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2022-03-31-accounts

St Thomas Indian Orthodox

Church

St. Agnells Lane, Hemel Hempstead, HP2 7AY (Diocese of UK, Europe and Charity Reg. No. 1118820 | Email : stthomasorthodoxchurchlondon@hotmail.com

Annual Report – 2021/22

We are delighted to present the report of the St. Thomas’ Indian Orthodox Church London, for the year from 1[st] April 2021 to 31[st] March 2022, on behalf of the Managing Committee who are also Trustees of the Parish.

Affiliation and Membership

Our Church is a Parish of the U.K-Europe & Africa Diocese of the Indian (Malankara) Orthodox Church. The present head of this Church is HH Baselios Marthoma Mathews III and the Parish is under the direct jurisdiction of H.G Dr. Mathews Mar Thimothios, the Diocesan Bishop. The Parish is a registered Charity in England and Wales having the registration number: 1118820.

A membership register is maintained by the Parish. At the beginning of the reporting year we had 118 members.

Membership is open to any bona fide member of the Malankara (Indian) Orthodox Church who is baptized in accordance with the baptismal rite of the Malankara Orthodox Church or a Church in communion with it, and who agrees to abide by the constitution of the parish, and is currently living in UK. Voting rights in the Parish and election to office is confined to all adult members who have completed 18 years of age.

Objectives and Aims of the Parish

The following are the general aims of the Parish:

Worshipping place and Registered office

All our divine worship and liturgical activities are conducted at our church in St. Agnells Lane, Hemel Hempstead, Hertfordshire, HP2 7AY. We had our Prayer Fellowship meetings at the houses of the parishioners. Our registered office and the correspondence address of the Parish/Charity is St. Thomas’ Indian Orthodox Church London, St.Agnells Lane,Hemel Hempstead,Hertfordshire,HP2 7AY.

Administration of the Parish

The governance of the Parish/Charity is controlled by the Constitution adopted by the General Body of the Parish in 2007. As per the constitution the general administration of the Parish is conducted under the general supervision of the Vicar/President, by the General Body, the Managing Committee, the Secretary and the Treasurer. The Parish/ Charity is run by volunteers who are not entitled to remuneration, except the Vicar who is paid a salary for his pastoral services. The Vicar is appointed by the Diocesan Bishop and he holds the term until further order from the Bishop. The Managing Committee functions as the Trustees of the Parish/ Charity. The Managing Committee is elected by the General Body of the Parish and the term of the Committee is 1 year.

The Managing Committee / Trustees

The Election General Body of the Parish could not be convened due to the pandemic. The Vicar with guidance from the Diocesan metropolitan authorized the below office bearers to continue from the previous year.

The members of the Committee/ Trustees are as follows:

Vicar: Rev. Fr. Varghese John Mannamcheril

Honorary Treasurer: Mr. Shelvin Kuriakose Honorary Secretary: Mr. Anil Abraham

Committee Members:

Mrs. Grace Raju Mrs. Dolly Thomas Mr. Jomy Alexander Mr. Binu Cherian Mr. Robin George Mr. Mathew Thomas Mr. Shaji Jacob Auditor (Internal)

Ex-Officio:

Mr. Shibu Paul

General Body Meetings

Election General Body Meeting 23/01/22

The following people were elected to the Church Management Committee for the Financial Year 2022-2023

Honorary Treasurer :- Mr Mathew Thomas Honorary Secretary :- Mr. Jiji Mathews

Committee Members:-

1) Mrs Elizabeth Joshua John

2) Mrs Shery John

3) Mr Cijine John

5) Dr Sen Varghese Kallumpuram

6) Mr Shibu Paul

General Functioning and Activities of the Parish

Divine Worship

We have regular worship services on all Sundays and important Feast days. Every Sunday morning prayers start at 9:00 am and the Holy Eucharist starts at 10.00 am. Holy Liturgy is celebrated in Malayalam and in English; the service in English is celebrated on every fourth Sunday of the month. On average around 230 people regularly attend our Divine Liturgies.

The service is open to all people irrespective of their membership in the Parish and we welcome even those who do not have any ecclesiastical connection with our Church to attend our worship and liturgies.

There are many acolytes who assist the Vicar to make the Holy Eucharist a heavenly experience. We express our gratitude to all of them for their devotion and dedicated services.

This year has been a difficult one with complete lock down in place for most part of the year yet when possible we organized the service with attendees managed carefully using COVID guidelines.

There were 60 Holy Eucharist live streamed from church this year with 10,663 views per the statistics.

Auxiliary organizations

We normally have our Sunday school after the Holy Qurbana each Sunday, an active Youth Fellowship and a dedicated Women's Fellowship

which meet at regular intervals for study and discussion. These meetings help them to interact between themselves and to formulate common programs and schemes for the wellbeing and the growth of the Parish. This year the functioning has been hampered by the pandemic. Despite that the auxiliary organizations did a tremendous job in keeping the energy high and organizing online events.

(a)St. Thomas’ Sunday school <>

We have an excellent Sunday school which has been functioning very well under the leadership of our beloved vicar, Mr. Biju Kurian Jacob is serving as Head Teacher and Mr. Sudarshan Joy as Deputy

Head Teacher. We have a dedicated team of 32 mainstream teachers and 10 associate teachers who make the functioning of our Sunday school very successful. We are proud to say that our Sunday school is the crown of our parish. Our Sunday

school is growing in numbers year on year and we have 120 children attending in various grades from preschool to grade 12. Classes are conducted immediately after the Holy Eucharist on all Sundays except for

main festival days and summer vacation. The Sunday school starts with a general assembly, children from a grade will do presentations based on bible or topic they are learning. Teaching Malayalam words and alphabets and quiz

competitions also form part of the session. Songs from our Holy services and nuggets of learnings on our traditional practices are also taught in these sessions which are held before classes begin. Our children raised more than £760 for charity which will be

donated to a children’s charity in UK. They also conducted shoe box collection which is a toy collection to be distributed as Christmas presents for poor children in various parts of the world. Our children actively participated in a number of

events organised by the church such as Harvest festival, Parish Day Celebrations, Family Gala and Christmas Carol Service. We also successfully conducted the OVBS at our church on 29 th and 30 th

of June in which most of our Sunday School children participated and it was a great enriching experience for our children. We are proud to say that all our children in grade X and grade XII appeared for the graduating examination

conducted by the Orthodox Sunday School Association of the East, which is the central governing body of Malankara Orthodox Syrian Church for Sunday school. We are immensely proud that all our children cleared the examinations with

good grades including A+ and A. We congratulate the children, the teachers and the parents for the strenuous efforts they put towards it. Our children participated in the talent competition conducted both

at district level and diocesan level and won 1 st , 2 nd and 3 rd places in events such as solo song, group song and elocution. We congratulate all the prize winners at various levels. This

year the Sunday School Anniversary and the prize distribution were conducted on 01-01-2019 along with New year service

We have an excellent Sunday school which has been functioning very well under the leadership of our

beloved vicar, Mr. Biju Kurian Jacob is serving as Head Teacher and Mr. Sudarshan Joy as Deputy Head Teacher. We have a dedicated team of 32 mainstream teachers and 10 associate teachers who make the functioning of our Sunday

school very successful. We are proud to say that our Sunday school is the crown of our parish. Our Sunday school is growing in numbers year on year and we have 120 children attending in various grades from preschool to grade 12. Classes are

conducted immediately after the Holy Eucharist on all Sundays except for main festival days and summer vacation. The Sunday school starts with a general assembly, children from a grade will do presentations based

on bible or topic they are learning. Teaching Malayalam words and alphabets and quiz competitions also form part of the session. Songs from our Holy services and nuggets of learnings on our traditional practices are also taught in

these sessions which are held before classes begin. Our children raised more than £760 for charity which will be donated to a children’s charity in UK. They also conducted shoe box collection which is a toy collection to be distributed as Christmas

presents for poor children in various parts of the world. Our children actively participated in a number of events organised by the church such as Harvest festival, Parish Day Celebrations, Family Gala and Christmas Carol Service. We also successfully

conducted the OVBS at our church on 29 th and 30 th

of June in which most of our Sunday School children participated and it was a great enriching experience for our children. We are proud to say that all our children

in grade X and grade XII

appeared for the graduating examination conducted by the Orthodox Sunday School Association of the East, which is the central governing body of Malankara Orthodox Syrian

Church for Sunday school. We are immensely proud that all our children cleared the examinations with good grades including A+ and A. We congratulate the children, the teachers and the parents for the strenuous efforts they put towards it.

Our children participated in the talent competition conducted both at district level and diocesan level and won 1 st , 2 nd and 3 rd places in events such as solo song, group song

and elocution. We congratulate all the prize winners at various levels. This year the Sunday School Anniversary and the prize distribution were conducted on 01-01-2019 along with New year service

(b) St. Thomas’ Youth Fellowship

This was another year with pandemic restrictions easing on and off in which the youth members were very instrumental in all the activities of the church even whilst the church continued the services hybrid and eventually opened to all. We hope and pray that the fellowship continues

to strengthen and grow in the coming years. The President of the Youth Fellowship is the vicar, Rev Fr John Varghese Mannacherry. The secretary for the reporting period was Jesty Johnson and Benson Raju. .

Following the national lockdown, youth meetings were conducted every Saturday at 5pm. Our youth were working round the clock with youth meetings on Saturday and Sunday School on Sunday all which was now online which actively carried on by youth teachers. We also attended online spiritual sessions which were arranged by our sister churches. We also had our own youth taking turns for being speakers and share their spiritual knowledge every week in the meetings. We were in forefront in helping Sunday School with online OVBS which was conducted on 11th July 2021.

We actively participated in Feed the Hungry, Save the Children Christmas Jumper day etc. As the church was slowly open to restricted number able to a/end service, youth prepared and helped the committee in its transition activities. We conducted special youth sessions every evening of the Holy Week with youth speakers, and also did our Good Friday online Vigil.

Our youth members are acolytes and assist the vicar during the weekly Eucharist and worships. Our youth are also active Sunday School teachers, come together a minimum of twice a year for thorough church cleaning.

(c) St. Thomas’ Women’s Fellowship

The activities of the Women’s fellowship was severely hampered by the lockdown and a stop to the coming together at church. Nevertheless the Women’s fellowship continued their prayer chain and also conducted online prayer meetings to pray for the sick and the needy.

Charitable Activities

We were involved in charity activities as in the past and made donations to many charity activities as reported in our financial statement. Many of our members have made personal contributions through the church and individually towards various charitable institutions and organizations in India. We appreciate their good will and may God bless them. We also participated twice in the F eed the Hungry program to the DENS food bank first during the Easter of 2021 and Christmas of 2021. We were able to do online collection from amongst our members as donation. We were one of the major contributors to this program.

We also contributed to different individual requests a total of 1043 GBP through this FY.

Good Friday & Easter Service

The Good Friday & Easter service this year was one of the difficult ones as the country was in a full lock down with the pandemic. This year again the service was only physically attended by the Vicar and the acolytes

and the parishioners watched it online. The parish extends sincere gratitude to the Vicar and all that helped to make this happen.

Christmas Service :

Our Christmas liturgy and the Holy Eucharist were celebrated on 24[th] December 2020 , the Christmas Eve at 6.00 pm at our Church and the service was a blessing for many who watched online.

New Year Service

We had the celebration of Divine Liturgy on Sunday 1[st] January 2021 to mark the New Year and the anniversary of declaring our church as a parish by late lamented HG Dr Makarios. This year it was done online and was well attended by parishioners.

Other Programs via online media

Rev Fr John Varughese Farewell

Online Media Report

Viewers from 13 different countries with 10,312 views and 3119.6 hours watch time across all videos.

Financial Review

In this report year, we had total Income of 56696 GBP and total expense of 59579 GBP. A detailed Financial Statement is submitted to the General Body by the Hon. Treasurer.

Adjusting to the Pandemic

Starting March 2020 there has been rise in the COVID 19 infections and related deaths. Thank God that our members have been mostly safe. With the government announcing lock down from 23[rd] March 2020, we had to adapt quickly to safer operational measures and remote worship methodologies.

The Managing committee on behalf of all the parish would like to place our sincere gratitude to Vicar Fr. John Varughese Mannamcherril , Rev Fr. Abraham George Chor-Episopus and all the acolytes and members of the parish who worked towards making sure the worship is run uninterrupted in the best possible way.

Change of Guard

Following the Kalpana from the Diocesan metropolitan, current Vicar Fr. Varughese John Mannamcherril was relieved off his duties at our parish as he embarks on his new journey. The parish will ever be grateful for all his contributions over the period and particularly his guidance over the

difficult time both with the pandemic and the losses we had as a parish. His last day of service was 31[st] January 2022.

Equally we welcomed the new Vicar Fr Anoop Abraham to our parish and look forward to his guidance over the coming years. The new Vicar took charge on 1[st] February 2022.

The following people continue to represent our parish in

Diocesan General Body

Malankara Association

Births

Baby boy – Baby girl --

Marriages

< > Congratulations to all

Conclusion

Words are not enough to express our gratitude and submission to our Lord. The intercession of Holy Mother Mary, our Patron Saint Thomas and all other Saints are always a constant inspiration and enlightening guidance for our Parish. Let us continue the communion with them.

We pledge our loyalty to the supreme head of our Church, the Catholicos of the East and the Malankara Metropolitan, H.H. Baselios Marthoma Mathews III, and our Diocesan Bishop HG Dr Mathews Mar Thimothios.

We also express my sincere thanks to our Vicar for his continued guidance and leadership, to the leaders of various spiritual organizations, members of the Parish Managing Committee, fraternal members of our other parishes who support us through their donations and fellowship and above all to our own members for rendering their valuable support and contributions.

For and on behalf of the Managing Committee/ Trustees of St. Thomas’ Indian Orthodox Church London, Hemel Hempstead

Mr. Anil Abraham.

Hon. Secretary

St. Thomas' Indian Orthodox Church London

Statement of Financial Activities

for the year ended 31 March 2022

Income from:
Donations
Charitable Activities
Other trading activities
Total Income
Expenditure on:
Charitable activities
Depreciation
Total Expenditure
Net income/(expenditure)
Transfers
Gross transfers between funds
Net movement in funds
Reconciliation of funds
Total Funds brought forward
Total Funds carried forward		 Unrestricted
Funds 2022
£
50,579
0
610		 Restricted
2022
Funds
£
4,832
675
0		 Total
2022
£
55,411
675
610
56,696
38,856
20,823
59,679
(2,983)
0
(2,983)
469,752
466,768		 Unrestricted
Funds 2021
£
51,636
0
7,545		 Restricted
2021
Funds
£
Total
2021
£
20,995
72,631
60
60
0
7,545
51,189 5,507 59,181 21,055
80,236
33,888
20,823		 4,968
0		 21,466
20,319		 34,366
55,832
0
20,319
54,711 4,968 41,785 34,366
76,151
(3,522) 539 17,396 (13,311)
4,085
599 (599) (8,370) 8,370
0
(2,923) (60) 9,027 (4,941)
4,085
469,691 60 460,664 5,001
465,665
466,768 0 469,691 60
469,752

St. Thomas' Indian Orthodox Church London (Charity Reg No 1118820)

Balance Sheet

as at 31 March 2022

Notes
Tangible Fixed Assets
5
Current Assets
Debtors
6
Cash at bank and in hand
Current Liabilities
Creditors: Amounts due within one year
7
Net Current Assets
Total Assets less current liablities
Non-current Liabilities
Creditors: Amounts due after more than one year
8
Net Assets
Funds
Unrestricted Funds
Designated Funds
Restricted Funds
Total Funds
9		 2022
£
44,250
47,740		 2022
£
413,371
91,990
(13,582)
78,408
491,779
(25,011)
466,768
91,870
374,898
0
466,768		 2021
£
434,195
39,250
53,262
92,512
(13,542)
78,970
513,165
(43,413)
469,752
92,310
377,381
60
469,751

The financial statements were approved by the Managing Committee on 10 July 2022 and were signed on its behalf by:

Rev Fr Anoop Abraham (President)

Mathew Thomas (Treasurer)

St. Thomas' Indian Orthodox Church London

Statement of Cash Flows

for the year ended 31 March 2022

Notes
2022
£
(2,983)
6
20,823
Decrease in debtors
7
(5,000)
Decrease in creditors
8
(21)
Net cash provided by (used in) operating activities
12,819
Cash flows from investing activities:
Purchase of property, plant & equipment
6
0
Net cash provided by (used in) investing activities
0
Cash flows from financing activities:
Repayments of borrowing
(18,340)
Net cash provided by (used in) financing activities
(18,340)
Change in cash and cash equivalents during the year
(5,521)
Cash and cash equivalents as at 01 April
53,262
Cash and cash equivalents as at 31 March
47,740
Cash flows from operating activities:
Net income/(expenditure) for the year end (as per the statement of
financial activities)
Adjustments for:
Depreciation charges		 Notes
2022
£
(2,983)
6
20,823
Decrease in debtors
7
(5,000)
Decrease in creditors
8
(21)
Net cash provided by (used in) operating activities
12,819
Cash flows from investing activities:
Purchase of property, plant & equipment
6
0
Net cash provided by (used in) investing activities
0
Cash flows from financing activities:
Repayments of borrowing
(18,340)
Net cash provided by (used in) financing activities
(18,340)
Change in cash and cash equivalents during the year
(5,521)
Cash and cash equivalents as at 01 April
53,262
Cash and cash equivalents as at 31 March
47,740
Cash flows from operating activities:
Net income/(expenditure) for the year end (as per the statement of
financial activities)
Adjustments for:
Depreciation charges		 2021
£
4,085
20,319
(14,250)
(93)
12,819 10,061
0 0
0 0
(18,340) (16,843)
(18,340) (16,843)
(5,521) (6,782)
53,262
47,740		 60,044
53,262

St. Thomas' Indian Orthodox Church London

Notes to the financial statements

for the year ended 31 March 2022

1. ACCOUNTING POLICIES

a. The financial statements have been prepared under the historical cost convention, and in accordance with the Statement of
Recommended Practice for charities effective 1 January 2019 and the Financial Reporting Standard applicable in the UK and
Republic of Ireland (FRS 102) issued on 16 July 2014 and with the Charities Act 2011.
b. The financial statements are prepared as a going concern basis. At the time of approving the accounts, the Trustees have a
reasonable expectation that the charity has adequate resources to continue in operational existence for the foreseeable future.
c. All incoming resources are included in the Statement of Financial Activities when the charity is entitled to the income and when
receivable. Voluntary income is received by way of donations.
d. Expenditure is accounted for on an accruals basis and has been classified under headings that aggregate all costs related to that
category. Where costs cannot be directly attributed to particular headings they have been allocated to activities on a basis
consistent with the use of resources.
e. Depreciation is charged on a straight line basis at the following annual rates for each class of asset, over its estimated useful life.
Land and buildings - 4% per annum
Equipment -20% per annum
Assets are capitalised if they are purchased at a cost of over £500
f. Unrestricted funds can be used in accordance with the charitable objectives at the discretion of the managing committee.
Restricted funds can only be used for particular purposes within the objects of the charity. Restrictions arise when specified by
the donor or when funds are raised for particular restricted purposes.

h The Charity consistantly applied the accounting policies to all the periods presented in these statements of financial activities

CHARITABLE ACTIVITES
Sunday School
OTHER TRADING ACTIVTIES
Harvest Festival
Rental income
Cultural events
Manna Festival Collection		 31 March 2022
£
675
675
31 March 2022
£
-
610
-
-
610		 31 March 2021
£
60
60
31 March 2021
£
7,425
120
-
-
7,545

2. CHARITABLE ACTIVITES

3. OTHER TRADING ACTIVTIES

St. Thomas' Indian Orthodox Church London

Notes to the financial statements

for the year ended 31 March 2022

4. TRUSTEES' REMUNERATION AND EXPENSES

During the year, one trustee (2019: 1) received £15,241 (2019: £16,074) for services provided to the charity. This is an allowable payment as permitted by Section 185 of the Charities Act 2011.

During the year one trustee (2019: 1) was reimbursed £2,297 (2019: £1,865) for travel expenses incurred on behalf of the charity.

5. TAX

The charity is exempt from paying tax on its charitable activities

6. TANGIBLE FIXED ASSETS

Cost
As at 1 April 2021
Additions
As at 31 March 2022
Depreciation
As at 1 April 2021
Charge for the year
As at 31 March 2022
Net Book Value
As at 31 March 2022
As at 31 March 2021
7.
DEBTORS
Gift aid receivable
Prepayments and other debtors
8.
CREDITORS: Amounts due within one year
Accruals
Bank loan		 Fixtures and
Fittings
£
50,212
0
50,212
(49,207)
(670)
(49,877)
335
1,005		 Freehold Land
and Building
£
653,834
0
653,834
(220,644)
(20,153)
(240,798)
413,036
433,190
31 March 2022
£
44,250
-
44,250
31 March 2022
£
120
13,462
13,582		 Total
£
704,046
0
704,046
(269,851)
(20,823)
(290,675)
413,371
434,195
31 March 2021
£
39,250
-
39,250
31 March 2021
£
141
13,401
13,542

St. Thomas' Indian Orthodox Church London

Notes to the financial statements

for the year ended 31 March 2022

9. CREDITORS: Amounts due after more than one year

31 March 2022 31 March 2021
£ £
Bank loan 25,011 43,413

A 20 year mortgage was taken out from NatWest Bank of £250,000 on 23 June 2011 towards the purchase of the charity's premises at St. Agnells Lane, Hemel Hempstead of the total purchase price of £365,000. The fixed interest rate period was completed on 13 July 2014 and re-negotiated a new mortgage from 13 Jan 2015 for a period of 5 years at an interest rate of 5.49% and standard variable rate for the rest of the term. The amount outstanding as at 31st March 2022 is £56,954 (2020: £56,955), representing 15.6% (2019: 20.2%) of the initial purchase price.

10. MOVEMENT IN FUNDS

Restricted Funds
Fellowship meals
Sunday School
Property Donation
Charity
Donation - Decade
Catholicate & Diocese Donations
Total Restricted Funds
Unrestricted Funds
Designated - Capital fund
General Funds
Total Unrestricted Funds
Total Funds		 As at
1 April 2021
£
0
60
0
0
0
0
60
377,381
92,310
469,691
469,751		 Incoming
Resources
£
1,450
675
3,262
0
0
120
5,507
0
51,189
51,189
56,696		 Outgoing
Resources
£
(2,197)
0
(1,729)
(1,043)
0
0
(4,968)
(20,823)
(33,888)
(54,711)
(59,679)		 Transfers
£
747
(735)
(1,534)
1,044
0
(120)
(599)
18,341
(17,741)
599
0		 As at
31 March 2022
£
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
374,898
91,870
466,768
466,768

Purpose of Restricted Funds

Fellowship meals

These are donations received from members as their contribution towards the meals and other expenses incurred for the fellowship meetings of the church members after church services.

Catholicate/Diocese donations

These are donations received from members towards the Malankara Orthodox Syrian Church.

Sunday School

These are donations received from members towards the Sunday School.

Decade

These are donations received from members towards the dacade house building and souvenir

Charity

These are donations received from members towards various charitable causes and projects including the floods which affected people in Kerala, India

Designated - Capital Fund

This represents the net book value of the fixed assets less any loans outstanding against the net book value of the assets.

Independent examiner's report on the accounts

Section A Independent Examiner’s Report

Report to the trustees/ members of St. Thomas' Indian Orthodox Church London on accounts charity registration number 1118820 for the year ended 31st March 2022.

Respective responsibilities of trustees and examiner

The charity's trustees are responsible for the preparation of the accounts. The charity’s trustees

consider that an audit is not required for this year under section 144 of the Charities Act 2011 (“the

Charities Act”) and that an independent examination is needed.

It is my responsibility to:

Basis of independent examiner’s statement

My examination was carried out in accordance with general Directions given by the Charity Commission. An examination includes a review of the accounting records kept by the charity and a comparison of the accounts presented with those records. It also includes consideration of any unusual items or disclosures in the accounts, and seeking explanations from the trustees concerning any such matters. The procedures undertaken do not provide all the evidence that would be required in an audit, and consequently no opinion is given as to whether the accounts present a ‘true and fair’ view and the report is limited to those matters set out in the statement below.

Independent examiner's statement

In connection with my examination, no matter has come to my attention

  1. which gives me reasonable cause to believe that in, any material respect, the requirements:

  2. to keep accounting records in accordance with section 130 of the Charities Act; and

  3. to prepare accounts which accord with the accounting records and comply with the accounting requirements of the Charities Act have not been met; or

  4. to which, in my opinion, attention should be drawn in order to enable a proper understanding of the accounts to be reached.

Shaji Jacob

<>

Dated 10 July 2022