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2024-11-30-accounts

St John’s Church Preservation Group Annual Report 2023 to 2024 Charity Registration 1164822 The Old School House, St John’s Road, Kates Hill, Dudley, DY2 7JT

CHARITY FORM

St John’s Church Preservation Group is a Charitable Incorporated Organisation. The governing document is the constitution.

Trustees are selected by invitation.

PATRON

Professor Carl Chinn, MBE, broadcaster, author, professor, Chair Birmingham University Community History

“I am proud to serve as patron”

PURPOSES OF THE CHARITY

St John’s Church Preservation Group was formed in 2007 to save St John’s Church which had been closed to the public in 2002. It was empty for 14 years until the group, after a lengthy campaign and process, was granted a lease to take on the restoration and re-opening in 2016.

The object[s] of St John’s Church Preservation Group are:

(a) to support the restoration and preservation of St John’s Church, Kates Hill, Dudley, a place of historic and architectural importance with a view to supporting Christian worship and providing a facility for greater community use; (b) To advance the education of the public in the conservation, protection and improvement of the physical and natural environment;

(c) to advance the education of the public particularly but not exclusively by (i) educating the public in different religious beliefs including an awareness of their distinctive features and their common ground to promote good relations between persons of different faiths and (ii) by promoting knowledge and mutual understanding and respect of the beliefs and practices of different religious faiths;

(d) to further benefit the residents of Dudley and its surrounding areas particularly but not exclusively those who are unemployed or unwaged and those who are without distinction of sex, sexual orientation, race or of political, religious or other opinions by associating together the said residents and the local authorities, voluntary and other organisations in a common effort to advance education and to provide facilities in the interests of social welfare, recreation and other leisure time activities with the objective of improving the conditions of life for the residents;

(e) to advance in life and help young people through providing support and activities which develop their skills, capacities and capabilities to enable them to participate in society as mature and responsible individuals.

St John’s Church, 1840. Grade 11 listed in May 2009 following application by St John’s Church Preservation Group

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SUMMARY OF MAIN ACTIVITIES

TRUSTEE STATEMENT PUBLIC BENEFIT

The trustees have had regard to the guidance issued by the Charity Commission on public benefit

TRUSTEES IN THIS PERIOD

Deborah Brownlee (Chair) Maria Bottley (Secretary) John Poole (Treasurer) Martin Horwood David Kerr Ann Kerr Paul Smith

Note during this period three trustees have suffered from significant health issues.

CONTRIBUTION MADE BY VOLUNTEERS

Volunteers increased during this period from 12 to 15 and during this period 2100 hours of volunteering were carried out. The volunteer team is beginning to stabilise following the Covid disruption and gel back to the happy long tern situation we had prior to the shutdowns.

SUMMARY OF THE MAIN ACHIEVEMENTS OF THE CHARITY DURING THIS PERIOD

The volunteers continued to work very hard to clear the church building of donated stock and begin to change the emphasis of the project from selling donated goods, to enhance the heritage preservation element of the project. During this period we remained fairly gridlocked with boxes and sacks, but with much hard work we have found that visitors and supporters notice a big difference every time they visit. They can see the direction of travel, and we gained new Friends of St John’s bringing the total to 75. Unfortunately we lost several generous Friends now RIP and this reflected in our donations income.

We maintained our weekly Friday Open Day and also participated in the National Heritage Open Days. Amongst other projects ‘getting going’ again after the Covid lockdowns, was Tipton Canal Festival, and we were pleased to return to ‘our spot’, right next to the famous Tipton Slasher statue (he is buried at St John’s). We also attended the Black Country Boating Festival, another project that was ‘touch and go’ but has survived to continue and we again took up our usual spot.

We continued to hold six services per year including the key events of Remembrance and Christmas, but this is under review. Trustees are currently discussing the future shape of events and services, and we agreed on a temporary name of St John’s Heritage Project for the building, removing the word church, which anecdotally was putting some people off supporting the project. We have found an uplift in attitude and support since we emphasised the words ‘Heritage and History’, and more current and former local residents have been calling in.

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During this period we had a new roof installed over the organ chamber. The previous roof was leaking and although it had not yet impacted the organ, some leaks were falling dangerously close to the organ workings. The restoration of the 1886 Peter Conacher organ is our proudest achievement to date, and the instrument would be irreplaceable if damaged.

FINANCIAL REVIEW

At the end of this period the charity had cash at bank and in hand of £10,006, down slightly from the previous year £10,238. In addition there is an insurance prepayment of £3,859.

Our events income was reduced, from £958 to £744, as we are still trying to rebuild an events team to take our stall out to more shows.

Sales income, was down, from £5,594 to £4,596. We intend in the future to concentrate on online selling, and we are recruiting helpers to assist with this. Over time this will bring the sale of donated goods figure back up, as we gain expertise.

The Friends of St John’s and others continued to provide donations, which were decreased this year due to some Friend losses, from £10,247 to £9,351.

Our insurance cost increased from £6533 to £6551 and remains our largest expense.

Utilities appear reduced this year, however this was due to a refund due from our School House tenancy.

We spent £6,289 on building and grounds maintenance, up from £1210, and this includes the cost of the new roof over the organ chamber.

None of the trustees or volunteers claim any travel or other expenses, unless the volunteer incurs bus fare, which we do repay.

FUTURE

Although there are many difficulties, the resolve of the trustees, volunteers and Friends remains solid. We anticipated up to five years to recover from having to close the project for over two years, but the momentum is gradually building back up. Next year the building will be 185 years old, and we anticipate a programme of slow but gradual improvements and restoration.

We made an approach to the Diocese of Worcester, to purchase the church building. This was welcomed, but later withdrawn. We intend to revisit this again in due course.

We are also seeking new active trustees to strengthen our board.

Prepared and approved by the trustees of St John’s Church Preservation Group

30[th] September 2025

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