STAINTON GROVE COMMUNITY ASSOCIATION
A Registered Charity – 1157991
Unit 9, Industrial Estate Stainton Grove County Durham DL12 8UJ
TRUSTEES FINAL REPORT
1[st] January – 31[st] December 2023
TRUSTEES
Mrs E O’Hara Chairman
Miss J Cluer Treasurer Mrs S Chapman Secretary Miss W Bailey Trustee
Stainton Grove Community Association has been inactive since 2020.
At a General Meeting called at the end of November 2019, the trustees reported to the members present that the preceding year had seen income fall and expenditure rise to the point that the Association was only just breaking even.
It was felt that any further reduction in revenue could potentially result in us not being able to meet future necessary expenditure i.e. utility bills and services sourced through Durham County Council. These being regular Legionella testing and the asbestos management plan, both with an agreed service level fee. Additional payments would include cleaning costs, internet, telephone etc., all of which increase yearly.
Paid membership of the Association has dropped with the closure of the Parent and Toddler Group and Youth Club and it was agreed to not actively seek memberships in 2020 as we were unable to provide services to justify a membership fee.
Although the Trustees have been trying to recruit current members to take on the position to allow the standing Trustees to step down, we have not had any interest shown in doing this.
This led to a discussion about closing the Association and no-one present raised any objections to that suggestion.
Therefore it was decided to call a meeting in January to discus and decide if the Association should be dissolved as per its constitution.
The meeting was set for Wednesday 8[th] January at 7.00pm and the . resolution for discussion and decision was publicised on December 4[th]
Please see next page for the minutes of the January meeting.
STAINTON GROVE COMMUNITY ASSOCIATION
A Registered Charity – 1157991
Minutes of the meeting held on Wednesday January 8[th] 2020
Present S Chapman, J Cluer, PA Bushby, T Spires, D Spires, D Richards, S McKie, W Bailey, E O’Hara
This meeting has been called to discuss the resolution detailed below.
“It is proposed that the Charitable Incorporated Organisation known as Stainton Grove Community Association, shall be voluntarily dissolved as soon as is practical and the property known as Stainton Grove Community Centre be handed back to Durham County Council as stipulated under the terms of the existing lease between the Association and the Council. In addition, the Trustees declare that all debts and liabilities of the CIO known as Stainton Grove Community Association will be settled or provided for in full and once this is completed, all remaining assets to be allocated by the Trustees in a manner and in keeping with its general charitable purposes and according to its Constitution.”
This resolution was presented to those present (no Community Association members as no memberships have been renewed at this time). The Trustees reiterated the financial issues that the Association was facing and that in their opinion it would be better to accept that situation and act now rather than run the risk of reaching the point of not being able to meet future financial obligations.
Unfortunately no-one present could suggest any other actions but several local charities and organisations were put forward as possible recipients of any remaining funds. It was also suggested that any contents of the Community Centre belonging to the Association be sold off to raise more funds for donations.
At this time the meeting was called to order and asked if those present would approve the proposed resolution.
By a show of hands all present agreed to approve the resolution.
The Trustees will start the process and contact Durham County Council to advise them of the situation. A follow up meeting will be held by the Trustees in a week to start an inventory of Community Centre contents and hopefully those present would help as needed.
Mrs O’Hara thanked everyone for attending this meeting and expressed her appreciation for their support over previous years.
Following the meeting in early January, DCC were contacted about retuning the Community Centre building to them. The contents and assets of the Association were distributed or sold off by mid-February and the keys then returned to Durham County Council.
We naively thought we just had to hand the keys back but learnt that as we had a relatively long-term lease we needed to complete ‘Surrender of Lease’ documents and then employ a solicitor as the lease was registered with the Land Registry and there were a number of legalities to be attended to before we could formally exit the lease.
It took until autumn 2021 for this to be concluded and the solicitor to be finally paid.
At that point we had roughly £1500 remaining funds so the Trustees met in December 2021 to distribute that money to local organisations that had either helped us in the past or had some connection to the Association and its former members.
| DONATED TO | Value £ | |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Stainton & Streatlam Parish Council | 500.00 |
| 2 | The Association of Teesdale Day Clubs | 500.00 |
| 3 | Teesdale Cancer Research | 200.00 |
| 4 | Barnard Castle Amateur Boxing Club | 194.03 |
| 5 | Teesdale Visually Impaired Club | 100.00 |
| 6 | Barnard Castle Meet | 100.00 |
| 7 | Barnard Castle Christmas Lights | 100.00 |
| 8 | St. Mary’s Roman Catholic School | 50.00 |
| 9 | Royal British Legion | 50.00 |
| 1794.03 |
In 2020 we lost Mrs Bushby, a former Chair of the Association and long time volunteer and in May this year we lost Mrs O’Hara, our last Chair.
Stainton Grove Community Association Income & Expenditure Statement Year Ending 31[st] December 2023
| Stainton Grove Community Association | Stainton Grove Community Association | Stainton Grove Community Association | Stainton Grove Community Association | Stainton Grove Community Association | Stainton Grove Community Association |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Income & Expenditure Statement | |||||
| Year Ending 31st December 2023 | |||||
| 2023 | 2022 | ||||
| £ | £ | ||||
| Bank Accounts | |||||
| Current Account (Statement Balance) | 0.00 | 150.00 | |||
| Darlington Building Society | 0.00 | 0.00 | |||
| Total Funds | 0.00 | 0.00 | |||
| Stainton Grove Community Association | |||||
| Income & Expenditure Statement | |||||
| Year Ending 31~~st~~December 2023 | |||||
| 2023 | 2022 | ||||
| Income | 0.00 | 0.00 | |||
| Expenditure | 0.00 | 150.00 | |||
- This £150.00 donation was made in December 2021 but was not processed by the recipient until January 2022