2021-12-31-accounts

The Ecclesiastical Parish of Freshford

with Limpley Stoke

and Hinton Charterhouse

Registered Charity Number 1170099

Trustees' Annual Report for

the year ended 31[st] December 2021

Prepared in accordance with the requirements of "PCC Accountability - The Charities Act 2011 and the PCC"

The Parish is part of the Diocese of Bath and Wells in the Church of England

General Information

Trustees	Revd Michael Taylor
	Steve Ashcroft
	John Banks
	Roland Birchby (appointed May 2021)
	Malcolm Chatwin
	Margaret Dodge (appointed May 2021)
	Karen Grattage
	Rachel Moore (resigned May 2021)
	Penny Murray
	Roger Paine
	Trevor Quartermaine
	David Sibley
	Pat Smith (resigned May 2021)
	Pam Southam
	Kathy Tucker
	Liz Wordsworth
Honorary Secretary	John Banks
Honorary Treasurer	Malcolm Chatwin
Independent Examiner	John Ager
Parish Office	The Old Bakery
	High Street
	Freshford
	Bath BA2 7WF

Charitable Status

The Parochial Church Council (PCC) of the Ecclesiastical Parish of Freshford, Limpley Stoke and Hinton Charterhouse became Registered Charity Number 1170099 in November 2016 as its annual income was likely to exceed £100,000. It was previously recognised by the Charity Commission as a Charity but since its gross annual income had not then exceeded £100,000 it was previously 'excepted' from registration.

All members of the PCC are Trustees of the 'Trust' - that is the PCC - and the whole has body corporate status.

Trustees

In accordance with one of the governing documents, the Church Representation Rules, Trustees are nominated for election by Church Members and additionally in the case of Churchwardens by those having a residential qualification. They are elected at the Annual Parochial Church Meeting (APCM) and serve until the completion of the succeeding APCM. Legislation rules that the Minister of the Parish is Chairman of the PCC.

Strategic Vision

Our vision is to find a model of rural ministry that makes disciples and grows the church in today’s society.

Objects and Activities

The chief objective of the PCC is the development and growth of the Christian faith in the villages of Freshford, Limpley Stoke and Hinton Charterhouse. This is achieved by services at our three Parish Churches and wider mission in the communities. The PCC also maintains and develops its three church buildings and The Old Bakery (church rooms) for the benefit of its church members and the wider community

The Revd Mike Taylor was licensed as Priest in Charge on 17[th] March 2016 and by the time of the APCM in May 2022 he will have been developing his ministry with us for six years.

Pandemic Covid-19

The worldwide pandemic had a significant effect in limiting our charitable activities during 2020 and this disruption continued in 2021. The year began with a long winter lockdown which prevented the normal pattern of services and other activities in the Parish. We continued as best we could online and via email but it was a joy to be able to return to services in our churches just in time to celebrate Easter

Achievements and Performance

The Trustees who form the PCC normally review our aims, objectives and activities each year. However, in view of the pandemic some meetings of the PCC were curtailed or delayed during the year.

A normal pattern of services in our churches resumed after the winter lockdown and the special Sunday morning service for families with young children at St John’s Church, Hinton Charterhouse was well supported.

The plans to reorder St Peter’s Church Freshford and to provide disabled access were delayed by the pandemic but it is pleasing to report that a substantial donation has been promised by a local charitable trust which will enable the work to begin in 2022.

Future Plans

Our aim is to grow our Parish and to offer a range of worship to meet the needs of our village communities of all ages. The plans to achieve this aim under the leadership of our Priest in Charge have had to be put on hold during the pandemic but we look forward to 2022 in the hope that our activities can return to normal.

Organisational Structure

The Trustees normally meet regularly and determine overall policy and approve applications for Faculties and major capital expenditure. However such meetings were curtailed in 2021 by the pandemic. The day to day operations of our three churches is delegated to the Churchwardens who have worked hard in very difficult circumstances to do what we can within government regulations and guidance from the Diocese. We have however taken care to ensure that key items such as finance, employment, risk management, health and safety and safeguarding of children and the vulnerable have been properly covered.

Risk Assessment

The Trustees are conscious of their legal obligations to maintain the places of worship, buildings, churchyards, curtilages and other property for which they have responsibility and to conduct their operations and activities in such manner as satisfies current Health and Safety and other legislation. Specifically this extends to arranging that prescribed routine inspections of the fabric of the buildings, electrical installations, fire fighting appliances, gas fired appliances and accessibility audits are carried out by appropriately qualified professional bodies. Also included is a review of our safeguarding procedures in relation to children and vulnerable persons. A programme of health and safety audits has been implemented to assure the Trustees that all material risks have been addressed and that all practical steps have been taken to minimise the effects of those risks. In particular during the pandemic each activity has been the subject of a risk assessment.

Safeguarding

Our policies and practices remain in line with advice from the Diocese of Bath and Wells Safeguarding Adviser.

Impairment Review of Fixed Assets

As Managing Trustees of the three parish churches and The Old Bakery, the PCC is confident that its operational potential would not suffer significant impairment were one of the three churches to become unavailable in the short term. Permanent loss of one church or temporary loss of more than one church together with temporary or permanent loss of The Old Bakery would require fundamental change of strategy and re-deployment of resources.

The Trustees are confident that adequate levels of insurance are carried for the parish churches, their contents and The Old Bakery.

Reserves

The Trustees’ policy is to ensure that as far as possible, income should at least cover day to day operating costs on an ongoing basis. It is recognised however that it may be necessary, in pursuit of our vision, objects and activities, to draw down reserves from time to time to enable us to maintain adequately and improve the facilities in our three church buildings and The Old Bakery, all of which are listed. The Trustees consider that reserves should be maintained in excess of 50% of annual expenditure so that emergency funding of essential building repairs can be carried out and all normal expenditure can be met. As at the 31[st] December 2021 unrestricted reserves amounted to £122,223 (£113,988 in 2020) which represented 188% of total annual expenditure.

Financial Review

Given that the PCC's gross annual income is less than £250,000, it has chosen the option of maintaining and preparing its accounts on a Receipts and Payments basis. The accounting year is 1[st] January to 31[st] December. Total receipts amounted to £95,796 and payments £64,849 leading to an excess of receipts over payments of £30,947. However it should be noted that during the year restricted donations towards the costs of reordering of St Peter’s Church of £15,000 were received and professional fees of some £2317 were incurred in the preparation and analysis of tenders for building works. In addition legacies totalling £10,500 were received.

The investments held by the Parish and the Diocese for St Mary’s Church increased in value during the year by £5,333.

Trustees, ReSp<￿51b11itles Charity Law requires the Trustees to prepare accounts for each financial year which gNe a view of the state of affairs of the Trust and of the profit or loss of the Trust for that period. In preparing those accounts the Trustees are required to: select accounting poliaes and then apply them consistently make judgements and estimates that are reasonable and prudent 3. follow applicable accounting standards 4. prepare the accounts in accordance with the statement of recommended practice ISORPI, accounting by diarities 5. prepare the accounts on the ongoin8 concem basis The Trustees are responsible for ensuring that proper accounting records are kept which disclose with reasonable accuracy at any time the financial position of the Trust so as to enable them to ensure that the accounts comply with Charity law. They are also responsible for safeguarding the assets of the Trust and hence for taking reasonable steps for the prevention and detection of fraud and other irregularitie As the Trustees of the Trust - the Ecdesiastical Parish of Freshford with Limpley Stoke and Hinton Charterhouse- we confimi that: so far as we are aV￿re, there is no relevant audit information of which the Trust's Independent Examiner is unaware and we have taken the step5 that we ought to have taken tn order to make oursefves aware of any relevant audit information and to establish that the Trust'5 Independent Examiner Is aware of that info￿nation. Signed on behalf of the TTu5tee5 by Michael Taylor, Chaimian and Priest-in-charge 28th March 2022

The Ecclesiastical Parish of Freshford with Limpley Stoke and Hinton Charterhouse

Registered Charity Number 1170099

Financial Statements for the year ended 31st December 2021

A Receipts and Payments

Receipts

Receipts
		2021		2020
	Unrestricted	Restricted	TOTAL	TOTAL
	Funds	Funds
	£	£	£	£
Donations
Planned giving	38180	2973	41153	42127
Collections donations and other giving	9684	15757	25441	33054
Income tax recovered	9494	415	9909	11386
Legacies	1000	9500	10500	0
Trading activities
Magazine sales and Hall Lettings	1801	0	1801	2811
Income from other properties	30	0	30	0
Annual Fete and events	0	0	0	485
Receipts from Investments
Interest and dividends	1274	3	1277	1446
Receipts from Charitable activities
Parochial Fees	5485	0	5485	2326
Other receipts
Other	200	0	200	575
Total Receipts	67148	28648	95796	94210

Page 1

Payments

		2021		2020
	Unrestricted	Restricted	TOTAL	TOTAL
	Funds	Funds
	£	£	£	£
Charitable activities
Donations to charities	413	0	413	1317
Mission and Evangelism	5532	0	5532	3941
Parish Share	32001	0	32001	33959
Clergy expenses	1662	0	1662	1577
Church running expenses	12163	1664	13827	18048
Churchyard maintenance	2189	0	2189	3982
Cost of raising funds	0	0	0	30
Support costs	0	0	0	99
Administration costs	6871	0	6871	7113
Governance costs	0	0	0	0
Other	36	0	36	496
Major expenditure
Repairs to church buildings	1579	739	2318	12522
Repairs to other property				0
Total payments	62446	2403	64849	83084
Excess of Receipts over Payments	4702	26245	30947	11126

Page 2

B Assets and Liabilities

Assets Cash Funds Cash non restricted Cash Restricted Total Cash Funds Investments Non restricted Restricted Total Investments Total Monetary Assets Liabilities(5.44 - 5.46) Total Monetary Liabilities Net value of accounts (for illustrative purposes only)	As at 31st December 2021 2020 Change in year £ £ £ 68126 63424 77589 51344 145715 114768 30947 54097 50564 14313 12513 68410 63077 5332 214125 177845 36279 0 0 214125 177845

NOTES

1. The Old Bakery, High Street, Freshford is retained by the PCC as Managing Trustees for Parochial Purposes. Purchase Price in 1992 - £45000

2. Limpley Stoke Village Hall is retained by the PCC as Managing Trustees for parochial purposes.

3. The Friends of St Peter's Church is a connected charity Number 1097233.

Its funds are available to assist in the care, preservation and maintenance of St Peter's Church building. The balance as at 31st December 2021 was £2617.

Page 3

ependent Examinerfs Certificate for the PCC Accounts Report to the truste8S Ot. FreshfO￿ wilh LiNy &oke 8nd Hinton ChwtertKJU6e Parochlal Church Councll On a¢¢ounlB for the ye8r ended.. 311t December 2021 Charity Number (rf applicabl8)'. 117CQ99 I to 6 ofthe Trustees, Annua5 Report and Pages I to 3 of the Financial Statements R••p•ctlv• r••pon8lbllhlM of tru•toM and examlnor The chadty's trust￿ aR ￿￿nSItyle for the preparatlon of the accounts. The charty's Iruslees consider Ihal an audit is not required for this year under sectio 144 of the Charitles Act 2011 (the Charftles Act) and that an Independent examinats'on ts needed. 11 1$ my rnspon$lts'llty to.. examine the accounts under section 145 of the Charilies Act, to follow the prLxedu￿s laid down in the general DireCt￿lS given by the ChaTity Commission lundeT section 145{5llb) of the char￿￿$ Act, and to st8 whèthor partstLgr fftt•rs havo ¢>)mè to my attentKJn. Ba•1• of Ind•p•nd•nt My examination wa8 ￿rri•d out in a¢Mrdanco with general tXro¢tlon8 given by the •x•mln•V• stat•m•nt Charity Commission. An examination includes a review ofthe accountlng rncords kept by the charity and a ¢omp8rison of the ar￿Unts Presented with those record8. It also includes consideration of any unusual items or di8cIo8ures in the accounts, and seeking explanations from the Iruslees concerning any such matters. The procedure8 undertaken ¢Jo not provide all the evidence that would be mquirnd In an audit, and con8equentiy no oplnion is given a& to whother the accounts present a 'tru8 and fairf ¥lew and the reFQrt is limrted to those matter5 sel out in the statement Ind•p•nd•nt •xamln•rf• In connection with my ex8mlnation, no rnatter ha8 com8 to my attention (•the •l•l•m•nt tha+d1￿￿) which gfves rrn reasonable cause to belleve thal In, any matsrial rospe¢t, aC￿UnUn9 record8 were ￿t kept in ac£)TdanrA with secuon 130 of th• Charflie8 Act or the accounts do not accord wlth the accounting rec￿dS I havè comè ￿r0￿b no othar mattèr8 in connaction with the oxamlnalon to which attention should dr8wn in order to enabl8 a proper understanding of the accounts to be rea¢hed. ' Pl88s6 delete the woffjs in the brnck8ts rfthey do not apply. Slpn•d: Date: 11131202L Nanw: R•l•vant profeulofft•l quallftcallonl•) or body (If any): Addrn88: Wtro P LLCI &Il FR4S 412 fi7U &