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2023-12-31-accounts

St Michael's Cornerstone Trust (Company Limited by Guarantee)

Report and Accounts

31 December 2023

Company Registration Number 4029533

Registered Charity Number 1085991

St Michael's Cornerstone Trust (Company Limited by Guarantee) Company Information

DIRECTORS AND TRUSTEES

Tony Solomon ( Chair) Revd M Turner ( Vice Chair) Jane Thomas Revd James White (Pioneer Vicar) Cllr Colin Hay Mary Hellyer Candace Plouffe Russell Johnston

Secretary

Russell Johnston

Accountants

SkyBridge Accounting Limited 3 Fairview Court Cheltenham GL52 2EX

COMPANY NUMBER

4029533

CHARITY NUMBER

1085991

REGISTERED OFFICE

1 Severn Road Cheltenham Glos GL52 5QA

St Michael's Cornerstone Trust (Company Limited by Guarantee) Directors' Report.

The directors and trustees present their report and accounts for the year ended 31 December 2023.

The charity is constituted as a company limited by guarantee and is, therefore, governed by a memorandum and articles of association dated 16 May 1984.

Objectives

The objects of St Michael's Cornerstone Trust are to promote any charitable purpose for the benefit of the inhabitants of the Parish of St Michael and surrounding parishes of Cheltenham, and in particular, the relief of poverty, the advancement of education, the maintenance and improvement of public amenities and the provision of leisure facilities in the interest of social welfare.

Vision, Mission and Values

Founded on Christian principles, our Vision at St Michael's Cornerstone Trust is:

To see God's Love Transforming our Community.

Our Mission is :

To Love and Serve our Community as Jesus Would.

Our Values

At the Cornerstone Centre we aspire to live out our values;

1. Integrity: To act in an honest and open way, treating each other with dignity and respect.

2. Inclusive: To be open to all, accepting individuals as they are and providing a safe nonjudgemental environment.

3. Reliable: To be dependable, always seeking to do what we say we will do.

4. Compassionate: To care, paying attention, listening with an open mind and offering empathetic support.

5. Joy in Service: To be warm, generous, friendly and cheerful.

6. Impactful: To make a positive difference working alongside individuals and our community.

About the Cornerstone Centre

The Cornerstone Centre is a vibrant community hub which is run by the community for the community. We aim to provide a safe and supportive place to be, to make friends and learn new skills. We are open to everyone and have a particular focus on reaching vulnerable people on the margins of society; the elderly, socially isolated, and those with additional physical and mental health needs. We promote education and skills reaching parents with babies and toddlers in the all-important early years, children at after-school homework club. We aim to help combat food poverty through our Cornerstone Cupboard. We support peoples physical and mental well-being, through creative expression, the arts and crafts and fitness and exercise programmes.

We believe that local people are the experts on their communities. We draw on their voices, knowledge and support to understand the issues impacting the local community, and identify community strengths and assets that can be supported through future investment. A good example of this would be the Play Trail which provides individual parenting support leading to improved early years attainment outcomes.

2023 A Remarkable Year ……

At the beginning of 2023 we said goodbye to Linda and Alison became our full time Centre Manager. Thanks to the generosity of funders, we were able to employ new team members. Sue became our Cornerstone Cupboard Coordinator, Fran joined as Administration Coordinator and Mel as our Play Trail Coordinator.

This new structure has given Alison the freedom to spend more time with our users, better understanding their circumstances and needs. This has also been a year in which we have been able to deepen our relationships with existing partners and expand our partnership base.

It has been an absolute pleasure to witness how the staff team, volunteers and trustees have ‘ built back better ’ following the Covid pandemic. We have been able to expand the services and activities we offer beyond pre-pandemic levels. I am delighted to see that more local people are finding a second home at Cornerstone enjoying the warm welcome and diverse and inclusive community.

The Cornerstone Cupboard

The continuing economic crisis has led to membership of the Cornerstone Cupboard now exceeding 200 families.We see and serve around 40 to 50 families on a weekly basis.

This much-needed service enables people to supplement their shopping, helping to make ends meet. Members pay £4 per week and can choose food to the value of about £15 as well as receiving free vegetables and toiletries.

We are working collaboratively with a network of Food Banks and Pantries across Cheltenham to help one another meet this important and growing need.

The Cornerstone Cupboard kicked off January 2023 by being on national TV! Marie, one of the pantry volunteers, was our spokesperson. Some of our clients also shared their stories with the nation.

There are so many people and organisations to thank for donations and support over the last year. We would like to say thank you to:

Those who help keep the shelves stocked with donations: Holy Apostles and St Michaels church, Holy Apostles and St Marys School, Hazelwell House from Cheltenham College, Charlton Park Residents, Morrisons, One Stop and Lidl.

The supermarkets who donate their surplus fruit, vegetables, and bakery: Sainsburys, Waitrose and Tesco. Enabling us to do our bit to reduce food wastage in the region.

Lastly, and most importantly, thank you to our volunteers who we couldn ’ t run the Cornerstone Cupboard without and John King and Jo Young who manage our allotment providing the Cupboard with amazing organic produce!

The Charity Shop

The Cornerstone Charity shop has become so popular that it is now open five days a week. We are extremely grateful to Mary and all the volunteers who have stepped up to make this happen. The charity shop is highly regarded by the local community and profits from it are shared with the local community particularly in helping people to meet their energy costs.

The amazing Christmas table organised by our Charity shop team raised over £2,000

The Garden Project

This year the Cheltenham Rotary Club chose Cornerstone as a Charity to support. They have funded and helped to create a fabulous Community garden. The garden has raised beds, so it is accessible to all. We hope that different community groups will take responsibility for the planting and upkeep of different beds.

Get Moving Whaddon

Get Moving Whaddon is all about building a community of strong, healthy people who can support each other into better health and happiness.

It is lead by an amazing fitness professional called Laura, she is completely committed to seeing people move from strength to strength. We currently offer two classes in our hall and one in the church, for all levels of fitness and ability.

Community Choir

In April, Rachel came to head up our Cornerstone Community Choir singing songs from the 60s all the way through to 2010, there aren ’ t many songs off limits! The choir had their first concerts at Christmas. They sang silent night at one of St Michael ’ s Carol Services and popped down the road to Windsor Street care home to sing Christmas carols to the residents there.

The Coronation

In May the community celebrated King Charles III ’ s coronation. We had the live feed from the BBC on the big screen in the hall. Afternoon tea was served and there were craft activities in the church for children, and adults. To top it all we sold 187 raffle tickets with a top prize of a blanket crocheted by a member of our Knit and Natter group.

A great time enjoyed by all and brilliant to see the community coming through our doors to celebrate a piece of British History in the making.

Cafe ’ s

During the year we started ‘ Support Caf é s ’ to help those in our community going through tough times.

We have continued our Carer ’ s caf é on the first Monday of the month. This has someone coming from Gloucester Carers Hub to support and advise and is for those who care for someone in their household.

The third Monday of the month is our Dementia caf é . This is for those who are caring for a family member with dementia and is supported by staff from Windsor Street Care home.

On the first Wednesday of the month, we have our Bereavement caf é , for those who are struggling with grief and would like a chat, this is also supported by staff from Windsor Street Care Home.

On the third Wednesday of the month, we have our Death caf é . Which has been our most popular. This caf é offers an opportunity to talk about anything death related. The thought behind the initiative is to remove some the taboo that exists around the subject of death.

Drop in Sessions

Last year we had multiple drop-in sessions from agencies/partners around Cheltenham:

Holiday at Home

Holiday at Home is an annual event for families who cannot afford a holiday away. This weeklong event gives families a wonderful and positive ‘ holiday ’ together during the summer.

As expected, Holiday at Home was an enormous success with volunteers, cooks and sporting professionals providing our holiday makers with craft activities, quizzes, sports activities and a delicious lunch from the host country. This year around 100 people took a ‘ trip ’ to Ukraine, Germany, Canada, England and The Netherlands.

– Thank you, James, and your team of volunteers, for your boundless energy keeping this event alive and fresh, every single year.

St Michaels News

In December Rev James White was inducted and commissioned as the Vicar of St Michaels. It was an inspiring service and a celebration of James work at Cornerstone as a Pioneer Minister. It was great to see many people from the local community coming along to support James.

Play Trail

Play Trail supports children and parents in the early years with measurable developmental and educational outcomes. During the year we have developed our relationships with a network of health visitors, midwives and social workers who are now referring clients to us. 10 families are now regularly attending and benefiting from the work.

Homework Club

We are delighted to welcome and support around 20 young people each week as more parents recognise the value of their children catching up on lost education. We are grateful to our volunteers, three of whom are ex teachers and one a teaching assistant.

Social Media

James White and Martin Turner have been reaching out on Facebook with regular morning chats and helpful messages of encouragement. These sessions are greatly appreciated, not only by local people but also from much further afield... even as far as Brazil. A number of people have said how valuable they have found these early morning sessions and how it has helped them to feel and stay connected with the community. We now have over 600 followers on Facebook and over 300 of those are active supporters

Our Team

We are greatly appreciative of our staff team, volunteers and trustees who have shown amazing commitment, creativity, resilience and adaptability in helping Cornerstone build back from Covid and become even more relevant and attractive to more people in our local community.

I am personally grateful to our trustees for their wisdom, commitment and encouragement during the year.

Sustainability

The Cornerstone Centre relies entirely on the goodwill and generosity of a broad range of individuals, grant funders and local organisations who support us so generously and open heartedly. We have been blessed and are grateful to so many organisations and individuals. As a result we have been able to significantly enhance our staff team with a new manager for the Cornerstone Cupboard, a leader for our Play Trail, as well as having a full-time Administration Coordinator and Full time Centre Manager.

Our Funders include;

Our thanks to Anthony Oliver Consulting for managing our fundraising programme.

We have been delighted and humbled by the number of individuals who have supported our work financially and with their time during the year. It would be inappropriate to mention names here but our heartfelt thanks to each and every one of you.

Accountants

The Trust is thankful for the continued financial services and professional support with the legal obligations associated with being a charity from Brian Gibb and the great team at SkyBridge Accounting Ltd..

All directors of the company are also trustees of the charity, and there are no other trustees. The Board has the power to appoint additional trustees as it considers fit to do so.

This report was approved by the Board on 19th March 2023

Tony Solomon

Chair of trustees

St Michael's Cornerstone Trust Independent Examiner's Report

Independent Examiner's report to the trustees of St Michael's Cornerstone Trust

I report to the trustees on my examination of the accounts of St Michael's Cornerstone Trust for the year ended 31 December 2023 which comprise the Statement of Financial Activities, the Balance Sheet and the related notes.

Responsibilities and basis of report

As the charity's trustees (and also directors for the purposes of company law) you are respnsible for the preparation of the accounts in accordance with the requirements of the Companies Act 2006 (the 2006 Act).

Having established that the accounts of the charity are not required to be auditied under Part 16 of the 2006 Act and are eligible for Independent Examination, I report in respect of my examination of the charity's accounts carried out under section 145 of the Acharities Act 2011 (the 2011 Act). In carrying out my examination I have followed all the applicable directions given by the Charity Commission under section 145(5)(b) of the 2011 Act.

Independent examiner's statement

I have completed my examination. I can confirm that no material matters have come to my attention in connection with the examination giving me cause to believie that in, any material respect: the accounting records were not kept in respect of the charity as required by section 396 of the 2006 Act; or

the accounts do not accord with those records; or the accounts do not comply with the applicable requirements under section 396 of the 2006 Act other than any requirement that the accounts give a "true and fair" view which is not a matter considered as part of an independent examination; or

the accounts have not been prepared in accourdance with the Charities Sorp (FRS 102)

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

Brian Gibb CA Chartered Accountant 3 Fairview Court Fairview Road

Cheltenham GL52 2EX

19 March 2024

St Michael's Cornerstone Trust (Company Limited by Guarantee) Statement of Financial Activities for the year ended 31 December 2023

Notes Unrestricted Restricted Designated 2023 2022
£ £
INCOME & ENDOWMENTS
Grants, donations and legacies 4 104,064 45,104 - 149,168 142,882
Income from charitable activities 5 17,094 - - 17,094 18,274
Income from investments 1,471 - - 1,471 121
TOTAL INCOME 122,629 45,104 - 167,733 161,277
EXPENDITURE
Expenditure on charitable activities 6 102,849 40,394 - 143,243 113,781
TOTAL EXPENDITURE 102,849 40,394 - 143,243 113,781
NET MOVEMENT IN FUNDS 19,780 4,710 - 24,490 47,496
FUND BALANCES AT 1 January 2023 10,096 42,929 40,000 93,025 45,529
FUND BALANCES AT 31 Dec 2023 12 29,876 47,639 40,000 117,515 93,025

Income resources and resulting net movement in funds each year arise from continuing operations.

St Michael's Cornerstone Trust (Company Limited by Guarantee) Balance Sheet as at 31 December 2023

Notes
Current assets
Debtors
9
Cash at bank and in hand
Creditors: amounts falling due
within one year
10
Funds
Unrestricted Funds
Restricted Funds
Designated Funds
11		 2023
£
736
118,106
118,842
(1,327)
117,515
117,515
29,876
47,639
40,000
117,515		 2022
£
2,885
91,431
94,316
(1,291)
93,025
93,025
10,096
42,929
40,000
93,025		 2022
£
2,885
91,431
94,316
(1,291)
93,025
93,025
10,096
42,929
40,000
93,025
93,025
10,096
42,929
40,000
93,025

The directors are satisfied that the company is entitled to exemption from the requirement to obtain an audit under section 477 of the Companies Act 2006.

Members have not required the company to obtain an audit in accordance with section 476 of the Act.

The directors acknowledge their responsibilities for complying with the requirements of the Companies Act 2006 with respect to accounting records and the preparation of accounts.

The accounts have been prepared in accordance with the provisions in Part 15 of the Companies Act 2006 applicable to companies subject to the small companies regime.

T Solomon Director

19 March 2024

St Michael's Cornerstone Trust (Company Limited by Guarantee) Notes to the Accounts for the year ended 31 December 2023

1 Accounting policies

Basis of preparation

The accounts have been prepared on the accruals basis, under the historical cost convention, and in accordance with the Financial Reporting Standard 102 (effective 1 January 2016) and FRS 102 SORP (Statement of Recommended Practice for Accounting and Reporting by Charities) 2015 (as amended by the Bulletin issued in February 2016) published by the Charities Commission in England & Wales (CCEW), effective January 2016. (The SORP).

Turnover

Voluntary income and donations are accounted for as received. Project and fundraising income is accounted for on an accruals basis.

Expenditure on management and administration of the charity

Administration expenditure includes all expenditure not directly related to the charitable activity or fundraising.

2 Designated Fund

£40,000 has been allocated by the Trustees to a Designated Fund to be held for the refurbishment project. This project is in the early stages of consideration

3 Legal status of charity

St Michael's Cornerstone Trust is a company limited by guarantee and, as such has no share capital.

4
4
Grants, Donations and Legacies
Donations and other income
Care Shop income
Grants
5
Income from charitable
activities
Coffee bar
Activities
Rent of Hall		 Unrestricted
28,592
5,415
70,057
104,064
Unrestricted
4,854
5,094
7,146
17,094		 2023
Restricted
Designated
£
28,936
-
57,528
2,707
-
8,122
13,461
-
83,518
45,104
-
149,168
Restricted
Designated
2023
-
-
4,854
-
-
5,094
-
-
7,146
-
-
17,094		 2022
£
24,247
6,548
112,087
142,882
2022
4,407
9,009
4,858
18,274

St Michael's Cornerstone Trust (Company Limited by Guarantee) Notes to the Accounts for the year ended 31 December 2023

6
Expenditure on charitable
activites
Unrestricted
Coffee bar
1,909
Activity/Program costs
4,517
Salaries
54,703
Light and heat
13,201
Telephone
746
Water rates
601
Rent
100
Repairs
14,920
General admin - Software
1,188
Insurance
1,977
Licence
645
Printing,postage and stationary
1,404
Care Shop distributions
787
Refuse collection
1,063
Staff Training & Welfare
447
Travel and subsistence
-
Cleaning
1,004
Fundraising costs
2,200
Advertising
-
Sundries
1,437
102,849
8
Debtors
Other Debtors
9
Creditors: amounts falling due within one year
Other creditors
Unrestricted
10 Analysis of fund balances
£
At 1 January
10,096
Profit/ (Loss) for the year
19,780
At 31 December
29,876		 Restricted
Designated
2023
-
-
1,909
31,861
-
36,378
6,986
-
61,689
-
-
13,201
120
-
866
-
-
601
-
-
100
1,427
-
16,347
-
-
1,188
-
-
1,977
-
-
645
-
-
1,404
-
-
787
-
-
1,063
-
-
447
-
-
-
-
-
1,004
-
-
2,200
-
-
-
-
-
1,437
40,394
-
143,243
£
736
£
1,327
Restricted Designated
2023
£
£
42,929
40,000
93,025
4,710
-
24,490
47,639
40,000
117,515		 2022
1,743
23,162
51,211
9,788
1,633
684
100
12,752
460
1,797
585
958
985
293
442
184
1,477
4,550
183
884
113,871
£
2,885
£
1,291
2022
£
93,025
(25,403)
67,622

The charity aims to retain a reserve in unrestricted funds of up to six months of overhead expenses. At 31 December 2023 this equated to £40,220 which compares with the actual balance of £29,876.

11 Staff Costs
Staff Costs
Salaries		 £
61,689
61,689		 £
51,211
51,211

During the year St Michael's Conerstone Trust employed a manager, two project coordinators, an administrator and a cleaner.

No Trustees received either remuneration or expenses, other than direct reimbursement of money paid out, during the year (2022 £nil)

The Trust relies substantially on the time of volunteers to run its activities. It is not possible to quantify the value of these services to the Trust