2025-12-31-accounts

A N N U A L R E P O R T AND FINANCIAL STATEMENTS OF THE PAROCHIAL CHURCH COUNCIL FOR THE YEAR ENDED 31 DECEMBER 2025

A c h a r i t y r e g i s t e r e d i n E n g l a n d a n d W a l e s n o . 1 1 4 9 8 5 3

P A G E 2

2025

ANNUAL REPORT

St Bartholomew’s Edgbaston Annual Report of the Parochial Church Council for the Year Ended 31 December 2025.

[This report is made in accordance with The Church Representation Rules 2022 and The Charities (Accounts and Reports) Regulations 2008, and is separate from any statement or address that the vicar may wish to make or any reports that any other individual or parish group may present at the Annual Parochial Church Meeting. It is the means by which the P.C.C. gives an account of how they alone have carried out their responsibilities during the year, and of their future plans.]

Administrative Information

St Bartholomew’s Church is situated in Church Road, Edgbaston, B15 3TA. It is part of the Diocese of Birmingham within the Church of England.

Under the terms of section 3 of the Parochial Church Councils (Powers) Measure 1956 the Parochial Church Council (PCC) is a body corporate. In compliance with the Charities Act 2006, because our gross income is over £100,000 we are registered with the Charity Commission. Our governing documents are two pieces of legislation: (1) the Parochial Church Councils (Powers) Measure 1956 as amended; and (2) The Church Representation Rules (contained in Schedule 3 to the Synodical Government Measure 1969 as amended).

THE PCC

Ex-officio Members:

Charlie Butler - Vicar from March 2023, Chair + Diocesan Synod Representative, 2024 - 2027 Guy Hordern - Churchwarden until 2025, Vice Chair + General Synod Representative, 2021 - 2026 Oli Huggins - Churchwarden from 2023 Frances Clarke - Churchwarden from 2025 Anne Horder - Deanery Synod Representative, 2023 - 2026 Joe Jordan - Deanery Synod Representative, 2023 - 2026 + Diocesan Synod Representative, 2024 - 2027 David Mayland - Deanery Synod Representative, 2023 - 2026

Elected members who held office at the end of 2025:

Alan Browning 2024 - 2027 Linda Caswell 2025 - 2028 Ben Cuffin-Munday 2025 - 2028 Bella Cuffin-Munday 2023 - 2026 Peter Gregory 2023 - 2026 John Hatch 2025 - 2028 Jem Huggins 2024 - 2026, Electoral Roll officer Mary Martin 2024 - 2027, Treasurer Judy Metcalfe 2024 - 2027 Janssen Moyo 2025 - 2027

Martin Horder - PCC Secretary from 2024

P A G E 3

STRUCTURE, GOVERNANCE AND MANAGEMENT

The method of appointment of PCC members is set out in the Church Representation Rules. All Church attendees are encouraged to register on the Electoral Roll and to consider standing for election to the PCC. The Standing Committee of the PCC is the only committee required to be in existence by church law, and has the power to transact some business of the PCC between meetings. The St Bartholomew’s PCC has agreed the specific purpose of its standing committee as being “to make urgent decisions that cannot await the next meeting of the PCC but are of insufficient significance to justify PCC recall between meetings” (St Bartholomew’s PCC Handbook). The members of the Standing Committee are the Vicar, the Churchwardens, and two members elected by the PCC: currently Linda Caswell and Mary Martin. This Committee has not met this year but has transacted some business by correspondence.

The other sub-committees of the PCC are as follows:

1. Finance Committee chaired by the Treasurer, Mary Martin. This committee manages our accounts and oversees a budgeting process that enables the delegation of regular spending to individuals and committees.

2. Buildings and Maintenance Committee chaired by Oliver Huggins. This committee is responsible for the routine maintenance of the church building and churchyard, the oversight of necessary repairs, and planning any future improvements to our buildings.

3. Walker Hall Committee chaired by Charlie Butler. This committee manages all aspects of the hall, which provides a valuable source of income for the PCC, and is an outward-facing way that we engage with the local community.

4. Employment Committee chaired by Mary Martin. This committee oversees our employment structures, keeps our employment policies up-to-date, and serves as an independent body to support employees through any procedures (grievance, disciplinary, etc.), as needed.

Induction Training

All PCC members elected undergo Safeguarding Training and complete a DBS verification. As part of the onboarding process a training session on the finances of the Church is provided. A handbook is issued, alongside copies of the previous year’s Annual Report and PCC minutes. It is considered that all PCC members and any others who could be understood to be ‘managers’ in the activities and affairs of the Parish of St. Bartholomew’s Church, Edgbaston are deemed to be ‘fit and proper’ persons under the terms of the Finance Act 2010.

P A G E 4

OBJECTIVES, ACTIVITIES & PERFORMANCE FOR THE YEAR ENDED 31 DECEMBER 2025

The PCC’s principal purpose, as set out in the Parochial Church Councils (Powers) Measure 1956, is “co-operation with the minister in promoting in the parish the whole mission of the Church, pastoral, evangelistic, social and ecumenical”. The PCC at St Bartholomew’s has developed a rough distinction, grounded in the Church of England’s episcopal and synodical structures, between the leadership role of the church’s vicar, Charlie, and the governance role of the PCC. The PCC’s particular role in the life of St Bartholomew’s, therefore, is to steward the church’s assets (its buildings, possessions, and finances) in support of the broad mission of the Church of England (“to proclaim the good news of Jesus Christ afresh in each generation”), and the particular vision and strategy articulated and led by Charlie in our parish – and to ensure that our church is pursuing this mission, vision and strategy in full compliance with charity and church law.

The PCC is also aware of the Charity Commission’s guidance on public benefit in ‘The Advancement of Religion for the Public Benefit’, and has regard to it in their administration of the Parish. The PCC believes that, by fulfilling its responsibility to co-operate with the incumbent in the promotion of the whole mission of the Church in the parish, it provides a benefit to the public by:

Providing resources and facilities for public worship, pastoral care and spiritual, moral and intellectual development, both for its members and anyone who wishes to benefit from what the Church offers;

• Promoting Christian values, and service by members of the Church in the Parish to its community, to the benefit of individuals and society as a whole.

In 2024, our vicar Charlie developed a concise vision statement for the next season of our church’s life:

• “To be a church where anyone can encounter God,

and where everyone expects to change.”

Charlie also developed a series of values that articulate the most important aspects of our identity: renewing worship, faithful teaching, honest community, sacrificial mission, and public faith. In the following pages, we offer some snapshots of how the church has been living out these aspects of our identity across the year – supported, resourced and overseen by the PCC.

P A G E 5

RENEWING WORSHIP

The heart of the Church is its community of worshippers, meeting regularly to encounter God in praise, prayer, Scripture and sacrament. In 2025 the Church Electoral Roll was completely revised; at the end of the year there were 89 parishioners on it. Before the list was revised 7 people were removed; 3 people left Birmingham and 4 people died. There were 14 brand new additions to the Roll. 42 people from the previous Roll did not sign up again. The main service of worship happens at 10.30am every Sunday, and our usual Sunday attendance in 20251 was 69 adults and 16 children and young people (in 2024: 60 adults and 11 children and young people). More broadly, our “worshipping community” (defined by the Church of England as anyone who attends our church regularly, or would do if not prevented by illness, incapacity, etc.) in 2025 was 85 adults and 22 children and young people (2024: 85 adults and 13 children and young people).

A crucial aspect of the PCC’s work in 2025 was to progress plans for the re-ordering of our main site. This significant project, comprising the re-purposing of roughly half of the church building’s interior space for flexible use, adding kitchen facilities at the back of the church building, upgrading our St Monica’s Room facility, and linking the church building with St Monica’s Room, connects with almost all of our key values, and we have identified the needs it is addressing as crucial ones to meet as we develop our central purpose of sharing the gospel in the parish. The project’s heartbeat is to enable us to grow as a community of worshippers, especially through improving the welcome and hospitality we’re able to offer every person who visits the church. As the accounts show, the PCC allocated significant funds to work with a firm of architects on these plans in 2025, and we look forward to further progress in 2026.

1 “usual Sunday attendance in 2025” = mean number of people attending on Sundays in 2025

FOCUS ON: THE ST BARTHOLOMEW’S SINGERS

The St Bartholomew’s Singers help to lead our worship of the Lord on a monthly basis. Over the course of the past year we have sung on Mothering Sunday, at the Harvest Service, on Remembrance Sunday, at Carol Services, “on tour” at outside venues, at baptisms and at AllAge Services. The Singers are an inclusive group, open to everyone from ages 6 to 90+, and the music sung is deliberately simple, so that everyone can rejoice together. Excitingly, this year we have also welcomed students from the University of Birmingham, who have brought musical gifts a-plenty, and pupils from Elmhurst Ballet School, who have supplied smiling faces, zest and dynamism!

Alan Browning

P A G E 6

FAITHFUL TEACHING

Across 2025, the church has heard the preaching of God’s word Sunday by Sunday, through the lectionary readings in the seasons of Christmas, Lent, Easter, and Advent, as well as series of sermons working through 1 Peter, Ecclesiastes, the Psalms and the Sermon on the Mount. The Wednesday morning service, a said service following the Book of Common Prayer liturgy for the Lord’s Supper, used the Common Worship lectionary readings across the year.

Charlie has taken the lead in preaching on Sundays, supported by a number of guest preachers, including our associate priest, Rev Dr Saskia Barnden, who, at Charlie’s invitation, has taken on a larger role in leading and preaching at the Wednesday morning service.

FOCUS ON: SUNDAY SCHOOL In Sunday School this year we had a lot of changes. Three of our Flames cohort (5-11s) graduated into being in the main service, and as our Sparks (3-4s) kids started school, they moved up to join Flames. It was a new challenge to cater to a different age range in Flames, but one that the children adapted to so well. This year in our teaching, we delved into Exodus, Nehemiah, the Sermon on the Mount, and the Christmas Adventure.

Jenny Butler, Isla Foffa, Jem Huggins, David & Jenny Mayland (Sunday School leaders)

HONEST COMMUNITY

2025 saw encouraging growth in the numbers of people in, and connected with, the church community participating in events and activities beyond attendance at our worship services. In particular, across the year, new people joined our two evening homegroups, experiencing growing friendship and the opportunity for discipleship together through Bible study and prayer week by week. We also saw more people attending our church family lunches across 2025, which happen after the morning service on the first Sunday of each month.

The pressure of growth at our church family lunches is a key factor in the PCC’s desire for the building re-ordering project, to open up more space in the church building. We regularly reach our capacity for sitting together around tables in the space we currently have, and we are straining the capacity of our kitchen facilities as we seek to serve and enjoy a meal together.

P A G E 7

FOCUS ON: KNIT ‘N’ NATTER Knit and Natter has continued to be an important part of community life for church. We’ve crafted countless items, from teddies to tea-cosies, blankets to knitted hearts. Over hot drinks and biscuits we’ve welcomed crafters as young as 8 and some well into their 80s. We finished off the year with a very successful cake and craft stall.

Lynn Shelley

SACRIFICIAL MISSION

Introducing members of our parish and wider community to Jesus Christ, helping them understand the claims of the gospel, and inviting them to become followers of Jesus, is one of the most vital aspects of our purpose as a church, and, though not without its challenges, 2025 was full of encouragement in this area. At the two major festivals of Christmas and Easter, as well as on Mothering Sunday and Remembrance Sunday, we continued to see good numbers of guests with little regular church contact hearing the gospel at special seasonal services. A few families with whom we’ve had contact through occasional offices have also maintained contact with the church, and seem to have made progress in their understanding of the Christian faith.

Two particular activities with a strong mission focus in 2025 were (1) a series of Alpha courses – an evening and a daytime course, open to all adults, in the spring, and an early evening course in the summer for a handful of pupils from Elmhurst Ballet School – and (2) a continued engagement with Elmhurst Ballet School through a weekly Bible study for 10-15 pupils, who have also started regularly attending Sunday services.

We look forward to welcoming a couple of newly professing members of the faith into our church through baptism in 2026, and to developing further mission opportunities both within our parish and in partnership with others beyond.

P A G E 8

FOCUS ON: KNIT ‘N’ NATTER FOCUS ON: CHRISTMAS This Christmas we added a Craft Evening to our event calendar, a full band to our All Age Carols, and had Bishop Michael visit for our Midnight Communion. We continued our tradition of offering a warm welcome both to church family and visitors from the local community and beyond throughout the Christmas period.

PUBLIC FAITH

The ‘end’ of our purpose as a church is both individual Christians living confidently as followers of Jesus across their varied vocations in the world, and our church community itself being ‘a city on a hill’ that distinctively shines out with the message of Jesus, drawing others to find out more and bringing blessing across wider society.

Our occasional offices of baptism, weddings, and funerals, represent a vital way in which we put our corporate identity as the church into practice in the world. In 2025, we welcomed 1 infant and 1 non-infant for baptisms, 1 couple for a wedding and 1 for a wedding blessing, hosted 14 funerals and had 3 burials of ashes in our Garden of Remembrance. We would love to develop our offer of support to people around all three of these significant life events; our annual service of All Souls has seen encouraging growth in recent years, suggesting a need and opportunity to support people at varying stages of grief and loss.

In 2025, we engaged with Birmingham Heritage Week for the first time, opening the church up to visitors from across Birmingham, to discover and explore different aspects of the church’s role in the history of our city. For example, some of our church family members worked hard researching a few of the men and women commemorated in our church, producing engaging stories of their lives and contribution to society, and, in particular, showing the tangible difference their Christian faith made.

P A G E 9

FINANCIAL REVIEW

We thank God that the church’s finances continue to be healthy and a small overall surplus of £7.3k was generated in 2025. The generosity of church members with their money and time is greatly appreciated. The total income for the year was £213.3k up from £182.7k in the previous year. The total expenditure was £206.0k up from £171.1k in the previous year.

The planned giving at £71.0k (2024: £65.1k) is an encouraging increase and around 68% was directed to our restricted funds for the Buildings & Upkeep Fund and the Church Growth Fund.

2025 saw a further increase in lettings, most notably at the Walker Hall, with income of £66.3k (2024: £61.0k).

Investment returns were steady at £17.8k (2024: £17.7k) with interest on our deposit accounts increasing slightly to £4.7k (2023: £4.6k).

Expenditure on clergy and staffing costs were £17.2k (2024: £20.2k) and now include a part time Facilities and Hospitality manager for the last quarter of the year.

Church repairs and maintenance cost £56.7k (2024: £32.0k), covering three streams of work.

• The first stream is the ongoing regular maintenance.

• The second stream was the long-term maintenance items funded by the Long Term Maintenance Fund. The major items were the reroofing of St Monica’s Room, £14.6k, repairs to the church heating pipes, £5.8k. and new low energy lighting in St Monica’s and digital boiler controls for the church and St Monica’s both of which had grant funding support.

• The third stream of work was in support of the repurposing project for our church buildings and have been funded from the Investing for the Future Fund. Costs included the finalisation of the architect’s feasibility study plus more detailed designs and the Faculty application to the Diocese.

The Walker Hall repairs in 2025 cost £12.2k (2024: £5.7k). There was a water leak, and flooring had to by renewed at a cost of £6.6k which was covered by an insurance claim. Net Assets have stayed at around the same level after an unrealised investment loss of £5.6k.

P A G E 1 0

RESERVES POLICY

It is the PCC’s policy to maintain a balance on unrestricted funds of at least six months committed payments, equivalent to £97.0k (2024: £85.0k). This policy is in place to mitigate liquidity risks arising through fluctuations in cash flow and to enable the PCC to respond to unplanned events.

As at the end of 2025 the PCC reapproved the designation of general unrestricted funds to the Long-term Property Maintenance Fund of £125.0k and to the Investing in the Future Fund of £285k. The PCC are acutely aware they have the responsibility to manage the sustainability of historic buildings and plan for future growth.

RESTRICTED FUNDS

The PCC maintains restricted funds to enable donors to indicate how they wish their donations to be used. Of particular note are:

1) Church Growth. Monies given to this fund are restricted towards the growth and sustaining of Anglican ministry within the Parish. This includes, but is not restricted to, supporting lay and ordained ministers, funding outreach activities (e.g. the Alpha course and similar events), acquiring / provision of materials for services (e.g. Sunday School materials, ) and acts of corporate giving to support those Christians less fortunate than us.

2) Buildings & Upkeep. Donations received into this fund are restricted to the maintenance of the external and internal fabric of the church building, plant and machinery (e.g. the boiler and organ) and on-going maintenance of the church grounds. It would not be permissible to use these funds for expenses such as common fund payments and direct service costs.

If no expression is made by a donor then donations are treated as unrestricted.

RISK ASSESSMENT

The PCC wishes to record that it acknowledges its responsibilities in this area. Discussion about risk is built into agenda items at PCC meetings. We recognise that key risks for any church are a failure to attend properly to statutory obligations around safeguarding and governance.

PAGE 12 2025 FINANCIAL STATEMENTS Recelpts and Paymont5 Account I£OOOsl Year ended 31 Docernber 2025 Total Fund YeArended 31 December 2024 Total Funds Unrestrlcted Funds Deslgnatsd Fut)d8 Restrlctsd Funds Endowmont FutMI8 REeEIPT$ Plannèd olvlng Colle¢lDns and other g￿knO Othervolunlary ￿ceipts Glft Ald re￿Ver8d Activit￿S forgenerAling funds Invest￿￿￿1 Income Receipt$ from ¢hurth act￿11￿8 Totsl Incom• 24.7 46.3 71.0 65.1 17.2 20.0 69.8 22.S 13.5 14.3 65.3 22.3 67.2 21.3 72.2 78.8 83.2 213.3 182.7 PAYMEt4TS Cost of genetaiing funds Pa￿Sh Shore C18rgy and SIBffing GOS15 Church Runnino Exp8n8e8 Hall Runnlng Costs Church Repair6 & Malniènèncè H811 Ropalrs & ￿oIntenanCe MIssK)nory and Chonty Gwing Govtmanctr C081$ T¢t•l •xp•ndltur• 58.5 15.4 25.3 58.5 17.2 28.0 29.3 56.7 12.2 54.0 20.2 28.1 28.8 32.0 10 29.3 15.5 12.2 41.2 102.4 57.9 45.7 206. N•t In¢om• or l•xp•ndltur•l b•for• tr•nif•r• 17.9 19.0 TNn•l•rn b•tsY••n fvnd¥ 12.8 GalnBlloB••• on Imi••kn•nts Unr08118ed 15.01 Total mov•m•nt In fvndi 39.7 32.3 Total fund• brought lorward 154.1 401.2 41.0 1B.2 015.1 597.2 Totsl fund• carrl•d forward 410.0 73.9 16.5 816.8

Statement of Assets andLiabilities(8000	s)
					Total	Total
					31 Oecember	31December
	General	Desiqnated	Resbicted	Endowment	2025	20?4
Fixed Assets
lnvestments	57.0	310.0	73.9	18.5	459.4	505.0
Current Assets
Debtors					1.0	0.2
Cashatbankandin hand	64.4	100.0			164.4	114.3
	65.4	100.0			165.4	114.5
Liabilities
Creditors: amounts fallingdueinone year	8.0				8.0	4.4
Netcurrent assets	57.4	100.0			157.4	110.1
Net assets	114.4	410.0	7?O	18.5	616.8	615.1

	OpeninglncomingCash	OpeninglncomingCash	OutgoingCash	NetCash	Transfers	Unrealised	Closing
General Fund	154.1	72.2	\1024)	(302)	(3 6)	(5.9)	114.4
Oesignated
LongTerm Property N4aintenance Fund	250.0			0.0	(1250)		125.4
lnvesting fortheFuture Fund	151.2		(1s.5)	(15.5)	149.3		285.0
WalkerHall		74_0	(41.s)	32.s	(32.s)
Edgbasto nian		1,8	(0.e)	0.9	(0.9 l
Restricted
Church Growth	41,6	34.3	(28)	31 .5			73.1
Building & Upkeep		29.6	(42.5)	(.12.8)	12.8
tsell		1.3	(0.5)	0.8	0.0		0.8
Hawkes-Curate	15.3						15.5
Hawkes-Vicar	2.9	0.1		0.1	(0.1)	0.1	3.0
Funds	615.1	213.3		7.3			616.8

PAGE 14 Analys1$ of Ineomè and Exp•ndlturè I£OOOsl 1. Planned Glvlng Unre51ri¢ted D0$￿n#t&d Rostr¢ted Endowmont Year gnded 31 Yearended 31 DB¢ember Oecember2024 2025 14.7 Règular Bank Transfers Envelope Giving Parish Giving Scherr 12.2 17.4 24.7 36.5 46.3 54.0 71.0 49.4 65.1 2. ¢oll•¢tloM •nd oth•r glvlno Al amunts in the perlod r01#te to k)0$0 ploto ¢olle¢Uon$ antl the ¢ashkn$$ olving mo¢hlne. 3. Oth•r voluntsry r•¢•lpts Unr88lrict8d 08sbJnated Re8lrLt8d Endo%wnent Yoar •ndod Y1 Ye8r ended 31 Decomber Decamber 2024 2025 Legad88 OveT58as ￿￿ss￿n Grants Iow8rd8 bulk11ng$ upkeep Insurance receipts Other Donallon& 17.3 4. A¢￿¥1￿•$ for gen•r•tlng fvnd• Unre8ldct8d D8s¥anated Re8lrkt8d Endowment Yoar ondod 31 Year 8nd8d 31 D•¢•m￿r De¢ember2024 2025 St Mont8,$ k8lllng& Walker Hall K8111ngs Church knlllng$ Ed9b8slon￿n advertblng Church Famlly Sodal$ Other Inco 66.3 68.3 81.0 67.2 69.8 65.3 5. Inv••kn•nt In¢om• Unr88ldct8d D8skJnated Re8lrkted EndowThont Yo•r •ndod 31 Ye8r ended 31 December Oec8mber 2024 2025 CCLA CSF Church ol EngLgnd Short Duratlon Bond Fund CCLA C8F Church of Eng￿n(l Inve$tm&nt Fun GGLA CBF Chur¢h of EngL9nd Pmporty Furid Other interest earned 21.3 22.5 22.3 8. Recelpts from church aclvlde• Al Income In th8 padod r8L8te8 to f888 forweddlng8, funerals and rn8mdal $8rvk88. 7. CoBt of ganeradng fun Unrest￿￿¥(j DesvJnated Re$lWded Endowment Y•ir •ndgd 31 Yeor ended 31 DBcgrnbpr December2024 2025 Ed9baSlon￿n Churrj) Family Soda18 Musicians & BeMringeTs

PAGE 15 8. Clewy & stafflng costs unrest￿ted D8slgnal8d R8Strfcted Endovmnt Yaar •nded 31 Y88r 8nded 31 Dec8mb8r December 2024 2025 10.9 Slipands Vitrrag8 d8corallon ViGarage tree ￿rk Vicarage expenses Out of pock818xpen888 13.5 15.4 17.2 20.2 9. Chureh runnlng expon•e8 Unr8Strfct8d D8slgn818d R8strfctèd Endovm*nt Y•ar •nd•d 31 Y8ar endèd 31 Doc8mb8r D8cemb8r 2024 2025 Insuranc8 Musld8n8 Cle2nlnu Direct services Costs snd relqled Admini8lratN8 costs Adv8rtWng Web 5119 Heatlng & Llghtlng 10.5 25.3 10.5 28.0 10.4 28.1 10. Hall runnlng •xp•n••¥ UnreSt￿tel De&lgn8led Ro&trfGte¢ En¢ownK8nt Y••r •nd•d 31 Ye8r entled 31 D•e•mb•r D8cemb8r 2024 2025 Insuranc8 Htraiino, IIGhllng and w8t&r Cleanlng M8nag8m?nl 88Nk8 f888 Oth¥r Nnnlng 0xpen￿9 13.2 13.2 11.6 29.3 29.3 26.8 11. Church r•p•lr• & m•lnt•n•n¢• Unr•Jtrfct•d D•¥lgnii•d R•utrfct•d EndowNnt Y•4r •ndod 31 Year ended 31 DoGernb•r Oecernber 2024 2025 8ht&n8n¢e Upkeep of churchya 15.5 15.5 26.2 41.2 41.7 56.7 21.3 32.0 12. Hall r•palr• & malntsnanc• Conslslent w￿h the prior year. all rep01￿ forthe period reLg1e to 51ruclurql repsirn lo the Walker Hall. 13. Gov•rnane• eoAts Conslslent w￿h the prior year. all govemanc4 costs relate lo Independent examlnalp)n of these account5.

Independent Examiner's unqualified report to the members of the P.C.C. of St. Bartholomew's Church, Edgbaston in respeet of tbe Financial Statements st for the year ended 31 . December 2025 as set out OD pages I I to 13 of this report. Respective responsibilities of the P.C.C. and Ihe examiner. The P.C.C. memkrs ￿ting as the charity"S trustees are responsible for the Preparation of the accounts. The charity's trustees consider that an audil is nol required for the year under section 144 of thc Charities Act 2011 (the Chariti¢s Act) and thai an independent examination is n¢eded. It is my responsibility to: examine the accounts under section 145 of the Charities Act to follow the pmcedur¢s laid down in the general Directions given by the Charity Commission (under section 145{5)(b) of the Charities Act. and to stst¢ whether particular matt¢rs have come io my attentio Basis of the Independent Eiaminer's statemenl. My examination was carried out in accordance ￿"1th the general Directions given by the Charity Commission and the guidance published in PCC Accountsbility (The Charities Act 2011 and the P.C.C.), 5 edition). An cxamination includes a review of th¢ accounting records kept by the charity and a Comparison of thc accounts presented with these rccords. It also includes onsideration of any unusual items or disclosures in the accounls, and seeking explanations from the Iruslees conc¢rning such matters. The procedures undertaken do not pmvide all the evidence that would be required for an audit. and consequenily no opinion is given as to whether the accounts present a 'true and fair view and th¢ report is limited to those matters set out in the statement below. Jndependent exYdminer'$ statemeDL In connection with my examinalion, no material matter has come to rny attention which gives m¢ cause to believe that in, any material respect.. accounting records We￿ not kept in accordance with section 130 of the Charities Act, or the accounts do not accord to the accounting records. I have wme across no other matters in conneciion with the ¢xamination to which attention should b¢ drawn in order to enable a proper understanding of the accounts is reached. Signed. Jlo,, Date 8". May 2026. Revd. A. A. Clements Fellow Association of Charity Independent Examiners. Address 15 Carleton Rorf Great Knowley, Chorley PR6 8TQ ACIE PCC CC32