The Gathering - Cardiff _A Charitable Incorporated Organisation Registered Charity 1168154 Company Number CE007824 Established as a Church Community 20[th] November 2011. Registered as a Charity 11[th] July 2016_ ## Annual Report 2023 For the period between 1[st] January 2023 and 31[st] December 2023 ## Welcome from our Pastoral Leaders Croeso! Welcome! We are so grateful to all the folks who have been a part of the journey of the Gathering over the last ten years, and to you now, for taking the time to read this report which celebrates all that has been achieved by the Gathering in 2023. The Gathering began in November 2011, gathering together a small group of people who longed for the church to be accepting of all, and who were looking for a safe space to worship God regardless of our sexuality or gender identity. We met for the first time at City United Reformed Church in Cardiff and have met every Sunday evening since, growing in numbers and in influence within the LGBTQI+ community in South Wales and beyond. As an LGBTQI+ focused and inclusive church, we are known for being a key partner in LGBTQI+ projects and have assisted other churches in their desire to become inclusive spaces of LGBTQI+ people. Our growing online presence offers YouTube videos and podcasts with talks on being LGBTQI+ and Christian and our website has become a resource for LGBTQI+ Christians and church leaders. The Gathering has four volunteer Pastoral Leaders from various Christian backgrounds and denominations. They lead the weekly acts of worship and are available to the congregation and others to provide pastoral support. During 2023 we had 2 members of staff working for us, a Church Link Worker, who was responsible for making links between the wider church and the Gathering and supporting church leaders in making their churches more inclusive, and an LGBTQI+ Community Link Worker who was appointed initially on placement by the Methodist Church in September 2022 for one year but who is now employed directly by The Gathering – Cardiff. We thank you for being a part of our journey, and for your support in reading this annual report. Revd Delyth Liddell Pastoral Leader and Chair of Trustees _L-R: G Tanswell, Dr Nici Lintern-Gittens, Revd. Delyth Liddell, Revd. Ruth Rowan._ The Gathering - Cardiff. Annual Report 2023 www.thegatheringcardiff.org ## Who are our trustees? Our trustees at the beginning of the financial year (1[st] January 2023) were _(in order of date of appointment)_ : - Revd. Delyth Liddell _(Chair, Pastoral Leader)_ - Gareth Tanswell _(Secretary, Pastoral Leader)_ - Dr Nici Lintern-Gittens _(Treasurer, Pastoral Leader)_ - Samuel Johnston _(Deputy Chair, Pastoral Leader)_ - RG* _(2019-25)_ - Geraint Owen _(2019-25)_ - Rosie Peters _(2020-23)_ - Fred Till _(2020-23)_ - Alison Lintern-Gittens _(2020-23)_ - Becky Bennett-Wilding (2022-25) _*RG’s identity has been omitted from this report following granting of a dispensation by the Charity Commission._ Three resignations were received during 2023, all for personal reasons, these were: Fred Till (eff. 30[th] March 2023), Samuel Johnston (eff. 20[th] July 2023) and Rosie Peters (eff. 6[th] August 2023). Revd. Ruth Rowan became a Pastoral Leader on 3[rd] September 2023, and accepted an ex-officio position as a trustee. Following consultation during 2022, it was agreed that due to the COVID-19 outbreak, our existing elected trustees at that time hadn’t had an opportunity to contribute as much as they would have liked to the growth of our organisation, and so it was agreed that all elected trustees would exceptionally be offered an additional 3-year term should they choose to take that up. The only remaining trustee in this year’s cohort affected by that policy decision was Alison Lintern-Gittens, who has opted to remain in post for another term, and therefore her term of office was extended until 2026. Following an election at our Annual Church Meeting, Rebecca Westwood was elected as a trustee from 22[nd] October 2023 for a 3-year term. As at 31[st] December 2022 our trustees are _(in order of date of appointment)_ : - Revd. Delyth Liddell _(Chair, Pastoral Leader)_ - Gareth Tanswell _(Secretary, Pastoral Leader)_ - Dr Nici Lintern-Gittens _(Treasurer, Pastoral Leader)_ - Revd. Ruth Rowan _(Pastoral Leader)_ - RG* _(2019-25)_ - Geraint Owen _(2019-25)_ - Alison Lintern-Gittens _(2020-26)_ - Becky Bennett-Wilding (2022-25) - Rebecca Westwood (2023-26) The Gathering - Cardiff. Annual Report 2023 www.thegatheringcardiff.org ## Our charitable objects The objects of The Gathering - Cardiff are for the public benefit in South Wales, regardless of sexual orientation, gender, ability, age, faith or ethnicity, with a particular focus on the LGBT+ community by providing a secure and safe environment for them to advance the Christian faith in accordance with our statement of faith; and the promotion of equality and diversity by: - the elimination of discrimination on the grounds of sexual orientation or gender variance; - promoting activities to foster understanding between people from diverse backgrounds; - Providing a safe space to those who have previously encountered discrimination on the grounds of sexual orientation or gender variance - bridging the gap between churches and the LGBT community by working in partnership with other churches and LGBT organisations. _(Nothing in our constitution shall authorise an application of the property of The Gathering for the purposes which are not charitable in accordance with Section 7 of the Charities and Trustee Investment (Scotland) Act 2005 and Section 2 of the Charities Act (Northern Ireland) 2008.)_ ## Our Statement of Faith - We are a church of individuals coming together as one community to explore our faith, worship, and experience fellowship. - We adhere to the traditional Christian creeds i.e. The Apostle's Creed. - We believe in Christ’s message of love and acceptance for all. - We believe that everyone has a right to worship God - We believe we are called to create a safe space for Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Trans, Questioning, Intersex and Allies to meet and worship God and learn about the Christian faith. - We believe that Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Trans, Questioning, Intersex and Allies have a right to express their sexuality or gender identity how they see fit without being censored or being barred from worship. - • We believe that we should respect those with whom we disagree, and show the love and grace of Christ through our actions and behaviour. The Gathering - Cardiff. Annual Report 2023 www.thegatheringcardiff.org ## Let’s get some admin out of the way… ## **Attendance** During 2023, The Gathering – Cardiff continued to offer weekly worship in-person and with options for online attendance and interaction. Each of our Sunday evening services was attended by an average of 19 people, a slight increase from last year, meaning that we provided the opportunity for people to worship and explore their faith for a total of 104 hours, with 1025 in-person attendances during 2023. In addition to this, as each of our Sunday evening services is also live streamed to our Facebook page, a further 508* views of our Sunday services occurred during 2023. In addition, we held socials, Queer Theology 101 sessions, the Pride Cymru Faith Tent or our weekly online Bible Studies. _*only Facebook views of more than 1 minute are counted for this statistic_ ## **Social Media Engagement** Through our Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and YouTube, we reached over 4,500 users per month during 2023. ## **Banking** During 2023, The Gathering – Cardiff opened an account with Unity Trust Bank to operate as our main bank account. Our account at Barclays Bank was subsequently closed during the same accounting year. As of 31[st] December 2023, The Gathering – Cardiff held cash assets with: - PayPal - Unity Trust Bank In addition to this, a sum of money representing the balance from the closure of our Barclays Bank account was held in the form of a cheque, which has since been deposited. ## **Organisational Accountability** As of 31[st] December 2023, The Gathering - Cardiff hold the following professional registrations: Charity Commission of England and Wales: _1168154_ Information Commissioners Office: _ZB410053_ Christian Copyright Licencing International: _651680 (Copyright Licence) 187116 (Streaming Licence) EW50100_ His Majesty’s Revenue and Customs: The Gathering - Cardiff. Annual Report 2023 www.thegatheringcardiff.org ## What did we do during 2023? ## Queer Theology 101 In 2023, Georgia Day created and delivered the Queer Theology 101 course where topics such as the history of sodomy, the structure and content of Genesis and the gender and sexuality of Jesus were explored. 87 people signed up to the course with a regular class size of between 10-30 people at the URC each week where these engaging sessions were delivered. These were also live streamed to Facebook and for those unable to attend, the materials were sent out. Throughout the year, a wealth of resources has also been posted on Facebook every Wednesday each with different faith based themes. ## Queer Book Club and Bible Study In March, the Queer Book Club was started with the first book, ‘Undivided’, selected as the first one up for discussion. Since then, other titles such as ‘Heartstopper’ and ‘The Journey is Home’ have been read and discussed by the group. In addition to this, one of our Pastoral Leaders Nici has been leading an online Bible study which has provided the opportunity to explore the Bible in more depth and discuss this with others. ## Socials Socials continued to take place throughout the year with games nights at Scaredy Cats, going to see one of the Iris Prize films, ‘The Queen of My Dreams’ and a visit to Winter Wonderland. ## Podcasts A new series of the Gathering Podcast was launched in 2023 and included conversations around the different elements of Pride along with interviews with MS Hannah Blythyn and Jayne Ozanne who amongst other things, discussed politics, faith and the fight for a ban on conversion therapy. ## Pride In 2023, the Gathering had a presence at Newport, Swansea, Merthyr and Caerphilly Pride along with the Big Queer Picnic and the Faith Tent at Pride Cymru. By asking the question “Can you be a Christian and LGBTQ+?”, we had some great conversations, questions and debates with those who came to put a pom-pom in the jar! The Faith Tent provided a reflective space away from the busyness of the other Pride activities going on and the opportunity to sit and do some craft and chat. Thanks to a great collaborative effort from those who volunteered, we were able to engage with communities from across Wales and highlight the message that you can be LGBTQ+ and a Christian. The Gathering - Cardiff. Annual Report 2023 www.thegatheringcardiff.org ## Filmed ‘Fruits of the Spirit’ During a hot July weekend, filming took place for the short film ‘Fruits of the Spirit’ which was funded by the Iris Prize Festival. Written and directed by Georgia Day, this film focuses on the protagonists, Maddy and Carys, who get outed to their church worship band and their journey to finding acceptance amongst religious intolerance. ## Worship In a bid to move away from using worship songs in our services that are written / performed / produced by unaffirming artists, Sammy Woodward and Georgia Day began overhauling the playlists to include many new additions. New lyric videos have been created and more suggested artists are being added as our ongoing commitment to providing inclusive worship. In December 2023, some members went carolling on Queen Street which was in addition to the Carol Service held at the Church where mince pies and mulled wine were served. ## New Roles In 2023 Samuel Johnston stepped down as Pastoral Leader; the support, time and leadership that Sam has provided over the years has been greatly valued by the Gathering. In September we welcomed Revd. Ruth Rowan to the Pastoral Leadership team. We are excited to work with Ruth and welcome her talents and gifts to The Gathering leadership! ## Looking forward to 2024 We’ve got a lot to look forward to in 2024! Firstly, the premiere of our short film, ‘Fruits of the Spirit’, has been scheduled for Jan 13[th] at Chapter Arts Centre. Expect glitz, glam, a brilliant film, and even a magician! We are also hoping to do other local screenings: the URC, Gower Heritage Centre, and elsewhere. We’re super excited by the potential of this film to do great things. Speaking of the film, we’re currently submitting it to film festivals across the world, where it’ll hopefully be seen by lots of people. Who knows, we may even win some awards! We’re also developing a resource pack to use in churches as part of a training session, in order to help local churches become more inclusive and affirming. Also in 2024 will be our upcoming music project! We’re currently on the hunt for some funding, but the general idea is this: as part of our efforts to update our worship music to be from affirming artists, we thought that we could write some worship music! This project will be led by Frances Bolley and Sammy Woodward, with support from Georgia Day. We want to make 4 songs of varying genres and topics, with as much community involvement as possible throughout the process. We will also be going to various Prides as usual – Pride Cymru on June 22[nd] and 23[rd] and Swansea Pride on May 18[th] have both been confirmed already. The Gathering - Cardiff. Annual Report 2023 www.thegatheringcardiff.org We will also be reviving the podcast soon! We’ve planned a few series: one revolving around ‘Fruits of the Spirit’, one interview series, and one ecumenical question and answer series (e.g. Ask An Anglican). ## Ways you can contribute to our work We are always glad of any support that people can offer us, whether that be through prayer, fellowship, joining in with us on a Sunday evening, or giving financially to help to fund our work. Here are a few methods that you can contribute to our work financially. You can make one-off or regular donations by Credit/Debit Card or Direct Debit using our MyChurchSuite platform. We have a PayPal account which can receive payments by sending the payment to **mail@thegatheringcardiff.org** Or we are partnered with PayPal Giving Fund who also claim Gift Aid through their donations. **https://www.paypal.com/gb/ fundraiser/charity/3233746** We are registered on the Facebook Donate platform, and so anyone can begin a fundraiser there to raise money for The Gathering – Cardiff. We are registered with the Charities Aid Foundation where you can donate online or using a CAF Voucher. The Gathering - Cardiff. Annual Report 2023 www.thegatheringcardiff.org |**Charity Name**|**No (if any)**|| |---|---|---| |**The Gathering Cardiff**|**1168154**|| |**Receipts andpayments accounts**||**CC16a**| |01.01.23
Period start date
**For the period**
**from**|31.12.23
Period end date
**To**|| |**Section A Receipts and payments**|**Section A Receipts and payments**|**Section A Receipts and payments**|||||||| |---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---| |**A1 Receipts**|**Unrestricted**
**funds**
**to the nearest £**
**6,176**
**65**
**-**
**94**
**4,069**
**37**
**313**||**Restricted**
**funds**
**to the nearest £**||**Endowment**
**funds**
**to the nearest £**||**Total funds**
**to the nearest £**||**Last year**
**to the nearest £**| |Direct Giving|**6,176**||**-**||**-**||**6,176**||**2,744**| |Donation|**65**||**-**||**-**||**65**||**1,804**| |Clothing (Paypal)|**-**||**-**||**-**||**-**||**261**| |Facebook|**94**||**-**||**-**||**94**||**-**| |Gift Aid|**4,069**||**-**||**-**||**4,069**||**15**| |Amazon Smile Donations|**37**||**-**||**-**||**37**||**55**| |Donations(Paypal)|**313**||**-**||**-**||**313**||**97**| |Paypal starting balance for 2022|**-**||**-**||**-**||**-**||**245**| |**_Sub total_**_(Gross income for_
_AR)_|
**10,754**||**-**||**-**||**10,754**||**5,221**| ||**-**
**-**
**-**
**10,754**
**-**
**89**
**5,134**
**35**
**-**
**442**
**414**
**-**
**-**
**890**
**220**
**-**
**700**
**103**
**700**
**37**
**146**
**63**
**159**
**38**
**9,169**
**-**||**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**||**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**||**-**
**-**
**-**||| |**A2 Asset and investment sales,**
**(see table).**|||||||||| |**None**|**-**||||||||| ||**-**
||||||||**-**| |~~**_Sub total_**~~|**-**||||||||**-**| |**_Total receipts_ **
**A3 Payments**|||||||||| ||||||||**10,754**||**5,221**| ||||||||**-**
**89**
**5,134**
**35**
**-**
**442**
**414**
**-**
**-**
**890**
**220**
**-**
**700**
**103**
**700**
**37**
**146**
**63**
**159**
**38**
**9,169**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**9,169**
**1,586**
**-**
**12,600**||| |Website Fees|**-**||||||||**38**| |PAYE Software Fees|**89**||||||||**101**| |Salary|**5,134**||||||||**856**| |General GatheringExpenses|**35**||||||||**35**| |StreamingLicences|**-**||||||||**-**| |LGBT+ Worker Equipment and Expenses|**442**||||||||**416**| |Churchsuite|**414**||||||||**198**| |Clothing|**-**||||||||**802**| |Pin Badges|**-**||||||||**317**| |Pride|**890**||||||||**677**| |Paypal Spending|**220**||||||||**21**| |Paypal fees|**-**||||||||**5**| |Donations|**700**||||||||**-**| |HMRC Fine|**103**||||||||**-**| |Fruits of the Spirit Project|**700**||||||||**-**| |Service Charges|**37**||||||||**-**| |DBS Checks|**146**||||||||**-**| |SMS Credits|**63**||||||||**-**| |Insurance|**159**||||||||**-**| |Case for Microphone|**38**||||||||**-**| |**_Sub total_ **|**9,169**||||||||**3,467**| ||||||||||| |**A4 Asset and investment**
**purchases, (see table)**|||||||||| |
Wifi Router and Data SIM Card|**-**||**-**||**-**||**-**||**125**| ||**-**||**-**||**-**||**-**||**-**| |**_Sub total_ **|**-**||**-**||**-**||**-**||**125**| |**_Total payments_ **
**_Net of receipts/(payments)_**
**A5 Transfers between funds**
**A6 Cash funds last year end**
**_Cash funds this year end_**|||||||||| ||||||||||**3,592**| ||||||||||| ||**1,586**||||||**1,586**||**1,630**| ||**-**||||||**-**||**-**| ||**12,073**||||||**12,600**||**10,970**| ||**13,659**||||||**14,186**||**12,600**| CCXX R1 accounts (SS) 29/04/2024 1 |**Section B Statement of assets and liabilities at the end of the period**|**Section B Statement of assets and liabilities at the end of the period**|**Section B Statement of assets and liabilities at the end of the period**||| |---|---|---|---|---| |**Categories**
Signed by one or two trustees on
behalf of all the trustees
**B4 Assets retained for the**
**charity’s own use**
**B5 Liabilities**
**B1 Cash funds**
**B2 Other monetary assets**
**B3 Investment assets**|Laptop
None
Sound System
Cables
Mevo Live Camera (and accessories)
Wifi Router
**Details**
Projector Stand
Signature
Bank Balance(Barclays/Unity)
Paypal Balance
**Details**
**_Total cash funds_**
(agree balances with receipts and payments
account(s))
None
**Details**
**Details**
None
**Details**
Leaflet Holders
Computer Monitor
Pod Cast Microphone
TV Stand
Laptop
Projector
TV|**Unrestricted**
**funds**
**Restricted**
**funds**
**to nearest £**
**to nearest £**
**12,990**
**527**
**669**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**13,659**
**527**
OK
OK
**Unrestricted**
**f**
**d**
**Restricted**
**f**
**d**
**to nearest £**
**to nearest £**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**Fund to which**
**asset belongs**
**Cost (optional)**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**Fund to which**
**asset belongs**
**Cost (optional)**
Unrestricted
£38.00
Unrestricted
£20.00
Unrestricted
£190.00
Unrestricted
£125.00
Unrestricted
£400.00
Unrestricted
£230.00
Unrestricted
£269.00
Unrestricted
£95.00
Unrestricted
£126.00
Restricted
£572.00
Restricted
£85.97
Unrestricted
£125.00
Unrestricted
£0.00
**Fund to which**
~~**liability relates**~~
**Amount due**
~~**(optional)**~~
**-**
**-**
**-**
Print Name
Nici Lintern-Gittens
Gareth Tanswell|**Endowment**
**funds**
**to nearest £**|| ||||**-**|| ||||**-**|| ||||**-**|| ||||**-**|| ||||OK|| ||||**Endowment**
**f**
**d**
**to nearest £**|| ||||**-**|| ||||**-**|| ||||**-**|| ||||**-**|| ||||**Current value**
**(optional)**|| ||||**-**|| ||||**-**|| ||||**-**|| ||||**Current value**
**(optional)**
£0.00
£0.00
£92.00
£65.49
£0.00
£103.99
£115.70
£28.47
£51.80
£415.37
£53.58
£99.99
£0.00
**When due**
~~**(optional)**~~|| |||||| |||||| |||||| |||||| ||||Date of
approval|| |||Nici Lintern-Gittens|11-Apr-24|| |||Gareth Tanswell|11-Apr-24|| |||||| CCXX R2 accounts (SS) 29/04/2024 2