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2025-03-31-accounts

Registered company number: 04727071 Charity number: 1099570

HORSEBRIDGE ARTS AND COMMUNITY CENTRE

Report of the Trustees and unaudited financial statements for the year ended 31 March 2025

HORSEBRIDGE ARTS AND COMMUNITY CENTRE

CONTENTS FOR THE YEAR ENDED 31 MARCH 2025

Page
Trustees' Annual Report 1
Independent Examiner's Report to the Trustees 14
Statement of Financial Activities 15
Balance Sheet 16
Notes to the Financial Statements 17

HORSEBRIDGE ARTS AND COMMUNITY CENTRE

TRUSTEES' ANNUAL REPORT FOR THE YEAR ENDED 31 MARCH 2025

The trustees, who are also directors for the purposes of company law, present their report and the unaudited financial statements of the charity for the year ended 31 March 2025.

REFERENCE AND ADMINISTRATIVE DETAILS

Registered charity name Horsebridge Arts and Community Centre Charity number 1099570 Company registration number 4727071 Registered office 11 Horsebridge Road Whitstable Kent CT5 1AF

Trustees

The trustees who served the charity during the period were as follows:

Mrs Z A Cloke Mr J C Nurden Mr L H McMahon (resigned 11/1/25) Mrs A J Memmott Cllr V A Kenny (resigned 12/12/24) Ms M Hare Mrs H Brierley (appointed 12/12/24) Mr D Taylor (appointed 16/1/25) Dr S Bird (appointed 20/2/25) Key management personnel Ms Elizabeth Daone - Executive Director Mr Peter Dyer - Finance Manager Mrs H Wenn - Artistic Director Independent examiner S J Wren FCCA Accountancy Matters (Kent) Limited Chartered Certified Accountants The Marlowe Innovation Centre Marlowe Way Ramsgate Kent CT12 6FA Bankers Lloyds Bank Plc 43 Sandgate Road Folkestone Kent CT5 1AF

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HORSEBRIDGE ARTS AND COMMUNITY CENTRE

TRUSTEES' ANNUAL REPORT FOR THE YEAR ENDED 31 MARCH 2025

PURPOSE AND ACTIVITIES

The Horsebridge Arts and Community Centre was established in 2004 as a not-for-profit company limited by guarantee with a charitable status. It occupies a distinctive, purpose built, contemporary building in the centre of the town adjacent to the seafront. Identified locally as ‘The Horsebridge’ it provides a vibrant arts centre at the heart of our community. A place where everybody can experience creativity. Everyone is welcome, everyone can take part. It offers engaging creative spaces that enrich lives and encourage involvement. We provide opportunities to develop creative practices and grow new audiences. We build connections and bring the community together.

The purpose of the charity is to provide a social, cultural and learning resource of high-quality that meets the needs of our community, is excellent value and is welcoming an accessible to all.

Aims of The Horsebridge

Building on the centre’s established relationships with the local community, as well as its diverse artistic and educational programme, the centre aims to

Public Benefit

The Trustees confirm they have had due regard to the Charity Commission’s public benefit guidance and are confident the objectives and activities undertaken provide significant benefit to the public and are in accordance with its charitable objects.

The Horsebridge enjoys more than 90,000 visitors through its doors each year. These visitors are made up of local and regional visitors as well as tourists from the UK and abroad as Whitstable, and increasingly The Horsebridge, continuers to attract cultural and heritage tourists. We are committed to deliver a year-round programme of arts events and learning opportunities to Whitstable and beyond, responding to and enhancing the passions of the community. We work cohesively in our programming to ensure we offer events the community can be involved in with the aim of having no barrier to access, particularly with youth projects and events, connecting with other organisations and groups across the district to enhance the collective offering to the region. The Centre continues to develop new approaches to reach sections of our community who feel there is nothing at the centre for them.

The Centre relies on income generated from hire charges and events to cover its operating costs alongside grant funding. To remain accessible and to continue to provide public benefit, the trustees and management team of the Centre have to take great care to ensure the fees set across the Centre remain accessible for those on low income. The variety of spaces within the Centre assist us in enabling both physical and economic accessibility to the resources, but we are continually looking at more ways to develop the interaction with the building.

When providing an arts offering we are aware that not everyone has the same tastes and some of our arts programming may cause offence. We seek to respect the diverse ethnic, faith, sexual orientation and lifestyles within our community and take great care to consider their views without compromising the integrity of our offering. We clearly sign any event that may cause offence and use our complaints policy to ensure the community voice is heard.

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HORSEBRIDGE ARTS AND COMMUNITY CENTRE

TRUSTEES' ANNUAL REPORT FOR THE YEAR ENDED 31 MARCH 2025

Key Strategies

To deliver the operational activities of the centre we are guided by key strategies, built upon our charitable purpose, objects and aims. These are periodically reviewed and refined by the board and senior staff team to incorporate changing operational environments and strategic policy changes. The strategies are to:

ACHIEVEMENTS AND PERFORMANCE

Creative Development

Creatively the centre has grown significantly during these 12 months. Our exhibition spaces have continued to offer a varied and high quality programme, drawing participants from across the globe to both exhibit and visit. Our learning and participatory activities have shown substantial growth, both in the number of activities and the expansion of accessible arts, gaining wider audiences by reducing barriers to entry.

Working with partners we have been able to deliver a wider range of arts, significantly expanding our performance arts programme with music, theatre and comedy this year. These activities alongside community projects have enabled us to reach new audiences and we have been privileged to be a part of fantastic cross generational experiences as part of these. Year on year ticketed activities showed a 49% increase in revenue against an 8% increase in the number of activities and 25% more tickets sold to participants. Not all our activities are ticketed, many family activities are drop-in and donation only which are difficult to capture quantitative data for.

Visual arts

Central to our visual arts programme are the exhibition spaces on the ground floor curated by our Artistic Director to deliver a depth of selling and participatory exhibitions aligned to our Artistic Programme Principle. The demand to exhibit supports a range of thought-provoking and engaging shows that draw in thousands of visitors each year, whilst also enabling us to partner on exhibitions with artists that can explore local culture, mental health and challenge misconceptions. The visual arts programme as a whole has a tangible impact on the local economy with both visitors and exhibitors travelling internationally and staying in Whitstable to participate.

Throughout the year the exhibition spaces supported over 35 exhibitions and showcased the work of hundreds of local, national and international artists. The breadth of exhibitions from solo work to groups shows feature a diversity of practises. The growth in the quality and engagement of the exhibitions is underlined by the increased footfall and, importantly, for selling shows, the increase in sales. Printmaking show LinoPrint4 brought the return of internationally renowned printmakers to the centre. Not only was this a successful selling show for the creatives involved, but it also built understanding for the breadth of the medium, encouraged strong participation through creative sessions and gave wider exposure to local printmakers. This closer alignment of our learning programme with our exhibition programme was mirrored throughout the year, engaging families in our creative sessions to draw inspiration from the professional work in the exhibitions.

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Exhibitions also challenged and explored matters close to the community, these included St/ART End Period Poverty textile exhibition which raised awareness of period poverty through the ingenious use of a sanitary towels as a template for creativity and challenged plastic waste in period products – one of the most common forms of marine pollution. They worked with local schools, colleges and refugee groups. Meanwhile Lost Soles by Mark Whyte provided an immersive installation of lost shoes rescued from a one-mile stretch of Dungeness shoreline, alongside salt-water damaged photographic artworks and metal multiple exposure print.

Events and Performance Arts

Thanks to donations to improve our performance space equipment, this year saw the launch of an expanded events programme, bringing live music and comedy to our existing theatre and film line-up. The music line-up launched in September with Jazz at the Horsebridge, working with Kai Hoffman from Broad Reach Records to deliver monthly Sunday evening performances along with a special Jazz for Juniors for Christmas. With a capacity of 120 in our seated performance space we have been pleased with the 500+ tickets sales in this new venture.

Comedy launched at the end of the financial year, with just one event taking place, but it sits as part of our super Sunday evenings. We have partnered with Off The Kerb to launch and will closely monitor progress over the next year as this is an area that faces higher competition locally. Alongside comedy March brought the first Folk music event in our programme. Working with Broadstairs Folk Week we are looking to develop a folk music line-up as part of our Sunday evenings.

Our social film screenings continue to be a central activity within the centre with 14 screenings during the year. With low prices and opportunity to meet over a hot drink and biscuit beforehand they have provided an opportunity to leave home with a purpose for those who have experienced isolation. With an expanded Sunday Matinee programme showing highly acclaimed but less widely screened films the programme continues to grow in its diversity of offer.

Our theatre programme has continued to develop this year, with a closer relationship with new theatre group Constant Lark, who have brought 13 fantastic theatre performances to the centre. Across five productions, Constant Lark have introduced new ways to experience Shakespeare and brought great family entertainment with productions like The Chef Who Went on an Adventure.

Learning and Participation

Our Studio Sessions have expanded significantly and cemented our aspiration to provide a rounded education programme for visual arts. The variety of workshops run from an hour single session to 10 week long courses engaging with clay, knitting, abstracts, journalling, printmaking, oils, sketching, still life, watercolours and more. Popularity of some sessions has led to the introduction of regular ‘clubs’, creating a social aspect to the learning. We plan to grow this further and build on the variety of creative learning opportunities beyond visual arts.

Our Talks programme has developed with the return of regular Art Decades talks alongside the now established Art & Artists talk series with Richard Dean MA. We were thrilled to include a talk series from Simon Postgate who talked about much-loved children's television shows such as Bagpuss, Noggin the Nog and The Clangers co-created by his dad Oliver Postgate along with Peter Firmin, all local to the Centre. With over 600 tickets sold for talks during this year, the programme continues to be enjoyed by our audiences. We supported talks for local issues including a compelling Reimagining Sewage Infrastructure event, a hot topic locally.

In conjunction with Tales from Moon Lane, The Whitstable Children's Festival of Books took place throughout the centre in March 2025 with a range of activities to inspire a life-long love of reading, supported by festival patron Anthony Browne and encouraged children to see themselves as readers, writers and artists. The festival provided a whole day of free activities specifically for schools alongside a public activity day, including graphic novel workshops to mini musicals, mystery solving sessions to illustration skills workshops.

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We supported the CT5 People’s forum Wild About Whitstable week again this year at the centre with crafting family sessions and hosting talks on Conserving the Thames, Turtle Doves, Wildlife gardening and a film screening. Wild about Whitstable events bring the community together to improve and celebrate biodiversity in CT5 and beyond, highlighting the impact of climate change and the depletion of nature to show how we can play our part in its restoration.

Accessible Arts

We are fortunate to have a building that supports accessibility and while not perfect, is something we continue to work to improve. However, to be able to deliver “A place where everybody can experience creativity. Everyone is welcome, everyone can take part” in the current economic climate has required us to adjust our offer particularly for families to ensure money does not become a barrier to arts participation. We have had to balance this against our own financial complexities with funding and ensure we are delivering the activities that can have the most impact.

We have continued to grow our 'Pay what you can ' programme, which provides activities on a donation only basis and underpins much of our young people and family activities along with ARTbank. Three key family activities are Family Art Club, Young Makers Club and new for this year Art Den, which run regularly throughout the year and offer school holiday specials. Family Art Club is a monthly activity for all the family to be creative together and continues to be well attended following its launch toward the end of last year. Art Den started this year and runs weekly during term time for pre-school children and has grown a regular audience. The Young Makers Club for young people aged 6-11 ran every Thursday during term time in 2024 thanks to sponsorship funding from Furley Page and Brett. It has been an important activity for the community as it offers an inclusive space for young people with disabilities, learning differences and mental health needs. However, decreasing regular attendance and cost to run has meant we have had to pause Young Makers until we can find a way to grow the regular audience and reduce the cost to operate it. We hope this will be possible next year.

ARTbank launched in June 2021 and has become an incredibly valued resource by the local and wider community. The initiative collects unwanted arts and crafts materials and books and offers these on a donation basis to users of the ARTbank. The ARTbank is also a sustainability initiative, saving unwanted craft materials from landfill. Availability of the bank was problematic as it had no dedicated space in the centre and relied on requesting access and ad-hoc pop-ups. Following the remodelling of areas of the ground floor last year, we were able to launch a new dedicated ARTbank space in June this year, thanks to funding from UK Shared Prosperity Fund via Canterbury City Council, Faversham Arts Society and Councillor Clare Turnball. This space is now accessible whenever the centre is open, and due to the demand, we are looking to grow the reach of this further next year.

Creative Partnerships and Professional Development Opportunities

Thanks to grant funding from The Henry Smith Charity, Perfectly Imperfect ran throughout 2024 to provide a programme of creative activity enabling those who have experienced a stroke or brain injury to use photography as part of their recovery. Working in collaboration with Photographer and stroke survivor Andy Watts, we created a safe space for those also affected to explore and experience the benefits or photography as therapy and to celebrate their achievements in an exciting photographic exhibition.

Guided and inspired by photographer Alex Hare’s own personal learning journey Our War, Their Story with funding from the National Lottery Heritage Fund created digital journals of the traced and researched histories of individuals from World War 1. The project worked with National Archives, University of Kent and Whitstable Museum with a special visit from Sarah Nathaniel of Commonwealth War Graves. Whilst primarily a learning project it resulted in many creative outcomes. The intergenerational workshops crafted memory books, talks on Art and Artists of the Great War with Richard Dean MA, resources created for our website for others to use and an exhibition including a short film to share the outcomes.

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Artfully Yours was funded last year by Chestfield Rotary Club and Tesco Whitstable, this cross generational ‘Kindness and Community’ project culminated in a moving installation of plaster cast hands of the participants reaching from the walls. Created from work over a series of weeks with children from Whitstable Junior School, Social Prescribing clients and volunteers from Red Zebra Community Solutions and The Horsebridge Arts Centre this was a celebration of their artistic achievements. Coinciding with Volunteer’s Week it was also a chance to recognise, celebrate and thank the UK’s incredible volunteers for all they contribute to our local communities, the voluntary sector, and society as a whole.

The first Whitstable Arts Festival - a hub of contemporary interdisciplinary arts - featured across several locations throughout Whitstable, with a ground breaking exhibition, artist led workshops, artist and curator Q&A sessions, films and talks taking place in the Centre.

The Kent County Council (KCC) grant enabled us to repair the red telephone box by the centre that we adopted previously and fit it out with solar lighting and hanging fixtures. It has been used by ourselves and community groups for shows during the Whitstable Carnival, the Peter Cushing festival and May Day. We have put plans in place to develop this as a pop up gallery that schools, college and youth groups will be able to use in the coming year.

Studio Sessions continue to provide opportunities for local creatives to develop professionally and share their skills and passion for their craft as tutors, providing alternative income possibilities. Horsebridge curated selling exhibitions like Christmas Makers Market have provided opportunities for creatives to sell work and introduce them to our audience. Our local makers shop, growing in its new location, provides a fantastic year-round focus on local makers and provides a gentle introduction to the retail space for new makers.

VENUE HIRE AND COMMUNITY SPACES

The centre offers a range of community spaces that are hired for a broad range of classes, workshops and meetings. Alongside the hourly to daily hire, we also support activities with the longerterm rental of spaces in the centre to local businesses.

Room hire continues to be a competitive market locally. The development of the studio and hub spaces last year has created the ability to grow both internal activities like Studio Sessions and the ability to hire externally for corporate away days and similar. It has highlighted the need to obtain funding to continue this development further, particularly as performance arts events and the accompanying bar continue to grow. Reorganising the use of spaces will be critical to continuing to diversify income next year and beyond.

AUDIENCE DEVELOPMENT

We have continued to seek opportunities to provide an even more accessible arts space for all, with barriers such as isolation and affordability taking priority, as we have directly seen the impact on the older population and young people. We prioritised enabling the arts centre to be a place to socially engage and immerse in arts experiences without financial barriers to participation, alongside providing a platform for creatives who have been hit hard by the pandemic.

Audience demographic remains similar to last year with ticketed events showing sales outside the local CT1 to CT6 postcodes at 10%. Due to a larger number of walk-ups the percentage of postcodes captured has fallen from 61% to 47% and this will form part of the strategy for system change next year to improve the basic data collection. This will require reviewing historical customers who haven’t provided postcodes in the past at point of booking.

Systems are not used to capture any more detailed demographic information. We are looking for grant funding next year to support growing this area significantly.

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TRUSTEES' ANNUAL REPORT FOR THE YEAR ENDED 31 MARCH 2025

COMMUNICATIONS

Marketing and Digital Engagement

Marketing within the centre has no dedicated resource and relies on volunteers to create physical marketing materials. Physical marketing consists of a quarterly brochure, large format posters and leaflets. Most physical materials are for use around the building except for the quarterly brochure which is distributed locally. Leaflets are generally collected from the centre by visitors for future reference.

Our digital focused communication has continued to grow and evolve, with social media platforms combined with our website and email newsletter have become the primary communication means. The website traffic at 160k page views has doubled this year compared to last year as we continue to develop systems to sell and book online. Social channels combined reach exceeds 10,000 a week with followers of nearly 14,500, which continues to increase. Our newsletter is being used more frequently but has yet to grow much beyond last year’s figures. Social media engagement continues to be problematic without a dedicated resource developing and engaging with audiences regularly. It is an aspiration but with cuts across the organisation expectations of digital reach need to remain realistic until we reach a position to afford a full communication and marketing strategy.

Media Coverage

We have been working to increase our local press coverage and have had pieces picked up. These included our 20th anniversary celebrations, the launch of Jazz at The Horsebridge and the Art Decades talk series. With new volunteers and Trustee skill sets we are looking to expand on this going forward to take advantage of rejuvenated printed papers across our region.

THE TEAM

Staff

Evolving, diversifying and developing would not be possible without dedicated and skilled staff. The team continue to provide a friendly, efficient and meaningful service to our customers under increasingly demanding circumstances. The centre continues to run on an exceptionally small team for all the activities that are delivered, with just 18 staff, all part-time, that equate to 7 full time equivalent employees.

The team continue to meet the challenges with professionalism and commitment to change and grow the organisation for the future. As we look to the next year and beyond there will be more changes and demands placed on the team as the offer evolves, but we have every confidence in the team's ability to adapt and remain united in the desire to deliver a flagship arts space for our community.

The senior management team are dedicated beyond their job definition and continue to drive the organisation forward with passion and commitment to the organisation’s mission. The success of initiatives like the volunteer programme are only achievable because they lead by such a powerful example.

Volunteers

The Centre is supported by a diverse group of volunteers, and we are privileged to have a continued growth in supporters requesting to volunteer. The funding last year has made a big difference to enhancing and formalising volunteering to support this growth. Our volunteer pool includes highly skilled volunteers who dedicate pockets of time to specific tasks which critically support skill gaps in our small staff team; volunteers who regularly support us with customer engagement and support on our front desk; and volunteers who participate in creative sessions and enable initiatives like ARTbank and Handmade Christmas to succeed. We actively seek to ensure our volunteer community reflects our wider community. Each year we also support Duke of Edinburgh volunteers and young people undertaking work experience from local secondary schools.

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HORSEBRIDGE ARTS AND COMMUNITY CENTRE

TRUSTEES' ANNUAL REPORT FOR THE YEAR ENDED 31 MARCH 2025

We currently rely on volunteers for over 200 hours per month to support with front of house, event bars, administrative work, marketing and website and socials. In addition, our Trustees are all volunteers and contribute a minimum of 25 hours each month in board meetings and support activities. Our volunteer team includes individuals with physical disabilities, mental health and learning difficulties some of whom find it difficult to volunteer in our usual volunteering roles but want the opportunity to volunteer. Supported by staff they create work for community projects and particularly enjoy the extensive creative activities that support our Handmade Christmas initiative as part of our Christmas Makers Market. This team of volunteers contribute over 65 hours per month with their creative work.

It would now be impossible to operate the centre without volunteer support.

Board of Trustees

The Board of Trustees continues to evolve with the organisation, and we are fortunate to have had skilled Trustees that have supported the organisational change and financial challenges we have faced recently. The dedication and strength of the board complements that of the rest of the team, highlighted when managing the extended absence of the Chair through part of this year due to medical reasons. As the challenges we face change and grow, so too have the board, with trustees’ experienced in fundraising, building and communications skills.

INFRASTRUCTURE

Systems and Data

Within financial constraints and with the support of skilled volunteers we have successfully implemented multiple systems to improve our organisational processes over the years, but the disparate nature of the systems and the data they hold is now making it harder to extract meaningful information to support decisions that are not just financially based. This year we have started a review of our needs going forward and the systems that we may be able to use to upgrade and integrate systems and processes. Ensuring we have ways to capture demographics, impact and engagement alongside ticketing and financials will be critical to funding success going forward.

Building

Our local authority has continued to support the maintenance of the physical building this year, but we are working to a handover position next year. This has involved a review of the current state of the building and consequently a list of items that will need rectifying before we can take over maintenance in accordance with our lease. Items of critical impact continue to be the air conditioning and heating systems along with the lift that is vital for the building to remain accessible. We are fortunate to have skilled volunteer and trustee support alongside our senior management team to oversee this complex issue.

Work on the air conditioning system in the top of building did result in an extended closure for some areas of the building following the Christmas break but gains over the longer term from a more effective and efficient system for events are significant.

STRATEGY AND DEVELOPMENT

Without a doubt the toughest obstacle facing the centre, like many arts organisations, is the funding to continue. Over the last few years we have worked incredibly hard to deliver a greater breadth and depth of arts opportunities to the district, striving to broaden the audiences we are reaching. While we will continue to do this over the next five years, short-term focus must be on growing reserves for financial stability against an increasingly difficult economic environment.

We are fortunate to have a strong and diversified earned income base, but as this year has shown, it must be balanced against achieving funding through grants, sponsorship and trusts if we are to succeed. To achieve this, we need to ensure we have a team that are fit for purpose and feel equipped to meet the challenge and have sufficient capacity and training to deliver effectively.

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HORSEBRIDGE ARTS AND COMMUNITY CENTRE

TRUSTEES' ANNUAL REPORT FOR THE YEAR ENDED 31 MARCH 2025

We will need to secure more resilient funding to enable us to grow the staff team from the current reduced levels which is restricting the team to be able to deliver much beyond core activities. We will seek outside support to enable us to critically review our offer and direction and crucially seek funding to support us in improving the monitoring of the organisation.

We have seen the rewards from the growth of the learning programme, and this will continue into next year, along with building the extended events provision. The success of our Pay What You Can programme in broadening the audience and reaching more people who would otherwise have struggled to engage with the arts. We will look to ensure we are offering quality arts opportunities that can make a difference to the lives of anyone in our community.

We will continue to drive for high quality and thought-provoking exhibitions in our public gallery spaces and push to tie these further into a cohesive learning programme. We will continue to look for grant funding for improvements where the building is restricting growth. We will build on existing cultural and creative partnerships to bring new experiences to the community throughout the centre, pushing beyond the boundaries of the physical space and making more use of the environment we reside in.

FINANCIAL REVIEW

The Horsebridge Arts Centre key financial aim is to deliver a financial stable, diversified and secure organisation each year. The overview for the 2024/25 financial year is as follows:

Total Income £232,699
Total Expenditure £248,146
Net Income £(15,447)
Total funds brought forward £24,086
Total funds carried forward £8,639

Despite a promising year from both charitable activities and trading income, with a 14% increase on last year, this was not sufficient to meet an increase in costs. Income fell short in two main areas against budget, unrestricted grants and income from selling shows/auction. We experienced higher running costs than budgeted, these were mainly due to the increase in expenditure associated with a proportionally larger increase in revenues from shop, in-house activities and events.

The only area of significant overspend beside this was salaries which were over budget and increased from last year by 4%, about £500 a month. It is important to put salaries into perspective given the ratio of staff to volunteers has significantly increased over the last couple of years. Using an approximated average of 72 hours a week the centre requires staffing, with minimum wage of £11.44 as a basis for all wage costs, our salary cost means we have an average of 3 staff per hour. This would cover the senior management staff, operational staff, and cleaning/maintenance staff. A proportion of our team are paid above minimum wage, which would push the number of staff considerably lower. Operating a three-floor building and all of its activities on less than 3 staff per hour highlights why we must look to fund a larger staff team and be in a position to budget significantly more for salaries in future.

PRINCIPAL FUNDING SOURCES

The Horsebridge generates income from the hire/rental of galleries and workshop spaces, events and in-house activities, commercial trading activities mainly through the retail space and other sundry income including membership and commission.

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HORSEBRIDGE ARTS AND COMMUNITY CENTRE

TRUSTEES' ANNUAL REPORT FOR THE YEAR ENDED 31 MARCH 2025

Venue Hire

Both gallery hire and room hire experienced below budget income. The budget for this area was 17% above last year’s actuals but achieved only a 5% increase on last year. A combination of cancellations and last-minute hires impacted galleries, and the targeted growth in room hire was not fully achieved. Due to staff capacity the requirements to promote venue hire were not met, but there has been promising growth in some spaces above expectations along with use for away days and multi day events.

Activities

Charitable activities income increased by 15% with box office income showing an encouraging 66% increase year on year supported by a 14% growth for in-house activities. They account for a £13,900 income increase against £8,396 costs which are reasonable for these mainly emergent activities. Event and in-house activities income achieved 65% improvement against budget, and due to costs not scaling with income, they achieved over 100% improvement in profit against budget. Our main selling show, while performing well, did not achieve any of the sponsorship income we were hoping to attract and the higher external costs than anticipated against revenue. The volunteer run bar is showing great promise to support the expansion of music and comedy events, with a 51% increase in income on the year before, this was a £3,400 increase against an increase in costs of just £750.

Commercial Trading Activities

The Horsebridge Shop continues to be an area of growth for the Centre, now responsible for 21% of revenue for the year. We set a strong budget increase for the shop and with an 11% increase in revenue it managed to achieve the target, a £5,500 income increase against just £1,700 of costs. The increases continue to highlight the success of the relocation, but there is still work to be done on marketing the space and growing Horsebridge exclusive products. Staff capacity has resulted in little progress on taking products online and without a wider range of commissioned or exclusive products this will continue to be a struggle.

Local Authority funding

We receive no annual funding from our district or county councils to operate the art centre and rely on applications to grant programmes that are opened to all organisations locally. CCC continued to support maintenance of the building for another year with the intention to return all maintenance costs to the charity next year. The board remain acutely aware of the pressures on local council budgets and significantly reduced funds available for the arts and anticipate no change in this for the foreseeable future, particularly as the local council has its own arts venues to support outside of Whitstable.

FUNDRAISING

Donations and Grants

We were able to secure an increase in donations of 63% compared to the previous year, a total increase of £16,500. Of these £5,500 funds were for restricted use, but the remainder was able to contribute directly to core costs, with about 75% of the increase directly attributable to a single legacy donation. Unfortunately, against these donation improvements, we faced difficulty in achieving grants to the level of the previous year or reaching our modest budget target for unrestricted funds. This is directly attributable to reduced staff capacity to apply for grants, not an inability to be successful in being rewarded grants.

Supporters

We are incredibly grateful to the Friends who have supported us but the scheme continues to provide modest income and not achieve the growth we know is possible. We have the support of a volunteer secured for next year to look to grow our Friends base and the involvement Friends have in the future of the organisation.

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TRUSTEES' ANNUAL REPORT FOR THE YEAR ENDED 31 MARCH 2025

Auction

March 2025 saw the return of our fundraising Art Auction exhibition, complemented by an online viewing and bidding facility on our website to raise funds for the organisation. The nearly 100 artworks were kindly donated by creatives who support the centre. The auction took place over 10 days and culminated in enthusiastic bidding online up to the very last second. The £7,600 raised in the auction was incredible given the increased financial pressures that our community are facing, a 22% increase on the year before.

Investment Policy

The Trustees operate a policy of holding any reserves held in an interest-bearing savings account.

Reserves Policy and Going Concern

The reserves policy is reviewed annually as a minimum, in production of the annual report, with financial monitoring of the cashflow and balance sheet occurring on a monthly basis at senior management level and board level.

The reserves policy makes clear the funds of the charity are divided into restricted funds and unrestricted funds in accordance with charity legislation. The charity’s reserves are that part of the charity’s unrestricted funds that are freely available to spend on any of the charity’s purposes.

Our goal is to create free reserves of sufficient funds to cover up to three months operating costs. This will provide for working capital and ensure services can remain fully funded for short periods of time and any cancelled advance hires can be refunded.

As of 31 March 2025, the charity held total unrestricted funds of £5,674, along with restricted funds of £2,965. Unrestricted funds are further designated equal to the value of fixed assets, following which left a negative general fund balance of (£3,269) at 31 March 2025.

The charity operates with generally predictable levels of unrestricted funds income and steady cash receipts and payments, but with high levels of fixed costs. Unrestricted funds are not reliant on any single source, with the large majority self-generated through hire, sales and donations. The organisation is not reliant on a single funder for more than 5% of its income.

The trustees are confident the charity will remain a going concern in the coming twelve months, for the following reasons: the trustees have projected forward the charity's budget and cashflow position to 31 December 2026; an ongoing programme of fundraising additional income from grants is underway to cover projects and contributions to running costs; projected income is not reliant on any single source, and is secured from a mix of self-generated income from hire, sales and donations, in addition to grant income; cashflow is monitored in detail on a weekly basis to ensure liabilities are settled: this monitoring will continue in the coming year. Although the charity has a low level of net assets, the value of both the charity's current assets and current liabilities is significantly higher, which is due to the charity deferring income for future hire of its spaces (i.e. hire that is to take place after 31 March 2025). This deferred income is only due for repayment to hirers if a hire is cancelled, and the majority of the deferred income relates to the hire of gallery spaces, which are in high demand and are fully booked in advance. It is therefore considered very unlikely that deferred income will be liable to be repaid.

PLANS FOR THE FUTURE

The Horsebridge board and team remain committed to delivering a sustainable arts centre for the district. Financially the focus is on generating sufficient income to cover the high levels of fixed costs, made more difficult by the continued increases in these in the current economic climate. We continue to reduce our reliance on inconsistent or neutral generated income streams and diversify further.

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HORSEBRIDGE ARTS AND COMMUNITY CENTRE

TRUSTEES' ANNUAL REPORT FOR THE YEAR ENDED 31 MARCH 2025

Increasing the income from grant funding, both core-cost funding and project based restricted funds, will be critical next year given the impact on reserves for the last three years. Because of the smaller staff team, growing our offer will continue to be difficult this year if we are to focus on grant funding. Continuing to be innovative in our outreach programmes and the benefits they deliver will be key alongside significantly enhancing the events activities to further diversify income. Delivery of this will only be possible with a strong and committed volunteer team to complement the staff team.

We need to build further on the success of the shop and see continued benefit from the relocation and growth in the space available for the shop. The Horsebridge Centre will continue building on the development strategies for the visual arts increasing quality for visitors and broadening the accessibility. We will look to grow the ARTbank and improve the viability of the Pay What You Can scheme longer term. Further expansion of the learning programme will be important in building revenue to support the visual arts programme costs.

Fundamentally we will continue to develop the Centre as a resource to enrich the lives of the local community whilst attracting seasonal visitors and expanding our customer and friends base, but it is without doubt that 2025-26 will be a challenging year both financially and operationally as we look to recover from the financial position of this year.

STRUCTURE, GOVERNANCE AND MANAGEMENT Governing Document

The Horsebridge Arts and Community Centre is a charitable company limited by guarantee, incorporated on 8 April 2003 and registered as a charity on 22 September 2003. The company was established under a Memorandum of Association, which established the objects and powers of the charitable company and is governed under its Articles of Association. In the event of the company being wound up, members are required to contribute an amount not exceeding £1. The directors of the company are also charity Trustees for the purposes of charity law and under the company's Articles are known as Trustees.

Organisation

The Board of Trustees meet monthly, with additional meetings as required and has control of the Charity and its property and funds.

The Executive Director has day-to-day responsibility for the provision of services in line with the policies and plans agreed by the Board. The Executive Director, Artistic Director and Finance Manager form the senior management team. The Executive Director and Artistic Director supervise the staff team, which, in March 2025, consisted of eighteen part-time staff including casual staff who provide cover in busy times. The Centre also has a growing number of regular and dedicated volunteers who provide staffing for our reception desk, events and in maintaining the Centre.

Recruitment and appointment of the Board of Trustees

Under the requirements of the Memorandum and Articles of Association there shall be not less than six and not more than twelve Trustees. One third of the Trustees must retire at each AGM, those longest in office retiring first.

Membership of the charity is open to any individual or organisation interested in promoting its objects. A new protocol is in place for recruiting and selecting Trustees and there is the intent next year to grow the board following this process. Potential trustees are invited to meet with the Chair and/or Vice Chair as part of this process.

The Trustees may at any time co-opt any person duly qualified to be appointed as a Trustee to fill a vacancy in their number or as an additional Trustee, but a co-opted Trustee only holds office until the next AGM. At an AGM the members elect persons to be Trustees to fill the vacancies.

Page 12

HORSEBRIDGE ARTS AND COMMUNITY CENTRE

TRUSTEES' ANNUAL REPORT FOR THE YEAR ENDED 31 MARCH 2025

Trustee Induction and Training

New Trustees will meet with the Chair and/or Vice Chair and are provided with an induction pack on 'Being a Trustee of the Horsebridge Arts and Community Centre' which explains the aims of the Horsebridge, and the nature and responsibilities of the Trustee role. Further information, including a copy of the Memorandum and Articles of Association and current financial information, is provided. Trustees are encouraged to attend appropriate external training events where these will facilitate the undertaking of their role. We will continue to develop the induction and performance review processes for Trustees in the coming year.

Risk Management

Policies and process continue to be reviewed to achieve best practice within the organisation. Changes in personnel and supporting technology have significantly improved our financial processes. An analysis of our financial position is available to the board on a monthly basis, with weekly financial reviews within the management team. The board and senior management team monitor the organisational and operational risks and operational efficiencies to make the best use of our resources. The board continues to consider impacts of Covid-19 pandemic measures on grant availability. Work continues on a more formal risk management strategy.

Related Parties

None of our Trustees receive remuneration or other benefit from their work with the charity. Any conflict of interest faced by a Trustee must be declared. There have been no such declarations in the current year.

Trustees' responsibilities in relation to the financial statements

The Trustees confirm that the annual report and the financial statements of the company comply with the current statutory requirements of the company’s governing document and the provisions of the Charities SORP (FRS 102) and the Companies Act 2006.

Signed by order of the trustees on 3 December 2025.

Mrs Z A Cloke

Page 13

INDEPENDENT EXAMINERS REPORT TO THE TRUSTEES OF

Page 14

HORSEBRIDGE ARTS AND COMMUNITY CENTRE

I report to the charity trustees on my examination of the accounts of the company for the year ended 31 March 2025 which are set out on pages 15 to 27.

Responsibilities and basis of report

As the charity's trustees of the Company (and also its directors for the purposes of company law) you are responsible for the preparation of the accounts in accordance with the requirements of the Companies Act 2006 ('the 2006 Act').

Having satisfied myself that the accounts of the Company are not required to be audited under Part 16 of the 2006 Act and are eligible for independent examination, I report in respect of my examination of your charity's accounts as carried out under section 145 of the Charities Act 2011 ('the 2011 Act'). In carrying out my examination I have followed the Directions given by the Charity Commission under section 145(5) (b) of the 2011 Act.

Independent examiner's statement

I have completed my examination. I confirm that no matters have come to my attention in connection with the examination giving me cause to believe:

I have no concerns and have come across no other matters in connection with the examination to which attention should be drawn in this report in order to enable a proper understanding of the accounts to be reached.

S J Wren FCCA Accountancy Matters (Kent) Limited Chartered Certified Accountants The Marlowe Innovation Centre Marlowe Way Ramsgate Kent CT12 6FA

Date : 12 December 2025

HORSEBRIDGE ARTS AND COMMUNITY CENTRE

Page 15

STATEMENT OF FINANCIAL ACTIVITIES (incorporating an Income and Expenditure Account) FOR THE YEAR ENDED 31 MARCH 2025

Notes Unrestricted
funds
£
INCOME
Income from charitable activities
2
114,921
Income from other trading activities
3
78,182
Donations
4
20,786
Investment income
162
TOTAL INCOME
214,051
EXPENDITURE
Costs of raising funds
5
38,642
Charitable activities
5
182,751
TOTAL EXPENDITURE
221,393
NET (EXPENDITURE)/INCOME FOR THE YEAR
BEFORE TRANSFERS
6
(7,342)
Transfers between funds
12
6,934
NET MOVEMENT IN FUNDS FOR THE YEAR
(408)
Balance as at 1 April 2024
6,082
BALANCE AS AT 31 MARCH 2025
5,674		 Restricted
funds
£
-
190.00
18,458
-
18,648
857
25,896
26,753
(8,105)
(6,934)
(15,039)
18,004
2,965		 Total
Total
funds
funds
2025
2024
£
£
114,921
97,172
78,372
69,720
39,244
79,822
162
-
232,699
246,714
39,499
36,392
208,647
195,038
248,146
231,430
(15,447)
15,284
-
-
(15,447)
15,284
24,086
8,802
8,639
24,086

HORSEBRIDGE ARTS AND COMMUNITY CENTRE

Page 16

BALANCE SHEET AS AT 31 MARCH 2025

Notes
FIXED ASSETS
Tangible assets
8
CURRENT ASSETS
Stock
Debtors and prepayments
9
Cash at bank and in hand
CREDITORS: amounts falling due within
one year
10
NET CURRENT LIABILITIES
CREDITORS: Amounts falling due after more
than one year
NET ASSETS
11
Represented by:
FUNDS OF THE CHARITY
Unrestricted general fund
12
Designated funds
12
Restricted funds
12
TOTAL FUNDS		 13,523
11,126
21,729
46,378
(46,682)		 2025
£
8,943
13,059
13,779
31,168
58,006
(45,524)
(304)
(304)
-
8,639
(3,269)
8,943
2,965
8,639		 2024
£
11,604
12,482
12,482
-
24,086
(5,522)
11,604
18,004
24,086

For the financial year ended 31 March 2025 the company was entitled to exemption from audit under s.477 Companies Act 2006 and no members have deposited a notice under s.476 requiring an audit.

The directors acknowledge their responsibilities for ensuring that the company keeps accounting records which comply with s.386 of the Act for preparing accounts which give a true and fair view of the state of affairs of the company as at the end of the financial year and of its profit or loss for the financial year in accordance with the requirements of sections 394 and 395 and which otherwise comply with the requirements of the Companies Act 2006 relating to accounts, so far as applicable to the company.

The accounts are prepared in accordance with the provisions applicable to companies subject to the small companies' regime in part 15 of the Companies Act 2006 relating to small companies and in accordance with the Charities SORP (FRS 102).

Approved and signed for issue by the trustees on 3 December 2025.

Mrs Z A Cloke

Mr J C Nurden

Company number - 04727071

HORSEBRIDGE ARTS AND COMMUNITY CENTRE

Page 17

NOTES TO THE FINANCIAL STATEMENTS FOR THE YEAR ENDED 31 MARCH 2025

1 ACCOUNTING POLICIES

The financial statements have been prepared in accordance with Accounting and Reporting by Charities : Statement of Recommended Practice applicable to charities preparing their accounts in accordance with the Financial Reporting Standard applicable in the UK and the Republic of Ireland FRS 102 (effective 1 January 2019) - (Charities SORP FRS 102), the Financial Reporting Standard applicable in the UK and Republic of Ireland FRS 102 and the Companies Act 2006.

Horsebridge Arts and Community Centre meets the definition of a public benefit entity under FRS 102. Assets and liabilities are initially recognised at historical cost or transaction value unless otherwise stated in the relevant accounting policy note.

The principal accounting policies adopted are as follows:

a) Preparation of the accounts on a going concern basis

The trustees are confident the charity will remain a going concern in the coming twelve months, for the following reasons: the trustees have projected forward the charity's budget and cashflow position to 31 December 2026; an ongoing programme of fundraising additional income from grants is underway to cover projects and contributions to running costs; projected income is not reliant on any single source, and is secured from a mix of self-generated income from hire, sales and donations, in addition to grant income; cashflow is monitored in detail on a weekly basis to ensure liabilities are settled: this monitoring will continue in the coming year. Although the charity has a low level of net assets, the value of both the charity's current assets and current liabilities is significantly higher, which is due to the charity deferring income for future hire of its spaces (i.e. hire that is to take place after 31 March 2025). This deferred income is only due for repayment to hirers if a hire is cancelled, and the majority of the deferred income relates to the hire of gallery spaces, which are in high demand and are fully booked in advance. It is therefore considered very unlikely that deferred income will be liable to be repaid.

b) Income

Fees receivable - are included when the Charity is legally entitled to the income, any performance conditions attached to the item of income have been met, it is probable that the income will be received and the amount can be measured reliably. As from 1 April 2017, income receivable where part, or all of such income is legally due to a third party, has been reduced by the amount payable to the third party.

Grants receivable - grants made to finance the activities of the Charity are credited to the Statement of Financial Activities (SOFA) in the period to which they relate.

Other income - other income, including donations and gifts are included as they were received.

Deferred income - income received in advance of the period to which it relates is reflected in deferred income within the balance sheet.

c) Expenditure

All expenditure is accounted for on an accruals basis and includes VAT where applicable. All expenditure directly related to the provision of service delivery is included within the charitable expenditure. Other costs incurred have been allocated between activities for generating funds and governance as appropriate. Where such costs relate to more than one functional cost category they have been split on an estimate of time spent.

d) Depreciation of fixed assets

Tangible fixed assets costing more than £200 are stated at cost less depreciation. Depreciation is provided at rates calculated to write off the cost less estimated residual value of each asset over its expected useful life as follows :

Fixtures, fittings and equipment

20% straight line

HORSEBRIDGE ARTS AND COMMUNITY CENTRE

Page 18

NOTES TO THE FINANCIAL STATEMENTS FOR THE YEAR ENDED 31 MARCH 2025

1 ACCOUNTING POLICIES

e) Stock

Stocks are valued at the lower of cost and net realisable value, after making due allowance for obsolete and slow moving items.

f) Fund accounting

Unrestricted funds can be used in accordance with the charitable objectives at the discretion of the trustees.

Income received for restricted purposes is included in a separate restricted fund against which appropriate expenditure is allocated.

g) Pensions

The pension cost charge in the Statement of Financial Activities represent the contributions payable by the Charity in the relevant year.

h) Significant judgements and estimates

Other than the Trustees opinion regarding going concern mentioned in Note 1a above, no significant judgements or estimates have been made by the Trustees in preparing these financial statements.

HORSEBRIDGE ARTS AND COMMUNITY CENTRE

Page 19

NOTES TO THE FINANCIAL STATEMENTS FOR THE YEAR ENDED 31 MARCH 2025

2
INCOMING RESOURCES FROM CHARITABLE ACTIVITIES
Unrestricted
funds
£
Grants :
Fees receivable :
Venue hire
71,748
Box office income
15,619
In house activities
27,554
114,921
3
INCOME FROM OTHER TRADING ACTIVITIES
Unrestricted
funds
£
Rental income
4,382
Shop income
49,420
Bar sales
6,824
Commission from third party sales
4,949
Auction sales
7,637
Membership income
4,135
Sundry income
835
78,182
4
DONATIONS AND GRANTS
Unrestricted
funds
£
Donations
20,786
Grants:
Canterbury City Council
-
Kent County Council
-
The Arts Society
-
The Arts Society Faversham
-
Red Zebra Community Solutions
-
Artswork Ltd
-
Kent Community Foundation
-
National Lottery Community Fund
-
Colyer-Fergusson Charitable Trust
-
CT5 People's Forum
-
National Lottery Heritage Fund
-
FCC Communities Foundation
-
Whitstable Improvement Trust
-
The Henry Smith Charity
-
Whitstable & Herne Bay Lions
-
20,786		 Restricted
funds
£
-
-
-
-
Restricted
funds
£
-
-
-
190
-
-
-
190
Restricted
funds
£
5,500
8,478
1,450
250
250
2,530
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
18,458		 2025
Total
funds
£
71,748
15,619
27,554
114,921
2025
Total
funds
£
4,382
49,420
6,824
5,139
7,637
4,135
835
78,372
2025
Total
funds
£
26,286
8,478
1,450
250
250
2,530
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
39,244		 2024
Total
funds
£
67,991
5,354
23,827
97,172
2024
Total
funds
£
5,399
43,886
3,370
4,525
5,968
3,719
2,853
69,720
2024
Total
funds
£
9,736
250
-
-
-
250
14,130
7,210
9,920
5,000
202
9,768
8,756
3,600
9,800
1,200
79,822

HORSEBRIDGE ARTS AND COMMUNITY CENTRE

Page 20

NOTES TO THE FINANCIAL STATEMENTS FOR THE YEAR ENDED 31 MARCH 2025

5 TOTAL RESOURCES EXPENDED

Costs of activities for generating funds :
Shop purchases
Wage costs
Publicity
Bar purchases
Service delivery costs
Wage costs
Event and activity costs
Rates and water
Light and heat
Repairs and maintenance
Cleaning and waste
Staff training
Travelling costs
Licences and memberships
Insurances
Support costs
Wage costs
Telephone
Printing, postage and stationery
IT and equipment costs
Bank and credit card charges
Payroll fees
Bookkeeping software
Legal and professional fees
Bad debt
General expenses
Depreciation
Loss on disposal of fixed assets
Governance costs
Wage costs
Companies House fee
Independent Examiner's fee		 Unrestricted
funds
£
26,431
7,567
1,511
3,133
38,642
64,822
21,422
8,294
24,724
731
3,719
62
60
1,834
2,643
35,935
2,045
543
956
3,381
900
317
-
30
133
4,544
-
3,993
13
1,650
182,751
221,393		 Restricted
funds
£
-
-
857
-
857
16,867
5,865
-
-
1,498
-
-
123
352
-
-
-
1,191
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
25,896
26,753		 2025
2024
Total
Total
funds
funds
£
£
26,431
24,702
7,567
7,370
2,368
1,965
3,133
2,355
39,499
36,392
81,689
80,233
27,287
18,891
8,294
5,904
24,724
26,026
2,229
1,577
3,719
3,875
62
2,015
183
256
2,186
1,704
2,643
2,469
35,935
34,266
2,045
2,133
1,734
403
956
791
3,381
2,848
900
900
317
288
-
-
30
-
133
78
4,544
4,911
-
-
3,993
3,807
13
13
1,650
1,650
208,647
195,038
248,146
231,430

HORSEBRIDGE ARTS AND COMMUNITY CENTRE

Page 21

NOTES TO THE FINANCIAL STATEMENTS FOR THE YEAR ENDED 31 MARCH 2025

6
NET INCOME
This is stated after charging:
Depreciation
Independent Examiner's remuneration
7
INFORMATION REGARDING EMPLOYEES
Wages and salaries
Social security costs
Pension contributions
Employment Allowance		 2025
£
4,544
1,650
2025
£
126,737
4,728
3,596
(4,728)
130,333		 2024
£
4,911
1,650
2024
£
121,047
5,270
4,359
(5,000)
125,676
The average monthly head count was 18 staff (2024 - 13 staff).
The average number of employees based on full time equivalents analysed by function was:
2025 2024
Number Number
Service delivery 5 5
Management and administration 2 2
7 7

No employee received remuneration of more than £60,000.

No trustees received remuneration or expenses from the charity during the year (2024- £Nil).

The total employee benefits (including employers national insurance) of the key management personnel of the charity were £66,763 (2024 - £63,740)

8
TANGIBLE FIXED ASSETS
Cost
As at 1 April 2024
Additions
Disposals
As at 31 March 2025
Depreciation
As at 1 April 2024
Charge for the year
Eliminated in disposals
As at 31 March 2025
Net book value
As at 31 March 2025
As at 31 March 2024		 £
59,422
1,883
-
61,305
47,818
4,544
-
52,362
8,943
11,604
fittings &
Fixtures
equipment		 Total
£
59,422
1,883
-
61,305
47,818
4,544
-
52,362
8,943
11,604

HORSEBRIDGE ARTS AND COMMUNITY CENTRE

Page 22

NOTES TO THE FINANCIAL STATEMENTS FOR THE YEAR ENDED 31 MARCH 2025

9
DEBTORS
Trade debtors
Other debtors
Prepayments
Accrued income
10 CREDITORS: AMOUNTS FALLING DUE WITHIN ONE YEAR
Trade creditors
Taxation and social security
Other creditors
Accruals
Deferred income
11 ANALYSIS OF NET ASSETS BETWEEN FUND
General Designated
funds
funds
£
£
Fixed assets
-
8,943
Current assets
43,413
-
Current liabilities
(46,682)
-
Long term liabilities
-
-
Net assets as at 31 March 2025
(3,269)
8,943
ANALYSIS OF NET ASSETS BETWEEN FUND - PREVIOUS YEAR
General Designated
funds
funds
£
£
Fixed assets
-
11,604
Current assets
40,002
-
Current liabilities
(45,524)
-
Long term liabilities
-
-
Net assets as at 31 March 2023
(5,522)
11,604		 2025
£
6,160
-
4,346
620
11,126
2025
£
3,854
924
589
12,471
28,844
46,682
Restricted
funds
£
-
2,965
-
-
2,965
Restricted
funds
£
-
18,004
-
-
18,004		 2024
£
8,496
-
3,515
1,768
13,779
2024
£
4,252
1,256
855
11,322
27,839
45,524
Total
£
8,943
46,378
(46,682)
-
8,639
Total
£
11,604
58,006
(45,524)
-
24,086

HORSEBRIDGE ARTS AND COMMUNITY CENTRE

Page 23

NOTES TO THE FINANCIAL STATEMENTS FOR THE YEAR ENDED 31 MARCH 2025

12 MOVEMENT IN FUNDS
Restricted funds
Furley Page Foundation
Fundraising Support
Brett Group
Equipment Donation
Whitstable Improvement Trust 1
National Lottery Community Fund
Kent County Council
CT5 People's Forum
Kent Community Foundation
National Lottery Heritage Fund
Whitstable Improvement Trust 2
CCC - Art Bank
CCC - Pride in Place
The Henry Smith Charity
The Arts Society
Red Zebra Community Solutions
Total restricted funds
Designated funds
Fixed assets fund
Total designated funds
Unrestricted general funds
Total funds		 As at
1 04 2024
£
-
-
-
-
83
1,731
-
37
84
5,418
1,070
250
-
9,331
-
-
18,004
11,604
11,604
(5,522)
24,086		 Income Expenditure
£
£
1,200
(1,200)
1,000
(575)
1,000
(1,000)
2,300
(635)
-
(83)
-
(1,731)
1,450
-
-
-
-
-
-
(4,280)
-
(590)
-
-
8,478
(7,892)
190
(7,017)
500
-
2,530
(1,750)
18,648
(26,753)
-
-
-
-
214,051
(221,393)
232,699
(248,146)		 Transfers
As at
31 03 2025
£
£
-
-
-
425
-
-
(575)
1,090
-
-
-
-
-
1,450
(37)
-
(84)
-
(1,138)
-
(480)
-
(250)
-
(586)
-
(2,504)
-
(500)
-
(780)
-
(6,934)
2,965
(2,661)
8,943
(2,661)
8,943
9,595
(3,269)
-
8,639

RESTRICTED FUNDS

Furley Page Foundation

The donation was towards the costs of the Young Makers Club, an inclusive arts activity for young people aged 6-11.

Fundraising support

The donation was from an individual towards fundraising support costs. The funds were spent on external funding support and will continue into 2025/2026.

Brett Group

The donation was towards the costs of the Young Makers Club, an inclusive arts activity for young people aged 6-11.

Equipment Donation

The donation was from an individual towards the replacement of performance space lighting costs. The funds were spent on equipment and the project will be completed in 2025/2026.

Whitstable Improvement Trust 1

The project delivered a community art project in Sea Street, Whitstable, including workshops and an exhibition. The funds were spent on artists costs, materials, staff and premises costs.

National Lottery Community Fund

The grant was used to grow the volunteer team, with the aim to build a nurturing, supporting and inclusive volunteering environment that is embedded in the charity. Funds were spent on staff costs, activity costs, equipment and expenses.

HORSEBRIDGE ARTS AND COMMUNITY CENTRE

Page 24

NOTES TO THE FINANCIAL STATEMENTS FOR THE YEAR ENDED 31 MARCH 2025

RESTRICTED FUNDS

Kent County Council

The funding was from the Local Member Grants programme for a Sea Street Art Project, a new artistic facility in the local community based around an existing telephone box for community art. The project will be completed in 2025/2026.

CT5 People's Forum

A donation towards planting and garden costs for the Horsebridge Centre Studio balcony.

Kent Community Foundation

The grant was from the Learning Journeys Fund, and enabled the charity to visit other arts centres and plan the development of new activities and income streams. The funds were spent on staff, travel, facilitation and meeting costs.

National Lottery Heritage Fund

The grant was for a project called Our War, Their Story, a commemorative community learning project gathering accounts of those who lived and served during WW1. The funds were spent on staff, meeting, training and project delivery costs.

Whitstable Improvement Trust 2

The grant funded the fitting out of a dedicated space within the Horsebridge Centre to accommodate the display of local information and associated publications, such as leaflets, posters, community events and heritage publications. This will enable the charity to provide information to the general public about places of interest, local facilities and events. Funds were spent on fixtures, fittings, equipment and installation costs and are shown as a transfer to unrestricted funds.

CCC (Canterbury City Council) - Art Bank

The grant was from the Opportunities Fund and contributes to the development of the Art Bank at the Horsebridge Centre, a rehoming project for donated and preloved art materials that are offered to the public on a ‘pay what you can’ basis.

CCC (Canterbury City Council) - Pride in Place

The grant was from the Canterbury District Pride in Place UK Shared Prosperity Programme to further develop the Art Bank, a rehoming project for donated and preloved art materials that are offered to the public on a ‘pay what you can’ basis. The funds were spent on staffing and running costs.

Henry Smith Charity

The grant was for a project called Perfectly Imperfect, a digital photography group and facility with stroke survivors, using photography to support recovery and wellbeing. The funds were spent on staff, training, activity and premises costs.

The Arts Society

The grant comprised £250 from The Arts Society and £250 from The Arts Society Faversham, towards the costs of the Art Bank project at the Horsebridge Centre.

Red Zebra Community Solutions

The grant was used for Artfully Yours, a partnership project with Red Zebra Community Solutions to provide a cross generational art activity with children from Whitstable Junior School, Social Prescribing clients and volunteers from Red Zebra Community Solutions. The funds were spent on staff costs, venue costs and materials.

Transfers

The transfers to unrestricted funds were in respect of expenditure on staff costs, organisational running costs and purchases of fixed assets.

HORSEBRIDGE ARTS AND COMMUNITY CENTRE

Page 25

NOTES TO THE FINANCIAL STATEMENTS FOR THE YEAR ENDED 31 MARCH 2025

DESIGNATED FUNDS

Fixed assets fund

A fund created by Trustees representing the net book value of the charity's fixed assets at the balance sheet date. Although they are within general funds, the value of the assets cannot be utilised for future expenditure.

MOVEMENT IN FUNDS - PREVIOUS YEAR
As at
1 04 2023
£
Restricted funds
Kent Community Foundation 1
-
Kent Community Foundation 2
-
National Lottery Community Fund
-
National Lottery Heritage Fund
-
Colyer-Fergusson Charitable Trust
-
CT5 People's Forum
-
Artswork Ltd
-
FCC Communities Foundation
-
Whitstable Improvement Trust
-
KCC (Talents)
1,000
CCC
-
The Henry Smith Charity
-
Artfully Yours
-
Whitstable & Herne Bay Lions
-
South East Museum Development
208
Whitstable Improvement Trust
83
Total restricted funds
1,291
Designated funds
Fixed assets fund
5,229
Total designated funds
5,229
Unrestricted general funds
2,282
Total funds
8,802		 Income Expenditure
£
£
6,000
-
1,210
(1,126)
9,920
(7,502)
9,768
(4,080)
5,000
(5,000)
202
(165)
14,130
(14,130)
8,756
-
3,600
-
-
(1,000)
250
-
9,800
(469)
250
(250)
1,200
(1,200)
-
(208)
-
-
70,086
(35,130)
-
-
-
-
176,628
(196,300)
246,714
(231,430)		 Transfers
As at
31 03 2024
£
£
(6,000)
-
-
84
(687)
1,731
(270)
5,418
-
-
-
37
-
-
(8,756)
-
(2,530)
1,070
-
-
-
250
-
9,331
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
83
(18,243)
18,004
6,375
11,604
6,375
11,604
11,868
(5,522)
-
24,086

Kent County Council - Talents and Interests grants

The two Talents and Interests projects delivered creative activities for young people – a Young Makers’ Club and digital creative skills and gaming. The funds were spent on staff and room hire costs.

South East Museum Development - The Wild escape

The grant was used to deliver a project working with the local museum and schools for children to learn about local marine wildlife and the possible effects of climate change. The project coincided with Earth Day and included workshops and an art installation. The funds were spent on staff costs, artist costs, venue costs and materials.

Whitstable Improvement Trust

The project delivered a community art project in Sea Street, Whitstable, including workshops and an exhibition during 2022/23. The funds were spent on artists costs, materials, staff and premises costs and the balance of the funds were spent in 2024/25.

HORSEBRIDGE ARTS AND COMMUNITY CENTRE

Page 26

NOTES TO THE FINANCIAL STATEMENTS FOR THE YEAR ENDED 31 MARCH 2025

RESTRICTED FUNDS - PREVIOUS YEAR

National Lottery Community fund

The grant was used to grow the volunteer team, with the aim to build a nurturing, supporting and inclusive volunteering environment that is embedded in the charity. Funds were spent on staff costs, activity costs, equipment and expenses. The project will be completed in 2024/25.

Colyer-Fergusson Charitable Trust

The grant enabled the charity to continue to provide regular supported inclusive creative sessions for vulnerable adults and weekly inclusive Young Makers sessions targeting disadvantaged children. Funds were spent on staff delivery costs.

CT5 People's Forum

A donation towards planting and garden costs for the Horsebridge Centre Studio balcony.

Kent Community Foundation 1

The funding was from the Foundation's Annual Application Route and comprised two grants: £3,000 from the Children and Young People's Family Fund and £3,000 from the Lawson Endowment Fund for Kent. The grants contributed to core staff and overhead costs, with the aim to maximise the potential of the charity to encourage people to take part in activities they had not considered, find pathways into new creative communities, or even discover careers that they would not have considered without the charity's support. As the funds were a contribution towards core staff and overhead costs, they are shown as a transfer to unrestricted funds.

Kent Community Foundation 2

The grant was from the Learning Journeys Fund, and enabled the charity to visit other arts centres and plan the development of new activities and income streams. The funds were spent on staff, travel, facilitation and meeting costs.

National Lottery Heritage Fund

The grant was for a project called Our War, Their Story, a commemorative community learning project gathering accounts of those who lived and served during WW1. The funds were spent on staff, meeting, training and project delivery costs. The project will be completed in 2024/25.

Artswork Ltd

The grant was a Breakthrough Training Grant, part of the Breakthrough programme to provide employment opportunities within the creative and cultural sector for young people aged 16-26. The funds enabled the charity to provide two young people with 26 weeks of paid employment, training and skills development opportunities. Funds were spent on staff costs.

HORSEBRIDGE ARTS AND COMMUNITY CENTRE

Page 27

NOTES TO THE FINANCIAL STATEMENTS FOR THE YEAR ENDED 31 MARCH 2025

RESTRICTED FUNDS - PREVIOUS YEAR CONTINUED

FCC Communities Foundation

The grant was from FCC Communities Foundation Ltd funds donated by FCC Environment though the Landfill Communities Fund. The grant funded the refurbishment of community spaces within the Horsebridge Centre for storage, kitchen preparation and catering. Funds were spent on fixtures, fittings, equipment and installation costs and therefore are shown as a transfer to unrestricted funds.

Whitstable Improvement Trust

The grant funded the fitting out of a dedicated space within the Horsebridge Centre to accommodate the display of local information and associated publications such as leaflets, posters, community events and heritage publications. This will enable the charity to provide information to the general public about places of interest, local facilities and events. Funds were spent on fixtures, fittings, equipment and installation and are shown as a transfer to unrestricted funds. The project will be completed in 2024/25.

CCC (Canterbury City Council)

The grant was from the Opportunities Fund and contributes to the development of the Art Bank at the Horsebridge Centre, a rehoming project for donated and preloved art materials that are offered to the public on a 'pay what you can' basis. Funds will be spent in 2024/25.

Henry Smith Charity

The grant was for a project called Perfectly Imperfect, a digital photography group and facility with stroke survivors, using photography to support recovery and wellbeing. The funds were spent on staff, training, activity and premises costs. The project will be completed in 2024/25.

Artfully Yours

The funding was part of a project led by Red Zebra Community Solutions and in collaboration with Whitstable Junior School to produce a collaborative art installation, coinciding with volunteers week with the aim to recognise, celebrate and thank volunteers for their contribution to local communities, the voluntary sector and society as a whole. Funds were spent on studio, activity, exhibition and staff costs. The project will be completed with further funding in 2024/25.

Whitstable & Herne Bay Lions

The funding contributed to the running of the Young Makers Club at the Horsebridge Centre, providing weekly after-school creative activities for children and young people and targeting disadvantaged children. Funds were spent on staff and delivery costs.

DESIGNATED FUNDS - PREVIOUS YEAR

Fixed assets fund

A fund created by Trustees representing the net book value of the charity's fixed assets at the balance sheet date. Although they are within general funds, the value of the assets cannot be utilised for future expenditure.

13 MEMBERS LIABILITY

The company is a company limited by guarantee. The members' liability is limited to £1 each.

14 CORPORATION TAXATION

The charity is exempt from tax on income and gains falling within section 505 of the Taxes Act 1988 or section 252 of the Taxation of Chargeable Gains Act 1992 to the extent that these are applied to its charitable objects.

15 RELATED PARTY TRANSACTIONS

During the year, the charity employed Meredith Cloke, daughter of Zoe Cloke (a trustee), on a casual contract and paid £1,844 in salary costs.

Donations (without conditions) to the charity from related parties totalled £2,411 (2024: £123).

There were no other transactions with related parties that require disclosure.