## **Trustees’ Annual Report for the period** **From: Period start date: 01.01.2023 To: Period end date: 31.12.2023 Charity name: Bridge Counselling** ## **Charity registration number: 1191105** ## **Objectives and Activities** ||SORP reference|| |---|---|---| |Summary of the purposes of
the charity as set out in its
governing document|Para 1.17|To promote the mental health of people
residing in Bromham and the Bedford areas
through provision of a counselling service in
accordance with the values of the Christian
faith| |Summary of the main
activities in relation to those
purposes for the public
benefit, in particular, the
activities, projects or services
identified in the accounts.|Para 1.17 and
1.19|
Receiving requests for counselling,

Providing an initial interview and then
introduction to a counsellor who is
appropriately trained and supervised

Counselling sessions provided as agreed
between client and counsellor

Regular supervision sessions for each
counsellor and financial contributions for
each counsellor towards training and
ongoing development.

Bi monthly Counsellor meetings

Bi monthly Trustees meetings| |Statement confirming
whether the trustees have
had regard to the guidance
issued by the Charity
Commission on public
benefit|Para 1.18|Bridge Counselling is open to all enquiries
from people with varying issues who wish to
discuss them with a trained counsellor.
Most clients approach the service via
telephone, email or communication direct
from our web site.
During this year and since the Covid 19
pandemic counselling has continued to be
offered face to face or via technology such
as Zoom. Our counsellors have been as
flexible as they can be to continue offering
services.
The Trustees have read the Charity
Commission guidance on public benefit and
are satisfied that the activities outlined above
clearly demonstrate that the charity is
meeting its Purpose and is providing a
benefit to the public.| ## **Additional information (optional)** P a g e 1 | 6 You may choose to include further statements where relevant about: ||
SORP reference|| |---|---|---| |Policy on grant making|Para 1.38|N/A at this time| |Policy on social
investment including
program related
investment|Para 1.38|N/A at this time| |Contribution made by
volunteers|Para 1.38|Our counsellors offer their services free of
charge to Bridge Counselling and the service
could not run without their support.
For part of this year we had a self employed co-
ordinator in post but otherwise one of the
counsellors, who is also a Trustee has co-
ordinated the service, managed the waiting list
and carried out initial interviews by phone to
those who enquired about counselling. She has
also assisted our newly appointed Co-Ordinator
to be inducted into the role and to take over the
work required
We also benefitted from some administration
support from a volunteer member of the church| |Other||Trustees have taken on roles to assist with the
running of this service – Finance, Data
Protection, Safeguarding etc.
Their time is given free of charge| ## **Achievements and Performance** |Summary of the main
achievements of the
charity, identifying the
difference the charity’s
work has made to the
circumstances of its
beneficiaries and any
wider benefits to society|SORP reference|Bridge Counselling has received 58 enquiries
during the period January 1st2023 and
December 31st, 2023
39 people are receiving or have received
counselling.
Issues for counselling were: Marriage (10), Past
life issues (8), Relationships (6), Anxiety and
depression (5), Loss and bereavement (2),
Trauma (2), Life changes (2), and then 1 each
for Health, Domestic abuse, Anger and
Counselling course therapy.
392 hours of counselling were given by 5
counsellors and 3 student counsellors on
placement with Bridge during this period| |---|---|---| **Financial Review** P a g e 2 | 6 |Review of the charity’s
financial position at the
end of the period|Para 1.21|A total of £10,843 was received during the year of
which £2,000 was a grant from Bromham Baptist
Church, £6,980 from counselling income and
£1,450 from other donations and £38 interest
Bridge Counselling also receives services in kind
from Bromham Baptist Church covering
accommodation facilities and utilities.
The main items of expenditure are: Counselling
supervision which was £1,445 plus expenses and
administrative costs of £1,760
This resulted in a surplus for the year of £5,365
Our counsellors and students provide their
services free of charge but we are now providing
some travel costs in addition to supervision and
training support.
Recruitment of administration services last year
has helped co-ordinate the service and reduce
the need for voluntary requirements from the
counsellors to administer the enquiries and
waiting list.| |---|---|---| |Statement explaining
the policy for holding
reserves stating why
they are held|Para 1.22|Bridge Counselling maintains a reserve fund to
allow the organisation to adapt to any changes in
our income or expenditure. The reserve is the
equivalent to one month of day to day running
costs plus an additional sum for one off
professional indemnity insurance costs if the
organisation must close down| |Amount of reserves
held|Para 1.22|The Trustees currently agreed that this amount
should be £1000.| |Explanation of any
uncertainties about the
charity continuing as a
going concern|Para 1.23|Bridge Counselling is reliant on the counsellors
who give their time and expertise freely.
We are seeking new counsellors to join the team
and encouraging those interested in training to be
counsellors to find out more. If we cannot recruit
new counsellors the charity cannot continue to
function and provide the service| ## **Additional information (optional)** You may choose to include further statements where relevant about: P a g e 3 | 6 |The charity’s principal
sources of funds (including
any fundraising)|Para 1.47|| |---|---|---| |Investment policy and
objectives including any
social investment policy
adopted|Para 1.46|| |A description of the principal
risks facing the charity|Para 1.46|| ## **Structure, Governance and Management** |Description of charity’s
trusts:||| |---|---|---| |Type of governing document
(trust deed, royal charter)|Para 1.25|Constitution| |How is the charity
constituted?
(e.g unincorporated
association, CIO)|Para 1.25|Charitable Incorporated Organisation
(CIO)| |Trustee selection methods
including details of any
constitutional provisions e.g.
election to post or name of
any person or body entitled
to appoint one or more
trustees|Para 1.25|Invitation to serve as Trustee followed by
information sharing, interview and decision
by the Trustees and the invited Trustee to
commit to the role| **Additional information (optional)** You may choose to include further statements where relevant about: |
Policies and procedures
adopted for the
induction and training of
trustees|
Para 1.51|| |---|---|---| |The charity’s
organisational structure
and any wider network
with which the charity
works|Para 1.51|| |Relationship with any
related parties|Para 1.51|| ## **Reference and Administrative details** P a g e 4 | 6 |Charity name|Bridge Counselling Bromham| |---|---| |Other name the charity uses|Bridge Counselling| |Registered charity number|1191105| |Charity’s principal address|Bridge Counselling, Bromham Baptist Church, Village Road,
Bromham, Bedford. MK43 8LJ| **Names of the charity trustees who manage the charity** |1
2
3
4
5
6|**Trustee name**|**Office (if any)**|**Dates acted if not for whole**
**year**|**Name of person (or body) entitled**
**to appoint trustee (ifany)**| |---|---|---|---|---| ||Mrs Barbara
Bannard-Smith|Chair||| ||Mrs Lesley
Dean|Co-ordinator/
Counseller||| ||Mrs Felicity
Leinster|Finance||| ||Mrs Jenny
Hadley|Safeguarding and
Data Protection||| ||Dr TimothyPedley|Minute Taker|From 8thMarch 2022|Bridge Trustees| ||Mr George Hadley|Trustee|From 8thMarch 2022|Bridge Trustees| ## – Corporate trustees names of the directors at the date the report was approved **Director name** N/A Name of trustees holding title to property belonging to the charity |**Trustee name**|**Dates acted if not for whole year**|| |---|---|---| |N/A||| ## **Declarations** **The trustees declare that they have approved the trustees’ report above.** **Signed on behalf of the charity’s trustees** _Felicity AE Leinster_ **Signature(s)** _BL Bannard-Smith_ Felicity Audrey Endersley Leinster **Full name(s)** Barbara Lesley Bannard-Smith **Position (eg Secretary,** Chair of Trustees Trustee for Finance **Chair, etc)** P a g e 5 | 6 Date 20. June 2024 **Charity Name No (if any) Receipts and payments accounts CC16a For the period** Period start date Period end date **To from** 1/1/2023 1/31/2023 ## **Section A Receipts and payments** |**Section A Receipts and payments**||||| |---|---|---|---|---| |**A1 Receipts**
Bromham Baptist Church
**2,000**
CounsellingIncome
**6,980**
CounsellingSupervision
**375**
Donations
**1,450**
Interest
**38**
Gift Aid
**-**
**-**
**-**
**10,843**
**-**
**-**
**_Sub total_ -**
**_Total receipts_ 10,843**
**Unrestricted**
**funds**
**to the nearest £**
**_Sub total_**_(Gross income for AR)_
**A2 Asset and investment sales,**
**(see table).**|**to the nearest £**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**Restricted**
**funds**|**to the nearest £**
**Endowment**
**funds**|**Total funds**
**to the nearest £**
**2,000**
**6,980**
**375**
**1,450**
**38**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**10,843**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**10,843**|**Last year**
**to the nearest £**| |||**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**|**2,000**|**3,000**| ||||**6,980**|**8,170**| ||||**375**|**560**| ||||**1,450**|**2,242**| ||||**38**|**13**| ||||**-**|**245**| ||||**-**|**-**| ||||**-**|**-**| ||||**10,843**|**14,230**| |||||| |||**-**
**-**
**-**|**-**|| ||||**-**|**-**| ||||**-**|**-**| |||||| ||**-**|**-**|**10,843**|**14,230**| **A3 Payments** |**A3 Payments**||||||||| |---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---| |Initial Grant Repayment|**-**|**##**|**- #**|**#**|**- #**|**# - #**|**#**|**1,000**| |Bank Charges|**60**|**##**|**- #**|**#**|**- #**|**# 60 #**|**#**|**81**| |Supervision|**1,445**||**-**||**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**|**1,445**||**2,072**| |Insurance|**135**||**-**|||**135**||**135**| |Registration / Accreditation|**494**||**-**|||**494**||**623**| |ICO|**35**||**-**|||**35**||**35**| |Website / Domain|**29**||**-**|||**29**||**206**| |Training|**200**||**-**|||**200**||**60**| |Safeguarding|**238**||**-**|||**238**||**141**| |Expenses|**1,085**||**-**|||**1,085**||**441**| |Admin|**1,760**||**-**|||**1,760**||**971**| |**_Sub total_ **|**5,479**||**- #**|**#**|**- #**|**# 5,479 #**|**#**|**5,764**| |**-**
**-**
**_Sub total_ -**
**_Total payments_ 5,479**
**_Net of receipts/(payments)_ 5,365**
**A5 Transfers between funds**
**-**
**A6 Cash funds last year end**
**-**
**_Cash funds this year end_ 5,365**
**A4 Asset and investment**
**purchases, (see table)**|||**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**|||**-**
**-**
**-**
**5,479**
**5,365**
**-**
**-**
**5,365**||| ||||||**-**
**-**
**-**|**-**||| |||||||**-**||| |||||||**-**||**-**| |||||||||| ||||||**-**|**5,479**||**5,764**| |||||||||| ||||**-**||**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**|**5,365**||**8,466**| ||||**-**|||**-**||**-**| ||||**-**|||**-**||**-**| ||||**-**|||**5,365**||**8,466**| ## **Section B Statement of assets and liabilities at the end of the period** |**Categories**
**B1 Cash funds**
**B2 Other monetary assets**
**B3 Investment assets**
**B5 Liabilities**
**B4 Assets retained for the**
**charity’s own use**
Signed by one or two trustees on
behalf of all the trustees|**Details**
Cash funds in 2023
Total cash funds end 2022
**Details**
**Details**
**Details**
**Details**
Signature
**_B.L Bannard-Smith_**
**_Total cash funds_**
(agree balances with receipts and payments
account(s))|**to nearest £**
**to nearest £**
**5,365**
**-**
**16,130**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**21,495**
**-**
Agreement Error
OK
**to nearest £**
**to nearest £**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**Cost (optional)**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**Cost (optional)**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**
Print Name
FelicityLeinster
Barbara Bannard-Smith
**Unrestricted**
**funds**
**Restricted**
**funds**
**Unrestricted**
**funds**
**Restricted**
**funds**
**Fund to which**
**asset belongs**
**Fund to which**
**asset belongs**
**Fund to which**
**liability relates**
**Amount due**
**(optional)**|**to nearest £**
**Endowment**
**funds**| |---|---|---|---| ||||**-**| ||||**-**| ||||**-**| ||||**-**| ||||OK| ||||**to nearest £**
**Endowment**
**funds**| ||||**-**| ||||**-**| ||||**-**| ||||**-**| ||||**-**| ||||**-**| ||||**Current value**
**(optional)**| ||||**-**| ||||**-**| ||||**-**| ||||**-**| ||||**-**| ||||**Current value**
**(optional)**| ||||**-**| ||||**-**| ||||**-**| ||||**-**| ||||**-**| ||||**-**| ||||**-**| ||||**-**| ||||**-**| ||||**When due**
**(optional)**| ||||| ||||| ||||| ||||| ||||| ||||| ||||Date of
approval| |||FelicityLeinster|| ||**_B.L Bannard-Smith_**|Barbara Bannard-Smith||