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2023-12-31-accounts

The Mothers’ Union

Southwell & Nottingham Diocese

(Registered charity, number 249878)

Annual Report & Financial Statements for the year ended 31 December 2023

Contents

1

The Mothers’ Union Southwell & Nottingham Diocese Trustees’ annual report for the year ended 31 December 2022

Full name The Mothers’ Union Southwell & Nottingham Diocese

Registered charity number 249878

Principal address

Jubilee House, Westgate, Southwell, Nottinghamshire, NG25 0JH

Trustees

S Baird-Smith, Diocesan President, from 1/1/2022

J Hodson, Vice-President Newark & Nottingham A/D, from 1/1/2022 H Catchpole M Pates S Bancroft I Garratt E Toplis S Massey

The Board of Trustees meets three times a year. The Members of the Board of Trustees are: The Diocesan President, the Newark and Nottingham Archdeaconry Vice-President, the Unit Co-ordinators, and the Deanery Leaders.

Banking

CCLA Investment Management Ltd, One Angel Lane, London, EC4R 3AB National Westminster Bank Plc, Loughborough, Leicestershire, LE11 3NZ

Independent examiner

John O’Brien, employee of Community Accounting Plus, Units 1 & 2, North West, 41 Talbot Street, Nottingham, NG1 5GL

Governance and management

The charity is operated under the rules of the Royal Charter of the Mothers Union charity number 240531, dated 15 June 1926 and last amended 4 July 2006.

Overall management of the charity is the responsibility of the trustees who are elected and co-opted under the terms of the constitution. Deanery Leaders are elected by branch leaders, Diocesan President and Unit Co-ordinators by members of Diocesan Council, and each Vice President by Members of Council in their Archdeaconry. Day to day project activity is managed and carried out by volunteers.

Public benefit statement

The Trustees confirm that they have complied with the duty in section 17 of the Charities Act 2006 to have due regard to the Charity Commission's general guidance on public benefit, 'Charities and Public Benefit'.

State of the Diocese

The membership of Mothers’ Union Diocese of Southwell and Nottingham is 525 plus 33 honorary life members for the year ended 31 December 2021 with 27 active branches.

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The Mothers’ Union Southwell & Nottingham Diocese

Objectives and Activities

AIM: A worldwide society whose Aim is the advancement of the Christian religion in the sphere of marriage and family life.

FIVE OBJECTIVES

The membership of Mothers’ Union Diocese of Southwell and Nottingham is 477 plus 33 honorary life members for the year ended 31 December 2022 with 24 active branches.

Summary of the main achievements during the period:

TO PROMOTE and support married life.

Members are involved in Pastoral care in their marriages in co-operation with their incumbents. Members meet regularly in branches, deaneries and archdeaconries.

Meetings provide for social and pastoral needs of members, often including lunch or afternoon tea. Speakers are invited to speak on a range of subjects of general interest and to raise awareness of issues and current and future projects and many include this year’s theme, Transformation Now.

A team of volunteer’s co-ordinate hospital visits

within the diocese. Services are held in local Care Homes.

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The Mothers’ Union Southwell & Nottingham Diocese

The Mothers' Union diocesan website has kept members informed of local MU issues and has links to the Diocesan website. This enables members to access worldwide news and information about the organisation.

All members receive a triannual newsletter 'Link up' to keep members informed of Mothers' Union projects and news from around the Diocese. We also have a Linkup web page with all our latest news, events and uploaded reports and articles https://mulinkupsouthwellandnottingham.wordpress.com/

To

ENCOURAGE parents to bring up their children in the faith and life of the Church

Many members are involved in Messy Church, Sunday Schools and Toddler groups in their parish churches. Volunteers at Time Travelling! (a Diocesan project for school-age children run in the Cathedral and in several parish churches) include a significant number of MU members.

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The Mothers’ Union Southwell & Nottingham Diocese

The Hand in Hand resource has continued to be promoted throughout the diocese. It is an ongoing resource to help parents share their faith in the home. Labelled for Life is a resource designed to give parents, carers and teachers the confidence to handle the commercial and sexualised influences that children might face.

Members receive the MSH Connected Magazine twice a year.

Incumbents have been signposted to MU resources for Mothering Sunday & Father’s Day.

The letters of RISE UP stand for Respond, Inform, Support, Empower, Unite and Pray.

Domestic abuse can happen to anyone from any walk of life. It's our goal that Mothers' Union members and churches will work together to be a part of the change and will get involved with our RISE UP challenge.

riseup@mothersunion.org

TO MAINTAIN a worldwide fellowship of Christians, united in prayer, worship and service.

The Indoor Members Prayer Circle keeps in regular contact with elderly members who are no longer able to attend meetings.

Many fund-raising events have taken place to support the Burundi Literacy and Financial Education Programme. ‘Make a Mother’s Day’ campaign sells ethical gifts for Mothering Sunday.

We have 5 allocated overseas link Dioceses and we are building up these relationships to support their members in prayer and fellowship. We also maintain links with the Diocese of Matana in Burundi and Natal in South Africa.

MU Publications have been sold throughout the diocese to support our projects and also provide resources for use in branch meetings as well as greeting cards and gifts.

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The Mothers’ Union Southwell & Nottingham Diocese

TO PROMOTE conditions in society favourable to stable family life and the protection of children.

The diocese has embraced the national Bye, Buy Childhood campaign which seeks to protect children from excessive and inappropriate marketing. MU believes children should be valued as children and not targeted as adult consumers. The campaign challenges consumerism, seeks to empower parents in making positive choices in how they handle their finances and to challenge retailers, advertisers and the Government.

The Mothers’ Union is working in partnership and promoting a new website Parentport which gives parents and carers information on what they can do if they have seen or heard something in the media that is inappropriate for their children.

The campaign 16 days of Activism against Gender based violence was once again well supported.

TO HELP those whose family life has met with adversity.

We provide caravan holidays for families who have difficulty in coping and cannot afford a holiday. The ‘Away from it All’ holidays are proving extremely beneficial to families & individuals who have not had any kind of break in the last three years, often due to difficult circumstances beyond their control. This year our AFIA team arranged for 14 families which included 55 individuals for the

Spring Bank Holiday week at Mablethorpe. This included 13 caravans. We were able to give the families who had caravan holidays a voucher for food for their holiday plus a Christmas Hamper and a Bag of Blessings for the children. This generated some very warm expressions of appreciation.

During 2023 we ran a Contact Centre in Retford where children can meet their noncustodial parent in a safe environment.

We support Police Aid Convoys. We provide toiletries for homeless people and women's refuges.

Many members use their knitting skills to make premature baby clothes, trauma teddies and vests for African babies. We continue to make 'Prayer Shawls' to be given to those who are sick to bring assurance of Prayer and God's comfort.

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The Mothers’ Union Southwell & Nottingham Diocese

The charity’s policy on reserves

The charity aims to keep at least enough in the unrestricted funds to cover 3 month’s ordinary expenditure.

The main risk to the charity would be a severe drop in membership and/ or fundraising. We try to manage our costs effectively and encourage new members to join e.g. the increase in deanery and diocesan member numbers.

Signed on behalf of the charity’s trustees:

Signed ______ Date _ S Baird-Smith, Trustee

Signed ______ Date _ E Toplis, Trustee

7

Independent examiner’s report to the trustees of The Mothers’ Union Southwell & Nottingham Diocese for the year ended 31 December 2023

I report to the trustees on my examination of the accounts of The Mothers’ Union Southwell & Nottingham Diocese (the charity) for the year ended 31 December 2023.

Responsibilities and basis of report

As the trustees of the charity you are responsible for the preparation of the accounts in accordance with the requirements of the Charities Act 2011 (‘the Act’). I report in respect of my examination of the charity’s accounts carried out under section 145 of the 2011 Act and in carrying out my examination I have followed all the applicable Directions given by the Charity Commission under section 145(5)(b) of the Act.

Independent examiner’s statement

I have completed my examination. I confirm that no matters have come to my attention in connection with the examination giving me cause to believe that in any material respect:

  1. accounting records were not kept in respect of the charity as required by section 130 of the Act; or

  2. the accounts do not accord with those records.

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

Signed ____ Date _______ John O’Brien MSc, FCCA, FCIE Employee of Community Accounting Plus

8

The Mothers’ Union Southwell & Nottingham Diocese Receipts & payments account for the year ended 31 December 2023

2022
Total
Unrestricted
Funds
Funds
£
Note
£
Receipts
13366
Subscriptions & donations
2
-
8500
Diocesan funds
6921
17533
Charitable funds
-
3703
Literature sales
2788
4748
Deaneries & branches
3
-
299
Bank interest
209
117
Sundry receipts
4
351
48266
Total receipts
10269
Payments
14241
Charitable funds
-
569
Diocesan funds
558
9722
Management & administration
5
8579
1458
General expenses
6
917
3335
Literature
1878
1457
Link Up & marketing
101
11633
Mary Sumner House
-
5999
Deaneries & branches
3
-
48414
Total payments
12033
(148)
Net receipts/(payments)
(1764)
58858
Cash funds at start of this period
11784
-
Transfers between funds
9
3527
58710
Cash funds at end of this period
13547		 2023
Restricted
Total
Funds
Funds
£
£
11408
11408
-
6921
9468
9468
-
2788
4175
4175
529
738
-
351
25580
35849
13071
13071
33
591
-
8579
-
917
-
1878
-
101
11103
11103
5954
5954
30161
42194
(4581)
(6345)
46926
58710
(3527)
-
38818
52365

9

The Mothers’ Union Southwell & Nottingham Diocese Statement of assets and liabilities at 31 December 2023

----- Start of picture text -----
2022 2023
£ Cash assets Note £
21796 Nat West current account 16491
23059 CCLA deposit account 23798
13855 Cash & bank balances for deaneries & branches 12076
58710 52365
Other monetary assets
579 Stock (books & cards etc.) 347
720 Prepayments 7 600
1299 947
Liabilities
Creditors:
(756) Independent examination (840)
-
Management & admin (344)
(756) (1184)
----- End of picture text -----

These financial statements are accepted on behalf of the charity by:

Signed _____ Dated _____ E Toplis, Trustee

10

The Mothers’ Union Southwell & Nottingham Diocese Notes to the accounts for the year ended 31 December 2023

1. Receipts & payments accounts

Receipts and payments accounts contain a summary of money received and money spent during the period and a list of assets and liabilities at the end of the period. Usually, cash received and cash spent will include transactions through bank accounts and cash in hand.

2. Subscriptions & donations

These comprise numerous donations and subscriptions from members, collected centrally or through the branches and deaneries.

3. Deaneries & branches

Receipts
Payments		 Gross
Transfers
to Centre
£
£
31983
27808
(33762)
(27808)
(1779)
-		 Net
£
4175
(5954)
(1779)

4. Sundry receipts

----- Start of picture text -----
£
Diocesan meeting receipts 113
Archdeaconry days receipts 238
351
----- End of picture text -----

5. Management & administration

Accountant payments
Secretary payments
Jubilee House rent
Liability Insurance
Independent examination fee
PPS & Telephone
Printing & Stationary
Payroll charges
Trustees expenses - Travel		 £
1500
3775
651
483
756
97
870
214
233
8579

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The Mothers’ Union Southwell & Nottingham Diocese

6. General expenses

General expenses
£
General meeting expenses
Diocesan meeting payments
Archdeaconry days payments
Conference expenses
Sundry payments		 20
57
580
202
58
917

7. Prepayments

Prepayments
AFIA caravan deposits £
600
600

8. Trustees’ and officials’ remuneration

During the year trustees and officials received the following sums:

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The Mothers’ Union Southwell & Nottingham Diocese

9. Funds analysis

Restricted funds
Charitable funds:
Action and Outreach
Access & Contact Centre
AFIA
Count Your Blessings
Prison Work
Time Travelling
Parenting fund
Subs & donations:
MSH Fabric
Overseas
Literacy
B+IDF
MSH Subs
MSH appeal
Diocesan Projects
Big Summer Appeal
Worldwide
Discretionary fund
Other:
Deaneries & Branches		 Opening
balance
£
150
1568
24464
-
196
150
2210
-
209
95
-
1378
25
1951
397
-
278
13855
46926		 Receipts (Payments)
£
£
5
-
1847
(382)
4859
(12298)
2902
-
4
-
270
(390)
68
-
80
(80)
523
(175)
200
(200)
11
(11)
9753
(10163)
40
-
69
-
449
(150)
325
(325)
-
(33)
4175
(5954)		 Receipts (Payments)
£
£
5
-
1847
(382)
4859
(12298)
2902
-
4
-
270
(390)
68
-
80
(80)
523
(175)
200
(200)
11
(11)
9753
(10163)
40
-
69
-
449
(150)
325
(325)
-
(33)
4175
(5954)		 Transfers
£
-
451
(1076)
(2902)
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-		 Closing
balance
£
155
3484
15949
-
200
30
2278
-
557
95
-
968
65
2020
696
-
245
12076
25580 (30161) (3527) 38818

The transfers to the Unrestricted fund from the Access and Contact Centre, and the AFIA Funds are to reflect the costs of managing these areas of work.

Description of funds

Charitable funds are run by the Diocese:

Action & Outreach – Funds to support the charity.

Access & contact centre - Supports the work of the contact centre. Where the separated parents meet with their children.

AFIA (Away from it all) – Supports families that are in need of a holiday and haven’t been on a holiday in 3 years.

Count your blessings – Each year members fundraise and share the funds between the chosen causes for the year.

Prison work – To support children in a crèche when spouse has visited a prison. Time Travelling – This project is led by Southwell Minster, to support children visiting and learning about the Minister.

Parent fund – Funds held are to run parenting courses.

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The Mothers’ Union Southwell & Nottingham Diocese

Deaneries and branches are funds held in the individual Deaneries and branches:

Diocesan Projects – Funds available to be spent by the Diocese. Discretionary fund – Funds to help pay subscriptions to Mary Sumner House. All the other subs and donation funds are to be passed onto the national headquarters of Mothers Union.

Other:

Balances held by the Deaneries and branches.

10. Glossary of terms

Restricted funds: These are funds given to the charity, subject to specific restrictions set by the donor, but still within the general objects of the charity.

Prepayments: These are services that the charity has paid for in advance, but not used during the accounting period.

Creditors: These are amounts owed by the charity, but not paid during the accounting period.

14