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2022-12-31-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 2022

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St. Mary’s, Great Sankey

Annual Report of the Parochial Church Council For the year ended 31st December 2022

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 2022 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 Lynn Parish (re-appointed APCM 2022, Vice chair) John Taylor (appointed April 2022) Elected members Julie Shaw (Treasurer, appointed October 2021) Susan Gibbons (appointed April 2021) Jane Hampton (appointed April 2022) Roxy Jones (appointed October 2020) Gemma Tocher (stepped down April 2022) Leanne Turner (Vice chair, stepped down June 2022)

Ex-officio members Rev. Martin Thorpe, Pioneer Team Vicar Rev. Sarah Peppiatt, Pioneer Team Vicar

Deanery Synod Roxy Jones (appointed April 2021) Representatives

Electoral Roll Jean Lawrence

DBS Verifier and Clare Grimes Safeguarding Officer

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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 and Ian Knight were re-appointed in April 2022 but are not members of the PCC.

Employees Gail Cordon, Laura Hampton, Derek Bowden, Mick and Doren Hartop, and Lynn Parish undertook ad hoc duties as vergers/bell ringers

Treasurer’s Report

See attached.

Independent P 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), John Taylor (Churchwarden from April 2022), Susan Gibbons (appointed April 2022) , and Jane Hampton (appointed April 2022)

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: revjeremytear@gmail.com 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

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checks. We received additional training on GDPR by Helen Aghanian, our Church Administrator in 2018.

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.

Regular maintenance checks are done on the building by way of a Quinquennial on the structure and checks on internal electrical items like boiler, heating system, fire extinguishers, fire & security alarms.

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

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2021, we devised a three-year strategy document for the period 20212023.

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 2022 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 Churches Together Good Friday service and a Prayer Walk on Ascension Day. 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.

Church Buildings

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A variety of general maintenance tasks were completed including work to the roof and tower as part of our Quinquennial inspection

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 104 people registered on the electoral roll at the APCM in 2022.

Worship

Average attendance at Sunday Services in 2022 was around 10 people attending the 8am communion service and around 57 adults/children attending an average 10am service. We also had a consistent figure of around 12 attending the Wednesday Holy Communion service.

We also have had a regular 5 adults/children who have attended our online services at 10am.

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), and monthly home communion visits. The Vicar writes a weekly letter sent by email and a monthly letter sent by email/post.

Growing in Faith

In spring 2022, we ran a Growing in Faith course, followed by The Talking Jesus course in the summer. In the autumn, we ran an in-person Alpha course which was attended by members of the church and those connected to it.

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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 2021-2023’ which we have reviewed at PCC. Pioneer Team Rector’s Report

2022 was a much more ‘normal’ year in the life of our team as we finally emerged into the post-pandemic period. Not that Covid has gone away, of course, but life in general (and church life in particular) felt more like it used to, with numbers of different activities getting up and running again within our churches, including our Team Growing Leaders course.

A particular highlight of the year was the ordination of Rebecca Lloyd as Deacon at Liverpool Cathedral on 26 June. Rebecca’s appointment is to serve primarily in St.James’ parish, where she is involved in a number of different ways, but she has also been getting some experience of leading worship at St.Mary’s as well. Please do continue to pray for her and for her family as they adjust to Rebecca’s new role and as she is priested on 10[th] June at Liverpool Cathedral.

Service-wise, all team services were back in person this year. We had an Ash Wednesday service at St.Mary’s, a Maundy Thursday communion at St.Paul’s, a Good Friday service at St.Philip’s and Easter Eve vigil at St.James. We also held a Team Confirmation Service at St.Elphin’s in May, confirming around 30 children from St.Philip’s and St.James. Finally, in late October, we had the annual Team Memorial Service at St.Mary’s, and the post Christmas team service was held at St.Philip’s.

Ecumenically, we joined together with other Christians from West Warrington for the Good Friday service at Honiton Square once again and reinstituted the prayer walk around West Warrington on Ascension Day as part of Thy Kingdom Come, visiting St.Paul’s and St.Mary’s en route. Members of our Team were also involved in the Churches Together stall at Penketh carnival on a blazing hot summer’s day in July, and continue to be involved in the Open the Book presentations in local primary schools.

As well as the bi-weekly meetings of the core team of clergy/ordinand and local missional leaders, the Team Fund Committee continued to meet regularly to consider how we use the team funds available to us. During 2022, we supported an application from St. James for their Year 6 Leavers Prom and also conducted a review of the remaining team funds, which were getting quite low. As a result, it has been decided that churches will need to be responsible for paying the expenses of their own clergy/local

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missional leaders in future. I am very grateful to John Harrop, our Team Treasurer, for all his hard work with the Team Accounts for 2022 and for his work with the clergy expenses reconciliation exercise. I am also grateful to Rosie Cox who continues to allow our Team accounts to be reported on within St.James accounts.

As we look forward to what lies ahead in the remainder of 2023, including exploring the potential implications of the Diocesan Fit for Mission programme and the Church Warrington Year of Mission, I pray that we will not lose sight of our unity in Christ as brothers and sisters in this part of town. Let’s continue to do together those things we can, whilst acknowledging those things which are best done in our own churches.

Finally, I would like to thank my clergy colleagues, Revds. Martin Thorpe, Sarah Peppiatt and Rebecca Lloyd, the Local Missional Leaders Marise Seville, June Dunning and Paul Smalley, and our retired clergy including Revds. Steve Parish, Andrew Hetherington and Mal Martin for all their help and support in various ways across our team churches this past year.

Jeremy Tear, March 2023

Pioneer Team Vicar’s Report

This past year has been marked by a sense of returning to ‘normal’ at St.Mary’s, as we moved into a post-pandemic world. Attendances significantly increased at all our services and we ended the year with a weekly average in-person attendance of 75 people, nearly double that of the previous year. The community lunch restarted in May and we are now getting around 40 people each month which is great. Lightnings, our Sunday School for children, also restarted in person in 2022, though it is taking time to re-establish numbers.

One of the great encouragements of the past year has been the continued influx of new members of the Hong Kong community, and I am grateful for the way in which they are contributing to the life of our church, alongside others. We had a fantastic Hong Kong Harvest Supper and Quiz in October, and it was a delight to welcome many others to that. It was also great to welcome many in our community to our Summer and Christmas fairs, which raised good sums of money for the church, and I am grateful to Sarah Lavelle and Amanda Adlington for their help in organising these.

Another ongoing encouragement has been the Alpha, Growing in Faith and Talking Jesus courses as we have continued to engage existing and new church members with the basics of the Christian faith and how it applies to our lives. We also ran the course based on the BBC TV drama ‘Broken’ about a Catholic priest ministering in inner city Liverpool, which was also well received.

Building wise, it was great to have our new chairs delivered to church in May and I hope that people are enjoying sitting on them! Being much

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lighter, they also make it much easier to rearrange the church for services and events, and my thanks go to all who assist with that each week, and indeed to the Co-op who provided the funding. We also began a series of major repairs to the tower and other smaller repairs in October as part of our Quinquennial (five yearly inspection) and these have now largely been finished. We received the faculty from the diocese for our proposed church extension in November and are currently waiting on council planning permission before hopefully going out to tender. Having agreed to use some of our hall sale funds for the necessary Quinquennial work, we will need to raise some additional funds for this and have these in place before any building work can begin, which may not now be until early next year.

I am grateful to Lynn Parish and to John Taylor who have served as church wardens this past year, as have Kate Forrest and Ian Knight as assistant wardens. Thanks to all our PCC and Deanery Synod members; our baptism, wedding, funeral and interment co-ordinators; and to all who have served, given and prayed for St.Mary’s in 2022. We simply couldn’t function without you. As Lynn prepares to stand down as warden this year after 6 years of service, and Julie Shaw after two years as treasurer, please pray for good replacements to carry on their excellent work. Finally, my thanks to our clergy – Martin, Sarah, Rebecca and Steve - for all their help this past year too.

Jeremy Tear, March 2023

Church Warden’s Report

We have had another year with the aftermath of the pandemic although lessening of restrictions we were used to last year meant that our PCC has had to have regard for government and Church of England guidelines. Our church has been kept open and has kept people attending services, keeping people as safe as possible. No masks being worn now although gel is available as people enter the church and for those still feeling vulnerable wearing masks and keeping their distance. Risk assessments were made and updated when necessary.

Holy Communion has been provided but intincting wafers and given individually. The church now has the new red chairs which have made a huge difference when activities in the church necessitate moving them. They are stackable and lighter to move.

Much thanks to those members who kept in touch with church contacts by email, phone or safe face to face to help keep spirits up; gardens and church building have been kept in good order.

My thanks to Jeremy for his continuing support to John and myself as churchwardens and to Ian and Kate who have assisted in helping us.

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Lynn Parish and John Taylor, Church Wardens

Treasurer’s Report

This is a Summary Report of the church’s financial position as of 31[st] December 2022.

1.Overall Balance and Fund balance details

The overall balance of Church funds amounts to £207,455 which is (£13,163) less than the 2021 balance.

These balances are split over several different bank accounts held by St Mary’s. They represent several different funds set aside for the Church’s operation.

1a) Church Hall Fund (Designated Fund) balance £179,100 which is a decrease in 2022 of £4,618 due to agreed quinquennial work being carried out on the church as agreed by the PCC. We earned Interest on the Nationwide accounts of £898 and Interest for 2021 on the Charity Bank of £421.91 which is only available in March each year.

1b) Building & Restoration & Roof Funds (Restricted Funds) balance £1,599 has an increase of £323 in donations in 2022.

1c) Co Op for Chairs (Restricted Fund) balance (£4) after the chairs were paid for.

1d) General Fund (Unrestricted Fund) pays for the normal running costs of the church. The balance is £6,411 which is (£8,021) lower than 2021. We paid additional costs out of the General Fund in 2022 which related to 2021, one of them being the Parish Share balance of £6k to balance it to £50,000 for the year. Also, the negative balance on the Team Fund on the balance sheet was adjusted (£4,219) after a discussion with the Auditor and it was agreed we didn’t need a Team fund account.

1e) Tithing (Restricted Fund) balance of £7,382 which is £990 higher than 2021.We have paid out £4,575 in charitable donations (listed below) and received income of £5,565.

Charitable donations have been made this year to:

Locally: St.Mary’s, Pickersley; Churches together.

International and others: Church Mission Society, Church Army, Leprosy Mission, Ukraine appeal and Pakistan appeal.

1f) Garden and Flower Funds (Restricted Funds) The Garden fund balance is £310 which is made up income and expenditure during the

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year. The Flower fund balance is £117 which is £115 less than 2021 again due to income and expenditure during the year.

1g) Other Restricted & Designated – Designated balance £8,818 Restricted balance £3,723.

2. Parish Share

The Parish Share is an amount payable to the Diocese as a contribution to the costs of clergy in the Diocese.

At the end of 2021 the balance owing was £26,724. The Parish Share contribution expected for 2022 was £67,421.04. The PCC agreed that we could again manage to repay £50k in 2022 leaving a closing balance at the end of 2022 of £44,145.04. The PCC have been seeking to agree a parish share payment plan with the deanery/diocese which includes addressing our parish share deficit.

3. Income

The income for the year amounted to £83,283. The income is less than in 2021 by £10,288. Included in last year’s income was a £25k legacy which I have not included here. We had the Stewardship Initiative in March-April. We had a pledged increase of £476 per month and one-off donations of £1,735. Unfortunately, we have not had an increase in Hall Lettings and Wedding income which we had budgeted for.

4. Expenditure

The Expenditure for 2022 was £96,445 which although less than 2021 due to the building work, we have still exceeded our income by £13,163. Which is due to expenses from 2021 being paid in 2022, £6k balance of 2021 Parish Share, £8k Chairs, and the rest is the general running costs of the church, church maintenance Fire and Burglar alarms, utilities, staff costs.

5. Support

I would like to thank all the staff at St Mary’s who continue to support the Church and myself with day to running, services and financial information.

The figures have been rounded and detailed figures can be found in the Church’s full year end accounts (2022). The Parish share balance owed is a note to the accounts and not on the reports.

Julie Shaw, St Mary’s Treasurer

– Planned Giving Gift Aid Envelopes

Most of the planned giving is now donated through the Parish Giving Scheme (PGS). This provides the Parish with several advantages over other forms of giving, including a consistent and regular income, monthly receipt of gift aid improving cash flow and a reduction in the volume of

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cash to be counted by the volunteers each week. The monetary value of the PGS is considered elsewhere in the annual report.

A small number of donors continue to use weekly donation envelopes presented on the collection plate and these donations still contribute significantly to the Parish income. In 2022 these donations amounted to £6,592 which will also produce annual gift aid reclaims estimated at £1,474. Loose cash donations via the collection plate amounted to £6,700 in 2022 with a tax refund via the Small Donation Gift Aid Scheme of £1,675. These tax recovery estimates are subject to HMRC review.

Some donors also contribute by payments directly to the Parish bank account and via the Contactless Payments System.

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

Terry Finnegan, Gift Aid Coordinator

Electoral Roll Report

Over the past year, 3 people have been added to the electoral roll and 11 people have been removed.

The total number of people currently on the roll stands at 96.

Jean Lawrence, Electoral Roll Officer

Safer Recruitment and Safeguarding Report

We continue as a church community and PCC to follow the diocese safer recruiting and safeguarding guidelines and aim to ensure all volunteers and employees in our community go through the relevant checks for recruitment.

We continue to renew our forms and templates based on any changes we see in the Church of England practices and will continue to monitor this going forward.

Since March 2022, 8 people have renewed their safeguarding training using both basic and where required foundation courses.

We have safely recruited 17 volunteers since the last report. We continue to ensure our volunteers receive a DBS check where required and are currently undergoing 2 check processes and have completed 5 DBS checks since the last report.

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Over the last year, no safeguarding issues for the church have been brought to my attention.

Clare Grimes, Safeguarding Officer

St. Mary’s Sunday School Lightnings

The year from April 2022 to April 2023 has seen the gradual return of families to church after the end of the pandemic.

From April to December 2022, Clare Grimes, Jane Pearson and I, supported by David Scarisbrick, have attempted to cover the 2nd, 3rd and 4th Sundays of each month. In January 2023 we were very grateful to welcome Frances Knight as additional support for the new rota. Lynn Parish has also kindly offered to help if needed.

It is good to be back in church, however at our scheduled meetings, we acknowledge that the number of children attending continues to be very low. We have discussed and implemented a variety of strategies for "reaching out” in an attempt to encourage families. No volunteers for helpers were forthcoming from Stewardship forms. Leaflets advertising Lightnings were given out at the Summer Fayre and information sent to local schools and nurseries via Parentmail at the start of the new term in September. Adverts have been placed on Facebook, St. Mary’s homepage and the Church Near You website.

Children and leaders continue to meet and sit at the back of church and leave after the first hymn, returning at the end of the service to rejoin parents and receive a blessing at Communion. An extra row of chairs has now been turned to face the coffee table to make more space for Lightnings and parents with babies and toddlers. The children enjoy sharing their work with the congregation at the end of the service and joining in with instruments in the final hymn.

As Christmas approached, emails were sent out to the parents of children who had come to church in the last twelve months to invite them to take part in the Nativity. We were delighted to perform a simple nativity, which was received with great joy and appreciation of the children’s efforts by the congregation.

We will continue to discuss new ideas to attract and engage the children. Wherever possible we will continue to offer Lightnings on 3 Sundays of the month, recognising that with few leaders and helpers, this may not always be possible.

We look forward in 2023 to the growth of Lightnings at St Mary’s. We would like to pray for all the children within the West Warrington Team and wish them well on their journey through faith.

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Jean Lawrence

Schools’ Report

In 2022, I continued to go into the nursery to provide monthly bible stories for the rising 3s and pre-schoolers. The nursery also came to church at Easter, Harvest and at Christmas when I shared with them and their parents the Christian meaning of these special seasons in the life of the church.

Great Sankey and Barrow Hall Primary schools came to church before Christmas for their annual services, and we distributed chocolate coins and details of our Christmas services to children at Great Sankey and Park Road primary in the last week of term.

I also lead the Great Sankey High School annual service of remembrance for former students and staff in March.

I am grateful to all who helped me with the nursery and primary schools’ services, and Christmas coins distribution, as well as to the members of St. Mary’s who continue to go into local primary schools as part of the Open the Book teams.

Jeremy Tear

Deanery Synod

Deanery Synod met twice during 2022 - on 28[th] June and 16[th] November. A summary of the key areas covered is given below.

1 Fit for Mission

This was one of two key areas of focus during 2022. In June we had a presentation from Richard Gedge, Laura Jones and Gill Dottie from Liverpool Cathedral, laying out some of the ground that needs to be covered within the Deanery in order to progress towards FFM.

In November the clergy were able to report on a fruitful AwayDay at which they looked in much more detail at how FFM could look in Warrington. These are early days in the planning process and we await further opportunities to work out the details ready for consultation with each parish and its members.

2 Leading Your Church Into Growth (LYCIG)

This is the second major area of focus for the deanery. In June, representatives of all interested parishes attended a residential conference to explore in detail what LYCIG could mean for each of

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them. Our representatives were Jeremy Tear, Joan Rotheram and Sharon Leung. PCC is currently working through what they brought back with them and is working hard to make growth a reality.

3 Parish Share

It was reported in June that we are continuing with the process identified the previous year, towards a Parish Share that has a 2% increase and looking at putting out figures to review church by church shortly. Transitional Relief at that point was expected to be phased out. For 2023 we will have some additional funds due to the vacant position at Cinnamon Brow.

4 Deanery Updates

At every meeting we receive updates from all parishes in the Deanery. These can be viewed via the minutes of the meetings. Of particular note, due to them being new congregations, are:-

Central Church which has been meeting at the Salvation Army building since the Spring of 2022, with numbers increasing.

Church Collective which meets as 4 communities around the town centre, engaging in the local community, worshipping creatively, loving generously and serving locally. At the time of the June meeting, Church Collective was trying to appoint a Town Centre Pioneering Chaplin in partnership with the University of Chester.

Jeremy Tear

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

It has been another great year for 10[th] Warrington Scouts with the group fulfilling its purpose, giving young people, skills for life.

There have been quite a few science related activities this year, with Beavers and Cubs attending the science jamboree at Liverpool University, and then Cubs and Scouts visiting Jodrell Bank.

Highlight of the year was the space-themed Chamboree (Cheshire Jamboree) camp in July/August at Tabley near Knutsford. This spectacular, week-long event, held once every four years saw over 5,000 young people from Scouts and Guides join together. A full programme of exciting activities was provided for Beavers for a day, Cubs for a weekend and Scouts for the full week. Highlight for Scouts was a day trip to Manchester involving a silent dancing tour of the city and an activity at the Apple Store. A great team effort by our leaders and all of the other adult helpers who made this such an enjoyable event for everyone.

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We also once again held our group awards evening in October, celebrating all of the successes and achievements of young people throughout the year. A lovely social event enjoyed by all.

The number of young people in the group has remained steady last year. At this moment, we have around 90 on our roll. This is definitely down to the varied and engaging programme of activities that the leaders deliver week-in week-out.

Our scouts visited Meadowview Care Home just before Christmas with some presents for the residents. Their visit was really appreciated and they spent some time chatting and getting to know each other.

The project to replace our worn-out kitchen and toilet block was finally completed this year. It is a massive improvement on what we had before. Well done to our fundraising and building project teams for making it happen. Our thoughts now turn to the next challenge of what to do with the rest of the building, whilst not in critical condition, will require a lot of maintenance expenditure to keep it going. Maybe now is the time to think big and look at sympathetically replacing it?

It was great to see a better turn out for the recent Mother’s Day all-age service. We will try and maintain at least this level of attendance for the rest of the year.

Our Beaver Leader of many years, Steve Pennington, will be retiring this year so we need a strong leader team in place to keep things going. Steve will retain his connection with the group but in a supporter and advisory role. Our best wishes to Steve, and a massive thank-you for everything he’s done.

We are happy to say that once again we are holding a spring bedding plant sale this year. Working with other scout groups in the area we have an improved selection of great quality, professionally-grown, plants for sale. Please support us if you can by visiting our on-line shop at www.warringtonwestscouts.org.uk/plant-sale.

Lastly, if you know any young people who are interested in joining scouts, or anyone who would be interested in volunteering with 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 from September 2021 when Girlguiding guidance restricted meetings. We have Rainbow, Brownies, Guides and Rangers. St Mary’s Rainbows, Brownies and Guides

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Units are still operating live. Some units have changed hands as leaders have retired but all units are active albeit with changes to face to face meetings and risk assessed.

Numbers dropped last year but we are beginning to see numbers increase again, which is encouraging. For example, our St Mary’s 35[th] Rainbow Unit has seen a steady 150% increase in new girls since May 2022. Now have 15 girls and 7 on the waiting list for this year. We met for our annual Girlguiding Carol Service for Sankey District and had 100 girls and parents attending the service. We collected food donations for our Food Bank.

Lynn Parish

St. Mary’s Community Lunch Report

The change of approach with the Community Lunch, resuming on the second Tuesday of the month, rather than on a Friday was a concern, but has proved hugely successful. With a small, committed band of volunteers making soup, supplying and making cakes, shopping ahead of time and attending each month to serve the attendees, we are regularly filling all seven tables and making on average £120-£150 towards church funds.

Jeremy’s THOUGHT FOR THE DAY on each occasion reminds us all of why continuing to welcome members of the community into church is so important. His words are always well received and add to the enjoyment of the lunch.

We have worked within the regulations set by the Health and Hygiene Officer from Warrington Borough Council, with checks made before and after each event to ensure that we continue to achieve the top grade.

The Community Lunch is a friendly, vibrant and successful venture; continuing with this helps bring people into St. Mary’s who might not otherwise cross the threshold; guiding people who may be seeking a new pathway into faith and continuing to warmly care for those whose faith is already established.

Joan Rotheram

Alpha/Growing in Faith/Talking Jesus

The Alpha course has run successfully again this year from September to December 2022, led by Jeremy, Sharon and myself. We were able to establish two full discussion groups and managed to find volunteers to provide meals for the group over the 12-week period. At times, it was

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difficult to find volunteers to do this but all weeks were covered eventually.

A grateful thanks to Gaynor Smith to attended each week to help wait on and clear up after the meal.

The course included an away day at the Gladstone’s Library in Hawarden, Flintshire. This event focused on the topic of The Holy Spirit and all of the course participants were able to attend and enjoyed the day.

People who attended were a mix of established St. Mary’s Church congregation members and those new to the church. As a result of attending the course we have welcomed one couple into our regular congregation. Feedback suggests that attendees gained much from small group discussions, which has enabled them to deepen their understanding of teaching and scripture to aid their personal progression and development of their faith.

The Growing in Faith course led by Jeremy and myself followed the Alpha course and ran for a further six weeks. This course was once again well attended by nine people who were able to engage in lively discussions as the group members explained their individual faith and sought answers to their questions in their aim to deepen their faith. It has been very encouraging to watch people grow in confidence and enjoy their exploration of their own Christian faith.

The ‘Talking Jesus’ course is due to commence 18[th] April and run for six weeks. The aim of this course is to enable people/church members to feel more confident in talking about their faith in the hope that others will be encouraged to come to know Jesus and the Christian way of life.

Previous ‘Talking Jesus’ courses have proved extremely helpful to people wanting to share their faith but who have previously felt embarrassed or reticent to do so.

All of these courses are designed to encourage people on their Christian journey in small and supportive groups which help to develop long term friendships.

Joan Rotheram

Music Group Report

We met in church to practice singing and then onwards restrictions were lifted middle of the last year. We have live music rather than YouTube and Glyn joined with Peter H playing keyboard. Two new young oboists in our group have made a great difference to the sound, which has been appreciated by church members. Another member, David, has joined us

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on guitar and another singer, Debra. Kate’s friend Richard has been choosing songs for us occasionally and supplying us with sheet music.

Lynn Parish

Traidcraft

Traidcraft goods have been accessible using the catalogue and they are advertised in our bi -monthly church magazine. We also enable pre ordering of Easter eggs and Advent calendars. The restrictions have reduced the orders. St Mary’s uses Fairtrade tea bags and instant coffee.

We have resumed refreshments in the week and after services and, following Fairtrade fortnight March 2022, Traidcraft goods were on sale at the back for everyone to access. This year Traidcraft have started the process of finishing due to changes in people’s ordering habits. Lynn can still access products from the Fairtrade Stall in Warrington Market.

Lynn Parish

Church Mission Society (CMS)

Church Mission Society is an Anglican mission agency that seeks to share the love of Jesus with people in both word and deed around the world, including here in the UK. As a church, we support Eric and Sandra Reed, who are our CMS mission partners in the Philippines. They work on an organic farm and help local church leaders to reach out to their communities. 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.

It was great to be able to welcome Eric and Sandra to share with us during our All Age Service in March last year, whilst they were on leave, and to hear what life has been like for them during the challenges of the coronavirus crisis. We are still looking for a new CMS representative to champion its work in our congregation, so if you would be interested in doing this, please let me know.

Jeremy Tear

Church Army

In the last year 12 people have received the combined Church Army Prayer Diary and Catalyst magazine. This had been reformatted and is now entitled ‘CA in Focus’. Each week a different area of their work is focused on plus prayer points and list of individual evangelists to pray for.

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The booklets cover a three month period. Money for their work was raised at a stall at the church summer. An annual donation is made to Church Army from our Church Giving Fund.

In 2022, Church Army celebrated 140 years of reaching out and bringing hope on the streets to those in need of spiritual, mental and physical help.

Janet Kerswell

The Leprosy Mission

Next year The Leprosy Mission will achieve the milestone of 150 years of ministering to the physical, psychological and discriminatory needs of people with leprosy.

Ten people receive the quarterly New Day magazine, which features the lives of leprosy sufferers and how TLM has changed their lives through medicine, surgery, self-help groups and advocacy programmes.

Ten people take the annual TLM prayer diary, which each week focuses on a different country, either one that is a donating country or one that has leprosy sufferers. On a couple of occasions after a service a stall was available to buy a variety of goods and raised £261 for TLM funds plus another £100 private donation towards the vital work of The Leprosy Mission whose motto is Leprosy Defeated, Lives Transformed. The Giving Fund also makes an annual donation.

Janet Kerswell

PCC Secretary’s Report

There were 10 PCC meetings held during a year which became more typical in the latter half. The 19[th] January, 16[th] February, 23[rd] March, 27[th] April, 15[th] June, and 19[th] October meetings were held on Zoom. The 8[th] May meeting (after the APCM), 21[st] September and 23[rd] November meetings were held in Church. The 18[th] July meeting was an Away Day at Marks and Spencer, Gemini. There were no meetings planned in August and December.

The APCM was held on 8[th] May in the Church. The PCC also had a PCC Tonight training evening on 10[th] May.

The PCC reviewed the minutes from six Standing Committee meetings, which were held on 5[th] January, 1[st] March, 4[th] May, 14[th] July, 14[th] September and 16[th] November.

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The Giving Group now meets only once a year (previously twice) and this year it met on 16[th] May (in person at one of the members’ houses).

As well as general church business, some items of PCC focus this year have been: the purchase of the new chairs (and carpet cleaning), the LyCiG course (Leading your church into growth), the Quinquennial building quotes and works, Parish Share arrears, Eco church and progressing permissions for an extension.

Fiona Barnard

The Children's Society Report

The Children’s Society is a charity that helps vulnerable and needy children, many in our local area. One of their traditional ways of collection is to give people ‘House Boxes’, small, sealed money boxes that people can place loose change in throughout the year. These are collected in the summer and administered by local coordinators. This year’s collection raised over £800. Many thanks to all box holders and donors for their ongoing support for this very worthy cause. After Easter, John will offer people the chance to take on a box; the difference between this method and traditional giving is that you can deposit as little or as much as you like, whenever able. All boxes make a difference.

The Christingle collections, over both Christmas Eve Services, raised a total of over £400 in church. Some people may have donated directly through the Childrens Society website. Thanks to all who contributed so generously.

This brings the total amount donated to the Children's Society from St. Mary's Church in 2022 to over £1200, a fantastic response.

Please consider being part of this wonderful charity and take on a box this year.

John and Claire Taylor

Church Magazine Report

The St Mary’s Church Magazine continues in the same format and is still edited by Jo Jackson bi-monthly. There were 85 magazines produced in December 2022 and there were 90 produced this month. This is a trend we would like to improve on as we only just cover our costs each year. However, thanks again to Jo for continuing to produce and distribute our magazine as she has for many years.

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Thanks to all who have contributed, the advertisers, Sue Gibbons and Clive Stannard who help with the sale and distribution.

Please think of the magazine if you have anything which might interest our readers. I would just like to add that I would welcome help with taking photographs.

I have been taking photos in church since 1986 and as you can imagine I now have a few thousand. Also, if you would like a print of anything I have taken please ask.

We are thankful to Emma Thompson from the Sankey Valley Methodist Circuit for the printing and stapling of the magazines.

With regard to the finances of the Magazine in 2022, the details are as follows:

Total income for sale of magazines and adverts: £552.00 Total outlay for printing of 6 editions for the year: £438.01

Leaving a Balance of £113.99 which will go to church funds.

Eric McGonagle Magazine Treasurer and Photographer

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ECO Church

St Mary’s Church was awarded a Bronze ECO award in 2022. The scheme encourages churches to take action to become more environmentally conscious and to lessen their environmental impact, through focusing on five main topics:

The aim is now to work towards being able to achieve a Silver award. We have recruited some new members onto the ECO Church Team during the past year, but our Eco Church journey will be more sustainable if we can get additional members of the congregation to join us. Moving forward it is planned that the ECO Team will also be involved in The Church of England’s target for all parts of the church to become ‘net zero carbon’ by 2030.

Margaret Emsley

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St Marys PCC Great Sankey

Statement of Financial Activities

For the period from 01 January 2022 to 31 December 2022

Unrestricted Restricted Endowment Total Prior year
funds funds funds funds total funds
Receipts
Planned giving 27,983.70 — — 27,983.70 24,754.74
Collections and other giving 16,225.61 — — 16,225.61 22,497.77
Other voluntary receipts 4,929.31 2,738.95 — 7,668.26 39,777.17
Gift Aid recovered 11,911.07 — — 11,911.07 8,373.79
Other receipts 3,985.66 284.00 — 4,269.66 6,376.23
Activities for generating funds 3,856.59 — — 3,856.59 3,825.03
Investment Income 1,336.78 — — 1,336.78 385.99
Receipts from church activities 10,030.87 — — 10,030.87 12,580.24
Total income 80,259.59 3,022.95 — 83,282.54 118,570.96
Payments
Cost of generating funds 1,564.49 — — 1,564.49 1,806.65
Missionary and Charitable Giving 583.62 5,075.00 — 5,658.62 5,179.89
Parish Share 56,000.00 — — 56,000.00 73,000.00
Clergy and Staffing costs 7,694.85 — — 7,694.85 7,464.33
Church Running Expenses 14,337.01 404.23 — 14,741.24 10,542.24
Hall Running Costs — — — — —
Church Repairs & Maintenance — 8,940.39 — 8,940.39 14,975.03
Hall Repairs & Maintenance — — — — —
New Building work — — — — —
Governance Costs 1,846.00 — — 1,846.00 5,706.45
Total expenditure 82,025.97 14,419.62 — 96,445.59 118,674.59
Net income / (expenditure) resources before transfer (1,766.38) (11,396.67) — (13,163.05) (103.63)
Transfers
Gross transfers between funds - in 18,714.22 282.38 — 18,996.60 9,968.29
Gross transfers between funds - out (15,570.02) (3,426.58) — (18,996.60) (9,968.29)
Other recognised gains / losses
Gains / losses on investment assets — — — — 43.50
Gains on revaluation, fixed assets, charity's own use — — — — —
Net movement in funds 1,377.82 (14,540.87) — (13,163.05) (60.13)
Reconciliation of funds
Total funds brought forward 201,814.07 18,803.99 — 220,618.06 220,678.19
Total funds carried forward 203,191.89 4,263.12 — 207,455.01 220,618.06

13 March 2023 Page 1

CHARITY COMMISSION FOR ENGLAND AND WALES Independent examiner's report on the accounts Section A Independent Examiner's Report Report to the trusteesl members of St Marys PCC Great Sankey On accounts for the year onded 3181 December 2022 Charity no lif any) 1180928 Set out on pages I report to the trustees on my examination of the accounts of the above charity ("the Trust.) for the year ended 3111212022. Responsibilities and As the charity twstees of the Trust. you are responsible for the preparation basis of report of the accounts in accordance with the requirements of the Charities Act 2011 (°the Act.). I report in respect of my examination af the Trust's accounts carried out under section 145 of the 2011 Act and in carrying out my examination, I have followed the applicable Directions given by the Charity Commission under section 145(51{b} of the Act. I have completed my examination. I confirm that no material matters have come to my attention (other than that disclosed below ') in connection with the examination which gives me cause to believe that in, any material resped: accounting records were not kept in accordance with section 130 of the Act or the acco￿ntS do not accord with the accounting records Independent examiner's statement I have no concerns and have come across no other matters in connection with the examination to which attenlion should be drawn in order to enable proper understanding of the aG¢ounts to be reached. Please delete the words in the brackets if they do not apply. Sign8d: Date: 0710412023 Name: Paul Carty Relevant professlonal qualification(s) or body (if any): Association of Accounting Technicians Address: 234 Manchester Road Warrington WA13BD IER October 2018

Section B Disclosure Only complete ifthe examiner needs to highlight matters of concern (see CC32, Independent examination of charity acxounts.. directions and guidance for examiners). Give here brief details of any items that the examiner wishes to disclose. IER October 2018