GREENSIDE PARISH
St John’s, Greenside Church of the Holy Spirit, Crawcrook ANNUAL REPORT 2026
Aim and purposes
Greenside Parochial Church Council (PCC) has the responsibility of cooperating with the Vicar in promoting in the whole mission of Greenside Parish Church. The PCC is also specifically responsible for the maintenance of church buildings, that is Church of the Holy Spirit Crawcrook, St John's Greenside and St John's Hall.
Administrative information
Greenside Parish is situated in Gateshead West deanery. It is part of the Diocese of Durham within the Church of England. The correspondence address is Church Office, Holy Spirit Church, Main Street, Crawcrook, Ryton, NE40 4NB.
Structure, governance and management
The PCC is a corporate body established by the Church of England. The PCC operates under the Parochial Church Council Powers Measure and is a registered charity. PCC members are appointed as set out in the Church Representation Rules. The PCC is responsible for making decisions on all matters of general concern and importance to the parish church including deciding on how funds are to be spent.
PCC membership following APCM 18th May 2025:
| Vicar | Tom Brazier | Ex-officio |
|---|---|---|
| Curate | Rachael Phillips | Ex-officio |
| Churchwardens: | Cath Jones | Ex-officio |
| Tricia Reed | Ex-officio | |
| Deanery Synod: | Mike Hendry | Ex-officio |
| Paul Hobbs | Ex-officio | |
| Elected members: | Mark Robson | 2 years to serve |
| Success Oviawe | 2 years to serve | |
| Berni Bertola | Resigned 31 Oct 2025 | |
| Janet Bertola | Resigned 4 Nov 2025 | |
| Denise Clayson | 3 years to serve | |
| Deborah Proud | 3 years to serve (Secretary) | |
| Coopted: | Rosemary Hendry |
Objectives and activities
The PCC is wholly for the mental, physical and spiritual wellbeing of people in and around Greenside, Crawrook, Clara Vale and our church plant in Chopwell because that reflects God's kingdom, and it is what Jesus is calling us to work towards. We seek to meet this calling in our weekly pattern of worship, our home groups, our healing ministry and our wedding, funeral, and baptism ministries.
Another important outpouring of the love of God is found in our social activities (such as Footprints toddler group, the community garden and work in schools). We deliberately make our halls (particularly St John’s Hall) available to groups in the wider community and for events such as children's activities. Finally, with our eyes looking beyond the immediate community in Gateshead West, we have connections with life-giving work across the world and, especially, in Africa.
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Risk Management
Our primary risk management strategy is to trust God. However, the PCC recognises that God has given us brains to figure some things out ourselves. We actively review safeguarding risks every time we meet. We carry out health and safety risk assessments whenever appropriate. Financial risk is primarily managed through our reserves policy. Everything is guided by prayer.
Clergy Discipline
The PCC has complied with the requirements imposed by the code under section 5A of the Safeguarding and Clergy Discipline Measure 2016.
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Achievements and performance
Vicar's Report
The last year has been a combination of encouragements and challenges. Certainly for me the challenges have been, at times, overwhelming. When I pray about these things I am reminded of God’s words to St Paul’s 2 Cor 12, “my power is made perfect in weakness”.
In no particular order, here is a list of things that come to mind as I reflect on the last year:
2025 was marked by outreach with the Revival Meetings, Bible give-aways, social media Lent Reflections and the three Saturdays we went out on the streets to witness to Jesus. There were great encouragements. It was especially wonderful to see such a wide range of people recording the Lent reflections and the quality of the material produced.
In the weeks leading up to Easter this year we were told that various people who occupy crucial positions in Holy Spirit Church and Magdalene Community Church would have to stop leading worship and preaching. Naturally, this poses something of a challenge.
Over the last year we conducted a survey of church members, exploring how we are doing in various aspects of our life together and asking about areas for growth. What came through really strongly was the quality of the welcome and friendliness of the church. Also clear was a desire for more of the Holy Spirit, for more commitment to the monthly prayer meeting and for a better investment in us sharing life together through the week. Overall, I would add that I think we need to be more intentional about discipleship. The PCC is having an away day next week where we will explore how to respond to the survey.
Through 2025 we had no treasurer and this remains the case. We did do a lot of work to build up a finance team over the year and this has been a great success. However I am doing the work of treasurer and I do not think this is a good idea. One success of the rebuilt finance team is that we now actually know from month to month the status of our finances. Unfortunately, it turns out that the status is challenging. Our costs have increased over recent years whilst our income has decreased. We have used up all of our reserves. Please pray about this.
2025 also saw new people leading us in singing our praises to God, which was wonderful. However we also sadly lost a team member and our present situation is that we are down to one music team and making a lot of use of recorded music. Please pray about this.
The work on the facade of Holy Spirit Church remains undone. This project suffered frustrating delays over many years due to issues with planning permission and just when it looked like we were about to get started with actually commissioning the work, the person managing the project left and our architect retired. In 2025 the PCC decided to have another attempt at asking for planning permission to render the facade after a large commercial enterprise was allowed to render the building next door. This now rests with my PA Adrienne to pick up and restart the pre-planning permission process.
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Reflecting on everything, two things I would like to emphasise over the coming year are being intentional about discipleship and about sharing life together.
Rev. Tom Brazier, Vicar
Electoral Roll Report
There are 52 names on the Electoral Roll list, after four persons names have been removed. 67% of church members reside within Greenside Parish and 33% of members reside outside the parish.
Faye Baker, Electoral Roll Officer and Tom Brazier, vicar
Proceedings of the PCC
As a PCC we met each month with the exception of April 2026.
From 2025 to date the PCC agreed a revised design for the fascia of Holy Spirit. This was submitted to Gateshead Council in the form of a pre-application. The Council was happy with the proposal thus leading the way for formal planning permission to be sought at a later date. Currently we are looking into this again.
The flat roof at St John’s has been restored and we received a quote for the repair of the organ at St John’s for approximately £40k from Harrisons, unfortunately they are unable to undertake the repair until 2027, however they will carry out the investigate work during this summer, and we shall be looking into grants for the work. We have had the boiler at St John’s repaired, and it is now clean, fully working and in excellent condition.
In 2026 we felt the Lord lead us to drop our parish share giving by £10K, which means we are still paying over and above what has been asked by the Dioceses. The reduced payments will now allow us to direct our finances into some much-needed maintenance of our three buildings. St John's Hall is being hired out by a variety of groups, clubs and individuals on a regular basis which is blessing the community while raising our profile and generating an income, this year the Hall made a small profit.
We conducted a church health check via a questionnaire, giving everyone the opportunity to have a say. This was organised and led by a number of our church family. The findings have been gathered and will be taken to the forthcoming PCC/Leadership away day in May. The outcome will then be shared with the church family.
We held our first revival meeting at St John’s Hall Greenside in September 2025, which proved to be a blessing to our own parish and to other churches. The format was simple with worship, testimonies, a talk and the opportunity for those who don’t know the Lord to come and have a personal relationship with Him. We held our second Revival meeting in April this year following a similar format, with increasing numbers attending. Another meeting is to be organised.
Regular updates on the activities of Magdalene Community Church were received during the year.
Safeguarding children, young people and vulnerable adults has been a standing agenda
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item; focusing on the recently released Makin Report by the Church of England's National Safeguarding Team into the handling of abuse allegations against the late John Smyth QC and the Scolding Report commissioned by Soul Survivor, into the Mike Pilavachi case. Learning from reviews continues to be an important part of PCC.
The PCC identified the need for regular consistent teaching for our children and young people. We now have a team of adults who are committed to giving time to our young people every Sunday providing teaching, through arts and crafts discussion and fun. The team meets biannually to ensure everything is working well.
Deborah Proud, PCC Secretary
Deanery Synod Report
Three meetings have taken place of the pass year. At Whickham, Rowland Gill and Lobley Hill.
The Gateshead West Deanary Synod continues to fulfill a number of important functions for the church community.
Firstly it is plays it full part of government of the Church of England. It brings together local clergy and lay leadership to a joint meeting to engage in church business. These meetings are well attended by both clergy and laity
Where church officials can inform those present of what they are doing in their role and what happening in the wider diocese and nationally. To discuss what is coming our way.
In May at Whickham the main item was a presentation by two people from Communities Together Durham about engaging with the diocesan priority of challenging poverty.
Secondly, at each meeting the churches involved have opportunity to say what’s happening in their faith community, in particular what went well. Ideas are shared and sometime resources.
At Rowlands Gill youth work within the Deanary was discussed with positive suggestions were made about sharing a resource. Lobley Hill has gone on to plan a hub for young people.
Thirdly, to my mind as Lay Chair of Deanery Synod it remains a place of healthy relationships between churches and individuals in those churches, a place of sharing vision and concerns and giving mutual encouragement.
Gateshead West Deanery is a warm, friendly place, embracing the various traditions and cultures of each participating faith community.
As each church hosts meetings and welcomes the members of synod, the good Area Dean, Revd Tom Brazier promotes unity, working together, the sharing of ideas, resources with joint projects.
As the new Bishop of Durham is installed, Gateshead West Deanery will seek to embrace his vision for renewal. Bishop Rick said recently “Christian mission is what is needed” and
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he emphasised the importance of ministerial training. He went on “Filled with the love of Christ more will be called to faith,” daily pray as to witness will led to missionary disciplines.
“Humbler and bolder” the our deanary is an idea place to promote this joint vision. Paul Hobbs, Deanery Synod Representative
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Financial Review
The first thing to say is that God is good and we can trust him for all we need, even when times are difficult.
Over 2025 the PCC was without a treasurer and did not have a clear understanding of our financial situation. We now have a bookkeeper, which has helped immensely, but we still need a treasurer to help the PCC with overall oversight of the accounts. Once we did have clear information we learnt that our unrestricted reserves had dropped substantially over 2025.
Fortunately, a legacy in 2024 covered all the expenditure on St John’s Hall in 2025. Consequently, the income from the hall did not have to go into covering the expenditure. Taking this into account, our general unrestricted reserves stood at £4,649 at the end of 2025. Our reserves policy is to maintain three months of unrestricted expenditure, which amounts to £26,000. We are falling significantly short of this amount.
We need to increase income or decrease expenditure or some combination of both.
Our biggest expenditure is parish share, which goes into the common Durham Diocese pot and is primarily used for clergy stipends. For many years Greenside Parish has stood out for our generosity and faith in contributing significantly more than our “fair” parish share. However for 2026, the PCC is already committed to offering less additional parish share as we shift our spending towards the mission needs here in our parish.
Another large expense is St John’s Hall which has run at a loss for years. We offer the hall as a service to the community, so in some ways this “loss” might be seen as an investment in local people. However our aim is for the hall to at least cover its own costs. Over the last two years we have significantly reduced expenditure on the hall whilst income has increase. In 2026 we are hopeful that the hall will break even.
On the income side, I believe God is generous and has already given us all we need. We need to keep our eyes firmly fixed on him and to follow him in faith. Most of our income historically comes from tithes by church members and I think this is a good pattern in a church because tithing is a spiritual discipline which is immensely good for us as disciples of Jesus. I think God may well challenge and encourage us individually to have more faith in this area. Do keep your ears and hearts open to him.
Another source of income is grants and, in recent years, churches have found it easier to find grants to support their mission. So in 2026 we will actively seek grant income. This especially makes sense because we run three buildings, each of which blesses our community in some way.
I end by asking you to pray. Please pray for God to give us a treasurer. Please pray for us to have the financial resources we need for the mission God has called us to. Please pray that we never lose sight of our mission to love and serve God here in Greenside Parish. Tom Brazier
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Parochial Church Council of Greenside Financial statements for the year ended 31 December 2025 Receipts and Payments Account
| Note RECEIPTS 1, 2 Income from charitable activities Other trading activities Other income Donations and legacies Planned giving Collections Donations Income tax recovered Grants Investments TOTAL RECEIPTS PAYMENTS Raising funds Expenditure on charitable activities Ministry Other expenditure TOTAL PAYMENTS Excess of Receipts over Payments Transfers between funds NET MOVEMENT IN FUNDS Parish share Mission giving Staffing and expenses Church running costs Maintenance Utilities Insurance Excess of receipts over payments as at 1st January Excess of receipts over payments for the year |
4,741 379 - 5,120 6,603 926 5,319 - 6,245 4,212 24 - - 24 4,309 - - - - - 63,174 - 3,639 66,813 69,555 7,449 - 100 7,549 10,363 3,326 - 1,610 4,936 28,558 21,196 - 902 22,098 17,437 - - 14,900 14,900 2,000 - - - - - Unrestricted Funds £ Designated Funds £ Restricted Funds £ TOTAL 2025 £ TOTAL 2024 £ |
|---|---|
| 100,835 5,698 21,151 127,684 143,037 | |
| 26 - 26 52 542 100 - - 100 - 3,644 69 4,120 7,834 4,659 65,000 - - 65,000 64,266 - 10,997 - 10,997 9,392 10,432 - 6,824 17,257 25,881 3,831 - 1,216 5,047 12,587 6,143 - 5,426 11,569 8,873 9,252 - 5,442 14,694 11,031 4,694 - 1,559 6,254 5,592 876 - 512 1,388 2,665 |
|
| 103,999 11,066 25,126 140,191 145,487 | |
| (3,164) (5,368) (3,975) (12,507) (2,450) (5,765) 5,531 235 - - |
|
| (8,930) 163 (3,740) (12,507) (2,450) 13,579 12,620 29,208 55,406 57,856 |
|
| 4,649 12,782 25,468 42,899 55,406 |
Parochial Church Council of Greenside Financial statements for the year ended 31 December 2025 Statement of Assets & Liabilities
| Note Current Asset Cash At Bank And In Hand Cash in hand Liabilities Agency collections Net total assets |
4,612 12,782 25,970 43,364 55,647 37 - - 37 25 Unrestricted Funds £ Designate d Funds £ Restricted Funds £ TOTAL 2025 £ TOTAL 2024 £ |
|---|---|
| 4,649 12,782 25,970 43,401 55,672 | |
| - - 502 502 266 | |
| - - 502 502 266 | |
| 4,649 12,782 25,468 42,899 55,406 |
NOTES
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1 The financial statements have been prepared in accordance with the Church Accounting Regulations 2006 using the Receipts and Payments basis.
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2 Some 2024 numbers have moved to more appropriate categories in this report so do not exactly match the previous year’s report. In addition agency income and expenditure is no longer treated as church income and expenditure.
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3 The movement in designated and restricted funds during the year:
| Restricted CAP - Christians Against Poverty MCC St Johns Hall Youth Work Youth Worker Subtotal Designated Community garden Footprints Mission Pastoral St Johns Hall Sub Total TOTAL |
Bal b/fwd Receipts Payments Transfers Bal c/fwd (315) 80 - 235 - 7,950 21,071 (10,733) - 18,288 12,878 - (12,508) - 370 5,343 - (1,885) - 3,458 3,352 - - - 3,352 |
|---|---|
| 29,208 21,151(25,126) 235 25,468 | |
| 701 - - - 701 853 379 (67) - 1,165 10,997 - (10,997) 9,850 9,849 70 - (2) - 68 - 5,319 -(4,319) 1,000 |
|
| 12,620 5,698(11,066) 5,531 12,782 | |
| 41,827 26,850(36,192) 5,765 38,250 |
Restricted funds are:
CAP - Christians Against Poverty Support for the Tyne Valley CAP Debt Centre. MCC Support for Magdalene Community Church plant in Chopwell. St Johns Hall Money from a legacy for St Johns Hall. Youth Work Money for use in Youth Work matters. Youth Worker Money for use in having a Youth Worker.
Designated funds are:
Community garden Footprints Mission
Pastoral St Johns Hall
Money for Community Garden. Money for Footprints Toddler Group.
We give 10% of unrestricted income to other charities. This fund holds the money until it is given out. Money for Pastoral spending.
Money collected by St Johns Hall letting and used for running costs.