Veterinary Christian Fellowship Annual report for 1st January 2025 to 31st December 2025
Introduction
The Veterinary Christian Fellowship (VCF) has been operating since the 1960’s and was an affiliated member of UCCF (Universities and Colleges Christian Fellowship) for many years.
VCF has been a registered charity since May 2003 (Charity no: 1099450).
VCF has 6 trustees and there is a larger active committee of 15 members. During the year, Bonny Millar joined as the VCF Administrator, and Robert Wallace joined as Treasurer.
Aims
VCF aims:
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To unite Christians within the veterinary and veterinary nursing professions through their common loyalty to the Lord Jesus Christ; and to assist them in the integration of their faith into their professional lives.
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To encourage and support Christian vet and vet nursing students during their studies.
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To support the work of vets and vet nurses called to work and witness abroad.
Funding
Funding is received primarily through individual donations and a suggested annual membership donation. Some income is received from event fees. Gift Aid is claimed on eligible giving.
Newsletter
A newsletter is produced quarterly and emailed to just over 950 people, and 52 paper copies are sent out.
Membership
There are about 1,030 people currently registered as members on our database.
67 people were added during 2025 - 26 Vets, 31 Students, 8 Vet Nurses, and 2 people in industry
10 people were removed during 2025.
1 member sadly passed away. 1 requested removal due to leaving the vet course, 6 requested removal, or opted out for varying reasons.
VCF Weekends 2025
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The VCF Weekend took place from 14[th] to 16[th] February at The Quinta Christian Conference Centre in Oswestry, Shropshire, with Christianne Glossop as the guest speaker, and 137 people registered.
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The Virtual VCF meeting took place on Saturday, 19[th] July, with Christianne Glossop and delegates attending from Australia, New Zealand, Africa, and Europe, as well as the UK and Ireland.
Students and young graduates
The ‘EMS Database’ continues to be sent to students who request it. It provides contact details for VCF members working in veterinary practices who are willing to host VCF students for work experience. As work experience is required to complete the veterinary degree, this serves as an excellent resource for students to develop skills and gain practical training in a supportive environment.
As the number of vet schools has increased the role of Student Liaison has now been spread over three people, Dan Mok, Holly McNeill and Freya Wood.
Local groups, including VCF Scotland and VCF Ireland
VCF has a number of small groups which meet around the UK where members can make friends locally and support each other.
Missionary Support
VCF continues to be in contact with various missionaries serving throughout the world in many different communities and situations. Mary Kim, the Missionary Liaison Rep, maintains regular communication with them so VCF can support them through prayer and financially where possible. VCF encourages individual members or local groups to connect with the missionaries to get to know them so we can enhance our support of them further.
Involvement with wider Veterinary Organisations
VCF was able to attend a number of Veterinary Exhibitions through the year. BSAVA, BVA Live, BEVA, BSAVA Alba, BVNA, BCVA, Vet CPD and the LVS. Many VCF members visited the various stands, and it was an opportunity to hand out well over 2000 booklets with bible verses, to delegates at the various shows.
A formal presence at these events publicises the existence of VCF to the wider veterinary community and enables networking of members who are attending. This remains a main way in which new members come to know of VCF and request to join.
Website and Social Media
The VCF Website, Facebook and Instagram pages continue to keep people up to date with all that is happening within the Fellowship.
Committee
Committee meetings continued to be held regularly via Zoom throughout the year, which allowed for fellowship and support for one another as well as providing opportunities to pray for and plan the work of VCF.
In November, the committee gathered for a weekend on the Isle of Wight, and via Zoom for those unable to attend in person, to pray together and seek God’s will for the way forwards for the fellowship.
AMM 2025
The Annual Members Meeting took place on Saturday, 15[th] February 2025, during the VCF Weekend and was chaired by Stephen Anderson. 59 voting delegates attended the meeting. Reports were presented from the President, Secretary and Treasurer.
The Roles of President, Treasurer and Secretary were voted on. Kerry Williams (President) and Ali Budgell (Secretary) remained in their roles. Jenni Hay stepped down as Treasurer, and a replacement was not proposed.
– Finance 2025
The total unrestricted income received by VCF in 2025 was £79,775. This was primarily received through member donations and reclaimed gift aid. Total unrestricted expenditure for 2024 was £85,358, an increase of approximately 14% on 2024 expenditure. VCF continued to support our active Missionary Partners and students, as well as using the finances to promote the Fellowship and our charitable aims and objectives.
The income from the in-person and virtual ‘VCF Weekends’ was less than our costs involved, resulting in a loss of £2,268.37 in running them.
There is one main restricted fund which supports one of our Missionary Partners. This had an income and expenditure of £9281.25 for 2025 as all the money received during the year was passed on to the Missionary Partner.
The trustees and committee remain very grateful for the generous giving of VCF members, which enable the Fellowship to achieve all that has been previously described. Careful monitoring of the finances is continually necessary to ensure this situation continues.
VETERINARY CHRISTIAN FELLOWSHIP
Charity Commision No 1099450 Jan-Dec 2025
SECTION A UNRESTRICTED FUNDS
| SECTION A UNRESTRICTED FUNDS | Yr End | ||
| 2025 | 2024 | ||
| **A1 ** | Receipts | ||
| 1 | Donations | 30524 | 19724 |
| 2 | Tax recovered | 4191 | 4036 |
| 3 | Secretarial Support (1) | 18000 | 18000 |
| 4 | Bank Interest | 696 | 126 |
| 5 | Students (1) | 75 | 75 |
| 6 | Congress | 6125 | 20000 |
| 7 | EMS Fund (1) | 600 | |
| 8 | St Cassians weekend 2024-2026 | 1826 | 6213 |
| 9 | Blencathra weekend 2026 | 4602 | |
| 10 | Quinta Weekend 2025 | 13343 | 902 |
| 11 | Skiddaw weekend 2024 | 5633 | |
| 11 | Virtual day donations | 393 | 395 |
| 12 | Cairngorms weeked 2024 | 2669 | |
| Total Unrestricted Income | 79775 | 78373 | |
| **A2 ** | Payments | ||
| 1 | Salary | 24097 | 22035 |
| 2 | NEST (pension) | 1678 | 1852 |
| 3 | Red shoes | 331 | 236 |
| 4 | Broker Network Insurance | 742 | 550 |
| 5 | KinnairdHill (independent examiner) | 420 | 399 |
| 6 | Office expences | 1493 | 3275 |
| 7 | CONGRESS | ||
| a) London Vet Show |
3065 | 3458 | |
| b) BVNA |
1112 | 1170 | |
| c) BVA |
3077 | 2930 | |
| d) BCVA |
93 | 180 | |
| e) BSAVA |
1714 | 1075 | |
| f) BSAVA Alba |
1553 | 1468 | |
| g) VET CPD |
323 | 443 | |
| h) BEVA |
1941 | 1790 | |
| i) General Congress expence |
5169 | 3066 | |
| 8 | Student CU Groups | 975 | 1122 |
| 9 | Missionary | 8200 | 8663 |
| 10 | EMS Grant | 1160 | 1900 |
| 11 | Craft project | 0 | 64 |
| 12 | Committee weekend 2024-2025 | 1130 | 2653 |
| 13 | St Cassians weekend 2024-2026 | 752 | 7546 |
| 14 | Skiddaw weekend 2024 | 0 | 5106 |
| 15 | Cairngorms weekend 2024-2026 | 550 | 2224 |
| 16 | Quinta weekend 2025 | 14796 | 920 |
| 17 | Blencathra weekend 2026 | 8703 | 0 | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 18 | Quinta weekend 2027 | 400 | 0 | |
| 19 | Virtual day 2025 | 798 | 0 | |
| 20 | Honorarium (2) | 785 | 700 | |
| 21 | Sundries | 301 | 276 | |
| 85358 | 75101 | |||
| Total Income | 79775 | 78373 | ||
| Total Payments | A1 | 85358 | 75101 | |
| Net of receipts(payments) | A1-A2 | -5583 | 3272 | |
| Cash funds year end 2024 | A3 | 43704 | 40432 | |
| Cash funds Dec 2025 | A1-A2+A3 | 38121 | 43704 | |
| SECTION B RESTRICTED | FUNDS | |||
| MISSIONARY FUND (1) | ||||
| B1 | Receipts | |||
| a) Donations |
9821 | 8310 | ||
| 9821 | 8310 | |||
| B2 | Payments | |||
| a) Jan & Flo Morrow |
9821 | 8310 | ||
| 9821 | 8310 | |||
| Total Receipts | B1 | 9821 | 0 | |
| Total Payments | B2 | 9821 | 0 | |
| Net of receipts (Payments) | B1-B2 | 0 | 0 | |
| Cash funds Dec 2025 | B1-B2+B3 | 0 | 0 |
SECTION D- STATEMENT OF ASSETS AND LIABILITIES AT YEAR END
| D1a Cash funds Bank of Scotland current account Deposit Account D1b Other Monetary Assets Charity repayment claim D3b Assets held for the Charities own use Assets as of Dec 2024 Assets as of Dec 2025 Note (1) includes tax recovered (2) Honorarium |
27847 10274 |
|---|---|
| 38121 3125 0 0 |
Brenda Millard - for bookeeping and preparation of accounts £750 H McClintick - retirement gift for Michael Christian £35
Independent examiner's report on the accounts
Section A Independent Examiner’s Report
Report to the trustees/ Charity Name members of Veterinary Christian Fellowship On accounts for the year 31 December 2025 Charity no 1099450 ended (if any) Set out on pages (remember to include the page numbers of additional sheets)
I report to the trustees on my examination of the accounts of the above charity (“the Trust”) for the year ended 31/12/2025.
- 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 in connection with the examination which gives me cause to believe that in, any material respect:
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accounting records were not kept in accordance with section 130 of the Act or
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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: 15/01/2026 Signed: ~~—~~ Name: Jane Ascroft ~~Ce~~ Relevant professional FCA (Institute of Chartered Accountants in England and Wales) qualification(s) or body: Address: Enterprise House, Harmire Enterprise Park Barnard Castle, County Durham DL12 8XT
1
October 2018
IER
Section B Disclosure
Only complete if the examiner needs to highlight matters of concern (see CC32, Independent examination of charity accounts: directions and guidance for examiners).
Give here brief details of any items that the examiner wishes to disclose .
2
October 2018
IER