## **ANNUAL REPORT** ## **2022** ## **TABLE OF CONTENTS** The trustees present their report and the unaudited financial statements of the charity for the year to 31[st] March 2022. ## VISION AND VALUES ## OBJECTS AND PUBLIC BENEFIT WHAT WE ACHIEVED ## LEGAL & ADMINISTRATIVE INFORMATION 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.**_ ## **Our 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 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 2 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. ## **WHAT WE ACHIEVED** The year to 31[st] March 2022 was a period of great change in society, schools and in our homes. Despite this challenging situation Great Open Door was able to share the Christian faith and moral values in a more prolific way than we could ever have imagined! Not only did team members truly embrace different skills and styles of working but we were also able to draw on previous team members to cameo on digital assemblies. The ministry delivered seven live assemblies between lockdowns[1] The theme of these assemblies was “Love is shown by what we do” and the programme retold the Parable of the Good Samaritan with lively drama, music, puppets and with practical applications of these principles. It featured the true stories of four Jewish children who came to England in 1939 on the “Kinder Transport” and were saved from Nazi persecution. The assembly programme was very well received by staff and pupils alike. Whilst schools were closed the assembly team continued to work in new ways, re-imagining and developing recorded assemblies for children to watch in their classrooms. These digital assemblies were then ready to release at Easter 2021 and in April and May 2021 and January 2022 when schools taught pupils “in bubbles”. Each of these productions were delivered to ALL 32 schools in Harlow - that’s 128 assembly offerings in one year! The Easter message focused on looking in the wrong place and retold the events of Good Friday and Easter Sunday using Lego, which worked very well. Before lockdown the theme of the next planned assembly was ‘Thankfulness.’ This was subsequently split into two digital assemblies, titled “Being Thankful” and “An Attitude of Gratitude”. These thankfulness assemblies had a long lead time as we learnt how to be less “constrained” in the creative process, came to terms with changing social distancing rules, stopped to produce seasonal material and waited for online learning to end. The most recent digital assembly called “My Life” was delivered January 2022. This looked at wellbeing, a very hot topic post lockdown. We aimed to give children a safe space to think about how they feel and give them some tools to help cope with stress or anxiety. This assembly saw our first use of green 1 NOVEMBER 2nd Harlowbury, 9th St James, 23rd St Lukes, DECEMBER 14th Abbotsweld MARCH 7th Fawbert &Barnard, 15th Kingsmoor, 22nd Pear Tree Mead. 3 screen technology which Pam handled brilliantly after some training from Capture House Ltd. The Trustees encouraged the extension to our digital assemblies with the offer of related craft and follow on activities. Pupils have been used to interactive, high energy flagship assemblies from Great Open Door in the past. Although the team has the same passion and conviction it is harder to engage with children using pre-recorded material delivered on a flat screen. The hope was that by giving children this individual activity time, they would reflect and personally engage with the Bible message at a deeper level and think about how it could apply to their own lives. Lego, a tool that is not suitable for our usual assemblies because of its small size, remains a huge success in making Bible stories more interesting and relatable for our digital audiences. The Trustees are very grateful for Andy Walker’s skills and supplies as we share the Gospel in this visual way in our recorded assemblies. The Summer of 2021 saw the release of Great Open Door’s redesigned website. This showcases Great Open Door’s work in an eye catching and exciting format. Schools can easily access our Digital content via - https://greatopendoor.org.uk/online resources/ Another innovation this year were “Prayer walks”. The omicron variant temporarily closed Harlow schools to outside visitors from the beginning of the Spring term. This did, however, provide a unique opportunity to prayer walk a number of schools, praying for God’s blessing and specific issues such as closed classes, staffing, the school office, Ofsted inspections and false friendships (where manipulative adults seek out vulnerable children to be drug mules etc..) and, of course, asking God to open more school doors to Great Open Door’s assemblies. The team prayer walked schools in the Old Harlow, Little Parndon, Potter Street and Great Parndon neighbourhoods. The Trustees were delighted that schools were eager to book Great Open Door’s live assemblies at the start of the Summer term 2022 (following the end of the period under review). There have been so many unknowns and uncertainties during the Covid pandemic and there was no guarantee that schools would welcome Great Open Door post this disruption. The Trustees believe the work can confidently move forward in the knowledge that God has made the way for this ministry to continue by reaffirming that it will continue to serve our local schools. The Trustees believe there has never been a more important time to share God’s message of hope and love with the next generation and will seek to extend the reach of the ministry. 4 Commenting on the past year Jo Hargrave observed ‘It has been wonderful to rest in God’s love, offer our efforts to further his kingdom and see his Holy Spirit at work.’ Amen! To God be the Glory! ## **Volunteers** The ministry continues to be blessed with a wonderful team of committed and extremely flexible volunteers. The Trustees are thankful for these amazing volunteers, without which the ministry could not function. At 31 March 2022 these volunteers comprised: Pam Harknett, Angela Hodgson, Andy Walker and Paul Welfare ‘The Sound Man’ who, together with Jo Hargrave, comprise the team going into schools. Jo Hargrave was appointed to the paid part time ‘Schools Work Team Leader’ position on 6[th] April 2021. Jo has excelled in the role of Team Leader, coordinating both video production, delivery and liaising with schools in the hope of booking live assemblies. The seven assemblies booked in November and December 2021 and March 2022 mask mountains of calls and considerably more bookings that, due to increasing infection rates, did not materialise. Throughout this period of uncertainty, the team has shown amazing resilience and ingenuity. Video production ran throughout the weeks when they were allowed to work in home “bubbles” and regardless of the restrictions the team continued to meet on Tuesday mornings for prayer, either via Zoom or in person on Prayer Walks. The Trustees also wish to thank previous team members, such as Holly Blunderfield and Tim West, who have added their own expertise on our digital assemblies. The Trustees are thankful for the 6 years of faithful dedicated service that David Swindale gave to the ministry and wish him and Susan God’s blessing as they make plans to leave Harlow after Easter 2022. We conclude the year intentionally praying for more volunteers to join the ministry. Efforts will be increased in the current year to raise awareness within the churches of opportunities to volunteer with Great Open Door and serve our schools. Not just performers are needed but also Christians who have social media skills or have a good back to be a ‘Roady’! ## **Website** 5 The Trustees wish to thank Barry Wales for redesigning the website, giving it fresh impact and an attractive, modern look and for his ongoing help and advice. Online resources are now much easier to access and more user friendly. Digital content is accessed via https://greatopendoor.org.uk/online-resources/ ## **Prayer** The Trustees are thankful to everyone who has supported the ministry in prayer. The Trustees will be seeking to strengthen the prayer foundation of the ministry in the coming year. ## **Mission partner** Great Open Door is a Local Mission Partner of Scripture Union. This provides the ministry 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. Jo Hargrave was given the opportunity to introduce herself to the churches at the January Heart 4 Harlow prayer meeting and to make a presentation and pray for the work of Great Open Door. In the followed month Sam Fowler was able to outline the work of Scripture Union and the 95 Campaign and to explain the resources and help available to churches from Scripture Union. 6 ## **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 (Resigned 20[th] April 2022) 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 Phil Gray Trustee **29[th] July 2022** 7 ## **FINANCIAL REPORT** The Trustees present their Income and Expenditure Account for the year under review and the Statement of Assets and Liabilities as at 31 March 2022. 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 £8,390 and expenditure on charitable activities was £6,743 leaving cash funds of £6,320 at the year end. We are grateful to the churches, individuals and trusts who have supported the ministry and who continue to fund our work. Total assets amounted to £7,320 including the estimated value of the portable sound system (£800) and puppets and props (£200) 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 2022. 9 ## **FINANCIAL REPORT** ## **Income and Expenditure** |**For the year ended 31 March 2022**|**For the year ended 31 March 2022**|**For the year ended 31 March 2022**|**For the year ended 31 March 2022**|**For the year ended 31 March 2022**|**For the year ended 31 March 2022**|| |---|---|---|---|---|---|---| ||||Unrestricte
d||Restrict
ed|Total
£
600
5,469
1,321
1,000
8,390
4,960
60
124
259
1,200
256
28
6,887
1,503
4,817
1,503
6,320| |||||Funds|Funds|| |||||£|£|| |Income from Charitable Activities||||||| |Donations||||||| |Churches||||600||| |Individuals||||5,469||| |Gift Aid||||1,321||| |S W Buckhurst Trust||||1,000||| |Total
Donations||||8,3
90||| |Expenditure on Charitable
Activities||||||| |Subcontractor Services||||4,960||| |Travelling Expenses||||60||| |Assemblies & Lessons||||124||| |Training||||2
59||| |Donations||||1,056|1
44|| |Insurance||||256||| |Sound
System||||28||| |||||||| |Total
Expenditure||||6,74
3|1
44|| |Excess of Income over
Expenditure||||1,647|-
144|| |||||||| |||||||| |Cash Funds at 31 March
2021||||4,67
3|14
4|| |Excess of Income over
Expenditure||||1,647|-
144|| |Cash Funds at 31 March
2022||||6,320|-|| 10 ## **FINANCIAL REPORT** ## **STATEMENT OF ASSETS AND LIABILITIES** |**As at 31 March 2022**|**As at 31 March 2022**|**As at 31 March 2022**| |---|---|---| |**Assets**|**£**|**£**| |**Cash Funds**||| |Unrestricted Funds||6,320| |||| |||| |**Donated Items at Valuation**||| |Sound and PA Equipment|800|| |Puppets and Props|200|| |||| |||1,000| |||| |**Total Assets**||**£7,320**| |||| |||| |||| |||| 11