2025-03-31-accounts - Moorland Road Community Library (Bath)

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Trustees' Annual Report					for theperiod
From	Period start date			To	Period end date
	1	April	2024		31	March	2025

Section A Reference and administration details

Charity name Moorland Road Community Library

Other names charity is known by Registered charity number (if any) 1179729

Charity's principal address Moorland Road Community Library Moorland Road Bath Postcode BA2 3PL

Names of the charity trustees who manage the charity

Trustee name	Office (if any)	Dates acted if not for whole year
Elizabeth Hearn	Chair	1/4/24 - Sept 2024
Jill Carr	Secretary
Jeanette Cook	Treasurer
Lindsey Thompson	Volunteer Coordinator
Christine Vine		1/1/2025
Judith Barnsby		1/2/2025

Names of the trustees for the charity, if any, (for example, any custodian trustees)

Name Dates acted if not for whole year

Names and addresses of advisers (Optional information)

Type of adviser Name Address

Name of chief executive or names of senior staff members (Optional information)

TAR 1 April24 - 31 Mar25

Section B Structure, governance and management

Description of the charity’s trusts

Type of governing document

The governing document is a memorandum

(eg. trust deed, constitution)

How the charity is constituted

Charitable Incorporated Organisation

(eg. trust, association, company)

Apart from the first trustees, every trustee must be appointed for a term of Trustee selection methods three years by a resolution passed at a properly convened meeting of the (eg. appointed by, elected by) charity trustees

Additional governance issues (Optional information)

You may choose to include additional information, where relevant, about:

policies and procedures adopted for the induction and training of trustees;
the charity’s organisational structure and any wider network with which the charity works;

All trustees are provided with a copy of The Essential Trustee (CC3), Safeguarding Duties for Charity Trustees and the Charity Trustee Welcome Pack. All Trustees are DBS checked and have made appropriate declarations of eligibility. All Trustees are familiar with our constitution.

The Trustees of the Charity are responsible for policy decisions, fund raising, liaison with our local Council and other bodies and, with our Volunteer Co-ordinator, are also responsible for the day to day running of the charity. The Volunteer Co-ordinator manages our volunteer force.

relationship with any related parties;
trustees’ consideration of major risks and the system and procedures to manage them.
The principal risks faced by the charity are insufficient funding to keep the Library open, particularly with the increased running costs and/or an insufficient number of volunteers. We are constantly looking for fundraising opportunities to run the library more efficiently and actively seek to recruit new volunteers.

Section C Objectives and activities

The objects of this charity are:

the advancement of education for the benefit of the public, in particular but not exclusively, in the area of Moorland Road, Bath and the surrounding area, by the provision of a community lending library and associated services

Summary of the objects of the charity set out in its governing document

the promotion for the benefit of the public, in particular but not exclusively, in the Moorland Road area of Bath and the surrounding area, without distinction of sex, sexual orientation, race or of political, religious or other opinion, by associating together the said residents and local authorities, voluntary and other organisations, in a common effort to advance education and to provide facilities in the interest of social welfare for recreation and leisure time occupation with the objective of improving the conditions of life for the residents.

TAR 1 April24 - 31 Mar25

The Trustees have had regard to the guidance issued by the Charity Commission on public benefit.

The Library continues to go from strength to strength. It provides a much valued local service within the community and we are determined to keep it accessible to everyone.

We normally use our book lending rates and number of new users as measures of success but the introduction of a new Library Management System (LMS) by BANES Council in May 2024 affected data collection for some months so we are unable to provide accurate data. However, we are glad to report that we are busier than ever and , in fact, we have had to increase our opening hours by introducing an extra shift which runs from 3-5pm. The shift is particularly aimed at school age children and is proving very popular both with the children and their parents.

Summary of the main activities undertaken for the public benefit in relation to these objects (include within this section the statutory declaration that trustees have had regard to the guidance issued by the Charity Commission on public benefit)

We are constantly aware of the importance of appealing to a diverse community and we have invested in improving and updating our own book stock so as to provide a better library experience to all our readers. Whole sets of perennially popular picture books, such as Thomas the Tank Engine, have been replaced and new books for young adults have been sourced on the advice of our younger customers.

The 2024 Summer Reading Challenge was, as always, very popular with the younger members of the community and encouraged many children to take out lots of books over the summer holidays. Several of our library volunteers visited local schools with staff from the central library to publicise the scheme which was highly successful with 158 children signed up to the Challenge and 80 completing it.

As part of our fundraising efforts, we held a bookmark competition for our younger readers. The entries were displayed on the library noticeboard and the winning bookmarks were printed and laminated and put out for sale in the Library. Our QR code was printed on the bookmark with a request for support.

Volunteering at the Library brings a sense of purpose, reduces social isolation and improves individual’s mental health but equally, the Library could not operate without the volunteers’ commitment. This was shown in the summer when the new LMS took longer to “bed in” than expected but the volunteers managed to keep the library open and functioning so that we maintained a fully operational service to all of our customers.

Additional details of objectives and activities (Optional information)

You may choose to include further statements, where relevant, about:

policy on grantmaking;
policy programme related investment;
contribution made by volunteers.

The Charity does not make grants

The Charity does not invest in other charities or projects

No financial contributions were made by volunteers

TAR 1 April24 - 31 Mar25

Section D Achievements and performance

The resignation of our longstanding chair in September 2024 has led to a Summary of the main change in our management committee. We now have five Trustees, one achievements of the charity of whom acts as chair for 6 months. The Trustees have shown great during the year resilience in the face of challenges such as rising running costs and problems with the premises and we are now in the process of bringing in new fundraising initiatives. The introduction of a new Library Management System (LMS) by BANES Council in May 2024 had quite an impact on MRCL. All of our volunteers had to attend training in their own time and the implementation of the system was not without its problems. We consider it an achievement that the library stayed open and we maintained a fully operational service to all of our customers. We are delighted to see that our volunteer numbers have now recovered to pre covid levels. We trained 10 volunteers in just a few months last year and we have introduced a more robust mentoring system and assisted shifts for our new volunteers so that our volunteer team is more sustainable. The introduction of a new weekly shift aimed at school age children is proving very popular both with the children and their parents. This year one of our Trustees has been working hard reviewing and refining our own book stock by chasing long overdue books and reorganising the library catalogue. The catalogue has been refined to 2064 books but we will be purchasing new books soon to ensure that our stock is as diverse as possible so as to reflect the changes in society. Two book clubs regularly use the Library and we have continued to rent out the space to local groups such as the Scouts, for meetings. The Library is not just a place to borrow books we are very conscious of our place in the surrounding community and the shopping street where the Library is situated. We make great efforts to support any local events, at Christmas we hosted a Christmas sing-a-long with a local ukulele band.

TAR 1 April24 - 31 Mar25

Section E Financial review

No reserves are held as at 31/3/2024

Brief statement of the charity’s policy on reserves

Details of any funds materially in deficit

N/A

Further financial review details (Optional information)

You may choose to include additional information, where relevant about:

the charity’s principal sources of funds (including any fundraising);
The principal source of funds is fundraising, including regular stewarding at local running races, grant applications and small donations.
how expenditure has All funds are used to support the running costs of the Library and to
supported the key objectives reach out to our community through a series of events and regular
of the charity; sessions.
investment policy and objectives including any ethical investment policy adopted.

We have no investments.

Section F Other optional information

TAR 1 April24 - 31 Mar25

TAR l Apri124 - 31 Mar25

	Moorland Road Community Library Charity Name	Moorland Road Community Library Charity Name	Moorland Road Community Library Charity Name	1179729 No (if any)	CC16a
	For the period from	01/04/2024 Period start date	To	31/03/2025 Period end date

Section A Receipts and payments
A1 Receipts	Unrestricted funds to the nearest £ 163 1,133 434 - - - - 1,730 - - - 1,730 89 457 602 2,644 911 126 861 239 - - - 5,929 - - - 5,929 - 4,199 - 22,231 18,032	Restricted funds to the nearest £ - - - - - - - - - 652 - - - 652 - - - 652 - 652 - 1,536 884	Endowment funds to the nearest £ - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -	Total funds to the nearest £ 163 1,133 - 434 - - - - 1,730 - - - 1,730 89 - 457 602 652 2,644 911 126 861 239 - - - 6,581 - - - 6,581 - 4,851	Last year to the nearest £
Donations	163
Other trading	1,133
CharityGrant					-
Bank interest	434				-
	-				-
	-				-
	-				-
	-				-
*Sub total*(Gross income for AR)	1,730				-

A2 Asset and investment sales, (see table).
	-
	-				-
*Sub total*	-				-
*Total receipts* A3 Payments
					-

Fixtures and fittings	89
Minor repairs
IT Hardware	457
IT software	602
Books
Utilities	2,644
Operatingexpenses	911
Facilities Management	126
Volunteers	861
Public events	239
	-
	-
	-
**Sub total **	5,929

A4 Asset and investment purchases (see table)
,	-
	-
**Sub total **	-				-
*Total payments* *Net of receipts/(payments)* A5 Transfers between funds A6 Cash funds last year end *Cash funds this year end*
					-

	- 4,199	- 652	-	- 4,851	-
	-	-	-	-	-
	22,231	1,536	-	23,767	-
	18,032	884	-	18,916	-

CCXX R1 accounts (SS)

06/11/2025

Section B Statement of assets and liabilities at the end of the period	Section B Statement of assets and liabilities at the end of the period	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 B1 Cash funds B2 Other monetary assets B4 Assets retained for the charity’s own use B5 Liabilities B3 Investment assets	Signature Details Lloyds Bank Account CAF Bank Account Details *Total cash funds* (agree balances with receipts and payments account(s)) Details Details Details	Unrestricted funds Restricted funds to nearest £ to nearest £ 7,521 884 10,511 - - - 18,032 884 OK OK Unrestricted funds Restricted funds to nearest £ to nearest £ - - - - - - - - - - - - Fund to which asset belongs Cost (optional) - - - - - Fund to which asset belongs Cost (optional) - - - - - - - - - Fund to which liability relates Amount due (optional) - - - - - Print Name JillCarr Jeanette Cook	Endowment funds to nearest £
			-
			-
			-
			-
			OK
			Endowment funds to nearest £
			-
			-
			-
			-
			-
			-
			Current value (optional)
			-
			-
			-
			-
			-
			Current value (optional)
			-
			-
			-
			-
			-
			-
			-
			-
			-
			When due (optional)






			Date of approval
		JillCarr	06/11/2025
		Jeanette Cook	06/11/2025

CCXX R2 accounts (SS)

06/11/2025