Churches Together in South Tyneside Annual Report for Financial Year: January 1st 2025- December 31st 2025 Churches Together octlve in South Tyn8lde am CHURCHES TOGETHER IN SOUTH TYNESIDE Any other name the Charity uses: Churches Togethersouth Tyneside: CTST: South Tyneside Churches Together QWity'&fgJ￿b£X: 1153612 52 Lawe Road. South Shields, Tyne and Wear NE33 2AL fchart Jane Arthurs. Bernadette Askins, Robert Finch, Stephen Slade, AudreyTennet, Hilary Thompson, Ann Tiollope structure Governance and mana ement: CTST is a charitable incorporated organisation ICIOI. The present constitution of CTST was finalised on August 22nd 2013. It outlines the objects, powers, policy on income, property and controls about payments, regulations re charity trustees and connected persons. conflicts of interest and loyalty. liabilities. membership. decision making, and meetings. CTST has trustees. At the AGM the trustees, chair and deputy chair are elected. The secretary and treasurer are appointed. New trustees are inducted by the Chair in line with the constitution. Several trustees are involved with other charities and share their expertise with the group. Newtrustees are recruited through connections within the churches in South Tyneside and local social action projects and charities. New trustees are nominated and appointed at the AGMS. New trustees can be co-opted midterm ar)d will be COTFfirmed at the nextAGM. Workinggroups may be set up to carry out agreed tasks. The Trustees hold monthly meetings where they set overall strategy, review and monitor the charities activities, finances and make decisions. Meetings mostly take place online and occasionally in person. Minutes are circulated electronically. Our main activities Iprojectsl have their own management committees which monitor theirwork and finances. Atrustee chairs each project management committee. Trustees receive the minutes of these meetings. We encourage volunteers and beneficiaries to become committee members and contribute to decision making. CTST members are our stakeholders-volunteers. beneficiaries. local churches. social action projects and individuals who share ourvalues and want to support our work. 100 people volunteer regularly to support our projects and activities. This amounted to a contribution of approximately 3800 hours in 2025 An Operations Manager (18 hours) was appointed in November 2025 to commence employment on 1.1.2026. In 2025 there are 6 part time staff who support the projects. Trustees. starr endone ofour volunteer commfftee memtsers Financial Review Prlnclp8l Fundingsources 1. Donatlons from a. Local churches b. Local organisations c. Private sources- personaigifts, legacy. funeral donations d. Individuals 2. Fund raising Events Westoe Fayre, Christmas Fayre. Hoedown Night, 60's Night. church social event5 3. Grants from Trusts and Foundatlons Core costs: Greggs. Sirjames Knott, Greatham Happy at Home: Hadrian, Arnold Clark. Ballinger, Big Lottery, Willan, Kellett 6. Inspire. Ballinger-sherburn Nurturing Dementia: Community Foundation. Benefact. Mccarthy & Stone 4. Service Level Agreement: South Tyneside Council Free Reserves Policy The trustees aim to have free reserves of 6 months operating costs to enable them to make provision for vulnerable people that are supported bythe projects in the event of funding not being secured, time to raise further grants and if necessaryto cover possible future costs of redundancies and wind down the charity in an orderlyway. We are working towards this goal. Ourfre8 reserves at present are £48,373.48 Public Benefit Churches Together has referred to the guidance on public benefit when reviewing our aims and objectives and in planning f uture activities. Our charities activities reflect our aims and objectives and are designed to provide accessible sesvices and activities that benef it the appropriate seotor of the public in accordance with our charitable ai ms. Ob'ectives 11 THE ADVANCEMENTOFTHE CHRISTIAN RELIGION FOR THE PUBLIC BENEFIT IN SOUTH TYNESIDE. CTST seeks to put into practice Christian teaching by carrying out practical social action for the benefit of the whole community with particular regard for the most vulner8ble. Its activities give direct help as well as raising awareness ot issues facing contemporary society- CTST atso looks for ways to work with others for a more just society. 2) THE PROMOTION OF RELIGIOUS HARMONY FOR THE BENEFIT OFTHE PUBLIC by.. Developing relationships with leaders of other faiths and working together on practical activities that improve the lives of local people. Activities Projects CTST has three projects which are directly responsible to the trustees- Happy at Home, Nurturing Dementia and Street Angels. Happy at Home-improves older people's liveswith compassion and kindness. We do this by offering a range of activities: one to one bef riending. Happy Hubs (lunch clubs with entertainment and activities), men's group. 'Joyrides' (outings along the coast with lunch provided). parties, theatre trips and day trips to local garden centres. We operate throughout the borough of South Tyneside. We have a large volunteer group who we support and have regular volunteer activities to build up friendships and rapport amongst the group. Nurturing Dementia- Dementia Friendlychristmas events. DeTnentia Friendly Churches. Dementia Engagement and Empowerment Project. Care Connect project with 3 local care homes. Street Angels- Supportingthose in need. duringthe night-time economy in South Shields Town Centre at weekends. Partners with South Tyneside Council and Northumbria Police, meetingthe PoliceArea Community Inspectortor updates. Collaboration with Pubwatch. attending monthly meetings. Activity for another charity Operation Christmas Child- organises collections from schools. churches and individuals of'shoeboxes, with Christmas presents forchildren overseas. Other Activities Faiths Together Interfaith Event held in theTown Hall. During2025 CTST have supported thework ofthe Dialogue Societyand church halls have provided space for community corners involving people of different f8iths meeting socially. Poverty Alleviation Keyto Life: A CTST trustee chairsthe Keyto Life Management Committee. highlights their appeals and shares emerging poverty issues. Key to Life runs a foodbank. children's-holiday activities and food programmes. school uniform recycling, working with the fuelfoundation. raising awareness of poverty issues. referrals to other agencies. South Tyneside PovertyAction Group: ACTSTTrustee is a member of this group which brings local organisations togetherto tackle child poverty, in-work poverty. and the cost-of-living crisis and holds Anti-PovetySummits to shape strategy. CTST disseminates infoim8tion through our extensive network of church contacts and supports members to access church buiLdings fortheir activities. Reflecting Together In 2025. following our yearlong project in 2024 to leafn about the experiences of loneliness and isolation of older people in South Tyneside and find ways to improve their lives. plans were implemented to disseminate the ReflectingTogether Project and to re-engage with participants to discuss howto move fo￿ard. The trustees continued to participate in theological researchto reflect on progress and to erigage with the local authority on addressing issues arisingfrom our research into loneliness and isolation. More CTST activities CTST has a website. social media presence and does occasional press releases. CTST circulates news about events and initiatives that support its purposes to its members. Following a consultation exercise. thewebsitewas updated onto a new platform in 2025. CTST addresses topical and ethical issues at its events and by organising hustings before general elections. CTST publishes and circulates weekly Prayer Points which touch on local, national and international matters. Voluriteers from CTSTwrite 5-minute sermons for publication in the local newspaper. the Shields Gazette. CTST organises an ecumenical Eastersunrise Service atthe sea front followed by a breakfast in a Church Hall. Hebburn Churches Together led a Good Fridaywitness service. -r Charities and projects we support CTSTsupports otherchurch-reLated projects by promotingtheirwork andlor identifying funding opportunities- Places of Welcome offers a "cuppa". food and friendship and 'Mental Health First Aid,. South Tyneside Asylum Seeker Refugee Church Help (STARCH}- provides practical and personal supportfor asylum seekers and refugees. Grace Place-a drop in café for lonely and homeless people. Keycommunitysupports young peoplewho are homeless or at risk of becoming homeless. It also runs Key Community Bus, providingaffordable food and more. Key was originally founded by CTST. Love Christmas- a churches led group providing Christmas parcelstothose in need. Achievements and erformance for 2025 Our Projects Happyat Home In 2025 we continued to visit around 70 older people in their homes with our befriending service. Our hubs continued to run, most now at full capacitywith an average of 35-40 people attending each week. Our Men's Hub also continues to grow in number each month. We held many different themed hubs throughout the year which people enjoyed and took part in- St George's Day, Valentines and Harvest FestlV81, where we also collected for our local food bank, Key to Life. We had a lot of new activities and beneficiaries enjoyed beingcreative with various crafts includingfloristryworkshops. Health was also a priority with winter wellbeing and seated exercise promoted at our hubs. There were 4 hub parties at Christmas with one larger partyfor the volunteers and those theyvisit. 32 people attended the local pantomime. 24 enjoyed a Christmas shoppingtrip. Christmas Eve boxes were given to the housebound and Christmas dinners delivered tothose spendingthe dayalone. In summerwe celebrated 801h anniversary of VE day at our hubs with lots of nostaEia and 19408 style buffet and singing. We have recruited more newvolunteers and have maintained our volunteer activities and groups to build a communityfor them within our pro3ect. We have also welcomed on board a new member of staff who has completed alltraining and induction and is already a valuable addition to the teaml Nurturing Dementia Two Dementia Friendly Christmas Services and two Dementia Friendly Eastersetvices and celebrations were facilitated at four churches across the borough. Approximately 120 attended including people from Church communities and 4 schools. The feedbackwas very positive. OEMENTIA FRIENDLY CHURCHES WORKSHOP- Nurturing Dementia facilitates a monthly Dementia Empowerment and Engagement group for people with dementia in South Tyneside. The group have called themselves The WAVE (we arevalued equally) Dementia Club. The group haveworked with South Tyneside Councilto address improving disability access to public conveniences in South Shields. This has resulted in an audit of public conveniences and the introduction of .1 just can't wait, cards for people with hidden disabilities and promotion with local businesses. li WCP.KSpQPThETMLS 26th Mèrch 2025 1-4pm Nurturing Dementia facilitated a Dementia Friendlychurches Workshop attended by representatives from 5 local churches and are workingwith 3 Churches to support action plans to improve the church environments. worship and pastoral care to meet the need of people living with age related disabilities. Nurturing Dementia facilitated 3 Dementia Awareness Sessions within the local community approximately 40 people attended including students from 2 localschools and volunteers working with older people. Street Angels StreetAngels continued to face the reality ofthe changing nightlife culture of South Shields, togetherwith the lack of newvolunteers Comingfo￿ard. However. we were able to maintain a regular presence in the town centre on a two-weekly basis throughout 2025. This was appreciated by both statuary authorities and the people we were able to help. We are having a strategic review and Volunteer drive in the coming year. however. to see if this sebvice is stilL needed movingfotward. Other Achievements Governance Churches Together in South Tyneside held a development day in January 2025 for staff. management committee volunteers and trustees to review our charity object'The advancement of the Christian religion torthe public benefit in South Tyneside., This was to gain a shared understanding of the object and howthis can be translated into our vision and mission statements and aims. In M8y 2025 the trustees took part in a development dayto continue the review of our charity objects and agreed ourvision and Mission Statements and Values. We also began the reviewof our second object'The promotion of religious harmonyforthe benefit of the public by a) 8ducating the public in different religious beliefs including 8n awareness oftheir distinctive features and their common ground to promote good relationships between persons of differentfaiths: b) promoting knowledge and mutual understanding and respect of the beliefs and practices of different religious faiths. Churches Together in South Tyneside have reviewed. developed and approved the following Policies and Procedures in 2025: Finance, Safer Recruitment. Recruitment of Ex-otfenders. Whistleblowing, Equal Opportunities, Terms and Conditions, Health and Safety, staff Induction and Safeguarding. Much work has been undert8ken in 2025 to develop 8 Marketingstrategy and new website. Thi5 15 to strengthen our identity and presence: deepening our role as a unifying Christian voice. a trusted partner and 8 compassionate force forgood in South Tyneside. t**--- FAITHS TOGETHER SOUTH TYNESIDE FalthsTogether IMIRIAIINBRLIN¢H N£￿SOUR3 INFAifHANO FRIEt4DSHIP CTST is an active and valued memberof Faiths Together. where Christian. Muslim, Hindu 8nd Buddhist representatives come togetherfor conversation and shared p18nning. This year, we h8ve enjoyed workingwith the Dialogue Society to encourage participation in welcoming community meals held across SouthTyneside. We are also pleased to supportthe annualTown Hall events Celebrating both Christmas and Ramadan, helpingto build understanding. friendship and strong relationships across our communitios. ro Icrd il tert•thRell*t 13 I￿VEMBER 2025-114M TO IPM REG15JPAI10Tr4 gEQUIRED PovertyAction Group This yearwe joined the Poverty Action Group, convened by South Tyneside Council. The group brings together organisations across the borough to share information and coordinate practical support for those experiencing poverty. Through our extensive ne￿Ork of church contacts, we are able to help share this information more widely. We also supported the Love Christmas Project, led by local Catholic parishes. With the help of 60 volunteers from churches, faith communities and the wider community, 450 large bags of food were distributed to local families. These were delivered through schools. Al Azhar Mosque, the PovertyTruth Commission. and agencies supporting women, people experiencing homelessness, and asylum seekers and refugees. Operatlon Chrlstmas Child {OCC) Operation Christmas Child asked CTST to extend their usual collections in the borough to include'The Entertainer, in Sunderland and'F8tfield Cafe. in Washington. The new 8dditions collected the equivalent of 240 shoeboxes and fillers. Approximately 30 cartons were collected by St. Gregory's, Livingwaters, Grange Road Baptist Church, Age Concern. A few smaller churches took their boxes to these collection centres. The total number of shoe boxes from the CTST churches and schools was 417. In all CTSTtransported around 60 cartons to the Wallsend Safe Store, that is the equivalent of 720 shoeboxes. Donated cash was sent directly to Samaritans Purse. As always huge thanks go to allwho donated but also to allwho helped collect and deliver the c8rtons, shoe boxes and f illers. Contributions were down overall. In discussion with the organisers from Newcastle and Northumbria we have decided that 2025 will be the last year that CTST collect Shoeboxes for Operation Christmas Child. We wonderwhether a fresh appr08ch is needed after many years of providingthis service. OCC have moved further tOW8rd8 Online Shoeboxes and donations, and this is goingto increase in coming years. Hebburn Churches Tog6th8r Report January 2025 and Good Friday Servlce In 2025. following research, consultation and reflection a report was produced outlining the composition. activity and mission of Hebburn ChurGhes Together. At the centre of their ref lection was Jesus, prayer in John 17.20-23. The report concluded with recommendations for future actions f rom prayer groups and social events to possible sharing of buildings for joint mission. Hebburn Churches Together led a Witness Service in the town's Shopping Centre. Churches Together in England Conference March 2025 A trustee attended the annual CTE Conference in Swanwick. 'One but notthe Same: Celebrating diversity and Living with difference,. Topics varied from 'Artificial Intelligence and the Church. to 'The Call for Peace. All the talks and reflection sessions were available on line and the links shared with the trustees. Wèlcome In December 2025 representatives from our churches attended the induction of new priest into one of the Catholic parishes in South Shields. Annual Narrative Reportforchurches Together South Tyneside 2025 Approved by the Board of Trustees, Mrs A Tennet. Chair Mrs B Askins, Deputy Chair Thursday 18th Juno 2026 10 ChurchesTogether in South Tyneside (Charitable Incorporated Organisation) ￿hat1t￿ 11553612 Financial Statements for the Year January 1" 2025- December 31.2025 Churches Together actlve in South Tyneside 11 Churches Together in South Tyneside Receipts and Payments Accounts for the year ended 31 De￿rnber 2025 Receipts Unrestricted Restrithd 2025 Total 2024 Total Incoming Re￿ipts Grants Donakn'ons Subscript'ons Investment Income Totsl Receipts 12,683 25.961 340 2,551 121.191 133,874 25,961 340 132,020 27,281 790 121,191 162,725 160,091 Payments Project costs Marketing Salaries Travel m￿n9 Costs Volunteer Retention Recruitsnent offi￿ Costs Telephone linting & Stationery Costs Legal & Profewonal Insurance Depreciation Training Sutscrlptions 5,943 155 17,502 293 87 55 35 752 270 172 1,440 127 917 21,738 27,681 155 62,838 1,500 155 6,739 35 3,196 1,410 1,687 3,987 127 1,222 1,685 917 376 32,584 45,336 1,207 69 6,684 84,118 1,850 733 3,690 3,089 1,325 873 6,545 LOO 1,222 1,680 482 216 138,806 1,140 1,514 2,547 305 1,685 886 31 376 28,155 SurpluslDeferit for the year 35,637 49,016 21,285 Churches Together In South Tyneside Stat￿t of Assets and Liabllltles as at 31 DeC￿lber 2025 2D24Totsl Cth 4t Bank and In Hand Bank Cash Amnts 88,745 129 I￿4E1) 271205 129 217.443 326 271 Current Uablllties PAYE aTrJ NIC Pen￿On Rgjurtdanry Rewve 1195 442 Equlty 21 Mr5 A TenT￿t ,)L￿l CHARITY COMMISSION FOR ENGLAND AND WALES Independent examinerfs report on the accounts Section A Independent Examiner's Report Report to the truste membors of Churches Together in South Tyneside On accounts forthe year ended 31at December 2025 Charity no {If any) 11536612 Set out on pagès I report to the trustees on my examination of the accounts of the above Chanty (Ihg Trusf) for the year ended Responslbi1111•8 and As the charity trustees of the Tn& you are responsible for the preparation basls of report of the accounts in accordance with the requirements of the Charities Act 2011 {Ihe Acr). I report in respect of my examination of the Trust's accounts carried oul under section 145 of the 2011 Act and in carrying out my examinalion, I have followed the applicable Directions given by the Charity Commission under section 145(5)(b) of the Ad. I have CLYnpleted my examinatbon. I confirm that no material matter$ have come to my attention (other than that disclosed below.) in Connection with the examination which gives me cause to beli8ve that in, any material respect: accounting records were not kept in accordanc8 With section 130 of the Act or the ac¢ounts do not accord wilh th8 accounting record8 Independent examIno￿9 statement I have no con¢erns and have come am8 no other matters in connection with the examination to which attention should be drawn in order to enable proper understanding of the accounts to be reached. . Please delete the words in the braGkets rf they do not appty. Slgned: Name: AILSA BRADY Relevant professlonal qualificatlon{s) or body Ilf any}: Addre$8: 8 RAMSHAW CLOSE NEWCASTLE NE7 7GP Section B Disclosure Only complete rfthe examiner needs to highlight matters of con￿rn (see CC32, Independent examination of charity accounts: directions and guidance for examiners).