MARKFIELD COMMUNITY LIBRARY
TRUSTEES’ REPORT FOR THE YEAR ENDED 31 MARCH 2025
Reference and administrative details of the charity and its trustees
The charity is a Charitable Incorporated Organisation and is known as Markfield Community Library. Its registration number is 1162059.
The charity is registered at Slatebrook House, Jasmine Gardens, Ratby Lane, Markfield, Leicestershire, LE67 9RJ and operates from premises at Oakfield Avenue, Markfield, Leicestershire, LE67 9WG.
The trustees in place at the date of approval of this report are:
M Bowler (appointed on incorporation) J Bowler (appointed on 1 October 2016) JC Grace (appointed on 25 August 2017) CG Sharpe (appointed on 1 May 2024) JA Williams (appointed on 21 February 2020)
Structure, governance and management
The charity was constituted as a Charitable Incorporated Organisation under a formal written Constitution on 8 June 2015.
The Constitution requires that there shall be no less than three and no more than five trustees at all times.
The first charity trustees were appointed for terms of office ranging from two to four years. Further trustees are appointed for a term of three years by resolution passed at a properly convened meeting of the charity trustees. In selecting individuals for appointment as charity trustees, the existing trustees must have regard to the skills, knowledge and experience needed for the effective administration of the charity. New trustees are provided with a copy of the current version of the constitution and a copy of the latest Trustees’ Annual Report and statement of accounts. They receive a full briefing on the administration and activities of the charity from the existing trustees.
Objectives and activities
The objects of Markfield Community Library as set out in its constitution are as follows:
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The advancement of education for the public benefit in Markfield by the provision of a volunteer run lending library.
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To promote for the benefit of the residents of Markfield the provision of a public library for recreation and/or other leisure time occupation of individuals who have need of such facilities by reason of their youth, age, infirmity or disablement, financial hardship or social and economic circumstances or for the public at large in the interests of social welfare and with the object of improving the condition of life of the said residents.
Activities undertaken by the charity in accordance with the above objects comprise principally the operation of a volunteer run lending library for a minimum of 18 hours per week, together with the
hiring of the premises to third party groups for the benefit of the community. All activities are undertaken in the interests of public benefit.
Achievements and performance
Throughout the year to 31 March 2025 the library has continued to operate as an independent volunteer based Charitable Incorporated Organisation, in succession to the previously Leicestershire County Council run library. It has continued to demonstrate that it is a sustainable organisation both in terms of its ability to sustain a sufficient quantity and quality of volunteers to provide the services to which it is committed in its grant agreement with Leicestershire County Council and from the point of view of financial viability for the medium term.
Lettings to the Before and After School Club associated with the neighbouring Mercenfeld Primary School have continued throughout the year. The trustees are also pleased to have been able to continue to support the local community through the regular hosting of class visits from Mercenfeld Primary School and the hosting of community directed events.
Financial review
The trustees have adopted a reserves policy whereby they seek to accumulate sufficient cash reserves over time to fund a minimum of one year’s ongoing operational expenditure once Leicestershire County Council grant funding ends.
The charity has an accumulated unrestricted cash balance of £74,917 from a surplus of receipts over payments over the past nine and a half years, principally as a result of the receipt of £40,000 of government sponsored Covid lockdown grants. The trustees are also grateful for the financial support of Markfield Parish Council and for the ongoing support of Leicestershire County Council, provided through an agreement which provides ongoing operational support and access to the Council’s book stock and operating systems, and through a lease for the library premises at a peppercorn rent for a period of ten years.
The trustees are confident that sufficient reserves will remain in place to sustain the financial viability of the operation for the foreseeable future.
M Bowler
J Bowler Trustees
JC Grace
CG Sharpe
JA Williams
14 April 2025
MARKFIELD COMMUNITY LIBRARY
RECEIPTS AND PAYMENTS ACCOUNT FOR THE YEAR ENDED 31 MARCH 2025
| UNRESTRICTED FUNDS RECEIPTS HBBC Warm Space/Anniversary/VE Day/Rural Community grants Markfeld Parish Council grant The Natonal Lotery Fund Letngs Book reservatons and fnes Photocopy charges Events (net) Sundry donatons PAYMENTS Insurance Performing Rights licence Equipment Newspapers Electricity Gas Water Sundry expenses Bank charges Premises Sensory Garden NET EXCESS OF RECEIPTS OVER PAYMENTS CASH AT BANK AND IN HAND AT 31 MARCH 2025 STATEMENT OF ASSETS AND LIABILITIES AT 31 MARCH 2025 Unrestricted funds Restricted Funds Cash at Bank and in Hand M Bowler J Bowler Trustees JC Grace JA Williams CG Sharpe |
2024 £ 1,782 5,000 - 7,675 40 247 388 531 15,663 700 530 709 684 2,134 2,569 362 1,222 74 7,673 150 16,807 - 1,144 76,987 76,987 - 76,987 |
2025 £ 1,709 5,000 5,000 7,500 15 117 323 408 |
|---|---|---|
| 20,072 | ||
| 621 552 22 788 2,124 2,325 314 901 77 9,106 312 |
||
| 17,142 | ||
| 2,930 | ||
| 79,917 | ||
| 74,917 5,000 |
||
| 79,917 | ||
14 April 2025