Trustees Annual Report
for the period 1 January 2025 to 31 December 2025
Charity name: Pontrhydyrun Baptist Church Charity registration number: 1203297 Charity Address: Chapel Lane, Croesyceiliog, Cwmbran, NP44 2ND
Objectives and Activities
Purposes of the Charity
The purposes of the church are the advancement of the Christian faith in accordance with the basis of faith and with Baptist principles, primarily but not exclusively within Cwmbran and the surrounding neighbourhood; and such other charitable purposes as shall, in the opinion of the charity trustees, put into practice the Christian faith in accordance with the basis of faith, including but not limited to: the prevention and relief of need, hardship and sickness; the advancement of education; and the provision of facilities in the interests of social welfare for recreation or other leisure time occupation of individuals who have need of such facilities by reason of their youth, age infirmity or disability, financial hardship or social circumstances with the object of improving their conditions of life; provided that the advancement of such purposes must be undertaken in a manner that is consistent with the doctrinal distinctives and ethical statements as may be adopted and amended by the church from time to time in accordance with the provisions of the church handbook.
Main Activities
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Regular Sunday worship services with provision for children's groups
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Monthly Sunday evening outreach events
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Life Groups
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Jelly tots a group for babies, toddlers and their carers,
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Women's Coffee morning
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Men’s Coffee morning
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Revel Kids Club for Primary School age children
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Revolution & Revolution+ Youth Group for Secondary School age children
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Board Game club
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Courses for those wishing to explore the Christian Faith, such as Christianity Explored
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Collection and distribution point for Eastern Valley Food Bank
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Assemblies in local schools
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Visiting people who are sick and housebound
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Additional events throughout the year for members and to engage the community
Achievements & Performance
Worship Services
Morning Gatherings continue every week, often with new people attending. Evening Gatherings continue to be popular and include times of discussion and group prayer. Our monthly outreach evenings, have continued but have relocated to our church building, thus increasing attendance. Two baptismal services have been held and three people have been baptised. During the period, nine funerals have been conducted by the Minister. We held a Good Friday service (including breakfast) and All Age Easter Celebration during Easter, and have held our annual Remembrance Sunday service gathered around our war memorial in November, at which some children from Croesyceiliog Primary School attended to read poems and place a wreath. During the Christmas season we ran several outreach services, including an All Age Celebration, Carols by Candlelight and Christmas Day services – all of which were attended by visitors as well as regulars.
Children’s Ministry
Throughout term time we have continued to run weekly children’s and youth ministry. On Fridays we now host three groups (Revel, Revolution and Revolution+), and Jelly Tots has continued every Tuesday for toddlers and their carers. Across these groups we have welcomed many children and young people from the local community, including a significant number of newcomers. February’s ‑ Holiday Club drew in many local families, many of whom returned for the All Age Celebration that ‑ followed. In July we held a well attended family BBQ, strengthening relationships with those connected to our children’s and youth work. We also ran a Neon Party on 31st October as a positive community alternative to Halloween. Our involvement with the local Primary School has continued through leading assemblies, contributing to their Harvest Celebration on food banks, and hosting ‑ their carol service. At Christmas, the Jelly Tots toddlers took part in our All Age Celebration nativity, bringing many parents and carers into church and creating another valuable point of connection.
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Ministry Groups
The monthly coffee mornings continue to attract people from the local community as an opportunity for social connections. The Board Games club continues to meet monthly, bringing several people from the local community together on a Saturday afternoon. Monthly Life Groups are increasingly well attended and often those who are new to the church find themselves more integrated into church life through attending. We have held six social evenings, three for men and three for women, throughout the year sharing a meal at a local venue. These have helped to strengthen our connections across the church.
Community Care Ministry
In addition to being a collection point for food for the Food Bank, we have launched ourselves as a distribution point this year. Numbers of those collecting food parcels has increased as that has become more established. We received a grant to enable us to better store the food. We held our annual focus for the Food Bank during September. The church also continues to support refugee families from Ukraine and Afghanistan, though the level of support needed is not to the same degree as previously as they integrate into the community and life here in the UK.
Mission Support
10% of our income is set apart to be given to those working for the advancement of the Christian faith in other parts of the world. This year we have given grants to organisations as follows: a training college (Union), an open air outreach (OAM), work amongst university students (UCCF) and a Christian relief agency (Tearfund). We have also given to a couple who are working for YWAM in Derby, and an individual working in Thailand who coordinates short term mission for OMF. For our annual Mission Sunday, we invited a speaker from UCCF to share with us.
Pastoral Visiting
The Pastoral Visiting team continues to ensure members and others we have contact with as a church are taken care of and given visits and support, particularly when they are sick, in hospital or housebound. The group typically makes several visits every week. In addition to this, the Minister carries out other visits on a weekly basis, and the other elders likewise as and when they are able, and visits in crisis situations, such as when someone has been bereaved.
Outreach Events
In the run up to Easter we ran our annual quiz night with a good turnout, including a many from the local community. We have continued with our craft evenings and have been better attended. Despite challenges with the weather, our Fun Day in September was still very well attended, giving us opportunities to connect with the local community and inform them of our various groups and events. Our annual bonfire night was a success and attracted many visitors. We ran three wreath making events during the Christmas period, which included a message about the Christian faith and were very popular. We also ran a Christmas Fun Day, and though the outdoor aspects struggled, there was a good turnout for our indoor activities.
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Faith Courses
During this year we ran the Life Explored Course, which was well attended, especially for those who are interested in exploring the Christian faith for the first time. We also ran an ethics course by Crosslands to help those who are Christians to think more biblically about ethics.
Structure, Governance & Management
The church is a CIO governed by a constitution and handbook, based on the former CUA’s original trust deed of 1815 and the Fuller Trust. The church is a member of the Fellowship of Evangelical Churches. Trustees are by default the elders of the church, elected by members of the church, in accordance with the process set out in our constitution, and hold office for three years (with the exception of any trustees who are staff members) before requiring re-election.
Trustees
John Vinall Elder Jonathan Raine Elder & Minister Jonathan West Elder Mark Hands Elder
Staff
Hannah Mitchell Youth & Children’s Worker Jonathan Raine Minister
Deacons
Carole Jennings Safeguarding Jon Thompson Events Steve Jennings Property Tom Bushell Admin Victoria Hands Hospitality
Church Membership
During this period, we had 10 new members added to the membership (one of whom is a junior member). One member was removed from the membership and another inactive member resigned. By the close of this period, our total active membership was 104, five of whom are junior members and one inactive member.
Financial Review
We consider the church to be in a healthy financial position and have no concerns about the ongoing viability of the church from a financial perspective.
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Income and Fundraising
The income of the church is predominantly through the donations of members and attendees of the church. At events, donations boxes are available as well as online giving. All are entirely voluntary.
In addition, some external grants were received during the period, amounting to £6,440 for General Funds.
Reserves Policy
The target minimum reserve will be agreed annually when the budget is agreed. The level will be set at 6 months expenditure less 3 months predicted income (to allow the Church to continue operating at its current level if income drops 50% for 6 months).
In addition to this General Reserve, the trustees have created a number of Designated Reserve Funds to cover areas of less predictable expenditure. These are for: Property Repairs, Defibrillator and Audio Visual/Information Technology. The level of reserve to be held in each of these funds is reviewed as part of the annual budget, and the funds are topped up (or reduced if appropriate) from the General Fund on January 1[st] each year.
The total reserves held at the close of this period were £64,838.
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Financial Report CHARITY COMMISSION FOR ENfjLAND ANO WALES Ptsntrhydyrun Baplst Church 1203297 Receipts and payments accounts CC16a For the pertod from 0110112025 To 3111212025 Section A Receipts and payments unresttted frJnd5 toth• n•ar•sl Restrlcted fund5 Endo)nI fund5 Totsl funds Last year lothè nearest£ tothe nearest£ lothe neares1£ lothenearest£ A1 Recel ts DoDabons Inve5trnent InGomeAnkrest I317& 1,761 131076 1,751 3M47 Sub total(Gross inix)rng for AR) 133M2• 133029 163A63 A2 Asset and Inve$thnt sales. (see table). Sub total 133,629 133029 153,363 A3 Pawrnnts 2405 74,133 6S.766 $ff & TrainiTr9 C¢sts CXherChantab P<bvbes 8430 68J69 9430 68p69 Sub total 1$3,799 1S3,799 164,703 A4 Asset and invesknnt purcha5es,1see table) Sub total 163,799 163,799 164,703 Net ofrecelptslpayments) Ary Transfers betven lund$ Cash funds last par end Cash funds this y¢arend 20,170 20,170 11,341 85,008 64,838 81008 64838 9S,349 85,008 Page 6
Mark Hands 29/06/26
Notes to Accounts:
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The accounts have been prepared on a “Receipts & Payments” basis, according to law.
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All Receipts and Payments relate to the Charitable Activities of the church.
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There were no restricted funds in 2025.
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- The church made the following grants in 2025:
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Grant awarded to Charity No Amount
Fellowship of Independent Evangelical Churches 1168037 3,516
Individual working for a Christian mission agency N/A 5,460
Beacon Books and Crafts Limited 517778 1,000
OMF International (UK) 1123973 3,150
Union Foundation 517324 1,170
Universities & Colleges Christian Fellowship 306137 1,170
TearFund 265464 1,170
The Open-Air Mission 215409 1,170
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Independent Examiner
Independent examiner's report on the accounts
Section A Independent Examiner’s Report
Report to the trustees/ Charity Name members of Pontrhdyrun Baptist Church
On accounts for the year 31[st] December 2025 Charity no 1203297 ended (if any) Set out on pages 6-8 (remember to include the page numbers of additional sheets)
I report to the trustees on my examination of the accounts of the above charity (“the Trust”) for the year ended 31 / 12 / 2025.
Responsibilities and As the charity trustees of the Trust, you are responsible for the preparation basis of report 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 the applicable Directions given by the Charity Commission under section 145(5)(b) of the Act.
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Independent I have completed my examination. I confirm that no material matters have examiner's statement come to my attention (other than that disclosed below *) in connection with the examination which gives me cause to believe that in, any material respect:
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accounting records were not kept in accordance with section 130 of the Act or
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the accounts do not accord with the accounting records
I have no concerns and have come across no other matters in connection with the examination to which attention should be drawn in order to enable a proper understanding of the accounts to be reached.
- Please delete the words in the brackets if they do not apply.
Signed: Paul Burnell Date: 12/05/2026 Name: Paul Burnell Relevant professional ACMI qualification(s) or body (if any): Address: 69 Velindre Road Whitchurch Cardiff CF14 2TF
Section B Disclosure
Only complete if the examiner needs to highlight matters of concern (see CC32, Independent examination of charity accounts: directions and guidance for examiners).
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Give here brief details of any items that the examiner wishes to disclose .
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