2022-12-31-accounts

Holy Trinity Church without-the-walls Blacon Norris Road, Blacon, Chester. CH1 5DZ

www.holytrinityblacon.org Registered charity number 1180853

Annual Report and Accounts 2022

WEBSITE:

www.holytrinityblacon.org TRUSTEES at December 2022:

Chair Rev Christina Upton Vice-Chair Mr Jason Clarke

Secretary Rev Anina Thomas

Warden Mrs June Middleton

Treasurer vacant

Deanery Synod Mr Jim Middleton

Mrs June Middleton

Other members Mrs Lynn Wakefield

Mrs Patricia Hughes

Ex officio Canon Dr Christopher Burkett

Principal office:

Holy Trinity Church Office, Norris Road, Blacon, Chester, CH1 5DZ

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OBJECTIVES AND ACTIVITIES

Aims and Purposes

The PCC of Holy Trinity Church Blacon has the responsibility, together with its incumbent in promoting in 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 adjoining Church Hall and a bungalow at 44 Southway, Blacon, Chester.

STRUCTURE, GOVERNANCE AND MANAGEMENT

The Parochial Church Council (PCC) is a corporate body established by the Church of England.

The PCC operates under the Parochial Church Council Powers Measure (1956) as amended and Church Representation Rules that came into force on 2 January 1957 The appointment of PCC members is governed by and set out in the Church Representation Rules.

The PCC is made up of individuals voted by the Annual Parochial Church Meeting, for a three-year term and also ex-officio members comprising clergy, licensed workers and Deanery Synod representatives.

ACHIEVEMENTS AND PERFORMANCE (INCLUDING PUBLIC BENEFIT)

The PCC is committed to enabling as many people as possible to worship at our church and to become part of our parish community at Holy Trinity Church. The PCC maintains an overview of worship throughout the parish and makes suggestions on how our services can involve the many groups that live within our parish. Our

services and worship put faith into practice through prayer and scripture, music and sacrament.

When planning our activities, we have considered the Commission’s guidance on public benefit and, in particular, the supplementary guidance on charities for the advancement of religion. In particular, we try to enable ordinary people to live out their faith as part of our parish community through:

• Worship and prayer; learning about the Gospel; and developing their knowledge and trust in Jesus.

• Provision of pastoral care for people living in the parish.

• Missionary and outreach work.

To facilitate this work it is important that we maintain the fabric of Holy Trinity Church Blacon and its Church Hall.

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SUMMARY OF THE YEAR 2022

RECTOR’S REPORT

I have delivered many church annual reports now, and it can be tempting to focus on the perennial preoccupations of ‘buildings, cash and numbers’. While those can exercise a lot of our energies, they are not what build God’s kingdom. God is more bothered about at udes, about depth of faith. The mission of the church needs to be primarily about helping people grow in their knowledge and love of God—and whether or not the coffee rota on a Sunday is filled is much less important.

I am delighted that Holy Trinity Church seeks first to love God, and love our neighbour, before becoming preoccupied with such worldly concerns. As I try to summarise how the last year has been for us, so much has happened, that it is hard to know where to begin. Perhaps this is because 2022 was in effect the first ‘normal’ year we had following the Covid restrictions which began in 2020.

Worship

The pattern of worship returned to how it had been in early 2020, with two morning services, a traditional Eucharist at 9.30am, and then a more modern ‘open to the Spirit’ Morning Worship at 11.30am. However, Covid continued to have its impact on the way we worship, and it was only in the autumn that we began to receive wine from the ‘common cup’ once more.

We were delighted to be able to welcome the Bishop of Birkenhead, Rt Rev Julie Conalty to our church in May, when Richard Saville and Neive Hughes were confirmed, and Linda Thomas was able to renew her Baptismal promises.

The music at 9.30 is often accompanied by the organ, usually played by John Williams. At 11.30am the music is more varied, sometimes played from YouTube or another music App, or sometimes by Mirkku Ridanpaa who plays the keyboard beautifully.

Our bi-monthly Messy Church services restarted in March 2022 (see Lynn’s report) and the music at that has been ably accompanied at different times by Sarah Clarke, Anina, Joanna Hewlett, with Linda Tudor and Clare Smith. At our Harvest Festival at 11.30am, we were delighted to welcome 5[th] Blacon Scout Group for a Parade Service (the first since Covid lockdown) and also a visiting preacher, Ruth Tormey from Tearfund to give us a global perspective on caring for the environment.

In the autumn, we were delighted to be able to restart a feature of our worship that had been stopped due to the pandemic, which is once a month going into local Nursing Homes for worship. At the moment, this has just been into Florence Grogan Nursing Home, though perhaps before 2023 is ended, it will also have restarted in the other ones too.

Learning about our faith

As well as in worship on Sundays, we started in May to hold weekly Bible classes for Primary school aged children, called Jesus and Me. This held in church after school on Wednesdays, and has become a popular feature. The adults in the church have a chance to learn more from the Bible on Thursday evenings, on Zoom, through the study group which built up during Covid lockdown, continues to meet now. Wednesday Fellowship also meets weekly, and Clive’s report says more about that.

Ministry team

We are very fortunate to have the support of a good strong ministry team at Holy Trinity. I am very grateful to Christopher Burkett for his faithful, constant support over the years he has been in the parish, and we pray that will continue for a long time. We also have had the much-valued input from our two

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Readers, Sarah Dutton and Lindsay Tanner, both of whom are dedicated to supporting ministry here alongside holding down busy full-time jobs.

In the spring of 2022, I was approached ‘out of the blue’ by the Diocese to see if we might be able to accommodate an experienced curate, Rev Anina Thomas, who wanted to come to us to complete her curacy. She began with us in March 2022, and was licensed to us soon afterwards. While initially she was full-time stipendiary, that changed in July, and she became self-supporting, and around the same time began to work full-time during the week for CWAC. I am delighted to report that now her curacy has been formally signed-off, she is about to be licensed to us as a self-supporting Assistant Priest.

July of 2022 saw our new curate Jo Pemberton ordained deacon. Very sadly, she was forced to go off sick in the September, and she has now had to leave us due to ongoing health issues. Our prayers continue for her.

Parish Ofce

A major change to the life of this parish came in September, when Linda Tudor left us to begin work for Northgate Church. That left a massive hole in the administrative support I receive, which various volunteers have stepped up to fill. It was due to the loss of Linda that we sadly had to call a halt to our monthly publication of Parish News, producing our final edition in October 2022.

Thank you to June Middleton and Ken Pemberton who staff the parish office on a Tuesday morning and a Friday afternoon respectively, enabling us to have a time when people know they can come to us with queries. Thank you to Jason Clarke who helps with receiving queries about hall bookings. Thank you also to Lynn Wakefield who has stepped in to help with writing cheques, dealing with the bank, and paying our bills. We have employed David Hollins for 4 hours per week, to do our book-keeping, and we are very grateful to him for taking that task on. However, that has only made it more apparent than ever that we are in need of a Treasurer to advise PCC about our financial affairs.

Community Outreach

Our Community Outreach Project, which originally began in Autumn 2013, continues to grow and develop, and now includes: gardening group on Tuesday mornings, cafes on Tuesdays, Wednesdays and Thursdays, Art group on Monday mornings, Baby Buddies on Tuesdays and Playtots on Thursdays, and our Warm Welcome on Sundays, Tuesdays and Thursdays. See the reports from Jim, Ashley, Ellie and Rosie about these ventures. None of these would be able to run without the amazing input from our volunteers – a big thank you to every one of them.

Three volunteers who were with us for only a few weeks in the summer, but who made a big impact on our parish, were the undergraduate students from Chester University on work-based learning placement with us. The beautiful crown they helped the Art group paint as part of the Art trail around Blacon put together for the Queen’s Jubilee has been so effective that it remains on the outside of our church building to this day.

Another feature of our Outreach has been our minibus, which was greatly valued by those who used it, and Gary Blohm was our excellent and most friendly driver. Sadly, the five-year lease came to an end at start of February 2023, and having looked at the various options, PCC came to the difficult and sad decision that we could not afford to renew the lease, and so we had to let the minibus go, and say goodbye to Gary.

Another feature of our Community Outreach has been the holiday meals and activities, which we have provided for about 8 years. We are now able to feed families, and provide a range of activities afterwards

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one day per week of every half term, and every school holiday. We manage this thanks to the input from Blacon Beacon who provide the meal, and also a small army of volunteers to lead the activities (which are organised by the irrepressible Sue Mountford). In addition, in the summer we also provided a coach trip to Colwyn Bay, and at Christmas, the activities were replaced by a very popular pantomime performance. These activities, as well as our ongoing service to the community of school assemblies, of Baptisms, Weddings and Funerals—all are part of our mission: Reaching out with Christ to all. All these popular events give us opportunity to share the love of God with those who come in.

CURATES REPORT

It has been a real joy to be with you for much of 2022 and want to just celebrate some of my highlights and remember God’s goodness to us this past year.

At Easter, Blacon Beacon ran the family activity events which were very well attended. On Good Friday, we saw the Passion Play in Chester in the morning; continued on to our church service at 1:30pm and then we had some ‘loving acts of service’ in the afternoon. This time we were joined by some of the young people from Chester, a mix of churched and unchurched kids, along with the disarmingly bold Sam Knott, a veritable evangelist if ever there was one. We used hot cross buns and chocolate giveaways as an opportunity to stop people, engage them in conversation and offer them prayer. Many of the young people who had never considered talking to people and listening to God for them really stepped out in faith. A personal highlight was before we went out, some of our church members prayed for the young people and then the young people prayed for us as a church; for faith and resources to reach out into our local community of Blacon.

Our trip to Liverpool in May was fun when we took a bus to see the Franklin Graham Tour. A lively evening ensued. It was personally powerful for Tina and I to be able to pray with people who had responded to receiving God and great fun to see members of our church bopping away to the live worship music and enjoying fellowship together.

One weekend in June we celebrated the Queen’s Platinum Jubilee. Assisted by our 3 wonderful students from Chester Uni and Alison and the art group, we hosted one of the Blacon

‘Crowns’ which was brightly coloured and proudly displayed on one of the grills on the facia of church. Another highlight was our Interactive Christmas where we dressed up and took various roles of the different characters in the nativity stories.

It’s been a privilege for me to be working closely with wonderful colleagues, and fellow believers who both encourage and release one another in team ministry. I haven’t attended every week, but I’ve enjoyed the Thursday evening bible studies on Zoom where there is a real sense of honestly grappling with how to apply what we think God is telling us. It’s a space where having different opinions is okay and where sharing has felt deep and safe, which is rare and precious.

Last, but certainly not least, on behalf of all of us at Holy Trinity Church, Blacon, a massive thank you to Tina, ably supported by Clive (who also faithfully leads Midweek Fellowship and the 11:30am service, making a real sense of space for God to move and managing to be both deeply moving and lol hilarious at the same time!). Tina continues to lead us in season and out of season, through Covid and beyond; necessitating flexibility, imagination and a sense of humour and humility.

My actual ‘final word’ is to thank God for the riches of his blessing over us as a church and community.

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For sustaining us through another year when finances have felt worrying stripped back, and bringing us hope, peace and joy as we worship Him together.

Anina Thomas, Curate

WEDNESDAY FELLOWSHIP

After tentatively restarting in February 2022, the meetings gradually built up so now it meets 12-4 each week in the Rectory. The aim is to help one another see Jesus more clearly – to love him more dearly – to follow him more nearly. It begins with a simple lunch together, during which we share things for thanks and for prayer, which are lifted to our heavenly Father. After that, we focus on Jesus presence with us as we think particularly about what the previous Sunday’s Gospel passage says to us that we can put into practice in our lives. Some time is spent quietly listening to the Lord before sharing words or songs, to build one another up. After a sung blessing at the end, we finish with a hot drink – and occasionally cake.

Clive Upton

SAFEGUARDING REPORT

Safeguarding is such an important part of the society we live today and as a Church we have a duty to protect the vulnerable in our care. This includes children, young people and adults with special needs. I am very pleased to report that we have not had to deal with any incidents this year.

It is now a requirement that any member of the PCC undertake safeguarding training and am happy to report that all members of our committee have completed modules on

Basic Awareness Module

Foundation Module

Domestic Violence Module.

Here at Holy Trinity we are caring and supportive of each other and this is so important that people feel there is someone to go to .

I would ask that anyone has any concerns that they speak to myself or Tina. Very many thanks for your support.

June Middleton

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CAFÉ MANAGER’S REPORT

Tuesday and Wednesday Place of Welcome Cafes

Since taking on the role of café manager in September 2022, I have seen an increase in demand for the use of the café and it’s extra available support. When first taking over the role, the Place of Welcome café in the hall was open on a Tuesday 10 till 12 but with the café being so well used, we extended the opening times in January 2023 to Tuesday 10-2 and added a Wednesday 10-12, to go alongside foodbank opening times.

On a Tuesday morning, we average around 40 people coming through the doors, with people using the hall for many different services. On a Tuesday we have citizens advice, food bank, local Blacon councillors, computer support with Dave, Starting well and a gardening group. We also have a local wellbeing walk group who come into the café after their walk to have a drink. These services are a fantastic support to local residents and are very well used weekly. We also have a small children’s toy corner, which is helpful when parents/carers need to use a service in the hall and know that their children are occupied. On a Wednesday, citizens advice, computer support and foodbank are all available during the café opening times. Although Wednesdays are quieter than Tuesdays, it is starting to pick up with the help of social media and word of mouth. Having the café open alongside foodbank works really well as people will pick up their food and then stay around for a drink and food with many people really appreciating this.

We have many regular customers who come to use the café weekly and enjoy having a drink, some toast and to socialize with others. We have people using the café as a space to work, rest or during the colder months, many used the café as a place of warmth. Regular customers really do appreciate having the café and often gives their thanks for the part it plays in the Blacon community. Being able to take time to speak to customers is important and now having good reliable volunteers means that there is enough staff to ensure that we can take the time to speak to people without having to leave the conversation to go back into the kitchen. Customers enjoy the addition of toast and fruit as well as the usual biscuits on offer at every table. We also receive donations of pastries most weeks from Costco which go down very well with the customers.

As a whole, the Tuesday and Wednesday place of welcomes cafes are successful in helping people get out into the community and build relationships whilst providing them with a variety of services to support them when needed.

Thursday Café

The Welcome café on a Thursday morning in church, where our ‘Blacon bacon butties’ are a great success, is a very busy, loved part of the community. We have many regular customers but also new faces walking through the door every week after hearing about the café through others or from myself when meeting people during the Tuesday and Wednesday Place of Welcome cafes. We have Knit and Natter and Dementia talk group who both use the café as their meet up place every week, as well as Lauren Court (a local care home) who come in to visit with their residents every so often.

With the café being so busy, we needed more reliable volunteers, which I am happy we now have, as this allows us to run the café smoothly as well as starting to prepare food for Playtots which runs straight after the café. The prices of the food and drinks available very much appeals to a lot of the customers but also, after recently having a lovely conversation with some of the customers, it is the community feel to the café that keeps people coming back. One customer said that it is “nice to see people talking to each other and not just on their phone”, which is one thing I also love about the café.

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During the colder months, the church was a lovely warm place to be and this invited people in, especially in the mornings and we had people, especially mums, who would come in after doing the school run to sit and relax with their children being occupied in the play area. Now that the weather is getting better, we have mums coming into the café before they start Playtots, this gives the café a really nice vibe as it is used for people of all ages and everyone mixes together and enjoys each other’s company. People also tend to stay for the full 2 hours that the café is open which really shows that people do enjoy the community spirit there is there.

The café is a base for people to meet, work, take part in a hobby

and to have a safe space to enjoy some food and drink, which is an important thing to have in a community and many people in Blacon really enjoy and appreciate this.

When an article from Cheshire Live went onto social media, discussing Playtots and the church being open to provide warmth during the rising cost in energy bills, the response from local people was amazing and heart-warming.

I have seen many comments on Facebook where people had mentioned how they have felt welcomed at the café, a service they have used there or just commenting on the fact they enjoy the café or another service the church provides.

The ‘Blacon Bacon Butties’ (as named by regular customers) are not just Bacon Butties, it is a valued part of the Blacon community, loved by many and growing in popularity.

Ashley Marshall

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Gardening Group Report

Our gardening group has been meeting on a Tuesday morning for a few years now and we are so grateful for all those who have participated in this event – it has been great to have them here.

Particularly, we remember Sue Mountford, our previous leader and Outreach Worker, for all the work she did to start the club and encourage a good number of people to take part.

We must thank also, Pauline who has been with us for all that time and has worked so hard in helping to transform the grounds to its present enjoyable space and shared with us her expertise.

James has been a very good help too and his humour and cooperation have added to the lovely atmosphere.

We have had others who have attended and worked hard such as: - Helen, a supporter from Asda; Rev. John Yaxley; Students from Chester University; and a group of men from Bowmere Hospital together with their supporters.

We would like to offer our sincere thanks for all of their help in making the event a success. We hope they found it valuable, too, and enjoyed the experience.

It has also been good to pause for refreshments mid-morning and have some interesting, meaningful and humorous chats.

At this time we are looking forward to attracting others to this event and will look forward to welcoming them.

Jim Middleton

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BLACON BABY BUDDIES REPORT

It’s been another exciting and successful year for Blacon Baby Buddies at Holy Trinity church. Over the past year we have continued to provide a warm welcome and emotional wellbeing support to new parents/carers and their little ones, and celebrated our two year anniversary. At the heart of Baby Buddies is the aim of creating a safe, relaxed, friendly and caring environment for new parents and their babies to meet other new parents and their little ones and to support their emotional and social wellbeing and mental health. Originally, the group was built around a course of six weekly sessions, but this has now evolved into an open door policy up to the point at which little ones are on the move independently! This change has created more opportunities for friendships to be built and, as a result, social interactions away from the group have increased, helping to prevent isolation and anxiety. During this year, we welcomed our youngest baby at just 3 weeks old, and it has been so wonderful to see babies and parents continue to develop and grow.

The group meets during term time and creates opportunities for new parents/carers to share their thoughts, feelings and experiences surrounding being a new parent/carer, whilst also enjoying a cup of tea and a piece of cake! Themes including sleep and sleep routines, feeding, weaning, baby play, communicating with babies, feelings of isolation and loneliness, support systems, self-care, hormones and expectations around being a new parent are commonly explored and discussed along with the emotions and challenges encountered when navigating ways through these experiences. We also provide sensory experiences and exploration for the babies with bubbles, a sensory visual blanket, stories and singing, creating opportunities for new parents to develop positive emotional attachments and bonds with their

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little ones. Through the year we have also enjoyed fun themed sessions, including a teddy bears’ picnic, Christmas and Easter parties, celebrations for the Queen’s Platinum Jubilee, Valentine’s Day and Mother’s Day. New starters are also given a sensory toy bag that parents can enjoy with their children in the group or at home to help support the development of positive attachments.

Parents and carers have continued to share how valuable the group has been in supporting their confidence and mental health with being a new parent or becoming a parent again. Evaluations obtained also suggest that parents/carers have valued meeting other parents/carers and their little ones and how this has helped to get them out of the house, reducing social isolation and building up their social networks. Opportunities to share feelings and experiences and give and receive advice and tips surrounding key themes of being a new parent have also been reported as a positive experience of the group.

Links between Baby Buddies and Playtots have also developed positively this year, with an increase in parents/carers either attending both groups, or moving from Baby Buddies to Playtots as their little ones grow. Over the past year, along with continuing to build and develop links with the Children’s Centre in Blacon, we have also made connections with Koala Northwest (family support service) and they have been attending Baby Buddies as and when possible, offering parents/carers advice and support.

We look forward to continuing to share God’s love through our ongoing work supporting the emotional wellbeing of new parents/carers and their babies during their time at Baby Buddies, and we hope to continue to build connections with other services to continue to enrich the lives of everyone who attends the group.

Ellie Knight

PLAYTOTS REPORT

Playtots has seen another fun and busy year, continuing to provide a welcoming and nurturing space for children and their parents/carers to play and meet others. Playtots runs during term time and is aimed at children from 0 to preschool age. During the sessions, children are given opportunities with their parents and carers to make a craft, experience sensory and fine motor play and explore imaginative play through a wide variety of toys. The free lunch and hot drink provided in the café area continues to be a popular part of Playtoys and has supported many families this year with the rise in the cost of living. We come together at the end of each session with singing time and sensory experiences including bubbles, playing with the parachute or relaxing under a sensory blanket. The children love taking part in singing ‘What’s in the bag?’ and enjoy choosing different nursery rhymes each week.

Throughout the year, Playtots has been well attended, with a core of families who come along most weeks. We have also enjoyed welcoming new parents and their children throughout the year, including those from Blacon Baby Buddies. It continues to be a safe and enjoyable space for them to meet and socialise with other parents/carers and children which, in turn, has supported emotional wellbeing and mental health and has helped prevent social isolation. Opportunities to support the development of positive attachments through play between parents/carers and their children have also been experienced and consequently supported children’s self-esteem, confidence and sense of value.

Daphne kindly continues to support the children and their adults on the craft table and many beautiful moments have been shared where the children have enjoyed being creative! We really value and appreciate all the support and help Daphne continuously gives to Playtots and to the families each week.

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Megan, a student from the University of Chester, has also been volunteering each week and has been a great source of help and support with Playtots, which has been much appreciated.

We have continued to develop links with other community organisations including KidsBank who attend once a month and provide free baby and children’s clothing, equipment and toys, to promote sustainable living and to help relieve poverty. KidsBank has been a real source of support for families attending Playtots and we look forward to continuing to work with them. Koala Northwest have also been attending Playtots to promote their service to support families living in Blacon and we are looking forward to working with them on a regular monthly basis starting this month.

We have enjoyed various themed party sessions over the year, including the Christmas and Easter parties, celebrating the Queen’s Platinum Jubilee and the teddy bears’ picnic in the Summer.

Finally, following a fun and busy year at Playtots, we aim to continue to enrich the lives of the families that attend and pray that God’s love will be known and felt through their time at Holy Trinity Church .

Ellie Knight

WARM HUB REPORT

In response to the cost of living crisis, we decided to open our buildings for extended hours, to provide a warm space for people who struggle with their household bills. We were fortunate to receive grants through Cheshire Community Foundation to support this, and we recruited Rosie who began working with us in October 2022. Here is her report:

The warm hub was originally set up to provide a space where people could go to no matter their faith journey and feel welcomed with a smile, heating, a hot meal and drink as well as Wifi all for free.

I found that no week was the same the amount of people coming in ebbed and flowed each week but as the weather got colder more people were coming as it’s expensive to heat people’s homes at the moment.

There have been some good conversations and a regular group of people who come most weeks for a wide range of different reasons for instance some came for sociallizing and warmth whereas others came for a hot meal.

Things that have been difficult is getting the word out there about the warm hub as well as gain people to help out at the warm hub.

A bit about me

My name is Rosie - Leigh Perkins and I’m originally from a little seaside town called Porthcawl in South Wales. I’m also a twin and my twin is called Em. I enjoy painting and being creative. I moved to Chester in 2019 to study at The Light College and Collective through this time I got a foundation and bachelors degree in theology, mission and evangelism. I fell in love with Chester and decided to stay and after a few months started working at Holy Trinity Blacon and enjoying my time here.

During the warm hub, I find myself having a wide range of conversations with a mixture of regulars to the warm hub as well a new people as well as enjoying a hot drink and meal with them. Rosie-Leigh Perkins

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ENVIRONMENT REPORT

Hello all, it’s a pleasure to be writing you once again. As environmental champions we continue to seek out new ways that our church community can assist in preventing further damage to our environment. We have for the last year been reviewing the eco award requirements , looking for ways to improve and reduce our carbon footprint in the hope that we as a church might achieve a silver status award from Arocha and continue to be a leading example for the blacon residents in environmental care. We thank the Rev Tina and the PCC as well as church members for their continued to support and patience as we strive to help make the world a bit cleaner and safer.

Reduce Reuse Recycle

Your environmental champions Neive and Tricia Hughes

CHURCHWARDEN’S REPORT

How quickly the last year has gone. It has been very busy and Tina's workload increased dramatically in September when Linda our office administrator left us for pastures new.

Once again I am so grateful to my loyal band of sidespeople Joan,Colin and Jim who carry out their duties every week . It would be great if we had more people on the rota.

If you are interested please have a word with me. The more the merrier.

The coffee Rota on a Sunday morning is also one person short and Joan has stepped up regularly to fill in. Thank you Joan.

If you are interested going on the rota,it would involve being on duty once a month. Again have a word with me if you are interested.

The Church grounds have had a great deal of work done of the past year and they are looking lovely.

Massive thanks to the Gardening group Jim, Pauline and James who work there every Tuesday in all kinds of weather. Well done . The lawn mowing team are thanked as well. Once again would anyone like to join the team to lighten the load.

Thank you for all your support this year and my very best wishes . June Middleton.

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ACCOUNTS FOR THE YEAR ENDED 31st DECEMBER 2022

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REVIEW OF FINANCES

Holy Trinity, Blacon accounts break down into seven funds:

Fund 1 - Church General Account (Unrestricted)

This fund shows a deficit for the year of £49,362. £60,000 was transferred back from a designated fund for Special Projects due to the scale of the deficit. This brings the total unrestricted funds available to £37,821 which is above the current reserves policy of £23,000.

Fund 2 - Special Projects (Designated)

During last year an unrestricted donation was received of £100,000. £60,000 of this was designated for Special Projects to be carried out in future years, however due to the deficit on the general account in the year this designated amount was transferred back to unrestricted funds for general use in the charity.

Fund 3 - Outreach Project (Restricted)

This fund shows a deficit for the year of £5,018. The fund is restricted for the purpose of supporting the work of the community Outreach Project and has a balance at 31 December 2022 of £13,605.

Fund 4 – Church Boilers (Restricted)

This fund is restricted for the purpose of repairing the church boilers.

Fund 5 – Blacon Baby Buddies (Restricted)

This fund is restricted for the purpose of running sessions for new mums living in Blacon and their babies under 6 months of age.

Fund 6 – Warm Welcome Fund (Restricted)

This fund is to employ a Welcomer to oversee the opening of the building for a place of warmth.

Fund 7 - Church Choir Fund (Restricted)

Other than the addition of a small amount of interest there was no activity on this account. The fund is restricted for choir use, and is used only at discretion of the choir.

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INDEPENDENT EXAMINER'S REPORT Inde￿nde￿I Exgmtner's R¢pDrt fo ihe Truste¢s ofThe Parochial Church Counell of The Eccleslstlc41 Parish of Holy Trinity Iwilhout The Wallsk Blaton l lo Ihe chaiity Iruslees on my examination of the 8(£ounls of the charity for Ihe yeaT ended 31 DecemLT 2022 Resp0ft5ibillties arrfl basis ¢)f report As the chanty'5 ttuslees yc¥J are re5pon5ible for the preparation of the acg>Junts n ace4)rdance with the requiretnenls of the Charities Acl 2011 {'the Act'l. I report in respect of my examination of the charity's accounts caryied out under section 145 of the Act and in Carrying out my examinalion I have followed all the appluble Directions given by the Charity Commission under sedion 145151{b) of the Acl. Indèp•nd•nt examinerfs statement I have compleled my examinaijon. I confirm Ihal no material rnatters have come lo my attention in conneclion ith the examin81ion giving Me cause to telieve that in any material respecl.. 1 a¢￿Unting r¢¢ord$ wero kept in rèspect of the ¢hawty as required by 8eclion 130 of the Acl.. or 2 the accounts do not accold with those records 3 Ihe accounts dKI not compty wilh Ihe applicable requirements cgnceming the lo￿ and C￿lent ol accounts sel oul in the Charth"es IActount5 and Reports) Regulalions 2CQ8 other than any requireTnenl that the a(xx)unts give a 'ttue and fail, view which is not a matter consi¢Jeied as part of an Jndependenl examinalion. I have no concems and have come across no other mailers in conr￿li0n with the examinalK>n lo whith attenlion should bB draN¥n in thi5 report in orde¥ to enable a woper U￿ler5t￿di￿9 of the a￿l￿ts ID be te&hed. Andrew Hopwood FCA clo 2Th1 Floor Refuge Hou 3347 Watergato Row Chester CH12LE 21 May 2023 17