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AWEN@theLibrary A Charitable Incorporated Organisation Trustees Annual Report
The Trustees present their report of the charity for the year ending 31[st] August 2022.
1 . Objectives and activities of the Charity
To further or benefit those persons residing, studying, working or undertaking voluntary activity within Whitchurch and Tongwynlais (or its successor) and the surrounding areas, without distinction of sex, sexual orientation, race or of political, religious or other opinions by associating together the said persons and the local authority, voluntary and other organisations in a common effort to advance education, the arts, culture and heritage and to provide facilities in the interests of social welfare for recreation leisure time occupation with the objective of improving the conditions of life for those persons.
In furtherance of these objects but not otherwise, the trustees shall have power:
To provide support to Whitchurch Library and to maintain, develop or manage or co-operate with any statutory authority in the maintenance, development and management, of a cultural centre for activities promoted by the charity in furtherance of the above objects.
The Trustees confirm that they have referred to the guidance contained in the Charity Commission’s general guidance on public benefit when reviewing Awen@thelibrary’s aims and objectives and in planning future activities.
The charity has promoted and organized community events comprising conversations, reminiscing, lectures, musical evenings, exhibitions, board games, children’s arts and crafts groups. These have been open to the community, most of them without charge. Voluntary collections have been taken. In addition to their intrinsic value – advancing education, the arts and culture – they have raised funds for future activities in furtherance of the above objectives.
2. Achievements and Performance
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The charity has achieved much this very challenging year with a wide range of events and activities for the public benefit, and delivered by a committed group of members, some with very significant artistic skills and knowledgeable of local history and cultural heritage. This is a real strength of Awen@thelibrary and one which we intend to develop further over the next year. We have almost doubled our online following to over 1300. The programme of events that we have arranged are as follows:
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School holiday craft activities for children planned by library staff and assisted by Awen.
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Awen Gardening Group began and has worked with another community group Men’s Sheds to create and plant 6 planters in the space behind the library, to increase pollination, promote and transform it into an attractive place for people to sit and wander. A small group of volunteers now works with a dedicated ranger for the council to plan new planting initiatives.
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Awen has taken over coordination of the weekly Walking Group which was initiated by Walking Friends Wales a part of Walking Streets charity. We walk weekly in the local area and then go to the café run by the Methodist Church for coffee.
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Our Reminiscence Groups has gone from strength to strength partly due to the popularity of the weekly Facebook questions ‘101 Things You probably Didn’t Know About Whitchurch’ and our Walking Whitchurch Heritage, a Lottery funded project.
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Good contacts have been made during this period with Coryton School, a local primary school. Pupils have visited the Hub and joined in the Reminiscence Group. Awen had taken part in their school fete.
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Awen supports and encourages local groups meetings and activities. Some of these had to be cancelled or move to zoom due to the pandemic but since spring 2022 have opened up again in the library.
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FAN, Friends and Neighbours group that meets weekly.
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Knit and Natter, meets weekly.
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Book Group meets monthly.
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Other events have been arranged in Spring 2022:
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RSPB Day. Big Garden Bird Watch
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Easter Egg Hunt
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From Jan 2022 we have been involved in a Heritage Lottery Funded project ‘Walking Whitchurch Heritage’.
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3 volunteers interested in researching local history have engaged with other willing members to run an introductory session in library, 3 walks in Whitchurch which examined local history plus a final gathering to look at what we discovered. We have produced maps, booklets, audio talks, short presentations and many artefacts have been collected. This has proved very popular. The walks will be repeated again in the spring/summer of 2023. This project enabled us to engage with a variety of local groups, WI, local schools, shops and pubs who displayed posters, and also Whitchurch Hospital History Society, Roath Historical Society and put Awen much more on the map locally.
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Whitchurch Fete was held in July for the first time since the pandemic. We had a stall on festival day and arranged an evening with Ukulele Nights a local group which proved very popular. We also arranged a history walk in the festival week
3. Financial review
In addition to our membership subscriptions (currently £5 per person per annum) our regular source of income has been from voluntary donations from the public collected at our events. We received a substantial grant from the Heritage Lottery for the Walking Whitchurch Heritage project. For details of finances see Receipts and payments accounts 2021-22.
4. Structure, Governance and Management
Awen@theLibrary is a charitable incorporated organisation (CIO) constituted on the association model. The organisation was formed following a public meeting which took place in 2015.
The CIO has a membership to which the board of no more than 12 trustees is accountable. The first Trustees are those who subscribed to the CIO constitution when charitable registration was sought plus four later co-options. All these trustees retired at the first annual general meeting and thereafter trustees retire in rotation as provided by the constitution. The Trustees meet every 6-8 weeks. The events sub group meets regularly and submits reports to each trustee meeting. The Walking Whitchurch Heritage group has met regualry during the last year. A Policy Sub and a Financial Strategy Group have both met twice this past year.
5. Reference and administrative details
Registered Charity Name –Awen@theLibrary – Arts, Whitchurch, Eglwys Wen Charity Registration Number – 1165980 Principal contact address – awen.cymru@gmail.com
The Trustees who served the charity during the period were:
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Marc Palmer (Chair) Judith Evans (Secretary) Sarah Barnes (Treasurer) resigned Aug 22 Gary Cheung (Treasurer Aug 22 -) Iain Claridge Sarah Duncan Jones Anthony Evans Christopher Griffin Christine Lewis Ceri Stennett Rachel Hazelwood Huw Rogers
Bank: Lloyds Bank, 514 Cowbridge Road East, Victoria park, Cardiff CF5 1BL
6. Exemptions from disclosure
None
Marc Palmer Chair of Trustees
Feb 2023
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Charity Name No (if any)
Awen at The Library 1165980
Receipts and payments accounts
For the period Period start date Period end date
To
from 9/1/2021 8/31/2022
Section A Receipts and payments
Unrestricted Restricted Endowment
Total funds
funds funds funds
to the nearest
to the nearest £ to the nearest £ to the nearest £
£
A1 Receipts
Membership 435 - - 435
Fundraising and other donatons 627 - - 627
National Lottery Heritage Fund - 8,505 - 8,505
- -
- - - -
- - - -
- - - -
- - - -
1,062 8,505 - 9,567
Sub total (Gross income for AR)
A2 Asset and investment sales,
(see table).
- - - -
- - - -
Sub total - - - -
Total receipts 1,062 8,505 - 9,567
A3 Payments
Garden Improvments 863 - - 863
Insurance 288 - - 288
Misc 300 370 - 670
WWH Project - 2,056 - 2,056
- - - -
- - - -
-
- - -
- - - -
Sub total [ 1,451 ] 2,426 - 3,877
A4 Asset and investment
purchases, (see table)
- - - -
- - - -
Sub total [ - ] - - -
Total payments 1,451 2,426 - 3,877
Net of receipts/(payments) - 389 6,079 - 5,690
A5 Transfers between funds - - - -
A6 Cash funds last year end - - - -
Cash funds this year end - 389 6,079 - 5,690
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| Section B Statement | of assets and liabilities | at the end of the period | at the end of the period | at the end of the period |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Unrestricted | Restricted | |||
| Categories | Details | funds | funds | |
| B1 Cash funds | Total cash funds | to nearest £ 7,102 - - 7,102 |
to nearest £ 6,079 - - 6,079 |
|
| (agree balances with receipts and payments account(s)) |
Agreement Error |
OK | ||
| Unrestricted | Restricted | |||
| funds | funds | |||
| B2 Other monetary assets | Details | to nearest £ - - - - - - |
to nearest £ - - - - - - |
|
| B3 Investment assets | Details | Fund to which asset belongs |
Cost (optional) - - - - - |
|
| B4 Assets retained for the | Details | Fund to which asset belongs |
Cost (optional) - |
|
| charity’s own use | - - - - - - - - |
|||
| Fund to which | Amount due | |||
| B5 Liabilities | Details | liability relates | - - - - - (optional) |
|
| Signed by one or two trustees on behalf of all the trustees |
Signature | Name | ||
| M A Palmer | Marc | Palmer |
CC16a
Last year
to the nearest £
-
-
-
-
Endowment funds
to nearest £ - - - -
OK
Endowment funds to nearest £ - - - - - -
Current value (optional) - - - - -
Current value (optional) - - - - - - - - - When due (optional)
Date of approval