2022-10-07-accounts

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Annual report and accounts for the year ended

7[th] October 2022.

The following report covers the period 8[th] October 2021 to 7[th] October 2022.

Trustees’ Report

We start with an update of some changes in Board membership. Sadly, we are saying goodbye to two of our long serving trustees. Guy Roberts resigned from the Board on 7[th] October 2022 but will continue to volunteer at the garden. Guy has worked incredibly hard as a trustee, providing financial support, ensuring good governance of the charity, and playing an active role in the maintenance and development of the garden. Maggie Charnley has given notice of her resignation from the date of the AGM, 8[th] January 2023. Maggie has been a Trustee since the opening of the garden and over recent years has played an active role in securing funding, managing policy matters and liaison with Lambeth Council. We will miss them both greatly and take this opportunity to say thank you.

Adam Gibbs has joined us in October as a co-opted Trustee and will stand for election at the AGM, as detailed below. We are currently recruiting for at least two further trustees to expand our capacity as a Board. Progress will be reported at the AGM.

In line with previous years, the Trustees have taken it in turn to chair our monthly meetings.

After two difficult years of Covid restrictions, the garden has gradually returned to welcoming volunteers and visitors. Whilst extreme weather conditions have created challenges, we were able to maintain the garden throughout the very hot and dry summer months, through the efforts of trustees and our volunteers.

We continue to work closely with our colleagues from SCCoop and welcomed Vicky Peet as the new SCCoop Manager. We look forward to a close and positive working relationship between the two groups.

The enthusiasm and dedication of our volunteers continues to be our strength. It has been particularly pleasing to welcome back long-standing volunteers and people who initially worked with the garden as learner plotters but have continued as volunteers. The Learner Plotter project, funded by City Bridge, continues to introduce new people to gardening and to unite people from different communities and backgrounds in a common interest. Year 2022, was also the second year of the Little Growers Club, using an award from Higgidy, the food manufacturer. The Little Growers Club offers children from 7 to 11 years the chance to grow and try their own healthy food. Both the children and their accompanying parents/ carers have gained knowledge and skills and built friendships. Their pleasure at being at the garden has been infectious.

Over the year, our Wreath-making and Wassailing events continue to be regular features of the Streatham scene. Expansion of the events programme is one of our aims for the year ahead, together with securing funding for future years, better communications and building capacity of our Trustee Board, so that we can continue to be a community resource for promoting food, gardening, sustainable living, good health, and positive community interaction.

Trustees, Streatham Common Community Garden

Our Charitable Purposes and Public Benefit

We continue to open on Wednesdays and Sundays between 11am and 3pm. We welcome volunteers and visitors to the garden, showcasing the site which has been restored over the last 11 years to a place that inspires people to garden and to enjoy nature.

In 2022, there were several changes at the site. The gate to the orchard was replaced, after this had been vandalised, a new tap was fitted providing easier access for watering, and several new compost bins were purchased.

As in previous years we have supported the Learner Plotter project and we ran the Little Growers Club for a second year.

Our Learner Plot projects start in spring and continue to the early months of the following year. People without a garden apply to have a small plot for a year with guidance from a community gardener. In 2021/22 we had 23 ‘plotters’ and from the spring of 2022 we have another 19 participants. They will continue until February 2023.

Plotters attend workshops and receive support from two community gardeners; Ruth Arnott focuses on the Wednesday sessions and our Sunday gardener on the other day. Both community gardeners work on other days to recruit new plotters and maintain contact via WhatsApp and social media. Jane Sowerby provided support on Sundays until mid-November 2021, since February 2022 Patrick McCabe has supported both the Sunday learner plotters and the Little Growers Club. In September 2022, Ruth and Patrick sought feedback from the plotters and little growers on their experiences of the garden. Comments included the following:

“ We’ve really enjoyed the sense of community and meeting other people in our neighbourhood who we might never have got the chance to encounter, and loads of people with really interesting local knowledge, and gardening knowledge. It makes us feel connected to our community but also having the chance to connect with nature and understanding where our food comes from and how hard it is to grow things. ’

And from one of our younger attendees:

“The best thing about today was digging potatoes” (gardener aged 7). Potatoes were very popular amongst our Little Growers!

Members of the Little Growers Club since April 2022 are children between 6-9 years of age. They meet every Sunday with their parents/ carer, from 11am to 12pm, although there is some overspill as people are reluctant to leave. The club prioritises families living in flats who do not have access to outside growing spaces. Each child has a section of a raised bed where they get to choose what to

grow, how to look after and harvest their own crops. The children are given seed starter packs to take home and grow on windowsills until the seedlings are ready for transplanting outside. In 2022, 10 children started and 9 have continued throughout the growing year, however most weeks another three siblings attend. All children are accompanied by a parent and / or a grandparent

The Trustees would like thank Ruth, Jane, and Patrick for their work and for making the garden such a special place for so many people. Also, our thanks to Penny Fletcher for her continued support to the Little Growers Club. Penny was

a former Trustee and volunteer who moved away from London in 2021 but continues to help us remotely.

In addition to the above, since summer 2022 a group from South London Carers has regularly volunteered on a Wednesday, a church group spent a day at the garden late summer, and two Duke of Edinburgh Award participants have volunteered at the garden. Cavendish Lodge pre-school and nursery came to the garden for 19 weeks over spring and summer before the start of each Wednesday session.

The Trustees are therefore satisfied the charity has met its obligations for charitable purposes and public benefit.

Trustees for the year 2021-2022

Barbara Booth

Margaret (Maggie) Charnley

Kathryn (Kate) Daly

Adam Gibbs from October 2022 and subject to election, as below.

Ruth (Reece) Owens

Guy Roberts

Anna Savage

Jill Seymour

A third of trustees are required to stand down each year by rotation. Guy Roberts left the Board in October and Maggie Charnley will resign on 8[th] January 2023. Adam Gibbs was co-opted as a Trustee part way through the year and his appointment will be subject to election at the January 2023 AGM.

At the time of preparing this report, the Board is working to recruit two, potentially three further Trustees. Progress will be reported to the AGM and if appropriate people put forward for election. By expanding Trustee capacity, we aim to ensure that we can continue to provide the management of exceptional services to our garden and to potentially expand the availability of the garden and the opportunities it offers to volunteers and visitors.

Volunteers

The garden could not operate without our amazing volunteers. They continue to be core to our everyday activities of sowing, planting, weeding, digging, and watering. In the year ending 7[th] October 2022 we had 118 volunteers offering 2,836 hours over the year. These are in addition to the volunteer trustee hours which are spent administering the garden. Some of our volunteers are long-term, including those who began with a learner plot and have remained committed to the garden. Please also see below for a new project on small growing spaces. The tasks that the volunteers undertake are tailored to the needs of the garden and to people’s individual abilities. There is no pressure to attend every week and people can stay for as little or for as long as they can. This flexibility is significant in our ability to attract a broad range of people and to welcome back people throughout the season.

(Note, in 2021/22 saw an increase in the numbers of +25 volunteers from the previous year, but an overall reduction of 112 hours over the year. The anniversary event of 10[th] October 2021 has not been included in the 2021/22 totals).

Events Held at the Community Garden

In addition to workshops included in the Learner Plotters project, events that involved volunteers and the wider community were as follows.

We started this reporting year with our 10[th] anniversary event, which was held on 10[th] October 2021. This was a chance to say a big thank you to everyone who has contributed to the garden over the years. We met up with old and current friends as well as being a chance for residents to find out about what we do and how to get involved. There were a range of activities; opportunities to make a flower garland crown, apple tasting, a chance to make a bird feeder, (using lots of peanut butter, toilet rolls and string), and we finished the day with Morris dancing from Brixton Tatterjacks. We enjoyed lots of donated food and pizzas from the ever-popular pizza oven. We also ran a plant sale and a raffle, which together with generous donations from visitors, helped us cover costs of running the event.

In December there were further wreathmaking workshops which continue to be very popular. Thanks again to Ruth Arnott for leading on these. We sold some of the excess wreathmaking kits at SCCoop’s Christmas fair and offered teas and coffees to visitors.

In January, we welcomed in the new year with the Wassail event, with spirited dancing from Brixton Tatterjacks and some audience participation!

In April, we hosted a flower arranging event which was delivered by Rebecca Mays and in September we celebrated the growing year with pizza and lunch for plotters, volunteers, and little growers.

Growing Programme

After a mild winter and a dry spring, the summer of 2022 proved to be particularly tricky. For the first time, extreme heat led us to close the garden one Sunday. Trustees made the decision that with temperatures close to 40 degrees it was unsafe to encourage people to garden. Whilst initially we were able to water the garden using rainwater collected in our water buts, supplemented by hosepipes, water supplies were used up and followed by the current hose pipe ban. Restricted watering by hand has since been our only option.

Despite these challenges, we have successfully grown a broad range of fruits and vegetables. As well as an abundant harvest of potatoes and various beans, the figs, quinces, and mulberries did particularly well. For the first time in a few years, our tomatoes were not attacked by blight.

The asparagus bed continues to thrive, and we look forward to picking our first crop in 2023, we grew rats’ tail radishes for the first time as well as different brassicas.

Three of our learner plotters from 2021 returned and used one of the raised beds to demonstrate growing in small spaces. This attracted a lot of attention and their tromboncino squash, shown in the picture below, was a particular delight for all our visitors.

We also began to work a small space to grow vegetables from the Indian sub-continent and Asia. In the coming year we will expand the diversity of vegetables grown in this area, including produce from in different parts of the world and drawing on the knowledge of our volunteers from many different communities and heritage.

Finance Report

Donations.

We would like to thank our visitors and volunteers for their monetary, as well as time donations.

Fund raising .

The Learner Plot project, (including the Sunday gardener) was financed this year by money received from City Bridge, a decision to award two years’ funding had been made the previous year.

Similarly, this was year two of Little Growers Club, using an award from Higgidy (food producer). The award covers three years.

We continued to generate income by sales of surplus plants and produce. With the numbers of available trustees on site, it has sometimes been a challenge to sell produce every week. But, during the height of spring and summer, Sunday sales at the yard gate was a known feature with regulars coming along to see what was available to buy. Their feedback was very positive, and people were very generous.

Note, at the time of this report work is being undertaken to secure funds for the full year Learner Plot project 2022/23, progress will be advised at the AGM.

Comments on Full Year Accounts

These will be subject to approval, by members, at the AGM on 8[th] January 2023. Our thanks to Guy Roberts who has prepared the accounts for us.

Note 1 . To confirm, the accounts reflect ~~t~~ he full year position, on a cash accounting basis, as of 7[th] October 2022, any income (for example grant payment from City Bridge) or expenditure after this date is not included.

Our reserves at the end of the year are up £2,834 over 2021, to £14,558; this will be used in grant applications where matched funding is required.

Income generated this year:

Grants £ 5,000 (See note 1 , above)

Donations £ 915 (Including money received from Easy Fund Raising, Amazon, PayPal and expenses incurred and donated by Trustees).

Sales of Produce £ 2,652

Subscriptions £ 75

Events £ 1,538 (This is primarily the wreathmaking workshops and sales at 2021 Christmas fair)

Expenditure this year

Restricted spending of £15,384 relates to running our Learner Plot and Little Growers projects. In addition to the grants income of £5,000 noted above, money to fund these projects had already been received outside this reporting cycle and was drawn from our restricted reserves during the year. Also see note 1 above.

For clarity

Restricted funds include money received in previous years for specific purposes. These include money to be passed to SCCoop for their greenhouse project, (from Angela Jones’ memorial fund and Hadley) the completion of renovation in the mulberry tree area, money from the Higgidy award, money from City Bridge for Learner Plotter project.

A copy of the full year accounts follows which are subject to approval, by members, at the AGM on 8[th] January 2023.

Streatham Common Community Garden

Registered Charity No 1154156

Accounts for year ending 7th October 2022

	Unrestricted Funds £	Restricted Funds £	Total Funds £	to 7/10/21	Variance £

Receipts
Grants		5,000	5,000	24,779	(19,779)
Sales	2,652		2,652	1,286	1,366
Donations	886	29	915	7,536	(6,621)
Subscriptions	75		75	60	15
Events	1,538		1,538	1,436	102
Prizes			-		0
Gift Aid	-		-	-	0
Gross Income	5,151	5,029	10,180	35,097	(24,917)

Payments
Restricted Grants		15,384	15,384	11,666	3,718
Restricted Donations		154	154	83	71
Seeds Plants Garden Suppl	238		238	214	24
Equipment Maintenance	341		341	594	(253)
Volunteer Expenses	339		339	286	53
Events	1,143		1,143	158	985
Insurance Postage Website Hosting	97 159		97 - 159	97 60 -	0 (60) 159


Total Payments	2,317	15,538	17,855	13,158	4,697

Gross Income Less Total P	a 2,834	(10,509)	(7,675)	21,938
Transfer between funds
Cash Funds at 7/10/21	11,724	23,009	34,733	12,794

Cash Funds at 7/10/22	14,558	12,500	27,058	34,732

Bank Balance at 7/10/22	14,543	12,500	27,043	34,719	(7,676)
PettyCash at 7/10/22	15		15	13	2

Total Cash Balance	14,558	12,500	27,058	34,732	(7,674)

Looking Forward

We will use the AGM on 8[th] January 2023 to discuss our ambitions for the year ahead. As well as continuing to welcome volunteers and visitors to the garden, we are working to secure full year funding for the Learner Plotter project. We hold sufficient funds in our restricted reserves for year 3 of the Little Growers Club. In addition, the Board have identified the need to:

Increase the capacity of our Board of Trustees and senior volunteers.
Re-visit how the garden and our activities deliver our core aims.
Better celebrate the diversity of our volunteers and how we can reflect people’s rich heritage at the garden, or through events.
Improve the ways that we communicate and increase our reach.
Better plan an events programme for the year ahead.
Continue to work closely with our friends and colleagues from SCCoop, Friends of Streatham Common, Lambeth Council and like-minded groups in the area.

Report compiled by Trustees of Streatham Common Community Garden, registered charity 1154156, and agreed at the Trustee meeting 21[st] November 2022.