THE PAGE WOODS TRUST Charity Registration No. 1168506
ANNUAL REPORT for the year ended 30[th] June 2024
Page Woods continues to provide a little green oasis situated in the midst of Basildon’s growing concrete jungle. It is somewhere which can provide solace to those seeking quiet but also a place where families can enjoy nature. It is not possible to estimate the number of visitors to the woods but we receive many good comments from both within the local community and those living outside the area.
Unfortunately, we lost our long term sponsor, Smith Glass, which closed due to family illness. Carter Remy sponsored one of the two paper newsletters we delivered. On each occasion these newsletters were delivered to over 900 homes by volunteers; the balance was left at organisations where they could be picked up by other interested parties. In addition, two email newsletters were sent out to our database of approximately 100 well-wishers. The newsletters advise people of our progress, events and usually contain a little bit of local history.
We also remain in contact with the community through our Facebook page.
We ran two non-profit making community events during the year:
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As in previous years, we put an autumn Halloween Trail in place which was again sponsored by Nisa Pound Lane Shop. Children were able to collect a form from the shop on which they could list the 26 creatures appearing on the A – Z trail. On return of the completed form to the shop each child received a small prize. Entrants who left their names and addresses were entered into an additional competition to win one of five books signed by the author.
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In December, yet again, Alton Garden Centre kindly sponsored the Christmas Lights competition which is always well received by villagers and helps light up the long winter nights. This year prizes in the three categories totalled £225.
With regard to fundraising activities:
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We again took part in the Barleylands Fun Walk. We encourage donors to sponsor us on the walk rather than make donations because as well as gift aid we can also claim a share of the Barleylands bonus pot.
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We continued with our Local History/Nature Walks around the woods.
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Our popular Quiz was another success with every table sold in advance.
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• The annual Christmas Bazaar remains popular with residents going home with some good bargains.
In addition, CarterRemy Estate Agents made a donation to the Trust for each Christmas Advertising Board our supporters allowed in their gardens. This resulted in a magnificent donation of £200.
We thank the local Benbow Club for allowing us to use their hall free of charge for both the Quiz and the Bazaar. We paid hall hire fees for other events.
Throughout the year, as well as helping at events, volunteers continued to pick up rubbish and keep pathways clear.
We have been fortunate in that no out of the ordinary costs were incurred in the woods during the year. Our annual expenditure was only £318.35 (£347.18 in 2022/23).
With less need to bring in income we reduced our fundraising activities but were able to continue with our community events.
Despite reducing our fundraising activities we still made income over expenditure of £1,203.80 (compared to £1193.34 the previous year).
Our bank balance of £5575.64 (£4281.59 in 2022/23) remains healthy. Our Finance Policy is still to retain a minimum balance of £1000 in our bank account which we regard as sufficient to meet both usual and unexpected expenditure.
We are still to install a new gate, and fencing along the front entrance in Page Road. We may also consider fencing at the back of the woods to stop stray animals getting in.
We regard ourselves lucky to have so many supporters from both within and outside the community. There are too many names to mention but they know who they are and we thank them all for their hard work in the woods and for their gifts which keep our tombolas, raffles and community events going.
Rose Griffin Chairman
Date: 8[th] March 2025
THE PAGE WOODS TRUST
Charity Registration No. 1168506 Income and Expenditure for the Year ended 30th June 2024
| Income | 2023/2024 | Notes | 2022/2023 | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Fun Walk: Sponsorship & Bonus Pot | £419.00 | Note 1 | £517.00 | |
| Community | Lottery | £45.25 | ||
| General Fundraising | £797.27 | £638.01 | ||
| Sundry | £0.01 | |||
| Gift Aid | £70.88 | £90.25 | ||
| Talks | £35.00 | |||
| Donations | £200.00 | £250.00 | ||
| £1,522.15 | £1,540.52 | |||
| Expenditure | ||||
| Insurance | £107.04 | £264.69 | ||
| Community | Events | £96.00 | Note 2 | |
| Printing, postage, stationery | £100.31 | Note 3 | £54.56 | |
| Christmas Bazaar | £15.00 | |||
| Sundry Expenses | £27.93 | |||
| £318.35 | £347.18 | |||
| Excess of Income over Expenditure | £1,203.80 | £1,193.34 | ||
| THE PAGE WOODS TRUST | ||||
| Charity Registration No. 1168506 | ||||
| Balance Sheet as at 30th June 2024 | ||||
| Assets | £ | |||
| Land | £33,000.00 | Note 4 | £33,000.00 | |
| Bank Account | £5,575.64 | £4,281.59 | ||
| Stock | ||||
| Prepayment 2023/24 | £35.68 | Note 5 | £35.68 | |
| Debtors | Note 6 | £90.25 | ||
| £38,611.32 | £37,407.52 | |||
| Liabilities | ||||
| Community | funds brought forward | £37,407.52 | £36,214.18 | |
| Consolidated Income over Expenditure | £1,203.80 | £1,193.34 | ||
| Community funds c/fwd | £38,611.32 | £37,407.52 | ||
| Notes: | ||||
| 1 | We encourage people to sponsor us on the Funwalk rather than make donations. | |||
| We can then take advantage of a share in the Funwalk Bonus Pot. | ||||
| 2 | Community Events are those activities e.g. Halloween Trail, Christmas Lights, | |||
| for which we do not seek to make a profit. | ||||
| 3 | Printing costs are slightly higher than last year due to only 1 of our 2 newsletters | |||
| being sponsored. | ||||
| 4 | Page Woods came into the ownership of the | Trust in October 2017 | . | |
| at a purchase cost of £33,000. It is shown at | cost value. | |||
| 5 | The prepayment is for insurance. | |||
| 6 | The debtor was for Gift Aid claimable. |