Annual Report Annual Report Annual Report

201220122012

Taking Good News Taking Good News Taking Good News

relevantly to every relevantly to every relevantly to every

young person in young person in young person in

Cheltenham.Cheltenham.Cheltenham.

1) Governance and Public Benefit

2) Trustees’ Report

3) Director’s Report

4) Jon’s View

5) Trev’s View

6) Flik’s View

7) Joe’s View

8) What the team were thankful for in 2012

9) What the team are hoping for in 2013

10) Josh’s View

11) Treasurer’s Report

12) Income and Expenditure

13) Balance Sheet

Contents

Our trustees are appointed and reappointed at our Annual General meeting in accordance with our

constitution. Trustees are appointed for a three year term. All trustees are voluntary and give of their

time and expertise without receiving remuneration or benefit. Trustees meet approximately ten times

a year.

The charity adheres to all current child protection legislation and adheres to good practice guidelines

in all areas of its work. Cheltenham Youth for Christ is a affiliated member of British Youth for Christ.

Whilst operating as an independent charity Cheltenham YFC is a chartered ministry of British YFC and

receives support and advice from them.

Our Trustees

Debra Legge

Sarah Stone

Lindsay Houghton

Kath Warner

Our aim

Our aim is to see Good News taken to every young person in Cheltenham. This will be done in a

variety of ways and through many different people. Our approach is to enhance the personal, social

and spiritual development of young people through encounters with Christianity. We believe this can

only be achieved when we work in partnership with churches, charities and other youth organisations.

Main activities undertaken for the public benefit

Our work is focused on providing support for young people of any or no faith group. We seek to

provide for their social, personal and spiritual needs. During this year we have worked with a number

of young people to develop their confidence and social skills. This has been achieved through our

various school activities. We have also provided mentoring services in schools in order to work with

young people at risk of exclusion or facing significant challenges in an area of their life. This work

gives young people the opportunity to make positive choices leading to greater opportunity both

socially and educationally. Our work with young people from the Christian community enables them to

lives that involve active and positive participation in their peer groups and society in general. These

young people are also given the opportunity to develop leadership skills that will benefit them in their

transition into the workforce.

Governance and Public Benefit

Debra Legge has been a trustee since 2008 and

has been acting Chairperson since September

2012.

I am immensely proud to have served over the years as a trustee of Cheltenham Youth for Christ

and more recently as its Chairperson.

The work with young people has continued to increase and the support of them and provision for

this has been made possible with excellent team work from Jon our part-time Youth worker, support-

ed by Flik, Joe, Josh and Trev, all in their first, second and third years at Gloucestershire University.

Cheltenham YFC has enabled them to undertake a placement that has been beneficial to their study

whilst also helping to expand our work. The team works well together, seeing wonderful growth in

the schools’ work under the care and guidance of the Director.

This year I have witnessed God’s grace working in what have been difficult and testing times for the

team. Redundancy is never easy and without another viable option, we reluctantly had to take the

decision to reduce our paid staff. We continue to work hard to raise the profile of the work of Chel-

tenham YFC and look for new ways of raising much needed funding streams as we move forward.

As we move further into 2013 we are focusing on strategies for growth and seeking new funding op-

portunities in order to make this growth possible. We are also looking to expand and strengthen our

Board of Trustees and continue to seek God’s guidance for fresh and creative innovations for taking

Good News relevantly to every young person in Cheltenham.

Debra Legge

Chair of Trustees

Trustees’ Report

Paul has been the Director of Cheltenham Youth

for Christ since 2001.

As with many charities, 2012 proved to be a challenging year which included some incredible highs

and lows. From the very outset we faced significant financial challenges that put pressure on the

team as redundancy was a real possibility for at least one post. As a team, we worked hard to

overcome these challenges through various streams of income from which we did see some growth.

Ultimately we did not see sufficient increases in our income to prevent the threat of redundancy

turning into reality. Dealing with redundancy is never easy but in a small organisation where the

trustees, who have to make the final decision, know the staff well it comes with additional

challenges. We worked hard to ensure we followed all the best practice guidelines and the trustees

were committed to ensuring that the post holder who would be made redundant would be able to

complete the second year of their university course. Following a period of consultation and due

process Chris was informed that it was his post was being made redundant. This was a difficult

decision for everyone but Chris responded with dignity as his time with us came to an end. This

difficult but financially necessary decision put a real strain on the whole team, both staff and

trustees. Throughout it all everyone was committed to working to ensure our provision to young

people did not suffer. It is a credit to the team that despite such a difficult start to the year we have

seen so many positive outcomes from our work.

Despite these pressures, our work with young people has steadily grown throughout the year. On

average we work with 175 young people a week, an increase of 20% on the previous year. Part of

this has been as a result of extending our work into new schools. This is the first full year of working

in Pates and Bournside as well as seeing Trev get involved in Tewkesbury School. We also saw

many of our groups grow significantly throughout the autumn term. These young people come from

a variety of backgrounds and experiences. Some face really difficult home lives whilst others have

happy stable families; some are excelling at school whilst others are facing exclusion;

some are bullied, others self harm, some are Christians and others don’t believe God

exists. The one thing they all have in common is the desire to spend time with

people who care, listen and support. It is through this relationship building that we

begin to see change come in the lives of the young people. Sometimes this change

is seemingly insignificant but it is often the small steps that lead to the giant leaps.

Seeing young people begin to turn around their problems at school and take control

back in their life is exciting. Journeying alongside a young person who self

harms may be challenging but the reward is worth the heartache. Watching

a young person being open to discuss what they believe is a true

privilege.

Throughout the year we have seen some amazing highlights.

Having Guvna B with us for three days was very special. Hearing

Director’s Report

the story of a group of Year 8 boys being threatened with detention because they wouldn’t stop

singing his song JLM (Jesus loves me) whilst getting changed for PE demonstrates how comfortable

young people can become with Jesus in the right context. We also ran an Olympics day at St.

Mark’s Junior School when we used a variety of sports, arts and storytelling to encourage the

students to consider what it means to be part of God’s team. During the summer we ran cage

football sessions at Greenbelt, although water polo may have been easier! We also took a greater

involvement in the youth work at Gorsley Festival where it was exciting to see so many young

people respond to follow Jesus.

This year we nominated Sarah Stone for the Gloucestershire Association for Voluntary and

Community Action (GAVCA) Trustee of the year awards. Sarah has been the Trustee Secretary

since 2009 and has made a terrific impact on the effectiveness of the Board of Trustees. Whilst

Sarah did not win the reward she more than earned her nomination for the marvellous work she

does. Sarah is part of a fantastic Board of Trustees who do an excellent task in ensuring that we

move forward as a charity. Throughout the year we have lost two trustees. Roger Widdecombe

who became Chairman in 2009 stepped down due to increasing family and work demands. Running

a busy church and being the father of three young children is a lot to juggle! Our treasurer Mark

Penwill also stepped down in the summer after he took on a new job after two years as a trustee.

We would like to thank Roger and Mark for the time they gave to their roles. The role of Chair has

been filled by Debra Legge since Roger stepped down, Debra has been a trustee since 2008 and is

very familiar with the running of CYFC. The role of treasurer has been filled by Lindsay Houghton.

She came in at a difficult time for the organisation financially but as we come through that period we

are once more moving forward. Kath Warner was also co-opted onto the board this year and she

brings a wealth of experience from previous roles with charities. It is great to see Kath and Lindsay

join us as we strengthen the Board of Trustees.

The team has also been joined by Joe Bent this year. Joe joined the team in September as part of

his Youth Work degree and will be on placement with us until May 2014. Joe is in his second year

at University and was previously on placement at Saint James Church in Chipping Campden. We

have also had Josh Hodgetts on placement with us for a few months at the end of the year. Josh is

a sports student at the University of Gloucestershire and used his sports skills at Pittville School.

We have also been pleased to welcome Anna Horton to the team. Anna helps in the office on a

Tuesday along with Sarah Stone. Anna is involved in a variety of office tasks and planning events.

It has been great to have so many new people involved in our work in addition to our other

volunteers.

This year we have also firmly established the auction as a regular feature of our annual calendar

with income from the auction rising for the third year running to £2500. We are already planning for

2013’s event along with some other fundraising events.

Thank you to everyone who has played a part in the life of Cheltenham YFC this year, whether as a

volunteer, trustee, prayer, giver, encourager or staff member. Without you it would not be possible

make the difference in the lives of the young people we work with.

Paul Bennett

Director

Jon is our part time Youth Worker. He joined the

team in August 2010 and is currently in his final

year at Gloucestershire University studying for a

Youth Work degree.

When I look back over the last year it’s been an amazing journey. There are so many stories to

share.

Back in February, which seems a very

long time ago, we were joined by a

Christian rapper Guvna B. He spent a

three days with us visiting a number of the

schools we work in. During this time he

did mini concerts and music lessons,

sharing his testimony of how God changed

his life. One of the most memorable

moments was a spur of the moment lunch

time gig, which took place in the play

ground of one of the schools. It went down very well with over 200 young people jumping up and

down to Christian music, shouting out 'Jesus Loves Me'. Even now, the young people in all the

schools talk about when Guvna B came to their school.

Our work in Pittville has been a real highlight for me this year. You may have read an article last

year in our newsletter about my frustration regarding the size of Rock Solid at Pittville. It was

through this that God taught me a lesson about the importance of relationship and his

love and that one young person is as important as many of them. Since that

realisation we have seen the Rock Solid group grow in size from 5 to 15 each week.

They come week in week out and enjoy silly games and discussions around a life

issue or subject. There is always a Biblical perspective which the young people

respond to well. I've taken the lesson about numbers being less important and applied

it to our lunch time detached, valuing the individuals that we meet each week. Most

recently I've been chatting with two lads, where the conversation tends to revolve

around the usual teenage life of girls, school and TV but recently we were

talking about 'Soul Survivor' and what a Christian festival is like.

One of the exciting things about our work is the variety; every school

and group is different. When we first joined with the youth workers

from South Cheltenham Churches to run the Bournside Christian

Jon’s view

Guvna B at All Saints Academy

Union there were four to five young people coming along. At the start of this year we saw a massive

growth in the Christian Union on a Thursday lunch time. The CU had been promoted within a

number of church youth groups which has led to around twelve young people attending. The result

of the increased participation of Christian Union was evident when they delivered a Christmas

themed assembly to their peers in Year 7.

Over the summer I joined the National team for a week of camping and sharing stories with the

delegates of New Wine North. It was great meeting members of staff from National YFC, to

exchange stories and build

relationships. During the week I

remember one of the most moving

conversations was with a mother and

her daughter. Their life story can only

be described as tragic. It involved

numerous family bereavements,

parental separation, bullying and a

variety of other situations. Talking with

them both it was clear that God was

holding them together, that he loves

them and has a plan for them. Our

conversation went on and talking about

the work of YFC seemed insignificant.

Spending time with those people was eye-opening and when the mother returned to the stand a few

days later to say thank you, it became inspiring. I realised that God works even in what seems like

the insignificant things; both the small conversations and the unseen things.

Jon Bull

Youth Worker

Jon with Thea Pitchers of British Youth For Christ at

New Wine North

Trev is in his final year at Gloucestershire Univer-

sity studying for a Youth Work degree. He joined

the team in September 2011 and will be with us

until the summer of 2013 .

There have been many highlights this year for me and I do not think it would be fair to focus on just

one.

This year saw me start work at Holy Trinity Tewkesbury helping to oversee the youth work for the

church as part of my placement with Cheltenham YFC. This has enabled me to gain experience in

church based youth work and at the same time provided CYFC with the opportunity to resource a

local church in need. My time at Tewkesbury has enabled me to recognise my strengths and

weaknesses as a youth worker as well as reinforcing where my gifting lies. At Trinity I have been

involved in supporting and running the Christian Union at Tewkesbury School where we have seen

the amount of young people double since September. I have also been involved in Tewkesbury’s

first School Prayer Network meeting where people pray for schools, staff and pupils in the

Tewkesbury area. This was a big highlight for me as it really encouraged me seeing so many

people come together who are passionate about supporting school communities through prayer.

When the regular prayer meetings on a Monday morning were introduced I was a bit sceptical about

them. I thought that on a Monday morning these would provide me with a bit more time to keep my

eyes shut and extend my sleep! However, as is often the case with God, I was pleasantly surprised

at how much I got out of them with the notion of sleep rarely being any sort of prospect. I find these

meetings a good way of being able to look back at the great things God has done for CYFC and

continuingly seeking His direction for our work. They also help me to focus on why we

do what we do; that it is not about me but it is about God. I find it a great

encouragement for the work that I carry out for the week, especially when visitors

join us to pray. I feel it adds validity to what we do when people give up their time

on a Monday to join us and support us in prayer. I cannot imagine a better way to

start the working week off now and really look forward to it.

At Christmas I was very happy to put my links with Cheltenham YMCA to

use as one of the schools that we work in encouraged students to bring

in items for hampers. The school approached CYFC to ask for our

suggestion as to where the hampers could be donated and I put

forward the idea of taking some to the YMCA. The personal highlight

of this for me was seeing some of the pupils at the school hand over

the hampers to some very grateful residents. I could not help but

smile knowing that these school pupils were bucking the modern

Trev’s view

trend of materialism where it is about taking and not about

giving away. It was at this moment that I caught a glimmer of

the meaning of Christmas being acted out. Through the giving

of something that will make a difference in someone’s life I

saw the similarity with God sending Jesus to earth to make a

difference in our lives.

I do not think that I can deny that one of my biggest highlights

of the year (along with getting engaged!) is that I passed my

foundation degree in Supporting Youth Practice. I know that

this is down to the support of friends, the team at CYFC and

the immense grace of God. I am now nearing the end of my

final year at university with the expectation of gaining a full

degree in Youth Work. It really has helped being in such a

supportive environment that has been created at CYFC.

There are four of us that are all on the same course which has

helped to create an understanding of what each of us is going

through. It goes further than that though as Paul has been

brilliant at providing us with opportunities to meet university requirements and where necessary offer

us time to work on assignments and portfolios. I know that achieving my foundation degree would

have been much harder without the environment created at CYFC.

Trev Rawlinson

Youth Work Placement Student

Joe and Paul getting ready for the

hamper collection. Collecting the

empty boxes in preparation took

two trips!

Flik is in the first year of a Youth Work degree with

Gloucestershire University. She first joined the

team as a gap year worker in September 2011.

One of the highlights of my year has been seeing the Pate's Christian Union grow, both spiritually

and numerically. Recently we have been using an Open Doors resource called My Heart Bleeds

with the CU. It has been great to see the young people in the CU challenged by stories of the

persecuted church and consider the value of their own faith.

The group have particularly enjoyed a type of Bible reading

called Lectio Divina, a reflective study of scripture. When we

have done this in the sessions, the prayerful approach to

Bible readings has resulted in God speaking into the lives of

many of the group. One girl in particular, who is exploring

faith, commented how encouraged she was, and said that the

Psalm she had been reading was very relevant to her current

struggles.

To build on this, at the end of a session we asked the group

to pick a verse or a couple of verses to read that week, and

said we would discuss what God had been saying to them

through those Bible verses the following week. Every young

person in the group came the next week with what they had

read and was keen to share what God had been saying to

them.

As I continue to explore academically what it means to be a youth worker at university,

the practical support and lessons I’m learning at CYFC continue to be very helpful. I’m

looking forward to continuing my placement with them next year and seeing the young

people I am working with developing further in all areas of their lives.

Flik Hargreaves

Youth Work Placement Student

Flik’s view

Young people at CU’s and after

school clubs explore life issues

they are facing

Joe is in the second year of a Youth Work degree

with Gloucestershire University. He joined the

team in September 2011.

This year has been a real opportunity for me personally to grow and develop in my practice as a

youth worker. Coming to Cheltenham and joining the CYFC team has been a fantastic challenge,

taking me out of a setting where I was comfortable and pushing me to do things that I have never

done before.

There have been so many positives that have come out of this time already and I know that there

will be many more in the future.

One of the main highlights for me personally was the day we spent in All Saints Academy (ASA) with

the Message Trust’s punk band Malokai. We worked alongside them as they delivered five lessons

during the day to each year group, explaining about how God has worked in each of their lives. This

was then followed up by a concert in the evening for nearly 400 students. It was great to see so

many young people engaged and responsive to the message that they were sharing.

In the work that we are doing, we have seen a lot of growth in the size of the groups that we are

working with, both the Rock Solid group at ASA and the CU at Pates have seen numbers increase

and the young people are asking more and more questions about what they believe.

I have also been involved in launching a Youth Café with the youth team from C3 church. We have

a good sized group who attend regularly after the initial weeks when we only had one or two young

people attending. As the weather improves and we have more daylight in the evening we

are hoping that we can start doing some outdoor events with the young people to

give them a wider range of activities to take part in.

I am quite excited about the possibility of working with some of the members of

the Rock School group at ASA as well over the coming year to help them devel-

op in their musical gifting and explore themes and life issues through music. As

part of this we will be working on song writing and recording skills that they will

then use to create their own songs.

Joe Bent

Youth Work Placement Student

Joe’s view

What the team were thankful for in 2012

What the team are hoping for in 2013

Josh is a second year sports students at

Gloucestershire University. During the autumn

term he joined us for a placement as part of our

school’s team.

Whilst studying for my degree in Sport and Exercise Science I was given the opportunity to undergo

a work-based placement. With my interest in sport and my Christian faith, I wanted to grow in my

understanding of how both of these elements can work hand in hand in growing the kingdom.

Cheltenham Youth For Christ has given me an amazing insight into the use of sports within Christian

youth work. Before this placement all my youth work experience had been within the four walls of

the church building. CYFC gave me an opportunity to go into schools and work with unchurched

young people. This really broadened my view of youth work and made me realise that Christian

youth work is just as important outside of a church as it is inside. I have particularly enjoyed getting

to know so many young people and being able to build friendships with them. The use of sports has

enabled me to be able to have a platform to work from as none of the young people will turn down a

game of football. The friendships that I have been able to build through the use of sports have

offered me opportunities to share my faith and also help people out.

We have seen some great breakthroughs with students from schools really engaging in the faith

based after school club we put on. They have been asking big questions such as ‘Does God exist?”

“Why does he allow Suffering?” and “How do we know that everything isn’t just a coincidence?”

What is even better is that the young people have asked if we would actually answer these

questions. It is great hearing them asking these questions and seeing God work within the group.

Hearing the young people ask these types of questions has really made me realise their spiritual

hunger. You can see in youth culture today that they all want to feel accepted. Through Youth For

Christ, we aim to make them realise God accepts them for all they are. We are all praying that we

will soon see transformed lives as they accept Jesus Christ into their hearts.

Josh Hodgetts

Placement Student

Josh’s view

Despite having to make some difficult decisions regarding outgoings this year, we reached the end of

the accounting period with a small surplus. This was largely down to the use of funds from reserves,

which were transferred across to the operating account in order to cover the anticipated shortfall at the

end of the year. We are blessed that we had these reserves to fall back on, and with expenditure

reduced in order to tie in more efficiently with our income, and cash flow through the operating account

becoming more stable, we can now begin to look to the replenishment of our reserves, which still

stand at a healthy £5k.

Income for 2012 was up by 8.2% when compared to 2011, and at its highest level since 2009.

Expenditure, which was weighted most heavily during the first half of the year, was approximately

1.3% lower than in 2011 overall.

Perhaps most strikingly, despite the fact that we live in “times of austerity”, I am delighted to be able to

confirm that individual giving has increased again this year, as it has done year on year since 2009.

We are hugely grateful to all of our stakeholders and supporters - without your continued support and

contribution, our work would not be possible.

For the year ahead, we are planning a more strategic approach to our financial management,

including a review of our banking arrangements, looking at options which will provide us with a small

amount of interest on the balance of the operating account, and facilities such as online payment and

debit cards which will reduce the strain on individuals to front and then reclaim any necessary

expenses. We will also be looking to try to further smooth out cash flow more evenly across the year.

The trustees and I are confident that exciting times lie ahead for CYFC, and it is our pleasure and our

privilege to steward the contributions made so lovingly for the glory of His kingdom.

Lindsay Houghton

Hon. Treasurer

Treasurer’s report

Cheltenham YFC, The Flat, The Pavilion, Hatherley Lane,

Cheltenham. GL51 6PN

01242 524408

office@cheltenhamyfc.co.uk

www.cheltenhamyfc.blogspot.co.uk

Charity no: 1059805