Stanley Road Baptist Church ANNUAL REPORT
including Accounts 2025-2026
Stanley Road Baptist Church is a Charitable Incorporated Organisation
Reg. charity No: 1197276
Presented to the church AGM on June 13, 2026 www.stanleyroad.org.uk | info@stanleyroad.org.uk
Stanley Road Baptist Church
TRUSTEES’ ANNUAL REPORT
for the period 1[st] April 2025 to 31[st] March 2026
Aims and purposes
The principal purpose of Stanley Road Baptist Church is the advancement of the Christian faith according to the principles of the Baptist denomination. The Church may also advance education and carry out other charitable purposes in the United Kingdom and/or other parts of the world.
Objectives and Activities
The Trustees of the Church seek to encourage and enable people to know God and worship Him. Whilst we have regular attenders from outside Morecambe, our focus is on the community surrounding our church building. We aim to encourage a discipleship where faith grows and is put into practice, with regular opportunities for Bible study, teaching, prayer, and Communion. The Trustees have considered the Commission’s guidance on public benefit and, in particular, the specific guidance on charities for the advancement of religion. We particularly try to enable people to live out their faith as part of our local community through groups operating from church and drawn from all age ranges and catering for all abilities. To facilitate this work it is important that we maintain the building fabric of Stanley Road Baptist Church.
Achievements and Performance
Worship and Prayer
The church, its trustees and its members are keen to offer services, facilities and events through the year that are engaging, varied, meet individual needs and promote spiritual growth.
We have seen reasonable growth in our Sunday morning gatherings this year. At Easter 2025, we held three baptisms. We have seen a number of people come to the church for the first time, attend regularly and become part of the church community. The increased diversity that was noted last year has continued with regular worshippers now coming from China, Ecuador, Philippines, Nigeria, Zimbabwe and South Africa. How to encourage and incorporate people with different nationalities is an exciting opportunity and challenge for us. We continued to host groups of students from Capernwray Bible School as well.
The teaching on Sundays has covered various topics, from the Gospels, Acts and an Autumn series in Romans, which linked with our midweek Growth Groups. We had several special services, including a Songs of Praise; Boys’ Brigade enrolment; SPACE children’s prize-giving; and the festivals of Harvest, Christmas and Easter.
Teaching was led mainly by our pastor, Rev Steven Hewitt, with other members preaching on occasion. Last summer, we appointed Rev Mark Simmons as our Associate Pastor and he contributes in a variety of ways. In September, we appointed Matt Dawson as our Ministry Assistant for a year and he has been able to sample various aspects of ministry as he considers potential future ministry. Matt Bradley, a Trustee, was appointed Children and Families Lead and he has significant input into our all-age services.
Numbers in our SPACE (Sunday School) have continued to grow with several new leaders . We continue to have prayer ministry available. We held our third Church weekend in February 2026 with Stephen Carling, an experienced pastor and missionary. His teaching on Encountering Jesus was valued by many who attended.
Our additional service on a Friday, known as Prayer and Praise , has gone from strength to strength this year. We have had speakers from the church, as well as guests from outside, including speakers on missionary work. The group continues to be a generous donor to various organisations. Every fortnight, there is a prayer meeting beforehand, and every half term, we meet for prayer on a Wednesday, linking with the Growth Groups.
Specific groups
We have a Trustee, Gina Gao, who is Chinese and through her connections, we began to host worship services for people from China and the Far East, who live in our community. This has developed into the Chinese
Trustees’ Annual Report 2025-26, Stanley Road Baptist Church Reg/d charity number: 1197276
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Christian Fellowship with monthly services and plans for Chinese Bible studies and prayer meetings. It has been encouraging to see how we have enabled this group to become established.
What’s What is a monthly group, held on Sunday mornings, for adults with learning difficulties who regularly attend our services. We continue to be official partners with ‘Count Everyone In’, a charity experienced in this area of ministry. This group has added a couple of new leaders and the team work well together, planning each month. The group went to the Keswick Convention for a day again in July.
The Boys’ Brigade meets each Friday. The Junior section (ages 8-11) has become well established now in only its second year with regular and committed attendance from 10-12 boys each week. Several of the boys in the Senior/Company section (ages 11-18) are working towards their Kings badge, the pinnacle achievement in the BB. Again, the company had an excellent summer camp and produced an annual display for family and friends.
Our Growth Groups have developed as well with five groups now meeting each week, up from four last year. These groups will spend time in the same material, and then time in their own content. This balance seems to work well, and the leaders meet together regularly for encouragement.
For our activities, we rely heavily on volunteers. We ensure there are up-to-date DBS checks for those working with children, young people and/or adults at risk. We take training seriously and have put on safeguarding sessions, reviewed our Safeguarding policy and continued to implement a clear ‘appointment’ procedure.
Membership
All are welcome to engage with the life of the church. The estimated regular weekly attendance over the year is between 80 and 85. At the end of March 2026, there were 96 people in membership. In the past year, 12 new members were added (Malcolm Parker, Sue Parker, Daniel Abrampah-Mensah, Beth Hewitt, Isaac Hewitt, Heiress Legaspi, Matthew Dawson, Cara Dawson, Emmanuel Omotayo, Rosemary Omotayo, Martin Peters, Claire Peters); six people were taken off the list: Margaret Evans (moved away, now died), while Sarah Duff, Richard Hartley, Mandy Hartley, Ann Morris and Nicola Palmer no longer worship at Stanley Road. Another two members (Sue Parker and Betty Godfrey) died during the past year.
Building maintenance and usage
We have continued to maintain and manage our church building, which takes significant energy and finance. We have replaced the roof over the toilets; addressed significant damp in the church; and installed new lights in the hall. We purchased staging for the church; a TV for the meeting room, which was re-decorated; and electric radiators for an upstairs office. Management of the building is led by the Trustees, with activity led by Karl Werner, our buildings manager. We employ a cleaner (self-employed) and in March 2026, we appointed Marcia Burrow as Administrator to help manage the use of the building, among other responsibilities.
We continue to see a number of community groups hire our space. A key partnership has begun with the local NHS Pulmonary Rehabilitation unit for their community sessions two a week. We now host an outreach meal once a month led by a member of the community, and Dance Design acrobatic gymnastics each Saturday. We continued to host two theatre groups; training for several care agencies; activities from BEE Unique, supporting families with neuro-diverse children; Slimming World; The Bay Singers choir; the Bridge group; and birthday parties. We held two concerts, one raising money for Boys’ Brigade, and the other for our Christmas appeal. These bookings have brought benefit to our community as well as additional income. We aim to balance the bookings with the flexibility to use our space as we wish.
Pastoral care
We continue to try to care for those connected to the church. There are several members who fulfil responsibilities such as Communion for those who are housebound; visiting those not able to gather for worship; and hospital visits. Chris Betteridge has taken on the role of Pastoral Lead and she facilitates a new group, the Care Co-ordination team , aimed at looking out for all connected to the church. We continue to use our pastoral fund to respond to crisis situations and to make gifts at times of celebration.
Our monthly Communion services at Woodhill House have continued. We are sometimes invited to give pastoral care to residents, including at times of end of life. This is a real privilege.
Trustees’ Annual Report 2025-26, Stanley Road Baptist Church Reg/d charity number: 1197276
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Mission and Evangelism
A new initiative was begun in Spring 2025 with a CAP Job Club , in conjunction with Lancaster, Morecambe and District Churches’ Debt Centre. This was a big success with good take-up from members of the community and a wonderful response to helping out from church volunteers. We held two Job Clubs and will hold another in June 2026. Some Job Club members now attend our regular Wednesday café. The café is an important part of our ministry and mission. We regularly meet new people, and the space to chat has been valuable to a number of visitors. The café is a significant effort from the volunteer team, which is much appreciated.
Easter and Christmas are our key times for community engagement. As well as regular activities and services, for Christmas 2025, we held outdoor carol events on Branksome estate and at Morrison’s supermarket. Both went well and may led to future events.
Our schools continue to be central to life in our community and we seek to support them as best we can. The Listening service at West End Primary School continues and the warmth of our relationship with the school led to us running a JAM (Jesus and Me) Club after school through the year. Both Sandylands and West End again sent classes to the church for a ‘Walk Through Easter’ workshop. Again, this was a big success.
We keep in contact with various aspects of missionary work through sharing prayer points and newsletters and visits. In July, we welcomed Pastor J, our new BMS Link Missionary from Cambodia. We also get prayer letters from Genesis Acaye, who serves with BMS in Uganda, We had two visits from Rev. Mark Young, in his role with The Lighthouse Community in Llandudno. As well as serving within the church, members have volunteered with various organisations, including LMDCDC, West End Impact, Wycliffe Bible Translators and Safe Families.
The church supports several local charities through our regular giving. NISCU (Northern Inter-Schools Christian Union) helps local schools with teaching on the Christian faith. Lancaster, Morecambe and District Churches Debt Centre offers advice and assistance with debt-related issues. Ambassadors Football has an office in our building and their CEO, Martin Bateman, again came to share on a Sunday morning.
Churches Together Partnerships
Stanley Road Baptist Church is a member of the Baptist Union and the North Western Baptist Association. We hold occasional events with Caton and Lancaster Baptist churches. Our Pastor meets with other ministers in local and regional groups. He is part of the Morecambe Churches’ Forum, which meets sporadically.
Financial Review
General Overview
In the accounting year, General Offerings totalled some £49,225. This represents an increase of just under 12% on the previous year. Other charitable income and donations came to £7,184 and reclaimed tax, under the Gift Aid Scheme amounted to £9,630. Although somewhat lower than the 24/25 total, this is explained in the notes to the accounts. Use of the premises by groups and organisations, paying rental fees, continues to increase. Income of £24,915 represents a 49% increase on last year.
In addition to the General Fund, we have used three ‘Restricted’ funds. Appeals income of £1,955 was received and passed on to a number of groups. These are listed in the notes to the accounts . Donations, continue to be received into the support fund for Mark Young and the ‘Lighthouse Community Church.’ The intention is that the handling of gifts for this purpose will cease before the end of the 26/27 financial year. Any donors wishing to support this project will give directly, rather than via Stanley Road Baptist Church. The other restricted fund relates to a grant, of £2,000, received from the Cinnamon Trust for the CAP Job club. This has been passed on, in full, to the ‘Lancaster and Morecambe District Debt Centre.’
Total General expenditure was £101,087. This represents an overall increase of just under 23% on last year. Extra costs under Ministry include ‘Trainee’ allowances of £2,800. Support for groups included under External Mission came to £10,956 and represents an increase of 33% on the previous accounting period. Buildings renovations and upkeep accounted for expenditure of £35,409. This is a broad category and includes equipment purchases, insurance, utilities, and all repairs. Notable items include damp proofing (£5,625) and roof repairs (£4,000).
Trustees’ Annual Report 2025-26, Stanley Road Baptist Church Reg/d charity number: 1197276 3
Assets: The balance of accounts at March 31, 2026 were: NatWest Current account £31,249; Baptist Union Deposit £32,200. This gives total monetary assets of £63,449, represented by the fund balances below. Funds: The General Fund decreased during the year from £65,324 to £60,933. The Restricted Funds balance decreased from £3,430 to £2,516.
Reserves Policy: We have a minimum reserve target of £30,000. Our policy is to maintain sufficient funds to facilitate six months’ notice for our Minister and the settling of any other outstanding financial commitments, before an orderly closure of the church, should this ever become necessary.
Summary: The final ‘cash’ position, at the end of March 2026, remains solid and the overall increase in offerings and donations is encouraging. We are grateful for the faithful support of members and friends, which has been supplemented well, by new donors committing to the church. Use of the premises, by outside groups, has enabled us to face the challenge of buildings upkeep, which continues to be a big draw on resources. Looking ahead, this challenge will continue. We acknowledge once again the faithfulness of God in providing for us during the past year and we look to Him for all our future needs.
Volunteers
We would like to acknowledge that our church life is based largely on the dedication of volunteers who teach children, supply music, run the kitchen, maintain the building, attend to administration and finances, and oversee the pastoral care of our congregation. We thank each one of you for your love, dedication and service.
Structure, Governance and Management
The Trustees manage the church in accordance with our constitution (CIO adopted October 2021), and meet a minimum of 11 times a year. The average level of attendance was 85%.
Trustees include the Pastor, who chairs the meetings, with others appointed from the membership at the AGM of Church Members. The appointment of Trustees is public, clear and open, enabling members to prayerfully consider who should be appointed and with notice of forthcoming elections. Candidates are nominated, and elected by secret ballot of the church members. There is an opportunity for postal votes to be made in advance.
Reference and Administrative details
Stanley Road Baptist Church, Morecambe is situated in Stanley Road, Morecambe. The correspondence address is Stanley Road Baptist Church, Stanley Road, Morecambe, LA3 1UP
Trustee members serving within the period April 1, 2025 to March 31, 2026 are:
Minister: Rev. Steven Hewitt (Pastor, Chair)
Elected members: Mrs Stella Walsh (Secretary) Mr Andrew Sadler (Treasurer) Mrs Kath Johnson (until June 14, 2025) Mr Jason Palmer (until June 14, 2025) Mr Matthew Bradley Mrs Sandra Todd Rev. Mark Simmons (Assoc Pastor) Dr Robert Henderson Mr Robert Middleton Mrs Sarah Middleton Mrs Gina Gao (from June 14, 2025) Mrs Christine Betteridge (from June 14, 2025) Ms Jacki Harrington (from June 14, 2025)
Declarations
The Trustees declare that they have approved the trustees’ report above. Signed on behalf of the charity’s trustees:
| Signatures | ||
|---|---|---|
| Full name | Sandra Todd | Christine Betteridge |
| Position | TRUSTEE | TRUSTEE |
| Date | May 5, 2026 | May 5, 2026 |
Trustees’ Annual Report 2025-26, Stanley Road Baptist Church Reg/d charity number: 1197276
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STANLEY ROAD BAPTIST CHURCH CIO 1197276. RECEIPTS & PAYMENTS FOR THE 12 MONTHS ENDING 31 MARCH 2026.
GENERAL FUND - UNRESTRICTED
| RECEIPTS Offerings Donations & other income Use of premises Repayment from utilities (Solar Panels) Ministry & Mission groups Gift Aid & Small Donations Bank & BU Corp Ltd interest PAYMENTS Ministry Ministry & Mission External Mission Admin Building renovations & upkeep Surplus(+)/Deficit(-) Balance b/f 1st April Balance c/f |
Notes 1 Notes |
12 months to 31/03/2026 12 months to 31/03/2025 £49,225.17 £ 43,958.20 £7,183.97 £ 7,113.44 £24,914.50 £ 16,691.00 £2,108.15 £ 1,737.42 £1,425.70 £ 460.00 £9,630.15 £ 15,700.07 £2,207.54 £ 1,321.10 |
|
|---|---|---|---|
| £96,695.18 £ 86,981.23 |
|||
| £43,362.50 £ 37,767.98 £5,861.81 £ 5,073.74 £10,956.46 £ 8,557.61 £5,497.20 £ 3,969.68 £35,408.56 £ 26,882.12 |
|||
| £101,086.53 £ 82,251.13 |
|||
| -£4,391.35 £ 4,730.10 £65,324.19 £ 60,594.09 |
|||
| £60,932.84 £ 65,324.19 |
APPEALS - RESTRICTED FUNDS
| RECEIPTS Donations Gift Aid & Small Donations PAYMENTS Various beneficiaries 2 Surplus(+)/Deficit(-) Balance b/f 1st April |
2026 2025 £1,846.51 £ 545.00 £72.50 £ 77.66 |
|---|---|
| £1,919.01 £ 622.66 |
|
| £1,955.26 £ 557.00 |
|
| -£36.25 £ 65.66 £36.25 -£ 29.41 |
|
| £0.00 £ 36.25 |
| LIGHT HOUSE COMMUNITY CHURCH RECEIPTS Donations & Legacies Gift Aid & Small Donations 1 PAYMENTS Surplus(+)/Deficit(-) Balance b/f 1st April Balance c/f |
LIGHT HOUSE COMMUNITY CHURCH | - M. YOUNG- RESTRICTED 2026 2025 £2,460.00 £ 3,605.00 £662.02 £ 1,642.49 |
|---|---|---|
| £3,122.02 £ 5,247.49 |
||
| £4,000.00 £ 4,005.00 |
||
| -£877.98 £ 1,242.49 £3,394.06 £ 2,151.57 |
||
| £2,516.08 £ 3,394.06 |
| RECEIPTS Grant PAYMENTS CAP Job Centre Surplus(+)/Deficit(-) |
CINNAMON TRUST GRANT- |
|---|---|
Trustees’ Annual Report 2025-26, Stanley Road Baptist Church Reg/d charity number: 1197276 5
| ASSETS Unrestricted Cash Funds Restricted Cash Funds Non monetary assets 4 |
2026 2025 £60,932.84 £ 65,324.19 £2,516.08 £ 3,430.31 £2,700,769.00 £ 2,609,475.00 |
|---|---|
| £2,764,217.92 £ 2,678,229.50 |
LIABILITIES
NOTES WITH REGARD TO SELECTED FIGURES ABOVE
- Two Gift Aid/GASDS claims were made and received during the 2024/25 financial year. The first claim received in April 2024 was in respect of offerings received in the previous financial year. The second claim was in respect offerings received up to 01/03/2025.
----- Start of picture text -----
2. Appeals Restricted Funds payments. 2026 2025
Baptist Missionary Society £634.83 £527.00
Boys Brigade £617.50 £20.00
Christians Against Poverty £2.50 £10.00
Churches Together £73.36 -
Lancaster & Morecambe District Debt Centre £402.07 -
Stroke Association £25.00 -
Syrian Refugees £200.00 -___
£1,955.26 £557.00
----- End of picture text -----
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One of the qualifying criteria for the grant was that the applicant had to be a church. Lancaster, Morecambe & District Churches Debt Centre is a registered CIO but not a church. Because of the very close association the church has with LMDCDC, the trustees agreed to apply for the grant and to disperse it in equal amounts against LMDCDC invoices.
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Non-monetary assets are reflected at their insured value as at 24th June 2025 and are comprised of buildings £2,602,440 & their contents £98,329.
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Expenditure incurred before 31st March but paid in April totalled £733.40. These transactions will only reflect in the 2026/2027 financials (Accrual accounting not used).
The Receipts and Payments and the Statement of Assets and Liabilities were approved at a Trustees meeting held on April 14, 2026.
Signed: Andrew Sadler, Treasurer
Notes to the Accounts.
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The accounts have been prepared on a Receipts and Payments cash basis as permitted by section 133 of the Charities Act 2011 provided the Charity's income is not over £250 000, and the Charity Commissioner guideline CC16 for receipts and payments accounting has been applied.
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The principal accounting policies are:
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Income is recognized upon receipt of cash or cash equivalents to which the Charity has entitlement.
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Expenditure, inclusive of irrecoverable VAT, is recognized upon payment of an invoice or claim for which the Charity has an obligation to settle. The Charity has not registered for VAT.
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Fund accounting. General funds are unrestricted funds which are available for use at the discretion of the Trustees in furtherance of the general objectives of the Charity. Restricted funds are donations which are to be used in accordance with specific restrictions imposed by donors; they include donations received from appeals for specific activities or projects.
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The Trustees did not receive any remuneration.
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The Independent Examiner was not paid for the examination.
Independent examiner's report to the Trustees of Stanley Road Baptist Church
I report to the Trustees on my examination of the accounts of the above Charity (“the Trust”) for the year ended 31st March 2026.
Responsibilities and basis of report
As the Charity's Trustees, you are responsible for the preparation of the accounts in accordance with the requirements of the Charities Act 2011 (“the Act”). I report in respect of my examination of the Trust’s accounts carried out under section 145 of the 2011 Act and in carrying out my examination, I have followed all the applicable directions given by the Charity Commission under section 145(5)(b) of the Act.
Independent examiner's statement
I have completed my examination. I confirm that no material matters have come to my attention in connection with the examination which gives me cause to believe that in, any material respect:
- the accounting records were not kept in accordance with section 130 of the Charities Act; or
· the accounts did not accord with the accounting records; or
· the accounts did not comply with the applicable requirements concerning the form and content of accounts set out in the Charities (Accounts and Reports) Regulations 2008 other than any requirement that the accounts give a ‘true and fair’ view which is not a matter considered as part of an independent examination.
I have no concerns and have come across no other matters in connection with the examination to which attention should be drawn in this report in order to enable a proper understanding of the accounts to be reached.
Signed: (John Pollard) Date: April 28, 2026 Address: 8 Lake Grove, Morecambe, LA4 4LH
Relevant professional qualification or membership of professional bodies (if any).
Trustees’ Annual Report 2025-26, Stanley Road Baptist Church Reg/d charity number: 1197276
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