Worcestershire and Shropshire Area Quaker Meeting, Annual Report ## **Religious Society of Friends (Quakers)** ## **Worcestershire and Shropshire Area Quaker Meeting Charity Number 1175399** ## **Trustees Annual Report and Accounts, for the year ended 31 December 2024** This report was approved by the Trustees on 30 April 2025 and signed on their behalf by Lynda Prescott, clerk of trustees 1 Worcestershire and Shropshire Area Quaker Meeting, Annual Report ## **CONTENTS** |||page| |---|---|---| |1|Charity informaton|2| |2|Structure and governance|3| |3|Main actvites in relaton to the charity’s purposes|6| |4|Actvites undertaken for public beneft|9| |5|Financial review|10| ## **1. Charity Informaton for reportng period ending 31 December** ## **2024 Charity name and number** Worcestershire and Shropshire Area Quaker Meeting (charity number 1175399) ## **Address and contact details** Clerk to Trustees Bewdley Quaker Meeting House Lower Park Bewdley DY12 2DP Area Meeting website: wsq.org.uk ## **Trustees who served during 2024** Lynda Prescott (Clerk) Jane Spiers (Treasurer) Peter Bevan Rae Evans Marilyn Foxall Paul Mountain 2 Worcestershire and Shropshire Area Quaker Meeting, Annual Report ## **Clerk of trustees at report date** Lynda Prescott ## **Custodian Trustee** Friends Trusts Ltd., Registered Charity 237698 173-177 Euston Road, London NW1 2BJ ## **Bankers to the Area Meeting held accounts** Cooperative Bank ## **Independent Examiner** Russell Ball D E Ball & Co. Ltd, 15 Bridge Road, Wellington, Telford, Shropshire TF1 1 EB ## **2. Area Meetng structure and governance** ## **2.1 Introduction** Worcestershire and Shropshire Area Meeting has been a registered charity since 2014, and has operated as a Charitable Incorporated Organisation (number 1175399) since January 1, 2018. The CIO is administered in accordance with its constitution and its affairs are governed by Quaker Faith & Practice, the book of discipline of the Religious Society of Friends (Quakers) in Britain. ## **2.2 Area Meeting’s structure** Membership of the Religious Society of Friends (Quakers) in Britain is mainly through one of its constituent Area Meetings. Each Area Meeting consists of those who are recorded as being members, and Area Meeting in session is the charity’s chief decision-making body. Meetings are conducted according to Quaker business method by a clerking team of Clerk, Assistant Clerk and Assistant Clerk for Membership. Within Worcestershire and Shropshire Area Meeting there are six Local Meetings: Bewdley, Church Stretton, Malvern, Shrewsbury, Telford and Worcester. Most members are affiliated to a Local Meeting, along with regular attenders who are not in membership. Attenders are also welcome to attend Area Meeting. Each Local Meeting usually appoints a clerk or clerking team, a treasurer, and makes other appointments necessary for the functioning of the meeting. During 2024 Malvern Local Meeting trialled a new organisational approach, involving all members and attenders in one of three ‘teams’; this innovative approach is to be reviewed with a report to Area Meeting. For roles within Area Meeting, the Nominations Committee brings forward the names of Friends willing to be considered, and appointments are made according to the discernment of Area Meeting in session. These include appointments of Elders and Pastoral Care Friends, who are attached to 3 Worcestershire and Shropshire Area Quaker Meeting, Annual Report Local Meetings but also function collectively as members of the Area Meeting Eldership and Pastoral Care Group. Our Area Meeting’s main formal link to Britain Yearly Meeting (BYM) is through our two representatives on Meeting for Sufferings, who bring regular reports to Area Meeting. Two members of Area Meeting are also appointed to the Quaker Life Representative Council, and we have regular contact with our Local Development Worker, who is part of BYM’s Quaker Life team. In 2024 we also agreed to the new Memorandum of Understanding between the organisations that together comprise the Religious Society of Friends (Quakers) in Britain. ## **2.3 Appointment and proceedings of trustees** All members of our Society share in trusteeship, but a small group of named trustees takes on particular responsibility within our Quaker community. Area Meeting trustees care for the assets of the charity, ensuring that they are properly used. More generally, trustees ensure that the Meeting is well run. Trustees are appointed following nominations from the Nominations Committee. Appointments are usually for three years and re-appointment for a second triennium is common. One aim in the appointment of trustees is to include representatives from each Local Meeting on the trustees’ body, but this is not always possible. During 2024 there were five ‘continuing’ trustees, and a new clerk of trustees was appointed from 1 January 2024. Together the six trustees were drawn from four of the Local Meetings, and we instituted a system of ‘link’ trustees with the two other Local Meetings. In common with all Area Meeting roles, the position of trustee carries no financial remuneration. The new clerk’s induction included attending the trusteeship course offered by Woodbrooke Quaker Study Centre. Trustees meet at least four times a year, and conduct their meetings according to Quaker business method. In 2024, meetings were held in January, March, June, September and November. As part of their regular business, trustees keep Area Meeting’s policies under review, and during the latter part of 2024 the Safeguarding Policy and Procedures were thoroughly revised, using BYM’s model documents as starting points and involving extensive consultation with relevant role-holders across the Area Meeting. In other policy developments, our Area Meeting treasurer initiated discussions about a reserves policy with Local Meeting treasurers, and there were preliminary conversations about a lettings policy to provide a common framework for the four Local Meetings which hire out their premises. Other business included quinquennial reviews for our four Meeting Houses, and review of the tenancy agreement for our residential property in Worcester. 2023’s initial work on merging Area Meeting’s CIO with the historic Coalbrookdale charities (CC number 208401) was taken forward through correspondence with the Charity Commission, and the process continues into 2025. Meanwhile, the trustees of Worcester Friends Charity (CC number 201895), which owns the Meeting House at Worcester, formally requested a merger with the Area Meeting CIO, a larger but welcome project. Later in 2024, our neighbours in Banbury and Evesham Area Meeting proposed that Evesham Local Meeting be transferred to Worcestershire and 4 Worcestershire and Shropshire Area Quaker Meeting, Annual Report Shropshire, when its current Area Meeting is laid down. Area Meeting agreed in principle to this proposal, and we began exploring multiple aspects of the plan towards the end of 2024. We have attempted to improve communications between the body of trustees and Area Meeting’s membership by making the minutes of trustees’ meetings available on the Area Meeting website intranet. Minutes are also sent to the clerks of Local Meetings, in accordance with our terms of reference, and besides frequent trustees’ items on the Area Meeting agenda, we continue to present a short annual summary of trustees’ activities. ## **2.4 Safeguarding** Local Meetings are asked to report annually on any safeguarding concerns at their meeting, and in 2024 there were none. The Local Meeting questionnaires also cover arrangements for work with children and young people, including role induction and DBS checks. Not all Local Meetings hold regular children’s meetings, but in those that do DBS checks for volunteers were either current or in the process of being renewed. The new Area Meeting Safeguarding Policy and Procedures are designed to clarify and reinforce arrangements for these and other aspects of safeguarding. To this end, we began to make fuller use of the safeguarding advisory agency, 31:8. By the end of 2024 some 25 members and attenders had signed up for 31:8’s online ‘Gateway to Safeguarding’ course, and the clerk of trustees attended a half-day course designed specifically for trustees. ## **2.5 Membership** There was a slight decrease in overall membership during the year, with a number of transfers in and out. There were two deaths, no new applications for membership, three terminations of membership and one resignation. ## **Tabular statement for 2024** ||Total| |---|---| |Bewdley|27| |Church Streton|10| |Malvern|28| |Shrewsbury|33| |Telford|33| |Worcester|30| |Unatached|3| |**Total**|**164**| 5 Worcestershire and Shropshire Area Quaker Meeting, Annual Report Also in 2024, 85 adult attenders were recorded as being attached to our Local Meetings, along with seven children. ## **3. Main actvites in relaton to the charity’s purposes** ## **3.1 Introduction** The Area Meeting’s purposes are described in its governing document as: ‘the furtherance of the general religious and charitable purposes of the Religious Society of Friends (Quakers) in Britain in the area of Worcestershire and Shropshire Area Meeting and beyond.’ The following summary of how these purposes were pursued in 2024 is arranged according to the outline in Quaker Faith & Practice, 14.04. ## **3.2 Strengthening the life and witness of Quaker meetings both in the area of Worcestershire and Shropshire and beyond** Meetings for worship are held each Sunday at all our Local Meetings, and at Telford, Worcester, and now Malvern, there are also midweek meetings for worship. Telford Meeting supports a monthly meeting for worship in Bridgnorth, and from March to October there are similar monthly opportunities at Dale House, Coalbrookdale. The Advices and queries that form the first part of Quaker Faith & Practice are read in our Local Meetings, whether regularly or occasionally, for challenge and inspiration as we live out our faith. All our meetings for worship are open to anyone, and publicly advertised as such. Newcomers are warmly welcomed, as are all visitors from outside our Area Meeting. Some Local Meetings have continued to use zoom for ‘blended’ meetings, one positive legacy of the Covid pandemic that makes meetings more accessible, especially for Friends who are housebound. But as the restrictions of the pandemic have receded, Friends have welcomed opportunities to meet in person, often with coffee + discussion or shared lunches after Sunday meeting. In June Church Stretton Friends invited members and attenders from across Area Meeting to a picnic and outdoor activities in the Shropshire hills. The children and young people in our Area Meeting, though few in number, are cherished and supported, whether at their Local Meetings, or at national Quaker events for young people. Our Advocate for Children and Young People keeps in contact with families across Area Meeting, and we have been pleased to see a new meeting for older children starting up once a month in Malven. ## **3.3 Spreading the message of Friends and interpreting and developing the thought and practice of the Society** Our peace testimony is prominent in the ways we try to spread the message of Friends. These range from Malvern Meeting’s on-going Active Peace Education project to public witnessing against the arms trade. In November Friends from across Area Meeting joined with activists from other organisations in a protest against the Specialist Defence and Security Convention, held at Telford’s International Centre, by holding a meeting for worship outside the venue. November’s Remembrance Day was another occasion when we made public our witness for peace, with Friends laying white poppy wreaths at several events around our two counties. 6 Worcestershire and Shropshire Area Quaker Meeting, Annual Report Our Local Meetings are well represented in various interfaith and ecumenical groupings, particularly the Churches Together network. In these ways we find common cause with other faith communities, whilst ‘remaining faithful to Quaker insights’ (Advices and queries, 6). During 2024 we made more use of the Discovering Quakers website, and several of the enquiries generated this way led to Local Meetings attracting new attenders. We have become more alert to the needs of newcomers, not simply welcoming them but sharing with them our experience of the Quaker way. Discussions of topics ranging from our testimonies to Quaker business method have proved to be valuable not just for new attenders but for members and attenders of longer standing. The life of our Quaker communities is sustained in a variety of ways, such as meetings for learning, discussion groups, or workshops such as Telford Meeting’s day with the Kindlers on the subject of listening. Shrewsbury and Telford Meetings have also continued to support the spiritual practice of Experiment with Light. The 400[th] anniversary of the birth of George Fox in 2024 stimulated more than usual interest in Quaker history, and in our Area Meeting, ‘Fox400’ was marked with a successful and widely-publicized celebration in Worcester. The event was well attended not just by Quakers but by members of the public, and the newly-elected MP for Worcester City also shared in the occasion. ## **3.4 Undertaking Quaker service for the relief of suffering at home and abroad** We are very conscious of the plight of refugees and asylum seekers in this country, and have continued to support those forced to leave war-torn parts of the world to seek sanctuary here. Nearby Wolverhampton is a well-established City of Sanctuary and at our Area Meeting in July we were joined by three refugees from Wolverhampton who shared with us something of their experiences; first-hand encounters like this help to underpin whatever support we are able to offer, collectively or individually. For example, Bewdley Local Meeting worked with the Wyre Forest Refugee Support Group, including making regular monthly donations. And Telford Friends hosted a summer day out for refugee adults and children, visiting the play areas and gardens in Telford Town Park, and the zoo. Another continuing commitment is Telford Local Meeting’s support for the STAY charity, which provides homes for homeless young people and helps them to prepare to live independently; Telford Friends donate welcome packs of household essentials which the young people can take with them when they move on. Friends in several Local Meetings also support local food banks. In other firmly-established work for the relief of suffering, three Area Meeting Friends are trustees of the William Gunn Charity (CC number 210214), which offers financial support to Quakers who are experiencing hardship, and one member of Area Meeting serves on the Quaker Peace and Social Witness Grants Group, where much of the grant-giving is to overseas projects supported by UK Quakers. Two members of Malvern Meeting are also active in prison work, mainly at national level; concern about the links between poverty and criminality is an aspect of this work. 7 Worcestershire and Shropshire Area Quaker Meeting, Annual Report ## **3.5 Funding our concerns** Members of the Religious Society of Friends are asked to make financial contributions towards Quaker work via their Local Meeting. In many cases these contributions attract Gift Aid, and in 2024 we reviewed our Gift Aid arrangements in readiness for HMRC’s changed rules for 2025. Legacies help to fund some Quaker work, such as Malvern’s Active Peace Education project. Also, our Local Meetings in Bewdley, Malvern, Shrewsbury and Worcester are able to let out their meeting houses to organisations and groups whose activities align with Quaker concerns and values. Most Local Meetings also make special collections to support Quaker and non-Quaker charities. Local Meetings and Area Meeting make contributions to Britain Yearly Meeting, to support its activities in the UK and internationally, and many Friends also make regular individual donations to BYM or other Quaker charities. ## **3.6 Providing for the pastoral care of individual members and attenders, including assistance to those in need and for education** Area Meeting appoints Pastoral Care Friends from each Local Meeting. In some cases the role of Pastoral Care Friend is combined with that of Elder, and the practical arrangements for pastoral care vary from meeting to meeting. The common thread is that Pastoral Care Friends take responsibility for keeping in touch with individual members and attenders, especially those who may be vulnerable or undergoing difficult circumstances. Pastoral Care Friends support members and attenders with applications to Quaker charities for financial assistance when needed, and in 2024, as in previous years, Area Meeting supported Friends undertaking study with Woodbrooke Quaker Study Centre and other educational providers. ## **3.7 Maintaining and developing Quaker meeting houses as places of worship and from which to carry our witness into the world** Our meeting houses in Bewdley, Malvern, Shrewsbury and Worcester are well-maintained, with the support of local Premises Committees. Quinquennial surveys were carried out during 2024 and were satisfactory. Annual checks are made on health and safety measures, and the relevant policy is displayed for all users. Energy use is carefully monitored in all four meeting houses, as part of our commitment to sustainability (see section 3.9). Quaker Faith & Practice 14.27 advises us to ‘permit and encourage the use of meeting houses for educational and other suitable purposes which serve the needs of the people living in [our] neighbourhood’, and income from lettings contributes substantially to the upkeep of our meeting houses. When letting out our premises, we take care, as noted earlier, that hirers’ principles and practices are congruent with Quaker values. Quaker literature is on display and available for everyone who comes into our meeting houses, and external noticeboards also help to make our presence visible. 8 Worcestershire and Shropshire Area Quaker Meeting, Annual Report ## 3.8 **Administering and maintaining our organisation and contributing to the support of Britain Yearly Meeting** During 2024 Area Meeting followed a pattern of meeting on alternate months, with meetings in January, March and November being held online via zoom. In May, July and September Area Meeting was hosted by Bewdley, Telford and Worcester Meetings in turn, with facilities for Friends to join online as well as attend in person. All Local Meetings were represented at each Area Meeting. Trustees brought to Area Meeting in session major items such as safeguarding, and presented a summary report of their business to Area Meeting in November. All Local Meetings also hold their own Meetings for Worship for Business, and when occasion arises will send minutes to Area Meeting for wider consideration. There are several groupings of role-holders that cut across Local Meeting boundaries, such as the Eldership and Pastoral Care group, and from time to time all clerks or all treasurers meet together for mutual advice and support. Some Worcester and Shropshire Friends attend Yearly Meeting, and offer reflections on their experience at a subsequent Area Meeting. Besides the opportunities for service on Quaker bodies mentioned in section 3.4, one Church Stretton has been playing a major role in supporting Area Meetings in various parts of the country that are under-going re-structuring of some kind. In October, several members of our Area Meeting attended the conference on the Future of British Quakerism organised by Quakers in Britain and Woodbrooke; feedback from this major conference will form part of our Area Meeting programme in 2025. ## **3.9 Sustainability** In keeping with our Quaker commitment to take action collectively to build a low-carbon, sustainable community, all our Local Meetings foreground sustainability and climate action as key concerns. Premises committees in our meeting houses monitor and maximise energy efficiency, and promote the use of environmentally-friendly cleaning products. At an individual level, members and attenders are encouraged to consider sustainability as an aspect of everyday life, across a range of activities from recycling to transport choices. Some Friends are active in enterprises outside our Quaker community: for example, one member volunteers at Worcester’s zero-waste shop, and members of Bewdley Local Meeting help at the Repair Café, as part of the meeting’s support for the Wyre Forest Green Alliance. Shrewsbury Local Meeting also held a Climate Fresk in February, as a way of promoting awareness of climate challenges and opportunities. ## **4 Actvites undertaken for public beneft** Many of the activities described in this report contribute to public benefit, as part of our charitable purposes. In addition, the Area Meeting contributes to the work of the Standing Advisory Councils on Religious Education in three local authorities, Shropshire, Telford and Worcestershire. Overall, the Trustees have considered the Charity Commission’s public benefit guidance and believe that the charity’s objectives are for the benefit of the public. 9 WOr￿StershIre JndShropshireArea Quakermeeting, AnnualReport 5 Financial review 7oW24t4 Tth&202S 421D1 42.486 99.181 31. 140 5.184 5.IB4 25 13SNI 7*SJ• .1 (+OJaK•TIL1 ie0ts3 21150 2&172 163 $1.6fk 62.1 82.iYJ 17m• -7J75 1lCOIJ .T73 4.1 4.352 42J5 irnj 42&5 4111 21.sn .3C£3 411? 614.144 g) I.O>J.1M 1.074.67# 912.904 It￿220 17 174.14* 112m 1.DP5114 *7S2 4.$79 10 WOr￿StershIre JndShropshireArea Quakermeeting, AnnualReport Worcestershire and ShropshireArea IAeeliThJ Unr*stri¢t¢d Funds Central Local R•$trl¢t¢d Speclal Total 2024 Total 2023 Flxed assets Land and building$ Fixtures and fitting8 Inv8Stm8nts Total fixed assets 912,964 Curr•nt ass•ts Debtors Short tenn deposits Cash al bank and in hand 143269 144.649 47.464 126.824 53.488 16.549 Total ¢urr•nt as••ts 17.929 174.149 192.113 180.312 Current liabilitl8S Cr8ditor5 Within on8 year Crgditor5 8ft8r on8 year Not curr•nt as$•ts Net assets 17.929 817.929 174.149 221.113 192.113 1.089.OTI 180230 1.093.194 50.035 WOr￿StershIre JndShropshireArea Quakermeeting, AnnualReport iVd* T￿1 3.994 5,419 140 4.683 5.419 140 *.633 *633 5.762 9￿35 9.633 S762 4J57 4,55T 2.150 5.919 2.768 1.383 94bky)rtCo 10.4$1 17. 17,ODÈ Il220 -7.375 -7J75 4.458 Transfera h￿r￿$T 4235 4335 3.7L¥J 222 IR•vikMIIDnofPMr 3.710 222 42 814.149 813.927 9.856 817,92 J,QL¥J 0.0 1.380 15954 595 17.929 595 14.149 t7.•21 •17.9 14149 81414Y TW 1t 71.1 1￿￿ i?JSJ /trpp 114 17a.I 12 WOr￿StershIre JndShropshireArea Quakermeeting, AnnualReport Tth Churth 2024 2023 Land F￿￿re54￿d Frtts Tatsl Flx•dA•s•lv 26A 40.3T5 1178 42.551 143.269 125.441 40.480 16&924 1161$ 305 10217 10237 Tci•lCuivqntA•HIv 27￿1 174,149 T*ilal C￿rrI￿1 Ll*lftb Z7.551 74JlS 142J7 10237 4551 425S1 13 WOr￿StershIre JndShropshireArea Quakermeeting, AnnualReport Iloi• & R••trlctad Furth T*1 2014 Totsl 2023 startup packs IN¢¢IIINts RESOUA¢E$ Voluntwy Incorn• Dor￿1￿ 285 2•5 5Q,798 lorg•nornUnq fvnd B(x)k ank in*￿st Oth•r Irtthrnkn r*#￿￿•￿ Totsl 2•5 5Q,791 RESOURCES EXPENDED Grants, Sub￿￿PE10m, don￿0 .. lo olhor Tolal Gosts of of QuakKActivthx Costs of generaiing funds S￿￿ort£￿•ts 8uilding ItnWo￿rrfjTrts 88nk chary8S 67S Tol•l dir•¢1•￿￿1¢¢$ts 675 50.123 To ¥rthrfW￿ oltr* 12041 50.123 50.123 116 T(*d lufK*y b￿￿h1 fo[¥￿Id, l vx Years adjLth*r 239 239 5023# ThMè h•ld Flx4d Ms•ts." BuidThJ 5Q,OQD st￿￿.teM7 dep￿1¥ C(MFI Cash al bar* aThY haThY 239 Less 239 23 50,035 14 WOr￿StershIre JndShropshireArea Quakermeeting, AnnualReport 176.(X) 4.025.tM) Slim 1.186.CQ 4791ty) 4.S79.CO 4025.OQ 823.iMI 1.1•6.ty) 4•3Ity) 4755.tM) Pwd Ov4v 4D25.M ￿¢.11} 1.035.￿ 416&OD 4.673.(X) 150. 15 ## Independent Examiner's Report to the Members of Worcestershire and Shropshire Area Meeting Independent examiner's report to the trustees of Worcestershire and Shropshire Area Meeting I report to the charity trustees on my examination of the accounts of Worcestershire and Shropshire Area Meeting for the year ended 31st December 2024. ## Responsibilities and basis of report As the charity trustees of the Trust you are responsible for the preparation of the accounts in accordance with the requirements of the Charities Act 201 1 (’the Act’). I report in respect of my examination of the Trust's accounts carried out under Section 145 of the Act and in carrying out my examination I have followed aI! 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: 1. accounting records were not kept in respect of the Trust as required by Section 130 of the Act; or 2. the accounts do not accord with those records; or 3. the accounts do not comply with the applicable requirements concerning the form and content of accounts set out in the Charities (Accounts and Reports) Regulations 2008 other than any requirement that the accounts gi\ie a true and fair view which is not a matter considered as part of an independent examination. I have no concerns and have come across no other matters in connection with the exa ination to which attention should be drawn in this report in order to enable a proper u rstandin of the accounts to be reached. ussell Ball D E Ball & Co Limited Chartered Accountants 15 Bridge Road Wellington Telford Shropshire TF1 1EB 2nd July 2025 ``` 1 ```