Chairs’ Report for The Friends of The Spinney September 2023 – August 2024
AGM Thursday 16[th] January 2025
During this year we said goodbye in March to the previous Chairs of the Friends, Katie and Amy after an extraordinary 5 years of running the Friends! We are extremely grateful to them for all their dedication and hard work fundraising over the many years and for being so helpful in handing over all their valuable and vast knowledge they had accumulated. It’s thanks to their efforts leading the committee that we were able to purchase laptops for teachers during lockdown, new books for the library, and the new trim trail in December 2023. We also said goodbye and thank you to Jigna in July who has been our secretary over the past year and valued committee member for many more; and also to Justyna Rak who has faithfully managed the secondhand uniforms since 2020. We’re especially grateful that all four members have continued to help out at events this year – thank you!
2023-24 was a bumper year for the Friends of the Spinney between fundraising events and some very generous donations. As our turnover exceeded £25K this year, we are obliged by the Charity Commission to have our accounts independently examined. We are immensely grateful to Mark Goldsborough, an accountant from the wider Cherry Hinton community for giving up his time to do this for us.
Huge thanks to all the committee for all your support this year:
Fiona (Treasurer), Justin (Vice-Treasurer), Carrie (Secretary), Jigna (outgoing Secretary), Cassie (Comms), Penelope, Andrew, Kathy and Mariana.
Autumn Term 2023
We kicked off the Autumn Term with a fundraising campaign to raise money for a new and much-needed trim trail for the playground. The children had already been consulted via the School Council as to which pieces of equipment they would really appreciate being included as part of the trail. The playground appeal was the first time the Friends have gone out with a specific campaign asking for one-off donations. We were also able to receive Gift Aid on these donations for the first time – thanks to Justin and Fiona for setting up a new bank account and registering us for Gift Aid.
The events that took place included a bake sale, school disco, a Halloween non-uniform day, commission from Christmas cards/gifts, as well as the traditional Winter Fair at the beginning of December.
The Winter Fair raised the most a Winter Fair has ever raised - a bumper £2.8K, boosted this year by an additional £700 sponsorship from Arkwright Estate Agents in return for estate agents’ boards being hosted by Spinney families, which has previously only been done for the Summer Fairs.
We met with many playground suppliers and we were able to proceed with the installation of the new trim trail, supplied by Sovereign, including protective surfacing much earlier than anticipated and well below budget. The trim trail was fitted over a few days at the beginning of December (just after the Winter Fair!) which caused much excitement amongst the children, as some were able to watch the proceedings from their classrooms. We even had a grand opening with a ribbon - it was a real highlight of the term and this year!
Spring Term 2024
It was during this term that we (Daniela and Jen) took over as Chairs of the Friends. Our first event was the World Book Day Book Sale which was hugely popular. Thank you to everyone who donated their used books, it was a joy to see the children rummaging through all the books on offer and going home with sackfuls!
We also arranged another Family Board Games evening which was also well received. Thanks to Carrie and Justin for organising this event! We also held another school disco in March.
This term we purchased a long-awaited portable PA system for the school which the Friends can also use for events and has come in very handy for announcing raffle ticket winners and providing background music at our events. We also provided the school with the Easter Eggs for the traditional Easter Egg hunt.
Summer Term 2024
In this term, we held our regular Frozen Fridays, which we were also able to extend to After School Club attendees this year. We ran refreshment stalls at the Sports Day and also at the singing workshop. We hosted an end of year school disco which was really lovely for all the Y6 children to celebrate and say goodbye to each other. And of course the Summer Fair on Sunday 30[th] June, which just narrowly went ahead despite a wet and gloomy start to the day! The day ended up being a lot of fun; we had a number of Euro 24 footballinspired games; a few new traditional games such as the Egg Game and Buzz Wire; and the Bouncy Castle/Helter Skelter proved a huge hit as usual. Despite the weather, we raised the most amount ever at a Summer Fair of just over £3.5K. We were grateful to the £360 sponsorship from Streets Accounting firm (thanks to Selina!) and a huge thank you to everyone who volunteered on the day. Particular thanks to Hamish (Parent Governor) and Bev (Chair of Governors) for running the BBQ on the day - a new food offering this year; and to Justin for running the Candy Floss machine, which the Friends invested in this year and it paid for itself in one event! We are very grateful to Cassie for all her efforts in securing the raffle prizes again (as she did for the Winter Fair too) which led to the raffle bringing in over £600. Thanks ultimately to everyone who attended making the day a memorable event and raising lots of money for the school!
At the end of term, we also paid for the Y6 leavers outing to Ten Pin Bowling and an end of term treat for each year group. By the school’s request, we were also able to purchase the “Dojo prizes” and pay for the singing workshop.
Survey
A survey was sent out to all parents and carers at the end of July/beginning of September which had a good take up – thanks to everyone who responded. We have taken on board some of the feedback straightway such as the request for fewer cake sales and also for healthier alternative prizes at the Summer Fair. There was also quite a bit of interest in setting up regular donations to the Friends. This is something we will follow up on when we have a clearer idea of what the school would like us to raise funds for in 2025.
We would like to extend our thanks to Mrs Hughes for being so amenable to our fundraising ideas this year! Thanks also to Mrs Pereira in the office who has been very supportive of our efforts and special thanks to Mrs Cordy who has often come to open up the school before a fair or close the school late after a school disco – thank you all, your support is much appreciated!
Finally, we are very grateful to all of you who have come along and taken part in the events, donated or volunteered – we could not do this without you!
Daniela Bagaglia, Chair Jen Peacock, Co-Chair
15th January 2025
The Friends of the Spinney Accounts 2023-2024
| Opening Balance | £18,035.52 | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Closing Balance | £25,569.67 | £7,534.15 | ||
| Total Income | £29,890.58 | |||
| Total Expenditure | -£22,356.43 | |||
| Fundraising Activities and Events | Profits | Income | Expenditure | |
| Winter Fair | £2,846.29 | £3,513.64 | -£667.35 | |
| Christmas Cards | £194.31 | £1,435.79 | -£1,241.48 | |
| Non Uniform Day | £180.70 | £180.70 | £0.00 | |
| World Book Day Book Sale | £173.96 | £173.96 | £0.00 | |
| Board Game Night | £90.47 | £112.17 | -£21.70 | |
| Bake Sale | £349.40 | £349.40 | £0.00 | |
| Disco | £1,142.83 | £2,199.33 | -£1,056.50 | |
| Frozen Friday | £383.59 | £483.34 | -£99.75 | |
| Summer Fair | £3,585.36 | £4,452.45 | -£867.09 | |
| Total | £8,946.91 | £12,900.78 | -£3,953.87 | |
| Events/Items funded by Friends | ||||
| Playground | -£17,201.33 | |||
| PA System | -£185.00 | |||
| Candy Floss Machine | -£164.00 | |||
| Easter Eggs | -£59.90 | |||
| Ice Cream Van | -£60.00 | |||
| Dojo Prizes | -£200.00 | |||
| End of Term Treats | -£57.33 | |||
| Music Workshop | -£475.00 | |||
| -£18,402.56 | ||||
| Other Income | ||||
| Donations including Gift Aid | £16,504.38 | |||
| Interest | £317.17 | |||
| Other | £168.25 | |||
| Total Other Income | £16,989.80 | |||
| Total Income and Expenditure | £7,534.15 |
Independent examiner's report on the accounts
Section A Independent Examiner’s Report
Report to the trustees/ Charity Name members of The Friends of The Spinney
On accounts for the year 31 August 2024 Charity no 1108651 ended (if any) Set out on pages (remember to include the page numbers of additional sheets)
I report to the trustees on my examination of the accounts of the above charity (“the Trust”) for the year ended 31 / 08 / 2024 .
- Responsibilities and As the charity trustees of the Trust, you are responsible for the preparation basis of report of the accounts in accordance with the requirements of the Charities Act 2011 (“the Act”).
I report in respect of my examination of the Trust’s accounts carried out under section 145 of the 2011 Act and in carrying out my examination, I have followed the applicable Directions given by the Charity Commission under section 145(5)(b) of the Act.
Independent examiner's statement
I have completed my examination. I confirm that no material matters have come to my attention in connection with the examination which gives me cause to believe that in, any material respect:
-
accounting records were not kept in accordance with section 130 of the Act or
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the accounts do not accord with the accounting records
I have no concerns and have come across no other matters in connection with the examination to which attention should be drawn in order to enable a proper understanding of the accounts to be reached.
Signed: M.T.Goldsbrough Date: 08/01/2025 ~~PO [|~~ Name: Mark Goldsbrough ~~Pe~~ Relevant professional Chartered Accountant qualification(s) or body (if any): Address: Limedale Close Cambridge
Only complete if the examiner needs to highlight matters of concern (see CC32, Independent examination of charity accounts: directions and guidance for examiners).
Section B Disclosure ~~ee~~
October 2018
1
IER
Give here brief details of any items that the examiner wishes to disclose .
October 2018
2
IER