Friends of All Saints Church, Allhallows
Trusties’ Report and Financial Statements for the period 1[st] April 2023 to 31st March 2024
**Contents**
**Page 3:**
**Report of the Trusties:**
**Administrative details**
**Governance**
**Vision**
**Background**
**Objectives and Activities Page 4: Page 5: Summary of 2023/2024 Page 7: Heritage Engagement Officer work summary from April 2023 Page 11 - 15: Independently Examined and Approved Accounts**
## **Report of the Trustees**
The trusties, present their report with the financial statements of the charity for the period 1[st] April 2023 to 31st March.
2024. The trusties 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:** All Saints Church Stoke Road Allhallows Rochester, KENT ME3 9PF
**Trusties: Michael Turner – Chair Rev. Stephen Gary Gwilt Colin Ian Davis Richard William Yelton Lynn Yelton - Treasurer Stephen Danton Alexandra Goodman Julie Baker Tony Baker David Wallace**
## **Not a Trustee Secretary Susan Turner**
**Staff: NONE (everyone is a volunteer) Independent Examiner:** Holly Daniel
Miss Holly Daniel (CIMA Cert) 27 Well Hill Drive Harworth Doncaster
## **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, fxtures, moveable’s 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”! **Objectives and activities**
## Charitable objectves
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 had 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) was awarded a Round One grant. In March 2020, the NLHF was awarded a grant for Stage Two of the project. The finances for the project were planned to last until July 2022, although this was extended due to some delays caused by the COVID pandemic. Following the end of project report being presented to the National Lotter the project continues with 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 has upgraded 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 Trusties have complied with their duties under the Charities Act 2011 to have due regard to public benefit guidance published by the Commission.
## **Public Benefit**
## **Summary of 2023-2024**
In summary our final completion report addressed the fact that we now have a building that is essentially watertight and has to date been draught proofed as much as possible with broken glass being replaced in windows and door insulation strips being installed where previously none existed. The addition of the frameless glass door to the south entrance porch has significantly improved the warmth of the building. However, it is of course the installation of our wet underfloor heating system that has proved to be a very popular improvement. Unfortunately, with 2023-24 being a year of the energy crisis and significant increase in energy prices, this meant that we were unable to use the heating system as much as we would have liked.
The installation of the heating system has allowed us to open a community Hub Cafe, for two days a week, following the provision of food hygiene training to volunteer staff who run the facility. The installed kitchen is of a very reasonable size for the building with a range of small appliances that allows us to offer a broad variety of snacks and refreshment. Having two comfortable, compliant, modern toilets with a baby change facility has of course made the building much improved for all users.
Our new state-of-the art AV system is regularly used for church services and events and during this year we identified several other organisations who could potentially make use of the system. It has already made a great difference and the larger screen and sound system have made it more accessible to those with eyesight issues as the images are larger and the sound system is adjustable so we can adapt it to suit the needs of our users. We have had interest from a Medway Council adult education group wanting to use the church facilities, including the AV screen and wifi to be able to run remote learning sessions
with local people. We also use it for special services that we have put on for Age UK clients who are living with the early to middle stages of dementia and it has worked well for this. Additionally, there is also the option for the Peninsula East Academy to access it as well as other user groups who visit or use the space to make use of it.
The addition of insulation to the roof space, even though it is only one inch thick, provides some additional help in the battle against heat loss from the building. Longer term plans are focused on the installation of solar panels on the south nave aisle roof along with the provision of a storage battery, to retain some of the power for when it is needed. Exploratory discussions have also taken place with the diocese with regards to the design, approval, and installation of secondary double glazing on the clerestory windows and those in the north and south nave aisles. There is some support for this, and we need to obtain some designs and quotes for undertaking this work so that we can discuss further with the diocese and apply for a faculty to obtain approval. Doing our part for working towards net zero is at the forefront of these plans.
## **Community Hub café**
Following a second successful visit and the award of a food hygiene rating by the Medway Environmental Health Department, we open our doors to the public and since that time we have seen a steady and slowly growing flow of people seeking refreshments as well as cake and hot or cold snacks. The Hub Cafe is run by a loyal band of volunteers opening twice a week, Wednesday, and Thursday from 11.00- 14.00 unless there is a funeral or other churchrelated business. Any money remaining raised after all expenses have been paid is divided and shared equally between the Church PCC and FoAS treasurers. The money given to the Church helps pay the utilities and the money that goes to FoAS is for restocking all goods needed for the running of the cafe as well as for minor ongoing work on the Church building.
As well as continuing with our regular first Saturday of the month tea and coffee afternoons,
upcoming 2023-24 period. In particular, Allhallows Peninsula East, 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 April 2023 – December 2023**
• During 2023, I continued to support the growth of the community hub and partnerships made through the ‘Jewel in the Marshland’ National Lottery project which was completed at the end of 2022, alongside building new partnerships and opportunities, often working closely with Stephen Danton and others to helps establish new activities.
• Between March – May I carried out community survey to see what kinds of activities and support local people would like to see offered in the church. This highlighted a number of key areas with potential for future development, funding, and partnerships. These included a knitting/crochet/sewing group, art classes, craft sessions, adult education courses (healthy eating, mental health and diabetes scoring highly), a local walking group, a gardening/ growing group, and yoga/Thai chi as the most popular alongside watching theatrical performances.
• The Applause shows have continued, and progress was made in developing some of the above areas. Following the Aspire art sessions coming to an end FoAS volunteers established their own weekly class. Medway Council have offered ‘Healthy way’ facilitator training with free training and once trained you are paid for the delivery, but no-one took up this offer. Further partnerships with Medway
• Links were strengthened with the Diocese Community Engagement team, who helped support and promote a ‘Loneliness Awareness event in June. I also attended the Diocese Community hub team meetings Magali organised several times a year.
• I attended several networking events throughout the year either face to Face or online (Medway and Swale Physical Activities Alliance). Funding or other potential partnership opportunities would be shared with other FoAS trustees as relevant.
• I assisted in the draft church user hire agreement form, which the PCC have now taken on the development of.
• Holiday activities took place every school holiday (except Easter when I was on leave). These have continued to have regular and new families attending. This year as many of the past event volunteers were now engaged regularly in the Hub Café, we trialled in the Spring the activities running alongside the Hub café opening times, at the far end of the church. This proved to work well, as most attendees also used the café and had not visited before. The craft activities were often seasonally themed and to make the activities available to all the were free with a suggested donation of £1 per child for activities which most paid. All activities and events were risk assessed. The June Open afternoon coincided with the ‘Churches’ counts on
Nature’ and ‘Love your Burial Ground’ week, run by Caring for God’s Acre, which providing another way to engage with people and to look at the history of the churchyard and gravestone designs as well as observing and recording what flora and fauna existed.
• Other family activities took place at the St. George’s day event in April and the Heritage Open day in September. At the heritage open day, we made use of the AV system, sharing a PowerPoint presentation I’d prepared the previous year about the church history. Also playing oral histories about the Allhallows railway, which was part of the theme for the open day.
• Publicity and promotion of events, activities and volunteering continued to be a core part of my role. Updating the website regularly, posting weekly things on the FoAS Facebook page, sharing forthcoming event posters, and preparing articles or press releases for the ALM or to send to Village Voices or partners. I designed the new FoAS pop up banner for use in the church and at events.
• Promotion of volunteering continued to be an integral part of my role, with regular please for the various volunteer opportunities and slowly we have grown the number of Hub Café volunteers. New volunteers have either come via me or the current café volunteers and have undergone a trial session in the café supported by either Lynn or Julie and go through the kitchen induction process and basic health and safety matters. I then set them up to complete the online food safety training independently or over several weeks I supported two of the volunteers with low-level digital skills to complete the training. Making them aware of the Tempo Time credits scheme and ensuring they register as a volunteer following their trial, so they are covered by the FoAS insurance. The updating and storing their contact details securely.
• I have helped coordinate the Age UK services alongside Stephen Gwilt and Stephen Danton, Age UK Medway, and Peninsula East primary Academy. The school have contributed to the services with seasonal songs or presentations and pupils read the bible readings. These have been very successful and a great opportunity for intergenerational mixing.
• Through initial partnerships developed with Medway Council’s health team in the JiTM project, we built on this, and their main Project Manager Vicki Broome put us in touch with several other departments whom FoAS could potentially work with or be involved with funded or other opportunities. This included the Healthy Way facilitator training, the adult education and Digital Skills team and Medway Go (funded children’s holiday activity provision). Some of which we have been able to take forward.
• A recent meeting with the Whose Hoo project team has potential for FoAS and All Saints to be involved in facilitating activities led by their team at the church, as part of the current development phase which runs till May
2024 and then from the end of 2024 with the delivery stage. There is potential to also use material from the JiTM project like the oral histories, the ‘Step into the Past’ video and heritage Hikes booklet to share with a wider audience.
## **Funded Projects**
## **Co-op Community Fund – St. Mary’s Hoo community greenspace.**
• Following an initial meeting with church PCC, FoAS and local community representatives in the Spring we assessed the potential and planned for the Autumn. Badgers are present on site which as a protected species under the Wildlife and Countryside Act, guidance was sought from the West Kent Badger Trust. Over 150 free tree saplings were acquired from the Woodland Trust and planted by FoAS and local community volunteers in November. The Local community are engaged and helped clear large areas of overgrown matter and are keen to help take responsibility for the long-term care of the space.
Tools, skip hire for the scrub clearance and tree guards have been purchased from the funds raised by coop members.
## **Medway Council Adult Educaton – Digital Skills**
• Our contact Dan Mace received funding from Health England to deliver a range of courses across Medway, the aim to lessen the inequalities gap between urban and rural areas, by bringing sessions to more isolated areas and to help adults to learn new skills and access healthcare and other services online.
• A 6-week Beginner’s Digital skills course was run in the summer of 2023 with an average of 6 learners per session: lower numbers due to holiday season. The sessions were reviewed by FoAS, and the Digital skills team and remaining funding made it possible to lead a 10-week beginner’s course running between November 2023 – mid May 2024. Several the FoAS volunteers are taking this course. The hope is that long-term several may feel confident enough to support others at beginner’s level who may need some initial help, at a monthly or bi-monthly drop session when the hub café is open. This will also make use of the FoAS tablets and share skills and those willing to do this could choose the areas they felt most confident in to share with others e.g. using google maps, attaching files, how to send an email, etc. • The funding pays towards the use of the church space and utilities.
## **Kent Community Fund – Creatve Theatre Project with Mid Kent College (MKC) creatve department and Peninsula east Primary School**
• Initial discussions by myself and Stephen Danton were held with the school and MKC in the summer, which resumed in September and an activity plan for delivery was developed. MKC staff and students will delivery sessions as an afterschool club for years 5 and six pupils at the Primary School on Thursdays 3.15 -4.15pm, starting with a taster session on 4[th] January 2024 and the first session 11[th] January. MKC will be the main delivery lead with FoAS support as needed and FoAS to attend various sessions to capture photographic and anecdotal evidence for the funding report. Sessions will include elements of music, theatre and performance. The intention where possible is to include some aspects of Allhallows’s heritage through the creative work. A final performance early summer will be given in the church.
Funding is for £2,500 towards the cost of resources/materials, travels costs and other items. This is the third successful application with Kent Community Fund, which enables FoAS to be eligible for apply for bigger pots of money and have early access to some funding.
## **Missional property Fund - Solar Panels for All Saints**
• I helped put together the application for the Missional Property Fund, which came to us via the Diocese, with Stephen Gwilt giving the church specific information. The application was to support the installation of solar panels on the flat roof ledge at All Saints to help the church become more sustainable and help with future energy costs and to include some interpretation about the work and energy saving benefits. Stephen obtained an initial quote for the work and dealt with the faculty application and survey required as part of the application and required for Diocese approval of the project. At the end of October, we found out we were successful with our application and had been awarded £9000 towards the installation of Solar panels.
## **Church Recording**
We have not managed to contact the church recording team, which we suspect may have suffered from significant impacts of the covid pandemic. Some of our trained volunteers have also moved out of the village. Despite this there is still some interest in taking steps to resume and complete this activity so that copies of the recording may respectively go to the V&A museum; the Diocese and with one being retained by the church.
**Going forward from 2023 to 2024**
We are looking at developing a plan whereby we properly rationalize our activities so that we can do them with the restricted numbers of volunteers that we often have. Support for volunteering is also being sought from Medway Voluntary Action and the National Lottery Transformation Academy project that MVA manages and are delivering following the award of National Lottery funding.
|**Year end accounts**
**Receipts for year ending 2024**
**Membership subscriptions**
**Grants / Misc / Donations**
**Fund Rasing**
**Gift aid**
**Hub Café**
**Events**
**Other**
**Refunds**
**Cash from café**|**Year end accounts**
**Receipts for year ending 2024**
**Membership subscriptions**
**Grants / Misc / Donations**
**Fund Rasing**
**Gift aid**
**Hub Café**
**Events**
**Other**
**Refunds**
**Cash from café**||**This year**
**£**
£1,536.00
**£1,536.00**
£868.00
**£1,047.18**
£5,786.64
**£5,786.64**
£0.00
**£0.00**
£2,871.25
**£2,871.25**
£1,447.91
**£1,447.91**
£0.00
**£0.00**
£2,246.73
**£2,246.73**
£228.00
**£228.00**|**This year**
**£**
£1,536.00
**£1,536.00**
£868.00
**£1,047.18**
£5,786.64
**£5,786.64**
£0.00
**£0.00**
£2,871.25
**£2,871.25**
£1,447.91
**£1,447.91**
£0.00
**£0.00**
£2,246.73
**£2,246.73**
£228.00
**£228.00**|**Previous**
**Year**
**£**
£1,488.00|
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
||||||**£1,488.00**
£5,737.28|
||||||**£5,737.28**|
||||||£0.00|
||||||**£0.00**
£0.00|
||||||**£0.00**
£1,513.00|
||||||**£1,513.00**
£0.00|
||||||**£0.00**
£8,825.01|
||||||**£8,825.01**
£0.00|
||||||**£0.00**
£0.00|
||||||**£0.00**|
||**Total Receipts for theyear**|**£15,163.71**|||**£17,563.29**|
||**Payments for year ending 31st March 2024**
**Premises**
Electric
Public Liability
Repairs & Renewals
Gas
**Activities**
Events
Activities
**Fund raising Expenses**
**Admin/ Establishment Expenses**
**Other Expenses’**
Courses / Training
Broadband
Other payments
High Halstow PCC
St Marys Hoo project
Donations
Transfer to NHLF Account
Misc
Salary
**Capitol Purchases**
Bouncy castle/Kneelers
Fridge|||**Previous**
**year**
**£**
£0.00
£0.00
£0.00
£2,600.69
£0.00|
|---|---|---|---|---|
||||||
||||||
|||||**£2,600.69**
£0.00
£1,239.18|
|||||**£1,239.18**
£1,197.45|
|||||**£1,197.45**
£0.00|
|||||**£0.00**
£0.00
£347.63
£1,954.06
£0.00
£0.00
£0.00
£0.00
£15,875.87
£0.00|
|||||**£18,177.56**
£0.00
£0.00
£0.00|
|||||**£0.00**|
||**Total Payment foryear**|**£26,247.61**||**£23,214.88**|
|**Receipts & Payments for year ending 31st March 2024**
Total Receipts for the year
Total payments for the year
Net receipts( payments ) for the year
Bank/ Cash/ Fund brought forward
**Statement of Assets & liabilities**
**Monetary**
**assets**
Bank Current
FOAS
Bank Account
NLHF
Cash in hand|**This year**
£
£15,163.71
£26,247.61
-
£11,083.90
£3,907.55
**-£7,176.35**
£10,925.49
£20,004.22
£0.00
**£30,929.71**|**Previous**
**Year**
£
£17,563.29
£23,214.88
-£5,651.59
£49,658.12|
|---|---|---|
|||**£44,006.53**|
|||£3,907.55
£19,176.71
£0.00|
|||**£23,084.26**|
I Holly Daniel have examined the Accounts of the Friends of All Saints Church for the Year to 31st March 2024, together with the accounting Records, and report that proper accounting records have been kept and the accounts are in accordance with those records.
The Financial Statements were approved, and the Accounts authorised for issue by the Board of Trustees and signed on its behalf by:
## Michael Turner
CHARITY COMMISSION
FOR ENGLAND AND WAIES
Independent examinerfs report on the
accounts
kndepeNl¢rrt EumineV• R¢port
Report to the trustees
FrierKls of Wl Swnl3 Church
On accounts for the year
eTrOed
March 2024
Charity no
Irf any)
1181764
Set out on pages
I report to the Irustees on my exarnination of the accounts of the above
chantyllhe Tmsfi for Ihe year ended 31103 12024.
Responsibilrties and
basis of report
As the charity's truslees. you are resPOnSitAe for the preparation of the
accounts in accdanCe b¥ith the requirements of the Charib"e5 Act 2011
the Acl'l.
I report in res of my ¢xarnination ofthe TnJsY3 accounts cJNied out
undei section 145 of the 2011 Act and in canwng out nty examinalion, I
have followed JI the applicable D1C0$ gNen by Ihe Charrty Cornmissic
under 3¢ctiM 14515Kbl of the A¢t
Independent
examiners statement I have comele rny examinatton. I confimi that no material matters have
come lo my attenbon in connection vhlh the examinatson Ihe accountiTrJ
record5 were not kept in accordance vnth 8eth.on 130 of the Chantss Act", or
the accounts dKI nol accotd wth Ihe acccmjnting records." or
the accounts did nol compty with the apr4able requirements
conceming the form and conlent of accounls sel in the chai11$
(Accounts and Reports) Regulab"ons 2008 other than any requirement
that Ihe accounts give a 'tsue and fair view vihich is not a matter
eonsklered as part of an independent examination.
I have no concems and have come across no other mallers in connection
wilh the exanmnab.on lo whKh atteITr should be drawn in thi5 report in
order to enable a proper undelanding of the accounts to be reache(l.