20[th] February 2025 ## Trustees Report for Period 1st September 2023 to 31 st March 2024 ## Administratve Informaton: Birchington Baptist Church is situated in two premises, one in Crescent Road, the other in Station Road in the village of Birchington-on -Sea. Trustees: |Trustees:||| |---|---|---| |Reverend G. Watson – Minister|Appointed|September 2023| |Mrs Jacolien de Geir – Secretary|Elected|22/01/2020| |Mrs Mo Lawson – Treasurer|Elected|19/01/2022| |Mrs Sandra Bryan*|Elected|15/05/2019| |Mrs Moira Burfut*|Elected|15/05/2019| |Mr Kevin Field*|Elected|15/05/2019| |Mrs Beryl Ebbs*|Elected|04/08/2021| |Mrs Tracey Margrave*|Elected|04/08/2021| |Mr Don Sanders*|Elected|04/08/2021| Following the change in charitable status to a CIO, with effect of 1[st] September, those marked * were “re-elected” to new terms of office in line with the Charity Commission’s requirements for newly registered charities. Mrs Bryan, Mrs Ebbs and Mrs Margrave each chose to serve for an additional year, Mr Field and Mr Sanders chose an additional two years and Mrs Burfutt chose an additional three years. Property Trustees Independent Examiner The Baptist Union Corporation Limited Mrs Jane Neame Baptist House 52 Ham Shades Lane 129 Broadway Whitstable Didcot Kent Oxfordshire CT5 1 NX OX1 8RT Bankers: Westwood Cross and Margate **Operating as a Charitable Incorporated Organisation Charity #1198807** Birchington Baptist Church was founded in 1923 and is affiliated to the Baptist Union of Great Britain. The church is governed by its members, through regular church meetings, and administered by Deacons (Trustees) who are elected by the church members for periods of three years. Trustees are usually appointed at an Annual General Meeting. To qualify, candidates must be asked their permission to be nominated and the nomination must be seconded. All this is done by the members of the church. To be successful in their election, each candidate must receive at least 66% of the votes cast. ## Charitable Objectves: The aim of the church is to promote the Gospel of Jesus Christ both in Thanet and the world as a whole through the giving. For the most part this is financial. We therefore support the Baptist Ministry Society - World Mission, who have medical, agricultural and educational projects around the world, their Home Mission, which helps other Baptist churches around the UK to reach out to their local communities. We give regularly to the Tear Fund organisation who ensure that the financial aid required, in the immediate aftermath of a disaster, is given to those areas of the world in a timely manner. The church can confirm that they have referred to the guidance contained in the Charity Commission’s general guidance on public benefit when reviewing the churches aims and objectives, and in the planning of future activities. ## Actvites: In order to achieve our aims of being relevant in the local community and giving support to our members and residents living in Birchington, we involve ourselves in numerous activities throughout the year. The aim is to show the love of Christ in both word and deed and to bring people closer to a relationship with Jesus as the living word. We continue to let our church buildings, following the guidelines at all times. ## Storehouse foodbank: This facility has continued to grow and seems to be needed more now than it ever has. With the accompanying Open-door element, which provides a warm and comfortable space to enjoy a hot drink and biscuits, the outreach has expanded to allow people to just have a chat and, if they want, ask questions. The addition of fortnightly clinics, offered by Citizens Advice, our facility is enabling more people to be able to access the advice they need, without the need to make expensive phone calls or journeys. ## Warm Spot: **Operating as a Charitable Incorporated Organisation Charity #1198807** This outreach facility came about during the beginning of the financial crisis. The initial aim was for it to run during the winter months and to be a warm space where people could come together and not have to worry, for a while, about being at home in the cold. It continues to offer this but has grown to be an all-year-round event where people come to play various board games, do puzzles and generally socialise. Refreshments are offered as well as toasted sandwiches. This is another outreach event that has seen its numbers increase over the months/years since its inception. Both of the above take place in our Station Road building. In our Crescent Road buildings, The Loft is held on Friday evenings. The aim being to provide a space for the 11years old to 18years old age groups to meet in a safe place with friends and to make new ones. They have the chance to learn about the Bible and ask any questions they may have. The evening is split into two, the first part being for year groups 7 to 8 and the second part for year groups 9 to 13. This runs during term time only, and is led by David Maidment with the help of a team of volunteers. On a fortnightly basis we host Hi-Kent who are an organisation that run hearing aid clinics and with the help of volunteers offer basic maintenance of peoples hearing aids and replacement batteries. It is another event that offers people the chance for a chat while enjoying refreshments and biscuits. Each summer, during the first two weeks of the school holidays, we take part, in various ways, in the Scripture Union beach mission which has now been running for over 130 years. Throughout the year we support events organised by the Parish Council, either by opening our buildings or providing volunteers to help run these activities. ## Achievements and Performance: With the appointment of a new Minister, we continued to focus on the activities and worship programmes we had in place while he made himself familiar with his new congregation, got to grips with his responsibilities and observed the way our church worked. We continued to use the gifts of our congregation together with contributions from the Minister. Many of our outreach programmes still kept going thanks to the commitment of the teams involved and the love for people and our Lord Jesus Christ. ## Financial Review: The financial support of the church, by those who attend its services, meant that it was able to continue to carry out its functions and achieve its objectives. Many had changed to making their gifts by standing order which has made it easier for all concerned. **Operating as a Charitable Incorporated Organisation Charity #1198807** No outside appeal has had to be made for the church to continue and it has been able to meet its commitments to other charitable organisations. However, at the beginning of 2024 it was identified that the financial situation was becoming less healthy than our previous experience. A decision was taken, by the trustees, to advise the members of the reversal of our financial situation and that we would need to look at ways of cutting costs, raising additional funds or both. This will be ongoing even though some of the congregation have already increased their offering. ## The General Fund: As the name implies, this covers the day-to-day finances of the church and continues to be sufficient for the church’s needs, at present. The church is dependent on its volunteers, and those of other churches and those from non-church backgrounds, who help to keep its clubs and groups functioning. The Minister, part-time Families and Youth Worker, part-time cleaner and part-time maintenance man are the only people salaried. We are very grateful, for all the contributions made to all the functions of the church, by these people over the past year. ## Property: The Baptist Union of Great Britain and Ireland are the Property Trustees for the church buildings and the manse. The insured value of the Crescent Road buildings is £1,043,907, the Station Road building is £1,840,932 and the manse is insured for £390,736. In addition, the church has the use of a small car park and an adjacent room, Spurgeon’s Room, which are leased from Alvid Investment Co. Ltd. ## Financial Risks Policy: There is no specific risk policy, but the church would use the Reserve Fund if the income dropped to the extent that the Minister could not be paid from the General Fund. Both churches and the manse are insured against all normal risks, as well as public and products liability (£5,000,000), employer’s liability (£10,000,000), publisher’s indemnity (£100,000), property owner’s liability (£5,000,000) and personal accident injury liability for employees (£10,000,000). The policies are reviewed annually, but there is no provision for any damages not covered by the insurance policies. **Operating as a Charitable Incorporated Organisation Charity #1198807** **Operating as a Charitable Incorporated Organisation Charity #1198807** |2023||**Income**|**Income**|||| |---|---|---|---|---|---|---| |||**Regular**|**Loose**|**BMS**|**HMF**|**Specials**| ||September|£4,140.89||||£40.00| ||October|£4,397.22|£266.50|£0.00|£0.00|£100.00| ||November|£4,747.22|£313.50|£40.00|£40.00|£100.00| ||December|£3,827.22|£181.00|£15.00|£15.00|£155.00| |||###|£761.00|£55.00|£55.00|£395.00| |2024||**Regular**|**Loose**|**BMS**|**HMF**|Disaster| ||January|£3,831.50|£168.50|||| ||February|£3,741.50|£505.00|£30.00|£30.00|£30.00| ||March|£4,680.50|£195.00|£15.00|£15.00|| |||£12,253.50|£868.50|£45.00|£45.00|£30.00| |**2023**||**EXPENDITURE**||||| |||Ministry|Giving|Fees|Manse|Church 1| ||September|£2,827.64||£444.00|£13,023.80|£1,788.41| ||October|£4,684.03|£796.00|£24.00|£2,836.34|£1,224.63| ||November|£2,749.08|£1,340.00|£589.00|£460.56|£1,687.84| ||December|£2,776.69|£120.00|£1,187.88|£596.56|£2,792.24| |||£13,037.44|£2,256.00|£2,244.88|£16,917.26|£7,493.12| |2024||||||| ||January|£3,488.04|£1,000.00|£24.00|£242.84|£2,372.06| ||February|£3,233.53|£50.00|£117.72|£275.62|£2,561.84| ||March|£3,133.74||£193.24|£508.06|£2,790.52| |||£9,855.31|£1,050.00|£334.96|£1,026.52|£7,724.42| |Other|Lettings||||| |---|---|---|---|---|---| |£215.00|£455.00||||| |£1,312.27|£345.00||||| |£1.00|£595.00||||| |£470.00|£305.00||||| |£1,998.27|###|||£22,076.82|| |Other|Lettings|helper|The Flat||£50,209.03| |£1,501.00|£145.00|£1,000.00|£358.62||| |£1,000.00|£1,980.00|£110.00|||| |£7,553.59|£460.00|£782.00|||| |£10,054.59|£2,585.00|£1,892.00|£358.62|£28,132.21|| |Church 2|||||| |£886.05|||||| |£1,656.02|||||| |£1,281.85|||||| |£232.83|||||| |£4,056.75||||£46,005.45|| ||||||£68,724.98| |£1,241.93|||||| |£512.58|||||| |£973.81|||||| |£2,728.32||||£22,719.53|| 8888S88 ¢> P4 rn rn rl 8888£ 88 8 8 8- 4t8" c c o o a o 1551111115111 Iv iilliil5,