2021-03-31-accounts - Friends Of Page Park

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FRIENDS OF PAGE PARK REPORT OF THE TRUSTEES FOR FINANCIAL YEAR ENDING 31 MARCH 2021

Charity Number 1158230

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99999.1159 Classification: Confidential

Status

Friends of Page Park was registered as a Charitable Incorporated Organisation on 13 August 2014 with charity number 1158230

Members of the Board of Trustees

The trustees who served during the period were as follows:

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; Name of person (or body)
Office (if any) Lom acted if not for whole entitledan to appoint trustee (if
1 Lorna Marie Carter- | Chair
Stevens
2[ Stephanie Purser |ViceChar ||
3 [Janice Green [Finance [SSCsTSS
4[PaulGraham _[Webste [| |
6|RachaelRuane [Policies | |
7 | Janet Biggin ne ee eae
e[ColinBracey [na
1 | Tom Beard n/a
(e)
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Secretary to the Board of Trustees

James Hastings

Independent examiner

Lloydbottoms Limited Registered in England and Wales No: 06433276 Registered Office: 118 High Street Staple Hill Bristol BS16 5HH

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Bankers
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Lloyds Bank plc
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The Trustees have pleasure in presenting its report of the Charitable Incorporated Organisation (CIO) for the period ended 31 March 2021.

STRUCTURE, GOVERNANCE AND MANAGEMENT

Appointment of trustees

Apart from the first charity trustees, every appointed trustee must be appointed, by a resolution passed at a properly convened meeting of the ClO.

In selecting individuals for appointment as charity trustees, the charity trustees must have regard to the skills, knowledge and experience needed for the effective administration of the CIO.

OBJECTIVES AND ACTIVITIES

Charitable purposes

The objects of the ClO are

A) to assist with the preservation, restoration, maintenance and improvement of Page Park for the benefit of the public; and B) To promote the benefit of the residents of Staple Hill, South Gloucestershire and the surrounding areas by associating with South Gloucestershire Council and inhabitants in a common effort to provide and improve facilities at Page Park in the interests of social welfare for recreation, sport, education and leisure time activities with the objects of improving their conditions of life.

We have referred to the guidance contained in the Charity Commission's general guidance on public benefit when reviewing our aim and objectives and in planning our future activities.

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Review of activities

Chairman's report

All members of the Friends of Page Park are volunteers and we encourage both regular and occasional volunteers to spare time towards helping with the upkeep and improvement of the park.

The financial year 2020/2021 has beena challenging period for group volunteering specifically because of the Covid pandemic.

At the start of this period, the park’s facilities were in demand during the first national lockdown like never before, despite play areas and the sensory garden being closed and individuals and families from the local area used this green lung space for their daily exercise and it has proved invaluable to support residents’ mental health. Our volunteers supported the parks team during this period with litter picking and arranging appropriate signage, but our regular group activities such as upkeep of the Sensory Garden had to cease temporarily due to national restrictions.

We have felt that this period has in many ways been advantageous to the Friends of Page Park in terms of public support for our work and for the park generally and we have experienced much less vandalism in the park during this period. Our Facebook page (https://)www.facebook.com/FriendsofPagePark/) goes from strength to strength and is the primary way we share information about the park and the group's activities. We currently have c. 4,200 people following us.

We were very sad to hear that Beryl Page, one of the Page family who gave Page Park to the people of Staple Hill in 1910 passed away peacefully in March 2021. Beryl and her family have continued to support the park and The Friends of Page Park in recent years and she will be sadly missed at our future events.

Following the success of our growing area in the park, which is being used to grow bedding plants, among other things, the trustees resolved in principle to expand our objects to promote horticulture and floriculture for the public generally and to provide floral displays in places visible to the public in and around Staple Hill for the improvement of the environment. Permission to make this change, if approved at a general meeting, was given by the Charity Commission. This will allow us to extend our work beyond the boundaries of the park itself to help improve the local high street at Staple Hill.

We participated in the local area’s scarecrow trail with a scarecrow in the sensory garden, which brightened up our streets and provided much needed colour and encouraged people to follow the trail and enjoy the amazing creations.

This year marked the end of the Heritage Lottery Project although there is still a final celebration event to mark this occasion to look forward to (to be rearranged for summer 2022). We have spent time with the Council reflecting on lessons learned from the project and also looking forward as to how we can support the Council with the maintenance plan for the park to which the Council has committed itself.

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We were able to work with the Council on the design for the celebration bench to mark the project, which should be enjoyed for years to come in a position overlooking the football pitch.

We would like to thank all our members and all those who have either donated to us or given volunteering help as well as everyone else involved with the park at South Gloucestershire Council for everything over this very difficult year when we truly appreciated how important the park was to local residents’ mental health.

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Participating Organisations

South Gloucestershire Council South Gloucestershire CVS Staple Hill Runners Avon & Somerset Police

Staple Hill, Mangotsfield and Downend Residents Staple Hill & Mangotsfiield Ward Councillors Downend Councillors

Finance

For this financial year, our receipts were approximately £2,501 more than our expenses. Whilst we have minimal recurring costs (website, insurance and accountancy fees), our income does vary from year to year depending upon fundraising success and the projects with which we are involved. As we have been limited during this pandemic year in what activities we have been able to undertake, we have adequate funds coming into the next financial period to undertake identified projects such as supporting the restoration of the aviary in the Sensory Garden.

Policies and Procedures

The trustees noted that an overhaul of the policies and procedures was required to be undertaken and will follow during the subsequent period.

Volunteers

We havea reliable long-standing group of volunteers who participate in the activities of the ClO including our Green Dog Walkers, who encourage the public to pick up mess after their pets, litterpickers who help supplement the work of the Counci’s park team and volunteers who tend weekly (when permitted) to the Sensory Garden. Additionally we have many volunteers who help with one-off events in the park or when promoting our work through the local area. We are always pleased to welcome new volunteers and can help find opportunities to suit the time they have to spare and give to the park.

Projects and main activities

Bandstand

Repairs were required this year to the bandstand, which was restored in 2012. Mitie was appointed by the Council to carry out the repairs, the Friends having been successful in obtaining a grant of £10,000 from Enovert Environmental Trust.

Most of the structure needed a clean and new paint, and some rotten wood in the ceiling was replaced as well as 32 new roof tiles.

The funding allowed for new planting for the four flower beds. We hope our visitors will appreciate and respect all the work that has gone into preserving the bandstand and treat it kindly.

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Sensory Garden and planting

As soon as volunteering was permitted again, our fabulous group of sensory garden volunteers, tackled the weeds and unchecked growth in the garden during the first lockdown, adhering to the covid-safe guidelines. The Council only assists with grass cutting and with the trees in the sensory garden and all other gardening upkeep is done by volunteers. The garden still looked lovely as all the spring flowers emerged in early 2020, but there were a lot of weeds too — by summer everything was tamed to its former glory. We have also funded and planted around 5,000 new bulbs all around the park during this period.

Aviary

We had been very concerned for the welfare of the birds in the aviary, and one of our trustees Tom Beard took the lead in obtaining some expert advice on what improvements would be needed and we have begun a Virgin Money fundraising appeal for the revamp project. It is intended to:

remove the central structure so the birds flight lines will be increased - improve perching and install a purpose built breeding box - paint the mesh black to aid visibility - improve pathways around the aviary - add climbing plants around the aviary to give seasonal interest

Heritage Lottery Project and park management and maintenance plan

Now that the Heritage Lottery Project money has been spent and the park is looking glorious once more, we have turned our attention back to fundraising for new projects as well as inputting on the park management and maintenance plan, run by the Council.

Page Park Calendar

We launched our first photographic competition in early 2020 for our first charity calendar for 2021. The calendar was brilliantly received and we had to commission a second printing. Sales raised over £4,000 for the Friends (with profit well over £2,000), which was overa third of the fundraising / grants received during this period and therefore a resounding success. This, with additional monies raised, enabled us to donate £4,250 (which included a £3,000 grant from our three Councillors) towards the installation of additional and replacement litter bins, coordinated by the Council.

Toilets in the park

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We continue to be concerned about the lack of toilet provision out of hours in the park and have been liaising with the Council on how to improve this situation given the uptick in visitor numbers to the Park. A counter has been installed in the existing toilets to monitor use.

Plant Sales

We were happily able to hold several plant sales, and our brilliant volunteers had done a lot of growing during the first national lockdown. We raised in excess of £500 from these sales and hopefully provided some much needed colour to many gardens.

Liaising with other organisations/Signposting

We continue to grow our list of members and our vice chair sends out regular updates on what is happening in the park and in the local community. We reached out to our volunteers in relation to the response of various local organisations including the Salvation Army and the Staple Hill Community Hub, who were providing food deliveries for vulnerable residents during this period to bolster financial and physical support so urgently needed. We are an active member of the Community

In Conclusion

The Covid-19 health emergency has presented new challenges for Friends of Page Park, especially as many of our volunteers are in at risk groups. We were not able to meet in person as a group during this period, but were still able to reach out regularly to members on email and to the wider public via Facebook and our website. The park has been more cherished this year than ever before and the Friends are more determined than ever to continue to help with the upkeep and ongoing restoration of this amazing place and, when able, facilitate events for the wider community.

Reserves policy

No specific reserves are held. The trustees consider that we have minimal ongoing commitments (these are limited to payments for services of our accountant, our public liability insurance insurance and our website) and we only spend monies we have been able to raise.

Organisational structure

The charity is run by the Trustees who are in contact on a regular basis and meet when social distancing restrictions allow. Powers are delegated to volunteers as and when appropriate.

Responsibilities of the Trustees

The trustees are responsible for preparing the Trustees' Report and the financial statementsin accordance with applicable law and United Kingdom Accounting Standards (United Kingdom Generally Accepted Accounting Practice). The law applicable to charities in England and Wales requires the trustees to prepare financial statements for each financial year which give a true and fair view of the state of affairs of the charity

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and of the incoming resources and application of resources of the charity for that period. In preparing these financial statements, the trustees are required to:

e select suitable accounting policies and then apply them consistently; e observe the methods and principles in the Charities SORP: ° make judgments and estimates that are reasonable and prudent;
e state whether applicable accounting standards have been followed, subject to anymaterial 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 charity will continue in business.

The trustees are responsible for keeping sufficient accounting records that disclose with reasonable accuracy at any time the financial position of the charity and enable them to ensure that the financial statements comply with the Charities Act 2011, the Charity (Accounts and Reports) Regulations 2008 and the provisions of the trust deed. They are also responsible for safeguarding the assets of the charity and hence for taking reasonablesteps for the prevention and detection of fraud and other irregularities.

Approved by the annual general meeting on 10 November 2021 Wee

Trustee

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CCXX R1 accounts (SS) 1

02/09/2024

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Section B Statement of assets and liabilities at the end of the period
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					Unrestricted	Restricted	Endowment
Categories	Details				funds	funds	funds
					to nearest £	to nearast£	to nearest £
			Total cash funds		ees	es es	es
.	(agree	balances	with receiptsand payments
				account{s))	G+	rt	Ox
					Unrestricted	Restricted	Endowment
					funds	funds	funds
	Detalls				to nearest£	tonearest£	tonearest£
—_—
_—	Fundtowhich Details assetbelongs —=					Cost (ontional ost (optional)	Current value optional
B4Assets retainedforthe	Details				Fund to which asset belongs	Cost(optional) PtPt	Currentvalue optional Pt
					Fund towhich	Amountdue	When due
i	. Details lability ralates —=					optional	optional =
Signed byone ortwotrusteas on behalfofallthetrustees		. Signature			. PrintName	Name	Date of approval
				u/s
	SL.			Ore20	FE.GREEN .

CCXX R2 accounts (SS)

02/09/2021