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← Gurnell Grove Community Trust

2023-12-31-accounts

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Charity Registration number: 1174906

Gurnell Grove Community Trust

Report and

Financial Statements (unaudited) 12 months to 31 December 2023

Page
Trustees' annual report 1
Independent examiner's report to the trustees 7
Statement of financial position (Balance Sheet) 8
Statement of financial activities 9
Notes to the financial statements 11

Gurnell Grove Community Trust

Trustees Report and Declaration

Period from 1[st] January 2023 to 31[st] December 2023

The trustees present their report and the financial statements of the Trust for the period ended 31st[t] December 2023.An audit is not required but they have been examined by an Independent Examiner.

Reference and administrative details

Reference and administrative details Reference and administrative details
Registered charity name Gurnell Grove Community Trust
Other names by which the charity is sometimes
known		 Grove Community Church
The Grove
The Grove Community
Eden Gurnell Grove
Charity registration number 1174906
Principal office c/o St Stephen’s Church,
St Stephen’s Rd,
Ealing,
London, W13 8HD
The charity trustees
during the year		 Gordon May (Chair) To 24 April 2023
Revd Rachel Bedford 2 years to 30 June 2024
Jane Maffett (Treasurer) 2 years to 31 Oct 2023
Revd Steve Newbold 2 years to 30 Sept 2024
Jonny Baker 2 years to 24 April 2025
Anusha Couttigane 2 years to 30 June 2025
Project Leader Mark Tate

Independent examiner Kevin Ogilvie

1

Gurnell Grove Community Trust

Trustees Report and Declaration

Period from 1[st] January 2023 to 31[st] December 2023

Structure, governance and management

Gurnell Grove Community Trust CIO was set up as a newly formed charitable incorporated organisation on 2nd October 2017, when its constitution was adopted. It is governed by a Board of Trustees.

One Trustee will be the Vicar of St Stephen’s Church, Ealing, by virtue of their role as leader of the Church of England Parish in which the Gurnell Grove Estate is based. In selecting individuals for appointment as the other charity trustees, the charity trustees have regard to the skills, knowledge and experience needed for the effective management of the CIO. There must at all times be at least 3 trustees and no more than 8, and trustees are elected for a 2 year period.

The Trustees recognise a lack of diversity on the Board of Trustees and continue to consider how to rectify this.

The CIO was established to take over the management of an initiative on the Gurnell Grove Estate in Ealing, which started under the PCC of St Paul’s Church Ealing in September 2016. It is known on a day to day basis as The Grove Community Church.

The Project Leader reports to the Trustees and is managed by the Chair.

Objectives and activities

The Objects of the CIO are, for the public benefit:

  1. the advancement of the Christian faith (in particular but without limitation) by the provision of worship services, prayer meetings, the public celebration of Christian festivals, Christian literature and in such other ways as the Charity Trustees may from time to time decide; and

  2. the relief of persons who are in need by reason of financial hardship, unemployment, disability, illhealth, lack of education or skills attainment and such other economic or social disadvantage.

To achieve these objectives, for the public benefit, the Trust employs a full time project leader, Mark Tate, who, together with his wife and family, moved onto the estate in 2016 – it is our core belief that transformation is best led by being a real part of the community.

1.1 ACTIVITIES DURING THE YEAR

The team run a range of activities, with the support of an employed community worker and others.

Our most exciting development was the growth of our weekly Church Service, launched at Easter 2022, known as Grove Community Church which has continued to grow as well as a successful Christmas event, camping holiday and fun week.

Objective 1 – advancement of the Christian faith

The Grove Community Church – this year marked the ongoing expansion of our Sunday services, during which we celebrated our inaugural baptism ceremony, welcoming 3 adults and 2 teenagers into the community.

The Grove Community Church runs weekly with an informal style with ice breaker, worship songs, creative prayer and a talk, always followed by food. This service formula has worked well and has gained a faithful following - as the year ended attendance was averaging 25.

We also launched our first Alpha Course, welcoming 15-20 Iranian refugees, a significant number of whom have since become regular attendees at our Sunday service and enjoyed a special Christmas lunch hosted by the team.

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Gurnell Grove Community Trust

Trustees Report and Declaration

Period from 1[st] January 2023 to 31[st] December 2023

Bingo Church – this popular monthly evening event, always including a short talk on faith and opportunity for prayer, ran throughout the year, with 15-35 people.

Christmas – once again we had Winter Wonderland outdoors with Donkey rides, Winter market stalls refreshments, children's craft activities, and a short Christmas talk – well over 200 people attended. All residents received Christmas cards and invites, and hampers were delivered to those in particular need, thanks to a corporate sponsor.

Summer camp – once more, our team led a camping holiday to the New Forest for a group of families, featuring walks, games, a beach trip and meals. This experience proved to be a genuine highlight, providing the participants with a valuable holiday opportunity that might have otherwise been inaccessible.

Youth - a small group of youth go weekly in term time to a cross-church event at St John’s church, and two.

Objective 2 – relief of persons in need .

Building Community – Our overall and long term aim is to bring social transformation by developing a deeper sense of community and allowing people to build meaningful relationships, by gathering people together and facilitating residents to meet one another.

Termly Pop up events continued,with Pancake night, Easter trail, Curry and Sparklers, Christmas lunch and a full on ‘Better Together’ week with Community BBQ, sports and games, and decorating 2 residents flats, with the help of a team from the US. And of course Bingo church (mentioned above) continued to bring people together.

Supporting children & families

Eden Kids - our weekly term-time Kids Club continued on Fridays with 10-20 children, with popular activities including cooking, sports, board games, crafts and gardening including planting bulbs in the community centre garden.

Tackling Isolation

A weekly Community Cafe , runs right through the year, and attracts 20-50 residents of all ages, where hot drinks, snacks and games make for a lively atmosphere. In addition during the summer we were able to distribute surplus food from the Felix project (a food charity), which was well received.

In Heron House, the sheltered housing complex, our weekly club re-launched early in the year, with between 6 and 18 residents attending. Highlights were a Summer BBQ, Fish and chip lunch and an outing to Walpole Park.

Transforming Lives – our aim is to provide social action schemes that equip people with the skills and resources that they need to overcome barriers and move out of hardship.

English Speaking sessions – launched last year, we ran twice weekly in the Spring, moving to weekly after the summer. These are attended by between 8 and 18 residents, helping those for whom English is not their first language.

Our group of resident volunteers continued to thrive in their roles, supported also by volunteers from other churches.

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Gurnell Grove Community Trust

Trustees Report and Declaration

Period from 1[st] January 2023 to 31[st] December 2023

Summary

2023 has been a year of consolidation, with Church services being the highlight.

It has also seen considerable planning by Mark for the launch of a Community Grocery and Wraparound projects in 2024, in partnership with the Message Trust. The logistics as we do not own our own building are challenging, but really good progress has been made in raising funds ready for this.

The team

Mark Tate, the project leader, his wife Laura and their two children moved onto the estate in 2016, then into their own home there in 2017. Our part-time Community Worker Denise Colliver has been a real blessing and strengthened the team, taking responsibility for the Community cafe, Eden Kids and heron House.

Under our recognition scheme volunteers were recognised at celebration events. Paula has made a remarkable journey as a Christian and has become a key Eden team member, building in confidence - listen to her story here:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GiMF91AUWt8

The Trustees are very grateful to the volunteers, individuals and teams, including those from partner churches, who come alongside the team and inject energy and support to those on the ground week in week out and at special events .

The Trustees are very appreciative of the faithfulness, dedication, energy and enthusiasm of Mark and Laura Tate and Denise Colliver as they lead this work.

Looking ahead

Our Vision is to see a healthy, growing church community in the heart of the Gurnell Grove estate. Our Aim - We seek to cultivate an expression of church that is accessible and relevant to local people. This expression of church will be a spiritually and socially transforming place where individuals:

As we start 2024 we are very excited by working with the Message Trust and the Council to establish a Community Grocery in a Portacabin, supported by wraparound projects.

Financial review

Income saw a significant increase, and after adjusting for the advance funding for the Community Grocery and wraparound projects, was up 3%.

The charity continues to receive committed funding from founding partner churches, St Paul’s and St Stephen’s in Ealing, and newer mission partners including new two / three year commitments from churches in the UK. The Trustees are very grateful to them for their continued financial, practical and prayer support.

4

Gurnell Grove Community Trust

Trustees Report and Declaration

Period from 1[st] January 2023 to 31[st] December 2023

We again received targeted sponsorship towards our Christmas event, and donations / grants for specific purposes. All such grant / donations were channelled through restricted accounts, and we are incredibly grateful to all these organisations.

Our strategy on income is:

To build up and maintain strong relationships with mission partners , and at the end of 2023 we have

We are thrilled to be working with all our mission and relationship partners and look forward to the years ahead together.

Our second year with the Big Give Christmas Challenge of matched funding saw us raise important funds for the ‘Grocery and More’ initiative and we are very grateful to The Reed Foundation for agreeing some matched Champion funds.

We have also been building a stronger base of personal donors , to whom we are indebted for their regular ongoing commitments, and regular giving here increased by 18% to £23.5k.

Our main expenses are staff costs, with overheads carefully managed against budgets. Our projects and initiatives cost £20,800, of which £8,000 was funded by restricted income. The Christmas Winter Wonderland event was covered by event-specific sponsorship from a range of churches and trusts which enabled us to create an outdoor event that will live on in the memories of the residents.

Going Concern and Reserves – we saw an overall surplus of £15,849 (a deficit of £8,598 in the unrestricted General Fund, offset by a surplus of £24,446 in the Restricted funds). The Trustees have a policy to ensure unrestricted reserves are adequate to cover operating costs for two months. The level of unrestricted reserves at 31 December 2023 were £31,047 (2022 £39,644), comfortably satisfying this policy.

Risk Management - The Trustees have considered the risks to which the charity is exposed and have considered ways of mitigating those risks.

The major financial risk concerns the need for a constant flow of donations and grants and the Trustees and project leader continue to make every effort to consolidate relationships with current donors and develop new partners and sources of income.

There is a ‘key person’ risk if the project leader were to leave the charity or be unable to fulfil his duties. The charity mitigates that risk by placing emphasis on the development of staff and volunteers at all levels through training and the employment of a community worker to strengthen the team.

There is an operational risk that inappropriate actions of those involved in charity activities could result in injury, loss, damage, or reputational harm. To guard against this risk the charity maintains comprehensive policies and procedures reflecting best practice. And training of staff and volunteers continues. The staff and activities of the charity are covered by employers and public liability insurance.

Overall the trustees consider the financial position of the charity to be sound.

5

Gurnell Grove Community Trust

Trustees Report and Declaration

Period from 1[st] January 2023 to 31[st] December 2023

Declaration

The trustees' annual report and financial statements were approved on 15 May 2024 and signed on behalf of the board of trustees by:

Rachel Bedford Chair of Trustees

Jane Maffett, Treasurer

6

Independent Examiner's Report to the Trustees of Gurnell Community Trust

I report on the accounts of the charity for the year ended 31[st] December 2023 which are set out on finance pages of the Annual Report.

Respective Responsibilities of Trustees and Examiner

The charity’s trustees are responsible for the preparation of the accounts. The charity’s trustees consider that an audit is not required for this year under section 144(2) of the Charities Act 2011 (the 2011 Act)) and that an independent examination is needed.

It is my responsibility to:

Basis of Independent Examiner's report

My examination was carried out in accordance with the general Directions given by the Charity Commission. An examination includes a review of the accounting records kept by the charity and a comparison of the accounts presented with those records. It also includes consideration of any unusual items or disclosures in the accounts, and seeking explanations from you as trustees concerning any such matters. The procedures undertaken do not provide all the evidence that would be required in an audit and consequently no opinion is given as to whether the accounts present a ‘true and fair view’ and the report is limited to those matters set out in the statement below.

Independent examiner's statement

Since the gross income for the year exceeds the amount provided in section 145(3) of the Act, I confirm that I am qualified to act as Independent Examiner under the provisions of that section of the Act and that my qualification is as shown below.

In connection with my examination, no matter has come to my attention:

Kevin Ogilvie

Charity Bookkeeping and Examination Services 5[th] March 2024

13 Evelyns Close, Hillingdon, Middlesex, UB8 3LR

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7

Gurnell Grove Community Trust Charity Commission Registration Number 1174906 Balance Sheet - Comparative As at December 31, 2023 31 Dec 2023 31 Dec 2022 Current Assets Cash At Bank And In Hand 56.687 40.488 Creditors Other Creditors -351 Net Assets 56,336 40,488 Funds & Reserves Restricted Funds 25,290 844 Unrestricted General Funds 31,047 39.644 Funds Provided 56.336 40,488

Gurnell Grove Communlty Trust Statement of Financial Activities (Receipts & Payments) January 1, 2023 to December 31, 2023 Icompared to January 1, 2022 to December 31, 2022) 2.738 3.879 6.617 6.734 2.679 2.679 13.31Y2 urch GN•¥J 169 169 23.561 23.561 19.934 3.972 2.S45 2.545 9,712 12,924 12.924 783 783 114 20.643 20.643 Totsl 17235 101.680 81.n7

Gurnell Grove Communlty Trust Statement of Financial Activities (Receipts & Payments) January 1, 2023 to December 31, 2023 (compared to January 1, 2022 to December 31, 2022> Unm1rlctqd Prknr Totsl 839 1ffj29 8252 6.829 S2326 4.912 57237 S4.301 12.728 20.397 567 75132 13,OIMI 1(rf1 l Rac•1￿• 17235 37A46 104A80 11.727 75132 13.0110 88J32 4J98 24W6 15 -1.3n Totsl Fund• Brw Forwvd 41.860 Totsl Fund• Cwrl•d Fonv4rd 31W7 252•0 10

Notes to Financial Statements

2. GENERAL INFORMATION

The CIO is a public benefit entity and a registered charity in England and Wales and is unincorporated. The address of the principal office is St Stephen’s Church, St Stephen’s Rd, Ealing, London W13 8HB. All income and expenditure derive from continuing activities.

3. STATEMENT OF COMPLIANCE

These financial statements have been prepared to be consistent with the recommendations in Accounting and reporting by Charities: Statement of Recommended Practice 2005 (the Charities SORP) as they apply to smaller charities.

4. ACCOUNTING POLICIES

4.1 Basis of preparation

These financial statements have been prepared on a ‘receipts and payments’ basis. The financial statements are prepared in sterling, the functional currency.

4.2 Going concern

There are no material uncertainties about the charity's ability to continue.

4.3 Judgements and key sources of estimation uncertainty

The preparation of the financial statements requires management to make judgements, estimates and assumptions that affect the amounts reported. These estimates and judgements are continually reviewed and are based on experience and other factors, including expectations of future events that are believed to be reasonable under the circumstances.

4.4 Fund accounting

4.5 Receipts

All incoming resources are included in the statement of financial activities as follows:

4.6 Payments made

Expenditure includes any VAT which cannot be recovered, and is classified under headings of the statement of financial activities to which it relates:

All costs are allocated to expenditure categories reflecting the use of the resource. Direct costs attributable to a single activity are allocated directly to that activity. Shared costs are apportioned between the activities they contribute to on a reasonable, justifiable and consistent basis.

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Notes to Financial Statements

4.7 Additional Declarations needed

The Charitable Incorporated Organisations (General) Regulations 2012 require the following information for charities preparing accounts on a ‘receipts and payments’ basis:

5. EMPLOYEES

At the end of the year 2 people were employed by the Trust, one full-time, one part-time. No employee received employee benefits of more than £60,000 during the year.

6. TRUSTEE REMUNERATION AND EXPENSES

No remuneration or other benefits from employment with the charity or a related entity were received by the trustees.There have been no related party transactions in the reporting period. Normal expenses incurred on trust activities were reimbursed to trustees.

7. RESTRICTED FUNDS

Restricted Funds 31/12/2022
Income
received		 Expenditure 31/12/2023
Christmas Event -£656
£3,879
£4,323
-£1,100
Pathways £0
£9,814
£4,462
£5,352
William Hobbayne £1,500
£1,560
£3,060
£0
Eventide £1,550
£1,155
£395
Grocery & More £20,643
£0
£20,643
Total £844 £37,446 £13,000 £25,290

7.1

The ‘Christmas Events Restricted Fund’ shows a negative position at year end as two of the event sponsorships (£1,000 and £100) were not received before the year end (they have now been received).

7.3 The William Hobbayne Restricted Fund represents:

We are very grateful indeed for all these Grants and Donations

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Notes to Financial Statements

8. RELATED PARTY RELATIONSHIPS AND TRANSACTIONS

During the year the following Trustees were also Trustees of related entities (see below for details)

:

Revd Steve Newbold Trustee and Chair of St Stephen’s Ealing PCC (charity number 1133772)

Jane Maffett Trustee of St Stephen’s Ealing PCC (charity number 1133772)

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