Chairperson’s Report 2024
I would like to sincerely thank the trustees and volunteers of Friends of Riverside for their ongoing support and hard work. Thanks also to Mr. Andrew Jack, Wiltshire Council Area Board and of course to the hirers and users for your ongoing support. As usual, those involved in Riverside are fantastic and help us to provide this wonderful venue for North Wiltshire.
We have continued to maintain the building and our operations from our reserves, unfortunately this year has been partially overshadowed by Wiltshire Council’s declared intention to exercise a break clause on the Riverside building lease in 2025, with a potential end date of January 2026, the same of course affecting the Skatepark. This is a cost savings measure to improve their budget topline. As yet this has not been confirmed. Representations have been made to Wiltshire Council not to take this action, however as at 2024, both Malmesbury Town Council and Wiltshire Council are in talks concerning a possible purchase of the building and we are looking at other possible alternative venues.
Our hirers provide a wide range of activities, and we now provide space for local health visitors for their Baby Clinics and a home for the Heal’s free Community Wardrobe the last being subsidised, plus a temporary home for the local Foodbank, whilst their usual space is being redecorated. As usual, we opened the centre and provided free refreshments to the public and participants for Malmesbury Carnival Procession Day.
Our ‘Saturday Friends’ monthly drop in, for older and vulnerable people, continues on with increased numbers, reflecting interest in a wider range of talks and activities provided and we have now started a weekly Monday Friends Group.
We continue to have Riverside representatives on various local groups. This especially applies to the local Malmesbury Health and Wellbeing Forum. We also have a representative on the LYN (Local Youth Network). Both of these are community based forums, and report to Wiltshire Council Malmesbury Area Board. Independently, all of our trustees continue to help to provide support to our community, through various other roles in local community groups and charities.
In November, the Centre was flooded as a result of Storm Bert, however the excellent trustees stepped in and helped to clean and dry out the centre. After being disinfected, we were able to re-open for our users only 2 days after the flood event.
Another very successful year, fufilling the objects of our charity, to promote community resilience, health and wellbeing, by providing a reasonable priced and accessible venue for our community.
Kim Power
Mrs. Kim Power (Chair) 23[rd] June 2025
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Treasurer’s Report 2024
TRUSTEES’ REMUNERATION & BENEFITS
01/01/2024 to 31/12/2024
Trustee Remuneration
There were no trustees' remuneration or other benefits for the period 1 January 2024 to 31 December 2024 Staff Costs: There were no staff costs paid for the period ended 31 December 2024.
There were no trustees' expenses paid for the period ended 31 December 2024.
| Receipts and Payment Account | 31 12 23 | 31 12 23 | 31 12 24 |
|---|---|---|---|
| £ | £ | ||
| Hall and Room Hire | 20446.67 | 22496.80 | |
| Grants & Fundraising | 1700.00 | 915.25 | |
| Total Receipts | 22,146.67 | 23,412.05 | |
| Payments | |||
| Insurance | 802.64 | 863.18 | |
| Light heat and water | 4236.98 | 8209.23 | |
| Compliance contract and servicing | 6313.62 | 7876.23 | |
| Maintenance License’s | 273.80 | 545.35 | |
| Event Costs & Project Costs | 1108.94 | 1108.94 | |
| Setup costs… . | 1786.86 | 670.86 | |
| Cleaning | 11784.08 | 13087.99 | |
| Total Payments | 26,306.92 | 32,361.60 | |
| Balanceheld at Lloyds Bank, Malmesbury @ 31/12/23 | 38,491.86 | ||
| Balanceheld at Lloyds Bank, Malmesbury @ 31/12/24 | |||
| (Current Account 3627.06 25915.25) |
Savings Account | 29,542.31 | |
| Represented by: | Restricted Grant: | £0 | |
| Unrestricted Funds: £29,542.31 | Unrestricted Funds: £29,542.31 | Unrestricted Funds: £29,542.31 | |
| Hon Treasurer | |||
| a ip Ye |
|||
| P J Gilchriest | Date | 18/6/2025 |
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Independent examiner’s report to the trustees of Friends of Riverside Trust
I report to the trustees on my examination of the accounts of the Friends of Riverside Trust (the Trust) for the period 1[st] January 2024 to 31[st] December 2024.
Responsibilities and basis of report
As the charity trustees of the Trust you are responsible for the preparation of the accounts in accordance with the requirements of the Charities Act 2011 (‘the Act’). I report in respect of my examination of the Trust’s accounts carried out under section 145 of the 2011 Act and in carrying out my examination I have followed all the applicable Directions given by the Charity Commission under section 145(5)(b) of the Act.
Independent examiner’s statement
I have completed my examination. I confirm that no material matters have come to my attention in connection with the examination giving me cause to believe that in any material respect:
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accounting records were not kept in respect of the Trust as required by section 130 of the Act; or
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the accounts do not accord with those records.
I have no concerns and have come across no other matters in connection with the examination to which attention should be drawn in this report in order to enable a proper understanding of the accounts to be reached.
Signed:
G.G.Noël, ACIB 11, Shepherds Mead, Tetbury. GL88RB Date: 26[th] August 2025
Secretary’s Report 2024
2024 proved to be another busy year for Riverside. Wiltshire Council announced that they may not renew the lease after the end of 2025 and this uncertainty hung over us all during the year .
Monthly meetings continued to take place mostly at Riverside itself. In my role as Secretary I was responsible for making the arrangements for these meetings plus the preparation and circulation of agendas and minutes. I also continued to be responsible for Hallmaster and the room bookings, dealing with all e-mail in the Riverside Inbox, liaising with customers, showing potential customers around the facilities, sending out invoices plus monthly meetings with our cleaning contractors and weekly liaisons with the cleaner to discuss closing times for the week ahead and any other cleaning issues that may have been raised.
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As well as record keeping and sundry correspondence, please note the following:
Grants applied for and awarded:-
Kim Power applied for and was awarded 2 grants from the Area Board – one to take Saturday Friends to the Town Hall to be part of the Athelstan 1100 celebrations, and the other to produce a ‘What’s On’ type leaflet for the elderly of Malmesbury and the surrounding villages.
Awards won:-
Our Riverside garden won 3[nd] place in the Malmesbury in Bloom event.
Riverside were represented at the following events and participated in or attended the following meetings: -
Local Youth Network
Wiltshire Council Area Board
Malmesbury Area Health and Wellbeing Forum
Other items:-
We also opened up to the public and participants for Malmesbury Carnival Day providing much needed refreshments and facilities.
We also continued to host the Malmesbury Community Wardrobe and temporarily hosted the Food Bank while renovations were being carried out at their usual venue.
We were forced to close for 2 days in November after the building was flooded due to Storm Bert – the trustees stepped in and helped to clean and dry the centre. It was then disinfected and we were able to re-open 2 days later.
Saturday Friends
During 2024 we were able to run our normal Saturday Friends schedule. We continued to run shorter sessions with tea/cake and biscuits rather than a luncheon. We also always provided transport and entertainment for our guests. We also held a very popular Xmas party in December.
Monday Friends
During the end of 2024 we started an informal ‘drop-in’ morning for any independently living elderly residents ie. we did not provide transport but still provided tea/coffee/ cake etc and of course, company, warmth and a chance to get together for a (sometimes very lively!) chat.
This has been thoroughly enjoyed by those who attend.
Mary O’Brien
Mary O’Brien (Secretary) 18[th] June 2025
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Health and Safety Report 2024
This report summarises the main health and safety issues for 2024/2025 and incorporates all aspects of Health and Safety for the Riverside Community Centre.
A health and safety inspection is carried out weekly and the reports are kept in the Health and safety file in the office
All electrical equipment owned by Riverside Community Centre is tested annually and the certificates are kept online.
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First aid boxes are no longer date coded as they have been in the past and are checked monthly
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All emergency lighting tests and outcomes are recorded monthly.
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Fire extinguishers to be serviced in 2026
On 25[th] November 2024 the centre was flooded, the floors were deep cleaned and sanitised for the safety of all users of the downstairs area.
Accident Book:
An HSE Accident Book is in the foyer. Its purpose is to record minor incidents and accidents. Under the Data Protection Act 2004 accident books should not enable people to read personal information of others. To ensure that this does not occur individual records are removed and held separately in the health and Safety folder in the office.
Training which is available as follows:
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Asbestos awareness Safe driver training
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First aid including training on the use of an Automated External Defibrillators
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Chair evacuation.
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Food hygiene
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Bomb evacuation
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Fire safety
Margaret Perrin
Mrs. Margaret Perrin (Trustee with Responsibility for Health and Safety) 23[rd] June 2025
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