Church Parocial Church Council Annual PCC Report
| Annual PCC Report |
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GENERAL INFORMATION Church St Peter & St Paul Address Church Road, Bardwell, Bury St Edmunds, IP31 1AH Benefice Blackbourne Team Deanery Ixworth Diocese St Edmundsbury and Ipswich Stipendiaries Rev Canon P. M. Oliver (Team Rector) (retired end March) The Vicarage, Commister Lane, Ixworth IP31 2HE Rev Elizabeth Jump, (Team Vicar) The Rectory, Honington, IP31 1RG Non-stipendiaries Rev Doug Neupert (OLM) Rev Sue Nutt (OLM) Rev Tony Redman (SSM) Rev Jill Walker (OLM) Bankers Lloyds TSB plc, Risbygate Street, Bury St Edmunds CAF Bank, Kings Hill, West Malling, Kent Examiner Linda Reynolds, FCCA, 5 Eastern Way, Bury St Edmunds. CHURCH INFORMATION Electoral Roll Resident 37 Non Resident 1 Average weekly adult attendance (all services) 25 Average weekly young persons attendance (normal services) 3 The Parochial Church Council consists of all clergy listed above plus the following elected Lay Members Lay Chairman David Ray Wardens Peter Mitchell (PCC Treasurer) Dinkie Williamson (Lay Elder) Deanery Synod Eileen Russell-Roberts (PCC Secretary) Ordinary Members Mazze Endicott Michael de Lotbiniere Delyse Ray Jennie Russell Aims and Objectives The Parochial Church Council has the responsibility for the care of the Church building and churchyard and for cooperating with the Team Rector, Team Vicar and all the Team Ministry in promoting within the ecclesiastical parish and the team the whole mission of the Church, pastoral, evangelical, social and ecumenical. Committees of the PCC Standing Committee: This is required by law. It has power, subject to any directions given by the PCC, to transact the business of the PCC between meetings. Finance and Buildings Committee: As its name implies, concerns itself with all financial matters and the care of the building and churchyard. It meets as business demands. Worship Committee: Considers and advises on matters relating to services both in the church and across the Team. It meets when required, between PCC meetings. Membership includes people not on the PCC. Fund-Raising Committee: Arranges, manages and develops fund raising activities for the support of church general funds and meets as required to arrange the year’s programme. Membership includes people not on the PCC. Associated Committees Friends of Bardwell Church: Encourages non churchgoing members of the parish to support our Grade I listed church and its surroundings. Its constitution provides that it is a sub-committee of the PCC and its finances form part of the accounts, but it operates independently of the Fundraising Committee. Membership includes people not on the PCC. Bells Group: A group of individuals keen to have the church bells re-hung to allow them to be rung regularly and to be usable for campanology training. The PCC supports this aim and given the success of the fund raising in 2008, including the substantial grant from the English Lottery Fund just before Christmas (see Review of the Year below) will be responsible for ordering and managing the contracts during 2009. Membership includes people not on the PCC. REVIEW OF THE YEAR Worship With the retirement of Canon Philip Oliver at the end of March we lost the rock on which our church had been based for thirty years. We had lost his love for Bardwell and the depth of his experience and expertise. There were going to have to be changes. However, ‘God is able to supply abundantly all that we need’ and He has been true to His word in this year. The principal Sunday services could continue to be held each week during 2008 although it was decided in the early autumn to withdraw, temporarily, the Wednesday 10am and Sunday 8am Holy Communion services, By dint of careful planning one or other member of the Ministry Team has been able to officiate at all our services. Liz Jump, our Team Vicar has taken all the major Festival and special occasions, with her usual clear and effective style. Seven All Age Services were held across the year, which were increasingly well attended. This has been supported with increased links with the village school, by Dinkie Williamson as a Foundation Governor. We hope to extend our work with children in coming years. We followed the Alpha course held in the autumn of 2007 with a Bible Study course in the Spring of 2008 under the title ‘A Life worth Living’. It was based on Paul’s letter to the Philippians. Two Team ‘Quiet Days, have been held at the Water Mill, one in Lent and a second in the autumn. In September a small group from Bardwell joined with others in the Team to visit the ‘Life of Christ’, a six hour outdoor play at Wintershall, nr Guildford. This was a stunning production and a very moving experience. Community Lunches and Teas were launched, each being held once a month in the Tithe Barn. The costs have been shared with Bardwell Charity Trustees. The aim has been to broaden the outreach of the church, by providing a weekday opportunity for people of any age, to meet and ‘social network’. These have proved to be well attended and achieving their purpose. We are grateful for physical ways in which our worship has been ‘lifted’: the newly decorated, lighter walls, the re-positioning of the altar forward to the centre of the Chancel and the new pew cushions! We have continued to grow in our worship, even in this year of Interregnum, for which we are thankful. People It was with sadness that we bade farewell to Cannon Philip Oliver on 30th March, after his 30 years service as our Team Rector. Elizabeth and Philip take with them into their retirement our every blessing and wishes for good health and happiness. We also said ‘goodbye’ to Maureen and Chris Gane and to Pam and Michael Millyard, who moved away from Bardwell in the spring. We lost their valued ‘backstage’ wisdom, support and expertise. Fortunately all of these have moved locally, so we look forward to continuing their friendship. The Blackbourne Team The Ministers, Readers and Lay Elders of our Team have met regularly to programme the services in all the Team churches so that, on Sundays at least, it has been possible to continue the pattern of worship that had existed prior to Philip’s retirement. It has been no mean task. The Team Council has continued to meet bi-monthly but, in order to manage the affairs of the Team during the Inter-regnum, established a Steering Group consisting of the Lay Chair of the Council, the Team Vicar and two elected Council members of whom Peter Mitchell (churchwarden) was one. This Steering Group has met at least once a month and taken forward the affairs of the Team, supervising the arrangements for the recruitment and appointment of a new Team Rector. We were fortunate to have a member of our parish so in touch with what was afoot. The Group has overseen the rota of clergy attending the various PCC’s so that each Parish has its ‘own’ group of attenders. We have been supported in our PCC meetings by Liz Jump, Tony Redman and Sue Nutt. The Fabric 2008 has been a year of doing, thinking and planning. The decorating team, under the tutelage of Dave Ray finished the work in the middle of the summer and the whole aspect of the inside of the church has taken a great change for the better. We have also been pondering the fate of the Bishop organ. We sought the advice of the Diocesan Advisory Committee about this and were relieved that they did not have any strong feelings about its retention. We sourced an electronic replacement which we had on trial for a couple of weeks in September and were highly satisfied with the sound it made. Towards the end of the year we submitted a formal petition for a Faculty to remove the Bishop organ completely and bring in an Allen electronic one. We expected there to be some resistance from some people and were proved right. This story will run into 2009. The Bells Project. The year has seen significant progress with the Bells Project. 2007 had seen the design refined, agreed, and approved by the granting of a Faculty. We had also had promises of £6,000 from the Suffolk Guild of Ringers, £2,000 from Suffolk County Councilor Joanna Spicer's locality budget, and £500 from Bardwell Parish Council. The PCC had already allocated £10,000 from its general funds and the main effort in 2008 has been the raising of the rest of the funds required. Many applications for funding were submitted, and there were inevitable disappointments. However, successful bids were made to the Suffolk Historic Churches Trust (£2,000), the Allchurches Trust (£750), the Scarfe Charitable Trust (£500), the Havebury Housing Partnership Community Investment Fund (£2,000), the Suffolk County Council Corporate Regeneration Fund (£8,000), and the Barbara Whatmore Charitable Trust (£750). Local companies contributed - Frederick Hiam Ltd (£1,000), and Shadwell Estates (£100) – and we received a donation of £1000 from our patron, St John's College, Oxford. There were considerable efforts to raise funds locally with a Tower Open Day, a concert of chamber music (organised jointly with the Friends of Bardwell Church), and an evening in the Church with George Pipe giving an illustrated talk about Suffolk Churches. These funds were generously boosted by a considerable number of generous donations from local people, the Rougham bell ringers, and from the collections from the 'Bell Sunday' service and the memorial service to Jean Lewis. The total of funds raised in this way now stands at nearly £2,900. Finally, just before Christmas we heard that our bid to the Heritage Lottery Fund had been successful and their grant of £33,700 meant that the project was now fully funded and could be implemented in 2009. The Friends of Bardwell Church The Friends have continued their support for the fabric of our building. They paid for the limewash used in the redecoration and for their next project are hoping to be able to fund the electrification of the winding mechanism of the clock. They sponsored a concert of chamber music by the Guidonion Ensemble in September, sharing the proceeds with the Bells Group and held their third Safari Supper in November. Bardwell Environmental Survey Team (BEST) We are very grateful to the work and guidance of BEST in managing and supporting the care of the churchyard. The Chairman, Chris Gane moved away in April, being replaced, in October 2008 by Bryn Lewis. Delyse Ray, as a member of BEST, acts as liaison between it and the PCC. BEST have provided the following summary of work completed in 2008 Managed grass cutting schedules and organized raking up after long grass cuts. Removal of large heap of gravedigger's spoil, in new graveyard. Cleared open space of weeds, bramble and large stones. Leveled, raked and seeded the above area. Removed tree stumps opposite porch, leveled and seeded. Leveled graves and seeded. Cleaned the two seats that we previously installed. Sprayed the paths and any ivy growing on church walls with weed killer. Trimmed and weeded new hedgerow along new fence. Organized a number of work parties. One used help provided by Boy Scouts when we tidied up railed grave opposite chancel and also the grave of the founder of Bardwell School. Removed bough of tree obscuring view across the river when seated on the new seat. Treasurer’s Report. The financial position of the Parish remains healthy. The accounts, produced on the accrual basis and reflecting activities in both the General and Restricted Funds, present a slightly skewed picture. The Balance Sheet reveals net assets of £93,368 at the end of 2008 as against £99,093 at the end of 2007, despite our having spent £11,137 on window repairs and £3,000 on furnishings. This apparent discrepancy arises partly because during 2008 we have received grants of £3,590 towards the Bells project, earned just over £4,000 in bank interest and received unrestricted legacies of £3,000. As mentioned in the report of the Bells Group above, the receipt of the grant from the Heritage Lottery Fund means that the Bells Project will proceed in 2009. The PCC has agreed to cover the gap between grant income and total costs, expected to be in the region of £10,000. The redecoration of the inside of the church for which we had initially ‘delegated’ £15,000 was completed. The Friends paid the costs of the lime wash and after we covered payment of other elements the balance of the delegated amount has been redistributed to other projects. Despite all these reserves we try to keep up the regular fund-raising activities in full swing, resisting the temptation to fritter away these gifts on running expenses and saving them for projects to enhance the ‘Mission’ of the parish In an attempt to keep accounting and auditing costs to a reasonable level I have not asked for the audited accounts to be split as between all the designated and restricted heads. The Balance Sheet distinguishes between Restricted Funds of £19,986 and Unrestricted Funds of £70,329. The following end of year figures are ‘unaudited’ but are included for reference and include sums due but not yet received for 2008: Restricted Funds Churchyard £712 Buildings £11.368 Friends £2,611 Bells Fund £5,295 Designated Funds Organ £15,135 Redecoration (closed) Re-ordering £35,763 Churchyard £1,246 Bells £9,865 Worship (Furnishings) £1,839 Unallocated £6,481 Reserves Policy The income for our general fund comes in steadily throughout the year with boosts from the major fund raising activities in spring, summer and autumn. We receive two slightly larger amounts, namely the Gift Aid tax rebate in mid summer (though this timing is to change) and the contribution from Bardwell Charities in December. We aim to pay a tranche of our Parish Share every month at a rate that would be about £2,000 short of the total and use the two larger receipts mentioned above to bridge this gap. Our normal cash flows enable us to meet this pattern. Any significant ‘general’ funds will be ‘designated’ to an ongoing project. These designations will be constantly reviewed by the Finance and Buildings Committee who will bring recommendations to the PCC. The balances in our restricted funds are dictated by grants and gifts received. Restricted Funds may only be used for the purpose designated by the donors. Other Interests of the PCC and Church Members The PCC, with the Diocese, is the beneficial owner of Bardwell Village Hall (the Tithe Barn) and has granted a lease to the Committee of Management for a period of forty two years from November 1983. A small annual ground rent is received. The PCC reserves in the lease rights of usage without charge under some circumstances. The Rector was, ex officio, a member of the Board of Governors of Bardwell CEVC Primary School. He was the elected chairman. On his retirement his place was taken by Liz Jump, Team Vicar. She is not in the chair. The Rector and Churchwardens are, ex officio, on the Board of Trustees of the three Bardwell Charities. On the Rector’s retirement Liz Jump took his place. Peter Mitchell is the elected chairman. The Rector and Churchwardens are, ex officio, sole managing trustees of Bardwell School House Mazze Endicott (PCC member) was the PCC’s appointed Foundation Governor of Bardwell CEVC Primary School She resigned during the year and was replaced by Dinkie Williamson (churchwarden). Michael de Lotbiniere (PCC member) represents the PCC on the Friends of Bardwell Church and is its elected chairman Dave Ray (PCC member and Lay Chairman) represents the PCC on the Bells Group and is its elected chairman Eileen Russell-Roberts (PCC secretary) has taken up the place we are entitled to on the Bardwell Village Hall Management Committee On behalf of the PCC Dave Ray Lay Chairman |