## Berkshire Historic Churches Trust ## **Annual Report for 2021-2** ## **GRANTS** We gave three grants in 2021/22, to a total of £18,000, one for a floor, one for a heating system and one for windows. For the first time in several years none was for a roof – though this does not mean, unfortunately, that every church roof in Berkshire is now secure, for we have already made one offer and we know that there is at least one more application imminent! Our largest grant was to **All Saints, Boyne Hill** in Maidenhead towards the cost of restoring the Victorian tiled floor. The church is an outstanding work by one of the leading nineteenth-century church architects, G E Street. The original floor of specially designed tiles was beginning to crumble and had become a hazard. It needed to be completely relaid, with broken and damaged tiles replaced, but the specialist nature of the work made it an expensive project. We were glad to be able to help. The church is active in the local community, hosting many events besides regular services of worship, and a safe floor is obviously essential if it is to continue and expand its work. We gave £10,000 towards a total project cost of £242,378. The heating grant was to **St Joseph’s Roman Catholic Church, Maidenhead** , to replace three old boilers (two already defunct and one on its last legs), and to renew the heating system generally to make it more efficient and environmentally sound. This church too has an active community role. We gave £5,000 towards a project cost of £85,264. The third grant was to **St Mary, East Ilsley** . We had promised £10,000 towards an ambitious restoration programme encompassing work to the roof, windows and stonework. The church had struggled to raise the funds required for the whole project, but the work to the windows was urgent, and we agreed to release a part of the grant to enable this to go ahead. Our grant of £3,000 was paid through The Good Exchange so that it attracted match funding from the Greenham Common Trust. _New applications_ were few and far between this year. We offered a major grant to **All Saints, Wokingham** , for their ambitious ‘Space for All’ project, encompassing a major reordering, a new floor with underfloor heating, repairs to stonework and redecoration, and improvements including a servery and toilet, to equip the church to fulfil its potential as a civic church and community space. Smaller grants were offered to **St James, Eastbury** , for the renewal of the roof on the south side, and to **St Mary, Great Shefford** , to assist with investigative work into dry rot in the tower. Whilst the number of grants paid and offered might have fallen from the year before, this is sadly not an indication that all is well with our churches (and it is not just roofs that are the problem), but rather a clear sign that the financial situation in which churches find themselves is extremely difficult. We know of a number of cases where action is required and where projects are under consideration, demonstrating a continuing need for repair and improvement, but where work cannot start because of the financial position of the church. We also know of the vital role that churches play in our communities. To continue that work they need buildings that are warm, welcoming and weathertight: our role, whether through grants, advice or encouragement, is to help them to achieve that. ## **EVENTS** After the enforced inactivity of 2020/21 we were at least able to arrange our annual meeting and church tour, though the Englefield Lecture was again a casualty of Covid. A full report of the annual meeting appears [below]. Ride and Stride did take place, and in spite of reduced participation raised nearly £25,000, a significant increase on the previous year and a most encouraging performance in financial terms if not in engagement. A full report appears [on page xxx]. ## **PEOPLE** During the year we welcomed a number of new faces to the Trust, and, with regret, said farewell to others. Most notably, we said both farewell and welcome to Erica Harman. Erica was the Trust’s first chairman, a role she fulfilled with huge energy and commitment, working tirelessly to establish the Trust and devoting her considerable skills to promoting its work. Its success owes much to her leadership, and all of us involved in the Trust today stand in her debt. However, after more than thirty years as a trustee (and for most of those as chairman) she felt the time had come to retire, a decision we accepted, though with great regret. Happily, she accepted nomination as a Vice-President: we welcomed her in her new role and are delighted that her connection with the Trust will continue. We also welcomed the Rt Rev Geoffrey Scott, Abbot of Douai and a distinguished scholar and historian of Roman Catholicism, as a Vice-President, and Graham Barker, Vice Lord Lieutenant of Berkshire, and Jonathan Welfare as trustees. There were several changes to the Executive Committee. Guy Cole left us on his appointment as Team Rector of Leominster in the diocese of Hereford, and John Edwards on his retirement from active ministry. We welcomed the Rev Carol Dunk as representative for the Bracknell area in succession to Guy, and Michelle Martin, a churchwarden at Leckhampstead, both of whom will bring valuable experience to our work. We also welcomed Christine Walker, who joined the Ride and Stride sub-committee as representative for the Wokingham area. ## **PLANNING AND DEVELOPMENT** The challenges facing our churches today are enormous, and in the face of this we were prompted to sit down and reconsider how we, as a small trust with limited funds, could help to make a difference. Without a doubt, the best way to really make a difference would be to raise more money to give in grants, but for this we will need to increase substantially the number of our supporters and donors. To this end, with a view to raising the profile of the trust, we have set up a small sub-committee to look at events and communications. In February we published the first issue of what we hope will become a regular newsletter, and at the year’s end we had plans not only for a revived Englefield Lecture (in abeyance during the pandemic), but also two further events that we hope will attract interest and support. But we also want to work with churches and with the diocese to help churches embarking on conservation or development projects, and we have set up a separate sub-committee to review and make recommendations on ways to provide appropriate help and advice. Meanwhile, our need to promote Ride and Stride and increase engagement is as great as ever, and the standing Ride and Stride sub-committee continues to meet regularly to discuss ways of achieving this. All this takes time and energy, and commitment from the small team of people involved, but we are optimistic that even in the present challenging circumstances we _can_ make a difference – and we are determined to do so. ## **Annual Meeting and Church Tour 2021** Our 2021 annual meeting and church tour took us, on a lovely early-autumn afternoon, to four churches in east Berkshire. After missing out in 2020, on account of Covid restrictions, it was a delight once again to visit some of Berkshire’s wonderful churches, including, this year, two to which we have recently given grants. We began the afternoon at Holy Trinity, Cookham. Here we had supported work on the tower, and the first thing to catch our eyes as we entered the church was a display of photographs, eloquently illustrating both the need for the repair and the quality of the finished work. The tower is now safe again, and will be for many years to come. After a brief report by our chairman on the past year, Michael Johnson, a former churchwarden, treated us to a short history of the church. There has been a church in Cookham since before the Norman conquest, and many people have passed through its doors in the intervening millennium. Some of these are commemorated in the fine brasses and monuments to be found in the church, which Michael pointed out to us, and which happily we had time after his talk to explore and admire more closely. From Cookham we made our way to All Saints, Bisham, another Thames-side church with a long history, where we were met and welcomed by Sheila Featherstone-Clark. Bisham is widely renowned for its monuments to members of the Hoby and Vansittart-Neale families, and Sheila spoke about the background to these in a brief but wide-ranging introductory talk. Our members were glad of the opportunity to study and admire these; some of us were also interested in seeing the smart new toilet that we had helped fund. The toilet is cunningly fitted into an old boiler room; what is not apparent is that, because the church is on low-lying ground by the river, the drain had to run uphill – an added complication! Now this facility is helping the church realise its ambition to become truly a building for all. After Bisham we drove to St James the Less, Stubbings. Stubbings, once in the parish of Cookham Dean (but some distance from the parish church) is even today a tiny hamlet, and was even smaller when the church was built 170 years ago. It was paid for by Henry Skrine, the Lord of the Manor (one of whose sons was the first incumbent) and was built to designs by R C Carpenter, a noted architect of the early gothic revival. It is remarkably little altered. Roger Strike, the church’s historian, gave us a short introductory talk. As we looked round afterwards, churchwarden Sue Harrington Hill drew back the curtain behind the altar to reveal the most marvellous glazed wall tiles. The sight drew gasps of amazement from the group of visitors. Our last church was St John the Baptist, Cookham Dean. Here, after admiring the magnificent view from the churchyard across the Thames Valley, we went into the Jubilee vestry for a splendid tea, before moving into the church itself. This church was also designed by Carpenter, and has been described as ‘an epitome of the Camdenian ideal of the small village church, of “unpretending but solemn character”’. In the church, our secretary, John Pritchard, spoke about the revolution in church design that occurred in the early nineteenth century, and of the role that the Cambridge Camden Society played in bringing this about, thus valuably placing St John’s in its historical context and explaining its significance in the gothic revival movement. We finished the day, as usual, with a service of evensong, where we gave thanks for our heritage of historic churches and for the work of the Trust in helping to preserve them, and prayed for blessing on our future endeavours. At all the churches we visited we were met with great warmth, and we extend out thanks to those who gave up their Saturday afternoons to welcome us and introduce us to their building. ## **BERKSHIRE HISTORIC CHURCHES TRUST FINANCIAL STATEMENTS** ## **Income and Expenditure Account for the year ended 31 March 2022** |**_Income_**
**Note**
**£**
**Voluntary Sources**
Donations
7,000
Legacies
-
Gift aid for current year
541
Church Membership
2,260
**Fundraising Income**
Ride & Stride
**1**
15,340
Lecture
**4**
-
Fund Raising Events other (teas etc)
**5**
114
**Trading Income**
Christmas Card Sales
**3**
**Other Income**
Bank compensation
50
Interest
49
United Trust Bank
310
CCLA
15
**Total Income**
**_Expenditure_**
**Direct Charitable Expenditure**
Grants to Churches
**2**
**Fundraising Expenses**
Ride & Stride
**1**
Lecture
**4**
**Trading Expenses**
Expenses re Christmas Cards
**Administration**
Printing, Postage & Administration
Examination of Accounts
Annual Report & Leaflets
**Total Expenditure**
**_BALANCE CARRIED FORWARD_**
**Balance Sheet as at 31 March 2021**
**_Assets_**
**Yorkshire Bank**
Current account
Savings account
Ride & Stride account
**CCLA COIF Charities Deposit Fund**
**United Trust Bank**
**Not yet received from Cards for Good Causes**
**Yorkshire Bank WREN account (Restricted)**
**_General Fund_**
Balance at 1 April 2020
Deficit/Surplus for year
Balance at 31 March 2021|**2022**
**£**
9,801
15,454
717
424
**26,396**
18,000
240
-
133
218
-
238
**18,829**
**7,567**
**2022**
**£**
26,664
48,509
1,515
32,742
35,206
289
1
**144,926**
137,359
7,567
**144,926**|**£**
3,555
1,000
515
2,670
11,739
**-**
**-**
80
49
401
38|**2021**
**£**
7,740
11,739
1,192
568
21,239
29,500
100
-
470
.
284
-
142
30,496
(9,257)
**2021**
**£**
19,587
48,461
1,190
32,727
34,896
497
1
137,359
146,616
(9,257)
137,359| |---|---|---|---| ## _**Examiner's report**_ We have examined the books and records and confirm that these accounts reflect the transactions for the year ## **BERKSHIRE HISTORIC CHURCHES TRUST NOTES TO THE INCOME AND EXPENDITURE ACCOUNT** |**2022**
**£**
**Note 1- Ride & Stride**
The major fundraising event during the year
was the sponsored Ride & Stride. This raised:
Gross Funds (without Gift Aid)
**20,811**
Gift Aid
**4,452**
**25,263**
less repayments to Churches
**9,923**
**15,340**
less expenses
**240**
**15,100**
**Note 2- Grants to Churches during year to 31 March 2022**
**2022**
**£**
St James, Leckhampstead
**-**
All Saints, Farnborough
**-**
Emmanuel Church, Woodley
**-**
St Peter's, Woolhampton
**-**
St Swithin, Coombe
**-**
St Michael's, Lambourn
**-**
All Saints, Wokingham
**-**
St Mary's, Fawley
**-**
All Saint's, East Garston
**-**
St Joseph's, Maidenhead
**5,000**
All Saint's Boyne Hill
**10,000**
St Mary's East Illsley
**3,000**
**18,000**
**Grant funds offered but not paid at 31 March 2022**
St Mary's,East Ilsley
**7,000**
St Joseph's, Maidenhead
**-**
All Saints' Wokingham
**10,000**
St Mary's Great Shefford
**500**
St James' Eastbury
**5,000**
All Saints, Boyne Hill
**-**
22,500
**Note 3 Trading profits from sale of Christmas cards**
Total Receipts
**717**
Less purchases
**133**
**584**
No account has been taken of the value of stock
in hand at 31 March 2022 which is of negligble value
The stock held in 2021 was estimated to be £500.
**Note 4 Lecture**
Total Receipts
**-**
Less expenses
**-**
**-**
**Note 5 Other Fundraising**
Sale of wine
**20**
Outing teas
**94**
**114**|2021
£
15,408
2,575
17,981
6,242
11,739
100
11,639
2021
£
2,000
2,000
5,000
10,000
1,000
1,500
1,000
2,000
5,000
**-**
**-**
29,500
10,000
5,000
**-**
**-**
**-**
10,000
25,000
1,192
470
722
-
-
-
-
55
55| |---|---| |
St James, Leckhampstead
All Saints, Farnborough
Emmanuel Church, Woodley
St Peter's, Woolhampton
St Swithin, Coombe
St Michael's, Lambourn
All Saints, Wokingham
St Mary's, Fawley
All Saint's, East Garston
St Joseph's, Maidenhead
All Saint's Boyne Hill
St Mary's East Illsley
**Grant funds offered but not paid at 31 March 2022**
St Mary's,East Ilsley
St Joseph's, Maidenhead
All Saints' Wokingham
St Mary's Great Shefford
St James' Eastbury
All Saints, Boyne Hill
**Note 3 Trading profits from sale of Christmas cards**|| |
Total Receipts
Less purchases
No account has been taken of the value of stock
in hand at 31 March 2022 which is of negligble value
The stock held in 2021 was estimated to be £500.
**Note 4 Lecture**
Total Receipts
Less expenses
**Note 5 Other Fundraising**
Sale of wine
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