## _**Hemel Hempstead Methodist Church (HHMC)**_ **Registered Charity Number 1164741 Trustees Annual Report for the year 1 September 2023 to 31 August 2024** Hemel Hempstead Methodist Church (HHMC) exists to worship God, as we grow in faith, fellowship and love for one another, to seek to serve God and the community, and through our lives and witness, help people to come to a deeper knowledge of Jesus Christ. HHMC is a member of the West Hertfordshire and Borders Methodist Circuit and therefore part of the Methodist Church of Great Britain. The Trustees are Managing Trustees of the church building at 270 Northridge Way, Hemel Hempstead HP1 2AU which was completed and opened in 2015. All Trustees are members of HHMC and are either elected by the Annual General Meeting or appointed to a specific role by the Church Council. The Trustees are listed elsewhere on the Charity Commission website. Accounts for the year 2023-24 are attached. The church accounts show a surplus of just under £15,000. However, this include the Gift Aid repayment for the previous year (c£8,000) which was received from HMRC in September 2023. There was an increase in income from giving from members and congregation attenders but it had not reached prepandemic levels. The income from lettings has decreased slightly. Expenditure on repairs was significantly reduced compared with the previous year. The church has raised funds for other charities through regular Saturday Coffee mornings and special appeals for people in need due to natural and human disasters and warfare, and members have been very generous in donating to these charities, raising over £4000. HHMC had 76 members at end of the year (31[st] August 2024) plus a considerably larger ‘pastoral list’ of people associated with the church but not formally members. The number of members has continued to decrease slightly each year mainly to the death of older members, but HHMC has continued to welcome new members each year. A service of worship is held in the church building every Sunday morning and is live streamed online on Facebook and a recording is uploaded to YouTube after the service. Additional services are held in the afternoons and are mostly face to face in church only. Messy Church is held on a Sunday afternoon once a month, is aimed particularly at families with children and is our main focus for work with children. A new type of service, a service of healing and wholeness was started this year and is held about once a quarter on a Saturday afternoon. Other Sunday afternoon services include a Songs of Praise service approximately once a quarter, the Christmas Carol Service, and the annual Memorial Service for those who have lost loved ones. Services on special themes have been held during the year including an introduction to Eco Church in January 2024, what it means to be a Mental Health Friendly Church in April 2024, and themed services on the charities we support including Action For Children and Christian Aid. Weekly mailing of the notices to everyone in the church have continued by email where possible and by post to those not on email. These mailings also include the church newsletter every 6 weeks and a written version of the service every week to those who have requested it. Community Coffee, which was started in 2022-3 has now been renamed Warm Welcome Space and has developed into a place for people to come and feel welcome, and enjoy the company of others and an opportunity to meet with the Minister. It is held in a room which has been converted into a lounge with comfortable seating and soft lighting. A new venture this year was the starting of a Kintsugi Hope Wellbeing Group. Four members have undertaken the training as Kintsugi Hope Wellbeing Group Leaders and have delivered a 12-session course produced by Kintsugi Hope to explore how to maintain positive mental and emotional wellbeing in the midst of busy and sometimes traumatic lives. Three courses have been run so far, from September 2023, from July 2024 and from October 2024. HHMC organises various other activities in the building, open to members and others alike, as follows: - Community Lunch is held once a fortnight and provides a good home cooked meal and company in a warm building. There is no fixed cost, attendees are told they can pay what they can or nothing at all. - Saturday Coffee Mornings held once a month in the church hall. Funds are raised for charities chosen by the members organising the event. - • Dinner Church is a relaxed social gathering aimed at those who feel they might not fit into traditional church and attracts younger adults. It meets approximately once a month on Sunday evenings and undertakes a range of activities all of them including food. - Occasional meetings on a Saturday morning in which people gather to discuss ideas for the future mission of the church. - Lent Lectures were a series of lectures from different speakers held weekly during Lent. In Lent 2024 the theme was prayer. - • Oyster Club is a Christian social club for adults held on Thursday mornings, providing talks, services of worship and other activities. - • Thursday Fellowship meets weekly for fellowship, Bible study and prayer. - • Wednesday Fellowship and Reflection meets twice a month to share, care discuss and reflect upon experiences, faith and anything thought interesting to explore. This group has moved its meeting place from members’ homes to the church. Two fellowship groups continue to meet in members’ homes on Wednesdays, one monthly and one meeting jointly on Zoom with another local Methodist Church. HHMC also sponsors a Guide Company, Brownie Pack and Rainbows, who meet in the building during school term time. When not required for HHMC activities, the building is made available for local community groups and others to use in return for a fee designed to cover a due proportion of related costs. Several organisations related to health and wellbeing have used the building in this way, including Weight Watchers, an NHS diabetes prevention course and the Stroke Support Club. The Hearing Advisory Service also comes to the Warm Welcome Space once a month. The building is also hired by various choirs as a venue for concerts and by the local council for use as a Polling Station. - Members of HHMC have volunteered in various activities in the local community. • A team from HHMC provided a Christian assembly at a local primary school approximately once per month in term time using the Open the Book materials supplied by the Bible Society. - One member from HHMC serves as a Street Pastor in a neighbouring town as the local Street Pastor group has ceased to operate - Members from HHMC volunteer at the Liberty Tea Rooms and Community Hub, which provide a meeting place and services for anyone in the local community needing help in a time of need. - HHMC supports DENS, the local charity for the homeless, through donations to their Foodbank, and other activities. ## **Lyndsay Campbell** CHURCH RECEIPTS AND PAYMENTS ACCOUNTS THE METHODIST CHURCH STANDARD FORM OF ACCOUNTS Hemel Hempstead Methodist Church FOR THE YEAR ENDED 31 August 2024 West Herts & Borders Circuit Clrcuit no 34114 Registered Charity - Charity Registratlon number If not a registered charity Hèr Majesty's Revenue and Customs Gift Aid number (The HMRC number is equivalent to a registered charity number in terms of evidence of charttable status and May be u8ed to give to donors or grant funders wishing to see eviden¢e of the organisation's charitable status. Methodist charities in England and Wales that are not registered charities are excepted from re9iStration under Statulory Instrument 2014 No.242) 1164741 XR93992 Minister: Andrew Brazier Church Stewards.. Sue Whyte Graham Burton Margaret Thom Shalini Flarke Jill Walkor Sheila Daly Treasurer-. JaGkie de Bourcier Church R P 201S.xlB 1of5 ACCOUNTS FOR THE YEAR ENDED 31 AUGUST 2024 Hemel Hempstsad Church Unr•strl¢t•d Restrfctad Totsls thls Funds Funds y•ar Totals last year SECTION A a1 RECEIPTS Note a2 Offerin s and Tax recovered Bank #nd CFB interest and Investment income 65,379 65,379 44,321 a3 3,290 6,919 6,787 82,374 3,290 6.919 6.787 82,374 2,354 6,039 6.887 59.601 Lettin a5 Other receipts TOTAL RECEIPTS a6 (a71 SECTION B b1 PAYMENTS b2 Circuit Assessment or Share 41.712 41.742 41,635 b3 Donations 2,032 2,765 2,032 2.765 1,813 11,357 airs and Maintenan Utilities Ilnsurances, water char es, healin htin b5 12,903 12.903 9,373 b6 b7 other payments TOTAL PAYMENTS 8,155 67.566 8,155 67,566 11,417 75,595 b8 {b91 SECTION C NET RECEIPTSIPAYMENTS FOR THE YEAR cl a6-b8 14,807 14,807 15,994 Total funds brought forward from last year 82.g12 82,912 ¢6 98,906 e3 Subtotal c1+c2) 97,719 97,719 82,942 Transfers and ad'ustments c7 c5 TOTAL FUNDS AT END OF YEAR Ic3+¢41 97,719 97,719 {c81 82.912 (¢61 SECTION D FOR INFORMATION ONLY: MONEY RECEIVED AND PASSED ON TO EXTERNAL ORGANISATIONS {these amounts are not to be In¢ludod In total recelptslpayments figures d1 Balance brou hl forward from last ear 267 282 d2 Offerin sIGifts- received for extemal o anisalions 4,643 4,527 d3 OfferingslGifts - passed to exÈernal organisations 4,215 4,542 d4 BALANCE STILL TO BE PAID Id1 +d2-d3> 695 267 Chur¢h R Bnd P2015.xls 2of5 Heme5 Hem stead ¢hurch SLlklMAAY DF CM Acc AND IN ISATr TF5E CH UNCIL 8EcnoN E Pleas • Guiuanctr Notes 8￿mm￿ry of ChLffGh accrjunts for Uie y¥ai eilfteo 31 Auyusl2022 yno lllterTrai organisa￿On$ reportillg to meLnur¢h uow¢illCtturch Mee￿ng Noteihaiih2 lund$ or ¥n lrtemal Organisaiion WOU￿ normally be Re$tricted lunos unless ilcould be clearly shown thatkney be used lor8ny Methothgi puwose. Thrs sectkjn musi bp Mp￿ted to arrive allheoross income aTK1eXpen¢*￿reiOLAls oflhe Church 1fg1o￿ 1nwmeex￿stheACcru31y thre$￿Id, then theA¢¢rv81$ ofattounb ANL>A OIFFERENT FORM must De useo to reportth8 ac(y)unts (see MeihQOW%rtsilt). P*ase refer iothety4d8nc* notes wardlry tsansters between the DIstsic* and DiBthct0rgardsaii￿$. TERNAL ORGANISAnoNs Receipts Pa menls ustments bala￿eS Ch)6 balances The O terclub 1.796 1.933 137 712 e2 ¢7 ntern Orggnisation$ 1,798 1.933 137 11 712 e12 Church accounts Itotsl$ brou9htlorward 2.totals eolumnl 82,374 1471 67,566 14B07 1¢ 82,912 97,719 BY CHURCH 84,170 69.499 14671 83,781 98,431 Coniinue on a 6ewrAte i1n￿2￿8ry and brfry tho totsL8 fw81 TOTAL R&¢E¥PTS TOTAL PAYMEP4rs SECllON F &IATEMENT OF A OPEN114G BNIAJ4CES CLOSING BALA14CES CHURCH- CASFI FUNOS HELD •t 31 August 2024 Cash In hand BdTik CuriEnkAccount 24,635 37.112 Bank De il ACC￿￿1 f4 Central Finance Prfjard 40,427 Tr￿5￿& fui MetrKMk5tGhuTEh PLTFM)6e8 17.￿0 18,764 Otherfunds SUB TofAL-Chwch a¢¢ounts 82,912 1¢61 97,719 Ic81 by Internd Or9•nlsaUons (tr*ch)tsirtg balan￿ totsl from abov61 le12} 712 TOTAL CASH FLIP4DS HELD BY CHURCH 83,761 98,431 $ECTION O Al 1 Septetllbera123 Al 31 ALKJUSt 2024 OTHER ASSETS and LIABILITIES Inveslmenl8 indude EndLvrn￿nts Land & Buddi 8e2 Th)te& re Insuran¢ev¥1ut 3 305 972 3 630,403 0£￿*[Assets Losn . SI￿RMOun1 0Lrtst&￿j rend Oiher LiaknNtk6 f4 Includè only Funds h￿d allhe Central Flnawe Board fs Induoe only Funds h￿d ai Trus￿*$ lorh￿lhDdlS1 Churth P￿rr￿Se5 91 Include anyother invesiments Imtlhecash elementof TMCP trkJSts ac(¥Juntsthis 1$ ￿ClUd￿d in Ilnef5 2015L1￿thR￿1Px￿ 2fAS Name of Church .. . Hemel Hempstead Methodist. No...34114........ Declarations and Scrutiny I confirm that these Re￿Ipl and Payment based accounts for the year to 31 August 2024 have been prepared from the records of the Church and thal they include all funds under the conlrol of the ChurGh trustees. Signature of treasurer . Name and address of treasurer . .Jackie de Bourcier.................... 88Dunlin Road Hemel Hempstead........................................ PostCode...HP2 6LX............... Presentation to the Church trustses I confimi that the annual report and accounts for the year ended 31 August 2024 werelwill be" presented to the meeting of the Church trustees held on Signature of the Chair ofthe meeting Name of the Chair of the meeting b*7z6bJ..7....ik*z.ctsv.......... Independent Examiner's Report to the Trustees of the Hemel Hempstead Methodist Church Charity Number.........1164741..... Responsibilities and basis of report I report to the trustees on my examination of the accounts of the Hemel Hempstead Methodist Church for the year ended 31 August 2024 set out on pages 1 to 3. As the Church's trustees, you are responsible for the preparation of Ihe accounts in accordance with the requirements of the Charities Act 2011 {'the AGt'I. I report in respect of my examination of the Church's accounts carried out under seGtion 145 of the A¢1 and, in carrying out my examination, I have followed all the applicable Directions given by thè Charity Commission under section 145(5}{b) of the Act. 2015 church R and P.￿$ 4ofS Name of Church .. .H8m81 Hempstead Methodist..................... No...34114........ Independent Examlner's Statemènt I have completed my examination. I confimi that no material matters have come to my attention in connection with the examination which give me cause to believe that in, any material respect.. thè accounting records were not kept in accordance with section 130 of the Act., or the accounts do not accord with the accounts'ng records. I have no concerns and have come across no othÈr matters in connèdion with the examination to which attention should be drawn in this report in order to enable a proper understanding of the accounts lo be roached. I havglhave not" obtained independent verification of 911 investments wtth the Trustees for Methodist Church Purposes or held in other trusts, bank balances and funds at the Central Finance Board of the Methodist Church whiGh are individually in exGe5s of £10,000 (tsn thousand pounds) at the balance sheet date. Signature of independent examiner Name of independent examiner -colin J Stacey........-............................... R8levant professional qualrfication of independent examiner .BFP FCA........................ Nam8 of firm (where appropriate) . . Sta￿y$ Chartered Accountsnts Limited Address . Rivers Lodge, West Common, . Harpenden, Herts Post Code .AL5 2JD Date delete or circle as appropriate Aug-24 2015thuth R P.¥ls S￿5