DOWNSIDE ABBEY GENERAL TRUST

Registered charity 1158507 · accounts filings on the Charity Commission register

The provision, maintenance and upkeep of Churches and chapels for the Roman Catholic Church. Houses of study and colleges for the education and training of priests of the Roman Catholic Church. The provision of schools, colleges and educational establishments for the general education of children and other persons.

Objects

THE OBJECTS OF THE CHARITY ARE TO ADVANCE FOR THE PUBLIC BENEFIT SUCH CHARITABLE PURPOSES WHETHER OR NOT CONNECTED TO THE ROMAN CATHOLIC RELIGION WHICH THE TRUSTEES WITH THE CONSENT OF THE ABBOT SHALL FROM TIME TO TIME THINK FIT

The charity’s charitable objects and area of benefit, quoted from its governing document as held on the Charity Commission register.

Causes: General Charitable Purposes · Education/training · Religious Activities · Arts/culture/heritage/science · Grant history (this charity is a funder) · website · Get email alerts

Financial health, per its FY2025 accounts

The accounts state that the Trust reported a net deficit of £1,106,716 for the year, resulting in a decrease in total reserves to £19,755,553. The Trustees consider the free reserves of £9,631,060 to be acceptable given the strength of the balance sheet and available banking facilities, despite the financial sustainability of the Downside site being identified as the principal risk. The Trust has taken proactive measures to enhance liquidity, including the sale of Home Farm after the year end, which greatly improved its financial position.

Automated summary of the FY2025 accounts; the evidenced findings below carry the verbatim passages.

What the accounts disclose

Accounts audited by ML Audit LLP. Discloses 6 of 6 completeness components.

Year-over-year changes

• Employees paid over £60,000: 0 (FY2024) → 1 (FY2025).

Comparing this charity’s FY2024 and FY2025 accounts as analysed by this site.

Policies the charity declares

In its annual return the charity told the Commission that it has the policies listed below. This is self-declared: it is not verified by the Commission or by this site, and it is not evidence of how a policy works in practice.

• Bullying and harassment policy and procedures
• Complaints handling
• Complaints policy and procedures
• Conflicting interests
• Financial reserves policy and procedures
• Internal charity financial controls policy and procedures
• Internal risk management policy and procedures
• Investing charity funds policy and procedures
• Paying staff
• Risk management
• Safeguarding policy and procedures
• Safeguarding vulnerable beneficiaries
• Serious incident reporting policy and procedures
• Trustee conflicts of interest policy and procedures
• Trustee expenses policy and procedures
• Volunteer management

Corporate structure

• Registered company of the charity Companies House 09124570 · Financial health read from its filings

Public fundraising profile: JustGiving — Downside Abbey General Trust (matched by registered charity number).

Company officers (Companies House)

Current officers of the charity’s own company per the Companies House register, cross-checked against the Charity Commission trustee list by name. A director not on the trustee list is usually a timing or naming difference between the two registers — check both records before drawing conclusions.

• BEVAN, Richard Peter Alexander Wilmot — director, appointed 09/11/2021on trustee list
• WETZ, Nicholas Philip, Rev — director, appointed 01/09/2018not on trustee list
• BRUMWELL, Marc David, Rev — director, appointed 10/07/2014not on trustee list
• HOOD, Martin Joseph Blanco, Rev — director, appointed 10/07/2014not on trustee list

Official officers record.

Property (HM Land Registry)

6 registered titles in England and Wales held by the charity’s company or corporate body (6 freehold). All charity-held property. Contains HM Land Registry data © Crown copyright, OGL v3.0.

Public profiles (found on the charity’s own website): facebook

Structured financials (annual return, FY ending 30/09/2025)

Reported reserves equal ~77.4 months of spending — in the top quarter for charities its size (median 4.8 months; benchmarks).

Per its annual return, largest income source: Charitable activities (38% of income) — components as reported reconcile to the return’s total income; not from the accounts narrative.

Per its annual return, cost of raising funds: 0.3% of total income — below the median for charities its size (5.2%) (benchmarks).

Register events

• Received assets from another charity (17/12/2021) — per the register’s event history; asset transfers typically record mergers or reorganisations.
• Received assets from another charity (17/12/2021) — per the register’s event history; asset transfers typically record mergers or reorganisations.
• Received assets from another charity (17/12/2021) — per the register’s event history; asset transfers typically record mergers or reorganisations.
• Received assets from another charity (17/12/2021) — per the register’s event history; asset transfers typically record mergers or reorganisations.
• Received assets from another charity (03/02/2017) — per the register’s event history; asset transfers typically record mergers or reorganisations.

Trustees · trustee networks

• Rev MARC DAVID BRUMWELL OSB · trustee of 1 other charity
• Rev MARTIN JOSEPH BLANCO HOOD OSB · trustee of 2 other charities
• Richard Bevan
• Right Rev Nicholas Philip Wetz OSB

Trustee list from the Charity Commission register (current, not historical).

Operates in: Bath And North East Somerset · Devon · Norfolk · Somerset · Suffolk · Worcestershire

Income and spending

Common questions

Government & lottery funding

Grants to this charity published as open data by government and lottery funders (360Giving).

Funders of similar charities

Funders whose accounts show grants to charities similar to this one (and no recorded grant to this charity) — a starting list for fundraisers.

Charities like this

Semantically similar by activities and financial character, from our analysed corpus. Compare with PLYMOUTH DIOCESAN TRUST.

• PLYMOUTH DIOCESAN TRUST income £7.6m
• Douai Abbey Parishes Trust income £900k
• ST GEORGE'S WEYBRIDGE income £35.5m
• LEEDS DIOCESAN TRUST income £13.3m
• LIVERPOOL ROMAN CATHOLIC ARCHDIOCESAN TRUST income £38.7m
• THE ABBEY SUTTON COURTENAY LIMITED income £120k

Side by side with its peers

Each row is that charity’s latest analysed filing; every value is quote-backed on its own page.