2021-12-31-accounts

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Report on the year ending 31[st] December 2021 for the Parochial Church Council of Shrivenham with Watchfield and Bourton

Aim and purposes

The Parochial Church Council (PCC) has the responsibility of cooperating with the incumbent, in promoting in the ecclesiastical parish, the whole mission of the Church, pastoral, evangelistic, social and ecumenical

Objectives and Activities

The PCC is committed to enabling as many people as possible to worship at our three churches and to become part of our parish community. To achieve this, we have a wide range of services to facilitate the requirements of everyone within the parish. The PCC maintains an overview of worship throughout the parish and makes suggestions on how our services can involve the many groups that live within our parish. Our services and worship put faith into practice through prayer and scripture, music, and sacrament. When planning our activities for the year, we have considered the Commission’s guidance on public benefit and, in particular, the supplementary guidance on charities for the advancement of religion. We try to enable ordinary people to live out their faith as part of our parish community through:

Worship and prayer; learning about the Gospel; and developing their knowledge and trust in Jesus.
Provision of pastoral care for people living in the parish.
Missionary and outreach work.
To facilitate this work, it is important that we maintain the fabric of our churches.

Achievements and Performance

Incumbent’s Report

2021 continued very much where 2020 had finished with lockdowns, masks, online and outdoor services and all the other things we had become used to. However, things became more positive as the year progressed thanks to the vaccine nationally and locally to an enormous amount of hard work, good will and good humour, not least from:

a. Canon Paul Richardson, Rev’d Robin Cardwell, Rev’d Phil Craven, Rev’d Geoff Price

and Rev’d Geoff Withers

b. Lay worship and Morning Prayer leaders: Richard Fergusson, David Ahern, Pam

Mullin, Alex Peal, Maggie & Roger Simons, Julian & Ann Stevens, Jane & Frank Venables

c. Katie Brudenell, Becky Peal, Rosy & Chris Taylor and other members of the

StandFast team working behind the scenes. Thanks to Jane Ormondroyd for her help

with the Easter Garden and to Jane and Frank Venables for organizing and posting the baptism cards d. Churchwardens Amanda Benbow, Dickie Green, Ruth Holman, Sarah Howell,

Joanna Lambert, Maggie Simons, Julian Stevens, David Watson and Jimmy Watson;

together with Tom Arnold, Dennis Blease, Chris Gotch and Tom Arnold who have acted as wardens in all but name for Longcot and Fernham

e. Treasurers Jane Ormondroyd, Keith Reid, Claire Routley and Al Russell. f. The benefice choir led by Claire Hartley and supported by Richard Fergusson. The

choir actually increased in numbers over the year, which was truly amazing g. The bell ringers in Ashbury, Longcot and Shrivenham who have welcomed villagers and visitors to services throughout the year, as well bringing their wonderful handbell skills to our Christmas and Advent services h. Cleaners, flower arrangers, coffee makers and gardeners

i. And, not least, Lucy for her administrative, IT and social media skills which kept us (and especially me) organized, connected and informed

Services and sermons

One of the strengths of the benefice is the way we are able to reflect the breadth of Anglican liturgy both within our churches (or churchyards in 2021) and online. Thanks to

the internet we did not miss a Sunday and by the end of the year were saying Morning Prayer online four times a week. We intend to continue the online services as we know

how important they are to people who cannot (or as yet feel unable to) attend services in church.

We continue to post a separate online sermon each week, either recorded by a member

of the team or using Bishop Steven’s reflections for Come & See, as this gives a different perspective on the week’s readings. I haven’t counted the number of online sermons and reflections posted in 2021, but it must be at least as many as last year. This included a

reflection on favourite Christmas carols each day in Advent (with some by Rev’d Rachael

Wilson) and a challenge for each day of Lent.

Services are celebrated from the Book of Common Prayer through Common Worship to Taizé, Iona, Worship & Praise and even a pilgrimage service in St Andrew’s as part of a

pilgrimage from Bourton to Shrivenham and back. We hope to be able to offer further pilgrimages in 2022.

The ASK services returned at a new time of 2pm and we were delighted to welcome

Bishop Gavin to the service last August; members of the ASK team now meet on the last

Thursday of the month to pray the prayers on the prayer tree outside the Lady Chapel in St Andrew’s.

During the year it was agreed that, due to the low numbers attending services (other than

Christmas and Remembrance) that St John Fernham should apply to become a Festival Church: i.e. one which holds a minimum of six services a year. Bishop Gavin was happy

to support this initiative and the outdoor Christmas carol service was very well attended.

We continue to be blessed by our covenant with the Methodist Church which allows us to

share in worship for special services such Christian Aid, the Covenant service and the

World Day of Prayer as well as at Christmas, Easter, Harvest and Remembrance Day. It

has been wonderful working with Rev’d Rachael Wilson and we will miss her when she

moves to her new circuit later in 2022.

Thanks to the choir we had many joyful services with music, including a flower festival in

Longcot and also their re-opening in October after building work as well as the normal

Christmas and Advent carol services.

We also offered two more sombre services last year: on Friday 9th April we were one of

the few churches in the Deanery to hold a service on the day of Prince Philip’s death and

on 2nd October we held a service of Hope and Harmony (again jointly with the Methodist

Church) to reflect on our experience of covid 19 thus far.

Occasional Offices

During the year we officiated at 20 baptism services (22 children) and a thanksgiving for

the gift of a child. We also celebrated four weddings and one wedding blessing and came

to terms with the change from registers to marriage documents, which

also involved a lot

of work for Lucy in closing the various registers and returning them to the registrar. There

is less ceremony about signing a marriage document, which couples must then send off

to the registrar, but we have tried to overcome that a little by providing couples with a

local (not legally valid) certificate with a picture of their church.

Sadly, we also officiated at 26 funerals and five interments of ashes. The benefice All

Souls service held annually in St Andrew’s continues to provide an opportunity for

healing and remembrance; the simple act of lighting a candle can be hugely important.

We also marked the first anniversary of lockdown on 23rd March with a short service of

remembrance as part of a national initiative inspired by Marie Curie.

Pastoral Support

Pastoral support for bereaved families has often continued through the bereavement

café which met both online and in person during the year. There are prayer leaves and

candles available in the Lady Chapel in St Andrew’s for those who wish. The members of

the ASK team also continued their ministry both in person and on the telephone. Home communion was available on request.

Members of the congregation and ministry team have also supported Jeremy Clare in his efforts to establish a support network for veterans through the group now known as The Well at Watchfield.

Children and Families

One of the many positives from this year has been the increased amount of work with

children and families. The baby and toddler group has re-opened in St Andrew’s and

meets on most Thursday mornings in term-time.

Thanks to Paul Richardson’s initiative, we now have a benefice Sunday School which

meets on the second Sunday of the month in St Thomas at 3pm, moving to Watchfield

village hall for tea at 4pm.

The Standfast team have run some amazing family services in St Andrew’s (one of the

year’s highlights has to be Becky saying “we’re not allowed to sing, but no-one said we

can’t dance”) and from September, thanks to Becky, Rosy and an incredible team of

helpers we have had a benefice Messy Church in St Andrew’s once a month with rarely fewer than 30 children. 17. Café Inspire (a joint initiative with the Methodist Church) re-opened last autumn and, although numbers are not yet back to where they were, there is a renewed sense of fellowship and purpose. 18. St Andrew’s now also hosts the children’s clothing exchange on the second Saturday of the month – an amazing initiative by Laura Leivers and her team providing good quality clothing for children aged 0-13 which we are delighted to support. 19. And then, of course, there has been the work with schools. Richard and Paul continued to serve as governors in Longcot and Ashbury schools respectively; Joanna Lambert also joined Ashbury as a governor during the year to underline the link between the school and Compton Beauchamp. We recorded some 39 collective worship sessions and 18 Open the Book stories during the year. Much as we love doing this, we are really looking forward to going back into the schools on a regular basis when circumstances permit. Already, the occasional visits have been a real joy. 20. During the summer term we were able to hold “pop up” prayer spaces for Ashbury and Shrivenham schools on the theme of thankfulness (many thanks to Tony Crabtree for bringing the mini ring along to these) and to support the prayer space week held in St Albans for Watchfield school. We also welcomed some Shrivenham classes back into church to support the RE curriculum (thank you, Lucy, for helping the children to ring the bells as part of this) and answered written questions from Ashbury’s Ridgeway class about miracles in general and the feeding of the 5000 in particular. Bourton church has continued to act as a chapel to Pinewood school and we very much enjoyed sharing in their Advent service last December. 21. I cannot praise our schools too highly for the way they have supported children and families during the pandemic and it has been a privilege to be able to help them.

Study Groups

The Wednesday morning study group continued to meet throughout

the year and has

established a strong, faithful, fellowship community. During the year we looked at the

Character Course, Prayer Course 2, the Wisdom House, The Heart of it All (Sam Wells)

and Journey to the Manger (Paula Gooder). During Lent we used the online Come & See

material provided by the Diocese of Oxford, supported by evening gettogethers. An

evening study group has met in the vicarage since September. Many thanks to Richard

Fergusson, David Ahern and Graham Weller for leading these.

Running Alpha online did not prove as successful as we had hoped, which may just

prove that (as with Café Inspire) it is the personal interaction which is key to success. A

small group was able to meet in person during the autumn and that went well. We look

forward to hosting more face-to-face sessions during 2022.

The Deanery and Parish Share

As with last year, the Diocese maintained Parish Share at the existing level (£75,207 for the benefice as a whole). Despite our best efforts, we were unable to meet this total as a

benefice and therefore received only a 1% rebate instead of the 3% we had hoped for.

There is no blame here, only sincere gratitude to all those who have continued to

contribute to general parish costs and to fundraise for specific projects. Given the

increasing cost of living, financial management is unlikely to get any easier in 2022 and

there may well be difficult decisions ahead for the Diocese, the Deanery and the

benefice. I am very grateful to our treasurers for their careful stewardship of church

funds. We will hope to run another Generosity Week in 2022.

A separate Deanery report has been provided elsewhere but I think it is worth saying that

the work of the Deanery has been underpinned by prayer this year. Starting in April

2021, a small group, led by Peter Foot, has met at 7:30 every Wednesday morning to

pray for the life and work of the Deanery; each benefice, its ministry team,

churchwardens and treasurers have been prayed for by name. This has played an

important part in giving members of synod a better understanding of the needs of

individual churches which I believe has been reflected in the new Mission Action Plan (of which more in 2022).

Safeguarding

Safeguarding remains an important part of our church life. We now have access to an

online Safeguarding Dashboard for each Parish. This provides a checklist to ensure we

comply with current policies and procedures, as well as helpful advice and links to useful

resources.

The House of Bishops has issued updated guidance on safeguarding training

requirements including additional modules on safer recruitment and domestic abuse. The

training requirements for PCC members and others in positions of leadership is

undoubtedly becoming more onerous and I am grateful to everyone for their willingness

to accept the new requirements with grace and good humour.

Canon Paul Richardson

Even though so much of his work was constrained by covid, Paul’s time in the benefice

was a blessing – particularly to the parishes of Ashbury, Longcot and Fernham for which

he had particular responsibility. Unfortunately, family circumstances caused him to seek

a new parish last autumn and he began his new post in February 2022. We wish him and

Katriona every blessing in their new home.

And finally

One of the great advantages of an opportunity to reflect on 2021 has been the

opportunity to see how much has been achieved. As I said last year, we have not been

untouched by covid but nor have we been defined by it. The mission and ministry of all

seven churches (eight if you count those who join us online) has flourished – often in

ways we could not have expected. They have all been open and welcoming and that is

largely down to those of you who are reading this report. Of course there are still

challenges to come but I know we will be able to meet them. Thank you for all you do

and God bless you and your families in 2022.

Financial Review

The total receipts on unrestricted and designated funds were £75,810 of which £46,660

comprised unrestricted voluntary donations and a further £11,270 was recovered through the

PCC’s Gift Aid claim. Restricted donations and restricted fundraising totalled £4067. Our

claim for Gift Aid still proves a valuable means of adding to PCC income and we are very grateful to all those who confirm their giving is gift-aided.

The initiative to encourage Church supporters to join the Parish Giving Scheme has been

successful and there are now twenty-two donors on the scheme. Planned giving over the year has increased by £1800. I would like to thank Margaret Hern for her continuing support with the planned giving envelope scheme.

The PCC still experienced a reduction in income due to the ongoing Covid restrictions during 2021 but fortunately conditions did allow weddings and funerals to take place in Church which generates a fee income.

As for outgoings, £66,970 was spent from unrestricted funds to provide the Christian ministry within our Parish of three Churches. We continued to monitor income on a monthly basismduring 2021 and to pay the proportion of Parish Share to the Oxford Diocese which was affordable. Within our stated outgoings, these payments totalled £40,000, for this year, of a total due of £51,060.

The net result was an excess of receipts over payments of £8840. Balances carried forward at 31st December 2021 on unrestricted and designated funds totalled £33,400.

Reserves Policy

It is the policy of this Parish to hold in reserve the equivalent of three months’ general running costs to include payment of Parish share and other expenses. This policy will be reviewed annually at the PCC meeting convened to approve the accounts.

Structure, governance and management

The method of appointment of PCC members is set out in the Church Representation Rules. The membership of the PCC consists of the incumbent (our vicar), churchwardens, deanery synod representatives, coopted members along with members elected by those members of the congregation who are on the electoral roll of the church. All those who attend our services / members of the congregation are encouraged to register on the Electoral Roll and stand for election to the PCC. The PCC members are responsible for making decisions on all matters of general concern and importance to the parish including deciding on how the funds of the PCC are to be spent. New members receive initial training into the workings of the PCC. The PCC met seven times during the year.

Administrative information

St. Andrews Church is situated in Church Walk Shrivenham, St Thomas’ Church is in the High Street Watchfield and St James’ in Bishopstone Road Bourton. All are part of the Diocese of Oxford and within the Archdeaconry of Dorchester on Thames within the Church of England. The parish correspondence address is The Vicarage, High Street Shrivenham SN6 8AN. The PCC is a body corporate (PCC Powers Measure 1956, Church Representation Rules 2006) .

The PCC members who have served at any time from 1st January 2021 and the 31[st] December 2021 are:

Ex Officio members:

• Incumbent:

The Reverend Norma Fergusson (Chairman)

• Wardens: David Watson – Shrivenham Julian Stevens – Shrivenham Ruth Holman – Watchfield Sarah Howell – Bourton Amanda Benbow - Bourton

• Deanery Synod Representatives:

Jayne Venables Sarah Howell

• Co-opted members: Jane Ahern - Secretary Jane Ormondroyd - Treasurer Tony Crabtree – Tower Captain Penny Hockley – Electoral Roll Officer

• Elected Members:

Alan Avery Frank Venables Maureen Coyle Angela Davis Brenda Garman Alex Peal Philippa Dudley Roger Parks Marilyn Jeans

THE PARISH OF SHRIVENHAM WITH WATCHFIELD & BOURTON

Annual Accounts

of the Parochial Church Council

for the year ended

31 December 2021

Receipts and Payments Account Statement of Assets and Liabilities Notes to the Accounts

Shrivenham with Watchfield & Bourton Parochial Church Council

Accounts for the year ended 31 December 2021 - Combined Account

Receipts and Payments Account

£ 49,845.49 6,387.33 990.38 Unrestricted funds	£ £ 8,086.00 799.00 5,942.87 620.81 3,247.97 2,076.50 - - Designated funds Restricted Funds PCC Restricted funds Restoration	£ Endowment funds	Total £ 64,673.36 12,332.61 990.38
57,223.20 9,880.94	8,706.81 4,046.97 8,019.37 - -		77,996.35 9,880.94
67,104.14	8,706.81 4,046.97 8,019.37		87,877.29
77.25 135.20 56,183.97 1,408.20 1,363.35 6,432.29	1,367.17 1,579.00 - - 802.36 3,735.84		77.25 135.20 59,130.14 1,408.20 1,363.35 10,970.49
65,600.26	1,367.17 2,381.36 3,735.84		73,084.63
1,503.88 5,000.00	7,339.64 1,665.61 4,283.53 - 5,000.00 - -	-	14,792.66 -
6,503.88 17,537.84	2,339.64 1,665.61 4,283.53 7,018.34 22,330.11 4,430.05		14,792.66 51,316.34
24,041.72	9,357.98 23,995.72 8,713.58		66,109.00

The notes on pages 4 and 5 form part of these accounts.

These Accounts are a combination of 2 Sub-Accounts, The General Sub-Account and the St Andrew's Restoration Account. The figures highlighted in yellow apply to the Restoration Account.

Page 2

Shrivenham with Watchfield & Bourton Parochial Church Council

Accounts for the year ended 31 December 2021 - Combined Account

Statement of assets and liabilities as at 31 December 2021

£ 19,920.48 Unrestricted funds	£ - 14,357.98 Designated funds	£ - 13,180.60 Restricted funds	£ - Endowment funds	Total £ - 47,459.06
		8,713.58		8,713.58
		10,815.12		10,815.12
19,920.48	14,357.98	32,709.30		66,987.76
40.00				40.00
40.00	0.00	0.00	0.00	40.00
		62,539.91		62,539.91
918.76				918.76
918.76				918.76
		....................	...

Page 3

Shrivenham with Watchfield & Bourton Parochial Church Council

Accounts for the year ended 31 December 2021 - Combined Account

Notes to the financial statements

1 Accounting policies

The financial statements have been prepared in accordance with section 130 of the Charities Act 2011 using the receipts and payments basis and in accordance with the Church Accounting Regulations 1997 to 2001.

£ 28,618.00 4,372.79 2,729.26 1,612.52 60.00 1,050.00 11,273.54 129.38 Unrestricted funds	£ 8,036.00 50.00 Designated funds		Total £ 36,654.00 4,467.79 2,858.26 - 1,662.52 110.00 1,050.00 525.00 3,783.00 11,273.54 1,537.23 622.64 129.38
		Restricted funds
		£ 95.00 129.00 50.00 525.00
		3,783.00

		1,537.23
		622.64

49,845.49	8,086.00	6,741.87	64,673.36 -



49,845.49	8,086.00	6,741.87	64,673.36
- 406.00 4,709.00 1,021.83 250.50	229.60 68.00 323.21		2,076.50 406.00 229.60 68.00 4,709.00 4,269.80 573.71 -
		2,076.50
		3,247.97
6,387.33	620.81	5,324.47	12,332.61
984.75 5.63			984.75 5.63
990.38			990.38
1,715.24 4,000.00 128.46 385.00 3,458.47 84.53 109.24			1,715.24 - 4,000.00 - 128.46 385.00 3,458.47 84.53 109.24 - -
9,880.94	-	-	9,880.94
77.25			77.25
77.25	-	-	77.25
20.00 115.20		-	- 20.00 115.20
135.20	-		135.20

Page 4

Shrivenham with Watchfield & Bourton Parochial Church Council

Accounts for the year ended 31 December 2021 - Combined Account

Notes to the financial statements

At 01/01/21 £	£ 40,000.00 2,088.00 5,963.38 100.10 637.78 4,940.66 # 1,504.46 80.07 869.52 Unrestricted funds	£ 1,285.15 # 82.02 Designated funds	£ 1,579.00 # Restricted funds	Total £ 40,000.00 2,088.00 5,963.38 100.10 3,501.93 4,940.66 - 1,504.46 80.07 869.52 82.02
	56,183.97	1,367.17	1,579.00	59,130.14
	140.00 10.00 651.20 100.00 317.00 50.00 140.00			- 140.00 10.00 651.20 100.00 - - 317.00 50.00 140.00 -
	1,408.20			1,408.20
	748.28 327.07 288.00		-	748.28 327.07 288.00 -
	1,363.35		-	1,363.35
	401.98 3,458.47 2,571.84		802.36	- 401.98 3,458.47 2,571.84 802.36 - - - - - - - 3,735.84
			3,735.84
	6,432.29	-	4,538.20	10,970.49
	Receipts £	Payments £	Transfers £	At 31/12/21 £
10,443.44 7,094.40	59,575.60 7,528.54	- 59,194.28 - 6,405.98	5,000.00	15,824.76 8,216.96
17,537.84	67,104.14	- 65,600.26	5,000.00	24,041.72
3,080.79 - 378.03 3,559.52	8,359.21 - 347.60	- 1,021.15 - 82.02 - 264.00	- 5,000.00 -	5,418.85 - 296.01 3,643.12
7,018.34	8,706.81	- 1,367.17	- 5,000.00	9,357.98
560.00 4,377.77 4,750.14 11,867.20 775.00	- - 50.00 3,996.97 -	- - - 802.36 - 1,399.00 - 180.00	- - - - -	560.00 4,377.77 3,997.78 14,465.17 595.00
22,330.11	4,046.97	- 2,381.36	-	23,995.72

46,886.29	79,857.92	- 69,348.79	-	57,395.42

4,430.05	8,019.37	- 3,735.84		8,713.58

14 Investments Isgar Bequest increased during the year by £4856.33 Bourton Sunday School Trust increased by £3555.86

Page 5

| CHARITY COMMISSION FOR ENGLAND AND WALES Independent examinerfs report on the accounts Section A Independent Examiner's Report Report to the trusteesl members of 1k¢ PCL o Jia) Icrt i4k .'41a On accounts for the year gnded Charity no (rf any) IiqggLI Sgt out on pages I report to th8 trustees on my examination of the a¢xounts of the above charity <e Trusf) for the year ended Responslbllities and As the thanty trustees of the Trust. you are responsible for the preparation basls of report of the accounts in accordance with the requirements of the Charitbes Act 2011 {Ihe Acr). I report in respe(a of my examinaticm) of the Trust's accounts carried out under section 145 of the 2011 Act and in cary¢ng out my examination, I have followed the applicable Directions gNen by the Charity Commission under sertion 145(5Kb) of the Act. I have completed my examination. I confimi that no material matters have comg to my attention in connection the examination whth gives me cause to believe that in. any material Independont examlnerfs statement accounting records were not kept in accordan ¥*ryth section 130 of the Act or the acownts do not acith with the accounting records I have no concems and have come across no other matters in connedlon th the examination to attention should be drawn in order to enable a proper understanding of the aOunts to be reached. . Pase d81et& the wonls in the brackets rf they do not apply. Slgned: 2a Name: Relevant professlonal qualifi&itlon(s) or body (If any): Address: IER October 2018

Report on the year ending 31[st] December 2021 for the Parochial Church Council of Shrivenham with Watchfield and Bourton

Aim and purposes

Objectives and Activities

Achievements and Performance

Incumbent’s Report

Occasional Offices

Pastoral Support

Children and Families

Study Groups

The Deanery and Parish Share

Safeguarding

Canon Paul Richardson

And finally

Financial Review

Reserves Policy

Structure, governance and management

Administrative information

Ex Officio members:

• Incumbent:

• Deanery Synod Representatives:

THE PARISH OF SHRIVENHAM WITH WATCHFIELD & BOURTON

Annual Accounts

of the Parochial Church Council

Contents

Shrivenham with Watchfield & Bourton Parochial Church Council

Accounts for the year ended 31 December 2021 - Combined Account

Receipts and Payments Account

Shrivenham with Watchfield & Bourton Parochial Church Council

Accounts for the year ended 31 December 2021 - Combined Account

Statement of assets and liabilities as at 31 December 2021

Shrivenham with Watchfield & Bourton Parochial Church Council

Accounts for the year ended 31 December 2021 - Combined Account

Notes to the financial statements

1 Accounting policies

Shrivenham with Watchfield & Bourton Parochial Church Council

Accounts for the year ended 31 December 2021 - Combined Account