2024-03-31-accounts

Annual Report 2023/24

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A Message from David Matthews, Chair

Every week seems to bring alarming news of further global heating and environmental catastrophe. Scientists warn that we are rapidly approaching tipping points beyond which our ability to constrain the effects of the climate crisis will be lost. Tipping points include the collapse of major ice sheets in Greenland and Antarctica, changes to ocean currents, melting permafrost in the Arctic, and the death of coral reefs.

In attempting to address the causes of the climate crisis, most of the focus Wd of governments has been on transitioning away from the use of fossil fuels. But despite the positive progress made on replacing fossil fuels in energy generation with renewable solutions such as wind and solar, overall emissions continue to rise. This is a symptom of our increasing demand for resources (energy, goods, food, etc) beyond the capacity of the planet to replenish these resources. Measures to reduce our unsustainable demand are essential. The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) estimates that changing how we use and consume resources could reduce overall greenhouse gas emissions by 40-80%.

While we need further action from Government and businesses, we won’t succeed in addressing the environmental crises we face without making significant changes to our own lifestyles. And, since we lead the world in exporting our emissions to other countries through our voracious consumption of imported goods, what we do in the UK really matters. But, while the majority of the population is either alarmed or concerned, very few people are actually taking meaningful action. So, how do we change that? How do we get people to move beyond putting out the recycling?

Members of Stretton Climate Care already take a lead within the community by taking practical actions (running an advice centre, supporting our repair café, opening their homes to demonstrate low carbon technologies, etc). This report gives many examples of our volunteering activities. Setting an example to others is important in encouraging change by giving others the inspiration, opportunity, knowledge and confidence to act.

We also need to engage a wider audience, listening to their concerns and perspectives. We need to understand what the barriers are that prevent people from taking meaningful action. Unless we meet people where they are, we are unlikely to influence their thinking on what steps they can take to protect future generations. We can start with discussions within our own families, often the toughest assignment! We can talk to friends and work colleagues. The climate conversations approach used at one of our recent AGMs is a useful tool for initiating a discussion with small groups. Climate Fresk and Carbon Literacy Training help build a real understanding of the environmental crises, why we need to act now, and what steps to take. Why not sign up for a workshop and persuade others to join too?

Our AGM meeting was one of this year’s highlights giving us the opportunity to hear from young people (aged from 15-25). They discussed their perspectives of the environmental crises, and what we should be doing. It was inspiring to hear fresh ideas, and to see their enthusiasm for making changes. You can watch a video of the panel session at: htps://drive.google.com/fle/ = d/1p0lc4xh3Fe_08N8jyuf92yKb_ZHrqeEy/view?usp drive_link

While the younger generation will face greater environmental challenges in the future, they should not bear the burden alone. There is so much that we can and should do to empower them. We can change our diet, avoid flying on holiday, take the train or bus, remove our money from banks and financial institutions that support the fossil fuel industry, invest in renewable energy from sustainable sources, buy only what we really need, and avoid pesticides in our gardens and in the production of our food. No one is “too old” to make a difference.

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Review: April 2023 to March 2024 - Our Key Activities

We ran 10 Repair Café sessions during the year, processing 239 items with a repair success rate of 70%. Based on a calculator from Farnham Repair Café, we estimate this saved over 5.3 tonnes of carbon dioxide emissions (equivalent to driving over 22,000 miles). We also incorporated a Seed Swap and Energy Advice at several sessions.

We continued to assist households and others to implement recommendations on energy saving measures and renewable energy, by giving them suitable and impartial advice and introducing them to appropriate agencies and suppliers and promote Government and other support.

We provided advice though our website, by email, telephone and face to face and at weekly Energy Advice sessions at the Health & Wellbeing Centre. We also held sessions at the Repair Café and the Library.

We had a successful stand at the Family Fun Day in Sandford Park with lots of eco demonstration gadgets and eco games for children.

We provided a stall at the next Generation Fair in Craven Arms where we had some useful discussions with adults and children through the games and the renewable energy display items.

We published two Newsletters, in the Spring and Autumn, which volunteers delivered to most households in the Church Stretton area.

We held our Annual Duck Race in April, which was a great success thanks to the excellent support from the public and the hard work of our volunteers.

We donated three books, “We Have a Dream,” by Dr Mia-Rose Craig, “It’s Our Business To Make a Better World” by Rebecca Hui, and “Sparky” by My Energi, to St Lawrence’s Primary and Church Stretton Schools.

We had a presentation by Jon Cooke and Derrick Tapscott, talking about the retrofit of their respective houses, which generated a lot of interest from the audience .

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Review: April 2023 to March 2024 - Our Key Activities

We held a successful event on plastics recycling at the Coop, encouraging local residents (and visitors) to avoid plastic packaging, and making them aware of the local recycling facilities now available.

We participated in the Big Plastic Count which demonstrated that the UK urgently needs to increase its plastic recycling capacity to cope with demand. The estimate is that the UK can only process 13% of its plastics, leaving the majority to be exported or incinerated.

We participated in Plastic Free July, promoting this campaign on our stall at the Family Fun Day and through social media.

We provided information on local recycling facilities to the town council, and this information is now available on the Town Council website. We held an initial discussion with the council about registering Church Stretton as a plastic free town, but further work is required to justify this.

We provided a stand at Strettfest which was mainly aimed at children and their parents and worked with Kidical on promoting bike riding for children.

We were successful in gaining a grant from Stretton Focus to enable the purchase of a PAT electrical safety tester.

We gave a talk on recycling at Church Stretton School & we also set-aside a Repair Cafe session for school pupils and parents. This was promoted by one of the school governors, but there was very little take up unfortunately. We have now obtained a repair cafe toolkit for schools which can be delivered within the school if we have the opportunity to do so in the future.

We prepared a Christmas Tree & Display at St Laurence’s Church. The Christmas tree was made from wood and decorated with tinsel and the little houses were made from scrap wool samples from Scrappies highlighting the use of warm materials for insulation and depicted solar panels with a big sun on top of the tree. We chose the carol ‘Oh Little Town of Bethlehem’ to illustrate our point. Jon Cooke wrote a message about the power of the sun that we can use for our own energy.

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Review: April 2023 to March 2024 - Our Key Activities

We re-visited all local shops to discuss what actions they are taking to reduce the use of single-use plastics and made them aware of the Cool Shropshire and Telford platform Those retailers that are taking action are displaying one of our Stretton Climate Care stickers.

We built links with the Rural Furniture Shop by conducting PAT testing and repairing items such as a small table and clocks. Where we were unable to take in a repair, we publicised the repair services provided by the Men’s Shed (and other local repair cafes).

We provided support and advice to the Eco-Church initiatives within the local parish (St Laurence, All Saints’ Little Stretton). We helped Church Stretton Rotary Club members calculate, reduce and offset residual carbon emissions through tree planting at High Leasowes and support for three international projects certified by Gold Standard. One of our members set-up and ran a series of Climate Conversations for U3a, and this received national attention.

We held a Climate Fresk Workshop and a Carbon Literacy course.

We continued to be active on Facebook, Twitter (now X) and Instagram.

We collaborated with 18 Shropshire-based climate groups to draft a letter to the Prime Minister ahead of COP 28. This received local media coverage and elicited responses from Graham Stuart who represented the UK government at the talks, and our local MPs.

We responded to the Consultation by Shropshire Council on closing Household Recycling Centres, charging for Green waste and stopping food waste recycling by explaining the damage that this would do to recycling and creation of additional greenhouse gas emissions.

We carried out 13 surveys over the winter months, using our thermal imaging camera which highlights areas in the home that are unnecessarily losing heat.

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Review: April 2023 to March 2024 - Our Key Activities

We signed up to parliamentary campaigns organised by Zero Hour, the Climate Coalition, and a campaign for on-shore wind fronted by Possible and Hugh Fearnley Whittingstall. This on-shore wind campaign was featured in the national media, and we had more signatories from Shropshire than any other county. Subsequently, members of Stretton Climate Care were invited to a public meeting in Bishops Castle in support of the proposed wind turbine and community heat network, and this meeting was attended by Hugh and filmed by Channel 4 for a documentary broadcast in the run up to COP 28.

Members of Stretton Climate Care have taken on leading roles in both South Shropshire Climate Action and Zero Carbon Shropshire. This has enabled us to share Stretton Climate Care’s experience and expertise with numerous other environmental groups across Shropshire while benefiting from ideas and best practice elsewhere. For example, we have started to include additional activities alongside our repair cafe based on ideas from Telford Community Action Hub, and created a guide to retrofit now used by Marches Energy Agency. We have also worked with the Town council to create a focussed climate action plan.

Electric Vehicle Charge Point at Lion Meadow car park-An Obituary . Unfortunately, the electric Vehicle Charge Point in the lion Meadow Car Park which had been promoted by Stretton Climate Care and installed in partnership with Church Stretton Town Council and Mid Counties Cooperative and Shropshire Council was declared to be beyond repair by BP Pulse and it ceased to function. It was originally funded 50% by a government agency and Stretton Climate Care. This was the first publicly available EV charge point in Shropshire. Since its commission in May 2014, it was used over 4,800 times by over 650 separate users from all over the country and the Co-op has contributed some 67,500kWh of green electricity, saving 56.5 tonnes of CO2. It is understood that mid Counties Cooperative are -considering whether to replace it.

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Review: April 2023 to March 2024 - Our Key Activities

We issued several press releases including information about our meeting on 20’s Plenty Campaign, the Cycling and Walking Plan and Going Backwards on Net Zero.

We held a public meeting about 20’s Plenty to explain this concept and proposal .

Shropshire Council launched a Consultation on the Local Cycling & Walking Infrastructure Plan in April 2023. We held a public meeting to publicise and encourage local community to participate in this process. We submitted extensive comments on the draft Local Cycling and Walking Plan.

David Currant & Mike Hymas at the 20’s Plenty meeting

We made an extensive input to the first stage of the Strettons Neighbourhood Plan.

Q & A session after the AGM “Giving Young People a Voice”

We promoted the Open Homes project run across Shropshire and Herefordshire by the Marches Energy Agency (MEA).

We worked with the MEA and other groups to draw up list of suitably skilled consultants and contractors. This work was continuing at the end of the financial period.

We used the MEA retrofit display vehicle at local events such as Strettfest.

We gained additional volunteers and members through participating in The Big Help Out.

Jon Cooke at the plastics recycling event

We developed a Digital Strategy intended to make us more efficient and effective with our IT system .

Jon Cooke, a founder Chair of Stretton Climate Care, stepped down as a Trustee & Mike Hymas stepped down as Secretary, both after 15 years of dedicated service.

We promoted a Trustee Recruitment Pack which resulted in the recruitment of 3 new Trustees, Jane Edwards, Chris Shipman and Roger Thorpe. Chris Shipman was elected as the new Secretary.

New Trustees Roger Thorpe, Chris Shipman & Jane Edwards

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Independent examiner's report on the accounts ~~|~~

|ceeeiinlenn
FOR ENGLAND AND WALES|ceeeiinlenn
FOR ENGLAND AND WALES|Independent examiner's report
on the accounts
~~|~~|Independent examiner's report
on the accounts
~~|~~|Independent examiner's report
on the accounts
~~|~~|
~~|~~| |---|---|---|---|---|---| |Section A Independent Examiner’s Report|||||| |
~~pT~~|||||| |Report to the trustees/
members of
~~es~~|Charity Name
Stretton Climate Care||||| |
~~es~~|||||| |On accounts for the year
ended
~~es~~
~~es~~|31/03/2024||Charity no
(if any)|1159816|| |
~~es~~|||||| |Set out on pages
~~es~~
~~rs~~|(remember to include the page numbers of additional sheets)||||| |
~~rs~~|||||| |


Responsibilities and basis
of report
~~rs~~|I report to the trustees on my examination of the accounts of the above charity (“the Trust”) for the
year ended 31/03/2024.
As the charity trustees of the Trust, you are responsible for the preparation of the accounts in ac-
cordance 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 exam-
iner's statement|I have completed my examination. I confirm that no material matters have come to my attention
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.||||| |
~~a~~
~~ae~~|
~~ee~~
~~ee~~||||| |Signed:
~~ae~~|~~ee~~||Date:
~~ee~~|19/8/24
~~ee~~
~~ee~~|| |
~~ae~~|
~~ee~~
~~ee~~||||| |Name:
~~a~~|GRAHAM ERIC VINCE||||| |
~~a~~|||||| |Relevant professional quali-
fication(s) or body (if any):
~~es~~|||||| |
~~es~~|||||| |Address:
~~es~~
~~a~~
~~ee~~|4 ALISON ROAD||||| |
~~ee~~
~~ee~~|CHURCH STRETTON, SHROPSHIRE||||| |
~~ee~~
~~ee~~|SY6 7AT||||| |
~~ee~~
~~pT~~||||||

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Charity Name

No (if any)

Stretton Climate Care (CIO)

1159816

Receipts and payments accounts

CC16a

Period start date Period end date For the period To from 1st April 2023 31st March 2024 ~~ee ee ee~~

Section A Receipts and payments Unrestricted funds Restricted funds Endowment funds Total funds Last year ~~ee~~ eee eee eee	Section A Receipts and payments Unrestricted funds Restricted funds Endowment funds Total funds Last year ~~ee~~ eee eee eee	Section A Receipts and payments Unrestricted funds Restricted funds Endowment funds Total funds Last year ~~ee~~ eee eee eee	Section A Receipts and payments Unrestricted funds Restricted funds Endowment funds Total funds Last year ~~ee~~ eee eee eee	Section A Receipts and payments Unrestricted funds Restricted funds Endowment funds Total funds Last year ~~ee~~ eee eee eee	Section A Receipts and payments Unrestricted funds Restricted funds Endowment funds Total funds Last year ~~ee~~ eee eee eee	Section A Receipts and payments Unrestricted funds Restricted funds Endowment funds Total funds Last year ~~ee~~ eee eee eee	Section A Receipts and payments Unrestricted funds Restricted funds Endowment funds Total funds Last year ~~ee~~ eee eee eee	Section A Receipts and payments Unrestricted funds Restricted funds Endowment funds Total funds Last year ~~ee~~ eee eee eee
	to the nearest £	to the nearest £	to the nearest £		to the nearest £		to the nearest £	to the nearest £
A1 Receipts
Membershipfees	671	671	-	-	-		671	736
Donations	1,569	1,569	**300 **		-		1,869	1,477
Local fundraising	268	268	-	-	-		268	542
Book sales	-		-	-	-		-	30
Bank interest	49	49	-	-	-		49	51
Referrals	250	250	-	-	-		250	150
Grants	300	300	-	-	-		300	-
	-		-	-	-		-	-
Sub total(Gross income for AR)	(Gross income for ) 3,107	3,107	300	300	-		3,407	3,407 2,986
A2 Asset and investment sales, (see table). - - - - - - - - - Sub total - - - - - Total receipts 3,107 300 - 3,407 2,986 ~~_—————~~
A3 Payments
Website	1,224		-		-		1,224	831
Printing, postage, stationery
& misc.	510		-		-		510	468
Accommodation & rentals	414		-		-		414	357
Goods & equipment			299	299	-		299	101
Repair café	528		1		-		529	42
School books	47		-		-		47	93
Insurance	472		-		-		472	630
Other costs & fees	894		-		-		894	453
Donations	100	100	-		-		100	-
Sub total	Sub total 4,189	189	300		-		4,489	2,975
9 A4 Asset and investment purchases, (see table) - - - - - - - - Sub total - - - - - Total payments 4,189 300 - 4,489 2,975 Net of receipts/(payments) - 1,082 - - - 1,082 11 A5 Transfers between funds - - - - - A6 Cash funds last year end 9,805 - - 9,805 9,794 Cash funds this year end 8,723 - - 8,723 9,805 ~~——————~~ ~~===>~~ ~~=>~~

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 Coop Bank Current Account 409 Coop Bank Savings Account 8,314 - - - Total cash funds 8,723 ~~===~~ (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 - - - - - - - - - - - - ~~SSS~~ Fund to which Current value Cost (optional) asset belongs (optional) Details B3 Investment assets - - - - - - - - ~~SS SSE~~ Fund to which Current value Cost (optional) asset belongs (optional) Details B4 Assets retained for the Computer equipment Gen capital - - charity’s own use fund Display boards Gen capital - - fund Exhibition equipment Gen capital - - fund Energy meters Gen capital - - fund Thermal camera Gen capital - - fund Electrical test equipment Gen capital - - fund - - ~~===25~~ Fund to which Amount due When due liability relates (optional) (optional) Details B5 Liabilities - - - - Signed by one or two trustees Date of apon behalf of all the trustees Signature Print Name proval C.A. Shipman 01/08/2024 P.M. Walker ~~a~~ 01/08/2024 10

Stretton Climate Care: Organisation and other Facts

Charity Name and Number and address

Stretton Climate Care is a Charitable Incorporated Organisation (CIO). Registered charity number 1159816. It was established in 2015, replacing a charity of the same name which was established in 2008.

Address: Mayfair Community Centre, Easthope Road, Church Stretton, Shropshire, SY6 6BL email: [e-mail] Website www.strettonclimatecare.org.uk Tel [phone]

Finance

We have adequate funds although these have been depleting over successive years and the Trustees have taken action to reduce our annual losses by raising more funds in a variety of ways. It is the policy of Stretton Climate Care to operate with a financial reserve equivalent to at least 9 months of our annual expenditure, and we exceed that. The Committee receives a Report analysing expenditure and income at each of its meetings and controls expenditure accordingly. We do not undertake any significant fund raising and we are compliant with Charity Commission Fund Raising Guidelines and do not need to register with Fund Raising Regulator. We comply with Charity Commission guidelines for our financial controls.

We extend our thanks to Graham Vince, the Independent Examiner of the 2023-24 Stretton Climate Care accounts.

Summary of Charitable Objects

for the benefit of the public in the Church Stretton area: a) the conservation, protection and improvement of the environment b) education about use of energy to reduce or eliminate carbon dioxide emissions c) the relief of fuel poverty by promoting the efficient use of energy

Public Benefit

The Trustees of Stretton Climate Care have had regard to providing public benefit in delivering our services in accordance with advice from the Charity Commission. In particular our main service is to assess and advise on the carbon footprint and energy use of households and provide advice where appropriate on reducing this. This includes information on the choice of transport modes and vehicles and diet. And we have also supported the development of renewable energy in our area. We encourage reuse and recycling and the Repair Café continues to be successful. Our services are provided free of charge to any household in the community and we do our best to give priority to households in fuel poverty. We provide subsidiary activities and services, such as lectures and talks that are either free or subject to a small charge to cover costs. Other activities such as the duck race are intended to attract additional households to our service although there is small charge for entry to the duck race. Our activities also generate opportunities to advance education about conserving, protecting and improving the environment.

Trustees

The new Constitution provides for the election or appointment of up to 12 trustees. The current 9 Trustees are Marcus Cash, Jane Edwards, Mike Hymas, David Matthews (Chair), Christine Shipman (Secretary), Lorna Taylor, Roger Thorpe, Phil Walker (Treasurer) and Jane Wrench. Our Trustees are elected annually at the Annual General Meeting.

Other Information

We are dependent upon our dedicated and enthusiastic Volunteers who undertake all the functions of the organisation. There are no employees. We continue to review our data security arrangements in the light of the General Data Protection Regulation. Our Privacy Policy is on our website and we have registered with the Information Commissioner’s Office.

We have reviewed our Organisation against the Charity Commission’s Governance Code and are addressing a number of issues raised. In particular some Trustees have served for more than 9 years and our Board is not as diverse as it should be.

Structure of Stretton Climate Care

Our Board of Trustees makes the key decisions for the organisation and comprises all our Trustees. It has delegated many of its responsibilities to the General Management Committee which comprises all of our 9 Trustees and Mike Bourke, Becca Cartwright, Jon Cooke, Sally Farrell and David Howard.

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Our Volunteers

are an essential element of our organisation.

Without them we could not deliver our services. So here we list the names of those who are not Trustees who made Stretton Climate Care effective during the last two years :

Anne Alderson, John Bennett, Liz Bourke, Mike Bourke, Brian Bradley, Richard Briggs, Isabel Carter, Becca Cartwright, Ann Cooke, Jon Cooke, Sally Farrell, John Garnett, Barry Gwynne, Jackie and James Harrison, Chris Head, David Howard, Trish Howard, Rob Humpherson, Victoria Hurn, Moira Matthews, Andrew Middleton, Valerie Morris, Sandy Ogden, Sue Pinsent, John Ramage, Helen Sansom, Roger Seal, Liesa Shigan, Graham Shuttleworth, Derrick & Julie Tapscott, Vivienne Thorpe, Claire Tocknell, Mark Tocknell, Richard Walker, Ken White & Jamie Wrench, plus many other occasional volunteers who make our services happen.

We are very grateful for their actions, support and dedication.

Our Supporters and Funders

We also received funds and/or support from a number of companies and organisations, including Agilent Technologies, Ambercouch, Burway Books, Chocolate Haven, Energy Zone, Go Green Systems, Kaboodle, Jemima’s Kitchen, Marshbrook Print, Mid-Counties Cooperative, Rainbow’s End, Salts, Shropshire Green Energy Centre, Stretton Print, The National Trust & Vine & Co.

We are very grateful to the numerous individuals and bodies who helped achieve our work, especially our volunteers, funders and donors.

Our Vision :

A sustainable and equitable local community, where people and nature thrive, resilient to the impacts of climate change. Our environmental footprint is in balance.

Our Mission Statement:

To advance environmental protection and improvement through the reduction of greenhouse gas emissions, reduction of pollution and restoration of the natural environment.

Aims

 To raise awareness of issues concerning climate change and the need for action

 To promote a culture of climate care through reducing energy consumption, encouraging the generation of local energy, and advancing a more sustainable lifestyle

•  To support local people in reducing emissions, and eliminating fuel poverty

__ Annual Report Supported by

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