2023-12-31-accounts

Report on the year ending 31[st] December 2023 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

Services, Streaming, Study Groups and Sermons

One of the highlights of 2023 was welcoming the Rev’d Patrick Mabhunu as associate vicar in November, together with his family. They are such a gift to the Benefice, and I know will continue to play an important part in its future. Patrick is grateful for the warm welcome they have received from everyone, as am I, and I hope it won’t be too long before you’re welcoming your new incumbent.

I must thank clergy colleagues (Rev’d Robin Cardwell, Rev’d Geoff Price and Rev’d Shannon Preston) and lay worship leaders (Richard Fergusson, Alex & Becky Peal, Jane & Frank Venables, Maggie & Roger Simons, Rosy & Chris Taylor, Brenda & Vic Garman; Ann & Julian Stevens, Ruth Holman, Sandy Gipps, David & Jane Ahern, Pam Mullin and Hugh Baxter) for their willingness to lead services last year – and to continue to do so as we approach another vacancy. Without their support, it would not have been possible to continue to reflect the breadth and beauty of Anglican liturgy through so many and such different services in churches, schools, crematoria and churchyards: Sunday and midweek; said and choral; lay and clergy led; weddings (one in Watchfield, two in Ashbury, seven in Shrivenham), baptisms (ten, of 11 candidates) and, sadly, funerals (28 in total plus three out of the Benefice to support clergy colleagues). Highlights included welcoming Bishop Gavin back to the Benefice for the Deanery confirmation service in June and celebrating His Majesty’s coronation in May with a Benefice communion in St Andrew’s and choral evensong in Longcot St Mary as part of their flower festival. It was also very special to be able to hold an Easter service in Fernham St John after the fire in October 2022. Repairs and redecoration continued throughout 2023 and huge thanks are due to Tom Arnold and Neil Sutherland for all their work here.

We have continued to live stream at least one service each Sunday, as well as special services, midweek communion services and morning prayer. We know how much this is valued by those

unable to attend church on a regular basis, as well as by families whose friends or relatives have been unable to attend weddings, baptisms or funerals. We have also continued to post a sermon each Sunday and, during Advent, continued our tradition of posting a carol each day. It was wonderful to have people share their thoughts on favourite carols and thank you to everyone who took part in that.

Another important part of our life and worship both online and face to face during the year was the opportunity to join with the Methodist Church and Chapel both for services and through Café Inspire. We were naturally sad when the Chapel closed, but the final service in Longcot was joyful and uplifting and, of course, just because the building has closed does not mean that ministry has ended It is good that St Mary’s has been able to offer space when needed. Lastly in this section, the Wednesday study groups have continued to meet weekly in term time both in person and online. We have looked at the first letter of St John; Hebrews; Romans; parts of John’s gospel and the art of lectio divina, so the study has not been without its challenges, but it is always worthwhile and I am grateful to David Ahern and Graham Weller for sharing the leadership with Richard. David and Jane Ahern also hosted a bring and share lunch in August which allowed us all to get together in person.

Singing and Ringing

We are blessed to have three bell towers with active teams of ringers who play an important part in both our regular worship, weddings, funerals and for school services. Thank you for always responding so positively to requests to ring, Children of all ages appreciate the opportunity to ring the bells at the start of services and we are now often asked specially for this at baptisms: in time this may help ensure the future of ringing in the Benefice. We celebrated Bell Sunday for the first time in 2023 and hope it will become an annual event. And, of course, our Christmas services would not be the same without the handbells, nor Café Inspire without the bell plates. The Benefice Choir continues to flourish musically and numerically under Claire Hartley’s guidance. We now have an established pattern of welcoming them to every “last Sunday” service; they also sang for choral evensongs, Maundy Thursday, Easter Eve, Ascension Day, Corpus Christi, All Souls, Remembrance Day and five carol services as well as the Advent service of light in Fernham.

Although attendance at Sunday services is still not quite back to pre-covid levels, the numbers seem to be increasing and special services are generally well attended. I am sure that the support of our choir and ringers is an important part of this.

Children, Schools and Families

One area in which our ministry is increasing is with children and families. Obviously, we would like to do more, particularly for those at secondary school, and we are looking at this with the Methodist church. We continue to share collective worship in all three church schools once a week as well as being part of special services both in school and in church.

Messy Church, Café Inspire, Christingle, Crib services and the St Andrew’s family service are also important here. Thank you to the teams for the creativity and joy you bring to our worship. Sadly, we could not sustain the monthly Sunday School at St Thomas, but we are looking at other ways to engage with young people in the village and were delighted to welcome year 5 and 6 students from Watchfield school into church for a visit.

Once again, we ran prayer spaces for Ashbury, Longcot, Shrivenham and Pinewood schools. The spaces in the church schools were based on The Lion, the witch & the wardrobe and unanimously agreed to be the best yet. I am so grateful to Rosy Taylor and all the volunteers who gave up their time to help prepare the spaces (not to mention taking them back down again!) and to lead individual sessions for the children. I know how much the schools value this opportunity for children to explore different aspects of prayer and reflection, but we gain as much as we give.

The baby and toddler group has continued to run in St Andrew’s on Thursday mornings during term time and we are grateful to Hazel Morris and her team, together with Pip Dudley and Margaret Hern from St Andrew’s, for making this possible.

Pastoral support for families in the wider sense has continued in a variety of (often unseen) ways throughout the year and I know how much this is appreciated. The bereavement group continues to meet once a month; members of the ASK team also meet monthly to pray the leaves on the prayer tree in St Andrew’s as well as organising the monthly communion service, whose collection often supports local charities and good causes, including the foodbank and community larder.

Although safeguarding is not restricted to the care of children but applies to any vulnerable person, it is perhaps appropriate to mention it here. As a Benefice we continue to make every effort to comply not only with the letter but with the spirit of the regulations and to make our

churches safe as well as sacred spaces. Thank you to Lucy Laird for being our safeguarding lead on top of everything else and keeping us up to date with all the requirements. The Deanery, Fundraising and Eco Church

The Deanery action plan has five key areas: climate change, Parish Share, support for young people, maintaining our presence as a rural church and making the best use of IT. Each Benefice is approaching this in the way which works best for them, and I hope you can see from the report so far how much we are doing in the last three categories. And there is good news this year on Parish Share: we managed to pay it in full. That was not easy, which is why I’ve included fundraising here.

The increase in the cost of living continues to have an effect an effect on churches as it has on everyone else. Fuel bills have escalated and, understandably, some of our congregations have not been able to contribute to church funds in the way they would perhaps wish. But being a church is about more than Parish share and building maintenance (and all our churches need funds for that): it is about everything that happens in, from or because of the building and the congregation, only some of which has appeared in this report. We are so grateful for the generous response to our various fundraising initiatives during the year (concerts, lunches, coffee mornings, open gardens etc) and will continue to try to offer a variety of events. And although the money is much needed, the fundraising events are also about coming together with other people in our communities – forging relationships and building trust, so people know the church is there when they need us.

Being part of our communities also means looking after the environment: three of our churches (Ashbury St Mary, St Swithun and St Andrew) have now received bronze Eco Church awards and Longcot St Mary is not far behind. Caring for creation is one of the ways we live out our faith in God, so here I must thank everyone who cares for our churchyards, together with the cleaners and flower arrangers who beautify the church interiors. And we must never forget that welcoming and offering refreshments are part of that caring, too.

Churchwardens and Treasurers

This report would not be complete without a special thank you to the churchwardens and treasurers who bear so much of the workload in ensuring that our churches are open, safe, accessible and solvent. Dickie Green, Ruth Holman, Sarah Howell, Joanna Lambert, Maggie Simons, Julian Stevens, David Watson, Jimmy Watson, Dennis Blease, Jane Ormondroyd, Claire Routley and Louise Slater – never think that your work is underestimated or unappreciated. You do so much with such grace and good will, the new incumbent will be truly blessed to have such a team behind them.

And finally

Lucy and Richard – you have both been amazing. If I were to list everything you did for the Benefice, this report would be even longer than it is already. Please accept my love and thanks. 2023 has not been without its challenges and sadnesses, but I hope you can see from this report how much we have achieved as a Benefice. There will always be new challenges, but I’m confident that, with God’s help, 2024 will be even better.

Rev Norma Fergusson

Treasurer’s Report

The total receipts on unrestricted and designated funds were £88584 of which £53488 comprised unrestricted voluntary donations and a further £12,549 was recovered through the PCC’s Gift Aid claim. Restricted donations and restricted fundraising totalled £1112. 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.

Church supporters are encouraged to join the Parish Giving Scheme and there are thirty donors on the scheme. Planned Giving in general, over the year, has increased by £2840. I would like to thank Margaret Hern for her continuing support with the planned giving envelope scheme.

Cash collections at services have increased by £1100 but the receipts from bank card readers in our Churches have reduced by £520 from what was achieved in the previous year. As for outgoings, £82049 was spent from unrestricted funds to provide the Christian ministry within our Parish of three Churches. We continued to monitor income on a monthly basis during 2023 with a view to paying the proportion of parish share to the Oxford Diocese which was affordable. Within our stated outgoings, it is pleasing to report that we paid our Parish share allocation in full of £47628.

The net result, in unrestricted funds, was an overspend of payments over income of £3713 but there was an increase in designated funds of £5349. Balances carried forward at 31st December

2023 on unrestricted and designated funds totalled £47183.

This is a good opportunity to thank Margaret and John Hern for all their hard work, once again, in making the bottle tombola at the Village Fete in August such a resounding fund- raising success. Also I should like to thank Penny Hockley, Lindsey Skelt, Marilyn Jeans and all the team who worked hard during the year to organise fundraising events at St Andrew’s and Ruth Holman and her team at St Thomas’ and Sue Hayes and all her helpers at St James for their fundraising efforts.

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 is 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, co-opted 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 2023 and the 31[st] December 2023 are:

Ex Officio members: • Incumbent: The Reverend Norma Fergusson (Chairman) • Wardens: David Watson – Shrivenham Julian Stevens – Shrivenham Ruth Holman – Watchfield Sarah Howell – Bourton • Deanery Synod Representatives: Jayne Venables Sarah Howell Lindsey Skelt • 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

SHRIVENHAM WITH WATCHFIELD & BOURTON PARISH CHURCH Annual R•wt and ACC￿ntS of the Parochlal Church C(wncll for the year ended 31 December 2023 Contents

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CHARITY COMMISSION FOR ENGLAND AND WALES

Independent examiner's report on the accounts

Report to the trustees/ members of

On accounts for the year ended

Charity no (if any)

Set out on pages

I report to the trustees on my examination of the accounts of the above charity (“the Trust") for the year ended

Responsibilities and As the charity trustees of the Trust, you are responsible for the preparation basis of repert of the accounts in accordance with the requirement of the Charities Act 2011 (“the Act").

I report in respect of my examination of the Trust's accounts carried out under section 145 of the 2011 Act and in carrying out my examination, I have followed the applicable Directions given by the Charity Commission under section 145(5)(b) of the Act.

Independent examiner's statement

I have completed my examination. I confirm that no material matters have come to my attention in connection with the examination which gives me cause to believe that in, any material respect:

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

• the accounts do not accord with the accounting records

I have no concerns and 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.

“ Please delete the words in the brackets if they do not apply.

Signed:

Name:

Relevant professional qualification(s) or body (if any):

Address:

October 2

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IER