**57west.org.uk** 

## **57 West & Clarence Road Baptist Church Charity number 1192598 Annual Report January – December 2023** 

## **Purpose & Vision** 

Our purpose is to nurture an emerging missional church among adults who are experiencing homelessness or are vulnerably housed in Southend. In partnership with God, each other and the wider family of God, we seek to express church through sharing the unchanging Gospel of Jesus in new ways through: 

- Being a welcoming, loving and inclusive community 

- Being whole-life oriented, where God’s invitation is received to live ‘life in fullness’ 

- Being a community intent on realising God’s purposes and God’s plans for Southend-on-Sea 

## **Church Trustees** 

Trustees: Pamela Davies (Minister), Chris Warner (Treasurer), Juliet Kilpin (Designated Person for Safeguarding), Stuart Elliot (Secretary), Paul Coleman (GDPR Lead), Ray Larkin and Jaimes Higginson. 

Volunteer & Premises Co-ordinator: Julie McEvoy’s role continued to include a shared responsibility for Community Development this year. 

Supported Housing Manager: Hayley Alexander joined the team in Autumn 2023 in a new, externally funded role managing the new supported housing initiative. 

## **Volunteering** 

Trustees: 7 Daytime Drop in: 14 Evening Drop in: 12 Course Leaders: 6 Community Volunteers: 6 

The key change in our volunteer team this year was the move towards volunteer-led courses, which have created new opportunities for our community to build transferable life skills through cooking, wellbeing and budgeting, among other things. 

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**57west.org.uk** 

## **Activities** 

This year we have provided: 

Sleeping bags: 45 Takeaway coffees: c95 Snack bags: 90 Winter packs (hats, scarf and gloves): 20 Food Parcels: 25 Foodbank Vouchers: 32 Winter coats, trousers and jumpers: 38 Supported housing: 4 

## **Partnership Working** 

Our community café continues to run four sessions per week, with additional, volunteer-led courses taking place around this. We continue to be registered on Your Say Southend and have re-registered as a Warm Space provider for the winter of 2023-24. Some of the places we have referred community members to include: 

Signposted to other organisations (general): 45 Referred to complex needs access panel: 6 Referred to hope 316: 4 Referred to One Love for dental treatment: 4 Referred to Paramedic: 15 Paramedic health checks: 6 Accompanied to hospital: 3 Supported through PIP process: 1 Referral to Harp: 10 Referred to Storehouse: 15 Referred to Streetlink: 6 

We continue to be part of the Southend Homeless Action Network, the Faith & Belief Network, the Southend Area Baptist Network, and are active members of both the Eastern Baptist Association and Baptist Union of Great Britain. 

## **Plans for 2023** 

We have successfully launched our new supported housing initiative, with 4 residents having been housed during the calendar year. At the close of the year we had 1 available space with a housing offer having been made, pending acceptance. 

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**57west.org.uk** 

## **Finance and Governance** 

The merge process between 57 West and Clarence Road Baptist Church was finalised in summer 2023, with final paperwork submitted to the charity commission by the Baptist Union solicitors. We had minimal trustee turnover and a restructuring process saw each trustee in a dedicated role by the end of the calendar year, building capacity for the upcoming year and highlighting possible areas for growth (specifically in relation to the potential for youth work provision in the future and development of the church building). 

In a community-led process, the merged church discerned and agreed that the new entity should be called Southend City Baptist Church and adopted a new logo, which will be actioned by way of a name change to the existing 57 West CIO. A launch event to mark this transition is schedule for 13[th] January 2024. 

## **Fundraising plan for 2024** 

We made significant progress with our fundraising plan in 2023 and appointed Gemma Cartwright to our dedicated fundraising team on a consultancy basis. We actioned all of the items from the 2023 fundraising plan and began to generate income from rental of space and car parking in addition to grant income. We will continue to develop this in the year ahead with a fundraising schedule which will map our bid writing, as well as exploring the possibility of renovating the currently unused space within the church building. 

Accounts for the year January-December 2023 are attached to this report. We would especially like to thank our key funders for their continued support of our work and ministry: 

- The Baptist Union of Great  Lottery Awards for All Britain  Magic Little Grants 

- SAVS Community Investment  Fowler, Smith & Jones Board  Warm Welcome 

- Sainburys & Neighbourly  Acorn & Essex Community Fund 

Thank you on behalf of the Southend City Baptist Church community. 

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