CHARITY COMMISSION
FOR ENGLAND AND WALES
Independent examinerfs
report on the accounts
Section A
Independent Examiner"s Report
Report to the trusteesl
members of
Bostsll Library C(xnmunity Group
On accounts for the year
ended
5th April 2024
Chartty no
{rf any)
1165313
Set out on pages
I retK)rt to the trustees on my examination of the ac(x)unts of the above
tharity (Ihe T￿￿r) for the year ended 0510412024
Responsibilities and As the chartty trustees of the TrusL you are responsible for the preparation
basis of report of the accounts in acc{Kdan￿ wÉth the requirements of the Charities Act
2011 fthe Acf).
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.
I have completed my examination. l u)nfirm that no material matters have
come to my attention in LX)nneclion wilh the examination which gives me
cause to believe that in. any material respect:
accAJunting records were not kept in accordance with section 130 of
the Act or
the a(y))unts do not a￿Ord with the accounting records
I have no con￿M5 and have come across no other matters in connection
with the examination to which attention should be dravm in order to enable a
proper understanding of the accounts to be reached.
Independent
eXaMine￿S statement
Slgned:
Date:
1911212024
Name:
Elia Castillo T0￿e5
Relevant professional
qualification(s) or body
{rf any)-
Ar￿Unting and Finan￿ Degree
Address:
66 Orchard Avenue
Upper Belvedere. Kent
DA175PD
IER
October 2018

Section B
Disclosure
Only ￿rnplete rf the examiner needs to highlight matters of concern (see CC32.
Independent eXaMina￿n of charity accounts: directions and guidance for
examiners).
Give here brief detsils of
any items that the
examiner wishes to
disclose.
IER
October 2018

**Bostall Library Community Group** 

**11** 


**Receipts and payments acco For the period** 06/04/2023 **To from** 

## **Section A Receipts and payments** 

**Unrestricted Restricted Endowment funds funds funds to the nearest £ to the nearest £ to the nearest £** 

## **A1 Receipts Bostall Library** 

|**A1 Receipts**<br>**Bostall Library**|**Unrestricted**<br>**funds**<br>**to the nearest £**||**Restricted**<br>**funds**<br>**to the nearest £**||**Endowment**<br>**funds**<br>**to the nearest £**|
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
|Grants / Funds|**1,100**||**10,000**||**-**|
|Counter Sales|**1,992**||**-**||**-**|
|LibrarySpace Hire|**5,928**||**-**||**-**|
|Coffee ShopSales|**1,769**||**-**||**-**|
|Fundraising& Book sales|**5,262**||**-**||**-**|
|Donations|**120**||**-**||**-**|
|Interest on Deposit|**994**||**-**||**-**|
|Miscellaneous|**766**||**-**||**-**|
|**Bexley Village Library (Relinquished)**||||||
|Grants|**-**||**-**||**-**|
|LibrarySpace Hire|**-**||**-**||**-**|
|**_Sub total_**_(Gross income for_<br>_AR)_|**17,930**||**10,000**||**-**|
|||||||
|**A2 Asset and investment sales,**<br>**(see table).**||||||
||**-**||||**-**|
|**_Sub total_**|**-**||||**-**|
|**_Total receipts_**<br>**A3 Payments**<br>**Bostall Library**||||||
||||||**-**|
|||||||
|<br>Utilities|**3,714**||**-**||**-**|
|IT|**4,332**||**-**||**-**|
|Consumables and Stock|**5,502**||**-**||**-**|
|Insurance|**319**||**-**||**-**|
|Rates and Taxes|**443**||**-**||**-**|
|Miscellaneous|**848**||**-**||**-**|
|Transport|**1,284**||**-**||**-**|
|CommunityCinema|**148**||**-**||**-**|
|Household Support Fund|**-**||**6,673**||**-**|
|Bank Charges|**-**||**-**||**-**|
|Paypal Miscellaneous|**248**||**-**||**-**|
|Maintenance / BuildingWorks|**32,897**||**-**||**-**|
|**Bexley Village Library (Relinquished)**||||||
|Utilities|**-**||**-**||**-**|
|Bank Charges|**-**||**-**||**-**|
|**_Sub total_ **|**49,735**||**6,673**||**-**|
|||||||
|**A4 Asset and investment**<br>**purchases, (see table)**||||||
||**-**||||**-**|
||**-**||||**-**|





|**_Sub total_ **<br>**_Total payments_**<br>**_Net of receipts/(payments)_**<br>**A5 Transfers between funds**<br>**A6 Cash funds last year end**<br>**_Cash funds this year end_**|**-**|**-**|**-**|**-**|**-**|
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
||**-                31,804**||**3,327**||**-**|
||**-**|<br>|**-**|<br>|**-**|
||**98,240**||**-**||**-**|
||**66,436**||**3,327**||**-**|



## **Section B Statement of assets and liabilities at the end of the** 

|**Categories**<br>**B1 Cash funds**<br>**B2 Other monetary assets**<br>**B3 Investment assets**<br>**B4 Assets retained for the**<br>**charity’s own use**|**Details**<br>**Details**<br>Current Account Bostall Library<br>Saffron Building Society BLCG<br>**_Total cash funds_**<br>(agree balances with receipts and payments<br>account(s))|**Details**<br>**Details**<br>Current Account Bostall Library<br>Saffron Building Society BLCG<br>**_Total cash funds_**<br>(agree balances with receipts and payments<br>account(s))|**Unrestricted**<br>**funds**<br>**to nearest £**|
|---|---|---|---|
||||**24,986**|
||||**41,450**|
||||**66,436**|
||||OK|
||||**Unrestricted**<br>**funds**<br>**to nearest £**|
||||**-**|
||**Details**||**Fund to which**<br>**asset belongs**|
|||||
||**Details**||**Fund to which**<br>**asset belongs**|
||Book Stock||<br>unrestricted|
||Computer Equipment||unrestricted|
||LibraryFurniture and Shelving||unrestricted|
||Library Vehicle||unrestricted|



## **B5 Liabilities** 

Signed by one or two trustees on behalf of all the trustees 

|**Details**|**Details**|**Fund to which**<br>**liability relates**<br>Restricted<br>Andrew B<br>Print N<br>Adrian R|
|---|---|---|
|Household Support Fund||<br>Restricted|
||||
|Signature|||
|||Adrian R|
|||Andrew|



## **Notes to Reciepts and Payments Account** 

Extraordinary spending of £32,897 attributed to building of an ex 



## **165313** 

## **ounts** 

## **CC16a** 

05/04/2024 

## **Total funds** 

**to the nearest £** 

## **Last year** 

**to the nearest £** 

|**11,100**||**-**|
|---|---|---|
|**1,992**||**2,319**|
|**5,928**||**5,515**|
|**1,769**||**1,371**|
|**5,262**||**5,759**|
|**120**||**100**|
|**994**||**184**|
|**766**||**463**|
||||
|**-**||**-**|
|**-**||**90**|
|**27,930**||**15,800**|



||**-**||**-**|
|---|---|---|---|
||**-**||**-**|
|||||
||**27,930**||**15,800**|
|||||



|**3,714**||**2,140**|
|---|---|---|
|**4,332**||**8,031**|
|**5,502**||**4,108**|
|**319**||**519**|
|**443**||**667**|
|**848**||**1,329**|
|**1,284**||**2,220**|
|**148**||**319**|
|**6,673**||**-**|
|**-**||**39**|
|**248**||**-**|
|**32,897**||**17,936**|
||||
|**-**||**338**|
|**-**||**37**|
|**56,407**||**37,682**|



**-** 



|||**-**|
|---|---|---|
||||
|||**37,682**|
||||
|**-                28,477**||**-                  21,883**|
|**-**||**-**|
|**98,240**|||
|**69,763**||**98,240**|



|**e period**<br>**Restricted**<br>**funds**<br>**to nearest £**<br>**3,327**<br>**-**<br>**3,327**<br>OK<br>**Restricted**<br>**funds**<br>**to nearest £**<br>**-**<br>**Cost (optional)**<br>**-**<br>**Cost (optional)**<br>**-**<br>**-**<br>**-**<br>**-**<br>**Amount due**<br>**(optional)**<br>**3,341**<br>Bryans<br>Name<br>Reeves|**e period**|**e period**||
|---|---|---|---|
||**Restricted**<br>**funds**<br>**to nearest £**||**Endowment**<br>**funds**<br>**to nearest £**|
||**3,327**||**-**|
||**-**||**-**|
||**3,327**||**-**|
||||OK|
||||**Endowment**<br>**funds**<br>**to nearest £**|
||**-**||**-**|
||**Cost (optional)**||**Current value**<br>**(optional)**|
||**-**||**-**|
||**Cost (optional)**||**Current value**<br>**(optional)**|
||**-**||**140,000**|
||**-**||**16,000**|
||**-**||**20,000**|
||**-**||**12,500**|
||**Amount due**<br>**(optional)**||**When due (optional)**|
||**3,341**|||
|||||
|||||
||||Date of approval|
||||19/12/2024|
||||16/12/2024|



xtension stated in the previous year. 




## **Trustees' Annual Report for the period** 

Period start date 

Period end date 

06 April 2023 **To** 05 April 2024 

**From** 

## Section A                        Reference and administration details 

**Charity name** 

Bostall Library Community Group 

**Other names charity is known by** BLCG **Registered charity number (if any)** 1165313 

**Charity's principal address** Bostall Library 

115 King Harolds Way Bexleyheath, Kent **Postcode** DA7 5RE 

**Names of the charity trustees who manage the charity** 

|1<br>2<br>3<br>4|**Trustee name**|**Office (if any)**|**Dates acted if not for whole**<br>**year **|**Name of person (or body) entitled**<br>**to appoint trustee (ifany)**|
|---|---|---|---|---|
||Andrew Bryans|Chair of Trustees|||
||Corinne O’Grady||05/04/2023 – 18/01/2024||
||Adrian Reeves||||
||||||



**Names of the trustees for the charity, if any, (for example, any custodian trustees)** 

|**Name**|**Dates acted if not for whole year**|
|---|---|
|None||
|||
|||



## **Names and addresses of advisers (Optional information)** 

**Type of adviser Name Address** 

## **Name of chief executive or names of senior staff members (Optional information)** 

Kimberly Bryans BEM – Director of Operations 

**TAR** 

March **2012** 

1 



**Section B              Structure, governance and management** 

## **Description of the charity’s trusts** 

Type of governing document 

- (eg. trust deed, constitution) 

> [Constitution adopted 26][th][ January 2016 ] 

## How the charity is constituted 

- (eg. trust, association, company) 

> [Charitable Incorporated Organisation ] 

## Trustee selection methods 

- (eg. appointed by, elected by) 

> [Appointed by the Charity Trustees as and when required ] 

## **Additional governance issues (Optional information)** 

You **may choose** to include additional information, where relevant, about: 

- policies and procedures adopted for the induction and training of trustees; 

- the charity’s organisational structure and any wider network with which the charity works; 

- relationship with any related parties; 

- trustees’ consideration of major risks and the system and procedures to manage them. 

## New Trustees: 

- The charity trustees make available to each new charity trustee, on or before his or her first appointment: 

   - (a) a copy of the current version of this constitution; and (b) a copy of the BLCG’s latest Trustees’ Annual Report and statement of accounts. 

- New Trustees are also encouraged to read the documents available on the gov.uk website relating to the Trustee role and board. 

## BLCG Organisational Structure: 

- Three Trustees as stated. 

- Director of Operations (unpaid). 

- 5 selected Core Group Members having a greater responsibility than Volunteers 

- General Volunteers (25) 

- 2 part-time Staff in the employ of the London Borough of Bexley permanently seconded to BLCG 

## Related Parties: 

- BLCG was selected by the London Borough of Bexley (LBB) to manage and run as a community library Bostall Library. BLCG receives a grant (by way of seconded staff) from LBB to facilitate this and to undertake basic Council services as agreed in a Service Level Agreement whilst also allowing BLCG to maximise its fundraising potential. LBB continue to own the premises from which we operate under a lease agreement and negligible rent. 

The Trustees, Director and Core Group members give their time on a voluntary basis and receive no remuneration or other benefit. 

**TAR** 

March **2012** 

2 



## **Section C                    Objectives and activities** 

The advancement of education for the benefit of the public in the district of West Heath in the London Borough of Bexley and the surrounding areas by the provision of a community lending library, associated **Summary of the objects of the** services, activities and facilities in the interest of social welfare, **charity set out in its** recreation and leisure time for improving the conditions of life for the **governing document** residents. 

BLCG’s main purpose is the loan of books, listening CD books and Jigsaws for adults and children both for recreation and education. We provide some Council services  e.g Council Tax payments; Refuse applications; and offering advice and information on many others. 

Our coffee shop provide hot and cold refreshments and home-made cakes and sundries. This enables Coffee mornings for groups of elderly patrons seeking companionship and friendship. We provide low-cost local space for hire by community groups and stakeholders and provide a venue for both Adult and Children’s events for all demographics of the local community. We continue to promote relationships with the local primary schools with regular class visits for story time and book lending. **Summary of the main** There are several regular activities for adults: reading clubs; computer **activities undertaken for the** tuition; knit ‘n natter; coffee mornings; Pilates; and a community cinema. **public benefit in relation to** Activities for children include: toddler time; Story Time; and many **these objects** additional fun activities during school holidays. 

We also provide the following initiatives: • Community fridge with food “waste” contributed by local supermarkets. • Warm Space. • Household Support Fund distribution. • Digital Champions. 

Bostall Library is also a polling station when required. 

We believe that our libraries are in fact, more social and community hubs providing a valuable benefit to the local population regardless of age, gender, faith, or personal circumstances. 

## **Additional details of objectives and activities (Optional information)** 

We have many volunteers who spent a lot of their time to help us to be a success. Their involvement and dedication mean that we can achieve our goals whilst at the same time provide a welcoming, friendly and warm place to work and visit. We and the public appreciate the effort and time that is given, especially on the fundraising events we occasionally hold outside of normal working days/hours. 

All monies raised surplus to the day-to-day running costs of the library are banked in an interest earning deposit account. We endeavour to use these funds to further improve the libraries. 

**TAR** 

March **2012** 

3 



## Section D                      Achievements and performance 

**Summary of the main achievements of the charity during the year** 

During this period we continued with our “Garden Room” extension project that was finished in the summer. It has been a great success and is regularly used for many activities, that would ordinarily limit space in the Junior section of the library. 

Early in the Summer our director of operations, Kim Bryans, received news that she was to be presented with a British Empire Medal. This was awarded for her services to the library & community, especially during the Covid era, nominated by some our volunteers. It was a proud day when she received the medal at a ceremony at the Tower of London in November 2023. 

We continued to provide our usual mix of additional events beyond lending books and providing services. The Community Cinema was always in demand and we endeavoured to screen a film each month, including a now annual showing on behalf of the Council for LGBTQ+. 

Towards the end of the period it was agreed by the trustees to replace the manually opening main door, using our funds, for wheelchair friendly automatic doors. 

A successful bid for funding was placed with the National Lottery to install a solar power and battery system. This will greatly improve our finances and self-sufficiency further as well as the obvious green benefits. This will hopefully be in place in the next financial year. 

In the new year (2024) Bostall Community Library was asked to participate in the Household Support Fund scheme to distribute much needed funds and vouchers to households in need. 

Our Community Fridge continued to be in demand, and thanks goes to those volunteers that collected food “waste” from the local supermarkets when available. 

**TAR** 

March **2012** 

4 



## **Section E                    Financial review** 

At the end of this financial year the charity has cash funds of £25,000 and **Brief statement of the** £41,000 reserves on deposit. We will continue maintain / increase **charity’s policy on reserves** reserves to be utilised for future projects and protect against possible future grant cuts. **Details of any funds materially** Not Applicable **in deficit Further financial review details (Optional information)** 

The main source of funds to the Charity is an annual grant from the You **may choose** to include London Borough of Bexley. This consists primarily as the provision of additional information, where seconded staff paid for by the Council, and a small cash amount. relevant about: • the charity’s principal Other primary sources of income are the Coffee Shop, Library Counter sources of funds (including sales (printing, photocopying, book sales, fines, reservations etc.), any fundraising); Friends of BLCG membership subscriptions, and loose change donations. 

- how expenditure has We sell old stock, unwanted and donated books and other items to 

- supported the key objectives internet book-buying companies and on the eBay auction site. 

- of the charity; Fundraising events are held periodically in the form of seasonal fairs, and 

- • investment policy and entertainment evenings. objectives including any Additional funds are achieved through the community cinema, the regular ethical investment policy hire of the library space by several individuals & groups, and the Bexley adopted. Lottery. 

The income is spent on running costs of the buildings (utilities & maintenance), consumables for the Library and Coffee Shop, phone and broadband. We have an annual budget for purchasing new books to replace old stock. 

Surplus funds are used for our reserves and future projects. 

## **Section F                     Other optional information** 

None 

**TAR** 

March **2012** 

5 



## **Section G                    Declaration** 

**The trustees declare that they have approved the trustees’ report above.** 

**Signed on behalf of the charity’s trustees** 

|**Signature(s)**<br>**Full name(s)**<br>**Position (eg Secretary, Chair,**<br>**etc)**<br>**Date**|||
|---|---|---|
||||
||<br>Adrian Reeves|Andrew Bryans|
||<br>Trustee|Chair|
||16/12/2024||
||16/12/2024||



**TAR** 

March **2012** 

6 

