**THE FRIENDS OF ALL SAINTS CHURCH, SHILLINGTON. TREASURER’S REPORT FOR THE YEAR ENDING 31[ST] DECEMBER 2023 AGM – 25[TH] APRIL 2024** As set out in the FOAS Constitution the objective of the Association is to assist with _**the restoration**_ **,** _**improvement and maintenance of the Fabric of All Saints Church, Shillington.**_ The function of the committee is to raise funds to achieve this by: - Inviting members to contribute annual subscriptions. - Applying for and securing grants towards the cost of works. - Organising fundraising events. Annual subscriptions received for the year amounted to £4,136. This sum is slightly less than last year and does not include Gift Aid. The period end for claiming Gift Aid has been changed for this accounting period, thus funds received will appear in the accounts for 2024. The recovery of funds through Gift Aid is substantial and we are very grateful for members or donators who are able to submit the necessary tax declarations. In addition to subscriptions, we were very grateful to receive a £5,000 legacy donation from John Whitehall’s estate as mentioned in the Chairman’s report for last year’s AGM. Again, many thanks to Liz Allan for this support. We were also fortunate to receive a donation of £4,300 from Zoe Glenister in memory of her husband Paul. Paul was a larger than life, fun character. Paul was a builder and keen to keep the ‘ _building on the hill’_ standing. Heartfelt thanks to Zoe for supporting Friends of All Saints Church in memory of Paul. Obtaining Grants continues to be a challenge however we secured £7,500 in the year distributed against projects as set out in the accounts. Grants were received from Shillington Parish Council, B L Robinson Trust and Jill Franklin Trust. We have also been awarded grants from Francis Coales Charitable Foundation and Beds & Herts Historic Churches Trust both in the amount of £5,000 towards the North Door Stonework. These sums will be paid upon completion of the work. Fundraising events are now back in full swing and raised a total of £9,623. Sunday Teas, which is proving to be a village favourite for weekly meetings, conversation, tea and cake, raised a massive £2,871. Thank you to all the volunteers for their time and excellent baking. The 24-hour music event held in the church raised £2,728. This was a great success not only raising much needed funds but it also demonstrated a tremendous community spirit that hopefully can be built on for other village events. The event involved huge numbers of people over the 24 hours, musicians, support teams and volunteer helpers all giving their time for which we are hugely grateful. The Village Hall was the venue for an old favourite ‘Race Night’ in February and a 70’s Disco in November. These events were both a success and made a combined total of £2,652. A raffle was held at Shillingfest raising £143 and July saw the return of Flying Teddies which despite the strong winds raised £152. We have continued to support Beds and Herts Historic Churches Trusts Bike n’ Hike. With the assistance this year of Andrew Elliman on his penny farthing the event raised over £600 shared with the Trust. Moving on to expenditure, we completed works to the value of £13,678 as shown in the accounts. This brings the total project expenditure for the last 2 years to £46,000. This figure is less than initially projected. The focus has been to carry out the masonry works to the North Door however this has been hampered by not securing the balance of grant funding. We are now in a position to move forward with these works as noted in the Spring 2024 Newsletter and The Chairman’s Report. As mentioned in the Chairman’s Report The Friends Website was completed in 2023. The accounts show a net expenditure of £1,910, this being the remaining payments and PCC contribution reflected in the accounts for 2022. On matters of ‘House Keeping’ we now operate our Bank Accounts via Online banking. This is making payment tracking a lot easier and facilitates bank transfers which is fast becoming the only method companies and organisations will accept payment. The restoration, improvement and maintenance of the Fabric of All Saints Church is and will continue to be crucial for its survival. We continue to source funds from Trusts and charities however there is strong competition to ‘win’ these grants. We welcome ideas and information regarding other possible avenues for securing funding to allow important and sometimes critical works to be undertaken. Not wishing to reiterate now ‘worn out phrases’ for the rising cost of living only to say that Friends of All Saints Shillington are not immune to this and are impacted too by increased costs. More importantly with this environment of rising prices I would like to mirror the thanks and appreciation as the Chairman’s Report. This continued support be it financial, time and or skills is invaluable to us and our work. Thank you. In conclusion, this has been my first year in the Treasurer role. I would like to thank the committee for welcoming me to the ‘team.’ I would also like to thank Peter Carroll for his time at the end of 2022 explaining and handing over the various functions of the role. This has provided me with a clear and positive start to 2023. Jim Robertson. Treasurer. E Mail: jjsk@supanet.com FRIEN #YA 38.463 292 38,756 103 Mtrnbers Su1￿C￿vtlonS Gift Aid Ctsim Other Donationg I￿Racy- Jvhn VlhitehèN Do[￿lIon in rnemory of Gknister Payttr.nl to Herts Yaun8 Homt]ts512022 event) 4.136 95 77 -145 13J86 6514 R*¢•lpts from Aetlvltl¢• to K•Al•r•t• faad SundayTeaÈ bilm Show l Oreasr 20221. MAIdu￿ Pavm¢nt Tlbitbna Ract Ni*ht 24 Hour Musi 2071 2.489 1.023 2.728 143 FlyinaTcddics Bikt N Iqikc150% AhgJe I 70,5 D￿sCO on The tavm Fynius CO[￿ert the Chur¢h) Skittles Evtni Alltswance for'rtsundiD* pm)et 379 319 1.462 3.126 1269 9.479 Shillin￿t0￿ PAri8h Counc B L Robinson Truat Jill FroDklin Trust Francis Cole Charitsbk FoutLd&tbin Natsunal Chur¢he* Trust oundAry *xU N¢>rth tk West Wall *1,99¥ A4rdlttl•tratlo4 Webaitr Ctsntriknis) W¢lsslt¢ Hoatu¥ & Maintenw)ee. AOM eo$tJ Public Lioblhty Injurdnee AdvcTLisinR LeAllEiB Pgrimh m￿￿zIne ContribuiiL)n Bank Cl￿r￿c5 l 8umUp fe¢$ 102 170 515 92 1,073 Rwp•#dltur• *l• th• ChuT¢b. vn>rkx rrvllrrtthoe Stone Rul(￿1￿￿¥ WorkB tn W￿1 ICorinthi*n Slonel WAier irwesa r￿￿￿r9. 8ouih 10 J KuJn•l Fli*torir SE&tinA 8urvey IAnthortv Beech C•JKwrv&l>)n Lldb Slp.epieio¢k to ISh8yed SO..￿ wlth PCCI Tiiwcr DownpipE repMwJ I C.F..L.I 739 10.81 7J12 12,414 29S 29J61 Wcst F.nd Millinx repttjrs 374 832 I,S22 248 Il¢Jrth Door R¢p¥tr Buttr¢M Rcp&￿ f4 L¢vellinR Entrat*e Thwer DownpipE Repoir6 13.678 32.407 Webeite Degim. VideoTourofchvr¢h. WAtkwuYour net, ￿Unch Evertt. et PwL￿1 1,910 14A06 .10,487 .10,48Y 28,268 H%EIC Bank Accounts 44.453 30.293 l(k3 -2.81.3 900 -145 Ffc ColltsibutW * al￿ Tht DEYelDpmcnt Project was Mnd¢d byThe NaliDnai Heiitw tA>ttery With small o)TrtributiDtw Pwn¥h Coun¢ii and FrieJxdF ofAM SAintB. Th¢ knttery VurtdinR and FTirndytontsibutK>n w¢re ￿CtiVed jrt 21Y22. The of lAns￿tIOn￿ 2022 as reQEct￿ in Ihc re￿)￿¢111￿1￿>ll u￿8 for 2022 artd the Net *ytDent it2 2023. The current rash b&knce at31* DEcetDber ￿23 bas been accrued fr)rLwJrnexi ￿v￿rPr0j¢ci. TrstorÈnR Ilorth tkvrAT W¢ are now in a PDSitiQtt Proceed With these itl 2024