Friends of Llanfrechfa Grange Walled Garden
Trustees Annual Report
For the period
April 2021 to March 2022
Reference and Administration
Charity name, registered number, and address Friends of Llanfrechfa Grange Walled Garden (FoLGWG) Registered charity number 1176172 Llanfrechfa Grange Llanfrechfa Torfaen NP44 8YN
Trustees
Mrs Janet Mary Smith MBE - Chair
Mrs Jane Christine MacDonald Nehaul - Vice Chair
Mrs Angela Mary Fry – General Secretary Mr Christopher John Parsons - Treasurer
Dr Umapathy Sivagamasundari - Volunteers Secretary Ms Bobinca Gwynne Wilson - Membership Secretary
Structure, Governance and Management
The Friends of Llanfrechfa Grange Walled Garden was established as a small charity in 2015 and registered with the Charities Commission in December 2017.
The charity is a Charitable Incorporated Organisation (CIO) governed by a detailed Constitution. The current trustees are four of the founder members with a further two appointed in 2016 by the founder members. The charity is run entirely by volunteers.
Governance Arrangements
The Walled Garden is owned by the Aneurin Bevan University Health Board as a part of the larger Llanfrechfa Grange manor and The Grange University Hospital estate. The garden is an integral part of the hospital landscape providing a tranquil and inviting green space physically linking the old house to the University Hospital.
Responsibility for the redevelopment of the garden sits with the gardens’ Trustees who are supported by a vibrant group of volunteers. The charity enjoys a close working relationship with the Health Board Executive, the Works and Estates Department and staff based on the site.
A 10-year lease has been negotiated and signed in March 2022. The lease encompasses the garden, attached nursery, Gardener’s Cottage, and a strip of land outside the east wall.
The charity has structure and contents insurance with the National Farmers Union and Public Liability insurance through a block arrangement with Keep Wales Tidy.
A Risk Policy/Register is supplemented by a ‘Guidebook for Volunteers’, 'Safety Instructions' and 'Principles for Working in the Garden'. These documents are reviewed periodically to
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Friends of Llanfrechfa Grange Walled Garden; Annual Report: 2021/22
reflect changes of practice in the garden and to ensure compliance with any relevant legislation.
New volunteers receive induction and safety briefings and are required to follow the safety instructions and working principles.
Associate Membership
The annual membership fee was raised from £4 to £5 in January 2022. At 31[st] March 2022 the charity had 90 associate members. Members receive our quarterly newsletter and other garden related information and links via e-mail, including advanced notice of garden events. They also have access to a dedicated ‘Members Only’ part of our website where they can download minutes of meetings, learning materials and other updates on the garden. Many of our members are also active volunteers.
Volunteers
The charity has more than fifty registered volunteers, several new ones having joined in year and with many committed to regular sessions in the garden. New working arrangements, introduced in 2020 in response to the Covid-19 Pandemic, continued throughout 2021/22. These consisted primarily of a daily rota to manage numbers attending and fulfil requirements for social distancing and hygiene.
Supporters
In addition to its members and volunteers the charity has continued to receive support from the Health Board’s senior officers and staff. Local builder Adrian Waters has provided ongoing support and advice, most notably installing donated bow top fencing outside the south wall to create a secure plant nursery. Willmott Dixon, building contractors working adjacent to the garden, donated materials and transport for heavy items.
Objectives and Activities
The objectives of the charity are to redesign and restore the Victorian walled garden at Llanfrechfa Grange as a recreational or leisure time resource for the benefit of the public and healthcare staff who have need of such facilities by reason of their youth, age, infirmity or disablement, financial hardship or social and economic circumstances, or for the public at large in the interest of social welfare and with the object of improving the condition of life of those using the garden.
With due regard to the Charities Commission guidance on public benefit the Friends of Llanfrechfa Grange Walled Garden have continued to develop the garden as an uplifting green space for the benefit of all.
The garden remained closed to visitors for most of 2021/22 during yet another year impacted by the pandemic. We continued to comply with the Welsh Government Covid-19 Regulations through restricted numbers, social distancing, and hygiene rules. These measures enabled many volunteers to continue to attend safely. For some the garden has been the only place
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Friends of Llanfrechfa Grange Walled Garden; Annual Report: 2021/22
they spent any time in away from home, providing enormous personal benefit. Due to the commitment of the trustees, volunteers, members, and supporters significant progress has been made and all are looking forward to a time when the garden can be fully opened to the public for more people to enjoy.
A well-established WhatsApp group enables communication between volunteers, providing a daily update report and a platform for social interaction, support, and light relief. Regular trustee meetings took place via Zoom with face-to-face meeting reinstated in the latter half of the year. These now routine ways of working have ensured effective communication and have facilitated the maintenance and continued development of the garden.
Achievements and Performance
Despite the ongoing restrictions presented by the Covid-19 pandemic the Charity has continued to make significant progress in realising the garden’s design plan during 2021/22.
Championed by the trustees and volunteers the layout and planting plans have seen the established areas of the garden mature and the barren ones come alive with new designs and different plants. The southwest quadrant has been turned into a series of demonstration gardens set out around a circular lawn. These aim to show how different design and planting plans can create very different impacts. Included are a Japanese garden, a rockery and scree, a Physic Garden, a stumpary, wildlife and bog garden, an ornamental vegetable garden and a yet to be planted shrubbery.
Beds in the southeast quadrant had a major overhaul and new planting introduced or planned. Similarly, the maturing northwest quadrant was reviewed, and additional plants introduced. The northeast quadrant is dedicated primarily to vegetable growing and propagation in our large poly tunnel. This quadrant however remains in part underdeveloped with plans afoot to add walls, paths, and another greenhouse.
Below are some further events and key achievements throughout the year.
April
The spring bulbs planted last year provided a magnificent display across the garden. Dressed stone for a retaining wall around the vegetable plot continued to be salvaged from a derelict part of the old hospital site. The ‘No Dig’ vegetable programme got into full swing. The first plant sale of the year was held outside the Grange University Hospital.
May
The Gardener’s Cottage was adorned with a false ‘Door to Nowhere’ that hides some service cables and appears to open onto its lovely cottage garden. Patio paving was laid in front of the greenhouse and shed providing another seating area. The installation of a second shed and enclosed storage area was commenced, and a socially distanced BBQ held in the garden for the volunteers.
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Friends of Llanfrechfa Grange Walled Garden; Annual Report: 2021/22
June
We hosted a ‘Have a Grow Day’ as part of a UK wide celebration of community gardening run by the Not for Profit organisation Social Farms and Gardens. Covid driven pre booked placed brought in140 visitors and £1,000 was raised from plant sales, refreshments, and activities.
Two ‘Nye Bevan’ roses were donated to the garden by two long standing members who came in to plant them either side of the steps in the southeast quadrant.
July
The 2021 AGM was held in the garden on a lovely sunny day. The Charity’s Annual Report and Annual Accounts were presented and later submitted to the Charities Commission. No pre booking was required for this event, which drew in170 visitors and raised further funds for the garden. Extensive media coverage of the day was provided by the South Wales Argus and Cwmbran Life Facebook page. We were also delighted to have been joined by members of the Wales Society of Botanical Artists who plan to develop a Florilegium pictorial inventory of garden plants.
Two of the gardens regular volunteers provided an exciting opportunity for visitors to buy freshly made Welshcakes from their Cegin Beattie stall set up once a month from July through to October. All profits were generously donated to the garden funds.
Later in July volunteers were delighted to be awarded a Green Flag from Keep Wales Tidy for the third consecutive year.
August
The Grange University Hospital was officially opened in August by the Right Honourable Mark Drakeford,1[st] Minister of Wales. The charity was represented at the ceremony by its Chair who later gave the 1[st] Minister and other dignitaries a guided tour of the garden.
A scarecrow ‘Max the Vax’ (front cover) was built by volunteers was entered into the Caerleon Scarecrow competition.
A plant stall was taken to the Ponthir Music Festival accompanied by the Cegin Beattie Welshcake stall. More valuable funds were raised for the garden at this fun local village event.
September
Autumn brought the harvest of many fruits and vegetable, our autumn bulb fest and the start of preparing the garden for the winter ahead. An enormous pumpkin featured among the autumn crops, a Marina di Chioggia weighing in at a stunning 11.5Kg!
The Cwmbran and District branch of Soroptimists International visited the garden to see the Prunus Kanzan cherry tree they donated earlier in the year as part of their centenary year celebrations.
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Friends of Llanfrechfa Grange Walled Garden; Annual Report: 2021/22
October
The garden was visited by explorer, writer, and covid-19 survivor Robin Hanbury-Tennison and his wife Louella, together with his nephew and Lord Lieutenant of Gwent, Brigadier Robert Aitkin and his wife Joanna. The visit was arranged to share ideas about hospital gardens as, since his recovery from covid, Robin is promoting their introduction and raising funds for hospital garden in his home county of Cornwall where he was treated. As part of Her Majesty the Queens initiative ‘Plant a Tree for the Jubilee’ Robin kindly planted a Ginkgo Biloba tree in the Physic Garden.
The Gwent Federation of Women’s Institutes also visited to celebrate their centenary year with a donation of several fruit trees that have been planted against the inner perimeter walls.
A social event for volunteers was held where a curry lunch was enjoyed by all.
November
Throughout the autumn many volunteers had turned their energies to preparing craft items and preserves to sell for Christmas. Craft stalls were held in the garden, outside the Grange University Hospital and the Health Boards HQ earlier in the year. In November we took wreath making workshops and a huge craft stall to a Christmas Fayres at Billy Bobs Farm not far from the garden. The garden also hosted a very successful series of wreath making workshops through November and December. All served to promote the garden and to raise valuable funds.
December
The volunteers gathered together for a Christmas Social to celebrate the festive season with good food, a quiz, and even a few chilly games of croquet on our one-year-old lawn!
January
Work in the garden continued through the winter with early sowing commenced and more trees, this time Skyrocket conifers, planted for the Jubilee celebrations.
February /March
With spring fast approaching seed sowing was in full swing with the greenhouse and polytunnel filling up fast. Two Jubilee flower beds were planned with regal ornamentation that would be complimented by red, white and blue planting. A ‘Moon Growing’ project was also planned for the vegetable plot to explore the effect that sowing in different phases of the moon has on plant growth.
The charity also accelerated plans to hold a grand opening of the garden in April. This will allow public access to the garden every day when there are volunteers on site. Development work across the garden continued with a major focus on making as many areas as possible safely accessible to all. New gates were commissioned and installed in the north and south entrances and self-binding gravel ordered in to lay in as the final top dressing of the main paths and larger seating areas. The north gate area had a major upgrade with a natural stone apron and a slate welcome plaque mounted on granite slabs.
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Friends of Llanfrechfa Grange Walled Garden; Annual Report: 2021/22
Communications and Making Connections
The charity publishes a quarterly newsletter in both paper and electronic format and has a website and Facebook page. All are used to provide updates on progress, to call for volunteers and members, and to share items of interest associated with the garden.
The charity has connections with several Not-for-Profit organisations as sources of information, support and advice. These include the Community Land Advisory Service in Wales (CLAS Cymru), Tyfu Fyny, Social Farms and Gardens, local Associations of Voluntary Organisations, the Hardy Plants Society and the Gwent Guild of Weavers, Spinners and Dyers. We are also supported by specialists in garden design and plant choices and the ‘no dig’ approach to growing.
Torfaen Council Volunteers Co-ordinator, the Health Boards Communications Team, and the Keep Wales Tidy Torfaen Environmental Project Officer continue to be communication links and sources of support when needed.
Shoosmiths Solicitors via LawWorks, the Solicitors Pro Bono Group, has continued to provide pro bono support for the lease negotiations and contract agreement.
Donations, Fund Raising and Grants
The charity has received many donations in kind during the year including plants, flowerpots, and seeds. Financial donations have also been received from individuals and groups. Monies received are used to support planting and hard landscaping plans and for the general upkeep of the garden.
The continued generosity of local building contractor Adrian Waters has been most welcome, especially for the installation of heavy duty bow top fencing around our new plant nursery. We also continue to benefit from donations of compost and garden sundries from the Wilco distribution centre in Newport. Builders Willmott Dixon have also donated building materials.
Only one grant application was made during the year which was sadly unsuccessful.
The charity is grateful to all individuals and organisations for their support and generosity.
Awards
In July 2021 the garden received a Green Flag Community Award for a third consecutive year. Awarded by Keep Wales Tidy the Green Flag is the benchmark for exceptional parks and green spaces that are managed to the highest standards by volunteers.
In August we entered a 10ft ‘Max the Vax’ scarecrow into the Caerleon Scarecrow Trail and won first prize for the tallest scarecrow and second in the competition overall. Max the Vax, dressed as a covid vaccinator, then stood for the rest of the year in the Walled Garden encouraging visitors to take up their vaccine.
All in all, the garden was in a good place at the end of 2020/21 with volunteers looking forward to its formal opening and to continuing its development into the future.
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Friends of Llanfrechfa Grange Walled Garden; Annual Report: 2021/22
Financial Review
The financial year end of the Charity is 31 March, with this review covering the year to 31 March 2022.
The financial position of the Charity remains strong with a balance of £8,298 at 31 March 2022 (31 March 2021: £12,525).
| Balance sheet as at 31 March 2022 | Balance sheet as at 31 March 2022 |
|---|---|
| 31-Mar-22 31-Mar-21 £'s Actual Actual |
Movement £'s % |
| Unrestricted 6,747 10,475 Restricted 1,550 2,050 Endowment - - |
(3,728) (35.6)% (500) (24.4)% - N/A |
| Net Cash 8,298 12,525 |
(4,228) (33.8)% |
The charity had a net reduction in cash of £4,228 in the period as a result of increased expenditure on the garden. The higher expenditure more than off-set growth in revenue against the previous year, which was lower due to pandemic restrictions put in place by the Welsh Government.
As the garden, along with the wider community, returned to normal the Charity has been able to receive revenue from its more controllable sales streams. Plant, produce sales and event income increased on the prior year providing a welcome revenue stream to support the continued development.
Spend on restricted projects decreased from the prior year as a result both of timing of expenditure but also fewer restricted grants being received. At the end of the financial year the Charity has two restricted funds in place:
-
Bellway Homes (Wales) (£1,350) which the Trustees plan to spend on a moon gate; and
-
Llanyrafon and Croesyceiliog Community Council (£200) which has since been spend on the water pump post the year end.
| Income statement for the period 1/4/21 - 31/3/22 | ||
|---|---|---|
| FY22 | FY21 | |
| £'s | Actual | Actual |
| Income | ||
| Unrestricted income | 8,020 | 2,777 |
| Restricted income | - | 3,151 |
| Income | 8,020 | 5,928 |
| Expenditure | ||
| Unrestricted expenditure | (11,748) | (4,892) |
| Restricted expenditure | (500) | (1,601) |
| Expenditure | (12,248) | (6,493) |
| Unrestricted income | (3,728) | (2,116) |
| Restricted income | (500) | 1,550 |
| Net income | (4,228) | (565) |
As touched upon above, as restrictions have been released by the Welsh Government more events have been held in the period. With the kind support of members, volunteers and
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Friends of Llanfrechfa Grange Walled Garden; Annual Report: 2021/22
visitors to the garden, sales have increased to levels seen before the pandemic. The ability to generate revenue from people returning to and enjoying the garden is very welcome.
Financial year 21/22 saw the largest level of investment in the garden since it’s foundation, which is clearly evident. Building materials increased by £4,269 from the prior year with key expenditure being made on the self-binding gravel for the paths. Plant and compost along with garden sundries have increased on the prior year by £2,212, as the garden has reached the point where increased planting and other development activities are needed.
As noted earlier, local businesses have shown generosity in providing goods and services either freely or at discounted rates, which has helped the garden to progress to its current stage. We would again like to thank them all for their continued support.
2021/22 was a significant year of income generation and investment in the garden which has been supported by members, volunteers, supporters, and visitors. This has allowed the Charity to continue to develop the garden in line with its objectives and charitable aims while remaining financially robust. We look forward to continued growth and stability in 2022/23.
Declaration
The trustees declare that they have approved the above trustees’ report.
Signed on behalf of the charity’s trustees
J M Smith
J C M Nehaul
Janet Mary Smith Chair 4[th] August 2022
Jane Christine MacDonald Nehaul Vice Chair 4[th] August 2022
Door to Nowhere Croquet on the lawn ‘Offering up’ the new north gates
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Friends of Llanfrechfa Grange Walled Garden; Annual Report: 2021/22
Friends of Llanfrechfa Grange 1176172 Walled Garden
Receipts and payments accounts For the period 01/04/2021 To 31/03/2022 from
CC16a
Section A Receipts and payments
Unrestricted Restricted Endowment Total funds Last year funds funds funds
to the nearest to the nearest to the nearest to the nearest £ to the nearest £ £ £ £
A1 Receipts
| Plant sales | 2,909 | - | - | 2,909 | 1,174 | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Donations | 528 | - | - | 528 | 1,883 | |||||||
| Membership fees | 574 | - | - | 574 | 304 | |||||||
| Produce sales | 254 | - | - | 254 | 195 | |||||||
| Event income | 1,518 | - | - | 1,518 | 457 | |||||||
| Other income | 2,237 | - | - | 2,237 | 445 | |||||||
| Grant income | - | - | - | - | 1,470 | |||||||
| Sub total(Gross income for | 8,020 | - | - | 8,020 | 5,928 | |||||||
| AR) | ||||||||||||
| A2 Asset and investment sales, (see table). | ||||||||||||
| N/A | - | - | - | - | - | |||||||
| Sub total | - | - | - | - | - | |||||||
| Total receipts | 8,020 | - | - | 8,020 | 5,928 | |||||||
| A3 Payments | ||||||||||||
| Building materials | 5,461 | - | - | 5,461 | 2,162 | |||||||
| Plant and compost purchases |
3,310 | 500 | - | 3,810 | 3,373 | |||||||
| Refreshments | 254 | - | - | 254 | 31 | |||||||
| Garden sundries | 2,032 | - | - | 2,032 | 424 | |||||||
| Structure & contents | ||||||||||||
| insurance | 208 | - | - | 208 | 213 | |||||||
| Public liability insurance | - | - | - | - | 100 | |||||||
| Events | 483 | - | - | 483 | 190 | |||||||
| Other | - | - | - | - | - | |||||||
| Sub total | 11,748 | 500 | - | 12,248 | 6,493 | |||||||
| - | ||||||||||||
| A4 Asset and investmentpurchases, (see | table) | |||||||||||
| N/A | - | - | - | - | - | |||||||
| Sub total | - | - | - | - | - | |||||||
| Total payments | 11,748 | 500 | - | 12,248 | 6,493 | |||||||
| Net of receipts/(payments) | - | 3,728 | - | 500 | - | - 4,228 | - 565 | |||||
| A5 Transfers between | ||||||||||||
| funds | - | - | - | - | - | |||||||
| A6 Cash funds last year end |
10,475 | 2,050 | - | 12,525 | 13,091 | |||||||
| Cash funds this year end | 6,747 | 1,550 | - | 8,298 | 12,525 | |||||||
Section B Statement of assets and liabilities at the end of the period
| Categories Signed by one or two trustees on behalf of all the trustees B5 Liabilities B4 Assets retained for the charity’s own use B3 Investment assets B2 Other monetary assets B1 Cash funds |
Signature N/A N/A N/A N/A N/A Details Details Green house Shed Details N/A N/A N/A Total cash funds (agree balances with receipts and payments account(s)) Details N/A N/A N/A Details Cash and cash equivalents |
Unrestricted funds to nearest £ 6,747 - - 6,747 OK Unrestricted funds to nearest £ - - - Fund to which asset belongs Fund to which asset belongs Tesco - Green house and shed Tesco - Green house and shed Fund to which liability relates |
|---|---|---|
| Signature | Print Name | |
| Janet Mary Smith | ||
| Jane Christine MacDonald Neuhal |