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← The Parochial Church Council Of The Ecclesiastical Parish Of Holy Trinity Washington

2023-12-31-accounts

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The Parochial Church Council of the Ecclesiastical Parish of Holy Trinity Washington Registered Charity Number: 1168608

ANNUAL REPORT AND FINANCIAL STATEMENTS FOR THE YEAR ENDED 31[ST ] DECEMBER 2023

Administrative Address: Holy Trinity Church The Avenue Washington NE38 7LE.

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Objectives and activities

The Parochial Church Council (PCC) is the group of people who, with the Priest-inCharge (when not in vacancy), run Holy Trinity Church. We describe who we are, how we are elected and how we organise ourselves in this report. Our objectives derive from the Parochial Church Councils (Powers) Measure 1956. We have the responsibility, under the guidance of the Area Dean and the Archdeacon of Sunderland during Vacancy, in promoting in the parish the whole mission of the Church, pastoral, evangelistic, social and ecumenical. We have the ‘power, jointly with the minister, to determine the objects to which all moneys to be given or collected in church shall be allocated’. With the Churchwardens, all members of the PCC are responsible for the maintenance of the church building.

The 2004 report Mission-shaped Church sets out the meaning of the ‘whole mission of the church’ as currently interpreted by the Church of England. Worship lies at its centre. It aims to transform people through faith in Jesus Christ and the power of the Holy Spirit. It is welcoming, relates to local culture, and is open to change.

More recently, the published Vision and Strategy for the Church of England in the 2020s identifies three priorities for the church to realise its vision for mission this decade:

Holy Trinity Parish

  • the mixed ecology describes the flourishing of church and ministry in Church of England parishes, and in other communities of faith through things like church planting, fresh expressions of church, and chaplaincy and online.

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Holy Trinity Church is situated in Washington Village within the town of Washington. It is part of the Diocese of Durham within the Church of England.

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Achievements and Performance in 2023

There were 211 names on the Electoral Roll at the date of the Annual Parochial Church Meeting on 30 April 2023.

Average attendance at our Services in October 2023 were as follows:

8am Sunday Communion (fortnightly) – 14 adults and 2 children under 16.

10am Sunday Communion - 67 adults and 1 child under 16.

10am Tuesday Communion Service – 24 adults and 0 children under 16.

Holy Trinity Church has been in Vacancy throughout 2023 and the PCC are immensely grateful to the employees and many willing volunteers who have

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enabled so many aspects of the church’s life and activities to continue and be developed during 2023. We want to express particular thanks to staff and clergy who have done so much up front and behind the scenes.

They are:

Worship: Our worship services on Sundays and weekdays include quiet Said Communions, Sung Communions, and Morning Prayer. Our monthly service on the first Wednesday of the month, is an evening midweek service in the Celtic Iona tradition and has been lay-led during vacancy. Our informal, regular ministry to young children and their families, Connect 3, has been relaunched. It has been layled during vacancy by a dedicated team and is now a seasonal, themed event called “On the Hill”, with a carousel of craft, games, music and story activities for young families. We continue to consider it to be a key element in our outreach and mission. We have a strong tradition of lay participation in worship, with a rota of readers, intercessors, chalice assistants and servers. There is also an enthusiastic team of volunteers who act as welcomers, greeters and supporters at services including baptisms, funerals and weddings. We have a dedicated technical team who enable us to Zoom our 10am Sunday Eucharist and special services during the year. This is vitally important in allowing us to stay in touch with those who cannot attend in person. Thank you to the Zoom team for enabling this.

Alongside regular worship patterns there were several special services during the year. These have included special services at Candlemas, Palm Sunday, Easter and Advent including A Service of Hope & Light, Carols & Candlelight, 2 Christingle services and Christmas Day. The Christmas services were particularly well attended, especially the Carols & Candlelight Service and the Christingle services on Christmas Eve. The Deanery Confirmation service was this year held at Holy Trinity High Usworth. 3 adults and 1 child from our congregation were confirmed. The church continues to support the Remembrance service at the cenotaph and this year was again pleased to welcome several representatives from the local community and the British Legion to a special Remembrance Service which was held in place of the usual Eucharist.

The Holy Trinity Church Choir and organ continues to support the whole life of the church by playing a major part in leading our regular sung worship and special services throughout the church year. The choir has nurtured young talent and is a lively and dedicated dimension of our church life made up of a group of people

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spanning many decades in age, and our church family includes a wide variety of musical talents.

As last year, the PCC has continued to take a cautious and gradual approach to resuming the church’s worshipping life. It was noted that some members of the congregation wished to resume using the Common Cup as was now allowed at National level but others were still reluctant to do so. In order to allow free choice to all, it was agreed that two chalice assistants would carry a chalice during the distribution of Holy Communion, one for intinction by the priest and one for use as the Common Cup. Communicants who wish to use the Common Cup carry a small token with them to inform the Priest that they wish to use the Common Cup. Refreshments are served following the Tuesday morning service and the 10am Sunday morning service.

This year, during Vacancy, we have been delighted to welcome Bishop Paul, Bishop Sarah and Rev’d Canon Stephanie Clark to preside and join us in worship.

Prayer and Bible Study: All our church members are encouraged to pray and study the Bible regularly as part of their personal devotion. Committed volunteers distribute our weekly sheet with Bible readings and Collect prayers to those church members no longer able to get to church so easily. These are also accessible via the monthly update email and the website. Morning Prayer is said in church on Tuesdays and occasional Mondays series of Lent Bible study group meetings were held.

Occasional Offices : We offer regular baptism services and frequently host marriage services and funeral services. In 2023 there were:

Pastoral care and Safeguarding: Care and love for one another and our neighbours is a fundamental way we live out our Christian faith. The Ministry Team of three Licensed Lay Ministers (becoming two LLM in November due to retirement), one Licensed Lay Minister in training and two Lay Pastoral Ministers plus a churchwarden in vacancy, forms a structure of pastoral care for those in specific need. This group meets regularly to discuss specific pastoral issues and is supplemented by a small team of volunteers who distribute Communion at home. Our Parish Safeguarding Officer, Val Wilson, works closely with the Church Wardens, members of the Ministry Group, the PCC and others to ensure good practice across our whole church life in the safeguarding of children, young people and adults.

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Our groups and initiatives such as the Mothers’ Union, Craft Group, Flower Group, Trinity Trekkers, Women’s Fellowship and Choir are all ways we offer pastoral support within our church community and beyond. The Bereavement Team and the Baptism Team are lay-led and our monthly Bereavement Cafe has been renamed as “Coffee and Chat”. This is open to all and offers a valued space for pastoral care to those in our wider community, including those experiencing the effects of loneliness or bereavement, whether recently or over the long-term.

Young people and children: We have long-standing partnerships with several local primary schools. As a result of the Pandemic and 2 periods of vacancy, Holy Trinity visits in to schools to contribute to teaching, learning and collective worship in assemblies has not yet returned, something we would very much like to see develop again under the guidance of a new incumbent. However, this year we have been very busy welcoming classes and year-groups to the church building for lessons and special services and all the local primary schools were very supportive of our Advent activities. Our ‘On the Hill’ seasonal event is designed to engage the interests of children and their parents and seeks to build on relationships within the extended families of existing church members, those families approaching the church for baptisms and the wider community.

Community and social concern: As a church body, we seek to share the love of God in practical ways with the local community of our parish and enhance the lives of those who live here. This includes inviting and welcoming members of the community into our church building for our social initiatives, especially those designed to overcome social isolation. Members of the local community have walked with the Trinity Trekkers and volunteered in the churchyard. We further support and raise funds for local charities alleviating poverty and distress. We also participate in a range of community activities, including caring for the biodiversity and beauty of our churchyard as a valued public space within central Washington.

Our social and community engagement has blossomed this year following previous COVID restrictions. There have been a number of very enjoyable Beetle Drives when we have been joined by members of the wider community on a regular basis. In April, we held our first Come and Share Supper and Social Evening since 2019 which was a great success. There have been a number of very successful concerts held in church by both visiting choirs and brass bands and a concert in October by our own Holy Trinity Choir. This concert was a ‘Come and Sing’ event and we were delighted to be joined by a number of members of the local community, some of whom continue to sing with the choir. In June we held a Sponsored Hymn Sing with strawberry teas. The weekly Quiz Nights, which began during the lockdowns on ZOOM, continue to be a popular, fun way of keeping in touch with each other from the comfort of our own homes.

The church was opened to the public on several weekends over the summer and also in conjunction with the National Heritage Weekend in September. We held a very enjoyable and successful Christmas Fair, welcoming many people in to church as they visited Washington Village Christmas Fair.

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Fundraising initiatives and our monthly Foodbank Sunday in aid of WCFP have continued. A collection for the Washington Foodbank was made at our Harvest festival and over the Christmas period we raised funds for Wateraid, Sunderland homeless charities, The Children’s Society, Washington Mind – the mental health charity, and St Benedict’s Hospice, Sunderland.

Stewarding our building and churchyard for future generations : We want our church to be a continuing centre of Christian worship for generations to come, as it has been for many centuries. We further want to care for the natural environment around our church, including the green space of the churchyard. We seek to ensure our church building is well-maintained and fit for its purposes as a worship and community space. Bin enclosures have been bought to mask the bins and enhance the bin area, which is adjacent to a main point of access, particularly for funeral parties and disabled access.

We are extremely conscious of our responsibilities towards the environment and nature conservation. We have joined the Parish Buying Energy Basket for our utilities, ensuring 100% renewable electricity from onshore wind farms. We have been very mindful of our gas usage during the cost of living crisis, for both economic and environmental reasons.

The church building is generally in good repair and in good condition. Several small maintenance tasks were carried out over the course of the year and the PCC are grateful for the volunteer time and effort that ensured they happened. The PCC are also grateful for the support of Tyne and Wear Access who service our bell chains. The lighting issues were addressed in December when the manufacturers agreed to supply new units at a substantial discount, owing to faults with those originally fitted.

Our Flower Group has continued to excel this year, providing excellent flower arrangements throughout the year, and particularly ensuring that the church looks wonderfully inviting at the major festivals of the Christian year.

The PCC once again wishes to thank the Friends of the Old Churchyard, a small community-based group of volunteers made up of members of the community and our congregation, for all their efforts in restoring, maintaining and developing our grounds as a community friendly wildlife area and green space. It is a haven for wildlife and a variety of habitats are being developed to improve biodiversity. This has proved to be an excellent way of involving and engaging with the wider community, caring for our heritage and green space together. The considerable efforts made to restore and nurture our churchyard were recognised once again when Holy Trinity Churchyard received a Silver Gilt Award in the Conservation category in Northumbria in Bloom, alongside Washington Village’s success as Best Village in 2023.

Groups : Working groups, both existing and newly formed, are as follows:

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Vacancy: Over a number of weeks, the PCC took part in a “Parish Audit” with the support of our Parish Facilitator Rev’d Canon Steph Clark which resulted in her recommendation that we were ready to prepare for the process to appoint a new incumbent. To inform the process, members of the church family were invited to take part in an “Away Day” in August led by Archdeacon Libby Wilkinson. Following this, the Standing Committee then developed the Parish Profile which was accepted by the Diocese and a timeline was set for the appointment process to begin early in 2024.

Structure, governance and management: The method of appointment of PCC members is set out in the Church Representation Rules. All Church attendees are encouraged to register on the Electoral Roll and stand for election to the PCC.

Trustee meetings : The full PCC met 8 times during the year with a high level of attendance and a further 4 times to meet with Diocesan representatives regarding the Vacancy. These meetings have been either on Zoom or Hybrid meetings, enabling those unable to attend in person to participate. We are especially grateful for the volunteer effort and technical knowledge which allowed this accessibility.

Deanery Synod : Representatives from Holy Trinity Washington have continued to attend Deanery Synod meetings throughout 2023.

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Parochial Church Council Membership (Trustees)

PCC members (trustees) who have served during 2023 until the date this report was approved are:

approved are:
Priest-in-Charge: In Vacancy throughout 2023
Licenced Lay Ministers (Lay
Readers):		 Olive Sangha (Secretary)
Ann Forth Retired November 2023
Dinah Gollan
Churchwardens: Andrew Cresswell (Lay Chair)
Janet Miller
Representatives on the
Deanery Synod:		 Barbara Fiddy (2023 - 2026)
Ashley Powell (2023 - 2026)
Ann Harrison (2023 - 2026)
Christine Scorer (2023-2026)
Elected members: Dorothy Butler (2022-2025)
Geoff Judson (2021-24)
Jane McIntyre (2022-2024)
Beryl Nesbit (2023-2026)
David Petherick (2023 - 2026)
Judith Petherick (2022-2024) Treasurer
Janice Rutter (2023 – 2026)
Jonathan Tyerman (2022-2025)
David Wood (2021-2024)
Phyllis Wood (2023-2026)
Josh Hindmarch (2022-2025)
Shirley Talbot (2022-2025)
Elizabeth Slowther (2023-2025)
Observers: Choir Master: George Roberts
Safeguarding Officer: Valerie Wilson

Signed on behalf of the PCC

Andrew Cresswell Lay Chair

3[rd] April 2024

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Washington Parochial Church Council Financial Statements Forthe year ended 31 December2023

WashlnEton Parochlal Church Council V￿￿ntary1￿come Plannedgmng Cdiectionsathjothu¥%￿g Inc0￿￿taXre¢thre{[ Dowtp)nsan#fundrasingr•ibes Gr&nts rec¢hd 39ALC 39n3.L% 5.84191 5.842.91 11795. 11,795. 8,￿￿• LIY127 14153 9.438.74 5.852.10 5,852.10 7L410.J9 7A71.S3 I12￿08 7.￿3￿83 22.599.00 91,11&11 Banllnterest Rentsiiocon 196.41 7.150.00 91.19 7.42123 7.150.IKJ 23.64Ql#J .1￿00 Toiallnr￿lJ¥ReS￿TCoS A¢ti¥lt6esDlrexUyRelatirftotheWorkdtheCIM¥¢h Dkjcesan parlshshare WèJdmgandkneralctst 56.400. 53.llSOO 7A49. 2.185.80 300.00 owni5ts 2.853.Wl I&￿90 L3B112 1,382. 827￿2 1,&55.04 810.81 914.78 woth.ng Lighiand hèat Insur3nce RePaI￿an1]ma1nlenar￿e Z418.98 3207.78 3￿1￿1 3,69LSI Cniiectf&s Worslmpand savtcecasts 1.ts&84 917.78 4.914.50 9Y.92 21025 871.08 &405AO 5.043.16 5AOS.4D 5.OQ.16 CIN)irandoTgani5ts CImw¢h14anag￿￿#ta￿d￿dmh￿$tr￿l￿0n OfficeandadmliiisiFationcosts Dofftarionspaid 3.789.09 Z30L02 &789.09 130L02 090.11 4J78.iVJ 3.174.91 7.e5291 Toial ExWxIl￿ I￿￿elE¥4yelld1Iu BanAcCountsWhtFc￿arty 78A8L68 30.149.37 592 lo9.281￿/ 87.762.40 T475537

Washiwn Parochial Churth Councll na￿lal$t31*M￿fOrthÉ￿rtn0Èd 31 Deeemb¢r2013 CaFrfed ForwaNI Llwwestricted Fvnd5 7&581.68 IOIWI.19 107.68&50 72.755.37 Designated Funds -Yovthènd Children's Fund 1.578SJ 27.786.19 1%.41 Th.68 I.￿27 210.35 1.368.15 27,982.60 -8vilding DevelopmentFund - FLowerftJrMJ L382.12 Totsloewated Fund5 30.143 1.7&68 LS9147 28￿8 Restrr¢ted Fynds - Frientsofthechurchyard - Dio¢esan Youth Grant 186.45 500.00 TotslRestricted Fund5 X2 68&45 Totalreserye5 10926L97 10&74140 10927897

Washington Parochial Church Council ststement otassets and Ilablittlesas a 31 De¢ember2023 21r23 2022 Monetary assets Wirgrn Moneyaccourt 34.978.08 34.781.67 Santsndercurrentaccwrt 68.547£5 74,391.48 Cash in hand 199.47 88.82 Tt)tsl cash and bank 103.725.40 109.261.97

WASHINGTON PAROCHIAL CHURCH COUNCIL FINANCIAL STATEMENTS FOR THE YEAR ENDED 315t DECEMBER 2023 INDEPENDETrft EXAMINER'S REPORT TO THE PCC OF HOLY TRINITY WASHINGTON I report to the trustees on my examination of the accounts for the year ended 31 st December 2023. Respective responsibilities of the Trustees and Independent Exarniner As trustees of the charFty. the members of the PCC are responsible for the preparation of the accounls. They consider that an audrt is not required for this year under section 14412) of the Chaiitie5 Act 2011 (the 2011 Act) and that an independent examinatiorF is needed. It is my responsibilty to examine the accounts under section 145 of the 2011 Act, follow the procedures laid down in the General Directions given by the Chanty Commissioners section 145(5}{bl of thè 2011 Act and state whether particular matters have come to my attention. Basis of Independent Examinerfs Statement My examination was carri&l out in aCC¢)rdan￿ wrth the General Directions given by the Charity Commission. An examination includes a revtew of the accounting records kept by the charity and a ¢omparison of the accounts p￿sented wrth those records. It also indudes consideration of any unusual items or disdosures in the accourrts. and seth.ng exrjanations from Ihe management commrtt Con￿rning any such matters. The procedures undertaken do not provide all the evidence that would be required in a full audit, and consequerrtly I do not expiess an audit opinion on the accounts. Independent Examinerfs Statement I have completed my examination. I confim 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 respect of the charty required by section 130 of the 2011 Act; or 2. the accounts do not accord with those records", or 3. the accounts do not comply with the applicable r￿Uirements Con￿rning the form and content of accounts set out in the Charities (Accounts and Reports) Regulations 2008 other than any requirement that the accounts give a Ytue and fair view which is not a matt considered as part of an independent examination. I have no concems and have come across no other matter5 in connection with the examination to which attention should be drawn in this report in order to enable a proper understanding of the accounts to be reached. Catherine Milbankè FCA 20 Mrtford Close H￿h Shincliffe Durham Date 25 March 2024