Jiib,, ffl I Iqlli i• .'IfCVI I Annual Report and FinancLal SL3teme.nts, 2020 ## **TABLE OF CONTENTS** TABLE OF CONTENTS .............................................. 2 ST MARK'S CHURCH, PENNINGTON ................. 3 Church Officers ...................................................... 3 PCC and required reports ...................................... 4 Chair's Report ............................................................. 4 Aim and Purposes .................................................. 11 Structure, governance and management ..... 11 Electoral Roll ........................................................ 12 Worship and Prayer .............................................. 12 Safeguarding ........................................................... 15 Finance Review ....................................................... 15 Reserves policy ....................................................... 17 Buildings .................................................................... 17 Community Hall ...................................................... 18 Churchyard ............................................................... 19 Update on Activities, Events and Groups ...... 21 Activities that have had to pause ..................... 21 Meditation Group .............................................. 21 TraidCraft .............................................................. 21 Evensong .............................................................. 22 Parish Magazine ................................................. 22 Strictly Come Crafting ...................................... 22 Messy Church ...................................................... 23 Children’s Church Club ................................ 23 Friendship Lunch ................................................ 23 Holiday at Home ................................................ 23 Pennington Community Events .................... 24 Ecochurch ............................................................. 24 CTLP - Christians Together Lymington and Pennington ........................................................... 24 Activities that have continued in different ways ............................................................................ 25 Schools .................................................................. 25 Pastoral – Phone Tree ....................................... 25 Community Hub ................................................. 26 Small groups ........................................................ 26 Coffee Morning .................................................. 26 St Mark’s Draw Club .................................... 27 Deanery Synod .................................................... 27 Activities that have started during pandemic ...................................................................................... 28 Morning Prayer on Zoom ............................... 28 Meditation Group .............................................. 28 Fareshare Larder ................................................. 28 Where do we go from here? .............................. 29 Churchyard ........................................................... 29 Magazine .............................................................. 29 Pastoral .................................................................. 30 Social / Events ..................................................... 30 Generosity ............................................................ 30 Prayer ..................................................................... 30 Publicity ..................................................................... 31 HeartEdge ................................................................. 32 Independent Examiner's Report ....................... 33 Financial Statements ............................................. 34 Receipts and Payments .................................... 35 Statement of Assets and Liabilities .............. 36 Notes to the Accounts ..................................... 37 2 ST MARK'S CHURCH, PENNINGTON ## **Church Officers** St Mark’s Church, Ramley Road, Pennington, SO41 8GQ We are part of the Diocese of Winchester within the Church of England. The PCC is a body corporate (PCC Powers Measure 1956, Church Representation Rules 2011). The PCC is a charity registered with the Charity Commission. Registered Charity number 1173998. PCC members who have served at any time from 1st January 2020 until the date this report was approved are: Priest in Charge The Revd Rachel Noel Associate Priest The Revd Anne Elliott (Until 12th January 2020) Licensed Lay Minister Phillip Attwood (Until 12[th ] October 2020) Churchwardens Teresa Nivison Eve Jolly Honorary Officers Rebecca Rickaby (Hon Secretary) Teresa Nivison (Hon Treasurer) Deanery Synod Maureen Barnard (until 12[th ] October 2020), Sandy Negrescu, Shirley Saunders (until 12[th ] October 2020) Elected Members Dorothy Davies Rebecca Rickaby Christine Scott Pat Wright (Until 18th February 2020) Paul Young Shirley Saunders (from 12[th ] October 2020) Co-Opted Members None 3 ## **PCC and required reports** ## **Chair's Report** We started 2020 at St Mark’s Church, Pennington, much like everyone else, looking forward to the new year. We were just preparing to say farewell to Rev Anne Elliott, as she was about to embark on her new ministry in Tiptoe; and we took part in Holocaust Memorial Day in their national commemoration on the theme Pennington Stands Together, and the artwork that we created with the Junior School was part of the national exhibition. Our director of music, Leigh Jerwood wrote a new piece for the occasion, and we shared this in our Christians together service. After the success of our Remembrance yarnbomb in 2019, the community had started knitting and crocheting flowers, crosses and Easter eggs to go on our hedge and we were talking with our neighbours St Thomas in Lymington, about plans to celebrate Holy Week together, and to welcome Bishop Debbie to come and visit us. Little did we know what was about to happen next… On Saturday 14th March 2020, Paul Young and I spent the afternoon in St Mark’s, and invited a few friends, including Rev Peter Salisbury, who might have useful things and cables, to have a play and see if livestreaming might be possible from our church. That night I worked with others online and prepared a booklet of prayers to give out in church the next day, in case people might have to isolate at home. Sunday 15th March was our first time livestreaming a service from St Mark’s, and George Kidner’s first time preaching… 4 Then on Monday, our Prime Minister, Boris Johnson announced a national lockdown, expected to be for around 12 weeks. And this is what happened next. The first Sunday of lockdown, I led a service from church which we livestreamed, whilst BBC South Today came into the church and filmed a piece about churches and lockdown. We also connected them with CAB, the Junior School and the Basics Bank to highlight the needs of our community, and the great organisations working here to make a difference. As we were due to work with our neighbours in Lymington for Holy Week anyway, we invited them to join us and work together for our online service. After the first week, the guidance changed, and this all had to take place from home, with recording studios rapidly set up in vicarages with anything begged and borrowed that could record, and our amazing musicians worked out how to record and edit together, and Paul embarked on a rapid learning curve of video editing and special effects. Many of you started to learn how to record readings and elements of the service from home, and over the coming weeks, all this happened. Many joined us online for the services, and I had your photos with me at home, to help me as I continued to pray for you, and imagine you were with me as I led the services from our spare bedroom. Alongside this, I suspect we may have been the only church in the country that also had about 1500 knitted and crocheted items ready to create a yarn bomb… we weren’t able to have our planned group to assemble it, but people worked and made this happen on our hedge. We wrote Pennington Stands Together, following on from Holocaust Memorial day… and then obviously the guidance tightened – and we weren’t meant to be standing anywhere near each other. We had just enough flowers to add ‘Even when we’re apart’, and our 2 crocheted figures and a ruler 5 behind the bus stop – and we told the Easter story, all the way through to Ascension Day and Pentecost on the hedge. People from across the community worked together to mark VE day, and local war veteran Bill’s 95th birthday. We continued working together with our new friends, St Thomas in Lymington, and so many across our communities got involved in recording services… including Pawstor Reggie (the Lymington Vicarage cat), and we’d started to get to know people that were joining us online for the first time. Through our online services, we realised some barriers had been removed, and you no longer had to know you’d be well enough to be in a building at a certain time and day, to worship with us. People were able to join us from care homes, people who were shielding, those facing mental health challenges, pain and disabilities. Jane and George worked hard taking our small groups online, people joining us, deepening in their faith. Paul continued in the enormous work each week editing together our online services. We shared Thy Kingdom Come together online together, and with a diocesan quiet day… out of which our new Lord’s Prayer painting emerged. (If you want to purchase your own copy of this, it’s not too late… follow our link to Red Bubble) We know that it was also a really hard time for many through last year. So many questions. Keyworkers having to work so hard, feeling so vulnerable, funerals taking place outside, with so few people allowed to be there. Realising the importance of making church work even within such a different world, continuing to make it accessible for so many people (although recognising that technology also excluded others.) Working online made it possible for people to join us for funerals, for 6 weddings within such limited guidance… you were so generous and fundraised for our camera. Many people having to shield, anxiety increasing. Many furloughed, financial challenges across our community. Our schools working out how to lead schools online, and connect with children and families, without being able to meet with them. Over the summer, as guidance eased, we started to work out what might be possible, especially once I no longer had to shield. Our churchwardens Teresa and Eve have worked so hard, with risk assessments ever evolving, as guidance has changed, to work out what is possible, and how to keep our church building and our hall safe and usable by people. We continued with our shared online service, and we also started a service in St Mark’s again… New things appeared in church… 2m markings outside and in the church, to help us stay socially distant from each other. Services now taking place with face masks, distributing communion outside. The community worked together to mark Remembrance, just as lockdown started again. And plans to add the missing names to our War Memorial, supported by the Musketeer, local councillors and church members finally came to fruition. We had a bit of a Remembrance and Christmas mash up, as we tried to squeeze in recording before lockdown… I think 2020 may be the only year that I’ll ever be holding a remembrance wreath and a Christmas tree at the same time! Working with St Thomas, Sarah Salisbury and Jane Nicholson started leading daily morning prayer on zoom, and many of you have been 7 joining us – all are welcome, we’re still going! The meditation group continued online. We learned more about HeartEdge, and we piloted the new Being With course, recognising the depth of Jesus love for us, of the Spirit’s presence with us, and working in each other. Through December, as Christmas wasn’t going to be possible in our usual ways, we invited our local school bubbles and community leaders to work with us on a whole community advent calendar and stories every day, and our knitters and crocheters worked so hard across the community, through online coffee and creative times with zoom coffee happening after services on Sunday, and coffee and chat taking place in front gardens, connecting so many people, our local shops, pharmacy and pub… and our giant woolly Christmas tree and knitivity developed on our hedge. This went far and wide, and BBC Breakfast came to visit. One year on, and we’ve been through another lockdown. W2’re delighted to still be working with our friends, St Thomas… our online services have now been viewed over 41,000 times. Peter and I have got better at recording things (well sometimes… we’re creating a fare set of bloopers too!) Rob and Mair Ellis, who’ve joined us during lockdown, led a survey to help us get to know more about how you’ve been finding our services and churches online. In the new year, Jane and other volunteers here have worked together with Basics Bank and Fareshare Larder, to start making affordable food available for local families every week. Something like 40 families each 8 week are now buying food each week here, helping to tackle the deep challenges that have faced so many in the last year. We know that across our communities so many of us are grieving in so many ways. We’ve lost people that we’ve loved, we’ve not been able to meet up and see each other in some of the ways we were used to, some of our groups haven’t been able to happen, many are missing hugs… and many of us are experiencing anxiety, as we’re not quite sure what happens next, we’re finding it hard to live with so many uncertainties, and we’re all having to work things out a bit at a time. We’ve had to say goodbye to Philip and Frances Attwood as they moved to Bournemouth, and we bid farewell to Jackie our administrator and Peter our pianist who we had to make redundant as our financial challenges and uncertainty continued. At the start of lockdown last year, I’m glad we didn’t know that a year later we would be working out how to lead another Holy Week online. I am so grateful that you’ve worked with us as we’ve continued to explore and develop, as we streamed live from zoom too. Many of you gathered with us and took part in leading live. This week, as we saw the Queen, sitting on her own, at her husband, the Duke of Edinburgh’s funeral, it captured something that so many have experienced this year. We’ve commemorated this event in our usual Pennington way on our hedge! And our crochet figures are now in step 2, as the pubs are open, they’ve got their pints of beer. 9 I’m hoping this report is encouraging you about all that has happened, and what has been possible as we’ve worked together across St Mark’s and St Thomas this year. As I write this report, we are also making this into a video for our patronal festival this week, of St Mark, I’m reminded of our message on our hedge – Pennington Stands Together – even when we’re not quite so far apart. Through the last year, through youtube and facebook, through letters and lent bags, through conversations and prayer, my hope is that alongside some of the isolation, there have also been glimpses of connection with God, connection with each other, connection with ourselves and with creation. Thank you all for being a part of our churches and our community. Thank you for your continued generosity. Our work, our ministry here is only possible through the continued generosity of so many, as we share financial support for the work here as well as our time, gifts and resources to live out Jesus’ call to us in this place. As we continue look ahead, I feel so encouraged at the amazing people that God has brought together in Pennington – that’s you, as you read this! I’m excited to hear what’s on your heart, how the Spirit is prompting you, and what God is calling us to. We look forward to working with you over the coming year, as together we face the uncertainty, knowing that God is always with us, that we can continue to connect, ## **inspiring love for everyone** Rev Rachel Noël 10 ## **Aim and Purposes** Our strapline is: ## **Inspiring love for everyone** As St Mark's PCC, we have responsibility for the ecclesiastical parish of Pennington. To help us in our mission, we have responsibility for the grade 2 listed St Mark's Church building, for our churchyard and for St Mark's Community Hall. ## **Structure, governance and management** The method of appointment of PCC members is set out in the Church Representation Rules. Members of the PCC are either ex-officio, elected by the Annual Parochial Church Meeting (APCM) by those members of the congregation who are on the electoral roll of the church, or co-opted by the PCC during the year. The PCC members are responsible for making decisions on all matters of general concern and importance to the parish including deciding on how the funds of the PCC are to be spent. The PCC met three times since our late APCM in the autumn last year, with standing committee meeting in between times. Given its wide responsibilities the PCC has a number of sub committees each dealing with a particular aspect of parish life. These sub committees, which include worship, buildings and finance, are all responsible to the PCC and report back to it regularly with minutes of their decisions being received by the full PCC and discussed as necessary. 11 The PCC has complied with the duty under section 5 of the Safeguarding and Clergy Discipline Measure 2016 (duty to have due regard to House of Bishops’ guidance on safeguarding children and vulnerable adults). ## **Electoral Roll** The number of people on this year’s Electoral Roll is 75. This number is broken down thus: - 59 Residents - 16 non-Residents Sadly 2 residents have moved from the parish and 1 has died, however 1 person has been added. Rebecca Rickaby ## **Worship and Prayer** Our regular pattern of worship before lockdown, at the start of 2020 was: Sundays: - 8am Traditional Communion - 9:30am 1st & 3rd Sunday - Family Communion, 2nd Sunday Iona or Celtic Communion 4th Sunday - Morning Praise, informal family service - 6:00pm 1st & 3rd Sunday - Evensong 5th Sunday - launching Evening Praise Midweek Wednesday, weekly 11:30am Communion Monday, once a month 2:30pm Meditation Group 12 During the first lockdown we initially held an online service at 9:30am each Sunday. As we approached opening the building, we changed our service time and had an online service at 10am and a service in St Mark’s at 9am from September 2020. In subsequent lockdowns, the 9am was suspended again. In April 2021, we have now brought back an 8am Holy Communion Service, and currently we retain a 9am service (that is sometimes Holy Communion, and sometimes Morning Praise), and a 10am Online service. At the start of 2020, we took part in the national Holocaust Memorial Day commemoration. With Pennington Junior School our community art project was selected for the national exhibition, and Rev Rachel Noël represented us at the national ceremony. However, once lockdown started, many of our usual events were not able to happen, with fairs, social events, concerts all cancelled. Online we created some special community events, notably: - March / April 2020 – Yarnbomb on the hedge for Easter, Ascension Day and Pentecost. - May 2020 – Online VE Day 75th anniversary community celebration - November 2020 – Online community Remembrance event, involving all the local schools, councillors and war veterans - December 2020 - Community Advent Calendar, using boards decorated by all the local school bubbles, and accompanied by daily videos featuring local community leaders reading Christmas stories. - Community Christmas yarnbomb, creating a 25ft knitted & crocheted Christmas tree, alongside almost lifesize crochet nativity on the hedge. 13 - A few Christmas services took place in St Mark’s Church, but the absence of congregational singing meant that we made our Just Carols event a live, interactive online service. We are fortunate to have a rich and diverse group of people leading worship, benefitting from the gifts of our Priest-in-Charge, Rachel Noël, and our BCMs, Sandy Negrescu and Paul Young. We also have several new people training for BCMS: Sandy Negrescu – BCM Children and Families Eve Jolly – BCM Creation Care Rebecca Rickaby – BCM Pastoral Care Jane Nicholson – BCM Worship George Kidner – Bishop’s Permission to Preach Thank you to everyone that is involved in so many different ways in leading and creating our services and making them happen. Prior to lockdown, we offered baptisms at our 9:30am Morning Praise service and once a month at 11am. Throughout 2020, the guidance continually updated about what was possible. The earliest funerals in 2020 were restricted to graveside only with very limited numbers. At the time of writing, we can now have up to 30 people attend a funeral in the church building or churchyard, and we will soon be starting weddings and baptisms again. In 2020 we baptised 2 children. We weren’t able to conduct any weddings, although the couples that were planning to marry will hopefully be married in St Mark’s Church this year. We conducted 16 funerals or interment of ashes. 14 ## **Safeguarding** The Church of England is committed to the safeguarding, care and nurture of everyone within our church community. It’s therefore important that parishes such as the parish of St Mark in Pennington give due focus to this important area. We are committed to following legislation, - guidance and recognized good practice. (See also https://www.stmarks - pennington.org.uk/safeguarding policy/ for further details) Attention to Safeguarding Good Practice has continued this past year, 2020. The Diocese of Winchester Safeguarding Team continue to be a source of support through the additional challenges presented during lockdown. Phillip Attwood our previous safeguarding officer has now moved to a new parish. Jane Nicholson has agreed to take on this role and is currently training. I am very grateful for the people willing to serve our community in this way, and to help guide all of us to ensure we make our church and community as safe as possible for everyone. Revd Rachel Noël ## **Finance Review** Total receipts for 2020 amounted to £71,518 which was £33,127 lower than the amount of £104,645 received for 2019. This was due to a number of factors including one off receipts of £3,000 from a legacy and £2,760 for an insurance claim received in 2019. In addition grants of £17,000 were received in 2019 to assist with the costs of the hall improvements. The balance of the decrease in receipts for the current year over 2019 was mainly due to the effects of the coronavirus pandemic in 2020. During an extremely difficult 2020 with the church being closed at various times due to the pandemic it is very pleasing to note that planned giving 15 income has been maintained in line with 2019 giving and underlines the importance of promoting planned giving through the Parish Giving Scheme and other giving schemes such as weekly envelopes. Looking at collections and other giving this has reduced to £1,370 from £5,781 in 2019 and further illustrates how valuable planned giving is. Our thanks go to all those who have been able to continue with their giving at this time to enable the work of the church to continue and we also appreciate the fact that due to financial constraints some people will have been unable to continue giving their usual sums to the church. We are also immensely grateful for all donations received in 2020 which totalled £15,069. We have received grants under the HMRC Job Retention Scheme totalling £4,647 to assist in paying staff salaries and grants from Lymington and Pennington Town Council towards the cost of making the Community Hall COVID-secure and also towards the new War Memorial tablet. £1,000 was also received from the Archbishops’ Council towards the organ restoration. Due to COVID-19 we have been unable to run our usual events and for part of the year groups have also been unable to use the Community Hall which has seen the hall letting income fall from £6,690 in 2019 to £2,768 in 2020. Total payments for 2020 were £72,988 compared to £113,864 for 2019. Our Diocesan Parish Contribution for 2020 was £31,599 a decrease of £3,707 over the previous year. Salaries for the year, excluding the Hall cleaner, totalled £9,200, down from £9,743 in 2019 as unfortunately it was necessary to make Jackie, our Parish Administrator, and Peter, our evensong pianist, redundant. Redundancy costs amounted to £853. Due to the church being closed for part of the year several of our costs have been reduced including utility, administration and service costs. We have also only printed 4 magazines this year and therefore whilst our printing costs are substantially reduced, £1,270 is due at the year end to the magazine advertisers for 8 months advertising. The balance due for the 16 organ restoration totalling £2,470 was paid in 2020. Equipment purchased during the year costing £2,208 was in respect of the new camera and accessories for the livestreaming of church services. The deficit for the year on unrestricted funds amounted to £1,140 together with a deficit of £330 on restricted funds giving an overall deficit of £1,470. The balance on restricted funds at 31st December 2020 amounted to £5,490 and the balance on unrestricted funds amounted to £63,087. Looking at the Statement of Assets and Liabilities at 31st December 2020 cash funds amounted to £68,577 as opposed to £70,047 at 31st December 2019. Other monetary assets amounted to £1,345 and liabilities at the year end amounted to £2,822 including the £1,270 due to the magazine advertisers as previously mentioned. Teresa Nivison ## **Reserves policy** It is the policy of the PCC to maintain a balance on unrestricted funds (if possible), which equates to approximately six months’ unrestricted payments, to cover emergency situations that may arise from time to time. The balance at the year-end was sufficient to cover this. Any cash balances which are not required in the short-term are invested in the CBF Church of England Deposit Fund. At the year-end we also had funds in a CAF 12 Month Fixed Rate Saver and a 60 Day Notice Account. Teresa Nivison ## **Buildings** No major work has been done on the buildings this year although the usual maintenance work has been carried out. As highlighted by the 17 quinquennial inspection in 2019 various pointing works to the church building are required and we await a date for the stonemason to begin the work. Teresa Nivison ## **Community Hall** Due to the pandemic the hall has had to be closed at various times during the year resulting in a considerable loss of income. We are grateful to all our hirers for their commitment to the hall in restarting their classes when able to do so and we have also been fortunate in welcoming new hirers. Our thanks go also to Lymington and Pennington Town Council who gave us a grant towards making the hall Covid-secure. If you would like to book the hall for an event or group, please enquire! Sue, our cleaner, has been furloughed at various points throughout the year. Eve Jolly and Teresa Nivison have continued to care for the hall, and after no longer being able to afford to keep a parish administrator, Teresa has taken on managing hall bookings too. Many in the community enjoy the opportunities to gather for various activities in the hall. We are currently working on having broadband installed at the hall, to make it possible for activities using the hall to continue to connect with those who are no longer able to gather for physical meetings. (Thank you to Teresa, John and Eve for your patience with Open Reach in actually getting the phone line installed to make this possible… I think we’re nearly there… it’s been a saga!) Teresa Nivison / Rachel Noël 18 ## **Churchyard** Following restrictions over the past year we have kept the churchyard up together in the best way possible. We have just started up our first Thursday in the month working party meetings. All members have seen the Risk Assessment and Government guidelines to follow during the pandemic. We now have six members in our group. We are without monthly help from the Community Payback Group who would normally have their own equipment, fuel for their strimmers etc. As we have been without their help for over a year now, a bigger burden has fallen on our older members of the churchyard working party. However, we are having two of the church’s strimmers serviced for us to use. Luckily, at present, we have some men who can do this. We have some of the safety clothing but may have to buy gloves etc, all extra expense. We endeavour to keep wreathes and artificial flowers etc, out of the compost heap, but feel more notice needs to be drawn to people’s attention about being responsible for taking their own wreathes, paraphernalia and dead flowers home. The bulbs in the front border are now over and will be replaced with summer bedding when the time is right. A kind donor has offered to have new gates made to replace the old ones which were broken some time ago. Without outside help, we will endeavour to fill sunken graves with the soil/gravel deposited in the churchyard, but this may take some time and labour. Tackle encroaching brambles etc and generally keep two and a half acres of graveyard in check. 19 We will follow our grass cutting guidelines avoiding mowing during the flowering period, and only cut pathways and other areas we consider need doing. I am incredibly grateful to all the volunteers who give so generously of their time and skills in keeping ‘God’s Acre’ in a proper state. It is our wish to see this consecrated ground kept as a good, pleasing and peaceful place for everyone to enjoy while they come to attend to family graves or just sit or wander around and enjoy. Ingrid Bolhoven 20 ## **Update on Activities, Events and Groups** Lockdown has meant many activities have had to pause during 2020. As a church we were already having to face challenging decisions, as our number of volunteers and people willing to lead activities and groups has been decreasing over recent years. The pandemic has exaggerated this, with many individuals and families facing challenging seasons, changes in health and finance, and re-evaluating what is happening in their lives. It is too early to know what will happen as we go forward. For any activity or group to restart, we will need to establish teams that are willing to lead the activity and we will need to review together safeguarding and health and safety, as well as praying and connecting the activities with our vision, to discern what is possible for our church to do in our community. ## **Activities that have had to pause** ## **Meditation Group** The group that used to meet at St Mark’s Church, was led by Rev Anne Elliott and Frances Attwood, who have both moved to other churches and ministries, and Mary Johnson one of the founder members died early in 2020. We are now working together with St Thomas with an online meditation group meeting on Tuesdays at 11am. Jane Nicholson from Pennington is one of the leaders, and all are welcome to join this group. ## **TraidCraft** The stall was well stocked by Pat Wright who ordered in consumables (tea, coffee, biscuits, Easter Eggs) for a few people who supported the charity regularly even though it was well publicised in the newsletter. The 21 church itself bought paper towels and rolls and consumables to replenish St Mark's Room kitchen and our Community Hall supplies. During lockdown with the church being closed most of the time the stall had stock which was getting close to its sell by date. Most of this was sold off fortunately. There isn’t currently anyone that wants to lead this stall, so we are anticipating selling off remaining stock, and then running occasional fare trade events if anyone wants to organise. ## **Evensong** All of our in building services had to pause for much of 2020. In this current season, congregational singing is not permitted, and there are additional cleaning requirements if we want to re-use pews within 48 hours. At the time of writing, this service remains paused. ## **Parish Magazine** At the start of 2020, we distributed a much loved monthly magazine in our community. As the country locked down, we found that our contributors no longer had content to share, as their groups and activities were no longer running. Paul who was editing the magazine has led the online recording and editing for the last year along with our social media and email contacts, alongside working full time. I’m sure you will understand why he cannot also edit the parish magazine. At the time of writing this report, we do not currently have a magazine editor. ## **Strictly Come Crafting** For many years Dorothy Davies and Shirley Saunders have led Strictly Come Crafting, a crafting group that met twice a month in the Community Hall. Many members of the group have contributed to the yarn bombs on our churchyard hedge. As restrictions ease, we will review what is possible. 22 ## **Messy Church** With children having spent many lockdown days participating in online schooling, an online worship provision had not been considered. However children in school are now receiving collective worship and we provided families with Christingle Bags. Local children joined in with the online Advent countdown. As restrictions ease, we will review what is possible, and will need to re-establish a team to lead this work. ## **Children’s Church Club** As we have not been meeting in the church building, our Sunday gathering with a small number of children has not been able to continue. Our most recent members are in Sandy and Rachel’s families, and so worship and story telling has continued in our homes. As restrictions ease, we will be discussing with the children and young people, to work out what they would like to happen and how they would like to be involved in church. ## **Friendship Lunch** Gathering together in large numbers to eat has clearly not been possible throughout the pandemic. Some of our previous team, and Revd Anne Elliott who was one of the co-ordinators are no longer able to support this meeting. As restrictions ease, if we want to restart this group in some form, we will need to establish a team again that are willing to plan and organise this event. ## **Holiday at Home** As with Friendship Lunch, as social gatherings were not permitted, in 2020 it was not possible to gather people together for afternoon teas or trips out. As restrictions ease, we will review what is possible. 23 ## **Pennington Community Events** In recent years we have coordinated large scale community events in Pennington for Christmas and the Summer Fayre. These have not taken place during 2020, with activities on the hedge being one of our key ways of connecting with the community. As restrictions ease, we are reviewing, and hope to be able to offer some Christmas event later this year. ## **Ecochurch** EcoChurch has not been a key focus during the last year of lockdown and pandemic. Eve Jolly has recently taken BCM Creation Care, and we will be reviewing to work out how to develop this work in St Mark’s. ## **CTLP - Christians Together Lymington and Pennington** We are part of the wider group of churches in the Lymington area, and Rachel represents us at the Christians Together Lymington and Pennington meetings, and in January 2020 we lead the joint service across the churches together. Throughout lockdown this group has not managed to meet, and we don’t yet know if/ when this group may continue. 24 ## **Activities that have continued in different ways** ## **Schools** Rachel Noël, Sandy Negrescu and George Kidner continue to serve as Foundation Governors at Pennington Junior School, and have supported the headteacher Kirstie Richards and staff through the many iterations of government guidance, keyworker children, and online schooling. Early in 2020, the Junior School also went through Ofsted, and more recently have had a further Ofsted monitoring visit. Rachel is also a governor of Pennington Infant School, and they have recruited a new headteacher, Bev Seed who has joined the staff in January 2021. In Autumn 2020, Rachel started leading online assemblies with children at the schools, shared through YouTube, and in December the schools worked together to create the advent calendar videos. At the time of writing, we are working on plans to resume collective worship in the schools. ## **Pastoral – Phone Tree** During lockdown it was decided to contact parishioners to see if they would welcome occasional telephone calls to keep them in touch with St. Mark's. Nearly everyone said that they would. I rang a few members of the old parish visiting team who all agreed to ring half a dozen or more and off we went. I never anticipated how successful it would be and am very grateful for all the time people gave. Christine Scott 25 ## **Community Hub** Last year we reported our hopes to start creating a community hub for Pennington. Planning work continues on this, and the group is seeking to establish a Community Interest Company, to be able to lead this work in the community. Rachel is involved in this work with others in the wider community. ## **Small groups** Jane Nicholson and George Kidner have made the transition to zoom and managed to lead our small groups in the new world of online church. We have welcomed new people into our church and into these groups. In Autumn 2020, we were honoured to be invited to pilot the St Martin in the Fields ‘Being With’ course, and several participants have really enjoyed the opportunity to engage in these conversations. If you would like to join in one of our discussion groups, please let us know. We are currently meeting on Monday mornings, but hope to reconvene an evening group again too. ## **Coffee Morning** Our usual coffee morning in St Mark’s room has obviously not been possible during lockdown. Creativity has emerged, with Christine Speechley hosting outdoor coffee and conversations when this has been possible, along with knitting and crochet. There has also been a zoom coffee morning on Wednesdays, and a Sunday morning online coffee and chat after the service. Many have appreciated the opportunities to stay connected with others during this season which has brought isolation to many. As restrictions ease, we will be working out what is possible. 26 ## **St Mark’s Draw Club** Many in the community take part in our monthly draw club. This has moved to zoom during the last year. It raises funds to support the work of the church. ## **Deanery Synod** Deanery Synod has moved onto zoom for the last year. The summer Synod in June 2020 was mainly focussed on the impact of Covid on our worshipping communities. There was plenty of discussion about how different parishes were managing and what has been introduced. We then broke into groups to discuss what has changed that we want to keep, or stop and what we miss that we look forward to getting back. An interesting discussion with a mixed bag of views. One person was adamant her church must not revert to people taking pets to the service! The Autumn Synod in October included a presentation by a John, a member of synod from Dibden, on God in the Workplace which introduced a course about the same. There was also a lot of information in the treasurer's report about the impact of covid on the financial position of the parishes within the deanery and the diocese. The Spring Synod in March would normally include discussions about the Deanery Mission Action Plan but this was currently on hold. There has been plenty of talk, discussions and presentations regarding Lighthouse Ministry which is led by former Winchester Diocese Youth and Families worker Andy who is now consulting with Deanery Synod and local PCCs on youth and Family work. Sandy Negrescu 27 ## **Activities that have started during pandemic** ## **Morning Prayer on Zoom** During Thy Kingdom Come in May 2020, we held online evening prayer. As lockdown started in November 2020, Sarah Salisbury from St Thomas Lymington and Jane Nicholson from St Mark’s, worked together to host morning prayer on zoom at 9am Monday to Saturday. All are welcome to join every day, or occasionally, to gather with others to pray together. ## **Meditation Group** A new meditation group has developed online, TakeTime, following Ignatian reflections. This group meets on Tuesdays at 11am, lead by Sarah Salisbury, Jane Nicholson and Rina Miles. New members are always welcome. ## **Fareshare Larder** Across our community, pandemic has led to increasing financial challenges for many, with jobs being lost, with reduced incomes. Fareshare Larder, together with Basics Bank and volunteers from the church have started a FareShare Larder, operating out of St Mark’s Community Hall. Every Thursday, between 1 & 2:30pm, anyone is able to go to the larder, to subscribe and to be able to buy a week’s bag of food for £2.50. Around 40 families a week are accessing the larder, showing the importance of making it possible for many locally to know that they will be able to access affordable food every week. If you would like to support this project, please talk with Jane Nicholson or Eve Jolly. 28 ## **Where do we go from here?** As a church, we are so encouraged to be serving God in this place, aware of the amazing gifts of people and community. The last year has brought many questions into focus for people, and as a community we have to work together, to discern God’s spirit moving in this place, and to work out how we take part in that. We recognise that we are a small church, but that God is working through our mission and ministry in this place. We can’t do everything, and we need to care for everyone who is contributing to this work, as well as to those we are working with in the wider community. There are many ways for you to get involved in this. Please think and pray, and chat with us if there are ways that you would like to take part. There are some key areas that we’d love to grow our teams or develop: **Churchyard** : there is currently a team of 6 people carrying the work of caring for our churchyard, to ensure a place of peace and comfort for the whole community. Is this something that you would like to be involved with, or would like to help lead? We’d love to find ways to develop our use of this space, to encourage people to encounter God through the beauty of this place. **Magazine** : Our parish magazine was widely read in the community. If you love talking to people, finding out what’s going on, encouraging people to write articles and enjoy editing, and would like to lead making this magazine happen, or to work together with our neighbouring parish St Thomas to create a joint magazine, do get in touch. 29 **Pastoral** : The last year has been a challenging year for everyone, and we are aware there is likely to be a surge in mental health challenges facing many of us. We have started developing a phone tree, and would like to continue developing how we care for each other, how we stay in touch and encourage one another. If you have a heart for people, if you like to listen, if you want to be part of a team caring and encouraging those connected with our church, please let us know. **Social / Events** : Over the last year, so many of the ways that we connect with each other have had to pause. Would you like to organise events or create opportunities, that fit within current guidance, that will make it possible for people to start connecting with each other again, to help us to socialise, to have fun together, to get to know each other again. **Generosity:** We thank you for your continued generosity for the work of our church here. Our churchwarden and treasurer, Teresa Nivison, currently leads this work mostly on her own. If you are able to support with administration, with collection, or if you’d like to organise any fundraising events, please do let us know. **Prayer** : We meet daily for prayer with St Thomas Church at 9am on zoom. It’s possible to phone in too. All of our work here is underpinned in prayer, all that we do flows from this prayer. We’d love to see more of you joining us to pray for each other, to encourage each other, to pray for our work in the church and wider community. If you’re interested in any of these areas, or if there’s something else on your heart, that you would love to make happen here in Pennington, please do talk to any of our Standing Committee: Rev Rachel Noël, Teresa Nivison, Eve Jolly, Paul Young, Rebecca Rickaby. 30 ## **Publicity** Our last APCM look-back over the prior twelve months talked about our online presence. Indeed, St Mark's have been proud to have grown an online presence for some years now and have recognised the importance of online. However, as in March 2020 the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic hit our lives through lockdown, online became our primary route for outreach. In the past year, we've maintained a Sunday service for our congregation - with a specific online service, broadcast over Facebook and YouTube. Initially viewed as a way with St Thomas' we could bridge the perceived temporary gap from in-building services, we quickly discovered that we weren't just reaching our congregation in Pennington. Rather, we were picking up viewers from across the world - with viewers in Portsmouth, Scotland, Spain and even Japan regularly engaging with us through our online services. Our Sunday services online have grown and grown and reached more and more people; in the past year, our Sunday services on YouTube have been viewed over 41 thousand times! We've also been the focus of local and national BBC news, through the creative work of our church family - helping to cement Pennington on the map. Our website is maintaining a central source of information, but with services only now slowing coming back, it's Facebook that is our primary route for publicity. Advertising and supporting our community as well as putting a friendly face on our faith, some of our Facebook posts have reached far further than we may ever have imagined: in some cases, having been viewed and shared by over 10 thousand individuals. Paul Young 31 ## **HeartEdge** Initiated by the congregation at St Martin-in-the-Fields in 2017, HeartEdge is a movement for renewal, fuelled by people and churches sharing their assets, experience, resource and need. An ecumenical network, HeartEdge brings together people to share ideas and experience, do theology and develop their church and community. We are developing in the UK, US, the Netherlands and elsewhere. HeartEdge is about churches developing four Cs: Commerce: Generating finance via enterprise, creatively extending mission. Culture: Art, music, performance re-imagining the Christian narrative for the present. Congregation: Inclusive liturgy, worship and common life. Compassion: Empowering congregations to address social need. We support churches in reimagining themselves and society. This is about churches engaging in commerce, culture, compassion or congregational life – our 4 Cs – investing in two, three or all four at the same time. We work with churches moving beyond conventional notions of church, being open to partnership and collaboration with others in the wider world. We joined HeartEdge early in 2020, to help us connect with others and develop a sustainable way of leading St Mark’s Church into the future. Throughout 2020 Rachel has taken part in regular HeartEdge pracitioners meetings, and has been invited to participate in various webinars. 32 ## **ST MARK'S CHURCH, PENNINGTON** ## **Independent Examiner's Report to the Trustees of St Mark's Church PCC, Pennington** This report on the financial statements of the PCC for the year ended 31[st ] December 2020, which are set out on pages 34 - 40, is in respect of an examination carried out in accordance with the Church Accounting Regulations 2006 ('the Regulations') and s.145 of the Charities Act 2011 ('the Act'). ## **Respective responsibilities of the trustees and the examiner** As trustees you are responsible for the preparation of the financial statements. The trustees do not consider that the audit requirement of the Regulations and s.144(2) of the Act does not apply. It is my responsibility to: Examine the accounts (under section 145 of the 2011 Act); To follow the procedures laid down in the General Directions given by the Charity Commission (under section 145(5)(b) of the 2011 Act; To state whether particular matters have come to my attention; and issue this report on those financial statements in accordance with the terms of the Regulations . ## **Basis of this report** My examination was carried out in accordance with the General Directions given by the Charity Commission under s.145(5)(b) of the Act and to be found in the Church guidance, 2006 edition. That examination includes a review of the accounting records kept by the charity and a comparison of the financial statements with those records. It also includes considering any unusual items or disclosures in the financial statements and seeking explanations from you as trustees concerning any such matters. The procedures undertaken do not provide all the evidence that would be required in an audit, and consequently I do not express an audit opinion on the view given by the financial statements. ## **Independent examiner's statement** In connection with my examination, no matter has come to my attention: (1) which gives me reasonable cause to believe that in any material respect the requirements to keep accounting records in accordance with section 130 of the 2011 Act; and to prepare financial statements, which accord with the accounting records and comply with the requirements of the 2011 Act and Regulations have not been met; or (2) to which, in my opinion, attention should be drawn in order to enable a proper understanding of the financial statements to be reached. **Mr T. Kumar, F.C.C.A. Date: 30.04.2021** Underwood Barron Associates Ltd 1 The Old School Pennington Lymington Hampshire SO41 8GN 33 ## **St Mark’s Church, Pennington** ## **Financial Statements** **For the year ended 31[st ] December 2020** 34 ST MARK'S CHURCH. PENNINGTON FI NANCI AL STATEMENTS FOR THE YEAR ENDED 31ST OECEMBER2020 RECEIPTS AND PAYMENTS ACCOUNT ￿n￿Stne1e￿ FurKIs Reslncled Fund$ Total 2020 Total 2019 Nol¢ RECEI PTS Voluntary Receipts- Planned Gmrig Colledions and Qlher GwirvJ 23,934 400 24,334 24.253 1.370 1.370 5.781 Grft Re¢overtyJ 5.852 100 5.952 6.942 Other Voluntary Receipts 12.990 12,050 25.040 33.249 44,146 12,550 56.696 70.225 Acllvilios for Genarallng Funds 4b 4.287 4.287 13.193 Receipts from Church Aclivili8$ 9.97S 9.975 17.657 I nvestmenl I ncome 4d 555 725 Other Re¢eipls 2.845 TOTAL RECEIPTS 58,963 12,555 71.518 104.645 PAYMENTS Church A¢li¥ilies Diocesan Parish Conti1￿1￿)n 31.599 31.599 35.306 Clergyand Staffing Costs Church Running Expen5e5 4f 6.011 4.569 10.580 12.473 4g 14.407 4,050 18,467 24.062 Communny H811 Running Expense$ 4.973 1,526 6,499 7.952 Gmny and DonaiKY)s 4h 274 274 57,264 10,145 67.409 80.757 Costs of Generating Funds Major Works - Church 41 1.369 1,740 3.109 10.549 1.470 1,000 2.470 1.729 Majoi Works - Hall 20.829 TOTAL PAYMENTS 60,103 12,885 72,988 113,864 Deficit of Receiplsov8r Payments 13301 11.4701 19.2191 Bank Cutrent and DèpD8it 8rwJ Cashat 1st January 64.227 5,820 70.047 79.266 Bank Current and DepDsit Ac(xxJnts arKI Cashat 3151 Decemb8r 63.087 5,490 68.577 70.047 35 ## **Statement of Assets and Liabilities** 36 ST MARK'S CHURCH PENNINGTON FINANCI AL STATEMENTS FOR THE YEAR ENDED 31ST DECEMBER2020 NOTES TO ThE ACCOUNTS 11 The finan￿al statements of Ihe Pcchave been prepared in aGr￿an￿ Ihe Churth A(Lounting Regthalions 2006 using the Re￿IP1S and Payments ba515. 2020 2019 21 Fixed assetsret8in8d for Chuth usa 8ro 88 follows.. Freehold property al the re8r of the old Inl8ni'$ S¢hcM)l. Souih Street. Pennington consisliw of the Crynmunity Hall and Car park area purchased on 26th November 1963 al (x)s1 250 250 Pianoal wst 2,553 2,553 Church Equiprnenl at C051 10.434 8.226 Churchyard Eqijipment al cost 1.887 1.887 CLwnmunity Hall Furniture and Eouiwent 5.757 5.757 20.881 18.673 The f0lbY￿n9 assètsam reo)ynis*d but not ￿￿￿$4￿1y¥81L￿d in the Statsmtrni of Assèts and L￿bIlItIeS-. oveablethurch fumishiws held by the Chur¢hwarden$ spe¢kqltru51 for Ihe PC and which requi￿ a faculty for disposal Sl Mark's Communty Hall FumitshiNJ¥ 31 Tha movomonts in re8lri¢ted fuNJ$ during the y8ar wera.. 31st D￿mber 385 1$t January Re￿Ipts PaY￿￿nts Bu1￿5￿9 and FabriG Fund Organ Fund 1.LK11 297 Churchyard Fund 38 37 300 Flower Fund 27 27 Hall Proied Fund 539 540 ve￿b￿ Gfjrd￿ Fund 109 Penniwkn Community Events 2.922 2.670 1.740 3.852 Specthc Items Fund 1.271 5.820 8.810 12.555 10.081 12.885 5.490 I furK15 represent aGcumuL*ed ￿acleS. donations. grants, fundraising income and interest whKh only be used for Ihair rtrspe¢bva purposos. 37 ST MARK'S CHURCH PENNI NGTON FINANCI AL STATEMENTS FOR THE YEAR ENDED 31ST DECEMBER2020 NOTES TO THE ACCOUNTS ICONTI NUEDI Vnreslricted Fund5 Restricted Funds Total 2020 Total 2019 Note 41 Receipts al Other Voluntary Receipls Leg￿e$ DonalK)ns Gr8nts. Li$l8J P18(wof Wts¥hip GBnt Sthem8 Lyminglon and PenTrington Town Council Hamp5hirg County c￿￿n￿l New Forest Disliict Council Arthbishops, CounLyI HMRCJDb Reienlon SCW Groundwotk UK TW$1￿)￿Se ¢h$ri18ble FoJrthtion Mi5rAkneous InC￿rne 3.0(Kl 6.928 1.056 13.(MM) 11,401 ￿7 3,668 15.069 997 1.295 1,295 1,000 200 1,000 4,647 1.(M)O 4.647 126 466 12.990 176 656 25.040 373 292 33.249 12,050 blActivitl85 for Generating Funds Parish MwineAd¥erti%ng Events and Refresh[[￿￿15 Sl Marft's Draw Club TraKIGraft Sales Sale d Got￿$ 1.894 215 1.776 382 20 4.287 1.894 21S 1.778 382 20 4.287 2.127 7.892 2.123 957 13.193 ¢1 ReGeiptsfrom Church AGlivilies Feesfor Year F￿5 Recerrfed ￿ Adva￿ Contribubon$ for U$eof C(Anmunity Hall Pansh Magazine Sa￿s Crnft Group In¢tyn Messychurth Income Friendship Lunthes 5.427 69 2.768 1.150 105 21 5.427 69 2,768 7.540 67 1.371 417 105 21 435 9.975 435 9.975 1.547 17.657 dl I nveslment I ncome CBFDeposit Inwesi Virgin Money Chanty Deposit AcGounl Inl8rest CAF 32 109 414 37 109 414 725 l Other Rec8ipls Saleof Fumilure and Equipment InsUr￿Ce C￿lM 2.760 2.845 38 ST MARK'S CHURCH PENNI NGTON FI NANCI AL STATEMENTS FOR THE YEAR ENDED 31ST DECEM6ER2020 NQTES TO THEACCOUNTS ICQNTI NUEDI Unreslncled Reslricled Fund5 Funds Total 2020 Totgl 2D19 Note 41 Payments Church Activities fl Clergy and Staffing Employees, SaLBfies Red￿r￿ancY Pay C￿rgY Expen6e5 A8$i8tant Cbrgy 4.631 853 527 9.2(M) 9.743 527 2.614 6.011 10.580 12.473 gl Church Running Expan888 Deanery Fees Cost of Servthts Hegting, Lighting and Water Insurance Pnnling Magaine Repairs and MaintenanGe Upk8tpof Churthyard War Mernonal Tablet 118 1.426 2.607 2.097 2.917 5.751 4.893 1,669 2,140 999 125 1.794 2.140 999 4.191 1.849 37 1.620 1.620 Vtgotabl8 GardeD E¥p8nses Fk)wers 27 243 Church Administratio Purchaseof Equipment MBssy chu￿ Ewen5es Fnend$hip Lunch Expenses Training Expen5e5 A(Fv6rti¥i Bank and Card Chg Mi5cdL￿eOu5 1.133 2.208 41 202 340 2.170 404 37 202 340 765 117 52 497 14,407 52 Y2 18.457 45 4.050 746 24.062 l Mission Giving and Oonalions Worfd IfLSh)n Pennington JunK>r Sth( 274 274 274 125 274 274 Il Costsof G$n$rating Funds StewArds￿p Exper￿eS EVentsa￿ Retreshments stmark's Draw Club Traidcraft Costs 51 42 51 1.782 1.045 231 3.109 1.740 8.663 1.030 231 1,369 1.740 10.549 39 ST MARK'S CHURCH PENNINGTON FINANCI AL STATEMENTS FOR THE YEAR ENDED 31ST DECEMBER2020 NOTES TO THE ACCOUNTS ICONTI NUEDI Totsi 2020 Total 2019 Note 51 Parish Mag8zine 3.044 3.498 2.917 581 Paywts Surplus of Receipts over Payments 2.045 61 Community Hall Re￿iptS L8ttin95 Gr¥ 2.768 6.690 3.716 6.690 Paywts Enwoyee Salary Inbmal and Extemal Cleaniny Co$18 Ublity Costs Insurance Fu[nth￿ Ènd Equipment Repairsalld Mainterbance Gardening a￿1 Sundry 1.368 1.308 1.403 732 324 2.350 210 267 7.952 819 1.329 241 6.499 Deficit of Receipts over Payments 2,783 1,262 71 $1 Mark's Draw Club Re￿ip1S Payments Surplu5 of Receipts over Payments 1.776 1.(H5 731 2.123 1.030 1.093 81 Payment5 to PCCMembers Thtr $xpsn$$spaid to ¢lwgy may in¢ludo a small imm8i¢rial prowtyon. whith rdai•s to their fun¢bon as PCC members. NO Oiher payments wer¢ made lo PCC members. 91 Staff Costs Wage5 and Sakries Redundancy Pay 11,048 Average numberof omployo89 During the year the Pccemployed an 0ry8nisI. parish administrator. hall cleaner and pianist (all part-timel bul no paymen15 were large efioughto attract So￿al security costs. 40