## **WESLEY CHURCH CAMBRIDGE** 

## **Trustees Annual Report - year to 31[st] August 2021** 

## **Required information** 

|**Required information**||
|---|---|
|Charity name|Wesley Methodist Church, Cambridge|
|Charity registration number|1129303|
|Address:|Christ’s Pieces, Cambridge CB1 1LG|
|Trustee names|Paul Ashley<br>Barbara Sinclair<br>Graham Burghall<br>Angus Campbell<br>Geoff Batty<br>Kathy Batty<br>Janet Davis<br>John Papaloizou<br>Lynda Meharry<br>Rachel Hallam<br>Elaine Papaloizou<br>Adrian Mackintosh<br>Margaret Skempton<br>Natalie Amery<br>Dottie Haslett<br>Malcolm Haslett<br>Phil Howie|
|Structure and management|Wesley Methodist Church, as a charity, incorporates the physically<br>and numerically larger Wesley Church and the smaller Chesterton<br>Methodist Church.<br>Wesley Methodist Church is governed and managed in accordance<br>with the standing orders of the Methodist Church. The church is led<br>a minister who chairs the Church Council, the governing body. The<br>members of the Church Council, excluding the minister(s) and<br>representatives of external organisations, are the trustees of the<br>charity. Members of the Church Council are chosen by one of the<br>following processes: (1) Ministers appointed to the church by the<br>Methodist Church (2) ordinary members elected by the annual<br>General Church Meeting (3) stewards of the church, elected by the<br>annual General Church Meeting (4)_ex officio_officers of the church,<br>such as the treasurer, who are appointed by the Church Council<br>itself (5) representatives from the Methodist Church in the local<br>circuit.<br>The Church Council meets normally three times a year, and<br>receives reports from officers and organisations within the church.<br>Day-to-day management is devolved to the ministers, stewards, the<br>Finance & Property Committee, the Pastoral Committee, and the<br>officers of the church, such as the pastoral secretary, treasurer and<br>property steward.<br>Trustees must all be members of Wesley Methodist Church or<br>Chesterton Methodist Church. They serve for a period of six years<br>at a time, and may be reappointed.|





## **Objectives in the year** 

Our objectives are summarised in our mission statement: 

Our mission is to be a... 

_Worshipping Welcoming Witnessing Christian Community_ 

- with a distinctive Methodist character serving Cambridge and district. To that end, we intend… 

   - To maintain a centre of Christian worship in the Methodist tradition, of high quality and in a wide variety of styles 

   - To strengthen expressions of our fellowship and unity in Christ, through growth and nurture and pastoral care 

   - To deepen the Christian knowledge and faith of the church community 

   - To engage in effective outreach to those who live, work, study or play in central Cambridge 

   - To serve the local community through individual participation and the use of our premises 

   - To co-operate with other Churches and Christian workers in the city and in our circuit 

In particular, we intend to increase our efforts… 

- To reach out to children and young people 

- To welcome and integrate those who join our community 

- To provide adequate resources to reach our targets – resources of people, premises and money to reach our targets in: 

   - Increasing small fellowship groups and extending other opportunities for Christian Education 

   - Extending the use of premises for outreach and improve interaction with users 

   - Improving and extending the use of technology for worship, administration and promotion. 

## **Activities and achievements** 

_The year to August 2021 was severely disrupted by the coronavirus pandemic. There were no formal reports submitted to the Annual Church Meeting on 27 April 2021. The following summary is therefore based on the minutes of that meeting, and reports presented to the Church Council on 10 November 2021._ 

## _**Wesley Church**_ 

Almost all activities of the church were halted for much of the year because of the pandemic lockdown and subsequent restrictions. 

- Worship. no regular in-person worship was held at all in this period. 

- Video services: since the end of April 2020, weekly services have been recorded in the Chapel. The only people present are the minister and the video camera operator, who normally leaves the space for the duration of the recording. The services are combined with 



readings recorded at home by members, and with recordings of hymns sung by the full congregation in previous years. The complete service is uploaded to YouTube for public viewing. They have proved popular with members of the church and with an unexpectedly large number of people further afield in the UK and other countries. 

- The King Street Preschool restarted when permitted, and has continued, but with smaller numbers. 

- The only external organisation to continue using the premises were the NHS Blood Donation Service. 

- Sunday worship, in person in the church, recommenced in late spring 2021 with increasing frequency, becoming weekly from the end of August 2021. 

The lay employee custodian of the premises remained in employment throughout the year, and the premises were fully maintained in the second half. The centre manager worked from home for much of the year, and was part time furloughed, but returned to work full time and in the office during the last quarter. 

## _**Chesterton Church**_ 

There was a similar pattern of a cessation of most in-church activities for the first three quarters of the year, and a gradual approach to return to normality at the end of August 2021. 

The part time lay employee administrator remained in post. 

The construction of the toilet extension was completed in November 2020. 

The premises remain in good condition and well maintained. 

## **Financial review for year ended 31[st] August 2021** 

The registered charity consists of Wesley Church proper, and Chesterton Methodist Church, which is formally a ‘class’ of Wesley Church. The accounts ‘books’ are kept separate for each church. 

Our formal financial statements however, are combined with Chesterton Methodist Church for reporting to the Methodist Church and The Charity Commission. Even combined, our income is still below the threshold (£250,000) above which we would be legally required to employ professional experts to examine our accounts. Nevertheless we do so because the size and complexity of our accounts makes it difficult to find a suitable ‘lay’ independent examiner. Prentis & Co has acted as our independent examiner. 

## _**Wesley Church**_ 

Wesley Church made a substantial deficit of £32,446 across all funds, although this was an improvement on the previous year’s £67,122. The General Fund deficit of £26,012 is mainly attributable to the loss of lettings income since March, but has been greatly improved by a Circuit rebate on the assessment of £13,000. A transfer of £41,000 from the Legacies & Donations fund was made during the year to support cash flow in the General Fund. 

Giving by members has declined somewhat, and we are obviously missing the Sunday collection from non-members. Regular giving is higher than recent years, though slightly down. 

Our overall financial position, in terms of ‘cash in the bank’, remains strong (see the table of Balances – By Account), because of past legacies. 

We make donations under our Planned Giving programme amounting to 10% of the previous year’s regular giving (collections and standing orders). Donations arising from giving in 2017-2018 and 20182019, amounting to £14, 335.70 have now been distributed. From the year 2019-2020 we would now 



be ready to make donations amounting to £6,679.80; actual payment will await the consideration of our reserves policy. 

## _**Chesterton Methodist Church**_ 

Chesterton Methodist Church is engaged in a development project that has income and costs out of proportion to its normal finances. Therefore the financial tables (Receipts & Payments) separate the Development Project from other ‘normal’ activities. Chesterton also has responsibility for the Little Music Makers group, which has received funding from legacies and the Circuit Youth fund; this group is also shown separately. 

Chesterton made a loss of £3,338 in 2020-21 (first column) compared to a budgeted exact balance. Income from giving remains lower than pre-covid, and less than anticipated in the year. We benefited from a rebate on the assessment from the Circuit of £1,319. Although income from lettings has picked up, one substantial payment from Headway just fell into the current year, which has affected the figures. Staff costs are slightly higher in reality, but are shown much higher in the table arising from a mistimed transfers of funds from Chesterton to Wesley (which pays salaries on Chesterton’s behalf). Thus overall the deficit is not disappointing. 

The final payments for Phase 2a of the development project (toilet extension) were incurred in the past year. We received a grant of £15,000 from the City Council (Section 106 funding) for the completed toilet extension. 

The current Phase 2b of the development project (community café) has seen little expenditure. AllChurches Trust (managed by Methodist Insurance) has made a grant of £31,000 for the proposed café project. 

Chesterton’s balance sheet (Balance - By Account and Balance – By Fund) remains stable, even after excluding the Development Project. We did not draw from the Trust Fund last year. 

## _**Combined charity accounts**_ 

Then financial statements of the registered charity are dominated by the finances of Wesley Church. The charity made a net deficit of £29,754 in 2020-21, on income of £205,465 and expenditure of £235,219. The deficit was funded from reserves. We retain reserves of £270,001. We also hold endowment funds whose value on 31 August 2021 was £151,384. 

_Paul Ashley, Treasurer_ 



CHURCH
RECEIPTS AND PAYMENTS
ACCOUNTS
THE METHODIST CHURCH
STANDARD FORM OF ACCOUNTS
Wesley Mgthodlst Church Ilncludlng Che5tsrton Mthodlst Church)
FOR THE YEAR ENDED
31 August 2021
Cambridg
Circult
Clrcult no
14126
Registered Charlty. Charlty Registratlon number
1129303
If not a registered c*8rfty Her Majestys Revenue and
Customs Gift Ald number
(r￿ HMRC number is equivafent to a r*lered charity rvjmber kn lem￿ of evidence of charttabte Status
and may be used lo give to donors or grant fvn¢Jws wisthg lo see evidence of the ￿ganisation'S charitable
slatus. Methodist ¢*rfti68 In England and Wdes that are nol rffjstered charitles are excepted from
istration IMKler Stabjtory Inslrument 2014 No.2421
Minister.
Revd Cth S
Churth StthV￿S.
Lynda Meharry
Hallam
Barbara Sfir￿r
Gtaham BiKtyI811
Adrian Mackntosh
Phil Howie
Paul Asl
2015 (*w¢h R •r* P.yJs
4ofS

Wel￿Y Methodf51 Church
Ilhtluding Ches*rton Methgdlst
Chur¢hl
ACC¢XINTS FOR THE YEAR 31 AUGLK8T 2021
Church
Unf¢*rI￿Ed ftesuic￿ T014Js thls
Funds
Funds
Tr￿$ last
ar
SECTION A
RECEIPTS
Offerings and Tax rocoveTrd
Bank and CFB interost ar¥J
Investmenl Incorne
94.769
94.769
134,985
a3
24
53.033
57.017
53.033
57.064
205h65
83.475
39.217
237.923
Other w*ip*s
TOTAL RECaPTS
46
205,419
la71
SECTION B
b1
PAYMENTS
Circuit ASSes￿ent orsha
83,409
6.653
97.728
b3
Donats'ons
6,653
17.297
Repalrs ènd M3inlertan¢g
Utilities Ilnsurance5. W8ter
¢harge$. healno & lighlj'ngl
Slaff
55.635
55.635
71,543
bs
22.789
22,789
21,452
53.788
12,948
235,219
53.788
12,
235,219
49,849
25,7C4J
283.569
b7
OlhLy payments
TOTAL PAYMENTS
b8
Ib91
SECTION C
NET RECEIPTSIPAYMENTS
FOR THE YEAR
c1
(a&bB
(29,8001
129,754)
145.8481
Total funds brought roNariJ frum
18$1 yeor
33.728
299.593
{c61
345,238
Sub total
{c1+c21
33.775
269.839
299,593
Transfe￿ and adjustrnents
188
¢¢71
TOTAL FUNOS AT END OF YEAR
236.232
33.775
270.007
(¢81
299,593
Ic61
SECTION D
FOR INFOKMATION ONLY: MONEY RECEP4ED ANO PASSED ON TO &YfERNAL ORGANISATtONS
Ithests amounts are not to bg I￿l￿ded kn tcrtal recelMWyjr￿nts fiowDs al)oNEI
Bala￿¢ brought lorwafd from lait y
offering￿ffts- re￿1¥•￿ fcrexl0m￿ org8nisatiorr4
7.552
7.991
d3
OfferinWGffts . passed to extemal Nganfjsal
io,
BAIANCE STILL TO BE P￿D
1.622
2015th￿Tch Rand P
4LI5

SEcT￿E
INTERNAL
Z.b)&is¢dth
236￿¥
2JO311
J54
g.S93
270.fp)7
TOTALRECESvrs
TOTIL
PAVIIPITS
SECTTrJ14 F
CKURCH.CASN FL￿%
79
159.317
124.495
9.2541
4.396
SUB ToTAL.cf*Kehac￿rt$
270.OD1
IOTALGA*iFIJILA¥tW¥￿CTrWM
ZTO.U01
Awi3y21
133.gB2
14.117.
14.175.7
54Z936

Name of Church w￿•Y M￿l￿dIat Cknu￿h Ilncludlng Chest•rton M•thodlst Church)
Declarations and Scrutiny
I confinn that these Receipt and Payment based accounts forthe year to 31 August 2021 have been
prepared trom the records of the Church and that they includ8 all funds under the control of the Chur
trusiees.
Signature of treasurw .........
e....
Name and address of treasurer....... E* Paul Ashlgy
59 GHb•rt Carnbildg• C84 3Ni
Presentatlon to tho Church tru$to08
I confimi that the *)nual report and ae¢ounls for Ihe ye* ended 31 August 2021 were presented to the
meeling of the Church truste8s held on 10 November 2021
Signature of the Chair of the meetEng
Name ol the Chalr of the meeting
.. R￿d Colkn Smtth
15{1
Independent Examinefs Report to the Trustees of the
Wesley Methodist Church (Includlng Chestsrton Methodist Church)
Charlty Number 11293L13
Rgsponslbllltl•s and bas1¥ of rwrt
I report lo the trustees on my examination oftr* acccKmts ofwesley Methodlst Church for the year
ended 31 Augusl 2021 set out on pages .1. to 3. As tre Churth's trnstees, you are responsibk for th8
preparation of the accounts in aco)rd8nce wrfh the requirements of the Chari1195 Act 2011 {Ihe Act,).
I report in resped of my examination of the Churth's armjnts r3rTied out under section 145 of the Act
and, in ￿ryIng ¢Xrt my examination. I have followed all the applicable DÉrection5 glven by the Charlty
Commission under sectlon 145(5llb) of the Act.
' delete or drcle as appropriate
2015L*K￿￿•l P.JJ*
4015

Name of Church Wesley Methodist Church (including Chesterton Methodlst Church)
Independent Examinerfs Ststement
I have completed my examinatKJn. I confim that no material matters have c(Kne to my attention in
Connection with the examination which give me c*use to believe that
in. 8ny material ￿peCt.
the a¢¢ounting records were not kept in accordance section 130 of the Act., or
the accounts do not accord with th8 8C￿)Unting rec(wds.
I have no concems and have come across no other matters in connection the examination to which
attention should be drawn in this report in order to enable a prop8r understanding of th8 accounts to be
reached.
I havell￿¥￿ obtained independent verification of all inveslments with the Trustees for Methodist
Church Purposes or held in other trusts. bank balances and funds at the Central Finan￿ Board of tho
Methodist Church which are individually in exc8ss of £10,000 (ten thousand pounds) at the balan
sheet date.
Signature of independent examiner
Name of independent examiner
A-.￿} Fco4
fooA
Relevant professional qU￿ificati￿ of ind8pendent examiner
Name of fimi (where appropriate)
KG
Address
J-L fD
Post Code
Date
delete or cirde as approprÈate
2U15 chwcth R
4dS