Forest Bears Pre-School Forest Community Centre Pinehill Road Bordon Hants GU35 0BS School Hours Tel: 07528 302 108 e.mail wendyforestbears@btopenworld.com AGENDA AGM 16/06/2026 7.30pm Present Apologies In Attendance Last Years Minutes Approved Chair Report Attached Treasurer Report Attached Manager Report Attached Election of committee AOB Charity no 1029569 Ofsted 110134 Forest Bears Pre-School Forest Community Centre Pinehill Road Bordon Hants GU35 0BS School Hours Tel: 07528 302 108 e.mail wendyforestbears@btopenworld.com AGM Minutes 16/06/2026 7.30pm Present Neville Taylor Becky Manning Ian Garforth Apologies Lesley Roberts Katie Fell In attendance Wendy Garforth Last year Minutes agreed Proposed Neville Taylor, Seconded Becky Manning Charity no 1029569 Ofsted 110134 Chair Report (Attached) Treasurers Report (Attached) Managers Report (Attached) Election of committee Neville Taylor, Becky Manning, Lesley Roberts, Katie Fell. Ian Garforth Proposed Neville Taylor Seconded Ian Garforth Election of Officers Chair Ian Garforth Proposed Neville Taylor Seconded Becky Manning Treasurer Lesley Roberts Proposed Ian Garforth Seconded Becky Manning Secretary Becky Manning Proposed Neville Taylor Seconded Ian Garforth ## AOB Discussed a committee member doing a safeguarding course, Neville said he already has a certificate for this and Ian said he will also do the course. Discussed safer recruitment and the need to have done a course, and the need to have two people doing the interviews; Neville is qualified and would sit in on interviews and Wendy to look into taking a course. Discussed the new fundraising “online easy fundraising” Meeting closed at 8.00pm Charity no 1029569 Ofsted 110134 Forest Bears Pre-School Forest Community Centre Pinehill Road Bordon Hants GU35 0BS CHAIRS REPORT This year has been yet another busy year for Forest Bears, there have been many activities over the year which Wendy will cover in her report. I would like to thank the members of the committee for all that they have done over the past year, each year it becomes harder and harder to entice people onto the committee, many people think that it is time consuming and therefore they do not have that amount of spare time, in reality there are perhaps three meetings each year plus the AGM. All potential committee members are DBS checked so that they may help out with activities involving the children from time to time. The committee is there to support the Pre – School and its help is always well received. There are some activities during the year in which a few hours help would make all the difference, Christmas, Craft Days, Community Fetes, helping to maintain the garden and play area, just a few of the ways in which we can help. A big thank you to Lesley for taking on the role of Treasurer, the most onerous of the committee tasks. Thank you Lesley Lastly but by no means least is to thank Wendy, Karen, Michelle, Jo, Steph and Lauren for all of the hard work that they put in throughout the year, and their dedication to the children, without this Forest Bears would not be the success it is now and has been for many years and will be for many years to come. Ian Garforth Chair Charity no 1029569 Ofsted 110134 ## Forest Bears Pre-School Managers’ Report 2024 – 2025 We returned in September Lisa continued her apprenticeship Jo, started her apprenticeship We started our Well Being Garden, we have ordered a compost bin and an indoor caddy for the children’s lunch scraps and from café. The children have really taken to collecting scraps after lunch and bringing in their vegetable peelings from home, and are keen to put them in the compost bin. We complete a daily parent information board and put it on the parent group What’s App We sent out Nature bags to all of the children with an explanation. Diane Photographics came in, as usual the results were outstanding and the commission helps pay for the children’s Christmas gifts. We invited parents of the children starting school in September 2025, to a transition meeting. The children observed 2-minute silence for Remembrance day, and we had a remembrance wall, of family photos of those who had served over the years. We held our Christmas Family Movie night; it was well attended and a lovely social occasion for the families and staff. We held our Nativity in the main hall this year, the children had several rehearsals on the stage. Their performance on the day was magical. Father Christmas then visited and all of the children received a gift and as they left, they were given a bag of reindeer food. We were sad to say goodbye to Lisa, who had to resign for health reasons; and wish her well for the future. Barnardo’s. Healthy Living visited the children and talked about the importance of cleaning their teeth and healthy eating; they did several activities, We held our first family Easter evening, we had an Easter themed scavenger hunt, a film, refreshments and all of the children and siblings received Easter eggs. It was very well attended. We welcomed Lauren to our team. We celebrated V.E day with the children, we had a street party lunch and parents/grandparents were invited. Wendy took two children out the event space for the local ceremony. Wendy attended the Armed Forces Week ceremony with two of the children. Charity no 1029569 Ofsted 110134 We held a Family morning to celebrate the end of the year and say goodbye to the children moving up to Reception in main stream school. It was as usual an emotional morning. This year was made more emotional with Michelle leaving, for a change of direction. We will miss her and wish her well for the future, and hope that she will still pop in to visit us, We worked closely with SLT, Portage, Children’s Services, Family Services and our feeder schools during the year; attending meetings and writing reports. All staff updated training throughout the year. Yet again this year the team have gone above and beyond to make each child’s time at Forest Bears to be unique, fun and safe; thank you: Karen, Michelle, Jo, Steph and Lauren Charity no 1029569 Ofsted 110134 Forest Bears Pre-School Forest Community Centre Pinehill Road Bordon Hants GU35 0BS School Hours Tel: 07528 302 108 e.mail wendyforestbears@btopenworld.com Treasurers Report 2024 -2025 The Accounts were signed off by our auditor. Copy available on request. This was a positive year although our direct income from fees paid direct by parents was down. Our Grant income rose again this year, but so did our expenditure, which considerably outweighed our increase in income. Costs have increased again, although we still have a healthy net positive - down by £10,000 this year. Our teaching staff has been maintained at 5 employees, although we lost one long standing practitioner at the end of the 2025 term, who was replaced in October 2025. The outlook remains positive for our finances, although this is very dependent on the number of children. Lesley Roberts Treasurer Charity no 1029569 Ofsted 110134 Forest Bears Pre School 1/9/24- 31/8/25 Income and Expenditure |Income
Early years Grant
Fees and Lunches
Food Vouchers
Other grants
Merchandise
Fundraising
Donations
Other
Expenditure
Premises
Wages
Pension Contributions
Ins/Membership
Equipment
Food Vouchers
Admin
Other
Merchandise
Snacks
Training|2025
2024
124,271.55
106,707.00
14,229.26
17,435.00
210.00
2,800.00
378.35
299.00
323.00
336.15
-
5.00
139,412.16
127,582.15
0
14,627.86
15,018.16
96,073.59
80,571.41
6,214.73
3,730.35
2,132.45
1,625.76
2,822.05
2,047.49
512.97
245.90
841.54
601.49
489.27
619.56
416.19
425.15
2,507.71
18.00
126,638.36
104,903.27
12,773.80
22,678.88| |---|---| ## **Related Party Transactions** During the year the wife of the Chairman Mrs Wendy Garforth was employed by the charity as the manager her salary amounted to £26669.00 ## **Reserves Policy** Reserves are held in regard of closure costs of the Preschool and for years when there may be fewer children. ## **Charitable Activities** The Preschool aims to include everyone in their community with its activities and on this basis if a child can not pay for sessions that is in need due to hardship then the preschool will fund these hours. Also if a child is in need through personnal circumstances then this will also be funded by the preschool. No child will be penalised for not being able to pay for activities. I certify that these figures have been taken from the computerised primary records for all bank accounts and cash expenses. ## Christine Cunningham Christine L Cunningham FCCA Forest Bears Pre School 1/9/24- 31/8/25 Income and Expenditure |Income
Early years Grant
Fees and Lunches
Food Vouchers
Other grants
Merchandise
Fundraising
Donations
Other
Expenditure
Premises
Wages
Pension Contributions
Ins/Membership
Equipment
Food Vouchers
Admin
Other
Merchandise
Snacks
Training|2025
2024
124,271.55
106,707.00
14,229.26
17,435.00
210.00
2,800.00
378.35
299.00
323.00
336.15
-
5.00
139,412.16
127,582.15
0
14,627.86
15,018.16
96,073.59
80,571.41
6,214.73
3,730.35
2,132.45
1,625.76
2,822.05
2,047.49
512.97
245.90
841.54
601.49
489.27
619.56
416.19
425.15
2,507.71
18.00
126,638.36
104,903.27
12,773.80
22,678.88| |---|---| ## **Related Party Transactions** During the year the wife of the Chairman Mrs Wendy Garforth was employed by the charity as the manager her salary amounted to £26669.00 ## **Reserves Policy** Reserves are held in regard of closure costs of the Preschool and for years when there may be fewer children. ## **Charitable Activities** The Preschool aims to include everyone in their community with its activities and on this basis if a child can not pay for sessions that is in need due to hardship then the preschool will fund these hours. Also if a child is in need through personnal circumstances then this will also be funded by the preschool. No child will be penalised for not being able to pay for activities. I certify that these figures have been taken from the computerised primary records for all bank accounts and cash expenses. ## Christine Cunningham Christine L Cunningham FCCA