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Franche Community Church, Chestnut Grove, Kidderminster DY11 5QA
Registered Charity Number 701151
Trustees Annual report for the period 1[st] January – 31[st] December 2020
Franche Community Church is registered with the Charity Commission and governed by a Constitution. The Church is led by the Minister and an Elder and this year they have begun to create a wider support team to assist them in the oversight of the growing work. They function through full consultation with the other Trustees and members of the Church.
The continued aim of the Church is to serve the community in Franche by providing both spiritual and practical help, through support and guidance for its members and anyone within the wider Wyre Forest area of Kidderminster, Bewdley and Stourport-on-Severn in the County of Worcestershire.
Many of those who view Franche Community Church as their church are actively involved and included as volunteers within a wide range of tasks, from simply providing a listening ear, to open advice, food box packers and food box distributors. We seek to offer support through our connections with Franche, Marlpool and Habberley communities, and with county, district and town councillors and council officers.
Our Minister also seeks to pray and offer spiritual support (through the joy, hope and the blessing of the Christian Faith), within the Church and the wider community to anyone who requests this. He continues to work with the local schools and councillors and is increasing our connections with other charities working in our area. He continues to be involved in the operation of a “Messy Church” based at a local primary school, which is the joint effort of three local churches.
We are a Church seeking to support everyone in the Wyre Forest through connecting and communicating with our local community. Our premises are located in the heart of Franche estate adjacent to Franche Community Primary School. We have only been open on Tuesday and Friday during this year, for the Food Bank distribution of essential food and bread, as we have been restricted by the Coronavirus outbreak and unable to use our facilities for polling, parties, social gatherings and other user groups.
Requests for Food Bank support have grown enormously and with the help and good enterprises of local schools, churches and businesses, the “Intouch Global Foundation”, Bewdley Rotary, personal contributions and regular collections from local supermarkets and working with the Kidderminster Food Bank at Baxter Church, we are able to sustain this work and distribute food as required. In this year, we have also received funding from the “DY10” charity, the Government’s Covid Winter Relief Fund, Worcester County Council’s Covid Relief Fund and directly from the Lottery Community Fund, which has helped us with essential supplies and to improve our infrastructure with re-designed food storage, and the general running costs of the Food Bank.
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Franche Community Church’s established Food Bank provides a unique distribution service to the community with emergency food boxes packed to meet individual and family needs, distributed only to those referred to us by the Job Centre, Local Council Hub, Job Centres, Night Stop, CAB, the Children’s Centres, Wyre Forest Parenting and Family Support Unit, Brookside, Home Start, Refuge Support and Advocacy, West Mercia Women’s Aid, various churches and St Basil’s hostel.
We have managed to maintain a regular Sunday morning on-line worship service that is open to everyone, alongside which we run a children’s group and we meet on-line to pray on a weekly basis for the needs of our community, the nation, and the mission of the church, by using Facebook, YouTube, WhatsApp and Zoom meetings; we seek to encourage the learning and practice of an evangelical, charismatic, Godly and Biblical lifestyle.
We are looking to continually improve the facilities as funds permit and this year have again spent further money on enhancements to our audio visual equipment, which will enable us to further our vision to provide facilities for the local community in a safe and friendly environment, and also to connect with the wider community through social media and offering off-road parking in an area of Franche that is often congested.
Given the current trends in giving to charities in general we are thankful for the support we receive from our members and other contributors, both individuals and organisations that faithfully support our work.
2020 has been a very difficult year for the charity with so many unknowns, making planning extremely difficult, with lock-downs, the closure of buildings, the restrictions on worship and an unprecedented demand for Food Bank support.
The church has not met in the building since the March 2020 lock-down as the Trustees have felt that the building does not provide adequate space for safe passage for all the members of the church, as we have such a wide age range within our congregation. We did however manage to meet “socially distanced” in the middle of the year by convening worship in the car park under the title of “Picnic in the Car Park” and we also met to sing “Carols in the Car Park” in December.
At the same time we agreed, due to changes in personnel, that we could not see ourselves continuing with our toddler provisions and announced the closure of Happy Moments and Mainly Music due to staffing issues. Later in the year we also made a decision to not reopen Café@Franche, to release Richard Hague to pursue Trustee matters and to seek further grant support for the charity.
Restrictions have also meant that we have been unable to let the building, thus reducing one of the regular sources of revenue for the charity, with a direct impact for the community at large.
Overall we have been surprised and delighted by the increased support we have received both financially and voluntarily; this had placed an enormous strain on the small team running the Food
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Bank and this year we have decided to pass on responsibility for the Food Bank management to John and Merle Balcon, whilst also spreading the load across many new volunteers.
We end the year still in a place of limbo, with no clear pathway out of the consequences of the virus and thus are finding it difficult at this stage to plan for the future. With little regular income from the normal sources we have previously relied upon, we are struggling to establish a budget or plan for the future; however we are confident that the charity is secure going forward and will be able to recover the ground lost to the virus in a very short time once restrictions are lifted, as we are still in communication with the wider community looking for suitable facilities.
Through the input of our Independent Examiner we continue to revise our methods of accounting by improving our monthly spreadsheet which has enabled the Trustees in their management of the finances.
The Trustees of Franche Community Church are Sam Guille - Minister, Paul Guille - Chair, Richard Hague, Jayne Maclean and John Balcon, appointed Trustee at the meeting on the 01/12/2020 with responsibility for the management of the Food Bank at this crucial time.
Treasurer is Mrs Barbara Guille.
Our Independent Examiner is Mr. John Scott.
His report is attached with this report.
Franche Community Church is overseen by the National Pioneer Network of Churches.
The Church is also a member of The Evangelical Alliance.
Locally we are involved with ‘Churches Together in Kidderminster’ working with them and other ministers and churches in the Wyre Forest area to provide support to each other and in the community, as our local area requires, and we are also connected with the Kidderminster and Husum Twinning Association, participating in a currently Covid-deferred visit from Germany being re-planned for 2021.
Signed on behalf of the Charities Trustees
Paul Guille
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FRANCHE COMMUNITY CHURCH
Summary of Financial Activities
For the Period 1st January to 31st December 2020
| INCOME Planned giving Collections and undesignated giving Gifts to Church Other voluntary receipts Gift Aid recovered Investments Designated food bank Receipts from Church Hire Total income EXPENDITURE Missionary and Charitable giving Clergy and Staffing costs Church Running Expenses Food Bank Total expenditure Net income/ (expenditure) resources before transfer |
Unrestricted Restricted funds funds Total funds 10233 10233 4174 4174 15526 15526 868 868 3470 3470 0 0 39795 39795 717 717 34988 39795 74783 872 872 15161 15161 6777 6777 30460 30460 22810 30460 53270 12178 9335 21513 |
Previous Year 7124 7748 0 3830 178 0 18580 4434 |
|---|---|---|
| 41894 1208 12859 8736 9024 |
||
| 31827 10067 |
FRANCHE COMMUNITY CHURCH
Statements of assets and liabilities at the end of the period
| Savings Account Santander Account Cash in Hand Total Current Assets |
1644 35818 347 |
|---|---|
| 37809 |
Signed on behalf of Trustees
Paul Guille
3fc4c2d697090232ccbaa672c82d8e95
6/17/2021
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Inde endent xaminers re rt to the Trustees o Fr¢Mche Communi I report on the accounts of the Trust for the yair endirg 31# December 2020 Res tive res nsibilities of Trustees and Examiner Church The Charitys trustees are resporsible for the preporation of the accounts. The Charitys trustees consider that an (wdit is r required for this year under section 144(2) of the Charities Act 2011 (the 2011 Act) and that Im iNler1ent examimtion is needed. rt is my responsibility to: Examine the accounts under section 145 of the 2011 Act: To f ollow the procedures laid down in the general directions 9iven by the Charity Commission under section 145(5)(b) of the 2011 Act- and To slate whether particular matters have come to my attention Basis of Inde endent Exominer's Re My examimtion VMS carried out in accordance with the generol directions given by the Charity Commission. An examimtion includes a review of the accountirg records kept by the harity and a comwison of the accounts presented with those records. It also includes consideration of any unuswl items of diklosures in the accounts and Seeki explarntions from you as trustees concerniNJ such nwtters. The procedures uThJertaken do not prov4de all the evidence that would be required in audit and consequentty no opinion is given <is to whether the accounts present .0 true fair ¥1 and the report is limited to those matters Set out in the statement below. Inde ndent Examiner's Statement In connection with my examimtion. no Imtter hos come to rny attentio (l)Which gives me reasomble cause to believe that in affy ff#iterial respect the requirements: To keep accountirg records in accordance with section 130 of the 2011 Act.. and To prepare accounts which accord with the a¢counttry records comply with the accountirvj requirements of the 2011 Act not been met.. or (2)to which. tn my opinion. attention should be drawn in order to emble a proper understondiThJ of the accounts to be reoched. Name: Relev¢Tht ication or ACMA (r£ Address TRK LhAJc £EJJLkt/ AIoTr<eJ J1/12 2£