The Abbotskerswell Food and Beer Festival (Abbfest)
Charity Number 1171953
Commentary on the Annual Report and Accounts
Abbfest is a Community Interest Organisation (CIO) which exists to further such charitable purposes (Charitable under English law) in the county of Devon, in particular but not limited to the parish of Abbotskerswell, as the Trustees see fit from time to time by the provision of grants and other donations to charities and other voluntary organisations.
Although it is not part of its legal charitable purpose, the Trustees have always regarded the holding of a successful community event as a major objective in delivering the purpose.
The Charity’s funds are entirely raised through an annual Food & Beer Festival which is organised and run by a Management Committee fully staffed with volunteers. Whilst the Festival was badly hit during Covid as for two years running we were unable to hold the event, through good financial management and direction by the Festival Director and Treasurer, the Charity retained enough funds to allow for a full Festival to go ahead in 2022.
The financial outcome of the 2022 Festival allowed the Charity to both top up its operating reserves to preserve the event for future years, and generated enough surplus for grants and “thank you” payments to be made to those organisations and volunteers that work tirelessly to support the event.
At year end 31.12.2022 the CIO funds stood at:
Cooperative Bank account: £20,069.48
NATWEST Bank Account: £6,038.37
Investment fund: £12,510.47
Festival surplus to be distributed: £13,912.88
Of which:
Thank You payments: £6,800
Grants: £5,862.88
Page 1 of 4
Trustees Annual Report
The Trustees of the Abbotskerswell Food and Beer Festival are:
Amy Hedger
Chair
Catherine Howard
Secretary
Ann Down
Brian Mackness David Munden Trevor Hardiman
Charity Structure
Day to day and operational management of the Abbfest Festival is delegated to the Festival Director and Management Committee. The Festival Director and Treasurer are responsible for organising and delivering the annual Festival on time and within agreed budgets, ensuring the event is compliant with licencing and safety requirements.
The Trustees are ultimately responsible for the Charity’s activities including:
-
Purpose and strategy
-
Our reputation and values
-
How we meet our financial and statutory responsibilities
In particular the Trustees pay attention to:
-
The performance of the Charity’s fundraising activities
-
How surplus is distributed and making sure we do this fairly
-
Making sure the Charity and its activities are conducted fairly, responsibly and ethically.
All other elements of the running and operation of the Charity’s activities are the responsibility of the Festival Director, Treasurer and Management Committee.
Key Management Committee members are:
Roy Blunt
Festival Director
Gary Wills
Treasurer
The Treasurer prepares the budget which is reviewed by the Trustees to ensure it is reasonable and realistic. The Treasurer then is responsible for all other matters of finance and accounting.
Treasurers comments
The headline income figure was an amazing £103,404 this year. We did not perform quite as well as we hoped, with income down by £17k on the budget figure of £120k. The main contributor to this difference was lower ticket sales £9k, stalls £2.4k, drinks (which were related to ticket numbers)
Page 2 of 4
£3.8k and glasses £6.2k. This year Sponsorship was very successful with the testing budget of £15k reached.
I shall engage with the Trustees and give my recommendations of how much funding should be retained for future years and this will then give them the figure which they will distribute to local charities and organisations.
This is my first year of wearing the Treasurer hat and it has been a challenge, not only because of the turmoil of my very hectic personal life, but trying to understand the nuances of the festival - behind the scenes, organising the bank accounts and the previous paperwork.
A surplus of £26,321 on the year is very commendable and whilst we did not hit the budget (mainly due to numbers attending) we should be very proud that we have raised such a large amount of money for local charities and community groups and secured the future of Abbfest for another year.
Auditor: Report on Page 4
Risk Management
The Abbfest Charity activities throughout the year are minimal, and are centred around planning meetings in the months leading up to the event. Abbfest has in place an annual insurance policy which covers all volunteers and Trustees activities including Employers (Volunteers) Liability, Public Liability, Legal cover and Director’s and Officers Liability.
For the “build up” and “delivery” phase of the event itself, the Management Committee prepares a comprehensive Risk Assessment taking into account the range of activities being undertaken on site.
The Management Committee also prepares an Event Management Plan which includes all activities from “build up” to “break down” and covers Health and Safety, Security, Capacity, Medical and Fire cover, traffic management plans, site layout and licencing requirements. This document is submitted to the Teignbridge District Council Licencing Authority and distributed via them to the Teignbridge Safety Advisory Group which includes Police, Fire, Ambulance, Licencing, Environmental Health and Highways. The document and plans require approval from all of the agencies noted, thus far we have not received any queries or concerns about how the event is run and managed.
For the Festival itself Abbfest also has a specific Event Insurance policy in place to cover the build up, event and break down period. This again includes Employers (Volunteers) and Public Liability cover.
Grant making and Thank You payments
Surplus generated by the Festival is distributed in the form of Grants and Thank You payments.
Thank You payments are made to those organisations that have provided volunteers to allow the event to be run effectively and safely. The Trustees operate a tiered system of payments to donate larger sums to those organisations that have provided the most help.
Grants are distributed to organisation who apply to the Trustees for payments. The Trustees do not make any Grant decisions based on whether an organisation has helped at the festival, each
Page 3 of 4
application is reviewed on its own merit. The main focus of grants is to support charities local to Abbotskerswell, although the Trustees do consider applications from wider afield.
In delivering a successful community event, The Abbotskerswell Food and Beer Festival supports not only local producers and artists but provides an important source of funding to many local charities and good causes, who may struggle to survive without the funds we distribute to them.
Independent Examiner’s Report on the Accounts
I report to the charity Trustees on my examination of the accounts of the Charity for the year ended
As the charity's trustees, 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.
I have completed my examination. I confirm that no material matters have come to my attention in connection with the examination (other than that disclosed below *) which gives me cause to believe that in, any material respect:
-
the accounting records were not kept in accordance with section 130 of the Charities Act; or
-
the accounts did not accord with the accounting records; or
-
the accounts did not comply with the applicable requirements concerning the form and
content of accounts set out in the Charities (Accounts and Reports) Regulations 2008 other than any requirement that the accounts give a ‘true and fair’ view which is not a matter considered as part of an independent examination.
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.
Graham Higgins ACA 20 November 2023
Page 4 of 4
Income and Expenditure
| INCOME | Actual |
|---|---|
| Ticket sales Beers sales Cider Sales glasses wine tasting wine sales Pimms sales Gin Bar proft share Rafe proft share food partners other income sponsorship stalls Donations Bank Interest beer sales post event Bingo Stillage sale Auction Comedy club net income Thursday EXPENSES ADMIN Finance costs (yapsody) GLASSES AND STILLAGE Glasses Stillage LOOS Loos GROUND Marquee Scafolding Security Havills Rent of Field Fencing/barriers fat bed lorry ADVERTS,PUBLICITY & Printing Advertising Banners Video man Programmes |
£34,030 £21,618 £11,793 £2,213 £60 £3,553 £3,632 £552 £2,568 £2,176 £250 £15,100 £2,150 £43 £80 £1,920 £450 £1 £400 £815 |
| £ 103,404 798 5,775 360 4,290 12,112 750 3,247 6,695 1,500 509 300 1,296 392 408 899 835 |
| Beer Tokens | 168 |
|---|---|
| Website | 50 |
| LICENCES | |
| Licences | 101 |
| INSURANCE | |
| Insurance | 1,212 |
| RAFFLE | |
| Rafe Costs incl Prizes | 235 |
| ENT AND CHEFS | |
| Cookery Demos | 17 |
| Bands | 3,465 |
| Sound System | 6,155 |
| Charity for opener | 1,000 |
| music organiser fee | |
| BEER AND CIDER | |
| Beer | 11,031 |
| Cider | 5,442 |
| PIMMS/WINE/SOFT | |
| soft supplies | 634 |
| Wine | 1,529 |
| BUSES | |
| Buses | 3,500 |
| SHIRTS | |
| T Shirts net of sponsorship | 663 |
| KIDS ENTERTAINMENT | |
| other kids stuf | 520 |
| MEDICAL | |
| Medical | 968 |
| MISC | |
| Misc | 1,227 |
| Ticket refund | 12 |
| TOTAL COSTS | £ 78,083 |
| **SURPLUS BEFORE OTHER PAYMENTS ** | £ 25,321 |
| PROFIT SHARE PARTNERS |
2022 Balance sheet
12/31/2022
| Nat west Bank | £ 6,038.37 |
|---|---|
| Co op bank | £ 16,880.48 |
| CCLA investment account | £ 12,537.13 |
| Total bank holdings | £ 35,455.98 |
The Abbotskerswell Food and Beer Festival (Abbfest)
Charity Number 1171953
Commentary on the Annual Report and Accounts
Abbfest is a Community Interest Organisation (CIO) which exists to further such charitable purposes (Charitable under English law) in the county of Devon, in particular but not limited to the parish of Abbotskerswell, as the Trustees see fit from time to time by the provision of grants and other donations to charities and other voluntary organisations.
Although it is not part of its legal charitable purpose, the Trustees have always regarded the holding of a successful community event as a major objective in delivering the purpose.
The Charity’s funds are entirely raised through an annual Food & Beer Festival which is organised and run by a Management Committee fully staffed with volunteers. Whilst the Festival was badly hit during Covid as for two years running we were unable to hold the event, through good financial management and direction by the Festival Director and Treasurer, the Charity retained enough funds to allow for a full Festival to go ahead in 2022.
The financial outcome of the 2022 Festival allowed the Charity to both top up its operating reserves to preserve the event for future years, and generated enough surplus for grants and “thank you” payments to be made to those organisations and volunteers that work tirelessly to support the event.
At year end 31.12.2022 the CIO funds stood at:
Cooperative Bank account: £20,069.48
NATWEST Bank Account: £6,038.37
Investment fund: £12,510.47
Festival surplus to be distributed: £13,912.88
Of which:
Thank You payments: £6,800
Grants: £5,862.88
Page 1 of 4
Trustees Annual Report
The Trustees of the Abbotskerswell Food and Beer Festival are:
Amy Hedger
Chair
Catherine Howard
Secretary
Ann Down
Brian Mackness David Munden Trevor Hardiman
Charity Structure
Day to day and operational management of the Abbfest Festival is delegated to the Festival Director and Management Committee. The Festival Director and Treasurer are responsible for organising and delivering the annual Festival on time and within agreed budgets, ensuring the event is compliant with licencing and safety requirements.
The Trustees are ultimately responsible for the Charity’s activities including:
-
Purpose and strategy
-
Our reputation and values
-
How we meet our financial and statutory responsibilities
In particular the Trustees pay attention to:
-
The performance of the Charity’s fundraising activities
-
How surplus is distributed and making sure we do this fairly
-
Making sure the Charity and its activities are conducted fairly, responsibly and ethically.
All other elements of the running and operation of the Charity’s activities are the responsibility of the Festival Director, Treasurer and Management Committee.
Key Management Committee members are:
Roy Blunt
Festival Director
Gary Wills
Treasurer
The Treasurer prepares the budget which is reviewed by the Trustees to ensure it is reasonable and realistic. The Treasurer then is responsible for all other matters of finance and accounting.
Treasurers comments
The headline income figure was an amazing £103,404 this year. We did not perform quite as well as we hoped, with income down by £17k on the budget figure of £120k. The main contributor to this difference was lower ticket sales £9k, stalls £2.4k, drinks (which were related to ticket numbers)
Page 2 of 4
£3.8k and glasses £6.2k. This year Sponsorship was very successful with the testing budget of £15k reached.
I shall engage with the Trustees and give my recommendations of how much funding should be retained for future years and this will then give them the figure which they will distribute to local charities and organisations.
This is my first year of wearing the Treasurer hat and it has been a challenge, not only because of the turmoil of my very hectic personal life, but trying to understand the nuances of the festival - behind the scenes, organising the bank accounts and the previous paperwork.
A surplus of £26,321 on the year is very commendable and whilst we did not hit the budget (mainly due to numbers attending) we should be very proud that we have raised such a large amount of money for local charities and community groups and secured the future of Abbfest for another year.
Auditor: Report on Page 4
Risk Management
The Abbfest Charity activities throughout the year are minimal, and are centred around planning meetings in the months leading up to the event. Abbfest has in place an annual insurance policy which covers all volunteers and Trustees activities including Employers (Volunteers) Liability, Public Liability, Legal cover and Director’s and Officers Liability.
For the “build up” and “delivery” phase of the event itself, the Management Committee prepares a comprehensive Risk Assessment taking into account the range of activities being undertaken on site.
The Management Committee also prepares an Event Management Plan which includes all activities from “build up” to “break down” and covers Health and Safety, Security, Capacity, Medical and Fire cover, traffic management plans, site layout and licencing requirements. This document is submitted to the Teignbridge District Council Licencing Authority and distributed via them to the Teignbridge Safety Advisory Group which includes Police, Fire, Ambulance, Licencing, Environmental Health and Highways. The document and plans require approval from all of the agencies noted, thus far we have not received any queries or concerns about how the event is run and managed.
For the Festival itself Abbfest also has a specific Event Insurance policy in place to cover the build up, event and break down period. This again includes Employers (Volunteers) and Public Liability cover.
Grant making and Thank You payments
Surplus generated by the Festival is distributed in the form of Grants and Thank You payments.
Thank You payments are made to those organisations that have provided volunteers to allow the event to be run effectively and safely. The Trustees operate a tiered system of payments to donate larger sums to those organisations that have provided the most help.
Grants are distributed to organisation who apply to the Trustees for payments. The Trustees do not make any Grant decisions based on whether an organisation has helped at the festival, each
Page 3 of 4
application is reviewed on its own merit. The main focus of grants is to support charities local to Abbotskerswell, although the Trustees do consider applications from wider afield.
In delivering a successful community event, The Abbotskerswell Food and Beer Festival supports not only local producers and artists but provides an important source of funding to many local charities and good causes, who may struggle to survive without the funds we distribute to them.
Independent Examiner’s Report on the Accounts
I report to the charity Trustees on my examination of the accounts of the Charity for the year ended
As the charity's trustees, 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.
I have completed my examination. I confirm that no material matters have come to my attention in connection with the examination (other than that disclosed below *) which gives me cause to believe that in, any material respect:
-
the accounting records were not kept in accordance with section 130 of the Charities Act; or
-
the accounts did not accord with the accounting records; or
-
the accounts did not comply with the applicable requirements concerning the form and
content of accounts set out in the Charities (Accounts and Reports) Regulations 2008 other than any requirement that the accounts give a ‘true and fair’ view which is not a matter considered as part of an independent examination.
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.
Graham Higgins ACA 20 November 2023
Page 4 of 4