-Spriggs for so carefully and skilfully blending leadership with listening as he started his relationship with us this year; and to Carrie for her indefatigable work as Churchwarden, both in the interregnum and supporting Graham in his early months with us.

The truth is our meetings have sometime been uncharacteristically hard on some occasions. The range of perspectives on COVID-19 has proven to be very wide and the views on how best

St Luke’s with St Augustine’s, New Catton Report of the Trustees for the year ending 31 December 2021

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to respond to it deeply felt. This has been hard for many of us and we are looking forward with hope to these issues looming less large in our meetings.

In 2021 we met in January, March, June, October, and December.

We have maintained disciplined coverage of our key governance areas by maintaining standing items for every agenda: Finance, Safeguarding and the Church Hall Fabric. The main purpose of our meetings, however, is to enrich our spiritual and communal life and to respond to the opportunities that present us to serve those we encounter.

Howard Green

c) Finance

The administration of our finances this year have been quite turbulent. After quite a long period during which we were not sure whether our bookkeeper was the right person for us, we finally agreed to part the ways at the end of August 2021. At the time we had high hopes of being able to transfer the bookkeeping to a firm of accountants. Unfortunately, this didn’t materialise as planned and Howard Green took over as Acting Bookkeeper for the congregation, ‘learned the ropes’, and has documented the whole process so that it will be much quicker to manage handovers in future. At the time of writing, Howard is mentoring someone known to the congregation, who came to England as a refugee, and she and we hope that she will be able to take over the role in the coming months. Our finances are sound, and we continue as a congregation to place the highest priority on paying all of our Parish Share.

Howard Green

d) St Augustine’s Hall Booking Manager’s Report

In common with most buildings for hire, St Augustine's Hall had a much-depleted income during lock downs and restrictions during the last year. However, with the careful attention of our bookings manager Stuart and as people gradually regaining the confidence to resume social activities, our bookings are picking up again with both old and new hirers.

Carrie Sant

e) Worship on a Sunday

Worship at St Augustine’s was disrupted by Covid in various ways. Different configurations of chairs and Communion table were tried; masks were worn on occasion; some social distancing was effected; and open door and windows were tried to increase ventilation. This, together with the inability to take Holy Communion normally, made the congregation unsettled and changed the atmosphere in the church, which had for very many years been relaxed, informal and accepting. It was therefore remarkable that worship continued relatively smoothly and, for most people, satisfyingly.

The music group changed in character during Covid restrictions, as mentioned last time. There was a tendency to opt for more traditional hymns and the use of a capella and other singing for, rather than with, the congregation.

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The group now consists of Dot Lenton, worship leader, violin and vocals; Tim Lenton, guitar and vocals; Phil Kerrison, guitar; Anna Green, violin and vocals; Matt Williams, piano and vocals; Martin Wyatt, violin, piano and vocals. Additional help comes from Howard Green and Carrie Sant.

Halfway through the year we welcomed the Rev Graham Kirk-Spriggs as our vicar, and he has been enthusiastic in encouraging us to continue in the form of worship which has been long established.

Tim Lenton

f) Norwich Christian Meditation Centre

Our plans for the International Speaker Programme have been on hold because of the restrictions of the pandemic. We are reaching the time where we need to give consideration to reviving this aspect of our church offering.

Howard Green

VIII. St Luke’s Reports

a) St Luke’s Warden’s Report

Last year Mel started her report with ‘What a year 2020 has been!’ I think one could say the same for 2021! The global pandemic was still very much around at the beginning of the 2021 and continues to be so well into 2022, influencing many of our decisions around church activities.

One of the highlights of the year amidst the pandemic was welcoming our new vicar the Right Reverend Graham Kirk-Spriggs when he was licensed on June 29th 2021. It has been a real pleasure for us all to get to know him and to support him in his vocation.

As restrictions have been easing, we have been more cautious during Sunday services maintaining social distancing and the use of face masks, recording those who attend church for track and trace, encouraging people to test before services and not serving tea and coffee. This was in the interests of protecting our most vulnerable and hopefully has given a bit of reassurance to those who wished to attend services but may have been apprehensive.

We continue to live-stream our services thanks to our tech-savvy team which has offered the opportunity for those who have been having to isolate to continue to worship.

We had an eased phase of reopening to hirers in terms of the use of kitchen facilities but now hirers have full use of St Luke’s and we have noticed an increase of interest in hiring the building, which is promising in terms of the community using St Luke’s and being aware of the versatility of the building.

During the pandemic we started a monthly online prayer group to pray for our parish and our church community. This was in response to people’s suggestions for more prayer from a church questionnaire in the previous year. This has continued to be online and has had a really positive response.

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An online Lent course took place organised and led by Simon Snell and others.

Graham renamed the social committee the Ministry of Fun group with the intention of ensuring the C of E is never boring! We wanted to offer monthly activities for parishioners and the community to have time to socialise, have fun and enjoy fellowship. A few of us got together to organise the events ranging from meals to Ceilidhs. Whilst we may have been slightly over ambitious a new wave of COVID was impeding social gatherings. We hope to roll out the Ministry of Fun events next year but they may be in a slightly less ambitious form!

Safeguarding continues to be a priority in St Luke’s and St Augustine’s – we ensure it is at the top of the agenda for each DCC and PCC meeting. Graham and myself meet bi-annually with Dot and Howard from St. Augustine’s to discuss our Safeguarding agenda and any issues arising.

I’m really looking forward to this year and have a bit of a clearer idea of what to expect as churchwarden! Thank you to all the wonderful members of St Luke’s whose love and support for each other is a real testament to God’s love for each and every one of us.

Frances Cooke

b) District Church Council

The DCC is the decision-making body of St. Luke’s and as such meets regularly to discuss mainly the business side of church life. The DCC has delegated some decisions to a dedicated sub-committee, the Fabric Committee, which reports and advises on the maintenance and improvements required for our building; the most expensive requirements must be approved at DCC meetings. At every meeting finance and safeguarding are included on the agenda.

In February the DCC discussed the improvement to the slope, working with the YMCA, church survey, team ministry, inclusive church, prayer and Easter services.

In March, the slope had been completed, interviews were about to take place and the role of the DCC was discussed. All were pleased that Tony Barton had agreed to be Bookings Manager and that it was decided to open the church to meet in person on Pentecost Sunday. Things Covid were improving!

In June, the licencing service for our new vicar, a sermon series on inclusivity, housegroups, re-establishment of the social committee, opening for hirers were all considered and looked forward to.

July’s meeting was all about Covid and regulations. In September all previous items continued to be discussed with additional discussion on the Luncheon Club. Christmas was the additional item in December.

Thanks to all PCC/DCC members for their love and care for St Luke’s: the building itself as well as the community, both those worshipping and all those in the parish.

Karen Wimhurst

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c) Church Hire

We re- opened to hirers on 1st May 2021, hoping that as many as possible of our regulars would return when they felt comfortable about meeting again face to face. In the event, only English Plus have not come back. The DCC imposed some special conditions of hire during the pandemic but these have been readily accepted by hirers.

The big leap forward we have had since our last report has been the development of an online booking system, which has greatly helped hirers and myself as the bookings co-ordinator. I took on this role in succession to Phil Gazley. People can now visit the website and make a provisional booking and I then check to see if we can accept it. If we have availability and the volunteers to open and close the building, it’s generally ok.

As I’ve grown into the job, we’ve seen a rise in the number of enquiries with people keen to get back to some normality again.

Simon was responsible for developing the new system and my thanks go to him.

My thanks are also due as ever to our tireless caretaker, Barry, who looks after most of the Monday to Thursday hire. I am also indebted to our small team of people who help Friday to Sunday. The number of enquiries for Saturday hire has recently been growing and, following a recent DCC meeting, a new plan has been agreed to help spread the burden on those opening and closing on that day.

Tony Barton, Bookings Coordinator

d) The Fabric Committee

Following on from the challenges of 2020 we began 2021 in a state of lockdown for the first 3 months of the year which has again slowed down progress on building projects. Unfortunately we have been struggling to progress the kitchen refurbishment project with issues finding a suitable contractor. We are now contacting the Diocese for further advice.

Martin successfully worked with Norse in ensuring that the worship area floor was repaired following damage caused whilst the space was being used as a polling station. During the summer we had a working party to tidy up the outside areas and decorate the metal railings to the ramp and function room stairwell. Martin as ever has continued to work behind the scenes with contractors to ensure that the building is taken care of and safe to use. And thanks again to Robert Haslam for caring for the front garden.

Work undertaken in 2021

Plans for 2022

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John Nicholas, Martin Wimhurst and Simon Snell – Fabric Committee

e) St Luke's Finance Report for 2021

During 2021 our planned giving broadly kept on track and ended the year at £26,123. A claim for £7,212 was made late in 2021 to HMRC for the Gift Aid Reclaim, however monies were not received until the 1st week of 2022. Hall Hire increased by nearly 50% on the 2020 income and income for hire ended the year at £7,480 – this is encouraging as it means that the vast majority of Hirers were coming back to us. The only exception is that of English+ who decided it was not safe enough to hold they sessions in the Church bearing in mind they have over 100 attendees.

Fortunately our Parish Share stayed the same in 2021 as it was for 2020 – being £34,212. Regretfully as income from Hall Hire was not yet back to pre-Covid levels, we were not able to pay the full amount to the Diocese and ended the year paying £19,957 However we have made a subsequent payment in 2022 bringing the final contributions to the 2021 Share to £25,657.

Gas and Electric costs have unfortunately increased to £5,298 and of course this will rise further during 2022.

Most of our reserves are held with Barclays Bank, the closing balance at year end in our Community Account (general fund usage) was £24,545 - this includes £1,761 for Mission Giving / £3,896 for Luncheon Club / £6,455 for Kitchen Refurbishment / £1,200 for IT Equipment and £8,285 for Fabric Fund.

We also hold an amount of £1,791 in the Business Premium Account with regards to the dividend interest being earned on the Miss Pratt shares. These shares are held in the Church of England Investment Fund, and at year end were valued at £8,782.

Finally I wish to say a big thank you for all the financial support you have given to St Luke’s over the past year, despite some testing times for us all.

Martin Wimhurst

f) Worship at St Luke’s in 2021

2021 saw another national lock down, with our worship services going back to Zoom again. Happily, we returned to meeting in person on Pentecost Sunday which was a joyful occasion.

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We introduced a song at the end of our services sung outside with the warmer weather. As the Covid risk continued to subside, we introduced congregational singing back into the services, although with face coverings to reduce the risk of spreading Covid.

We have continued broadcasting services via Facebook. We also held a successful Lent Course in 2021 which was well attended.

A number of new songs have been introduced brought by Graham and members of the worship team which have helped to broaden our expression of our worship.

Finally, a big thank you once again to those operating the sound desk, Facebook live (via the Mevo) and projector - Andrew, Liz, Martin, Steve, and Karen, and those preparing and leading the sung worship, Phil, Nicky, Clarice, Graham, Martin S and Simon.

Simon Snell

g) Lunch Club

St Luke’s Luncheon Club has been a huge part of the ministry of St Luke’s for a very long time. I would like to thank, on behalf of all of us Mary and Roy Hansell for their years of work and tireless dedication to the Lunch Club, and for those who have down the years volunteered and given their time and effort to it.

Due to the Covid Pandemic the lunch club stopped running as gathering so many vulnerable people together was rightly seen as unsafe. It also coincided with Roy and Mary’s decision to take a step back from running the lunch club.

There have also been issues raised over the Health and Safety aspects of holding it in the Function Room as there is only one fire exit. You must climb a flight of stairs in order to leave the building by it. Many of our guests would not be able to do so.

Due to the above, it was decided that we would make enquiries to see if the YMCA would be willing to host the lunch club in their building; they have indicated they would.

There are still issues that need to be ironed out such as ‘Safeguarding Responsibilities’ and at some point this year we will have an AGM of the Lunch Club to make decisions on what the remaining funds will be used for.

My proposal is that £1000 goes to the YMCA to buy furniture for the ‘Garden Room’ where Lunch Club will be held, and the rest to go to the Kitchen fund.

I have been in contact with various volunteers, but we would welcome more help, especially from the congregation to keep that link.

Rev. Graham Kirk-Spriggs

Future Developments

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Financial Statement for 2021

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Agenda for the Annual Parochial Church Meeting for 2021

Meeting to be held on 28 March 2022 at 7.30pm St Luke’s Church Centre

Only those on the new church Electoral Roll are allowed to comment or vote.

1. Apologies for Absence

2. Minutes of last year’s APCM

a.

b.

Questions arising from Formal Reports

Trustees Report. i. Parish Activities ii. St Luke’s Activities iii. St Augustine’s Activities Financial report :

If you have any questions on the enclosed accounts, which have been Independently Examined and accepted by the PCC, that you would like our Treasurer to answer then, where possible, please submit the question to the Treasurer 72 hours before the meeting so as he can give an informed reply to you at the meeting.

  1. Elections and Appointments as below

a.

a b.

Elect Members for the PCC and DCCs (Nomination Forms are available in both churches) Appoint an independent Auditor/Examiner

5. Setting the Date for next year’s APCM

  1. Any other Business – to be notified to Karen Wimhurst, the PCC Secretary before the start of the meeting

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PARISH OF ST LUKE’S WITH ST AUGUSTINE’S NEW CATTON

ANNUAL PAROCHIAL CHURCH MEETING 2021

The Meeting of the Parishioners and the Annual Church Meeting were held at St Luke’s Church on Monday 10 May 2021. The Rev Canon Simon Stokes, Rural Dean, presided. 25 people were present.

Carrie Sant opened the meeting with a prayer and a reading Luke 6: 27-38.

Meeting of Parishioners

Melissa and Carrie were thanked for all the work done over the last year. The Chair noted it is tough call when the parish goes into interregnum and for both, it was the second time. Melissa thanked all for support and encouragement especially during the interregnum.

Carrie Sant was proposed and nominated for another year of office. Frances Cooke was proposed and nominated.

Unanimously approved and agreed.

Concluded with a prayer of blessing.

Annual Church Meeting

1. Apologies

Apologies were received from 6 people: Trevor, Marlene and Andrew Windscheffel, Phil and Caren Gazley and Liz Jones.

2. Acceptance of: Minutes of 2020 Annual Meeting

Proposed by Tony Barton, seconded by John Nicholas. Accepted and approved unanimously.

3. Questions arising from Formal Reports a. Trustees report

No questions on the Trustees report.

One amendment:

Martin Wimhurst asked for a correction to the St Luke’s Finance report under the parish activities section of the Trustee’s Report. The following statement: ‘We also hold an amount of £1,567 in the Business Premium Account with regards to the interest being earned on the Miss Pratt shares’ should read ‘We also hold an amount of £1,567 in the Business Premium Account with regards to the dividend interest being earned on the Miss Pratt shares’.

b. Financial Statement

Howard Green as PCC treasurer was sorry to report this report had not been completed in time for this meeting. Howard explained there had been issues with the software, communications, bookkeeper, payments and evidence. He thanked Martin Wimhurst for getting the accounts thus far.

Next year a new bookkeeper would be required. He asked for suggestions and help in finding someone.

The chair advised that this is not the only parish in the deanery with such issues and although frustrating, it can happen from time to time. Howard was thanked for what he had done.

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Proposal: approval of the accounts be delegated to the next PCC – Carrie proposed, Melissa seconded, all in favour.

4. Elections and Appointments

Appointment of Independent Examiner of Accounts

Nik Vitkovitch had kindly agreed to an extra year as independent examiner for which we were extremely grateful.

Proposal :appointment to be delegated to the PCC – Simon Snell proposed, Howard seconded, all in favour.

Election of new members of the DCCs

Voting not required as places available exceeded nominations received.

St Augustine’s

Elwira Zwolinska, nominated by Carrie Sant and Howard Green.

St Luke’s

Martin Wimhurst, nominated by Melissa Snell and Tony Barton.

John Nicholas, nominated by Melissa Snell and Tony Barton.

Election of Deanery Synod Representatives

Nicky Burr was re-elected as St Luke’s representative and Carrie Sant for St Augustine’s.

Nominated position of Assistant Wardens: noted not an elected position.

Simon Snell was nominated for St Luke’s and Judy Reynolds for St Augustine’s.

Appointment of treasurers

Howard Green agreed to continue as PCC treasurer and St Augustine’s treasurer and Martin Wimhurst for St Luke’s.

Appointment of Parish Secretary

Karen Wimhurst agreed to continue in the role.

5. Date for the APCM 2022

The meeting for next year will be 28[th] March 2022.

6. Changes in our Parish

The Chair offered to explain more about the Mission and Pastoral Measure that is in process to form a new Benefice.

Leadership in the Benefice:

Team Vicars will be appointed responsible for ministry in the area, holding incumbent status but not the incumbent.

Simon Stokes will be the Team Rector – to encourage, supervise and cover ministry across the parishes, looking to support existing congregations and growing them as well as the parish.

1 team vicar in Sprowston, 1 at St Mary Magdalene, 1 at St Luke’s and St Augustine’s with a pioneer team vicar in our vicarage. Christchurch is looking to appoint a non-stipendary minister to work alongside Danny Doran-Smith (curate/pioneer)

The team is emerging and may look different to what we set it out to be. No congregation to feel overlooked but loved and encouraged.

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Simon offered a chance to ask questions or be contacted later.

Sam Pittam-Smith:

Support for outreach in the community – would this support come from Graham or the Pioneer?

Jill Dyer:

Is Pioneer Ministry outreach?

Mark Smith:

Will there be an expectation to pay more because of these changes? Realise churches are paying as much as they can

Tony Barton:

Will St Catherine’s be working with us?

Decision was made not to be part of the team Hopeful we will work together in the future.

Howard Green:

What would you like from us to give Simon Stokes buoyancy?

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Steve Burnham:

Where does Mary Magdalene fit in?

Each parish will retain their own autonomy

Simon is hoping to work with the parishes, possibly visiting once a month. He is excited about the appointment of Graham, noting the massive step from curate to incumbent will be helped by being part of a team. Graham’s licencing will take place on 29[th] June with a service here.

On 27 June, a curate will be joining the team – Blessing Chisanu – very much an appointment of God, will bring energy and diversity to the team.

Tony Barton:

Asked about Deanery Synod

Melissa ended the meeting with a vote of thanks for Simon for chairing the meeting and answering lots of questions. She closed the meeting with prayer.

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