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2020-08-31-accounts

Registered Charity Number: 1180955

Herts Inclusive Theatre

Annual Report and Unaudited Financial Statements for the Year Ended 31[st] August 2020

HERTS INCLUSIVE THEATRE ANNUAL REPORT AND FINANCIAL STATEMENTS 31 AUGUST 2020

Contents

Page
Reports
Reference and Administrative Information 3
Report of the Trustees 4 to 8
Independent Examiners Report 9
Financial Statements
Receipts and Payments Accounts 10
Balance Sheet 11
Notes to the Financial Statements 12
Detailed Receipts and Payments Account 13

The Show Must Go…..Online – July 2020

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HERTS INCLUSIVE THEATRE ANNUAL REPORT AND FINANCIAL STATEMENTS 31 AUGUST 2020

Reference and Administrative Information

Registered Charity (CIO) Number: 1180955 Principal Address: Holywell Community Centre Chaffinch Lane Watford WD18 9QD

Trustees who served during the year and those appointed within the year and since the end of the year:

Christine Armstrong
Neil Ben Appointed 4 March 2020
Gayle Bryans (Chair)
Stephen Cavinder
David Duncan (Treasurer)
Helen Elliott Resigned 7 February 2020
Lee Keogh Appointed 6 June 2020
Amy Lazzerini
Mike Lewis (Vice Chair)
Sheryl Norman Appointed 4 March 2020
Aniela Perriam
Senior Management : Caroline Stevens (Director)
Independent Examiner: Selma Felton FCPFA
Chartered Accountant
61A Church Road
WD17 4PY

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HERTS INCLUSIVE THEATRE ANNUAL REPORT AND FINANCIAL STATEMENTS 31 AUGUST 2020

Trustees’ Report

The trustees present their report and financial statements for the year ended 31[st] August 2020.

OBJECTIVES AND AIMS

A) To advance education by the provision of arts activities to the public, in particular but not exclusively to i) children and young people ii) disabled people, in Hertfordshire and neighbouring areas

B) To relieve those in need by reason of disability and other disadvantage by using the arts and well-being therapies as a tool to help those in need and their families in Hertfordshire and neighbouring areas

OVERVIEW OF THE YEAR

Herts Inclusive Theatre started the year well before the challenges of the pandemic set in. We continued our five term time groups in Borehamwood, Hemel Hempstead and Watford, which were attended by 83 children and young people. We also continued to run ‘Acting Up’ our adult theatre group based in Stanmore and ‘Get Set Perform’ theatre group in Rickmansworth, working with 77 participants. We maintained our relationship with Woodfield School in Hemel Hempstead and started the delivery of drama sessions at The Collett School in Hemel Hempstead. We continued to work with Three Rivers Council and Dacorum Council delivering a variety of workshops.

In response to the Covid19 pandemic our groups were forced to close during early March, resulting in two of the three HIT employees being furloughed. We put into action an emergency fundraising campaign and from the 15th April were able to launch our online drama and wellbeing sessions. These sessions, along with holiday activities continued throughout the year.

Highlights of the year included:

Covid-19 Pandemic Statement

In March 2020, due to the pandemic we had to stop running all our regular venue-based groups, commissioned activities, performances and other events. We put two members of staff on furlough and utilised the Government Job Retention Scheme in order to keep them in our employ. We quickly shifted to online delivery, as detailed in the section below of this report.

We applied to a number of funders for emergency support and are enormously grateful to; The Edward Gostling Foundation, The Blandford Trust, Robert Kiln Charitable Trust, Watford Mayor Emergency Fund, Three Rivers District Council, Locality Budgets, Hertfordshire Community Foundation - Emergency Coronavirus Fund, The Neighbourly Charitable Trust, St. James’s Place Charitable Foundation, Tesco Bags of

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HERTS INCLUSIVE THEATRE ANNUAL REPORT AND FINANCIAL STATEMENTS 31 AUGUST 2020

Help Covid19 Communities Fund, The Childwick Trust, Shanly Foundation, Arts Council England Emergency Response Fund, Watford Community Fund, Harrow Giving Coronavirus Emergency Response Fund, BBC Children In Need Covid19 Booster Programme, The Box Moor Trust, A.F Blakemore Community Cashback Grants, United Way Give Local Covid Fund and Garfield Weston Foundation, which all gave grants towards our core costs and online activities over the spring and summer. We’d also like to thank our staff, freelance team, volunteers and the many individuals who donated to our fundraising appeal to help keep HIT going. Together with cost-savings on our overheads, this meant HIT ended the year in a secure financial position. Even as the pandemic continues into 2021, the Trustees are confident of the charity’s future.

ACTIVITIES & ACHIEVEMENTS

Term-time Children and Youth Theatres

During the Autumn term 2019 Watford Children’s and Youth theatre groups worked on puppetry skills and ended with sharing’s of Room on the Broom and A Christmas Carol . Borehamwood Children’s and Youth group continued with rehearsals for their joint performance of The Wizard of Oz , which took place in February 2020. Hemel Children’s and Youth group started rehearsals for Pinocchio which they were due to perform in March 2020.

During the early part of the Spring term 2020 Watford Children’s group focused on skills workshops and took part in a variety of sessions including storytelling, music, movement, physical theatre and circus skills. After half term they worked on poetry to create a devised piece looking at the environment. The Watford Youth group took part in a variety of skills sessions, and after half term worked on Shakespeare’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream as part of a mini ‘Shakesfest’, due to be performed alongside the Borehamwood Youth Theatre in Summer 2020. Borehamwood Children’s and Youth groups continued with The Wizard of Oz rehearsals, leading to their outstanding performance at The Pump House on the 5[th] February 2020. After half term they worked on poetry to create a devised piece looking at the environment for the Summer term. The Borehamwood Youth group after half term worked on Shakespeare’s ‘Scottish play’ as part of ‘Shakesfest’. Hemel Children’s and Youth group continued rehearsals for Pinocchio which was due to be performed at the Old Town Hall on Saturday 28[th] March but sadly cancelled due to the pandemic.

From the week commencing 13[th] April our Children’s and Youth theatre activities were transferred online due to the Covid19 pandemic. We delivered 5 weekly online sessions including drama and yoga on Mondays and Wednesdays, which were open to all our Children’s and Youth groups.

Adult Theatre

The Acting Up adult group started the Autumn 2019 term looking at musicals, and chose Hairspray as the one they wanted to work on. Rehearsals for the full musical were due to start in January 2020 and the Autumn term was spent learning a movement routine and lyrics for ‘Good Morning Baltimore’ from the musical to be performed at the Harrow Disability Arts Festival and HIT & Watford Mencap Winter Family Fun Day later in the year.

During the Autumn 2019 term the Get Set Perform adult group created a short story based around their favourite songs, to be performed later in the year at the Harrow Disability Arts Festival and the HIT & Watford Mencap Winter Family Fun Day.

During the Spring 2020 term, the Acting Up adult group started rehearsals for the musical Hairspray , this was due to be performed in Summer 2020. The Get Set Perform adult group started work on creating two short silent films to be shown in Summer 2020, as part of an outdoor film festival, linked to Herts Year of Culture. Unfortunately, these groups had to close in March 2020 due to the Covid19 pandemic.

From week commencing 13[th] April our adult theatre activities were transferred online and we delivered 3 weekly online drama and yoga sessions on Tuesday, Thursdays and Fridays, which were open to all our adult groups.

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HERTS INCLUSIVE THEATRE ANNUAL REPORT AND FINANCIAL STATEMENTS 31 AUGUST 2020

Project work

We continued to provide after school drama workshops for children with severe learning disabilities at Woodfield School and started providing afterschool drama at The Collett School. We also continued our daytime adult project Get Set Yoga with Three Rivers Council.

We worked with Dacorum Council to provide art therapy sessions for their Colourful Minds and Cherished projects. These projects were centred around mental health and wellbeing. Leading on from this we delivered a social art group called ‘Art in Mind’ for those who had previously attended the Colourful Minds courses and were still seeking support.

We were brought in for the third year running by Watford FC Sports and Community Trust to deliver teambuilding and confidence workshops to teenagers as part of their National Citizen Service programme.

We developed a relationship with Ascend Charity UK in South Oxhey, supporting their building better opportunities work, providing two drama based projects for their residents, with a focus on developing skills and confidence.

Performances & Special Events

We produced one large scale production and two smaller scale during the 19/20 year and created one online musical.

During lockdown we started a monthly Virtual Theatre which took place on the last Monday of every month, providing a virtual stage and opportunity for anyone to perform in front of a live audience on Zoom.

On Saturdays we delivered half an hour live YouTube drama, singing and craft sessions for children, which was open to all. Alongside this we produced recorded activities, which were posted on our social media platforms, providing free on demand drama and wellbeing activities for all.

We held our fifth annual Heart of HIT Awards online, which celebrated the achievements of HIT participants, volunteers and staff throughout the past year.

We performed as one of the acts at the Harrow Disability Arts Festival for the eighth year running.

We provided story telling sessions at the Watford and Hemel Hempstead libraries as part of Fun Palaces.

Holiday Activities

Throughout the year we continued to provide a programme of holiday activities online. This included; Harry Potter workshops, based around a SEN pack provided by Warner Brothers; a two week film project for young people which included discussions on films and genres, creating a script, learning different shot names and techniques, character development, storyboarding, filming and an introduction to editing and the creation of a final film; three day children’s themed workshops which were broken into individual themes, the first three based on Julia Donaldson books, and the second three based on well-known fairy tales. The workshops included warm ups, themed drama games, arts and crafts, signing and movement.

For adult groups we provided adult skills sessions which consisted of 5 separate themed workshops, introducing them to a different skill each week. The skills covered were Singing, Puppetry, Acting on Stage, Comedy and Characterisation. We delivered a movement project which focused on wellbeing and the body and the importance of movement to stay healthy.

During May and June, some of our participants also took part in an online musical project, this involved individual and group rehearsals, filming a short clip at their home, and then editing all of the clips together to create a 40 minute film. This film was premiered online and attended by 65 households.

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HERTS INCLUSIVE THEATRE ANNUAL REPORT AND FINANCIAL STATEMENTS 31 AUGUST 2020

FUNDRAISING

We took part in our third season running a charity kiosk at Watford Football Club and the WFC Sports and Community Trust Corporate Sports Day.

We held our annual Family Fun Day in partnership with Watford Mencap at Watford Colosseum for the seventh year running.

We were chosen to take part in Dacorum’s ‘Dragon’s Apprentice’ and matched up with a Harpenden School and Hertfordshire Chamber of Commerce. We were selected as one of Clement Danes School’s Christmas charities.

We took part in carol singing with Bushey Academy school during the morning rush hour at Bushey Station.

Alongside the Covid19 relief grants previously mentioned, we received grants from - The Co-op Foundation; Dacorum Community Grants; Groundworks UK - Right to Thrive LDN; The Funding Network; The Roland Callingham Foundation; All Aboard; TK Maxx; The Lawton Trust; The Sun 50 Fund; Brian Murtagh Charitable Trust; Aviva Crowdfunding; United Way Give Local Grants Programme; Gannett Foundation UK and Warner Bros and we would like to thank all of our funders for their continued support.

We continued to develop our networks and build on our relationships with local schools, businesses and other organisations.

HIT is registered with the Fundraising Regulator and is committed to follow the Code of Fundraising Practice. HIT uses all money raised for the purposes stated in our charitable objects. We agree to treat donors fairly, enable them to make informed decisions about any donation, do not take advantage of individuals in vulnerable circumstances and do not cause an unreasonable intrusion on a person’s privacy. There were no complaints registered regarding our fundraising. We make Gift Aid claims only on donations where all of the Gift Aid conditions are met. We ensure that all specified reporting requirements and any conditions attached to donations and grants are met in a timely fashion.

STRUCTURE, GOVERNANCE AND MANAGEMENT

Governance and Management

The governance of the charity is the responsibility of the trustees who are elected under the terms of the Constitution (Charitable Incorporated Organisation Foundation Model). The charity endeavours to select a board of trustees with a range of skills and experience needed for the effective running of the charity, including those with ‘lived’ experience of the needs the charity serves.

The full board of trustees meets four times a year, plus there is a finance subcommittee which meets regularly. One trustee acts as the board’s Safeguarding Lead and works closely with the charity staff to ensure satisfactory safeguarding measures are in place and regularly reviewed.

HIT’s employees manage the charity’s programme of activity under the control of the Director, without the need to refer to the trustees for day-to-day decisions and operations. Decisions of greater importance and impact are referred to the entire board at meetings, or to the Chair in between meetings.

Risk Management

The trustees have a duty to identify and review the risks to which the charity is exposed and to ensure the appropriate controls are in place to provide reasonable assurance against fraud and error. A Risk Management schedule is reviewed and updated regularly by the trustees.

FINANCIAL REVIEW

Funding is not provided on a regular basis and is largely dependent annually on a variety of grant-making

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HERTS INCLUSIVE THEATRE ANNUAL REPORT AND FINANCIAL STATEMENTS 31 AUGUST 2020

organisations. The trustees have set a free reserves target (unrestricted funds less tangible assets) amounting to six months budgeted operating costs. This is in order to:

We are pleased that through prudent budgeting, cost savings, and strong fundraising performance, we ended the year with free reserves equivalent to the next 5 months of budgeted operating costs. This puts HIT in a much more financially secure position and enables us to plan ahead with confidence and weather the continued challenges of the pandemic.

Income Sources

Principal funding sources comprise:

STATEMENT OF TRUSTEES RESPONSIBILITIES

The trustees are responsible for preparing the financial statements in accordance with applicable law and United Kingdom Generally Accepted Accounting Practice.

Charity law requires the trustees to prepare financial statements for each year. Under that law the trustees have elected to prepare the financial statements in accordance with the United Kingdom Generally Accepted Accounting Practice (United Kingdom Accounting Standards and applicable law). The financial statements are required by law to give a true and fair view of the state of affairs of the charity and of the surplus or deficit or the charity for that period. In preparing those financial statements, the trustees are required to:

The trustees are responsible for keeping proper accounting records which disclose with reasonable accuracy at any time the financial position of the charity to enable them to ensure that the financial statements comply with the Charities Act 1993. They are also responsible for safeguarding the assets of the charity and hence for taking reasonable steps, for the prevention and detection of fraud and other irregularities.

This report was approved by the trustees and signed on their behalf by:

Gayle Bryans Chair of Trustees

Date: 31st March 2021

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HERTS INCLUSIVE THEATRE ANNUAL REPORT AND FINANCIAL STATEMENTS 31 AUGUST 2020

Independent Examiners’ Report to the Trustees

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HERTS INCLUSIVE THEATRE ANNUAL REPORT AND FINANCIAL STATEMENTS 31 AUGUST 2020

Financial Statements

RECEIPTS AND PAYMENTS ACCOUNT

2020 2019
£ £
Incoming resources
Income from Charitable Activities 190,398 150,825
Investment Income (note 2) 0 0
Total Income 190,398 150,825
Resources expended
Charitable Activity & Administration Costs 135,664 146,747
Net incoming (outgoing) resources 54,734 4,078
Total Funds brought forward 13,978 9,900
TOTAL FUNDS CARRIED FORWARD £68,712 £13,978
====== ======
Restricted and Unrestricted Income Breakdown
Restricted Income 78,136
Unrestricted Income
 112,262
Total Income 190,398
Restricted and Unrestricted Expenditure Breakdown
Restricted Expenditure 48,182
Unrestricted Expenditure 87,482
Total Expenditure 135,664

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HERTS INCLUSIVE THEATRE ANNUAL REPORT AND FINANCIAL STATEMENTS 31 AUGUST 2020

BALANCE SHEET

2020 2019
£ £
Fixed assets
Tangible Fixed Assets 2,859 1,522
Current assets
Debtors & Prepayments 520 1,052
Cash at Bank 78,614 14,945
Creditors
Amounts falling due within one year 13,281 3,541
NET ASSETS £68,712 £13,978
Funds
Unrestricted Funds 38,758 13,978
Restricted Funds 29,954
TOTAL FUNDS £68,712 £13,978

The financial statements were approved by the Board of Trustees on and were signed on its behalf by:

Chair of Trustees Date: 31st March 2021

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HERTS INCLUSIVE THEATRE ANNUAL REPORT AND FINANCIAL STATEMENTS 31 AUGUST 2020

Accounting Policies and Notes to the Financial Statements

1. ACCOUNTING POLICIES

Receipts and payments basis

The trustees have taken advantage of the option available to charities who aren’t a limited company and whose income for the year does not exceed £250,000 to prepare the accounts on the receipts and payments basis with incoming resources and expenditure included as and when they are received and paid.

Depreciation

Fixed Assets are depreciation over the life of the asset on a straight-line basis at 25% per annum.

Taxation

The charity is exempt from tax on its charitable activities

Fund accounting

Unrestricted funds can be used in accordance with the charitable activities at the discretion of the trustees

2. INVESTMENT INCOME

Bank account interest – There was no bank interest received in the year to 31st August 2020.

3. TRUSTEES’ REMUNERATION AND BENEFITS

There was no trustees’ remuneration or other benefits paid in the year ended 31st August 2020.

Trustees’ Expenses

There were no trustee’s expenses paid in the year ended 31st August 2020, other than expenses reimbursed in relation to the charity.

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HERTS INCLUSIVE THEATRE ANNUAL REPORT AND FINANCIAL STATEMENTS 31 AUGUST 2020

4. DETAILED RECEIPTS AND PAYMENTS ACCOUNTS

INCOMING RESOURCES
Group Sessions
Commissioned Projects
Donations
Corporate Sponsorship
Fundraising Events
Grants
Holiday Activities
Productions
Total Incoming Resources
CHARITABLE ACTIVITY & ADMIN COSTS
Project Costs
Staff Costs (freelance workshop leaders & office staff)
Venue Hire
Fundraising
Theatre Trip Costs
Office & Admin Costs
Total Charitable Activity Administration Costs
NET INCOMING (OUTGOING) RESOURCES
TOTAL Funds brought forward
TOTAL FUNDS CARRIED FORWARD		 2020
£
11,725
17,440
22,580
3,400
7,372
124,919
1,033
1,929
190,398
2,181
114,379
12,520
446
6,138
135,664
54,734
13,978
£68,712		 2019
£
19,195
18,798
22,542
1,808
10,311
68,497
4,620
5,054
150,825
2,045
117,014
16,322
2,883
875
7,608
146,747
4,078
9,900
£13,978

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