## **Digswell Village Church** ## **Trustees’ Annual Report Financial Year 1/9/24 - 31/8/25** A Methodist Church working in a Partnership Agreement with the Anglican Parish of Digswell Registered Charity 1212114 Digswell Village Church (Registered Charity 1212114) Annual Trustees’ Report 2025 ## **Introduction** Digswell Village Church (DVC) is a gathering of Christians from diBerent traditions, worshipping and working together in unity. The membership of the church currently stands at 54 adults. In addition, there are 9 children, 5 of whom attend regularly. DVC is a Methodist Church in the St Alban’s and Welwyn Circuit and has a formal Partnership Agreement with the Parish of Digswell. 40% of the services are Anglican led and several joint activities take place throughout the year. ## **Vision and Mission** Our **vision** is to be a Christian focus at the heart of the neighbourhood where all are welcome, find peace and celebrate the joy of knowing God. Our **mission** is to grow as a community by: - Encouraging one another through the challenges of life and faith, and - Expressing God’s love to the world through outreach and care. ## **Activities** ## _Our Building_ The Trustees are committed to enabling as many people as possible to worship at our church and to be part of our church community. We have therefore begun a large development project to redesign the internal layout of the building which currently has 4 changes of level between the car park and worship area. In addition to making the building more accessible the design incorporates an air-source heat pump and additional insulation thus reducing our carbon footprint. Our church has registered as an Eco Church, and we will develop this further on completion of our refurbishment project. This project is possible because of a large legacy (see Financial Section) and the working together of the Trustees, church Issue 1 Page 2 Digswell Village Church (Registered Charity 1212114) Annual Trustees’ Report 2025 members and professional architects. The project has been approved by the Beds, Essex and Herts Methodist District and building is due to commence in the Spring of 2026. The refurbished building will be a great asset to the church but also to present and future users of the building including Guides, Brownies, music groups and special interest groups. ## _Learning and Developing Our Faith_ We hold a monthly bible study group in conjunction with the Parish and, during Advent and Lent, hold weekly discussion groups. Members can also take part in the Methodist Circuit bible study and prayer meetings. ## _Junior Church_ Junior Church runs during the Sunday Service, each Sunday during term time when it is not an All-Age Worship service. We have a small core of regular children who have been exploring Bible stories, Christian values, and celebrating special events in the Christian calendar. After discussing what we have learned the children make a pictorial representation of the theme of the lesson which they like to show to everyone in church. The children who attend regularly were once again awarded book tokens at the Summer Celebration. ## _Equality Diversity & Inclusion_ We welcome everyone to our church. To enable those no longer able to travel to church, because of illness or frailty, to take part in worship we live stream via our YouTube channel and record all our services. The appropriate signage is in place to protect people’s privacy. sex marriage which also demonstrates our willingness to include people regardless of their sexual orientation. One service each month is designated “All Age Worship” where the service is accessible to children and young people as well as older adults. ## _Outreach_ Our successful “Tuesday Get Together” group meets twice per month and is attended by about 25 people. It is a mix of church members and nonmembers and includes a talk, refreshments and a short, simple time of worship at the end of the meeting. Issue 1 Page 3 Digswell Village Church (Registered Charity 1212114) Annual Trustees’ Report 2025 On Tuesdays, when the Tuesday Get Together group do not meet, we hold a coBee and chat session for anyone in the community who wishes to attend. We have ringfenced a portion of the recent legacy to employ a Community Chaplain from Spring 2027. The role of this person is still under discussion but will include the needs of older people and children in our community. We have already trialled a children’s film morning and will be running another one in December 2025. A Christmas Card is distributed to all homes in the village and as a result over 100 people attend our annual Christingle Service. ## _Service_ A team of people from the church visit a local care home each month to sing hymns. We support two other charities each year. Our chosen charities for 2024/2025 were Resolve (a local group oBering support to overcome substance abuse) and Mercy Ships. A group of enthusiastic knitters from the church also donate blankets for people in need. ## _Pastoral Care_ In addition to oBering fellowship through the Tuesday Get Together meetings and CoBee and Chat, we have an arrangement whereby all members are allocated a Pastoral Friend whose role it is to keep in touch with a small group of members, be a listening ear and signpost areas of support should these be needed. ## _Communication_ We have a church website https://www.digswellvillagechurch.org.uk/ which includes details of our services and activities as well as contact information. A weekly bulletin is sent by email to all members and friends of the church and contains details of activities in the church and Parish for the week ahead. A Monthly newsletter contains news on past activities as well as the minister’s letter. Paper copies are made available for people who do not use email. Issue 1 Page 4 Digswell Village Church (Registered Charity 1212114) Annual Trustees’ Report 2025 ## **Financial Statement** The Financial Statement is uploaded to the Charity Commission as a separate, standalone, document. ## **Structure, Governance & Management** Our governing document is the Methodist Church Act 1976. The appointment of Trustees is set out in the Methodist Church Constitutional Practice and Discipline (CPD). Church members elect the congregational representatives to the Church Council, and the Church Council elect the treasurer and secretary. The Presbyter (Minister) is automatically a member of the Church Council. The members also elect up to 4 stewards to who, with the Presbyter, form the Church leadership team. All Church Council members, including Stewards, Treasurer and Secretary are Trustees of DVC. We employ a church administrator who acts as secretary to the Church Council. The Trustees are responsible for making decisions on all matters of general concern and importance to the church including how funds are to be spent. The Safeguarding OBicer is appointed by the Church Council. Our safeguarding policy is reviewed annually. ## **Administrative Information** Address: 2 Warren Way, Digswell, Welwyn, AL6 0DH Church Council Members Minister: Revd Rosemary Mutopo Stewards: Mrs Joanne Peacock (Senior Steward) Issue 1 Page 5 Digswell Village Church (Registered Charity 1212114} Annual Trustees, Report 2025 Mrjohn Robinson Mrs Mary Burnside Treasurer: Mr Michael Peacock Secretary= Mrs Gillian White Property Steward: Mr Huw Wright Elected Members: Mrs Julie Handscomb Mr Robert Handscomb Mrs Diana Holt Mr Peter Holt Mrs Jane Lewis Mrs Linda Wright st Approved bythe Church Council on 21 April 2026 and signed on their behalf bythe Revd Rosemary Mutopo (Chair). Revd Rosemary Mutopo 21"April 2026 Issue 1 Page 6 ## **Digswell Village Church** ## **Financial Statement Financial Year 1/9/24 - 31/8/25** A Methodist Church working in a Partnership Agreement with the Anglican Parish of Digswell Registered Charity 1212114 ## **CHURCH RECEIPTS AND PAYMENTS ACCOUNTS** # **THE METHODIST CHURCH** # **STANDARD FORM OF ACCOUNTS** ## **Digswell Village** **Church** FOR THE YEAR ENDED Sunda 31 Au ust 2025 y g ## **St Albans & Welwyn** **Circuit Circuit no.** ## **34/13** ## **Registered Charity - Charity Registration number** 1212114 ## If not a registered charity **His Majesty's Revenue and Customs Gift Aid number** (The HMRC number is equivalent to a registered charity number in terms of evidence of charitable status and may be used to give to donors or grant funders wishing to see evidence of the organisation's charitable status. Methodist charities in England and Wales that are not registered charities are excepted from registration under Statutory Instrument 2014 No.242) Minister: ## Rev Rosemary Mutopo Church Stewards: Mrs Joanne Peacock Mr John Robinson Mrs Mary Burnside Treasurer: Mr Michael Peacock SFA 20250831.xlsx 1 of 5 **Church** ## **ACCOUNTS FOR YTD 31 Aug 2025** ## **Digswell Village** ||**SECTION A**|||**Unrestricted**
**Funds**
**Restricted**
**Funds**|**Unrestricted**
**Funds**
**Restricted**
**Funds**|**£**
**25,656.28**
**65,563.87**
**3,050.00**
**12,164.80**
**Totals this**
**year**|**£**
**25,656.28**
**65,563.87**
**3,050.00**
**12,164.80**
**Totals this**
**year**|**Totals last**
**year**|| |---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---| |||||**£**|**£**|**£**||**£**|| |a1|**RECEIPTS**||**Note**||||||| |a2|Offerings and Tax recovered|||25,656.28||**25,656.28**||28,404.03|| |a3|Bank and CFB interest and
Investment income|||65,302.19|261.68|**65,563.87**||40,359.25|| |a4|Lettings|||3,050.00||**3,050.00**||3,797.50|| |a5|Other receipts|||2,164.80|10,000.00|**12,164.80**||1,325,761.00|| |a6|**TOTAL RECEIPTS**|||**96,173.27**|**10,261.68**|**106,434.95**|**(a7)**|**1,398,321.78**|| ||||||||||| ||**SECTION B**|||||**32,476.32**
**12,956.06**
**4,064.21**
**3,050.00**
**101,928.89**|||| |b1|**PAYMENTS**||||||||| |b2|Circuit Assessment or Share|||32,476.32||**32,476.32**||30,151.01|| |b3|Donations||||||||| |b4|Repairs andMaintenance|||12,956.06||**12,956.06**||12,136.87|| |b5|Utilities (Insurances, water charges,
heating &lighting)|||4,064.21||**4,064.21**||4,294.32|| |b6|Charities|||3,050.00||**3,050.00**||3,797.50|| |b7|Otherpayments|||101,928.89||**101,928.89**||20,509.12|| |b8|**TOTAL PAYMENTS**|||**154,475.48**||**154,475.48**|**(b9)**|**70,888.82**|| |||||||**-48,040.53**|||| ||**SECTION C**||||||||| |c1|**NET RECEIPTS/PAYMENTS FOR**
**THE YEAR**
**(a6-b8)**|||-58,302.21|10,261.68|**-48,040.53**||1,327,432.96|| ||||||||||| |c2|Total funds brought forward from
last year|||1,515,623.15|5,767.72|**1,521,390.87**|**(c6)**|193,957.91|| |||||||**1,473,350.34**|||| |c3|**(c1+c2)**
**Sub total**|||1,457,320.94|16,029.40|**1,473,350.34**||**1,521,390.87**|| ||||||||||| |c4|Transfers and adjustments||||||**(c7)**||| ||||||||||| |c5|**TOTAL FUNDS AT END OF YEAR**
**(c3+c4)**|||**1,457,320.94**|**16,029.40**|**1,473,350.34**|**(c8)**|**1,521,390.87**|**(c6)**| ||**SECTION D**||||| |---|---|---|---|---|---| |d|**£**
**FOR INFORMATION ONLY: MONEY RECEIVED AND PASSED ON TO EXTERNAL ORGANISATIONS**
**(these amounts are not to be included in total receipts/payments figures above)**||||**£**
| |d1|Balance brought forward from last year||||| |d2|Offerings/Gifts- receivedforexternalorganisations||1,016.37||1,364.50| |d3|Offerings/Gifts -passed to external organisations||1,016.37||1,364.50| |d4|**BALANCE STILL TO BE PAID** (d1+d2-d3)||||| ||Total Income (a7+d2)
Total Expenditure (b9+d3)
For Charity Commission Annual Report:||107,451
155,492||| 2 of 5 SFA 20250831.xlsx Digswell Village **Church** ## **SUMMARY OF CHURCH ACCOUNTS AND INTERNAL ORGANISATIONS REPORTING TO THE CHURCH COUNCIL** **SECTION E Please follow the Guidance Notes to complete this page** Summary of the Church accounts for the year ended 31 August 2025 and Internal Organisations reporting to the Church Council/Church Meeting. Note that the funds of an Internal Organisation would normally be Restricted funds unless it could be clearly shown that they could be used for any Methodist purpose. This section must be completed to arrive at the gross income and expenditure totals of the Church. If gross income exceeds the Accruals threshold, then the Accruals method of accounting AND A DIFFERENT FORM must be used to report the accounts (see Methodist website). Please refer to the guidance notes regarding transfers between the District and connected District Organisations. ||**SECTION E**|**Please follow the Guidance Notes to complete this page**|**Please follow the Guidance Notes to complete this page**|**Please follow the Guidance Notes to complete this page**|**Please follow the Guidance Notes to complete this page**|**Please follow the Guidance Notes to complete this page**|**Please follow the Guidance Notes to complete this page**|**Please follow the Guidance Notes to complete this page**|**Please follow the Guidance Notes to complete this page**|**Please follow the Guidance Notes to complete this page**|**Please follow the Guidance Notes to complete this page**|**Please follow the Guidance Notes to complete this page**|**Please follow the Guidance Notes to complete this page**| |---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---| ||Summary of the Church accounts for the year ended 31 August 2025 and Internal Organisations reporting to the Church Council/Church Meeting. Note that the funds of an
Internal Organisation would normally be Restricted funds unless it could be clearly shown that they could be used for any Methodist purpose. This section must be completed to
arrive at the gross income and expenditure totals of the Church. If gross income exceeds the Accruals threshold, then the Accruals method of accounting AND A DIFFERENT
FORM must be used to report the accounts (see Methodist website). Please refer to the guidance notes regarding transfers between the District and connected District
Organisations.||||||||||||| ||**INTERNAL ORGANISATIONS**||Receipts||Payments||Net Receipts/
Payments|Adjustments||Openingbalances||Closingbalances|| |e1|||||||||||||| |e2|||||||||||||| |e3|||||||||||||| |e4|||||||||||||| |e5|||||||||||||| |e6|||||||||||||| |e7|||||||||||||| |e8|Sub total of Internal
Organisations funds||||||||||**(e11)**||**(e12)**| |e9|**Church accounts (totals**
**brought forward from page 2 -**
**totals column)**||**106,434.95**|**(a7)**|**154,475.48**|**(b9)**|**48,040.53**
**-**||**(c7)**|**1,521,390.87**|**(c6)**|**1,473,350.34**|**(c8)**| |e10|**TOTAL CASH FUNDS HELD**
**BY CHURCH**||**106,434.95**||**154,475.48**||**48,040.53**
**-**|**-**||**1,521,390.87**|**(x)**|**1,473,350.34**|**(y)**| ||||**TOTAL RECEIPTS**||**TOTAL**
**PAYMENTS**||||||||| ||||||||||||||| ||**SECTION F**||||NOTE|||||From R&P Page||Difference error|| ||**STATEMENT OF ASSETS AND L**||**IABILITIES**
**t 31 August 2025**||Form does not correctly||account for monies|not yet passed to eg
**OPENING**
**BALANCES**|charity
(c6)
(e11)
(x)|||**CLOSING**
**BALANCES**|| ||**CHURCH -CASH FUNDS HELDa**||||||||||||| |f1|Cash in hand||||||||||||| |f2|Bank Current Account|||||||1,170.45||||2,766.56|| |f3|Bank DepositAccount|||||||||||17,560.79|| |f4|Central Finance Board|||||||81,388.50||||93,012.99|| |f5|Trusteesfor Methodist Church Purposes|||||||1,438,831.92||||1,360,010.00|| |f6|Other funds||||||||||||| |f7|**SUB TOTAL - Church accounts**|||||||**1,521,390.87**|(c6)|||**1,473,350.34**|(c8)| |f8|Total funds held by Internal Organisations (the closing
balance total from above) (e12)|||||||**-**|(e11)|||**-**|(e12)| |f9|**TOTAL CASH FUNDS HELD BY CHURCH**|||||||**1,521,390.87**|(x)|||**1,473,350.34**|(y)| ||||||||||||||| ||**SECTION G**|||||||At||||At|| ||**SECTION G**||||||||||||| ||**OTHER ASSETS and LIABILITIES**|||||||1 September 2024||||31 August 2025|| |g1|Investments(include Endowments)||||||||||||| |g2|Land & Buildings(see notes re Insurance value)||||||||||||| |g3|Other Assets||||||||||||| |g4|Loan(s)- show amount outstandingatyear end||||||||||||| |g5|Other Liabilities||||||||||||| f4 Include only Funds held at the Central Finance Board f5 Include only Funds held at Trustees for Methodist Church Purposes g1 Include any other investments (not the cash element of TMCP trusts accounts this is included in line f5 3 of 5 SFA 20250831.xlsx Name ofchurch.. Digswell Village Church No 34114 Declarations and Scrutiny I confim) thatthese Receiptand Payment based accotsntsforthe yearto 31 August2025 have been prepared fmm the records ofthe Church and that they include all funds under1he control of the Church trustees. Signature of treasurer ...... Date: 20th April 2026 Name and address oftreasurer......... Michael Peacock 75 Digswell Park Road . Welwyn GardenCIty AL8 7NW Presentation to the Church trustees I confirni that the annual report and accounts forthe year ended 31 August 2025 wer8fvX' presented to the meeting ofthe Church trustees held on .. Signabjre ofthe Chairoflhe meeting Name ofthe Chair ofthe meeting .Date. Independent Examinerfs Report to the TNstees of the Digswell Village Church Charity Number 1212114 Responsibilltles and basi5 of report I report to the trustees on my examination of the accounts of the Digswell Village Church forthe year ended 31 August 2025 set out on pages 2 to 3. As the Church's trustees, you are responsible for the preparation of the accounts in accordance with the requirements of the Ch8rities Act 2011 I'the AcYI- I report in respect of my exatnination of1he Church's accounts ￿￿led out under section 145 ofthe Act and, in carrying out my examination, I have followed all the applicable Directions given by the Charity Commission under section 145151(b} of the ACL delete or circle as appropriate SFAX]3s4yi￿lSX 4of5 Name of Church: Digswell Village Church No 34113 Independent Examiner's Statement I have completed my examination. I ￿n￿mI that no material matters have come to my attention in connection with Ihe examinats'on {otherthan that disclosed below") which give me cause to believe that in. any material respect- the aco)unting records were not kept in accordance with section 130 ofthe ACL or the accounts do notaccord with the accounting records. I have no concems and have come across no other matters in connection with the examination to which attention should be drawn in this report in orderto enable a proper understanding of trie accounts to be reached. I have obtained independentverification ofall inveslments wilh the Trustees for Methodist Church Purposes or held in olher trusts, bank balances and fvnds atthe Central Finance Board ofthe Methodist Church which are individually in excess of £10,000 (ten thousand pounds) atthe balance sheet date. Signature of independent examiner: Name of independentexaminer. Mrs Joanne Grant Relevant professional qualification of independent examiner: Chartered Accountant (ICAEW) Name of fim (where appropriate} NIA Address: 3 Sharmans Close Digswell AL6 OAR Post Code: Date delete or circle as appropriate SFA 20250831.xlsx 5of5 Digswell Village Church (Registered Charity 1212114) Financial Statement 2025 ## **Notes to the Financial Statement** ## **Income** Total income for 2024/25 was £107,451 (bottom of page 2). £61,270 of the investment interest (line a3) came from the legacies mentioned in the Trustees’ Annual Report, which are held on our behalf by the Trustees for Methodist Church Purposes (TMCP) and the remainder from deposit accounts. Operational income from member contributions, tax recovery, lettings, associated interest and donations was £34,903. Tax recovered via the Gift Aid Scheme amounted to £3,964 on unrestricted giving and £38 on collections for the charities we support. ## **Expenditure** Total expenditure for 2024/25 was £155,492 (bottom of page 2)and consists of operational and capital costs. ## _Operational Costs_ Expenditure for the general running of the church amounted to £49,694, as £10,012 of the £12,956 maintenance costs (line b4) were funded by the interest received from the trusts. This resulted in an operational deficit of £14,791 for the year. However, as the hall hire income of £3,050 was donated to the charities we support, the underlying deficit was £11,741. ## _Capital Costs_ During the year, the design work for the long-awaited refurbishment of the Church building cost £86,925 which consumed the monies in one of the trusts so at 31 August 2025 only one trust remained. Issue 1 Page 6 Digswell Village Church (Registered Charity 1212114) Financial Statement 2025 year 2025/26 so the level of Trust Income will fall substantially over the next year as the remaining Trust capital is consumed. ## **Allocation of Funds Available** The Trustees decided that it would be diYicult to ask the congregation to increase their giving while we had such a large amount of income from the Trusts, so in December 2024, £56,000 was designated to cover deficits for a period of up to 5 years. At the same time, £150,000 was designated to pay for Mission projects including the appointment of an Administrator from January 2025, and a Community Chaplain when the Refurbishment is completed in approx November 2026 |er 2026|| |---|---| |3 Dec 2024
Trusts
Other a/cs
Total|Defcit Cover
Mission
Refurbishment
46,000
130,000
1,262,832
10,452
20,078
48,036| ||56,452
150,078
1,310,868| The Refurbishment project is due to go out to tender in late 2025 so until then it is not clear how much the development will cost and so the e