The Bush & Bennett Charity Babraham
Annual Report (Year End 2023/24) The Bush & Bennett Charity
Trustees
We were delighted to welcome Clare Glendinning on to the Trustee board this year. As a barrister, recently retired from the Government Legal Department, Clare brings a wealth of legal expertise and understanding which will be particularly helpful as the Trustees look to change the Charity’s Governing Document and subsequent incorporation.
Other board members remain the same: (Hannah Axon; Brian Page (Treasurer); Sally Punshon (Chair), Marian Watson (Secretary) and Kathryn Waite), although the declining health of our lovely Treasurer, Brian Page, has meant that he has had to attend meetings toward the end of the year on zoom.
The Trustee Board would also like to thank Ed & Mary Hunt for their unwavering support of the Almshouse residents plus their help coordinating much of the day to day building works; Hilary Seaward for her continuing financial & strategic advice and Teresa Buckpitt for her invaluable work and advice in relation to the application to the Charities Commission for changes to our Governing Document.
Residents & tenants
The four lovely residents in our Almshouses remained the same this year as did the residents in The Old School House and again we were very glad to welcome as many as possible to the New Year lunch at The George!
The Old School Room
The front part of the Old School Room has continued to be rented to Cambridge CYP Counselling.
Building Works and Maintenance
There were no major works to the Almshouses buildings over the last year bar the completion of the replacement front doors and works to the windows. But below ground foul water drainage problems entailed jetting through all the properties. In the Old School Room we found rotten structural valley timbers – caused by leaking valley gutters over several years and these have therefore been replaced together with masonry repairs to the supporting brick piers. We also undertook some urgent roof repairs at the same time.
In addition to this the latter part of the financial year saw the undertaking of the Quinquennial review of all the buildings. This has thrown up significant work to be done both immediately and within the next five years. Much of the immediate work comprises re-tiling the rear roof slopes of Almshouses 3 and 4 (using clay
Charity registered in England 1113297
peg tiles as required on these Listed properties) with associated parapet and chimney repointing works.
Finance
Routine and extraordinary repairs costs only took nearly £4,000 from our funds, knowing that the recent quinquennial report will take substantially more funding over the next two years. Keeping Listed Buildings in a good state of repair and keeping them conforming to the latest statutory requirements will continue to be a payload on the charity’s finances.
The residents have been aware of the extra burden of the inflationary costs of oil and maintenance and accepted that their maintenance contribution had to be uplifted in accordance with the relevant CPI month. In addition, they were willing to accept an increased oil contribution. Although these increases over the financial year only resulted in an extra £1,200 it helps to offset the increases.
An independent Fair Rent appraisal has been carried out, but we will not see the full benefit of this for several years.
Changing our Governing Document and Incorporation
The Trustees have been working with the Village Hall Committee and Babraham School to progress the shared school/village facility and we hope a formal application to the Charity Commission to change the objects in order to allow for this will be submitted shortly. The solicitors (HCR Hewitsons) have recommended, as part of the process, that we seek to incorporate the charity. Work on incorporation will start as soon as we have Charity Commission approval for this object change. At the same time, we are also seeking to widen the scope of the beneficiaries & area of benefit for the Almshouses as currently detailed in our governing document (and originally specified in 1878) so that we are not restricted to women only and can also – if we need to - look outside the immediate village for new residents.
Sally Punshon On behalf of the Bush & Bennett Trustees Report to accompany Annual Accounts y/e 31[st] March 2024
Charity registered in England 1113297
| Bush and Bennet Charity Statement of Financial Activities for the year 01 April 2023 to 31 March 2024 |
Current/ Maintenance Account |
Charitable Purpose 1 Residents |
Charitable Purpose 2 Education |
Cyclical + routine repair fund |
Extraordinary repair fund |
Total Funds | Current/ Maintenance Account |
Charitable Purpose 1 Residents |
Charitable Purpose 2 Education |
Cyclical repair fund |
Extraordinary repair fund |
Total Funds | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Year 2023 - 2024 | Year 2022 - 2023 | ||||||||||||
| £ - 18,196 6,993 6,150 3,012 - - 13 |
£ £ £ £ £ 15,938 - - - - 6,596 - - - - 6,139 - - - - 900 - - - - 316 - - - - - - - - - 1,258 - - - - |
£ 15,938 6,596 6,139 900 316 - 1,258 - |
|||||||||||
| Total receipts: | 34,364 - - - - |
34,364 | 31,147 - - |
31,147 | |||||||||
| - - 3,930 2,492 - 4,594 270 10,572 353 267 9,013 |
1,700 2,501 - - - 278 - - - - 1,609 - - - - 153 - - - - 3,544 - - - - - - - 504 - - - - - 21,030 - 250 - - - - - 578 - - - - - - - - - - - - |
4,201 278 1,609 153 3,544 504 21,030 250 578 - - |
|||||||||||
| otal out-going | s 14,784 |
11,490 | 353 | 4,594 | 270 | 31,491 | 7,284 | 2,751 | 578 | 504 | 21,030 | 32,147 | |
| ncome for the | 19,580 |
(11,490) | (353) | (4,594) | (270) | 2,873 | 23,863 | (2,751) | (578) | (504) | (21,030) | (1,000) | |
| on for repairs: surplus (60:40): n Investments: om last year: |
(24,000) 6,000 18,000 - - unrealised gain - - - - 18,451 9,927 10,116 77,612 67,970 |
- - 0 184,076 |
(10,000) 6,000 4,000 - - (1,109) - - - - 5,698 12,678 10,693 72,116 85,000 |
- - (1,109) 186,185 |
|||||||||
| ces at 31 Marc | 14,031 (1,563) 9,763 79,018 85,700 |
186,949 | 18,452 9,927 10,115 77,612 67,970 |
184,076 | |||||||||
| e those funds? estment Assets Cash Funds we are owed ll outstanding |
79,018 52,185 93,810 (1,563) 9,763 33,515 |
131,203 135,526 0 68,954 |
77,612 48,903 18,452 9,927 10,115 19,067 |
126,515 57,561 0 0 |
|||||||||
| Net assets | 93,810 | 1,563 - |
9,763 | 79,018 | 85,700 | 335,682 | 18,452 | 9,927 | 10,115 | 77,612 | 67,970 | 184,076 |
Sally Punshon (Chair): Date: Sally Punshon 30th September 2024
BUSH AND BENNETT CHARITY
INDEPENDENT EXAMINER'S REPORT TO THE TRUSTEES OF BUSH AND BENNETT CHARITY
| report to the trustees on my examination of the accounts of the Bush and Bennett Charity (the Charity) for the year ended 31 March 2024.
Responsibilities and basis of report
As the charity trustees of the Charity you are responsible for the preparation of the accounts in accordance with the requirements of the Charities Act 2011 ("the Act").
| report in respect of my examination of the Charity's accounts carried out under section 145 of the 2011 Act and in carrying out my examination | have followed all the applicable Directions given by the Charity Commission under section 145 (5) (b) of the Act.
Independent examiner's statement
| have completed my examination. | confirm that no material matters have come to my attention in connection with the examination giving me cause to believe that in any material respect:
- 1 accounting records were not kept in respect of the Charity as required by section 130 of the Act; or
2 the accounts do not accord with those records
| 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.
Hilary Seawafd 9 Sherlock Road Cambridge CB3 OHR