ALDWICK BAPTIST CHURCH
Report and Accounts - 31 March 2025
CONTENTS
| Page | |
|---|---|
| General Information | 1 |
| Trustees' Annual Report | 2-3 |
| Independent Examiner’s Report | 4 |
| Receipts and Payments Account | 5 |
| Statement of Assets and Liabilities | 6 |
| Notes to the Accounts | 7 |
ALDWICK BAPTIST CHURCH
General Information
| REGISTERED CHARITY NUMBER: | 1174871 |
|---|---|
| CUSTODIAN TRUSTEE: | The Baptist Union Corporation Ltd |
| PO Box 44 | |
| 129 Broadway | |
| Didcot | |
| Oxfordshire | |
| OX11 8RT | |
| TRUSTEES: | Mr C Bennett |
| Rev S Downing | |
| Mrs B Nanson | |
| Mr D Robinson | |
| Mr J Smith | |
| Mrs J Smith | |
| ADDRESS: | 43 Gossamer Lane |
| Aldwick | |
| Bognor Regis | |
| West Sussex | |
| PO21 3DD | |
| INDEPENDENT EXAMINER: | Jason Foxwell FCCA FCIE |
| 12 Hillbourne Road | |
| Poole | |
| BH17 7JB | |
| BANKERS: | Santander Bank plc |
| Bridal Road | |
| Bootle | |
| Merseyside | |
| G1R 0AA |
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ALDWICK BAPTIST CHURCH
TRUSTEES' REPORT
The church trustees present their report for the year ended 31 March 2025.
STATEMENT OF TRUSTEES’ RESPONSIBILITIES
The trustees (elders and deacons) are required to prepare accounts for each financial year. As the income is below £250,000, the trustees have prepared receipts and payments accounts as permitted by the Regulations.
The trustees are responsible for:
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the financial position of the charity; and
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safeguarding the assets of the charity and hence for taking reasonable steps for prevention and detection of fraud and other irregularities.
LEGAL AND ADMINISTRATIVE
The Church is governed by its own church constitution (last revised and approved at the church members’ meeting in July 2017) in order to become a CIO in September 2017 (Charity Number 1174871).
OBJECTS
The Church exists to proclaim the Christian faith and to serve the local community through its work and witness. Its purpose is to turn people into fully devoted followers of Jesus Christ. The church’s mandate is to LOVE GOD, LOVE EACH OTHER and LOVE LOST PEOPLE.
REVIEW OF ACTIVITIES
During 2024/25 the church has continued with its regular worship services and Love Aldwick outreach events which have seen a number of new and established community attendees in attendance during each month at Toddler Time, Craft Group, Community Café, Table Tennis club, Luncheon Club, and Peace Together Puzzlers. The Sunday church services also attract a good number of church members as well as regular attenders, some of whom have first, encouragingly, attended the outreach events. Sadly, Messy Church was discontinued during the year.
The Bognor Christians Against Poverty (CAP) initiative, is still financially supported by ABC for Debt clients, but the life Skills courses sadly had to be discontinued. The other sadness for the church was a loss of six of its members who went home to be with The Lord.
On a brighter note however, eight new members joined the church and there were 8 baptisms. This means the church now has 83 members with an increased number of Sunday attendees taking the congregational list to 149, somewhat higher than 2023/2024.
The Rev Simon Downing continues to preach, teach, lead worship and offer first line pastoral care, to those immediately facing life crises, backed up by twenty pastoral groups to ensure no one is left without support within the church. In addition, there are six home groups which meet bi-weekly for Bible study and prayer based largely on the Sunday teaching.
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ALDWICK BAPTIST CHURCH
TRUSTEES' REPORT (CONTINUED)
REVIEW OF ACTIVITIES (CONTINUED)
The church leadership has a strong emphasis on following the Word and Spirit of God and are finding that there is increasing interest in the Christian Faith. With a reduced Leadership Team since 2023/24 and it is becoming still more important that during 2025/26 the team is strengthened with additional trustees and a greater engagement by church members in the regular activities to ensure that this interest is not lost. ABC are also commencing a new Alpha course in September 2025
The Leadership Team members each continue to take responsibility for specific ministries in the church and now compose:
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Rev Simon Downing (Part time Pastor – on temporary basis)
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Derek Robinson (Elder/Treasurer)
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Clive Bennett (Church Secretary) due for re-election in 2025
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Brenda Nanson (Deacon)
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John Smith (Deacon)
-
Joy Smith (Deacon) due for re-election in 2025
The children and youth work continue to be a challenge, within an area of older citizens, but a number of church volunteers are nurturing the existing group members and seeking ways to grow the group effectiveness.
There are a number of new houses being built within the Aldwick and Pagham areas, and ABC have made contact with the developers to provide new owners with an introduction and invitation to the church activities and services available. ABC has continued with a Family Service on the first Sunday of each month preceded by a Breakfast to encourage and improve accessibility for new attendees and greater fellowship between members. This has so far been very helpful.
FINANCIAL REVIEW
Over this financial year, we have continued to receive cash collections through a locked box at the back of the church which has generated a comparatively small amount of money as most of our giving is now done through direct debit and by cheque. Our offertory giving continues to decrease to £56,302 (compared to £60,617 last year). This is again due to a number of our regular givers going to glory. We received £12,801 in gift aid which was slightly up on the previous claim of £11,829 and £6,000 in grants towards the costs of creating a new fire escape route and the regeneration of the rear waste area. We also received an anonymous donation of £10,000 and several smaller donations from internal groups as a contribution to the running costs of the church. In addition, we have received £3,080 in rental income which is up from £1,870 last year as well as £2,501 interest from our Baptist Together deposit account. Consequently, our overall income totalled £91,406 which was an increase of 20.7% on last year’s figure of £75,690.
During the course of the year, in addition to the normal maintenance costs the church incurs, the fire escape route and rear waste areas were regenerated with the help of grants (£6,000) and reserves (£26,000) to bring the external areas of the church to a consistently high standard. There is now a rear garden which can be used by the Church for additional community and church activities with a safer environment.
During the year we continued our regular support for BMS, Home Mission, Barnabas Fund, MAF, Bible Society, SAT 7, African Adventures and OneLife. We also made other gifts of approximately £4,000 which includes our monthly contributions to CAP. In total our missionary/charity was £11,818 which represented 12.9% of our income.
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ALDWICK BAPTIST CHURCH
TRUSTEES' REPORT (CONTINUED)
FINANCIAL REVIEW (CONTINUED)
Although our net assets fell to £87,330 (compared to £101,833) due to the regeneration project, the financial health of the church has been maintained with sufficient funds available to complete the activities of the church.
Approved by the trustees on and signed on their behalf by
Clive Bennett Church Secretary
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INDEPENDENT EXAMINER’S REPORT TO THE TRUSTEES OF ALDWICK BAPTIST CHURCH
I report to the trustees on my examination of the accounts of Aldwick Baptist Church (“the charity”) for the year ending 31 March 2025.
Responsibilities and basis of report
As the trustees of the charity, you are responsible for the preparation of the accounts in accordance with the requirements of the Charities Act 2011 (‘the Act’).
I report in respect of my examination of the charity’s accounts carried out under section 145 of the 2011 Act and in carrying out my examination I have followed all the applicable Directions given by the Charity Commission under section 145(5)(b) of the Act.
Independent examiner’s statement
I have completed my examination. I confirm that no material matters have come to my attention in connection with the examination giving me cause to believe that in any material respect:
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accounting records were not kept in respect of the Trust as required by section 130 of the Act; or
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the accounts do not accord with those records.
I have no concerns and have come across no other matters in connection with the examination to which attention should be drawn in this report in order to enable a proper understanding of the accounts to be reached.
Jason Foxwell FCCA FCIE
independent-examiner.net 12 Hillbourne Road, Poole, BH17 7JB
Date:
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ALDWICK BAPTIST CHURCH
Receipts and Payments Account for the year ended 31 March 2025
| 2025 | 2024 | ||
|---|---|---|---|
| Notes | Unrestricted | Unrestricted | |
| Funds | Funds | ||
| £ | £ | ||
| RECEIPTS | |||
| Gifts received | 88,905 | 75,690 | |
| Legacies received | - | - | |
| Other income | 4,500 | 2,476 | |
| Bank interest | 2,501 | ||
────── |
────── |
||
| Total receipts | £95,906 | £78,166 | |
────── |
────── |
||
| PAYMENTS | |||
| Pastor’s stipend, NI and expenses | 27,948 | 26,743 | |
| Pension costs | 6,743 | 6,336 | |
| Pension deficit payment | 7 | 11 | |
| Gas, electricity and water | 7,154 | 6,156 | |
| Insurance | 3,989 | 3,422 | |
| Repairs, furniture and equipment | 37,492 | 2,910 | |
| Manse repairs and renewals | 473 | 358 | |
| Manse council tax | 3,175 | 3,024 | |
| Cleaning | 2,498 | 1,471 | |
| Visiting speakers | 252 | 169 | |
| Office expenditure and supplies | 2,467 | 2,984 | |
| Independent examiner’s fee | 705 | 690 | |
| Subscriptions and licences | 2,171 | 2,109 | |
| Catering | - | 28 | |
| Outreach and Children’s work | 584 | 302 | |
| Coffee time | 1,352 | 1,391 | |
| Grants/donations paid | 2 | 11,818 | 12,939 |
| Other costs | 1,581 | 3,902 | |
───── |
───── |
||
| Total payments | £110,409 | £74,945 | |
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───── |
||
| Surplus/(deficit) of receipts over | |||
| payments | (14,503) | 3,221 | |
| Balance brought forward at 1 April 2024 | 101,833 | 98,612 | |
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───── |
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| Bank balance at 31 March 2025 | £87,330 | £101,833 | |
═════ |
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ALDWICK BAPTIST CHURCH
Statement of Assets and Liabilities at 31 March 2025
Assets
The church building and the church manse are owned by the Baptist Union Corporation Limited who are the custodian trustee and are effectively assets held in an endowment fund as the sale proceeds can only be used for the purchase of other church buildings and have an insured value of £2,170,731. The church holds various assets such as PA equipment and furniture. An estimated value of this is £5,000.
The charity has the following bank and cash balances:
| 2025 | 2024 | |
|---|---|---|
| £ | £ | |
| Baptist Union deposit | 52,501 | 50,000 |
| Current account | 34,739 | 51,823 |
| Petty cash | 90 | 10 |
| ───── | ───── | |
| £87,330 | £101,833 | |
| ═════ | ═════ |
Liabilities
Agency collections of £2,329 (2024 – £1,534).
The Baptist Union Employer Hub has provided an estimate of the charity’s share of the overall pension deficit at £120,000. Full details of the pension liability are available on request.
Approved by the trustees on and signed on their behalf by
Derek Robinson Treasurer
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ALDWICK BAPTIST CHURCH
Notes to the Accounts for the year ended 31 March 2025
1. Accounting policies
The accounts have been prepared on a receipts and payments basis.
2. Grants/donations paid
| 2025 | 2024 | |
|---|---|---|
| £ | £ | |
| BMS | 2,200 | 2,400 |
| Baptist Home Mission | 2,600 | 2,400 |
| African Adventures | 500 | 500 |
| MAF | 500 | 500 |
| Bible Society | 500 | 500 |
| Barnabas | 500 | 500 |
| SAT-7 | 500 | 500 |
| One Life | 500 | 500 |
| Mission work donations | 500 | 300 |
| Other projects | 3,518 | 4,839 |
| ──── | ──── | |
| £11,818 | £12,939 | |
| ════ | ════ |
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