Annual report and financial statements
1 April 2023 to 31 March 2024
Charity number 1142658 Company number 07556101
The Bridge Trust Ltd Trustees’ Report Year ended 31 March 2024
The trustees are pleased to present their annual directors’ report and financial statements for the charity for the year ending 31 March 2024, which are also prepared to meet the requirements for a directors’ report and accounts for Companies Act purposes.
The financial statements comply with the Charities Act 2011, the Companies Act 2006, the Memorandum and Articles of Association, and Accounting and Reporting by Charities: Statement of Recommended Practice applicable to charities preparing their accounts in accordance with the Financial Reporting Standard for Smaller Entities.
Chair’s report
This has been an important year for Bridge. Having previously agreed to work more closely with the UK based charity Care for Zambia, we decided in September 2023 to formally combine the activities of both charities under The Bridge Trust Ltd. This means that Bridge is now overseeing the Mutende project in Chingola, Zambia. The Mutende project consists of a Children’s Village supporting over 40 children and a primary school serving over 400 children from the local community in Lulamba, Chingola. This was very satisfying for me, having been involved with inception of the Mutende project approximately 20 years ago.
Bringing the work of the two charities together has meant that six people who were involved with Care for Zambia, either as Trustees or as volunteers have now joined Bridge as Trustees. This has been of great benefit to Bridge and we have welcomed the additional support, capacity and ideas that these people have bought with them. The process of bringing the two charities together has continued into the current year and we are now bringing the finances together. Also, Colin and Cara, our employees, are now visiting the Mutende project twice per year.
I was able to visit both India and Zambia in the last year. In January 2024, I went to Zambia with John Todd from Mercy in Action. In February 2024 John and I visited India with Alison Todd (CEO of Mercy in Action) and my wife Rhi, (a trustee of Bridge). These trips allowed us to see again the work we do in both countries and to show our partners from Mercy in Action how their funds support Bridge’s work. Their support and advice remain invaluable.
Visiting India and Zambia demonstrated to me again the positive impact that the giving from our donors and supporters has on the lives of so many people in these countries. Relatively modest sums are providing improved health and education outcomes in the slums of Delhi and much better prospects for the children of the Mutende project. Thank you again to all those who give so generously to Bridge.
Finally, I want to thank both our staff and my fellow trustees for all their efforts in making sure the trust is well run and achieves so much.
Dave Day
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Our purposes and activities
Objects
The objects of the charity are
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to advance the Christian faith, mainly but not exclusively, by teaching about Christian faith and action, and through training and mentoring church leaders, in the United Kingdom and overseas.
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to relieve those in need by reason of poverty, illness, disability, social exclusion or age in the United Kingdom or overseas by raising awareness of needs, by making grants to persons in such need and to those working to relieve poverty in such a way, and by training others to do the same.
We achieve these objects through support of work mainly in India and Zambia. We employ two members of staff, Colin and Cara Medus, on a job-share basis. Details of the work we support are provided below under the heading Achievements and performance .
The trustees have considered the Charity Commission’s guidance on public benefit. We think that our work provides public benefit in many ways, in particular because the health and educational work we support in both India and Zambia, and the ministry of the churches whose leaders we support, is open to all, and makes a tangible difference to the lives of ordinary poor people in both countries.
Achievements and performance
India
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We have continued supporting orphans in foster homes across India . (£3,153 this year.)
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We continued funding the work of 30 health workers in a slum area of Delhi. (£16,200 this year.)
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Our partners in India, run a number of schools in two slum areas of Delhi, between them teaching and feeding some 4,000 children every day. Many of the children’s families came to Delhi to find work, and live in slums where there is no other educational provision. Thanks to donors who regularly give us the money to fund two of these schools, we have sent £12,022 for this work this year.
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We have provided funds for the education of two female young adults. One, whose father lost his life in the COVID-19 pandemic, has now progressed to higher education. We have also provided funds to help another female young adult to continue her training as a counsellor, which could not have been afforded otherwise. (£3,700 between them.)
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We provided a further £523 towards the cost of rural toilet blocks, which is important for the safety of women in villages that have no indoor facilities, as well as for improved sanitation.
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We support the work of the iCare rehabilitation centre for children with special needs in Jalandhar in Punjab. (£1,800 this year.)
Zambia
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We have begun to take on responsibility for the Mutende project in Chingola, Zambia. This consists of a children’s village, providing a home for over 40 children and young adults, and a primary school with over 400 pupils serving the local community. There are three family houses, each with a house mother, who look after up to 12 children. There is one house for the younger children and separate houses for the older boys and girls. All children have been placed in the home by the Zambian government and will have typically lost one or both of their parents. Some of the children would have been living on the street.
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When the children reach 18 they move to one of two follow-on houses where they can continue their education or begin the transition to college or University. Often we support our young adults well into their 20s until they are able to look after themselves. Without this ongoing support many of the young people would end up unemployed or homeless.
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The school is next door to the children’s village and provides a good quality education up to Grade 7, which is roughly equivalent to primary in the UK. Over the last five years the number of children attending the school has nearly doubled, putting pressure on the existing facilities. We’ve got plans to expand the school and create five additional classrooms. This will also allow the school to teach up to Grade 9.
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We sent some financial support for Sachibondu Rural Health Centre, in Northwest Zambia. The clinic provides treatment to hundreds of people every day, some of whom walk long distances to get there. We are grateful to the donors who have enabled us to continue this support. (£5,638 this year.) We also provide some personal financial support for a young woman at Sachibondu. (£312.50)
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We sent £550 to Fomawoso, an organisation in Solwezi, for employment training for marginalised women.
Other activities
The Bath-based charity Mercy in Action (www.mercyinaction.org.uk) has continued sharing the profits from one of their charity shops with Bridge, as well as making other one-off contributions to our work. However, this has amounted to a bit less this year (£16,420 compared with £23,805 last year) and beyond the end of this year, the shop has had a difficult patch with the amount of income reaching us decreasing again. Nevertheless, their support makes a welcome difference to our finances.
Safeguarding
Following the safeguarding audit we conducted last year, we have
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set up partnership agreements with some overseas partners and are in the process of doing so with others.
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Arranged DBS checks for all our trustees and staff.
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Set up safeguarding training for all staff and trustees.
Financial review
The trust’s income in 2023-24 was just over £87,000. This is less than last year partly because we had donations then for specific projects that have not all continued into this year. Donations for our regular projects have been more stable, but not as much as we need to continue on the same basis long term. As noted above, Mercy in Action have generously continued supporting us though they have managed to give us rather less this year, and following the end of the year income from them has decreased again.
We have had to use some of our reserve to meet our outgoings, and at the end of the year it had dropped to £10,000. Over time we hope to increase it again.
Some supporters of Care for Zambia (see above) started giving through Bridge towards the Mutende project and other work in Zambia towards the end of the year. After the end of the year, very considerable sums have been transferred to Bridge from Care for Zambia. At the date of this report, much of the giving that had been sent through Care for Zambia now comes through Bridge, but the transfer of donors is still ongoing.
At our present levels of income and regular commitments, we have no concerns about the charity’s ability to continue as a going concern.
The trustees consider that under the Charities Act 2011, the income of the charity falls within the range for which an independent examination of the charity’s accounts is required, but an audit is not required.
Related party transactions
There were no related party transactions requiring disclosure.
Structure, governance and management
The Bridge Trust Ltd is a company limited by guarantee. Its governing document is its Memorandum and Articles of Association. The trustees are also the directors of the company. They may be appointed either by a resolution by the members of the charity, or by the directors. Directors must periodically retire, though they may offer themselves for re-appointment.
Reference and administrative details
The Charity’s name The Bridge Trust Ltd. It is registered as a company incorporated in England and Wales (number 07556101), and also registered as a charity by the Charity Commission (number 1142658).
The company’s registered office address is 24 Stanbury Road, Bristol, BS3 4QG.
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Six trustees from Care for Zambia became trustees of Bridge during this financial year, joining the existing trustees who all remained in post. Full details of the trustees and their service are set out below.
| Mike Bennett | Appointed 26 September 2023 and served up to the date of this report. |
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| Dave Day | Served throughout the financial year and up to the date of this report. |
| Rhian Day | Served throughout the financial year and up to the date of this report. |
| Josh Edbrooke | Served throughout the financial year and up to the date of this report. |
| Lucy Heude | Appointed 29 November 2023 and served up to the date of this report. |
| Huang Yu Hsin | Served throughout the financial year and until 25 November 2024. |
| Lesley McAllister | Served throughout the financial year and up to the date of this report. |
| Chris Matthews | Appointed 26 September 2023 and served up to the date of this report. |
| Steve Perrins | Appointed 26 September 2023 and served up to the date of this report. |
| Liz Sanderson | Served throughout the financial year and up to the date of this report. |
| Ian Wilson | Served throughout the financial year and up to the date of this report. |
| Paul Uttley | Appointed 26 September 2023 and served up to the date of this report. |
| Marian Uttley | Appointed 26 September 2023 and served up to the date of this report. |
Approved by The Bridge Trust Ltd trustees and signed on their behalf by
Ian Wilson (Director & Company Secretary)
10 December 2024
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The Bridge Trust Ltd Independent Examiner’s report to the trustees Year ended 31 March 2024
I report to the charity trustees on my examination of the accounts of the Company for the year ended 31 March 2024.
Responsibilities and basis of report
As the trustees of the Company (and its directors for the purposes of company law) you are responsible for the preparation of the accounts in accordance with the requirements of the Companies Act 2006 (‘the 2006 Act’).
Having satisfied myself that the accounts of the Company are not required to be audited under Part 16 of the 2006 Act and are eligible for independent examination, I report in respect of my examination of your charity’s accounts carried out under section 145 of the Charities Act 2011 (‘the 2011 Act’). In carrying out my examination I have followed the 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 matters have come to my attention in connection with the examination giving me cause to believe:
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accounting records were not kept in respect of the Company as required by section 386 of the 2006 Act; or
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the accounts do not accord with those records; or
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the accounts do not comply with the accounting requirements of section 396 of the 2006 Act other than any requirement that the accounts give a ‘true and fair view’ which is not a matter considered as part of an independent examination; or
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the accounts have not been prepared in accordance with the methods and principles of the Statement of Recommended Practice for accounting and reporting by charities applicable to charities preparing their accounts in accordance with the Financial Reporting Standard applicable in the UK and Republic of Ireland (FRS 102).
I have no concerns and have come across no other matters in connection with the examination to which attention should be drawn in this report in order to enable a proper understanding of the accounts to be reached.
John Mills
35 Ducie Road Staple Hill Bristol BS16 5JZ
5 December 2024
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The Bridge Trust Ltd
Statement of financial activities for the year ending 31 March 2024
| Note Income: Donations 3 Other income 4 Fund-raising events 5 Total income Expenditure: Costs of raising funds 5 Expenditure on charitable activities 6 Total expenditure Net income/(expenditure) and net movement in funds for the year Reconciliation of funds Total funds brought forward Total funds carried forward |
Unrestricted funds £ Restricted funds £ Total funds 2023-24 £ Total funds 2022-23 £ 39,760.20 47,401.10 87,161.30 107,586.37 443.42 443.42 188.40 2,282.30 2,282.30 2,416.75 |
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| 42,485.92 47,401.10 89,887.02 110,191.52 |
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| 1,399.52 1,399.52 1,649.00 48,186.77 54,869.96 103,056.73 105,691.11 |
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| 49,586.29 54,869.96 104,456.25 107,340.11 |
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| (7,100.37) (7,468.86) (14,569.23) 2,851.41 22,484.14 13,613.75 36,097.89 33,246.48 |
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| 15,383.77 6,144.89 21,528.66 36,097.89 |
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The Bridge Trust Ltd
Balance Sheet as at 31 March 2024
| Note Fixed assets Current assets Cash at bank and in hand Liabilities Creditors falling due within one year 10 Net current assets/total net assets The funds of the charity Restricted income funds 11 Unrestricted funds Total charity funds |
2024 2023 £ – – 21,884.46 36,896.49 (355.80) (798.60) |
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| 21,528.66 36,097.89 |
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| 6,144.89 13,613.75 15,383.77 22,484.14 |
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| 21,528.66 36,097.89 |
For the financial year in question, the company was entitled to exemption under section 477 of the Companies Act 2006 relating to small companies. No members have required the company to obtain an audit of its accounts for the year in question in accordance with section 476 of the Companies Act 2006. The directors acknowledge their responsibility for complying with the requirements of the Act with respect to accounting records and for the preparation of the accounts. These accounts are prepared in accordance with the provisions applicable to companies subject to the small companies’ regime.
The notes at pages 8 - 10 form part of these accounts.
Approved by the trustees and signed on their behalf by Dave Day (Chair)
Dave Day
10 December 2024
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Notes to the financial statements
1. Accounting policies
The principal accounting policies adopted in the preparation of the financial statements are as follows:
a. Basis of preparation
The financial statements have been prepared in accordance with Accounting and Reporting by Charities: Statement of Recommended Practice (FRS 102, second edition 2019) as applicable to charities preparing their accounts in accordance with the Financial Reporting Standard applicable to the Micro-entities Regime (FRS 105, January 2022) and the Companies Act 2006. Assets and liabilities are initially recognised at historical cost or transaction value unless otherwise stated in the relevant accounting policy notes.
b. Preparation of the accounts on a going concern basis The financial statements have been prepared on the basis that the trustees consider the company to be a going concern.
c. Income recognition policies
Income from donations is only recognised when it has been received. Gift aid is not recognised until it has been received from HMRC. Interest on funds held on deposit is recognised upon notification of the interest paid or payable by the bank.
d. Fund accounting
Unrestricted funds are available to spend on activities that further any of the purposes of the charity. Designated funds are unrestricted funds of the charity which the trustees have decided at their discretion to set aside to use for a specific purpose. Restricted funds are donations which the donor has specified are to be solely used for particular areas of the trust’s work.
e. Cash at bank and in hand
Cash at bank and in hand includes cash and bank balances, as well as balances held at PayPal, Stewardship and CAF.
2. Legal status of the trust
The trust is a company limited by guarantee and has no share capital. In the event of the charity being wound up, the liability in respect of the guarantee is limited to £10 per member of the charity.
3. Donations received
Donations received include donations from individual supporters (plus gift aid where applicable), and grants from other charities and similar bodies (analysed below).
| Grants from other charities Amazon Smile Dayspring Church, Chippenham Filton Community Church Four Winds Trust Frontline Trust George Müller Charitable Trust Linden Church Trust (Swansea) Mercy in Action Resound Bristol Trust Thornbury Baptist Church |
Total Restricted Unrestricted £ £ £ 22.73 22.73 5,000.00 5,000.00 100.00 100.00 500.00 500.00 4,000.00 4,000.00 500.00 300.00 200.00 275.00 275.00 16,420.33 2,800.00 13,620.33 3,016.38 3,016.38 2,250.00 2,250.00 |
|---|---|
| 32,084.44 17,741.38 14,343.06 |
4. Other income
Other income consisted of bank interest received of £443.42.
5. Fund-raising events
£1,399.52 represents the costs of catering and publicity for a fund-raising event (an Indian meal) and the costs of producing Bridge Christmas cards for sale. The proceeds of these were £2,282.30, yielding a surplus of £882.78.
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6. Expenditure on charitable activities
| 6. Expenditure on charitable activities | |
|---|---|
| Note Payroll costs 7 Support of overseas charitable work 8 Governance and administrative costs 9 |
£ 31,733.24 70,230.35 1,093.14 |
| 103,056.73 |
7. Payroll costs
We employed Colin and Cara Medus throughout the year as joint CEOs. Payroll costs consist of their salaries, and employer’s pension contributions, as follows.
| Salaries Employer’s pension contributions Total Payroll Costs |
30,424.80 1,308.44 |
|---|---|
| 31,733.24 |
As a result of the Employment Allowance for small employers, no employer’s NICs were incurred this year. No employee was paid more than £60,000.
8. Support of overseas charitable work
Expenditure on overseas charitable work is analysed as follows, showing whether it was from restricted or unrestricted funds. See Achievements and Performance in the Trustees’ Report for further information about this expenditure.
| India: Slum schools Orphans Health workers Support of pastors and other Christian workers Training conferences Providing toilets in remote villages Educational grants Support for church in Manipur iCare project (Jalandhar) Other Total (India) Zambia Sachibondu health centre Fire-Baptised Church (borehole and training) Mutende Children’s Village Solwezi training scheme Support of pastors and other Christian workers Total (Zambia) Travel costs (India and Zambia) Total expenditure on overseas charitable work |
Restricted funds Unrestricted funds Total £ £ £ 12,022.22 12,022.22 3,153.75 3,153.75 14,250.00 1,950.00 16,200.00 2,248.75 5,026.25 7,275.00 4,800.00 500.00 5,300.00 523.00 523.00 3,700.00 3,700.00 1,037.50 1,037.50 1,800.00 1,800.00 45.00 45.00 |
|---|---|
| 43,580.22 7,476.25 51,056.47 |
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| 5,638.00 5,638.00 1,100.00 1,100.00 2,200.00 2,581.74 2,581.74 550.00 550.00 5,277.50 755.00 6,032.50 |
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| 15,147.24 1,855.00 17,002.24 |
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| 2,171.64 2,171.64 |
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| 58,727.46 11,502.89 70,230.35 |
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9. Governance and administrative costs
| 9. Governance and administrative costs | |
|---|---|
| Bank charges Employer’s liability insurance Website costs Professional advice Miscellaneous admin costs Governance |
£ 377.20 504.95 65.54 120.00 12.45 13.00 |
| 1,093.14 |
Bank charges include the costs of making overseas transfers, and other bank service charges. Governance includes charges incurred for the submission of returns to Companies House. Website costs include web hosting and domain registration. Professional advice is a subscription to the Stewardship Consultancy Helpline.
10. Creditors and accrued payments falling due within one year
| HMRC (PAYE on salaries) Pension contributions Web hosting for the year |
£ 176.34 113.92 65.54 |
|---|---|
| 355.80 |
11. Restricted funds
Restricted funds comprise funds held for the following
| India Orphans Slum schools Health Workers Support of pastors and other Christian workers Miscellaneous gifts for work in India Zambia Sachibondu health centre Mutende Children’s Village Support of pastors and other Christian workers |
£ 301.25 250.00 857.25 250.00 1,305.00 998.03 2,128.36 100.00 |
|---|---|
| 6,144.89 |
The restricted funds brought forward in the statement of financial activities on page 6 differs by £100.00 from the closing figure reported last year because a donation last year of that amount should have been classified as being for a restricted fund.
12. Reserves
The trustees consider it desirable to hold a reserve. At the end of the year £10,000 was set aside as a reserve, but the trustees aim to increase this to at least £15,000.
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