Summary Annual Report
2021
Suffolk West Federation of Women’s Institutes Federation Offices: Unit 11, Park Farm Business Centre, Fornham St Genevieve, Bury St Edmunds, Suffolk IP28 6TS
Tel: 01284 336645 email: office.swfwi@gmail.com
Registered Charity Number 1179294
Annual Report
Trustees during 2020 -2021
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Name of person (or body)
Dates acted if not for
Trustee name Office (if any) entitled to appoint trustee (if
whole year
any)
1 Julie Higgins Chairman SWFWI WIs
2 Jill Gooch Vice Chairman SWFWI WIs
Rachel Thomas Until April 2021 SWFWI WIs
3 Brenda Last Treasurer SWFWI WIs
Sue Beavan Until April 2021 SWFWI WIs
Margaret Vice Chairman SWFWI WIs
4
Brackenbury
5 Janet Brown SWFWI WIs
6 Linda Gridley SWFWI WIs
7 June Bryant SWFWI WIs
8 Yvonne King SWFWI WIs
9 Rae Stapleton Until April 2022 SWFWI WIs
10 Maggie Glavin SWFWI WIs
Glenn Abbassi From April 2021 to SWFWI WIs
11
April 2022
12 Helen Lindfield From April 2021 SWFWI WIs
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Governance
The Federation has a constitution approved by the National Federation of Women’s Institutes and by the Charity Commission. The managing trustees are voted for every two (2) years by the WIs of the Federation. They take office after the end of that year’s annual meeting.
Additional governance issues
Trustees attend formal Trustee training provided by NFWI. They are also expected to work through the e-learning Trustee Training Module provided by NFWI on the WI Training website.
Staff
The Federation employs two part time members of staff: Federation Secretary Rachel Hows and Finance Assistant Rachel Sparks.
Objects of the WI
The objects of the Federation are to further the purposes of the Women’s Institute movement in West Suffolk.
The main purposes of the Women’s Institute organisation are:
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(a) to advance the education of women and girls for the public benefit in all areas including (without limitation):
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i. local, national and international issues of political and social importance
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ii. music, drama and other cultural subjects; and
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iii. all branches of agriculture, crafts, home economics, science, health and social welfare
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(b) to promote sustainable development for the public benefit by:
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i. educating people in the preservation, conservation and protection of the environment and the prudent use of natural resources; and
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ii. promoting sustainable means of achieving economic growth and regeneration
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(c) to advance health for the public benefit
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(d) to advance citizenship for the public benefit by the promotion of civic responsibility and volunteering.
Achievements
We still consider our greatest achievements are keeping up the interest of our members in our work and events at Federation and encouraging them to keep their own WIs going, having fun and enjoying the friendship that the WI is famous for.
Summary of the main activities of the organisation
Last year we reported that we had hoped to celebrate a belated centenary with all our planned events going ahead during 2021. Sadly it soon became very evident that this was not going to happen. Once again Covid restrictions prevented most of the events we’d planned certainly during the first half of 2021.
We held our very successful Annual Meeting on Zoom with all the usual reports and two excellent speakers, Dr Chris Smith from The Naked Scientists and Simon Gregor on the colleges of Cambridge. The Hive continued and has gone from strength to strength with two on line publications per month one with news and snippets from Federation and WI events and the other with business information. We have a committee working on a new style website and a PR team who are working on recruitment and have already run a very successful stall at the Christmas lights switch on evening.
In June we held a delightful formal tea and talk at the Guildhall, Bury St Edmunds and in July we watched Shakespeare in the Park enjoying All’s Well that Ends Well performed by The Castle Theatre Company from the
University of Durham, a lovely summer’s evening entertainment in the grounds of Park Farm. In October we moved to an indoor event with a great performance from The West End Jersey Boys, performing the songs of Frankie Valli and The Four Seasons. Our last major event of the year was a concert by The London Welsh Rugby Club Choir giving us the sounds of Wales in Suffolk. At last after nearly two years we had our centenary concert We will end the year on our Christmas themed Zoom evening, highlighting the myths and legends of the Festive Season.
We look forward to 2022 when we can hold our annual meeting at Culford School another outdoor event at Park Farm, coach trips and a visit to Liverpool for the National Annual Meeting
Financial Review
Reserves Policy The Federation holds reserves for several reasons.
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To cover cash flow situations where for instance the subscriptions which
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provide a substantial part of the income are only received in March/ April to
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cover the whole year.
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To cover for unforeseen emergency or unexpected needs.
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Cover for unforeseen day to day operational costs such as employing
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temporary staff to cover long term sick absence.
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To meet planned commitments that cannot be met from future income alone.
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To support the office costs following the sale of owned premises and the
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rental of current premises, with a view that new premises may be purchased in future.
The proceeds from the sale of the Federation’s own property are held as reserves but split to give both access and income. The larger part has been invested through a stockbroker which offers inflation proofing income and increase in values combined with a low to medium risk, the remainder split between instant access accounts and short notice accounts which pay more interest. The Reserves policy will be reviewed annually.
This has been a particularly challenging year financially in addition to personally, with lockdown and few opportunities to run any events to raise funds. The profit and loss account unsurprisingly shows a deficit of £20,431, which is double the previous year’s deficit, partially due to less government grants. We have been able to access the Governments flexible furlough scheme which reimbursed approx. £2000 of our staffing costs. Our office costs have only been slightly reduced due to the lack of events and we have had a problem with our heating which has temporarily increased our electricity bills. This deficit can be met from our Virgin savings account but
as they have been reduced over the last three years, we have decided to change our investment policy and not reinvest the dividends but instead have them paid into our bank account. Our investments continued to perform well and recovered all of the reduction of the previous year. Unfortunately, our membership numbers and hence subscriptions have fallen again. However, we are working to improve our visibility and gain new members and possibly a new WI next year. As ever the board of trustees continue their efforts to reduce costs wherever possible and increase income.
The summer events were well supported but we still need more support for future events. We have unfortunately had to cancel the carol concert as numbers were too low a month before the date. It is important that tickets are purchased, or interest expressed well before the date of an event so that the board can assess its financial viability.
Sufolk West Federation of Women's Institutes Income and Expenditure for the year ended 30th September 2021
| 2021 | 2021 | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Income | 2021 | 2021 29825 .15 2230. 06 26.00 0.00 5090. 25 0.00 88.00 0.00 0.00 37259 .46 50857 .81 |
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| Members subscriptions 13021. 02 |
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| Dividends and Interest 13328. 29 |
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| Grants 2078.2 5 |
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| Recharges for photocopying, insurance, etc 1397.5 9 |
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| Park Farm | |||||
| Fundraising events 0.00 |
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| Federation & National meeting 273.41 |
|||||
| Sales of WI News, bulbs, pens, diaries etc 1698.5 9 |
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| Training, Donations, NFWI & Golden ticket draws 258.06 |
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| Centenary events 0.00 |
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| Federation Board of Trustees | |||||
| Creative Leisure | |||||
| Members Advisory Committee | |||||
| Events | |||||
| Public Afairs | |||||
| Sports | |||||
| Catering | |||||
| Choir | |||||
| Total Income | |||||
| Expenditure | |||||
| Stafng including cleaners 24810. 50 |
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| Ofce rent , Council tax, electricity & repairs 21999. 19 |
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| Supplies, photocopier, postage, etc 2800.3 8 |
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| Bookkeeping & Audit, Depreciation 1247.7 4 |
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| Park Farm | |||||
| Fundraising events | |||||
| Federation & National meetings 577.14 |
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| Cost of Sales , Golden ticket prizes, other minor costs 2206.2 5 |
| Denman visit, room refurbishment, training 0.00 Centenary events 89.88 Federation Board of Trustees Creative Leisure Members Advisory Committee Events Public Afairs Sports Catering Choir Total Expenditure Proft/ (Loss) |
2873. 24 25.00 209.4 3490. 26 135.0 20.00 0.00 80.00 57690 .75 20431. 29 |
|---|---|
| Sufolk West Federation of Women's Institutes |
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| Balance Sheet for the year ended 30th September 2021 |
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September 2021 |
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| Fixed Assets | 2021 | |||||
| Kitchen equipment | 406.74 | |||||
| Ofce Equipment | 2357.08 | |||||
| Chairman's Brooch | 240.00 | |||||
| Trade Debtors | ||||||
| Prepayment of expenditure | 5767.20 | |||||
| Accrual of Income | 4664.57 | |||||
| Bank Current account | 15270.7 5 |
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| Barratt & Cooke Investment | 461088. 00 |
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| Virgin Money Account | 21271.3 1 |
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| Stocks | 3056.29 | |||||
| Floats | 80.00 | |||||
| 514201. 94 |
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| Liabilities | ||||||
| Trade Creditors | 497.00 | |||||
| Suspended Institutes fund | 4725.09 | |||||
| NFWI afiation fees | ||||||
| Pooling of fares | 0.00 | |||||
| Accrual of expenditure | 700.00 | |||||
| Prepayment of Income | 3842.00 |
| 9764.09 | 2866.73 490714.5 9 414841.3 8 103394.2 5 396.66 - 18546.95 -9370.75 490714.5 9 |
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|---|---|---|---|---|
| 504437. 85 |
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| Capital & Reserves | ||||
| Accumulated Fund | 414841. 38 |
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| Surplus/defcit of funds | 75476.5 5 |
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| Denman College Room fund | 396.66 | |||
| Investment revaluation | 34154.5 5 |
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| Proft & Loss account | - 20431.2 9 |
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| Previous year's adjustment | ||||
| 504437. 85 |
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CHARITY COMMISSION FOR ENGLAND AND WALES Independent examiner's report on the accounts Section A Independent Examiner's Report Report to the trusteesl members of Suffolk West Federation of Women's Institutes On accounts for the year ended 3010912021 Charity no (if any) 1179294 Set out on pages I report to the trustees on my Éxamination of the accounts of the above harity ('the Trust") for the year ended 3010912021. Responsibilities and As the charity trustees of the Trust, you are responsible for the preparation basis of report 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 Garried out under section 145 of the 2011 Act and in carrying out my examination, I have followed Ihe applicable Directions given by the Charity Commission under section 145(51{b) of the Act. I have completed my examination. I confirm that no material matters have come to my attention (other than that disclosèd Èelow ') in connection with the examination which gives me cause lo believe that in, any material respect.. accounting records were not kept in arxordance with section 130 of the Act or the accounts do not accord with the accounting records Independent examiner's statement I have no concerns and have come across no other matters in connection with the examination to which attention should be drawn in order to enable a proper understanding ofthe accounts to be reached. Ploase de18t8 the words in Ihe brackets if they do not apply. Signed: Date: Name: Relevant professional qualificationls) or body lif any): fac.. Addrèss: Hammond Ford & Co Unit 6, Church Farm, Barrow Bury St Edmunds IP29 SAX IER October 2018
Section B Disclosure Only complete if the examiner needs to highlight matters of concern (see CC32, Independent examination of charrty accounts." directions and guidance for examiners). Glve here brief details of any items that the examiner wishes to disclose. IER October 2018