Forest Hill Christadelphians Hamilton Hall South Road Forest Hill London SE23 2UF
ForestHillChristadelphians@gmail.com Phone: Gareth Barker (Secretary) 020 8058 3445
Annual Report of the Trustees of Forest Hill Christadelphian Ecclesia (Registered Charity No: 263844)
Year Ending 30[th] Sept 2022
Secretary
Gareth J Barker, 108J Auckland Hill, London, SE27 9QQ
Treasurer
Oliver P Flannagen, 2 Chestnut Drive, Staunton, GL193QE
Organisation
Forest Hill Christadelphian Ecclesia[1] is a registered charity (Registered Charity No: 263844) meeting at Hamilton Hall, South Road, Forest Hill, London SE23 2UF and was established on 6[th] July 1919.
The current Managing Committee are:
Mr G.J. Barker - Secretary Mr I. Cade (taking over from Mr J. Neate on 24/04/2022) Mr O. Flanagan (taking over from Mr D. Paul on 24/04/2022)
Mr D. Paul, Chair of the property trustees, is invited to committee meetings on an ad hoc basis, reporting and advising on property matters.
Hamilton Hall was purchased under a Trust Deed dated 24[th] Feb 1947 out of monies provided by the Management Committee of Forest Hill Christadelphian Ecclesia and subscribed by members of the Ecclesia.
1 The term Ecclesia is derived from the Greek, and is used by Christadelphians to describe the whole group of baptised believers based at a particular location; the meaning is similar to the word congregation used by many other churches, but as Christadelphian worship involves lay preachers rather than a paid priesthood, the term ecclesia includes all those who are members of the church, regardless of role.
The Trustees of Hamilton Hall (referred to in minutes of the Ecclesia as the “Property Trustees” to distinguish them from the Trustees of the Charity) are:
Mr D. Paul – Chairman Mr G.J. Barker – Secretary Mr I. Cade Ms E.J. Blackstone Mrs M Barrett
The Management Committee and Property Trustees have discussed issues regularly throughout the year (in person, through online meetings, and by email); their decisions have been reported to and ratified by Business Meetings open to all Ecclesial members.
Objectives
The objective of the Charity is to promote the Christadelphian Faith. The charity aims to publicly present the Christian Gospel, relating it to current affairs, and demonstrating its benefits to everyone. We do so in a variety of ways.
The Trustees are mindful of the charity's public benefit obligations. Nearly all of the Ecclesia's activities are provided free of charge to both members and nonmembers.
Activities
The Ecclesia holds regular meetings to promote its objective, as follows:
Sunday 10:00 Communion service Sunday 10:00 Farsi Language Bible study Sunday 11:45 Bible talk to which members of the public are invited by means of our website, posters, mailed literature and other means, the purpose being to share with them the Christian Gospel Weds 19:30 Informal Bible discussion group, currently running once every two weeks, where we welcome members of the public to join us reviewing matters of a topical Biblical nature and discuss their relevance to current world affairs.
We also hold other “ad hoc” meetings as appropriate. Lifting of COVID restrictions allowed us to re-open our building and our Sunday services have returned to a hybrid model, allowing members and members of the public to join us either in person or online. Our Wednesday meetings, also open to both members and members of the public, currently remain online only.
In parallel with our existing Sunday services, we have continued to hold Farsi language Bible study classes, aimed at promoting our faith to interested members of the Iranian community in the London area. This discussion group is currently running as a physical, face-to-face, meeting, and during the year has led to a number of new Iranian members formally becoming members of the Ecclesia, through baptism into our faith.
We continue to maintain an informative website (www.foresthillchristadelphians.org), providing details of our meetings, a summary of our beliefs, offers of literature and other information of a topical nature.
Finances
Our activities are financed by the voluntary contributions of our members, none of whom receive any form of financial remuneration for their services. Charges to, or collections from, members of the public are never made for any of our activities or literature.
The only non-monetary assets held by the charity are the ownership of the Ecclesial meeting room (Hamilton Hall), and a minivan with a tailgate lift, used by one of our disabled members. Two major sets of outgoings relate to the running and maintenance of this van, and of Hamilton Hall. Our other major outgoings relate to our preaching and publicity activities and, as noted below, activities supporting our rapidly increasing Iranian membership.
A continued initiative this year has been the provision of basic necessities (clothing and toiletry items) to members of our Farsi Bible discussion group who are in need. This has been financed through our existing welfare collections, along with a generous donation from the Oxford Christadelphian Ecclesia and a grant from the Christadelphian Outreach Group (https://www.cog-uk.org/; Charity number: 1173583). The Christadelphian ALS (the preaching arm of the Christadelphians (Charity number: 248979)), whose work is described at arm – see https://www.thechristadelphians.org.uk/about-us/, have provided funding to help cover the travel costs of those attending the Farsi Bible discussion group.
A one-off donation from the former Thornton Heath Christadelphian Ecclesia (which closed during the year) has allowed us to maintain a healthy balance in our general fund, despite significantly higher than expenditure than budgeted. (Unbudgeted expenditure was largely related to costs associated with our rapidly increasing Iranian membership, with most of our new members not yet having leave to remain in the UK, and thus being unable to work and to directly contribute to ongoing running costs of the charity). We have also run a large (planned) deficit in our property fund, due to significant maintenance costs for our Hamilton Hall property. We have agreed deficit budgets for the 2022-23 financial year for both our general and property funds; in both cases the fund balances are large enough to support the planned expenditure, and our overall financial situation therefore continues to be satisfactory for the immediate future. Updates on these matters are provided to Ecclesial members at the biannual meetings.
The accounts of the charity are subject to annual inspection by an independent examiner in accordance with prevailing legislation. A summary of the accounts of the charity, and a copy of the independent examiners report, are appended to this report.
Gareth J Barker
Derek Paul
Secretary, Forest Hill Christadelphian Ecclesia
Chairman of the Property Trustees, Forest Hill Christadelphian Ecclesia
Forest Hill Christadelphian Ecclesia (Registered Charity No: 263844)
General Fund
Year ending 30/09/2022
Starting Fund Balance £10,554.83 30/09/2021 RECEIPTS Gift Aid Donations £9,764.00 Other Members Donations £9,450.10 Tax rebate received £3,273.09 Miscellaneous (incl. interest) £20,020.00 Total £42,507.19 PAYMENTS Hall rental £4,600.00 Ecclesial Operating expenses £21,458.83 Preaching and Public outreach £1,166.44 activities Miscellaneous £39.35 Total £27,264.62 Deficit / Surplus over the year £15,242.57 Ending Fund Balance £25,797.40 30/09/2022
Forest Hill Christadelphian Ecclesia (Registered Charity No: 263844)
Property Fund (Hamilton Hall)
| Year ending | 30/09/2022 |
|---|---|
| Starting Fund Balance | £149,981.89 |
| 30/09/2021 | |
| RECEIPTS | |
| Gift Aid Donations | £0.00 |
| Other Members Donations | £0.00 |
| Tax rebate received | £0.00 |
| Rental income from Ecclesia and Caretaker’s flat |
£16,350.00 |
| Miscellaneous (incl. interest) | £4,687.09 |
| Total | £21,037.09 |
| PAYMENTS | |
| All utility services and insurance (incl. gas, electricity, water etc) |
£5,094.83 |
| Cleaning costs, general repairs and all property maintenance |
£24,929.11 |
| Miscellaneous | £0.00 |
| Total | £30,023.94 |
| Deficit /_Surplus_over the year | -£8,986.85 |
| Ending Fund Balance | £140,995.04 |
| 30/09/2022 |
Independent Examiners Report to the trustees of Forest Hill Christadelphian Ecclesia
I report to the trustees on my examination of the accounts of the Forest Hill Christadelphian Ecclesia for the year ended 30[th] September 2022.
Responsibilities and Basis of Report
As the charity trustees of Forest Hill Christadelphian Ecclesia 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 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 material matters have come to my attention in connection with the examination giving me cause to believe that in any material respect:
-
Accounting records were not kept in respect of Forest Hill Christadelphian Ecclesia as required by section 130 of the Act; or
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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.
Helena Willey, CIPFA 31 St Andrews Road, Henley on Thames RG9 1HY
29th July 2023