Registsred Number: 2827744 ( England & Wales )
WELLS FESTIVAL OF LrrERATURE UMrrED
REPORT OF ThE DIRECTORS AND
FINANCIAL STATEMENTS FOR THE YEAR ENDED 31 DECEMBER 2024

WELLS FESTIVAL OF LITERATURE LIMITED
REPORT OF THE DIRECTORS
For the Year Ended 31 December 2024
The Directors. who are trustees of the Company for the purposes of charity law, present their
annual ￿port and the financial ststements for the year ended 31 December 2024.
STRUCTURE. GOVERNANCE AND ADMINISTRATION
The Company is a registered charity, number 1045654. has no share capital and is limited
by guarantees of £1 by each of the Directors. The Company is govemed by the Board of
Directors in accordance with its Memorandum and Artides of Association. The Directors who
served during the year under review were:
RDJ Manning (Chaimian)
HT Cain
AJ Kolornbos
SE Decamp
FM Rowe
D Wright
Directors are appointed by the existing members at Directors, meetings as required by the
companls Artides of Association. No remuneralion is received by any Director and the
Company has no employees. The Company is not supported by grants or funding from any
public body.
SHARE CAPITAL
The Company has no Share Capital and is limited by £1 guarantees by each of the
Directors.
OBJECTIVES AND ACTMTIES
The Companvs objects are as set out in the Memrandum of Association and are in
essence to promote and assist in the advancement of education in the arts and in particular
literature and poety. To this end. the Company organises the annual Wells Festival of
Literature held in October and various edu￿tional activities during the year.
During the year. a Commlttee was responsible to the Directors for the smooth running of the
annual Festival and its educational projects. The Committee, comprising all of the Festival
year-round volunteers and itself working through various sub-committees, met monthly and
implemented the strategy detennined by the Directors who reviewed progress on a regular
basis. This structure is kept under review to ensure that govemance and operations are
properly maintsined. The Directors meet 4 to 5 times per year.
Each year, the Festival brings leading local. national and intemational writers to Wells to
inspire, entertain, educate and challenge audiences of all ages and tastes. The Festival
includes the Prize Giving for its poetry and short story competitions. The Company fijnds
workshops for groups of young people of school age. from primary through to Stxth form, to
meet and interact with inspirational authors and poets writing for their respective age groups.
The Company has also supported Coram Beanstalk, a national literacy project, in the South
West and other ￿levant schemes.

ACHIEVEMENTS AND PERFORMANCE FOR THE YEAR
Our 32nd Festival took pla￿ once again with a fvll line up of 34 authors over 9 days at
Cedars Hall. This was the seventh year we have held the event at Cedars Hall which
provides a modem and comfortable environment to host the Festival.
The Directors pay tribute to the organisation, enlhusiasm and professionalism of all involved,
most of whom are volunteers. which has enabled us to retsin our record of having put on a
Festival every year since our inception in 1992.
The line-up once again covered a wide and fascinating spectrum catering to the diversity of
interests our audiences have come to expect. Our speakers came from far and wide to
attend and the Directors are extremely grateful to them for doing so. This year we sold over
7.200 tickets across the whole Festival, a record which ensured all events were well
attended. In addition, over 1 ,200 school children attended our Year 6 program led by author,
Lindsay Galvin, spread over four momings at Cedars.
Our poety and short story competitions grew again vrith entrles from near and far, and are
now well established as sIgnffi￿nt in the competition landscape. With a first prize of £1,000
open poetry attracted the largest number of entries. but there was good support for all
categories. We also repeated our Wells Literary Quiz. which has proved to be a popular
addition.
The Company has again been fortunate to secure a high level of sponsorship and support
from many businesses and individuals, wntributing a large proportion of the fixed costs of
many of the events. We are extremely grateful for this continued support in what remain
difficult economic times.
Therefore, we were able to achieve our charilable objectives by spending £30.000 to support
over 40 schools in Somerset with a wide range of literary initiatives from supplying books,
author visits, one to one reading schemes, plays and theatre outings.
A special Friends and Sponsors event was hosted by BBC'S Michael Gunton in Juty. just
prior to the start of ticket sales. We are very grateful to our expanding group of Friends.
whose enthusiastic contribution and engagement is much appreciated.
The Festival continues to be a vibrant component in the cultural and educational life of Wells
and the Directors welcome the engagement and support of so many people. The Festival
and the Company's activities are run and managed entirely by volunteers. there are no
employees, and the Directors thank all those involved with the Company.
Once again, careful cost management and prudent financial judgements mean that the
reserves of the Company have provided a buffer against the extenstve challenges of rising
costs and the cUr￿nt uncertain economic environment.
FINANCIAL REVIEW
The net income for the year of £1.163 was assisted by a record contribution of £1,664 from
Waterstones book sales. We were able to hold our ticket pri￿ at £10 for the 11
consecutive year despite continuing price increases.

The cx)mpanVs reserves increased slighty to £82.970 in the year ended 31 December 2024.
In light of the re￿nt challenging years. the Directors consider this to be an ac￿ptable
position to maintain a fvll Feslival and continue to support its educational projects. The
reseNes continue to be at a level which we believe will enable us to plan for a fv112025
Festival, our 33rd. and to maintain the increased educational spend. However. the Directors
will cary out a financial ￿VIeW to indude tid(et pricing earfy in the year.
PUBUC BENEFrr STATEMENT
The Festival programme offers a WKle range of literary events Cateri￿ for all ages and
interests. Ticket prices are set as khv as is cx)nsistent with maintsining both qualty and the
resources to fund free 'outreach' events in schools and other educational projects. The
competitions organised as part of the Festival stimulate interest in the written word and
promote literacy.
COMPANIES ACT 2006
This report is prepared in accordance wtth the special provisions of part 15 of Ihe
Companies Act 2006
This report was approved by the Boa￿ on 2 July 2025 and signed on its behalf by.
RDJ Mannlng
Chairn￿n

weLLS FESTIVAL OF UTERATURE UMrrED
COMPANY INFORMATION
For the Y•ar Ended 31 D•e•mb•r 2024
DIRECTORS
R D J Manning (Ghairnan)
HT Cain
A J Kolombos
SE Decamp
FM Rowe
D Wright
SECRETARY
R D J Manning
REGISTERED OFFICE
Tregande
Milton Lane
Wells
Sometset
BA5 2QT
REGISTERED COMPANY NUMBER
2827744 ( EngEarnl and Wales)
REGISTERED CHARrrY NUIABeR 1045654
INDEPENDENT EXAMINER
M.Shelton
WelLs

WELLS FESTIVAL OF LrrERATURE LNArrED
STATEMENT OF F￿ANc￿L ACTivmES (Inoorpo￿￿ th• ￿￿orn• and •xp•nthrn •oixwnt)
For th• Ymr End•d 81 D•a•mb•r 2024
A￿*1 2024
A￿81 2023
INCOME FROM CHARITABLEACTivmES
FESTNAL
Festlyal Trket S•les
Festlval Dirert Costs
Speake￿, fees and expenses
Venue expenses
Tid¢eting costs
Caterfng
54.782
19,700
10.039
6.320
10.462
7.612
21,437
17,727
Enty Fees
Prizes and judging exper￿
5,793
8.498
19,696
19.258
INCOME FROM OThER TRADING AcnvmES
Sponsorship
Friends, mernbersh￿
Donations
Waterstones Commission
21.050
21,503
3.599
100
26,772
27,386
INVESTMEKf INCOME
Bank inte￿1 rncelved
48,150
47.994
EXPENDrruRE ON CHARrrABLE AcnvmES
Marketing and PR
Printing
Bank Charges
9.474
8.714
144
9,857
9.174
153
18 332
29.818
Surplus b•lor• 8rnnt.m•klry •ctlvld•s
28.810
Gross grants to Inst￿U￿n8- Educational prciéds
Income from boolr sates
Net grant
33.722
30,785
26.698
NET INCOME
1,163
2,112
Total Funds Brought Forwarrl
Net Income as above
Talal Funds Carrl•d FoM*rd
81.807
79,695
82,970

Fortho Y•gr End•d 31 D•c•mbw 2024
CURRENT ASSFrs
Cash at Bank
81.516
81.073
83,1
82.357
CREDITORSArntyJrts falbno
vthin oneswr
NET CURRENT ASSETS
82.970
81.807
TOTAL ASSETS LESS
et.807
FUNDS OF CHARfry
Urwestiided funds
section 47712) olthe Companies ALI 20(6
1 ¢1 that we acknthvledge our rwm)rt8￿11IeS fLr.
Ihe CompaNesAcI2C￿.
2) preparing finandal Statem￿￿tA￿th a true arKI fa"rvie*J Of1￿ stste ofafv.rs crftr
(x)mp8ny as atthe erKI oftt* fiwJrJ"81 aThJ of its profft ¢y trthe)wkn
as aWrablelothè¢>)rnFwry.
ccmpanE5 subi*tto the smau cornpariw re0￿ aThJ in ac{ud￿**th FRS102 SORP.
3171
25 and ¢¥n
Mr RDJ ManniTrJ
Chairnin

WELL8 FE8TIVAL OF UTERATURE UMrrED
NOTE8 TO THE FINANCIAL STATEMENTS
For th• Ymr Ended 31 D¢o•mb•r 2024
1. ACCOUNTING POLICIES
Amounting •onv•ntion
The financial Statsmarrts have been prepared und8r Iho historwi c¥)st rA)nvgthn,
acGordanc8 Wth tha Finanrial Raporting StarKlarrl applicab￿ in the United Ifjngd￿
and Republic of Ireland IFRS1021 arKI the Statement of Recc¥nmgnd8d Practice:
Accounting and Reporting by Charitios prgpartng thèir a(thunts in accordance V*ith tr
Finan¢ro1 Reporting Standard applicable in the UK arKI Rep￿1¢ of Ireland {FRS102)
issued on 16 July 2014.
Turnov•r
Turnover repr8sents net invoiced TAes of axduding valu6 *ld8d
Tanglbl• ffiX￿ ass•ts
Depreciation 18 provided at the following annual rates in order to writo 1)ff gath asset over its
estimatsd useful life:
Office Fumiiure Fittings
25% straight line
No new assets added in 2024. and the rèmainirKJ assets ￿re fulty written down in 2018.
D•l•rr•d Tax
Deferred tax rs recognised in resped of all timing differe￿ that have originatsd but not
reversed at the balance sheet date.
In•om• and Exp•nditur•
The accruals concept has appl￿ to the income arnl expondi￿re
2. OPERATING PROFrr
The oporatin9 profit is stated after ch8rgirvJ:
2024
2023
Depreciation - owngd oss8ts
Directors emoluments and other beneffts
3. TAXATION
No liability to UK corporation tax arose on the adivities of th& company hr tho year
ended 31 December 2024 nor for the year ended 31 DowQ)8r 2023.
No prowsion for defeired taxation is required as in the optnion of the director5 there
are no matsrial timing dIfferen￿ are likely to r8v8rse.
CREDITORS: AMOUNT8 FALUNG DUE
WITHIN ONE YEAR
2024
2023
Trade creditors
210

Report to the Directors and Trustees of Wells Festival of Literature Limited on the
Report and Financial Statements for the year ended 31 December 2024
Company number. 2827744
Charity number.
Respectiv• responslbilities of trustees and examiner
The trustees (who are also the directors of the company for the purposes of company law) are
responsible for the preparation of the ac(x)unts in accorrlance with the requirements of the Companies
Act 2006.
The charity's trustees consider th* an audit is not required forthis year under Part 16 of the Companies
Act 2006 and that an independent examination is n￿ded.
It is my responsibility to:
examine the xcounts under section 145 of the Charities Act 2011.
follow the procedures laid down in the general Directions given by the Charity Commbssion (under
section 145{5)(b) of the Charlties Act 2011, and
state whether particular matter5 have come to my attention.
Basis of Independent examiners statement
My examinatton was carried out in accordan￿ with general Directions given by th8 Charity
Commission. An examination includes a review of the accounting records kept by the charity and a
comparison of the accounts presented with those records. It also includes consKleration of any unusual
items or disclosures in the accounts. and seeking explanations from the trustees conceming any such
matters. The procedures undertaken do not provide all the eviden￿ that would be required in an audit.
and consequentty no opinion is given as to whether the accounts present a Irue and fairf view and the
report is limited to those matters set out in the statement bek)w.
Indop•ndent examinerfs statement
In connection with my examination. no material rnatte￿ have come to my attention which give me cause
to believe that, in any material respect:
accounting records were not kept in xcordance with section 386 of the Companies Act 20(￿ . or
the accounts do not accord with such records. or
the accounts do not compty with relevant accounting requirements under section 396 of the
Companies Act 2006 other than any requirement that the accounts give a Irue and fairf view which
is not a matter considered as part of an independent examination., or
the accounts have not been prepared in a(xordance with the Charities SORP (FRS102).
I have no concems and have come across no other matters in (x)nnection with the examination to which
attention should be drawn in this report in order to enable a proper Unde￿tandIng of the accounts to be
reached.
28 June 2025
Mark Shelton FCA
We115