2024-03-31-accounts

church family ANNUAL REPORT AND FINANCIAL STATEMENTS 11 31 MARCH 2024 CHARITY NUMBER: 1125029 COMPANY NUMBER: 06569993 REGISTERED NAME: WOODLANDS GROUP OF CHURCHES

WOODLANDS GROUP OF CHURCHES

YEAR ENDED 31 MARCH 2024

CONTENTS	Pages
Trustees’ Annual Report	2 - 23
Report of the Independent Auditor	24 – 27
Statement of Financial Activities	28
Balance Sheet	29
Statement of Cash Flows	30
Notes to the financial statements	31 – 50

WOODLANDS GROUP OF CHURCHES

TRUSTEES’ ANNUAL REPORT

YEAR ENDED 31 MARCH 2024

INTRODUCTION

This is the Board of Trustees’ combined annual report for the year ended 31 March 2024 under the Companies Act 2006 and the Charities Act 2011 together with the audited financial statements for the year. The charity has followed the requirements of the Charities Statement of Recommended Practice (FRS 102 SORP 2019) in preparing these financial statements.

BACKGROUND

Woodlands Church Family has a shared structure, vision, values and multiple congregations based in various parts of Bristol. Woodlands Church Family is registered as Woodlands Group of Churches with registered charity number 1125029 and as a company limited by guarantee (company number 06569993). The legal entity continues to be called 'Woodlands Group of Churches', with 'Woodlands Church Family' used as a working name. These names and ‘the Church’ are used interchangeably throughout this report.

Motivated by the Great Commission in Matthew 28v18-20, the Mission Statement of the Woodlands Church Family is:

“to help reach the one million people of the Greater Bristol region, through church planting and regeneration and networking existing churches”

The goal is to see a light in every street and for every person to have opportunities to hear and see a demonstration of the Gospel.

Shared structure – The Woodlands Church Family has four main congregations:

• Woodlands Central , a multi-service resource congregation based in Clifton, with Woodlands Southside as a recent South Bristol plant as well as Woodies Local in Backwell.

• Woodlands Community Church , a multi-service resource congregation serving Southmead, Westbury-on-Trym and Henleaze, with Branch, a missional congregation reaching Brentry and Henbury.

• Woodlands Highgrove , a multi-service resource congregation serving Sea Mills, Coombe Dingle, Kingsweston, Stoke Bishop and Shirehampton.

• Woodlands Metro , a multi-service resource congregation based in the city centre.

Each of the congregations has its own congregational leadership team and where multi-services exist, there may be service congregational leadership teams. The Woodlands Church Family has a Senior Leadership Team and Trustee Board.

The Woodlands Church Family has several linked churches around Bristol with whom it partners. Each of these associated and affiliated churches are independently governed charities.

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CHARITABLE PURPOSES, VISION, VALUES, ACTIVITIES AND GOALS

The declared charitable purposes of Woodlands Group of Churches are:

• “The proclamation and furtherance of the Gospel of God concerning his Son Jesus Christ our Lord and the preaching and teaching of the Christian Faith throughout the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland and elsewhere.”

• “The organisation, sponsorship, promotion and continuing support of unincorporated bodies of Christians recognised by the Trustees as Christian churches or Christian fellowships meeting and functioning in various places in the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland and elsewhere as the

• Trustees may decide for the worship of God, the instruction and edification of Christians, the care and instruction of young people and children, the evangelisation of non Christians, the relief of poverty and sickness and the advancement of the Christian Faith generally.”

The shared vision of the Woodlands Church Family is to continually reproduce the life of Jesus . We seek to achieve this vision through the following strategic aims and objectives:

1. Commitment To help an increasing number of people become committed Christians and part of the life and worship of the Church.

2. Discipleship To disciple each member in an atmosphere of love, prayer and Bible teaching to follow and become like Jesus.

3. Service To release every member into ministry and mission in the power of the Holy Spirit, with opportunities to discover, develop and fruitfully use their gifts.

4. Unity

5. To build together in unity with other churches to reach the whole city and region with the Gospel, to be salt and light in the region and to bless the nations of the world, especially the poorest and persecuted, and to care for the planet.

This shared vision is motivated by the Great Command of Matthew 22v37-39, expressed in a set of shared values of Word and Spirit, Intimacy in Worship, Passion in Prayer, Depth of Discipleship, Infectious Witness, Love and Faithfulness in relationships, Forming and being Community, Care for the Poor, the Persecuted and the Planet.

Our principal activities to achieve our charitable purposes for the public benefit are:

• The establishment of Global Partnerships with Christian missionaries and organisations based at home and overseas;

• Local City and Community Outreach activities and events to enhance the outreach of congregations into local communities;

• The provision of Gathered Church services and events for the general public;

• The provision of services, events and programmes for Children and Youth ;

• The provision of services, events, programmes and community living opportunities for Students

• The provision of programmes of Discipleship, Teaching and Leadership Development and associated resources; and

• Pastoral Care for those of any age or background associated with Woodlands Church Family.

More detailed descriptions of the activities of the Church, together with how these deliver public benefit and our achievements for the period, are under the heading of Achievements and Performance, below.

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ACHIEVEMENTS AND PERFORMANCE

The Woodlands Church Family is committed to enabling as many people as possible to participate and become part of the life of the church. As such, we operate no formal membership structure and all are welcome, whether ‘just visiting’ or wishing to get connected and involved. In practice, the opportunities to attend services and take part in other activities in person are most accessible to those who live in Bristol and the surrounding region.

We continue to have a significant presence online which means that many throughout the world can and do benefit by being able to receive teaching, inspiration and interaction with the Woodlands Church Family.

In addition, our prayerful and financial support of national and international institutions, individuals and projects which advance the Christian faith, means that the Church does impact and bring benefit to sections of the public well beyond Bristol and the surrounding region.

The Senior Leadership Team and Trustees of the Woodlands Church Family have given significant time and attention this year to processing and acting on agreed recommendations from a ‘Strategic Review’ completed in March 2023. As well as a strategy for Youth, the Church has begun a significant exercise of transition to release David Mitchell as senior leader of the Woodlands Church Family from his embedded

role as leader at the Woodlands Central congregation. A discernment process has led to the decision to appoint two of the current Core Leadership Team, Rachel Riddall and Nigel Savage as point leaders at Central with additional executive support. This transition has already begun with a view to Rachel and Nigel being fully invested in their new roles by September 2024.

Another recommendation was the formation of Woodlands Academy to bring together training resources and leadership development for the Woodlands Church Family. Tim Dobson has been asked to coordinate this initiative and has given a day a week to develop this new structure which is due to begin in September 2024. This will also be the vehicle for our ‘Church Planting’ stream and an exciting new development has been the invitation from an ‘ageing’ church in Easton, Chelsea Christian Centre, for Woodlands to take on their legacy and facilities and be a base for a new Woodlands ‘Eastside’ community.

Extensive work has also been carried out in the spheres of Wellbeing, Children’s Ministry and Governance and a greater cohesion in the Woodlands Church Family is tangible.

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As we look back on 2023/24, the following are examples of our key ministry activities throughout the year as we sought to put faith into practice in a variety of ways:

Global Partnerships

One of our strategic aims is ‘to bless the nations of the world, especially the poorest and persecuted and to care for the planet’.

The Woodlands Church Family actively supports several individuals and charities who we refer to as ‘global partners and global associates’. Currently there are 36 active global partners working in 16 countries all over the world, including 5 based in the UK, focused on international work.

This past year has seen further connectivity with our Global Partners and associates through on-line services, training courses, and a

digital chat group. These continue to be an encouragement to those working in more remote and religiously challenging locations.

During the year:

• We made grants totalling £229,229 (2022/23: £259,764) to a significant number of individuals/families and institutions. Further details can be found in note 7 of the accounts;

• We took a special offering to respond to the devastating earthquake in Morocco and floods in Libya in September 2023 and were able to send grants totalling £17,520 to Frontiers, a Christian organisation working to provide relief;

• We regularly contacted our global partners and associates to hear news of their work and ask how we might best support them through prayer;

• Prayer continues to be the bedrock of global partnerships work, with monthly prayer meetings which continue to draw 35-40 to attend in a hybrid format (face to face and virtual), where two global partners ‘Zoom’ into the meeting each month to share their needs. There is also regular international focus in weekly congregational prayers, on monthly global offering Sundays and in the prayer rooms during our bi-annual 24/7 prayer weeks and prayer rooms;

• In June 2023, the Global Partnership Weekend took the theme of ‘Jesus - For Every Nation’, with six global partners flying back to join us for the weekend to share in services and be encouraged in their ministries;

• We continued our ‘Life Ministry Reviews’, with 30 of our global partners submitting formal annual reviews to church leadership, highlighting areas of success, growth life changes, as well as ongoing concerns and need. This has been a very helpful exercise in supporting their ongoing pastoral and financial needs and assessing effectiveness of their work;

• A significant development and unexpected answer to prayer, has been the approach of the Lloyd Johnstone (Bristol) Trust to take on the stewardship of a two-bed flat in Henleaze that they own, for the sole benefit of returning missionaries needing short-term accommodation, free of cost. Woodlands have agreed to take this on, continuing the vision of the original trustees. This transition is currently in process and a management committee comprising three Woodlands

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members is in place to take over the running of the facility. It has continued to benefit both Woodlands and non-Woodlands mission partners. One such example is a global partner, who had served effectively in the Indian Ocean islands for 17 years and could effectively transition to a new long-term posting in North Africa, after a 6 month stay here in late 2023-24. The assets being subsumed by the Woodlands Church Family will be included in the 2024/25 financial statements.

• Our partnership with Hands at Work in Africa, shared with the George Muller Charitable Trust, has continued to develop, with grants in total given of £24,240 (2022/23: £25,993);

• We gave bursaries of £1,225 (2022/23: £2,920) from our short-term mission fund to five members of Woodlands for trips ranging from YWAM DTS training and outreaches in California and South Africa, working with children in Zambia, Croatia and Romania. In January 2024 we also launched 3 targeted short-term trips to support the work of our global partners in Peru, France and Romania which are ongoing. An Easter prayer and mobilisation trip to North Africa, partnering with another mission organisation has also become a regular opportunity for Woodlands members to take part in;

• The Woodlands Climate Action Network is a recently launched initiative, led by young adults aiming to help Woodlands look at the big picture of our sustainability and challenging us as a church to move towards carbon neutral operations with some practical suggestions for change; and

• Following our participation in the Operation Noah Bright Now pledge (to abstain from financial investment in fossil fuels) in the prior year, the Highgrove congregation was awarded the Silver Eco Church award in April 2023.

City and Community Outreach

The Woodlands Church Family is committed to social action and evangelism in the Bristol region through our own activities and in partnership with many local agencies. This includes work with the homeless, those in debt, urban regeneration and more. Much of this work is with the most marginalised members of the local community and we aim to support them through practical expressions of support as well as offering them the opportunity to get involved in Church life and come to faith.

Examples of this during the year were:

• We are grateful for the ongoing partnership with local government which means Bristol Churches have been quick to respond to urgent needs identified by the City Council. This includes work with TLG (Transforming Lives for Good), working in three primary schools across the city. Volunteers commit to sitting with an individual child one-on-one every week and improving their confidence and self-esteem. Bristol City Council has encouraged churches to support schools particularly where already vulnerable children have fallen behind with their education or have been non-attending.

• Woodlands Central has continued to run two men’s football teams. These are thriving communities made up of people from inside and outside of the church, playing in the Bristol Churches League.

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• The basketball outreach ‘Bristol Brickers’ continued with the summer sessions taking place in a park in Southmead making it easier for local children to join in. The club seeks to engage teenagers from the community, giving them a safe space to interact with other teens, get some exercise and hear some uplifting team talks. A highlight was a trip see the Bristol Flyers professional basketball team play as a source of inspiration to our young players.

• The Alpha Course is a fantastic opportunity for people from all walks of life to explore the Christian faith. The Alpha Course has run at Woodlands Central every term this year, with courses also running across the Woodlands Church Family, most notably in Backwell and at Woodlands Metro and Highgrove. This year, there was a significant increase in attendance at Alpha courses

across the Woodlands Church Family. For example, at Woodlands Central there were 214 guests who came to at least one session (2022/23: 150). It’s so encouraging to see the increase amongst all ages, but especially young adults and students. We have seen lots of fruit across the Woodlands Church Family from Alpha this year and it's exciting to see many continuing their journey as they join post-Alpha small groups.

• The Noise ran in May 2023 with over 700 volunteers working across many of the more disadvantaged communities of Bristol. Many projects were completed for vulnerable families, cream teas for senior citizens and fun afternoon in some of the more marginalised communities around the city. The Noise in 2024 will be the final Noise weekend, after 24 years since it first ran in Bristol, with the next season being one of encouraging churches to serve their local communities all year around through the Noise 365 initiative.

• With Foodbank outlets in Southmead run by Community Church and support given by volunteers at the NW Bristol Foodbank and the East/South Bristol Foodbank, hundreds of families received emergency food supplies. Woodlands Southside has strengthened its efforts in serving Victoria Park Foodbank in terms of people volunteering, provision of food, and a monetary gift through Southside’s youth raising the foodbank’s profile and participation in some sponsored activities.

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• Once again, a highlight of the year was the Single Parents Fair in November 2023. We saw over 100 families during the morning and once again everything was provided free of charge. We had second-hand clothes, books and toys, family portraits, professional haircuts, a free café, cookery lessons and advice stands from a range of organisations.

• In partnership with Victoria Park Baptist Church, Woodlands Southside has been operating a weekly hub for Ukrainians.

• This has been really valued by our Ukrainian guests with its provision of amazing food, and fantastic and enduring friendships that have developed. There has also been quite a bit of signposting which has also helped many of the guests find appropriate paid work.

• A thriving New Wine Leaders hub runs every other month hosted by the Woodlands Church Family. Church Leaders from over 50 different churches gather to share stories of encouragement, training and times of prayer.

• Woodlands Metro was involved in the fundraising ‘Sleep Out’ for InHope (Bristol) in October 2023. Despite sleeping out in Storm Babet, £9,500 was raised for the Wild Goose Drop-in. We put together and donated 50 Easter hampers for Beloved in March and volunteered to collect food donations from Tesco’s Eastville and Brislington stores in November and April. During last month's collection we gathered 667kg of donations which is equivalent to 56 standard food parcels or 167 meals’ worth of food.

• Our Branch congregation has also offered a very successful ‘Warm Space’ and lunch facility throughout the winter months for some of the most vulnerable members of the local community.

• During 2023/4, the Community Church became a ‘Home for Good’ church championing fostering and adoption and providing a support group for local carers.

• The Sea Mills community were impacted greatly by the tragic death of three children in February 2024, which was covered in the national news. Highgrove joined with the local Anglican church to provide pastoral and prayer support to Sea Mills Primary school staff, students and families, as well as resourcing a community space for the Police and the rest of the local community in the immediate aftermath. With support from Highgrove, out of this space has developed a weekly ‘Friendship Cafe’ for local women, particularly those who might feel isolated, to meet, as well as an ESOL group in partnership with Sea Mills Community Initiatives and funded by the City Council.

• Highgrove continues their involvement in the local primary school with regular assemblies and RE teaching during Christmas and Easter. In the local Secondary school, Highgrove runs a reading support scheme and are about to start running wellbeing groups for students who are finding school difficult.

• After an absence of 5 years, we’re again participating in Love Running in May 2024 in partnership with Love Running CIO. It’s a mass entry into the Bristol 10k, widened out this year to include the Half Marathon. As before, we’ve been able to encourage and engage participation

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from other churches in the city, not just the Woodlands Church Family. It’s incredible to see nearly 250 ordinary people coming together to run and raise money for trafficked children in the Philippines as well as some of the areas of greatest need closer to home. Love Running is closing in on its £50,000 target which will take the cumulative total well over £800,000 raised through Love Running over the years.

City and Community Outreach Charitable Loans

Over the years, the Church has employed a strategy to see thriving churches in local communities by providing short-term secured loans to enable key workers and volunteers to be able to purchase a house in those communities. It has been our experience that having people living in the heart of communities, getting involved in community life and resourcing local outreach makes a significant difference in fruitfulness and growth. These loans have been typically 3-5 years in duration and, once repaid, were being recycled to enable further loans to be made. These loans are classified as programme-related investments in these financial statements because their purpose is not to generate a commercial financial return but to enable people to live and serve Christ in the community to which they are called.

In the prior financial year, in light of the cost-of-living crisis and escalating inflation and interest rates, the Trustees decided to close the scheme to new applications given the challenges of assessing applicant loan affordability in an uncertain economic environment. Once existing loans have been repaid, alternative uses for the funds will be determined on a case-by-case basis in order to further the purposes of the Church. The Trustees are thankful for the charitable benefit and fruitfulness that this strategy has brought over the years, but recognise that the skills required, the risk involved and the opportunity cost of continuing the scheme mean this was not a strategy that should be continued.

However, as an exception this year, the Trustees decided to extend a short-term housing loan to a member of key management personnel, in order to ensure stability during a period of transition of leadership at our Woodlands Central congregation. Details of this loan are included in note 24 of the financial statements.

The current carrying value of loans outstanding is shown as a designated fund in these financial statements. There were eight such loans outstanding at the year end (2023: eight), with one disbursed and one repaid in the year. The value of the outstanding loans was £1,981,040 (2022/23: £2,160,225).

Gathered Church

The Woodlands Church Family exists to enable people to find and grow in their relationship with God and the Christian faith, and to bless the city of Bristol, serving people of all faiths and none.

We gather on Sundays at the large central location of Woodlands Church in Clifton which runs four regular services on Sundays, and in six other neighbourhood sites in Bristol and now into North Somerset. Our model is based on an understanding that Church can exist in the modes of Cell (the small group, or Church in the home), Congregation (Church in a neighbourhood) and Celebration (Church in the City). Our Woodlands Central congregation provides that gathered Celebration context, especially at our 11am and 6.30pm services. At our 3[rd] Sunday evening

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services, a number of churches associated with Woodlands from around the region are specially invited to join us for these services.

On a typical Sunday there will be eleven public worship services conducted over the sites where Woodlands Church Family congregations are based. In the nearby North Somerset village of Backwell we have begun a monthly family service that attracts up to 100 people. This increased to twice a month from May 2024 with a planned trajectory to begin weekly Sunday services later in 2024/5.

We continue to offer on-line worship, streaming our larger Sunday services and gathering a Zoom congregation at our 8 am service at Woodlands Central.

Woodlands Church Family congregations are very easy to find through on-line search engines, and our on-line services attract hundreds of watches each Sunday. Indeed, we have discovered that many people who are looking for a Church explore on-line services first before making in-person connection.

It has been encouraging to see our ‘in person’ congregations continue strongly. At Woodlands Central, over 500 first time visitors gave us their contact details, but all the congregations continue to grow with the exception of Woodlands Metro which has had some challenges this year around numerical growth. There have been large termly courses at Woodlands Central, with diverse attendance from students through to members of the recovery community.

Our most recent neighbourhood congregation, Woodlands Southside, meets on Sunday afternoons at Victoria Park Baptist Church, on the edge of Bedminster. The leaders of that congregation, Richard and Nikki Pollard were invited by a church in Sheffield to begin a ministry there. They left at Easter 2024 and Ruth Morgans, Families Minister at Woodlands Central, has been seconded to work with the volunteer leaders and head up that team alongside her current role.

Our congregation Branch Community Church meets in Emmanuel Chapel on the large estate of Henbury. The amalgamation with a small indigenous congregation at Emmanuel has solidified very well and the Church offers a vibrant and welcoming act of worship each Sunday afternoon. The Church is now often full for their 4pm service and has benefitted from the support of children and youth ministers from the wider Woodlands Church Family.

Our Highgrove congregation in Sea Mills has benefitted from the completion of a new foyer and refurbishments the Church building. Numbers at Highgrove continue to be too many for one morning service, and so this year the church has held two consecutive morning services, the earlier of which is live streamed. Highgrove held a very successful Alpha Course this term with over 20 guests, many of whom continue to engage with the congregation following the end of the course.

The Community Church in Southmead continues to welcome a number of Hong Kong Cantonesespeaking migrants. Many of these recent arrivals to the UK are choosing a path of integration, rather than affiliating to the ‘Chinese Church’ in Bristol. Communion is now shared with Cantonese and English speaking congregants. Fortnightly sermons in Cantonese are offered as an alternative to the regular preaching at Community Church.

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Woodlands Metro has had to come to terms with declining attendance on Sundays and financial giving this year, and some of the key younger congregation leadership team have re-located to Woodlands Central. Woodlands Metro has continued a monthly morning service, with the aim of building a less transient community. Their recent house party weekend attracted over 70 people, but it has overall been a challenging year.

Philip and Kate Jinadu, the founders and leaders of this congregation, handed in their notice in May 2024 and, whilst on a 3-month sabbatical until 31 August 2024, an interim leadership team will lead the congregation consolidating to one service per Sunday whilst plans are put in place for future leadership.

A distinctive element of community at Woodlands Central has been the large church-linked community houses which are in their own right ‘religious communities’. A significant factor for the Church to process is that the most prominent of these houses, which are close to Woodlands Central, will be sold by their owners, a Christian charity called The George Muller Charitable Trust. The closure for sale of one of these, Ashley Down House (‘ADH’), which has been the home and office of the Woodlands Church Family Senior Leader, along with up to twenty others living in community, completed in June 2024. Our Property Strategy Group continues to look for appropriate buildings close to Woodlands Central to house office and midweek facilities which will be lost in the sale of ADH.

It was wonderful to celebrate Christmas and Easter services this year and to see large numbers attending our suite of services, as well as following on-line. Our portfolio of Christmas services included Contemporary Carols, Carols by Candlelight, ‘Folky Christmas’ and a midnight service. Our Easter events included family Good Friday services and events as well as a beautiful reflective service, and Easter Sunday saw full buildings with baptisms to celebrate.

Unity and prayer underpin the Woodlands Church Family, and as well as our regular congregational prayer events the New Year always begins with a week of prayer and fasting.

The Tuesday of Prayer Week was again an opportunity to come together after a day of fasting, for worship and prayer, with hundreds of people from around the Church family.

Children and Youth Ministry

The Woodlands Church Family offers a wide range of activities which children and young people join in with to make friends, discover and use their gifts and talents and learn more about being disciples of Jesus.

In light of the strategic review of Children and Families ministry, Rachel Turner, the report’s author, has been working with the Senior Leaders and Children and Families ministers from across the Woodlands Church Family. We have been coming together to work through the recommendations of the report to galvanise a clear vision and strategy for Children and Families ministry. The work with Rachel is still ongoing but the benefits have already been felt with a renewed sense of purpose and vision around how we can best meet the needs of discipleship and opportunities of mission in this generation.

Woodlands Church Family appointed a Youth Director in August 2023, and then appointed three full time youth workers to serve in the Congregations of Central, Highgrove and Community Church. The first

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term has been an opportunity to see these youth workers bed into their respective congregations which were new to all of them. The sense of collaborative team-working has been very helpful for a joined up youth strategy which has been manifested by growing schools ministry, a successful Easter holiday club in the estate of Henbury and the release of youth worker time to support our church plants. It’s been great to run a sixth form weekend away this term and see that group of year 12 & 13 young people grow in numbers and depth. Two other weekends have been run for Central and Highgrove young people.

The following are other examples of key activities and developments that took place this year:

• At Central, the regular children’s groups on Sundays and mid-week group have continued to grow over the last year. All of these groups have been focusing on helping children connect with church, grow in faith and build relationships with one another. Over 220 children are registered with Woodlands Central, which represents over 140 families. On average, we have 115 children attending children’s groups each Sunday with over 100 adult volunteers serving in the ministry. Alongside Sunday services we have run extra events throughout the year such as light parties, taking 40 children to attend SPREE festival, multiple Christingle services and a Good Friday family service and schools’ outreach.

• Mental health continues to be a real challenge for many young people. The team have adjusted well, continuing the best they can to connect with young people. A residential weekend away happened in Autumn 2023, which again gave a sense of building community.

• The youth club ‘Alberts Place’ took place every Thursday during term-time and provides a fun evening of games and activities for young people from our local community as well as developing junior leaders.

• At the Highgrove congregation, work with young people is particularly strong at the moment, with around 30 young people regularly attending church, growing in their gifts by serving on Sunday teams and running worship and prayer evenings. In April 2024, a Youth Alpha course started in the church building, as well as one in the local Catholic school, where a number of Highgrove young people attend sixth form.

• Southmead Stars, one of several parent and toddler groups we run, moved permanently to the ‘Ranch’ a local adventure playground and now has over 50 parents and children attending. Once again on Good Friday 2024, in partnership with the parent and toddler group from another local church, Community Church ran a Family Fun morning attended by around 200 adults and children.

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Student Ministry

University students are at a strategic time of their lives in terms of experiences that inspire and shape the rest of their lives, but we are aware that thousands of students in Bristol have little involvement with Church or the Christian faith. We want to play our part in reaching this demographic with the Good News of Jesus. We want to see students become Christians, to grow in their faith and be inspired and equipped to serve God with their lives.

Our Woodlands Central building is strategically located near Bristol University and our Woodlands

Metro community is located near some of the new student accommodation in the centre of Bristol. Woodlands Central and Metro joined forces to run the Big Hot Dog Give Away during Freshers week. We were able to connect with hundreds of students who were new to Bristol and many new to being in a church building.

This year, after all the disruption and isolation caused by the pandemic, we’ve put a particular emphasis on building a strong, racially diverse community amongst students. With Woodlands Metro now meeting in the Cathedral School, they’ve been able to mobilise teams of students to help pupils in the Junior School with their reading. Alongside this, students have been engaged with social action and care alongside partners like Beloved, the local foodbank and Bristol Noise. We’ve been able to offer study spaces and drop-ins for students who don’t normally connect with church, as well as taking the initiative with outreach in some University spaces. Metro has also put together a team of young professionals to provide mentoring, support and career advice for students.

Discipleship, Teaching and Leadership Development

We are committed to raising up a new generation of leaders to impact the city, the region and the world with the Good News about Jesus. A key part of ‘continually reproducing the life of Jesus’ is discipleship. This involves learning to imitate and obey Jesus Christ in every aspect of our lives.

Examples of how we have encouraged this during the year are:

• The Bristol Westminster Theological Centre (‘WTC’) Hub has continued this year meeting in Woodlands Foyer and their two residentials were held at Nottingham University. There have been 28 students in this year’s hub. A number of the church staff team have been studying with WTC and it has had a positive impact on their confidence in handling the Bible. The church planting curriculum has helped some of our leaders think through issues that will be very relevant to us as we church plant over the coming years.

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• Woodlands Bible School has run each 3[rd] Sunday and it has been good to have a number of visiting speakers who have brought some great insights. There have been opportunities for young leaders to speak and bring their passion and enthusiasm for Scripture to the group. A Bible summer School on the book of Hebrews ran during the month of August.

• This year’s cohort of 15 leaders on the Leadership Learning Community have brought a lot to the discussions and have made the most of the learning opportunity. As in each year, this has been greatly appreciated.

Pastoral Care

Woodlands Church Family congregations have midweek small groups as key elements of what it means to belong, grow as a disciple of Jesus and find contexts for serving the church. We hope that people who find faith and find their way to our Church will be invited to be involved in loving and caring smaller communities. We see small groups as the first line of pastoral care and initial development of gifts and the primary place to get to know others and to be known. Many pastoral issues are picked up and managed in these small group settings.

Our second line of pastoral care includes the following:

• The Wholeness Course offers an opportunity to identify and remove barriers to growth in our personal lives, deal with gaps in our emotional development and repair hurts from the past. We had 75 people sign up for our Spring course, including people from across Woodlands Church

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Family and several churches around Bristol. We gathered for six weeks at Woodlands Central for evenings of testimonies, teaching and prayer ministry. Each week, the team of 30 prayer ministers offered one-to-one prayer for people attending the course and shared things they sensed God had been saying to them for people attending the course. This year we had a whole post-Alpha small group attending, several of whom have not yet made professions of faith, plus a small group from a local vulnerable women’s charity. Many course attendees experienced healing and breakthrough in their personal lives through the teaching and prayer. In the Autumn Wholeness two took place; a follow up course covering three areas of personal growth and healing: 1. Overcoming disappointment. 2. Overcoming Rejection. 3. Overcoming anxiety.

• WholeMinds, our mental health and well-being website continues to be accessed regularly. The website has articles, stories and creative content designed to support and encourage good mental health and spiritual growth. This is an online space with a collection of articles and stories that encourage people across the Woodlands Church Family in their mental, emotional and spiritual health journeys; it is also accessible to people from outside the church seeking spiritual solutions to mental health pressures. Alongside the website there is a growing social media presence and articles on mental health for teenagers, eating disorders and overcoming anxiety have been shared widely.

• Following our decision to talk more openly about mental health in Church life, we have a mental health sermon series across the church congregations once a year and this year have developed a sermon series on identity called Grand Designs.

• Our Mental Health Practitioner continues in her role supporting young adults by offering regular mental health support sessions via referral by student and young adult leaders. She has also facilitated three Head Space courses during the year. This is an 8- week course looking at various aspects of mental health and wellbeing that encourages people to come and share experiences and support one another along the journey towards wellness. She has also been building a resource base of material for leaders across the Woodlands Church Family to access which will include articles and suggestions for managing mental health issues such as anxiety and

• depression. This year she intends on promoting well-being services across the Woodlands Church Family.

• During a combined staff morning attended by 40 of our team across the congregations, our team put on a Mental Health First Aid training morning. Led by Clare Thompson and Ros Stower who worked for 30 years in the mental health services prior to retiring, the morning covered tools for understanding and supporting good mental health, an overview of types of mental health condition and responding to mental health crises and suicidal thoughts.

• Community Church continued to run a Wellbeing Café to provide a safe, welcoming space for those struggling with poor mental health. Every week there is an opportunity to explore how prayer and faith can help us in our wellbeing journeys.

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• One of our Youth Pastors from Highgrove Church with the help of our Wholeness lead, has been developing some mental health and wellbeing resources for teens and has produced a 6-week course manual with leaders’ notes. The Course is being piloted in the summer term of 2024.

• My Wellbeing Journey is a course developed as a simpler version of Wholeness – a Wholeness taster course. This has been piloted at Highgrove with a women’s group with about 25 attendees and then run as an evening homegroup with about 12 people. The course has been warmly received and is going to be a regular feature on the church calendar. The manual can be used by any church leader and a men’s version is being developed.

• We operated a Needy Saints Fund throughout the year enabling us to give gifts to those facing financial hardship through redundancy, loss, relationship breakdown or low income.

Charging Policy

The Woodlands Church Family is committed to making its activities accessible to as wide a range of people as possible and so seeks to minimise the cost of events and, where a charge is levied, subsidies are offered by congregational leadership teams where appropriate to ensure that money is not a barrier to people participating in activities. Church services are entirely free with no obligation to pay or give and the church offers many activities, courses and services without charge.

Fundraising

Whilst the primary source of income for the charity is voluntary donations, the Church does not regularly engage in significant public fundraising. Most of the giving is from committed attenders who express their ‘belonging’ and commitment to the congregations through regular and one-off giving to share in the ministry costs of church life. The Church prayerfully teaches about the biblical principles of financial stewardship and generosity in the context of discipleship. From time to time, the leaders encourage giving towards particular global or local partners or mission projects and, very occasionally, hold offerings for special projects such as building developments. The charity does not subscribe to any particular fundraising scheme or standards but regularly reviews the charity’s practices to ensure that any incidental fundraising is carried out appropriately.

Each congregation has monthly Sunday service offerings to support global and local mission. All gifts collected, including any attributable Gift Aid and Gift Aid on Small Donations relief is used to support our global and local mission partners. In addition, at the discretion of the local congregation team, a discretionary percentage of up to 50% is added from free reserves to each offering.

Contribution of volunteers

Most of what happens in the congregations is driven by volunteers, whether that is worship, youth and children's work, practical jobs or roles requiring specialised skills. It is not possible to quantify the contribution of volunteers to the Woodlands Church Family except to say that we would not be able to carry out many of our activities without them. The Church seeks to provide as many opportunities as possible for volunteers to grow in their gifts and abilities and has hundreds of people volunteering in at least one role within Church. The way in which volunteers have continued to serve faithfully and

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creatively throughout the last few challenging years is something for which we are so thankful to God for.

FINANCIAL REVIEW

The financial position and performance of Woodlands Group of Churches is in line with the expectations of the Trustees, based on their planning and monitoring of income and expenditure throughout the year.

Total income was £1,975,879 in the year compared to £1,939,452 in the prior year, a rise of 2%. In the context of significant earmarked one-off gifts received in the prior year, donations have overall remained static, but core giving to free funds (an internal key measure we use to budget for future spending) increased by 9%, which is an encouraging sign of church health, discipleship and resilience in the face of a continued difficult economic environment.

Income from Charitable activities fell marginally from £231,819 in the prior year to £229,062.

Investment income rose from £204,442 in the prior year to £248,478, driven wholly by higher interest rates on cash deposits.

Total expenditure was £1,624,254 (2022/23: £1,542,206); a rise of 5.3%, driven by increased investment in strategic priorities in 2023/24 and a pay-benchmarking review which increased monthly payroll costs from January 2023. A total of £282,608 (2022/23: £393,010) was spent on grants for mission and blessing the poor and persecuted both in the UK and overseas. The decrease was due to the facilitation of significant earmarked gifts in the previous year as well as multiple special offerings responding to disaster relief needs.

FINANCIAL MANAGEMENT POLICIES

Reserves

Free reserves available for use by Woodlands Church are deemed to be those that are readily realisable, less funds whose uses are restricted or else designated for particular purposes. The calculation thus excludes £2,607,278 representing tangible fixed assets that will continue to be used in the day-to-day running and restricted funds of £102,096. The calculation also excludes the carrying value of charitable loans held as programme related investments of £1,984,246, which are not readily realisable assets and are held in designated funds. It also excludes other designated funds of £4,705,636 including the Property Purchase Fund of £2,644,218, which exists to enable the imminent purchase of new property for the charity’s work.

The purpose, balances and movements of each designated fund are explained clearly within note 18 of the accounts.

Each year the Trustees review the level of free reserves and the appropriateness of the free reserves policy. The Board considers our exposure to major risks in terms of their likely impact on its income sources and planned expenditure in the medium term. They also consider the opportunities available to them for expansion and growth in the facilities and activities of the Woodlands Church Family.

The target range for free reserves reflects the uncertain economic environment and the higher commitments relating to permanent employed staff arising from an expanding team and rising building costs.

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The target range for free reserves is £591,298 to £886,947, equal to between 6 and 9 months of reported expenditure in the Free Reserves fund. At the year end, the actual free reserves, as clearly shown within the financial statements, were £672,842 (2022/23: £688,603), which is equivalent to 6.9 months of reported expenditure in the Free Reserves Fund. This is within the target range. The Trustees recognise that the operating environment is evolving rapidly and the ongoing implementation of the strategic review of the Woodlands Church Family and transitions in leadership will require our reserves policy to be regularly reviewed.

Financial Impact of Significant Events

The Trustees are conscious of the challenging economic and social conditions brought about by the continued global uncertainties caused by geopolitical events in Europe and the cost-of-living crisis. As well as seeking to use the charity’s resources to meet some of these needs, the Trustees are thankful to God that we have not seen a drop in giving income or a sustained drop in other sources of income so far. The Trustees will be budgeting carefully for the coming financial year given these factors but are satisfied that the level of reserves held by the charity will enable the continuation of the charity’s activities into the future.

The Trustees confirm their assessment that the charity is a going concern as at the date of the signing of the accounts, despite the ongoing global uncertainty.

Investment powers and policy

The Memorandum and Articles of Association allow the Trustees to invest in any stocks, funds, shares, securities or other investments of whatsoever nature as the Trustees shall, in their absolute discretion, think fit.

The Trustees have an Investment Policy covering the charity’s Financial, Programme Related and Mixed Purpose Investments. In particular, the Trustees have sought to ensure that the time horizon of the likely use of all funds is matched well to the investment vehicle used.

In the case of Financial Investments, the charity seeks to produce the best financial return within an acceptable level of risk and have sought to articulate its responsible investments approach within its investment policy, taking into account the social, ethical and environmental impact of investments. The Trustees have joined other faith charities in signing a pledge not to invest in fossil fuels.

The investment objective for funds needed in the medium to long term is to generate a return in excess of inflation over the long term whilst generating an income to support the ongoing activities of the charity. For funds needed in the short term, the investment objective is to preserve the capital value with a minimum level of risk. Assets should be readily available to meet unanticipated cash flow requirements.

Grant making

The charity has a grant making policy and makes grants to individuals and organisations engaged in mission and ministry and primarily with whom we have developed long term partnerships. Most of these partners are members of the church family serving on short-term, medium-term or long-term mission trips. With the exception of members of the Church family going on short term mission, there is not a

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formal application process for grant funds. Missionary financial support is instead just a part of a wider range of on-going communication and prayer support for the work.

The charity also makes grants from the ‘needy saints fund’ to individuals in the church facing financial hardship as a result of redundancy, loss, relationship breakdown or low income.

FUTURE PLANS

The Woodlands Church Family is excited by the opportunities for growth, ministry expansion and church planting. We will continue to engage with the needs of the city through food poverty relief and family care, including encouraging fostering and adoption and addressing mental health issues.

The Woodlands Church Family is also continuing to further develop the organisational and administration structures appropriate to a growing group of congregations in the current environment. The Woodlands Church Family is working through a

rebranding exercise, as we sharpen our vision and identity.

Due to the generosity of a local religious community, we have had extensive use of a building near our Central congregation for many years. This building is in the process of being sold and so the Trustees formed a Property Strategy Group to look for alternative accommodation to meet our needs for office space and mid-sized meeting rooms in the vicinity of our Central Congregation. Over the past 12 months we have visited several sites, conducted surveys and even entered negotiations but so far we have been unsuccessful in securing a new property. We anticipate securing a suitable building in the next 12 months.

STRUCTURE, GOVERNANCE AND MANAGEMENT

The charity was formed in 2008 by the merger of four previous charities: Highgrove Christian Charitable Trust, Highgrove Fellowship Centre, Woodlands Church and Henleaze & Westbury Community Church.

The charity is governed by its Memorandum and Articles of Association adopted on 18 April 2008.

Under the Memorandum and Articles of Association, all members of the Company are Trustees, and all Trustees are members. No other formal membership is operated. The minimum number of Trustees is three; there is no maximum. Trustees are required to meet at least once a year but in practice meet 4-5 times each year.

Any new Trustees are recruited in light of the mix of skills and experience needed on the Board and on the basis of the knowledge of the existing Trustees of suitable candidates and after prayer and listening to the leading of the Holy Spirit. In selecting persons to be appointed, the trustees take into account the benefits of appointing a person who is able by virtue of his or her professional qualifications or experience to make a contribution to the pursuit of the purposes or the management of Woodlands Group of Churches. Selected candidates are appointed by a simple majority of Trustees at a meeting or by a formal resolution.

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Any new Trustees receive an Induction Pack appropriate to their level of existing knowledge of and involvement with Woodlands Group of Churches. As a minimum, new Trustees receive a copy of the Charity Commission publication CC3 – The Essential Trustee together with the Charity’s governing document and the latest Annual Report and Accounts.

The Trustees are aware of the importance of maintaining their knowledge of current charity and related legislation and best practice so Trustees take advantage of external trustee training sessions and, where not all members of the Board of Trustees are present, circulate any relevant information and guidance to the other Trustees for due consideration.

The role of the Senior Leadership Team (SLT) and the Trustees

The SLT is responsible for the overall spiritual and day-to-day operational leadership of the Woodlands Church Family. The Trustees have overall legal responsibility, taking account of the spiritual direction of the Woodlands Church Family set by the Senior Leadership Team, who themselves are always to act in accordance with the Memorandum and Articles of Association and the general law.

The Key Management Personnel of the charity consists of the Trustees and the Senior Leadership Team. Four Trustees are also members of the Senior Leadership Team. Where such individuals or those closely connected with them are remunerated by the Charity, their pay is set by the nonremunerated members of the Trustee Board each year.

Dave Mitchell, the leader of Senior Leadership Team, is line-managed by the Chair of Trustees and reports to the Board at each meeting on key developments and challenges across the Woodlands Church Family. The Board of Trustees delegates some of its functions to a Finance Committee meeting four times a year, and to a Property Strategy Group which meets when needed. Agreed terms of reference are in place for both.

Church leaders and teams

The Woodlands Church Family has delegated the day-to-day oversight and direction of the four main congregations to congregational leadership teams. These teams meet regularly to oversee delivery of activities in accordance with the vision and purposes of the Charity. Members of the Trustee Board and Senior Leadership Team regularly meet with the congregational leaders to review progress, provide any advice and assistance as required and provide accountability around goals, vision and values.

PUBLIC BENEFIT

The Trustees have taken account of the Charity Commission’s guidance on Public Benefit where appropriate when exercising their powers and duties, planning and reviewing the aims, objectives and activities of the Woodlands Church Family. Throughout this report, the Trustees have sought to demonstrate the many ways that it delivers benefit to the public – whether they are members of one of the congregations that are part of the Church, another church or have no church or other religious affiliation.

STATEMENT OF TRUSTEES’ RESPONSIBILITIES AND CORPORATE GOVERNANCE

The Trustees (who are also directors of Woodlands Group of Churches for the purposes of company law) are responsible for preparing the Trustees' Annual Report and the financial statements in accordance with applicable law and United Kingdom accounting standards (United Kingdom Generally Accepted Accounting Practice).

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Company law requires the Trustees to prepare financial statements for each financial year, which give a true and fair view of the state of affairs of the charitable company and of the incoming resources and application of resources, including the income and expenditure, of the charitable company for the year. In preparing these financial statements, the Trustees are required to:

• select suitable accounting policies and then apply them consistently;

• observe the methods and principles in the Charities SORP 2019 (FRS102);

• make judgments and estimates that are reasonable and prudent;

• state whether applicable United Kingdom accounting standards have been followed, subject to any material departures disclosed and explained in the financial statements; and

• prepare the financial statements on the going concern basis unless it is inappropriate to presume that the charitable company will continue in operation.

The Trustees are responsible for keeping adequate accounting records that disclose with reasonable accuracy at any time the financial position of the charitable company and to enable them to ensure that the financial statements comply with the Companies Act 2006. They are also responsible for safeguarding the assets of the charitable company and hence for taking reasonable steps for the prevention and detection of fraud and other irregularities.

In so far as the trustees are aware:

• There is no relevant audit information of which the charitable company's auditors are unaware; and

• • The trustees have taken all steps that they ought to have taken to make themselves aware of any relevant audit information and to establish that the auditors are aware of that information.

Corporate Governance

Internal controls over all forms of commitment and expenditure continue to be developed to improve efficiency and enable the Trustees to discharge their responsibilities around safeguarding the Charity’s assets. Processes are in place to ensure that performance is monitored and that appropriate management information is prepared and reviewed regularly by the Senior Leadership Team, the Finance Committee and the Board of Trustees.

The systems of internal control are designed to provide reasonable but not absolute assurance against material misstatement or loss. They include:

• an annual budget approved by the Trustees;

• regular consideration by the Trustees of financial results and variances from budgets;

• • delegation of day-to-day management authority and segregation of duties; and

• identification and management of risks.

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Risk Management

The Trustees have a formal risk management process, which has been reviewed and kept updated during the current financial year. This involves identifying the types of risks the Charity faces, prioritising them in terms of potential impact and likelihood of occurrence, and identifying means of managing or mitigating the risks and the individual responsible for managing each risk.

The Trustees have a formal incident recording process to identify incidents that can inform the risk management process.

The Trustees carry out an annual review of the principal risks to which the charity is exposed and systems have been established to manage those and other risks.

The principal risk facing the Church at this time continues to be the risk of an ineffective transition of senior leadership following Rob Scott-Cook having stepped away from a governance and operational role in July 2022, 40 years after founding the church. Planning and preparation for this transition was taking place over the previous five years and, over the past 12 months, we have convened a succession planning group that has met regularly to discuss and plan the transition from David Mitchell’s leadership of our largest Congregation to the new leadership at Woodlands Central.

Following several examples around the world of spiritually abusive leaders being brought to account, Woodlands has embarked on a safeguarding transformation project in 2023/24 to rigorously review our own practices and culture, and to make sure pathways to raising concerns are clear and processes of review and investigation are transparent. This work is ongoing into the coming financial year and we anticipate implementing a revised safeguarding policy in 2024/25. Woodlands has also implemented a new social media policy this year.

Auditors

A resolution proposing that Haines Watts (Western) Limited be reappointed as auditors of the charitable company will be put to the Annual General Meeting.

This report has been prepared in accordance with the special provisions of Part 15 of the Companies Act 2006 relating to small companies.

Signed by order of the board of Trustees:

Mr E J Marsh (Chair of Trustees)

Mr D J Mitchell (Senior Leader and Trustee)

18 July 2024

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REFERENCE AND ADMINISTRATIVE INFORMATION

Company registration no: 06569993 Charity registration no: 1125029 Registered office address: Woodlands Christian Centre Belgrave Road Clifton Bristol BS8 2AA Website addresses: www.woodlandschurch.net www.thecommunitychurch.net www.highgrove.church www.woodlandsmetro.church www.branchchurch.co.uk www.woodlandssouthside.church

Members of the Board of Trustees

The trustees, who are also directors for the purposes of Company law, that served during the year and since the year end, are:

Mrs A Addison (Vice-Chair from 20 April 2023) Mr S Bodley Mrs A Dawson Mr T J Dobson Mr E J Marsh (Chair) Mr W Matthews (Vice-Chair from 20 April 2023) Mr D J Mitchell Mr D Roderick

Senior Leadership Team (SLT) of the Woodlands Church Family

Mr D J Mitchell (Senior Leader of the Woodlands Church Family) Mr T J Dobson Mrs K Jinadu (until May 2024) Mr P O Jinadu (until May 2024) Mrs D A Marsh Mr E J Marsh Mr R Pollard (until March 2024) Mrs R Riddall Mr D Roderick Mr J Saunders (from Sept 2023) Mr N Savage Mr M Smith (from Jan 2024) Mr N Savage Mrs H C Thompson

Principal Service Providers and Professional Advisers

Auditors

Haines Watts (Western) Limited, Bath House, 6-8 Bath Street, Bristol, BS1 6HL

Solicitors and Employment Advisers

Capstone Law, 62 Gloucester Road, Bristol, BS7 8BH Keelys LLP, 28 Dam Street, Lichfield, Staffordshire, WS13 6AA

Banking and Investments

The Cooperative Bank plc, PO Box 101, 1 Balloon Street, Manchester, M60 4EP Lloyds Bank, 15 High Street, Westbury-on-Trym, Bristol, BS9 3DA Bank of Scotland, 2[nd] floor, Pentland House, 8 Lochside Avenue, South Gyle, Edinburgh, EH12 9DJ. Epworth Investment Management Ltd, 9 Bonhill Street, London, EC2A 4PE

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INDEPENDENT AUDITOR'S REPORT TO THE MEMBERS

Opinion

We have audited the financial statements of Woodlands Group of Churches (the ‘charitable company’) for the year ended 31 March 2024 which comprise the Statement of Financial Activities, the Balance Sheet, the Statement of Cash Flows and notes to the financial statements, including a summary of significant accounting policies. The financial reporting framework that has been applied in their preparation is applicable law and United Kingdom Accounting Standards, including Financial Reporting Standard 102 The Financial Reporting Standard applicable in the UK and Republic of Ireland (United Kingdom Generally Accepted Accounting Practice).

In our opinion the financial statements:

• give a true and fair view of the state of the charitable company’s affairs as at 31 March 2024, and of its incoming resources and application of resources, including its income and expenditure, for the year then ended;

• have been properly prepared in accordance with United Kingdom Generally Accepted Accounting Practice; and

• have been prepared in accordance with the requirements of the Companies Act 2006.

Basis for opinion

We conducted our audit in accordance with International Standards on Auditing (UK) (ISAs (UK)) and applicable law. Our responsibilities under those standards are further described in the Auditor’s responsibilities for the audit of the financial statements section of our report. We are independent of the charitable company in accordance with the ethical requirements that are relevant to our audit of the financial statements in the UK, including the FRC’s Ethical Standard, and we have fulfilled our other ethical responsibilities in accordance with these requirements. We believe that the audit evidence we have obtained is sufficient and appropriate to provide a basis for our opinion.

Conclusions relating to going concern

In auditing the financial statements, we have concluded that the trustees’ use of the going concern basis of accounting in the preparation of the financial statements is appropriate.

Based on the work we have performed, we have not identified any material uncertainties relating to events or conditions that, individually or collectively, may cast significant doubt on the charitable company's ability to continue as a going concern for a period of at least twelve months from when the financial statements are authorised for issue.

Our responsibilities and the responsibilities of the trustees with respect to going concern are described in the relevant sections of this report.

Other information

The trustees are responsible for the other information. The other information comprises the information included in the trustees’ annual report, other than the financial statements and our auditor’s report thereon. Our opinion on the financial statements does not cover the other information and, except to the extent otherwise explicitly stated in our report, we do not express any form of assurance conclusion thereon.

In connection with our audit of the financial statements, our responsibility is to read the other information and, in doing so, consider whether the other information is materially inconsistent with the financial

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statements or our knowledge obtained in the audit or otherwise appears to be materially misstated. If we identify such material inconsistencies or apparent material misstatements, we are required to determine whether there is a material misstatement in the financial statements or a material misstatement of the other information. If, based on the work we have performed, we conclude that there is a material misstatement of this other information, we are required to report that fact.

We have nothing to report in this regard.

Opinions on other matters prescribed by the Companies Act 2006

In our opinion, based on the work undertaken in the course of the audit:

• the information given in the trustees’ report (incorporating the directors’ report) for the financial year for which the financial statements are prepared is consistent with the financial statements; and

• the directors’ report included within the trustees’ report has been prepared in accordance with applicable legal requirements.

Matters on which we are required to report by exception

In the light of our knowledge and understanding of the charitable company and its environment obtained in the course of the audit, we have not identified material misstatements in the directors’ report.

We have nothing to report in respect of the following matters in relation to which the Companies Act 2006 requires us to report to you if, in our opinion:

• adequate accounting records have not been kept, or returns adequate for our audit have not been received from branches not visited by us; or

• the financial statements are not in agreement with the accounting records and returns; or

• certain disclosures of directors’ remuneration specified by law are not made; or

• we have not received all the information and explanations we require for our audit; or

• the trustees were not entitled to prepare the financial statements in accordance with the small companies’ regime and take advantage of the small companies’ exemptions in preparing the directors’ report and from the requirement to prepare a strategic report.

Responsibilities of trustees

As explained more fully in the trustees’ responsibilities statement set out on pages 20 and 21, the trustees (who are also the directors of the charitable company for the purposes of company law) are responsible for the preparation of the financial statements and for being satisfied that they give a true and fair view, and for such internal control as the trustees determine is necessary to enable the preparation of financial statements that are free from material misstatement, whether due to fraud or error.

In preparing the financial statements, the trustees are responsible for assessing the charitable company’s ability to continue as a going concern, disclosing, as applicable, matters related to going concern and using the going concern basis of accounting unless the trustees either intend to liquidate the charitable company or to cease operations, or have no realistic alternative but to do so.

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Explanation as to what extent the audit was considered capable of detecting irregularities, including fraud

Our objectives are to obtain reasonable assurance about whether the financial statements as a whole are free from material misstatement, whether due to fraud or error, and to issue an auditor’s report that includes our opinion. Reasonable assurance is a high level of assurance, but is not a guarantee that an audit conducted in accordance with ISAs (UK) will always detect a material misstatement when it exists. Misstatements can arise from fraud or error and are considered material if, individually or in the aggregate, they could reasonably be expected to influence the economic decisions of users taken on the basis of these financial statements.

Irregularities, including fraud, are instances of non-compliance with laws and regulations. We design procedures in line with our responsibilities, outlined above, to detect material misstatements in respect of irregularities, including fraud. The extent to which our procedures are capable of detecting irregularities, including fraud is detailed below:

• We obtained an understanding of the legal and regulatory frameworks applicable to the charitable company and the sector in which it operates. We determined that the following laws and regulations were most significant: The Companies Act 2006, UK GAAP, The Charities Act 2011 and the Charities SORP.

• We obtained an understanding of how the charitable company is complying with those legal and regulatory frameworks and made enquiries to the management of known or suspected instances of fraud and non-compliance with laws and regulations. We corroborated our enquiries through our review of board minutes, other relevant meeting minutes and review of correspondence with regulatory bodies.

• We assessed the susceptibility of the charitable company’s financial statements to material misstatement, including how fraud might occur. Audit procedures performed by the audit team included:

• Identifying and assessing the controls management has in place to prevent and detect fraud;

• Understanding how those charged with governance considered and addressed the potential for override of controls or other inappropriate influence over the financial reporting process;

• Challenging assumptions and judgments made by management in its significant accounting estimates and judgments,

• Identifying and testing journal entries, in particular journal entries posted with unusual account combinations; and

• Assessing the extent of compliance with the relevant laws and regulations.

Because of the inherent limitations of an audit, there is a risk that we will not detect all irregularities, including those leading to a material misstatement in the financial statements or non-compliance with regulation. This risk increases the more that compliance with a law or regulation is removed from the

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events and transactions reflected in the financial statements, as we will be less likely to become aware of instances of non-compliance. The risk is also greater regarding irregularities occurring due to fraud rather than error, as fraud involves intentional concealment, forgery, collusion, omission or misrepresentation.

A further description of our responsibilities is available on the FRC's website at: https://www.frc.org.uk/auditors/audit-assurance-ethics/auditors-responsibilities-for-the-audit. This description forms part of our auditor’s report.

Use of our report

This report is made solely to the charitable company’s members, as a body, in accordance with Chapter 3 of Part 16 of the Companies Act 2006. Our audit work has been undertaken so that we might state to the charitable company’s members those matters we are required to state to them in an auditor’s report and for no other purpose. To the fullest extent permitted by law, we do not accept or assume responsibility to anyone other than the charitable company and the charitable company’s members as a body, for our audit work, for this report, or for the opinions we have formed.

Matthew Bracher BSc FCA (Senior Statutory Auditor) for and on behalf of Haines Watts (Western) Limited, Statutory Auditor Chartered Accountants and Statutory Auditors

Bath House 6-8 Bath Street Bristol BS1 6HL

18 July 2024

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STATEMENT OF FINANCIAL ACTIVITIES (INCORPORATING INCOME AND EXPENDITURE ACCOUNT)

YEAR ENDED 31 MARCH 2024

	**Unrestricted **	**Unrestricted **	Unrestricted
		Free	Designated	Restricted	Total funds	Total funds
		Reserves	funds	funds	2024	2023
	Note	£	£	£	£	£
Income from :
Donations and legacies	2	1,232,336	80,605	185,398	1,498,339	1,503,191
Charitable activities	3	57,491	171,553	18	229,062	231,819
Investments	4	-	248,478	-	248,478	204,442
	Total	1,289,827	500,636	185,416	1,975,879	1,939,452
Expenditure on :
Charitable activities
Global Partnerships		46,299	62,822	143,643	252,764	282,199
City and Community Outreach		128,752	20,701	52,317	201,770	263,718
Gathered Church		381,688	42,406	-	424,094	374,193
Children and Youth Ministry		214,125	56,853	1,389	272,367	199,486
Student Ministry		162,538	18,558	8,203	189,299	165,589
Discipleship and Leadership Development		169,149	12,529	-	181,678	173,018
Pastoral Care		62,083	17,618	4,619	84,320	68,247
	5	1,164,634	231,487	210,171	1,606,292	1,526,450
Raising funds	8	17,962	-	-	17,962	15,756
	Total	1,182,596	231,487	210,171	1,624,254	1,542,206
Net gains/(losses) on investments	15	-	204,194	-	204,194	(140,582)
Net income/(expenditure)	9	107,231	473,343	(24,755)	555,819	256,664
Transfers between funds	18	(122,992)	122,705	287	-	-
Other (losses)/gains		-	-	(509)	(509)	517
Net movement in funds		(15,761)	596,048	(24,977)	555,310	257,181
Reconciliation of funds
Total funds brought forward		688,603	8,697,906	127,073	9,513,582	9,256,401
Total funds carried forward	18	672,842	9,293,954	102,096	10,068,892	9,513,582

The Charity has no recognised gains or losses other than the results for the period as set out above. All income and expenditure has arisen from the continuing activities.

Fund comparatives are disclosed in note 20.

The notes on pages 31 to 50 form part of these financial statements

28

WOODLANDS GROUP OF CHURCHES

BALANCE SHEET

AS AT 31 MARCH 2024

2024 2023 Note £ £ Fixed assets: Tangible assets 12 2,607,278 2,594,613 Programme related investments 13 1,981,040 1,442,225 Mixed purpose investments 14 - 200,000 Financial Investments 15 3,216,860 3,012,666 7,805,178 7,249,504 Current assets: Debtors 16 73,377 73,790 Programme related investments 13 3,206 734,879 Mixed purpose investments 14 500,000 300,000 Cash at bank and on short term deposit 1,747,949 1,206,676 2,324,532 2,315,345 Liabilities: Creditors : Amounts falling due within one year 17 (60,818) (51,267) Net current assets 2,263,714 2,264,078 Total assets less current liabilities 10,068,892 9,513,582 Total net assets 10,068,892 9,513,582 The funds of the charity: Unrestricted income funds Free reserves 672,842 688,603 Earmarked Giving Funds (designated) 123,062 127,902 Fixed Asset NBV (designated) 2,607,278 2,594,613 Charitable Loans NBV (designated) 1,981,040 2,160,225 Capacity Development (designated) 408,302 350,000 Housing the Homeless (designated) 511,000 500,000 Property Purchases (designated) 2,644,218 2,239,606 St James/UPA (designated) 59,018 52,370 Mental Health and Wellbeing (designated) 14,511 27,170 South Bristol Church Planting (designated) 36,000 51,000 Strategic Projects (designated) 50,000 - Woodlands Church Family Staffing (designated) 60,311 - Unrealised Investment Gains (designated) 799,214 595,020 19 9,966,796 9,386,509 Restricted income funds 19 102,096 127,073 Total charity funds 10,068,892 9,513,582 These financial statements have been prepared in accordance with the special provisions of Part 15 of the are signed on their behalf by: Companies Act 2006 relating to small charitable companies and were approved by the Trustees on 18 July 2024	2,607,278 1,981,040 - 3,216,860	2024 £ 7,805,178 2,263,714	2,594,613 1,442,225 200,000 3,012,666	2023 £ 7,249,504 2,264,078
	73,377 3,206 500,000 1,747,949		73,790 734,879 300,000 1,206,676
	2,324,532 (60,818)		2,315,345 (51,267)
	672,842 123,062 2,607,278 1,981,040 408,302 511,000 2,644,218 59,018 14,511 36,000 50,000 60,311 799,214		688,603 127,902 2,594,613 2,160,225 350,000 500,000 2,239,606 52,370 27,170 51,000 - - 595,020
		10,068,892		9,513,582
		10,068,892		9,513,582
		9,966,796 102,096		9,386,509 127,073
		10,068,892		9,513,582

Mr E J Marsh Mr D J Mitchell Chair of Trustees Trustee and Senior Leader Company registration number: 06569993

The notes on pages 31 to 50 form part of these financial statements

29

WOODLANDS GROUP OF CHURCHES STATEMENT OF CASH FLOWS

YEAR ENDED 31 MARCH 2024

Note Operational cash flows Cash flowsfor operating activities Receipts from Donations and Legacies 21 (A.1) Payments for Raising funds 21 (B.1) Net inflow for operating activities Cash flowsfrom operating activities Receipts from Charitable activities 21 (A.2) Payments for Charitable activities 21 (B.2) Receipts from Programme-related investments 21 (C.1) Receipts from Mixed Purpose investments 21 (C.2) Additions to Programme-related investments 13 Repayments from Programme-related investments 13 Net inflow/(outflow) of operating activities Non-operational cash flows Investing activities: Receipts from Financial investments 21 (D.1) Purchase of tangible fixed assets 12 Net cash generated by/(used in) investing activities Net cash inflow/(outflow) for the year 22	Total funds Total funds 2024 2023 £ £ 1,493,300 1,496,756 (17,962) (15,756)
	1,475,338 1,481,000 236,637 238,649 (1,576,199) (1,465,792) 78,517 76,317 22,000 21,999 (173,560) (766,882) 365,944 163,920
	(1,046,661) (1,731,789)
	428,677 (250,789)
	148,492 105,014 (35,896) (293,974)
	112,596 (188,960)
	541,273 (439,749)

Charity law prohibits the use of net cash flows on any restricted fund to offset net cash outflows on any fund outside of its own purposes, except on special authority. In practice, this restriction has not had any effect on cash flows for the year.

The notes on pages 31 to 50 form part of these financial statements

30

WOODLANDS GROUP OF CHURCHES

NOTES TO THE FINANCIAL STATEMENTS

YEAR ENDED 31 MARCH 2024

1 Accounting policies

a) Basis of preparation

The financial statements have been prepared on the historical cost basis with the exception of financial investments which are shown at fair value. The financial statements are prepared on a going concern basis and in accordance with Accounting and Reporting by Charities: Statement of Recommended Practice applicable to charities preparing their accounts in accordance with the Financial Reporting Standard applicable in the UK and Republic of Ireland (FRS 102) (effective 1 January 2019) – (Charities SORP (FRS 102)), the Financial Reporting Standard applicable in the UK and Republic of Ireland (FRS 102) and the Companies Act 2006.

The charity is a Public Benefit Entity as defined under FRS 102. The presentation currency is pounds sterling.

The Statement of Cash Flows has been prepared on the gross/direct basis, as permitted by the Charities SORP. Cash has been defined as cash in hand and short-term deposits of less than 3 months for the purposes of the Statement of Cash Flows. The Balance sheet additionally includes short term deposits of less than one year within cash in hand.

There are no material uncertainties about the charity’s ability to continue as a going concern, despite the economic recession and inflationary pressures over the last couple of years. The charity has sufficient reserves to be able to meet these challenges and have also observed how well core giving income has held up over the last few years.

There have been no management judgements or any key sources of estimation uncertainty at the reporting date in the financial statements that give rise to a significant risk of causing a material adjustment to the carrying amounts of assets and liabilities within the next reporting period.

b) Funds

Unrestricted free reserves are available for use at the discretion of the Trustees in the furtherance of the charitable purposes of the charity.

Designated funds form part of unrestricted funds and have been identified as being for particular purposes by the Trustees. They are not restricted and can be transferred to free funds at any time at the discretion of the Trustees. Material designated funds are identified and explained in note 18 to the financial statements.

Restricted funds can only be used for particular restricted purposes within the objects of the charity. Restrictions arise when specified by the donor or when funds are raised for particular restricted purposes. Expenditure which meets these criteria is charged to the fund. The purpose and use of each material restricted fund is set out in note 18 to the financial statements.

(c) Income

All income is included in the Statement of Financial Activities when the charity is legally entitled to the income, when the amount can be quantified with reasonable accuracy and receipt is probable. The following specific policies are applied to particular categories of income:

Donations and Legacies are included in full in the Statement of Financial Activities when receivable, except as follows:

31

WOODLANDS GROUP OF CHURCHES

NOTES TO THE FINANCIAL STATEMENTS

YEAR ENDED 31 MARCH 2024

1 Accounting policies (continued)

• i. Income from offerings is recognised when received;

• ii. Income from ‘planned giving’ is recognised only when received;

• iii. When the donor specifies that donations given to the charity must be used in future accounting periods, the income is deferred until those periods.

Gift Aid relief on eligible donations is recognised on an accruals basis at the same point as the original donation.

Investment Income represented by interest on bank deposits, dividends receivable, interest on programme-related investments and interest on mixed purpose investments is recognised when receivable. Investment income from Mixed Purpose Investments and Bank Interest is added to the ‘WCF Staffing’ designated fund, with the remaining investment income being allocated to the ‘Property Purchases’ designated fund. The purpose of these funds is described fully in note 18.

Rental income is recognised within Income from Charitable Activities as the promotion of student community living and the hiring of the buildings for weddings and other Christian conferences and events is considered part of the activities the charity undertakes to achieve its objects. The rental income on student rooms is recognised when invoiced (usually on a monthly basis) and, for events, is recognised in the period the event takes place. Net rental income is apportioned to the ‘WCF Staffing’ designated fund.

Donated services and facilities are included in the Statement of Financial Activities at their value to the charity at the date of the gift. Donated assets which are capitalised are included in the financial statements at fair value. In accordance with the Statement of Recommended Practice, no amounts are included in the financial statements for services donated by volunteers.

(d) Expenditure

Expenditure is recognised on an accruals basis as and when a legal or constructive obligation arises.

Expenditure is allocated to the identified Charitable Activities directly, where applicable. Support costs relating to engaging church workers, administration costs and premises costs are allocated to Charitable Activities as follows:

Support cost Basis of allocation Church workers Estimated time spent on each activity Administration costs Estimated usage of the resource Premises costs Estimated usage of the resource

These estimates are reviewed on an annual basis.

Grants payable are charged to the Statement of Financial Activities in the accounting period in which communication of the award is communicated to the recipient.

Governance costs include those costs associated with meeting the constitutional and statutory requirements of the charity and include the audit fees and costs linked to the strategic management of the charity. Governance costs are included within Support costs.

32

WOODLANDS GROUP OF CHURCHES

NOTES TO THE FINANCIAL STATEMENTS

YEAR ENDED 31 MARCH 2024

1 Accounting policies (continued)

(e) Foreign currency

The microfinance element of the charity’s programme related investments are managed in US$. In view of there being a very large number of small loans, the transactions are not converted to £s at the transaction date but the US$ balances at the year-end are converted to £s at the year-end rate. Gains and losses on exchange are treated as other gains and losses within the Statement of Financial Activities.

(f) Tangible fixed assets and depreciation

Fixed assets are stated at cost and new items costing more than £3,000 are capitalised. Depreciation is calculated so as to write off the cost of fixed assets on a straight line basis over their estimated useful lives on the following basis:

Freehold property: No depreciation charged (see below) Audio, Visual and office equipment: 20% Furniture and Fittings: 20% (with some assets being depreciated at 10%)

No depreciation is charged in the year of acquisition and a full year’s depreciation is charged in the year of disposal. No provision for depreciation has been made for freehold property as it is the view of the Trustees that the estimated residual value of each property is not materially different from the carrying value. The Trustees undertake an impairment review whenever they identify any indicators that impairment may have occurred.

Donated properties have been included in the Balance Sheet at their current value at the date of the gift.

The charity owns three residential properties located adjacent to two of its church buildings. These properties were purchased and are held for the charitable benefit derived from their proximity to the church. Such benefits include better parking and access to church premises, the use of gardens for church events and activities and the ability to offer housing to staff and volunteers, where the proximity to the churches is to the benefit of its operations. Where vacancies arise, the charity seeks to rent rooms to such volunteers or staff. Where no such tenants are in prospect, the charity makes short-term lets to other members of the public in order to steward its resources well. As the charity holds the properties primarily for the benefit of its charitable purposes rather than for rental, the properties are held as functional fixed assets and not as investment properties.

(g) Financial instruments

A financial asset or a financial liability is recognised only when the charity becomes party to the contractual provisions of the instrument.

Basic financial instruments are initially recognised at the amount receivable or payable including any related transaction costs.

Debt instruments are subsequently measured at amortised cost.

Where investments in shares are publicly traded or their fair value can otherwise be measured reliably, the investment is subsequently measured at fair value with changes in fair value recognised in income and expenditure. All other such investments are subsequently measured at cost less impairment.

33

WOODLANDS GROUP OF CHURCHES

NOTES TO THE FINANCIAL STATEMENTS

YEAR ENDED 31 MARCH 2024

1 Accounting policies (continued)

Other financial instruments, including derivatives, are initially recognised at fair value, unless payment for an asset is deferred beyond normal business terms or financed at a rate of interest that is not a market rate, in which case the asset is measured at the present value of the future payments discounted at a market rate of interest for a similar debt instrument.

Any reversals of impairment are recognised immediately, to the extent that the reversal does not result in a carrying amount of the financial asset that exceeds what the carrying amount would have been had the impairment not previously been recognised.

(h) Debtors

Trade and other debtors are recognised at the settlement amount due after any trade discount offered. Prepayments are valued at the amount prepaid net of any trade discounts due.

(i) Financial investments

Listed investments are held in a common investment fund and are stated at market value at the balance sheet date. The Statement of Financial Activities includes the net gains and losses arising on revaluations and disposals during the year.

(j) Programme-related and mixed purpose investments

Programme-related investments consist of charitable loans; some of which carry an interest rate and some which are interest free. These investments are carried at cost less any provision for impairment less any repayments received. Mixed purpose investments are held for a financial return but also contribute to the charity’s purposes.

(k) Lease contracts

Rentals applicable to operating lease agreements where substantially all of the benefits and risks of ownership remain with the lessor are charged to the Statement of Financial Activities on a straight-line basis over the period of the lease.

(l) Creditors and provisions

Creditors and provisions are recognised where the charity has a present obligation resulting from a past event that will probably result in the transfer of funds to a third party and the amount due to settle the obligation can be measured or estimated reliably. Creditors and provisions are normally recognised at their settlement amount after allowing for any trade discounts due.

The charity makes grants to financially support global partners overseas and to UK-based missionaries and mission organisations. Where an individual or organisation has been supported by the charity for a number of years, strict compliance with the Charities Statement of Recommended Practice may regard some arrangements as constituting constructive obligations such that future years’ support is accounted immediately as a liability.

The Trustees are confident that the individuals and organisations supported would not view their support as an open-ended obligation on the part of the charity as they are aware that all support is reviewable annually.

(m) Pension costs

The charity contributes to a defined contribution pension plan on behalf of its eligible employees. The contributions are recognised as an expense in the period in which the related service is provided.

34

WOODLANDS GROUP OF CHURCHES NOTES TO THE FINANCIAL STATEMENTS YEAR ENDED 31 MARCH 2024

2 Donations and legacies

Donations and legacies
	**Unrestricted **	Unrestricted
	Free	Designated	Restricted
	Reserves	funds	funds	Total funds
Year ended 31 March 2024	£	£	£	£
Tithes, offerings, donations and legacies	1,009,797	70,630	158,672	1,239,099
Gift Aid tax reclaims	222,539	9,975	26,726	259,240
	1,232,336	80,605	185,398	1,498,339
Previous year ended 31 March 2023
Tithes, offerings, donations and legacies	928,422	122,828	184,386	1,235,636
Gift Aid tax reclaims	205,375	21,617	29,763	256,755
Grants receivable	300	-	10,500	10,800
	1,134,097	144,445	224,649	1,503,191

No grants were received in the current year.

Grants received in the prior year included £5,500 of government grants in support of a Welcome Hub for Ukranian refugees.

3 Income from Charitable Activities

Income from Charitable Activities
	**Unrestricted **	Unrestricted
	Free	Designated	Restricted
	Reserves	funds	funds	Total funds
Year ended 31 March 2024	£	£	£	£
Student rooms rents	-	96,824	-	96,824
Other rents and building hire	249	74,729	-	74,978
Church events and weekends away	57,242	-	18	57,260
	57,491	171,553	18	229,062
Previous year ended 31 March 2023
Student rooms rents	-	92,174	-	92,174
Other rents and building hire	-	75,548	-	75,548
Church events and weekends away	63,659	-	438	64,097
	63,659	167,722	438	231,819

35

WOODLANDS GROUP OF CHURCHES NOTES TO THE FINANCIAL STATEMENTS

YEAR ENDED 31 MARCH 2024

4 Income from Investments

Income from Investments
	**Unrestricted **	Unrestricted
	Free	Designated	Restricted	Total funds	Total funds
	Reserves	funds	funds	2024	2023
	£	£	£	£	£
Bank deposit interest	-	63,498	-	63,498	19,909
Loan stock interest	-	22,000	-	22,000	21,914
Programme related investments return	-	77,986	-	77,986	77,514
Dividend income on financial investments	-	84,580	-	84,580	84,641
Feed in Tariff from solar panels	-	414	-	414	464
	-	248,478	-	248,478	204,442

All prior year Income from Investments was incurred in Unrestricted Designated Funds.

5 Expenditure on Charitable Activities Year ended 31 March 2024 Global Partnerships City and Community Outreach Gathered Church Children and Youth Ministry Student Ministry Discipleship and Leadership Development Pastoral Care Previous year ended 31 March 2023 Global Partnerships City and Community Outreach Gathered Church Children and Youth Ministry Student Ministry Discipleship and Leadership Development Pastoral Care	Church Grant Activities worker and funding of undertaken support activities directly costs Total funds £ £ £ £ (note 7) (note 6) 229,229 - 23,535 252,764 53,379 23,253 125,138 201,770 - 46,565 377,529 424,094 - 28,122 244,245 272,367 - 14,561 174,738 189,299 10,485 33,754 137,439 181,678 9,349 - 74,971 84,320
	302,442 146,255 1,157,595 1,606,292
	259,764 - 22,435 282,199 133,246 17,661 112,811 263,718 - 54,530 319,663 374,193 - 23,238 176,248 199,486 - 14,047 151,542 165,589 16,918 26,947 129,153 173,018 13,168 - 55,079 68,247
	423,096 136,423 966,931 1,526,450

36

WOODLANDS GROUP OF CHURCHES NOTES TO THE FINANCIAL STATEMENTS

YEAR ENDED 31 MARCH 2024

6 Church worker and Support costs

Church worker and Support costs	Church worker and Support costs
Church worker		Admin	Premises
	costs	costs	costs	Total funds
	£	£	£	£
Year ended 31 March 2024
Global Partnerships	19,854	3,681	-	23,535
City and Community Outreach	91,181	5,522	28,435	125,138
Gathered Church	254,583	9,204	113,742	377,529
Children and Youth Ministry	183,693	3,681	56,871	244,245
Student Ministry	110,504	7,363	56,871	174,738
Discipleship and Leadership Development	103,482	5,522	28,435	137,439
Pastoral Care	73,130	1,841	-	74,971
	836,427	36,814	284,354	1,157,595
Previous year ended 31 March 2023
Global Partnerships	19,394	3,041	-	22,435
City and Community Outreach	84,300	4,562	23,949	112,811
Gathered Church	216,263	7,603	95,797	319,663
Children and Youth Ministry	125,309	3,041	47,898	176,248
Student Ministry	97,562	6,082	47,898	151,542
Discipleship and Leadership Development	100,642	4,562	23,949	129,153
Pastoral Care	53,558	1,521	-	55,079
	697,028	30,412	239,491	966,931

Included in Admin costs are Governance costs of £5,262 (2023: £4,962).

Church worker costs are allocated to activities on the basis of time spent on each activity.

Admin and Premises costs are allocated to activities on the basis of usage estimates.

37

WOODLANDS GROUP OF CHURCHES

NOTES TO THE FINANCIAL STATEMENTS YEAR ENDED 31 MARCH 2024

				Discipleship
7	Grant funding of Charitable activities		City and	and
		Global	Community	Leadership	Pastoral
	Year ended 31 March 2024	Partnerships	Outreach	Dev't	Care	Total funds
		£	£	£	£	£
	Grants to Institutions	101,006	49,559	-	-	150,565
	Grants to Individuals	128,223	3,820	10,485	9,349	151,877
		229,229	53,379	10,485	9,349	302,442
	Previous year ended 31 March 2023
	Grants to Institutions	135,103	91,806	-	-	226,909
	Grants to Individuals	124,661	41,440	16,918	13,168	196,187
		259,764	133,246	16,918	13,168	423,096

Analysis of grants to institutions

Institutions receiving over £2,500 in either the current or prior year or with Trustee links have been disclosed.

Institution name Charitable activity Beloved City and Community Outreach Bridges for Communities City and Community Outreach Bristol Noise City and Community Outreach inHope (Bristol) City and Community Outreach Sixty One City and Community Outreach Urban Pursuit City and Community Outreach The George Muller Charitable Trust Global Partnerships & City/Comm'ty Outreach Christian Aid Global Partnerships KIVA Global Partnerships Frontiers Global Partnerships Open Doors Global Partnerships World Vision UK Global Partnerships Tearfund Global Partnerships ForEthiopia Global Partnerships Bristol International Trust (BISC) Global Partnerships Other Institutional grants Global Partnerships & City/Comm'ty Outreach

Total funds Total funds 2024 2023 £ £ 7,120 30,200 3,001 501 2,400 2,400 8,198 9,913 2,950 27,425 4,650 4,650 59,998 72,549 - 12,462 13,075 - 17,520 - 2,426 4,490 - 3,009 2,800 5,118 2,750 3,625 6,223 30,602 17,454 19,965

150,565 226,909

Institutional grant recipients marked * have a close connection with Woodlands Group of Churches by virtue of having trustees in common or key management personnel who are also on the Woodlands Group of Churches Trustee Board.

A Dawson is part of the key management personnel of Bristol International Trust (BISC). T J Dobson is a Trustee of Bristol Noise.

38

WOODLANDS GROUP OF CHURCHES NOTES TO THE FINANCIAL STATEMENTS YEAR ENDED 31 MARCH 2024

7 Grant funding of Charitable activities (continued)

The George Muller Charitable Trust facilitates prayer and financial support for a number of global and local mission partners. Woodlands Group of Churches partner with The George Muller Charitable Trust in supporting many of these partners, who also have a close partnership with our churches.

Included within the grants made to The George Muller Charitable Trust are grants totalling £24,240 (2023: £25,993) in respect of the charity's two partnerships with Hands at Work in Africa.

8 Expenditure on Raising funds

Expenditure on Raising funds
	**Unrestricted **	Unrestricted
	Free	Designated	Restricted	Total funds
	Reserves	funds	funds
Year ended 31 March 2024	£	£	£	£
Online donation processing fees	17,962	-	-	17,962
	17,962	-	-	17,962
Previous year ended 31 March 2023
Online donation processing fees	15,756	-	-	15,756
	15,756	-	-	15,756

9 Net income/(expenditure)

This is stated after charging:	Total funds	Total funds
	2024	2023
	£	£
Depreciation (see note 12)	14,820	14,975
Auditor's remuneration for statutory audit services	5,262	4,962

10 People resources

A summary of the cost of church workers for the current and preceding financial year is below:

Wages and Salaries Social Security Costs Pension costs	2024 2023 £ £ 768,790 620,106 46,222 32,620 13,128 9,985
	828,140 662,711

In the year to 31 March 2024, the average number of staff employed was 51 (2023: 47)

No employee received employment benefits of more than £60,000 in the current or preceding year.

39

WOODLANDS GROUP OF CHURCHES NOTES TO THE FINANCIAL STATEMENTS YEAR ENDED 31 MARCH 2024

10 People resources (continued)

The charity is heavily dependent on volunteers to conduct its activities and achieve its mission and aims. As voluntary involvement is encouraged for all those who consider themselves a part of the churches, it is impossible to reliably quantify the numbers of people or hours that the charity receives. The Trustees' report further illustrates the impact that volunteers have on the work of the charity.

The key management personnel of the charity includes the Trustees and the Senior Leadership Team. The employment benefits paid to key management were £343,332 (2023: £256,182).

The charity operated a defined contribution pension plan for its employees. The amount recognised as an expense in the year was £13,128 (2023: £9,985). The defined contribution liability is allocated between activities and funds on the same basis as the salary of the individual to whom those contributions relate.

11 Taxation

Woodlands Group of Churches is recognised as a charity for UK tax purposes and is therefore exempt from Corporation Tax on its income and gains provided that these are used for charitable purposes only.

**12 **	Tangible fixed assets		Audio,
		Freehold	Visual
		Property and	and office	Furniture
		Improvements	Equipment	& Fittings	Total
		£	£	£	£
	Cost
	At 1 April 2023	2,538,515	186,219	68,421	2,793,155
	Additions	18,224	-	17,672	35,896
	Disposals	(8,411)	(1,320)	(2,040)	(11,771)
	At 31 March 2024	2,548,328	184,899	84,053	2,817,280
	Depreciation
	At 1 April 2023	-	155,800	42,742	198,542
	Charge for the year	-	10,058	4,762	14,820
	Disposals	-	(1,320)	(2,040)	(3,360)
	At 31 March 2024	-	164,538	45,464	210,002
	Net book value
	At 31 March 2024	2,548,328	20,361	38,589	2,607,278
	At 31 March 2023	2,538,515	30,419	25,679	2,594,613

Asset disposals during the year resulted in a loss on disposal charged to the Statement of Financial Activities of £8,411.

40

WOODLANDS GROUP OF CHURCHES

NOTES TO THE FINANCIAL STATEMENTS

YEAR ENDED 31 MARCH 2024

**13 **	Programme related investments	Global	City and
		Partnership	Community
		Microfinance	Outreach
		loans	loans	Total
		£	£	£
	At 1 April 2023	16,879	2,160,225	2,177,104
	Additions	2,245	171,315	173,560
	Written off loans (charged to Charitable Activities as grants payable)	(92)	-	(92)
	Exchange rate losses	(382)	-	(382)
	Amounts repaid	(15,444)	(350,500)	(365,944)
	At 31 March 2024	3,206	1,981,040	1,984,246
	Included within:
	Fixed assets	-	1,981,040	1,981,040
	Current assets	3,206	-	3,206
		3,206	1,981,040	1,984,246

Global Partnership Microfinance loans include small short term loans to entrepreneurs in poverty.

City and Community Outreach loans include short term loans to individuals to assist in their ministries linked with the charity's City and Community Outreach activities. A fuller explanation on the nature and basis for these loans is included within the Trustees' Annual Report.

14 Mixed purpose investments At 1 April 2023 and 31 March 2024 Included within: Current assets	Loan Other Stock Loans Total £ £ £
	500,000 - 500,000
	500,000 - 500,000
	500,000 - 500,000

Mixed purpose investments includes £500,000 of interest bearing loan stock issued by Green Pastures Community Benefit Society (an exempt charity). The funds are used to help house the homeless and are unsecured. Under the charity's investment policy, the maximum that can be invested for this purpose is limited at any one time to £500,000. These funds are held in a designated fund: 'Housing the Homeless'.

41

WOODLANDS GROUP OF CHURCHES NOTES TO THE FINANCIAL STATEMENTS YEAR ENDED 31 MARCH 2024

15 Financial Investments Market value brought forward Gains/(losses) in the year Market value carried forward	2024 2023 £ £ 3,012,666 3,153,248 204,194 (140,582)
	3,216,860 3,012,666

Financial Investments consist of units held in two common investment funds consisting of UK and Global listed equities, managed by Epworth Investment Management.

16 Debtors Other debtors Gift Aid tax reclaims Prepayments and accrued income 17 Creditors: amounts falling due within one year Other creditors Taxation and social security Accruals and deferred income	2024 2023 £ £ 36,770 39,953 26,217 24,732 10,390 9,105
	73,377 73,790
	2024 2023 £ £ 3,763 3,120 14,746 9,035 42,309 39,112
	60,818 51,267

42

WOODLANDS GROUP OF CHURCHES NOTES TO THE FINANCIAL STATEMENTS YEAR ENDED 31 MARCH 2024

18 Movement in funds

Year ended 31 March 2024 Unrestricted funds Free reserves Earmarked Giving Funds(designated) Fixed Asset NBV(designated) Charitable Loans NBV(designated) Capacity Development(designated) Housing the Homeless(designated) Property Purchases(designated) St James/UPA(designated) Mental Health and Wellbeing(designated) South Bristol Church Planting(designated) Strategic Projects(designated) WCF Staffing Fund(designated) Unrealised Investment Gains(designated) Restricted Funds Hands at Work (Bhandeni) Hands at Work (Houtbos) Hands at Work (Missionary support) Highgrove Global Partner Fund Local Care and Mission Fund Metro Special Offering Central Special Offering WCF Special Offfering Microfinance Needy Saints Reach (Single Parents Ministry) Sunday Evening Offerings(Woodlands Central) Sunday Mission Offerings(Branch) Sunday Mission Offerings(Community Church) Sunday Mission Offerings(Highgrove) Sunday Mission Offerings(Metro) Sunday Mission Offerings(Woodlands Central) Sunday Mission Offering(South Bristol) Woodlands Global Partner Fund Other restricted funds (see description) Total funds	At Transfers At 1 April Income Expenditure between 31 March 2023 and gains and losses funds 2024 £ £ £ £ £ 688,603 1,289,827 (1,182,596) (122,992) 672,842 127,902 80,606 (85,446) - 123,062 2,594,613 - - 12,665 2,607,278 2,160,225 - - (179,185) 1,981,040 350,000 - (22,194) 80,496 408,302 500,000 22,000 - (11,000) 511,000 2,239,606 336,448 (43,968) 112,132 2,644,218 52,370 23,718 (17,070) - 59,018 27,170 - (12,659) - 14,511 51,000 - (15,000) 36,000 - - (9,044) 59,044 50,000 - 37,864 (41,106) 63,553 60,311 595,020 204,194 - - 799,214
	9,386,509 1,994,657 (1,414,083) (287) 9,966,796 6,151 9,384 (9,530) 4,949 10,954 10,546 14,823 (13,440) - 11,929 662 24,142 (24,952) 288 140 3,700 10,604 (16,472) 3,512 1,344 8,158 27,611 (32,099) 5,823 9,493 3,104 450 (3,554) - - - 7,572 (5,025) (2,547) - - 15,926 (15,926) - - 16,882 - (13,675) - 3,207 23,691 457 (3,416) - 20,732 23,930 2,293 (11,329) - 14,894 - 2,718 (95) (2,623) - 878 4,507 (4,317) (721) 347 - 9,738 (5,510) (4,228) - - 3,512 - (3,512) - - 2,551 (2,551) - - - 10,092 (754) (9,338) - - 3,419 (300) (3,119) - 11,630 29,685 (40,284) 7,162 8,193 17,741 5,932 (7,451) 4,641 20,863
	127,073 185,416 (210,680) 287 102,096
	9,513,582 2,180,073 (1,624,763) - 10,068,892

43

WOODLANDS GROUP OF CHURCHES NOTES TO THE FINANCIAL STATEMENTS YEAR ENDED 31 MARCH 2024

18 Movement in funds (continued)

Previous year ended 31 March 2023	At			Transfers	At
	1 April	Income	Expenditure	between	31 March
	2022	and gains	and losses	funds	2023
Unrestricted funds	£	£	£	£	£
Free reserves	352,424	1,197,756	(1,101,982)	240,405	688,603
Earmarked Giving Funds (designated)	150,562	144,445	(166,905)	(200)	127,902
Fixed Asset NBV (designated)	2,315,614	-	-	278,999	2,594,613
Charitable Loans NBV (designated)	1,593,585	-	(35,360)	602,000	2,160,225
Available for Charitable Loans (designated)	1,693,475	99,429	-	(1,792,904)	-
Capacity Development (designated)	259,537	-	(13,284)	103,747	350,000
Housing the Homeless (designated)	-	-	-	500,000	500,000
Property Purchases (designated)	1,895,266	251,002	(18,063)	111,401	2,239,606
St James/UPA (designated)	40,024	21,733	(9,387)	-	52,370
Mental Health and Wellbeing (designated)	29,152	-	(1,982)	-	27,170
South Bristol Church Planting (designated)	66,000	-	-	(15,000)	51,000
Unrealised Investment Gains (designated)	735,601	-	(140,581)	-	595,020
	9,131,240	1,714,365	(1,487,544)	28,448	9,386,509
Restricted Funds
Hands at Work (Bhandeni)	3,654	9,667	(9,920)	2,750	6,151
Hands at Work (Houtbos)	9,192	14,624	(13,440)	170	10,546
Hands at Work (Missionary support)	17	24,978	(24,522)	189	662
Highgrove Global Partner Fund	2,778	9,244	(11,316)	2,994	3,700
Local Care and Mission Fund	14,297	17,932	(27,191)	3,120	8,158
Metro Special Offering	7,148	962	(5,006)	-	3,104
Highgrove Special Offering	-	28,494	-	(28,494)	-
Central Special Offering	-	11,608	(14,469)	2,861	-
Microfinance	16,453	517	(88)	-	16,882
Needy Saints	27,814	2,448	(6,571)	-	23,691
Reach (Single Parents Ministry)	23,839	5,216	(5,125)	-	23,930
Sunday Evening Offerings(Woodlands Central)	-	4,320	-	(4,320)	-
Sunday Mission Offerings(Branch)	900	6,177	(5,952)	(247)	878
Sunday Mission Offerings(Community Church)	-	8,505	(6,993)	(1,512)	-
Sunday Mission Offerings(Highgrove)	-	2,994	-	(2,994)	-
Sunday Mission Offerings(Metro)	60	4,648	(4,708)	-	-
Sunday Mission Offerings(Woodlands Central)	-	9,883	-	(9,883)	-
Sunday Mission Offering(South Bristol)	-	733	-	(733)	-
Woodlands Global Partner Fund	7,344	30,905	(34,461)	7,842	11,630
Other restricted funds (see description)	11,665	31,749	(25,482)	(191)	17,741
	125,161	225,604	(195,244)	(28,448)	127,073
Total funds	9,256,401	1,939,969	(1,682,788)	-	9,513,582

Description and purpose of funds and transfers

All funds with an opening balance, closing balance, income, gain, expenditure, loss or transfer greater than £10,000 have been separately disclosed. With the exception of monthly mission offerings which are disclosed in full regardless of size, all other funds have been included within 'other restricted funds'. The Charity accounts fully for all restricted funds and a summary of the movement on any smaller fund is available upon request.

Free reserves

These funds represent the free reserves of the charity. Transfers out include £28,600 from budget surpluses to the Capacity Development fund to help cover costs associated with building improvements and an additional £79,381 from annual congregational budgets to ensure funds are available for unexpected/exceptional

44

WOODLANDS GROUP OF CHURCHES NOTES TO THE FINANCIAL STATEMENTS YEAR ENDED 31 MARCH 2024

18 Movement in funds (continued)

large costs that may be incurred. Further transfers out of the fund of £59,044 relate to establishing a new designated fund to support strategic projects arising from the recent strategic review.

Transfers into the fund include the annual depreciation charge of £14,820 met by the Fixed Assets NBV fund and £14,500 from the repayment of a loan previously funded from free reserves.

Earmarked Giving Funds (designated)

From time to time, the charity receives unrestricted donations and allows the donor(s) to express wishes as to their ultimate application within the charitable purposes of the charity. The application of these funds is at the full discretion of the Trustees, but they take account of the expressed wishes of the donor. The Trustees have determined it appropriate to hold these 'earmarked' funds in a designated fund.

Fixed Asset NBV (designated)

This fund represents the net book value of tangible fixed assets held by the charity. The transfers in and out of this fund relate to additions, depreciation and profits and loss on disposal.

Charitable Loans NBV (designated)

This fund represents the carrying value of the charitable loans held by the charity. These exist to further the City and Community Outreach dimension of the charity's work. This scheme has now closed and no new loans have been dispersed under the scheme. The eight outstanding loans will be called in as they mature. One loan was disbursed in the year for £171,000 as a measure to ensure financial stability for a key member of the leadership team.

Capacity Development (designated)

This fund enables major capital developments of existing buildings that provide increased capacity or usage. Expenditure this year includes the costs associated with the completion of the Highgrove foyer, the garden room project at Central and an architechtural survey at Albert Place (Community Church). £35,895 of these costs were taken to the balance sheet. Transfers into this fund include a proportion of each congregation's general funds income being set aside to meet any unanticipated large emergency capital expenditure costs.

Housing the Homeless (designated)

This fund is used to support housing for the homeless, currently through Green Pastures loans. From October 2023, the interest payments from these loans is being used to fund a new WCF Staffing designated fund.

Property Purchases (designated)

This fund exists to enable the purchase of a property that will serve as a campus expansion of our Woodlands Christian Centre building. With the upcoming loss of Ashley Down House as a venue for activity for Woodlands Central, there is now a lot of work being done on exploring the viability of potential venues locally to provide added capacity and potential buildings for new church plants. The fund is held at a level that ensures the fund can meet our emerging building strategy plans.

St James/UPA (designated)

The charity started renting out accommodation in their St James building in 2021. The net rental is included within this designated fund in order to help meet the costs of future upkeep liabilities for the ageing building.

Mental Health and Wellbeing (designated)

This fund was created from a gift of £30,000 received from a donor for 'use by the Trustees as deemed fit'. As Mental Health is a key priority for the Trustees, they have set aside this gift for this purpose. This fund is being used to employ an in-house Well-being facilitator two days a week, and to support the runing costs of a Well-being cafe at the Community Church and the WCF Well-being website.

South Bristol Church Planting (designated)

This fund was created for the monthly contribution towards the stipend being paid by the West of England Baptist Network to R&N Pollard to work with Woodlands to plant a congregation in South Bristol. The Pollards have moved on from this role at WCF but this fund will continue to be used to support the costs associated with the interim Southside congregational leader.

Strategic Projects (designated)

Following the Strategic Review in 2022, this fund has been created to set aside funds to meet the costs associated with the recommendations from the review that the trustees and SLT have prioritised. Costs to date relate to Rebranding and a safeguarding transformation project.

45

WOODLANDS GROUP OF CHURCHES NOTES TO THE FINANCIAL STATEMENTS

YEAR ENDED 31 MARCH 2024

18 Movement in funds (continued)

WCF Staffing (designated)

A number of staff do not fall solely into one congregation but serve the whole of the Woodlands Church Family. The fund was created this year to meet the costs associated with employing these members of staff. Income into this fund is from sources other than general giving: mixed purpose investments' loan interest, bank interest and net rental income from properties.

Unrealised Investment Gains (designated)

This fund represents the cumulative unrealised investment gains from the charity's equity investment portfolio.

Hands at Work (restricted)

Woodlands Group of Churches has two partnerships to support the work of the charity Hands at Work in two needy communities in Africa. These funds represent the monies raised from our congregations in support of these partnerships. Additional funds have been raised to support missionaries serving with Hands at Work.

Highgrove Global Partners Fund (restricted)

This fund arises from offerings and is held to enable Highgrove global and local mission partners to be supported both on a regular and on an ad hoc basis, as needs arise.

Local Care and Mission Fund (restricted)

This fund was established for the Trustees to make discretionary gifts to local mission and care projects and organisations. The funds arise from regular offerings at the Woodlands Central congregation.

Metro Special Offering (restricted)

This fund was established following an offering to support the vision of the Metro Campus to reach the many university students in Bristol who are unconnected with church.

Central Special Offering (restricted)

This fund was established to facilitate one-off exceptional offerings to take place. The fund ensures special offerings are ring-fenced from the monthly Sunday offerings taken. This year one special offering was taken - to raise funds at Central's Christmas events for global and local partners (InHope, Tearfund and International Justice Mission).

WCF Special Offering (restricted)

The fund was established this year to faciliate co-ordinated giving across all congregations in response to global disasters for which the Senior Leadership Team earmark for a special/one off offering. This year, one special offering was taken in response to the flooding and earthquake in North Africa.

Microfinance (restricted)

These are funds given specifically for the purpose of investing in microfinance initiatives. Any microfinance repayments received are now being donated to a microfinance organisation called KIVA for their work.

Needy Saints (restricted)

The Trustees have established a fund to be spent at their discretion on grants to those who are in financial hardship or particular need. Other members of church are invited to give into this fund.

Reach (Single Parents ministry) (restricted)

This fund arises from restricted giving to support the activities of Reach, a single parents outreach and includes the activities associated with the annual Single Parents Fair. The fund is now being used to meet the cost of a community worker to reach and support single parent families.

Sunday Offerings (restricted)

Across the church, an offering is taken once a month during the morning and evening services. These offerings are taken for the benefit of global partners serving overseas or for nationwide or city-based community care and outreach initiatives. Gifts are either sent directly to recipients from these funds or transferred to other funds as appropriate to their ultimate application.

Woodlands Global Partners Fund (restricted)

This fund arises from offerings and is held to enable Woodlands global partners to be supported both on a regular and ad hoc basis as needs arise.

46

WOODLANDS GROUP OF CHURCHES NOTES TO THE FINANCIAL STATEMENTS

YEAR ENDED 31 MARCH 2024

19 Summary of assets and liabilities of each fund category

At 31 March 2024	**Unrestricted **	Unrestricted
	Free	Designated	Restricted	Total
	Reserves	Funds	Funds	funds
	£	£	£	£
Tangible assets	-	2,607,278	-	2,607,278
Programme related investments	-	1,981,040	3,206	1,984,246
Mixed purpose investments	-	500,000	-	500,000
Financial investments	-	3,216,860	-	3,216,860
Cash, Deposits and other current assets	733,660	988,776	98,890	1,821,326
Other current liabilities	(60,818)	-	-	(60,818)
	672,842	9,293,954	102,096	10,068,892
At 31 March 2023	**Unrestricted **	Unrestricted
	Free	Designated	Restricted	Total
	Reserves	Funds	Funds	funds
	£	£	£	£
Tangible assets	-	2,594,613	-	2,594,613
Programme related investments	-	2,160,225	16,879	2,177,104
Mixed purpose investments	-	500,000	-	500,000
Financial investments	-	3,012,666	-	3,012,666
Cash, Deposits and other current assets	739,870	430,402	110,194	1,280,466
Other current liabilities	(51,267)	-	-	(51,267)
	688,603	8,697,906	127,073	9,513,582

47

WOODLANDS GROUP OF CHURCHES NOTES TO THE FINANCIAL STATEMENTS YEAR ENDED 31 MARCH 2024

20 Prior year fund comparatives for the Statement of Financial Activities

	**Unrestricted **	Unrestricted
	Free	Designated	Restricted	Total funds
	Reserves	funds	funds	2023
	£	£	£	£
Income from :
Donations and Legacies	1,134,097	144,445	224,649	1,503,191
Charitable activities	63,659	167,722	438	231,819
Investments	-	204,442	-	204,442
Total	1,197,756	516,609	225,087	1,939,452
Expenditure on :
Charitable activities
Global Partnerships	55,937	88,776	137,486	282,199
City and Community Outreach	117,406	105,275	41,037	263,718
Gathered Church	351,689	21,807	697	374,193
Children and Youth Ministry	190,098	7,102	2,286	199,486
Student Ministry	151,185	7,193	7,211	165,589
Discipleship and Leadership Development	165,047	7,766	205	173,018
Pastoral Care	54,864	7,061	6,322	68,247
	1,086,226	244,980	195,244	1,526,450
Raising funds	15,756	-	-	15,756
Total	1,101,982	244,980	195,244	1,542,206
Net gains on investments	-	(140,582)	-	(140,582)
Net income	95,774	131,047	29,843	256,664
Transfers between funds	240,405	(211,957)	(28,448)	-
Other gains	-	-	517	517
Net movement in funds	336,179	(80,910)	1,912	257,181
Reconciliation of funds
Total funds brought forward	352,424	8,778,816	125,161	9,256,401
Total funds carried forward	688,603	8,697,906	127,073	9,513,582

48

WOODLANDS GROUP OF CHURCHES NOTES TO THE FINANCIAL STATEMENTS

YEAR ENDED 31 MARCH 2024

21 Reconciliation of the Statement of Financial Activities to the Statement of Cash Flows

A.1 Receipts from Donations and Legacies Increase in debtors A.2 Receipts from Charitable activities Decrease in debtors Increase in deferred income and other creditors B.1 Payments for Raising funds Investment management costs B.2 Payments for Charitable activities Depreciation eliminated Non-cash loss on fixed asset disposal Non-cash grant on charitable loans Increase in prepayments and other debtors Increase in creditors and accruals C.1 Receipts from Programme-related investments Non-cash foreign exchange movement Decrease in debtors C.2 Receipts from Mixed Purpose investments Decrease in debtors D.1 Receipts from Investments Income from programme-related investments Income from mixed purpose investments Balance sheet movements 22 Analysis of changes in cash and cash equivalents Cash in hand Notice deposits (less than 3 months) Total cash and cash equivalents Cash in hand Notice deposits (less than 3 months) Total cash and cash equivalents	Statement of Financial Activities £ 1,498,339 229,062 (17,962) - (1,606,292) 14,820 8,411 92 77,986 (127) 22,000 248,478 (77,986) (22,000) 2024 £ 314,530 1,433,419	Debtors Creditors Cash flow £ £ £ (5,039) 1,493,300 7,086 489 236,637 (17,962) (2,292) 9,062 (1,576,199) 658 78,517 - 22,000 148,492 413 9,551 2023 Change £ £ 188,546 125,984 1,018,130 415,289 1,206,676 541,273 2022 Change £ £ 153,276 35,270 1,493,149 (475,019) 1,646,425 (439,749)
	1,747,949
	2023 £ 188,546 1,018,130
	1,206,676

49

WOODLANDS GROUP OF CHURCHES NOTES TO THE FINANCIAL STATEMENTS YEAR ENDED 31 MARCH 2024

23 Commitments

The charity had no capital or non-cancellable lease commitments at the end of the current or preceding period.

24 Payments to Trustees and other related party transactions

Remuneration and benefits paid to Trustees and other related parties

Under the Memorandum and Articles of Association, the Trustees have the authority to employ or engage under a contract for services a Trustee or any person connected with a Trustee as long as certain conditions are met and procedures followed. Below is a summary of these payments and those made to other related parties:

	Payments	Salary
	for services,	from	Pension
**Gifts and Grants **		employment	costs	Total
	£	£	£	£
Year ended 31 March 2024
D J Mitchell	-	40,045	1,014	41,059
T J Dobson	-	30,425	726	31,151
D Roderick	-	23,679	523	24,202
Close family members of Trustees	1,154	51,325	936	53,415
Senior Leadership Team(if not included above)	15,000	166,378	3,543	184,921
Year ended 31 March 2023
D J Mitchell	-	37,150	927	38,077
T J Dobson	-	29,301	692	29,993
D Roderick	-	18,288	361	18,649
Close family members of Trustees	300	37,096	549	37,945
Senior Leadership Team(if not included above)	15,000	109,456	2,383	126,839

Close family members of Trustees comprises: D J Mitchell (son of D Mitchell), C Mitchell (spouse of D Mitchell), S Mitchell (daughter in-law of D Mitchell), D A Marsh (spouse of E J Marsh), M Dobson (son of T Dobson), M Roderick (spouse of D Roderick).

The above disclosure of payments to Senior Leadership Team members comprises the following individuals who were not Trustees or close family members of a Trustee during the year: N J Savage, R Riddall, P Jinadu, K Jinadu, H C Thompson, J Saunders, M Smith and R Pollard.

Included in the current and prior year church worker costs are payments totalling £15,000 to the West of England Baptist Network as a contribution towards the stipend received by R and N Pollard.

R Riddall and N Savage, both members of the Senior Leadership Team and Key Management, are each in receipt of a charitable loan from the charity. The outstanding balance of the loans at the balance sheet date is £402,288 and £171,315 respectively. Both loans are secured on a property.

Donations from Trustees and related parties

The aggregate donations received from Trustees, SLT and related parties (including any related gift aid) were £65,059 (2023: £82,899).

Trustee expenses

One trustee was reimbursed £127 for training relating to trustee duties (2023: £50 paid to one trustee for trustee training expenses).

25 Company limited by guarantee

The charity is incorporated in England and Wales as a company limited by guarantee having no share capital and, in accordance with the Memorandum of Association, every member is liable to contribute £1 towards the costs of dissolution and the liabilities incurred by the charity in the event of the company being wound up.

50