2023-03-31-accounts

GREEN SYNERGY &YNERGY grDwlng the comtnunS1y. iogethet TRUSTEES REPORT & FINANCIAL STATEMENTS 31 MARCH 2023 harit No: 1153883

Green Synergy Trustee Report and Financial Statements 31[st] March 2023

Status Green Synergy was founded in 2012 and is a charitable company limited by guarantee, incorporated on 12[th] February 2013 and registered as a charity on 20[th] September 2013.

Charity Number 1153883

Company Number 08399741

Registered 49 Roman Pavement, Lincoln, Lincolnshire, LN2 5RD. Address

Trustees Alan Robson Chair Caty Collier Vice Chair Karol Szlichcinski Treasurer – Resigned 18[th] April 2023 Rachel Gibbons Susan Kernachan Jane Loffhagen Appointed 8[th] August 2022 Sarah Clarke Secretary. Resigned 26[th] October 2022 Chief Executive Mrs Alison Talbot Bankers Co-operative Bank & Charity Bank Independent John O’Brien, employee of Community Accounting Plus Examiner Solicitors Sills & Betteridge Solicitors, 18-28 Clasketgate, Lincoln, Lincolnshire. LN2 1JN

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Using community gardening to support people to socialise, learn and thrive.

Green Synergy. 49 Roman Pavement, Lincoln, Lincolnshire. LN2 5RD. Tel: [phone] Charity Number: 1153883 Company Number: 08399741 Email: [e-mail] Web: www.greensynergy.org.uk

Chair’s Foreword

Welcome to Green Synergy’s Trustees Annual Report for 2022-2023. We welcomed our new CEO Ali Talbot in September 2022. Ali has certainly hit the ground running and the Board would like to thank her for her astounding work ethic and ability to engage with a wide variety of people and organisations. We are grateful for all her passion and professionalism in taking on this new era in Green Synergy’s development.

The staff team worked incredibly hard particularly during the first part of the year to keep all our projects running until the new CEO was able to start in post. I would like to record my personal thanks to all the staff, volunteers and trustees who pulled together and stepped up to meet numerous challenges during this time to help keep the charity’s valuable work going.

The charity’s achievements this year included a series of open garden events that were very well attended. The charity reached many new participants and families, fulfilled project outcomes and funders were updated in a timely fashion. Ali was instrumental in reviewing our website and developing our social media presence as well as reviewing and updating policies and internal systems. As we neared the end of the financial year, a clear ‘pipeline’ of funding bids and grants was created to help secure the charity’s work into the future. Along with fresh ideas from the team for generating income, this continues to strengthen the diversity of funding, including unrestricted funds.

The year did present some challenges and opportunities. Throughout the year we engaged with United Lincolnshire Hospitals Trust regarding our lease for the Hillside Garden. On our part we truly desire a meaningful partnership for mutual benefit and discussions are still ongoing.

Within this year we said farewell to Green Synergy’s founder, Mary Hollis, who having stepped down as CEO the previous year, continued to support the team in the early part of 2022/23. As a charity we remain eternally grateful for Mary’s vision and passion, without which none of this would have happened. “Green Synergy belongs to everyone who is involved with it and, everyone who is involved with it becomes part of Green Synergy”.

We saw the role of Trudy Norris evolve, who had given so much to Green Synergy and continues to support us as a freelancer. Office Manager Julie Pilkington stepped down and we wish her well. Our Treasurer Karol Szlichcinski, who was so vital in tiding us over until our new CEO arrived, also stepped down during this year and we thank him for his commitment and dedication during his tenure.

Our new team members are just as passionate about making a difference to people, and the Board is proud of the whole team’s achievements and commitment to supporting the most vulnerable

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Using community gardening to support people to socialise, learn and thrive.

Green Synergy. 49 Roman Pavement, Lincoln, Lincolnshire. LN2 5RD. Tel: [phone] Charity Number: 1153883 Company Number: 08399741 Email: [e-mail] Web: www.greensynergy.org.uk

people within our communities. Green Synergy throughout this 2022/3 year has been a voice and support for those whose voices have not been heard, those who have been left behind or left out. As always in a time of turmoil it is in the small acts of kindness that change happens for good.

Without doubt Green Synergy is a values-based organisation and continues to be so as it moves forward.

Rev Canon Alan J Robson MSc FRAgS FRAS

Chair of the Board of Trustees

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Using community gardening to support people to socialise, learn and thrive.

Green Synergy. 49 Roman Pavement, Lincoln, Lincolnshire. LN2 5RD. Tel: [phone] Charity Number: 1153883 Company Number: 08399741 Email: [e-mail] Web: www.greensynergy.org.uk

Green Synergy Overview

Green Synergy is a Lincoln based gardening and therapeutic horticulture charity that supports people to socialise, learn and thrive. Our charity’s work supports people of all ages in the most deprived communities in Lincolnshire to improve their mental and physical wellbeing. Green Synergy enables people to learn skills for life, for work and encourages people to care for themselves, each other and the environment. Our charity delivers community gardening and therapeutic horticulture programmes, activities, events and garden design and builds to bring communities together to create more life chances, quality green spaces and re-connect people to green spaces, growing and nature connectedness. Green Synergy delivers a gardening and social activities for children, young people and adults as well as a range of community engagement programmes, warm and cool spaces activities, community events and activities to bring people together in our community gardens and spaces and to support people living in Lincolnshire to improve their wellbeing.

Our community programmes enable people who are extremely socially isolated and living in very under-served communities to meet, socialise and receive support, guidance and reduce their isolation.

Our Vision is for the people of Lincoln and the surrounding areas to have access to a network of local community gardening and city farming projects, therefore creating even happier, healthier, stronger and more sustainable individuals and communities.

Our Mission to use community gardening, city farming and eco-therapies to support people come together to socialise, learn and thrive.

Public benefit: In considering the activities of the charity, the Trustees have had due regard to the Charity Commission guidance on public benefit. In particular, the Trustees consider how specific projects will contribute to delivering and furthering the impact of Green Synergy's Charitable Objectives

Structure, Governance and Management

The Trustees who are also Directors of the company for the purposes of the Companies Act 2006, present their report with the financial statements of the charity for the year ended 31[st] March 2023. The Trustees have adopted the provisions of Accounting and Reporting by Charities: Statement of Recommended Practice applicable to charities preparing their accounts in accordance with the Financial Reporting Standards applicable in the UK and Republic of Ireland (FRS 102) (effective 1 January 2015) (as amended by Update bulletin 1).

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Using community gardening to support people to socialise, learn and thrive.

Green Synergy. 49 Roman Pavement, Lincoln, Lincolnshire. LN2 5RD. Tel: [phone] Charity Number: 1153883 Company Number: 08399741 Email: [e-mail] Web: www.greensynergy.org.uk

Governing document: The charity is controlled by its governing document, a deed of trust, and constitutes a limited company, limited by guarantee, as defined by the Companies Act 2006.

Recruitment and appointment of new Trustees: Green Synergy is managed by a Board of Trustees who are also the Company Directors. As set out in the Articles of Association, the Board of Trustees must consist of not less than three. There is no maximum number of members on the Board of Trustees. Nominations for new member are made to the Board of Trustees for approval following an external recruitment process. Members of the Board of Trustees are subject to rotation. At the Annual General Meeting, one third of the Board members retire, these being the longest serving members. Retiring members are eligible for reappointment.

Organisational Structure: The Trustees govern Green Synergy and the Board of Trustees meets at least five times each year. In addition, the Chair or Vice Chair meets with the Chief Executive on regular occasions during the year to review progress of the charity’s work. Sub-groups are convened to deal with specific issues arising in the work of the organisation. A Chief Executive Officer is appointed to implement Green Synergy’s vision and mission and manage the day-to-day operations.

Induction and training of new trustees: New Trustees undertake an induction and are provided with an information pack to brief them on their legal obligations under charity and company law and the management and operation of Green Synergy. New Trustees undertake their induction at Green Synergy's premises, providing an opportunity to meet employees and discuss projects and activities. Green Synergy encourages further training for Trustees, either internally or through external providers, where this helps them to undertake their role.

Related parties: Green Synergy delivers a large proportion of its projects through partnership working with other voluntary sector organisations, statutory bodies, and the local authority.

Reference and administrative details:

Registered Charity Number (England and Wales) 1153883 Registered Company Number (England and Wales) 08399741 Registered Office: 49 Roman Pavement, Lincoln, Lincolnshire, LN2 5RD

This report has been prepared in accordance with the special provisions of Part 15 of Companies Act 2006 relating to small companies.

Approved by order of the Board of Trustees on and signed on its behalf by:

15[th] December 2023

Rev. Canon Alan Robson MSc FRAgS FRAS: Chair

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Using community gardening to support people to socialise, learn and thrive.

Green Synergy. 49 Roman Pavement, Lincoln, Lincolnshire. LN2 5RD. Tel: [phone] Charity Number: 1153883 Company Number: 08399741

Email: [e-mail] Web: www.greensynergy.org.uk

Our Team

Ali Talbot – Chief Executive

I have had the pleasure of working in the public, private and third sectors at senior management level for the past 25 years specialising in strategic, operational, marketing and communications, project and resource management of charities, youth, sports, leisure and cultural services including sport, leisure, tourism, visual and performing arts services. Prior to coming to Green Synergy, I was previously Chief Executive of Headliners (UK) a national youth multi-media charity. Prior to that I was CEO of Cerebral Palsy Sport, a national disability sports charity and was RNIB's National Leisure Services Manager. I had the honour of chairing LOCOG's London 2012 Disability Community Engagement Forum as well as being Event Director for the Nottingham 2015 CPISRA World Games and is a current member of Scope's National Assembly.

I have two sons who love sport and an RAF husband who isn’t a great fan of sport. My eldest son has cerebral palsy and is an international FrameRunner. My favourite food is Italian food, I love gardening, walking gymnastics, reading and am a closet 80’s music fan. When I’m not working, I can be found on a side of an athletics track supporting my sons or in my treasured happy place – my garden!

Tiwonge Simkonda – Community Development and Delivery Manager

My name means “we should be grateful”. As per my name, I am very grateful to be part of the Green Synergy Team. I am an avid advocate for social justice and human rights and my previous work experience with WaterAid, ActionAid and Trocaire has provided me immense opportunities to influence positive and transformative change in the lives of vulnerable people and communities. My role in Green Synergy will involve designing programs, setting up Program and grants management systems and the delivery of our Projects that are aimed at improving the mental well-being of children, young people and adults. I enjoy music, dancing, cooking, and spending time with my family and friends. I look forward to working alongside passionate and enthusiastic people in Green Synergy and I believe that “Together we will achieve More!!

Using community gardening to support people to socialise, learn and thrive.

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Green Synergy. 49 Roman Pavement, Lincoln, Lincolnshire. LN2 5RD. Tel: [phone] Charity Number: 1153883 Company Number: 08399741 Email: [e-mail] Web: www.greensynergy.org.uk

Ana Oliveira – Hillside Garden Manager

I studied botanical horticulture at Kew and wrote my dissertation on why and how nature benefits us. I have worked in garden management, horticulture and teaching garden design. The biophilia hypothesis suggests that humans possess an innate tendency to seek connections with nature and other forms of life. This has certainly been the case for me. My first step into understanding it was to study landscape architecture. The second was to study botanical horticulture at Kew. As I wrote my dissertation on why and how nature benefits us, I developed a great interest in how that could be enabled, both in terms of human engagement, but also in how we design the outdoor environment. Previous jobs in garden management, horticulture and teaching garden design were enriching, however, I now wanted to add social rehabilitation and wellbeing into the mix. Hillside garden is the stage where sustainability, nature conservation and human health all meet. It is the future we should all strive for…

Katie Rayner – Finance and Office Manager

I was merchandise manager, marketing and communications departmental lead, and departmental finance officer for the past four years at the University of Lincoln Sports Centre and Shop. Prior to this, I worked as a veterinary assistant for 9 years at a village, first opinion small animal veterinary practice, and towards the latter end of my veterinary career, I decided to return to university to pursue a degree in business and management. After finishing my studies, I took a gap year and travelled around New Zealand. I own a miniature dachshund called Sully and a naughty pony called Woody, who both take up most of my time at weekends and evenings. Interests include horse riding (show jumping, XC and drag hunting with the Cranwell Bloodhounds), baking, football, interior design and travel. I also have a love of house plants and my collection continues to grow. One of my favourite pastimes is going out for coffee and cake!

Using community gardening to support people to socialise, learn and thrive.

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Green Synergy. 49 Roman Pavement, Lincoln, Lincolnshire. LN2 5RD. Tel: [phone] Charity Number: 1153883 Company Number: 08399741 Email: [e-mail] Web: www.greensynergy.org.uk

Lizzie McFarlane: Projects Officer

Following on from struggles with my own mental health, I rediscovered my affinity for growing and started volunteering with Green Synergy in September 2015. This affirmed to me my love of people and my passion to work with communities to improve people’s lives and support them in a positive way. After 12 months as a volunteer, I successfully applied for a role as a Trainee Project Officer with an apprenticeship in Horticulture. I am now a fully-fledged Project Officer and deliver the BBO MOVE and Better Together projects. I enjoy using my coaching skills to support people who are experiencing mental ill health and help them to progress on their recovery journeys.

Brodi Wyman: Projects Officer

I initially started as an apprentice at Green Synergy and over the past 3 years I have built up my skills and confidence working throughout all areas of the charity. I enjoy this role because of the variety of work and the ability to incorporate my different passions and share them with young minds. Using gardening, craft and games to educate and support our community has made such a difference to my own life. I have always wanted to work with children and being able to do a job that impacts lives and drives their passion for the environment has been extremely rewarding for me. Watching as children gain more interest in growing their own plants and wanting to be more involved with the things we do, has been amazing. I am continually learning and can’t wait to see what the future holds.

Wendy Slater – Community Engagement Co-ordinator

I come to Green Synergy with a long and varied background of experience gained from being a volunteer, and from working for and with Charities, Trusts, Communities, Partnerships and Authorities. I also have the experience of life, dealing with adversity and pushing through barriers. Personally, I feel my life has been a journey of me having to prove myself, until I started to ask why and who am I proving myself too? The skills I learnt on that journey I now share with others in order to help them to empower themselves and progress. I have three grown up daughters, two grandsons and a granddaughter. I moved to Lincoln late 2022 but remain a true Yorkshire Lass at Heart! Glass half full / half empty? It’s simple – you have the wrong size glass! Or alternatively its refillable!

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Using community gardening to support people to socialise, learn and thrive.

Green Synergy. 49 Roman Pavement, Lincoln, Lincolnshire. LN2 5RD. Tel: [phone] Charity Number: 1153883 Company Number: 08399741 Email: [e-mail] Web: www.greensynergy.org.uk

Rebecca Graham - Garden and Horticulture Assistant

I'm Rebecca I am a Garden and Horticulture Assistant who has just started at Green Synergy. My previous experience has been working with children with additional needs and working in a forest school with clinical professionals. My last role was working with a conservation charity in Manchester doing jobs such as gardening, installing fences, edging, tree planting and dead hedging. I have an allotment at home so love to grow my own produce and teach people how to grow their own and how to prepare the ground. I am looking forward to learning more about the different projects in Green Synergy and learning about how horticulture can help people in the community.

Katie Rooker – Freelance Children and Young People's Projects Assistant & Garden Assistant

Through volunteering with Green Synergy I’ve seen first-hand the benefits therapeutic horticulture and community gardening can have. After completing an employability project ran by Green Synergy, I was successful in becoming a member of the team. My role is Garden Projects Assistant, I help the Garden Manager and Projects Team to support volunteers and beneficiaries through different projects and sessions we run at Hillside Garden. I really enjoy interacting with the range of people I encounter through my role, as well as the variety of activities and tasks we provide at the garden. I studied Zoology at the University of Lincoln, and have an interest in animals, plants, and conservation. I enjoy trying to learn how to look after new houseplants and teaching my cat new tricks Tanya Akrofi – Freelance Projects Officer

Tanya is a storyteller and trainee counsellor. She believes whole-heartedly in the medicinal benefits of connecting with the natural world around us. We all have a story to tell and by empowering people to find their voice, we can encourage them to celebrate their experiences and honour their challenges. This is what Tanya hopes to do. She is honoured to join the wonderful team at Green Synergy.

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Using community gardening to support people to socialise, learn and thrive.

Green Synergy. 49 Roman Pavement, Lincoln, Lincolnshire. LN2 5RD. Tel: [phone] Charity Number: 1153883 Company Number: 08399741 Email: [e-mail] Web: www.greensynergy.org.uk

Trudy Norris- Freelance Projects Officer

Trudy was our Project Manager and in 2023 wanted to change her evolve her work and so became one of our freelance team members. With a nudge from an elder, I developed an interest in plants as food and medicine from my late teens. As a result, I switched from a degree in politics to studying for a degree in Health and Community Studies. I then trained in Western Herbal Medicine for 3 years and have been in practice as a herbalist for 25 years (FNIMH). As my interests in influences in health and wellbeing grew, I then sought to develop my skills and trained in adult learning (PGCE) and to qualify as a Counsellor (BACP). Green Synergy enables me to work with all my passions in life: plants, people and communities.

Ruby Berridge – Freelance Projects Officer

Hello, my name Ruby and I am a Freelance Project Officer at Green Synergy, so you might see me at different sessions. I believe that mental health care is really important; and I feel that a connection with nature, being outside and gardening, is one of the key areas for self-nurturing and sustaining individual well-being. I have a background in healthcare; with a recent focus on nutrition, phytotherapy and supporting people with cancer. My other interests include edible gardening, my pet succulents, being outdoors, walking, reading, drawing and crafts. Family, communication and community are important to me and I'm excited about my role at Green Synergy, meeting new people and making new connections. I feel I have seen the valuable contribution the charity, staff and volunteers make to individuals using the garden, the local community, wildlife, and to Lincoln generally, as a supportive and therapeutic/accessible (much needed) green space.

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Using community gardening to support people to socialise, learn and thrive.

Green Synergy. 49 Roman Pavement, Lincoln, Lincolnshire. LN2 5RD. Tel: [phone] Charity Number: 1153883 Company Number: 08399741 Email: [e-mail] Web: www.greensynergy.org.uk

Our Trustees

Rev. Canon Alan Robson MSc FRAgS FRAS: Chair

I joined Green Synergy in 2016 and became Chair in 2017. I am a Methodist Minister and Agricultural Chaplain for the County and I am also a founding member of the Lincolnshire Rural Support Network, helping farming families across the whole of Lincolnshire. My core driver is my everchanging faith in spiritual exploration and mysteries of human well-being. My passion is for people finding wholeness out of crisis- also finding hope in hopeless situations.

Caty Collier: Vice Chair & Trustee

Currently working as Social Prescribing Development Lead for Lincolnshire, I and have over twenty years’ experience in the voluntary and community sector. I first got to know Green Synergy in 2012, prior to it becoming a charity when they were seeking advice on incorporation. In 2016, I was invited to become a Board Member. In my spare time, I practice yoga and am involved in community music and dance. Past voluntary roles have included wildlife habitat restoration and building a school in a remote part of Tanzania.

Rachel Gibbons: Trustee

I became a trustee to Green Synergy after visiting Hillside Community Garden and being inspired by the work of the charity, seeing the lifeaffirming values and benefits to the community through connecting with nature in the garden. Green Synergy encourages people to embrace the outdoors for their wellbeing, health and self-belief.

My working life has been in agriculture, horticulture and conservation. For many years I was a consultant, linking farmers with the natural world around them, as well as working with Wildlife Trusts.

My family lives on a farm near Market Rasen where we host school visits, forest school camps, the Girl Guides, walkers and other groups. In my spare time I am a keen gardener and volunteer with several charities including being a First Responder for 16 years. I am also involved with biodiversity monitoring projects on our farm and in the county.

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Using community gardening to support people to socialise, learn and thrive.

Green Synergy. 49 Roman Pavement, Lincoln, Lincolnshire. LN2 5RD. Tel: [phone] Charity Number: 1153883 Company Number: 08399741 Email: [e-mail] Web: www.greensynergy.org.uk

Jane Loffhagen: Trustee

I am Jane Loffhagen- Trustee on the Board of Green Synergy. I have lived in Lincoln since 1985, raised my family here and until 2019 worked in the public sector as a Probation Officer. In 2019 I was elected to the City of Lincoln Council for Abbey ward, where Green Synergy is situated, and am committed to supporting the work of such a marvellous local charity into the future. The way the charity supports people with all kinds of issues or none is very impressive.

Susan Kernachan: Trustee

I joined the Board of Green Synergy in December 2020 to contribute my skills and experience to a local organisation that was about to go through a period of change. The time I spent in my own garden during the 2020 lockdown gave me a first-hand understanding of the physical and mental health benefits of horticulture and I’m an advocate for green social prescribing.

I’ve spent over 20 years as a senior property leader in disability charities, I’ve recently qualified as an EMCC Accredited Coach at Foundation Level and I’m a volunteer with The Lincoln Community Larder. I’m married with one son and have lived in Lincoln since 2012.

Using community gardening to support people to socialise, learn and thrive.

Green Synergy. 49 Roman Pavement, Lincoln, Lincolnshire. LN2 5RD. Tel: [phone] Charity Number: 1153883 Company Number: 08399741 Email: [e-mail] Web: www.greensynergy.org.uk

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A Review of Our Year 2022-2023

2022 – 2023 was a year of change for Green Synergy as our founder and former Chief Executive Mary Hollis stepped back from the charity to pursue new adventures in February 2022. The team were supported by Trustees during a long interim period until our new Chief Executive Ali Talbot joined in September 2023. The charity paid tribute with a celebration event for the hard work and dedication of Mary in founding the charity and working so hard to grow the charity.

It was an incredible busy year to Green Synergy is what turned out to be the hottest summer on record for our community, team and our garden. It brought home the importance of how we need preserve and manage our natural world and our natural resources and led to us future planning on how the plants and rainwater harvesting could be managed effectively.

Green Synergy was delighted to be recognised in 2022 with a national award from Simple Magazine by Waitrose as winners of the Most Community Minded Organisation. The award recognised and celebrated organisations, businesses and community groups that are doing their best to improve their little corner of the world. We were delighted to win the award and Green Synergy were featured in the March edition of Simple Magazine. Our second award was from YMCA Lincolnshire. We were awarded Age Friendly Business award. Green Synergy achieved the standards required to be awarded the accreditation, which included. Respect and Inclusion, Customer Comfort, Clear Marketing and Communications and Accessibility.

The scope of the project’s delivery grew with new projects in the form of the Community Renewal Fund enabling us to create new accredited courses in Horticulture and Environmental Conservation and saw the commencement of the design and build project for The Forge Day Centre in Scunthorpe. Our National Grid funded Warm Spaces programme enabled the charity to distribute over 150 personal warm packs, deliver two slow cooker workshops and launch a new Knit and Natter group in response to our community listening.

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Using community gardening to support people to socialise, learn and thrive.

Green Synergy. 49 Roman Pavement, Lincoln, Lincolnshire. LN2 5RD. Tel: [phone] Charity Number: 1153883 Company Number: 08399741 Email: [e-mail] Web: www.greensynergy.org.uk

The charity has continued to provide a range of services to a range of demographic age groups from children, young people, adults and older people. Our Tower Power children and young people programme reached 180 young people last year and 55 families with 80 hours of volunteering supporting the project with a range of exciting events, holiday programmes and after school activities. The Green Influencers children and young people green social action programme reached 141 young people and worked with 7 partners.

Our Better Together wellbeing project directed supported 30 adults with their mental health and wellbeing journeys and 16 people moved into training, learning or employment through our BBO Move programme delivery.

The Growing and Cooking on a Budget project has reached 11 people so far but this has only just commenced and our gardens programme was supported by 2092 volunteering hours.

The See How our Garden Grows project reached 1186 people through our garden events and 286 people through our Warm Spaces and coffee morning activities and 91 people through our Knit and Natter programme. The charity hosted 73 adults on specific garden visits and the team undertook 40 community engagement activities and events reaching 1487 people.

Green Synergy’s social media presence has grown and the charity reached over 19,000 impressions on Twitter and 112,631 impressions of Facebook as well as creating a new website which is now well visited with new features, events pages, volunteer stories and up to date news features.

There were changes to the team in 2022/ 2023 with Tom, John, Julie and Zoe moving on to pastures new and we thank them for their incredible work supporting the projects, people and gardens. New team members Katie, Roxanna, Jo, Katie, Marcelina and Ali joined the Green Synergy team and 23 new volunteers joined the incredible Green Synergy Garden volunteer team. We are so very proud of the volunteers that support our charity come rain or shine and it was lovely during Volunteers Week in June 2022 to be able to recognise the contribution of so many volunteers with a volunteer’s celebration, social media film and thank you certificates for our truly special group of volunteers. A massive thank you to each and every one of you!

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Using community gardening to support people to socialise, learn and thrive.

Green Synergy. 49 Roman Pavement, Lincoln, Lincolnshire. LN2 5RD. Tel: [phone] Charity Number: 1153883 Company Number: 08399741 Email: [e-mail] Web: www.greensynergy.org.uk

Our Trustee Board is such a valuable part of our volunteering contributions as they support the operation and development of all our governance processes with their tireless support. October 2022 saw one of our founding Trustees step down from the charity so our heartfelt thanks go to Sarah Clarke for her long-standing service to the charity. Our sincere thanks also go to Treasurer Karol Szlichcinski who stepped down in this year.

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Using community gardening to support people to socialise, learn and thrive.

Green Synergy. 49 Roman Pavement, Lincoln, Lincolnshire. LN2 5RD. Tel: [phone] Charity Number: 1153883 Company Number: 08399741 Email: [e-mail] Web: www.greensynergy.org.uk

Our Impact

Using community gardening to support people to socialise, learn and thrive.

Green Synergy. 49 Roman Pavement, Lincoln, Lincolnshire. LN2 5RD. Tel: [phone] Charity Number: 1153883 Company Number: 08399741 Email: [e-mail] Web: www.greensynergy.org.uk

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The Gardens

Hillside Garden

It has been a busy year in the gardens with many improvements and changes in infrastructure and operations. This was enabled by specific funding together with increased capacity in the team, volunteers and beneficiaries. Our garden volunteer hours between 17/01/2023 and 15/06/2023 totalled an amazing 1046 hours. A new partnership with the Lincolnshire Prison and Probation Service’s Community Payback team together with external partners and sponsors also made valuable contributions.

Operations

The operational focus in the garden covered three main areas: improving horticulture practices, supporting Hillside Garden’s resilience in face of climate change and updating the H&S procedures. The CRF project funded the purchase of vital tools and machinery which improved our horticulture standards. Edging shears and half-moons make the bed edges much crisper and tidier; propagators allow us to grow plants from seed or cuttings and a woodchipper will allow us to turn woody waste into compost. Wickes Lincoln kindly also donated machinery and equipment,

such as hedge trimmers or secateurs. Hedges have been trimmed with hand shears prior to this and an electric trimmer has made the process much quicker. Risk assessments were reviewed for the new machinery and other garden tasks with existing ones updated, including COSHH. PPE provision has been reviewed and additional equipment was purchased. Any chemicals used on site, such as paint or varnishes, are now non-hazardous.

Climate change has presented a significant challenge in our green spaces. The uneven distribution of rainfall and an unusually hot summer in 2022 meant severe drought on Hillside Garden. Our rainwater reserves were nearly empty at the beginning of the summer and a decision was made to reduce water consumption until we could top up our tanks. Potted plants were sold off and many others were no longer watered. Some simply went dormant until Autumn, and watering was focused solely edible crops.

William Booth, who was previously involved in setting up Hillside Garden, came to our rescue twice. He brought 1000l of water each time to ensure we had enough for the most critical plants. Thank you, William!

To mitigate the effects of climate change we focused on training staff, volunteers and beneficiaries in sustainable use of water and how to grow plants for draught resilience. We plan to expand our water storage in 2023.

Composting

Using community gardening to support people to socialise, learn and thrive.

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Green Synergy. 49 Roman Pavement, Lincoln, Lincolnshire. LN2 5RD. Tel: [phone] Charity Number: 1153883 Company Number: 08399741 Email: [e-mail] Web: www.greensynergy.org.uk

The other focus for Hillside was in improving and expanding our composting facilities, as compost makes the soils more water retentive and reduces plants susceptibility to stress. We also trained on composting for staff, volunteers and beneficiaries.

The existing compost area underneath the Leyland cypress was proven to be unsuited due to the lack of moisture. The trees intercept much of the rainfall, meaning the green waste was not breaking down. A new area was created by the heritage orchard meadow, where it is exposed to the rain. We built a total of 14 bays throughout 2022/2023, including a weed and soil sieve to dry out any weeds before composting them with capacity to accommodate all the green waste produced on site. The green waste from the old bays has been gradually transferred to the new area where it started to break down.

Cob oven

This development was kindly funded by Lincolnshire Co-op Community Champions Fund and was part of the charity’s community engagement activities and the oven was built in partnership with Abbey Access, Hilt Holt Wood and our beneficiaries and local residents. Abbey Access constructed the base and the timber shelter with learners from their construction and joinery courses. The team used mostly reclaimed materials to reduce the carbon footprint of the build, including bricks, fence panels and timber from pallets. The oven was built using traditional construction methods and materials. The clay was reinforced with straw and the finishing was

done using lime render. Building and firing up the oven have become meaningful events for both volunteers and beneficiaries.

Standing out area

Green Synergy has a history of plant growing on Hillside Garden so to improve nursery practices and facilitate maintenance of potted plants, we created a standing out area alongside the Therapeutic Garden using geotextile membrane. This area is semi shaded, which reduces watering needs and plant losses over the summer months. By having pots over a membrane, we no longer have grass to mow

Using community gardening to support people to socialise, learn and thrive.

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Green Synergy. 49 Roman Pavement, Lincoln, Lincolnshire. LN2 5RD. Tel: [phone] Charity Number: 1153883 Company Number: 08399741 Email: [e-mail] Web: www.greensynergy.org.uk

in between the plants, and it has become easier to keep track of the existing stock.

Ellie’s Memorial Garden

Green Synergy is currently holding guardianship of Ellie’s Memorial Garden and in 2023 we are working to secure a long-term lease to manage the garden from the City of Lincoln Council.

In 2022, Ellie’s Memorial Garden underwent some much-needed renovation. One of the local residents who had been the garden custodian in recent years, was no longer able to undergo the necessary maintenance, particularly the woody species. The focus was on cutting back and pruning overgrown vegetation and emptying and refurbishing the compost bays. The CRF project learners and probation services undertook most of these tasks.

Climbers, shrubs and trees have all been pruned and all beds are being edged. The Lincoln Conservation Volunteers group came alongside our valued supporter William Booth to empty the compost bays and spread the compost in our vegetable beds at Hillside. The community payback group has refurbished the bays using new pallets.

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Using community gardening to support people to socialise, learn and thrive.

Green Synergy. 49 Roman Pavement, Lincoln, Lincolnshire. LN2 5RD. Tel: [phone] Charity Number: 1153883 Company Number: 08399741 Email: [e-mail] Web: www.greensynergy.org.uk

Our Projects

Tower Power

Since last April Green Synergy have delivered multiple events and trips that have been a great success in helping us support children and young people in Lincoln. These trips included to the Woodside Wildlife Park where families from the Tower estate got to take a coach together and enjoy a day out. Our annual Family Fun Day which is an open event with free activities and food for all and was a wonderful day of fun and laughter. The sun shone on our 2022 Global Harvest Celebration which brought people from the estate together in a celebration of the garden and food and attracted over 150 people. Our organisation also had a great success in building partnerships that helped us provide the children with more experiences and opportunities. Some of these include the YMCA, Lincoln City Football Foundation, Rhubarb Theatre, Leaf and Land collective and Soundlincs. This year also saw the charity develop a new partnership with McDonald’s as part of BBC Children in Need’s Community Connections Project, where the team have developed a plan of how they can support us with advertisement in their restaurants and donate Tower Power with fruit snacks and water for events and trips. The Tower Power has engaged over 180 young people and it is estimated that 90 of these were new to the project. This has been achieved through our weekly sessions as well the trips and events. In 2022/2023 the charity has established an effective method of delivery, splitting the ages into their own groups, and giving specialised activities for them. This ranges from gardening, craft and games, each building up the connectiveness that young people have to nature, the community and themselves. One of the main challenges within the project is managing some of the challenging behaviour often seen when working with children in deprived areas, some of the things we have done to help with this was developing an agreement with the children in our sessions on what they do and don’t want to see in the sessions’ behaviour wise. Tower Power have three dedicated volunteers who come every week to help with our sessions, estimated that each volunteer has done around 80 hours. One of our volunteers Kath also bakes bread for the young people every week.

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Using community gardening to support people to socialise, learn and thrive.

Green Synergy. 49 Roman Pavement, Lincoln, Lincolnshire. LN2 5RD. Tel: [phone] Charity Number: 1153883 Company Number: 08399741 Email: [e-mail] Web: www.greensynergy.org.uk

Green Influencers Youth Empowerment and Environmental Action

The Green Influencers Scheme aims to help young people aged 10 -14 years old in deprived urban areas, to create deep, lasting and meaningful connections with the natural environment while learning and building skills that will help them to contribute to their local community through youth-led environmental action.

Our funding ended in June 2023, but during our time with this project Green Synergy have managed to engage with a range of groups and schools to help reach the wider community of Lincoln, connecting with a young people to get them involved in youth social action. An example of this would be Bishop King Primary school adding to their vegetable garden and improving their wildlife trail so that it was more accessible and wildlife friendly. Through this project Green Synergy has built partnerships that will last into the future, already having given us more opportunities such as we have continued work with Monks Abbey Primary school’s Eco Warriors group.

Green Synergy has delivered 9 youth social action groups with 4 being delivered in this year. Our charity reached 141 young people so far of which 77 of those young people were in this year as there has been more success in being able to attend schools. There are no active volunteers on the Green Influencers project.

Using community gardening to support people to socialise, learn and thrive.

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Green Synergy. 49 Roman Pavement, Lincoln, Lincolnshire. LN2 5RD. Tel: [phone] Charity Number: 1153883 Company Number: 08399741 Email: [e-mail] Web: www.greensynergy.org.uk

See How Our Garden Grows – National Lottery Community Fund

We have had a very busy year here at Green Synergy with our community’s input shaping our community engagement events and workshops. Our approach remains person-centred making sure that we hear and prioritise the needs and wants of our community on the Tower Estate and surrounding areas of Lincoln.

Over the past year we have had an exciting series of events which have been very well supported by residents, the wider community, and stakeholders. The charity delivered five seasonal events and workshops and our Global Harvest Celebration attracted over 160 people in October, eating food from around the world cooked by local residents. Two Christmas wreath and decoration workshops were held in November and our Carols on the Garden took place on a cold sunny December Tuesday. We were delighted to welcome local School Monks Abbey and the Birchwood Community Choir.

The Tower Power Coffee morning goes from strength to strength and this year we have been on three wonderful trips. The group explored the historic town of Horncastle and its market, attended an armistice event at Bomber Command and enjoyed a fun outing to Kinema in The Woods. We have also organised a variety of events including Slow Cooker workshop, craft sessions and a free fire safety session with Lincolnshire Fire and Rescue. The Coffee mornings and trips not only allow residents to socialise and bond, but also help to combat and reduce isolation.

Thanks to funding from the Lincolnshire Coop Community Fund last summer, we constructed a Community Cob Oven. Our beneficiaries from various groups on the garden, the local community, and our young people's group participated in building the oven. The oven offers us the chance to cook outdoors and encourage learning and socialising. For our Global Harvest Celebration, we were able to cook over 160 jacket potatoes.

Unfortunately we have also faced challenges this year. The high cost of living has posed difficulties for many members of our community. Our well attended events and trips have provided some relief while also promoting wellness and mental health. Funding from The National Grid Community Matters Fund and Lincolnshire Community Foundation has enabled us to run a warm hub here at Green Synergy through the winter months. The funding has also offered us the chance to run four Slow Cooker workshops. The workshops provided an excellent environment for cooking, discussing food, and enjoying a shared lunch. All attendees went home with a slow cooker, and we received positive feedback from everyone who participated.

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Using community gardening to support people to socialise, learn and thrive.

Green Synergy. 49 Roman Pavement, Lincoln, Lincolnshire. LN2 5RD. Tel: [phone] Charity Number: 1153883 Company Number: 08399741 Email: [e-mail] Web: www.greensynergy.org.uk

Through the See How Your Garden Grows project, we have collaborated with various groups, schools, and organisations in the city. Over the past year we have also collaborated with three nearby schools in the Tower Estate area: Carlton Academy, Monks Abbey Primary and Christ Hospital. Together, we provided warm packs and offered spaces on our Slow Cooker workshops. This collaboration has enabled us to help local families that are dealing with increased price rises. We also supported the Forest Skies Federation community event.

Our new volunteer pathway that ensures the safety of our volunteers and allows us to provide a fulfilling experience. Our dedicated volunteers play a crucial role in our mission to improve the gardens and support the charity. Together they work towards creating a beautiful, mindful, and peaceful community gardens, which wouldn't be possible without their support and commitment. We celebrate our volunteers and the support that they give us and our Volunteer pages on our website celebrate the stories of our volunteers and during volunteer week we run a volunteer thank you campaign.

Throughout the year, we held volunteer recruitment activities with our partnership with Lincolnshire Coop resulting in a successful Spring Synergy ‘Spring Clean’ event for Hillside Garden. This event attracted new volunteers and thoroughly enjoyed by all. Additionally BBC Radio Lincolnshire has been very supportive and has conducted several interviews live and recorded on the garden. Currently our team of volunteers consists of 23 Garden Volunteers, 3 Young People Volunteers and 5 Trustees that donate their time and expertise to the charity.

Our partnership with Lincoln University has been very productive and this year we welcomed a student for his final-year placement. He conducted a listening project with our elderly residents, while also assisting the young people's team with filming and recording. Graduate Employment and Alumni Relations Officer Heather Saunders volunteered at the Hillside Garden and wrote a blog about her experience, which attracted more volunteers to Green Synergy and we attended two employer engagement events. We would like to say thank you to all who have been part of our community engagement this year and Green Synergy look forward to working with everyone next year and developing new and interesting ideas and events.

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Using community gardening to support people to socialise, learn and thrive.

Green Synergy. 49 Roman Pavement, Lincoln, Lincolnshire. LN2 5RD. Tel: [phone] Charity Number: 1153883 Company Number: 08399741 Email: [e-mail] Web: www.greensynergy.org.uk

Building Better Opportunities MOVE

In what was the final year of the BBO Move project, Green Synergy are shining a light on the key successes from the programme, the challenges we overcame and our wonderful participants. BBO Move was an employability project funded by the European Social Fund and the Big Lottery Community fund to help people with greater barriers to work to build skills and confidence. This was a multi partner project and Green Synergy offered practical sessions in basic horticulture as well as industry standard strimmer and spraying qualifications. We used a person-centred approach and structured mentoring to best support participants to achieve their personal and professional goals. This was the last delivery year for the project, with sessions ending in December 2022. The charity engaged a total of 16 people, 7 of whom were new in this reporting period. From this group, 5 people moved into training

and 7 into employment. This meant that over the course of our 7 years of funding, we achieved all outcomes for the project. In addition, several of our BBO Move participants, took on a volunteering role at Hillside Garden and continue to help and support the day-to-day maintenance of the space.

Project highlights

• Former Participant wins an award: When Gary first joined BBO Move, he had worked in the same career for over 30 years but due to circumstances this was no longer possible. He identified one of his biggest barriers to work was functional skills and a lack of confidence. Whilst on the garden he found a passion for all things gardening, but more than anything, he gained a renewed confidence in himself and his ability. He exited the project into work, at the Covid vaccination centres and onto a functional skills course. He continues to volunteer at Hillside Garden on his days off and this year, we were so proud to hear the news that he received the Lincolnshire Adult Skills and Family Learning Service Learner of the Year 2022. Gary really represents what BBO Move was all about, supporting people to see and achieve their full potential. It has been an amazing project to be a part of.

• Job opportunities: The project had great success this year with one participant who went into employment at West Lindsay Landscapes. We worked with our partner, Abbey Access Training to enable him to do his CSCS card, which combined with the practical skills he had learnt at the garden, an NVQ in Horticulture, and one to one support he received, meant he was able to reach his goal of employment at a landscape firm. We have stayed in touch, and he is still thriving in his job and is set or promotion on completion of his first year. When asked about his time at Green Synergy, he said:

• “I’ve really enjoyed it, everyone is really friendly, and I’ve made some long-term friends. I enjoy the work we do here, I’ve always enjoyed working outside with my hands, so this is pretty perfect or me. Hopefully I will be getting an apprenticeship soon, when I spoke to West Lindsay Landscapes, I did reference what I’m doing at Green Synergy and how much I’m enjoying it. They seemed to really like what I’m doing here as well so that’s really helped me get my foot in the door. It’s a big CV boost.” TE June 2022.

Using community gardening to support people to socialise, learn and thrive.

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Green Synergy. 49 Roman Pavement, Lincoln, Lincolnshire. LN2 5RD. Tel: [phone] Charity Number: 1153883 Company Number: 08399741 Email: [e-mail] Web: www.greensynergy.org.uk

• Launch of CRF level 2 NVQ : The start of the new CRF NVQs brought new opportunities for many BBO Move participants who were keen to take on more formal learning and qualification. They were able to complete the course, helping to build their CV and improve their chances of employment in the industry.

• Green Synergy plant sale: Our annual plant sale is always a chance for BBO Move participants to shine as they worked together, to prepare the garden for the annual plant sale. This year was no exception as they worked in the weeks leading up and volunteered to support on the day. Some of our participants even took the opportunity to invite family members to the event to show all the hard work they had done in the garden.

• The Cob Oven: BBO Move participant joined forces with volunteers, community members and other project participants to build our new cob oven. This was a great opportunity for everyone to learn this heritage skill and leave a real mark on Hillside Garden.

Person-Centred Support

2022/2023 saw the final recruitment of project participants onto the BBO Move project and this presented some challenges as the landscape of the local community had changed. The majority of unemployed people, who were close to the work market were being signposted to the DWP funded provision, meaning that the participants coming into BBO Move were those with greater barriers to work.

This has always been an area in which the charity shines, we were mindful of the limited time left to work with people in order to support them towards their personal goals and meaningful project outcomes in a personcentred manner. The team established a new referral system, undertook an extensive recruitment push and attended a range of partnership events including Faces to Names to showcase our project offers. This enabled us to reach the project targets and also provide the best possible outcomes for our project participants.

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Using community gardening to support people to socialise, learn and thrive.

Green Synergy. 49 Roman Pavement, Lincoln, Lincolnshire. LN2 5RD. Tel: [phone] Charity Number: 1153883 Company Number: 08399741 Email: [e-mail] Web: www.greensynergy.org.uk

Better Together Project (B2G)

The Better Together project is grant funded by the National Lottery Community Fund to deliver Stage 2 of the project until 2024. B2G ‘2’ is a partnership project which resulted from successful extended funding for our partnership with Abbey Access Training and Development Plus. Green Synergy has delivered two 2 Hour sessions weekly for participants on our 2.5-acre Hillside Community Garden. The charity has engaged with 30 participants, 20 of whom were new to the project. Sessions offer individuals choices of activity including a wide range of gardening tasks and linked activities such as eco crafts, walking, cooking, and planning sessions. The group have been a part of many events including the Plant Sale, Family Fun Day, Autumn Harvest Event, Carols on the garden.

Project Highlights

• Cathedral Visit in December: We enjoyed another wonderful visit to Lincoln cathedral where we were given a guided tour of the building and told the history and stories. We ended the day with a hot drink and cake in the café before wishing everyone happy festivities.

• Wreath making at Hillside : We worked with our participants to make seasonal wreaths. They then took these home to decorate their doors.

Photo Credit: Photo taken by JA on the garden

• Arboretum walks: This year saw us venture off the garden a lot more with regular walks to the arboretum. We would take time along the way to notice how things changed through the seasons, explored all corners of the arboretum and regularly stopped off for a hot drink and a piece of cake at the arboretum café.

Using community gardening to support people to socialise, learn and thrive.

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Green Synergy. 49 Roman Pavement, Lincoln, Lincolnshire. LN2 5RD. Tel: [phone] Charity Number: 1153883 Company Number: 08399741 Email: [e-mail] Web: www.greensynergy.org.uk

• Planting: This year, Better Together led the charge on planting seeds for all Hillside needs. We were successful in harvesting a variety of seeds from the garden which we have grown into little plants. These are used in the garden as well as in the plant sale.

• Volunteer pathways: A longstanding volunteer left our project, and we provided a reference for them to volunteer with another community project for which they were successful. We have another volunteer who has stayed with the project and is a part of the team. We have reviewed our volunteer recruitment pathway for non-project volunteers and will consider placements for students going forward.

Growing and Cooking on a Budget

In February 2023, we launched a new Growing and Cooking on a Budget project kindly funded by the National Lottery Community Fund and designed as an additional support service for Better Together project participants to help tackle the cost-of-living crisis. It was clear within the project participants that they were experiencing financial hardship, so the project is supporting people learn how to grow their own produce, and what to make with it. So far in our first 2 months of delivery we have engaged with 11 participants which is made up of existing Better Together participants, as stipulated in the funding agreement.

Since the commencement of the project. The team and participants have designed a dedicated planting bed which we will use to demonstrate, on a small scale how to grow produce from scratch. Green Synergy’s team consulted with participants to decide what they would most like to grow and cook and to date the team have planted lots of seeds and some are starting to show.

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Using community gardening to support people to socialise, learn and thrive.

Green Synergy. 49 Roman Pavement, Lincoln, Lincolnshire. LN2 5RD. Tel: [phone] Charity Number: 1153883 Company Number: 08399741 Email: [e-mail] Web: www.greensynergy.org.uk

Community Renewal Fund Partnership

Green Synergy, together with seven other Lincoln charities, Lincoln City Council Heritage and Besa Construction aligned strategically in a joint bid for the Community Renewal Fund (CRF). CRF aimed to pilot local projects ahead of the UK Shared Prosperity Fund. As part of this partnership, Green Synergy delivered two Level 2 qualifications accredited by City and Guilds, a Level 2 Certificate in Environmental Conservation and a Level 2 Award in Horticulture. These were aimed at the unemployed and economically inactive.

The funding enabled Green Synergy to employ a full-time member of staff to deliver both qualifications and to invest in tools, machinery and the potential for a portable classroom for Hillside Garden. The fund also covered PPE, stationery and travel expenses for the learners, enabling economically disadvantages candidates to still obtain a qualification. Learners who completed the qualification also had free access to further training in strimming, application of pesticides and first aid.

CRF in Numbers

• 30 learners engaged in one of our courses.

• 15 learners were new to Green Synergy

• 22 learners achieved a qualification.

• 6 moved into employment during or after the course.

• 5 have pursued further training or volunteering opportunities after the course.

Learner’s Testimonies

• “Learnt how to use equipment and tools, improved my confidence and social skills”.

• “Reignited a passion for being outdoors and enjoyed learning again. This course has built my confidence and health back up. Given me direction.”

• “Project group and leaders were all very welcoming and knowledgeable. I have enjoyed further developing my knowledge in this field and working outdoors.”

• “I felt much more supported in this course. We are encouraged to ask questions or help.”

• “The help I had received on the project has been a combination of health therapy for myself. It has been a massive help on my current journey.”

• “I enjoy the social aspect and how much Ana is willing to explain more and more if you ask for it.”

• “I would be worse off emotionally. Having a reason to get out of bed and being out in the sun made a massive difference in my mood.”

• “The Hillside Garden has a real sense of calm about it. The people show love and respect for one another. There is a real sense of community. I have enjoyed the learning and the course and Ana

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Using community gardening to support people to socialise, learn and thrive.

Green Synergy. 49 Roman Pavement, Lincoln, Lincolnshire. LN2 5RD. Tel: [phone] Charity Number: 1153883 Company Number: 08399741 Email: [e-mail] Web: www.greensynergy.org.uk

has a very engaging way of delivering the course. I have enjoyed getting to know other course attendees and building up positive relationships with them.”

Key Achievements and Highlights

• CRF had an impact at several levels, both for Green Synergy and the participants. For Green Synergy, the fund has built team capacity and expertise in work-based qualifications with two staff members enrolled in a Level 3 Assessment and Quality Assurance course funded by CRF. It also improved garden operations and infrastructure through tools and other equipment acquired. These have been used across all projects and improved horticulture practices at Hillside Garden.

• Another benefit has been the improvement of horticulture standards at Hillside. Students provided extra gardening hours during their training and some moved into volunteering or employment with Green Synergy after the course. Their improved skills have made a difference in our garden operations.

• The courses also provided additional exit pathways for BBO Move of Better Together participants, many of which found the courses as a useful stepping stone towards employment or further training. Working in partnership with other organisations has also opened doors for further collaborations and expanded opportunities for beneficiaries referred from each partner.

• Not all learners achieved a qualification, however, many have moved into employment or into further training with our partners. Others have improved their social skills and ability to engage in education or other volunteering opportunities.

Using community gardening to support people to socialise, learn and thrive.

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Green Synergy. 49 Roman Pavement, Lincoln, Lincolnshire. LN2 5RD. Tel: [phone] Charity Number: 1153883 Company Number: 08399741 Email: [e-mail] Web: www.greensynergy.org.uk

Commissioned Projects

The Forge, Scunthorpe

The Forge Project Day Centre in Scunthorpe offers food and vital support services to those who are homeless and roofless. That support includes food and a warm space, but also services such as such as the local Housing Advice Team, drug and alcohol agencies or mental health agencies. The charity secured funding from NHS charities and Green Synergy was commissioned to design and build a garden in their tarmac courtyard. The aim was for staff and service users to grow edible crops for their canteen, but also ornamental plants to improve the aesthetics of the area. As part of the bid, Green Synergy was also commissioned to provide gardening sessions and produce a resource pack of guides to maintain the garden.

The Project

The site survey and design were carried out through 2022 and the build took place in 2023. Given the lack of exposed soil on site, the garden is made of raised beds 65cm tall and 95cm wide. These measurements ensure maintenance accessibility for all users, including those with disabilities. Sustainability was embedded in all stages of the design and local provision of materials was prioritised whenever possible. The timber is FSC certified, and the soil came from a local contractor with proven environmental practices alongside the Wildlife Trust. Benches are made of stone filled gabions from Hillside with timber tops made from reclaimed pallets. A refurbished 1000l IBC container was sourced to use as a water butt and the timber frame on which it rests was once again made of reclaimed pallets. To extend the lifespan of the beds, timber sleepers were used throughout. All the beds were lined with UV resistant polythene and coated with non-hazardous decking oil to minimize decay as much as possible. The planting plan focused on herbs, edible crops and ornamental plants suited for their growing conditions. Some plants were propagated or grown from seed at Hillside, whilst others were sourced from a local nursery. The Forge service users are currently planting and sowing seeds as part of the gardening sessions delivered by Trudy.

Using community gardening to support people to socialise, learn and thrive.

Green Synergy. 49 Roman Pavement, Lincoln, Lincolnshire. LN2 5RD. Tel: [phone] Charity Number: 1153883 Company Number: 08399741 Email: [e-mail] Web: www.greensynergy.org.uk

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The Year Ahead – 2023-2024

2023 represents a significant milestone for Green Synergy as it is our 10[th] Anniversary year and we are looking forward to marking this significant year in our charity’s history with a series of events include a Summer garden Celebration celebrations and the launch of our 10[th] Anniversary fundraising campaign £10 for 10 years. In our 10[th] year, the charity will be developing a new 20242027 strategy and we are looking forward being able to undertake substantial community listening so our strategy responds to the needs of our community. Green Synergy wishes to grow and diversify our income streams by seeking out more diverse opportunities and supporters to support our work and increasing our supporter base with fundraising campaigns.

This year also represents a year of growth of project delivery for the charity as we will be launching three new mental health and wellbeing programmes due to new funding being secured. The Green WRAP (Wellness Recovery Action Planning) three-year project kindly funded by the Mental Health and Wellbeing Investment Sustainability Fund aims to support adults over the age of 18 to support their wellness and recovery.

Green Nature and Nurture funded by the Mental Health and Wellbeing Investment Innovation Fund will seek to support young people with neuro-diverse needs in connecting with nature and green spaces. Our Suicide Prevention Fund Wave 3 project Green Shoots of Wellness is focused on supporting adult men who are struggling with the mental health and to prevent them falling into crisis. We will also be delivering Year 3 of our Tower Power Children in Need funded project to improve the lives of children and young people in the local community and through Better Together delivering services that support wellbeing and social activities.

Key to Green’s Synergy’s management of the Hillside Garden is protecting and developing the biodiversity on the garden. Through the funding secured from National Grid Green Spaces Fund, a new Willow and Hazel Coppice Grove will be created alongside the lower eastern side of our garden adjacent to Roman Pavement residential housing border. The aim is to increase native species of

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Using community gardening to support people to socialise, learn and thrive.

Green Synergy. 49 Roman Pavement, Lincoln, Lincolnshire. LN2 5RD. Tel: [phone] Charity Number: 1153883 Company Number: 08399741 Email: [e-mail] Web: www.greensynergy.org.uk

hedgerow and provide the charity with sustainable sources of willow and hazel for use on the garden and projects in the future.

Partnerships matter to Green Synergy and none more important than with United Lincolnshire Hospital Trust so the charity will be working hard to seek a more sustainable arrangement with our Hillside Garden lease and developing other outreach opportunities. We look forward to working with our local partners and the City of Lincoln Council on community outreach urban gardening projects. We value the benefits that productive partnerships can derive for our beneficiaries so with the kind support of the National Lottery Community Fund, our See How Our Garden Grows project will continue to be focused on developing our range of collaborations and providing much needed community support. Green Synergy has a range of exciting community events planned for the 1oth Anniversary year to bring people and plants together in a natural green space.

Communicating our message of what we do as a charity is so important so we can reach more people who need support so we will be focused on increasing our reach and awareness to others across the City, County and regionally of what we offer through gardening and therapeutic horticulture through growing social media, website and community engagement activities.

Continuing to strengthen Green Synergy’s governance processes is important and our Trustee Board is looking forward to an externally facilitated Board Development programme kindly funded by Lloyds Bank Foundation Enhance programme to enable the Board to develop governance policies, a Board skills audit and Board recruitment to attract new trustees to the Board.

The wellbeing of the team is key to us so we are committing to delivering quarterly wellbeing days for our whole team. Investing in our team is also really important to ensure they develop the right skills to meet their needs and those of the people we support. The training investment will include Year 2 of a Thrive Social Therapeutic Horticulture programme for a team member, a Level 2 Youth Work qualification for one of our youth delivery team as well as safeguarding, health and safety training across the whole team.

Using community gardening to support people to socialise, learn and thrive.

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Green Synergy. 49 Roman Pavement, Lincoln, Lincolnshire. LN2 5RD. Tel: [phone] Charity Number: 1153883 Company Number: 08399741 Email: [e-mail] Web: www.greensynergy.org.uk

Our Current Strategy

Green Synergy has developed a three-year strategic business plan that aims to

1. Developing the Community Garden Hub - including having an appropriate lease/ ownership agreement in place to be able to complete the development of a fully operational, accessible, and secure garden with appropriate infrastructure including an eco-designed office and community building.

2. Grow and develop our charitable activities to fulfil our mission and vision- ensuring that we have adequate and sustainable financial and human resources in place to do this and that we effectively monitor, measure, and communicate the associated outcomes and outputs.

Our charitable activities broadly fall into the following interconnected delivery themes.

• Mental Health and Wellbeing - Using gardening, nature and animal based therapeutic activities for the betterment of people’s mental health and overall wellbeing.

• Life and Vocational Skills - Providing opportunities for people to increase their skills, knowledge and confidence and realise their potential.

• Community Connections and Social Inclusion - providing accessible places (gardens and green spaces) and activities (groups and events) that actively promote inclusivity.

• Children and Young People (CYP)- Offering a safe, nurturing environment for CYP to socialise, learn and thrive. This work has grown significantly in the last twelve months and although it relates to each of the other themes, we have included a discrete section for children and young people to collate all of the delivery activities that are specifically for them.

• Environmental Sustainability - Enhancing local environmental sustainability through practical, educational activities and raising awareness of global environmental sustainability issues through promotional work. This is a cross-cutting theme that underpins the other strands and is therefore integrated into all other sections.

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Using community gardening to support people to socialise, learn and thrive.

Green Synergy. 49 Roman Pavement, Lincoln, Lincolnshire. LN2 5RD. Tel: [phone] Charity Number: 1153883 Company Number: 08399741 Email: [e-mail] Web: www.greensynergy.org.uk

Our New 2024/2027 Strategy

Green Synergy is currently working to develop a new strategic plan for 2024-2027 and we look forward to undertaking extensive community listening through the year as well as sharing and consulting on the strategy plans. It is core to what we do that we listen learn, discuss and respond to what our community is telling us they need so we can look after them as they look after us.

Financial Review 2022-2023

At the year end the charity had funds of £209,352 (2022: £215,625 as the previous account of 2022/22 are restated from £632,035) of which there were unrestricted reserves of £39746 (2022: £77,902) and £245,849 (2022: £554,133) were restricted. The expenditure totalled £313,682 resulting in a surplus of £12158.

Green Synergy has been fortunate to secure significant amount of funding in contracts and grants during this financial year:

• BBC Children in Need is supporting our programme of activities for disadvantaged children from the local community.

• Ernest Cook Trust : for the Green Influencers scheme to deliver environmental social action projects with 10–14-year-olds.

• National Lottery Community Fund for See How Our Garden Grows to support organisational development, community engagement, outreach and events programmes. and to diversify income streams and develop trading and commissioning revenues.

• Greater Lincolnshire MOVE National Lottery Community Fund saw the final year of Building Better Opportunities grant from the to deliver a programme to help unemployed people to move back into employment.

• UK Government Community Renewal Fund to deliver social and therapeutic gardening courses, including accredited basic horticulture training.

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Using community gardening to support people to socialise, learn and thrive.

Green Synergy. 49 Roman Pavement, Lincoln, Lincolnshire. LN2 5RD. Tel: [phone] Charity Number: 1153883 Company Number: 08399741 Email: [e-mail] Web: www.greensynergy.org.uk

• National Grid Community Matter Fund to deliver a warm spaces and warm packs programme as well as supporting fuel poverty advice and guidance.

• National Lottery Reaching Communities : Better Together programme to deliver a programme to support people with mental health conditions.

• The Bishop of Lincoln's Social Justice Fund to support activities for older people and intergenerational activities.

• Country Landowners Association to meet capital costs of children’s garden improvements.

• Lloyds Bank Foundation with unrestricted funds to support the development of Green Synergy.

• Lincolnshire Co-op Community Champions for the installation of a cob oven.

• Mere Charity

• Lincolnshire Community Foundation – for the delivery of warm spaces and slow cooker workshops

• Lincolnshire County Council Suicide Prevention Fund Wave 3 for the delivery of the Green Shoots of Wellness project.

Some of these funds will be made available in future financial years. Green Synergy is very grateful to all its funders.

Reserves Policy

As the charity delivers its objectives through running projects a lot of costs are budgeted for within the projects and only arise on the delivery of these projects. Due to this the Trustees aim to hold reserves equivalent to six months 'core' running costs of the charity.

Management of Risk

Green Synergy carried out regular reviews of the charity’s risk register and risk analysis and the Trustees review a simplified risk register in quarterly Governance cycles at Board meetings. The simplified risk register includes the most important risks identified in the risk analysis plus important risks arising in current operations.

Data security including cyber security is an increasing focus and the charity has reviewed its Data Protection Policy and procedures to comply with the UK’s General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR). In 2022/2023 Green Synergy achieved Cyber Essentials accreditation.

Green Synergy takes the safeguarding of child, young people and adults at risk very seriously and in 2022/2023 the charity appointed a Board Safeguarding lead in addition to our Designated Safeguarding Lead and Deputy Leads. Safeguarding and child protection policies and procedures are reviewed at least twice a year by the Chief Executive and reported to Trustees when new legislation or guidance is issued. External safeguarding training is compulsory for all new and

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Using community gardening to support people to socialise, learn and thrive.

Green Synergy. 49 Roman Pavement, Lincoln, Lincolnshire. LN2 5RD. Tel: [phone] Charity Number: 1153883 Company Number: 08399741 Email: [e-mail] Web: www.greensynergy.org.uk

current staff members and there is an on-going internal training, reviews of records of concern and case reviews and referrals if required.

37

Using community gardening to support people to socialise, learn and thrive.

Green Synergy. 49 Roman Pavement, Lincoln, Lincolnshire. LN2 5RD. Tel: [phone] Charity Number: 1153883 Company Number: 08399741 Email: [e-mail] Web: www.greensynergy.org.uk

Thank you to Our Funders

Without the vital funding and support provided to Green Synergy we could not support the many people we reach and support them to socialise, learn and thrive.

We are indebted to these funders, and we wanted to say a very big thank you to:

• BBC Children in Need

• Ernest Cook Trust funding the Green Influencers Scheme

• National Lottery Community Fund for Building Better Opportunities grant from Lead partner for Greater Lincolnshire MOVE - Urban Challenge.

• National Lottery Community Fund – Reaching Communities funding the Better Together programme, funded by Reaching Communities. Lead partner Development Plus.

• Community Renewal Fund, provided by UK Government. Lead partner Abbey Access.

• Lloyds Bank Foundation

• National Lottery Community Fund – See How Our Garden Grows.

• Country Landowners Association

• The Mere Charity

• Lincolnshire Community Foundation

• Bishop of Lincoln’s Social Justice Fund

• Sincil Bank Community Chest

• Lincolnshire County Council – Multiply Champions Funding

• Suicide Prevention Investment Fund Wave 3

• Lincolnshire Co-op

• National Grid Community Matters Fund

• Crowdfunder – Co-op Warm Spaces Fund

• Wickes Lincoln

• Lincolnshire Prison and Probation Services Community Payback Woodworking workshop – donating planters for sale.

38

Using community gardening to support people to socialise, learn and thrive.

Green Synergy. 49 Roman Pavement, Lincoln, Lincolnshire. LN2 5RD. Tel: [phone] Charity Number: 1153883 Company Number: 08399741 Email: [e-mail] Web: www.greensynergy.org.uk

Small companies provision statement

This report has been prepared in accordance with the small companies’ regime under the Companies Act 2006.

Statement of Responsibilities

The trustees (who are also the directors of Green Synergy for the purposes of company law) are responsible for preparing the trustees' report and the financial statements in accordance with applicable law and United Kingdom Accounting Standards (United Kingdom Generally Accepted Accounting Practice), including FRS 102 "The Financial Reporting Standard applicable in the UK and Republic of Ireland". The report and accounts have been prepared in accordance with the provisions in the Companies Act 2006 relating to small companies. Company law requires the trustees to prepare financial statements for each financial year. Under company law the trustees must not approve the financial statements unless they are satisfied that they give a true and fair view of the state of affairs of the charitable company and of the incoming resources and application of resources, including its income and expenditure, of the charitable company for that period. In preparing these financial statements, the trustees are required to:

• select suitable accounting policies and apply them consistently;

• observe the methods and principles in the Charities SORP;

• make judgements and estimates that are reasonable and prudent;

• state whether applicable accounting standards, comprising FRS 102 have been followed, subject

• to any material departures disclosed and explained in the financial statements; and

• prepare the financial statements on the going concern basis unless it is inappropriate to presume that the charitable company will continue in business.

The trustees are responsible for keeping proper accounting records that can disclose with reasonable accuracy at any time the financial position of the charitable company and enable them to ensure that the financial statements comply with the Companies Act 2006. They are also responsible for safeguarding the assets of the charitable company and hence for taking reasonable steps for the prevention and detection of fraud and other irregularities. The trustees are responsible for the maintenance and integrity of the corporate and financial information included on the charitable company's website. Legislation governing the preparation and dissemination of financial statements may differ from legislation in other jurisdictions.

The annual report was approved by the trustees of the charity on 15 December 2023 and signed on its behalf by:

Rev. Canon Alan Robson MSc FRAgS FRAS: Chair 15[th] December 2023

39

Using community gardening to support people to socialise, learn and thrive.

Green Synergy. 49 Roman Pavement, Lincoln, Lincolnshire. LN2 5RD. Tel: [phone] Charity Number: 1153883 Company Number: 08399741 Email: [e-mail] Web: www.greensynergy.org.uk

Green Synergy

Independent Examiner's Report to the trustees of Green Synergy ('the Company')

Independent examiner s report to the trustees of Green Synergy ('the Company')

I report to the charity trustees on my examination of the accounts of the company for the year ended 31 March 2023.

Responsibilities and basis of report

As the charity s trustees of the Company (and also its directors for the purposes of company law) you are responsible for the preparation of the accounts in accordance with the requirements of the Companies Act 2006 ( the 2006 Act ).

Having satisfied myself that the accounts of the Company are not required to be audited under Part 16 of the 2006 Act and are eligible for independent examination, I report in respect of my examination of your charity s accounts as carried out under section 145 of the Charities Act 2011 ( the 2011 Act ). In carrying out my examination I have followed the Directions given by the Charity Commission under section 145(5)(b) of the 2011 Act.

Independent examiner s statement

Since the Company's gross income exceeded £250,000 your examiner must be a member of a body listed in section 145 of the 2011 Act. I confirm that I am qualified to undertake the examination because I am a member and Fellow of the Association of Charity Independent Examiners, which is one of the listed bodies.

I have completed my examination. I confirm that no 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 Company as required by section 386 of the 2006 Act; or

2. the accounts do not accord with those records; or

3. the accounts do not comply with the accounting requirements of section 396 of the 2006 Act other than any requirement that the accounts give a true and fair' view which is not a matter considered as part of an independent examination; or

4. the accounts have not been prepared in accordance with the methods and principles of the Statement of Recommended Practice for accounting and reporting by charities [applicable to charities preparing their accounts in accordance with the Financial Reporting Standard applicable in the UK and Republic of Ireland (FRS 102)].

I 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.

......................................

John O'Brien MSc, FAIA, FCCA, FCIE, employee of Community Accounting Plus Fellow of the Association of Charity Independent Examiners

Units 1 & 2 North West 41 Talbot Street Nottingham NG1 5GL

Date:....[1] ...[5] ..[/] .[1] ..[2] ..[/] ..[2] ..[0] ..[2] ..[3] .......

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Green Synergy

Statement of Financial Activities for the Year Ended 31 March 2023 (Including Income and Expenditure Account and Statement of Total Recognised Gains

d L ) Note Income and Endowments from: Donations and legacies 2 Charitable activities 3 Investment income 5 Total income Expenditure on: Charitable activities 6 Total expenditure Net income/(expenditure) Transfers between funds Net movement in funds Reconciliation of funds Total funds brought forward Total funds carried forward 12	Unrestricted funds £ Restricted funds £ Total 2023 £ Total 2022 £ (As restated) 32,668 - 32,668 39,746 41,189 251,132 292,321 245,849 853 - 853 -
	74,710 251,132 325,842 285,595
	(20,821) (292,863) (313,684) (215,625)
	(20,821) (292,863) (313,684) (215,625)
	53,889 (41,731) 12,158 69,970 21,067 (21,067) - -
	74,956 (62,798) 12,158 69,970 72,214 124,980 197,194 127,224
	147,170 62,182 209,352 197,194

All of the charity's activities derive from continuing operations during the above two periods. The funds breakdown for the period is shown in note 12.

The notes on pages 44 to 52 form an integral part of these financial statements.

Page 41

Green Synergy

Statement of Financial Activities for the Year Ended 31 March 2023 (Including Income and Expenditure Account and Statement of Total Recognised Gains

d L )

These are the figures for the previous accounting period and are included for comparative purposes

Note Income and Endowments from: Donations and legacies 2 Charitable activities 3 Total income Expenditure on: Charitable activities 6 Total expenditure Net income Transfers between funds Net movement in funds Reconciliation of funds Total funds brought forward Total funds carried forward 12	Unrestricted funds £ Restricted funds £ Total 2022 £ (As restated) 39,746 - 39,746 - 245,849 245,849
	39,746 245,849 285,595
	(11,143) (204,482) (215,625)
	(11,143) (204,482) (215,625)
	28,603 41,367 69,970 (165) 165 -
	28,438 41,532 69,970 43,776 83,448 127,224
	72,214 124,980 197,194

The notes on pages 44 to 52 form an integral part of these financial statements.

Page 42

Green Synergy

(Registration number: 8399741) Balance Sheet as at 31 March 2023

Note Fixed assets Tangible assets 9 Current assets Debtors 10 Cash at bank and in hand Creditors: Amounts falling due within one year 11 Net currentassets Netassets Funds of the charity: Restricted income funds Restricted funds 12 Unrestricted income funds Unrestricted funds Total funds 12	2023 2022 £ £ (As restated) 31,499 13,618 158 4,616 183,429 189,701
	183,587 194,317 (5,734) (10,741)
	177,853 183,576
	209,352 197,194
	62,182 124,980 147,170 72,214
	209,352 197,194

For the financial year ending 31 March 2023 the charity was entitled to exemption from audit under section 477 of the Companies Act 2006 relating to small companies.

Directors' responsibilities:

The members have not required the charity to obtain an audit of its accounts for the year in question in accordance with section 476; and

The directors acknowledge their responsibilities for complying with the requirements of the Act with respect to accounting records and the preparation of accounts.

These financial statements have been prepared in accordance with the special provisions relating to companies subject to the small companies regime within Part 15 of the Companies Act 2006.

The financial statements on pages 41 to 52 were approved by the trustees, and authorised for issue on 15 December 2023 and signed on their behalf by:

......................................... Rev Canon Alan Robson Trustee

The notes on pages 44 to 52 form an integral part of these financial statements.

Page 43

Green Synergy

Notes to the Financial Statements for the Year Ended 31 March 2023

1 Accounting policies

Summary of significant accounting policies and key accounting estimates

The principal accounting policies applied in the preparation of these financial statements are set out below. These policies have been consistently applied to all the years presented, unless otherwise stated.

Statement of compliance

The financial statements have been prepared in accordance with Accounting and Reporting by Charities: Statement of Recommended Practice (applicable to charities preparing their accounts in accordance with the Financial Reporting Standard applicable in the UK and Republic of Ireland (FRS 102)) (issued in October 2019)

• (Charities SORP (FRS 102)), the Financial Reporting Standard applicable in the UK and Republic of Ireland (FRS 102) and the Companies Act 2006.

Basis of preparation

Green Synergy meets the definition of a public benefit entity under FRS 102. Assets and liabilities are initially recognised at historical cost or transaction value unless otherwise stated in the relevant accounting policy notes.

Going concern

The financial statements have been prepared on a going concern basis.

The trustees assess whether the use of going concern is appropriate i.e. whether there are any material uncertainties related to events or conditions that may cast significant doubt on the ability of the charity to continue as a going concern. The trustees make this assessment in respect of a period of one year from the date of approval of the financial statements.

Exemption from preparing a cash flow statement

The charity opted to early adopt Bulletin 1 published on 2 February 2016 and have therefore not included a cash flow statement in these financial statements.

Income and endowments

Voluntary income including donations, gifts, legacies and grants that provide core funding or are of a general nature is recognised when the charity has entitlement to the income, it is probable that the income will be received and the amount can be measured with sufficient reliability.

Donations and legacies

Donations are recognised when the charity has been notified in writing of both the amount and settlement date. In the event that a donation is subject to conditions that require a level of performance by the charity before the charity is entitled to the funds, the income is deferred and not recognised until either those conditions are fully met, or the fulfilment of those conditions is wholly within the control of the charity and it is probable that these conditions will be fulfilled in the reporting period.

Deferred income

Deferred income represents amounts received for future periods and is released to incoming resources in the period for which, it has been received. Such income is only deferred when:

• The donor specifies that the grant or donation must only be used in future accounting periods; or

• The donor has imposed conditions which must be met before the charity has unconditional entitlement.

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Green Synergy

Notes to the Financial Statements for the Year Ended 31 March 2023

Investment income

Dividends are recognised once the dividend has been declared and notification has been received of the dividend due.

Expenditure

All expenditure is recognised once there is a legal or constructive obligation to that expenditure, it is probable settlement is required and the amount can be measured reliably. All costs are allocated to the applicable expenditure heading that aggregate similar costs to that category. Where costs cannot be directly attributed to particular headings they have been allocated on a basis consistent with the use of resources, with central staff costs allocated on the basis of time spent, and depreciation charges allocated on the portion of the asset s use. Other support costs are allocated based on the spread of staff costs.

Charitable activities

Charitable expenditure comprises those costs incurred by the charity in the delivery of its activities and services for its beneficiaries. It includes both costs that can be allocated directly to such activities and those costs of an indirect nature necessary to support them.

Taxation

The charity is considered to pass the tests set out in Paragraph 1 Schedule 6 of the Finance Act 2010 and therefore it meets the definition of a charitable company for UK corporation tax purposes. Accordingly, the charity is potentially exempt from taxation in respect of income or capital gains received within categories covered by Chapter 3 Part 11 of the Corporation Tax Act 2010 or Section 256 of the Taxation of Chargeable Gains Act 1992, to the extent that such income or gains are applied exclusively to charitable purposes.

Tangible fixed assets

Individual fixed assets costing £500.00 or more are initially recorded at cost, less any subsequent accumulated depreciation and subsequent accumulated impairment losses.

Depreciation and amortisation

Depreciation is provided on tangible fixed assets so as to write off the cost or valuation, less any estimated residual value, over their expected useful economic life as follows:

their expected useful economic life as follows:
Asset class	Depreciation method and rate
Plant & machinery	10% on cost
Fixtures & fittings	25% on reducing balance
Motor vehicles	25% on reducing balance
Computer equipment	25% on reducing balance
Land and buildings	10% on cost

Trade debtors

Trade debtors are amounts due from customers for merchandise sold or services performed in the ordinary course of business.

Trade debtors are recognised initially at the transaction price. They are subsequently measured at amortised cost using the effective interest method, less provision for impairment. A provision for the impairment of trade debtors is established when there is objective evidence that the charity will not be able to collect all amounts due according to the original terms of the receivables.

Page 45

Green Synergy

Notes to the Financial Statements for the Year Ended 31 March 2023

Cash and cash equivalents

Cash and cash equivalents comprise cash on hand and call deposits, and other short-term highly liquid investments that are readily convertible to a known amount of cash and are subject to an insignificant risk of change in value.

Fund structure

Unrestricted income funds are general funds that are available for use at the trustees' discretion in furtherance of the objectives of the charity.

Restricted income funds are those grants for use in a particular area or for specific purposes, the use of which is restricted to that area or purpose.

Pensions and other post retirement obligations

The charity operates a defined contribution pension scheme which is a pension plan under which fixed contributions are paid into a pension fund and the charity has no legal or constructive obligation to pay further contributions even if the fund does not hold sufficient assets to pay all employees the benefits relating to employee service in the current and prior periods.

Contributions to defined contribution plans are recognised in the Statement of Financial Activities when they are due. If contribution payments exceed the contribution due for service, the excess is recognised as a prepayment.

2 Income from donations and legacies

Unrestricted funds

Donations and legacies; Donations from companies, trusts and similar proceeds Donations from individuals	Total Total General £ 2023 £ 2022 £ (As restated) 31,130 31,130 34,764 1,538 1,538 4,982 32,668 32,668 39,746

3 Income from charitable activities

Grants & donations Sales, fees and services Events & activities Sundry receipts	Unrestricted funds Restricted Total Total General £ funds £ 2023 £ 2022 £ (As restated) - 251,132 251,132 245,849 40,100 - 40,100 - 1,009 - 1,009 - 80 - 80 -
	41,189 251,132 292,321 245,849

Page 46

Green Synergy

Notes to the Financial Statements for the Year Ended 31 March 2023

4 Grants & donations

Urban Challenge Development Plus CRF Lincolnshire County Council Earnest Cook Children In Need Lincolnshire Community Foundation Reaching Communities The Mere Trust The National Lottery Community Grant The National Grid Community Matters Lloyds Foundation Sundry	Unrestricted funds Restricted funds Total £ £ £ - 31,956 31,956 - 17,134 17,134 - 20,811 20,811 - 11,360 11,360 - 9,788 9,788 - 40,139 40,139 - 2,000 2,000 - 53,253 53,253 - 1,400 1,400 - 53,252 53,252 - 9,999 9,999 27,250 - 27,250 5,418 40 5,458 32,668 251,132 283,800

5 Investment income

5 Investment income
Unrestricted
funds				Total
	General		2023
	£			£
Interest receivable and similar income;
Interest receivable on bank deposits		853			853
		853			853

Page 47

Green Synergy

Notes to the Financial Statements for the Year Ended 31 March 2023

6 Expenditure on charitable activities

Fundraising Charitable activities Activities Equipment repairs & renewals Sessional workers Trips & events Volunteer expenses Bank charges Insurances IT costs Legal & professional fees Marketing Office rent & rates Office repairs & maintenance Office costs Utilities Salaries NI & pensions Recruitment Supervision Depreciation Training & travel Allocation of overheads Sundry

Unrestricted funds Restricted Total Total General funds 2023 2022 £ - £ - £ - £ (As restated) 2,490 - - - 213,135 10,714 3,222 13,936 - 468 14,295 14,763 - 1,506 6,353 7,859 - - 1,944 1,944 - 452 6,311 6,763 - 48 - 48 - 2,062 - 2,062 - 3,239 1,527 4,766 - 5,112 4,138 9,250 - 561 1,038 1,599 - 4,124 - 4,124 - 1,021 262 1,283 - 4,190 432 4,622 - 2,149 2,038 4,187 - 2,858 214,450 217,308 - - 1,560 1,560 - - 660 660 - 3,186 2,341 5,527 - 1,830 6,927 8,757 - (24,509) 24,509 - - 1,810 856 2,666 -

20,821 292,863 313,684 215,625

7 Net incoming/outgoing resources

Net incoming resources for the year include:

Depreciation of fixed assets

----- Start of picture text -----
2023
£
5,527
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Green Synergy

Notes to the Financial Statements for the Year Ended 31 March 2023

8 Staff costs

The aggregate payroll costs were as follows:

8 Staff costs The aggregate payroll costs were as follows:
	2023			2022
		£		£
Staff costs during the year were:
Wages and salaries			201,204		153,897
Social security costs			12,178		5,722
Pension costs			3,926		2,675
			217,308		162,294

The monthly average number of persons (including senior management team) employed by the charity during the year was as follows:

2023 No Average number of employees	2022 No 12 9

12 (2022 - 9) of the above employees participated in the Defined Contribution Pension Schemes.

Contributions to the employee pension schemes for the year totalled £3,926 (2022 - £2,675). No employee

received emoluments of more than £60,000 during the year.

The total employee benefits of the key management personnel of the charity were £29,648. The 2022

figures are not available for comparison

Page 49

Green Synergy

Notes to the Financial Statements for the Year Ended 31 March 2023

9 Tangible fixed assets

fixed assets
	Land and	Fixtures &	Computer		Plant &
	buildings	fittings	equipment	machinery		Total
	£	£	£		£	£
Cost
At 1 April 2022	-	7,591	10,427		3,000	21,018
Additions	23,408	-	-		-	23,408
At 31 March 2023	23,408	7,591	10,427		3,000	44,426
Depreciation
At 1 April 2022	-	4,923	1,551		926	7,400
Charge for the year	2,340	668	2,219		300	5,527
At 31 March 2023	2,340	5,591	3,770		1,226	12,927
Net book value
At 31 March 2023	21,068	2,000	6,657		1,774	31,499
At 31 March 2022	-	2,668	8,876		2,074	13,618
10 Debtors
				2023		2022
				£	£	(As restated)
Trade debtors					-	2,390
Accrued income					-	172
Other debtors					158	2,054
					158	4,616
11 Creditors: amounts falling due within one year
				2023		2022
				£	£	(As restated)
Short term loan					-	3,780
Other taxation and social security					3,788	3,066
Other creditors					1,946	595
Deferred income					-	3,300
					5,734	10,741

Page 50

Green Synergy

Notes to the Financial Statements for the Year Ended 31 March 2023

12 Funds

Unrestricted funds General General Fund Restricted funds Adult Projects Children's Projects Community Engagement & events National Grid Suicide Prevention Total restricted funds Total funds Unrestricted funds General General Fund Restricted Restricted Funds Combined Total funds	Balance at 1 April 2022 Incoming resources Resources expended Transfers Balance at 31 March 2023 £ £ £ £ £ 72,214 74,710 (20,821) 21,067 147,170 77,842 80,902 (130,618) (21,067) 7,059 9,346 50,286 (50,477) - 9,155 35,452 109,905 (101,809) - 43,548 - 10,039 (7,770) - 2,269 2,340 - (2,189) - 151
	124,980 251,132 (292,863) (21,067) 62,182
	197,194 325,842 (313,684) - 209,352
	Balance at 1 April 2021 Incoming resources Resources expended Transfers Balance at 31 March 2022 £ £ £ £ £ 43,776 39,746 (11,143) (165) 72,214 83,448 245,849 (204,482) 165 124,980
	127,224 285,595 (215,625) - 197,194

The specific purposes for which the funds are to be applied are as follows:

A full description of the restricted funds and projects is contained in the Trustees annual report.

The previous years restricted funds could not be split out, the layout used was substantially different and does not lend itself to clear comparison.

The transfer from the Adult Projects fund to the General fund represents the net book value of fixed assets, the use of which is not subject to any restriction.

Page 51

Green Synergy

Notes to the Financial Statements for the Year Ended 31 March 2023

13 Analysis of net assets between funds

Tangible fixed assets Current assets Current liabilities Total net assets Tangible fixed assets Current assets Current liabilities Total net assets	Unrestricted funds Restricted Total funds at 31 March General £ funds £ 2023 £ 31,499 - 31,499 115,671 67,916 183,587 - (5,734) (5,734)
	147,170 62,182 209,352
	Unrestricted funds Restricted Total funds at 31 March General £ funds £ 2022 £ 13,618 - 13,618 58,596 135,721 194,317 - (10,741) (10,741)
	72,214 124,980 197,194

14 Fees payable to independent examiner

During the period, the fees payable (excluding VAT) to the charity s independent examiner Community Accounting Plus are analysed as follows:

Independent examination The previous year s accountants were Wright Vigar.	2023 £ 2022 £ 1,200 2,750
	1,200 2,750

15 Taxation

The charity is a registered charity and is therefore exempt from taxation.

16 Trustees remuneration and expenses

No trustees, nor any persons connected with them, have received any remuneration from the charity during the year.

No trustees have received any reimbursed expenses or any other benefits from the charity during the year.

17 Related party transactions

There were no related party transactions in the year.

Page 52