## **Trustees’ Annual Report for the period** **From 01/09/2022 To 31/08/2023** **Charity name: Merry-go-round under 5’s** ## **Charity registration number: 1010031** ## **Objectives and Activities** ||SORP reference|| |---|---|---| |Summary of the purposes of
the charity as set out in its
governing document|Para 1.17|To advance the education of children below
compulsory school age by;
(a) providing a safe and satisfying group play
in which parents have the right to take part.
(b) encouraging other charitable activities
through which parents may help the children
(c) furthering the aim of the pre-school
playgroups association| |Summary of the main
activities in relation to those
purposes for the public
benefit, in particular, the
activities, projects or services
identified in the accounts.|Para 1.17 and
1.19|Merry-Go-Round Under Fives provides
exciting preschool education and
opportunities for children under five from
Baldock and the surrounding area.
We are situated in the extensive grounds of
Hartsfield School. As well as two purpose-
built classrooms, we' re lucky enough to
have two enclosed outdoor play areas with a
wide range of outdoor learning facilities and
toys.
~ We are an independent, non-profit making
charity.
~ We are Ofsted registered.
~ We have a high ratio of staff to children-
we can focus on children's individual needs
and development.
~ We believe that care and education are
equally important.
~ We provide children with routines and
activities to ensure they feel safe, valued
and gain experience from socialising with
other children| |Statement confirming
whether the trustees have
had regard to the guidance|Para 1.18|The trustees have had regard to the
guidance issued by the Charity Commission
on public benefit.| issued by the Charity Commission on public benefit ## **Additional information (optional)** ## You may choose to include further statements where relevant about: SORP reference Para 1.38 Policy on grant making Para 1.38 Policy on social investment including program related investment Para 1.38 Contribution made by volunteers Other ## **Achievements and Performance** ||SORP reference|| |---|---|---| |Summary of the main
achievements of the charity,
identifying the difference the
charity’s work has made to
the circumstances of its
beneficiaries and any wider
benefits to society as a
whole.|Para 1.20|Ian Haydon stepped down as chair after the
end of the financial year although he
remained on the committee.
Ian’s main focus over the last few years was
to negotiate a new lease rental figure with
NHDC.
Given the current climate Ian worked hard to
negotiate a reduced rate and whilst it did
cost several thousand pounds in legal fees
to fight NHDC’s original assessment, we
have agreed a figure of £700 per annum
which we consider fair.
Once the lease was resolved, the main focus
was to improve the mobile. We installed new
cladding over the Christmas 2022 holidays
which has made such a difference to the
external look of Merry Go Round and really
enhanced the setting, giving it a more
modern visual look.
Whilst child numbers did increase during the
second half of the year, with extra places
taken up once children settled in, especially| in nursery, it was a particularly bad year for numbers. It is worth noting that nationwide, many settings are closing due to low attendance numbers. Hopefully, the UK government will follow through its intention to provide more funded nursery placements in the next year or so. Donations / Grants We were incredibly grateful to the ‘Baldstock’ music festival, who donated £3,000 to Merry Go Round, to fund a new shed. We also receive donations of £200 from BEF and £219 from the Jumble Sale Trail ## **Additional information (optional)** You may choose to include further statements where relevant about: |Achievements against
objectives set|Para 1.41|| |---|---|---| |Performance of fundraising
activities against objectives
set|Para 1.41|Fundraising activities (Christmas, Easter and
Baldock Fair) were down compared to 2022
as lack of volunteers meant we were unable
to have a stall at the Hartsfield Christmas
Fair. Revenue amounted to c£600.| |Investment performance
against objectives|Para 1.41|n/a| |Other||| ## **Financial Review** |Review of the charity’s
financial position at the end
of the period|Para 1.21|Merry-go-round made a loss of £40k,
principally for three reasons. On the positive
side following the successful conclusion of
the lease with Herts CC we were able to
invest in improving the portacabin – and over
£23k was spent on new cladding and glazing
that had been put off until the ten year lease
was finalised.
However, as expected child numbers were
down significantly on 2022 – some 20% -
which resulted in a shortfall of c£20k income.
Finally whilst the new lease gives us security
of tenure for the next ten years at a
reasonable rate, we spent a considerable
amount on legal fees contesting NHDC’s
unreasonable opening position.
Despite this our reserves stood at a healthy
£80k at the end of the year and we continue
to keep a close eye on costs.| |---|---|---| |Statement explaining the
policy for holding reserves
stating why they are held|Para 1.22|Reserves are set aside to
1. Operating shortfalls, and
2. investing in the setting| |Amount of reserves held|Para 1.22|£80k provision for any operating shortfall
and investing in the setting. A substantial
lease provision is no longer required in the
short term.| |Reasons for holding zero
reserves|Para 1.22|n/a| |Details of fund materially in
deficit|Para 1.24|n/a| |Explanation of any
uncertainties about the
charity continuing as a going
concern|Para 1.23|| ## **Additional information (optional)** You may choose to include further statements where relevant about: |The charity’s principal
sources of funds (including
any fundraising)|Para 1.47|The principal source of funding is from Herts
DC. This year it amounted to 86% of our
income, up on previous years.| |---|---|---| |Investment policy and
objectives including any
social investment policy
adopted|Para 1.46|n/a| |||Falling child numbers. These have fluctuated| |A description of the principal
risks facing the charity|Para 1.46|widely in the past, and fell considerably this
year. We remain protected in the short term
by our large reserves and expect numbers to
increase slightly in 2024.| |---|---|---| |Other||| ## **Structure, Governance and Management** |Description of charity’s
trusts:||| |---|---|---| |Type of governing document
(trust deed, royal charter)|Para 1.25|Constitution| |How is the charity
constituted?
(e.g unincorporated
association, CIO)|Para 1.25|Association| |Trustee selection methods
including details of any
constitutional provisions e.g.
election to post or name of
any person or body entitled
to appoint one or more
trustees|Para 1.25|Election| ## **Additional information (optional)** You may choose to include further statements where relevant about: Policies and procedures adopted for the induction and Para 1.51 training of trustees The charity’s organisational structure and any wider Para 1.51 network with which the charity works Relationship with any related Para 1.51 parties Other ## **Reference and Administrative details** |Charity name|Merry-Go-Round Under 5’s| |---|---| |Other name the charity uses|| |Registered charity number|1010031| |Charity’s principal address|The Mobile, Hartsfield School Ground, Clothall Road,
Baldock, SG7 6PN| ||| ## **Names of the charity trustees who manage the charity** |1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
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20|**Trustee name**|**Office (if any)**|**Dates acted if not for whole**
**year **|**Name of person (or body) entitled**
**to appoint trustee (ifany)**| |---|---|---|---|---| ||Mr Ian Haydon|Chair||| ||Mr GaryCarey|Treasurer||| ||Mrs Sheila Ely|||| |||||| |||||| |||||| |||||| |||||| |||||| |||||| |||||| |||||| |||||| |||||| |||||| |||||| |||||| |||||| |||||| |||||| – Corporate trustees names of the directors at the date the report was approved **Director name** Name of trustees holding title to property belonging to the charity **Trustee name Dates acted if not for whole year** ## **Funds held as custodian trustees on behalf of others** Description of the assets held in this capacity Name and objects of the charity on whose behalf the assets are held and how this falls within the custodian charity’s objects Details of arrangements for safe custody and segregation of such assets from the charity’s own assets ## **Additional information (optional)** ## **Names and addresses of advisers (Optional information)** **Type of Name Address adviser** **Name of chief executive or names of senior staff members (Optional information)** ## **Exemptions from disclosure** Reason for non-disclosure of key personnel details ## **Other optional information** ## **Declarations** **The trustees declare that they have approved the trustees’ report above.** **Signed on behalf of the charity’s trustees** |**Signature(s)**
**Full name(s)**
**Position (eg Secretary,**
**Chair, etc)**
**Date**||| |---|---|---| ||Gary Carey|| ||
Treasurer|| ||16thApril 2025|| ||16thApril 2025|| ||**Merry-Go-Round Under 5's**
|**Merry-Go-Round Under 5's**
|**Merry-Go-Round Under 5's**
|**1010031**|**CC16a**| |---|---|---|---|---|---| ||**Receipts andpayments accounts**||||| ||**For the period**
**from**|01/09/2022|**To**|31/08/2023|| ||||||| |**Section A Receipts and payments**|||||| |**A1 Receipts**|**Unrestricted**
**funds**
**to the nearest £**|**Restricted**
**funds**
**to the nearest £**|**Endowment**
**funds**
**to the nearest £**|**Total funds**
**to the nearest £**|**Last year**
**to the nearest £**| |Funding|**80,058**|**-**|**-**|**80,058**|**103,853**| |Fees|**12,641**|**-**|**-**|**12,641**|**27,357**| |Other Income|**4,741**

**97,439**|**-**
**-**|**-**|**4,741**
**97,439**|**2,463**| |**_Sub total_**_(Gross income for_
_AR)_|||**-**||**133,673**| ||||||| |**A2 Asset and investment sales,**
**(see table B1).**|||||| |Bank Interest|**389**|**-**|**-**|**389**|**12**| ||**-**
**389**|**-**
**-**|**-**|**-**
**388.79**|**-**| |~~**_Sub total_**~~
**_Total receipts_**
**A3 Payments**|||**-**||**12.00**| ||||||| ||**97,828**|**-**|**-**|**97,828**|**133,685**| ||||||| |
Wages|**93,356**|**-**|**-**|**93,356**|**96,596**| |Buildingandpremises|**6,901**|**-**|**-**|**6,901**|**4,387**| |Utilities|**7,005**|**-**|**-**|**7,005**|**6,348**| |Supplies|**1,207**|**-**|**-**|**1,207**|**1,789**| |Food & Activities|**2,105**|**-**|**-**|**2,105**|**2,165**| |Training& Advertising|**627**|**-**|**-**|**627**|**1,674**| |Insurance|**547**|**-**|**-**|**547**|**535**| |Miscellaneous|**1,763**|**-**|**-**|**1,763**|**7,166**| |Capital|**24,848**
**138,360**|**-**
**-**|**-**|**24,848**
**138,360**|**-**| |**_Sub total_ **|||**-**||**120,660**| |**A4 Asset and investment**
**purchases, (see table)**|||||| |---|---|---|---|---|---| ||**-**|**-**|**-**|**-**|| ||**-**
**-**|**-**
**-**|**-**|**-**
**-**|| |**_Sub total_ **|||**-**||**-**| |**_Total payments_**
**_Net of receipts/(payments)_**
**A5 Transfers between funds**
**A6 Cash funds last year end**
**_Cash funds this year end_**|||||| ||**138,360**|**-**|**-**|**138,360**|**120,660**| ||||||| ||**- 40,532**|**-**|
**-**|
**- 40,532**|**13,025**| ||**-**|**-**|**-**|**-**|**-**| ||**119,899**|**-**|**-**|**119,899**|**106,874**| ||**79,367**|**-**|
**-**|**79,367**|**119,899**| ## **Section B Statement of assets and liabilities at the end of the period** |**Categories**
Signed by one or two trustees on
behalf of all the trustees
**B5 Liabilities**
**B4 Assets retained for the**
**charity’s own use**
**B3 Investment assets**
**B2 Other monetary assets**
**B1 Cash funds**|Signature
**Details**
**Details**
**Details**
**Details**
Treasurers Account
Business Instant Account
30 day Account
**_Total cash funds_**
(agree balances with receipts and payments
account(s))
**Details**|**Unrestricted**
**funds**
**to nearest £**
**16,787**
**62,439**
**141**|**Restricted**
**funds**
**to nearest £**
**-**
**-**
**-**|**Endowment**
**funds**
**to nearest £**| |---|---|---|---|---| |||||**-**| |||||**-**| |||||**-**| |||**79,367**|**-**|**-**| |||||OK| |||||**Endowment**
**funds**
**to nearest £**| |||||**-**| |||||**-**| |||||**-**| |||||**-**| |||||**-**| |||||**-**| |||||**Current value**
**(optional)**| |||||**-**| |||||**-**| |||||**-**| |||||**-**| |||||**-**| |||||**Current value**
**(optional)**| |||||**-**| |||||**-**| |||||**-**| |||||**-**| |||||**-**| |||||**-**| |||||**-**| |||||**-**| |||||**-**| |||||**When due**
**(optional)**| |||||| |||||| |||||| |||||| |||||| |||||| |||||Date of
approval| |||||16-Apr-25| ||||||