2025-12-31-accounts

ANNUAL REPORT SEVEN TOWERS JOINT COUNCIL 2025

Seven Towers Joint Council Trustees’ Report 2025

Administrative information

Following approval by The Diocese of Gloucester Bishop’s Council in September 2023, Seven Towers Joint Council became effective on 1 January 2024. At that time the PCCs of the parishes of St Mary’s Norton, St Mary & Corpus Christi, Down Hatherley, St Lawrence, Sandhurst, St Catherine, Staverton with St Mary Magdalene Boddington and St Catherine The Leigh & Evington went into abeyance.

The Seven Towers Joint Council (also known as Seven Towers Benefice) is part of the Diocese of Gloucester within the Church of England. The correspondence address is c/o Sandhurst Church, Sandhurst, Gloucester, GL2 9NP. The Joint Council (JC) is a charity (number 1205403) registered with the Charity Commission.

JC members who have served from January 2025 until the 28[th] April 2026 are as below.

Name	Post	Dates if part year
Revd Joe Knight	Priest in Charge	Resigned 14/02/26
Simon Trapnell	Benefce (& Norton) Church Warden, Lay Vice Chairman
Ian Donald	Benefce(& Down Hatherley)Church Warden	Elected 08/05/25
Carolyn Wright	Sandhurst Church Warden*, Secretary untl 13/05/25
Ellie Stevenson	Down HatherleyChurch Warden*
Janine Smith	SwB Church Warden*
Jean Smith	Norton Church Warden*
Phil Coton	The Leigh Church Warden* & Deanery Synod Representatve
Adrian Hawkins	Sandhurst Church Warden*	Resigned 08/05/25
Derek Wright	Elected Member, Treasurer & Deanery Synod Representatve
Hazel Coton	Elected Member
TonyCrawshaw	Elected Member
Andrew Wilkins	Elected Member
Graham Limbrick	Elected Member & DeanerySynod Rep.
Joan Howard	Elected Member	Elected 08/05/25
Lynda Chan	Co-opted member and Secretary from 13/05/25

Alison Moseley Co-opted member Rev’d Philippa Donald Co-opted member

Note * also referred to as the Parish Representative

In addition, Gareth Moseley as the Safeguarding Officer (from 08/05/25) attends the meetings.

Structure, governance and management

The method of appointment of JC (PCC) members is set out in the Church Representation Rules. All Church attendees are encouraged to register on the Electoral Roll of one of the former PCCs and stand for election to the JC. Seven Towers Joint Council became responsible for governance and management on 1[st] January 2024, taking over from the PCCs. However, the parish electoral rolls are still required and will continue to be updated annually.

Each elected member is elected for a 3-year term and will then retire by rotation and is eligible to stand for re-election. For the first 3 years it was agreed two members (Graham Limbrick & Tony Crawshaw) would retire after 2 years and the other two members (Hazel Cotton & Andrew Wilkins) would retire after 3 years.

Objectives and Activities

The JC has the responsibility of co-operating with the incumbent in promoting in the ecclesiastical parishes the whole mission of the Church, pastoral, evangelistic, social and ecumenical. Each parish comprising the benefice has been encouraged to establish a team under the direction of the local parish representative to maintain the local church and churchyard and organise local events.

Financial Review

Total receipts for the General Fund which meets the day to day costs of the benefice were £96, 902 (£111,200 in 2024) and are detailed in the Financial Statements. Total payments from the General Fund in the year were £116,404 (£112,417 in 2024). The largest items of expenditure were Parish Share of £78,964 (£75,204), which is a payment to the Gloucester Diocesan Board of Finance to enable it to provide the benefice with clergy and support services.

The net result for the year was a deficit of £19,501 Adding cash, bank and deposit balances brought forward at the beginning of the year, the balance of the general fund carried forward at year-end 2025 totaled £79,907 (£94,408.)

Reserves policy

It is JC policy to maintain a balance on general funds (if possible), which equates to between 3 and 6 months’ general fund payments, to cover emergency situations that may arise from time to time. At year-end, the figure was outside (greater than) the reserve’s guideline but is expected to fall back into the range during 2026.

It is our policy to invest our fund balances with the CBF Church of England Deposit Fund.

SEVEN TOWERS JOINT COUNCIL- Annual Accounts to 31 December 2025

Notes		General Fund	Designated Funds	Restricted Funds	Total 2025	Total 2024
	Income
	Collections	5,491	683	452	6,626	8,123
	Regular Giving	35,976	3,604	0	39,580	48,844
	Ad hoc Donations	7,300	13,295	11,847	32,442	20,231
4	Charity collections	6,561	0	0	6,561	6,230
5	Grants	0	0	25,435	25,435	50,819
	Legacies	0	5,000	0	5,000	10,000
	Gift Aid reclaim	12,469	1,234	143	13,846	15,822
	VAT reclaim	0	0	646	646	16,520
	Magazine - Subscriptions	3,083	0	0	3,083	3,059
	Magazine - Adverts	1,688	0	0	1,688	1,268
6	Fund raising	3,435	5,725	2,543	11,703	10,297
	Bank interest	2,346	8,501	384	11,221	11,465
7	Investment Income	2.040	0	4,415	6,455	5,223
	Fees - Funeral	11,103	547	0	11,650	14,129
	Fees - Monuments	1,810	0	0	1,810	1,338
	Fees - Weddings	2,895	0	0	2,895	6,778
	Book sales	0	33	0	33	196
	Other (Gifts)	705	0	0	705	0
	Total Income	96,902	38,622	45,865	181,389	230,343
	Expenditure
8	Parish Share	78,964	0	0	78,964	75,204
	Water	311	112	0	423	398
	Electricity	3,392	0	0	3,392	4,455
	Oil	842	0	0	842	409
	Insurance	8,034	0	0	8,034	7,762
9	Running Expenses	1,181	1,761	1,009	3,950	2,163
	Toilet Hire	0	804	216	1,020	0
	Magazine printing	3,272	0	0	3,272	2,837
	Statutory fees	4,056	0	0	4,056	4,262
10	Organist fees	2,298	0	0	2,298	2,296
11	Building works	0	970	51,456	52,426	8,412
	Clergy expenses	3,170	0	0	3,170	3,000
4	Charity	8,063	0	0	8,063	8,048
6	Cost of fund raising	107	818	150	1,075	1,584
	Worship Requisites	722	0	0	722	304
	Bank Charges	74	0	0	74	324
13	Churchyard Maintenance	0	6,654	498	7,152	3,826
12	Mission Teams	325	0	161	486	379
	Bell costs	205	0	0	205	109,456
	Outreach	1,205	125	0	1,330	868
	Other	182	3,051	840	4,073	1,829
	Total outgo	116,404	14,295	54,330	185,028	237,816
14	Inter fund transfer	5,000	(5,000)	0	0	0
	Excess / (deficit)	(14,501 )	19,327	(8,465 )	(3,639 )	(7,473 )

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Assets as at 31 December 2025

	31-Dec-25	31-Dec-24	Change
Current accounts	20,220	15,945	4,275
Deposit accounts	62,388	46,813	15,575
CCLA	210,923	240,266	(29,344)
SJP	60,546	54,691	5,855
Total	354,077	357,716	(3,639)

Assets by Funds

Funds	31-Dec-25	31-Dec-24	Change
General	79,907	94,408	(14,501 )
Restricted
Sandhurst Bells	3,000	3,000	0
Youth Mission	2,697	2,430	267
Mission	2,000	2,000	0
The Leigh Fabric	55,265	50,814	4,451
DH Roof	(10,781)	1,562	(12,343)
SwB Organ	22,675	23,515	(840)
Total Restricted	74,856	83,321	(8,465)
Designated Funds
Sandhurst Fabric	34,600	22,718	11,882
Down Hatherley Fabric	71,687	73,658	(1,971)
SwB Fabric	56,192	47,403	8,789
Norton Fabric	7,575	9,073	(1,498)
Norton Bells	2,008	1,690	318
Norton Toilets	14,084	12,556	1,528
Hardship	900	900	0
Twigworth Churchyard	12,268	11,989	279
Total Designated	199,314	179,985	19,328
Total Funds	354,077	357,716	(3,639)

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Notes to the Financial Statements for the year to 31 December 2025

1. Presentation of financial information

These financial statements have been prepared on the receipts and payments basis and in accordance with the Church Accounting Regulations 2006. Seven Towers Joint Council became effective on 1 January 2024 at which time the 5 original PCCs (Down Hatherley, Norton, Sandhurst, Staverton with Boddington and The Leigh & Evington) went into abeyance.

2. Accounting Policies

These financial statements include monetary transactions, assets and liabilities for which the Joint Council (“JC”) can be held responsible. They do not include the accounts, if any, of any other benefice wide groups that owe an affiliation to any other body.

Receipts are included as received and expenditure when irrevocably paid.

3. Types of funds

In these accounts funds are described as General, Designated and Restricted. ‘Restricted funds’ are sums held on trust for particular purposes and can only be spent on those purposes. ‘Unrestricted funds’ (General Funds) are simply the ordinary property of the JC and can be spent on any of the JC’s general purposes. ‘ Designated funds’ are sums earmarked by the JC for specific purposes.

In these accounts Restricted Funds are the Staverton with Boddington (“SwB”) Organ Fund, Sandhurst Bell Fund, The Leigh Fabric Fund, the Down Hatherley Roof Fund, the Mission Fund and the Youth Mission fund. These funds were set up as a result of specific donations for that purpose only.

Designated Funds include the Fabric Funds of each of the previous PCCs, the Norton Bell Fund, the Norton Toilet Fund, the Hardship Fund, and the Twigworth Churchyard Fund

4. Charitable Collection and Donations

Since April 2020, we have been collecting fortnightly for Gloucester Foodbank from church porches, Nature in Art and the Co-op at Twigworth Green.

The money collected at the Ladies’ and Men’s breakfasts was donated to The Gloucester City Mission. Money collected at the monthly community lunches in excess of costs was donated to Gloucester Foodbank.

Apart from September, half of the money donated at the monthly Friendly Fridays less the cost of hall rental was sent to Longfield Hospice and the other half to Down Hatherley Roof Appeal. The September donations were sent to MacMillan together with money collected at a MacMillan coffee morning held in Sandhurst Village Hall.

Collections at funeral services were sent to the charities nominated by the families of the deceased.

Where appropriate gift aid is added to donations and passed on to the various charities. The Joint Council “funds” the gift aid until such time as it is claimed back from HMRC.

Charitable gifts included £735 to Gloucester Foodbank, £1,021 to Macmillan Nurses from the September coffee mornings and £4,161 to various charities in memory of those whose funerals were held in our churches. In addition £460 was passed onto Gloucester Foodbank through CAF cheques from members of the congregations.

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5. Grants

Grants of £25,435 were made by various bodies towards the repair of roof at Down Hatherley church (see note 11).

6. Fund raising

Various fund-raising activities were held across the Benefice, some for the Benefice general fund others for local projects.

	Income	Costs	Net
Benefice	3,434	107	3,327
DH Roof appeal	2,393	150	2,243
Norton Toilets	515	0	515
Sandhurst	2,328	818	1,510
The Leigh	151	0	151
SwB	2,882	0	2,882
Total	11,703	1,075	10,628

£1,096 of the fund raising shown for the Benefice came from the Christmas Tree Festival organised by the Norton Church Team. £1,864 was raised at various events organised by The Leigh team including £820 from the fete. The JC thanks those involved for all the hard work put into organising these events.

7. Investment Income

Investment income includes £600 rental income from a piece of land in Boddington and gains on an investment with St James’s Place resulting from the sale of the village hall in The Leigh. In line with past practice, dividends and interest arising on the St James’s Place investment (£1,440 in 2025) are credited to the general fund and growth (£4,415 in 2025) to The Leigh Fabric Fund.

8. Parish Share

Parish Share is money requested from and paid to Gloucester Diocese Board of Finance to cover costs including those of the clergy remuneration and related costs including housing and central services incurred by the Diocese.

The 2025 allocation from Severn Vale Deanery to the Benefice was £78,964 (£75,204 in 2024).

9. Running Expenses

The running costs by parish were as follows:

	2025
Down Hatherley	217
Norton	1,310
Sandhurst	163
SwB	71
The Leigh	865
PAT testing	432
Stamps	21
Total	3,079

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“PAT” testing was paid for from the General Fund. Other costs charged to local fabric funds were the Fire Extinguisher testing for all church buildings except Norton, AV upgrade at The Leigh, QI report at Norton and Lightning Conductor testing at The Leigh In addition £!05 was paid for the benefice mobile phone and £766 for various licences

10. Organist fees

£1,758 was paid to organists in respect of Funeral and Weddings and £540 for playing at various worship gatherings.

11. Building Works

During the year a major project was undertaken to repair the roof over the chancel and vestry of Down Hatherley Church funded by reserves brought forward, grants received and various donations. At the end of the year the DH Roof fund is shown as having a negative balance as a result of timing of some grants and VAT refunds still to be received. The Joint Council thanks all of those involved in the project, the bulk of which was successfully delivered on time in late December.

Other minor repairs comprise:

Sandhurst	310
SwB	660	Includes Architect fees
The Leigh	265
Total	1,235

12. Mission Teams

This comprised £161 for Children’s work and £325 for the prayer team.

13. Churchyard Maintenance

Churchyard costs by parish were as follows:

	Fuel	Mower servicing	Other	Total
Down Hatherley		0	2,760	2,760
Norton		814	58	872
Sandhurst	49	114	2,702	2,865
SwB		0	0	0
The Leigh	200	0	297	497
Twigworth		0	156	156
Total	249	928	5,973	7,150

Other costs primarily comprise tree maintenance and laying of the new path in Sandhurst.

14. Interfund transfer

The Down Hatherley parish team decided to transfer £5,000 from its Fabric fund into the Benefice general fund to help meet the costs of running the Benefice. The JC records its thanks to the DH team.

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Independent Examiner’s Report to the Members of the Seven Towers Benefice Joint Council (“the Trust”)

I report on the accompanying accounts of the Seven Towers Benefice Joint Council for the year ended 31 December 2025, which have been prepared on a receipts and payments basis as the Trust’s gross income for the year was below the threshold of £250,000.

Respective Responsibilities and Basis of Report

As charity trustees you are responsible for the preparation of the annual accounts of the Trust in accordance with the requirements of the Charities Act 2011, the relevant sections of the Statement of Recommended Practice for Accounting and Reporting by Charities, and the appropriate Church of England Accounting Guidelines. My responsibility is to perform an independent examination of the accounts in accordance with the general directions given by the Charity Commission.

Independent Examiner’s Statement

An examination includes a review of the accounting records kept by the Trust and a comparison of the accounts presented with those records. It also includes consideration of any unusual items or disclosures in the accounts, and seeking explanations from you as trustees concerning any such matters. The procedures undertaken do not provide all the evidence that would be required in an audit and consequently no opinion is given as to whether the accounts present a true and fair view.

In connection with my examination, no matters have come to my attention which give me reasonable cause to believe that in any material respect:

• (i) accounting records were not kept in accordance with section 130 of the Charities Act 2011, or

• (ii) the accounts do not accord with those records.

In addition, I have come across no other matters to which in my opinion attention should be drawn to enable a proper understanding of the accounts to be reached.

Steven Riddick FCA Woodview Pirton Lane Churchdown Gloucester

6 April 2026

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