Stewardship Report
Churchwardens
At the last Annual Parochial Church meeting Jon Haliday was re-elected for a second year and Nettie Norman was elected to the role of Church Wardens. We wish to give our thanks to our previous Church Warden Julie French for helping us to settle in and continue to assist us and by helping with taking over our roles when we have not been available to attend church services.
Practical aspects of the church.
The Church Audio Visual has now been authorised, purchased and installed at the beginning of Dec 2025. A complete replacement of the major elements was required which included a new sound desk, speakers, wiring and the replacement of projectors with a large TV screen. Church members feedback is they are happy with the clearer picture and improved sound quality.
Last Summer 2025 we received a request from the headteacher at the Junior school, requesting that the compost mound at the back of the church yard be removed. It had increased in height and members of the public were climbing on this to climb over the school’s fence to access the school playing fields. Also the school was installing a new higher fencing and so needed to be able to erect this. Philip Young was approached with a view for insight into how this could be done. It was decided that it would be carried out during the school October ½ term when access could be arranged via the school grounds if required and when the new fencing was to start being erected. The Community Pay Back team also helped with some of the removal of the compost. Unfortunately, it was found that there were a lot of large heavy sandstone walling blocks at the bottom that will need to be removed from this area before the remaining compost and rubbish can be removed. This is an action that will be planned to be investigated this Spring. We would like to take the opportunity to thank Philip and the Countrywide team for assisting with this matter, and also for continuing to keep the gutters of the building cleared of debris and leaves throughout the year.
There had been an issue with the small water boiler no longer working and a dripping tap in the vestry office. A local plumber was called in and both replaced. In October we had some volunteers to help clear away the cobwebs in the church, some were very high on the inside of the roof. Thanks were extended at the time to Mike Horne, Malcolm & Anne Hague & Malcolm’s friend. Members noticed the following Sunday what a difference this made.
Last summer we were needing a volunteer to look after church memorial garden by the gate. We now have a volunteer to look after this starting this spring, local Barry “Baz” Jolley, who is happy to help the local community.
The church inventory is due and still to be done. Jon and Nettie will need to sort out a time to do this in the very near future.
Also this Spring we plan to be looking to investigate how to trim the overhanging branches and reduce the height of the bushes along Thelwall New Road along the top of the wall that is showing signs of bowing before any potential damage is done to the structure of the wall, although a safety assessment was done in last few years and was considered safe. We need to follow this up soon.
The large main door is still an ongoing project. The door hinges connected to the sandstone wall need to be replaced, and the wood at the base of the door needs repairing. This will be a specialist job and from the July 2024 PCC minutes we had received quotes of £11K + VAT. This is a complex job as the repair of the top hinge will require the removal of significant stone work that forms the door arch. We are looking at ways to fund this, options are fund raising, obtaining grants and any other options of raising money towards this work. Once funding to cover these costs are obtained then three new quotes will need to be carried out. Feedback will be made in the future when there is anything to report.
We are fortunate to have such a beautiful building to welcome people to, for church services, other services and community outreach. We will continue, with the help of the wider church, to keep our church a safe and welcoming building for our church members, visitors and our local community.
The ‘Village Green’ on Thelwall New Road (o/s Gigg Lane) is the property of the church (the diocese & PCC are joint trustees). The vicar and wardens are responsible for the oversight of the land, reporting to PCC when any issues arise. We are grateful to the Grappenhall & Thelwall Parish Council (G&TPC) for including the land in their local grounds maintenance programme, which means that they are paying for the grass to be cut. Every 5 years, we are required by our insurers to employ an arborist to inspect the land, especially the trees, and produce a report for our attention and action. One of the issues we need to keep a regular eye on is ‘encroachment’ – this is when adjacent home owners try to take our land by moving their boundaries. If we do not challenge the encroachment within ten years, ownership can be transferred to the encroacher.
Finance Report
The financial position of the church is much improved from last year and is now stable.
A Finance Team was formed in May 2025 to support the Treasurer, and many changes and improvements have been brought in since then, allowing us to much better understand and manage the financial position of the Church and the Parish Hall. Finance Team members are: Ian Hardman (Treasurer), Jon Halliday (Churchwarden), Mike Horne, James Gaffney, and Mike Brewer.
To address the immediate problem of a lack of cash in the Church Bank Account, discussions were held with the Diocese Finance Board, and with their support we suspended payment of the Parish Share for 6 months. We have now returned to paying 100% of the monthly Parish Share and will continue to do that through 2026. We have used the retained cash to allow compliance with our Reserves Policies as stated below, and to maintain sufficient cash at bank to allow us to pay our bills throughout the year even though our biggest fundraisers are in November and December.
Due to much better than expected levels of donations, the Church broke even in the year 2025, and the Parish Hall showed continued success in increasing its earnings, as are shown in the Annual Accounts.
There are going to be struggles ahead as the Parish Share continues to rise, this year at 3% which means that we need to find an additional £2268 in donations in order to support the work of the Diocese, plus there will be increases in Council Tax and Utilities, which everyone is experiencing. Through 2026, we will be carrying out various new initiatives aimed at spreading the financial load to the wider Thelwall community, emphasising that even non-churchgoers may value the presence of the church within their community. We will also encourage setting up of legacies and will maximise our retrieval of money though Gift Aid from UK taxpayers.
We choose to consider the Church and the Parish Hall as separate entities, but in fact they are combined into the one Charity, and from an accounting and reporting point of view, are united. This means that we are showing a good level of overall Receipts, which will be reported to Charity Commission.
RESERVES POLICY
The following Reserves Policies have been approved by PCC this year covering both the church and the Parish Hall. They will be kept under scrutiny and may be revised next year.
1) The Treasurer shall maintain a Reserve Fund of £12,000 in Investments and Deposit Accounts to allow the church to continue to function financially for a period of 6 months, in the event that the church has to close.
2) Consequential Loss. A sum of £15,000 shall be made available by the PCC of All Saints Thelwall as Unallocated Reserves for larger long-term projects identified as a result of the Quinquennial Inspection, which cannot be covered by Grants or Insurance Claims.
3) The above Restricted Funds for the Church can only be spent with the recommendation of the Finance Team, and with majority PCC approval. A plan for recovery of the funds shall be made within 3 months, and the funds must be returned to the above levels within 18 months, or by the end of the second Financial Year.
4) The Treasurer shall maintain a Reserve Fund of £16,700 in Investments and Deposit Accounts to allow the Parish Hall to continue to trade for a period of 6 months.
5) Consequential Loss. A sum of £33,000 shall be made available by the PCC of All Saints Thelwall as Unallocated Reserves for project requirements of the Parish Hall, identified by the Parish Hall Management Committee which cannot be covered by Grants or Insurance Claims.
6) Maintenance reserves for the Parish Hall; On an ongoing basis, funds up to a maximum of £100,000 will be held by the Parish Hall Management Committee as unallocated reserves to be used for maintaining or replacing depreciating Parish Hall assets.
7) The above Restricted Funds for the Parish Hall can only be spent with the recommendation of the Finance Team, and with majority PCC approval. A plan for recovery of the funds shall be made within 3 months, and the funds must be returned to the above levels within 18 months, or by the end of the second Financial Year.
The 200 Club acts as a working reserve for the Parish Hall.
INVESTMENT POLICY
We invest the allocated reserves for Church and Parish Hall in the “COIF Charities Investment Fund”, managed by CCLA Investment Management Limited. This is a medium-low risk (Risk Indicator 3 out of 7) investment recommended by the Church of England.
CCLA state about this Fund “We believe that the primary role of responsible investment is to drive positive change and this is best achieved by pushing companies to do more to address the major challenges facing us today. We aim to manage our clients’ investments in a way that aligns with their values and to do this we consider environmental, social and governance (ESG) factors in our listed equity investment process and go beyond the boundaries of traditional investor engagement to drive change.” And sets its Policy as “The Fund is an actively managed, diversified portfolio of assets designed to help protect both present and future beneficiaries from the effects of inflation. It will have an emphasis on equities but will also include property, bonds and other asset classes, which may be either liquid or illiquid in nature. The Fund follows a set of client-driven, values-based investment restrictions.”
Over the past 7 years of investment, the church has benefitted from 5.5% per annum growth.
The Parish Hall investments were made later in 2021 and missed out on some early growth but still show an average of 2.4% growth per annum. Through 2025 though, both funds have shown a loss due to market volatility. The Finance Team will consider alternative investments, and will present these to PCC while maintaining the low risk, ethical Investment policies previously passed at PCC.
All church investments will be revalued at a minimum of once per annum no later than 3 months after the end of the financial year.
INDEPENDENT EXAMINER
At the APCM in 2025 it was decided that our Independent Examiner should again be Walker Begley. As part of the Finance Team’s review, and in order to ensure that a timely and comprehensive review was completed this year so that the Accounts could be presented to APCM in 2026, it was decided to change to Juliet Hankey for the IE Review. This was agreed by PCC. Juliet has done an exceptional job this year, and we would like to propose to APCM that Juliet Hankey is asked to complete the Independent Examination in 2027. We would also like to thank Walker Begley for their support and hard work over the last few years.
