office@handtomouth.org.uk www.handtomouth.org.uk ## **Trustees Annual Report 2025** ## Hand to Mouth 1. **Our Aim:** to enable children and school communities to explore Christianity, and reflect upon their own Spiritual Journey ## 2. **Trustees:** John Playle (Chair from March 2025) Nicola Dann (Resigned as Chair at the March 2025 AGM) Wendy Yates (Treasurer) Irene Denison Jeff Trigg Gill Ward (Vice Chair) Christine Goodman (appointed February 2025) ## **3. Trustee Meetings:** During 2025 the Trustees met on seven occasions including the AGM (held on 19 March 2025). The Charity’s manager attends these meetings but absents herself where matters discussed may lead to a potential conflict of interest. During the year, as well as standard agenda items, the following items were discussed: - Staff Contracts and a number of key HR policies were reviewed and approved following advice from an independent HR consultant. - Staff salaries – a 5% uplift was agreed at the July 2025 meeting and implemented for all staff from September 2025. - Safeguarding policies and procedures were also reviewed and this is ongoing with the aim of a full revision being approved early 2026 - A review of Health & Safety policies is ongoing (by an independent H&S expert) and any necessary revisions are expected to be approved early 2026. - No safeguarding incidents arose during the year. We also held an away-day attended by Trustees and employed staff in May 2025 to reflect on current and potential future strategy and activities. This was facilitated by an external consultant and proved to be a very useful day. The theme for the day was the parable of the sower (Luke 8: 4-15) – reminding us that our role as a charity is essentially to faithfully plant seeds, recognizing that it is God who blesses and makes those seeds grow. We need to be faithful in this task that God has given to us and that even though we may not always see the longer-term outcomes of that sowing, our job is to faithfully fulfil the task. ## **4. Staffing** We currently employ 5 staff (3.06 FTE) on term-time contracts: 1 Manager; 3 Schools Workers; 1 Administrator. Our work in schools is also supported by a significant number of volunteers mainly drawn from local churches. We are extremely grateful for the dedication of all of our excellent staff and volunteers. **Enabling children and school communities to explore Christianity and reflect on their own spiritual journey** Charity No: 1159877 ## **5. Activities during the year.** ## • **25[th] Anniversary celebrations** Hand to Mouth was established as a charity in 2000 and therefore this year marked 25 years of activity. Various small-scale celebratory events occurred during the year and in September we held a major celebration dinner event which was attended by approximately 100 people, including past and present supporters and staff. This was a great opportunity to reflect on the achievements of the charity as well as thank all those who have contributed to the success of the charity. As part of this event a video was produced reflecting on the charity’s journey since those early days. This video can be **viewed online** . - **Volunteer Thank-you event.** As a small charity, we have always and continue to be indebted to and thankful for our volunteers who help to facilitate our ongoing work with schools. In November we held a thank-you tea party for our volunteers. We received some lovely feedback from volunteers who expressed how much they enjoyed and appreciated the afternoon. It was hugely encouraging to the staff who were once again reminded of the scale of the team that makes Hand to Mouth come to life. - **Ongoing activities with Schools** During 2025, we have continued to develop and deliver a range of activities in and with schools in West Yorkshire. During the year we visited 72 different schools, making 151 visits in total, working with 438 classes and 13,420 different children! We also led three different ‘Partnership Days’ bringing together communities of schools, thanks to grants provided by the Anchor Foundation. 11 of the schools we work with were unable to finance us coming to deliver sessions for them from school budgets, so these Partnership days provided unique opportunities for them fully funded. We have also had the privilege of leading 150 school staff members in adult Journeys or staff twilight training; providing staff with experience and tools that help enhance their spirituality and benefit the schools they work in. Our work in schools has been a great success, through serving our school communities with high quality professional services and through facilitating opportunities for deeply meaningful spiritual growth and exploration of the Christian faith. Our ongoing work has been helped through successful grant applications that have supported us in our running costs and allowed us to serve more schools. This year due to some funding from the John James Trust we were also enabled to revisit 10 schools that we had lost in the last few years due to financial issues. Despite this, the decline in school budgets and their capacity to manage visitors and curriculum extras in schools, leaves us with gradual decline in our schools’ work activity compared to previous years. In light of this. a Trustee half-day in early 2026 will focus on future strategy and funding issues ## • **Ambassador Talks and promoting our work.** We have had lots of wonderful opportunities to share our work through 4 Ambassador Talks at churches and small groups, encouraging people with news of the wonderful things that Hand to Mouth are doing in their local schools. We had the privilege of Bishop Smitha (The Bishop of Huddersfield) visiting us in a local school, which led to her inviting us to attend a Minister’s training day and providing an Amazing Journey for the Ministers to experience as spiritual refreshment for them. 2 ## **6. Manager’s Report** “Plant good seeds of righteousness and you will harvest a crop of love. It is time for you to turn to me, your Lord and I will pour out blessings upon you.” (Hosea 10:12). As we come to the end of 2025, a year of celebration for 25 years of Hand to Mouth (HTM) this bible verse has a couple special meanings for us. First, the seeds of HTM were planted over 25 years ago when a few individuals faithfully and obediently followed God’s call to start planting seeds of faith in our local schools. HTM has been harvesting crops of love ever since, and God has certainly poured our His blessings on us as a charity - the fact that we are still here is a testimony to that. As the current Manager of HTM I feel that I have been given this role as my responsibility for a season to look after, protect and grow the important work of the charity. I am so thankful for all those who walk with myself and the staff team to turn ideas into the reality of making a real difference to the people we work with. Recently, thanks to a grant, we worked in a school where we have not been for 7 years. One girl at the school wrote this about her experience with us _“I used to think I wasn’t good enough and that’s because I was ashamed of my body, but now I know I shouldn’t change for anyone. Thank you for helping me through this.”_ I am convinced that if we were not in these schools, these children and staff would not be getting the input that we are providing from anywhere else. The second meaning from this bible verse is that we have got to keep planting those seeds. Through ongoing challenges of financial difficulties, time constraints and a world that says it values time to think and reflect but doesn’t have a chance to facilitate it, Hand to Mouth will keep enabling school communities to explore Christianity and reflect on their own spirituality. We are grateful to all those individuals and churches who continue to support our ongoing work through financial donations, prayer and volunteering their time. Several churches have shown us faithful support again this year, some of them giving to us regularly or providing an annual tithe. Others have given us financial support to deliver workshops in specific schools. We are thankful for the way these Churches have caught the vision of what HTM can offer to schools and partnered with us. Thanks specifically to All Hallows, Kirkburton; Kirkheaton Church; Dewsbury Minster; Holy Trinity Church, Huddersfield; St John The Divine, Rastrick; and St Thomas’, Bradley. We are also grateful to various grant funders (listed in the financial report) who have supported our work, including grants towards overall running costs so that we could continue supporting children with their mental health and wellbeing. We are also very thankful to the faith support of the Crossroads Charity in Meltham who have helped us to be present in Meltham schools for a long number of years. In 2025, this enabled us to deliver all the days the schools had requested. This funding has now come to an end and we will need to look for different ways to support schools in Meltham. We are also thankful to our staff team for their energy, ideas, enthusiasm and support throughout the year, making the delivery of HTM sessions so successful that schools want us back! We have an amazing team of volunteers who support our ‘Amazing Journeys’ and whose time, commitment and focus create unique and special opportunities for the children. Also, a big thank you to our team of preppers and everyone who gives to the charity in so many ways. The thank you volunteer tea party we had in November was a testament to the wonderful support we receive. Thank you also to the Trustees for their encouragement and guidance as we seek to look after HTM year by year and safeguard its future. Elizabeth Smith (Manager Hand to Mouth) 3 ## **7. Finance Report** 2025 has been another year where we have much to be thankful for in God’s provision for the work of Hand to Mouth. We produced a budget for the year, which the board approved in late 2024, in which we predicted a deficit. We actually ended the year with a small surplus on all Funds of £1,815. We have been blessed to receive a number of grants this year as follows. |**Grant funder**|**Amount**|**Duration**| |---|---|---| |The Willetts Foundation|£5,000p.a.|3years| |The Crossroads Project Meltham|£ 600|1year| |John James Trust|£2,100|1year| |Deo Gloria Trust|£2,000|1year| |**Total**|**£9,700**|| Of these some had been fully spent within the year, but some were received later in the year and the expenditure will be incurred in 2026. At 31 December 2025 we held £3,556 in grants received but not yet spent. These are all held in our Restricted Funds. Our individual supporters continue to be incredibly generous and faithful in their support of Hand to Mouth, and we are very thankful for their continued support. The fundraising efforts of our friends are also enormously appreciated, both for the financial contributions, and the prayer support which accompanies them. Our expenditure has been very similar to 2024 with no major operating changes. We regularly monitor our budget against the actual figures. Monthly accounts are kept and the board of trustees are given up to date information. This is possible due to the excellent work of our Manager and the administrative staff who assist her. Timely information is invaluable in helping the Hand to Mouth team make good decisions. Making judgments on the accounts which encompass being ‘good stewards’, being mindful of the need to be prudent, and yet looking faithfully to God is part of the challenge and the joy of being involved with a faith-based charity. To see others being blessed by God at work through Hand to Mouth is a joy and a blessing. Wendy Yates (Treasurer) 4 Hand To Mouth Charity RegEstration Number 1159877 Accounts for Year Ended 31 December 2025 Statement of Assets and Liabilities as at 31 December 2025 2024 Totsl Ilestrfcted Unrestrlct Desl¥nated Funds- see ed Fund Operatlr¥ bel￿* Reserye Totsl W4K AND CASH Current Account Savings A¢ount Cash 9994 47926 104 9145 47017 3556 18370 104 58023 3556 56208 'Opènin8 Balance i Deficitlsurplus for Year .'Trénsfer tolfrom Contingency Rese a05in8 Balance 56208 1815 3920 55929 -364 279 -3500 35( 58023 3556 28468 56208 RESTRICTED FUNDS Total Oonatlons Wllletts Crossrtsads Anthor John Foundadm Pmiect Foundatlon Jarnes Indlvlduaks Glorfa iopenlng Bakinc• 3920 3420 Recel¥ed In 2025 IW50 21(Kl 350 2CKIO 9529 Payments In 2025 10414 gji 3033 2￿) 5609 aoyng Balance 3556 199 387 420 150 2000 3920 srtned: J Playle Chairperson ate W Yatss Treasurer ate Hand To Mouth Charlty Registration Number 1159877 Accounts foi Year Ended 31 Decernber 2025 Receipts and Payments Account for Year Ended 31 December 2025 2025 Unrestrlcted RestrlLted 2024 Total Totsl RECEIPTS khoo15 Work .Trdvel charge , Donatt"ons from Individuals Fundraislng Donations from Churches Grants Tax Refund Bank Interest Events 43750 1135 11064 1353 4635 9529 1341 1161 695 16903 1228 3625 695 17253 1228 3625 350 97 1614 934 3269 71114 1614 934 3269 81164 ,TOTAL INCOME I￿50 73968 PAYMENTS staff Costs including Pension Mileage ' Parking Resources Rent Insurance Telephone & Internet ,Admininstration & Office: ' Professional Fees HR advice Accountsncy Bank Fees . Websrte Payroll Processing Fees Printing Postsge and Stationery DBS Pat Testing Software & Cornputer Repairs '. Sundries 'Office Equipment 25th Celebration Event TOTAL EXPENDITURE 57153 1436 7935 129 1565 1975 26 1578 3180 1389 610 473 3180 1438 2812 3180 1438 511 1095 1095 31)0 391 180 180 180 460 678 228 96 75 299 169 277 12 181 277 130 167 581 2083 68934 130 167 581 2083 79348 100 10414 73689 Deficit/Surplus 2180 -364 1815 279 HgndTo Mouth Ch•rity Re8iStralion Number 1159877 WI￿￿5 Found•ll( RESTRICIED FUNDS Prriect OpenlnB Balance 3420 3920 211JO 350 10050 750 1185 1250 430 Other (osts 7935 2479 10414 50 200 Totsl Pyments 9)1 3033 55 CHARITY COMMISSION FOR ENGLAND AND WALES Independent examiner's report on the accounts Section A Independent Examiner's Report Report to the trusteesl membersof, I¥AtsD 10 On accounts for the yoar ended 31 6EIL Charity no {If any) Set out on pages ', I report to the trustees on my examination of the accounts of the above tharty (Ihe Trust.) for the year ended S i I i yi sTrolS Responslbllltles and As the charlty trusiees of the Trust you are responsible for the preparation of basls of report the acu)unts in accordance *ith the requirements of the Charities Act 2011 ("the A￿). I report in resr*d of my examination ￿ the Trust's ￿CountS carried out under section 145 of the 2011 Ad and in carrying OLrt my examination, I have followed the apKAicable Diredions given by the Charity Commission under sedion 145(5Kb) of the Ad. I have (x)mF4eted my examin*'on. I confirm that no material matters have me to my attention in connection with the examinakn'on which gives me cause to believe that in, any material resFect.' a¢¢ounting records were ncrt kept in accordance with section 130 the Act or the ac£ounts do not ￿0rd with accounting records Independent examinerfs ststsment I have no concerns and have come across r￿ other rrAtters in connection with the examination to which attention should be dr?￿n in order to enatrAe a proper understanding of the accounts to be reached. ' Please delete Ihe words in the brackets rf they ¢*) not apply. Slgned.. ,,13/ Nam•: Relevant professional qualifi¢ation(s) or body (rf any): IER October 2018 Address: I Section B Disclosure Only complete if the exarniner needs to highlight matters of Con￿[￿ (see CC32, Independent examination of chartty aC￿unIs. diredions and guidance for examiners). Give horo brief detalls of any Items thatthe oxaminer wtgheg to disclose. IER October 2018