Trustees’ Annual Report for the period From 1st October 2024 To 30th September 2025
Charity name: The Curtains Up Project Charity registration number: 1207561
1. Objectives and Activities.............................................................................................. 3 1.1. Summary of the purposes of the charity as set out in its governing document. SORP reference Para 1.17......................................................................................................3 1.2. Summary of the main activities in relation to those purposes for the public benefit, in particular, the activities, projects or services identified in the accounts. SORP reference Para 1.17 and 1.19......................................................................................3 1.3. Statement confirming whether the trustees have had regard to the guidance issued by the Charity Commission on public benefit SORP reference Para 1.18......................................................................................................6 1.4. Contribution made by volunteers SORP reference Para 1.38......................................................................................................6 2. Achievements and Performance..................................................................................7 2.1. Summary of the main achievements of the charity, identifying the difference the charity’s work has made to the circumstances of its beneficiaries and any wider benefits to society as a whole. SORP reference Para 1.20......................................................................................................7 3. Financial Review............................................................................................................ 8 3.1. Review of the charity’s financial position at the end of the period SORP reference Para 1.21......................................................................................................8 3.2. Statement explaining the policy for holding reserves stating why they are held. SORP reference Para 1.22......................................................................................................8 3.3. Amount of reserves held SORP reference Para 1.22......................................................................................................8 3.4. Reasons for holding zero reserves SORP reference Para 1.22......................................................................................................8 3.5. Details of fund materially in deficit
Written by: Matt Rogerson
Approved by Trustees on 24 Jul 2026
Trustee Annual Report 2025 - Page 1 of 12
SORP reference Para 1.22......................................................................................................9 3.6. Explanation of any uncertainties about the charity continuing as a going concern SORP reference Para 1.23......................................................................................................9 3.7. The charity’s principal sources of funds (including any fundraising) SORP reference Para 1.47......................................................................................................9 4. Structure, Governance and Management................................................................ 10 4.1. Type of governing document (trust deed, royal charter) SORP reference Para 1.25....................................................................................................10 4.2. How is the charity constituted? (e.g unincorporated association, CIO) SORP reference Para 1.25....................................................................................................10 4.3. Trustee selection methods including details of any constitutional provisions e.g. election to post or name of any person or body entitled to appoint one or more trustees SORP reference Para 1.25....................................................................................................10 5. Reference and Administrative details.......................................................................11 5.1. Names of the charity trustees who manage the charity..........................................11 5.2. Corporate trustees – names of the directors at the date the report was approved 11 5.3. Name of trustees holding title to property belonging to the charity.....................11 6. Funds held as custodian trustees on behalf of others............................................12 7. Declarations................................................................................................................. 12
Written by: Matt Rogerson
Approved by Trustees on 24 Jul 2026
Trustee Annual Report 2025 - Page 2 of 12
1. Objectives and Activities
- 1.1. Summary of the purposes of the charity as set out in its governing document.
SORP reference Para 1.17
The advancement of the Christian faith (in accord with the CIO’s Statement of Faith) mainly, but not exclusively, by the provision of creative arts based holidays and events for young people.
- 1.2. Summary of the main activities in relation to those purposes for the public benefit, in particular, the activities, projects or services identified in the accounts.
SORP reference Para 1.17 and 1.19
“Curtains Up! 2025 - From Small Things”
Overview
In the summer of 2025 The Curtains Up! Project ran “Curtains Up! 2025 - From Small Things” for young people aged 12-17. Held at The Greenhouse at Barnes Close near Bromsgrove. This was our second summer residential since the charity's formation in 2024.
The young people stayed for 6 nights with the team arriving 1 day early for training, planning and preparation.
In early April we also ran a weekend for the team and the wider Curtains Up! community. This weekend was primarily aimed at providing time for the main summer residential team to have training, time for planning and preparation. But it also allowed the wider Curtains Up! Community to spend time together and contribute to the planning for the summer residential.
The team for the summer residential are all volunteers and pay the same as the young people (£290) to spend the week at Curtains Up!. This helps to keep the costs down to ensure the holiday is as accessible as possible. This, in addition to fundraising, helps to ensure that anyone who wants to attend the holiday can do so regardless of their financial position.
Written by: Matt Rogerson
Approved by Trustees on 24 Jul 2026
Trustee Annual Report 2025 - Page 3 of 12
Workshops
During the week the team ran a range of creative arts based workshops for the young people. They were able to spend time each day in these workshops, developing new creative arts skills or exploring new things. These workshops included Dance, Drama, Musical Theatre, Film Making and Visual Arts.
The team also ran one off workshops throughout the week. The included a “one shot music video”, Theme night decoration making and Backstage workshops.
Theme Nights
There were also three theme nights during the week: Easter, Ancient Civilisations and Musicals. These nights included creative costumes, dance, drama and games.
Spiritual Program
The week's spiritual programme was themed around a few stories from the Bible that point to Jesus, showing that the Bible is one unified story about him.
The spiritual program for the week had this simple basic aim across the whole week: “If the young people take away one thing from this week, we want them to know that small acts of trust in God can make a huge difference, because God can work any situation for good. God loves us and invites us to share in bringing healing to the world..”
Each day we explored a different story, together as a group, in the “Main Event”. This usually included a time of sung worship and other creative ways of exploring the encounter for the day. These sessions were followed up with smaller group times where the young people were able to explore the themes for the day with the team. The small group times were designed to be flexible to allow the young people an informal and supportive place to ask questions about the day's topic or other questions around the Christian Faith.
Summary
Now in our second year running independently without the support of a national organisation we continued to try and reach out to people who would be interested in attending our main summer residential. We retained the majority of the young people who attended the 2024 event. We gained another young person who unfortunately had to drop out nearer to the event.
Written by: Matt Rogerson
Approved by Trustees on 24 Jul 2026
Trustee Annual Report 2025 - Page 4 of 12
Before running independently we have always had a high rate of returners. It was encouraging to see that this is continuing now we are independent. However, the lack of new young people joining in 2025 is disappointing and will be something we are actively looking at during the next year.
The main summer residential once again received really positive feedback from both the young people, team and people who sent their young people to the event. We have adapted to the smaller site but are also aware of its limitations, specifically the lack of a physically larger space to be creative with a wider range of technical equipment.
General Charity Activities
We became a paid member of Christian Residential Network which has provided us with a nationally recognised platform where we can advertise our events. It also provides us with support in the form of advice and news that is relevant to our operations. They also provide access to services that would otherwise be difficult to arrange, such as legal advice and public relations advice. This has been incredibly useful in the 1st year of our membership, providing good value for money.
We continue to be a paid member of 31:8. They provide safeguarding advice, DBS checking including online ID checks. They specialise in supporting Christian organisations. Our safeguarding team have access to a 31:8 helpline that they can contact if any issues come up during the event that they need advice or support on.
The Greenhouse at Barnes Close is the venue where we hold our residential events. They continue to be very supportive of our operations. This has included allowing us to advertise within the venue and flexibility when booking in for future events.
Following discussions at the team / community weekend in April 2025, a “Content Team” has been created to manage our social media content. It was felt that this would be a good way to reach new people and to continue to engage with our existing followers. They have been creating distinctive content with a consistent “look” to provide information about the charity's operations, as well as fun and positive content that aims to be a positive moment in our followers feeds, as well as be sharable to their own followers.
The 2025 trustee report and trustee activities in general were delayed by bereavement and significant health issues within the Chair of Trustees immediate family. This has not
Approved by Trustees on 24 Jul 2026
Written by: Matt Rogerson
Trustee Annual Report 2025 - Page 5 of 12
significantly affected the operations of the charity as we have been supported by the wider Curtains Up! Community as well as the day to day operations being simpler to carry out now we have run through them during our 1st year of operations.
Looking forward
We continue to be encouraged by individuals and organisations who support what we are doing. Some publicly, some privately. Unfortunately, the very nature of what the charity set out to do, means we occupy a space that is “too inclusive” for much of the mainstream church, and “too Christian” for inclusive communities. This makes much of what we do more complicated, but we still strongly believe that it is important that we operate in this space.
We are hopeful that our increased reach and general awareness of our activities will lead to more young people joining us for events in 2026.
- 1.3. Statement confirming whether the trustees have had regard to the guidance issued by the Charity Commission on public benefit SORP reference Para 1.18
The trustees have held the guidance by the Charity Commission on public benefit in regard when overseeing the operations and direction of The Curtains Up Project.
1.4. Contribution made by volunteers
SORP reference Para 1.38
The Curtains Up Project is entirely reliant on volunteers.
Trustees
The trustees give their time and experience as volunteers supporting the operation of the charity. They have all either directly or through a family member been involved with a Curtains Up! event and they wanted to support its continued operation as an independent entity.
Approved by Trustees on 24 Jul 2026
Written by: Matt Rogerson
Trustee Annual Report 2025 - Page 6 of 12
Crew (Team members)
The team members (called Crew on the event) not only give a week of their holidays to attend as a leader on the main summer event - they also pay to come. This is a huge commitment of both time and money. It reflects the huge importance that Curtains Up! has in their lives and their year on year commitment is one of the strengths of Curtains Up! They also know it will be a busy week - with activities and sessions running for 14+ hours of the day - definitely not a holiday!
Curtains Up! could not exist without the skill, passion and experience of these volunteers. They continue to make a huge positive impact not only on the lives of the young people who attend, but also the fellow team members who often become lifelong friends.
2. Achievements and Performance
2.1. Summary of the main achievements of the charity, identifying the difference the charity’s work has made to the circumstances of its beneficiaries and any wider benefits to society as a whole. SORP reference Para 1.20
The trustees would identify the following as the main achievements of the charity so far:
-
Providing a Christian creative arts residential holiday that is openly accepting of young people and team members who are specifically excluded from some other parts of the Christian Community. For example those identifying as LGBTQIA+ or with a different gender than assigned at birth. We believe this is still an unique offering in the UK.
-
Running a safe and successful summer event that provided an inclusive, encouraging and welcoming space for the young people to feel safe to ask questions and learn more about what it means to be a creative Christian.
-
Maintaining our very high level of returning young people for our second independently run event.
-
Continuing positive discussions with other holidays and events as well as larger Christian organisations about the need for inclusive Christian residentials.
Approved by Trustees on 24 Jul 2026
Written by: Matt Rogerson
Trustee Annual Report 2025 - Page 7 of 12
3. Financial Review
3.1. Review of the charity’s financial position at the end of the period
SORP reference Para 1.21
The charity ran through a full financial year for the first time due to being formed part way through our financial year in the previous year. The summer event was carefully budgeted for using experience from previous events.
This, combined with the ongoing fundraising enabled the summer event to cover its costs and still leave funds in the bank account to cover the initial costs for the charities ongoing activities, such as the summer 2026 event.
3.2. Statement explaining the policy for holding reserves stating why they are held.
SORP reference Para 1.22
The charity does not have a formal reserves policy partially as we are currently running just a single summer event. This event is budgeted to cover both the costs of the event and the central charity operations. This budget does include a 5% contingency and is well informed from both the pre independent events and the summer 2024 event. The income for the charity has been estimated by the minimum number of young people and team that we expect at the summer 2025 event as well as a modest amount of fundraising.
3.3. Amount of reserves held
SORP reference Para 1.22
N/A
3.4. Reasons for holding zero reserves
SORP reference Para 1.22
N/A
Approved by Trustees on 24 Jul 2026
Written by: Matt Rogerson
Trustee Annual Report 2025 - Page 8 of 12
3.5. Details of fund materially in deficit
SORP reference Para 1.22
N/A
3.6. Explanation of any uncertainties about the charity continuing as a going concern
SORP reference Para 1.23
As the majority of the income is generated by the fees that the young people and team pay for the summer event, the largest risk for the charity's ongoing operations is a shortfall in numbers attending the summer 2026 event.
To minimise this risk the budget for the summer 2026 event will be set to cover its costs and the charities ongoing yearly costs based on the expected minimum viable number of people attending the summer event as well as fundraising to help keep the costs more accessible for the young people and team attending the main summer event.
3.7. The charity’s principal sources of funds (including any fundraising)
SORP reference Para 1.47
The charity's sources of funding are from the fees charged for the residential events and ongoing fundraising via the JustGiving platform. This also results in GiftAid from the donations where appropriate.
Approved by Trustees on 24 Jul 2026
Written by: Matt Rogerson
Trustee Annual Report 2025 - Page 9 of 12
4. Structure, Governance and Management
4.1. Type of governing document (trust deed, royal charter)
SORP reference Para 1.25
Foundation model constitution
- 4.2. How is the charity constituted? (e.g unincorporated association, CIO) SORP reference Para 1.25
CIO
- 4.3. Trustee selection methods including details of any constitutional provisions e.g. election to post or name of any person or body entitled to appoint one or more trustees
SORP reference Para 1.25
Trustees are all individuals recruited initially for the formation of the charity from the individuals who had previous experience of Curtains Up! and wanted to support its ongoing work as an independent entity.
Approved by Trustees on 24 Jul 2026
Written by: Matt Rogerson
Trustee Annual Report 2025 - Page 10 of 12
5. Reference and Administrative details
| Charityname: | The Curtains Up Project |
|---|---|
| Other name the charityuses: | **Curtains Up! ** |
| Registered charitynumber: | **1207561 ** |
| Charity’s principal address: | 222 Hillrise Cardif CF23 6UQ |
5.1. Names of the charity trustees who manage the charity
| Trustee name | Ofce (if any) |
Dates acted if not for whole year |
Name of person (or body) entitled to appoint trustee (if any) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Matt Rogerson | n/a | Whole Year | n/a |
| Mike Robinson | n/a | Whole Year | n/a |
| Jenny Cheung | n/a | Whole Year | n/a |
| Anna Williams | n/a | Whole Year | n/a |
5.2. Corporate trustees – names of the directors at the date the report was approved
No Directors
5.3. Name of trustees holding title to property belonging to the charity
No titles to property held by the trustees. Charity owns no property.
Approved by Trustees on 24 Jul 2026
Written by: Matt Rogerson
Trustee Annual Report 2025 - Page 11 of 12
6. Funds held as custodian trustees on behalf of others
No funds held by trustees on behalf of others
7. Declarations
The trustees declare that they have approved the trustees’ report above.
Signed on behalf of the charity’s trustees
Signature(s) Full name(s) Matthew Paul Rogerson Position (eg Secretary, Chair, etc) Chair Date 24/07/2026
Approved by Trustees on 24 Jul 2026
Written by: Matt Rogerson
Trustee Annual Report 2025 - Page 12 of 12
CC16a_-_revisions_190417-TheCurtainsUpProject2025
Charity Name No (if any) The Curtains Up Project 1207561
Receipts and payments accounts
CC16a
For the period Period start date Period end date To from 01/10/2024 30/09/2025 Unrestricted Endowment Restricted funds Total funds Last year funds funds to the nearest £ to the nearest £ to the nearest £ to the nearest £ to the nearest £
Section A Receipts and payments
A1 Receipts
| Summer 2025 Event - team & Young people fees | - | 7,260- | - | -- | - | -- | - | 7,260- | - | 7,875- | ||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Donations | - | 830- | - | -- | - | -- | - | 830- | - | 613- | ||||||||||
| Income from Tuck Shop at Summer 2025 Event | - | 212- | - | -- | - | -- | - | 212- | - | 202- | ||||||||||
| Refunds | - | -- | - | -- | - | -- | - | -- | - | 48- | ||||||||||
| Gift Aid | - | 195- | - | -- | - | -- | - | 195- | - | 90- | ||||||||||
| Outstanding Deposit from Last Year | - | 78- | - | -- | - | -- | - | 78- | - | -- | ||||||||||
| - | -- | - | -- | - | -- | - | -- | - | -- | |||||||||||
| - | -- | - | -- | - | -- | - | -- | - | -- | |||||||||||
| - | 8,575- | - | -- | - | -- | - | 8,575- | - | 8,828- | |||||||||||
| Sub total(Gross income for AR) |
| A2 Asset and investment sales, (see | ||||||||||||||||||||
| table). | ||||||||||||||||||||
| - | -- | - | -- | - | -- | - | -- | |||||||||||||
| - | -- | - | -- | - | -- | - | -- | - | -- | |||||||||||
| Sub total | - | -- | - | -- | - | -- | - | -- | - | -- | ||||||||||
| **Total receipts ** | - | 8,575- | - | -- | - | -- | - | 8,575- | - | 8,828- | ||||||||||
| A3 Payments | ||||||||||||||||||||
| Hire of Summer 2025 event site | - | 5,455- | - | -- | - | -- | - | 5,455- | - | 3,235- | ||||||||||
| Food at Summer 2025 event | - | 1,104- | - | -- | - | -- | - | 1,104- | - | 930- | ||||||||||
| DBS / Safeguarding Services | - | 226- | - | -- | - | -- | - | 226- | - | 189- |
CCXX R accounts (SS)
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CC16a_-_revisions_190417-TheCurtainsUpProject2025
| Insurance | - 631- |
- -- |
- -- |
- 631- |
- 630- |
||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Equipment Hire | - 415- |
- -- |
- -- |
- 415- |
- 656- |
||||
| CLI Licence | - 51- |
- -- |
- -- |
- 51- |
- 97- |
||||
| Bank Fees | - 161- |
- -- |
- -- |
- 161- |
- 203- |
||||
| Hire of Planning Weekend event site | - 1,580- |
- -- |
- -- |
- 1,580- |
- -- |
||||
| Food for Planning Weekend | - 248- |
- -- |
- -- |
- 248- |
- -- |
||||
| Travel for Planning Weekend | - 68- |
- -- |
- -- |
- 68- |
- -- |
||||
| Training Courses | - 270- |
- -- |
- -- |
- 270- |
- -- |
||||
| Membership Fees | - 152- |
- -- |
- -- |
- 152- |
- -- |
||||
| - -- |
- -- |
- -- |
- -- |
||||||
| Sub total - 10,361- A4 Asset and investment purchases, (see table) |
- 10,361- |
- -- |
- -- |
- 10,361- |
- 5,940- |
||||
| A4 Asset and investment purchases, (see table) |
|||||||||
| - -- |
- -- |
- -- |
- -- |
||||||
| - -- |
- -- |
- -- |
- -- |
||||||
| Sub total - -- Total payments - 10,361- Net of receipts/(payments) - 1,786- A5 Transfers between funds - -- A6 Cash funds last year end - 2,811- Cash funds this year end - 1,025- |
- -- |
- -- |
- -- |
- -- |
|||||
| - 10,361- |
- -- |
- -- |
- 10,361- |
- 5,940- |
|||||
| - 1,786- |
- -- |
- -- |
- 1,786- |
- 2,888- |
|||||
| - -- |
- -- |
- -- |
- -- |
- -- |
|||||
| - 2,811- |
- -- |
- -- |
- 2,811- |
- -- |
|||||
| - 1,025- |
- -- |
- -- |
- 1,025- |
- 2,888- |
|||||
| Section B Statement of assets and liabilities at the end of the period | |||||||||
| Categories B1 Cash funds |
Details Bank Balance at end of 30/09/25 |
Unrestricted funds to nearest £ - 1,025- - -- - -- |
Restricted funds to nearest £ - -- - -- - -- |
Endowment funds to nearest £ |
|||||
| Bank Balance at end of 30/09/25 | - 1,025- |
- -- |
- -- |
||||||
| - -- |
- -- |
- -- |
|||||||
| - -- |
- -- |
- -- |
Section B Statement of assets and liabilities at the end of the period
| Unrestricted | Unrestricted | Restricted funds | Restricted funds | Endowment | ||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Categories | Details | funds | funds | |||||||||||||
| to nearest £ | to nearest £ | to nearest £ | ||||||||||||||
| B1 | Cash | funds | Bank Balance at end of 30/09/25 | - | 1,025- | - | -- | - | -- | |||||||
| - | -- | - | -- | - | -- | |||||||||||
| - | -- | - | -- | - | -- |
CCXX R accounts (SS)
25/07/2026 08:37:202
CC16a_-_revisions_190417-TheCurtainsUpProject2025
| B2 Other monetary assets B3 Investment assets B4 Assets retained for the charity’s own use |
Total cash funds (agree balances with receipts and payments account (s)) Details Details Details |
- 1,025- |
- 1,025- |
- -- |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| OK | ||||
| Unrestricted funds to nearest £ - -- - -- - -- - -- - -- - -- Fund to which asset belongs Fund to which asset belongs |
Restricted funds to nearest £ - -- - -- - -- - -- - -- - -- Cost (optional) - -- - -- - -- - -- - -- Cost (optional) - -- - -- - -- - -- - -- |
Endowment funds to nearest £ |
||
| - -- |
||||
| - -- |
||||
| - -- |
||||
| - -- |
||||
| - -- |
||||
| - -- |
||||
| Current value (optional) |
||||
| - -- |
||||
| - -- |
||||
| - -- |
||||
| - -- |
||||
| - -- |
||||
| Current value (optional) |
||||
| - -- |
- -- |
|||
| - -- |
- -- |
|||
| - -- |
- -- |
|||
| - -- |
- -- |
|||
| - -- |
- -- |
CCXX R accounts (SS)
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CC16a_-_revisions_190417-TheCurtainsUpProject2025
| - | -- | - | -- | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| - | -- | - | -- | |||||||
| - | -- | - | -- | |||||||
| - | -- | - | -- | |||||||
| Fund to which | Amount due | When due | ||||||||
| Details | liability relates | (optional) | (optional) | |||||||
| B5 Liabilities | - | -- | ||||||||
| - | -- | |||||||||
| - | -- | |||||||||
| - | -- | |||||||||
| - | -- | |||||||||
| Signed by one or two trustees on behalf of all the trustees |
Signature | Name | Date of approval | |||||||
| Matt Rogerson | 24/07/2026 |
CCXX R accounts (SS)
25/07/2026 08:37:204