The Covenham St Bartholomew Heritage Trust
Third Annual Report of the Trustees for the year ending 10 July 2023
Objectives and Public Benefit
The objects of the CIO are:
(I) For the public benefit to secure the preservation, conservation, repair, maintenance, improvement, upkeep, beautification and reconstruction of the church of Covenham St Bartholomew, Lincolnshire and of fixtures and fittings in such church and;
(II) To use the said church for such religious and other charitable purposes as shall be permissible under the Redundancy scheme providing for the appropriation of the said church under the procedures of the Pastoral Measure 1983 as superseded by the Mission and Pastoral Measure 2011.
Achievement and Performance
The Covenham St Bartholomew Heritage Trust was first registered as a Charitable Incorporated Organisation on 17 June 2019. It incorporates the former charity of the same name established by the late John Bowles in 1988, charity number 700816, which was formally dissolved by the Charity Commissioners on 14 December 2019.
The constitution of the CIO limits voting rights solely to the Trustees. The 2022 AGM was held at the Brackenborough Arms Hotel on 15[th] July 2022. Ian Fazakerley was re-elected as a trustee for a further 3 years and Nicky Gulley-Brown elected for the same period. The constitution also provides for meetings via electronic means, which is the usual form of Trustees’ meetings as being the most costeffective and time-efficient. Trustees have held two face-to-face meetings and have otherwise relied on electronic communications.
The past year has been busy, both in terms of progress on the building and events.
Our last annual report mentioned our intention to embark on an application for funding for vital investigations on the structure of walls, roofs and floors, drainage, archaeology and ecology which are necessary to inform how and where we proceed with the next stage of restoration. Shortly after the last AGM Trustees met online to discuss this with Hanna Good of Historic England and her successor, Amanda White, and we sent a detailed application to HE at the end of September. We heard in December that we had been successful and been awarded another £25,000 grant. There are stringent requirements attached to such a grant, which include a procurement exercise involving advertising for competitive tendering for a lead professional. This took place between January and March. Trustees then had to undertake an evaluation and scoring exercise and just before Easter we were delighted to offer a contract to Lucy Newport, CARE Registered Engineer of The Morton Partnership to oversee the work, which will also involve services of a quantity surveyor and ecologist. We met onsite with Lucy and Amanda towards the end of May and the work is scheduled to take place during the summer.
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Temporary Nave Roof Covering
The innovative approach to weatherproofing the roof using a layer of lorry curtain sides topped by two layers of poly tunnel sheeting and held down by battens has now been in place for 16 months. Trustees who live locally continue to keep an eye on it, assisted by photographs taken by drone by Di and to date it is holding well and keeping the nave rain-free.
Churchyard and Ecology
Due to the extremely mild weather leading up to last Christmas we did not have our usual working parties to clear the leaf litter as most were still on the trees! We have cut ivy again this spring, maintained a path around the churchyard and cut down the cow parsley. The north side hedge will be trimmed again after the nesting season. Some additional buckthorn planting has been done on the west side hedge and the sycamore trimmed back again. Plant species thriving include snowdrops, primrose, bluebells, violets, arum lily and snakes head fritillary. Due to the regular strimming some of more delicate grass species are also returning.
Encouraging wider interest and support
In terms of events, St Bart’s has probably had its busiest year since it became redundant. Last year’s successful Jubilee and Heritage Skills and Crafts events have been followed first by a Coronation Bash in the churchyard, complete with band ’Girl gone Rockin’’, bangers and beer and much else besides and attended by over 200 people. The event was hosted jointly with the Covenham Village Volunteers (CVV) and proceeds divided equally. A handy canopy constructed by volunteers under Ian’s direction and erected in the churchyard before outdoor events, has helped to shield visitors from any rain.
Immediately before the AGM in July there was another successful event – Beer and Bangers, with live music by ‘Broomstick’, tea, coffee and cake in the churchyard and the Skypwith Arms inside the church doing a roaring trade. Thanks must go to all the volunteers who help on these occasions, too numerous to name, though special mentions to Laura and Tilly who were a great help volunteering as part of their bronze DofE and to Ali for all her help behind the scenes, both at events and with the Give as You Live and Amazon platforms. She is a trustee in everything but name and always a welcoming host at meetings.
A chance visitor to St Barts early in April has proved to be a great blessing to us in several ways. Dr Allan Barton, whose PhD was in the History of Art, called on Ian and Ali to ask for the key and subsequently made a video about the church broadcast online on his YouTube Antiquarian channel. So far this has resulted in over 4,500 views worldwide, so the church is probably better known than it has ever been in its existence. Happily over £600 has been donated to the Trust by people who have watched this. Additionally Allan, who grew up less than 5 miles from St Barts, and who says that it was instrumental in forming his passion for mediaeval church architecture, has accepted an invitation to become the fifth trustee and is due to be elected at the forthcoming AGM.
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Planning for the future
Further to our successful grant application to Historic England for the fabric, we have also started to pursue is to investigate all future potential uses for the chancel & transept of St Barts which will sustainably preserve its historical and architectural integrity for the future whilst involving the widest number of people from the community and further afield. Discussions include the development of the successful training scheme pioneered by Richard Jordan and Sarah Moore as well as other diverse community uses. For that purpose trustees, together with both Hanna and Amanda of HE, held an online meeting with Lesley Owen-Jones of the National Heritage Lottery Fund to discuss the possibility of applying for a resilience grant which could fund this. Since then we have held further discussions and hope to be in a position to submit a grant application in the relatively near future. As the NHLF is changing its grants strategy imminently to embark on Heritage 2033, we are waiting to hear further details about the changes and decide whether to apply under the existing or new framework.
Financial Review
Income for 2022-23 was £15721.75 and expenditure was £397.40. The bulk of the income has been £12,875 upfront payment of half of the grant from Historic England. As well as profits from the events held in the churchyard, regular standing orders are gradually increasing. Amazon Smile is no longer available but some money has trickled in from transactions before it ceased. To date £663.48 has been received in donations via Paypal following Allan Barton’s YouTube video on St Bart’s.
Structure, Governance and Management
The charity is controlled by its governing document and is a Charitable Incorporated Organisation. In carrying out the business of the Trust, Trustees pay due regard to the advice of The Charity Commission relevant to the administration of the Charity.
Reference and Administrative Details
Registered Charity number 1183927
Principal Address
Ashtree House, Main Road, Covenham St Bartholomew, Louth LN11 0PF
Trustees
Mr Ian Fazakerley (for 3 years from 2022 to 2025)
Mrs Anne Gray (for 4 years from 2019 to 2023)
Mrs Nicky Gulley-Brown (for 3 years from 2022 to 2025)
Mrs Diane Seddon (for 3 years from 2021 to 2024)
Bankers
Barclays LLP, Leicester. LE87 2BB
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Approved by the Trustees ……………………………………………
Signed ......................................................................................................... (Trustee)
The Covenham St Bartholomew Heritage Trust Annual Accounts 01 July 2022 – 30 June 2023
| Covenham St Bartholomew Heritage Trust |
01 July 2022 to 30th June 2023 |
Income (£) | Expenditure (£) |
Running Balance (£) |
Notes | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Balance B/Fwd | 1,671.30 | plus 602.84 Cash in Hand |
||||
| July 2022 | StandingOrders | 60.00 | ||||
| Direct Credit - A Grey (Beer) |
9.00 | |||||
| Direct Credit - R Jordan (Beer) |
22.50 | |||||
| Direct Credit - D Seddon(Collection Tin) |
62.70 | 1,825.50 | ||||
| August 2022 | StandingOrders | 60.00 | ||||
| Payment to Cleethorpes Band - re chairs |
30.00 | |||||
| Cash Payment from Heritage Events/Donations / Fazakerley |
245.23 | |||||
| Amazon Europe | 7.83 | |||||
| Deposit Re 47 Grimsby -Jubilee Day profit |
475.74 | 452.84 Jubilee Day profit (Cash in Hand Returned to Bank) plus £22.90 Donations/Honey Sales |
||||
| 2,584.30 | ||||||
| September | StandingOrders | 60.00 | 2,644.30 | |||
| October | StandingOrders | 60.00 | ||||
| CVV Donation (print auction) |
140.00 | 2,844.30 | ||||
| November | StandingOrders | 60.00 | ||||
| Amazon Europe | 6.75 | 2,911.05 | ||||
| December | StandingOrders | 60.00 | 2,971.05 | |||
| January 2023 | StandingOrders | 70.00 | ||||
| Direct Credit - Grant Donation - Parish Council |
50.00 | 3,098.39 | Ian made several trips to collect chairs from Manby for Parish Rms |
|||
| Amazon Europe | 7.34 | |||||
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| Covenham St Bartholomew Heritage Trust |
Continued... | Income (£) | Expenditure (£) |
Running Balance (£) |
Notes | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| February 2023 | StandingOrders | 70.00 | ||||
| Cheque for TENS Licence |
21.00 | |||||
| Historic England Grant |
12,875.00 | 16,022.39 | ||||
| March | StandingOrders | 70.00 | 16,092.39 | |||
| April | StandingOrders | 70.00 | ||||
| Paypal Donations from online Video |
557.41 | |||||
| Direct Credit - Amazon Europe |
5.00 | 16,724.80 | ||||
| May | StandingOrders | 80.00 | ||||
| Credit from Paypal | 106.07 | |||||
| Payment to Simon Plumb (Beer) |
133.00 | |||||
| Direct Credit - Amazon Europe |
16.87 | 16,794.74 | ||||
| June | StandingOrders | 80.00 | ||||
| TENS Licence | 21.00 | |||||
| Insurance | 192.40 | |||||
| Counter Credit (Fazakerley) 9th |
324.31 | Profit Share of Coronation Celebrations |
||||
| Counter Credit (Fazakerley) 9th (Angela Aylett) |
10.00 | 16,995.65 | Share of profit of sale of tea & cake at plant sale |
|||
| 15,721.75 | 397.40 | 16,995.65 | ||||
| Cash at Bank | 16,995.65 | |||||
| Cash In Hand (Float money) |
150.00 | |||||
| Total Funds Available |
17,145.65 | |||||
| Years Bank Summary | ||||||
| Opening Balance 1671.30 |
||||||
| Income 15721.75 | ||||||
| Expenditure 397.40 | ||||||
| Balance C/Fwd 16995.65 |
||||||
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