Colwall APCM
Trustees’ 2024 Report & Accounts
for the Parochial Church Council of
St James the Great
Colwall
Annual Parochial Church Meeting
6th April 2025
Trustees’ 2024 Report & Accounts for the Parochial Church Council of St James the Great Colwall
Annual Parochial Church Meeting on 6th April 2025
Aims and Purposes
St James Parochial Church Council (PCC) has the responsibility of cooperating with the Rector, the Reverend Melanie Horton, in promoting, in the ecclesiastical parish, the whole mission of the church, pastoral, social, evangelistic and ecumenical. The PCC is also responsible for the church and the adjacent Ale House of St James the Great, Colwall.
Objectives and Activities
The PCC is committed to enabling as many people as possible to worship at our church and to become part of our parish community. The PCC maintains an overview of worship throughout the Parish and makes suggestions on how our services can involve the many groups that live within the Parish. Our services and worship put faith into practice through prayer and scripture, music and sacrament.
When planning our activities, we have considered the Charity Commission’s guidance on public benefit and in particular the supplementary guidance on charities for the enhancement of religion.
In particular, we try to enable ordinary people to live out their faith as part of our parish community. The vision for our church is:
· To be a Christian family which reaches out to our village community:
o Providing pastoral care for people living in the parish.
o Welcoming and supporting families and young people and those in particular need - the lonely, elderly, bereaved and those with mental health issues.
o Nurturing our communities spiritually through worship and prayer, learning about the gospel, and also enabling learning and new skills to enhance communities and care for the natural world.
· To be a Christian family which is growing and developing its faith and spirituality both individually and corporately.
To facilitate this work, it is important that we maintain the fabric of the church, Ale House and churchyard.
ACHIEVEMENTS AND PERFORMANCE
Worship and Prayer – Rector’s report
As ever we have worshiped regularly together, celebrating the seasons and the high days and holidays as well as the everyday to maintain a regular heartbeat of prayer to underpin all that we do. Allowing time and space for God to touch us collectively and individually and to energise us for the task ahead – to live as God’s people in this place. There have, of course, been some particular highlights worthy of note. In June we celebrated with Andrew another milestone of his ministry as he was ordained priest and his first opportunity to celebrate the Eucharist; what wonderful things he has bought to us and shares with us in the life of St James – it’s hard to imagine a time before he arrived! June saw us sharing in a pet blessing service – mostly dogs it must be said …. but a few cats and other pets attended by proxy! In July we hosted our brothers and sisters from St James, Aston for the celebration of St James – a wonderful service followed by a delightful lunch together in the village hall. August saw the two-day craft festival and as a result we worshipped in the Ale House, sharing fellowship, worship and conversation around topics of inclusivity as well as coffee and croissants! October marked Harvest Festival and another delicious parish lunch and the restoration of the celebration of St Crispin, followed by a feast at the Thai Restaurant. There seems to a theme emerging here – the highlights of our worship always seem to be accompanied by fellowship and food – for which there is a clear biblical precedent!
Thank You and Goodbyes
It takes an army of volunteers to make sure that the worship we offer is the best that it can be. To do that we need to ensure that our building and churchyard are maintained in the best and most welcoming condition possible, to keep our finances in order and to organise our fundraising So, ‘thank you’ to our bellringers, our organists, choir members and other musicians, our cleaning team, our coffee team, our flower arrangers, our sacristans, all those who lead intercessions and read lessons, our assistant wardens, our lay deacons, our Verger, and to those who operate our audio visual system go enormous thanks from me on behalf of us all; your work is much appreciated.
I would also like to thank personally and on behalf of us all my retired clergy colleagues: Anne, Bernard, Carl, Lynne and Tim and our reader Andy for all that they do and all that they bring to enrich our life and worship. Their ministry is a real blessing.
Thanks also go to Martyn, our Churchwarden – his hard work, willingness and attention to detail have ensured that projects such as the roof project have reached a successful conclusion, and the servery project is now moving ahead with full speed; he’s a pleasure to work with and a truly invaluable colleague. Thanks also to Joy, our Parish Administrator ... and so much more … Joy’s ability to step into whatever breach opens up is a great blessing!
It is an enormous pleasure and privilege to work with you all; thank you.
In every year there are some especial thanks that need to be made and this year is no different. First, in what was a challenging year weather wise, an especial thank you to the team of volunteers who work so hard to tame and maintain our churchyard to balance the needs of visitors and the needs of its natural inhabitants. This team has been lead and inspired by Richard King, but this year he has had to pass the baton to Phil Hitchen to whom we are thankful for taking on the role.
Secondly the ordering of our financial affairs has for several years been in the safe hands of Richard King, but this year it was time for him to pass the baton and we are very grateful to Claire Pearson for accepting the challenge, taking on the task and for the enormous amount of work she has done to produce our accounts for last year.
Finally, there is an obvious and special thank you to Richard King himself, who has given so unstintingly of his time and effort, both to his role as Treasurer and his involvement with the churchyard. He has been a pleasure to work with and has kept us on track with grace and humour for many years. His reliability and drive have helped to bring to completion many projects; we are immeasurably in his debt.
Saying ‘thank you’ is always a joy; goodbyes not so much. This year we said goodbye to a number of people who have played significant roles in our life here at St James: Barbara Hatton, Jan Bartlet, Jill Withington, Lizzie Langmead and Deidre Morgan. We are grateful to them for all that they gave to our life together both as a church and as a community. May light perpetual shine upon them.
Final Words
Like every church at the moment, we face huge challenges and we cannot help but be touched by all that is facing the national church and by the turmoil that is being played out on the national and international stage, not to mention the more immediate challenge of trying to make finite resources stretch to meet apparently infinite need! I do not take lightly these challenges and we must always strive to find new ways to be the light of Christ in the dark places and times in people’s lives and the life of our world, but I would like to finish by quoting some words carved over the entrance to a Welsh church and something that we should never forget ....... “We believe that the power behind us is infinitely greater than the task ahead”. It is in that power that we may joyfully and confidently face the year and the challenges ahead.
Churchwardens report
Well, 2024 proved to be a year of some success! The work to repair/replace the crumbling roof-level masonry and stonework caused by weathering and erosion was completed on time and on budget (I’ll say that again...........on time and on budget!). With the west end and northeast corner swathed in scaffold we were able to witness the craftsmanship of two fine stonemasons, Ian and Becky Bishop. Many of us were also able to take advantage of their user-friendly approach to enjoy a series of guided tours of the church roof.
Last year we reported encouraging progress with our plans to reorder the northwest corner of the church with the installation of a kitchenette, servery and toilet with disabled access. The project, now costed at about £100,000, has been granted a Faculty by the Diocese, so the ball is now firmly in our court. We have formed a Working Party (!) to coordinate the fundraising campaign and see the project through to completion. Taking into account legacies and donations already received, we need to raise about £50,000; you will hear much more about this in the coming weeks. Of particular note is that the Faculty allows us to remove and dispose of some of the pews at the back of the church; this will give us room for some tables and chairs: no more ‘standing room only’.
After over a year of ‘to-ing and fro-ing’, Planning Permission and a Faculty have been granted to install bollard lights along the entire length of the church path from the car park to the Ale House. It has taken us a year to get the permissions and we have 3 years before they expire in which to do the work at a cost of about £5,000. Bearing in mind the necessary expenditure to bring the reordering project to completion, the PCC has decided to ‘pause’ the lighting project for the time being.
That’s dealt with most of the bricks and mortar stuff, now to the water. During the autumn the Churchwardens’ jacuzzi, otherwise known as the cellar, was flooded to a depth of over 2 feet. Such has been the rainfall that the automatic pump gave up and it was a matter of all hands on deck. In an episode from ‘The Last of the Summer Wine’ Mark Illingworth and Bill Clucas stepped up to join my thumb in the dam; the problem was that as quickly as we three were pumping out the water, such was the level of the water table that it was flowing back in! We then invested in a pair of waders and arm-length rubber gloves which enabled Bill to monitor the water level and get a new pump installed.
Unfortunately, in a display of solidarity, the big and powerful heating pump, also in the cellar, decided to give up. This was very bad news; not only did we lose heating for a few weeks, but a very expensive replacement pump was needed. Thank you Bill for overseeing all this; it’s now safe to take off the waders and rubber gloves!
One of the highlights of the Churchwarden’s year proved to be spending half a day watching a locksmith open a Chubb safe without blowing the doors off! It was also interesting (and a little concerning!) to see the Curate take a particularly keen interest in lock picking. By the way, the donations box is now fully operational.
Outwith the church building, we continue to be plagued by fly tipping in the car park area. This has included household waste, a mower, a child’s car seat and three cars! We are grateful to our Police Community Support Team who even signed our Visitors’ Book.
I must thank the Assistant Churchwardens for their Sunday and year-round support. Bill, Jane, Stuart, Carolyn and Steve: your good humour, willingness and teamwork make life so much easier. Joy, thank you for your resilience and constant reminders; Andrew, thank you for your unfailing offers of help and support...........and all those cracking breakfasts. Finally, Melanie: your patience, your understanding, your ‘ear’ and your cool, calm countenance have been an absolute blessing.
The coming year will hopefully bring the reordering project to fruition after almost 10 years. Our next Quinquennial Review is due in late 2025; then the merry go round starts again!
Verger - The job of a Verger at St James includes the facilitation of specific services, namely weddings and funerals.
In this APCM year of 2024/25 we have been able to hold 4 weddings, conducted 7 burial of ashes and 4 funerals.
The Church and Ale House
There were approximately 31 “bookings” in the Ale House last year. The term ‘booking’ can cover one-off events such as a wedding reception, of which we had 3 in 2024, or it can be a booking for a number of events such as the yoga classes held last year or Ken Appleby’s series of concerts. The Ale House is also used for other occasions for which there is no charge such as the Ale House Carols, Deanery events and discretionary ‘no-charge’ bookings when appropriate. The cost is currently £10 per hour with a £2 per hour surcharge in the winter to cover heating. No major maintenance was required during 2024.
Church Bells
Bellringing at St James has followed a similar path to last year. We have not, unfortunately, been able to attract any new recruits, but as always, we are keen for anyone who wants to learn the art. At the moment we have six members on our team, and it would be pleasing to hear all ten bells ringing again for our Sunday services.
Monday evenings are our practice sessions, and we are grateful for 2 or 3 ringers from other towers to help out. On the first Friday evening of each month, we are hosts to members of the Ledbury District for our 8 bells practices.
During the summer the Belfries Officer for the Hereford Guild came to visit us (at our request!) to inspect the bells and fittings etc. In his report he stated that generally everything was ok, apart from tightening up the clappers on two of the bells and replacement of 2 wooden stays (which is in hand) also a general clean up of the bell chamber. On a general note, we are hoping to get some of our ropes repaired as some of our present ones are starting to show signs of wear.
There were 4 weddings which we rang for in 2024. We also celebrated the Ordination of our Curate, Andrew in Hereford Cathedral with a ¼ peal, rung a few days later. This was also a wedding anniversary compliment to Marian & Mike Paulson and congratulations to Ian Wilson on taking part in his first quarter peal.
Ministry and Pastoral Care
Admirals Café (for those who have dementia or other health issues)
We continue to meet monthly with 37 regular clients, some single folk living alone as well as dementia sufferers and/or their carers. They come from Colwall and its surrounding areas including Ledbury and the Malverns. We would like to attract dementia sufferers living in housing association accommodation
We have a crew of 19 volunteers, 5 of which are not members of our congregation. We are continually told how much folk appreciate the friendly ambience of our meetings and we want to thank all those (volunteers and guests) who contribute so much to this atmosphere.
Most meetings have a visitor to entertain and engage us. These have included students from Colwall Village School, blind Morris Dancers, Carl Attwood on the piano, a lady leading folk in exercise and dance. Members of our crew also lead members in song.
We visited Coddington Vineyard last summer for afternoon tea, an event organised by one of our volunteers who lives in Coddington, and we plan to consider further similar outings
There is no formal charge or entry fee. Costs are covered by donations and a raffle at each meeting. Raffle prizes are donated by crew members or clients and last Christmas by local businesses. We are able to meet the costs (if any) of visitors. We have a useful surplus cared for by the PCC, out of which the church Treasurer pays for the village hall and other occasional larger expenses. Refreshments, usually home-baked, are provided by our crew and sometimes a well-wisher. We would welcome any other occasional offers.
Guests with mobility problems can be transported from home to Admirals by car - driving members of the volunteer crew. We regularly transport one gentleman of 98 years to and from Ledbury
Men’s Breakfast
Men’s Breakfast was launched in March 2024 with three objectives:
· Draw together men in their diversity to share time together.
· To provide physical and mental nourishment through food and informative, engaging and life-affirming speakers.
· To demonstrate God’s grace through mission in the community.
The Breakfast ‘Club’ has met every month since, save for January 2025 when The Yew Tree couldn’t accommodate. The average attendance is 25 with circa 50% not connected to the church. Speakers have included a self-taught leather worker, former police officer, Headmaster, Ledbury Community Action, retired RAF officer, curate; design consultant and Street Pastor. Bishop Richard is confirmed for the May 2025 meeting.
We operate a pay-what-you-can-afford model which often generates a surplus. The Breakfast has a surplus of £207 (March ’24 to February ’25) which is used to off-set losses, fund potential travel expenses and provide gifts to the staff at the Yew Tree as appropriate.
Mothers’ Union:
Since I wrote the last report we have enjoyed talks by Mary Constable, actually one of my best friends at school, on her Local Literary Trail, including poems from the Dymock poets, and A. E Houseman, and The Rev. Joan Wakeling, from Eastnor, accompanied by her huge rescue Dalmatian, Trent. Joan spoke on The Christian response to the welfare of animals. Then we had Andy Lymer speaking on the work of Christians Against Poverty, including tales of their wonderful support to people in debt in the Malvern area, John Stock on the thorny subject of Safety and Risk (abundant statistics such as on Road Safety figures, and a reminder that we are responsible for own safety and the safety of others on the roads) and the Rev. Becky Elliott, Vicar of Holy Trinity, Malvern Link, and St. James’ West Malvern, who filled us in on her life in the past and in Malvern. This was of special interest to those of us who had visited St. James’ Church, West Malvern, in August, where we were welcomed and given a delicious tea. Very profitable fundraising events for those in need in the Diocese were the Lent Lunch, the Marmalade Sale and the Coffee Morning. We also included in the programme, two more unusual events, a Songs of Praise, and ‘Christmas through the eyes of children’ when we were reminiscing about our own childhoods or our grandchildren’s, relating that to some of our readings. This January, Stuart Hands told us about Hereford Street Pastors, such a caring non-judgemental group, with whom he volunteers on the weekend Night-time rota. This talk was a follow-up on our Vennture Family Pastors talk in 2023.
We shall miss our dear friends, Jan Bartlett and Jill Withington, who have died, and we think of their families. They were both branch leaders and devoted to the work of Mothers Union.
Choir
In June Andrew chose his favourite hymns which we were delighted to sing and be part of his first communion.
At the Patronal Festival in July the choir from St James Church, Cradley sang with us and also provided a conductor.
We were joined by the augmented choir for our annual Village Carol Service. Sue Humphrey was our conductor and Pam Richardson accompanied on the piano. On the following day several members of the choir sang at the British Legion Carol Service. On Christmas morning with so many members of our regular choir away, we were joined with augmented singers plus their families.
A big thank you to Mark Illingworth who has very generously donated copies of the new Ancient and Modern Hymns and Songs for Refreshing worship books. We are discovering exciting new hymns and songs which we hope the congregation will also enjoy singing.
The choir sang at four weddings in 2024.
Final thanks must go to our Sunday choir who lead our singing throughout the year. We could also do with some more singers especially for Sunday services. If you are interested please speak to one of the choir as we would love to have you join us and there is no audition involved!
Orchestra
In 2024 the orchestra played at the Mothering Sunday and Patronal Festival services. I had seven or eight players lined up to play at Welcome Christmas in the Ale House, but illness struck, and we were down to three. I was told that the ‘pared down group was very good, more successful than usual’, a backhanded compliment, I feel! I have again put an advertisement in The Clock, with again, no responses from the young, or young at heart. I should like us to play more often again, so should be talking to Melanie and Andrew about possible opportunities. We really enjoy making our contribution.
St James Flower Team
It’s been another busy year for the flower team.
Apart from the two big church events of Easter and Christmas (as many as possible of us try to get to these as lovely to do the arrangements with an obvious theme) we also had three weddings and the feedback from the brides was really good. Our last bride, Abi was in floods of tears when she saw the flowers as she wasn’t expecting the church to be so filled with arrangements (it was a good thing she went in on the Friday when we had finished them rather than her actual wedding day, but also it meant we could share her absolute amazement at what we had done, it was very heartfelt and moments like that make the team’s hard work so worth it.)
We also had a lot of pleasure in decorating the church for the Patronal Service in July, as there were special guests coming from Aston for the day it seemed only fitting that our church should welcome them and what better than flowers throughout?
We look forward to this year and hope our congregation and passers-by enjoy the arrangements.
Caring for the Environment
Churchyard report for 2024
We are hugely indebted and grateful to Richard King for his enthusiasm and dedicated work to make the churchyard a better place for both people and wildlife. During the year I took over some of his work but he is still the inspiration.
We, as a church, are reliant and are very grateful to the unpaid workforce for the majority of the graft needed to maintain the churchyard. It’s not sustainable or feasible for volunteers to do what the unpaid team achieve. So we are very fortunate to have had good support from the unpaid workforce in 2024 and continuing that is a priority for us. Their work leaves volunteers free to do smaller and lighter work and projects. However, it should also be noted that numbers at work parties have dropped to a very small hard-core of volunteers.
There is a little team (Rose Fenn, Sue Bienkowska and me) who publish an article about some aspect of the churchyard each month. The main purpose is to highlight how important the churchyard is spiritually, culturally and for a diversity of wildlife.
Richard started a grant process with the AONB for a display board and a picnic table that allows for wheelchair access. The work and the purchases need to be completed by the end of March 2025.
The management regime for the churchyard tries to achieve a balance between neatness and nature and there is a range of opinions about where that balance should lie. As an ongoing process and at an annual management meeting, we continue to review the management regime and strive to take opportunities to make the churchyard better for both nature and people.
Mission and Evangelism
The Clock continues to be an important means of communication for the community. The variety of information, advertising and ‘what’s on’ is appreciated by all our readers, keeping everyone informed of local clubs, societies and interest groups.
We always welcome new copy—so if you have an interesting/ topical/subjects please do send them to thecolwallclock@gmail.com.
Editing and producing the monthly editions of the magazine is now in the hands of Anna Byers -thank you for taking over the role. It is hoped we can recruit one more editor this year.
Please contact Joy in the office if this is something you would like to be involved with.
We are grateful for the work of the distributers who deliver the magazine each month, and a special thank you to Chris and Christine Honeywill, who collect and sort into the various ‘rounds’ for distribution.
Welcomers:
Online Presence
Over the year the website has had further changes. A blog has been introduced, primarily publishing articles about churchyard conservation and the wider community. We have updated the safeguarding information; retained the sermon archive but in a different format and continue to work on content throughout. Work has also been done to improve the site’s visibility in google (what’s known as SEO) with significant success. The website has a fresh appearance with regularly updated front page content, showing the church as an active organisation. In the calendar year 2024, there were 2700 unique visitors to the website, an increase of 54% on the previous year. Most people find the site through Google and Facebook. Thank you to Lynn Lee and Mark Illingworth for your continued work on this.
The church is on Facebook, Instagram and BlueSky social media platforms. Facebook has 106 followers and Instagram and BlueSky in single numbers. However, BlueSky and Instagram should increase significantly the more we engage. BlueSky is an ethical alternative, not owned by technology giants. We generally use a social media management tool to post simultaneously to all three platforms.
Ecumenical Relationships
St James Aston Link Activities
It was a delight to welcome our friends from Aston to join us for the Patronal Festival in July and to share lunch in the village hall afterwards.
This is always a joyous occasion- catching up with friends old and new.
We have supported them through our charity giving
We look forward to catch up again this July for Patronal Festival service and lunch in the village hall.
FINANCIAL REVIEW FOR 2024
This is my first report to the APCM having taken over as Treasurer towards the end of 2024. I would like to thank Richard King for all his help and his patience in answering numerous questions. I would also like to express my gratitude to the Finance Committee and, in particular, Peter Millward, for all their support and advice while I have been preparing the accounts.
You may observe that the accounts look different from previous years. Charity legislation has changed and we have to present accounts in a defined format. As a result of this, our statutory accounts are extremely lengthy and thus are not reproduced in full here. However, I can provide copies for anyone who wants them.
The year's Financial Accounts show a deficit on unrestricted income and expenditure of £10,931 (2023: surplus of £4,235) before fund transfers and the revaluation of fixed asset investments. The main reason for the decrease was from legacies received in the prior year of almost £12,750 compared with £1,000 in 2024. Planned giving was also less than in 2023. Costs were very similar to 2023.
Funds previously designated by the PCC for specific purposes, but not legally restricted, have been redesignated. The Flower Fund remains unaffected with a balance of £1,329; Admiral’s Café now has its own fund (£1,543). The other old, designated funds have been combined into the Improved Facilities Fund. The PCC has designated a total of £40,000 to help fund the improved facilities and thus £30,369 has been transferred from the unrestricted General Fund (formerly known as the Fabric Fund).
Restricted income was up from £17,481 in 2023 to £50,776 in 2024. As was mainly the case last year, this income comprised grants for the repairs to the church roof. As well as a number of individual donations, we received grants from the S and D Lloyd Charitable Trust; Hereford Historic Churches Trust and Lasletts Charities. Jonathan Walton’s talk on Antarctica also raised £900. As expected, the roof repairs were completed in 2024 so restricted expenditure was much increased at £71,417 compared with £2,831 in 2023. Fundraising activities (raising approximately £5,000 and recorded in unrestricted funds) covered the deficit on the fund left by these costs and was transferred at the year end leaving a £nil balance in restricted funds.
Investments are held in professionally managed funds in order to generate a long-term total return of UK CPI plus 3% on a low/medium risk basis in order to provide additional resources for the church. Revaluation net gains for 2024 were £2,312 down from £5,115 the previous year.
In accordance with the Charities Statement of Recommended Practice (SORP), funds invested with CCLA Investment Management Ltd for many years, with the purpose of generating income, have been classified as fixed asset investments.
The reserves policy is to hold approximately four months' normal income in reserves, currently amounting to approximately £30,000. Actual free reserves, excluding the fixed asset investments in market securities at 31 December 2024, amounted to £4,864 (2023: £46,165) as £40,000 has been designated for the church facilities improvement project.
ADMINISTRATION AND GOVERNANCE
Church Electoral Roll
The Electoral Roll has been updated as of 23 March 2025 and stands at 98. This reflects the electoral roll updated this year.
Safeguarding
The PCC has adopted the updated the Church of England Safeguarding Policy and are compliant with its regulations of displaying relevant notices. There is a file at the back of church in which all the relevant information is available to be seen. We keep a register of all regulated activities organised and run by St James Church.
All adults who work with young people and vulnerable adults have DBS certificates, and we regularly check this list and update/ renew as necessary.
The website is now compliant with CofE Safeguarding requirements. The Parish of St James is registered with the CofE Safeguarding Portal. This enables all Safeguarding data for the parish to be recorded and updated on a regular basis.
Our safeguarding action plan is regularly reviewed and updated as appropriate.
PCC MEMBERS IN 2024
Elected Members:
Chairman: Rev Melanie Horton (Rector)
Churchwarden: Martyn Steer Treasurer: Claire Pearson
Secretary Stuart Hands Electoral Roll Officer: Joy Conlon
Deanery Synod Reps: Sue Humphrey Joy Conlon
Others: Jonathan Pearce Christine Bagust
Michael Hakes Steve Hockett (Fundraising Coordinator)
Ex Officio Invitees
Assistant Wardens: Stuart and Carolyn Hands, Jane Hill, Bill Clucas
Readers: Andy Richardson
Declaration
The trustees declare that they have approved the trustees report above.
Signed on behalf of the charity’s trustees.
Signature(s)
6th April 2025
