- _vision : To be a growing and loving church family through_ - _which God transforms lives and builds community._ Charity Commission Trustees Annual Report for the year ending Dec 31[st] 2023 St Francis Church, West Bessacarr Registered Charity No 1169458 ## **Aims and Purposes** St. Francis Parochial Church Council (PCC) has the responsibility of cooperating with the incumbent, the Reverend Richard Heard, in promoting in the ecclesiastical parish the whole mission of the Church, pastoral, evangelistic, social and ecumenical. The PCC is also specifically responsible for the maintenance of St Francis Church and Meeting Room and its operation both as a church and as a centre for community activity in Bessacarr. ## **Objectives and Activities** The PCC is committed to enabling as many people as possible to worship at our church and become part of our parish community at St Francis. At each meeting the PCC reviews how effective our recent activities have been. Our services and worship put faith into practice through prayer and scripture, music and sacrament. Our pastoral team works with those in the church community who have needs due to ill health, ageing, isolation, financial or other reasons. The PCC also sees that part of its evangelistic role is to minister to the local community through a variety of activities based at our hall and café which provide a social and community benefit as well as the opportunity to discover, explore or grow in faith for those who are interested. The church hall and café is centred on the shops in Nostell Place, West Bessacarr and so we reach local people as well as many of whom do not live in the ecclesiastical parish. When planning our activities for the year the incumbent and the PCC bear in mind the Commission’s guidance on public benefit and, in particular, the specific guidance on charities for the advancement of religion. In particular we try to enable ordinary people to live out their faith as part of our parish community through: Worship and prayer; learning about the Gospel and developing their knowledge and trust in Jesus. Provision of pastoral care for people living in the parish Evangelistic and outreach work In addition, we offer the use of the building, at a rate which is aimed to cover our costs, to any member of the local community regardless of race, religion or any other factor with the one proviso that only Christian worship takes place on the premises. To facilitate this work it is important that we maintain the fabric of St Francis Church and Meeting Room. As the year progressed more of our activities have resumed since the interruption of the Covid Pandemic. By the end of the year, most but not all activities had resumed. ## **Achievements and Performance** ## **A: Worship and prayer** We offer a communion service at 10am each Sunday morning. Part way through the service the children go to a separate space for their group where with two leaders they usually explore the same themes as the adults but in a way that is accessible and fun for them. From October we added an additional service once a month at 8.15am on the first Sunday of the month. This was a “Book of Common Prayer Communion Service”. On these first Sundays we do not have communion or a children’s group at the 10am service but have a different style of service accessible for all ages. The church continued to offer morning-prayer including Bible study every week day morning. We also had several extended prayer and worship events to draw closer to God. The WhatsApp prayer group for urgent prayer continues to be well used. Growth Groups continued to meet online or in person. From July to early December part of the hall space was closed off for the building redevelopment but in the smaller space we still managed to fit everyone into church by putting chairs much closer together and having chairs much closer to the communion table. Being physically closer also helped us to draw closer to one another in other ways after previously being spaced so far apart for fear of Covid. We grew closer to one another after the service by serving drinks in the worship space rather than in the cafe space so that everyone could stay together and there was more mixing. All our services are open to the whole community and are advertised on our notice boards, website and social media. We also offer a number of seasonal guest services to help people celebrate the seasons and also to people outside the church community an easier way to connect. ## **B: Pastoral care** A group meets together regularly with the incumbent to discuss the health and personal problems which members of the congregation are facing. Any practical help which could be of benefit is arranged and prayer is offered in all cases. Café Theo our community cafe was very popular with both church members and the wider community between January and July. During the building developments the cafe met in the chapel or meeting room offering a reduced menu but ensuring that people could still meet with one another. In December the cafe moved to its new expanded location. While the staff were getting used to the equipment a reduced menu was offered and before returning to a full menu in the New Year. Fledglings continues to be a popular toddler group. It begins with singing time and a bible story and song. Then the children play with a vast array of toys and activities giving them opportunity to learn to interact with others. Parents and carers as well as enjoying watching their little ones play get the chance to find support and encouragement from each other and the team. Part way through the play time there is drink and snack time for adults and children. The group finishes with more singing time and announcements about upcoming activities and a prayer. All major expenditure is by agreement with PCC. The work with older people also involves much pastoral care. There is a different activity each Monday afternoon. This draws in good numbers of people from the wider community as well as people from the church congregation. The team are always ready to offer a listening ear and offer support and help where needed. This group continued during the building work by meeting in the chapel and hall. In August we ran a very popular holiday at home which gave much more time for relationships to develop and pastoral needs to be heard. Here again overall financial control rests with PCC. There are always trained listeners on hand if bereaved people want to talk through their experience of grief with someone outside of their immediate family. Mothers’ Union is financially independent. It meets monthly and providing pastoral support, spiritual input and learning about a variety of topics. The group raises money for Mother Union Charities and puts on events for the wider community. Until the building work it also held a popular a monthly Soup Lunch in the café which will be resumed early in 2024. The Tuesday evening outreach youth group called Connect ran with a team of St Francis volunteers and two Youth for Christ workers who were able to lead the group until the summer holidays. These provided opportunities for young people to explore faith and/or grow in faith as well as being a safe place for young people to have fun and also have a listening ear if they wished to speak about the issues they were struggling with in their life. In October when the youth group restarted it was renamed as Fusion. Integrate - the families group was re-launched in February 2023 and met monthly. This provides an opportunity for adults and children to develop relationships learn about the faith and receive support. ## **C: Deanery Synod** Three members of PCC sit on the Deanery Synod and bring issues from the wider church to the notice of PCC. Usually Synod meets 3 times a year. We explore a variety of topics this year including church and its potential to positively impact wider society, focal ministry and the gospel of Mark. ## **D: Mission and Evangelism** As part of our vision statement, we seek to be a church that grows, loves, builds community and brings transformation in Christ’s name. To this end our café, toddlers, community fun mornings, youth-work, older people’s work all seek to bring something of God’s love and care to those outside of our “regular congregation”. People from the congregations are encouraged to seek to make a positive, loving difference wherever they are and whatever they are doing. At Christmas we provided over 60 food parcels for low income families at 3 local schools. We also provided smaller gift parcels to those outside the church community who had recently been bereaved or had experienced some significant difficulty that year as a way of practically demonstrating love and care for them. A small team provided regular assemblies at both local schools and also received one of the schools to church for a special Christmas service. In February we held a big community pancake party that was free as a way of showing love to the community and also to help people know about the different activities we have on offer. Cafe Theo, Fledglings Toddlers, J.O.Y (Just Older Youngsters) & Connect / Fusion and Integrate all seek to provide practical help and support for the people who attend these groups, and they are also a way for people to find out about the faith if they wish and also find out where they can find out more. Holiday at Home is a three day event aimed at older people that provides a variety of activities to enable people to have fun, build friendships and break down isolation. Gentle "thought for the day" short talks are also provided each day in order to help people to know how to begin to make connections. The services in the building and online as well as special seasonal services, and weddings, baptisms and funerals always have an aim to help people to grow in faith and also designed to help those outside the faith to find reasons and practical ways to join the faith and get to know God for themselves’ when they are ready. The Green Church group continued to look at ways of helping the church as an organisation and church members to become more environmentally aware looking at practical ways to reduce waste including plastic waste, recycle and reduce carbon emissions. This included looking at eco themes in some of our groups and in our worship. The Church achieved the A Rocha Bronze eco church award. From July to December building work redeveloped the cafe and kitchen, provided storage in the hall and developed the toilets to include two fully accessible toilets. This was to enable us to be more effective in reaching out to more people through the cafe, more community meals and more welcoming of wheelchair users. ## **E: Relationships with other Churches** The church is part of a deanery and the incumbent is co-area dean and so is involved in meetings that are at least monthly and the church seeks to be engaged in supportive relationships with other Anglican churches through the deanery chapter. The curate is involved with the weekly One Heart One Voice ecumenical ministers’ prayer meeting for Doncaster. ## **Volunteers** An organisation such as ours could not exist if it were not for the voluntary efforts of a considerable number of people. The PCC are grateful for all who make the church the lively and vibrant place it is. ## **Financial Review** ## **Treasurer’s Report 2023** _For ease of understanding figures below are approximates, commentary is given for principal expenditures only_ ## **Giving / Income** The year was dominated by the long awaited commencement of the building project to provide new toilets, kitchen and storage. A decision was taken by PCC to withhold payment to the Diocese from June to December in order to manage our cash flow against the backdrop of a pay and claim back grant from FCC for £100,000. As at the year-end we had paid over £242,000 toward the project with more payments expected during quarter one of 2024. Formal giving in the year was slightly below budgeted level at £86,285. However, on-going giving to raise funds for the building renewal continued and we raised £81,754. A closer analysis shows giving through plate rose by 182% as worshipping in the building donations returned to pre Covid levels. Envelopes declined whilst standing orders (bank transfer and PGS) grew by 1%, yet fell short of our budgeted target by 4%. Gift aid funding was up 15% and was above expectations and added £1,794 to income above budget. We continued to support the activity of a youth worker throughout the year with regular income / grants covering the costs. The Parish Giving Scheme (PGS) continues to be the predominant way of donating to the church accounting for 73.6% of our income compared to Plate at 4.1%, direct debit 13.2% and of course envelopes at 9.1%. The scheme continues to be the best way of donating to the church as it prompts people to regularly review their gifting and delivers the benefit of receiving gift aid almost immediately as opposed to waiting for an annual return. Once again I would like to make my request for as many people as possible to consider moving to donation via this scheme to guarantee our cash flow. ## **Activities** Hall Activity – rent struggled during the year against 2022, and delivered £8,900 income (87% of budget) against a backdrop of losing half our hall to the building site from June to December. Dance On, Rugbytots and the various uniform groups form the mainstay of our income. We need to continue to seek new renters to drive income back to the pre covid levels of nearly £18,000. Toddler activity – the group re-established itself as a profitable outreach based on donations it delivered £1,500 (50% above budget) despite space limitations. Cafe Activity – Our cafe managed to achieve sales of £27,700 despite operating on a dramatically reduced menu for 6 month. It remains one of our key outreach activities and thanks must go to Liz Smith, Jodie Picken and the myriad of volunteers who make it such a success. General events – our outreach events were curtailed during the year due to the building work, however, we did run holiday at home and the activities produced a small surplus of £50. We once again delivered bags of kindness during December. These activities were funded through a combination of grants and the generosity of people’s time and financial donations. ## **Funds** - Building Fund – grew during the year but was largely utilised on the building project leaving just £657. - Cafe grant fund – fully utilised on building project - Flower fund – grew by £87 to £399. - Toothill Altar fund had no transactions during the period. - JOY fund reduced by £712 during the year but still boasts over £3,536 to enable further community support during 2024. - Legacy fund – fully utilised on building project, however, church members are encouraged to consider this as an option for their own wills. - Kitchen / Building designated fund – fully utilised on building project - Finally, the General reserve increased by £2,727 – largely as a result of withholding payments to the Diocese to provide cash coverage during the building project. At the year end we still face additional building costs that are expected to be outlaid during the first quarter of 2024. The final balance will continue to enable PCC to utilise the reserve against a number of options including common fund, building or youth work. ## **Charity** In addition to our own funding we collected and distributed money to ten charities – Age UK, Shelter, Air Ambulance, CMS, MAF, Christian Aid, A Rocha, Calcutta Cathedral, Leprosy Mission, Trussel Trust, Children's Society and the appeal through DEC (Syria). We also collect food for the Foodbank a number of volunteers collect items and deliver to another church under their Freely Given, Given Freely scheme. Due to banking problems we were unable to fulfil our commitment to Agape - £500, but we hope to restore this relationship during 2024. ## **Conclusion** Our overall funds declined from a starting position of £149,441 to £69,110, a decrease of £80,331 which reflects the significant cost of the building work. We disappointingly had to reduce our commitment to the Diocese share, but hope to make good our shortfall as funds stabilise upon completion of the building work. Finally we continue our expansion of faith and outreach into our community and trust that the revitalised building will invigorate our activities. Once again I conclude that we remain in a strong position to continue our growth. My thanks extend to Liz Smith for her accurate recording of transactions and Michael Fenton for his support with the auditing of the figures. ## **Structure, governance and management** The method of appointment of PCC members is set out in the Church Representation Rules. At St Francis the membership of the PCC consists of the incumbent, the churchwardens and members elected by those members of the congregation who are on the electoral roll of the church. All those who attend our services and are part of our worshiping community are encouraged to register on the Electoral Roll and stand for election to the PCC. The PCC members are responsible for making decisions on all matters of general concern and importance to the parish including deciding how the funds of PCC are to be spent. The full PCC met on ten occasions during the year with an average level of attendance. Urgent business was dealt with by a Standing Committee consisting of the incumbent, any curate, Church Wardens’, PCC lay vice chair, PCC secretary and PCC treasurer which also acts as the agenda committee for PCC. This committee, except in an emergency, has a limited budget and reports all matters of relevance back to PCC for approval. ## **Administrative Information** St Francis Church is situated at Nostell Place, West Bessacarr, Doncaster. It is part of the Diocese of Sheffield within the Church of England. The correspondence address is St Francis Parish Office, Nostell Place, Doncaster, DN4 7JA. The PCC is a body corporate (PCC Powers Measure 1956, Church Representation Rules 2006) and has the Registered Number 1169458 with the Charity Commission. PCC Members who have served from 1[st] Jan 2023 until the date this report was approved are: ## Ex Officio members |Incumbent:|Rev Richard Heard|Chairman| |---|---|---| |Wardens|Mr Glyn Davies|From April 2023| ||Mr Philip Bennett|From April 2023| |Elected members|Mrs Christine Ellison Deanery Synod|From April 2023| ||Mrs Marlene Gannon Deanery Synod|Until April 2023| ||Mr Phillip Jackson|Treasurer| ||Mrs Elisabeth Hallam|| ||Mrs Elizabeth Gibson|| ||Mrs Geraldine Kaill|| ||Mrs Catherine Marshall|Until April 2023| ||Mrs Cynthia Gaylor|From April 2022| ||Mrs Pauline Archer|From April 2023| ||Mr Alastair Hall|From April 2023| ||Mrs Jodie Picken|From April 2023| ||Mrs Liz Smith|From April 2023| **Approved by the PCC on 20/05/24 and signed on their behalf by Rev Richard Heard (PCC Chairman)** st.francis Church •• St Francis Church West Bessacarr Registered Charity No 1169458 Annual Accounts Year Ending December 31st 2023 IHARITY COMMISSION FOR Ih'GiANDMIOVIAiES Th• Partxlal ch￿￿h Councll OFTh• E¢¢l•¥laidul Par15h Of SL Fr•D¢b, Wegt ￿¥aCa Recei ts and ments accounts CC16a For the period frt>m 151 Janua 2023 31st December 202 Section A Receipts and payments Unrestricted nds Restricted nd Endowment ndA Totsl funds Last year tr*th• n•*r•*t£ toth• loth• Dyr•¥tÉ loth•warq*t£ Re¢el ts Volunta Glvln Planned Giving atSeNces eroiwnuan un specialappeats (iewrring & Merne not atready knsted tota ss income 69.640 6,876 13,967 62.¥Jg 5,912 23M79 76,709 3.175 JM75 or 131111 1X6$3 sse an Inves $a tota 26S294 ments osts of •ngratln lunds Cost ￿fUndraiSing￿￿¥ityls Church activitios MiSSvJn giving and 2U35 40.605 23.853 40.SO5 SèLgries. wages, antt hOAOrydiia Ckroy 2nd 5￿ff expenses MI￿0￿ and evangelism Ji19t 16mO fwshlknx￿nt(cts(¥￿￿j 20,779 C4Sh ITh Hand 175 rotal cash funds 32.326 36,859 Unrestrictod funds to M4r*st£ Rèstricted fund8 *mt£ Endowment fund$ to ￿￿10$1£ FC¢ Gtwrt SO￿2& FuTrdto*kn*h cUrrnntval￿fj Detai15 83 Investment assets Details 84 Assets retsined for the charity's own use Fund tr*whiEh mounto on41 Wh•n du• Details B5 Liabilities 117 Signed by one Iru51ee5 w behamof 8 the trustees Print Name Dale of S*Jnature Phill Jacks Rthard Heard Hall Aetivl 2023 8,941.20 2022 10258.44 2023 6.133.28 10.223.97 3,263.31 724.05 20,344.61 2022 4.886.90 9.41B.51 4.835.30 265.04 19.405.75 Out51de Rents Toddkr Renls(setAth*J Cafe Heat & L￿t LIIHtss YP WaJe5{•th 2J C05ts1*4J Aikninistsrbon fv*3) 8.941.20 10.258.44 To PCC 11.403.41 9.147.31 2. W6ges￿$tsBIed*S1fibY￿ed 1131) the Gene￿(FI￿ld?￿d Ir2tolhgHalALirty.1/6Axb)e C&lè. 3 Admfftlsitw￿costs aTrdi&tributsd 1121olh& G&x*xIFtmdaJ* If210 11* Toddler Activi 2022 182 48 2023 2022 Cash Retsin Cash Spent Paby Frcm Bank 395.(XJ 1,3¥J.01 Cash lo bank 1.501.43 1,039.31 Cash ID H￿￿ 1.501.43 1.221.79 395.LK) 1,393.01 TOPC ,1LI5.43 171.22 Cafe Activi Floal Cafe Income 2022 110.(XI 2&717.13 2023 8.026.62 20.057.10 1.362.95 3,407.99 175.00 33.029 6e 2022 7.333.72 18.471.37 1.085.98 3,139.50 100.C¥J 30,130.57 I¢￿. 27.758.30 SuFpIE5 1 Wages Cafe Wag25 U14rtES frth ti Ckaning W4F5{rt*ZJ 27.858.30 28,827.13 To ButhvJ Fund To G￿ra4 Fund 5.171.36 27,858.30 1.303.44 28,827 13 I UfvW*s ÉJxlsarp ￿￿￿￿edWI41h$IO¢he GenernlFLrt. 2114thskn thecafé, W141h 10 Ihe Hal￿￿￿ty 2. W￿$¢0￿$ IrJ 101hoG￿er￿F1MdaTr￿ 112to lheHalAclinty.lffjlw￿ Cdé. Mess urch & Meet Afid Eat M8et And Eat DoTr4buns 2023 381.80 2023 20r2 876_75 381.80 876.75 2200 26.30 To PCC 359 80 850.45 Events Events Incon Integrate 2￿23 581.29 231.46 2022 2023 531.28 895.09 2022 1.194.64 E¥er&s EwKliture 812.75 79).r ,426.37 1.194_64 To PCC 613.62 404.58 GtneTal Fund Plate Envelopes Direct lo Bank DonatKy)s 2tr23 2.889.30 6.459.￿1 61.473.63 1,499.45 I3.￿.85 1230.65 11.403.41 1.1rffj.43 2023 23.833.35 2.197.53 2.044.43 6,815.98 724.05 1.087.77 3,042 87 3D2.67 2022 55.000.00 1.199.41 1.628.97 6.279.00 265 04 1.611.77 2.473.86 510.32 1.734.39 7.536.IXI 60.893.52 1.295.46 14.$59.19 165.12 9.147_31 171.22 Dw&5e Share UpkeEP of SeryKes UtiIitN85 more T) Wages (note AdminEtartion r* J) Running Costs tfisurarKe 8nd LI￿nt￿. Interest Hall (see ToddWs (see TothknAcWJ Coffee Mornings Fee5 sp0ft￿ed Walk Meet And Eal (se*A¢tr•*) Events (SSèJWFJ Cafè{seeAWJ MiscellaneDUS Ilnc FurEoughl Reserves Transfer Cash Adjustm Chjtseach Ischotls Work8rl 1.624.fy) 838.87 359.&) 613.62 5.171.36 410.(K] 1,517.00 8.01 850.45 384.00 70.00 2,429.81 17700 jun￿ Churth 1.303.44 535 15.00 15.00 aF* 192.48 MBS Buthlw)g Prc*ct(8￿rl{t￿rne1 ¥J Propct IFCCI kiNElkr*ous Ilnc Fuwhl 12.75 30,5W.85 451.90 7,069.97 T4.￿.66 78.535.11 71.560.39 78.672.90 Charwje li FuThJ 2.802 27 137.79 t. Uli&tBsLwI$s￿th5f￿b￿ted￿4th8 *othe &￿ernIF￿￿ 2n4ths 10 thg Caffé. arn19114th101hellalActh*y. 3 Wages thsithleLI IrJiotho GsfiernlF￿daN0 lfdtofvHaVkb￿.yffj Coré. 4. RunnMgeostsa￿ disli[b￿$¢I IA lo IITe Genetx1Funda￿I3M lo lh8 Desi nated Funds Dishwasher Kit¢hen G￿en ch￿￿h 2023 2023 2022 2.946.￿* 1.(KKJ.￿) kthtyj Projecl IBla¢klhomel Green Chur( DKJ consequenty rD 6 9￿7 a5 b whether ts accounts present a rue aThJ fair VI￿ aKI trE report 6 limited b trM)se sd (xrt ri ts statement Independent examiner's statWT*rt h ¢onneclion nry exwrthnati(n, m matter t* rm kn nry atten1j￿. t wtiich grves nE feascmthe cau* b tdieve that n materia rew* the requirements: to keep accounb'ng records n a(uKdaft￿ ¥Mih 1Xs of trE 3)11 Art awj to prepare accounts vlich the rewth th ccffl￿y vath Ihe accounting requ1rerr￿nts of ts 2M1 Act 2 to ￿1C￿, n ny op1r1￿, attenb'on stKKthJ ￿ draATr n orthr *) enable a prw understanding of the accounts b Ix reac￿￿￿. MICHAEL fAVID FETrffON B4 (H￿￿) FCA BFP EIP 25 Church Lane Dartey Abbey Derby DE22 1EX 8 PJTJL 2024 ## **INDEPENDENT EXAMINER'S REPORT TO THE PCC OF ST FRANCIS CHURCH, BESSACARR, DONCASTER.** I report on the accounts of the Church for the year ended 31 **[st ]** December 2023. ## **Respective Responsibilities of Trustees and Examiner** The Church's trustees are responsible for the preparation of the financial statements. The Church's trustees considers that an audit is not required for this year under section 144(2) of the Charities Act 2011 (the 2011 Act) and that an independent examination is needed. It is my responsibility to: - examine the financial statements (under section 145 of the 2011 Act); - follow the procedures laid down in the general directions given by the Charity Commission (under section 145(5)(b) of the 2011 Act); and - state whether particular matters have come to my attention. ## **Basis of independent examiner's report** My examination was carried out in accordance with the general Directions given by the Charity Commission. An examination includes a review of the accounting records kept by the charity and a comparison of the accounts presented with those records. It also includes consideration o:f any unusual items or disclosures in the accounts and seeking explanations from you as trustees concerning any such matters. The procedures undertaken do not provide all the evidence that would be required in an audit, and consequently no opinion is given as to whether the accounts present a 'true and fair view' and the report is limited to those matters set out in the statement below. ## **Independent examiner's statement** In connection with my examination, no matter has come to my attention: 1. which gives me reasonable cause to believe that in any material respect the requirements: • to keep accounting records in accordance with section 130 of the 2011 Act; and - to prepare accounts which accord with the accounting records and comply with the accounting requirements of the 2011 Act - have not been met; or 2. to which, in my opinion, attention should be drawn in order to enable a proper understanding of the accounts to be reached. MICHAEL DAVID FENTON BA (Hons) FCA BFP PG DIP 25 Church Lane Darley Abbey Derby DE22 1EX 8 APRIL 2024