PAROCHIAL CHURCH COUNCIL of the ECCLESIASTICAL PARISH Of

ANNUAL REPORT

and

FINANCIAL STATEMENTS of the

PAROCHIAL CHURCH COUNCIL of the ECCLESIASTICAL PARISH of

ST MARK HIGHCLIFFE DIOCESE OF WINCHESTER For the year ended 31st December 2017

Priest-in-charge:The Reverend GillNobes

Independent Examiner:

Sue Wintle MFAAT

Solicitors:

Aldridge Brownlee Solicitors LLP, Highcliffe

Bankers:

HSBC Bank plc, Christchurch

Charity Number 1150249

St. Mark's Church - Annual Report for 2017

St. Mark's PCC has the responsibility of co-operating with the priest-in-charge in promoting in the ecclesiastical parish the whole mission of the Church, pastoral, evangelistic, social and ecumenical. It also has maintenance responsibilities for the Church, Church Hall and the two churchyards which are all situated in Hinton Wood Avenue, Highcliffe. A Parish Office is situated within the complex and correspondence of a general nature should be posted to:

The Parish Administrator, St. Mark's Church, Hinton Wood Avenue, Highcliffe, Christchurch, BH23 5AA.

Or byemail to:

The Parochial Church Council is a corporate body established by the Church of England. The PCC operates under the Parochial Church Council Powers Measure.

Registration as a Charity. The PCC is registered with the Charity Commission.

Membership of the PCC: 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:

Priest In Charge / The Reverend Gill Nobes / Chairman
Licensed Lay Ministers / Mr John Heighes
Mr Colin Chatten
Wardens
(electedannually) / Mr Anthony Parkinson
Mrs Ann Nash / Vice-Chairman
Representatives of the Deanery Synod
(elected every 3 years for a 3 year period) / Mr Mike Goodman
Mrs Susan Lyonette
Mr Anthony Parkinson
Elected Members / Mrs Elizabeth Bennett (Until April 2017)
(elected every 3 years / Mr Francis Bray (from April 2017) / Treasurer
with 4 selected every / Mr John Crimes (until July 2017)
year) / Mr David Cannings (from April 2017)
Mrs Annette Cheeseman (from April 2017)
Dr Bob Gilbertson (from April 2017)
Mrs Susie Goodman
Mrs Janet Heighes
Mrs Julia Hughes
Mrs Susan Lyonette / Secretary
Mrs Mary Matthews
Mr Paul Oastler
Mrs Jaqueline Peterson
Dr Nigel Perry (until April 2017)
Mrs Audrey Sharples
Mrs Diana Faunce (co-opted May 2017)
Miss Maureen Stringer (co-opted May 2017)

Committees. The PCC operates through the Standing Committee: This is the only committee required by law. It has power to transact the business of the PCC between its meetings, subject to any directions given by the Council. It consists of the Priest-in-charge, the Churchwardens, Secretary and Treasurer.

A Parish Administrator, Lorna Prout, who is usually in the office on Fridays, but monitors emails and telephone messages from home at other times. Much of her work is linked to arrangements for baptisms, weddings and funerals.

Report of Electoral Roll Officer. The number on the Roll at December 2016 was 186. 22 people joined the Roll during the year. 5 were removed after their death and 5 people moved out of the parish or asked to be removed from the Roll.The number on the Roll at 31st December 2017 is 198. 18 of this number live out of the Parish.

Church Attendance. The average Sunday attendance was approximately 110, although, as is usually the case, higher figures are attained at Easter and at Christmas and at other special services.Holy Communion with the Ministry of Healing was held on the second Sunday of the month at 6.30pm (changing to the first Sunday in 2018) and special Services are held on appropriate occasions during the year. During 2017 Taize services were held on fifth Sunday evenings and have been particularly well supported and now take place on the third Sunday evening of each month.

Church Music. The choir can look back on the year with a great sense of achievement. They have managed to field a fully robed choir for all of the main services and festivals, despite having to cope with some long term illnesses and absences of key members. They have performed a varied programme of both modern and traditional music, which has only been possible by the excellent effort put in by all members. A particular highlight of the year was the 3 hour Good Friday Service. This was a new service for them and one which for all of those who attended was a true and memorable act of worship. We thank Quentin and Alison for their contribution as well as Susan Ivemy and Jan Leonard for playing the organ on occasions.

FlowersMost take it for granted that there will be flowers in church, especially on important Church Festivals. That there are is the work of a dedicated team of ladies who work very hard to make it all happen. There is no official funding and many pay for the flowers themselves, but sometimes donations are received from very kind people who support this work quietly. We thank them and appreciate all of them. Flowers for weddings, funerals and special occasions can be arranged so please ask if you would like something for you or a family member.

Parochial Church Council The full PCC met five times during the year with an average attendance of 75%.

Five assistants to the Churchwardens were appointed: Janet Heighes, Paul Oastler, Mike Goodman, Sue Lyonette and Audrey Sharples. John Crimes was Health and Safety officer and in that capacity carried out a review and ensured up to date First Aid Kits were suitable located. John has had to give up this role and a replacement is sought. Alison Hedger had to give up acting as a Governor at St Mark’s Primary School and Lorna Prout took her place, but early in 2018 Lorna stood down and Alison was re-appointed.

Sue Lyonette took the lead role in relation to the security of the church, safeguarding and data protection; Michael Williams is to take on responsibility for Data Protection in 2018

This year a new structure of Groups has been created

Report of the Finance Group. Following a stewardship campaign (which included a presentation on Giving for Life by Reverend Gordon Randall, the Diocesan Stewardship Coordinator) our planned giving and income tax recoverable has gone up by 12%. While the concept of an annual re-assessment of our pledges for the future year is new to St Mark’s, we are intending to repeat this every autumn, and are grateful for the response it has generated so far.

We are also grateful to receive a legacy of £300 from Mr Gibbs, and £10,000 from Mrs Haden. Some of theHaden legacy will be used to buy a Tablet to work with our screens in the church and Library.

We continue to be grateful also for grants from the Friends of St Marks. In 2017 they have contributed £3,000 towards work on the trees in the churchyard, and £1,300 towards microphones for the updated sound system. The sound system and re-location of the projector screen will require a further promised donation of £8,700 in 2018.

Donations were also double the previous year, particularly because the church is now actively supporting the Deanery project to help the Mothers’ Union and schools in Kinkiisi in South West Uganda.

Within charitable trading is included £800 generated by the St Marks Festival and included the related donations, £300, to participating concert groups under expenditure for grants and charities– see page 6 of the Accounts.

The profit from letting the parish hall has dipped back to the 2015 level.

On the expenditure side, we have once again managed to pay our Common Mission Fund allocation, £88,600. The diocese has created a Youtube video showing the thanks of several parishes who receive funds from this, in this case inner city parishes in Basingstoke and Southampton.

The book £3,000 gain on our endowment investments has again reduced the apparent reduction in funds. While at a slower rate than in 2016, we have continued to reduce our reserves. This year more detailed analysis of Debtors and Creditors has been provided in notes 5 and 8.

We are contemplating various necessary capital expenditures in 2018. In particular we are investigating the complete replacement of the church heating system which is currently both expensive and inadequate. We anticipate having to find some £100,000 from fund raising and grant giving bodies to enable this to be undertaken.

Charles Leonard led the Stewardship campaign and also acts as the Gift Aid Officer.

Report on the Fabric. Whilst the physical premises are in reasonable condition we are aware that we still have to work through all the recommendations of the last Architect’s Report. One of the issues that had to be addressed this year was the condition of the flat roof areas of the church which have now been re-felted.

Inside the church a glass door had to be replaced following accidental damage. Although the work will not have been completed until January 2018, all the arrangements were made for the screen to be re-positioned and for a new sound system to be installed.

In the Hall new Fire Exit doors were installed.

The condition of and maintenance of the churchyards and Church Avenue continue to be a challenge.Tony Renyard (main churchyard) and the Hampshire Community Group (new churchyard) try to keep on top of the routine mowing and strimming but additional issues are more difficult to resolve. Disposal of old floral tributes creates problems because they are a mix of compostable, recyclable and non-recyclable materials. Overhanging trees in an adjoining garden were cut back; a safety survey was undertaken of all the trees in Church Avenue and the main churchyard and a substantial amount of remedial work was carried out as a result. Chris King topped up the holes in Church Avenue as they arose, but no long term solution has been forthcoming.

Planning Permission has been received to enable the exchange of land in the new churchyard to proceed but other issues are to be resolved before further progress can be made.

Report of the Charitable Support Group. Set up in Sept 2017 the Group was tasked to

1. Ensure that a broad level of contact is maintained across the church with the mission partners adopted by the parish and with relevant mission agencies in line with the agreed aims and objectives of the Parish Mission Action Plan.
2. Update the congregation regularly, through the magazine and other means, about the work of the mission partners, and build a network of support in prayer and other ways.
3. Recommend to the PCC fund raising as may from time to time be required and advise about the allocation of special collections e.g., at Harvest and Christmas.

Prior to this work was done by volunteers. This included the annual Christian Aid collection, collections for the Children’s Society, Mission to Seafarers, US, Samaritan’s Purse, Church Mission Society, The Women’s Refuge, Christchurch Foodbank, Support forKinkiisi, and collections by the Mother’s Union. In the absence of anyone to continue to oversee collection for the Leprosy Mission this unfortunately had to be discontinued.

While the Group has no intention to discourage other charitable collections it cannot undertake to organise those suggested by members of the congregation unless it is accompanied by an offer to undertake the necessary organisation. In which case the Group would consider offering advice and support providing it was in line with the aims and objectives of the Parish Mission Plan.

There has been a much appreciated collection of “Baking equipment” for Kinkiisi and support for “Eve Project” Hygiene Kits with the aim to produce 40 kits. A sponsorship leaflet is to be distributed

The Group has collated this existing work. Special service collections were also reviewed and the Group will make recommendations for the publicity and use of such future collections. The 2017 Christmas special service collections were shared by The Children’s Society and Christian Aid.

The 2018 Lent collection will be a “40p for 40 days” collection for Kinkiisi.

Sadly from time to time there are sudden major emergencies or disasters which cannot be planned for. It was decided to recommend that collections by St Mark’s Church for such events should be sent either through (a) DEC Disaster Emergency Committee or (b) Christian Aid with an announced retiring collection run for two weeks.

In its first meetings the Group has sought to rationalise and by increased publicity encourage support of both local and overseas charitable support. It has recommended that, in line with the Christchurch Deanery, its main and ongoing overseas effort would be in support of Kinkiisi, Uganda, The Group would welcome further members interested in taking an active part in this important St Mark’s Church outreach. The Charitable Support Group currently meets quarterly.

As part of our Charitable Mission and involvement in the Deanery Link with Kinkiizi, and after a request from Revd Gill Nobes, ladies in the parish have begun a new project. This was originally advertised as Personal Hygiene Kits for Girls in Kinkiizi but at our first gathering of interested people we decided on the name, The Eve Project. Young girls in many places in Africa do not have access to any fancy supplies during their time of menstruation and they do not attend school during this time. Statistics show that there is a huge drop in the number of teenage girls staying in education, they are likely to marry early and begin bearing children long before maturity. Lack of education restricts their opportunities in life as well as leaving them vulnerable to exploitation.

Gill Tybjerg, the Link Co-ordinator of the Kinkiizi Action Group welcomed being able to take these kits to Kinkiizi and after a demonstration by a local “team leader” who already makes these kits, we have set up a timetable of meetings and workshops to begin in January 2018. All materials are newly purchased and a sponsorship scheme is being set up.

Kinkiisi was also the beneficiary of successful Craft Fair held in November.

Report of the Local Outreach and Social Activities GroupWhen Rev Gill was appointed she was impressed by the many church organisations and groups at St Marks that sought to serve our church family itself but also the local community and the people of Highcliffe. These included activities for families and children like Little Fishes and Smarkies and School Club as well as more traditional groups like Mothers Union, Ladies Group, Parish visitors, Choir and Bible study groups. The work involved in running these groups often falls to a small number of stalwart members of the church who soldier on quite often in splendid isolation from each other. Gill’s hope is that we can bring all this laudable effort together and see one another as part of a team under the umbrella of “local outreach and social action.”

With that in mind we have been trying to build a better sense of social cohesion to our church family. This means that we meet socially and informally to get to know one another better. Usually food is involved in this process! For many of our members who live alone this can be a valuable bonus in itself. So from barbequed beef burgers, salad and quiche and a glass of fizz to mince pies and mulled wine we have spanned the year in gastronomic enticements.

On Maundy Thursday we celebrated a Seder meal in the church library, led by Colin. Mike and Susie hosted the Christian Aid coffee and cake morning in May. Rev Gill opened the Vicarage to a newcomers’ lunch at the end of that week and this showed the value of welcoming new folk into our church family. In June we had a very successful St Mark’s Festival of arts and crafts at the church. This was followed by a useful and thought provoking Vision Day. Fish and Chips with a quiz has always been popular especially if it raises funds for a seafarers’ charity. A mid-summer Vicarage BBQ was blessed by good weather and a good time was had by all. The annual Highcliffe summer fete provided us with an opportunity to promote the church and our autumn outreach project – running an Alpha Course for 10 weeks. Led by Colin with a team of trusty assistants, again food proved fairly central to the task of examining our faith and building ourselves up spiritually. Meanwhile the Open the Book team had started a new venture of reading Bible stories in the weekly assembly at the Primary School. We are hoping that this contact with the school, together with Church Club and After School Club, will promote ever closer links with families and children in our community. The newly commenced breakfast@9 service every Sunday is designed to be a welcoming, informal style of worship both for people coming through Alpha but also families with children attending the primary school. The Harvest Festival bring and share lunch and all the wonderful services leading up to Christmas which were well supported by local people brings this review of the year’s activities to a close .

We must be encouraged that the church in Highcliffe is alive and active but we don’t rest on our laurels. The past year has taught us much if we are going to be effective as a church family – both for one another in loving support when illness or hardship strikes but also in local outreach to those outside the church. We need to be mindful that there are other Christian churches in Highcliffe, that it is always better to work together whenever possible. Effective communication is vital for our church and all our activities. Prayer support remains the foundation of all we do. The newly revamped Website is how people will find us so it must remain up to date and appealing. Publicity in our locality and local press must be timely, attractive and cost effective.