**Trustees Annual Report to 31[st] December 2020 Registered Charity Number 1184596** 

On 25[th] July 2019 The Friends of St John’s was registered with the Charity Commission as a Charitable Incorporated Organisation number 1184596. 

The Heritage Future Project was officially launched with Bromsgrove MP Sajid Javid at a lunch in March 2019 and the National Lottery Heritage Fund invited Friends to submit an application for £1.2million with a submission deadline of August 2020. 


In the Autumn and Winter of 2019 The Friends organised an evening with Philip Bowen who talked about the Gunpowder Plot, the Bromsgrove Christmas Markets for a fifth year and supported the Orchestra of St John with their season and the joint “Snowman concert” in December which sold out for a third year. 

Friends started 2020 with high hopes of succeeding in our challenge to raise £1.5 million for our ambitious Heritage Future Appeal which had launched in 2019 with a lunch hosted by Bromsgrove MP Sajid Javid, who had agreed to be the Appeal Patron. 

Sadly, work on the 10,000-word application to the National Lottery Heritage Fund came to an end when we received news that our invitation to apply for £1.2million (deadline August 2020) had been retracted. The funds were to be redeployed to help heritage sector survival / recovery needs caused by the pandemic for existing heritage assets and our project no longer fitted the criteria. 

All fundraising activity came to a standstill due to the global pandemic. 

Throughout the Autumn of 2020 we worked (via Zoom) with Bromsgrove District Council and the Market Manager in the hope that we could hold a “Festive Market” in place of the cancelled Christmas Markets and town centre Light Switch On. Sadly, the second lockdown caused plans to be abandoned as markets were not able to operate under the government restrictions in place at the time. 

In December 2020 the annual steeplejack inspection of the spire top revealed the need to upgrade the repairs (carried out December 2017) by refilling the cracks with new resin and replacing the steel straps. (This work was completed and paid for in February 2021). 

Friends assisted the Bromsgrove District Council project to renew the churchyard lights at St John’s. 

## **Marketing & Social Media** 

Friends have featured in the Better Bromsgrove Summer and Winter Magazine and in most editions of Completely Bromsgrove magazine along with lots of coverage in the Bromsgrove Standard and Advertiser, both in print and online. 

www.facebook.com/FriendsStJohnsBromsgrove page has over 800 followers. Twitter @FriendsStJohns has over 600 followers. 

Instagram @CelebrateBromsgrove (Shared with The Bromsgrove Society) has 580 followers. 

## **Fundraising Channels** 

During 2020 Friends registered to receive donations via Facebook using PayPal and added a donate button to our page, set up a PayPal account and registered with Donr to create campaigns to fundraise through text messages. 

## **What lies ahead - 2021** 

The focus for 2021 will be fundraising to rebuilding of the spire top. 

We will continue to monitor the option for funding through National Lottery Heritage Fund and hope that our project will meet the criteria of future schemes. 

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## **Friends of St John's Accounts to 31 December 2020** 

Registered Charity 1184596 

The Friends of the Church of St John the Baptist, Bromsgrove 

Summary of Accounts from 25 July 2019 to 31 December 2020 

|**Item**||**Income**|**Expenditure**|**Totals for Accounts**|
|---|---|---|---|---|
|Opening Balance on 25th July|2019|||£6,066.37|
|**General Donations and Events**|||||
|Friends Subs||£950.00||£950.00|
|Donations||£1,617.12||£1,617.12|
|Income from Events organised||£5,067.63||£5,067.63|
|Grant Aid Received from Trusts||£5,250.00||£5,250.00|
|Gift Aid||£570.89||£570.89|
|**General Expenditure**|||||
|Grants Made to St John's|||£1,600.00|-£1,600.00|
|Sundry Expenses|||£180.00|-£180.00|
|Hook Mason Fees|||£1,039.20|-£1,039.20|
|TOTAL<br>**Friends Funds Raised**<br>**Closing Balance 31.12.2020**<br>HSBC Year End Balance<br>Lloyds Year End Balance||£13,455.64<br>£2,819.20<br>**to year end 31 December 2020**<br>£8,752.80<br>£7,950.01||£10,636.44<br>**£10,636.44**<br>**£16,702.81**|
|**St John's Grants Made**<br>External Lights<br>Organ Repairs<br>Spire Annual Condition Survey<br>Charity Database Access||£16,702.81<br>£500.00<br>£500.00<br>£500.00<br>£100.00|||
|||£1,600.00|||