**Trustees’ annual report:**
Period end date: **31/12/24**
Charities Name: **Manchester and District Beekeepers Association** . Charity Number: **1159052**
## Period start date: **01/01/24**
|**Objectives and Activities.**||
|---|---|
|Summary of the purpose of the
charity as set out in its governing
document.|To advance and encourage the understanding of bees; beekeeping and the
practice of good beekeeping for the public benefit.|
|Summary of the main activities in
relation to those purposes for the
public benefit, in particular, activities,
projects or services identified in the
accounts.|and exemplify Our main activities for the public benefit are to:
•
promote good practice in the management of healthy honeybee colonies
•
ensure that association members have access to appropriate and relevant
information and training regarding honeybee health and safe beekeeping
practices including information on pollinators and their place in an ecosystem
that includes honeybees
•
offer training and ongoing support for new/novice beekeepers including the
placement of apiaries and the issue of over foraging a given area
•
offer short “taster” sessions on beekeeping for the public
•
staff visitors centre based in Heaton Park, opened once each week 36 weeks
of the year, offering information on honeybees and native pollinators
•
work with Heaton Park staff to increase their awareness of pollinators and
honeybee life cycles
•
deliver teaching and talks for schools, local social groups and organisations
working with the public about bees and pollinators to encourage a wide
interest and knowledge of pollinating insects including native bees
•
facilitate student research projects into honeybees and native pollinators
•
provide a point of contact for local people concerned about honey bee
swarms
•
act as a point of information and contact for beekeepers and the public about
possible incursions byAsian Hornets as and when necessary|
|Statement confirming whether the
trustees have had regard to the
guidance issued by the Charity
Commission onpublic benefit|The trustees are aware of the Charity Commissions guidance on “public benefit”
and have given due regard to it in their management of the association|
|||
|**Additional information(optional)**||
|Contribution made by volunteers|The association is run and maintained by volunteers. This includes all training
and the management and maintenance of a large training apiary. In addition,
volunteers cover the weekly opening of the Dower House visitors centre to the
public. As an association we are entirely reliant on the good will and energy of
our volunteers.
Over the course of this year the association has identified ways to encourage
volunteering. The novice training course now includes an element about how
important volunteers are to the association and the benefits it delivers to
individuals. The role of the volunteer coordinator has been changed and more
effective data base of volunteers developed.|
|||
|**Achievements and Performance**:||
|Summary of the main achievements
of the charity, identifying the
difference the charity’s work has
made to the circumstances of its
beneficiaries and any wider benefits
to societyas a whole.|•
maintain and improve bee health within the association and the teaching
apiary. The number of colonies experiencing infections has significantly
reduced during 2024 as reported by the Apiary Manager. Research is still
ongoing and the evidence for Hygienic Behaviour is, as yet, unproven|
- additional honeybee taster sessions (4) were successfully delivered. Free sessions were offered to officers from Heaton Park. The sessions were accessed by the public and prospective beekeepers. Both groups gave positive feedback
- • with support from the park, public information sessions were offered, linked to other park events. It was not possible to deliver individual playschemes
- • a review of training is now a regular item for trustees, novice review feedback indicates a high level of satisfaction with the training offered
- a WhatsApp forum will be in place for novices in 2025
- training relating to the capturing of swarms was delivered by an experienced ‘swarm catcher,’ this situation will be reviewed annually
- • response to Asian Hornet incursions is on the advice of the National Bee Unit a list of possible beekeepers available to support local issues will be kept and maintained by the association
- • the association continue information sharing with teachers, schools, park staff, social groups, and the public about caring for native bees and the needs of native pollinators
- • There were 13 candidates for basic BBKA examination in beekeeping and 12 passes. The Trustees agreed to pay for the exam for candidates who attained a credit or distinction in the examination, there were 8 candidates eligible for this payment in 2024
- an environmental landscaping company has been commissioned to formalise plans for the native pollinator habitat and provisional permission has been given for the development by park officers
- • a new stock management system has been purchased and a review of how the association manages stock control and sales is currently underway. To facilitate stock management a new container was purchased so that we can buy and store a more realistic amount of stock for equipment sales
- • The association was approached by a local business (Amazon Prime Warehouse) with a view to their sponsoring a honeybee colony. This was agreed and from the 2025 bee season two hives will be sponsored. The plan included purchase of honey, taster sessions for managers and workers, three sessions were delivered during 2024
- • in 2024 Trustees agreed to the purchase of mated Carniolan queens with an aim of increasing the genetic viability of the apiary stock. This introduction will be reviewed and the health of colonies led by an introduced queen carefully monitored. The process may be repeated in 2025 to consolidate the breeding stock
- • this year a link has been made with a local community group that runs a food bank, the association donated 40 small jars of honey for their use. The association is committed to making locally produced ‘real’ honey to as many people as possible particularly in the current climate when so much honey sold in shops is adulterated in some way
|**Additional information(optional)**|**Additional information(optional)**|
|---|---|
||**Future plans:**
•
research into bee health will be ongoing.
•
undertake the work necessary to develop the pollinator area, this work is
likely to take place during the winter months where possible and may last for
over 18 months
•
the trustees will continue to monitor the number of novices undertaking the
Basic Beekeeping examination and continue making payments where a
certain standard has been met
•
continue our existing planned training for experienced and novice
beekeepers.
•
add additional short(half day)trainingsessions to the numberplanned|
- to achieve the above additional trainers will be sought and if necessary, offered mentoring/additional training.
- • plan regular short talks for members linked to social events, these to include swarm management and identifies bee health issues
- • continue hosting a honey event and meet the beekeepers in early autumn • continue to review the effectiveness of the novice WhatsApp group • introduce new stock control methods to ensure association members can access equipment when they need it at the lowest cost
- • review financial reporting to include income, cost analysis on individual areas of the charities work including the training apiary, equipment sales, honey production and training delivery
- ~~[P|]~~ Signed: Date **** 17 February 2025 C A MacLeod. Chair of Trustees M Green. Treasurer
- <
Public#
||||**Charity Name**||||||**No (if any)**|**No (if any)**|||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
||||**Manchester & District Beekeepers' Association**||||||**1159052**||||
||||**Receipts andpayments accounts**|||||||||**CC16a**|
||**For the period**
**from**
~~ee~~||||01-Jan-24
Period start date
~~ee ~~|||**To**
~~ee~~||31-Dec-24
Period end date
~~ee~~|||
||**Section A Receipts and payments**||||||||||||
||||**Unrestricted**
**funds**||**Restricted**
**funds**|**Restricted**||**Endowment**
**funds**||**Total funds**||**Last year**|
||||**to the nearest**
**£**|**to the nearest**|**to the nearest £**|**to the nearest £**||**to the nearest £**||**to the nearest £**||**to the nearest £**|
||**A1 Receipts**||||||||||||
||Subscriptions includingBDI||**11,462**||**-**|**-**||**-**||**11,462**||**11,238**|
||Donations||**1,191**||**-**|**-**||**-**||**1,191**||**1,162**|
||Equipment sales||**33,707**||**-**|**-**||**-**||**33,707**||**15,323**|
||Gift shopsales||**5,482**||**-**|**-**||**-**||**5,482**||**10,579**|
||Honeysales||**14,433**||**-**|**-**||**-**||**14,433**||**6,946**|
||Teachingcourses||**7,135**||**-**|**-**||**-**||**7,135**||**7,768**|
||Advertising||**56**||**-**|**-**||**-**||**56**||**30**|
||Hive sponsorship||**800**||**-**|**-**||**-**||**800**||**-**|
||**_Sub total_**_(Gross income for_
_AR)_|_(Gross income for_
_AR)_|**74,266**||**-**|**-**||**-**||**74,266**||**53,046**|
|**A2 Asset and investment sales,**
**(see table).**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**_Sub total_ -**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**_Total receipts_**
**74,266**
**-**
**-**
**74,266**
**53,046**
~~——————~~|||||||||||||
||**A3 Payments**||||||||||||
||Equipment costs||**31,490**||**-**|**-**||**-**||**31,490**||**14,705**|
||Gift shopcosts||**7,082**||**-**|**-**||**-**||**7,082**||**803**|
||Newsletter,Post,Stationery||**759**||**-**|**-**||**-**||**759**||**981**|
||Bee disease insurancepremium||**1,016**||**-**|**-**||**-**||**1,016**||**859**|
||Donations andgifts||**47**||**-**|**-**||**-**||**47**||**311**|
||Education||**2,682**||**-**|**-**||**-**||**2,682**||**1,211**|
||BBKA Capitation fees||**5,826**||**-**|**-**||**-**||**5,826**||**5,462**|
||Garden||**-**||**-**|**-**||**-**||**-**||**59**|
||Social Events / raffles||**363**||**-**|**-**||**-**||**363**||**334**|
||Teachingcourses||**2,801**||**-**|**-**||**-**||**2,801**||**2,288**|
||Paypal,Sumupand STRIPE fees||**814**||**-**|**-**||**-**||**814**||**552**|
||Travel expenses||**1,323**||**-**|**-**||**-**||**1,323**||**845**|
||Equipment and other costs for Dower||||||||||||
||House||**2,912**||**-**|**-**||**-**||**2,912**||**2,674**|
||Equipment and other costs for Apiary||**11,807**||**-**|**-**||**-**||**11,807**||**6,883**|
||Equipment and consumables for||||||||||||
||extraction room||**2,480**||**-**|**-**||**-**||**2,480**||**7,918**|
||Charityadministration costs||**156**|||||||**156**||**-**|
||Dower House Insurance||**1,101**||**-**|**-**||**-**||**1,101**||**1,006**|
||Examination of accounts||**250**||**-**|**-**||**-**||**250**||**250**|
_**Sub total**_ **[ 72,909 ] - - 72,909 47,141 A4 Asset and investment purchases, (see table) - - - - - - - -** _**Sub total**_ **[ - ] - - - -** ~~—~~ _**Total payments**_ ~~—————~~ **72,909 - - 72,909 47,141** _**Net of receipts/(payments)**_ **1,357 - - 1,357 5,905 A5 Transfers between funds - - - - - A6 Cash funds last year end 59,535 - - 59,535 53,630** _**Cash funds this year end**_ ~~===~~ **60,892 - - 60,892** ~~>>~~ **59,535**
Public#
## **Section B Statement of assets and liabilities at the end of the period**
|||||**Unrestricted**|**Restricted**||**Endowment**|
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
|**Categories**||**Details**||**funds**|**funds**||**funds**|
|||||**to nearest £**|**to nearest £**||**to nearest £**|
|**B1 Cash funds**|**998**
**-**
**-**
**456**
**-**
**57,232**
**-**
**-**
**2,206**
**-**
**-**
**60,892**
**-**
**-**
**_Total cash funds_**
Credit with Sumup
Bank
Petty cash
Credit with Paypal
~~—===~~|||||||
|||(agree balances with receipts and payments|(agree balances with receipts and payments|||||
|||account(s))||OK|OK||OK|
|||||**Unrestricted**|**Restricted**||**Endowment**|
|||||**funds**|**funds**||**funds**|
|||**Details**||**to nearest £**|**to nearest £**||**to nearest £**|
|**B2 Other monetary assets**|**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**
~~————~~|||||||
|||**Details**||**Fund to which**
**asset belongs**|**Cost (optional)**||**Current value**
**(optional)**|
|**B3 Investment assets**|**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**
~~====~~|||||||
|||**Details**||**Fund to which**
**asset belongs**|**Cost (optional)**||**Current value**
**(optional)**|
|**B4 Assets retained for the**|||||**-**||**-**|
|**charity’s own use**|||||**-**||**-**|
|||||**Fund to which**|**Amount due**||**When due**|
|||**Details**||**liability relates**|**(optional)**||**(optional)**|
|**B5 Liabilities**|**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**
~~===>~~|||||||
|**Signed by one or two trustees on**
**behalf of all the trustees**||Signature||Print Name|Print Name||Date of
approval|
|||||**Michael Green**|||**17/02/2025**|
|||||**Christine A MacLeod**|||**17/02/2025**|
Commercial in Confidence
## **Independent examiner's report on the accounts**
**Section A Independent Examiner’s Report**
## **Report to the trustees/** Manchester & District Beekeepers’ Association **members of**
**On accounts for the year** 31 December 2024 **Charity no** 1159052 **ended (if any) Set out on pages** Form CC16a pages 1 and 2 (remember to include the page numbers of additional sheets)
I report to the trustees on my examination of the accounts of the above charity (“the Trust”) for the year ended **31/12/2024** .
- **Responsibilities and** As the charity trustees of the Trust, you are responsible for the preparation **basis of report** of the accounts in accordance with the requirements of the Charities Act 2011 (“the Act”).
I report in respect of my examination of the Trust’s accounts carried out under section 145 of the 2011 Act and in carrying out my examination, I have followed the applicable Directions given by the Charity Commission under section 145(5)(b) of the Act.
**Independent** I have completed my examination. I confirm that no material matters have **examiner's statement** come to my attention (other than that disclosed below *) in connection with the examination which gives me cause to believe that in, any material respect:
- accounting records were not kept in accordance with section 130 of the Act or
- the accounts do not accord with the accounting records
I have no concerns and have come across no other matters in connection with the examination to which attention should be drawn in order to enable a proper understanding of the accounts to be reached.
* _Please delete the words in the brackets if they do not apply._
**Signed:**
**Date:** 17/02/2025 ~~|~~
**Name:** Naomi Povey ~~Cs~~ **Relevant professional** CPFA **qualification(s) or body (if any):**
**Address:** 5 Newland Way Nantwich Cheshire CW5 7JH
**October 2018**
1
**IER**
Commercial in Confidence
## **Section B Disclosure**
Only complete if the examiner needs to highlight matters of concern (see CC32, Independent examination of charity accounts: directions and guidance for examiners).
**Give here brief details of any items that the examiner wishes to disclose** .
No matters to report
**October 2018**
2
**IER**