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← The Parochial Church Council Of The Ecclesiastical Parish Of Burghfield St Mary The Virgin

2023-12-31-accounts

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Annual Report 2023

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Annual Church Meeting 28[th] April 2024 St Mary’s Church

Attached – Examined accounts and Report from the chair of the PCC as required by the Charities Act 2011

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Contents

Agendas for the Annual Meeting of Parishioners
and Annual Parochial Church Meeting 1
Clergy report 2
Churchwardens’ report 4
Bradfield Deanery Synod 5
Prayer Life: Report on Prayer and Healing Team 6
Childrens Work 7
Creation Matters 9
Outreach: Churches Together in Burghfield,
Sulhamstead and Mortimer 10
Outreach: Outward giving 10
Outreach: Burghfield Parish Support Group for
The Children’s Society 11
Fund Raising Report 11
Burghfield St Mary Primary School 12
Buildings: Fabric report 14
Buildings: Parish Centre report 15

The Annual Meeting of Parishioners and Annual Parochial Church Meeting

AGENDA

Opening Prayers

Apologies

ANNUAL MEETING OF PARISHIONERS

Minutes of the Annual Meeting of Parishioners held on 15[th] May 2023 Election of Churchwardens

ANNUAL PAROCHIAL CHURCH MEETING

  1. Minutes of the APCM held on 15[th] May 2023

  2. Matters arising from the minutes.

  3. Presentation of the Updated Electoral Roll

  4. Presentation of the Annual Report

  5. Report from Churchwardens

  6. Report from Deanery Synod

  7. Annual Report Statement by Treasurer

  8. Matters arising from the Annual Reports.

  9. Appointment of Independent Examiner

  10. Report on Safeguarding

  11. Election of Members to serve on the PCC

  12. Appointment of PCC Secretary

  13. Vision for the Future – Revd Glynn Lautenbach

  14. Any Other Business – only items which have been notified in advance will be taken

  15. Closing Prayer

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Clergy Report

As we entered the new year it finally felt as if we were fully emerging from the effects of the pandemic. Our attendance at services began to stabilise and we have noticed that while our congregation has not increased significantly, our worshipping congregation attend more regularly than over the past few years. This period of stability has deepened relationships with one another and our faith in our loving God as we supported and encouraged one another in many ways throughout the year.

Our regular 10am ‘hybrid’ services continued with opportunity to attend in person or via Zoom, with members of the congregation joining in from home, around the country or even further afield occasionally, when away from home or on holiday. We enjoyed the ministry of both Alison Eves (who has ‘Authorisation to preach’) as well as our ‘Ordinand in Training’ Mark Rhodes Smith as they joined in the preaching rota. Through the year we had sermon series, themed services and also several guest speakers from some of the charities we support.

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Our Worship and Discipleship Committee met regularly to plan services through the year and after guidance from the Diocese, prayer and several discussions, we returned to offering the ‘common cup’ during communion, for the first time since the start of the pandemic. Alongside which, we still offer the option of ‘intincting’ for those who prefer to receive communion in this manner.

Our main festivals had fair attendance and our annual community Remembrance service was very well attended again this year, taking place around the memorial in our churchyard.

In terms of Discipleship, the ‘Emmaus’ group who meet twice a month, continued together faithfully, and we also saw a good response to ‘The Bible Course’ earlier in the year during Lent and also to ‘The Prayer Course’ later on, both ably led by Don Sinclair. The Advent Course was also well attended and through these various courses we have learned together as well as been inspired and challenged by the content.

The ministry offered by our Prayer and Healing Team is always much appreciated, both through the prayers they offer weekly in the chancel during communion, as well as in participating in leading and preaching at our termly Healing Services. Our Prayer Chain has prayed faithfully for the many requests received and we have seen some wonderful answers to prayer.

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A highlight this year, was the 24-hour Prayer we hosted in June to pray for all our local churches and communities in our 3 villages of Burghfield, Mortimer and Sulhamstead.

Prayer Collage created over the 24 hours.

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We offered a variety of styles of prayer through the 24 hours (e.g. led meditations, quiet and creative prayer, prayer walks) and through the 24 hours we had 29 people who joined us at various times to make it a wonderful ecumenical event. We hope to make this an annual occurrence.

During June we also celebrated the ministry of Mark Rhodes-Smith over the past several years. St Mary’s has been his ‘home church’, while he studied part-time for ordination. It has been lovely to see Mark grow and develop as he preached and participated in services and events over these last few years. We enjoyed a celebratory service and a farewell lunch together, as we gave thanks for all he has brought to our parish and wished him well for the future.

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My husband and I were then privileged to attend Mark’s Ordination as Deacon, on 1[st] July in Christchurch Cathedral, as he began the next step of his faith journey as a Curate in the Churn Benefice.

Mark (Middle) at his Ordination

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In September, we welcomed Connor Heath and his wife Lois, as Connor began a full-time training course towards ordination. In effect this means Connor is at Cuddesdon College 3 days a week and 4 days in the parish. Though of the 4 days, one is a day off and the other a study day. We look forward to being part of his journey over these next few years.

I would like to take this opportunity to thank everyone who has been part of our journey together this last year, and you will see the rich variety of our ministry and outreach, services, events and so on in the pages to come. From the members of our PCC who have committed to serving our parish, and the many involved in both obvious and behind the scenes ministries and activities, who give of themselves, their gifts and time so selflessly, I want to thank you one and all! I do also want to single out our Parish Administrator Jo Dore, who has proved a real asset for us all, who goes above and beyond her role and who has made such a difference to the life of our parish. Thank you all and I give special thanks to God for gathering us all together into this loving community where we do see our vision statement in action, Welcoming all, growing faith, serving others.

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As we look ahead to the future I pray that we will notice where God is at work among us, will be receptive to the promptings of the Holy Spirit and walking in faith and trust together alongside our Saviour Jesus Christ, will be able to build on all we’ve achieved together so far, so that our light of love and witness will be seen in our community and draw others towards God’s love, so they too can come to know and love him.

Revd Glynn Lautenbach

Churchwardens’ Report

In 2023 we have continued to offer “hybrid” services, with most of the congregation worshipping together in person, with a few joining in on Zoom. After much prayer and discussion, we re-introduced the common cup to our communion, whilst retaining the option of intinction for those not yet ready to take that step. Adding the altar rail as an alternative place to receive communion means we have what appears to be a complicated arrangement at services, but everyone has adapted well to it; even visiting clergy.

We bid a fond farewell to Mark Smith as he moved on to take up a curacy in a new parish. We welcomed Connor to our congregation, and more lately to leading services, as he starts out on his journey to priesthood. Our 3[rd] Sunday Breakfast@Church events, prior to the 10am Service, have remained popular (especially the bacon butties!) and this is proving to be a great time of fellowship- all are welcome. It has been a pleasure to see a few more children at both the breakfasts and general Sunday services.

We are very grateful for all the work done by our Parish Administrator, Jo. She has been a great support to Rev Glynn, to us, and to the Parish at large. She keeps everything running smoothly in the background and has also taken the initiative to bring improvements to the way we work. She has kept us all well informed through the Pew Sheets each week. During the year she also started producing the monthly newsletters, providing a more detailed look at the events happening in and around church.

The Fundraising Team have gone from strength to strength. They’ve raised an amazing amount for church funds whilst, equally importantly, providing opportunities for fun and fellowship together. The Craft Evenings have been particularly successful in widening attendance beyond the regular congregation. Many events have been held in people’s homes during the week, with soup lunches and coffee mornings in the winter months and cream teas in the summer.

Community Churchyard tidy up working parties continued, and this great collaboration between church and community has resulted in our beautiful churchyard being well cared for: thank you to all who have taken part.

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Our third Festival of Creation was held in June, with the theme of “Water of Life”. Highlights included a talk from Helen Hyde on the Lawrence’s Well Roundabout Appeal and a showing of the “Shark Water” film. Sadly, a clash with a Save the Children event limited numbers on the Sunday, although we raised enough money over the weekend to achieve our target of being able to “twin” our remaining five toilets in the Parish Centre.

We are grateful for the work of Brian and the fabric committee to maintain and enhance our buildings. We are starting to see the benefits of the improvements made to the layout of the parish centre in 2022. The new servery on the Parish Centre landing has made that a more welcoming space and we look forward to more use being made of it. The cost of gas and electricity had a major impact on our finances in the year and the installation of NEST control systems in both the Parish Centre and Church buildings should hopefully mean that we make the most efficient use of our fuel, benefitting both our finances and carbon footprint, whilst keeping them comfortable for use.

The Remembrance Day service was held entirely outside again. It was such a pleasure to welcome so many from the community. The weather was better than forecast and a large congregation, young and old, attending the open-air wreath-laying ceremony and service at the War Memorial.

The run up to Christmas is always busy, and we were pleased to host several events which reach far beyond our regular congregation: once again there was a full house for the Advent Wreath Making evening, the 9[th] annual Christmas Tree Festival had a record attendance and Carols on the Hatch had a good crowd despite the weather.

We would like to thank Rev Glynn, as well as all the faithful members of the PCC and all in our church family for all your great and much valued support throughout 2023. It is a privilege to be member of, and to play a part in leading, God’s family in this place.

Alison Eves and Michael Wood Churchwardens

Bradfield Deanery Synod

Deanery Synod representatives serve for up to three years. Elections were held in 2023 and our current representatives are Carol Jackson Doerge and Colin Thompson.

The Synod met three times in 2023, in March, June and November, and has struggled for most of the year without lay officers. The positions of lay chair and secretary have been vacant since June and the Treasurer resigned in October with the vacancy continuing to the end of the year. The Area Dean also changed

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in the year and is now the Revd Grant Fensome of Basildon. There was a view that the Deanery should be disbanded with Burghfield and Purley going to Reading Deanery, and the remainder to Newbury. There is little enthusiasm for any change, but the future of the Deanery is in doubt.

Most of the meetings were taken up with protracted debates over Parish share. The Diocese had accepted that changes needed to be made but was slow to come forward with suggestions. There is a current of concern that too much is being devoted to diocesan initiatives and insufficient given to parishes to use locally. Furthermore, within the Deanery there is a dispute over the impact of proposed changes on individual parishes. Everyone accepts that the most recent proposals were unduly severe on Burghfield.

The Treasurer will report that we were unable to pay our full Parish Share in 2023 and are unlikely to be able to do so in 2024. The deanery understands the reasons for this and have generally been supportive of our intentions.

A great deal of energy was spent on debating the extent to which different parishes in the same benefice should support one another financially. It was also agreed to reduce the amount of money held by the Deanery to £15k with the balance being distributed to parishes in proportion to contribution. The Deanery Quinquennial fund was also disbanded, and responsibility handed back to Parishes.

Colin Thompson & Carol Jackson-Doerge

Report on Prayer Coordination & Prayer and Healing Team

Our Prayer Chain has grown this year as more members of the congregation have joined in offering prayer support for those with special needs and requests. All members of the congregation are very welcome to contact Rev Glynn or any member Prayer and Healing Team ( contact details in Church Directory) and your requests for urgent and on-going prayer will be circulated quickly to the team.

The Monthly Prayer Diary , available at the back of church or through a link in the weekly news sheet has been updated and the contents of this feed into our weekly Intercessions in church. Those wishing to have loved ones remembered in our weekly prayers in The Year’s Mind now have a link to contact Margaret who is very happy to make sure we continue to remember our loved ones in our weekly prayers.

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The Prayer and Healing Team is available to pray with you during our weekly Eucharist and also prays over the many requests left in the prayer request book by the candle stand by the font.

We were privileged to lead three Healing Services during the last year and again assisted at the beautiful All Souls Service in November. A small number of us attended the Festival of Prayer Day at Ripon College, Cuddesdon which was held in July and are already looking forward to the next festival on July 5th 2025.

June 9[th] – 10[th] saw an exciting new initiative when we held a 24 - Hour Prayer Vigil . The vigil ran from 2.00 pm on Friday until 2.00 pm on Saturday, beginning and ending with a Eucharist. Four of us, Rev Glyn, Nicky, Carol and I stayed throughout the 24 hours and up to 20 people from our congregation, Burghfield and Mortimer Methodists and TIM joined us for various parts of the day. On the Saturday morning, we held 3 simultaneous prayer walks, covering Mortimer Village, Burghfield Common and Burghfield Village. This was an exciting chance to take prayer right into the streets, homes, businesses and schools in our communities. It was a period of immense richness and blessing for all who came and we look forward to repeating it this year.

Margaret Thomas

Childrens Work

In Summer 2023 Sara and Gary stepped down as Children’s Ministry Leaders so with a wonderful team behind me I stepped up as Children’s Ministry Leader. We have continued to lead film nights and Crafty Church events for the children and young people in the Community.

When families arrive on a Sunday Morning to our services, we provide ageappropriate bags containing books and colouring activities to do to welcome them to St Mary’s Church and to help their parents to take part and be involved with the service.

We still have really good success with the film evenings, starting with a fun quiz as the children arrive and then showing a film with a break in between for hot food. The food is prepared by two volunteers from the community, and we are very grateful for their help! The quiz the children take part in is normally related to the film or the season we have chosen. In April we are having an Easter related film night, with an Easter quiz and film. At the end of their quiz the children have an opportunity to suggest the next film we show. We have lots of returning families and always have new families coming which is encouraging. It is also good to get to know the new families and catch up with the regular families

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throughout the evening. Some parents/carers with older children do leave their children, and a few do join us for the evening.

Film Night

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Crafty Church is an arts and crafts morning where families can come together and take part in bible themed activities, with a short reflection or talk about the theme. We organise Crafty Church once a term for Primary School aged children and young people. Near the end of the year, we provided Christmas activities at Burghfield St Mary’s School Christmas Fair and at The Christmas Tree Festival, which were all greatly received by the children and their families.

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Easter Crafty Church 2023

Christmas Tree Festival Crafts

With a very helpful and supportive team behind me and trusting in God with all decisions made, I have grown in so much confidence and this has also helped me to encourage others to get involved.

I would just like to thank everyone who has supported the Children’s Ministry this year in all roles - providing refreshments, registration, talking to parents, preparing the food for our film nights, administration and preparing and helping with crafts. If you would like to be a part of this supportive and welcoming team, please get in touch with myself or Revd Glynn.

Amy Legg

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Creation Matters

Creation Matters is the banner we use to cover our response to one of the Church of England five marks of mission, namely: To strive to safeguard the integrity of creation and sustain and renew the life of the earth. The Creation Matters group is a sub-committee of the PCC.

We began 2023 by celebrating Fairtrade Fortnight from the latter part of February into March.

We held our Climate Sunday Service on 25[th] June as part of our “Festival of Creation” weekend event with the theme “The Water of Life”. We welcomed Helen Hyde, who told us about the Lawrence’s Roundabout Well Appeal. This was subsequently chosen as one of our outside giving charities for the year. The festival was well attended on the Saturday but Sunday clashed with a Save the Children event at one of our neighbours so there were fewer people, including for our showing of the ”Shark Water” film. . To highlight the range of Green cleaning products that are readily available we held an Eco-Cleaning Tombola. This, along with a plant sale and other donations enabled us to reach our fundraising target to raise enough to “twin” our remaining toilets in the Parish Centre. We are grateful to all the stall holders who came to show off their wares and to the Mors Bags team who handed out lots of bags using repurposed material.

Our church porch recycling centre continues to keep many pill blister packs and milk bottle tops and various other items out of the general waste. We are grateful to Margaret Thomas and Fiona Jones for collecting them and moving them on the next stage of their recycling journey. We no longer have an outlet for confectionery wrappers so now collect old pens instead. We also started collecting used ink cartridges; as well as being eco-friendly, this is a funding source.

We have joined a Diocesan scheme to recycle old candle stubs, coordinated by Eileen and Brian.

We finally got round to putting up (thanks Brian!) our Eco-Church Bronze award from A Rocha UK. In 2024 we aim to upgrade to Silver; if you want to help, talk to Alison or Mike.

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Michael Wood

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Outreach

Outreach is very much a part of our mission at St Mary’s and through the year we have been involved in various activities. Our congregation is exceedingly generous in supporting our local Foodbank and the need seems to have increased even more as so many families experience difficulties due to the rising cost of living and the energy crisis. Food parcels are in great need and supply cannot keep up with demand. Our congregation continue to donate supplies generously as well as supporting the Lent and Advent special appeals.

Towards the end of the year Bucket List Wishes (a local charity granting end of life wishes to terminally ill adults and their families, began to use our parish centre upper room for storage of the used wedding and prom dresses they sell to raise funds.

At our annual ‘Toy Service’ in December we received very generous donations of new toys and other items for children, teenagers and parents, to support two local charities, Berkshire Women’s Aid as well as Spotlight UK.

Outward giving

For some years now we have donated a percentage of the Church’s income to charities and mission agencies in accordance with the PCC decision made a few years ago to commit 10% of the church’s planned giving income. In choosing the charities to receive monies from us, the PCC has striven to maintain a balance between large and small charities, and domestic and overseas charities. We also favour charities where we have personal knowledge of the good that their work does. This year in line with our Eco-Church focus, we have made sure to include two charities whose focus is the environment and providing assistance to people facing the challenges of the climate crisis.

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Our Outward Giving figure for 2023 is £4,400. This year’s beneficiaries are:

• Health Help International £800
• Farm Africa £800
• Lawrence’s Roundabout Well Appeal £500
• Yeldall Manor £500
• The Trussell Trust
(West Berks Foodbank) £500
• Home Start £500
• Burghfield United Charities £400
• Spotlight £400 Revd Glynn

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Burghfield Support Group for The Children’s Society

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The group consists of Anne Burtenshaw, Hilary James, Pat Glover (our Treasurer), Janet Reed, Nicky South-Klein, Sheila Langston-Hopgood and Colin Thompson and met three times in the year in January, April and September.

New members are always welcome and if you would like to join our little group please speak to any of its members.

We held our usual cake stalls on Mothering Sunday and at the Toy service raising £156 & £230 respectively. We made £163.75 from the sale of Christmas cards. The two Christingle services in Church raising £437 and the Church also agreed that the collection from Carols on the Hatch (£96) would be given to the Society. Our planned quiz evenings returned and were well supported raising £475 in May and £340 in October. The fall in the general circulation of coins meant revenue from Boxes was substantially less, with only £129.80 being received in the year ending April 2023.

Overall, there was a small increase on the preceding year.

Colin Thompson

Fund Raising Report

During 2023 we raised £7396.25 for Church Funds, and we had a lot of fun, laughter and fellowship while doing so.

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Spring Craft Evening Summer Craft Evening Christmas Craft evening

Our main Fundraising activities were a Games Night where we held a Beetle Drive and played Bingo, with much competitive fun and laughter, Sing a Long Film Nights with Pop Corn and Ice Cream, fabulous Craft Evenings in March, July and November which brought in many people from the wider community and produced some lovely pieces of work, including some by people who had never used a sewing machine, or threaded a needle before.

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In May we held a joyous Kings Coronation Supper which was attended by 50+ people and really got us all into the spirit of the Nation's celebrations.

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During the Creation Matters weekend in June, we held an Eco Tombola, Plant Sale, and Raffle and in August an Afternoon Tea was enjoyed in a beautiful garden with sunshine too! September gave us the opportunity to enjoy an Italian Themed Evening with all food, wine and music Italian. And in December during the Christmas Tree Festival, we had two wonderful Raffles of a huge Teddy Bear and a

Christmas Hamper together with a successful Bring and Buy Sale.

Throughout the year our fundraising activities included numerous very popular Coffee Mornings and Soup Lunches, where smaller groups of us could get together and enjoy good company, homemade cakes and soup.

We also continued to receive filled Smartie Tubes that had been handed out in 2022 containing chocolate Smarties and were returned full of money!

Anne Pocock on behalf of the Fund raising Committee

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Burghfield St Mary’s School vision is to create a caring Christian learning environment that inspires each individual in the school community to fulfil their unique potential and become a responsible, concerned and active member of God’s world.

The school, founded in 1836, with a trust deed dated 1843, is a voluntary controlled school which means the Diocese appoints two of the Governorsknown as Foundation Governors, (currently Revd Glynn Lautenbach and Deborah Marsden) but the staff are employed by the Local Authority.

Foundation Governors meet with the Head Teacher on a termly basis to discuss RE provision and collective worship within the school, as well as strengthening school Church ties.

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There are good links between school and church and 2023 saw a return to precovid times of weekly Thursday Morning Collective Worship (assemblies) led by either Revd Glynn or a member of the congregation. In September Connor Heath our ‘Ordinand in Training’ joined us, attending weekly assemblies and taking turns to lead them as well.

While the weather did not always permit our scheduled school services in church, where possible these took place in church during the year, with parents able to attend several of these services (Easter, Year 6 Leavers and Nativity).

The two big events of 2023 were the Ofsted inspection and the retirement of Mr Gallagher as Head Teacher.

OFSTED

On behalf of the foundation governors, we should like to congratulate all staff and pupils on achieving an extremely good OFSTED Inspection Report. The report provided many reasons to feel proud:

Head Teacher

At the end of the summer term, we said goodbye and a huge thank you to Mr Gallagher, who has been an excellent leader of BSM for 16 years, and welcomed Mrs Carmichael to the role, after a rigorous interview process led by an appointment panel made up of specialised governors. The school has also appointed a new Deputy Head teacher and look forward to the fresh leadership and new ideas that they both bring to their roles.

Revd Glynn Lautenbach (Foundation Governor) Deborah Marsden (Foundation Governor)

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- Buildings Fabric Report

Parish Centre

During 2022 the ground floor of the Parish Centre was reconfigured to enable the main hall, kitchen and two toilets to be separated from the entrance foyer, stairs, and the toilet suitable for people with disabilities. Following on from this, in 2023 a Servery was installed on the upstairs landing, to enable the main room on the first floor to have separate catering facilities. (Access to the downstairs kitchen is restricted to Mini-Oaks Preschool when it is in session.) This work was funded by a grant of £600 from Burghfield Residents Association. The Parish Centre burglar alarm had failed a couple of times in 2022, and was in need of a new and updated control panel. After checking with our insurance company, who confirmed that we are not obliged to have a burglar alarm, the PCC took the decision to remove and disable the system.

During 2023 all the hard wiring in the Parish Centre has been checked and certified as safe.

Church

The NEST heating control system which was installed in the Parish Centre during 2022 has proved extremely beneficial in reducing the energy consumption, and so in 2023 the PCC agreed to invest in a similar system for the Church. This control system enables the heating system to respond more accurately to the external temperature, especially during autumn and spring. It also allows for remote control of the heating time periods and temperatures. During October JFK Heating undertook the yearly Servicing of the gas boilers in both the Church and Parish Centre. They had identified issues with one of th e Church boilers and undertaken remedial work.

PAT testing was also carried out on all the portable electrical appliances in the Parish Centre and the Church.

Church Grounds

During June the Fabric Team undertook to level the gravel path from the Lych Gate up to the main doors of the Church with bags of Pea Shingle following a spell of very wet weather.

The large carpark surface was also showing signs of wear with potholes appearing in the surface, especially around the entrance. A large bulk bag of road stone was delivered and the team filled the holes and consolidated the surface with a Vibrating Compactor Plate.

Minor remedial works have also been carried out on the external car park lights.

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Church Quinquennial Inspection Survey

The last survey was done in 2019, so 2024 will see the next five-year inspection of the church building by the Diocesan Architect, who is a qualified historic buildings surveyor.

Aa part of the Quinquennial, the Church’s electrical hard wiring is also due for inspection by a qualified electrician.

As usual, although some large maintenance, repair and improvement projects have been carried out by professional contractors, a great many of the ongoing repair and maintenance tasks have once again been tackled by our wonderful Fabric Committee team (nobly backed up by their very supportive partners and friends.). Their enthusiasm and willingness to be literally “hands-on”, and to keep smiling while getting dusty, paint-splattered and very often extremely wet is much appreciated and is a very important contribution to our ministry . Thank you one and all; the church would be a very different place without you.

Brian Thatcher, Chair Fabric Committee

Parish Centre

We have had a busy year with lots of adhoc bookings spread throughout the year including our seasonal craft evenings which are always very popular, the Childrens Society Quiz Nights and many fundraising events where the community comes together to help raise funds for our Church & cumulating in an extremely busy December starting with our ever-popular Advent Wreath Making evening welcoming 100 attendees, our Christmas Tree Festival which was over a whole weekend & had a record 25 trees from across our local community and then lots or various concerts & gatherings being held jointly in the Church and Parish Centre.

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We have managed to maintain our core long term bookings in the Parish Centre which include 3 x different Yoga groups, Pilates, Weight Watchers & Mini Oaks Preschool, and all are a real asset to the community. We help advertise these groups via our monthly newsletter and posters on our noticeboard in the centre.

We have also welcomed the Dresses for Bucket List Wishes charity into the centre who have a space in the upper room for storing their beautiful dresses and they hold regular appointments throughout the week for people to try on and buy their dresses which vary in styles from Prom, Party and Wedding dresses. They also hold a big dress sale once a month and these are very popular and a much-needed help for people in our community as all dresses are very affordable and the money raised goes to their charity.

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The kitchen servery (pictured above) located on the upper landing for use by hirers of the upstairs room is brilliant and a great asset to our offerings for hirers enabling use of the upper room during the week for lunch meetings & groups.

Our hire charges for the parish centre are as of September 2023 £14.20 weekdays up to 6pm & £16.85 weekdays after 6pm and weekends.

Jo Dore, Parish Administrator

The PCC of St Mary’s the Virgin Burghfield is a Registered Ch arity No.1167639

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Parochial Church Council of St Mary the Virgin, Burghfield

Annual Report and Financial Statements For the year ended 31 December 2023

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Parochial Church Council of St Mary the Virgin, Burghfield

Trustees’ Annual Report for the year ended 31 December 2023

Reference and administrative details

The Parish Church of St Mary the Virgin is in the village and parish of Burghfield in the county of Berkshire. All correspondence regarding the church should be addressed to: The Parish Office, St Mary’s Church, Church Lane, Burghfield, RG30 3TG.

Structure, governance and management

The Parochial Church Council (PCC) is a corporate body established by the Church of England. The PCC is responsible for safeguarding the assets of the church operating under the Parochial Church Council Powers Measure. This involves working with the Revd Glynn Lautenbach the Rector, in promoting in the ecclesiastical parish, the whole mission of the Church pastoral, evangelistic, social and ecumenical. The PCC is also responsible for the Parish Centre. The PCC is a charity Registered with the Charity Commission of England & Wales and our number is: 1167639.

Furthermore, the PCC of St Mary the Virgin has complied with the duty under section 5 of the Safeguarding and Clergy Discipline Measure 2016 (duty to have due regard to House of Bishop’s guidance on safeguarding children and vulnerable adults).

Membership of the PCC

Members of the PCC are either elected by the Parochial Church Meeting or are ex-officio in accordance with the Church Representation rules. All church attendees are encouraged to register on the electoral roll and may stand for election to the PCC.

As a resolution was made and accepted at APCM on 13[th] June 2020, there are no longer any limits on the number of terms of office for any office bearers for the PCC.

During the year 2023 the following people served as members of the PCC.

Ex Officio Members

Clergy:

Revd Glynn Lautenbach

Wardens:

Michael Wood

Alison Eves

PCC members as a result of Deanery Synod Membership

Colin Thompson and Carol Jackson-Doerge were re-elected to Deanery Synod at the APCM on 15[th] May 2023 for a 3 year term of office till 2026.

PCC Secretary

Brian Thatcher

PCC Treasurer

Michael Wood

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Elected Members of the PCC

Name Elected at APCM Serve Until
Lesley Brigden 2021 2024
Iain Buchanan 2021 2024
Brian Thatcher 2022 2025
Amy Legg 2022 2025
Oliver Dillon 2023 2026
Marjorie McClure 2023 2026
Clive Eatwell 2023 2026
Anne Pocock 2023 2026

There was one vacancy following the APCM, which has not been filled.

Foundation Governors

The following have been appointed to serve on the school governing body of the church school as Foundation Governors from 23 September 2020 – 22 September 2024:

Mrs Deborah Marsden-Kwan

Revd Glynn Lautenbach

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Parochial Church Council of St Mary the Virgin, Burghfield

Structure, governance and management

Committees and Groups

The sub-committees of the PCC which continued through 2023 were the ‘Finance Committee’ dealing with parish share, accounts and general finances of the parish, the ‘Fabric Committee’ for care of the Fabric of the buildings and grounds, the ‘Worship and Discipleship Committee’ for matters relating to worship and discipleship and the ‘Creation Matters Committee’, focused on Eco Church, climate and environmental matters. In addition, we have a Fundraising Committee who provide fundraising events and opportunities to help address our financial challenges.

The Standing Committee comprising the Rector, Church wardens, PCC Secretary and PCC Treasurer, met regularly for decision making, support and Agenda planning.

PCC Vision Statement

Our vision statement for the church created in 2020 is as follows:

Welcoming all, growing faith, serving others

All aspects of the life, mission and ministry of our parish will be discerned and assessed in line with these three areas. During the year we began to work on our future Mission Action Plan (MAP)

In addition, we continue to work in accordance with the Diocesan ‘Common Vision’, to be a ‘A more Christ-like church for the sake of God’s world’ becoming a more Contemplative, Compassionate and Courageous Church.

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Parochial Church Council of St Mary the Virgin, Burghfield

Achievements and Performance

Church Attendance

The electoral roll was updated for 2023 and the number on the electoral roll recorded at the APCM was 71 (2022:72).

Through 2023 attendance settled into a more regular patten, and along with face-to-face attendance, we continued to offer the opportunity to join in the 10.00am service via zoom, denoting our main service as a ‘Hybrid’ service.

Hybrid Services 2023

Hybrid Services 2023
Attendance Communicants
10.00am Parish Communion
In Church 25 24
On Zoom 4 -

These numbers include a few children, some of whom have been admitted to Holy Communion according to Canon B15A. The average weekly attendance figures for the services are reached having taken an average attendance over several Sundays spaced across the year, when there are no ‘special’ Sundays:

During 2023 we celebrated 6 baptisms (2022:7) and 1 wedding (2022:3). We also conducted 9 funerals (2022:12) of which 6 took place in Church and 3 took place at a local crematorium. Through the year, 7 Interment of Ashes either into existing graves or new plots too place, and 2 burials were conducted into existing graves in the Churchyard, along with 2 burials in Burghfield Parish Burial Ground.

Review of the year

A full report on the activities of the parish during 2023 is found in the Annual Report booklet accompanying this document.

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Parochial Church Council of St Mary the Virgin, Burghfield

Financial Review

As attendances started to recover from the Covid-19 the war in Ukraine and other global uncertainties have had a major impact through high inflation especially fuel bills.

Voluntary income for General Expenditure, (excluding Gift Aid, Fundraising, Fees & Lettings), rose by 3.3% with the return of Collections offset by a fall in ‘lump sum’ donations. Gift Aid was steady, with an annual increase of 3.3%. Parish Centre lettings income increased by 11.5% but was still 25% down on prepandemic levels.

The final elements of the reorganisation of the Parish Centre were completed at the start of 2023 and there was no other major fabric expenditure in 2023. (We note the increase in Parish Centre Lettings.) The Fabric Team undertook many minor maintenance tasks during the year.

Although there was not a major fundraising event there were many events which were very community oriented. Advent Wreath making, the Festival of Creation, Film Night, Games Night, The Christmas Tree Festival and Italian Supper, the Coronation Supper, and a Craft Evening Club had income of £6,847. Other fundraising events included tea parties, soup lunches, Colin’s Quiz and many other activities. Congratulations are due to all involved.

The unprecedented increase of £7,500 on our fuel bills (£12.5k vs £5.1k), along with a Deanery Synod decision to divide the Deanery Share by the number of stipendiary clergy, left us unable to pay the amount allocated by the Deanery without breaching our duties as Trustees. Instead, we paid the amount calculated by the new Diocese of Oxford Parish Share formula, excluding any transitional allowance. The Deanery and Diocesan Finance teams were informed of this approach early in the year. In 2024 we are aiming to pay according to the same calculation, uplifted by 3% to align with the general Oxford Parish Share increase.

These resulted in an overall deficit on our Unrestricted Funds of £2.6k.

A collection of £205 was made for a leaving gift for Mark.

The following are some of the financial and ministerial matters relating to the church:

Despite it still being reduced by the current circumstances we have still received a substantial amount of additional income from the lettings of the Parish Centre. We are thankful for the work by past and present members of the congregation who had the insight and the commitment to provide this resource for us.

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Michael Wood

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Alison Eves

Treasurer & Churchwarden

Churchwarden

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Parochial Church Council of St Mary the Virgin, Burghfield

Independent Examiners Report to the PCC of St Mary the Virgin Burghfield

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Parochial Church Council of St Mary the Virgin, Burghfield

Financial Statements

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We would like to record our grateful thanks to Mr Oliver Dillon for preparing these accounts and both recognise and appreciate all the work and commitment, which have gone in to doing so.

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Rev'd Glynn Lautenbach (Rector & PCC Chair)

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Mr Michael Wood (PCC Treasurer)

Approved by the PCC on 18[th] March 2023 and signed on their behalf by Rev'd Glynn Lautenbach (PCC Chair) and Mr Michael Wood (PCC Treasurer)

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Parochial Church Council of St Mary the Virgin, Burghfield

Notes to the Financial Statements

The financial statements for the Parochial Church Council of St Mary the Virgin, Burghfield are prepared on a Receipt and Payments basis.

  1. Gift Aid was from the Parish Giving scheme throughout the year together with direct claims for 2022 and some Gift Aid envelopes from 2023.

  2. Other General Donations include private Gift Aided donations of £100 and £500 from parishioners, among other donations for General funds.

  3. The Fees Income is reported as the net amount payable to the PCC in accordance with C of E guidelines. Fees collected on behalf of the Diocese totalled £2,098. Transactions relating to payments for Bellringers, Vergers etc are also specifically excluded.

  4. There were many Fundraising events of various sizes raising a total of almost £8,900 for General Funds. These included the Festival of Creation, an Italian Supper, a Craft Evening, Advent Wreath Making and the Christmas Tree Festival. There were many smaller events such as Soup Lunches and Tea Parties which all made a valued contribution.

  5. The Parish Centre Lettings income showed some improvement but was still 30% below the 2019 level. Approximately 69% is from the Nursery.

  6. Interest Income on the J Harvey Thursby Memorial fund was allocated to defray costs incurred in maintaining the churchyard.

  7. Movements on Restricted Accounts:

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Activity on Restricted funds was quieter this year with the completion of the Parish Centre Servery. Income on the Restricted funds included Monthly pledges of £780 and a collection at the Bishop’s visitation.

  1. High fuel bills had a negative impact, being £7k higher at 247% of the previous year.

  2. Parish Share was paid for 11 months.

  3. Our Outward Giving figure for 2023 is £4,400. This year’s beneficiaries are:

Health Help International £800 Farm Africa £800 Burghfield United Charities £400 Spotlight £400 Yeldall Manor £500 Lawrence’s Roundabout £500 The Trussell Trust (WB Foodbank) £500 Home Start £500

  1. A deficit of £2,596 is reported on the unrestricted funds statutory accounts.

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Independent ENamlnerfs Repwt to the Mwnb•s of the Parothlal thurth Coundl of SL Mary the If8in. Burlhfield I report to the members on rny exarnination of the attounts of the Pafochial Church Council of St. Mary the Virgin. Burghfield. for the year ended 31 December 2023. Resp￿sIbIlItIeS and Basls of Repryt As the PCC5 trustee5. you are responsible for the Preparation of the accounts in accordante with the requirements of the Charities Art 20111.the Acf). I report in respectof my examination of the PCCS accounts carried out under section 145 of the Act and in carrying out my exarnination. I ha￿ folltr•￿l all the applicable Directions gNen by the Charity Commission under section 14515){b) of the ACL Independent Emamlnerfs Statement I have completed My exafflinalion. I confirrn that no rnaterièl matters have come to my attention in connection with the examination which gives me cause to believe that in, any material respert: the accounting records wefe not kept in accordance with section 130 of the Charities Act: or the accounts did 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 this report in order to enable a proper understsnding of the accounts to be reached. RO￿ M•cklnnon Fellow ol the Instlttrte of chart￿•0 kcthjntsnts In England and Wales 17 Hanningtons Way Burghfield Cornrnon RG7 3BE