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2020-12-31-accounts

2020 Annual Report and Accounts for the Parochial Church Council of St Mary the Virgin Lymm

Approved Annual Parochial Church Council Meeting 9 May 2021

Aim and Purposes

St Mary the Virgin Parochial Church Council (PCC) has the responsibility of cooperating with the incumbent Rector Reverend Beverley Jameson in promoting the ecclesiastical parish, the whole mission of the church, pastoral evangelistic social and ecumenical. The PCC is also specifically responsible for the maintenance of the church of St Mary the Virgin, Church Road Lymm and the Church Hall off Crouchley Lane Lymm. The PCC is committed to enabling as many people as possible to worship at our church and become part of our parish community.

Mission Statement

St. Mary’s is a worshipping community which seeks to nurture people in faith and serve the needs of the wider community through practical engagement.

Aims

  1. To share the good news of Jesus Christ to people of all ages and backgrounds

  2. To nurture and grow disciples in Jesus Christ

  3. To be a Christian presence at the heart of the community in Lymm

  4. To provide a resource for the community

Objectives

Achievements and Performance

The government’s COVID19 national restrictions and lockdowns in 2020 affected St Mary’s. Specifically, the church and the church hall were closed as part of the national lockdown

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from 23 March to 4 July 2020 and from 5 November to 2 December 2020. With careful restrictions and COVID compliance the church reopened from 19 July until the national lockdown in November, and again in December with very limited numbers for the Christmas Services due to social distancing. COVID19 meant many of our activities were cancelled this year e.g. St Mary’s Teas, Experience Easter the Community Christmas Tree Festival and involvement in Lymm Festivals (e.g. May Queen Festival) which were also cancelled. Community events and concerts (e.g. Lymm and District Chorus) usually held at the church were also unable to take place. St Mary’s embraced new technology to continue to provide services prayer and worship. The Rector Reverend Beverley Jameson has her own YouTube Chanel and has been providing services every Sunday via YouTube since the first lockdown 23 March 2020. Weekly prayer via zoom has been led by Derek Buckthorpe, Lay Reader, every Monday, Wednesday and Friday. A Sunday morning live zoom service has also been introduced during the latest lockdown in January 2021. All of these services have been well attended and greatly appreciated by St Mary’s congregation but has also attracted people who are not members of our normal congregation and in the case of the Rector’s YouTube services, do not live near Lymm. The Pastoral Care Team continued to meet via zoom and supported our congregation by telephone calls. Unfortunately St Marys was not allowed into the three care homes (Brookfield, Cheshire Grange and Keate House) to take the usual regular services due to COVID restrictions. The Rectors YouTube services were made available to the homes and regular contact was maintained with the care home staff by Ian Bundey, Lay Reader.

St Mary’s links to children and young people were also affected by the COVID19. A successful and popular Messy Church known as Snacks and Crafts was launched at the beginning of 2020 which sadly had to cease in March due to the COVID19 Lockdown. This initiative will be re-launched once COVID allows. Visits to the church by School children as part of religious education were also restricted. However the Rector maintains contact with the four primary schools and Lymm High School, being involved in classroom activities via zoom. The Rector is a governor of Lymm High School and a Trustee and Chair of Governors of the new formed Beam Multi Academy Trust involving Ravenbank, Oughtrington, Statham primary schools and Thelwall Infants School. She, therefore, resigned as a governor of Cherry Tree Primary School.

Rector Reverend Beverley Jameson is Chaplain to the Royal British Legion, Lymm and District and is active in wider community projects such as Lymm Clothing Charity, Dickenisan Festival and in other various festivals.

There are 114 parishioners on the 2020 electoral roll which is a reduction of 5 people - two people leaving Lymm to live elsewhere and three people sadly dying. The average weekly attendance in 2020 is difficult to assess due to the church being closed and online services being introduced. Many of the elderly congregation were shielding or nervous of attending large gatherings such as church services due to COVID19 and preferred to remain home to attend the online services. However, basing numbers on when the church was open the average was around 40 adults, 2 children Attendance was adversely affected by COVID19 social distancing limiting numbers who could safely be seated in church, especially for the Christmas services. Online services averaged 50 adults, but there is inevitably a combination of those attending physically and those continuing to prefer online services.

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St Mary’s serves the community with a range of occasional offices which were also affected by COVID19 restrictions in 2020 including 2 Baptisms 2 Weddings and 14 funerals (4 in church, 7 at a crematorium and 3 graveside funerals). There were also 10 burials of ashes in the church graveyard

Church Building and Church Hall

Church

The Church has been kept strictly COVID-19 compliant throughout, with clear route-ways marked out, safe spacing and appropriate hand-sanitising posts available and risk assessments. The usual regular maintenance has been carried out, and in addition to the annual boiler service, a new thermostat controller has been installed. The many fireextinguishers have also been serviced. A five-yearly electrical condition survey was also undertaken and the recommendations completed. Portable floodlights have been purchased to improve safety for those who may have to access the south door in darkness. We have also boarded up the outside toilet block to prevent anti-social use. Dampness in the church in certain areas remains a concern and is being monitored. In February 2020, the church wall next to Lymm Dam collapsed. Warrington Borough Council has been responsible for the maintenance of the churchyard since 2006. The council has undertaken investigations but progress is slow. The onus is on Warrington Borough Council to complete the repairs. Issues regarding public use of the church car park, remain ongoing.

Church Hall

The Church Hall has been kept strictly COVID-19 compliant throughout, with clear routeways marked out, safe spacing and appropriate hand-sanitising posts available and risk assessments. Those hiring the hall have also been asked to provide their own risk assessments and details of their own COVID measures over and above complying with the church hall COVID rules when running their specific sessions (e.g. how the dance academy will operate social distancing). A good deal of improvement works were carried out to, and around, the hall in 2020. The rotten floor in one of the storerooms has been completely replaced, and additional outdoor works to the surrounding ground and drainage have been undertaken to avoid similar problems occurring in the future. In the kitchen, additional plug sockets have been wired in, and a brand-new fridge-freezer has been purchased. A 'new' dishwasher has also been installed replacing the older one. In the toilets, the vinyl flooring has been replaced, which has made a big difference, and the cubicles have also been repainted. Electric hand-dryers have been installed and also motion-sensor activated extractor fans. The two entrance hallways have new lights and been repainted, so they are now much brighter. Despite all of the above, improvement works/repairs are still required, with various holes and minor leaks to be dealt with.

Deanery Synod

The Synod has continued to meet but by Zoom. The Revd Alec Brown reached the end of his time, as Rural Dean and retired, after the September meeting. He had been in post for 10 years and 2 months, possibly a Diocesan record. He was replaced by Revd Jane Proudfoot, who officially took office on October 1st. The Lay Chair, Joan Sears, also retired after 18 years service and she is replaced by Linda Buckley. Deanery Synod representatives had to be elected this year and in our Parish they are Ian Bundey, Sue Eckersall and Jill

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Wasey. The Rector Reverend Beverley Jameson is also a Deanery Synod member. Topics covered this year have been a talk from Revd Sarah Fenby about Vocations; and a discussion about ' the greatest challenges facing our parishes at this time'. All the other Deanery events were cancelled because of the COVID virus. Visitors are always welcome to join our Deanery Synod meetings

Ecumenical Relationships

Lymm Churches Together continues to work together. The Rector of St Mary’s Reverend Beverley Jameson stepped down in September 2020 as Chair of Churches Together Lymm and District. The new chair is Dave Eadon from the URC Church. The Rector and Derek Buckthorpe are St Mary’s representatives. The meetings are thoughtful and enthusiastic with a real sense of togetherness in the planning of the calendar of joint events which has also been affected by church closures and COVID restrictions. The meetings currently take place via zoom. Messy Church and Open the Book were limited due to COVID and school closures. There were attempts to encourage families to participate in Messy Church via zoom but this had limited engagement.

Structure Government and Management

The method of appointment of PCC members is set out in the Church representation Rules. At St Mary’s the membership of the PCC consists of the incumbent (Rector), church wardens, readers and those elected by members of the congregation who are on the electoral roll of the church. All those who attend our services / members of the congregation are encouraged to register on the Electoral Roll and stand for election to the PCC.

The PCC members are responsible for making decisions on all matters of general importance to the parish deciding on how the funds of the PCC are to be spent. The Parochial Church Council meets regularly, usually six meetings throughout the year, plus any Standing Committee meetings if needed to make decisions on urgent matters. Some of the PCC meetings took place electronically due to COVID restrictions on gatherings. The Standing Committee met twice firstly to agree remedial electrical work to be carried out as recommended in inspection report. Secondly to finalise Christmas Services and agree St Mary’s discretionary fees for weddings, funerals and memorials in 2021 to remain unchanged from 2020

Safeguarding

St Mary’s Lymm takes its duty and obligation to protect all extremely seriously. All authorized clergy, Safeguarding Officer, licensed readers and lay workers, church wardens and PCCs have ‘due regard’ to safeguarding guidance issued by the House of Bishops (including both policy and practice guidance).We have adopted the national Church of England’s robust procedures and guidelines. The Diocesan Vulnerability and Safeguarding Officer is Pauline Butterfield who can be contacted regarding all safeguarding issues. St Mary’s Safeguarding Officer for 2020 is Christine Scott. St Mary’s Policy on the Safeguarding of Children and Adults in the Church was adopted by St. Mary’s Lymm at a PCC meeting held on Monday 5th March 2018 This Policy will be reviewed and approved each year to monitor the progress which has been made and was reviewed and approved at PCC Meeting 8 March 2021. The annual Parish Safeguarding Audit has been completed and was also presented to the PCC 8 March 2021. All documentation regarding Church Hall users is in line with the safeguarding

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policy and is up to date. All individuals whose roles within St. Mary’s require a DBS check hold a current certificate. These will all be renewable every five years as appropriate. The safeguarding Officers number, along with those of ‘Childline’, Family Lives’, and Warrington Children’s and Adult Services are displayed in both the church and church hall.

GDPR

The PCC of St Mary’s Lymm complies with its obligations under the “GDPR” by keeping personal data up to date; by storing and destroying it securely; by not collecting or retaining excessive amounts of data; by protecting personal data from loss, misuse, unauthorised access and disclosure and by ensuring that appropriate technical measures are in place to protect personal data.

Volunteers

We would like to thank all those who gave their time in 2020 for the parish including the wardens Kath Buckley and George Bainton, Lay Reader Ian Bundey PCC Secretary and Lay Reader Derek Buckthorpe, Pastoral Worker, Carole Riley, GDPR lead & Data Controller Carol Roberts, Organist Susan Gadd, The Choir, Safeguarding Officer Chris Scott, Mothers Union, Church Women’s Fellowship, Liz France and the team of bell ringers, Kath Hough and Mark Linnell for supporting the Church Hall and all those who work tirelessly for the church.

We would also like to thank our Rector Reverend Beverley Jameson, for all her hard work, care for our church community and her work in the wider community in Lymm. We especially thank her for keeping our services and our pastoral contacts going via technology and adapting to the COVID19 restrictions.

Special thanks to those who volunteered to be part of our various teams in 2020

Finance Team ( David Young, David Critchley, Liz France)

Grants Team (Lewis Denton, Mike Hall, Tim Morris)

Fabric Team (Alan Richardson, Peter Clark, Mark Lees, George Bainton, Mark Linnell)

Pastoral Care Team (Susan Brook, Derek Buckthorpe, Pauline Buckthorpe, Ian Bundey, Joan Garrett, Carole Riley, Chris Scott)

Administrative Information

St Mary the Virgin Lymm is situated on Church Road, Lymm, WA13 0QS. It is part of the Diocese of Chester within the Church of England. The correspondence address is The Rectory, 46 Rectory Lane, Lymm WA13 0AL. St Mary’s Church Hall is situated off Crouchley Lane Lymm WA13 0AS. The PCC is the body corporate (PCC Powers Measure 1956, Church Representation Rules 2011) and a charity registered with the Charity Commission Charity Registration number 1179339

Officers

St Mary’s Safeguarding Officer – Chris Scott

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GDPR Officer & Data Controller- Carol Roberts

Health and Safety Officer (including Risk Assessments) – Alan Richardson

Electoral Roll Officer – Vanessa Lees

PCC Secretary – Derek Buckthorpe

PCC Members

Rector - Reverend Beverley Jameson

Wardens – Kath Buckley and George Bainton Treasurer – David Young Readers –Derek Buckthorpe, Ian Bundey Pastoral Worker - Carole Riley

Deanery Synod Elected Members

Ian Bundey, Jill Wasey and Sue Eckersall

PCC Elected Members at Annual Parochial Church Council Meeting 2020

Vicky Bettridge Robert Buckley Peter Clark Lewis Denton Simon Fathers Liz France Joan Garrett Mike Hall Chris Scott Jonathan Wide David Young (Treasurer)

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Financial Review

We are still in unprecedented times and we are extremely grateful for all the continued support given by many members of our congregation and general public. Overall our income showed a small decrease of some £2k which is quite remarkable considering our church hall income decreased by 50% and there was a sharp fall in our weddings and funerals receipts. As mentioned we our indebted to the continued support of our loyal congregation and donations from the general public. We were also fortunate in receiving £20k from a legacy which came with no restrictions in its use.

With the ongoing situation we reduced our monthly Diocesan share which took some pressure off ongoing expenditure. This reduced contribution will continue for the foreseeable future. The lockdown meant utility costs reduced for both the church and church hall. Unlike last year we incurred no one off repairs on the stonework but as we know we enjoy being in a historic church, but we must prepare for unexpected repair costs. During the last financial year we undertook some maintenance/repair work on the church hall. This on the back of receiving some grants, this investment will be money well spent and hopefully in the near future this expenditure will be recouped.

Overall our bank accounts appear healthy and we made a positive return last year, but it only needs one unexpected occurrence for our reserves to be put under pressure, we also need to finance clerical support from the mid year for the curate. The sooner we can have the church hall income restored the better. We will continue to monitor our finances closely. To this end I am personally very grateful for the support given to me in providing the financial data. We are fortunate to have a number of hard working dedicated personnel at our disposal

Overall our balance looks healthy but we know there will be increased expenditure over the coming months, plus there is no guarantee when out church hall income will be back on track

I am grateful to a number of people for their support David and Sylvia Critchley's continued dedication is beyond admiration and David for keeping on top of all the cheques, Mike Hall for his endeavours with utilities, Lewis Denton and Tim Morris doing great work in the background on Grant applications and Liz for chasing in the tax rebate A special thank you to all at St Marys and the kindness of the general public.

Reserves Policy

It is the policy of the PCC to seek to hold £10,000 in unrestricted reserves to cover running costs in the event of a major problem; this also equates to approx six weeks normal running costs. It is the policy to:

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Independenl Examiners Report Independent Examiner's Report to the PCC of St Mary the Virgin, Lymm For the year ended 31 December 2020 Respethive responsibilities of the Trustees and Independent Examiner As Irustees of the charity, the members of the PCC are responsible for the preparation of the accounts. They consider that an audit is not required for this year under section 144{2> of the Charities Act 2011 (the 2011 Act} and thal an independent examination is needed. li is my responsibilily to examine the accounts under section145 of the 2011 Act., to follow the procedures laid down in the General Directions given by the Charity Commissioners section 14515)(b) ot the 2011 Act., and state whether particular matters have come to my attention. Basis of Independent Examiner's Stalement My examination was carried out in accordance with the General Directions given by the Charity Commission. An examination includes a ieview of the accounting records kept by the charity and a comparison of Ihe accounts presented with those records. It also includes consideralion of any unusual itéms or disclosures in the accounts. and seeking explanations from the management committee concerning any such matters. The procedures undertaken do not provide all the evidence that would be required in a full audit, and consequently I do not express an audit opinion on the accounts. Independent Examiner's Ststement In connection wilh my examination, no matters have come lo my attention which give me reasonable Gause to believe thal in any material respecl the requirements to keep accounting records in accordance with s.130 of the 2011 Act., to prepare accounts with accord wilh these accounting records have not been tn8t- lo which, in my opinion. attenlion should be drawn in order to enable a proper understanding of the accounts to be reached. Christopher Callaway Msc 181 Pensby Road, Heswall, Wirral, CH61 6UB Date 0510312021

Accounts LYMM PARISH CHURCH RECEivfs AND PAYMENTS AIC 12 MONTHS TO DECEMBER 202 2019 2020 RECEIYTS Scheme 11,566 40,)35 14,828 Fmvelopes Other Ciift Aid Lloyds a￿d DD'S in general acct T￿atiOn Refund (pro Tata over the yearl 7,200 43,128 14,633 66,￿9 64,961 Non C..R. Scheme General Offertories- Collections Spe£ial OffertOTi£S- Weddings Funernjs etc. 3221 1213 71.363 1.999 649 2,648 67.609 13.705 85,068 P.C.C. F¢¢s Weddings and Funern]s TOTAL RECEIPTS 6.071 73,680 18.847 Chutth Hall Rentsls Rec¢iv¢d 9,142 Other R 61 34 Bank InteTe3t Re¢eiwed Legacy Interest Magaine Sales A&¥¢rtisements Furtdr&isittgRe£eipts l)onations8nd l)tber 46 47 I,020 170 895 120 1,190 11,971 1,015 30,749 31.857 117.171 TOTAL RECLIFrs 114.679 Cheek 99.915 14.764

LYMM PARISH CHURCH RECEIPTS AND PAYMENTS AIC 12 MONfHS TO DECFMIIER 2021J 2019 AcfuAL 2020 117,171 TOTAL RECEIPTS BID 154,679 PAYMENT CFIURCH AND 8F.RVICES Own, Organist and Choir Insurance lesiitnte based on lasty¢ar} 2,808 966 4,954 4,947 1,228 1.149 2,102 279 1,148 16,773 6.850 920 3,019 W*eT Electricity Repa￿5 and mainten￿¢¢ Repa￿$ 10 the Boiler PrintTng Siationery and Office Expems 607 2,338 22,757 5,178 RF.C.TORS F.XPFNSFS AND REcfoRY 5,003 Y SUPPORT COSTS 48,565 CHURCII HALL 1,944 261 518 Gt5 Water Electricity Insuratteelbased on last)Earl 1,302 146 859 1,800 540 1.650 354 4.995 180 Refus¢ Collection (teneral Repairs and Maintenance Gardenin lllternal Painting Music Li¢ente Other 80 224 250 10,875 6,956 98 MAGAZtNE PAYMENTS 3.663 WEDDING AND FUNE]L4L PAYMENTS OTHER PAYMENTS Sunday school, Youth c.lub gnd F.ducation ChuTches Together and L&y Courses Flowers Oth¢r Ci)sts 1,889 370 320 1,075 2.579 1,075 6.000 1,632 Repairs to the Stonework Architects Fees Lesg Received from Insur8nc¥ 7,632 121,687 87.334 14.5161 Exc¢s$ of Payments ov¢r R¢ceipts 27,345 io

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STATEMENT OFASSETS MID LIA￿LInEs AS AT318T DECEMBER 2020 2019 CASH FUNDS UNRESTRICTED FLINDS 10.437 6.2$9 nk ACc￿Tht 8wcbys 8ankACc￿nt Lknyd$ Wdings and FunÉrslA¢¢oJnt 37,286 11,647 21.169 Unrestr[C￿l Funds 48.933 DESIGNATED FVNDS St Mary's Fund& HIT￿ E￿$ RESTr1 ED FUNDS 7.ff21 414 3.148 H1nd￿Y E￿n$ Rthrs Trust EdL￿*1￿ Tfti81 st M8W$ Fund5 St Mar￿& Recdering Fur￿$ 8.414 3,249 8,133 80,000 80.MD 97.375 118,Y4 TOTAL 148.729 TaK Recoverab Thw8 ts ￿[0X￿ate￿ £14.WO rf Incrmetsx duefor 2020. A¥sets Retair￿￿ Lymm PCC cwn thè churGh hall, bDth the L4nd and tho ￿lI01ng8 Lrabilit Th¥e •re no ¥ignfftant liabilit EndWnent&l￿OSit WèhsvÈ fwr deposit xcounts which total £24,248.88 13

gAIIKRECONCILI DÈCEklBER 2020 T ACCO Balay1¢¢￿ at319t D2cember2Q20 37639.8 Less unry6$￿¢ ¢￿￿eS PPL PR5 103400 IOS402 105404 185.84 105.72 81.88 Ablesecuity Water 383.44 Bo￿nCe￿eracc<Kl￿ts 37286.36 EDDI NE unt m(hed Into currertarcount B*n￿£S at 319tOecernber2020 LS$$ unp￿￿ted Cthequey Non& Balance perAC￿¥￿I¥ r￿ARY$ ERING F￿lD- R Ik4RCLAYSAND CCW BaLgrte8sa1315tDembei 2019 86792 02 CP SGHEMEISO'sl Taiaiiun Refu 1334.76 8¥nklntere5tRecw¥edlc(aal Cl(wng Ba12nce 88133 1 88133 1 DRES Ba￿r￿aSat3fjS1D￿ibeI 2018 7020.84 Be[￿lt Inwt 1000 393.12 8413.96 Transferio GenerJlknL 8413.96 B413.85 14

RÉeTORSDISTBN FUND as a131sl DBcernbBr2019 41¢.33 414.33 Ba￿￿c£ 31st D￿e[n￿r2D20 CAnONTRusfFUND Balanceasat31St December2019 3148.26 100.2 8￿￿￿*3%¥1 t)0¢8mty8r2019 8248.55 ¥248.SS 15

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