Lowberdale Farm
Annual Report for period 1[st] April 2023 to 31[st] March 2024
1. Charity Details
Lowberdale Farm – a Charitable Incorporated Organisation Charity Registration Number – 1180913 Address of Operation: Field House Farm, Hulme End, Buxton, Derbyshire, SK17 0HQ
Trustees:
Chair – Robert Sales Treasurer – Henry Rusch Rev Timothy Morris - Resigned Andrew Brown Liz Hitch Dorothy Hawton Tamara Oates Fiona Goodyear Andrew Warren - Appointed 11/03/2024
2. Governance and Management Structure
The existing group of trustees has been in place now for a number of years during this period has met three times in the year to ensure the Charity meet regulatory requirements, is operating effectively and meeting its goals. The Board is supported by a secretary, Andrew Warren. The day to day management of the Care Farm continues to be carried out by Mark Lowe, an experienced teacher and farmer. Mark is assisted in his role by trained volunteers.
Work has also continued by the Board to ensure policies have been updated annually and procedures are in place for running programs on the farm.
3. Objectives, activities and achievements during the period
We ran a ‘Easter Lambing School’ over the Easter holidays, in conjunction with ‘Carers Connecting SEN High Peak’. Two groups of young people attended for two half day sessions. One group consisted of three 14-17 year old lads, and the other group of three 8-10 year boys. The majority of the young people had previously attended the Summer Shepherding Program.
The feedback from the parents was again positive, as shown in the example below:
‘The lambing course provides fabulous opportuni7es for children with SEN to interact in a social se<ng they would never normally access. This provides them with great opportuni7es to learn new social skills and grow in self confidence. These courses have been a wonderful way for our son to socialise outside of the home/school environment.’
The ‘Summer Shepherding School’ ran again on four Fridays over the 2023 Summer holidays, this time Lowberdale took its own referrals. Two groups of young people attended, one group in the morning and one in the afternoon. The morning group consisted of 3-4 young people aged from 8-10 and the afternoon group consisted of 4-5 young people aged 14-17.
Some parental feedback is detailed below:
‘My son really enjoyed the few weeks he spent at Lowberdale Farm in the summer. For a neurodivergent child, they can struggle to socialise in holiday ac7vi7es, especially when they do not understand the rules and e7queIes of sports or the confidence of the arts. Mark provides something unique, it gives like minded children an opportunity to socialise in a very special environment. I believe animals are very calming (although maybe not when you’re sor7ng 20 sheep into pens), our son gave us a full account aOer each session of the daily ac7vi7es, he loved having a job and ge<ng stuck in and being part of a team. I can’t thank the team at Lowberdale Farm for their pa7ence and 7me in running these courses, it definitely was a highlight of my son’s summer holidays and he would definitely come and help again.’
One young person from the older group, continued to attend the farm on Saturday mornings on a supported work experience placement. He is a young man with high levels of social anxiety and poor school attendance (40%), but a real enthusiasm for farming. He still continues to come to the farm with enthusiasm and has grown in confidence and farming understanding over this period.
In January 2024, a young man with ASD started attending the farm for a tutoring session with Mark, one morning a week, funded through his personal budget, allocated by the LEA. By March, this had increased to two sessions per week.
In March 2024, we agreed our first service level agreement with a school for the provision of a supported work experience placement with a young man who had attended the farm in the previous Summer. It would commence in April 2024.
In the future, we look to continue with the Summer and Easter programs, and offer group and individual programs to schools/colleges and home school families.
The charity has received parental donations as well as an income, (as some children have attached funding), from these tutoring sessions. This has demonstrated to the Trustees that there is an ongoing demand for the services that the Charity provides and that we should explore the benefits of one to one tutoring more fully.
During the year discussions have been held with a number of organisations such as High Peak SEN, the Countryside Trust and Fill funding, to explore ways in which the Charity can assist young people in the area and funding options to be able to add additional resources so that regular term time sessions can be provided.
5. Financial Review
The reporting period covers the year to 31st March 2024. The charity began with £7652 and ended the period with £6739. Income included funding and donations of £1190 from home schooling sessions, while costs were contained at £2908. Focus is now very much on how best to generate income to support the Charity and the provision of our charitable objectives.
| Charity Name | Charity Name | Charity Name | Charity Name | Charity Name | No(if any) | No(if any) | CC16a | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Lowberdale Farm | 1180913 | ||||||||
| Receipts andpayments accounts | |||||||||
| For the period from |
Period start date | To | Period end date | ||||||
| 1st April 2023 | 31st March 2024 | ||||||||
| Section A Receipts and payments | |||||||||
| Unrestricted funds |
Restricted funds | Endowment funds |
Total funds | Last year | |||||
| to the nearest £ | to the nearest £ | to the nearest £ | to the nearest £ | to the nearest £ | |||||
| A1 Receipts | |||||||||
| Lambing Course | 320 | - | - | 320 | - | ||||
| Home Schooling Donations | 290 | - | - | 290 | - | ||||
| Ashbourne Methodist Donation | 485 | - | - | 485 | - | ||||
| Tutoring AB | 900 | - | - | 900 | - | ||||
| Shepherding Course | - 0 | - | - | - | 1,750 | ||||
| - 0 | - | - | - | - | |||||
| - 0 | - | - | - | - | |||||
| - 0 | - | - | - | - | |||||
| Sub total_(Gross income for AR) _ | 1,995 |
- | - | 1,995 | 1,750 | ||||
| A2 Asset and investment sales, (see table). |
|||||||||
| - 0 | - 0 | - 0 | - | ||||||
| - 0 | - 0 | - 0 | - | - 0 | |||||
| Sub total | - 0 |
- 0 | - 0 | - | - 0 | ||||
| **Total receipts ** | 1,995 |
- 0 | - 0 | 1,995 | 1,750 | ||||
| A3 Payments | |||||||||
| Premises | 1,200 | - | - | 1,200 | 1,200 | ||||
| Bank charges | 61 | - | - | 61 | 61 | ||||
| Session Costs | 1,440 | - | - | 1,440 | - | ||||
| IT | 206 | - | - | 206 | 51 | ||||
| Insurance | - 0 | - | - | - | 523 | ||||
| Prior Year costs | - 0 | - | - | - | 628 | ||||
| - 0 | - | - | - | - | |||||
| - 0 | - | - | - | - | |||||
| - 0 | - | - | - | - | |||||
| **Sub total ** | 2,908 |
- | - | 2,908 | 2,463 | ||||
| A4 Asset and investment purchases,(see table) |
|||||||||
| - 0 | - 0 | - 0 | - | ||||||
| - 0 | - 0 | - 0 | - | ||||||
| **Sub total ** | - 0 |
- 0 | - 0 | - | - 0 | ||||
| **Totalpayments ** | 2,908 |
- 0 | - 0 | 2,908 | 2,463 | ||||
| **Net of receipts/(payments) ** | - 913 |
- | - | - 913 |
- 713 |
||||
| A5 Transfers between funds | - 0 | - | - | - | - | ||||
| A6 Cash funds lastyear end | 7,652 | - | - | 7,652 | 8,365 | ||||
| **Cash funds thisyear end ** | 6,739 |
- | - | 6,739 | 7,652 | ||||
| Section B Statement of assets and liabilities at the end of the period | |||||||||
| Categories | Details | Unrestricted funds |
Restricted funds | Endowment funds |
|||||
| to nearest £ | to nearest £ | to nearest £ | |||||||
| B1 Cash funds | 6,739 | - | - | ||||||
| - | - | - | |||||||
| - | - | - |
CCXX R accounts (SS)1
10/11/2024
1
| Total cash funds | Total cash funds | Total cash funds | 6,739 | - | - | - | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| (agree balances with receipts and payments account(s)) |
OK | OK | |||||||
| Unrestricted funds |
Restricted funds | Endowment funds |
|||||||
| Details | to nearest £ | to nearest £ | to nearest £ | ||||||
| B2 Other monetary assets | - | - | - | ||||||
| - | - | - | |||||||
| - | - | - | |||||||
| - | - | - | |||||||
| - | - | - | |||||||
| - | - | - | |||||||
| Details | Fund to which asset belongs |
Cost (optional) | Current value (optional) |
||||||
| B3 Investment assets | - | - | |||||||
| - | - | ||||||||
| - | - | ||||||||
| - | - | ||||||||
| - | - | ||||||||
| Details | Fund to which asset belongs |
Cost (optional) | Current value (optional) |
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| B4 Assets retained for the charity’s own use |
- | - | |||||||
| - | - | ||||||||
| - | - | ||||||||
| - | - | ||||||||
| - | - | ||||||||
| - | - | ||||||||
| - | - | ||||||||
| - | - | ||||||||
| - | - | ||||||||
| Details | Fund to which liability relates |
Amount due (optional) |
When due (optional) |
||||||
| B5 Liabilities | - | ||||||||
| - | |||||||||
| - | |||||||||
| - | |||||||||
| - | |||||||||
| Signed by one or two trustees on behalf of all the trustees |
Signature | Print Name | Date of approval | ||||||
| Henry Rusch | |||||||||
CCXX R accounts (SS)2
10/11/2024
2