Richmond and Putney Unitarian Church CIO Ormond Road Richmond upon Thames Surrey TW10 6TH
Registered Charity No.: 1200204
Annual Report 2024
CONTENTS
| | CHARITY INFORMATION | Page 2 |
|---|---|---|
| | LIST OF MEMBERS | Page 3 |
| | CHAIR’S REPORT | Page 4 |
| | FINANCIAL REPORT | Page 5 |
2019 RPUC ANNUAL REPORT for AGM 22 March 2020
Page 1
CHARITY INFORMATION
MINISTER: Rev. Simon Ramsay OFFICERS: CHAIR: David Watson TREASURER: Mark Richardson SECRETARY: Catherine Pinto
TRUSTEES: Charles Labia, Catherine Pinto, Mark Richardson, David Watson CUSTODIAN British and Foreign Unitarian Association (B&FUA) TRUSTEE: (General Assembly of Unitarian and Free Christian Churches) INDEPENDENT Mr W. Featherstone, 114 Dunkirk Avenue, EXAMINER: Desborough NN14 2PN BANK: NatWest, 22 George Street, Richmond, Surrey TW9 1JW SOLICITOR: Mr Vincent Hambleton-Grey, Baron Grey Solicitors, Richmond Langtry House, 441 Richmond Road, Twickenham TW1 2EF
GOVERNANCE
The governance of Richmond and Putney Unitarian Church CIO is based on the Charity Constitution of 5 June 2022.
OBJECTS
The Objects of the CIO are to advance the Unitarian and Free Christian religion for the public benefit as defined by clause 3(2) of the Constitution.
MEMBERSHIP
There are currently 42 members of the Richmond and Putney Unitarian Church, of whom 32 are standard voting members, listed overleaf.
2019 RPUC ANNUAL REPORT for AGM 22 March 2020
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MEMBERS OF RPUC 2024
Standard members*
Armstrong, Mary Arrol, Heather Berryman, Marilene Bevan, Sally Booth, Michael Chamberlain, George Coyle, Brian Diana (Anon.) Halnan, Penny Holland, Janet Hoskins, Gareth Knight, David Labia, Charles Langridge-John, Julie Lewis, Trevor Lloyd-Lawrence, Adrian Lloyd-Lawrence, Kitty Lord, Margaret Mamok, Anne Martin, Bruno McGrane, Christine McPherson, Douglas Meyer, Helen Meyer, Jack
Pinto, Cath Richardson, Mark Sharapova, Asma Strachan, David Tuckman, Lawrence Turnbull, Scott Watson, David Watson, Louisa
Associate members
Collins, Emma Ferris, Kay Hoskins, Kay Lewis, Trudy McClosky, Kay McClosky, Patrick Murrells, Steve
Honorary members Duchac, Dawn Linda Riley Scott, Pamela
*Standard members have RPUC and GA voting rights.
2019 RPUC ANNUAL REPORT for AGM 22 March 2020
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CHAIR’S REPORT
The CIO ‘conversion’ process came more or less to a conclusion in August with the transfer of all the church’s assets and property into the ownership of the new charity. Among other things, the CIO structure gives us solidity and perpetuity in the ownership of our assets, particularly our church buildings, without reliance on individual trustees. The former Richmond Free Church Trust, which has been the vessel for the church’s legal existence since our foundation in the 1890s, will be formally dissolved in 2024.
This year saw a three-month minister’s sabbatical, with Sundaymorning duties being shared between visiting preachers (enabling us to develop relationships with other Unitarian communities) and congregation members. The collaborative effort involved helped to strengthen our community cohesion. Our ‘Connections’ forum continued to explore outreach and ways to offer support to our local community. At the start of the year we opened the church as a ‘warm space’; in November we ran our first Death Café (with more planned in the new year); our weekly ‘Dance for Health’ class, run in partnership with Dance Health Alliance, offers dance-based exercise designed to provide physical and mental therapy for people living with neurodiverse conditions or general mobility issues. In the coming year we will seek new local partners to extend our social action provision and hopefully develop our ‘café’ format to run a regular ‘Rainbow Café’ for elderly gay people who might be encountering social isolation. Our monthly creche for young children has become firmly established again after the pandemic hiatus, and is now supplemented by a monthly Sunday school run by parents within our congregation, increasing our accessibility to families. We continued to offer a weekly mindfulness/meditation session (with our spectacular candlelit labyrinth meditation around Christmas proving a big hit) and monthly journalling.
2019 RPUC ANNUAL REPORT for AGM 22 March 2020
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FINANCE REPORT
It has been a challenging year financially, due to an expensive (and unforeseen) complete electrical rewiring of our premises (in turn necessitating the removal of asbestos ceiling tiles and subsequent remedial work); large increases in utility bills; stipend increase; and employment costs due to shortfalls in our volunteer capacity – we now for example pay a part-time lettings officer, a job formerly performed by church volunteers. Hence, an exceptional deficit of -£30,165.45 was incurred in 2023.
Our income, at £79,484.96, was around £2,800 down on 2022. Sometimes variations in income can be attributed to the dates certain payments are received (our accounts cover only payments received up to 31 December, but invoices for many rentals for the first quarter of the new year go out in late December, some of which are paid before the new year cut-off, some after). However, some other factors are worthy of note. Congregational contributions were £8,204.21, significantly down by £957.11 compared with 2022. (Our congregation’s contributions are an important part of our revenue and we encourage all to give generously – standing orders are especially welcome.) This shortfall was partially offset by the £736.26 increase in interest on our savings, but of course 2023 has been a year of high interest rates, unlikely to continue in the longer term. Income from premises, at £58,805.87, was down by slightly over £5,000 compared to 2022, in part attributable to both our resident nurseries (our biggest tenants) reducing their hours. And while wedding and other ceremony income brought in over £2,000 more than the previous year, much of that income is paid out in fees to minister, organist, caretaker etc., so the net contribution to the church’s revenue is much lower.
The impact of the electrical and remedial work on our expenditure has been described above. While this was a one-off item of work, we must nevertheless be aware that we are custodians of a complex ageing building (not to mention our other property, the minister’s manse) and significant maintenance and upgrade bills will continue to be a feature of our outgoings in the future. The cost of our major central heating upgrade a few years back was funded entirely out of growth in our revenue; the latest electrical works, however, basically took a big bite out of our savings. With our regular income currently flatlining to some extent, we must become more adroit at exploring grants that are available, particularly for the upkeep of historic buildings, and churches in particular. Otherwise, our main items of expenditure are the cost of employing our minister (which increases year on year in line with General Assembly guidelines) and utility bills (up £2,356.09 on 2022, for the same reasons that everyone’s bills have sky-rocketed over the last year or two). As we go into 2024, off the back of a year of high inflation, the challenges mount up further, with GA ministerial stipend rates in particular going up by 8.5%.
The wolf is not at the door: we are cushioned by our savings (cash at bank and investments over £90K at the end of the year); we have a
2019 RPUC ANNUAL REPORT for AGM 22 March 2020
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strong lettings business with room for more growth; and we have the potential of further grant income. Nevertheless, we are budgeting for a small deficit / break even in 2024 and face the challenge in the medium term of growing our revenue strongly simply to stand still.
2019 RPUC ANNUAL REPORT for AGM 22 March 2020
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Anglican Fellowship of All Saints, Colwyn Bay
Accounts for year ending 31st December 2023 ( from 20[th] February 2023, when bank account
was opened)
INCOME
Open plate * £778.00 Direct giving £5,950.00 Total £6,728.00 EXPENDITURE Hire of Scout H.Q. £1,225.00 A.C.E. Quota £700.00 Maintenance of Services £99.77 31:8 Membership £145.00 Website costs £243.00 Sundries £356.59 Insurance £218.09 Total £2,987.45 Sundries:Printing of fliers, posters, sign and A-board = £256.60 Carol Service fliers and banner = £95.00 Plastic box with handles for use for food bank donations = £4.99 Total = £356.59 Maintenance of Services:-
Communion wine = £24.25 Candles = £52.48 Printing paper and ink = £15 Dividers for Service folders = £8.04 Total = £99.77 Open plate income includes cash collected before the bank account could be opened. INCOME £6,728.00 EXPENDITURE £2,987.45 + unpresented cheque (1) £4.99 £3,745.54* Bank statement at 31[st] December 2023 = £3,745.54 Signed: Carolyn Sherlock Date: 20/01/2024
Having examined the Books and Vouchers produced of the Anglican Fellowship of All Saints, Colwyn Bay, Accounts, and with reference to the Bank Statements, the Accounts as shown give a true and fair view of the Church’s financial affairs for the year ended 31[st] December 2023.
SIGNED:
PRINT NAME: Paul Martin Wakely
DATE: 30/01/2024