St. Brendan's
SYDENHAM
Charities Number: 103265
Trustee's Annual Report
For the Year ended 31 December 2024
St Brendan's Parish is a registered charity: No 103265

St. Brendan's
SYDENHAM
Trustee's Annual Report
For Year Ended December 2024
Charities No: 103265
Charities Name: St Brendan's Church of Ireland Church
Address: 64A Larkfield Road, Belfast, BT4 1QE
Current Trust60s:
Chair- Claire Pearson
Beth Ginnett
Claire Mc8ride
Elizabeth Dall
Gillian Gorman
Karen Kane
Lauren Gorman
Laureene Ginnett
Lynda Storey
Margaret Harris
Neil Gorman
Robert Galbraith
Robyn Mann
Ted Ginnett
Cameron Gorman
Matthew Herron
Paul Bradley
Treasurer: Lauren Gorman
Hon. Secretary.. Lynda Storey
Bank..
Independent Examiner:
PGR Accountants Limited
Ulster Bank Limited
Connswater Branch
Unit 2 Channel INharf
Arches Retail Park
21 Old Channel Road
Belfast
Belfast
BT5 4AF
BT3 9DE
St Brendan's Parish is a registered charity: No 103265

St.Brendan's
SYDENHAM
Trustee's Annual Report
For Year Ended December 2024
Trustees who senied this charity during the period shown are:
Chair- Claire Pearson
Beth Ginnett
Claire McBride
Elizabeth Dall
Gillian Gorman
Hazel Graham (Resigned April 2024)
Karen Kane
Lauren Gorman - Treasurer
Laureene Ginnett
Lynda Storey - Hon. Sec￿tary
Margaret Harris
Neil Gorman
Robert Galbraith
Robyn Mann
Ted Ginnett
Cameron Gorman
Matthew Herron (Joined April 2024)
Paul Bradley (Joined April 2024)
St Brendan's Parish is a registered charity: No 103265

St. Brendan's
SYDENHAM
Structure, Governance and Management
St Brendan's is a church governed by the Laws of the Church of Ireland and run by a Select
Vestry.
Recruiting and Appoi nting trustees
The select vestry is rnade up of an Incumbent, or member of the clergy officiating at tha
parish, the assistant curates.
The Church Wardens - One is appointed by the incumbent, and one is voted for by the
Select Vestry.
The Glebe Wardens- Again, one is appointed by the incumbent, and one is voted for by the
Select Vestry.
Of the remaining General Vestry members, a group shall be selected by votes lo act on
behalf of the General Vestry, and these shall be the trustees.
At the soonest possible opportunity after the Annual General Meeting, an Honorary
Secretary and Treasurer shall be appointed from these.
People may serve as office bearers without becoming Trustees, However, this will mean that
they are not voting members of the Select Vestry.
St Brendan's Parish 18 a registered charity: No 103265

St.Brendan's
SYDENHAM
Objectives and Activities
The main aim of St Brendan's Church is to reach the community of Sydenham with the
Gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ and to reach out to the poor and those in need within our
community.
The charitable purpose of the Church of Ireland is the advancement of religion.
The principal function of St Brendan's Church is to support the advancement of the
Christian religion by promoting, through the work of St Brendan's Church Sydenham, the
whole mission of the Church's pastoral, evangelistic, social, and ecumenical values, and
motivations. Being open to and engaging with society as a whole and offering support for
those needing help are fundamental to the practical delivery of the benefits of Christianity.
As a result of activity in pursuit of the advancement of the Christian religion, St
Brendan's Church, Sydenham has custody of the property, and of records, material, and
artefacts of significance to the cultural and religious heritage and maintenance of which is
undertaken by the select vestry of the St Brendan's Church of Ireland.
Achievements, Performance & Public Benefit
Our youth group Urban Saints" conlinued to grow in popularity in 2024, with more
and more children from the local area joining us on Monday Nights for fun and fellowship.
The group runs from P1- P6 and meets every Monday night from 6.30 - 7.4S pm.
Every Wednesday night from 5.00pm - 6.30pm, the Slimming World group meet in
our sports hall and a group from AA meet in our side chapel from 8.00pm - 10.00pm.
Our"H.U.G.S" tots, group continues to grow and show increasing favour in the
community, seeing an increase of parents and grandparents also attending church on
Sundays. This group has allowed us as a church to support parents and grandparents of
Sydenham and develop a relationship with more members of our Gommunity.
Café church has continued once a month with numbers continuing to grow each
month. This service structure welcomes families and allows them to feel more comfortable to
attend a church service which may not be their norm. We have family friendly talks,
activities, songs and then lunch is provided after. We hope to see a continuation of growth in
café church especially through the link to HUGS.
Our'women of Worth" (WOW) group met On￿ a month for walks, cookery and craft
nights and recently some fitness Zumba nights.
The Men's group have been on multiple outings this year to both mini golf and
bowling. Our men's group continues to grow in size as they plan future events.
St Brendan's Parish is a registered charity: No 103265

St.Brendan's
SYDENHAM
Our bible study group 'Explore' has continued to be a great success. This group is
run on the second Tuesday of the month and allows believers and non-believers to ask any
questions they may have about the faith. Month by month the numbers grow and has
encouraged attendance on a Sunday.
Our Joint worship nights wrth Knocknagoney Parish and Holywood Parish for monthly
worship nights have been so encouraging. This year we have seen numbers grow to
between 90-100 people at some evenings. This has been hugely encouraging to growing the
inter-church relationship and also to our surrounding communities. The worship team
consists of members of all three churches and continues to expand month on month. We
hope to expand this relationship into more of our ministries
In addition to the ongoing programmes, we also ran a number of events including a
our back to school Funday at the end of August attended by over 400 people in the
community. We had bouncy castles, BBQS, slush puppies, face painters and plenty of fun.
Coming into the summer, we held Saturday morning breakfast clubs. This provided a
space for families to come free of charge, to have a good breakfast and take part in activities
such as messy art, petting zoos, 'wee critters, and a trip to happy town at the end of the
summer.
Christmas is our favourite time of year at St Brendan's. This year we had our
Christmas light switch on right after our Christingle service on 1 $1 December 2024. This drew
out great numbers of the communrty as we took a collection in aid of 'Brain Waves Nl,.
The week following this, we had over 600 members of our community show up for the
second year of our fabulous Santas Grotto Event. Our theme was 'Nativity' with a live farm in
the stablel Our team provided crafts, hot Christmas drinks and treats for the community
before they journeyed up through the stable doors and through our light tunnel to see Santa
and receive a gift. The event was sold out and everyone thoroughly enjoyed the evening.
Santa Paws was held on the Saturday afternoon, where people booked in to get photos of
their pets with Santa, all in aid of the BARN Animal Rescue Sanctuary Newtownards.
As usual, the generosity of our community was second to none. We were blessed
with donations of toys, food and vouchers for those in our area who required a little help or
encouragement over the Christmas period. At Christmas, we at St Brendan's strive to show
God's love through our acts of service out to the community.
During the year, we were able to support multiple charities with fantastic causes,
including the Maridi bike appeal held by the Diocese of Down and Dromore. We were able to
purchase 10 bikes for the clergy in Maridi lo aid their pastoral work in their area.
St Brendan's Parish is a registered charity: No 103265

St. Brendan's
SYDENHAM
Services
Andrew Brannigan and Paula Mcllwaine continued their pastoral roles for all Sunday
services and mid-week activities until Rev'd Claire Pearson returned from Maternity in April
2024. Andrew Brannigan and Paula Mcllwaine resumed their position from December 2024,
as Rec'd C Pearson went on maternity leave.
The worship was led by the youth band or on piano by Margaret each week.
Each of the organisations that use our premises, who work with young people, must have a
Child Protection Policy in place.
The Parish has given careful consideration to the Charity Commission for Northem Ireland's
guidance on public benefit to ensure that the activities entered into during the year have
helped to achieve the Parish's objectives and activities, as well as providing public benefit.
Trustees Remuneration and Beneflts
There were no trustee's remuneration or benefits for the Year Ended 31. December 2024.
There were no trustees, expenses paid for in the Year Ended 3111 December 2024.
Statement of Trustees Responsibilities
The Trustees were responsible for the preparing of the Trustees Report and the Statement
of Receipts and Payments and Statement of Assets and Liabilities in accordance with
applicable law and regulations. The Trustees are responsible for keeping accounting records
that are sufficient to show and explain the Parish's transactions and disclose with reasonable
accuracy at any time the assets and liabilities of the Parish. They are also responsible for
safeguarding the assets of the Parish and hence for taking reasonable steps for the
prevention and detection of fraud and other irregularities.
Signed on behalf of the Trustees,
Trustee 1
(SÈO
Name:
Date:
Trustee 2:
Name:
Date:
St Brendan's Parish is a registered charity: No 103265