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2021-12-31-accounts

Annual Report

ANNUAL CONGREGATIONAL MEETING of the WOUGHTON ECUMENICAL PARTNERSHIP at St. Mary’s Church & via Zoom 5[th] April 2022 at 7:30pm

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Ecumenical Vision Statement For the Woughton Ecumenical Parish

In the light of the prayer of Christ ‘may they all be one… that the world may believe that you sent me…’ (Jn 17.21) and the injunction to ‘spare no effort to make fast with bonds of peace the unity which the Spirit gives’ (Eph 4:3), members of Woughton Ecumenical Parish commit themselves to work together in serving God’s mission locally and beyond.

Members of the Parish, drawn from the four participating denominations (The Church of England, The Methodist Church, The Baptist Union and The United Reformed Church) and from other Christian traditions, seek to respond to the call of God through Christ and in the power of the Holy Spirit.

Our life together and our mission are shaped by our core values:

Each of our five local congregations gives expression to the above, in its worship, ministry and mission.

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AGENDAS for

Annual Parochial Church Meeting of Woughton Parish, Parochial Church Council of Woughton Parish,

Annual Congregational Meeting of Woughton Ecumenical Partnership, And 45th Meeting of the Woughton Ecumenical Partnership Trustees

At 7.30pm on Wednesday 5[th] April 2022 St Mary’s[ (not quorate) ]

At 7.30pm on Wednesday 11[th] May 2022 St. Thomas’ Church – Simpson & via Zoom

Prayers led by the Team.

Rev Ian Herbert in the Chair for items 1 and 2.

  1. Annual Parochial Church Meeting

  2. a. Approval of Minutes of Annual Parochial Church Meeting 6[th] April 2021

  3. b. Nominations for churchwardens

  4. d. Election of PCC members as nominated in Appendix A

  5. e. Decision on number of elected PCC members for the year 2022/23

  6. f. Appointment of Deanery Synod representative

  7. Parochial Church Council Meeting

  8. a. Co-option of PCC member

  9. b. Election of PCC Secretary

  10. c. Proposal that the WEP Treasurer should act as the PCC Treasurer for the year

Mike Davidge in the Chair

3. Annual Congregational Meeting

Rev Ian Herbert in the Chair

4. Meeting of Trustees

Appendix A to the Agenda

Appendix B

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Appendix A

Nominations for appointments at Partnership level 2022-2023

Annual Parochial Church Meeting:

PCC Members Lynn Castle (St T) all for one year Vacant (CVCC) 2022-22 Don Mahon (TF) Di Miller (St M)

PCC Ex-Officio to note Revd Ian Herbert, Revd Paul Norris,

Church Wardens Christ the Vine David Hart St Mary’s David Bird St Thomas’ Iola Samuels Woolstone John Howard

Deanery Synod Representatives Di Miller, Kim Weston

Parochial Church Council:

Co-opt to PCC Revd. Charmaine Howard Revd. Nicola Vidamour

Annual Congregational Meeting:

WEP Trustees For three years to 2022

For information: Continuing Trustees

Lynn Castle (St T)[(2019)] Iola Samuels (St.T) )[(2021)] Mike Davidge (Chair of Trustees)[(2019)] David Hart (CtV)[(2019)] Don Mahon (TF)[(2019)] Marilyn Mahon (TF)[(2019)] Kim Weston (St M)[(2019)] Di Miller (St M)[(2019)] John Howard (W)[(2019)]

Ex-Officio Trustees

Revd. Ian Herbert , Revd. Nicola Vidamour , Revd. Paul Norris, Revd. Charmaine Howard

Methodist Circuit (2) Lynn Castle; Marilyn Mahon, Don Mahon

Netherfield Partnership (corporate member) Revd Ian Herbert

Trustees Meeting:

Trustee of Trinity Centre

Andrew Buckley

Member of Trinity Management Committee

Ken MacLeod

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Appendix B

Other Appointments and Representatives 2022-2023

Ministry Team

Revd Ian Herbert Revd Paul Norris Revd Charmaine Howard Revd Nicola Vidamour

Other Ordained Ministers

Revd Christopher Bell

Preachers and worship leaders

Lynn Castle Mike Davidge Judy Rapp

URC Synod Representatives (appointed by local churches – 1 per church)

Pam Rowden (TF)

Mission Partnership Representatives (appointed by local churches – 2 per church) No longer required.

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Minutes of the Annual Parochial Church Meeting of Woughton Parish on 6th April 2021 via Zoom because of the Covid-19 pandemic.

Present: Paul Norris BA Kim Weston LD Mike Davidge Lynn Castle Iola Samuels GM David Hart David Bird MB Mandy Heart JF OC Nicola Vidamour JS RP Ian Herbert Don Mahon Marilyn Mahon BB NB Di Miller Jean Mattinsley John Howard Charmaine Howard RT

Apologies: BH, AN SS

Rev Paul Norris led prayers.

Rev Ian Herbert in the chair for Items 1 & 2

1. Annual Parochial Church Meeting

2. Parochial Church Meeting

Meeting ended at 7.50pm.

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Minutes of the Annual Congregational Meeting of Woughton Ecumenical Partnership held on 6[th] April 2021 via Zoom.

Present. 28 members of the Partnership were present online. Apologies. There were three apologies recorded.

Mike Davidge in the Chair. Before the meeting began, Mike explained that there were insufficient numbers attending (6 short) to make the meeting quorate. The meeting voted to go ahead on that basis. In response to a later question, Mike replied that the significance of not being quorate meant that decisions taken at the meeting could be challenged and another ACM would need to be convened.

3. Annual Congregational Meeting.

Mike asked a representative from the Team and each of the churches to pick out one special feature to high light from their report.

Rev Ian Herbert on behalf of the Team said that he had been most encouraged by the way that all the different talents and skills of the Team had been harnessed to support and encourage the members of the Partnership and a wider audience during the lock down periods. He pointed out particularly the specialist skills required to make the Vimeo videos each week to post on the website. He paid tribute and said we were all very grateful.

St Thomas’ Church. Lynn Castle said that the church community were very grateful to Iola Samuels for offering to be the new churchwarden and WEP Trustee. She had stepped into the role with enthusiasm. The Zoom coffee mornings continue to work well.

Christ the Vine Community Church. Mandy Heart reported that Zoom activity has worked well. People have enjoyed new ways of doing things together. Trinity Fishermead. The membership has been consulted about the possibility of a curate based at St Mary’s Bletchley coming to work in the Woughton Parish. There has been a positive response. Rev Ian Herbert explained that this curate will be funded by St Mary’s Bletchley but that it is still a matter under exploration and discussion by the Woughton Trustees.

Holy Trinity, Woolstone. John Howard reported that during this time of fearfulness and loss, the congregation have encouraged and supported each other.

St Mary’s Woughton. Jean Mattinsley reported that there were two causes for joy in the last part of 2020. Finally, after three years of missed appointments and waiting, Wi-Fi was finally installed in the church which will enable internet connectivity and enhance worship. Thanks to Tim May for his help with achieving this outcome. Secondly the church has been protected from the threat of roots growing under the porch from the nearby cedar tree.

The Reports were proposed for acceptance by Mike Davidge and seconded by NB. All in favour.

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The Finance Report was proposed for acceptance by Mike Davidge and seconded by David Bird. All in agreement.

4. This section of the agenda was postponed to the first meeting of the WEP Trustees.

AOB:

  1. A question about the implications of not being quorate. See the beginning minute.

  2. There was a question about the Trustees from each local church. It was confirmed that the Trustees are appointed to the whole Partnership, although it was two from each DCC and an extra Trustee as the Chair. At the moment, there are spaces at Christ the Vine and Woolstone Church.

  3. Rev Nicola Vidamour confirmed the dates for her sabbatical in response to a question. They are 12[th] April to 2[nd] August 2021. She told the meeting that she will be spending time writing a book on Reflections on the Church’s Year. Hopefully there will be the opportunities to make wider visits to family and friends after this very long time apart.

The Meeting ended at 8.20pm

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Rev Ian Herbert closed with prayer.

Parochial Church Council Report 2021 -- Di Miller, PCC Secretary

The Parish has been deeply affected by the impact of the Covid 19 crisis on every aspect of life. We have managed to have meetings of the PCC via Zoom before the WEP meetings as usual, but this is very limiting. We have managed to hear from representatives from all the churches and the churchwardens from St Thomas’, Christ the Vine, St Mary’s, and Woolstones Church. We are pleased to report that David Hart and Mandy Heart for Christ the Vine Community Church and Mrs Iola Samuels for St Thomas’ have joined the PCC. At various times in the past year the churches have been open for socially distanced worship but since the third lockdown in December/January 2021 the churches have been closed for services. The Team has managed to produce weekly video services for people to look at over the internet which have been much appreciated. With regard to distributing the Partnership Newsletter and other documentation, these having mostly been sent out via email by Tim May. Tim has also been personally delivering resources on a Saturday to those in the parish that do have online access, I would like to thank Tim for the extra effort he has given to ensure that these members are still able to feel involved in our weekly worship. I wish to indicate that I will be stepping down as PCC secretary at the end of this meeting.

In the past year at St Thomas’ Stephen Roberts stepped down as churchwarden in June 2020 and since then Rev Nicola Vidamour has submitted reports of the issues relating to the church and churchyard to the PCC. In summary these have related to the issues concerning the large cracks in the wall of the chancel under the tower and lead flashings on the roof and these have been discussed with the Diocesan architect. These are serious problems which require expensive repairs. The churchyard has continued to be maintained and new LED lights have been fitted in the porch. Mrs Iola Samuels has volunteered to be the next churchwarden for St Thomas’ Church.

At St Mary’s Church, the problems of invasive tree roots from a nearby cedar tree needed to be tackled. This has involved the digging of a new trench to create a barrier to further growth. A Faculty application was granted for this work, and it has been done satisfactorily. The installation of broadband in the church has been a complicated story. A Faculty was granted but BT’s sub-contractor Open Reach took a long time to come and do the work. When they did come, they dug the trench in the wrong place and fractured an electrical cable to the lych gate. Liability for this mistake was accepted and the cost of repair has been met. The cabling into the church has now been done and Wi-Fi is now present inside the church. During the year the north wall has continued to need a rebuild but the cost of this in the pandemic has pushed it down the priority list. It has been made safe for the time being. The tree pressing on to the east wall from the hotel side ultimately pushed the wall over and a temporary fence has been put up. The tree has now been cut down. The hotel ownership is uncertain at the present time so the plan for rebuilding the wall is on hold.

Fund raising for the next stage of the audio-visual capability in the church is ongoing. The church clock has not worked at all in this last year and a solution to the problem is being worked on by the company Gillett and Johnson.

The Church Hall has continued as before. It can be used as a polling station but is otherwise not available for hire.

Christ the Vine Community Church is also owned by the Diocese. A decision was taken that boiler repairs were necessary. There were also plans for the Baptistry to put into use. Plans for a new ramp for the door on the east side of the building are also under discussion. The MK Winter Night Shelter has not been running this year. Services from the church have been live streamed through the lockdown time.

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Within the Parish, the Fishermead Community Centre is negotiating the Community Asset Transfer which has not yet been completed. The new Trust will be managed by Trustees on behalf of the Diocese and the Residents’ Association as a Community Resource. It was reported that complications of the lease are still holding things up but this was expected to be resolved.

The Community Church at Woolstone. The new kitchen was fitted in 2019 but owing to the pandemic has not been greatly used yet. The congregation is scattered but an effort has been made to stay in touch with people. Some socially distanced services were possible in 2021 but the church is now shut. The chancel was cleared of extra things which were not needed and is looking better.

February 2022 Di Miller PCC Secretary

Annual Report and Accounts Woughton Ecumenical Partnership Foreword

This annual report reviews the life, ministry and activities of Woughton Ecumenical Partnership and its congregations in 2021. The Covid pandemic continued to have a major impact on our ministry, with churches closed or operating under restrictions about what we could do for much of the year. As in 2020, we owe much to our Ministry team and so many of our members who worked so hard to keep our Christian life and witness going with imaginative and compassionate responses to unpredictable changes.

Online video services continued when churches were closed and some of our churches have continued with these to provide opportunities to worship to those as yet unable to return to meeting in person. Email, phone, WhatsApp and Zoom groups continued to keep people in touch with one another and provide pastoral support when needed.

As restrictions eased towards the end of the year, it was good to see some of our important community actions able to return, including the Winter Night Shelter accommodation and ABC (the group for parents and toddlers) at Christ the Vine. Experience gained in 2020 working with Woughton Community Council on a food parcel scheme led to setting up a food larder scheme in Tinkers Bridge (with another one in planning for Fishermead).

At Christ the Vine, the Wellbeing Hub was set up, aiming to bring together local community and health groups to provide a welcoming and supportive meeting place in a café setting.

Although most of our churches’ regular summer events were lost, a number were possible - an autumn flower festival (on the theme ‘to live and work to God’s praise and glory’) and heritage weekend, harvest celebrations, the 25[th] anniversary of the opening of Christ the Vine Community Church, pumpkin carving, Remembrance Day services and many of the regular Christmas activities returned.

On the financial side, we started the year expecting to have to draw quite heavily on our reserves, but we ended the year with a small income surplus, thanks to generous giving from members throughout the Partnership. Staff costs are our biggest investment in mission. During the year the Trustees discussed the affordability of continuing with two full-time ministers and confirmed their commitment to maintain this level of staffing. We are so grateful to all who donate to keep our ministry running but we know the pressures on costs and income will continue with us. Our Treasurer Don Mahon, the district treasurers and the Trustees will continue to address this as a priority for us all as members so that we can take forward our mission in our communities.

We continued to discuss with St Mary’s Bletchley a proposal that a Pioneer Minister could be placed within Woughton but have now paused this until later in 2022.

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There are many challenges facing us but we can be confident that God goes ahead of us. Our ecumenical vision statement reminds us that, as members, we commit ourselves ‘to work together in serving God’s mission locally and beyond.’ WEP’s role is to support all of us in the part we can play in that mission as we ‘seek to respond to the call of God through Christ and in the power of the Holy Spirit.’

On behalf of the Trustees, I want to thank our Ministry team, our volunteer ministers (ordained and lay) and others who lead worship and all those in our churches who do so much to build our life together – those who have worked so hard in such difficult circumstances to maintain our church life and witness.

Mike Davidge Chair of Trustees 2022

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Contents

Section Title

1. Reference and Administrative Information

2. Structure, Governance and Management

3. Partnership Aims and Objectives

4. Activity and Achievement Reports

5. Financial Review

Reported separately

Appendices

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Annual Report and Accounts 2021

  1. Reference and Administration Details : 1.1 Name: Woughton Ecumenical Partnership, abbreviated to WEP.

1.2 Address: Partnership Office, Christ the Vine Community Church, Jonathans, Coffee Hall, Milton Keynes MK6 5DE Tel 01908 392583. www.woughton.org

1.3 Trustees: Lynn Castle David Hart Mike Davidge John Howard Don Mahon Kim Weston Marilyn Mahon Rev Charmaine Howard Di Miller Rev Nicola Vidamour Rev Ian Herbert Iola Samuels Rev Paul Norris

1.4 Key Personnel: Chair: Mike Davidge Ministry Team: Rev Ian Herbert, Rev Charmaine Howard, Rev Paul Norris, Rev Nicola Vidamour Secretary: Di Miller Treasurer: Don Mahon WEP Administrator: Tim May

1.5 Principal Bankers: CAF Bank, Central Finance Board of the Methodist Church and Central Board of Finance of the Church of England.

  1. Structure, Governance and Management:

2.1 Governing documents: Woughton Ecumenical Partnership (WEP) is established as a single congregation local ecumenical partnership. Its governing documents – the Constitution and Schedule – were approved and adopted at the inaugural congregational meeting on 18 October 2016. From this date, WEP replaced the former body known as Woughton Ecumenical Parish. As well as the governing documents, there is a Memorandum of Understanding made between the Bishop of Buckingham, the Parochial Church Council of the Parish of Woughton and the Trustees of WEP. WEP is established as a charitable unincorporated association. The Charity Commission registered it as a charity on 28 March 2017 with Registered Charity Number 1172298.

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A set of Standing Orders (SOs) has been approved by the Trustees. Each one covers a specific aspect of WEP policy. Standing Financial Instructions (SFIs) form part of the SOs. The SOs and SFIs have been drawn up to comply with the governing documents, relevant charity legislation and good practice as promulgated by the Charity Commission as regulator. The SOs all have scheduled review dates and the Trustees review each document as it falls due (or sooner if need arises). New SOs and SFIs are developed when need arises.

2.2 Appointment and training of Trustees:

The Trustee Body consists of:

All current Trustees are either elected or ex officio.

All Trustees have received the Charity Commission guide ‘The essential trustee’. Formal training for Trustees is planned but to date none has taken place.

2.3 The organisational structure of WEP and how decisions are made:

There are five Local Church Councils (LCCs) whose task is to maintain and develop the life and mission of their local church. The rules governing LCCs are contained in SO No. 8 Local Church Councils. Each church may nominate two Trustees to the Partnership. A Chair, Secretary and Treasurer are elected by the Trustees. Members of the Ministry Team are ex officio Trustees.

The Trustees have delegated to the Ministry Team matters of ministry and spiritual/pastoral care.

There is an Annual Congregational Meeting to receive the Report and Accounts and elect Trustees (if there is a vacancy or a Trustee’s term is expiring). The normal business of the Partnership is conducted through regular meetings of the LCCs and the Trustees during the year.

Membership data is set out in Appendix 1.

2.4 The relationship between WEP and Milton Keynes Mission Partnership:

WEP was a member of Milton Keynes Mission Partnership throughout 2021. Mission Partnership seeks to advance the Christian faith by drawing together Christian communities from Milton Keynes and the surrounding areas to further the 'Five Marks of Mission' which have been adopted by the Forum of Churches Together in England. Each congregation in WEP appoints representatives to attend the Mission Partnership Assembly. Mike Davidge is a Trustee of WEP and until 18 December 2021 was a Trustee of Mission Partnership. Nicola Vidamour continued as a Trustee of WEP and a Trustee of Mission Partnership throughout 2021.

2.5 A statement of the major risks to which WEP is exposed:

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The Partnership Trustees act to mitigate all risks.

3. WEP Aims and Objectives:

3.1 Our purpose

As set out in our Governing document, the purpose of the Charity is to advance the Christian faith in the Area of Benefit in accordance with the principles and practices of the Participating Churches.

Our Ecumenical Vision Statement

In the light of the prayer of Christ ‘may they all be one… that the world may believe that you sent me…’ (John 17.21) and the injunction to ‘spare no effort to make fast with bonds of peace the unity which the Spirit gives’ (Ephesians 4:3), members of WEP commit themselves to work together in serving God’s mission locally and beyond.

Members, drawn from the four participating denominations (The Church of England, The Methodist Church, The Baptist Union and The United Reformed Church) and from other Christian traditions, seek to respond to the call of God through Christ and in the power of the Holy Spirit.

Our life together and our mission are shaped by our core values:

3.2 Our Mission Objectives

Each of our five local congregations gives expression to the above, in its worship, ministry and mission. Together across the Partnership we look to:

  1. Provide regular public worship for all who wish to attend.

  2. Pray for the well-being of members, adherents and people and organisations in the community.

  3. Provide opportunities for children, young people and adults to learn about the Christian faith and its key teaching.

  4. Undertake mission activity including both evangelism and service as appropriate.

  5. Engage with the local community and other agencies to work towards meeting the needs of the community.

  6. Engage in pastoral work for the benefit of members and others.

  7. Offer baptism, thanksgiving, naming and blessing, marriage and funeral services for members, adherents, and people in the wider community with appropriate preparation and follow-up.

  8. Provide facilities and activities with a Christian ethos for the local community including the elderly, young and groups with special needs.

  9. Support other charities in the United Kingdom and overseas.

  10. Seek God's guidance and direction in all that we do.

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3.3 Our objectives for 2022

District churches

How did we do: The Covid epidemic and consequent lockdowns continued to have a significant impact on the life and work of all our district churches. Many activities, including worship services, community events and weddings and baptisms became impossible or had to be severely curtailed. Nevertheless, those of our churches where local circumstances allowed, made great efforts to keep some aspects of mission and ministry visible. Some churches were able to open to provide space for private prayer and reflection; Remembrance Sunday was observed; one church was able to organise a flower festival on the theme of ‘Missed Celebrations’, another organised a local ‘Best Garden’ community event. Our churches made great efforts to keep in touch with members and local communities, particularly those known to be vulnerable, through electronic media, by phone and personal visits where safe to do so.

The Partnership

How did we do: The Soup Run and the Winter Night Shelter did not operate during the year. The food parcel distribution scheme established in partnership with Woughton Community Council continued, providing regular deliveries to vulnerable and shut-in members of our communities. We were involved in establishing a food larder scheme in one part of our area (and another was at the planning stage). At Christ the Vine, the Wellbeing Hub was set up, aiming to bring together local community and health groups to provide a welcoming and supportive meeting place in a café setting. The Easter Cracked and Christmas Cracked events for local schools could not take place. Some members took advantage of on-line courses, provided both within WEP and externally.

Trustees

How did we do: The weekly newsletter and web site continue as sources of information, crossPartnership groups and events were greatly restricted by Covid rules. Members responded with great generosity to maintain a sound financial position in the year and people were encouraged to use standing orders or bank transfers where possible. We introduced contactless giving on a pilot basis and direct online giving via the CAF Donate web site.

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Our thanks go to the district church and Partnership treasurers for all their work to encourage good stewardship practices, but we know that financial challenges lie ahead and will require continued effort to manage. On applicable laws and regulations, the Trustees continue to give close regard to these. In 2021, we continued to review our own standing orders, including our safeguarding policy, to ensure they reflect good practice. Our planned work on developing strategy was disrupted by the succession of lockdowns.

4. Activity and Achievement Reports:

4.1 Ministry Team 2021 Ian Herbert, Nicola Vidamour, Paul Norris, Charmaine Howard.

2021 started with our churches remaining closed due to the ongoing pandemic. It was once again a challenging year for the Ministry Team as we continued to ensure resources were available to keep our churches connected with each other and the communities we serve. This was maintained by our online services through Zoom, Facebook, pre-recorded services, and transcripts being available, along with weekly resources being posted on the WEP website or being hand delivered.

Our appreciation and thanks must go to all who have supported us in 2021. Revd. Chris Bell, Mike Davidge, John Howard, Lynn Castle, Judy Rapp, and David Hart who have supported our five churches by leading services and preaching when the churches were able to open. This ensured that we were able to maintain a weekly service in all five churches in the partnership.

A note of special thanks must go to all the visiting Ministers who supported St Thomas’ while Nicola was on three months sabbatical.

Although our Pastoral work is shared with church members and does not exclusively fall on the shoulders of the Ministry Team, 2021 once again saw a significant increase in the Ministry Team’s involvement with church members and residents living in our communities. Again, we found ourselves rearranging weddings, (some for the third time) postponing baptism and memorial services and rearranging where posable. 2021 continued with a high number of funerals and the pastoral care associated with the death of a loved one. The beginning of 2021 once again gave us the opportunity for the whole Partnership to come together for teaching and learning about the Christian faith, through online Bible Study groups, Sunday School, and our Lent reflections. The online Tuesday morning Bible Study and Prayer time hosted and led by Revd. Charmaine Howard, the Tuesday afternoon Sunday Sermon Reflection, hosted by Trinity, Fishermead and led by Revd. Chris Bell and a midweek Reflection led by Revd. Nicola Vidamour.

Please read the reports from each of the churches if you would like to know more about what each church has been up to.

Once the churches were able to open, we were faced with the challenge of ensuring a safe environment for all as several restrictions remained in place. These included wearing face masks, cleaning after every service, restricting the number of people at each service due to social distancing, ensuring there was a one-way system in place, no common cup for communion and no refreshments.

Thank you for your patience, support, and help. Without you we would not have been able to ensure the wellbeing of all who attended our churches.

2021 saw us once again celebrating public worship at our Easter and Christmas services in all five churches. Although numbers were lower than previous years.

With the opening of the churches and the easing of restrictions the Ministry Team were once again able to re-connect with local schools, homes for the elderly, community projects, residents ’associations, Mum’s and Toddler groups, community councils and other organisations.

See local church reports for details of the strong community links our churches have. Throughout 2021, Tim May our Partnership Administrator continued to support the Ministry Team by taking on the day-to-day administrative tasks. Tim has played his part in ensuring

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the weekly resources have been sent to Geoffrey as well as hand delivering to those who do not have email.

The Parish has a long tradition of lay involvement. We would like to take this opportunity to thank all who have supported us by offering and exercising their gifts and skills. Without you we would not have been able to be as effective in our churches and communities as we have been.

In 2021 we were able to take eight weddings, sixty-two funerals and fourteen interments of Ashes. Three of our church members were confirmed and we took ten baptisms. As we look to the future, we the Ministry Team, encourage you all to seek God’s guidance on how you might be able to support the work of WEP in the local churches and communities we serve.

Revd. Ian Herbert, Revd. Paul Norris, Revd. Charmaine Howard, Revd. Nicola Vidamour

4.2 Secretarial Report for WEP ACM 2022

During this past year of 2021/22 WEP has been able to return to a more normal life gradually but as a Partnership we have continued to have the Trustees meetings on Zoom. We are not yet at full strength with the numbers of possible Trustees. The Annual Congregational Meeting was held via Zoom on 6[th] April 2021 and the Trustees have met six times. This included a Special Trustees meeting in July, which was requested by one of the Trustees. The Minutes of all these meetings are available to read in the Parish Office and online. Our individual churches have been able to have some face-to-face meetings of their councils. Services have been resumed in the churches at first cautiously, although some virtual streaming has also been offered.

As the pandemic has had a big impact on the financial situation, it was agreed that WEP apply for a Small Society Lottery licence from MK Council which enables the selling of raffle tickets ahead of the day of the draw as a fund raiser. St Mary’s particularly has made good use of this on two occasions.

Tim May, Parish Administrator, has been working partly remotely and sometimes in the office. He has been compiling and sending out the Parish newsletter and Prayer Diary electronically and also paper copies for those who are not on email. Tim has delivered these for which we record our thanks. Tim has also offered his expertise through the year with PAT testing of appliances and risk assessments. Our thanks too for his help in collating this annual report. The web site continues to be a valuable resource for people to find out information regarding the Woughton Partnership. I wish to indicate that I will be stepping down as PCC secretary at the end of this meeting.

Our prayers are now for us to work as a committed Partnership towards the future. We have renewed opportunities as the pandemic crisis has passed and we look for a new vision for growth and enthusiasm in serving God here in Woughton.

Di Miller

Secretary to WEP. February 2022

4.3 Christ the Vine

Prayer and Worship

This has been a year of ups, downs, and uncertainties. Coronavirus has continued to have significant impact on our lives and on the life of the church. We have been in and out of lockdown, with various tiers of restrictions imposed by law. However, we have maintained our church presence online - via Facebook and Vimeo - and from Easter we were able to meet in the church building again. A significant number of our people fall into the vulnerable category and so were not able to join us in the church building, however, they were able to worship with us, attend Bible Study and Prayers via Zoom. Our hybrid system of being a gathered church community in the building and online works very well and ensures that everyone is able to participate in church worship, discipleship, and fellowship. Inclusion is central to our believes

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and the use of technology has gone a long way to ensuring that those with visible and invisible disabilities and challenges are able to participate in prayer, worship, and church life. We intend to continue to use and develop technology to help us achieve our goal of becoming a truly inclusive church. Our provision of regular public worship for all who wish to attend has continued uninterrupted throughout the year as a result of offering service in the church building and on online, a number of people who are not members of Christ the Vine Church joined us for worship online throughout the year. We also found that a significant number of people viewed our Church Service videos on Vimeo.

We continue to encourage each other to spend time in daily prayer and to focus on praying for each other and together. Prayer Vine met for prayers on Thursday mornings on Zoom and used our WhatsApp groups to post prayer requests for ourselves, our communities and we continued to say the Lord’s Prayer at midday. As we learn to live with coronavirus, praying together and for our communities is an area that we would like to continue to develop in the next year.

Our Sunday Worship was blessed by Soul Survivor Church Watford and SWW Baptist Association who granted permission for us to use their music videos in our worship. Over the last two years we have realised how important sung worship is to us as a church. And even when we were not able to sing in the building, we were able to listen and “sing in our heads”. When restrictions were removed, we enjoyed worshipping freely with our voices raised in song. We were further blessed in this respect by Mike Baldwin who offered to lead our sung worship twice a month. We have appreciated his musical gifting as he led us into the presence of God through music and songs.

Discipleship

Study Vine is our Bible Study and Discipleship program. We have continued to meet on Zoom. We regularly have in the region of 14 people in attendance. For most of this year we have used the time to focus on the Bible passage that was read on the previous Sunday. We explored the themes and theology in greater depth. Using the Breakout rooms allowed us to move into small groups for discussion. We found this really useful as it gave space for everyone to speak and contribute to the discussions.

Our Advent and Christmas Bible Study was based on the book of Mark but our main focus this year was on what it means to be a Christian in our ordinary everyday lives. One of the resources we used was LICC Frontlines Series to help us explore our frontlines and the difference that we can make to the lives of other people that we meet regularly. In particular how we can show them the gospel through our daily interactions with them. We gained confidence in our ability to make a difference for the Kingdom.

Fellowship and Pastoral Care

This year we celebrated Christmas together as a church family. We all met for a Christmas meal at the Peartree Bridge. That was a special evening because it was the first time that the whole church had met together for table fellowship in over two years. We enjoyed the food, but we enjoyed each other’s company so much more.

The pastoral groups have continued to provide support for each other throughout the year and we have also continued to provide pastoral support for members of the community who need it - perhaps through bereavement, ill health, mental health, family and relationship issues. This year we have mourned the loss of three more members of our church family. We have continued to offer pastoral support to their families and close friends.

Mission

Our Mission and Evangelism work continued. We worked with the local community including the Coffee Hall Residents Association and the Woughton Community Council to provide a day of celebration in the summer. This event was well attended with hundreds of children and families enjoying Face Painting, Magic Mike, a range of different Musicians, Crafts and numerous other activities. The church building and people were an integral part of the celebrations.

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We worked with the WCC and the Royal British Legion to organise a community Remembrance Service. The service attracted hundreds of people outside the church - at the memorial - and about 100 people stayed for the church service which followed. This included the deputy Mayor and her husband. The church provided refreshments and a time of fellowship after the service.

In addition to our very successful Easter Bonnet Competition and Easter Treasure Trail, we reclaimed All hallows Eve as a time when the light of Jesus overcomes all darkness. We held a Pumpkin Carving afternoon, where parents and children heard the story of Jesus bringing light and joy into the world. We used Scripture Union’s Pumpkin Patch as the basis. This event was so successful that we had to run two sessions. 60 children plus their parents took part. We followed this up with a Light Party Trail.

As reported last year, Christ the Vine continues to work in partnership with local groups to meet the needs of the community. This June we worked together to launch Grapevine Wellbeing Hub on Friday mornings because Wellbeing is one of the priority areas identified by the MK Council, NHS, and local groups. As part of the church mission plan, this collaboration shows signs of early success. Since June there has been about 25 regular attenders at Grapevine Wellbeing Hub and 5 people have joined the church as a direct result of this initiative. In September we opened the Baptismal pool and two people were baptised by immersion.One person was confirmed in November at the Ecumenical Confirmation Service.

We continue to support MK Bridgebuilder Trust and Tear Fund, and we are saddened that we were not able to hold fund raising activities for them this May. However, we were able to host the Christmas Fair in December.

Conclusion

It has been a challenging year, but we are spending time with God and each other to discern what God has planned for us as a church. We have taken comfort from God’s promise to be with us wherever we go and have stepped out in faith with our new Mission initiatives. We are learning to be strong and courageous not only in our own discipleship, prayer, and worship, but also in looking for opportunities in our everyday lives to intentionally make and nurture new disciples for Jesus.

Revd. Charmaine Howard

4.4 Annual Report – Holy Trinity, Woolstone

2021 once again saw the pandemic affect church life, with us remaining closed, then opened, then having to close again as we followed the guidelines set out for public worship. We, as a church continued with our Sunday services. As we started to meet in person for public worship it was, of course, with restrictions in place, face coverings, socially distanced seating, no refreshments, individual cups for communion and cleaning the chairs before and after church.

A huge thank you to John who set up and cleaned down before and after services, and a huge thank you to all for your patience and understanding in what has been and still is, in a lot of ways, a very difficult time.

During 2021:

For the first five months the Parish continued to offer weekly resources, recorded Sunday worship, live Zoom services from CTV and Trinity, and St Mary’s and St Thomas’ continued to be open for private prayer every weekend for two hours.

During Lent 2021 a weekly reflection was hosted on Zoom, and it was wonderful to be open for services on Easter Sunday. Our Advent and Christmas services were able to go ahead, with our midnight communion service seeing 47 non-church members from the community in attendance. We have welcomed 2 new members into the fellowship, and occasionally see visitors at our services.

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I want to acknowledge here my thanks for the support and encouragement, we as church have received during 2021. To Sue, Sophie, and Judith, for leading us in our Sunday worship, to John and Judy for committing to lead us in worshiping and preaching the word.

Friends, thank you for remaining faithful to Holy Trinity, it has been another tough year for many of us, we have lost loved ones, suffered sickness, felt fearful, lonely, and lost, so together let us continue to hold our church, our community, and our city in our prayers as we seek God’s vision for us.

In Christ

Revd. Ian Herbert (Rector)

4.5 St Mary`s, Woughton on the Green Report by Kim Weston DCC Chair

The District Church Council (DCC) has met 9 nine times over the past year, by Zoom, then Face to face when allowed. Each meeting starts with prayer lead by a Council member, as we commit our thoughts to God’s will.

Di Miller is our minute secretary. The minutes are for everyone to see, and a copy is in the church, an electronic copy is available on request for all members.

RD continues to produce the weekly ‘pew’ sheet, which are emailed to members. It is an invaluable source of information. A few hard copies are available in church for visitors and those that don`t have email access. This is the way for all church members to communicate with the wider church and Ruth will happily include information that you send her.

The report that follows covers various aspects of church life and gives an indication of activity since January 2021, in what has been a second year of restrictions, we have been busy.

Practical issues:

Several general upkeep measures were needed, including removal of mould on internal walls, woodworm in vestry, guttering and roof work, electrical overhaul in tower and elsewhere in the church, one gas heater replaced, and others serviced, these are all essential to the maintenance of a safe environment, all the yearly checks where completed and action taken as needed

Mission and Outreach:

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at times. Some of our old followers have been poorly and too unwell to attend but Norma and Jean keep in touch.

Because of changes in the use and management of the hotel, the rebuilding of the east and north churchyard walls has not been carried out. Negotiations for both the repair of the walls and the carpark lighting are on-going with the new owners. Archdeacon’s inspection was carried out by David Thom, Chairman of the Deanery in May 2021.

Marriage registers, half were deposited in the Aylesbury Archive and half at MK Registrar in accordance with the new marriage registration process.

Church Hall

Record of Occasional Offices Solemnized

Holy Matrimony - 4 Renewal of vows - 0

Baptisms - 4

Funerals - 3 in total x 2 with churchyard burial

Interment of cremated remains x 8

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4.6 Minister’s Report for 2022 ACM

I would describe 2021 as a three in one year!

The first part of the year was still dominated by Covid. WEP churches took it in turns to provide pre-recorded videos and we met on Zoom for “Coffee after Church” on Sundays. I am very grateful to everyone who took part in the videos - especially to our musicians and Harvey for the time and effort required to produce hymn recordings with sing-along lyrics! It was a joy to worship together in church on Easter Sunday and to sing Thine be the Glory in the churchyard at the end of the service, accompanied by William on the trumpet.

The second part of the year began shortly after Easter when I started a three-month sabbatical. St. Thomas’ welcomed a variety of visiting preachers during that period. Janet Wootton received such rave reviews that she was invited back in October for the annual Methodist Thanksgiving Service for the ministry of local preachers and worship leaders. Iola had only recently taken on the role of church warden but did a fantastic job of keeping everyone informed and involved whilst I was away. She also had to deal with a lot of issues in the churchyard – both in response to the biodiversity project and the letters we had to put on graves which were breaching the regulations. Thank you, Iola!

The third part of the year began in July when Covid restrictions began to be eased – until the arrival of the Omicron variant in the late autumn! I have appreciated being able to attend the Tuesday coffee morning regularly – both when it was meeting in the church and now in the village-hall. The Saturday night quizzes have been great fun and it would be lovely to have more church people support these. I would like to pay tribute to Pat for the time and energy she puts into arranging these quizzes - as well as the regular concerts. New developments in the life of the church this year have been the Harvest Supper with home-grown entertainment; the monthly all-age worship which Lynn Castle and I have been leading together; and the monthly Monday hymn-singing sessions with friends from the Simpson Day Centre.

We have been glad to welcome new people into the life of the church and were also delighted to celebrate the confirmation of Peter and William T.

We have missed those who have not been able to come to church for health reasons and hope to see them again soon.

Grace and peace,

Rev. Nicola Vidamour 18th February 2022

Church Warden’s report for St Thomas’ Church Simpson ACM 6[th] March 2022 .

Thank you all for supporting me during this “Covid Year”. I am grateful to Rev Nicola for her guidance and support, Jane for her sterling work as Secretary and Ruth for producing the Newsletter.

As the year progressed, I began to feel part of the community of St Thomas. The DCC meetings were conducted via zoom, thankfully we can now meet properly together It was wonderful to celebrate Easter together and to sing in the churchyard. Nicola’s sabbatical absence proved to be an interesting time. She had planned superb people, all from very different backgrounds, to lead our worship each week.

The Churchyard

Trying to bring the Churchyard in line with Diocesan regulations has proved difficult. However, we have met and chatted to many of those who visit the graves of their loved ones. This is an ongoing project.

The Biodiversity project of the Churchyard led by Rebecca Hiorns was challenging. We found some beautiful wildflowers; small creatures and I must mention the “bee orchids”. Just letting nature take its course upset some people and delighted others. Rebecca kindly wrote a report, this was circulated, and a copy was sent to the Arch Deacon of Oxford.

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A huge amount of work has been carried out by levelling the far end of the Churchyard allowing space for 21 more graves.

The Chancel – the large cracks in the walls.

The initial investigative work is now complete. The Listed Place of Worship Grant Scheme reimbursed us for VAT of over £2.000. We were very fortunate to receive a grant from the Buckinghamshire’s Historic Church Trust. Pat H ran quizzes and concerts, and donations were received permitting us to pay this bill in full.

Moving on

We have welcomed new people into our church. It was a privilege to attend the confirmation of Peter and William T.

On the second Monday of the month the local day centre for people with a dementing illness, their carers and members of our congregation, meet for hymns. Percussion instruments give everyone a chance to sing and contribute to the music. A Christingle Service was held in December for the Guides, Scouts Cubs, Brownies and Rainbows. Each person decorated their Christingle.

This past year has been full of activity, new members and the making new friends. St Thomas’ Church has survived the pandemic successfully.

Iola Samuels

Church Warden 24[th] February 2022

4.7 Trinity Church, Fishermead

2021 once again saw the pandemic affect church life with us remaining closed, then opened, then having to close again as we followed the guidelines set out for public worship. We, as a church continued with our online Sunday services and Marilyn continued to support our young people with online Sunday School. As we started to meet in person for public worship it was, of course, with restrictions in place, face coverings, socially distanced seating, no refreshments, individual cups for communion and cleaning the chairs before and after church. A huge thank you to all who helped with the set up and clean down before and after services, and a huge thank you to all for your patience and understanding in what has been and still is, in a lot of ways, a very difficult time.

During 2021 we continued to be involved in delivering food parcels to those who had been shielding or who were unable to leave their homes because of the pandemic. We were also able to support five families who had fallen on hard times, giving us the opportunity to show the love of Christ in a real and practical way. Through this last year we have also been able to build on existing relationships within the community as well as foster new friendships.

Working in partnership with the Trinity Centre we were able to secure a grant from Oxford dioceses to start an internet café in the Trinity Centre, this will be launched in the spring of 2022 along with a homework club run by Trinity church members.

For the first five months the Parish continued to offer weekly resources, recorded Sunday worship, live Zoom services from CTV and Trinity, and St Mary’s and St Thomas’ continued to be open for private prayer every weekend for two hours.

During Lent 2021 a weekly reflection was hosted on Zoom, and it was wonderful to be open for services on Easter Sunday. Our Advent and Christmas services were able to go ahead although numbers were lower.

I want to acknowledge here my thanks for the support and encouragement we as church have received during 2021. To Don, Jill, and Pam for leading us in our Sunday worship, to Chris for committing to lead us in worshiping and preaching the word as well as leading us in our online Tuesday afternoon Bible reflection and first Sunday of the month evening prayer, to Ann for taking on the role of hospitality and refreshments.

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Friends, thank you for remaining faithful to Trinity, it has been another tough year for many of us, we have lost loved ones, suffered sickness, felt fearful, lonely and lost, so together let us continue to hold our church, our community and our city in our prayers as we seek God’s vision for us. In Christ Revd. Ian Herbert (Rector) 4.8 The Soup Run: Due to Covid throughout 2021 - Nothing to Report 4.9 Marriage in the Parish Please refer to Ministers Report 4.10 Baptism and Thanksgiving Naming and Blessings: Please Refer to Ministers Report 4.11 Bereavement Care: Please refer to Ministers Report 4.12 Christian Aid Due to Covid throughout 2021 – Nothing to report 4.13 Adults, Babies and Children (ABC): No Report Received 4.14 Connect – No longer running 4.15 The Netherfield Partnership Limited (NP Ltd):

NP Ltd is a Charitable Society for the Benefit of the Community registered under the Cooperative and Community Benefit Societies Act 2014. WEP was a founder member in 1999 and is one of two corporate members, the other being Milton Keynes Council (MKC). The main activity of the Society is to manage the operation of the Farthing Enterprise Centre (FEC), which provides workshop/office units for new and start-up businesses, primarily for applicants from the Netherfield area, but also encompassing the Woughton Ward.

The premises, formerly the Red Cross Centre, and owned by MKC, were refurbished under the “New Start for Netherfield” European Social Fund (ESF) Programme. This regenerated part of Netherfield and the Society was formed to run on from the ESF Programme. It has held a 17-year lease on the FEC premises which has just been renewed for a further 13 years.

The 11 FEC units are occupied by a variety of businesses including a hairdresser, picture framer, tattooist, PC repairs and IT consultancy, accountancy and bookkeeping, healthcare professional’s provider, fashion design and maker, and export /catalogue sales. Tenants benefit from managed units with Wi-Fi, and are subsidised through rents discounted below market levels, which are progressively raised as their businesses mature. A Training and Meeting Room is kept for hire and one unit is available for a Charity to occupy at a peppercorn rent. The Society is well established, and the financial model is robust, maintaining the Centre in excellent repair and funding sufficient reserves.

Revd Ian Herbert and Revd Charmaine Howard are the WEP representatives on the management committee.

Due to the Covid19 there have been no meetings to my knowledge.

Revd Ian Herbert 2022

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4.16 Webmaster's Report for 2022 AGM

Because of the continuing Covid-19 lockdown from the beginning of the 2021 the website remained very active, with weekly updates to services and other arrangements. Obviously things slowed down gradually as the year progressed and have now settled back to pretty much as they were before the pandemic. As always, I have been grateful to all those who have provided content.

When BA retired as Parish Administrator she handed over to me the management WEP's entries on the "A Church Near You" website. In order to reduce the effort of maintaining two websites I set things up so as to direct visitors to that site on to the WEP website.

I have recently discovered that I no longer have access to the pages for St Thomas's, Trinity Fishermead and Christ the Vine on the "A Church Near You" website, because the log-in credentials have been changed. It is obvious that someone within WEP is curating those entries because the content is being updated.

All enquiries have failed to discover who now has control over those entries and I have had no response from the managers of the domain. I would be very grateful for any help which anyone can offer with this.

Geoffrey Miller, Webmaster

4.17 SAFEGUARDING REPORT FOR WEP

WEP continue to follow the Methodist Safeguarding Policy which is available here: - https://www.methodist.org.uk/media/18740/safeguarding_policy_procedures_and _guidance_for_the_methodist_church_sept_2020.pdf As this is a “live” document with constant updates (and also very long), printing is advised against, and the electronic version should always be read to ensure the most up to date version is being viewed. It provides a comprehensive set of operating procedures for all Safeguarding matters in relation to children, young people (under 18 years old) and vulnerable adults.

Each May, the WEP Safeguarding Policy is updated and the revised version (Standing Order No 15) is approved by WEP. A new poster has been sent to all churches with the most up to date contact details, if you have not seen one, please let me know. It is a requirement that this is displayed in each of the Churches. The Partnership Policy is part of the wider national Policy.

During the previous year Jo N stepped down as the Safeguarding Lead for WEP and as safeguarding officer for Christ the Vine, Rev Nicola Vidamour has been providing cover.

Each church appoints its own, but WEP needs a lead.

After much deliberation and conversation with Nicola, I offered to take on role and to work closely with her. I have held the role at St Marys for a couple of years and was appointed in December 2021 by the Trustees. I have just completed the advance safeguarding module, which has highlighted some areas that over the next few months, I will be discussing with DCCs and church officers, as points for consideration and setting up meetings with leads for at least a yearly review of the systems they have in place.

The register of who has had DBS checks and completed training, has been reviewed and it was not till later in the year that those who needed to have refreshers or do the foundation course under the Methodist Policy were able to attend and WEP was able to get most of their people updated.

The Methodist Circuit had asked for a financial contribution from the LEP’s to support the workload that falls on the Superintendent Minister and this was done last year.

The MK Methodist Circuit Safeguarding Leads Meetings that commenced in 2018 have continued by Zoom initially, but I offered to attend in Nicola`s place in September, as she was on leave, this was to be the first face to face meeting, for months, this meeting was a

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review of what had been occurring during the pandemic and a copy of the report of that meeting has been sent to the church leads, this meeting was worthwhile as networking is so much easier face to face and sharing ideas is always good.

There is still significant amount of work to do on risk assessments and implementing Safer Recruitment procedures and this is just not for employees this should be your volunteers as well.

Implementing the Safeguarding Policy is complex and challenging for all. We give thanks for all who are involved in this task and ask that this important work is held in your prayers to promote the well-being of the young and most vulnerable in our communities.

At all of the courses I have attended the one resounding comment is that Safeguarding is every ones responsibility , not just if you have a DBS or a cert. under your belt, none of us knows everyone’s life story and so just “be kind” and remember you may hold the missing piece of the jigsaw.

Kim Weston WEP Safeguarding Lead

Revd, Nicola Vidamour WEP Safeguarding Lead

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Appendix 1

WEP ADULT MEMBERSHIP ROLL 2022 (2021 numbers shaded)
WEP ADULT MEMBERSHIP ROLL 2022 (2021 numbers shaded)
Church Anglican Baptist Methodist URC Ecumenical Other Totals
Christ the Vine 10 2 5 3 7 10 37
10 2 5 3 7 10 37
St Thomas' 21 1 3 1 6 2 34
21 1 3 1 8 5 39
St Mary's 48 2 4 4 0 12 70
44 2 7 5 0 10 68
Trinity 6 5 5 0 3 16 35
6 5 5 0 3 18 37
Woolstone 10 2 0 0 0 1 13
17 3 1 1 0 0 22
Totals for 2022 95 12 17 8 16 41 189
Totals By Year Anglican Baptist Methodist URC Ecumenical Other WEP
Total
2022 95 12 17 8 16 41 189
2021 98 13 21 10 18 43 203
2020 100 13 21 10 18 41 203
2019 99 14 25 6 26 42 211
2018 99 13 20 7 30 47 216
2017 91 15 15? 5 30 39 194
2016 85 14 18 5 28 31 181
2015 86 20 19 7 29 28 189
2014 99 19 20 7 26 31 202
2013 92 16 25 5 27 28 193
2012 91 15 29 2 24 33 194
2011 99 14 25 3 27 32 200
2010 94 15 26 4 34 23 196
2009 100 15 24 2 31 30 202
2008 95 16 22 3 30 21 187
2007 88 18 27 1 28 16 178
2006 97 16 26 4 35 23 201

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Appendix 2

Appointments at Partnership Level 2020-21

Trustees of Woughton Ecumenical Partnership

and Woughton PCC Members 2021-22

Representing WEP Trustee WEP + PCC PCC Member
Christ the Vine
Community Church		 David Hart Mandy Heart
Woolstone Church John Howard
St Mary’s Church Kim Weston Di Miller David Bird
St Thomas’ Church Lynn Castle
Iola Samuels
Trinity Church Marilyn Mahon Don Mahon
Team ex officio,
other ex officio,
co-opted		 Revd. Paul Norris
Revd. Ian Herbert
Revd. Nicola Vidamour
Revd. Charmaine Howard		 Jean Mattinsley

Deanery Synod Representative Di Miller, Kim Weston

Church Wardens Christ the Vine Community Church David Hart Woolstone Church John Howard St Thomas’ Church Iola Samuels St Mary’s Church Jean Mattinsley David Bird United Area Meeting Lynn Castle; Marilyn Mahon Netherfield Partnership corporate member Ian Herbert Trustee of Trinity Centre Andrew Buckley Member of Trinity Centre Management Committee Ken MacLeod

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Annual Accounts

2021

Baptist, Church of England, Methodist & United Reformed Church

5. Financial Review:

Independent Examiner:

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Disclosure
Only complete if the examiner needs to highlight material matters of
concern (see CC32, Independent examination of charity accounts:
directions and guidance for examiners).
Oct 2018
Section B Disclosure
Give here
brief details
of any items that
the examiner
wishes to disclose.
IER

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5.2 A statement of the principal financial policies including reserves:

1 Principal accounting policies

Trustees’ responsibility in relation to the financial statements

Law applicable to charities in England and Wales requires the trustees to prepare financial statements for each financial year which give a true and fair view of the charity’s financial activities during the year and of its financial position at the end of the year. In preparing those financial statements, the trustees are required to:

The trustees are responsible for keeping accounting records which disclose with reasonable accuracy at any time the financial position of the charity and enable them to ensure that the financial statements comply with the Charities Act 2011. They are also responsible for safeguarding the assets of the charity and hence for taking reasonable steps for the prevention and detection of fraud and other irregularities.

Reserves policy

Only the general fund meets the Charity Commission’s definition for reserves, resulting in reported reserves of £36,846 at 31 December 2021. The trustees seek to maintain reserves at not less than three months’ general fund expenditure (i.e. £35,750 based on 2021 expenditure), believing that this provides a prudent buffer against unforeseen expenditure. Sudden serious income shortfall is not seen as a major risk as the majority of the Partnership’s income is derived from a large number of donors as well as fees and premises lettings, none of which is individually significant. Although no single donor, on their own, is significant it should be noted that four Partnership couples deliver more than a fifth of total Partnership income.

1 Accounting policies

(a) Basis of accounting

The financial statements have been prepared under the historical cost convention and in accordance with the Financial Reporting Standard 102. In preparing the financial statements the Partnership follows best practice as set out in the Statement of Recommended Practice (SORP) “Accounting and Reporting by Charities” effective January 2015.

(b) Basis of consolidation

These financial statements consolidate the financial results of the various activities of Woughton Ecumenical Partnership on a line-by-line basis. Certain of these activities are not directly managed by the trustees but delegated to groups within the Partnership. These activities have been accounted for as branches and the financial results shown within separate delegated funds.

(c) Incoming resources

Voluntary income is recognised when received. The value of services provided by volunteers has not been included.

Grants (including grants for the purchase of fixed assets) are recognised in full in the year in which they have been received. Each grant is disclosed within the category of income that is most appropriate to the activity it is intended to support.

Incoming resources from charitable activities is recognised when the activity giving rise to the income takes place.

Investment income is recognised on an accruals basis.

(d) Resources expended

Resources expended are included in the Statement of Financial Activities on an accruals basis, inclusive of VAT which cannot be recovered.

Grants & donations payable are charged to the Statement of Financial Activities in the year in which the Partnership decides they should be made. Accruals are made if the payment is not made until the

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following year. In all cases where such accruals have been made, either the details of the grant or donation have been communicated to the beneficiary before the end of the year or the payment is the result of a specific appeal.

(e) Fund accounting

Charity law requires the net assets of the Partnership to be accounted for within a number of funds. The Partnership operates the following two types of funds.

Unrestricted general funds

These are funds that can be used in accordance with the Partnership’s charitable objects at the discretion of the trustees.

• General Fund

This is the fund through which the normal operating activities of the Partnership are recognised.

With the exception of the URC Manse and Ministry Funds these funds are not directly managed by the trustees but by groups delegated to run and oversee these activities on behalf of the Partnership and its trustees.

The easing of restrictions has meant groups can resume operations but within the guidance prevailing at the time:

Adults, Babies and Children Group (ABC) resumed activities in March but the restrictions have prevented the Homeless Group (Soup Run) from providing their much needed support.

These are funds set aside by the trustees out of unrestricted general funds for specific future purposes or projects. Currently the Partnership has no plans that might require designations.

Restricted Funds

These are funds that can only be used for specific purposes within the Partnership’s objects. Restrictions arise when specified by the donor or when funds are raised for specific projects or purposes.

These expendable funds are operated by the local church councils but overseen by the trustees or (where required by Church of England rules and mostly relating to building matters) the Parochial Church Council. The income and expenditure of these funds are shown in the Restricted Fund column of the financial statements.

There are a number of funds currently in operation in the Partnership with most operated by the churches.

Flood Relief : Following flooding in Coffee Hall a fund was set up to support those who would not have the ability to pay for the repair and recovery work. This is operated in partnership with the local Parish Council.

Christ the Vine currently have three funds.

Gift Day : Donations made specifically for local investment, mission and support to Christian charities.

Legacy : the church received a legacy from a former member for church purposes during 2021.

Boiler/Baptistry : The boiler needed urgent replacement during 2020. The Church Council took the opportunity to also install the pipework for the hot water supply to the baptistry. When the installation was completed, the cost was more than the funds that had been raised for the project. Sufficient funds were raised by the end of 2021.

St Mary’s have received donations for specific major developments or repairs to the church building at Woughton on the Green. There are three ongoing funds with retained balances at the end of 2021. These were named as follows:

Audio : There were no purchases made during 2021 but gifts and donations continue to come in for the Audio Visual equipment.

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Clock : a donation was originally made for the repair or replacement of the tower clock mechanism. There are continuing issues with the clock mechanism so some of the remaining fund has been used for the re-balancing and repair work. The original donors agreed that the funds remaining, following the mechanism installation, could be retained and used at the discretion of the Church Council.

Fabric : the report on the church porch was received during 2021. The congregation continue to donate for the upkeep of the main church building, tower and churchyard.

St Thomas’ started a building fund in 2015 for the purposes of fabric and churchyard restoration. The funds have been generated through fundraising events, grant applications and donations. It was originally created to acquire a new noticeboard and repair the paths. The fund has generated cash with an increased vigour due to the subsidence that has exacerbated the gaps in the building particularly in the chancel roof.

The legacy received specifically for local St Thomas’ projects has not been used during 2021.

Trinity received a gift, in 2016, to be used for local activities. The use is to be determined by the Church Council. The initiation of the digital deprivation project providing support to the residents of Fishermead was felt to meet the criteria set out by the donor so a grant has been made to aid the set up.

The Baptist Association grant is still to be used. It is intended to proceed with the project for the young people of Fishermead when the pandemic permits the full resumption of the original objectives.

• Endowments

These are permanent funds. The income and expenditure of these funds is shown in the Endowment Fund column of the financial statements.

The Partnership currently has six separate permanent funds managed by CCLA. The income generated from these investments is allocated to the appropriate District in the Partnership in accordance with the Trust documents.

5.3 Banking and accounting arrangements:

The Partnership operates a number of bank accounts all managed centrally. The accounts used and their closing 2021 balances are:

CAF £7,894 CAF Gold £43,325 Central Board of Finance £70,094 CCLA £22,704

All transactions were processed through these accounts or the petty cash floats held and operated by St Mary’s, the Adults, Babies and Children Group and the Homeless Group.

Detailed figures were presented to the trustees on a monthly basis.

5.4 General Unrestricted Fund outturn and budget:

The Partnership initiated a number of appeals throughout 2021 to reduce or cancel the deficit predicted in the budget. The appeals were successful delivering a small General Fund surplus of £521. This is after the Christ the Vine plate giving from May to December has been removed. The church declared a restriction on this offertory without trustee approval so the giving is reported as a creditor in the accounts until the position has been clarified.

Given the outstanding issue with Christ the Vine offertory the 2022 General Fund Budget cannot be completed. As well as restricting offertory Christ the Vine have submitted an ambitious set of plans. The Manse in Fishermead is predicted to deliver letting income for the entire year. Treating Christ the Vine offertory as returning to General Fund and incorporating the plans they have submitted the computations indicate that there will be a £19k deficit.

As the budget has not been completed the Share apportionment of Partnership Ministry and overheads to the churches has not been finalised.

In normal years the principle methods of raising funds are:

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5.6 Investment Policies and Performance: To invest the unused Partnership funds in secure interest-bearing deposit accounts. To hold these and the Partnership investments in secure and ethical funds in accordance with the Trust Deeds. 5.7 Notes to the 2021 Accounts Partnership Unrestricted General Funds: Incoming Resources

The Financial statements, in the Annual Report, only disclose the total of all funds operated by the Partnership in 2020. Space does not allow for the separate reporting of the prior year Unrestricted General Funds so the movements reported below cannot be extracted directly from the Financial Statements included in the Annual Report. The 2020 Unrestricted General Fund figures can be found in last year’s Annual Report or on request from the Partnership Treasurer who can be contacted by email at treasurer@woughton.org.

Tax Efficient Giving has risen by £15,285, collections qualifying for Small Donations have fallen by £82. Both of these movements have had a positive impact on the Gift Aid and Small Donations Scheme re-claims from HMRC rising by £3,714.

The appeals promoted throughout 2021 delivered increased income across all categories of giving. The resumption of church services delivered an increase in plate giving but the removal of eight months of Christ the Vine offertory has adversely impacted what is reported.

The restrictions on activities has meant there has been a reduced need to acquire Junior Church materials which has meant a reduction in the grant awarded by Chapmans Educational Foundation. There have only been small movements on the other items under this heading.

ii. Charitable activities have seen a rise of £14,372 from the 2020 performance. The breakdown of this income stream can be seen in Note 2 of the Financial Statements. There were fewer cancellations brought on by the Covid-19 crisis so Wedding fee income increased by £3,008. Funeral fees have also seen a rise increasing by £3,030 compared to the prior year. The addition of the manse letting income delivered the bulk of the £8,334 increase, compared to last year.

Resources expended

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ii. Charitable Activities have increased by £1,097 between years. There have been several
significant adverse and favourable movements under this heading. The breakdown of the
activities can be seen under Notes 6a to 6d.
iii. Ministry and Related Staff Costs (Note 6 Sub Note (a)) have fallen by £1,795 compared to
2020. The LEP Share and Clergy Expenses only increased £189; the manse was let in late
2020 and this has delivered a £2,484 favourable movement from the previous year. The
easing of restrictions meant that attendances at seminars and courses could resume. There
were two groups of Partnership members attended Safeguarding training in 2021. This
delivered an adverse movement on Training of £500.
iv. Employed Staff costs rose by £1,061 compared to the prior year. The Partnership follows the
Living Wage Foundationannouncements published in November each year. There were
rate rises announced in both 2020 and 2021 and this is reflected in the increase. See Note 6
Sub Note (b).

v. Premises and Other Resource Costs (Note 6 Sub Note (c)) are up by £984 from 2020. The most significant movements occurred on the following sub headings: Premises running costs saw further savings and are down by £3,724 compared to 2020. The renewal of gas and electric contracts delivered considerable savings particularly at Christ the Vine. The Partnership also benefitted from the waiving of the share of utility costs at Woolstone. The level of stocks meant Premises cleaning also saw a saving compared to the previous year. Maintenance is £2,478 higher than the prior year. The major movements came from the installation of a box covering the electrics at St Mary’s following instructions from the the Archdeacon and extensive churchyard work at St Thomas’.

Partnership Administration is up by £1,137 on the prior year. The bulk of the adverse movement between years is the manse letting agent fees. This adverse movement was eased by the continued reduction in the use of photocopying.

Upkeep of Services/Centre Hire; compliant with prevailing guidance services resumed in April 2021. This meant that flowers and service elements were once again being purchased. The costs were also added to with the purchase of a Zoom license at Christ the Vine.

Insurance; the revised Woughton on the Green Church Hall arrangements delivered the bulk of the £252 increase in insurance costs.

Equipment & New Building Works is £490 higher than the previous year. The purchases are non-recurrent in nature so it is difficult to draw any conclusions from the movement. There was investment in catering equipment during the year which could have been a postponement from the prior year because of lockdowns.

There were reductions on the remaining categories in Sub Note (c) but not significant enough to comment on.

vi. Grants and donations payable (Note 6 Sub Note (d)) were up by £847 compared to 2020. The easing of restrictions allowed for some fund-raising events to be staged during 2021. This delivered additional money for good causes. Churches continued to moderate their annual nominations to other charities.

General Fund:

The General Fund performance, by District, can be seen in the first section of Note 9. All of the churches responded to the appeals to varying degrees. However, Christ the Vine’s reaction to the appeals was to place restrictions on their offertory. This has cancelled out the gifts made by individual members who responded positively to the appeals. The membership of the church opted to do this unilaterally without reference to or approval from the Trustees. The declarations are undated so it is unclear when members wanted their giving to be split. The preprinted forms referred to a meeting in April so all offertory subsequent to that month is being held as a creditor until the situation is resolved. Unlike 2020 the historic churches enjoyed a much better year with both hosting weddings as well as funerals. Both churches were very generous in their response to the appeals but St Mary’s in particular. The rented churches also delivered surpluses. Woolstone benefitted from the waiving of their share of the building utility charges. There was a high number of Trinity members shielding for either work or health reasons which kept attendances low for much of the year. However, they also showed great generosity when the appeals were announced.

31

Partnership Groups:

The summary of Partnership Groups and Designations can be seen in the second section of Note 9 titled Delegated Funds.

ABC (Adults, Babies and Children Group) started meeting again from mid-March and have been meeting ever since observing the guidance appropriate to the times of their meetings.

The Homeless Group (the Soup Run) have not resumed operations. The activity reported is some catch up items and a gift towards a coffee machine.

Part of the income from the letting of the Manse has been set aside to meet the cost of the subsidence repairs and held under this heading.

Partnership Restricted Funds:

Boiler and Baptistry: The project finally received all the money needed to meet the cost of the boiler repair and baptistry installation in December.

Christ the Vine received a legacy to support the church. Given the donor has specified the gift be used for the church it has been treated as restricted.

St Mary’s continue to receive gifts for the next phase of their Audio Visual installation.

St Mary’s Fabric continues to receive regular gifts from supporters and, where appropriate, this is supplemented by the Gift Aid re-claim. The fund also receives money from a dedicated church box. Most recently the fund has been used to pay for the work on the tree root protection in the porch area.

St Thomas': Building; the work on the Chancel subsidence has commenced with architect and surveyor site visits, surveys, continuous monitoring and initial remedial work. The church has responded to this urgent work with a number of personal gifts, fundraising events and grant applications.

Trinity Church: Restricted; the church has become a partner in the Fishermead Digital Deprivation initiative and has made a gift towards the initial investment needed to get the project operational.

Investments:

The Partnership holds six permanent trust funds all managed by CCLA. Five are invested in the CBF Church of England Fund as income shares and one in the COIF Charities Investment Fund as income units. They are as follows:

The Woughton-on-the-Green Church House (127001608S) annual income from investments is used for Woughton Parish charitable purposes.

The Woughton-on-the-Green Church – Levi Trust (127001566S) is a fund applied in or towards an organist and tuning and minor repairs to the organ at St. Mary's Church, Woughton-on-the-Green.

The Dividends Received from (127002702S) Little Woolstones Church Hall, sold in 1984, are passed back to the DCC to be used by the local church.

The Dividends Received from (127002582S) Simpson Church Hall, sold in 1973, are passed back to the DCC to be used by the local church.

The Woughton-on-the-Green Church Trust (127002774S) is a fund received in respect of a Deed of Variation in 1992. The annual income from investments is to be used for the repair and upkeep of the fabric of St. Mary's Church, Woughton-on-the-Green.

The Dividends Received from Woughton-on-the-Green Church Trust (COIF - 546050001T) are passed back to the DCC of St. Mary's Church, Woughton-on-the-Green.

32

Woughton Ecumenical Partnership

Financial statements to the month ended 31 December 2021

Statement of Financial Activities 2021

33
Notes
Income and endowments from:
Donations and legacies
1
Charitable activities
2
Other trading activities
3
Investments
4
Other
Total
Expenditure on:
Raising funds
5
Charitable activities
6
Other
Total
Net gains/(losses) on investments
Net income/(expenditure)
Transfers between funds
Net movement in funds
Reconciliation of funds:
Total funds brought forward
Total funds carried forward
Fixed assets:
Investments
12
Total fixed assets
Current assets:
Debtors
7
Cash at bank and in hand
Total current assets
Liabilities:
Creditors: Amounts falling due within
one year
8
Net current assets or liabilities
Total assets less current liabilities
Net asset or liabilities excluding
pension asset or liability
Total net assets or liabilities
The funds of the charity:
Endowment funds
11
Restricted income funds
10
Unrestricted funds
9
Total unrestricted funds
Total charity funds		 Unrestricted
funds
2021
£
118,297
19,221
3,672
11
45		 Delegated
funds
2021
£
105
5,816
327
5
0		 Restricted
funds
2021
£
22,056
0
2,385
13
0		 Endowments
2021
£
0
0
0
4,904
0		 Total
funds
2021
Full Year
funds
2020
£
£
140,458
102,280
25,037
4,849
6,384
2,315
4,933
5,402
45
260
141,246
(2,402)
(140,597)
0		 6,253
0
(1,657)
0		 24,454
(238)
(15,755)
0		 4,904
0
(446)
0		 176,857
115,106
(2,640)
(2,189)
(158,455)
(161,917)
0
(250)
(142,999) (1,657) (15,993) (446)
24,178		 (161,095)
(164,356)
24,178
10,707
(1,753)
2,274		 4,596
(275)		 8,461
0		 28,636
(1,999)		 39,940
(38,543)
0
0
521 4,321 8,461 26,637 39,940
(38,543)
36,325 18,164 38,656 206,864 300,009
338,552
36,846 22,485 47,117 233,501 339,949
300,009
Balance Sheet
Unrestricted
funds
2021
Delegated
funds
2021
£
£
0
0		 2021
Restricted
funds
2021
£
0		 Endowments
2021
£
192,911		 Total
funds
2021
Full Year
funds
2020
£
£
192,911
168,733
0
6,177
34,933		 0
5
22,480		 0
523
46,594		 192,911
0
40,590		 192,911
168,733
6,705
1,156
144,597
130,770
41,110
(4,264)		 22,485
0		 47,117
0		 40,590
0		 151,302
131,926
(4,264)
(650)
36,846 22,485 47,117 40,590 147,038
131,276
36,846
36,846		 22,485
22,485		 47,117
47,117		 233,501
233,501		 339,949
300,009
339,949
300,009
36,846 22,485 47,117 233,501 339,949
300,009
36,846 22,485 47,117 233,501 233,501
206,864
47,117
38,656
59,331
54,489
36,846 22,485 0 0 59,331
54,489
36,846 22,485 47,117 233,501 339,949
300,009

Notes

Notes
Note 1: Donations and legacies
Tax Efficient Giving
Small Donations
Gift Aid and Small Donation Re-Claim
Other Donations
Appeals
Grants
Legacies
Total Donations and legacies
Note 2: Charitable activities
Funeral Fees
Wedding Fees
Building Hire
Total Charitable activities
Note 3: Other trading activities
Fundraising
Subscriptions
General Sales
Total Other trading activities
Note 4: Investments
Bank Interest
Investment Income from
Endowments
Total Investments
Note 5: Raising funds
Fundraising Costs
Advertising & Promotion
Grant Application & Professional Costs
Total Raising funds
Note 6: Charitable activities
(a) Ministry and Related Staff Costs
Mission Partnership LEP Share
Clergy Expenses
Manse Running Expenses
Training
(b) Employed Staff
Average number of part time staff
Salaries & wages
National insurance contributions		 Unrestricted
funds
2021
£
75,634
6,359
20,506
11,993
2,935
870
0		 Delegated
funds
2021
£
84
0
21
0
0
0
0		 Restricted
funds
2021
£
5,360
0
1,340
1,054
4,302
5,000
5,000		 Endowments
2021
£
0
0
0
0
0
0
0		 Total
funds
2021
Full Year
funds
2020
£
£
81,078
64,527
6,359
6,441
21,867
17,756
13,047
10,206
7,237
1,846
5,870
1,504
5,000
0
118,297 105 22,056 0 140,458
102,280
6,768
3,528
8,925		 0
0
5,816		 0
0
0		 0
0
0		 6,768
3,738
3,528
520
14,741
591
19,221 5,816 0 0 25,037
4,849
2,154
0
1,518		 0
327
0		 2,385
0
0		 0
0
0		 4,539
941
327
125
1,518
1,249
3,672 327 2,385 0 6,384
2,315
11
0		 5
0		 13
0		 0
4,904		 29
656
4,904
4,746
11 5 13 4,904 4,933
5,402
1,202
240
960		 0
0
0		 238
0
0		 0
0
0		 1,440
218
240
584
960
1,387
2,402 0 238 0 2,640
2,189
91,443
2,297
470
500		 0
0
0
0		 0
0
0
0		 0
321
0
0		 91,443
90,751
2,618
2,800
470
2,954
500
489
94,710 0 0 321 95,031
96,994
2021
2
14,341
151		 2020
2
13,368
63
14,492 13,431

34

(c) Premises and other resource costs
Premises running costs
Maintenance
Parish Administration
Upkeep of Services/Centre Hire
Insurance
Equipment & New Building Works
Junior Church, ABC & Youth
Pastoral Care/Homeless
(d) Grants and donations payable
Cancer Research
Fishermead Trinity Centre
Leaving Gift
Macmillan
MK-Act
MK Bridgebuilder Trust
MK Hospital Charity
MK Food Bank
MK MS Therapy Centre
RNLI
Royal British Legion
Salvation Army
Simpson Garden Group
Streetlight Trust
Tear Fund
Tinker's Bridge Rainbows
Wader Quest
Willen Hospice
Zimbabwe Housing Project
Total Charitable activities
Note 7: Debtors
Gift Aid tax recoverable
Small Donations recoverable
Amounts falling due within one year
Note 8: Creditors
Amounts falling due within one year
CVCC - Donations
Other creditors (Weddings)		 Unrestricted
funds
2021
£
7,778
4,514
4,959
2,985
7,371
1,440
37
54		 Delegated
funds
2021
£
0
291
0
0
0
1,000
302
64		 Restricted
funds
2021
£
0
1,920
1,399
0
0
12,136
0
0		 Endowments
2021
£
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
125		 Total
funds
2021
Full Year
funds
2020
£
£
7,778
11,502
6,725
8,466
6,358
3,822
2,985
2,900
7,371
7,119
14,576
14,928
339
65
243
631
29,138 1,657 15,455 125 46,375
49,433
100
0
25
0
232
156
0
20
0
396
0
91
413
334
67
0
323
0
100		 0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0		 0
300
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0		 0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0		 100
100
300
0
25
0
0
63
232
500
156
128
0
250
20
0
0
285
396
0
0
0
91
0
413
0
334
0
67
172
0
149
323
0
0
312
100
100
2,257 0 300 0 2,557
2,059
140,597 1,657 15,755 446 158,455
161,917
4,476
797
904		 5
0
0		 523
0
0		 0
0
0		 5,004
784
797
372
904
0
6,177 5 523 0 6,705
1,156
581
2,838
845		 0
0
0		 0
0
0		 0
0
0		 581
0
2,838
0
845
650
4,264 0 0 0 4,264
650

35

Note 9: Unrestricted funds

Note 9: Unrestricted funds
Balance at
1st Jan 2021
£
Undesignated fund
WEP General
41,027
Christ the Vine
6,055
Holy Trinity
(1,358)
St Mary's
(11,834)
St Mary's Church Hall
236
St Thomas
(2,197)
Trinity Church Fishermead
4,396
Parish General Funds
36,325
Delegated funds
Adults, Babies and Children Group
1,237
Benevolent Fund
78
Homeless Group
5,211
WEP Property
2,204
URC Manse
0
Woolstone Chancel Trust
6,240
Youth Fund
3,194
Parish Delegated Funds
18,164
Parish General & Delegated Funds
54,489
WEP Suspense Accounts
650
55,139
Note 10: Restricted funds
Christ the Vine: Gift Day
872
Christ the Vine: Boiler/Baptistry
(3,862)
Christ the Vine: Legacy
0
Coffee Hall: Flood Relief
1,230
St Mary's: AV
743
St Mary's: Clock
2,833
St Mary's: Fabric
29,281
St Thomas': Building
423
St Thomas': Legacy
5,029
Trinity Church: Projects
1,006
Trinity Church: Restricted
1,101
38,656
Note 11: Endowments
Trust income retained
38,131
Total Endowment Investments
168,733
206,864
Note 12: Investments
Share
Holdings
Quantity
WotG Church House (127001608S)
4,889
WotG Levi Trust (127001566S)
818
Little Woolstones Church Hall (127002702S
1,038
Simpson Church Hall (127002582S)
218
WotG Church Trust (127002774S)
181
WotG Church Trust (COIF) (546050001T)
1,245
8,389		 Balance at
1st Jan 2021
£
41,027
6,055
(1,358)
(11,834)
236
(2,197)
4,396		 Income
£
16,089
9,388
3,752
59,341
1,505
24,174
26,997		 Expenditure
£
(112,689)
(9,155)
(564)
(6,799)
(2,287)
(9,514)
(1,991)		 Transfers
£
78,899
(2,529)
(2,937)
(43,698)
0
(9,196)
(18,265)		 Balance at
31st Dec
Net
Movement
£
£
23,326
(17,701)
3,759
(2,296)
(1,107)
251
(2,990)
8,844
(546)
(782)
3,267
5,464
11,137
6,741
36,325
1,237
78
5,211
2,204
0
6,240
3,194		 141,246
327
0
107
0
5,816
2
1		 (142,999)
(302)
0
(65)
0
(1,290)
0
0		 2,274
0
0
(275)
0
0
0
0		 36,846
521
1,262
25
78
0
4,978
(233)
2,204
0
4,526
4,526
6,242
2
3,195
1
18,164 6,253 (1,657) (275) 22,485
4,321
54,489
650		 147,499
14,061		 (144,656)
(13,866)		 1,999
0		 59,331
4,842
845
195
55,139 161,560 (158,522) 1,999 60,176
5,037
872
(3,862)
0
1,230
743
2,833
29,281
423
5,029
1,006
1,101		 0
3,898
5,000
0
2,956
1
2,823
9,774
2
0
0		 0
0
0
0
0
(174)
(1,861)
(13,658)
0
0
(300)		 0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0		 872
0
36
3,898
5,000
5,000
1,230
0
3,699
2,956
2,660
(173)
30,243
962
(3,461)
(3,884)
5,031
2
1,006
0
801
(300)
38,656 24,454 (15,993) 0 47,117
8,461
38,131
168,733		 4,904
24,178		 (446) (1,999) 40,590
2,459
192,911
24,178
206,864 29,082 (446) (1,999) 233,501
26,637
Value
December
2021
£
114,491
19,156
24,308
5,105
4,239
25,612		 Dividends
Received
£
2,905
486
617
130
108
658		 Dividends
Distributed
£
(486)
(617)
(130)
(108)
(658)		 Value
December
2020
£
100,162
16,759
21,224
4,457
3,701
22,430
168,733
8,389 192,911 4,904 (1,999)

36

2021 Statement of cash flows

Current Year Prior year
Total funds Total funds
£ £
Cash flows from operating activities:
Net cash provided by (used in) operating activities 8,894 (47,946)
Cash flows from investing activities:
Dividends, interest and rents from investments 4,933 5,402
Proceeds from the sale of property, plant and equipment
Purchase of property, plant and equipment
Proceeds from sale of investments 0 0
Purchase of investments
Net cash provided by (used in) investing activities 4,933 5,402
Change in cash and cash equivalents in the reporting period 13,827 (42,544)
Cash and cash equivalents at the beginning of the reporting
period 130,770 173,314
Change in cash and cash equivalents due to exchange rate
movements 0 0
Cash and cash equivalents at the end of the reporting
period 144,597 130,770
2021 Reconciliation of net income/(expenditure) to net cash flow from
operating activities
Current Year Prior Year
£ £
Net income/(expenditure) for the reporting period (as per
the statement of financial activities) 39,940 (38,543)
Adjustments for:
Depreciation charges 0 0
(Gains)/losses on investments (24,178) (10,707)
Dividends, interest and rents from investments (4,933) (5,402)
Loss/(profit) on the sale of fixed assets 0 0
(Increase)/decrease in stocks 0 0
(Increase)/decrease in debtors (5,549) 6,056
Increase/(decrease) in creditors 3,614 650
Net cash provided by (used in) operating activities 8,894 (47,946)
2021 Analysis of cash and cash equivalents
Current Year Prior Year
£ £
Cash in hand at close of year 144,597 130,770
Notice deposits (less than 3 months) 0 0
Overdraft facility repayable on demand 0 0
Cash and cash equivalents at the end of the reporting
period 144,597 130,770

37

Annual Accounts

2021

Baptist, Church of England, Methodist & United Reformed Church

5. Financial Review:

Independent Examiner:

25

Disclosure
Only complete if the examiner needs to highlight material matters of
concern (see CC32, Independent examination of charity accounts:
directions and guidance for examiners).
Oct 2018
Section B Disclosure
Give here
brief details
of any items that
the examiner
wishes to disclose.
IER

26

Woughton Ecumenical Partnership

Financial statements to the month ended 31 December 2021

Statement of Financial Activities 2021

27
Notes
Income and endowments from:
Donations and legacies
1
Charitable activities
2
Other trading activities
3
Investments
4
Other
Total
Expenditure on:
Raising funds
5
Charitable activities
6
Other
Total
Net gains/(losses) on investments
Net income/(expenditure)
Transfers between funds
Net movement in funds
Reconciliation of funds:
Total funds brought forward
Total funds carried forward
Fixed assets:
Investments
12
Total fixed assets
Current assets:
Debtors
7
Cash at bank and in hand
Total current assets
Liabilities:
Creditors: Amounts falling due within
one year
8
Net current assets or liabilities
Total assets less current liabilities
Net asset or liabilities excluding
pension asset or liability
Total net assets or liabilities
The funds of the charity:
Endowment funds
11
Restricted income funds
10
Unrestricted funds
9
Total unrestricted funds
Total charity funds		 Unrestricted
funds
2021
£
118,297
19,221
3,672
11
45		 Delegated
funds
2021
£
105
5,816
327
5
0		 Restricted
funds
2021
£
22,056
0
2,385
13
0		 Endowments
2021
£
0
0
0
4,904
0		 Total
funds
2021
Full Year
funds
2020
£
£
140,458
102,280
25,037
4,849
6,384
2,315
4,933
5,402
45
260
141,246
(2,402)
(140,597)
0		 6,253
0
(1,657)
0		 24,454
(238)
(15,755)
0		 4,904
0
(446)
0		 176,857
115,106
(2,640)
(2,189)
(158,455)
(161,917)
0
(250)
(142,999) (1,657) (15,993) (446)
24,178		 (161,095)
(164,356)
24,178
10,707
(1,753)
2,274		 4,596
(275)		 8,461
0		 28,636
(1,999)		 39,940
(38,543)
0
0
521 4,321 8,461 26,637 39,940
(38,543)
36,325 18,164 38,656 206,864 300,009
338,552
36,846 22,485 47,117 233,501 339,949
300,009
Balance Sheet
Unrestricted
funds
2021
Delegated
funds
2021
£
£
0
0		 2021
Restricted
funds
2021
£
0		 Endowments
2021
£
192,911		 Total
funds
2021
Full Year
funds
2020
£
£
192,911
168,733
0
6,177
34,933		 0
5
22,480		 0
523
46,594		 192,911
0
40,590		 192,911
168,733
6,705
1,156
144,597
130,770
41,110
(4,264)		 22,485
0		 47,117
0		 40,590
0		 151,302
131,926
(4,264)
(650)
36,846 22,485 47,117 40,590 147,038
131,276
36,846
36,846		 22,485
22,485		 47,117
47,117		 233,501
233,501		 339,949
300,009
339,949
300,009
36,846 22,485 47,117 233,501 339,949
300,009
36,846 22,485 47,117 233,501 233,501
206,864
47,117
38,656
59,331
54,489
36,846 22,485 0 0 59,331
54,489
36,846 22,485 47,117 233,501 339,949
300,009

Notes

Notes
Note 1: Donations and legacies
Tax Efficient Giving
Small Donations
Gift Aid and Small Donation Re-Claim
Other Donations
Appeals
Grants
Legacies
Total Donations and legacies
Note 2: Charitable activities
Funeral Fees
Wedding Fees
Building Hire
Total Charitable activities
Note 3: Other trading activities
Fundraising
Subscriptions
General Sales
Total Other trading activities
Note 4: Investments
Bank Interest
Investment Income from
Endowments
Total Investments
Note 5: Raising funds
Fundraising Costs
Advertising & Promotion
Grant Application & Professional Costs
Total Raising funds
Note 6: Charitable activities
(a) Ministry and Related Staff Costs
Mission Partnership LEP Share
Clergy Expenses
Manse Running Expenses
Training
(b) Employed Staff
Average number of part time staff
Salaries & wages
National insurance contributions		 Unrestricted
funds
2021
£
75,634
6,359
20,506
11,993
2,935
870
0		 Delegated
funds
2021
£
84
0
21
0
0
0
0		 Restricted
funds
2021
£
5,360
0
1,340
1,054
4,302
5,000
5,000		 Endowments
2021
£
0
0
0
0
0
0
0		 Total
funds
2021
Full Year
funds
2020
£
£
81,078
64,527
6,359
6,441
21,867
17,756
13,047
10,206
7,237
1,846
5,870
1,504
5,000
0
118,297 105 22,056 0 140,458
102,280
6,768
3,528
8,925		 0
0
5,816		 0
0
0		 0
0
0		 6,768
3,738
3,528
520
14,741
591
19,221 5,816 0 0 25,037
4,849
2,154
0
1,518		 0
327
0		 2,385
0
0		 0
0
0		 4,539
941
327
125
1,518
1,249
3,672 327 2,385 0 6,384
2,315
11
0		 5
0		 13
0		 0
4,904		 29
656
4,904
4,746
11 5 13 4,904 4,933
5,402
1,202
240
960		 0
0
0		 238
0
0		 0
0
0		 1,440
218
240
584
960
1,387
2,402 0 238 0 2,640
2,189
91,443
2,297
470
500		 0
0
0
0		 0
0
0
0		 0
321
0
0		 91,443
90,751
2,618
2,800
470
2,954
500
489
94,710 0 0 321 95,031
96,994
2021
2
14,341
151		 2020
2
13,368
63
14,492 13,431

28

(c) Premises and other resource costs
Premises running costs
Maintenance
Parish Administration
Upkeep of Services/Centre Hire
Insurance
Equipment & New Building Works
Junior Church, ABC & Youth
Pastoral Care/Homeless
(d) Grants and donations payable
Cancer Research
Fishermead Trinity Centre
Leaving Gift
Macmillan
MK-Act
MK Bridgebuilder Trust
MK Hospital Charity
MK Food Bank
MK MS Therapy Centre
RNLI
Royal British Legion
Salvation Army
Simpson Garden Group
Streetlight Trust
Tear Fund
Tinker's Bridge Rainbows
Wader Quest
Willen Hospice
Zimbabwe Housing Project
Total Charitable activities
Note 7: Debtors
Gift Aid tax recoverable
Small Donations recoverable
Amounts falling due within one year
Note 8: Creditors
Amounts falling due within one year
CVCC - Donations
Other creditors (Weddings)		 Unrestricted
funds
2021
£
7,778
4,514
4,959
2,985
7,371
1,440
37
54		 Delegated
funds
2021
£
0
291
0
0
0
1,000
302
64		 Restricted
funds
2021
£
0
1,920
1,399
0
0
12,136
0
0		 Endowments
2021
£
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
125		 Total
funds
2021
Full Year
funds
2020
£
£
7,778
11,502
6,725
8,466
6,358
3,822
2,985
2,900
7,371
7,119
14,576
14,928
339
65
243
631
29,138 1,657 15,455 125 46,375
49,433
100
0
25
0
232
156
0
20
0
396
0
91
413
334
67
0
323
0
100		 0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0		 0
300
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0		 0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0		 100
100
300
0
25
0
0
63
232
500
156
128
0
250
20
0
0
285
396
0
0
0
91
0
413
0
334
0
67
172
0
149
323
0
0
312
100
100
2,257 0 300 0 2,557
2,059
140,597 1,657 15,755 446 158,455
161,917
4,476
797
904		 5
0
0		 523
0
0		 0
0
0		 5,004
784
797
372
904
0
6,177 5 523 0 6,705
1,156
581
2,838
845		 0
0
0		 0
0
0		 0
0
0		 581
0
2,838
0
845
650
4,264 0 0 0 4,264
650

29

Note 9: Unrestricted funds

Note 9: Unrestricted funds
Balance at
1st Jan 2021
£
Undesignated fund
WEP General
41,027
Christ the Vine
6,055
Holy Trinity
(1,358)
St Mary's
(11,834)
St Mary's Church Hall
236
St Thomas
(2,197)
Trinity Church Fishermead
4,396
Parish General Funds
36,325
Delegated funds
Adults, Babies and Children Group
1,237
Benevolent Fund
78
Homeless Group
5,211
WEP Property
2,204
URC Manse
0
Woolstone Chancel Trust
6,240
Youth Fund
3,194
Parish Delegated Funds
18,164
Parish General & Delegated Funds
54,489
WEP Suspense Accounts
650
55,139
Note 10: Restricted funds
Christ the Vine: Gift Day
872
Christ the Vine: Boiler/Baptistry
(3,862)
Christ the Vine: Legacy
0
Coffee Hall: Flood Relief
1,230
St Mary's: AV
743
St Mary's: Clock
2,833
St Mary's: Fabric
29,281
St Thomas': Building
423
St Thomas': Legacy
5,029
Trinity Church: Projects
1,006
Trinity Church: Restricted
1,101
38,656
Note 11: Endowments
Trust income retained
38,131
Total Endowment Investments
168,733
206,864
Note 12: Investments
Share
Holdings
Quantity
WotG Church House (127001608S)
4,889
WotG Levi Trust (127001566S)
818
Little Woolstones Church Hall (127002702S
1,038
Simpson Church Hall (127002582S)
218
WotG Church Trust (127002774S)
181
WotG Church Trust (COIF) (546050001T)
1,245
8,389		 Balance at
1st Jan 2021
£
41,027
6,055
(1,358)
(11,834)
236
(2,197)
4,396		 Income
£
16,089
9,388
3,752
59,341
1,505
24,174
26,997		 Expenditure
£
(112,689)
(9,155)
(564)
(6,799)
(2,287)
(9,514)
(1,991)		 Transfers
£
78,899
(2,529)
(2,937)
(43,698)
0
(9,196)
(18,265)		 Balance at
31st Dec
Net
Movement
£
£
23,326
(17,701)
3,759
(2,296)
(1,107)
251
(2,990)
8,844
(546)
(782)
3,267
5,464
11,137
6,741
36,325
1,237
78
5,211
2,204
0
6,240
3,194		 141,246
327
0
107
0
5,816
2
1		 (142,999)
(302)
0
(65)
0
(1,290)
0
0		 2,274
0
0
(275)
0
0
0
0		 36,846
521
1,262
25
78
0
4,978
(233)
2,204
0
4,526
4,526
6,242
2
3,195
1
18,164 6,253 (1,657) (275) 22,485
4,321
54,489
650		 147,499
14,061		 (144,656)
(13,866)		 1,999
0		 59,331
4,842
845
195
55,139 161,560 (158,522) 1,999 60,176
5,037
872
(3,862)
0
1,230
743
2,833
29,281
423
5,029
1,006
1,101		 0
3,898
5,000
0
2,956
1
2,823
9,774
2
0
0		 0
0
0
0
0
(174)
(1,861)
(13,658)
0
0
(300)		 0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0		 872
0
36
3,898
5,000
5,000
1,230
0
3,699
2,956
2,660
(173)
30,243
962
(3,461)
(3,884)
5,031
2
1,006
0
801
(300)
38,656 24,454 (15,993) 0 47,117
8,461
38,131
168,733		 4,904
24,178		 (446) (1,999) 40,590
2,459
192,911
24,178
206,864 29,082 (446) (1,999) 233,501
26,637
Value
December
2021
£
114,491
19,156
24,308
5,105
4,239
25,612		 Dividends
Received
£
2,905
486
617
130
108
658		 Dividends
Distributed
£
(486)
(617)
(130)
(108)
(658)		 Value
December
2020
£
100,162
16,759
21,224
4,457
3,701
22,430
168,733
8,389 192,911 4,904 (1,999)

30

2021 Statement of cash flows

Current Year Prior year
Total funds Total funds
£ £
Cash flows from operating activities:
Net cash provided by (used in) operating activities 8,894 (47,946)
Cash flows from investing activities:
Dividends, interest and rents from investments 4,933 5,402
Proceeds from the sale of property, plant and equipment
Purchase of property, plant and equipment
Proceeds from sale of investments 0 0
Purchase of investments
Net cash provided by (used in) investing activities 4,933 5,402
Change in cash and cash equivalents in the reporting period 13,827 (42,544)
Cash and cash equivalents at the beginning of the reporting
period 130,770 173,314
Change in cash and cash equivalents due to exchange rate
movements 0 0
Cash and cash equivalents at the end of the reporting
period 144,597 130,770
2021 Reconciliation of net income/(expenditure) to net cash flow from
operating activities
Current Year Prior Year
£ £
Net income/(expenditure) for the reporting period (as per
the statement of financial activities) 39,940 (38,543)
Adjustments for:
Depreciation charges 0 0
(Gains)/losses on investments (24,178) (10,707)
Dividends, interest and rents from investments (4,933) (5,402)
Loss/(profit) on the sale of fixed assets 0 0
(Increase)/decrease in stocks 0 0
(Increase)/decrease in debtors (5,549) 6,056
Increase/(decrease) in creditors 3,614 650
Net cash provided by (used in) operating activities 8,894 (47,946)
2021 Analysis of cash and cash equivalents
Current Year Prior Year
£ £
Cash in hand at close of year 144,597 130,770
Notice deposits (less than 3 months) 0 0
Overdraft facility repayable on demand 0 0
Cash and cash equivalents at the end of the reporting
period 144,597 130,770

31