2024-12-31-accounts - Great Meeting (Endowment Fund) Charity

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Trustees’ Annual Report for the period

From 1/1/24 Period start date To 31/12/24 Period end date

Charity name: Great Meeting Endowment Fund Charity

Charity registration number:1046150

Objectives and Activities

	SORP reference
Summary of the purposes of the charity as set out in its governing document	Para 1.17	The object of the Charity is the advancement of religion in accordance with the usages and practices of Unitarian and Free Christian Churches and to further other charitable purposes that the Trustees may from time to time determine. With freedom, reason and tolerance as our guiding principles, Leicester Unitarians share an enquiring outlook into non- dogmatic, liberal religion and seek to affirm an open-ended faith in life, in humanity and in God.Further information is available on our website: www.leicesterunitarians.org
Summary of the main activities in relation to those purposes for the public benefit, in particular, the activities, projects or services identified in the accounts.	Para 1.17 and 1.19	The Great Meeting Chapel maintains a 300+ year old uninterrupted tradition of worship on Sundays with services, open to all, led usually nowadays by a minister trained in Unitarian theology. These services take place in a Grade II listed building of significant heritage importance. The minister or deputy provides pastoral support to the congregation and liaises with other congregations in the East Midlands and with national organisations involved in Unitarian activity. The elected trustees manage the chapel and organize activities for the congregation. Our carefully maintained meeting rooms and garden are a valuable resource for groups wishing to hire them. In the chapel we offer the facility for weddings (including for same sex couples), naming ceremonies and funerals. Our next door ‘old school building’, properly named Charles Berry House, is rented to the NHS for use as a Health Centre for the homeless, for asylum seekers and for those with alcohol or drug dependency. The Trustees are responsible for preparing the Trustees' Report and the financial statements in accordance with applicable law and United Kingdom Accounting Standards (United Kingdom Generally Accepted Accounting Practice). The law applicable to charities in

		England and Wales is the Charities Act 2011, Charity (Accounts and Reports) Regulations 2008 and the provisions of the Charity's Constitution require the Trustees to prepare financial statements for each financial year which give a true and fair view of the state of affairs of the charity and of the incoming resources and application of resources of the Charity for that period. In preparing these financial statements, the Trustees are required to: • select suitable accounting policies and then apply them consistently; • observe the methods and principles in the Charities SORP; • make judgements and estimates that are reasonable and prudent; • state whether applicable accounting standards and statements of recommended practice have been followed, subject to any departures disclosed and explained in the financial statements; and • prepare the financial statements on a going concern basis unless it is inappropriate to presume that the Charity will continue in operation. The Trustees are responsible for keeping proper accounting records which disclose with reasonable accuracy at any time the financial position of the Charity and enable them to ensure that the financial statements comply with the Charities Act 2011, the Charity (Accounts and Reports) Regulations 2008 and the provision of the Charity's Constitution. They are also responsible for safeguarding the assets of the Charity and hence for taking reasonable steps for the prevention and detection of fraud and other irregularities.
Statement confirming whether the trustees have had regard to the guidance issued by the Charity Commission on public benefit	Para 1.18	The Trustees have had regard to the Guidance issued by the Charity Commission on public benefit

Achievements and Performance

Summary of the main achievements of the charity, identifying the difference the charity’s work has made to the circumstances of its beneficiaries and any wider benefits to society as a whole.	Para 1.20	The energetic work of our new minister continued in 2024 with an encouraging growth in the size of the congregation. The minister has liaised with other faith groups and organisations both locally and nationally and has attended the General Assembly on our behalf. He co-ordinated a successful Family Day for the district organisation. He has greatly improved our social media presence. Our Coffee Morning is very popular and we now welcome the Inclusion Disability group. We continue our policy of hiring out our meeting rooms to other charitable groups at preferential rates. We hosted several concerts in the main chapel. We participated in the Leicester Pride march. We were open for Heritage Open week, including a ‘Tea in the garden’ event and welcomed over 100 visitors. A quinquennial building inspection was completed. We had significant expenditure on upgrades of our electrics and alarms. Negotiations commenced positively on the new lease with our tenants in our adjoining old school building.

Financial Review

Review of the charity’s financial position at the end of the period	Para 1.21	The financial position is stable. It is most encouraging that our income from room hire lettings has recovered post Covid, with a 40% increase on previous year.
Statement explaining the policy for holding reserves stating why they are held	Para 1.22	A reserve is held to cover employment obligations and any emergencies related to the fabric of the chapel.
Amount of reserves held	Para 1.22	£19,000
Reasons for holding zero reserves	Para 1.22	NA
Details of fund materially in deficit	Para 1.24	NA
Explanation of any uncertainties about the charity continuing as a going concern	Para 1.23	NIL

Additional information (optional)

The charity’s principal sources of funds (including any fundraising)	Para 1.47	See accounts. The principal source of income is from lettings.

Investment policy and objectives including any social investment policy adopted	Para 1.46	An audit of Endowments has been performed with funds and sums noted in CC16a accounts as submitted. A decision has been taken for these endowments to be managed by Redmayne and Bentley who also manage the funds of East Midlands Unitarians who are our Custodial Trustees. Progress in transfer is sadly slow due to bureaucratic impediments.
A description of the principal risks facing the charity	Para 1.46	Principal risk would be if the current tenants at Charles Berry House [Inclusion Healthcare] were to give notice to leave.

Structure, Governance and Management

Description of charity’s trusts:
Type of governing document (trust deed, royal charter)	Para 1.25	Trust deed
How is the charity constituted? (e.g unincorporated association, CIO)	Para 1.25	Unincorporated Endowment Trust
Trustee selection methods including details of any constitutional provisions e.g. election to post or name of any person or body entitled to appoint one or more trustees	Para 1.25	Trustees are elected by the congregation with a 3 year term

Additional information (optional)

The Management Trustees are as listed. The Custodian Trustees are East Midlands The charity’s organisational Unitarians. structure and any wider Para 1.51 network with which the charity works

Reference and Administrative details

Charity name	Great Meeting (Endowment Fund)Charity
Other name the charity uses	Great MeetingUnitarian Chapel Leicester;Leicester Unitarians
Registered charity number	1046150
Charity’s principal address	45 East Bond Street Leicester LE1 4 SX

Names of the charity trustees who manage the charity

Trustee name	Office (if any)	Dates acted if not for whole year	Name of person (or body) entitled to appoint trustee (if any)
David Wykes	President		The congregation of Great MeetingChapel
Michael Drucquer	Chairman		Ditto and for all below
Diane Romano- Woodward	Treasurer	Resigned 2025
Elizabeth Clapp
Stephen Miles
Sir Peter Soulsby
RoyCrole
GabbyProvan

Declarations

The trustees declare that they have approved the trustees’ report above.

Signed on behalf of the charity’s trustees

==> picture [519 x 164] intentionally omitted <==

----- Start of picture text -----
Gabby Provan
Signature(s) Michael Drucquer
Full name(s)
Position (eg Chair Trustee
Secretary, Chair,
etc)
Date
16/9/25
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Great Meeting Unitarian Chapel		1046150
Receipts andpayments accounts			CC16a
01/01/2024 For the period from Period start date	To	Period end date 31/12/2024

Section A Receipts and payments

A1 Receipts	Unrestricted funds to the nearest £	Restricted funds to the nearest £	Endowment funds to the nearest £	Total funds to the nearest £	Last year to the nearest £
Donations,Legacies and Grants	9,695	-	-	9,695	17,714
Lettings / Events	14,423	-	-	14,423	8,633
Rent	64,252	-	-	64,252	51,694
Gift Aid	2,422	-	-	2,422	2,151
Investment Income	1,012	-	-	1,012	849
Interest	54	-	-	54	65
	-	-	-	-	-
	-	-	-	-	-
*Sub total*(Gross income for AR)	91,858	-	-	91,858	81,106

A2 Asset and investment sales, (see table).
	-
	-				-
*Sub total*	-				-
*Total receipts* A3 Payments
					81,106

Roof Expenditure	171	-	-	171	5,304
Stipend	41,777	4,040	-	45,817	25,555
Salaries and other fees	7,211	-	-	7,211	14,468
Event Expenses	1,736	-	-	1,736	-
Insurance	8,270	-	-	8,270	7,810
Utilities	6,081	-	-	6,081	5,132
Maintenance and Cleaning	9,607	-	-	9,607	9,841
Organ and Music	932	6,466	-	7,398	501
Communications and Administration	3,616	-	-	3,616	5,644
Subscriptions	2,843	-	-	2,843	1,511
Accountancy	-	-	-	-	1,082
Bank Charges	60	-	-	60	62
Interest on Loan	-			-	1,000
				-
	-	-	-	-	-
**Sub total **	82,304	10,506	-	92,810	77,910

A4 Asset and investment purchases, (see table)
	-
	-
**Sub total **	-				-
*Total payments* *Net of receipts/(payments)* A5 Transfers between funds A6 Cash funds last year end *Cash funds this year end*
					77,910

	9,554				3,196
	-501				-
	21,300				31,643
	30,353				34,839

Section B Statement of assets and liabilities at the end of the period

Categories Signed by one or two trustees on behalf of all the trustees B5 Liabilities B4 Assets retained for the charity’s own use B3 Investment assets B2 Other monetary assets B1 Cash funds	Signature MikeDrucquer Accountancy East Midlands Unitarians Rent Details Details Details M & G Charifund SVS Cornelian ProgC Fund Janus Henderson Pan Euro Fund Bank of Ireland Ord shares Details Insuranceprepayment GA Quota CafBank Lloyds *Total cash funds* (agree balances with receipts and payments account(s)) Details	Unrestricted funds Restricted funds to nearest £ to nearest £ 25,749 - 4,604 3,534 - - 30,353 3,534 OK OK Unrestricted funds Restricted funds to nearest £ to nearest £ 8,270 - 980 - - - - - - - - - Fund to which asset belongs Cost (optional) - - - - - Fund to which asset belongs Cost (optional) - - - - - - - - - Fund to which liability relates Amount due (optional) Unrestricted 2,000 Unrestricted 2,500 Unrestricted 12,220 - - Print Name	Endowment funds to nearest £
			-
			-
			-
			-
			OK
			Endowment funds to nearest £
			-
			-
			-
			-
			-
			-
			Current value (optional)
			10,120
			19,883
			53,540
			1,681
			-
			Current value (optional)
			-
			-
			-
			-
			-
			-
			-
			-
			-
			When due (optional)






			Date of approval
	MikeDrucquer

Independent examiner's report on the accounts

Section A Independent Examiner’s Report

Report to the trustees/ Great Meeting Unitarian Chapel members of On accounts for the year 31 December 2024 Charity no 1046150 ended (if any) Set out on pages 1 and 2

I report to the trustees on my examination of the accounts of the above charity (“the Trust”) for the year ended 31 December 2024.

Responsibilities and As the charity trustees of the Trust, you are responsible for the preparation basis of report of the accounts in accordance with the requirements of the Charities Act 2011 (“the Act”).

I report in respect of my examination of the Trust’s accounts carried out under section 145 of the 2011 Act and in carrying out my examination, I have followed the applicable Directions given by the Charity Commission under section 145(5)(b) of the Act.

Independent I have completed my examination. I confirm that no material matters have examiner's statement come to my attention (other than that disclosed below *) in connection with the examination which gives me cause to believe that in, any material respect:

accounting records were not kept in accordance with section 130 of the Act or
the accounts do not accord with the accounting records

I have no concerns and have come across no other matters in connection with the examination to which attention should be drawn in order to enable a proper understanding of the accounts to be reached.

Please delete the words in the brackets if they do not apply.

Date: 9[th] July 2025 ~~[~~

Signed: Name: Simon Purvis ~~Ps~~ Relevant professional qualification(s) or body (if any): Address: 9 Hedley Court London SW15 3NS

October 2018

IER