## **Northamptonshire Area Quaker Meeting of the Religious Society of Friends (Quakers) in Britain** (Registered charity, number 1180217) **Financial statements for the year ended 31 December 2021**
|**Page**|**Contents**|
|---|---|
|2 - 6|Trustees’ annual report|
|7|Independent examiner’s report|
|8|Receipts & payments account|
|9|Statement of assets & liabilities|
|10 - 12|Notes to the accounts|
# **Northamptonshire Area Quaker Meeting of the Religious Society of Friends (Quakers) in Britain Trustees’ annual report for the year ended 31 December 2021**
**Full name** Northamptonshire Area Quaker Meeting of the Religious Society of Friends (Quakers) in Britain
**Other names by which the charity is known** Northamptonshire Area Meeting
**Organisation type** Charitable incorporated organisation
**Registered charity number** 1180217
## **Principal address**
Quaker Meeting House, Wellington Street, Northampton, NN1 3AS
## **Trustees**
Angela Atkins Heather Brunskell-Evans Eleanor Coss, Clerk Elizabeth Rees, from 12/09/2021, Andrew Halliwell, from 01/01/2022, Treasurer Ian Neale John Theodore Sturge Ronald Barden, until 31/12/2021 Elaine Smith, until 08/05/2022 Peter Little, until 11/07/2021
## **Independent examiner**
John O’Brien, employee of Community Accounting Plus, Units 1 & 2 North West, 41 Talbot Street, Nottingham, NG1 5GL
## **Governance and management**
The charity is operated under the rules of its constitution adopted 05/10/2018. Trustees are appointed for a period of three years by the Area Meeting following nomination by its Nominations Committee.
Business meetings within the Society are conducted as ‘meetings for worship for church affairs’ in which there is no voting, the Clerk is a servant of the meeting and the minutes are agreed at each meeting. Membership of the Society of Friends is held within the Area Meeting.
## **Objectives and activities**
The object of Northamptonshire Area Meeting is the furtherance of the general religious and charitable purposes of the Religious Society of Friends (Quakers) in Britain in the area of Northamptonshire Area Meeting and beyond.
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## **Northamptonshire Area Quaker Meeting of the Religious Society of Friends (Quakers) in Britain**
## **Summary of the main activities undertaken for the public benefit**
The Area Meeting ensures the right holding of public meetings for worship, and regular meetings for church affairs in each of the constituent meetings - Kettering, Northampton, Oundle (until the end of this year) and Wellingborough. The Area Meeting supports Quaker witness through its public meetings for worship, and supports social projects for the relief of poverty and suffering as well as witness for peace and reconciliation, both within its own geographical area and more widely through the work of Britain Yearly Meeting of the Religious Society of Friends.
Northamptonshire Area Meeting is one of seventy area meetings of the Religious Society of Friends (Quakers) in England, Wales and Scotland. Contributions, donations, legacies, income raised from the use of the property by other charitable and nonprofit making organisations, and interest received are used on deepening and sharing our spiritual experience and acts that arise from our faith. We support work for peace, justice, a sustainable environment, the alleviation of suffering and victims of oppression. Our local meetings for worship are open to all with no tests, and membership of the Society is open to anyone seeking truth.
## **Public benefit statement**
The Trustees confirm that they have complied with the duty in section 17 of the Charities Act 2011 to have due regard to the Charity Commission's general guidance on public benefit, 'Charities and Public Benefit'.
## **Summary of the main achievements during the period**
The Area Meeting had 74 members at the end of 2021. During the first part of 2021, Meetings within the Area Meeting continued to meet regularly via Zoom. As national restrictions eased and local rates of those positive with Covid-19 reduced, it was with joy and relief that we started to reintroduce all those community meetings and events that we had had to lay aside for the previous 18 months. Those Meetings that were able to provide blended Meetings for Worship and Business felt the benefit of being able to include more within their meetings, though we are aware that the unity of the Area Meeting continues to be affected by the many impacts of the Covid pandemic. We look forward to meeting together in Charney Manor in person in 2022, in part to combat these effects.
The Area Meeting provides financial assistance to enable members and attenders to attend conferences and courses for their spiritual development and enrichment. These have included training courses for those taking up Quaker roles, enquirer’s courses and events relating to subjects such as sustainability.
Kettering Local Meeting continued to use Zoom for most of 2021 for both Meeting for Worship and study groups, returning to the Meeting House in September. Numbers steadily declined during the year and they are yet to see many previously regular attenders and Members come back. There was also a decline in the number of room hirers. The nursery school closed in April with a significant knock-on effect to the Meeting’s income, which naturally affected the ability of the Meeting to support local
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## **Northamptonshire Area Quaker Meeting of the Religious Society of Friends (Quakers) in Britain**
charities. Work with Kettering Interfaith Forum was on hold as there were no meetings during 2021 but the Meeting continued to be active in Churches Together. All the work identified in the Quinquennial survey was carried out and the building is in very good condition going forward.
Northampton Local Meeting met remotely on Zoom every Sunday for the first part of the year, before returning to the meeting house to meet in person. For those who were unable, or unwilling, to attend in person the option to join the Meeting on Zoom for a “blended Meeting for Worship” was offered. On the first, third and fifth Sunday of the month they hold a children’s meeting. Collections on a Sunday after worship provide funds to about 40 charities a year; both charities the Meeting regularly supports and those who face sudden and unexpected need. The Meeting House has re-opened to hirers so it is again offering a reasonably priced, town centre facility for community groups.
Wellingborough Local Meeting is in a steady place generally with both the people and the premises undergoing consolidating repair work. Meetings for Worship have continued to take place regularly, on Zoom, in person in the Meeting House, and in the homes of those who are shielding. The variety of meetings offered responds to the needs of most Friends. They had a few visitors and have been joined by new regular attenders but numbers remain smaller than before the pandemic. Financial donations and many volunteer hours continue to be given to local charities to support refugees and local people in crisis, including providing Christmas Hampers for Northamptonshire Domestic Abuse Service (NDAS) clients and refugees, many of whom have undergone torture. The Meeting House is in use again by regular and occasional hirers. Going forward they are prioritising 'Greening our Meeting' to reduce their carbon footprint and make their grounds a quiet green space for wildlife, and people seeking peace, in the middle of the town. The building and boundary walls are being repaired and restored to a good standard, reassuring people who pass by and stop to talk that they are a permanent fixture in the town.
With sadness, the Area Meeting agreed to lay down Oundle Local Meeting at the end of 2021.
In agreement with the commitment of Britain Yearly Meeting to record and improve the sustainability of our Area Meeting, we are keen to return to the project of Greening our Meetings, which has been delayed by the Coronavirus pandemic. We anticipate this group will resume its work in 2022.
## **Financial review**
The total liquid (unrestricted) funds available to the Area Meeting remain substantial, at £405,705 with £164,932 being held directly by Area Meeting, and the remainder being administered within the accounts of its Local Meetings. The Trustees consider this to be fully sufficient to meet the anticipated demands of the Area Meeting, particularly in relation to the condition of the AQM’s Meeting Houses. Each local meeting has its own treasurer; the local meeting accounts being consolidated each
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## **Northamptonshire Area Quaker Meeting of the Religious Society of Friends (Quakers) in Britain**
year within those of the Area Meeting. The three Meeting Houses are not shown as a fixed asset in the accounts, as they are functional properties and there is no intention to sell them. Buildings are insured for £988,973 and contents £67,000.
Additionally, the Area Meeting owns two investment properties. Both are currently leased to NDAS as refuge houses. Refuge House 1 is valued at £175,000; Refuge House 2 is valued at £200,000. The income from rents is used for general purposes.
It should be noted that although labelled as investment properties, the provision of these two Refuge Houses was undertaken primarily as a means of providing a socially sustainable use for Capital Assets of the Area Meeting and is not managed on profit maximisation principles.
The rent of the investment properties provides some income, but the majority of income within the Area Meeting comes from the contributions of members and attenders, and from the hiring of the Meeting Houses to other groups. Hiring income has particularly been affected by the Pandemic, and accordingly the cash reserves of the Area Meeting fell in 2021, and are likely to reduce again in 2022, due to a combination of depressed rental income and planned quinquennial maintenance work for the three Meeting Houses.
The pandemic has reduced the cash balance of the Area Meeting and is likely to continue to impact it. It is unclear yet when or if hiring income will fully recover. The three Meeting Houses are all of some age, and inevitably require regular substantial renovation to maintain them.
Inevitably, all charities face the risk of mismanagement (through neglect or design) particularly of the cash asset base, although protective governance measures and the fact that the majority of the assets are not liquid mitigates such risk.
The combination of substantial cash and investment assets and regular contribution income provide strong risk protection against variable hiring income and ongoing upkeep costs of maintaining its 3 Meeting Houses. The long-term viability of the Area Meeting ultimately rests on maintaining its membership at a viable level in the decades and centuries to come, as existing local meetings grow or decline, and new local meetings arise.
The Funds of the Area Meeting and its constituent Local Meetings are not cumulatively at current risk of running into deficit. The option and facility exist to transfer funds from one fund to another within the Area Meeting where required. Ultimately the contributions of members have always remained the core means of maintaining the liquidity of the Area Meeting, and have remained responsive to the needs of the Area Meeting.
**The charity’s policy on reserves** The Area Meeting does not currently have a formal reserves policy. Area Meeting has proposed that Trustees should bring forward a reserves policy. At present, the
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## **Northamptonshire Area Quaker Meeting of the Religious Society of Friends (Quakers) in Britain**
Area Meeting aims to retain sufficient reserves to enable it to undertake the following year’s expenditure as well as to respond to unforeseen needs, both for property restoration and ongoing support for the concerns supported by members of the Meeting. To this end a rolling budget is maintained and five yearly surveys of the properties are carried out. Northampton Local Meeting implemented a reserves policy in 2015; Kettering Local Meeting implemented theirs in 2017; Wellingborough Local Meeting adopted theirs in July 2020.
Signed on behalf of the charity’s trustees:
Signed _________________________________________ Date _21/07/2022____
Eleanor Coss, Clerk to the Trustees
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## **Independent examiner’s report to the trustees of Northamptonshire Area Quaker Meeting of the Religious Society of Friends (Quakers) in Britain for the year ended 31 December 2021**
I report to the trustees on my examination of the accounts of Northamptonshire Area Quaker Meeting of the Religious Society of Friends (Quakers) in Britain (the charity) for the year ended 31 December 2021.
## **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 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 charity as required by section 130 of the Act; or
2. 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.
Signed Date 30/07/2022
John O’Brien MSc, FCCA, FCIE Employee of Community Accounting Plus
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## **Northamptonshire Area Quaker Meeting of the Religious Society of Friends (Quakers) in Britain Receipts & payments account for the year ended 31 December 2021**
|_2020_
Total
Funds
£
**Receipts**
**Note**
-
Bank interest
-
Collections
Contributions
Donations received
-
Gift aid
-
Hire of meeting rooms
-
Rents received
-
Solar panels (WMH)
85415
Sundry receipts
**2**
85415
**Total receipts**
**Payments**
-
Gov: bank charges
-
Gov: Bookkeeping
-
Gov: Legal & professional
-
Life: Conferences & courses
-
Life: Donations paid out
-
Life: Dues and subscriptions
-
Life: Elders & overseers
-
Life: Members' list
-
Life: Postage & stationery
-
Life: Safeguarding
-
Life: Website
-
Property:Cleaning
-
Property:Garden Equip & Mntce
-
Property:Insurances
-
Property:Kitchen & catering
-
Property:Minor repairs
-
Property: Refuse collection
-
Property:Repairs & maintenance
-
Property:Tests & inspections
-
Property:Broadband
-
Property: Utilities
-
Refuge House: Improvements & rates
64723
Sundry payments
**2**
64723
**Total payments**|**Unrestricted**
**Funds**
**£**
984
107
21585
2727
4766
4667
15960
1762
300
**52858**
192
576
810
345
18299
431
64
234
99
674
175
4842
3439
2287
926
5921
1133
5456
1846
905
4318
3575
-
**56547**|**Restricted**
**Funds**
**£**
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
**-**
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
**-**
-
4615
(2559)
**2056**|**_2021_**
**Total**
**Funds**
**£**
984
107
21585
2727
4766
4667
15960
1762
300|
|---|---|---|---|
||||**52858**
192
576
810
345
18299
431
64
234
99
674
175
4842
3439
2287
926
5921
1133
5456
1846
905
4318
3575
-|
||||**56547**
(3689)
417080
-|
|20692
**Net receipts/(payments)**
396388
Cash funds at start of this period
**3**
-
Transfers between funds
**4**
417080
**Cash funds at end of this period**|(3689)
412465
2559
**411335**|||
||||**413391**|
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## **Northamptonshire Area Quaker Meeting of the Religious Society of Friends (Quakers) in Britain Statement of assets and liabilities at 31 December 2021**
|_2020_
£
**Cash assets**
417080
Bank accounts
417080
**Investment properties (at cost)**
Kettering House
Endowment funds (see funds note)
56164
Unrestricted funds
118836
175000
200000
Wellingborough House (unrestricted funds)
375000
**Assets retained for the charity’s own use**
General equipment.
**Liabilities**
-
Legal & professional fees
-
**Functional property**
In addtion the charity holds functional property comprising
three local meeting houses, with insured values as follows:
Kettering
Wellingborough
Northampton|**_2021_**
**£**
413391|
|---|---|
||**413391**
-
175000
200000|
||**375000**
(780)|
||**(780)**
692000
1018678
1061175|
These financial statements are accepted on behalf of the charity by:
Signed ___________________________________ Dated _21/07/2022____
Eleanor Coss, Clerk to the Trustees
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## **Northamptonshire Area Quaker Meeting of the Religious Society of Friends (Quakers) in Britain Notes to the accounts for the year ended 31 December 2021**
## **1. Receipts & payments accounts**
Receipts and payments accounts contain a summary of money received and money spent during the period and a list of assets and liabilities at the end of the period. Usually, cash received and cash spent will include transactions through bank accounts and cash in hand.
## **2. Prior period analysis**
The financial statements for the prior periods do not allow for a detailed analysis of the receipts and payments as a comparison.
## **3. Opening Cash balances**
The opening cash balances have been restated as the previous period did not include the CAF bank account as cash and there were two immaterial differences on the bank balances.
## **4. Cash Funds summary**
|**Restricted funds**
Gravely Legacy
**Unrestricted funds**
Area General Fund
Area Building Fund
Kettering Local Meeting
Northampton Local Meeting
Oundle Local Meeting
Wellingborough Local Meeting|**Opening**
**balance**
**£**
4615
**4615**
98908
62244
42245
194503
1656
12909
**412465**|**Receipts (Payments)**
**£**
**£**
-
-
**-**
**-**
17787
(8974)
-
(8358)
8649
(9776)
15973
(21588)
1667
(490)
8782
(7361)
**52858**
**(56547)**|**Transfers**
**£**
(2559)
**(2559)**
-
6340
(964)
(3472)
-
655
**2559**|**Closing**
**balance**
**£**
2056|
|---|---|---|---|---|
|||||**2056**
107721
60226
40154
185416
2833
14985|
|||||**411335**|
The Gravely Legacy is a restricted fund to finance work in the annexe (Community Room), garden and meeting house in Wellingborough. The transfer from the Gravely Legacy to the Wellingborough LM fund represents release of funds to cover building and maintenance work in the Wellingborough meeting house.
The transfers from the Local Meeting funds to the Area Building fund reflect the quotas charged to the Local Meetings.
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## **Northamptonshire Area Quaker Meeting of the Religious Society of Friends (Quakers) in Britain**
## **5. Cash funds Local Meetings detail**
|**Receipts**
Bank interest
Collections
Contributions
Donations received
Gift aid
Hire of meeting rooms
Sundry receipts
**Total receipts**
**Payments**
Life: Donations paid out
Life: Dues and subscriptions
Life: Postage & stationery
Property:Cleaning
Property:Garden Equip & Mntce
Property:Kitchen & catering
Property:Minor repairs
Property:Repairs & maintenance
Property:Tests & inspections
Property:Broadband
Property: Utilities
**Total payments**
**Net receipts/(payments)**
Cash funds at start of this period
Transfers between funds
**Cash funds at end of this period**|**Kettering Northampton**
**Funds**
**Funds**
**£**
**£**
24
894
-
107
5881
10834
-
271
1354
1482
1390
2385
-
-
**8649**
**15973**
6000
8494
-
431
40
16
748
3644
460
2576
287
639
179
-
240
857
785
1061
-
331
1037
2406
**9776**
**21588**
(1127)
(5615)
42245
194503
(964)
(3472)
**40154**
**185416**|**Oundle**
**Funds**
**£**
-
-
1177
-
490
-
-
**1667**
490
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
**490**
1177
1656
-
**2833**|**Wellingborough**
**Funds**
**£**
-
-
3694
2456
1440
892
300|
|---|---|---|---|
||||**8782**
3315
-
-
450
403
-
-
1743
-
575
875|
||||**7361**
1421
12909
655|
||||**14985**|
## **6. Endowment funds analysis**
The Betty Desborough fund is held as part of the Kettering Investment property
|Betty Desborough fund
Kingsthorpe Land Accumulated Income
Kingsthorpe Land Capital
Land at Old Accumulated Income
Land at Old Capital
William Dry Accumulated Income
William Dry Capital
Woodford Close Accumulated Income
Woodford Close Capital|**£**
50000
890
500
545
500
1338
500
1391
500|
|---|---|
||**56164**|
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## **Northamptonshire Area Quaker Meeting of the Religious Society of Friends (Quakers) in Britain**
The Area Meeting holds within its assets The Betty Desborough Fund, a legacy given specifically for the purposes of Outreach Work and is thus held and used by the Area Meeting as a restricted fund for this purpose. Its current size is £50,000 or 25% of any future sale proceeds of the Kettering investment property, whichever is the greater.
Trustees have utilised an accounting convention of dividing its unrestricted funds between the General Fund and a Building Fund. The Building Fund is designed to provide a sufficient pot of monies to be used over a 5-year cycle for the preservation in good condition of the 3 Meeting Houses that it owns, topped up each year through contributions from the local meetings. Note that everyday maintenance and repairs are paid for by the local meetings directly.
## **7. Trustees’ remuneration**
Trustees received no expenses, remuneration or benefits in this period.
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