A G E N D A
For the postponed Annual General Meeting of the Friends of Steyning Parish Church to be held on 18 November 2024 at 2 pm at Rosebank, Jarvis Lane, Steyning BN44 3GL
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Welcome
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Minutes of the 2023 AGM (circulated with this Notice).
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Election of Trustees. Four of our current Trustees are offering themselves for re-election; they are
Jeremy Tomlinson (Chair) Sarah Leigh (Secretary) John Downe
Tony Struthers
And one new person has been nominated, our new Treasurer, Julia Bonner.
So these five are standing for election on 18[th] November 2024.
The Rev. Mark Heather , as Vicar, and Sarah Lavery as Churchwarden are ex officio Trustees so do not require election. Don Harry, who has been our Treasurer since the Friends began is standing down.
Other nominations for Trustees can be made by any member and should be sent to Sarah Leigh, the Secretary on the nomination forms enclosed with this notice before 12[th] November 2024, please.
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Chairman’s Report (circulated).
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Treasurer’s Report and Accounts (circulated).
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Fundraising Report.
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Any other business.
Minutes of the sixth AGM of the Friends of Steyning Parish Church held on Sunday 8th October 2023 in the Church
Present 37 members: Christine Aubrey, Tom Aubrey, Geoff Barnard, Sally Barnard, Elisabeth Brown, Tony Brown, Angela Browse, Helen Cooper, Felicity Downe, John Downe, John Edwards, Clare Flegg, Tony Flegg, Hilary Galley, Pat Grimster, Edward Harrison, Kate Harrison, Donald Harry, Linda Harry, Mark Heather, Sarah Lavery, Sarah Leigh, Nick Linfield, Sarah Linfield, Ann Long, Glyn Peat, Lesley Peat, Janet Pennington, Penelope Rodgers, Maxine Rawlings, Brian Sawyer, Anne Simmonds, Sylvia Struthers, Tony Struthers, Jeremy Tomlinson, Len Warner, Penny Warner.
Apologies - David Ansell, Margaret Ansell, Julia Bonner, Dorothy Denby, Anita Evans, John Evans, Chris Fitton, David Fitton, Alec Harden, Elisabeth Harden, Peter Harris, Carol Mitchell, Heather Price, Penny Reeve, Lindsay Sharrier, John Tolputt, Patta Tolputt, Jenny Toomey.
1. The Minute s of the 2022 AGM were approved and signed. 2. Election of Trustees: It was proposed by Len Warner, seconded by Elisabeth Brown, that Jeremy Tomlinson (Chair) Don Harry (Treasurer) Sarah Leigh (Secretary and Publications Secretary, John Downe and Tony Struthers be re-elected as Trustees for another year. Mark Heather (Vicar,) and Sarah Lavery (Churchwarden) were trustees ex officio (Sarah having replaced Bill Thompson as ex officio churchwarden) so did not need to be elected. This was carried unanimously. Liz Harries was not seeking re-election as Trustee; the Chairman thanked her for her support during her seven years as Trustee. 3. Chairman’s report (copy appended). Jeremy Tomlinson introduced his Report which had been circulated. Sarah Leigh continues as Secretary for the moment and is also covering the role of Membership Secretary. (A new Membership Secretary was badly needed and any applications or ideas about whom to approach would be most welcome!) A new Treasurer, Julia Bonner, will shortly take over from Don Harry who will shortly be stepping down after seven years’ service as Treasurer. 4. Treasurer’s Report (accounts attached). Don Harry, Treasurer, presented the accounts for 2022 which had been circulated and are attached to these Minutes. The Accounts show a balance of £102,164.95 at the close of the year. Income was derived from members’ donations and standing orders, donations and the sale of drinks at the seven events we organised during the year, but most of all from the most generous legacy of our member Millicent Honeywood, of over £76,000. We are now getting interest on our charity account of over £350 a month. We have now after a long struggle managed to set up online banking which will make things much easier in future. There were going to be large calls on our funds when the Church Development Plan got going. There were no questions and the accounts were approved. 5. Fundraising Report. Christine Aubrey, from the Friends’ Committee, and Chairman of the Project and Fundraising Group (of the Church), reported on current fundraising. The group had appointed professional fundraisers as planned and the feasibility stage of the fundraising was continuing. The role
of the Friends at this stage was to make contributions to the fundraiser’s fees.
The plans have been widely consulted on and we know what we want to do but the recent Quinquennial Report on the state of the Church fabric has caused problems by disclosing that once again the Tower needs extensive repair; it may cost something like £150,000. We may not be able to do everything we would like to, and this is under discussion at present. The fundraisers are suggesting we limit our fundraising to about £1 million. 6. Adopting Revised Rules for the Friends . Sarah Leigh explained the draft Rules which had been circulated and are attached to these Minutes. The original need for the Rules adopted in 2017 had been the need to replace the third object of the Friends in the draft submitted to the Charity Committee (involving the community in the Church) which had been rejected by the Charity Commission as not being technically charitable, plus the intention to keep membership of the Friends separate from the religious life of the Church, so that non-religious members of the community would feel comfortable being members of the Friends. The present proposed amendments reflected the discomfort of some of us with the word ‘secular’ to reflect this latter element. This had been introduced to replace the original word ‘worship’. But now some of us are unhappy with the word ‘secular’ because it suggests that we shouldn’t have religious music (like the Bach Passions or Messiah for example), and also the word secular has a secondary meeting referring to non-monastic clergy. So we propose using the phrase ‘will not contain prayer or worship’ instead. The other amendment is a purely technical one relating to our system for recruiting new members. There were no questions or objections and the amended Rules were approved unanimously by the 37 members present (listed above). The resulting text of the Rules is appended to these minutes. 7. There being no further business the meeting was closed. (Note – news of membership and publications developments was included in the September 2023 Newsletter.
Nomination Paper
If you would like to nominate a trustee to the Charity please complete the form below, get your nominee to sign it to indicate consent, and return it to Sarah Leigh, Secretary, by email to Sleigh1180@gmail.com or by hand or post to Rosebank, Jarvis Lane, Steyning BN44 3Gl
I wish to nominate …………………………………….to be a trustee of the Charity.
Please print your name ………………………………….
Signed…………………………..date…………….
I wish to second the nomination
Please print your name ………………………………….
Signed…………………………..date…………….
I consent to be nominated
Please print your name ………………………………….
Signed…………………………..date…………….
FRIENDS OF STEYNING PARISH CHURCH
Registered Charity Number: 1169773
CHAIRMAN’S REPORT 2024
The Friends of Steyning Parish Church continue to support the Vicar, Churchwardens and Parochial Church Council with the maintenance and development of this outstanding Norman building. We also seek to promote interest in the church, attract visitors and enable its wider and more diverse use. The Friends do not run appeals as such but raise awareness of the church’s needs, encourage donations and organise events to bring in money.
Our present situation and aspirations are very much the same as reported last year but considerable progress has been made behind the scenes. The PCC has refined its plans for improvements to the church and identified three different levels of importance: Urgent : repairs to the tower roof and relocating the boiler; Essential : providing a step-free entrance, accessible toilet, more level space for movement, a kitchen and a servery; Desirable : improvements to the churchyard path, the south porch and furnishings. These were set out in a flyer financed by the Friends and widely circulated at the time of the Steyning Festival in May and at subsequent events in the church.
The 2024 festival saw numerous activities within the church which would have benefited from the proposed developments. They included drama, children's activities, exhibitions and concerts. Brian Sawyer gave organ recitals and he and Dan Shilliday, principal viola of the Hanover Band, played Bach, Rebecca Clarke and Schubert’s Arpeggione sonata. In June the Hanover Band itself performed all six of Bach’s Brandenburg Concertos on a glorious summer afternoon with an interval for picnics reminiscent of Glyndebourne in the Vicarage Garden, with thanks to Fr Mark and Katherine Heather. The Band will return on 12 April 2025 for the St John Passion.
Significant sums have already been pledged for the proposed works, including a promise from the Friends of substantial help with the tower repairs. Grants have been applied for and a detailed brochure has now been published for anyone who wishes to know more and possibly contribute. It is anticipated that the church will launch an appeal next year for the urgent and essential works for which £725k is needed. The Friends will be actively involved in promoting this and fundraising. Your trustees hope that individual members will feel able to contribute generously and help with events and publicity. Christine Aubrey chairs the very active Projects and Fundraising Committee. The wider public use of the church which we wish to facilitate will eventually make fundraising easier and generate more support.
Thanks to the work of Sally Barnard, now succeeded as membership secretary by Judie Thomson who is enthusiastically helped with recruiting by John and Felicity Downe, the number of Friends now stands at 172. Sarah Leigh who very kindly took on the role of secretary from Liz Harries, has now decided to stand down. Sarah’s extensive knowledge, energy and commitment are the lifeblood of the charity, and she will continue looking after publications and monitoring our proceedings. But we do urgently need a new secretary. We would urge all Friends to consider volunteering their talents and ideas to support our hard-working committee.
Although no longer a churchwarden, Bill Thomson continues to do excellent work for us on graphic design and communications. Sarah Lavery, still a churchwarden, is very proactive with events, including another children’s day this autumn. Kate and Edward Harrison give generously
of their expertise in design and our online presence. At the AGM, Julia Bonner will officially take over as Treasurer. The accounts will show well over £100,000 on deposit and more than £3,000 in the current account. The Friends have already contributed to the fees of the professional fundraisers and are pledged to help with the conservation of the font as well as the tower. This has been made possible by generous donations and legacies.
After last year’s AGM, Adam Stone, master mason and CEO of Chichester Stoneworks, gave an entertaining presentation about his career and the challenges and triumphs of masonry construction. This year the home team are preparing what promises to be a dramatic account of their research into the real people behind the long list of vicars displayed in the church. Fr Mark, Brian Hanson, Sarah Leigh, Chris Tod and Christopher Whittick have done extensive scholarly work to correct the list before its calligraphy is renewed at the expense of the Friends. It will be an evening to remember. Please make every effort to be at the AGM on Sunday 13 October.
My warmest thanks to all the trustees and other committee members and volunteers who help us, and to you, members of this extremely worthwhile charity which seeks to include and benefit all the inhabitants of Steyning.
Jeremy Tomlinson
Chair. September 2024
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The Friends of Steyning Parish Church
Registered Charity No. 1169773
Income and Expenditure Account 1st January 2024 to 31st December 2024
| 2024 INCOME £ Donations 1,561.89 HMRC Gift Aid Interest 4,697.57 S.F. Concert 617.60 Brandenberg Concertos 81.80 Wine etc.at Events 200.00 Vicars Talk 225.60 7,384.46 EXPENDITURE Steyning PCC towards Conservation Survey & Fund Raising Advice CE Mitchell - Ten Fee 21.00 Ecclesiastical Insurance 210.88 Web Domain/Internet Printing (Leaflets) 360.00 Printing (Poster) 30.00 621.88 Deficit / Surplus 6,762.58 2023 Funds Carried Forward 102,230.36 Funds at 31st December 108,992.94 Balance Sheet at 31st December 2024 Funds 108,992.94 Assets Barclays Bank PLC Current account 3,605.87 COIF Deposit account 105,387.07 108,992.94 |
2023 £ 570.00 116.43 4,902.46 165.00 |
|---|---|
| 5,753.89 | |
| 5,087.60 204.72 211.16 185.00 |
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| 5,688.48 | |
| - | |
| 65.41 | |
| 102,164.95 | |
| 102,230.36 | |
| 102,230.36 | |
| 1,540.86 100,689.50 |
|
| 102,230.36 |
Julia Bonner Hon. Treasurer
Date..............................
Independent Examiners Report
I have examined the income and expenditure account for the period ended 31st December 2024 and Balance Sheet at 31st December 2024 and confirm that they are in accordance with the records of the charity.
David Fitton
Date…...........................