_**89 High Street, Tring, Herts.,**_ **HP23 4AB** _**01442 824054; www.tringbaptistchurch.co.uk admin@tringbaptistchurch.co.uk**_
**– Annual Report for High Street Baptist Church for 2024 Charity Commission Number 1128094**
Prepared by:
Catherine Rowland 16[th] March 2025
**– Section A 1 Administrative details of the Charity, its Trustees and Advisers**
The Principal office of the Charity is:
89 High Street Tring Hertfordshire HP23 4AB
The list below shows the names of Trustees who served during the Financial Year 2024. James Cave Joseph Egan Ruth Egan Nandi Hall Deborah Inns Cheryl Law Alison Layne-Smith Katharine Passmore Kevin Rogers Catherine Rowland
## **– Section A 2 Structure, governance and management**
(From the Charity Constitution as prepared in January 2009 and amended on 24 September 2020)
The Charity is constituted under the constitution dated 29[th] January 2009, amended 24[th] September 2020 and “The Church” means members of the charitable unincorporated association governed by this constitution and known as High Street Baptist Church, Tring (or such other name as shall subsequently be adopted by decision of the Church Members’ Meeting and with the consent of the Charity Commission).
1
The Church is a member of the Baptist Union of Great Britain (Baptist Union) and the Central Baptist Association.
## **A – 2.1 Appointment and Removal of Charity Trustees**
The statutory definition of Charity Trustees in the relevant Charities Acts is “persons having the general control and management of the administration of a charity”. The Church’s procedures are set out in Section 15 of the Constitution.
## **– Section A 3 Financial Review**
Total income for the year was £133,977 (of which £417 was Restricted) and operating expenditure was £129,296 (of which £553 was Restricted) resulting in an overall surplus of £4681.
During the year, the church reimbursed Trustees a total of £2276.68 for regular church expenditure pre-authorised by the Church but initially paid for by those Trustees.
The Trustees reviewed the reserves policy on 14[th] November 2024 agreeing that £21K is held in the deposit account as reserves. This equates to three months expenditure.
At the end of the year there was £69,053 Unrestricted funds held in the current and deposit accounts and Restricted funds of £417.
As at 31[st] December2024, Target Unrestricted Reserves were £21K, and Target Designated Reserves were £20K, a total of £41K. This compares favourably with the actual Unrestricted balances total of £69K. No specific actions are currently envisaged to bring the Target and Actual Reserves closer, but this situation will be reviewed annually, particularly of the excess of Actual Balances against Target Reserves shows an increasing trend.
## **A – 3.1 Public Benefit Statement**
This is to confirm that the Charity’s Trustees have complied with their duty to have due regard on the guidance of public benefit published by the Commission in exercising their powers or duties.
The Church’s Objectives, Beliefs and Principal Activities employed to deliver this public benefit are shown below.
## **– Section B 1 Objectives and Activities**
## Purpose of the Charity is:
The principal Purpose of the Church is the advancement of the Christian faith according to the principles of the Baptist denomination. The Church may also advance education and carry out other charitable purposes in the United Kingdom and/or other parts of the world.
## Beliefs of the Charity are:
2
That our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ, God manifest in the flesh, is the sole and absolute authority in all matters pertaining to faith and practice, as revealed in the Holy Scriptures, and that each church has liberty, under the guidance of the Holy Spirit, to interpret and administer his laws.
That Christian Baptism is the immersion in water into the name of the Father, the Son and Holy Ghost, of those who have professed repentance towards God and faith in our Lord Jesus Christ who ‘died for our sins according to the Scriptures; was buried, and rose again on the third day’.
That it is the duty of every disciple to bear personal witness to the gospel of Jesus Christ, and to take part in the evangelisation of the world
## Principle Activities of the Charity are:
In fulfilling the Purpose the Church will engage in a range of Activities either on its own or with others that will vary from time to time with Activities being initiated, expanded, or closed, as appropriate.
The Activities may include but are not restricted to:
- regular public worship, prayer, Bible study, preaching and teaching;
- baptism, as defined in the Union’s Declaration of Principle;
- the Communion of the Lord’s Supper which shall normally be observed at least once a month;
- evangelism and mission, locally, regionally, nationally and internationally;
- the teaching, encouragement, welcome and inclusion of young people;
- nurture and growth of Christian disciples;
- education and training for Christian and community service;
- giving and encouraging pastoral care;
- supporting and encouraging charitable social action in the United Kingdom and abroad; and
- encouraging relationships with and supporting Baptists and other Christians.
## **– Section B 2 Achievement and Performance**
(Summary of the achievements of the Charity during 2024, as reported by the Church Secretary in March 2025)
## **Secretary’s Report 2024**
2024 has been a year in which God continues to bless the church as this report will demonstrate.
We have again been blessed through the Sunday teaching from Joe, Ruth, Kevin and others. January saw the start of a series entitled ‘Living Faith’ – lessons from the book of James. How to faithfully live a life of word, works, wonders and wisdom.
The Lent series was entitled ‘Meals with Jesus’ and after Easter we explored Jacob’s life story in a series entitled ‘God never gives up.’
3
In the summer term we explored stories from Acts where believers took the message of Jesus to places beyond the comfort of their immediate community.
In July Joe and Ruth delivered two sermons concerning Spiritual gifts and the congregation was invited to complete a spiritual gifts assessment.
During the summer the various Bible study groups led the services and many encouraging testimonies were given.
In the autumn we looked at Ezekiel and the ‘Hope of Restoration’ and the Advent series was entitled ‘Why did Jesus come to Earth?’
We celebrated Easter with the Good Friday ‘Walk of Witness’ through the town and our sunrise service on Pitstone Hill. The egg rolling and decorating competition followed by bacon butties back at the church remained as popular as ever.
We again opened our doors again during the Tring Christmas Festival. Hundreds crossed our threshold either to participate in crafts in the back hall, take advantage of the quite space in the church or to partake of hot chocolate and Christmas biscuits in the foyer.
Our ‘Carols by Candlelight’ service was well attended with many visitors. Many said how they had been blessed by the service.
On Christmas Day we again prepared a Christmas Lunch for the local community. We were at full capacity with 50 guests and helpers. The gift given out this year was ‘The Easy Read bible’.
The house groups have continued to flourish and a new group meeting on Fridays was established.
In January/February we held a shortened (6-week) Alpha course on a Sunday lunchtime which was attended by 6 people.
It was good to once again hold a range of social events bringing all ages together. All age games afternoons with tea and plenty of cake were held on a couple of Sunday afternoons during the year. There was an Easter ‘Crafternoon’ and afternoon making sphere mosaics.
The weather this year allowed the Tring Summer Carnival to take place and the church once again took the lead on the ‘Churches Together’ stall. The theme was ‘God’s Word is sweeter than honey.’ Psalm 119:103. Some members of the congregation made honeycomb for the event.
It’s been another good year for our Children’s and Youth Work at High Street Baptist Church.
Our Tuesday Baby Group continues to be well attended with an average of 12 new mothers coming along each week.
Tots on a Wednesday morning remains popular with Mums and Childminders. We average 45-50 children each week.
We held an Easter Holiday Activity Morning, had a toy swap as part of Big Green Week and organise crafts for children at the Summer Carnival and Christmas Festival.
4
Our Junior Church has three age groups. Our youngest group Scramblers (Babies to Nursery) has 6 on its register, Adventurers (Reception to Year 3) has 5, and Explorers (years 4-6) has 6.
Five young people meet on Sunday mornings at church, using topical video resources, discussion and question and answer sessions to explore the bible and Christian faith
In the autumn they embarked on a 12 session course looking at the book of Romans and what it teaches about the gospel and Christian journey
In the summer five young people attended the Satellites Christian youth camp which focused on living with God at the centre of our lives 365 days a year. The young folks had a super time as they enjoyed several days of teaching, worship, fellowship, fun and games with several thousand other young Christians from around the country
In November the youth and leaders joined the High Street team to raise over £2000 for DENS (the local homeless charity) by sleeping outdoors in freezing temperatures and heavy rain. Despite getting soaking wet and freezing cold, everyone endured the conditions through to morning and, impressed by their resilience, Labour MP David Taylor wrote to each of them to commend them on their efforts.
Monday youth group continues to meet each week to enjoy various activities and games, with the group made up of people from both the church family and local community. We continue to be very grateful to Tatenda for travelling over to serve every week on the team leading Monday nights, as well as all of those in the church family who have supported both Sunday and Monday youth group throughout 2024.
Prior to Christmas we again had a visit from Goldfields School Year 1 as well as the local cub group to learn about the Christian faith.
Many of our ‘Seniors’ attend the Wednesday Games afternoon which has been faithfully run by Norman for many years but we were conscious that this did not meet the needs of all of this age group. In November we provided a soup lunch followed by a consultation to find out how we could best meet the needs of this group. The many helpful comments and suggestions will be used to organise a ‘Seniors’ programme of activities during 2025.
The annual safeguarding review meeting was held on 24 October 2024. Those present were Ken Poulter, Ruth Egan and Gill Shelley. Ken reported that this has been another very “quiet” year in respect of safeguarding issues with no reports of any safeguarding concerns being received during the year to date.
At last year’s review it was agreed that the church should be asked to adopt the new (2021) Baptist Union Model Policy and Procedures Guidelines. The changes needed to our existing guidelines was first agreed by the trustees and then the church meeting in March. The document is now on the church website.
At the start of the year Ken told the trustees that he intended to retire at the end of 2024 and we are pleased to report that a new safeguarding lead, Gill Shelley, took over safeguarding responsibilities with effect from the November Church meeting. Gill will be supported by Ruth
5
Egan as the responsible Minister and Katharine Passmore as Safeguarding Trustee. Since her appointment Gill has completed all the necessary Safeguarding training run by the Baptist Union.
From September 2024 Gill worked with Ken and took over the Disclosure and Barring Service (DBS) process for those needing to be reassessed. All DBS checks are now up to date. As part of the handover process Ken has also agreed to make sure the church’s safeguarding records are properly filed and safely stored.
In the coming months it is essential that a Deputy Safeguarding person is appointed to fulfil the role as stated in our policy document and that that a clear process is established to report any incidents of safeguarding concern to the new Safeguarding Lead.
At the annual safeguarding review Ken said “I want to thank all those who have worked with me over the past 8 years on safeguarding matters and everyone who has co-operated in helping to make our church a safe place for all of those who attends any of our activities. I pray that God will guide Gill and her team as they serve the church in these important matters.”
In September we welcomed our mission partner Genesis from Gulu in northern Uganda. He gave us an interesting insight into his work there and the challenges he faces.
We continue to promote and engage in eco activities. Highlights this year include:
- Providing a venue for the monthly Repair Cafe run by Sustainable Tring;
- Providing in person and online support to other churches striving to be Eco Churches (Christ Church Ware, All Saints Leighton Buzzard, Tring Team Parish,);
- As well as integrating creation care into our weekly worship, we held a focussed service with A Rocha UK speaker on Sunday in September;
- Hosting the ‘Great Big Green Week’ energiser event in April and events during the ‘Great Big Green Week’ in June including a toy swap and Christian book swap;
- Daily video posts during the ‘Great Big Green Week’ of church members sharing their Eco Tips;
- Establishing as a collection point for 'Candles for Ukraine' a recycling initiative;
- Hosting a ‘Swift talk and walk’ event for the church and wider community;
- Switching our Bank account for ethical reasons;
- Submitting regular environmental articles to the Churches Together Comment Magazine;
- Participating in a pilot of the revised Eco Church survey and
- Supporting and promoting the participation in the ‘Great Big Green Hike’ to raise funds for A Rocha UK.
Sadly, three of our faithful church members went to be with the Lord – Mollie Neale on 1[st] January, Tom Haywood on the 22[nd] August and Colin Briant on the 31[st] December.
During the year we welcomed Craig, Eleni, Antonia and Gill into membership, and we rejoiced with Craig, Eleni, Ed and Florence as they were baptised.
As ever our thanks go to Joe, Ruth, Kevin, Eleni and Carolyn who have worked tirelessly during the year. However, I would not be able to report on such a plethora of activities without the support of many of the congregation who volunteer their time to our work and mission. Even so many of our activities struggle through lack of volunteers and so as I end this report for 2024 I would like to
6
challenge you to prayerfully consider whether you are able to give of your time either regularly or on an ad hoc basis to ensure that the Lord’s work at High Street continues to flourish in 2025.
The Trustees Annual Report was formally approved at the AGM held on 16[th] March 2025, on which date, the following Trustees were in Post:
Joe Egan Ruth Egan Kevin Rogers Catherine Rowland Ali Layne Smith Nandi Hall James Cave Cheryl Law Debbie Inns Katharine Passmore
Signed: J Egan Date: 16[th] March 2025 Joe Egan – Minister
Signed: C Rowland Date: 16[th] March 2025 Catherine Rowland – Church Secretary
7
This Report & Accounts was approved at the Annual General Meeting of the church, held on 16[th] March 2025 at which the following trustees were present:
Joseph Egan Ruth Egan Kevin Rogers Catherine Rowland Nandi Hall Deborah Inns James Cave Katharine Passmore Alison Layne-Smith Signed …………................................................ Print name…..………………............................................. Date…………….................................................... Signed ………………………………………………………. Print name…………………………………………………………. Date………………………………………………………………………. Signed……………………………………………………………………………… Print name………………………………………………………………………… Date……………………………………………………………………………………..
9
## **FINANCIAL STATEMENT FOR THE Period 1/1/24 to 31/12/24**
|**GENERAL RECEIPTS & PAYMENT ACCOUNT**
**Receipts**
Weekly offerings + Gift Day
Donations and other income
Income tax recovered on gifts
Investment income
Rents/contributions for use of premises
Fundraising Income
Grant income
restricted income
**Payments**
Ministry
Mission
Upkeep of church premises
Administration
Restricted Expenditure
**Church Surplus (deficit) for the year**
**Capital Repaym't from Baptist Union Loan**
**Surplus (deficit) for the year**
**Balance brought forward**
**Balance carried forward**
4a
7
8
4
5
6
4b
3
2
**_Note_**|**Unrestricted**
77,995
19,339
14,772
700
20,755
-
-|**Restricted**
417
**2024**|**Total**
77,995
19,339
14,772
700
20,755
-
-
417
133,977
48,533
43,338
23,520
13,352
553
129,296
4,681
-
4,681
64,789
69,470|**2023**
**Total**
75,011
11,488
15,718
707
16,588
-
2,000
952|
|---|---|---|---|---|
||133,560|417||122,463|
||48,533
43,338
23,520
13,352|553||39,119
33,822
19,571
11,046
8,768|
||128,743|553||112,327|
||4,817
-
4,817
64,236
69,053|-136
-
-136
553
417||10,136
-
10,136
54,652
64,789|
|**STATEMENT OF ASSETS AND LIABILITIES AT 31 DECEMBER 2024**
**ASSETS:**
Bank and other cash balances:
**Current Accruals**
**Total Assets**
**LIABILITIES:**
Current
11a
Long-term loans
11b
**Total Liabilities**
**NET ASSETS**
**REPRESENTING BALANCE ON THE FOLLOWING ACCOUNTS:**
General accounts
Other monetary assets:
9
Total Monetary Assets
Non-monetary assets: Held for investment purposes
10a
Held for church's own use
10b
The restricted funds held in the general accounts comprise: £417.13 f
**2 Donations and other income:**
Sundry income, refunds etc
Friday lunch café
Other items (GAYL, FiT)
Events income (christmas festival)
Children's Work Income
Legacies
Govt Furlough Grant
**3 Investment income:**
Bank interest
Trust income (if any)
Other items|**Unrestricted**
69,053
-|**Restricted**|**2024**
**Total**
69,505
**69,505**
35
-
**35**
**69,470**
**Total**
69,470
-
**69,470**
-
2,886,289
**2024**
2,799
-
810
-
8,229
7,500
-
19,339
**2024**
700
-
-
700|**2023**
**Total**
64,789|
|||||**64,789**|
|||||-
-|
||||||
||||||
|||||**64,789**|
|||||64,789
-|
|||417
-|||
||**69,053**|**417**||**64,789**|
||||||
||-|-||-|
||2,886,289|-||2,886,289|
|||||**2023**
2,976
-
992
456
7,064
-
-|
|||||11,488|
|||||**2023**
707
-
-|
|||||707|
**4a Restricted Funds**
Sums gifted by the church to BMS and Home Mission appear under Payments: Mission; they are a gift from church income. Coffee morning collections are also forwarded to BMS Mission, as was the collection from the Harvest event in 2023.
|**Name of fund**
**BMS Mission**
**BMS Harvest Event**
**Linking Lives (Church Ramp)**
**Total Restricted**||**£553**
**£0**
**Open Bal**|**Income**
**xpenditure**|**Close Bal**|
|---|---|---|---|---|
||||**417**
**553**
**-**
**-**|**417**
**-**
**-**|
|||**£553**|**417**
**553**|**417**|
## **4b Grants Received**
In 2023 we received a grant of £2000 from Cinnamon Network for work with the community - especially for 'Who let the dads out' These funds are not restricted.
## **5 Ministry:**
|**5 Ministry:**
Cost of Ministry (inc Stipends, NI, Manse, Pension, Ministers' phones)
Visiting speakers
**6 Mission:**
Junior Church, Youth and Children's work
Others (all external giving, social fund, affiliations and fellowship giving)
Support costs (inc refreshments, Christmas costs, printing, equipment, s
BU pension fund deficit payments
**7 Upkeep of church premises:**
Lighting, heating and water
Cleaning (inc. wages)
Insurances
Repairs and maintenance
Manse upkeep
Loan interest paid
**8 Administration:**
Costs associated with Church Administrator
**9 Other monetary assets:**(if applicable)
**10 Non-monetary assets:**(if applicable)
**(a) Held for investment purposes:**
**(b) Held for the church's own use:**
The church is the beneficial owner (subject to the relevant trusts) of th
title to which is held by the church's custodian trustee [the Baptist Uni
Church buildings at 89 High Street, Tring HP23 4AB £2,365,440 (insu
Anns Close, Tring HP23 4HA £383,569 (insured value). The church a
with an insured value of £137,280.
**11 Liabilities:**(if applicable)
**(a) Current:**
Cash owed
**(b) Long-term loans:**|**2024**
48,433
100
48,533
16,123
8,238
18,977
-
43,338
5,114
8,066
448
6,842
3,051
-
23,520
13,352
-
-
2,886,289
35
-|**2023**
39,119
-|
|---|---|---|
|||39,119|
|||15,345
5,190
13,287
-|
|||33,822|
|||4,897
6,049
2,364
3,357
2,905
-|
|||19,571|
||||
|||11,046|
||||
|||-|
||||
|||-|
||||
|||2,886,289|
||||
|||-|
||||
|||-|
CHARITY COMMISSION
FOR ENGLAND AND WALES
Independent examiner's
report on the accounts
Section A
Independent Examiner s Report
Roport to the trusteesl
membofs of
High Streel Baptist Church, Trir¥J
On accounts forthe year
ended
31" December, 2024
Charity no
(if any)
1128094
S•t out on pages
1 to3
I report to the trustees on my examination of the accounts of the atM)ve
charrty for the year ended 31 DEC 2024
Responslblllties and As the charity trustees of the Trust, you are r88ponsible for the preparation
basis of rèport of Ihe accounts in accordan¢e wlth the réquirements of th? Charities Act
2011 rthe Act.).
I report in respect ol my examination of the Trust's accounts carried out
under section 145 of the 2011 Act and in cafrying Out my examination, I
have followed the applicable Diredions given by the Charity Commission
under section 14515)(b) of the Act.
I have completed my examination. I confim that no malerial matters have
come to rny attention in connection with the examination which gives me
cause to believe that in, any material respecl..
accounting records were not kept in aCCordar with 3eGlion 130 of
the Act or
the accounts do not accord the amnts'ng rerdS
Independent
examiner's statement
I have no con*m$ and have come s$ no other matters in c(ynnect'on
with the examination to which attention should k dr8wn in order to enable a
proper understanding of the unt$ to be reached.
Signod:
DJts:122" Marth, 2021<
Name: l Mal¢olm W Rcgers
Relevant profossional
qualification(s) or body
(if any):
ACIE
Address:
24a, Friars Walk,
TRING..
Hertfordshire, HP23 4AY