## **ANNUAL REPORT AND FINANCIAL STATEMENTS** **FOR THE YEAR ENDED 31 DECEMBER 2023** ## **THE PAROCHIAL CHURCH OF ST MARY'S SHAW CUM DONNINGTON** ## **CHARITY NUMBER 1172611** Page 1 |**Contents**|**Page**| |---|---| |Trustees Annual Report|3| |Receipts and Payment Account|10| |Statement of Assets and Liabilities|13| |Independent Examiners’ Report|14| Page 2 ## **Annual Report for the Year Ending 31[st] December 2023** The members present their annual report together with the financial statements of the PCC of St Mary’s Church for the year ended 31[st] December 2023. ## **AIMS AND PURPOSES** St Mary’s Church is situated on the northern edge of Newbury and serves the areas of Shaw, Donnington and Clay Hill as well as the more rural areas to the north. The Parochial Church Council (PCC) has the responsibility to co-operate with the priest-in-charge, Revd. Raymond Obin, in ministering to the parish and achieving our aims as stated below. It also has the responsibility for the maintenance of the church building on Church Road, Shaw, including the adjoining Church Centre. The activities of the PCC are regulated by the Church of England, Diocese of Oxford. ## **OBJECTIVES AND ACTIVITIES** St Mary’s Church aims to respond to God’s love in Knowing Jesus, Sharing God’s Love and Caring for People. We are a welcoming community who aim to reach out to all the people in the Parish as we worship together, tell people about the Gospel of Jesus Christ, and care in spiritual and practical terms wherever we can in the community. We strive to fulfil these objectives through: - A secure and varied pattern of Worship, Prayer and Bible Study, in church, the church centre, care homes and schools. - Provision of pastoral care through a committed pastoral team. - A strong musical tradition and enjoyment of worshipping through music. - Close working relationship with local schools, especially our church school (Shaw cum Donnington Primary School), the Parish Council, the Village Hall Committee and local organisations. - A welcoming and interesting programme of social activities. - Working co-operatively as members of Christians Together in the Newbury Area (CTNA) and the Newbury Deanery. - To facilitate much of our work, we are committed to looking after the fabric of St Mary's Church, Shaw cum Donnington and its Church Centre, which provides a well-regarded space for many community activities. ## **ACHIEVEMENTS AND PERFORMANCE** ## Worship and Prayer The PCC strives to meet the spiritual, emotional and practical needs of our community by offering a varied pattern of worship, prayer and bible study throughout the week, using the church, the church centre, as well as in care homes and schools. In 2023 we had a service of Holy Communion or Morning Prayer every Sunday at 10am. Baptisms were held during the morning service or separately, depending on the circumstances. We held a weekly Meeting for Prayer in the Church using some of the liturgy from the Morning Prayer and a mid-week Communion service on the 2[nd] and 4[th] Wednesdays of the month. We held a week-day afternoon service for our Home Members before Easter, Harvest and Christmas. Our services are easy to follow, using a projector and screen for liturgy and lyrics, and we make available a printed order of service in large print for those who need it. We have a monthly prayer breakfast on the first Saturday of the month. We held a Lent Page 3 course. We have an email ‘Prayer Chain’ and share requests for prayer with members of the congregation who have chosen to receive them. Shaw cum Donnington Primary School come to the church four times a year for special services and Trinity School (secondary) use the church for their Christmas assemblies. COINS (Christian Opportunities in Newbury Schools) used the church for their Christmas and Easter events which are attended by other local schools. We have a particular focus on making sure all are made welcome at our services, and we deliver a Christmas Card to everyone in the parish with details of our Christmas Worship. There are currently 80 people on the electoral roll, 51 are residents and 29 non-residents. Our Sunday attendance increased in 2023. In 2023 we baptised 7 children. We conducted 4 weddings and the clergy conducted 19 funerals at St Mary’s or the Crematorium. These services are essential to our commitment to spiritually support everyone in our parish as they enable our community to journey with God through life and to give thanks to Him at the milestones along their earthly pathway. We had a church Away Day in October when we went to All Saints Church, Upper Bucklebury for a reflection and planning day on the theme of ‘How Can I Help?’ A number of ideas were generated from this and are being progressed. The Church Purpose and Focus Statement was discussed and the new strap line was agreed as ‘Knowing Jesus, Sharing God’s Love, Caring for People.’ ## Deanery Synod Two members of the PCC sit on the deanery synod. This provides the PCC with an important link between the parish and the wider structures of the church. ## The Church and Church Centre The asbestos floor tiles were removed from the west porch and a replacement floor was laid. The kitchen in the church centre was refitted in August and has provided a more workable space for the various groups that use the space. This includes the various church groups who meet in the church centre, a weekly Art Group who hire the space and Bridge Church (a Newbury Free Church) used our facilities to run a weekly parent and toddlers’ group. A quinquennial inspection in October 2023 highlighted a number of issues with the church and church centre. The issues have been prioritised in order of urgency and work will begin on repairs to the church roof in 2024. The installation of a replacement CCTV system was started during the year, partially funded by a grant from the Thames Valley Police Community fund. New, lighter chairs were purchased for the church centre. A team of volunteers started work on the churchyard to tidy areas that had become overgrown and to plant bulbs. Communications with the local Parish Council and West Berkshire Council have started to ensure that the grass is cut at regular intervals by the Council contractors and that overgrown trees can be trimmed. Page 4 ## Pastoral Care The Barnabas Group, supporting those in the community who have been bereaved, continued to meet weekly in the church centre. The Myrtle Café project continues to provide a Monday meeting point and support for those who are isolated and lonely in the community. The monthly Lunch Club for older members of the community continued to be popular and minibus transport is provided as required. Home Members (those older members of the community who can no longer attend Sunday worship) were invited to St Mary’s for special events at Easter, Summer, Harvest and Christmas and joined together in a Communion Service followed by afternoon tea. The ‘Reminiscence’ project continued in 2023 and the group meets in person to share memories on particular themes. Members of the church keep in regular touch with older members of the community who are no longer able to attend services. ## Mission and Evangelism Helping those in need is a demonstration of our faith. At St Mary’s we demonstrate this by our Pastoral Care activities and support for charities at home and abroad. We sell calendars at Christmas to raise funds for Newbury Cancer Care Trust and pack shoeboxes of gifts as part of the ‘Link To Hope’ scheme. We are a collection point for the West Berkshire Foodbank and support Action Through Enterprise in Ghana with fundraising. We organise special collections for appeals run by Christian Aid. We hope to restart our Youth Work in the future but, until this happens, we are pleased to support the Next Gen Youth Café who meet at a local community centre, as one of our Christmas charities. We support the Bible Society and Bible Sunday was marked on 29th October with a local speaker from the Bible Society. Every home in the parish (now almost 7,000 approximately) received a Christmas Card with information about regular services and activities. ## Ecumenical Relationships St Mary's is a member of Christians Together in Newbury (CTNA) and has a strong history of working together with Christians of all denominations. ## Other Activities We would like to rebuild our work with families and children and look forward to seeing more children at our Sunday morning services in the future. Our weekly ‘Meeting Point’ group for parents and pre-school children has been running for many years with the support of dedicated volunteers and continued in 2023 with a small number of families attending. We held our APCM in March. In May we hosted a concert as part of the Newbury Spring Festival programme. In June we travelled to Oxford to join the service of ordination for our curate, Revd. Ed Yates. In September we held our Harvest services, including Harvest Evensong followed by tea. In October we held our Annual Bereavement service and tea. We take environmental issues very seriously and actively encourage and promote ways in which the congregation can get involved in protecting our environment at a local and national level. We include ‘Green Tips’ in our pew sheet and ‘Remote Action’ suggestions in our weekly email Page 5 communications. We held an ‘Environment’ service and joined in the national Count on Nature. We are a Fairtrade Church and purchase fairtrade coffee and tea for use in our after-church café. We are currently working towards our Silver eco-Church award. ## Financial Review ## Receipts Total receipts on unrestricted funds were £32,780. Restricted donations (money collected for Cancer Care Calendars, Link to Hope Shoeboxes and West Berkshire Foodbank) of £574 were also received. Voluntary donations have increased slightly this year. The 200 Club raised £1,757 for general funds. Other fundraising events included a Burns Night Supper and a coffee morning. A grant of £1,000 was received from West Berkshire Council to support the Myrtle Café ‘Warm Spaces’ project. £500 was donated via The Good Exchange in 2023 towards the refit of the church kitchen. Total fundraising income was £5,663 which is lower than in previous years due to fewer fundraising events taking place. The income from the Jones Will Trust was £12,500. This has increased compared to 2022 due to the timing of the payments. The freehold house in Walton Way continues to be let and provided an income of £8,516 after management fees were taken into account. This is an increase from 2022 and is due to a rent increase in May. Service fee income has decreased slightly due to fewer weddings and funerals taking place in 2023 compared to the previous year. Other income was £9,547. The main items were VAT refunds of £5,471 (church boiler, replacement lighting, kitchen refit and west porch floor), Lunch Club donations (including £320 transferred from the Lunch Club account previously held at Lloyds Bank), donations at events run by the Pastoral Team, Myrtle Café donations and coach tickets to Oxford for Ed’s ordination. Income for the year was £84,167. This has increased since 2022 due to the increases in voluntary income, investment income and VAT refunds. ## Payments The Costs of Events in 2023 was £2,220 and included prizes for the 200 club, Lunch Club and Burns Night expenses and the coach trip to Oxford. It also included minibus hire (deducted from the ‘Surviving to Thriving’ fund) for events held at St Mary’s. Charitable Donations in 2023 were £789 and included money collected for Cancer Care Calendars, Link to Hope Shoeboxes and West Berkshire Foodbank (£523) plus donations to ATE (£256) and Christian Aid (£10). Funds were also raised for special collections and these were paid to the charities directly so do not appear in the accounts. These were the DEC Turkey and Syria Earthquake Appeal (£155), Christian Aid Appeals (£990), ATE (£223) and Next Gen Youth Café (£341). £77,653 was spent from unrestricted funds, and a further £515 from restricted funds, on church running costs in 2023. The major item of expenditure was St Mary’s Parish Share contribution to the Oxford Diocese of £23,117. This amount is approximately 46% of the Parish Share paid by similar parishes as Raymond is a self-supporting minister. £8,755 was spent from the £50,000 legacy fund on enhancements to the church and church centre. The items approved by PCC and then purchased were new chairs for the church centre and a contribution towards refitting the church kitchen. Page 6 £2,222 was spent from the ‘Surviving to Thriving’ fund. Items purchased included a large AV screen for the church centre, laptops for use by Myrtle Café attendees and minibus transport to events in the church centre. The fund has now been totally spent. The Church Centre Kitchen refit was the main item of capital expenditure in 2023. The material and fitting costs were £12,048. ## Net Result Total payments for 2023 were £93,225 compared to receipts of £84,167 giving a deficit of £9,058. The planned expenditure from legacy funds, plus the kitchen refit, were the main reasons for the deficit. The numbers of people attending services in 2023 continued to increase and it is hoped that this will result in an increase in voluntary income in 2024. In addition, the PCC will continue to explore where savings can be made in order to ensure that St Mary’s remains financially viable and is able to continue its commitments to the congregations and the community. St Mary’s has an aspiration to return to paying the full Parish Share within the next few years in order to support a full-time member of the clergy in the future. It is planned to spend the Church Centre restricted reserve fund in 2024 on further enhancements to the church centre by replacing the downstairs windows to reduce heat loss. It is planned to spend the remaining funds in the Building Maintenance fund on repairs that were identified as part of the recent quinquennial inspection. It is planned to spend the remaining legacy funds (£17,552) on projects that have already been approved by PCC (Church Centre Lighting, Internal South Doors and upgrading the CCTV system). Other proposals for use of any remaining legacy funds are still under discussion. Cash funds at the end of 2023 were £89,465 split between a business current account and three savings accounts. This includes the sum of £5,679 held in the restricted reserve account (for church centre capital purchases and maintenance only). £7,720 remains in the Building Maintenance Restricted Reserve Fund, £2,988 in the Youth Work Restricted Reserve Fund, £608 in the Lunch Club Fund and £513 in the Pastoral Team fund. The total amount in the restricted reserve funds at the end of the year was £17,508. This represents money that was given for a specific purpose and can only be spent on those items. ## Reserves Policy It is PCC policy to try to maintain a balance on unrestricted funds which equates to at least three months unrestricted payments. This is equivalent to £30,000. It is held to smooth out fluctuations in cash flow and to meet emergencies. The total amount in the unrestricted reserve fund at the end of 2023 was £54,345. ## Staff and Volunteers We would like to thank the many volunteers who continuously work so hard to make our church a welcoming and lively community and further our mission and outreach work. A special 'Thank you!' must go to our previous Churchwardens, Mark Hutson and Mary Dawkins, our current Churchwarden, Mrs Ros Stuart, our Treasurer Mrs Rachel Haslam, our Assistant Treasurer Mr Tony Bradford, our Financial Team member Mr Steve Joplin, our Independent Examiner David Cobbett, our Community Outreach Officer Mr David Willetts, our Verger Mr Derek Harwood, our Administrator Sally Breach and our PCC and Committee members. We are also very grateful to Roger Snelling, Tony Dawkins, Nick Breach and to Councillor Paul Bryant for all the many jobs they do to maintain the church and the church yard. The volunteers have given hundreds of hours of Page 7 their time to make St. Mary’s Church a loving, attractive and welcoming church that actively serves its community. Structure, Governance and Management The PCC is a corporate body established by the Church of England. The PCC operates under the Parochial Church Council Powers Measure. The method of appointment of PCC members is set out in the Church Representation Rules. At St Mary’s the membership of the PCC consists of the incumbent, the churchwardens and members elected by those on the electoral roll of the church. All regular members of the congregation are encouraged to register on the Electoral Roll and stand for election to the PCC. The PCC members are responsible for making decisions on all matters of general concern and importance to the parish including decisions on how the funds of the PCC are to be spent. Deanery Synod representatives and Churchwardens are ex-officio. Other PCC members are elected at the APCM, or in the case of the Verger, co-opted. The full PCC met 5 times during the year. Given its wide responsibilities, the PCC has a number of committees each dealing with a particular aspect of parish life. These committees are Finance and General Purposes, World Partners and Pastoral. The Stewardship and Fundraising Committee ceased during the year and its work is being continued by individual members of the congregation who lead fundraising events. The Church and Community Life Development Committee ceased during the year and was replaced by the Ministry Committee. This new committee plans activities for the major festivals of Easter, Harvest and Christmas. All committees report back to the PCC regularly with minutes of their decisions being received by the full PCC and discussed and voted as necessary. Sub committees are formed for key project i.e. the building work arising from the quinquennial inspection. ## Administrative Information The ecclesiastical parish of St Mary's comprises the civic parish of Shaw-cum-Donnington as well as the Newbury Electoral Ward Clay Hill and other small areas of Newbury Town. It is part of the Newbury Deanery within the Diocese of Oxford of the Church of England. The correspondence address is: The Church Office, Church Road, Newbury, RG14 2DR. The PCC is a body corporate (PCC Powers Measure 1956, Church Representation Rules 2011) and a charity registered with the Charity Commission. Our Registered Charity Number is 1172611. ## **PCC members who have served at any time from 1st January 2023 until 31 December 2023 are:** - Priest in Charge: Revd. Raymond Obin - Assistant Curate: Revd. Ed Yates ## **Ex Officio members:** - Warden: Mrs Ros Stuart - Representatives to Deanery Synod: Mrs Libby Goldsack and Mr David Willetts Page 8 ## **Co-opted members:** - Verger: Mr Derek Harwood ## **Elected members:** Mrs Mary Dawkins Mr Mark Hutson Mrs Rachel Haslam Mr Mike Stuart Mr Steve Joplin Mrs Gill Moore Mrs Barbara Bradford Mrs Sally Breach Mrs Lesley Almond ## **Gift Aid Secretary** Mr Charles Garner ## **Electoral Roll Officer** Mr Derek Harwood ## **Service Stewards:** Rachel Haslam Mark Hutson Mary Hutson Sally Breach Mary Dawkins Libby Goldsack Charles Garner Barbara Bradford Wendy Seamons Karen Fenwick Ros Stuart Mike Stuart Jane Yates Page 9 Receipts and Payments Accouni St Mary's Show-cum DOnnin￿on Pa1￿hla1 Chwch Counctl A¢count5 foi the period from 01/0112023 to 311121202$ Un￿st￿(led fun¢ts Restfittefl Endowmeni funds funds Total fijnds Previous Year Receipt5 Volunrary Income Fundratsing Income from investments 32,779.70 5.544.71 21.917.99 13,628.44 7.803_38 573.70 118.22 57.44 33,353_40 5,662_93 21,975.43 15,628.44 9,547_05 31,254_42 12.612.17 19.081.86 13,507.99 3.141_64 Income from Church actiwries Othef incomsng resources 1,743_67 Assets & invesm)ent sales Toial rectipts 81.674.22 2,493.03 84.167.25 79.598.08 P&¥n￿tItS Costs of generating funds Oonation5 to chèrtrie5 Church running costs Governance costs MaJor£apital expeThdrture Asset5 & invesrrnent pur(hases Toial p8yments 1.328.46 266.00 77.653.46 891_93 522.70 514.68 2,220_39 788.70 78.168.14 2.947.10 1,157.17 82.761.92 12.048.00 12.C418.C¥) 91.295.92 1.929.31 93.225.23 86,866.19 Exces5 of receip15 over poymenis -9.621.70 56J.72 -9,057.98 -7268.11 Cash funds previou5 year 81.578.50 16,944.61 98,523.11 Cash fufids this year 71.956.80 17.50&33 89.465_13 Ploies". The finarKTral Statements of the PCC have been prepored in accordance wr£h the Church Accounting ReEulations 2CI)6 using the receipt5 and payments basis Page 10 Rtthwt54nd PaymeTrt5DeEai15- De(ernbEr2013 5t Mar*s5hgw-curn4knnnington YEèrttsDpiernber2023 Unrestricted Re5tri£ted YearTotal prev￿￿5 volUn￿ryIn¢0rnQ D0natsnS-Stand￿gOrders Donattons- EnvelopeScheme5 DonatFDnS- Parish Gwingscheme OntOft¥rfE5 (GIftA￿1*dj Oneoff gffts INOT G￿￿ded Cashcol￿ttlons at5etVKe5 cashcol￿ttlons atWetslBBp5 Cole(l￿n5for(ha￿Lie5 Tax RefvThoonGKt LeEaCIÈS 5.569. 3.030. 12.54&flJ 2.502.9) 211.42 5569. 3￿30. 12546.60 5.349. 3.458m 10,947 57 1.719. 51.00 3.368.21 9￿01 3.368.21 90.01 2.313 384.65 521.70 522.70 S.4S9.96 7flJ 5.941.47 5.459.96 32.779_70 573.7D 33?53.40 31.251.42 Fundralsw)i FundFa￿lng events OrEan MainteTh&nce Fund Grants 4.544.71 11822 4ffi62.93 7.749.17 i.ow. l￿0. 4.813 5,5X71 2.93 1161117 lTrwrnefrorn Invest￿￿e71ts Mr>F BJuTreS Will TTu51 In¢ome Renr Irom 125 w•￿[0￿wI¥ Bankinterert 12.500.tyJ B.51640 901 59 .500.00 8.516.40 959.03 iO.SOi LWI .225 20 355.66 57.44 21,917_SVJ 57.44 2L975.43 I9.1￿5 lTrexpenditure Church Kit(henAefft 12.048. 12.048. Asset5& inve5tnbents wsichfi5e5 Purchases of a55et5 Purchases Df Inve51inents J)th 12,040.Lll Page 12 St M&ry'55how(wrn DDTrniwon Chuwch Couwl A¢count5for the yeor ended 31st Oe(enibei 1023 Stalernentof A55ets and liBb￿lties&S￿iT31sE Decetnbei 2023 Unre5ttKte& De5WBted fiJn45 Re5fricEed Endowment Yolal fuTrd5 MoTheioiyAs%ets BBn*CU￿enla[cOunl 10.377.69 26.926.53 10.377.6* 56.367.59 5.67S B9 17.040.96 89.465.LI B?n* General Reserye account BBnk Re51rhttett Reserve account Bsnk Nationwitte Account Total 17.611.62 11,829.44 5.678.89 17M40.96 54.445.18 17.611.62 17.50K33 FIxEd&55ets 125 Waiionway shaw I bedfreehold 25%&hare4n Mr5 F8 lonÈsTruSt Ptovisitsn loi Futwè Mitsistry 20.037 abilitles OCTIO Dec2013 paroch￿ Ftes and Serwce Fee5p4￿ injanuary 2024 1.029 Debtors DesyatettTund5 Orgèn MainitnJfic Legacy Sur¥win8to Thr￿n¢ Projert 60.fjj 17.551.62 Restrktert Funds Chancel R￿fIB￿lId1￿g Maintenance Chulch Cenire Charit￿5 7.72025 5.67889 Youth Wo Lutth Club 2.987.63 S22 Pastoral Tearn Totals 513 34 17.508.33 17.611.62 No values hove been Shown lorthe Fixed AsseTS because curreDtvalues Jfe kDo¥vn. Ta ascertBinthe5ewould require pr