OpenCharities

This text was generated using OCR and may contain errors. Check the original PDF to see the document submitted to the regulator.

2025-12-31-accounts

Campbell Memorial Hall Annual Report 2025

Annual Report: Campbell Hall Memorial Trust

1. History and Purpose

The Campbell Memorial Hall is a community hall located at the edge of Boughton in Chester. It was built in 1895 and set up as a charitable trust in the same year. The purposes of the trust were detailed in an amendment to the Deed of Trust in 1938. They were to allow the hall to be used for all purposes connected to the Church of England and St Paul’s Church or for other purposes that the trustees considered appropriate. However, the hall was not allowed to be used for political purposes including elections or for the promotion of any particular religious sect.

St Paul’s Church was closed for public worship in 2016 and this led to the parish and responsibility of the Campbell Hall to be given to the new parish of St Paul with St Luke, Chester. This change meant that there was no longer a worshipping community at St Paul’s church and the purpose of the Campbell Hall began to evolve.

The charitable status of the trust was recognised in December 2024 when it was granted Registered Charity Status by the Charity Commission (registered charity number 1211522). In this registration, the purposes of the trust were named as:

In particular, the charity focuses on helping the following groups of people:

The Campbell Memorial Hall is often referred to by the shortened name of the Campbell Hall.

2. Facilites

The Campbell Memorial Hall is a Grade II listed building built in dressed stone, brick and timber framing with plaster panels and has a grey slate roof. The listing covers the main building but not the east entrance or the former caretaker’s cottage. The complex offers extensive facilities and a space far larger than is apparent from the main road. There is a large hall space, a fully equipped catering kitchen, toilets and showering facilities and a number of smaller rooms and stores.

The east entrance of the Campbell Hall offers a space that is connected to the main hall complex but can be separated from the hall by lockable internal doors. This is referred to as

1

Annual Report: Campbell Hall Memorial Trust

‘1 The Mount’ and is presently being rented exclusively by the registered charity Soul Kitchen .

The former caretaker’s cottage has its own private entrance and is separated from the rest of the building. It is referred to as ‘3 The Mount’ and includes three bedrooms and a kitchen. This is presently being rented exclusively by the registered charity Chester Aid to the Homeless.

3. Actvites

The Campbell Hall is well used by the charity itself and other local groups alike. Since the closure of St Paul’s Church, the use of the hall has broadened significantly. This means that some of the activities that take place in the hall are still run by the charity, but others are run by a range of other groups. This report lists many of these activities below to demonstrate how the charity continues to fulfil its objectives.

In total there is an activity taking place in the Campbell Hall as follows:

The major change this year has been agreement of a

lease for exclusive use of the 1 The Mount area of the Campbell Hall by Soul Kitchen to establish their “Soul in a Bowl” activities. This involves working with small groups of previously homeless people, helping to build their expertise and capability to cook more nutritious and affordable meals.

During 2026, we expect to see this increase to 3 weekday evenings (with the commencement of the Fenix Café) and regular weekday morning/afternoon use through Soul Café’s ‘Soul in a Bowl’.

Actvites we ofer

St Luke’s Homeless Drop In

One to One Support

2

Annual Report: Campbell Hall Memorial Trust

Actvites ofered by other groups

Faith-based activities

City Church – an independent Community Christian church.

Work with the homeless and marginalised

Soul Kitchen – a charity providing food and support to

those experiencing homelessness and food poverty.

Fenix Café - A weekly pop-up community restaurant in

Chester serving hearty & rustic three course meals

Songbird guitar group - a community music group supporting positive mental health in Chester

Chester Aid to the Homeless (CATH) - provide help and support to Chester’s homeless community

3

Annual Report: Campbell Hall Memorial Trust

Work with young people

Aaisatsu Karate Club – a local club who teach karate with a focus on building discipline, strength, and community.

The Rock Project – a local franchise teaching local primary school-age and secondary schoolage children to play guitar, drums or sing in order to be part of a rock band.

With both of these groups moving on from the Campbell Hall, we are keen to find new groups who support work with young people who can make use of our facilities.

Local interest groups

Sports Yoga – teaching local people yoga techniques and exercises

4. People

Trustees

The 1938 amendment to the Deed of Trust established that the Custodian Trustees of the Campbell Hall Memorial Trust is the corporate body ‘ The Chester Diocesan Board of Finance ’ and that the Managing Trustees of the charity were ‘ The Parochial Church Council of the Parish of St Paul’s, Boughton ’. The merger of the parishes of St Paul, Boughton with St Luke, Huntington to form the parish of St Paul with St Luke, Chester means the trustees of the Campbell Memorial Hall are drawn from the Parochial Church Council of this parish and are:

The Campbell Hall Management Commitee

The day-to-day work of the Campbell Hall is managed by a small but excellent team – John Leake, Jan Rosair and Tim Woodhead. Alongside this team we have the support of Reverend Andy Stinson, vicar of the parish of St Paul with St Luke, Chester. The committee manage the bookings, maintenance and finances of the Hall as well as overseeing the work of employees and maintaining the wide range of relationships with hall users.

4

Annual Report: Campbell Hall Memorial Trust

Employees

The charity employs a part-time caretaker. Lee Dawson left his role as caretaker in April 2025. We were blessed to appoint Steve Perry as our new caretaker in June 2025. We were also able to increase the number of hours for the role from 32 hours per month to 52 hours per month, with the new lease of the ‘1 The Mount’ by Soul Kitchen.

We contract a part-time cleaner, Audrey Williams.

5. Finances

Overview

The primary asset of the charity is the land and buildings that comprise the Campbell Memorial Hall itself. The charity seeks to maintain, operate and develop this asset in order to achieve the charity’s objectives. The finances of the charity are underpinned by income from users renting the facilities, financial gifts made to the work of the charity and grant funding. Our financial model aims to cover our day-to-day costs through rentals whilst building up a surplus of cash to be able to undertake more significant maintenance and development of the buildings and facilities.

Financial Year 2025

At the end of 2025, the Campbell Hall held £29,773 in cash. This included £7,569 held specifically to support the St Luke's Homeless drop in.

The major building works at Campbell Hall in total cost £36,000. In 2024 the Campbell Hall received £19,750 from an insurance claim and grant funding to fund the major building works. A further £8,844 in donations and grants were received in 2025 and the remaining costs of £7,406 were met by reserves.

The cash reserves held of £29,773 is approximately £500 less than the reserves held on 31 December 2023, prior to any funding raising for the major building works. It should be noted that the Campbell Hall reserves are £3,200 less than in 2023 and the Drop in reserves are £2,700 more.

Income rose from approximately £25,580 in 2024 to £25,650 in 2025 after donations in relation to the major building works are excluded. This was due to additional rental income from the Soul in a Bowl activity by Soul Kitchen.

Normal operating costs were approximately £8,700 higher in 2025 than in 2024. This was largely due to the increase in repairs and maintenance costs due to the following activities:

5

Annual Report: Campbell Hall Memorial Trust

system (£648) and replacement of external locks and keys for the hall (total cost £665)

There have been additional caretaker and cleaning costs due to the increase in the minimum living wage.

Clearly, the vast majority of these additional repairs and maintenance costs are unlikely to be repeated in 2026.

The current forecast is for the Campbell Hall to break even in 2026 and therefore to maintain the reserves at the current level.

6. Repair work to the Campbell Hall

In April 2024, we had a major leak with water coming into the main hall from the roof causing extensive damage to the Campbell Hall ceiling and walls on the long wall closest to the garden. This was on the back of ongoing deterioration of the Hall ceiling over the years due to additional minor water leaks.

The total cost of the work was £36,000 and this was completed in April 2025. We were able to cover the cost of the works through a mix of insurance claim, grants and donations (see table below), plus just over £8000 from our reserves.

We also received donations of materials from the Dulux Paint Centre, B&Q and Hoole Bridge Supplies, enabled through the amazing support of Mark Moore and M&M Property, who carried out the repair work.

Source Type of funding Amount(£)
Ecclesiastcal Insurance Insurance claim 13,000
Garfeld Weston Foundaton Grant funding 5,000
Benefact Trust Grant funding 1,750
Chester Local Councillors’
Members Fund		 Grant funding 1,584
CityChurch Donaton 3,560
St Luke’s Church Donaton 2,590
St Luke’s DropIn Donaton 500
Total 27,984

We held a celebration event in June to which were invited hall user groups and local councillors. A press release was issued to the local media.

A big thank you to our Treasurer Tim Woodhead who did the leg work in preparing the application requests to a number of Charitable Trust funds in 2024, as well as both St Luke’s and City Church for their very kind donations.

6

Annual Report: Campbell Hall Memorial Trust

During 2026, we are not expecting there will be the need for significant repair work to the Campbell Hall. There is some repair work required to the hopper and downspouts from the Hall roof, and we are looking to replace the vinyl flooring in the toilets and replace some of the older radiators in the upstairs meeting room. However, this only expected to cost a few thousands pounds.

7. Summary

The first half of 2025 was very much focused on the successful completion of the repair work to the Hall roof, ceiling and walls. We were particularly blessed by the very generous support from external grant organisations, our Hall users and supporters (specifically City Church and St Luke’s), and M&M Property.

Our second half has been focused on two main objectives:

We will be actively looking to attract new groups to use the Hall during weekday evenings now that we have availability.

We are also keen to develop our work with the homeless and marginalised on a more individual or small group basis. We believe there are opportunities to provide some more specific one to one support to some of our Saturday morning guests during the week, potentially at St Luke’s Church Café.

Finally, a big thank you to Jan Rosair and Tim Woodhead who dedicate a huge amount of time and energy to ensure the Campbell Hall operates smoothly and has the necessary funds to support the great work that takes place there. Thank you also to the Revd Andy Stinson for his support, helpful advice and guidance, and to Keith Gregory and Carrie Davis for their support in setting up the required HR and payroll systems for our caretaker.

This report was prepared by J. Leake and the Rev A.Stinson on behalf of the trustees

7

CAMPBELL MEMORIAL HALL

Receipts & Payments Accounts Year Ending 31st December 2025

Charity No; 1211522

Receipts
Hall Lettings - 3 The Mount
Hall Lettings - Yoga
Hall Lettings - City Church
Hall Lettings - Soul Kitchen
Hall Lettings - Songbird
Chester Fenix
Campbell Hall Donations
Breakfast club Donations(Homeless)
Waverton Evangelical Donations to Homeless
Insurance
Karate Club
Miscellaneous repayments
TOTAL RECEIPTS
PAYMENTS:
Caretaker
Insurance
Cleaning
Repairs & Maintenance,supplies
Roof Repairs
3 The Mount
Fire Ext/ Supplies/Services/Alarm
Hall Electric
Hall Gas
Water
Breakfast Club Food Suplies
Breakfast Club - other
Auditor(Alan Mcgraa)
1 The Mount
TOTAL PAYMENTS
NET of RECEIPTS / ( PAYMENTS )
TRANSFER BETWEEN FUNDS
CASH FUNDS LAST YEAR END
CASH FUNDS THIS YEAR END		 2025
£'s
Unrestricted		 2024
£'s
Restricted
Total
-
9,250
8,940
-
1,107
1,314
-
6,145
6,030
-
4,118
1,872
-
700
700
-
-
832
-
8,344
5,249
8,788
8,788
7,579
1,220
1,220
1,111
-
-
13,000
-
3,135
3,116
-
1,245
3,356
10,008
44,052
53,098		 2024
£'s
Restricted
Total
-
9,250
8,940
-
1,107
1,314
-
6,145
6,030
-
4,118
1,872
-
700
700
-
-
832
-
8,344
5,249
8,788
8,788
7,579
1,220
1,220
1,111
-
-
13,000
-
3,135
3,116
-
1,245
3,356
10,008
44,052
53,098		 2024
£'s
Restricted
Total
-
9,250
8,940
-
1,107
1,314
-
6,145
6,030
-
4,118
1,872
-
700
700
-
-
832
-
8,344
5,249
8,788
8,788
7,579
1,220
1,220
1,111
-
-
13,000
-
3,135
3,116
-
1,245
3,356
10,008
44,052
53,098
9,250
1,107
6,145
4,118
700
-
8,344
-
3,135
1,245
34,044
5,471
3,715
2,029
4,040
36,000
4,188
1,285
2,342
3,501
855
-
-
-
698		 -
5,471
4,581
-
3,715
3,451
-
2,029
2,318
-
4,040
1,793
-
36,000
-
-
4,188
-
-
1,285
1,119
-
2,342
1,939
-
3,501
4,286
-
855
458
3,140
3,140
3,428
4,182
4,182
2,753
-
-
75
-
698
-
64,124
(30,080)
1,500
50,784		 7,322
71,446
26,200
2,687
(27,393)
26,898
(1,500)
-
-
6,383
57,167
30,268
22,204 7,570 29,773 57,167

Statement of Assets and Liabilities as at 31 December 2025

Cash Funds 22,204 7,570 29,773
Debtors - Soul Kitchen 949 - 949
Liabilities - A McGrath (75) - - 75
- J Rosair 0 (103) - 103

The Campbell Memorial Hall is a Grade ll listed builidng built in dressed stone, brick and timber framing with plaster panels and a grey state roof. Its address is Boughton, Chester CH3 5BR. There is a large hall space, a fully equipped catering kitchen including oven, fridges, freezers, dishwasher, toilets and showering facilities and a number of smaller rooms and stores. There is a separate space referred to as "1 The Mount" which is presently rented exclusiely by the registered charity Soul Kitchen. The former caretaker's cottage has its own entrance and is is seperated from the rest of the building. It is known as "3 The Mount" and includes 3 bedrooms and a kitchen. This is presently rented exclusively by the registered charity Chester Aid to the Homeless.