~~WHICK~~ HA ~~M~~ VOLUNTEER LIBRARY ASSOCIA ~~TION~~
2024 - ~~2025~~ A ~~NNU~~ AL ~~REPO~~ RT
Chair’s Introduction
Our library has a lot to celebrate. As well as our core lending service, we continue to thrive as a community hub, with increasing numbers of groups and agencies using our rooms.
We remain a Warm Welcome hub, providing a safe, comfortable and welcoming space to anyone who wishes to come in, have a cup of tea, read a newspaper, have a chat, or simply relax in peace.
The 100% grant from the Energy Efficiency Scheme administered by Groundworks enabled us to change all lighting to LEDs and install cavity wall insulation. The work was successfully completed, and does seem to have decreased our energy costs as hoped.
The library now has a Governance subgroup to ensure that the library is managed in accordance with the Charity Commission regulations. This group’s aim (along with all the trustees) is to steer the library in the right direction, and to assess and then ameliorate any risk factors that could possibly interfere with the library achieving its aims.
There is much that we would like to do to improve the library, but this takes time, planning and money. We will be replacing the old kitchen units in the near future, and are currently planning to paint the corridors and to improve our Community Room by installing better storage.
Our aim remains to make the library even more important to our community, always looking to invite more people of different ages to feel part of a group that meets within our building. The regular feedback we receive has shown us that we are much appreciated by our community.
Allan Short, WVLA Chair
Our Values
Community Focused – Accessible – Welcoming – Sustainable
Our Mission Statement
We are dedicated to providing, maintaining and enhancing a quality library service and resources for our community, ensuring a safe and inclusive space for all who visit.
Our Vision
To continue to grow the library as a community hub, and develop our services to meet our community’s needs.
Our People
Trustees
Jane Campion Andy Summerson Anne Messere Jeff Bowe Angela Todd
Allan Short, Chair Peter Craig, Vice Chair Denise Bennett, Secretary Alison Richardson, Vice Secretary David Johnson, Treasurer
Volunteer Team
Our volunteers remain remarkably constant; they consistently, cheerfully arrive for their shift. We are in the enviable state of having a waiting list of people who would like to help. Without these willing volunteers there would be no library.
Working Groups
Activities (Jane Campion, Anne Messere, Eileen Bone, Alison Richardson, Angela Todd) organising and facilitating all activities associated with the library, including social events.
Buildings and future planning (Allan Short, Alison Richardson, Denise Bennett, Eileen Bone, Andy Summerson) responsible for any issues relating to the library building or equipment including health and safety. Safeguarding (Alison Richardson, Peter Craig) developing safeguarding policy and practice.
Membership (Eileen Bone, Alison Richardson) organising the daily rotas and developing practices for the induction of new volunteers.
Finance and fund-raising (Allan Short, David Johnson, Jane Campion, Denise Bennett, Alison Richardson, Eileen Bone) responsible for ensuring WVLA’s finances are on track for maintaining and improving the library as well as looking at funding opportunities and ensuring any criteria for grants are fulfilled.
Governance (Allan Short, David Johnson, Denise Bennett, Angela Todd, Alison Richardson) responsible for assisting the trustee group to ensure that the trustee board fulfils its legal, ethical and functional responsibilities.
The Year in Review
As well as lending books, our aim is to be a space for our local community to pursue other activities, making the library a community hub. We work to enable other groups to have a space to meet and develop, providing a facility for professional organisations and individuals to meet with clients, as well as setting up and running our own events and activities for local residents to participate in.
Our dedicated Activity group work tirelessly on organising events such as our Easter and Christmas Fairs, external events, for example the Book Quiz, and the extremely popular and well attended children’s craft sessions - free events to welcome families into the library to play, craft, and explore our range of children’s books. All these events are aimed at encouraging community participation and raising awareness of the library as a community hub as well as a provider of traditional lending services.
We celebrated the seventh anniversary of our founding as a volunteer run library in an article in the local newspaper, The Journal . As quoted in the article “the core of hard work and dedication from the original volunteers, most of whom are still very much involved, remains unchanged”.
We remain a Warm Welcome hub, with a regular cohort of daily users, with numbers increasing when the weather gets colder. We also provide a safe space where children, who for various reasons do not attend school, can be taught by a personal tutor.
| Our Regular Groups and Events | Our Regular Groups and Events |
|---|---|
| Rhyme Time | Book Group |
| Knit’n’Natter | Citizen’s Advice Bureau |
| U3A | Barclays Local |
| Children’s Crafts | Book Sales |
| Craft Club | Easter and Christmas Fairs |
Fundraising
While we do receive practical support from Gateshead Council, by way of books for loan, and use of their computer network, WVLA is entirely responsible for all the running costs of the library, a not insignificant amount.
As a result, fundraising is permanently at the forefront of our planning. We have an ongoing display of pre-loved books for sale, donated by members of the local community. We also have a display sales table within the library, with crafts made by volunteers or craft groups meeting in the library.
Our major fundraising event for the year was an extremely popular Quiz Night (book-themed of course!). During this year the library has also received money from a 5-day sponsored walk in Scotland, and from a volunteer’s son who ran the Great North Run on behalf of the library.
Our Easter and Christmas Fairs are well-attended by the community, generating a welcoming and busy atmosphere, as well as much-needed funds. A shared coffee morning hosted by Fellside Methodist Church was a particularly successful affair - as well as raising a significant sum, it also allowed us to get out into the community to promote our services.
Recently set up by our dedicated Treasurer is our Friends of Whickham Library scheme, encouraging well-wishers who would like to support us to do so by way of financial donations. Also promoted is our membership of easyfundraising, whereby online shoppers can nominate us as a charity to receive commission from their purchases.
The spaces in our library are themselves of value in raising revenue - we have rooms available for rental, whether hourly, daily or longer term, and work is underway to improve facilities to make them more attractive to potential users.
Future Plans and Challenges
In order to safeguard the future of Whickham Library we are striving to increase the use of the building as a Community Hub, as well as to continue with the provision of our core business of lending books. To do this we have created plans to improve the public spaces, to make our library more attractive to use, and to improve the flexibility of the main library space.
As well as being a large meeting space for groups our Community Room is our main storage and workplace area. To enable it to function as an attractive and serviceable room for meetings, we have planned an enclosed storage solution. This, together with refurbishment of the corridor leading to the room, and a newly installed kitchen, will make for a professional-looking and marketable space, essential for our future plans, whether to increase rental income or increase rent-free use by community organisations.
There are also plans to turn our main library lending area into a substantial, attractive, multi-use and flexible space. We went from functioning simply as a library to being a volunteer-led community space, which means that redesign of the library to better accommodate and expand activities for the community is necessary.
Our improvement plans clearly require finance, and so the necessary fundraising is a substantial challenge, involving the sourcing of grants. Fundraising is a continuous challenge in any event. Barclays Bank, since the closure of their local branch, have been renting space in the library for their Local Hub. This rental is a substantial part of our income and given recent trends in banking is not guaranteed going forward. The trustees are alive to this issue and have started looking at different revenue streams to try and mitigate any potential loss should this agreement end.
In common with other volunteer-run services, we need to maintain our relationship with our volunteers, as well as ensure sustainability by continuing to attract new volunteers; in particular we are working to develop a “bank” of people who are willing to help out at events and activities, of particular value in relation to fundraising. In addition, while we have a dedicated trustee board, we continue to work to identify any additional skills which would be useful in our future plans, and whether it will be necessary to recruit to fill any gaps identified.
Annual Accounts 1st April 2024 - 31st March 2025
Treasurer’s Remarks
In the year ended 31st March 2025 we showed a surplus of £12,365.59, which is a combination of some one-off income streams including a VAT refund from our energy suppliers, Gift Aid recovery from HMRC and a claw back from Barclays bank in reference to their use of the library as a banking hub.
The trustees continue to look at additional income streams and have identified the potentional for hiring out our rooms to commercial users (community groups will remain free of charge), together with our Friends of Whickham Library initiative which is covered in more detail in this report.
Our running costs are ahead of expectation due mainly to the cleaning service from Gateshead Council being backdated and therefore covering a two-year period. To try and mitigate some of this cost the trustees have reduced the hours on the new contract.
We anticipate that the energy efficiency measures we have introduced will not only reduce our carbon footprint but will, over the coming years, help reduce our energy costs.
David Johnson, WVLA Treasurer
Charity Name Whickham Volunteer Library Association Charity No.. 1178050 Registered Office: 9, St Mary's Green Whickham Newcastle upon Tyne NE164DN Trustees.. Allan Short (Chairl Eileen Bone Isecretaryl Alison Richardson Iloint Secretary) Denise S Bennett Iloint Secretary) Christopher Ord (Treasurer) Oavid Johnson (Treasurer} Peter Craig Amelia Ord Jeff Bowe Patricia Jane Campion Anne Messere Angela Todd Andrew Summerson Resigned September 2024 appointed October 2024 appointed Octobei 2024 Resigned April 2024 Resigned April 2024 Independent Examiner.. Paul Coullhard 100 Au8UStus Park Wav Dinnington Newcastle upon Tyne NE13 7FJ Banker5.' Lloyds Bank PIC PO Box 1000 Andover Hampshire BXI ILT Epworth Investment Management Ltd 9 Bonhill Street London EC2A 4PE
Whickham Volunteer Library Assoclatlon 1st April 2024 to 31st March 2025 202>24 Recelpis Donations Library Incomè Grants Other Income Room Hire Interest 1897.99 19005.0() L7436.30 5472.86 15922.50 2288.45 62.023.10 1300.00 14920.00 3802.25 471.23 2600.00 334.77 23428.25 EJ(pendlture Runnirlg costs Officè & General Expenditure Governanct 28639.64 20674.07 344.80 49G58.51 18716.66 10537. 14 196.00 29449.80 Ex£ess of income ovér expènditurè 12364.59 -6021.5S Whickham Volunteer Library Associatlon 1st April 2024 to 315t March 2025 Note 2023-24 Rynnlni Costs Electric Gas Smart Meter Website Recharge to Ghd MBC Cleaning Costs Licences Maintenance 3592.64 3440,54 300.00 392 24 5511.99 15083.79 202.(K) 116.44 28639.64 10463.53 5153.08 4000 282.16 JS79.53 1098.36 loo.00 18716.66 Office & genaral expenses News Papers Wash Room Petty cash Misc expendrture Coffee. Tea.biscuits etc Capital expenditure Grant expediture 146.44 1829.30 304.17 0.00 161.94 2158.83 137.09 15936.30 20674.07 1526,11 43.02 2213.93 6754.OB 10S37.14 Governance Insurance Accountancv 344.80 96.OQ 344.80 49658.51 IOD.00 J96.00 29449.80
Whickham Volunteer Library Association 1st Aprll 2024 to 315t March 2025 Balance Sheet Notes 20P3-24 Recelpts Donations Libr3ry Tèkings Grants Other Income Room Hire Interest 1897.99 19005.00 17436.30 5472.86 15922.50 2288.45 62023.10 13W.00 149M. 3802.25 471.23 334 77 2J428.25 Expendlture Running costs OfPice & General Expenditure Governance 28639.64 20674.07 344.80 49658.51 18716.66 10537.14 196 29449.80 Excess of income over income 12364.59 .602155 Balance Brought Forward 62633.74 68655.29 Income 62023. 10 ?3428.25 Expenditure 49658.51 29449.jo 12364.59 74998.33 62633.71 Current Account Epwonh cash Fund Cash 12469.31 62500.00 29.02 74998.33 2?614,60 40000.00 19.14 6?633.74 Whickham Volunteer Library Association Notes to the accounts for the year ended 31st March 2025 Note This includes ¢Jtsnat*ons via Gift Aided Giving and other donation plarfo1rn5 Thls includes Book sale5. printing and photocopyin8 togetheF Wlth lundrai5in8 events held ihrouEhoitt the year. Grant income from VC5E EnerEy EfficienLI Scheme. Gateshead Counal Warm Space scheme and the Local Community Grant. This includes Pollin8 5t3tion fees, Gift Aid reclairn, VAT refund tQ8ether with book 5ale5 Outside ol the library settin8. Charges lor the use of rooms by business and local authority groups.
CHARITY COMMISSION FOR ENGLAND AND WALES Independent examiner's report on the accounts Section A Indepènd¢i)t Examiner's Report Report to the trustefrsl memb•rs of ickham Volunteer Library Associ&tion On accounts forthe year gndèd 31" March 2025 Ch•rlty no 1178050 lif anyl Sot out on pa9eS I feport lo the Irustees on my examination ol the accounts of the at($ ch8nty Ilhe Trust") for the year ended RpOnsIbIlIties and As the charily Iru51ees ol Ihe Trusl, you are responsible for the prepafalion b•Jls of rfrport ol Ihe accounts In accordance wilh the requirements ol the Ch8nlies Act 2011 (Yhe Act'i I report in respecl ol my examination of the Trust's aceounts caffled out under section 145 01 the 2011 Act and In carrying out my examination. I have followed the applicable Directions given by the Charrty commisOn under seclion 1451511bl of the Act. I have completed my examinatson. I confirm thal no material matters have come lo my attention (other than that disdosed below "l in conn8Ction wrth the examination which gives me cause lo believe that In. any rn8lenal respect.. 8ecounling r)rdS were not kept in ac£ordance wlh section 130 of the Acl or the accounts do not rd with Ihe accountin9 records Independent examinerf$ statement I have no ¢oncem$ and have come across no other matters in conneclion with the examinalion lo which attention should be drawn in order lo onable proper under51anding ol Ihe accounts lo be rea¢hed. ' Please delèle ihe worcls In the brockets rf they do not apply. PAVL R•l•v¥nt profvsslonal quallflcatlonl81 or body Ilf any): rMA Addrnss.. J¢ii' Au. UPO T IER October 2018
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NOTICEBOARD NOTICEBOARD
I go with my grandchildren every
week, they love the library. The
volunteers are pleasant and always
make time for the little ones.
The Gruffalo carpet is a great
Whickham is very
favourite. We are lucky in
lucky to have
Our library here Whickham to have such dedicated
such a wonderful
in Whickham is volunteers running a much loved
amazing. Thanks library. library. Best book
to all shop ever
volunteers.
GNR GNR 2024 2024
to you
Thank you
all, it’s my
favourite place
Had a lovely time
at crafts this
morning. Thank you
to the volunteers
for all their hard
work!
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