Trustees Annual Report 1st January 2023 to 31st December 2023
Registered Charity Name : Dungannon/Killyman/St Andrews/Armagh/Church of Ireland
Registered Charity Number : NIC 104223
Charity Address : c/o Philip Annesley, 43 Trewmount Road, Dungannon, Co Tyrone BT71 6RL
Trustees : Rev’d John Ewart (from May 2023, Chairman), Mr William Abernethy (until March 2024), Mr Philip Annesley, Mr Kenneth Armstrong, Dr Ruth Carroll, Miss Sarah Carroll (from March 2024), Mr Tony Carroll (from April 2023), Mr Kenneth Colbert (from April 2023), Mr Henry Courtenay, Mrs Linda Douglas, Mr Thomas Douglas (from March 2024), Mr Jonathan Fowler, Mr Andrew Jackson (until April 2023), Mr David Kennedy, Mr Paul Kerr (until April 2023),Mrs Alison McMullan, Mr Eric Patterson, Mrs Ruth Patterson (until March 2024), Mr Robert Stewart (until March 2024), Mrs Patricia Watson (from March 2024), Mr Trevor Watson and Miss Jayne Winslow (until March 2024)
Purpose : The principal function of the Parish is to support the advancement of the Christian religion by promoting through the work of the St Andrew’s Killyman 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 is fundamental to the practical delivery of the tenets of Christianity. As a result of activity in pursuit of the advancement of the Christian religion, the Parish has custody of a large body of records, materials and artefacts of significance to the cultural heritage, the maintenance of which is undertaken by the Parish as a secondary charitable purpose.
Recruitment and Appointment of Select Vestry (Trustees ): All members of the Church of Ireland who are over the age of 18 years and are either resident within the Parish or living elsewhere but being an accustomed member of the congregation, 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 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 time limit on the number of terms which may be served. The Select Vestry members are the Charity Trustees.
Objectives and Activities : All the functions of St Andrew’s Killyman relate to the advancement of the Christian religion through holding regular worship and communicating with and caring for parishioners and others in our community and in the wider world. Below you will find a summary of the main activities.
Worship Services are held each Sunday. These include a range of different types of services such as Morning Prayer, Evening Prayer, Holy Communion, Holy Baptism, All Age Worship. Special weekday services are held during Advent, Lent, Holy Week and for Harvest Thanksgiving. The input of the Parish Choir and Praise Band greatly enhances the worship in Church.
Sunday School meets each Sunday morning during term time. The Sunday School children read, lead the prayers and sing at All Age Worship.
Bible Class and Connected Youth Group (both for Secondary age pupils) alternate their weekly meetings between Bible Class on a Sunday morning and Connected on a Sunday evening.
Weekly Activities on offer meet the needs of a wide range of ages and people in the parish and community:
Working within the shared Common Protocol, we provide premises for the Girlguiding – sections – Rainbows, Brownies and Guides; and the Scout sections Squirrels, Beavers, Cubs and Scouts.
During the week a Bowling Club and Keep Fit classes operate from the Parish Hall.
A Craft Class meets weekly, Mothers’ Union meet monthly and Good Companions our senior fellowship group meet bi-monthly for food, fun and fellowship.
Our Child Protection Policy is in accordance with the “Safeguarding” policies of the Church of Ireland. The same policy also applies to those who would be termed vulnerable adults.
Mission Outreach at Home and Abroad
St Andrew’s Killyman is committed to reaching out into our local community with the Good News of God’s Love through our witness in Word and Action. We work closely with other agencies in doing this including Church Mission Society Ireland (CMSI) and are involved in a mission link programme with North Kivu Diocese, Democratic Republic of Congo where we provided funds to repair the children’s home we had previously funded, which was fire damaged during the ongoing conflict.
We also have a link through South American Mission Society (SAMS) with Pastor Anderson Sanchez and his 3 churches in Lima, Peru. Pastor Anderson Sanchez visited the parish in January 2023 and spoke with parishioners on the work of his churches. Funds from the cancelled mission trip planned for 2020 continue to be released to support the work with the soup kitchens and the youth work within the churches. Regular updates are shared with the parishioners in the Parish magazine. The Parish supports the Trussell Trust Food Bank in Dungannon with an ongoing collection point in the Parish Hall. Parishioners regularly knit items which are sent for babies in the local hospitals.
As a Parish we support Armagh Diocesan Annual Hospice Sunday Appeal and the Bishops Appeal. At Harvest 2023 we supported Barnabas Aid.
Pastoral Care : All pastoral care is provided on a confidential basis to those in need by the Rector, Reverend John Ewart who took up post on 22[nd] May 2023. Prior to this the Rural Dean provided pastoral care assisted by Reverend Chris Broddle who led church services and did one day of pastoral work in the parish each week.
Compliance with Public Benefit : The Trustees have given careful consideration to the Charity Commission for Northern Ireland’s guidance on 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.
Financial Review: For the 2023 financial year the balance on 31st December 2023 was £144,901.90. The excess of income over expenditure was £27,543.20. Each year, direct giving forms a major part of the Church’s income. In 2023 this was £3,795 ( approximately 3.65%) more than in 2022. These figures include gift-aid tax refund. Events organised during the year – Parish Breakfast, Tractor Run, Songs and Sweet Things and Christmas Craft Fair raised a total of £7,985 for Church Funds. £2,000 was refunded for flights not taken when mission trip to Peru was cancelled in 2020 due to the pandemic. The Parish’s contribution to the Diocesan Sustentation Fund for the year was £63,748.78 -up by approximately £15,600. The increase was due to the parish having a part-time minister until Easter and our new full-time Rector, the Revd John Ewart being in place since May. During 2022 the parish was in vacancy and so had a much-reduced diocesan assessment.
Apart from the Diocesan assessment and everyday running costs, other significant items of expenditure were: Electrical and Lighting upgrades and repairs: £5018.40 Purchase of new Office Computer: £846.00 Printing of 200[th] Anniversary Calendars: £1,716.00 The cost of electricity and heating oil also increased significantly over the year, though a total of £1,800 was received from NIE as part of the government’s “Help with Energy Bills Scheme”.
Donations:
A total of £6,500 (£5,158.90 from Missionary Account and £1,341.10 from a special collection) was sent via CMSI to the Parish’s mission partners in DR Congo. £2,050 (including £50 fees) was sent to the Parish’s mission partners in Peru. Donations totalling £6731.54 were also made to other Missionary societies and good causes. which was donated to missionary societies and other worthy causes from Church funds.
Declaration :
The trustees declare that they have approved the trustees’ report above.