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2023-03-31-accounts

Annual Report and Accounts for the year ending 31 March 2023

Charity Number: 1162318

Shap Swimming Pool: Trustees Annual Report 2022-2023

October 2022

Objectives and activities of the pool

Shap Swimming Pool was established as a Community Interest Organisation (CIO) on 19 June 2015 to manage Shap Open Air Swimming Pool. The pool has been open since 1987, on land provided by the Parish Council and Lowther Estate. It was established after years of dedicated fundraising by the villagers of Shap.

The pool is widely used by the local community as well as visitors and operates during the late spring and summer, typically late May to early September. It is run entirely by volunteers although does train and employ lifeguards each season.

The pool is used by local schools for school swimming lessons, as well as other community groups such as Cubs and sports clubs. It offers season tickets and private pool hire as well as a small shop for the sale of drinks and snacks during pool opening hours.

The agreed objective of the CIO is:

“The promotion of community participation in healthy recreation for the benefits of the inhabitants of, and visitors to, Shap, by the provision of a swimming pool.”

This is broken down into specific aims to:

Chair’s report

After not opening at all in 2020, and restricted opening in 2021, we were pleased to open as normal in 2022. We opened slightly later than hoped, due to the late finishing of the improvement works. The new toddler splash pool was very popular, and the refit of the shop made it a much better environment for our volunteers to work in. Replacing all of the grouting around the pool was less visible but it will mean annual maintenance for that is much reduced as well as giving a nicer appearance.

We were delighted to welcome back school swimming lessons, with Shap, Orton, Selside and Burneside Primary Schools all using the pool. We were also pleased to bring back season tickets, which mean that local families in particular can enjoy the

pool during the summer months at a reasonable price, and children can practice their swimming in a safe and fun environment.

We welcomed weekly Fit4All sessions to the pool which were popular with adults and hosted 3 triathlons for local clubs. The British Naturist Society continued their monthly evening sessions, which were a good income generator for the pool.

Private hire sessions remained popular, with family groups and organisations taking advantage of the option. Often this meant we had a guaranteed income even if the weather wasn’t good, when sessions might otherwise have been very empty.

Booking system

We continued to use BookWhen, an online ticketing system, to manage the tickets and number for each session. This works well for swimmers, who can plan their trip in advance and won’t need to queue on busy days. For example, for visitors on holiday, who could guarantee a time to swim during their holiday. It is also helpful for our volunteers who don’t need to manage a queue outside the pool and monitor numbers during a session etc. It has also improved our income reliability through the season. Season ticket holders who wanted to use the pool for longer than a onehour session were able to by booking in double slots.

Achievements and performance

We opened slightly later than planned, at the start of June, due to the late finishing of the pool improvements, and closed at the end of the school holidays. With BookWhen, we now have a better record of pool users and the numbers for the 2022 season are as follows:

4586 bookings and 2833 attendees

41 private hires of the pool

52 season tickets

School swimming lessons for Shap, Orton, Burneside and Selside Primary Schools

3 Triathlons and weekly “Fit4All” sessions in the pool

Note: the swim numbers aren’t unique users, just the number of bookings.

We kept a simple price structure for this year and absorbed the cost of the booking system rather than adding it to the ticket price.

Lifeguards

We recruited 4 lifeguards for the season, only one of whom had worked at Shap Pool before. They were trained with the other Eden outdoor pool lifeguards and all worked

well through the season. We hope to recruit more than 4 lifeguards for next year to give us flexibility to add more sessions.

Volunteers

We are, as always, really grateful to all our volunteers. We couldn’t run the pool without them. We were pleased that they had positive feedback for the new booking system, as it made their role less stressful on the whole. We will be looking at how we can encourage more people to volunteer, even if it is only for a few hours through the season – every little helps. We will also review the incentive for volunteers, which we introduced for the 2022 of a reduced-price season ticket, to see if this has improved volunteer recruitment and if there is anything additional we can do.

Treasurer’s Report

The statement of accounts accompanies this report.

There is a healthy balance in our bank accounts. Despite the improvement works completed over this financial year, we haven’t had to go into our contingency fund, which remains at £10k.

The income from swim sessions remains good, thanks to the booking system and despite keeping prices at 2021 levels. We also kept the reintroduced season tickets at 2019 prices, as we wanted to make sure we made it an affordable option for regular swimmers, especially our local families.

The private hire sessions were popular again and brought in good income. This included the 4 British Naturist swims, which contributed nearly £1k.

The shop contributed well to our income for the year and remained popular with swimmers.

We continue to pay all our lifeguards at just above the living wage rate rather than in age brackets. We want to pay a good wage and help ensure we retain trained lifeguards across more than one season.

Grants received:

Donations received:

We received a £900 donation from the Shap Young People’s lottery, thank you!

Improvement works

We undertook some major improvements to the pool for this season:

The work was paid for from our existing funds, and the grants received, and we were able to claim some of the VAT back.

As set out in the constitution, we will retain a surplus in our accounts, to ensure we have funding for emergency repairs or unforeseen costs.

We remain on fixed rate tariffs for our electricity which is up for renewal in 2023. We moved to a fixed rate for gas, for 3 years, in May 2022, which helped reduce some of the impact of the rising prices. Chemicals for the pool treatment have all increased in price and are in short supply, so we are considering buying the stock for next season in advance, so we aren’t caught short mid-season.

Annual report and accounts from 2022-23 will be filed with the Charity Commission by end of October.

Structure, governance and management

The charity is run by volunteers, with a dedicated committee and a small number of seasonal volunteers who assist in the pool shop and help with plant room maintenance, cleaning and general maintenance. The pool employs lifeguards during the season and funds their training course.

Briony Newsome was voted in as new Chair at the AGM in October 2022. Sarah Bruce continues as Treasurer. Teresa Martin stepped down as Secretary at the AGM in October 2022 and the committee would like to thank her for her contributions over the past 6 years.

As at March 2023, there are currently 2 Trustees. There is a vacancy for a Secretary, who would also become the third Trustee. The committee is hoping to recruit a Secretary in the coming year and is advertising across local newsletters and groups to advertise the position.

Shap Pool continues to be a part of the Eden Outdoor Pools network, and meets regularly with the other 5 outdoor pools in the area to share ideas and support each other with training and advice. The Shap Pool committee are grateful for the support of ACT Cumbria who chair and provides minutes for the meetings.

Reference and administrative details

Charity number: 1162318

Principle office: Shap Swimming Pool, Gayle Avenue, Shap, CA10 3NS

Trustees: Sarah Bruce (Treasurer), Briony Newsome (Chair)

Committee Members: Briony Newsome, Sarah Bruce, , Stacey Lewis-Wrobel, Emily Williams, Mel Wright, Kim Lightburn

Shap Swimming Pool
Statement of Income and Expenditure as at 31st March 2023
2022/2023
2021/2022
2022/2023
2021/2022
Income
Income
ExpenditureExpenditure
£
£
£
7,210.00
10,365.72
2080
0
2490
0
3124.08
1587.77
1687.45
911.46
4483
2749
0
320
900
1946.52
20.25
1
2143.5
3085
0
324.46
958
28068.42
8,646.00
3493.32
1910.65
535.4
2526.65
0.00
100
0.00
0.00
0
0.00
0.00
0
0.00
1695.55
1,255.52
5212.68
2,730.84
121
102.00
6734.79
6,585.38
1221.58
1,118.49
0
307.00
238.4
18.24
68.14
650.00
260
49.98
0.00
109.41
0.00
264.10
1244.76
4109.44
0.00
Swim sessions
Season Tickets
School Swims
Shop sales
Grants
Fund Raising
Donations
Bank Interest
Pool Hire
Miscellaneous income/expenses
Major Works
Chemicals
Repairs & Maintenance
Advertising
Rates
Rent
Water
Gas
Electric
Wages
Insurance
Staff Uniform
Admin
Training
Phone
Stationery
VAT on sales & purchases
VAT refund / paid
23,695.59 24,488.91 50,504.14 27,076.31
Balance Sheet as at 31/03/23
Opening balance Barclays Current Account 31/03/2022 38,391.48
Barclays Savings Account 31/03/2023 10,004.30
Petty Cash in Hand 0.00
48,395.78
Closing balance Barclays Current Account 31/03/2023 11,728.69
Barclays Saving Account 31/03/2023 10,024.55
Petty Cash in Hand 0.00
21,753.24
Movement in Funds -26,808.55
Funds to carryforward 21,587.23