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2020-12-31-accounts

The Church of St Mary- Great Sankey Liverpool Road, Great Sankey, Warrington WA5 1RE

Annual Report of the Parochial Church Council

For the year ending 31st December 2020

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St. Mary’s, Great Sankey

Annual Report of the Parochial Church Council For the year ended 31[st] December 2020

A member of the West Warrington Church Team

1. Reference and Administrative Information

The Parochial Church Council of the Ecclesiastical Parish of St. Mary, Great Sankey is a charity registered with the Charity Commission for England and Wales. Charity registration number: 1180928.

St. Mary’s Church is located on Liverpool Road, Great Sankey, Warrington, WA5 1RE. The parish is part of the Diocese of Liverpool.

Official correspondence should be sent to the Rev. Jeremy Tear, St. Mary’s Church, Liverpool Road, Great Sankey, Warrington WA5 1RE

For the period 1[st] January 2020 until the date of approval of this report, the following people served as members of the Parochial Church Council:

Pioneer Team Rector Rev. Jeremy Tear Chair

Churchwardens Mrs. Lynn Parish (re-appointed APCM 2020)
Mrs. Sylvia Morris (resigned 2020)
Elected members Janet Kerswell (_Vice-Chair/Asst Warden,_term ended October 2020)
Ian Knight (_Asst Warden,_term ended October 2020)
Frances Knight (term ended October 2020)
Susan Gibbons (term ended October 2020)
Jean Lawrence
Roxy Jones (appointed October 2020)
Sarah Lavelle (appointed October 2020
Leanne Turner (appointed October 2020)
Gemma Tocher (appointed October 2020)
Deanery Synod Gail Patullo and Carole Rafter (terms ended October 2020)
Representatives
Electoral Roll Sylvia Morris (stepped down in November 2020 and replaced by Jean
Officer Lawrence)
DBS Verifier and Clare Grimes
Safeguarding Officer

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Assistant Treasurer Nigel Cordon, appointed 2017. Nigel was invited to attend meetings but could not vote.

Finance Assistant Fiona Barnard, appointed 2018. Fiona was invited to attend meetings but could not vote. Fiona has kindly been taking the minutes of meetings.

Assistant Warden Kate Forrest was appointed in October 2020 but is not a member of the PCC.

Treasurer’s Report See attached.

Independent D Carty FCA, 70 Longbarn Lane, Woolston, Warrington, WA1 4QR Examiner

2. Structure, Management and Governance

St. Mary’s Sankey PCC is a body corporate and operates under the Parochial Church Councils (Powers) Measure 1956 and the Church Representation Rules .

The method of appointment of PCC members is set out in the Church Representation Rules. All church members are encouraged to register on the Electoral Roll and stand for election to the PCC.

Day to day management of the Church was delegated by the PCC to the Standing Committee: Rev. Jeremy Tear (Pioneer Team Vicar appointed 2015) Lynn Parish (Churchwarden from July 2017), Sylvia Morris (Churchwarden from April 2019, resigned April 2020), Nigel Cordon (Treasurer appointed 2017), Assistant Warden Ian Knight (appointed APCM 2017, term ended October 2020), Janet Kerswell (Assistant Warden appointed 2018, term ended October 2020) and Jean Lawrence (appointed October 2020).

The Standing Committee can be contacted by telephone as shown in the Church Suite app; Rev Jeremy Tear can be contacted by e-mail at: jeremy@westwarringtonchurch.uk or phone on 01925-485288.

Safeguarding Procedures

The PCC has complied with its duty to have regard to the House of Bishops’ guidance on safeguarding children and vulnerable adults. Individual PCC members receive online training as and when deemed appropriate. The Safeguarding Officer undertook Diocesan training (after an initial session with Diocesan Advisor Ruth Reed in 2018) and the whole PCC received training in child protection policy and procedures during this session. All members of the PCC are in the process of completing DBS checks. We received additional training on GDPR by Helen Aghanian, our Church Administrator in 2018.

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Risk Assessments

The PCC undertook a programme of risk assessments to identify their major risks. Procedures were then put in place to manage those risks and minimise their impact on the life of the church.

Financial Risk

An annual budget is prepared to ensure short term viability. Actual results compared with budget are reported to the PCC every half year. The charity has two main sources of income; namely the giving by members to the Church by cash on plates, legacies, Parish Giving Scheme & envelopes; and baptisms, weddings and funerals.

The PCC review their investments regularly. Investments are only made in approved low risk funds.

All assets are insured. A review was carried out in 2018 to ensure cover at an appropriate level.

The PCC has approved internal and external controls for annual accounts.

● Compliance with Law and Regulation

A health and safety review was undertaken by a member of the church with specific experience in this area. The PCC was appraised of the risks and the necessary requirements and these are undergoing compliance.

● Operational risk

3. Objectives and Activities

The general functions of the PCC are stated within section 2 of the Parochial Church Councils (Powers) Measure 1956.

At St. Mary’s our vision statement says that we desire ‘to be a growing church making a growing difference’. We desire to grow both numerically, spiritually and through the facilities we offer. At the PCC’s away day in July 2018, we devised a three-year strategy entitled ‘2020 Vision’.

When planning our activities for the year, the PCC gave consideration to the Charity Commission’s guidance on public benefit and, in particular, the specific guidance to charities concerned with the advancement of religion.

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Our activities in 2020 provided the following public benefits:

Churches Together in West Warrington

St. Mary’s Church continues to work with other churches in West Warrington. This included a joint Ash Wednesday service in church, and a joint service on Ascension Day. Members took part in small group studies in Lent through Churches Together in West Warrington. We also worked with other churches in West Warrington to share God’s love through providing ‘Open the Book’ bible story telling sessions in local schools

West Warrington Team Ministry

On a team note, St. Mary’s is part of the West Warrington Team Ministry which comprises St. Mary’s, Great Sankey; St. Paul’s, Penketh; St. James’, Hood Manor; and St. Philip’s, Westbrook. The clergy meet together regularly, and the churches worship together on specific occasions throughout the year.

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Church Buildings

We undertook work on converting the former organ chamber into a storage room, and also had the chancel roof re-tiled. A variety of general maintenance tasks were also completed

Charitable giving policy

At St. Mary’s we give away a tithe (10%) of our annual giving through the Parish Giving Scheme, a weekly envelope scheme, standing orders and cash on the plate.

We also support the following charities: - Leprosy Mission, Church Army, Church Mission Society, The Children’s Society, and The Food Bank in Warrington (part of the Trussell Trust).

4. Achievements and performance

Electoral roll

There were 93 people registered on the electoral roll at the Annual Parochial Church Meeting in 2020.

Worship

Average attendance at Sunday Services in 2020 (excluding the 4 months we were closed due to the lockdown) was 12 people attending the 8am communion service and around 33 adults/children attending an average 10am service. We also had a consistent 8 attending the Wednesday Holy Communion service. However, it should be noted that figures were much lower for 10 am services due to the limits on numbers we could safely accommodate within the building.

We also have had a regular 20-25 adults/children who have attended our online services at 10am on Sunday mornings since the start of the pandemic.

Pastoral care and service to our community

It has always been a top priority of the church to care for members and to serve the local community. This takes place within both regular and special church services (including an annual memorial service for the bereaved), through our weekly Place of Welcome (now ‘Open House’), our monthly community lunch, and monthly home communion visits. During the pandemic, we also had a telephone visiting scheme in place for church members, and the Vicar wrote a weekly letter sent by email and a monthly letter sent by email/post.

Growing in Faith

In spring/summer 2020, we ran an online Alpha course which was attended by members of the church and those connected to it. We also ran a Growing in Faith course in the autumn.

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5 . Financial review

See Treasurer’s Report.

Reserves Policy

We keep a reserve of £5,000.

6. Plans for the future

See ‘Strategy Document for 2018-2020’ which we have reviewed at PCC regularly.

Pioneer Team Rector’s Report

What a strange year 2020 has been! It started off well for us as a Team with the beginning of a Team Growing Leaders course, followed by a Team Celebration morning at St. James’ in early February at which we were honoured to have Bishop Bev, the Bishop of Warrington, come to speak and to share with us (including her dog, James the Less!). There was another Team Communion service at St. Mary’s on Ash Wednesday evening (shared with friends from other churches in West Warrington) and a very successful Team Wellbeing Day at St. Philips’ in the middle of March (despite the growing concerns about coronavirus). Then we entered the first lockdown and our Growing Leaders course and Team services planned for Easter got put on hold. Despite the lockdown, I believe that our team churches responded quickly and well to the pandemic, putting services online and making service material available offline, as well as setting up pastoral care systems for those in our congregations. As a result of collaborating with one of our local councillors, Amanda King, and a local mental health charity called Rise, we also set up the West Warrington Church Befriending Scheme. Administered by Heather Copperwheat from St. Philip’s, the scheme has offered a listening ear to local residents not connected with our churches and helped to address the isolation which the virus has brought. It is, I believe, an excellent scheme, and something of which we as a Team can be rightly proud, so thanks not only to Heather but also to all those who volunteer their time each week from our churches. If you would like further information about volunteering, do have a word with Heather or myself, or find details on the St.Mary’s website: www.stmarysgreatsankey.org.uk.

At Ascension, we have in recent years joined in with the Archbishops ‘Thy Kingdom Come’ initiative, to pray for others to come to know Jesus. This moved online in 2020, and so - unable to walk around the benefice praying for others and for key places within it- we met online (with other churches too) for a communion service. Incidentally, the dates this year are 1323 May and Churches Together in Warrington are inviting us to join them for another prayer walk on Thursday 20 May when hopefully restrictions will have eased again, making this more of a possibility. So, watch this space!

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The Team Fund Committee has continued to administer applications for the Team Fund and awarded funding to St. Philip’s for hosting the wellbeing day, to St. Paul’s for an Alpha course, and to St. James for its Christmas outreach activities. It has also agreed to award churches a grant of half their usual team clergy expenses for 2021 (in view of the challenging financial situation we all face), and so St. Mary’s and St. James have benefitted to the tune of £2,000 each, and St. Pauls’ and St. Philip’s £1,000 each (since they share Sarah as their Vicar). I am very grateful to Rosie Cox who kindly agreed to deal with the Team accounts for 2020 (though these were not eventually published due to a diocesan delay) and who also dealt with the clergy expenses reconciliation exercise. We continue to look for a Team Treasurer and currently the post is being advertised via Warrington Voluntary Action and through our individual churches. The post is expected to take around an hour each week to do – if you are interested please have a word with me, or you can find details on the St.Mary’s website.

Finally, I would like to thank my clergy colleagues, Revds. Martin Thorpe and Sarah Peppiatt, the Local Missional Leaders Marise Seville, June Dunning and Paul Smalley, the ordinand at St. James’ Rebecca Lloyd (who is now a member of the core team), and our retired clergy Revds. Andrew Hetherington and Steve Parish for all their help and support this past year.

Jeremy Tear, March 2021

Pioneer Team Vicar’s Report

As I write this report on the anniversary of our first going into lockdown, I guess none of us could ever have imagined at the time, that we would still be dealing with the pandemic in the way we are a year on. ‘Hands-Face-Space’ has become the new mantra and we have become used to dealing with restrictions in our everyday lives, including when meeting in church when that has been possible. So, at the outset of this report, I would like to say thank you to each and every one of you for the gracious ways in which you have responded to this crisis, not least in terms of how we do church.

So, what has changed this past year? Perhaps most significantly, our worship has moved online, initially via Skype and then for most of the time via Zoom. It’s good to know that we are now getting 30 people join our regular services, and there have been occasions such as Remembrance Sunday, Christingle, and Mothering Sunday when numbers have been in the 50-80 mark. Holding worship via Zoom (with Zoom coffee afterwards!) has enabled our fellowship as a worshipping community to remain. Our discipleship has also moved online with the holding of a successful Alpha course in the spring and summer, followed by two Growing in Faith courses, one in the autumn and also one early this year. We have also run a weekly bible study group online and sent out a weekly thought for the day, and my thanks go to Kathryn Hayward for this, and for helping to lead our worship also. Various meetings have moved online too including the PCC, Standing Committee, Building Project Team and Giving Group. However, I am very conscious that not everyone has access to the internet or indeed feels comfortable using it for worship or meetings, and so I have written a monthly congregational letter (to supplement my weekly emails) which has been distributed to everyone in the congregation and we have also set up a system of pastoral care contacts who have been keeping in touch with people by phone. As we move out of the current lockdown,

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I am also conscious that people will return to our church building at different times as they feel comfortable, and so maintaining our online services, monthly letters and phone calls will remain important for probably sometime yet.

What else happened in 2020? Just prior to the first lockdown, it was very good to welcome Professor Ian Tracey, the organist from Liverpool Cathedral, to formally mark the refurbishment of our organ with a first-class recital. Many thanks to Jean Lawrence who worked so hard to make this possible for us and to raise £450 in the process. As mentioned above, our building team has continued to meet and we have been progressing our plans for the extension and car park, though it was disappointing to learn just before Christmas that Warrington Borough Council were not in favour of the idea of a car park. The newly elected PCC, following our delayed APCM in October, have also been thinking hard about the plans and we will be sharing our thoughts at this year’s annual general meeting. We have also been grappling with the realities of our finances (see the Treasurer’s report elsewhere) and these continue to remain a source of much concern.

Finally, I would like to thank Lynn Parish who has continued to do a sterling job as our sole Warden since April last year, ably supported by Ian Knight and Kate Forrest as Assistant Wardens. My thanks to Sylvia Morris and to Janet Kerswell who stood down as Warden and Assistant Warden this past year. Thanks also to our PCC members and to Nigel Cordon, our Treasurer, who steps down this year after 5 years hard work. This past year also saw Helen Aghanian finish her role as our Parish Administrator, so my thanks to her too, and to Jean Morris, Ella Finnegan, and Jane Hampton who have taken on responsibility for coordinating baptisms, funerals, weddings, and interments between them. Finally, my thanks to our clergy – Martin and Sarah, Steve and Andrew – for all their help this past year, and to each and every one of you for the countless number of ways in which you have contributed to St. Mary’s through your giving, service, and prayer.

Jeremy Tear, March 2021

Church Warden’s Report

We have had a tricky time over the past year with the pandemic and restrictions we have had regard for to ensure times church has been opened has kept people attending services were kept as safe as possible.

Risk assessments were made and updated when necessary.

The church building has seen the chancel rafter boards replaced and the organ space work completed with a few minor adjustments to finish off.

Much thanks to those members who have kept in touch with church contacts by email, phone or safe face to face to help keep spirits up; gardens and church building kept in good order. My thanks to Jeremy for his support and to Ian and Kate who have assisted in helping me.

Lynn Parish, March 2021

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Treasurer’s Report

This is a Summary Report of the church’s financial situation at 31[st] December 2020.

0/ Parish Share Debt

I have been asked to present the accounts as “Receipts and Payments” Accounts and NOT as “Accruals” Accounts which would include known debts.

As a result, the accounts do not show that we owe £39,600 in Parish Share in 2020.

In the accounts, the church’s funds are about £1,500 more than at Dec 31[st] 2018. At 31[st] December we owed £39,600 in Parish Share Payments, so on balance we are £38,000 worse off than at January 2020.

1/ Overall Balance

The church’s funds are about £1,500 more than at Dec 31[st] 2018. However, at 31[st] December we are £38,000 worse off than at January 2020.

In February 2021, of this debt, we have now paid off a further £33,000 , including paying £25,000 received as a legacy in mid-February 2021. We need to add to this the debts for January and February totalling £7,100 per month . At 1[st] March 2021, we owe £20,800 in Parish Share fees due.

The Church’s shortfall is made up, primarily, of £38,000 in Parish Share Payments; payments that were delayed by our low income this year (2020), caused by the Coronavirus Restrictions.

The St Marys Church has £220,600 in the bank including £183,300 from the sale of the Church Hall, £3,900 from the COOP for Chairs, and £12,000 in Building and Restoration Funds (and ROOF Funds).

The remaining Building Funds have since been spent on building and roof repairs in January 2021, relating to the organ chamber and the roof.

£162,000 of the Church Hall Money is currently split between 2 deposit accounts with the Nationwide and the Charity Bank.

2/ General Fund Balance

The General fund pays the normal running costs of the church.

The general fund made a GAIN of £5,000 over the year.

This figure does not take account of the impact of Coronavirus. This balance does not include the unpaid Parish Share, stated above.

The income for the year 2020 is less than for 2019 by £19,000 , primarily due to a reduction in Loose Plate takings of £7,000, Donations and Appeals income reduced by £7,000 and in Planned Giving (Envelopes) reduced by £4,000.

The outgoings, excluding Parish Share, have decreased by £12,000 primarily in the Running Costs, the Gas and Electric Bills and Staff costs.

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There was an increase in Charitable Giving of £5,000, more than in 2019.

The church is spending about £1,120 per month more than it is earning on average.

3/ Restricted and Designated funds

These funds, including the Tithing Fund made a loss of £20,000 over the year.

Designated funds paid out £18,000 to cover last year’s loss of £17,000 and £2,000 for work related to the planning of the new extension.

Restricted Funds paid out £2,000 composed mainly of the outgoing “Tithe Fund” Charitable Payments. (See below.)

4/ Outstanding (unspent) Legacy funds.

Legacy funds received in 2017 have now been spent.

The residual Legacy of £4,500 from last year was used to pay off part of the 2019 general fund deficit.

An additional legacy of £25,000, due in February 2021, has been earmarked by the

PCC to pay the Parish Share Backlog noted above.

5/ Major Purchases

There have been no major purchases in 2020. £2000 was spent on preparations for the new Extension.

The actual sum spent on preparations for the new Extension was £3,900 but this was offset by income from the Church Hall funds’ deposit accounts of about £1,900 in Interest Earned.

Payment for work is outstanding for the room behind the Organ and the Roof repairs.

(This has now been paid in January 2021.)

6/ Tithing and charity payments

The Tithing fund started the year with £8,000 which has decreased to £5,900. The Fund had an income of £5,000 and has paid out charitable donations of £7,100.

Charitable donations have been made this year to:

Locally: Open the Book, Youth for Christ
International and Others: Church Missionary Service, Church Army,
Leprosy Mission.

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7/ Thank you for your support.

My thanks to all the people that have helped with the finances over the year: -

Terry Finnegan for the Gift Aid; Ella, Jane and Jean for the Weddings, Funerals and Baptisms; Eric McGonagle for the Magazine costs; Derek Bowden for the Garden Fund; Janet Kerswell and Fiona Barnard for Charity funds; Fiona Barnard - Finance Assistant (Gas and Electricity), Jean Lawrence (Sunday School), Gail Pattullo (Community Lunch), and Audrey Scarisbrick (Social Fund).

In particular, I would like to thank Terry Finnegan and Julie Shaw for their help with the church accounts.

For simplicity I have rounded figures to the nearest £100. Accurate and detailed figures can be found in the Church’s Full year end accounts (for 2020), excluding the Parish Share debt.

Thanks, and Best Wishes

Nigel Cordon, St Mary’s Church Assistant Treasurer.

– Planned Giving Gift Aid Envelopes

This report excludes giving and tax recovery made through The Parish Giving Scheme.

The restrictions on Church services throughout most of 2020 due to the Covid-19 pandemic had a profound effect on donations and the method of donating.

The normal course of planned giving through donation envelopes and cash donations on the collection plate has been severely reduced. However, donors have continued to be very generous and resourceful and have found alternative ways of providing their regular giving. These included payments by standing order, by direct transfer payments from their personal bank account, by online and contactless payments and by saving their donation envelopes and sending them to the church whenever possible.

The total number of people using gift aid envelopes fell from 19 in 2019 to 17 in 2020 with many of these opting not to use envelopes in 2021.

Regular donations eligible for gift aid from all sources totalled £13,742 (2019 £14,583). The amount of gift aid tax recoverable on these donations is expected to be around £3,435 (2019 £3,645) subject to HMRC approval.

The number of regular donors using non gift aided envelops fell from 11 to 7 with a fall in the value of donations from £3,938 in 2019 to £1,233 in 2020.

The government continues to provide limited tax recovery on small individual cash donations of up to £30 – subject to a maximum reclaim of £2,000 – called the Gift Aid Small Donation

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Scheme (GASDS). The amount of such cash donations in 2020 was £2,807 (2019 £7,795). This will result in a reduction of GASDS recoverable of £1,188.

If anyone would like any information regarding their eligibility to gift aid their donations, or on donations generally, please see me in church or telephone me on 01925 726539 or 07955 126429.

Terry Finnegan Gift Aid Coordinator

Electoral Roll Report for St Mary’s Parish Church

Over the past year, 10 people have been added to the electoral roll and 2 people have been removed.

The total number of people currently on the roll stands at 100.

Jean Lawrence Electoral Roll Officer

Safeguarding Report

Although 2020 was a quiet year due to COVID 19 and spending the majority of it away from the Church, we were able to continue to keep our safer recruiting and safeguarding process up to date.

During 2020, we conducted 6 DBS checks for members of the PCC and volunteers working with schools. We also began to collect self-declaration forms for all historical positions held at church. This process has been held up due to COVID, but we intend to continue this process in the coming months. We continue to invite new recruits to complete safeguarding training but in an online capacity in lieu of face to face due to current conditions.

Clare Grimes Safeguarding Officer

Report from St. Mary’s Sunday School Lightnings

The country went into Lockdown in March 2020. For a period, everyone was uncertain how to adapt to the new way of life. Clare Grimes and myself have continued to run Sunday School in 2020, with the support of Nicola Asprey and David Scarisbrick.

At the beginning of April, Clare posted information about Skype services over the Easter period, on our “Lightnings at St. Mary’s” Facebook page. After some discussion, we decided to start Facebook Sunday school lessons, in line with our normal Sunday school lessons, on

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the 2nd and 4th Sundays of the month. At the end of June, Jeremy introduced a children’s slot into the Morning Worship on the third Sunday of the month.

As the year progressed and we were still unable to meet our children in church, we decided to start Zoom Lightnings sessions. Our first “Welcome Back” Zoom session was on October 11th. It was lovely to see each other again. Clare and I took it in turns to lead on the 2nd and 4th Sunday each month, supported by Nicola Asprey and David Scarisbrick. Each lesson was also posted on Facebook, including pictures of the lovely craft work posted after the session. In December, we had a fun Lightnings Nativity Zoom session, when the children sang some lovely carols. Clare videoed this session, which was then relayed in church and received a great response from the congregation. On December 20th, we had a special Lightnings class making Christingles, led by Gemma Tocher, which the children could then light in Jeremy’s Zoom Christingle service.

At the beginning of 2021, we were still unable to meet face to face in church and so we have continued with our Zoom Lightnings sessions as before. Our Zoom sessions have a small number of regular attendees.

In February, Clare and I were delighted to be joined by a new leader, Jane Pearson. Jane has brought her girls along to Sunday school for a number of years. This means that we can finally add an extra week back into the Lightnings calendar so we will now be holding 3 sessions each month.

We look forward in 2021 to the time we will be able to meet our children in church. In the meantime, we would like to pray for all the children within the West Warrington Team and wish them well on their continued journey through faith.

Jean Lawrence

Great Sankey Primary and Barrow Hall Primary Schools

Due to schools being closed, no services have been held since December 2019 details of which were in the 2019 APCM report.

George Jones

Report for Park Road Primary and Kids Planet Nursery

As 2020 began, I was continuing with making a monthly visit to the nursery to read bible stories to the pre-schoolers. I also had made arrangements to continue to go into Park Road primary to lead assemblies and lessons for all the children there, and we were about to go to schools to deliver Easter eggs and flyers with our services on. Then the introduction of the first national (and subsequent) lockdown put all these activities on hold. I continued to have some email contact with nursery and school, and the nursery continued to support Warrington foodbank at harvest time, but visiting was not an option. I’m pleased to say that

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in 2021, I have resumed bible stories for the nursery on Zoom and am about to have my first online assembly with Park Road for Easter. If you would be interested in being involved with this important and fun outreach to local children, do let me know.

Jeremy Tear

Open House Report

Open House, which is our weekly drop in on Wednesdays open to all in our community for a cuppa and a chat continued as usual for the first couple of months of the year until lockdown happened. With the subsequent restrictions, it has not been possible for us to offer refreshments at church, and so unfortunately we have not been able to provide this service. Some contact has been maintained with those who were regularly attending prior to lockdown, but this has been limited. We are waiting to see what happens with the Government’s current roadmap for easing restrictions as to when this might be able to restart. If you would be interested in helping on a monthly rota basis, do let me know.

Jeremy Tear

Listening Ear Service

After Phil and I prayed about the forced isolation people of our parish were facing because of the COVID pandemic, we felt we should be available to anyone who was struggling in any way.

We completed an online training course through ACORN Christian Healing Foundation. We organised, through Eric, posters to be designed and printed. We were given permission by the PCC to utilise the church for this service.

On 4th August 2020, we went to St. Mary’s and were there from 11am to 12 noon. We adhered to the sanitising process and were masked and socially distant. We had no one come through the doors.

This session ran until the end of September with a total of NIL seeking the service we offered. We unfortunately had only one person who came through the doors i we in the entire weeks we were there, and this lady was a live-in carer who was curious to see what the church looked like inside as she saw the door open!!

Our thanks were conveyed to Jeremy Tear for the trust and availability to use the church premises.

Kathryn and Phil Hayward

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Deanery Synod

At the last zoom meeting in October 2020 of the Deanery Synod (via Zoom) each Church PCC member was asked to indicate how parish share should be decided in future:

Should it be on the basis purely of paying for the clergy they have or

Should it be on the basis of the clergy they have, plus a 40 percent weighting to take account of the different social economic situations that each parish faces.

here was a general discussion and the meeting closed at 8.30pm with prayer.

Carole Rafter Deanery Synod Representative

10th Warrington (Sankey St Mary’s) Scout Group Report

2020 started off with such optimism with all of our sections keen to get going and improve on the activities of the previous year. The Cubs took part in the district craft competition, the scouts went caving in Derbyshire and then had a winter camp weekend. Then in March, as for everyone else, we were thrust into the first coronavirus lockdown.

All of a sudden, our planned activities started to be cancelled and we were not allowed to meet face-to-face. Our leaders did a fantastic job responding to this and very quickly coming up with a programme of online activities to keep our scouting going. To help out, our scouting families we stopped charging our subscriptions for five months. The Scout Association provided us with full access to the Zoom software and the team made best use of it, even keeping going through what would have been the school holidays.

Thankfully in September we were allowed to get back to some face-to-face activities, initially outdoors and then in November and December back in the hut. All of this had to be done in a Covid-safe way so there were lots of risk assessments to undertake and additional measures to think about. A main limitation was on the size of group allowed, which meant we had to double up on sessions and run them back to back to ensure everyone had the opportunity to attend. Everything else moved online; we have attended the all-age worship services and we had our Group AGM and awards evenings online as well.

The quality of the programme that the leaders delivered, both online and in-person, is borne out by us retaining the vast majority of our members through the year, and also recruiting some new ones. Our young people and their parents have been very patient and supportive of everything we’ve had to cope with.

Although this year we were not able to attend the Remembrance Day service, our Beavers, Cubs and Scouts all painted poppies on pebbles. These were then laid around the war memorial as a surrogate for us being there to remember.

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As I mentioned in this report last year, we are planning to replace our worn-out kitchen and toilet block at the scout hut. Due to the lockdown our plans have not progressed as quickly as they might have. However, in the year we have gained planning permission and made a significant grant application which we hope will be successful and go about halfway towards the costs. We’re grateful for the church providing us with a letter of support to help us with the grant application.

Our fundraising ability was also somewhat hampered this year. Our spring bedding plant sale went really well working with the other groups in the area and its something we’ll look to repeat in the future. We also managed to have a winter plant sale again and improved it quite a bit from the first year. Hopefully next year will be better as we need to raise significant amount of funds for our big build project.

Lastly, if you know any young people who are interested in joining scouts, or anyone who would be interested in helping us please put them in touch and we will be happy to have a chat.

Ian Skilling

Group Scout Leader

Girlguiding Report

We have as an organisation only met face to face up to March 2020 when guidance restricted our face to face meetings.

Keeping units across our Sankey District has been a challenge, hand delivering packs to unit members or starting Zoom sessions for those able. We have Rainbow, Brownies, Guides and Rangers. St Marys Rainbows, Brownies and Guides Units are still operating although we are hoping to start again when the guidance changes.

Lynn Parish

St. Mary’s Community Lunch Report

The last Community Lunch was held in January 2020 just before the first lock down. I can only report that the volunteers who helped regularly making cakes and soups stepped away from the Community lunch for various reasons, so we had to ask for more volunteers.

Income from lunches in February and March 2020 was £198 making our current outstanding balance to date £1,220.34. The remaining team members agreed the remaining monies would go towards the purchase of new chairs the PCC were looking at to replace the existing chairs, which were too heavy to lift. Our balance now stands at zero.

Carole Rafter

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Alpha/Growing in Faith

Despite a year of lockdown, we managed to run three courses exploring faith at St.Mary’s this past year. After Easter, we began our first ever Alpha course online. This was attended by 8 people meeting together on Zoom each week over the course of a 12 week period including an online ‘away day’ in June. It was a great privilege to lead the course and to see people explore faith and experience the work of the Holy Spirit in their lives. It was hoped that we would run another online course in the autumn, which Phil and Kathryn Hayward were preparing to lead, but unfortunately we did not have the numbers wanting to take part to make this viable. I do hope that we will be able to run another course at some stage this year.

Then in the autumn of 2020, and also in early 2021, we ran our first ever ‘Growing in Faith ‘ courses online. These built on the Alpha courses and were attended by 12 people who had either attended Alpha in person or online. We used material from the Church of England Pilgrim course and explored what faith looks like in terms of our prayer, giving, time at home and at work, our relationships, justice and the environment. Again, it was real privilege to run these courses and to see people develop in their faith. It is encouraging to know that there are three people waiting to be confirmed as a result of the above courses.

If you would be interested in attending the Alpha/Growing in Faith course, do have a word with me. It’s always good to explore and grow in your faith (and never too late to be confirmed!)

Jeremy Tear

Bible Study Group

Following on from the first Alpha Course held at St. Mary’s in 2019, it was good to start a midweek Bible Study group in March 2020. Four people met on the 14[th] March in the family room of the church after the Communion service. We studied the Epistle to the Romans. There was the interest from another 3 people to attend.

After the second week, the group had to stop meeting as the National lockdown began. This was disappointing.

By May, the use of Zoom to meet remotely came on the scene! This was good news and was quickly embraced by the church to interact with those able to access this facility.

Initially, it was a small group – Julie Shaw, Phil and myself meeting weekly. It was decided not to continue with Romans as we were hopeful that soon we would be able to get back to meeting in church. So, we looked at topics such as The Lord’s prayer. The study then went on to an entire Gospel – the Gospel of John.

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As we were studying this book, Jane Hampton joined and later, Lynn Parish and Carole Rafter joined. Numbers fluctuated week on week due to other commitments.

The structure of this Bible study was similar to the Alpha format in that discussion was encouraged with the emphasis on what does John tell us about His Saviour and ours. The study ended in January 2021.

After that, we looked at a 6 week study on the Holy Spirit. It was decided we would then return to the Letter to the Romans and as this is a 7 week study we plan to finish this by the end of April.

As Phil and myself will be formally leaving St. Mary’s, the Bible study will be ending then.

Kathryn and Phil Hayward

Music Group

We met in Church up to March 2020 and from then onwards restrictions prevented singing in Church. CDs and Zoom services or using PowerPoint showing YouTube songs and hymns have been used. Many are missing the live singing and are hoping and praying that soon we will be able to sing again!

Lynn Parish

Traidcraft

Traidcraft goods were accessible up to March 2020 in church. The restrictions have reduced the orders. St Mary’s uses Fairtrade tea bags and instant coffee, although we have not been able to offer refreshments. Fairtrade Easter Eggs and Christmas Advent Calendars were ordered for those who requested them.

Lynn Parish

Garden Report

The start of the garden season coincided with the start of the first Covid National Lockdown on the 23rd March 2020 and government restrictions meant that only 2 of the team of 5 gardeners were allowed to work together (with social distancing) at any one time. Also, two of the team would not be able to attend the garden at all as they fell into the highly vulnerable category and had to shield. We had visions of the garden becoming overgrown and beyond recovery. However, David Scarisbrick, Eric McGonagle and Ted Rigby working under difficult circumstances within the rules, did a great job and managed to keep the garden under

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control. Then in July, when some of the restrictions were lifted, we were able to proceed with a little more normality and with the help of good weather, in the end we had another successful year in the garden.

The Church garden is an asset to the Church and also the local community and beyond. However, as we all know, a lovely garden is not just a case of time and effort, it needs investment in plants, shrubs and fertilizers. Also, we have a contract to meet with Green Thumb who treat the lawns 4 times a year. The Garden of Remembrance is now 17 years old and all the shrubs and plants in the centre need replacing.

The only guaranteed income streams we have are fees received for non-church members’ interments and bell ringing at weddings, which are then diverted and credited into the Garden Fund.

Donations can be passed to any member of the garden team or placed in the garden donation box at the back of the Church (God’s little acre). They will be gratefully received and faithfully applied.

Derek J Bowden

Church Mission Society (CMS)

As a church, we support Eric and Sandra Reed, who are CMS mission partners in the Philippines. They work on an organic farm and help local church leaders to reach out to their communities by both words and deeds. They have two children, Peter and Atiyyah, who are studying in this country.

Last year we agreed to give £2,000 to support the Reeds from our tithing fund. A box collection for CMS also raised around £100.

We are now looking for a new CMS representative to champion its work in our congregation, after Gail Pattullo has fulfilled this role for the last few years. Please let me know if you would be interested. It is hoped that Eric and Sandra may be able to come and visit St.Mary’s this autumn, and if so, I do encourage you to come and hear first-hand of their work.

Jeremy Tear

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Church Army

There are twelve church members who take the Prayer Diary and Catalyst publications. These are delivered every two months; more can be ordered if anyone else would like them.

Unfortunately, because of the pandemic it has not been able to hold the annual Strawberry Tea. Hopefully as soon as circumstances permit, we will be able to have an event to support the work of the Church Army evangelists.

Many thanks to everyone who support Church Army through prayer and finance.

Janet Kerswell

The Leprosy Mission

There are fifteen church members who receive the Prayer Diary and eight who take Newday, the newsletter from TLM.

Although unable to have the usual fundraising event in February, the response to the Unconditional Appeal has raised £600 from seventeen members of the congregation. The Leprosy Mission has managed to achieve match funding from UK government between January 24th and April 24th so our contribution will provide £1200. Since I remitted this money to TLM the church tithing fund has donated £500. This contribution to TLM is usually sent later in the year, but having the opportunity to have the money doubled seemed ideal.

Paul Moores, the North West Regional Manager, spoke at our church Zoom service in November.

Thank you to everyone who responded to the appeal and to all who support TLM through prayer.

The Leprosy Mission‘s aim is Leprosy defeated, lives transformed.

Janet Kerswell

PCC Secretary’s Report

There were 10 PCC meetings held during this highly unusual year. The 15[th] January and 11[th] February meetings were held in the Church, but the 18[th] March meeting did not take place due to the coronavirus situation. Consequently, some decisions were taken by email and reviewed at the next meeting on 29[th] April, which was instead held on Skype. Further meetings were held via Skype on 20[th] May, 17[th] June, 2[nd] July (an extra meeting to discuss the reopening of the Church) and 15[th] July. Due to technical issues, the PCC used Zoom for the meetings on 16[th] September, 21[st] October and 25[th] November. There were no meetings planned in August and December.

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The APCM was due to be held on 26[th] April, but was postponed until 18[th] October. The Church Forum also met on 19[th] January in the Church.

The PCC reviewed the minutes from each of the seven Standing Committee meetings, which were held on 6[th] January, 10[th] March, 20[th] April, 29[th] June, 4[th] August, 5[th] October and 5[th] November.

The Giving Group usually meets twice a year and this year it met on 13[th] February (in person) and 13[th] July (on Zoom), with its recommendations reviewed at the following PCC meeting.

As well as general church business, some items of PCC focus this year have been: the work on the organ chamber, the repair of the chancel roof, the level of Parish Share we can pay in the future and the plans for an extension and car park using the money from the sale of the Parish Hall and fundraising.

Fiona Barnard PCC Secretary

The Children's Society

Due to the Coronavirus pandemic it was not possible to complete the House Box collection this year. Also, we were not able to enjoy our regular Christingle Services in Church. However, the Zoom Christingle Service managed to raise £85 online, and we also received donations of £265. This meant that we were able to forward the sum of £350 to the Children's Society, a good result in these difficult times. Thanks to everyone who contributed. We will continue with the House Box collections as soon as the circumstances allow, and in the meantime hope that box holders will continue to support this really worthwhile Charity which is in urgent need of funds. We hope to be in a position to once again send contributions from St. Mary's Church to the Children's Society later this year.

Ros and John Lawrie

Magazine Report

I am writing this report on behalf of our Editor Jo Jackson whose husband Glenn sadly passed away suddenly on 2nd March. We send Jo and her family our deepest sympathy and hold them in our prayers.

Jo has had problems, mainly in having the magazine printed during 2020 due to the pandemic and the lockdowns. As a result, during 2020 we have had four magazines printed and one sent to all our subscribers by email. The Advertisers have also decreased and in some cases had their fees reduced. For the last edition in April/May this year, we are down to 81 copies being printed.

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We are indebted to Emma Thompson, Circuit Administrator for Sankey Valley Methodist Circuit, who print the magazine for us. Thanks to Jo for her hard work and dedication as Editor for many years. Thanks to Sue Gibbons who also for many years has helped encouraging and recording new subscribers, collecting the cash from the magazines sold and distributing them.

You will see that we had quite a profit in 2020 but this year we will probably ‘break about even’.

As the situation hopefully will be easing soon and we will be back in Church, I would ask you to keep our magazine in mind and support it with anything you may think would be of interest to our readers as well as ordering a copy yourselves.

St Mary’s Church Magazine Account January - December 2020

Total collected for the sale of magazines including income from Advertisers (120 per month in January and 84 per month in December) - £716.00

Total Cost of printing four Editions - £197.09

This leaves surplus of £518.91 which has gone to Church funds.

Eric McGonagle

Social Team Report

The last time the Social Team met was on Tuesday 4[th] February 2020. One of the main discussions at the meeting was the coming event of the Organ Recital, which was held on the 14[th] March 2020 and organised by Jean Lawrence and the Social Team offering their help in required.

When we last met, we were so few in numbers, that we did not feel able to continue planning and organising social events. Our only option was to dissolve the existing Social Team. The organisation of a Summer Fair, therefore, will need to be embraced by a new group of volunteers. We as individuals, are happy to assist the newly formed team.

An email was sent to the Vicar, Jeremy Tear on 2[nd] March 2021 informing him of this.

Audrey Scarisbrick Chairperson – Social Team

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St Marys PCC Great Sankey

Statement of Financial Activities

For the period from 01 January 2020 to 31 December 2020

Unrestricted Designated Designated Restricted Endowment
Total		 Endowment
Total		 Prior year
funds funds funds funds
funds		 total funds
Receipts
Planned giving £32,585.07 — £5.00 — £32,590.07 £31,361.56
Collections and other giving £9,632.82 — £226.90 — £9,859.72 £20,217.52
Other voluntary receipts £2,632.71 £583.65 £316.02 — £3,532.38 £10,963.46
Gift Aid recovered £9,507.31 — — — £9,507.31 £8,709.81
Other receipts £1,111.62 — — — £1,111.62 £22,116.97
Activities for generating funds — £376.00 — — £376.00 £1,500.40
Investment Income £13.56 £1,906.46 — — £1,920.02 £82.58
Receipts from church activities £15,679.98 — — — £15,679.98 £17,825.85
Total income £71,163.07 £2,866.11 £547.92 — £74,577.10 £112,778.15
Payments
Cost of generating funds £123.19 — — — £123.19 £710.48
Missionary and Charitable Giving — — £7,100.00 — £7,100.00 £1,828.15
Parish Share £32,579.20 — — — £32,579.20 £62,498.98
Clergy and Stafng costs £6,072.99 £4,518.51 — — £10,591.50 £13,722.50
Church Running Expenses £12,835.49 £266.40 £220.90 — £13,322.79 £41,859.82
Hall Running Costs — — — — — —
Church Repairs & Maintenance — — £457.92 — £457.92 —
Hall Repairs & Maintenance — — — — — —
New Building work £390.00 £3,963.50 — — £4,353.50 —
Governance Costs £3,940.00 — — — £3,940.00 £2,920.69
Total expenditure £55,940.87 £8,748.41 £7,778.82 — £72,468.10 £123,540.62
Net income / (expenditure) resources before transfer £15,222.20 (£5,882.30) (£7,230.90) — £2,109.00 (£10,762.47)
Transfers
Gross transfers between funds - in £17,697.61 £5,338.00 £5,434.01 — £28,469.62 £49,684.67
Gross transfers between funds - out (£10,772.01) (£17,547.61) (£150.00) — (£28,469.62) (£49,684.67)
Other recognised gains / losses
Gains / losses on investment assets — — — — — —
Gains on revaluation, fxed assets, charity's own use — — — — — —
Net movement in funds £22,147.80 (£18,091.91) (£1,946.89) — £2,109.00 (£10,762.47)
Reconciliation of funds
Total funds brought forward (£12,574.61) £205,820.05 £25,323.75 — £218,569.19 £229,331.66
Total funds carried forward £9,573.19 £187,728.14 £23,376.86 — £220,678.19 £218,569.19

23 March 2021 Page 1

INDEPENDENT EXAMINER'S REPORT ISORP 20151 TO THE PCC OF ST. MARYS, GREAT SANKEY I report to the Parochial Church Council IPCCI of St. Marys, Great Sankey on the accounts for the year ended 31" December 2020, as Set out on the pages of your Annual Report. which comprise of the Balance sheet, Statement of Financial Activities. and the related notes. RESPECTIVE RESPONSIBILITIES OF TRUSTEES ANO EXAMINER The PCC are responsible for the preparation of the account5. They consider that an audit is not required for this year under section 144 of the Charities Act 2011 (the Charities Act) and that an independent examination is needed. l am qualified to undertake the examination by being a qualified member of the Association of Accounting Technicians. It is my responsibility to.. l- Examine the accounts under section 145 of the Charitie5 Att, 2- To follow the procedures laid down in the General Directors given by the Charity Commission lunder section 12515llbl of the Charities Act, and 3- To state whether particular matters have come to my attention. BASIS OF INDEPENDENT EXAMINER'S REPORT My examination was carried out in accordance with the gener31 directions given by the Charity Commission. An examination includes a review of the accounting reports kept by the PCC and comparison of the accounts presented with those records. It also includes consideration of any unusual items or disclosures in the accounts and seeking explanations from the PCC concerning any suth matters. The procedures undertaken do not provide all the evidence that would be required in an audit, and consequently no opinion is given as to whether the accounts present a 'true and fair, view and the report is limited to the matters set out in the statement below. INDEPENDENT EXAMINER'S STATEMENT In connection with my examination, the only matter that has come to my attention is that no provision has been made for accruals. Subject to the above no material matters have come to my attention which gives me cause to believe that in, any material respect: actounting records were not kept in accordance with sectlon 130 of the Charities Act or the accounts do not accord with the accounting records. I have come across no other matters in connection with the examination to whlch attention should be drawn to enable a proper understanding of the ac s to be reached. Carty and Co Accountants Ltd 234 Manchester Road Warrington WAI 38D Dated: 1510412021