28[th] Annual report and Financial Statement
June 2024 – May 2025
Banks: Lloyds Bank plc, 30 Corporation Street, Blackpool, FY1 1EN
CCLA 1 Angel Lane, London, EC4R 3AB
Independent Examiner: Rev’d A.A. Clements MA, ACIB, FCIE 15 Carleton Road, Great Knowley, Chorley, PR6 8TQ
Registered Charity Number 1069442
Contents
| Chairman’s Annual Report | Pages 3 – 5 |
|---|---|
| Governance | Pages 6 - 8 |
| Financial Statement | Pages 9 – 10 |
| Accounting Policy | Page 11 |
| Independent Examiner’s Report | Page 12 |
THE FRIENDS OF LYTHAM HALL
CHAIRMAN’S REPORT FOR THE YEAR TO MAY 2025
The Friends of Lytham Hall of Church Farmhouse, 23 Commonside, Ansdell, Lytham St Annes, Lancashire FY8 4EX is registered with the Charity Commission (number 1069442). It is an incorporated association constituted by Deed of Trust.
The charity is administered by a Management Committee comprising:
| Chair | - Alison Wood |
|---|---|
| Vice Chair | - Bob Smith |
| Secretary & Newsletter | - Kath Smith |
| Treasurer | - Terry Jones |
| Membership | - Marilyn Smith |
| Committee members | - Pam Beeden, Lambert Dopping-Hepenstal, Elizabeth |
| Guffogg, Meg Hargreaves, Sue Havenhand, John | |
| Hornyak, Sue Jones, Fiona Sumner , Gill Totty | |
| Bookshop | Gillian Duxbury (representative) |
Under the rules of the constitution which requires three members of the committee to retire each year, Alison Wood, Elizabeth Guffogg and Pam Beeden will retire from the committee and have all offered themselves for re-election.
John Hornyak stepped down as the Friends’ representative on the Lytham Town Trust Board after many years of support for which we would like to express our sincere thanks. Sue Jones agreed to replace John as the Friend’s representative with effect from September 2024.
David Coupe remains as President and Marion Coupe and Hugh Clifton remain as Vice presidents.
This report covers the accounting period June 2024 to May 2025 .
The Halloween and Easter Bunny events raised £7,172 and £3,883 respectively and so were our main source of income in 2024/25. As in prior years, both proved extremely popular and in particular the Halloween Event sold out very quickly. Whilst a clear success, the FOLH committee reviewed the lessons learned from the Halloween event (including health & safety, insurance, volunteer availability, ticket capacity etc) and have concluded that the Halloween Event is now getting to a scale/complexity that its continued success would be better ensured if the event would be run and led by the Lytham Hall team from October 2025 onwards. The FOLH will continue to organise the Easter Bunny family fund day event.
The success of the FOLH’s events is dependent on the support of volunteers from the Friends, the wider Lythan Hall volunteer Group and the support of the Lytham Hall management team and the committee would like to acknowledge their appreciation of this. We would also like to express our thanks and sincere appreciation to Meg Hargreaves who has led the organisation of both the Halloween and Easter events and whose hard work and dedication has been at the heart of the success of these events over the last several years.
The second-hand bookshop, adjacent to the café, continues to go from strength to strength generating just over £9000 in this financial year. As we move forward, with the loss of income from the Halloween event, the bookshop will become our primary source of fundraising. The Committee would like to acknowledge the dedication and commitment of our bookshop team supported by Janet Pothecary from the Lytham Hall staff. Together, they have over the course of this year, made several improvements to the bookshop area, the stock and presentation, which is clearly reflected in the increased weekly takings. We were pleased to welcome Gillian Duxbury to the FOLH committee, and this has greatly improved the liaison & communication with the bookshop team.
Membership fees remain a steady source of income generating circa £7600 this year. Led by Elizabeth Guffogg, an updated membership leaflet was developed, and we have trialled using free promotional bookmarks in bookshop with aim of increasing the visibility of friends organisation. We will continue to look at how we increase both the numbers of members and patrons over the course of the next 12-18 months.
We continue to provide refreshments at the outdoor theatres in support of Julian Wilde’s summer theatre events which remain immensely popular. We would like to thank Julian for the donation he makes to the Friends each year.
We continue to support a wide range of projects at the Hall with just under £20K in funding provided this year across a range of activities as detailed in the accounts.
Our most significant project this year was the purchase of the Warrior Horse painting at auction allowing us to return this Clifton family picture to the Hall . We would like to express our sincere appreciation for the sterling work of Sue Jones who led the process of acquiring the painting, getting it shipped from Bonhams in London to the Hall and its subsequent cleaning. It now hangs in the Gold Room, and we were pleased to be able to host a member’s event in February to share the history and context of this important art acquisition.
Other projects we have funded include the purchase of additional IT software licences for the archives, the redecoration of the upstairs ceilings in the Hall , the acquisition of two stone ornamental urns for the south prospect gardens , funding chain saw training for the volunteers and meeting the costs of renting the specialist equipment needed to crop & restore the Mount.
We would like to acknowledge the ongoing support provided by John Hornyak to the Grounds team and recognise the tremendous achievement of securing the Redwoods collection. As FOLH, we look forward to providing ongoing funding for projects that address the improvement and maintenance of the grounds which are such a key asset for Lytham Hall alongside the Hall itself.
Way Forward for FOLH
As a committee, we recognise the significant progress that has been made in the restoration of the Hall and the grounds over the last several years . To date, the FOLH have provided just under £350,000 in support of many varied projects and activities.
We are currently in discussion with HTNW regarding their plans for the Hall over the next 3-5 years and their fund-raising requirements. The committee is now focussing on how the FOLH can best partner with HTNW to ensure we have an aligned way forward for supporting the ongoing successful restoration of the Hall and its grounds over the coming years. We will provide an update to members in the Autumn when we believe we will have established a proposed way forward. Dated: August 1[st] , 2025
For and on behalf of the Management Committee. Alison Wood, Chair
Governance
| Charity Number: | 1069442 |
|---|---|
| Registered address: | 23 Commonside |
| Lytham St Annes | |
| Lancashire | |
| FY8 4EX | |
| Banks: | Lloyds Bank plc |
| Corporation Street | |
| Blackpool | |
| FY1 1EN | |
| CCLA | |
| 1 Angel Lane, | |
| London, | |
| EC4R 3AB | |
| Independent Examiner: | Rev’d A.A. Clements MA, ACIB, FCIE |
| 15 Carleton Road | |
| Great Knowley | |
| Chorley | |
| PR6 8TQ | |
| Trustees: | Alison Wood (Chair) |
| T Jones (Treasurer) | |
| K Smith (Secretary) | |
| R Smith | |
| S Havenhand | |
| E Guffogg | |
| M Hargreaves | |
| M Smith | |
| S Jones | |
| J Hornyak |
Governing document
The charity is controlled by its governing document, a deed of trust, and is an incorporated association. The governing document is the Constitution as adopted on 15[th] May 1997 and amended in 1998 and 2022.
Purpose and Objectives
The charity is established for the public benefit and has the following objectives:
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To preserve for the benefit of the local community and the nation at large, Lytham Hall together with its works of art, furniture and contents.
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To ensure that the Hall is used primarily as an art gallery, museum and visitor centre and to provide other amenities of a similar character for the benefit of the public.
Appointments of Trustees/Officers
In accordance with the Constitution, the charity shall have at least 6 trustees. A Trustee must be a member of the charity. Trustees are elected at a general meeting of the charity and the Trustees may appoint anyone who is willing to act as a Trustee. Election is for three years. One third of the Trustees retire annually but are eligible for re-election. When new Trustees are appointed, they are briefed on the up-to-date position of the charity.
Trustees’ responsibility for the accounts
Charity Law requires the trustees of the charity to prepare financial statements each year which show a true and fair view. In addition, the trustees are responsible for selecting suitable accounting policies and applying them on a consistent basis, to make judgements and estimates that are prudent and reasonable, to keep proper accounting records which are sufficient to show and explain the charity's transactions and to disclose with reasonable accuracy at any time the financial position of the charity. They are also responsible for safeguarding the assets of the charity and hence taking reasonable steps for the prevention and detection of fraud and other irregularities.
Organisation
The business of the charity is managed by the Committee, which currently comprises 13 trustees and 2 co-opted members. The Committee meets as required
but at least 6 times per annum. At each meeting all the activities of the charity and its financial position are reviewed.
Investment policy
All the charity’s funds are held in cash. Funds for short term use are held in a bank current account; the balance is held in an interest bearing CCLA account.
Risk management
The trustees have a duty to identify and review the risks to which the charity is exposed and to ensure appropriate controls are in place to provide reasonable assurance against fraud and error.
In advance of all events organised by the charity, a comprehensive safety risk assessment is undertaken and where events take place on the Hall premises, this risk assessment is shared with the Hall’s management. All of our events require children and vulnerable adults to be accompanied by a parent or guardian.
Data protection policy
The data held by the charity is limited to that required to manage the membership and specifically the names and contact details of each member. This data is only used for communication with the individual members. This will be an email address and, if provided by the member, a postal address.