2023-12-31-accounts - Norcot Mission Church

This text was generated using OCR and may contain errors. Check the original PDF to see the document submitted to the regulator.

Trustees' Annual Report for the period

Trustees' Annual Report for theperiod	Trustees' Annual Report for theperiod	Trustees' Annual Report for theperiod	Trustees' Annual Report for theperiod	Trustees' Annual Report for theperiod	Trustees' Annual Report for theperiod	Trustees' Annual Report for theperiod	Trustees' Annual Report for theperiod
From	Period start date			To	Period end date
	1	Jan	2023		31	Dec	2023

Section A Reference and administration details

Norcot Mission Church

Charity name Norcot Mission Church Other names charity is known by NMC Registered charity number (if any) 1125881 Charity's principal address Brockley Close Reading Postcode RG30 4YP

Names of the charity trustees who manage the charity

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20	Trustee name	Office (if any)	Dates acted if not for whole year	Name of person (or body) entitled to appoint trustee (ifany)
	Richard Tegg	Chair
	Paul Savage	Treasurer
	Marion Angas

Names of the trustees for the charity, if any, (for example, any custodian trustees)

Name Dates acted if not for whole year

TAR

March 2012

Names and addresses of advisers (Optional information)

Names and addresses of advisers (Optional information)	Names and addresses of advisers (Optional information)	Names and addresses of advisers (Optional information)
Type of adviser Name Address




Name of chief executive or names of senior staff members (Optional information)

Section B Structure, governance and management

Description of the charity’s trusts

Type of governing document (eg. trust deed, constitution) How the charity is constituted

Trust Deed

Trust

(eg. trust, association, company)

Appointed by existing Trustees. Trustee selection methods

(eg. appointed by, elected by)

Additional governance issues (Optional information)

You may choose to include additional information, where relevant, about:

policies and procedures adopted for the induction and training of trustees;
the charity’s organisational structure and any wider network with which the charity works;

Under the trustees, the Church is lead by a spiritual leadership team. The leadership team comprises of four individuals, two of whom are also trustees:

Chris Lack – Senior Elder

Paul Savage – Elder, Treasurer, Trustee Richard Tegg – Leader, Trustee

Stephen Proctor – Leader, Community Pastor

relationship with any related parties;
trustees’ consideration of major risks and the system and procedures to manage them.

Section C Objectives and activities

To declare and advance the Christian faith as revealed in the Holy Summary of the objects of the Scriptures and in accordance with the statement of beliefs and practices charity set out in its appearing in the Trust Deed. Also to relieve sickness and financial governing document hardship and to promote and preserve good health (physical, mental and spiritual).

TAR

March 2012

Summary of the main activities undertaken for the public benefit in relation to these objects (include within this section the statutory declaration that trustees have had regard to the guidance issued by the Charity Commission on public benefit)

In a general view, the activities at NMC during 2023 have progressed to a level of normality after ever decreasing effects of the Covid-19 Pandemic. Whilst trying to meet our aims we have continued to experience limitations due to members not returning to fellowship after the pandemic. This fall in congregation numbers has been observed in many other churches. An all-age service continues on Sunday mornings and since October 2023 a regular meeting for prayer is held on Sunday evenings in the building. The Wednesday prayer meeting is still held online. The young people also have an Energise meeting of their own on Thursday evenings, which continues to be a valuable time offering both social and spiritual support to the young people. This year included a BBQ evening in the garden of a Church family Our Oasis café on Friday also incorporates the Norcot Food Pantry plus we operated as a registered Warm space for all throughout the winter months. Our community pastor , Stephen Proctor, has had a busy year. He holds a weekly friendship group at Oak Tree House, a local supported living complex for older people. He also supports some going through bereavement by attending a separate monthly group meeting at another Church. This links with him leading a number of funerals for Church members and some in Oak Tree House. Stephen has finished his part time studying and achieved an MA with distinction from Moorlands College. Stephen has also volunteered to help with the local Torch group in the coming year. We continue to pray for an increase in our membership, especially for younger members and those who have gifts in leadership and children’s work. Stephen continues to maintain contact with those members who have been unable to return to regular services with us (particularly older members)

The church leadership team continues to meet regularly via Zoom and provided direction and practical help to the church. The Trustee meetings are now part of these monthly meetings, and this enables a more holistic oversight of the Churches activities.

The building is used by various groups throughout the week. Tuesday a local wind band have a practice session, and the newest meeting we support is the Jamaican Society holding monthly meetings on Thursdays’ and Saturdays’. The building has also served other local meetings including the West Reading Safety Forum. In planning the activities, the Trustees have applied the guidance on public benefit issued by the Charity Commission.

TAR

March 2012

Additional details of objectives and activities (Optional information)

You may choose to include further statements, where relevant, about:

policy on grantmaking;
policy programme related investment;
contribution made by volunteers.

Section D Achievements and performance

Summary of the main achievements of the charity during the year

The above activities have produced the following outcomes.

The worship, preaching and teaching has supported and encouraged those who attend. Church attendance is steady although low in numbers
We reach a wide cross section of the community via the provision of the food pantry. The ‘Norcot Pantry’ continues to be hosted from the building on a weekly basis. The number of pantry members continues to increase, meeting the needs of those who come.
The Oasis Coffee morning each Friday runs alongside the pantry. This has provided a friendly atmosphere and an opportunity to build friendships with the community.
We provided a ‘Warm-Space’ for local residents on Fridays at Oasis/Pantry over the winter period.
The Church building is used during the week by a number of other organisations on a regular basis as detailed above.
The teenage youth club has become more established with both social activities and spiritual teaching. It continues to grow in strength.
Special collections at Easter, Harvest and Christmas enabled us to support financially Tearfund, Christian Aid and Churches In Reading Drop In Centre (CIRDIC)
We have continued to address poverty and sickness through prayer, the provision of volunteer workers, food and financial gifts.

Section E Financial review

Brief statement of the charity’s policy on reserves

To keep sufficient money in reserve to maintain one year’s salary for our Community Pastor, Stephen Proctor, equivalent to £31,750, which is held in the designated Employment Fund. The cash balance held at the year end was £45,379, with £45,048 being available for any purpose. It is Church policy to save sufficient funds for any capital expenditure, so that the Church does not have to take out a commercial loan.

TAR

March 2012

Details of any funds materially in deficit Further financial review details Youmay chooseto include additional information, where relevant about: • the charity’s principal sources of funds (including any fundraising); • how expenditure has supported the key objectives of the charity; • investment policy and objectives including any ethical investment policy adopted.	If, in unforeseen circumstances, there is a large emergency expenditure, the money would be taken from church funds and rebuilt, as a matter of priority. Our experience shows that the Lord always provides for our needs.
	We expected there a deficit to the overall funds in 2023 due to a reduction in income combined with increased employment and support costs and planned building maintenance/improvements. However, we have found that our receipts in 2023 were higher than expected and even exceeded our receipts in 2022. We have seen an increase in income from our Sunday collections. In addition, regular and ad-hoc donations were at increased levels in 2023. These have been due to some small increases in church attendance during the year and new giving from Church members. Finances through regular Stewardship giving have shown a 5% increase including unchanged giving from some no longer attending in person. There have been some large anonymous one-off donations during the year but at a reduced level compared to 2022. We were grossly overcharged in 2023 for our Gas usage meaning that we were £5,500 in credit. A refund was given to us in June. Smart meters have now been fitted to both our Gas and Electricity meters which will ensure more accurate billing in future. The cost of utilities remain a high level of our payments and are in need of monitoring. Our expenditure on the building has been at a much reduced level with only essential maintenance work being done. Building improvements have been postponed until 2024. The reduction in building expenditure combined with a reduction in utilities costs has meant that our expenditure in 2023 has been much lower than 2022. Increased income and much reduced expenditure has resulted in an increase of £400 in cash funds at the end of the year.
	(Optional information)
	A large percentage of our income comes as personal gifts from members of the congregation. In 2023, we have been able to continue full time employment of our Community Pastor. The financial income via Sunday collections have increased slightly but remain low compared to pre-pandemic levels. New regular monthly gifts set up by church members in lieu of regular giving on a Sunday morning have increased slightly compared to 2022. We continue to acknowledge the hidden expenditure in running costs borne by the congregation. Such expenditure is viewed by members as part of their giving to the Lord in these difficult times and expenses have not been submitted. The financial health of the church remains good, and we continue running the church as a benefit for our congregation and the local community. We recognise the Lord’s provision for our needs during this past year.

TAR

March 2012

Section F Other optional information

Section G Declaration

The trustees declare that they have approved the trustees’ report above.

Signed on behalf of the charity’s trustees

Signature(s) Full name(s) Position (e.g. Secretary, Chair, etc) Date	Richard Tegg	Paul Savage
	Richard Tegg	Paul Savage

	Chair of Trustees	Trustee and Church Treasurer
	30 September 2024
	30 September 2024

TAR

March 2012

Charity Name : Norcot Mission Church	Charity Name : Norcot Mission Church	Charity Name : Norcot Mission Church	No: 1125881	CC16a
Receipts and payments accounts
For the period from	Period start date 01-Jan-23	To	Period end date 31-Dec-23

Section A Receipts and payments

A1 Receipts	Unrestricted funds to the nearest £ 4,834 4,037 26,922 1,101 3,739 150 4,127 389 - - 45,299	Restricted funds to the nearest £	Endowment funds to the nearest £	Total funds to the nearest £	Last year to the nearest £
Collection and recoveredgift aid	4,834	459	-	5,293	3,791
Regular Donations	4,037	-	-	4,037	3,890
Gift-aided Regular Donations	26,922	-	-	26,922	25,477
Ad-Hoc Donations	1,101	-	-	1,101	1,081
Gift-aided Ad-Hoc Donations	3,739	-	-	3,739	4,825
Hardshiploan repayments	150	-	-	150	850
Credit from Gas provider for overcharge in 2022	4,127	-	-	4,127	-
Interest	389	-	-	389	44
	-	-	-	-	-
	-	- 459	-	-	-
*Sub total*	45,299		-	45,758	39,958
A2 Asset and investment sales, etc. *Total receipts* A3 Payments
	-	-	-	-	-
	45,299 4,221 1,906 800 33 31,746 5,808 485 - 44,999
		459	-	45,758	39,958

Running Costs (insurance, legal, subscriptions,catering,etc)	4,221		-	4,221	3,639
Utilities(gas,electric,water)	1,906			1,906	7,039
Pastoral Gifts	800		-	800	363
Youth Work Expenses	33		-	33	193
Employment costs	31,746	-	-	31,746	31,505
Support costs(grants)	5,808	361	-	6,169	5,660
Building Maintenance and Development	485	-	-	485	2,680
HardshipLoan	-		-	-	1,000
			-	-	-
			-	-	-
			-	-	-
			-	-	-
			-	-	-
		361	-	-	-
**Sub total **	44,999		-	45,360	52,080
A4 Asset and investment purchases, etc. *Total payments* *Net of receipts/(payments)* A5 Transfers between funds A6 Cash funds last year end *Cash funds this year end*
	-	-	-	-	-
	44,999
		361	-	45,360	52,080

	300	98	-	398	- 12,122
	-	-	-	-	-
	44,748	233	-	44,981	57,103
	45,048	331	-	45,379	44,981

Section B Statement of assets and liabilities at the end of the period

Details	Unrestricted funds to nearest £	Restricted funds to nearest £	Endowment funds to nearest £
Current Account	11,923	60	-
less Current Account chequesyet to bepresented	- 649	-
plus Current Account depositsyet to clear	-	-
Deposit Account	33,774	-	-
NMC PettyCash	-	103	-
Glow-worms Petty Cash	-	168	-
(agree balances with receipts and payments account(s)) *Total cash funds*	45,048	331	-
	OK	OK	OK

Details Gift Aid receivable under GASDS for 2023 Details None Details Details Furnishings Miscellaneous equipment The building from which the church operates Employer and Employee Pension contributions for December 2023 StewardshipFee for review of Accounts Signature Paul Savage Richard Tegg	Unrestricted funds to nearest £	Unrestricted funds to nearest £
	211	-
	-	-
	-	-
	-	-
	-	-
	-	-
	Fund to which asset belongs
		-
		-
		-
		-
		-
	Fund to which asset belongs
	General	-
	General	-
	General	-
		-
		-
		-
		-
		-
		-
	Fund to which liability relates
	Employment	180
	Running	960
		-
		-
		-
Paul Savage	PAUL SAVAGE
Richard Tegg	RICHARD TEGG

INDEPENDENT EXAMINER'S REPORT

TO THE TRUSTEES OF

NORCOT MISSION CHURCH

I report to the trustees on my examination of the accounts of Norcot Mission Church ('the charity') for the year ended 31 December 2023.

Responsibilities and basis of report

As the trustees of the charity you are responsible for the preparation of the accounts in accordance with the requirements of the Charities Act 2011 (‘the 2011 Act’).

I report in respect of my examination of the charity’s accounts carried out under section 145 of the 2011 Act and in carrying out my examination I have followed all the applicable Directions given by the Charity Commission under section 145(5)(b) of the 2011 Act.

Independent examiner’s statement

I have completed my examination. I confirm that no material matters have come to my attention in connection with the examination giving me cause to believe that in any material respect:

accounting records were not kept in accordance with section 130 of the 2011 Act; or 2. the accounts do not accord with the accounting records.

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

J. Young

Jaimée Young

Stewardship 1 Lamb's Passage LONDON EC1Y 8AB

Date: 02 October 2024

Page 1