2025-12-31-accounts - Winchester Poetry Festival

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Trustees' Annual Report for the period

Period start date Period end date 1 January 2025 31 December 2025

From

Section A Reference and administration details

Charity name

WINCHESTER POETRY FESTIVAL

Other names charity is known by

Registered charity number (if any) 1150997

Charity's principal address

c/o Faculty of Arts

c/o Faculty of Arts	c/o Faculty of Arts

University of Winchester
Sparkford Road, Winchester
Postcode	SO22 4NR

Names of the charity trustees who manage the charity

Trustee name	Office (if any)	Dates acted if not for whole year	Name of person (or body) entitled to appoint trustee (if any)
Jane Bryant	Chair		Winchester Poetry Festival
Rupert Nabarro	Trustee	Resigned 22/09/2025
Jon Whitfield	Trustee
Bear Shaw	Trustee
Jillian Saucier	Trustee	Resigned 25/11/2025
Susmita Bhattacharya	Trustee
Abanti Chakrabarty Mukhopadhyay	Trustee
Aisling O’Toole	Trustee	Resigned 25/11/2025
Jo Fisher	Trustee
Jeremy Wikeley	Trustee
Andrew O’Hanlon	Trustee	Elected 30/06/2025
David Hill	Trustee	Elected 30/06/2025

Names of the trustees for the charity, if any, (for example, any custodian trustees)
Name	Dates acted if not for whole year

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Names and addresses of advisers (Optional information)

Type of adviser Name Address	Type of adviser Name Address	Type of adviser Name Address
Treasurer	Sue Spiers

Name of chief executive or names of senior staff members (Optional information)

Amy Juliet Brown (Festival Manager); Clare Pollard (Artistic Director) – Both freelance contracts.

Section B Structure, governance and management

Description of the charity’s trusts

Trust Deed Type of governing document (eg. trust deed, constitution) Trust How the charity is constituted (eg. trust, association, company) Elected by Trustees Trustee selection methods (eg. appointed by, elected by)

Additional governance issues (Optional information)

Trustees consider areas of risk at each trustee meeting via a regularly You may choose to include updated risk register, considering appropriate mitigation plans and actions. additional information, where relevant, about: Additional governance information:

policies and procedures adopted for the induction and training of trustees;
New trustees are provided with guidance and information to allow them to undertake their roles effectively.
The formal business of the charity is conducted through regular trustee
• the charity’s organisational meetings (generally 4 to 5 meetings per year).
structure and any wider network with which the charity works;
relationship with any related parties;
trustees’ consideration of major risks and the system and procedures to manage them.

Section C Objectives and activities

To educate the public in the arts, with particular reference to poetry.

Summary of the objects of the charity set out in its governing document

To encourage the enjoyment, appreciation and practice of literature – the beneficiaries being people of all ages throughout Hampshire.

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The principal activity of the charity is to organise and present a biennial festival of poetry in Winchester, together with associated events, which also maintain a year-round presence.

The trustees, in making decisions about the Festival and associated activities, have held due regard to the Charity Commission’s public benefit guidance when exercising any powers or duties to which the guidance is relevant.

Summary of the main activities undertaken for the public benefit in relation to these objects (include within this section the statutory declaration that trustees have had regard to the guidance issued by the Charity Commission on public benefit)

Additional details of objectives and activities (Optional information)

You may choose to include further statements, where relevant, about:

policy on grantmaking;
policy programme related investment;
contribution made by volunteers.

Section D Achievements and performance

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Section D Achievements and performance

WINCHESTER POETRY FESTIVAL’s mission is to share, celebrate and champion poetry of all Summary of kinds; we believe in the power of poetry to bring us together and make a positive, enriching the main difference to our lives. While we are international in outlook, our commitment to reaching achievements underrepresented voices and those experiencing challenges is key. of the charity during the year During 2025, Winchester Poetry Festival (WPF) delivered its year-round programme of work, ‘Poetry 2025’ which included our biennial Festival in October 2025. Across the year, our programme reached a range of diverse communities, audiences, poets, and participants. Indeed, in recognition of our growing role, we were delighted to be winner of the Creative and Cultural Award in Winchester Business Improvement District’s (Winchester BID) Business Excellence Award’s 2025. The following is a summary of principal activities: January

Event at Poetry Platform at Railway Inn (Guest poet: Kathryn Bevis Prize Winner from Winchester Poetry Prize (WPP) 2024).
Launch of the Railway 200 Poetry Project with The Watercress Heritage Railway to celebrate the 200[th] anniversary of train travel.

February

Children of Winchester Festival (COW) songwriting for children (Hampshire Poet and Winnall Rock School).
Sound Winchester: a poetry showcase featuring younger people, curated by Poetry Platform).
Hampshire Young Poets competition 2025 opens. Theme: Friendship – inspired by Jane Austen for the JA250 celebrations.

April

Winchester Poetry Prize 2025 (WPP) opens. Judge: Fiona Benson.
Bournemouth Writing Festival (Poetry Hub activities over 2 days with AJ Hardingson; Write Beyond Borders; Susmita Bhattacharya; the Hampshire Poet; Adriana Lord (Writing Our Legacy); Pauline Rutter (Writing Our Legacy); Estelle Phillips; and a poetry vending machine supplied by National Trust ).

July

Unity101 poetry (Bengali Chaya Adda) competition opens (with winners announced at our Festival).
Whitchurch Children Arts Festival – The River Test. Poetry and Paint activities all day!
September
Jane Austen’s House joint collaborative event at Goldfinch Books, Alton for JA250 celebrations. Guest poet: Rachel Long.
Jane Austen and Poetry (workshop & talk): joint promotion with the Jane Austen House.
Heritage Open Days event (with the Hampshire Poet) at The Rotunda, Winchester School of Art.
Winchester Green Week at Winchester Cathedral – commissioned poem written/performed by the Hampshire Poet.

October

Our biennial Festival (2–12 October) at The ARC, in Winchester, and online and with BSL interpretation. We programmed 26 events, providing a platform for 80 artists to share their work. (NB: full evaluative report available). The Festival included the announcement of:
Hampshire Young Poet’s Competition (in partnership with Hampshire Cultural Trust). Almost 500 entries were received from schools across the county, with the winners announced at Festival in presence of the Lord Mayor and Lady Mayoress.
o The Winchester Poetry Prize (with sponsorship from Paris Smith). We launched our 2025 international Winchester Poetry Prize in April, with Fiona Benson as judge. The first prize was £1000, with those coming second and third winning £500 and £250 respectively. In 2025, we had a total of 2,284 entries; 338 poems were

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Section D Achievements and performance

entered from Hampshire-based writers and were eligible for the Kathryn Bevis Prize. There were entries from 34 countries around the world including Serbia, Singapore, Sweden and the United States.

1[st] Prize: Olivia Tuck
▪ 2[nd] Prize: Victoria Bentley ▪ 3[rd] Prize: Olga Dermott-Bond ▪ Kathryn Bevis Prize: Christina Moran (the winning poem of a Hampshirebased poet)
FT Prince Lecture Southampton with Dr Mary Jean Chan (a collaborative event with the University of Southampton).
We were also delighted that Arts Council England allowed us to extend our ‘Poetry 2025’ project to mid-April 2026 in order to deliver planned creative consultative workshops in partnership with local homeless charity, Winchester Beacon.

PLUS the year-round work of the of the Hampshire Poet, Damian Kelly-Basher – a collaboration with Hampshire Cultural Trust – working across Hampshire delivering open mics, workshops, readings, working with diverse communities, in diverse spaces (full reports available). The role of the Hampshire Poet aims to increase access to poetry in all its forms and provide diverse opportunities for people of all ages and backgrounds to be inspired and excited by poetry. Across 2025, this work reached 2,858 people of all ages in person, with a further 9,000 online, and led to 550 competition entries – a tremendous and varied reach right across Hampshire and beyond. This work was, and is, about engagement, empowerment, participation and inclusion with many entry points, celebrating, facilitating and showcasing diverse voices and life experiences.

A NOTE FROM CHAIR, JANE BRYANT

As always, Winchester Poetry Festival (WPF) is eminently grateful to its funders, sponsors, supporters, Friends and Volunteers. We very much value our relationship with you all – indeed, we could not manage without you all and your vital support, skills, and enthusiasm.

We continue to be grateful to the University of Winchester for its partnership support, and to Winchester City Council and Paris Smith – as well as the Friends and individual supporters of WPF, who collectively make a very welcome contribution to our costs while helping us to feel part of a vibrant local and national poetry community. Thank you all.

We were also particularly delighted to have been successful with our application to Arts Council England for a grant towards our year-round programme of work in 2025 – as well as to several smaller grant-making trusts.

Particular thanks go to our wonderful Artistic Director, Clare Pollard. We are particularly sorry to say that Clare has decided to step down after programming two fabulous biennial Festivals in both 2023 and 2025. We are eminently grateful to her for her creativity and artistic vision. Having recently undertaken a recruitment process, I am pleased to confirm her successor as Erica Hesketh and look forward enormously to working with her. We are also extremely grateful for the ever facilitative and brilliant work of our Festival Manager, Amy Juliet Brown, who makes everything happen seamlessly, and enables WPF to put on a varied annual programme of activity, including reaching those experiencing challenges in their lives.

As ever, my fellow trustees and our volunteer Treasurer and Minutes Secretary have been generous with their wisdom, insight, support and guidance over the last year, and I am deeply grateful to them. I now look forward to working with you all over the coming period as we seek to address ever-increasing funding challenges, in order to deliver our vision and plans for 2026 and 2027, with equality and inclusion at their heart.

Jane Bryant (Chair - Winchester Poetry Festival)

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Section E Financial review

The trustees have agreed to hold a minimum reserve of £10,000. The primary purpose of the Brief reserve is to mitigate the risk of unforeseen shortfalls in income and to allocate a specific statement of amount in the event of closure. Trustee approval is required before any expenditure may be the charity’s made from the reserve account. policy on reserves Trustees have agreed that the anticipated surplus on the 2025 account, beyond those items specified above, represents funds which will be ringfenced and carried forward to support the festival and its work in 2026 and 2027.

Details of any funds materially in deficit

Further financial review details (Optional information)

• The charity’s principal sources of funds (including any fundraising). You may choose to • How expenditure has supported the key objectives of the charity. include • Investment policy and objectives including any ethical investment policy adopted. additional information, where relevant about: •

Section F Other optional information

Section G Declaration

The trustees declare that they have approved the trustees’ report above.

Signed on behalf of the charity’s trustees

Signature(s)

Full name(s) Jane Versteeg Bryant Position (eg Secretary, Chair, Chair etc)

Date 6th July 2026

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Independent examiner's report on the accounts

Section A Independent Examiner’s Report

Report to the trustees/ Charity Name members of Winchester Poetry Festival On accounts for the year Charity no ended 31[st] December 2025 (if any) 1150997 Set out on pages 1-2 below

I report to the trustees on my examination of the accounts of the above charity (“the Trust”) for the year ended 31/12/2025 .

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
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.

Date: 6 July 2026 Signed: Name: F J Wilde Relevant professional FCCA DChA qualification(s) or body (if any): Address: 4 Marigold Drive Bisley, Surrey GU24 9SF

	Winchester Poetry Festival	Winchester Poetry Festival	Winchester Poetry Festival	1150997	CC16a

	Receipts andpayments accounts

	For the period from	01/01/2025	to	31/12/2025

Section A Receipts and Payments
A1 Receipts	Unrestricted Funds to the nearest £	Restricted Funds to the nearest £	Endowment Funds to the nearest £	Total Funds to the nearest £	Last Year to the nearest £
Events/PoetryPrize	17,207	-	-	17,207	10,766
Grants	-	2,481	-	2,481	27,038
Sponsors	-	5,000	-	5,000	3,500
Trusts	-	2,000	-	2,000	4,650
Friends Scheme	1,050	-	-	1,050	1,265
Personal contributions/other	5,367	-	-	5,367	5,109
Gift Aid	1,481	-	-	1,481	1,463
Publishingand book sales commission	739	-	-	739	880
Sub Total (Gross Income for AR)	25,844	9,481	-	35,325	54,671
A2 Assets and investment sales
				0	0
				0	0
Sub Total	0	0	0	0	0
Total Receipts A3 Payments
	25,844	9,481	0	35,325	54,671

Artists fees	1,841.00	25,895.00	0	27,736	6,860
Administration Fees	320.00	20,609.00	0	20,929	18,773
Professional fees	720.00	-	0	720	690
Hospitality	274.00	-	0	274	155
Insurance	263.00	-	0	263	250
PayPal charges	473.00	-	0	473	459
Friends schemes	-	-	0	0	0
Publicity& Communication	3,236.00	-	0	3,236	1,762
Publishing	-	-	0	0	0
Venue & Equipment hire	-	230.00	0	230	682
PoetryPrize	4,702.00	-	0	4,702	5,138
Sub Total	11,829	46,734	0	58,563	34,769
A4 Asset and investmentpurchases
				0	0
				0	0
Sub Total	0	0	0	0	0
Total Payments Net if Receipts/(payments) A5 Transfers between funds A6 Cash funds last year end Cash Funds this year end
	11,829	46,734	0	58,563	34,769

	14,015	(37,253)	0	(23,238)	19,902
	(15,439)	15,439		0	0
	30,146	29,138		59,284	39,382
	28,722	7,324	0	36,046	59,284

Section B Statement of assets and liabi	lities at the end of the period
Categories B1 Cash Funds B2 Other Monetary Assets B3 Investment Assets B5 liabilities B4 Assets retained for the Charity's own use Signed by one or two trustees on behalf of all the trustees	Details	Unrestricted Funds to the nearest £	Restricted Funds to the nearest £	Endowment Funds to the nearest £ 0 0 0 0 0 Date of approval 6th July 2026
	HSBC	36,045
	PayPal	0

		36,045	0	0




		0	0	0




		0	0	0




		0	0	0




	Signature	0	0	0
		Print	Name
		Jane Versteeg Bryant		6th July 2026