2021-03-31-accounts

Friends of All Saints Church, Allhallows

Trustee’s Report and Financial Statements for the period 1[st] April 2020 to 31st Mar 2021

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Contents

Page 3:

Report of the Trustees:

Administrative details

Governance

Vision

Background

Page 4: Objectives and Activities Page 5: Summary of 2020/2021 Page 6: List of FoAS Activities planned for year 2020/21 Page 6: Heritage Engagement Officer work summary from November 2020

Page 8 & 9:

Audited Accounts

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Report of the Trustees

The trustees, present their report with the financial statements of the charity for the period 1[st] April 2020 to 31st Mar 2021. The trustees confirm that the annual report and financial statements comply with the current statutory requirements, the requirements of the company’s governing document and the provision of the Statement of Recommended Practice

Administrative details

Registered Charity Number: 1181764

Registered Address: Cooling Road High Halstow KENT ME3 9PH

Trustees: Stephen Dennis Danton - Chair Stephen Peter Proud - Treasurer Mark Skudder- Secretary Rev. Stephen Gary Gwilt Colin Ian Davis Richard William Yelton

Staff: NONE (everyone is a volunteer) Independent Examiner:

Margot Sturt (PDM OU) 32 Willowbank Drive High Halstow Rochester, KENT ME3 8TW

Website: www.allsaintschurchallhallows.com

Governance

The Charity is a CIO (Charitable Incorporated Organisation) The Charity’s Constitution is the primary governing document of the Charity.

The Friends of All Saints, Allhallows was registered with the Charity Commission on 28th January 2019. Prior to this, the Friends of All Saints first started in 2013, as an unincorporated organisation.

Vision

The Friends of All Saints, Allhallows (“FoAS”) is a registered charity initially set up in 2013 in response to a recognised need to provide financial and physical support for the fabric and surrounding grounds of All Saints Church, Allhallows, Rochester KENT.

The vision of FoAS is to preserve and protect the fabric, fixtures, moveables and churchyard of All Saints Church, Allhallows, as a place of worship and as a building of historical and architectural merit .

Background

The Friends of All Saints was formed in 2013 following the threat of closure of the building and when it became obvious that the congregation was finding it increasingly difficult to maintain the church as it had been doing for hundreds of years.

The outcome of this was a decision made to commence fund raising activities and devise a programme based on the age-old concept of “use it or lose it”!

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Objectives and activities

Charitable objectives

The purposes of the charity as set out in its governing document are:

• To improve and protect the church building, to make it useful to all in the community for another thousand years.

• To increase knowledge and understanding of the local history of the church and the surrounding area

• To increase community events for all

• To improve support and awareness of, and for, local residents who may be lonely or infirm

• To introduce sustainable systems for building, heating, lighting plumbing etc., wherever possible and practical.

Meeting a Need

FoAS aims to achieve its vision by continuing to fundraise locally and host various fundraising events. At the same time, FoAS aims to seek substantial fundraising opportunities, by developing its ambitious plan to enhance the purpose and use of the building and attract funding proportionate to its vision. FoAS is currently working on their project “Jewel in the Marshlands- Enhancing our Community Heritage”. Made possible by National Lottery players, the project aims to protect and promote the unique and deep heritage of the church and its area, making the building the focal point for exploring and celebrating the heritage of our church and community. In 2018, the NLHF (National Lottery Heritage Fund) awarded a Round One grant. In March 2020, the NLHF awarded a grant for Stage Two of the project. The finances for the project will last until July 2022, but the project itself will be an ongoing schedule of activities to develop the building as a ‘community hub’ that will engage with local residents and a wide selection of the public.

At approximately 1,000 years old, this Grade One listed building is the oldest building in Allhallows and is steeped in history.

The Project aims to reach audiences with the following heritage themes:

1. All Saints Church

2. Life in Allhallows through the centuries

3. Significance of Allhallows in defence

The project will upgrade the building, so that it can become a multi-use facility that excels at education and entertainment for members of the public. The building has stood for 1,000 years and FoAS want to make sure that it remains a relevant and useful building for a further 1,000 years. The project will include essential preservation/maintenance work and the installation of multi-media equipment and improved heating/ lighting. An educational programme is also planned and will aim to engage with the local interested parties, the tourism trade and as many local schools as possible in the area, with volunteers provided with appropriate training so they can help keep a sustainable interest in the building. FoAS are also seeking to engage and provide for diverse community groups, such as people living with dementia and their carers as well as others in the Parish with disabilities.

Mentioned in William the Conqueror’s Domesday Book, All Saints Church, Allhallows embodies architectural styles and features from almost every era of British History, reflecting the political and ecclesiastical changes of the country through time. The church also boasts some of the best kept records in the country, dating back to 1629. The front door and Rood Screen are original Tudor Oak, dating back to the era of Henry VIII.

The Charity’s Trustees have complied with their duties under the Charities Act 2011 to have due regard to public benefit guidance published by the Commission.

Public Benefit

Due to the covid pandemic and the National Lottery work being planned and then started at All Saints Church, the FoAS public benefit activities, which are intended to illustrate the commitment and hard work of the Charity for the ultimate benefit of the community, were extremely limited over the past year. There has however, been a lot of preparation and planning work for public benefit activities going forward into 2021/22 undertaken by our Heritage Engagement Officer, a part-time, 3 days per week consultant, who has been working for us since November 2020 and will remain in our employ, at a minimum until June 2022. With additional fundraising our plan is to retain her services for three to five years if possible.

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Summary of 2020-2021

The year 2020 to 2021 was one, which in common with almost every other organization across the world, was overshadowed by the presence of the COVID-19 pandemic. With the National Lottery award in March 2020 the Board of Trustees knew that we would have to close the church down and indeed put all activities on hold until the Church construction and maintenance work, both externally and internally, was completed. However, what we didn’t know in March 2020 was how much that the pandemic was going to impact us on the year ahead and, with the second wave that necessitated a second lockdown in the latter part of 2020. All of this had a significant impact on getting the tender for the church works out as well as on the evaluation of tenders after they were received with the subsequent putting in place of the contract. Despite these delays, we are pleased to report on another productive year for the Friends of All Saints (FoAS) although at this stage and at first sight, there is little in terms of evidence that is immediately visual that reveals how much has taken place.

After undertaking a value engineering exercise, we selected our preferred tender offer in November 2020, and it was agreed that work would commence in the New Year. Our principal contractor took over the church site from the 2[nd] February 2021 and work commenced in that same week. Unfortunately, the year did not get off to a good start in that month, or indeed in the months that followed, in terms of clement weather for the large-scale external work that was required. The Nave and north and south nave aisle roofs were a major part of these works and as anticipated, given the age of the church building and the limited maintenance that had taken place over the past 100 or more years, a lot of additional work was encountered that had to be costed into the overall project budget.

The church was temporarily re-opened in 2020 after various covid protection measures were put in place although with the rise in infections throughout October this was soon curtailed in line with the Guidance that was issued by the Diocese. During the period when the church was opened again, we ran a number of successful project days on the first Saturday of each month, which included the installation of new gate posts on the south path entrance gate as well as the undertaking of shrubbery control in the main cemetery. Throughout this time a number of church services were held, all of which were in accordance with the guidance that had been issued by the Diocese.

Since being awarded the Round Two National Lottery Heritage Fund grant in March 2020 the FoAS have continued to fund raise, and in total a further £66,000 has been raised that will hopefully be sufficient to meet all of the ambitious plans for the Jewel in the Marshlands project.

Allhallows Life Magazine

As previously noted in the 2019-2020 Annual Report, A C Goatham & Son, very kindly offered us a further year of sponsorship for the publication of the Allhallows Life Magazine. Despite the pandemic we have maintained the target of 10 publications per annum (published each month and distributed to all homes in Allhallows by volunteers, except in January and in August). The magazine continues with the aims of informing and entertaining residents of Allhallows and includes information on events from many varied groups in and around the village.

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List of main FoAS community activities planned for 2020/21

Whilst we have not been able to hold any events other than a couple of Saturday tea and coffee afternoons over the past twelve months, our part-time Heritage Engagement Officer, employed from November 2020 as part of the National Lottery funding award, has been very busy and Allhallows Primary Academy has benefited from some activities that are described in more detail below.

Heritage Engagement Officer work summary from November 2020 – March 2021

The disruption of the pandemic has meant that several activities have not taken place or been offered to date, this coupled with the delay in the completion of the church building works has meant that several planned community activities for the summer and for example, some of the larger events planned with the Allhallows Primary Academy have not taken place. However, despite the challenges in the past year several activities have been completed or developed and it has allowed additional planning time to prepare for when we are able to do more at the church, these include:

• There has been much focus on the development of volunteer recruitment, including the production and distribution to interested parties of new volunteer enquiry and registration forms, finalization of the volunteer policy, creation of an initial induction checklist, recruitment of new volunteers and sharing/updating the Time tempo Credit scheme.

• Firming up and strengthening of our partnership development with Age UK Medway, wHoocares, Raising Youth, Play on Words, Medway Swale Estuary Partnership (MSEP) the Guildhall Museum and Ideas test has progressed to a point where we shall be ready to implement some of the planned activities with these organisations as soon as the church building is once again ready and available for use.

• The church website has been totally redeveloped, working alongside volunteer Ash Williams from Raising Youth. This has now gone live and will continue to be added to and updated, as applicable, on a regular basis. Three volunteers have received training for website management from Ash Williams.

• A new partnership has been formed with Allhallows Academy, who are keen to make more use of the church and explore the local heritage. Once we can do so, we will be delivering the sound and light sessions led by the Guildhall Museum as well as some genealogy sessions.

• Four classes from Allhallows Primary Academy have taken part in 2 online video calls with the Architect and Stonemason to find out more about their roles and involvement with the work on the church.

• Significant effort has been put into Researching the Lost heritage days; Lammas day, Rogation Sunday, beating the Bounds and Plough Sunday. This has involved us working with a volunteer to create 4 PowerPoint presentations to be shared with the school and at future events. This year sharing of these has taken place on the FoAS Facebook page

• Development of the heritage walking trails continues, and routes have been discussed and agreed with the project team. Additionally, images have been collated and written information has been developed to accompany each of the different routes. This has now been passed to Medway Swale Estuary Partnership (MSEP), who are one of our key partners, for further development.

• A church leaflet has been developed and this has now been handed over to the developers Nebulo to be compiled and published in a form that visitors will be able to use and easily understand.

• First drafts have been produced for two external interpretation boards and discussions have taken place regarding other interpretation boards/plaques to be developed with locations being confirmed for their placement once the church is complete. Initial quotes for these have been sought.

• Training for website volunteers has taken place, with more training planned for the Autumn for the oral histories, food hygiene and safeguarding.

• Several articles have been written for the Allhallows community Life Magazine about the work of the Heritage Engagement Officer, with particular focus on lost heritage days and requests for volunteers. Additionally, the FoAS volunteer Project Manager for the National Lottery, Heritage Funded work has provided regular updates on work progress for incorporation in the ALM.

• The Facebook post on the FoAS page, has been used to provide project updates or share heritage information

• Various training courses have been undertaken by the HEO to support the community and heritage role and in some cases by volunteers to support the future activities that we shall be leading from the Church.

• The initial development of an educational pack has commenced in consultation with Allhallows Academy who will trial some of the activities once developed.

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• The first public heritage walk planned for 18[th] Sept is being combined with the Heritage Open Days scheme with the plan being for the church to be open and able to share heritage information.

Church Recording

The formal recording of all the church fixtures, fittings and main articles, that commenced in 2019 will resume once work is complete within the church. Trained volunteers from the FoAS, will once again participate in the recording of All Saints Church when the activity resumes, hopefully in October this year. Once completed, a copy of the recording will go to the V&A museum; another copy to the Diocese and a further copy will be retained by the church.

Going forward from 2021 to 2022

Obviously, we are looking forward to completing all the work on the project later this year, with July being the planned completion date. The hard work of our HEO will by that time put us in a position whereby we have all our key partnerships and activities in place that we can begin to roll-out for the long-term benefit of the communities of Allhallows and surrounding villages on the Hoo Peninsula once we reopen the Church doors.

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Friends of All Saints Church Recei ts and Pa ments Account for the ear to 31st March 2021 Year to Period 28-01-19 to 314)3-20 31-03-21 Total Receipt5 £111,565.46 £42,289.44 Less Total pa￿entS Suf plus1(Deficltl for the year £58,042.70 £53,522.76 £63,462.45 1£21173.011 Bank Balances at start ot perlod Comrnunfty Account HLF Account Total Balances brou8ht fonvard £10.111.52 £5.200.$5 £15,312.07 £9.235.08 £27,250.00 £36,485.08 Add surplus fi)r the perlod Subtract Deflclt for the perlod Total Balances carried fonvard £53.522.76 {21173.01) £15,312.07 £68.834.83 Represented bv:_ Bank Balances at end of period Communlty Account HLF Atcount Total Balance5 carried forward £49,658.12 £19,176.71 £68,834.83 £10,111.52 £5,200.55 £15,312.07 I have examined the Accounts of The Friends of All Sa5nts Church for the Year to 31st Marth 2021. tO8ether wlth the Accounting Records. and report that proper accounting records have been kept and the accounts are In accordance wlth those records. I&/￿21 The Financial Statements were approved and The Attounts authorised for Issue by thÈ Board of Trustees and slgned on its behalf by: Page9of9