2024-12-31-accounts - Colne Parish Church St. Bartholomew

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REPORT AND ACCOUNTS OF THE PAROCHIAL CHURCH COUNCIL 2024

Aims and Purposes

St. Bartholomew’s Parochial Church Council (PCC) has the responsibility of cooperating with Reverend Alex Oehring 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 Old Grammar School building known as the Parish Room in Colne.

Objectives and Activities

Trusting in the power of the Holy Spirit and the gospel of Jesus Christ, by 2030 we pray that we will see St. Bartholomew’s Church filled with people singing praises to God.

Our priorities for seeing this vision come to life are:

Accessible Worship . We want to see a church that is joyful in its worship, with vibrant, varied and Spirit-filled services suitable for all.

Therefore, we seek to provide :

Worship services that are Reflective and Contemplative.
Worship services that are Lively and Informal.
Worship services that are accessible to people who are new to church.
Worship services where families can worship together.
Worship services that people can invite friends to and where new people are welcomed in.
Growing Together as Followers of Jesus . We long for our congregation to be filled with men and women of all ages who are enthusiastic and confident in their faith and who desire to grow in love for God and for one another.

We seek to provide :

Regular opportunities to study the Bible, so that we can grow in faith.
Opportunities to pray together throughout the week.
Opportunities for people to discern their calling and their spiritual gifts.
Ways for people to grow in their personal prayer life and Bible reading.
Groups for men, women and seniors to gather together, to grow in faith, and serve God’s mission.
An effective pastoral ministry.

Opportunities for people to invest in building friendships within the church.
Create teams, according to their gifts, that will enable mission and service, and to raise new leaders.
Sharing the Good News of Jesus . We look forward to being a modern and accessible hub in the town of Colne. A place where we can share the love of Jesus Christ through word, action, and service.

Therefore, we will seek to :

Use our church building as a place where people can gather and build friendships.
Host evangelistic outreach events with engaging speakers and prayer ministry.
Provide accessible courses that introduce people to the Christian Faith, twice a year.
Serve those who are in need in our town, both in practical and spiritual ways.
Inspire members of the congregation to share their faith.
Shape our buildings so that they can maximise our mission capability.
Inspiring Families, Children and Young People . We want to inspire a new generation of families, children and young people to sustain our Christian presence in Colne.

Therefore, we seek to provide :

Engaging, Christ centred Sunday schools for 0-11s and 11-14s.
Accessible worship provision for families with young children
A youth group for 10-16s.
Accessible faith provision for 15-21s.
Events/ clubs that engage with families and young people.
Access to a summer Christian venture and/or Christian Festival.
Opportunities for over 11s to serve.
A Church Holiday Club for under 11s

Achievements and Performance

Accessible Worship

Our services provide a mix of worship and styles which provide for a breadth of spiritual needs. The addition of mobile video screens, now used for all of our services, helps newcomers who are no longer confronted with 3 or 4 books and gives us new opportunities for presenting the Word of God. Evensong services, reflective services at Christmas and Easter have expanded the style and range we offer.

Lively and informal All Age services continue to be a joy-filled expression of our worship to God and accessible to everyone. We believe we have a church where people can feel confident to bring friends to.

Growing Together as Followers of Jesus

This year we have provided opportunities for people to grow in their understanding of the Bible through three separate Bible Study Groups on Tuesdays, Wednesdays and Thursdays. We also ran a Bible Course from October to December. Morning Prayer at St. Bartholomew’s has grown to three times a week. We want prayer to be the lifeblood of this church. The main purpose of a Pastor to lead the people in prayer and to enable their prayer lives to flourish, when church is praying, God moves in!

Three people attended MPower training this year. This is a course that encourages people to discover their spiritual gifts and how they might use them to serve God. Fifteen attended an ALM Pastoral Care course designed to equip us to meet the pastoral ministry needs within the community.

Women Together and Mothers Union events are well attended. Our rector led a Diocesan Men’s Weekend in the Lake District in October 2024 with 50 attendees. In all of this we are engaging with new men and women.

We continue to provide social opportunities through various organised events. Friendship is so important as we journey in the Christian Faith. It contributes much to creating a healthy church.

Sharing the Good News of Jesus

We look forward to being a modern and accessible hub in the town of Colne. A place where we can share the love of Jesus Christ through word, action, and service.

We have a number of groups that meet within our church that provide contact between the church and the wider community. The Community Grocery, run from the church by volunteers, is growing and regularly serves more than 80 families. The Community Café we launched on Mondays, which serves cooked breakfasts, has been extended to provide lunches on Wednesdays as well. Our Barty Bear mother and toddlers group, a knitting Group and Open Days remain as popular as ever.

During the year we have run an Alpha Course and a Hope Explored Course. Hope Explored is a 3-week course looking at hope, peace and purpose. A team of five people lead a CAP Life Skills Course and the feedback from those attending was encouraging. ‘CAP’ is Christians Against Poverty and there is definitely a need for this in the town of Colne

Shaping our buildings so that they can maximise our mission capability - a plan for our Parish Room to make it suitable for the large amount of mission we are involved with is moving at a pace. Unfortunately, a lack of funds for a number of years meant our Parish Room had deteriorated to a poor state of repair and

requires major refurbishment, but this is now seen as an opportunity to make the building fit for purpose. Various groups still regularly use the main hall. For example, our Sunday School, the Barty Bear mother and toddler group and Rainbows for 4 - 7 year old girls. Plans for how we can revitalise the building are moving forward rapidly, the design was nearing completion at the end of 2024 and the next stage will be to seek planning permission. The funding needed for the work will be considerable, but grants and benefactors are actively being sought and we continue to pray for a positive outcome.

Inspiring Families, Children and Young People

Engaging, Christ-centred Sunday schools for 0-11s and 11-14s. We have started a 10-14s Sunday School group to cater for the growing number of young people within this age group.

All Age Worship is still our key access service for families. Explorers (a weekly school holiday club) does the same. We look to develop and build upon the success of this.

Our Youth Group has now been running for over 3 years and we have maintained between 15-20 teenagers attending each week. Having invested in the Urban Saints Energise – resource package, we’ve been able to engage with faith input much more consistently.

Summer 2024 saw 14 (aged 9-14) young people attend a CPAS Venture at Ripon. CPAS ventures are activity based with Christian teaching. We plan to repeat this next summer.

Opportunities for over 11s to serve; the choir and various tech we use in our services still provide this opportunity. Schools Outreach continues with the number of local schools in regular contact increasing.

Baptisms, Weddings and Funerals

As well as our regular worship services, during 2024, we celebrated 19 baptisms and 8 weddings. 11 funerals took place of which 5 were at the crematorium/cemetery only.

Electoral Roll

At present there are 120 parishioners on the Church Electoral Roll, 77 are resident and 43 non-resident within the parish.

Financial Review

Receipts into unrestricted/designated funds is £94,155. Of this total, £53,736 is from voluntary donations, £8,249 from fund raising, £8,738 from gift aid tax reclaims and £8,699 from wedding and funeral fees. It should be noted that a portion of these fees do not belong to St. Bartholomew’s, they are simply collected on behalf of Blackburn Diocese. Similarly, a condition of grants from the charities ‘Christians

Against Poverty’ (CAP) and ‘Acts 435’ stipulates they have to be paid into St Bartholomew’s Church current bank account and only from there can they be paid out to the grant beneficiary, therefore these cannot be treated as income.

Receipts into restricted funds are £68,393. Of this, £2000 is from Lancashire County Council for Life Skills courses, £10,317 from the Jessica Lofthouse endowment, specifically for repairs to the fabric of St Bartholomew’s Church building. £32,610 is grants and donations given to the church food bank (community grocery) and £13,333 in grants from Blackburn Diocese for Project Luke 4-18. £10,000 has been received to fund a church plant within Colne town’s North Valley estate.

£92,346 was used from unrestricted/designated funds to provide for the Christian ministry from St. Bartholomew’s Church. Of this, £32,205 has been paid in Parish Share to Blackburn Diocese and satisfies the share quota in full for 2024. Energy costs still feature heavily in the church running expenses with £9,806 paid for gas and electricity. £5,476 was given for home mission in our parish and donations to other charities.

£25,155 was spent from restricted funds on supplies for the community grocery. The grocery is funded by grants and donations made specifically for this purpose, it does not have access to other church funds. The level of spending on supplies for the community grocery demonstrate its importance to a growing number of families in the town of Colne.

The net result for 2024 is a surplus of receipts over payments of £2,240 in unrestricted funds. The balance of unrestricted/designated funds carried forward at 31[st] December 2024 is £2,248, a more healthy result than for 2023 and evidence of positive growth.

Structure, Governance and Management

The method of appointment of PCC members is set out in the Church Representation Rules. At St. Bartholomew’s the membership of the PCC consists of the incumbent (our Rector), the Associate Priest and members elected by people 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 be spent.

Administrative Information

St. Bartholomew’s Church is situated in Church Street, Colne. It is a part of the Colne Benefice in the Church of England Diocese of Blackburn. The correspondence address is The Rectory, Grenfell Gardens, Colne. The PCC is a body corporate (PCC Powers Measure 1956, Church Representation Rules 2011). The Church Representation and Ministers Measure 2019 came into force on 1[st] January 2020.

PCC members who have served at any time from 1st January 2024 until the date of this report are:

Ex Officio Members

Incumbent: The Reverend Alex Oehring (since 15[th] July 2021)

Wardens: Mrs. Amanda Kroukamp and Mrs. Louise Garnett

Deanery Representatives

Mrs. Nan Blenkinsopp Mrs. Patricia Taylor

Elected Members

Mrs. Janet Barrowclough (secretary, from May 2023)

Mrs. Jane Davey (from April 2019) Mrs. Holly Phillips (from April 2022)

Mr. David Hawthorne (from May 2023)

Mr. David Rayner (from May 2023)

Mr. Tony Davies (from May 2024)

Mr. Michael Warner, Treasurer, co-opted

Approved by the PCC and signed on their behalf by Rev Alex Oehring (PCC chairman)

Signed:

Date: 11[th] May 2025

Independent Examiner’s Report to the members/trustees of Colne St. Bartholomew’s Parochial Church Council

I report on the accounts for the year ended 31[st] December 2024, which are set out on pages 8 to 11.

Respective responsibilities of the Trustees and Independent 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
Follow the procedures laid down in the General Directions given by the Charity Commissioners section 145(5)(b) of the 2011 Act
State whether particular matters have come to my attention.

Basis of an Independent Examiner’s Statement

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

In connection with my examination, no matters have come to my attention which gives me reasonable cause to believe that in any material respect the requirements to keep accounting records in accordance with section 130 of the 2011 Act and to prepare accounts which accord with these accounting records have not been met or to which, in my opinion, attention should be drawn in order to enable proper understanding of the accounts to be reached.

Mr. Frank Whittaker, retired Swanfield Barn Keighley Road Colne

Signed:

Date: 3[rd] April 2025

Colne St. Bartholomew

PS226

Receipts and payments accounts

For the period from	1st January 2024	To	31st December 2024

Section A Receipts and payments

Section A Receipts and payments	Section A Receipts and payments	Section A Receipts and payments
Note Finance Return A1 Receipts			Unrestricted funds to nearest £ 29,602 6,435 8,316 9,383 2,954 3,000 8,738 8,549 1,405 11,188 89,570	Designated funds to nearest £	Restricted funds to nearest £ 2,102 65,150 132 1,009 68,393	Endowment funds to nearest £ -	Total funds to nearest £	2023 to nearest £
Voluntary Receipts				865 3,720 4,585
Planned Giving
Planned giving (tax efficient)		1	29,602				29,602	22,744
Planned giving (other)		2	6,435				6,435	7,193
Collections at services		3	8,316				8,316	6,585
Other giving / voluntary receipts	5a		9,383		2,102		12,350	13,406
Rectory expenses, share from Holy Trinity Church			2,954				2,954	1,200
Grants			3,000		65,150		68,150	40,783
Acts 4-35 incoming receipts							3,720	3,600
Gift Aid Recovered		6	8,738				8,738	9,546
Activities for generating funds	5b	9	8,549				8,549	4,844
Investment income	5c	10	1,405		132		1,537	1,461
Church Activities	5d		11,188		1,009		12,197 162,548	10,706 122,068
*Sub total*			89,570		68,393
A2 Asset and investment sales, etc. *Total receipts* *A,B,C* A3 Payments
							-	-
			89,570 32,205 48,431 5,476 1,218 87,330	4,585	68,393 19,363 25,574	- -
					68,393		162,548	122,068

Church Activities				1,296 3,720
Diocesan Parish Share		19	32,205				32,205	29,388
Other Payments	5e		48,431		19,363		67,794	51,546
Mission giving and charitable donations	5f	18	5,476		25,574		32,346	33,834
Acts 4-35 outgoing payments							3,720	3,600
Cost of Generating Funds		25	1,218				1,218	2,142
Governance Costs		26					-	-
*Sub total*			87,330	5,016	44,937	-	137,283	120,510
A4 Asset and investment purchases, etc. *Total payments* *D,E,F* *Net of receipts/(payments)* A5 Transfers between funds A6 Cash funds last year end *Cash funds this year end*

			87,330 2,240 8 2,248			- - -
				5,016	44,937	-	137,283	120,510

			2,240	431 -	23,456	-	25,265	1,588
				431
			8		36,603		37,042	35,484
			2,248	-	60,059	-	62,307	37,042

Colne St. Bartholomew

PS226

Receipts and payments accounts

For the period 1st January 31st December To from 2024 2024

Section B Statement of assets and liabilities at the end of the period

PCC Current Bank Account St. Bartholomew Bell Fund Details *Total cash funds* (agree balances with receipts and payments accounts)) Details Details	Unrestricted funds to nearest £ 2,248	Designated funds to nearest £ - OK Designated funds to nearest £ Fund to which asset belongs Endowment Endowment Endowment Endowment Endowment Endowment Fund to which asset belongs Fund to which liability relates Print Name	Restricted funds to nearest £ 57,431 2,628	Endowment funds to nearest £
	2,248


	2,248	-	60,059	-
	OK		OK Restricted funds to nearest £ Cost (optional) 200 1,482 200 400 500 1,000 Cost (optional) Amount due (optional)	OK
				Endowment funds to nearest £






				Current value (optional)
Shareholding, McVicar L, 224 shares
Shareholding, Legacies, 1304 shares
Shareholding, School BU, 182 shares
Shareholding, Shoesmith, 225 shares
Shareholding, Salisbury_1, 91 shares
Shareholding, Salisbury_2, 183 shares
Details				Current value (optional)









Details				When due (optional)






				Date of approval
	Janet Barrowclough			11/05/2025
	Alex Oehring			11/05/2025

Colne St. Bartholomew Receipts and payments accounts

PS226

For the period 1st January 31st December To from 2024 2024

Section C Notes

The financial statements have been prepared in accordance with Church Accounting Regulations 2006 using the Receipts and Payments Basis

The movement in designated and restricted funds in the year were:

Restricted:

Designated:

Bal b/f	Receipts 132 32,611 - 15,333 - - - 10,317 10,000 68,393 4,585 4,585	Payments - 26,508 282 16,829 - - 1,110 - - 44,729 5,016 5,016	Transfer	Bal c/f
2,496 20,923 1,450 5,775 923 36 5,000 - - 36,603	132		- 1,600 - - 1,600 - - - - - -	2,628
	32,611			25,426
	-			1,168
	15,333			5,879
	-			923
	-			36
	-			3,890
	10,317			10,317
	10,000			10,000
	68,393			60,267

431 431	4,585	5,016	- -	-
	4,585	5,016		-

5. Receipts and Payments analysis Receipts			Unrestricted funds to nearest £ 541 8,842 9,383 300 8,249 8,549 1,405 1,405 230 8,699 - 321 1,938	Designated funds to nearest £	Restricted funds to nearest £ 2,102 2,102 - 78 78 1,009	Endowment funds to nearest £ - - -	Total funds to nearest £	2023 to nearest £
Other voluntary receipts	5a			865 865			541 - 11,809 12,350
Giving through church boxes			541					575
Legacy		7						5,000
Donations		4	8,842		2,102			7,831
			9,383		2,102	-		13,406
Activities for generating funds	5b	9		-			300 8,249 8,549
Parish magazine advertising			300					300
Fund raising & events			8,249					4,544
			8,549		-	-		4,844
Investment income	5c	10		-			1,405 78 1,483
Dividend on CBF investment			1,405					1,383
Bank interest					78			78
			1,405		78	-		1,461
Receipts from Church Activities	5d						230 8,699 - 321 2,947 -
Junior church activities Wedding/funeral fees Use of Parish Rooms Parish Magazine Sales Catering including Monday café Church History Book sales			230					350
		11	8,699					7,836
		12	-					-
		12	321					366
			1,938		1,009			2,142
								12
			11,188	-	1,009	-	12,197	10,706

Colne St. Bartholomew

PS226

Receipts and payments accounts

For the period 1st January 31st December To from 2024 2024

Section C Notes continued

Section C Notes continued	Section C Notes continued	Section C Notes continued
5. Receipts and Payments analysis Payments			Unrestricted funds to nearest £	Designated funds to nearest £ - 550 746 1,296	Restricted funds to nearest £ 282 17,971 1,110 19,363 419 25,155 25,574	Endowment funds to nearest £ - -	Total funds to nearest £	2023 to nearest £
Church Activities							1,945 282 - 17,971 1,867 2,071 2,705 980 7,766 150 160 4,623 95 1,374 6,316 5,955 2,952 6,854 396 294 - 441 381 1,314 902 - 67,794
Other Payments	5e
Diocesan fees			1,945					2,642
AV equipment			-		282			469
Installation of infrared heaters			-					2,571
Clergy & Staffing costs
Salary, wages and honoraria		20	-		17,971			6,344
Clergy expenses		21	1,867					635
Fees paid to retired clergy			2,071					1,480
Organist/verger fees			2,705					2,595
Bell ringing fees			980					280
Rectory expenses			7,766					5,720
Church running Expenses		23
Payroll administration			150					170
Training			160
Insurance			4,623					4,385
Church office expenses			95					234
Organ tuning/maintenance			264		1,110			220
Church maintenance			6,316					3,346
Cleaning costs			5,955					5,359
Electricity			2,952					2,900
Gas			6,854					7,344
Water			396					707
Broadband Internet			294					226
Magazine expenses			-					50
Music licence			441					417
Sundries			381					689
Hall Running Expenses
Water/Gas/Electricity			1,314					1,526
Insurance			902					882
Maintenance			-					355
			48,431		19,363	-		51,546
Missiongiving and donations	5f						1,750 1,226 - 4,154 61 25,155 32,346
Giving to missionary societies			1,200					1,656
Giving to relief agencies			480					525
Giving to secular charities			-
Home mission			3,735		419			1,173
Junior church running costs			61					1,083
Food bank supplies			-		25,155			29,397
			5,476		25,574	-		33,834