Diocese of Winchester Deanery of Bournemouth
BOURNEMOUTH TOWN CENTRE PARISH
REPORTS FOR THE 2023 ANNUAL MEETING
SUNDAY 28[TH] MAY 2023 AT 12:15 PM ST PETER’S CHURCH
AGENDA ANNUAL PAROCHIAL CHURCH MEETING
Sunday 28[th ] May 2023
12:15pm, St Peter’s Church
| 1. | Opening Prayers and Welcome from The Rev’s Canon Michael | Smith, Area Dean |
|---|---|---|
| 2. | Present | |
| 3. | Apologies for Absence | |
| 4. | Approval of Minutes of the APCM Thursday 7th April 2022 | Page 3 |
| 5. | Matters Arising | |
| 6. | Financial Report |
Page 8 |
| 7. | Consolidated Accounts 2022 | Page 10 |
| 8. | Appointment of Independent Examiner | Page 24 |
| 9. | Electoral Roll Update | Page 24 |
| 10. | Election of Officers and Representatives | Page 24 |
| 11. | PCC Secretary’s Report | Page 25 |
| 12. | Church Wardens Report | Page 27 |
| 13. | Team Rector’s Report | Page 32 |
| 14. | Any Other Business | |
| 15. | Close in Prayer |
2
BOURNEMOUTH TOWN CENTRE PARISH
(St. Peter’s Church, St. Stephen’s Church, St. Augustin’s Church)
ANNUAL PAROCHIAL CHURCH MEETING MINUTES
Thursday 7[h] April 2022 6.30pm – St Peter’s Church
1. Opening Prayers and Welcome
- The Team Rector Ian Terry led the opening prayer at 18.36pm
2. Present
- Ian Terry (Rector), Lisa Babb (PCC Secretary), Jane MacDonald-Styslinger (Church Warden), James Shutler, Ronalyn Bichard, Virginia Beck, Colin Beck, Julian Davis, Kani Trehorn, Paul Moores, Godfrey French, Adrian Scott, Mike Emsley, Chris Mayne, David Agar, Lucinda Terry
3. Apologies for Absence
- Were accepted by Leigh Hatts, Janet Lawrence, Neil Bichard, Duncan Courts (St. Peter) and Helen Holmes, Fr Peter Huxham (St Stephen), Mark Holiday (PCC Treasurer), Carolyn Emsley, Margaret Shillabeer, Paul Coote, Stephen Chappell,
4. Minutes of the APCM 2021
-
The minutes of the APCM held on 29[th] April 2020 were accepted as a true and accurate record:
-
Propose – Virginia Beck
-
Seconded – Jane Styslinger
-
Acceptance on general ‘Aye’
-
Ian Terry signed official minutes as record
5. Matters Arising
- There were none
6. Financial Report – James Shutler (Independent Examiner)
7. Consolidated Accounts 2021
- James Shutler explained that each individual church produces their own set of accounts which are then audited, accepted by each DCC and then at each ADCM and the PCC sign off the PCC set of accounts and signed off by the independent examiner. However the Charities Commission and the Diocese require the Parish to then produce a combined report, the Consolidated Accounts, which is
3
just a total of all three individual church accounts plus the PCC accounts and so they mean very little in terms of granularity but are legal requirement.
-
JS gave an overview of the consolidated accounts from the report beginning on Page 18, compared year on year
-
Another difficult year with planned giving down, which is a recurring theme and needs addressing
-
IAT commented that God is generosity and the people need to reflect his generosity back and therefore there is a sharp need for a stewardship campaign in all three churches in the autumn.
-
Page 19 – CMF up slightly although most other expenses on a par due to savings in insurances and utilities
-
IAT wanted to minute thanks to LB for her careful negotiations on all fronts to keep parish finances in order and expenditure down
-
Charitable Giving includes Water Aid plus a £5k and £3k donations from St Peter’s to the St Peter’s Development Project
-
Loss of £11K overall but the gains on investments have compensated for that luckily.
-
IAT stated that we have done all we can to reduce expenditure and now the focus needs to be turned to Income
-
Restricted Funds – huge differences due to these funds not being ‘legally’ restricted and so decided to reallocate them this year.
-
The only restricted funds sit in St Augustin’s – Vass and Payne funds. Note at top of Page 22
-
No questions from the floor
-
Round of applause and gratitude to James Shutler
-
Move for acceptance from the chair
-
Proposed by Ronalyn Bichard
-
Seconded by Godfrey French
-
Unanimous acceptance
8. Appointment of Independent Examiner (James Shutler - 17 Tax & Accounting Ltd)
-
Proposed by Lisa Babb (PCC Secretary)
-
Seconded by Jane MacDonald-Styslinger (Church Warden)
-
Unanimous vote for accepting the appointment
9. Electoral Roll Update
- Colin Beck gave a short run through on behalf of Paul Coote
| 2022 | 2021 | New | Died | Left | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| St Augustin’s | 40 | 40 | 4 | 4 | 0 |
| St Peter’s | 120 | 124 | 1 | 2 | 3 |
| St Stephen’s | 44 | 45 | 1 | 1 | 1 |
| TOTAL | 204 | 209 | 6 | 7 | 4 |
4
10. Resolution on Rule of 6 Year Term of Office
-
IAT explained that the PCC wished to over rule the standard 6year term of office rule, as they did not wish for new officers to stand with an interregnum approaching and much work to do.
-
Unanimous approval given from the floor
11. Elections of Officers and Representatives
-
IAT read all the positions and names out to the meeting
-
Julian Davis pointed out he would not be standing for PCC this year
-
The elections of officers and representatives at the ADCMs were unanimously ratified with a general aye
-
IAT declared all who were nominated at each of the ADCMs to be duly elected to serve the parish for the coming year
-
IAT personally thanked LB for her support and hard work as PCC Secretary
-
Round of applause
ELECTED OFFICERS AND REPRESENTATIVES 2022
| St. Peter’s | St. Stephen’s | St. Augustin’s | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Jane MacDonald- | |||
| Parish Wardens | Styslinger | ---- | ---- |
| Chris Mayne | |||
| Deputy Wardens | Ronalyn Bichard Virginia Beck |
Paul Moores Kani Trehorn |
Janet Lawrence |
| Deanery Synod Reps |
Duncan Courts | Helen Holmes Stephen Chappell |
David Agar |
| Lisa Babb | |||
| PCC Members | Mike Emsley Godfrey French |
Paul Coote Diana Shiner |
Jackie Uren |
| Colin Beck | |||
| Julian Davies | |||
| Lisa Babb | Diana Shiner | ||
| Mike Emsley | Paul Coote | Glen Bainbridge | |
| DCC Members | Godfrey French | Adrian Scott | Jackie Uren |
| Colin Beck | Brenda Price | Ros Atkin | |
| Carol Claxton | |||
| Electoral Roll Officers |
Colin Beck | Paul Coote (Parish) |
Barbara Sparling |
5
12. PCC Secretary’s Report (Lisa Babb)
-
IAT formally thanked LB for another year of hard work, keeping the PCC in order.
-
Round of applause
13. Church Wardens’ Report (Jane MacDonald-Styslinger)
- No comments
14. Rector’s Report (Ian Terry)
- No comments as was the same report he had submitted to all the ADCM report packs
15. Any Other Business
- None
16. Close in Prayer
- IAT drew the meeting to a close with the Lord’s Prayer at 19:04
SIGNED: _____________ The Rev’d Canon Michael Smith, Area Dean DATE: 28[th] MAY 2023
6
REPORTS FOR THE 2023 ANNUAL MEETING
PCC FINANCIAL OVERVIEW 2022 CONSOLIDATED ACCOUNTS
P&L
Incoming Resources
2022 was the first full year of financial results since the Covid pandemic lockdowns and this is noticeable in the accounts. Even after taking out the one-off effect of a large legacy of £183,971 received by St Stephen’s Church overall income increased by 9% from £177,536 to £193,889. When the legacy is included overall income for the period is £377,860.
As is to be expected these increases have mainly derived from parishioners and the general public being able to attend church services (income from collections rising from £17,017 in 2021 to £21,820 in 2022), carry out parish events (income for 2021 was £nil but recovered to £7,319 in 2022) and use of the church facilities (church hall lettings and car park fees rose from £46,435 in 2021 to £56,774 in 2022).
Although no further Covid grants were received in the year this was offset by a compensation claim of £3,000 paid to St Stephens when the sale of the hall failed to complete.
Resources Used
Resources used across the parish increased by 9% to £207,452 (2021: £189,999). This was brought about by significant increases in the running expenses of the churches which rose from £36,473 in 2021 to £42,105 in 2022. In addition, buildings maintenance rose from £11,782 in 2021 to £27,877 in 2022. This is to be expected as the buildings were in use for the full year again and as is well documented utilities costs rose significantly towards the end of the year.
The other costs that showed large increases in the year both relate to church services and can again be explained by the fact that there were a full 12 months of services in 2022 compared to the previous period. Church service costs rose from £27,920 in 2021 to £35,411 in 2022 and clergy costs from £484 to £1,807.
The diocesan quota payable by the churches was down by £4,296 in the year. Both St Peters and St Stephens paid less in the year by £4,949 and £1,888 respectively but this was partially offset by St Augustine’s paying £2,541 more than in 2021.
8
Finally, the special expenditure increased in the year from £15,008 in 2021 to £16,706 in 2022. In 2021 the entire cost related to organ repairs at St Stephen’s and although there was a further £2,060 for St Stephen’s organ repairs and also £1,556 for the organ at St Peters the majority of the cost, £11,472, related to the boiler in the St Augustine annex.
Net Movement in Funds
Overall funds have increased by £138,954 to £497,464 compared with 2021 (39% increase) and this made up of:
-
Net incoming resources £154,182
-
Losses on investments £15,228
The net incoming resources include the legacy of £183,971. Without this the parish would have shown a significant loss in the year. The losses on investments are as to be expected in what was a very volatile year for all financial assets.
Balance Sheet
The only assets continuing to be shown as Restricted are those held in the Ivy Paine and M Vass Trusts, on behalf of St Augustin’s Church.
As is to be expected following earlier comments on the loss in value of the investment portfolio the assets dropped to from £137,470 in 2021 to £121,553 in 2022.
Creditors and accruals increased from £18,232 in 2021 to £38,784 in 2022. Much of this increase relates to higher utility bills being outstanding at the year end and the PRS accrual for St Peters continuing to increase.
Finally, cash in hand and at the bank increased significantly compared to the previous year to £388,989 (2021: £216,559). Using the total expenditure figure of £223,678 for 2022 this gives cover of 1.74 times.
Lisa Babb PCC Secretary
9
UTH WN PA LIDA TTr.D FIN.4 io
WN ID.4TED FIY.4li IAL TA GENEKIL INFORMAT1014 IRUSTEES ANNUAL REPORT 13 li
WN FTH PAR HIA FOR TIIE 1'&4R ENDED 31ST DECE%IBER 2022 Dr knTmi' All T*x tsd BHS IJHP 87 North R•J BH140LT 12
14&5ib)d& Xlll 114 D*....zJlSlL1 13
AT lo4.1 2ffjA 10.652 11.7 In.JY6 777 isj )7.452 L117 lJ.l16 22J.671 119 116 2•lJb I.152 iJ.9J7 _ 11.7•) I.1 1gASg . 13 ?2X 7m i)x.4 J43.f7 14AI SJDSJI JSRJIO fi¥wd31.1122 4M.In IJ292 354JIO 497.U 14
PIT ID AT31 4(1) 137.47D 121J$3 137.45 121J75 2JO 21431 21&J59 2J9241 414.67J IU32 n4 ¥#¢ts 221.1112 37J.189 35&51Q 497.464 34J.927 14.J&l 4•4.Ill 13.292 3x51 +)7.464 15
ED FIPqA% -IAL ATEMEh Cowyxl •J fr¢•th IIN2X•)4WAI131rfth¢ tytheb•* 17
TOTMEC SOLIDATED FI%A%CtAL 43.¥52 16.765 21.¥20 45J92 43.¥52 1&917 IA76S 17.017 21.120 4.181 4.415 Its6 14.1113 ISJ.971 SJJO 183.971 IN.111 2W.636 6.6$2 346 4.rw i.(#Yi 7J19 ?J19 111.6J2 14.661 J&774 4.03J 4&431 56.774 4.OJS 50.J96 &).W9 18
45 53Jll •235 .rtJ oios 27m 11.7L? V77 IX28 •.0: J I2 844 1¥4 SJ47 15.1 7.4$2 IWAY•g 7.152 19
CXTV T &Y 1).th8 TA'r•&dM•A* 1.122 20
-IDA TED FI%A IAL T A TEVEf4 EMBERI CBF F* CBF FiTd Fw 11243 101527 IW61 CBF l•Y¥•K¥ Fwd 117A2 Jio Jio 13.292 IJ? 47n 121 443 13292 14_4X3 13292 Pw¥Cknh 74r 124.1>1 2J3.191 S5.(AS .927 414.172 3J¥..110 497.464 i• 21
ATED I%A%I'IAL ST.4TEM IC••t'dl th• Imp h4>T¥ F•ddthe Ethjd Vw•Tmi F¥ lla<• 2Z Marth •022 * h¥E4xd1a 31Z 123 21435 25.434 142J2 .18.n4 433 22
Fthds •fSL Pe*ry 10 SL Prfees Cknr¢h DtytIoI Pr•Jefl 12 23
ELECTION OF INDEPENDENT EXAMINERS 2023
- Mr James Shutler - All Tax Ltd & Worth Accountants LLP
ELECTORAL ROLL UPDATE (to end April 2023)
| 2023 | 2022 | New | Died | Left | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| St Augustin’s | 39 | 40 | 0 | 1 | 0 |
| St Peter’s | 123 | 120 | 7 | 2 | 2 |
| St Stephen’s | 45 | 44 | 1 | 1 | 1 |
| TOTAL | 209 | 204 | 6 | 7 | 4 |
ELECTION OF OFFICERS AND REPRESENTATIVES 2023
| St. Peter’s | St. Stephen’s | St. Augustin’s | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Parish Wardens | Jane MacDonald- Styslinger Chris Mayne |
---- | ---- |
| Deputy Wardens | Ronalyn Bichard Virginia Beck |
Janet Lawrence | |
| Deanery Synod **Reps ** |
Duncan Courts | Helen Holmes Stephen Chappell |
David Agar |
| PCC Members | Colin Beck Lisa Babb Mike Emsley |
Paul Coote Diana Shiner |
Jackie Uren Paul Higgs Ruth Beasant |
| DCC Members | Colin Beck Lisa Babb Mike Emsley Pauline Burns |
Adrian Scott Brenda Price Carol Claxton Diana Shiner Don Oakley Julian Davies Paul Coote TonyClarke |
Barbara Sparling Felicity Carter Jackie Uren Paul Higgs Rosemary Simmonds Ruth Beasant |
| Electoral Roll Officers |
Colin Beck | Paul Coote (Parish) |
Barbara Sparling |
24
PAROCHIAL PARISH COUNCIL SECRETARY’S REPORT 2022
The full BTCP PCC met on four occasions this year:
Monday 31[st] October 2022 Monday 13[th] February 2023 Wednesday 19[th] April 2023 Thursday 18[th] May 2023
And then discussed various one item matters via email on seven occasions:
3[rd] May 2022 24[th] May 2022 30[th] December 2022 4[th] January 2023 6[th] January 2023 31[st] March 2023 20[th] April 2023
The Annual Parochial Church Meeting for 2022 , was held on Thursday 7[th] April 2021, at 6.30pm in St Peter’s Church.
During the past year, the PCC has continued to review and improve its governance of the whole parish, increasing its levels of monitoring and scrutiny of finance and all buildings of the parish.
We continued the strive to move to a more digital, cashless system across all things financial, encouraging those who continued through 2022 to hire our various venues to pay via BACs and the parishioners who continue to contribute to our church funds using cash, to change their giving to monthly Standing Orders or via the Parish Giving Scheme or CAF payments via the St Peter’s website link. The installation of the Contactless Card Machine in St Peter’s back in 2019 proved valuable during 2022, with payments via this method increasing weekly. With the COVID legacy still living on, this has once again highlighted the vulnerability in our finances, still relying heavily on cash payments during weekly service attendance.
Having set up St Peter’s on the WAVE accounting system in 2019, 2022 gave the St Peter’s team the ability to have total transparency of finance at the push of a button that balanced to the penny. The PCC would like to formally thank James Shutler, our Independent Examiner, for his hard work and diligence in assisting the church treasurers in keeping our parish financially in order.
Through careful negotiation of our insurance, we managed to secure some small savings again of circa £200 compared to our 2021 cover and we will continue to negotiate this each
25
year to ensure savings are made wherever possible and maintenance of the lowest premiums are held onto.
Our CMF payments were paid in full by both St Peter’s and St. Stephen’s, with St Augustin’s paying ten months of their quota, enabling them to make the necessary repairs they will need to make, replacing the annex roof in early 2023. The PCC formally instructed each church to once again set up monthly standing order payments for 2022 ensuring we are not in breach of our obligations to the Diocese and have complete transparency of our finances, knowing that committed expenditure is paid out monthly and therefore allowing complete visibility of available funds on a monthly basis. We were grateful that musical and other events recommenced, recovering those income streams that had been sorely affected the previous two years. We are hopeful that these incomes streams will continue to grow again and enable all three churches to pay full CMF in 2023.
Key repairs to all three of our church buildings were discussed throughout the year, mainly boiler repairs at St Peter’s, Annexe roof at St Augustin’s, organ repairs at St Peter’s and St Stephen’s and the ongoing review of the Hall at St Stephen’s. The huge costs that all repairs incur both in 2022 and going into 2023, along with the fall in income due to the COVID hangover and the financial crisis beginning to bite household expenditures, has brought stewardship issues once more into sharp focus for the PCC and this will be on the main agenda to address during 2023.
The Rev’d Dr In Terry will be retiring on 4[th] February 2023. We wish him well.
Lisa Babb - PCC Secretary
26
PARISH WARDENS’ REPORT 2022
Firstly, may we say a massive THANKYOU to all of you wonderful folk that have lifted up our three beautiful churches post COVID! We have enjoyed so many events across BTCP over 2022 and shared so much love and laughter. It is so great to be back to a semblance of normality. All three of our super churches have continued to show careful stewardship of funds and have faced into repairs - all DCC’s have kept a close watch on accounts, and we engage in an ever-closer dialogue with the DAC on Faculty, List A and List B matters, together with meetings on the upcoming Interregnum. Services are finally returning to pre-pandemic normality. We both remained as your Parish Wardens and we thank you deeply for all the support shown as we face into what will probably be at least a year of Interregnum when the Rector leaves in the New Year. We wish Ian and Lucinda good luck. We are incredibly positive about the new chapter ahead.
GROUNDS
The nature and heritage trails were installed in St Peters grounds in February/March 2022 by the STEPS college children and the St Peter’s grounds volunteer team. Locals and visitors have expressed delight at the open and safe feel of these grounds. A huge shout out to Bournemouth Rotary who continue to attend every week (Roy, Ted and Nigel in particular) and to the St Peters folk - in particular Colin and Virginia Beck, Mike and Carolyn Emsley, Divina Johnson and Steve Jones, plus our local volunteer John Barrett. All are welcome at our regular Tuesday morning gardening group. Anona Dawson at Dorset Wildlife Trust (“DWT“) has been a dynamo connecting us with STEPS students from the local College who have been helping clear around graves and plant and weed under the enthusiastic and watchful eye of teacher Heather Sharp. They even built compost heap containers. Dorset Wildlife Trust’s Urban Green Community Project at St Peter’s Church in Bournemouth, set up a huge event on Saturday 14[th] May 2022, where they welcomed everyone who has been involved with the work at St Peter's to transform the churchyard into a welcoming green space for both wildlife and people. It was an afternoon of music and storytelling, with a guided history walk run by Alice Miller and wildlife walks - with exhibitions and activities for all ages. The Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra (BSO) string quartet played all afternoon by the Resurrection Chapel and at 5pm, the Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra performed a concert inside St Peter’s Church to mark this special occasion. The programme featured a variety of works on the theme of ‘Music of Reflection’ performed by the 9-piece string section of the BSO as part of the BSO ‘On Your Doorstep’ initiative. Huge thanks to Alice Miller for the research
27
done to provide the wording for each heritage trail sign and for dealing with tricky copyright issues for the images used.
St Stephens faced into much needed clearance work on their grounds and those of the St Stephens Hall Trust, spending a lot of money to try to help prevent the antisocial behaviour that occurs around their old vicarage site. The Trustees of the St Stephens Hall Trust continued to support the work of the amazing HealthBus Trust by allowing it to run a clinic from their premises once a week, where a doctor and social prescriber, plus nurse and drug and alcohol addiction counsellors, work onsite to treat first the physical conditions that those experiencing homeless have and then secondly dig deeper as the relationship of trust between doctor and patient develops, to refer them to the right folk to get help for any deeper-seated addiction and mental health issues that are present.
St Peters finally replaced all security lighting outside the church and in 2023 will roll out a new CCTV system outside. Huge thanks to the Friends of St Peters who paid for this work.
The grounds at St Augustin are a treat to behold. Many, many hours of hard work goes into these, so our huge thanks go to Ruth Besant who is the solo gardener there.
FINANCES
I am delighted to report that the BTCP Common Mission Fund has been paid in full by St Peters and St Stephens this year. St Augustin faced into a new annex roof repair and so wisely held back paying CMF for the last two months of the year to avoid depleting reserves and to ensure good stewardship of funds. Again, we thank the Diocese for their understanding, as we feel we must no longer dip into any reserves to pay for these sorts of repairs as we need to safeguard these reserve funds for all three churches for the future. At St Peters we thank our co- treasurer Lisa Babb and our Gift Aid and VAT Reclaim Officer Ronalyn Bichard, and we also thank Ruth Beasant at St Augustin’s and Brenda Price at St Stephens for their dedication to their treasurer roles. So many hours of hard work go into these jobs every month.
As you all know, congregational giving is the only way to sustain our churches and The Parish Giving Scheme is truly the only way that we can manage our budgets and finances so thank you to so many who have joined or set up direct debits in the last year. Giving this way makes all our treasurers’ lives so much easier saving volunteers time having to count and bank cash, and physically have to submit a form to claim gift aid on every single envelope, coin and note handed in. You can change the
28
amount you give at any time under this scheme by making a quick phone call. It is also anonymous, so please all parishioners, consider switching onto this scheme if you haven’t already done so. Leaflets are available from the Parish Office and any warden or treasurer can help you fill it in.
DEPUTY WARDENS
Janet Lawrence at St Augustin and Ronalyn Bichard and Virginia Beck at St Peter’s continue to be amazing wardens and a delight to work with. The folk that take on these roles not only must take on a significant burden of work but must be able to work across the whole Parish with respect and kindness at all times. If you think you may be called to this role, it must come from within a deep desire to be part of the BTCP team and we encourage anyone thinking about this to talk to an existing deputy warden. There is a job description available and talking to those in the roles and to members of DCC’s is a must. Rev’d Canon Michael Smith, our Area Dean, has become a very much needed, hands on mentor and support for wardens this year and we all wish to thank him for his humour, patience and understanding and unstinting support to us all. Also, Jackie Rowlands, from our Diocesan Safeguarding Team, is also there to support those in these roles.
FABRIC AND FACULTY
As per our Schemes of Delegation and Standing Orders, these must be reported by Deputy Wardens to the Parish Wardens. The approval process for all matters is complicated and arduous and requires a lot of work and attention to detail before ANY work affecting fabric can be started.
We thank Adrian Scott, Janet Lawrence and Ruth Beasant for their continued efforts for St Stephen’s and St Augustin’s for appraising us of all matters needing urgent repair and attention.
We faced into the tower and spire work starting at St Peters in 2022 which will cost in the region of £154,000.00. The fundraising efforts of Alice Miller are warmly thanked.
St Augustin will face into finally replacing their annex roof in 2023.
St Stephen’s will face into a large organ repair.
29
I would personally like to thank the Diocese for all their support. I cannot tell you the hours of emails and telephone conversations had with Sue De Candole (Diocesan Legal registrar) and Sarah Hart from Batt Broadbent about matters ranging from Trust Deed interpretations for the St Stephens Hall Trust to probate disputes. Every month brings up a new conundrum at each church!
The amount of faculty /List B applications submitted this year alone is up to eleven. This requires a huge amount of online legal document preparation, meeting on site with contractors at the relevant church to agree specifications, liaising with the DAC Secretary and in many cases the DAC designated “Special Advisors” when one is dealing with say the St Stephen’s Church Organ or the Heritage and Nature Trails at St Peter’s Church. Massive thanks to Jane who deals with all fabric matters across all three of our churches.
We would like to thank from the bottom of our hearts Richard Streatfield and Sarah Feltham who are always on hand to discuss issues and be a critical friend. Their workload must be staggering and yet they are always responsive, kind, helpful and knowledgeable.
The course on Faculty and List A and List B matters was a very good one that Virginia and Jane attended last year, and we would recommend it to anyone thinking of becoming a Churchwarden.
MUSIC
We thank all our Directors of Music, organists, choristers and choirs - with special mention to Jacquie Uren, Sean Tucker, Duncan Courts, Caren Courts and Neil Sissons for their gifts.
St Peters Choral Foundation (CIO) was finally able to face into a post COVID world and ran their first concert at the end of 2022 - the future of the choir is safe under the stewardship of Duncan Courts.
GENERAL
We would also like to thank those who count the money at all three churches, Stephen Chappell and Paul Coote at St Stephen, Janet Laurence and Rosemary Carter at St Augustin and Jane at St Peter. Also, a big thank you to Marion Trimby who continues to run the Visitors Centre in St Peters remotely and Chris Mayne and his team who run Parry’s Café.
30
Chris’s efforts in getting a cross church social presence has been great with the wonderful Diamond Jubilee Party run by Jacquie, Roger and Janet at St Augustin, attended by members from all three churches.
PARISH ADMINISTRATION
Without our Parish Administrator, Lisa Babb, we would simply cease to function. She works tirelessly to ensure that all our i’s are dotted, and t’s are crossed in ensuring we have every legal protection from servicing fire and lightning and electrical equipment to ensuring we have appropriate licenses in place for all our services, recitals/concerts and are buildings are insured etc.
She deals with all returns to the Diocese, ensures all clergy rotas are drawn up and is our point person for all weddings, funerals, baptisms, confirmations, room hires and is responsible for instigating and organising many of the events that take place.
Her diligence last year alone has helped all three churches receive thousands of pounds in much needed funds from various grants, to negotiating better rates on insurance and utilities, which saved our churches thousands of pounds when the prices rocketed.
Her skills in producing all artwork for events across the Parish are amazing and the amount of personal time invested in every event helping to set up and clear up are tiring to watch. She also runs the St Peter’s website and the parish FB and Twitter accounts for us.
She is also our point person for all six sets of accounts, working with our Independent Examiner to ensure all accounts reflect correct categorisations and are balanced to the penny. Plus being Co-Treasurer at St Augustin and St Peter and PCC Secretary in her own time.
We would be lost without you Lisa. THANK YOU
MISSION
Our collaborations with the HealthBus at St Stephens Hall and Town Centre Pastors at St Peter are even more important than ever.
31
A Sunday School at St Peter’s is a priority for our Parish in 2023 but we appreciate that the new Incumbent may need to be in place to make that a reality. A big thank you to Duncan Courts who is running a form of Sunday School at St Peter’s, for the younger members during the sermon. Your multitasking is so very appreciated by us all.
As ever, Bournemouth Town Centre Parish is under pressure financially and is ever needing volunteers to help renew and refresh existing ones, both at the local church level and as part of our tireless commitment to mission in our town centre. It is true to say that our greatest, most powerful, most transformational resource remains its congregation. We thank all church openers and closers, pastoral visitors, sides persons, coffee folk, sacristy assistants, servers, chalice assistants, welcomers, readers, intercessors, cleaners and all volunteers in whatever role for their unstinting hard work.
However, the strength of the Parish Team as a whole has been a unifying focus for mission and vision for our Town Centre. We must keep the show on the road over the next period of Interregnum which we hope will breathe new life into our Parish. It really has been a pleasure to work and worship with all of you and to see such amazing outreach and mission being done at all three churches. You are all the embodiment of what it is to be a Christian - in action.
So very grateful to you all, as every year. Mr Chris Mayne and Mrs Jane MacDonald-Styslinger Parish (Church) Wardens
TEAM RECTOR’S REPORT FOR 2022 TO BTCP ANNUAL PAROCHIAL CHURCH MEETING
The Rev'd Dr Ian Terry retired on 5th February 2023 and, to date, has not submitted a report for inclusion in this Annual Report. All other aspects and reports have been correctly submitted and are contained within the Annual Report that satisfy statutory requirements.
The Rev'd Canon Michael Smith Area Dean of Bournemouth
32