2021-11-30-accounts

TRUSTEE AND DIRECTOR’S REPORT Year ending 2021

Dilston Physic Garden

Corbridge 07879 533875 Northumberland, NE455QZ [e-mail]

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Dilston Physic Garden Trustee Report

Year ending 30 November 2021

Dilston Physic Garden continued to flourish through the pandemic year ending 2021, progressing its educational aims and achieving satisfactory income

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This is the Dilston Physic Garden Trustee Report for financial year ending November 2021. The aim of this report it to list the charity’s activities, developments, concerns and finances over the 2021 year.

OUR MISSION

The Dilston Physic Garden charity was set up for the sole purpose of education for the public benefit. Plant medicine, health education, wellbeing and conservation are at the heart of Dilston.

Our vision is to raise awareness amongst the public of the benefits of science-backed

• Foodstuff medicinal plants vital to help maintain health and prevent disease

• Plant medicine as a safe efficacious adjunct to mainstream medicine

We also aim to contribute to and raise awareness of the significant scientific research that shows that plant medicine is safe and efficacious and so help bridge the gap that has grown between plant medicine and general medicine.

• Our mission includes heightening public awareness and increasing public engagement in the • natural world and conservation of it

• importance of biodiversity

• utilisation of the natural world and outdoor environments as a key facet to support mental wellbeing

• growing and using of medicinal plants especially in urban areas and the study of plant medicine, medicine, scientific research, botany and conservation

The charity’s vision is to spread this knowledge to as many people as possible and especially the young, in order to reduce the incidence of disease, lower the burden on the NHS and help improve the long-term health and mental wellbeing of humankind.

Creating a financially sustainable business is key to enable the Dilston Physic Garden charity to achieve this vision.

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WE ACCOMPLISH OUR MISSION BY

• Maintaining a physic garden of over 700 medicinal plants, each with a signboard detailing the history, plant medicine and science and with a specific focus on plant medicine for the mind and brain

• Providing the public, community groups, schools, colleges and universities with an expanded program of onsite tours, talks, trails, workshops and courses centred on plant medicine and mental wellbeing

• Providing a Foundation in Plant Medicine course to educate the public on maintaining health with plant medicine

• Projects such as out Help Children Flourish campaign raising funds to expand facilities to offer curriculum tailored workshops for schools, colleges and universities

• Collaborating with local schools, community organisations and groups, giving talks and providing information to help create a Plant Medicine Outreach Program

• Reviewing and expanding physic garden information available onsite and online targeted to plant medicine and mental health interests and needs

• Increasing talk and presentations to visitors and outreach talks to community centres and groups in the North East region

• Providing a Dispensary of Plant Medicine to ensure an awareness of the effective use of plant medicine, with medical herbalists registered with the National Institute of Medical Herbalists

• Maintaining a program of residencies focused on the natural world, plant medicine and mental wellbeing to expand public workshops and opportunities to connect with the wider community

• Continue and expand scientific research into plant medicine for the brain by collaboration with universities and organisations, from pilot studies to randomised controlled clinical trials, including University of Durham and Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew

FINANCIAL REPORT

• The financial summary is at the end of this document.

• Admissions were three times the previous year, 1,820 (£10,244) compared to 888 (£3,200) in 2020. The total number of visitors including groups, workshop & course attendees and admissions was 2,720 for 2021, an increase from 1,700 in 2020.

• The reserve for year-end November 2021 was up £10K from 2020 to £25K. This reserve includes the funding for the ongoing clinical trial, leaving £20K contingency.

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• Total Admissions, The Physic Shop and websites sales income was £36,700, a £3K increase from £33,600 in 2020.

• Our expenditure was kept relatively low in comparison to previous years (please refer to summary tables of income and spend at the end of this document for more detail). After a year of uncertainty because of the impact of Corona, the balance sheets show that we are in a positive position on this level.

• Dilston Physic Garden is still in need of regular funding or donations, it is currently still relying on a limited number of key donors.

ITEMS

• The Memory trial continues though was delayed by Corona and the sleep/dreaming/altered states of consciousness pilot studies continue.

• The website continues to bloom with information and The Physic Shop online developed in March 2020 continues to achieve its mission of helping generating an income stream while providing the general public with plant medicine and products.

• The Foundation in Plant Medicine 2021 course was booked up early and received excellent feedback. We will continue to provide the Foundation Course as a seasonal course (10 days over 4 weekends May to October) and shall no longer be running a midsummer block course.

• Our Tea Project established thanks to a generous donor in 2019 to assist in making DPG a more sustainable business has progressed greatly over the year, with the development of a Tea Plantation. DPG Teas are designed and developed by NP for the physic garden, with a team of volunteers who then harvest, dry, process and pack the teas. The teas are rooted in the science of what they do, they not only serve as a ‘product’ but they also aim to increase awareness of the science behind plant medicine. We now have a range of eight science-backed botanical teas, Calm, Sleep, Happy, Memory, Inspire, Immune, Respiratory, Pain and Physic. Each has a ‘Did you Know’ caution labels which have been designed to raise the awareness of:

• a) plants with medicinal effect

• b) the fact that there is a medicinal level required to make a plant efficacious medicinally

• c) the importance of consulting a NIMH medical herbalists when taking a plant medicine at a medicinal level if pregnant, taking medication, with any medical condition, or if taking a plant medicine for the first time.

• d) Tinctures, and other products made from DPG herbs, developed to help build a sustainable income continue to be grown, tried and tested. Our current range of medicinal products includes Vitality Tincture, Digest Tincture, Echinacea & Honey Tincture, Roseroot Tincture, Elderberry Tincture, Valerian Tincture, Herb Pillows, DPG Smudge Sticks, Face Creams, Happy Spray, Lavender Calm, Calm Balm, Happy Incense.

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• e) Hire of our Herbology House and/or garden for workshops and events continues to help as an income stream. Hot water, insulation for winter hire and adequate space for school groups continue to be an ongoing issue pending funding.

• f) Instagram and Facebook continue as DPG’s predominant social media platforms alongside our annual newsletter to 1700 contacts. The addition of a new team member last year enabled us to share information on the physic garden in more regularly regular posts, this in turn has helped to increase visitor numbers, raising education by increasing the number of posts and newsletters shared containing information on plants for health and medicine.

• g) Reaching schools/education continues through the development of an outreach programme led by head teacher, NIMH medical herbalist, pharmacognosist and through links with a local school to pilot the scheme.

• h) Children's Potion Club continues to prove popular and is run successfully by NIMH Davina Hopkinson.

• i) Junior Herbalist Club was developed and is run by NIMH medical herbalist Davina Hopkinson in association with the NIMH and has proved very popular.

• Our current volunteers continue to play a most generous and excellent role in the future growth and development of the physic garden. We are still though in need of volunteers to assist with gardening/horticulture, to attend to The Physic Shop and to assist in the botanical harvesting and preparations. We also required volunteers for several other fundamental roles such as social media communications and management, Videography, Fundtraising, Accounts, Marketing, Volunteer management

• Declarations; The Physic Shop sells products from trustee Ross Menzies ‘Heavenly Herbs’ and trustee and pharmacognosist Nicolette Perrys ‘BrainBalms’. One trustee is employed on a full-time consultancy basis and the total consultancy for 2021 was £35K which was up £15K from 2020.

• Managing director continues to manage the scientific research and oversee the trial managment, both the administration and execution of the physic garden, charity governance, health & safety, residencies, FPM course. This does not include voluntary hours.

• The new assistant manager appointed in 2020 continued to work 2 days per week and assist with customer service, marketing, physic shop, online sales, charity governance, health & safety, grant applications, events/workshops and volunteer management. This role is employed on a consultancy basis.

• The weatherproof Sitooterie shelter continues to be utilised by school and group visits.

• The Physic Garden relies heavily on volunteers which is apparent in the following which shows the time/work completed by volunteers, that would otherwise be an additional outgoing cost. Gardening (30 hrs per week), harvesting and botanical preparation (15 hours per week), shop (20 hour per week), scientific research and development / presentations (5hr/wk)

• Business development: Our aim is to become sustainable by diversifying our income streams to help enable future sustainability beyond relying on donations. We plan to

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continue to work towards this in 2021 by continuing to develop our ‘Tea Plantation’, expanding our product range and increased marketing to target visitor numbers and venue hire.

• Our Policies & Procedures, Safeguarding + Health & Safety documents were kept up to date throughout the year and all necessary legislative changes were implemented. Health and Safety of our team, volunteers and customers was paramount during the pandemic with all of the government guidelines being strictly adhered to. An External Examiner’s report was obtained as required by the charity commission.

• Risk assessments were completed annually for venue hire, school visits, visitors and volunteers.

• There were no serious incidents.

• Emails were collected for our Database from forms located in the physic shop and on our website. Information collected was stored according to data protection, is used for 6-12 newsletters a year and stored.

• Issues remain ongoing regarding lane access from the top-up car-park to the physic garden.

• DPG new area remains to be finalised.

• Trustee meeting to be scheduled; updating, raising items and addressing roles (given new requirements for accountability in terms of individual roles input).

• DPG amenities, space and facilities continue to be an issue, unfortunately the current lack of space, limited amenities and basic facilities limits and impacts our current reach such as only 1 WC with no disabled facilities, small classroom space with limited capacity, carpark, lane access and grass/muddy paths, electricity, water and WIFI independence, Marketing trustee will need to be appointed with the resignation of Helen Stephenson. A Booking keeping trustee; records and consequently report analysis could be significantly aided by a volunteer or trustee who would allow for productive analysis of revenue streams and costs.

• Increase marketing to assist in growing visitor numbers is needed, though cost prohibitive.

• We aim to focus more on engaging further and with more community groups such as drug rehabilitation groups, autism groups, other mental health groups, asylum seekers and of course schools.

• The Physic Garden itself continues to receive much positive and kind feedback. We have received a few comments regarding the items in the plant beds and those that are worn, which is being addressed.

• Writing and working on relevant Grant/fund proposals is ongoing. All proposals incorporate the issues highlighted above and below and aim to help achieve our mission of education by increased public and educational reach. See below for details :

• Improve visitor facilities 2x WC incl. wheelchair access next to HH and weatherproof/light current WC.

• Carpark - streamlining use of Top-up Carpark (shared with Dilston Scouts) – with its flat (as opposed to steep incline) for all event/workshop visitors (due to confusion access for workshop) and potentially all parking. Surface underfoot.

• Access lane down private scout lane is still hindered by Philip in the cottage on the lane.

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1. Current visitor carpark and lane surface hogging - currently impassable in heavy rain.

2. Paths replace all garden grass and gravel paths to enable safe all-weather surface.

3. Pathways expanded to allow wheelchair access to most areas

4. Amenities: transfer of all amenities to enable independence as a charity from DMH (see below); would require significant cost to separate supplies.

5. Signage - end lanes / garden entrance signs need updating. Brown signs on road - a significant number of visitors (25%) are getting lost and arriving frustrated!

6. Children’s area and items and information signboards

7. Educational outreach: combined with increasing in-house education, aim to find funding to increase reach into more schools/groups unable to visit to DPG with program of innovative practical information.

Financial Summary

	Dilston Physic Garden
	Year ended 30 November 2021
			2019- 2020 2020- 2021
	Financial Performance Summary
	Revenue
	Admission & Physic Shop Sales		£33,618 £36,662
	Wholesale		£1,679
	Hire (Garden & Herbology House Classroom) £3,452 £3,177
	Donations (including Gift Aid & Grants) £20,792 £24,170
	Foundation Course		£2,058 £5,763
	Total Revenue		£59,987 £71,828
	Cost (Direct and Operating)
	Consultancy		£26,187 £35,251
	Signboard Update and Repir		£1,138 £936
	Development Items		£1,548 £10,537
	Shop Stock Outsourced		£4,747
	Shop Stock Product Materials		£4,026 £7,263
	**Total Direct & Operating **	Costs	£40,423 £58,734
	Prior Year Adjustment		£8,642
	Gross Profit		£19,564 £56,842
	Profit For The Year/ Net	Operating Income £9,123 £671
	Total Funds Carried Forward 30 November £28,103 £28,700

Registered Number 05505041 DILSTON PHYSIC GARDEN L TD .Micro-entity Accounts 30 Noi'ember 2021

DILSTON PHYSIC GARDEN L TD Registered Number 05505041 l]cr￿entity Balance Sheet a5 at 30 NoN'ember 2021 Noles 2n21 2(J2() Fixed Assets 34,000 34.000 Current Assets 28.351 18.902 Prepayments and at¢rued illcome Creditors: amounts falling due Thithin one )ear INet current assets (liabililies) (3,000) {2,865} 25.351 16,037 Total #Ssets less current liabilities 59.351 50,037 Creditors: arnounts falling due after more than one year Provisions for liabilities Accrua15 and deferred income Total net assets {liabilities) 59.351 50.037 Reserves 59.351 50,037 For the year endino 30 November 20? I the company was entitled lo exemption under section 47 1 of the Companies Aci ?006 relating to small cojnpanies. The members have not required the company to obtain an audit in accordance with section 476 of the Companies Act 2006. The directors acknowledge their responsibilities for complying wilh the requirements of th¢ Companies Act 2006 with respect to accounting records and the preparation of accounts. Tlie auLounls have beeIi preparesj in acLordanLe wilh ilie niiLroIilily provisiuns aiid delivered in accordance with the provisions applicable to companies subject to the small companies regime. Approved by the Board on 18 August 2022 And signed on their behalf by= Nicolette Perry Director

DILSTON PHYSIC GARDEN L TD Registered Number 05505041 Notes to the Micro-entitv Account5 for the period ended 30 Yoi'ember 2021 Employees 202J 2020 Averagc numbcr of employees during the pcriod This docum¢nt was d¢liver¢d using ¢leclronic communications and authenticaled in accordance with the r¢gistrar's rules r¢laling to ¢l¢ctronic forni. authentication and mann¢r ot delivery under s¢¢tion 1072 of the Companies Act 2006.

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