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← Gurnell Grove Community Trust

2024-12-31-accounts

Charity Registration number: 1174906

Gurnell Grove Community Trust

Report and

Financial Statements (unaudited) 12 months to 31 December 2024

Page
Trustees' annual report and declaration 1
Independent examiner's report to the trustees 10
Statement of financial position (Balance Sheet) 11
Statement of financial activities (Income and Expenditure) 12
Notes to the financial statements 14

Trustees Report and Declaration

The trustees present their report and the financial statements of the Trust for the period ended 31st December 2024. An audit is not required but they have been examined by an Independent Examiner.

Reference and administrative details

Registered charity name Registered charity name Gurnell Grove Community Trust Gurnell Grove Community Trust
Other names by which the charity is sometimes The Grove Community Church
known 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		 Revd Rachel Bedford
(Chair)		 2 years to 30 June 2026 June 2026
Jane Maffett
(Treasurer)		 2 years to 31 Oct 2025
Revd Steve Newbold to 22 Jan 2024 (resigned)
Jonny Baker 2 years to 24 April 2025 2 years to 24 April 2025
Anusha Couttigane 2 years to 30 June 2025 2 years to 30 June 2025
Project Leader Mark Tate

Independent Examiner Kevin Ogilvie

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2024 - a year in numbers!

1276 Community cafe visits
2649 Hot Drinks served
19 Baptisms
3840 Fliers posted to estate households
43 Prayer walks
4176 Biscuits eaten
910 Volunteer hours given
1731 Meals served
243 Hours in the Community centre
100 Hours of Sunday services

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Intro to the Project

The Gurnell Grove Community Trust was established as a charitable incorporated organisation in 2017 and is governed by a Board of Trustees. It is known on a day to day basis as The Grove Community Church.

Trustees

Rev Rachel Bedford - Chair

Anusha Couttigane

Jonny Baker Jane Maffett - Treasurer

Staff & Key volunteers

Mark Tate - Project leader and Pastor

Laura Tate - Administrative Assistant

Denise Colliver - Pastoral Care Co-ordinator

Joshua Koch - Estates Project Leader

Paula Bailey - Key Projects volunteer

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Responsibilities

Mark and Laura Tate and their two children moved onto the estate in December 2016.

As Pastor, Mark leads the mission and ministry of The Grove Community Church, focusing on its development, growth and strengthening. He also oversees the community work carried out by the Gurnell Grove Eden team, ensuring it aligns with the church's vision to serve and support the local community.

Laura became the Administrative Assistant in April 2024 and plays a vital role in the church's operations by managing administrative tasks, supporting the Pastor, and co-ordinating impactful events to further the church’s mission.

Denise Colliver joined the team in November 2021 as Community Worker. Her role changed to Pastoral Care Coordinator in 2024 and she provides pastoral care through prayer, attentive listening, and personal engagement, with a specific focus on the elderly residents of Heron House, a sheltered housing block on the estate. She fosters community by organising and leading activities such as the Heron House Club and Life group, as well as participating in church events.

In 2024 we were delighted to welcome Joshua Koch to our paid staff team. As full-time Estates Project Leader, Josh oversees ministry and mission on the Gurnell Grove estate, coordinating all community care projects, launching our Community Grocery, and youth ministry and engaging in discipleship.

Paula became a Christian in 2019, joined the Eden team in 2020, and is now a volunteer staff team member serving across various ministries.

All staff work with partner organizations, participate in training and events, and as part of The Grove Community Church leadership team, support volunteers while reporting to the Pastor and trustees.

Wider Team

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 working on the Grove in weekly and special events.

Objectives of the Trust

  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, ill-health, lack of education or skills attainment and such other economic or social disadvantage.

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Meeting the Objectives during 2024

1. Advancement of the Christian faith

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2. Relief of persons in need

Building Community – Our 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.

Supporting children & families

Tackling Isolation

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.

In recognition of the great work undertaken on the Grove, in October we were delighted to welcome the Archbishop of Canterbury along with the Bishops of London and Willesden, who walked the estate and prayed with several individuals and families.

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Looking ahead

2024 has been a year of significant development as we work towards launching new initiatives to serve and support our community.

● Community Grocery Launch

A major focus has been the establishment of a Community Grocery on Gurnell Grove in partnership with the Message Trust . This initiative will provide affordable food while also offering a range of wraparound support projects such as financial advice, well-being courses, cooking classes, and other practical life skills. Beth Koch , who has been appointed as the Assistant grocery manager at the Ilford branch, will transition to managing the Gurnell Community Grocery once it officially launches, we hope in Spring 2025.

● CAP Job Club

In partnership with The Ealing CAP Job Club , we will be launching a Christians Against Poverty (CAP) Job Club to support individuals seeking employment. The job club will provide practical skills, confidence-building, and one-to-one coaching to help people overcome barriers to employment.

● Youth Outreach Programme

We are planning to expand our youth engagement through a dedicated youth outreach programme . This will include sports activities, mentoring, drop-in sessions, and faith-based discussions , providing a safe and positive environment for young people to connect, develop skills and receive support.

● Gurnell Community Centre

We are exploring the opportunity to manage the Gurnell Community Centre in partnership with Ealing Council , aiming to develop it as a hub for community engagement, events, and support services.

These initiatives reflect our commitment to long-term transformation on the estate, ensuring that families, young people, and individuals receive practical support, community, and opportunities for personal growth .

Summary

We are so grateful for the growth and strengthening of the work on the Grove and the trustees extend huge thanks to the staff and volunteer team for their hard work and commitment to the project.

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Financial review

This was a year of growth with increased costs, against a reduction in income, using some reserves and around which we prioritised our initiatives. After a staff restructure, and successful grant seeking in the latter part of the year we now have good foundations on which to move forward and build in 2025.

Our strategy on income is:

And at the end of 2024 we have partnered with:

We were also delighted to have been awarded late in the year a 3-year grant from the Lauderdale Trust at £25k p.a., starting in November.

(See Note 7 in Accounts for details)

We are thrilled to be working with all our mission and relationship partners and grateful for their support, financial, practical and prayer.

We have also been focusing on our base of personal donors, to whom we are indebted for their regular ongoing loyal commitments, though after an increase in regular giving of 18% in 2023, this has remained static. We are planning a drive to increase this base in 2025, especially once the Community Grocery launches.

Our main expenses are staff costs, which increased by 23%, with the restructure which includes a new full time Estate project leader. Overheads are carefully managed against budgets, though last year saw an exceptional £1.2k on recruitment and £3k spent on shed storage and equipment for staff, mainly funded by grants.

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· Seasonal project costs reduced by 40% to £5.7k (mainly due to a major sponsor settling over £2k of costs directly) – with well over 50% of this funded by restricted donations

Going Concern and Reserves – this was a year of growth which saw us use a significant amount of our reserves to fund a deficit of £13,693 (£4,006 in the unrestricted General Fund and £9,687 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 2024 were £27,041 (2023 £31,047), 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 Project Leader and Trustees 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 most recently the employment of an Estates Project Leader strengthens the team and reduces this risk.

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.

Declaration

The trustees' annual report and financial statements were approved on 24 February 2025 and signed on behalf of the board of trustees by:

Rachel Bedford

Jane Maffett

Revd Rachel Bedford Chair of Trustees

Jane Maffett, Treasurer

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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 2024 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 17[th] February 2025 13 Evelyns Close, Hillingdon, Middlesex, UB8 3LR

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Financial Statements Gurnell Grove Community Trust Charity Commission for England and Wales, No. 1174906 Balance Sheet- Comparative As at December 31, 2024 31 Dec 2024 31 Dec 2023 Current Assets Debtors 2,258 Cash At Bank And In Hand 42,865 56,687 Creditors Other Creditors -2,479 -351 Nel Assets 42,643 56,336 Funds & Reserves Restricted Funds 15,603 25,290 Unrestricted Designated Funds 1,397 Unrestricted General Funds 25,644 31,047 Funds Provided 42,643 56,336

Gurnell Grove Community Trust Statement of Financial Activities (Income & Expense) January 1, 2024 to December 31, 2024 Unrestrlcled Restrl¢ted Endowment Totsl Income Income and Endowments Event Driven Income 3,205 4,231 7,437 Income from Donations and Legac￿$ t)onations at regular activtties 1,087 1,087 Individu￿$ Giving Church Gwing 350 350 IrKlividuals- one off 2.741 2,741 I￿livIdUal8- regular 23,894 23,894 Organisalional givirKJ Org Donations & Grants Donations- m￿S1On Parbiers 30.932 30.932 Grants 6,145 14.500 20,645 Investment I￿oMe 936 936 Other Incoming Resoijrces 410 410 Special Income - Gr(￿ery and Wraparou￿1 3.242 3,242 Total Income 69.700 21.973 91,673 Expenses Expenditure Chafilable A¢￿￿tieS Chantable givir¥J 269 269 Charily Management & Administration 1.421 1,421 Charity Running Cosls 10.183 2,989 13,172 EmFAoyee Costs S2,￿7 19.258 71,265 Ministry 4,757 4.757 Projects s.￿6 9.413 14,419 Expenditure on Ragng Furxls 63 63 Total Expenses 73.706 31,660 105,366 Nel Resource Movement 4.(X)6 -9.687 -13,693 Nel Movement in Funds 4.(X)6 -9.687 -13,693 Total Funds Brought Forward 31,047 25.290 56,336 Total Funds Carried Forward 27,041 15,603 42,643 12

PRIOR YEAR Gurnell Grove Community Trust Statement of Financial Activities (Income & Expense) January 1, 2023 to December 31, 2023 Unrestrl¢ted Restrlcted Endowment Total In￿me Income and Enth)wments Event Driven Income 2.738 3.879 6.617 Income from Donations and Legacies Donations al regular actwibes 952 952 Fund Raising Initiatives 2.679 2.679 IndiwduJs GivirvJ Church Giving 169 169 ITKlividuals - one olf 309 309 lThJividuals - regular 23.561 23,561 Organisational giving Org Donations & Gfants Do￿a￿nS- Mission Parther5 33,500 33.500 Grants 2.545 12.924 15,469 Investment Income 783 783 Special IrKome- Grocery and WrapaTOUTh 20,643 20.643 Total Income 67.235 37.4146 104.680 Expenses Expenditure Charita￿e Activities Charitable giving 839 839 Charity Managemenl & Administration 1.629 1.629 Charity Runni￿ Costs 8,681 8.689 Employee Costs 51.897 4.912 56,808 Ministry 3.513 3.513 Projects 9.216 8,080 17,296 Expenditu￿ on Raigng FutNIs 59 59 Total Expenses 75.832 13,(rf)O 88.832 Net Resour￿ Movemenl 598 24,446 15.849 Net Movement In Funds 4598 24,446 15.849 Tolal Fund$ B¥oughl Forward 39,644 40,488 Total Fund$ Carried Fonvard 31.047 25,290 56.336 13

Notes to Financial Statements

1. GENERAL INFORMATION

The CIO is a public benefit entity, a registered charity in England and Wales and is unincorporated. All income and expenditure derive from continuing activities.

2. 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 SORP 2[nd] edition October 2019 (FRS 102) as they apply to smaller charities.

3. ACCOUNTING POLICIES

3.1 Basis of preparation

These financial statements have been prepared on an ‘Income and Expenditure’ basis (otherwise referred to as ‘Accruals’). The financial statements are prepared in sterling, the functional currency, and the Trust has elected to report using ‘natural categories’ rather than on an ‘Activities’ basis.

3.2 Going concern

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

3.3 Judgements and key sources of estimation uncertainty

The preparation of the financial statements requires the management and trustees 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.

3.4 Fund accounting

3.5 Receipts

Income is recognised when the Trust is legally entitled to it after any performance conditions have been met, the amounts can be measured reliably, and it is probable that income will be received. Income tax recoverable in relation to donations received under Gift Aid or deeds of covenant is recognised at the time of the donation. No amounts are included for the contribution of volunteers or goods donated.

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3.6 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:

Expenditure is recognised once there is a legal or constructive obligation to transfer economic benefit to a third party, it is probable that a transfer of economic benefits will be required in settlement and the amount of the obligation can be measured reliably.

3.7 Additional Declarations needed

The Charitable Incorporated Organisations (General) Regulations 2012 require the following information for charities preparing accounts on an ‘income and expenditure’ basis:

4. EMPLOYEES

At the end of the year 4 people were employed by the Trust, one full-time, three part-time (2 in 2023). No employee received employee benefits of more than £60,000 during the year.

Employment Costs General Restricted Total
Salaries £46,885 £18,080 £64,964
Employer NI £0 £0 £0
Pension £4,018 £1,179 £5,197
Termination payment £1,103 £0 £1,103
Total £52,007 £19,258 £71,265

Employers’ National Insurance Liabilities were covered by the Employers Allowance for small business. The termination payment related to a reduction in hours for a member of staff.

The Trust operates a Defined Contribution Scheme for employees.

5. TRUSTEE REMUNERATION AND EXPENSES

No remuneration or other benefits from employment with the charity or a related entity were

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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.

6. DEBTORS

**BTORS **
2024 2023
Accrued Income £2,258 £0

7. CREDITORS

EDITORS
2024 2023
Accrued expenses £2,479 £351

8. Cash at Bank and in Hand

2024 2023
Cash at Bank and on Hand £42,865 £56,687

9. RESTRICTED FUNDS

Restricted Funds 31 Dec 2023 Income
in 2024		 Expenditure
in 2024		 31 Dec 2024
Christmas Events -£1,100 £2,881 -£1,781 £0
Grocery and Wraparound projects £20,643 £3,242 -£18,699 £5,186
Eventide £395 £0 -£395 £0
Lauderdale Trust £0 £12,500 -£2,083 £10,417
Pathways £5,352 £0 -£5,352 £0
Pitshanger Community Association
(PCA)		 £0 £2,000 -£2,000 £0
William Hobbayne £0 £1,350 -£1,350 £0
Total £25,290 £21,973 -£31,660 £15,603

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and the Community Grocery planning. The year-end balance includes:

We are very grateful indeed for all these Grants and Donations.

10. DESIGNATED FUNDS

Unrestricted Funds 31 Dec 2023 Income
in 2024		 Expenditure
in 2024		 31 Dec 2024
Christmas
Designated		 £0 £1,397 £0 £1,397
General
Unrestricted		 £31,047 £68,303 -£73,706 £25,644
Total Unrestricted £31,047 £69,700 -£73,706 £27,041

11. RELATED PARTY RELATIONSHIPS AND TRANSACTIONS

During the year the following Trustees were also Trustees of related entities:

Revd Steve Newbold (trustee until March 2024) was also a trustee and Chair of St Stephen’s Ealing PCC (charity number 1133772)

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

12. GOVERNANCE COSTS

OVERNANCE COSTS
2024 2023
Independent Examiner’s
Fee		 £250 £500

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