Friends of All Saints Church, Allhallows Trustee’s Report and Financial Statements for the period 1[st] April 2021 to 31st Mar 2022 Page 1 of 10 ## **Contents** ## **Page 3:** ## **Report of the Trustees:** ## **Administrative details** ## **Governance** ## **Vision** ## **Background** **Page 4: Objectives and Activities Page 5: Summary of 2021/2022 Page 5: List of FoAS Activities planned for year 2021/22 Page 5: Heritage Engagement Officer work summary from November 2021 Audited Accounts** ## **Page 8 - 10:** Page 2 of 10 ## **Report of the Trustees** The trustees, present their report with the financial statements of the charity for the period 1[st] April 2021 to 31st Mar 2022. 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:** The Rectory Cooling Road High Halstow KENT ME3 9PH **Trustees: Stephen Dennis Danton - Chair Stephen Peter Proud - Treasurer Mark Skudder- Secretary – resigned October 2021 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 Page 3 of 10 based on the age-old concept of “use it or lose it”! **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 still working on their project “Jewel in the Marshlands- Enhancing our Community Heritage”, which has a completion date of 31[st] October 2022. 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 carer’s, 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** As with the reporting year 2020/21 the covid pandemic significantly impacted 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. As for the previous reporting year these were once again extremely limited over the 2021/22 reporting year. A significant amount of preparation and planning work for public benefit activities going forward and through 2021/22 was undertaken by our Heritage Engagement Officer (HEO). Our HEO is 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 the end of October 2022. As noted in the 2020/21 report, with additional fundraising, our plan is to continue to retain her services for three to five years if possible. Page 4 of 10 **Summary of 2021-2022** The year 2021 to 2022 was one, which in common with almost every other organization across the world, continued to be overshadowed and impacted by the presence of the COVID-19 pandemic. However, by the end of March 2021 the external construction and maintenance work was underway, albeit with delays due to (i) sourcing and delivery of materials and (ii) a shortage of labour on site to maintain the planned completion targets. The stated completion date for the project initially remained as July 2021 although we had a further setback as the issue of the faculty for the internal works by the Diocesan Advisory Committee was subject to some delay and was not made available until 23[rd] June 2021. The completion date was revised a number of times after this and eventually was set at November 2021. Despite these delays, we are pleased to report on another productive year for the Friends of All Saints (FoAS) and we reached a point that clearly visually demonstrates the full extent of the work that has taken place. As previously reported our principal contractor took over the church site from the 2[nd] February 2021 and work commenced in that same week. Despite the bad weather at the earlier part of 2021, although not one of the best of years, from March 2021 onwards the weather was much improved. The Nave and north and south nave aisle roofs were completed around early June and improvements incorporated the installation of insulation material and roofing felt, neither of which had previously been part of the construction. All work had to be carried out in accordance with a plan produced by our ecologist following the discovery of a minor bat roost at the time of the ecological survey. Additionally, 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. Fund raising continued to be an area of significant interest even after the National Award as we were very aware that additional funds were going to be required to sufficiently meet all of the ambitious plans for the Jewel in the Marshlands project. As our approved accounts show we managed to raise an additional sum to the value of just under £21,000, which was additional to our fund-raising sum of £42,469 in the previous year. Additionally, we benefited to the sum of £20,345, which was received from the proceeds of the sale of land (formerly the site of Allhallows Scout’s hut) in Allhallows, restricted solely for All Saints Church to use. ## **Allhallows Life Magazine** As previously noted in the 2020-2021 Annual Report, A C Goatham & Son, had continued to support us for a further year of sponsorship for the publication of the Allhallows Life Magazine (that is, till the end of 2022). Unfortunately, the editor of the Magazine moved out of the area, and we were unable to find a replacement to take us beyond March. However, we advised A C Goatham as our sponsor and are continuing to look for someone to fill this position. ## **List of main FoAS community activities planned for 2021/22** As well as recommencing our regular first Saturday of the month tea and coffee afternoons from January 2022, our parttime Heritage Engagement Officer, was very busy in developing a programme and schedule for the remainder of the 202122 period as well as for the upcoming 2022-23 period. In particular, Allhallows Primary Academy has benefited from some newly developed activities that are described in more detail below and additionally, discussions took place with some of our key partners so that we could begin to work on and develop ideas for activities through into the next reporting year. The list of planned activities is presented below. ## **Heritage Engagement Officer work summary from November 2021 – March 2022** The delays with the completion of the building work clearly hindered the delivery of activities. However, we did hold a heritage Open day in September, which was very successful and local people were pleased to see the amount of work that has been going on. In addition, we hosted a number of other events, which are described below. - We held our first public events on 18th September as part of the Heritage Open Days scheme. A guided heritage walk of Allhallows was attended by 24 people and this was followed by an open afternoon with refreshments and heritage/project displays, using part of the church which was accessible. Over 40 people attended. This was promoted on the Heritage Open days website alongside our other marketing routes and a post-event press release was sent to the local newspapers. - We hosted the PCC Christmas fair at the church on Friday 3rd December from 5pm till 8pm, which was jointly with our other parish church. Over 200 people attended this event and over 15 external stall holders took part alongside church stalls. School pupils were also in attendance opening the fair with carol singing. - In November we started a six-week activity programme working in partnership with Kent Wildlife Trust to deliver our 'making Connections' wellbeing and social isolation project (Funded locally by the Test Bed Fund). We were recently awarded a small grant from Medway Voluntary Action from the Test Bed fund to the sum of £2,328.50. A similar six-week activity programme will be repeated in the Spring. Page 5 of 10 - A local florist held two Christmas wreath making sessions which were very popular, and we are in discussions to hold future seasonal sessions in the church. - We were awarded £2,344 from Kent Community Foundation, which we used for Play on Words (a key partner) to produce a series of 3 or 4 mini character videos, which were pieced together into one 30-40-minute-long piece. This project also works in partnership with Slough Fort, another heritage location in Allhallows. The mini videos were focused on some of the main people who have featured prominently in Allhallows' past. The tales were narrated by a key character dressed in the style of the Victorian era and reflected on some of the tales from the past using the information we had researched. We identified several characters based on the current historical information we have access too, connected to the military and smuggling past and of the De Pimpe or Copinger families. - Activities with the school visiting the church were scheduled to commence in the 2022 early Winter months with some activities having already taken place with the school including the virtual sessions in March with the Architect and Stonemason. - In September 2021 a whole school 'Lammas day' activity celebration, supported by our HEO, delivered an assembly, and helped out in each class. Over 170 pupils were involved and parents. Going forward, now that this work has been completed, we are planning to engage with other key partners and to look at delivering a diverse range of activities within the church across all ages, with both one-off and regular activities taking place. - Installation of the new AV system and new hearing loop was not completed in full until the beginning of January due to a delay in the delivery of the projector lens. However, everything is now completed and is working very well. - We continued with our focus on the development of volunteer recruitment and now have 22 registered volunteers. Many of these are volunteering for several different roles, including existing and new roles. - We continued to advertise for volunteers to support our oral history programme and our new 'Making Connections' wellbeing and social isolation project, alongside other ongoing roles within the church and had some useful success in this area. - Volunteers undertook training in October 2021 for oral history and for food hygiene and safeguarding (20th) to ensure they have the necessary skills and knowledge to support activities within our planned Hub Café. - Around a third of our registered volunteers have signed up to the Tempo Time Credits scheme, to receive rewards for their volunteer time. - Initial meetings took place in 2021 with Rochester Guildhall Museum as we shall be offering 2 bespoke sessions using the church features in early 2022. One of these sessions will focus on sound (the church bell) and the other on light (particularly, through the stained-glass windows). The local school are keen to be involved. We are awaiting the completion of the building works to carry out a final activity session plan and risk assessment. We had initially planned to run these sessions before the end of this reporting year, but they will now be shifted into the start of the 2022-23 period. - Our Co-op community funded youth project working in partnership with 'Raising Youth' is now in the planning stages and we are meeting with the local youth club soon with a view to start delivery in April/May 2022 once we have secured adequate funding to start running the sessions. Further details and outcomes of this will be included in the 2022-23 report. - We had a meeting with Age UK in February to put plans in place for starting regular sessions in the church for those living with dementia. However, here is now some significant delay with this due to staffing issues with AgeUK and we are waiting until this is resolved. - Discussions are ongoing with wHooCares (a local Community Interest Company) and we are looking at specific activities that some of the wHooCares clients could be involved in. - With regards to the development of the church as a Community Hub we now have a Focus Group Leader trained by Medway Voluntary Action who will be running approximately 4 focus groups a year on various health topics. - A lot of discussion and planning has been taking place with regards to setting up and establishing our Community Hub café. It is anticipated that this will be in place by Summer 2022 as there is a lot of work to be done, such as more training of volunteers and a food safety and hygiene inspection taking place before we can open. A meeting has also taken place with the Diocese Community Hub representative to discuss our plans and to establish whether we need any additional support. - Finally, we continue to share the project and any church events on social media, in the local community magazine, through the school newsletter and on our website. ## **Church Recording** The formal recording of all the church fixtures, fittings, and main articles, that commenced in 2019 has still not resumed, despite the work now being complete within the church. We shall be re-establishing contact with the church recording team and with support from our rained volunteers will take steps to resume and complete this activity. 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 2022 to 2023** Obviously, we are looking forward to completing our project and submitting our evaluation report and final completion report later this year. This date has been moved from the planned completion of July to the end of October. 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 Page 6 of 10 begin to roll-out for the long-term benefit of the communities of Allhallows and surrounding villages on the Hoo Peninsula. S D Danton December 2022 Page 7 of 10 Friends of All Saints Church pagelof3 Recei ts and Pa ments Account for the Yearto ear to 31st March 2022 Year to 31412-22 314>3-21 Total Recelpts £353,276.88 £lll,S65.46 Less Totsl Payments Surplus/(Dell