Newsheet No 23
Spring 2022
Dear Friends
With all the bad news around at the moment and the pandemic still upon us, we thought it would be nice to share with you a few items of good news …
On so many occasions, especially during the last few years, we have boasted of our pride in our ‘home-grown’ volunteers. The majority are beneficiaries of our projects, yet regularly set aside the challenges of their own ( Late day-to-day lives to help other local families. We are, therefore, thrilled to be able to announce that + nN 4 hodlins i 1S y 7 everyone’s efforts have now been recognised by our
receiving the Award for the Sevenoaks District, Community Project of the Year!
We would also like to offer our warmest congratulations to Zack Hart, one of our younger volunteers, who received the Kent-wide Spirit of Try Angle Award for Community Action! During Audrey’s ‘lockdown lives’ Zack and his
sister Xaviar would help with cooking demonstrations, exercises and many very silly games. He spent hours helping to pack and deliver our boxes of healthy fresh food items (that we still distribute to local families), and is also well-known for handing out our Chromebooks wearing his superhero costumes!
This Spring also represents the accomplishment of two massive ‘milestones’:
The first of which is laptop number 100! We were going to finish this project last autumn but became concerned by the many reports of the worsening of the ‘educational divide’, where children from low-income households in particular were continuing to get even further behind those from ‘better off’ families simply because they did not have the same resources.
This prompted us to ‘take another look’ and late last year we were able to gain sufficient funding to reach this massive total. All devices have been gifted to local youngsters and we have received some very lovely messages of appreciation from grateful families, many of whom have posted photos to our public face book page.
Our second cause for celebration is the completion of the long-running programme of refurbishment! Last summer we announced our big project for this year would be the final works to the games/recreation hall. Over the years we estimate we have spent
a staggering c£50k on both regular maintenance and improvements to the hall alone and thought these works were at an end. Well, now we can finally say they truly are!
The bad news is that this project went over budget by about 20%, mainly due to the need to brace some of the old timbers and replace the
porch roof. However, the good news is that the new composite cladding has actually helped to strengthen the structure itself.
The King George V Jubilee Trust Hall will reach an impressive 85 years of age in June of this year and we feel it is fitting that this project marks the completion of Holcot’s 20-year long programme of refurbishment. Barring any unforeseen circumstances, therefore, we can finally say everything is done and Holcot is now in the best condition ever PLUS we have ‘future-proofed’!
90[th] Birthday – July 2023
Those who have been a part of our journey over the years will be aware of the fact that Holcot was originally placed in Trust by Miss Matilda Hubbard in 1932, to be used as a ‘holiday home for girls’. Whilst we opened our doors in July 1933, it was the John Coldman Charitable Trust that came to our rescue in 2000 to quite literally ‘save us’ and secure our future. Next year will mark our official 90[th] birthday and we invite our friends to contact us with suggestions of how they would like us to mark the occasion.
Amazon Smile … Finally, we would like to repeat our appeal for Friends to lend their support when they shop online with Amazon. This is a completely free way that you can help. All you have to do is to register and shop through ‘Smile.Amazon.co.uk’. There is no lengthy process – when you login just go to the drop-down menu, select Edenbridge as the location and scroll down to select Friends of Holcot.
- Trustees Report & Annual Accounts 2021 2022
Legal and Administrative
The Friends of Holcot is governed by a Declaration of Trust, executed on the 24[th] day of April 2002, registered by the Charity Commission on the 5[th] day of June 2002. Financial records are kept using the simple ‘receipts & payments’ method, which are independently examined by Mrs A Boylan, 36 Wellingtonia Way, Edenbridge, Kent, TN8 5RA. A bank account is maintained with Lloyds Bank. The charity does not employ the services of consultants or third-party fundraisers but uses Southworth & Co Ltd Chartered Accountants of Four Elms, Edenbridge, Kent, TN8 6NE for payroll services.
Trustees and Governance
Trustees (in alphabetical order) that served during the accounting period were:
Miss Christina Andrews, MA (wef 7.3.22) Miss Lesley Andrews, MRSPH (Treasurer) Mrs Audrey Batchelor Mrs Anne Jennings (retired 5.4.22) Miss Lauren Martin, BA (Secretary) Mr Kieran Reed (wef 7.3.22)
The Treasurer is responsible for ensuring all Trustees are aware of their responsibilities and for maintaining records, including Declarations of Suitability based on HMRC ‘Fit and Proper Persons Test’. Trustees serve a four-year term and have the power to appoint new by majority decision. The Trustees do not receive any remuneration nor repayment of expenses etc.
Objects and Operations
The Charity has two main aims. The first is to support the work of Holcot as a charitably run (not for profit) group holiday centre primarily for the benefit of organised children’s groups, including those considered to be disabled and/or having ‘special-needs’. This is achieved by raising funds and managing volunteers to cover what are deemed the ‘core running costs’ eg administration, laundry, WiFi, emergency landline telephone, utilities, regular contractual expenditures, part-time Community Assistant and maintenance - including of the house, gardens, multi-purpose ball court and indoor recreation/games hall. Further grants and donations are sought to assist with ad hoc projects to provide all that is needed eg equipment and repairs/renovations as may become necessary for the proper maintenance, and ‘future-proofing’, of the Centre.
The second aim is to improve the lives of local (Edenbridge and surrounding Parishes) disabled and/or otherwise disadvantaged children and their families through the provision of a series of Community Projects. All funds secured for this purpose are considered to be restricted and the policy is to not have a reserve amount. Instead, activities, outings, events etc are arranged immediately funding becomes available. NB full information on beneficiaries can be found in the Community Project Policy.
Volunteers
All volunteers are subject to DBS checks and receive training in first aid and safeguarding. Further CPD certified training is available in an extensive range of subjects through Kent Safeguarding Children Board’s e-learning programme.
Policy Making
All policies are reviewed annually – the following are available on request:
Community Outreach Complaints Conflict of Interest Data Protection Equality and Diversity Financial Control Harassment, Bullying & Abuse Safeguarding Volunteer
Accreditations
The charity continues to fulfil the requirements for the Charity Excellence quality mark and for accreditation as a Living Wage Employer.
Achievements and Performance
Thanks to the hard work and dedication of our Trustees and Volunteers over the last two years, in March 2022, the Friends of Holcot gained the Sevenoaks District Community Project of the Year Award.
The charity continues to be supported by donations from individuals and, in the accounting year, received c30 separate grants from Charitable Trusts, Foundations and other grant-making organisations. The charity does not raise general funds from the public, nor does it ‘crowd fund’.
This year has, once again, been an exceptional one for income. We continue to work to our two aims and can report that our Community Projects finally managed to catch up on activities that were delayed from 2020 ie our first supported group holiday to Butlins, free family coach trips to Littlehampton and Brighton as well as a return to our annual Christmas pantomime at the Hawth Theatre, Crawley.
As far as Holcot itself is concerned we have continued to concentrate on renovating, modernising and ‘future-proofing’ the premises. This has been ongoing since the spring of 2002 and over the last
20 years we have gradually ‘ticked’ everything off our list, one item at a time. The two final projects have now been completed (see below) and we are very proud of the fact that absolutely EVERYTHING is now done!
In May 2021, the JCCT funded maintenance to the exterior including the replacement/covering of the old rotten wooden facias and soffits with weatherproof plastic, as well as new gutters/downpipes and repairs to the hanging tiles. A bonus of these works was that the replacement of the birdproofing under the low eaves along the front allowed access to an area that has had no maintenance for c40 years! Even the small rear porch roof has now been replaced properly, it no-longer leaks in heavy rain, and is in-keeping with the rest of the building. Improvements and upgrades were also made to the fire safety systems.
We did have a bit of a calamity though in that the combined weight of the scaffold and workmen split a flat roof to the rear of the property. As these roofs were last re-done c20 years ago, it was considered prudent to do all three at the same time which increased the overall bill but was felt necessary and came with the added bonus of a 20-year guarantee!
Our final renovation project was the replacement of the old timber cladding to the exterior of the games/recreation hall, with a modern wood effect composite. We knew the structure was sound and c90% of the existing timbers turned out to be perfectly fine. The carpenter did, however, have to strengthen a few areas and the entrance porch tiled roof needed to be replaced. The overall bill went up by about 20% due to the extra works but, with the double glazing installed a few years ago, we now have a completely sound (maintenance free) solid structure that will last at least the next 20+ years.
Our main community projects continued to be the free coach days out, educational laptops, food poverty, access to hardship grants, fortnightly free family-based pool parties as well as a variety of games, competitions and ‘keeping connected’ initiatives run through our public face book page.
We were able to raise a further £5.3k (making £23.7k overall) for the educational laptops project enabling us to reach our target of 100 devices gifted to local youngsters . The food poverty project spent a further c£9k on healthy fresh food boxes plus a staggering 51 substantial Christmas hampers (making £24.6k overall), and we have also succeeded in gaining funding to cover the next financial year, including Christmas. As a wider part of this project, we also partnered with The Cook Shop and, through their ’Cook Kindness initiative’, were able to distribute nearly a thousand 2-person meals at an estimated value of £9k between October 2020 and March 2022.
The supported group holiday to Butlins was an overwhelming success and we have already been able to commit to taking a further group of 9 families this summer. The (external) hardship grants schemes have now closed but we were able to refer a further number of families who benefitted from grants totalling c£4k. We continue to work with a larger funder to support young people and last year were able to access grants of just under £4k for a variety of purposes from work clothing, tools and safety boots to furniture, educational resources and professional reports/assessments for youngsters with undiagnosed learning disabilities.
In July 2021 we were also able to implement our own emergency hardship fund which helps families with small purchases for their children. We have had 61 applications so far with the average grant being c£35. No money is given, instead we make the purchases and have to date distributed £2.4k on everything from shoes, trainers and school uniforms to winter coats plus a couple of larger purchases ie a mattress for a child sleeping on the floor and van hire costs for our volunteers to collect/deliver donated furniture items.
Financial Report
The following accounts have been independently examined and approved by the Trustees.
- Friends of Holcot Income & Expenditure 6[th] April 2021 to 5[th] April 2022
| B/F from previous year INCOME Donations Grant – Flamingo Social Club Grants - general Grants - hardship/referral partners HMRC Interest – Lloyds bank EXPENDITURE Administration Butlins - supported group holiday Equipment Family Days Out Food Poverty Project Fundraising Expenses Gifts (incl minor items & campers goodwill) Hardship Awards - referral partner grants Hardship Grants -FoH emergency Household (incl laundry & cleaning) JCCT re premises Maintenance - premises Maintenance - garden & grounds Renovations Staffing – salary & payroll costs Volunteer Related Wellness - family swimming pool parties Wellness - miscellaneous |
£ £ 10,404.89 12,395.73 2,000.00 79,494.00 3,890.00 1,874.38 2.66 99,656.77 99,656.77 110,061.66 1,057.96 8,028.91 10,318.13 11,215.32 8,833.34 29.65 113.92 3,890.00 2,408.30 537.99 7,600.00 2,069.06 2,005.57 21,406.60 5,499.60 1,072.88 5,075.80 882.40 92,045.43 92,045.43 £18,016.23 |
|---|---|
Restricted funds £18k:
Activities/Entry Fees £1.7k, Core Costs £6.3k, Emergency Hardship Fund £1.6k, Equipment £200, Flamingo Social Club £2k, Food Poverty £6.2k.
CHARITY COMMISSION FOR ENGLAND ANO WALES Independent examinerfs report on the accounts Section A Independent Examiner's Report Report to the trusteesl members of Friends of Holcot On accouiits for the year ended 5th day of April 2022 Charity no (rfany} 1092332 Set out on pages I report to the ITUStees on my examsnation of the accounts of the above charity (Ihe Trusf) for the year erKled 5th day of April 2022. Responslbilltles and As the chanty trustees of the Trust, YC are responsible for the preparation basls of rnport of the aoUnts in accordance with the requirements of the Charities A 2011 (Ihe Acr). I report in respect of my examination of the Trust's accounts carried out under section 145 of the 2011 Act and in carying out my examination, I have followed the applicable Directions given by the Charrty Commission under section 145(51{b) of th8 A¢t. I have completed my examination. I confim) that no material matters have come to my attention in connection with the examination which gives me cause to b8li8Ve that in, any material respect.. accounting records were not kept in accordance wlth $8Ctlon 130 of the Act or the accounts do n(* acrd vAth the accounting r8cord8 I have no concerrts and have come affo8s no otrer matters in connection with the examination to which attention should be drawn in order to enable a proper urKlerstanding of the accourrts to be reached. . Please delete the 1[1S in the braGkets rfthey do not apply. Independant oxamlnerfs statement Signed: Dats: Narno: Mrs Alison Boylan Relevant professional qualification(s) or body {if any): Address: 36 Wellingtonia Way Edenbndge KENT TN8 5RE IER October 2018