2025-12-31-accounts

ST PAUL'S ST PETER'S ST LUKE'S FAITH LOVE COMMUNITY THE PARISH OF TADLEY WITH PAMBER HEATH ANNUAL REPORT JANUARYTO DECEMBER 2025 CHARITY NUMBER:1187062

THE UNITED BENEFICE OF TADLEY WITH PAMBER HEATH AND SILCHESTER PARISH STAFF 2025

Rector Reverend Steve McKay Curate Reverend Chris Knight Associate Priest Reverend Karen West Assistant Priest Reverend Cathy Pynn Assistant Priest Reverend Linda Williams Assistant Priest Reverend Robert Young

TADLEY WITH PAMBER HEATH PAROCHIAL CHURCH COUNCIL

The PCC has the responsibility of co-operating with the incumbent in promoting the whole mission of the Church – pastoral, evangelistic, social and ecumenical. This includes responsibility for the upkeep and use of our three churches and the hall.

The PCC in 2025 comprised:

Chairman Rev’d Steve McKay Curate Rev’d Chris Knight Assistant Priest Rev’d Cathy Pynn Assistant Priest Rev’d Linda Williams Secretary Mandy Cobb Church Wardens Jean Kyle Deanne Wagstaff Assistant Church Warden John Pynn

St Luke’s Treasurer Deanne Wagstaff Deanery Synod Sarah McKay, Christine Watson Safeguarding Officer Mandy Cobb Health and Safety Rev’d Steve McKay

Term of office ends 2026

Mandy Cobb

Term of office ends 2027

Sally Sinclair Bryan Watson John Pynn

2

Term of office ends 2028 Jane Pitfield Ann Sutton

Ex-Officio

Simon Day

Rector’s Benefice report to the APCM

This report covers the period from January 2025 to December 2025.

I would like to formally record my thanks to our wonderful Church Wardens - Jean Kyle, Deanne Wagstaff, Jan Hughes, Peter Wood, and Chris Gillings who along with our clergy team and PCC members have ensured everything continues to run smoothly (and legally) in our parishes.

I am also grateful to my clergy, BCM, BPP, and LLM colleagues and all those who appear on rotas to ensure all our services happen. I give thanks for our musicians and worship leaders, and our teams such as Messy Church, RISE, Oaks and Acorns, Worship, finance, fabric and pastoral. Thank you to all those who care for our buildings such as our cleaners, security teams and flower arrangers. It takes many people to make a parish work and we have some of the best. I am so grateful to God for each of you.

I must also mention our Benefice Administrator, Virge Routledge. I know Virge probably works far more hours than she is paid for. Her love for you and our churches is beautiful. I see just how much goes on in the background to ensure things run smoothly. How we ever survived without an Administrator, I do not know!

Without all of these people, much of what we did in 2025 would not have been possible. It has been a joy a to be fully staffed across the benefice with a team who can work so closely together. It is wonderful to see our parishes continue to grow and flourish.

I am sure I have missed so many people off of this list, but to everyone who contributes to the life our church family, I am so very grateful for the way you sacrifice so much to serve. God bless you!

In this report I will highlight some of the amazing things our parishes have been involved in during 2025 as loved God and one another. So, lets start from the beginning of the year and I hope that by the end of this report you will agree, a lot has happened in 2025!

3

January

As we began January, we blessed each of our churches with the tradtional Epiphany blessing – it must have worked because they have been filled with so much joy and love

In January, we also held our annual CTAT Unity Service at This was very well attended with people from across Tadley, Pamber Heath and Silchester. The CTAT

AGM was also held at the end of January. I am grateful to all our the CTAT representatives from our churches who ensure that we work well alongside our brothers and sisters in other church denominations.

The Silchester Ecumenical group also continued to meet to plan worship and events throughout the year.

February

In February St. Mary’s held a Valentine’s party with local band Carbon Copy. The gig was a great missional opportunity it afforded as many ages were represented that we tend to see less in church . Many have returned to St. Mary’s since and feel a sense of belonging.

We held the RAFA service at Tadley North to lay up their standard and commission a new standard. It is wonderful that RAFA see St. Mary’s as their ‘home church.’

In February we also prayed for our schools as part of the Churches Together around Tadley (CTAT) ‘Love our schools’ week. We are blessed with a fantastic primary and secondary schools on our benefice and particularly Silchester School which is a Church of England school, so we have a special responsibility for its wellbeing.

During February Silchester carried out a worship survey and had a great response to its survey on services, locations and much more. I am grateful to Karen and the Silchester Worship Group for implementing this and for all our parish worship groups who ensure we are both consistent and creative in our worship.

4

March

Throughout Lent as well as our popular home groups and social groups several benefice Lent events were held.

We also held a Wedding Fair at St. Mary the Virgin, Silchester for all those couples getting married in 2025, 2026 and 2027. This was led by the clergy team and involved our bell ringers, organists and flower arrangers. It was followed by a delicious lunch. Thank you Karen and the Silchester team for organising and hosting this.

April

In April the annual Palm Sunday Walk departed from the Silchester Walls Car Park due to flooding on the normal route. It was fantastic to take part in this as a benefice. A Church service was held at with coffee and hot cross buns served before the service. Both the walk and service were well attended. We look forward to this in 2026 with animals and the Bishop of Winchester!

Meanwhile at St. Paul’s Messy

Church took place on Palm Sunday with the annual Easter hunt. We took the decision not to move Messy Church, no matter what day it falls on. This says to our families that they are an important part of our church family and we celebrate them.

In 2024 this was Easter Day itself,

next year in 2026 it will be the week after Easter. We ate breakfast made crafts and even had a baptism!

It was fantastic to celebrate 60 years of marriage this month at St Paul's Church, Tadley with Sandy and Pete

The World Day of Prayer ensured our prayer life reflects the needs of the wider world and this year our service this year focussed on the Cook Islands who celebrate 200 years of Christianity in the group of 15 islands which is spread over nearly 800,000 square miles in the Pacific Ocean.

Our service was based on the words of Psalm 139 and woven with in the stories of three Cook Island Christian women. Many

5

came dressed up to fit in with the theme and everyone enjoyed both the service and the refreshments and fellowship afterwards.

The service invited us to recognise that God created each one of us with great attention and loving care. We are unique and special and should cherish all aspects of who we are and of those around us. God created us. God knows us. God is with us.

At the end of March (Sunday 30th March) at St. Paul’s, we are joined by the Bishop of Winchester, his wife Ruth and Noggin the dog! We enjoyed breakfast from 9:30 in the hall. Then Bishop Philip led our Mothering Sunday service from 10:15am. What a morning we had! The church was full with nearly 150 people. We celebrated as Amy and Darcy were confirmed, we gave thanks for mothers and we ate breakfast and lots of cake together! What a fantastic church family we have!

6

Easter events

The Maudy Thursday meal in Silchester Village Hall was a success – This is still something of a landmark as the hall constitution previously prevented it’s use for religious services. We were able to eat and pray together and chare in a simple service of communion. I am so grateful to the Silchester team who hosted this for the benefice.

On Good Friday St. Mary’s hosted the annual CTAT Good Friday service outside the church with music by Tadley Concert Brass. This is always well attended and over 160 people joined in. Three hours around the cross was also held at both Tadley in Silchester.

Holy Saturday at St. Mary’s in the afternoon we hosted a RISE Easter egg hunt for families and around 150 people attended. This is another event that is growing year on year.

We also hosted a benefice Easter Vigil at St. Paul’s. It gave us chance to pause and reflect as a church family on Jesus’ sacrifice. The evening started with a fire in the church garden, we then brought the light of Christ into the church as we held vigil. Our

Easter Day services were all well-attended. Our traditional parish Easter Day communion services at St. Mary’s, Tadley and St. Mary the Virgin Silchester, St. Paul’s and St. Luke’s

were well attended and all churches were full of light and flowers.

In the evening of Easter Day we were able to hold a service at St. Peter’s which was able to be opened now that the work on the roof and east wall had been completed. This led to evening services throughout the summer months at St. Peter’s led by clergy and lay members of team offering a range of services from Taize to communion or compline.

Silchester also used a Lenten Tree to celebrate Easter in the centre of the village. During the festival of Christmas, it was our Christmas tree - a symbol of joy, as we celebrated the birth of Jesus Christ. On Ash Wednesday, we brought the tree back into church, dead, stripped of decoration. Each Sunday during Lent, we have added a symbol to the tree to recall the parts of the Easter story. The tree was placed outside the Village Hall. We welcomed everyone to enable it to spring to life once again by decorating it with colourful flowers to witness to our community that Jesus is Risen, alive and walking with us.

7

May

At St. Mary’s, Tadley the annual plant sale was held outside the church raising a huge amount in two hours!

This is now an annual event and looked forward to by the community. I am grateful to Keith Gillings and the team at St. Mary’s who help to run this. It is also pleasing to see that throughout the year (in all weathers) the Wednesday Weeders have continued meeting at St. Mary’s to tend the grounds and for coffee and chats

Meanwhile at St. Paul’s a new gardening group started on a Tuesday have kept the church grounds looking fabulous (including removing some very stubborn overgrown bushes!) At St. Luke’s after a wildlife survey, work is being carried out on making wildlife areas, such a small pond.

In May Messy Church also celebrated 10 Years at St Paul's Church, Tadley! (I know...we can't believe it either!) It's been a fun journey and now attracts over 150 people every month…which is why we need a bigger church!

May was also the moth we celebrated 80 years since VE Day . Did you see the

amazing window displays at St. Paul’s and the display inside the church at St. Mary’s created by our friends at the U3A Craft Group. On 8th May we held a special act of remembrance at the War Memorial outside St. Paul's, by the War Memorial as well as commemoration services in the other churches.

Here are some of the other VE Day 80 events we got involved with that week weekend in May, in conjunction with our churches and the Royal British Legion.

8

VE Day was commemorated outside the Basingstoke Town Council Offices.

VE Day commemoration at Heath End War Memorial with the Royal British Legion.

VE Day commemoration, at the Tadley War Memorial, outside St Paul’s on the Green, with the Royal British Legion.

VE Remembrance Service at Silchester Village War Memorial.

Lighting of the beacon ‘the lamplight of peace’ at Pamber Heath Beacon with Tadley Concert Brass.

On the Sunday of that weekend VE Day was commemorated in Tadley with a

special service at St Mary’s followed by 11:45am – ‘bring your own’ picnic/street party hosted by St Mary’s and the Royal British Legion.

St. Luke’s Open Day supported St Michaels Hospice and St Luke's roof repairs which have now been completed. St. Luke’s has had well over £50,000 spent on maintaining and repairing the building over past year. I am so grateful for the Mission Group at Pamber Heath who have organised services and events and put St. Luke’s very much on the village map and to those who attend the parish meetings and Cathy who writes regally in the par9sh newsletter. Wednesday services, Coffee Morning and Oaks and Acorns are all thriving.

We had a fantastic evening hosting the Youth Ministry Workshop at St. Paul’s. Thanks to everyone that came and team St. Paul's for providing amazing hospitality to our friends from across Basingstoke and beyond.

Feast of the Ascension was celebrated at a benefice

evening service in St. Luke’s. The day Jesus tells us to wait and pray. The day we discover that every goodbye becomes a greater hello. The day the resurrected Jesus (who was once somewhere, sometime for some) became everywhere for everyone forever. Christ’s Ascension means that he’s here and now for you, with you, hearing your prayers. You and I can walk and talk with him through today, every step of the way, come what may.

9

June

June 8th–14th was Caring for God’s Acre week, when churches across the country are encouraged to celebrate the variety of natural species to be found in our churchyards and focus on our responsibilities to care for the beautiful world that God made. As in 2024, St Marythe-Virgin turned to the Eco Council of Silchester School for their help to complete a nature count and to take some positive action to protect and grow the diversity of what lives in the churchyard, since, as Eco Council told Revd Karen “without wildlife, our world can’t survive”.

Our churches were represented at the Tadley Treacle Fair . Our stand is now one of the biggest at the Treacle Fair with 6 pitches along with The Men’s Shed and Green Heath Tadley. We were able to use this event not only to advertise our services, but also Fete on The Green which took place the following week. It also offered a time to chat and pray with the local community.

Fete on The Green – Grew again to be the biggest event yet, with over 3000 people attending. This is a free event which everyone can enjoy. This year it was run very much as a community event which local businesses and stallholders sharing The Green with our church stalls. Music was provided by our church band and local band Carbon Copy. We were able to stage a fantastic Community event that attracted well over 1000 people. I am so grateful for the way in which the town council

and local charities and residents have stepped up to allow us to provide lots of entertainment. I love the way our community has come together and it is a real joy for me to witness how well local churches work together with the Tadley community as we celebrate this event. What a fantastic day we had at the biggest

Tadley Fete on The Green yet!

For St. Peter and St. Paul’s Day the Parish of Tadley went on a pilgrimage with a service at St. Peter's, Tadley old Church. We set off from St. Paul's on a pilgrimage walk to St. Peter's for our service and then enjoyed a picnic together afterwards.

10

May also saw a grant for St. Luke’s . I want to express our thanks to The National Lottery Community Fund and our local community for ' supporting St Luke s Church, Pamber Heath. The church and community space is almost 150 years old and during the last inspection it was revealed some serious work needed doing to the roof to ensure the building could be used for the next 150 years. Thankfully the National Lottery Community Fund came to the rescue, along with some hard work and generous fundraising by the Pamber Heath community.

The scaffolding you now see is the result of the work being completed. If you have not been in St. Luke's pop along and have a look. The building is open every day

July

In July, the CTAT ministers led the annual ‘ Tadley Remembers’ service - a memorial service where we remembered those we had lost. We invited families from all three of our parishes for whom we had conducted funerals. This event allowed us to reconnect with families more deeply, and the events seemed to be valued by all who attended. Tadley Concert Brass led our music and the event was opened by the Leader of Tadley Town Council. I am grateful to Tadley Town Council for letting use the cemetery each year for this event – it is a moving and poignant place for so many. It is also a great

time to spend some time in St. Peter’s after the service.

Congratulations to our 14 Anna Chaplains and 4

Anna Friends were commissioned at a special ecumenical service held at ' St Paul s Church, Tadley. I am grateful for their gifts and service to older people in our community.

11

August

It was a pleasure to marry so many couples in our churches throughout the summer, particularly at St. Mary the Virgin Silchester which remains a popular choice for couples both locally and from further afield. We look forward to the weddings which will take place summer 2026 (and the weddings already booked for 2027 and 2028!)

Also, in August afternoon teas were held at St. Mary the Virgin every Saturday and Sunday in August at the Silchester Church - St Mary the Virgin . This was a great way to engage those passing.

Thanks to everyone who came along to the garden tidy at St Paul's Church, Tadley in August for special summer clean and gardening day . We drank coffee, ate cake, chatted and tackled some huge bushes that had started growing into the hall. The garden looks amazing now. Thank you for your help.

In August we marked VJ Day . This day marked the end of World War 2. There were a number of special events taking place to mark this important anniversary such as: Remembrance around the war memorial at Baughurst/Heath End. Remembrance around the Tadley war memorial at St Paul’s Tadley and a special VJ Day Remembrance Service at St Mary’s Tadley,

including a sunset flag lowering. When you go home, tell them of us and say, For your tomorrow, we gave our today

At the halfway point through the school holidays we prayed for the future of those (former) Year 6 pupils who have left Silchester School to move on to their secondary schools. Thanks to the generosity of those who support the church and those who attend events

hosted by The Silchester Association , we were (jointly) able to support the trip to Winchester Cathedral for a leavers' service for all Y6 students in the Winchester Diocese, and ensure that they all had a memento of their time at the school with these stylish Leavers' hoodies!

12

September

September began with the annual Silchester Country Fayre and Dog Show. This year the weather played ball and the new renamed ‘Fayre’ was bigger than ever!

Thank you to all who helped, supported and attended the and to Silchester Village Market. It's great to get so many people (and their dogs) together to show what Silchester, the surrounding area, and the church has to offer. I am pleased that the church has been able to give a substantial sum from the profits

made to support Silchester Church of England School.

The following day we used the marquees to hold a New Beginnings ' service on the village playing field. It was packed with songs, talks and reflections, not to mention a dramatised bible passage and a discussion with Dave (the rowing Dad). Rev Karen was joined by Mrs Moir and Mrs Rolph from Silchester C of E Primary School who spoke about the excitement of the new term. The collection went towards providing every student with a tub of Play Doh to assist with their tactile learning.

September also saw our annual Battle of Britain Memorial service led by Charles Lewis, which was attended by the Air Training Corps and several local and national dignitaries. I am so grateful to Charles for his organisation and passion for this service.

13

Harvest was celebrated in our churches with lots of donations to the local Food Bank and some of the wonderful decorations gifted to us to decorate the churches.

At Silchester a special Harvest service and Harvest Lunch was held in the Village Hall. A very well attended service with wonderful accompaniment from Tadley Concert Brass, followed by a fantastic lunch. Thanks too to Peter and Lindsay Allison for the superb food. Our churches continued our collection for the Basingstoke Food Bank throughout the month.

A very special service on The Green as we commemorated the end of WWII.

I got to visit Hiroshima and Nagasaki to commemorate 80 years since the atomic bombings on 6th and 9th of August 1945, which killed over 200,000 people and injured many more. On 2nd September 1945, the peace treaty was signed, bringing an end to WWII.

Tadley, Pamber Heath and Silchester has a proud tradition of remembering. I am grateful for our string links the Royal British Legion.

14

October

In October we held a car wash - What a wonderful way for everyone to support Uganda so brilliantly. The total raised was well over £1500. Well done Christine and Bryan and all the helpers.

The following week at St Mary's Tadley a cooked breakfast was enjoyed to add more to the fundraising pot. Every penny went directly to support the children and teachers at The Adonai School and Children’s Home, Namugongo and New Horizon School, Gayaza. We Celebrated St.

Luke’s Day in October with Patronal Sunday

service as one church family at St Luke's Church, Pamber Heath.

St. Paul’s was the venue for Tadley Concert Brass who support so many of our services and events, Together we raised in excess of £1000.00 in aid of Macmillan which was amazing.

Towards the end of the month, as an alternative to

Halloween the Labyrinth at St. Mary’s was a trail of light and outside St. Mary's free hot chocolate were given out to warm everyone up! Events like this show that St. Mary’s is very much as it was designed to be – at the heart of it’s community.

Thank you to all who helped in October with the clear up of the churchyard hedges at Silchester. Many hands really did really make light work. Special thanks to Geoff who manages the churchyard throughout the year.

15

November

At the end start of November, our benefice All-Soul’s service was well attended. Nearly all families for whom we have taken a recent funeral attended having received personal invites. We have received some wonderful feedback about how touched the families were to be included and how the event has helped the grieving process. Across the year, funerals seem to come in fits and starts and no longer seem to regularly spaced out as in the past. It is thought (across the Deanery) that the rise in low cost non attended direct cremations has had an impact on this occasional office.

Also in November Bishop Kelly was licenced, making a new era in the life our diocese

Bryan, Christine, Janet and Paul also arrived in Uganda. We continue to pray for their work and the Adonai Centre. We give thanks to God for them, and all the work that has taken place over the years in Uganda.

November is season of Remembrance – Record numbers at our Remembrance services,

As well as St. Mary’s Remembrance service , Rev Chris Knight led the act of remembrance at the Baughurst War Memorial which attracted over many 100s of people. The Act of Remembrance also took place at Silchester War Memorial led by Rev Karen and at St. Luke’s Pamber Heath led by Rev Cathy.

There were also record numbers at the Tadley Remembrance Day Service. whilst Charles Lewis led the service of remembrance in Basingstoke attended by 1000s.

16

This year has seen a marked increase in numbers for public events and perhaps a turning point since pandemic. You will read later that numbers were also very high this year at our Christmas events…maybe even a record for the diocese!

Our Messy Church Remembrance featured in the Diocese Newsletter. Messy Remembrance, provided an opportunity for all ages to mark Remembrance in a family-friendly way. Messy

Church takes place at St Paul’s on the second Sunday of each month, attracting up to 200 people. We joined together to think about those who fought for our freedom with a story, crafts, and some fantastic food. We had a time of silence at 11 am and thought about the men on the War Memorial outside the church. It was wonderful to do this with 150 people ranging from 1 month old to 90 years old, particularly as most returned in the afternoon for our main Tadley service of remembrance. It was a busy day at St. Paul’s, but one where, as a community, young and old, we declared that ‘We will remember them’”.

November also saw our first Lego Church. The idea of Lego Church is for those unfamiliar with church to experience the shape of a church service, with liturgy reflective of what we do week in, week out, whilst being challenge Lego builds! This has been really well received and numbers continue to grow.

During the month, Chris, Karen and I carried out some training for pastoral visits and home communion with a large team from across our benefice. We look forward to a bigger team, strengthening our pastoral presence and the ability to visit more people in their homes next year. I intend to repeat this training for those that missed it.

I was very grateful to several of our parishes who celebrated mine and Cathy’s ‘Big 0’ birthdays at the end of November.

December

The benefice saw a big rise in numbers attending Christmas services this year with well over 1500 of the community attending services in the two weeks leading up to Christmas.

17

December kicked off with a presence at the Tadley Town Christmas Lights switch on . This event gave the opportunity to let the community know what was happening across our Churches at Christmas. Our stall remained very popular and we were able to successfully publicise our Christmas events. A record number of Christmas leaflets were given out this year. Over 500 in total - Double that of last year.

A week later was our Christmas Fayre and Craft Market, held in St. Paul’s church and hall at St. Paul’s. While the church focussed on food and refreshments, we were able to invite 25 local traders to set up shop. It was also wonderful to see organisations such as The Men’s Shed and CTAT represented with stalls. There was a wonderful Christmas atmosphere. Many of the stall holders have already asked about Fete on the Green in the summer of 2025.

I am grateful for Jean Kyle, Deanne Wagstaff and Virge Routledge’s help and leadership of this event

We had also been knitting stars throughout the year and one early morning these took flight across Tadley as we distributed around 5000

stars with a link to our services.

The first Christmas service was Messy Christmas at St. Paul’s, Tadley where families were invited to come along dressed as a character from the nativity and join in with the story. Around 150 came dressed up, took part in crafts, ate breakfast together and took a part in the Christmas story. This was an increase of 50 on the year before. This was followed a week later by RISE - another intergenerational breakfast service at St. Mary’s, Tadley where we built Christingles.

18

That afternoon we held Carol services at St. Mary the Virgin, Silchester and St. Peter’s, Tadley. The services were so popular that in order to get everyone one in the ancient 12[th] century church of St. Peter’s we had to hold two carol services backto-back! St. Peter’s is a very special place to the people of Tadley and to be able to hold a carol service for nearly 200 people in a place where people have celebrated Christmas for almost a 1000 years makes it even more so.

The next day a Tadley Live Nativity trail was hosted between the churches which attracted around 500 people. Actors from the churches acted out a scene from the Christmas story at each church. Culminating at St. Mary’s, Tadley where the stable scene took place with live animals, followed by music, mulled wine and mince pies. We could never have imagined in our wildest dreams how popular this event would be. Numbers tripled on the year before! The event was due to start at 4pm and my heart sunk at 3.55pm when there were just 5 families outside the first church, but suddenly people started streaming into the car park from all across Tadley, Pamber Heath and Silchester and we lost count at around 450!

19

Christmas Eve Crib services are a tradition across the parishes of Tadley, Pamber Heath and Silchester and 4 services were held across the benefice. Many dressedup to be part of the story at St. Luke’s, Pamber Heath. Over 100 taking part at St. Mary the Virgin, Silchester. Around 400 turned up the service at St. Paul’s, Tadley and were treated to ‘The Chocolate Nativity.’ How many ways can you tell the Christmas story? Well, after much deliberation, I decided to dress up as the owner of a chocolate factory (joined by Simon Day as a talking chocolate bar!) We told the whole story only using chocolate…yes it can be done! There were plenty of ‘Dad jokes,’ some fantastic carols courtesy of Tadley Concert brass and of course the good news of God with us as we told the Christmas story.

Four midnight services were held and were all packed even at that time of night. On Christmas Day there was a service in each of the three parishes including the annual Christmas Day quiz at St. Paul’s.

I am particularly pleased by how we engaged our schools over Christmas . Tadley School chose to hold three Christmas services in St. Paul’s and it is wonderful to see the link between St. Mary the Virgin and Silchester School continue to flourish. I am grateful to Rev Karen who serves on the governing body.

Our Christmas Toy appeal collections made sure that families across the area received joy at Christmas. A fantastic toy service was held in Silchester at the school, A rough count revealed that we'd even more toys than last year, a truly remarkable result for a small(ish), but very generous village and church community.

We have been so blessed by our church teams and the people of Tadley, Pamber Heath and Silchester. It’s amazing to think that well over 1500 people have heard the message of the light and love of Christ at Christmas across our benefice. We’ve seen

20

more people wanting to engage with faith and explore what it means to be part of our church community. One of the things I love about Christmas is that it is a story for us; each and every one of us. People told me that’s why they turned up to sing carols, why they want to hear the readings, it’s not just to hear the story again; the story is for us. God with us and we’re intimately involved.

As we move forward in 2026 we have a lot to celebrate already!

• St. Paul’s Get-Togethers continue and are growing each month. They have increased from 1 to 2 a month.

• St. Luke’s Coffee Mornings continue and attract a great number as do the monthly Pub Lunches at the Pelican

• St. Mary’s Breakfasts are fantastic and have been raising over £500 some months for a different charity each month.

• Our home groups continue to provide support and discipleship across the benefice with the potential of a new group in Silchester

• This year already we have hosted 200 people at the Tadley Churches Together - CTAT Unity Service yesterday. We are so grateful for the unity between our churches here in Tadley, Pamber Heath and Silchester. Church is better when we do it together! If you are thinking about exploring life or faith this year, do get in contact with any of our churches. It was amazing to host over -

• 200 people at the Tadley Churches Together CTAT Unity Service yesterday. We are so grateful for the unity between our churches here in Tadley,

Pamber Heath and Silchester. Church is better when we do it together! If you are thinking about exploring life or faith this year, do get in contact with any of our churches.

• We have had a fantastic benefice services and the Bishop’s Visit on Palm Sunday.

• Our benefice Youth Group continues each month

• Our fresh expressions continue to thrive. Numbers at Messy Church last year were regularly around 100. This is now around 150 every month! So successful is Messy Church that we need a bigger church!

21

• Lego Church Started in September and has grown each month to between 40 - 50 people each moth

• Number RISE have declined this year, but are starting to see an increase again.

• All three parishes have ‘first Sunday services’ allowing us to stretch and grow us as disciples.

• St. Mary’s Breakfasts - Following the completion of the building project, breakfast began in earnest in 2024 averaging around £250 a month, in 2025 this doubled to over £500 a month. The first breakfast of 2026 raised over £700. It shows that this project has been a real lever for mission. I am so proud of the team at St. Mary’s. It would have been so easy to see this a way to boost church funds, but they just want to serve and to give. They love our community and are passionate about feeding them both spiritually and physically! The breakfasts have ensured that whether you are on your way to school or work, or simply want somewhere warm and welcoming, St. Mary’s is open and at the heart of its community. It is church as it should be: welcoming, warm, honest, inclusive, and generous.

• We have several events already planned for the remainder of the year such as ‘Fete on The Green’ and the ever-popular Silchester Country Fayre.

22

• Pub lunches have continued at the Pelican as well as a successful Coffee morning at St. Luke’s

• Our Alpha course attracted a large number of participants

• We continue to develop our relationships with Men’s Shed at St. Mary’s.

• We are will be working with Tadley Under 5’s Pre-School as part of their Forrest Schools Curriculum.

• Our social media reach is huge, with all 3 parishes growing their social media reach. St. Paul’s now has nearly 1200 followers,

• Midweek services – We continue to have two of the largest midweek services in the diocese. Considering the services are both Holy Communion and both at the same time, between them they attract up to 60 people. Many are not our usual Sunday congregation members. I am grateful in particular to Cathy, Linda, Charles, Chris, Paddy and many others who put so much of themselves into these services.

• New services - St. Luke’s continue their 3[rd] Sunday services and shortly evening services at St. Peter’s will resume. St Mary the Virgin, Silchester have a new 1[st] Sunday

• intergenerational service, complimenting Messy Church (2[nd] Sun) RISE (3[rd] Sun) and Lego Church (4[th] Sun)

• As I write we are looking forward to our Easter activities and our visit from Bishop Philip.

A vision for 2026

How do we move forwards in love and faith from here. I’d like us to build on what we have achieved in 2025, particulate in regards to our CULTURE.

23

Last year I invited us to focus on 3 areas:

Generosity, Hospitality and Friendship.

I’d also like us to add becoming more:

Intergenerational and inclusive.

This is how I see the mission of the benefice as it seeks to demonstrate the love of God in our communities.

Let’s recap why this is important to us:

Research from successful churches shows that these three elements are the key ingredients for growth and discipleship. They reflect how Jesus lived. When we engage in radical generosity, authentic hospitality and grow friendships rather than just friendliness we create missional opportunities living the love of God in all we do.

This year I want us to continue be radical with our welcome. It might mean on occasions letting someone else take over on the door so you can take that new person to a seat, chat to them and get to know them. It could be introducing them to

24

others, so come coffee time it’s not quite so weird. It may mean praying for them and visiting them later that week.

It may mean looking seriously at how we do church. You wouldn’t let someone wait over an hour in your own house for a coffee why do we do that in church?

Those who have challenged me on this, will know how passionate I am about it. It’s the one thing I will not budge on! It’s what makes me see red when we neglect it!

Generosity, Hospitality and Friendship is how Jesus lived. It is something we can all do easily, but it’s also the first thing we let go when we let our preferred traditions take presence over following Jesus’ instructions to love one another…and especially the stranger.

Let s consider working on the next two priorities - Becoming fully intergenerational and Inclusive

We’ve had a go at this, we won’t get it right first time or all the time, but the important thing is we are trying and we are being intentional about it.

We have explored joining the Inclusive Church Network at all 3 parish PCCs, and have not yet taken that step – that doesn’t mean that we aren’t ready to be inclusive or that we can’t be inclusive! It simply means that we make sure our services feed everyone, the new comer, the older person, the child, the parent who is only there for their child and of course the rest of us who have hung around church for ages!

It means we must pray - this has both spiritual and physical implications

P – Prioritise – We must budget for this work first before anything else.

R – Resource – We have to be willing to resource it with time, people, and money.

A – Adapt – We have to change what we do in services and how we operate.

Y – You – Every member of our church family must be involved in this.

The aim is not to neglect our older members or focus so much on children that the rest of us feel bereft, but to involve everyone in our services. We need a careful focus on discipleship to ensure each of us is on the path to growth.

We have made great in roads and whilst this is very much a benefice wide vision I also have some challenges for each parish:

Tadley – How might we might our vision to extend the church building and grow the church be a lever for our mission. How can we lean into Generosity, Hospitality and Friendship, Intergenerational work and inclusivity as we seek to fundraise to make this happen. There is an important mission here to involve all of our community in what we are doing.

Tadley North – How will we continue to develop our church (and especially our intergenerational work) in a way in which all feel welcome with the resources we

25

have. We should continue to visit other context and discover further ways to demonstrate Generosity, Hospitality and Friendship, Intergenerational and inclusivity.

Silchester – Our location is both a massive benefit and drawback. How might we lean into Generosity, Hospitality and Friendship, Intergenerational work and inclusivity as we cater for all those who visit while walking around the walls. How might we continue to develop our new 1[st] Sunday service so they are appealing to families, knowing that our geographical location is far from the centre of village life.

Finally, as we continue to look forward, I recently attended a Bishop’s Study Day which focussed on ‘Leading Your Church into Growth’ (or LyCiG as it is better known by). The day reminded us of some simple steps we could take now which evidence has shown lead to growth…for example an obvious but often forgotten step…praying for it!

I would like us to consider church growth as part of our ongoing 2026 strategy. Not just a growth in numbers but a growth in our faith and our mission….

A growth in our Generosity. A growth in our Hospitality. A growth in our Friendship. A growth in our Intergenerational work. A growth in our Inclusivity

Last year our PCCs began praying the prayer below. You might like to join us in praying it:

God of Mission

Who alone brings growth to your Church, Send your Holy Spirit to give Vision to our planning, Wisdom to our actions, And power to our witness. Help our church to grow in numbers, In spiritual commitment to you, And in service to our local community, Through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

For now, I want to thank you for the opportunity you have afforded me to lead this benefice and I want to thank every one of you for the care and love you show each other and our churches. I feel proud of what we have achieved and excited by what God has in store for us this year.

“For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the LORD, “plans to prosper you

and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.” - Jeremiah 29:11 With

love in Christ

Reverend Steve McKay

Rector of the United Benefice of Tadley with Pamber Heath and Silchester. March 2026

26

St Luke’s Church report on 2025

St Lukes has 4 overlapping congregations – where congregation is defined as people who gather in St Luke’s and regard St Luke’s as their church. Worshipping God is done by people in many different ways, some of which are defined services and others are by the way in which we live and see the presence of others around us. One young Mum who attended our Toddler group with 1 year old twin boys many years ago, when asked if she could attend church on Sunday, answered that the Friday Toddler group was her church where she and her children felt welcome and where they belonged. I learnt a lesson!

Weekly Wednesday morning services are Morning Prayer once a month and Holy Communion on the remaining weeks. We are grateful to Myles and Linda for taking services on a monthly basis and for our team of people who help in many different ways including coffee afterwards and setting up for Thursday. Our congregation comes mainly from other churches in the Benefice as well as others who view the Wednesday service as their ‘Main service’ for the week.

We have been blessed to be able to restart Sunday services on the 3[rd] Sunday of the month for over a year. We have welcomed people mainly from Pamber Heath who value a service within the village. Our church was given a wonderful Easter arrangement of an Easter tree, decorated with crocheted Easter Eggs and flowers with thanks to Marian. We also host Benefice festival services such as Ascension Day.

On Thursday mornings we have coffee, biscuits, celebrations of people’s birthdays and general chat with visitors coming once every month or two. Our visitors this year have included Julie Bell (Cancer care coordinator), our PCSO Hannah Clapham, Suraj Thapa Community Safety Officer North Group (Fire safety), Emelda from the Greening Group from Basingstoke Borough Council. We are very grateful to our visitors for their talks, helpful information and the interest they take in our group. A very successful Coffee Morning Christmas Party was held in Pamber Heath Memorial Hall this year. We are most grateful to our team of Marian and Pauline and the help from Dougie and others given in setting up after coffee for the children’s group.

Friday mornings we had a Mothers and Toddlers Group and are very grateful to the team Barbara, Michelle, Trina, Vicky for their dedication and help in running this group. Sadly, the group closed in October 2025 after about 11 years. Our new group, Oaks and Acorns for Seniors and Toddlers, started successfully in January 2026 and our hope is that it will go from strength to strength.

On the last Saturday of the month we have a gathering in The Pelican where the company is great (and free) and the food is great (and is chargeable!) This gives an opportunity for many of us to meet and chat whether or not we have someone to come with.

In addition we host Baby Massage sessions and the monthly Women’s Group meetings.

Our Book Hub organised by Linda, is being well used and Linda ensures that the books available are regularly updated. Borrowing is free and we are grateful for books being dropped in to add to the library.

27

We have had wonderful flowers and flower arrangements with thanks to generous donations and artistic ability from people who provide and artistically arranging flowers including Anne, Marian, Maureen.

Carmen and Roger Cantell have joined our congregations of St Paul’s and St Luke’s and have readily given help and ideas. Welcome to you and thank you very much.

Bryan Watson has been instrumental in organising the work for the roof and in acquiring a Lottery grant to help with the funding -thank you Bryan.

In May we held an open day to thank our community for raising the required money for the roof. We had an amazing display of people’s talents from Pamber Heath. Cream teas were served with donations given in aid of St Michael’s Hospice and a raffle proceeds supporting the roof fund. The overall Total was £1054.90 of which £380 was for the Hospice. Many thanks to Bryan, and Nigel and John for their work both for the roof and the ongoing maintenance.

The Basingstoke Greening Group visited our wild life garden and garden around the carpark and gave us very helpful advice and a comprehensive report on things we could do to improve it ecologically, whilst also admitting that there seemed to be an abundance of wildlife. John, Hazel, Brian, Marian and Kevin have kept our carpark looking very attractive and tempting to the wildlife! Ongoing work continues with a pond and a tree or two as suggested by the Basingstoke Greening Group report.

St Luke’s is the only church in the Parish open for prayer (or just a bit of peace and quiet) on a daily basis and, as such, it provides a service not only to the folk of Pamber Heath but also to South Tadley as well. An increasingly important necessity in today’s world.

Thanks to John’s attendance at the Pamber Council Meetings and the Council’s interest, St Luke’s, together with an updated history, is now on the Pamber Heath Village map as a facility within the civic parish. We have been advised that we are eligible to apply for grants from the Civic Council for improvements which will benefit the local community.

We have been very fortunate in having the services of Pauline Fearns to clean our church for the past months. The church has benefitted enormously from her efforts which, I have to say, were way over the 1 hour per week which we had asked her for. Pauline, thank you. We shall miss you but hope you will continue to come to St Luke’s without having to clean.

As always, too many people to thank individually but nevertheless many, many thanks to all who help in so many ways. We are aware of the presence of God in our work and mission and give him the honour and glory for all that is done in his name through St Luke’s.

With our love

Linda, John, Myles, Cathy

May 2026

28

Church Warden Report

Another year has passed and we have survived as Churchwardens. Deanne also has been busy being the Church Treasurer.

This is due to all the help prayers and support from everyone. We have been helped with so many things by so many people, we won’t name people as we are bound to forget someone but we are hugely grateful to you all.

During the past year there have been many successful events, fete on the Green, Christmas fayre, messy Church, Lego Church to name but a few. The regular coffee mornings at St Luke’s and St Paul’s together with Oaks and Acorns at St Luke’s all continue to thrive.

2026 has started with the 60[th] Anniversary of St Pauls and our wonderful afternoon tea and Praise Service. We are looking forward to many more events planned for this year to celebrate 60 years.

We are really excited for the future, building project which will bring St Pauls into the 21[st] Century and a big part of the community.

We do however give a big thank you to Steve for supporting us and all our Three Churches.

From Jean Kyle and Deanne Wagstaff

Churchwardens

Secretary of PCC Report

The PCC has met five times since the 2025 APCM. The Fabric and Finance Committees meet on a regular basis to both consider required maintenance and plan for future financial commitments. A Standing Committee exists but is rarely required because of the PCC’s power to make decisions virtually.

Items that are considered at every meeting include:

• Finance

• Fabric

• Health and Safety

• Safeguarding

• Policy reviews

We would like to thank all members of the PCC for their contributions to its deliberations, especially those who have specific responsibilities.

Mandy Cobb – PCC Secretary

29

APCM Fabric Report 2025

St Paul’s

Major repairs were carried out to the sections of the roof above the organ loft and vestry to address longstanding water ingress issues.

The recent Quinquennial Report identified several relatively minor issues, including trees growing too close to the walls, some pointing work, and a wasp nest.

The video system has been upgraded to include additional monitors.

St Luke’s

A complete refurbishment of the roof has been undertaken. This included replacing approximately 800 tiles and refixing sections of ridge tiles. While the scaffolding was in place, the bell tower was repainted and parts of the wooden structure were replaced. A Lottery grant of £11,000 and a number of generous donations covered most of the cost.

The redundant gas heaters have now been removed, and the fence and shed repainted. The kitchen has also been redecorated.

St Paul’s Hall

A number of minor repair jobs have been carried out throughout the year.

St Peter’s

The final round of snagging work relating to the major repairs has been completed, and the final repair bill has been settled.

The recent Quinquennial Report identified some relatively minor issues, but emphasised the importance of maintaining proper heating and ventilation within the building.

Thanks to the work of volunteers, the grounds of St Paul’s and St Luke’s have been kept in good order, and St Peter’s graveyard has been well maintained by the council

Electoral Roll

At the AGM last year there were 116 members on the Electoral Roll. Seven names have been added this year making a total of 123.

Trina Nichols Electoral Roll Officer

30

Deanery Synod

Report to the 2026 Tadley Parish APCM from the Deanery Synod Representatives

Tadley with Pamber Heath Parish, within the Benefice of Tadley with Pamber Heath and Silchester forms part of the Basingstoke Deanery. The Deanery Synod is the meeting of representatives from all of the Church of England churches within the Deanery. The Deanery Synod serves as a communication and cooperation mechanism where we can explore what we can do better together rather than on our own.

Deanery Synod representatives are voted for a 3-year period. The last election took place at the 2023 APCM when Sarah McKay, Christine Watson, and Simon Day were elected. Simon Day stepped down mid-term.

Three new Deanery Synod Representatives need to be elected at the APCM. This will be for a 3-year period. Deanery Synod Representatives by virtue of their appointment serve on the PCC.

This report is for the year January to December 2025

February at Christ Church Chineham

As with a majority of Deanery Synod meetings the meeting is open from 19:00 with refreshments and chance to meet other members. Meetings always open with welcome and a short worship lead by the host Church. During the meeting there was a short talk on ‘Walking the Wessex Way’ | Through a Season of Transition & Change by Richard Brand (Archdeacon of Winchester)

Colin Harbidge (Diocesan Secretary) & Dave Collier (Diocese Finance Committee) gave a Winchester Diocese Financial Briefing. This generated a lot of discussion on where the Diocesan resources were spent. This was followed by Updates from OneChurch Basingstoke & Churches Together in Tadley by Jonathan Clark & Steve McKay

31

May 2025 at St Paul’s Church Tadley

It was a pleasure to host this large meeting in Tadley. As well as Deanery Synod representatives, anyone involved in youth and children’s work across the deanery was invited to attend. There were a large number of guests. Welcome & Opening Worship was led by Steve McKay with Chris Knight playing the organ/keyboard There was quite a lot of business in this meeting: The Area Dean introduced the topics for discussion and welcomed our guest speakers. He explained that it is one of the objectives of the Archbishop’s Council to double the numbers of children and active young disciples in the Church of England by 2030. Hopeful that members will leave here feeling equipped to go forward with that mission.

During the business part of the meeting we discussed appointed a new Deanery Synod Secretary. At the last Synod we had a volunteer willing to become our secretary - Samantha Reeves who is part of Oakley parish.

VOTE: That the House of laity co-opt Samantha Reeves onto the Deanery Synod as per The Church Representation Rules 18(2), and she be appointed as Deanery Synod Secretary. The vote was carried by majority, with zero objections and zero abstentions.

Steve McKay also gave a Churches Together Update. Steve reminded the group of how Churches Together. Churches Together Tadley functions, having has 11 churches with lots of groups, such as toddlers and larger events held at Easter and the Christian Unity Day of Prayer. Upcoming events include the Tadley Treacle Fayre and Fete on the green.

Growing Younger: Towards a Multigenerational Church - Ben introduced the programme leader, Sochi Ezeanowai. There are 6 workshops, Members could choose 3 to attend and will have 20 minutes in each workshop Comment by Parish Reps: “This was the best meeting of the year.”

It was wonderful that so many of our Messy Church and Young Church team could come along and take part in the meeting. Thank you, St. Paul’s team, for your hospitality.

32

July - Christ the King - Summer Social

Each year one meeting is set aside as a social and following an opening worship and any important business there is a chance for all members laity and clergy to mingle and talk and get to know what is happening in the various and diverse Parishes in the Deanery.

October at St. Mary’s Church, Eastrop

The main objective of the meeting was to focus on Cultivating Deeper Faith We

gathered into discussion groups of 4-5 people from outside our context

Discussing the following:

Theology | Starting with Why: Returning to Our First Love -

What does it mean to love God with all your mind?

• What does it look like to create a culture of spiritual growth, intellectual

• curiosity & Christian maturity in our churches?

The great commandment in four dimensions [heart + soul + mind + strength]

Spirituality | Reclaiming Holy Ground

• How might the study of Scripture, the practice of theology, or the wrestling

• over the big questions of life and faith be reclaimed as a spiritual discipline, an act of prayer, an offering of worship?

• What does it look like to create intentional, specific spaces in our parishes for

• going deeper in prayer, in worship, in holy conversations, in study?

The Second discussion was on Shared Learning where we discussed:

Mission | Planting Roots: From Encounter to Greater Depth

• What are we noticing about those who are approaching our churches with

• spiritual longing and deep questions? How can we be equipped to respond well to the spiritual hunger of those we are welcoming into our churches?

• What does it look like in your context to encourage seekers who are just

• beginning a journey into faith?

• For those who offer courses like Alpha, Christianity Explore or Pilgrim, what

• comes next? What has helped others move from an initial encounter with faith into a journey of belonging and Christian discipleship?

Discipleship | Cultivating Diverse Ecosystems of Growing Faith

• There are many ways the parishes of our deanery are actively encouraging new depth of discipleship in our churches.

33

• We then selected one or two of the following themes to discuss together as a group, sharing examples from your context and exploring creative new ideas: o Cultivating deeper faith amongst children & young people

• Cultivating deeper faith in schools

• Cultivating deeper faith in surprising places (park, pub, prison, hospice, toddler group, school gate, coffee shop, workplace) o Cultivating deeper faith in small groups

• Cultivating deeper faith through teaching & preaching o Cultivating deeper faith through worship & prayer o Cultivating deeper faith through baptism & confirmation o Cultivating deeper faith through mentorship

• Cultivating deeper faith through the training & equipping of the saints

In Summary

Please do consider standing to be Deanery Synod Representative. We are entitled to have three, but sometimes over the last 3 years we have only had 2 and sometimes only 1 in attendance. It is such a valuable way to meet people from other churches, to get ideas and to offer and gain support for all we are doing.

Sarah McKay

Deanery Synod Representative

34

Children, Young People, Youth and Families

We are continuing to develop this area of our worship which currently comprises of two distinct family events (Messy Church and Lego Church)

We started a new intergenerational service which follows Lego Church – this is a service we are developing slowly, trying out strategies and ideas to see what works well. This is something we will carry on into 2026.

This strategy aims to fit with the benefice model of something each week for families at our churches. Currently this is:

1[st] Sunday – 10am Communion for All Ages - Silchester 2[nd] Sunday – 10am Messy Church – Tadley 3[rd] Sunday – 9am RISE - Tadley North 4[th] Sunday - 9am Lego Church followed by 10am

‘Communion for all’ – Tadley.

In addition to this our Young Church team on available for all services at St. Paul’s to lead activities and breakout sessions at our ‘Young Church’. More about this and our other activities below.

35

Messy Church

Messy Church continues to go from strength to strength and we now have an average of 150 children and adults in our congregation ranging from babies of a few weeks old to grandparents.

We have a dedicated team of 18 members who spend many hours preparing craft activities, buying food, thinking up new ideas and preparing for the celebration.

On Messy Church Sundays the team will be welcoming all those who come through the door and it is a joy to see the children running happily in, very much at home in the Church.

You will also find us helping the children with their craft activities, serving food and drink, leading our Celebration, chatting to both children and adults and we have a stalwart team member who comes with his apron and rubber gloves to do the washing up!

We always have a theme for the day which is reflected in the Celebration and craft activities. Apart from the main Christian festivals, themes have included Loving your neighbour, Saying thank you, Baptism, Fresh Starts and many others. Last May we were delighted to celebrate our 10[th] Anniversary when the theme surprisingly was ‘birthdays’!

The Celebration which usually consists of a story, an action song and a prayer, is always lively and very visual and the children are encouraged to take an active part. Steve, much to everyone’s delight, is becoming quite an expert in conjuring tricks!

36

Lego Church

Steve started Lego Church just before Christmas and again this has proved very popular with families as we have about 60 adults and children who attend. It is a particular favourite with the Dad’s who are very enthusiastic and competitive when building their Lego models!

When the families come in they are asked to create a model on the theme of the morning. As the last Lego Church was Easter we had lots of model chicks, eggs, bunnies and even Easter bonnets! About half way through the session we stop to watch a Lego video which shows Lego figures acting out the story. Then Steve asks the congregation to either change their model or create a new one which relates to the story they have just watched. The inventiveness and creativity of the resulting models is amazing and you will have seen these displayed in front of the alter. We then end with a special Lego prayer and Lego action song.

Apart from encouraging families to come to Church and showing them that learning about the love of Jesus can be fun one of the ideas behind Lego Church is that the families will stay on for the regular morning service. It is very early days yet but some people have shown an interest in doing so.

37

Young Church

A team of six provide a story and craft activities for the children who come to our regular Church Services. Sadly, we have very few children, sometimes two or three, sometimes visitors’ children and sometimes none. So, we have to be prepared for varying numbers and ages. I am very grateful for the support and encouragement of the team who come prepared to work with any children who may come.

However, it is reassuring to know that many families are coming to Messy Church, Lego Church and Rise at St Mary’s.

Youth Group

We continue our benefice Youth Group every 1[st] Friday of the month from 6:30 – 8pm, alternating between Tadley and Tadley North Parishes. IT is aimed at young people in school years 5 – 13. We have discussions, watch films, play games and eat pizza! Although our numbers are small, they consistent and provide a safe space for our young people to get together, to talk about life, their concerns and hopes for the next stages of their lives.

Going forward CTAT are possibly looking at a joint youth group, so we could possible run this weekly a monthly Youth Service ….watch this space!

Thank you to all out volunteers and young church teams who serve week in and week out. You are planting the seeds and creating space for the faith of young people to grow and flourish. We will continue our intergenerational focus as we continue through 2026

Elizabeth Seymour and Steve McKay

38

St Paul’s Worship Band

St Paul's Worship Band and other musicians have had another busy year leading worship in many of our Sunday morning services and special events.

During last summer, our band musicians shared some of our favourite worship songs and music at the Fete on the Green in June and also led our benefice service in the beautiful church of St Peter's, Tadley. Later in the year, we also led the harvest celebration and returned to St. Peter's church to lead one of the candlelit Christmas carol services. Recently, we have taken part in the 60[th] birthday celebrations for St. Paul's at 'Big Praise', where we led the singing of many popular modern worship songs from the past few years. We also announced the benefice's most popular voted for songs.

We thoroughly enjoy leading the praise and worship at St. Paul's. The beautiful lyrics, often based on scripture, can bring people so much closer to God. We have been blessed to have some new musicians join us this year. Thank you to all the musicians that have helped throughout the year. Your contribution is always so important and appreciated.

Lisa Kember

Safeguarding Report

Safeguarding has been an item at every PCC meeting.

The clergy and all relevant members of the church have completed appropriate training according to the roles they hold.

• All DBS checks have been completed. Reminders are issued when they are due for renewal.

• • Risk assessments are consistently updated

• The safeguarding action plans are reviewed annually by the PCC and are available to view

• • Policies are reviewed on an annual basis

• Winchester Diocese supports the use of a “parish dashboard” through its website, and this prompts particular safeguarding-related actions which are then recorded. The tool acts as both a guide and an audit tool, so that both the parish and diocesan staff are appraised of the status of the parish’s safeguarding arrangements. An Action Plan is generated, copied to and then approved by the PCC, which sets out those actions needed to achieve full compliance with all requirements. Currently the dashboard is showing that St Paul’s and St Luke’s are fully compliant.

In August 2025 we received information that there had been a report of a major data breach by Access Personal Checking Services (APCS) Ltd – the provider that our diocese, along with many other dioceses, and most parishes, currently use to process online Disclosure and Barring Service (DBS) checks. This affected all DBS checks that had been made between November 2024 and May 2025 online, not paper-based ones. All members of the church with a DBS check within those dates were informed of the breach and offered 12 months of free credit and web monitoring services, provided by Experian. To date all DBS checks are being completed on paper.

39

Whilst many members of the church have a DBS check and have received training in Safeguarding it should be remembered that it is the duty of everyone to be mindful of any safeguarding concerns. Any concerns can be discussed with Mandy Cobb or Barry Seymour who will advise as to any appropriate course of action to be taken. The Diocesan Safeguarding Office are very supportive in dealing with any issues.

Mandy Cobb

Safeguarding Officer

Thank you to all volunteers

We are grateful to everyone who already volunteers and enriches the life of the church in so many different ways. However, additional volunteers are always very welcome and it maybe something you would wish to consider, whether it be for a ‘one-off event’ or a regularly commitment. Examples of ways in which you could help include:

• Sides person

• Reading in church

• Coffee rota

• Member of the PCC

• Member of Deanery Synod

• Health and Safety Officer

• Maintenance

• Ground maintenance, joining the gardening group on a Tuesday morning

• Attending a home group

• Supporting the May Fayre, Christmas Fayre etc

• Organising one-off events e.g. May Fayre etc

• Helping at Messy or Lego Church

You can find out more about any of these opportunities from the clergy, or Jean and Deanne, our Church Wardens.

40

INDEPENDENT EXAMINERS REPORT TO THE PAROCHIAL CHURCH COUNCIL OF TADLEY wrrH PAMBER HBITH I report on the accounts of the church for the year ended 31 of December 2025. Respective Responsibilities of Trustees and Examiner The church's trustees a￿ restK)nsible for the preparation of the accounts. The church's trustees consider that an audit is not required frir this year under section IW2) of the Charities Att 2011 (the 2011 Act) and that an independent examination is needed. It is my responsibifity to: Examine the accounts lunder section 145 of the 2011 Act}" To follow the procedures laid down in the Generdl Direciions given by the Charity Commissioners (under section 14515llbl of the 2011 Artl- and To state whether particutar matters have come to my attention. Basis of Independent Examinerfs report My examination was carried out in accordance with the General Directions given by the Charity Commission. An examination includes a review of the accounting records kept by the charity and a compari50n of the accounts presented with those records. It also indudes consideration of any unusual items or disclosures in the accounts and seeking explanations from you as trustee5 concerning any such matters. The procedures undertaken do not provide all the evidence that would be required in an audit and tonsequently no opinion is given as to whether the account5 present a 'true and fair view, and the report is limwted to those matters set out in the statement below. Independent Ey3minerfs statement In connection with my examination, no matter has come to my attention l.which gives me reasonable cause to believe that in any material respect the requirements 'to keep accounting records in actordance with section 130 of the 2011 Att: and to prepare accounts which accord with the accounting records and cornp￿ wtth the accounttng requirements of the 2011 Act have not been met: or 2.to which. in my opinion, attention should be drawn in order to in order to enable a proper understanding of the accounts to be reached. I have no concerns and have come across no other matters in connecknon with the examination to which attention should be drawn in this report in order to enable a proper understanding of the accounts to be reached. Si8ned lan Hellem ACIBlretd.) 18" February 2026

TADLEY WITH PAMBER HEATH PAROCHIAL CHURCH COUNCIL NOTES TO THE FINANCIAL STATEMEiYrs For the Year ended 31° December 2025 ACCOUNTING POLICIES (a) In so far as tt is appropriate for the n¢eds of the Parochial Church co￿17. these accounts arc prepared under the Church Accounting Regulations 2006 in accordance ith appl]￿ble accounting standar(Ls and the current Statement of R¢¢ommended Practice Accounling and Rew)rting by Clwities (SORP 2005). (b) Incoming resources given in the Statement of Financial Activities are stated on th¢ receivable basis. Credit is laken for income tax recoverable on the Gift Aid income for the year. (c) (Outgoing) resources charged in the Statement of Financial Activities are on the a¢crual's basis. (d} Because the gmss incoming r&sourc¢s and outgoing resources in 2025 fall below £500,000 these financial statements do not require the scrntiny of a registered auditor and have therefore been subject to review by lan Hellem. ACCOUNTS The Accounts are shown in the Statement of Financial Activities and on the following pages including the Balance SheeL The A¢¢ounts come under three headings- Unrestricted Funds. Restricted Funds and St Peter's Church Fund.. - U￿eStrICted Funds are the monies given to the Church on the general understanding it will b¢ used to pay everyday ¢xpenses and at the discretion of the Parochial Church Council for furthering mission and ministy of the Church. Restricted Funds are the monies given for a particular putwse and cannot be used by the Par￿bla1 Church Council for any other purw)ses except by agreen]ent witb the donor. St Peter's Church Fund is restricted under the tern￿ of the Hicks Legacy to the general pUry￿SeS of St Pcter's church and is managed by the Rev S McKay. Rector and the Churchwardens. Mrs J Kyle and Mrs D Wagstaff. In the interest of clarity, the a¢¢ounts are shown in a shortened forni omitting detsil. Al

TADLEY WITH PAMBER HEATH PARoCH￿L CHURCH COUNCIL FINANCIAL REPORT- YEAR ENDING 3111212025 INCOME & EXPENDITURE ACCOUNT INCOME On beljaif of the P.C.C. I would like to thank everyone who continues to doDate their services free of charge. Your help and cfrotffttion continue to be much appreciated. The Income & Expellditure Aecount for the year ending 31112J2025 is showing an overnll gain of £3.543. This is due to ￿e Gift Aid Claims from a previous year. Voluntsry Income from Gift Aided doDatioms w&8 £39,184. This is lower than 2024. VoluDl4ry ltteome (noD-Gift Aid), CollectiOA8. Sundry donatio￿ amounted to £3.475 which is a slight ir￿re&s¢ on 2024. We received a £1 1,000 grant fn)m The ￿rttery towards the new riK)f at St Luke's Church. W¢ also received £2,228 to cover the VAT paid on Tyirs at St Peter's from the Listed Places of Worship Scheme. No legaciu have been rtteivd thb year. Fundr4ising and Spe¢ial EveDts raised a total of £9.020 after all expenses had been deducted. This is an incre￿ on 2024. The Thursday Coffee Mornings at St Lukes are thriving as are the now twice monthly coffee mornings at St Paul's. There were successful Summer and Christmas Fayre's held. & ¢arwash to raise funds for Adonai, and som¢ fimdraisin8 events for St Luke's Koof. Thank you to everyone who has hell￿ at any one of these events and atK)logi¢s if I have missd any events. A2

Ineome from Fees for Weddings and FuDerg1s has Increa￿ slightly ci)mp2red to 2024 ahhough we continu¢ to see Churches DO long¢r being the first choTrce for weddings and fun¢rdls. Interest Deposits is conttnuiong to rise although still not SI￿]fiCant1y. Chur¢h Hall lettings continue to be a key incoffje for The Church. The Presch￿1 continue to use the hall in term time and we hav¢ other regular users. EXPENDITURE EIpenditure the Church and Serviceg 8mouTttal to £124.153. This is lower than 2024. mainly as th¢ repairs at St Peter s are almi)st complete. St Lukc's had a n¢w roof at a cost of just und¢r £20,000. and roof repairs were necded at St Paul's to sort the leaks this cost approx. £8,000. Our energy costs have increased as we had our first winter with the new electri¢ heat¢rs in St Luke's. It includes all the running costs including the Common Mission Fund which our commitment was paid in full togeth¢r with the nornME running costs of th¢ 3 Churches. Payments to Chariti￿ during the year amounted to £2,853. This money was raised from Christsnas Servic£4 and Charity Fundraising Events throughout 2025. This is due to the hard work of volunteers organising events during th¢ year. A big thank you goes to everyone who gave up their time to raise these funds. BALANCE SllEET AS AT 3111212024 AII Assets and Li*biliti¢g are as detsiled on the Balan¢¢ Sheet. The most significant assets remain St Paul's Church Hall and The Si Peter's Church Fund InvestmenL The Chuwh has no Si￿lf1¢￿nt liabtlities.

TADLEY WITH PAMBER HEATH PAROCHIAL CHURCH COUNCIL STATEMENT OF FINANCIAL AFFAIRS YEAR ENDED 31 DECEMBER 2025 NOTES Unrestricted Restrithed Fur¥Fs Funds St Peterfs TOTAL TOTAL 2024 thvrch Fund INCOMING REsoifRCES Voluntary Income ActNitles forgeneratir¥x fvnds Incomefrom Irryestrnents Income from church activitie5 Other incoming resources Zloj 21b} 2(cJ 21d) zlel 64.187 8,301 7,597 29.659 525 110269 14.107 1.0 78,294 9,319 7,611 29,719 2,753 127.696 87.082 5,801 5,267 24.995 81,180 204,325 14 2.228 17826 TOTAL INCOMING RESOURCES RESOURCES F.XPENDED Costs of voluntary incorne Fund-raisinE tradingc05ts (hurch Activities Go¥ernance costs 3foJ 3fbJ 31cJ 3fdJ 291 102.647 291 123.862 476 152,609 21.215 TOTAL RESOURCES EXPENDED 102.938 21215 124.153 153,085 NET INCOMINGIIOUTGOINGI RESOURCES 7.331 13.7891 3.543 51,239 GROSSTRANSFERS 168.3531 GAINS AND LOSSES ON INVE5tMENTS 11.744) 11.744) 8,583 NET MOVEMENT IN FUNDS 7.331 13.7891 11,7441 1.799 18.5311 BALANCES BROUGHT FORWARD AT 1ST JANUARY 2025 327,975 17.101 150.531 495￿07 504.138 New and Additional Funds 8ALANCES CARRIED FORWARD AT31ST DECEMBER 2025 335,3 13.312 148.787 497NQ6 49S.607 TOTAL FUNDS AT31st December 2025 335306 13312 148.787 497.406 495,607 ASSErs 335,307 13,312 148.787 497A06 495.607 Dlff•r@nc 10> 101

TADLEY WITH PAMBER HEATH PAROCHIAL CHURCH COUNaL NOTES TO THE FINANCIAL STATEMENTS For tne year enaea Jist uecemDer zvzs Urbrestricted Restsicted St Peterfs Funds thurth Fund TOTAL TOTAL 2024 INCOMING RESOURCES 21al Voluntsry Income Planned GI￿￿. l GIft￿ded donatlons Ilthc FWO Env. & Gift Davl Tax recoverable Other planned wlng-INOT-GIftAidedl Collertions (open platel at allservi Giftdays-Oonation5 DOnatI￿S. Appeolsetc. Lega£tes 38.758 17.464 3.475 2.511 426 763 39,184 18,227 3A75 2,568 42,523 5.244 2.775 4,432 57 1.979 12.861 14,840 32,106 64.187 14,107 87.080 21bl Artlvitie5 for generating fvnds Fete5. bazaars and other fund-raising events 8.301 1,0 9,319 5.801 8.301 L018 9.319 5,801 21cl Income from Investments [)l￿dend & Bank lrterest 7.597 14 7.611 5,267 7.597 14 7,611 5.267 21dl Income from churth actfvltles Church Hall Lettin85 Fees. weddingsetc Incornefor sha￿d ￿sOUrceS Ma8321ne & M￿C sales 12.817 7.941 8.901 1217 8ml 8XII 15,254 5,349 4,392 29.659 60 29.719 24,995 21el Other Incomi￿ resourres Refunds Irsuran￿ Oaims Refvnds-st Peters 275 250 2.228 2.503 250 2,975 9,887 68.317 525 2.228 2,753 81,179 TOTAL INCOMING REXAJRCES 110.269 17.426 I27￿96 204,324

TADLEY WITH PAMBER HEATH PAROCHIAL CHURCH COUNCIL NOTES TO THE FINANCIAL STATEMENTS Icontinued) For the year ended 31st December 2025 Unre5thcted Re$th￿ed St Peterfs (hltrch Fund TOTAL TOTAL Funds 2024 RESOURCES EXPENDED 31al Cost5 of volunlary incorne aibl Fund-raislng trading costs Fund-raising c05t5 IFete, Fèyre Ètrl 291 291 476 291 291 47G 3(cl Church Actiwties Mlssionary and charltableghinr, (￿er$eaS mission S￿letse5 Christian relief and devlpmrt a8enaes N(Kne mis5icn & otherchurch societies 2.174 170 240 130 883 240 270 140 573 2.314 2,853 1.456 Artivitles dlre¢tly related to thurth wo aer8y Expenses Upkeep of SeMCÈS Service books. Ftymn bocs & sheets Sub & Memkrship Gerr21 Expenses Traininiaid5 Heat, LSEht & Water Deweciafjon Insurance Common Mtssion Fund WDBF-Diocesan Fees weddin￿Funerdl Fees Paid Churth Hall Mntnce Churth Mntnce-Fabkfjt& 8uFldirvdS Mni Ref BoDks& Ltterature Ett Youth Group Organlpiano TunirfRepait5 Fl¢)wer Expenses Arthttectsfees Wages and Salaries Adrnin-Ststionery/Posts8e ac Gltts. Social eVe￿ts & Refund tost Pete¢s 1,434 229 IA34 323 985 50 1,447 1.369 1.222 103 14.632 1,269 3.557 44.471 2.357 2.301 295 11,533 1.222 loa 14.673 1269 4.678 44A71 2357 2301 295 29.907 41 12,043 317 4.567 47.118 2.199 1,363 2,790 63.880 13 730 260 127 228 9,809 35 L121 18,375 1.265 144 115 1265 264 127 912 13.093 547 120 912 13,093 547 628 l(Kl.333 20.675 121,Ci18 151.151 3(dl Governance costs Bank char8es TOTAL RESOURCES USED 102.938 21.215 124,153 153.085

TADLEY WITH PAMBER HEATH PAROCHIAL CHURCH COUNCIL Notes to the Financial Ststements (continued) For the year ended 31st December 2025 4 STAFF COSTS 2024 Wages & solor￿S 13093 9413 5 TANGIBLE FIXED ASSETS thurth Chtsrch Churth Haa VN RE TOTPI GROSS BOOK VALUE At ljanuary 2025 177,388 12,575 13,856 17,146 220,965 Additionslrevaluation Disposals At 31 December 2025 IT7.388 12.575 13.856 17,146 220.965 DEPREOATION At l January 2025 13,856 17,146 37,548 Charge for the year 1,269 1,269 Disposals At 31 December 2025 7,815 13.856 17,146 38,817 BOOK VAiUE At l January 2025 177,388 6.029 183,417 At 31 Detember 2025 177388 4,760 182,148 The church hall valuation remains constant. Depreciation has been charged based on a Useful Economic Life of 5 years for church equipment, based on the month that the asset came into Service. Note.. Depreciation is charged against the appropriate cost category. 6 INVESTMENTS The PCC has a CCLA account forthe Hirst Fund. The value of this account at the end of December 2025 wa5 £1.827.30, however thls Is not incorporated into our accounts. The money has not been given to the PCC and MUST remain invested or kept on deposit. The INTEREST ONLY can be used towards the upkeep of St Peter's Churchyard for as long as it exists. Thereafter, the interest can be available for PCC general use A7

TADLEY WITH PAMBER HEATH PAROCHIAL CHURCH COUNCIL Notes to the Financial Statements (continued) For the year ended 31st December 2025 INVESTMEKfs (Cont'd) CBF Investment fund 1st Pete¢s Church Fund} Movements in year= Market Value- l January 2023 Transfer to St Peter's Alc GainllLossl during year MaTket value- 31 December 2024 £149,383 £0 -£1,744 £147.640 7 ANALYSIS OF NEf ASSErs Unrestricted Funds 182,148 42,159 IIL(IJ) St Peter's Church Funds 147.640 1.148 Funds TOTAL £329,788 £56,618 £iii,000 £0 £0 Fixed Assets Cash at Bank and in Hand CBF DepositAIc Debtors 13.312 Current Llabllitles Fund balance 335,307 13312 148,787 £497,406 8 DEBTORS 2025 2024 Income Tax Recoverable Other Debtors £0 £0 9 LIABILITIES: AMOU￿[5 FALLING DUE IN ONE YEAR Provision for maintenance 2025 2024 Intercompany creditors (maintenance at St Peters) Other creditors £0 EO

TADLEY WITH PAMBER HEATH PAROCHIAL CHURCH COUNCIL Notes to the Financial Statements (continued) For the year ended 31st December 2025 9 FUND DEfAIiS The restricted funds comprise the Organ Fund, Church Maintenance Fund. St Luke's Fabric Fund. the Flower Fund, the Fellowship Fund. St Paul's and St Peter's Projects Fund, which are funds raised. or put aside, for these specific projects and the monies will be used for their purpose only. St Peter'5 Fund is restricted under the terms of the Hicks Legacy to the general use of St Peter's A9

TADLEY WITH PAMBER HEATH PAROCHIAL CHURCH COUNCIL BALANCE SHEET AS AT 31ST DECEMBER 2025 FIXED ASSErs 2025 2025 2024 2024 Tanglble fixed assets 182.148 183.417 CBF Investrnents 147.640 149,383 329.788 332.800 cURftE￿ ASSETS Debtors Short Term Deposit Cash at Bank and in Hand iii.( 56,618 76.807 LIA81LrriES." AMOUNTS FAWNG DUE WITHIN ONE YEAR NET CURRENT ASSErs 167,618 162.807 NEf ASSFrs 497.4( 495,607 FUNDS General Fund Unrestricted ReSt￿¢￿ed 335,306 13.312 327,975 17.101 348,619 148.787 345.076 150.531 St Peterfs Church Fund 497.4 495,607 Approved by the Parochial Church Council on: Signed on tts behalf Chalrman Memb Alo

INDEPENDEKf EXAMINEIiS REPORT TO THE PAROCHIAL CHURCH COUNaL OF TADLEY WITH PAMBER HEATH I report on the accounts of the church forthe year ended 31 of Deomber 2025. Re5pe¢tive Responsibilities of Trustees ènd Eyaminer The church s trustees are ￿spOnsible fDrthe weparatson of the ac£ounts. The thurch's trustees consider that an audit 15 not wuired for thi5 yeaw undersecth)n 144(2) of the CharTlles Act 2011 Ithe 2011 Act) and that an independent examination is needed. It Is my responsibifity to- Examine the accounts (under section 145 of the 2011 Att); To follow the procedures lald down In the Genernl Directions 8iven by the Charfty Commissioners lurKler sectSon 145(5llbl of the 2011 Actl: and To slate whether particular Matte￿ ho￿ come to my attention. Basls of Independent Examlnerfs report My examlnatr.on w•$ carried OLrt in accordance with the Gefternl Oirections ¥r¥en by the Charity Commlsslon. An examlnatlon include5 a review of the accountin8 records kept bythe charlty and comparison of the accounts presented with those re(Thds. It also Includes consmjeratlon of anv unusual Item5 ordisclosures in accounts and seek5n8 explanatlonsfrom you as trustees concernln8 any such matters. The procedures undertaken do not provlde all the evidence that would be requlred in an audit and conseqiientty no oplnion is given as to whether the attounts present a 'true and faIrvIe￿ and the report Is Ilmfted to those matters set In the statenwnt below. Independent Examinerfs ststement In connectlon wlth my examlnallon. no matter has come to attenlS0ft l.whlch glves me reasonable cause to belleve that Sn any material respect the requlrements 'to keep accountlng record5 in accordance with section 130 of the 2011 Art,. and 'to prepare accounts whith accord with the accourtln8 records and tomply with the accountrng requI￿rne￿ts of the 2011 Act have not been mèt: or 2.to which, in my oplnion, attention should be drawn In order to orderto enable a proper understaNllng of ihe accounts to be ￿ached. I have no t￿￿rn5 and haNE COMÈ across no other Matte￿ In cOn￿n wlth the examinatSon to which attention sPK)uld be drawn in this rewrt In order to enable a proper uTrJerstsndin8 of the accounts to be reached. Slgned lan Heifem ACIBlretd.) 18" February 2(T26