THE PAGE WOODS TRUST Charity Registration No. 1168506
ANNUAL REPORT for the year ended 30[th] June 2025
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 and also a place where families can enjoy nature. Nature in the woods remains active with sightings of badgers, foxes, owls, woodpeckers, sparrow hawks, and more recently roe deer.
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.
Three newsletters were delivered to every home in the area. Two were sponsored by CarterRemy. In addition, email newsletters were sent out to our database of approximately 120 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 pages.
We ran two non-profit making community events during the year:
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As in previous years, we put up an autumn Halloween Trail. Children had the opportunity to complete a form on which they could list the 26 creatures appearing on the A – Z trail. Children who left their names and addresses were entered into a competition to win one of six books signed by the author.
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In December, Alton Garden Centre kindly sponsored the Annual Christmas Lights competition for the ninth year. The competition is always well received by villagers and helps light up the long winter nights. This year prizes in the three competition 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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We only had one Quiz this year, but it was another success with every table sold in advance.
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The annual Christmas Bazaar was limited this year due to requirements at the venue.
In addition, CarterRemy Estate Agents made a donation to the Trust for each “Merry Christmas Board” our supporters allowed to be erected in their gardens. This resulted in a magnificent donation of £350.
There was a change of Trustees during the year. We were pleased to welcome Mrs. Karen Di Capite as a Trustee. Mrs. Elaine Horwood resigned.
Our Annual General Meeting was held at the Pound Lane Mission Church. A discussion took place as to how best to deal with the entrance to the woods. It was agreed that instead of a kissing gate we would look at putting cycle inhibitors in place.
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 during the year. Our annual expenditure was only £249.83 (£318.35 in 2023/24).
Although our fundraising activities were reduced our community events continued at no cost to ourselves.
Despite the reduction in our fundraising activities, we still made income over expenditure of £898.71 (compared to £1203.80 the previous year).
Our bank balance of £6,445.85 (£5,575.64 in 2023/24) 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, therefore we will have sufficient funds to have cycle inhibitors put in place and hopefully some fencing, too.
We regard ourselves lucky to have so many supporters from both within and outside the community. There are too many names to mention but those people 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: 30[th] March 2026
THE PAGE WOODS TRUST Charity Registration No. 1168506 Income and Expenditure for the Year ended 30th June 2025 Income Fun Walk: Sponsorship & Bonus Pot General Fundraising Gift Aid Talks Other Donations 202412025 £237.00 £473.04 £28.50 £0.00 £410.00 Notes Note 1 2312024 £419.00 £797.27 £70.88 £35.00 £200.00 £1 148.54 Ex enditure Insurance Community Events Printing, postage, stationery Christmas Bazaar Hire of hall for AGM £107.04 £0.00 £122.79 £0.00 £20.00 £107.04 £96.00 £100.31 £15.00 £0.00 £249.83 Excess of Income over Ex endlture £898.71 £1,203.80 THE PAGE WOODS TRUST Charity Registration No. 1168506 Balance Sheet as at 30th June 2025 Assets Land Bank Account Prepayment 2024125 Debtors £33,000.00 £6,445.85 £35.68 £28.50 £39,510.03 Note 2 £33,000.00 £5,575.64 £35.68 £0.00 £38,611.32 Note 3 Liabilities Community funds brought forward Consolidated Income over Expenditure £38,611.32 £898.71 £37,407.52 £1,203.80 Communlty funds clfwd £39,510.03 £38.611.32 Notes: 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. 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. The prepayment is for insurance.