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2023-12-31-accounts

The Parish of Furnace Green, St Andrew

REPORT OF THE PAROCHIAL CHURCH COUNCIL (PCC) &

FINANCIAL REVIEW AND INDEPENDENT EXAMINER ’ S REPORT

For the year from 1[st] January 2023 to 31[st] December 2023

Parish Information:

Incumbent: The Revd. Richard Poole, St Andrew ’ s House, Weald Drive, Furnace Green, Crawley, RH10 6NU Charity Commission Registration Number: 1176397 Church and Parish Office Address: St Andrew ’ s Church, Weald Drive, Furnace Green, Crawley, RH10 6NU

Contacts:01293 526618; office@standrewscrawley.com; www.standrewscrawley.com Bankers: Reliance Bank, Faith House, 23-24 Lovat Lane, London, EC3R 8EB Independent Examiners: Richard Place Dobson Services Ltd, Ground Floor, 1-7 Station Road, Crawley, West Sussex, RH10 1HT

CONTENTS

1. Administrative Information 1
2. Structure, Governance and Management 1
3. Statement of Public Benefit 3
4. Reviews of the period 5
5. Objectives and Mission Action Plan (MAP) 10
6. Fabric Reports 10
7. Financial Review 12
8. Independent Examiner’s Report 14
9. Statement of Financial Activities 15
10. Balance Sheet 16
11. Notes to the Financial Statements 17

PCC REPORT for the period from 1.1.2023 to 31.12.2023

1. Administrative Information

St Andrew’s Church is part of the Deanery of East Grinstead and the Diocese of Chichester within the Church of England.

The PCC of the Ecclesiastical Parish of Furnace Green, St Andrew was entered on the Register of Charities on 20[th] December 2017 with the registered charity number 1176397 as required by the Charities Act 2011.

By the end of the period under review, the following were serving as trustees of the PCC.

Role Person Roles and Responsibilities Length of service
From 25th April 23
Incumbent Rev’d Richard Poole Chairperson Ex-officio
Curate Rev’d Jamie Gater Curate Ex-officio
Churchwarden Ian Martin Deputy Chairperson 1 year
Mark Clabon 1 year
Deanery Synod Rep Mike Jefferson 3 years
Deanery Synod Rep Russell Bateman Treasurer – elected 17thOct 3 years
Vacant position x 3 3 years
Elected Members Jen Davis Parish Safeguarding Officer 3 years
Paul Gruet 1 year
Linda Jefferson 2 years
Estelle Killick Resigned 18thSept 23 1 year
John Lodemore 3 years
Paul Masters 2 years
Yeunnah Muriuki 1 year
Alison Quirk 2 years
Donna Wilson 2 years
Vacant position 1 year
Vacant position 3 years
Vacant position 3 years

2. Structure, governance and management

The Parochial Church Council (PCC)

The Parochial Church Council is a corporate body established by the Church of England. The PCC operates under the Parochial Church Council Powers Measure. Membership of the PCC is determined under the Church Representation Rules and consists of certain ex-officio members (the clergy, the churchwardens and members of the Deanery, Diocesan or General Synods) and members of the church who are elected at the Annual Parochial Church Meeting (APCM).

The PCC is responsible for a wide range of matters affecting the parish, including compliance with health and safety, disability legislation and safeguarding of vulnerable adults and children. In their capacity as trustees, members of the PCC are responsible for the stewardship of funds and for the appropriate accounting and reporting of parish finances.

When trustees are appointed, they then receive monthly ‘PCC Members Updates’ from the Diocese. Training courses provided by the Diocese are therefore publicised and attendance encouraged.

Trustees' Responsibilities

Under the Charities Act 2011 the trustees are required to prepare a statement of accounts for each financial year. This gives a true and fair view of the state of affairs of the charity at the end of the financial year and of the incoming resources and application of resources in the year. In preparing the statement, the trustees are required to:

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The trustees are responsible for keeping proper accounting records which disclose with reasonable accuracy at any time the financial position of the charity at that time and enable the trustees to ensure that any statement of accounts prepared by them complies with the regulations under section 132(1) of the Charities Act 2011. They are also responsible for safeguarding the charity's assets and hence taking reasonable steps for the prevention of fraud and other irregularities. The trustees are in the process of considering the risks to which the charity is exposed and will establish systems to mitigate those risks.

Statement as to disclosure of information to independent examiners

So far as the trustees are aware, there is no relevant independent review information of which the charity's independent examiners are unaware, and the trustees will be taking all the steps that they ought to take as trustees in order to make himself or herself aware of any relevant independent review information and to establish that the charity's independent examiners are aware of that information.

Independent Examiners

A resolution proposing that Richard Place Dobson Services Ltd, be reappointed as Independent Examiners of the charity will be put to the Annual Parochial Church meeting on 7th May 2024.

PCC Business

In 2023, the PCC met 10 times and had a PCC Away Day on 28[th] January. The average attendance was 78%. The financial situation was reviewed regularly, and the parish share for 2024 was approved and the budget for 2024 fixed. Each meeting also considered updates from various areas in the church and safeguarding is a standing agenda item. The Parish Safeguarding Policy was reviewed and adhered to and staffing matters were considered as necessary. Copies of PCC minutes have been made freely available and emailed to those who have requested this.

PCC Standing Committee

In accordance with the Church Representation Rules, this is the only committee required by law. It has the power to transact the business of the PCC between its meetings, subject to any directions given by the full PCC. The members are currently Rev Richard Poole, Ian Martin, Russell Bateman, Jen Davis and Mark Clabon.

Other Committees

Centre Management Committee: This is a sub-committee of the PCC with delegated powers to spend the allocated budget, and its purpose is to oversee and direct the operation of the church centre. Current members are Rev Richard Poole, Peter Mankelow, Jen Davis, Rachel Lashwood (left April 23) Lynne Poole (joined Sept 23), Mike Jefferson (joined April 23), Linda Jefferson (joined April 23), Jackie Bramley, Alan Whitaker, Linda Mankelow and Mike Cooke. This meets on a regular basis to discuss the operational issues of the Cornerstone Cafe, building and room bookings.

PCC Finance Sub Committee: This committee meets from time to time and considers budget proposals, obtaining value for money, changes to methods of giving, and ways of communicating the church’s financial needs. During 2023 the members were Rev Richard Poole, Russell Bateman, Mark Clabon, John Lodemore and Ian Martin.

Other groups meetings: The church also has a number of groups who meet to enable the efficient running of the church. These include a weekly staff meetings and leaders and preachers’ meetings.

Church Attendance

There were 209 parishioners entered on the parish Electoral Roll at the end of December 2023 (237 at end of December 2022). A revision was done during April 2023. At the end of 2023, 'Normal' Sunday attendance, including adults and children, as reported to the Diocese was 204 (176 adults and 28 children and youth). The ‘Worshipping Community’ figures, as reported to the Diocese was 386 (295 adults and 91 children and youth).

Risk Assessment

Risk assessments have been carried out when required and reviewed on an ongoing basis.

Safeguarding

The Parish Safeguarding policy is reviewed annually by the PCC. The parish is registered with Thirty one: Eight

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(formerly the Church's Child Protection Advisory Service). Jen Davis is the Parish Safeguarding Officer and also Lead Recruiter. In June 2021, Anna Dance became the assistant recruiter and works with Jen Davis to ensure that all those working with children, young people and vulnerable adults have the necessary checks, and that Safeguarding is taken into account in all church activities. Jen has regular meetings for the sharing of information with those involved in working with children, young people and vulnerable adults.

3. Statement of Public Benefit

The trustees are aware of the Charity Commission's guidance on public benefit and have had regard to it in their administration of the charity.

The primary role of the Parish is the promotion of the Gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ according to the doctrines and practices of the Church of England. Many of our activities help members to develop their faith.

The Parish has one place of worship at St Andrew’s Church, Weald Drive, Furnace Green. It has various rooms that are used for church and community activities, some of which are listed below. We have 20 groups that use the building on a weekly basis, 10 monthly, 15 termly or twice a year and 67 one-off services or events. Some groups still meet on zoom.

The many activities which the church is involved in for the public benefit are listed below.

Children’s and Youth groups

Sundays morning (During term time):

Alpha on Sunday – Children and Youth Groups (Jan to April)

All together service on 1[st] Sunday of the month

Kidz church held during the talk part of the 10.30am service (April onwards). Creche held for pre-school children every week.

Sundays evening: Youth Fellowship – Years 6—13

Toddler Group on Wednesdays. Started in April 2023.

Holiday Club, ‘On the Case’ held from 16[th] to 18[th] Aug each morning for primary school aged children. Youth band rehearsals/jamming session were held throughout the year.

Please see separate reports for more information.

Prayer Opportunities

Prayer Diary WhatsApp: Bible readings, thoughts for the day and possible prayers and prayer areas are posted daily.

Prayer Chain: urgent prayer covered via WhatsApp, text and phone.

Prayer Network: Prayer requests via email or text. Each request prayed for over 2 weeks.

Corporate prayer meeting: praying for needs of church & community. The 1[st] Tuesday of the month is on Zoom and 3[rd] Tuesday in a month is in the church.

Prayer weekends in Jan and Prayer Day on July

Open to God services started in March 2023.

Lent & Easter:

Lent Course – 5 separate speakers.

Special reflections during Holy Week (morning and evenings). Maundy Thursday service.

Good Friday reflection service.

Easter Sunday Holy Communion service with Bishop Ruth. This included Baptisms, Confirmations and Declaration of faith

Adult Groups

Craft group – part of the Cornerstone Café

Friendship Club – fortnightly daytime meeting usually with guest speaker, for church & community Coffee Shop – Weekly coffee morning for church & community

Bible Study Home groups – weekly or fortnightly – mostly evenings.

Bible Study (part of café) – Weekly Bible study

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Other Church Functions

Baptism – 3 infants, 4 children, 1 youth and 3 adults.

Weddings – None.

Funerals – 12 funerals were led by Richard and Jamie.

Memorial Service – 5[th] November

School Worship (Assemblies) – School adjoins the church.

Pastoral assistant – Telephone calls, hospital visiting and bereavement follow-up, involves listening and facilitating. Please see separate report for further information.

Bookstand – wide ranging selection of books available.

Town-wide involvement

Crawley Anglican Clergy group.

Lighthouse – Schools work across Crawley.

CAP (Christians Against Poverty) Debt Centre for Crawley.

Love Your Neighbour - this church wide initiative involves various churches (coordinated by St John’s) and aims to help those in need in Crawley.

Local Outreach

Alpha on Sunday (Alpha 12-week course run on Sunday mornings from Jan to April) Cornerstone Café – serving the community by opening three times a week during term time (see separate report).

Crawley Foodbank Partnership (Easter Team, Crawley Open House and Christians Against Poverty) – Food collected weekly and at harvest services.

Poppins – Bi - monthly Coffee Morning for community.

Rainbows and Brownies – meet at Church Centre weekly during school term time. Youth Club on Friday night (Started in January) Room Hire – Community including local choirs. KIT Café – café over the summer holidays. Litter picking over Coronation weekend

Light Party held with the school.

Remembrance Sunday – Poppy display and church service. Carol Service held in partnership with the school. Christingle service

Mission

Tithe Partners –. One tenth of giving to People Fund donated to these two charities.

Mission partners – Annual donations given to

Other

Lise Martinez-Gonzalez is our Mission Partner coordinator.

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4. Review of the Period

Vicar

The church feels to be full of optimism and hope for the future. We believe St. Andrew’s is a great church to belong to and over the last year or so we have seen many people growing in their faith and their understanding of the Scriptures.

In the last year it has been an absolute delight to have Rev. Jamie Gater as our curate, and having a colleague has opened up many new avenues of ministry. At the start of 2024 Jamie was signed off by the bishop to say his curacy training was complete and for him to start looking for where God might be calling him next. Although we might be sad to see Jamie leave, we are delighted for him and his family as he begins a new chapter in his priestly ministry. We are confident that he will be a blessing to the wider church and that his time with us has been beneficial to both him and to us.

The diocese have agreed to give us a new curate from the Summer and we are looking forward to Tom Dare joining us at the end of June 2024 as a self-supporting (part-time) curate. We are very excited about this, and I am looking forward to working with Tom.

In October 2023 I was invited by the Bishop of Chichester to become East Grinstead Rural Dean. Whilst this is quite a big job to take on, I am thoroughly enjoying the role and keen to bring something new to the Deanery. This role means I need to be available to offer pastoral support to clergy in the Deanery Chapter made up of 19 Churches, stipendiary and self-supporting clergy, and also retired clergy with Permission To Officiate (PTO). It also means becoming sequestrator (acting Vicar) for parishes that are in vacancy. This means working with Church Wardens, planning and leading Deanery Synod, and I am also now on the Chichester Diocesan Synod. This role has been a very good thing to do, but it does mean that the workload has increased substantially.

In October 2023 I began to teach a monthly Saturday morning Christian Doctrine Course at St. Andrew’s Church. I have wanted to teach this for many years, and we get between 20-30 people attending. Each talk is recorded and eventually the plan is to post all the teaching all on our website for people to watch and discover what the Bible says on a whole host of topics. The plan is to have as many as 20 talks available that will prove an invaluable resource for the future.

I have continued to lead the Friday afternoon Bible study that began with Romans and Refreshments, then Galatians and Gateau, Titus and Tea, Jude and Jaffa-cakes, and at the time of writing we are on to Ephesians and Espresso. Some weeks we only go through only a few verses, but the discussions are really good, and this is helping people in our church become much more biblically literate and confident in handling the scriptures. We are seeing between 20-25 each week. This Bible study has given me such life and it is one of the highlights of my week.

Wednesdays are very busy days for me. Each week Jamie and I lead the school assembly, then I go on to singing in the parent and toddler group, and after this is the Wednesday Worship service. On Wednesday afternoons I try and catch up on my Rural Dean responsibilities. I am also part of a homegroup that meets fortnightly in the vicarage which again is something I really appreciate and find a great blessing.

As a church we feel the time has come to refocus once again in 2024 on “telling the next generation the praiseworthy deeds of the LORD” (Psalm 78:4). We are very grateful to the volunteers who serve so faithfully ministering to our children and youth week in and week out. We are now exploring what we need to do going forward to invest in this vital ministry.

At a time when many churches have seen a decline in their Sunday attendance, the numbers at St. Andrew’s are just about holding up, but we are aware as a church we are getting older. We are delighted to work with the school Headteacher, Jenny Wise and Deputy, Rachel Mullis. Throughout the year we have worked in partnership with the school on our Sunday Altogether Service and special school services. There is a genuine school/church partnership that is working so well and we give thanks to God for this. On Mothering Sunday 2024 we had a youth takeover with Jonah Gater (11) leading the service, Finn O’Driscoll (14) preaching, and other youth and children taking part in various ways. This was a glimpse of something we would like to see more of in the future.

As a church we are very much aware that there is always more we could do. It is not as if the work is ever done, but there is still vision and much hope as we go forward. One night I woke up with all sorts of things going through my mind, and then I sensed God speaking to me. He told me not to worry about the Church of England, nor the influence culture and social media was having upon the Church. Instead, I sensed God telling us to “Proclaim the Gospel” and “Preach the Cross”. And going forward this is what I intend to do!

Rev’d Richard Poole - Vicar

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Curate’s Report

The past year has been yet another whirlwind of God’s grace. My mind is taken first to the amazing holiday club which we were able to run during the summer holidays. We had an amazing turn out of children and volunteers as we donned our detective hats to find out about Jesus, and who he really is.

The dedication and excitement of our volunteers during holiday club has spilled over into other areas of our work with children and young people, in which we have seen encouraging growth. ‘JAM’ (Jesus and Me), our lunch club at St Andrew’s school started in the summer term last year and has been delivered to every year group; with pairs of year groups each getting to attend for a term. This last term we have averaged around 30 children each week, or about half of years three and four, which has been wonderful. They have loved learning about the parables of Jesus through fun activities, stories and games. We now eat lunch together too, which is a great way to get to know the children.

It’s important to say that we run Jam club in partnership with our friends at New Life Church, and it has been wonderful to work together to serve the children of Furnace Green together. We have also worked in partnership with churches all across Tilgate, Furnace Green and Southgate to run the memorial service, and Easter morning service. These partnerships, across denomination and other boundaries are vitally important for the churches mission. That’s why I was so pleased to be invited to join a group of youth ministers from across the town in setting up a support network at which we pray, share lunch and share ideas.

Youth work in our own church is really starting to take off now; and Richard and I are grateful to the whole team who lead ‘The Zone’ which is now bursting into life, with a good mix of activities and children from across Crawley. Our youth provision on Sunday has been a gap for a long time, but we are now able to provide a group for secondary school children which is fantastic. I’m also grateful to the team who are beginning to set up provision for a youth worship service on a Sunday evening.

In the midst of all of this, I was pleased to holiday on the Isle of Wight in the Summer, my first visit to the island. It might seem a funny thing to include in a report, but it’s important that we understand that Jesus called us to have life in all it’s fullness; and so it’s important to reflect on our time away from our ‘desks’ as we give thanks for all that God has done.

Alongside my work supporting the leadership of children and youth work across the life of our church, I’ve been pleased by the PCC’s decision to create a children and young people’s working group. This sub-committee of the PCC are responsible for the oversight of all this work, and ensuring that the PCC keep their attention focused on this work, as the cornerstone of our church’s vision and strategy (new strategy document soon to be released at time of writing)

Ministry is wider than the vitally important work that we do with children and young people. Over the last year I have been pleased to support parishes in Horsham, and even Wolverhampton, in leading funeral and wedding services, and leading funerals here at church. I have also been able to exercise a pastoral ministry of visits and support to a wide range of people across the congregation, each of whom I thank, for all that they have taught me. As a curate, I have had an entitlement to a day a week for study, and I am grateful for the PCC and colleagues supporting me in this. As Sign off has approached and gone, more of this study time has been taken up by my PhD work, and I am pleased that the university ethics board has approved my project, so that I can now begin to go and undertake research; watch this space.

The work of a curate is varied, and I have loved being able to support so many in their ministry. It has been great to see the social life of our church family become more and more enriched, and I have loved providing wine and cheese for training events, and as a great means to say thank you to many volunteers who have given their time and talents for the sake of our life together. It was also a privilege and pleasure to welcome the band of the Welsh Guards, and to take a group to see their concert in London. It feels like a good relationship has been established, that will provide opportunities into the future.

Finally, there is much more that could be written, and God’s faithfulness has been unquestionable as we have walked together over the past year. In reflecting on it, I want to express my thanks to those who work so hard to make things happen, especially those staff, paid and voluntary, who do much behind the scenes, and more than most people realise. I see, I am grateful, thank you. Let us look forward together to the future, sure of God’s grace to us all. And let us all pray for Tom, as he prepares to come here. May he find a supportive welcome, see God’s grace in action and, when he comes to write this report for the next APCM, may it be more full of God’s goodness than this report.

Rev’d Jamie Gater - Curate

Churchwardens

Mark Clabon and Ian Martin have continued as churchwardens for this year. Our role is to:

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It has been great working as a Churchwarden Team to help support our Vicar, PCC and Church in serving God in Furnace Green and Crawley.

We have been encouraged seeing the church hold Alpha on a Sunday, a baptism and confirmation service with the Bishop of Horsham, a gift day where God truly blessed us financially, the start of a Parent and Toddler Group and Holiday Bible Club. We give thanks for everyone who volunteers and serves in the church.

It is encouraging to see God call Richard as Rural Dean. As we move into a new year and we see our Curate, Jamie, leaving our focus will be to ensure we have the right staff team to support the Lord’s ministry in the Parish. To ensure Richard has the support he needs.

Mark Clabon & Ian Martin - Churchwarden

Safeguarding

Safeguarding continues to be at the centre of all we do, both in our children’s work and our work with vulnerable adults. The Parish Pastoral team have been invaluable in our work with vulnerable adults, as have the staff at the Cornerstone Café. Jamie Gater’s understanding and acceptance of what is needed in both these areas of Safeguarding has also helped, especially when it comes to the paperwork. And as ever, Anna Dance’s contribution and assistance has also been invaluable.

Disclosure and Barring Service (DBS) certification is now required to be renewed every three years instead of every five as previously. The Government’s Update Service makes this an easy task, but can only be used if the candidate registers their details on the Government’s Update Website. This can be done either when an application for a DBS is made, or within 30 days of the date of a certificate when issued. There is no charge for volunteers, the annual charge for employed personnel is £13 per annum.

There is a formal requirement to tell the APCM whether the PCC has complied with section 5 of the Safeguarding and Clergy Discipline Measure 2016, concerning having due regard to House of Bishops’ guidance on safeguarding, and it can be confirmed that this has been done, with our policies and practices regularly reviewed in line with changes and developments to the guidance.

Jen Davis - Parish Safeguarding Officer

Children and Family Work

In 2023 we continued the provision of a creche, available on a Sunday morning 10.30 service for babies and preschool children. Children of primary school age continued to come upstairs during the service to their Kids Church children's group.

Each Sunday, with the exception of the first Sunday of the month (which is our altogether service), the children start in the main church service with their families for worship and then go upstairs to Kids Church for approximately 30 minutes. The children return into the church again for the final worship song and, where applicable, communion.

During 2023 and following the positive Alpha sessions in this setting, we decided to move Kids Church back upstairs, having previously been in the school hall for a period during 2022. The upstairs room is much brighter, warmer in the winter and good ventilation makes it much cooler in the summer and is generally a better sized space for the number of children we serve.

The main role of Kids Church is to provide a safe and stimulating environment where children can develop their Christian faith through fun and engaging activities and developing friendships with one another.

All volunteers completed DBS checks and Safeguarding Training to be able to assist with the children's work, this is a requirement for anyone new to volunteering in this space. Also, references were taken up.

We now have a small group of 3-4 regular leaders and a small number of regular helpers with an aim in the future to get more people onboard to lead and assist each week. Whilst volunteer numbers have been challenging, it has meant we have been able to get to know the children better and the children have become familiar with the same small group of adults each week.

The topic covered each week continues to follow the sermon series as covered within the main church service and each session planned ahead. This includes teaching of the topic, games, prayer time and crafts.

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Numbers of children continue to range each week but we have a regular group consisting of around 7 families (around 15 children) plus an additional number of children that come around once a month and the occasional children visiting.

On Sunday’s during holiday periods, we have either established a children’s area at the back of church, supervised by one church member, with parents remaining responsible for their children or put packs together to allow the children to experience engaging crafts and activities during the service. Whilst a fuller provision during holiday periods would be beneficial, the number of children can be quite sporadic and the volunteers leading and assisting can be limited due to time away.

During the later part of 2023, for a short period we were fortunate enough to have a small group of young people rotered on to assist leaders with activities for the children. This gave the young people an opportunity to support and be role models for the children we serve. It’s great to see that the young people now have their own provision from early 2024 but we are hopeful that many will still be interested in supporting the children’s work on occasion.

Donna Wilson

Youth Work – Sunday Evening

We started back in January 2023 with a core team of myself, Rachel Mulliss, Jamie Gater and Sarah Quirk and consequently did not require as many parents helping each week as previously. Our thanks to everyone who has helped in this capacity. The format of the evening remained basically the same as the previous year, a time to gather and socialize with table games available. Followed by Bible study, activities, and discussion in two groups. As the year progressed, we met more frequently for the Bible study as one group and as the younger group was now much smaller. We also decided to have a break from using Energize for the teaching and Jamie devised a whole term of sessions on relevant topics and issues of the day and how the young people respond and are affected by them as Christians. These sessions were very successful. We continued to have a committed group of about 12 and after the Summer break some new young people also joined us. In the lighter evenings the Youth had the opportunity to go outside to chat or play games either before or at the end of the session. We held a few social events with one pizza evening and traditional Christmas party and Easter event. Thank you to everyone who contributed food for these events. They were all a great success. With the Friday evening Zone taking place and the age for Zone attendance being lowered we as a team began to feel that maybe the time was coming for the Sunday evening Youth to cease. I said I would step down from Youth with effect from January 2024. It was agreed that the three remaining leaders would continue until the February half-term and then Sunday Evening Youth would stop. This was in the prayerful hope that Youth provision would start shortly after this on a Sunday morning for years 7 upwards – and it has! We also hope that future provision will be provided in some way for Years 5-6. We know it is outside the reporting time but want to say how well the Youth did and how humbly proud we were of them as the led, preached, read, prayed, and played in the worship band on Sunday, 10 March. Hopefully just the beginning.

Linda Jefferson, Rachel Mulliss, Jamie Gater and Sarah Quirk

Friday Night Youth provision

The Friday night youth provision ‘Yoof Club’ started running in January 2023. This is a provision for all young people of faith or no faith. Its aim is to give the young people of Crawley a safe place to hang out, with good role models and it is run from a Christian ethos. Discussions on topics of current interest / relevance are held occasionally and this gives the leaders an opportunity to present a Christian viewpoint of these situations, where appropriate. There is also a tuck shop, and a variety of games, including a new Nintendo, for the young people to play.

From January – July 2023 ‘Yoof Club’ ran term time only, 8-10pm for school years 9-13. There was a group of about 14 on the register, with an average of 7 attending each week. Each term there was a ‘trip’ or ‘event’ including trips to Hollywood bowl and Escape Rooms, a silent disco in the upstairs hall and movie nights in the café. These were popular and tended to have higher attendance.

Over the August 2023 the core leaders planned how to grow the group further. It was decided to increase the age of attendance to include all secondary age youth (year 7-13) and make the session slightly earlier (7.30-9.30pm), but to stick to term time only. The group was also rebranded from ‘Yoof Club’ to ‘The Zone’. For the autumn term we ran ‘food nights’ where a group of the young people helped prepare and serve various dishes to the rest of the group. This was very successful, and the young people seemed to enjoy the sessions. The spring term 2024 brought another trip to Hollywood Bowl, attended by 22 young people.

In March 2024, some of the PCC and The Zone leaders had a zoom meeting with a youth worker who runs a youth café for young people in a community on Isle of Wight to gain knowledge and advice about running a provision for ‘non-church’ young people.

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We are very grateful for all the volunteers who have helped get the club up and running and keep it going. Some of these dedicated people have now had to stand down, so we are looking for a few more helpers. There are now over 30 young people on the register, with an average weekly attendance of 15-20. We are looking forward to more growth and engaging activities with the young people.

Alison Quirk, Michael Okorie and Patience Okorie

Deanery Synod

East Grinstead Deanery is a grouping of churches in the area from East Grinstead to Crawley. It is mainly an advisory and consultative body but has some active functions mainly in the distribution of finance. Deanery Synod members also have a role in electing people to the Diocesan and General Synods of the Church of England. Our Deanery Synod is chaired by the Rural Dean the Rev Richard Poole and our representatives are Mike Jefferson and Russell Bateman. We have 3 other seats which are currently vacant. If you would like more details about our activities please let me know and I will send you a copy of our minutes.

Mike Jefferson

The Cornerstone Café

For the year 2023, Cornerstone Café went through a time of uncertainty and change plus two Café Managers and one Café Co-Ordinator. From January to the end of March 2023, the café ran as successfully as always but with the growing awareness that Rachel Lashwood would sadly be leaving at Easter. A new Café Manager had not been appointed so I agreed after much prayerful thought, consideration, and discussion that I would take on the voluntary interim running of the café not as Café Manager but as the Co-Ordinator. A Café Board consisting of four members was established and a new temporary way of running the café put in place to enable the Café to stay open. The role of Daily Team Leader was created with Maureen and Pete Ions each becoming one (thank you) and myself. This worked well and helped spread the load as I also took on all the other aspects of running the Café. Thank you, Dave, and Kathy, for coping so well with the change and for helping and supporting me on what was a very fast and steep learning curve. Thank you also to all the wonderful Cornerstone Café volunteers who continued to serve so willingly and to all the customers who continued to come. The vision for the Café remained the same; that it would be a place where everyone felt welcomed, valued, and safe and that they would be able to see and feel the love of Christ and the care we offered that they may not find in other cafes. We said a sad goodbye and thanked Sandra as she retired from serving on a Wednesday and welcomed Diane to the team now on an ad hoc basis. To enable specialty coffees such as lattes and cappuccinos to be made an electric milk frother was purchased. However, the vision of the Café Board was to purchase a good quality bean-to-cup coffee machine. New additions and some price increases to the menu were made and various behind-thescenes administration changes also but all done in the knowledge that my role was only temporary. St Andrews’s new Toddlers group started running on a Wednesday morning and what a joy to welcome the team, parents, grandparents, carers and children. As July approached a manager for the Café still had not been appointed but praise the Lord he had been speaking to Lynne Poole and she applied, was interviewed, offered the job and she accepted with effect from the beginning of September when I would step down. The special gift was that on our first day of opening after the summer break, the Environment Health Officer did an unannounced inspection, and the Café retained its 5 rating. Thank you everyone for all your hard work in helping us retain this. My last day and Lynne’s first. I now hand over to Lynne to complete this report. Pleased we kept our 5 rating on my first day, it is entirely thanks to the work of those who kept everything in order, particularly Dave, Kathy and Linda, not forgetting Rachel. The cafe has become increasingly popular, and we welcome new people every day (no exaggeration) plus have regular weekly table bookings. On Mondays Jackie Bateman’s Craft Group continue to meet and many folks are finding lasting friendships there. Wednesdays, our busiest day, welcomes Age UK, a group of 15-20 for lunch. We are grateful too for the support of those attending Wednesday worship and toddlers. Friday’s Bible Study with Richard very soon outgrew the cafe area, now meeting in church. The Cornerstone still seeks to provide pathways to faith as well as a sense of belonging at St Andrews. Thank you to the many of you who have directed folk to us. Just sneaking into the current year! Our new coffee machine is successfully up and running. Easy to use too if anyone is willing to join our band of amazing volunteers! Thank you, Marilyn, for joining the team. Sadly, one of our volunteers and dear friend Chris Anderson passed away recently. Someone who faithfully served each week. My prayer is that the Cornerstone will continue to serve the community and church offering an oasis of welcome, good food and coffee, as a witness to Christ.

Linda Jefferson - Café Co-Ordinator and Lynne Poole – The Cornerstone Cafe Manager

Pastoral Care

The members of our Pastoral Care Group are Richard Poole and Jamie Gater, four Pastoral Care Assistants namely; Linda Mankelow, Eileen Cooke, Shirley Cutcliffe and Lyn Baker, together with myself as Pastoral Care

9

Co-ordinator. Meeting fortnightly during term time whenever possible, we try to ensure that we come alongside anyone in our congregation who is in need of a listening ear whether that is by phone, a chat in church or a home or hospital visit. If

this is you or someone you are concerned about, please contact me or one of the Pastoral Care Assistants. You will find our details on the contact list for St Andrews

Brenda Baker, Pastoral Care Co-Ordinator

5. Objectives and Mission Action Plan (MAP) 2024/25

After several years of working through the MAP, the PCC have consulted on a new strategic vision which will form the basis of a new map.

The strategic vision will focus on the church living out the words of Psalm 78:4 and will be published in due course.

We will tell the next generation the praiseworthy deeds of the LORD (Ps78:4)

6. Fabric Reports

I continue to be the church’s Premises Manager. The Church Building is busy with services, groups meeting and The Cornerstone Café. The fabric and equipment are stand up well, but this brings maintenance challenges due to the age.

During 2023, various work and annual checks were completed on the building.

Health and Safety

In the first 3 Months of 2024 the following was replaced.

To ensure I am aware of any faults, please continue to use the defect book which is situated above the defibrillator in the café or email me premises@standrewscrawley.com. The defect book is reviewed weekly and at the Centre Management meeting for more complex items.

I continue to be overwhelmed by the support of the church members and amazed at how much work behind the scenes many of you do to ensure the church building upkeep, this makes my job so much easier to complete. Thank you.

Alan Whitaker – Premises Manager

10

Fabric Report - St Andrew's Vicarage

The vicarage is in relatively good repair. The diocese has installed a new water meter and taken the vicarage off the school water main. This was an anomaly that had existed from the outset. The heating broke down for about a week and in the end the heating system had to be flushed out and has been working fine since.

Over the years very little decoration has taken place in the vicarage. This is due to the busyness of the vicar and not the reluctance of the PCC to pay. The house could do with some decoration after 23 years of habitation by the present incumbent and his family.

In our discussions as a PCC about succession planning the PCC has noted that given the size of the church and the responsibility of the vicar that the house in not comparable with many vicarages in other parishes. It’s location on a roundabout and having a footpath past the study and living room windows, and overlooking a car park might put off a future vicar from taking the job. Whilst the house is fine with the current incumbent it is something the PCC feel they need to consider in the future.

Rev’d Richard Poole - Vicar

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1. FINANCIAL REVIEW for the year from 1.1.2023 to 31.12.2023

7.1 The Financial Statements

These are the statutory financial statements, for the year ended 31 December 2023. The law largely prescribes the format, in particular the separate accounting for unrestricted funds, available for any purpose, restricted funds, which must be used for a particular purpose, and designated funds, which hold unrestricted monies set aside for a specific reason. The parish banks with Reliance Bank Limited, a bank wholly owned by the Salvation Army. The PCC is very grateful to the church members for their gifts of money and time. Gifts of money and the associated gift-aid tax reclaimed account for some 85% of parish income.

7.2 Review of 2023

2023 has been an interesting year, a year of 2 halves. We started the year with increased running costs, mainly due to our own country’s economy. As was reported at our last APCM our numbers and giving were down and a high percentage of giving that continued had remained static for several years, resulting in our income not keeping up with our expenditure. This led to concerns about the ability of the church to be able to fund itself beyond 2025. As 2023 progressed we were also very conscious about the need for some major repair, replacement and enhancement works to the building and equipment for the worship space and café, to continue our journey to serve our local community, grow our numbers in the church and meet our mission objectives. That was the first half of the year.

Then we had our Gift Day. With pledges working out at some £86,000 (over a year), suddenly; we were able to plan our spending to enhance our children’s and youth work, plan for the building and equipment work and start to think about our church’s staffing requirements with regard to our children, youth & family work. As we got to the end of 2023 we are blessed with seeing increased regular giving from existing members and increased attendance from new and returning members of the congregation. With this and the work done to improve our costs (Parish giving Scheme, energy pricing and renegotiation of our telephone/broadband, to name but a few), we are in a much happier place compared to last year. However; with most of the gift day pledges being in cash and being spent on the building, we still have a challenge in getting our regular monthly giving to meet our regular costs in 2025 and beyond.

Unrestricted funds

There was an overall net surplus on unrestricted funds of £73,207 during the year, giving the Church total unrestricted funds of £153,320 at the year end, of which £123,171 was made up of immediately available cash funds. Despite the 2023 budget showing a potential deficit of £12,000, due to the cost savings achieved and the improved giving and cash pledges from the Gift Day.

Restricted funds

There was an overall net loss on restricted funds of £2,193. The principal restricted fund was the People Fund which was set up to cover the costs of employing staff, which totaled £39,786 during the year. Donations to the people fund (including gift aid) totaled £32,726, leaving a deficit of just over £7k which was made up by unrestricted funds. Donations to the People Fund were tithed at 10%, where donors agreed, with tithed income being paid to two specifically child-related mission organisations. Income from the Arnold Bequest of £3,714 funded part of the diocesan contribution (Note 17).

Designated funds

Through 2023 there were no open designated funds.

Balance sheet and reserves

We aim to hold liquid reserves to meet six months’ normal running costs, (Balance Sheet, page3). As this is not a hard and fast rule, it was decided that the additional funding from the Gift day should be used to meet our ongoing and expected mission costs rather than holding it as reserves. The balance of immediately available reserves at the end of 2023 was therefore £17,930. It is parish policy to hold liquid reserves not immediately required in an instant-access deposit account with the Church of England Diocesan Board of Finance.

7.3 Outlook for 2024.

The budget for 2024 shows a deficit of £17,400. This is based on our ‘Normal’ regular income and expenditure for the year. It’s a generous budget with our children’s mission at the forefront. There is also a program of works for the church equipment and café which is being funded out of the Gift day cash pledges. This shows a surplus of £13,869.

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7.4 Acknowledgements

My thanks go to those whose work has assisted me in my role as treasurer this year, in particular Benedict Mulliss, the assistant treasurer, and Jackie Bramley, the church administrator, without both of whom this role will be significantly harder.

Thanks, are also due to the accountants, Richard Place Dobson Services Ltd, for their invaluable assistance in compiling these accounts and for carrying out the independent examination.

Russell Bateman; PCC Treasurer

13

PCC OF FURNACE GREEN ST ANDREW

INDEPENDENT EXAMINER'S REPORT

TO THE TRUSTEES OF PCC OF FURNACE GREEN ST ANDREW

I report to the trustees on my examination of the financial statements of PCC of Furnace Green St Andrew (the charity) for the year ended 31 December 2023.

Responsibilities and basis of report

As the trustees of the charity you are responsible for the preparation of the financial statements in accordance with the requirements of the Charities Act 2011 (the 2011 Act).

I report in respect of my examination of the charity’s financial statements carried out under section 145 of the 2011 Act. In carrying out my examination I have followed all the applicable Directions given by the Charity Commission under section 145(5)(b) of the 2011 Act.

Independent examiner's statement

Since the charity’s gross income exceeded £250,000 your examiner must be a member of a body listed in section 145 of the 2011 Act. I confirm that I am qualified to undertake the examination because I am a member of ICAEW, which is one of the listed bodies.

Your attention is drawn to the fact that the charity has prepared financial statements in accordance with Accounting and Reporting by Charities preparing their accounts in accordance with the Financial Reporting Standard applicable in the UK and Republic of Ireland (FRS 102) in preference to the Accounting and Reporting by Charities: Statement of Recommended Practice issued on 1 April 2005 which is referred to in the extant regulations but has now been withdrawn.

I understand that this has been done in order for financial statements to provide a true and fair view in accordance with Generally Accepted Accounting Practice effective for reporting periods beginning on or after 1 January 2015.

I have completed my examination. I confirm that no matters have come to my attention in connection with the examination giving me cause to believe that in any material respect:

I have no concerns and have come across no other matters in connection with the examination to which attention should be drawn in this report in order to enable a proper understanding of the financial statements to be reached.

Darren Harding ACA FCCA DChA

Richard Place Dobson Services Limited 1-7 Station Road Crawley West Sussex RH10 1HT

Dated: ......................... 07/05/2024

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PCC OF FURNACE GREEN ST ANDREW

STATEMENT OF FINANCIAL ACTIVITIES INCLUDING INCOME AND EXPENDITURE ACCOUNT

FOR THE YEAR ENDED 31 DECEMBER 2023

Unrestricted
Restricted
funds
funds
2023
2023
Notes
£
£
Income from:
Donations and legacies
3
220,696
42,333
Charitable activities
4
28,391
-
Other trading activities
5
10,963
-
Investments
6
557
-
Total income
260,607
42,333
Expenditure on:
Charitable activities
7
187,400
44,526
Net income/(expenditure) for
the year/
Net movement in funds
73,207
(2,193)
Fund balances at 1 January
2023
80,113
3,780
Fund balances at 31
December 2023
153,320
1,587		 Total
Unrestricted
Restricted
Total
funds
funds
2023
2022
2022
2022
£
£
£
£
263,029
144,954
44,707
189,661
28,391
31,343
-
31,343
10,963
4,811
-
4,811
557
226
-
226
302,940
181,334
44,707
226,041
231,926
152,063
45,523
197,586
71,014
29,271
(816)
28,455
83,893
50,842
4,596
55,438
154,907
80,113
3,780
83,893

The statement of financial activities includes all gains and losses recognised in the year.

All income and expenditure derive from continuing activities.

Explanation: This is the summarised 2023 "history". Incoming resources (income) add to the net assets owned by the parish. Resources used (expenses) reduce them. These figures are on the accruals basis: that is, they include amounts earned or due for 2023, even if not paid by the year end.

Some transactions do not change net assets. For example, paying off a loan reduces both cash (an asset) and the outstanding loan (a liability). Buying a fixed asset (such as new equipment) changes one asset (cash) for another (the equipment), whose value is then written off as an expense (depreciation).

15

BALANCE SHETr.T ASA T31 DECEMBER 2023 2023 2022 Notey Ftxed Assets TanuyiblL a8sels 14 12.088 15,913 C¥rreD1s8ets Debknrs Cash at bank and in hand Cjsh on shortterm deposSt 15 6,415 123.172 17.930 6.513 47,2(t6 17J73 147,517 71,092 Cr¢dl(ors: •MIlYlDts f•lilng dxewithth •n¢ y¢gr 16 {4ffi981 (3,1021 Nel Guy￿￿t ass¢ts 141819 67,W) Totil &￿etsIt$S ethrremt liblllttpJ 154.907 83,893 Income fuDds Restricted fund5 UiJT¢StTiCted funds 17 1,587 153,320 3.180 80,113 154,907 83,893 F.xplanation-. this 1$ ihe finaDcial "snap-5hot' at the of the period, showing the parish's assets wjd liabilili¢s on 31 December. splii belween unrestricted and re51ricted funil%. It does not include valuLs for church buildin&s.' Note 1.6 explains why. 3010412024 The flnancial statements w¢r¢ appTov¢d bYthETrt￿eeS ott...................... ReVRP￿ Trustee Mr R Bat¢n)an Trnsttt 16

PCC OF FURNACE GREEN ST ANDREW

NOTES TO THE FINANCIAL STATEMENTS

FOR THE YEAR ENDED 31 DECEMBER 2023

1 Accounting policies

Charity information

The PCC of Furnace Green St Andrew is an unincorporated charity. The principal address is St Andrew's Church, Weald Drive, Crawley, RH10 6NU.

1.1 Accounting convention

The financial statements have been prepared in accordance with the charity's Parochial Church Councils Powers Measures (1956), the Charities Act 2011, FRS 102 “The Financial Reporting Standard applicable in the UK and Republic of Ireland” (“FRS 102”) and the Charities SORP "Accounting and Reporting by Charities: Statement of Recommended Practice applicable to charities preparing their accounts in accordance with the Financial Reporting Standard applicable in the UK and Republic of Ireland (FRS 102)" (effective 1 January 2019). The charity is a Public Benefit Entity as defined by FRS 102.

The charity has taken advantage of the provisions in the SORP for charities not to prepare a Statement of Cash Flows.

The financial statements have departed from the Charities (Accounts and Reports) Regulations 2008 only to the extent required to provide a true and fair view. This departure has involved following the Statement of Recommended Practice for charities applying FRS 102 rather than the version of the Statement of Recommended Practice which is referred to in the Regulations but which has since been withdrawn.

The financial statements are prepared in sterling, which is the functional currency of the charity. Monetary amounts in these financial statements are rounded to the nearest £.

The financial statements have been prepared under the historical cost convention, modified to include the revaluation of freehold properties and to include investment properties and certain financial instruments at fair value. The principal accounting policies adopted are set out below.

1.2 Going concern

At the time of approving the financial statements, the trustees have a reasonable expectation that the charity has adequate resources to continue in operational existence for the foreseeable future. Thus the trustees continue to adopt the going concern basis of accounting in preparing the financial statements.

1.3 Charitable funds

Unrestricted funds are available for use at the discretion of the trustees in furtherance of their charitable objectives.

Restricted funds are subject to specific conditions by donors as to how they may be used. The purposes and uses of the restricted funds are set out in the notes to the financial statements.

1.4 Income

Income is recognised when the charity is legally entitled to it after any performance conditions have been met, the amounts can be measured reliably, and it is probable that income will be received.

Cash donations are recognised on receipt. Other donations are recognised once the charity has been notified of the donation, unless performance conditions require deferral of the amount. Income tax recoverable in relation to donations received under Gift Aid or deeds of covenant is recognised at the time of the donation.

Legacies are recognised on receipt or otherwise if the charity has been notified of an impending distribution, the amount is known, and receipt is expected. If the amount is not known, the legacy is treated as a contingent asset.

17

PCC OF FURNACE GREEN ST ANDREW

NOTES TO THE FINANCIAL STATEMENTS (CONTINUED)

FOR THE YEAR ENDED 31 DECEMBER 2023

1 Accounting policies

(Continued)

1.5 Expenditure

Expenditure is recognised once there is a legal or constructive obligation to transfer economic benefit to a third party, it is probable that a transfer of economic benefits will be required in settlement, and the amount of the obligation can be measured reliably.

Expenditure is classified by activity. The costs of each activity are made up of the total of direct costs and shared costs, including support costs involved in undertaking each activity. Direct costs attributable to a single activity are allocated directly to that activity. Shared costs which contribute to more than one activity and support costs which are not attributable to a single activity are apportioned between those activities on a basis consistent with the use of resources. Central staff costs are allocated on the basis of time spent, and depreciation charges are allocated on the portion of the asset’s use.

1.6 Tangible fixed assets

Tangible fixed assets are initially measured at cost and subsequently measured at cost or valuation, net of depreciation and any impairment losses.

Depreciation is recognised so as to write off the cost or valuation of assets less their residual values over their useful lives on the following bases:

Furnishings and equipment 5, 10 or 20 years straight line

The gain or loss arising on the disposal of an asset is determined as the difference between the sale proceeds and the carrying value of the asset, and is recognised in the statement of financial activities.

Under Charities Act 2011 section 10(2), the financial statements do not include consecrated and beneficed property such as the church buildings, the rectory and the vicarages. Work on such property are written off as an expense in the period it is incurred.

Furnishings, fittings and other equipment are capitalised as fixed assets if they cost over £500 or are part of a set costing over £1,000.

1.7 Impairment of fixed assets

At each reporting end date, the charity reviews the carrying amounts of its tangible assets to determine whether there is any indication that those assets have suffered an impairment loss. If any such indication exists, the recoverable amount of the asset is estimated in order to determine the extent of the impairment loss (if any).

1.8 Cash and cash equivalents

Cash and cash equivalents include cash in hand, deposits held at call with banks, other short-term liquid investments with original maturities of three months or less, and bank overdrafts. Bank overdrafts are shown within borrowings in current liabilities.

1.9 Financial instruments

The charity has elected to apply the provisions of Section 11 ‘Basic Financial Instruments’ and Section 12 ‘Other Financial Instruments Issues’ of FRS 102 to all of its financial instruments.

Financial instruments are recognised in the charity's balance sheet when the charity becomes party to the contractual provisions of the instrument.

Financial assets and liabilities are offset, with the net amounts presented in the financial statements, when there is a legally enforceable right to set off the recognised amounts and there is an intention to settle on a net basis or to realise the asset and settle the liability simultaneously.

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PCC OF FURNACE GREEN ST ANDREW

NOTES TO THE FINANCIAL STATEMENTS (CONTINUED)

FOR THE YEAR ENDED 31 DECEMBER 2023

1 Accounting policies

(Continued)

Basic financial assets

Basic financial assets, which include debtors and cash and bank balances, are initially measured at transaction price including transaction costs and are subsequently carried at amortised cost using the effective interest method unless the arrangement constitutes a financing transaction, where the transaction is measured at the present value of the future receipts discounted at a market rate of interest. Financial assets classified as receivable within one year are not amortised.

Basic financial liabilities

Basic financial liabilities, including creditors and bank loans are initially recognised at transaction price unless the arrangement constitutes a financing transaction, where the debt instrument is measured at the present value of the future payments discounted at a market rate of interest. Financial liabilities classified as payable within one year are not amortised.

Debt instruments are subsequently carried at amortised cost, using the effective interest rate method.

Trade creditors are obligations to pay for goods or services that have been acquired in the ordinary course of operations from suppliers. Amounts payable are classified as current liabilities if payment is due within one year or less. If not, they are presented as non-current liabilities. Trade creditors are recognised initially at transaction price and subsequently measured at amortised cost using the effective interest method.

Derecognition of financial liabilities

Financial liabilities are derecognised when the charity’s contractual obligations expire or are discharged or cancelled.

1.10 Employee benefits

The cost of any unused holiday entitlement is recognised in the period in which the employee’s services are received.

Termination benefits are recognised immediately as an expense when the charity is demonstrably committed to terminate the employment of an employee or to provide termination benefits.

2 Critical accounting estimates and judgements

In the application of the charity’s accounting policies, the trustees are required to make judgements, estimates and assumptions about the carrying amount of assets and liabilities that are not readily apparent from other sources. The estimates and associated assumptions are based on historical experience and other factors that are considered to be relevant. Actual results may differ from these estimates.

The estimates and underlying assumptions are reviewed on an ongoing basis. Revisions to accounting estimates are recognised in the period in which the estimate is revised where the revision affects only that period, or in the period of the revision and future periods where the revision affects both current and future periods.

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PCC OF FURNACE GREEN ST ANDREW

NOTES TO THE FINANCIAL STATEMENTS (CONTINUED)

FOR THE YEAR ENDED 31 DECEMBER 2023

3 Donations and legacies

Unrestricted
Restricted
funds
funds
2023
2023
£
£
Donations and gifts
Tax-efficient planned giving
131,169
31,863
Other planned giving
14,635
-
Unplanned giving at
services
7,257
-
Other unplanned giving
26,982
-
Special appeals
-
-
Gift Aid tax refunds
40,653
6,756
Recurrent grants
-
3,714
220,696
42,333		 TotalUnrestricted
Restricted
Total
funds
funds
2023
2022
2022
2022
£
£
£
£
163,032
97,299
29,122
126,421
14,635
7,085
1,820
8,905
7,257
6,462
-
6,462
26,982
7,103
1,250
8,353
-
-
1,958
1,958
47,409
27,005
7,280
34,285
3,714
-
3,277
3,277
263,029
144,954
44,707
189,661

The PCC is very grateful for the grant of £3,714 received from The Arnold Bequest Trust during the year.

Donations include £20,198 given by the trustees.

4 Charitable activities

Church Church
activities activities
2023 2022
£ £
Fees 1,595 8,693
Bookstalls 431 17
Cafe 23,596 21,962
Church events, youth clubs etc 2,769 671
28,391 31,343

5 Other trading activities

Unrestricted Unrestricted
funds funds
2023 2022
£ £
Church/hall rental to non-church hirers 9,760 4,811
Other 1,203 -
Other trading activities 10,963 4,811

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PCC OF FURNACE GREEN ST ANDREW

NOTES TO THE FINANCIAL STATEMENTS (CONTINUED)

FOR THE YEAR ENDED 31 DECEMBER 2023

6 Investments

Unrestricted Unrestricted
funds funds
2023 2022
£ £
Interest receivable 557 226
Charitable activities
Church Church
activities activities
2023 2022
£ £
Diocesan contribution (see note 9) 77,000 43,000
Clergy housing 4,956 3,245
Other clergy/ministry costs 6,206 1,956
Director of children's & family work - 13,275
Youth director - 11,444
Building running and maintenance 68,179 31,809
Building works over £500 16,372 7,439
Equipment and furnishings costing over £500 2,514 8,996
Services and worship 7,285 6,145
Evangelism, education and training 400 3,081
Bookstall costs 261 351
Church events and clubs costs 12,598 29,002
195,771 159,743
Grant funding of activities (see note 8) 19,125 17,858
Share of support costs (see note 10) 14,132 17,795
Share of governance costs (see note 10) 2,898 2,190
231,926 197,586
Analysis by fund
Unrestricted funds 187,400 152,063
Restricted funds 44,526 45,523
231,926 197,586

7 Charitable activities

21

PCC OF FURNACE GREEN ST ANDREW

NOTES TO THE FINANCIAL STATEMENTS (CONTINUED)

FOR THE YEAR ENDED 31 DECEMBER 2023

8 Grants payable

Church Church
activities activities
2023 2022
£ £
Grants to missions and other organisations:
Christians Against Poverty (Crawley CAP Centre) 2,400 2,400
Michael Browne - Bible translation in rural Argentina 2,404 2,250
Church Pastoral Aid Society 3,574 2,425
Lighthouse Project 3,589 2,425
Prison Fellowship 2,404 2,100
Tearfund 1,723 2,815
Toybox - relief for street children in Latin America, Africa and Asia 1,468 1,548
Urban Saints 252 252
Transforming Lives for Good 900 900
Operation Christmas Child 137 52
Easter Team - 691
Kaana Charity 154 -
Crawley Open House 30 -
Womans Refuge 90 -
19,125 17,858

The parish provides long-term support to one missionary with parish links. The church congregation selects other recipients for giving on five "Mission Sundays" per annum. There were five such Sundays during the year and, in addition, one organisation was paid monthly throughout the year. Giving to the restricted People Fund is also tithed, with 10% of all donations being paid to two charitable organisations.

9 Diocesan Contribution

During 2023, the parish pledged and paid £77,000 (2022: £43,000) to the diocese, plus clergy fees assigned to the diocese of £1,685 (2022: £1,674). These contributions enable the diocese to pay for the cost of clergy stipends, pensions and housing; diocese training, ministry support and parish support services; and national church costs.

22

PCC OF FURNACE GREEN ST ANDREW

NOTES TO THE FINANCIAL STATEMENTS (CONTINUED)

FOR THE YEAR ENDED 31 DECEMBER 2023

10
Support costs
Support costs
Governance
costs
£
£
Central office support
14,132
-
Independent examination &
related costs
-
2,898
14,132
2,898
Analysed between
Charitable activities
14,132
2,898		 2023 Support costs
Governance
costs
£
£
£
14,132
17,795
-
2,898
-
2,190
17,030
17,795
2,190
17,030
17,795
2,190		 2022
£
17,795
2,190
19,985
19,985

Governance costs includes payments to the Independent Examiners of £2,190 (2022: £2,190) for the independent examination fee, and £708 for other services provided.

11 Trustees

No PCC members were paid any remuneration for their services as PCC members. There were transactions with PCC members or those closely connected with them as follows:

Salaries & Pensions - The following trustees were paid for their work in other roles: Rachel Lashwood - £2,267 - Café manager

Expenses - Under diocese guidelines, parish bodies paid work expenses of the clergy PCC member, totalling £5,406 The main expenses were travel, phone rental and broadband access, computer running costs, resource materials (e.g. books), training courses and occasional entertainment/hospitality. In addition, the PCC paid certain clergy housing costs (mainly council tax and water rates) totalling £4,956, again under normal Church of England practice.

A total of £661 were reimbursed to other trustees during the year for expenses incurred.

12 Employees

The average monthly number of employees during the year was:

2023 2022
Number Number
4 6

During the year ended 31 December 2023 the parish paid £39,560 (2022: £62,076) in salaries and wages, plus £706 (2022: £2,865) employer's National Insurance and pension contributions of £522 (2022: £1,848).

There were no employees whose annual remuneration was more than £60,000.

13 Taxation

The charity is exempt from tax on income and gains falling within section 505 of the Taxes Act 1988 or section 252 of the Taxation of Chargeable Gains Act 1992 to the extent that these are applied to its charitable objects.

23

PCC OF FURNACE GREEN ST ANDREW

NOTES TO THE FINANCIAL STATEMENTS (CONTINUED)

FOR THE YEAR ENDED 31 DECEMBER 2023

14
Tangible fixed assets
Cost
At 1 January 2023
At 31 December 2023
Depreciation and impairment
At 1 January 2023
Depreciation charged in the year
At 31 December 2023
Carrying amount
At 31 December 2023
At 31 December 2022
15
Debtors
Amounts falling due within one year:
Trade debtors
Other debtors
Prepayments and accrued income
16
Creditors: amounts falling due within one year
Other taxation and social security
Other creditors
Accruals and deferred income		 Furnishings and equipment
£
96,121
96,121
80,218
3,815
84,033
12,088
15,903
2023
2022
£
£
730
-
3,343
4,021
2,342
2,492
6,415
6,513
2023
2022
£
£
(565)
(784)
-
316
5,263
3,570
4,698
3,102

24

PCC OF FURNACE GREEN ST ANDREW

NOTES TO THE FINANCIAL STATEMENTS (CONTINUED)

FOR THE YEAR ENDED 31 DECEMBER 2023

17 Restricted funds

The income funds of the charity include restricted funds comprising the following unexpended balances of donations and grants held on trust for specific purposes:

Movement in funds Movement in funds Movement in funds Movement in funds
Balance at Incoming Resources Balance at Incoming Resources Balance at
1 January 2022 resources expended 1 January 2023 resources expended 31 December
2023
£ £ £ £ £ £ £
Arnold
Bequest - 3,277 (3,277)
-		 3,714 (3,714) -
Mike & Sylvia
Browne 250 - (250)
-		 - - -
People Fund 492 34,889 (35,381)
-		 32,726 (32,726) -
People Tithe 467 3,333 (3,156)
644		 3,092 (3,736) -
TLG 3,387 - (900)
2,487		 - (900) 1,587
Alpha Course
Outreach
Programme - 1,250 (601)
649		 2,801 (3,450) -
Special
Appeals -
Tearfund Re:
Afganistan - 993 (993)
-		 - - -
Special
Appeals -
Tearfund Re:
Ukraine - 60 (60)
-		 - - -
Special
Appeals -
Easter Team - 691 (691)
-		 - - -
Special
Appeals -
Tearfund Re:
Pakistan - 214 (214)
-		 - - -
4,596 44,707 (45,523)
3,780		 42,333 (44,526) 1,587

25

PCC OF FURNACE GREEN ST ANDREW

NOTES TO THE FINANCIAL STATEMENTS (CONTINUED)

FOR THE YEAR ENDED 31 DECEMBER 2023

17 Restricted funds

(Continued)

The People Fund - The People Fund was set up to cover the costs of employing staff, initially Admin, Premises and Café Staff. More recently also for the Director of Children's and Family Work and for the Youth Director, although these roles are now vacant.. The income of the people fund is not sufficient to cover the whole cost of all employees and, from 2019 onwards, the shortfall has been charged to the General Fund. During 2023, total salary costs for the year were £39,049, of which £33,306 are covered by contributions to the people fund, with the remaining £5,743 being covered by general unrestricted funds.

People Tithe - This fund represents people fund donations which have been tithed at 10% with the donors agreement to be paid to two child-related mission organisations.

TLG – Transforming Lives for Good is a Christian charity who have developed an Early Intervention programme aimed at working with young children who are struggling at school, to help them avoid falling behind at school while they deal with problems such as poverty, family breakdown, bullying etc. This is provided through one-to-one coaching sessions. St Andrew’s is working with TLG to train volunteers who then provide coaching for the children at St Andrew’s School. In 2019, grant funding was obtained from The Crawley & Ifield Education Trust and Sussex Community Foundation to cover the cost of training the volunteers, TLG subscriptions and events to support these children and their families. As a result of the pandemic, this funding has only partially been used.

The Arnold Bequest - The Arnold Bequest is a trust, controlled by the diocese, to further the religious and other charitable work of the Church of England in what is now the parishes of Furnace Green St Andrew and South Crawley, by paying for clergy or authorised lay workers in the two parishes, or maintaining the fabric of church buildings in those parishes. Each year the diocese pays our share of the trust income for the previous year, which is currently used to fund part of the parish's contribution to the diocese, since the diocese pays the vicar's stipend.

Alpha Course Outreach Programme - This fund represents a one off donation received during the year to be spent specifically on the Alpha Course activities.

The Special Appeals relate to one off fundraising efforts in response to appeals from other supported charities.

26

PCC OF FURNACE GREEN ST ANDREW

NOTES TO THE FINANCIAL STATEMENTS (CONTINUED)

FOR THE YEAR ENDED 31 DECEMBER 2023

18
Analysis of net assets between funds
Unrestricted
funds
Restricted
funds
2023
2023
£
£
Fund balances at 31
December 2023 are
represented by:
Tangible assets
12,088
-
Current assets/(liabilities)
141,232
1,587
153,320
1,587		 Total Unrestricted
funds
Restricted
funds
2023
2022
2022
£
£
£
12,088
15,903
-
142,819
64,210
3,780
154,907
80,113
3,780		 Total
2022
£
15,903
67,990
83,893

19 Key Figures

Uncommitted reserves are unrestricted funds at the year end that are not represented by fixed assets or designated funds, and so are a measure of liquidity.

Running costs are unrestricted fund expenses other than capital expenditure on building works and depreciation on furniture and equipment over £500. The "running cost surplus/(deficit)" is the unrestricted fund income less running costs, and indicates the extent to which normal giving is sufficient or insufficient to meet normal running costs.

2023 2022
Uncommitted reserves 134,559 64,210
Average monthly running costs 14,599 11,302
Uncommitted reserves as months of running costs 9.2 5.7
Running costs surplus/(deficit) 85,420 45,706

In the previous year the Dicocese reduced their contribution from £77,000 to £43,000 in order to rebuild reserves, this was then increased to the original £77,000 agreement in 2023.

20 Related party transactions

During the year, a donation of £3,589 was made to The Lighthouse Project (Crawley), of which one of the trustees of the PCC is also a trustee.

Remuneration of key management personnel

The remuneration of key management personnel is as follows.

2023 2022
£ £
Aggregate compensation 2,288 33,971

27