## **Guardians of St Alphege Church, Solihull Trustees Report 2021 - 2022**
After 2 or 3 years when we were unable to arrange any events, during the last year we have had several small ones. Unfortunately, what should have been our first event last December, a Coffee & Mince Pie Morning, had to be cancelled at the last minute as Covid was rearing its ugly head again! However, we did hold a Coffee & Hot Cross Bun Morning in April which was a great success. An Afternoon Tea was held in July, we were lucky with the weather and, again, it was a success. We provided Tea and Cakes on the Sunday of the Flower Festival. The Trustees continue to be very grateful to the Friend’s committee for arranging these activities, as these are an essential part of the Guardians within St Alphege.
Michael Palmer had hoped to host a Wine & Cheese event last Summer, to celebrate 40 years of the Guardians but sadly he was not well enough and, as I expect you all know, he is now very ill with MND. I’m sure we all send him our thoughts and prayers in this difficult time.
Fortunately, with your support and financial investment over the years, we’ve been able to maintain an encouragingly healthy position. Last year we said that when things got back to normal, we expected to hear from the Church asking for support for further projects. Little did we know what was in store! You will all be aware of the work being done on the church, as we speak. There are three phases, the first of which, North Porch and Bell tower, in now complete. The second phase, the Choir Vestry Window, turned out to need more work than expected and so will take longer than planned. The third phase, the East Window, has already started; you will have noticed the righthand lancet has been removed; they are being done one at a time. When the original proposal was put to the Trustees the estimated cost was expected to be nearly £140,000 and we agreed to cover that. Then the actual costs were predicted to be about £162,000 and after some discussion we agreed to pay £160,000, with the proviso that it was highly unlikely that we would cover any further increase to these costs. Then came the blow that the vestry window was in urgent need of further repair at a cost of about £63,000. Again, after much discussion we decided on a final figure of £225,000. This was a big decision as we are Trustees of your money and we had to do what we thought
was best and we hope you agree that we have done the right thing. Afterall that is what we are here for.
As you will appreciate, once all this is paid for, our capital will be much reduced, so we need to do something to increase it again. The days of dinner dances and auctions are gone as we just don’t have the support anymore. So, any suggestions would be very welcome.
Our continued gratitude goes to Sheila Payne for all her work in running the Floodlighting Scheme, which is of a pastoral nature.
During the year, we have been very grateful to our membership for their continued support.
## **The Guardians of St Alphege Parish Church, Solihull Statement of Financial Activities For the year ended 31 July 2022**
|**Year ended**
**31 July 2022**
Note
**£**
**Income**
Subscriptions
2,028
Donations
34,274
Floodlighting Income
920
Investment Income
3,056
Interest Received
9
Coffee Morning
144
Flower Festival
36
Afternoon Tea
170
Copper Collection
4
**Total Income**
**40,641**
**Expenditure**
Website
86
Insurance
130
Sundry Expenses
-
Floodlights
148
Grants to PCC for Repairs to Fabric
225,000
Postage and Printing
64
AGM
46
**Total Expenditure**
**225,474**
**Net (Expenditure)/Income before gains on investments**
**(184,833)**
Unrealised gains/losses on investments
1
16,115
**Net movement in funds during the year**
**(168,718)**
**Reconciliation of Funds**
Funds brought forward
692,202
**Funds carried forward**
**523,484**|**Year ended**
**31 July 2021**
**£**
2,242
100
1,062
2,659
12
-
-
-
-|
|---|---|
||**6,075**|
||72
98
20
141
-
-
-|
||**331**|
||**5,744**
137,194|
||**142,938**|
||549,264|
||**692,202**|
## **The Guardians of St Alphege Parish Church, Solihull Balance Sheet As at 31 July 2022**
|**31 July 2022**
**£**
**Fixed Assets**
Investments
1
**620,284**
**Current Assets**
Cash at bank
2
100,713
Debtors
3
27,817
**128,530**
**Current Liabilities**
Creditors
4
(225,330)
**Net Current Liabilities/Assets**
**(96,800)**
**Total Funds**
**523,484**|**31 July 2021**
**£**
**604,169**
88,083
-|
|---|---|
||**88,083**|
||(50)|
||**88,033**|
|||
||**692,202**|
Approved by Trustees on 20 October 2022 Signed on behalf of Trustees
## **The Guardians of St Alphege Parish Church, Solihull Notes to the Accounts As at 31 July 2022**
|**1 Investments**
M&G Equities Investment Fund -
Accumulation Units
M&G Equities Investment Fund -
Income Units
**2 Cash at Bank**
Treasurers Account
Deposit Account
No1 Account
No 2 Account
**3 Debtors**
Donation
**4 Creditors**
Sundry Creditors
Grants to PCC for Repairs to Fabric|**Market Value as at**
**Change in**
**Market Value as at**
**31 July 2021**
**Market Value**
**31 July 2022**
**£**
**£**
**£**
542,948
17,215
560,163
61,221
(1,099)
60,122|**Market Value as at**
**Change in**
**Market Value as at**
**31 July 2021**
**Market Value**
**31 July 2022**
**£**
**£**
**£**
542,948
17,215
560,163
61,221
(1,099)
60,122|
|---|---|---|
||604,169
16,115
620,284||
||**31 July 2022**
**£**
22,914
55,348
12,588
9,863
100,713
27,817
27,817
330
225,000
225,330|**31 July 2021**
**£**
17,545
55,339
5,336
9,863|
|||88,083|
|||-|
|||-|
|||50
-|
|||50|
Independent examiners report on the accounts of The Guardians of St Alphege Parish Church, Solihull
I report to the trustees on my examination of the accounts of the above charity (“the Trust”) for the year ended 31 July 2022. As the charity's trustees, you are responsible for the preparation of the accounts in accordance with the requirements of the Charities Act 2011 (“the Act”). I report in respect of my examination of the Trust’s accounts carried out under section 145 of the 2011 Act and in carrying out my examination, I have followed all the applicable Directions given by the Charity Commission under section 145(5)(b) of the Act.
## Independent examiner's statement
I have completed my examination.
I confirm that no material matters have come to my attention in connection with the examination which gives me cause to believe that in, any material respect:
- the accounting records were not kept in accordance with section 130 of the Charities Act; or ·
- the accounts did not accord with the accounting records; or
- the accounts did not comply with the applicable requirements concerning the form and content of accounts set out in the Charities (Accounts and Reports) Regulations 2008 other than any requirement that the accounts give a ‘true and fair’ view which is not a matter considered as part of an independent examination.
I have no concerns and have come across no other matters in connection with the examination to which attention should be drawn in this report in order to enable a proper understanding of the accounts to be reached.
S Plater FCCA
20 October 2022