Hope Christian Trust

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Somerset Christian trust supporting a school in Gaza City and church projects in the West Bank and Jordan

Hope Christian Trust

Logo Bethlehem Bible College sign.jpg
Type Trust
Founded 1989-12-19 (registered)
Registration ID Registered charity 328456
Headquarters Claverham BS49
Area served Somerset, Israel, Occupied Palestinian Territories
Key people John Angle (chair)
Website www.hopechristiantrust.org


Hope Christian Trust (Friends of Hope School) was established by trust deed of 22 November 1989 and registered on 19 December 1989; register areas are Somerset, Israel and the Occupied Palestinian Territories.[1] Its object is "charitable work in educational establishments in Israel and Arab Countries" on Christian principles, including relief of hunger, poverty and sickness, and "education and ... welfare in the lands of the Bible" (PDF p.2). The trustees are Rev John Angle (chair), Janet Angle, Paul Warren, Christine Rosemary Warren and Jane Camp, with a principal office in Claverham BS49 (PDF p.1).[2] In the year to 31 March 2025 receipts were £211,734.53 and payments £157,124.48; funds of £344,806.76 had "expanded significantly ... because they cannot be distributed at their points of need due to the infrastructures having been destroyed" (PDF p.4, 9).[2]

Objects and activities

The charity's registered objects read: "TO SUPPORT AND SET UP, PROVIDE FOR AND MAINTAIN SUCH CHARITABLE WORK IN EDUCATIONAL ESTABLISHMENTS IN ISRAEL AND IN ARAB COUNTRIES AS THE TRUSTEES FROM TIME TO TIME THINK FIT SO THAT YOUNG PEOPLE AND ADULTS MAY RECEIVE TRAINING ON THE BASIS OF CHRISTIAN PRINCIPLES AND MAY RECEIVE INSTRUCTION IN THE CHRISTIAN FAITH AND ITS PRACTICAL OUTWORKING, INCLUDING WHERE NECESSARY THE RELIEF OF POVERTY, HUNGER, SICKNESS AMONG SUCH YOUNG PEOPLE AND ADULTS AND THE PROVISION OF PROPER ACCOMMODATION FOR THEM."[1]

The register describes its activities as: "We have continued to support Bethlehem Bible College in its ministry to young people and also schools and communities where there are children with special needs in the Bible lands."[1]

Register classifications: General Charitable Purposes, Education/training, The Advancement Of Health Or Saving Of Lives, Disability, The Prevention Or Relief Of Poverty, Overseas Aid/famine Relief, Accommodation/housing, Religious Activities.[1]

Areas of operation recorded on the register: Somerset, Israel, Occupied Palestinian Territories.[1]

Trustees

Current trustees, with other charities on which the same register trustee ID appears:[1]

Trustees of Hope Christian Trust (register, October 2026)
Trustee Appointed Chair Other trusteeships
John Angle not recorded Yes St George's College Jerusalem Trust (1001873); The Chakkah Charitable Trust (274557)
Janet Angle not recorded —
Paul Warren not recorded —
Christine Rosemary Warren not recorded —
Jane Camp 2022-10-18 —

Historical trustees (UK Government Web Archive)

Trustees shown in archived register pages
Capture date Trustees listed Source
2018-01-04 Peter Burden; Rosemary Burden; John Angle; Janet Angle; Paul Warren Christine Warren [3]
2021-01-13 John Angle (chair) – also trustee of The Chakkah Charitable Trust, St George's College Jerusalem Trust; Rosemary Burden – also trustee of Weston-Super-Mare Division Guide Association; Janet Angle; Christine Rosemary Warren; Paul Warren; Peter Burden [4]

John Angle is also a register trustee of St George's College Jerusalem Trust (1001873) and The Chakkah Charitable Trust (274557).[1]

Finances

Income and expenditure, five most recent reported years
Financial year end Income Expenditure
2021-03-31 £130,524 £83,414
2022-03-31 £167,990 £146,682
2023-03-31 £172,462 £186,429
2024-03-31 £300,042 £198,519
2025-03-31 £211,734 £157,124

Source: register annual-return history.[1]

Archived accounts

Accounts no longer on the live register were found in the UK Government Web Archive:

  • Accounts for the year ended 31/03/2014[5]
  • Accounts for the year ended 31/03/2015[6]
  • Accounts for the year ended 31/03/2016[7]
  • Accounts for the year ended 31/03/2017[8]
  • Accounts for the year ended 31/03/2018[9]
  • Accounts for the year ended 31/03/2019[10]

Funding in Israel

  • FY2025 charitable payments £152,658.96; restricted funds held include Lighthouse School £37,819.85, Lighthouse Community Support £40,578.58, Lighthouse SRG Project £61,924.23, Lighthouse Resilience £13,868.54, Lighthouse US$ £13,520.69, Gaza Study Centre £3,219.61, Bethlehem Bible College £4,278.78 and Hebron Evangelical School £86.25 (PDF p.9).[2]
  • Projects described: the Lighthouse School, Gaza City; Zababdeh Community Family Centre (schooling, community area and church, conceived by the Dutch charity Tabitha Ministries); Hebron Evangelical School (support for hearing-impaired pupils); The House of Hope, "home for young special needs people in Bethlehem"; Bethlehem Bible College and the Shepherd Society, "staff and student support in Bethlehem"; and the Programme for Theological Education by Extension in Jordan (PDF p.3–4).[2]
  • In 2024 a trustee's air fare to Israel (£619.88) and taxis "from airport in Israel to meet with various ministries in Israel and Palestine" (£300) were reimbursed (PDF p.13).[2]

Israeli partners

Palestinian Christian institutions: the Lighthouse School (Gaza City), Zababdeh Community Family Centre, Hebron Evangelical School, The House of Hope and Bethlehem Bible College / Shepherd Society (Bethlehem), and the Programme for Theological Education by Extension (Jordan). No Israeli organisation is named.[2]

Activity beyond the Green Line and support for the IDF

Findings are graded by confidence. "Partner" findings concern the Israeli recipient organisation, not proven use of UK funds.

Evidence of activity beyond the 1949 armistice line
Finding Confidence
Lighthouse School, "located in Gaza City" – in the Gaza Strip, beyond the 1949 armistice line; humanitarian and educational support to a Palestinian school, not settlement activity.[2] High
The House of Hope and Bethlehem Bible College / Shepherd Society, Bethlehem – in the occupied West Bank; support to Palestinian Christian institutions, not settlement activity.[2] High
Hebron Evangelical School and Zababdeh Community Family Centre – the accounts give no address; the places are indicated only by the institutions' names, which were not separately verified.[2] Medium

Support for the IDF: No IDF or military funding is stated.[2]

Controversies and regulatory action

  • No Charity Commission inquiry, Official Warning or Gazette insolvency notice naming this charity was found, and its register entry shows no regulatory alert;[11] it is not among the charities named in the Commission's cheque-cashing class-inquiry announcements (May, September and December 2025) or in the September 2026 statement of results.[12][13][14][15] The charities in the Commission's settlements class inquiry (opened August 2026) have not been named, so it is not known whether this charity is among them.[16]
  • School in Gaza closed by the war. The Lighthouse School in Gaza City has been closed since the conflict that followed "the Hamas attack on southern Israel on October 7 2023"; the building was damaged and staff fled. The trust paid salaries to the end of the school year in August 2024 "to accord with Palestinian laws", sent food gifts to remaining staff and launched a Lighthouse School Community Support Fund appeal (PDF p.3).[2]
  • Unclear fund figure. The OCR'd fund table shows the Zababdeh Community fund as £13,571.14 in one column and £143,571.14 in the total; the correct figure could not be confirmed (PDF p.9).[2]

Other registers and records

Scotland and Northern Ireland

No entry was found on the Scottish Charity Register for this charity (register export dated 14 October 2026, searched by name).[17] No entry was found on the Charity Commission for Northern Ireland register (API name searches returned zero results).[18]

The Gazette

Searches of The Gazette notice feeds (all notices, insolvency and company) for the charity's name found no insolvency, winding-up or strike-off notice.[19]

Grants recorded by 360Giving

No grants received or made by this charity are recorded in 360Giving data.[20]

Sanctions screening

The charity's name, its current register trustees, trustees named on archived register pages, trustees and officers named in the accounts read for this profile and (for charitable companies) its Companies House officers were screened against the UK Sanctions List and the OFSI Consolidated List. No match was found. Viatcheslav Moshe Kantor (UK sanctions ID RUS1127) does not appear among this charity's trustees or officers.[21]

Land and property

The register records that the charity does not own or lease land or property.[1] No title registers were purchased; the HM Land Registry interactive search blocked automated access.[22]

Parliament

Hansard exact-phrase searches for "Hope Christian Trust", "Friends of Hope School" returned 0 contributions in total.[23]

Web archive

  • hopechristiantrust.org: 15 yearly captures, first 2011-07-17, last 2026-01-22.[24]

The UK Government Web Archive holds 2 archived Charity Commission register pages used in this profile (cited in the sections above). The 2021 archived full print showed the status "Charity reporting is up to date" and "Other regulators: No information available".[4]

See also

External links

Notes

  1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 1.4 1.5 1.6 1.7 1.8 Charity Commission for England and Wales, Register of Charities public extract (tables charity, charity_trustee, charity_annual_return_history, charity_area_of_operation, charity_classification), extract dated 14 October 2026.
  2. ↑ 2.00 2.01 2.02 2.03 2.04 2.05 2.06 2.07 2.08 2.09 2.10 2.11 Charity Commission, Hope Christian Trust (328456): accounts and annual returns Register of Charities; latest accounts downloaded 15 October 2026 ("PDF p." = page of the PDF file).
  3. ↑ Register entry 328456, contact and trustees (capture of 20180104) UK Government Web Archive.
  4. ↑ 4.0 4.1 Register entry 328456, full print (capture of 20210113) UK Government Web Archive.
  5. ↑ Hope Christian Trust accounts, year ended 2014-03-31 UK Government Web Archive (capture of 20200107).
  6. ↑ Hope Christian Trust accounts, year ended 2015-03-31 UK Government Web Archive (capture of 20200107).
  7. ↑ Hope Christian Trust accounts, year ended 2016-03-31 UK Government Web Archive (capture of 20200107).
  8. ↑ Hope Christian Trust accounts, year ended 2017-03-31 UK Government Web Archive (capture of 20200107).
  9. ↑ Hope Christian Trust accounts, year ended 2018-03-31 UK Government Web Archive (capture of 20200107).
  10. ↑ Hope Christian Trust accounts, year ended 2019-03-31 UK Government Web Archive (capture of 20200703).
  11. ↑ Charity Commission, Register of Charities, charity overview page (register-of-charities.charitycommission.gov.uk/en/charity-search/-/charity-details/ followed by the organisation number) for each of the 25 batch-12 charities, all retrieved successfully on 15 October 2026 and checked for a "Regulatory alerts" section; none was shown for any of them. The pages showed reporting status – "Charity reporting is up to date (on time)" for 22 charities, "Removed charity" for Mifal Tzedukas and Keren Yaacov Limited, and "Charity reporting is up to date (256 days late)" for Friends of Eidah Chareidis Orthodox Council of Jerusalem.
  12. ↑ Charity Commission, Serious concerns over use of £22 million triggers investigation by charity regulator GOV.UK, 14 May 2025.
  13. ↑ Charity Commission, Regulator opens next phase of investigation into 105 charities connected to company cashing cheques GOV.UK, 1 September 2025.
  14. ↑ Charity Commission, Regulator announces next charities to be investigated as part of inquiry connected to company cashing cheques GOV.UK, 4 December 2025.
  15. ↑ Charity Commission, Regulator concludes investigation into 4 charities as class inquiry continues GOV.UK, 9 September 2026, with Statement of the results of a class inquiry (same date), both retrieved 15 October 2026.
  16. ↑ Charity Commission, Charity regulator opens inquiry into charities working in illegal Israeli settlements GOV.UK, 5 August 2026, retrieved 15 October 2026 (a fact-finding statutory class inquiry initially involving 8 charities which "are not being publicly named at this time").
  17. ↑ Office of the Scottish Charity Regulator, Scottish Charity Register download OSCR, export dated 14 October 2026, downloaded October 2026; keyword search of the 25 batch-12 charity names found no matching Scottish registration (the only hits were unrelated names: Madrasatul Imam Mohammad Zakariya and Harris Kaufman Trust).
  18. ↑ Charity Commission for Northern Ireland, Register of charities search API CCNI, searched 15 October 2026 (keyword searches for each of the 25 batch-12 charity names returned zero results).
  19. ↑ The Gazette: notices matching 'Hope Christian Trust' The Gazette, searched 15 October 2026.
  20. ↑ 360Giving API: grants received by GB-CHC-328456 360Giving, queried 15 October 2026.
  21. ↑ Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office, UK Sanctions List (CSV); Office of Financial Sanctions Implementation, Consolidated List of Financial Sanctions Targets (ConList.csv). Batch-12 screening covered 390 name strings: the 25 charity names, current register trustees, trustees named on archived register pages and archived accounts (UK Government Web Archive), Companies House officers of the six charitable companies and of related companies named in the accounts (Millage Limited, International Christian Embassy Jerusalem (United Kingdom) Limited and Ezer Bekovoid Limited), and trustees, examiners, donors and grant recipients named in the accounts read for this batch; matching on surname plus forename tokens, reviewed manually. No forename-and-surname match for any person was found; the only token matches were generic words in organisation names ("Trust", "Limited", "Foundation", "Society", "International") and surname-only coincidences (Green, Anderson, Weiss, Frank, Grace, Friedman, Fox, Ward); lists downloaded October 2026.
  22. ↑ HM Land Registry, Search for land and property information GOV.UK – the service returned HTTP 403 (bot protection) to automated access in October 2026; no titles were looked up or purchased. Candidate title numbers below come from the free CCOD / OCOD datasets (October 2026 release), not from paid title registers.
  23. ↑ UK Parliament, Hansard search API: contributions matching the exact phrase "Hope Christian Trust" Hansard, queried 15 October 2026 (Spoken and Written endpoints; quoted-phrase search).
  24. ↑ Internet Archive CDX index for hopechristiantrust.org Wayback Machine, queried 15 October 2026.
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