Breathing Space Coventry
Annual Report 2025
The objects of the Charity are:
To benefit the public in Coventry and the surrounding areas, in particular but not exclusively through the holding of day retreats, and by providing opportunities for growth in contemplative prayer for those wishing to worship and/or explore the Christian faith.
Trustees:
Ann O’Sullivan (co-chair), Crystal Kofie (co-chair), Alison Lawn, Andrew Gillham, Dagmer Dias, Gemma Curran, Peter Sidebotham.
Overview
During 2025 Breathing Space Coventry continued to offer a sacred space open to the public. We are grateful to Ellie who continues to be our resident host. The space has settled into a good rhythm (it is still open Thursday to Saturday) with a continuous flow of guests.
As in previous years, we have relied on word of mouth, bookmarks, and our website to help people find us. This approach has worked well, keeping visitor numbers at a manageable level. We also continue to maintain our links with the Quiet Garden Movement and the Retreat Centre Association.
Ellie has been wonderfully supported by Alison, a number of close friends, our neighbours and the gardening team. We are particularly grateful to her friend, Katherine Pickford, who moved in and kept Breathing Space running whilst Ellie was away. Katherine did an excellent job looking after BSC, accommodating various groups and overnight guests as well as galvanising the gardening team to complete the preparations for the Open Gardens event. This is an annual event held by the Allesley Village Festival, whereby visitors are allowed to explore various private residential gardens, offering creativity and inspiration for planting.
Ann reported the Open Gardens to be a great success - 157 people attended, approximately 25 of those being new visitors to BSC and 10 children. A particular highlight was the labyrinth which now features a mosaic centrepiece depicting the four seasons.
We are extremely grateful to the gardening volunteers - Chris Hitchcock, Rob Johnson, Dennis and Julie Morgan and Graham and Anna Rickets who were instrumental in supporting the Open Gardens. The volunteer gardeners meet every week. We are grateful for their enthusiasm and innovation which keeps our garden looking beautiful all year round.
A new feature was added to the garden by Rob – a prayer den. This area consists of a cross with hooks for prayers to be attached, a beautifully designed bench with crosses inlaid with an attached stand for the prayer cards and pens.
During the year, we have been able to welcome over 1100 visitors to Breathing Space. This includes 774 people visiting in groups (an average of 64 per month) and 109 individuals (average 9 per month) coming for their own individual time.
We have a number of individuals and groups who come on a regular basis, including a painting group on Wednesday mornings, a textiles workshop on Wednesday evenings and Allesley and Eastern Green Prayer meeting on Thursday mornings.
Subject to availability, a range of ad hoc visits took place including personal day retreats for vicars, a church away day and All Saints Youth alpha with 12 young people.
In October, a paper and bookbinding day retreat led by Ellie and Sue Ashby was held, attended by eight participants, half of whom were new visitors.
Visitor demographics have continued to broaden, encompassing groups from the Chinese church, members of the African community, couples, individuals across a wide age range, and families with young children. We have also welcomed several Coventry-based charities supporting people affected by homelessness, addiction, abuse, and older age, alongside Hope Coventry, and continue to host away days for a broad range of church denominations
In May we welcomed Gemma Curran as a trustee. Gemma has many talents in the digital arena, and we are already reaping the benefits of her experience, with a new branding package.
In July Andrew kindly agreed to take on the role of secretary. He is doing a great job of making sure that everything is running smoothly behind the scenes.
Sadly, Alison decided to step down from the board of trustees at the end of 2025. We are grateful for Alison’s service. We give thanks for her constant support to Ellie and her encouragement, especially in reaching out to Graham and Anna (our latest volunteer gardeners). We wish Alison the best of luck as she concentrates on other volunteering opportunities.
GOVERNANCE MATTERS
| Subject | Last review | Next scheduled review |
|---|---|---|
| Risk Assessment – Garden Power Tools | Jan 2026 | Oct 2026 |
| Risk Assessment – Garden Hand Tools | Jan 2026 | Oct 2026 |
| Risk Assessment – Garden Tripod Ladder | Jan 2026 | Oct 2026 |
| Risk Assessment – Workshop Power Tools | Jan 2026 | Oct 2026 |
| Risk Assessment – House and Surroundings | Oct 2025 | Oct 2026 |
| Memorandum of Understanding1 | Nov 2024 | Jan 2027 |
| Safeguarding Policy | Jan 2025 | Jan 2028 |
| Decision-making Guidelines | Jan 2026 | Jan 2028 |
| Privacy & Data Protection Policy | May 2025 | May 2028 |
1 MOU: A memorandum of understanding between the Trustees and the owners of the property at 123B Birmingham Road, Allesley CV5 9GR (Peter Sidebotham and Lois Baldwin) was drawn up and agreed in September 2019. To be reviewed annually. The use of the property has been provided rent-free. The Charity pays 50% of Council tax, insurance and utility bills.
Note: The Charity does not have any paid staff and relies on volunteers. A cleaner and a gardener receive hourly wages for 2 hours each per week.
Trustee Terms
| Name | Current Term Start |
Proposed stand down year |
Current Role | Comments |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Gemma Curran | 2025 | 2031 | First term | |
| Dagmer Dias | 2022 | 2028 | Safeguarding Lead | |
| Andrew Gilham | 2023 | 2029 | Secretary | First term |
| Crystal Kofie | 2025 | 2031 | Co-Chair | |
| Ann O’Sullivan | 2024 | 2030 | Co-Chair | |
| Peter Sidbotham | 2024 | 2030 | Treasurer |
Other Responsibilities
Resident Host: Independent financial examiner: Financial Support and banking: Bank Signatories (2): Data Controller: Website:
Ellie Rose Andrea Driver Richard Lawn Peter Sidebotham, Crystal Kofie Ellie Rose Ellie Rose, Lois Baldwin, Gemma Curran
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Charity Name No (if any)
Breathing Space Coventry
Receipts and payments accounts CC16a
For the period Period start date Period end date
To
from 1.1.25 31.12.25
Section A Receipts and payments
Unrestricted Restricted Endowment
Total funds Last year
funds funds funds
to the nearest £ to the nearest £ to the nearest £ to the nearest £ to the nearest £
A1 Receipts
On-line Gifts 2,321 - - 2,321 1,416
Regular giving 1,998 - - 1,998 1,626
Donations from group users 4,245 - - 4,245 3,878
One-off donations 382 - 382 2,024
Gift Aid 1,687 - - 1,687 1,030
Bank interest 10 - - 10 6
Cash donations 1,728 - - 1,728 1,445
Other income 164 - - 164 247
Sub total (Gross income for
AR) [ 12,535 ] - - 12,535 11,672
A2 Asset and investment sales,
(see table).
- - - -
- - - - -
Sub total - - - - -
Total receipts 12,535 - - 12,535 11,672
A3 Payments
Utilities and insurance 5,517 - - 5,517 5,755
Retreat centre maintenance and running
costs 3,490 - 3,490 3,066
Costs of charitable activities: hospitality 394 - - 394 638
Building works - - 743
Bank charges 60 - - 60 84
Other outgoings 746 - 746 297
Petty cash - 42 - - - 42 - 101
- - - - -
- - - - -
Sub total [ 10,165 ] - - 10,165 10,482
A4 Asset and investment
purchases, (see table)
Retreat centre purchases 60 - 60 195
- - - -
Sub total [ 60 ] - - 60 195
0
Total payments 10,224 - - 10,224 10,677
Net of receipts/(payments) 2,311 - - 2,311 995
A5 Transfers between funds - - -
A6 Cash funds last year end 4,612 - - 4,612 3,617
Cash funds this year end 6,923 - - 6,923 4,612
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20/04/2026
CCXX R1 accounts (SS)
1
| Section B Statement of assets and liabilities at the end of the period | Section B Statement of assets and liabilities at the end of the period | Section B Statement of assets and liabilities at the end of the period | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Categories Signed by one or two trustees on behalf of all the trustees B5 Liabilities B4 Assets retained for the charity’s own use B3 Investment assets B2 Other monetary assets B1 Cash funds |
Signature Details Details Equipment: data projector, stand and screen, blackboard Furniture, fixture and fittings: chairs, garden furniture; lounge chairs (5); electric heater Kitchen equipment, crockery; electric kettle Soundcore speaker (Oct 2025) Details Details CAF account Total cash funds (agree balances with receipts and payments account(s)) Details |
Unrestricted funds Restricted funds to nearest £ to nearest £ 6,923 - - - - 6,923 - OK OK Unrestricted funds Restricted funds to nearest £ to nearest £ - - - - - - - - - - - - Fund to which asset belongs Cost (optional) - - - - - Fund to which asset belongs Cost (optional) General - General - General - General - - - - - - Fund to which liability relates Amount due (optional) - - - - - Print Name |
Endowment funds to nearest £ - - - |
| - | |||
| OK | |||
| Endowment funds to nearest £ - - - - - - Current value (optional) - - - - - Current value (optional) - - - - - - - - - When due (optional) Date of approval |
20/04/2026
CCXX R2 accounts (SS)
2