The Parish of St Laurence, Northfield St Laurence Church is a Registered Charity 1132975 Annual Vestry and Parochial Church Meetings 7pm Wednesday 23rd June 2021 in church and by zoom (use Sunday service link) Agenda The ANNUAL PAROCHIAL CHURCH MEETING to include Annual Vestry Meeting 1. Apologies 2. Minutes of the previous Annual meetings held on Sunday 18th October 2020. 3. Consideration of the new Electoral Roll 4. Appointment of Scrutineers 5. Election of Churchwardens. Nominations of Roy Pouncett and Sandra Reynolds have been received 6. Elections of Members to the Kings Norton, Moseley and Shirley Deanery Synod (2 vacancies / 2 year term) 7. Election of Members of the Parochial Church Council (4 vacancies /3 year term) Nominations of Stuart Andrew and Rowena Nicholls have been received 8. Annual Report of the proceedings of the Council 9. Annual report of the financial affairs of the Parish a) Examined accounts of the council for year ending 31 December 2020 b) Examined statement of the funds and Property of the Council c) Appointment of Independent Examiners for 2021 10. Presentation of the Terrier and report of the fabric, goods and ornaments of the church 11. Report of the proceedings of the Deanery Synod 12. Annual reports for Parish Organisations (see below re how to access full reports ) 13. Rector’s statement to the meeting 14. Any other business 1. Summary of Minutes of Annual Meetings held on Sunday 18th October 2020 28 people were present in church, 34 on zoom and no apologies were received Minutes of the 2019 meetings were accepted Consideration of the Electoral Roll (2019 was the year when a new roll was compiled.) Ruth Clarke (Electoral Roll Officer) reported that last year there were 119 names on the electoral roll but now increased to 126. Elections of Church Wardens (at Vestry Meeting): Roy Pouncett and Sandra Reynolds were elected. Election of members to the Deanery Synod. There were 4 Vacancies for a 3 year terms. Janice Wones and Robert Mayne were elected. Election of members to the Parochial Church Council. There were 6 Vacancies. Jeffrey Carr and Sarah Vernon were elected A very full booklet of Annual Reports from the Church Wardens, PCC and parish activities was presented. Annual Report of the financial affairs of the Parish for 2019. In 2019 we had a surplus of c£13K due to being economic with utilities and on maintenance. We also under paid common fund (with agreement from diocese) as the assessment method had changed and we were facing a very high increase. We plan to ‘close the gap’ over the next few years. The overall position looked very good at the end of 2019 but by the time of the meeting the effect of Covid-19 was taking its toll. Appointment of Independent Examiners 2020 Polkadot & Ellis Accountants were re-appointed Terrier and Report of the Fabric, Goods and Ornaments of the Church Roy has made the this available for people to look at either at social distance or with gloves. There have been no changes. Report of the proceedings of the Deanery Synod We have been working towards a larger Deanery which has now happened and is Moseley, Kings Norton and Shirley Deanery. The new Area Dean is in the process of being appointed. Annual reports of Proceedings of the PCC and Parish Organisations The full set of reports was available on the church web-site and by request prior to the meeting. Circulated to all ER prior to the meeting was the Church Wardens’ Report in which Roy Pouncett and Debbie Keeves highlighted the success of Rise and Shine and other connections with the local community. They also thanked those who help with the running of services, pastoral activities, the maintenance of our buildings and the churchyard. Debbie is stepping down this year after six years of being Church Warden, she thanked everyone for their support over this time. Goals for the end of 2019: a) Continuing with the Porch: This has been delayed by Covid-19 but we are hoping to move forward with it soon. b) To register as an Eco church and achieve bronze accreditation: completed April 2020 c) Complete the ‘Know Your Church, Know Your Neighbourhood’ process and increase community use of the church: we completed the former in September 2019 and we are now beginning to review parishes and boundaries and the KYCKYN process has been helpful with this. Rector’s statement to the meeting Canon Janet spoke about how some of the things we set in place last year have served us well in 2020. The renewal of the electoral roll gave an opportunity to gather additional information (GDPR compliant) so we have been able to send the packs to everyone and share information appropriately. The introduction of the lookout groups has also been a great help with keeping in touch with people. This year has been very challenging and Canon Janet thanked those stepping down from their posts, especially Debbie Keeves as church warden having served an extended 6 years due to Covid-19 and those continuing. Also to the ministry team especially for their work since the outbreak of Covid-19. Any other business Revd Theresa was ordained on 19th September: we are planning a watch-from-home viewing of the ordination together at 4pm on Saturday 24th October and to raise a glass to her and her ministry. Jennie King expressed thanks to Canon Janet and the ministry team for their continued hard work, keeping people connected and able to worship in some form throughout the pandemic. 2. Church Wardens’ Report for 2020 We have received great support from the PCC, Elaine our treasurer, Lorraine our parish administrator and of course our great ministers led by Canon Janet. This has been a difficult year for everyone because of Covid-19. We did have some great news at last: our long-awaited porch was to be erected (hooray!), but obviously this was held up because of Covid-19. We were able to worship in church for a short time only, mainly due to Canon Janet’s perseverance to ensure our safety, enabling us to receive the bread whilst observing all the Covid-19 rules. Although our church building is out of action, behind the scenes we have had lots of problems to sort out; grateful thanks to Fr David for all his help and assistance. I (Roy) go into church regularly to check all is well and it is a privilege to do so. It was great to welcome Sandra to be our second warden. I'm looking forward to working with her; two heads are better than one! We would like to extend special thanks to Rowena and Elaine for continuing to operate the Sunday School for our young families, which entails a lot of hard work and organisation. A huge thank you to all those who do so much behind the scenes here in our church; without them and their loyalty we'd be in a poorer place. On a sad note, this year we lost a longstanding member of our church, Clare Blackshaw, a very accomplished and hard-working lady: choir member, Sunday School leader, prolific knitter for teddies to go to poorer countries and much more. It would seem that with the rollout of the vaccine for everyone, God willing, we may all look forward to the future, when as a congregation we once again worship together fully and safely in this our ancient church of St Laurence (also hopefully admiring our new porch). Roy Pouncett and Sandra Reynolds 3. The goals set by the new PCC of October 2020 for 2020/21: - * To work towards an Eco-Church Silver Award, including continuing with the porch and improving heating and lighting. * To get St Laurence Safe Spaces underway: an after-school club and safe space for children of secondary school age vulnerable to knife crime. (now underway thanks to a lot of hard work especially by Fr David Pycock) * To improve our ability to broadcast worship to enable more people in the community to connect with church. 4. 2020 Finances The Statement of Financial Activities for 2020 is on the next page. The full set of accounts should be available in the week preceding the meeting. Unsurprisingly, our finances have been adversely affected by Coivd-19. We have lost income from collections at services, fundraising, fees from weddings and from community bookings in the Pastoral Centre. However, planned giving and other donations from church people have held up well and we’ve some unexpected donations by e-giving. Our last Congregational Planned Giving review was in 2017 and we had been due to hold one in 2020 but the midst of a pandemic did not seem to be a good time. We furloughed our caretaker/sexton for some of the time and have benefitted by £6,676.12 from the government scheme. Due to the closure of the church building, church running costs are down by about 60%. In respect of Common Fund (which covers the cost of clergy, training and some Diocesan costs) in early 2020 the PCC committed to 'narrowing the gap' between what we are paying and the ask from CofE Birmingham.  In 2020 ask was £68,019 (less 2% discount for paying on time) and in total we paid £60,040.   Overall, the deficit on our ‘Ordinary’ Funds has been £19,381. We have drawn down monies from restricted funds to cover some of this. This has had the added advantage of enabling further tidying up of the accounts as the Emergency Fund and the McMurray Fabric & Churchyard fund are now closed. The full accounts include details of all our restricted funds so we are clear how we use them in the future. In 2021 we received a legacy of £60k which the PCC has tentatively earmarked for the proposed new lighting system. Our investments increased in value during the year. The market value on 31 December 2020 was £265,061 (£241,035 the previous year.) We give thanks that overall, we are blessed with sound finances and a congregation with generous hearts. We recognise that we need to use our wealth appropriately for the maintenance and renovation of our buildings and be generous in our funding of the mission of God’s church. Canon Janet Statement of Financial Activities 2020 Note due to rounding some of the totals are £1 out Income 2020 2020 2020 2019 2018 Ordinary Designated, Restr’d or agency Total Total Total Planned Giving 36,491 36,491 37,969 37,638 Collections 2,772 2,772 12,849 13,060 Donations 5,371 5,371 11,012 23,604 Income Tax recoverable in GASDS 7,867 7,867 12,052 3,509 Grants 48,650 48,650 1,110 3,900 Legacies 60,000 60,000 1,000 0 Appeals 95 95 Long term Rent 13,358 13,358 11,879 13,140 Community Income from PC 20,156 20,156 30,525 23,151 Weddings & Funerals 8,044 16,139 24,183 24,496 25,675 Fundraising 1,172 1,172 6,628 9,508 Interest 64 6 70 137 189 Dividends 4,573 4,573 4,263 4,139 Tea & Coffee 195 195 587 702 Candles, cards, books 196 196 603 471 TOTAL INCOME 225,148 155,110 158,686 ‘Ordinary’ Income i.e. excluding grants, legacies Including net wedding & funerals 100,258 Expenditure 2020 2020 2019 2018 Grants 15,890 15,890 2,865 Diocesan Common Fund 60,040 60,040 51,720 49,498 Ministers' exps, travel & Training 230 230 810 516 Church heat & light 2,165 1,020 3,185 7,222 8,450 Church insurance 7,904 7,904 7,091 6,916 Church Maintenance & Repairs 848 3,547 4,395 1,984 7,542 Upkeep of churchyard 0 12,920 12,920 2,787 2,129 Services inc Organist fees 1,672 401 2,072 4,844 6,067 Flowers * 0 79 79 423 637 Legal & Professional fees 0 0 1,898 1,062 Children's ministry 229 229 384 590 PC & Barn Heat, light, water 8,720 369 9,089 8,672 6,241 PC Cleaning & refuse 1,125 1,125 3,255 2,919 PC Insurance 759 759 716 686 PC Maintenance & Repairs 5,767 2,987 8,755 7,688 10,296 Depreciation 278 278 371 105 Employment costs 22,547 3,383 25,930 29,944 29,868 Printing, Post, stationery, Phone 5,223 5,223 8,207 8,771 Charitable activities 0 0 285 2,299 Other 2,131 2,131 3,498 3,464 TOTAL EXPENDITURE 158,940 141,799 150,921 ‘Ordinary’ expenditure i.e. excluding that drawn from restricted funds 119,639 Net surplus/deficit on ‘Ordinary’ funds -19,381 +13,311 +7,765