2025-03-31-accounts - Grove Park Community Group

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GROVE PARK COMMUNITY GROUP

ANNUAL REPORT WITH FINANCIAL STATEMENTS

FOR THE YEAR ENDED 31 MARCH 2025

CHARITY REGISTERED NUMBER 1046082

LONDON ACCOUNTANCY PRACTICE

SOJOURNER TRUTH CENTRE

161 SUMNER ROAD

LONDON SE15 6JL

GROVE PARK COMMUNITY GROUP
FINANCIAL STATEMENTS
FOR THE YEAR ENDED 31 MARCH 2025
CONTENTS	Page
Contents	2
Administrative Information	3
Report of the Trustees	4-6
Independent Examiner’s Report	7
Statement of Financial Activities	8
Balance Sheet	9
Notes to the Accounts	10-12
Detailed Income & Expenditure	13

GROVE PARK COMMUNITY GROUP

ADMINISTRATIVE INFORMATION

AS AT 31 MARCH 2025

Trustees Al Walter Chair Anna Moore Vice Chair Ben Donaldson Vice Chair Vanessa Legouix Vice Chair Andrew Edkins Secretary Sonja Aldengard Treasurer Michael Woods Vice Treasurer

Charity Number 1046082 FORMAL ADDRESS Grove Park Community Group The Ringway Centre 268 Baring Road Grove Park LONDON SE12 0DS BANKERS HSBC UK INDEPENDENT EXAMINER London Accountancy Practice Sojourner Truth Centre 161 Sumner Road London SE15 6JL

GROVE PARK COMMUNITY GROUP Report of the Trustees For The Year Ended 31st March 2025

The Trustees have pleasure in presenting their report together with the accounts for the year.

Legal Status

The Charity is governed by its Constitution, Amended version 4A, Combined 2008, which forms the rules and regulations of the Charity.

Method of Recruitment of Trustees

Officers are elected either at the Annual General Meeting or the first meeting of the General Committee. The Trustees are appointed by recommendation of the existing Trustees.

Charitable Activities and Objectives

The charity (registered no. 1046082) was established to advance the education of and provide facilities for recreation and leisure time activities in order to improve the conditions of life of the residents of Grove Park.

Organisation and Decision Making

The Trustees regularly meet to review these activities and make decisions as to the strategic direction the Charity should take, and communicate this to those responsible for delivery.

Trustees’ Report of the year 2024/2025

This report covers Grove Park Community Group’s (GPCG) activities from April 2024 to March 2025. During this year, the Group began to benefit, in numerous ways, from having more committee members on board, each contributing their own specific skills, knowledge and experience, so strengthening and expanding the Group’s ability to fulfil its mission. Many of our new members are younger, most with young families, full time jobs and other commitments, so time is short, but their commitment to Grove Park Community Group has been unwavering.

The Ringway Centre in Baring Road

GPCG has greatly benefited from groups of volunteers from the corporate world spending whole days at the Ringway Centre working away at practical tasks, away from the office and out in the open. As a result, the centre was painted green over two such volunteer days in June and July. At the same time, it was arranged for a visiting artist to paint a mural on one of the large containers at the front of the buildings, making the centre even more noticeable. During the year, and after months of planning, we welcomed Community Pay Back on site to work in the garden and woodland, under supervision.

The Bike Hub, housed in a container in front of the Main Hall, and run by Gary, is open to the community on Thursdays and Fridays. Gary will service a youngster’s bike for free, at the same time teaching them how to look after their bikes. Repairs are carried out for a modest payment.

The Woodwork Workshop, housed in what was once a garage, and fitted out and equipped with funding from People’s Millions ten years ago, had been largely unused since the pandemic, but after some persuasion, former committee member Brian volunteered to open up the workshop on two days a week. Together with John, a guest volunteer, they have produced a considerable number of bird boxes.

The Ringway Garden and Woodland

The garden and woodland behind the Centre are often used by groups of school children for nature studies as part of their curriculum. GPCG are keen to provide this free service to several local schools, and in addition a committee member/volunteer periodically runs after school nature sessions as well.

A tree on the Ringway site grew so tall and wide that our neighbours in Stratfield House began to complain, especially as some of the excess growth was reaching their balconies. After many months of discussions about who was to blame and who was to pay, GPCG took the decision to have the offending tree cut back, and removing the surplus wood to our side of the fence, as a one-off neighbourly gesture.

GPCG in the Community

Local planning issues always played an intrinsic part in Grove Park Community Group’s engagement with the community, but the drive and commitment has been lacking in recent years, as people interested in these issues have become more involved with the Grove Park Neighbourhood Plan and other significant local developments, such as the Urban District Park. Our Councillors, who are ex officio members of the committee, will always answer questions raised at meetings about proposed developments. GPCG value their ongoing support in all local matters.

On the other hand, the committee continues to take a keen interest in local matters other than planning. An example of this is the setting up of a Grove Park Library Gardens friends’ group by Vanessa, one of our members, supported by GPCG.

In November 2024, GPCG hosted a meeting for local groups at the Ringway Centre, to get to know each other better and share information. We called this ‘Grove Park Together’ and the mission is to build on this and get more local groups engaged. This is particularly important in view of the demise of the Grove Park Local Assembly; the last meeting having taken place in February 2025.

Ringway Centre activities

GPCG’s main income is from hiring out rooms to a wide variety of hobby, music, art and faith groups. Ceramics classes, for both adults and children, run by Lily and helpers, continue to be well subscribed. The Ringway Art Group (RAG) held a well-supported art exhibition at the Centre during the year.

In addition, there are several fitness classes every week as well as activities for children.

The Community Café on Fridays and Warm Welcome sessions on Mondays fulfil an important social role, a place where anyone can feel safe and find someone to talk to. The same goes for the Grove Park & Beyond walking group that meets at the Ringway on Wednesday mornings.

Throughout each year our halls are booked for birthday parties, baby showers, graduation do’s, funeral receptions and many other celebrations. Some hirers manage to completely transform a hall for their specific purpose.

GPCG and Ringway volunteers

What would we do without them? While GPCG employ some staff, a lot of the work behind the scenes is carried out by volunteers who give their time freely to organise and help out at events, manage activities, cover the centre and govern the charity, the list is endless. We always welcome new volunteers. It is easy to get involved, just come and have a chat to Christine, our Centre Manager, to find out what needs doing. Any volunteer working with children and vulnerable adults will need to be Enhanced DBS checked.

GPCG events

During the year covered by this report, the following events, organised by our Events sub-committee raising funds for GPCG, were held at the Ringway: Easter Egg Hunt (30[th] March), Summer Faye, 60/70s Night, Cockney Night, Christmas Meal, Christmas Family Party and Valentine’s Dance. GPCG was also involved in Rail 200 and the Chinbrook Dog Show & Carnival. If you have an idea for an event, why not join our Events Committee.

GPCG in the 21[st] Century

During the year, GPCG started taking card payments.

In June we made our first online payment, with dual control. Initially used only for staff payments, this payment method has by now been rolled out to cover all payments, except direct debits, petty cash and the occasional debit card payment.

Wi-Fi is available throughout most of the centre.

GPCG’s use of social media has expanded in recent years and is being admirably managed by Lily.

During the year, a new website for the entire Grove Park area was launched, with the Ringway Centre - as a key community hub being key focus. It was coordinated by volunteer Kay and funded through ward NCIL via her social enterprise, Wild Rangers. The initiative aimed to improve communication about local events and activities, and to strengthen community connections across the neighbourhood. The website includes a subscription option for signing up to an electronically managed mailing list that has helped keep subscribers informed of activities and events happening at the centre and Grove Park. GPCG volunteers now manage the website.

GPCG succession

The General Committee and former Trustees of GPCG have been acutely aware for the past few years of the need for new members to join the committee, with a view to taking on an officer’s role a year later. We have been lucky to recruit several new members at recent AGMs and in February 2025 six new officers were elected:

Al Walter – Chair Andrew Edkins - Secretary Anna Moore – Vice Chair Ben Donaldson – Vice Chair Vanessa Legouix – Vice Chair Michael Woods – Vice Treasurer

Sonja Aldengard was re-elected as Treasurer, while John King, Barry O’Donovan and Betty Croft stood down as officers, but remaining on the committee.

Increasing the number of officers/trustees necessitated changing the GPCG Constitution. The proposed changes were briefly presented at the AGM, followed by a public meeting, in the form of a question-and-answer session, in early May. GPCG is working closely with the Charity Commission in this respect.

PARK COMMUNITY GROUP

MANAGEMENT COMMITTEE REPORT

FOR THE YEAR ENDED 31 MARCH 2025

FINANCIAL REVIEW

The results of the year’s operation are set out in the attached financial statements. The net movement in funds for the year amounted to deficit (£15,604) and deficit of (£35,209) in 2024 respectively. The retained reserves at 31st March 2025 amounted to £41,772 and £57,376 in 2024 respectively.

RESERVE POLICY

The Charity Commission requires charities to determine and explain their policy for free reserves. The trustees have reviewed the organisation’s free reserves policy and have turned its entire unrestricted fund into an emergency reserve to enable GROVE PARK COMMUNITY GROUP to meet its obligations in the event of a shortfall in income or sudden upturn in expenditure or the dissolution of the charity.

RISK MANAGEMENT

The trustees have examined the major risks which GROVE PARK COMMUNITY GROUP faces and believe that maintaining their free reserves at a reasonable level, combined with their annual review of the controls over key financial systems will provide sufficient resources in the event of adverse conditions. The trustees have also examined other operational and business risks which they face and confirm that they have established systems to mitigate the significant risks.

TANGIBLE FIXED ASSETS

The organisation has no fixed assets

FUNDS AVAILABLE

The present level of funding is adequate to support the continuation of the charity operations for the medium term, and the trustees consider the financial position of the charity to be satisfactory.

VOLUNTEERS

GROVE PARK COMMUNITY GROUP recognises the significant contributions made by the volunteers.

PARK COMMUNITY GROUP

STATEMENT OF TRUSTEES RESPONSIBILITIES

FOR THE YEAR ENDED 31 MARCH 2025

The Trustees are required to prepare financial statements which give a true and fair view of the state of affairs of the project and of the income and expenditure of the project for that period. In preparing these financial statements, the management committee are required to:

select suitable accounting policies and apply them consistently;
make judgements and estimates that are reasonable and prudent;
prepare the financial statements on the going concern basis unless it is
inappropriate to presume that the project will continue in operation.

The Trustees are responsible for keeping proper records which disclose at any time the financial position of the project. They are also responsible for safeguarding the assets of the organisation and hence for taking reasonable steps for the prevention and detection of fraud and other irregularities.

INDEPENDENT EXAMINER'S REPORT TO THE TRUSTEES OF GROVE PARK COMMUNITY GROUP ON THE ACCOUNTS FOR THE YEAR ENDED 31 MARCH 2025 Respective responsibilities of trustees and examiner The charity's trustees are responsible for the preparation of the accounts. The charity's trustees consider that an audit is not required for this year under section 144(2) of the Charities Act 2011 (the 2011 Act) and that an independent examination is needed. It is my responsibility to: examine the accounts under section 145 of the 2011 Act; to follow the procedures laid down in the general Directions given by the Charity Commission under section 145(5)(b) of the 2011 Act; and to state whether particular matters have come to my attention. Basls of Ind8pandent axamlner's report My examination was carri6d out in accordanc8 With tha general Dir6Ctions giv8n 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 consideration of any unusual items or disclosur8s in the accounts, and seeking explanations from you as trustees concerning any such matters. The procedures undertaken do not provide all the evidence that would be required in an audit and consequently no opinion is given as to whether the accounts present a 'true and fair view, and the report is limited to those matters set out in the statement below. Independent examlner's report In connection with my examination, no matter has come to my attention: which gives me reasonable caus8 to believa that in any material rospect: The accounting records were not kept in accordance with the section 130 of the Charit18s Act., or The accounts did not accord with the accounting records., or The accounts did not comply with the applicable requirements concerning the form and content of the accounts set out in the Charities (Accounts and Reports) Regulations 2008 other than any requirement that the account give a 'true and fair, which is not a matter considered as part of the independent examination. I have no conc8rns and have come across no other matter in connection with the examination to which attention should be drawn in this report in order to enable a proper understanding of this account to be reached. Signed.. Ade Adebambo, CPFA, MB CGMA, ACMA, ACG, London Accountancy Practice. Sojourner Truth Community Centre 161 Sumner Road London SE15 6JL io

GROVE PARK COMMUNITY GROUP STATEMENTOF FINANCIAL ACTMTIES FOR THE YEAR ENDED 31STMARCH 2025 2026 Total Fund 2024 Total Fund Unrestricted Restricted Fund Fund INCOMING RESOURCES Income from Actimties 80,870 1,450 82,320 87,233 80,870 1,450 82,320 87,233 RESOURCES EXPENDED Dired Costs 96,534 1,390 97,924 122,442 96,534 1,390 97,924 122,442 Net Incoming Resources .15,664 60. _15,604- 35,209 Balance Brought Forward 54,258 3,118 57,376 92,585 Balance Carried Forward 38,594 3,178 41,772 57,376 li

GROVE PARK COMMUNITY GROUP BALANCE SHEET AS AT 31ST MARCH 2025 2025 2024 CURRENT ASSET SuTrJry Debtors Cash In Bank Cash In haTrJ 3396 40,079 97 43,672 5,264 53,219 93 68,576 CURRENTUABIUIIES Creditors aTrd Accruals 1.800 1200 41,772 57,376 FUNDS OF THE CHARITY Unrestrided FLffKIs Restncted Funds 38,594 3,178 41,772 54.258 3,118 67,376 Approved by the Board of Directors and sigrEd on its behair .. Trustee )1 12

GROVE PARK COMMUNITY GROUP

NOTES TO THE ACCOUNTS

1. ACCOUNTING POLICIES

1.1 Basis of Preparation of Financial Statements

The financial statements are prepared under the historic cost convention and include the results of the charity’s operations which are described in the Management Committee’s Report and all of which are continuing.

The accounts have been prepared in accordance with the Statements of Recommended Practice for charity accounts.

The charity has taken advantage of the exemption of Financial Reporting Standard No 1 from the requirements to produce a cash flow statement on the grounds that it qualifies as a small charity

1.2 Incoming Resources

1.2.1 Revenue grants are credited to the Statement of Financial Activities on the earlier date of when they are received or when they are receivable, unless they relate to a specific future period, in which case they are included on the Balance Sheet as deferred income to be recognised in the future accounting period.
1.2.2 Grants received for specific purposes are accounted for as restricted funds in the Statement of Financial Activities.

1.3 Restricted Funds

Restricted funds are to be used for specific purposes as laid down by the donor. Expenditure which meets these criteria is identified to the fund, together with a fair allocation of management and support costs.

1.4 Unrestricted Funds

Unrestricted funds are donations and other incomes received or generated for the objects of the organisation without further specified purpose and are available for general funds.

1.5 Designated Funds

Designated funds are unrestricted funds earmarked by the Management Committee for particular purposes.

1.6 Tangible Fixed Assets

All expenditure that related to equipment has been charged to the Statement of Financial Activities in the year of acquisition. A register of assets is maintained.

GROVE PARK COMMUNITY GROUP

NOTES TO THE ACCOUNTS (CONTINUED)

CREDITORS AND ACCRUALS	2025	2024
	£	£
Accountancy fees	1300	1000
Other- Deposits	500	200
	1800	1200

GROVE PARK COMMUNITY GROUP DETAILED INCOME AND EXPENDITURE FOR THE YEAR ENDED 31STMARCH 2025 2025 Total Fund 2024 Total Fund Unrestricted Restricted Fund Fund INCOMING RESOURCES Ringway Community Cafe Inpost Donations Lethng Fees Community Events Projects Clay at the Ringway Project Warm Welcome Grant GPCG Volunteer Led Projects Chantable Gimng Community TOlt Bank Interest Totsl Incoming Resources 1,232 1,200 388 52,963 2,528 16,944 1,232 1.200 388 52,963 2,528 16,944 1,450 1,942 2,686 150 837 82,320 2,353 1.200 45 58,457 2,248 16,278 1,000 2220 2208 150 1074 87,232 1,450 1,942 2,686 150 837 80,870 1,450 2025 Totsl Fund 2024 Total Fund Unrestricted Restricted Fund Fund RESOURCES EXPENDED Clay at the Ringway Project Staff Costs Printing , Postage & Stationery Water rates, Heat,Light. Telephone & Insurance Repairs & Maintenance Repairs & Renewals Office equipmerrt CCTVIAlann Community Events & Projects Licenses & Subscriptions Bank Charges Cleaning Matenals Ringway site Trade Refuse Ritway site Publicity & Alfvertising Accountancy, Payro," and Bookkeeping fees Bad debt written off SuTrJry 13,540 45,112 83 26,055 2,230 445 2,251 958 382 154 1,205 1,326 634 2,159 13,540 45,112 83 26.055 2,230 445 2,251 2,348 382 154 1,205 1,326 634 2,159 12,771 45,578 321 31,534 18,229 688 1,954 5,148 629 164 1448 1212 115 2054 284 313 1,390 Total Resources Expended 96,534 1,390 97,924 122,442 15