The Parish of Kilwaughter & Calrncastle with All Salnts
Registered with the Nl Charlty Commtssion- NIC 10358
ANNUAL REPORT
st
For year ending 31 December 2023
For any queries arising from this report or the Parish Accounts, please contact:
Parish Treasurer
c/0 9 Oakdene, Larne BT40 2FD
Tel..
07450 284484
Email:
kca
arish
lnail.com

The Church of Ireland, Parish of Kilwaughter and Cairncastle with All Saints
includes two churches: St Patrick's Church, Cairncastle and All Saints Church,
Craigyhill
Objectives and Activitie5
The principal function of the Parish of Kilwaughter and Cairncastle with All
Saints is to support the advancement of the Christian religion by promoting,
through the work of St Patrick's and All Saints Churches 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, the
parish has custody of the property and records, materials, and artefacts of
significance to the cultural and religious heritage, the maintenance of which is
undertaken by the Select Vestry of the Parish.
The Select Vestry is committed to enabling as many people as possible to
worship at our churches and to become part of our parish communityi fully
supporting the clergy in the delivery of worship throughout the parish.
To facilitate this work, it is essential that we maintain the fabric of both
churches In the parish, and the church hall.
Achlevements and Performance
Worship and Prayer- the provision of regular weekly services of Morning
Prayer and Holy Communion continues in both churches. The traditional Psalm
and Canticle chant repertoire was increased in St Patrick's, and choir anthems
and sung blessings included more in special services.
A new more informal Kidz/Family Service of the Word was added on the fifth
Sunday of the month. This included contemporary worship songs and children's
action choruses as well as an interactive type object lesson. A Back to School
Service was also introduced for the start of the new school year in September.
During Lent, a parish retreat day was held for the first time in Drumalis with 15
attending and very positive feedback. Mid week Communion services were
restarted in All Saints and a new lectio group met in St Patrick's. Both had on
average 6 people coming along.
Rogationtide is traditionally the period in the church calendar for'beating the
bound5' and a booklet was produced including Short prayer walks around

various parish local areas with stops to pray for other churche5, community
groups and businesses. These were also distributed to local hotels and some
community facilities for the use of casual visitors and the general public.
Sunday School and Messy Church - Enabled by a generous Diocesan grant, SS
members, young people and leaders opted for an all age family day out at
Belfast Zoo in the Spring as a means to reestablishing their fellowship and
commitment post covid. A few new children have been added to SS class at St
Patrick's and some have taken an active role in services.
The Children's Leadership Team planned a series of themed Sunday afternoon
Messy Church sessions. Rev Arlene Moore developed links with local primary
schools and started to take assemblies, as well as attend special events and
open days. This facilitated the advertisement of MC on internal school-home
communications.
Property- A complex legacy issue relating to an extremely narrow strip of land
left over from the sale of the former Millbrook Hall took many months,
considerable effort and the involvement of both Diocesan Council and RCB
lawyers to resolve. Despite un5ucce55ful attempts at securing a realistic
professional valuation, a mutual agreement was reached which resulted in
maximum benefit to the parish in the form of a donation to the value of £1750.
In order to improve the livestream of the services at St Patrick's and to resolve
the persistent buffering and weak signal issues It was agreed that a high speed
Broadband connection should be installed in the Church. This took much longer
than expected as St Patrick's did not have an official postcode registered with
Royal Mail, or the local Borough Council, and so no telephone/internet
provider could action any installation. The process of rectifying this situation
was delayed further by Royal Mail strikes and department closures. It was also
discovered All Saints did not have a correct postcode registered either. Both
churches have now been registered, p05tcodes secured and full fibre
Broadband installed in St Patrick's. Additionally upgrades to the sound systems
have been made in both churches.
The organ in All Saints had not been in use since pre Covid and was not
working. Initial consultations with organ tuners seemed to suggest it was
beyond repair and the need for a replacement was considered. However, a
local specialist fixed the organ at minimal cost to the parish {labour and parts).

Flnancial Revlew
Total receipts (General Account) for the 2023 financial year amounted to
£64284.62. Investment dividend income from Church of Ireland Trustees and
RCB Unit Trusts accounted for £3708.27 of the total receipts (with £919.38 of
the dividend total coming from the Broadford account). Endowment income
may be used up to supplement clergy costs. Gift Aid for the benefit of the
parish was not received during this reporting period.
Baptism, funeral and other donations contributed towards a closing balance in
the St Patrick's restoration fund of £14008 (the sl ight increase of £42 in 2023
being due to a loose change bucket collection). The Select Vestry has approved
the use of this account for the maintenance of St Patrick's Church as well as its
adjoining graveyard and grounds. The account may also be used to help
maintain the rectory (if required).
Donations, loose change collections plus income from a fireside quiz at All
Saints raised £270.75. A major fundraising Harvest Concert (which included
the sale of raffle tickets for some excellent donated prizes, and donations of
£130) brought in a total of £4052 after all expenses had been paid. All Saints
Hall rental agreements were initiated in 2023 with Dogs Trust Nl and Larne
School of Highland Dancing, but payments received do not show on the 2023
accounts, coming in rather in the early part of the 2024 accounting period. The
2023 end of year balance for the All Saints Hall Account totalled £12497.75.
The All Saints account is designated for the maintenance of All Saints, Church,
parish hall and grounds. This account may also be used to help maintain the
rectory (if required)
Freewill offering through envelopes (£30,391.77), Standing Orders (£17507)
loose plate collections (£1208.35) and annual donations (£430) totalled
£63052.49 in 2023. This was a decrease of £7896.73 on the previous year's
(2022) total of £70949.22 but it should be noted that the 2023 Gift Aid claim is
not included in the 2023 figures, while Gift Aid is included in the 2022 figures.
The 2023 Gift Aid was not received until 2024 (a total sum of £11347.28) If it
had been received in 2023 it would actually have meant a final total of £74399
and an increase of £3450.55K over 2022 figures. An additional (2021 delayed)
payment of £1500 in March 22 along with a one-off Diocesan post covid
recovery grant of £400 towards the restart of SS/youth work placed the 2022
dividend income figures at a higher level than those for 2023.

In 2023, a total of £86693.70 was spent on the provision of Christian ministry
within the parish. This includes diocesan quota contributions, staffing and
superannuation costs, as well as repairs, maintenance and all other general
running expenses. The net result for the 2023 financial year was a total
increase in expenditure of £36750.42 over the previous year's total of
£49943.28. The majority of this increased spend is due to clergy
stipend/expenses. For six months of 2022 there was no full time minister in
post, hence less expenses incurred in that year. It should also be noted that
2023 saw generally increased costs for light/power (additional +£lK), rates
(+£1500) and more was spent on repairs / equipment {£1500) than in 2022.
5t
The four bank balance totals carried fonNard on 31 December are as follows:
General account (£75641.83) Broadford account {£5132.88) St Patrick's
{£14008.00) and All Saints (£12497.75) providing an overall combined total
balance of £107280.46
Reserves Pollcy
It is the Select Vestry's policy to maintain a balance on unrestricted funds
(if possible) which equates to at least three months unrestricted payments,
(equivalent to approximately £21,000 to cover emergencies that may arise.
The balance held on unrestricted funds at year end is in excess of thi5 target.
Volunteers
We would like to thank all the volunteers who work so hard to maintain our
parish and give of their time freely to develop various activities and events.
Structures. governance and management
The method of appointing Select Vestry members (Trustees) is set out In the
Church of Ireland Constitution.
Annually, during the month of February, if they have not already done so,
individuals (proven to have subscribed to parish funds in a traceable form in
the previous financial year) are encouraged to register as resident or
accustomed members of the General Vestry (Electoral Roll). The General Vestry
Register is revised annually at a public meeting which is well advertised in
advance. Individuals who have moved from the parish, passed away or ceased
subscribing are removed and new applications are considered (as above). All
those named on the General Vestry Register are eligible for appointment to the

different offices of the church and to stand for election to the Select Vestry at
the next Easter General Vestry {AGM), held within a given period around Easter.
In a united benefice with two churches, such as ours, a Select Vestry normallv
has an allocation of one appointed Rector's Churchwarden for each church site;
and one Glebewarden shared between the two churches. At present the
officially nominated Glebewarden comes from St Patrick's Cairncastle but an
additional local Glebewarden role for All Saints ensures availability and
coverage at the Craigyhill site. An Hon. Secretary, Hon. Treasurer and Two
People's Churchwardens are then elected at the Easter General Vestry along
with other members to make up the full complement of the Select Vestry. In
the case of St Patrick's Cairncastle the role of People's Churchwarden is fulfilled
not by a single elected individual, but by various Select Vestry and other
General Vestry members operating a monthly rota system together in pairs.
Select Vestry members are responsible for making decisions on all matters of
general concern and importance to the parish, including deciding on how the
funds under the care of the Select Vestry are to be spent.
The Select Vestry had regular monthly meetings (with the exception of the
summer months of July and August) in the 2023 financial year.
Administrative responslbllities
The Parish of Kilwaughter and Cairntastle with All Saints Craigyhill is part of the
Diocese of Connor, within the Church of Ireland.
At the 2023 Easter General Vestry {AGM) Ms Lorraine Craig resigned her
position as Treasurer and stood down from serving on the Select Vestry. Mr
Brian Mcllhinney also stood down. Their positions along with the vacancies
created the previous year were filled by four new Trustees: Mr William
Rutherford, Mrs Elizabeth Rutherford, Mrs Marie Hayes and Mrs Edna Gibson.
A Commissioning Service for the complete Vestry for 23/24 took place during
morning services on Pentecost Sunday, 28th May 2023.

The complete list of serving Trustees in this reporting period is as follows:
Rev Arlene Moore
Chairperson
Mrs Janice Jones
Honorary Treasurer
Mrs Jennifer Stafford
Honorary Secretarv
Mr Peter Samuel Kaye
Churchwarden
Mrs Mabel Gilpin
Churchwarden
Mr Hugh Craig
Glebewarden
Mr Trevor Alexander Hassln MBE
Glebewarden
Mr Herbert Francis
Mr Allan Jones
Mr Colin Stafford
Mr lan Mccallum
Mr lan McGarel
Mrjohn Hamilton
Mr William Patton
Mr William Rutherford
Mrs Elizabeth Rutherford
Mrs Marie Hayes
Mrs Edna Gibson
This report was approved and signed on behalf of the Select Vestry at their
monthly meeting on Wednesday 8th May, 2024
CHAIRPERSON
Rev Arlene Moore
HON TREASURER
Mrs Janice Jones