Page 8 - Contact Spring 2021

Treasurer’s Report

When I stepped down from leading worship
to take on the role of church treasurer at the
beginning of 2020, I knew things would be a bit

different, but little did I realise how different,
with the onset of Covid, not long after I took up
post. I am certainly not linking the two, but it
did lead to some head-scratching moments and
thoughts of “what have I let myself in for here”.
However, now with the books closed for the
year I can say that the problems which we as
a Finance Committee envisaged might

adversely affect us, because of the Covid
restrictions, have largely been overcome
through the fortitude and generosity of
the congregation.

The average monthly income from envelopes
(FWO, Building & Missionary) was just over
£22,500 in 2019, so when April 2020 brought
a return of just £785 because of the first

lock-down with no in-person church services,
we were looking at a major shortfall. It was
then that we sent out the appeal for envelopes

to be left off on Saturday mornings at Bob’s

Store drop-off time and for contributors to
consider using standing order or direct bank
transfer, and with these contingencies in place
we ended the year just £15,000 below 2019
contribution level (envelopes down £87,000,
but standing order and bank transfers up
£72,000).

Last year the split between envelopes and
standing order income was about 55:45, but it

now stands at about 35:65. The benefits of this
are we do not have to deal with as much cash,
leading to a reduction in the work placed upon
the count teams and reducing the amount
of cash held in church before the weekly
lodgement run, and the ongoing steady income

from standing orders gives a confidence in
projecting total income, therefore making
budget decisions more straightforward.