## **Chair’s Report** The Trustees and I would like to welcome you to the Annual General Meeting of the County Bridge Club The Club has had a successful year recording a modest profit for the first time since we moved into St Oswalds Road five years ago. During this time there have been many challenges, Covid and lockdown, which for our City residents was 15 months long, the invasion of Ukraine, massive energy price rises and a cost of living crisis. The increase in table money, annual subscriptions, external rentals, doubling our student numbers and the welcome return of our bridge holiday has resulted in an increased revenue of £53,529. Although our expenditure has also increased with some very expensive repairs and an increase in the business rate. We have 240 members with the Thursday social bridge session attracting 60 new members over the three years it has been running. Over the past year we have had 5 members leave the Club and 5 members who sadly died. We were able to claim £1793 in Gift Aid on our charitable event donations, raffles and on membership subscriptions, we account for this as the cash is received so this represents two financial years for the Club. We welcome Blaby Bridge Club who joined us last May, LCBA, Juniper Lodge and the GO organization are repeat renters. We have had two new organizations rent the building from us this year, Table Top Gaming and Crockinole, this will be in next year’s accounts. however, we continue to seek out other groups who would like to use the building. We have a new team of Directors who are gaining experience and knowledge “on the job”, the Directors are a core part of the Club and we can’t function without them. CBC offers various competitive bridge sessions, regular weekly tournaments, league team competitions and last but not least our social bridge sessions with lunch on Thursdays. Unfortunately we had to withdraw our Monday afternoon session with Bridge Base Online at the end of June 2025. The number of players had dwindled to about 2.5 tables/session. Investments have regained previous unrealized losses. We took out £50K to fund the installation of solar panels on the roof and batteries to store the electricity generated. We have placed the order and expect to start installation next week scaffolding is here. The Club continues to invest in our premises and operating equipment. We have a fantastic modern building with a lot of technology which costs a considerable amount of money to maintain. Our Electrical Team have spent an untold amount of time sorting out the many and varied challenges surrounding the installation of solar panels, meter changes and electrical system upgrades to support the solar panel project. The Teaching Team has enjoyed a very successful year with 45 students, double the number of the previous year. We have welcomed new teachers and are offering more teaching sessions and supervised bridge play throughout the week. We would ask you all to try to attract new students to the Club by word of mouth and by placing our advertising flyers in any venue with a noticeboard. New students are the life blood of bridge going forward so let’s perpetuate this great game together. It is with great sadness we report the passing of the following members since our last AGM: Bernard Crump, Gill Ivell, Stephen Ashley, Jean Smith, and lastly Simon Stokes who was a longstanding member of County Bridge Club and a gifted bridge player. Simon taught bridge for many years and gave his time generously to the Club. May they all sleep well. A Christmas Party was held for 60 people in December followed by some fun bridge. A good time was had by all. CBC has supported the following charitable events this year. It’s a Big Deal charity lunch on 10 September 2024 was extremely successful raising £1101 for Cancer Research UK. Entry fees raised £330 and £232 in donations, CBC provided the venue, organized and provided the raffle raising a further £539. CBC also provided the labor, lunch, refreshments and biscuits. Blaby Bridge Club generously joined us by contributing that weeks’ table money to the event. The LCBA Swiss Teams Charity Event on 13 April 2025. £760 was made for Action Homeless Leicester, £420 from entry fees and £340 from the raffle organised and provided by CBC. CBC also provided the venue, labor, food and refreshments and biscuits for this event. CBC was invited to host a Garden Cities event for the EBU in May 2025 involving 72 players, Director and 9 helpers. This was a successful day for the players, EBU and CBC, launching us into the wider bridge world. A very special thank you to the many, many volunteer members who, together, ensured we were able to deliver this prestigious event to an exceedingly high standard. We lent the Charnwood Teachers Group bidding boxes and tablecloths to enable them to continue teaching and playing. We lend to support to other bridge clubs when needed, i.e. allowing them to play at CBC when their premises are out of action for any reason. A big thank you to our members for your unstinting support of our charitable efforts, in particular donating very generous raffle prizes and monetary donations. Also, we are enormously grateful to all of our volunteer members who spend many hours each week making sure the club runs efficaciously from shopping, being here to take food deliveries and put away, food preparation, cooking, cleaning, directing, scoring, duplimating, technical skills including DIY, electrical and IT, and general organization of all our sessions. None of our valuable members are paid for their services to the Club. Please put your hands together to mark our appreciation of all these generous and talented members. ## COUNTY BRIDGE CLUB Registered Charity 1179979 Financial Statements For the year ended 31 March 2025 ## COUNTY BRIDGE CLUB ACCOUNTS - Page 1 Statement of Financial Activities For the year ended 31 March 2025 ||2024/2025|2024/2025|2023/2024|2023/2024| |---|---|---|---|---| |INCOME|£|£|£|£| |Subscriptions||5,121||4,682| |Table rents||24,464||17,708| |Bridge Club Holiday Receipts|18,422||0|| |Bridge Club Holiday Expenditure|17,178||0|| |Bridge Holiday Contribution||1,244||0| |Room lettings||5,265||1,613| |Teaching students||8,027||4,409| |Donations||1,902||580| |Events||1,442||1,200| |Sundry Income||325||223| |Dividends and interest received||5,719||4,667| |Total Income||53,509||35,082| The notes on pages 5 to 8 form part of these financial statements. ## COUNTY BRIDGE CLUB ACCOUNTS - Page 2 Statement of Financial Activities For the year ended 31 March 2025 **----- Start of picture text -----**
2024/2025 2023/2024
EXPENDITURE £ £ £ £
Direct costs
Catering 5,713 4,978
Teaching 810 6,523 2,381 7,359
St Oswald costs
Business rates 618 (1,127)
Water 2,624 2,256
Electricity 5,749 5,678
Gas 2,624 8,373 3,003 8,681
Insurance 1,412 2,624
Repairs 9,076 7,657
Cleaning 3,764 3,295
Telephone and broadband 588 325
Health and Safety 0 10
Depreciation - Freehold property 3,512 3,512
Depreciation - Fixtures, fittings and equipment 6,613 6,613
36,580 33,846
Bridge expenses
Tea , coffee etc 1,240 1,042
Bridge consumables 216 132
Sundry expenses 229 229
Donations 1,902 1,100
Bridge equipment expenses 1,053 856
4,640 3,359
**----- End of picture text -----**
The notes on pages 5 to 8 form part of these financial statements. ## COUNTY BRIDGE CLUB ACCOUNTS - Page 3 Statement of Financial Activities For the year ended 31 March 2025 ||2024/2025|2024/2025|2022/2023|2022/2023| |---|---|---|---|---| |EXPENDITURE (cont'd)|£|£|£|£| |Finance & Administration||||| |Legal & Professional||820||371| |Printing, postage & stationery||46||232| |Investment costs||2,670||2,242| |Sundry Costs||258||182| |Bank charges||62||60| |||3,856||3,087| |||||| |Total expenditure||51,599||47,651| |Excess of income over expenditure||1,910||(12,569)| |Surplus for the year
Net gains on investments||1,442
3,352||23,032
10,463| The notes on pages 5 to 8 form part of these financial statements. ## COUNTY BRIDGE CLUB ACCOUNTS - Page 4 Balance Sheet As At 31 March 2025 **----- Start of picture text -----**
31 March 2025 31 March 2024
FIXED ASSETS
Tangible fixed assets (note 2(b)) 347,146 357,009
INVESTMENTS (note 2(e)) 225,906 262,935
CURRENT ASSETS
Debtors and prepayments 4,149 3,605
Bank balances 78,341 28,322
82,490 31,927
CURRENT LIABILITIES
Creditors and accruals 2,259 2,995
VAT 1,323 268
3,582 3,263
NET CURRENT ASSETS 78,908 28,664
TOTAL NET ASSETS 651,960 648,608
UNRESTRICTED CHARITY FUNDS
Balance at 1 April 2024 648,608 638,145
Surplus for the period 3,352 10,463
651,960 648,608
**----- End of picture text -----**
The financial statements were approved by the trustees on xxd June 2025 and signed on their behalf by: Peter Ablett Treasurer Anthea Byrne Chairman The notes on pages 5 to 8 form part of these financial statements. ## COUNTY BRIDGE CLUB ACCOUNTS - Page 5 Notes To The Accounts ## 1.Accounting Policies ## (a) Basis of preparation of financial statements The financial statements have been prepared under the historical cost convention with items recognised at cost or transactional value unless otherwise stated in the relevant notes to these accounts. The financial statements have been prepared in accordance with the Statement of Recommended Practice. : Accounting and Reporting by Charities preparing their accounts in accordance with the Financial Reporting Standard applicable in the UK and Republic of Ireland (FRS 102) (Effective 1 January 2019) - (Charities SORP (FRS 102)) and Financial Reporting Standard applicable in the United Kingdom and Republic of Ireland (FRS 102) and the Charities Act 2011. County Bridge Club constitutes a public benefit entry as defined by FRS 102. The functional currency of the charity is Sterling (£). ## (b) Fund accounting General funds are unrestricted funds which are available for use at the discretion of the trustees in furtherance of the general objectives of the charity and which have not been designated for other purposes. ## (c) Income All income is recognised once the charity has entitlement to the income, it is probable that the income will be received and the amount of income receivable can be measured reliably. Grant income is included on a received basis. Our income from subscriptions is collected in a three month period at the start of the year. Subscriptions, table money and competition income is collected electronically through the Bridegewebs Attendance Module. We hire out our premises to other bridge clubs and associations who pay monthly in arrears. Income tax recoverable in relation to donations under Gift Aid or deeds of covenant is recognised at the time of the donation. ## COUNTY BRIDGE CLUB ACCOUNTS - Page 6 Notes To The Accounts ## (d) Expenditure Expenditure is recognised once there is a legal or constructive obligation to transfer economic benefit to a third party, it is probable that a transfer of economic benefits will be required in settlement and the amount of the obligation can be measured reliably. All expenses are allocated to the period in which they relate. Accruals and prepayments are calculated for all categories of expenditure. Grants payable are charged in the year when the offer is made except in those cases where the offer is conditional, such grants being recognised as expenditure when the conditions attaching are fulfilled. Grants offered subject to conditions which have not been met at the year end are noted as a committment , but not accrued as expenditue. ## (e) Going Concern The trustees have prepared the financial statements on the basis that the charity is a going concern. ## (f) Interest receivable Interest on funds held on deposit is included when receivable and the amount can be measured reliably by the charity; this is normally upon notification of the interest paid or payable by the Bank. ## (g) Capital Expenditure During the year the Club focused on restarting the Club sessions of duplicate bridge therefore no further improvements to the Club have been made. There were no capital commitments at the end of the year ## (h) Depreciation Land and buildings relating to the original St Oswald's purchase price of £275,000 are not depreciated by the Charity. Additions to land and buildings over the original price are being depreciated over 25 years on a straight line basis. Fixtures and fitting are being depreciated over five years on a straight line basis. ## (i) Investments Investments are a form of financial instrument and are initially recognised at their transaction cost and subsequently measured at fair value at the Balance sheet date, unless the value cannot be measured reliably in which case it is measured at cost less impairment. Investment gains and losses, whether realised or unrealised, are combined and presented as ‘Net Gains/(Losses) on investments’ in the Statement of financial activities. ## (j) Debtors Debtors are recognsed at the settlement amount after any discount offered. ## (k) Cash at Bank Cash at bank includes cash and short term highly liquid investments with a short maturity of three months or less from the date of acquisition or opening of the deposit or similar account. ## COUNTY BRIDGE CLUB ACCOUNTS - Page 7 Notes To The Accounts ## 2. Notes ## (a) Financial Controls The Trustees of the Charity have reviewed the internal controls of the Finance Team and are satisfied that sufficient reporting is completed during the year in a timely manner, and that where possible appropriate segregation of duties is in place with oversight on both income recording and expense authorisation. With a small volunteer staff the Trustees accept that internal controls are limited due to the number of people with authorisation. ## (b) Fixed Assets |Cost
As at 1 April 2024
Additions (note 1(g))
As at 31 March 2025
Depreciation
As at 1 April 2024
Charge for the year (note 1(h))
As at 31 March 2025
Net book value 31 March 2025
Net book value 31 March 2024|Freehold
Fixtures
Property
and
Total St Oswald
Fittings
£
£
£
395,869
362,807
33,062
0
0
0
395,869
362,807
33,062
38,860
13,457
25,403
10,125
3,512
6,613
48,985
16,969
32,016
346,884
345,838
1,046
357,009
349,350
7,659| |---|---| ## COUNTY BRIDGE CLUB ACCOUNTS - Page 8 Notes To The Accounts ## (c} Payments to trustees and employees No trustees, who are the key managament personnel or persons with a family or business connection with a trustee, received remuneration in the year, directly or indirectly , from the charity (2023 - none). No expenses were reimbursed to the trustees during the year (2023 - none). There were no employees of the charity during the year (2023 - none). ## (d) Investments The Trustees continue to invest surplus funds with Brewin Dolphin as a long term investment in a medium risk portfolio. The Trustees are happy that the investment performance is monitored quarterly by the investment committee who report to the full committee. The Trustees are confident that the funds which are invested are not needed for current activities and are expected to be a long term ten year plus investment. The Trustees understand investments can go up and down in value in line with the capital markets but historically show a multi year positive trend. The accounts show an unrealised loss in investment value following global market trends. As this is a long term investment the Trustees are happy to leave the investments to recover the value. |As at 31 March 2024 at valuation
262,935
Cash transfers
-42,502
Net unrealised gains after fees
5473
Listed Investments
£| |---| |As at 31 March 2025 at valuation
225,906| ## (e) Post Balance Sheet Events There have been no significant Post Balance Sheet events. ## (f) Related party transactions There were no related party transactions during the year. Ireland6tompany Chartered Accountant5 Independent Examiner's Report to the Trustees of County Bridge Club I report to the charity trustees on my examination of th8 accounts of the charity for the year ended 31 March 2023. Responsibilities and basis of report As the chaiity's trustees you are responsible for the preparati￿ of the accounts ￿ accordan￿ with the requirements ofthe ChaTities Art 2011 Ilhe Act,). I report in respect of my examination of the chanty's aCc￿nts carried OLrt under sedion 145 of the Act and in carrying out my examination I have followed all the applicable Dtrections gwen by the Charity Commission under section 145151(b) of the Act. Independent examinerfs statement I have completed my examination. I confirTn that no material matters have come to my attention in nnecbon with the eXaMinat￿n giving me cause to believe that in any Male￿al respect: arxounting reGords were Tr)t kept in respect ofthe chanty as required by section 130 of the t., or 2. the accounts do not accord wth those records., or 3. the accoLFnts do not compty with the applicablè requirements cOn￿rnIng the fami and content of accounts set out in the Charities (Accounts and Reports) Regulations 2CKI8 other than any requirement that the accounts give a 'true and fair vEw' which is not a matter consider￿1 as part of an independent examination. I have no Con￿mS and have come across no other matters in connection wth the examination to which attention shoukl IE drawm in this report in order to enable a proper ￿NIe[Sk￿lir￿ of the accounts to be reached. Pfrtsr Anderson Ireland & Company 15106r2023 ICAEW CHARTERED CCOUFI7ANTS l O St84tlon Stfeet. Kibwoith Beauchamp. LeicesteT LE8 OLN Tel:1011612793704 Fax'.1011612792934 www.irelandand£ompany.co.uk Dlrectors.. JoanneThornton FMAAT Jamesw Ireland &A., F.CA. fte¥steMd1nEr¥J￿￿d andWa￿s￿l0￿95473o.I￿LIndd￿dc*n￿1a￿￿It1IdI￿j￿a[nÈO￿I￿￿1a￿andco￿PanyLI￿itEd.