2025-12-31-accounts - The Parochial Church Council Of The Ecclesiastical Parish Of St Thomas With St Maurice, York.

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St Thomas’ Church Lowther Street York

ANNUAL REPORT and FINANCIAL STATEMENTS of the PAROCHIAL CHURCH COUNCIL For the year ended 31 December 2025

www.stthomasyork.org

Priest-in-Charge: Revd Alistair Rycroft Churchwardens: Mrs Gilly Dickons, Mr Matt Clarke-Neale Treasurer: Mr Ross Watson, Mr David Pennock Independent Examiner : Mr David Griffin Bank: Lloyds Bank plc, Pavement Branch, York Registered charity number: 1198054

Contents
	Page
Annual Report	1-3
Independent Examiner’s Report	4
Receipts and Payments account	5
Statement of Assets and Liabilites	5
Notes to the Accounts	6-7
Budget for 2026	8
Followed by further reports

Annual Report of the PCC of St Thomas’ for the year ended Dec 31[st] 2025

St Thomas’ Church (serving the parish of St Thomas with St Maurice) is on Lowther St in the Groves area of York. It is within the Diocese of York.

The Parochial Church Council (PCC) is a charity registered with the Charity Commission. The PCC has the responsibility of promoting in the ecclesiastical parish the whole mission of the church; pastoral, evangelistic, social, and ecumenical. It also has maintenance responsibilities for the church and hall.

Membership : Members of the PCC are either ex-officio or elected by the Annual Parochial Church Meeting in accordance with the Church Representation Rules. All church attendees are encouraged to register on the Electoral Roll and are then eligible to stand for election to the PCC.

During 2025, the members of the PCC of St Thomas’ Church were:

Revd Al Rycroft (priest-in-charge) – Chair Revd Andy Hagon (curate) David Stirk – Vice Chair (re-elected to PCC for three-year term, May 2025) Matt Clarke-Neale – Churchwarden Gilly Dickons – Churchwarden (from AGM, May 2025) Jo Bloss – (elected to PCC May 2025, churchwarden until AGM in May) Ross Watson – Treasurer Tom Dennis – Secretary (re-elected for three-year term, May 2025) Gerald Snowden - Deanery Synod Representative Phil Harman – Deanery Synod Representative (elected May 2025) David Pennock (re-elected for three-year term, May 2025) Ruth Dunlop Tom Button Bryony Dansey Sam Elks (elected for three-year term, May 2025) Alfie Jones (elected for three-year term, May 2025) Viv Pennock (stood down from PCC, May 2025) Peter Platts (stood down from PCC, May 2025)

There were eight full PCC meetings during 2025.

Church Attendance

As of April 17[th] 2026, there were 113 names on the electoral roll (35 resident in the parish). The average attendance figure for Sunday services in October 2025 was 105 adults and 25 children. In 2025, we continued to stream worship services online, live from the church building, with normal viewing figures of 40-50.

Church Services continued at 10.30am on Sundays, usually a Eucharistic Service, but with some Services of the Word (sometimes All Age). Children’s groups ran during our non- all age services. We held communion services midweek (Thursdays at 1pm) through most of the year. We held some special services, including a Carol Service and a Christmas Eve Midnight Communion in December.

Safeguarding: The PCC has a safeguarding policy, displayed in the church and church hall, which links to the Church of England’s safeguarding guidelines. We seek to ensure that other, related policies remain up

to date. St Thomas’ follows guidance to ensure ‘safer recruitment’ of staff and volunteers. Staff and volunteers are appropriately trained and DBS-checked according to Church of England guidance. We consult with the diocesan safeguarding team for advice on specific safeguarding matters. The PCC has complied with the duty to have due regard to the House of Bishops’ safeguarding policy.

The Parish Safeguarding Officer in 2025 was Ellie Hindley. Bryony Dansey was the PCC’s safeguarding link. In 2025, we set up a steering group for safeguarding, including the Priest-in-Charge, Safeguarding Officer, Children’s Team Leader, and PCC Safeguarding Link.

Review of 2025 and Priorities for 2026 (by Al Rycroft, Priest-in-Charge)

Just as, in more recent memory, 2026 began with the joyful confirmation of seven members of St Thomas’ by Bishop Flora, so right back in January 2025, we rejoiced with five of our youth group as they were baptized. This is evidence that God’s Holy Spirit is at work, bringing people to new life in Christ, and establishing others as their faith deepens. My most profound hope is that the intervening twelve months was a time when each and every person at St Thomas’ experienced the reality of God and his grace.

Early 2025 was, for me, a time of rest, reading and revitalization as you gave me the opportunity to enjoy study leave/sabbatical. I loved the chance to relax, read, pray, listen to music and spend more unhurried time with the family. And I was also delighted by how St Thomas’ flourished in my absence! This was a demonstration that what is happening in our church is above all about God at work, and also that the work he is doing is through a wonderful team of people from the whole congregation. We should be encouraged that God wants to build something sustainable here: his plan for St Thomas’ goes, I’m sure, well beyond the timespan of any individuals. Our role is not to serve our own ambitions, nor even to serve ‘the church’ as an institution, but to serve God himself and his glorious purposes in our community. Thank you for playing your part in that calling.

2025 proved once again to be a year of growth. We again grew in numbers, welcoming new people into our church family. We saw more people join home groups; the establishment of the KEYS ministry; a new follow-on course from Peaced Together; and our monthly worship and prayer evenings. (You can read all the reports of the work going on across St Thomas’ in the rest of this document.) At one service, when Tony Bower from YoYo had come to preach, his wife Clare shared a word about ‘going up a gear’, and it does feel that there is more to come, and that God’s call is not simply for us to stand still.

But, while growth is a sign of health in a living organism, it’s not often straightforward! In 2025, we didn’t make any significant changes to the way we meet together on Sunday mornings, but we continue to face questions and challenges. How full should we be before we begin something new? How can we make space for a growing children’s work? Is there more we could do to make our building and our services accessible to those with different physical needs? How, as we grow, can we try to ensure that everyone is welcomed and that people aren’t left out?

There are, in some ways, tensions between our vision to be a ‘haven’ in the Groves and our increasing numbers. ‘Haven’ can imply calmness and rest, and indeed we want to provide one another with that space to rest and grow in God; but growing numbers and busier schedules can make it harder to be the haven we seek to be. As out staff team and some PCC members met together to pray earlier this year, we felt that one important priority for St Thomas’ is the ‘equipping of the saints’ to serve. It will be unsustainable if the church grows while the work of service falls on the same number of people, and so in 2026 we must be thinking further about how we respond to this word. But one great encouragement from 2025 was the one-year celebration of the KEYS ministry – at the meal which took place at the Poultons’ home, a number of people spoke of how much they feel ‘at home’ at St Thomas’. God is doing something special as we seek to be a haven, and we pray he will continue!

2025 (and the start of this year) have also offered great encouragement to St Wulstan’s, as we have seen a number of local people – including children and families – joining the church. This has been exciting, and only increases the need to pray and talk together about how our churches work together, sharing resources and vision. We want this to be a fruitful endeavour for both churches, and in God’s economy, I’m sure that can be so! I plan to meet with the

four churchwardens, and then with the two PCCs, to move forward in our praying and planning for the rest of this year and beyond.

Of course, earlier this year, we have said farewell to Andy Hagon, who served so diligently and faithfully through his four years at St Thomas’ and St Wulstan’s. I greatly appreciated Andy’s down-to-earth approachability, and especially his commitment to discipleship and to seeing others growing in their relationship with God. When this is your priority, you can’t go far wrong! We continue to be grateful beyond measure to our staff team, and also this year we were so thankful for Erin Burbridge’s work on admin, and then for the appointment of Hannah SmallpageHurst. We continue to pray for Hannah as she seeks to move closer to York. We give thanks for our faithful wardens and PCC members, and for all who serve in so many ways across the church.

Please do read through the reports later in the booklet for an overview of our many different ministries, as there are so many marvellous things going on. You’ll also find detailed information about our finances.

I’ll end by quoting from one of my great heroes in the faith. No, not Dallas Willard (for once). Not Eugene Peterson. Not even the Apostle Paul. But dear Derek Spicer, who went to be with the Lord last February. Derek, as we prayed once, saw this beautiful acrostic in his mind:

H eaven’s

O pen

P lease

E nter

And that is, indeed, the source of our hope. Jesus has come to open the way for us into the kingdom of heaven. He beckons us in. He invites us to live each day in the powerful presence of God, even now. As we live with confidence in Jesus, we will fulfil God’s calling at St Thomas’ – because it’s the presence of Jesus that will attract people as they see his beauty and his light.

Financial Review for 2025

Total receipts on general unrestricted funds in 2025 were £142,390 and are detailed in the financial statements on pages 5 to 7 of this report. £126,453 was spent to provide the Christian ministry from St Thomas’ Church, including the freewill offering of £41,355 to the Diocese of York, which largely provides the stipends and housing for the clergy.

Planned Giving, collections and Gift Aid Tax all increased this year, to give a total of £133,326. This was mostly due to the Generous Giving month we ran in October 2024, during which our congregation were encouraged to review their donations. Overall general fund receipts increased by 17% compared to 2024, however payments also increased by 16%.

Our total budgeted general fund expenditure for 2026 is £144,000 which equates to £2,769 per week. Increases in our budget reflect both cost of living increases and increased costs as we grow in numbers. Most of this money comes from the generous giving of the congregation at St Thomas’ Church. Church members are encouraged to use standing orders to provide planned regular income. The budgeted requirement for Planned Giving is £107,500, or £2,067 per week. As always, we encourage regular reviews of personal planned giving to allow for the increases in our budget to be met. Where possible the use of Gift Aid to maximise donations by the recovery of income tax is encouraged. The tax reclaimed for the tax year 2024/25 was £21,611, including £1,540 tax from Building a Haven Project donations.

The general fund budget excludes the financing of any capital works on the structure of the Church, as well as no inclusion of restricted funds income and expenditure. Following high expenditure for the Building a Haven Project in 2024 last year was much less at £10,171, mostly for professional fees as we prepare for the next phases of the project. Other restricted funds include The KEYS Project, with expenditure of £8,873 last year. There were also donations to the Hardship fund of £10,220.

Reserves Policy

It is necessary for the PCC to maintain a balance of unrestricted funds, equivalent to 3 months expenditure, which is £36,000 against the 2026 budget figure of £144,000. The balance of £86,913 on unrestricted funds at the year-end exceeded this target, however some of these funds may be used to assist with the Building a Haven project this year.

David Pennock (PCC Treasurer)

30[th] March 2026

Independent Examiner’s Report

Report to trustees of the PCC of the Church of St Thomas with St Maurice, York (Charity no 1198054)

I report to the trustees on my examination of the accounts of the Church of St Thomas with St Maurice, York, (the Charity) for the year ended 31 December 2025, set out on pages 5 to 7.

Responsibilities and basis of report

As the trustees of the Charity you are responsible for the preparation of the accounts in accordance with the requirements of the Charities Act 2011 (‘the Act’).

I report in respect of my examination of the Charity’s accounts carried out under section 145 of the 2011 Act and in carrying out my examination I have followed all 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 giving me cause to believe that in any material respect:

the accounting records were not kept in accordance with section 130 of the Charities Act; or
the accounts did not accord with the accounting records; or
the accounts did not comply with the applicable requirements concerning the form and content of accounts set out in the Charities (Accounts and Reports) Regulations 2008 other than any requirement that the accounts give a ‘true and fair’ view which is not a matter considered as part of an independent examination.

I have no concerns and have come across no other matters in connection 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.

Mr David Griffin 8 Lowther Court, York, YO31 7EG 1[st] April 2026

St Thomas with St Maurice Church, Lowther Street, York FINANCIAL STATEMENTS FOR THE YEAR ENDED 31 DECEMBER 2025

Notes	Unrestricted Fund £	Designated Fund £	Restricted Fund £	Endowment Fund £	Total 2025 £	Total 2024 £




	92,492.68		1,200.00	-	93,692.68	67,055
	7,760.72		600.00	-	8,360.72	7,822
	6,482.65		1,243.20	-	7,725.85	5,099
	-		-	-	-	-
	6,518.24		11,055.53	-	17,573.77	17,383
	20,071.37		1,540.00	-	21,611.37	19,264
	133,325.66	-	15,638.73	-	148,964.39	116,623
3a	-	-	6,940.00	-	6,940.00	5,994
3b	51.86	-	10,395.49	-	10,447.35	19,978
3c	644.97	-	1,819.19	-	2,464.16	3,837
3d	8,368.00	-	-	-	8,368.00	7,995
3e	-	-	-	-	-	12,754
	142,390.49	-	34,793.41	-	177,183.90	167,181


	41,355.00	-	-	-	41,355.00	38,292
3f	85,098.18	-	22,299.27	-	107,397.45	151,904
	126,453.18	-	22,299.27	-	148,752.45	190,196

	15,937.31	-	12,494.14	-	28,431.45	(23,015)
	2,719.19		(2,719.19)	-	-	-
	18,656.50	-	9,774.95	-	28,431.45	(23,015)
	68,256.81	-	59,893.55	-	128,150.36	151,165
	86,913.31	-	69,668.50	-	156,581.81	128,150





	5,606.99	-	-	-	5,606.99	13,820
	76,902.32	-	33,205.59	-	110,107.91	73,463
	4,404.00	-	36,462.91		40,866.91	40,867
	86,913.31	-	69,668.50	-	156,581.81	128,150


	-	-	-	-	-	-

	86,913.31	-	69,668.50	-	156,581.81	128,150

The attached notes on pages 6-7 form part of these financial statements

Approved by the PCC on 10th March 2026 and signed on their behalf by:

Revd Al Rycroft (PCC Chairman)

David Pennock (PCC Treasurer)

St Thomas with St Maurice Church, Lowther Street, York FINANCIAL STATEMENTS FOR THE YEAR ENDED 31 DECEMBER 2025

NOTES TO THE ACCOUNTS

1 The financial statements of the PCC have been prepared in accordance with the Church Accounting Regulations 2006 using the Receipts and Payments basis.
2 The movement in designated and restricted funds during the year were:

Balance b/f	Receipts	Payments	Transfers	Balance c/f

40,866.91	1,819.19	-	(6,223.19)	36,462.91
-	1,243.20	(1,243.20)	-	-
147.49	25.00	-	-	172.49
1,948.20	1,155.03	(1,185.09)	-	1,918.14
3,589.50	7,100.00	(8,872.76)	(900.00)	916.74
7,937.69	10,220.50	(21.95)	-	18,136.24
2,200.73	11,290.49	(10,171.10)	4,404.00	7,724.12
3,203.03	1,500.00	(365.17)	-	4,337.86
-	440.00	(440.00)	-	-
59,893.55	34,793.41	(22,299.27)	(2,719.19)	69,668.50


-	-	-	-	-

Unrestricted Fund £	Designated Fund £	Restricted Fund £	Total 2025 £	Total 2024 £

-	-	-	-	-
-	-	5,000.00	5,000.00	5,000
-	-	1,940.00	1,940.00	994
-	-	6,940.00	6,940.00	5,994

51.86	-	10,395.49	10,447.35	19,978
51.86	-	10,395.49	10,447.35	19,978

644.97	-	1,819.19	2,464.16	3,837
644.97	-	1,819.19	2,464.16	3,837

278.00	-	-	278.00	475
5,975.00	-	-	5,975.00	3,230
2,115.00	-	-	2,115.00	4,290
8,368.00	-	-	8,368.00	7,995

-	-	-	-	-
-	-	-	-	794
-	-		-	11,960
-	-	-	-	12,754

St Thomas with St Maurice Church, Lowther Street, York FINANCIAL STATEMENTS FOR THE YEAR ENDED 31 DECEMBER 2025

Unrestricted Fund £	Designated Fund £	Restricted Fund £	Total 2025 £	Total 2024 £


-	-	3,000.00	3,000.00	756

7,048.00	-	-	7,048.00	6,105
3,750.00	-	1,250.00	5,000.00	5,000
750.00	-	280.27	1,030.27	1,134

44,646.84	-	4,625.86	49,272.70	34,551
-	-	-	-	-
-	-	-	-	-
888.00	-	-	888.00	280
2,539.85	-	1,185.09	3,724.94	2,981
2,527.99	-	-	2,527.99	2,500
3,388.16	-	-	3,388.16	2,471
1,689.76	-	2,100.00	3,789.76	1,013
3,633.02	-	365.17	3,998.19	1,641
3,762.92	-	-	3,762.92	4,457
395.40	-	2,321.78	2,717.18	2,443
5,907.93	-	-	5,907.93	5,012
2,474.44	-	-	2,474.44	2,633
551.96	-	-	551.96	455

1,143.91	-	-	1,143.91	1,186
-	-	-	-	100

-	-	-	-	-
-	-	-	-	3,834
-	-	7,171.10	7,171.10	73,352
85,098.18	-	22,299.27	107,397.45	151,904

4 The expenses paid to clergy may include a small immaterial proportion, which relates to their function as PCC members.

5 Working expenses of the incumbent and assistant staff allocated to specific cost centres.

6 No payments were made to PCC members.

St Thomas with St Maurice Church General fund budget 2026

INCOME
Planned giving
Collections
Income tax
Donations
Fees
Car parking
Buildings letting income
Interest
TOTAL
EXPENDITURE
Charity giving
Support Chris & Suzy
Support Louise
Free Will Ofering
Vicarage water
Church & Hall running
Maintenance
Training / Scholarship
Misson / Outreach
Services Requisites
Children's Work
Admin
Miscellaneous
Lay Outreach Workers
Children's Worker
Administrator
TOTAL

Total Budget
Per Week
£
£
107500
2067
5000
96
21000
404
4000
77
800
15
2000
38
3000
58
700
13
144000
2769
Total Budget
Per Week
£
£
6440
124
6660
128
1200
23
44663
859
844
16
14000
269
10000
192
700
13
1500
29
2000
38
1500
29
1600
31
400
8
26071
501
12715
245
13707
264
144000
2769

Further Reports:

Church Wardens’ Report 2025/26

Reflecting on the past year in church is a great way of realising just how much has been going on and how our vision to be a Haven in the Groves is taking shape.

Our priorities during the year have been about deepening faith, learning more about being disciples of Jesus, being a community that welcomes and cares for one another and one that nurtures and values our children and young people.

None of this is possible without significant contributions of time, money, and prayerfulness from many volunteers within the church and from our staff team.

We are blessed to have Al as our Priest in Charge. His commitment to leading us and St Wulstan’s, has continued to lead to significant growth in the church and of our reputation and presence in the local community. Al is supported in this ministry by a gifted staff team, and by several retired clergy who have made St Thomas’s their home. We are very sad to say goodbye to our Curate Andy (March 2026) after four years, we bless him as he goes to serve just outside York.

Every Sunday involves up to 20 volunteers who do so many things that make our services possible. From making tea and coffee, to helping with the kids work, to organising the sound and tech. You know who you are – we could not do all this without you! If you are not already on a team, then we would really encourage you to do so – this is an important way in which we can feel part of the church community and get to know others.

We have welcomed many new people into church this year - those moving into the area, finding faith for the first time or re-engaging with church after time away. We regularly have over 110 adults and 25 children on Sunday mornings, sometimes finding a free chair can be tricky but it’s a problem we love to have.

Building a Haven

The Building Project continues to move forward, with Dave Stirk and the building team continuing to work hard, transforming ideas into practical plans along with the architects and other bodies. The plans for the outside of church are sure to transform the space and, as a congregation, I'm sure we can't wait to see it become a reality. Also planned are toilet/kitchen facilities and new heating. More information is available about the building in Dave Stirk’s report.

We are grateful to Dave Stirk and Dave Pennock for their practical work in maintaining and improving the building, and to Phil Harman for his ongoing work in developing and improving our technical capabilities.

Communal Worship

Once again, we have been blessed with some excellent teaching series in the past year and are grateful to Al, Andy and Sam, in particular, for their commitment to teaching and helping us grow in understanding and faith. Our most recent series has been about the Cross and there have been some excellent sermons based on the book The Crucifixion, by Fleming Rutledge. Prior to this we had a Generous Giving month and had teaching about all aspects of giving - time, money, skills. The month led to an increase in monthly, as well as one-off, giving, and in volunteering – thank you!

Al has encouraged new leaders to lead services, and we have now started having young people co leading as well. Our services have remained available online for those unable to attend.

We have a growing number of musicians in the worship team with a variety of instruments and are so grateful for their commitment to lead us each week in worship. It is particularly encouraging to have several teenagers and students taking part on a regular basis.

In July 2025 we started a regular Sunday evening prayer and worship evening - this open and spontaneous session has been a blessed time to worship and wait on the Lord together in an open and contemplative way. There have been words of encouragement and prayerful responses over the months. The meeting is gradually becoming a regular monthly event.

Teaching and Discipleship

During the year, after returning from his study leave, Al led a six-week discipleship course titled “Servants of God.” The course was well received and well attended, bringing together members from both St Thomas’s and St Wulstan’s. It provided an encouraging opportunity to reflect more deeply on what it means to live lives of service as followers of Jesus and helped strengthen connections between the two congregations.

Events and Activities during the year

It is good to look back and remember how much has happened with a big variety of one-off and regular activities.

One highlight was the Snowdrop Recitals Organ Concert, hearing our historic and very good organ played by a top professional created a truly amazing sound.

Many other events have taken place – all with the desire to build relationships both within the church and with the local community. From trips to the seaside to Women’s Breakfasts to Sunday lunches at church.

We have a growing number of families and children in the church and are grateful to Lucy and Dan Baines for their prayerful and creative leadership of this ministry. The year has seen lots of fun one-off events for families and young people. We are grateful also to Jonny Wooldridge for his leadership of the young teenagers’ group, Deeper (and action songs on Sundays!). It was great to see several of our young people being baptised and giving heart-felt testimonies.

Several residential weekends have been a huge success – our women’s weekend to the Jonas centre, our youth weekend to the lakes and also our students and young adults trip to Wydale. These weekend trips have offered the opportunity to deepen faith whilst growing friendships and connections

Bubble Church has continued, led by Andy with support from Dan, Lucy and others. The services are based at St Wulstan’s, providing a great opportunity to work together and encourage young families into Church.

St Wulstan’s

We continue to think and pray about our future relationship with St Wulstan’s and how both congregations can thrive and support each other. We thank Stuart and Dee Dyas for taking a key role in leading services there and supporting the church pastorally.

Mission Partners

We continue to support Chris and Suzy Wilson working with CMS in Ethiopia and Louise Barclay Johnson working for Fusion down in London. We have been lucky enough to increase our giving to several local charities and organisations including the local Scout group, Family Matters York, Restore, YoYo, Besom York, Chocolate & Co and Musical Connections.

This year the church also chose to support ministry in Russia, helping to train church planters through The Moscow Evangelical Seminary, following a visit from Sasha Tsutserov who shared about this work with us.

It was encouraging to hear about the impact of this ministry and to consider how we can play a small part in supporting the training and equipping of church leaders in other parts of the world.

Looking Ahead

As we look ahead, we continue to pray that St Thomas’s will grow further as a place of welcome, worship and service - a true haven in our neighbourhood where people can encounter the love and peace of Jesus.

We remain thankful for the faithfulness of the congregation and for the many ways in which people contribute to the life of the church. It is a privilege to serve as wardens in such a vibrant and caring community.

Gilly Dickons and Matt Neale

Community and Pastoral Work

The last year has seen us continue to build on the community work that’s now well-established through the various mid-week cafes that we run. Our Creative Café is thriving and welcomes 25-30 people each week, many of whom don’t otherwise have a church connection. Lots of the people who come to our Creative Café were also involved in our Christmas Craft fair, at which we sold many of the items we’d made during the year, raising a magnificent £900! Huge thanks go to Jo Bloss, who leads our Creative Café, and organised the craft fair.

Our creative ministry also includes the ‘Peaced Together’ and ‘Going Deeper’ courses, which Jo also heads up. Both courses bring God’s healing through creative ministry but ‘Going Deeper’ also has a Christian element, looking at Jesus’ relationships with women in the Bible. We ran a ‘Peaced Together’ course in the autumn and hope to start another course soon.

Numbers at our Tuesday lunchtime Community Café tend to fluctuate, (with no obvious reason why) but average 10-15. The café is a great opportunity to build relationships with people who live locally, and we’ve got to know many of our ‘regulars’ well. As well as the opportunity for a chat and a free bacon sandwich (cooked to perfection by Reg and Janet), a new addition to the café this year has been ‘The Clothes Peg’, a chance to pick up warm winter clothing at no cost during the winter months. Thanks are due to Linda Clements and Angela Kirby for their wonderful work to make this happen, and to all those who donated clothing.

Our Thursday Communion Service and Café continue to be a key part of the week for those who come, providing a mid-week time for worship and fellowship with others from church.

As well as these regular events, we’ve also had a number of one-off community events this year. In May, we took part in the first Groves Association Spring Festival, hosting Dave Nevard’s Art Exhibition, ‘Drawn to Perfection’, a prayer space, and a community ceilidh on the Saturday, and a family fun day after our Sunday service. In September, we welcomed new students to York with a walk around the city walls, followed by afternoon tea at church, and on Christmas Day we served lunch to 30 people who would otherwise have been on their own. Most recently Maya James and Lydia and Andy Hindle organised a joint St Thomas/St Wulstan’s games afternoon. Thank you to all the volunteers and to everyone who contributed to make these events possible.

Our women’s ministry has continued steadily this year, with bi-monthly breakfasts which have almost outgrown the hall! Thirty of us went to the Jonas Centre for our women’s weekend away in July 2025 and

we currently have 31 women booked on our third annual weekend away, which is coming up in May. Many of the women who come to the breakfasts and the weekend away are not members of our church but are part of our wider network, and it’s lovely to see these ‘bridges’ being built between our different communities.

(Sam Nunes reports that we also organized a number of men’s events during 2025, including a curry night and a quiz night. Since the start of 2026, we have had two very well attended men’s breakfasts, which have included a short video and discussion. We plan to continue these on a regular basis.)

As members of a church family, many of us are involved in pastoral care to some extent, looking out for each other and supporting each other through hard times. A lot of pastoral care also happens in and through our various home groups. Al, Sam, Lucy and I have supplemented this care throughout this year, meeting with lots of people to listen and pray with them. As a church we have also provided lots of meals for people during times of difficulty and have given several grants from our hardship fund. We have also issued several foodbank vouchers this year and have made two successful applications to the ACTS 435 charity for financial support to buy household goods. We hope that all these things demonstrate God’s love in practical ways.

Anne Wooldridge

Students & young adults

It's been another year of the Lord's grace at St Thomas' with the students & young adults! The young adults have continued to meet once a month at Roger Boulton & Ruth Dunlop's (thank you both!), where, alongside food, we've considered various biblical themes like sex & relationships, being born again & others. I continue to try to meet one-to-one with each at least once a semester, and various members of the congregation mentor individuals too. Please get in touch with me if you're reading this & would like to be involved with mentoring students/young adults.

Our weekend away happened at the end of February 2026, and we were blessed by the visit of Joe Winstone, who spoke to us on the letter of 2 Peter! We also had a walk on the coast of Scarborough & many good friendships developed in what was a memorable time away! Many thanks to the Pennocks for their help with catering too!

I also want to thank several congregation members, who have regularly given lifts to students to & from the University of York on Sunday mornings! We, as a church, are very grateful to the young adults for their commitment to home groups particularly & serving on Sundays! Over the past six months, we have missed a couple of students who no longer come on Sundays. Do pray that the Lord might draw them to himself & back to fellowship of some sort, be it at St Thomas' or elsewhere!

Sam Nunes

Children and Families at St Thomas’

It has been another year of growth and flourishing for the children and families at St T's. We've enjoyed some great times together including our Light Party on Halloween and Good Friday Tots Extra. Last summer we also hosted a holiday club for our primary school aged children each Thursday morning of the holidays, where we had fun together learning bible stories through crafts, games and quizzes.

On Sundays we now have three well established Sunday School groups; Bubbles for our 2-4 year olds, Splash for the 5-7 year olds and Waves for the 8-11 year olds who have enjoyed meeting over at Choc and Co. We continued to use the Foundation Stones Resources and learnt about some key Old Testament characters. Then post Christmas we moved over to using online material from Energise where we've learnt about the life and teachings of Jesus.

Tiny Tots has continued to be a fun, welcoming space on Friday mornings for preschoolers and their carers. We have seen more crossover this year of Tots families attending our other events, Bubble Church and even Sunday Services.

We have also continued to look at how we can be an accessible and welcoming space to all and this was especially supported by some fantastic training by Bev Nunes, OT, who helped us think more about how we can increase our understanding and empathy for Neurodivergent children. We are also looking forward to having some training in the not too distant future on using Makaton in our action songs so that children who attend and use Makaton as their main communication tool will be able to join in our worship.

All of this could not have happened without the support and hard work of our fantastic Children and Families Workers and Children and Families Steering Group. So thank you to the valuable members of this fantastic team and thank you too for all those who regularly pray and support the Children and Families at St Thomas'.

Lucy Baines

The Children’s and Families Steering Group meets three or four times a year to support Lucy Baines Children and Families Leader) and to pray and plan for the future growing work among children and families. Lucy produces a really interesting termly newsletter about the work that has been happening and distributes this to all the families with Children. If you would like to receive this and support this ministry in the church please ask Lucy.

Other members of the group include: Grace Wheeldon, Rachel Harman, Dave Nevard, Bryony Dansey, Ruth Dunlop and Lucy Baines.

This year we have focused on identifying, finding and resourcing training. We will be inducting and training new leaders for children’s groups this year as numbers continue to grow. If we can find the appropriate spaces (which may include a group at Door 84) we will subdivide one of the largest groups. Sometimes we need volunteers to help preparing craft materials and we always need people to pray for the families and activities for children!

We have planned first aid training (for adults as well as children) and Makaton signing for worship and in our children’s groups and activities. The Church of England has produced some online training about Neurodiversity in the church and this will be used to supplement the great training Bev Nunes provided this year.

With Maya, Lucy has introduced a system of lanyards for identifying children’s leaders and improved registration so that children and families arriving for the first time can confidently communicate their children’s needs before they are left with people who are new to them.

We always consider safeguarding to ensure what we do keeps children and vulnerable adults in our community safe. We look forward to working with our new Safeguarding Officer, Rachel, on this area.

Up to now we have been focused on Children in the 0-11 age groups but look forward to working with the leaders of Deeper (12-18) in future.

As always we are grateful for all those who volunteer to show and share Jesus’ love with all our children and families.

Ruth Dunlop

Deeper (11+ Youth)

We are so grateful to the team who have enabled Deeper to run on a Sunday evening between 6 and 7:30 – Jonny Wooldridge, Esther Irving, Ben Morgan, Emily Elks and other helpers.

The aim of the group is, as the name suggests, a time to go deeper into exploring faith. We do this in a variety of ways, from following a particular set programme (eg the ‘Limitless’ youth videos), to having guests who talk about their own faith and how it affects their lives or discussion of the sermon most have heard that morning in church.

We start by eating together and chatting, then have some form of study and then end with a game.

The group has continued to grow, as some have moved into year 7 and joined, and as some current members have invited friends.

We celebrated with five of the group in early 2025 as they were baptised, and then with another two who were confirmed in January 2026.

There was a memorable weekend away in the Lake District in June 2025, with another planned for later in 2026.

We try to encourage the young people to feel a part of the church as individuals (not just by association with their parents) and so encourage them to play an active part in volunteering. It's great to see many involved in things such as helping with Sunday School, welcoming, doing the drinks after the service, leading services, being in the music group and leading the action songs (part of the now famous Action Squad!)

We hope from September to develop the group so that we can have age appropriate discussion groups – in the new school year we will range from school years 7 to 12!

St Thomas’ Church KEYS Recovery Project Centre Annual Report

Over the course of the last year, we’ve welcomed a further 20 new clients to our drop-in sessions on Monday evenings. As is the nature of our work, some of these people have only attended once or twice, and some come and go, but several have become regular clients, and we now have a core community of about 10 people. The total number of attendances for the year has been 234, giving us an average of 4-5 clients a week. We’re very happy to have been able to start one-to-one mentoring too now, with two clients having regular weekly mentoring with volunteers for the last several months.

Statistics like these are important to be able to track our work from a quantitative perspective but, of course, they only paint a very small part of the picture. It’s hard to quantify the value of being part of a supportive recovery community, and the change in the lives of those who come. It’s a privilege to witness the steady recovery of a number of people from addiction though, and the blossoming of their

relationships with God. We were especially delighted that two of our regular clients chose to be confirmed in their faith by Bishop Flora at our service in January.

In November we marked the first anniversary of the opening of our drop-in centre with two great evenings of celebrations, the first for our wider church, which included a quiz and auction of promises which raised £875 for the KEYS national charity. It was particularly encouraging that several of our clients contributed lots for our auction, volunteering to clean windows, valet cars and do gardening. For our second celebration, Rachel and Nigel Poulton very generously hosted a delicious thanksgiving meal for our clients and volunteers, which was a wonderful blessing to us all and an opportunity to thank God for the work He is doing through KEYS.

The other highlight of the year was a trip to The Proclaim Trust’s Fixed 25 Conference in Bolton in September, which was attended by 10 of our KEYS clients and volunteers. It was very encouraging to hear the stories of other people whose lives have been transformed by God and was an inspiration to us all.

This month we have two exciting events coming up. On the 18[th] I’ll be going with 3 of our volunteers to the National KEYS Team Day in London, to meet with other KEYS groups from around the country for fellowship and training. And on the 29[th] we’ll be hosting a stall at the City of York Council’s Inclusive Recovery Event at the LNER Community Stadium. This will bring together local authority leaders, employers, community organisations, health partners, and people with lived experience to explore what it means to become an Inclusive Recovery City and the practical actions required to support recovery, inclusion, and opportunity across our city.

This year we have been blessed by a second installment of £5K of funding from York Foodbank, which has contributed to my salary as Centre Co-ordinator, which became a paid role in July 2025.

Thanks, as always, are due to our lovely team of KEYS volunteers – Joy, Jayne, Gill, Liz, Nigel and Wayne, without whom this work couldn’t happen, and to God for his continued provision for us.

Anne Wooldridge

Fabric Report

I can report that we continued to maintain the church buildings and grounds. There are a few items to mention and they are as follows.

Roof work: Unfortunately, several roof slates were dislodged, but we managed to get a roofer in with a cherry picker to replace/repair any broken ones. We were very pleased to have been able to get them in quickly.
Hall: I mentioned in last year’s report that we would like to replace the hall carpet, we did this, replacing it with a vinyl covering that has proved to be ideal for the job. We also needed the Hall repainting, our thanks go to Jonny Wooldridge and his team for carrying out this work, making the area much brighter and welcoming.
Stonework: The condition of the stonework continues to be a concern. The PCC via The Building Group (Building a Haven Project) have employed a consultant to make an application to the Heritage Lottery Fund for help in funding the work, we hope to get this done soon. Please continue to pray for a positive response to our application.
Heating: We experienced a heating boiler break down in December; it took a while to get it repaired but we managed to cope. The boiler is quite old and a priority for the coming year is to plan for replacing the whole heating system.

Maintenance: We are looking to establish a St Thomas' Maintenance Steering Group to help oversee tasks such as gardening, repair work, tidying, cleaning, painting etc around St Thomas' church. If you would be interested in being a part of this group, or would like to know more information about it, please email info@sthomasyork.org

I would like to finish by thanking everyone for the work they have done during this past year in helping maintain and care for our church, also to Steve Turner for the cleaning and gardening throughout the year.

Dave Stirk

Building a Haven

Over a year on from floor levelling and automatic doors being installed inside the church entrance, you might be wondering where and when further progress towards our goal will next be seen.

Well, after assessing what looks affordable and exactly what as a church we would like to improve, there is a strict process - “obtaining a faculty” - that the Church of England requires us to follow, working with our church architect, before changes can be made to the building. We also have to source reputable tradesmen and obtain and compare quotations before any work can be commissioned. All this inevitably takes significant time, of course.

However we are hopeful, given the planning done this year, that the next twelve months might see an accessible toilet installed in the vestibule/narthex together with new facilities on the left (organ) side of the main space to make preparation of hot drinks easier within the church itself. Some changes to the church’s immediate external surroundings, eg removing railings, are also under active consideration.

Other, large items remain important, principally to repair or replace external stonework, which continues to deteriorate, and moving to a low-carbon (and more effective) heating system for the future. Either of these would require very substantial funding, which inevitably adds uncertainty to how quickly we might progress.

The Building Group itself is now five years old and continues to meet every 6-8 weeks, reporting to PCC. The current members are Dave Pennock, Dave Stirk, Jonny Wooldridge and Roger Boulton (chair). We would welcome hearing from anyone interested in helping with fundraising or communications . Once again, I would like to express great gratitude to Dave Stirk for all the time and careful thought he gives both to the maintenance of St Thomas’s the building and to “Building a Haven”.

Roger Boulton

(More information will be available, and a chance for Q&A, at the AGM.)

2nd St Thomas (York) Scout Group

I have been writing these reports for seven years. You would think that I would have gotten the hang of them by now. It’s not so much that I don’t know what to say, more a case of not knowing where to begin.

This is my first report as Group Lead Volunteer. For those more familiar with Scouting roles, that was Group Scout Leader in old money, and Group Scout Master for those whose memories go back even further. Scouting, like so many other things in life, has changed. We are now in our 70th year, and 2027 will mark 100 years since Al’s predecessor opened the very first Scout group attached to St Thomas’ church on

Lowther Street. We are using this double birthday as an opportunity to look back and reflect on the changes: good, bad and otherwise, and also to look forward to the next 70 or 100 years.

This is a very exciting time to be connected with Scouting in York. We are now one big district: City of York, rather than Minster and Ebor Districts (although this is more of an overdue u-turn). At the heart of this change is the opportunity to pool our resources across the city to help provide adventure. Our young people have already grasped these opportunities with both hands at the District Youth Forum and District Engineering challenge, which took place on the same weekend at the end of March. Our Beavers and Cubs will also benefit from this new arrangement once everything, and everyone, has settled in.

Our group continues to grow, and the future is very bright and exciting. An increase in young people and new recruits in the volunteering team means that we are able to run our first all group residential in a few weeks. The Young People will be taking part in water based activities and it will be a good point again to pause and reflect on the community we have built. We have also recently launched our own Explorer Scout Unit for our young people completing their Young Leader awards. We will be adding new members to our family over the next few months with the launch of our Squirrel Scout Drey, which is the youngest section in Scouting for children aged 4 to 6 years. Currently, this is penciled in to launch in September 2026. When plans are finalised we will be on the look out for new young people and adults to join our family, so please do keep your eyes peeled. All being well, with these additions, we will be able to offer Scouting to young people in the Groves and surrounding area from ages 4-18.

We are grateful to the PCC and the wider St Thomas’ church community for their support this year. We hope to continue sharing our success with you for many more years. If you have memories of your own time in our group you would like to share ahead of our birthday celebrations, or you would like to join in the adventure, please feel free to get in touch.

Tom Mann

Group Lead Volunteer

2nd St Thomas (York) Scout Group 2ndsthomasyork@gmail.com