## **ANNUAL REPORT** ## **2021** ## **TABLE OF CONTENTS** The trustees present their report and the unaudited financial statements of the charity for the year to 31[st] March 2021. VISION AND VALUES ___________________________________________ 2 OBJECTS AND PUBLIC BENEFIT _________________________________ 2 WHAT WE ACHIEVED __________________________________ 3 LEGAL & ADMINISTRATIVE INFORMATION _________________________ 6 FINANCIAL REPORT ___________________________________________ 7 ## **Great Open Door** www.greatopendoor.org.uk Charity No. 1169471 1 ## **VISION AND VALUES** Offering schools exceptional resources that capture children’s imaginations. ## **Vision: who we are** Our vision is to ‘raise the next generation to know their God.’ This is fulfilled by teaching the Christian faith and Christian moral values to primary school children in Harlow Essex and the surrounding area in engaging and relevant ways so that they can make an informed choice about belief in God and following His Son, Jesus Christ. We also seek to support students in their spiritual, social and moral development. ## **Our Values: who we aim to be** Great Open Door aims to offer schools exceptional resources, which capture children’s imaginations, by combining the following Values Passion and Conviction : which communicates Creativity and Originality : which is memorable Continuous Improvement: which increases our skills and develops the team’s faith Prayerfulness : which continually acknowledges that this is the Lord’s work Diligence : which demonstrates professionalism and the desire to serve Partnering : which recognises the importance of fostering good working relationships with schools, churches, and the local community. ## **Objects of the Charity** To advance the Christian faith among young people and families, in schools and groups, and in conjunction with the churches in the area of Harlow Essex and the surrounding area. ## **Public Benefit Statement** The Trustees have considered the Charity Commission's guidance on public benefit and believe that their activities meet the public benefit guidance by teaching Christian values and the Christian faith to school children in every local school we are invited into and by encouraging greater partnerships between schools and churches. We assist schools by reinforcing their values, aligning programmes with the national curriculum and by helping them to meet their requirements for collective acts of worship. We provide this service regularly and without charge in schools and in the community. There are no restrictions on children and young people having access to this service. 2 ## **WHAT WE ACHIEVED** This report covers the beginning period of the Covid 19 pandemic, which resulted in the biggest disruption to Great Open Door’s ministry in its 18-year history. The visit to Pemberley Academy on 10[th] March 2020 was the last time Great Open Door was allowed into school to take an assembly, because of the restrictions imposed by the national lockdown. At that stage it was far from clear when whole school assemblies would recommence and when visitors would again be allowed onto school premises. In the event, schools remained closed throughout the summer term and our ministry, like much of the country, was placed in lockdown. The Trustees continued to actively monitor the situation to endeavour to ensure that Great Open Door was in a position to serve its schools as soon as conditions allowed. It then became clear that, while the Government was planning a full return to school from September 2020 onwards, pupils would be organised into separate “bubbles” of class or year group size. The Trustees considered how best to teach and reach school children to ensure that they could continue to learn about Jesus and hear Biblical and Gospel truth. The Trustees decided to explore the possibility of producing videos, which teachers could show to their class in place of live assemblies. This idea was put to the assembly team at a team meeting in August 2020, the first time they had met together physically since March 2020. Both Tim and Pam were keen to take on the filming and editing for this new venture and all the team enthusiastically welcomed the proposal, especially as it was stressed that there would be a role for every team member in producing the videos. The Trustees also explored the possibility of providing teachers with related craft and practical activities to support the message of the video and give children with different learning styles more opportunity to access and take hold of the teaching. The Trustees, therefore, viewed this disruption to our normal programme as an ‘opportunity’ rather than a ‘problem.’ And felt, as God leads, that it could extend the reach of the ministry. Especially important, as, with so much changing in our society and our schools, there has never been a more important time to share God’s message of hope and love with the school children of Harlow. So, in response, the assembly team began working in new ways from September 2020 onwards, re-imagining and developing digital content for children to watch in their classrooms. As a result, Christmas and Easter videoed assemblies were produced, together with two digital ‘Thankfulness’ themed assemblies. The first digital assembly was a Christmas video delivered into 32 primary schools in Harlow and 13 in Bishops Stortford, via Puppets Galore, a Christian puppet ministry, who collaborated with us in making the video. 3 Using Lego stills and puppets, different animals told the story of the first Christmas. We rejoice that this video was distributed to all our “usual” local primary schools, as well as all the schools in our catchment area who had not seen our work before. The video was viewed a total of 228 times. The message went out even further, to schools outside our catchment, such as the primary schools in Sawbridgeworth and Stansted. And it did not stop there! Our films have been used by many different groups – churches, nursing homes, missionaries and families in Bolivia, Belgium, Barbados and Delhi. What a glorious thing to be able to share Gods hope across the world, when so much else was restricted. The Easter assembly focused on surprises, with puppets looking for something in the wrong place! It was seen a total of 242 times. The team learnt many new skills on the job and rose to the challenges of lockdown. The many logistical challenges included socially distanced puppets, patching and editing home working ‘bubbles’ together to combine narration and voice overs with the Lego stills and puppet action. By January 2021 work was well advanced on the first Thankfulness video, called ‘Being Thankful.’ However, schools were closed for most pupils during the Spring term so it was decided to delay its distribution until the Summer term, when it was hoped the children would have returned to school. This proved to be the case and, in the event, ‘Being Thankful’ was distributed to schools in April 2021. The second Thankfulness themed video called ‘An Attitude of Gratitude,’ which was also worked on during this period, was subsequently released to schools in May 2021. Looking to the future, there continue to be many unknowns and uncertainties at the present time. We hope and pray schools can quickly return to normal and be able to put this period of disruption behind them. With so much in flux we continue to remain flexible, hopeful and joyful and ready to serve our schools in the new academic year. All of this is in Gods mighty hands! ## **Volunteers** The ministry is blessed with a wonderful team of committed volunteers who continue to meet weekly via Zoom for prayer and to progress the many aspects of video production. The Trustees were delighted that Jo Hargrave re-joined the Great Open Door team in August 2020. Jo worked with Great Open Door some years ago; she did a fantastic job, and brings an enthusiasm and her multiple skills and abilities to our ministry. We had been praying for more female team members, particularly those who enjoy puppeting, and Jo fills that description brilliantly – another answer to prayer! 4 Jo quickly slotted into the role of team leader, coordinating the many facets of video production, and was appointed to the paid part time Schools Work Team Leader position on 6[th] April 2021. In January 2021 Phil stepped back from hands on school’s ministry in Harlow. He continues to support Jo, as her Line Manager, with advice and guidance. It is a blessing that previous team members, such as Holly Blunderfield, have been able to add their own expertise on recorded assemblies when pre-pandemic lifestyles made this impossible! God truly is in control! Our amazing team of volunteers on 31 March 2021 comprised: Holly Blunderfield, Pam Harknett, Angela Hodgson, David Swindale, Andy Walker, and Paul Welfare ‘The Sound Man’ with Tim giving support as needed. The Trustees are keen to involve more local Christians in the ministry and to recruit more volunteers in the coming year. ## **Website** The Trustees wish to thank Barry Wales for redesigning the website to make the new digital content much easier to access and user friendly. Digital content is accessed via www.greatopendooor.org.uk/onlineresources. During the current year Barry has continued developing the website, redesigning and streamlining it, to give it fresh impact and an exciting, modern look. ## **Prayer** The Trustees are thankful to everyone who has supported the ministry in prayer. ## **Mission partner** Great Open Door is a Local Mission Partner of Scripture Union. This provides us with opportunities for networking and offers training and resources in various aspects of youth and children’s work. ## **Heart 4 Harlow** The Trustees are grateful for the work of the Arts, Culture and Education (ACE’s) Group and for their enthusiastic support and endorsement of our ministry. Getting feedback from schools has been particularly difficult during the pandemic, so we were delighted to hear from Sarah Mitchell, chair of the ACE’s group, that ‘it felt like God had descended on her class’ when the Easter video was shown and that in the past her class were so excited they cheered when they knew Great Open Door were coming in! This sort of feedback shows that the children are responding positively to our presentations and makes all the hard work so worthwhile. 5 ## **LEGAL & ADMINISTRATIVE INFORMATION** Registered charity name Great Open Door Registered charity number: 1169471 The Trustees who served the charity during the period and since the year end were as follows: P Gray R Kingsmill T West Registered Office: 3 Thurstans Harlow Essex CM19 4RS Bankers: Lloyds Bank Plc 25 Gresham Street London EC2V 7HN Approved by the Trustees and signed on their behalf by P.Gray **8[th] July 2021** Phil Gray Trustee 6 ## **FINANCIAL REPORT** The Trustees present their Income and Expenditure Account for the year under review and the Statement of Assets and Liabilities on 31 March 2021. The Trustees do not consider it necessary to have an independent examiners report as the income of the charity is below the £25,000 threshold to require this and the financial activities are very straightforward. Income for the period under review was £1,726 and expenditure on charitable activities was £519 leaving cash funds of £4,817 at the year end. We are grateful to the churches, individuals and trusts who have supported us and who continue to fund our work. Total assets amounted to £6,517 including the estimated value of the portable sound system (£1,000) and puppets and props (£200) and after school’s club tablet computers and accessories (£500) all of which were gifted to the charity. The Trustees are grateful for all of the goods and services donated to the charity. There were no outstanding liabilities on 31[st] March 2021. 7 ## **FINANCIAL REPORT** ## **Income and Expenditure** ## **For the year ended 31 March 2021** |Income from Charitable Activities
Donations
Churches
Individuals
Trusts
Total Donations
Expenditure on Charitable
Activities
Insurance
Sound System
Assemblies & Lessons
Total Expenditure
Excess of Income over Expenditure
Cash Funds at 31 March 2020
Excess of Income over
Expenditure
Cash Funds at 31 March 2021|Unrestricted
Funds
£
600
126
1,000
1,726
330
11
178
519
1,207
3,466
1,207
4,673|Restricted
Funds
£
-
-
144
144|Total
£
600
126
1,000| |---|---|---|---| ||||1,726
330
11
178| ||||519| ||||1,207| ||||3,610
1,207| ||||4,817| 8 ## **FINANCIAL REPORT** ## **STATEMENT OF ASSETS AND LIABILITIES** ## **As at 31 March 2021** |**Assets**
**Cash Funds**
Unrestricted Funds
Restricted Funds
**Donated Items at Valuation**
Sound and PA Equipment
Puppets and Props
**Restricted Items**
After School Clubs
Tablet Computers and Accessories
**Total Assets**|**£**
4673
144

1,000
200|**£**

4817


1,200


500| |---|---|---| ||

500
|| |||**£6,517**| 9