2025-03-31-accounts - Hope Vineyard Thanet

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Annual Report for Hope Vineyard Thanet

For the financial year to 31st March 2025

Formally Establishing Hope Vineyard Thanet

The work to establish Hope Vineyard Thanet began in March 2024, with the first formal meeting of prospective members taking place to agree the CIO constitution on 12th March.

The name of the Charitable Incorporated Organisation (“the CIO”) is HOPE VINEYARD THANET.

(The name VINEYARD is a registered Trade Mark owned by Vineyard Churches UK and Ireland.)

Objectives

The objects of the CIO are:

To advance the Christian religion for the public benefit in accordance with the VCUKI Statement of Faith (https://www.vineyardchurches.org.uk/resources/statement-of-faith/) in such parts of the United Kingdom and the world through:

The organisation and provision of Christian worship;
The provision of such facilities and services as are appropriate for the Church, to enable it to fulfil its mission to the members of the Church, visitors to the Church and the local community and the wider community;
The provision of facilities for Christian training and service;
The support and provision of Christian evangelism and outreach;
The provision of assistance to the wider Christian church in its ministries.

Trustees

The first charity trustees are as follows, and are appointed for the following terms –

Mr Glen Geoffrey Blow for 3 years
Dr Paul Bernhardt Elliston for 2 years
Dr Suzanna Louise Marsden for 1 year

These trustees remain the same at the time of reporting.

© Hope Vineyard Thanet. No part of this publication may be shared or distributed to any party without the prior written permission of the publisher, other than as is necessary in performing the activities of Hope Vineyard Thanet. Hope Vineyard Thanet is a Christian church and is affiliated to Vineyard Churches UK & Ireland and is a charitable incorporated organisation registered charity number 1208403.

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Annual Report 2024-2025

Charity trustees must meet eligibility criteria listed in the CIO constitution including that they must subscribe to the VCUKI Statement of Faith (https://www.vineyardchurches.org.uk/resources/statement-of-faith/).

The process of appointing trustees is set out in the CIO constitution:

Appointment of charity trustees

(1) Apart from the first charity trustees, every trustee must be appointed for a term of three years by a resolution passed at a properly convened meeting of the charity trustees.
(2) In selecting individuals for appointment as charity trustees, the charity trustees must have regard to the skills, knowledge and experience needed for the effective administration of the CIO.

Licensed Senior Pastors

The licensed senior pastors are David Marsden and Suzanna Louise Marsden. They are currently working in a voluntary capacity for Hope Vineyard Thanet. A resolution was passed on 28th March 2024 to employ the Marsdens as Licensed Senior Pastors as and when funds allow.

The Marsdens signed the Deed of License with Vineyard Churches UK and Ireland (VCUKI) on 10th May 2024, authorising the use of the “Vineyard” name, and agreeing to the Vineyard By-laws.

On 18th May 2024 the Marsdens were formally commissioned as Senior Pastors and Hope Vineyard Thanet was publicly announced.

Formal Recognition

Hope Vineyard Thanet was officially registered by the Charity Commission of England and Wales on 28th May 2024, as a charitable incorporated organisation, with charity registration number 1208403.

On 6th September 2024 HMRC officially recognised Hope Vineyard Thanet for tax purposes, allowing Gift Aid claims on eligible donations from 28/05/2024.

Address

The registered address at the start of the period was Hope Vineyard Thanet, 125 Canterbury Road, Westgate-on-Sea CT8 8NL. The registered address was changed to Hope Vineyard Thanet, Marlowe Innovation Centre, Marlowe Way, Ramsgate, CT12 6FA as of 1st July 2025, due to the provider of the previous address going into administration.

Annual Report 2024-2025

© Hope Vineyard Thanet. No part of this publication may be shared or distributed to any party without the prior written permission of the publisher, other than as is necessary in performing the activities of Hope Vineyard Thanet. Hope Vineyard Thanet is a Christian church and is affiliated to Vineyard Churches UK & Ireland and is a charitable incorporated organisation registered charity number 1208403.

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Bank Accounts

Hope Vineyard Thanet holds a Treasurers Account with Lloyds Bank. Its sort code is 30-99-50 and its account number is 34525163. Lloyds has acknowledged Hope Vineyard Thanet’s status as a registered charity and holds a list of the trustees.

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Annual Report 2024-2025

Launching Hope Vineyard Thanet

Within our charitable objectives our founding purpose, vision and mission and the values we wish to embody as we conduct our activities are as follows:

Purpose

To see the lives of those who have suffered oppression and brokenness rebuilt and blossom into lives of joy, purpose and blessing as they encounter and respond to Jesus.

Vision

Our vision is that Thanet would be a source of blessing beyond its shores, that it would be a sanctuary where people find peace, healing and purpose. As this happens Thanet will become a beacon of Hope.

Hope Vineyard Thanet will be a community that supports and encourages people to encounter and respond to Jesus. As we do this, He will weave together a beautiful tapestry from the potential of this place and its people.

Mission

We want to establish an accepting and authentic community that serves Thanet by:

speaking hope to those who have experienced oppression and brokenness
pointing people to Jesus so they can find healing, restoration and purpose
nurturing lives that hear and respond to the leading of Jesus in every way
releasing and encouraging people to be the blessing to the world that they were always designed to be.

Our Values

We want to grow in being:

Unconditionally Accepting

Everyone is precious and carries within them the image of God. We will therefore be accepting , welcoming and kind .

© Hope Vineyard Thanet. No part of this publication may be shared or distributed to any party without the prior written permission of the publisher, other than as is necessary in performing the activities of Hope Vineyard Thanet. Hope Vineyard Thanet is a Christian church and is affiliated to Vineyard Churches UK & Ireland and is a charitable incorporated organisation registered charity number 1208403.

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Annual Report 2024-2025

Genuinely Authentic

God is big enough to handle the reality of our lives and we want Him to be present in it all. We therefore value spaces that are safe for people to be real and vulnerable with each other. We value being unpretentious - we have no need to try to impress or to be something we are not.

We want to grow in:

Hearing and Responding

God is accessible to us and we can learn to hear His voice. As we grow in trust and choose to respond , He leads us and restores us to be the blessing He created us to be.

Gratitude towards God

We are grateful for all that Jesus has done for us, and for all the blessings he has poured out on us. We will respond in worship and with generosity and service to others.

Extending Grace

In view of God’s grace for us, we will show grace to others. We will forgive , show compassion and love as He has first had compassion on us, lavishing us with love and forgiveness.

Commissioning and Launch Party

We were delighted to host 101 people at our commissioning and launch party in May 2024. We welcomed 34 people representing multiple other UK Vineyard churches including Dover, Canterbury, Medway, Dartford, Rayleigh and Cambridge, and 12 people representing the leadership of other churches and ministries in Thanet. All three Hope Vineyard Thanet trustees were present. We also welcomed individuals and families from the local community and were cheered on by friends, both local and from further afield.

We were pleased that the event foreshadowed a community that crosses divides (in this instance with people from different churches and none, and contacts from different parts of our lives - e.g. colleagues and people from the school gate, new and old connections).

We were keen to capture something of our vision, values and outlook during the event, and created a welcoming, generous and unpretentious environment.

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The service included about 30 minutes of worship, the formal commissioning affirmations and declarations, and ended with people praying for and giving words to the Marsdens - recognising that all they hope to see will only be accomplished with the help of the Holy Spirit. We felt it was important to emphasise that Hope Vineyard Thanet is very aware that it is joining others who are already serving Thanet, and joining the ministry of Jesus in this place that is bigger than any one organisation.

At the launch party, we talked through our vision and values, and had creative activities to help people reflect on these (including our Hope Tree, and a seed planting station).

We also announced likely future activities both for supporting individuals and offering groups and courses.

We enjoyed live music, celebratory cake, and provided a takeaway meal (Curry from The Simla Brasserie and Pizza from Dominos) for everyone attending. We are very grateful to all those who impromptu helped out on the day, joining us in serving those who came - setting up and clearing up etc. We are also thankful to those who travelled long distances to support us. Our invitations to the event made known the establishment for Hope Vineyard Thanet to individuals and families totalling over 320 individuals.

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Charitable Activities

Hope Vineyard Thanet organises and provides opportunities for encountering God through prayer and worship. It runs teaching and training to support individuals wanting to actively follow Jesus' leading in their lives and thus demonstrating His love in the world.

We therefore undertook the following activities in line with our charitable purposes for the public benefit:

Gather And Go

Following the public launch we started our first “Gather and Go” small group in June 2024, meeting fortnightly. This group is designed to support and encourage people to hear and respond to Jesus in their daily lives. So far we have worshipped, looked together at the books of James and Colossians from the Bible, shared with each other how we are hearing and responding to God in our lives, and we have prayed together, including praying for each other for spiritual, emotional and physical healing. The group has grown to include 8 people (including 2 young people) with others potentially interested too.

Over time we hope to expand this group to include more people, and to set up multiple similar groups running at different times in the week to make them more accessible. The benefit for participants in the group is that it provides an opportunity to worship and encounter God, to experience his peace and love, to give a forum for discussing recent and upcoming challenges and to receive encouragement, prayer and support from other group members, and to help prepare people for their daily lives - both at home and in the workplace. By improving participants’ spiritual, emotional and physical wellbeing it also helps those people to function better and be more outward-looking within their workplaces across the community, thereby having a knock on benefit to the wider public.

In the intervening weeks between the fortnightly meetings, the senior pastor(s) have offered ongoing support by meeting up with people, offering telephone catch ups, offering to pray for people, and facilitating a Whatsapp group chat through which participants have shared insights, spiritual support, prayer requests, words of encouragement etc. Participation in the Whatsapp group chat is entirely voluntary for Gather and Go participants.

Gather and Go is hosting a social gathering to which group participants have an opportunity to invite other members of the local community who might be interested in becoming part of such a group. We hope this will be a step in the growth of the membership of Gather and Go.

Youth

Planning is currently underway for this summer's Dreaming the Impossible (DTI) youth festival. We attended DTI for the first time as Hope Vineyard Thanet in July / August 2024. While we didn’t on that occasion take any youth outside our own family (though a number were invited) we did take

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Annual Report 2024-2025

our first team member. This was a good proof of concept for taking a larger group and we even helped with catering for another small church. Suzie took a car full of young people to the DTI Road Trip in St Albans in February, as a result of which this year we expect to take 6 young people to DTI youth festival in August, including four from other churches.

We are hopeful that this will in turn increase participation in the DTI youth festival among local Thanet churches so that in future years many more young people from this area can attend and be encouraged in their faith and in learning to hear and respond to Jesus for themselves.

In March we hosted a youth event with Dover Vineyard in Thanet - a Pizza and games evening which included our family from Thanet and 4 adults and 6 young people from Dover (two families). We plan to continue hosting and participating in joint youth events in collaboration with Dover Vineyard. A reciprocal youth event was hosted by Dover Vineyard in May. As both churches are still quite small, these events give an opportunity for the young people involved to meet up in a slightly larger group and develop friendships across the two church communities.

Prayer Ministry

Prayer Ministry has continued to be one of our primary activities. Between the launch and the end of March 2025 we provided approximately 50 hours of Prayer Ministry for 15 individuals, across 25 sessions. This involves creating a safe and accepting place for someone to do “business with Jesus”, coming alongside them and supporting them as they use tools like repentance and forgiveness to process the events that have happened to them. This is one of the services we provide to the wider church community in Thanet and one of the key ways that Hope Vineyard Thanet offers a direct public benefit. Most of the people we have prayed with would not call Hope Vineyard Thanet their church.

The benefits of prayer ministry that we have had the privilege of being part of having included people experiencing improved emotional, mental and physical health and restoration of relationships, people experiencing God’s forgiveness, love and peace, people experiencing reduced levels of worry and anxiety, and people more confidently pursuing what they believe God is calling them to do with their lives. We have seen very practical positive outworkings, such as people being able to return to work and daily activities more quickly than expected after traumatic incidents.

Of the 6 respondents to submit feedback, 100% would recommend Prayer Ministry with Hope Vineyard Thanet to others.

Healing Life

We ran a nine week course called “Healing Life” in the autumn of 2024. Wanting to be a blessing and support to the wider church in Thanet, we chose to give priority in this first course to leaders and ministry team members from other churches. We had 6 course participants on this occasion.

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We offered the opportunity to receive prayer ministry to all those who participated in the course, so they would each have the opportunity to experience the healing and freedom gained through prayer ministry first hand. It has often been through personal recommendation from people who have benefited from prayer ministry that we have then received referrals for new people wishing to benefit from this service. So running the Healing Life course has had two public benefits. Firstly it has equipped other local church leaders with tools and knowledge to upskill them as they offer prayer ministry to members of their own church communities. Secondly it has increased awareness of this service offered by Hope Vineyard Thanet so that other churches can refer people for prayer ministry with Hope Vineyard Thanet if they feel this is appropriate.

We plan to run the course again over the next year, increasing access to this training both to people who would consider Hope Vineyard Thanet their own home church, and to others. We hope this will increase people’s understanding of the role of prayer ministry, and that some of those who undertake the initial training course would want to be upskilled further so that they can also become part of a prayer ministry team for Thanet and the surrounding area. Our hope is that many more people will be able to access and benefit from prayer ministry.

Participation in Thanet Wide Activities

Recognising that Hope Vineyard Thanet is only one very small part of the broader body of Christ in Thanet, we have sought to build relationships with the leaders of other local churches and ministries - to support and encourage them, and to participate in Thanet-wide events.

David has continued to play a role in efforts to cultivate unity and pursue collaboration between local churches. He has participated in a local ‘working group’ providing a paper for discussion, after first arranging to hear from, and build relationships with, other local leaders.

David participated in discussions that helped the CAP (Christians Against Poverty) project to get the green light from collaborating churches. The centre is expected to open in the autumn of 2025, once a Debt Centre Manager has been recruited and trained.

David has participated throughout the year in the local House of Prayer interceding for Thanet.

Both David and Suzie have attended the Thanet Church Leader prayer meetings, and participated in the Thanet Fuel the Fire event. David was also asked to be on the ‘Discerning / Covering’ team for a Thanet week of prayer organised by the local YWAM team as part of the National Week of Prayer in October 2024. David has also been meeting periodically with a local ministry leader for coaching style conversations.

In March David joined other local leaders in celebrating 120 years of Christ Church Broadstairs.

© Hope Vineyard Thanet. No part of this publication may be shared or distributed to any party without the prior written permission of the publisher, other than as is necessary in performing the activities of Hope Vineyard Thanet. Hope Vineyard Thanet is a Christian church and is affiliated to Vineyard Churches UK & Ireland and is a charitable incorporated organisation registered charity number 1208403.

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Annual Report 2024-2025

Jesus, we think you’d love him!

In November we had our first attempt at running a short ‘course’ introducing families to Jesus. It was originally envisaged as a 3 week format but as it turned out, two families were interested in coming to one ‘taster’ session, but their availability didn’t align. We hosted two one off events, one for each family, where we shared a simple meal together, then shared some of what we love about Jesus, through watching some of the Storybook Bible cartoons, reading a passage from the bible, listening to a song, and sharing some of our experiences.

We hope to run some more short ‘courses’ to help people in

their journey towards discipleship, e.g. Introducing Jesus, Learning to Hear Jesus, Learning to Journey with Jesus. The aspiration would be that someone going through these would encounter Jesus, learn to hear His voice and begin a new way of life - hearing and responding to His leading as their Good Shepherd and Guide. We would then seek to support these new disciples of Jesus, through our other activities, so that they can go, and grow, and be the blessing to the world that they were always designed to be! E.g. A new disciple may choose to join one of our Gather and Go groups for peer support and encouragement, or may come for Prayer Ministry sessions as they felt necessary.

Sundays

We do not as yet have any plans for any Sunday Services.

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Annual Report 2024-2025

Building and Training the Team

At present the day to day running of Hope Vineyard Thanet falls to the two Licensed Senior Pastors, supported by the founding trustees. All are volunteers as funds have not yet allowed for the Senior Pastors to be paid. In addition we have a volunteer Youth Camp Team member who helps us facilitate our participation in the DTI youth festival in the summer. The team is currently 5 people in total.

Leadership Training and Support from VCUKI

Suzie attended the Regional Worship Gathering at Riverside Vineyard, Feltham, in February. As worship leader for our Gather and Go group she was able to receive training, support and encouragement in her role through this two day event.

David and Suzie both attended Leaning In, Leading Out, also hosted at Riverside Vineyard, Feltham, in March. All leaders of Vineyard Churches in the South East of England were strongly recommended to attend this two day event led by the national leadership team of VCUKI, which provided opportunities for worship, training, networking and learning from experienced leaders within the wider Vineyard movement in the UK and Ireland.

David and Suzie have attended the regular national virtual meetings held by VCUKI for Vineyard church leaders across the UK and Ireland. These involve the opportunity for news updates and training from the national leadership team of VCUKI, sometimes also with international guest speakers from within and outside of the Vineyard movement. The second half of the meetings involves breaking into smaller virtual rooms for an opportunity to catch up and to pray for each other in small groups.

David and Suzie attended the Vineyard Leaders’ Gatherings at Trent Vineyard, Nottingham, in April 2024, where the imminent launch of Hope Vineyard Thanet was announced, and also in May 2025.

Both David and Suzie have also participated in regular events hosted by our Kent and Essex leaders, Dave and Laura Smith, both in person and virtually. These events are held throughout the year, with at least two ‘in person’ meetings per year, and they provide a mixture of pastoral support for Vineyard church leaders across Kent and Essex, an opportunity to catch up with each others’ news and pray for and encourage each other, and opportunities for training and discussion.

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Annual Report 2024-2025

Financial Review

The receipts and payments method of accounting was used.

The bank balance at year end was £7,077.67, with £2,283.75 of Gift Aid pending.

99% of the £11,671.00 income was from Voluntary Receipts from individuals (including Gift Aid), which broke down as:

£100 of the voluntary receipts were designated for (and spent on) “Youth”.

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98% of our £4,593.33 expenditure was on Charitable Activities. (The other 2% was on purchasing assets.) Expenditure on Charitable Activities broke down as:

The reason that expenditure on Direct Activities has been less than half the overall expenditure on Charitable Activities is that costs for Direct Activities have been deliberately kept low by running the vast majority of activities from the senior pastors’ home, avoiding any need for venue hire during this financial year except for the launch party.

The £2,197.96 of Direct Activity expenditure broke down as:

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The £1,029.26 of Organisation Costs broke down as:

The £1,289.06 of People Costs broke down as:

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Another way to visualise our overall expenditure is by designation (e.g. a project / event / priority):

Note 44% of expenditure was undesignated - i.e. general charity expenditure.

Financial reserves

Financial policies were adopted by the trustees at a meeting of 25th June 2025, including the agreement to establish a financial reserve of £500. As there are currently no employees or regular financial liabilities, it was felt that the reserve amount could be made quite low in order to avoid unnecessarily tying up charity assets. £500 was chosen so as to be greater than the largest single expenditure that was considered essential (namely our annual insurance premium). The trustees will keep the financial reserve under review.

Expenses of Trustees (and Connected Persons)

Hope Vineyard Thanet confirms that one or more of the trustees has claimed expenses or had their expenses met by the charity. The total amount of expenses reimbursed to trustees during this financial year was £372.99. The nature of those expenses was for travel, subsistence and accommodation. During this financial year, the only trustee to have expenses paid by the charity was Dr Suzanna Marsden and all were incurred in her role as Licensed Senior Pastor (and not as a trustee).

Her husband, David Marsden, was the only ‘connected person’ to incur expenses. These were incurred as part of his duties for the charity, as the other Licensed Senior Pastor. His expenses total £372.99, also.

© Hope Vineyard Thanet. No part of this publication may be shared or distributed to any party without the prior written permission of the publisher, other than as is necessary in performing the activities of Hope Vineyard Thanet. Hope Vineyard Thanet is a Christian church and is affiliated to Vineyard Churches UK & Ireland and is a charitable incorporated organisation registered charity number 1208403.

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Annual Report 2024-2025

Disclosure of related party transactions

During this financial year, the aggregate amount of donations received from trustees or other related parties without conditions was £10,145. There were no transactions involving trustees or other related parties that required disclosure during this financial year.

Statement on Public benefit

The trustees have complied with their duty to have due regard to the charity commission’s public benefit guidance when exercising any powers or duties to which the guidance is relevant.

Exemptions from disclosure

Hope Vineyard Thanet is not exercising any exemptions from disclosure.

Funds held as custodian trustee on behalf of others

The charity is not, nor are its trustees, acting as custodian trustees.

Signed on behalf of the trustees

Name:

Date: 26/10/2025 26/10/2025

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Annual Report 2024-2025

Charity Name No (if any) Hope Vineyard Thanet 1208403 Receipts and payments accounts For the period Period start date Period end date To from 01/04/2024 31/03/2025

CC16a

Section A Receipts and payments

Section A Receipts and payments
A1 Receipts VoluntaryReceipts 11,420 Activities for GeneratingFunds(Trading) - Investment dividends/interest - Charitable activities - Other receipts 150 11,570 Receipts from sale of assets 1 Receipts from sale of investments - Loan repayments received - Loans received from an external funder - Sub total 1 Total receipts 11,571 A3 Payments Costs ofgeneratingvoluntaryreceipts - Fundraisingcosts(tradingactivities) - Investment management costs - Costs of charitable activities 4,033 Governance - - Sub total 4,033 Purchase of assets 77 Purchase of investments - Loans made - Loans repaid to an external funder - Sub total 77 Total payments 4,110 Net of receipts/(payments) 7,461 A5 Transfers between funds - 383 A6 Cash funds last year end - Cash funds this year end 7,078 Unrestricted funds to the nearest £ *Sub total* A2 Asset and investment sales, (see table). A4 Asset and investment purchases, (see table)	to the nearest £ 100 - - - - 100 - - - - - 100 - - - 483 - - 483 - - - - - 483 - 383 383 - - Restricted funds	to the nearest £ Endowment funds	Total funds to the nearest £ 11,520 - - - 150 11,670 1 - 1 11,671 - - - 4,516 - - 4,516 77 - - - 77 4,593 7,078 - - 7,078	Last year to the nearest £
		- - - - - -	11,520	-
			-	-
			-	-
			-	-
			150	-
			11,670	-

		- - -	1	-


			-	-
			1	-

		-	11,671	-

		- - - - - - -	-	-
			-	-
			-	-
			4,516	-
			-	-
			-	-
			4,516	-

		- - - - -	77	-
			-	-
			-	-
			-	-
			77	-

		-	4,593	-

	- 383	- - - -	7,078	-
	383		-	-
	-		-	-
	-		7,078	-

Section B Statement of assets and liabilities at the end of the period	Section B Statement of assets and liabilities at the end of the period	Section B Statement of assets and liabilities at the end of the period	Section B Statement of assets and liabilities at the end of the period
Categories B1 Cash funds B2 Other monetary assets B3 Investment assets B5 Liabilities B4 Assets retained for the charity’s own use	Details Lloyds Savings Details Gift Aid (awaiting claim) Gift Aid (claimed awaiting payment) Recoverable debts due Details NA Details NA Details Expense Claims (awaiting payment) Invoices (awaiting payment) *Total cash funds* (agree balances with receipts and payments account(s))	to nearest £ 7,078 - - 7,078 OK to nearest £ £0.00 2,284 - - - - Unrestricted funds Unrestricted funds Unrestricted funds Unrestricted funds Fund to which asset belongs Fund to which asset belongs Fund to which liability relates	to nearest £ - - - - OK to nearest £ - - - - - - Cost (optional) - - - - - Cost (optional) - - - - - - - - - - - Restricted funds Restricted funds Amount due (optional)	to nearest £ Endowment funds
				-
				-
				-
				-
				OK
				to nearest £ Endowment funds
				-
				-
				-
				-
				-
				-
				Current value (optional)
				-
				-
				-
				-
				-
				Current value (optional)
				-
				-
				-
				-
				-
				-
				-
				-
				When due (optional)
	Expense Claims (awaiting payment)	Unrestricted funds	-
	Invoices (awaiting payment)	Unrestricted funds	-
			-

Notes

Signed by one or two trustees on behalf of all the trustees

Signature Paul Elliston Glen Blow	Print Name Paul Elliston Glen Blow	Date of approval
Paul Elliston	Paul Elliston	26/10/25
Glen Blow	Glen Blow	26/10/25