## **The Silvers’ Workshop** Charity Registration No. 1159283 ## Annual Report to the Charities Commission ## 2022 Authors - Dave Catton – Treasurer Kevin Slade - Secretary ## Index General Statement Page 1 Governance and Management Page 1 Membership Page 2 External Links Page 2 About this year Page 2 The Project Page 3 Men’s Health and Wellbeing Page 3 The Future Page 3 Financial Report Page 3 Balance Sheet Page 4 ## **General Statement.** This is the eighth annual report and, in general, the past year has been the toughest to date. Our long-term objectives have been put on the back burner whilst we rebuild the membership following the two years of Coronavirus. Whilst we lost no member directly to Covid, a lot of our members, due to their age and health issues, lost confidence in attending clubs such as ours due mainly to the fear of contracting the virus albeit most have had all their vaccinations. The last year has seen a very slow return to the numbers attending each session and it is hoped this will be increased in the coming twelve months. To re-cap, The Silvers’ Workshop is affiliated to the U.K. Men’s Shed Association which has now established over 500 sheds in the United Kingdom. The Silvers’ Workshop aims to provide a safe space for men to connect, converse and create, in the process of reducing loneliness and isolation, whilst socialising and having fun. ## **Governance and Management.** The Silvers’ Workshop has nine Trustees. They sit a minimum of four times a year and the meetings are held at the Workshop and/or via Zoom Conferencing. These meetings are fully recorded and the minutes, once approved, are placed on the general noticeboard for all members to read and comment upon. This allows for openness and transparency and encourages the membership to ask relevant questions of the Trustees. Our Management Team and Sub Teams are constituted accordingly, **Management Team :-** 12 members including the nine Trustees. The four sub-teams have been suspended for an indefinite period and their duties are being undertaken by the Main Management Team under the direction of The Chairman. The Management Team meet monthly, except for August and work to an agreed agenda. All meetings are fully recorded and copies of the minutes, once approved a copy is pinned to the general noticeboard for all members to read and comment upon, again, promoting openness and transparency. All Trustees and Team Members give their time freely and no remuneration or expenses have been paid during this last year, other than expenses duly incurred whilst undertaking official workshop business. No Trustee or Management Team Member receives any benefit which is not available to the wider membership. ## **Membership.** Membership remains open to men who meet our objectives and can demonstrate their general mobility. Our membership currently stands at 60, but due to the issues mentioned in the opening statement those figures are fluid as members re-join and new individuals attend to see what we do and how our Workshop could improve their own well-being. ## **External Links.** We continue to work closely with both Reading Voluntary Action who offer us free advice and training and U.K. Men’s Shed Association which gives us access to all Men’s Sheds in the UK. Our support and assistance to a local SEN school remains suspended and will do so until the new Head permits us to return. In the mean-time we are working with several department heads, via E mail to focus on ideas for when we return. We are actively overhauling bicycles for New Meaning, a school developed to cater for the older child that cannot function within main school education. The bicycles we donate allow the children to attend this school without the added burden of their parents having to find money for bus fares. Again, we extend our thanks to Laithwaite Wine Co and ASDA Tilehurst for their continued help and assistance. ## **About this last year.** No external trips or visits were planned for this year, it was about regrouping and finding our feet and mojo again after the awful previous two years. It has been about rebuilding confidences and supporting each other whilst we rebuild this very successful Men’s Shed. We attended a fete in the Summer, we returned to the High Street this Christmas and a Pop-Up Shop in a large local office building where we sold merchandise made in the workshop by the members. Attending these events, albeit in a smaller way than pre-pandemic years, allowed us to show the general public that we were open for business and making a small financial return to meet our not so small outgoings. This year saw our bid for a new workshop in the Reading area rejected by the local Authority, a planning application by our landlord on our current site refused by the local Authority and finally, just a few weeks ago, notification that our landlord has again lodged a planning application to redevelop our current workshop into flats. It will be a worrying start to the New Year. ## **The Project.** This coming year will be about searching the Reading Area for affordable properties and seeking ways to finance the Capital outlay along with the relocation and running costs of such a move. ## **Men’s Health & Wellbeing.** Being open now for four sessions a week has bought a more optimistic outlook to the workshop and membership attendance is begin, albeit slowly, to return to pre-pandemic numbers. Members are reporting they feel better for returning which is most encouraging. ## **The Future.** This remains fluid as we are unable, at present, to objectively plan and set dates for events or long-term projects until we can resolve the issue of new premises. ## **Financial Report and Balance Sheet.** Financial Report and Balance Sheet. The reduced opening and slight decline in membership had a detrimental effect on the Workshop’s finances for 2022. Our total income was£15,736.46 and our expenditure for the year was £13,641.17, so it would appear at first sight that we ended the year with a ‘profit’ of £2.095.28. However, the figures are distorted by the fact that we were fortunate to receive a Grant from Reading Borough for £4,000 last March. Without this we would be showing a ‘loss’ of Just under £1,900. Our other fund-raising activities last year raised approximately £2,500 and of these, Broad Street and Laithwaites were again particularly successful and on their own made up approximately half of our takings. We continue to use the Metro Bank as our Savings account, which now stands at £28712.72, together, with an additional £121.69 held in the Skipton Building Society. We do receive interest on our savings account and this has risen significantly in the last couple of months, for example at the start of last year in January, it was £1.22 per month, and this had risen to £10.89 for December 2022. We use continue to use our Lloyds account for day-to-day banking, and on 31st December 1022 the account stood at £4,815.76 in credit. All the Clubs financial transactions are recorded on a single master monthly spreadsheet and this is used to produce monthly, end of year and any ad hoc reports. Records in this format now date back to 2019. It is anticipated that during 2023 the membership will continue to increase, and that at some stage we can return to full five day opening. This hopefully will improve our overall finances. ## **The Silver's Workshop** ## **BALANCE SHEET as at 31/12/22** |**ASSETS**||**LIABILITIES**||| |---|---|---|---|---| |**Current Assets**||**Current Liabilities:**||| |Cash in Bank|£4,815.78|Invoices Payable|£0.00|(Unpaid invoices not to hand)| |Cash in Savings Account|£121.69|Wages Payable|£0.00|| |Cash in Building Account|£28,712.72|Members Expenses|£0.00|(Expenses submitted but not paid)| |Cash in Paypal Account|£302.16|Rent/Mortgage|£0.00|| |Cash Held|£109.95|Outstanding Electricity|£0.00|(Invoice received but not yet Paid by DD)| |Petty Cash Paid|£218.03|Outstanding Gas|£0.00|(Invoice received but not yet Paid by DD)| |Accounts Receivable|£0.00|Tax|£0.00|| |Prepaid Insurances|£0.00|Overdrafts|£0.00|| |||Customer Deposits|£0.00|| |**TOTAL CURRENT ASSETS**|£34,280.33|Petty Cash paid|£218.03|(Payments made from cash in hand)| |**FIXED ASSETS**||**TOTAL LIABILITIES**|£218.03|| |Land|£0.00|||| |Buildings & Furniture|£160.00|||| |Tools|£2,245.00|**WORKSHOP EQUITY**||| |Stock|£1,490.00|Grand total Assets|£38,470.33|| |Materials|£280.00|Less total liability|£218.03|| |Consumables|£15.00|||| |||**WORKSHOP EQUITY**|**£38,252.30**|| |**TOTAL FIXED ASSETS**|£4,190.00|||| This completes The Silvers’ Workshop, Annual Charities Commission Report for 2022, on this day 20[th] January 2023. Signed Tony Smith-Crallan Chairman.