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← Livingston South Community Church

2025-04-30-accounts

Livingston South Community Church

Report to Congregation

2024/2025

(1 May – 30 April)

Scottish Charitable Incorporated Organisation SC044088

Introduction

  1. Livingston South Community Church was created in 2013 by members of Dedridge and Murieston Congregation of Livingston Ecumenical Parish. They wished to continue to worship in, witness to and serve the area of the ecumenical parish which it had served for many years. There was also a desire to continue the long relationship with St Philips RC Church who met in the Lanthorn, one of the buildings which the congregation used for worship. To achieve its aim, an independent church was created.

  2. The Church is a Scottish Charitable Incorporated Organisation with the charity number SC044088. The Church Council are the trustees accountable for the charity’s affairs .

The report

  1. The report covers the charity’s statutory year – 1 May 2024 to 30 April 2025.

Governance

  1. The Church Council, elected by the members are the charity trustees. The trustees for 2024/2025 were;
Position Due to demit
office at
AGM
Convener 2025
Vice-convener 2026
Secretary 2025
Treasurer 2027
Council member 2027
Council member 2025
Council Member 2027
Council member 2025
Council member 2025
Council Member 2027
Council Member Demitted
office in year
Council Member Demitted
office in year
  1. We continue without formal committees. Some activities are carried out by individuals and for others a person leads a group. Feedback is provided to Church Council. Our size and the lack of bureaucracy have provided an efficient and effective organisation.

1

  1. Those taking up responsibilities are:

Preaching plan

Readers’ and intercessors’ rotas Stewards’ rotas

Outreach group leader Social group leader Gift Aid Fairtrade Facebook E newsletter/noticeboards Orders of service Sunday Club

Lanthorn Management Committee Murieston Village Hall Management Committee Safeguarding

Flower Group Life and Work Flower ministry World Day of Prayer Sunday Teas/coffees

Worship

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  1. Worship has been held every Sunday. Until the Lanthorn re-opened, we used Murieston Village Hall. Worship in the Lanthorn restarted on Sunday 2 February and the previous pattern of alternating between Murieston and the Lanthorn resumed. Due to the weather, the service was held on-line on 5 January. A service was held on line on Christmas Day. In addition, we held a Christmas Songs of Praise evening in December, a Christingle on Christmas Eve and a service on Good Friday morning.

  2. We were able to hold an Agape Meal on Maundy Thursday in the Lanthorn

  3. In the main the worship was conducted by preachers from the Church of Scotland (CoS). Sunday worship was led as follows:

Worship leaders No of services
CoS ministers 33
CoS deacon 2
CoS reader 1
Methodist local preachers 4
Baptist lay preacher 2
Members of the congregation 10

2

  1. A Church of Scotland mister conduct worship on Good Friday.

  2. The worship led by CoS ministers included 5 communion services one of which was Easter Sunday.

  3. The services prepared and conducted by church members (including the Sunday Club) were 10 Sunday morning services. At the service 12 January, speaker from Tearfund participated in the service. The other services were:

  4. a. a Christmas songs of praise evening;

  5. b. the Christingle on Christmas Eve.

  6. We also had other services with particular emphases:

    • a. 10 November was Remembrance Sunday;

    • b. 1 December was the Toy Service.

  7. LSCC played a significant part in the service on 23 March to celebrate the reopening of the Lanthorn.

  8. At the Remembrance service, it has become our practice to have a member of the congregation performing the Act of Remembrance. We are pleased to have had representatives of the 5[th] Livingston Boys’ Brigade and 1[st] Livingston Girls’ Brigade at this service. Poppy wreaths were laid on behalf of the congregation, the BB and GB companies and West Lothian Council.

  9. At services, we continue our practice of lay members reading scripture and offering the prayers of intercessions.

  10. The number attending worship on a Sunday morning is 25-30.

pianist, provides the music for worship.

  1. For part of the year, , a Boys’ Brigade King’s Badge candidate, has helped set up the worship space and operated the sound system on a Sunday morning. This is part of the service element of the badgework. We are grateful for his work.

  2. LSCC has actively supported the service hosted by the Livingston churches for the World Day of Prayer.

  3. When the Lanthorn reopened, some items had deteriorated after 5 years in storage. A new table top lectern and electric piano were purchased.

Christian Education

  1. The Sunday Club (for young people) generally meets once a month during the service with usually 3-4 attending.

3

Pastoral

Outreach

Social

  1. The congregation continue to enjoy teas and coffee after the services. On 20 October, our Harvest Sunday, a lunch was held after the service.

  2. 34.A quiz night was held on 16 November to raise money for the Tear Fund, a Christian charity doing work in the third world. Over 40 church family and

4

friends enjoyed an evening where each person attending made a donation of £5 to the Tear Fund.

  1. A ‘Family Fortunes’ night was held on 29 March with similar numbers enjoying the evening.

Finance

  1. Due to our low running costs, LSCC has now accumulated £94,204.31 down from £97,463.15. The accounts are complete and will go to an independent examiner. They will be presented when the examination is complete.

Christian Liberality

  1. During the year we have provided funding to the following:

  2. a. Murieston Initiative (ie the Village Hall) – £950 from the garden fete pending agreement on use of money;

  3. b. West Lothian Food Bank –£500 from Harvest service;

  4. c. Christian Aid Week - £566

  5. d. Tear Fund - £350 from the Tear Fund Quiz night held in November plus £500 when a representative joined us for worship;

  6. e. Macmillan - £1000 from the coffee morning.

  7. f. Christian Aid - £1000 for the Myanmar appeal;

  8. g. Victims of a house fire - £500;

  9. h. Poppy Scotland - £250;

  10. i. West Lothian School Bank winter jacket appeal -£1000;

  11. j. Dedridge Good Neighbour Network -£680 to help run a closing event;

  12. k. Lanthorn – made a commitment to provide £500 to help install a defibrillator;

  13. l. Salvation Army – £200 from Christmas services.

  14. In addition to financial support, River Kids received all the toys brought to the Toy Service for distribution to needy families in the area.

  15. In October a party from 5[th] Livingston BB Company was visiting Project Stedfast in Kenya. LSCC members sponsored 60 bibles to be taken out. In addition, members provided 149 pairs of underpants, 76 pairs of socks and a quantity of t-shirts for ‘street boys’ who were supported during the visit.

5

Safeguarding

Promotion and communications

42.An electronic newsletter is distributed on a Thursday.

Accommodation

Relationship with St Philip’s RC Parish

  1. It has been difficult to maintain links with St Philip’s due to the closure of the Lanthorn. However, one member of St Philip’s come to ‘coffee and chat’. Due to long-standing friendships, there are still many individual connections and through these, members of St Philip’s support our events.

Looking to the future

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----- Start of picture text -----
|| Livingston South Community Char
Previous
Period |RECEIPTS & PAYMENTS ACCOUNT FOR THE PERIOD FROM TO
RECEIPTS
WOCCSCSCSCSCSCSCSCSCSS3,163.50
CharitableSC~—~iSC“‘CCC#Cé#S&OCharitable IncomeActivities 4 920.00RB.
P&T 50.00
Flowers 474.21
[o.00
AdminBank interestTeas 800.45 1,024.66
OtherincomeC™—~—~—CSCSCSC‘iYSC‘“‘;C‘#S8.20@iTT
SCS Total Receipts |_____20,452.22}
Maintaining Public Worship
Fund Raising Expenses —.00
Flower Fund Sunday Club Parent & Toddlers [547.44
Events —
Rent and Assoc Costs 3,513.69
Donations Made
General Admin Costs 883.60
Other General Costs
ia Total Payments
| Surplus (Deficit)
for the Period
STATEMENT OF BALANCES
Opening Balances
Rank 97,463.15
Cash 0.00
Closing Balances
Bank 94,204.31
Cash 6.00
ESET
fg (the movementin balances equates to the surplusi/deficit for the period shown above)
|_}in addition to the above balances the church has other assets at a valuation of an)
Being 0
Sa o a ne te I eee A
|__] Liabilities at the year end (if appropriate) comprised the following a)
i) ee
0
All funds held by the charity are unrestricted in nature
kz “—"—————.CLUU..|}©»™—'".™—™r”.".™|© } }.@.|.— =
Prepared
Date
az
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APPENDIX 3

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Scottish Charity Regulator
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Independentexaminer’s reporton the accounts
v.
Reporttothe
trustees/members of		 Charityname
.
Livingston South CommunityChurch
Registered charity SC046189
number
On theaccounts ofthe Period startdate
Period end date
charity forthe period Day
Month
_____ Year
;
Day
Month
Year
01
May
2024
to
30
April
2025
cesineaniiin
iawad		 ber
to
include
th
ta
firsbere cOnaidorederweny		 {
Respective
responsibilities Of
trustees and examiner		 Thecharity'strusteesareresponsible forthepreparation oftheaccounts inaccordance
with thetermsofthe CharitiesandTrustee Investment (Scotland) 2005Actandthe
CharitiesAccounts (Scotland) Regulations2006 (asamended). The charitytrustees
considerthattheauditrequirement ofRegulation 10(1) (d) oftheAccounts Regulations
does notapply. It ismy responsibility toexamine theaccounts as required undersection
44(1) (c)oftheActand to statewhether particularmatters havecometomy attention.
Basisofindependent
examiner’sstatement		 Myexamination is carried out in accordancewith Regulation 11 ofthe2006Accounts
Regulations. An examination includesa reviewoftheaccounting records keptbythe
charity and a comparison ofthe accounts presented with those records. It also includes
consideration ofany unusual items ordisclosures in theaccounts and seeks
explanations from the trustees concerning any such matters. The procedures undertaken
do not provide allthe evidencethatwould be required inan audit and, consequently,
 do
notexpress an audit opinion on the view given by the accounts.
Independentexaminer’s
statement		 "jn thecourseofmyexamination, no matterhascometomyattention
1.
which givesme reasonable cause to believe that inany material respectthe
requirements:
*
to keep accounting records in accordance with section44(1) (a) ofthe 2005 Actand
Regulation 4ofthe 2006Accounts Regulations, and
*
to prepare accountswhich accord with the accounting recordsand comply with
Regulation 9ofthe 2006Accounts Regulations
have notbeen met, or
2.
towhich, in my opinion, attention should bedrawn in order toenablea proper
understanding
of the accounts to be reached.
Signed: Date:
20.01.2026
Name:
Relevant professional
qualification(s) orbody MICB P.M Dip — Institute of Certified Bookkeepers
(ifany): Practice Licence:
22780
—ae
“Please deletethewords inthebrackets iftheydonotapply. Ifthewordsdo apply, set outthosematterswhich havecometoyourattention on the
followingpage.

APPENDIX 3

Only complete if the examiner needs to highlight material problems.

Give here brief details of . any items that the examiner wishes to disclose

Nothing to report.