Somerset Churches Tn￿t Truste￿ Report and Unaudftod Accounts For the year onded 30 June 2023 Reglstered Charlty numb•r 1055840 Somerset Churches Trnst 1055840 Wells BA5 IFD WEBSIIE.. BANKERS.. The Commons SP7 8JY CCLA Investtncni Mwanent 80 cheap￿ EC2V 6DZ CAF Bank Limited 25 Kin8s Hill Avtnue West Mallin8 K¢nl ME194TA United Tnjst Bank Limi*d One RO￿¢r Street London EC2Y 9AW TrUSTEES.' The Tn&xs are listed in the appendtyJ TnLSt¢es' Rq SECREfARY: (Vacancy) rNDEPENDENf EXAMtNER: Roland J. Adamson BA FCA OBJECTS: The Tn￿ i5¥n inthpmdent M)kninational i￿Y to raise money and make8rnnts tsthe wesuvati(ffi and repair of churches amd chapels in the hiAoric county of kn¢r%L li aL%o exists io uKourage greater ll]ieTesl and involvemtxrt ty all manben ofthe community. wh¢ther churthgoing in the magnificent h¢ritsge of religi(￿$ bulklin￿ in the c(Amty. Acting Chalrman'$ $t*trw¢nt on the artivitit4 *ebievthents *nd r￿t￿re plans ofthe Trnst Somerset Church¢s Tnst-'keeping Somerset's churches and ch4Je]s alive.. This ts the TTUSt,5'str￿Ejne. and is a clear statement otour roifon d'etre. In this'FKJst-l(Kkdown' er4 there is a ser￿ of thtngs starting to rebjrn to'notrnality.. The genernl feeling is that parish¢5 (predominantty njral) in SomeThet are wn¢¢nlraling actively building en8agetD¢nt with parisbioners in their own ¢ommunilies. Local people being Xtively ¢ngoged WTth thcTrown rArÉsh communiiies h&% Iw the beAlrock of parish life for eenti]rie$. This is &8 li should be but ￿ll￿¢S grcalcT significance in the cutmit th￿]enging Konomic environment where churches and chapels fxe increasing COSLS and pwing their share of cler8y costs 14 iti a outnbeTof case& proving very diffieult. Meanwhile. there is rea] inteyesi in ¢hur¢hes and Ch￿IS and their history: 'church touri5m' 15 a popular arta and where Somerset Churches Trust has had much sut¢¢Ss in the with ow pro8ramme of 'crnwls'. This a¢tivTty can make a real dirrerence to churches and chapels by rnising the profile and encouragÉng engagement in th¢ wmmunity- much better than witnessing dxlin< closure and sale. And vi$itots thould make dOnatTr￿S and prchw guidebwksl Against that bwk(trop, I wish to pay tribute to the of memiw thurches and our TnLgteo in rising to the challen8¢s. We have a very g￿)d website as our ÈYin¢ipal ¢ommunication thannel with membets. I would encourage everyone to use this resou￿¢. Newsletters are also v¢ry IMI￿r￿n1 IML as ediloT, I know providing 'conlent' is not at the top of everyone's priorities (this is a plea ftt information l 8rti¢l¢s). We know that fundraising is a thallenge: 50tne 8tant-8ivin8 or8aDiSations ¥r¢ r*kfining their prioTitie& making the pumpprimin8 grants from the Somerset ChU￿h¢S Trust even more importanL As a Tru* we are conscious ofthis and are looking at other funding m(Mle]s bui whai is imwytant to us is a sie* stream of new members. Membership is the lifeblood of the Trust. Memberthtp income is the pruKipal source of funding (or 8r4nts- as the following P￿t$ show, Tn￿t overheads are low I py tribute to our Tre￿￿rer T￿Y Davies fty ke¢pTng us on the 'straight and narrow,. An historic source of funds for the Trusi has been the onnual'Rid¢+Stride' fijndraiser. How¢v¢r, in T¢c¢nt years this a¢iivity ha5 produced diminishing returns. no￿lthS￿nding the sterling efforts of TTUSttt PhilÈp Skelhorn in managing the campaigns. W¢ have tried a number of different 4)proxhes, including employin8 a professional fundr4is¢r (with his fees cover￿ by a generous benefactor) but after severnl years, the funds rais￿ were less than the c4)stl T￿51¢¢5 therefore dxided to pause thi5 activity for the tjme king until th¢ ¢limate changes for spcffisottd walksl¢y¢le rides improves! Materials will be made available crt)line for parishes wishing to wn¢tnue. Clearty this is disappointing a5 w¢ note some other county trusts raise over £llXI.(W A$ part of 'keeping Somer5¢t's Churches and CThyls alive. we use our small resources to'pump prime, fiwdrni4ing efforts to faciliiate works 10 churches and chapels- the Trust usts its r¢sour¢es of committed volunteer assessors to appraise proj¢¢ts. Tht$ is of ¢sp¢cial value because. arnied with our &*%e55rnent and a tangible granL projeci mana8er5 can approach major sources of fm¥n¢¢ (who I￿)k at applications on paper/online) with real eviden¢¢ and verification to support their r¢quesis. In 202W23, the Trusl awarded 13 grants towlIll￿ £24.5￿. Our newest Trumee. F.mm4 Brown. is CUTrently on maternty leave (surely a first for th¢ Trust) and we congratulatc her on the birth of a datsghter. In other changes in Tn￿¢¢4 we saw the TeiiTements of Jim Allwoo4 Marion JeffTey and Bob Key. they all made significant cOnM￿￿10nS to the Trust: Jirn was our Membership Secretary and then. in addition, TTUSt Secretary while mario￿ together with Chris Hawking& d¢veloF¢d our very fme website and Bob, of cottrse gav¢ us gteal guiilan¢¢ and the benefit of his wide experience. In recognising th* ¢rustee5 are tfijsy people, we Want￿ to find a way to improve our responsiveness to member que￿lon$ at)d enquiri¢5. So. we now have a PAI Her name is Cltiire #nd she is a "virtual PA", taking &Jvanta8e of m(wJern tec1]nolo￿ {¢mail and Vid￿ etc). This i8 a iimely reminder of the immense Value of volunteers to our charity. We are most 4)p￿I*l¥e of all the work of trustees and helpers a]ike. In keepin8 with our rnison d'étre. we have hos*d a series of exceueni Church Crawb Annual Talks. Ai the 2022 Annual Meeting, we were treated to William N¢wsom's 'S(￿nerset Churches- forgotten little gems, and in 2023. 'Somerset ChU￿h¢S.. more than just ￿l8￿ty Iow¢r5- & celebration of Somerset churd) ts)wery spir¢s and bellcotes in all their wide variety.. Build]ng on thi& we are w¢paring a fvll programe for2024. We have ready a packed pAw4mme of visits. organi￿1 by a dedi￿ted team to wovide a bo18nce of QppoTts￿lthCS to learn rnore atK)ut our historic churches and chapejs. The Truste¢s' objKlive for the next 25 years is to continue to ke¢p Sorn¢ES¢¢'s churches and ¢hattls alive. l am most 8Eateful to thett4 and Ittvolv￿ for their supk*Jt and commitmcnt. Axel P*lmer, Ch*irma P November 2(ll3 TRUSTEES REPORT FOR THE YEAR ENDED30JUNE 2023 that they have c(MnplTed with theirduty utthr the awilies Act 2011 to have dueregxd fwguidallce by TRUSTEES u at 30June 2023 (ID 8lph*betital orderof J4rw¢) Emma Brovrn Bob Crtsft V¢n. Simon Hiu Dr Axel Palmer (Aetitig Chatrm•n} Philip Sktlborn ADtboDy Sutellfft Very Rev Bob Key ceased to be a tnjsttt ￿ 8 October 2022. Marion Jeffr¢y ¢¢awJ to be a trustee on 13th November 2022 and Jim AIlW(￿ ¢¢8sed io be • tswte¢ on 311¢ De¢¢mber 2022. The Tn￿ is gov¢moJ by Tn￿ Deed dated 9 May. 1996. th l January 2014 the nwne of the Tn￿ was changed from"Fri¢nd5 of kn¢r5¢¢ ChU￿h¢S and Chapels- to"s￿ner5e£ Churthes Trust-. RECRUITMENT AND AppofMIMENT OF TRUSIEES The T￿￿te¢S are ap[oint￿ f¢x an initial tem) of five years whith is ￿￿twable fiWUP to two fith t¢m of thtte years exh. Powu of ap￿In￿neTrt is vethj in the Truste&4 havLfi8 regard to the differen¢ skills and b￿k￿NIS that inf￿rn thextivitles0ftheTn￿L T￿￿te¢Sar¢O(r￿tdtia1ilmg in theirrt4w)nsibilitsesasaTrus*¢. ORGANISATION Th¢ Trust bas no paid employees. Day.ttrdty are cKrfmb￿ by the Tnw by officus wbo &re appoint¢d by th¢ Tnwtts. RISK MANAGEMENT Th¢ TTUStee5 k¢ep un