## **St David's Ashprington** 

## **Annual Report 2023** 

## **Background.** 

St David's serves a population of over 400 adults from the village of Ashprington, the hamlet of Tuckenhay, and the settlements of Painsford, Yetson, Sharpham Barton and Sharpham House. Twenty five are on the Electoral Roll. It is uniquely positioned with distant and panoramic views across the South Hams. There is seating capacity for about 100-120 people. The fabric is in a sound state of repair, major refurbishment works having been done to the tower in 2009/10 and refurbishment of nine church windows completed during 2017. 

Parishioners are very supportive of each other within their communities. The PCC is very grateful to Liz Chandler, the organist, whose contribution to the worship is very significant. 

## **Our Objects** 

To provide a place of worship, pilgrimage and prayer which is open during daylight hours, seven days a week to anyone who wishes to attend the services or visit the building. In addition, the church is used for concerts and other cultural gatherings. 

 **Growing in prayer** We want to abide in Christ and live our lives close to God. This means taking risks as we become more honest with ourselves and more honest with God. Prayer opens up deep places within us to God’s grace, which is why it is such a life-giving activity. Going deeper in prayer is essential if we are to witness to God’s Kingdom and grow into the people God is calling us to be. 

 **Making new disciples** 

A disciple is someone who follows Jesus Christ. With Christ as our companion and guide, we can travel through life differently and invite others to share in the adventure. We want to be more faithful in our discipleship and allow God to shape our priorities and values. The gospel is good news but, if we are to bring more people to Christ, we need to find new ways of telling the story, of explaining our faith and giving a reason for the hope that is in us. 

 **Serving the people in our community with joy** We want to be ambassadors for Christ, making a difference in the world and witnessing to God’s love and justice, especially in the communities where we live and in our schools and workplaces. Working in partnership with others who are transforming lives, we seek to address the global issues confronting our generation so that all may flourish. We seek to fulfil our calling to love God and serve the people of our community. St David’s Church should speak of God’s compassion and love, and ensure a Christian presence in our community. 

## **Our Vision** 

To keep St David's as a vibrant and living Church that shares the Gospel of Christ by virtue of its welcome, worship and fellowship. As part of this, the maintenance and ongoing restoration of the historic fabric and furniture, remains one priority. We recognise the role of the Totnes Mission Community as providing its congregations with a range of skills and gifts from both stipendiary and lay people for the greater glory of God. 



## **Our Mission** 

To offer weekly worship and celebrate the major festivals of the Church. We see St David's as being inclusive and receptive to all parishioners and visitors and a great venue for concerts and other secular activities. 

## **Objectives and Activities.** 

Average participation in worship varies significantly depending on liturgy and format offered. There is no regular representation from younger people.  There are a number of individuals who are on the Electoral Roll but do not attend church services on a regular basis but choose to serve the Church by undertaking many and varied tasks. We are very grateful to them all. 

Safeguarding remains a priority for St David’s Church. Jill Davies is the Safeguarding Officer. 

**Worship.** The pattern of services throughout 2022 was: 1[st] Sunday Sung Eucharist led by stipendiary priest, 2[nd] Sunday Village Worship led by a lay member of the congregation, 3[rd] Sunday Communion by Extension led by a Lay Reader and on the fourth Sunday we joined the congregation at St Peter’s Cornworthy. On average, fourteen people attended the Eucharist services, twenty two attended Village Worship and forty two attended festival services. St David’s PCC is pleased to report as follows: 

- Village Worship is generally themed and is led by a member of the PCC, with significant involvement of members of the community, many of whom do not normally attend other church services. With a Diocesan faculty now obtained to place castors on six of the benches, lunch, seated around tables, was provided after the village worship, when further fellowship was enjoyed. 

- A Church Monument booklet by Laurence Green was finally produced thanks to the input of Margaret Wilmshurst. 

- The eco churchyard initiative continued to be developed and delivered with several new benches placed in strategic positions within the graveyard, encouraging residents and visitors alike to rest and reflect in this sacred space. 

- A very successful Remembrance Day service was held on the 13[th] November 2022, attended by many from the community. Liz Waterson led both the War Memorial act of worship as well as the church service. 

- The Community choir continues to meet in St David’s most Thursday evenings for its practice and participates when invited, in some Festival services. 

- A ‘House for Duty’ post had been advertised in the Church Times. The vicarage in Cornworthy would be occupied by a successful candidate to serve both St Peter’s and St David’s Parishes. Unfortunately no suitable candidate applied and the post will be re-advertised. 

- There was an overnight intrusion into the church on the 21[st] July by a homeless man, who did superficial damage. 

- Amongst the special services during the year was the Harvest Festival, Christingle Service and Carols by Candlelight, organised by different members of the PCC. 

- Swift Project – nesting boxes for 4 pairs installed in the east facing louvers of the tower in spring of 2022. 



- The PCC was very sorry to say goodbye to Simon and Sue Boyes during the year. Both had been very committed to St David’s Church and the local community for many years, Simon being a long standing churchwarden. 

## **Fabric.** 

- Amongst remedial work done during the year was the re-instatement of a ceiling boss which had fallen from the west end ceiling of the church. Additional remedial work had been undertaken at the east of the church. 

- Further drainage provided inside the tower for ingress of rainwater and replacement of boards covering top windows of the tower. 

- 

## **Finances.** 

At the 31st December 2022, the Treasurer, reported that the PCC Bank Accounts contained £32,965. (2021 - £28,723) of unrestricted funds and £2,300 of restricted funds. Unrestricted income for the year was £20,466 (2021 - £22,120), whilst Expenditure totalled £18,710 (2021 - £21,195 )There is also an additional trust investment of £19,247, being two legacies received by St David's many years ago. (The latter funds are ‘restricted’ and are held by the Diocese in a CBF Investment Fund.) 

## **Future plans.** 

- Serious consideration is being given to installing a card reader in the church, to encourage greater donations by both visitors and church attendees. 

- The PCC is keen to place a chemical toilet (on castors) discreetly in the churchyard at the west end of the building. 

- The PCC is committed to keeping St David’s Church, a vibrant and responsive building, in which community activity and involvement are maximised. 

- Liz Chandler, our organist suggested the church purchase copies of ‘Complete Anglican Hymns Old & New’. This was done in February 2023. 

- The fundraising has been partially successful around the installation of a new servery. This has been ordered from H.I. Building Co and should be installed in March 2023. 

- A Eucharistic Liturgy review will be undertaken with the Rector. 

- Church yard project – application will be made to CPRE for Churchyard of the Year competition 2023. 

- A guide to some of the curious and historical graves will be published. 

- Review of Strategic Planning – see separate paper 

## **Structure, Governance & Management** 

The Parochial Church Council of the Ecclesiastical Parish of Ashprington was registered as a charity on the 12[th] January 2021. It has eight trustees. They meet at least three times a year and are responsible for all matters relating to the Church, under the overall leadership of the Team Rector, who is Chairman. 

## **Reserves Policy** 



The Reserves Policy of the PCC is to hold a minimum of £20,000, which is the equivalent of one year's average expenditure. 



## **St David's Church Ashprington PCC Acc 1 January 2020 - 31 Decembe** 

## **Receipts** 

|**Receipts**||||
|---|---|---|---|
|Balance at Bank||**2258.79**||
|Giving|||Essential|
|Standing orders|8540.00|||
|Collection|965.60|||
|Donations|1500.00|||
|Wall safe|105.30|||
|gift aid|3430.93|||
|||**14541.8**||
|Interest|472.32|||
|Fees|420.00||charity|
|Cofee mornings|193.85||Repairs|
|CBF transfer|3000.00||website|
|LPOW vat return|844.20||misc.|
|Restoration Acct transfer|400.07|||
|Insurance payment|2340.00|||
|Team grant (sound system)|1000.00|||
|misc.|280.99|||
|||**8951.43**||



**25752.1** 



**count 94540586** 

## **er 2020** 

## **Payments** 

|Quota|6856.00||
|---|---|---|
|Heat, light, water|400.61||
|Insurance & safety|3510.81||
|Totnes Team exp.|652.80||
|organist/organ|1540.00||
|maintenance|941.00|**13901.2**|
||1416.60||
||4540.00||
||514.99||
||424.69||
|||**6896.28**|
|||**###**|
|Balance at Bank||4954.55|
|||**###**|





**St David's Ashprington PCC account 1 January 2021     -      31 Dece** 

## **Receipts** 

|**Receipts**||||
|---|---|---|---|
|Balance at Bank||**4954.55**||
|Giving|||Essential|
|Standing orders|8030.00|||
|Collection|1509.80|||
|Donations|355.00|||
|Wall safe|59.00|||
|gift aid|2797.72|||
|||**12751.5**||
|Interest|489.12|||
|Fees|731.00||charity|
|Team repayment|134.05||Repairs|
|CBF transfer|1000.00||Sound syst|
|LPOW vat return|303.44||Quinquenn|
|NatWest switch grant|1500.00||misc|
|misc|256.39|||
|||**4414.00**||



**22120.1** 



**67209077 ember 2021** 

## **Payments** 

|Quota|6087.00||
|---|---|---|
|Heat, light, water|661.76||
|Insurance & safety|3395.08||
|Totnes Team exp.|383.00||
|organist/organ|1294.00||
|maintenance|705.00||
|||**12525.8**|
||949.32||
||4299.00||
|tem|2457.31||
|niel|798.60||
||164.73||
|||**8668.96**|
|||**###**|
|Balance at Bank||925.27|
|||**###**|





## **St David's Ashprington PCC account    67209077 1 January 2023 - 31 December 2023** 

|**Receipts**||**Payments**|||
|---|---|---|---|---|
|Balance at Bank|**4056.73**||||
|Giving||Essential|||
|Standing orders|8277.95|Quota|6196.00||
|Collection|1502.00|Utilities|535.32||
|Collect Tin|291.05|Insurance & safety|4237.79||
|gift aid 2022|2923.81|Totnes Team exp.|319.00||
|Donations|180.00|organist/organ|1140.00||
||**13174.8**|maintenance|1328.99||
|Grants|5500.00|Altar requirements|156.11||
|Wedding + Funeral Fees|1272.00|||**13913.2**|
|Charity|760.50|Repairs|1705.40||
|Trust Investment Interest|508.52|Large projects|14289.65||
|LPOW vat return|2004.11|Charity|488.95||
|Cofee mornings|701.41|misc|1360.75||
|CCLA transfer|8000.00|Transfers (CCLA, Savings Acct)|3128.95||
|EDF payments|114.36|||**20973.7**|
|Parish buying|108.76||||
|Majestic wine return|64.99||||
||**19034.7**|||**###**|
|||Balance at|Bank|1379.28|
||**36266.2**|||**###**|
|**_Date __________ Examiner__________________________ Treasurer________________________Churchwardens ______________**|||||
|**_Date __________ Churchwardens_**|**_____________________ Chairman PCC _______________________________**||||






## **Independent examiner's report on the accounts** 

## **Independent Examiner’s Report** 

**Report to the trustees of** 

**On accounts for the year** 31[st] December 2018 **Charity no** An Excepted Charity **ended (if any) Set out on pages** 5-7 **Respective** The charity's trustees are responsible for the preparation of the accounts. **responsibilities of** The charity’s trustees consider that an audit is not required for this year **trustees and examiner** under section 144 of the Charities Act 2011 (the Charities Act) and that an independent examination is needed. It is my responsibility to:  examine the accounts under section 145 of the Charities Act,  to follow the procedures laid down in the general Directions given by the Charity Commission (under section 145(5)(b) of the Charities Act, and  to state whether particular matters have come to my attention. **Basis of independent** My examination was carried out in accordance with general Directions given **examiner’s statement** by the Charity Commission.  An examination includes a review of the accounting records kept by the charity and a comparison of the accounts presented with those records.  It also includes consideration of any unusual items or disclosures in the accounts, and seeking explanations from the trustees concerning any such matters.  The procedures undertaken do not provide all the evidence that would be required in an audit, and consequently no opinion is given as to whether the accounts present a ‘true and fair’ view and the report is limited to those matters set out in the statement below. 

**Independent** In connection with my examination, no material matters have come to my **examiner's statement** attention which gives me cause to believe that in, any material respect: 

- accounting records were not kept in accordance with section 130 of the Charities Act or 

- the accounts do not accord with the accounting records 

I have come across no other matters in connection with the examination to which attention should be drawn in order to enable a proper understanding of the accounts to be reached. 

|**Signed:**<br>**Name:**<br>**Relevant professional**<br>**qualification(s) or body**<br>**(if any):**<br>**Address:**|||
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