Becket’s Chapel, within the precincts of Peterborough Cathedral, was the venue for the last in the series of 3 workshops and  2 seminars which were led by the training team  of ACAT.  The series that started in early March at Whitby and then via Sheffield, Clitheroe, Northampton and concluded in Mid-April at Peterborough has managed to provide training for over 150 church treasurers from a wide range of worshiping traditions.  

With legislation requiring all charities to maintain their records and produce their accounts in accordance with a national standard for the first time, it has become increasingly more apparent the Church Treasurers need to command more skill than that of simply adding up the books.

The training sessions covered a variety of topics which included budgeting, taxation, the fundraising regulations, accounts preparation, employment issues and the preparation of the Annual Report – a tool in assessing how effective the Church has been and in the preparation of strategy to name but a few.

Cyril Wood, Chairman of ACAT said, “The Charity Accounting regime takes no prisoners: charity accounting is more complex than commercial accounting, and yet our Church Treasurers are expected to do the job without formal accountancy training.  ACAT aims to train lay treasurers to a high standard by a combination of seminars and workshops.  The Seminar held in The Becket’s Chapel was an introduction to every topic that a Church Treasurer might meet in the administration of the Church and was very well received”

Following on from the success on the Spring series more session are being planned.  Further information concerning ACAT’s course can be found on their website  under training or by email at membership@acat.uk.com

This is to be a regular feature - An ideas spot.  We have all held jumble/rummage sales, sponsored events, coffee mornings, and the like in an effort to booster the coffers, but what went well for you and what flopped!  Have you run a traditional event but with a twist?  Share your experiences with your fellow treasurers.  This feature will only succeed if we received your ideas so why not tell us about your last or next fund raising event.

To get us started this is what my Choir do at our Christmas Market.  They become a human fruit machine.  Three members become part of the machine, each has a small box containing a variety of fruits – apple, orange, banana, pear, even perhaps a nut!

Contestants pay the fee and on “Go” the 3 choir members each reach into their box and pull out a fruit item.  Dependent on the combination of fruits will determine if a prize has been won.  The winning combinations can be simple or complex as organisers wish – 2 of a kind, 3 of a kind, certain combinations.  Prizes can be just as varied.

When they started this the “box“ was an apron with a large front pocket, The tenors and basses looked lovely in their pink frillies!

Provided all prizes are declared on the night and the Human Fruit Machine is ancillary to another event (Spring Farye, Christmas Market) then no gaming license is required.  Now it is over to you, email your suggestion by clicking here