## **Helping His Hungarian Heroes**
**Charity number: 1100270**
## **Trustees' Report and Financial Statements**
**for the year ended 31 January 2025**
## **Helping His Hungarian Heroes**
## **CONTENTS**
||Page|
|---|---|
|Report of the Trustees|1 - 12|
|Receipts and Payments Accounts|13 - 14|
|Report of the Independent Examiner|15|
## **Helping His Hungarian Heroes**
## **REPORT OF THE TRUSTEES for the year ended 31 January 2025**
The Trustees are pleased to present their report and the financial statements of Helping His Hungarian Heroes ('4H' or "the Trust") for the year ended 31 January 2025.
## **Reference and Administrative Information**
|**_Charity name_**|Helping His Hungarian Heroes|
|---|---|
|**_Other names used by the Charity_**|'4H' and '4H' / 'Magyar Misszió' (working names)|
|**_Charity registered number_**|1100270|
|**_Status_**|Trust|
||Registered as a charity with effect from 23 October 2003|
|**_Registered office_**|Helping His Hungarian Heroes|
||28 Oaklands|
||Elton Road|
||Clevedon|
||BS21 7QZ|
## **Trustees**
The names of the Trustees who served during the year and up to the date of this report are set out below, along with the dates when they were appointed:
|pointed:||
|---|---|
|Mr Peter D Aston|7th June 2010|
|Dr Eric C Barrett (Chairperson)|27th January 2003|
|Mrs Rosemary J Barrett (Secretary)|16th June 2003|
|Mr Karl A Brunning|7th June 2010|
|Mr Michael S Bryant|27th January 2003|
|Mr David J Clarke|27th January 2003|
|Mrs Sally Ann Winsor|11th July 2016|
None of the Trustees has any beneficial interest in the Trust and all served without remuneration in their capacity as Trustees.
**Bankers** HSBC Bank PLC 10 Colliers Walk Nailsea Bristol BS48 1RL **Independent Examiner** P E Hodges CPFA 74 Cottrell Road Bristol BS5 6TN
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## **Helping His Hungarian Heroes**
**REPORT OF THE TRUSTEES for the year ended 31 January 2025**
## **Structure, Governance and Management**
## _**Governing Document**_
'4H' is a registered charity governed in accordance with its Declaration of Trust made on 16 August 2003.
The Charity Commission granted '4H' registered charity status on 23 October 2003.
## _**Organisational structure**_
'4H' is governed by the Trustees who comprise members of churches from across the South West region of England. The Trustees meet at least twice a year, and normally three times a year, to set policy and review the activities of the Trust. The annual general meeting of the Trustees was held on 30 January 2024..
## _**Recruitment and appointment of Trustees**_
Trustees are nominated and appointed by a vote of the existing Trustees and may serve for a period of up to five years after which time they are eligible for re-appointment. None of the Trustees receive remuneration or any other benefit from their work with '4H'.
## _**Risk Management**_
At each of their meetings the Trustees examine the major strategic and operational risks which '4H' faces. They seek to manage and mitigate these risks within acceptable levels.
## _**Charity Governance Code**_
The Trustees have studied the Charity Governance Code and discussed it at length. The Trustees consider that while much of it does not apply to '4H', in areas where it does apply the Trust is in compliance with the good practice the Code recommends, and in several respects significantly surpasses its recommendations. Para 5.7.3 of the Code says that Trustees serving for more than 9 years should be reviewed. The Board agreed at its July 2019 meeting that in future all Trustees should be treated the same, including Founding Trustees.
During 2022, ‘4H’ was required to review its policies and associated procedures in respect of a list of topics provided by CCEW, and to say when they were most recently reviewed. The Board discussed the list at length and agreed the following positions as from 28 June 2022:
## _**Procedures: common to all categories:**_
If and when an issue of potential concern is drawn to our notice, the matter is recorded, and addressed as appropriate and as quickly as possible via the following hierarchy of responsible persons:
- The Directors
- The Board of Trustees
- External advisors
- Selected professionals
and thereafter, if and as necessary, by reference to the most appropriate authority(ies).
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## **Helping His Hungarian Heroes**
## **REPORT OF THE TRUSTEES for the year ended 31 January 2025**
## _**Policies: specific to each category:**_
- **a. Bullying and harassment:** ‘4H’ discourages, and does not tolerate, bullying or harassment of any kind.
- **b. Conflict of interest:** if and when we become aware of any conflicts of interest in our areas of activity, we adjust our operations accordingly to minimise or eliminate their present and possible future effects.
- **c. Financial controls:** the Board of ‘4H’ meets once each year to agree a provisional Annual Budget, and regularly to monitor income and approve expenditure. The Books are open to all Trustees, and are independently and professionally examined as the Charity Commission requires.
- **d. Safeguarding:** a policy on this is not necessary for us as we have no direct contact with either children or vulnerable adults.
- **e. Complaints:** any complaint about a Director, Trustee, volunteer, or recipient of ‘4H’ assistance is considered on its merits, and action taken accordingly.
- **f. Whistleblowing:** we positively encourage anyone who has serious concerns about any aspect of ‘4H’ or its ministries to come forward and voice them clearly and simply, and we follow up on their concerns
- **g. Reserves:** we aim to maintain a financial reserve sufficient to at least cover the ‘committed’ expenditure we have promised for 12 months ahead.
- **h. Political activities:** ‘4H’ is an entirely apolitical organisation whose raison d’etre is spiritual.
- **i. Volunteers:** our volunteer policy is governed by the general ethos and modus operandi of our mission, plus our commitment to diversity, individual dignity, personal integrity, group respect and trust, and above all the Christian ministry of service to God and those whom we are seeking to serve.
## _**New and Improved Guidance for Trustees:**_
During 2024, ‘4H’ was required by the Charity Commission to review our procedures in the light of these newly-issued Guidelines, that we did prior to, and during, the 65th Meeting of Trustees in November 2024. The new guidance regarding insolvency (CC12) is not applicable to ‘4H’ as we check the financial position at every Trustees meeting and carefully maintain adequate reserves to ensure that there is no risk of insolvency.
Regarding decision making (CC27): it was affirmed that we always act within our powers, in good faith, taking account of all relevant factors, ignoring irrelevant factors and making decisions that a reasonable trustee body could make. There is no opportunity for conflicts of interest as none of the Trustees benefit financially in any way from ‘4H’.
## **Objectives and Activities**
The objective of '4H' is the advancement of the Christian faith by providing help and support for Biblebelieving Hungarian Churches and Christians and their work in Hungary itself, and among Hungarian speaking communities in regions of Romania, Serbia, Slovakia and Ukraine which were parts of Hungary before the Treaty of Trianon in 1920. During the year '4H' gratefully received voluntary assistance from its Trustees, other individuals and partnership churches, without which the effectiveness of '4H' would be severely limited.
The following summary provides further information specifically regarding the activities that were undertaken by '4H' during the year ended 31 January 2025. It is organised in the same order as our Annual Budget.
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## **Helping His Hungarian Heroes**
**REPORT OF THE TRUSTEES for the year ended 31 January 2025**
## **Objectives and Activities (continued)**
The twenty-second year of ‘4H’ activities continued to be adversely affected in significant ways by the war in Ukraine that began in February 2022. In particular, for a third year the war seriously limited what we could do in the Hungarian-speaking ‘Carpathian’ Province of Ukraine, and is seriously affecting what the churches there are able to do, and the mental health of their leaders, some of whom’4H’ continues to part support.
Unfortunately, for first time since ‘4H’ began in 2003, Directors Dr Eric and Mrs Rosemary Barrett were unable to visit ‘Greater Hungary’ at all this year, on account of a serious eye accident Dr Barrett sustained in February, and hernia surgery that Rosemary needed later in the year. So they had to draw on experience gained in the ‘Covid Year’ of 2020 to once again organise ‘4H’ activities ‘in the Field’ remotely, especially through increased use of emails, plus phone and text messages.
Meanwhile, the shadow of the Covid pandemic continued to constrain the speaker meetings the Barretts were invited to take in the UK in churches and other venues, as even more churches have now reduced their range and numbers of meetings. Those with a missionary focus have been, arguably, the greatest losers. Thus the Barretts were able to speak in person in only 22 church services or other meetings, compared with 30 in 2023-24, 33 in 2022-23, and regularly well over 60 each year pre-Covid. This decline, in turn, has led to reductions in income, and in year-by-year additions to our mailing list.
At the same time, the year 2024-25 witnessed as expected the ‘Homecall’ of several long-term supporters of ‘4H’, so our Mailing List reduced a little in 2024-25. Monetary gifts, and payments received for books and cards in speaker meetings, continued to fall, indeed faster than in recent years because so few meeting-goers now carry cash, and cannot offer a Bank card machine for ‘plastic payment’. Indeed, we now offer books free of charge at our meetings, hoping that some takers, instead of paying cash for them, will subsequently be led to send a gift to us for ‘the work’. In reality this rarely happens.
With the Bank Interest Rate changing little in this Financial Year, interest received on ‘4H’ reserves held temporarily in savings accounts with HSBC and COIF remained much the same as in 2023-24. Similarly, the number of Standing Orders from personal supporters (currently 42 in number) has also remained about the same, though some have recently increased their monthly amounts, for which we are very grateful. Gift Aid recovered from HMRC during the year was unfortunately down from £18,220 in the FY ending 31 January 2023, to £15,651 on 31 January 2024, and to £12,594 on 31 January 2025 – a reduction of 31% in just two years.
Nine churches continued to support ‘4H’ regularly via Standing Orders or regular Bank transfers in FY 20242025, contributing in total some 15% of the total receipts for the year. This figure has been increasing each year since 2021 as giving from other sources has decreased. We are very grateful for the support that those churches have continued to provide.
As usual though, we are indebted most of all for our income to our ‘regular’ private financial supporters, plus occasional and ‘impulse’ individual donors, who together gave some two-thirds of all ‘4H’ income in 2024-25, either by cheque or, increasingly, by direct Bank Transfer.
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## **Helping His Hungarian Heroes**
**REPORT OF THE TRUSTEES for the year ended 31 January 2025**
## **Objectives and Activities (continued)**
Thus, the total income of the mission in FY 2024-25 was 110,991, compared with £131,683 in FY 2023-24 (a fall of approx. 17%), and £147,526 in FY 2022-23 (a total fall of approx. 25% compared with the year’s total two years ago). Coupled with significant rises in many prices during the same period, this ‘double negative’ has sadly affected the levels of help we have been able to give across the board this year in ‘Greater Hungary’. The principal elements of that help are summarised below.
## **A. Support for new church buildings, and major extensions, or repairs, to others**
This has continued to be an important focus of ‘4H’ support. Indeed the expenditure by ‘4H’ on the provision of new church buildings in 2024-5, at over £45K, was almost double the comparable figure in the previous year. Our chief projects in the FY just ended included the following, in order of the dates when they were initiated:
**Érselénd (W. Romania):** This FY, work organised by KCA, the Hungarian Gypsy Mission, began on the Fellowship growth-necessitated extensions to the Hungarian Roma Baptist Church in the large western Romanian village of Érselénd, where a ‘4H’ Practical Mission Team in 2009 helped with the construction of the present church premises. The concrete footing of the planned extension was completed in early summer, and was useful during the summer ‘camp’ attended by over 100 children and young people from the neighbourhood The walls and roof of the extension were added in the autumn, enabling interior work to continue into the winter despite the early onset of seasonal weather.
**Hajdúhadház (NE Hungary):** Last year we reported that, because new building regulations in Hungary meant we could no longer pursue the possibility of providing the Roma Fellowship in Hajdúhadház with a ‘first church building’ in the form of either a set of containers, or a ‘light steel structure’ we had begun to pursue the possibility of helping financially with the purchase of an existing property suitable for conversion into a church. Happily, in October 2024 we learned that a five-roomed, single-storey house plus cellar, boiler room and three outbuildings, all on a 1500 square metres plot near the Roma quarter of the town had come on the market at the low price of £44K. We were glad to provide half that sum, with the Hungarian Baptist Union providing matching funds, to enable the property to be acquired as the long-awaited first ‘church’ for that Fellowship. It will be a straightforward task to open up in it a large space for the main Worship Room. The purchase was completed during the last week of November 2024, and conversion work has already got under way.
**Párhida (Romania):** The first purpose-built Hungarian Roma church building in this area close to the border with Hungary was begun in 2023, when it was hoped that it could be completed -- with financial help from ‘4H’ -- in 2024. In the event, less quick progress was possible than expected, so completion is now planned for the first half of 2025 under the management of Pastor Albert Zsolt from a neighbouring town.
**Balla (Romania):** We are glad to report that the new Regional Hungarian Bible School, whose construction in this central Romanian town ‘4H’ has been supporting, was completed and ceremonially opened in the summer of 2024. We were also happy to be able to provide some of the furniture and equipment it needed, of which the star element is a 75 inch Samsung digital interactive whiteboard – a far cry from the blackboards of yore.
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## **Helping His Hungarian Heroes**
**REPORT OF THE TRUSTEES for the year ended 31 January 2025**
## **Objectives and Activities (continued)**
**Nyirbátor (Hungary):** In this NE Hungarian town, where the first ‘4H’ Practical Mission Team helped renovate the Baptist Church building in 2003, the opportunity arose to purchase, at a very low price, a modern building that was designed as an open-plan café/restaurant, directly across the road. In early autumn these premises were secured with funds equally provided by ’4H’ and the Hungarian Baptist Union, and will well meet the pressing needs of the Church for premises for children’s, youth, and outreach activities.
In addition to all of the above, in its FY2024-25, ‘4H’ has been glad to help meet the costs of ‘minor works’ in some places – including completions of projects begun earlier, modifications to existing premises, and necessary repairs. These included:
**Bácskossuthfalva (Serbia):** This is a large, still mostly Hungarian-speaking village in NW Serbia, where ‘4H’ Practical Mission Teams worked in successive years (2007 and 2008) to help convert a historic old property (‘the Baroness’s House’) into a Hungarian Baptist Church and Christian centre. Unsurprisingly, after intensive use, 16 years or so down the line various repairs and alterations had become necessary, and ‘4H’ was glad to be asked to help meet their costs. The work was completed successfully in the autumn.
**Szomlyó (Romania):** The new two-storey Hungarian Roma Baptist Church that ‘4H’ helped build in FY 201920 has now served its Fellowship and community well for five years… but only in 2024 was it possible to pave the church courtyard so that it can be used for a variety of out-door church events. When we learned that a grant from the local council had been offered for the purchase of materials for that improvement, ‘4H’ was glad to fund the manual work of laying the paving slabs and repainting the surrounding walls – work entirely undertaken by men from the church and the Roma community all around it. The result is a spectacular improvement in the appearance and utility of the 70 metre square enclosed space.
**Pürkerec (Romania):** This is the location of the most significant Hungarian church in central Romania for ministries to persons with physical disabilities, and always has some in wheelchairs attending services and other events. At the request of the pastor,‘4H’ has helped this year with improvements in wheelchair access to the church and its facilities, and conversion of a lean-to shed into a new function space for use especially in the summer half of the year.
## **B. Literature Preparation, Publishing, Production and Distribution**
‘4H’ activity in this sphere in 2024-25 saw some significant new titles come into production, so expenditure under this heading was similar to that in the previous year. The new titles included:
FIRST: A new and unprecedented book about Hungarian women in Romania who have been caught and convicted of criminal acts, ‘Tetten ért nők’. Written by a retired pastor’s wife who has been involved in prison ministry for many years, this book has been received with widespread critical acclaim, and will be of great value both as a deterrent to some, and an encouragement to others who, without it, might have thought that some offenders are beyond the reach of the love, forgiveness and redemptive power of God.
The author had previously written a book entitled ‘Ismeretelen nők az Ószövétsegből’ (Unnamed Women of the Old Testament) that was so successful that we published this in both the English and Hungarian languages – and in 2024 reprinted the Hungarian original for the second time.
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## **Helping His Hungarian Heroes**
**REPORT OF THE TRUSTEES for the year ended 31 January 2025**
## **Objectives and Activities (continued)**
SECOND: An extended Second Edition of the biography of a Hungarian Roma Pastor from Romania, ‘Megváltómról irók’, following the success of the First Edition that we published in 2018. This new edition was requested by KCA, the Hungarian Roma Christian Mission in Hungary, who have long supported the ministry of the pastor involved.
THIRD: ‘Istvan’, a full-colour book for young people about the New Testament martyr Stephen, the first of three titles that we have been asked by Hungarian church leaders in both Hungary and Romania to publish in Hungarian from the ‘Courageous’ series published originally in English by the US-based mission, Voice of the Martyrs. Additional titles will be published by ‘4H’ in 2025 and 2026. We have a special publishing Agreement with VoM to that effect.
FOURTH: Help for the Hungarian Baptist Convention (Union) in Romania to print and publish a new hymnary entitled ‘Dicseretek’, and to make this available to church choir members and other users of it at a significantly reduced price.
In 2004 we also reprinted – for the second time – the educational flipchart Arany ABC (‘Golden ABC’), intended originally to help Christian parents teach their young children to read, but one that is also widely used for helping teach Roma adults to read. To date we have printed 25,000 copies of this widelyappreciated title.
All books carrying the ‘4H’ imprint are offered to churches and other Christian organisations free of charge.
FOURTH: During 2024-2025, ‘4H’ continued its support for Eszter, the Christian magazine produced in Romania for Hungarian-speaking women, and again arranged for some copies to be sent regularly to groups of Hungarian churches in Serbia and Ukraine. Further, we have continued to support the preparation of Életjel (‘Life sign’), the now two-year old on-line magazine of Második esély misszió (the Second Chance Mission, Beregsász, SW Ukraine).
## **C. Leadership Support**
We are sad that, in our FY 2024-25, ‘4H’ Directors were unable to make personal visits to ‘Greater Hungary’, so they were generally unable to meet and give spontaneous ‘love gifts’ to help support and encourage selected Hungarian pastors and pastors' wives ‘in the Field’.
Meanwhile, the ‘4H’ ‘Young Workers Project' – by which we help the Hungarian Baptist Union make it possible for several young Christian leaders each year to begin or develop their ministries – continued to achieve its intended purpose. Indeed, we were delighted to be told in the summer of 2024 that: “All [five] of the Pastoral Apprentices ‘4H’ has helped support during 2023-24 have successfully completed their courses, and moved on to pastorates of their own.” Accordingly, we were happy to begin part-supporting three new ‘PAs’ in the Autumn of FY of 2024-25.
We have also begun to similarly part-support a new PA in western Romania, as well as continuing to help sustain the ministries of several other ‘young Christian workers’ in Hungary, Romania and SW Ukraine.
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## **Helping His Hungarian Heroes**
**REPORT OF THE TRUSTEES for the year ended 31 January 2025**
## **Objectives and Activities (continued)**
## **D. Support for ministries to disadvantaged persons**
In 2024-25, ‘4H’ continued to support and encourage efforts to encourage ministries to and among disadvantaged persons.
These efforts most notably involved the key Christian deaf worker Bokros Andrea in Hungary, whose personal needs increase as she now suffers from arthritis in the hands she used so effectively over the years for ‘signing’ in her own truly astonishing ministry. She continues to play the central role in the Deaf Church in Hungary, and many there who have benefitted from her leadership over all of four decades have contributed too to its internationally-acclaimed pioneering ministries, especially in producing ‘deaf friendly’ videos of selected parts of the Bible, and Bible-based dramas in Hungarian sign language. Her work has extended into the blind community too. She would love now to lessen her efforts, but a replacement or replacements have not yet emerged.
Concerning people with physical rather than sensory disabilities, ‘4H’ has also continued to help enable the work of the key Hungarian pastor in this field in Romania, Kis Otto at Pűrkerec (see above, under Support for new church buildings, and major extensions, or repairs, to others; Pűrkerec), and below, under ‘Camps, Conferences and Retreats’, this in respect of the most recent Hope Conference in June 2023
## **E. Camps, Conferences, and Retreats**
As Christian Camp activities have slowly continued returning to pre-Covid levels, ‘4H’ was glad to be able to financially support for the fifth time a ‘Widows and Singles’ Camp/Conference in Romania, and a fourth ‘Cold Camp’ for Young People in Sub-Carpathian Ukraine, and a further ‘Hope Conference’ for disabled Hungarians in Romania held at the Hargita Christian Camp high in the Carpathian Mountains of Romania. Similarly, and also in 2024-25 at Hargita, it was possible to sponsor once again the annual and always much-appreciated Hungarian Pastors’ Family Camp, just before doing so for the first time in respect of a Retreat for Hungarian Roma Christian leaders, that was held in NE Hungary so that pastors and others from both Hungary and western Romania were able to attend.
## **F. Response to the Ukraine War**
The help that ‘4H’ was privileged to be able to give to Hungarian and other refugees from the dreadful war in Ukraine, and churches and other Christian centres in Romania and Hungary see our Annual Report, 2023-24) became no longer necessary in 2024 because the exodus from Ukraine largely ceased. However, in relatively peaceful SW Ukraine, sheltered from the war zone by the Carpathian Mountains – and where the Hungarian minority population has been, and still is, mostly concentrated – the need for ‘4H’ support has continued, recently involving:
- Completion of an ‘Aid Centre’ alongside, and run by, the ‘Second Chance’ Mission Church in the town of Beregszasz, to help refugees from further east. Our support has included finance to purchase ‘white goods’ for the new ‘Second Chance’ Mission church centre;
- Refurbishment of the Young Peoples’ Centre in the town of Zápszony – a building that one of our earliest Practical Mission Teams had helped create from an old animal house in 2005;
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## **Helping His Hungarian Heroes**
## **REPORT OF THE TRUSTEES for the year ended 31 January 2025**
## **Objectives and Activities (continued)**
- Newly-requested financial support for workers to help run ministries to women in some of the ‘subCarpathian’ towns. With most of the able-bodied men in that province either fighting further east, or in hiding, the women are specially in need of practical and spiritual encouragement.
- A ‘Family Getaway’ in the summer of 2024, a much-appreciated break from the everyday realities of living in a country at war with a larger, much more powerful neighbour.
- Resources to permit the preparation of Christmas Gift Boxes for many local young people in five Hungarian Baptist Churches in SW Ukraine. Because of border and Customs difficulties, these had, once again, to be filled mostly with locally-sourced items, but were nevertheless joyfully received by the recipients. ‘4H’ was able arrange for copies of some of the Hungarian Christian books that we have published in recent years to be sent to Ukraine to be given as additional presents too.
- Sponsorship of another ‘Winter Camp’ for young people in the Carpathian Mountains in January 2025, following the very successful one held there in January 2024, plus, of course,
- Continued part-support for the pastoral family that is key to all the needs and happenings described above.
## **G. Field Ministries**
For medical reasons it was not possible for the Directors, Dr & Mrs Barrett, to make any ‘Field’ visits in FY 2023-24, the first such year since ‘4H’ began in 2003. Thus, experience gained in ‘remote management’ of projects in ‘Greater Hungary’ in the Covid year of 2020 (when just one ‘Field’ visit was possible) was drawn upon instead, and in addition to support and encouragement that was given to national workers at all levels of activity and experience, two long-distance book distribution trips were organised in early December. In these, involving the successful movement of more than 6000 books in total, to and from 17 locations spread across Hungary itself, Romania, Serbia and SW Ukraine, the services of a good Hungarian friend was crucial.
## **Team of helpers**
Throughout ‘4H’s FY2024-25, professional maintenance of the mission’s financial accounts has continued to be the responsibility of Mrs Libby Morris who is now an Associate Member of Dr Barrett’s home church in Bristol. We continue to be very grateful indeed to her for the cheerful and speedy way in which she gives her services, and for the great care with which she maintains the ‘4H’ accounts.
Another fellow church member, Philip Hodges, has continued to serve ‘4H’ as its Independent Auditor and Examiner, and we are grateful to him too for his voluntary service, so graciously given.
The second quarter of 2024 saw an unexpected but very urgent need for rescue work on one of the three computers in the ‘4H’ Office – the ‘elderly’ computer that carries the PagePlus x9 desk-top publishing software that Dr Barrett uses to prepare all the documents that ‘4H’ subsequently publishes and prints in the UK, or in Hungary itself. In May 2024 the hard drive on this machine suddenly failed, jeopardising a number of major documents that were in the course of preparation prior to production, including the next Prayer / News Letter in the UK, and the first and second of the new books in Hungarian described earlier in this Report. Many weeks’ work had already been expended on these documents.
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## **Helping His Hungarian Heroes**
**REPORT OF THE TRUSTEES for the year ended 31 January 2025**
## **Objectives and Activities (continued)**
The drive failure was especially significant because the PagePlus software is no longer commercially available, and learning a new desk-top publishing programme suite to publication standard takes much time and effort. For Dr Barrett following his recent serious eye accident, this could have been close to impossible. But it was then that Peter Dyer, a member and Elder of his church in Bristol volunteered to do all he could both to restore the computer to a usable level and to secure a replacement copy of the PagePlusx9 software to install on the new hard drive, if this were at all possible. In the event, it was possible, so miraculously the machine has functioned well ever since, and PagePlusx9 is working well on it, despite the difficulties having defeated ‘high street’ computer specialists we had at first paid to for such services. What a wonderful helper he has therefore been!
Meanwhile other local friends and neighbours cheerfully help with the preparation of our quarterly mailings to Prayer Supporters, and in some cases with the distribution of such items too, either locally to their homes, or through their churches.
Last but by no means least, we want to thank our Trustees for all their time, wisdom and support; and they and many others for standing with us, truly awesomely, in prayer. They are all helpers indeed.
## **Overall Performance**
In summary, 2024-25 was one of the two most challenging years for us since ‘4H’ began in 2003. This was not only because of the effects of seemingly now permanent reductions in church missionary meetings since the Covid pandemic; the continuing complexities and frustrations that BREXIT has brought to the movement of goods from the UK into countries of the EU; the ongoing war in Ukraine; and the rapid rises in the rate of inflation in 2022 and 2023 that hiked prices everywhere and generally reduced the financial support for missions from the donor public; but also because of the health problems experienced by the Directors of ‘4H’ in 2024, and the almost-terminal issues with their desk-top publishing computer.
In all these and other adverse circumstances, we are thankful to God, the churches that support ’4H’, and the ‘faithful 550’ on our mailing list, for together having made it possible for so many ‘helps for Hungarians’ to be delivered in this Financial Year.
In addition to talks in public meetings, the Directors continue to share information on our current projects and ministries via quarterly mailings to those who have signified a wish to receive them, supplemented by additional information to those on our email contact list. The Directors respond by letter or email to those UK churches that ask for up-to-date topics for prayer, and personally acknowledge every gift that is received for the work of ‘4H’.
We have been sad to hear of the ‘Homecalls’ of several long-standing friends on our mailing list, but glad to welcome some new friends so that the list has changed little in overall length. As we noted above, giving to ‘4H’ was down by some 17% in FY 2024-5 to £110,991 compared with the previous year, whilst expenditure during the year was 119,017, a similar reduction to what had been planned at its beginning. Thus, we have seen a significant decrease of some £9K in our reserve cash funds at the end of this year compared with the previous one.
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## **Helping His Hungarian Heroes**
**REPORT OF THE TRUSTEES for the year ended 31 January 2025**
## **Objectives and Activities (continued)**
In view of the many uncertainties that face the world at the present time, we consider all the more strongly that holding such a reserve is both prudent and necessary, and we are thankful that our reserves will permit a programme of ‘help for Hungarians’ to be undertaken in FY 2025-26 that will be comparable to that in FY 2024-25.
In keeping with our long-established ‘business model’, a very high proportion of ‘4H’ income has once again been dispensed ‘in the Field’, with only about 3% spent on home office and ancillary costs. Yet again we have spent 0% on staff, because ‘4H’ has no paid employees, and owns neither property nor equipment.
The Trustees of ‘4H’ are glad that, as testified by the achievements in ‘the Field’ described above, much was achieved in 2024-25 despite the many international, national, local and personal pressures under which we have had to operate. Again, many warm expressions of thanks have been received from Hungarian-speaking church leaders and others in the Carpathian Basin during this very challenging year that testify to the effectiveness of our performance, and the blessings it has been to many.
## **Public benefit**
Working closely with its UK supporters and supporting churches, ‘4H’ continues to advance the Christian faith in Hungary and in Hungarian-speaking regions of Romania, Serbia, Slovakia and south-west Ukraine by providing help and support for Bible-believing Churches and Christians, schools and higher education establishments, and some indigenous charities and missions where the need seems greatest, and the potential benefits are most promising.
In setting, monitoring and frequently adjusting the detailed programme of ‘4H’ activities, our Trustees continue to give due consideration to general guidance published by the Charity Commission relating to public benefit. In a sentence, our Trust continues to be essentially an ‘enabling organisation’ that seeks to help Hungarian speaking Churches and Christians to achieve more of their own goals by facilitating ways in which friends in the UK and elsewhere can help them to do so.
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Helping His Hungarian Heroes
REPORT OF THE TRUSTEES
for the year ended 31 January 2025
FIndl Rwl•w
The financial statements of the Trust for the year Ènded 31 January 2025 have been prepared on a receipts
and payments Icash, rather than 'accnJals'l basis and should be reviewed in conjunrtion with thi5 Trustee
Report.
Income is derived primarfly from unrestricted and re5trirted gifts received ffom individual supportefs and
churches. Expendlture Include5 modesi offlce admlnlstratlon and prlntlng costs. and field minlstry costs
associated with travel to and from Hungarian 5peakin8 countries to encourage and support church pastors
and thelr local Snltlatlves. These ffteld ministry Costs are more than covered by glfts to '4H' from the Dlrectors
themselve5.
'4H's total receipts in the year ended 31 January 2025 were EIIO.991131 January 2024.. £131.6831. and Its
total payments We £119,01712023-24: £126,746). resultlng In a net defi¢it for the ye3r of £8,026120234.'
net surplus £2,93SI.
As 0131 january 2024 '4H'5 cash funds were £202.053, comprlsln8 unrtstrirted Beneral funds of £202,053131
January 2024.. £209.1131 and StriCted fvnds of £Nil12024.. £NIII.
Pollcy
In keepin8 wlth our lon8-standln8 pollcy, the Trustees are committed to maintaining an adequate level of
re5eryes lor general funds. Accordingly. the Trustees can continue to actplely seek opportunitles for '4H' to
support Hungarlan.speakln8 churche5 and Believers across the Carpathian Basin of Ea5tem Europe- though,
sadly, ai a lower level of total fundlng than a decade a80.
O*cl•r•tlon
Tl)e T
port was approved by ihe Trustee5 and 5i8ned on ibelr behalf by:
and
Dr Eric C Bar
Chalrper
Mrs Rosemary J Barrell
Secretary
Date
12-
## **Helping His Hungarian Heroes**
## **RECEIPTS AND PAYMENTS ACCOUNTS for the year ended 31 January 2025**
## **RECEIPTS AND PAYMENTS**
|**Unrestricted**
**funds**
**£**
**Receipts**
Donations, legacies and other similar receipts
102,490
Interest received
6,371
**_Sub total_**
**108,861**
**Asset and investment sales, etc.**
**-**
**_Total receipts_**
**108,861**
**Payments**
Church building projects
47,374
Literature projects
32,693
Pastor support
24,722
Disabled support
5,300
Camps & Subsistence
3,198
Response to Results of Ukraine War
-
Field ministry expenses
-
Printing, postage and stationery costs
2,943
Sundry costs
-
Bank charges
657
**_Sub total_**
**116,887**
**Asset and investment purchases, etc.**
**-**
**_Total payments_**
**116,887**
**Net receipts / (payments)**
**(8,026)**
Transfers between funds
-
Cash funds last year end
210,079
**Cash funds this year end**
**202,053**|**Restricted**
**funds**
**£**
2,130
-
**2,130**
**-**
**2,130**
-
1,990
100
-
-
40
-
-
-
-
**2,130**
**-**
**2,130**
**-**
-
-
**-**|**2025**
**Total**
**£**
104,620
6,371
**110,991**
**-**
**110,991**
47,374
34,683
24,822
5,300
3,198
40
-
2,943
-
657
**119,017**
**-**
**119,017**
**(8,026)**
-
210,079
**202,053**|**2024**
**Total**
**£**
126,887
5,740
**147,526**
**-**
**147,526**
24,500
38,638
26,596
12,674
9,013
6,696
6,456
3,486
-
685
**149,755**
**-**
**149,755**
**3,883**
-
206,196
**210,079**|
|---|---|---|---|
- 13 -
Helplng His Hun8arian Heroes
RECEIPTS AND PAYMENTS ACCOUNTS
for the year ended 31 JanuJry 2025
STATEMENT OF ASSETS AND IIA8ILmES
As at 31 Janu•ry
2025
2024
Total
Ttrt•l
Unyestrlcted Restrkted
fvnds
funds
C•5h funds
COIF Charitles Deposit Fund
HSBC Bank PLC
78.717
123,336
78.717
123.336
74.916
135,163
Totolcoshfvnds
202.053
202,053
2i0P79
Other monetary •ssets
Gift aid recoverable from HMRC
11,130
11,130
12,931
Instm•t •s$4ts
Asgets r•taln•d lorth•