**BRIDPORT UNITED CHURCH ANNUAL REPORT FOR 2023** ## **1. Administrative Information** Bridport United Church (Methodist and United Reformed) is part of the Dorset South and West Methodist Circuit (which is part of Southampton Methodist District), and the Wessex Synod of the URC, and is also a member of Churches Together in Bridport & District. The church celebrated its 50[th] anniversary as a United Church in 2022, although there has been a Methodist and United Reformed presence in Bridport since at least the 19[th] century. Bridport United Church is registered as **Charity No. 1136354** **Minister:** Revd Jane Wilson The Managing Trustees are appointed in accordance with the terms of the Constitution and Schedule (Governing Documents) of Bridport United Church and CPD. ## **Managing Trustees in 2023:** Revd Jane Wilson (Chair) Jane Clinton John Darwood Susan Herman Ros Hilliard Peter Kershaw (to July 2023) Judy Munden Richard Plummer Wendy Plummer Lyn Wells Janice Young **Treasurer:** Peter Kershaw (to July 2023); Richard Plummer (from July 2023) **Independent Examiner** : Denys Hood All official correspondence should be sent to the Minister/Secretary/Treasurer at Bridport United Church, East Street, Bridport, DT6 3LJ ## **2. Aims and Objectives.** The aim of the church as set out in its mission statement is to work to proclaim God’s love to all ages through worship, fellowship, outreach, caring, teaching and prayer. We aim to achieve this by: - Developing the worship life of the church by offering a range of worship styles and experiences, including Messy Church, Taizé, Café Church, Soul Space, and Healing services encompassing informal and more traditional services. - Offering ways of deepening discipleship through fellowship groups, prayer meetings, house and bible study groups, and other courses. - Offering pastoral care and support; the Pastoral Coordinator works with the Minister in reviewing the Pastoral List and pastoral needs. Pastoral care and support for individuals and groups is provided by the Minister and the team of pastoral visitors. - Reaching out to and serving our local community through various activities including the twice weekly Coffee mornings, and monthly Lunch Club, Fellowship Club, Big Breakfast. Plans are in hand to restart the toddler group. - Encouraging a deeper prayer life by providing opportunities for prayer in worship and weekly prayer meetings, the prayer chain, prayer request boxes on tables at the Coffee Mornings and Big Breakfast and prayer-focussed events. - Working with Churches Together in Bridport & District (CTiBD) to support services and outreach events throughout the year, supporting other local community care groups such as Pathways to Care, Foodbanks, Helpful Hampers, Melplash Show and hosing the CTiBD Christmas Day Lunch . - Working towards a fairer, greener world by seeking to work to attain an Eco Church award. ## **3. Review of Activities, Progress and Achievements** The Minister is Chair of the Managing Trustees/Church Council, which meets at least 4 times a year, and the Church Meeting, which meets at least 3 times a year, to review the various aspects of the life of the church in the context of its ongoing mission to demonstrate the love of God by witnessing to and serving the community. Trustees and officers are appointed by the Annual Church Meeting. The Managing Trustees have continued to review and update procedures to manage the risks to which Managing Trustees and members are exposed and risk assessments are carried out as needed. The Managing Trustees are undergoing Equality, Diversity and Inclusion training. Volunteers are checked, including where appropriate under the DBS legislation, and provided with appropriate training. The Church Safeguarding Policy is reviewed annually by the Managing Trustees and the Church Safeguarding officer ensures that appropriate Safeguarding training and DBS checks are completed by all relevant church officers and volunteers in accordance with the BUC Safeguarding Policy. The GDPR Privacy Notice is reviewed annually. This has been another busy year for Bridport United Church. We continue to seek to offer a variety of worship services and activities, in addition to the main 10.30am Sunday service, and new services introduced during the year included Café Church, Healing services, Taizestyle services, an In Loving Memory service, and Holy Week services on Maundy Thursday and Good Friday. Regular events such as the monthly Messy Church at 3.30pm on 4[th] Thursdays, led by a team coordinated by the circuit-based Children & Families Lay Worker, Peter Jenner, have continued to be well attended by around 25-30 local children and their families. Soul Space, an informal space to listen, sing, pray, talk and connect with God with tea, coffee & cake, happens monthly at 4pm on 1[st] Sundays and is well supported by members of the church and local community. As more people now attend in person and the team producing videos has reduced, it was decided not to continue with video recordings. The Prayer Group meets regularly in church on Wednesday mornings and there is also a prayer chain which responds quickly to requests for prayers via email. The prayer boxes on tables at weekly coffee mornings have collected several prayer requests which are passed on immediately. A Quiet Prayer Afternoon and a Holy Week series of morning prayers was well received and there are plans to arrange more prayer events in future. Our community outreach activities continue to be well supported with an average of 60-70 people attending the weekly Coffee mornings on Wednesdays (including those attending the Knit & Natter group and Walking for Wellbeing) and Saturdays. On Wednesdays during the colder months this was extended to offer a Warm Welcome Space with a simple lunch. The monthly Big Breakfast has continued to grow in popularity with c.90 breakfasts being cooked for people from the local community and beyond each month. The monthly Wednesday Lunch Club provides an opportunity for people to meet for fellowship and a 2 course home cooked lunch with an average attendance of c. 60 people. The monthly Thursday Fellowship Club offers an afternoon for anyone to come and chat, do some crafts, play board games, do a puzzle, or knit, with sandwiches and cake to follow. Sadly the Stepping Stones Pre-school closed after over 25 years due to a lack of demand for available places, but plans are being made to launch a new Toddlers Group, Little Lambs, in the New Year. The annual Christmas Tree Festival hosted by BUC was again a major event in the Bridport Christmas calendar and visitor numbers totalled almost 3000. In response to feedback from members and community groups it was decided to retain the reduced number of trees at post-Covid level to allow more space for decorating and viewing trees. The Christmas Day Lunch run by a team of volunteers from CTiBD provided a lunch for nearly 90 people from the local community who would otherwise be on their own (including some unable to attend in person) alongside songs and fellowship. ## **4. Finances and Resources.** The Resources Committee meets regularly to encourage good stewardship of the church’s financial and property resources in order to further the church’s mission activities and ensure that the premises are a safe and secure space. The accounts include the employment costs of those directly employed by the Church. The church continues to be grateful for donations and offerings. Regular giving has remained at a similar level to the previous year. Income from lettings was slightly lower than the previous year but is expected to improve as more room space becomes available following the closure of the preschool. Additional one-off items of maintenance and repairs were covered by an increase in donations. Careful consideration has been given to the expenses to be met by the church, most of which relate to essential expenditure. There are plans to refurbish the main kitchen and toilets which are essential to the church’s outreach activities, with most of the costs being met by donations and grants. The Covid-19 pandemic had a significant effect on income streams and the Church recognises the need to carefully review income sources while maintaining good control over expenditure. The church has a Reserves Policy to ensure that reserves are held to meet unforeseen expenditure or short-term annual deficits, aiming to hold reserves of 50% of average annual operating expenditure. The on-going challenge of an ageing congregation remains, as does the need to be able to cover annual expenditure with annual income, and replenish reserves when it has been necessary to use them for urgent major work. This is regularly considered and monitored by the Managing Trustees. Signed: on behalf of the Managing Trustees BRIDPORTUNITED CHURCH INCOME & EXPENDITURE ACCOUNT 12 MONTHS ENDING 31st DECEMBER 2023 2022 2023 2023 2024 INCOM cA>lIet￿￿. SiandiTrA ( 81917 Lo)5e SurKloy Service 6670 Individual DonatxTh £Sk frtth I SSP £2350 Suetn Cwcuit D(Tht￿n5 SLYeen £I￿)ITable5 £507 Car Park 22645 8156 155LXI 2x17 (sspioK? aaim ref Car Pwk wall 9357 Coffee M￿￿1￿5 Break1651 7358 75CiI >)75 *)nthlylWeekht Wed cl￿ Iiieii 2015 thri5tmas Tree Festival 12 91 270 ILX) 7663 Gift Aid Tax Rel￿te/Vat refund on listed I￿lIdN 79272 7855 124385 825 ENtMTURE 38676 1849 a￿11 & ChE￿Ip1a￿) EMWWS 2239 15 35L 6676 P4lminloffKe eMpETrSts Iiele internet 7059 & L¢Mi 3242 Cleani ICQ95 9180 950D 95 4236 451 9157 Repair51 Maintce linc wall £7WJ S￿ ￿ hole wc kxk£725} Fwe Equipment 1813 PM11￿ & siai*Jwv 4733 Insur 32337 1761 933 4W S¥ndrie5 IlnchxfY* k)55 £334 in￿} 17CQ 15tXI 15 15CQ Xitch Trolly Cfvoyr5 35 Gronts ip & Pin WC fill 617 P4ot*Bd Gronts 3714 Water BO1￿ 74984 123974 965tXI 411 2495 Note5 1} £17147 + vJt ofchiKch Rpairs 2Q21f2tV2 canx tD Iwt has ￿beenPa￿ aThY in accourts 2) of£ltXXXI plus £l5LX￿ extra frc¥pp &reetWs h8s l)een in *'s 4? A L$>nat￿l of£3905 has been receiveé frofft &eppir*J Stones Pre Schcol for use on T&JJler Gmup only. orpossiblya case coulLI be R￿de fDr Messy Church use.(tD be rEstrFcteLI for f(rture Tc¥JYler/MessyChurch usej 5) VA Tdue froftp the listed builLYif¥ $Cheft￿ of approx £3￿ Ifrcm ffecertt outstathJNw 2021r22 rep8irs bill) Ns due, b(* be clairned urthllAwJust2024. 61 HMRC Gny AKldue for thejtarto 31/12n3 of*•pprox £6￿ BRIDPORT uNrtED CHURCH RECONCIUATION FUNDS I BALANCE SHEET AS AT 31st DECEMBER 2023 Balances at 31sl DECEMBER 2023 Balance at HSBC AIC Bank Smement 31112123 33776A9 42 104A) 18U7 244.10 IWAM) 499A5 Paljusted HSBC Bala￿e P4lmin A/C 31112123 Balance at HSBC Bank Donor WC Cash On Hand 31112123 Central Finance Board CFB 31112123 Met￿dIst (hafiiies Puouffl MCA 3V12123 Debtors (Letti￿5 Invoic￿ raised ￿>t yet paid) 31112123 Sub Total BUC A￿ts 31IW23 Les5 Creditors 31112123 (Lyht & Heat Total Ewies Dec ElertlGas bill DID paid Jan 24) Total Assets of BUC 31112123 Note:. M G WC Closed.IPaid IMO P41min alG loss 01 £334 see smthies expeThlilure ) 33077 1571 185 5285 962 42936 -1655 41281 Balances at 31 DECEMBER 2022 Balance at HSBC 11388 17721 Central FinarKe Bowd CFB 1811 MIG Total A&sets of BUC 31112122 40870 Excess of Income (her Expenditure lo 31112J23 411 Notes 1) £17747 + vat of chwch repairs 2021r2022 came to Iwht has rKx¥ been paid •rAI irthled in ats0￿ acc(xrts 2) B)I for use new Toddler Grotp only, orpossibly a case could be for soffle Mpssy Churrh use.(to be restricted for ToddlerTrAessy Church use) 5) The VA T Oue from the listed buildirq sche￿￿ of8pprox £3XQ (from recent othstaTh)iw 2021r22 repairs bill) is due: but carnk)t be claimed untill Awvst 2024. 6) HMRC Gny dLt for the ￿ar to 31n2n3 ofapprox £8 EXAMINER'S CERTIFICATE I have examined the accounts of Brldport Unlted Church. as submltted to me. for the year ended 31 December 2023. These conslsted of the Income and Expendlture Account for the year, and the Balance Sheet as at 31 December 2023, togetherwlth supportlngworking papers. The above readlly allowed a clear vlew of the year end situation. Whllst the net Income forthe year is reduced, when compared wlth the prevlous year, there clearly has been dedicated control over ov6raU expenditure. l am able to confirm that the situatlon Is correctly portrayed, and the accounts are in good order. Denys Hood B Sc (Econ) External examiner