St. Brendan'sv SYDENHAM
Charities Number: 103265
Trustee’s Annual Report
For the Year ended 31 December 2025
St Brendan’s Parish is a registered charity: No 103265
St.Brendan’sa SYDENHAM
Trustee’s Annual Report For Year Ended December 2025
Charities No: 103265
Charities Name: St Brendan’s Church of Ireland Church Address: 64A Larkfield Road, Belfast, BT4 1QE
Current Trustees: Chair — Claire Pearson Beth Ginnett Claire McBride Elizabeth Dall Lauren Herron Lynda Storey Margaret Harris Neil Gorman Robyn Mann Ted Ginnett Cameron Gorman Matthew Herron Paul Bradley Reece Harrison Kathryn Catherwood Marie McMurray Claire Ross
Treasurer: Lauren Herron Hon. Secretary: Lynda Storey
Bank: Independent Examiner: Ulster Bank Limited PGR Accountants Limited Connswater Branch Unit 2 Channel Wharf Arches Retail Park 21 Old Channel Road Belfast Belfast
St Brendan’s Parish is a registered charity: No 103265
==> picture [178 x 43] intentionally omitted <==
----- Start of picture text -----
St. Brendan's|
SYDENHAM
----- End of picture text -----
Trustee’s Annual Report
For Year Ended December 2025
Trustees who served this charity during the period shown are:
Beth Ginnett Claire McBride Elizabeth Dall Gillian Gorman (Resigned March 2025) Karen Kane (Resigned March 2025) Lauren Gorman - Treasurer Laureene Ginnett (Resigned March 2025) Lynda Storey — Hon. Secretary Margaret Harris Neil Gorman Robert Galbraith (Resigned March 2025) Robyn Mann Ted Ginnett Cameron Gorman Matthew Herron Paul Bradley Reece Harrison (Joined March 2025) Claire Ross (Joined March 2025) Marie McMurray (Joined March 2025) Kathryn Catherwood (Joined March 2025)
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 Appointing trustees
-
e The select vestry is made up of an Incumbent, or member of the clergy officiating at the parish, the assistant curates.
-
e The Church Wardens — One is appointed by the incumbent, and one is voted for by the Select Vestry.
-
e The Glebe Wardens — Again, one is appointed by the incumbent, and one is voted for by the Select Vestry.
-
e Of the remaining General Vestry members, a group shall be selected by votes to act on behalf of the General Vestry, and these shall be the trustees.
-
e At the soonest possible opportunity after the Annual General Meeting, an Honorary Secretary and Treasurer shall be appointed from these.
-
e 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 is 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” continued to grow in popularity in 2025, 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 — 7.45 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 community.
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 once a month for walks, cookery and craft nights and a shopping trip to Rushmere.
The Men’s group have been on multiple outings this year to mini golf, bowling, darts, and curry nights. Our men’s group continues to grow in size as they plan future events.
Our bible study group ‘Explore’ has continued to be a great success. This group is run 2 Tuesday’s a month and allows believers and non-believers to ask any questions they may have about the sermon from previous weeks. Month by month the numbers grow and has encouraged attendance on a Sunday.
St Brendan’s Parish is a registered charity: No 103265
with
Our Joint
St. Brendan'sI SYDENHAM
worship nights Knocknagoney
Parish and Holywood Parish for monthly worship nights have been so encouraging. This year we have seen numbers grow to 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.
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 and ‘wee critters’.
This was a big year for St Brendan’s as we celebrated our 100-year anniversary as a church. In October, we had a week of celebrations including a funday, a tea dance, a Titanic play and two Sunday services. Throughout the week we were able to welcome old and new members of our church into our events and create many new memories.
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 30" November 2025.
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 a journey through Bethlehem with a live farm in the stable! 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 — we raised over £300.
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. Special thanks to Raymond and the Dundela Club. 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 continued to support the bishops appeal for Gaza, put funds towards a Lebanon mission trip for supplies and support our sponsored children through Fields of Life.
Services
Andrew Brannigan and Paula Mcllwaine continued their pastoral roles for all Sunday services and mid-week activities until Rev Claire Pearson returned from Maternity in December 2025.
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.
St Brendan’s Parish is a registered charity: No 103265
==> picture [176 x 43] intentionally omitted <==
----- Start of picture text -----
St. Brendan's|
SYDENHAM
----- End of picture text -----
The Parish has given careful consideration to the Charity Commission for Northern 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 Benefits
There were no trustee’s remuneration or benefits for the Year Ended 318t December 2025. There were no trustees’ expenses paid for in the Year Ended 31%' December 2025.
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 QvG[2 Nor STaee Date: Qa wWiaveln QO2b6-
Trustee 2: Name: €2 Pexzaan Crate fERESINH Date: 132\923\2%
St Brendan’s Parish is a registered charity: No 103265