2024-12-31-accounts - The Stable Trust

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WEST PARK CHURCH, WOLVERHAMPTON – ANNUAL REPORT FOR THE YEAR ENDED 31 DECEMBER 2024

1 Details of Charity

Name: The Stable Trust (“the Church” and “The Trust”) Charity Registration No: 251378

Principal address: West Park Church, Connaught Road, Wolverhampton, WV1 4PN Names of Trustees: Steve Doyle, Robert Gough, Paul Bradley, Alan Male, John Wilkes, Adrian Sargent, Courtney Smith, Ian Leadbeater

Church Elders: Andrew Whitehead (Minister), Steve Doyle and Adrian Sargent Church Deacons: Paul Bradley and Courtney Smith

Banker: Santander

Savings accounts: CAF Bank, Nationwide, Santander and Hampshire Trust Bank.

Independent Examiner: Peter Jelfs

2 Governance

The Charity is an unincorporated charitable trust established under a Deed of Trust dated 22 December 1967. The current practice is for office holders in the Church, namely Elders and Deacons, to be appointed as Trustees. The day to day operations of the Trust are conducted in the name of West Park Church. The Trustees held an AGM and one business meeting during the year.

The Elders of the Church meet formally at least once per month, and meet (on separate occasions) with the Deacons once each month.

3 Objectives

The objective of the Trust is to promote the Christian Faith for the public benefit in accordance with the Deed of Trust dated 22 December 1967, in particular, but not exclusively, by spreading the Gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ through the following:

Maintaining a place of public worship for the service of Almighty God
Maintaining and observing its Christian doctrines
Helping to support and care for missionaries worldwide
Informing members, friends and the wider public of the charity’s activities
Promoting spiritual teaching in a wide sense
Promoting a clear set of values on morals and ethics
Encouraging righteous behaviour for the benefit of public well-being.
Encouraging every Church member to be an ambassador for the gospel and to use their initiative and take opportunities to speak about their faith, and providing pastoral care for Church members.

4 Public Benefit

The Trustees have regard for the Charity Commission’s guidance on the public benefit requirement. They are aware of the need to ensure that West Park Church, Wolverhampton is meeting its obligation to provide public benefit. The Church’s purposes comply directly with the following of the Charities Acts descriptions of “charitable purpose”

a) the advancement of religion

[In each of the objectives listed in paragraph 3 above, the objective is to advance the Christian religion]

b) the prevention or relief of poverty

[From time to time needs and situations are made known to the Church leaders, by the charity’s friends, so that the church can be involved in giving to relieve poverty]

c) the advancement of education

[Theological education is advanced through the specific work of those appointed to preach and teach within the Church and by those missionaries who are supported by the Church]

The promotion of the Christian faith tends to lead to deep-rooted changes for the better in the lives of those who embrace it, and these changes are evident in the behaviour and attitude of Church members, for example in the way they conduct themselves as citizens, employees, parents, and neighbours. This is also borne out in the corporate life of the Church as it provides a place where people are befriended, encouraged and helped in various ways through the weekly activities and special events .

5 Achievements and Performance

The year under review was marked by a continued emphasis on the ministry of the word (preaching/teaching) and prayer, with Bible teaching every Sunday, and at the mid-week meeting. The minister takes most Sunday services and contributes to some mid-week meetings. A weekly meeting for young people aged between 12 and 21 has continued to be well supported and appears to be effective. The Church is also heavily involved in a weekly open air meeting in the City Centre, where the Christian message is proclaimed to passersby and literature given to bystanders.

In 2024 the following additional one-off activities took place:

A presentation by Roop Chopra while he was home from India;
A meeting led by Slavic Gospel Association;
A presentation by SASRA;
A presentation by the African Bible University; and
A presentation by European Missionary Fellowship.

On the two Saturdays leading up to Christmas we distributed 1,500 leaflets around neighbouring properties advertising our Christmas services.

Many of the sermons preached in the Church are uploaded onto a website dedicated to preaching, and feedback has shown that these are heard by people in the UK and in other countries.

There were two baptisms during the year, the marriage of two church members, and three long standing members died.

The Church promotes the Christian Faith through the work of partners in other places, and does this primarily through financial support and praying for their work to succeed. The groups in question have the same or broadly similar objectives to the Church, and in 2024 included the following:

Roop Chopra, India
Denis and Edna Goodwin, Gibraltar
Slavic Gospel Association (Timothy Korches, Romania) (SGA)
Albanian Evangelical Mission (AEM)
Middle East Reformed Fellowship (MERF)
Pastors Training International (PTI)
Missionary Aviation Fellowship

Most of these provide regular written reports thus demonstrating accountability to the Church.

In January, Mr Andrew Barden joined the Church as its Assistant Pastor.

The following factors affect the ability of the Church to achieve its objectives:

The availability of Church members to contribute their time, energy and financial resources to the life, work and witness of the Church. We recognise with joy that during this year our members have taken it upon themselves to look out for one another, running errands, making phone calls and making sure that the most needy and vulnerable in particular are safe and well.
Ensuring training is given in all matters spiritual and temporal so that gifts and skills can be identified and developed, effective succession assured, and the future of the work safeguarded.

6 Financial Review

The independently examined financial statements for the year ended 31 December 2024 are presented alongside this report. (Note: As the Church’s receipts are less than £250,000, the Trustees have again opted for an Independent Examination of the Accounts).

A Financial Position

The accounts for the year ended 31 December 2024 showed an operating loss of £20,093 with cash balances held of £2,952, and savings account balance of £333,207.

B Principal Financial Management Policies

The Trust operates one current account. Monthly bank reconciliations are carried out on these accounts. Two signatures (from a list of three authorised signatories) are required for each cheque regardless of the amount.

Savings accounts are held with CAF Bank, Nationwide, Santander and Hampshire Trust Bank. Two signatures (from a list of three authorised signatories) are required to disinvest any money from these accounts with any disinvestment only allowed to be transferred to the Trustees nominated Santander current account.

Monthly management accounts are operated on a cash flow basis showing income and expenditure on a cash received basis. The annual audited accounts include a profit and loss account and balance sheet using an accruals basis.

Property is valued in accordance with the last insurance valuation dated 16 November 2012.

Monthly management accounts are presented to the officers of the Church along with the presentation of quarterly cashflow statements to the Church. Annual accounts are presented at the Church AGM and audited accounts presented at a meeting of the Trustees of the Trust. These audited accounts are required to be submitted to the Charities Commission by 31 October each year.

C Reserves Policy

The officers of the Church have set up savings accounts to meet any large unexpected expenses. Any surplus funds after the day to day operating running costs are transferred to these savings accounts. The Reserves Policy is reviewed annually by the officers of the Church in accordance with Charity Commission guidelines.

D There are no funds held in deficit. The Trust’s policy is to never borrow any money from financial institutions.

E Principal funding sources

The Church is financially dependent on the voluntary support of members and friends. Regular tax efficient giving is encouraged wherever possible and at the year-end there were several active individuals using various Gift Aid schemes to support the activities of the Church. Additional income is derived from individual gifts and bank interest.

F Depreciation of Assets

The Trust does not hold any depreciating assets. Its principal fixed assets are property; the Church building and 20 Park Road West.

G Investments:

Fixed asset investments - The Church is the beneficial owner (subject to relevant trusts) of the freehold property known as West Park Church, Connaught Road, Wolverhampton, and the adjoining property 20 Park Road West. The Church building was last professionally valued for re-instatement insurance purposes in 2012 and is presently index linked insured for £2.5 million with No.20 Park Road West insured for £345,000. The market value of 21 Park Road West, when sold in 2021, was c£300,000, and the near identical property 20 Park Road West would have been valued for a similar amount at the time.

Other non-monetary fixed assets have not been valued in recent years.

Liquid assets - the investment policy is to maintain a low-risk liquid position. The aim is therefore to maintain balances in accounts that attract market competitive deposit account bank interest but with low-risk institutions. Savings accounts specifically for charities are held with four financial institutions in order to spread the risk.

H Insurance Policy

Our policy is to adequately insure the assets and other risks. Insurances held include: Buildings, Fixed Assets, Contents, Employers and Volunteers Liability, Public Liability, Property Owners Liability, Trustees Indemnity, Legal Expenses, Money, Occupational Personal Accident for Employees and Volunteers.

I Trustee Remuneration and Related Parties

None of the Trustees receive remuneration or other benefit for their work for the charity. There was one related party transactions reported in the year between the Trust and a Trustee or third party with contractual relationships with the Trust. (Note: this related to a contract for roofing works, carried out by a company employing a relative of a certain Trustee. The conflict of interest was highlighted at the time and recorded appropriately in the

minutes of the meeting concerned. The work was awarded to the firm which submitted the lowest quotation). There were no payments made to Trustees during the year.

J Fundraising

The Trust does not undertake material fundraising activities.

7 Plans for Future Periods

Additional efforts to promote the Christian Faith will be considered in the year ahead, including continuing open air preaching, distributing literature, continuing to train and equip Church members, and holding special meetings including MERF and SGA.

It is also hoped to provide training in various aspects of Church life and discipleship, in order to equip members for works of service and, if possible, to extend the pool of leaders in various aspects of Church life, particularly in recognised leadership roles, including trusteeship. It is acknowledged that a conscious and systematic approach will be required in order to pass on the required knowledge so that more people are equipped in every aspect of leading and running a church.

8 Trustees’ Responsibilities in Relation to the Financial Statements

The Trustees are responsible for preparing the Trustee’s Report and the financial statements in accordance with applicable law and UK Accounting Standards (UK Generally Accepted Accounting Practice).

They are responsible for preparing financial statements for each financial year that give a true and fair view of the Trust’s incoming resources and application of resources during the period, and its “state of affairs” at the end of each year.

In preparing the financial statements, the trustees are required to:

select suitable accounting policies and then apply them consistently
observe the methods and principles in the Charity Commission requirements
make judgements and estimates that are reasonable and prudent
prepare the financial statements on the going concern basis
state whether applicable UK Accounting Standards have been followed, subject to any material departures disclosed and explained in the financial statements

The Trustees are responsible for keeping proper accounting records which 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. They are also responsible for safeguarding the assets of the Trust and hence for taking reasonable steps for the prevention and detection of fraud and other irregularities.

9 Statement of Disclosure of information to Independent Examiner

There is no relevant examination information of which the Trust’s independent examiner is unaware; and the Trustees have taken all steps that they ought to have taken to make themselves aware of any relevant examination information and to establish that the examiner is aware of that information

February 2025

	2024	2023
	£	£
Receipts
Covenant giving	51,054	45,638
Offering	7,037	11,861
Inland Revenue	11,704	10,530
Gifts	410	1,495
Missionary gifts	8,304	9,322
Rent-no.20	1,638
Bankinterest	9,438	7,678
Electricity sub-station rent	13	13
Total Receipts	89,598	86,537
Expenditure
Salaries and pensions	(49,668)	(41,174)
Missionary gifts	(18,254)	(18,472)
Electric, gas/ water, and Council tax	(17,017)	(11,744)
Building expenses	(11,397)	(7,314)
Insurance	(2,765)	(2,615)
Audio recording	(2,184)	(1,930)
Visiting preachers	(3,100)	(2,582)
Sundries	(2,387)	(2,140)
Outreach	(1,617)	(1,367)
Gifts	(978)	(1,359)
Legal costs	(324)	(1,256)
Total Payments	(109,691)	(91,953)
Net (Payments) / Receipts	(20,093)	(5,416)
Cash funds at the start of the year	356,252	361,668
Cash funds at the year end	336,159	356,252

	2024	2023
	£	£
Cash Funds
Cash - current account	2,952	4,749
Cash - savings accounts	333,207	351,503
Net assets at the year end	336,159	356,252

	31	December 2023 Net Movement in 31 December 2024
		Funds
		£ £ £
Unrestricted Funds		356,252 (20,093) 336,159
Total		356,252 (20,093) 336,159