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← Trendlewood Church

2024-12-31-accounts

Trendlewood Church Annual Report for 2024

Including financial statements for the year ended 31 December 2024.

Charity Registration number 1170989

Contents

Contents
1. Introduction to Trendlewood Church 1
2. Our Mission at Trendlewood Church 2
3. Our Vision and Ministry 2
4. What we do 2
5. Financial Review (Sharon) 5
6. Reserves Policy (Sharon) 5
7. Safeguarding (Ruth) 6
8. Volunteers (Morey) 6
9. Administration and Governance 6
10. Statement of Financial Activities and Independent Examiner’s Report 7

1. Introduction to Trendlewood Church

We are a Christian community who meet weekly at Golden Valley School, Nailsea at 10.15am. We were planted by Holy Trinity, Nailsea in 1989 but are now an independent church in our own right.

As a charity registered with the Charity Commission, the trustees acknowledge the Commission’s guidance on public benefit and the supplementary guidance on charities for the advancement of religion. In particular, we try to enable ordinary people to live out their faith as part of our local and wider community.

2. Our Mission at Trendlewood Church

We are a Gospel focused church, in the heart of the community, growing as disciples and giving glory to God in all that we do.

Or in short

Sharing CHRIST

Being COMMUNITY

Growing CHURCH

3. Our Vision and Ministry

This explains how we are trying to fulfil the mission of the church for the benefit of everyone in the church and in the community. Our objectives include:

4. What we do

Sunday services (Morey)

Our weekly Sunday services and worship put our faith into practice through prayer and bible readings, music and teaching. Our services continue to involve lay people (non clergy) every week. Three of whom have completed the lay Worship Assistant course (LWA) with the Diocese. Trendlewood Church remains a place where people can explore and use their gifts. The Church Committee are aware that fewer volunteers are available for existing roles and continue to look at addressing this, ensuring the right people, in the right place, at the right time.

Our sung worship is led by the music group, for whom it has been a year of challenges with people needing to take time out for personal reasons. The use of backing tracks has been a great benefit, enabling us to have a fuller sound for a lot of our worship songs.

Our Sunday’s have also been enhanced and changed by offering “bubble church” (see below) once a month, for those in early years at school, and has built a great team to support this. Alongside this we have started a “post bubble church gathering” where our primary focus is prayer.

Electoral Roll Report (Simon)

All are welcome to attend our regular services. In 2024, the electoral roll was 45 people, 12 of whom lived in the Conventional District of Trendlewood (A Conventional District is a defined but adaptable structure for a particular geographical area which has a different identity from the main parish). A new electoral roll will be prepared in the first three months of 2025, in accordance with the Church Representation Rules.

Teaching and homegroups (Morey)

We continue to develop our teaching ministry and in the last year have completed various sermon series; finishing the book of Acts, exploring people of Faith from the bible, studying 1 Peter; throughout the summer months we had a series on “spiritual disciplines” and then moved in to Autumn studying the book of Galatians, interspersed with seasonal services/sermons - harvest, remembrance and Christmas.

We have three homegroups which meet to encourage growth in discipleship and this ministry is led by Gillian and Morey Andrews. The Bible studies are based primarily on the week’s sermons offering discussion, prayer and support - helping to look outwards into our community.

Children’s and Young People work (Sharon, Ruth, Morey)

We launched Bubble Church, a service for young families, in October 2024 and it meets once per month. We averaged 6 families at each service in the first 3 months. The challenge for 2025 is to grow and reach families beyond our current personal contact network. The team is grateful to the church family for being so willing to accept the changes needed to accommodate Bubble Church.

Morey with Sarah (curate) regularly led assemblies for children from Reception to Year 6 at Golden Valley School and will continue to do so in 2025. Ruth organised 3 family days, including Fishy Fun, which was held on two mornings in August with craft activities for mainly pre-school children and their carers, followed by a free lunch.

Prayer (Morey)

Prayer is at the heart of all we do as a church - praying before all we do. Primarily we meet to pray before the weekly services, seeking God; during the services we offer prayers of intercession and offer prayer ministry for any who require this for any reason. We take time to encourage folks to pray at other times when the need arises. As mentioned we now focus our monthly prayer gathering on the post bubble church gathering, worshipping God, praying for the world and each other. This ministry is being developed and we plan to develop prayer walking in the future months. The pastoral care team (see below) meets to pray monthly.

Pastoral Care (Sandie and Karan)

We have a small group of volunteers, committed to praying regularly for those facing difficult times. They may have a trying situation or a hard journey such as grief, depression, loss, sickness, loneliness, or a major life transition. We pray for both people within the church and those known to us. Praying for our neighbours is an important part of this. We offer visits and wherever possible practical care and support, such as meals. Wellness and wholeness are core to our group, and we remember verses from Isaiah 41:10

“So do not fear, for I am with you; do not be dismayed, for I am your God. I will strengthen you and help you; I will uphold you with my righteous right hand.”

Social (Pauline and Sarah)

We plan social events to enable members of the church to spend time together and to welcome new members and friends. This year there was an extra event in August when we said goodbye to curate Sarah with a shared lunch outdoors in the sunshine. Mike and Sarah hosted a well attended pancake evening on Shrove Tuesday and in June there was a delicious Cream Tea at the Trinity Centre. Then in September Mike and Sarah put on a wonderful, paired Food and Wine event to which people invited friends. To end the year we had a Christmas meal in the Trinity Centre. Five people from Holy Trinity kindly worked hard serving us and doing all the washing up, enabling everyone to enjoy the evening.

Deanery Synod Report (Ed)

Deanery Synod is our link with the Portishead Deanery and Ed Sheffield is representative for Trendlewood Church. Portishead Deanery Synod met four times, as usual, in 2024 and a full report on the year is available here. Two of the meetings (June and November) were deanery-wide meetings, open to anyone to attend, while the March and September meetings were full Synods.

Working with other Churches locally (Morey)

Our minister is also the Rector for Wraxall and Failand and we have been looking at sharing ministry throughout the year - for example, the Start course, lent course and Advent course during 2024. We continue building on this positive relationship and have joined for two united services, especially when the Bishop came in June 2024. We maintain our own distinct nature but share with each other when it is right to do so.

On a wider level we are part of the Churches Together in Nailsea and District (CTINAD). The leaders met monthly for prayer and support and as churches, worshipped together twice in the year (Ignite). We held joint services during 2024 around key times, eg Remembrance, Good Friday.

Evangelism and outreach (Morey)

Our desire remains to make Jesus known in our community. We are always open to opportunities as they arise, whether it is in the school, at other events, welcoming newcomers into the district. We endeavour to offer a Christianity course each year - either The Start Course or Alpha; we are looking in greater depth at how to be “with” community and building relationships. The junior parkrun offers opportunities for conversation and connection.

Service in our Community (Fiona)

Golden Valley Junior Parkrun continues to be a free, fun and friendly 2km run for those aged 4-14. Trendlewood Church volunteers serve a drink and biscuit to runners every week. Church members also get involved to support this initiative on our doorstep as volunteer Run Director and Marshalls.

In 2024 we continued to make regular monthly collections for our local food bank and deliver homemade cakes to households who have newly moved into the area.

Mission Partners

It is our practice to give 10% of our income to mission support which includes the four following mission partners and support them regularly in prayer. Trendlewood Committee receives regular updates from the partners and completed a full review in 2022. The next review is 2025.

Hope for Life Katanga,
Uganda		 Vision: To enable families in Uganda to realise their potential towards
living a self-sufficient life. HLF offer livelihood training, education,
healthcare services and community development
Mercy Ships,
Worldwide		 Vision: By improving healthcare delivery in every country it visits, Mercy
Ships is working to eradicate the diseases of poverty and effectively do
itself out of a job.
West End Impact,
Morecambe		 Reacting to crisis and rebuilding lives. Christian charity, West End Impact
supports people in one of the most economically deprived areas of
England
Jenny and Elifadhili
Ayo		 Jenny and Elifadhili are founders of Zuia Trafficking Tanzania. The
charity’s mission is: Together, we can prevent human trafficking from
happening to the most vulnerable. We use an integrated approach that

focuses on building social and economic capacity for those at risk of becoming trafficking victims

Along with other local churches, we prayed for and supported financially, the Connect Schools Work Project at Nailsea School. Neil Wylie left post in 2024 and Becky was appointed in November 2024. Trendlewood Church also supported the local Christian’s Against Poverty team (Gordano Valley)

Fabric, Goods and Ornaments (Church Warden’s report)

Our Letting Agreement with Golden Valley School will run until August 2025. We maintain our Terrier (list of goods and ornaments owned by Trendlewood Church) and it is available to view on request.

Clergy (Morey)

In 2024, Rev’d Morey Andrews took a 3 month sabbatical. A "sabbatical" for Church of England (C of E) clergy refers to a period of extended leave, typically lasting around three months, where ordained ministers can step back from their regular ministry duties to focus on personal reflection, study, renewal, and spiritual development, essentially taking time to "recharge" and return to their role with fresh perspective. Morey’s report is available here.

In August 2024, Rev’d Sarah Sanderson left the role of Curate for Trendlewood and for Wraxall with Failand. She took up a post as Pioneer Associate Vicar in Yeovil. It was sad to say goodbye in August, as we enjoyed much ministry together and she gave so much to all the churches she served and beyond. However, we know this move is of God and continue to pray God’s Blessing upon her and her family.

5. Financial Review (Sharon)

Total receipts for unrestricted funds were £51,119, including gift aid reclaimed. Our method of collecting Gift Aid changed in 2024 with most donors moving to the Parish Giving System. This means we usually receive Gift Aid in the same month as the donation instead of quarterly in arrears. The Gift aid reported represents approximately 15 months versus 12 months in 2023.

Total expenses came to £57,989. The increase in expenditure on Youth, Children’s and Families Work is largely due to the setting up of Bubble Church.

We made an operating loss of £6,870 in 2024.

The largest expense is the Diocesan Parish Share of £42,182. The Parish Share is used in part by the Diocese to meet salary and related costs of clergy.

We allocate at least 10% of giving to mission support. In 2024 we gave £4,800 to our Mission Partners and £1,466 to several local outreach projects. Total mission support in 2024 was £6,266 therefore exceeding our 10% commitment.

6. Reserves Policy (Sharon)

It is our policy to maintain a balance on unrestricted funds of at least 6 weeks of operating expenses. This equates to £6,692 based on 2024 expenditure. At the end of the year, our total assets stood at £68,240.

7. Safeguarding (Ruth)

Trendlewood Church Council (TwCC) has complied with the duty under section 5 of the Safeguarding and Clergy Discipline Measure 2016 (duty to have due regard to House of Bishops’ guidance on safeguarding children and vulnerable adults). TwCC has ensured that all safeguarding policies have been followed. During the year, one concern was raised, for which procedures were followed and advice sought.

Regular children’s groups have not run during this year. We have run 3 families activity days where all children are supervised by the parent/carer they came with.

As a parish we use the safeguarding dashboard, which prompts us with reviews of policies. There are 3 levels of this and as a church ours is now at level 3. This means we have kept up to date with all the policies and checks. Safeguarding training has been completed by all members who needed to do so. We now have access to the safeguarding hub which has made the task of keeping up to date with checks and training much easier.

8. Volunteers (Morey)

We are grateful to all our volunteers for their week by week support to cover the many, many roles at Trendlewood Church. They all make our Church what it is; a welcoming community in the service of God. Anyone who wants to learn more about a role in Trendlewood is encouraged to ask the Duty Warden or service leader on a Sunday.

Thank you to all those who have served on our Church Committee this year and particularly a huge thank you to Lindsay who stepped down from being church warden, and to Mark who has taken on this role. We are so thankful for all who service our church in the ways they do.

There is always room for people to serve, so if you are interested then please do get in touch, especially for the roles of Church Secretary and Church council members.

9. Administration and Governance

Trendlewood Church is a Conventional District, situated in Nailsea. It is part of the Diocese of Bath and Wells within the Church of England. The correspondence address is 41 Vowles Close, Nailsea, BS48 1PP.

Trendlewood Church Council members who have served from March 24 until this report’s approval are:

Ex Officio members:

Elected members:

Induction and ongoing training is offered to all members of the Trendlewood Church Council. Often this training is provided by the Diocese of Bath and Wells.

During the year, the TwCC and church volunteers

In 2025 the TwCC plan to undertake a routine review of Trendlewood Church policies.

10. Statement of Financial Activities and Independent Examiner’s Report

On the next page.

Trendlewood Church's Receipts & Payments Account

for the year ended 31 December 2024

2024 2023
Incoming resources £ £
Planned giving 38,062 39,286
Income tax recovered 10,994 9,474
Legacy Gifts - -
Donations from Fundraising 36 19
Grants - -
Interest income 1,674 1,233
Other income 353 556
Reserves transferred in as opening balance - -
Total incoming resources 51,119 50,568
Resources expended
Charitable activities:
Parish Share 42,182 33,948
Clergy expenses and Training 674 796
Outreach 1,466 1,704
Youth, Children's and Families Work 1,100 -
Rent, Property & Sunday Services 6,709 8,184
Administration costs 680 915
Mission Support 4,800 6,400
Giving from Fundraisers 378 133
Other (0) -
Total resources expended 57,989 52,079
Net (outgoing)/ incoming resources (6,870) (1,510)
Net movement in funds (6,870) (1,510)
Funds brought forward at 1 Jan 2024 75,110 76,621
Funds carried forward at 31 Dec 2024 68,240 75,110

Statement of Assets and Liabilities

for the year ended 31 December 2024

Notes
Cash Funds £
Bank current accounts 68,240
Liabilities
Creditors -
Net Assets 68,240 2
Bank Accounts 2024 2023
Giving 185 1,027
Expenditure 3,150 5,841
Reserves 64,905 68,242
68,240 75,110

Notes

for the year ended 31 December 2024

  1. The financial statement of the TWCC have been prepared in accordance with the Church Accounting Regulations 2006 using the Receipts and Payments basis

  2. All of Trendlewood Church's funds are Unrestricted or General Funds and can be used to fulfill our aims and objectives. However,TWCC has agreed to put aside up to £1,000 per year as a hardship fund to be spent at the discretion of the Minister in accordance with our Finance Policy. This represents a Designated Fund as per charity reporting requirements.

Net assets as at 31st December 2024 £68,240 Less Ministers Hardship Fund -£1,000 Balance available £67,240

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