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2025-06-30-accounts

Wormley Free Church Annual Report

(Countess of Huntingdon’s Connexion) Office: Huntingdon Lodge, High Road, Broxbourne, Herts. EN10 6AA Registered Charity No. 1194850

Trustees Annual Report July 2024 to June 2025

Until 2021, Wormley Free Church was a constituent part of the Countess of Huntingdon's Connexion charity, reference 232674. On 18th June 2021 the church was separately registered as a Charitable Incorporated Organisation (CIO), with the charity number 1194850. This change was administrative, a move encouraged throughout the Connexion, and the church continues to be an active member of it. This report, including financial statements, covers the year from July 2024 - June 2025, the fourth full year of the charity.

Trustees

Following the church handbook, which sits alongside our constitution and describes the church’s ‘spiritual life’, trustees are elected on a revolving basis from the church leadership team, with staggered terms of office.

During the year, our leadership team consisted of:

Jonathan Asaffo stood for reelection at our 2025 AGM and was appointed for a second term.

General Aims and Objectives

As laid out in the Wormley Free Church CIO Constitution, the objects of the CIO for the public benefit are to advance the Christian faith in accordance with the Statement of Beliefs appearing in the Schedule hereto in Wormley, Broxbourne, Hertfordshire and in such other parts of the United Kingdom or the world as the charity trustees may from time to time think fit.

We seek to fulfil these objectives through communicating the Christian faith in relevant ways to our local communities, enabling as many as possible to worship with the church and to become part of our community, and seeking to serve the needs of local people. We seek to enable people to live out their faith through:

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To facilitate this work we employ a minister, Rev. Benjamin Quant, and maintain the fabric of the church building and manse, and hire the local Community Centre for our Sunday services. We employ Mrs Amanda Newman for 2 hours a week to clean the Church.

Mission & Outreach

As a church, sharing our faith through showing and communicating God’s love is a core feature of our life. We encouraged and supported our members in doing so in their daily lives as the ‘dispersed church’. Alongside this we ran organised activities as the ‘gathered church’. In 2024-25, these included:

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relationships and mutual understanding as well as linguistic ability. We have had a growing Turkish/Kurdish contingent from the local area attending, as well as some Eastern Europeans and Africans from the local asylum hotel. We see this offering as important in the light of the growing sense of polarisation around immigration in our country.

We also ran seasonal services and activities at Harvest, Christmas and Easter to attract and communicate the Christian faith to those who are not Christians or do not usually attend church. Some of these involved working with local schools, churches and organisations, such as those listed in ‘Other Organisations’ below.

All Age Activity

We seek to include, support and reach out to all ages, for example over the year we offered:

Collective Worship

Over the year, we continued to hold services in Wormley Community Centre and sought to ensure our services were accessible to people of all ages and backgrounds, and welcoming to visitors as well as regular members. The use of the Community Centre rather than our own building is for a number of reasons:

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We provide a crèche for toddlers and ‘Sunday Club’ for primary school aged children. Over 2024/25 we had four secondary school aged children who remained in the main service, which we sought to make accessible and engaging for them as well as the rest of the congregation. On the first Sunday of the month and on special days in the church calendar we held all-age services.

Although we have a paid minister, we encourage active participation within our services, and have a range of people in our preaching and service leading team, of different nationalities, ages, backgrounds and genders.

We continued to provide a live-stream and archive of our services on YouTube and our website. This made them accessible for those unable to attend in person. Through use of slido.com, those watching online could interact with us during the services. This has supported those who are unable to attend through illness, through being away, or living outside our local area, particularly those who have moved away and who wish to maintain a relationship with us. This continues to provide a way for those looking for a church to find out about us, along with the website which we have continued to maintain and keep primarily focussed on communicating to those outside the church.

We have been encouraged to see gradual numerical growth in our Sunday Services, partly as a result of our Alpha Course.

Education

Alongside the teaching that took place in Sunday services, we provided a midweek Bible study group. This has continued to take place online as this better suits the lives of our members and makes it available to others outside the area. We also provide a daily Bible Note by email (Monday-Friday), often based on the previous Sunday services’ theme (these are available to the wider public via our website), and weekly email newsletter providing information about our faith, pointing to interesting articles and pieces of news on the internet, and publicising events and activities coming up.

A significant aspect of our education work outside the congregation, takes place in our local schools (see ‘All-Age Activity’ above).

Pastoral Support

Pastoral support was offered to our membership through the leadership team through visits, phone calls, emails, and prayer as desired/appropriate, as well as mutual support being encouraged amongst our members. We continue to be committed to offering prayer support

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through weekly prayer meetings, praying for the needs of the church and the world, and an active prayer request WhatsApp group.

Pastoral support was also made available to those beyond our membership, to those who attend our regular activities and the wider community. This included opportunities to talk and be prayed for, as well as the provision of funeral services, weddings and dedication / thanksgiving services for children.

Specific Objectives for 2024/25

At the start of the year, the church leadership and membership prayerfully considered what specific objectives we should focus on for this year, alongside maintaining our ongoing work. This year we identified Jesus’ expression ‘I’ll build my church’ from Matthew 16:18 as a phrase to focus on and sought to ‘build the church’ through Alpha and through our ongoing work towards redeveloping our church building to make it more accessible and welcoming and fit for mission.

Alpha

Over the last few years we have had a focus on developing our relationships in general within the church and in particular developing our youth work. This year we felt it was right to focus more proactively on our objective of communicating the Christian faith to those outside the church, inviting them to respond to it and hopefully welcoming them into our church family.

In the past, Alpha (https://alpha.org.uk/) was a key tool in the growth of the church, especially after being near to closing in the 80s. As a church leadership, after prayer we felt it was the time to return to using Alpha again, and the church membership agreed. This involved the whole church membership in inviting guests, prayer, setting and clearing up, catering, and leading the discussions.

We were delighted to have a regular group of around 15 participants who joined us, of whom a number have gone on to join our Sunday services. Our guests were a range of people including some from the fringe of our church ‘family’ and others from our other activities such as the foodbank, as well as family and friends. Participants have also expressed the desire to continue to meet and we have a follow up Bible Study course (‘Exploring Mark’) planned for Autumn 2025.

Church Redevelopment Project

As described in our 2022/23 report, our kitchen has often been at the heart of our life as a community and at the heart of our outreach. From being used for: teas and coffees after services, meals together, and a place to creatively design and make hot chocolate with the youth, to being a key component in outreach such as for: meals for Alpha Courses (courses for those exploring Christianity), our weekly Drop In lunch for the local community (mainly attended by elderly people living on their own), meals for the Winter Night Shelter, and refreshments for our Toddler Group and Foodbank volunteers. It is, however, small, making it difficult for more than one or two people to use it at once, in a poor state of repair, and not

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attractive to the wider community of potential hall hirers. To make it fit for purpose and to enable us to expand the scope of our provision to the congregation and wider community, we decided to investigate refurbishing it and the possibility of extending it. By the end of 2023, through consultation with architects, surveyors, builders, kitchen fitters and others with relevant expertise, as well as through much discussion and prayer as a church community, we decided to look beyond simply redeveloping and refurbishing the kitchen, to a wider redevelopment of the church premises as a whole.

An architect was invited to design and present to the church a vision for its redevelopment with the brief of making it attractive and welcoming, as well as maximising its potential as a resource for fulfilling our mission as a church of serving the local community, and offering Christian worship and education, in an inclusive and accessible way.

Early this year we received planning permission for a project that would result in:

Over the year we have developed detailed plans in conjunction with the architect and other specialists (quantity surveyor, lighting consultant, audio visual consultant, interior designer etc). We also identified five potential contractors and following initial discussions with them and our architect, have undertaken a tender process with three of them, narrowing our options to two, with whom we are continuing discussions.

The quotes we have received are beyond our internal fundraising capacity, and so although we have continued fundraising through the members’ giving, we have also started a process of applying for various grants, including to the Countess of Huntingdon’s Connexion, the Joseph Rank Trust, the Beds and Herts Historic Churches Trust, the Unaffiliated Congregational Churches Charities and Laing Family Trusts. We hope that grants from these bodies will be critical in opening up match funding from other funds, enabling us to undertake the planned work. Our target is to start the development in 2025/26.

During the year we raised £17208.73 in gifts and gift aid towards the redevelopment project and spent £25308.23. At the end of the year we had £23553.18 in the Building Fund Account.

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Other Activity

Alongside the above specific objectives and our regular activities, the following were of note this year:

Work Experience

Towards the end of the summer term we were delighted to welcome a student from The Broxbourne School who joined our minister, Ben, for a week’s work experience. She participated in many of our weekday activities, helped at assemblies, and did some work on our website. We would be happy to welcome other students interested in our community projects in the future.

25 Years

In August we celebrated Ben and his family being with us for twenty-five years with a special service and lunch, which was enjoyed by all that came, including many who have attended the church during that time but have moved away.

Inter-Faith Forum

Last year we worked with other churches and the Broxbourne Muslim Network to host the local election hustings. This proved to be a fruitful and enjoyable coming inter-faith collaboration, and we decided to pursue it further, inviting them, local councillors, and other faith representatives to meet for an inter-faith forum in February to get to know each other better and to explore how to develop our relationship further. This was also a response to the increasingly polarised political landscape around issues such as migration and religion and the desire to find a better way to relate to those of other cultures and backgrounds, seeking to understand and appreciate our differences.

Evening Services

Before the Covid pandemic we held weekly evening services. After we were finally able to reintroduce in-person services, our attention was on restoring the morning services and evening services were not restarted. In the run up to Alpha, we held a series of evening ‘services’ to help prepare as a church. These have since continued once a month, with an emphasis on informal worship and a short devotional ‘thought’ or discussion rather than a full sermon.

Other Organisations

Where appropriate to our aims and objectives, we have worked with and supported other organisations, including financially as permitted by our aims and objectives. Over the course of the year this included:

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Hall Hire

We make our church premises available for ‘hall hire’ as a source of revenue and as a way of supporting local community events and activities in line with our objectives. Over the year it was hired weekly by Saracen’s children’s cheerleading class and Cocaine Anonymous, monthly by Women Aglow, and ad hoc childrens’ parties and other events. We subsidise hire where needed by groups or individuals which are not-for-profit and serving the local community.

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Volunteers

The church fellowship cannot function without the assistance of volunteers. We encourage our members to play an active part in running and attending our activities, and are grateful for their participation.

Safeguarding

As a church that is committed to being a welcoming and inclusive community for all, we are aware of and alert to the importance of safeguarding, including child protection and caring for vulnerable adults. We have a safeguarding policy in place which we review on a regular basis (available on our website) and consider carefully the implications of contemporary culture, church culture, the ability of all to raise concerns, and the range of forms abuse can take, including spiritual abuse. We continue to be supported in this area by The Countess of Huntingdon’s Connexion and Thirtyone:eight.

Food Safety

We also recognise the importance of food hygiene and ask those with responsibility for the preparation and serving of food to have up to date training (Level 2 Food Safety & Hygiene). At our last environmental health inspection by Broxbourne Council we were awarded with 5 stars. The desire to maintain good standards of food hygiene and safety is one of the motivations behind our church redevelopment project.

Financial Review

See Accounts below

Income

The total receipts on unrestricted funds were £57,694 and restricted funds of £21,823 giving a total income of £79,517 a decrease of £10,016 in comparison to the total income of £89,533 in 2023-24.

Expenditure

Over the year we spent £53,238 from unrestricted funds and £29,268 from restricted funds, giving a total expenditure of £82,506 an increase of £13,899 when compared to the previous year’s total of £68,607.

Balance

Our closing balance was £48,662 (of which £24,466 is restricted), a decrease of £2,989 on last year’s balance of £51,651.

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Reserves Policy

It is the church policy to maintain an unrestricted balance of 3 months unrestricted expenditure or £13500 whichever is greater to cover emergency situations that may arise from time to time. The balance of £24,197 in unrestricted funds exceeds this target.

Administrative Information

The church is situated at High Road, Broxbourne, EN10 6EN. Its registered office is Huntingdon Lodge, High Road, Broxbourne, Herts. EN10 6AA.

The church has been a registered CIO since 18th June 2021. The Trustees that have served during the year are:

Jonathan Asaffo’s term of office comes to an end at our September AGM when he will stand down. He has agreed to be nominated for a second term, subject to a vote of the membership at the same AGM.

We maintain a website: www.wormleyfreechurch.org.uk in order to support and publicise our activities.

Statements

During the year there have been no serious incidents or loss of funds that would pose a serious risk to the Charities beneficiaries, resources or reputation.

Declaration

I declare that this is a true report and in my capacity of Chair of Trustees I am authorised to sign it on behalf of the Trustees.

Name: JENNIFER VALLELY Signature: Date: 17.12.25

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CHARITY COMMISSION FOR ENGLAND AND WALES Independent examinerfs report on the accounts Sectioii A Indepei)dent Examiiiei s Report W(Ymley Free Churth members of On accounts for tho year •nd•d 30° June 2025 Charlty no (If any) Sat out on pag•s 12-13 I report to the trustees on my examination of tha accounts of the above charity (1he Trusl") for the year ended 3010612025. R•sponslbllhl•s and As charity trustses of the Tru￿, yw are reSp￿SIb￿ for the preparation basls ol r•port of the armunts in acc(Ydance V￿th the requlrements of the Charlties Acl 2011 ('the Acr). I report In res[￿￿ of my examinatlon of the Twst's a¢￿Unts cafrled oul under section 145 of the 2011 Act and in carying out my examination, I have lollowed the appluble Directions given by the Charity Commlsslon under sectb)n 145(5)(b) of the Act. I have completed my examinat￿. I that no material rnatters have come to my attention in ca)nnection *lth the examination whlch glves me cause to belleve that in, any materlal respect.. accounting records wère not kèpt in acc4xdance wlth sectlon 130 of the ALI the aGcounts do not a(xxxd the acccJmth)g records Ind•p•nd•nt •xamlnefs statement I have no concerns arKI haNE corna acxoss no other matters in (x>nneclion y￿th the examination to which attention should be dra%4n in order to enable a proper undersiandlng of the accounts lo be reached. SIgn￿. 1110912025 Nam•: Graham Squibbs R•lovant profe8slonal quallficatlon(s) or body (If any): Address: 15 Spritw Road. Middleton, Man￿￿ter M24 5DL

----- Start of picture text -----
Charity Name No (if any)
Wormley Free Church 1194850
Receipts and payments accounts CC16a
For the period Period start date Period end date
To
from 1st July 2024 30th June 2025
Section A Receipts and payments
Unrestricted Restricted Endowment
Total funds Last year
funds funds funds
to the nearest £ to the nearest £ to the nearest £ to the nearest £ to the nearest £
A1 Receipts
Voluntary Income 44,306 17,189 - 61,495 55,917
Activities for Generating Funds - - - - -
Other Income 295 10 305 319
Income from Investments 241 - - 241 -
Income from Church Activities - - - - -
Other Incoming Resources - - - -
Gift Aid Tax Refund 10,317 420 - 10,737 19,303
Rent 2,535 - - 2,535 2,585
Gifts for Sierra Leone Mission - -
Gifts for Individuals 1,570 1,570 8,170
Drop In 1,665 1,665 1,706
Parents and Toddlers 969 969 908
Social/ Community Fund Fund - - - - 625
Sub total (Gross income for
AR) [ 57,694 ] 21,823 - 79,517 89,533
A2 Asset and investment sales,
(see table).
- - - -
- - - - -
Sub total - - - - -
Total receipts 57,694 21,823 - 79,517 89,533
A3 Payments
Salaries, Expenses and Pension 41,443 - - 41,443 40,444
Repairs and Maintenance 205 25,308 - 25,514 7,063
Insurance and Water 1,925 - - 1,925 1,741
Overheads and Expenses 7,716 - - 7,716 7,544
Purchase of Equipment 1,053 1,053
Conferences - - - - 210
Independent Examination Fees - - - - -
Youth Work - - - - -
Other Charities 862 862 313
Mission 496 10 506 400
Sierra Leone Mission 400 400 400
Gifts for Individuals 1,570 1,570 8,170
Drop In 1,245 1,245 1,276
Parents and Toddlers - 247 - 247 171
Social/ Community Fund 26 - 26 875
Sub total [ 53,238 ] 29,268 - 82,506 68,607
A4 Asset and investment
purchases, (see table)
- - - -
- - - -
Sub total [ - ] - - - -
Total payments 53,238 29,268 - 82,506 68,607
Net of receipts/(payments) 4,456 - 7,444 - - 2,989 20,926
A5 Transfers between funds 1,602 - 1,602 - - -
A6 Cash funds last year end 18,139 33,512 - 51,651 30,725
Cash funds this year end 24,197 24,466 - 48,662 51,651
----- End of picture text -----

CCXX R1 accounts (SS)

17/12/2025

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Section B Statement of assets and liabilities at the end of the period

Categories
Signed by one or two trustees on
behalf of all the trustees
B5 Liabilities
B3 Investment assets
B4 Assets retained for the
charity’s own use
B2 Other monetary assets
B1 Cash funds		 Details
Details
Details
Details
Details
Total cash funds
(agree balances with receipts and payments
account(s))
Gift Aid Tax Refunds Due
Treasurers Accounts
Business Bank Instant Account
Cash
Signature
Inland Revenue Month 3 payments		 Unrestricted
funds
Restricted
funds
to nearest £
to nearest £
7,810
24,225
15,423
-
964
241
24,197
24,466
OK
OK
Unrestricted
funds
Restricted
funds
to nearest £
to nearest £
12,653
6,300
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
Fund to which
asset belongs
Cost (optional)
-
-
-
-
-
Fund to which
asset belongs
Cost (optional)
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
Fund to which
liability relates
Amount due
(optional)
Unrestricted
565
-
-
-
-
Print Name
JENNIFER VALLELY		 Endowment
funds
to nearest £
-
-
-
-
OK
Endowment
funds
to nearest £
-
-
-
-
-
-
Current value
(optional)
-
-
-
-
-
Current value
(optional)
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
When due
(optional)
20 July 2025
Date of
approval
11/09/2025

CCXX R2 accounts (SS)

17/12/2025

2