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2022-12-31-accounts

Parish of Gornal and Sedgley

2022 Report and Accounts for the Parochial Church Council of the Parish of Gornal and Sedgley[1]

Please note - This report is based on the Annual Parochial Church Meeting (APCM) report, which was approved 7[th] May 2023, which includes the 2022 end of year accounts.

Aims and purposes

Gornal and Sedgley’s Parochial Church Council (PCC) has the responsibility of co-operating with the Acting Team Rector (Rev Catherine Mitchell), in promoting in the ecclesiastical parish, the whole mission of the Church, pastoral, evangelistic, social and ecumenical. The PCC has overall responsibility to oversee the maintenance of our churches and halls. However, specific responsibility for the day to day running and maintenance is delegated to the respective District Church Councils (DCC); namely All Saints’ church and hall, Sedgley, All Saints DCC; St Peter’s church and hall, Upper Gornal, St Peter’s DCC; St Andrew’s church and hall, St Andrew’s DCC.

Objectives and Activities

The PCC is committed to enabling as many people as possible to worship at our churches and to become part of our parish community.

Safeguarding

The PCC, and the people of the parish are committed to their Safeguarding responsibilities.

The PCC is aware of its duty to have due regard to House of Bishops' guidance on safeguarding children and vulnerable adults. The Church of England’s safeguarding policy statement, ‘Promoting a Safer Church’, requires us to have an action plan in place that sets out how the policy is being put into action and committing to review this regularly. This action plan has been presented by Barbara Baker, our PSO and approved by PCC. Safeguarding is an agenda item on every PCC meeting.

1The Parish of Gornal and Sedgley includes the churches of All Saints’, Sedgley St Peter’s, Upper Gornal and St Andrew’s, The Straits.

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The PCC wish to thank our safeguarding officer Barbara Baker for all her hard work during the past 12 months.

Achievements and Performance

The year 2022 was another year of challenges for the parish, although thankfully the COVID19 restrictions were gradually lifted, and parish life pretty much returned to pre-pandemic practices in our churches, with restrictions on numbers in churches and the wearing of masks removed and the return of the Common Cup in October.

At the end of February Team Rector Rev Guy Hewlett retired with a well-attended final service at All Saints on 27th February. With the post of Team Rector being vacant, the service pattern initially continued as before with the help of local retired priests, for which we give thanks for their support.

As a parish, we have continued to be greatly blessed by an incredible amount of hard work and ministry that so many are contributing to God’s work in this place.

Our Standing Committee and Church Councils have continued to work together to help steer the parish forward, giving a great deal of time and energy, during this period of time, for which we are grateful and give thanks for the time given with additional meetings that were required during the year, because of the vacancy.

After assessment of our parish finances, it became clear that the parish could not afford to fill the post of Team Rector, and therefore ministry by ordained clergy would now be fulfilled solely by the Team Vicar Rev Catherine Mitchell.

The biggest challenge was how could one member of clergy fulfil ministry within the parish, which was previously carried out by two members of clergy, the way we “do’ things would have to change, the challenges are outlined in more detail further in the report.

We were able to offer a full week of services for Holy Week and Easter with the support of Canon Jan Humphries and Worship ALM Suzanne Bradley. Unfortunately, Rev Catherine had to isolate with Covid-19 from the Tuesday of Holy week, however, we were blessed by the support of local clergy, Canon Jan and Worship ALM Suzanne, to maintain the services planned, for which we are grateful.

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We had three joint meetings of the PCC and DCC’s with Archdeacon Nikki Groarke, and Area Dean Rev David Hoskins in May, July, and October. At the May meeting we were asked for our hopes and dreams for the parish. We also discussed the ongoing maintenance of the current service pattern with the support of retired clergy not being sustainable now that we could not fill the post of Team Rector.

Archdeacon Nikki, Area Dean David and Rev Catherine met after the meeting to develop a service pattern that would be more sustainable for one member of clergy, which was to commence at the start of July.

At the meeting in July, we discussed the ongoing challenges with the new rota, particularly for All Saints not now being able to have services each week at 8:00 and 10:30; it was agreed that the church could open, when there were no services scheduled, for private prayer. Church members were encouraged to attend another church in the parish where there was no service in their own church building.

At the meeting in October, further revisions of the rota were developed and discussed, and the preferred option was agreed which, with the support of clergy from Top Church Dudley, for one morning communion a month at All Saints, and with service time changes for St Peters and All Saints, we were able to offer 3 services at both churches (St Peters moving from 10:30 to 10:00 and All Saints from 10:30 to 11:00); St Andrews, with the support of Canon Jan three services a week, was able to have a service each week, with one being a Eucharist.

At All Saints, there remained two 8:00am and one 11:00 where a service could not be provided. A prayer meeting led by Church Warden Keith Tomlinson was offered, whilst encouraging those who could to travel to services at St Peters or St Andrews.

It was planned that the new rota would commence in January 2023.

During our Joint Council meetings, we heard of the potential of All Saints being part of Diocese of Worcester SDF grant bid for churches identified as having potential to grow to a congregation size of 150, with All Saints being one of these churches in the north of the Diocese. The funding for All Saints could include a half time stipendiary priest to oversee a potential new worshipping community and a full time children’s and families worker.

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It is still early days with the process, and we will know more about the project and the discernment process during 2023. This is an exciting opportunity for All Saints and the parish.

I would like to express my thanks to our Church Wardens, Church and Parish Councils, Authorised Lay Ministers and LLM Canon Jan, in support of the parish’s life and ministry during the year; also, thanks to all who give so much time and energy in many ways. During the year the Bereavement Hub started, under the careful and sensitive guidance of Pastoral ALM Kath Apperley, who arranged training from Compton Hospice for the team and coordinates the monthly sessions with the team.

Our parish priorities of prayer continued during the year with continued online prayer opportunities, including morning prayer, Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday and the twice monthly prayer opportunities on Tuesday afternoons and Tuesday evenings.

Our second priority of Children and families saw an increased number of families requesting baptisms for their children, and with the Covid-19 restrictions being lifted we were able to welcome many more families into All Saints and St Andrews compared with the previous two years.

Our Back2Gather service once every two months developed into Café Church, and from September this was offered monthly on the first Sunday of the month at 4:00pm. Numbers for Café Church have fluctuated, and it is hoped that moving to monthly services will enable and encourage those attending to make attendance a regular service for them. I would like to thank the team for their support and creativity, and special thanks to Helen Laird, our Mission Enabler for her help and guidance; also thanks to Jaimie Laird, Helen’s husband for supporting Café Church by leading the sung worship.

2022 also saw the return of the Good Friday Workshop (for 4-11 year olds) and the Teddy Bears picnic (for pre-school children), led by Barbara Price, Laura Robinson and the Team. It was a joy to see so many people come through the hall and the church for these events. The toddler groups in the parish, Little Angels (St Andrews) and Noah’s Ark (All Saints), continue to be a blessing in the parish, and thanks must go to the hard work of the teams who organise and run the sessions.

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Sadly, at the end of this year All Saints Junior Church finished meeting. Junior church has been meeting and led by Barbara Price and the team at All Saints for many years, and it is with great sadness that the group would no longer meet. I would like to express my thanks to Barbara and the team for many years of ministry in Junior church.

2022 saw the return of the Good Friday workshop and the Teddy Bears picnic at All Saints, coordinated, and led by Barbara Price. The Good Friday workshop has run for many years and is a great way of connecting with families. The first Teddy Bears picnic was in 2019 and it was lovely to see it return after the pandemic. My thanks again for Barbara and the team for these great events.

There were several community and civic events and services that we were able to offer during the year. The church was opened, for the Queens Platinum Jubilee National Service and the Queens Funeral, which were shown on the screen, which was appreciated by those who attended. We also had books of condolences at all three of our churches on the death of Her Majesty the Queen.

We were able to offer two memorial services for those the Team Ministry have conducted funerals for in the past year, which were well received. In November we hosted once again the Remembrance Sunday service, with the Act of Remembrance gathered around the new war memorial in the gardens adjacent to the church.

Christmas was once again a busy time in the parish, with firstly the Sedgley Lights Switch on event. The hall was opened and tables available for local charities to host tables, and refreshments were also available, and a local choir singing. The event saw several hundred people come through the hall and was well received. Thanks to Brian and Denise Chappell, and the team for organising the event. The church was also opened, and again many people visited the church, and thanks to Keith Tomlinson for facilitating this.

We also welcomed Alder Coppice and Cotwall End Schools to the church for their Carol services after a two-year break due to the pandemic.

A Christmas event called “A Taste of Christmas” was organised over Friday, Saturday, and Sunday, before Christmas where the church was opened, with crafts being available and

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local school choirs singing on the Friday. Sadly, the event was impacted by the cold weather and snow. Thanks to Liz and Chris Williams and the team for organising the event.

We also welcomed, once again, the Worcester Cathedral Chamber Choir, for the Nine Lessons and Carols, which is always well received, however numbers were affected by the recent snow and cold weather and snow.

Once again, our parish Safeguarding Officer Barbara Baker has worked hard with us to ensure that all are safe, and all appropriate training and checks have been done or are being done, my thanks to Barbara for all her hard work on behalf of the parish.

All Saints Hall continues to be a blessing with excellent facilities offered; the hall is well used by the community and thanks must go to John Anderson and Gail Griffiths for managing the hall, and bookings and requirements.

Thanks also to our administrator Gail Griffiths for all her support and commitment in the parish office.

Towards the end of the year, we applied for a Diocesan Mission Accompanier to help us to develop a Parish Health and Sustainability Plan. Chris Sheehan was appointed and along with a cross parish team have been discerning ideas, which will be developed during 2023. The closure of St Peter’s Church continued to be a cause of concern and frustration for the church community. Towards the end of the year, we were advised by the Church Commissioners that the final closure of the church would be by February 2023. St Peters Church community continues to worship in the hall.

St Andrews church continues to be supported by Canon Jan, I would like to express my thanks to Jan for all her hard work in managing so much of the life of the church community on The Straits. The hall at St Andrew’s continues to be used well, but there is scope for more hall bookings, which would improve the financial situation for the church. Long awaited external maintenance and painting was started, was completed in 2022.

Our three churches have not been able to pay the full Ministry Share for two stipendiary clergy, as mentioned previously. However, we were able to apply for a Lowest Income Community and Ministry Share Grants from the Diocese to enable us to fulfil our

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commitments this year. It is anticipated that our Ministry Share obligation in 2023 will be for one Stipendiary Minister.

Thank you to the treasurers in the parish, John Anderson, Sheila Moss and Alan Turner for all their hard work; and thank you all for all you are giving to God’s work in money, time and talents.

Occasional offices continue in the parish, with increased numbers for Weddings and Baptisms in 2022 compared with the previous two years. This has been a challenge this year for Rev Catherine conducting these services without the support of a second priest. Funerals have continued at a relatively steady pace through the year. Thank you to Canon Jan for all her hard work sharing the funeral ministry during the year, with increased workload with the reduced ministry team numbers.

During the year two of our Pastoral ALM’s, explored the potential of training to be Authorised Funeral Ministers in the parish. The PCC agreed for them to train, and they have completed the taught element of the training and are now continuing onto the practical element of training. It is hoped that they will be authorised to this ministry in the parish by Bishop John in 2023.

At the beginning of the year our Vestry Clerk Chris Williams laid down the booking and coordinating of weddings, which are now administered with the help of Gail in the parish office, in conjunction with Rev Catherine. Chris has continued with Baptism bookings for this year, for which I express my thanks for his great care and attention in this challenging role.

At a service in October Rev Catherine was authorised by Bishop Robert Patterson as Acting Team Rector, after being invited to take on this role by Bishop John Inge, as we continue to discern ministry provision in the Parish.

As a parish and the leadership teams of the PCC and DCC’s we continue to work within the framework of the Diocese or Worcester initiative of being Kingdom People, with its emphasis on the Gospel main stays of love, compassion, justice and freedom.

2022 has been a challenging year for the parish, as we wrestled with the many challenges of moving from two stipendiary ministers to one, with the impact on service rota’s and the

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new initiatives within the parish. As we move into 2023, we will need to continue to discern what God is calling us to as a parish in our Ministry and Mission, our stewardship of time, talents, and money; and what it means to be the people of God in the Parish of Gornal and Sedgley.

There are too many to mention by name but thank you to all who have given so much.

Thank you all for all you are doing in the parish.

Together with God we will move forward!

Rev Catherine Mitchell

Acting Team Rector

The following outlines, with these eight characteristics, the achievements and performance of the parish

  1. Deeply rooted in prayer and study of the scriptures,

  2. Prayer is the most important activity we do as Christians. There are several opportunities that have been established within the parish; morning prayer each week at 9:15, which moved online from the start of the pandemic, on Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday mornings. Also, two prayer meetings have continued once a month on a Tuesday afternoon, and once a month on a Tuesday evening, both are now on line.

  3. The Thursday Fellowship Group continued online through the year and attracted members from outside the parish.

2. Renewed and transformed by regular worship,

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opened for private prayer during times when there would have been a service. The rota was again revised later in the year, and with the commitment of Top Church in Dudley to support one service a month, the rota was revised again with service times changed for St Peters and All Saints, and an additional service was introduced at All Saints.

  1. Equipped to witness to the Gospel of love, compassion, justice and freedom,

    • Occasional offices continued during the year, with baptisms and weddings mainly now conducted by Rev Catherine Mitchell (Acting Team Rector), and funerals by Rev Catherine Mitchell and Canon Jan Humphries (LLM).

    • We conducted two memorial services for those who had died, over the past two years, all the services were well attended and received.

  2. Dedicated to helping children and young people to belong and be nurtured in faith,

    • The toddler groups, Noah’s Ark and Little Angels continue to be well attended and supported.

    • Café church continued through 2022, and we moved to a monthly service with seasonal themes.

    • We have continued to engage with the diocesan CYD project “Baptism Books” sending out the resources each month to baptism families.

    • We continued to engage a children’s evangelist, Paul Wilmot, who visits several of the local school to take assemblies on behalf of the church.

    • The Good Friday workshop resumed, and was well attended; also the Teddy Bears Picnic for under 4’s.

    • Sadly Junior church closed at the end of the year.

  3. Devoted to growing deeply as disciples, offering our time, talents and money to

  4. God

  5. We continue to be blessed by many people in the parish working hard to keep the buildings.

  6. Despite the hard work of our treasurers, each of our 3 churches has not been able to pay the full parish share asked of us.

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Financial Review

From 2022 financial accounts

Income £154,149
Expenditure £147,275
Excess £7,474
Balance brought forward from 31st Dec 2019 £204,226
Increase in value of shares £10,177
Balance at 31st December 2022 £192,321

See also Statement of Financial Activities for the Year ended 31st December 2022 for further information.

Reserves Policy

All three churches now have reserves policies in place

Volunteers

We would like to thank all the volunteers who work so hard to make our churches friendly and welcoming places, and in building the community. In particular we want to mention our licensed lay minister Canon Jan Humphries and our church wardens Mr Steve Castle, Mr Keith Tomlinson, Mr Dave Moss and Mr Edward Grist. We would also like to thank all of our PCC and DCC members, and all who give so much of their time for the church community.

Structures, governance and management

The method of appointment of PCC members is set out in the Church Representation Rules. In the Parish of Gornal and Sedgley the membership of the PCC consists of the Team Rector

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and the Team Vicar (from Oct 2022 Acting Team Rector replacing Team Rector and Team Vicar), churchwardens from the three churches, the licensed lay minister, the Treasurers from each Church, together with members elected by the members of the congregations who are on the electoral rolls of our three churches, ex oficio members (Deanery reps) and Co-Opted members. All those who attend our services are encouraged to register on the Electoral Roll as Members. Members are encouraged to stand for election of the PCC.

The PCC, is the executive body of the parish and responsible for making decisions on all matters of general concern for the whole parish, including on how any funds of the PCC are to be spent. The PCC delegates specific responsibilities to the individual church councils (DCC’s) as set out in the Pastoral Scheme dated April 2008. New members of the PCC receive initial training into the workings of the PCC.

There were four meetings of the PCC in 2022 (May (x2), July and December). The second PCC meeting in May 2022 was to confirm parish officers. The average attendance for PCC meetings was 71%. This was the first year post pandemic where all meetings were ‘inperson’.

The Standing Committee comprising of clergy, wardens, treasurers, and PCC secretary met in February 2022 to gain a common understanding of the parish financial position.

There were four joint meetings of the PCC and DCCs, the first, in January 2022 to consider the future shape of stipendiary ministry and whether financing two stipendiary posts was achievable or not.

The retirement of Rev. Guy Hewlitt in February 2022 brought forward difficult conversations around the shape of future ministry, given declining income and attendance across all three churches. For many years the cost of two stipends in the parish had been subsidised by the Diocese.

The second and subsequent joint meetings of PCC and DCCs, chaired by Archdeacon Nikki Groake, accompanied by Area Dean Canon David Hoskins, concluded that the parish could no longer sustain the cost of two stipendiary clergy. Various service rotas were piloted to identify the best way of operating healthy and sustainable churches with one priest.

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The number of electors on the roll for the Gornal and Sedgley Team Ministry at

15th May 2022 is 192 a decrease of 10 from 2021.

There are 47 electors at St Peter’s, 123 at All Saints’ and 22 at St Andrew’s.

(from the electoral roll officer report 15th May 2022)

Administrative Information

The Benefice and Parish of Gornal and Sedgley, consists of the Parish Church of All Saints’, Sedgley; the Parish church of St Peter’s, Upper Gornal; and the Church of St Andrew’s, The Straits. It is in the Greater Dudley Deanery, being part of the Diocese of Worcester within the Church of England.

The correspondence address and administrative centre is All Saints Parish Office, Ladies Walk, Dudley, DY3 3UA

The PCC is a body corporate (PCC Powers Measures 1956m Church Representation Rules 2006).[2]

PCC members who served during 2022

Ex Officio members :

2 The method of appointment of PCC members is set out in Clause 4.4.5 of the Pastoral Scheme for the Parish of Gornal & Sedgley, dated 27th April 2008. (The scheme is pursuant to Church Representation Rule 18.)

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Elected Members:

Co-opted

Report approved by the Parochial Church Council of the Parish of Gornal and Sedgley at the PCC meeting on 17[th] July 2023.

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REPORTON 2022 ACCOUNTS FOR GORNAL & SEDGLEY IEAM MINISTRY The attached accounts are an amalgamation of the accounts for each of the three District Church Councils within the team. There are no accounts held specifically for Parochial Church Council. Attendances at all churches have still not recovered to pre-COVID levels and giving is reflected by this. Fundraising opportunities have been greatly redU￿d due to the aging congregation All Saints, balances reflect £18,000 drop in share value last year which will hopefully recession is avoided in the coming months.

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Parish of Gornal and Sedgley

All Saint’s, Sedgley St Peter’s, Upper Gornal St Andrew’s, The Straits

Team Vicar: Rev Catherine Mitchell

27[th] December 2018

9[th] October 2023

Re: Independent Examiners Reports for accounts Year ending 31/12/22

The Parish of Gornal and Sedgley Year End Accounts Statement is an amalgamated statement containing the year end accounts statements for each church, therefore there is no Overall Independent Examiners Report.

Each church is responsible for its own finances and accounts as per Pastoral Scheme in 2009, at the creation of the Parish of Gornal and Sedgley.

The end of year accounts for each church are examined by independent examiners and the reports are contained within this document, for year ending 31[st] December 2022.

Rev Catherine Mitchell, Team Vicar Parish of Gornal and Sedgley

FINANCIAL STATEMENIS FOR THE YEAR ENOED 31- DECEMBER 2022 Ik)dependent Examinerfs RewttoAN SinVs CIMth. Sed8ley I rewrt to the members on myexamination of the ￿COUnts of Salftvschurch for iheyea¥ ended 31. DeternbÈi 2022 which are set out on page5 1 to 3. Responslblllties and basis of report All Saint'5 Church you are res￿￿1b￿ forthe ￿paratIOn of the accounts. I report tn respect of my examinatK)n of the accounts fjn accordantr with inst¢ucth)ns 8Nen to us by inspertin8 vifthout tarrying out an audil the annexed financ¢al 5tatefflents fTOrn the aC(￿UntIng record5 of All Saint'5 Churrh- Sedgley and from inforniation and explanation5 supplied to us. Independent ex¥rniner'$ 5tstement I have completed rnyexarnination. I confirm that no material matters have come to my atteniion in conneLl￿n with the examinarion 8Mn8 me cause to Llrdve that in any rnaterial ¥e5pect.' adequate accountin8 records were rbot kept in re5pett of the thurrh- or the accounts do not accord with those re(OTd5' Of the accounts do not comptywrth the applKable requirements corKernlngthe fonn and content. I have no concern5 and have corrbe across no olher rnatter5 In connect)n with the examination to which attention 5hwld be drawn in thi5 rewrt in orderto efiable a proper undÈrstandin8of the acubunts to be reached. David Guy CIO Guy & Co Chartered Certrfied A¢¢ountants 12 Johnson Street Woodcross Coselev West Mid￿￿￿5 WV14 9RL Date..

Page 6 tNDEPENDENT EXAMINERS REPORT TO THE DISTRICT CHURCH COUNCIL OF UPPER GORNAL This report on the accounts of the D.C.C. for the year ended 31st December 2022. vAJich atc out on pa8¢5 I to 5, is in respect of an exatuination ca￿lled out under regulation 3(3) of the Church Accounting Regulations 1997 al￿ S.43 of the Charities Aet 1993. As the rnembu5 of the D.C.C. you are reswible for the preparation of the xcounts. It is my responsibility to issue this retrf)rt on those accoullts in accorda[￿ thc terJDS of regulation 25 of the Church Accounting Regulations 1997 and regulation 7 of the Clwitie5 (Account5 aud Rq￿s) RegulatiOD5 1995. My eXami￿tion w&$ caTried out in accord#nce with the genernl dirtetions ￿Vell by the Charity Commission utsdet S.43(7)Ib) of the Act and to be found iti the guidance from the C.B.F. That exalliiIthtioD includes a review of the accounting rccords kept by the D.C.C. and a Comparison of the accounts with those rttord& It also includes consideration of any UDusual items in the accoutlts and seekillg explanations from you &8 thjstees concerning such matters. The prcttdures undertaken do not provide all the evidence that would be ro4uired in an audiL and cowuently I do not expre&s and audit opinion on the view given by the accounts. In comie£tion with my examinatio￿ no matter has come to my attention.. l) Which gives us reasonable Cause to believe that in any M￿erIal respect the requirements a) to keep accounting records in accordance with seaion 41 of the Act and b) to ptrpare accounts which accord with the accounting r￿rdS and to comply with the requirements of the ACL as also contsinoj in the Church A¢¢ounting R¢gulation$ 1997 have not been rnet, or 2) To which in my Opinio￿ attention should be drawn in 9.r4y.to enable a proper understanding of the accounts to be reached. J. Howell B

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