## **Report and Financial Statements** 

Year ending 30[th] June 2025 



**Registered Charity No. 1169151** 

## **Contents** 

## **Page** 

|Officers and Professional Advisers|2|
|---|---|
|Trustees’ Report|3|
|Statement of Financial Activities Report|9|
|Independent Examiner’s Report|11|





**Friends of Holmewood** 

## **Officers and Professional Advisers** 

## **TRUSTEES AND OFFICERS** 

Chelsea Crathern – Chair (Resigned on 4 July 2025) Andrea Kayser – Chair (Appointed Trustee 14 Mar 2025, Appointed Chair 4 July 2025) 

Ala El-Kour – Treasurer Gemma Mole – Secretary Catherine O'Leary – Trustee (Appointed 14 Mar 2025) Robbie Ward – Trustee (Appointed 14 Mar 2025) Sophie Clary - Events Co-ordinator (Resigned on 14 Mar 2025) 

## **BANKERS** 

Barclays Bank PLC 1 Churchill Place Canary Wharf London, E14 5HP, U.K. 

## **ACCOUNTANT** 

Crowe U.K. LLP Medway Bridge House 1-8 Fairmeadow Maidstone Kent, ME14 1JP, U.K. 

## **PAYMENTS PROVIDERS** 

Stripe Payments Europe, Limited (through PTA Membership) The One Building, 1 Grand Canal Street Lower Dublin 2, Co. Dublin, IRELAND 

SumUp Payments Limited 20 Shorts Gardens London, WC2H 9US, U.K. 

## **REGISTERED OFFICE** 

Holmewood House School Barrow Lane Langton Green Royal Tunbridge Wells Kent, TN3 0EB, U.K. 

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## **Trustees Report** 

The Trustees present their annual report (including the Strategic Review) on the affairs of the Friends of Holmewood (the Charity), together with the financial statements for the year ended 30 June 2025. 

The Trustees have arranged for an independent Examiner report in line with Charity’s policy and the condition of the insurance provided by the PTA-UK membership. PTA-UK requires all associations to have their accounts independently examined. This is a stipulation of the PTA-UK subscription linked insurance for cover against fraud or dishonesty by a Treasurer or another committee member/trustee. 

## **Strategic Review** 

## _Introduction_ 

The Friends of Holmewood is an enthusiastic PTA organisation and a registered charity, with membership open to all parents, staff, children and alumni of Holmewood House School. 

We have two main aims: our first and foremost is to bring the whole school together, to enable you to meet other families across the school’s community, by hosting fun events for you and your children. Our second aim is to raise money for school projects and activities to enrich our children’s education and learning environment, and for charity. It has been a tremendous privilege to have led and been part of this team for the past few years and to provide you with a glimpse of some of this year’s activities. 

The Committee members are immensely grateful to the academic and support staff in school for enabling various activities to take place, and for all the support and donations from the Holmewood House parental body, including many local businesses. 

Activities and fundraising in the year ending 30th June 2025 (from 1st July 2024) included: 

- Family Fun Day (unfortunately cancelled this year due to weather conditions) 

- Fireworks Night 

- Christmas Fair 

- Christmas Cards and Gifts 

- Quiz Night 

- Wine Tasting 

- Easter Fun 

- Summer Ball 

## _**Fireworks Night**_ 

Post the longest half term break, November brought another magical night where the South Lawn played host to a fantastic fireworks display. We enjoyed an amazing spectacle coupled with super food and warming mulled wine, and plenty of reusable glow sticks which the children loved! 

## _**Christmas Fair**_ 

Christmas Cheer was in abundance and the whole school community came together with student-run stalls, bucking reindeer rides, a stand-out Father Christmas in the Grotto, cheeky elves, a busy shopping village and delicious food and drink. Proudly, many of the businesses were run by Holmewood families and we were grateful to the many other local businesses who supported the event as suppliers and/or raffle donors. 

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Another highlight was the epic entrepreneurial battle of the Houses, led by the Year 8s, where, given a brief and budget by Friends and Mr Jervis, they ran their own stalls and games in a bid to raise the most money. Combined with the results of their pine cone decoration competition (Pre-Prep) and the infamous Chocolate Tombola Tower building competition, Cob came out victorious. 

## **Hot Chocolate and Marshmallows at break** 

In honour of Cob’s Christmas triumph, the Friends were delighted to serve hot chocolates, cream, marshmallows and brownies at break time before the end of term. All was calm, all was bright until the Grinch arrived and caused merry chaos, stealing a present from the staff room tree, unceremoniously tearing into the package and distributing the Haribo to all gathered, much to the delight of the children. The madness didn’t end there, with poor Mr Porter falling victim to a cream pie in the face from our naughty intruder! 

## _**Christmas Cards & Gifts**_ 

Each year the children are invited to create Christmas designs, which are used to produce cards, tags, wrapping paper, mugs and tea towels. This is always such a lovely activity to allow the children to create wonderful items that their families and friends can enjoy and keep as mementos. This project was Charlie Jones’ final time at the helm and she undoubtedly did a phenomenal job with a record amount of money raised through this campaign. A huge thank you to Charlie for your time in this role and all of you who purchased your childrens’ precious designs. 

## _**Quiz Night**_ 

“Yeehaw!” to all brilliant cowboys and girls who attended the FOH “It’s Not my First Rodeo” Quiz Night - you were all thoroughly good sports and the sound of everyone mooing along in the final ‘Moo-sic’ round will long echo in my mind! The competition was fierce, as were the costumes, and the evening ended with a tie break between the brilliant Quizzy Rascals, Bucking Broncos and We Shot the Sheriff… ultimately, having eliminated Bucking Broncos, it was too close to call for first place and the teams opted to share the top prizes. Proud winner of the “Cow or Tribe” round was none other than Mr Benjamin Kayser! And a big shout out to Emma Calvert for her superb, prize-winning costume. 

Huge thanks to all of our prize sponsors, Nick Lambert (my silent quiz partner), Hen and Phoebe L (our wonderful Y8 assistants), Mrs Napleton and the school team and to Culinera, who prepared a delicious meal to sustain us for the evening! 

## _**Wine Tasting Evening with Robbie Ward**_ 

Our in house aficionado, Robbie Ward, hosted a sold out evening of fun facts, laughter, charcuterie boards and a guided tour through a curated selection of reds and whites. What had been billed as an evening of sophistication descended into redundant spittoons and raucous Bacchanalian spirit (much to the horror of poor Mr O’Riordan, who was on night duty in the Mansion House!) But it was undoubtedly a huge success all round and certainly one that we hope to run annually. 

## _**Easter Fun**_ 

Once more, the Easter bunny turned up to cause chaos in a high octane battle against her imposter! Many children witnessed the battle of the Holmewood Easter Bunnies, and others were caught in their flour and raw egg crossfire (much to their delight!) Numerous brave teachers were able to refrain from cracking under the pressure of the raining raw eggs, until Mr Davies was caught unawares and he and his shorts fell victim to a direct hit from the naughty rodents! Reconciled with laughter, the two bunnies befriended each other. Battle over, calm restored, the Easter trails commenced on the South Lawn. Meanwhile, down in Pre-Prep, a myriad of activities were underway, and the Easter Bunnies were made most welcome. 

Page 4 



## _**Summer Ball**_ 

On 20th June the South Lawn once again played host to the most fabulous of “Sicilian Summer” evenings. From the Italian themed feast, exquisitely catered by Culinera, to the limoncello shots, handmade table decorations and names, and the impeccable service of almost 20 Old Holmewoodians, the attention to detail was undoubtable. 

Entertainment came in two forms: the internationally acclaimed DJ and saxophonist, Groovewerkz, who had everyone begging for an encore, and the internationally infamous Benjamin Kayser, who did a stellar job as MC and chief auctioneer (no moths remained in anyone’s wallets by the end of the evening!) Special mention also to Andrea Kayser, Gemma Mole and Catherine O’Leary for their monumental efforts to create such a spectacular event. 

Aside from the fundraising success, the opportunity to celebrate the end of another successful and happy Holmewood year was a true treat. We are blessed to be part of such a warm, generous and fun-loving community. To see Mrs O’Sullivan and Mr Jervis out on the dance floor, throwing shapes, letting their hair down was a rewarding history lesson in its own right! Jokes aside, the Friends are incredibly grateful for everything the school does to support our efforts and we could not do any of this without them. 

## _**Our Supported Charity**_ 

Bi-annually, a charity is nominated by the children, and 25% of all funds raised by Friends of Holmewood are donated to this charity. Our charity for the past two years has been Tree of Hope, a small children’s healthcare charity, based in Tunbridge Wells.  They help families who have children with long term health conditions or disabilities in the UK, to improve their health and quality of life by supporting their family to fundraise for specialist care that is not freely available through the UK healthcare system. 

The children supported are all individuals with no two sets of difficulties the same, and the children who need help often tend to be those with either very rare conditions or complex needs, although there are some exceptions of straightforward conditions that the NHS are just unable to help fund. Tree of Hope have been hugely appreciative of the support they have received from the Friends of Holmewood and it was lovely to welcome Karen Warner back into school for the children to hand over our final cheque to them, a total contribution of over £5500! 

We look forward to the children selecting the new charity for 2025-27 in due course. 

## _**Supporting the School**_ 

During the year, £680 was spent on the purchase of sports and play equipment for the pre school and digital vTech cameras for the pre-prep. (2024: £340).  The committee also committed to funding the initial outlay to set up the GreenPower programme at the school with payment of £4,000 made post year end. 

## _**The Committee**_ 

In my final year as Chair, I have been blessed with an absolute dream team: Ala El-Kour, Treasurer, Gemma Mole, Secretary, Andrea Kayser, Catherine O’Leary, Robbie Ward, Simon Jervis, Laura Redman and Suzy Hughes. Thank you to all the volunteers, and the support of the Reps, who have all provided much needed assistance over the course of the year, and indeed over the many, many years I have been involved in Friends. It has been an honour and a privilege to be part of such of phenomenal community. 

## **Structure, Governance, Management and Decision-Making** 

The Friends of Holmewood Charity, a public benefit entity, is an unincorporated association established under the Model Constitution for Parent Teacher Associations in England and Wales as a Friends Association . There are currently 6 Trustees who are also members of the Charity. The Charity registered as a charity with the Charity Commission on 13 September 2016, registered number 1169151. The principal office is at: Holmewood House School, Barrow Lane, Langton Green, Royal Tunbridge Wells, Kent, TN3 0EB. 

Page 5 



The Charity is governed and managed by a trustee committee who are elected annually by the members at the Annual General Meeting. 

The Charity is run directly by the Trustees, supported by a number of volunteers with a day- to-day involvement in its events and activities. The Trustees consider the Charity small enough for this to be the most effective method of governance. 

The Trustees are hugely grateful to all of the volunteers who help amongst other things by staffing stalls and providing assistance in helping the Charity achieve its objectives. 

## **Fundraising Regulations** 

The Charity carries out its fundraising in a fair and responsible way and ensures that funds raised are spent effectively to bring maximum benefit to the pupils. The Charity strives to ensure that its fundraising activities are conducted to the highest level of quality and safety. The approach is donor focused and designed to ensure that donors enjoy and benefit from their engagement with the Charity. 

Whilst the Charity strives to perform to the highest standards in everything it does, it is possible that it may not always succeed in meeting these standards. Should a complaint be received, it will be fully investigated, and efforts will be made to correct any shortcomings highlighted. The Charity received no complaints during the year under review. The Trustees recognise the importance of the reputation of the Charity in maintaining the trust and confidence of its donors and this principle sits at the heart of all fundraising activities. 

## **Accountants** 

Crowe UK, L.L.P. continued to be the Charity’s accountants in 2025 

As allowed by the Charities Commission Accounting procedures, the Charity continues to prepare accounts on a more simplified set of accounting standards recording receipts and payments rather than on a more complicated accruals basis which is only required for Charities with a revenue stream of more than £250,000 per annum. 

Receipts and payments accounts contain a statement summarising all money received and paid out by the charity in the financial year, and a statement giving details of its assets and liabilities at the end of the year. This keeps accounting costs to a reduced amount. 

## **Financial Performance** 

Net income/(deficit) for the year ended 30 June 2025 amounted to £14,151 (prior year ended 30 June 2024: (£1,373)). 

Key revenue activities during the year were as follows: 

- Family Fun Day – £0 – Note, the income from this event is £4,663 which was refunded to the parents as the event was cancelled due to weather conditions (prior year ended 30 June 2024: £10,078) 

- Fireworks Night – £9,529 (prior year ended 30 June 2024: £9,033) 

- Christmas Fair – £9,075 (prior year ended 30 June 2024: £8,192) 

- Christmas Design Activity – £950 (prior year ended 30 June 2024: £1,035) 

- Wine Tasting – £1,271 (prior year ended 30 June 2024: £Nil – Event not held) 

- Summer Ball – £28,684 (prior year ended 30 June 2024: £Nil – Event not held) 

- Quiz Night – £1,131 (prior year ended 30 June 2024: £Nil – Event not held) 

- Year 7/8 BBQ - £2,730 (prior year ended 30 June 2024: £Nil – Event not held). Note that costs associated with this event were paid post year end. 

## **Fundraising Portals** 

The Friends of Holmewood had previously signed up for EasyFundraising which generated donations of £125 (prior year ended 30 June 2023: £99) 

All parents, staff and alumni are encouraged to register at: https://www.easyfundraising.org.uk/ and to 

Page 6 



nominate Friends of Holmewood as their preferred charity for receipt of donations. 

There are over 6,000 stores that support Easyfundraising. All the big box stores are listed like John Lewis, eBay, Argos, Boots, Boden, AO, Currys etc. Their categories cover Business, Electrical, Entertainment, Fashion/Beauty, Finance, Home & Garden, Insurance, Mobiles, Travel and Utilities. Every purchase at a online store will generate a rebate to the Friends of Holmewood. 

## **Reserve Policy** 

The Charity had Cash Reserves at 30 June 2025 of £31,265 (prior year ended 30 June 2024: £17,114). Please note that some payments related to events held in the year ending 30 June 2025 took place post year end particularly in relation to the Summer Ball and the year 7/8 end of year BBQ.  These amounted to £5,212. Had these amounts being paid within the financial year, as occurred in previous years, the cash balance at the end of the 2025 financial year would have been £26,053. 

In reviewing its reserves requirement, the Trustees maintain that the Charity needs to hold reserves of c. £10,000 to ensure that it has enough liquidity to pay deposits for events and to maintain a buffer should significant losses be incurred through the cancellation of a major event for which insurance is unavailable, for example, as a result of adverse weather. 

## **Contingent Liability** 

As per last year’s financial statements, it should be noted a sum of £3,610 was received on 11 June 2020 into the Friends Stripe Bank Account Balance used by the PTA portal for ticketing as a result of a transfer supposedly from the Charities Barclays Bank Account Balance for which no corresponding debit is evident. As a matter of prudence and on the basis of accounting advice it is likely the Friends owe this sum of money back to either Stripe or Barclays Bank and it remains a potential contingent liability. The prior Treasurer was unable to ascertain what had transpired and further follow up by the current Treasurer has resulted in no further progress with neither organisation raising any concern. 

## **Going Concern** 

After making appropriate enquiries, the Trustees have a reasonable expectation that the Charity has adequate resources to continue in operational existence for the foreseeable future. For this reason, they continue to adopt the going concern basis in preparing the financial statements. 

## **Principal Risks and Uncertainties** 

The Trustees have a risk management strategy which comprises an annual review of the principal risks and uncertainties that the Charity faces and the establishment of policies, systems and procedures to mitigate these risks. 

The Trustees have assessed the major risks to which the Charity is exposed, in particular those related to the operations and finances of the charity and are satisfied that the systems and procedures are in place to mitigate their exposure to the major risks. All risks are considered by the Trustees on a regular basis and efforts are made to mitigate any risks, where possible. 

## **Compliance with the Charity Governance Code** 

The Trustees are aware of the requirements of the Charity Governance Code and ensure the charitable operations comply with this code. 

## **Trustees** 

Trustees are recruited from the members of the Charity based upon a regular skills audit of the committee. All Trustees were appointed to the committee by members, at the Annual General Meeting, which was held in person and via remote dial-in, on 14th March 2025. Since that time Trustees have either resigned or new Trustees co-opted on by the existing Committee which will be ratified at the next AGM. 

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The dates of appointment and resignation as charity Trustees were: 

|**Trustee**|**Office (if any)**|**Date appointed**|**Date resigned**|
|---|---|---|---|
|Chelsea Crathern|Chair|2 December 2022|4 July 2025|
|Ala El-Kour|Treasurer|15 September 2023||
|Gemma Mole|Secretary & Trustee|20 October 2023||
|Catherine O'Leary|Trustee|14 March 2025||
|Robbie Ward|Trustee|14 March 2025||
|Sophie Clary|Trustee|28 January 2022|14 Mar 2025|



All new Trustees receive a briefing to acquaint them with the charity and its aims and activities, management and governance and what is expected of them under charity law. Additionally, new Trustees are invited to meet with other Trustees to learn more about their role and about the charity's activities. 

## The 2025 AGM is scheduled for **Friday 13th March 2026.** 

The Trustee’s Report, including the Strategic Review, was approved by the Trustees and signed on their behalf by: 

## **Andrea Kayser** 

Chair 

_13 March 2026_ 

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## **Friends of Holmewood** 

## **Receipts and payments accounts For the year ended 30 June 2025** 

||**30/06/2025**|**30/06/2025**|||**30/06/2024**|**30/06/2024**|||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
||**Unrestricted**|**Designated**|**Total**||**Unrestricted**|**Designated**||**Total**|
||**funds**|**funds**|**funds**||**funds**|**funds**||**funds**|
||**£**|**£**|**£**||**£**|**£**||**£**|
|**Receipts**|||||||||
|BBQ|2,730|-|2,730||_-_||_-_|_-_|
|Year 8 Ball|85||85||_-_||_-_|_-_|
|Christmas Gifts and|||||||||
|cards|950|-|950||_1,035_||_-_|_1,035_|
|Christmas fair|9,075|-|9,075||_8,192_||_-_|_8,192_|
|Ski Sale|364|-|364||_-_||_-_|_-_|
|Wine Tasting|1,271|-|1,271||_-_||_-_|_-_|
|Fundraising Donations|125|-|125||_99_||_-_|_99_|
|Summer ball|28,684|-|28,684||_-_||_-_|_-_|
|Quiz night|1,131|-|1,131||_60_||_-_|_60_|
|Family Fun Day|4,663|-|4,663||_10,078_||_-_|_10,078_|
|Fireworks Night|9,529|-|9,529||_9,033_||_-_|_9,033_|
|**Total receipts**|58,607|-|58,607||_28,497_||_-_|_28,497_|
|**Payments**|||||||||
|Accountancy|780|-|780||_780_||_-_|_780_|
|Wine Tasting|996|-|996||_-_||_-_|_-_|
|BBQ|116|-|116||_-_||_-_|_-_|
|Parents Disco|-|-|-||_215_||_-_|_215_|
|Christmas fair|3,399|-|3,399||_6,093_||_-_|_6,093_|
|Bank and finance|-|-|-||_11_||_-_|_11_|
|charges|||||||||
|Summer ball|21,105|-|21,105||_1,388_||_-_|_1,388_|
|Family Fun Day|7,172|-|7,172||_9,581_||_-_|_9,581_|
|Fireworks Night|6,179|-|6,179||_6,644_||_-_|_6,644_|
|School Equipment|680|-|680||_-_||_-_|_-_|
|Quiz night|32|-|32||_-_||_-_|_-_|
|Easter Egg Hunt|57|-|57||_-_||_-_|_-_|
|Charitable donation|3,778|-|3,778||_4,646_||_-_|_4,646_|
|Pond project|-|-|-||_-_||_-_|_-_|
|Membership fees|162|-|162||_513_||_-_|_513_|
|Total payments|44,456|-|44,456||_29,871_||_-_|_29,871_|
|Net receipts/|||||||||
|(payments) before|14,151|-|14,151||_(1,374)_||_-_|_(1,374)_|
|transfers|||||||||
|Transfers between|||||||||
|funds|-|-|-||_-_||_-_|_-_|
|Net receipts/|||||||||
|(payments)|14,151|-|14,151||_(1,374)_||_-_|_(1,374)_|
|Cash funds brought|||||||||
|forward|17,114|-|17,114||_18,488_||_-_|_18,488_|
|Cash funds carried|||||||||
|forward|31,265|-|31,265||_17,114_||_-_|_17,114_|



Page 9 



## **Friends of Holmewood** 

## **Statement of assets and liabilities At the end of the period 30 June 2025** 

|**Details**|**£**_£_|
|---|---|
|**Cash at bank and on**|**31,265** _17,114_|
|**hand**||



## Assets 

£2,509 has been prepaid in relation to a Summer Funday that was cancelled.  Credit is held with suppliers for use in subsequent event 

## Liabilities 

The amount which will be paid for accounting fees with respect to preparation of this set of financial statements is £780.  This is paid post year end.  Also further costs of £5,212 were paid post year end in relation to costs for the Summer Ball and Year 7/8 BBQ. 

## Contingent liabilities 

Stripe credited £3,610 on 11.06.2020, the source of which is unclear.  Stripe has not requested repayment to date.  The trustees are unclear if this was due to an error in which case this amount will be repayable to Stripe in the future. 

The financial statements comprising of the Receipts and Payments Summary and Statement of Assets and Liabilities were approved and authorised for issue by the Board on 

Signed on behalf of the Board of Trustees 

Signature 

Name 

Date 

Page 10 



## **Independent examiner's report on the accounts** 

**Section A                        Independent Examiner’s Report** 

**Report to the trustees/** Charity Name Friends of Holmewood **members of On accounts for the year Charity no** 30 June 2025 1169151 **ended (if any) Set out on pages** 1 to 10 (remember  to include the page numbers of additional sheets) 

I report to the trustees on my examination of the accounts of the above charity (“the Trust”) for the year ended **DD / MM / YYYY** 30 June 2025. . 

**Responsibilities and** As the charity trustees of the Trust, you are responsible for the preparation **basis of report** 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 the applicable Directions given by the Charity Commission under section 145(5)(b) of the Act. 

**Independent** I have completed my examination.  I confirm that no material matters have **examiner's statement** come to my attention (other than that disclosed below *) in connection with the examination which gives me cause to believe that in, any material respect: 

- accounting records were not kept in accordance with section 130 of the Act or 

- the accounts do not accord with the accounting records 

I have no concerns and have come across no other matters in connection with the examination to which attention should be drawn in order to enable a proper understanding of the accounts to be reached. 

* _Please delete the words in the brackets if they do not apply._ 

**Signed: Date:** March 11, 2026 ~~CT~~ **Name:** Emma Rockey **Relevant professional** Institute of Chartered Accountants of Scotland (ICAS) **qualification(s) or body (if any): Address:** 54F Culverden Down, Tunbridge Wells, TN4 9SG 

1 

**October 2018** 

**IER** 



## **Section B                           Disclosure** 

Only complete if the examiner needs to highlight matters of concern (see CC32, Independent examination of charity accounts: directions and guidance for examiners). 

**Give here brief details of any items that the examiner wishes to disclose** . 

None 

2 

**October 2018** 

**IER**