## **Trustees’ Report for the year ended 31 December 2022**
## **for the Parochial Church Council of St Thomas à Becket Church and St Matthew’s Church, Widcombe, Bath**
_Registered Charity No:1182372_
|**Contents**
**Pages**|
|---|
|Trustees’ and ofcers’ reports……………………………………………………3|
|Structure, Governance & Management..………………………………………13|
|Administrative information………………………………………………………14|
|Independent Examiner’s Report………………………………………………..15|
|Statement of Financial Activities………………………………………………..16|
|Balance Sheet……………………………………………………………………..17|
|Notes to the Accounts……………………………………………………………18|
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## **Aims and Purposes**
Widcombe Parochial Church Council (PCC) has the responsibility of co-operating with the incumbent, the Reverend Timothy Buckley, in promoting in the ecclesiastical parish, the whole mission of the Church, pastoral, evangelistic, social and ecumenical. The PCC is also specifically responsible for the maintenance of St Thomas à Becket Church and St Matthew’s Church buildings.
## **Objectives and Activities**
The PCC is committed to enabling as many people as possible to worship at our two churches and to become part of our parish community. The PCC maintains an overview of worship throughout the parish and makes suggestions on how our services can involve the many groups that live within the parish and beyond. Our services and worship put faith into practice through prayer and scripture, music and sacrament.
When planning our activities for the year, the incumbent and the PCC have considered the Commission’s guidance on public benefit and, in particular, the specific guidance on charities for the advancement of religion. In particular, we try to enable ordinary people to live out their faith as part of the parish community through
- worship and prayer; learning about the Gospel; and developing their knowledge and trust in Jesus
- provision of pastoral care for people living in the parish and beyond
- missionary and outreach work
To facilitate this work, it is important that we maintain the fabric of St Thomas à Becket Church and St Matthew’s Church.
## **Achievements and Performance**
_Vicar’s Report (Reverend Timothy Buckley)_
The past ministry year has been a challenging but good one for us here in Widcombe, with much to be thankful for. Early 2022 was about navigating the end of the worst of the Covid-19 pandemic and trying to return to some form of ‘normality’ in our worship gatherings and ministry. There was still understandably much uncertainty and a great need for deeper reconnection with one another as individuals and congregations. The first few months were still noticeably reduced in numbers and were tentative and slow, with an understandably cautious return to “normal” church life for many of us after such long social and relational distancing.
But with the autumn term and a growing sense of renewed confidence, we began to gradually see a growing momentum and a sense of hope in what the Lord was wanting to do in our midst in this new season with a growing dependence on God, a commitment to holiness and to boldly share and live out our faith in our community and beyond. What we have witnessed in the sphere of youth and children’s ministry has been particularly exciting over the last many months.
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In what has increasingly become an enormously challenging financial time for so many, Christmas gave us again as church, a wonderful opportunity post Covid to gather and celebrate together with a message of great “tidings of comfort and joy!” Despite the many pressures on us as a parish, both economically and numerically, the Lord has indeed again and again shown Himself to truly be ‘Jehovah Jireh’ – The Lord our Provider.
One growing conviction that many have shared across the churches in this season, was to increase the amount of corporate prayer opportunities across the parish from the Summer. New Zoom and gathered prayer times, along with increasing prayer within small groups and triplets have been key I believe to seeing our faith grow, in God meeting our needs and enabling a new fruitfulness and clarity in ministry. In the light of this and the days in which we live, I want to earnestly encourage us all to press more deeply into God in prayer, to seek His face, to commit to His word and to continue to give generously in all we do and have.
As ever, church life can only happen because we all play our part. We are blessed with an amazing team of volunteers and staff across the parish who work tirelessly to facilitate our many varied worship services and ministries, and generously give so much in service for us all; they’re selfless, creative, humble and full of energy and wisdom – thank you! The PCC too, along with our amazing wardens and service teams at St Matts & St Thomas à Becket, continue to be so central in making sure church life with all our varied worship times and ministries flow so seamlessly. Again, it is a genuine privilege and joy to lead alongside them and I am particularly personally grateful for their support and hard work that has allowed me to press ahead with plans for a sabbatical through June – August this year which will no doubt give me extended time for prayer and refection as we move into a new season.
Thank you too to everyone who’s part of the family of churches here in Widcombe, both at St Thomas à Becket and at St Matts. As you read on to hear all about the last year, be encouraged as you see what a difference our shared commitment to God, our community and to one another has made!
## _Safeguarding Report (Jill Oldham – Safeguarding Officer)_
There were no safeguarding incidents reported during 2022 in respect of St. Thomas à Becket Church or St. Matthew’s Church.
Our Benefice is registered to use, and continues successfully to use, the DBS e-bulk system when DBS checks need to be carried out, along with Diocesan safe recruitment procedures.
Our Benefice continued to use the Diocesan ‘Parish Dashboard’ self-audit tool throughout the year. Policies were reviewed if required and updated.
As regards safeguarding training, our Benefice’s secure safeguarding training database was updated throughout the year as training was completed by those in the Parish required to do it. By the end of the year, all eligible PCC members had completed the ‘Foundations’ training and new training ‘Raising Awareness of Domestic Abuse’.
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Safeguarding training must be refreshed every three years, and further details of the safeguarding training categories can be found on the Diocesan website. Anyone requiring training is asked to contact the Safeguarding Officer or church office in the first instance.
Our Parish website meets national church requirements for safeguarding, including providing clear signposting arrangements and links to the Safeguarding Officer and Safeguarding Policy on the home page.
## _Electoral Roll Report (Jonathan Potter – Electoral Roll Officer)_
The parish currently lists 108 on the Roll.
If anyone is unsure whether they are listed, or needs to be added, please contact Jonathan at jonathanrpotter@hotmail.com, or the office, for the appropriate form.
## _PCC Secretary’s Report (Sam Forrester – PCC Secretary)_
Since our last APCM in May 2022, the full PCC have met 5 times, most of which were online with an average level of attendance of 78%.
From May 2022 – April 2023, at St Thomas, there were 8 baptisms, 4 marriages and 2 funerals. In addition, the Bristol branch of the German Lutheran Church continued to use St Thomas à Becket church for their services as it has done for over forty years. From May 2022 – April 2023, at St Matt’s, there was 1 dedication thanksgiving service, and 1 wedding.
Midweek "Soul Groups” continue to meet weekly in homes around the city. These are made up of members from both our churches and have been a real blessing to all those involved.
As well as regular services, St Matt’s was the venue for other events also. Widcombe Junior School held their Harvest and Easter service at St Matt’s, with Tim’s input, and it was greatly appreciated.
BriX has been running throughout the year, with 6 events on Saturday mornings. These have been well attended, with many new families coming into the church for the first time. We hope to continue to build on this for the future and hold more holiday clubs aimed to reach out into the community and grow these relationships we have started with our BriX families.
St Matt’s continues to host a weekly youth group aimed at teenagers in our local area. Then monthly a city-wide youth group come together for fellowship and to hear more about the Gospel, at St Matt’s. This has been a huge success, thanks to Libby Piggott and all those who regularly volunteer their time, for all their hard work in creating this and making it happen.
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Christmas services within the Parish were well attended. Services included Nine Lessons and Carols, Midnight Mass and Christmas Day services, and Carols by Candlelight. Money collected at these services was given to our 3 chosen charities; The Nest Project, The Trussell Trust and The Haven Home in Sri Lanka.
The Wednesday coffee morning at St Matt’s continues. The Christmas Lunch was a fantastic event offering a full Christmas meal to all those who came. The cribbage club continues to join the coffee morning, and we have also been able to open the church up for our “Warm Wednesday” initiative, offering people a space to be warm and have lunch.
Prayer has also been a huge focal point this year. We have grown the number of prayer meetings in the church and now offer morning, evening and daytime prayer meetings for people to gather and pursue God in.
_St Thomas à Becket Church Report (Fiona Coverdale – Churchwarden)_
As I write this spring seems to have finally arrived – with the challenges of winter hopefully behind us; signs of new life all around and a sense of reinvigoration in the air. I feel this is reflected in our life at St Thomas - we have had (and continue to have) other challenges but our congregation numbers are increasing, our Sunday services are full of the sense of a community that has a real love for the Lord and for one another and we look forward to the rest of the year with confidence.
Since the last APCM we have had 8 baptisms at St Thomas and 4 weddings – joyful occasions where we hope and believe seeds have been sown for future connections with the love of God. St Thomas’ twice a month 8am BCP HC services, 10.30am HC and Morning Prayer services and a monthly evening service provide a rich and varied pattern of worship for long standing and new/returning congregation members. These services complement those on offer at St Matts – and it is encouraging to see members of the Widcombe Church family frequenting both Churches, both for services and for Church family/community events. Our new St Thomas Organist, Chloe, has become a valued member of this family.
Prayer for the parish continues on a weekly basis and the twice monthly afternoon ‘tea with the word’ get-togethers, led by Liz and Sue, remain a welcome ‘fixture’ in the St Thomas calendar. Sue completed her term as Churchwarden at last year’s APCM but, as with many of our previous Churchwardens, she continues to be a wonderful support to St Thomas’.
The Church building was open on Sunday afternoon’s in June, July and August. Two volunteers were in attendance each week and while visitor numbers were not huge those that did visit seemed to appreciate the opportunity to see inside the building. Ad hoc visiting often occurs when I or others are at St Thomas and have the doors open – it is a privilege to welcome people to our beautiful building. Sadly, however, our Church building has suffered in recent months, firstly with water ingress in the lower vestry due to issues with slipped roof tiles and roof felt deterioration and then with somewhat more water ingress in the upper vestry due to the theft of the lead from that area of roof! Work on the lower vestry roof is now on hold until we can get all the vestry roofs sorted!
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## _St Matthew’s Church Report (Jonathan Hilsden – Chapelwarden)_
This year has seen St Matts continue to get back to the foundations on which it started as a gathering of worshippers of Jesus. The sung worship has been sweet, the teaching has been solid and the fellowship has been refreshing. The change in pattern of the services (two evening and two mornings) has enabled a Sunday morning children’s group to be formed serving the growing number of young families in the church. This builds on the successful Saturday morning once-a-month children’s club attracting children from the community.
So much is happening at St Matts with extended coffee mornings (called warm space), women’s ministry, men’s ministry and weekends away, school assemblies, unique Christmas celebration services and Bath wide youth groups and many other societies using the large space we have at St Matts. The soul groups continue to provide support for smaller groups of the church family meeting weekly with programmes often decided by the groups themselves.
We have been exploring new ways of teaching, with seminar series going more in-depth and giving space for practical learning as well as family services and the usual excellent sermon series. Many different members of the family have been getting involved in lots of ways and there are always more opportunities to get involved and shape new initiatives. Most importantly we are coming back to worship where God is showing up in gentle ways. It is so important in these difficult days to stay close to God, follow His leading and offer Him our worship with our whole being.
## _Deanery Synod Report (Anne Lawson and Carol Tottle)_
There are 19 deaneries – groups of parishes and benefices – in the Diocese of Bath and Wells. The aim of deanery synod is to support and strengthen the parishes in common mission across the deanery.
As usual, the Bath Deanery Synod has met 3 times this year.
~~A~~ Deanery is a geographical subdivision between a Diocese and a parish with parishes grouped together so that they can work and serve together to see God’s Kingdom come. Bath Deanery comprises the city of Bath and the surrounding villages and is made up of 21 traditional parishes which comprise 39 Church buildings. It’s threefold emphasis in on prayerfulness, hospitality and innovation and seeks to enable growth and provide support and structures that help to increase faith in what God is doing locally.
Deanery Synods particular concern is with local efforts and programmes, supporting and assisting churches where possible to be more visible in their communities and to grow and flourish, each playing their unique and important part.
Two members of the Widcombe PCC sit on the Deanery Synod which provides the PCC with an important link between the parish and the wider structure of the church.
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The Rev’d. Tim continues to serve in his role as one of two Assistant Area Deans to support Rev’d. Stephen Girling in his position as Rural Dean for the Bath Deanery.
There have been three Deanery Synod meetings to report on:
May 2022 At St Barnabas Church, Southdown - where a draft Deanery 5 year plan including proposals to reduce clergy numbers was proposed.
November 2022 at St Michaels Without, Bath - where an amended Deanery Plan with guiding principals including an emphasis on partnership, church growth and deployment criteria was voted on and adopted.
January 2023 at Holy Trinity, Combe Down - where a presentation by Matthew Pinnock, the Head of Diocesan Finance, outlined the challenging financial situation the church of England currently faces and some ideas to help ameliorate the situation including the proposed reduction of stipendiary clergy within the Bath Deanery from 22 to 17 clergy over the next 3-4 years.
## _Mission support (PCC Mission sub-group)_
As a PCC, we continually seek to inform, inspire and encourage the St Matts and St Thomas à Becket church family in the support of Christian mission, near and far, practically supporting ministries aimed at blessing the poor and furthering God’s Kingdom. Continuing examples of this over the last year would include nurturing and furthering effective connections and support with our mission partners in Sri Lanka, Jerrie and Isabel, both in terms of their co-leading of the newly built church and also in their running of the _**Haven Home**_ for girls in Kandy.
We have also financially supported _**Just Love**_ , a charity that equips students and support alumni to pursue justice engage in social action initiatives. In their words, they seek to “ _raise up a generation who have cultivated the character, values, theology and practices that will enable them to pursue justice faithfully with their whole lives_ ”, volunteering in local communities, from homeless outreaches to teaching English to refugees, from youth mentoring to collections for foodbanks.
Additionally, as is tradition, we were able to give from our collections taken at our Christmas services the sum of £850 was given to each of the three charities nominated by the PCC including _**The Nest Project**_ , _**The Trussell Trust**_ (Nationwide Food Banks) and _**The Haven**_ Sri Lanka girls home.
## _Men’s ministry (Andrew Udale-Smith)_
The Widcombe Warriors are a group of men who are learning to “walk with God” whilst journeying life’s ups and downs together. We are conscious that, as Christians, we are very much “a work in progress” and we need each other’s help and encouragement. We’ve recently started a weekly gathering of men, which is designed to provide that support.
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The last two Septembers, we have hosted a retreat for around 40 men from Bath (mainly from Widcombe parish) in the Malvern Hills. This is a weekend of teaching and socialising, with some excellent food and drink to enjoy. We’re heading back there for another men’s weekend this year, from Friday 29 September to Sunday 1 October.
Please let me know if you’d like to join us on any of our activities.
## _Readers report (Mary Udale-Smith - Parish Reader)_
A quick review of my records for 2022 reveals that I preached 11 times in total and led services 7 times, so a major part of my parish ministry continues to be preaching and leading services. I also hosted one of the St Matt’s Alpha groups early in the year and continue to host and lead a Soul Group. I helped Sarah Sanderson with our children’s group BriX in the first half of the year and I am currently responsible for planning our Sunday School group, Little BriX. I am also one quarter of the team running our Saturday club Big BriX. All the BriX events are for primary school age children and are great fun!
My role also includes helping others explore their own callings, some pastoral visiting, and facilitating the parish prayer meeting at 8am, Wednesdays. If you would like to discuss your own sense of calling or would appreciate a visit at home, please do get in touch. Similarly, if you have something that you would like the prayer group to pray for, do let me know, or join us in person in The Keep at St Matt’s or on Zoom.
I also help Tim and Sam with strategic planning and attend PCC meetings. At the moment, I also send out the weekly emails.
My Reader training finally finished in the summer of 2022 and I was signed off in September following an end of training interview. However, my studies are not over as I have now started an MA in Theology at Trinity College, Bristol. This is proving very enjoyable but also very challenging!
## _Soul Groups (Mu Wilkins)_
Soul groups continue to be central to our church life. They meet weekly for food, fellowship, Bible study and discipleship. After the summer, there was a slight reshuffle to accommodate house moves and newcomers and to improve the mix of the groups, for example, in terms of age. There are currently five groups (though a new comers group ran at the vicarage for approximately 6 weeks in the autumn). Soul group leaders have access to a range of resources as well as the opportunity to meet once in a while for fellowship and to exchange ideas.
Every now and then, the groups meet together as pastorate at St Matts. The topics covered in these evenings are varied and have included meditation, decorating the church ready for Christmas, and more recently an evening with Ali Blacklee from Westminster Theological College looking at the book of Ruth.
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Soul Groups could not happen without the warm hospitality of hosts who open their home and cook delicious meals, and the dedication of leaders who plan the studies and discussions. Therefore, I would like to take this opportunity to thank both hosts and leaders for their time, faithfulness and generosity, and to pray God’s continued blessing over them and their ministry.
## _Tea with the Word (Liz Holden-White)_
Tea with the Word is just that! The group meets at 48 Tyning End, usually twice a month at 2.30 pm on Thursdays - for tea and cake and a chat, but also a short Bible study and opportunity for prayer. Any member of St Matts or St Thomas who has some free time on a Thursday afternoon would be welcome to join us. Recently we have been studying stories that feature some of the women in the Bible. For further information please get in touch.
## _Wednesday Coffee Morning (Tamsin McMaster)_
The last year has been really lovely in the fact that people are finally beginning to feel safe to come out and socialise!
Coffee morning, at St Matts, is going from strength to strength with the added bonus of us now sharing our space with a wonderful group of cribbage players! It has been fun getting to know them and there is a lot of friendly banter and biscuit eating going on.
Then with the cost of heating going up we decided to start extending the coffee morning hours to create Warm Wednesdays. We now stay open until 2.30pm providing a light lunch and a warm space for anyone to come share a meal, play board games, do some work and generally spend time together.
From the end of March the Local PCSO’s will also be holding a Monthly Police surgery in the cafe area too, so if anyone needs any help or information from the Police they can meet with them at St Matts.
## _Women’s Ministry (Tamsin McMaster)_
It’s been lovely starting to hold some Women’s Breakfasts again, giving us the chance to gather together and encourage each other as we walk on our journeys of Faith.
We also had great fun with the Christmas craft evening.
Lots more things are being planned so keep an eye on the emails to see what is coming up.
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## _Bath Spa Chaplaincy (Tamsin McMaster)_
It’s been really encouraging up at the Newton Park campus as the size of the Chaplaincy team has doubled which means we’ve been able to have more contact with individual students and start to build some good relationships. A lot of the students have found coming out of lockdown really hard and there are an awful lot of them suffering with anxiety and other mental health issues so it’s been great to be able to journey alongside them.
## _BriX Children’s Work (Samantha Forrester)_
BriX is the name of our children’s work in the church. We have been through various iterations of what this looks like in the last 2 years but have now found a format which is working well and bringing in new children and families.
## **Little BriX**
This is our “Sunday school” offering for children. This runs on 2[nd] , 4[th] and 5[th] Sundays of the month, when we have a morning service. It caters for children aged 0-11. Each session has a different theme or story. The children watch a short video introducing the session, learn a song, build things with Lego related to the week’s theme, and then complete an activity sheet appropriate for their age. We have a small team of people from the congregation, who volunteer each week, to run these. They have been very much enjoyed by both children and parents and we have had many children outside of the church get involved also. We also have recently started running a crèche for the very youngest in the congregation.
## **BIG BriX**
This is our Saturday morning children’s club which has been going from strength to strength. We have now run 4 of these sessions, with dates for the next three coming up before Easter. This offers children in primary school the chance to spend the morning with our team, learning about a different theme and spending time doing various crafts, activities, games, lego builds and most importantly a lot of fun! We even have our own theme tune written by Joel Lloyd-Carter.
We now have more than 60 children on our books, as a result of these events, and only a small handful are from our church family.
It is a really great thing to be involved in and watch the children having fun and learning about Jesus at the same time.
This term we’ve looked at the Gospel story over the 3 sessions. It may have been the first time some of these children have heard about Jesus and what He has done for them. Please continue to pray for them and that they’re able to make a connection to the Gospel for themselves.
## **Plans for the future**
We have had the opportunity to restart our visits into Widcombe Junior School to take assemblies. Tim, Libby and Sam went along and lead an assembly about the Good Samaritan during anti-bullying week at the school.
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We have also been in to lead an assembly about “Incarnation” just before Christmas. These have given us the opportunity to be able to advertise our BriX sessions to the children directly and we look forward to taking more assemblies in the months to come and hopefully take BIG BriX to them.
## **Areas for prayer**
- We’d love for our families to keep coming back
- Reach new families in the community
- Continue to get a good number of adults helping at each session
## _Youth & Outreach_ **(** _Libby Piggott - Youth & Outreach worker)_
**Found Youth** : As you may know, both St Matts and Life Church Bath youth have joined together (since 2021) for youth every Friday evening. It is a lot of fun and a powerful space to seek Jesus and build (or start!) their relationship with Him. The past year has been very encouraging as we see and hear many testimonies from the youth each week both at Found and in the 1-2-1 connecting discipleship. Found Youth group has 65 semiregular names on the register and currently average 30-35 of each week…and growing!
**A2 Nights** : On the last Friday of each month, we gather youth from all around the city to join, together, in games/fun, snacks, worship, testimonies, a guest speaker and ministry time. It allows the youth to see they are part of a bigger community, to grow in the knowledge of Christ and be filled and sent out in the power of the Holy Spirit. It has been amazing to see the unity in the churches around Bath, through youth and youth workers.
**A2 Winterfest/Summerfest** : This is where we bless the youth of the city with a load of fun. These are big outreach events where youth can invite their mates which allows a steppingstone into our other A2 events in which they can hear about Jesus. Our festivals and A2 nights combined (as of February 2023) have registered a total of 200 youth, with 60-80 being the attending average.
**Deeper** : This is a discipleship programme for those willing to spend time intentionally digging into their faith. This select group of 12 sixth formers will meet once or twice a month with different guest speakers facing a variety of topics. Topics include, prophecy, the Father’s heart, the secret place and so many more.
**Youth Leaders Breakfast and Banquet** : As youth leaders (from around 17 different churches/organisations) around the city meet once a month to gather, pray and dream together… and drink coffee!!!
We have also put on a youth volunteers banquet for all those that have helped with youth work this year in Bath which was a wonderful time to bless and thank those that spend their time to pour into the youth work of the city.
**Final remarks on youth** : The youth of today are incredible and total world changers. I pray that we may never underestimate them, in who they are, what they do, what they say, and in the level of intimacy they can have with the Lord. It's powerful and so beautiful.
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**Outreach** : There are exciting things to come- keep your eye out in notices. Whilst we wait for this…be encouraged, ‘The kingdom advances through servants not experts’. Let us be an invitational people, like Philip, and let us continue to say to others ‘come and see’. Come and see who Jesus is, come and see what this hope and love is all about, come and see the spirit-filled community we have here, come and see. Create opportunities to share your testimonies with others and invite them into your journey and Jesus’ story.
## _Financial Review (Mark Nish - Treasurer to Widcombe PCC)_
In 2022, the PCC’s total unrestricted income was £153,922 and expenditure from normal activities was £142,572. As a consequence, the PCC returned a surplus of £11,350 for the year.
The PCC can meet its legal liabilities when they are due; the PCC’s aim is to maintain a reserve of Unrestricted Funds in the order of £30,000 which is equivalent to approximately three month’s normal operating costs at current levels. At the end of 2022, the PCC’s balance of unrestricted funds held was £48,473.
In 2022, the PCC had three principal sources of income: Voluntary Giving; Gift Aid; and Lettings. The PCC received £97,086 in voluntary donations, of which £86,278 was Planned Giving. The PCC received an additional £24,300 in tax recovered in the form of Gift Aid. The PCC received £7,604 in rent from lettings of St Matthew’s Church and Church Hall, the principal users being: Bath Operatic and Drama Society, Beats Dance, The Natural Theatre Company and the Cribbage Club. The PCC received a grant of £1,500 from the Diocese of Bath & Wells towards the cost of heating the church buildings. The PCC also received a generous legacy of £20,000 from the estate of a parishioner.
The expenditure from unrestricted funds fall into five categories: Administration and Office Costs; St Thomas à Becket’s Operating Costs; St Matthew’s Operating Costs; Charitable Donations (Mission); and Parish Share.
In 2022, the PCC paid £65,400 to the Diocese of Bath & Wells in 2022 representing 86% of the Parish Share requested (£75,626). The Parish Share largely provides the stipends and housing for the clergy. The ongoing challenges experienced with both income and reserves regrettably prevented the PCC from matching the full sum requested.
## **Structure, Governance and Management**
The method of appointment of PCC members is set out in the Church Representation Rules. The membership of Widcombe PCC consists of the incumbent (our vicar), the churchwardens and chapelwardens, the reader, 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
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Electoral Roll and stand for election to the PCCThe 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.
## **Administrative Information**
St Thomas à Becket Church and St Matthew’s Church are sited in Church Street and Widcombe Hill respectively, within the parish of Widcombe, Bath. We are in the Bath Deanery and part of the Diocese of Bath and Wells within the Church of England.
The PCC is a body corporate (PCC Powers Measure 1956, Church Representation Rules 2006) and a charity registered with the Charity Commission (no. 1182372).
PCC members who have served for the period from 01 January 2022 until the APCM held on 23 April 2023 are:
## Ex 0ffcio members:
|_Incumbent:_|Reverend Timothy Buckley|
|---|---|
|_Churchwardens:_|Sue Wiggin (until APCM May 2022)|
||Fiona Coverdale|
|_Chapelwardens:_|Haydn Wilkins|
||Bill James (until APCM May 2022)|
||Jonathan Hilsden (from APCM May 2022)|
|_Treasurer:_|Mark Nish|
|Elected Members:|Andrew Udale-Smith (PCC Chair – from APCM May 2022)|
||Lindsaye Dunn (until APCM May 2022)|
||Jonathan Potter|
||Wayne McMaster|
||Joel Lloyd-Carter|
||Anne Lawson (Deanery Synod representative)|
||Carol Tottle (Deanery Synod representative)|
||Reverend Judith Harries (co-opted)|
||Mary Udale-Smith (_Reader_- co-opted)|
Approved by the PCC on 23 April 2023 and signed on their behalf by:
**……………………………………**
**Andrew Udale-Smith** (Chair of Widcombe PCC
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## **Independent Examiners Report to the trustees/members of Widcombe PCC - Year Ended 31 December 2022**
________________________________________________________
I report on the accounts of the PCC for the year ended 31st December 2022 as set out on pages 16 to 18.
## **Respective responsibilities of PCC and examiner**
The PCC consider that an audit is not required for this year under section 144(2) of the Charities Act 2011 (the Act), and that an independent examination is needed. It is my responsibility to:
- examine the accounts under section 145 of the Act;
- follow the procedures laid down in the General Directions given by the Charity Commission (under section 145(5)(b) of the Act), and;
- to state whether particular matters have come to my attention.
## **Basis of independent examiner's statement**
My examination was carried out in accordance with General Directions given by the Charity Commission. An examination includes a review of the accounting records kept by the PCC and a comparison of the accounts presented with those records. It also includes consideration of any unusual items or disclosures in the accounts, and seeking explanations from the PCC concerning any such matters. The procedures undertaken do not provide all the evidence that would be required in an audit, and consequently I do not express an audit opinion on the accounts.
## **Independent examiner's statement**
In the course of my examination, no matter has come to my attention:
- 1 which gives me reasonable cause to believe that, in any material respect, the PCC have not met the requirements to ensure that:
- proper accounting records are kept in accordance with section 130 of the Act; and
- accounts are prepared which agree with the accounting records and comply with the accounting requirements of the Act; or
- 2 to which, in my opinion, attention should be drawn in order to enable a proper understanding of the accounts to be reached.
…………………………………
Peter Barton FCCA ART Accountants Ltd 11 Manvers Street Bath BA1 1JQ
Date ...........................................
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## **WIDCOMBE PCC - STATEMENT OF FINANCIAL ACTIVITIES– Year Ended 31 Dec’ 2022**
___________________________________________________________________________
||Unrestricted|Restricted|Total|
Funds||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
||Funds|Funds|2022|
2021||
||£|£|£|
£||
|**INCOMING RESOURCES**||||||
|**Voluntary receipts:**||||||
|Planned giving|86,278|2,277|88,555|80,874||
|Other giving & donations|10,808|8,146|18,954|51,343||
|Grants|1,500|-|1,500|13,700||
|Gift aid tax recovered|24,300|-|24,300|16,314||
|Legacies|20,000|-|20,000|
-||
|**Activities for generating funds:**||||||
|Lettings|7,604|-|7,604|
4,210||
|**Parochial fees**|3,000|-|3,000|3,841||
|**Investment income**|365|-|365|
26||
|**Other income**|67|-|67|13,722||
||─────|─────|─────|─────||
|**Total incoming resources**|153,922|10,423|164,345|184,030||
||─────|─────|─────|─────||
|**RESOURCES EXPENDED**||||||
|**Church activities:**||||||
|_St Thomas Church expenses:_||||||
|Heat & light|622|-|622|
908||
|Insurance|1,036|-|1,036|
985||
|Church repairs & maintenance|-|-|-|
100||
|_St Matthew's Church expenses:_||||||
|Heat, light & water|4,551|-|4,551|
8,736||
|Insurance|2,417|-|2,417|
2,296||
|Church repairs & maintenance|10,867|-|10,867|10,331||
|Roof repairs & professional fees|-|-|-|55,873||
|Parish Share for year|65,400|-|65,400|65,762||
|Parish administration|20,006|-|20,006|20,267||
|Church services|13,149|-|13,149|
3,728||
|Clergy expenses|887|-|887|
3,183||
|Mission & charitable giving|20,223|4,997|25,220|13,880||
|Parish sundries|2,162|-|2,162|
526||
|Parochial fees|1,252|-|1,252|
3,805||
||─────|─────|─────|─────||
|**Total resources expended**|142,572|4,997|147,569|190,380||
||─────|─────|─────|─────||
|**SURPLUS/(DEFICIT) FOR THE YEAR**|11,350|5,426|16,776|(6,350)||
|Transfers|(500)|500|-|
-||
|Balances brought forward|37,624|22,715|60,339|66,689||
||─────|────|─────|─────||
|BALANCES CARRIED FORWARD|48,474|28,641|77,115|60,339||
||═════|═════|═════|═════||
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## **WIDCOMBE PCC - BALANCE SHEET – Year Ended 31 December 2022**
**----- Start of picture text -----**
||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
|___________________________________________________________________________|
|Unrestricted Restricted|Total|Funds|
|Funds|Funds|2022|2021|
|£|£|£|£|
|CURRENT ASSETS|
|Debtors|1,336|603|1,939|528|
|Bank Current Account|51,872|7,862|59,735 43,696|
|Deposit Funds|444|20,177|20,620 20,355|
|─────|─────|───── ─────|
|53,652|28,642|82,294 64,579|
|─────|─────|───── ─────|
|CURRENT LIABILITIES|
|Creditors|5,179|-|5,179|4,240|
|─────|─────|───── ─────|
|5,179|-|5,179|4,240|
|─────|─────|───── ─────|
|─────|─────|───── ─────|
|NET CURRENT ASSETS|48,473|28,642|77,115 60,339|
|═════|═════|═════|═════|
|FUNDS|
|Unrestricted funds|48,474 37,624|
|Restricted funds|Note 2|28,641 22,715|
|TOTAL FUNDS|───── ─────|
|77,115 60,399|
|═════|═════|
**----- End of picture text -----**
Approved by the PCC and signed on their behalf:
---------------------------
## **Andrew Udale-Smith Chair of Widcombe PCC**
Date………………………………………
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## **WIDCOMBE PCC - NOTES TO THE ACCOUNTS - Year Ended 31 December 2022**
___________________________________________________________________
## 1 LAND AT ST MARK'S
Widcombe PCC owns a piece of land by St Mark's Community Centre. The PCC continues to discuss its maintenance and plans for this land in the future.
## 2 RESTRICTED FUNDS
The movements in restricted funds during the year were:
||Balance|Receipts Payments Transfers Balance|
|---|---|---|
||brought|carried|
||forward|forward|
|St Thomas’ Restoration Fund|19,981|180 - - 20,161|
|Organ Fund|2,350|- - - 2,350|
|St Matthew’s Regeneration Fund -||1,700 - - 1,700|
|Missionary Fund|384|8,543 (4,997) 500 4,430|
||─────|───── ───── ───── ─────|
||22,715|10,423 (4,997) 500 28,641|
||═════|═════ ═════ ═════ ═════|
- The St Thomas’ Restoration Fund is restricted to expenditure on the fabric of St Thomas’ Church building.
- The Organ Fund is restricted to expenditure on any organ repairs that may be required.
- The St Matthew’s Regeneration Fund is restricted to expenditure for the regeneration of the church roof and to the future re-ordering of the church building.
- The Missionary Fund covers any anonymous gifts made to the church towards specific individuals and causes.
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