2020-09-30-accounts - Whitby In Bloom

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Trustees’ Annual

Report

13/11/2019 to 11/11/2020

Trustees:

Amanda Smith, Chair Julie Charlton, Vice Chair Anne Noble, Treasurer Steve Smith, Community Partnership Iszie Smith, Creative Consultant Jonathan Harston Phillip Trumper, Whitby Town Council TBC, Whitby Town Council TBC, Whitby Town Council TBC, Whitby Town Council

Principal Office: Park Office, Pannett Park, Whitby, YO21 1RE

Charity Number: 1157790

Structure, governance and management

Whitby in Bloom is a Charitably Incorporated Organisation governed by constitution, with a minimum of 5 trustees and maximum of 12 trustees. New trustees are appointed by the existing trustees except for the four places held by Whitby Town Council.

Objectives

To promote horticulture for the benefit of the public generally and especially those who live in or visit the town of Whitby by providing and encouraging the provision of flowers, shrubs and landscapes in parks, residential, community and open spaces visible to the public and promoting environmentally responsible horticultural practices.

To advance the education of the public in the conservation, protection and improvement of the physical, natural and heritage environment.

To promote for the benefit of the public the conservation, protection and improvement of the physical and natural environment.

2 | Whitby in Bloom Trustee Report 2019/20

Activities undertaken for the public benefit

At all times the trustees of Whitby in Bloom have regard to the guidance issued by the Charity Commission on public benefit, the impact of the organisation is felt in many ways, transforming every aspect of community life.

Social Impact:

We build communities by working towards a common goal, creating opportunities for increasing understanding and neighbourliness.
We encourage individuals to invest in their neighbourhood, contributing to its development by volunteering.
We reduce crime and anti-social behaviour by fostering a greater respect for and sense of ownership of local spaces.
We improve health and well-being through encouraging the growing of fruit and vegetables and by creating safe, pleasant spaces to exercise.

Economic Impact:

We encourage inward investment by making Whitby a better place to be, so locals stay and visitors are attracted to spend time here.
We attract business support through sponsorship schemes, an improved environment brings customers, increases revenues and discourages graffiti and vandalism.
We help volunteers develop a wide range of skills and aim to help those at risk of social exclusion.
We save local authorities money in volunteer hours, green space management, street furniture maintenance and litter collection.

Environmental Impact:

We improve our surroundings through planting, clean-up and maintenance.
We encourage horticulture in all its forms from hanging baskets to community gardens.
We encourage environmentally conscious practices such as composting, recycling and biodiversity projects.
We promote an interest in the environment, particularly through our work with schools. Transformational Impact
We aim to transform disused space by changing the way land is used and engendering the community spirit it embodies.
We tackle problematic areas blighted by neglected and turn spaces which are drab into something uplifting.
We regenerate places by improving their physical appearance, changing the way people feel about where they live, work and play. Breathing new life into our neighbourhoods.

3 | Whitby in Bloom Trustee Report 2019/20

Achievements and performance

2019/2020 has been a paradoxical year for Whitby in Bloom; simultaneously expanding our community planting whilst dealing with community involvement restrictions. Our plans for building on our links with Community Payback and NEET team were scuppered. However a burgeoning relationship with the Yorkshire Coast BID saw us expand our presence across the town.

The year started with huge promise. We were honoured to receive a prestigious RHS Britain in Bloom gold award for Small Coastal Town. The Royal Horticultural Society judges said;

“Whitby in Bloom is committed to ensuring that the town will be more beautiful tomorrow than it is today.”

With that commendation ringing in our ears we looked forward to continuing our projects in 2020.

Despite flooding to the Polytunnel, in November, numerous hanging baskets were planted and adored with lights to add a sprinkle of Christmas cheer.

We continued to work with the Quakers to develop a wildlife friendly permaculture Community Orchard within the Quaker Burial Grounds on Bagdale. On Bonfire night we celebrated receiving the Betty’s Trees for Life grant, by clearing old debris ready for new trees which were planted in the spring. We also planted a buzzing mix of bulbs to provide for pollinators from February to June. The long hot spring and early summer combined with Covid restrictions meant much of the planting suffered and many trees were lost.

With the New Year, the town was given a face-lift. when with the partnership of the Community Payback Team, rusting railings around the pier were refreshed with a lick of white paint. Further harbourside refurbishment was halted by Covid and our partnership with the Payback Team is currently suspended.

By March Covid had taken hold and all our careful strategies were defeated. A whole different set of

circumstances rocked us as the world went into lockdown. We soon realised that although our plans had been upturned the plants didn’t know a difference, so the work of Whitby in Bloom went on, nurturing young plants that we weren’t sure would be needed.

Eventually in late June, we were able to place our blooms in the community. Our plans for 2020 included hanging 40 new baskets on community spaces around the town, this proved impossible but we re-worked and converted 34 baskets into bollard planters. We also painted and planted Platform 1 on the Railway Station as part of the station adopters scheme.

After the flooding of our polytunnels the previous year, we took actions to make our working area more weather resilient and more accessible with new paving and shelving. We also took the steps to make the charity greener and more self-sufficient by installing renewable energy sources – wind and solar power now provide energy for our water collection and irrigation systems.

While this year had a lot less hands on involvement due to social distancing, we saw the town’s community grow as the resident population enjoyed bloom’s efforts to brighten the town. Whitby in Bloom is now an organisation in flux, going forwards we see much will need to change and adapt. Whilst the way forward is not entirely clear Whitby in Bloom is still thriving and like nature with adaptation comes new vigour and hope.

4 | Whitby in Bloom Trustee Report 2019/20

Annual Finance Document

Statement of accounts

Income:

Grant funding
Whitby Town Council
Bettys Trees for Life
Sponsorship
Hanging Baskets & Barrels
Fundraising
Garden Collection Boxes
Claras
Quiz and Curry Night
Sundry
Total
Expenditure
Plants
Trees and bulbs
Britain in Bloom Expenses
Yorkshire in Bloom Expenses
Repairs and Renewals
Website
Bombardment Garden
Velvet Lawns
Alice Garden
Sundries
Insurance
Infrastructure Investment
Total
Balance as at 30thSeptember 2020
Balance brought forward
Less excess of Expenditure over income
Balance carried forward

£
190.86
2906.00
6285.75
294.65
100.00
224.00
10.16
£10,011.42
818.16
2176.43
451.71
77.00
357.07
214.57
275.68
107.98
584.11
49.89
220.00
4691.90
£10,024.50
7879.54
13.08
7866.46

5 | Whitby in Bloom Trustee Report 2019/20

Reserves Policy

Whitby in Bloom makes long-term commitments to the horticulture and environment of Whitby. This commitment includes; a commitment to maintain the QEII Jubilee Garden and Bombardment Garden on the West Cliff, the Dementia Awareness Garden in Caedmon Square, the Alice Garden on Cliff Street and to continue to develop the Quaker Burial Grounds as a heritage wildlife orchard. The trustees wish to ensure that they would be able to maintain these commitments.

It would take a minimum of twelve months to satisfactorily divest of these obligations, therefore we have commitments of at least one year. As income, can be volatile, the general reserve should represent approximately one year’s worth of unrestricted expenditure. At current levels of activity, the reserves should be approximately £2,500. The trustees have made advances in reducing the charity’s dependence on volatile forms of income and increasing more reliable funding for its services by taking over the commercial hanging basket scheme and forming new sponsorship partnerships. The trustees review the policy and progress towards meeting the target level of reserves annually.

Assets and Liabilities Register.

The asset register is a record that clearly identifies all the fixed assets of the charity. The register allows the Trustees to retrieve information on an asset including its description, purchase date, location, purchase price, accumulated depreciation, estimated salvage value and net book value.

Whitby in Blooms assets are solely fixed non-current assets as defined below

Fixed non-current assets: an asset not directly sold to an end-user. As an example, a baking firm's would be the oven used to bake bread, motor vehicles used to transport deliveries, cash registers used to handle cash payments, etc. While these non-current assets have value, they are not directly sold to consumers and cannot be easily converted to cash .

The cost of the fixed asset is calculated as its purchase price, plus the cost attributable to bringing and installing the asset in its location and the initial estimate of dismantling and removing the item if they are eventually no longer needed on the location.

Net book value of an asset is the difference between the historical cost of that asset and its associated depreciation. Depreciation is calculated as the diminution in the historical value owing to usage, (straight line depreciation based on the projected useful life of the asset, i.e. if an asset has a life of 10 years it will depreciate by 10% every year), less any salvage value over its estimated useful life.

Assets will remain on the register for 10 years after disposal

To maintain a full picture of the charities financial situation a column has been added to the register to track the estimated annual maintenance/running costs of the Assets. This figure has been used to calculate the level of reserves.