Finchams Farm Turn Around Stays
- 2022 2023
annual report
CROFT.ORG.UK
charity no. 1178610
OBJECTIVES AND ACTIVITIES
The charity’s main objectives are specifically restricted to the alleviation and relief of poverty, hardship and distress.
The charity supports people to improve wellbeing and quality of life through community and skills building, both for residents and visitors.
Emphasis is on growing and cooking food, managing a small holding and therapeutic support.
In achieving those objectives during the year, the charity continued to offer a safe and stable home environment in which residents worked together on our smallholding.
REVIEW
The charity went into review on 17th December 2021. The purpose of the review was in order to refurbish the buildings and for trustees to review charitable operations and objectives. This coincided with a change of ownership of the property in 2022.
At this point 4 residents were moved on and 2 residents remained whilst their move on plans were implemented. We agreed that two elderly residents living in parts of the site that are not due for immediate renovation would remain on site, alongside out live in volunteer.
Within this financial year the last two remaining residents due to move were supported to move on into private accommodation which has proved very successful.
Once this was achieved the work began on the buildings and grounds in preparation for reopening.
Alongside this the trustees initiated a theory of change exercise with a view to reintroducing residents in early 2024 once the necessary changes had been agreed and implemented.
THE TRUSTEES CARRIED OUT THE FOLLOWING CHANGES :
Recruited two new board members taking the board to 7 members.
Reviewed the position of the charity as a faith based charity and decided to move away from this.
Met for a strategy day to consider what had been learnt during the review period and agreed that the following changes would be formally ratified at our next AGM.
-
- To change the Charity Name from Fincham’s Farm to Croft.
-
- To change the focus of the charity from addiction and homelessness to
-
supporting people to recover from trauma and combat isolation.
-
- To apply for planning permission for a series of garden apartments to extend our accommodation and allow for reconfiguration of the smallholding’s buildings.
• 4. To explore a model of mixed provision of long term and shorter-term stays, and day services, short term retreats and courses from the site, to test new ways of working with a range of vulnerable client groups and extend our reach and impact.
-
- To accommodate both men and women (historically the charity typically
-
focused on men).
HIGHLIGHTS OF THE YEAR
Refurbished 3 bedrooms now ready for residents.
Developed new accessible vegetable gardens with 50 raised beds.
Bumper harvest from the vegetable gardens and orchard.
Pressed over 200 litres of apple juice half of which was made into apple cider vinegar.
3 new residents have carried out overnight trials ready to join us in 2024
80 jars of jam and chutney produced.
Tested opportunities for a new social enterprise making salves, balms, oils and soaps from flowers and herbs grown on site and goats milk.
Fully refurbished the farmhouse kitchen ready for new residents.
Developed a new washup and equipment room meeting food hygiene standards for commercial use.
Developed a new tool shed ready for residents working in the gardens.
Refurbished the farmhouse lounge ready or residents.
Bought a new large chicken coop to keep the chickens safe at night.
Built a new website for Croft.
Strengthened the board.
Brought the board together for a successful strategy day.
CHAIR ' S REPORT
This has been the year of great change, instigated by our decision to go into review at the end of 2021.
Whilst we only housed two elderly people who live on site (our now retired founder, and long-term elderly resident), we managed an exceptionally busy year, even without our usual number of residents.
We experienced turbulence within the board at the point of transition of ownership of the smallholding from our founder to the current landlord. A skills audit identified we were lacking some essential skills within the board and so we recruited some new trustees to support with finances, fundraising and to add local capacity.
The combination of new skills round the board table and the continuity provided by longer term trustees has worked well. As a result of the transition the board have had open conversations around our own values and collective ambitions for the charity and resolved and avoided potential conflicts effectively. We have come through the transition stronger and united, with a better understanding of each other, and a clear vision for the charity’s future.
The property and grounds have seen vast changes thanks to the input of our new landlord. We now feel ready to open our doors again to three residents in 2024.
Breckland Council have approved us as a provider of services and agreed our rates for residents.
We also submitted planning permission for 6 garden apartments.
Working together with the trustees, we have reviewed our charitable objectives, learning from our operations since 2018. We have undergone a full governance review which has included the recruitment of new trustees and the implementation of very robust governance frameworks.
The board spent time within the year considering what our new name would be after we realised, we needed to change it to satisfy our neighbour, whose property is named on her deeds as Fincham’s Farm. The name Croft has come from the fact that we are situated on the site of an old croft. We intend to explore this history and focus on exploring traditional crofting skills and crafts such as wool making and weaving.
We explored various models, completed a ‘theory of change exercise to look at embedding trauma informed practice and the 5 pillars of wellbeing into our provision.
We concluded our therapeutic offer will revolve around working in nature, caring for animals, developing micro enterprises around arts and crafts, focusing on growing and cooking food that aids health and wellbeing and providing access to a range of talking therapies and mindfulness activities.
We are introducing additional animals in 2024, the board have agreed on sheep (including Pepin Merino for their wool), goats and miniature donkeys.
We will experiment with making balms, salves and oils to kick-start our micro enterprises.
We are pleased to be working with fantastic therapeutic practitioners who will offer great support to the residents who have experienced trauma and are rebuilding their lives.
We are also excited about working with wellbeing practitioners who will deliver yoga, meditation and therapeutic workshops to our residents and visitors and we have been researching and building relationships with appropriate practitioners over the last year.
We are exploring partnerships that allow other organisations supporting traumatised or isolated people to access our site, enabling more people to benefit from time in our stunning surroundings. (The smallholding is in an idyllic rural and exceptionally peaceful setting, which in itself, supports and promotes wellbeing).
We have commissioned Sylvan Gardens to create a concept design for our site, incorporating gardens within gardens, sensory and therapeutic spaces, interposed with areas for the animals. This work has been done pro bono by Alexis Montaigu of Sylvan Gardens for which the charity is extremely grateful.
Alongside this we are, as a result of current cohort of elderly residents, exploring the provision of support for older people who are experiencing isolation and loneliness, especially common in rural areas. We also want to explore provision for those with Dementia and the sensory areas and opportunities for accessible gardening are a first step in this. We will facilitate opportunities for older people to have adventures and test the benefits of intergenerational provision.
I am immensely proud of all the trustees for their commitment and resilience during this period of change, and the way that we collectively navigated the period of transition.
We look forward to opening our doors to 6 residents who will have the amazing opportunity to join the smallholding household for up to 2 years. Our support in terms of the residential offer will include both men and women who may have suffered trauma or illness or are at risk of being homeless. This may include, mental health issues, fleeing domestic abuse, unable to maintain a tenancy or learning disabilities.
Our review is concluding and we are ready to resume operations and begin fundraising for the development of a number of these projects.
Concept site design sketch courtesy of Sylvan Gardens:
our thanks and acknowledgementS
Many thanks to our dedicated board of trustees, new and old, without who we would not be able to exist and operate.
We would also like to thanks to our landlord for her support in refurbishing the buildings and grounds ready for opening to new residents in 2024.
Many thanks to Mark, our live in volunteer who continues to carry out general maintenance of the houses and grounds.
Many thanks to Tim for volunteering in the grounds every Friday
Huge thanks to Tony for pruning our peach, apple, pear, plum and medlar trees.
Thank you to Farmer Richard for bringing manure every year.
Big thanks to our neighbours Paul and Linda for donating all their apples to us for juicing along with ours
An enormous thanks to our volunteer Dan who helps wherever needed most weekends
our future plans
The grounds and outbuildings:
We have drawn up plans for the redevelopment of the grounds and growing areas, having worked with a garden designer Alexis Montaigu from Sylvan Gardens.
Our plan is to build an outdoor kitchen and smokery and experiment with growing specific things really well and making small batches of beautifully crafted food items.
We plan to test out a micro enterprise making balms salves and oils made from organically grown herbs and flowers from the gardens.
We plan on developing a craft space and making our own wool, weaving and dying and testing out handmade items.
We plan on opening up our site to the wider community.
We also plan to open up our large farmhouse kitchen for cookery classes and community learning.
We aim to refurbish our main barn to create a beautiful workshop for a range of therapeutic activities for both the residents and the wider community. Whether this be yoga, craft, wellbeing workshops or keeping fit classes.
The Charity Registration Number is . 1178610 Finchams Farm Turn Around Stays Report and Accounts 30 April 2023
Finchams Farm Turn Around Stays Report and accounts for tha yèar ènded 30 April 2023 ¢ontonts Page Trustees. Annual Report Funds Stat8ments=. ststement of Finanaal Activities Balance sh•et Notès to th• accounts
Fln¢hams Farm Turn Around Stays - Statem•nt ot Flnan¢lal Actlviti•s tor thè #T •nd•d 30 Aprll 2023 Statement of Finan¢ial A¢tivities ft>r the year ended 30 April 2023 SORP Rgf Current y•ar Current year CuTh•nt Unrestrictod Restrict•d Endowment Funts Funds Funds 2023 Current y•ar Prlor Yv Total Fund5 Total Funds 2023 2023 2023 2022 In¢om• a End*)wm•nts from: Voluntary Income Charitsble activities Invesment in¢Mlle A1 9.330 56.052 46,805 46,806 Totsl incom• 46.806 46.806 66,382 ExpondKur• on: Charitable activitie8 Governance c08ts Other costs B2 54.175 54.176 59.541 367 Total expenditur• 64.176 64176 69,908 Net l•xpendRur•lllneome for th• year 17,3701 17.3701 5.474 Tran5f•rs b•tw••n funds Net In¢om¢ aft¢r transfers 17,3701 17,3701 5,474 Ngt mov•mpnt in fund5 17,3701 17,3701 6,474 Re¢on¢lll#tlon of funds:. Total funds brouom lonvard 2.095 9,48S 3.991 Total funds earned forward 162761 2.096 9,466 The'SORP Ref indicated above is the Classification of income set out in the f¢xrnal SORP documents. As required by Para9ph 4.60 of the SORP. the brought forward and carried fopNard lund5 above have been agreed to the Balance Sheet. Al activities derNe from continuing operation8 the notes attaehed on pages 8. 7 forni an Integral part of these accounts
Finchams Farm Turn Around Stays - Balancè Shoot as at 30 April 2023 SORP Notes Ref 2023 2022 Fixed assets Tangible assets 1.096 1,462 Current ass•ts Debtors Cash at bank and in hand B2 B4 999 8,003 Total Current assets 999 8.003 Creditor5'. amounts falling du• wlthln one year C1 Net ¢urr•nt assèts 999 8,003 The totsl net assets of the charity 2.og5 9.465 Th• total net assets of the Charity are funded by the funds of the charity, as follows... Restricted funds Restricted Fixed Asset Fund5 D2 Unr¢strl¢t¢d Funds Unrestricted Revenue Funds D3 2,095 9.465 2,095 2,095 9,465 9,465 Totsl charity funds The'SORP Ref indicated aly)ve is the classification ol Balance Sheet items as set out in the formal SORP documents. As required by paragraph 4.60 of the SORP. the brought forwdrd and carried forward funds above have been agreed to the SOFA. The Trustees a¢knOedge their iesponsibiliti85 foi (x)mplwng wth the requiiement5 of charity legis18tion with reSFE to accounting records and the preparation of aecounts. Ms J Eason Chairman Approved by thè board oltrustsès on 16th Fèbruary 2024 th? not¢$ attached on pag¢$ 8. 7 fomi an integral part of the arUnts
Finchams Farm Turn Around Stays Not•s to th• A¢¢ounts for th• yèar •ndod 30 Aprll 2023 1 Accountlng pollcfies Politlts relating to the production of the accounts. Basis ol preparation and accounting convention The accounts have been prepared on the accruals basis, under the historical cost convention, and In accordance wrth the Fmancial Reporting Standard 102, (effective 1st January 20161 and'FRS 102 SORP Islatemenl of Recommended Pra¢tio for AGGounling and RepDrtirKJ by Charilies12015 ia5 amended by the Bulleiin issued in February 20161 published by the Charily Comrnission in Eryland & Wale5 ICCEWI .effeGlive January 2016. (The SORPI. in aGGordanGe wth 411 applicable law In the charitys juri8dictn of registration. Going Concern At the time of approving the 8ccoun18. kne Trustee8 have reasonable expectation that the Chanty has adequate resources to continue in operational existence for the foreseeable future. Thus the Truslee5 continue to adoptthe going GonGern bas5 of ac(x>unling in preparing the acwunl5. Restricted and Unrestricted Funds Unrestncted funds are available to spend on ad1ve$ that further any of the purposès of tharfty Designated funds are unreslricled funds of the charity which the Iruslees have deced al their discretion Ic set asK1e to u58 for a specrfic purpose. Reslncted funds are donations which the donor has specified are to be sdely used for partul8r areas of the charities WQtk or for specrfiG artistic projects being undertaken by the charity. Slgnificantludgements, key assumptlons and estlmates The preparation of the accounts In wnformity with generalty accepted accounting principles requires management lo make estimates and assumptions that affect the reporte(l arnounls of assels liabilities and di%105ure of conlingenl assets 8nd Iiabililies at tr)e date ofthe accounts 8nd tr)e reported amounts of revenues and expenses dunng the rewting penod Aclual resutts may drfferfrom these estimates. The key estimates and assumptions used in Ihese financlal statements are Set out in the accounting rKites included the additional policy Mtes wlhin these accounts such as for deprecialKn. Policies relating income recognition. Income recognition Irtome, whelherfrom exchang8 or non exchang8 transactions. rewgnised In Ihe statement of financial activitses ISOFAI on a receivable basis, when a transaction or other event results in an inuease in the charrty's assets or a reduct10n in its liabilrtie5 and onlywhen the chdrity has legdl entilement. the inwme is probable and be tneasured reliably. IroMe subject to term8 and condrtions whh musl te mel before the charity Is enlilled to the resources B not recognr&ed until the conditions have be met All income 15 accounted for gross. before deducting any related fees or costs.
Finchams Fami Turn Around Stays Not•s to th• A¢¢ounts for thtt yèar •nd•d 30 Aprll 2023 A¢¢oun¢ing for deleryed In¢t>me and in¢ome re¢eived In advan¢e Where lems and conditions relating to income have not been mel or uncertainty exists as to whether the charity can meet any terms or conditions otherwise within ils wntrol. Income is not recogn18ed but 18 deferred as a liability until rt 18 probable that the terms or condition5 imposed G4n be met Any grant that is Subject to perforrnance-reL4ted conditions received in advant* of delivering the uoods and services required by that Conditn. orls subiecl lo unmel ConditnS wholly OLrtside the control of the recipient charity, is aceounled for as a liabilrty and shwn on the balance sheet as deferred IrKome. Deferred Income is released le Income in the orbng period in whi¢h the perforrnanGe-relaled or other GOnditn5 that IiTnit oGogDItn are met. When Income from a grant or donation has not been recognised due to the conditions applwng to Ihe grft not being wholly thin Ihp L¥)nlrol of the recipient Gharity. it is disclosed as a contingent asset rf receipt of the grant or dcjnalion Is probable once th05e condilions are rnet. Where lime related conditions are imposed or Implied by a funder, then the income Is apportioned to the time periods concerned. and. where applicable, is accounted for as a liabillty and shown on the balance sheet as deferred income. When grant5 are recewed in advance of the expenditure on the aclivityfunded by them. bul there are no speofL time rdated conditions, then the income is not deferred. Any condltr.on that allows for the recovery by tt)e donor of any unexpended part of a grant does not prevent recognllion of thè Income concÈmÈd. bul a Ilablltty lo any repayment Is recognlsed when repayment becomes probable Policies relating to expenditure on gotyjs and services provided to the charty. Recognition of liabilities and expenditure A Ilability. and thè related ÈxpÈndrturÈ. Is recognlsed when 8 legal or constructive obligatTh exlsts as 8 result of a past event, and when il i8 more likely than not that a transfer of ewnomic benefils will be required in settlement, and when the amount of the obligation can me8sured or reliably esbmaled. Liabilitie5 arising from future fijnding commitments and conslructNe obligations. including perfoTmance related grants. ere the timing orthe 8mount of the future expenditure required to setue the oblig81ion are uncertain, give rise to 8 prOVion in the account5. which is reviewed at the accounting year end The provi510ll 15 inrxeased lo reflect any increases in liabilrties, and is decreased by the utilisation of any provision within the Perd, and reversed If any provision Is no longer required. These movemen15 are charged or credited to the respective funds and actiwties lo whith the provision relates.
Finchams Farm Turn Around Stays Not•s to thtt Accounts for the y•ar èndèd 30 Aprll 2023 Financial instruments including cash and bank balances The charity has elected lo apply the provisions of Section 11 'Basic Finanaal Instruments, and Section 12'0ther Fianaal Instrument Issue8. of FRS 102 to all financial inslrumenls. FinanrAal instruments are recognised when the Charty be(x>mes party to the ¢traCtual provi5K>n5 Qf the in5truTnent. Flnandal assets are offset, wth the net presented in the accounts when there18 a legalty entoreeable rh1 lo set off the rewgnised amounts and there 15 an intention lo setue on a net basis or to reali5e the asset and settle the liability sirnullaneously. Basic financial a55ets Basic finanrAal assets. which include trade and other reIVaeS and cash and bank balanrEs. are initially rnea5ured at tyansaoliori pri¢e inGluding IransaGtiI)n ¢osi$. Impairment of financial assets Finanrial a55e15. Other than those held al fair value Ihrough income and expenditure. are a55es5ed for the indiGators of irnpairmenl al each reportiThJ end date. Financial assets are irnpaired where there B objective evidence that. a5 a result of or u more events that occurred afterthe Initr"al recognition of the financial a88el, the e8t"maled futu cash flow8 have been affected. Ir an asset is Impalred. Impalrment loss Is the drfference between canyng amount and the present value of the estimated cash flows discounted at the asset's origin81 effective interest r8te. The Imp8irment loss Is recounised in net incomellexpendilurel for the year. there is a decrease in Ihe irTTrpairmenl1055 arising from an event oCrring after the impairrnent wa5 recogni5ed. Ihe irnpairmenl is reversed. The revers41 is 5uGh Ihal Ihe Gurrent rarrying 4mounl does not exceed what Ihe rarrying atnount would have been, had the impaimenl rnt previously been recogn18ed. The impairment reversal Is recognised in net incomellexpenditurel for the year. 2 CredllOfS'. amounts tslllng due wlthln one year 2023 2022 Trade creditors Accruals PAYE. NIC VAT and other taxe5 Other uedltors 3 Income and Expenditure account 5umfflary 2023 2022 At 1 May 2022 Transfers in for the year (Lossllsurplus after lax for the year 9.4fj5 3.991 17,3701 5.474 At 30 April 2023 2.095 9,465