ANNUAL REPORT & FINANCIAL STATEMENTS

Year ended December 31st 2002

Background
Chiddingly PCC has the responsibility of co-operating with the Rector, Rev’d Peter Clark, in promoting in the ecclesiastical parish the whole mission of the Church, pastoral, evangelistic, social and ecumenical.

Membership
Members of the PCC are either ex officio or elected by the Annual Parochial Church Meeting (APCM) in accordance with the Church Representation Rules. During the year the following served as members of the PCC:

Rector:  
The Rev’d Peter Clark

Churchwardens:
Mr Peter Clerehugh
Mr Frank Gearing

Assistant Churchwarden:  
Mrs Sue Andrews (Non Voting)

Churchwardens Emeritus:  
Mrs José Loosemore (Non Voting)
Mr Michael Andrews (Non Voting)

Representatives on the Deanery Synod:
Mrs Sue Andrews
Mrs Elaine Cornford

Elected members:
Mrs June Walker Hon Secretary
Mr Robin Symington Hon Treasurer
Mr Tim Waterman Tower Captain
Mrs Sharon Benz
Mr John Chatfield
Mrs Elaine Cornford
Mr David Young

Co-opted member:  
Mr Peter Gunner (Non Voting)

Committees
The PCC operates through a number of committees, which meet between full meetings of the PCC:

Standing & Finance Committee
This consists of the two Churchwardens, the Hon Secretary, the Hon Treasurer, and the Rector chairs it. It has the power to transact the business of the PCC between its meetings, subject to any directions given by the Council. It also oversees the general financial dimension of the work of Chiddingly Church by monitoring income and expenditure, budgeting and co-ordinating the annual review of the Christian Stewardship of money through planned giving and Gift Aid. It also attends to matters relating to the stewardship of plant, such as the church building and fabric, the churchyard, and the Rectory.

Worship Group
Attends to matters relating to all aspects of the worship in the services.

Social Committee
Attends to the social needs of the Church and fund raising events

Church attendance
There are 71 on the Church Electoral Roll, 15 of whom are not resident within the Parish. 10 were removed either through death or because they moved away from the parish. The usual Sunday attendance counted during October was 33, but this number increased at festivals and major services, i.e. Carol, Christingle, Midnight Mass, Remembrance and Easter Day.

Review of the year
The full PCC met six times during the year; the average level of attendance was 88%. The Standing/Finance committee met six times and the other committees met at other times.

The ongoing problem with water penetration into the spire and tower following the Lightning Strike that hit the Church on Friday November 22nd 1996 seems still to be with us. We are in the process of applying for a grant from English Heritage to help us with this problem. We have also now received the Faculties for the new glass screen between nave and tower, the brick pathway from main gate round to the Churchyard and the bars on some windows to be replaced. All of this work will be carried out in 2003. Money has been pledged or raised for all of this work. Other small work on the Quinquennial list we hopefully shall be able to complete over the next two years. We also have a ten-year plan for the major work.

Our pattern of worship with three Sunday services still seems to be going well. We also now have a NSM in the Benefice, Rev’d Phil Hodgins, plus a lady - Sharon Benz, in first year Reader Training.

Both Parishes are still having their magazines copied with the photocopier, which is in the Rectory study. The Rector also has secretarial help for four hours a week.

Financial matters
It has been a very gratifying year financially. The main reason is that many people have been very generous towards the Church in time, kind and cash. The new glass screen referred to above will cost around £14,000 when the work is finished, and all of this came from contributions specially given for this work.

The Gift Aid scheme now covers many donations to the Church, and the tax claimed back is of significant amounts.

The accounts show a large sum in the bank, but almost all of this already allocated; the glass screen as above (£14,000); plus footpath repairs (£9,000); window repairs (£3,670); minor works to comply with the DDA in 2004 (estimated at around £1,000).

At the time of writing English Heritage has contacted the PCC to offer grant help towards putting the tower in order, but the terms of the grant suggest that the PCC would still have to find some £46,000, and at present we have no idea how we would raise this kind of sum.

The Churchyard has again been maintained throughout the year in a first class condition, and very many thanks and much appreciation is given to those who care for it. A number of visitors who come to maintain graves of friends and relatives comment on this.

The Church itself is always clean, tidy, welcoming and cherished, and also many thanks are due to the band of volunteers who give up their time to keep it so. A lot of dusting and sweeping is needed to keep such an old building fresh and clean. Finally thanks too to the flower arrangers; there are always lovely flowers around the church and especially by the altar. All these things take time, but many people appreciate them.

On behalf of the PCC - The Rev’d Peter Clark (Chairman)      17 January 2003

FINANCIAL STATEMENTS 2002  This is an Acrobat file of 4 pages, and may take a few moments to download.