## **HASTINGS TRADITIONAL JACK IN GREEN** **Registered Charity Number: 11080939** ## **Annual Accounts** **for the Year ended 30th September 2024** Contents: Organisation information Trustees' Annual Report Receipts and Payments Account Statement of Assets and Liabilites Independent Examiner's report ## **HASTINGS TRADITIONAL JACK IN GREEN Organisational Structure Year ended 30th September 2024** |**Registered charity number:**|1180939| |---|---| |**Legal form:**|| |**Governing document:**|CIO Registration - 30th November 2018| |**Address:**|62 Collier Road| ||Hastings| ||East Sussex| ||TN34 3JS| |**Trustees:**|Keith Ronald Leech MBE - Chair| ||Bryony Rudd - Vice Chair| ||Fiona Jane Dunbar Lock - Secretary| ||Isabel Xuxa Tipler - Treasurer| ||Harry Lloyd Wheatcroft - H&S| ||Heather Leech| ||Mark Richard Bailey| ||Rosanna Poppy Betson| ||Timothy Betson| ||Owain Lewis Boorman| |**Non Trustee Committee Members:**|Duncan De Vries| ||Star Griffiths| ||Lorna Crabbe| ||Michelle Brown| ||Stephen Roberts-Pratt| ||Mark Duncan| ||Rhiannon Boorman| |**Independant Examiner:**|Louise Cavill, Independant Examiner| |---|---| ||Cavill & Cruikshank Accountants and Tax Advisors| ## **Object and Activities:** To Promote, improve and advance education in, and appreciation of, the arts, in particular but not exclusively through the staging of an annual folk arts festival in Hastings including performance and promotion of English traditional dance forms (including Morris dancing and Jack in the Green parade), traditional English folk music and song, folk tales, and their associated seasonal customs. New recruits to Morris Dancing are gained and many more find a new interest in traditional music and dance, thus succeeding in our objectives. ## **Objects and Activities Cont'd:** The sunrise ceremony is held on the first of May each year when local Morris sides "dance the sun up" to welcome the summer and invites spectators to dance on Hastings Castle grounds. The Jack in the Green Festival, a fourday annual event in the seaside resort of Hastings in East Sussex. It is a true British May Day celebration described as "the celebration of Morris dancing and traditional merriment", led by the symbolic figure of Jack in the Green and culminating in a colourful, costumed parade. The event includes music of all genres from some of the best local and surrounding area's bands and historic and social events. The weekend is topped off by the main event on the May Bank Holiday Monday, with the Jack in the Green Parade. The parade sets off from the Fisherman's Museum in the old Town, and finishes on the West Hill, where there is an opportunity to see traditional folk dancers and music throughout the afternoon. The festival culminates with the symbolic slaying of Jack, to release the spirit of summer. ## **Hastings Traditional Jack in the Green** # **Trustees Annual Report** ## **For the Period from 1 October 2023 to 30 September 2024** Registered charity number 1180939 Principal address: 62 Collier Road Hastings, East Sussex TN34 3JS - Accepted as Charitable Incorporated Organisation with Constitution on 30[th] November 2018. - The Trustees are members of the existing Committee and are voted in by Committee on a three-year rotating basis. Trustees are appointed or reappointed annually at the CIO Annual General Meeting held in June. ## **Charity Trustees:** **Name Office held** Keith Ronald Leech Trustee - Chairman Bryony Rudd Trustee - Vice Chair Fiona Jane Dunbar Lock Trustee - Secretary Isabel Tipler Trustee - Treasurer Harry Lloyd Wheatcroft Trustee - Health & Safety Heather Leech Trustee Mark Richard Bailey Trustee Rosanna Poppy Betson Trustee Timothy Betson Trustee Owain Boorman Trustee ## **Objectives and Activities:** To promote, improve and advance education in, and appreciation of, the arts, in particular but not exclusively through the staging of an annual folk arts festival in Hastings including performance and promotion of English traditional dance forms (including Morris dancing and Jack-in-the-Green parade), traditional English folk music and song, folk tales, and their associated seasonal customs. New recruits to Morris Dancing are gained and many more find a new interest in traditional music and dance, thus succeeding in our objectives. The sunrise ceremony is held on the first of May each year when local Morris Sides “dance the sun up” to welcome the summer and invites spectators to dance on the surrounding grounds of Hastings Castle, also known locally as Ladies Parlour. The Jack in the Green Festival, a four-day annual event in the seaside resort of Hastings in East Sussex. It is a true British May Day celebration described as "thee celebration of Morris dancing and traditional merriment”, led by the symbolic figure of Jack in the Green and culminating in a colourful, costumed parade. The event includes music of all genres from some of the best local and surrounding area’s bands and historic and social events. The weekend is topped off by the main event on the May Bank Holiday Monday, with the Jack in the Green procession. The procession sets off from the Fisherman's Museum in the Old Town, and finishes on the West Hill, where there is an opportunity to see traditional folk dancers and music throughout the afternoon. The festival culminates with the symbolic slaying of the Jack, to release the spirit of summer. ## **History and current day formation of the Committee:** May 1st has long been an important part of the annual calendar. It is the start of summer in these latitudes and has always been a day for celebration: the Celts celebrated May Day; the Romans dedicated the day and would go to the woods to cut a tree and decorate it with ribbons and flowers, this is the origin of the May Pole. In the 16th and 17th centuries in England people made garlands of flowers and leaves for the May Day celebration. Works Guilds would try to outdo each other, in the late 18th century this became a matter for competition, milkmaids in London carried garlands on their heads, but the crown had to go to the chimney sweeps. Their garland was so big it covered the entire man. It became known as Jack in the Green. In Hastings there were at least two groups who paraded a Jack in the Green until about 1889. The custom was revived in Hastings by Mad Jacks Morris Dancers in 1983. The Jack is not the property of a small group of dancers but belongs to us all. Further information about the Jack in the Green in Hastings can be obtained by reading the excellent book "The Hastings Jack in the Green" written by Keith Leech (ISBN 0 9514498 0 X). Keith, a long-time member of Mad Jacks Morris (Now named Hastings RX) was instrumental in reviving the tradition in Hastings. A volunteer committee was formed to organise, promote, and perform the festival. ## **Financial Review:** A copy of our accounts is included with this report and confirms our income and expenditure as well as reserves. Trustees, Committee members and volunteers give their time and efforts freely and do not receive remuneration or benefits other than expenses incurred. For several years we have been building reserves to enable us to hold subsequent years’ events when grants and funds are not available. Income: Entertainment, street collections, decorating the town, sale of merchandise, advertising and the craft fair participation and donations have given us the ability to fund our event. This year’s surplus of £23,640.06 is a result of the huge generosity of those who attended Hasting Jack In The Green through the sale of merchandise, decorating donations, entertainment ticket sales, programme advertisements and the Craft Fair. We faced very difficult unforeseen circumstances during our event, when large sections of Hastings lost access to mains water, due to Southern water infrastructure striking a leak. Due to this, after many emergency contingency plans between the Trustees we (as well as the White Rock Theatre) came to the decision to cancel the Saturday night Ceilidh which brings in a large amount of our revenue. As well as this, we had many participants decide to not attend due to hotels closing and fears of the safety of younger members of performance groups. We received £10,000 from Southern Water as a good will gesture after the event, which accounts for the majority of the surplus income. We also have now found out that the Council will not be paying for the event when it goes onto the West Hill (Which in previous years it had paid majority of costs) for 2025 so additional costs of; a manager for the West hill, toilets, security, first aid and barriers will now be an addition to our outgoings. Each year the Committee grants two charitable donations to local organisations. Non-Trustee Committee Members who have specific and essential duties for the success of the event: Ann Bourner - Founder member & floral planner for Jack Lorna Crabbe - Artwork and design Paul Evans, Helen Evans, Ella French and Alex French - Organises and manages decorating in the town Report written by Treasurer, Isabel Tipler, and approved by Trustees. ## **HASTINGS TRADITIONAL JACK IN GREEN Receipts and Payments Accounts Year ended 30th September 2024** |||||||**Previous**| |---|---|---|---|---|---|---| |||||**Current Year**||**Year**| |Receipts||Restricted||Not Restricted|Total Funds|| |Advertising Revenue||||1,690.00|1,690.00|2,425.00| |Grants and Funding||||10,000.00|10,000.00|12,000.00| |Mechanise Cash Sales||||4,247.79|4,247.79|2,652.20| |Merchandise Card Sales||||1,567.82|1,567.82|3,465.14| |Ticket Sales||||2,016.02|2,016.02|6,143.26| |WH Stalls||||2,365.00|2,365.00|2,584.85| |Donations - Just Giving||||3,139.05|3,139.05|680.03| |Donations - Decorations||||3,185.00|3,185.00|2,090.00| |Donations - Other||||8,170.58|8,170.58|3,639.70| |Accommodation - Morris||||260.00|260.00|130.00| |Other Income||||2,041.95|2,041.95|1,846.16| |Reversal of 2023 Accruals||||4,758.00|4,758.00|-| |Bank Interest||||520.11|520.11|205.14| |TOTAL RECEIPTS|||0|43,961.32|43,961.32|37,861.48| |Expenditure||||||| |Just Giving Fees||||216.00|216.00|546.00| |Venue Hire||||654.99|654.99|200.00| |Sound Engineers and Equipment Hire||||2,143.60|2,143.60|1,555.62| |Entertainment, Bands and Groups||||2,998.29|2,998.29|-| |Staging||||2,397.79|2,397.79|-| |Accommodation - Bands and Visiting||||-|-|502.33| |Training||||14.20|14.20|20.00| |Security||||1,784.10|1,784.10|2,202.32| |Heritage Fund|||||-|10,000.00| |Printing Programmes and Flyers||||1,650.80|1,650.80|1,831.92| |Merchandise||||4,006.41|4,006.41|3,218.85| |Insurance||||1,114.37|1,114.37|679.70| |Donations Given||||250.00|250.00|2,000.00| |Website Domain||||280.99|280.99|73.20| |Decorating||||447.82|447.82|418.43| |Post and Stationary||||41.08|41.08|26.35| |Health and Safety||||75.00|75.00|285.42| |Confetti, Smoke etc||||2,155.82|2,155.82|6,425.50| |Subscriptions||||90.00|90.00|296.29| |Miscellaneous Expenses||||-|-|31.74| |TOTAL PAYMENTS|||0|20,321.26|20,321.26|30,313.67| |Net Surplus/(Deficit)||||23,640.06|23,640.06|7,547.81| |Fund Balances B/F|10/1/2023|||37,317.60|37,317.60|29,769.79| |||||||| |Fund Balances C/F|9/30/2024|||60,957.66|60,957.66|37,317.60| ## **HASTINGS TRADITIONAL JACK IN GREEN Statements of Assets and Liabilites Year ended 30th September 2024** |**Current Assets**
Current Account
@
30/09/24
Deposit Accounts
@
30/09/24
Cash in hand
@
30/09/24|**2024**
38,676
22,282
60,958|**2023**
20,314
21,762| |---|---|---| |||42,075| ## **Less Current Liabilties** |Accruals
**Represented by:**
Accumlated Fund B/F
Surpus/(Deficit) for the year|-
60,958
37,318
23,640
60,958|4,758| |---|---|---| |||37,318| |||29,770
7,548| |||37,318| ## Other Assets An inventory of assets is held by the Treasuer and is available on request. Charity Law requires the Trustees to prepare financial statements for each financial year which comply with the regulations set out in the Charities Act 1993. The trustess have elected to take advantage of the provisions that apply to small charities and have prepared a Receipts and Payments account and Statement of Assets and Liabilities. Approved by the Trustees on and signed on behalf by Isabel Tipler Rosanna Betson Mark Bailey ## **HASTINGS TRADITIONAL JACK IN GREEN** ## **Year ended 30th September 2024** ## **Independent Examiner's Report to the Committee of Hastings Traditional Jack in the Green** I report on the accounts of Hastings Traditional Jack in the Green for the twelve month period ended 30th September 2024 ## **Respective responsibilities of committee & examiner** The charity's trustees are responsible for the preparation of the accounts. The charity's trustees consider that an audit is not required for this year under section 144 of the Charities Act 2011 (the Charities Act), and that an independent examination is needed. ## **It is my responsibility:** to examine the accounts under section 145 of the Charities Act to follow the procedures laid down in the General Directions given by the Charity Commission (under section 145(5)(b) of the Charities Act), and to state whether particular matters have come to my attention ## **Basis of independent examiner's report** My examination was carried out in accordance with the General Directions given by the Charity Commission. An examination includes a review of the accounting records kept by the charity and a comparison of the supporting documentation presented with those records. It also includes consideration of any unusual items or disclosures in the accounts, and seeking explanations from the trustees concerning any such matters. The procedures undertaken do not provide all the evidence that would be required in an audit, and consequently no opinion is given as to whether the accounts present a "true and fair" view and the report is limited to those matters set out in the statement below. ## **Independent examiner's statement** In connection with my examination, no matter has come to my attention: - 1) which gives me reasonable cause to believe that in any material respect the requirements: to keep accounting records in accordance with section 130 of the Charities Act to prepare accounts which accord with the accounting records and to comply with the accounting requirements of the Act have not been met; or 2) to which, in my opinion, attention should be drawn in order to enable a proper understanding of the accounts to be reached. Louise Cavill FCCA ACA Chartered Accountant Cavill & Cruikshank Accountants and Tax Advisors 7 Henderson Close Hastings TN34 2DU Dated: 25th July 2025