2023-03-31-accounts - The Patchworking Garden Project

This text was generated using OCR and may contain errors. Check the original PDF to see the document submitted to the regulator.

The Patchworking Garden Project - Trustees Report 31 March 2023

The Patchworking Garden Project Trustees Report – 31 March 2023

For the year 1 April 2022 to 31 March 2023

Reference and Administration Details


Charity name	The Patchworking Garden Project
Registered Charity number	1162471 (Registered in England and Wales)
Charity’s Principal Address	Carmel O’Shea 44 West Bank Dorking Surrey RH4 3DH
Website	www.patchworkinggardenproject.co.uk

Trustees

Trustees

Name	Office (if any)
Isobel Gowan	Chair
Carmel O’Shea	Founder
Dan Andrew	Treasurer
Helen McHenry
Val Theobald
Joanne Olney	Mental Health Adviser Appointed 10 October 2022
Helen Clifford-Jones	Appointed 16 March 2023
Others who served during the year
Helen Flanagan	Resigned 1 June 2022

The Patchworking Garden Project Trustees Report – 31 March 2023


Chris Blockey	Resigned 25 October 2022
David Lloyd	Resigned 3 January 2023
Chris Munford	Resigned 31 March 2023

Structure, Governance and Management


Type of governing document	The Constitution was adopted on 23 April 2015.
How the Charity is constituted	The Patchworking Garden Project is a Charitable Incorporated Organisation with voting members comprising its trustees and its management committee. Its registration as a Charity was effective from 1 April 2015.
Trustee selection methods	Trustees are appointed for a three-year term. There must be a minimum of five and a maximum of seven. Vacancies or new appointments may be filled by the Trustees. The appointment of such interim Trustees must be confirmed at the next Annual General Meeting. From the second Annual General Meeting onwards one third of Trustees must retire annually but may be reappointed for a second term.
Decision-making	Decisions are made both by the Trustees or are delegated to the Management Committee. In the event of a matter being raised to the members for a decision then a simple majority is required from the voting members.

Other relevant governance matters

The project has policies and procedures in place covering the operation of the garden and what is expected of our volunteers. We also have policies for safeguarding, equal opportunities, health and safety, how we manage our income and expenditure and a reserves policy. These policies are reviewed on a regular basis.

The project works closely with local mental health and learning disability services, General Practitioners, volunteer agencies and other charities supporting individuals with physical and mental health needs.

The Patchworking Garden Project Trustees Report – 31 March 2023

The trustees and the management committee give their time voluntarily and receive no remuneration or other benefits. The project is entirely run by a dedicated group of volunteers who give freely of their time and many skills.

Objectives and activities

The objectives of The Patchworking Garden Project are:

The promotion of improvement in well-being as a result of accessing the therapeutic benefits of gardening in a volunteer supported environment, which include better physical health, improved psychological health, improved social opportunities, learning new skills and access to the natural environment.
The promotion of volunteering to increase engagement with the community, enhancing the use of community resources and raising confidence and self-esteem.
The reduction of stigma associated with physical disability, psychological health problems, old age and infirmity by creating an inclusive project where the contribution of each person is equally acknowledged.
To provide this service within the Mole Valley area of Surrey.

Activities and Achievements

2022-23 has been a busy and successful year for the project. We have had all sorts of weather of course but this was a year for staying open, welcoming new supported and support volunteers as well as Trustees. We also said a fond farewell to many people.

Our year started well in April with the son of a volunteer running the Manchester marathon to raise funds for us, then we had our Spring celebration with the official opening of our fabulous glasshouse and our amazing roundhouse; our fabulous Summer Open Day came around very quickly and soon it was Christmas and time for our seasonal sprays and beautiful crafts!
We established a new ‘noisy shed’ for woodworking and sewing machines;
Our founder Carmel spoke at the first RHS Wisley’s Wellbeing forum;
We have been lucky again to sustain fundraising and thanks to that along with legacies we have continued to invest;
We were especially delighted to be awarded funds for our Academy by the RHS Flourish Fund which was established to encourage diversity in those pursuing work in horticulture;
Our first cohort of Academy students have achieved their level 2 City & Guilds Diploma in Horticulture-huge congratulations to them!
A big shout out too to the staff of Atkins Engineering who raised a magnificent £2600 in their sunflower growing competition;
We now support up to 90 people alongside our 60 support volunteers and will keep to that number:
We finished updating our website and have been lucky enough to recruit two experienced volunteers to help with marketing and social media.

The Patchworking Garden Project Trustees Report – 31 March 2023

We recruited two new Trustees: one who is our Mental Health Adviser and the other is leading on Fundraising and Communications.

Challenges

Inevitably keeping up with fundraising is always a major challenge but we have many great supporters, and our 2022 events showed us the great support we have;
We have successfully applied for a number of grants but know that being successful will be tougher given the impact of the pandemic and the UK economy;
We have changed landlords but are protected by new planning permission for our site. We hope soon to finally be able to negotiate a long-term lease with our new landlord Stonegate homes who are developing the former Aviva site.

Looking forward

We will keep publishing our quarterly newsletter to those who like to hear about our work.
We will approach local businesses more formally with a view to establishing a network from whom we can ask for ongoing financial support.
We are continuing to build more links within our community to ensure our students and others we support can find new opportunities for employment and volunteering.

Financial Review

This year saw both our income and our expenses fall compared to the prior year however we remain in a strong financial position.

Overall, our deficit was £10,838 (2022 : surplus of £63,400) a change of £74,300. Our 31 March 2023 balance sheet shows total funds of £79,200. (2022 : £90,100).

Funds are unrestricted and are held in cash at NatWest (£4,200) and Virgin Money (£75,000)

Our income was significantly boosted last year by legacies of £70,000. Our income decreased by £31,900 to £39,400 when that exceptional income is excluded. This can be broken down into three parts :

Donations decreased to £7,600 (Last year £17,500) a reduction of £9,900.
Grants were received of £15,000 (Last year £33,900) a reduction of £18,900.
Fundraising added £16,800 (Last year £19,900) a reduction of £3,100.

Our costs also decreased by £27,600 to £50,300 which again can be broken down into three elements.

The Patchworking Garden Project Trustees Report – 31 March 2023

Running costs totalled £22,100 (Last year £16,400) This includes all costs of running the garden and activities and our maintenance and overhead costs.
Our Academy tutor costs totalled £19,800 (Last year £18,000)
Our investment in the Pixham site was reduced to £8,400 (Last year £43,500). Funds this year were invested in our irrigation system, the Academy greenhouse, completion of the Roundhouse and other site improvements.

Financial outlook

Our total running costs this year are budgeted at £42,000. These will be funded from our normal fundraising activities and grant income. Whilst our reserves have been boosted by our legacy income, we regard the receipt of regular grant income as essential for the Academy due to its annual running costs of £22,000. However there may be less grant money available in the immediate future and we will manage our expenditure accordingly.

Reserves Policy

Our Reserves Policy requires the Charity to retain a year’s running costs in reserve, which for the Garden and Academy, excluding further development expenditure, is a combined total of £42,000. We are pleased to report that we have almost two years of running costs.

The reserves we have will be retained to cover any shortfalls in income, for unforeseen expenditure to make appropriate investments that the Trustees and Management Committee agree should be made in furtherance of our charitable objectives.

Declaration

The trustees declare that they have approved the trustee’s report above. Signed on behalf of the Trustees on 11 August 2023.


Name	Isobel Gowan	Dan Andrew
Position	Chair	Treasurer

The Patchworking Garden Project Trustees Report – 31 March 2023

Reg. 1162471

The Patchworking Garden Project England & Wales Receipts and payments accounts For the year 01-Apr-22 To 31-Mar-23 Form : CC16a

Section A Receipts and payments

Receipts	Unrestricted Funds £	Restricted Funds (Academy) £	Total Funds £	Last Year £
Donations includingGift Aid	7,609	-	7,609	17,493
Grants Received	15,000	-	15,000	33,900
Fundraising	16,806	-	16,806	19,933
Legacies Received	-	-	-	70,000
Total receipts	39,415	-	39,415	141,326
Payments
Expenditure to developthe Garden	8,377	-	8,377	43,493
Garden,Craft supplies and Equipment	10,953	-	10,953	9,420
TrainingCosts	205	19,785	19,990	18,004
FundraisingCosts	1,426	-	1,426	1,051
Other Expenses	8,094	1,414	9,508	5,938
Total payments	29,054	21,199	50,253	77,906
Net surplus/(deficit) Transfers between funds Opening funds Cash funds this year-end
	10,361	(21,199)	(10,838)	63,420
	(11,806)	11,806	-	-
	80,683	9,393	90,076	26,656
	79,238	-	79,238	90,076

Section B Statement of assets and liabilities at the end of the year

	31-Mar-23 £	31-Mar-22 £
NatWest Dorking-Current Account	4,238	15,076
Virgin Money-Charity Deposit Account	75,000	75,000
	79,238	90,076

Unrestricted Funds	79,238	80,683
Restricted Funds	-	9,393
	79,238	90,076

No book value is placed on our buildings, equipment or development expenditure at Pixham.	None	None

Liabilitities in respect of site development costs.	None	£4,300

The Patchworking Garden Project Trustees Report – 31 March 2023

Independent examiner's report to the trustees of The Patchworking Garden Project Registered charity number 1162471

I report to the trustees on my examination of the accounts of The Patchworking Garden Project (‘the Project’) for the year ended 31 March 2023.

Responsibilities and basis of report

As the charity’s trustees of the Project, you are responsible for the preparation of the accounts in accordance with the requirements of the Charities Act 2011 (‘the Act’)

I report in respect of my examination of the Project’s accounts carried out under section 145 of the 2011 Act and in carrying out my examination I have followed all the applicable Directions given by the Charity Commission under section 145(5)(b) of the Act.

Independent examiner's statement

I have completed my examination. I confirm that no material matters have come to my attention in connection with the examination giving me cause to believe that in any material respect:

accounting records were not kept in respect of the Project as required by section 130 of the Act; or
the accounts do not accord with those records.

I have no concerns and have come across no other matter in connection with the examination to which attention should be drawn in this report in order to enable a proper understanding of the accounts to be reached.

Signed:

Mr David Huw Bassett FCCA Tamar, Harrow Road East, Dorking, Surrey

Date: 11 August 2023