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2022-03-31-accounts

Trustees’ Annual Report

From 1 April 2021 to 31 March 2022

Breathe Communities CIO

Unit 2A, Wharfside Shopping Centre,

Market Jew Street,

Penzance, TR18 2GB

Registered Charity no. 1181656

Trustees

John Howard Cox Treasurer / Trustee Matthew John Noble Trustee ANDREW MURRAY GOLDER Pastor / Trustee Katie Noelle Hope Secretary / Trustee KAREN DEBRA GOLDER Pastor / Trustee Danielle Godden Trustee

Structures, governance and management

Breathe Communities CIO is governed by a constitution which was approved by the Trustees meeting of 18 November 2018. Breathe Communities CIO was registered as a CIO with the Charity Commission on 19 January 2019.

Trustees are appointed at a Members’ meeting. Charity Trustees shall serve so long as they have the support of the Members’ Meeting and (except for those in pastoral office) shall be actively appointed and reappointed at least once every three years.

At Breathe Communities CIO Trustees are responsible for:

Trustees meet other month to consider the business matters of Breathe as listed above, and are encouraged to attend all meetings.

The Trustees together with the Pastor, take the roles of: Establishing and encouraging the implementation of the overall vision for Breathe; Spiritual discernment and oversight;

Overseeing significant pastoral issues; Supporting the pastors in the development and delivery of the creative programme; Consideration of mission and outreach opportunities; Praying for the community; Providing support to the pastor.

Trustees are members of Breathe and bring experience in leadership, accounting and workplace management.

In addition to the Trustees the following positions have been recognised either as paid or voluntary roles to lead the following ministries:

Paid positions:

Pastor

Voluntary positions:

Welcome co-ordinator

Prayer co-ordinator

General volunteer

Training and guidance are provided to the Trustees as required.

Safeguarding

Breathe recognises its responsibilities for the safeguarding of all children and young people under the age of 18 and adults in need of care and support, regardless of gender, ethnicity or ability, as set out in the Children Act 1989 and 2004, Working Together to Safeguard Children (HM Government 2018), and Safeguarding Vulnerable Groups Act 2006 amended by the Protection of Freedoms Act 2012. Breathe has a robust Safeguarding policy that is reviewed annually by the Designated People for Safeguarding and approved by the members Meeting.

Staff and volunteers are required to attend training every three years.

Objectives and activities

The principal purpose of Breathe is the advancement of the Christian faith according to the principles of the Baptist denomination. Breathe may also advance education and carry out other charitable purposes in the United Kingdom and/or other parts of the world.

Breathe undertakes the following activities:

Public benefits include:

Services we provide:

How we advance religion:

Achievements and performance

Church services/acts of worship

Breathe provides regular acts of worship including weekly morning services, with provision for children and young people. Communion is often included in the morning service at least once a month. We believe these times together are essential in building up faith, preparing us for the week ahead and providing opportunities for us to connect with one another and most importantly connecting corporately with our heavenly Father.

Baptism is encouraged for all who have made a commitment to make Jesus their Lord and Saviour. In the last year one person was baptised.

Most of the weddings and funerals we host are for people linked to our Community. There were no weddings or funerals this past year.

We continue to give a priority to the creative arts, allowing people space and time to create, believing that as we are made in the image of our Creator God that through performing that art of creating we allow ourselves to connect with God in a fresh way.

Prayer

As a community, we believe in the power of prayer and that God not only hears our prayers, but that he also answers. We have a prayer room that is used daily for personal and community prayer sessions and for personal reflection; it forms a central hub to everything we do and often when someone comes in from the street passing by and shares a life concern a member of the team will ask gently if they would like prayer then offer prayer for them and the situation they are facing.

During the past year we also hosted a 24/7 prayer event using the prayer room as the focus, with 2 of our members creating prayer, stations, to help inspire and direct people in their prayers both locally and globally. We had over 100 people pass through our doors in that week, most of whom were from other church groups and had never been through the doors of Breathe before, this was a huge encouragement to us.

Daily, before we open our doors our team gather for prayer to focus our minds on God and on the needs of our local community and any other event that may be at the front of our minds.

Working with other churches and Christians

We recognise that we are part of the ‘body of Christ’, the wider church in our city, county and further afield. We have maintained our links with City Life Baptist Church (Formerly Truro Baptist Chuch, Truro) who have supported us and helped us establish our community in Penzance. We also have links with other church groups across the town through some of our volunteers who represent other groups like Discovery church and Shekinah Christian Centre. We appreciate their generosity in sharing their gifted people and skills through workshops and on-going volunteer work.

We are part of Churches Together in Penzance and Area (CTiPA). The pastors have met together regularly to pray and the churches have gathered to pray and worship together.

We hosted a gathering of local pastors recently where we could share the vision of Breathe and they encouraged us through their prayer.

We are also connected to the South West Baptist Association who continue to offer support and guidance and help us find training for our volunteers, especially in regard to safeguarding.

Children and Schools

We have been active in taking assemblies at a local Secondary School and helping the “Open the Book” team run different exhibitions that it has brought to Penzance. This was a great way to share the Christian faith with local school children, a great opportunity to work with other local churches too.

We also have close connections with a Special Needs School; Nancealverne School in Penzance who have visited us throughout the year allowing the children to have a creative outlet, but also giving them a chance to do some work experience working alongside our regular volunteers who help keep Breathe running smoothly.

Pastoral care

The majority of pastoral care that takes place at Breathe is naturally happening daily in many ways in the life of the church, for example, through friendships and one to one contacts, including providing meals, lifts, walks, meeting up to listen over a cup of coffee and praying for one another. This can happen either in our shop unit or in people’s homes.

Alongside this we have provided support and activities in the following ways, but this is just a small part of what goes on.

Individual Discipleship - meeting with several individuals in the community who have been struggling with mental illness - especially anxiety, and using counselling techniques alongside encouragement in their Christian faith to bring support and improvement in their mental health.

Pastoral Support - visiting individuals in their own homes, nursing homes and in hospital to support and encourage those who are struggling with physical and mental health conditions.

Evangelism on the streets of Penzance and St. Ives - this includes using sketch boards and opening questions to give people the chance to talk about life and God and hear a bit more about who Christians say God is. For those who are interested, more resources and signposts are given and prayer is offered. A number of people from our community have been involved in this ministry in association with Open Air Campaigners (OAC). There have been several commitments to Christ and some people have connected more with God.

Community connection

Alongside the activities and groups that are run from the shop unit in Penzance we have set up a Whatsapp group for anyone who wishes to be part of it in our community. This has allowed 24/7 support for those who need help, support or prayer.

Breathe is all about the community with an open door to the high street 3 days a week, we welcome anyone who walks through the door and encourage them to participate in whichever way they feel comfortable; some colouring in for mindfulness, a pencil sketch or a watercolour or even acrylics or oil painting and clay sculpting. We even have poets, song writers and musicians visit from time to time. With each person we spend time getting to know them, sharing a drink and finding out more about them as they get to know us.

On special days we can often be found out on the street giving out gifts and blessing our local community members and shop keepers; On Valentine’s day we gave out 300 heart chocolates reminding people that they are loved. Last summer at the end of the school exams we were giving our flowers, cheering the hearts and blessing those passing by, there were tears of thanks...

Trustee Health Issues

Throughout this past year a number of our trustees and their families have been dealing with emerging medical issues, this has restricted a lot of what could have been accomplished in the year. One family was in hospital attending to their child for the whole year while others were dealing with new diagnoses and awaiting treatment for various life changing conditions. These issues have meant that we have had to find other means of continuing the work of Breathe. It has meant a huge gap in the provision of our work during the year and as we enter 2022/23 we are beginning to see signs of recommencement in the team and in the essential work of bringing creativity, community and faith into the heart of Penzance and online.

Covid-19

Covid-19 has had a huge impact on our charity work this year, when lockdown hit we moved our work online and continued to provide community programming on a daily basis for our Breathe

community to access, that as well as daily telephone support for each person which was greatly appreciated and deliveries of essential items to those in greatest need we continued to sustain the community that had grown in the shop unit.

We are not sure what the future looks like for the physical presence of the charity on the high street but we will continue to find ways to meet and support the needy and vulnerable while keeping abreast of current guidelines.

Financial Review

Breathe Communities CIO financial year is from 1st April to 31st March each year.

Income and Expenditure

Income – The Entirety of Breathe’s income this year has been through Grants, the Baptist Union continuing to support Breathe with £10k and additional gifts through community members. This totalled £10,100 over the period from April1 2021 to 31 March 2022.

Expenditure – Most of our expenditure over this period was down to the paying of our staff costing £10,080. Following the loss of our property we have placed our equipment in storage, this has cost £1980.

This left us with a balance at 31 March 2022 of £35,820, with this strong balance and the South West Baptist Association grant on-going at £833/month we remain confident to continue as a Going concern in the coming financial year.

Funds and Balance Sheet

Breathe has one bank account:

Main bank account for the organisation. The balance at the end of the year was a healthy £35,820.

Reserves Policy

The Trustees of every charity are required to establish and record a reserves policy. Reserves are those funds which are designated to meet an emergency situation where a significant source of income has gone or has been reduced or a significant need to spend has arisen.

To that end we have set aside from our remaining balance £5000 as an emergency reserve which will cover our monthly outlay for 1-2 months.

The operational implementation by the Treasurer is relatively straightforward.

A reserve has been established as a line in the budget. This means the bank balance must not fall below the reserve.

However, as a precaution, if the balance is close to the reserve, the Treasurer will report this to the Pastor. Depending on the circumstances, the Pastor and the Treasurer will determine whether the matter is brought to the Trustees’ Team.

If it does fall below the reserve figure, the Treasurer will note the date, the balance and any relevant circumstances. This will then go the Trustees’ Team.

The overall management of the budget, including the reserve, is put on the agenda of the Trustees meetings every month. If the reserve issue is serious, the Pastor may require an ad-hoc meeting of the Trustees’ team.

In keeping with the reserves policy, funds are maintained to meet foreseeable recurring expenditure.

Internal Controls

Breathe accounts are maintained on Excel. Payroll is processed by Kernow Accountancy who operate our PAYE with the HMRC. Breathe accounts are in the ‘Payments and Receipts’ form.

The Treasurer updates the accounts each month from the monthly bank. Therefore, the accounts are matched to bank balances as the accounts are updated.

Outlook for 2022/23

The budget for 2021-22 shows that Breathe will be able to meet our planned commitments for the year ahead.

We have built up a balance of £35,820 going into this year. With the continued support from the SWBA grant and an increase in member giving we are assured that God is providing the necessary funds for us to continue this valuable work in Penzance.

Declaration

The Trustees declare that they have approved the trustees’ report

Signed on behalf of the charity trustees

Murray Golder Pastor

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Katie Hope
Secretary
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Date: 16/12/2021