Friends of the Church of St. John the Evangelist, Merrow
Trustees’ Annual Report for the period from 1[st] April 2022 to 31[st] March 2023
Registered name and number with the Charity Commission for England and Wales:
The Friends of the Church of St John the Evangelist, Merrow, hereinafter referred to as FoStJ is a Charitable Incorporated Organisation (CIO), registration number 1189324.
Principal address:
222 Epsom Road, Merrow, Guildford, GU4 7AA
Stated objectives and activities
To advance the Christian religion for the public benefit by the restoration, preservation, repair, maintenance, improvement and beautification of the Parish Church of St. John the Evangelist, Merrow in the diocese of Guildford (hereinafter called ‘the Church”) and of the monuments, fittings, fixtures, stained glass, furniture, ornaments and chattels in the church, churchyard and church hall belonging to the Church and the Village War Memorial situated in the churchyard, in particular the CIO will make grants of money and gifts of other property to the Parochial Church Council of the Parish of St. John the Evangelist, Merrow, exclusively for the purpose of the said objects, and generally assist those responsible for the care and maintenance of the church.
Achievements over the year
Another year goes by. This review marks a number of achievements over the period. The year kicked off with FoStJ taking the lead on behalf of the village community to raise funds for the restoration of the village War Memorial situated in the grounds of the St. John’s churchyard in late June. Erected and dedicated in 1920 it bears the inscription This cross was erected by the people of Merrow in memory of the men of the village, who, gave their lives in the Great War, 1914-1918. The names of those who died during the Second World War were added after 1945. The Memorial was cleaned and repaired in 2002 but storm Eunice, in February 2022, unfortunately brought down the pillar and cross. Repairs costs were estimated at £4,068 which would enable the Memorial to be repaired for Remembrance Day 2022.
Figure 1 War memorial after restoration.
Financial support from Merrow community and Church members was incredible with well over 60 donations including a contribution from Guildford Borough Council of a ‘Matched Funding’ donation of £1,700 in recognition of the wide and very generous local support for the project. This meant that the cost target was reached by the end of August with a small surplus to allow for cleaning of the Memorial. The final total raised for repair and ongoing maintenance was over £5,900!
We continued to focus our fund-raising efforts on our “Save Our Stones” campaign to address the stonework around the belfry louvre openings on the east and west sides of the Church tower, which was spalling and flaking off, presenting a real H&S risk. Repairs requiring removing old and rusted iron fixings
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and tie bars and fitting new stainless-steel fixings; the extraction of spalled stonework ready to receive new stonework; and the cutting, carving and fitting of new stonework, were costed at approximately £5,500.
Figure 2 Damaged stonework requiring urgent attention.
We reprised our highly successful Wine Tasting evening on the 19[th] November 2022 once again led by Shaun Parry-Jones. This evening raised £374.79 after costs.
Drawing a line under our previous funding campaigns which were now completed, our second event of the year, our Quiz Night on the 17[th] March 2023 with Peter O'Donoghue as quiz master raised funds for the general restoration and repair of the Church and churchyard. Building on the successful formula of this event from of the previous year this quiz raised £936.68 after costs. In addition, during this increasingly busy year, we raised a further £317.81 towards general funds, of which £168.53 was generated from membership subscriptions.
Throughout the year the FoStJ management committee comprised of trustees and co-opted Membership Secretary has met regularly to oversee fund raising activities and compliance with Charity Commission regulations.
Our overall financial position (see the detail below), demonstrates an active year which builds on our previous full year. Total gross funds raised amounted to £9,878 over the twelve months (£3,595 in 2021/22). Since FoStJ was formed in May 2020 a total of £14,000 has been raised from a combination of membership subscriptions,
donations and funds raising from charity events. After fundraising costs are deducted a total of over £12,100 has been retained to be passed on to St. John’s. Banked funds by the end of the period stood at £437.32 (prior year £2,601) which takes in account the handing over to St John’s PCC cheques for the sum of £8,072.47 to support our chosen causes which collectively seek to maintain and improve upon our church building and churchyard here in Merrow.
Financial review
In accordance with Commission regulations and guidelines the financial results for FoStJ for the period from 1[st] April 2022 to 31[st] March 2023 have been prepared on a receipts and payments basis.
A summary of these results along with previous year figures is shown below:
| Restricted Funds | Restricted Funds | Unrestricted Funds | Unrestricted Funds | Total | Total | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2022/23 | 2021/22 | 2022/23 | 2021/22 | 2022/23 | 2021/22 | |
| £ | £ | £ | £ | £ | £ | |
| Receipts | 2,691.06 | 3,274.70 | 7,186.86 | 319.96 | 9,877.92 | 3,594.66 |
| Payments | 1,551.28 | (1,426.69) | 7,889.32 | (91.38) | 9,440.60 | (1,518.07) |
| Net | 1,139.78 | 1,848.01 | (702.46) | 228.58 | 437.32 | 2,076.59 |
Total receipts comprised charitable donations, payments for events and membership subscriptions. An analysis of receipts for the year and last year is as follows:
| 2022/23 | 2021/22 | |
|---|---|---|
| £ | £ | |
| Membership fees (Unrestricted) | 232.31 | 204.96 |
| General donations (Unrestricted) | 1,431.75 | 115.00 |
| Church Organ Appeal (Restricted) | 299.04 | 1,358.69 |
| Save our Stones (Restricted) | 853.77 | 1,771.01 |
| Church Bell Tower Restoration (Restricted) | 30.02 | 145.00 |
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| War Memorial Restoration (Restricted) | 6,004.03 | |
|---|---|---|
| PCC concert (Unrestricted) | 1,027.00 | |
| Total | 9,877.92 | 3,594.66 |
Membership fees represent the payment of 34 members. The charity received a total of £1,029.86 in Gift Aid over the financial year. This amount was allocated to the charity’s fund-raising campaigns in accordance with original donor intentions.
Total payments made of £9,440.60 comprised charitable donations of £8,072.47 paid to St. John’s PCC, transaction charges of £239.60 paid to Stripe, the charity’s online payments platform, refunds of membership subscription overpayments of £10.00 and the total cost of running funds raising events of £1,128.53. The charitable donations paid to St. John’s PCC over the year consisted of £5,093.68 to support the restoration of the War Memorial, £978.79 net proceeds from processing event ticket sales on behalf of the PCC, £936.37 from our Save our Stones appeal, £674.85 towards the Church organ repairs and £170.02 towards work on the bell tower. All these payments were transferred from restricted funds. A further £218.76 was paid to the PCC from unrestricted amounts raised. Stripe charges amounted to 4.4% of total funds received via their platform over the financial year (4.8% in 2021/22).
The FoStJ bank account balance at 31[st] March 2022 was £3,038.54 (£2,601.22 at 31[st] March 2022). There were no uncleared banking receipts on this date. There were no transfers between funds during the period to 31[st] March 2022. The charity continues to use the banking services of Metro Bank, Guildford for its dayto-day financial business throughout the year.
No capital expenditure was committed to or incurred during the reporting period. The charity does not own any assets other than cash held in its current account with Metro Bank. The charity gave no guarantees in the year and thus no related potential liabilities are outstanding at the date of the statement of assets and liabilities. There are no debts which are secured by an express charge on the assets of the charity.
Governance and management of the charity
FoStJ is administered in accordance with a written constitution by its trustees, to comprise: Not less than 3 (three) nor more than 10 (ten) elected trustees; and Not less than 3 (three) nominated trustees by the Parochial Church Council of the Church. The charity is managed by a committee which meets monthly to plan and oversee day-to-day activities. The trustees may appoint committee members and Officers. One third of the elected trustees must retire annually, but maybe re-elected.
The charity’s trustees and members of the management committee during the year are shown below:
| Name | Office | Status | Date of appointment |
Date of resignation |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Christopher Shorter | Chairman | Trustee & Member |
30thJanuary 2020 | |
| Gordon Farquharson |
Secretary | Trustee & Member |
30thJanuary 2020 | |
| Mark Butcher | Treasurer | Trustee & Member |
26thJuly 2020 | |
| Robert Avis | PCC nominee | Trustee & Member |
30thJanuary 2020 | |
| Peter Tappin | PCC nominee | Trustee & Member |
30thJanuary 2020 | |
| Mark Stuart-Bourne | PCC nominee | Trustee & Member |
30thJanuary 2020 | 11thNovember 2022 |
| Annabel Stuart- Bourne |
PCC nominee | Trustee & Member |
18thJuly 2022 | |
| Linda Elliott | Membership Secretary |
Member | 6thJuly 2021 |
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Since the end of this reporting period Ms. Annabel Stuart-Bourne has notified the committee that she will be resigning as a Trustee and management committee member. Ms. Linda Elliot has recently announced her wish to step down from her role on the Committee. Her responsibilities as Membership Secretary have been taken over by Ms. Lynn Boniface. The Trustees would like to thank Annabel and Linda for their service to FoStJ and wish to welcome Lynn to the team.
The trustees do not hold title to property belonging to the charity and there are no funds held and managed by the trustees as custodians on behalf of other charities.
Declarations
The trustees declare that they have approved the trustees’ report above.
Signed on behalf of the charity’s trustees
| Signature: | End of document |
||
|---|---|---|---|
| Full name: | Christopher Shorter | Gordon Farquharson | |
| Position: | Chairman | Secretary | |
| Date: | 1stNovember 2023 | 1stNovember 2023 |
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The Friends of the Church of St. John the Evangelist, Merrow 1189324 Receipts and payments accountspts and payments accountsts and payments accountspayments accountsayments accountsyments accountsments accounts CC16a
Receipts and payments accountspts and payments accountsts and payments accountspayments accountsayments accountsyments accountsments accounts
For the period 1st April 2022 31st March 2023 To from
| Section A Receipts and payments | Section A Receipts and payments | Section A Receipts and payments | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| A1 Receipts | Unrestricted funds to the nearest £ |
Restricted funds to the nearest £ |
Endowment funds to the nearest £ |
Total funds to the nearest £ |
Last year to the nearest £ |
||||
Members' subscriptions |
232 | - | - | 232 | 205 | ||||
| Donations | 232 | 6,439 | - | 6,671 | 3,390 | ||||
| Events | 1,200 | 748 | - | 1,948 | - | ||||
| PCC event | 1,027 | - | - | 1,027 | - | ||||
| - | - | - | - | - | |||||
| - | - | - | - | - | |||||
| - | - | - | - | - | |||||
| - | - | - | - | - | |||||
| Sub total(Gross income for AR) | 2,691 | 7,187 | - | 9,878 | 3,595 | ||||
| A2 Asset and investment sales, (see table). |
|||||||||
| - | |||||||||
| - | - | ||||||||
| Sub total | - | - | |||||||
| Total receipts A3 Payments |
|||||||||
| 3,595 | |||||||||
Transaction charges |
106 | 134 | - | 240 | 144 | ||||
| Cost of fund raising events | 248 | 881 | - | 1,129 | 207 | ||||
| Donations | 219 | 6,875 | - | 7,094 | 1,000 | ||||
| Printing, postage, stationery and computer supplies |
- | - | - | - | 167 | ||||
| PCC event | 979 | - | - | 979 | - | ||||
| - | - | - | - | - | |||||
| - | - | - | - | - | |||||
| - | - | - | - | - | |||||
| - | - | - | - | - | |||||
| **Sub total ** | 1,551 | 7,889 | - | 9,441 | 1,518 | ||||
| A4 Asset and investment purchases, (see table) |
|||||||||
| - | |||||||||
| - | |||||||||
| **Sub total ** | - | - | |||||||
| Total payments Net of receipts/(payments) A5 Transfers between funds A6 Cash funds last year end Cash funds this year end |
|||||||||
| 1,518 | |||||||||
| 1,140 | 2,077 | ||||||||
| - | - | ||||||||
| 693 | - | ||||||||
| 1,833 | 2,601 |
Section B Statement of assets and liabilities at the end of the period
| CCXX R1 accounts (SS) Categories B1 Cash funds |
1 Details Total cash funds |
Unrestricted funds to nearest £ 1,593 - - 1,593 |
Restricted funds to nearest £ 1,446 - - 1,446 |
Endowment funds to nearest £ |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1,593 | 1,446 | - | ||
| - | - | - | ||
| - | - | - | ||
| 1,593 | 1,446 | 10/11/2023 - |
| Signed by one or two trustees on behalf of all the trustees B2 Other monetary assets B3 Investment assets B4 Assets retained for the charity’s own use B5 Liabilities |
(agree balances with receipts and payments account(s)) Details |
(agree balances with receipts and payments account(s)) Details |
Agreement Error Unrestricted funds to nearest £ |
Agreement Error Unrestricted funds to nearest £ |
Agreement Error Restricted funds to nearest £ |
Agreement Error Restricted funds to nearest £ |
OK |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Endowment funds to nearest £ |
|||||||
| - | - | - | |||||
| - | - | - | |||||
| - | - | - | |||||
| - | - | - | |||||
| - | - | - | |||||
| - | - | - | |||||
| Details | Fund to which asset belongs |
Cost (optional) | Current value (optional) |
||||
| - | - | ||||||
| - | - | ||||||
| - | - | ||||||
| - | - | ||||||
| - | - | ||||||
| Details Details Signature |
Fund to which asset belongs Cost (optional) - - - - - - - - - Fund to which liability relates Amount due (optional) - - - - - Print Name Mr C Shorter Mr G Farquharson |
Current value (optional) |
|||||
| - | |||||||
| - | |||||||
| - | |||||||
| - | |||||||
| - | |||||||
| - | |||||||
| - | |||||||
| - | |||||||
| - | |||||||
| When due (optional) |
|||||||
| Date of approval | |||||||
| Mr C Shorter | 10/11/2023 | ||||||
| Mr G Farquharson | 10/11/2023 |
CCXX R2 accounts (SS)
10/11/2023
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