The Henfield Shed
Trustees Annual Report to Members for the year ending December 2022
The Trustees would like to welcome Frankie Wijenbergh, Peter McCormack and John Bollard who have joined the Henfield Shed during the past year. Each one of our members brings with them new experiences and new skills which contribute significantly to the character, atmosphere and development of the Shed.
The Henfield Shed got off to a good start in January 2022 with a record number of members and enquiries for new members to join. Each year since we incorporated the membership has grown, and this, along with the results of the members survey, taken last year, encourages us to believe the Shed is fulfilling a need within the village and its neighbouring villages.
It has also been encouraging to see that there has been an enthusiastic bounce back from the isolation caused by Covid -19, with more members joining and attendances at workshop sessions continuing at a healthy level.
During 2022 we opened the workshop on 165 occasions and had a total membership attendance of 1205 in the year. Attendance levels towards the end of the year were so high that the Trustees decided to open the workshops on Thursday mornings to alleviate the pressure on the other days and allow attendees more space at the workbenches.
Thursday sessions commenced in December 2022 but the cold and wet weather arrived at the same time and the uptake for these sessions remained low. Indeed, attendance on Thursdays has remained low so the Trustees have decided in July 2023 to no longer open on Thursday mornings, but to open on Saturday mornings instead, so as to be available for people who are working during the week.
In July of 2022 we held our first barbecue for members and their partners in a field belonging to the daughter of one of our members, and we would like to thank Bob Myatt for arranging it and his daughter Tiffany and her husband for the generous loan of their field and facilities for our use for the day. Encouraged by the positive feedback we received we repeated the event in July of 2023.
In September, 12 of our members had a successful visit to the RAF museum at Tangmere. The Museum is located in a corner of the former Tangmere airfield, famed as an RAF fighter station from 1918 until Fighter Command left in 1958. Part of the day was a tour of the site with one of their trustees, where we saw their very impressive display of historic aircraft and collections of aviation memorabilia, stretching from the World War 1 through to the Cold War. Given the success of this visit we are in the process of arranging another day out in September 2023.
Our attendance at the Henfield Haven Quiz has been another success for the Shed, as we won the contest for a second year. Congratulations to our team for
this success. We also succeeded in winning a prize at the annual Henfield Christmas Tree Appeal, with and award for the most innovative design. Congratulations to all who were connected with this project.
We were commissioned by Red Oaks Residential Care Home to make a full-sized carriage as part of the Queen’s Jubilee celebrations and several members enthusiastically joined in to make this a reality. The final product was proudly displayed in their grounds during the Jubilee celebrations and was much noticed and admired by residents and visitors to their grounds during the Gardens and Arts Festival in Henfield and for several weeks later.
During the year our members completed 192 projects for individuals in the community as well completing 15 community projects for the Parish Council, and others.
Our finances held up well in 2022. We did not receive any grants during the year, but our income from projects rose from £8125 in 2021 to £8733 in 2022. Project materials cost us £1148 in 2021, 14% of our donations and in 2022 it was almost 18% of donations. As stated in our Treasurer’s report some costs were higher this year than in 2021. Our balance sheet shows a considerable surplus and the Trustees have decided to put aside £50,000 towards the cost of obtaining new premises.
We have known from the beginning that our tenure in the premises behind Southdown Galleries is tenuous. During the four and a half years we have been there the Trustees have investigated over 20 premises in Henfield and the surroundings, looking for more permanent, but affordable, premises which would be suitable. Most of these investigations have been unfruitful. Early in 2023 the Government launched a fund – the Rural England Prosperity Fund – for which we could qualify to apply for substantial grants to provide ourselves with premises.
We took the decision to approach Horsham District Council with a view to improving and extending the Tanyard Barn – a building in poor shape which has been in the village for more than 150 years but unused for over 50 years – for use as a permanent home for The Shed.
We are working with Henfield Parish Council and others to put together a planning application for permission to alter the building and for funds from the above fund to accomplish this. If we are successful, it will give us a long-term lease on a purpose designed workshop in the building and will secure our future.
The trustees continue to be mindful of the welfare of our members both while they are at the Shed, through well documented and practiced safety practices, for which we thank Bryan Sheldon, as well as more generally. To this end we have compiled a second survey of members and we encourage everyone to return the survey (full anonymity will be guaranteed), to enable us to tailor our Shed to the needs of its members.
Once again, the Trustees thank every one of our members not just for the generous contribution of their time and expertise but also for helping to make
the Shed a welcoming and safe place for members to meet, for residents to have items made for them or repaired, and for making a positive contribution to the improvement of the environment in Henfield through the re-use of materials.
We look forward to another successful year ahead.
The Trustees of The Henfield Shed
July 2023
The Henfield Shed Profit And Loss Account For the year ended 31 Demer 2022 2021 Income Chrislm8s Lunch Corona Virus Grant Don8tion- UnseI Members, attendance paYrnt Membership Petty Cash adjusltr Pètty Cash Floal Rèfund 423 20,695 6,028 541 830 475 27 6.431 791 19 8.783 28.820 Expen8 Christm8$ lun¢h 15001 11631 {7801 1278) InfrastruL#ure Insurance Office expenses other prolgswnal fee8 Petty ¢•$h float adjuslment Pety C8sh Wrtdrl Project Materi• Publi Rthshments Social A¢tNities Sundry Toob and machinary Tn1¢•8 ¢xpen$es 17581 (51 13231 12n I6) (1.555) 1281 1961 11571 14WI 11.1481 (119) {323) 11361 18951 {531 {7971 15.2431 3.539 {4,189) 24,831 TaKatn AKI 1,423 1494} Tax 1205) (205) 929 Net profft 3,335 25,560 Page1 of1
The Henffield Shed Balance Sheet AS 8t 31 December 2022 21Y22 2021 Bank a(xounts CuThent a{¥nt 12,660 9,325 49.325 Net assets 52,660 49,325 Benefficiarie8 Inrne aco)Lmt Net profrt 49.325 3,335 23,768 25,560 52.680 49,325 Total funds 52,880 49,325 Page1 of1