## The PCC of the Ecclesiastical Parish of Heworth York
Report and Accounts Year ended 31 December 2023
1 Lamb's Passage, London EC1Y 8AB www.stewardship.org.uk
## **THE PCC OF THE ECCLESIASTICAL PARISH OF HEWORTH YORK**
## **LEGAL & ADMINISTRATIVE DETAILS**
## **FOR THE YEAR ENDED 31 DECEMBER 2023**
ADDRESS FOR CORRESPONDENCE Heworth Vicarage Melrosegate York YO31 0RP GOVERNING DOCUMENTS PCC Powers Measure 1956 and the Church Representation Rules 2011 CHARITY REGISTRATION NUMBER 1167059 MEMBERS OF THE PCC _Ex Officio members:_ Michael Perkins (incumbent) Rachel Poulton (appointed May 2024) (church warden) Edith Mansfield _Elected members_ Sarah Barwick (appointed May 2023, resigned September 2024) Martin Bloomfield Zoe Buckingham (now Uney) Ruth Carter-Smye (appointed May 2023) Judith Gill Matthew Jenkins (appointed May 2023) Jeremy Muldowney (until August 2024) Nigel Poulton (appointed May 2023) Sheila Robson Alys Tarr (appointed May 2023) Sue Waller BANKERS HSBC UK Bank plc CCLA Investment Management Limited INDEPENDENT EXAMINER Jaimée Young Stewardship 1 Lamb's Passage LONDON EC1Y 8AB **INDEX** Page 1 Legal & Administrative Details Pages 2-3 Trustees' Report Page 4 Independent Examiner's Report Page 5 Receipts and Payments Account Page 6 Statement of Assets & Liabilities Pages 7-8 Notes to the Accounts Appendix APCM report
Page 1
## **THE PCC OF THE ECCLESIASTICAL PARISH OF HEWORTH YORK**
## **REPORT OF THE PAROCHIAL CHURCH COUNCIL**
## **FOR THE YEAR ENDED 31 DECEMBER 2023**
## **Objects of the charity**
The charity is responsible for co-operating with the incumbent, in promoting in the ecclesiastical parish, the whole mission of the Church be it pastoral, evangelistic, social or ecumenical. The PCC is also responsible for maintaining certain church property situated within the parish, namely Holy Trinity church building and the Church Hall.
## **Summary of the charity's main activities and achievements**
_See appendix for APCM report._
In planning the activities the PCC has applied the guidance on public benefit issued by the Charity Commission.
## **Financial review**
During the year income increased by £14,050, to £198,720, and expenditure increased by £29,400, to £82,230. As a result the cash held by the charity increased by £116,490, to £276,120, of which all is unrestricted and can be used for any charitable purpose.
## **Reserves policy**
The PCC has determined that the charity should aim to hold unrestricted cash of no less than £20,000 (which equates to about 3 months of unrestricted operating costs) so that the charity could continue to operate should income and / or expenditure vary adversely. At the year end, the charity held unrestricted cash of £276,120 with £74,800 being designated for employment costs. The charity is holding additional funds for the purpose of repairs and maintenance expected as a result of the quinquennial report in 2024.
## **Governance**
The charity is registered with the Charity Commission and operates under the Charities Act 2011. The governing documents for the charity are the Parochial Church Councils (Powers) Measure 1956 (as amended) and the Church Representation Rules 2011.
The appointment of PCC members is governed by, and set out in, the Church Representation Rules. The PCC comprises ex-officio members (which includes clergy and churchwardens), elected members and co-opted members. The PCC organises elections annually before the Annual Parochial Church Meeting (APCM) to fill vacancies. The members of the PCC are the charity's trustees for the purposes of charity law.
Responsibility for setting policy and for making operating decisions rests with the PCC which meets regularly to monitor the activities of the charity. Responsibility for the day to day operation of the charity has been delegated to a management team led by the incumbent.
Page 2
## **Other matters**
With regard to the PCC’s obligations to safeguard children and vulnerable adults, the members of the PCC confirm that they have complied with their duties under section 5 of the Safeguarding and Clergy Discipline Measure 2016.
The PCC offered £24,000 as Parish Share for the year to 31 December 2023 and this was paid in full.
The last quinquennial inspection was held after the year end, in March 2024; the PCC have determined that some immediate work is required; this is expected to cost £56,000.
## **Responsibilities of trustees**
Charity law requires the PCC to prepare financial statements for each accounting year which record the receipts and payments of the charity for the year.
The PCC is responsible for keeping proper accounting records which disclose with reasonable accuracy at any time the financial position of the charity and enable us to ensure that the financial statements comply with the Charities Act 2011.
We also have a responsibility to safeguard the assets of the charity and to take reasonable steps to prevent fraud or any other irregularities.
## **Approval**
This report was approved by the trustees and signed on their behalf by:
## MPerkins
_____________________________________________ MPerkins (Mar 25, 2025 09:33 GMT) Michael Perkins
Mar 25, 2025 Date: ________________
Page 3
## **INDEPENDENT EXAMINER'S REPORT**
## **TO THE TRUSTEES OF**
## **THE PCC OF THE ECCLESIASTICAL PARISH OF HEWORTH YORK**
I report to the trustees on my examination of the accounts of The PCC of the Ecclesiastical Parish of Heworth York ('the charity') for the year ended 31 December 2023 on pages 5 to 8 following.
## **Responsibilities and basis of report**
As the trustees of the charity, the members of the PCC are responsible for the preparation of the accounts in accordance with the requirements of the Charities Act 2011 ('the 2011 Act’).
I report in respect of my examination of the charity’s accounts carried out under section 145 of the Act and in carrying out my examination I have followed all the applicable Directions given by the Charity Commission under section 145(5)(b) of the 2011 Act.
## **Independent examiner’s statement**
I have completed my examination. I confirm that no material matters have come to my attention in connection with the examination giving me cause to believe that in any material respect:
1. accounting records were not kept in accordance with section 130 of the 2011 Act; or
2. the accounts do not accord with the accounting records.
I have no concerns and have come across no other matters in connection with the examination to which attention should be drawn in order to enable a proper understanding of the accounts to be reached.
J. Young J. Young (Mar 25, 2025 15:25 GMT)
Jaimée Young
Stewardship 1 Lamb's Passage LONDON EC1Y 8AB
Date: Mar 25, 2025
Page 4
## **THE PCC OF THE ECCLESIASTICAL PARISH OF HEWORTH YORK**
## **RECEIPTS AND PAYMENTS ACCOUNT**
## **FOR THE YEAR ENDED 31 DECEMBER 2023**
|Notes
**_Income receipts_**
Donations
Gift aid receipts
Legacies
Fundraising
Other grants
Fees for services (e.g., weddings, funerals)
Income from letting of facilities
Investment income
Other
**_Total receipts_**
**Payments**
Church activities
Parish share
Clergy and staffing costs
2(a)
2(b)
3
4
**_Total payments_**
Transfers between funds
7
**Net movement in funds**
Cash funds as at last year end
**Cash funds at this year end**
A
Net of receipts / (payments) before transfers
Mission giving and donations
Church running expenses
Fundraising expenses|General
Designated
Funds
Funds
£
£
51,347
-
11,425
-
1,025
-
822
-
120,000
-
4,027
-
8,342
-
1,694
-
40
-
198,722
-
24,328
-
2,879
4,169
44,259
-
271
-
6,226
-
77,963
4,169
120,759
(4,169)
3,439
(3,480)
124,198
(7,649)
77,096
82,480
201,294
74,831
Unrestricted Funds|Restricted
Funds
£
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
100
-
-
100
(100)
41
(59)
59
-|Total
2023
£
51,347
11,425
1,025
822
120,000
4,027
8,342
1,694
40
198,722
24,328
7,049
44,359
271
6,226
82,233
116,490
-
116,490
159,635
276,125|Total
2022
£|
|---|---|---|---|---|
|||||34,584
2,965
231
1,069
132,000
4,909
7,025
613
1,277|
|||||184,672|
|||||18,000
1,501
30,155
-
3,178|
|||||52,834|
|||||131,838
-|
|||||131,838
27,797|
|||||159,635|
The notes on pages 7 - 8 form part of these accounts.
Page 5
## **THE PCC OF THE ECCLESIASTICAL PARISH OF HEWORTH YORK**
## **STATEMENT OF ASSETS AND LIABILITIES**
## **AS AT THE YEAR ENDED 31 DECEMBER 2023**
|||Unrestricted|Funds|||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
|||General|Designated||Restricted|Total|Total|
|||funds|funds||funds|2023|2022|
|||£||£|£|£|£|
|**A**|**Cash funds**|||||||
||Cash at bank with immediate access|120,689|74,831||-|195,519|80,271|
||Notice deposits|80,605||-|-|80,605|79,364|
|||**201,294**|**74,831**||**-**|**276,125**|**159,635**|
|**B**|**Other monetary assets**|||||||
||Gift aid due to charity|5,912||-|-|5,912|6,256|
|||**5,912**||**-**|**-**|**5,912**|**6,256**|
|**C**|**Liabilities**|||||||
||**Falling due within one year**|||||||
||Fee for Independent Examination|1,680||-|-|1,680|1,200|
||Accrued expenses|-||-|-|-|711|
|||**1,680**||**-**|**-**|**1,680**|**1,911**|
## **D Assets retained for charity's own use**
Current values of equipment have not been estimated by the members of the PCC because reliable valuations are not available (and disclosure is not mandatory).
Consecrated property, beneficed property and moveable church furnishings which require a special faculty for disposal are in any case excluded from the list of charity assets.
## **E Investment assets**
|**estment assets**||||
|---|---|---|---|
|CBF Church of England Investment Fund|Fund to
which asset
belongs
Unrestricted|Bid market
Value
2023
£
16,540
16,540|Bid market
Value
2022
£|
||||15,174|
||||15,174|
The accounts were approved by the trustees and signed on their behalf by:
## MPerkins
MPerkins (Mar 25, 2025 09:33 GMT) ___________________________________Michael Perkins Date: ______________ Mar 25, 2025
The notes on pages 7 - 8 form part of these accounts.
Page 6
## **THE PCC OF THE ECCLESIASTICAL PARISH OF HEWORTH YORK**
## **NOTES TO THE ACCOUNTS**
## **FOR THE YEAR ENDED 31 DECEMBER 2023**
## **1 Accounting policies**
The accounts have been prepared on a receipts and payments basis and comprise a statement that shows the charity's receipts and payments, a statement that summarises the charity's assets and liabilities and related notes. The accountancy profession have determined that only accounts prepared in accordance with applicable accounting standards present a 'true and fair' view and, as these receipts and payments accounts have not (and cannot) be prepared in accordance with accounting standards, these accounts do not present (and are not intended to present) a 'true and fair' view of the charity's financial activities and state of affairs.
General funds are unrestricted funds which are available for use at the discretion of the PCC in furtherance of the general objectives of the charity. Designated funds comprise unrestricted funds that have been set aside by the PCC for particular purposes. Restricted funds are donations which are to be used in accordance with specific restrictions imposed by donors; they include donations received from appeals for specific activities or projects.
|**2**
**a)**
**Clergy and staffing costs**
Cost of payroll
Running costs for clergy accommodation
Clergy expenses
Cost of training||Unrestrict|Designated
funds
£
4,169
-
-
-
4,169
ed Funds|Restricted
Funds
£
-
-
-
-
-|Total
2023
£
4,169
241
2,110
529
7,049|Total
2022
£|
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
|||General
funds
£
-
241
2,110
529
2,879|||||
|||||||-
563
363
575|
|||||||1,501|
Michael Perkins (who is a clergy member of the PCC) received a stipend from the Diocese; however it should be noted that some of the Parish share is used to help pay the stipends. He was provided with accommodation (which is customary for clergy) and incurred expenses whilst serving as clergy and these costs are also disclosed in the above note.
|**b)**
**Church running costs**
Repairs, maintenance and equipment
Utilities
Insurance
Church activities and ministries
Other legal and professional fees
Administration and support
Other|17,320
14,728
4,554
2,321
1,103
4,194
39
44,259|-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-|100
-
-
-
-
-
-
100|17,420
14,728
4,554
2,321
1,103
4,194
39
44,359|13,439
6,189
4,364
766
1,747
3,649
-|
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
||||||30,155|
- **3 Fundraising expenses**
|**draising expenses**||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
|Costs of fetes & other events|271
271|-
-|-
-|271
271|-|
||||||-|
- **4 Mission giving and donations**
Organisations: Restore York Ltd Organisations < £1,000
|800
5,426
6,226|-
-
-|-
-
-|800
5,426
6,226|1,200
1,978|
|---|---|---|---|---|
|||||3,178|
Page 7
## **THE PCC OF THE ECCLESIASTICAL PARISH OF HEWORTH YORK**
## **NOTES TO THE ACCOUNTS**
## **FOR THE YEAR ENDED 31 DECEMBER 2023**
## **5 Transactions with related parties**
Edith Mansfield and Jeremy Muldowney occasionally served as vergers for funerals and were paid £205 and £70 [2022: £65 and £50] respectively for serving in that capacity, not for serving as trustees; these payments are permitted by the charity's governing document. The spouse of trustee Michael Perkins was paid £2,628 [2022: nil] for her role as Youth & Children's worker.
## **6 Acting as agent**
On occasion the charity receives money on behalf of other charities, which it banks and then pays out to these charities. This income is received as agent for these other charities and the income, and the related payments, are excluded from the Receipts and Payments account; any money that has not been distributed by the year end is recognised as a creditor and excluded from the bank figure.
During the year the charity acted as agent for charities as a result of funeral collections and, in that capacity received and paid out £1,790 [2022: £417].
## **7 Movement on designated, restricted and endowment funds**
|**ement on designated, restricted and endowment funds**||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
|General funds
Designated funds
Employment costs
Holy Trinity Share Fund
Restricted funds
Holy Trinity Church and Clock Fund
Total funds|Opening
balance
£
77,096
79,000
3,480
82,480
59
59
159,635|Receipts
£
198,722
-
-
-
-
-
198,722|Payments
£
(77,963)
(4,169)
-
(4,169)
(100)
(100)
(82,233)|Transfers
£
3,439
-
(3,480)
(3,480)
41
41
-|Closing
balance
£
201,294
74,831
-|
||||||74,831|
||||||-|
||||||-|
|||||||
||||||276,125|
Page 8
## HOLY TRINITY CHURCH, HEWORTH
## ANNUAL PAROCHIAL CHURCH MEETING
Photo courtesy of Kieran Delaney Visuals
12TH MAY 2024
## WHAT'S BEEN HAPPENING
**----- Start of picture text -----**
pn
**----- End of picture text -----**
## **1** VICAR'S REPORT
**2** SERVICES & DISCIPLESHIP
**3** MISSION & OUTREACH **4** WARDEN'S REPORT
**5** DEANERY SYNOD
**6** ECO CHURCH
**7** FINANCE &
TECH
## **8** WORSHIP
**8** CHILDREN, YOUTH & FAMILIES
**9** SAFEGUARDING
## VICAR'S REPORT
Welcome to the review of the year for 2023! This was another wonderful year in the life of our church with much to be thankful to God for.
In January, at the beginning of the year, we were still running HT Hub and trying to sort through the enormous amount of clothes, toys and other items that we had received in our role as one of the donation points for Refugee Action York’s response to refugees coming to the city.
In March we finally got our new projector installed, which preceded the computer moving to the back of the building and then the streaming of our services on youtube.
We celebrated the King’s Coronation in May and in July we had a week of outreach and social action as we sought to ‘Love Heworth’ together, culminating in our Summer Fair where we were joined by Warren Furman and his inflatables which were a huge hit with the children and young people!
September saw Dave Kelsall leave us to start his training for ordination, along with Beth and Josh and of course December brought with it numerous opportunities to celebrate the coming of Jesus into the world, including this year a performance from Riding Lights of their Christmas show ‘Give it Back Mak!’.
## And that’s just some of the highlights!
It’s been a real joy to see our wonderful church stepping into our vision to ‘Love Jesus and Love Heworth’ as we seek to serve our community and reach people with the love of God.
As you read through the reports ahead my hope is that you will give thanks for what God has done amongst us and be excited for all He still has in store!
As always, thank you all for all the many ways in which you serve our community.
## God bless,
Mike
## SERVICES & DISCIPLESHIP (PART 1)
We have a regular 10am service in church on a Sunday, a monthly midweek Communion Service and our Eccumenical Service, which has grown from simply joining with the Methodists, to encompass many of the churches in the area, including St Hilda’s, St Thomas’s Osbaldwick, Christchurch, St Aelred’s Catholic Church and Heworth Methodists. See more about this partnership in the mission and outreach report.
Our Sunday services have grown in number and in depth over the course of 2023 and we have looked at topics such as Discipleship, the Fruits and Gifts of the Holy Spirit, Unsung Biblical Heroes, the Book of Romans and Isaiah’s prophecies concerning the coming of Christ. It has been wonderful to delve into these topics and to journey together as a church as we seek to know God better and deepen our relationship with Him through studying His word.
It has also been exciting to have managed to not only (finally!) install the new projector, but also live-stream our services on Youtube, for those who are unable to join us in person - I know my Mum is a regular viewer! Thanks must go to Dave for his initial hard work in setting this up for us and also to Martin B for all he does in setting up the streams and troubleshooting any problems that arise.
Trinity Praise is our monthly all-age service, and it is always a joy to worship with the whole church family in a way that hopefully everyone can engage with. The team work really hard on these services, pulling together crafts, activities, games and scripts as well as the normal things our services include like prayers, talks and sung worship so I want to take this opportunity to thank them especially.
## SERVICES & DISCIPLESHIP (PART 2)
We enjoyed welcoming Bishop John in January as we celebrated Ellie and Beth being confirmed - a morning to remember...and not just because that was the day the heating decided not to work!
Our homegroups have continued to meet this year, broadly following the themes of our services. These are wonderful opportunities to gather together and not only study the bible, but worship and pray together as we support and celebrate with one another and get to know people much better than we might be able to do on a Sunday. We currently have two groups running, one on a Tuesday evening at the Vicarage and the other on a Wednesday morning led by Emily, Glynis and Zoe. Dave and Beth led a group until they left us in October and although no one was able to take this group on and host it themselves, we are hopeful that we might be able to restart this group in the near future.
We often talk in church about how important prayer is to us as Christians and as a way of speaking to God and deepening our relationship with Him and our Monthly prayer meeting is a real joy to attend. We spend time hearing and giving thanks for the good things that God has done, as well as praying for our world, our church and each other. These gatherings are often fairly small, usually 10-12 in number, but I always leave them feeling uplifted and thankful.
I would like to finish this report by extending my thanks to all those who serve in making our Sunday Services happen and in leading, hosting or providing snacks for our homegroups. Thank you!
Mike
## MISSION & OUTREACH (PART 1)
2023 was a good year at Holy Trinity for mission and outreach! We have continued to increase our giving to the Diocese and have continued in our commitment to our six mission partners - CMS (Church Mission Society), Tearfund, Home for Good, Trussell Trust, YOYO and Restore York. We hope to hear more from our mission partners over the next few months in our services, but we are pleased to know that our donations are well received and put to good use, building God’s Kingdom in different ways. We also collected a harvest offering which went to York FoodBank and Carecent.
In addition to supporting our mission partners, we also sought to live out our vision of ‘Serving Jesus and Serving Heworth’ by reaching out into our local community. By interacting with our local Primary Schools - Tang Hall and Heworth - going in regularly for collective worship (assemblies), leading R.S lessons and leading services at Christmas, Easter, Harvest and Remembrance, as well as leavers services at the end of the year. We also reach out to families in our local area through our toddler group and seasonal messy-church style drop-ins - all of which were busier and more popular than the last! (See Emma’s report on Children and Youth for more details)
We didn’t manage to run a ‘seekers’ course (e.g. Alpha) this year, but it is my hope that with Rachel’s help we might be able to run something in the new academic year to give people an opportunity to learn more about Christianity and what it means to be a follower of Jesus.
We also hosted a Coronation Celebration, as we streamed the live service of the King’s Coronation and welcomed people into the church building for cakes, community and crowns!
We entered into both the scarecrow and Advent trails this year in the community, which is always lovely to be involved with, with our thanks to Sue and Chelsea for the Advent candles!.
## MISSION & OUTREACH (PART 2)
We have also tried to make the most of opportunities throughout the year. In January we finished sorting over one hundred and twenty boxes of clothes and other donations for Refugee Action York and in March our Warm Space - HT Hub - came to an end with the team having offered a space for those struggling with the cost of living crisis since October. In May we hosted a Coronation viewing party and then in July we held our first ever ‘Love Heworth’ week of social action and outreach, finishing with our fantastic Summer Fair (more about that below). In October, it was wonderful to work with the other churches from the East of York group to provide a Harvest Lunch for those in need and of course Christmas was full of services, events and of course our Christmas Fair.
Finally, as I mentioned above we had our first ‘Love Heworth’ week this year where we spent a week serving others in a myriad of different ways from creating hampers for doctors surgeries and schools to litter picking and from gardening with the Friends of Glenn Gardens to posting ‘take a minute’ packages through people’s doors. This was a fantastic week, full of opportunities for us as a church to serve our local community in lots of practical ways and we had some really positive responses, which was so encouraging. This wonderful week culminated in our Summer Fair, complete with giant inflatables and games supplied by Ace Active Ministries. A lot of work went into planning and preparing for Love Heworth and, once again, I would like to thank everyone who helped us, especially Sue and Chelsea for all they did in the preparation stages especially.
Lots of seeds have been planted this year, so let’s all be praying for much fruit to come from the outreach and mission of the church in the coming year!
Mike
## WARDENS' REPORT (PART 1)
Just as every cloud may have a silver lining, so every raindrop may have a useful role to play. When it’s been raining as heavily and as much as it has done in recent months and we’ve not experienced any major leaks, it is perhaps reasonable to assume that the roof is reasonably sound. Of course one should never assume, but our previous Quinquennial inspection (Five years ago) did raise at least the possibility of
roof work, but (apart from one spectacular (but happily isolated) leak in the Vestry a few years ago, we have been fortunate so far. Our current Quinquennial took place in March, but - at the time of writing - we have not yet seen the results.
I remain concerned about the main entrance (North Porch) through which we certainly lose a great deal of heat in winter unless we keep both sets of doors closed, which seems so unwelcoming during service time. The doors themselves are inherently cumbersome and quite awkward, especially at weddings and funerals when we often need all four leaves open at once. We have asked the architect for his thoughts on this and look forward to what he comes up with in the current quinquennial! And thanks, too, to our Welcome Team who are very good at “policing” the porch, letting people in and out whilst minimising the heat loss.
Meanwhile, we rejoice in the fact that our existing central heating is so effective. It is still quite new and only malfunctions very occasionally. Thanks to my fellow Warden,
Ann, for keeping it set for correct (but sometimes varying) times. Certainly those of us who have been in the parish for a while will concur that Holy Trinity in Winter is generally warmer
than we have ever known it and is a joy to enter. Ann also manages the heating in the hall, which is rather more complex, given the richly varied use to which this valuable local resource is put!
## WARDENS' REPORT (PART 2)
The new notice board in the Hall garden, which was installed in September 2023, has already attracted much attention - not just from hall-users but also people waiting at the bus stop. The churchyard has also received some much needed attention and looks much tidier now.
Your two Wardens could not possibly do all the above (and more) unaided, so many, many thanks to all of you who quietly get on with the job of keeping the church and hall clean, tidy, welcoming and safe for all to use and enjoy to the Glory of God. Jeremy
## DEANERY SYNOD REPORT
I have felt really privileged to be able to represent Holy Trinity at Deanery Synod this year and have learnt more about the inner workings of the Church of England. We only meet once a term and so, despite being a Deanery Synod Rep for a year now have only had a few meetings to go to; however I have tried to give you a couple of highlights below.
We were encouraged by speaker from AROCHA (a charity helping churches to embrace the call to look after our environment) they encouraged us to write to both local MPs and the government about making significant changes to help the environment recover and heal from global warming. In our meeting in January we discussed in groups the good things going on in our churches and the things we wanted to improve on. From Holy Trinity’s point of view - we shared about the increase of numbers in the congregation and how we’d like more people stepping forward to ministry - and what an answer to prayer we have had - thank you to all of you who help in the life and work of the church and how wonderful that we now have Emma as our children and youth worker, Lera as our administrator and now Reuben as our worship leader; we even have Rachel coming as our curate and have seen new members of the congregation joining our church family too - all of this is such an answer to prayer.
I am looking forward to attending the next deanery synod on May 28th - do pray that all the different churches represented there will work together United in Christ.
Ruth
## ECO CHURCH
The current members of the Eco group are Jeremy, Ian, Eric, Katherine, Clare, Matt, Mary, and Sue. (There is a photo on our website hthewortheco.co.uk).
Two main areas we have been working on during the year are church energy requirements and bike racks.
As regards energy, we have done much research into our current heating system, and made contact with St Edward-the-Confessor, Dringhouses who have fitted solar panels. They have been most helpful with information and resource material.
As regards bike racks, this is still a work in progress largely owing to C of E procedures, discussions with City of York Council and obtaining quotes for what was envisaged.
Church grounds; the trees and shrubs in the environs of the church were examined and advice taken on planting a couple of new trees. The large laurel near the rectory has been lightly trimmed where it impinged on the building.
The Brownies kindly created a bug hotel by the vestry door, ‘Buggingham Palace.’ They also planted wildflower seeds on the rectory front lawn (with permission from Mike & Emma!). These were allowed to seed before mowing and should have increased in number.
Mary
## FINANCE REPORT
It has been really encouraging that our income from tithing has increased massively again this year.
Since our income has increased so much, this has meant we have also been able to increase our own giving and employ 2 people in 2023. This is absolutely incredible, and we are hopeful that this will enable us to grow even more as a church.
We are thankful for how God continues to provide for us financially through donations and regular givers. Thank you! Without you, we could not carry out our work of serving Jesus, serving Heworth.
Unfortunately, the independent examiners report for 2022 and 2023 has not yet been completed, due to several unforeseen circumstances. Once these have been examined the report will become available to be viewed and questions can be sent to the PCC.
Zoe
## TECH REPORT
Over the last year we have made a few small additions to the tech to iron out some of the minor issues we were having, like microphones losing connection intermittently.
We have also managed to start streaming our services on Youtube, rather than over zoom. Hopefully in the next year we will be able to get the audio for the livestream through the sound desk, rather than from the camera. This will increase the quality massively, and will ensure all parts of the service can be clearly heard.
Although we have had a few issues withour projection software, Zionwox, this system has been working a lot better than individual powerpoint documents. Hopefully in the next year we will be able to solve some of these issues too.
I would like to thank everyone that volunteers on the tech team. It has been really nice seeing people serving in this way, learning new skills, and all helping each other to grow.
Zoe
## WORSHIP REPORT (PART 1)
It is important to start by saying a couple of very big thank you’s. As many of you will be aware, Dave Kelsall led and coordinated the Worship Ministry at HT up until he left to pursue his ordination training. He did a great deal to upgrade
the technical systems and to organise the team in such a way that we had a varied and diverse style of worship that helped everyone to engage in some way and we are so grateful to him for all that he did in this role.
The other thank you we must give is to Barbara Nodder. Barbara was the church organist for over fifty years and in October 2023 finally retired from this role to enjoy a very well earned rest! Barbara is an example of faithful service to all of us and although we miss her playing, we recognise this was absolutely the right decision and want to say, once again, how incredibly grateful to her we are.
With Dave leaving in October 2023, Tony took up the mantle
of organising and coordinating the worship team - which I am very grateful for and we have written this report together.
Having spoken to Tony, he admits he felt very unprepared as to how to make things work smoothly and is pretty sure they still don’t! However, we are very blessed to have a wonderful and dedicated group of worship leaders who step up week after week to lead the sung worship. Planning and coordinating those leaders can be a struggle at times; almost all of them volunteer on numerous different rotas and so, at times, their availability can change at late notice. However each week we have someone prepared and ready to lead the sung worship, and both Tony and I (and I imagine the whole church!) would like to pass our thanks on to you all.
Tony has done a great job of encouraging the worship leaders to invite singers to join in wherever possible, it is then up to the individual leaders to invite people to join them on a Sunday.
## WORSHIP REPORT (PART 2)
Tony has said that his ambition would be to have several leaders at the front at any one time, and a number of voices. Listening to feedback from the congregation, they have said this provides a better and more meaningful time of sung worship.
We hope that the worship team will indeed become more of a ‘team’ and not just several individual Leaders and we hope that, with the arrival of Ruben, we will see this prayer become a reality.
Dave managed to eventually institute a shared lunch once a month on Sundays for the worship team to attend, get to know one another better and talk about the worship life of the church. Unfortunately these never continued after his departure. However, ongoing, we feel that a weekly practice session should be encouraged if possible, this would alleviate any issues that worship leaders may have in inviting other singers and provide a bonding and prayer session prior to the Sunday service.
There has also been some desire to start a Sunday evening service (possibly once a month) as a praise and worship time with a bit more freedom to express our love of God. We are hopeful that this can happen in the not too distant future and think this would bring in a slightly different congregation and give our worship a bit of diversity.
Lastly, some words from Tony himself: ‘it has been a great privilege to have been asked to fill in to this roll, I have been truly blessed and honoured by God to have been able to give my time to this ongoing project. I look forward to helping Ruben in his ministry once he takes over.’
Mike and Tony
## CHILDREN, YOUTH & FAMILIES (PART 1)
After 18 months volunteering as the Children, Youth and Family lead, I am thrilled to have been appointed to the role in October 2023.
We are so blessed by an incredibly diverse community of children, young people and their grown ups, and I am excited to continue to build on the welcoming ministry we already offered.
## **HT KIDS & HT YOUTH**
HT Kids is our Sunday morning provision on the 1st, 3rd and 5th Sundays, for 5-16s, with some of our young people serving as young leaders, as we meet with between 4 and 10 children.
It is a relaxed space where we accessibly explore the theme of the service, through games, activities, chat, prayer and craft.
We continue to engage with children and young people on a Sunday through our Sunday morning provision, new youth group and supporting young leaders. We also have
plans in 2024 to launch a new service, aimed at welcoming families with children with additional needs. A special thanks to those who attended our Makaton training session in December to help us on our way to become a more accessible church and support our church family as best we can.
As always, my huge thanks goes to the incredible team of volunteers, who serve and care for our children and young people so well and make this ministry possible.
Although we currently have no Sunday morning provision for our young people, in June 2023, we launched HT Youth. This is a welcoming, informal space for 11-18 year
olds, who meet on the 2nd and 4th Sundays in the afternoon. We used to meet in the Vicarage, but now in the hall as we outgrew the lounge!
Each time, we have met with between 4 and 12 young people from both our church community and connected people, and share snacks, conversation, Bible study and prayer together. We even made a fantastic stop-motion video for Christmas!
_If you would like to become a part of this fantastic and exciting team please get in touch with me at emma.perkins@ htheworth.org_
Families continue to be able to make use of the back spaces for our under 5s, where small children are welcome to come and play, with themed activity sheets available for those who enjoy them.
Going forward, I would love to establish a formal creche, and to continue to build on and grow our youth and children ministry and consider establishing a specific youth group space in the hall.
## CHILDREN, YOUTH & FAMILIES (PART 2)
## **OUTREACH**
## **HT TOTS**
In 2023, we hosted 3 free-of-charge drop-in events (as we did in 2022), for primary-school aged children and their grown-ups. We hosted Hope at Easter, Glow in October and Shine at Christmas – all of which have been very well attended, successful community events, reaching both familiar and new families. Glow was in fact fully booked with almost 50 children in attendance!
HT Tots takes place weekly on Tuesdays from 10-11.30am in the church hall. This is a free-of charge group, and has been going from strength to strength since re-starting after Covid.
Each week, we welcome a wide number of families for free play, story and song-time and a space to meet others, including both church family and our wider community! Through 2023 we averaged 22 children each week - with a high of 32 just before summer!
This is a great way we can engage with and share God’s love and gospel truths in the community through crafts, activities, space to play and chat, as well as refreshments courtesy of many of our skilled bakers!
HT Tots is a wonderful way to meet with families and build community, whilst sharing God’s love through the play, stories and songs we share – which is especially great as the majority of our group do not regularly connect with a church.
As always, a huge thank you to the amazing team without whom these events wouldn’t and couldn’t take place.
We continue to enjoy positive relationships with the Brownies and Rainbows group - who are responsible for our church’s bug hotel and wild seeding the front lawn fof the Vicarage, supporting our eco-church efforts! Mike and I also helped lead five seasonal services with Heworth Primary school, as well as sharing several collective worships in the school. It’s always a joy to connect with the school and all the lovely pupils there!
We are immensely grateful to the committed team who make this group possible, and a special thanks to Heather Langthorne who had been coleader of the group and who stepped down in November.
## SAFEGUARDING REPORT
I’m pleased to report that Safeguarding at Holy Trinity continues to be important within our church and that it is widely accepted to be the responsibility of us all. It is important that we remain up to date with our responsibilities and I am grateful that the majority of those who need to have completed or renewed the necessary training courses. DBS checks are also complete. My thanks to all who have responded so readily to the requests for these.
- A small number of issues have been brought to my attention over the past year and appropriate advice has been given. Where necessary additional advice has been sought from the Diocesan Safeguarding Officer. All advice has been acted on promptly and with due concern for confidentiality and safety of all.
Safeguarding needs to be proactive rather than reactive and it is very reassuring when I see the trust that has developed over the year with so many members of our congregation, throughout all age groups, and their willingness to share any worries and concerns they may have. I would particularly like to mention here the wonderful work that is being done by Emma and her team in providing safe spaces for our young people to be able to be open and share in an appropriate way.
Awareness posters continue to be placed in both the church and the church hall, along with copies of our Parish Safeguarding Policy. Users of the Church Hall are required to either have their own appropriate safeguarding policy or acknowledge that they have read our safeguarding policy and confirm that they agree to abide by it.
Our Parish policy is discussed yearly at the PCC and is either approved or updated accordingly. I can confirm that Holy Trinity has complied with it’s duty in regard to the House of Bishops’ guidance on safeguarding children and vulnerable adults. I can be contacted by email at safeguarding@heworth.org
Sheila Robson. Parish Safeguarding Officer