2024-12-31-accounts - The Church Fund

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Charities Act 2011 and Regulations made thereunder ANNUAL REPORT for the period of 12 months ending 31 December 2024 of the Charity entitled - THE CHURCH FUND (Registered No 247465) more cornmonly known as THE CHURCH FUND TRUS[ (St MARY'S, WALTON-ON-THAMES) PRINCIPAL ADDRESS: Mr AK Zwart. Secretsry to the Trustees, 100 Cottimore Avenue, Walton-on-Thames KT12 2AF GOVERNING DOCUME1. The Church Fund was established by a Trust Scheme dated 7 May 1964, as amended by further Trust Schemes dated 11 May 1965. 7 February 1973, 23 August 2006 and l February TRUSTEES The Trust Scheme provided for the appointment of six Trustees. two ex-officio, two co-opted (serving for periods of five years} and two nominated (serving for periods of four years}. Retiring Trustees are eligible for re-appointment for a further period subject to their retaining the qualifications laid down in the Trust Scheme. The ex-officio Trustees are the two Church Wardens of the Church of St Mary, Walton-on-Thames who are appointed each year at the Vestry meeting of Walton-on-Thames Parish. The nominated Trustees are appointed by Walton-on-Thames PCC. During the twelve months under review, the Trustees were: _ Mr D Henderson Mr M Felstead (Ex-officio) (Co-opted) Appointed April 2019 Appointed October 2019 Re-appointed July 2024 for 2 term Appointed July 2021 Appointed January 2024 Appointed July 2024 Appointed October 2024 Resigned July 2024 nd Mrs J Gorrie Mr M Mills Mrs T Clarke MrJ Waggott Mr A Berkinshaw-smith {PCC-nominated) (Co-opted) (Ex-officio) (Pcc-nominated) (Pcc-nominated) David Henderson served as elected Chainnan throughout 2024. OFFICERS The Secretary to the Trustee5: Mr AK Zwart (Appointed September 2019) The "Independent Examinerf, of the Trust Fund Report and Accounts for 2024 is Ms Frances Wilde. Warner Wilde, 4 Marigold Drive, Bisley. Surrey, GU24 9SF. AIMS The Church Fund Trust was established in 1964 following the sale, for local authority housing and educational purposes, of an area of glebe land at Vicarage Fields. Walton-on-Thames. which had for many years been held by the Parish. The net proceeds of the sale were invested in consultation with and on the

advice of the Charity Commission and those investments, which are reviewed on a regular basis and revised as and when felt desirable, are the source of the income of the Trust Fund. The Trust Fund operates only within the Ecclesiastical Parish of Walton-on-Tharnes and exists solely to provide financial support for that Parlsh. In practice the only body or persons who may legitlmately call upon the Trust for assistance are the Parochlal Church Councll of St Mary with St John who approach the Trustees as necessary for advances from Trust Funds to meet expenditure arising on items which fall within the Trust Scheme. In February 2008 the Charity Commission agreed to include the Church of St John and also agreed to a broadenlng of the objectlves. Clause 22 of the Trust Scheme of 7 May 1964 was deleted and was replaced with the followlng. 22. Appllcation of Income {1) The Trustees shall apply the clear yearly incorne of the Charity for the followlng purposes and in the following order of priority. {2) The Trustees shall apply a sufficlent part of the sald clear yearly Income In or towards defraying the cost of the upkeep, repair and Insurance of the Parish Church of the Eccleslastlcal Parlsh of St Mary, Walton-on-Thames and the goods and ornaments thereof. {3) The Trustees shall apply the resldue of the sald clear yearly Income in or towards defraying the cost of rnalntalnlng and improvlng the sald parish church and the churchyard thereof. {4) If and in so far as the said clear yearly income is not required for application In manner aforesald the Trustees may apply the same for the following purposes and In the following order of priority: In or towards defraylng the cost of the upkeep, repalr and insurance of the Church of St John, CottSmore, Sn the said ecclesiastical parish and the goods and ornament thereof, In or towards defraylng the cost of maintalnlng and irnprovlng the Church of St John, Cottlmore, In the sald eccleslastlcal parlsh and the churchyard thereof. (5) If and In so far as the sald clear yearly Income Is not requlred for applicatlon in manner aforesald the Trustees may apply the same In furtherance of the rellglous and other charltable work of the Church of England in the sald eccleslastlcal parlsh. PUBLIC BENEFIT The Trust provides finance to the eccleslastical Parish of Walton-on-Tharnes to malntaln the fabrlc, flttlngs and runnlng costs of its two churches and for the maintenance of the churchyards. Thi5 allows the PCC to ensure that the churches are available for regular public worship which is open to all and the provision of sacred space for personal prayer and contemplation, VULNERABLE BENEFICIARIES The Charity does not deal directly with people, only with the Parochial Church Council of Walton-on-Thames, so It does not have a need for a specific policy for vulnerable beneficiaries. However, the Trustees note that the PCC has a pollcy and procedures in place to safeguard the needs of the vulnerable people with whom they may come into contact as part of the running of the parlsh.

ORGANISATION The Trustees routlnely Meet on a quarterly basis during the months of January, April. July and October. Other meetings May be held for reasons of urgency. The Trust does not own or occupy any land or buildings. The Trust is connected to but totslly separate from the Parochial Church Council for St Mary with St John, Walton-on-Thames registered charity number 1128597 as referred to above. The Secretary to the Trustees works from their own home address. The Trust does not ernploy any staff. The Secretary to the Trustees is a volunteer. There are no other volunteers and it is not anticipated that there will be any in the foreseeable future. INVESTMENT POLICY The Trustees have agreed an investment policy statement with Brewin Dolphin, the investment managers. This dates from October 2020 and has been reviewed; no changes We made. The document covers investment objectives, risk. time horizon, liquidity requirements, ethical investment policy and administrative provisions. The Trustees seek to produce the best financial return within an acceptable level of risk. The investrnent objective for the consolidated portfolio is to maintain and grow the value of the capital over the long term {+io years) and in excess of inflation while generating an increasing level of income. This objective will be measured against CPI + 3.5%. The Trustees adopt a total return approach to investment. generating the investment return from Income and capitsl gains or losses. It is expected that rf in any one year the total retum is insufficient to meet the budgeted grant making expenditure, in the long term the real value of the Trust will still be maintained in accordance with the investment objective above. Brewln Dolphin manage the assets on a discretionary basis in line with this policy and provide custody of the assets. Managers are required to produce a valuation and performance report quarterly. The Trustees have nominated a list of authorised signatories, two of which are required to sign instructions to the investment manager. The Trustees meet with representatives of Brewin Dolphin in April and October when the latter present the investment report. The Trustees have access to an online Portal which provides extensive details of values, performance and predicted dividend receipts. THE YEAR UNDER REVIEW During the year 2024 income totalled £67,144 (2023: £65,059). Requests made by the PCC to the Trustees during 2024 in respect of the running expenses of St Marfs and St John's Churches, totalled £45,558 (2023: £46,710). Major works were £Nil {2023: £Nil). Administration costs were £1.772 (2023." £1,697). The value of the investment assets held at 31 December 2024 was £2.470,814 (£2,316,760 at 31 December 2023). At the time of signing this Annual Report, the forecast for receivable dividends per annum is £65,793). SERIOUS INCIDENTS

There were no serious incidents to report. RISK MANAGEMENT The Trustees have considered the major risks to which the Trust is exposed and have reviewed those risks and established systems and procedures to manage those risks. At the same time the Trustees reviewed the f inancial controls and consider these controls to be suff icient to manage the risks identified, The economic recovery after the pandemic will remain under pressure from factors such as ongoing geo- political changes and inflation. The Trustees, view is that these trends will not jeopardise meeting the anticipated requests by the PCC in 2025. FUTURE COMMITMENTS Apart from the normal running costs of the two Churches the only known commitments are as follows: In November 2023 a quinquennial inspection of St Mary's church was undertaken. It is anticipated that the schedule of running repairs and maintenance, arising from the report, will be phased over the following five years. The trustees have granted some monies towards costs in 2024 and await notification from the PCC as to when the call for further funding will fall and how much it will be. RESERVES The Trustees have reviewed the need for holding funds as "reserves" Under guidance from the Charity Commission the Trustees have set aside a permanent endowment held separately. All the funds are invested by professional advisers Brewin Dolphin Limited, 12 Smithfield Street, London ECIA 9LA, Underused income in one year is held temporarily for expenditure in excess of income in later years. The Trust Deed contains a special provision for meeting extraordinary costs on application from the Parochial Church Council and a decision of the Trustees. Signed.. Date.. gf 102S

CHARifY (OMMISSION FOR ENGLAND AND WAIES THE CHURCII FLVID Receipts and payments accounts ro CC16a 31n2r2(Y24 Section A Receipts and payments Roslrl¢lod Tol•l fund L•8tyeK 914 anhln(orn$1 194 Sub total(Gmss income forAR) A2 AJJot•ftdlnv8sfrn•ntMI 07.144 lo St Sub total Totalrne•ts 67.144 6f.144 8aos9 A3 Grants stMw*8 8 totsl Advan 10 St Mo Sub (ot•l A4 AMot•ndlnveJbn•nt ur¢ha$es see tsble Trnnsl•n#dto C• •14 Sub tot•1 M243 270 Net of r•celpW(p•yments) 119 a789 A6 Cash lunds l•styvar•nd Cash lunds thls ye•r•nd 114488 128.3 11SA88 128.388 84099

Section B Statement of assets and liabilities at the end of the period Unrestricied funds Restricted funds Endownient funds to ne8rest£ Categoriès Det8i1s io nre5 È to nearesi E B1 Cash funds CAF88nk CurrentAccount 12J,388 Total cash fund5 128,388 Unrestrl¢led funds ta noar8st £ Restricted funds 10 noarvst£ Endowment funds to nearn5ft Dptgils B2 Other monetary assets Fun¢1 i¢ whlch SSOI bolon Currnnt ¥alu• Ilonal Cost loptlot)alJ B3 Investment assets 8D CHURQ252 EftLlowmeni 128,101 Doalirtg, dgPOs118nd Gash accounls EnLlokvmeni 2,183 BD CHUR0251 Unreslnct8d 2,309,17 Dealing, dgPO&t and cash accounts Unreslncted 31,355 Fund to whl¢h •SS81 belon Currnnt vilu• IIon81 Detc?ils Cost laptlonal) 84 Assets retalned for the charlty's own use Fund ro whlch relatés Amount clue When du¥ tlon81 Dot.I11.8 B5 Llabllltles Indep8ndentEx8ffline Fee Unr85tncled 17 Signèé by on8 ¢rtWO irustees on behellof èll tho trusteos Dale of roval Signalu Prinl Name bè',b s

Independent examiner's report on the accounts

Section A Independent Examiner’s Report

Report to the trustees/ The Church Fund members of On accounts for the year 31 December 2024 Charity no 247465 ended (if any) Set out on pages 1 and 2

I report to the trustees on my examination of the accounts of the above charity (“the Trust”) for the year ended 31 December 2023.

Responsibilities and As the charity trustees of the Trust, you are responsible for the preparation basis of report of the accounts in accordance with the requirements of the Charities Act 2011 (“the Act”).

I report in respect of my examination of the Trust’s accounts carried out under section 145 of the 2011 Act and in carrying out my examination, I have followed the applicable Directions given by the Charity Commission under section 145(5)(b) of the Act.

Independent I have completed my examination. I confirm that no material matters have examiner's statement come to my attention in connection with the examination which gives me cause to believe that in, any material respect:

accounting records were not kept in accordance with section 130 of the Act or
the accounts do not accord with the accounting records

I have no concerns and have come across no other matters in connection with the examination to which attention should be drawn in order to enable a proper understanding of the accounts to be reached.

Date: 31/03/2025 Signed: ~~a~~ Name: FJ Wilde ~~Cs~~ Relevant professional FCCA DChA qualification(s) or body (if any): Address: 4 Marigold Drive Bisley Surrey GU24 9SF