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2022-12-31-accounts

St Mary’s Church Peterborough ~~ANNUAL~~ REPORT ~~& STATEMENT OF~~ ACCOUNTS ~~FOR 2022~~

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St Mary’s Church is part of the Diocese of Peterborough within the Church of England. The correspondence address is St Mary’s Church, New Road, Peterborough PE1 1TT. The Parochial Church Council (PCC) of Peterborough St Mary is a body corporate (PCC Powers Measure 1956, Church Representation Rules 2006) and registered with the Charity Commission in September 2018. Its Registered Charity Number is 1180032.

PCC members who served at any time during 2022 are:

Ex-officio members:

Elected members:

Authorised Lay Pioneers: Mr Keith Brett, Mrs Vicky Brett Electoral Roll Officer: Mrs Janette Jones-Pipe Safeguarding Officer: Mrs Jayne Ellis Health & Safety Officer: Mr Mark Stevens Independent Examiner: Mr N J Burroughs FCA,

45 Farleigh Fields, Orton Wistow, Peterborough

Banking details: St Mary’s Peterborough PCC General Account is at Barclays Bank, 1 Church Street, Peterborough PE1 1XB

St Mary’s Peterborough Restricted Accounts are held by the Peterborough Diocesan Board of Finance (Registered Charity no. 250569)

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Our Vicar, Revd. Canon Michael Moore, summarises 2022 at St Mary’s

GROWTH

Covid has changed many things, some for the better. At the start of the year, services were just coming back into the church and we have seen a steady growth in numbers as the year has gone on. Sadly, some people have drifted away. However, many new people have joined us and in 2023 we will put on an Alpha Course to help them and others learn more about the Christian faith.

We still have a big online presence, and will be continuing with this and building on it.

PRAYER

As well as focusing on God’s Word at St Mary’s, we continue to be an actively praying church. I am grateful to those who lead our ‘Thursday Prayers online’; these are now sent via email and we gather together at home, but are praying as one.

Our ‘Prayer Link’ continues to be a great support to those in need of urgent prayer throughout the local community and across the country and the world. I am glad to say that our monthly Prayer Evenings in church on a Tuesday have returned and, each Tuesday, we usually have a collective prayer time of eight hours.

EXPANDING THE TEAM

This year, many people have asked if they can help the church and more people are involved than ever before, taking on new roles and helping in new ways. The Social Team has planned and is putting on new events. You may be able to help. We have over sixty people reading on a Sunday and leading the prayers – young people, older people and in between. Stuart Pedley is training to be a Licenced Reader and someone is exploring Licenced Pastoral Ministry.

REACHING OUT TO OUR COMMUNITY

St Mary’s continues to be an outward-looking church. We raised a huge amount for our Summer Fundraiser in 2022 (£5,200). £2,600 of this went to the local charity ‘Mary’s Child’ and the other half to St Mary’s to put towards the rebuilding of the front steps. This amazing amount is a testament to the huge generosity of our church members and their families and friends. With our other giving, it totalled over £12,000.

We restarted our house-to-house collections during Christian Aid Week raising £1,285 of an overall total of £4,175 (including gift aid). With the addition of almost £3,000 from the Red Bucket appeals we raised over £6,600 for Christian Aid this year. We also kept collecting for the Peterborough Food Bank each week. Street Prayer within our parish has also restarted and good conversations and follow-up visits are being made

The streaming of our church services also helped people to feel connected, and many who did not come to church before now regularly tune in. When meeting new people, it is helpful to point them to our online services, so they can see what we are like as a church before they try it. The services are proving to be a lifeline for those who cannot get to church because of illness, as they still feel part of the worshipping community.

FINANCES

We knew finances were going to be tough for us at St Mary’s this year with lettings still down on prepandemic levels. We made a large loss this year and it has been balanced out by the surplus the year before. God is good. However, we need to look at what we give this year and how we can all help to balance the books. Together we can sort this.

We have reached out into the community with God’s love through our online services and, through those, we have ourselves been blessed as a church. We have reached out to the community with our church magazine, still being delivered, albeit in smaller numbers, telling people what is happening in the church. Spare copies were also delivered to the new estates in our parish.

There is a great need in our community, not just financially but also spiritually and I know that, as a church, we are helping in those areas. Together at St Mary’s, we are making a difference in people’s lives in this city. I pray that this will continue and that, as a church, we all will make a difference.

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Our Parish of, Peterborough St Mary’s

The church of Peterborough St Mary was constituted on 27th August 1857 (as St Mary Boongate) to serve those living on the eastern side of Peterborough, principally the poor of the Boongate slums. Much of the parish was rural then, but the 20th century brought considerable residential, industrial and commercial development, particularly between 1970 and 1990 when Peterborough Development Corporation transformed the area. As part of that change, the mid-Victorian church building was demolished, and replaced with a modern building incorporating a church and chapel, with halls, meeting rooms, kitchens and toilets on two floors.

Our parish broadly equates to the civil Peterborough East Ward together with small parts of the neighbouring Central, Park and Dogsthorpe Wards. Covering an area of 3.6 square miles it forms a wedge, stretching out almost three miles north-eastwards from the city centre, from the Eastgate estates (which replaced the old Boongate slums in the 1970s), through the post-war suburb of Eastfield to the newer township of Parnwell. It also includes the extensive Eastern Industrial estates and part of the city’s retail and commercial centre. The church building is situated in the southwestern corner of the parish, close to the city centre.

The population is around 15,900, roughly half of whom are white British. It is relatively young - 21% of those living in the parish in 2019 were under 15 years of age, slightly above the figure of 18% for England as a whole (Church of England Research & Statistics Unit Parish data Jan. 2022). It is one of the 10% most deprived parishes in the country ( based on the indicators of poverty used by the Church of England Research & Statistics Unit and the Church Urban Fund) , for each of child, working-age and pensioner poverty.

The number of people living in the parish is expected to grow, and several housing developments are either planned or underway, including the large Northminster scheme on the former site of the City Market, close to the church.

Within our parish we have five primary schools (Bishop Creighton Academy; Lime Academy Abbotsmede; Lime Academy Parnwell; Newark Hill Academy; St Thomas More RC Primary), two Secondary Schools (City of Peterborough Academy, St John Fisher RC High School) and two Special Schools ( Medeshamstede Academy, NeneGate School) and a Further Education College (City College). The new Peterborough campus of Anglia Ruskin University, which welcomed its first students in September 2022, is also in our parish.

The Primary Purpose of St Mary’s Church

Our principal objective at St Mary’s is to proclaim the Gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ according to the doctrines and practices of the Church of England. Like all churches, St Mary’s attempts to look three ways at once in its mission, because at all times we strive to be open to and engage with our Living God, with our community neighbours and with our own ‘church family’. These three fundamental functions underpin our mission as a church.

St Mary’s Parochial Church Council is committed to growing our church – not just numerically, but to grow nearer to God through worship, to grow in faith and spiritual understanding, to grow out into our local community and to grow in fellowship with each other. To facilitate this growth we consider it important to maintain the fabric and contents of our church and centre building, and also to ensure that we have sufficient resources, human, technological and monetary.

As a church, our first priority at St Mary’s is worship and prayer, and we are committed to holding regular public worship that is open to all, and to provide a sacred space for personal prayer and contemplation. We teach the Christian faith through sermons, courses and small groups, and offer a pastoral ministry to the sick and bereaved. We want to promote the whole mission of the church through the provision of activities of benefit to people in our local community, and want in particular to work with the schools within our parish.

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St Mary’s PCC is focused on the advancement of religion for the public benefit. When compiling our action plans for each year, we consider the Charity Commission’s guidance on public benefit, particularly the specific guidance given to charities concerned with the advancement of religion. We also consider the wider needs of the local community which we serve.

Structure, governance and management

St Mary’s Peterborough PCC is a body corporate operating under the Parochial Church Councils (Powers) Measure 1956 and the Church Representation Rules . In essence its role is to work with Canon Michael, as our Vicar, in all church activities, including the whole mission of the Church, pastoral, evangelistic, social & ecumenical; participating in local Deanery and Diocesan events; looking after our building and contents; managing our finances and ensuring that things successfully happen.

St Mary’s PCC is specifically responsible for the maintenance of the Church Centre complex, which is spread over two floors and comprises the church, the chapel, two halls, two kitchens, three small meeting rooms, three vestries and an office. This modern, purpose-built building was opened in 1991, replacing the original Victorian church which was in a very poor state of repair and had no community facilities.

Given its wide responsibilities, the PCC has a number of committees and teams and authorises individuals to be responsible for particular areas of church activity, such as safeguarding, health and safety, stewardship, pastoral visiting and Churches Together liaison. It also employs two people: a part-time administrative assistant and a part-time cleaner/caretaker.

The day-to-day management of St Mary’s Church is exercised by the Standing Committee: Revd. Canon Michael Moore ( Vicar) , Mary Manna and Chi-Man Man ( previous Churchwardens ), Andrew Christie, Michael Holborn ( Churchwardens) , Vicky Brett (PCC Secretary) , Richard Smith (Treasurer) and Elizabeth Pedley. This is the only committee required by law, and it has the power to transact business between PCC meetings and consider issues which may affect the church.

PCC members are appointed in accordance with the Church of England Representation Rules and are elected at the Annual Parochial Church Meeting (APCM), normally held each May. By decision of a previous APCM, elected members serve for one year only (except for those elected to Synod, who generally serve for three years). Everyone who regularly attends St Mary’s is encouraged to join our Electoral Roll and to stand for election to the PCC. All members of the PCC are required to be DBS checked and to complete safeguarding training at a level appropriate to their role. They may also receive other external training as and when deemed appropriate.

Our APCM was held in May 2022. This meeting elected two new churchwardens and nine lay PCC members for one year. St Mary’s PCC met seven times during 2022. The average level of attendance during 2022 was 77.4%.

Meetings are chaired by an elected Lay Chair at the request of the Vicar, who otherwise retains chairmanship of the PCC as Trustees of St Mary’s.

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Our Plans for the future - the next five years

During 2019 St Mary’s PCC set a new five year growth agenda for the years 2020 — 2025, which we felt would help strengthen our commitment to the core functions forming the basis of our on-going purpose, namely:

Our 5 Year Plan (2020 to 2025) identifies specific ways in which we hope to grow, and things we wish to achieve: To grow nearer to God through worship:

By offering worship opportunities in a range of different styles and on different days of the week

By encouraging those who come to attend more regularly

To grow in faith and spiritual understanding: By encouraging more of the congregation to deepen their knowledge and understanding of the Christian faith through attendance at the activities we offer (e.g. Bible Study, House Groups, Lent Course) By ensuring that our children and young people have firm foundations on which to grow their Christian faith

To grow in fellowship with one another:

By ensuring that everyone who walks through our doors is greeted with the same high standards of warmth and hospitality, and made to feel a valued member of our community By offering a range of social and fund-raising activities appropriate to the age and interests of both our diverse congregation and our wider church community By living out the principles of Inclusive Church By developing a close partnership with our local Christian churches By actively supporting specific charities through fundraising events To grow out into our local community through mission and outreach: By making contact with residents throughout the parish By making contact with local offices and businesses, including those on the Eastern Industrial Estates By strengthening our links with local schools By offering activities for local children and young people To grow in numbers: By working to increase the numbers of those who attend our Sunday and weekday services on a regular basis

And in order to achieve these aims, we want to ensure that we:

Have sufficient numbers of people from various age-groups with the necessary skills and training to get things done Have appropriate, well-maintained facilities, with improvements made where necessary Have enough money, whilst giving a tenth of our income away to charity each year Limit the damage we may be causing to our planet

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What PCC wanted to achieve in 2022

Our 5-year implementation plans were adversely affected by the covid pandemic, disrupting the original timetable and altering our views on what to regard as a priority.

However, it has not altered our purpose as a Church or changed our intention to achieve these aims.

Our key priority for 2022 was therefore to:

and this is what we managed to do in 2022. We:

Continued to make public worship a priority:

Encouraged those we haven’t seen since the pandemic started, to come back to church.

Took steps to grow in faith and spiritual understanding:

Explored ways to offer online fellowship groups, including a remote prayer group.

Ran an Advent course ‘My Beloved Son’.

Took steps to grow in fellowship with one another:

Improved the accuracy, consistency and accessibility of our communications, so that all are aware of forthcoming activities and feel invited.

Restarted ‘Men’s Breakfasts’ and ‘Meals Out’.

Raised awareness of Inclusivity by offering a ‘Living in Love and Faith’ course during Lent.

Encouraged more events with other local churches.

Took steps to grow out into our local community through mission and outreach:

Distributed copies of ‘ News Around St Mary’s’ to new houses in the parish.

Hosted 5 different U3A Church History Groups

Took steps to ensure that we had appropriate resources and facilities to achieve our plans:

Installed a new permanent projector in the Lower Hall.

Repaired the front steps.

We also want to limit the damage we might cause to our planet:

Applied for an Eco Church Award.

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Our Priorities for 2023

During 2023 St Mary’s PCC plans to focus on the following steps towards achieving the goals we set ourselves in our Five Year Plan [page 6].

During 2023 we hope to achieve the following, assuming it is safe to do so:

To grow nearer to God through worship:

By encouraging those we haven’t seen since the pandemic started, to come back to church To grow in faith and spiritual understanding:

By offering an Alpha Course, meeting weekly from January to March

To grow in fellowship with one another:

Rebuild our Welcoming Team, and involve children & young people where ever possible

Launch free family friendly film sessions for the local community when it is safe to do so Support and promote activities offered by the Diocese and Churches Together in Central Peterborough, e.g. Bishop’s Bible Day in March and Advent Reflection Day in November

Host a Christian Aid event for local churches to promote environmental awareness and climate justice

To grow out into our local community through mission and outreach:

Re-launch regular Street Prayer visits in residential areas of our parish

Research interest in offering a monthly Prayer in the Chapel for local office workers, and implement if required

Consider possible ways of rebuilding our Open the Book contact with local primary schools Offer a Family Fun Day in the summer for local families

Offer ‘Come & Sing’ sessions for elderly people and their carers when it is safe to do so

And in order to achieve these aims, we want to improve our facilities :

Grow our volunteer base in areas where we are short

Repaint the edges of the front steps to improve their visibility

Reconsider the feasibility of installing handrails up the Sanctuary steps

Continue efforts to increase the amount of money our members give to the church, and hold Stewardship Campaign if deemed necessary

Work to increase our Eco Award level from Silver to Gold across all areas

Continue our program to replace all light fittings with LED lights

Research the possibility of installing solar panels on our south-facing roof

Lord Jesus, Living God,

May we always remember that You are the head of this church, Inspire us with Your Spirit to do Your work,

May ours be the eyes through which You look out in compassion on the world, May ours be the feet with which You go about doing good, May ours be the hands with which You bless Your people. Lord Jesus, show us how best we can be Your hands, feet and eyes as we seek to do Your will.

Amen

Based on a prayer used by St Teresa of Avila

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Achievements & Performance

Numbers on the Electoral Roll

At the start of 2022 there were 123 names on our Electoral Roll, 62% of whom were women and 38% men. 52 (40%) lived within the parish, and 78 (60%) outside.

By May 2022, and following the revision of the Electoral Roll prior to the Annual Church Meeting in accordance with Church Regulations, numbers had increased to 128, 61% women and 39% men. 41% lived in the parish and 59% outside.

Numbers have increased slightly since, bringing our Roll to 128 by December 2022.

Worship

All are welcome to attend our regular services. We recognise that not everyone finds it helpful to worship God in the same way, and we encourage everyone to explore new ways of worship as they try to come closer to God. Our main Sunday morning service is Family Communion, but our regular pattern of services covers a wide range to suit different tastes and offer different worship experiences. Our popular monthly café style ‘Friday Night Worship’ appeals to those who enjoy informal worship with a live band, whilst those who value time for silent prayer and reflection are also catered for. Our Compline and Evensong Sunday evening services restarted. Our Lay Pioneer Ministers lead ‘Inclusive Church Peterborough’ at St Mary’s on Sunday evenings.

When our church building was closed by the pandemic in March 2020 we were immediately able to move our services online via YouTube, thanks to the technical expertise of church members. This online service has been offered each week since then, even when the church was re-opened, and viewing figures have been encouraging. Our most popular services this year were Midnight Mass on 24th December with 216 views, The Fifth Sunday after Trinity (17th July) when the new Churchwardens were celebrated with 200 views and the Pride Service on the 21st of August with 163 views. We know from feedback that people living miles away from St Mary’s, including some from different continents, watch our services regularly, we had over 6,000 views in 2022. Some have an existing contact with St Mary’s, and others seem to have found us by chance and stayed.

As well as our regular services, we enable people in our community to commemorate and thank God for, life’s milestones of birth, marriage and death. We held three weddings and 26 baptisms in church. Sadly there were more funerals — a total of 11, with eight in church and three at the crematorium.

Children, young people and families in our church and local community

Children’s work in church is very important.the first Sunday of the month the children stay in for our All Age Communion service, and are encouraged to take an active part. For other services the children leave during the first hymn for their own ‘Children’s Church’ activities, returning for communion. They are then given the opportunity to share some of the learning they have done towards the end of the service.

Our Youth Group: for school-aged young people in Year 6 and above, had a successful year. They meet once a month on Saturday mornings and enjoy discussion and fun activities.

Children and families in our local community: We are particularly keen to build stronger links with local families. Our popular St Mary’s Parent & Toddler group was restarted in November 2021 after a twenty-month suspension, and has re-established itself with a new cohort of children.

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Local primary schools: Our ‘Open the book’ team only managed one Assembly at Bishop Creighton Academy during 2022, but plan to rebuild the team and increase their visits in 2023.

A donation was made to Newark Hill school towards some toys and equipment for a new project, a safe space for nurturing troubled children. A Donation was also made to Dogsthorpe Infants School to help them provide a free breakfast to children in December 2022, January and February 2023. Although the school is outside our parish, we have a link through members of the congregation.

Pastoral Care to our local community & our church

Pastoral care and service to our community is very important to St Mary’s. Our Pastoral Team of eleven is co-ordinated by Sue Moore, one of our Lay Pastoral Ministers.

The Team coordinates visiting and takes House Communion to church members who are unable to attend services. They also take Holy Communion to several residential homes in our parish on a regular basis (Broadleigh, Friary Court, Lavender House, and Philia Lodge). These visits have restarted following the pandemic. Over the years we have built strong links between St Mary’s and the staff and residents.

The Team also deliver free copies of our church magazine, ‘News Around St Mary’s’, to the schools, medical centres, hotels, sheltered housing schemes, residential homes, dentists and hairdressers in our local community.

In addition, they organise the ‘Prayer Link’ for urgent prayer requests, keep our church Prayer Board updated and produce an updated ‘Prayer Shepherd’ cards for every church member, ensuring every person in our church is regularly prayed for.

The Pastoral Team normally meets three times a year but, with worries about Covid and the prevalence of various bugs, it did not resume meeting in person this year. However, people were supported via phone, email, personal visits and prayer.

As we continue to broadcast our services online, regular contact and encouragement is made via YouTube and Facebook messaging and via email to our many viewers locally, throughout the UK and the world. Our Prayer Link, for urgent prayer requests, has again been extremely busy.

Church members continue to support Peterborough Food Bank with the regular collection of food items in church or help at local distribution centres.

Our popular weekly ’Chat and Chill’ coffee mornings in church continue to welcome old and new friends. Residents from a local care home visit Chill and Chat and also attend our midweek Communion service.

Our successful initiative for community outreach, ‘Street Prayer’, has restarted, and we have made some positive visits, connections and follow-ups.

Social events for church and community

Our policy at St Mary’s is to open our social events to anyone in our local community who wanted to attend. This year we put on a wide variety of social events, raising money for a different charity. Events included:

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Our Church Centre

St Mary’s is fortunate in having a well-designed modern building incorporating church, chapel, two halls, meeting rooms, kitchens and toilets, all offering good access for the disabled, including ramp entrance, wide doors and a lift. Until it was closed by the pandemic, this Church Centre was wellused, both for events run by St Mary’s Church and by various groups who hire rooms on a regular or occasional basis. By mid 2021 it was once again coming back into life.

Extended Hands (a small local charity supporting women at risk of feeling lonely, isolated or marginalised) rent one of our rooms as their office base and regularly used rooms in our Centre for their sewing and craft sessions, IT skills classes, fitness sessions and coffee mornings.

Inclusive Church Peterborough, led by our Lay Pioneer Ministers, meets each Sunday evening in our Centre.

Our policy has been to offer free or reduced rate meeting space in our Centre to several local charities, including Samaritans, Peterborough Christian Aid Committee, and the Peterborough InterFaith Council. Prior to the pandemic the Peterborough Street Pastors used it as their base.

Our Church Administrator, Denise Thomas, worked remotely from home during the pandemic and we are very grateful to her for continuing to manage our Centre bookings so efficiently.

Maintaining our church building

Like all buildings, St Mary’s needs regular maintenance and repair to prevent deterioration. This responsibility falls upon the Churchwardens, who report to Standing Committee, who in turn advise the PCC on maintenance issues and work needed, so the PCC can assent to work being undertaken subject to the availability of funds. Less significant work is covered by a team of church volunteers with more involved tasks or projects being covered by skilled trades, some of whom are locally based, like Nick Elks for electrical work, who has an association to St Mary’s Church. We are grateful to Nick and others for their continued assistance.

Work undertaken this past year was the repair of the front steps, continuing with the fitting of energysaving LED lighting in the Nene Room, and the spot lamps above the altar and vestibule. Problematical kitchen sink and toilet basin taps, plus some toilet syphon flushers have been replaced and or serviced by plumber Gavin Mills of GDM Maintenance.

We are very grateful to Denise and Ray Howard for the professional expertise they bring to their work cleaning our building during 2022, to keep the building safe during the pandemic. We are also grateful to David Divers, for everything he does over the year as our unpaid Estate Manager, regularly coming into church to liaise with tradesmen and deal with countless day-to-day issues.

Keeping us safe

Health and Safety:

We take our Health and Safety responsibilities seriously so we can provide a safe environment for everyone to enjoy the facilities that St Mary’s Church has to offer. A Health and Safety Inspection of the building is conducted annually by an independent inspector.

Annual and periodical safety inspections and services are carried out by registered contractors who comply with professional and regulatory standards, thereby ensuring all our safety certificates are upto-date. The lift is regularly serviced by Morris Vermaport, who also completes the statutory LOLER (safety) tests. Our fire safety equipment is maintained and checked by Churches Fire who test the fire alarm, fire extinguishers and emergency lighting.

Our gas-fired boiler and heating system inspected annually by Blounts, our heating engineers, who issue us with our Gas Safe Certificate. Our portable electrical appliances are PAT tested. Our Organ and Piano tuners attend twice a year. Our large “Blue Bin” contract is with Biffa. Beebys Limited clean our windows every 3 months. Cathedral Hygiene attend to the sanitary bins in the toilets.

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Safeguarding:

At St Mary’s we take safeguarding very seriously. Our safeguarding officer is Mrs Jayne Ellis who has many years of experience working with children and young people in the NHS. During 2022 she kept the PCC fully informed on updates to policy and practice as advised by Peterborough Diocese.

Copies of our safeguarding policy are prominently displayed on lobby noticeboards and on the church website with links to the Diocesan Safeguarding website.

Safeguarding concerns are followed up promptly and in accordance with Diocesan guidelines.

St Mary’s Church is registered with the Churches Child Protection Advisory Service (CCPAS) through which renewals and new clearances for the Statutory Disclosure and Barring Service (DBS) are made.

The Vicar, licensed ministers, PCC members and staff working with children and vulnerable adults have been DBS registered and are completing the appropriate level of safeguarding training as set out by the Diocese. Everyone is aware that they cannot continue in their role without this training.

Data Protection:

The way in which St Mary’s collects, stores and processes data on our church members was reviewed in 2018 in order to ensure compliance with the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR). PCC agreed a new Data Privacy notice, which is on display on our noticeboard together with our Health & Safety and Safeguarding policy statements.

All members of the church have completed a Consents Form to give, or withhold, permission on how their personal information can be used by St Mary’s Church.

Our links with the wider church

Our links with the wider church are strong.

Our Vicar, Canon Michael is Rural Dean of Peterborough Deanery, and we have four lay representatives on Peterborough Deanery Synod. In October two well-attended events were held at St Mary’s; one was a Deanery Prayer Day, and the other a networking event for Churchwardens, Treasurers and Secretaries of local churches.

Two members of St Mary’s currently represent Peterborough Deanery on Peterborough Diocesan Synod.

One of our church members was elected in October 2021 to General Synod as one of the three lay representatives for Peterborough Diocese.

St Mary’s is part of the Inclusive Church network and Inclusive Church Peterborough meets in our building each week, led by our Lay Pioneer Ministers. They met throughout 2022.

St Mary’s is also an active member of Churches Together in Central Peterborough (CTiCP), an ecumenical group of nine city centre churches of various different denominations. Its main aims are to pray and worship together, putting on the Good Friday Walk of Witness and monthly prayer and breakfast meetings and Advent Reflection Day.

St Mary’s PCC is delighted with what we managed to achieve in 2022 in another difficult year. Very little of this would have been possible without ...

...our Volunteers

Almost all the work at St Mary’s is done by volunteers. Canon Michael, the Churchwardens and PCC would like to thank them all for giving their time and talents free to enable St Mary’s Church—whether the ‘physical’ church in the building, or our online presence, to function, week in and week out.

Thank you!

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Financial Review for 2022 [Detailed accounts on pages 13-18]

Report from our Treasurer, Richard Smith

This proved to be a tough year financially for St Mary’s Church. Regular giving from members fell during 2022 and it was inevitable that the generous one-off donations seen in 2021 – totalling over £38,000 – were unlikely to be repeated. The reduction in donations was reflected in lower Gift Aid tax reclaim, along with the fact that not all eligible monies were claimed during the year.

Our second main income source – hiring out our halls and meeting rooms – increased as the church building began to fully reopen but the total was still below pre-Covid figures.

This meant we ended the year with a deficit of nearly £14,000.

Running costs during the year remained fairly constant. The main expenditure incurred was to repair the church front steps, essential for health and safety reasons. Energy costs rose but the church was shielded from the worst of the energy price rises having signed fixed contracts in the autumn of 2021.

Income via contactless, text and online giving continued to grow, bringing in over £4,000 during the year.

Following the merger of the Hebden Trust charity with St Mary’s charity, the funds of the former – totalling £4,637 – were transferred to St Mary’s.

Reserves Policy

Our policy, which has been formally agreed by the PCC, is to keep sufficient money in our reserves to cover three months’ running costs, plus £20,000.

External Charitable Giving

St Mary’s PCC aim to give 10% of our income to charity each year, in obedience to the tithing principle. Part of this giving is in reduced or no-cost rent to local charities who use our rooms, principally to Extended Hands, who use our Church Centre as their office base, and this giving does not show in these formal accounts. During 2022 we gave £8,365 in direct donations to the following national and local charities:

Sales from our monthly Traidcraft Stall increased during 2022, benefiting the charitable work of Traidcraft as well as St Mary’s Church.

We raised £6,638 for Christian Aid, including £3,720 during Christian aid Week (much of it given directly via Just Giving) and almost £3,00 to Christian Aid DEC Appeals for Afghanistan Ukraine and Pakistan Floods.

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Statement of Accounts for the calendar year 2022

St Mary’s PCC: General Fund Receipts and Payments Account

£ 2022 £ 2021
£ £
RECEIPTS
Incoming resources from donors
Collections
- Stewardship
- Loose cash		 70,302
4,731
2,622
4,350		 80,800
3,096
9,589
2,309
Inland Revenue covenant rebates
Online Giving
82,004 95,794
Other voluntary incoming resources
Donations and bequests
Fayres and events
Miscellaneous income
Grants and similar income		 7,409
6,795
419
755		 38,731
4,674
120
4,871
15,378 48,396
Income from investments
Bank interest
Investment interest - CBF deposit fund		 28
203		 2
8
231 10
Income from charitable and ancillary trading
Magazine and book stall sales (net)
Wedding and funeral fees
Centre income
Traidcraft income		 0
1,929
9,850
450		 10
2,469
5,452
450
12,229 8,381
Transfers
Hebden trust
Eastgate Mission Fund		 4,637
-
0 0
Total Receipts 114,480 152,581
Total Payments (see page 15 for detail) (128,355) (125,430)
Excess/(deficit) of receipts over payments (13,875) 27,151
Bank current and deposit accounts at 1 January 2022 84,541 57,390
Bank current and deposit accounts at 31 December 2022 £70,666 £84,541

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St Mary’s PCC: General Fund Receipts and Payments Account

General Fund Receipts and Payments Account for the year ended 31 General Fund Receipts and Payments Account for the year ended 31 General Fund Receipts and Payments Account for the year ended 31 December 2022 December 2022
£ 2022 £ 2021
£ £
PAYMENTS
Activities relating directly to the work of the Church
Vicar’s expenses
Locum
Readers Expenses
Salaries paid by Diocese
Upkeep of services
Organists
Water
Light and heat
Repairs and maintenance
Insurance
Telephones
Parish share
Magazine
Donations (Overseas and sundry):		 94
351
619
10,886
1,108
3,345
541
5,394
18,017
1,716
751
67,269
1,042		 100
-
260
11,218
843
2,510
90
3,967
27,840
1,673
748
63,892
-
Tithe
Disaster appeals
Other giving		 7,460
-
-		 8,800
-
-
7,460
184
-
589
324
654
264
551
200
444
-
220
36
6,296		 8,800
117
-
521
330
211
120
525
150
82
13
-
-
1,420
Sunday Club/Youth expenses
Stewardship envelopes
Office administration
Cleaning and sundry materials
Diocesan fees
Piano and organ expenses
Music licence
Auditor (CROPS)
Car expenses - Vicar
- Curate
Training
Flowers
Miscellaneous expenditure
£128,355 £125,430
Total payments (to page 14)

15

St Mary’s PCC: Receipts and Payments Accounts

Receipts and payments accounts for the year ended 31 December 2022 Receipts and payments accounts for the year ended 31 December 2022
HEBDEN TRUST FUND - RESTRICTED
Restricted to spending on education
Receipts		 2022
£		 2021
£
Interest
Sale of investments		 64
3,115
Payments
Transfer to current (4,637)
Bank deposit accounts at 1 January 2022 4,637 1,458
Bank deposit accounts at 31 December 2022 £0 £4,637
MONEY CHARITABLE - RESTRICTED
Restricted to spending on training
Receipts
Interest - 0
Payments
Transfer to current
Bank deposit accounts at 1 January 2022 0 0
Bank deposit accounts at 31 December 2022 £0 £0
ST. MARY'S EASTGATE MISSION - ENDOWMENT
Receipts
Interest 27 1
Payments
Transfer to current 0
Bank deposit accounts at 1 January 2022 1,991 1,990
Bank deposit accounts at 31 December 2022 £2,018 £1,991

16

St Mary’s PCC: Receipts and Payments Accounts

Statement of Assets and Liabilities at 31 December 2022

Restricted Funds :
St. Mary's
General fund:
Eastgate
Hebden
Money
Mission
General
Trust
Trust
Fund
2022
£
£
£
£
£		 Restricted Funds :
St. Mary's
General fund:
Eastgate
Hebden
Money
Mission
General
Trust
Trust
Fund
2022
£
£
£
£
£		 Restricted Funds :
St. Mary's
General fund:
Eastgate
Hebden
Money
Mission
General
Trust
Trust
Fund
2022
£
£
£
£
£		 Restricted Funds :
St. Mary's
General fund:
Eastgate
Hebden
Money
Mission
General
Trust
Trust
Fund
2022
£
£
£
£
£		 Restricted Funds :
St. Mary's
General fund:
Eastgate
Hebden
Money
Mission
General
Trust
Trust
Fund
2022
£
£
£
£
£
2022
£		 2021
£
Monetary assets
Cash in hand
Bank
- current
- reserve		 100
25,067
29,880
15,619		 100
25,067
29,880
15,619		 100
48,497
25,165
15,416
0
CBF deposit fund
Peterborough Diocesan
Board of Finance		 0
2,018
2,018		 1,992
Total cash & Assets 70,666 0 0 2,018
72,684		 91,170
St Mary’s Parochial Church Council Accounting Policies

St Mary’s Parochial Church Council Accounting Policies

The financial statements of the PCC have been prepared in accordance with the Church Accounting Regulations 1997 using the Receipts and Payments basis.

Funds

General Funds represent funds of the PCC that are not subject to any special restrictions regarding their use and are available for application to the general purposes of the PCC. These include funds designated for a particular purpose by the PCC.

The accounts include monetary transactions, assets and liabilities for which the PCC can be held responsible. They do not include the accounts of other Church groups that owe an affiliation to another body, nor those that are informal gatherings of Church members.

Subject to the above, receipts and payments include income as received and expenditure when irrevocably paid.

Statement of Assets and Liabilities

The following assets are recognised but not valued in the Statement of Assets and Liabilities:

Closing bank balances as shown in the receipts and payments accounts.

17

Independent Examiner's Report to the PCC of St Mary's

This report on the accounts of the PCC for the year ended 31 December 2022 which are set out on pages 13 to 17, is in respect of an examination carried out under Regulation 3(3) of the Church Accounting Regulations 1997 to 2001 ('the Regulations') and s.145 of the Charities Act 2011 ('2011 Act').

Respective responsibilities of trustees and examiner

As the members of the PCC you are responsible for the preparation of the accounts; you consider that the audit requirement of Regulation 3(3) of the Church Accounting Regulations 1997 and section 144(2) of the 2011 Act do not apply. It is my responsibility to :-.

Basis of independent examiner's report

My examination was carried out in accordance with the General Directions given by the Charity Commission under section 145(5)(b) of the 2011 Act and to be found in the Church guidance issued by the Finance Division of the Archbishops' Council. That examination includes a review of the accounting records kept by the PCC and a comparison of the accounts with those records. It also includes considering any unusual items or disclosures in the accounts and seeking explanations from you as trustees concerning any such matters. The procedures undertaken do not provide all the evidence that would be required in an audit, and consequently I do not express an audit opinion on the view given by the accounts.

Independent examiner's statement

In connection with my examination, no matter has come to my attention:

(2) to which, in my opinion, attention should be drawn in order to enable a proper understanding of the accounts to be reached.

13 February 2023

This Annual Report was approved by St Mary’s PCC on 7th March 2022, and signed on their behalf by:

Revd Canon Michael Moore

Vicar

Chair of Trustees of the ecclesiastical parish of Peterborough St Mary

18

St Mary’s Church and Centre New Road Peterborough PE1 1TT www.peterborough-stmarys.org.uk Registered Charity no. 1180032

19