CHARITY REPORT FOR JANUARY 2024 TO 31ST DECEMBER 2024 Trustees: Jonathan McGilL- Chairperson Jenny Davis- Treasurer and secretary Margaret Travers- resigned May 2024 Rev Martyn Travers- resigned May 2024 Rev David Wood Keith MiLLer- from August 2024 Registered Office- 2 EtheLbert Road, BromLey BR1 1JA The charity is a registered Charitable Incorporated Organisation No. 1171291. The trustees present their report together with the financial statements of the charity from 1 January 2024 to the year ended 31 st December 2024. OBJECTIVES AND ACTIVITIES The aims of the organization are to advance the Christian faith particularly but not exclusively by means of caring, listening and helping people on the streets. Activities- Street Pastors nighttime Patrols The primary activity of the charity is to provide patrols of Street Pastors as a service to the community, to give reassurance, safety and support through Listening, caring and helping. These patrols advance the Christian faith by practicaL demonstration of the unconditionaL love and kindness of God. The Charity's main activity and objectives for the year has been to continue to go out on the High Streets of Beckenham, BromLey and Orpington. The Street Pastors by their weekly presence promote a calming influence on the High Streets and complement the work of the Police and other emergency services by providing a supportive presence for potential victims, providing a calming influence for potential offenders and a positive presence for the vuLnerabLe, We continue to engage with peopLe who are Lost, aLone and unweLI. Activities- Prayer Support for Street Pastors. A minister or church leader comes from the Churches Together in Beckenham to lead a devotion and pray with the Beckenham Street Pastors before they go out on patrol. patrols in Orpington and BromLey always start with prayer and aLL three areas finish with prayer at the end of their patroLs. Orpington Street Pastors have a List of people who pray for
Street Pastors, and some are on call when the patrols go out. Beckenham and BromLey have churches and prayergroups who undertake to prayfor Street Pastors. Reporting- Each street pastor patrol has a Leader who is responsible for the team for the night and writes a report giving details of encounters, conversations, heLping vuLnerable people, calming aggressive situations and counting bottles and cans picked up. Achievements and Performance-street pastors are recognized as one of the key factors in keeping the High Streets calm on a Friday night. They provide a non-confrontationaL and supportive service to help those who are vulnerable, for those the worse for drink, or injured. For example, people who may be the worse for drink are cared for and every effort is made to get them to their home safely either by a Local taxi or by calLing a member of the famiLyto come and pick them up. Street Pastors receive a warm welcome from the pubLic-we have made many friends over the years and had many happy conversations with all kinds of people. The regular interaction with the pubLic produces the significant but intangible benefit of reassurance and promotion of safer behaviour. We routinely get many peopLe thanking us or saying they think Street Pastors is a great idea. In July 2024 we were invited to help support the Crystal Place Festival- a great experience for our patrols. This invoLved a long patrol, they were attached to the security team, but the aim was to care, listen and heLp people make sense of where they were in such a large crowd. They also were at the local railway station to help control the crowds at the end of the evening. The team all felt it was worthwhile to do, particuLarLy as it was so well organised and staffed. The team was welcomed and felt needed. Christ Church Anerley's daughter church, St Paul's, very close to the venue, kindly opened for the team which gave them a base to leave their possessions and to return for short breaks, and finally to close the night with fellowship and prayers. There continues to be an improvement in the atmosphere and a measurable reduction in vioLent crime in the night times when we are on duty in Beckenham, BromLey and Orpington. PoLice have remarked on the reduction in violence on Beckenham High Street since the Street Pastors
started in December 2007 and this is supported by the fact that there is a reduction of poLice officers deployed in Beckenham and Orpington High Streets on a Friday night. The BromLey Street Pastors are supported by the LocaL police who asked them to restart in the town centre of BromLey in 2022 and would like them to go out weekly. Street Pastors in the Borough of Bromley are regarded as a benefit to the High Streets by the Council and the police. Contribution made byvolunteers Street pastors come from 24 churches across the Borough of Bromley and are uniformed voLunteers after training for 45 hours. We have 39 Street Pastors in the Borough of BromLey. We continue to recover from the lockdowns- Orpington have been able to return to weekly patroLs with a once-a-month Saturday morning patrol. Beckenham managed 33 patrols Limited by the reduced number of Street Pastors, Bromley had 24 patrols. A total number of 178 people were helped on the streets, and in addition there were 31 anti-social incidents where Street Pastors calmed aggressive situations, 134 incidents helping vulnerable people, 19 people were signposted to other organisations. 800 bottles were colLected during the year, 6 pairs of flip flops were given out. FUTURE PLANS The aim for 2025 is to continue to draw the Borough of Bromley team of Street Pastors, operating within the current three geographical areas, into one area which wouLd bring some efficiencies and other benefits such as administration and governance and provide a one stop shop for all street pastor activities within the Borough and operate as a single conduit for recruitment. We remain fully committed to maintaining our existing street Pastor patrols but we would like to extend them, so we achieve weekly patrols again in both Beckenham and Bromley FINANCIAL REVIEW The income from 1 January to 31 December 2024 was £410. We spent £1,584 including £921 on training and kitting out new Street Pastors and £668 fees on Licence fees and DBS, We had a cLosing balance of £8072. Reserves Policy The trustees have determined that the charity should aim to hold unrestricted cash of no Less than 2-3 months of unrestricted expenditure. This is to enable the charity to continue to operate should income andlor
expenditure vary adversely. In practice this equates to no Less than £750 and at the year end the charity held unrestricted cash of £8,072, therefore it is complying with its reserves policy. The charity does not employ any staff. STRUCTURE, GOVERNANCE AND MANAGEMENT GOVERNING DOCUMENT The Borough of Bromley Street Pastors, governing document is a CharitabLe Incorporated Organisation Foundation. Management and recruitment of newtrustees The Management Committee ofthe Borough of Bromley Street Pastors, who are also the Trustees of the charity, aim to meet three times a year. All trustees give of their time freely and no remuneration or expenses were paid in the year. We aim to recruit new trustees from the churches supporting the charity. PUBLIC BENEFIT The charity's trustees have regards to the Charity Commission's pubLic benefit guidance. The trustees are aware of the guidance and have taken it into account when making a decision to which the guidance is relevant in the running of the charity. In any instance where the trustees decide to depart from the guidance, they have good reasons for doing so and this is recorded. The trustees believe that the charity has provided public benefit through the Street Pastors, regular patrols in Beckenham, BromLey and Orpington. FINANCIAL STATEMENT The financial statements are set out in the accounts for the period 1 st January and ending 31 st December 2024. The accounts have been presented as a receipts and payments account. Members of Trustees at the date the report and the accounts were approved were Jonathan MCGILI (Chair) Jenny Davis- Treasurer and Secretary Rev David Wood Keith Miller
REPORT OFTHE TRUSTEES FOR THE YEAR ENDED 31ST DECEMBER 2024 The trustees are responsible for keeping proper accounting records which disclose with reasonable accuracy at any time the financial position of the charity and to enabLe them to ensure that the financial statements comply with applicable laws and reguLations. They are also responsible for ensuring that the charity maintains an adequate system of internal control designed to provide reasonabLe assurance that assets are safeguarded against loss or unauthorized use and to prevent and detect fraud and other irregularities. ON BEHALF OFTHETRUSTEES: Signed-jonathan MCGILL
Account for Bromley Borough Street Pastors Balance Sheet for Jan 2024 - Dec 2024 Narrative Donations Training Uniforms Licence Fee DBS Other Income £410 Expenditure £415 £426 £650 £18 £75 Total £410 £1584 Closing bank balance 31 st Dec 2023 Total Income Total Ex enditure Closin Balance 31st Dec 2024 £9,246 £410 £1584 £8072