The Clearing
Trustees Report April 2024-March 2025
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Introduction: This is our 7[th] year as a community on the High Street, and it’s been a busy year with some unexpected surprises. We have known God’s favour and blessing during the year, and just when we thought that we would need to leave our premises due to the state of the building, help arrived and we were able to do the urgent upgrades. So, we are still here and still busy, still seeking to follow the teaching of Jesus
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Encounter: During the year we have met every Sunday and between 12 and 18 people of all ages have joined us to worship and study God’s word and enjoy fellowship together. Between 6 and 13 people have met for lunch after our time of worship each week ( have done most of the cooking). and we have enjoyed getting to know new friends. rganise the worship, eads a time of reflection, and a number of others have helped serve communion.
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Prayer Group : Between 2 and 8 of us meet for prayer every Monday and we have had good times of fellowship and wonderful answers to prayer.
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Knitting groups : Between 3 and 18 ladies meet weekly in the 2 knitting groups. We have knitted for charitable causes and enjoyed the constant nattering. Often the ladies will stay for lunch and many have formed new friendships. We were filmed by Channel 8 and we enjoyed some publicity on TV, after a reporter spotted us in the Fife Times and wanted to show how we give back to the community by helping charitable causes. as been very good at helping knitters in many ways.
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Craft Group continues to the run the craft group on Fridays and this small group has been a place of peace and friendship for those attending.
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Help for families : This year we have spent £4783.53 helping families with food and other household items and £1201.53 on hospitality (meals/refreshments). Some families are struggling due to the cost-of-living crisis, benefit delays, domestic crisis, relationship breakdown, etc. Others have no recourse to public funds and rely on charities to help feed their children. We receive help from Fife Council, 4WindsTrust, Local businesses, the Big Hoose, and kind individuals. At times, we have been able to offer cooking demonstrations, “meal in a bag”, help with the purchase of cookery utensils. We have given Farmfood vouchers (in keeping with the “cash first” initiative) to many families over the year to help them through whatever crisis they are struggling with. Food poverty is getting worse, and there is also a need for more education about budgeting, cooking from scratch and meal planning.
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Table top sales : We continue to hold table top sales every Thursday and have raised almost £5000 to help with payment of rent and also helping individuals in need. has been helped b o run the table top sales.
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Fife times and fathers love letters : Last June we distributed over 10.000 Fathers’ love letters and published the letter and testimonies in the Fife Times, online and on Facebook. This year, we distributed another 2000 Flls with the help of a team from USA and plan to publish the letter in the Fife Times again in April.
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Zoom Chat and Pray : we continue to meet on Friday evenings for prayer and between 3 and 6 people attend this, bringing together friends from 4 different churches.
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Scripture Union : During the year we send one child to Scripture Union Camp, and he will be going to camp again this coming year.
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Gala : we participated in the Gala, and the tombola proved to be very popular.
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Remembrance Day: During the Remembrance Day event, the Clearing was open to welcome visitors, provide tea and coffee and a place to sit. 7 street pastors also patrolled and engaged in conversation with people who wanted to chat. 60 leaflets and 30 packets of Jelly babies were given out, explaining the Christian message using the story of the Jelly Babies (Peace babies during WW1).
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VE day and VJ day celebration: We are preparing to celebrate VE day and VJ day soon with a forties-style tea and light lunch, using the kind of food available in 1945, and we will have a display of 40’s style memorabilia.
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Drop-in sessions : We continue to offer one-to-one support for people affected by drug addition, misuse of alcohol, and those in relational crisis.
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Street pastors : the street pastor team (7 street pastors) continue to use the Clearing as a base, and patrol twice a month around the town, and have recently started during litter-picks at the end of each patrol. We maintain a good link with the street pastor work.
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Homeless : as invited to participate in a Fife Council Task and Finish Group to set new policies for dealing with homeless people in this area and “out of hours” requests for accommodation. This has enabled us to help homeless people and, in some cases, prevent homelessness.
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Window displays : We continue to use the window displays to proclaim the gospel message and also display some of the art work and knitting by the groups in the Clearing. We also advertise local events.
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Warm Space : Over the winter months, with the help of a grant from Fife Council, we welcomed people in to a “Warm Space” and provided free lunches and hot drinks, and a place for people to visit to meet new friends and shelter from the cold weather. has been busy cooking lovely meals. During the winter months, we helped an elderly man who had no heating and he had burst pipes, but was unable to get help. His eyesight was failing. We enabled him to move to care home whilst his house gets renovated, and made arrangements for his eyesight to be
checked. We were able to prevent him from succumbing to hypothermia and his health has greatly improved. We also helped an elderly lady who came in for lunch to our warm space. We realised she was very cold and was not wearing winter clothing. She was unable to give us her address. We got the police involved and they found she was from a care-home. They got her home, and prevented her from suffering hypothermia, and advised the care-home staff to ensure that she was adequately dressed for the weather. Both of these events have been recorded as Safeguarding Issues.
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Journey UK : We ran the Fearfully and wonderfully made course once. We assisted one lady to attend the residential week of Journey UK in Hertfordshire, by helping her with travel and paying part of the price of the week, so that she could attend and explore a journey of healing and faith. We plan to run the Fearfully and Wonderfully Made Course in 2025. We also plan to facilitate a Taster Day at Glenrothes Baptist Church to introduce the ministry of Journey UK to the local churches and friends of the Clearing.
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Grants : During the year we have received grants from 4Winds, Cowdenbeath CC, Fife Council, TBH. We were very grateful to Fife Council for funding our Eco-Project improving insulation and updating our heating and lighting, and installing new doors and windows to draught-proof the premises. This cost £17980. We also received a grant from the 4 winds trust and Fife Council to help us with our work with families in need. We continue to receive some supplies from the Big Hoose in Lochgelly, enabling us to help families in need. Smaller donations (about £1000) have been received from businesses and individuals who see that we need help to support people in this area.
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Eco-Project and Climate change . Our carbon footprint was 48 and has now been reduced to 37 after completion of the Eco-Project. We plan to continue to look for ways in reducing energy consumption and using more eco-friendly appliances.
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Peace Garden : Work has almost finished to make our peace garden a place for our friends to sit and find peace amid the noise on the High Street. as been busy planting some vegetables and flowers.
23. Annual Accounts: ( see attached accounts).
24. Feedback from local people: About 20 people responded to our request for feedback and all of them indicated how grateful they are for the Clearing, for help received, and for new friends, and for the opportunities to help the community.
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SCO 49787
Independent Examiner’s Statement
In the course of my examination, no matter has come to my attention which gives me reasonable cause to believe that in any material respect the requirements to:
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Keep accounting records in accordance with Section 44(2)(a) of the 2005 Act and Regulation 4 of the 2006 Accounts Regulations, and prepare accounts which accord with the accounting records and comply with Regulation 9 of the 2006 Accounts Regulations have not been met, or
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To which, in my opinion, attention should be drawn in order to enable a proper understanding of the accounts to be reached.
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The Clearing SCO 49787 — Accounts 2023-24
Independent Examiner’s Report to the Trustees of
The Clearing $C049787
| report on the accounts of the charity for the year ended 31/ 03/ 2024 which are set out below.
Respective responsibilities of Trustees and Examiner
The charity’s trustees are responsible for the preparation of the accounts in accordance with the terms of the Charities and Trustee Investment (Scotland) Act 2005 and the Charities Accounts (Scotland) Regulations 2006 (as amended). The charity trustees consider that the audit requirement of Regulation 10(1) (d) of the 2006 Accounts Regulations does not apply. It is my responsibility to examine the accounts as required under section 44(1) (c) of the Act and to state whether particular matters have come to my attention.
Basis of independent examiner’s statement
My examination is carried out in accordance with Regulation 11 of the 2006 Accounts Regulations. An examination includes a review of Page 21 OSCR / independent Examination:A Guide for Charity Trustees, the accounting records kept by the charity and a comparison of the accounts presented with those records. It also includes consideration of any unusual items or disclosures in the accounts, and seeks explanations from the trustees concerning any such matters. The procedures undertaken do not provide all the evidence that would be required in an audit, and consequently | do not express an audit opinion on the view given by the accounts.
Independent Examiner’s Statement
In the course of my examination, no matter has come to my attention which gives me reasonable cause to believe that in any material respect the requirements to:
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keep accounting records in accordance with Section 44(7) (a) of the 2005 Act and Regulation 4 of the 2006 Accounts Regulations, and prepare accounts which accord with the accounting records and comply with Regulation 9 of the 2006 Accounts Regulations have not been met,
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or
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to which, in my opinion, attention should be drawn in order to enable a proper understanding of the accounts to be reached.
The Clearing Annual Account 2024 – 2025 (Audited)
| CASH BANK CASH/BANK Combined Opening balance Receipts Xmas fayre for Bethany CT Cash from Bank Donations Grant Fife Council for ECO Project Offerings from Encounter Food for Families (grant) Grants for Project and Warm Space Gala (tombola) |
Opening balance Receipts |
Payments | Closing balance £2,506.32 £11,642.62 £14,148.94 £5,700.00 £418.00 Bethany Christian Trust £35.53 Women’s Conf in Leven £85.00 Street Pastor expenses £17,980.00 Heating,lighting,insulation £1,418.78 £342.00 £50.87 Expenses for song books |
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| £1,382.03 £14,932.10 £12,215.28 £30,461.00 |
£13,807.81 £31,033.66 |
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| £13,597.31 £45,393.10 |
£44,841.47 | ||
| £420.00 £5,700.00 £1,727.50 £17,960.00 £3,260.00 £2,071.00 £7,000.00 £173.00 |
£13,597.31 Payments Cash to Petty Cash Donation to Bethany Conference expenses C/Beath SP Expenses ECO Project Electricity Equipment Exp Encounter |
| Knitting/Craft Groups | £1,999.40 | FLL distribution | £2,374.91 | Fathers love letters |
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| Donation for Midibart School | £60.00 | Food for Families | £3,103.99 | Food vouchers for families |
| Table Top Sales | £4,896.20 | Gala (tombola) | £46.07 | |
| Donation for Xmas gifts | £126.00 | Children’s Xmas gifts |
£593.91 | |
| Expenses for Groups |
£89.44 | |||
| Hospitality | £1,201.51 | For Warm Space and Families | ||
| Insurance | £263.82 | |||
| J-UK Conference | £259.58 | |||
| Midibart | £70.00 | School for Blind Children | ||
| Office expenses | £83.50 | |||
| Poppy Scotland | £10.00 | |||
| Repairs & Renewals | £2,073.34 | |||
| Rent | £6,000.00 | |||
| Scripture Union | £432.85 | To send one child to summer camp | ||
| Supplies | £406.94 | |||
| Travel Expenses | £121.89 | |||
| Toolbox | £1,679.54 | Food for families project |