## **The Churches Fellowship for Psychical and Spiritual Studies (CFPSS) Registered charity number 233778** **ANNUAL REPORT FOR THE YEAR ENDED 31st MARCH 2025** ## **Trustees:** Dr Santha Bhattacharji (President) until 5 September 2025 Rev Cannon Rose Maria Drew from 12 February 2025 (President from 5 September 2025) Mrs Vicky Jeffs, (Chair) Ms Cherry Simpkin, (Hon Treasurer) Rev Neil Broadbent Mr Ian Fordyce Mr Andrew Cort Rev Andrew Fisher Dr Mark Fox Mr Paul Fisher Rev Dr Margaret Gilley Mrs Judith Harvey from 11 October 2024 Mrs Eileen Hughes from 12 February 2025 **Independent Examiner:** Bowers Fleming & Co Ltd, 90 Risegate Road, Spalding, Lincolnshire, PE11 4EY **Solicitors:** Porter Dodson, Telford House, The Park, Yeovil, Somerset, BA20 1DY. ## **General Secretary** Mrs Joanne Arnold ## **Office Address** Office 8, The Creative Suite, Mill 3, Pleasley Vale Business Park, Mansfield, NGl9 8RL ## **1. Structure, Governance** & **Management** The governing document of the trust is a Constitution amended by resolution on 1 April 1963, 8 September 2017 and 11 October 2024. Under the Constitution the charity is governed by a Council consisting of the President, a Vice President, a Chair, 2 Vice Chairs, an Honorary Treasurer, up to 3 representatives of local and special interest groups and up to 6 others. Members of the Council are elected by the members of the charity at an AGM, the President to serve for 5 years and all others to serve for 3 years. All Council members are eligible for re-election. The Council has the power to co-opt up to 3 trustees to serve until the next AGM, when they will be eligible for election by the members. It may co-opt trustees in the event of casual vacancies to serve for the remainder of the term of the person replaced. 1 The Council may also appoint a paid General Secretary and any other staff as they see fit. Remuneration and duties of all staff shall be determined by the Council. At present, the charity's only member of staff is the General Secretary. The Editor of the charity's magazine _The Christian Parapsychologist_ receives an honorarium. The CFPSS does not hold any funds as a custodian trustee on behalf of others. ## **2. Objectives of the Charity** The objects of the Charity are to encourage the study in a Christian context of spiritual, paranormal, psychological and other scientific phenomena and to try to assess their validity and their relevance to the Christian faith. ## **3. Public Benefit** In setting objectives and planning for activities, the Council has given due consideration to general guidance published by the charity commission relating to public benefit. Membership of the CFPSS is open to all those who belongto a recognised Christian denomination or are themselves in sympathy with the Christian faith. Within that framework, we welcome all adults regardless of personal circumstances. The minimum annual donation for membership is determined by General Meeting from time to time but the Council has the power to reduce such sum in cases of hardship or other reasons as the Council sees fit. The Council may also grant bursaries as appropriate to enable members with limited resources to attend CFPSS events. The CFPSS provides a forum for discussion on subjects such as the healing and deliverance ministry, religious experience, paranormal phenomena, mysticism and prayer, particularly in terms of their relevance to the Christian faith. In doing this, it seeks to foster a general understanding of these subjects and to contribute to academic research. The CFPSS offers a safe meeting place where members and enquirers may share and explore their experiences in these areas, in an open atmosphere of love and acceptance. Many people value the help A they have received when they have experienced spontaneous gifts of the Spirit, the pain of bereavement or simply a call to deeper spiritual understanding, especially when they have found little encouragement or support from elsewhere. The CFPSS takes seriously its duty of care towards Trustees, Staff, Members and the general public. It discourages any form of abuse for whatever reason. The Trustees regard their safeguarding responsibilities in respect of vulnerable adults particularly important since the nature of the charity's 2 objectives may lead those in mental and spiritual distress to seek its help. The Charity is not involved with children. ## **4. Achievements and Activities** The Charity's use of online platforms has grown over the year. There are two WhatsApp groups, an open discussion group and a monthly prayer group specialising in praying for the dead. There are 305 people in the Facebook group, an increase of 40 from our last AGM. The number of people following the Facebook page has grown by a huge 125 to a total of 503. There 413 subscribers to the YouTube channel, an increase of 77 on the previous year. The emailed newsletter audience has increased slightly to 248. Our postal intercessory prayer group continues to flourish and is greatly appreciated by those who have requested prayer. A list of those requiring intercessions is sent out to the group by post and email. A residential retreat was held at Ampleforth Abbey from 1- 3 July 2024. The Annual Conference was held at Loxton in Somerset in from 11 to 13 October 2024. The Charity continued a nationwide tour to promote the work of the CFPSS holding a number of meetings throughout the UK. These were well attended and brought new members. The CFPSS published two editions each of its two magazines _The Christian Parapsychologist_ and _The Fellowship Review._ Articles from past magazines are freely available on the CFPSS website and are well read. The CFPSS library continued to be well used. The library holds over 1500 books and booklets and 500 audio recordings and is free to use (subject to paying postal costs). The library is available to members through the website or by contacting the general secretary. The Publications Committee continues to work producing new publications, in particular, a book on _Talking About Spiritual Experience_ , was published in September 2024. CFPSS Groups continue to meet regularly, either in person or on Zoom. The increasing use of Zoom has enabled those who find it hard to travel to attend meetings. 3 A new Committee was set up to review and make recommendations on the charity’s policies on an ongoing basis. ## **5. Safeguarding** The Council policy on safeguarding is reviewed annually. Eileen Hughes continues to act as the Safeguarding Officer. The Council has established that all trustees do not need to be DBS checked. ## **6. Data Protection** The Council's data protection policy is in line with the General Data Protection Regulations (GDPR). In order to keep email and paper data private and safe the CFPSS uses two documents, a. The CFPSS privacy notice informs members or public what information is held and for what purpose, how long it is kept and deleted. Their rights are also explained. This Notice is displayed on the CFPSS website. b. The CFPSS Consent Form which has to be filled in to authorise consent for personal information to be held. This can be done by email or paper. This form must be returned to the General Secretary. If it is not, any information held is deleted. Mrs Eileen Hughes is the Trustee responsible for GDPR. Mrs Joanne Arnold, the General Secretary, is the main data user. The CFPSS is registered with the Information Commissioner's Office for Data Protection. The CFPSS has never had a data breach but knows how to report one, should it happen. ## **7. Financial Review** ## _**Going concern**_ The trustees have a reasonable expectation that the company has adequate resources to continue in operational existence for the foreseeable future. For this reason, they continue to adopt a going concern basis in preparing the financial statements. ## _**Overall results**_ During the year ended 31 March 2025 the Charity made an operating loss of £(9,310) compared to loss of £(8,714) in 2023/24. With investment losses of 4 £1562, there was an overall loss of £10872, compared to a gain of £1,242 in 2023/24. As at 31 March 2025 investments were valued at £175,999 (2023/24: £207,561) Total net assets at 31 March 2025 were £235,719 (2023/24: £246,591). ## _**Trustee expenses**_ Trustee expenses during the year amounted to £235 for 1 Trustee (2023/24: £944 for 6 trustees). No trustees received any remuneration for work as a Trustee. ## _**Reserves**_ Trustees aim to maintain reserves at a sufficient level to ensure our financial resilience and sustainability, including protecting the charity against identified risks. The Trustees aim to strike an appropriate balance between ensuring a sustainable financial position and using our available funds to fulfil our charitable mission. The Trustees aim to retain sufficient unrestricted funds to cover a year's running costs. The charity has no long-term liabilities. ## _**Investment Policy**_ The Charity's main sources of income are donations and legacies from members. It also receives returns on investments and interest on cash deposits and some income from the sale of books and copies of the _Christian Parapsychologist_ to non-members. The Charity's policy is to mitigate the risks presented by stock market volatility and the economic uncertainty by spreading its investments over a number of different types of funds and to move investments between funds from time to time to maximise returns. The funds are managed by the CCLA. ## _**Risk Management**_ The Trustees have continued to assess the major risks to which the charity is exposed and are working to ensure that systems and procedures are in place to mitigate our exposure to them. Our risk assessment policy is reviewed twice-yearly. During the year, the Charity set up a Risk Register, which will be reviewed annually. 5 ## **8. Future plans** In 2025-26, the Trustees plan to: - _a._ publish two editions each of its two magazines _The Christian Parapsychologist_ and _The Fellowship Review;_ - b. publish new books and booklets currently being worked on by the Publications Committee; - c. hold an Annual Conference - d. hold an online conference to celebrate the 50[th] Anniversary of the founding of _The Christian Parapsychologist_ magazine. - e. hold a residential retreat - f. support and increase the in-person and online group network and special interest groups - g. seek ways to get the CFPSS better known, including a tour round the UK. - h. continue to look for new venues for conferences in order to vary where they are held and thus make them more accessible to members in various parts of the country. - i. increase its presence on social media platforms - j. find new ways to raise funds, increase membership and operate cost effectively - k. further amend the CFPSS Constitution to allow electronic voting and enable overseas members to vote - l. Change our accounting year end to 31 December. ## **Statement of Trustees' Responsibilities** The Trustees are responsible for preparing the Trustees Annual Report and the financial statements in accordance with applicable law and United Kingdom Accounting Standards (United Kingdom Generally Accepted Accounting Practice). The law applicable to charities in England & Wales requires the Trustees to prepare financial statements for each financial year which give a true and fair view of the state of affairs of the charity and of the incoming resources and 6 application of resources of the charity for that period. In preparing these financial statements, the Trustees are required to: - select suitable accounting policies and then apply them consistently; - observe the methods and principles in the Charities SORP 2019 (FRS 102); - make judgements and estimates that are reasonable and prudent; - state whether applicable accounting standards have been followed, subject to any material departures disclosed and explained in the financial statements; - prepare the financial statements on the going concern basis unless it is inappropriate to presume that the charity will continue in operation. The Trustees are responsible for keeping proper accounting records that disclose with reasonable accuracy at any time the financial position of the charity and enable them to ensure that the financial statements comply with the Charities Act 2011, the Charities (Accounts and Reports) Regulations 2008 and the provisions of the trust deed. They are also responsible for safeguarding the assets of the charity and hence for taking reasonable steps for the prevention and detection of fraud and other irregularities. ## **Declaration** The trustees declare that they have approved the trustees' report above. Signed on their behalf: Rev Canon Rose Maria Drew Date: 16 January 2026 7 The Chu￿￿¢8 Fellow8hlp lor Psychkal and Spifftual Studies Independed Examiners R&port to th¢ Tru81¢9s of The Churches Fellowship for Psychlcal and s￿rItual Studles I reFMyi lo the chanty IruslèÈs or) my examInatK￿ of the ac¢(wnts ol Ihe company for thè year ended 31st March 2025 which are set wt on pages 9 to 14. Respgn$lbllllkn$ and bas1$ of r•port s the charity Irustoes of Ihe company land also its dire(lors lor thè purwses of company lawl you are responsible for thè p¥8para￿.0n of the acrounts in ar￿dance *ilh the requirements ￿ the Companies Act 2006 1'lh8 2006 Act'i. Having s3tisf18d mysem that the acrx>unts ol Ihe Ix)rnpany are n?t required to be auditeLI uftder Parl 16 of the 2006 Act and are eligible for Independent exa￿￿natIOn. l Tep01 in respeu ot my examinaiion of your company's accounts as carried oul under secbon 145 of the Charits"es Act 2011 I'lhe 2011 Acl'l. In cafrying Dui my examination I have followed the Directions glven by the Charity Commis$M￿ under sect+on 1495llbl of the 2011 Aci. Indopendent exomin•rfs staten￿nt I have Completed my examinaticffj. I confimi that rKJ mattws have to my att8nticffi in connec11￿ ￿1th thè examination giving me cause to belwe thal in any rnaterial respect 1.accountinq recL¥ds IK)t kepl In rewct of Ihe company as reouired by sect¥Jn 386 of the 2006 Act. 01 2 the accounts do not a¢cryd wththose rerAYds: or 3. the accounts do nol cOm￿Y ￿th Ihe *cwnty"ng requirerrents of s8ctson 396 of ltte 2006 Acl other than any reouiremènl that the ac£￿Jnts give a'twe aThJ faw whith is not a matter ¢ow4ered a5 part of an ¢ndependont 8X8rn1nation'. or 4. the accounts have been twepargj in aCcordar￿ ￿1th the meihods and pnn¢iples of the Statement of Recomrnended PraC￿ce lor accounbng a￿1 ￿p0th"r0 by charities appli(3ble to charities preparing their accounts In accordance the Financjal RerKKty'ThJ Starklard ap￿￿2￿￿e in the UK and RepuNic ol Ireland IFRS 1021 I have rrf) rAJncems and have rxxne across ￿ other matters in ¢(￿￿￿On Wih the èxaminth.on to %thich attenbon should be drabvn In thts rep(Nt in to ena￿e a woper understsndirg of the %counts to be reached. 8owern Flomlng & Co Ltd IKJoil2C)2 Risegale Road Gosbfjr￿n Ris8gal8 Spalding nulnshire PE114EY ## **The Churches Fellowship for Psychical and Spiritual Studies Profit and Loss Account for the year ended 31 March 2025** |**Income**
Cost of operating activities
**Gross income**
**Interest received**
**Expenses**
Wages, salaries and other staff costs
Car, van and travel expenses
Rent, rates, power and insurance costs
Repairs and renewals of property and equipment
Telephone, fax, stationery and other office costs
Advertising and business entertainment costs
Bank, credit card and other finance charges
Accountancy, legal and other professional fees
Depreciation and loss/(profit) on sale
Other business expenses
**Loss**
Realised and unrealised (loss)/gain on investments|**2025**
**£**
46,593
14,652
31,941
669
28,675
670
4,981
337
5,541
97
15
1,152
318
134
41,920
(9,310)
(1,562)
(10,872)|**2024**
**£**
43,253
17,389
25,864
-
21,786
1,111
4,257
35
5,497
-
-
1,296
191
405
34,578
(8,714)
9,956
1,242| |---|---|---| 9 ## **The Churches Fellowship for Psychical and Spiritual Studies Balance Sheet as at 31 March 2025** |**Notes**
**Fixed assets**
Equipment, machinery and motor vehicles
3
Other fixed assets
4
**Current assets**
Stock and work in progress
Bank/building society balances
Cash in hand
Other current assets and prepayments
**Current liabilities**
Amounts due witin one year
**Net current assets**
**Net assets**
**Funds**
Unrestricted - General and HQ
Restricted - Regional Fund|12,367
45,346
78
4,360|**2025**
**£**
1,272
175,999
177,271
58,448
235,719
230,051
5,668
235,719|12,944
29,455
56
1,000|**2024**
**£**
763
207,561
208,324
38,267| |---|---|---|---|---| ||
62,151||
43,455|| ||
3,703||
5,188|| |||||| |||||246,591| |||||240,923
5,668| |||||246,591| Approved by the Board of Trustees on 16 January 2026 and signed on their behalf by President - Rev Canon Rose Maria Drew Treasurer - Ms Cherry Simpkin 10 **The Churches Fellowship for Psychical and Spiritual Studies Notes to the Accounts for the year ended 31 March 2025** ## **1 Accounting basis** The accounts have been compiled on a basis that enables profits to be calculated in accordance with UK Generally Accepted Accounting Practice and that provides sufficient and relevant information to enable the completion of a tax return. ## **2 Profit and loss account analysis** |**Income**
Income - Conferences and retreats
Income - Donations and Membership
Income - Investment income
Income - Legacies
Income - Sale of Christian Psycholgist
Income - Profit on books, tapes and cd's
Income - sundry
**Cost of sales**
Cost of Sales - Conference expenses
Cost of sales - Quarterly review and CP
Decrease in stocks
**Other business income**
Interest receivable
**Wages, salaries and other staff costs**
Wages and salaries
Pensions
Employee costs - Honorarium CP
**Car, van and travel expenses**
Travel and subsistence
**Rent, rates, power and insurance costs**
Rent
Rates
Light and heat
**Repairs and renewals of property and equipment**
Repairs and maintenance|**2025**
**£**
8,579
6,476
6,626
22,404
81
1,708
719
46,593
10,917
3,158
577
14,652
669
24,633
662
3,380
28,675
670
3,304
88
1,589
4,981
337|**2024**
**£**
12,689
5,990
7,616
15,674
72
1,185
27
43,253
13,136
3,645
608
17,389
-
20,569
617
600
21,786
1,111
-
-
4,257
4,257
35| |---|---|---| 11 ## **The Churches Fellowship for Psychical and Spiritual Studies Notes to the Accounts for the year ended 31 March 2025** |**Telephone, fax, stationery and other office costs**
Telephone and internet
710
Postage
961
Stationery and printing
513
Information and publications
129
Software
1,420
Other insurance costs
1,808
5,541
**Advertising and business entertainment costs**
Advertising and PR
97
**Bank, credit card and other finance charges**
Bank charges
15
**Accountancy, legal and other professional fees**
Accountants fees
720
Other legal and professional
432
1,152
**Depreciation and loss/(profit) on sale**
Depreciation
318
**Other business expenses**
Subscriptions
35
Other expenses
99
134
**Realised and unrealised (loss)/gain on investments**
Gain/(loss) on revaluation of current asset investments - Liste
(1,589)
Income - Gain/(loss) on disposal of investments
27
(1,562)|474
1,450
-
49
1,778
1,746
5,497
-
-
1,296
-
1,296
191
-
405
405
8,449
1,507
9,956| |---|---| 12 ## **The Churches Fellowship for Psychical and Spiritual Studies Notes to the Accounts for the year ended 31 March 2025** ## **3 Plant, machinery and motor vehicles** |**Cost**
At 1 April 2024
Additions
At 31 March 2025
**Depreciation**
At 1 April 2024
Charge for the year
At 31 March 2025
**Net book value**
At 31 March 2025
At 31 March 2024
**4**
**Investments**
Market value brought forward at 01 April 2024
Disposals
Realised and unrealised gains
Market value carried forward at 31 March 2025
**5**
**Debtors**
Conference prepaid
Retreat prepaid
**6**
**Creditors**
PAYE control
Pension control
Membership fees in advance
Accruals
Member loan|**2025**
**£**
207,561
(30,000)
(1,562)
175,999
3,860
500
4,360
702
132
2,869
3,703|**Office**
**Equipment**
**£**
6,509
827
7,336
5,746
318
6,064
1,272
763
**2024**
**£**
217,605
(18,493)
8,449
207,561
1,000
1,000
599
120
595
1,874
2,000
5,188| |---|---|---| 13 ## **The Churches Fellowship for Psychical and Spiritual Studies Notes to the Accounts for the year ended 31 March 2025** ## **7 Movement in funds** |Unrestricted
General & HQ
Designated
Regional fund
Comparative year 31.03.24
Unrestricted
General & HQ
Designated
Regional fund
**gional balances**
East Anglia
South West
South East
London
East Midlands
North West
**Total**|Balance b/fwd
240,924
5,667
246,591
Balance b/fwd
239,681
5,667
245,348|income
47,261
47,261
income
43,252
43,252|loss on investmeexpenses
5,478
56,572
5,478
56,572
profit on investmexpenses
9,956
51,965
9,956
51,965
**2,025**
**2,024**
179
179
846
846
1,783
1,783
1,486
1,486
239
239
1,134
1,134
5,667
5,667|Balance c/fwd
226,135
5668
231,803
Balance c/fwd
240,924
5668
246,592| |---|---|---|---|---| ## **8 Regional balances** 14