## **LOVER COMMUNITY TRUST** ## **CHAIR’S REPORT AGM 2025** In many respects it seems to have been a quieter year than we have been used to in the past, probably because we have not started any new building projects. The year has largely been spent consolidating our use of the building and beginning to think of ways to fill the spaces with community use. This appears to be a slow burn and the lack of onsite parking at The Old School does put us at a disadvantage compared with other similar facilities in this area. Parking is a controversial issue but it must remain a topic of conversation and debate. We have formed an Events Committee charged with the task of drumming up ideas. Membership of the Events Committee does not commit you to being responsible for organising an event, so if you would like to join then please let us know. We have a few good suggestions in the pipeline so keep a close eye out. Our Membership Secretary tells us that despite losing a few Members during the year their loss has been balanced by some new joiners such that our membership remains stable. However, we are always looking for new recruits. This last 12 months have seen a number of changes that ware worthy of mention. First, the new toilets are now in full use and do make the use of the whole building more viable and customer friendly and have been well worth the money we have spent on them. We recently bought 70, more comfortable chairs, for use at social functions. This will make some of the events that we are planning to stage, lasting over 1 hour, a far more pleasant experience. One of the small problems that has been brought to our attention during the year has been the difficultly in getting the temperature in the Valentine Room up to the needed levels. This year we put in bigger radiators and removed the covers, which seemed to have the desired effect. The Board of Trustees has continued to work on your behalf throughout the year and remains committed to the further development of the project. The Trustees are assisted by many others who make a big contribution to our success. Those who help to keep the place clean, keep it beautifully decorated and maintain the Lover Green as an attractive addition to our work. Each year helpers gather to run the Valentine Post, the Darling Cafe3 and Post Office, social events and maintaining the fabric of the building.. However, like many of you they are busy people, and there is no certainty about them always being available. We all extend our thanks to the whole of the volunteer force that give so much. I have to admit to feeling it is too much of a struggle at times to find people to help in taking us forward and quite recently I had to send out a very frank email to the whole Membership about the difficulty we were having in finding a replacement for our retiring Treasurer. This is my opportunity to be up front to you all about the need for help. We are always looking for volunteers to help running The Old School. No volunteer is left to their own devices if they need help and it is a rewarding thing to do. Please help. Finally, this will be the last meeting for our Treasurer, Peter Harper and we cannot thank him enough for all that he has done over the last 10years. Peter has been a stalwart from the very start and helped to galvanise the community into purchasing the building and creating the strategies on which we have operated. He is a highly competent finance and community manager/ volunteer who has dedicated a lot of time to bringing us to the point we are now. They say no one is irreplaceable but some are more so than others. Peter has been more than our Treasurer he has also been a friend to us all and we express our sincere thanks for everything that he has done for us. **ENDS** Lovor C￿￿MUn[ty Tru5t.A£courts frxthe ytar*J 31st D4¢¢ff*•r2024 (Re￿￿￿ts and Fomktl Year lo J1 Lbc. Year lo 31 t￿. 2024 2023 425.00 Men*)er5hip 889.98 LkJnaiK>nS 53.71 Rewa￿ schenEs 9935.64 Fundrais￿g 6051.50 Hne fees 10600.00 Grants 0.00 Grft Atsj Other 4151)0 1337.60 14)te 2 23.95 8422.97 ￿te 3 61 12.00 0.00 607.19 167.00 27955.83 Total ￿cepts Payments 25232.42 Refurb*hft*nt tJ)s 1277.11 Insurance 895.86 EQU￿1￿£￿( purtha¥e l ffenlenante 279.89 E￿Ctr￿ty 2527.55 Gas 431.73 Phone I brr)adban 92.54 Water raies 389.78 RepaN5 and 398.28 aeaning 125.00 Marteling l advethwig 0.00 Adrnwi. l co*s 200.73 Vert)er5hys and ￿cenceS 1828.22 Lo¥erGreen expenditurE Lov8rGre&n- rBpkncerr¢nt 19.18 Otherl sundry 33698.29 Total payTrEnts -5742.46 Surpkjwldeftitllorthe year 17085.71 12408 38 ￿le 4 129S.86 1036 52 539 81 1611.19 466.95 609.92 501.56 433.94 184.95 103.33 223.23 1800.63 8220.00 74.24 29510 51 -12424.80 SOS71.87 88￿nI% brDught foThArd 44829.41 44829.41 B4lJnce cathed t￿8￿1 32404.61 StatomentolAssets arnl UalAIIUe¥ 8t31st Docembpr 2024 44783.14 Cash al bank 46.27 Petty Cash 0.00 PayPal Ba￿nc¥ 70000.00 Buiklngs 23630.00 Egury>rnBnt and o¢her Ifx8d assèts tknblors 138459.41 Nei ass&t8 32352.05 52.56 120000.1)0 27370.00 179774.61 The88 accountsvrnrp gppnved by Iha Tnjsletr Gibbs. chaip8￿￿ and i)n Ibewbthawty. Dale. I hBve exarT￿ne￿ the Lo¥er Con*Nnly TDJst Rec8yts and P8yn*nls accounts and Statgrr•nl of As8ets and for tho peihjd endhg 31st 2024 To Ihe besl ol knomlbdge and beknl. and n acojrdance Ihe vrforrr¢txin gi4tn to . they have been propety prnparEd IrDm the acr¥)unlkng of th• L*afty and arn kn agteerr*nl W Ihe EXH￿iner. (/￿t ACMA , C&MA cl-6c4￿T3 Dale.. Iz1202+ P.T.O TES TO AcCOUP￿s 1. Thtrsé aeo)untsarn prnpared on a receyts and pa￿ents basi 2. Tr)natr)ns donat*)n of £200 Ihe ft))W*rTep*D￿t. 3. Fundrdwg is 5ho*Tr netof èynsas and of". Va￿nkneS Post Otherevents 6021.87 2401.10 4. R8fuffokh￿nl w)¢k 11 2024 consfj5tsI of.. V818nlkne Fioom- rntt*tor5 Tok*ts prDpcI- fffjal ￿S￿￿￿nI 1500.00 10W8.38 S. th)verr￿n15 kn ￿SIr￿ted and desvJnated lund$ asfoknA" TherB aTr ￿ndS nated funds Tolal LoNwGTren LCT Re*J￿*h￿￿l Reser¥e Fund Lo¥or FayTE F6ncx Fund Fund Fund 149JO.00 Balgnco bn 0.00 Irthtr 000.00 EJpense5 1600.00 Transfers 11500.00 dl 1500.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 1500.00 0.00 0.00 -5000. 400.00 10(K).LK 1(th.(KI 2{￿.00 0.00 O.DO 1(#XS.00 7WI.00 111 ¥thh the der￿Se of Thts L0vÈTFd￿e thtr has bttsn bafislerred to tht general fvn¢J r21 The tYth%*rfvn¢J 19 a fund over 10 lo repkn* the nmmral 8 (xjst of £10 LNXS. The prevws yeats balan￿ waspul towa￿5 the puthase ol a rpplatrmpnt rnrand £1[￿ bean added forlhe year. 131 The fenc4)g fund is a wk*)g fun¢J of £20(K¢ ow 10 y8ar¥lor rep*en*nt ffjn￿g The balance now stsnds 81 £20￿ and so there no addl￿fi >Ear. 141 Th8 boler fund is a $￿kNIg fil￿d over 10 years to thb bokrèt a cost of £lOOOO IS) The Refvrbthm2nl Reserve Fund is iilended to weel any une>peded eNpensw6 not (¥Mred by ffjsurnn￿. It * sat at a ￿V&1 such th81 th8t th• a99regak of resbtlad and d6swat8d luThds reffo￿5 atthp £10 {￿, ol £1500