- Chairmans Report 2023 24
Well, what can we say, this past year has been harder than originally expected, with Covid well and truly behind us we were looking forward to a successful year with a steady stream of bookings and food vendors all seemingly doing well, raging inflation then took a hold along with the war in Ukraine which all helped delay the long awaited recovery.
We have continued to successfully rent out the hall for private parties and, although we have lost some of the clubs and activity providers we relied upon, have secured new activities, which seem to be going from strength to strength, Football Fun Factory being a prime example, offering a great intro to football for local pre-school children and their parents.
The food vendors are a mixed bag of long-standing regulars, such as Flitch & Chips, Trott & Winney etc and some newcomers, some more successful than others, with one key vendor being Barista Boy coffee van. Mitch Carter who operates the van has been a great asset to the trust, along with his father, as they also run a landscaping and general maintenance company and have helped out with various maintenance jobs around the field and public areas.
Mitch has been invaluable to us in the past few months and, thanks to an idea by Emma Nicholls, has now become a trustee, acting as food vendor liaison, so a point of contact for all other vendors, existing and prospective. Mitch is also in the process of trialling a food and craft market, in early June, in the hall car park and, if successful, will look to make it a regular feature for the community.
One of the great success stories of the past year has been the Flitch Bean Fridays, which originally started out as the heat hub during the cost of living crisis. We still offer this as a free coffee morning for anyone to come along and meet friends and have a chat. We occasionally have a bouncy castle donated by Evo Inflatables, so parents can come along with their younger kids and meet new friends in the community. We have a great team of local volunteers who organise it amongst themselves and also have cakes baked and donated by a local teenage who’s doing her DofE.
Vandalism issues seem to have calmed down though we did have a couple of incidents where we decided to announce to the community what we were having to dela with. The response from the community was fantastic with various local companies and individuals offering their services for free, something we willingly accepted in exchange for a mention on the community Facebook site.
Energy costs remain an issue for us, however we have had much of the hot water and heating system, in the hall, replaced as it was massively over spec’d and, with it running constantly in winter due to the need to keep the underfloor heating going, was a major expense. The new slimmed down system, running off a nest smart thermostat, combined with the removal of the huge hot water tank, will start to show further savings in energy costs, building on the previous replacement of all lighting with LED’s.
Lastly regarding the playing field, one of our major outgoings which has always been run at a loss and supplemented by income from the hall. At the end of the 2023 football season, we informed DRFC that, due to increased costs we could no longer offer the field to them at the price they were paying and informed them we would be increasing fees. They took this very badly and, after some very difficult discussions, they decided to walk away, this left us with little or no income from the field but meant ww could reduce our maintenance costs as we would not need to maintain it to the same standard as required for a playing surface. For the 2023/24 season the field has been unused and paid for out of trust income. However, for the 2024/25 season we have been in discussions with Flitch United, currently based in Stebbing and are about to finalise an agreement for them to take on
the maintenance of the field in exchange for free use by their newly formed youth and ladies football program. This not only brings the field back into use but, involves local children in the newly formed teams, something that was lacking with DRFC who’s players came mostly from Dunmow, and removes a major expense from the Trusts books. We are expecting them to take over the running costs from 1[st] June to allow them to prepare the playing surface in readiness for the next football season. As they are already an established team they have great connections with The FA and Sport England regards funding and grants for pitch maintenance and supply of equipment. The fact the club is called Flitch United just adds to the community feel.
I would also like to take this opportunity to thank all the trustees, both new and old. for all their hard work in what has been a testing year.
Craig Mitchinson (Chairman)
Flitch Green Community Trust
| FLITCH GREEN CHARITABLE INCORPORATED | FLITCH GREEN CHARITABLE INCORPORATED | FLITCH GREEN CHARITABLE INCORPORATED | FLITCH GREEN CHARITABLE INCORPORATED | FLITCH GREEN CHARITABLE INCORPORATED | 1167180 | 1167180 | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| ORGANISATION | |||||||||||
| Receipts and payments accounts | CC16a | ||||||||||
| For the period from |
For the period | 1st JUNE 2023 | To | 31st MAY 2024 | |||||||
| Section A Receipts and payments | |||||||||||
| Unrestricted funds |
Restricted funds |
Endowment funds |
Total funds | Last year | |||||||
| to the nearest £ | to the nearest £ | to the nearest £ | to the nearest £ | to the nearest £ | to the nearest £ | ||||||
| A1 Receipts | |||||||||||
| Fundingfrom External Sources - - - - 7,315 Hire of Facilities 34,150 - - 34,150 38,471 Parish Council 17,572 - - 17,572 15,632 Bank Interest Received 28 - - 28 100 - - - - - - - - - - - Sub total(Gross income for AR)51,750 - - 51,750 61,517 ~~—==———~~ |
|||||||||||
| A2 Asset and investment sales, (see table). - - - - - - - - - Sub total - - - - - Total receipts 51,750 - - 51,750 61,517 ~~————_—~~ |
|||||||||||
| A3 Payments | |||||||||||
| Administration | 6,076 | - | - | 6 | 6,076 | 6,598 | |||||
| Utilities | 24,375 | - | - | 24 | 24,375 | 15,089 | |||||
| Insurance | 3,925 | - | - | 3 | 3,925 | 2,847 | |||||
| Cleaning | 4,973 | - | - | 4 | 4,973 | 4,664 | |||||
| BuildingMaintenance | 21,179 | - | - | 21 | 21,179 | 14,574 | |||||
| PlayingField Maintenance | 6,293 | - | - | 6 | 6,293 | 7,130 | |||||
| Grant Funded Projects | 2,419 | - | - | 2 | 2,419 | 6,239 | |||||
| Security | 900 | - | - | 900 | 900 | 3,279 | |||||
| Marlketingand Advertising | 245 | - | - | 245 | 245 | 775 | |||||
| Outdoor Cinema | - | - | - | - | - | 40 | |||||
| - | - | - | - | ||||||||
| **Sub total ** | 70,385 | - | - | 70,385 | 70,385 | 61,235 | |||||
| A4 Asset and investment purchases, (see table) - - - - - - - - Sub total - - - - - Total payments 70,385 - - 70,385 61,235 ~~——————~~ |
|||||||||||
| Net of receipts/(payments) - 18,634 - - - 18,634 283 A5 Transfers between funds - - - - - A6 Cash funds last year end 52,796 - - 52,796 52,514 Cash funds this year end 34,162 - - 34,162 52,796 ~~=SSS—~~ |
CCXX R1 accounts (SS)
01/09/2024
1
| Section B Statement of assets and liabilities at the end of the period | Section B Statement of assets and liabilities at the end of the period | Section B Statement of assets and liabilities at the end of the period | Section B Statement of assets and liabilities at the end of the period | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Categories B1 Cash funds B2 Other monetary assets B4 Assets retained for the charity’s own use B5 Liabilities B3 Investment assets |
Details Cash at Bank Debtors Control Account Creditors Control Account Details Total cash funds (agree balances with receipts and payments account(s)) Details Details Details |
Unrestricted funds to nearest £ 30,557 3,545 60 34,162 OK Unrestricted funds to nearest £ - - - - - - Fund to which asset belongs Fund to which asset belongs Fund to which liability relates |
Restricted funds to nearest £ - - - - OK Restricted funds to nearest £ - - - - - - Cost (optional) - - - - - Cost (optional) - - - - - - - - - Amount due (optional) - - - - - |
Endowment funds to nearest £ |
| - | ||||
| - | ||||
| - | ||||
| - | ||||
| OK | ||||
| Endowment funds to nearest £ |
||||
| - | ||||
| - | ||||
| - | ||||
| - | ||||
| - | ||||
| - | ||||
| Current value (optional) |
||||
| - | ||||
| - | ||||
| - | ||||
| - | ||||
| - | ||||
| Current value (optional) |
||||
| - | ||||
| - | ||||
| - | ||||
| - | ||||
| - | ||||
| - | ||||
| - | ||||
| - | ||||
| - | ||||
| When due (optional) |
||||
| - | ||||
| - | ||||
| - | ||||
| - | ||||
| - |
The trustees confirm, in accordance with the Charitable Incorporated Organisations (General) Regulations 2012, that at year end the CIO did not have any outstanding guarantees to third parties nor any debts secured on assets of the CIO.
Signed by one or two trustees on behalf of all Signature the trustees
Date of Print Name approval
CCXX R2 accounts (SS)
01/09/2024
2
INDEPENDENT EXAMINER’S REPORT TO THE MEMBERS / TRUSTEES OF THE FLITCH GREEN CHARITABLE INCORPORATED ORGANISATION for the year ending 31[st] May 2024
I report on the receipts and payments accounts for the year ending 31[st] May 2024.
Respective responsibilities of Trustees and Independent Examiner
The charity’s trustees consider that an audit is not required for this year under section 144 (2) of the Charities Act 2011 (the 2011 Act) and an independent examination is needed.
It is my responsibility to:
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examine the accounts under section 145 of the 2011 Act;
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follow the procedures laid down in the General Directions given by the Charity Commissioners section 145 (5) (b) of the 2011 Act; and
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state whether particular matters have come to my attention;
Basis of Independent Examiner’s Statement
My examination was carried out in accordance with the General Directions given by the Charity Commissioners. An examination includes the review of the accounting records kept by the charity and a comparison of the accounts presented with those records. It also includes consideration of any unusual items or disclosures in the accounts and seeking explanations from the management committee concerning such matters. The procedures undertaken do not provide all the evidence that would be required by a full audit and consequently I do not express an audit opinion on the accounts.
Independent Examiner’s Statement
In connection with my examination, no matter has come to my attention:
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which gives me reasonable cause to believe that in any material respect the requirements
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to keep accounting records in accordance with s130 of the 2011 Act; or
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to prepare accounts which accord with these accounting records to enable proper understanding of the account;
have not been met; or
- to which, in my opinion, attention should be drawn in order to enable a proper understanding of the accounts to be reached.
C. Anthony Robertson 61 Bridge St., Kington
Date: 31/08/2024