Twinkl Annual Report 2021
Chair Report Laura Carter
The Covid-19 Pandemic continued to influence and impact Hastings Thrives work for most of the year, despite the country beginning to open up again. We were fortunate to remain financially stable during the period.
We delivered new teacher training in science to 6 primary schools and have established a support network. Our parenting course with Changing Chances and The Baird was delayed until September and Covid impacted delivery, but was still a success. We continued to work with schools and partner with other organisations for delivery, particularly with the Holiday and Food Activity sessions. Our songwriting sessions were delivered online for the most part, although we did manage some in-person sessions in the summer. We joined in A Town Explores A Book with some Nonsense Songs based around Edward Lear’s work, which engaged and inspired so many children.
Despite Covid, we reached over 500 young people, developed over 100 young people through musical theatre and songwriting, and affected over 20 young people indirectly through parent training in neurodiversity and empowerment. Some of the stories are truly inspiring, particularly with neurodiverse, shy, anxious and disabled young women finding their confidence to perform and grow.
Here we see the lasting impact of our work. Training done in late Autumn 2020 was still
impacting children in 2021.
“My class absolutely loved the song writing sessions! We really enjoyed the training, both as a class and as teachers (myself and my TA). Ed was brilliant and made sure that everyone could get involved - encouraging scribes etc. to support and model for other children in the group. All children could access all activities and it really encouraged their creativity. Since the workshop, we have seen a real increase in interest towards song writing and poetry which has been lovely to see!”
Science Teacher Training
Empowered Parents
After many delays due to Covid, we managed to run an empowered parenting course at The Baird with Kit Messenger from Changing Chances and supported by Comic Relief. 13 parents attended and one staff member received training, so The Baird could continue training both staff and parents with its inclusive empowerment approach. Parents learnt how the brain works and how to empower themselves and their children.
Science Teacher Training was carried out by specialist Jacky Cross with 6 Primary Schools - Ark Castledown, Churchwood, Dudley Infants, Robsack Wood, Silverdale and West St Leonards. Science is a great way of engaging young people’s curiosity and is inextricably linked with the arts through good observation skills. Silverdale and Robsack Wood are working towards a science teaching quality mark and a network has been set up to support primary science teachers.
The parenting programme ran at The Baird - see below - looked at how the brain works and the chemistry involved.
In addition parents noted how the course has helped them better recognise their own well-being and use the models to help plan their own needs better.
Training the Trainer “It really helped me to understand the structure of the training, and how each unit built on knowledge learned previously.”
“I have gained a greater understanding of the needs and challenges facing parents and felt a much greater confidence in building a rapport with them in order to offer support.”
“We always make time for oxytocin cuddles now. It has meant they don’t try and get my attention in bad ways.”
“I used to just take away the xbox before this course, but it never worked. Now I talk to them about the problem.”
“I always thought he was just being naughty and it really helps to know it’s not all his fault’ ....
“I now think about what is making them feel bad and we work it out together.”
MUSICAL THEATRE
Suzie Dunster and Becky Knight continued to successfully lead our Musical Theatre courses, during Easter, Summer and Christmas. These were part of East Sussex County Council’s Holiday and Food Activities government fund and hosted at The St Leonards Academy and St Richard’s Catholic College.
Courses start with Becky leading dance, as an effective way to engage young people together and build confidence, before moving onto acting and public speaking. Not only is the course fun, but it is incredible how many young people grow in confidence, with a reduction in anxiety, stammering, and increased physicality with disabilities.
For instance, one girl with an EHCP for processing and anxiety was unable to complete the first day and left early, however she returned and completed the course with great enthusiasm!
“A brilliant way of engaging students which allowed them to explore their creative side. Students socialised brilliantly – and for our students to come out of their shells in such a short space of time was brilliant to see. There were students who would not normally engage and try out new things who got involved and thoroughly enjoyed themselves.”
Billy Thompson – Assistant Head of Arts Faculty and Enrichment Coordinator at St Leonards Academy:
“I can’t believe how much she has done! As a wheelchair user most of the time, she has really pushed herself and loved every minute.”
Thank you so much for having M** this week, He’s really enjoyed it. It’s been good for him to be seen in a positive light for a change!”
“She has never even spoken in front of an audience before. Let alone sung and danced! Well done and thank you.”
“This has been the best experience for her, she was so nervous about coming here in September but this has really alleviated a lot of her worries about secondary school.”
SongSeeds
SongSeeds is our project aimed at developing the confidence, literacy and musical abilities of young people through songwriting. Building on Hastings Thrives’ existing work in this area with schools and in the community, we specialise in collaborative and inclusive work, as well as supporting individuals to grow and develop.
Collaborative songwriting improves verbal and creative skills, while building friendships. Teamwork is so important in life: no person is an island and our projects are fully inclusive.
SongSeeds has affected over 200 local children, giving them the opportunity, inspiration, support, and encouragement to write songs. According to feedback we have:
- helped build friendships
Songs sit in a unique part of the memory, one which is less likely to succumb to the ageing process, so songwriting is effectively a gift for life.
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enabled children to feel included
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increased a sense of pride
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provided opportunities to learn and develop new skills • increased co-operation and collaboration.
“I’m generally not a social person, I don’t have many friends, so it’s just nice to maybe connect with people a bit through these courses. I think it’s actually improved my social-ness, if that makes sense! I’ve always just been absolutely rubbish at socialising, and I think that now I’m able to read out my songs in front of people – if I didn’t take these courses, I’d be terrified of that!”
“I continued with the courses because I just really enjoyed them and had fun, and because I made a lot of friends there - it was great sharing and discussing ideas with each other. There were also so many wonderful opportunities that came from the courses, such as performances and competitions - I especially enjoyed my first-ever time in a recording studio, professionally recording my songs!!”
“For English it made me improve the structure.”
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Nonsense Gardens
A Town Explores A Book
Edward Lear’s 1871 Anthology, Nonsense Songs, Stories, Botany and Alphabets
Edward Lear wrote many songs, most of which unfortunately have been lost over time. We joined with the amazing Explore The Arch project A Town Explores A Book - to create songs inspired by his poems, songs and illustrations.
Our SongSeeds after-school songwriting club and half-term bootcamp both used Lear as a springboard for their Nonsense Gardens and Sea Of Dreams themed individual and group songs.
Silverdale and Christ Church Primary Academies explored drawing and writing songs based on imagination and Lear’s nonsense botany to create quirky and fun collaborative songs.
Isolation Station Hastings and Tree Tunnel Film and Animation worked with the two schools to produce films for their songs and Jenny Lozano produced a film of the collaborative after-school * me 5 1. club song, The Creatures I Keep Inside .
Nonsense Gardens
part of A Town Explores A Book Edward Lear’s 1871 Anthology ‘Nonsense Songs, Stories, Botany and Alphabets’
WOW! WOW! WOW! Well Done Christ Church Ruby Class You wrote some brilliant songs which we are sure Edward Lear would have loved and been very proud of. We adored the incredible video! Thank you so much for making us smile with: The Daddy Plong Legs The Forkalla The Key Bird The Octopussy x, The Penatroshka Kia Reg Charity No 1170342
This collaborative song was recorded in YiaYia’s Recording Studio. It was the first time most of them had been in a recording studio. One young person initially signed up to write poems, and so was surprised to find himself later singing in a recording studio! Another exclaimed, It’s the best day of my life! The group was an inclusive mix of young people.
We are very grateful to Isolation Station Hastings, Badger Inc and Lily Kim for a fantastic online event celebrating everyone’s efforts, which was watched live online by over 1,000 people.
A sample certificate
soundcloud.com/hastings-thrives/sets/nonsense-gardens soundcloud.com/hastings-thrives/sets/christ-church-nonsense-gardens youtu.be/yvuLl_kHCpM youtu.be/bmFXpUjeZvw
Sea of Dreams
Sea Of Dreams was a weeklong intensive online course during the Spring half term of 2021. It followed on from discussions with the afterschool Nonsense Gardens club, where the young people had explored Freud/Jung, the subconscious, and dreams as part of their wide-ranging exploration of nonsense and the absurd. Interestingly 2 independent songs Robot Kid by Eve Simmonds and Robot Campaign by Clara Lomba included reference to robots. Eve is now studying song writing at BIMM in Brighton and her song was played on BBC Introducing and has even attracted interest from a Nashville producer!
soundcloud.com/hastings-thrives/sets/sea-of-dreams
Nature
This theme also grew out of the Nonsense Gardens course. It was inspired by the passion participants expressed for the environment, as well as their interest in local historian, singer, explorer, and artist Marianne North, who met Lear when he stayed with her family in Hastings.
Songwriting Competition
The Songwriting Competition was online again and used the Nature theme.
The Christ Church Primary group winners very excitedly experienced recording their song at a professional Recording Studio.
With everyone’s contribution the aim was to: improve visual awareness, observation and listening skills through nature • engage fully in our environment and to draw on it for inspiration • increase a sense of connectedness and wellbeing • increase complex thinking through a multi-faceted theme • allow access to science through the arts. • engage in local history through the life of Marianne North.
Things to consider were colours, texture, lines, movement, weather, sounds, effects, light, emotions, thoughts and responses.
The older group winner was Sidewalk , a quirky song about a crab who craves city life, but after his adventures there decides he’s better off by the sea, where he lived originally: I decided to write a song that mentions animals because they are a big part of my life. I’ve travelled to exotic parts of the world, but I always love coming back to Hastings.
The public vote went to a group song by The Hastings Academy about appreciating nature, called Living In A Dream.
Here is a blog written by Twinkle Ansar on Marianne North hastingsthrives.org/mariannes-world
Thanks very much to Judges Andy Fyfe and Ed Boxall and to the ForeShore Trust.
soundcloud.com/hastings-thrives/sets/nature hastingsthrives.org/songseeds/nature hastingsthrives.org/enrichment/songwriting-competition-2021
Beacon of Light
We ran a series of 5 workshops in the summer of 2021 in the beautiful setting of The Beacon in Hastings. Each session explored a different aspect of songwriting, utilising the skills of guest musicians who each had a variety of performance specialities, including songwriters, a storyteller, and an actress. This enabled a wide range of learning opportunities for everyone.
We also ran a series of workshops with storyteller Sarah Corrie aimed at writing stories and songs across generations in West Hill Community Centre.
At the end we joined the two projects in an evening performance at The Beacon. We created a supportive and safe performance space with family and friends invited to celebrate new beginnings and encourage young people, as they showcased the new songs and poems they had created. It was a fantastic evening!
SuperHeroes
We worked with SenSoftPlay (www.sensoftplay.co.uk) Saturday club to create a song about Superheroes. We used voice extracts to create a song, sharing information about digital songmaking. Thanks to Annie and Gaston for their excellent work. We hope to do more work with them in the future.
St Leonards Festival
We were very kindly given a slot by 18Hours for Twinkle Ansar to perform her song at the St Leonards Butterflies Festival in 2021.
https://soundcloud.com/hastings-thrives/superheroes-song https://youtu.be/BmpZ_oD97Cg
FINANCES
This was a productive year for Hastings Thrives, running several projects and bringing outstanding ones to near conclusion. The country gradually opened up as the COVID-19 pandemic eased and we were able to start delayed projects. The Songwriting Competition at the White Rock was postponed again, continuing online. The Trustees remain the same, but we lost the very special songwriter Anna Page, for personal reasons and are very grateful to her wonderful work for Hastings Thrives.
Hastings Thrives started the year with an opening balance of £18057.99 and finished the year with a closing balance of £12885.80 , with a total credit of £26846.36 and total expenditure of £32018.55. This reflected grant money being spent which was outstanding from the year before due to COVID. We were able to reduce admin costs and cover much of our costs through a small admin allowance within grant applications which covered any project overspend.
Income
The total income for the year was £26845.36. Due to COVID-19, the majority of this came from Grants representing:
i) £2000 Comic Relief fund for parenting course at The Baird ii) £1800 Foreshore Trust for songwriting iii) £9940 for running holiday and food activities iv) £1600 Magdalen & Lasher Trust for SongSeeds. v) £1010 Hastings Opportunity Area songwriting vi) £6531 for the second part of Youth Music’s Arts Council Fund for SongSeeds We also received £3757.36 from the Co-op Community Fund
Expenditure
The total expenditure for the year was £32,018, with all of this, except for £245, made up of restricted income.
i) £2400 parenting project at The Baird ii) £14,888 for songwriting iii) £10063 Holiday and Food Activities iv) £4342 Science Teacher Training and Network Project Unrestricted expenditure
i) Fundraising £160 ii) Trustee expenses £84.75
Reserved Income
Grant Reserved Income £6004 Unreserved Income £6882
Assets
Hastings Thrives has no physical or financial assets.
Jenny Lozano 1 June 2022
THANK YOU
We are very grateful for funding from Youth Music and Arts Council England, Co-op Community Fund, Hastings Opportunity Area, Hastings Borough Council, The Magdalen and Lasher Charity, The Foreshore Trust, Holiday and Food Activities, Comic Relief and the continued support of Hastings Lions.
We are very grateful to our Music Lead, Anna Page for her fantastic contribution. To Suzie Dunster and Becky Knight for their Musical Theatre expertise. To Ed Boxall for supporting Teacher Training, Annie and Gaston Goliath for working with SenSoftPlay and Sarah Corrie for working with families.
We are also grateful to the many people, schools, organisations and companies who helped to make everything happen: Kit Messenger, Kym East, Billy Thompson, Andrew Mersh, Claire Burford, Roz , Sophie Ingram, Dee Kelvin, Georgia Burgess, Mandy Curtis, Lily Kym, Andy Fyfe, Gabby Farrow, Gail Barrow, Erica Smith, Johnny O’Sullivan and all the parents involved.
Silverdale Primary Academy, Christ Church CE Primary Academy, Guestling Bradshaw CE Primary, Robsack Wood Primary Academy, The Baird, The Hastings Academy, The St Leonard’s Academy and St Richards Catholic College.
YiaYia’s Recording Studio, A Town Explores A Book, Badger Inc, St Leonards Festival and Tree Tunnel Film and Animation.
hastingsthrives.org
Charity Name No (if any) Hastings Thrives 1170342
| Charity Name No (if any) Hastings Thrives 1170342 |
Charity Name No (if any) Hastings Thrives 1170342 |
Charity Name No (if any) Hastings Thrives 1170342 |
Charity Name No (if any) Hastings Thrives 1170342 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Receipts and payments accounts | |||
| For the period from es |
Period start date 1/1/2021 ee |
To ee |
Period end date 12/31/2021 |
| Section A Receipts and payments | |||
| Unrestricted funds |
Restricted funds |
Endowment funds |
Total funds |
| to the nearest £ |
to the nearest £ | to the nearest £ | to the nearest £ |
| A1 Receipts Balance brought forward 3,162 Grants 3,757 Fundraising Events - Donation 150 Sponsorship - Fees 58 - - 7,127 Sub total(Gross income for AR) |
14,896 19,604 - - - 3,277 - - 37,777 |
- - - - - - - - - |
18,058 23,361 - 150 - 3,335 - - 44,904 |
A2 Asset and investment sales, (see table). - - - - - - - - Sub total - ~~—————~~ Total receipts 7,127 37,777 - 44,904 A3 Payments Cost of Charitable Activities 30,975 - 30,975 Governance including Trustee Expenses 85 - - 85 Fundraising 160 - - 160 Insurance 558 - 558 Bookkeeping and Accountancy - Marketing (website) 240 240 - - - - - - - - - Sub total [ 245 ] 31,773 - 32,018 = ~~=55=2—~~ A4 Asset and investment purchases, (see table) - - - - - - - - Sub total [ - ] - - - Total payments ~~————=~~ 245 31,773 - 32,018 Net of receipts/(payments) 6,882 6,004 - 12,886 A5 Transfers between funds - - - - A6 Cash funds last year end - - - - Cash funds this year end ~~SSS~~ 6,882 6,004 - 12,886
Section B Statement of assets and liabilities at the end of the period
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| B1 Cash funds | Total cash funds | to nearest £ - - - - |
to nearest £ - - - - |
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Agreement Error | Agreement Error | |
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| B2 Other monetary assets | Details | to nearest £ - - - - - - |
to nearest £ - - - - - - |
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| B3 Investment assets | Details | Fund to which asset belongs |
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| B4 Assets retained for the | Details | Fund to which asset belongs |
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| charity’s own use | - - - - - - - - |
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| Fund to which | Amount due | |||
| B5 Liabilities | Details | liability relates | - - - - - (optional) |
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| Signed by one or two trustees on behalf of all the trustees |
Signature | Name |
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CC16a
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Last year
to the nearest £
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16,054
16,779
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1
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180
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33,014
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33,014
13,195 77 160 778 426 480 - - 14,956
14,956 18,058 - - 18,058
Endowment funds to nearest £ - - - -
OK
Endowment funds to nearest £ - - - - - -
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Date of approval
(If any): Independont examlner'8 roport on the accounts Addro8•: o (InLLfv(3uiTrJ CIN) 8•ctlon A Ind•p•nd•nt Examln•rf• R•port Roport to tho tru•t•o•l momborffi of Sectlon B Dl8clo8ure Only complete if the examiner need8 to highlight materlal matter8 of concern (888 CC32, Independent examlnatlon of charlty account8; dlrectlon8 and guidance for examiner8). I i(Li i(aC-.- IFIQ.(vL On account• for th• yoar •nded 911 12/2021 Charlty no (If any) Glve here brlef dotall• of any Item• that the examlner wl8he8 to dl•clo8e. 8ot out on pag•• •1 I report to the tru•tee6 on my exdmlnatlon of the account• ol tho abov• charlty ('the Tru•t') for th• year ended the charlty'• trustee•, you are re•ponsiFJl8 for th• preparatlon of th• account• in accordance wlth the requirements ol the Charitie• Act ?011 ('the Act.), Re•pon•lbllltl•• and ba•1• of report I report In respect of my examlnatlon of the Tru•t'• account• carried out under lection 145 of the 2011 Act and In carrying out my examination, I have followed all the appllcable Direction• given by the Charity Commli•ion under Section 145(5)(b) of the Act, Indopondont tThe charily'l gr0•6 Income exceeded £250,000 and l am qualffl•d to oxamlnorf• statoment undertake the examination by being a qualified member of [in•ert name of applicable listed body]], Dolotu [ ] If riot api)Ilc'at)le, I have completed my examination, I confirm that no material matter8 have come to my attention in connection with the examination (other than that di6do8ed below ') which give8 me cause to believe that in, any material re6pect; the accounting records were not kept in accordance with •ection 130 of the Charitie8 Act; or the accounts dld not accord with the accounting record•; or the accounts did not comply wrth the applicable requirements conceming the form and content of accounts out in the Charfrtlefj (Accounts and Report6) Regulatlon6 2008 other than any requlrement that the accounts give a 'true and falr, view which Is not a matter considered a6 part of an Independent examination. I have no concern8 and have come across no other matters in connection with the examination to whlch attentlon should be drawn in this report In order to enable a proper understanding of the accounts to be reached, Please delete the word8 In the bracket8 if they do not 8ppIy. 2LiUI Zr£a 81gned: Dat•: Name: LQ_CQ Relevant professlonal quallflcatlon(s) or body F¥AI IER Oct 2018 IER Oct 2018