All Saints’ Church, Nash

Annual Report and Financial Statements

of the Parochial Church Council

for the year ended 31^st December 2009.

Incumbent: Reverend Kevin Ashby until March, thereafter vacant

Associate Priest with responsibility for the villages of the Benefice:

The Reverend Philip Derbyshire,

The Rectory,

Chapel Lane,

Thornborough

Bank:

Lloyds TSB,

High Street,

Stony Stratford 

Independent Examiner:

Mr Len York,

9 High Street,

Nash.

Annual Review 2009

Administrative information 

All Saints, Nash, is situated in the centre of the village of Nash, which is a small village in Buckinghamshire between Milton Keynes and Buckingham. The church is approximately 150 years old.

The Parochial Church Council is a charity exempted from registration with the charity commission.

The parish of Nash forms part of the Buckingham Benefice, which also includes Buckingham, Beachampton, Radclive-cum-Chackmore, Thornborough and Whaddon. Thornton forms part of the parish with Nash; the parish is formally called Thornton with Nash as a Thornton benefactor gave the land on which Nash church was built on.

PCC membership

Members of the PCC are either ex officio or are elected by the Annual Parochial Church meeting in accordance with the Church Representation Rules.

The following served as members of the PCC during 2009.

Performance and achievements

Church services and attendance

The average attendance, excluding the major services (see below) and Baptisms and funerals, was 14 adults, and 2 children.

Total attendance for the year, including four of the six major services, was 738 adults and 125 children. All Age Worship services attracted the highest attendances with the Harvest All Age Worship service attracting the highest attendance outside the major services.

For four of the six major services of the year Mothering Sunday, Easter Day, Christmas Eve and Christmas Day the average attendance was 25 adults and 6 children, and the highest attendance of these services was on Christmas Eve. The 2009 attendance figures for the other two major services, namely the Christingle service (which was not held in 2008) and Carol Service, were not recorded owing to the large number attending, so it is not possible to give an accurate comparison with 2008.

The Church Electoral Roll had 27 members including 4 non-residents.

Review of the year

A Midnight Communion service was held on Christmas Eve and a Family Communion on Christmas Day, and both services were well supported. There was a service of Compline on the last Sunday of the year.

The church has continued to organise social events as a means of bringing villagers together to enjoy each others’ company. There are regular coffee mornings and weekday lunches organised by members of the church, which are all very successful and well attended. In addition the annual Barn Dance in the summer continues, Beetle Drive (January) and Harvest Supper (September) all continue to be successful. Two coffee mornings have been held for the International Nepal Fellowship (IFS) to support Dr Shirley Heywood in her work in Nepal.

A church/village magazine is distributed on a bi-monthly basis and edited by Eileen Horton. There is a Study Group and Prayer Group which both meet regularly throughout the year.

The Mums Baby and Toddler Group, Little Angels, met monthly in the village hall, apart from in August. On Good Friday it met in the church to make the Easter Garden and to hear the Easter story. Then in September all those who had been baptised in the church over the last five years were invited to attend a celebration party. A short service was held in the church followed by tea and fellowship in the village hall.

The Nurture Group, began as an enquirers group and has continued to meet regularly for discussion, sharing and support. It has led to two people being confirmed.

Mrs Mary Bowden has acted as sacristan. Mrs Margaret Hedges, Mrs Margaret Morgan and Mr John Hamilton assist, when required, with the distribution of communion.

March saw the departure of the former Rector, Reverend Kevin Ashby and the start of an interregnum. Members of the Benefice worked together through much of 2009 to formulate their requirements for a new Rector and thereafter to advertise, interview and select the new Rector. The Reverend William Pearson-Gee was offered and accepted the position in November 2009 (and will be installed in March 2010). We look forward to welcoming him to Nash.

The church building and churchyard

The church was inspected by its Architect, Mr Bruce Deacon, for the quinquennial inspection. His findings were that the PCC were on top of repairs and that there was nothing urgent requiring attention. Certain items of work were identified by Mr Deacon for attention and all but one of these been carried out. The large crack in the south wall continued to be of concern although Mr Deacon did not see this as a major issue and suggested that the PCC continue to monitor the position.

The Notice board and the main entrance gate were both repainted and the gutters around the church have been inspected and cleaned.

Two conifer trees adjacent to the entrance path were removed at the start of the year to create more space for graves. The trees in the churchyard were all inspected for health and safety issues by Horizon Trees of Twyford and a report on their condition was provided. The Lightning Conductor has been inspected and approved.

The electric services were also inspected and approved, once remedial work identified in the electrician’s report, had been carried out. The electric heating is nearing the end of its useful life so that the PCC have started to consider its replacement and this will be ongoing in 2010.

With a view to minimising its carbon footprint the PCC has continued to monitor its use of electricity within the church so as to ensure that electricity use is kept as low as reasonably possible whilst maintaining an adequate temperature for services. The cost of electricity has been renegotiated with the Power Supplier so as to obtain a more competitive price.

The annual church yard tidy-up session took place in November and was well supported. The PCC is grateful to everyone who took part and whose help is so necessary to help to maintain the church and church yard in reasonable condition.

Finance

The PCC’s financial statements are shown in the attached financial report. The PCC’s total receipts in 2009 (excluding the Barn Dance and income associated with Thornton) were £16,016. The corresponding expenditure was £14,677 giving the church a surplus of £1,339. The £1,757 of income tax reclaimed in 2009 covered the twenty month period April 2008 to November 2009 thereby inflating the surplus by £720.  Although the giving (£5,538 through collections and regular giving and £2176 from the Gift Day, both before reclaimed income tax,) and the interest received on the balances was less than in 2008, the increased income from the fete, the reduced expenditure on electricity and the deferral of work on the trees from 2009 to 2010 resulted in the church’s surplus.  The Parish Share of £7,734 was paid in full.

The PCC is grateful to Mrs Horton and Mrs Bell and their sponsors for participating in the Bucks Historic Churches Cycle Ride which raised £154.  The PCC thanks the Barn Dance Committee for transferring £1,000 of its reserve to the PCC’s Repair and Fabric Fund.

The PCC no longer gets the Newsletter printed free of charge and so has started accepting donations in return for adverts in the Newsletter. The Parish Council and The Village Hall, who are the other two big contributors to the Newsletter, have agreed to underwrite the cost of printing the Newsletter (up to a maximum of £100 each) for which the PCC is very grateful.

The PCC’s total funds at 31 December 2009 amounted to £34,035 of which £8,362 is earmarked for specific purposes (Thornton Church, Barn Dance, etc).

In addition to organising a house-to-house collection for Christian Aid, the PCC made donations to the following charities in 2009:  International Nepal Fellowship, British Red Cross Disaster Fund, The Children’s Society, Crisis, Helen House, Willen Hospice and the British Legion, which amounted to approximately 10% of the PCC’s income. These funds were raised by organising events (harvest supper, the two INF coffee mornings, and carol singing round the village) as well as giving away the collections at five services (Harvest, Remembrance, Christingle, Carol, Christmas Eve, Christmas Day). In considering its policy on charitable donations the PCC has agreed that its aim for future years is to aim to give away approximately 10% of its income on a similar basis.

Thank you

I am grateful, as ever, to our clergy for all of their hard work and for leading the services throughout their year, namely: Reverend Philip Derbyshire, Reverend Paul Wigfield, Sandra Cosby LLM , Sue Ambrose, and from within Nash, Reverend John King, Lady Vicky Southby LLM and Pam King.

Nash Church would not function without the hard work of the people who give of their time to help the church to operate. In particular thanks to:

·        To each and every member of the PCC for their dedication and hard work;

·        Our organists Pam King and Eileen Horton, who lead the music and the choir at major services;

·        Margaret Hedges as Treasurer for her work with our finances and accounts;

·        Mary Bowden as Sacristan; Delia Higgs and the team of flower arrangers;

·        Margaret Morgan and Marjorie Bell who provide teas after services and do so much other work;

·        Margaret Hedges, Lady Vicky Southby and others who organise the village lunches;

·        All who help to clean the church throughout the year;

·        Members of the village who join us for the churchyard and church clean-up each year;

·        Eileen Horton has continued to edit the village Newsletter that is delivered throughout the village and which provides an important link between the church and the village.  

John Hamilton,

Church Warden,

December 2009.