AWEN@theLibrary
A Charitable Incorporated Organisation Trustees Annual Report
The Trustees present their report of the charity for the year ending 31[st ] March 2024.
1.0bjectives and activities of the Charity
These are as follows:
'To further or benefit those persons residing, studying, working or undertaking voluntary activity within Whitchurch and Tongwynlais (or its successor) an 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 objectives of the original business plan included:
working for the continued public funding and management of the library
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raising funds for the library
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.working for the greater community use of the library
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. transforming the library into a cultural hub
The charity has promoted 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
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addition to their intrinsic value — advancing education, the arts and culture — they have raised funds for the above business plan objectives.
2. Achievements and Performance
The charity has achieved much this during this year with a wide range of events, described under activities for the public benefit above, and delivered by a committed group of members, some with very significant artistic skills. This is a real strength of Awen@thelibrary and one which we intend to develop further over the next year. We have now grown our facebook following to just over 1,400.
The programme of events that we have arranged are as follows:
Regular Events
The Reminiscence Group has been meeting on the 1[st ] Tuesday of every month at The group gets together and talks about pre agreed topics and share memories of Whitchurch. For more information speak to Chris or Nigel Lewis.
FAN Friends and Neighbours meets every Monday at 2pm. The get togethers last for an hour with some interesting conversation about a topic. For more information speak to Sarah or Judith. Two Art Groups meet each week in the Community room. The groups are self-run and attract a regular attendance
101 Things about Whitchurch
101 Things about Whitchurch completed. Tours were arranged by the group, taking in many of the weekly contributions. These were hugely popular with the public.
Book Reviews
Without fail, each week we have had a fantastic book review from Caroline Noall. These have been added to our Facebook Page and shared in the Hub and have been well received by members and the wider community.
Gardening Group
This has been a year of consolidation for the garden group. The planters are well established and have needed less intensive maintenance. As a result the group has met once a month in order to keep everything as we wanted. There has been plenty of shape and colour and lots of pollinators have visited.
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We are delighted that Awen’s activities for children have included garden themes like using dried lavender to make pomanders or to plant bulbs for the coming spring.
Our partnerships with Coed Caerdydd and the Council continue. We have also responded to the local Rotary Club’s request to help manage the rose garden at the Library.
Through these events and many others the local community has become increasingly aware of our work and activities. We are encouraging more people to join the charity and see this as one of our challenges for the forthcoming year.
Links continue with schools and other community organisations.
The Trustees would like to thank everyone who has contributed to any of the activities that we have been involved with this year. The group of volunteers who look after the website and Facebook, created posters, translated material into Welsh, designed craft activities, baked cakes, tirelessly helped at numerous events have been wonderful, committed, reliable and endlessly willing. Thanks go to all the staff at the Hub for their continued work with AWEN and the community.
3 Financial review
In addition to our membership subscriptions (currently £5 per person per annum) our regular source of income has been form voluntary donations from the public collected at our events. A grant from the Centre for Aging Better funded our Intergenerational activities. This will continue. For details of finances see Treasurers report 2023 -24
4. Structure, Governance and Management
Awen@theLibrary is a charitable incorporated organisation(ClO) 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 4 times a year. The events sub group meets regularly and submits reports to each trustee meeting.
5 Reference and administrative details
Registered Charity Name —Awen@theLibrary — Arts, Whitchurch, Eglwys Wen Charity Registration Number — 1165980
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Principal contact address — c/o Whitchurch Hub, Park Road, Whitchurch CF14 7XA
The Trustees who served the charity during the period were:
Marc Palmer (Chair) Judith Evans (Secretary) Gary Chung (Treasurer) Sarah Duncan Jones lain Claridge Huw Rogers Christophe Griffin Christine Lewis Ceri Stennett Jeniffer Miles Rachel Hazlewood
Bank: Lloyds Bank, 514 Cowbridge Road East, Victoria park, Cardiff CF5 IBL
6. Exemptions from disclosure
None
Marc Palmer Chair of Trustees
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CHARITY COMMISSION FOR ENGLAND AND WALES Awen al The Ubrary Recei tsand ments accounts CC16a For ¢he peiiod from 114r2023 311312024 Section A Receipts and payments Unr85trfct•d funds toth• n•ar•st R•sirf¢ted funds Endowmènt fvnds Total lunds LIStr to lh• n••r••t£ toth• n••r••tt to th• Mar£ A1 Recai M&rnbershp Cfjntre 8att•r- M1 Oth@rfi5raiG and donaor 715 715 450 ross income AR) n¥e8 450 1.631 Agh9 tsètt6rèv1 Insurance Expe•¥¢$ 45D 450 311 318 1,ODIJ Sub tot41 1.318 450 1,788 A4 Asset and Invesknenl Sub total 1,318 450 1,76B Net of re¢elptsl(paymonts) Transfèrs between funds A6 Cash funds last yoar •nd Cash funds this year and 137 137 5,813 5,613 CCXX R1 i) 2211012Q24
Section B Statement of assets and liabilities at the end of the period Unrestrfcted Restri¢t funds funds to n••Ttt Endowment lunds to Tr•ar•s¢£ 00ts115 B1 Cash funds 5,613 Total $h funds 5,613 Unrnstrlctod nds RtrIct•d funds to n•or¢4t£ Endowment funds to n•ar•stÉ D•tall• Fundto which D Cutt•ntv•lue lon•1 B3 Inv•stmont ass•ts ndtowhlc t bdon D•t#ll¥ Tab and 24 ChAlrB CuThont valu• Co•t lopyoMII B4 Assots r•talnod forth• charlty's own u$• PeCtor. yoi6etorstHnd an¢ 10 dISpY bo•rth ld pd•s 0¥2yla& x 4 Post box and rat PA¢M D•tsl Fundto whl¢h AJnount duq Wh•n de B5 Llabllltlgs Stqned by c18 or0 trusteoson bthatf of #ll tho IN8t688 Signatur8 Pllnt Nam Date of roval CCXX R2 8ccounts ISSI 2211012024