Annual Report April 2025 to March 2026
We finished the year continuing to operate as Burton Renewal Fellowship (BRF) – known as ‘Riverside Church Burton’ (RCB) and as a church with charitable status. This will be the last year that we will be operating as BRF, as the ownership of the church building has now been transferred to the CIO that is RCB.
The existing team of four senior leaders, all of whom are trustees, continued to have equal authority & accountability in the leadership of the church.
Riverside Church continued to hold weekly Sunday services - which were also live streamed via, and saved on, our Youtube channel. Throughout the year, this continued to prove to be an invaluable way of ensuring those who were not physically able to be in church – especially those who were too unwell - to remain connected with and a part of the church.
As well as the typical Sunday Services, a number of special ones took place:
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9[th] November 2025: Remembrance Sunday, with a special focus on sacrifice.
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7th December 2025: Christmas Magic Show (morning)
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7[th] December 2025: Reflective Carol Service (for those affected by loss of a loved one)
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14[th] December 2025: All in Together Service (morning)
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21[st] December 2025: Christmas Carol Service (morning)
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24th December 2025: Midnight Communion (evening)
The numbers of children and youth attending the sessions continue to grow. It has not been unusual for in excess of 30 under 18’s to attend on Sunday morning. Our volunteers continued to make minor tweaks to the practical arrangements for the children and youth in order to meet the diverse needs of those attending.
Some small groups for adults experienced changes in leadership and membership but the focus of these groups remained the same: prayer and pastoral support. Of significance during this year was the number of people who requested to join or transfer into the daytime small group. This is indicative of a growing number of the church who are feeling unable to drive at night for meetings. In addition to prayer and pastoral support, some small groups also used the time to study the Bible and delve deeper into the themes explored on Sundays.
At the beginning of this year the Senior Leadership Team, being mindful of the need to start succession planning, invited 17 individuals that were identified as having leadership qualities. 15 of which accepted the invitation. We invited these to a series of monthly training sessions. We have labelled this group the Emerging Leadership Team. Each evening provided time and space for attendees to discover more about themselves as leaders and to encourage them to grow and develop. This will conclude in March 2026, with next steps to be decided.
As well as the ongoing activities for the church family, we held some on-off events which included a BBQ and ‘Thanks a bunch munch’ for people who help with the many sessions which are run for the children and youth of the church and wider community.
Other one-off events which we organised and hosted throughout the year included:
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a Christmas Lunch for the residents of the Alms Houses (at the request of the Consolidated Charity of Burton on Trent)
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a Christmas Day lunch for those who would otherwise be alone or struggle to put this meal on the table (with turkeys and Christmas puddings kindly donated by Burton Albion)
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We also recognised and participated in the ‘longest night’ campaign which is promoted by the Samaritans
We still continue to send appropriately vetted representatives of the church to support children at our local school. Six young people received one-to-one support for an hour on a weekly basis at a primary school. The team of volunteer coaches from Riverside remains at six.
The playgroup, Jelly Tots, which is for parents/carers and children from newborn up to preschool, continued to be extremely popular, making the most of the safe outdoor space, as well as the large indoor warehouse. The Childminders’ Support Group also continued as the separation of the two groups benefits those who attend both sessions.
The Warehouse Wednesdays’ provision continued to offer sessions for those aged 7-11 years from 4-5.15 pm. It is seen as a safe space for children with additional needs, so some stay and play with their parents. These children are often limited in the extracurricular activities that they can attend, but they are welcomed and feel at ease at our venue as we take the time to draw up care plans with them and their parents. The later session for those aged 10-16 continued running form 5.45-7.15 pm every Wednesday during term time. Many of the youth accessing our provision are struggling for a variety of reasons and this means that some of these youth have been excluded from activities elsewhere – either by a third party or have excluded themselves as they don’t feel able to attend because they are ‘quirky.’ At these sessions, we offer a safe, warm and accepting place to be themselves. Another USP of both Wednesday sessions is that they attract children and youth who want to learn/develop their skateboarding skills and this is only possible thanks to the committed team of volunteers from the wider community which is growing in number.
A number of sessions were planned for the summer holidays to help children, youth and their parents to continue to have access to the activities which are on offer during term time; some were based at Riverside, while others were in the community. The Jelly Tots playgroup ran for two sessions at the warehouse and, in contrast to term time, siblings were invited to reduce the need for parents to arrange childcare for their older children. Two sessions for primary aged children also took place at the church, as well as another one for youth. In partnership with Burton Albion Community Trust, Trent & Dove and Burton Youth for Christ, we ran two sessions of detached work at local parks. They were aimed at young people, but in reality, they attracted young families so following a review, revised plans will be made for the coming year.
The English Class continued to provide essential support to those for whom English is a second language. Due to word of mouth numbers regularly exceeded 30 each week. After some months, it became necessary to stop any new referrals and for the first time ever we had to have a waiting list.
The monthly Craft Club welcomed some of the English Class participants and it was wonderful to see them honing their command of the English language in a different setting.
Similarly, the monthly Lunch Club for those over 65, and the clients continue to be incredibly grateful for an affordable, tasty and nutritious meal with the company of others. Numbers have been consistent, at around 40, which is manageable for the size of the room and the cooks.
The church continued to partner with a number of local organisations by working together with them. Riverside Church Burton continue to contribute food items to Burton YMCA, to help them keep up with the ever-growing need for food parcels. These donations are given by members of our congregation.
Our local Teams4U volunteers were kind enough to provide 127 Christmas shoeboxes for local children in need. These were distributed by Winshill’s Bee Blessed Charity Shop and three local primary schools - all of whom were incredibly grateful for the gifts.
Church premises continued to be made available for regular use by third party groups and local charities, many of whom work with the vulnerable and disadvantaged in our community as can be seen below.
Narcotics Anonymous (which is for those who are recovering from drug and alcohol addiction) continued to hold two fellowship meetings each week at the church’s premises. Alcoholics Anonymous started a Tuesday lunchtime group in summer. The Burton Addiction Centre also continue to hold a weekly pre-recovery group at the church, further cementing the relationship with this incredible local organisation.
BAC ‘o’ Connor are a pre rehab group that used our premises. Individuals tend to go to rehab and then feed into the NA groups that meet in our building. Hosting the BAC group helps get a sense of continuity for those attending.
The U3A, or ‘The University of the Third Age’ movement is a collection of groups (u3as) that run local and online member-led learning for those no longer in full time work across the UK. The Burton-wide ‘tea and talk’ sessions took place as usual at Riverside during the year, while the History Group continued meeting once a month.
Burton Child Contact Centre (BCCC). Continue to use our warehouse and workshop. They provide a safe, supervised place for divorced or separated parents that require supervised contact.
Burton YMCA is one of our key partners and the organisation used our facilities for staff training during the year. In order to offer the best support available to those in need in the town, professional connections between the staff of both organisations are continuing to
grow. The same can be said of Burton Youth for Christ who partner with us in the Warehouse Wednesday project and other aforementioned activities. 24 youth joined the Burton Youth Christ weekend away at Alton Castle. Their good behaviour was commented upon by the staff and volunteers who were responsible for running the programme and upon returning home, all youth confirmed that they had moved forward in their faith.
Riverside Church Burton
No (if any)
Receipts and payments accounts
CC16a
For the period Period start date Period end date To from 4/1/2025 3/31/2026
Section A Receipts and payments
Unrestricted Restricted Endowment funds funds funds
Total funds Last year
| Section A Receipts and payments Unrestricted funds |
Restricted funds |
Endowment funds |
Total funds | Last year |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| A1 Receipts MonthlyGiving - Offerings - One off Giving - Grants(Includes £10K from NGED) - Gift Aid Reclaim - Donations/rent for use of buildings - Bank Interest on Savings Accounts - Church social activites & events - - - Sub total - Total receipts - A3 Payments Gifts - - Admin & BuildingRunningCosts - Bank charges/Accountancyfees - Church Outreach - Special Projects - Adjustment Sub total - - - Sub total - Total payments - Net of receipts/(payments) - A5 Transfers between funds - A6 Cash funds last year end - Cash funds this year end - to the nearest £ Sub total(Gross income for AR) A2 Asset and investment sales, (see table). Salaries/PAYE/Pension(includes Grant fundedproject salarycosts) Grant Funded Projects(excluding salary costs) A4 Asset and investment purchases,(see table) |
to the nearest £ - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - |
to the nearest £ - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - |
to the nearest £ - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - |
to the nearest £ |
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Section B Statement of assets and liabilities at the end of the period
Unrestricted Restricted Endowment Categories Details funds funds funds to nearest £ to nearest £ to nearest £ Bank Current Account -
B1 Cash funds
| Savings Account - Reserves | - | - | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Savings Account - Buildings & Special Projects |
- | - | ||||||
| Total cash funds | - | - | - | |||||
| (agree balances with receipts and payments account(s)) |
OK | OK | OK | |||||
| Unrestricted | Restricted | Endowment | ||||||
| funds | funds | funds | ||||||
| Details | to nearest £ | to nearest £ | to nearest £ | |||||
| B2 Other monetary assets | - | - | - | |||||
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| - | - | - | ||||||
| - | - | - | ||||||
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| Details | Fund to which asset belongs |
Cost (optional) | Current value (optional) |
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| B3 Investment assets | - | - | ||||||
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| Details | Fund to which asset belongs |
Cost (optional) | Current value (optional) |
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| B4 Assets retained for the | - | - | ||||||
| charity’s own use | - | - | ||||||
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| Fund to which | Amount due | When due | ||||||
| Details | liability relates | (optional) | (optional) | |||||
| B5 Liabilities | - | |||||||
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Signed by one or two trustees on behalf of all the trustees
| Signature | Name | Date of approval |
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