# **The Parish of St Andrew, St Anne and St Matthew, Colchester**
**Trustees’ Annual Report and Financial Statements of the Parochial Church Council for the year ended 31st December 2025**
## **Charity Registration Number: 1206571**
**Vicar:**
The Revd Sue Howlett
1 Blackwater Avenue
Colchester CO4 3UY
**Bankers:**
Barclays Bank Plc High Street Branch Colchester
## **Independent Examiner:**
Mrs Anna Sallis
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## Aims and Purposes
The Parochial Church Council (PCC) of the Parish of St Andrew, St Anne and St Matthew, Colchester, has the responsibility of cooperating with the Vicar, Revd Sue Howlett, in promoting the ecclesiastical parish, the whole mission of the Church, pastoral evangelistic, social, and ecumenical. The PCC is also specifically responsible for the maintenance of St Andrew’s Church, St Matthew’s Church, and St Anne’s Church.
## Objectives and Activities
The PCC is committed to enabling as many people as possible to worship at our churches and to become part of our parish community at St Andrew’s, St Anne’s, and St Matthew’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 particularly the supplementary guidance on charities for the advancement of religion. We all have a strong commitment to 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.
- Mission and outreach work.
To facilitate this work, we recognise the importance of maintaining the fabric of our three church buildings within the parish.
## Achievements and Performance
A summary of the different activities across 2025 and across the parish is given on page 3; more details are given in the sections below.
## **Worship and Prayer**
The PCC is keen to offer a range of services during the week and over the course of the year that our community find both beneficial and spiritually fulfilling. For example, we have continued to provide Thursday Morning Prayer and Friday Early Night Prayer on Facebook,
2
## **Worship and Prayer**
- Weekly Sunday worship - Church@10 and 11.00am Holy Communion
- Online weekday worship Thursdays and Fridays
- Messy Church/Mega Kids (monthly)
- Wednesday evening Celtic Prayer
- Light Stop Party (St Anne’s)
- Candlelit Community Carols Service
- Carols in the Carpark (St Anne’s)
- Crib Service
- Christenings (infants, children, and adults)
- Weddings
- Funerals
- Open Table Network: Holy Communion (monthly)
- Home Communions
- Prayer tree at Christmas
- Prayer corner and prayer candles at St Andrew’s
- Remembrance Sunday
- Time to Remember (Bereavement) service
## **Spiritual Development**
- Advent and Lent courses
- Bible study notes
- Confirmation preparation courses
- Online webinars and courses
- Training ground for ordinands and those in the discernment process
- Prayer Spaces Training and school mentoring training with CYO
- Preparation for first Holy Communion courses
- Spiritual direction
- Bishop’s Adviser for Self-Supporting Ministers
## **Schools’ Ministry**
- Weekly assemblies at Parsons Heath
- Seasonal assemblies across the year in schools
- Special services across the year in church for schools
- Prayer Spaces in schools
- Annual Coffee Morning for staff at Parsons Heath School
- School Governance at Parsons Heath, and Willowbrook schools
- Trustee of Diocese of Chelmsford Vine Schools Trust
- Member of the Chelmsford Diocesan Board of Education
- Parish partnership with CYO
- Pastoral support in schools
- Training of mentors for Primary Schools (by CYO)
- Bounce training for Year 6 pupils
- Volunteer reading in Unity and Willowbrook schools
- Holy Communion at Parsons Heath
- New Children and Family Worker
## **Community Support**
- Holiday Breakfast Clubs
- Weekly ‘Open Church’ at St Andrew’s
- Foodbank
- Neighbourhood Chaplaincy
- Pastoral visiting
- Community Summer Fun Days at St Anne’s and Greenstead
- Community Christmas Fair
- SAINT networking group
- Heart of Greenstead Board
- Supporting the Boaz Project
- Citizens Essex and CTC
- Urban Estate Group
- Website and ACNY
- Community Supermarket representation
- St Andrew’s ‘Period Station’
- Assistance for Christian Asylum seekers
- Chat & Chill café at St Anne’s
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services of Holy Communion each Sunday and Evening Prayer after the Open Church afternoon (Wednesdays). We also continue to have a more relaxed service each Sunday at St Anne’s which is suitable for young families, with a Holy Communion on the first Sunday of each month. Aside from the regular service of Holy Communion, we continue to have a more informal Eucharist Service at St Andrew’s every month called Praise Today. All our acts of worship follow the Church of England Lectionary and offer the full story of our Salvation over the year. Furthermore, we continue to host and support a monthly Open Table Network Service at St Matthew’s which reaches out to the LGBTQI+ community. Our worship provision is reviewed by the Ministry Team on a regular basis to ensure that the services are meeting the needs of the parish and bringing the Good News of Jesus Christ ‘afresh to each generation.’
We remain part of the Inclusive Church network, and this underpins our desire to ensure that **all** are welcome to attend our outreach events and regular Church services.
We have maintained our practice of live streaming (when possible) our main Sunday service from St Andrew’s and as mentioned above, two other acts of worship during the week. We usually have well over a100 views for each online service. We continue to be encouraged to see numerical growth at our ‘in person’ services too. However, as many of our new worshippers are International Students, Asylum Seekers or those seeking a new life in our country from oversees and sadly, due to the political and economic climate, not all those who join us are able to remain in our parish for a long time. Many have moved on to other places in the country and as people no longer worship weekly, our numbers can appear low on some occasions.
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 and through funeral services friends and family express their grief and give thanks for the life which is now complete in this world and to commend the person into God's keeping. Across 2025, we celebrated **9** baptisms and **7** came forward for Confirmation; we also held **1** wedding, and **9** funerals (either in church or at the crematorium) and 5 internments of ashes in the churchyard or elsewhere.
We also offer opportunities for the worshipping community to grow in their faith through online discipleship courses. These have been well attended with an average of **15** people joining for each course offered.
There are **87** on the parish electoral roll, and it remains the case, that a number of our worshipping community do not live in the parish. We continue to work hard at encouraging new people joining our worshipping community to join the electoral roll. The average weekly attendance counted during October 2025, was **53** , but this number increased at our major festival services and all our Christmas services were well attended, especially our annual Community Carol service.
4
## **Deanery Synod**
Two members of the PCC sit on the Deanery Synod, and a member of our Ministry Team is secretary for the Synod. This provides the PCC with an important link between the parish and the wider structures of the church, and the Vicar is also part of the Deanery Synod Standing Committee.
## **Buildings and Grounds**
There are three church buildings in the parish, and each serve very different demographic areas. St Andrew’s is a historical Grade 11 listed building and is the main parish church. At present, we use each building for different styles of worship and outreach activities but the cost of maintaining them and adapting them for missional events is becoming harder to achieve. As in previous years, two of the buildings (St Matthew’s and St Anne’s) were hired out to a local pre-school in the week during term time, though the pre-school stopped running at St Anne’s in September 2025. We also have a number of different Uniform Groups at St Matthew’s and St Anne’s, as well as some other groups using the churches during the evening (a prayer group for example).
This year we have been continuing to look at ways to make our buildings more accessible and during the year we have improved access to St Andrew’s, providing no-step access into the church, as well as adding a glass interior door to reduce the barriers to coming into the church. Work has also started at St Anne’s to develop better access for all into the garden area so that wheelchairs and buggies can get down to the garden from the church building. We are still in negotiations with the Diocese over the future of St Matthew’s Church and we are working hard to discern whether the benefits outweigh the loss of this building to our finances going forwards.
We continue to work towards becoming carbon neutral by 2030 in line with the Church of England’s goal to achieve the same. As such we have focussed thus far on St Andrew’s and since we have been awarded the A Rocha Bronze Award (July 2023), a new lay-led team is working towards the Silver Award for St Andrew’s and Bronze for St Anne’s. We now have LED lights in all three buildings and recycling bins at St Anne’s and St Andrew’s. We are always looking at how all are buildings can be upgraded so we can reduce our carbon footprint.
The PCC continue to rely on outside help to maintain our buildings, and the cleaning company that we use have done sterling work over the past year. We continue to be delighted with the weekly churchyard maintenance work, and with the annual hedge and tree management, the churchyard looks better than it has done for many years. We continue to develop the wildlife area, and the churchyard reaches the criteria for the A Rocha Gold award. We are also blessed in having a husband-and-wife team who manage the churchyard plan, making sure that each grave space is carefully, and accurately
5
documented and historical errors are either rectified, or made note of. This has been pivotal in maintaining good relationships with families who tend the graves of loved ones.
We are always looking and seeking God’s will for our church communities and reflecting on what we do and whether it is relevant, sustainable and life bringing to those we are called to serve. We are blessed with a team of volunteers who help with the task of ensuring that the church buildings are in good repair and that the worship continues without interruption.
## **Pastoral Care**
Sadly, we no longer have a trained pastoral team, but a lot of pastoral care goes on in the ‘background’ with members of the worshipping community looking out for others who they know to be in need. We no longer have a Pastoral Assistant who keeps in touch with many people by phone, so we rely on the ‘whole body of Christ’ to look out for those who need help and pastoral support. Home Communion is offered to those who are housebound by the Ministry Team and a small number of laity.
A lot of care and offers of support are available after every Sunday service, and via our Open Church and Breakfast Clubs. Other agencies come into our outreach events so that they can offer local support to families and local residents. Our churches thus become places of ‘signposting’ to other places of support where necessary.
## **Mission and Outreach (including Schools Ministry)**
We continue to hold a variety of Outreach events from St Andrew’s Church, and our weekly ‘Open Church’ continues to be a very successful way of reaching out into the local community. We are looking for ways of building on the relationships that we have made through this provision especially for those who are bereaved and the young people who drop in on the way home from school. We have managed to hold our usual Holiday Breakfast Clubs at St Anne’s which, sadly, were not as well attended as they once were, so we are looking into what else we can do to help families on the estate. We still see a number of baptisms and new church members resulting from many of our outreach programmes.
We have also seen the launch of a Community Café at St Anne’s which is developing into a lovely welcoming hub for that much ignored community.
We have continued to maintain good relationships with all six primary schools in our parish. We hold weekly assemblies in our Church of England Primary School, and we have been working with them to reimagine the school’s Christian Vision. We continue to celebrate all the major Christian festivals for all the schools either at St Andrew’s or in school. We were successful in obtaining funding for a Children and Family Worker, and we were able to
6
appoint someone from the congregation in December. We continue to offer an annual Prayer Space for the Year 6 children to help them with their transition to Secondary School. Once again, we bought a book for every Year 6 pupil at our Church of England Primary School. The book, called ‘It’s your Move’ and written by Scripture Union, is meant to help the children with their transition to senior school. This year the clergy team were also invited into schools to teach about being a Christian, to talk about Christmas and what that means to the Church, as well as talking to classes about other Christian topics.
A Member of the ministry team is a governor in one of our schools, and our Associate Priest is a Trustees of the Diocese of Chelmsford Vine Schools Trust, as well as being a member of Chelmsford Diocesan Board of Education. Furthermore, members of the Ministry team have also represented the community on various committees and boards, such as the Community Supermarket, the Heart of Greenstead, the New Garden Community faith team, and the local Information Network Team – all this helps the church to appreciate what is happening in the wider parish, and ensures that what we offer is relevant and contextual in as many ways as possible. We have been very grateful for and humbled by the financial support that we have received from local ward Councillors and local housing agencies.
For the first time this year, St Andrew’s Church hosted a live concert as part of the Roman River Music Programme. The Norwegian-based Engegård Quartet gave a special, free concert for primary school children, and three of our primary schools attended. The feedback from the children was brilliant, and they found it really inspiring. We hope to hold another, similar concert in 2026.
## **Ecumenical Relationships**
We have continued to maintain a good relationship with the Roman Catholic Canonesses of the Holy Sepulchre, and members from that community always support our Christmas services – we are grateful for help from them at our Open Church. More recently, we have fostered new links with St John Payne Roman Catholic Church, and this resulted in creating a choir from both St Andrew’s and St John Payne to sing Christmas Carols at the Greenstead Community Christmas Fayre.
We also have good support from a local African Pentecostal Church, and we work on outreach events with them as well as other community wide projects. We are part of the Community Chaplaincy Team alongside another Pentecostal church.
We have good relationship with many students of other faiths, who come to worship with us at St Andrew’s on a Sunday as they recognise the importance of a place of worship and their need to find a faith community while they are so far from home.
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## **Farewells**
In July 2025, it was with great sadness that we said farewell to our curate, Rev. Sam Lees, who moved to his first parish as Vicar, in Earlham, Norwich. Sam came to the parish as an ordinand in 2019. After his ordination in 2022, Sam stayed with us for his curacy. During his time with us, Sam and his family (and his cars!) became well-known and much loved both by church members and the wider community. Sam made valuable contributions to development of Church@10, the Chat and Chill Community Café, the Colchester Community Supermarket, and school governance at Unity Primary School, as well as his commitment to the ministry and worship across the parish. We wish him every success in Norwich, and we pray for continued blessings for his ministry and his family.
## Financial Review
This section presents the accounts of the PCC for the year 2025 (see following pages), together with the key information regarding the Reserves Policy (see below).
## **Reserves Policy**
It is PCC policy to try to maintain balances, which equate to approximately six months' expenditure to cover emergency situations. A balance of £62,447.18 (2024: £47,895.88) was held at the year-end in unrestricted funds.
Restricted funds had £26,845.01 (2023: £21,021.93) in cash and deposits. A further balance of £96,875.51 is held by the Diocese and represents funds received from the sale of St Edmund's Church for the purpose of future buildings expansion and maintenance. This is invested with CCLA in the Central Board Investment Fund Units.
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## **Greenstead with St Anne PCC**
## **Statement of Assets and Liabilities (by code) As at: 31 December 2025**
|**Class and nominal code**|**General**|**Designated**|**Restricted**|**Endowment**|**Total**|**Last year**|
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
|**Fixed assets - Investments**|||||||
|6430 : CBIFS 7156.67 units 1555S|—|—|96,875.51|—|96,875.51|165,481.53|
|**Total**|—|—|96,875.51|—|96,875.51|165,481.53|
|**Current assets - Cash at bank and in hand**|||||||
|6501 : Barclays Current account|21,544.45|1,577.31|25,920.08|—|49,041.84|56,528.75|
|(3262)|||||||
|6505 : Barclays deposit (3218)|40,902.73|—|683.32|343.67|41,929.72|15,097.09|
|**Total**|62,447.18|1,577.31|26,603.40|343.67|90,971.56|71,625.84|
|**Liabilities - Agency accounts**|||||||
|6699 : Agency collections|—|—|1,319.65|—|1,319.65|755.65|
|**Total**|—|—|1,319.65|—|1,319.65|755.65|
|**Liabilities - Creditors: Amounts falling due**|**in one year**||||||
|9003 : PAYE/NIC Control|—|—|300.10|—|300.10|—|
|9004 : Pension Control|—|—|59.62|—|59.62|—|
|**Total**|—|—|359.72|—|359.72|—|
||||||||
|**Net total assets**|62,447.18|1,577.31|121,799.54|343.67|186,167.70|236,351.72|
||||||||
|**Represented by**|||||||
|Unrestricted - General|62,447.18|—|—|—|62,447.18|47,895.88|
|Designated - Breakfast|—|1,668.92|—|—|1,668.92|1,790.81|
|Designated - OpenTable|—|663.96|—|—|663.96|46.46|
|Designated - Openchurch|—|(755.57)|—|—|(755.57)|(221.35)|
|Restricted - Andrews|—|—|4,303.06|—|4,303.06|4,303.06|
|Restricted - Annes|—|—|1,414.38|—|1,414.38|8,530.20|
|Restricted - CYard|—|—|640.00|—|640.00|640.00|
|Restricted - Cafe|—|—|1,681.10|—|1,681.10|784.91|
|Restricted - Community|—|—|50.00|—|50.00|50.00|
|Restricted - Family|—|—|13,715.95|—|13,715.95|—|
|Restricted - Flowers|—|—|655.41|—|655.41|197.77|
|Restricted - Garden|—|—|1,169.10|—|1,169.10|1,169.10|
|Restricted - MMP|—|—|215.00|—|215.00|215.00|
|Restricted - MessyKids|—|—|436.79|—|436.79|436.79|
27 January 2026 Page 1
|
||
|---|---|
||**Class and nominal code**
**General**
**Designated**
**Restricted**
**Endowment**
**Total**
**Last year**|
||Restricted - Organ
—
—
520.94
—
520.94
515.34
Restricted - Porch
—
—
122.30
—
122.30
205.91
Restricted - StEdmund
—
—
96,875.51
—
96,875.51
165,481.53
Restricted - StayandPla
—
—
—
—
—
2,133.32
Restricted - Vanderstee
—
—
—
—
—
1,840.53
Endowment - Hewitt
—
—
—
343.67
343.67
336.46
**Total**
62,447.18
1,577.31
121,799.54
343.67
186,167.70
236,351.72|
27 January 2026 Page 2
## **Greenstead with St Anne PCC**
## **Receipts and Payments Account**
## **For the period from 01 January 2025 to 31 December 2025**
||**Unrestricted**|**Designated**|**Restricted**|**Endowment**|**Total**|**Prior year**|
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
||**funds**|**funds**|**funds**|**funds**|**funds**|**total funds**|
|**_Receipts_**|||||||
|Donations and legacies|44,835.75|951.14|102,578.64|80.00|148,445.53|63,152.80|
|Income from charitable activities|32,295.30|—|—|—|32,295.30|38,899.00|
|Other trading activities|20.20|—|—|—|20.20|174.50|
|Investments|4,699.34|—|74.25|3.66|4,777.25|5,010.35|
|**Total receipts**|**81,850.59**|**951.14**|**102,652.89**|**83.66**|**185,538.28**|**107,236.65**|
|**_Payments_**|||||||
|Raising funds|—|—|—|—|—|109.28|
|Expenditure on charitable activities|86,067.29|989.75|143,750.79|76.45|230,884.28|169,538.89|
|**Total payments**|**86,067.29**|**989.75**|**143,750.79**|**76.45**|**230,884.28**|**169,648.17**|
|**Excess of receipts over payments before transfer**|**(4,216.70)**|**(38.61)**|**(41,097.90)**|**7.21**|**(45,346.00)**|**(62,411.52)**|
||||||||
|**_Transfers_**|||||||
|Gross transfers between funds - in|18,768.00|—|45,000.00|—|63,768.00|8,550.35|
|Gross transfers between funds - out|—|—|(63,768.00)|—|(63,768.00)|(8,550.35)|
|**Excess of receipts over payments before other gains**|**14,551.30**|**(38.61)**|**(59,865.90)**|**7.21**|**(45,346.00)**|**(62,411.52)**|
|**Net movement in funds**|**14,551.30**|**(38.61)**|**(64,703.92)**|**7.21**|**(50,184.02)**|**(58,708.66)**|
||||||||
|**_Reconciliation of funds_**|||||||
|**All assets at 01 January 2025**|**47,895.88**|**1,615.92**|**186,503.46**|**336.46**|**236,351.72**|**295,060.38**|
|**All assets at 31 December 2025**|**62,447.18**|**1,577.31**|**121,799.54**|**343.67**|**186,167.70**|**236,351.72**|
||||||||
|**_Represented by_**|||||||
|Unrestricted|||||||
|General fund|62,447.18|—|—|—|62,447.18|47,895.88|
|Designated|||||||
|Breakfast Clubs|—|1,668.92|—|—|1,668.92|1,790.81|
|Open Church|—|(755.57)|—|—|(755.57)|(221.35)|
|Open Table (LGBTI+)|—|663.96|—|—|663.96|46.46|
|Restricted|||||||
|Churchyard & Trees|—|—|640.00|—|640.00|640.00|
|Community Garden|—|—|1,169.10|—|1,169.10|1,169.10|
|Community Support|—|—|50.00|—|50.00|50.00|
|Family Worker|—|—|13,715.95|—|13,715.95|—|
|Flower Fund|—|—|655.41|—|655.41|197.77|
|Messy Church & Mega kids|—|—|436.79|—|436.79|436.79|
|Mission & Ministry Partnership|—|—|215.00|—|215.00|215.00|
|Organ Fund|—|—|520.94|—|520.94|515.34|
|Porch Pantry|—|—|122.30|—|122.30|205.91|
|Sale of St Edmunds Church|—|—|96,875.51|—|96,875.51|165,481.53|
|St Andrews Restoration|—|—|4,303.06|—|4,303.06|4,303.06|
|St Andrews Stay & Play|—|—|—|—|—|2,133.32|
|St Annes Community Cafe|—|—|1,681.10|—|1,681.10|784.91|
|St Annes Restoration Fund|—|—|1,414.38|—|1,414.38|8,530.20|
|Vandersteen (St Andrews Vestry)|—|—|—|—|—|1,840.53|
27 January 2026 Page 1
||**Unrestricted**|**Designated**|**Restricted**|**Endowment**|**Total**|**Prior year**|
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
||**funds**|**funds**|**funds**|**funds**|**funds**|**total funds**|
|Endowment|||||||
|Hewitts Charity|—|—|—|343.67|343.67|336.46|
27 January 2026 Page 2
## **Greenstead with St Anne PCC**
## **Analysis of receipts and payments**
## **Selected period: 01 January 2025 to 31 December 2025**
|**Total**
**Unrestricted**
**Designated**
**Restricted**
**Endowment**
**This year**
**Last year**
**Receipts**
**_Donations and legacies_**
0101 - Bank Stsnding Orders
8,707.00
—
—
—
8,707.00
21,511.80
0102 - Parish Giving Scheme
15,850.15
492.50
—
—
16,342.65
—
0110 - Gift Aid - Envelopes
1,930.42
—
—
—
1,930.42
2,601.80
0201 - Other planned giving
3,745.00
—
—
—
3,745.00
3,960.00
0301 - Loose plate collections
2,846.01
—
—
—
2,846.01
2,477.36
0302 - Contactless donations
866.00
32.42
—
—
898.42
1,064.75
0303 - Church @ 10 Contactless
1,097.73
—
—
—
1,097.73
309.46
0304 - Community Cafe Contactless
—
—
511.66
—
511.66
127.20
0550 - Donations appeals etc
1,156.85
16.00
45,995.98
80.00
47,248.83
2,027.60
0551 - Open Church
—
85.22
—
—
85.22
323.29
0553 - Open Table church
—
—
—
—
—
48.30
0601 - Tax recoverable on Gift Aid
6,499.59
125.00
—
—
6,624.59
5,598.29
0801 - Recurring grants
—
—
10,000.00
—
10,000.00
—
08A1 - Non-recurring one-off grants
1,500.00
200.00
46,071.00
—
47,771.00
22,425.95
0901 - Other funds generated
637.00
—
—
—
637.00
677.00
**_Donations and legacies Totals_**
44,835.75
951.14
102,578.64
80.00
148,445.53
63,152.80
**_Income from charitable activities_**
1101 - Fees for weddings and funerals
3,148.30
—
—
—
3,148.30
2,742.00
1230 - Hall rents - St Matthews
17,904.00
—
—
—
17,904.00
18,288.00
1240 - Hall rents St Anne's
11,243.00
—
—
—
11,243.00
17,869.00
**_Income from charitable activities_**
32,295.30
—
—
—
32,295.30
38,899.00
**_Totals_**
**_Other trading activities_**
0910 - General fundraising
20.20
—
—
—
20.20
174.50
**_Other trading activities Totals_**
20.20
—
—
—
20.20
174.50
**_Investments_**
1001 - Dividends
4,463.62
—
—
—
4,463.62
4,490.80
1020 - Bank and building society
235.72
—
74.25
3.66
313.63
519.55
interest
**_Investments Totals_**
4,699.34
—
74.25
3.66
4,777.25
5,010.35
**Receipts Grand totals**
81,850.59
951.14
102,652.89
83.66
185,538.28
107,236.65|**Total**
**Unrestricted**
**Designated**
**Restricted**
**Endowment**
**This year**
**Last year**|
|---|---|
||8,707.00
—
—
—
8,707.00
21,511.80
15,850.15
492.50
—
—
16,342.65
—
1,930.42
—
—
—
1,930.42
2,601.80
3,745.00
—
—
—
3,745.00
3,960.00
2,846.01
—
—
—
2,846.01
2,477.36
866.00
32.42
—
—
898.42
1,064.75
1,097.73
—
—
—
1,097.73
309.46
—
—
511.66
—
511.66
127.20
1,156.85
16.00
45,995.98
80.00
47,248.83
2,027.60
—
85.22
—
—
85.22
323.29
—
—
—
—
—
48.30
6,499.59
125.00
—
—
6,624.59
5,598.29
—
—
10,000.00
—
10,000.00
—
1,500.00
200.00
46,071.00
—
47,771.00
22,425.95
637.00
—
—
—
637.00
677.00|
||20.20
—
—
—
20.20
174.50
4,463.62
—
—
—
4,463.62
4,490.80
235.72
—
74.25
3.66
313.63
519.55|
||4,699.34
—
74.25
3.66
4,777.25
5,010.35|
||81,850.59
951.14
102,652.89
83.66
185,538.28
107,236.65|
|**Payments**
**_Raising funds_**
1730 - Costs of fetes & other events
**_Raising funds Totals_**|—
—
—
—
—
109.28|
||—
—
—
—
—
109.28|
27 January 2026 Page 1
|||||||**Total**|
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
||**Unrestricted**|**Designated**|**Restricted**|**Endowment**|**This year**|**Last year**|
|**_Expenditure on charitable activities_**|||||||
|1830 - Giving - relief and development|20.00|—|—|—|20.00|—|
|agencies|||||||
|1850 - Home mission|298.00|—|—|—|298.00|250.00|
|1870 - Secular charities|133.00|—|—|—|133.00|42.63|
|1871 - Community support payments|—|—|—|—|—|720.00|
|1901 - Parish Share|35,322.24|—|—|—|35,322.24|34,650.00|
|2051 - Family Worker Cost of|—|—|1,475.05|—|1,475.05|—|
|Employment|||||||
|2101 - Working expenses of incumbent|78.72|—|—|—|78.72|—|
|2102 - Working expenses of Pioneer|424.20|—|—|—|424.20|400.32|
|Minister|||||||
|2103 - Curates expenses|1,713.69|—|—|—|1,713.69|395.52|
|2170 - Education|—|—|—|—|—|35.00|
|2201 - Parish training and mission|1,277.62|—|—|76.45|1,354.07|921.11|
|2202 - Messy Church & Pop-Box|44.31|—|—|—|44.31|45.72|
|2203 - Breakfast Clubs|—|137.89|—|—|137.89|166.52|
|2204 - Stay & Play Materials &|—|—|270.45|—|270.45|760.83|
|Equipment|||||||
|2204A - Stay & Play room hire|—|—|2,612.87|—|2,612.87|600.00|
|2206 - Open Church expenses|—|851.86|—|—|851.86|1,385.54|
|2207 - Inclusive church (LGBT Church)|—|—|—|—|—|319.98|
|2209 - Porch Pantry|—|—|275.37|—|275.37|644.09|
|2210 - St Annes Community Cafe|—|—|113.69|—|113.69|214.35|
|2211 - The Well|19.90|—|—|—|19.90|—|
|2301 - Church running - insurance|3,517.46|—|—|—|3,517.46|3,431.68|
|2310 - Telephone & Broadband|858.93|—|—|—|858.93|680.31|
|2320 - Organ / piano tuning|2,483.20|—|—|—|2,483.20|2,055.00|
|2330 - Church maintenance St Andrews|950.14|—|—|—|950.14|2,922.06|
|2331 - Church Maintenance St Anne's|4,383.65|—|8,530.20|—|12,913.85|22,670.98|
|2332 - Church Maintenance St|3,372.68|—|—|—|3,372.68|1,760.12|
|Matthews|||||||
|2335 - Cleaning|5,460.91|—|—|—|5,460.91|6,182.43|
|2340 - Upkeep of services|1,513.89|—|17.36|—|1,531.25|1,814.36|
|2341 - Church @ 10|429.56|—|—|—|429.56|213.85|
|2350 - Upkeep of churchyard|6,893.20|—|—|—|6,893.20|7,168.00|
|2360 - Administration|2,121.42|—|—|—|2,121.42|2,520.50|
|2361 - Bank Charges (Sum Up)|14.40|—|—|—|14.40|—|
|2401 - Church running - electric|3,291.42|—|—|—|3,291.42|3,393.69|
|2410 - Church running - gas|7,908.00|—|—|—|7,908.00|6,923.00|
|2420 - Church running - water|3,462.00|—|—|—|3,462.00|1,152.00|
|2601 - Governance costs|74.75|—|—|—|74.75|66.50|
|examination/audit fee|||||||
|2701 - Church major repairs - St|—|—|40,196.00|—|40,196.00|65,032.80|
|Andrews|||||||
|2703 - Church Major works St Annes|—|—|90,259.80|—|90,259.80|—|
|**_Expenditure on charitable_**|86,067.29|989.75|143,750.79|76.45|230,884.28|169,538.89|
|**_activities Totals_**|||||||
|**Payments Grand totals**|86,067.29|989.75|143,750.79|76.45|230,884.28|169,648.17|
27 January 2026 Page 2
## **Independent examiner’s report to the members of Greenstead with Colchester St Anne Parochial Church Council.**
I report on the accounts for the year ended 31 December 2025.
## **Responsibilities and basis of report**
As the charity trustees you are responsible for the preparation of the accounts in accordance with requirements 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 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**
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.
Signed: Anna Sallis
ACMA Date: 26 March 2026
## Structure, governance and management
The PCC of the Parish of St Andrew, St Anne and St Matthew, Colchester, 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. In our parish the membership of the PCC consists of the Vicar, Associate Priest, Curate, churchwardens, the Licensed Lay Minister, and members elected by those members of the congregation who are on the electoral roll of the church. All Church attendees are encouraged to register on the Electoral Roll and stand for election to the PCC.
The full PCC met six times during the year with an average level of attendance of **81%** . Though the meetings were all in person, we did offer a hybrid approach (where necessary) to allow those who were unable to get out easily to join the meetings. The PCC has continued to discuss how to serve the local communities and how to establish a good pattern of mission and ministry in these challenging times. As before, the PCC had three small teams were set up to address key topics: 1) Finance Team, 2) Buildings Team, and 3) Mission and Outreach Team. All members of the PCC were assigned to a team, and a very few participate in more than one team. The intention of having such teams was to make the business at the PCC meetings more focussed with each team being able to present short reports (recorded in the minutes) and present the key points, including any proposals, for discussion by the PCC members. Standing items on the agenda included Safeguarding, review of policies (on a rolling programme across the year), and regular reports from representatives on the Deanery and Diocesan Synods, Mission and Ministry Partnership Group, and Schools Ministry. As before, some decisions were taken by the Standing Committee, made up of Churchwardens, Clergy, Treasurer and Secretary; though if the work was of an urgent nature and the decision was then presented to the full PCC for ratification.
## Safeguarding
The PCC takes Safeguarding seriously, and it has ensured that it complies with the duty to have ‘due regard’ to the House of Bishops’ guidance in relation to safeguarding. Consequently, we can report the following points:
- **Appointed Leads:** The PCC approved the appointment of Sue Watson as the Parish Safeguarding Officer and Jo Miller as Assistant Parish Safeguarding Officer.
- **Policy Review:** Our Safeguarding Policy was reviewed and updated by the PCC in May 2025.
16
- **Training Updates:** We ensure that information about the training records of all our volunteers is carefully updated on a regular basis and is reported at each PCC meeting.
- **Safer Recruitment:** We continue to ensure that the appointment of all regular volunteers is in line with safer recruitment practices, including DBS checks. Furthermore, a careful check of DBS status of all volunteers is managed regularly and reported at each PCC meeting.
- **Risk Assessment:** We continue to prepare and review (as necessary) our risk assessments for all our activities, and we are ensuring that they all include a safeguarding component.
- **Incidents:** There have been no serious incidents during 2025. We continue to seek advice from the Diocesan Safeguarding Team, where any concerns have been raised (though none have needed any further action).
## Administrative information
The Parish of St Andrew’s, St Anne’s and St Matthew’s is situated on the northeast side of Colchester. It is part of the Diocese of Chelmsford within the Church of England. The correspondence address is St Matthew’s Church, Harwich Road, CO4 3HR.
The PCC has been a registered charity with the Charity Commission from the 17[th] January 2024.
PCC Members who have served during the year beginning 1[st] January 2025 until the date of this report are shown on the following page:
|_Vicar_|Revd Sue Howlett_(Chair)_|
|---|---|
|_Associate Priest_|Revd Dr Philip Howlett|
|_Curate_|Revd Sam Lees_(until July 2025)_|
|_Licensed Lay Minister_|Martin Roscoe|
|_Churchwardens_|Marie Paget|
||Ruth Snowling|
|_Treasurer_|Terry Gray|
|_Deanery Synod Representatives_|Sue Biffen_(until APCM)_|
||Mel Bateman_(until APCM)_|
||Marie Paget_(from APCM)_|
||Claire Chapman_(from APCM)_|
17
Elerted Member5
Sue Brffen
Sandra Coulter
Mary Dale
Jo Miller
Rob Muir
Lyn Hewes (until APCM)
Mel Bateman (until APCh1)
Sue 8ou8hrwood (until APCM)
Claire Chapman (from APCM)
Carolina Cullington (from APCM)
Annfrmarie Sansom (from APCM)
Revd Dr Philip Howlett
PCC Secretary (Acting)
This report 4$ awoved by the PCC on 19" March 2026 and signed on their behalf by
the Revd Sue Howlett (PCC Chair).
Signature:
Date:
2o2Q
18