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2023-12-31-annual-report

St Macartan`s Cathedral Church of Ireland, Clogher

Trustee’s Annual Report

For the year ended 31 December 2023

Charities Number: NIC105369

Trustees Annual Report for the year ended 31 December 2023

Reference and Administration Details

Charity Name:

St Marcatan`s Cathedral Clogher

Charity Registration Number: NIC105369 Contact Address: The Rectory 10 Augher Road Clogher BT76 0AD

Trustees:

Reverend Olivia Downey

Mrs. Audrey Johnston Mrs Heather McKeown Mrs Joyce Stafford Mr Trevor McNeill

Mrs Rachael Armstrong Mrs Julie Armstong Mr. J.I.D. Johnston J.P. Mrs Hilary Keys Mr Ivan Domer Mr William Fannin

Mrs Sharon Fannin Mrs Avril Robson

Principal Office-bearers

Rector: Curate Assistant: Rector’s Chruchwarden: People’s Churchwarden: Rector’s Glebewarden: People’s Glebewarden: Church Secretary: Church Treasurer:

Reverend Olivia Downey Vacant Mrs Sharon Fannin Mr Nigel Robinson Mr William Crawford Mrs Hilary Crawford Mrs Julie Armstrong Mrs Avril Robson

Independent Examiner

Allan Montgomery & Company Chartered Certified Accountants 100 Main Street, Fivemiletown, BT75 0PW

Principal Bankers

Ulster Bank Ltd 55 Main Street Clogher, BT76 0AA

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Trustees Annual Report for the year ended 31 December 2023

Trustees’ Annual Report for the year ended 31 December 2023

The Trustees present this Annual Report and Statement of Receipts and Payments and Assets and Liabilities for St Marcatan`s Cathedral Clogher for the year ended 31 December 2023.

Objectives and Activities

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

The principal function of St Marks Parish Church is to support the advancement of the Christian religion by promoting, through the work of St Marks Parish Church 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 Macatan`s Cathedral 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 Marks Parish Church.

Achievements, Performance & Public Benefit

St Macartans Cathedral Church of Ireland herein called ‘St Macartans Cathedral seeks to fulfil its purpose in support of weekly services on Sunday morning’s comprising of a mix of Holy Communion, Morning Prayer, Family Service and Baptism together with various other special services during the year e.g. Lenten, Harvest Thanksgiving, Advent and Christmas. Pastoral care is provided for all parishioners and those in the wider community.

This year due to the COVID-19 pandemic, with the various restrictions, lockdowns, and church closures in attempts to limit the spread of the coronavirus, much of the above activities were curtailed. The church quickly adapted to posting services online on the parish Facebook page each Sunday and additionally mid-week reflections and continued to fulfil those services as per the churches calendar year.

The Rector took a very active role with the online engagement of parishioners who sent in recordings of bible reading to be included into the Sunday service.

It was ensured that all parishioners received pastoral support during lockdown this included parish letters, phone calls and face to face support when restrictions allowed.

The range of other activities which are usually provided by St Macartan`s Cathedral COI either by the church directly or through various church organisations e.g. Inklings Bible Study, Sunday school, Knit Stitch & Natter, Mothers Union and Choir was very limited from March onwards due to the pandemic.

During 2020 the Rector formed a very dedicated Parish Prayer Group which offers itself as a resource for prayer, not just for the participants, but for the whole parish community. At present this is managed by requests that are texted / posted to the group.

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Trustees Annual Report for the year ended 31 December 2023

Special arrangements were made to ensure that all Sunday school youth received a pastoral gift at Christmas time, the distribution of these gifts was strictly in accordance within the COVID 19 restriction guidelines at the time.

Reverend Olivia Downey holds the position of Chairperson to the Board of Governors of the local primary school and a number of members of the Parish serve on Board of Governors as well as PTFA (Parents, Teachers, Friends, Association) which supports and encourages the work of the local school, helping to maintain good standards and practices. In addition, Reverend Olivia continued to partake in regular assemblies in our local schools via online recordings due to the pandemic.

St Macartan`s Cathedral COI supports the work of other charities and missionary work by either making donations or holding special collections in respect of the same. UCB (United Christian Broadcasters) Ltd and other charities receive financial and prayerful support from the Parish.

The activities outlined above demonstrate how St Macartan`s Cathedral COI continues to implement its charitable purposed (i.e. the advancement of religion) and meets the public benefit requirement. Benefits to members of the public include contributing to spiritual well-being of participants and the reinforcement of Christian values.

St Macartan`s Cathedral COI outreach extends widely and is particularly effective through Rites of Passage ceremonies such as baptism, marriage and burial which often extend into wide areas of the local community. All are opportunities to reinforce Christian values and aspects of good citizenship. The Rector has a sensitive involvement in the local community.

The Trustees’ (who have a responsibility for the upkeep of Church, Church property, Graveyard, Rectory and Church Hall), continue to exercise their stewardship by ensuring the necessary remedial repairs to the surrounds of the Parish Church and rectory are regularly maintained. As part of that stewardship, the Trustees’ address any necessary repairs as required to the hall, to ensure that all facilities are welcoming, safe and usable by members and the wider public.

St Macartan`s Cathedral COI has mitigated any potential harm from the activities through the implementation of the Church of Ireland Safeguarding Trust Policy. The parish has undertaken, with guidance from the Church of Ireland, to implement GDPR in accordance with current legislative requirements.

The Parish has given careful consideration to the Charity Commission for Northern Ireland’s guidelines on public benefit to ensure that the aforementioned activities, as described, prove evidence of how St Macartan`s COI continues to implement its charitable purposes, the advancement of religion, and meets the Public Benefit requirement.

Financial Review

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Trustees Annual Report for the year ended 31 December 2023

Going Concern

The Trustees have reviewed its planned expenditure 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 ended 31 December 2020 can be signed off as a going concern.

Structure, Governance and Management

As outlined in Chapter III of the Church of Ireland Constitution which governs ‘Parishes and Parochial Organisation’. The Select Vestry members are the Charity Trustees.

- Recruitment and Appointment of Select Vestry (Trustees)

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 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 reelected annually and there is no limit on the number of terms, which may be served.

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Organisational Structure

The responsibilities of the select vestry include that day to day management of activities and decisionmaking within the Parish.

The Select Vestry consists of a member of the clergy serving the Parish, Churchwardens (known as the Rector’s Churchwarden and the People’s Churchwarden), the Glebewardens and up to 12 additional parishioners who are registered members of the general Vestry for the Parish and elected to the Select Vestry at the General / Easter Vestry.

The Select Vestry is chaired by Clergy within the Parish. Select Vestry members are responsible for making decisions on matters of general concern and importance to the Church / Parish including how funds are to be applied.

The Select Vestry meet at times fixed by Clergy / Members. Special meetings may be convened at any time by the Chairperson of the Churchwardens. In 2023 the Select Vestry met 3 times during the year and the average attendance was 94%. Additionally, during lockdown some select vestry business was carried out via email.

Compliance with Public Benefit

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Trustees Annual Report for the year ended 31 December 2023

The Parish has 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 achieve the Parish’s objectives and activities, as well as providing public benefit.

Statement of Trustees’ Responsibilities

The trustees are responsible for preparing the Trustees’ Report and the statement of receipts and payments and statement of assets and liabilities in accordance with applicable law and regulations.

The law applicable to charities in Northern Ireland with Income less than £250,000 requires the trustees to prepare a statement of receipts and payments and a statement of assets and liabilities for each financial year.

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 assets and liabilities of the Parish. 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.

Signed on Behalf of the Trustees

Trustee 1 Rev Downey Rector

Trustee 2 Avril Robson Church Treasurer

Date ___19/10/2024

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