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← The Parochial Church Council Of The Ecclesiastical Parish Of St Peter Ash

2023-12-31-accounts

Annual Reports for the Annual Parochial Church Meeting for the year ending 2023

To be held at

St. Peter’s Church, Ash On Sunday 19th May 2024

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Contents

The aim, purpose and objectives of St Peter’s, Ash Page 3
Administrative Information Page 4
Structure, governance and management Page 5
Rector’s, Secretary’s and Treasurer’s report Page 6
Church Wardens’ report Page 13
Church activity reports Page 15

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The aims, purposes and objectives of St Peter’s, Ash

St Peter’s Parochial Church Council (PCC) has the responsibility of cooperating with the incumbent, the Reverend Keith Bristow, 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 the Church and the Church centre of St Peter’s, Ash.

The PCC is committed to enabling as many people as possible to worship at our church and to become part of our parish community at St Peter’s. The PCC maintains an overview of worship throughout the parish and makes suggestions on how our services can involve the many groups that live within our parish. Our services and worship put faith into practice through prayer and scripture, music and sacrament.

When planning our activities for the year, we have considered the Commission’s guidance on public benefit and, in particular, the supplementary 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:

To facilitate this work it is important that we maintain the fabric of the Church of St Peter and the Church centre.

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Administrative information

St Peter’s Church is situated in Ash Church Road, Ash. It is part of the Diocese of Guildford within the Church of England. The correspondence address is The Parish Office, Ash Church Road, Ash, telephone number 01252 331161, email office@saint-peters-ash.org.uk. The PCC is a body corporate (PCC Powers Measure 1956, Church Representative Rules 2006) and we are a charity with the number 1171836.

Ex Officio members:

Elected members:

Those invited to PCC meetings but not entitled to vote:

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Structure, Governance and Management

The method of appointment of PCC members is set out in the Church Representation Rules. At St Peter’s the membership of the PCC consists of the Incumbent (our Rector), Associate Priest, Church Wardens, the Reader, Deanery Synod Representatives 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 members of the congregation 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 on how the funds of the PCC are to be spent. New members receive initial training into the workings of the PCC.

The full PCC met six times during the year. Given its wide responsibilities the PCC has a number of committees each dealing with a particular aspect of parish life. These committees, which include worship, mission and outreach and fabric and finance, are all responsible to the PCC and report back to it regularly with minutes of their decisions being received by the full PCC and discussed as necessary.

In addition to the PCC the Church has a Standing Committee appointed by the PCC. This committee has the power to transact the business of the PCC between it’s meetings, subject to any directions given by the PCC. It is composed of:

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Rector’s Report for St Peter’s APCM

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Looking back on 2023 we have many blessings to be thankful for, not least that we live in a country where we are free to come together to worship and are able to openly support each other on our journeys in faith. It is good, though, that we continue to remember those who aren’t as fortunate, in places around the world where there is persecution and even martyrdom. I’d like to thank Barbara and Philip for helping keep us aware of those who are suffering in this way, by hosting the monthly lunches for Christian Solidarity Worldwide. Thank you, also, to all who write the cards that we send to prisoners of faith and their families. We know that they appreciate our thoughts and prayers. In the past year we have rightly continued to look outward to support various charities. A special thank you to Mary for all that she did over many years coordinating collections and the coffee morning for The Children’s Society. Thank you to Richard for taking on this role now that Mary has stepped down. Our work with children is a key part of what St Peter’s is all about, ensuring that they can begin to learn about Jesus. Thanks especially to all involved with our Funday Club. The links that we have with our two church schools continue, even though I am no longer involved with governing. Both schools became part of the Diocesan Good Shepherd Academy Trust at the end of 2023. As a result, the old governing body no longer exists. I decided that after 20 years I would not join the replacement local committee. However, I will still be supporting both schools by leading regular Collective Worships and hosting children for visits to Church. Also, I shall be keeping in close contact with the new head of the Walsh Schools, Peter Bailey, and Helen Wall the Deputy Head, to support them. The Infants School had their statutory SIAMS (Religious) inspection in July and I’m pleased to say that we got graded Good. I will also continue to visit both Shawfield and Ash Grange Schools.

We are really fortunate to have our own very successful Pre-School on the premises. Under Jackie’s excellent leadership, and the dedicated staff team, we are providing a great resource for the local community. It’s always good to welcome the children and their parents to a service in church once a term. A big thank you to Anne Wilson for her work as chair of the management committee, on which I continue to serve as well.

As you will have read, we have continued to enjoy lots of social events in 2023, none of which would happen without a lot of hard work by many volunteers – thank you all! Of course, sharing in the Eucharist must always be the main focus of what we do as a community – it’s what Jesus told us to do after all! But, socializing and enjoying being together is also important. It helps

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bind us more closely and so do a better job of witnessing to the wider world, which often thinks that Christians can never have fun!

In November we were able to present 4 candidates - Zoe, Sharon, Albert and David, for Confirmation when Bishop Andrew came to Cove. This was the first time we were able to do so since 2019. It was a very special evening for them and for all of us.

At last we got the go ahead from the diocese for the new porch gates in memory of Bert Howard, and they were installed early in 2024. We are very grateful to his son Robert who donated them and for his patience while we waited for the go-ahead. The gates have been much admired and they certainly enhance the entrance to the building making it look more welcoming. Thanks also to Charles and Linda for their persistence in getting the permission for us to go ahead.

Sadly, as you know, we have had to suspend the Toilet project for the time being. This was not an easy decision for the PCC to make as so many people have invested a lot of time and energy into the project. Looking at the finances though, made us realise there was no prospect of us being able to complete the project in the near future. At the moment there are other pressures on our finances, not least, the list of repairs necessary for the church building, highlighted in the Quinquennial inspection carried out last July. Also, with the Centre approaching its 25th anniversary there are repairs and updates required to keep that fit for purpose. The PCC is very grateful to everyone who has helped us bring the Toilet project this far, the plans are in place and permissions granted for when we are able to continue. Again, a big thank you to Charles and Linda for all that they have done, and all who have worked so hard fundraising over the years.

I would like to take this opportunity to thank, once again, Mary Lamont for her ministry as Reader in this parish over many years. It was good to be able to celebrate her ministry earlier this year when Bishop Andrew acknowledged her contribution by making her a Reader (LLM) Emeritus. I have appreciated the support and encouragement that Mary has given me, as have so many others over the years. I know that she will continue to do that in different ways in the future.

I would also like to thank Sheila Taylor for all the time and energy that she has given the parish over many years as our Treasurer. Sheila has done an excellent job and has been a great support. Sheila we are very grateful for all that you have done. We are also grateful to Peter Hurst for taking up the role, and for the time that Sheila has given to make for as smooth a hand over as banking bureaucracy has allowed!

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As I always say it is very dangerous to name names for thanks, as I know I’m likely to leave people out. However, I really want to thank Revd. Carol for all that she has done and continues to do for this parish. She is more than generous with her time and commitment, and I know that we all greatly value her ministry in so many ways. She comes up with lots of great ideas and suggestions that have enriched the life of St Peter’s greatly.

Thank you too to our Church Wardens Linda and Maria for all that they do. Also, to Jo for doing a great job as our Parish Administrator, especially getting lots of hall bookings! Thanks to Philip and Charles for their contribution to maintenance and much else, to Heather and the Flower Guild, to Terry for all the hard work he puts into the gardening, and indeed for organizing the regular gardening mornings helping to keep the grounds looking tidy and welcoming. In 2023 we were saddened by the deaths of some of our good friends. In particular Douggie Godwin, Simon Norton, Pat Priestly, who spent some months as our administrator, Stuart Chitty, Yvonne Ridge and David Piper who gave so much of his time and talents in many ways over the years, among them; Hall Manager, Magazine organizer and distributor, and gardener. We will continue to remember them, praying that they now rest in Christ’s peace, and that those who mourn for them will be comforted.

We look forward to whatever God has in store for us in the year to come. We pray for guidance and courage to meet the challenges and opportunities that the Twinning process will bring. Our mission never changes – which is to proclaim to the world the salvation brought by Jesus our Risen Lord, but, the manner in which we do that will need to be adapted to meet the changing circumstances of our world and the community in which we live. Father Keith Rector

Secretary’s Report

Parochial Church Council Report for the year 2023

We have maintained 15 members from different groups in church, with a good level of attendance at meetings. We had 3 new members to the PCC at the AGM with another member co-opted on in September following 6 months on the electoral roll. Our Treasurer, Sheila Taylor, stepped down after over 10 years of service and a new Treasurer, Peter Hurst, was appointed. Our grateful thanks go to Sheila for her hard work over the years and we wish Peter good luck with this new appointment. Our current Electoral roll stands at 102.

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The ToPIC [Toilet Project in Church] has continued to feature in our agendas with fundraising, once again, becoming top of our agenda to get phase 1 completed. Unfortunately, at the November PCC meeting a long discussion took place regarding the continuation of the ToPIC project. It was sadly felt that at the current rate of fundraising and the continuing increase of costs it would take us 25 years plus to get the money, which had increased to a £100k requirement. The church and church centre are both in great need of

maintenance and the PCC regrettably voted unanimously to suspend the project so we could address the needs of the church and centre. The ToPIC project has been left with all the plans in place and we as a church community should be proud of ourselves that we have raised nearly £17k to get this phase completed (this covers planning, architectural fees, archaeology fees etc). If someone was to come forward with a donation of £100k then the project would be able to proceed. So well done to all those who have contributed their time, money and resilience to get this far, thank you.

The three working groups: Communications, Church Events and Discipleship, have been regularly meeting this year.

The Communications group ran a successful Calendar Photo Competition for the community with over 60 entries. We are planning to re-run this for 2024. We also were able to enjoy our Christingle service once again this year and was very well attended and lots of children dressed up and participated. We have continued to have the Wednesday Holy Communion service in the Church Centre to save money on fuel, and it has proved very popular with people joining for coffee after the service from other churches and the congregation. We have also continued with having the 2[nd] Sunday service in the Centre which is working well.

We enjoyed a fabulous afternoon tea and cake to celebrate the Coronation of King Charles and Queen Camilla with the first rendition of the new National Anthem with many of us never having sung anything different from God Save the Queen. Some of the older generation could remember singing God Save the King for King George VI and it was great to reminisce about these times On our administrative arm we have had to increase our hall hire fees this year to cover the costs of the increasing fuel bills. To date this has not put anyone off hiring our lovely Centre. We have also worked hard to ensure our Safeguarding policies and procedures are in place and are up to date. Our thanks go to Anne Wilson, our safeguarding officer, for moving this forward with the PCC.

A Parish Development Plan has been formulated which looks at ways in which we can develop our Church. There are 3 areas; Growing Disciples, Growing

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Diversity and Growing Community that the Diocese asked us to focus on. A lot of the ideas came from the congregation at the ‘Vision Sunday’ that was held just before the Covid lockdown in March 2020. The Standing Committee reviewed the goals, and a new plan was presented at a PCC meeting. It was agreed that our focus for 2022 and 2023 should be:

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----- Start of picture text -----
Priority Diocesan Goal Specific Action Points
a. Invite baptism, wedding and funeral families
to all events. Provide regular 'What's On'
leaflets to those families for a period of a year,
Develop links with those following their involvement with the church.
who have 'soft contact' with Growing
1 b. Make prayer a focus - be a more openly
the church. Grow in prayer Disciples
praying community at events. Hold 'Prayer
and develop faith.
Walks' around the Parish.
c. Develop more home groups across the three
churches, offering study, prayer and support.
a. Improve the social area in church for families,
midweek coffee and events.
b. Continue to strengthen our links with our
Make church more
church schools, inviting them to events and
accessible. Reach out Growing
2 involving members of the congregation in
especially to younger Diversity
offering to listen to children read in school.
people.
c. Building on the Funday Club, re-start a
Saturday Morning club, which can be shared
with other churches.
a.Reach out to occupants of the new housing
Raise profile of the church estates, working with the other churches.
in the local community,
Growing b. Install a toilet and small kitchen area in the
3 within our own parish and
Community choir vestry.
in the wider area of Ash,
c. Hold a photo competition for the 2023
Ash Vale and Tongham.
calendar, open to the whole community.
----- End of picture text -----

We aspire to do more and as things are completed more things will be added as this is an ongoing working document.

Our two schools, Walsh Infants and Walsh Junior are now both part of an Academy school and share a Headteacher. In January 2024 a new Head was appointed, Peter Bailey as the headteacher to both schools with Helen Wall as the deputy at Walsh Infants. Fr Keith has stepped down as a Governor as there

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is no requirement for a member of the clergy to sit on the board of Governors. He will, however, continue to visit the school for collective worship and pastoral care. He will also help with the RE curriculum.

In September 2023 it was announced that the Diocese would like us to twin with St Paul’s in Tongham to have one clergy member to cover both churches. The individual PCC’s will remain separate for each church. The launch of the twinning will be in January 2024 with small groups encouraged to meet from both churches to discuss outreach/communications etc. A lot of discussion around the twinning has been held at every PCC meeting, both negative and positive.

Under Maria Luff’s guidance we registered St Peter’s as an Eco Church in 2023 and through a small group of people we are currently working towards our Bronze award.

In July of 2023 we had our Quinquennial inspection and received the report late 2023. There were over 100 pages in the report and lots of things have been identified for fixing/monitoring. 2 immediate concerns were raised, one of which was internal and was fixed in December 2023. The other concern was an external issue and will need to wait until the better weather to be fixed.

This year we lose 2 serving PCC members, Liz Stokes and Eddie Cheung. Our thanks go to all serving, retiring and new members of the PCC for their contributions and support.

Jo Hurst

Secretary

Treasurer’s Report

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Firstly, I would like to say thank you to Sheila for all her hard work over the many years she has been Treasurer, for being there to help me through the first few months on taking on the new role and continuing to be on hand if I have any further questions – Thank you.

Sheila did all the day to day banking over 2023 and I have created the end of year accounts. I’m taking the opportunity of the change of treasurer to review how we handle finance against the latest guidance from the Charity Commission and the Church of England. I’m also looking at all our regular payments; fuel, printers, phones, security systems etc; I’m checking that we are getting value for money aligned to current and future requirements.

You’ll notice that the End of Year accounts are a completely different format this year, we made the decision to switch from Accrual Accounts to Payments and Receipts; these accounts should be easier for everyone to understand, and

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there is no benefit or requirement for us to follow the more complicated Accrual Accounts. This does mean for this year we have no direct comparison in the accounts to last year’s figures, hence none are shown. To enable a rough comparison, I have last year’s accrual accounts available should anyone wish to be reminded of them. This change to Payments and Receipts throws up a few anomalies such as how much we pay for the Parish Share. We have historically always paid our Parish Share, it’s just over £70k per year, however the actual payments weren’t always reflected on our bank statements until the following year. Looking forward by changing our payment dates by a few days we can reflect the payments in the year they cover.

We have also made the decision to change the Independent Examiner for our books, there were a number of reasons for this, including the significant financial saving.

After much analysis of finances over the years relating to ToPIC it became apparent that all the money that has been raised to date has been spent on ToPIC related activities; planning permission, architect fees etc. Therefore, the decision was taken by the PCC to suspend activity on this project due to rising costs. We do still have all the plans and permissions should we be in a financial position to allocate the large capital outlay required for the project.

I’m very conscious that we have a number of maintenance and renewal tasks that are required around the Church and Centre. I am trying to get a handle on what the impact on our finances is going to be over the next few years. We will apply for funding where we can, however where funding can’t be found we need to include within our budgets.

The hiring of the Centre to groups and individuals within our community continues to be a valuable source of income for us. Thank you to all the various people who enable this to happen by opening up and locking up the Centre, plus all the coordination of booking by the office.

I would like to thank the Parish Close and Heathcote Trusts for their generous donations, without them we would not have been able to meet our liabilities and balance the books.

Peter Hurst

Treasurer

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Church Wardens’ Report on the Fabric maintenance of the St. Peter’s Church and Associate Buildings

Church attendance has steadily increased during the last year and we have continued to move towards restoring pre-Covid practices in our Sunday worship. We have also continued to expand the range of events run on behalf of the church. One notable highlight this last year was the ‘Fish Festival’ in June 2023, which brought in a number of local organisations and many visitors to the exhibition over the weekend of the Summer Fayre. We were delighted that Christmas 2023 was very busy as people returned for the traditional services including Christingle and Midnight Mass after the restrictions of Covid pandemic time. We look forward to welcoming more people into the church as people move into new housing in Ash and the surrounding area. We have maintained the second Sunday services in St Peter’s Centre, including the 10am Family Service, which has proved to be a popular and more relaxed form of worship involving all ages. Wednesday morning services are also held in the centre and we have regular visitors to our ‘Welcome Wednesday’ coffee mornings after the service.

The Welcomers Team has expanded this year and we are delighted to have extra volunteers to help with many aspects of church life, including the management of St Peter’s Centre.

Our church official documentation is now up to date, with the Terrier and Inventory, as well as the Log Book, all in the official format on archival quality paper. The Inventory will be checked in the Easter holidays, ready for reporting at the APCM.

In July 2023 we had the Quinquennial Inspection of the church by our architect, Adam Hieke. He was very thorough, and spent the day with us inspecting the building and the documentation. His report came out in January 2024 and not surprisingly contains a long list of ‘To do’ items. Some of these can hopefully be completed by volunteers and congregation members at our regular Maintenance Mornings, but some will involve us paying for

professionals to carry out the more substantial tasks such as repairing a hole in the exterior stonework of the building. One job has already been completed; plasterwork in the Lady Chapel, which was in danger of coming down, has been repaired. As with many of the repairs needed in the church, because it is a listed building, care must be given to the materials used and the techniques employed. This inevitably involves greater costs!

Maintenance of St Peter’s Centre is also an ongoing task, and is carried out mainly by a small group of volunteers. With more bookings for the hall, we

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work hard to ensure that the rooms are fit for hire and that we provide a welcoming and well equipped venue.

The gates on the South Porch have now been replaced, along with new side infills. They have been made by Surrey Wrought Iron, and very kindly donated in memory of Bert Howard by his family. An official ‘opening’ of these will be held on Sunday 17th March, with members of Bert’s family attending.

As churchwardens, we are charged with the responsibility of keeping this Grade 2* Listed building in good repair. We are very grateful for the many hours volunteers spend dealing with day to day running of the building and coping with minor emergencies. Much preventative maintenance has taken place. One example is that we are beginning to change the lightbulbs in church to more eco-friendly ones. We are grateful too for the volunteers who come into the church regularly to clean the brasses, and those who ensure the church is a warm and welcoming space for everyone.

In November 2023 the churchwardens attended the Annual Training Day, held in St John’s church, Egham. This was a great opportunity to meet with others in the same role and compare our concerns and also our causes for celebration. We attended workshops on the Eco Church project and on ‘Supporting your incumbent’, both of which we found beneficial.

The Parish Twinning Process with St Paul’s in Tongham has begun this year and as churchwardens we have met with all the clergy and the churchwardens from Tongham to discuss ways forward. Members of the congregations have been invited to attend events in both parishes and we look forward to welcoming visitors from St Paul’s to many more of our services and events here at St Peter’s.

Maria Luff and Linda Tallon

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Twinning for St Peter’s and St Paul’s

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During the past year we have launched the Twinning process, which was announced at both churches in October, after several years of conversations with the Archdeacon and Diocese and an initial conversation with our PCCs. There was a launch event in January, led by Jens, from the Diocese, which enabled us to begin to share some of the things we like about our parishes, what needs there may be and how we might work together. As well as ask some questions, share our concerns, and what excites us.

This was followed by small groups, which have been meeting once a month in February, March and April. The comments from these groups are being fed back to Jens and will be discussed at a Steering Group meeting in May. We have shared some services and visited each other’s churches. It has been great to get to know each other and it has been great to worship together in different styles – the diversity of styles of service is something we will continue to celebrate and share moving forward. We also shared our Advent and Lent resources.

It has been really lovely to look back and see how far we have come in getting to know one another and share what we do – so much to celebrate and give thanks for!

Things to celebrate:

So, what are the next steps?

  1. The Steering Group will meet with Jens and look at all the feedback and comments gathered so far. They will then put together a plan to discuss with the 2 PCCs. This Steering Group includes all 3 clergy, all 4 wardens and one older and one younger member of our churches to ensure good representation in the discussion.

  2. We are beginning to join up committees, where it is helpful to share experience, people and ideas. The Eco teams have met together in April, and we are looking at how best to share planning events and communication too.

  3. We are looking to offer a course to prepare for first communions together in the summer term.

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  1. St Peter’s and St Paul’s day will be a great celebration together – with picnics and finishing with an evensong – combining the different ways we have celebrated this date in the past as separate churches!

  2. We will have PCC meetings to discuss the plan from the Steering Group and will have some joint PCC meetings too.

We plan to continue to offer monthly updates and answer questions – please add to boxes in our churches or speak with any of the clergy (in person, by phone or email).

St Paul’s will have 3 Café church services this term (3rd Sunday), when we will encourage anyone who would like to, to attend the 10am at St Peter’s. And any who would like to join Café church at 4pm, will be very welcome!

We will continue to share events and activities – giving a wonderful variety of ways to continue to get to know each other and support what both churches do. Father Keith, Revd Carol and Revd Claire Holt

Eco Church Report

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Eco Church is an A Rocha UK award scheme for churches in England and Wales who want to demonstrate that the gospel is good news for God’s earth. We have completed a survey about how we at St Peter’s are caring for God’s earth in different areas of our life and work. The answers collect points towards a Bronze, Silver or Gold Eco Church award. The more we do, the more points we get!

There are five different categories:

*Worship and Teaching.

*Buildings.

*Land.

*Community and Global Engagement.

*Lifestyle.

We are well on the way to achieving our Bronze award. Some examples of how we have changed our approach to be more eco-friendly are switching to Fair Trade tea and coffee and using paper bags to wrap refreshments rather than clingfilm. We have provided blankets to give us extra warmth in church rather than turning the heating up! At the time of writing we are about to host an event to promote ‘Village Halls Week’ in March, with an emphasis on reusing and re-cycling. We will also be holding a community littler pick to celebrate Earth Day 2024, signing up for the ‘Great Global Clean Up’. I would like thank the PCC for supporting this initiative and in particular my thanks goes to Jo, Barbara and Richard who are part of the Eco Church team. If

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you have any ideas (however small!) or would be interested in joining the group, please speak to me. Maria Luff

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Greener St. Peter’s

The area behind the church hall has been made more wildlife friendly by allowing grass to grow longer, the planting of plants such as rosemary, buddleia and tree mallow and the making of a log pile and siting of a hedgehog house. Although left alone most of the time it was very helpful to have someone cut the grass when we had our gardening day particularly as I had refused to cut it in September as there were too many crickets! Help would be appreciated to clear up weeds on the path, edge the grass area and planting more flowers. The UK has lost much of its wildflower meadows and pollinators are struggling.

Barbara Rose

Aldershot Deanery Synod

The Area Dean and Chair (Interim is the Revd George Newton, representing St Peter’s are Revd Keith Bristow, Revd Carol Monk, Mrs Catherine Hirst and Mrs Sheila Taylor. There are normally three meetings per calendar year but due to circumstances in the deanery, last year, the June 2023 was not held. October 2023 was held at All Saints, Fleet on 19 October 2023

Revd Newton welcomed everyone to Synod and expressed how good it was to be meeting in the renovated church of All Saints. Revd Mark Hayton, Vicar of Fleet, welcomed everyone and led opening worship from the Northumbria Community. He went on to advise that it was a time of good days of great blessing as more people were coming to worship at the church; there was a renewed worship programme for both churches in the parish; there were 3 choirs, and 1 band. There was a great relationship with school. Jane Jones is training for ordination and 1 person is on the LAM course.

New Synod members were welcomed to the meeting and a brief explanation of what Synod is:. Archbishops, bishops and clergy lead the church and General Synod, Diocesan Synod, Deanery Synod and PCCs govern the Church of England.

Revd Alwyn Pereira, from St Michael’s Aldershot, spoke about how God is at work in the local community. At St Michael’s 80 teenagers, mainly boys with many needs, come to church activities. To support this work the church relies

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on donations but the level of poverty in Aldershot means many cannot afford to give a lot. The Deanery was invited to come up with a plan to ask strategically for these resources. George asked Synod members to reflect and give him any ideas they may have for the way forward.

The meeting closed with prayer.

February 2024 was held at The Church of the Good Shepherd, Farnborough. Revd. George Newton opened the meeting with prayer. He advised that several vacancies within the Aldershot Deanery were still unfilled; Lay Chair; Deanery Secretary and Deanery Treasurer. There was no change to the Deanery accounts.

Revd. Thea Edwards welcomed Synod members to the church explaining that she had only been in place since the previous October and was finding the parish exciting, challenging and delightful. The age range of the congregation extended from senior citizens to babies with a good mix of young families. Revd. Dean Pusey, curate from Holy Trinity, Aldershot, talked about how Aldershot was an area of deprivation mostly due to racial discrimination. He then spoke of “The Covenant for Racial Justice”, he explained this covenant was intended to be “a charter for change” across the Diocese of Guildford and would enable leaders and congregations to deal with issues of racism within our churches. Principles of the covenant are: Disciples: commitment to being disciples of Jesus Christ; Diversity: celebrating the diversity of race within the Body of Christ; Representation: making sure all are heard and seen and Accountability: we are all accountable and should be transparent in our parishes and across the Diocese. All parishes will be asked to sign up to this covenant and its application. Group discussions followed relating to the charter and implementation.

The meeting closed with prayer. Sheila Taylor

Safeguarding Report 2023-2024

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This year I can report that there have been no reported safeguarding incidents. If any were to be reported we have a robust reporting system in place. During this year we have been working towards meet all Guildford Diocese Safeguarding requirements as shown on the Safeguarding Dashboard. Last year we moved from level two to level three and this year we have now completed 99% at this final level. This shows our commitment to meeting these requirements and I would like to thank the PCC and Jo in the office for their hard work and support to enable us to obtain this.

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There are few parishes in the diocese which have achieved this. The areas covered on the Parish Dashboard are

Safeguarding has continued to be on every PCC meeting agenda, and I meet regularly with Father Keith to discuss safeguarding matters. During this coming year we will be revisiting all the policies etc. to make sure we keep up to date.

This year we were also required to ask non-private groups for children (groups include the rainbows and the karate club) who hire the hall to either submit their safeguarding policy or sign ours as a commitment to safeguarding. This is now part of our hiring the hall agreement.

This year we have added a safeguarding statement to the pew sheets and we hope to hold a safeguarding service in the coming year to highlight that safeguarding is everyone’s responsibility. We are all responsible to look out for each other and to seek advice if something ‘doesn’t look quite right.’ This could be having a chat with me the safeguarding officer or Revd Carol or Father Keith.

I’d like to thank Maria Luff for all her help and support with implementing the safeguarding policies and practices.

It is important that we implement all the safeguarding measures which the Diocese requires of us but it is more important to remember that safeguarding is about people and this should be at the heart of our work.

Anne Wilson Safeguarding Officer

Communications Group

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The Communications Group has maintained a steady profile this year with our main focus on the parish magazine, ‘What’s On’ leaflets and the St Peter’s Calendar.

We are delighted to have been offered material for inclusion in the magazine this year and this has enabled us to keep the content interesting and varied. We

19

have maintained our links with the Little Fishes families, and now provide a colouring page in each edition. Many thanks to those who contribute to, print, collate and deliver the magazines around the parish.

We produced Christmas leaflets again this year and we are in the process of producing leaflets for Easter 2024.

Our Calendar Competition for the 2024 edition of the St Peter’s Calendar drew a wide range of entries covering different subjects and areas of Ash. Again, Apex Direct Mail in Aldershot were able to print them for us. Although we had to increase the price due to rising printing costs, nearly all of the calendars were sold. Many thanks to those who purchased them.

In June 2023 our new double fronted notice board was put up in the front of the church yard where it can be seen both by those attending the church and by passing traffic. It has proved to be a great way of publicising events and offering Christian witness to those who pass along Ash Church Road. Our thanks again to those who have been kind enough to volunteer for distributing leaflets and printing and delivering magazines. If anyone would like to join us or has any suggestions for us, please get in touch with any of the group: Linda Tallon, Richard Moore, Liz Stokes, Eddie Cheung and Anne Wilson, or via the Parish Office 01252 331161. Linda Tallon

Ministry Group

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Throughout the year the Ministry Group have continued to meet regularly and seek ways in which to progress our worship and encourage people in their faith through the various study groups that have been on offer.

As well as the usual Lenten and Advent courses, we also ran an evening course using the film Westside Story as the focus. There was also a Discovery Course, for those looking towards confirmation, or who just want to find out more about the faith. This course enabled good discussion and opportunity for people to ask questions and speak about their own experiences, as well as looking at the theological and historical meaning behind some of the things we do church, and what we believe as Christians. The climax of this course is of course having the joy of seeing those who went on to be confirmed.

In Advent we held a Taize service, which was well received and there are plans to hold this kind of service again during 2024.

We also held the annual Bereavement Service, Carol and Christingle Service, all of which were well attended. During the summer we celebrated St Peter’s Day followed by picnic with a fabulous Fish Festival over in church. The Fish

20

Festival saw contributions from various church groups, as well as others such as Rainbows, Little Fishes, and the Schools.

The prayers for healing at the 3rd Sunday Communion Service continues to be well received and is a deeply enriching time for those who seek prayer, both for themselves and on behalf of others.

The 2nd Sunday service held in St. Peter’s Centre is still working well and there are no plans to move back to church for those service. The same is said for the 8am Sunday Communion and Wednesday morning services.

Wednesday morning in particular has become an opportunity for people to socialise, with people from Holy Angels and others joining us for refreshments after the service. We feel it fulfils a need for people to meet with others. Fr Keith and I make mention of this when we are visiting the bereaved, which has from time to time been taken up.

Revd. Carol and the Ministry Team

Social Events Team

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Over the last 12 months we have had to concentrate solely on fundraising for the ToPiC project with only the summer and Christmas fayre’s money going to the church funds. We again had a stall at the Ash Parish council’s summer and Christmas fayres and although we didn’t bring in loads of money we did a presence in the village supporting the local council.

Our fundraising events included: Beetle drives, Harvest Supper, Quiz night, Bingo, a Fish Festival to include an exhibition in church, Quiz night and Summer Fayre, Dance the Decades, MacMillan coffee morning, Children’s Society coffee morning, sponsored events – Abbie and Revd Carol abseiled off Spinnaker Tower on May 13[th] and raised a lot of money. It was a glorious day and some of the congregation went to Portsmouth to support the crazy two! We not only put on fundraising events but we also held a Coronation tea to celebrate the new King, Charles III where we sung the new national Anthem, ‘God save the King’ which was wonderful, if a little bittersweet after the passing of our wonderful Queen Elizabeth.

We also helped with catering at social activities: pancakes, St Peter’s Day, gardening mornings, Rectory Tea, Together We Can, churches together teas. - - All of the events are advertised on our website - http://www.saint peters ash.org.uk/dates and posters are put up in the Centre before the event. Please come and support us and encourage non-church members to come and spend their money with us!

21

Thank you to all my team who work tirelessly to put on these events and trying to come up with new ideas. If you have an event that you think we could do, please let us know! Any suggestions or help is always gratefully received. Many thanks

Jo Hurst and the Events Team

St Peter’s Mothers’ Union branch annual report 2023

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Our St Peter’s MU branch supports 2 groups on a Wednesday afternoon and a Monday evening. We had 17 enrolled members in 2023.

We have enjoyed a variety of speakers. Afternoon talks included Mike Jacobs, changes in Ash, Gloria Benson, orphanage in Tanzania, 2 visits from David Rose, volunteering in the community and a postcard tour of Surrey villages. Also Linda Tallon, her travels in India, and Anne Wilson, relating her various interesting travels, Father Keith on the origins of Harvest. Evenings included Ralph Wellington on relics and remembrances, a visit from our Diocesan president Diana Wood, Heather Hillman, flower arrangement, Rev. Claire Holt from St Paul’s Tongham on the Holy Land, and Bob Hutton, a magistrate. Our annual Church visit was to All Saints Fleet, newly opened after a devastating fire.

Cream teas, quizzes, and parties were also enjoyed.

Extra activities included Lady Day service in Guildford Cathedral, Aldershot Deanery Pilgrimage of Prayer in Cathedral Lady Chapel, and 2 members meetings, with items taken to support local Women’s refuges. Also an MU fun day at Normandy village hall, providing the refreshments.

As usual we were found providing refreshments at our summer fete and Christmas Fayre, as well as the village fete and fantasia.

Catherine Hirst continues to send Baptism cards up to the 4th Anniversary of Baptism.

Thank you to our Church leaders and friends for your continued support.

Barbara Ridley

Prayer Chain

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The Prayer chain continued to be called upon and is a valuable outreach to those who perhaps have no connection with church otherwise. We are in no doubt that our prayers are answered though not necessarily in ways we have

22

foreseen. We hope that people understand that no request would be considered too insignificant.

Prayer Chain Team. 01252 322292 or 01252 323037

St. Peter’s Flower Guild 2023

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The year started well with just the five of us managing to leek on top of things. Our aim was to recruit more ladies to the Guild. Thanks to efforts by Jo and Linda doing all they could with posters in church and in the magazine we recruited two more arrangers. Both very enthusiastic but unfortunately our youngest, Fliss, passed away suddenly. Our other lady Zoe, has settled into our Guild and joined us for Harvest Festival. We did a more scaled back affair as part of the church was closed off but what was done looked every inch Autumnal.

Easter saw us with our usual ladies plus Miranda, who always gives her time at festivals throughout the year. We had plenty of lilies to buy but at times it proved difficult to source them. But all was well eventually.

The summer fayre proved to be a trial as we didn’t have as many plants donated as usual; hopefully next year will be better.

I was invited by the Mother’s Union to do a demonstration for them on the Harvest theme. It was delightful evening and I was made very welcome. I talked about the family that is the Guild. Sheila approached me afterwards with a view to joining the Guild; I was delighted to welcome her.

Christmas Fayre was great fun; plenty to sell and we managed to sell most of our wares. It’s always a challenge to know what people will be looking for. Christmas flowers went well as usual even though we were missing one or two ladies.

I would like to thank all my ladies for everything they do for the Guild and also their contributions to our Summer and Christmas Fayres. Also a big thanks to Jo and Linda for helping raise awareness for our need for more arrangers. And lastly to Fr Keith and Revd Carol for their continued support. Heather Hillman

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Report From Ash Belfry 2023-24

We are still experiencing a shortage of ringers but we almost always manage to ring for Sunday Service. Our apologies for those we do not ring for. We rang for a number of weddings/blessings during the year, sometimes having to import ringers from other towers to help. This is the normal way of

23

doing things when towers are short of ringers.

We rang a half Peal for the Coronation of King Charles III on 6 May before the service at Westminster Abbey and this was by an all local band of Tower members.

We have had a number of visiting ringers from various towers around the Guild and further afield and these visits occurred in January, March, June, September and October. All are very appreciative of our lovely bells and say how nice they are to ring.

We also had on two consecutive evenings in October a visit from our local Beaver group. The children seemed to enjoy the experience and asked some very interesting questions. Hopefully one or two might decide to learn to ring in the future.

Two members of the band decided to step down from ringing this year so we have been further depleted in numbers. We are sorry to lose them.

Lorna is teaching Zoe to ring the bells and she is proving to be very able and I am sure she will be an asset to the Tower. We also have another gentleman wishing to learn to ring and he will be starting shortly.

Unfortunately, due to numbers (people going away, sickness etc) we were unable to ring for any service over the Christmas period. This, as far as I can recall, has never happened before.Hopefully this won't be the case for Christmas 2024.

Judith Parker

Together we can – we could – so we did

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2020’s Post – Covid lockdown rules created a locked-in isolation amongst many elderly people. Surrey’s Adult Social Care Social Prescribers faced the issue by launching a program to encourage their clients to get out and around again. They looked to Millmead to launch this initiative because, like most churches, we had accessible, safe space, a welcoming volunteer culture, a good reputation in the Community and not least, we could possibly access Charitable funding to meet the costs.

A six week, two hour program emerged. Guests would engage with professionals about Safety at home, Avoiding Scams, Fire and Rescue Safety advice, Economic Dietary strategies, IT Training, ‘Move it or Lose it’ (of course!), Mental Health issues and a Craft session.

The program was replicated across three other churches: St.Peter’s, (CofE), Ash, Westborough (URC) and Merrow (Methodist). Adequate funding was

24

established. Two new topics were added making it eight weeks: Benefit claims and Preparing for End-of-Life issues.

In all, 16 programs involving 270 guests, 20 volunteers and grants, totalling £23,305 have been engaged to support over 350 hours of TWC interactions. However, promises to signpost clients by Social Providers never materialised. The venue churches did all the recruitment but now have used up most of their likely contacts. The lead officer from Adult Social Care has moved on. Sadly 4 years on, many elderlies are still locked in and not inclined to get out much. Setting up another 8 ongoing programs for 2024 is proving to be a step too far. Reluctantly, the time has come to step back and rejoice in what has been achieved: Merrow Methodists have established a thriving weekly Community Coffee morning with scores of older folks been welcomed onto Church premises; Important quality of life information and sign posting has been imparted; the reality of God’s love reaching out to Guildford’s older population has been recognized.

Thanks must go to all whose servant heartedness made TWC happen: volunteers, organisers and the Office staff.

TOGETHER WE CAN lived up to its name: WE COULD DO IT and by God’s grace WE DID!

A special message to those in St. Peter’s, Ash: A massive thank you for your faithful support and friendship in keeping this valued programme going God is good all the time and His season for this project seems to be now to close. A big thank you goes to the kind ladies who helped on the catering rotas, including Catherine Hirst, Barbara Rose, Meryl Whiting, Denise Farmer, Jo Hurst and Linda Tallon.

Many thanks to you all & God bless you lots Rev Derek Wensley

Christian Solidarity Worldwide Card Writing Lunch Club

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Every month our Lunch club writes cards or emails words of encouragement to Christians who are suffering for their faith, working for justice for minority groups or teaching tolerance between faiths. They may be being harassed by police, in prison or in exile. They may have been arrested because of their human rights campaigns or for having a prayer meeting in their home. They may be searching for a loved one who has disappeared or travelling around to deliver workshops in what can be dangerous situations. Whoever they are a

25

few words of encouragement lets them know that they are not alone or forgotten. Please remember them in your prayers.

If you would like to join our group please speak to Philip or Barbara Rose and if you feel moved to help with our postage costs any donations would be gratefully received.

Barbara Rose

St Peter’s Choir

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The Choir regularly lead the singing for all the services we have had in Church. To help save money on heating the Church we have not had a choir for Second Sundays as we are in the hall for a less formal service, and we sit in the congregation.

I would like to apologise for not being well and for missing some of the choir rehearsals before Christmas at the end of the year. However, the choir and regular voices who usually help out were supported by Anne Wilson playing and teaching parts to make sure we had the correct notes when they sang. Thanks is always due for Philip Rose who, week by week keeps the choir singing. Thank you.

Mary Lamont

Sunday coffee

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We have had a complete year of refreshments and fellowship after the Sunday services. We are looking for new members for the coffee rota. If, you have an hour to spare, why not join the team? We would love to hear from you. Gentlemen welcome too!

Angela

Craft Group

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Our group has been meeting for years now and continues to be a lovely relaxed place to craft and have a good chat. We welcome many regulars from within the church community and beyond. Anyone is welcome to come along, enjoy a cuppa and relax! People have made hats for good causes, cards, jewel art, baby blankets, crochet, lavender bags and much much more! Ceri

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The Children’s Society

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I would like to thanks everyone who has helped support The Children's Society over the last year; either from donations, supporting events or giving up your time. It was quite a daunting task for me to take on and I have really appreciated all the help I have been given with this. We ran all the usual events; box collection, coffee morning, Christmas cards and Christingle service. A grand total of £1977.63 was raised consisting of;

I know that lots of people also support The Children's Society with other donations throughout the year and I would like to thank everyone on behalf of The Children's Society for your continuing support.

The 2024 coffee morning will be on Saturday 28[th] September 2024, looking forward to seeing you there! Richard Moore

Little Fishes @ St. Peter’s, Ash

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This year we had some staff changes, Jannie who had been our Senco for many years (& had been at Little Fishes for almost 20 years) decided to take early retirement and relocate. We found a great replacement in Mel and she took the reins in October 23. We extended our staff team with Louise and Geraldine in the summer term and we are now a team of 12, this includes myself as Manager, 2 deputy managers, key people and SEN support staff.

Anne Wilson and Father Keith continue to support us in the roles as Chair and Vice-Chair of the committee. Our committee members are very supportive of all the things we do for the children and staff at Little Fishes.

Although not everything has gone back to the pre covid way of doing things, we have re-introduced lots of things such as the cutting up of fruit with the children. We had our nativity in the hall this year for the first time since 2019, and with our larger cohort we did 2 performances with lots of parents and Grandparents attending. We also held our Christmas church service for leavers in July and Christmas in December, Father Keith told our children part of the nativity story with the help from one of his famous puppets.

Last year fundraising money went on exchanging the loose rubber chippings in the sensory garden to a soft mulch safety surface.

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We will be saying goodbye to 27 children leaving us for school in July 2024, but they are all ready for this next step in their education and we look forward to welcoming our new families.

Jackie Brewer

Manager – Little Fishes

Rainbows

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The Summer of 2023 was a great one for the rainbows. We focused for a few weeks on Making Change which involved learning about good causes and sharing acts of kindness. We also visited the therapy garden in Normandy which was lovely and we went on a long walk to the chip shop and all had chips!

In the Autumn term the highlights included making art with our footprints and making lots of Gonk Christmas decorations!

In the spring of 2024 we worked on a Europe Challenge which involved us making passports and ‘visiting’ lots of countries. In England we played bingo, in Italy we made pizza, in Holland we made model windmills, in Spain we made castanets and in Greece we participated in the Olympics!

A big thank you to everyone who helps at the unit – we literally couldn’t do it without you!

Ceri and Abbie Hurcombe, Unit Leaders

Brownies Annual Report 2023

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We started off in April 2023 with a tea party to celebrate the King’s Coronation, and we all decorated crowns to join in. It’s a rare event, so brilliant to get involved. As part of the Girlguiding programme we completed our first aid skills builder this term, so some of our girls could earn their ‘Be Well’ theme award. We also had a night making trash fashion, celebrating Father’s Day and lighting candles – we even roasted marshmallows! We ended our term with a walk down the canal to the fish & chip shop which was definitely a hit. In September Cerys took a break while she started a new job and her youngest started school – all change! The Brownies worked on their Influence skills builder/theme award. The leaders got a bit more organised with the

programme, since it looked like 2 of our girls might achieve their Gold Awards if we pushed a few extra activities. One of our leaders, Lorna, organised an international trip to Belgium with her Guides from back home, and there was a

28

challenge badge we could complete for that to support her. We then celebrated Halloween, Bonfire night, Diwali and Christmas to complete the term. In January Chloe took a rest from weekly meetings and came to visit us later in the term with baby Jack! We completed our oldest girls’ Gold Award by doing our Communicate skills builder, learning about different ways to get our thoughts across. The girls love acting out plays, so that is always a popular method. We’re very proud that we have finally got some of our girls through their Gold award – here’s to many more.

For our outing we crossed to road to the church for a bell ringing lesson, which the girls loved. I posted that we were practising on the local Facebook group and the community was appreciative too. We completed our Civil Engineering badge this term, learning to work together to plan, design and build structures and communication devices. We made cards and bookmarks for Mother’s Day. The last night of term we had a Japanese night as our leader, Abie, is organising a Girlguiding trip there in the summer! We’re very lucky to have such intrepid leaders.

We’re looking forward to lighter evenings and summer activities outside this term, fingers crossed for some sunshine!

Cerys March Giraffe 2nd Ash Brownies

Funday Club AGM Report

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It has been another busy year putting the ‘fun’ into Funday Club! We are a small and friendly group who plan and run the monthly Funday Club sessions for a growing number of children who enjoy stories, activities and crafts in St Peter’s Centre before coming into Church to join the end of the service and treating the congregation to an unscripted ‘Show and Tell’ of what they have been up to! We try to mix up the style of sessions to engage the children so that they get the most out of the session and over the last year has included stories, sit down crafts, acting, reading, listening, games, discussion, cooking, eating and more. Hands-on activities are always popular, as is a chance to perform be that reading a story to Funday Club on the carpet, doing a reading in in church, acting out a story and of course starring in our annual Christingle production. Highlights of 2023 have included:

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Additionally we ran a summer fair stall offering an activity for children attending the fair as well as games to try their luck on.

We see that the Twinning with St Paul's will also widen the audience for offerings of family-based activities and we look forward to see how this develops between us in future.

New faces and ideas are always welcome so do feel free to join us on the fourth Sunday of the month or speak to Lisa Cheung to find out more. Lisa Cheung, Funday Club Leader

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St. Peter’s Christmas Lunch

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We enjoyed Christmas lunch with about 36 people this year, some church members and others from the wider community. Donations meant we were able to serve a full Christmas dinner with drinks and sweets, crackers and a small table gift for everyone. After lunch we watched the King’s Speech, and enjoyed a quiz with tea, coffee and mince pies, and there was even Christmas Cake to take home. Thank you to everyone who helped make this possible. Barbara and Philip

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Care and Share Shelf

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Our Care and Share shelf, started in the COVID epidemic, continues to be well used. Daily we put out about 14 items, trying to provide essentials to anyone struggling as prices have risen so rapidly or who have one of those difficult times life sometimes throws at you. Food such as tins of fish and meat, tea and coffee, beans and vegetables as well as some fresh food and toiletries all find a new home. This outreach is run entirely by donations, either from the harvest collection or donations brought to church so is not taking money from our much-needed church funds. Please continue to help us reach our neighbours in need. Thank You

Barbara Rose

Collecting for refugees

Serving at Christmas

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Just before Christmas a group of us from our local churches in Aldershot, Ash Vale, Ash and Tongham and some Care4Calais volunteers went to a local hotel where refugees live. Aldershot Churches Together made gift bags for the children and AAVT made up some small gifts for the adults. Hats and gloves, notebooks and pens, toiletries and other small but useful presents and treats. We arrived, to the excitement of the children, put up some Christmas Trees and played some music while serving drinks and seasonal treats, including a fabulous Christmas Cake. Happy chaos playing musical statues, decorating biscuits and youngsters playing football outside with volunteers! The gifts were given to each person or family in turn and were received with smiles and thanks. Lots of happy faces.

HUGE THANKS to everyone who helped make this possible. 106 adult bags were made so lots of shopping, wrapping, packing and delivering of bags. Thank you if you served refreshments with a smile, filled or gave out the bags on the day, chatted to residents, played with the children or donated at St. Peter’s, St Paul’s and St. Mary’s.

A wonderful way to serve our local community. Barbara Rose

Refugee Collections

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In March and October in 2023, as in previous years, St. Peter’s Church supported the Farnham help for Refugees collection. They support refugees

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here in the UK and abroad. Suitable clothes, new underwear, trainers, football boots backpacks, phones, tents, blankets and sleeping bags and sometimes toiletries are all collected depending on where they are able to distribute items. This is an ongoing and much needed. Thank you to everyone who has contributed.

Barbara Rose

Fishes Great and Small

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In June 2023 we had our “Fishes Great and Small” exhibition which brought the community into church and some of our local churches together. Displays by church and community groups, schools as well as individuals gave us a chance to see Bible Stories in a new light as well as show information about the latest Ocean Treaty and enjoy some fun in the undersea cave spotting the mermaid’s tail.

Barbara Rose

Strictly St Peter’s Tea Dance

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We usually meet on the first Thursday of each month at 2:30 to dance to music from the 1920s to the present day. We have up to 25 people, many who are not regular church members, who come for the dancing and the company. There’s always a cup of tea or coffee and cake or biscuits.

As you might imagine, the people who come are mostly retired and prefer not to have to be out in the dark evenings. But we’re not couch potatoes, either, and we can shake a leg with the best of them.

We love to see new people as well, and if you can put one foot in front of another (without falling over) you can joint in the dancing. Don’t be scared – we don’t bite.

Barbara and Philip Rose

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Parochial Church Council of St Peter’s Church, Ash

Financial Statements for the Year Ended 31 December 2023

Receipts and Payments Accounts

Note
1, 5
Receipts
Voluntary recipts:
Planned Giving
Collections at services
All other giving/voluntary receipts
Grants
7
HMRC recovery (Gift Aid)
Activities for generating funds
Events
Hall Hire
Investment Income
Church Activities
Total receipts
Payments
Church activities
Parish Share (this year)
2
Parish Share (last year)
2
Staff costs
Working expenses
Church running expenses
Church repairs and maintenance
Church Development
Shared expenses
Centre running expenses
Mission Giving and Donations
Cost of generating funds
Governance
Total payments
Excess of receipts over payments
4
Transfers between funds
6
Cash at bank and in hand at 1st January
Cash at bank and in hand at 31st December		 Unrestricted
funds
23,160
4,578
150
36,289
6,849
71,025
3,389
26,164
29,553
12,836
8,075
121,489
55,117
39,007
7,680
912
6,715
2,914
488
16,865
6,747
784
137,228
0
1,560
138,788
(17,298)
4,757
(12,542)
61,464
52,058		 Restricted
funds
5,820
5,820
4,957
4,957
0
0
10,776
0
0
0
0
0
0
829
0
0
0
829
2,056
0
2,884
7,892
(4,757)
3,135
0
0		 Total
2023
23,160
4,578
5,970
36,289
6,849
76,845
8,346
26,164
34,510
`
12,836
8,075
132,265
55,117
39,007
7,680
912
6,715
2,914
1,316
16,865
6,747
784
138,056
2,056
1,560
141,672
(9,406)
0
(9,406)
61,464
52,058		 Total
2022
30,069
6,171
35,220
71,460
4,123
19,467
23,590
15,400
19,460
129,910
74,007
5,688
772
4,240
7,034
1,916
23,369
8,350
125,376
780
126,156
3,754
0
3,754

Statement of assets and liabilities at the end of the year 31 December 2023

Note
Cash funds
Natwest PCC
Natwest Fabric Fund
Barclays
Cash Office
Cash - in hand
Cash and bank (Flowers & Bells)
Total cash funds
Other monetary assets
Debts due (GDBF)
Liabilities
Unpresented cheques
Last payment of Parish Share
3
Total net assets
Breakdown of funds
Unrestricted
- General
- Allocated (Flower and Bells)
Restricted
- Fabric Fund
- Legacies
Total net assets		 Unrestricted
funds
24,617
5,201
17,541
32
512
4,157
52,058
1,786
1,786
380
20,000
20,380
33,464		 Restricted
funds
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0		 Total
2023
24,617
5,201
17,541
32
512
4,157
52,058
1,786
1,786
380
20,000
20,380
33,464
26,172
4,157
30,329
2,135
1,000
3,135
33,464		 Total
2022
37,182
2,941
16,161
32
796
4,353
61,464
0
39,007
39,007
22,457

Notes:

Independent examiner's report to the trustees of St Peter's Church Ash I report to the trustees on my examination of tne accounts of St. Peter's Church Ash (the Trust} for the year enrjed 31 December 2023. Responsibilities and ba$1$ of report As the charity trustees of the Trust you are responsible for the preparation of the accounts in accordance with the requirements of the Charities Act 20111'the Act'l. I report in respect of my examination of the Trust's accounts carried out under section 145 of the 2011 Act and in carrying out my examination I have followed all the applicable Directions given bythe Charity Commission under section 1451Sllbl of the Act. Independent examiner's statement I have completed my examination. I confirm that no material matters have come to my attention in connection with the examination giving me cause to believ8 that in any material respect.. 1. accounting records wère not kept in respect of the Trust as required by section 130 of the Act; or 2. the accounts do not accord with those records. I have no concerns and have come across no other matters in eonnection with the examination to which attention should be drawn in this report in order to enable a proper understanding of the accounts to e reached. Name: Michae avid Ellis Relevant professional qualification or membership of professional bodies lif any): FCII Attdress: Sunnyview. 9 Mill Lane. Lindyord. Hampshire GU35 OPE Date: 2" May2024