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2022-12-31-annual-report

St. Mary’s Parish Church Ballybeen

Trustees Annual Report and Financial Statements

For the year ended 2022

Charities Number:NIC102199

Trustees annual report and financial statements for the year ended 31[st] December 2022

Contents

Page
References and administrative details 3
Trustees’ Annual Report 4
Independent examiners’ report to the Trustees 8
Statement of financial activities 9
Balance sheet 10
Notes to the financial statements 11

St Mary’s Parish Church, Ballybeen

References and administrative details

Charity Name: St Mary’s Parish Church, Ballybeen Charity Registration Number: NIC102199 Contact Address: 1 Craigleith Drive, Dundonald, Belfast, BT16 2RY

Trustees

Chris Adair Eva Cheshire Jim Cheshire Daniel Crawford Elaine Edwards Dawn Ferguson Noel Gordon Jon Judge David Manning Ruth Manning Freda Rutherford Megan Ross Jim Myles Karen Myles Joanne Rice Colin Stitt David Haaijer John Harris

Principal Office-Bearers

Clergy: Rev J Cheshire (Rector); Rev Noel Gordon (NSM Curate) Honorary Secretary Ruth Manning Honorary Treasurer: David Manning Church Warden- Rector’s: Jim Myles Church Warden – People’s: Freda Rutherford

Independent Examiner

Jackson Andrews 6 Mandeville Mews PORTADOWN BT62 3NS

Bankers

Ulster Bank Limited 1/2 King's Square King's Road Belfast BT5 7EA

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St Mary’s Parish Church, Ballybeen

Trustees’ Annual Report for the year ended 31 December 2022

The trustees present the annual report and accounts for the St, Mary’s Parish Church, Ballybeen for the year ended 31 December 2022.

Objectives and Activities

The charitable purpose of the Church of Ireland is the advancement of religion.

The principal function of St. Mary’s Parish Church, Ballybeen is to support the advancement of the Christian religion by promoting, through the work of St. Mary’s Parish Church, Ballybeen the whole mission of the Church, pastoral, evangelistic, social and ecumenical. Being open to and engaging with society as a whole and offering support for those needing help are fundamental to the practical delivery of the benefits of Christianity.

As a result of activity in the pursuit of the advancement of the Christian religion, St. Mary’s Parish Church, Ballybeen has custody of property and of records, materials and artefacts of significance to the cultural and religious heritage and maintenance of which is undertaken by the Select Vestry of St. Mary’s Parish Church, Ballybeen.

Achievements, Performance & Public Benefit

St Mary's Church achieves its purposes through varying activities including public worship, prayer, provision of pastoral care, mission and outreach, parish groups and special events.

The following are some of the activities carried out over the course of this year.

2022 At A Glance

This past year has been a year of transformation as we’ve continued to journey together back out of the COVID pandemic. It has been so encouraging to see that even despite the many challenges we have experienced along the way, this year has seen real growth in our church and in people’s lives.

Some of the highlights of this past year have included opportunities opening again for not only wider in-person gatherings, but also more intentional pastoral visitation in homes. We enjoyed celebrating the Queen’s Jubilee together with a Fun Day hosted at Christ Church Presbyterian and a picnic on our lawn. We also got stuck into the School Uniform Project again, in partnership with other local churches and Redeeming Our Communities (ROC) Ballybeen. Through working together, we were able to provide 150 children in our community with free pre-loved school uniforms. Then in August our Holiday Bible Club returned - the first since COVID. It was encouraging to see people starting to come back to it, as well as new faces enjoying our church for the first time.

Sadly, September saw the passing of her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II, and together with our nation we mourned, giving our community opportunities to display their grief and gratitude for her service through a Community Book of Condolence as well as special Remembrance and Thanksgiving Services held here at St. Mary’s. September also marked the second ever ordination service held at St. Mary’s, when James Cunningham was ordained Presbyter for the work of the chaplaincy at the Ulster hospital. At the end of October, we opened up our church halls to the community and held a light party to celebrate Jesus, the Light of the world, but not before running the Winter Coat Project to try and help people in our community during the cost-of-living crisis.

Given the cost-of-living crisis and the challenges people have faced this year, we are thankful that the Winter Coat Project was such a huge success. We are thankful, too, for the help we received from a local YWAM team that provided much needed manpower to help make the project possible. The Winter Coat Project was so successful that we held it a second time at the beginning of December as the weather got colder. Through the project, we gave away pre-loved winter coats, scarves, and new hats and gloves donated by the community to people who needed them, all for free. And what a difference that made to people, some of whom travelled miles on public transport just to get help in the face of very difficult circumstances. Overall, we managed to give away well over 500 coats (not to mention the scarves, hats and gloves!), most of which went to new homes right here in our own community. Anything leftover at the end went to refugees in the greater Belfast area, through All Nations Belfast Ministries.

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St Mary’s Parish Church, Ballybeen

Trustees’ Annual Report for the year ended 31 December 2022 (continued)

Throughout the year we also continued our partnership with the Foodbank and with other local churches and community organisations, as we’ve actively worked together for the good of the community and to bless those who need it most.

Our other, normal ministries have carried on too. Outside of Sunday services we continued to study God’s word in The Gathering midweek meetings and together as Men on Saturday mornings fortnightly at CaveTime. Life Groups started up again in the autumn, for the first time since the pandemic. Our youth and children’s ministries and uniformed organisations have been in full flow as well, not to mention our ministries for seniors.

We were also delighted to be able to hold our seasonal services once more without restriction, whether they were services around the Easter Period, Harvest, Remembrance, or Christmas.

We are very thankful for all that we’ve been able to achieve during 2022 and are so very thankful to all who volunteer and give of their time, talents and treasures to make our ministries possible.

Public Worship

We strive in the leading of our public worship to create an environment where all are welcome. We provide an opportunity where a wide range of people may encounter and worship God. Our main Sunday morning service welcomes people of all ages and this is complemented in the evening by courses, events and services geared towards evangelism, discipleship, and worship. Special services are held leading up to Easter and at Harvest and Remembrance Day, and at Christmas our Nativity and Carol Services attract additional visitors. We value the involvement and leadership of many people, including welcome teams, musicians, Sunday School and Youth Leaders, Readers and Intercessors. We pray regularly for our community and those in need. We have experimented with different evening service formats.

Pastoral Work

We seek to offer care to parishioners of all ages and to support people at significant points in their lives. Clergy and our pastoral teams visit vulnerable and older people who are in care homes, assisted housing or who are less able to attend church to provide pastoral and spiritual support. Visits are made to parishioners in hospital and in preparation for baptisms and weddings. We also conduct funerals for church members as well as for the local community. Contact and care for one another also takes place informally across the parish.

Parish Groups

In addition to those mentioned above, parish groups meeting this year included Silver Threads (a weekly club for senior citizens), a Men's Fortnightly Bible Study, a monthly meeting for over 60s, Beenies (weekly toddler's group), Kids’ Church and Youth Fellowship as well as The Gathering meeting fortnightly. There are also well attended GB and BB uniformed organisations.

Local community

We are involved in the local community through membership of the local Ballybeen Improvement Group (BIG), involvement with our local Primary School, as well as in organising a Holiday Bible Club (under normal circumstances), and working together with local churches to organise joint services and outreach where possible.

Social Outreach

The parish has undertaken to engage with the wider society, particularly those who are vulnerable or disadvantaged, through social outreach activities. In the past year this has taken the form of:

Public Benefit

The Trustees have given careful consideration to the Charity Commission for Northern Ireland’s guidance on

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St Mary’s Parish Church, Ballybeen.

Trustees’ Annual Report for the year ended 31 December 2022 (continued)

public benefit to ensure that the activities entered into during the year have helped to achieve the Parish’s objectives and activities, as well as providing public benefit. Regular worship, outreach into the community and beyond, fundraising efforts and pastoral care, particularly for the sick and elderly help us to meet our public benefit responsibilities. Our church hall is used by a variety of organisations during the week. Access to Church properties is restricted for public safety to key holders and St Mary's Church mitigates potential harm from activities by implementing Safeguarding Trust, the Church of Ireland’s Child Protection Policy.

Financial Review

In summary we finished the year with

In total we have spent £592,113 on the extension and refurbishment of the church and hall and all outstanding bills have now been paid during this year. In 2021, we borrowed £210,000 from the Ulster Bank with repayments over 15 years. Despite many increases in the interest rate, we were able to reduce the loan by £32,073 in 2022, down to £174,537

Going Concern

The trustees have reviewed the budgets for the year ahead and are satisfied that there are adequate funds in place to ensure that the Parish can continue its activities and the financial statements for the year end 31[st] December 2022 can be signed off as a going concern .

Structure, Governance and Management

Governing Document and Constitution of the Charity

Chapter III of the Constitution of the Church of Ireland governs Parishes and Parochial Organisation. The Select Vestry members are the Charity Trustees

Recruitment and Appointment of Select Vestry

All members of the Church of Ireland who are over the age of 18 and are either resident within the parish or live elsewhere but have been accustomed members of the congregation for at least three months, may register as members of the general vestry of the parish, allowing them to attend and vote at meetings of the general vestry and to stand for election to the Select Vestry. Meetings of the general vestry are held at least once a year. The Select Vestry is elected as part of this General Vestry meeting. The Select Vestry will hold their positions for a period of one year. Select Vestry members may be re-elected annually and there is no limit on the number of terms which may be served

Pay and remuneration

The Rector receives a stipend and office and locomotory allowances in accordance with figures approved by the General Synod of the Church of Ireland and pension contributions and Employees National Insurance are paid in accordance with Diocesan recommendation.

Organisational Structure

The Select Vestry is responsible for the day to day management of the parish. The Select Vestry consists of the member of the clergy serving in the parish, any curate assistant (“the curate”), the Churchwardens, the Glebewardens and generally not more than twelve other members of the general vestry elected at the General Vestry.

St Mary’s Parish Church, Ballybeen

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Trustees’ Annual Report for the year ended 31 December 2022 (continued)

The Select Vestry is chaired by the incumbent or other member of the clergy officiating in the parish. Select Vestry members are responsible for making decisions on matters of general concern and importance to the parish including deciding how parish funds are to be applied.

The Select Vestry meets at times fixed by the members or by the diocesan synod. Special meetings may be convened at any time by the chairperson or the Churchwardens

Statement of Trustees' Responsibilities

The trustees are responsible for preparing the Trustees’ Report and the financial statements in accordance with applicable law and regulations.

The law applicable to charities in the Northern Ireland requires the trustees to prepare financial statements for each financial year. Under that law the trustees have prepared the financial statements in accordance with Generally Accepted Accounting Practice in the United Kingdom (accounting standards issued by the Financial Reporting Council in the UK , including Charities SORP (FRS 102) “ Accounting and Reporting by Charities: Statement of Recommended Practice applicable to charities preparing their accounts in accordance with the Financial Reporting Standard applicable in the UK and Republic of Ireland (FRS 102) “and promulgated by the Institute of Chartered Accountants in the United Kingdom and United Kingdom Law) Under that law the trustees must not approve the financial statements unless they are satisfied that they give a true and fair view of the state of the affairs of the charity and of the statement of financial activities of the charity for that period.

In preparing these financial statements, the trustees are required to:

The trustees are responsible for keeping accounting records that are sufficient to show and explain the Parish’s transactions and disclose with reasonable accuracy at any time the financial position of the Parish and enable them to ensure that the financial statements comply with the Charities Act (Northern Ireland) 2008, the Charity (Accounts and Reports) Regulations (Northern Ireland) 2008 and the provision of the Constitution of the Church of Ireland. They are also responsible for safeguarding the assets of the Parish and hence for taking reasonable steps for the prevention and detection of fraud and other irregularities.

On Behalf of the Trustees

Rev J Cheshire

Rev N Gordon

28[th] September 2023

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