Church of Scotland Hamilton Hillhouse Parish Church TRUSTEES, ANNUAL REPORT AND RECEIPTS AND PAYMEKfs ACCOUNTS For th• Y•ar Ended 31•t December 2024 Receipts and Payments 2024 Page 1 of 13 Church of Scotland Congregational Reference No: 1711116 Scottlsh Charlty No: SC005376 Receipts anrj Payments 2024 Page 2 of 13 Hamllton Hlllhouse Parfsh thurch of Scotland SC005376 Trustees, Annual Report Ye¥ ended 31° D*cemb•r 2024 Refgren¢e and Admlnlstratlve Infomiation Charity Name.. Hamilton Hillhouse Church of Scotland Charity Registration Number: SCLKI5376 Congregation Reference No: 1711116 Contact Address.. Receipts and Payrnenl$ 2024 P￿30f13 Hamiltofi Hillhou5e Parish Church o15(otl¥nd SC005376 Tru5tee5' Annual Report Year ended 31. December 2024 8an ker5". The Royal Bank of Scotland. Hamilton Branch. Palac* Towèrs, Palace Grounds R8tail Park, Hamilton ML3 6AD Structure, Govemanc8 and Management Governlng Document The Church Is a registered charty, number SC005376 and is administered in accordance with the terms of the Deed of Constitution (Unitary Form) and Is subject to the Acts and Regulations of the General Assembly of the Church of Scolland. Recrultment and Appointmenl of Trustees Members ol the Kirk Session are the charty Iru8tees. The Kirk Sesgion members awe the elders of the church and are Ghosen from those member8 of the church who are COns￿leTed to have the appropiiate gifts and skllls. The minister, who is a member of the Kirk Session, is elected by the congregation and inducted by Presbytery Organlsatlonal StrUc￿re The Kirk Session which meets at leasl four times a year, is responsible for spiritual and management affairs within the church and Incorporates the Finance Committee and the Propety Committee a￿j is chaired by the Trjinister. In &Jdition. there (2n be several 'ad h(K' meelings of the Kirk Session. Und8r the Deed of Conskn'tution (Unitary Form) certain iesponsibililies are delegaled to variou8 Working Groups including. Worthip. Finance. Property, Social, Pasloral, Admini81ration & Fellowship. Members of Ihe congregation are co-opted to the groups as required but do not have voting rights. Receip1$ and Payments 2024 P*Jè4ot13 Hamilton Hillhouse Parish Church of kotland SCOO5376 Trustees. Annual Report Year ended 31 December 2024 Objectives and Activitles The Church of Scotland is Trinitarian in doctrine, Reformed in tradition and Presbyterian in polity. It exists to glorify God and to work for the advancement of Christ's Kingdom throughout the world As a national Church, it acknowledges a distinctive call and duty to bring the ordinances of religion to Ihe people in every parish of Scotland through territorial ministry, It Co-operates wrth other Churches in various ecumenical b(Klies in Scotland and beyond. Our main focus this year surrounds the approval of the Mission Plan and how it will affect our church. Our Presbytery have approved the Plan during the year and includes our church entering into a union with another nearby congregation. We see this decision positively and we commenced discussions with them to agree Ihe basis of union. There are clear common areas of mission which we share and we anticipate that the presence of both churches within oui respective communities will be successful. We had been working towards completion of the discussions by the end of 2024 however we now anticipate a conclusion by summer 2025. To help the transition towards union we started hohjing regular joint services and Ihese have proven to be very suc￿$$fUl. Hillhouse Church has regular services of worship on Sunday mornings throughout the year. Additional seryices are hekl throughout Holy Week and Advenl. The Sacrament of Holy Communion is ￿lebrated four times a year. Home Communion is also available for housebound members unable to attend church. Our youth activities consist of the Sunday Sthool who join with the main congregation al the start of worship, leaving the sanduary for their own appropriate form of worship and bible studies following the Al￿age Talk. At least once a year the children partiGipate in Holy Communion. Other youlh activitie5 are Ihe Boys. Brigade and the Girls, Brigade. The organisations associated with the church are included within an annual service of dedication. All leaders working with our young people are cleared through the Protection of Vulnerable Groups Scheme as are those Working wÈth vulnerable adults. For adults there are, the Mens, Club, Guild Df Friendship, Social committee {who organise events such as, post services lunches. soGial evenings, Christmas Fayre etc). all generating much friendship and fellowship among members and others within the local Rec8ipts and PayThenls 2024 Pagesol 13 Hamllton Hillhwse Parish Church ol Scotland SCIXJ5376 Trustees, Report Year ènded 31" December 2024 community. The Guild of Friendship meet once a fortnight on a Tuesday for a chat and also arrange the occasional lunch outing. Bolh these groups are very friendly and welcoming. Each Sunday, after worship. coffee and tea are served for the congregation and visitors, both activities fostering further opportunities for ftiendship and fellowship. This Gontinues to be well attended. Fellowship and being a welcoming Church are very important to the Congregation and many people comment on how welcome they feel as visitors. Community groups using the our premises indude, Martial Arts, a local tabletop garning club, singing group, art groups, Earnock and Hillhouse Tenanls, Association and slimming clubs. Other occasional include various on-off events such as birthday parties. Our premises are now very well utillsed by the local community throughout the week. Volunteers are a vital part of the work of the ChurGh who seNe on Gommitt*s and working groups. In addition there are designated roles of Session Clerk, Gift Aid Convener, Congregational Roll Keeper, Treasurer, Safeguarding Coordinator and Property Convener. Elders and a range of rnembers take leading parts in Sunday Worship services including reading scripture and leading prayers of Inlercession. Achievements and Perfomiances At the end of 2024 there were 297 church members whKh is a further reduction from the previous year which had a roll of 307. This reduclion is due to the death of 3 communicant members and 5 removed by certificate of Iransfer with 2 removed by resolution of the kirk session. Unfortunately we did not have any new members thi5 year. We will continue to encourage new membership in the coming year although we recognise the challenge this represents in the currenl circumStan￿s. Weekly worship attendan￿ is varied on average between 50 and 80 which is still a reducing number from previous years and a trend which is reflected in the national church. On a po￿tiVe note y￿ are nolicing a gradual retum of members attending who were still Receipts and Payments 2024 P￿e60113 Hamilton Hlllhou$e Parish Church of Scotland 5CI)05376 Trustees. Annual Report Year ended 31° Oecember 2024 cautious after the pandemic and this is encouraging. We are noticing several people starting to attend Ghurch regularly who are nol members. The demographic is broad and this is to be welcomed. We do try to ensure new people are welcomed as much as possible. We also notice a trend whereby people don't ￿cesSarIlY worship every week. This could be due to a number of reasons and we are looking at possible alternative additional times for worship which might be attractive to the community. This will be explored further with our union church. The Sunday School has yet to return to pre-pandemic numbers. However we do now have a regular core number of children attending each Sunday with increased numbers of children attending on occasion throughout the year and VR are hopeful additional growth will be possible in 2025. The leadership team are doing a wonderftjl job with many Creative ideas. The Sunday School put on an excellent annual nativity play which was only possible through a lot of hard work by leaders and thildren. The congregation were very appreciative seeing Ihe children play their part. Hillhouse have had strong Ilnks with other churches in the broad local area namely Hamilton Trinity, Blantyre Livingstone Memorial, Blantyre St Andrew's and Blantyre Old. Together we fomi part of the Phoenix Parish Grouping. This grouping has not been as active In Ihe last couple of years and was on hokl. However, we are now part of what is known as a cluster which includes, Gilmour & IAlhitehill, Blantyre Livingstone Memorial, Blantyre St Andrew's and Blantyre Old and we foresee greater mission workiThJ together with these churches. Usually these churches also all collaborate with school chaplaincy and mission by use of resOUr￿d initiatives such as Bubble Gum and Fluff and Easter Code. However, again these events have not restarled although these may well restart next year. We host Community Links {South Lanarkshire) on Thursdays where they offer benefits guidall￿, job applications assistance. financial guidance and a free café for the local community. This has proven a very Suc￿$$fUl partnership and we are currently in discussion wlh to explore areas where we can work closer together. The Kirk Session felt this was an important communty service and offered the use of the church building for free. The charty have given very genewous donations when they are able to assist us with running costs. Receipts and Payments 2024 Pa3e 7of13 Hamilton Hillhouse Parish Church of Scotland SC005376 Trustee5' Annual Report Year ended 31° Dttember 2024 We have been developing our ecumenical links wrth Sl Ninian's and St Cuthbert's churches with a successful summer bible study and joint services - including the Servi￿ to mark the anniversary of the Saint Margaret Declaration of frEndship belween the Church of Scotland and Roman Catholic Church in Scotland. We anticipate this will be an annual joint service. We anticipate growing this relationship even more in 2025. We commenced expbring the possibility of a joint Alpha course with St Ninlan's and St Cuthbert's churches and hopefully this is something we may start in 2025. We have also increased our contacl with the Supporting our Community (S.O.C.) charity. Which is a Gommunity-based organisation within our parish focussing on helping make the local area a better, happier place through fundraising, events organising and volunteer training course facililation. We are part of a working group along with St Ninian's & St Cuthbert's churches to help with their community garden and growing initiative. Thls year we were approached by S.O.C. to install a defibrillator externally onto our church. This was agreed to and it is now in place offering life saving equipment for our eommunity. Hamilton Hillhouse undertakes chaplaincy to two k)cal primary schoo15 and shargd chaplalncy to the local non-denominational high school. Throughout the year there was 3 baptism and 10 funerals. This represents an increase number of baptisrns and a decrease of funerals from last year. The sanctuary is equipped with a loop system for those with hearing aids. The AJV system installed in the sanctuary conlinues to enhan￿ and encourage worship. The church websile continues to be down however discussions have commenced in respect to reinstating it and hopefully will be operational in 2025. Our plans to install cameras which woukl allow us to stream services has not come to fruition as yet. We will review that during 2025. We continue to Use social media to promote activities in the church and this has proven very useful particularly Ihe ease and speed in which information can be distributed. The Receipts and Payments 2024 Pa3e80113 Hamilton Hillhouse Parish Church of Scotland SC005376 Truste￿ Annual Report Yearended 31° December 2024 Church Facebook page is now a major communication tool for the congregation and also the local community We operate the page with four administrators, and this ensures we can keep news up to date. The use of soc￿1 media was essential during the year as we endeavoured to keep people up to date. The Boys, Brigade conlinue to operate and numbers of boys participating rernain encouraging They now meet on a Monday evening. We reported last year that the BB was under threat however this has not happened, and the company is operating well. We held several meetings with the leaders logether with representatives from Battalion to offer advice and support. This engagement will continue through 2025. It is essential that we continue to engage with the leaders to help as much as possible and we have allocated an elder to be associaled wilh the ccthpany. The Girls, Brigade meet on most Tuesday evenings. The number of Girls attending are now around 20. There are 10 leaders plus Dthers which can provide emergency cover if necessary. The ar￿ade onee again held a summer camp. and ri was a huge succe88. Plans are In place for 2025 for a trip to Paris. Both our unifom)ed organisations are a vital asset for the youth within our community and the volunteer leaders are very much appreciated by the Kirk Session and the Gongregation. The Guild of Friendship Is a small easy going group wrth a guaranteed hearty welcome for all who wish to come along They meet every two weeks. The group is open to anyone in the congregation and visitors Most of the group are of more experienced years and this is one of our challenges lo attract a younger age range albeit this is not easy given the time of the meeting. The meetings Comprise of a welcome tea and coffee. fellowship and occasionally interesting speakers. The Men's Club which is now in its 23rd year is a small, but erTthu5iastic group of around 20 members with an average attendance of 14 to 15 v4hich meets On￿ a month on Monday evening betsyeen September and March. On these evenings there are speakers whose subjects over the years have included: the church. science, politics, health, travel, history, industry, football. music and many more and there is always tea, coffee and Receipts and Payments 2024 PwJe 9of13 Hamilton Hillhouse Parish Church of Scotland SC005376 Truste￿ Annual Report Year ended 31 December 2024 biscuits. There is usualty one outing during the year and they enjoy an annual post Christmas dinner out together. Meetings are open to all and members are always glad to welcome ladies as well as men to come along on any occasion. The club continues to support the Multiple Sclerosis Society in any way it can including, with additional help from the congregation, an annual donation to help support its work, usually through MS Awareness Week. Our Property Committee are a dedicated group of volunteers who work extremely hard to ensure the church buildings, grounds and manse are kept in very good condition. This group save substantial amounts of money for the congregation. The members of the committee continued to ensure our buildings remain in excellent conditK)n throughout the year. During the year the congregation raised a fanlastic sum of money through donation for our Christmas fund which is used to purchase food voucheTS and gifts to distribute through the local primary schools to the mosl vulnerable of the families within our parish. We held our first Christmas Fayre since before the pandemic and although a lot of hard work It was very successful. We are indebled to all the volunteers who helped make it a great day and of course thanks are due to the local community who supported the event. Flnanclal Revlew The principal source of income is voluntary giving either through weekly offerings or direct standing order. Our Income has decreased, and we were able lo meet Ouf obligations with a small deficit of just over £1,559 which is a fantastic achievement urHJer the very challenging extraordinary circumstances. We have tried to encourage on-line banking to help with income however there hasn't been as much uptake as we would have liked but will continue to offer this facility and also explore other ways of giving. Receipts and Payments 2024 Pa9e10of 13 Harnilton Hillhouse Parish Church of Scotland SC005376 Trustees, Annual Report Year ended 31° December 2024 Once again we require to review the opportunit￿$ for Congregational giving in 2025. The overall deficil on the unrestricted fund was £2.153 and on the restrtcted fund a surplus of £593. However, taking into account our balances from last year our total overall cash balances are down by just under £2.153. The deficit is due to careful management of expenditure and voluntary work to keep costs down. We were unable to apply for all Gift Aid tax recovery thls year 88 we have a new Gift Aid convenor who is still engaging with the process. This will be pursued in 2025. Note: These figures are based on the income received from the congregation and donations excluding organisations restrided funds. We met all our financial commilments and our Ministy and Mission contrlbution for 2024 was paid in full. Othei income has been generated from donations and rental of the premises. The principal source of income foi the church is derived mainly from the weekly offerings. donations and Gift Aid recovery. The giving of the congregation contlnues to be exceedingly generous throughout the year. The Gift AKI tax recovered amounted in tolal to £391 which is an increase of £77over the previous year. This r￿Ure reflects our Gift Aid convenor's hard work. We continue to encourage members who are tax payers to join our Gift Aid scheme. Our Fabric Fund is ring fenced for particular identtfied building improvement projects. It currently amounts to £7515. This is fantastic position to be which reflects the dedicated hard work and giving of our congregation. Throughout the year we have continued to maintain our buildings and have paid particular Receipts and Pa￿ntS 2024 P4?11of13 Hamllton Hillhouse Parish Church of Scotland SC005376 Trustees, Annual Report Year ended 31 December 2024 attention to making sure that we stay on lop of any signfficant fabric issues that arise and need to be repaired or developed in order for our premises to remain viable for church use and to be available for the local communty and the other charrt￿S that make use of our premises. The repairs are caIr￿d out by a dedicaled Property Committee who by their endeavours ensure the cost of church and manse maintenance is kept down to an absolute minimum. The financial position of the church is quite remarkable. We are very fortunate to have such a wonderful giving church membership. Reserves Pollcy The charity trustees have ￿n$KIered the reserves required and have taken into accounl their current and future liabilities. It is the Trustees, Policy to usually hold reserves of approxtimately months, expenditure including designated funds, however this was not always possible during the year. At the year end the Church held unrestricted funds of £29,490.The church also held £7.515 restricted funds. Rlsk Management The Church in common with many churches face a potentlal for reduced Income due to several factors such as falling congregation numbers and ageing corKJregation with reduced income. We recognise this results in fewer of the congregation being ab￿ to produ￿ similar or increased income requirernents This is potentially unsustainable and the situation in common with most churches requires regular review by the financial Committee. Regular raising of Stewardship awareness to the congregation is necessary with particular emphasis on the merits of gift aKI and use of standing orders. Risk Managernent is in itself an issue facirwJ the congregation and this will be reviewed during 2025. Statement of Trustees, Responsibilities in Relatlon to tho Financlal Statoments The members of the Kirk Session must prepare financial statements which give suffTrcient detail to enable an appreciation of the transactions of the Church during the financial year. The members of the Kirk Session are responsible for keeping proper accounting records Receipts and Payments 2024 Page 12of13 Hamilton Hillhrn5se Pariih Church of S(otlard SCIXJS376 Trustees. Anr>ual Report Year ended 31" Decgmtser 2024 .h al that tr'rne, This must which, on requeJrt must reqeGt i*e financial position of the Chur- be done 10 ensure Ilat the fir,a.qbial sla!oman+ts ccmpty with the Charitie24 and Trustee Invnstmen+ Iscotlandi Act ?i)Ji die Ch3rit,'es Accoup.LO IScat13ndl Regu!ar',on.j 2r,06 an.d the RegulatiOP,s Anent Congr-ga;;or.al fjn,ance aporavod by the Gener31 Assemblj of the Ch(trch of Scotland in 2007. They art> also responsible for safeguarding the assets of the Church and musl lake reasonatle staps Tor Ihe prevenliop, andior deleciion of iraud and olh2r irr=sularit;'e>, Approved by the Tru>iee> and iigiied on ,'beir beli.al', sslon Cl• Date: 211 aec8iPia 4nd Payr.',8nia 202A Independent Examiner's Report to the Tru5te¢s of HamiltOD Hillhouse Parish Church I report on the accounts of the charity" for the }ear ended 3181 D¢cemb¢r 2024. Respective re5pvn%ihilIti￿ uf trustees and exliminer The charit). s trustees are responsible for the preparation of the aLLounts in acLordanLe with the ternis ot. the C.harilies and Trustee Investment (SLOtland) ALt ?OOi lh¢ Chdrities Accounts (scull(￿￿) Regulaiions ?(K)6. The Lharity tt'ustees consider that the audit rcquiremellt ot RebFulalion 10(l) (d) of ihe Accoullt.s R¢Bulations docs not appl). It is respon5ibilih' to ¢￿Ine the aLcounts as required undeT tsection 44(1) (c) ot the Act and to srate whdher Pdnicullw mallws hd¥e kome iu ini Jllenlion. Basis of independent exAmintr's statement An examin&ilion is Larricd oul in aLLOrd&￿CC with Re¥ul￿1￿ll I l of thv Ch(wili¢s ALLuL￿15 (Scuilund) Ri¥ulalii)Ti% 2(M)6. Ali cxatiiination includcs a of Ihe accoimtingy records kept b). ihc charity and a coriiparisori of ihe accoui)Is prcscntcd iiith Thosc rccords. li a150 includ¢s consid¢rdiiOii of an), unusual iiems ()r disclosiires in the accounls. and seeks explanations from Ihe tnislees concerning any such matters. The pr()¢¢dures unLlertdken d() nol pmvide all Ihc ciidLncL thal would k rL"quircd in un audil, and c()n%wueT]ily l Ji) Ilol expres.% an audil opinion on the vi¢w 8ivcn by Ihc account$. Indtptndent txamlner's sllitmettl En tli¢ ¢ours¢ ot.my ¢xamin&lion. no matter has Lome to my aiieniion loiher ihan diselose(I below, ] ,hich giN'es me rea8<)nable cause l() trtliei'e ihal in any rnaleridl re.%pe¥l ihe requiremenL8', • t(y keep accouniing records in accordance %￿lIh Section 44 11)(a) of the 2(NJ5 Aci and Regulation 4 of the 2006 Accounts Regulalions. and to prewdre accounts ￿k1¢h accord Kith Ihc a¢countin8 rccords and compl) ￿7th Re8ulaiion 9 of the 2006 Ac¢ounts Regul4ilions h&itre nol bven mei: 4)r ti) ￿,hlLh, in MN. opiniiin: attLnlion .%hould be draivn in order to el￿ble a proper undcrstanding of the accoiinls trfbe re{11"hed. Name Address: Date iplo12J2 Ilamillon Hillhouse P&rish Church St4tem¢nt of Balances .4t 31 December ?0?4 R2siT•Cted Funds Ttst*l •0•4 2024 ..N'o Thk & deFVSlI bd dr.ckn 'ots$iir for￿1rd [..yce￿ QT ViLry dues Volurttsry. Additional Stipend Minisier s ex￿nSeS Minisierial Assisiance Pulpit supplj Other slaffins costs Fabric repairb &. maini¢nanc¢ c.ouncil TAX Heat and light liisurance (hher buildin8 ¢osIs Church orri4¢ ¢xp¥ns¥S Organ &. rnusic Printing. stationery and posta8e Other expenses 45.890 .363 36.510 1,065 1.120 3.896 8.115 ?.896 5.896 4.4.10 5.400 2.825 2.744 1.084 4.009 1.667 1,224 2.839 2,853 1.272 3.156 79.296 2.133 64.082 Governance costs Indcpcnd¢nt examiner's fe¢$ Other payments Purchase of ass¢is Purchase of invesimen(s 6. Minister's Stipend All Church of Scotland congregations contribute to the National Stipend Fund which bears the costs of all ministers. stipends and emplo}eff s contributions for national insurdnLe, pension and housing and loan fund. Ministers, Stipends are paid in accordance ii'ith ihe naiional %(ipend scale. which is related to years of service. For the vear under re¥'ievw' the minimum stipend w&s £31.642 And the maximum stip¢nd (in the firth and subsequent years) £38.884. 2024 2023 7. Collections for Third Parties Scottish Bible Society L'.hrislian Aid F.Ic