The Stathern Children’s Holiday Fund (CIO)
Report and Financial Statements for the Year Ended 31st October 2024
Charity number 1171028.
The Stathern Children’s Holiday Fund (SCHF)
Report of the Management Committee for the year ended 31st October 2024
The Management Committee presents its trustees’ report and financial statements for the year ended 31st October 2024.
Reference and Administrative Information
Charity Name: The Stathern Children’s Holiday Fund (SCHF)
Charity registration number: 1171028
Registered Office and operational address:
7 Wayte Court Ruddington Nottingham NG11 6NL
Management Committee & Trustees
Kev Brett, Kel Brett, Danielle Deakin, Nathaniel Deakin, Jon Ruben, Susan Ruben, Melissa Carver, James Zakarian, Lucy Roberts, Kieran Sheehan
Chair Susan Ruben
Vice Chair Kel Brett
Treasurer Kev Brett
Hon.Secretary Jon Ruben
Bankers Lloyds Bank, Old Market Square, Nottingham, NG1 6FD Insurers Markel International Insurance Company Ltd
Our Aims and objectives
Purposes and Aims
Our charity’s purposes as set out in the objects contained in constitution are to:
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to provide subsidised or free holidays for children from socially and/or economically deprived or disadvantaged areas of Nottingham and Nottinghamshire, using the facilities of Stathern Lodge (Braithwaite Gospel Trust) or similar places providing accommodation and activities for groups of children (the relief of poverty for the public benefit)
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to promote the children’s self confidence and cooperative skills, in accordance with Christian principles (the advancement of citizenship and the advancement of religion)
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to give city children experience of the countryside and help them make effective use of their talents to become positive members of their community (the advancement of community development)
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to provide training for community volunteers including safeguarding (the advancement of community development)
Ensuring our work delivers our aims
We review our aims, objectives and activities each year. This review looks at what we achieved and the outcomes of our work in the previous 12 months. The review looks at the success of each key activity and the benefits they have brought to those groups of people we are set up to help. The review also helps us ensure our aim, objectives and activities remained focused on our stated purposes. We have referred to the guidance contained in the Charity Commission’s general guidance on public benefit when reviewing our aim and objectives and in planning our future activities. In particular, the trustees consider how planned activities will contribute to the aims and objectives they have set.
Delivery of our objectives
Our main objectives for the year continued to be the provision of play-based activities for children aged 8-11 both through term time school based clubs and residential summer holidays.
Term time activities
We have three school clubs running again. There are currently 109 children registered at the school clubs at Bells Lane Community Centre, Aspley for children at Rosslyn Park Primary, St Peters Junior School in Ruddington and Djanogly Primary Academy (DSA) in Strelley.
Residential activities
We aimed for two three-day holidays this year, which were successful. We were able to take a total of 64 children under 11 and a dozen teenagers who came both to enjoy the holiday and take some responsibility for helping run the camps. There were twenty-six adult volunteers involved in holidays, some for all six days, others for shorter periods or coming in to help for a day. Again we are really grateful to the others who come to help with set up and set down. Volunteers are giving up some of their holiday time or in the case of those on zero hour contracts, giving up a week or more of paid work. Again over 25% of our current adult volunteers are people who originally attended the camp as children, progressed through our Junior leadership programme and are now adult leaders or even trustees.
It has been 12 years since we last based our theme on the Olympics, and we decorated the
hall with a giant Eiffel Tower as well as hundreds of flags and pictures of sports equipment. Our workshops included football coaching and dance in line with this year’s theme. The theme also gave an opportunity to talk about setting goals, training and ‘going for Gold’.
The majority of the children came from the Aspley and Clifton areas of the City and the vast majority of the children’s families were on free school meals, universal benefit or other family assistance. Approximately, 50% of the children came from Eastern European, African, Asian or Caribbean backgrounds. Demand for the 75 places was very high and we had to close applications before the beginning of February 2024, although we were able to take a few from the waiting list as some children dropped out.
For some of these children, this was their only summer holiday. In addition to the social, ethnic and financial circumstances mentioned above relating to majority of the families we work with, a number of the children have emotional deprivation of varying degree, with a number on the Autistic spectrum, as well those with ADHD and other behavioural problems, requiring support in school or sometimes exclusion.
Achievement of our aims
The hot weather this year meant we could not run as many of the events outdoors as we would usually. However, the trustees feel that overall, the holidays succeeded in:
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Enabling children from a deprived urban environment gain experience of the countryside, its fauna and flora and way of life;
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Building closer bonds between team leaders and children. Normally, the children only normally see the leaders for a couple of hours a week;
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The children to gain new friendships and strengthen their existing peer relationships in a safe environment;
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Encouraging team building, self-reliance, and cooperation and develop children’s character, independence and confidence in their abilities;
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Developing new skills both in the participants and the volunteers
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Promoting team leadership skills in the volunteers, particularly training the 12 - 18 year olds to become the leaders of the future; (This is a key part of our programme.)
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Giving the children a holiday and their parents/carers a much needed break during the long summer holidays;
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Having FUN - not just for the children but also for the volunteers and leaders. Spreading the Good News of Jesus’ love to the children in our community.
We did not have to turn any under 12s away this year and were able to incorporate some Year 7 and Year 8 children into the holidays to keep our commitment to develop new community volunteers for the future. Next year we hope to again run two holidays each of three days but realise we may have to reduce external workshops and events or perhaps reduce the length of one of the trips. We will continue to run the after school club at Bells Lane Community Centre, the lunch time club at Djanogly Strelley Academy and the after school club at St Peters Junior School.
Financial Review
Thanks to really generous donations from Plungar lunch club and continued support from our regular donors our income balanced our expenditure this year. Without altering the nature of the holiday, it is difficult to see where we could reduce our expenses. The major costs are accommodation, coach transport, and room rent for after school clubs which are essential and could only be reduced by only running one holiday when we are already oversubscribed. The swimming, workshops and inflatables come are costly but are an important feature of the holiday. The bouncy slide and bouncy castle are really popular and are in use continuously during free time. Our supplier gives us a really competitive rate.
We are as usual really grateful to the generous donations from our funders as shown in our accounts. However, it is likely that costs will rise in the next year and we will be looking to reduce expenses in terms of external suppliers such as swimming, workshops and the bouncy castle for one or both holidays.
Principal Funding Sources
Our main income continues to be grants from local charities and trust funds as shown in the accounts. We have also received other funding - eg. EasyFundraising.com and private donations.
Reserves Policy
Our reserve of 25% of the holiday costings is at its limit and we are thankful for the generosity of our donors. We were able to carry forward the reserve from 2023, and after funding and costs we have had a slight increase in surplus to carry forward to 2024-25.
Structure, Governance and Management
Governing Document
The organisation is a Charitable Incorporated Organisation registered as a charity on 9th January 2017. The charity is governed by its constitution submitted with the application for charitable status.
Recruitment and Appointment of Management Committee
The charity trustees for the purposes of charity law and under the charity’s constitution are elected to serve for a period of three years after which they must be re-elected at the next Annual General Meeting.
All trustees give their time voluntarily and receive no benefits from the charity. Any expenses reclaimed from the charity are set out in the accounts.
Risk Management
Given the nature of our charity’s work, all trustees and volunteers have to be registered with the DBS and policies are in place for risk assessment. Insurance is provided by Markel International Insurance Company Ltd, covering liability for the children and volunteers.
Organisational Structure
SCHF has a Management Committee of up to 12 trustees who meet quarterly and are responsible for the strategic direction and policy of the charity. At present the Committee has ten members from a variety of professional backgrounds relevant to the work of the charity.
A scheme of delegation is in place and day to day responsibility for the provision of the services rest with the Honorary Secretary along with the Chair, Deputy Chair and Treasurer, ensuring delivery of the term-time school clubs and organisation of the annual children’s holidays. A monthly or bimonthly planning meeting is held open to all volunteers.
Accounting records, accounts, annual reports and returns, register maintenance
Under our constitution, the charity trustees must comply with the requirements of the Charities Act 2011 with regard to the keeping of accounting records, to the preparation and scrutiny of statements of account, and to the preparation of annual reports and returns. The statements of account, reports and returns must be sent to the Charity Commission, regardless of the income of the SCHF, within 10 months of the financial year end.
The Stathern Children’s Holiday Fund (SCHF)
Statement of Financial Activities (including Income & Expenditure Account) for the year ended 31st October 2024
| Opening Balance - 01/11/2023 | Opening Balance - 01/11/2023 |
|---|---|
| Bank | £3,234.63 |
| Cash | £50.00 |
| Total | £3,284.63 |
| Income | Income |
|---|---|
| Dame Agnes Mellers | £1,500.00 |
| Gordon Memorial | £500.00 |
| Saved to Serve (Honeycomb Trust) | £500.00 |
| JN Derbyshire | £2,000.00 |
| Roseberry | £2,150.00 |
| TE Clarke | £1,500.00 |
| St Peters Church Ruddington | £831.00 |
| Plungar Lunch Club | £2,000.00 |
| Rosie Christchurch Evangelical | £100.00 |
| Nathaniel & Danielle Deakin | £600.00 |
| Easy Fund Raising/BuytoGive | £53.18 |
| Jim Wilde (DAM Trustee) | £250.00 |
| Off Road Trucks | £100.00 |
| C&S Lindley | £50.00 |
| Total | £12,134.18 |
| Total available Income 2023-24 | |
| Total income from funding 2023-24 | £12,134.18 |
| Bank balance carried forward from 01/11/23 | £3,234.63 |
| Cash balance | £50.00 |
| Reserve fund | -£3,000.00 |
| Total available funds (excluding reserve funds) |
£12,418.81 |
Expenditure
| Expenditure | Expenditure |
|---|---|
| Camp Expenses (Food, Supplies, Décor, Equipment, Tuckshop, Prizes) |
£3,467.29 |
| Transport | £1,550.00 |
| External Suppliers | £1,070.00 |
| Accomodation & Utilities | £5,856.88 |
| Total | £11,944.17 |
Summary - 2023/2024
| Summary - 2023/2024 | Summary - 2023/2024 |
|---|---|
| Income | £12,134.18 |
| Expenditure | £11,944.17 |
| Surplus | £190.01 |
| Total Liabilities - 31/10/2024 | £0.00 |
Closing Balance - 31/10/2024
| Closing Balance - 31/10/2024 | Closing Balance - 31/10/2024 |
|---|---|
| Bank | £3,424.64 |
| Cash | £50.00 |
| Total Liabilities - 31/10/2024 | £0.00 |
| Total Assets for 2024-25 | £3,474.64 |
| Reserve fund | £3,000.00 |
| Total Assets for 2024-25 (excluding reserve fund) |
£474.64 |
Notes forming part of the Financial Statements for the year ended 31/10/2024
1. Creditors NIL
2. All expenses are in regard to the provision of materials for and costs of running the holidays.
3. There are no fixed assets
4. There are no salaries or wages for Trustees or staff
5. There are no debtors
6. There are no restricted or designated funds
7. Accounting Policies
The principal accounting policies are summarised below.
The accounting policies have been applied consistently throughout the year.
(a) Basis of accounting
The financial statements have been prepared under the historical cost convention, as modified by the inclusion of fixed asset investments at market value, and in accordance with the Companies Act 1985 and the Statement of Recommended Practice : Accounting and Reporting by Charities issued in March 2005 .
(b) Fund accounting
Unrestricted funds are available for use at the discretion of the trustees in furtherance of the general objectives of the charity.
Designated funds, if available, are unrestricted funds earmarked by the Trustees for particular purposes.
Restricted funds, if available, are subjected to restrictions on their expenditure imposed by the donor or through the terms of an appeal.
- (c) Incoming resources
All incoming resources are included in the statement of financial activities when the charity is entitled to, and virtually certain to receive, the income and the amount can be quantified with reasonable accuracy. The following policies are applied to particular categories of income:
Voluntary income is received by way of grants, donations and gifts and is included in full in the Statement of Financial Activities when receivable .
Grants, where entitlement is not conditional on the delivery of a specific
performance by the charity, are recognised when the charity becomes unconditionally entitled to the grant.
Donated services and facilities are included at the value to the charity where this can be quantified. The value of services provided by volunteers has not been
included in these accounts.
Investment income i s included when receivable.
Incoming resources from grants, where related to performance and specific
deliverables, are accounted for as the charity earns the right to consideration by its performance.
(d) Resources expended
Expenditure is recognised on an accrual basis as a liability is incurred. Expenditure includes any VAT which cannot be fully recovered, and is reported as part of the expenditure to which it relates: (e) Governance costs include those costs associated with meeting the constitutional and statutory requirements of the charity and include the audit fees and costs linked to the strategic management of the charity.
All costs are allocated between the expenditure categories of SCHF on a basis designed to reflect the use of the resource. Costs relating to a particular activity are allocated directly.
8. Donations are listed under income and are all unrestricted and without designation.
9. Total Resources Expended
are shown in the expenditure table and are directly related to the costs of running the holidays
10. Taxation
As a charity, SCHF is exempt from tax on income and gains falling within section 505 of the Taxes Act 1988 or s256 of the Taxation of Chargeable Gains Act 1992 to the extent that these are applied to its charitable objects. No tax charges have arisen in the Charity.