Set out below is the Trustees’ Annual Report 2024 – 2025. We are also able to present an Observer’s report for last year by our Observer, Jane Morris, whose role it is to oversee the work of the Trustees and ensure we are discharging our work for the Association professionally and in the interests of the local community. At the end of the document, you can find a short summary of our aims and vision.
Trustees’ Annual Report April 2024 – March 2025
Our structure:
The Association currently has a Board of twelve Trustees who have met monthly throughout the year.
The current Trustees are:-
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Ian Vickridge (Chair)
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John Butterworth (Vice-Chair and Minute Secretary)
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Nigel Sagar (Treasurer)
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Julia Maybury (Membership Secretary)
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Helen Corney (Bookings Secretary) – formerly Lucy Ellis)
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Christine Brown
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Jude Lancaster
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Louisa Clarkson
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Carol Hayward
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Pat Hill
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Amanda Lees
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Heather Levene
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Jane Morris (Observer)
Representatives from affiliated bodies include Sally Smith – Old Town School and Marcella Walsh – Parish Council and Environment Group.
The Association works in close partnership with the local Old Town Primary School and with FOOTS, their Parent/Teachers Association. The Bowling Club’s activities run during the summer months. Other close stakeholders include Wadsworth Environment Group, Wainsgate Chapel, Old Town Cricket Club and of course the Parish Council who lease the centre to the Association.
The Association also has an Observer whose role is to receive minutes of Trustee meetings, attend when they wish, take an active part of the business of the Association and ensure that the Trustees’ work is undertaken diligently, lawfully and consistent with our constitution.
The Association has relied wholly on volunteers to run and develop the centre for use by the local community.
Association activities April 2024 – March 2025
Achievements and Performance:
Over the past year, the Association has hosted a range of community activities including:
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Bowls
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Yoga
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Pilates
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Table Tennis
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Boxercise
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Dog Training classes
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A monthly Book Club,
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Textile Tuesdays
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FOOTS (Friends of Old Town School) and school events,
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Private parties and celebrations.
Our thriving partnership with BGR Events continued and in all we hosted Granny’s Attic, The Magpies, Gilmore and Roberts, Ashley Hutching and Becky Mills, Karine Polwart, Kathryn Tickell, Johnny Campbell and Gigspanner, all great names in the national folk scene. In January we also enjoyed a fascinating Words and Music events about the Chartists. We feel truly honoured to have earned our reputation as a popular music venue and thank BGR for their wonderful support.
Two local bands, the 844s and Orbit, put on fundraising gigs for us in December and February respectively which were much enjoyed by all who attended
We were fortunate to receive funding from Calderdale Council with the Community Foundation for Calderdale as part of the Borough wide Culturedale initiative. This allowed us to host a weekend of events in July which included a community breakfast for all comers including several older children from Old Town School after a sleepover there, an Indian dancing performance and class with Hardeep Sahota and a ceilidh with Peaceworks, all in all enjoyed by over 200 people. This was followed up by a second community breakfast in November.
There were three Food for Thought events during the year. These are well attended events where a speaker makes a presentation on an interesting topic, a cheap evening supper is provided, and the bar is open. In April John Billingsley gave a talk on Journeys of the Soul based on his excellent research into the old funeral paths in the area and the folk tales that grew round them and Neil Taylor who spoke in October on Alzheimers, helping those attending to raise their awareness and understanding of this complex issue as we aim to be an Alzheimers friendly centre. Finally in March, David Glover, Chair of Halifax Antequarian Society gave a blood chilling talk on some Calderdale Murders 1858 – 1957.
With substantial building work being undertaken at Wainsgate Chapel, we were able to build on our partnership by hosting their daily Open Practice and their wonderful annual Christmas Singalong. We partnered with them to hold some First Aid courses for both organisation’s volunteers, ably organised by Fred Rothwell. We also worked closely with the community efforts to buy some fields that went up for sale in Old Town, sadly unsuccessful and ongoing efforts to buy Old Town Post Office which is currently up for sale.
Other events hosted in the course of the year included Wadsworth Open Market, Wadsworth Photography Exhibition, a Bulgarian Music evening, a Women’s Centre benefit, Alyssium’s Voice and Dance workshops as well as craft and wreath making workshops run by Louisa Clarkson. Jon Turner has added a great resource as well by running a delicious pop up restaurant, The Greenwood, which is held once a month in the centre lounge.
Work of the Trustees and the Volunteers
To spread the load of work of our Trustees and volunteers, the Board has four working groups which also include other interested volunteers who are not on the Board.
Website and Social Media Group – Further improvements have been made to the web site and various WhatsApp groups are used for communication between the volunteers and the Trustees.
Bar Management and Support Group – There are now 17 members who help run the bar and provide food at BGR events. The Bar group looks after the volunteers needed to run the bar and provide food at events, maintains the cellar, and ensures that the bar is fully stocked for each event.
Centre Development, Gardening and Greening group – Work has continued to improve the fabric and look of the centre. New doors have been fitted to the bar and kitchen. A new lounge floor has been fitted with insulation to conserve energy. The stairs to the cellar have been repaired and a chair stacker purchased to reduce lifting and carrying. significant improvements have been made to the centre over this year. Most importantly, Helen Corney has taken on the role of Cleaner/Caretaker and is doing a fantastic job.
Our Greening Wadsworth sub-group continues to meet regularly. We aim to raise awareness and engage Wadsworth residents in helping to tackle climate change, limit the damage we are doing to the planet, and save some money in the process. Our regular meetings have included talks on POD, the new Calder Valley Car Share scheme, Food poverty, domestic solar energy, heat pumps, climate change – the science and psychology, Wadsworth Lane Market Garden and foraging. We undertook a survey to form a baseline of energy use in the Parish which received responses from 14% of the population and which we will repeat in a few years to assess progress in the use of renewable energy.
Our Guerilla Gardeners continue to grow food for the free use of local residents at the community centre and on a new site at the bottom of Walker Lane.
Centre and Community Activities - Major activities during the year have been outlined above. The method of co-ordinating and booking all events is undertaken by our Bookings Secretary. Many thanks to Lucy Ellis who has worked tirelessly to coordinate the bookings on which the centre relies for its income.
Youth group: Amanda Lees has been working hard to identify sources of funding to run a youth group at the centre. We hope to make progress on this in the coming year.
Finally our warm thanks to the Parish Council for a grant of £540 to prune the roadside trees and especially to both Lucy Ellis and Richard Jones who retired from their roles after making a wonderful contribution to the centre’s work.
The Board continues to plan activities and events at the centre. Anyone interested in joining any of these Working Groups and of course the Board would be warmly welcomed.
Financial review
This is provided under a separate document from the Treasurer.
Risks
Our Centre’s financial reserves and the diligence of our treasurer, Nigel Sagar, continued to ensure our economic stability. The capacity of the Board and willing volunteers remains an issue of concern as the success of the centre is fully dependent on their commitment to continue to give their time to provide the range of services to meet the needs of local residents. However, more trustees are needed to ensure the sustainability of the Association and the centre.
Aims of the Association
Wadsworth Community Association aims to maintain and develop a well-run, friendly centre in the heart of the parish of Wadsworth that understands and responds to the Wadsworth community’s needs.
Objects:
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a) To promote the benefit of the inhabitants of Wadsworth Parish and the immediate neighbourhood beyond the Parish boundaries (hereinafter called the ‘area of benefit') without distinction of sex, political, religious or other opinions by associating with the local authorities, (mainly Wadsworth Parish Council and Calderdale M.B. Council), voluntary organisations and inhabitants in a common effort to advance education, and to provide facilities in the interest of social welfare for recreation and leisure-time occupations with the object of improving the conditions of life for the said inhabitants.
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b) To establish or to secure the establishment of a Community Centre (hereinafter called ‘the Centre) and to maintain and manage, or to co-operate with any local statutory authority in the maintenance and management of, such a Centre for activities promoted by the Association and its constituent bodies in furtherance of the above objects.
Vision:
Our vision is:
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to run a lively, well-used centre that is at the heart of the Wadsworth community
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for everyone in Wadsworth to understand how the centre runs, what it’s for and feel a sense of ownership
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that the WCC (Wadsworth Community Centre) is everybody’s centre.
Values:
Our values underpin everything we do and these are to be inclusive, welcoming, transparent, responsive and imaginative.
Observer’s report to March 31st 2025
Jane Morris
Wadsworth Community Association (Registered Charity number 1171791)
| Income & Expenditure Account Year to for the year to 31st March 2025 31-Mar-25 £ BAR & FOOD ACCOUNT Bar & food sales 29,450.10 Less cost of sales 13,535.15 Gross profit 54.0% 15,914.95 Licences 620.40 Bar equipment, services, Sumup commission, etc 262.44 Less profits to DEC - BAR & FOOD ACCOUNT SURPLUS 15,032.11 CAFÉ ACCOUNT LOSS CENTRE INCOME Bookings 7,269.00 Special efforts - Membership subscriptions 211.00 COVID support grants - Donations & Other Grants 2,605.56 Other Income 473.11 CENTRE INCOME 10,558.67 OVERALL CENTRE INCOME 25,590.78 CENTRE RUNNING COSTS Utilities 4,040.47 Insurance 1,032.92 Repairs & maintenance 5,988.46 Cleaning & Hygiene 2,755.79 Grant spend 4,673.24 Other expenditure 1,540.35 TOTAL CENTRE RUNNING COSTS 20,031.23 5,559.55 IMPROVEMENTS TO CENTRE Improvements to toilets, bar, ceiling & lights 4,724.21 INCOME AND EXP A/C LOSS/SURPLUS 835.34 OPERATING PROFIT / (LOSS) |
Year to 31-Mar-24 £ 21,757.04 11,026.36 49.3% 10,730.68 935.87 1,494.54 500.00 7,800.27 0.00 6,006.30 0.00 61.00 0.00 3,013.20 100.41 9,180.91 16,981.18 2,945.65 1,130.24 3,244.35 5,852.57 2,321.60 3,131.24 18,625.65 -1,644.47 22,026.28 -23,670.75 |
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Wadsworth Community Association Charity Number: 1171791
Address: Wadsworth Community Centre, Billy Lane, Wadsworth, Hebden Bridge, West Yorkshire, HX7 8RY
Wadsworth Community Association
(Registered Charity number 1171791)
| Income & Expenditure Account Year to for the year to 31st March 2025 31-Mar-25 £ BAR & FOOD ACCOUNT Bar & food sales 29,450.10 Less cost of sales 13,535.15 Gross profit 54.0% 15,914.95 Licences 620.40 Bar equipment, services, Sumup commission, etc 262.44 Less profits to DEC - BAR & FOOD ACCOUNT SURPLUS 15,032.11 CAFÉ ACCOUNT LOSS CENTRE INCOME Bookings 7,269.00 Special efforts - Membership subscriptions 211.00 COVID support grants - Donations & Other Grants 2,605.56 Other Income 473.11 CENTRE INCOME 10,558.67 OVERALL CENTRE INCOME 25,590.78 CENTRE RUNNING COSTS Utilities 4,040.47 Insurance 1,032.92 Repairs & maintenance 5,988.46 Cleaning & Hygiene 2,755.79 Grant spend 4,673.24 Other expenditure 1,540.35 TOTAL CENTRE RUNNING COSTS 20,031.23 5,559.55 IMPROVEMENTS TO CENTRE Improvements to toilets, bar, ceiling & lights 4,724.21 INCOME AND EXP A/C LOSS/SURPLUS 835.34 OPERATING PROFIT / (LOSS) |
Year to 31-Mar-24 £ 21,757.04 11,026.36 49.3% 10,730.68 935.87 1,494.54 500.00 7,800.27 0.00 6,006.30 0.00 61.00 0.00 3,013.20 100.41 9,180.91 16,981.18 2,945.65 1,130.24 3,244.35 5,852.57 2,321.60 3,131.24 18,625.65 -1,644.47 22,026.28 -23,670.75 |
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Wadsworth Community Association Charity Number: 1171791
Address: Wadsworth Community Centre, Billy Lane, Wadsworth, Hebden Bridge, West Yorkshire, HX7 8RY