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2021-06-01-accounts

Trustees' Annual Report for the period

Period start date Period start date Period end date
**From ** 01 June 2020 To 31
May
2021

Section A Reference and administration details

Charity name Forest Upcycling Project Other names charity is known by Monmouthshire Upcycle Registered charity number (if any) 1158797

Forest Upcycling Project

Charity's principal address Unit 8-10, Hollywood works, Valley Road, Cinderford Postcode GL14 2PD

Names of the charity trustees who manage the charity







Trustee name Office (if any) Dates acted if not for whole
**year **
Name of person (or body) entitled
to appoint trustee (ifany)
Ashley Martin Chair from
16.5.2018
Appointed 9.10.14
Rona Martin Appointed 9.10.14
TraceyFennell Appointed 1.6.14
Dorothy Cardus Appointed 30.3.2017 –
Resigned 15.09.2020
Simon Bunyan Appointed 16.5.2018
Roger Burrows Appointed 16.11.2019
Victoria Walters Appointed 24.03.2021

Names and addresses of advisers (Optional information)

Type of adviser Name Address

Name of chief executive or names of senior staff members (Optional information)

Matthew Jones (Project Manager)

Section B Structure, governance and management

Description of the charity’s trusts

Type of governing document

Constitution

The Forest Upcycling Project is a Charitable Incorporated Organisation. How the charity is constituted

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Appointed by mutual agreement of all existing trustees. Trustee selection methods (eg. appointed by, elected by)

Additional governance issues (Optional information)

You may choose to include additional information, where relevant, about:

Policies and procedure of Trustees This is the sixth Trustee’s Annual Report since the Charity was established in June 2014.

The Forest Upcycling Project is a charitable organisation. The Charity was started on 1[st] June 2014 and registered with the Charity Commission on 6[th] October 2014.

The charity was established under a Constitution which was written in June 2014. Our Registered Charity number is 1158797.

There have been some changes to the board of Trustees with the resignation of Dorothy Cardus and the appointment of Victoria Walters. Ashley Martin maintains position of Chair

As existing Trustees, we elect new trustees in accordance with the terms of our Constitution. On appointment, all new Trustees receive an induction pack, which consists of a copy of the Constitution, together with the Charity Commissions booklet 'Essential Trustee'. Trustees are elected to serve for a maximum of three years after which time they must seek reelection at the next Annual Meeting. Trustees are free to resign from their post at any time. In the event of the Project being wound up the liability of Members (Trustees) is limited to a sum not exceeding £1.

The affairs of the charity are controlled by the Trustees and meetings occur at least 4 times a year at an agreed location. The decisions of the board are carried out by Matthew Jones (Project Manager).

The charity’s organisational structure

The day to day management of the project is carried out by the Charity founder and former trustee Matthew Jones. This includes purchasing necessary equipment, assigning roles to staff and accessing funds available. He is also responsible for recruitment, training and induction of new employees and volunteers.

Decisions made regarding purchasing large items such as vehicles, rental agreements and management of employee contracts are made together with trustees at Trustee meetings.

The Charity’s wider network

The charity works closely with Gloucestershire County Council and Monmouthshire Council on many aspects. This includes working with the waste team (Roger Smith, Tony Privitera and Carl Tourig) to raise funds in recycling credits and the Disabilities Commissioning Team at Gloucestershire Council (most significantly Vikki Walters and David Honeybill). Monmouthshire Housing and GDAS have also made strong relationships with the Chepstow branch for volunteer placement.

Links have been made with Two Rivers Housing Association, Gloucestershire City Housing, Wyedean Housing, Salvation Army, Green Square, Monmouthshire Housing, MENCAP, Gwent Drug and Alcohol Support and various churches to ensure all members of society have the essentials of a home in terms of furniture and white goods.

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Work experience placements at the project have been provided in conjunction with Cinderford, Coleford & Chepstow Job Centre Plus, Volunteers, Seetec, Mencap, Heart of the Forest School, Forest High School, National Star College, Jobs Growth Wales, and Monmouthshire Housing.

In August 2020 the Charity ceased to be part of the Gloucestershire Going the Extra Mile Project due to the emigration of our Navigator Developer, Jen Hudson. It was decided that we would not continue with the project and fill Jen’s position with another staff member.

Risk Management

The key controls used by the project and controlled by the Trustees are; * Formal agendas for all Board activity

*Detailed written policies

It is recognised that systems can only provide reasonable but not absolute assurance that all major risks have been eliminated. Matthew Jones, project manager and his management team are responsible for assessing risks in each location on a day to day basis.

Advice on fire safety is sought from our fire officer on a yearly basis and this includes the annual checking of fire extinguishers.

New staff and volunteers are trained in safe lifting and appropriate clothing by the management team. Staff are provided with essential safety wear such as steel toe cap boots and goggles. Volunteers are provided with supervision, the level of which depends on their abilities.

Section C Objectives and activities

The original aims of the charity as set out in its constitution are;

  1. To relieve poverty for families and individuals in need by providing furniture or other goods at a highly reduced rate or in extreme cases free of charge.

  2. To advance education for people who are unemployed or otherwise in need of such education to equip them with the skills necessary to be able to find employment.

Summary of the objects of the charity set out in its governing document

  1. To protect and preserve the environment for the public benefit and future generations by the promotion of waste reduction, reuse, reclamation, recycling and use of recycled products.

Public Benefit

The trustees have regard to the Charity Commission guidance on Public Benefit and to the requirement to report on its observance and delivery.

The public benefit generated by The Forest Upcycling Project can be summarised in one of five areas:

  1. a) Those in need can purchase household goods considerably cheaper than from other retail outlets in Gloucestershire and

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Monmouthshire, with much greater choice than other secondhand outlets.

b) A free collection service for those wishing to donate items of furniture

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The main activities of the Forest Upcycling Project

The project runs by collecting people’s unwanted furniture, household goods and bicycles and then cleaning, repairing or upcycling it for re-sale in our showrooms in Cinderford and Chepstow. There are also 3 gardening teams who carry out work privately for residents and have completed some larger contract work for local companies. Much of their business comes from repeat customers during the summer months. This year we have also opened an onsite coffee shop at the Chepstow furniture unit.

At the end of our 7th Year, the staff at Upcycle is made up of 23 people.

Within this group there are staff with learning disabilities, hearing disabilities, long term unemployment, depression, single parents, autism, PTSD and those recovering from addiction.

Building the additional mezzanine (including LED lighting) in Chepstow has been a major achievement this year, with thanks going to Ashley Martin, chair of trustees for his role in the building of this and making it safe.

Summary of the main activities undertaken for the public benefit in relation to these objects (include within this section the statutory declaration that trustees have had regard to the guidance issued by the Charity Commission on public benefit)

A big change for the start of 2021 was decision of Wye Valley Meadery to relocate to their own unit in Caldicot. This gave us an additional space to fill and use. In October 2020 we had started a Kids Upcycle on the upstairs mezzanine, and the natural progression to go with this was a large coffee shop/book shop on the ground floor. We decided that we would separate all book proceeds from the main income and this would be set aside for projects and grants for individuals in Uganda.

We continue to work with Stella Aguti, who continues to oversee our Ugandan Upcycle programme which offers £50 grants/gifts to families in need and also supports schools in the region. Being from the Teso region, and having suffered times of poverty herself, Stella is best placed to assess the needs of her peers and allocate funds accordingly. Funds have now been transferred (May 2021) for the building of teachers houses at Nyamongo School and Onyede School and will begin imminently. This will allow the teachers to stay on the school premises and ensure the students are receiving a full-time education. Something that was not happening due to the long commutes required by the teachers. In addition, this provides paid work for tradesmen in an area hit hard by Covid 19.

We continue to work with Bob Osbourne to collect clothes, toys and bedding for orphanages in The Gambia. Bob collects the items from us and then ships them to Gambia within a delivery of tyres. The orphanages sell the adults clothes and use the children’s clothes and bedding.

We are now in our third year of the Upcycle bike project, working with renowned bike mechanic Ed Haythornthwaite. We now have two apprentice bike mechanics employed.

We continue to help those in society that suffer from economic hardship by providing furniture for sale in the Forest of Dean and Monmouthshire at very low prices or in many cases free of

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charge. With the opening of the Kids Upcycle, this has included lots more families in need with young children.

We have also been offering gardening services at reduced rates to other organisations, including Forest View School, Cinderford Children’s Services and Merryden Health Care Trust.

May 2021 saw the official opening of our new Coffee Shop. Adopting the name Toast@Upcycle as the management and some of the staff from Toast@Tutshill joined our team. The Coffee Shop provides a community space for groups to meet, including children’s activity clubs, reading groups, craft workshops and toddler reading mornings. As this new venture evolves, we hope to open for evening pop up events that will provide more employment opportunities and give Upcycle a bigger presence in the local community.

Additional details of objectives and activities (Optional information).

Volunteer contributions

Once again, a huge thankyou goes out to our volunteers.

You may choose to include further statements, where relevant, about:

Ashley Martin (Trustee) and Rona Martin (Trustee) have been invaluable in the building of the mezzanines in the Chepstow unit and the installation of the coffee shop.

Philip has learning disabilities and continues to work with the gardening team during the week as a gardening assistant. Phil was originally referred to us by National Star College in Cheltenham. He is mainly supported by head gardener Paul and enjoys his time working in customers gardens.

Tom has been with us for almost 6 years. He attends the Cinderford branch of the project 4-5 days a week, making himself available for furniture collections, gardening and house moves. Tom continues to use his wood working training to help fix and mend items of furniture as necessary and has so far made hundreds of bags of kindling from recycled wood.

Ed Haythornthwaite a professional bike mechanic who is training our apprentice bike mechanics. His work has been invaluable both in terms of teaching and safety checking our upcycled bikes.

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Roger has been incredibly helpful at helping out with collections, deliveries and tip runs at the Cinderford unit.

Simon has been providing help and advice with staffing and financial advice.

Other fantastic volunteers worth a mention in this report include Spencer, Daffyd, Wendy, Tony, Hazel, Kelly, Liam, Megan, Chris, Suzanne and

Grants:

Total of £32,000 from Monmouthshire County Council in Covid 19 relief grants. Total of £13,900 from Forest of Dean Council in Covid 19 relief grants. Payment of Furlough for staff throughout the Covid Pandemic has also had a massive impact on the financial survival of the charity.

In addition to this financial support from the council, we have been fortunate to have very understanding landlords who had given us reduced rent in this difficult time, while we have been unable to trade from the furniture warehouses.

Section D Achievements and performance

Main achievements of the Forest Upcycling Project Summary of the main achievements of the charity The operational period of 1[st] June 2020 – 31[st] May 2021 has once again during the year been a year hit hard by the Covid 19 pandemic. 22 weeks of this period have been forcefully closed by Government Lockdowns, and this obviously has had a significant impact on the amount of recycling we have been able to do and the revenue we could create from sales. These lockdowns have also had a negative impact on the mental health of staff and volunteers, who rely on the social interaction at Upcycle to integrate into society. We are working hard to rebuild confidence and mental well-being for these individuals. Premises In Cinderford we rent a large warehouse that comprises a furniture showroom, offices, a bike workshop and a furniture repair workshop. In Chepstow we rent 3 premises on the same site. This includes a large warehouse for furniture sales; a smaller warehouse that includes the coffee shop, book shop and Kids Upcycle; and a small gatehouse used as a bike workshop. Furniture sales Across both stores this year we have sold over 5000 items of furniture and home goods this year. As we were in lockdown for 6 months of the year, this is an understandable reduction from last year. Over 50% to people on benefits, and many offered for reduced rates or free delivery. We have given many items away for free to those in need. Gardening This year has been a quieter one for the gardening team, as many of the

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Section D Achievements and erformance p regular customers have been in vulnerable groups and have been self isolating to protect themselves from Covid 19. As the summer approaches, and lockdown measures have been eased, bookings for the coming months are improving and both teams are now back off furlough and working full time. Helping the environment Our furniture sales are equivalent to a landfill reduction of just over 150 tonnes in a six-month operational period. We continue to turn scrap wood into new products or kindling and recycle all the metal from waste products where possible. Our volunteers are a great help in this. We aim to salvage all recyclable materials from products before they are destroyed. Most of our scrap wood gets turned into kindling and sold in pillow-cases, and what we can’t use for this goes to the local recycling centre to be turned into soil conditioner. Helping people We have many regular volunteers at both sites, referred by a variety of different sources. Some of these volunteers are temporary, but many stay on for longer periods of time, becoming valued members of the team, which improves their self-worth and confidence. At the end of this year, we now have 23 employees. We have worked closely with Gloucestershire Welfare Reform, Social Services, Two Rivers Housing, Green Square, The Salvation Army, Monmouthshire Housing and the Barnwood Trust to provide furniture to many clients in desperate need.

Section E Financial review

Reserves in the account are kept at £35,000 minimum. This value has Brief statement of the changed through the year as we have acquired more employees, charity’s policy on reserves vehicles and premises. It represents running costs for a 4-week period. Details of any funds materially The charity has no debts at the end of its fifth financial year. in deficit Further financial review details (Optional information)

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You may choose to include additional information, where relevant about:

Sources of funding

Sales of furniture has been our key income, followed by gardening, house moves, bike sales and eco refill shop; and most recently the coffee shop.

Covid 19 relief funding and government payments through the furlough scheme have been invaluable this year in supporting the charity through the pandemic.

Expenditure

Our main costs are operational and include running vehicles (the Charity now has fleet of 6 vans), paying rent and utility bills and most importantly wages. Income from our products and services support these costs each month.

Our largest single expenditures this year have been a new transit box van for furniture collections and deliveries, purchased in December 2020; The extension of the mezzanine in Chepstow; A large donation to Ugandan Upcycle for the building of teachers houses; The purchase of equipment for the new coffee shop.

Section F Other optional information

Due to the development of the charity over the last 7 years, it will become necessary this year to amend our constitution which was written at the charity’s launch. This will be a work in progress throughout this operational year.

There have been no serious incidents at Forest Upcycling Project this year.

Please find attached a copy of our certified accounts for Year 6 of our operation. Dated from 1[st] June 2020 to 31[st] May 2021.

Section F Trustees’ declaration.

The trustees declare that they have approved this end of year report.

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Charity number: 1158797

The Forest Upcycling Project

Trustees' report and financial statements

for the year ended 31 May 2021

The Forest Upcycling Project

Contents

Page
Legal and administrative information 1
Trustees report 2 - 9
Independent examiners' report 10
Statement of financial activities 11
Income and expenditure account 12
Intentionally Blank 13
Balance sheet 14
Notes to the financial statements 15 - 19

The Forest Upcycling Project

Legal and administrative information

Charity number 1158797
Trustees Ashley Martin
Rona Martin
Tracey Fennell
Dorothy Cardus
Simon Bunyan
Roger Burrows
Victoria Walters
Accountants Oversby & Company
Unit 1C
Crucible Close
Coleford
Gloucestershire
GL16 8RE
Bankers Santander

Page 1

The Forest Upcycling Project

Report of the trustees for the year ended 31 May 2021

The trustees present their report and the financial statements for the year ended 31 May 2021. The trustees who served during the year and up to the date of this report are set out on page 1.

Structure, governance and management

Policies and procedure of Trustees

This is the sixth Trustee's Annual Report since the Charity was established in June 2014.

The Forest Upcycling Project is a charitable organisation. The Charity was started on 1st June 2014 and registered with the Charity Commission on 6th October 2014.

The charity was established under a Constitution which was written in June 2014. Our Registered Charity number is 1158797.

There have been some changes to the board of Trustees with the resignation of Dorothy Cardus and the appointment of Victoria Walters.

Ashley Martin maintains position of Chair

As existing Trustees, we elect new trustees in accordance with the terms of our Constitution. On appointment, all new Trustees receive an induction pack, which consists of a copy of the Constitution, together with the Charity Commissions booklet 'Essential Trustee'. Trustees are elected to serve for a maximum of three years after which time they must seek re-election at the next Annual Meeting. Trustees are free to resign from their post at any time. In the event of the Project being wound up the liability of Members (Trustees) is limited to a sum not exceeding £1.

The affairs of the charity are controlled by the Trustees and meetings occur at least 4 times a year at an agreed location. The decisions of the board are carried out by Matthew Jones (Project Manager).

The charity's organisational structure

The day to day management of the project is carried out by the Charity founder and former trustee Matthew Jones. This includes purchasing necessary equipment, assigning roles to staff and accessing funds available. He is also responsible for recruitment, training and induction of new employees and volunteers.

Decisions made regarding purchasing large items such as vehicles, rental agreements and management of employee contracts are made together with trustees at Trustee meetings.

Page 2

The Forest Upcycling Project

Report of the trustees for the year ended 31 May 2021

The Charity's wider network

The charity works closely with Gloucestershire County Council and Monmouthshire Council on many aspects. This includes working with the waste team (Roger Smith, Tony Privitera and Carl Tourig) to raise funds in recycling credits and the Disabilities Commissioning Team at Gloucestershire Council (most significantly Vikki Walters and David Honeybill). Monmouthshire Housing and GDAS have also made strong relationships with the Chepstow branch for volunteer placement.

Links have been made with Two Rivers Housing Association, Gloucestershire City Housing, Wyedean Housing, Salvation Army, Green Square, Monmouthshire Housing, MENCAP, Gwent Drug and Alcohol Support and various churches to ensure all members of society have the essentials of a home in terms of furniture and white goods.

Work experience placements at the project have been provided in conjunction with Cinderford, Coleford & Chepstow Job Centre Plus, Volunteers, Seetec, Mencap, Heart of the Forest School, Forest High School, National Star College, Jobs Growth Wales, and Monmouthshire Housing.

In August 2020 the Charity ceased to be part of the Gloucestershire Going the Extra Mile Project due to the emigration of our Navigator Developer, Jen Hudson. It was decided that we would not continue with the project and fill Jen's position with another staff member.

Risk Management

The key controls used by the project and controlled by the Trustees are;

*Detailed written policies

It is recognised that systems can only provide reasonable but not absolute assurance that all major risks have been eliminated. Matthew Jones, project manager and his management team are responsible for assessing risks in each location on a day to day basis.

Advice on fire safety is sought from our fire officer on a yearly basis and this includes the annual checking of fire extinguishers.

New staff and volunteers are trained in safe lifting and appropriate clothing by the management team. Staff are provided with essential safety wear such as steel toe cap boots and goggles. Volunteers are provided with supervision, the level of which depends on their abilities.

The original aims of the charity as set out in its constitution

  1. To relieve poverty for families and individuals in need by providing furniture or other goods at a highly reduced rate or in extreme cases free of charge.

  2. To advance education for people who are unemployed or otherwise in need of such education to equip them with the skills necessary to be able to find employment.

  3. To protect and preserve the environment for the public benefit and future generations by the promotion of waste reduction, re-use, reclamation, recycling and use of recycled products.

Page 3

The Forest Upcycling Project

Report of the trustees for the year ended 31 May 2021

Public Benefit

The trustees have regard to the Charity Commission guidance on Public Benefit and to the requirement to report on its observance and delivery.

The public benefit generated by The Forest Upcycling Project can be summarised in one of five areas:

  1. a) Those in need can purchase household goods considerably cheaper than from other retail outlets in Gloucestershire and Monmouthshire, with much greater choice than other second-hand outlets.

b) A free collection service for those wishing to donate items of furniture

c) A house move service provided at reduced rates to allow those moving in difficult circumstances to afford it.

  1. We provide education and work experience for those in long term unemployment and in addition give assistance to volunteers in CV writing and job applications.

  2. Our gardening services are at extremely low cost and we strive to identify those in society that need our help and offer them free gardening assistance.

  3. We help to conserve the environment by diverting unwanted goods away from landfill. We re-use and recycle what we can.

  4. We support those on the margins of society by providing work experience and paid employment. This includes people with disabilities, learning difficulties, substance abuse, depression, mental health issues and long-term unemployment.

  5. Working with Ed Haythornthwaite (a professional bike mechanic) the Charity is employing and training 2 recovering addicts to gain Cytech accreditation.

  6. Recycling and Upcycling old bikes over 160 so far this year.

  7. We work to reduce pollution and improve the environment by supply a service where customers can refill and re-use of single use plastics.

Page 4

The Forest Upcycling Project

Report of the trustees for the year ended 31 May 2021

Main activities of the Forest Upcycling Project

The project runs by collecting people's unwanted furniture, household goods and bicycles and then cleaning, repairing or upcycling it for re-sale in our showrooms in Cinderford and Chepstow. There are also 3 gardening teams who carry out work privately for residents and have completed some larger contract work for local companies. Much of their business comes from repeat customers during the summer months. This year we have also opened an onsite coffee shop at the Chepstow furniture unit.

Total weight sold/reused at Cinderford was 101 tonnes (we expected this to be 128 tonnes if the Covid pandemic had not happened) Total weight of furniture sold through the Monmouthshire project in this last operational year was xxx tonnes. At the end of our 7th Year, the staff at Upcycle is made up of 23 people.

Within this group there are staff with learning disabilities, hearing disabilities, long term unemployment, depression, single parents, autism, PTSD and those recovering from addiction.

Building the additional mezzanine (including LED lighting) in Chepstow has been a major achievement this year, with thanks going to Ashley Martin, chair of trustees for his role in the building of this and making it safe.

A big change for the start of 2021 was decision of Wye Valley Meadery to relocate to their own unit in Caldicot. This gave us an additional space to fill and use. In October 2020 we had started a Kids Upcycle on the upstairs mezzanine, and the natural progression to go with this was a large coffee shop/book shop on the ground floor. We decided that we would separate all book proceeds from the main income and this would be set aside for projects and grants for individuals in Uganda.

We continue to work with Stella Aguti, who continues to oversee our Ugandan Upcycle programme which offers £50 grants/gifts to families in need and also supports schools in the region. Being from the Teso region, and having suffered times of poverty herself, Stella is best placed to assess the needs of her peers and allocate funds accordingly. Funds have now been transferred (May 2021) for the building of teachers houses at Nyamongo School and Onyede School and will begin imminently. This will allow the teachers to stay on the school premises and ensure the students are receiving a full-time education. Something that was not happening due to the long commutes required by the teachers. In addition, this provides paid work for tradesmen in an area hit hard by Covid 19.

We continue to work with Bob Osbourne to collect clothes, toys and bedding for orphanages in The Gambia. Bob collects the items from us and then ships them to Gambia within a delivery of tyres. The orphanages sell the adults clothes and use the children's clothes and bedding.

We are now in our third year of the Upcycle bike project, working with renowned bike mechanic Ed Haythornthwaite. We now have two apprentice bike mechanics employed.

We continue to help those in society that suffer from economic hardship by providing furniture for sale in the Forest of Dean and Monmouthshire at very low prices or in many cases free of charge. With the opening of the Kids Upcycle, this has included lots more families in need with young children.

We have also been offering gardening services at reduced rates to other organisations, including Forest View School, Cinderford Children's Services and Merryden Health Care Trust.

May 2021 saw the official opening of our new Coffee Shop. Adopting the name Toast@Upcycle as the management and some of the staff from Toast@Tutshill joined our team. The Coffee Shop provides a community space for groups to meet, including children's activity clubs, reading groups, craft workshops and toddler reading mornings. As this new venture evolves, we hope to open for evening pop up events that will provide more employment opportunities and give Upcycle a bigger presence in the local community.

Page 5

The Forest Upcycling Project

Report of the trustees for the year ended 31 May 2021

Volunteer contributions

Once again, a huge thankyou goes out to our volunteers.

Ashley Martin (Trustee) and Rona Martin (Trustee) have been invaluable in the building of the mezzanines in the Chepstow unit and the installation of the coffee shop.

Philip has learning disabilities and continues to work with the gardening team during the week as a gardening assistant. Phil was originally referred to us by National Star College in Cheltenham. He is mainly supported by head gardener Paul and enjoys his time working in customers gardens.

Tom has been with us for almost 6 years. He attends the Cinderford branch of the project 4-5 days a week, making himself available for furniture collections, gardening and house moves. Tom continues to use his wood working training to help fix and mend items of furniture as necessary and has so far made hundreds of bags of kindling from recycled wood.

Ed Haythornthwaite a professional bike mechanic who is training our apprentice bike mechanics. His work has been invaluable both in terms of teaching and safety checking our upcycled bikes.

Roger has been incredibly helpful at helping out with collections, deliveries and tip runs at the Cinderford unit.

Simon has been providing help and advice with staffing and financial advice.

Other fantastic volunteers worth a mention in this report include Spencer, Daffyd, Wendy, Tony, Hazel, Kelly, Liam, Megan, Chris, Suzanne and

Grants:

Total of £32,000 from Monmouthshire County Council in Covid 19 relief grants. Total of £13,900 from Forest of Dean Council in Covid 19 relief grants. Payment of Furlough for staff throughout the Covid Pandemic has also had a massive impact on the financial survival of the charity.

In addition to this financial support from the council, we have been fortunate to have very understanding landlords who had given us reduced rent in this difficult time, while we have been unable to trade from the furniture warehouses.

Main achievements of the Forest Upcycling Project

The operational period of 1st June 2020 - 31st May 2021 has once again been a year hit hard by the Covid 19 pandemic.

22 weeks of this period have been forcefully closed by Government Lockdowns, and this obviously has had a significant impact on the amount of recycling we have been able to do and the revenue we could create from sales. These lockdowns have also had a negative impact on the mental health of staff and volunteers, who rely on the social interaction at Upcycle to integrate into society. We are working hard to rebuild confidence and mental well-being for these individuals.

Page 6

The Forest Upcycling Project

Report of the trustees for the year ended 31 May 2021

Premises

In Cinderford we rent a large warehouse that comprises a furniture showroom, offices, a bike workshop and a furniture repair workshop.

In Chepstow we rent 3 premises on the same site. This includes a large warehouse for furniture sales; a smaller warehouse that includes the coffee shop, book shop and Kids Upcycle; and a small gatehouse used as a bike workshop.

Furniture sales

Across both stores this year we have sold over 5000 items of furniture and home goods this year. As we were in lockdown for 6 months of the year, this is an understandable reduction from last year.

Over 50% to people on benefits, and many offered for reduced rates or free delivery. We have given many items away for free to those in need.

Gardening

regular customers have been in vulnerable groups and have been self isolating to protect themselves from Covid 19. As the summer approaches, and lockdown measures have been eased, bookings for the coming months are improving and both teams are now back off furlough and working full time.

Helping the environment

Our furniture sales are equivalent to a landfill reduction of just over 150 tonnes in a six month operational period. We continue to turn scrap wood into new products or kindling and recycle all the metal from waste products where possible. Our volunteers are a great help in this. We aim to salvage all recyclable materials from products before they are destroyed.

Most of our scrap wood gets turned into kindling and sold in pillow cases, and what we can't use for this goes to the local recycling centre to be turned into soil conditioner.

Helping people

We have many regular volunteers at both sites, referred by a variety of different sources. Some of these volunteers are temporary, but many stay on for longer periods of time, becoming valued members of the team, which improves their self-worth and confidence.

At the end of this year we now have 23 employees.

We have worked closely with Gloucestershire Welfare Reform, Social Services, Two Rivers Housing, Green Square, The Salvation Army, Monmouthshire Housing and the Barnwood Trust to provide furniture to many clients in desperate need.

Reserves in the account are kept at £35,000 minimum. This value has changed through the year as we have acquired more employees, vehicles and premises. It represents running costs for a 4-week period.

Sources of funding

Sales of furniture has been our key income, followed by gardening, house moves, bike sales and eco refill shop; and most recently the coffee shop.

Covid 19 relief funding and government payments through the furlough scheme have been invaluable this year in supporting the charity through the pandemic.

Page 7

The Forest Upcycling Project

Report of the trustees for the year ended 31 May 2021

Expenditure

Our main costs are operational and include running vehicles (the Charity now has fleet of 6 vans), paying rent and utility bills and most importantly wages. Income from our products and services support these costs each month.

Our largest single expenditures this year have been a new transit box van for furniture collections and deliveries, purchased in December 2020; The extension of the mezzanine in Chepstow; A large donation to Ugandan Upcycle for the building of teachers houses; The purchase of equipment for the new coffee shop.

Plans for future periods

Due to the development of the charity over the last 7 years, it will become necessary this year to amend our constitution which was written at the charity's launch. This will be a work in progress throughout this operational year. There have been no serious incidents at Forest Upcycling Project this year.

Page 8

The Forest Upcycling Project

Report of the trustees for the year ended 31 May 2021

Statement of trustees' responsibilities

The trustees are responsible for preparing the Trustees' Annual Report and the financial statements in accordance with applicable law and United Kingdom Accounting Standards (United Kingdom Generally Accepted Accounting Practice).

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

The trustees are responsible for keeping proper accounting records which 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 1993 and the Charity (Accounts and Reports) Regulations 2008. They are also responsible for safeguarding the assets of the charity and hence for taking reasonable steps for the prevention and detection of fraud and other

On behalf of the board

Secretary

Page 9

The Forest Upcycling Project

Independent examiner's report to the trustees on the unaudited financial statements of The Forest Upcycling Project.

I report on the accounts of The Forest Upcycling Project for the year ended 31 May 2021 set out on pages 2 to 19.

Respective responsibilities of trustees and independent examiner

As the charity's trustees you are responsible for the preparation of the accounts, you consider that the audit requirement of section 43(2) of the Charities Act 1993 (the Act), as amended by section 28 of the Charities Act 2006 does not apply and that an independent examination is needed. It is my responsibility to examine the accounts under section 43(3)(a) of the Act, as amended; to follow the procedures laid down in the General Directions given by the Charity Commission under section 43(7)(b) of the Act, as amended; and to state whether particular matters have come to my attention.

Basis of independent examiner's statement

My examination was carried out in accordance with the General Directions given by the Charity Commission. An examination includes a review of the accounting records kept by the charity and a comparison of the accounts presented with those records. It also includes consideration of any unusual items or disclosures in the accounts, and seeking explanations from you as trustees concerning any such matters. The procedures undertaken do not provide all the evidence that would be required in an audit and consequently no opinion is given as to whether the accounts present a 'true and fair view' and the report is limited to those matters set out in the statement below.

Independent examiner's statement

In connection with my examination, no matter has come to my attention:

(i) which gives me reasonable cause to believe that in any material respect the requirements:

have not been met; or

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

Mr Ben Hinton A.C.C.A Independent examiner Unit 1C Crucible Close Coleford Gloucestershire GL16 8RE

Page 10

The Forest Upcycling Project

Statement of financial activities

For the year ended 31 May 2021

Unrestricted
funds
Notes
£
Incoming resources
Incoming resources from generating funds:
Voluntary income
2
140,580
Activities for generating funds
3
324,033
Other incoming resources
4
3,850
Total incoming resources
468,463
Resources expended
Purchases
61,697
Staff costs
5
263,167
Establishment costs
54,989
Motor and travelling expenses
25,508
Accountancy fees
1,200
Legal and professional fees
400
Communications and IT
2,142
Other office expenses
4,051
Depreciation and impairment
10,791
Loss on disposal of intangible fixed assets
for the charity's own use
6,169
Total resources expended
430,114
Total funds brought forward
116,969
Total funds carried forward
155,318
2021
Total
£
140,580
324,033
3,850
468,463
61,697
263,167
54,989
25,508
1,200
400
2,142
4,051
10,791
6,169
430,114
116,969
155,318
2020
Total
£
-
416,898
-
416,898
22,624
245,679
57,049
26,770
-
333
1,761
12,317
-
-
366,533
66,605
116,970

The statement of financial activities includes all gains and losses in the year and therefore a separate statement of total recognised gains and losses has not been prepared.

All of the above amounts relate to continuing activities.

The notes on pages 15 to 19 form an integral part of these financial statements.

Page 11

The Forest Upcycling Project

Income and expenditure account

For the year ended 31 May 2021

2021 2020
Notes £ £
Income 468,463 416,898
Net (losses)/gains from disposal of income fund fixed assets (6,169 ) -
Total income 462,294 416,898
Operating expenditure (423,945 ) (366,533 )
Operating surplus 38,349 50,365
Retained surplus for the financial year 38,349 50,365

All activities derive from continuing operations.

The notes on pages 15 to 19 form an integral part of these financial statements.

Page 12

The Forest Upcycling Project

The notes on pages 15 to 19 form an integral part of these financial statements.

Page 13

The Forest Upcycling Project

Balance sheet as at 31 May 2021

Notes
Fixed assets
Tangible assets
7
Current assets
Debtors
8
Cash at bank and in hand
Creditors: amounts falling
due within one year
9
Net current assets
Total assets less current
liabilities
Provisions for liabilities
10
Net assets
Funds
11
Restricted income funds
Unrestricted income funds
Total funds
2021
£
£
61,148
3,640
96,523
100,163
)
(4,589
95,574
156,722
)
(1,404
155,318
-
155,318
155,318
2020
£
£
39,896
7,888
68,682
76,570
1,600
78,170
118,066
)
(1,096
116,970
116,969
-
116,969

The financial statements were approved by the trustees on 28 August 2021 and signed on its behalf by

Ashley Martin Trustee

The notes on pages 15 to 19 form an integral part of these financial statements.

Page 14

The Forest Upcycling Project

Notes to financial statements for the year ended 31 May 2021

1. Accounting policies

The principal accounting policies are summarised below. The accounting policies have been applied consistently throughout the year and the preceding year.

1.1. Basis of accounting

The financial statements are prepared under the historical cost convention and in accordance with the Statement of Recommended Practice 'Accounting and Reporting by Charities' issued in March 2005 (SORP 2005) and the Charities Act 1993.

1.2. Cashflow

The charity has taken advantage of the exemption in FRS1 from the requirement to produce a cashflow statement because it is a small charity.

1.3. Incoming resources

All incoming resources are included in the statement of financial activities when the charity is entitled to the income and the amount can be quantified with reasonable accuracy. The following specific policies are applied to particular categories of income:

Voluntary income is received by way of grants, donations and gifts and is included in full in the statement of financial activities when receivable. Grants where entitlement is not conditional on the delivery of a specific performance by the charity, are recognised when the charity becomes unconditionally entitled to the grant.

Donated services and facilities are included at the value to the charity where this can be quantified. The value of services provided by volunteers has not been included.

Gifts donated for resale are included as incoming resources within activities for generating funds when they are sold.

Grants, including grants for the purchase of fixed assets, are recognised in full in the statement of financial activities in the year in which they are receivable.

Income from the charity shop is included in the year in which it is receivable.

1.4. Resources expended

Expenditure is recognised on an accrual basis as a liability is incurred. Expenditure includes any VAT which cannot be fully recovered, and is reported as part of the expenditure to which it relates.

Costs of generating funds comprise the costs associated with attracting voluntary income and the costs of trading for fundraising purposes including the charity's shop.

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.

Fundraising costs are those incurred in seeking voluntary contributions and do not include the costs of disseminating information in support of the charitable activities.

Page 15

The Forest Upcycling Project

Notes to financial statements

for the year ended 31 May 2021

1.5. Tangible fixed assets and depreciation

Tangible fixed assets are stated at cost less accumulated depreciation. Depreciation is provided at rates calculated to write off the cost less residual value of each asset over its expected useful life, as follows:

1.6. Defined contribution pension schemes

The pension costs charged in the financial statements represent the contribution payable by the charity during the year.

2. Voluntary income

Unrestricted
funds
£
COVID 19 & JRS Grants
139,704
Ugandan Donations
876
140,580
2021
Total
£
139,704
876
140,580
2020
Total
£
-
-
-

3. Activities for generating funds

Unrestricted
funds
£
Sales - Furniture
270,353
Sales - Gardening
36,701
Sales - Eco
314
Other Income
16,665
324,033
2021
Total
£
270,353
36,701
314
16,665
324,033
2020
Total
£
248,548
40,822
-
127,528
416,898

4. Other incoming resources

Other incoming resources
Unrestricted
funds
£
Rental Income
3,850
3,850
2021
Total
£
3,850
3,850
2020
Total
£
-
-

Page 16

The Forest Upcycling Project

Notes to financial statements for the year ended 31 May 2021

5. Employees

Employment costs
Wages and salaries
Social security costs
Pension costs
2021
£
246,825
10,801
5,541
263,167
2020
£
228,570
11,010
6,099
245,679

No employee received emoluments of more than £60,000 (2020 : None).

Number of employees

The average monthly numbers of employees (including the trustees) during the year, calculated on the basis of full time equivalents, was as follows:

full time equivalents, was as follows:

Porject Manager
Deputy Manager
Recycling Coorinator
Gardner
Coffee Shop / Other
2021
Number

2
2
11
3
5
23
2020
Number
2
2
14
3
4
25

6. Pension costs

The company operates a defined contribution pension scheme in respect of the employees. The scheme and its assets are held by independent managers. The pension charge represents contributions due from the company and was as follows:

was as follows:
2021 2020
£ £
Pension charge 5,541 6,099

Page 17

The Forest Upcycling Project

Notes to financial statements for the year ended 31 May 2021

Fixtures,
7.
Tangible fixed assets
Plant and fittings and
machinery
equipment
£
£
Cost
At 1 June 2020
13,375
12,196
Additions
562
13,953
Disposals
-
-
At 31 May 2021
13,937
26,149
Depreciation
At 1 June 2020
3,712
3,384
Charge for the year
1,534
3,415
On disposals
-
-
At 31 May 2021
5,246
6,799
Net book values
At 31 May 2021
8,691
19,350
At 31 May 2020
9,663
8,812
8.
Debtors
Trade debtors
Other debtors
9.
Creditors: amounts falling due
within one year
Other taxes and social security
Other creditors
Accruals and deferred income
Motor
vehicles
£
29,648
24,029
)
(9,000
44,677
8,227
5,842
)
(2,498
11,571
33,106
21,421
2021
£
1,041
2,599
3,640
2021
£
3,407
)
(17
1,200
4,590
Total
£
55,219
38,544
)
(9,000
84,763
15,323
10,791
)
(2,498
23,616
61,147
39,897
2020
£
7,888
-
7,888
2020
£
)
(1,600
-
-
)
(1,600

Page 18

The Forest Upcycling Project

Notes to financial statements for the year ended 31 May 2021

10.
Provisions for liabilities
At 1 June 2020
11.
Analysis of net assets between funds
Fund balances at 31 May 2021 as represented by:
Current assets
12.
Unrestricted funds
General Funds
Purposes of unrestricted funds
Running cost funds
13.
Restricted funds
Pensions
and similar
obligations
£
)
(1,398
Unrestricted
Total
funds
funds
£
£
155,318
155,318
155,318
155,318
At
At
1st April
Incoming
Outgoing
31st March
2020
resources
resources
2021
£
£
£
£
116,969
468,463
)
(430,114
155,318
At
At
At At
1st April
31st March
2020
2021
£
£

Page 19

The Forest Upcycling Project

The following pages do not form part of the statutory accounts.

The Forest Upcycling Project

Detailed statement of financial activities

For the year ended 31 May 2021

Charitable activities
Activity 1
Activities undertaken directly
Activity1 - Direct - Staff - Wages & Salaries
Activity1 - Direct - Staff - Employer's NIC
Activity1 - Direct - Staff - Pension costs
Activity1 - Direct - Establishment - Rent
Activity1 - Direct - Establishment - Rates & water
Activity1 - Direct - Establishment - Light & heat
Activity1 - Direct - Establishment - Rep. & maint.
Activity1 - Direct - Establishment - Insurance
Activity1 - Direct - Motor vehicle expenses
Activity1 - Direct - Other motor & travel expenses
Activity1 - Direct - Office expenses - Telephone
Activity1 - Direct - Office expenses - Other
Activity1 - Direct - Printing, Postage and Station
Activity1 - Direct - Advertising
Activity1 - Direct - Computer Costs
Activity1 - Direct - Hire of Equipment
Activity1 - Direct - Staff Welfare
Activity1 - Direct - Training Costs
Activity1 - Direct - Subscriptions
Activity1 - Direct - Depreciation & impairment
Activity 1 total expenditure
Total charitable activity expenditure
Governance costs
Activities undertaken directly
Professional - Accountancy fees
Professional - Other
Office expenses - Other
Total governance costs
Other resources expended
Loss on disposal of tangible fixed assets
Net incoming/(outgoing) resources for the year
2021
£
246,825
10,801
5,541
44,644
36
2,744
1,341
6,224
25,209
299
2,142
-
50
67
931
1,756
980
227
40
10,791
360,648
360,648
360,648
1,200
400
)
(3
1,597
1,597
6,169
)
(38,406
2020
£
228,570
11,010
6,099
42,827
3,427
2,704
4,944
3,147
26,299
471
1,761
6,362
631
387
956
1,291
1,862
830
-
-
343,578
343,578
343,578
-
333
)
(2
331
331
-
)
(29,085

Page 21

The Forest Upcycling Project

Detailed statement of financial activities

For the year ended 31 May 2021

Incoming resources
Incoming resources from generating funds:
Voluntary income
COVID 19 & JRS Grants
Ugandan Donations
Activities for generating funds
Sales - Furniture
Sales - Gardening
Sales - Eco
Other Income
Total incoming resources from generating funds
Other incoming resources
Rental Income
Total incoming resources
Resources expended
Costs of generating funds:
Cost of generating voluntary income
Donations
Donations - Purchases
Total cost of generating voluntary income
Fundraising trading:
cost of goods sold and other costs
Shop costs
Shop costs - Purchases
Activity 1
Activity 1 - Purchases
2021
£
£
139,704
876
140,580
270,353
36,701
314
16,665
324,033
464,613
3,850
3,850
468,463
42,364
42,364
42,364
19,313
19,313
20
20
2020
£
£
-
-
-
248,548
40,822
-
127,528
416,898
416,898
-
-
416,898
-
-
-
-
-
22,624
22,624
2020
£
£
-
-
-
248,548
40,822
-
127,528
416,898
416,898
-
-
416,898
-
-
-
-
-
22,624
22,624
-
248,548
40,822
-
127,528
416,898
416,898
-
-
416,898
-
-
-
22,624

Page 22

The Forest Upcycling Project

Detailed statement of financial activities

For the year ended 31 May 2021

Total fundraising trading
cost of goods sold and other costs 19,333 22,624
Total costs of generating funds 61,697 22,624

Page 23

Oversby & Company

Signed By

MATTHEW JONES

Date Signed Tue, 02 Nov 2021 18:52:29 +0000 Name Matthew Jones Email forestupcyclingproject@gmail.com Printed Name MATTHEW JONES IP Address 2a02:c7f:1ca6:1e00:6d88:9091:30:bcca Browser User Agent Mozilla/5.0 (Windows NT 10.0; Win64; x64) AppleWebKit/537.36 (KHTML, like Gecko) Chrome/95.0.4638.54 Safari/537.36

Charity number: 1158797

The Forest Upcycling Project

Trustees' report and financial statements

for the year ended 31 May 2021

The Forest Upcycling Project

Contents

Page
Legal and administrative information 1
Trustees report 2 - 9
Independent examiners' report 10
Statement of financial activities 11
Income and expenditure account 12
Intentionally Blank 13
Balance sheet 14
Notes to the financial statements 15 - 19

The Forest Upcycling Project

Legal and administrative information

Charity number 1158797
Trustees Ashley Martin
Rona Martin
Tracey Fennell
Dorothy Cardus
Simon Bunyan
Roger Burrows
Victoria Walters
Accountants Oversby & Company
Unit 1C
Crucible Close
Coleford
Gloucestershire
GL16 8RE
Bankers Santander

Page 1

The Forest Upcycling Project

Report of the trustees for the year ended 31 May 2021

The trustees present their report and the financial statements for the year ended 31 May 2021. The trustees who served during the year and up to the date of this report are set out on page 1.

Structure, governance and management

Policies and procedure of Trustees

This is the sixth Trustee's Annual Report since the Charity was established in June 2014.

The Forest Upcycling Project is a charitable organisation. The Charity was started on 1st June 2014 and registered with the Charity Commission on 6th October 2014.

The charity was established under a Constitution which was written in June 2014. Our Registered Charity number is 1158797.

There have been some changes to the board of Trustees with the resignation of Dorothy Cardus and the appointment of Victoria Walters.

Ashley Martin maintains position of Chair

As existing Trustees, we elect new trustees in accordance with the terms of our Constitution. On appointment, all new Trustees receive an induction pack, which consists of a copy of the Constitution, together with the Charity Commissions booklet 'Essential Trustee'. Trustees are elected to serve for a maximum of three years after which time they must seek re-election at the next Annual Meeting. Trustees are free to resign from their post at any time. In the event of the Project being wound up the liability of Members (Trustees) is limited to a sum not exceeding £1.

The affairs of the charity are controlled by the Trustees and meetings occur at least 4 times a year at an agreed location. The decisions of the board are carried out by Matthew Jones (Project Manager).

The charity's organisational structure

The day to day management of the project is carried out by the Charity founder and former trustee Matthew Jones. This includes purchasing necessary equipment, assigning roles to staff and accessing funds available. He is also responsible for recruitment, training and induction of new employees and volunteers.

Decisions made regarding purchasing large items such as vehicles, rental agreements and management of employee contracts are made together with trustees at Trustee meetings.

Page 2

The Forest Upcycling Project

Report of the trustees for the year ended 31 May 2021

The Charity's wider network

The charity works closely with Gloucestershire County Council and Monmouthshire Council on many aspects. This includes working with the waste team (Roger Smith, Tony Privitera and Carl Tourig) to raise funds in recycling credits and the Disabilities Commissioning Team at Gloucestershire Council (most significantly Vikki Walters and David Honeybill). Monmouthshire Housing and GDAS have also made strong relationships with the Chepstow branch for volunteer placement.

Links have been made with Two Rivers Housing Association, Gloucestershire City Housing, Wyedean Housing, Salvation Army, Green Square, Monmouthshire Housing, MENCAP, Gwent Drug and Alcohol Support and various churches to ensure all members of society have the essentials of a home in terms of furniture and white goods.

Work experience placements at the project have been provided in conjunction with Cinderford, Coleford & Chepstow Job Centre Plus, Volunteers, Seetec, Mencap, Heart of the Forest School, Forest High School, National Star College, Jobs Growth Wales, and Monmouthshire Housing.

In August 2020 the Charity ceased to be part of the Gloucestershire Going the Extra Mile Project due to the emigration of our Navigator Developer, Jen Hudson. It was decided that we would not continue with the project and fill Jen's position with another staff member.

Risk Management

The key controls used by the project and controlled by the Trustees are;

*Detailed written policies

It is recognised that systems can only provide reasonable but not absolute assurance that all major risks have been eliminated. Matthew Jones, project manager and his management team are responsible for assessing risks in each location on a day to day basis.

Advice on fire safety is sought from our fire officer on a yearly basis and this includes the annual checking of fire extinguishers.

New staff and volunteers are trained in safe lifting and appropriate clothing by the management team. Staff are provided with essential safety wear such as steel toe cap boots and goggles. Volunteers are provided with supervision, the level of which depends on their abilities.

The original aims of the charity as set out in its constitution

  1. To relieve poverty for families and individuals in need by providing furniture or other goods at a highly reduced rate or in extreme cases free of charge.

  2. To advance education for people who are unemployed or otherwise in need of such education to equip them with the skills necessary to be able to find employment.

  3. To protect and preserve the environment for the public benefit and future generations by the promotion of waste reduction, re-use, reclamation, recycling and use of recycled products.

Page 3

The Forest Upcycling Project

Report of the trustees for the year ended 31 May 2021

Public Benefit

The trustees have regard to the Charity Commission guidance on Public Benefit and to the requirement to report on its observance and delivery.

The public benefit generated by The Forest Upcycling Project can be summarised in one of five areas:

  1. a) Those in need can purchase household goods considerably cheaper than from other retail outlets in Gloucestershire and Monmouthshire, with much greater choice than other second-hand outlets.

b) A free collection service for those wishing to donate items of furniture

c) A house move service provided at reduced rates to allow those moving in difficult circumstances to afford it.

  1. We provide education and work experience for those in long term unemployment and in addition give assistance to volunteers in CV writing and job applications.

  2. Our gardening services are at extremely low cost and we strive to identify those in society that need our help and offer them free gardening assistance.

  3. We help to conserve the environment by diverting unwanted goods away from landfill. We re-use and recycle what we can.

  4. We support those on the margins of society by providing work experience and paid employment. This includes people with disabilities, learning difficulties, substance abuse, depression, mental health issues and long-term unemployment.

  5. Working with Ed Haythornthwaite (a professional bike mechanic) the Charity is employing and training 2 recovering addicts to gain Cytech accreditation.

  6. Recycling and Upcycling old bikes over 160 so far this year.

  7. We work to reduce pollution and improve the environment by supply a service where customers can refill and re-use of single use plastics.

Page 4

The Forest Upcycling Project

Report of the trustees for the year ended 31 May 2021

Main activities of the Forest Upcycling Project

The project runs by collecting people's unwanted furniture, household goods and bicycles and then cleaning, repairing or upcycling it for re-sale in our showrooms in Cinderford and Chepstow. There are also 3 gardening teams who carry out work privately for residents and have completed some larger contract work for local companies. Much of their business comes from repeat customers during the summer months. This year we have also opened an onsite coffee shop at the Chepstow furniture unit.

Total weight sold/reused at Cinderford was 101 tonnes (we expected this to be 128 tonnes if the Covid pandemic had not happened) Total weight of furniture sold through the Monmouthshire project in this last operational year was xxx tonnes. At the end of our 7th Year, the staff at Upcycle is made up of 23 people.

Within this group there are staff with learning disabilities, hearing disabilities, long term unemployment, depression, single parents, autism, PTSD and those recovering from addiction.

Building the additional mezzanine (including LED lighting) in Chepstow has been a major achievement this year, with thanks going to Ashley Martin, chair of trustees for his role in the building of this and making it safe.

A big change for the start of 2021 was decision of Wye Valley Meadery to relocate to their own unit in Caldicot. This gave us an additional space to fill and use. In October 2020 we had started a Kids Upcycle on the upstairs mezzanine, and the natural progression to go with this was a large coffee shop/book shop on the ground floor. We decided that we would separate all book proceeds from the main income and this would be set aside for projects and grants for individuals in Uganda.

We continue to work with Stella Aguti, who continues to oversee our Ugandan Upcycle programme which offers £50 grants/gifts to families in need and also supports schools in the region. Being from the Teso region, and having suffered times of poverty herself, Stella is best placed to assess the needs of her peers and allocate funds accordingly. Funds have now been transferred (May 2021) for the building of teachers houses at Nyamongo School and Onyede School and will begin imminently. This will allow the teachers to stay on the school premises and ensure the students are receiving a full-time education. Something that was not happening due to the long commutes required by the teachers. In addition, this provides paid work for tradesmen in an area hit hard by Covid 19.

We continue to work with Bob Osbourne to collect clothes, toys and bedding for orphanages in The Gambia. Bob collects the items from us and then ships them to Gambia within a delivery of tyres. The orphanages sell the adults clothes and use the children's clothes and bedding.

We are now in our third year of the Upcycle bike project, working with renowned bike mechanic Ed Haythornthwaite. We now have two apprentice bike mechanics employed.

We continue to help those in society that suffer from economic hardship by providing furniture for sale in the Forest of Dean and Monmouthshire at very low prices or in many cases free of charge. With the opening of the Kids Upcycle, this has included lots more families in need with young children.

We have also been offering gardening services at reduced rates to other organisations, including Forest View School, Cinderford Children's Services and Merryden Health Care Trust.

May 2021 saw the official opening of our new Coffee Shop. Adopting the name Toast@Upcycle as the management and some of the staff from Toast@Tutshill joined our team. The Coffee Shop provides a community space for groups to meet, including children's activity clubs, reading groups, craft workshops and toddler reading mornings. As this new venture evolves, we hope to open for evening pop up events that will provide more employment opportunities and give Upcycle a bigger presence in the local community.

Page 5

The Forest Upcycling Project

Report of the trustees for the year ended 31 May 2021

Volunteer contributions

Once again, a huge thankyou goes out to our volunteers.

Ashley Martin (Trustee) and Rona Martin (Trustee) have been invaluable in the building of the mezzanines in the Chepstow unit and the installation of the coffee shop.

Philip has learning disabilities and continues to work with the gardening team during the week as a gardening assistant. Phil was originally referred to us by National Star College in Cheltenham. He is mainly supported by head gardener Paul and enjoys his time working in customers gardens.

Tom has been with us for almost 6 years. He attends the Cinderford branch of the project 4-5 days a week, making himself available for furniture collections, gardening and house moves. Tom continues to use his wood working training to help fix and mend items of furniture as necessary and has so far made hundreds of bags of kindling from recycled wood.

Ed Haythornthwaite a professional bike mechanic who is training our apprentice bike mechanics. His work has been invaluable both in terms of teaching and safety checking our upcycled bikes.

Roger has been incredibly helpful at helping out with collections, deliveries and tip runs at the Cinderford unit.

Simon has been providing help and advice with staffing and financial advice.

Other fantastic volunteers worth a mention in this report include Spencer, Daffyd, Wendy, Tony, Hazel, Kelly, Liam, Megan, Chris, Suzanne and

Grants:

Total of £32,000 from Monmouthshire County Council in Covid 19 relief grants. Total of £13,900 from Forest of Dean Council in Covid 19 relief grants. Payment of Furlough for staff throughout the Covid Pandemic has also had a massive impact on the financial survival of the charity.

In addition to this financial support from the council, we have been fortunate to have very understanding landlords who had given us reduced rent in this difficult time, while we have been unable to trade from the furniture warehouses.

Main achievements of the Forest Upcycling Project

The operational period of 1st June 2020 - 31st May 2021 has once again been a year hit hard by the Covid 19 pandemic.

22 weeks of this period have been forcefully closed by Government Lockdowns, and this obviously has had a significant impact on the amount of recycling we have been able to do and the revenue we could create from sales. These lockdowns have also had a negative impact on the mental health of staff and volunteers, who rely on the social interaction at Upcycle to integrate into society. We are working hard to rebuild confidence and mental well-being for these individuals.

Page 6

The Forest Upcycling Project

Report of the trustees for the year ended 31 May 2021

Premises

In Cinderford we rent a large warehouse that comprises a furniture showroom, offices, a bike workshop and a furniture repair workshop.

In Chepstow we rent 3 premises on the same site. This includes a large warehouse for furniture sales; a smaller warehouse that includes the coffee shop, book shop and Kids Upcycle; and a small gatehouse used as a bike workshop.

Furniture sales

Across both stores this year we have sold over 5000 items of furniture and home goods this year. As we were in lockdown for 6 months of the year, this is an understandable reduction from last year.

Over 50% to people on benefits, and many offered for reduced rates or free delivery. We have given many items away for free to those in need.

Gardening

regular customers have been in vulnerable groups and have been self isolating to protect themselves from Covid 19. As the summer approaches, and lockdown measures have been eased, bookings for the coming months are improving and both teams are now back off furlough and working full time.

Helping the environment

Our furniture sales are equivalent to a landfill reduction of just over 150 tonnes in a six month operational period. We continue to turn scrap wood into new products or kindling and recycle all the metal from waste products where possible. Our volunteers are a great help in this. We aim to salvage all recyclable materials from products before they are destroyed.

Most of our scrap wood gets turned into kindling and sold in pillow cases, and what we can't use for this goes to the local recycling centre to be turned into soil conditioner.

Helping people

We have many regular volunteers at both sites, referred by a variety of different sources. Some of these volunteers are temporary, but many stay on for longer periods of time, becoming valued members of the team, which improves their self-worth and confidence.

At the end of this year we now have 23 employees.

We have worked closely with Gloucestershire Welfare Reform, Social Services, Two Rivers Housing, Green Square, The Salvation Army, Monmouthshire Housing and the Barnwood Trust to provide furniture to many clients in desperate need.

Reserves in the account are kept at £35,000 minimum. This value has changed through the year as we have acquired more employees, vehicles and premises. It represents running costs for a 4-week period.

Sources of funding

Sales of furniture has been our key income, followed by gardening, house moves, bike sales and eco refill shop; and most recently the coffee shop.

Covid 19 relief funding and government payments through the furlough scheme have been invaluable this year in supporting the charity through the pandemic.

Page 7

The Forest Upcycling Project

Report of the trustees for the year ended 31 May 2021

Expenditure

Our main costs are operational and include running vehicles (the Charity now has fleet of 6 vans), paying rent and utility bills and most importantly wages. Income from our products and services support these costs each month.

Our largest single expenditures this year have been a new transit box van for furniture collections and deliveries, purchased in December 2020; The extension of the mezzanine in Chepstow; A large donation to Ugandan Upcycle for the building of teachers houses; The purchase of equipment for the new coffee shop.

Plans for future periods

Due to the development of the charity over the last 7 years, it will become necessary this year to amend our constitution which was written at the charity's launch. This will be a work in progress throughout this operational year. There have been no serious incidents at Forest Upcycling Project this year.

Page 8

The Forest Upcycling Project

Report of the trustees for the year ended 31 May 2021

Statement of trustees' responsibilities

The trustees are responsible for preparing the Trustees' Annual Report and the financial statements in accordance with applicable law and United Kingdom Accounting Standards (United Kingdom Generally Accepted Accounting Practice).

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

The trustees are responsible for keeping proper accounting records which 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 1993 and the Charity (Accounts and Reports) Regulations 2008. They are also responsible for safeguarding the assets of the charity and hence for taking reasonable steps for the prevention and detection of fraud and other

On behalf of the board

Secretary

Page 9

The Forest Upcycling Project

Independent examiner's report to the trustees on the unaudited financial statements of The Forest Upcycling Project.

I report on the accounts of The Forest Upcycling Project for the year ended 31 May 2021 set out on pages 2 to 19.

Respective responsibilities of trustees and independent examiner

As the charity's trustees you are responsible for the preparation of the accounts, you consider that the audit requirement of section 43(2) of the Charities Act 1993 (the Act), as amended by section 28 of the Charities Act 2006 does not apply and that an independent examination is needed. It is my responsibility to examine the accounts under section 43(3)(a) of the Act, as amended; to follow the procedures laid down in the General Directions given by the Charity Commission under section 43(7)(b) of the Act, as amended; and to state whether particular matters have come to my attention.

Basis of independent examiner's statement

My examination was carried out in accordance with the General Directions given by the Charity Commission. An examination includes a review of the accounting records kept by the charity and a comparison of the accounts presented with those records. It also includes consideration of any unusual items or disclosures in the accounts, and seeking explanations from you as trustees concerning any such matters. The procedures undertaken do not provide all the evidence that would be required in an audit and consequently no opinion is given as to whether the accounts present a 'true and fair view' and the report is limited to those matters set out in the statement below.

Independent examiner's statement

In connection with my examination, no matter has come to my attention:

(i) which gives me reasonable cause to believe that in any material respect the requirements:

have not been met; or

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

Mr Ben Hinton A.C.C.A Independent examiner Unit 1C Crucible Close Coleford Gloucestershire GL16 8RE

Page 10

The Forest Upcycling Project

Statement of financial activities

For the year ended 31 May 2021

Unrestricted
funds
Notes
£
Incoming resources
Incoming resources from generating funds:
Voluntary income
2
140,580
Activities for generating funds
3
324,033
Other incoming resources
4
3,850
Total incoming resources
468,463
Resources expended
Purchases
61,697
Staff costs
5
263,167
Establishment costs
54,989
Motor and travelling expenses
25,508
Accountancy fees
1,200
Legal and professional fees
400
Communications and IT
2,142
Other office expenses
4,051
Depreciation and impairment
10,791
Loss on disposal of intangible fixed assets
for the charity's own use
6,169
Total resources expended
430,114
Total funds brought forward
116,969
Total funds carried forward
155,318
2021
Total
£
140,580
324,033
3,850
468,463
61,697
263,167
54,989
25,508
1,200
400
2,142
4,051
10,791
6,169
430,114
116,969
155,318
2020
Total
£
-
416,898
-
416,898
22,624
245,679
57,049
26,770
-
333
1,761
12,317
-
-
366,533
66,605
116,970

The statement of financial activities includes all gains and losses in the year and therefore a separate statement of total recognised gains and losses has not been prepared.

All of the above amounts relate to continuing activities.

The notes on pages 15 to 19 form an integral part of these financial statements.

Page 11

The Forest Upcycling Project

Income and expenditure account

For the year ended 31 May 2021

2021 2020
Notes £ £
Income 468,463 416,898
Net (losses)/gains from disposal of income fund fixed assets (6,169 ) -
Total income 462,294 416,898
Operating expenditure (423,945 ) (366,533 )
Operating surplus 38,349 50,365
Retained surplus for the financial year 38,349 50,365

All activities derive from continuing operations.

The notes on pages 15 to 19 form an integral part of these financial statements.

Page 12

The Forest Upcycling Project

The notes on pages 15 to 19 form an integral part of these financial statements.

Page 13

The Forest Upcycling Project

Balance sheet as at 31 May 2021

Notes
Fixed assets
Tangible assets
7
Current assets
Debtors
8
Cash at bank and in hand
Creditors: amounts falling
due within one year
9
Net current assets
Total assets less current
liabilities
Provisions for liabilities
10
Net assets
Funds
11
Restricted income funds
Unrestricted income funds
Total funds
2021
£
£
61,148
3,640
96,523
100,163
)
(4,589
95,574
156,722
)
(1,404
155,318
-
155,318
155,318
2020
£
£
39,896
7,888
68,682
76,570
1,600
78,170
118,066
)
(1,096
116,970
116,969
-
116,969

The financial statements were approved by the trustees on 28 August 2021 and signed on its behalf by

Ashley Martin Trustee

The notes on pages 15 to 19 form an integral part of these financial statements.

Page 14

The Forest Upcycling Project

Notes to financial statements for the year ended 31 May 2021

1. Accounting policies

The principal accounting policies are summarised below. The accounting policies have been applied consistently throughout the year and the preceding year.

1.1. Basis of accounting

The financial statements are prepared under the historical cost convention and in accordance with the Statement of Recommended Practice 'Accounting and Reporting by Charities' issued in March 2005 (SORP 2005) and the Charities Act 1993.

1.2. Cashflow

The charity has taken advantage of the exemption in FRS1 from the requirement to produce a cashflow statement because it is a small charity.

1.3. Incoming resources

All incoming resources are included in the statement of financial activities when the charity is entitled to the income and the amount can be quantified with reasonable accuracy. The following specific policies are applied to particular categories of income:

Voluntary income is received by way of grants, donations and gifts and is included in full in the statement of financial activities when receivable. Grants where entitlement is not conditional on the delivery of a specific performance by the charity, are recognised when the charity becomes unconditionally entitled to the grant.

Donated services and facilities are included at the value to the charity where this can be quantified. The value of services provided by volunteers has not been included.

Gifts donated for resale are included as incoming resources within activities for generating funds when they are sold.

Grants, including grants for the purchase of fixed assets, are recognised in full in the statement of financial activities in the year in which they are receivable.

Income from the charity shop is included in the year in which it is receivable.

1.4. Resources expended

Expenditure is recognised on an accrual basis as a liability is incurred. Expenditure includes any VAT which cannot be fully recovered, and is reported as part of the expenditure to which it relates.

Costs of generating funds comprise the costs associated with attracting voluntary income and the costs of trading for fundraising purposes including the charity's shop.

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.

Fundraising costs are those incurred in seeking voluntary contributions and do not include the costs of disseminating information in support of the charitable activities.

Page 15

The Forest Upcycling Project

Notes to financial statements

for the year ended 31 May 2021

1.5. Tangible fixed assets and depreciation

Tangible fixed assets are stated at cost less accumulated depreciation. Depreciation is provided at rates calculated to write off the cost less residual value of each asset over its expected useful life, as follows:

1.6. Defined contribution pension schemes

The pension costs charged in the financial statements represent the contribution payable by the charity during the year.

2. Voluntary income

Unrestricted
funds
£
COVID 19 & JRS Grants
139,704
Ugandan Donations
876
140,580
2021
Total
£
139,704
876
140,580
2020
Total
£
-
-
-

3. Activities for generating funds

Unrestricted
funds
£
Sales - Furniture
270,353
Sales - Gardening
36,701
Sales - Eco
314
Other Income
16,665
324,033
2021
Total
£
270,353
36,701
314
16,665
324,033
2020
Total
£
248,548
40,822
-
127,528
416,898

4. Other incoming resources

Other incoming resources
Unrestricted
funds
£
Rental Income
3,850
3,850
2021
Total
£
3,850
3,850
2020
Total
£
-
-

Page 16

The Forest Upcycling Project

Notes to financial statements for the year ended 31 May 2021

5. Employees

Employment costs
Wages and salaries
Social security costs
Pension costs
2021
£
246,825
10,801
5,541
263,167
2020
£
228,570
11,010
6,099
245,679

No employee received emoluments of more than £60,000 (2020 : None).

Number of employees

The average monthly numbers of employees (including the trustees) during the year, calculated on the basis of full time equivalents, was as follows:

full time equivalents, was as follows:

Porject Manager
Deputy Manager
Recycling Coorinator
Gardner
Coffee Shop / Other
2021
Number

2
2
11
3
5
23
2020
Number
2
2
14
3
4
25

6. Pension costs

The company operates a defined contribution pension scheme in respect of the employees. The scheme and its assets are held by independent managers. The pension charge represents contributions due from the company and was as follows:

was as follows:
2021 2020
£ £
Pension charge 5,541 6,099

Page 17

The Forest Upcycling Project

Notes to financial statements for the year ended 31 May 2021

Fixtures,
7.
Tangible fixed assets
Plant and fittings and
machinery
equipment
£
£
Cost
At 1 June 2020
13,375
12,196
Additions
562
13,953
Disposals
-
-
At 31 May 2021
13,937
26,149
Depreciation
At 1 June 2020
3,712
3,384
Charge for the year
1,534
3,415
On disposals
-
-
At 31 May 2021
5,246
6,799
Net book values
At 31 May 2021
8,691
19,350
At 31 May 2020
9,663
8,812
8.
Debtors
Trade debtors
Other debtors
9.
Creditors: amounts falling due
within one year
Other taxes and social security
Other creditors
Accruals and deferred income
Motor
vehicles
£
29,648
24,029
)
(9,000
44,677
8,227
5,842
)
(2,498
11,571
33,106
21,421
2021
£
1,041
2,599
3,640
2021
£
3,407
)
(17
1,200
4,590
Total
£
55,219
38,544
)
(9,000
84,763
15,323
10,791
)
(2,498
23,616
61,147
39,897
2020
£
7,888
-
7,888
2020
£
)
(1,600
-
-
)
(1,600

Page 18

The Forest Upcycling Project

Notes to financial statements for the year ended 31 May 2021

10.
Provisions for liabilities
At 1 June 2020
11.
Analysis of net assets between funds
Fund balances at 31 May 2021 as represented by:
Current assets
12.
Unrestricted funds
General Funds
Purposes of unrestricted funds
Running cost funds
13.
Restricted funds
Pensions
and similar
obligations
£
)
(1,398
Unrestricted
Total
funds
funds
£
£
155,318
155,318
155,318
155,318
At
At
1st April
Incoming
Outgoing
31st March
2020
resources
resources
2021
£
£
£
£
116,969
468,463
)
(430,114
155,318
At
At
At At
1st April
31st March
2020
2021
£
£

Page 19

The Forest Upcycling Project

The following pages do not form part of the statutory accounts.

The Forest Upcycling Project

Detailed statement of financial activities

For the year ended 31 May 2021

Charitable activities
Activity 1
Activities undertaken directly
Activity1 - Direct - Staff - Wages & Salaries
Activity1 - Direct - Staff - Employer's NIC
Activity1 - Direct - Staff - Pension costs
Activity1 - Direct - Establishment - Rent
Activity1 - Direct - Establishment - Rates & water
Activity1 - Direct - Establishment - Light & heat
Activity1 - Direct - Establishment - Rep. & maint.
Activity1 - Direct - Establishment - Insurance
Activity1 - Direct - Motor vehicle expenses
Activity1 - Direct - Other motor & travel expenses
Activity1 - Direct - Office expenses - Telephone
Activity1 - Direct - Office expenses - Other
Activity1 - Direct - Printing, Postage and Station
Activity1 - Direct - Advertising
Activity1 - Direct - Computer Costs
Activity1 - Direct - Hire of Equipment
Activity1 - Direct - Staff Welfare
Activity1 - Direct - Training Costs
Activity1 - Direct - Subscriptions
Activity1 - Direct - Depreciation & impairment
Activity 1 total expenditure
Total charitable activity expenditure
Governance costs
Activities undertaken directly
Professional - Accountancy fees
Professional - Other
Office expenses - Other
Total governance costs
Other resources expended
Loss on disposal of tangible fixed assets
Net incoming/(outgoing) resources for the year
2021
£
246,825
10,801
5,541
44,644
36
2,744
1,341
6,224
25,209
299
2,142
-
50
67
931
1,756
980
227
40
10,791
360,648
360,648
360,648
1,200
400
)
(3
1,597
1,597
6,169
)
(38,406
2020
£
228,570
11,010
6,099
42,827
3,427
2,704
4,944
3,147
26,299
471
1,761
6,362
631
387
956
1,291
1,862
830
-
-
343,578
343,578
343,578
-
333
)
(2
331
331
-
)
(29,085

Page 21

The Forest Upcycling Project

Detailed statement of financial activities

For the year ended 31 May 2021

Incoming resources
Incoming resources from generating funds:
Voluntary income
COVID 19 & JRS Grants
Ugandan Donations
Activities for generating funds
Sales - Furniture
Sales - Gardening
Sales - Eco
Other Income
Total incoming resources from generating funds
Other incoming resources
Rental Income
Total incoming resources
Resources expended
Costs of generating funds:
Cost of generating voluntary income
Donations
Donations - Purchases
Total cost of generating voluntary income
Fundraising trading:
cost of goods sold and other costs
Shop costs
Shop costs - Purchases
Activity 1
Activity 1 - Purchases
2021
£
£
139,704
876
140,580
270,353
36,701
314
16,665
324,033
464,613
3,850
3,850
468,463
42,364
42,364
42,364
19,313
19,313
20
20
2020
£
£
-
-
-
248,548
40,822
-
127,528
416,898
416,898
-
-
416,898
-
-
-
-
-
22,624
22,624
2020
£
£
-
-
-
248,548
40,822
-
127,528
416,898
416,898
-
-
416,898
-
-
-
-
-
22,624
22,624
-
248,548
40,822
-
127,528
416,898
416,898
-
-
416,898
-
-
-
22,624

Page 22

The Forest Upcycling Project

Detailed statement of financial activities

For the year ended 31 May 2021

Total fundraising trading
cost of goods sold and other costs 19,333 22,624
Total costs of generating funds 61,697 22,624

Page 23

Oversby & Company

Signed By

MATTHEW JONES

Date Signed Tue, 02 Nov 2021 18:52:29 +0000 Name Matthew Jones Email forestupcyclingproject@gmail.com Printed Name MATTHEW JONES IP Address 2a02:c7f:1ca6:1e00:6d88:9091:30:bcca Browser User Agent Mozilla/5.0 (Windows NT 10.0; Win64; x64) AppleWebKit/537.36 (KHTML, like Gecko) Chrome/95.0.4638.54 Safari/537.36