Charity Number: 1195136 Company Number: CE025621
## ’ - Trustees Annual Report of Activity 2025
## Introduction
Since its foundation in July 2021 the structure and constitution of Heritage Sermons has been unchanged with the same five trustees operating throughout. All of the trustees required re-election by the other trustees during the year. Two trustees expressed a desire to resign when suitable replacements had been found.
The charity’s objective and purpose is the advancement of the Christian faith for the benefit of the public by the preservation and dissemination of sermons by deceased ministers, which were either preached in chapels which have historically been associated with the _Gospel Standard Magazine_ or which were preached by ministers who were members of such churches.
The sections below describe the digitising and publishing of new material and the level of downloads from the website in 2025, providing the evidence that the Charity’s objectives are being achieved.
The status of some sermons regarding meeting the publication criteria can be difficult to determine, due to a lack of supporting information, such as when a sermon was preached. A cautious approach can be (and has been) adopted due to the volume of material available and a need to expend limited time wisely.
The Trustees record their thanks to Almighty God for maintaining this venture since its inception to the end of 2025.
## Digitising and Publishing
During 2025 233 new digitised sermons were registered, of which 214 were published on the Heritage Sermons website. This was fewer than in 2024, due partly to the hiatus during migration to the new web host. The trustees are thankful to Muriel Hanks , Daniel Broome and Susan and Matt Burgess for their assistance in digitising sermons. A total of 2875 sermons have now been published. Approximately 4000 catalogued sermons await digitisation and/or publication. Tapes holding around 1000 sermons are in our possession waiting to be catalogued. There has been very little advertising for new material or for help with digitising during the year. We are grateful to Muriel Hanks who continues to catalogue substantial quantities of tapes in addition to digitisation.
Sermons were published for the first time for the following Ministers: E. Baldwin, R. Bentley, J. H. Gosden, J. McNee, D. Steere, J.D. Turner, G. Ward and W. Wheeler making a total of 128 ministers
represented. For the following ministers, their cohort of sermons was increased substantially: S. Delves from 84 to 102, K. Howard from 12 to 42 and F. Rowell from 15 to 35.
Sermons preached at Salem chapel, Braintree were available for the first time, making a total of 91 different chapels represented by the end of the year.
All newly published sermons have a quality descriptor and most have a brief summary of the subject matter as the title.
## Website
The migration from Yet Another Sermon to TruthVine as the host for Heritage Sermons has been the major activity of the year. In addition to an entirely new user experience the migration enabled some error correction and the introduction of several efficiencies in managing the material:
1. The ability to simultaneously publish any number of sermons
2. Importing recorded metadata with each sermon, thereby reducing mistakes as well as saving time
3. Restricting descriptor terminology, thereby reducing scope for errors and misspelling
New features on the website include:
1. Displaying the full Scriptural text on which the sermon is based in the details
2. Explicitly displaying the sound quality
## Downloads
The veracity of download counts from the old website host is uncertain. Occasional very high daily download counts indicates that harvesting is taking place for unknown use. These counts have been removed from the total, which is intended to be as close as possible to sermons that are being listened to. After removing the daily download spikes there remained around 14,000 downloads in 2025. This indicates a substantial increase in downloads as compared with previous years. If correct then this is a great encouragement. We anticipate more accurate statistics from the new website.
## Sales and Marketing
A logo has been produced and incorporated into the website and other material. A flier has been sent to many _Gospel Standard_ chapels announcing the new website. An A1 poster and business cards have also been printed. These were used at one event towards the end of the year.
Sales do not form part of the Heritage Sermons business model.
## Financial Review
The migration to the new website has drained the charity finances. Higher hosting costs also create a financial challenge that will be noticed in coming years without funds coming in from fresh sources. No bank charges were incurred.
The trustees believe they can humbly record that: “Hitherto hath the Lord helped us.”
Prepared by Malcolm Lee on behalf of the Trustees 30[th] January 2026.
Unanimously agreed by trustees at meeting on 5[th] March 2026.
## Charit number: 1195136 y Com an number: CE025621 p y
## Balance Sheet for 1/1/2025 to 31/12/2025
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Income Expenditure
Opening balance: HSBC 4,751.41 Microsoft OneDrive 3/25- 2/26 84.99
Donations 110.00 TruthVine consultancy 3,360.00
Website hosting 152.37
Closing balance: Lloyds Bank 1,264.05
Total 4,861.41 Total 4,861.41
Total funds at year end 1,264.05
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