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The following is taken from the report to the APCM 2007
Membership: Russell Stannard (chair), Tony Birch, John Deighton, Marian Dye, Sandra Moore, Vernon Smith, Simon Soper, and Jo Thomson,
During the year, several articles have been published in the Parish Magazine in a series entitled Behind the Scenes at St Barnabas. The aim is to draw attention to the work carried out in and around the church. Activities covered so far include the work of servers, church cleaners, flower arrangers, bell-ringers, bereavement visiting, taking communion to the elderly who live in Elm Lodge, hall cleaning, baptism preparation, and running the parish office. Additional articles are planned for the near future. These articles, together with the earlier display at the back of the church listing all the activities in the church, entitled Who Does What, testifies to the importance the committee attaches to all of us using our special gifts and talents in the service of our Lord.
How has the church done financially over the past year? Once again we have had difficulty balancing the books. We have been hit by yet another above-inflation increase in the Parish Share, together with crippling increases in fuel bills, and the loss from the parish of some of our more generous givers. This led to a sermon, delivered at the beginning of this year, pointing out that we were in danger of not being able to pay the Parish Share in full. Such a default at this time would be particularly unfortunate. We are searching for a full-time replacement for Catherine. What priest would want to saddle themselves with the burden of a church that could not pay its way when there are much easier and more attractive options open these days? No, we absolutely had to pay the Share. Indeed we have done so. But only by depleting our reserves. Our income over the year was £6,500 less than our expenditure, the shortfall being drawn from the reserves which are now down to a perilous £2,500. On an annual turnover of £90,000, this allows essentially nothing for contingencies.
So what do we need to do in order to remedy the situation? Action is called for on two fronts:
(i) We should all carefully review the level of our weekly giving to the church so that we can bring the income up to the level of our expenditure - in other words balancing the books;
(ii) In addition, we need a handful of individuals to make substantial one-off donations to help us restore our depleted reserves to where they ought to be, i.e., we need a further £5000 to £10,000 immediately.
Russell Stannard