OpenCharities

This text was generated using OCR and may contain errors. Check the original PDF to see the document submitted to the regulator.

2021-12-31-accounts

Friends of Gedling Country Park

Chair's Report for 2022 AGM

January 2022

To all our members and supporters I should like to thank you on behalf of the trustees for your continuing support over the past years. They have not been the best for activities but we have persevered and have, we hope, achieved some good successes in these troubled times.

You will also note that we have decided to move the date of the AGM to later in the year (MARCH). This is so that it is lighter in the evenings and the attendees can enjoy the park after the AGM is over.

This report is briefer than I would have hoped but its still reflects our determination to support Gedling Country Park through the activities of the Friends.

Following on from the awful 2020, 2021 has been a year in which we have had only partial time available to work on the park as a result of the ongoing Covid pandemic. We have still maintained contact with Gedling Council staff and have had regular meetings with them to help with suggestions as to what work could be done and to offer advice and support.

The work carried out by the Rangers, Rob and Michael has been successful in helping to maintain the Park environment during this troubled year and without their efforts, especially during the summer we would have lost a substantial number of trees.

Thanks must also go to those volunteers who have helped not only on Sundays but also helped the rangers during the week. Without their help the park would be in a sorry state.

Sadly Cafe1899 has also suffered badly during lock-downs but our grateful thanks go to their staff for what they have been able to do under the limiting restrictions.

I am also delighted that we finally were able to complete the Tree Trail in 2021 and the full details are available via the QR codes on the signs which direct you to more detailed information on the website.

Once again the impact of Covid on the work has seriously delayed our plans but when we have been able to work it has been successful.

We have completed a considerable amount of coppicing in the glades area by the Butterfly walk and it is our hope that in the future we can upgrade the path through the glades and make it more accessible to all.

Friends of Gedling Country Park

The overflow and new drainage in the central lagoon is now fully in place and together with the reed clearance by the council make it a more attractive site for wildlife.

We also used some of funds, which included support from VIA and Balfour Beatty to start work on the lower lagoon island. This will, hopefully, be completed by the autumn this year. We have also been able to complete some new wildlife scrapes on the east side of the solar farm which we have wanted to install for some time. Further wildlife scrapes and improvements in terms of additional scrapes and small ponds are planned for other areas of the park.

Plans have been developed by the Friends for a Sand Martins nesting site by the lower lagoons and this is being taken forward by the Council and we hope to have more news in early 2022 on progress. It is hoped that this will be supported by funding from Severn Trent as part of their Community support scheme.

Our grateful thanks also go to our local Co-ops and their members for the incredible support, over the past few years we have had support from the Gedling village store and the Mapperley area stores and this has allowed us to complete projects and fund the Tree Trail.

My personal thanks go out to my fellow trustees who have put up with my emails and calls over the last year. We only managed to start normal monthly meetings in the Autumn. The Treasurer's Report contains details of those individuals, groups and companies who have supported us financially over the last year and I add my thanks for their support.

A further thanks go to Carlton Rotary club who produced Christmas cards using photographs supplied by Phillip Orme – our FFP - “Fantastic Friends Photographer”. Philip’s regular photos have helped keep the Park alive in people’s minds even when they have not been able to get there in person. Then in turn they have inspired many others.

To those members who have stayed loyally with us I offer my thanks and appreciation for your support. Please continue and encourage friends to join us.

I do have an appeal to our members, who may be interested, for new trustees, sadly this year Rick Wilson has had to stand down due to ill health and we are looking for new trustees, so if anyone is interested can they please email me on

chair@gedlingcountrypark.org.uk

On Social Media our Facebook page continues to be popular and had over 3800 hits from users on the 29th December. We have had to delete some users during the year for posting inappropriate content but this is far outweighed by the positive use from supporters.

Friends of Gedling Country Park

Finally a mention of thanks to the Gedling Lottery which through the purchase of tickets by users and by nominating us has helped by raising funds on a regular basis.

So let’s look forward to 2022 and hopefully, at some point, we can all return to normal activities.

In the Meantime:

Take Care, Stay Well and Stay Safe.

Terry Lock, Chairman, Friends of Gedling Country Park

10[th] January 2022

FGCP Treasurer's Report Dec21 FINAL.docx

Treasurer’s Report – December 2021

The Friends of Gedling Country Park was formed on 29[th] September 2014 and this report is for our seventh financial year for the period from 1[st] January 2021 to 31[st] December 2021. We are a UK registered charity number: 1167205.

Key Events

As in 2020, the COVID-19 pandemic has during 2021 had a significant impact upon the activities of the Friends of Gedling Country Park including its income and its expenditure, both of which have been reduced compared to previous years. Despite this, the overall financial position of the charity remains healthy and membership income and donations have held up well. Thanks, must therefore be given to every member who has paid their annual fee this year and to every other person or organisation who has donated to us. The pandemic lockdown has resulted in extensive use of Gedling Country Park by our members and the wider public, who have all come to appreciate the benefits of this wonderful nature reserve.

Each member who joins us or renews their membership has the option to confirm that they are a UK taxpayer, which enables us to claim gift aid on their membership fee. Many members have chosen to do so, and we hope that this continues and would encourage all others to do the same if they can please.

The generous donations made from the Co-op Local Community Fund of over £7,000 in 2019 and an additional grant of £1,000 received this year from Gedling Borough Council have allowed us to implement a new British Native Tree Trail and artwork in the country park, which we believe is one of the largest in the UK. As well as over 70 native trees planted in the park, we have also included helpful labels and QR codes on the posts near to each tree that direct users to informative pages on our web sites for each specimen of tree (please see https://www.gedlingcountrypark.org.uk/british-native-tree-trail.html for a map and links to these pages).

The Gedling Borough Council run ‘Gedling Lotto’ (https://www.gedlinglotto.co.uk/), continues to raise money for good causes, including for the Friends of Gedling Country Park and many other local community groups and charities. Those who play the Gedling Lotto can choose their good cause and a big thank you goes out to those who have chosen us. In 2021, we received donations totalling £859 which is a valuable contribution to our charity.

On the 4[th ] July we held an awareness event in Gedling Country Park thanks to a generous grant of £1,000 provided by Virgin Media O2 from their Together Fund, which was created to lend a hand to local charities that bring a sense of community spirit, belonging and togetherness throughout the UK. Our event run with the help of the Gedling Park Rangers was a great opportunity to promote the park and our activities to the public – and the participation of the Burton Joyce Community Brass Band certainly helped to draw in the crowds.

Amazon runs it ‘Amazon Smile’ service, which donates a proportion of any sales to accredited charities, including ourselves. As with the Gedling Lotto, individuals can confirm the charity they would like to receive donations. For those of you who shop with Amazon, please go to

https://smile.amazon.co.uk/gp/chpf/search/ref=smi_se_cyc_srch_stsr?orig=&category=all&query=Friends+of+G edling+Country+Park to select us as your good cause - and thank you to anybody who has already done so (or indeed chosen any other charity). It’s early days, but this year we received a total £26 from Amazon Smile.

A donation was kindly provided by Carlton Rotary Club of £250 from the sale of their 2021 calendars. Please see https://carltonrotary.co.uk/ for a list of their activities and the good causes they support.

Page 1

FGCP Treasurer's Report Dec21 FINAL.docx

Here is the complete list of organisations who have generously supported the Group this year (in alphabetical order):

And here is the list of individuals who have generously supported the Group this year (in alphabetical order):

Income Received

The income received for the period from January 2021 to December 2021 was as follows:

Category Amount Description
Grants £2,000 £1,000 from Gedling Borough Council to support the implementation of
the British Native Tree Trail and £1,000 from Virgin Media O2 to fund
the awareness event held on 4thJuly 2021.
Donations £1,680 Donations from various individuals and organisations listed above as
well as members of the public at our 4thJuly awareness event.
Membership Fees £600 Membershipfees taken for individual and familymemberships.
TOTAL £4,280

Expenditure

For the same period, expenditure was as follows:

Amount Description
Grounds
Maintenance/Development		 £7,260 Implementation of the British Native Tree Trail (purchase and
installation of posts, signage and wooden artwork), maintenance of
the lagoon nesting rafts, provision of digger services to create
‘scrapes’ within the park for wildlife enhancement and to protect
the lagoon nestingisland.
Marketing,
Communications and Web		 £755 Printing of British Native Tree Trail booklets, web site hosting, new
membership cards, stamps and printing costs for membership
forms.

Page 2

FGCP Treasurer's Report Dec21 FINAL.docx

Fund Raising and Volunteer
Days		 £642 Costs associated with the 4thJuly awareness event (keyrings, bird
seed, posters and photos) and the tree trail launch event, including
sanitiser and refreshments.
Insurance £434 Provision of public liability and volunteer personal accident
insurance (also providing trustee, finance, libel and slander
protection).
Finance Charges £146 Bank service charges from Unity Bank, transaction fees from PayPal
and Information Commissioner's Office Data Protection Registration
Annual Fee.
Plants/Trees/Seeds £72 Purchase of some replacement trees for the British Native Tree
Trail.
TOTAL £9,309

Bank Reconciliation

The opening balance as of 1[st] January 2021 was £9,178.44 (comprising of £8,429.94 held at Unity bank, £663.50 held with PayPal, £85.00 income not yet cleared at the bank, and no cash holdings).

Total income for 2021 was £4,280.37 and total expenditure was £9,308.90.

The closing balance as of 31[st] December 2021 was £4,149.91 (comprising of £3,610.17 held at Unity bank, £374.74 held with PayPal, £135.00 income not yet cleared at the bank, and £30.00 of cash holdings).

Nick Benedek, Treasurer, Friends of Gedling Country Park 31[st] December 2021

Page 3