St. Peter's Annual Parocial Church Meeting
6th April 2003 ------- MINUTES
Held on 6th
April 2003 at 6:30 p.m. in the church.
Note: All reports had been previously
received in written form and were circulated to the meeting, together with
minutes of last year’s meeting. The reports from this meeting are here given
in Appendix 1. Those presenting the reports at the meeting generally addressed
the main points of the report, and on occasion there was discussion, which
is recorded here.
Victor Daley opened the meeting with a prayer, and took the chair.
Apologies were presented on behalf of the following: Morgan Oliver, Wendy Cartwright, Nikki Devitt.
There were two proposals for the two churchwarden posts, namely Richard Dingley and Thea Oliver (the present church wardens). They were therefore declared elected.
Victor thanked both churchwardens for their tireless work on behalf of the church, and said that he had enjoyed his brief sojourn with us.
At the end of the Vestry Meeting, Richard Dingley took the chair for the rest of the meeting.
Copies of the minutes from the previous meeting were circulated. They had previously been on the notice board inside the church, and on the website.
There were no corrections, and the meeting agreed to accept them as an accurate account of the meeting last year.
There were no matters arising from the minutes.
(presented by Richard Dingley. See Appendix 1, Report A)
The observation was made that the electoral roll and church attendance are diminishing. Perhaps having a new vicar will help to reverse this situation. We shall see!
(presented by Chris Green. See Appendix 1, Report B)
(prepared by Wendy Cartwright. Seen Appendix 1, Report C)
(Prepared by Wendy Cartwright: See Appendix 1, Report D)
(Richard Dingley. See Appendix 1, Report E).
The condition of the graves was raised. Some of these are in a bad state of repair. This is now the responsibility of Mendip District Council, and will be rectified eventually. They have a number of other works to undertake.
(Victor Skinner. See Appendix 1, Report F).
(Julie Brown. See Appendix 1, Report G)
Covenant Secretary: Appendix 1, Report H- John Cartwright
School: Appendix 1, Report I- Thea Oliver
Parish Magazine: Appendix 1, Report J.
(Richard Dingley. See Appendix 1, Report K)
All the existing members of the PCC had agreed to stand for re-election, after being proposed and seconded. The full list was read out and is as follows:
|
John Cartwright |
Chris Green |
Audrey Morgan |
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Wendy Cartwright |
Colette Jeff |
Victor Skinner |
|
Trish Corrick |
Wilf Lacey |
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The two Deanery Synod representatives (who do not have to be re-elected this year) were Julia Brown and Sylvia Dingley. Together with the two Church Wardens, Richard Dingley and Thea Oliver, they join the PCC ex officio. With the new vicar, Stanley Price, the new PCC will be 13 strong.
All those standing were declared elected (proposed: Sylvia Dingley; seconded: Julie Brown. Agreed nem. con.)
16.1 Sylvia Dingley announced that more volunteers were still required on the rotas.
16.2 There was some discussion around hearing loops (part of the planned refurbishment). Victor said that we had had a quote of £3,000 to £5,000 (depending on how much we can do ourselves), but we did not have sufficient funds to do this in the next phase of improvements. No charitable funds are yet available for this. How many people would be benefited? A ‘straw poll’ gave 6 either in or known to members of the audience, for whom hearing in church is a problem. The PCC should undertake a better survey (although it would be difficult to cover those outside the church who might nevertheless come if they could hear the proceedings).
16.3 Rita Skinner raised the issue of welcoming new residents in the village. She would have appreciated a ‘welcome pack’ or something of the kind. One is in existence, but probably needs updating. The PCC should look into this.
During the past year Philip and Pat Franklin moved to Taunton and Karen Paton to Cheddar. Also Cissy Perry died in March 2003. There have been no new members added to the roll since the last Annual Meeting report.
The roll currently stands at 51.
The annual count of members taken over the five Sundays beginning January 26th showed than 31 people attended at least once during the period. Of these, one has since died. One person was away and two were not able to attend for health reasons during the period of the count. This makes our total membership 34.
Of these 19 are pensioners, 3 are in part-time employment, 1 is a full-time student, and 7 are employed (2 of whom are currently part-time students), while one has since died. The PCC have therefore classified the parish as being within Group C (less favourable placed than most)
The PCC was 12 strong at the start of the year, augmented to 13 when Victor Daley joined us. We have met 9 times in the year, chaired on each occasion by one of the two churchwardens. Generally we meet in the church, but during the winter Julie and Graham Brown have invited us to meet in their house across the road, which has been much warmer and more comfortable. On behalf of the PCC I should like to thank them both for their hospitality, which included numerous cups of tea and coffee, not to mention biscuits.
The previous APCM asked the incoming PCC to debate two questions that arose. This debate took place at the meeting on 17th June 2002, where other business was kept to a minimum. Please see Appendix 2 for an excerpt of the PCC minutes which covers this debate more fully.
In summary, we debated the following:
A. Our
current inability to meet the Parish Share and the serious consequences of
this.
We acknowledged the importance of the Parish Share payments, but there are also serious consequences in failing to maintain the fabric of our church. We must balance our obligations. The action taken was to write a letter to the Diocesan Board of Finance explaining our position. We received a sympathetic reply.
B.
Consider the implications of the proposal that we should maintain our worship
using the school and hall so that we could concentrate on “being the church in
the village” rather than maintaining our present church building.
We considered that the church building was both an asset and a liability, and that it was premature to consider abandoning it (which we are not in any case free to do without diocesan authority). We therefore decided to go ahead with fundraising to the best of our abilities, explaining our needs to the local community.
Further reports will cover the aspects of fundraising and parish share payments this year.
Last year we launched the parish website. It has been maintained and extended during the year. It now has a ‘reports’ section, which has copies of reports of public meetings at St. Peter’s. This includes last year’s APCM report, and minutes of the meetings of the PCC which have taken place in the year. The current document will likewise be published.
I have uploaded much of the magazine to the web during most months, although this has lapsed in some months where I did not have the material in electronic form. The section on the ‘vacancy’ has now been removed, and our new vicar’s details inserted.
There are a number of ways in which the website could be developed, depending on what we wanted to use it for: for example, as an aid to fundraising, or to state our purpose to the wider world, or to provide links to material on the Internet which we may feel to be important. I shall be interested to see whether the new vicar has any views on the subject!
We started the year with a bank balance of £591.85 credit having allowed for any outstanding cheques, issued but not yet presented. We have ended the year with a balance of £536.70 credit, again allowing for cheques issued but not yet presented. However there is some £265.80 of Charity collections in this balance waiting to be allocated. This has now been done and the payments will show in the Accounts for 2003 but the deduction of this sum from the Bank Balance means that we really ended the year with a credit balance of £270.90.
For the third year running we have not been able to pay the whole of our Parish Share but we did manage just about 66%, which was better than last year. The Diocesan Office has been advised of our financial situation, which has been affected by both the fund raising efforts for the roof and refurbishment and the fact that until the end of November we still had no vicar. We were then given a temporary solution but I feel sure that this on-going situation has badly affected our income. The Parish Share continues to rise each year and it will be even harder to meet the requirement for 2003. We will just have to do the best we can as we have always done in the past.
The balance in the Central Board of Finance Investment Fund as at 31st December 2002 was £8879.16, the same as the previous year as the interest is put directly into the general use bank account. Of course, this has been smaller because of the fall in interest rates over the last 12 months and this year we only received a total of £328.96, less than half that of 2000 and about £100 less than 2001.
This year instead of Carol Singing around the village, which has been poorly supported in previous years, we had a series of coffee mornings during December and these raised £90.50 for charities. We also put the collection from the evening Carol Service of some £50.30 with this and have sent cheques to St Margaret’s Hospice, Mendip Vale Workshops at Shepton Mallett and the Bishop’s HIV & AIDS appeal.
The magazine continues to pay for itself and provide a small profit for our funds. Thank you to Julie Brown for her efforts in producing this, and for finding/keeping advertisers in the magazine.
Thanks to our Covenant secretary’s efforts our income from return of income tax was again increased on the previous year by some £90. The Covenant Secretary will no doubt give you an overview of the planned giving situation.
The Flower Fund is still in existence but has not really been utilised this last year; however there is still a balance of £15 in the account.
The Roof & Refurbishment Fund still forges ahead and as at 31st December 2002 we had a balance of £8078.93 in the Central Board of Finance investment account and £1298.95 in the Bank account. Together with the savings in the General Investment account we feel we can now go ahead with the next phase of the roof repairs and also the installation of a hearing loop, and we are waiting rather impatiently for the architect and builders to start. Once this is done we will have no reserves left, however we have various fund raising events planned for 2003 and hope to improve matters soon.
Without a resident Vicar it has been extra hard for your PCC to keep our church going and I feel that everyone has pulled together extremely well. The end is now in sight and we can look forward to supporting our new part-time Vicar with enthusiasm.
That is all from me but if you have any questions I shall be happy to answer them to the best of my ability.
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RECEIPTS
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Account Opened 31 May 2001 |
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Transfer from CBF Deposit fund 601181001 |
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£ 3,881.50 |
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Transfers from Roof Fund account for year |
£ 3,150.00 |
|
£ 1,500.00 |
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Interest applied for year |
£ 247.47 |
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£ 99.96 |
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Total receipts for year |
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£ 3,397.47 |
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£ 5,481.46 |
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PAYMENTS |
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Transfers to Roof & Restoration Bank
Account |
£ 800.00 |
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Total Payments for Year |
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£ 800.00 |
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Account Balance at 01/01/02 |
£ 5,481.46 |
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Excess Receipts over Payments |
£ 2,597.47 |
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Balance at 31/12/02 |
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£ 8,078.93 |
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Receipts |
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Bank
Interest |
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£0.01 |
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Payments |
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Flowers
by request |
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£0.00 |
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Bank
Account Balance at 01/01/02 |
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|
£15.07 |
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Excess
Receipts over Payments |
|
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|
£0.01 |
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Bank
Acccount Balance at 31/12/02 |
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£15.08 |
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RECEIPTS |
2002 |
|
2001 |
|
2000 |
|
1999 |
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Incoming Resources from Donors |
£ |
£ |
£ |
£ |
£ |
£ |
£ |
£ |
|
Planned giving/Gift Aid |
4994.80 |
|
4868.00 |
|
4934.00 |
|
5298.00 |
|
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Collections and other giving |
826.95 |
|
779.21 |
|
1334.88 |
|
1266.54 |
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Income Tax recovered |
1805.70 |
7627.45 |
1722.76 |
7369.97 |
1569.89 |
7838.77 |
1457.89 |
8022.43 |
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Other Voluntary Incoming Resources |
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Donations (201) |
1109.20 |
|
213.95 |
|
1124.90 |
|
429.22 |
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Donations (105 + 202) |
219.10 |
|
5430.00 |
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Fund Raising |
563.80 |
1892.10 |
146.10 |
5790.05 |
348.50 |
1473.40 |
606.12 |
1035.34 |
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Income from Investments |
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Bank Interest |
1.26 |
|
4.30 |
|
4.75 |
|
2.04 |
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CBF Investment Account
Interest |
328.96 |
|
425.75 |
|
690.06 |
|
1019.45 |
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3.5% War Stock Dividends |
1.18 |
331.40 |
1.18 |
|
1.18 |
|
1.18 |
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|
|
|
|
0.00 |
431.23 |
0.00 |
695.99 |
|
1022.67 |
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Income from Charitable & Ancillary Trading |
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Sale of magazine (403) |
877.45 |
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709.45 |
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876.60 |
|
764.00 |
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Fees (404) |
558.00 |
|
668.50 |
|
889.95 |
|
288.00 |
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Sale of church books, cards
etc (401) |
0.00 |
|
42.00 |
1419.95 |
375.16 |
2141.71 |
295.32 |
1347.32 |
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Church Lettings (402) |
20.00 |
1455.45 |
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Insurance Claims & Other Income |
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(602) Sale of Assets |
0.00 |
0.00 |
0.00 |
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3581.50 |
|
0.00 |
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|
0.00 |
|
3581.50 |
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Restricted Receipts |
|
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(100) Roof Fund |
0.00 |
|
0.00 |
|
13952.00 |
|
689.00 |
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(101) Fabric Repairs from CBF A/c |
0.00 |
|
0.00 |
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2002.75 |
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(107) Flower Fund |
0.00 |
|
0.00 |
|
55.01 |
|
0.00 |
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(201) Disaster Appeals & specific Charity Collections |
180.60 |
|
695.22 |
|
0.00 |
|
177.40 |
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(202) Youth Work/INF |
525.00 |
705.60 |
0.00 |
695.22 |
120.00 |
16129.76 |
120.00 |
986.40 |
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|
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Total Receipts |
|
12012.00
|
|
15706.42 |
|
31861.13
|
|
12414.16 |
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PAYMENTS |
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Grants |
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(1001) Church Overseas |
0.00 |
|
395.00 |
|
0.00 |
|
100.00 |
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(1002) Relief &
Development Agencies Overseas |
329.27 |
|
0.00 |
|
0.00 |
|
100.20 |
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(1003) Home Missions &
other church societies |
20.00 |
|
91.00 |
|
100.00 |
|
70.00 |
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(1004) Secular charities |
195.00 |
544.27 |
0.00 |
486.00 |
0.00 |
100.00 |
277.20 |
547.40 |
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Activities Directly Relating to the Work of the Church |
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Parish Share |
6000.00 |
|
4850.00 |
|
5554.37 |
|
7659.63 |
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Clergy Expenses (2002/2004) |
1108.20 |
|
1231.42 |
|
970.85 |
|
971.71 |
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Upkeep of Church (2005/2006) |
1222.47 |
|
969.28 |
|
1029.25 |
|
1302.09 |
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Upkeep of Services (2007) |
78.44 |
|
63.28 |
|
170.27 |
|
120.06 |
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Magazine Costs (2009) |
551.28 |
|
425.36 |
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638.03 |
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Printing of cards & booklets o.oo |
0.00 |
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0.00 |
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464.50 |
|
837.12 |
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Glebe rent |
0.00 |
|
0.00 |
|
0.00 |
|
0.00 |
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Buildings Maintenance (2012/2015) |
785.98 |
|
960.17 |
|
1301.50 |
|
532.02 |
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Sunday Club/Youth Work/Education (2017) |
13.98 |
|
13.14 |
|
114.11 |
|
453.95 |
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Organist & Verger (2016) |
100.23 |
|
63.50 |
|
100.00 |
|
144.99 |
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Deanery Fees |
15.00 |
9875.58 |
0.00 |
8576.15 |
109.00 |
10451.88 |
15.00 |
12036.57 |
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Fund Raising & Church Administration |
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Fund raising costs - general |
0.00 |
|
0.00 |
|
0.00 |
|
150.00 |
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- roof fund |
0.00 |
|
50.00 |
|
0.00 |
|
122.00 |
|
|
Church administration |
1096.80 |
1096.80 |
211.65 |
261.65 |
0.00 |
0.00 |
70.94 |
342.94 |
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Restricted Funds |
|
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Flower Fund |
0.00 |
|
0.00 |
|
25.00 |
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Roof Repairs |
55.00 |
|
0.00 |
|
16057.36 |
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To New Bank A/c designated Roof Fund |
0.00 |
|
132.41 |
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To CBF Investment Fund re -
Roof |
0.00 |
|
0.00 |
|
3881.50 |
|
567.00 |
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- Fabric |
0.00 |
|
6700.00 |
6832.41 |
0.00 |
19963.86
|
0.00 |
567.00 |
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To INF (202R) |
495.50 |
550.50 |
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TOTAL PAYMENTS |
|
12067.15 |
|
16156.21 |
|
30515.74
|
|
13493.91 |
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General |
Fabric |
Roof |
Flower |
Totals |
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Fund |
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Fund |
Fund |
2001 |
2000 |
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Monetary
Assets |
|
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CBF
Investment account |
|
8879.16 |
5481.46 |
|
14360.62 |
6060.66 |
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Bank
Current Account |
591.85 |
|
96.84 |
15.07 |
703.76 |
1071.65 |
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Total
Cash Assets |
591.85 |
8879.16 |
5578.30 |
15.07 |
15064.38 |
7132.31 |
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Other
Assets |
|
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3.5%
War Stock Capital £34.25 |
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Value
at 04/01/02 £24.10 |
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Bank
Account Balance at 01/01/00 |
1041.64 |
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Excess
Payments over Receipts |
449.79 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Bank
Account Balance at 31/12/01 |
591.85 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Flower
Fund Balance at 31/12/01 |
15.07 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
Roof
Fund Balance at 31/12/01 |
96.84 |
|
|
|
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|
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Liabilities |
|
|
|
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|
|
|
|
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Charity
Collections - money still held |
£ 250.00 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
Gas
Bill |
£ 143.88 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
Chedburn
re Quinquennial report |
£ 497.50 |
891.38 |
|
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There has been only one major alteration to the goods belonging to the church during the past year. We have received a donation of 40 chairs from the Hall Committee; these are now supplementing our present supply.
The next phase of the roof refurbishment has been contracted and they were expected to have completed the work by now. The Architect now informs me that work is expected to start soon. The hearing loop also needs to be treated as a matter of urgency and is included as a partly DIY job in the near future.
The Church Yard is not our responsibility; however Mendip Council are planning to hand over the maintenance to Rodney Stoke Council in April. As a result major work has been done on the trees, paths, boundary walls and hedges. However the contractors were not given permission to pollard the lime avenue as ‘this is not considered good practice now’. My own view is that once pollarding has been started it needs to go on to retain the trees in a safe state and I think this needs looking into again after maintenance is transferred to our local Council.
The current position is that we have just enough funds for the completion of Phase II of the roof repairs, namely the re-roofing of the south transept and south nave. Builders have been instructed to proceed and, when this phase is finished, we shall be able to undertake repairs to the floor, the installation of a hearing loop and the redecoration of the main part of the Church. This work will exhaust our current funds and we still need a further £50,000 to £60,000 to complete the project. These figures depend upon the levels of VAT and the Government’s attitude to Church charities over the next 4 years.
Since the last report the main effort of the Roof Repair and Refurbishment Appeal Committee was applied to the preparation and launch of the Appeal. We had hoped for the new priest to figurehead the Appeal but the urgency of the roof repair required us to go it alone. We launched the Appeal on the occasion of the Harvest Lunch on October 6th 2002, after delivering an invitation to every household in Draycott and Nyland. The response from the village was disappointing and only the Church’s regulars attended. By the end of 2002 the Church had received £290 in Covenants and Gift Aid, £1509 in donations and £2686 from our Fund Raising activities.
The main fund raising activities since the last APCM report were a plant sale, Auction of Promises at the Draycott Jubilee celebrations in June, a birthday celebration, a quiz, a photographic exhibition in the Church, a jumble sale and a Musical evening by Barry Rose and Guests, on 12th December, which filled the Church and raised over £760. Our grateful thanks to all those who organised and helped at these events.
Fund-raising events already planned include a stall and book sale at the Strawberry Fair, a pig roast with raffle on Midsummer Day, a dance in the Memorial Hall and the Cheddar Male Choir, booked for 2004. Our target is to raise £2500 each year of the project. Whatever the event, we need people to sell tickets – not just committee members. If 10 people can each sell 10 tickets we can look forward to at least 100 to ensure financial success – we cannot afford to cancel a fund-raising event for lack of support.
We are appealing to general Church-supporting charities for financial help. The only promise, so far, is £1000 from the Wyvern Environmental Trust. Now that the Government has ended the Landfill Tax Credit Scheme, we not only lose any chance of future help, but there is a danger that the Wyvern Environmental Trust will disband before the Phase II work is completed – we my therefore lose that £1000. Of the other charities we have approached, only one has actually refused to help, after a policy change which confines assistance to Grade I and II* listed buildings. I look forward to a successful 2003 with the guidance and contribution from our new Leader.
Deanery Synods, always interesting meetings in the churches, included St. Peter's, Draycott on October 7th at 7 pm. Our church members kindly provided light refreshments.
Seating in St Peter's was
rearranged for viewing a screen with The Rev Stephen Lynas explaining to Synod
the Resources Consultation he provides to parishes throughout the
Bath & Wells Diocese. Not only is it money that's needed but also
enthusiasm.
Sylvia Dingley reported the
January Deanery Synod. The Revd Robin Hutt, a Methodist Minister,
described the background and import o the new Anglian Methodist Covenant.
Their rural clergy are overstretched and there is an vital necessity to
work closer together with Anglicans.
I am pleased to report that St Peter’s is still getting support from the residents of this lovely village. For the past financial year we have had 44 Covenants and Declarations. After the launch of the appeal for the church Roof & Restoration Fund we have had six Declarations which will produce income from the Inland Revenue to boost the fund.
During the year our income from covenants has decreased by £522 caused by fatalities and members moving away from the village, however recent new declarations supporting the Roof fund will offset this. I am therefore expecting to receive a similar amount from the Inland Revenue for the year ended 5th April 2003 to that received in 2002.
This last year has been very interesting, challenging and productive for the staff governors and children alike. There are 81 children on the roll with 2 soon to join and other enquiries from families moving to our area. Last year two of our teachers went on maternity leave and each produced a set of twins! During their absence we have been very well served by Mrs Jo Watts in class 2, and Mr Christian Hilton in class 3. Mrs Jane Storer and Mrs Lisa Hill have now returned to work and will ‘job-share’ in class 2. Mr Hilton will continue to teach Class 3.
At the end of last year Mrs Christine Hitt retired after many years service. We were sorry to see her go and wish her well, we have not lost her completely as she is still doing some supply work around the area and returned to help us out before Christmas. Mrs Linda Molessa is covering class 1 this year. We are in the process of advertising for a senior teacher for our reception class.
January 2003 saw our second OFSTED visit with all the associated anxiety and stress for all involved. It is a credit to all members of staff that such a new team should work together so well. The OFSTED inspectors who were impressed by every aspect of our school praised Mrs White and her team and gave a very good report. Full details are available from the school office. The children are, as usual, a credit to the school and have taken all these changes and challenges in their stride.
The strong links with the other schools in the Cheddar valley continue and see our children joining in with many and varied activities. The transition to middle school is made easier by these links and the joint activities.
Fortnightly Church assemblies continue throughout the extended interregnum, mostly taken by Mrs Thea Oliver with invited guests at times. The theme for assembly follows the set readings for that week where suitable. The children joined us for Sunday worship at Harvest Festival, Christingle and Mothering Sunday.
As a school we are eager to welcome Rev Stanley Price, our new incumbent, and look forward to his involvement in school life.
After ten years editorship I am stepping down as Editor, as from the June issue.
After such a long interregnum I would especially like to thank Richard for his hard work, which also involved contributing to the magazine's editorial. Mr Stanley Price our new vicar will be most welcome! I also thank everyone who has contributed to keep the magazine alive!
The Advertising in our Rodney Stoke & Draycott parish magazine has raised approximaely £240 for the year with five regular advertisers.
240 magazine copies are circulated with a wider readership.
The great news is that this is the last time I will be making this report following the appointment of the Revd. Stanley Price as our new Priest-in-Charge. His initial licence is for a term of three years when everything will be reviewed, possible within a wider context than our present Benefice. It seemed to be a never-ending interregnum and we are grateful to our temporary acting (unpaid) Priest-in-Charge and Rural Dean for undertaking regular arm-twisting exercises to push forward a suitable candidate. The Church Wardens of both churches are confident that he is the right person for the job and look forward to working with him. Stanley Price will be Licensed and Inducted by the Archdeacon, Ven. Dick Acworth, at an evening Service of Holy Communion next Sunday, Palm Sunday, at 6.30 pm
I have been very grateful to the willing and unstinted help given us by our visiting clergy. They have provided us with a high level of service with stimulating sermons. All have been invited to attend the Licensing Service next Sunday.
In 2002 we again celebrated the Last Supper with a Passover Meal followed by Communion. This was greatly appreciated and will be repeated this year. A number of services, such as Harvest Festival, were celebrated by a form of morning worship without communion and these have been appreciated by those who do not regularly come to church. The children at our School have presented songs at these services.
The Remembrance Sunday Service with the British Legion was again held in the War Memorial Hall and was very well attended by people from both villages. This is set to become a regular feature in future.
A Christingle Service was held in November with the proceeds going to the Children’s Society. Our speaker was ill on the night and the Rural Dean, Preb. Victor Daley gallantly gave a very telling message ‘off-the-cuff’.
During Advent the POSADA couple travelled around the village joining us weekly in church, the money collected being given to the Church Army. During this Lent we are again joining with churches in Cheddar for another York Course entitled “New World – Old Faith”. This has produced lively discussions so far.
Our informal evening worship on the last Sunday of most months led by members of the Community Church have continued throughout the year.
A. Our
current inability to meet the Parish Share and the serious consequences of this.
Main points to arise from discussion
v What are the ‘serious consequences’? One of these may be to put off prospective incumbents. However, inability to pay for repairs may be equally off-putting. There are also serious consequences in failing in the upkeep of the church. The roof may fall in!
v Both church upkeep and parish share are important. However, the church upkeep it the more obviously urgent. The architect says that we should complete the roof repairs to the nave by the end of the summer, and the continued dampness in the church is causing progressive damage to the church fabric.
v It was suggested that we write a letter to the DBF (with a copy to the archdeacon) outlining our dilemma and what we are doing about it. We need to gather our facts and make a case for what we are doing.
ACTION: Chris to get the up to date figures on our Parish Share contributions from Wendy, and draft a letter to the Diocese outlining our point of view.
B.
Consider the implications of the proposal that we should maintain our worship
using the school and hall so that we could concentrate on “being the church in
the village” rather than maintaining our present church building.
Main points to arise from discussion
v We are in financial difficulties not because we have suffered a drop in income in the last few years, but because the parish share has increased steeply, and at the same time we have incurred significant expenses in the maintenance of our church building.
v The congregation of the church is not increasing significantly. We are only going to meet our financial obligations if we secure the support of the wider local community. For this, we need a credible, detailed and costed plan for church repair and refurbishment, and this needs to be launched with the maximum publicity. We have been working on plans for this over the last year.
v The church building is both an asset and a liability. The latter aspect may sometimes be more obvious to those of us who try and maintain it. However, let us not be too quick to write off its importance, to ourselves or to others. We must wait to see what our fundraising drive this year brings us before we are entitled to say that maintenance of the church fabric is a burden which is too great for us.
ACTION: We should concentrate our energies on our fundraising launch this year, and only fall back on other options if this does not yield results.