BRISTOL FOLK HOUSE

Registered charity 1184395 · accounts filings on the Charity Commission register

The constitutional objective of the charity remains consistent with its original purpose. It is to improve the conditions of life of the inhabitants of Bristol by the provision and maintenance of a centre for adult education, recreation and other leisure time occupations.

Objects

TO IMPROVE THE CONDITIONS OF LIFE OF THE INHABITANTS OF BRISTOL AND SURROUNDING DISTRICTS BY THE PROVISION AND MAINTENANCE OF A CENTRE FOR ADULT EDUCATION, RECREATION AND OTHER LEISURE TIME OCCUPATIONS

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

Causes: Education/training · Arts/culture/heritage/science · Recreation · Other Charitable Purposes · website · Get email alerts

Registered contact address: Bristol, City of, South West, England (from the postcode on the register)

Financial health, per its FY2025 accounts

The charity reported a surplus for the year with total income of £1,025,790 against expenditure of £908,076. Unrestricted free reserves stood at £120,962, which is above the trustees' stated policy target of £55,000 (equivalent to three months of unrestricted expenditure). The accounts were prepared on a going concern basis with no material uncertainties identified.

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

What the accounts disclose

Accounts audited by Burton Sweet Limited. Discloses 5 of 6 completeness components.

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
• Financial reserves policy and procedures
• Internal charity financial controls policy and procedures
• Internal risk management policy and procedures
• Paying staff
• Safeguarding policy and procedures
• Safeguarding vulnerable beneficiaries
• Serious incident reporting policy and procedures
• Social media policy and procedures
• Trustee conflicts of interest policy and procedures
• Trustee expenses policy and procedures

From the charity’s annual return (Part A, self-declared)

Answers and figures the charity gave in Part A of its annual return to the Charity Commission. They are self-declared: not verified by the Commission or by this site. Only positive answers and figures are listed; items not listed are simply not shown.

Source: this charity’s annual returns on the Charity Commission register.

Corporate structure

• Registered company of the charity Companies House 11752084
• Trading subsidiary: BRISTOL FOLK HOUSE TRADING LTD Companies House 12513734 · Financial health read from its filings

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.

• CHILD, Alexander Edward — director, appointed 18/03/2026on trustee list
• SCOTT, Cavan Patrick John — director, appointed 18/03/2026on trustee list
• COHEN, Michael Adam Hart, Dr — director, appointed 18/03/2026on trustee list
• HOUSER, Thomas Grenville — director, appointed 18/03/2026on trustee list
• TAYLOR, Amelie Denise Irene — director, appointed 18/03/2026on trustee list
• BAZELEY-BELL, Matthew Fergus — director, appointed 22/04/2022on trustee list
• RYAN, Isabelle Louise — director, appointed 22/04/2022on trustee list
• WILLIAMS, Julie Anne — director, appointed 22/04/2022on trustee list
• PEPPER, Robert James Thomas — director, appointed 07/01/2019on trustee list

Official officers record.

Property (HM Land Registry)

1 registered title in England and Wales held by the charity’s company or corporate body (1 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 · instagram

Structured financials (annual return, FY ending 31/08/2025)

Reported reserves equal ~1.3 months of spending — in the bottom quarter for charities its size (median 4.7 months; benchmarks).

Per its annual return, largest income source: Charitable activities (75% 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: 21.1% of total income — in the top quarter for charities its size (median 5.3%) (benchmarks).

Register events

• Received assets from another charity (23/02/2023) — per the register’s event history; asset transfers typically record mergers or reorganisations.

Trustees · trustee networks

• Matthew Bazeley-Bellchair
• Alexander Edward Child
• Amelie Denise Irene Taylor
• Cavan Patrick John Scott
• Isabelle Ryan
• Julie Williams · trustee of 2 other charities
• Michael Adam Hart Cohen
• Robert James Thomas Pepper
• Thomas Grenville Houser

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

Operates in: Bristol City

Income and spending

Common questions

Known funders

Grants to this charity found in funders’ own accounts filings.

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 WHITCHURCH FOLK HOUSE ASSOCIATION LTD.

• WHITCHURCH FOLK HOUSE ASSOCIATION LTD income £29k
• THE BRISTOL BENEVOLENT INSTITUTION income £511k
• HELP BRISTOL'S HOMELESS CHARITY income £551k
• STALLCOMBE HOUSE income £3.9m
• THE BRISTOL CHILDREN'S HELP SOCIETY income £295k
• ST CHRISTOPHER'S HOMES income £3.6m

Side by side with its peers

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