The St Anne Trust
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Company Limited by Guarantee Trustees’ Annual Report (Incorporating the Director's Report)
Year ended 30 September 2025
The trustees, who are also the directors for the purposes of company law, present their report and the unaudited financial statements of the charity for the year ended 30 September 2025.
Reference and administrative details
Registered charity name The St Anne Trust
Charity registration number 107495
Company registration number NI637845 Principal office and registered c/o Belfast Cathedral office Donegall Street Belfast BT1 2HB The trustees Rev Canon TKD Graham MBE DL Mr S McColl Mr R Jay Mr A Boyd MBE (Resigned 31 May 2025) Ms L Salt Mrs S Logan Independent examiner John Beacom FCA
Structure, governance and management
The St Anne Trust is a charity and a company limited by guarantee. Its governing document is its Memorandum and Articles of Association.
The charity is governed and managed by the Board of Trustees. There are currently no employees.
Trustees are engaged by application to the charity and may be appointed by ordinary resolution. One third of the trustees, or the number nearest to one third, must retire from office at the third Annual General Meeting. A trustee retiring in such manner may offer themselves for re-appointment.
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The St Anne Trust
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Company Limited by Guarantee Report (Incorporating the Year ended 30 September 2025
Trustees’ Annual Report (Incorporating the Director's Report) (continuea)
Objectives and activities
Objects
The Objects for which the Charity is established are the advancement of education and the promotion of the arts, culture and heritage through:
(a) Promoting good relations with and between young people and their families, particularly those from communities significantly affected by conflict, diversity or deprivation, by providing a forum which promotes tolerance, respect and mutual understanding leading to the development of lasting friendships.
(b) Providing young people with opportunities to develop their musical and performance skills regardless of their social, cultural or religious background.
(c) Music tuition and participation to develop young people's education, creativity and self-expression.
(d) Actively seeking to develop the skills of young artists.
(e) Promoting the performing arts including public concerts, choirs, recitals, festivals, master classes and workshops.
(f) Promoting the visual arts by exhibitions and displays of art work including painting, drawing, photography, textiles and craft work and by lectures, tours and seminars.
Activities
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Existing and new members of the Board appointed earlier in 2024 continued to carry out the Trust's business during the year, though Alan Boyd stepped down as a member on 31 May 2025.
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In the course of the year, grants obtained from the Orphans and Children Fund and the Black Santa Appeal were expended on Trust activities. Further grants were successfully sought from Belfast City Council Good Relations Project and again from the Black Santa Appeal. Applications were made to the King Charles III Charitable Fund and the N! Arts Council New Small Grants Programme. The former was unsuccessful. Membership of NICVA was applied for and accepted in order to access wider information about grants. 3. Following the decision recorded in last year's Report, the December 2024 Carolfest took place solely in St Anne's Cathedral. However, it was expanded to two days on 3 and 4 December. Four schools (Glenwood PS, Holy Cross Boys PS, Cliftonville Integrated PS and Jordanstown SS) participated on 3 December, and three schools (Fane Street PS, St Bride's PS and Hazelwood Integrated PS) on 4 December.
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- The Choir of the Year Competition, usually held at the Cathedral in May, was suspended this year. However, the Come and Sing which normally accompanies it was extended from two to three schools (Jordanstown SS, Harberton SS and Clifton SS Bangor) on 21 May.
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T5. The Scholarship scheme created as part of the Three Schools Project among schools in North Belfast continued. It was reviewed both on a continual basis with the tutor and in consultation with the relevant teachers. A meeting with them was held in February.
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Child Protection - no incidents were reported or recorded.
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The St Anne Trust Company Limited by Guarantee Trustees' Annual Report (Incorporating the Director's Report) (continue) Year ended 30 September 2025
- A strategic planning meeting was held on 16 June 20285. It reviewed past and current activities and options for the future. It noted the reliance of the Trust's future events upon short-term funding and the capacity of its volunteer Board to continue its commitment to ongoing activity.
Achievements and performance
After the substantial changes of 2023-24, the reconstituted Board has continued and developed the established work of the Trust. The retirement of Alan Boyd MBE from the Board is a major loss given his extensive involvement in Trust activities over the years. His contribution is very much missed, though he has kindly offered to continue his support and to help at future events. There has been a retrenchment from extra-Belfast commitments, but that is compensated for by an increase in participating schools in Belfast itself. The planning meeting held in June provided an opportunity to review past achievements and consider future options, including risks associated with the Trust's reliance upon short-term funding applications and the commitment of existing, and potential, Board members.
While the previous year's extensive Carolfest programme outside Belfast was suspended, the recruitment of additional schools in Belfast from different traditions, and with quite diverse pupil backgrounds, was a heartening achievement. The opportunity was taken to move awaya little from the traditional 'nine lessons and carols' model and introduce a wider range of readings. We were pleased that Mr Roy Totten, Chair of the Priorities Fund which had kindly supported events in the past, accepted an an invitation to attend and to read a lesson.
The May Come and Sing event for special schools attracted an additional school, and proved a tremendous success framed by a workshop held by Ms Anne McCambridge.
The success in achieving funding from the Black Santa and BCC's Good Relations Project was counterbalanced by our inability to access the King Charles Ill Charitable Fund in support of our scholarship programme. The key obstacle to the latter was that applicants could not hold more than six months unrestricted reserves. The Chair wrote to the fund arguing that this penalised prudent charities, but to no effect. While the Scholarship scheme continues to be welcomed and supported by the schools, and the scholars' choir made a successful contribution to the Carolfest service, it has posed a variety of administrative challenges for the Board and for Ms Catherine Harper, the tutor. Changes have been initiated that are giving increased flexibility to the arrangements. At the Planning Meeting, the scheme was particularly praised by our consultant, Mr Richard Yarr of the BBC, and offered suggestions for dealing with its difficulties.
Financial review
The charity recorded net expenditure of £878 for the year. Income during the period was £6,835 and expenditure was £7,713.
The charity has net assets of £22,222 at 30 September 2025.
The trustees seek to hold reserves equivalent to one year's income. This will enable the charity to continue to pursue its objects while exploring other sources of funds in the event that public and statutory bodies change their policies on the funding of the voluntary sector.
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The St Anne Trust
Company Limited by Guarantee Trustees' Annual Report (Incorporating the Director's Report) (continueg) Year ended 30 September 2025
Small company provisions
This report has been prepared in accordance with the provisions applicable to companies entitled to the small companies exemption.
The trustees' annual report was approved on 9 March 2026 and signed on behalf of the board of trustees by:
a w*Coll Mr S McColl Trustee
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