The
Diocese of
St Edmundsbury and Ipswich
Annual Report
and
Financial Statements
of the
Parochial Church Council
of
St Mary's
Church Stoke by Nayland Suffolk CO64QH
For the year ended 31 December 2025
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THE PAROCHIAL CHURCH COUNCIL OF THE ECCLESIASTICAL PARISH OF ST. MARY, STOKE BY NAYLAND. Charity number: 120181
ANNUAL REPORT AND FINANCIAL STATEMENTS For the year ended 31 December 2025 THE PAROCHIAL CHURCH COUNCIL OF THE ECCLESIASTICAL PARISH OF ST. MARY, STOKE BY NAYLAND Registered Charity number 1201816
THE PAROCHIAL CHURCH COUNCIL OF THE ECCLESIASTICAL PARISH OF ST. MARY, STOKE BY NAYLAND
Aim and purposes.
St Mary's Parochial Church Council (PCC) has the responsibility of cooperating with the incumbent, the Reverend Stephane Javelle in promoting in the ecclesiastical parish, the whole mission of the church, pastoral, evangelistic, social and ecumenical. The PCC is also specifically responsible for the maintenance of the Church of St Mary's, Stoke by Nayland
Objectives and activities
The PCC is committed to enabling as many people as possible to worship at our church and to become part of our parish community at St Mary's. 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 Charity Commission's guidance on public benefit and, in particular, the supplementary guidance on charities for the
advancement of religion. In particular, we try to enable ordinary people to live out their faith as part of our parish community through:
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Worship and prayer; learning about the gospel; developing their knowledge and trust
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in Jesus.
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Provision of pastoral care for people living in the parish
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Missionary and outreach work.
To facilitate this work, it is important that we maintain the fabric of the church of St Mary's.
Achievements and performance
Worship and prayer.
The PCC is keen to offer a range of services in this parish and throughout the Benefice, during the week and over the course of the year that our community find both beneficial and spiritually fulfilling.
We have a regular pattern of services which has a sung Evensong, 2 communions services, one at 8am, which is a ministry of the word service with no music, and the other an 11am service with hymns. The 4THE PAROCHIAL CHURCH COUNCIL OF THE ECCLESIASTICAL PARISH OF ST. MARY, STOKE BY NAYLAND.th Sunday is a sung Morning prayer. In addition, time and thought has been spent 1 on how to make the services easy to follow for all. This has included having printed service Charity number: 120181 sheets which many find easier to follow.
All are welcome to attend our regular services. At present there are 41 parishioners on the church electoral roll. This is down from 42 last year.
The average weekly attendance, counted during October, was 15 but this number increased at festivals, and the Christmas carol services had an attendance of 403, but over 200 hundred attended the other advent services such as carols on the Green and the school Carol service.
As well as our regular services, we enable our community to celebrate and thank God at the milestones of the journey through life. Through baptism we thank God for the gift of
life: in marriage public vows are exchanged with God's blessing; through funeral services friends and family express their grief and give thanks for the life, which is now complete in this world, and commend the person into God's keeping. We have celebrated 3 baptisms and 2 weddings and held 3 funerals in our church this year, as well as having 2 burials of ashes.
These numbers are down on previous years but have been affected by the Scaffolding being up in the main aisle for several months.
Deanery Synod
One member of the PCC sits on the Deanery Synod. This provides the PCC with an important link between the parish and the wider structures of the Church. We can send another member to the synod, and are actively looking for another volunteer to attend.
The Church
We want our church to be open to our community for private prayer. It is open every day until dusk, thanks to the rota of villagers who open and lock up the church; to whom we are very grateful.
The children's area has been cleared and cleaned and is used by villagers to meet, in a safe space for the children to play in. During services, families can use the area if the children are restless!
Our local village Primary school, Stoke by Nayland C of E Primary School, maintains close links with the school; Rev Stephane goes in to take collective worship every week, the school comes into the church on many occasions, both to hold services and to use it as a learning space. Rev Val Armstrong runs 'Kids Club" at the school, which is faith based, and is always oversubscribed. The school is part of the St Edmundsbury and Ipswich Multi Academy Trust.
We could not host any concerts this year, because of the extensive building works; although the Stoke Singers did use the church for a Christmas concert. We hope to return to a fuller programme of concerts next year.
At Harvest time we held a very successful community Churchyard clearing session. We hope this will become an annual event.
An auction was held in the village Hall in aid of Church Funds, and we would like to thank the Wilson’s for their hard work on this event.
Pastoral care
Some members of our parish are unable to attend church due to sickness or age. June Smith carries out pastoral visits in the village and Rev Stephane will visit church members who request it, to celebrate communion with them either at their homes or in hospital.
Mission and evangelism
Helping those in need is a demonstration of our faith. We, as a benefice, have until very recently run 4 Community Pantries, with ours running in the South Porch. It was well used and appreciated by those who used it. We also run a hardship fund, to give financial support to those who are struggling.
The local villages magazine, The LSPN magazine kept our parishioners informed of the important matters affecting our church and articles that help develop our knowledge and trust in Jesus. (Since this time the Newsletter has been discontinued)
We have a Church website and regularly post information on Facebook and a Church Near You..
Ecumenical relationships
As there are no other churches of other denominations in our benefice with an official
presence, we have a policy of welcoming all at worship at our churches. Indeed, we have THE PAROCHIAL CHURCH COUNCIL OF THE ECCLESIASTICAL PARISH OF ST. MARY, STOKE BY NAYLAND. 2 members of the Methodist Church and the Baptist Church on our Ministry team.Charity number: 120181
Financial Review
Total receipts of unrestricted funds were £31,932 (£53,045 in 2024), of which £11,881 (£11,995 in 2024) were unrestricted planned voluntary donations, and a further £4,245 (£3,859 in 2024) was from reclaimed Gift Aid. The unrestricted collections from services decreased to £2,634 from £4,403 in 2024, due to a couple of well attended funeral services in 2024. Other unrestricted donations were £5,279 (£25,948 in 2024), the fall due to a large legacy received in 2024.
Restricted grants and donations of £179,564 (£34,487 in 2024) were also received, the majority of which was for the major restoration project of the South Clerestory, and details are shown in the financial statements. Notable grants were received from the National Churches Trust £55,761, Enovert Community Trust £20,000, Congregational and General Charitable Trust £15,000, Historic England £13,531, Garfield Weston Foundation, £10,000, Dedham Vale NL £7,500, the Friends of St Mary’s £7,000, and Suffolk Historic Churches Trust £6,000.
The Village Auction was run in 2025, towards the Spring Fair restricted fund that made grants to village good causes. The total income was £2,826, against costs of £134. Grants were made to the Community Pantry and Hardship Fund of £500, the Village Lunches £250, Recreation Ground £200, Village Hall £200, and the Village School £200. A further grant of £1,350 was made to the Church Fabric Fund.
Unrestricted expenditure was £33,029 (£32,253 in 2024) of which the greatest component was £20,930 (£20,600 in 2024) for the Parish Share, which is paid to the diocese for the provision of clergy. Restricted expenditure of £158,342 (£173,865 in 2024) was almost entirely on maintaining and restoring the fabric of the building.
In July 2025 a new phase of building restorations commenced with repairs to the south clerestory, which will continue into 2026.
Net movement in unrestricted funds was a reduction £21,243 which was mainly due to transfers of £20,146 to the restricted fabric fund to cover expenditure on necessary repairs highlighted in the November 2024 Quinquennial Inspection report. These included a lychgate new shingle roof, south porch window repairs, high level bulb replacement, and a survey of the tower, following louvres falling to the ground. During the year, the total fund balances increased from £58,778 to £86,405, of which £6,435 is general or unrestricted funds.
Reserves policy
It is PCC policy to try to maintain a balance on free reserves (net current assets) of THE PAROCHIAL CHURCH COUNCIL OF THE ECCLESIASTICAL PARISH OF ST. MARY, STOKE BY NAYLAND. £10,000 which is equivalent to about three months unrestricted payments. It is held to Charity number: 120181 smooth out fluctuations in cash flow and to meet emergencies. The balance of
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the free reserves at the year-end was £6,435 which was below this target. The PCC is resolved to address this reserves shortfall by increasing fundraising events and, potentially, reducing our Parish Share contribution to the benefice.
Volunteers
We would like to thank all the volunteers who work so hard to make our church the lively and vibrant community it is. In particular, we want to mention our churchwarden, June Smith has worked so tirelessly on our behalf. Dr Angela Colclough has worked tirelessly to gain grants to help fund the major repairs we have had to undertake. As well as these, there is the army of helpers who act largely behind the scenes, sides people, readers, elders, refreshment providers, lesson readers, intercessors, flower arrangers, cleaners, linen ironers, bell ringers, the key roster and many others.
Structure, governance and management.
he Parochial Church Council is a corporate body established by the Church of England. The PCC operates under the Parochial Church Council Powers Measure. The PCC is a Registered Charity.
The method of appointment of PCC members is set out in the Church Representation Rules. At St Mary's, the membership of the PCC consists of the incumbent (our Rector), churchwarden, the Elders and 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.
The full PCC met four times during the year with an average level of attendance of 95% Given its wide responsibilities the PCC has a committee dealing with a particular aspect of parish life, the fabric and finance, which is responsible to the PCC and report back to it regularly, minutes of their decisions being received by the full PCC and discussed as necessary.
Related Parties
The total amount of donations, including Gift Aid, from trustees during the reporting period was £ 3,764 (£4,301 in 2024). There were no other related party transactions.
THE PAROCHIAL CHURCH COUNCIL OF THE ECCLESIASTICAL PARISH OF ST. MARY, STOKE BY NAYLAND. Charity number: 120181
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Administrative information
St Mary's Church is situated in School Street, Stoke by Nayland. It is part of the Diocese of
St Edmundsbury and Ipswich within the Church of England. The correspondence address is CO6 4LA St James' Vicarage, Bear Street, Nayland, Suffolk,
Registered charity number: 1201816
PCC members who have served at any time from the last APCM until the date this report was approved, are:
Ex officio members:
Incumbent:
The Reverend Stephane Javelle (chairman)
Elders
Mr. Adam Sedgwick
Mrs. Jane Addis (Secretary)
Mrs. June Smith (Church Warden and Vice Chair)
Elected members:
Dr Angela Colclough (representative on Deanery Synod)
Dr. Martin Owen (Treasurer)
Mr. Justin Judd
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THE PAROCHIAL CHURCH COUNCIL OF THE ECCLESIASTICAL PARISH OF ST. MARY, STOKE BY NAYLAND. Charity number: 120181
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Independent examiner’s report to the trustees of the Parochial Church Council of St Mary’s, Stoke by Nayland.
I report on the accounts of the church for the year ended 31 December 2025 which are set out on pages 7 to 10.
Respective Responsibilities of Trustees and Examiner
The church's trustees are responsible for the preparation of the accounts. The church's trustees consider that an audit is not required for this year under section 144(2) of the Charities Act 2011 (the 2011 Act)) and that an independent examination is needed.
It is my responsibility to:
Examine the accounts under section 145 of the 2011 Act);
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- To follow the procedures laid down in the General Directions given by the Charity Commissioners (under section 145(5)(b) of the 2011 Act); and
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To state whether particular matters have come to my attention.
Basis of Independent Examiner's report
My examination was carried out in accordance with the general Directions given by . the Charity Commission. An examination includes a review of the accounting records kept by the charity and a 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 you as 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 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:
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accounting records were not kept in accordance with section 130 of the Act or
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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.
THE PAROCHIAL CHURCH COUNCIL OF THE ECCLESIASTICAL PARISH OF ST. MARY, STOKE BY NAYLAND. Charity number: 120181
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----- Start of picture text -----
Unrestricted Restricted
Note Funds £ Funds £ Total 2025 £ Total 2024 £
Receipts
Voluntary receipts
Planned giving 5 11,881 - 11,881 12,095
Collections at services 2,634 - 2,634 4,403
All other giving/voluntary receipts 5,279 168,558 173,837 30,030
Gift Aid recovered 4,245 337 4,582 4,179
VAT recovered - 10,669 10,669 29,986
24,039 179,564 203,602 80,693
Activities for generating funds
Spring Fair - 2,826 2,826 15,657
Art Exhibition - - - 9,341
Other Events 3,072 - 3,072 3,041
3,072 2,826 5,897 28,038
Investment income - 3,213 3,213 4,246
Church activities
Benefice fees 4,822 - 4,822 3,799
Retiring collections - 1,464 1,464 917
4,822 1,464 6,286 4,716
Total Receipts 31,932 187,067 218,999 117,692
Payments
Church activities
Parish Share 20,930 - 20,930 20,600
Organists 6 1,391 - 1,391 1,600
Regular running costs 5,481 - 5,481 6,033
Utilities 4,082 - 4,082 3,650
Churchyard - - - -
Mission giving and grants - 1,350 1,350 6,500
Fabric - 156,054 156,054 153,477
Retiring collections paid - 504 504 1,134
Repayment of Erroneous Receipts 1,146 - 1,146 -
33,029 157,907 190,937 192,994
Cost of generating funds
Spring Fair - 134 134 6,026
Art Exhibition - - - 6,729
Other Events - 301 301 369
- 435 435 13,124
Total Payments 33,029 158,342 191,372 206,118
Excess of Receipts over Payments (1,097) 28,724 27,627 (88,426)
Transfers between funds (20,146) 20,146 - -
Movements during the year (21,243) 48,870 27,627 (88,426)
Balances incl. investments, cash etc at 1 Jan 27,678 31,100 58,778 147,205
Balances incl. investments, cash etc at 31 Dec 4 6,435 79,970 86,405 58,778
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Notes to the Financial Statements of 31st December 2025
1. Accounting Policies
The financial statements of the PCC for 2025 have been prepared in accordance with the Church Accounting Regulations 2016 using the format of a receipts and payments account.
2. Funds
General funds represent the funds of the PCC that are not subject to any special restrictions regarding their use and are available for application to the general purposes of the PCC. All the other funds are restricted in their use to their designated purposes.
Expenditures on the internal and external fabric of the Church and on its upkeep, security, maintenance and development are chargeable to the Fabric Fund (which includes the assets of the former Chancels Fund and the Spencer Trust).
The Piano Fund is restricted to the upkeep and tuning of the grand piano given to the church by the late Miss Barbara Emma Hazel Finch.
The Fabric Bells Fund is restricted to the upkeep of the bells.
The Restoration Fund was established to include donations towards major repairs. The South Clerestory Fund was established specifically for the south clerestory.
The Spring Fair Fund is restricted to the fund raising around the spring fair, and makes grants to village good causes.
The outstanding Retiring Collections of £1,177 relate to the Christmas Carol service collection, of which half was to benefit the Community Pantry and Hardship Fund. The payment was made in the first week of January.
| Un- restricted |
Restricted Fabric |
Restricted Restoration |
Restricted South Clerestory |
Restricted Spring Fair |
Restricted Piano |
Restricted Fabric Bells |
Retiring Collections |
Total | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Balance at 1 Jan 2025 |
27,678 | - | 23,751 | 4,250 | 623 | 945 | 1,531 | - | 58,778 |
| Incoming Resources | 31,932 | 36,488 | 21,255 | 124,799 | 2,844 | - | - | 1,681 | 218,999 |
| Resources Expended |
(33,029) | (49,706) | (14,740) | (91,909) | (1,484) | - | - | (504) | (191,372) |
| Transfer between funds |
(20,146) | 20,146 | 38,490 | (37,140) | (1,350) | - | - | - | - |
Balance at 31 Dec 2025 |
6,435 | 6,928 | 68,755 | - | 634 | 945 | 1,531 | 1,177 | 86,405 |
3. Use of Resources
The accounts include monetary transactions, assets and liabilities for which the PCC can be held responsible. They do not include other Church Groups that owe an affiliation to another body, nor those that are informal gatherings of Church members.
4. Assets & Liabilities of the Church
Page 7 of the accounts includes investments, which are valued at the balance sheet date, together with closing bank balances and debtors and creditors at the balance sheet date.
The following assets are not included in the accounts:
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Movable Church furnishings held by the churchwardens on special trust for the PCC which require a faculty for disposal;
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Land and buildings held on behalf of the PCC;
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Other fixtures, fittings and office equipment where the PCC is free to dispose of such assets without faculty and where the original cost exceeds £1,000.
5. Further Analysis of Planned Giving Receipts
| 5. Further Analysis of Planned Giving Receipts | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Unrestricted | Restricted | ||
| Funds | Funds | Total 2025 £ Total 2024 £ | |
| Receipts | |||
| Planned giving | |||
| Envelope scheme | 1,625 | - | 1,625 2,259 |
| Standing Orders | 5,145 | - | 5,145 4,615 |
| Parish Giving Scheme | 5,111 | - | 5,111 5,221 |
| 11,881 | - | 11,881 12,095 |
6. Organist Fees
The organist fees also includes the costs of candles and some other materials.