Stocksfield Community Association Annual Report 2024/25
Mountview Terrace, Stocksfield, NE43 7HL Charity Reg No. 1139996
Stocksfield Community Association (SCA) is a Charitable Incorporated Organisation. We are a membership organisation managed by a board of trustees, all of whom must be members of the association. SCA owns and manages Stocksfield Community Centre.
Our financial year runs from 1[st] April until 31[st] March. A review of our finances has shown that SCA needs to increase it’s income and / or reduce expenditure. The trustees have worked towards this goal throughout the year. There are no outstanding debts, and the conditions of the Financial Policy have been met, including the financial reserve. The Treasurer’s annual report will be given at the AGM on the 8[th] July, and I urge all members of the Association to attend this meeting.
SCA is affiliated to Community Action Northumberland and is a founder member of the West Northumberland Community Buildings Consortium. We produce Stocksfield Community Association News (SCAN) to keep members informed about activities at the Community Centre and elsewhere in the parish. Groups using our facilities this year included Stocksfield Tuesday Club, a warm space for elderly residents to socialise and enjoy a hot meal, Stocksfield Players and Junior Players, a drama group who put on plays at the Community Centre, a computer club, a bridge club, yoga and exercise classes and two badminton groups. The main hall is often hired by local residents for children’s parties. SCA organised the Annual Quiz in May, Pre-loved Sales in May and November and a Christmas Card Sale in October. Drama and live music events took place during the year. The Richardson Room served as a Polling Station twice in 2024. The building is well maintained, and I would like to thank Peter and Betty for keeping it clean and in good condition for regular users and visitors alike.
Three groups stopped meeting at the community centre during the year. Two of these unfortunately folded after many years due to the lack of individuals willing to take on the roles of Chairperson and Treasurer of their groups. Sadly this is a sign of the times. The third group decided to move to a new venue. We were sad to see all of them go, and are actively encouraging new groups to use the community centre.
This year has been a challenging one for SCA. Energy costs continue to take up a large proportion of our expenditure, particularly over the colder months of the year when most of our user groups meet. A lot of time has been spent researching alternative heating systems – the main hall is particularly difficult and expensive to heat adequately – and securing grant funding. In December Northern Powergrid installed a 3-phase electricity supply to the building, with corresponding upgrades to the infrastructure. The majority of the work was funded by a grant from Northern Powergrid Foundation, with the remainder coming from our reserves. A grant from Northumberland County Council’s Communities Fund, awarded in November, will cover the major part of the costs of installing infra-red heating in the main hall, and in February Stocksfield Parish Council awarded us a grant of £500 towards these costs. I would like to thank all of these organisations for supporting us.
The community centre has had two managers during this period. In November Terri Anne informed us of her decision to leave. We were sorry to lose her and were without a manager for several weeks. This put a strain on the trustees, who had to pick up the manager’s tasks at the same time as recruiting a replacement. I would like to thank all the trustees and volunteers who rallied round to make sure that activities happened, bookings were taken and all the other background tasks were dealt with. Particular thanks go to Paul Clay, who had recently joined the board. Paul took on the production of SCAN magazine at short notice, and is doing a marvellous job. Salaries make up a significant portion of the charity’s expenditure, and the work being carried out by the trustees – who do not, of course, receive any payment - has enabled us to recruit a manager to work for fewer hours.
Our new manager, Lisa Lewins, started work during February. I would like to express my thanks to Lisa for slipping so easily into her new role whilst fitting it around her other commitments. She welcomes visitors, runs the office efficiently and is a pleasure to work with.
Another challenge this year has been the continued non-payment of the Feed In Tariff by Scottish Power. We have received a lot of help from members of Community Action Northumberland (CAN), who worked with Terri Anne in 2024 and appeared to have reached a resolution. We were promised that the payments would arrive in August. Incomprehensibly, we are still waiting. CAN are helping us again, and the saga continues. The team at CAN have a lot of knowledge these problems - unfortunately we are not alone in experiencing difficulty in receiving overdue FIT payments.
I would like to thank our treasurer, Paul Westbury, for his work this year. Our long-serving treasurer had retired at the AGM in July 2023, and for the rest of that financial year we had no permanent treasurer. As a result, the 2023/24 accounts were somewhat chaotic. Paul took over in April 2024, and spent a long time sifting through the financial records and producing a spreadsheet that is now the template for future accounting years. The 2023/24 accounts were finally signed off by the Independent Examiner and the Board of Trustees in September and approved by the members at an EGM in early October.
Trustees are elected by members of the Association at Annual General Meetings, at which all members are eligible both to vote and to stand for election. The trustees oversee building maintenance, finance and new projects, and hold monthly meetings at which the charity’s activities and objectives are discussed and policy is decided. Day-to-day running of the charity is carried out by the Community Centre Manager Lisa Lewins. There are currently eight trustees: Barbara Braysher, Paul Westbury, Jo Harrison, Norman Hooks, Karen Kirkland, Christine Hooks, Peter Scott and Paul Clay. One has been a trustee for less than a year, another for less than three years; the rest of us have been on the board for many years, possibly more than we care to remember! New trustees are recruited to bring a variety of skills to the board, and training is accessible through Community Action Northumberland, the organisation that supports village halls and community associations in the county.
We lost three trustees during this year. One resigned due to ill health and another moved out of the area. I’d like to thank both of them for the work they put in during the years they spent with us. It is with great sadness that I record the death in January 2025 of Jean Robinson, our longest-serving trustee. Jean’s involvement with Stocksfield Community Centre goes back
well into the 20[th] century when she and her husband Bill were on the committee of Stocksfield Institute Community Association, SICA, as it was until conversion to a Charitable Company in 2011. Jean organised social events such as New Year Dances at the Community Centre. She was our membership secretary for many years, responsible for claiming gift aid from HMRC. Jean compiled and marked the much-loved Winter Quiz up to and including Christmas 2024. We plan to continue to produce a quiz every year for the Christmas period.
Hire charges have had to been increased; this caused problems for some of our hirers, who have had to increase their own charges. Members and regular non-commercial groups receive discounted hire rates; membership charges are very low and have not been increased. There are currently 203 members of SCA; however a lot of the people who use the Community Centre are not members. We would like to encourage more people, particularly residents of Stocksfield, to join Stocksfield Community Association.
| Receipts | 2024 | 2025 |
|---|---|---|
| Hire of Premises | £25,840.09 | £27,532.41 |
| Subscriptons | £2,052.87 | £1,435.77 |
| Grants(+Donatons) | £20,495.88 | £10,930.00 |
| SCAN | £390.00 | £1,604.51 |
| Miscellaneous | £414.50 | £1,722.43 |
| Actvites | £1,958.04 | £1,870.30 |
| Government Grants | ||
| Job Retenton Scheme | ||
| Interest Received | £453.87 | £983.73 |
| Gif Aid Tax Refund | £477.50 | 486.08 |
| Receipts notyet banked in curr. Acc. | -£246.83 | -£608.00 |
| Total | £51,835.92 | £45,957.23 |
| Balances at 1st April | 2023 | 2024 |
| UnityTrust Bank | ||
| Current a/c | £7,853.98 | £2,927.00 |
| Savings | £37,888.60 | £20,248.31 |
| Ofce Cash | £325.37 | £412.87 |
| Safron Bldg. Soc. | £10,000.00 | |
| £97,903.87 | £79,545.41 |
| Payments | 2024 | 2025 |
|---|---|---|
| Manager’s Salary | £12,159.36 | £10,600.39 |
| Cleaner’s & Caretakers wages | £7,921.50 | £8,420.98 |
| Ofce(Postage,Statonery& Telephone) | £2,830.58 | £2,475.00 |
| SCAN | £32.00 | |
| Installatons & Repairs | £23,966.22 | £9,076.77 |
| Electricity,Gas & Water | £11,510.60 | £10,340.63 |
| Insurance Licences & Service Contracts | £2,575.64 | £2,892.94 |
| IT(Sofware/etc.) | £594.52 | £274.76 |
| Cleaning | £703.84 | £982.52 |
| Miscellaneous | £59.90 | £1,034.44 |
| Actvites | £896.55 | £333.00 |
| HMRC | £915.58 | £1,806.86 |
| Bank charges | £149.40 | £58.50 |
| Total | £64,315.69 | £48,296.79 |
| Balances at 31st March | 2024 | 2025 |
| UnityTrust Bank | ||
| Current a/c | £2,927.00 | £1,526.30 |
| Savings | £20,248.31 | £19,423.08 |
| Ofce Cash | £412.87 | £299.24 |
| Safron Bldg. Soc. | £10,000.00 | £10,000.00 |
| £97,903.87 | £79,545.41 |
| Opening bank and cash at 1st April 24 Total receipts Total payments Net defcit in the year Closing bank and cash at 31st March 25 Variance |
£33,588.18 £45,957.23 -£48,296.79 -£2,339.56 £31,248.62 £0.00 |
|---|---|
i CHARITY COMMISSION FOR ENGLAND AND WALES
, Independent examiner's report on the accounts
Section A Independent Examiner’s Report
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Report to the trustees/ 3 ; JEL members of | Stocksfield Community Association
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On accounts for the year | 31/3/25 Charity no | 1139996 ended (if any) I report to the trustees on my examination of the accounts of the above charity (“the Trust”) for the year ended F
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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’). | 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, | have followed the applicable Directions given by the Charity Commission under section 145(5)(b) of the Act.
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Independent | have completed my examination. | confirm that no material matters have examiner's statement come to my attention (etherthan-thai-diselesed-belew *) in connection with the examination which gives me cause to believe that in, any material respect: e accounting records were not kept in accordance with section 130 of the Act or
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e the accounts do not accord with the accounting records
| 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.
- Please delete the words in the brackets if they do not apply. Signed: Date: [0910672025
Name: | Martin Brunskill F.C.A
Relevant professional | Institute of Chartered Accountants in England and Wales qualification(s) or body
(if any):
Address: | 12 Mount View Terrace
Stocksfield
Northumberland NE43 7HL
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October 2018