FINANCIAL REPORT FOR THE YEAR ENDED 31st December 2010
At the end of the year during which we celebrated our Silver Jubilee Anniversary, we give thanks to God for the guidance, support and commitment the church has received to enable us to develop and prosper over the last 25 years.
The present downturn in the economy of the country has a knock on effect on all we do in all aspects of our lives, so a big Thank You to all who have financially contributed plus those who have also done their contributing in thoughts words and deeds to the running of Christchurch
INCOME
Although our offerings this year showed a 4.27% decrease over 2009 the amount of gift aid and other contributions has shown a result of a 2.95% increase over the previous year.
So a gentle reminder to those who are in a position to gift aid and are not doing so at present, please look at gift aiding your contributions and gifts to help increase the good work of the church.
EXPENDITURE
We have seen increases in the following areas in comparison with our 2009 figures. Local Ministry cost has risen by 6.13% and Denominational Ministry which is linked to church membership has risen by 12.15%
We had additional expenditure for Boys Brigade in helping them in establishing themselves. The payment of the deposit for our 2011 Church Weekend from the 2010 accounts, and the transfer of £2,500 to the premises reserve account, resulted in the need to transfer £10,500 from the deposit account to assist in covering all these activities.
Mission Activities: This year we gave £4,160 in gifts to support twenty six various Christian organisations, and we support the Food Bank collections on a weekly basis
Cash Balances: Our Current Account balance as at 31st December 2010 was £4,306. Our Property Reserve balance was £11,296
The Charity Commission present guideline on General Reserves is that charities should be seeking to hold as a minimum amount that represents three months expenditure. Christchurch is working towards that guideline.
Communications: Detailed quarterly accounts information is provided in the chronicle to keep the membership up to date on activities during the year.
The Year Ahead: A budget for 2011 was set and agreed with the Church Council and church members we will be working to keep all our activities within those guidelines.
The year will require additional fund raising and increase activities to achieve our objectives
I hope this AGM report is informative of our financial activities during the year.
I wish to thank Susan Hill, Brian Medlicott and Linda Bradley for their assistance during the year.
Trusting in the Lord for his guidance.
Howard Francis, Treasurer
CHARITABLE GIVING
At the January Church Meeting it was agreed to adopt a new system for our charitable giving. Instead of simply transferring a proportion of the church’s regular income into charitable funding, in the future we will be appealing to church members and others who attend worship to make specific donations to the charities the Church wishes to support. Special charity gift aid envelopes will be available for this purpose.
Those present at the Church Meeting were asked to select twelve charities from the list of twenty-four which we have supported in the past. These twelve charities will be divided into four groups, so that the Church can focus on three of them each quarter. From now on there will be a short presentation at each of our Church Meetings – beginning in April – in order to highlight the work of the three charities adopted for the following three months. It is hoped that this will lead to a greater knowledge of the charities supported by the Church and a feeling of more active responsibility for our charitable giving.
More details will be available as the new system comes on track in April. We agreed this for one year only with a full review to take place in January 2013. David Evans
Secretary's Report
I can't believe another year has gone by. The work I do is still very interesting and varied. I am surprised, however, that what I think of as the job of a secretary i.e. putting pen to paper, (or should I say finger to keyboard these days), is far from what I do on a day to day basis. I do a small amount towards the Sunday services, I maintain the notice boards and magazine rack. I answer a lot of e mails and print off papers for the 4 denominations and generally hope to keep things ticking over. This year we have the Church review which has given me the opportunity to see another aspect of Church life. However, I do feel that one of the best things I do as Church secretary is to welcome new people at their membership service, with a handshake. I have had the privilege of this job on quite a few occasions this year which I think is a mark of the ministry we have in Les and the warmth of welcome that we give as a congregation. May the Lord bless us us as we continue to do his work.
Alison Apperley - Secretary
Education Group
The Education Group has continued to meet at regular intervals over the last year, its main business being the planning of Church residential weekends. The group consists of Les Mather, David Evans (advocate), Kathy Summers, Jo Hall, Gordon Dale and Howard Francis.
In September we held our second Church Weekend at the Windmill Farm Conference Centre in the Cotswolds, which is a venue offering a high level of comfort as well as generous helpings of good food. The theme focused on the next stage of the Vision4Life process, evangelism. Our main speaker, Salvation Army Captain Viv Prescott, gave us a practical presentation on ‘relational evangelism’. We were also joined by the Covenant Players and other highlights included a walk across nearby fields on a sunny afternoon and a lively café style worship session on Sunday morning.
These weekends provide a wonderful opportunity to learn more about the Christian faith and to deepen your fellowship with others from Christchurch. The 2011 Church Weekend, at which the hymn writer John Bell will be our guest, takes place at the Ammerdown Conference Centre, near Bath, at the end of October. There are still a few places available, including single rooms. Please speak to a member of the Education Group if you would like to come.
David Evans
Lunchtime Fellowship
We have now completed our second year and have settled into a fairly regular routine. Between 12 and 18 of us meet on the second Wednesday of the month for lunch followed by a short time of fellowship and then a speaker for about 45 minutes. In winter we have a three course lunch with tea or coffee and in the summer a cold buffet. Our members come from four or five different churches in Gloucester and some have no spiritual home at all.
Anyone is welcome to come and join us and we especially thank Val Doll and Mo Richards for all their help during the year.
Judy Potts,
Monday Bible Study Group
We meet in the church every Monday afternoon from 2pm to 3.30pm. We have studied a variety of books from the Bible as well as biblical topics such as prayer and the Holy Spirit. At the moment we are working through the Lent course material.
We spend time in prayer as well as Bible study and find the time passes very quickly as we read and study together.
We invite you to join us if you are free on Monday afternoon.
Val Stephens.
Junior Church
Junior Church meets during the Sunday morning service. It is a group for children of primary school age. Sessions are led by John or Pauline, and include Bible stories, games, puzzles, quizzes and craft activities. A number of loyal helpers join us on a rota basis. During the last few months there has been an encouraging growth in the number of children attending regularly.
The Core
Over the past year , The Core has trundled on quietly with the assistance of Catherine, Daniel, Di and Gordon. We have welcomed Rebecca and Victoria to the group and they have settled in very well. We all enjoyed a fantastic day at GoApe in the Forest of Dean, (actually John really didn’t like it at all but he did persevere with all of the challenges!). Alison was very brave and for the first time went camping at Greenbelt always a great weekend for young people. A wonderful concert was arranged in aid of AGAPE and wonderful pieces were played on the piano by young virtuoso’s Jenny and Alice Hsu and friends, what a treat that was. In recent times, the group stated that they would like “New Generation” to start up again. After listening to the group it was agreed to launch with a new name, so I am pleased to announce that “The Net” started on April 3rd when they arranged “A Reflection on Mothers Day”. You will soon see Core members welcoming worshipers on Sunday mornings and assisting with the pre-service preparations.
It would be great to have more young people join the Core, and it is hoped the “The Net” may be a catalyst for this. So it’s business as usual, and we hope to include some fun events into the summer programme as well as arrange the next “The Net” Sunday evening Gathering.
Mike & Glynis Thomas
Safeguarding
Adult Leaders and helper’ s at Christchurch have recently completed a very good Safeguarding Training Day organised by the Methodist Church. All Christchurch participants on the day’s training have been awarded “Safeguarding” certificates which are valid for 3 years. A variety of “Safeguarding” policies have been reviewed to see which best fits Christchurch . In the end it was the Methodist Policy (adapted for Christchurch usage) and the comprehensive “Safeguarding Children and Young People “ We also have adopted the Methodist Churches Policy on “Safeguarding of vulnerable adults” .
All Leaders and helpers have been forwarded copies of this in PDF form and a copy of both are held within the church office.
Mike Thomas
Prayer Lunch
We meet on Wednesdays (except when the lunch club takes place) from 12.30 until 1.30pm for a time of prayer followed by packed lunch. We have grown together as a group as we have been meeting together and enjoy a varied prayer time.
We would love to see more people from church joining in this fellowship time.
Val Stephens.
Friday Morning Coffee & Chat
Coffee and Chat continued regularly throughout 2010 with the same faithful band of helpers. Numbers vary between half a dozen and twenty-five. Everyone agrees that it is good to meet friends for a chat and a giggle and we all feel better for the time spent together.
We were sorry to lose Kath Barber one of our valued team members at the end of last year. Kath had been one of the founder members of the Coffee and Chat mornings when they started in the Community Centre about 25years ago. We thank Kath and all those who help on the rota each month.
Judy Potts.
Church Flowers
Thank you to everyone for their continuing donations for the Sunday flowers, and also at special times of the year such as Easter, Harvest and Christmas.
As most of you know Greta has retired from the organising of the church flowers, and our thanks go to her for the many years service she has given, but we know that as soon as her health improves she will still be an active member of our team. Since we did the Flower Festival last year the flower team has grown, which has made sharing the load easier. My thanks go to them for their help throughout the year, giving up their time to do the flowers, and at special times of the year, when the church is full of flowers.
Our thanks also go to those who deliver the flowers on a Monday to anyone who is sick or housebound, as they give pleasure to so many people.
Mother's Union
Our joint meetings with Upton St Leonard's and St Oswald's Coney Hill continue each month.
Special events included the Deanery 'Quiet Day' in June, our summer tea party at Manor Cottage, the home of Rachel & Trevor Hall and the Advent Carol Service at St Oswald's in November when we were again joined by the Jigsaw Choir. It was a bitterly cold night and we were surprised so many members came along to support the service. We usually have between 12 and 16 members at our meetings although the number of home members is increasing as our older folk become housebound. We have a variety of speakers and topics at our afternoon meeting on the 3rd Thursday each month as well as monthly Communion services on the second Thursday afternoon. New members are always welcome at any of our meetings or services.
Judy Potts
Boys Brigade / Girls Association
Firstly we would like to thank the church for its continuing support and encouragement in the ongoing running of our Boys Brigade and Girls Association.
Our numbers have remained steady, and although we have lost a couple of the Anchors to Beavers, we have had two new children start recently which has kept our numbers up. Last September we started the Company Section 11-19 year olds, and as we only have three at the moment, they continue to meet at the same time as the Juniors but do not leave until 8.30 p.m. therefore giving them half an hour on their own, to do badge work if necessary.
Throughout the year we have taken part in the Gloucestershire Battalion events, a Fun Day for the Anchors, a Craft and Fun Day for the Juniors and Ten Pin Bowling for the older ones . Two Juniors recently went down to Yeovil and took part in the District Boy’s Brigade Sports and Craft Day, joining with another company in the Battalion for this event, and making new friends. The Anchors went on the Santa Train for their Christmas outing and the older children went Ten Pin Bowling
We now have two young people from the Core helping in the Anchor Section, and although we lost one helper at Christmas, two of our congregation have stepped in to help and we thank them for giving their time. We still have two young men from 5th Gloucester at Hucclecote, who regularly come to help, although we will lose them in September when they go to university.
Holidays and Day Trips
During 2010 there were five holidays - all 5 day breaks to Paignton, Sandown on the Isle of Wight, Newquay in Cornwall, Gt Yarmouth, Sandringham & The Broads & Mold in Flintshire, N.Wales. Our special thanks go to our driver, Steve Pemberton who is so helpful and considerate, assisting with luggage, wheelchairs, electric buggies and all the souveniers and packages we accumulate on our travels, and David and Christine Hoare for the lovely reports in the 'Chronicle' after the holidays and the films we all enjoy so much at the Holidays Reunion. We also had a Day Trips and Holidays Open Evening in September for the first time. We started with high tea at 5pm and continued with information about the holidays and day trips and films and DVDs contacted with our travels. We were delighted that nearly 50 people attended the
evening many of whom had been coming with us for many years and some new faces as well.
There were ten day trips covering an area from Worcester to Somerset and South Wales to Tissington in the Peak District.
We visited The Playhouse in Weston-super-Mare for a wonderful performance of My Fair Lady in October, we had a lovely day at Tissington during the Well Dressings in May, we toured the SS Great Britain during the Bristol Harbour Festival in July and enjoyed a relaxing cruise on the Kennet and Avon Canal
from Bath to Limpley Stoke with a delicious cream tea in June.
Sadly, we have lost some dear friends who were regular passengers but continue to have the support of some of the members of the Senior Citizens Club in Abbey dale and, of course, through word of mouth have made some lovely new friends.
Our thanks to Airedale Tours in Ossett who help us arrange all the holidays and Michael Davis Travel from Mitcheldene who provide coach and driver for the day trips.
Once again, as in the past few years, we were able to hand over £1000 to Christchurch Fund Raising Account at the end of the year.
Experience Easter and Christmas
Again we had the children from Heron and Abbeymead schools come to our Church to hear about the Easter story, and hopefully see it as more than chocolate eggs. We always get a positive response from both the children and the staff, as they really appreciate what we do.
However, Experience Christmas was different this year as the 'experience' was the weather. It meant that only one class was able to join us on the Friday morning, which was a shame. We have a good team of people who do sterling work in setting up the displays and manning them, it wouldn't work otherwise, so a huge THANK YOU to each and every one.
Alison Apperley.
Network
As usual we were delighted to be able to host the annual Methodist Circuit 'Spring Event' and served Cream Teas on the second Saturday afternoon in March. The 'team' from all the circuit churches including Christchurch work really well together and we look forward to meeting each other every year. Our special thanks go to Kath Barber and her helpers for all their hard work behind the scenes. There are now 5 subscribers to 'Magnet' the Network magazine and copies are also given to the Mothers' Union at Upton St Leonard's and St Oswald's Coney Hill. Our thanks to everyone who supports the annual Easter Offering Appeal. There were the regular 3 day Hearts and Hands residential in Weston-super-Mare in February and October as well the annual conference at Glenfall House . Network is now a partner with The World Federation of Methodist and Uniting Church Women in Britain and we look forward to hearing more about this partnership in the future.
Jubilate
It has been another good year for us in Jubilate, as we have learnt lots of new songs and enjoyed bringing back some older ones too. Some songs have admittedly been more challenging than others, but we have always risen to the challenge and enjoyed the opportunity to try something a bit different.
Over the past few months, we have seen the welcome return of Sue Rogers in to our midst, and have gained two new members in Chris and Jan Pearce within just the past few weeks.
Jubilate remains an informal, friendly group where everyone is welcome to have their say and suggestions are always welcome. Recently things have changed slightly, with Catherine Tranter taking on duties as “quality manager” – listening out to the singers as the practice progresses and pointing out any possible areas for improvement – something which has been very difficult for me to do from behind the piano; I’m sure the group will join me in thanking her for taking this on, as it has been very useful to all of us.
As ever, new members are more than welcome to join us on a Thursday evening, and we look forward to continuing to be a part of the worship within Christchurch.
Daniel Tuck
Creche
Creche is available every Sunday morning during worship for
babies and children under school going age. At present we don’t
have any regular attendees since our remaining youngster moved
into the Junior Church group. However the team are always on
stand by to welcome visitors with babies/children if they wish to
make use of the crèche. As always my thanks to Alison and Susan
for their continued help. My thanks also to Anne for the many
years she gave to crèche.
Carol Terry.
Banner Group Report
The group has ‘rested’ for a few months, having rather run out of steam! However it has now found new impetus with two new members who have come bringing their ideas and skills. So we are up and running again.
We are currently working on a banner on the theme of ‘miracles’. This will need a partner banner for the front of the church, so it will take a little while to have the two of them ready.
We always begin our group with prayer, believing we need guidance from the Lord for our work. We feel that banners should ‘speak’ to people in a special way, so we ask that you too will support us with prayer.
Maureen Godden
Mother and Baby Group
One of the children’s favourite songs in the “Katie Sing-Along” at the end of each session has always been “The Wheels on the Bus” but sadly the bus wheels finally stopped going “round and round” on July 19th as this was the last session of the group after meeting regularly on a Monday afternoon since the church moved into its present building some 15 years ago. Numbers had been declining for some while and although the small number who came regularly valued the group it came to a point where it was no longer viable. Grateful thanks are given to all those who have helped the group over many years with a special “thank you” to Margaret Bishop who came to us from St Oswald’s each Monday afternoon to help out.
Kath Barber
Open the Book report
This year has been another successful and happy one, we can't believe we have been doing it for three years now. We have had a few new members, and also a few who have left us for various
reasons, so our number stays about the same. We are always looking for more people, male and female, to join us (especially for Friday mornings at Heron School).
The Open the Book team goes into Abbeymead School once a month, on Thursday mornings at 10.20 (with a rehearsal some time before then), we then act out a short Bible story (about 10 minutes), wearing basic costumes and using some quite ingenious props. We do the same thing at Heron School, once a month, on Friday mornings at 9am. The children love these little presentations and, as they file into the hall, you can hear the 'Oh yes' sort of comments made. They get into the story and react accordingly they love to 'help' us by being the wind, or stamping feet etc. It is strange that the overall feeling is quite different at Heron from Abbeymead.
We seem to be missing a few of our props, we are more than happy for other groups to borrow them, but I would ask that they always be put back -and I am asking if anyone has anything that has been borrowed from Open the Book, would they please return it to me as soon as possible -we have put all these props and costumes together ourselves and it is quite disappointing to go to use them and they are missing. We are also short of the books we work from (specific material) and would ask if anyone holding an Open the Book set and are not using it, please may we have it back. (if you have paid any money for it and will not be using it at Christchurch in future, we will reimburse you)
On a very positive and happy note, recently the RE teacher, from year 4 at Heron School, asked if I would go in to her class and share what it means to be a Christian. We felt it would be better for two of us to go and Alison and myself visited Heron School on Wednesday 3rd. March. It was such a privilege and joy to be talking to the children, the session took the form of a question and answer time, and they certainly had thought about the questions they wanted to ask. Alison and I found that our answers complemented each other so well. The children were so enthusiastic and each answer seemed to bring another question, I think we could have been there for hours. The session ended
with one child asking us to sing to them (thank God I had Alison with me), so we did a couple of little choruses -we were then asked to read them a story so we rapidly decided to do the story of Jesus being baptised by John, Alison narrated and I did the other voices.
As I said this was such a privilege and so rewarding, all the more so because the opportunity has arisen through our outreach with Open the Book.
Thank you again team, for all your dedication and work through this past year.
Babs Humphries, co-ordinator
T @ 3
Once again T @ 3 has had a very successful year with growing numbers and a wide-ranging programme of events through the year. We have ‘heard’ about hearing dogs for the deaf and the works of Gloucestershire composers, ‘seen’ the roof of the world in India and the frozen landscapes of Antarctica, all but ‘smelt’ the fragrance of orchids and ‘felt’ the warmth of friendship during our Saturday afternoons. We had our usual Christmas afternoon celebration to ‘round’ off the year very appropriately with the “Rondo Singers” on a welcome return visit who joined with us for the customary mince pies and Christmas cake at the end of the afternoon. Has this whetted your appetite to come and join us? All are welcome we would love to see you, normally the third Saturday of the month..
David & Kath Barber
Keep Fit
We are now in our 7th year and classes still proving popular with another two
new ladies joining us this year. After a long leave of absence, this year also saw
the return of two original members. . The not too strenuous exercise routines are aimed at the 50+ age group
although anyone is welcome and classes run for an hour.
There is no charge but donations towards church charities are gratefully
accepted. Normally classes are restricted to ladies only, but with the approval
of all concerned, two gentlemen church members have been made welcome
at classes.
Monday morning remains the more popular time with, on average, 18 to 20
regular attendees and with the return of our two ‘old timers’ the Tuesday
evening class now has 10 regulars.
Carol Terry.
Messy Church
Messy Church came out of knowing that we had good premises, good leaders, some good ideas but few children and families turning up on a Sunday. It would be relatively easy to run a mid week Craft Club but Messy Church is not just a “club”. At its heart Messy Church aims to create the opportunity for parents, carers and children to enjoy expressing their creativity , sit down together to eat a meal, experience worship and have fun within a church context. Each Messy Church session has a clear Bible based theme to which all the afternoon’s crafts, activities and worship relate. Besides the festivals of Harvest, Christmas, Easter and Pentecost we have looked at Joseph, Joshua, Moses, the Prodigal Son, the Good Samaritan, “I am the Light of the World”, “I am the Good Shepherd” and “Jesus is Found in the Temple”. During the year we have introduced a meal for all at the end of the sessions and thanks must go to Carol Terry and her helpers for making this so successful. The numbers attending have grown steadily during the year and this has become a very happy, meaningful time, if not sometimes a little noisy, for all who participate. We, that is, Alison Apperley, John Flemons and myself would like to take this opportunity to thank all who have helped us during the last year, for without their support and time we would not have achieved such a result. If anyone feels they could help either in leadership, help on the day, with crafts or in the kitchen, please let us know and we will explain more, or come along to a session and see us in action!
Kath Barber
. Christchurch Walkers & Strollers 2010 –2011
APRIL Seven walkers set off from the walkers’ car park, Painswick to Huddinknoll Hill, and Edge Hill Farm, where they had a guided tour of the lambing sheds. 5 miles, dry, sunny day.
MAY The walkers set off from Haresfield Beacon to Randwick. They enjoyed Randwick Wap Festival, the church hall shopping, the village fete, bluebell woods and cheese rolling.
JUNE Nine walkers enjoyed a 6 mile pic-nic walk around Dymock Poets’ Walk. There was tea, gingermen biscuits and a private talk about the poets. They walked through asparagus fields and past a cricket match at Dymock.
JULY The walk started at Ross on Wye to Hole in the Wall and Foy church. There was a pic-nic on the banks of the river Wye where there was peace and quiet with ducks and swans swimming on this bright sunny day.
AUGUST Rained off.
SEPTEMBER The walk started at Toddington Heritage railway where a train was taken to Winchcombe. A level five mile walk led back to Toddington. A pic-nic was taken at Toddington church. Viewed Damion Hurst, Toddington Manor. A dry, sunny day.
OCTOBER The walk started at the Highwayman pub, A 417 and continued to Syde church, Caudle Green and Brimpsfield. Here a real shooting party was mat, just like on the films. It was a dry, cold and sunny day.
NOVEMBER The walk started at Little Haresfield and took a circular route for 5.2 miles. The railway line was crossed three times, keeping the train buffs happy. It was a dry, sunny day. Lunch was taken at the Beacon Inn.
DECEMBER There was no monthly walk, but on 29th there was Ian’s famous Christmas walk from church to Painswick Beacon and back, with lunch at Painswick Golf Club.
JANUARY The walk started at Painswick car park. The route was to Juniper Hill, returning through Frith Nature Reserve Centre. The distance was four and a half miles and the weather was dry and windy. Lunch was taken at Painswick Golf Club.
FEBRUARY Ten walkers enjoyed 5 miles in flat and easy country around Brookthorpe and Whaddon. It was a dry and sunny day and lunch was taken at the Four Mile House inn.
MARCH Twelve walkers had an interesting walk around Haresfield and Harescombe. The terrain was flat and easy and the weather sunny. The walk ended at the Beacon Hotel for an interesting lunch.
Vic Dowdeswell
7th Gloucester Boy’s Brigade & Girl’s Association