2024-12-31-accounts - The Parochial Church Council Of The Ecclesiastical Parish Of St. Andrew's, Earlsfield

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Annual Meeting 2025

11 May 2025 at 11.30am

Agenda

Annual Vestry Meeting for the Election of Churchwardens

Apologies
Election of Churchwardens

Annual Parochial Church Meeting

Apologies
Minutes of the 2024 Annual Meeting
Election of members of the Deanery Synod – 3 members
Election of members of the Parochial Church Council – 6 members
Appointment of Independent Examiner
Statutory Reports
a. Annual Report
b. Financial Statements for the year ending 31 December 2024
c. Annual Fabric Report
d. Electoral Roll Report
e. Report on the proceedings of the Deanery Synod
Activity Reports
a. Fresh Expressions Report
b. Safeguarding Report
c. Music Report
d. Community Garden Report
e. Foodbank Report
f. Home Community Café Report
Vicar’s Matters
Any other business
10.Closing prayer

Minutes of the 2024 Annual Meeting

Annual Vestry Meeting Minutes 28 April 2024

Apologies were received from Johnny Sertin, Meg Fry, Gabi Oliver, Rachel McKinley, Hannah Markusse and Alex Kirstukas.
Minutes from the previous meeting were read and signed. There were no questions or comments.
Election of the Church Wardens. Alex Fry, proposed by Sara Matkins and seconded by Paul Lickman, and Nigel Turner, proposed by Alex Fry and seconded by Paul Lickman, agreed to stand again. As there were no other candidates, both were duly elected. Thanks were offered to for all of their hard work during the last year.

Annual Parochial Church Meeting Minutes 28 April 2024

Apologies: Johnny Sertin, Meg Fry, Gabi Oliver, Rachel McKinley, Hannah Markusse and Alex Kirstukas.
Minutes from the 2023 meeting were read and signed. There were no matters arising that were not on the agenda.
Election of members to the Deanery Synod: There was 1 vacancy on the Deanery Synod as Alex Chamberlen had moved out of the area. A nomination was received from Hannah Markusse, proposed by Alex Fry and seconded by Vivian Snell. There being no other nominations Hannah was duly elected to serve for a 2-year term until the next Deanery Synod elections. Meg Fry wished to stand down from the Deanery Synod so there is still a vacancy if anyone would like to attend future meetings.
Election of members to the Parochial Church Council (PCC): 1 nomination was received for the 3 vacancies on the PCC from Meg Fry, proposed by Ann Pratt and seconded by Roy Lee. She was duly elected there being no other nominations. It was noted that the PCC has the opportunity to co-opt individuals for the other vacancies.
Appointment of the Independent Examiner:
Stella Brighter has been the Independent Examiner since the 2022 accounts and is willing to continue pro bono. This was proposed by Mary Draffin and seconded by Paul Lickman, there being no opposition the appointment was duly confirmed. Many thanks were offered for her agreeing to continue this task.
Statutory Reports: all of the reports were available in the APCM Agenda and had been emailed in advance.
Annual Report – no comments or questions were received.
Financial Statement for year ending 31 December 2023 – Paul Lickman gave an overview of the financial statement: overall there has been good news as the bottom line moved from a deficit of £15K in 2022 to a surplus of £25K in 2023, due in part to a £33K legacy. Payments to the Parish Support Fund have restarted with a £10K payment, this will increase in 2024. The Chelsea Group still remain the largest income source. There were no questions raised.
Annual Fabric Report – thanks were offered to the Building Group for looking at more sustainable ways of making the building more energy efficient. Sara Matkins asked if the guttering above the door into the rear of the church could be repaired / cleaned, as the Foodbank volunteers have been getting drenched and boxes getting wet when entering. Sara Matkins also asked if the grab rail in the accessible toilet could be replaced as it is rusty and could be a hygiene risk as well as looking unclean. Alex Fry said that these were on the ‘to do’ list and will be addressed.

Electoral Roll – this has increased by 14 from the previous year.
Deanery Synod – no questions or comments were received. Thanks to Alex Chamberlen, Meg Fry and Vivian Snell for representing St Andrews over the past year.
Activity Reports: all of the reports were available in the APCM Agenda and had been emailed in advance, with the exception of the Foodbank Report.
Fresh Expressions – no questions were received. Thanks were offered to Sam and Hannah Markusse for providing a varied programme including Allsortz Forest Church, and Kitchen Table. This is becoming a vibrant community.
Safeguarding – no questions were received. Thanks were offered to Jo Beattie for looking after this vital workstream and ensuring everyone who needed to undertake safeguarding training had done so. As Jo is stepping down from this role a replacement will be sought.
Music – no questions were received. It was noted that Alex Kirstukas’ DBS checks were taking longer than expected as the USA DBS service had to be consulted too. Once the checks have been cleared Alex will be able to lead groups without supervision. Individuals have already come forward stating they would like to sing or can play musical instruments.
Community Garden – Thanks were offered to Silke Strickrodt and the gardening team and offers a great resource to the local community. Bishop Martin was impressed with the space on a recent visit, as it remains the only green space between Wandsworth and Tooting that is not a cemetery.
Earlsfield Food Bank – in lieu of a report being available Sara Matkins who volunteers gave a brief overview. The Foodbank continues to be very busy offering support to 94 guests, who represent between 250-300 people in their households. The cost of food is still increasing and the number of guests continues to rise. Mary Draffin asked whether the different ways of donating to the Foodbank could be printed in the weekly notices, as some may wish to donate via bank transfer rather than food items. Mary also mentioned a plant sale fundraiser for the Foodbank which will take place on 11 May 10:00-12:00 in her road. It was agreed that both should be included in forthcoming emails from the Parish Office.
Home Community Café – Thanks were offered to Meg Fry and her team for all of their hard work. Home Café currently has 19 different initiatives within the local community, and provides great support to the Foodbank. It was noted that Meg had won a High Street Hero Award from Wandsworth Women’s Enterprise Hub Awards.
Churches Together in Earlsfield – There has been little activity during the last year, although a second joint service was held with the Baptist Church on Good Friday. It was hoped that there would be some improved engagement during the coming year.

8. Vicar’s Matters:

A couple of weeks ago we had a brief weekday visit from Bishop Martin, our relatively new Bishop of Kingston. He met with Johnny, Meg and me in the Home Café, and was keen to find out what makes St Andrew’s tick.

We tried to paint a picture of our ‘community of communities’ – our Sunday worshipping congregation and its sustained pattern of worship through the year, the Home Café and the many communities it works with – asylum seekers, new mothers, people who have been bereaved, young people with special needs, those in temporary accommodation, and many others – the Earlsfield Foodbank, where members of St Andrew’s volunteer alongside those from the wider community, our Fresh Expressions, revolving around Allsortz, Kitchen Tables and Forest Church, and the monthly Community Meal, at which some of the people from these diverse communities come together to meet and eat.

Having done this, Bishop Martin’s first question was: ‘I’ve been here for a year now: why haven’t I heard about this before?’

It may be that we need to be a bit more proactive in sharing what we do.

Over the last decade St Andrew’s has become a distinctive church, not least through our long-term collaboration with the Earlsfield Friary and our vision to be a church that serves the whole of our parish, working with all people of goodwill in the service of God’s Kingdom.

This approach to parish mission is not always straightforward: it’s much easier to have a clear offering and invite people in, take it or leave it. But, as was evident to Bishop Martin, it bears fruit far beyond what our relatively small Sunday congregation would ever be able to achieve by themselves – and for that we are truly thankful.

As some of you know, an organisation called Streetpsalms, which is committed to flourishing urban mission communities, is currently undertaking a study of our mission model, in the hope that others may be able to learn from it. We look forward to sharing their insights in due course.

Our mission as a parish church is only possible thanks to the commitment and dedication of whole host of people, and so I want to take the opportunity to say thank-you to you all. Whether it’s serving coffee after a service, decorating the church with flowers, or getting to grips with the intricacies of PAYE, we couldn’t function without you.

Over the past year our Church Council has worked hard to ensure that we comply with our various obligations as a charity and an employer. We have also striven to rebuild our finances after their collapse in the wake of the pandemic and the financial crisis. This work is ongoing, but it has started to bear fruit, and we are grateful to all of you who give generously to support our mission.

It's in the nature of the Kingdom of God that we never get there, certainly not of our own volition, and so we are always challenged to think about what we can do to close the gap between the church that we are and the church we believe God is calling us to become.

One area that the Church Council has started to think about recently is Diversity and Inclusion. This is not because these things are recognised as important in the secular world, but because they are intrinsic to God’s Kingdom. All people are created in God’s image, and so all have a place at the table; so if some feel excluded and marginalised, or are under-represented in our church community, then we have work to do. We are thinking particularly about people of Global Majority Heritage and those who identify as LGBTQIA+, both of whom, the statistics suggest, we see fewer of than we should.

Still, as we have heard throughout this meeting, there is much for us to be thankful for as the people of God in this place. God blesses and challenges us at one and the same time. As today’s Gospel reminded us, God the vine-dresser prunes the vine so that it can bear more fruit. May we be as open to God’s challenge, as we are thankful for God’s blessings.

9. AOB: nothing was raised

The meeting ended at 12:16 with the saying of the Grace.

Statutory Reports

Annual Report

[This report is produced in the format required for submission to the Charity Commission. Further information can be found in the reports that follow.]

Aims and Purposes

St. Andrew’s Parochial Church Council (PCC) has the responsibility of cooperating with the incumbent, the Reverend Jonathan Brown, in promoting in the ecclesiastical parish, the whole mission of the Church, pastoral, evangelistic, social and ecumenical. It is responsible for maintaining St Andrew’s Church in Garratt Lane and the Parish Hall in Waynflete Street.

Objectives and Activities

The PCC is committed to helping people discover and live out the Gospel as part of our parish community.

This is achieved through worship and prayer, both in its traditional forms and in Fresh Expressions, pastoral care, including around life events marked by the baptism of infants, marriages and funerals, and through hosting a variety of community enterprises in the church and hall.

Achievements and Performance

The PCC offers a range of services during the week and over the course of the year. The principal Sunday service is the Parish Communion, with a midweek service of Holy Communion. Special services are held on Ash Wednesday, Maundy Thursday, Good Friday and Easter Day, and around Christmas. Fresh Expression services include the monthly Allsortz in the church and quarterly Forest Church on Wimbledon Common.

During the year we celebrated 28 baptisms, three confirmations and one marriage, published the banns of marriage of 14 couples and held one funeral.

The PCC continued to host the Home Community Café in the church. Home is a place of hospitality for the local community. It runs a pay-forward scheme, collaborates with the Earlsfield Foodbank by providing breakfast while guests wait for their food, runs social-prescription events, a children’s after-school club, a project for mothers needing additional support, seated exercise for the over 60s, a support group for those in temporary accommodation and a bereavement group, and is a Café of Sanctuary, supporting local asylum seekers.

The PCC also continued to host the Earlsfield Foodbank, which provides a helping hand to those facing food poverty, restoring dignity with confidentiality and offering support without judgement. It serves up to 400 households a month.

The PCC also provides a home for Chelsea Hall School for children with learning needs, Jiva Health Yoga, the Southwest Songbirds community choir.

Financial Review

Section to follow, pending completion of Financial Statements.

Volunteers

It would prove impossible to recognise each individual who has contributed to the work of St Andrew’s in the past year. The value of their contribution is very considerable. We are grateful to them all.

Structure, governance and management

The PCC members are responsible for making decisions on all matters of general concern and importance to the parish including deciding on how the funds of the PCC are to be spent. The full PCC met four times in 2024.

The method of appointment of PCC members is set out in the Church Representation Rules. At St. Andrew’s the membership of the PCC consists of the incumbent, pioneer priest, churchwardens, and members elected by those members of the congregation who are on the electoral roll of the church. All those who attend our services / members of the congregation are encouraged to register on the Electoral Roll and stand for election to the PCC.

Safeguarding

The PCC has complied with the duty under section 5 of the Safeguarding and Clergy Discipline Measure 2016 (duty to have regard to House of Bishops’ guidance on safeguarding children and vulnerable adults).

Administrative information

St. Andrew’s Church is situated in Earlsfield in south-west London. It is part of the Diocese of Southwark within the Church of England.

PCC members in 2024 were: Rev Jonathan Brown (Chair), Rev Johnny Sertin (Pioneer Priest), Alex Fry (Churchwarden), Nigel Turner (Churchwarden), Lisa Davies, Meg Fry, Paul Lickman, Rachel MacKinlay, Hannah Markusse, Gabi Oliver, Natasha Rawdon-Rego, Nicki Saker and Viv Snell (Reader).

Revd Jonathan Brown, Chair

Financial Statements for 2024 and Independent Examiner’s Report

Unfortunately, the financial statements were not ready for publication prior to the meeting. The PCC aims to have them ready in time for the meeting; otherwise, a further meeting will be arranged to present them.

Annual Fabric Report

Quinquennial Inspection (Progress Report)

Of the items identified in the urgent category in the 2023 Quinquennial Inspection, The Ivy plant on the North Wing of the church along with a handful of gutter repairs were the top priorities for this year.

Silke Strickrodt, and her team of dedicated volunteers have made a few targeted efforts to kill the large ivy plant that partially covers the yellow room building by severing all of the trunks at ground level. The Ivy was identified as having the potential of causing significant damage to the fabric of the brick and stonework if left unaddressed. It was with a heavy heart that they acted on this advice given their commitment to biodiversity, but the work that they have done appears to have halted its growth and we will be looking to get the removal of the plant from the walls and roof done in conjunction with the work also required to the guttering on both the north and south side of the Vestry ‘Link’ section of the building. The guttering work remains on the to-do list. We are seeking recommendations from the diocese on contractors to tender for this package ahead of the summer. Once complete, this will leave the lower priority works. A number of items here lends themselves well to being included within the wider plans to re-order the Yellow room, Vestry and plant room areas in the near future.

Improvements

Decarbonisation Goals:

In line with our decarbonisation goals, we have received support from the Diocese and Crew Energy (a local not for profit decarbonisation consultant) in Q1 of this year to have two separate energy assessments done of our main building.

The one initiated and funded by grants made available to Crew will be recognised by the local Authority and allow us, with their support, to apply for grant funding under the council’s Neighborhood Community Infrastructure Levy (NCIL) grant scheme. Wandsworth Council have asked Crew to support bids for energy efficiency projects on civic buildings in Wandsworth to help tackle the climate emergency. In response to our approaches, they have identified the Home Café and St.Andrew’s as their hosts, as a strong candidate for an application to fund a phase of the decarbonisation works required to first reduce our energy consumption and ultimately see the Church move away from reliance on fossil fuel altogether. I will present more information on this piece of work Crew develop our application in the coming months. It is early days but there is some exiting potential for receiving some significant funding towards what would constitute some large steps in the right direction. Thanks go to Meg and the Home Café team for their support of Crew Energy and their work through hosting community Net Zero Events, throughout this year and ultimately fostering this relationship.

The second Report was funded by the diocese and is a requirement ahead of us being invited to apply for a grant of up to £3,000 to implement a host of immediate ‘quick fix’ measures to reduce our energy consumption. These grants are being made available to 600 churches nationally with the highest carbon emissions. We have received this back in recent weeks and I will be looking to get the application in for this funding by having the work recommended in the report priced up. Please find att. A copy of this report.

The South Garden

Our wonderful south garden has been in need of some significant repair work to some of the raised beds and steps to the side gate to Waynflete street for some time as the oak railway sleepers used as a key part of their construction have rotted and collapsed. This has meant we have had to temporarily take the side gate out of action due the steps not being safe any more. The PCC had taken the decision not to commit any funds to this whilst the church has been on its journey of recovering its financial position post the COVID pandemic.

In recent months we have received an amazingly generous offer from one of Silke’s volunteer gardeners, who has offered to fund the repair works personally. Although some discussions of scope are still ongoing, this gift is likely to be in the region of £10,000.00

Talks are ongoing with the landscape architects who originally did the works to get the details finalised and works booked in for the coming summer / Autumn.

Routine essential maintenance activities

Our boilers broke down a few times this year, but on both occasions the response from the manufacturer was swift to repair them. They have now reached the end of their warranty period, so we will need to prepare to account for similar repairs, should they be required in the coming winter months being chargeable.

Gardening – Silke and her fantastic team of Volunteers continue to do fantastic work maintaining the church’s various gardens.
Portable Electrical Appliance Testing annually (undertaken in Early Apr ’25)
The Fire extinguishers were checked and re-charged as required Nov ’24.
The lightening conductor was tested and certified during March ’25.

The Portacabin in the North Garden

This winter we applied for a second extension the planning permission for the temporary location of the portacabin hosting the Foodbank’s storage and a further 2 years was granted which will expire in Jan 2027. It is unusual for permission on temporary structures to be in place for a 6 year period, but the council were willing to make an exception but did make particular note that we needed to demonstrate plans are in place for a permanent solution before granting the extension this time round. Plans are being looked at to re-claim the neglected basement level boiler room benath the vestry and yellow room as part of the re-ordering project as a potential solution for these ongoing storage needs. Special thanks to

Local Architect Davis Bell for undertaking the planning application works at subsidised rates on behalf of the Foodbank.

The Wardens would like to thank everyone who has supported St Andrew’s this year in looking after our beautiful building!

Alex Fry and Nigel Turner, Churchwardens

Electoral Roll Report

In advance of the 2025 Annual Meeting we completely renewed the Electoral Roll, as we are required to do every six years. When the roll closed on 22 April it comprised 59 people.

Natasha Rawdon-Rego, Electoral Roll Officer

Report on the Proceedings of the Deanery Synod

The Deanery Synod met three times.

In June, we welcomed Patricia Cazenave and Keiron Martin from Glass Door, who gave a presentation about their work in helping people out of homelessness.

In November, the Revd John Whittaker led a discussion on Assisted Dying/Euthanasia.

In February, Canon Roxanne Eversley, Dean for Cultural Diversity, gave a presentation on the Diocese’s Anti-Racism Charter.

Jonathan Brown

Activity Reports

Fresh Expressions

It’s been another wonderful year in the life of Fresh Expressions. We have found deep joy in continuing to share life with the families who join us for Allsortz, Forest Church and Kitchen Tables.

The road we travel together feels like it’s widened this year to make space for some new shared experiences. We continue to value sharing the ups and downs of the journey with the special families we share the road with.

Allsortz

Allsortz continues to be a hive of activity on the first Sunday of the month!

The children who attend continue to be a blessing and a joy to us and although this is of course obvious, they keep growing and getting bigger! Over this last year we have enjoyed finding new ways to welcome their gifts and skills as they are growing and developing and inviting them to continue to find home in this space whilst also encouraging them to accompany those younger ones that have started coming along too.

In fact, overall the space really feels co-owned now by the regular families that attend. With parents offering to also participate and bring their skills and gifts to the gatherings we feel Allsortz has grown in its sense of self over the last year and is flourishing in a new way which is a joy to see.

We also want to take this moment to thank our wonderful team for all they do to support Allsortz – we couldn’t do it without you and we value all you bring so freely to make these gatherings such a special place to be!

We are looking forward to another year of Allsortz!

Forest Church

Forest Church is always a refreshing touch point in the flow of the Fresh Expressions year. The seasonal nature of the gathering really serves as a moment to step back and reflect. The Spring Equinox, Summer Solstice, Autumn Equinox and Winter Solstice all bring their different qualities which offer an opportunity to encounter God in a different way and zoom out to think about the journey you are on over the course of the year.

There continues to be a regular group of Allsortz families who come along every time if they can and there is often a new family or two who comes to check it out and see what we get up to!

Kitchen Tables

Last year we launched a regular gathering for adults to connect around friendship, faith and sharing life together.

Kitchen Tables happens on the first Wednesday of the month in someone’s home. The evenings are structured around a theme that we explore together, and there’s always space for personal reflection, time to be creative and respond to what we have explored and an opportunity to share our reflections with each other.

There is a regular group who attend and we have enjoyed some deeply enriching evenings together over the last year. Having a regular ‘adult only’ space has been a really grounding rhythm and although this was our hope when we set out on the exploration of Kitchen Tables it has been really encouraging to see the hope come to life!

Social Calendar

This year we have added a variety of new things to the Fresh Expressions calendar with a focus around socialising together and joining up some of the gaps in-between our regular events. We have enjoyed picnics, walks, adventures at Paradise Co-op and drinks at the pub! It has been a joy to spend more time together both as families and as adults to deepen relationships and enjoy life together.

A highlight was our Allsortz Adventure we hosted at Paradise Co-op in the summer last year. We looked for bugs, made massive bubbles, toasted marshmallows over the fire, built dens, shared stories and made a mural about being together in nature. It was a treat to explore such a beautiful space together!

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Seasonal Events

Beer and Carols was unable to happen this year and was deeply missed as a much anticipated and cherished yearly celebration. We hope it will return this Christmas!

Hannah and Sam Markusse and the Fresh Expressions Team

Safeguarding

1. Overview

St Andrew’s remains committed to ensuring a safe and nurturing environment for all members of our congregation, volunteers, and visitors, especially children, young people, and vulnerable adults. This report provides an update on safeguarding activity over the past quarter.

2. Training and Awareness

Safeguarding Training:
Natasha, the Parish Safeguarding Officer has now completed the required Basic Awareness and Foundation level Church of England safeguarding training and Leadership in Safeguarding (C2) Training.
Meg has completed NCVO as a safeguarding lead.
Upcoming Training Opportunities:
Safeguarding Training can be complete here: https://www.london.anglican.org/church-and-
parish support/safeguarding/training/
DBS webinar for all parish DBS administrators - Monday 28th April 2-3pm (Natasha attending)

3. Policy and Procedures

Do we have a St Andrews Safeguarding Policy? - on the website it links to https://www.churchofengland.org/safeguarding
Policy and key contact details are clearly displayed in the church by the cafe

4. Disclosures and Concerns

Concerns Raised:
No disclosures or allegations reported
Record Keeping: none

5. Safer Recruitment

Moving forward: All new volunteers should have DBS checks done

Face-to-face interviews and references. (when hiring anyone)

Completion of safeguarding declarations.

DBS Audit:
To be completed in May: PCC renewals outstanding

6. Events and Activities

Allsortz:
Have we conducted any fire drills successfully?
Leader-to-child ratios consistently maintained. Parents in charge of their own children.
External Hirers:
All groups hiring church premises will be asked to provide their safeguarding policies. Compliance checked.

7. Safeguarding Contacts

Parish Safeguarding Officer: Natasha Rawdon-Rego
Deputy PSO: Meg Fry
Diocesan Safeguarding Advisor: To be appointed

8. Actions for Next Quarter

Finalise DBS renewals and check all those not yet on the system.

Introduce quarterly safeguarding tips for Sunday service notices.

Conclusion

St Andrew’s continues to uphold high safeguarding standards. The team remains vigilant, proactive, and responsive to any concerns that may arise. We thank all clergy, staff, and volunteers for their ongoing commitment.

Natasha Rawdon-Rego, Parish Safeguarding Officer

Music Report

This year saw the joyful return of the St Andrew’s Singers, bringing anthems, solos, and Taizé prayers to many of our Sunday services as well as to the Carol Service and Christmas services in December. We have also been blessed with volunteer musicians from our community who have donated their gifts on guitar and keyboard, running the gamut from Handel to folk music to original improvised toccatas! The St Andrew’s community continues to embrace a variety of musical expression, hosting the UK premiere of a new Christmas anthem at the Carol Service, and enthusiastically learning several new hymns and worship songs, in English and Igbo, as well as a new setting of the Gloria. As always, all instruments and voices are welcome to join in!

Alex Kirstukas, Director of Music

Community Garden

St Andrew’s Community Garden is an important space for the congregation and the local community as well as for local wildlife, particularly birds and insects. It combines attractive hard landscaping features (such as the pavement labyrinth bordered by semi-circular seating) with lawn, and borders and raised beds planted with flowering shrubs and herbaceous perennials. It is shaded in summer by lime trees and shielded by hedges from the busy life of Garratt Lane.

The garden is appreciated and intensively used by members of the public, who visit it to enjoy a quiet break in the sun or a chat with friends; children love exploring the labyrinth. Less welcome are dogs who sometimes frequent it, although a new sign clearly banning them seems to have some effect. The garden has also attracted rough sleepers and late-night partying (creating much litter and damage to the plants), which has been checked by locking the gate at nightfall.

The garden continues to be maintained by a small group of committed volunteers supervised by me. Three to six volunteers usually joined the (roughly) fortnightly gardening sessions on Saturday mornings. As in the previous years, our efforts have been supported by Meg and her team in the Community Café, who are emptying the bins during the week.

We have been occupied mainly by routine maintenance tasks: weeding, deadheading, pruning, lawnmowing; in autumn, collecting leaves shed by the many trees in the garden. All sessions start with picking litter from the beds and hedges, emptying the litter bins and brushing the paths. Hedge cutting is a big job due to the amount of hedge. Following a harder cut in autumn 2023 along Garratt Lane for rejuvenation, we have trimmed the hedges twice in 2024. The vibrant grapevine in the North Garden was pruned hard in early spring, as usual, followed by a softer pruning in summer.

We have replanted a part of the long labyrinth bed, near the far entrance of the church, where five clumps of grasses ( Anemanthele lessioniana ), originally planted to fill out the bed, had grown too large and gone over. They were replaced with three younger clumps (which had self-seeded), spurge ( Euphorbia characias subsp. wulfenii ), lavender, catmint and verbena.

The veg plot in the North Garden has been less intensively used than in the previous year, due to our limited capacity and the ravages of snails eating many seedlings. However, we have harvested chard, courgettes, and herbs such as mint, sage and oregano. We had a superabundance of self-sown nasturtiums, providing edible flowers, and have sown the re-purposed compost crates with calendula and a mixture of annual flowers for pollinating insects. We will continue to experiment with the plot to find a happy compromise between low maintenance (including little watering) and a good harvest.

We are striving to run the garden sustainably, which includes ‘right plant, right place’ (i.e., using suitable plants for the various beds), no watering apart from new plantings or in emergencies, and composting the weeds. These efforts were boosted by the acquisition of a shredder, paid by the church, enabling us to turn most of the green waste from the hedge and vine cutting into mulch for the shrubby borders. The shredder is just once example of the generous support of our efforts by Jonathan, the vicar. We have also been supplied with new tools, including litter pickers, leaf grabbers and two wheelbarrows – which, together with the replacement of the wheel of our old one, means that we have three functioning wheelbarrows now! Further, a tree surgeon was hired in April to prune the tall poplar on Garratt Lane to minimise the risk of injury from falling branches during the increasingly frequent and violent storms. This risk was the greater as the tree had been pruned previously, resulting in thick regrowth bound to break off more easily. In autumn, a hired Man & Van collected most of the woody waste which had accumulated in the shed area. In future, these annual collections will not be necessary due to the new shredder, although there will still be some woody waste too big for shredding.

Gardening at St Andrew’s is as much about the people as about the garden. Our gardening group meets for work as well as for enjoyment and mutual support. Our coffee breaks continue to be highlights of the sessions with lots of laughter. As in previous years, we celebrated Christmas with a Secret Santa party, looking back on the past gardening year and making plans for 2025.

V6. 14

Silke Strickrod4 Head Gardener 16

Earlsfield Foodbank

Earlsfield Foodbank has been working to alleviate immediate food poverty in the Earlsfield community since 2013. We seek to prevent and relieve poverty through the provision of food to individuals in need, and also through providing support and advice.

The foodbank operates out of St Andrew’s Church and the Home Cafe in Earlsfield every Thursday morning from 9.30am to 11.45am. The Church is located on Garratt Lane (Earlsfield’s high street) and is therefore very accessible to residents of Earlsfield, usually within walking distance.

Warm welcome

In partnership with the Home Café and the pastoral care of the Church, EFB is able to provide a safe, comfortable experience for guests of the foodbank. Guests are welcomed by the hospitality team, served coffee and breakfast at no cost, and enjoy a community atmosphere while the food bags are prepared for them.

The aims of Earlsfield foodbank are to, in the first instance, alleviate immediate food poverty, but also to help address the root causes of food poverty and work towards making foodbanks obsolete. Since 2013, the foodbank has grown significantly. Prior to the COVID-19 pandemic, the foodbank would service approximately 25 households per week, a number that has grown to be regularly over 80 households per week and has peaked to over 110 households. On average we serve around 215 individual food parcels per week.

SAMPLE SNAPSHOT OF HOUSEHOLDS SERVIED JULY-OCTOBER 2024

Impact Update 2024

July (3 sessions) Avg. weekly households: 90 Avg. weekly individuals: 205 Total households: 270 Total individuals: 614

August (5 sessions) Avg. weekly households: 83 ↓ Avg. weekly individuals: 170 ↓ Total households: 414 ↑ Total individuals: 851 ↑

September (4 sessions) Avg. weekly households: 90 ↑ Avg. weekly individuals: 209 ↑ Total households: 361 ↓ Total individuals: 836 ↓

October (4 sessions) Avg. weekly households: 87 ↓ Avg. weekly individuals: 213 ↑ Total households: 348 ↓ Total individuals: 853 ↑

The increased need for support in the Earlsfield community as a result of the rising cost of living has been significant and evident in the number of guests coming each week, as well as stories shared with volunteers and staff about the impact of rising costs of food, housing and energy.

The foodbank is currently working to alleviate this immediate need through the provision of weekly, fortnightly or monthly food bags. We are also able to refer guests to further support such as Citizens Advice, Family Action, Ethnicity Mental Health Improvement Project (EMHIP) and St. Mungos.

Citizens Advice Wandsworth (CAW)

Attend weekly. Onsite advisor Debbie
Paid for by National Lottery Grant until August 2026. Debbie has noticed an 80% rise in clients with poor mental health.

Citizens Advice sent us a report on foodbank figures. As an example of the way we help our foodbank guests:

CAW reported data and statistics

In the period from 1 February 2024 to 31 January 2025, Earlsfield Foodbank signposted 58 foodbank guests, comprising 45 new guests provided with additional casework support and 13 simple queries. These are records of new guests we refer to CAW onsite as part of our social prescribing to give them access to vital support they would not know how to access out of foodbank sessions.

Feb 2023 – Jan 2024	Feb 2024- Jan 2025
36% men, 64% women	54% men, 46% women
Highest age groups advised were 50-59 (30%) and 40-49 (28%)	Highest age group advised were 50-59 (46%) and 60-69 (25%)
77% are disabled or have a long-term health condition	74% are disabled or have a long term healthcondition
53% white ethnicity, 31% black ethnicity and 9% mixed ethnicity	45% white ethnicity, 38% black ethnicity and 10% mixedethnicity

Interestingly, the gender balance between our foodbank guests has shifted slightly with the year 2024 showing male clients to make up the majority of our guests assisted at Earlsfield foodbank.

Benefit issues remain consistently the largest area of advice. Issues with Universal Credit and Housing have lowered slightly since last year, however need for debt advice and issues with utility companies have increased. This illustrates how the Cost-of-Living crisis continues to have a real effect on clients and the rates of benefits are not sufficient for the rising cost of essential bills like energy and water.

Feb 2023- Jan 2024	Feb 2024 - Jan 2025
Benefits and tax credits- 55%	Benefit and Tax Credits – 46%
Universal Credit – 31%	Universal Credit – 18%
Housing – 50%	Housing – 38%
Debt – 24%	Debt – 33%
Utilities – 15%	Utilities – 22%

Family Action

Focus on: Early help and prevention. Work with both families and adults. Focus is to target men as at higher risk of suicide and reach crisis point when often earlier intervention could have prevented a downward spiral into crisis; taking into consideration factors such as shame and embarrassment. For example, missing a benefit review, or being made redundant and can no longer afford to pay energy bills due to a benefit reduction. They don't know what to do, so the debt increases, leads to poor mental health and suicide ideation. Often arriving in desperation to the foodbank.

Ethnic Mental Health Improvement Project

Seeing issues of housing crisis, families in temporary housing. Also seeing guests in crisis due to complex PTSD through cases of past domestic violence (DV). Help people of colour only and funded through the NHS to help even out health inequalities. Darren also sees cases of asylum seekers and refugees.

St Mungos

St Mungos help our guests become clean or helping to control their addictions. One such recent guest success story over a two-year period of helping a prior DV victim with complex trauma to become abstinent through provision of specialist mental health support. Rehomed to suitable accommodation, away from immediate threat of harm in her previous area.

St Andrew’s Church continued partnership

Through the pastoral care of Jonathan and the support of the church, we are so grateful that Earlsfield Foodbank is only made possible thanks to the generosity of the church alongside Home Café. Jonathan has given amazing care and compassion to our foodbank guests on a weekly basis, which we know makes a huge difference to the lives of our local community in Earlsfield.

It has been very helpful with fundraising:

Natalie Cooper, EFB Communications & Wellbeing Manager, met with Jonathan and Johnny in the autumn of 2024, to seek permission to run a new annual fundraising events programme for EFB.
The Songbirds choir raised over £1,300 for the foodbank with their Christmas concert at St Andrew’s. The Church has agreed for EFB to host quarterly events such as a Silent Disco, Easter Ball, Quiz Night, Bingo Session and Winter sleep-out.

Portacabin ongoing review

It has also helped with other issues to accommodate the foodbank’s growth. St Andrew’s kindly sought approval and applied to extend planning permission as a temporary structure for a further two years for the portacabin – which was granted. The Council have since sent paperwork that the temporary planning permission will expire and we’ve reached the maximum number of years for housing the portacabin as a temporary structure. This requires the ongoing of planning restructure and permission for the use of a structure on site after this period comes to an end. We kindly thank the church for continued and generous support of the foodbank and its use of the outside space to store our food provisions in the portacabin.

Natalie Cooper, Communications and Wellbeing Manager

Home Community Café

Home Cafe has had yet another busy year and we also saw the Cafe celebrate its 7-year anniversary! It’s hard to believe that we have been here for 7 years already and it’s so good to look back over the year and see what we have got up to. The cafe now has roughly 19 projects running – from dedicated weekly clubs, like our knitting group, work experience for adults with additional needs, after school club for SEN children, seated exercise classes, to quarterly collaborations with food for holiday clubs, and then our fabulous annual Mad Hatter Tea party. There is always something going on

Home Cafe has had yet another busy year and we also saw the Cafe celebrate its 7-year anniversary! It ’s hard to believe that we have been here for 7 years already and it ’s so good to look back over the year and see what we have got up to. The cafe now has roughly 19 projects running – from dedicated weekly clubs, like our knitting group, work experience for adults with additional needs, after school club for SEN children, seated exercise classes, to quarterly collaborations with food for holiday clubs, and then our fabulous annual Mad Hatter Tea party. There is always something going on!

Here are some highlights for you from the last year:

The community meal, in collaboration between the church and the cafe, is embedded now as a monthly event and is a regular feature in many local resident ’s calendar’s. The meal brings people together over food, with no agenda other than getting to know each other and having a chat with someone you may not

have met yet. The evening attracts a diverse range of people, from all walks of life. It is especially lovely seeing some of our Foodbank guests attending.

The community meal is held on the 3[rd] Wednesday of each month and we ’d love to see you there!

We have worked hard this year to establish new partnerships and strengthen existing ones – including Home Start Wandsworth, Bounce Theatre, Wandsworth Welcomes Refugees, Age Uk Wandsworth, Caras, Just Shelter, Paradise Co-operative, Kimber Skate Park and the Earlsfield Foodbank.

Our social prescribing projects continue to be a weekly offering to support anyone who may be lonely, isolated, or struggling with poor mental health. These sessions centre around food and art, combined with conversation and companionship. These continue to draw people from all walks of our community in, offering welcome and friendship – values right at the heart of what the cafe stands for. Home Cafe continue to partner with Bounce Theatre to run these sessions.

This year we have been working on a long-term project called ‘Beyond the Plate ’which has seen is exploring our local food heritage. We have collated recipes from older residents, children at local primary schools, asylum seekers and refugees and all those who attend our social prescribing workshops. We set up a dedicated reminiscing session early in the year, capturing food memories and have turned them into recipe cards that can be taken away and cooked and enjoyed at home! Our mini museum of food has seen many iterations over the year that the project has been running, and has been a lovely addition to the cafe! Please do have a look at it and read some of the recipes, stories, and memories that it houses.

The collaboration with The Earlsfield Foodbank has continued to grow. Home Cafe closes to the wider public on Thursdays to help host the Foodbank morning and breakfast to each guest. We are now sadly seeing numbers rise to the highest levels yet and are regularly seeing anywhere from 90-120 guests attending these morning a week. Our vicar, Jonathan has been a dedicated volunteer and supporter of our Thursday morning offering, serving bacon sandwiches to guests, as well as offering pastoral care and prayer. We are very grateful to Jonathan for all he does at the Foodbank mornings and he will be deeply missed by all the team and guests. Thank you, Jonathan!

One of the big highlights of our year has been establishing and launching our Rooted at Home program. Rooted at Home is a new pilot project born from the need we have identified and established via our current offering of informal volunteering and training opportunities to women in temporary support, training, wellbeing, and friendship.

Since the cafe ’s inception, we have collaborated with the voluntary sector to welcome refugees and asylum seekers into our space as volunteers & guests, and we wanted to formalise this by offering a dedicated program.

We invited cohort of 10 women, to be part of the project for a year – which sees them volunteer, train and develop new skills to become part of their new community.

Within this we also offered holistic support to ensure the women have access to services to address trauma, health and build wider friendships in the local area. We have created a befriending network with local women, who have come alongside our cohort to support and offer one-to-one friendship and companionship.

We are loving running this program! It has been a journey of reciprocal learning and has seen both the women who joined us and our whole team learning from each other, supporting each other, and ultimately building friendships that will far outlast the yearlong program!

As ever, Home Cafe continues to be a privilege to be involved with, it is busy and exciting space to be in! It is populated by a diverse mix of people, is full of laughter and the food continues to be not only the tastiest on the high-street but also the best value for money. Community, friendship, and radical

hospitality is always at the core of everything we do. We are excited for what the next year will hold and are so grateful for the support that St Andrew ’s continues to offer us. Please do come and see us soon!

Meg Fry, Director, Home Community Café

INDEPENDENTEXAMINER'S REPORT ON THE ACCOUNTS FOR THE YEAR ENDED 31 DECEMBER 2024 To the Parochial Church Council of St Andrews Chyrth Ear15field This report on the accounts of the PCC ft>r the year ended 31 Decemter 2024, are set (Xrt on pages 2 to 4, is in reskECt of an examination carried out under the Church A£counbng Regulations 20(h I'lhe Regulations) and Charibes Act 2011 (e Acr). Re5pectlve re5pon51bllltles of the tru5tee5 and Indepermlent Exarnlner As members of the PCC you are responsibte the preparalion of the accounts.. you consider that an audit is not required for this year under sectK)n 144{21 of the Act and that an independent examination is needed. Et is my responsibility lo". - examine the accounts under section 145 of the 2011 Art - follow the protsdures laid d(Thn in the General Direclions given by the Charity Commission under section 14515}Ibl of the 2011 Act,. and - state whether particular matters have come to my attention. Basls of independent examiner's report My examination was carried out in accordance wrth the General Dirtions gNen by the Charity Commission. That eXaMinatn indudes a revFew of the accounting rrdS kept by the PCC and a comparison of the accounts wth those records. It also includes consideration of any unusual items or disdosures in the accounts, and seeking explanations from the PCC conceming any such matters. The procedufes undertaken do not prowde all Ihe evidence that Vovuld LE required in an audit and consequenuy I do rM)t express an audit OFxnion on the vithv given by accounts. Independent examlner's sLitement In ¢onne¢tion %Mth my examination, no matter has come to my attent". {11 which gives me reasonable cause to bdieve that in any material respect the requirements.. to keep accounting records in accordan with section 130 of the 2011 Act.. and to prepare accounts which accord th the UntIng records and which comply wth the requirements of the 2011 Art as also contained in the Regulation$, have not en met.. or 121 to leh, in my opinion, atttiOn shjjld te dravm. in order to enable a rxorer understanding of the accounts to be reached. Steiia rigt MAAI, kMA Stella Bright Ltd Earfsfield Business Centre 9 Lydden Road London SW18 4LT 29th October 2025

ST ANDREW'S CHURCH EARLSFIELD STATEMENT OF ASSETS AND LIABIUTIES (in Pounds Stsrling at 31 Oecember 2024 Tolal Funds 2024 Total Funds 2023 Funds Tolal Funds Totsl Funds Total Monetary a88et8 Bank current account Debtor (Chelsea Group). 92.118 24.750 18.600 24,462 135,180 24,750 51.098 Total assets 116.868 18.600 24,462 159,930 51,098 Liabilltle8 Gl8be House loan 23,800 Totsl liabilities 123,6001 Ngt Assets l {Liabilites} 116,868 18.600 24.462 159.930 27,498 Represented by:" Funds General Funds Outside Gimng Fund Building Fund Communty Development Fund Zimbabwe Project Fund Companions in Mission Fund Organ Fund Payments for the Poor Fronta Narthax Project Live Streamiry Fund 116.888 116,868 115,564) 18,600 18,800 5.968 100 394 14,300 18.600 5,968 100 394 14.300 522 s.8 394 14,300 522 678 678 2,500 678 2.500 116,8 18.600 24,462 159,930 7,498 <r Approv&Y by the Parochial Church Council ongi Ocrosa&25 and sign on its Lalf by'.- CL4 Lp£C IJ Lr)éTrJ Incumbent St Andrthvs Ctturch Earfsfield

StArtthoW'8 Church, Earfs1td 2024Ac¢ounts Iln Pouh¢ts str1¥) Oeneral ILln¥e¥trfthd) Fund & Payrtl A¢¢ow Recol Volunt6ryincom& Skndship (Ba[) ColWion$ l¢a5hl Collections leWonl Ta¥ recoverèjen GrftPJ 18.5 3.969 3.536 124 5.505 ,000 64.639 19.034 2,872 St8 20,0 R8Geipts fInChIch1ets Hom?Ctynmthity Caré E8dsfKg11 Focébank d5 Oth¥hire&e.g. 9.375 3.975 1,485 15.133 3.825 800 670 20.428 17.125 R6wtsfromchuth acbvhes Fees &KddiThJs 8ThJ TrJneraL8 I63 859 859 Chdse8 Group Chdse8 Grnup (fotsl Vblrtw P8•1 Yoga 45.C 72.723 1.653 119,375 54.750 189 54.939 Gbe HtyJSereIlxpa1 SuF¥rrft FuTrY 10.OCrfI 10.0( Total R•Gèipts CJJurth Funnirtg Parish SuwxMI FLYVJ 25.076 1.8Y Working 8xrÈns8s of Picrfw Pr Mug¢ Directy 8ank charges Adminth8tor Garder Organi Church offKX.teb2phone Admin- Colktti Èxpense Admin. comtxrtu $uths & Admin. wnbThJ & pikxJpsiNJ chh mant¢naKe Pa1 toGlebe thaws Upkeepof seThices Church Wl & Churth luM9- Insw8nce hurch rmc. gas ChurGh turnI-eWr Church mmmg. 172 8.307 8.551 3.693 381 173 87 2x67 10.000 2.235 3,154 16228 12.244 213 80413 11.692 122T2 218 87.514 CenttB njfifiirtg twts Hall DJnnino- gas H1 runnmo. electr Hal running-water 9201 23.160 1.128 4.705 38.194 12015 4.932 23.350 Totsl PayThrti 110 118,607 90.17$ 32,258 lo.0 RUCl liobiltyto Pto RKeiptfrom ou15th fuThJ R6tfroM fItfa ).175 42.258 8a¥w¥s* 1st J8nuwy 115.Wl Bal•n¢••s * 31st D•cembor 116 26

St Earfsn•ld 2024 Accounts (kn Pounds StsrllrvJl Ba&r as at 1stJanLK9ry BaLin¢eaJ at31st Decemt Excess of payEnts O¥qf R9(9 BabtKe as at 1stJanuary Tmsferfrom toiK¥lufyJ BalanGeas atjlst Decenthr 18.eiXI 18AX) Gratts Gpi¥ Balance as at 1st January Bar •$ •1311 Dg¢emlr Baiarteas at 1st January BaJan¢• as at31$t DK•ft•r 1(lJ Balarteasat 1st Januaty Balanc¢ 35 at 3l¥t Doufflbwr 394 Balaweas at 1st January Balan¢e as at 31t Da¢nb•r 14.3 14.3C as at 11 January Banceal atJlst OEcenthr S22 Ba&nce as al 1s1 January Balancea5 atjlst Dpcembpr B8L8nce as at 1stJanuary Balan¢•as atJlst Docanthr 678 8n 678 Baa[ at 1st Ja 8alan¢È ax at318t Dtstém