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2022-09-30-accounts

Burgess Hill Shed

AGM Trustees Report Sept 22

[NB. Some contributors to this report are shown by an initial rather than full names.]

Introduction

In November we hold our fifth AGM where together we will reflect on our mission and performance, and look at the way forward.

This year we have seen a substantial increase in membership and the return of many long-standing members after the turmoil of the Covid lockdowns. We are pleased to report that once again, we have made solid progress in achieving our mission. Our projects have created and equipped new spaces in the Kiln and enhanced our workshop. This has enabled us to extend opening times and the range of activities on offer to members. As a result, new groups have formed and become established providing a whole range of arts, crafts and making activities. Typically, we have undertaken several community projects and taken part in local events, and through these we have made new friends and become more widely known and appreciated in our community.

Today, our membership continues to grow significantly, our finances remain healthy and we are providing a balanced range of activities for members.

This report provides a summary of our work over the past year and information on our performance as a local charity. The report will be used as a basis for our report to the Charity Commission.

Mission

We have been a registered charity since 2016. Our work is based on the recognition that social isolation and loneliness can affect people of all ages and be caused by many different circumstances. Further, it is widely understood that isolation and loneliness can lead to physical and mental illness, and that all of these can be reduced by enabling people to become more inclusive. It is this background that provides the foundations for our mission and the methods we use:

To promote and enable inclusion through arts, crafts and making activities.

We do this by creating and operating, safe and friendly spaces, supported by facilities and resources that enable people to engage, participate and share interests in arts, crafts and making activities. As far as reasonably practical we ensure that our spaces and activities are open, stimulating, accessible and affordable to all.

The Charity Commission and other stakeholders like local authorities and grant providers take an interest in our mission and performance. Our mission statement therefore provides us all with a focus and guide to who we are, what we do and how we perform. It is the baseline for all of our key decisions, actions and submissions for funding and requesting help from external bodies.

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Projects

For the benefit of members recently joining, this section provides a brief overview of our history.

BH-Shed was formed and opened its doors to members in September 2016. The first project was to renovate a large abandoned workshop at Burnside, make benches and acquire equipment to create a workshop. This was completed in March 2017 and from then on members were able to use the space for wood and metal working crafts. Early on BH-Shed was asked by County Councillors to set up a pottery, and in response a grant to fund equipment was obtained and space at Burnside agreed with West Sussex County Council (WSCC). Unfortunately, after about three months, WSCC changed their mind (we believe for operational reasons) and decided not to provide any space. As no alternative venue could be found the project was put on hold, however on advice from WSCC Councillors, the grant was retained.

In 2020, BH-Shed began negotiating a new lease with WSCC. This became difficult and protracted. The trustees decided that they needed a contingency for premises in case negotiations failed. At the time shops in the Town Centre were becoming redundant and it was suggested by the Town Council that we could consider one of the larger units. The old Argos shop was seen as a possible alternative venue and had the room needed for a pottery. In less than two weeks a favourable three-year lease was negotiated with New River and we took over the building.

In September 2020, we began the Kiln project, interrupted several times by Covid restrictions. In the meantime we eventually negotiated a favourable lease at Burnside for 5 years and decided to continue to use both venues for the foreseeable future.

Two years on we can report that both venues are operating successfully and numbers are all showing a steady increase. The Burnside Shed is now open three days a week, rather than the two days previously. At the Kiln, after extensive refurbishment and reconfiguration work, including a complete rewire, new toilets, and activity spaces, the ‘old Argos building’ is once again a busy place where members can enjoy many activities such as pottery, sewing weaving, card-making, art, leathercrafts, electronics and IT. More information on the progress of these groups is attached at the end of this report (see Appendix C: Interest Groups).

The Kiln refurbishment work was undertaken by volunteer members supported by grants from external providers. The overall value of the Kiln project today is around £150K of which £15K was covered by grants and the rest is the equivalent financial value accomplished by our volunteer members. In 2021, the Kiln project was recognised in the community when we received an Applause Award from Mid Sussex District Council.

To date, the total voluntary contribution of the BH-Shed and Kiln projects has a combined value of over £450K and is increasing by around £70K per annum (the equivalent contribution made by our volunteer members to manage and operate our premises). Notably, all of this work has been completed without any impact on our financial reserves. In fact I am happy to report that our reserves have

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grown each year, which is a reflection of the sound financial control we exercise in our procurements, projects and operations and our ability to obtain grants.

In the short term, there can be no doubt that both the original Shed and Kiln are successful projects which have been largely achieved by members’ voluntary contributions.

“The passion and efforts of our members to take on such challenging projects and keep operations running throughout the Covid troubles, has been truly amazing. To see such a strong public response has been equally rewarding and is a testament to our members’ hard work.”

Eric Palmer, Co-Chair

A big thanks to our volunteer members who continue to put in many hours of work to develop our venues and activities.

Performance

Our overall performance as a charity is assessed against the following criteria:

Membership levels - the number of people (our members) we help

Attendance levels - the level of attendance achieved

Benefits – the benefits to members and the community arising from attendance and involvement

Value to community – the value provided by our volunteer efforts

Sustainability – our ability to finance operations and manage continuity risks

Membership

Our current membership status is provided by J in Appendix B, the Membership Report.

Since beginning, over 260 people have become members at some time. Today we have over 160 registered members, compared to 70 last year. In addition, we now have more age groups and people of different backgrounds. The main reason for this is obviously the wider range of crafts and activities available.

We thank J and the co-ordinator team for managing the membership so well.

Attendance

As might be expected, with more members, session attendance for the year ending September 2022 has also increased by around 135% compared to our best year in 2018. (NB. We have not compared with 2019 and 2021 figures because attendance was significantly affected by Covid restrictions).

Benefits

Today, there are more activities and facilities available to members than previous years and more are in the pipeline. We also know from anecdotal information (individual cases) that the well-being for some members has been enhanced by attending sessions. As a result, we are seeing more interest and

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referrals from health agencies.

Value to Community

In addition to the Kiln and Shed projects and operations as discussed previously, our members have undertaken a number of small community projects which have helped people and organisations in the community. Our members have also supported local events such as Burnside’s Jubilee Open Day, MSDC Play Days and St James Hospice Garden Open Day. These have all helped to promote our venues, enhance our reputation and raise funds. Thanks to all volunteer members that helped to make these events happen.

Sustainability

Our current financial status is good (see ‘Finances’ below and Appendix A: Treasurer’s Report). The income from membership and session charges is meeting our current outgoings.

In order to provide sessions at affordable rates our members carry out most project and operational work voluntarily. Employing external staff would be helpful however, it would require increased fees to fund, and is something we would like to avoid. We also keep costs low by using appropriate premises on short-term leases. The downside is that our leases have break clauses, which mean that we could be at risk of termination at short notice.

In order to offset the disruption and discontinuity that short notice termination would cause, we have established a financial reserve. Today, we are confident that our operations will be able to run to June 2025 at Burnside and beyond June 2023 at the Kiln or alternative venues for at least a few more years after that.

It is difficult to be more certain of the long term since things change so much in our district and could easily provide more or fewer opportunities. Our membership has shown remarkable resilience and flexibility in the face of uncertainty and we have good reserves which will help us to find and relocate to alternative premises. We are therefore confident that we will continue for some time.

Activities

In terms of the activities that members can undertake, we now have over 6 interest groups. The Shed (Wood and Metal Crafts) is now open 3 days each week and the Kiln (Sew Social, Pottery, Art Club, Maker Tech, Electronics and IT, Card Making, Weaving) is open 5 days. All groups have experienced good growth over the past year and we expect further growth next year.

Activities and interest groups are managed by our group co-ordinators supported by their supervisors and volunteers, and we thank them all for their hard work and many contributions. See group reports in Appendix C.

Thanks and Acknowledgements

As mentioned in some previous sections, we currently depend entirely on our volunteer members who give up their valuable time to keep our venture alive. Without them we would not have the spaces and sessions we have today. There are many ways our volunteer members help: construction, electrics, setting up and coordinating interest groups, supervision, buying equipment and materials,

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managing membership, managing finances and accounts, managing the facility, organising and making products and running the shop, making repairs, decorating, cleaning and so on. It is really encouraging that every week it seems more members are getting involved in voluntary work to keep our venues working and income streams healthy. Finally, some of our members help finances by making donations to cover materials, and buying products made by other members. I am sure we all want to thank members for their many fantastic and significant contributions to keep us going.

Trustees

Our trustees are also volunteer members who not only contribute as members, as discussed, but also look after strategic and governance aspects. Their work is often unseen but essential in ensuring our venture remains successful. Our projects usually break new ground and successful existing business models that fit our unique situation are hard to find. This means that we often have to learn new ways of working and deal with difficult and challenging circumstances.

The Board of Trustees are equally responsible for the overall management of the charity including strategy, governance and finance. All attend regular trustee meetings and contribute to key decisions and governance.

We are sure members would wish to thank the Trustee team for their valuable inputs and for having the courage and tenacity to help us through some difficult periods, and keep us on a steady course.

The following are current Trustees:

David Bailey *: Shed Workshop Manager

David Hayes : Finance

Eric Palmer[*] : Co-chair

Gail Anderson : Pottery Manager

Ian Lucas : Co-chair

Jasmine Patel : Membership Secretary

Tim Penn : Governance support

*Trustees stand down at the end of three years and may be re-elected. Both Eric Palmer and David Bailey are standing for re-election this year.

External Stakeholders

We extend our thanks to two very important stakeholders: West Sussex County Council and New River who have both leased premises on favourable terms. Without them we simply would not be able to operate.

We give thanks and appreciation to three external groups that regularly hire our premises: The Repair Cafe (Anne Eves); Summerhaven (Janice Henwood) and Burgess Hill Community Crafter’s Market (Jo Homan).

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As above, we have asked for funding help from a number of grant providers. Our projects would have been even more challenging without their support, so many thanks to all of them: West Sussex County Council, Mid Sussex District Council, Burgess Hill Town Council, Hall and Woodhouse, Sussex Community Foundation and The Lions.

We also thank the public for donations throughout the year.

Finance

A summary of our finances is provided by N in Appendix A: Treasurer’s Report. This shows net income was over £10K which is around double pre-covid levels. Income made up from members’ subscriptions and fees (£12.9K), sales and donations (£4.4K) and rental income (£1.7K), and the main outgoings were equipment, general expenses and training costs (£8.7K). Most of the Kiln refurbishment costs were covered directly by grants and therefore did not directly affect operational finances.

Overall, this is a very good performance and we would like to thank the finance team (N, D and Co-ordinators) for their hard work managing the books.

Plans/options for the way forward

In this section, I want to explain some of the plans yet to be completed, some new plans and options we may consider moving forward.

Enhancing Performance

Of the two venues the Shed has only limited potential for development due to being restricted to daytime for three days each week. A WiFi link to Burnside’s Guest Site is being installed to enable members to use internet resources. We will discuss with Shedders how we may improve the facility and equipment further.

The Kiln is only utilised about 20% of the time and there are few evening activities taking place especially when car parking is free. It has an excellent front space, workshop areas and specialist spaces. We do however lack a good kitchen and coffee shop which could make our Kin venue more attractive. The Kiln has the greatest potential for more activities and sessions.

Current plans to enhance spaces and increase activities are:

Complete and equip the upstairs Makerspace area (MakerTech) to encourage younger people to join

Establish and run a monthly STEM club (with support from local businesses and parents)

Complete refurbishment of the downstairs Library/Meeting room

Complete refurbishment of the upper kitchen dining area

Complete storage facilities

Other options include:

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Burgess Hill Green Hub (we are currently exploring this with other Charities)

Coffee Station/Shop (a small station is possible if volunteers are willing to run the facility)

Hiring spaces to additional external groups (currently being explored with charities and MSDC)

Premises

Our long-term aim is to continue our mission in a place where all activities are accessible under the same roof. This obviously means bringing the Shed and Kiln activities together. If we can find suitable premises, external funding opportunities may help us relocate. This all depends on reputation, performance and benefits to the community all of which we have enhanced through our work. Therefore, we can be confident that the more we perform our mission well, the more help we will receive.

There are some long-term options. One is in the new Northern Arc development which we are exploring with MSDC, the other is New River who have said they will look into providing premises for us in their Town Centre development. Whilst both options would most likely be at higher costs, if we work hard on enhancements to our activities, there is every chance we will be able to meet higher costs.

Conclusion

The overall conclusion is that we are in a stable, growing position with sound finances and membership. We have options for the long-term that need further work.

BH-Shed is not owned by investors, shareholders or a local authority. It is solely owned by its members and ultimately it is in our hands to make a complete success of our venture. I am sure that if we all work together and do more to make our spaces work better, grow membership and income, help manage and run our venues, we can be an important amenity in the Town for many years.

Thank you all.

Eric Palmer On behalf of the Board of Trustees 31 October 2022

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Appendix A: Treasurers Report, year ended 30 September 2022

N, Treasurer

The summary accounts below show the development of the organisation in this financial year.

In the previous year the Shed was closed for some 4 months because of covid and the Kiln was just getting started. Now we have an increased membership and four activities generating income from session.

Total income, excluding grants, amounted to £9116, an increase of £8659 on last year. Fees generated by each activity are as follows

The shed 2729
Sew Social 1751
Pottery 3805
Art 831
9116

We are now averaging about 70 sessions, ie member attendances each week.

Membership has increased from 70 to 160 and we are also now benefitting from the subscription increase by £5 to £30. Overall we have booked an increase of £1420 from subscriptions.

Shop sales increased by 10%.

We have a consistent flow of income from renting out the Kiln premises. Summerhaven have used the premises each Sunday and the Repair café have a regular monthly date.

The increase in expenses, excluding the development costs of the Kiln, have increased by £3000, all of which is accounted for by increased material costs associated with the increased activity.

General overheads have surprisingly stayed at the same level as last. This though is mostly down to the timing of some large expenses at the end of last year. We are of course benefitting from the rent free period in the Kiln and we have not been paying for the utilities there.

We have incurred further costs on the refurbishment and equipping of the Kiln. There is a mismatch between incurring the cost and receiving the grants for this. This year grants have exceeded expenditure by £324.

So in total Income has exceeded our outgoings by £10,445, increasing our cash

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and bank balances to £29169.

Accounts - Receipts and Payments

A1 Receipts
Donations
Sales
Session Fees
Member Subs
Kiln rental income
A3 Payments
Equipment
Training Courses
Insurance
Premise Hire
Gen Expenses
Kiln refurb and equipment
less Grants
Total payments
Net Receipts
A6 Cash Funds Last Year End
Cash Funds this year end
2021/22
430
4054
9116
3785
1713
19099
3430
542
655
750
3601
2020/21
1932
3692
1626
2365
825
10440
100
455
572
1039
3807
DIFF
(1502)
362
7490
1420
888
8659
(3330)
(87)
(83)
289
206
8978
6742
(7066)
(324)
8654
10445
18724
29169
5973
10368
(4545)
5823
11796
(1356)
20120
18764
-3005
3626
(2521)
1105
-1900
10558
(1396)
10405

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Appendix B: Membership Report

Jl, Membership Secretary

These figures are approximate at September 2022, including leavers, as I am awaiting confirmation of numbers from section heads.

For the first time in our history, membership consists of 83 women and 77 men.

Catchment Area

West Sussex is the main county and 97 members (60%) attend directly from Burgess Hill in mid Sussex.

Twenty-six members (16%) are from Haywards Heath / Lindfield / Balcombe / Cuckfield and Warninglid localities; approximately 4-miles away.

Sixteen Members (10%) are from Hassocks / Hurstpierpoint, about 4-miles away. Seven members (4%) are from the Horsham district, a distance of 15miles. Two members are 11-miles away from Crawley and one member is from Chichester which is 37-miles away.

In East Sussex, four members (2.5%) are from Lewes / Hove commuting from 11-miles away.

Burgess Hill Locality

2021 is significant for the renovation of north Burgess Hill and the current construction of 241 new homes in the ‘Northern Arc’ which is rapidly changing the infrastructure of Mid Sussex. This includes building new transport links, schools, employment and sports and leisure facilities. This is exciting as it will certainly impact next year’s membership figures.

The long term vision is to build 4000 houses and bring 10,000 people over the next fifteen years.

Activities

Membership is across two sites with numerous activities to engage in. A breakdown of those doing their main or first activity is as follows: -

37% engage in The Pottery on Tuesdays, Wednesdays and Thursday; the only group with a waiting list. Led by G.

29% attend the Burnside Workshop where Tuesdays and Wednesdays are the busiest days and Thursdays being the quietest. Led by D.

15% attend Sew Social between two sessions from 10am – 8:30pm, led by J.

11% attend Art club three times a week, led by K.

4% attend the monthly Make-a-Card monthly led by S and 4% attend Weaving weekly, jointly led by V and J respectively.

10 members enjoy two activities at both sites and one member is doing three

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activities at the Kiln.

Health information

Health information is given on a voluntary basis and the Shed continues to receive referrals from social prescribers. Eighteen members (11%) registered themselves as a vulnerable person (VP) for health reasons. The VP tick box was added in the last 12 months, the main reason was mental [ill] health followed closely by mobility issues.

There are many reasons for attending and reports show a correlation with happiness and health that strengthens our brain cells. Happiness improves our general well-being, increases resilience, strengthens social relationships, and reduces stress and depression. The benefits are stronger immune systems, lower blood pressure, better sleeps (and better waking). We are more alert, generous and compassionate. Happy members have a greater capacity for joy and positive emotions.

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Appendix C: Interest Group Reports

Art Club by K

The Art club started on the 7th February, in the hope of spreading art with likeminded members. Over the nine months we took part in events and open days and an interview on radio to appeal to public. The club started with 3 members and now has about 14. Each session sees between 3 and 5 attending.

We have plenty of easels and materials available (due to the closure of Marle Place). Perhaps we can rent out some of them to members with a deposit.

Apart from practical sessions (Monday, Thursday and Friday), there’s a new session (Wednesdays) for people who like to talk about art rather than painting.

I suggest we have a workshop open to public in the hope of increasing members and attempt to increase the number of members who come regularly.

The studio upstairs needs to be utilised more (a leak isn’t helping this).

In conclusion, a good start but open to ideas on how to improve things, to entice more people to join and encourage members to attend more regularly.

Pottery by G

Pottery at The Kiln has been open for over a year, and I think we can say it’s been a success!

We opened our studio on the 12[th] October 2021 with one member joining the first session! We have grown our membership and regularly have anything from 4 to 10 members attending each session.

We run 4 sessions a week, each session is 3 hours long, and we have space for a maximum of 10 members.

We started with an initial seed fund from West Sussex County Council which purchased an electric kiln, a small amount of clay and tools to start us off.

We now have three electric wheels and one renovated kick wheel and another that needs some work! We were lucky enough to receive a small grant from Hall and Woodhouse brewery that helped buy two electric wheels and we have had another donated from the Charity Headway in Newick.

Rather than offer formal teaching we endeavour to share skills to facilitate members to create with clay using different techniques and surface decoration.

We have recently had a review of what we are doing and run basic supervisor training sessions to enable other members to take on leading sessions and develop confidence with using the kiln.

We have had a lot of interest and now must consider how to accommodate and manage this.

Issues going forward are:

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Possible solutions:

Create a Card by S

Create a Card has been running for a year. We are a small group of 6 members.

We started the group having a session every Friday, but due to lack of members joining change to the last Friday of the month.

We make all sorts of cards from: Iris Folding, Die Cutting, Silk Painting, Teabag Folding, Rubber Stamping, Embossing, Decoupage. We also recycle used cards (a lot of cards have been donated.

We are having 2 sessions in November to recycle into Christmas cards.

We are a friendly Group though small, but enjoy making personal cards for friends and family.

Sew Social by J

Sew Social started on the 6th July 2021. It is what it says, a group for people to come and sew socially! In the first three months we had 12 Members join.

We currently now have 30 Members that have joined through the sewing group. Sew Social has contributed not only financially through weekly session fees but also supporting at local events like:

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We also arranged a Fabric Wreath Making activity last November, raising £70 for the BH-Shed Charity.

We are looking forward to the 19th of November, where we will be repeating the Fabric Wreath Activity this year again on the BHTC’s Light Switch on day, joining in with the community, and raising awareness of our facilities. Other user groups will be joining in too with the Christmas activities at The Kiln. Come along and visit us that day, there will be lots going on in town so hopefully a good footfall. We will be raising funds for the BH-Shed Charity.

We look forward to what next year has in store, with an extra exciting event to plan for King Charles III’s Coronation in May.

Sew Social has a lovely bunch of people. We all learn from each other, giving and receiving inspiration to one another. Friendships and laughter, with lots of creativity: aprons, bags, quilts, teddy bears, clothing, embroidery, stitching and more. These are just some of the wonderful things people have created this year. Come see our photo display board!

Tuesdays are one of my favourite days of the week, and I am very privileged to be the co-ordinator of such a great group!

This year it would be good to increase our members, and reach out to more people out there that are in need of social interaction for their well-being, whilst having a place to be able to come and create things with their hands.

Shed by D

Membership and attendance of the shed workshop is gradually recovering after the setback caused by covid. There are approximately 50 members who are dedicated to the Shed, and there is an average attendance of about 12 people per session.

The workshop is now open 3 days a week (Tuesday, Wednesday & Thursday). Thursday is mainly a training & tidy up day.

The Shed is now being recognised as a place that offers friendship and a place to pursue a hobby.

A few weeks ago, we were visited by two lady health workers from a local Doctors Surgery, asking if we are happy to take people who are recovering from bereavement or illness and need company and occupational therapy, which of course we are.

Members not only make things for themselves but are asked to help in community projects by MSDC, like the Queens Jubilee bench, which has been designed by local school children.

Weaving at the Kiln by V

There were two looms on display at the Kiln early in 2022, when I joined to warp them up and start weaving classes. I hoped that there would be members using

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them which would tempt passersby to come in and see what they were doing and join us. Unfortunately it hasn’t happened - yet.

Over the summer, I was joined by J, who volunteered to teach tapestry weaving and J and T also came in to help and they have generously provided samples of smaller items that can be produced with weaving.

There was some interest in weaving when we held the Open Day in July and as a result we enrolled one weaver and a spinner, both of whom were already members of the pottery class. The weaver has made great progress and has picked up the basics on two kinds of loom very quickly. The spinner made a good start and I hope will continue. Another Kiln member joined for a morning but did not come back.

There was also some interest from the mothers when we went to the MSDC Play Day in August and the children were encouraged to try the looms and make braids etc. I also went on Mid Sussex Radio to point out the therapeutic advantages of weaving, but progress in getting a proper class together has been very slow.

The anticipated children’s day in November and the Christmas event in December may bring in more members but it is difficult to assess whether there will be enough interest to continue offering this as a class.

I am uncertain how to proceed with so little interest currently, but I hope more members will join if the pedestrian footfall increases with the proposals for the nearby empty space. I am happy to continue while our one member is interested in continuing. Any suggestions to improve recruitment will be gratefully received.

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CHARITY COMMISSION FOR ENGLAND AND WALES BURGess TrNLL SHED Receipts and payments accounts CC16a 01(X141 Section A Receipts and payments ReslrKtsd Totsl fvTrds Last year A1 Rtc•lpts Donations Sales Session Fee5 Member Subs Grants other Pett Cash Bal In Hand 430 4S57 9116 3785 430 4.557 9,116 1932 2692 1826 2385 4S45 825 1713 Sub tot•llGm8s irKtink• f¢r AR} 19.601 6,818 28.217 14.985 t•bl•l. Sub t￿1 19. 14.9Blb AJ PAYTh￿1• Equipment & materials Training Courses Lnsurance Premise Hire Premises refurbishment Legal & Prol Eypenses Postage Gen E.Y 455 572 1039 7242 855 750 750 6.742 nses 4143 4,143 Sub tot•1 6.742 72 A4 A¥s•taThJ wrchaAQA, la•• t•bl•l Sub tol•l 15,772 N•t of rK•10￿{paYM•Th1￿) 26 10.445 1.744 18,854 29.169 1.744 1.870 A6 Cuh funda l•¥¢ y4•r•nd C•¥h lund¥ tIMfftr•nd 18.724 29,169 20.120 Section B Statement of assets and liabilities at the end of the period funds 81 Cash funds Bank and cash balan¢wJ 29.169 29.169

Oetails Deta41s 84 A•Mts ret•ln•d for th• ehadt*s o¥m u Detsils 8S Li•trxliti behdl Of￿￿¥ Pthl Name Date of rov81 LS

Burgess Hill Shed

The accounts were produced by Nigel Greg, a qualified accountant.

Auditor Report

No examination was conducted for the period.

Eric Palmer Co-Chair, Board of Trustees.