James, our treasurer, had some remarkable news. The picture James gave us was of three points on a graph. Best outcome: the green dot—worst outcome: the red dot … and yellow somewhere in the middle. We almost achieved the best case scenario. In the end, we fell just short, though as you can see from the graph, we went about it in a very different way from how James originally planned it.
He was planning for the blue line. Because of Covid we ended up on the orange one. Very different routes but we ended up in almost the same place!
We achieved this result by consistent giving, by some extraordinarily generous one-off gifts from members of the church and those watching on line. Sharon made the most of the tenants during the year—even signing new ones!
Negatively, we saved money by not doing so much. Children’s work sadly cost very little in 2020. We saved on administration costs when Catherine went on furlough and later moved to a new job. During the months of lockdown Raymond claimed either no travel or hospitality expenses or very reduced expenses. As the church picks up, it will inevitably cost more to run.
So, although the future looks challenging once again, we have come through our second APCM under Covid in a stronger position that we could have imagined, for which we give thanks to God, our generous givers and our outstanding treasurer James.