APCM 2022

The Parish of St Andrew with Holy Cross
Annual Church Meeting
Year Ending  December 2021

Contents:

    Page No.

Annual Meeting of Parishioners

Agenda

1. Apologies for absence

2. Election of Churchwardens 

3. Any Other Business

Annual Parochial Church Meeting

Agenda

1. Opening Prayers 

2. Apologies for Absence 

3. Minutes of the meeting of 9th May  2021

4. Matters arising from minutes

5. Elections and Appointments

• Members for Parochial Church Council
• Members of Deanery Synod

6. Presentation /Discussion of the Annual Reports

7. Open Discussion

8. Any other business

9. Date of next APCM

10. Date for the next PCC meeting

11. Closing Prayers Minutes of the Annual Parochial Church Meeting Sunday 9^th May 2021 

via zoom and facebook

Appointment of Secretary for the meetings

In the absence of the PCC secretary it was agreed Marion Marshall take the minutes.

The meeting opened in prayer.

Meeting of Parishioners

Election of Churchwardens

The following were appointed as Churchwardens:

Holy Cross: 

Bernard Turnbull proposed: Richard Sanders, seconded: Anna Graham         Frances Graham, proposed: Richard Sanders, seconded: Karen White

St Andrew’s: 

David Marshall, proposed: Peter White, seconded: Karen White                        Joyce Sweeney, proposed: Thelma White, seconded: Jackie Stubberfield                                  

Thanks were recorded to Peter White for bringing his own personality to the role as Churchwarden over the past six years.  He will continue to contribute  as the Curate’s husband and grass cutting.  Thanks were also given to Bernard and David for their continuing service.  The meeting welcomed the newly appointed Churchwardens and the male/female diversity.

Meeting Closed.

Annual Parochial Church Meeting

1. Present

Revd Jane Richards Emma Lamb Revd Shirley Pearce       Marion Marshall Cathy Crook Doug Pearce                   David Marshall Bernard Turnbull  Mark Stubberfield         Joyce Sweeney Karen White Jackie Stubberfield     Barbara Bowhill Frances Graham Christine Pitt                                      Richard Pitt Val Rossiter Anna Graham          Nikki Firth Gloria Taylor Chris Lovell     Jenny Lovell

2. Apologies for Absence

There were no apologies for absence.

3. Minutes of the meeting of 24^th March 2019

These were then passed as a true record, proposed: David Marshall, seconded: Bernard Turnbull.

4. Matters arising from the minutes

There were no matters arising.

5. Election and Appointments

It was noted that the following members of the PCC had stepped Down: Janet Savill, Anna Smith and Kristina Evans-Doyle.

Anna Graham and Emma Lamb having been appropriately proposed and seconded were therefore appointed and welcomed to the PCC.

Revd Jane thanked all the members of the PCC for their work in the past year.

PCC Secretary:  There is currently vacancy for this role.  Revd Jane asked those present to consider taking on the role.  The secretary does not need to be a member of the PCC.

Sidespersons:  These will be appointed by the PCC as lockdown eases.

6. Presentation/Discussion of Annual Reports

Reverend Jane introduced the reports that had been received.  All the reports are available for reading on the Parish website.

Vicars Report

Revd Jane thanked everyone for their continued support and faithfulness and for everyone who had kept things going during the last year. 

Electoral Roll

David Marshall reported that as of the October revision there were now 84 people on the roll, of whom 26 live outside the parish.  One form had been received after the deadline.  If you wish to join this can be done at any time during the year.  

PCC Report

Four meeting had been held via zoom and in person/zoom hybrid.  The main focus had been on keeping going. 

Churchwardens Reports

Holy Cross – Bernard pointed out that this is a quinquennial year but little progress had been made on the work advised in the previous report.  Revd Jane felt a concerted effort be made towards the end of the summer to look at crowd funding as there is much interest in Holy Cross from people with memories and connections with the church.  She also has a contact at the Echo who is interested in good news stories.

St Andrew’s – David reported that the work on the previous quinquennial had been completed but he was compiling a list of jobs which need doing now and in the not too distant future.

Children’s Work

Nikki has joined some Facebook groups to engage with what is needed and feels there would be interest in the proposed Joyful Noise group.  Baptism families could be encouraged to join.

Youth Club

Shirley reported that the zoom evenings have gone well but the young people were keen to meet in person and that year 6 children were now eligible to join.  This called for more volunteers, thanks go to all involved in youth ministry.  Jane is now a trustee of Bar’n’bus and they have a youth worker in Basildon.

Re:Store 

Revd Jane thanked the large team who make this work and Dal Firth was added to the list in the report for his faithful collections from Tesco.  Also to Matt and Kristie who helped during lockdown when they were furloughed. 

Finance 2019

The independent examiners report has been received.  Mark thanked everyone for their continued generosity and faithfulness which has meant the Parish Share has been paid in full.  The meeting thanked Mark and those who assist him in any way for keeping on top of such a complex job

Any other business/open discussion

• It was suggested that a review of policies and DBS status and training be undertaken.
• Churchwarden’s licencing: This will take place at St Gabriel’s on 6^th July.
• There will be a training evening for Churchwardens at St Andrew’s on 1^st July

7. Date of next APCM

Sunday 3^rd April 2022 (please note this was subsequently amended with agreement of the PCC to Sunday 1st May 2022)

8. Date of next PCC meeting

Tuesday 18^th May via zoom, 7.30pm

9. Closing Prayers

Revd Shirley closed the meeting in prayer.

 Vicar’s Report 2021 – Rev’d Canon Jane Richards

Dear Sisters and Brothers in Christ

As I write  this report the sun is shining and we have just celebrated the resurrection of our Lord and Saviour. 

I am conscious however that this report focusses on 2021 rather than this current year and there is certainly a lot to be thankful for as we reflect on what was another rather unusual year in the life of the parish. 

2021 commenced with a return to the lockdown conditions that we first experienced in 2020 as once again we were once more unable to open our churches for corporate worship.

However, where there’s a will there’s a way and, as our expertise with live-streaming grew, the ability to continue to offer worship through this medium increased – I am particularly indebted to Mark Stubberfield and Hayden Firth for their tenacity and skills in this respect! 

While many of us missed the opportunity to worship corporately there were unexpected blessings in offering worship  on a virtual basis.  Not only did it  enable the gathered congregations to praise God but also resulted in others joining us online from far and wide, some of whom continue to ‘tune in’ on  a regular basis. We remain committed to inclusion the Sunday morning service at St Andrew’s is still live streamed every week.

On Palm Sunday we were able to return once more to our church buildings albeit under stringent conditions to ensure the risks to everyone were minimised as far as possible and gradually these have decreased. 

It was good to be able to sing together again at both our Sunday morning services and at our monthly Choral Evensong services. I am grateful to all our musicians and singers and especially to Mark Stubberfield and Anne Liddell for their commitment and dedication to the musical traditions of both churches.

Our food ministry continued to grow in all its many forms. We remain thankful for the  support  we receive from other Christian communities from throughout the town as well, and we continue to benefit from the FareShare scheme which ensures we receive fresh food twice a week from Tesco for our Re-Store project. This has been such  blessing for our community and even more so in recent months.

In September the Tearoom @St Andrew’s was launched and has proved extremely popular. It is really uplifting to come along on a Thursday morning and find St Andrew’s buzzing with people enjoying delicious snacks and of course the ever popular meal of the day. Thank you to all those who are part of this wonderful outreach to our community and especially to Marion Marshall and Richard Pitt for their leadership. 

Nikki Firth, our Children and Families Worker, has continued to build up our ministry to this part of the community with her usual energy and enthusiasm aided by an amazing band of volunteers. You can read more about what they have been up to elsewhere in this report but I would like to make special mention of our new group for under 5s and their carers, Joyful Noise , which began at St Andrew’s  in September . It is good to know that so many young children and their accompanying adults are enjoying fun and friendship every Friday morning.

Messy Church recommenced towards the end of the year, now located at St Andrew’s and Messy Vintage has also made a welcome return as has our band of dedicated crafters who meet every Tuesday afternoon to knit, crotchet, sew, have a cuppa and generally put the world to rights!

Many of our crafters contributed their beautiful work to the Christmas Bazaar which was held at the end of November and was a fantastic success! 

The ministry team has grown over the course of 2021 as well! In September many of us travelled to Chelmsford to support Karen White as she was ordained Deacon, having served the parish as our LLM for some years before that. In December we welcomed Trudy Arnold as our second curate as Bishop John joined our worship to license her to the parish. I feel very blessed to be able to minister alongside such wonderful women of God as well, of course, as our LLM, Phil Horscroft. 

Karen, Trudy and I have officiated at a number of funerals over the year and in addition we are now able to offer ongoing support through the Bereavement Support Group that began in October. Special thanks to Karen for setting this important ministry up and indeed to all those who volunteer as part of this. The Group is open to anyone who has been bereaved regardless of when or whether the funeral was undertaken by one of the ministry team. 

As we reflect on the subject of grief I would also like to mention that this year we lost several members of our parish family, Frances Hood, Carmel O’Leary, Philip White, Peter Fitzgerald and Joan Bates, all of whom will be very much missed. 

As you might imagine the social distancing restrictions have meant there have been far fewer weddings and baptism than we usually have but those that have been able to take place have been joyful occasions, with the presence of the Holy Spirit very much felt. 

I continue  to serve as Area Dean for the Basildon Deanery  and  in November I also took on the role as Chair of House of Clergy for the Diocesan Synod. I am grateful to the PCC and ministry team for enabling me to take on these additional roles through both their  practical l support and  prayerful encouragement.  

My heartfelt thanks go to you all for your continued commitment and witness to the Gospel, to the PCC and church wardens for their dedication and commitment   and to everyone who has poured teas and coffees, made cakes, compiled rotas and newsheets, arranged flowers, made music, attended meetings, cleaned buildings, put out chairs…. and carried out the countless tasks that make this parish such a real and living reflection of Gospel values. 

I won’t pretend the year hasn’t had its challenges for us all, both personally and as a community, but it has been a privilege to witness the ways in which everyone has offered support to each other in so many different ways. 

You are all amazing and I continue to thank God every day for calling me to minister in this place.

“For we were all baptised by one Spirit into one body…..and we were all given the one Spirit to drink….Now you are the body of Christ, and each one of you is a part of it.” 

1 Corinthians 12: 13;27

With my continued love, prayers and blessings

Jane +

Electoral Roll – David Marshall, Electoral Roll Officer

In April 2021 there were 84 people on the roll, of whom 26 lived outside the Parish.

A further revision has taken place recently in preparation for the Annual meeting. Four names had to be deleted and six have been added, so at April 2022 there are 86 people on the roll, 31 of whom live outside the parish.

Summary of PCC Business

Following the APCM in May  2021 the PCC has meet on eight occasions, the first being via zoom and all others conducted in person.  

The PCC meetings continue to be surrounded by prayer at both the opening and closing of meetings.  For the first part of the year discussions focussed on the re-establishment of worship and other activities. Members have also spent some time discerning the direction in which God is calling the parish and planning how best we can meet the needs of both the gathered parish family and the wider community. Much thought has been given to the importance of strengthening pastoral ministry and in latter months there has been a focus on the refurbishment project for Holy Cross.

A summary of PCC business can be found every month in the news sheet

Churchwarden Reports  – David Marshall, Joyce Sweeney, Frances Graham and Bernard Turnbull 

Holy Cross – Bernard Turnbull & Frances Graham

This will be my last warden’s report as I have stood down from my duties at Holy Cross; a chance to reflect on my years as warden.

This year, as we come out of Covid, we see Holy Cross returning to normal: there will be weddings and there will also be the start of the building restoration works. The outside first and then hopefully the interior. During my time as warden, we have improved the lighting, modernised the electrical system and upgraded the heating. We have had a new water stopcock installed so that we can isolate the tap in the churchyard. The matter of reinstating this tap is in the capable hands of the PCC.

Frances is in the process of having the altar frontals cleaned and repaired as required, and we are using a new cash collection gadget.

I would like to take this opportunity to thank all those who have helped me during my time as warden; I feel that our two churches have grown closer together and I hope that the parish family benefits from a revitalised Holy Cross, a building that has been part of the worship in Basildon since the thirteenth century.

St Andrew’s – David Marshall & Joyce Sweeney

Following the Epiphany service on 3 January 2021, another lockdown meant that we were unable to hold public services until Palm Sunday on 28 March. During lockdown our main aim was to ensure the security of the building, and once we reopened every effort was made to implement all the precautions necessary to reduce the risk of anybody coming into the church catching coronavirus.

When the church was open for public worship the attendance figures for Sunday services were affected by the restricted numbers due to social distancing etc. Slowly the chairs were moved closer together, the requirement for masks reduced and singing reintroduced. By the end of the year church life began to return to something more like normal.

On the fabric side, apart from ongoing repairs, a drain cover outside the church had to be replaced, a new water heater was installed in the kitchen and work was carried out on the trees around the church.

A leak from the ladies’ toilet damaged the kitchen floor, which was installed in 2019. The leak was repaired, and arrangements made for the floor to be replaced (in April 2022), with most of the cost covered by insurance.

Quinquennial Inspections were due to take place at both churches in October 2021, but our previous architect had resigned. Contact was made with various architects approved by the Diocese and, following interviews during site visits, a new architect will be appointed soon and inspections of both churches will take place in the summer of 2022. We wait to see what work is recommended.

A big thank you to everybody who helps to keep St Andrew’s running. We hope that, in the future, even more people will be prepared to become involved in our church life, so that we can provide a welcoming environment and meet the needs of our congregation and local community.

Discipleship and Outreach

Home Groups

In spite of difficult times with the pandemic, home groups have continued to flourish, with 3 groups involved in study at various times during the year. Some of these sessions have been held online and we thank God for the technology which has enabled us to reflect on His Word together, even when we have been unable to meet in person. We have grown together in faith and friendship  through studying the Scriptures, gaining a deeper understanding of God’s grace, mercy and love. The use of various ‘Cover to Cover’ Bible study materials and sessions based on ‘100 Bible Studies’ have inspired us to seek to know God more as Christians and to know that He is alive and working in our lives, even in difficult times, as we are fed and renewed by His Word.

The groups provide a great opportunity to learn and pray together and are open to anyone looking to deepen their relationship with God, so if you feel this is for you please contact any of the group leaders (David, Peter, Karen) who will be happy to provide you with further information.

Nurture Courses

Mission is at the heart of the life of the Church and we should be encouraging others to come to faith, as well as sharing our faith with the community. Unfortunately, due to restrictions in meeting together in person there were very few opportunities to meet this year. It is hoped that once we are able to safely get together new courses will be provided. Please speak to Revd Karen if you feel there is a specific course which could be run, or a particular group of people you feel need to be reached.

Revd Karen

Children and Families Worker – Nikki Firth

I can hardly believe it has been a full year since I wrote my report for the last APCM! It has been an absolutely jam-packed year. The pandemic may have changed our plans, but it certainly did not hold us back – we have so much to celebrate!

We have had numerous seasonal activities – including:

Bags of Light for Halloween

ADVENT-ure Bags

Nativity Trails (In local parks and Holy Cross)

Good News Angels, hidden around the community (Thank you to the Craft & Chat group)

Christingle at Home Bags

Pancake Party

Community Crosses (Thank you Barbara Bowhill)

September finally saw the start of Joyful Noise, our under 5’s group. We now have around 40 families registered and usually have between 15 – 21 children and their adults attending every week. We have been overwhelmed with the response, positive feedback and encouragement it has received from those who attend. It has also been a pleasure to invite baptism families to come and join us, Joyful Noise is often the perfect setting for that first meeting. It is an absolute joy to give families this space to explore faith, grow, learn, love and worship together. It would not be possible for us to provide this group for the community, without the amazing volunteers, so a huge thank you to: Aneta Moody, Christine Hill, Jackie Stubberfield, Karen White and Mark Stubberfield. 

September saw the return of Messy Church, we started back at our usual venue of Fryerns Community Centre but found that numbers were low. We decided to move Messy Church to St Andrews from February, this has been brilliant so far, with returning families (from pre pandemic) and new families joining us, for this bi- monthly time of family fun and worship.

I have attended numerous training sessions throughout the year, that has equipped and enabled me to carry on this work in the parish. I am currently working closely with Scripture Union as a Faith Guide, to further reach the 95% of children in our community who do not know Jesus.

Please continue to pray for our ministry to children and families in our parish.

I am trying to keep this report brief, but if you have any questions, suggestions, ideas, please do come and see me.

Food Ministry

Re:Store 

Donations have continued from various churches and individuals as well as our church family, so we have been able to meet all our commitments.  We have also been blessed with school harvest donations which was lovely.  We currently average 24 parcels each week, a mixture of deliveries and collections.  January will see us taking some of the clients from the Billericay Food Bank who live in our area.  We are also co-operating with donations to other organisations so we do not have a glut of items we can’t use.  We continue to collect food from Tesco and Nando’s and would be glad of help with collections and deliveries.  

Tea Room at St Andrew’s

The Tea Room has continued to flourish with most customers coming for the main meal.  We have made changes to the times and menu to reflect this.  Moving forward we will continue to respond to customer demand.  The Christmas meals were very popular.  We hope to welcome some support groups to share the venue and use our facilities in the spring.

We planned to restart on 6^th January 2022 but due to staff sickness this was not possible.  This further highlights the need for more volunteers as closing is always the last resort.  The team will look at recruitment in the coming year.

MakeLunch

The last 2 years have been challenging for families on limited income to feed their families.  As a church we adapted our offer during various lockdown situations as best we could.  We have provided parcels, recipe boxes, picnics, hot meals and a terrific circus morning followed by a meal.  Due to high profile campaigns the government has now taken notice of food poverty and food, grocery vouchers and play provision has been much improved, supplied via the local authority.  With this in mind it has been agreed going forward to stop providing meals via the MakeLunch organisation.  This will not mean we will abandon our children and their families.  We now have Joyful Noise and the Tea Room where we can welcome families all year round.  A huge thank you to the MakeLunch team who have worked so hard over the last 8 years.

Marion Marshall

For the Food Ministry Team

Music at St Andrew’s 

At the start of 2021 our musical activities were strictly curtailed by COVID, particularly as the Government had identified singing as a  ‘high-risk’ activity for spreading the virus. We did continue to post links to suggested music with YouTube links on the church website.  As the year progressed we were able to provide some music at the beginning and end of the live-streamed services, with occasional singing provided by Anna Davis when she was present as part of the service.  This was made easier when  Hayden joined the ‘few’ in church to operate the streaming software.

When services were opened up at Easter, initially singing indoors was still not allowed, so we were limited to some instrumental worship inside the building, but we were able to introduce a final hymn sung outside the front door of the church, which hopefully wasn’t too big a shock to our neighbours !

By August we were all a bit frustrated at the lack of singing, but some brave singers did get together to record a few hymns to  accompany one service, ably incorporated into the live-stream by Hayden.

Finally in September we were able at last to sing as a congregation. Initially the music group were spread across the front of the church so as to maintain social distancing, which made keeping together musically quite challenging, but the joy at being able to sing overshadowed any difficulties.  With the lifting of all government restrictions early in 2022 we reverted to a more comfortable arrangement of singers and musicians.

Thanks to all those who sang and played  regularly –  to Cathy Crook and Val  Rossiter in particular and Brenda Smedley  who joined us with her violin; Roger Phillips’ voice has also been a great asset as has Hayden Firth’s guitar playing when technical duties have allowed. Tracey  Bain and Jenny Lovell made a valuable contribution to our recorded songs too.

As well as all those who sing and play  we also benefit greatly from the skills and experience of Richard at the sound desk. Another key part of any music group these days is the projection of words for the congregation. Christine Pitt has taken on this role capably with the added responsibility of projecting all the service words while service books were out of use as a COVID safety measure.

The music group is supported financially by the church though the Music Reproduction Licence, which allows us to copy music from hymn books etc. for use in Services.

In terms of the music, since lock-down we have been cautious about introducing many new songs but we hope to do that as the group becomes more stable again. If you hear music that you particularly like and think would fit into our services do mention it to Mark or any of the Music group. We can’t promise to meet everyone’s likes all the time, but we’ll try !   Our aim is always to make it easy for everyone in the congregation to join in with the worship.

Anyone who would like to sing or play is very welcome to join us at our practices on Saturday mornings at 9:30am in St Andrew’s, whether or not you feel you want to be ‘up the front’ on a Sunday morning.  On the other hand, looking after the song projection, or maybe even the sound desk, may be more your thing – and just as valuable.

Please do contact Mark if you’d like to be involved in any way !

The PCC of St Andrew with Holy Cross, Basildon Report of the Members/Trustees

For the year ended 31st December 2021 

Structure, governance and management

The Parochial Church Council is a corporate body established by the Church of England. The PCC operates under the Parochial Church Council Powers Measure (1956). The PCC is excepted by order from registering with the Charity Commission.

The method of appointment of PCC members is set out in the Church Representation Rules (1969). All Church attendees are encouraged to register on the Electoral Roll and stand for election to the PCC. PCC members are elected for a three-year term after which they may stand for re-election.

Objectives and activities

The PCC has the responsibility of cooperating with the incumbent, Rev Jane Richards, in promoting in the ecclesiastical parish the whole mission of the Church, pastoral, evangelistic, social and ecumenical.

Summary of main activities

• acts of public worship open to all
• provision of sacred space for personal reflection and contemplation
• pastoral work, including visiting the sick and bereaved
• teaching Christianity through sermons, courses and small groups
• provision of facilities for local community use

Financial review

Financially the core of the PCC’s ongoing income is the planned giving via Gift Aid and the freewill offering envelope scheme. While the COVID-19 crisis continued to restrict the activities of the church during the year, giving from these sources and general collections (without tax refunds) was £35,743, representing an increase of 2% from 2019 (the last non-COVID affected year). This is an indication of the faithfulness and generosity of the congregation allowing the structures of parish life to be maintained, and a number of key ministries to continue through the lockdown periods.

Members of the congregation are encouraged to plan their giving, either with the envelope scheme, or by the use of a bank standing order. For those who are taxpayers, the Gift Aid scheme also allows the PCC to reclaim tax on donations, whether regular or one-off.

Payments of £6,250 were gratefully received from the Inland Revenue under the Gift Aid scheme. This income included £818 from the GASDS (Gift Aid Small Donations Scheme) which allows tax refunds to be claimed on certain loose offerings to the church.

The PCC receives fees for weddings and funerals at Holy Cross. This totalled £3,227 during 2021, a figure that still reflects cancelled wedding services, and restrictions on funeral services. Some of the cancelled wedding services have been rescheduled to 2022, so this should partly be seen as delayed income.

The PCC also receives some income from groups using St Andrew’s. This recovered to £5,032 during 2021 as lockdown restrictions were eased in the second half of the year. Most regular users including  a Dance group, Brownie and Rainbows groups, and a church group from the Asian community were unable to meet during the periods of lockdown. As a support group, Basildon Gamblers Anonymous were able to continue meeting  in the first half of the year with social distancing restrictions, which was valuable income for the PCC. The church has also been able to welcome the local Home-Start support group on Wednesday mornings.

As ever the major expenditure through the year has been the parish share contribution to the diocese. The contribution in 2021, £32,266 was again paid in full. The parish share for 2022 is to be reduced by about 5% because of additional grants received by the diocese, although it is expected that there will be increases in future years because of the impact of the pandemic on diocese-wide income and reductions in central church funding.

As well as £641 from giving by members of the congregation for various charities, the PCC made gifts of £560 to each of Christian Aid, Feeding the Family and MIND UK.

Refurbishment work at Holy Cross planned with repairs to the exterior pointing and interior redecoration was again delayed, partly due to the disruption from the pandemic. A separate fund is used to manage the fund-raising for this work. At the end of 2021 this fund stood at £18,122 which, together with a contribution from the more general buildings fund, should be sufficient to get the external work underway in 2022. Grant assistance is to be sought to assist with the cost of the interior work.

Make Lunch activities were also restricted by COVID-19 in 2021, but some sessions were held. A dedicated fund is shown in the receipts and payments account to track this part of the parish’s food ministry. Grant funding of £65 was received from the Co-op and £48 via the Transforming Lives for Good charity. With the changes to other support for families it is expected that the Make Lunch activities will be wound up in 2022.

The ReStore Food Ministry expanded through the year reflecting the increased needs in the community. A number of generous donations were made through the year to ensure that it was always possible to top up the donations of food from Tesco and other sources under the FareShare scheme and the continuing donations of food items from members of the congregation.

The PCC accounts also show a restricted fund entitled “CAP Debt Centre”, which documents the financial records of the Christians Against Poverty Debt Centre. The debt centre is funded by grants and specific donations, with payments relating both to the day-to-day running of the centre and regular payments to the central CAP organisation. 

The costs of our Children and Families Worker are to be met by a grant from the diocese. As at the end of the year this hadn’t been received. A temporary transfer from the Development Fund was used to cover this shortfall.

Honoraria were paid directly from funeral fees received, and to various members of the congregation for verger duties at funerals and interments.

Reserves Policy

The PCC has two funds set aside as reserve funds. The Buildings Fund is specifically for major works on either building, and the Development Fund for activities related to growth within the parish. These funds are seen as first steps towards planning financially for the future of the parish.

During 2021 the PCC transferred £1,500 into the Buildings Fund in anticipation of work to be carried out at St Andrew’s and Holy Cross. At the end of 2021 the Buildings Fund stood at £20,520.

The PCC also transferred £1500 into the Development Fund.  At the end of 2021 this fund stood at  £5,620 (reduced by the temporary transfer to cover Children and Families Worker costs as above) .

Administrative Information

The Parish of St Andrew with Holy Cross has two centres of worship providing ministry to a parish of mixed housing in the New Town of Basildon. Holy Cross church is a 13^th Century building set in a churchyard in the North of the parish. St Andrew’s is a 1950’s dual purpose building in the South of the parish. The parish is part of the Diocese of Chelmsford within the Church of England. The address for correspondence is :

St Andrew’s Church,
1, The Fremnells,
  Basildon
SS14 2QX. 

PCC members who have served from 1^st January 2021 until the date of the report are:

Incumbent:  The Reverend Canon Jane Richards 
Curate The Reverend Shirley Pearce (until September 2021)
Curate The Reverend Karen White (from September 2021)
Curate The Reverend Trudy Arnold (from December 2021)

Licensed Ministers:

Mrs K White Licensed Lay Minister (until September 2021)
Mr P Horscroft Licensed Lay Minister
Mrs J Lovell Licensed Pastoral Assistant
Mr R Sanders Licensed Pastoral Assistant

Holy Cross Wardens: Mr B Turnbull

Mrs F Graham

St Andrew’s Wardens: Mr D Marshall
Ms J Sweeney (from APCM 2021)

Representatives on Deanery Synod:

Mrs F Graham

Mr J Rowell

Mrs M Marshall

Elected members: Mrs A Graham (from APCM 2021)

Ms E Lamb (from APCM 2021)

Mr C Lovell

Mr C Phillips (until APCM 2021)

Mrs J Savill (until APCM 2021)

Ms J Sweeney  (until APCM 2021)

Mrs L Thomas

PCC Secretary: Mr P Horscroft

PCC Treasurer: Mr M Stubberfield

Independent Examiner: Michael Letch & Partners LLP
Accountants
146 High Street
Billericay
Essex
CM12 9DF

Approved by order of the Parochial Church Council (Trustees) on 15^th February 2022 and signed on its behalf by:

……………………………………………………………..
Rev Canon Jane Richards, Vicar, St Andrew with Holy Cross, Basildo