Registered Charity Number: 1181333 Tinsley Community Allotment ANNUAL REPORT AND UNAUDITED FINANCIAL STATEMENTS For the year ended 31 December 2024
rinsley Community Allotment Contents Page Legal and administrative information Trustees, annual report 2-11 Accountants, Report 12 Receipts and payments account 13 Statement of assets and liabilities 14 Notes to the accounts 15-16
rinsley Community Allotment Legal and administrative information for the year ended 310ecember 2024 Trustees Name Timothy Shortland Rodney Heslop Sheila Sutherland Michael Steadmarb Mary Sewell Posltlon Chair Treasurer Secretary Other key personnel Jacqui Dace Jess Banham Community Allotment Worker Community Allotment Worker Charity number 1181333 Company number CE016034 Principal address C/0 Tinsley Forum 120-126 Bawtry Road Sheffield S9 IUE Accountants Seven Hills Accountants Limited 57 Burton Street Sheffield 56 2HH
rinsley Community Allotment Trustees, annual report Forthe year ended 31 December 2024 The trustees submit their annual report and the financial statements for the year ended 31 December 2024. Structurei governance and management Tinsley Community Allotment is a Charitable Incorporated Organisation which registered with the Charity Commission on 21 December 2018. Tinsley CommunityAllotment is governed by the rules and regulations set down in its governing document as last updated on 21 December 2018. The organisation started operating in February 2019, previously it was operated as part of the Tinsley Tree project, but has now transitioned to being an independent charitable organisation. Method oARecruitment and Appointment of Trustees Trustees are recruited through putting out requests within the allotment, gardening and horticultural network in Sheffield. Trustees are appointed by invitation to attend a meeting, with information regarding the roles and responsibilities havinE been shared prior to the meeting. Appointment includes signing a trustee declaration. Relationship with uny relatedparties Charitable objectives and activities The objects of the charity are.. i. to further or benefit the residents of Tinsley, South Yorkshire without distinction of gender, sexual orientation, race or of political, religious or other opinions by providing allotment facilities in the interests of social welfare for recreational leisure time occupation with the objective of improving life for the residents. 2. to advance the education of the public, in particular young people, by providing practical horticultural activities with links to the national curriculum. In shaping our objectives for the year and planning our activities, the trustees have considered the Charity Commission's guidance on public benefit. This report illustrates the activities undertaken to support the public benefit requirement. The artivities we do to meet our objectives are: Tinsley Community Allotment is open on Friday mornings offering educational and experiential sessions to school children from the local primary school Tinsley Meadows Primary Academy. One group attends each week during term time and we occasionally offer one- off sessions to whole year groups Isplit into smaller groups) linking with particular national curriculum themes in school. Activities offered to these children include: sowing and planting,. riddling compost,. leaf collecting and composting,. weeding, watering and harvesting,. themed scavenger hunts,. art and craft. The allotment is also open on Friday afternoons to the general public. These sessions are aimed more towards local adults during term time, but are generally open to all. Volunteers attend sessions and help with all tasks on the allotment- sowing, planting, tidying, compostinB and planning what to grow.
rinsley Community Allotment Trustees, annual report Forthe year ended 31 December 2024 The activities we do to meet our objectives {continued) Visitors are offered harvested produce to take home with them at the end of the sessions. The allotment is also offered as a space for relaxing, socialising and learning about horticulture. In 2021 we set up an allotment-based, weekly toddler group on Thursday mornings in term time. This is aimed at families from the local and nearby areas with pre-school aged children. The children can attend with carers, and we offer them allotment themed activities, art and crafts. toys, a music wall, a chance to relax with a book in the reading den, snack time, harvested produce and social opportunities for the parents and carers. This has proved to be very successful, bringing in families from the area. We have funding from British Land to continue this project for one more year. Tinsley is part of the Darnall Ward and falls within the IOYO most deprived nationally. Tinsley area is culturally diverse, with a large BAME population, including transient communities such as Slovak Roma. There are high levels of need including prevalence of poor mental health, social isolation in the elderly, chronic ill-health and co-morbidity as well as low levels of physical activityi Uptake of services e.E. poor nutrition and obesityi low literacy levels Iparticularly where English is not a first language). Activities undertaken at Tinsley Community Allotment address a number of these differing priorities within the local area, including= Improvement to health, wellbeing and self-esteem - the undertaking of organic food cultivation provides excellent opportunities to undertake gentle exercise and also can improve diet and reduce levels of obesity. Improvements to wellbeing and self-esteem are widely documented. 8uilding communities our activity is operb to all members of the community and, most recently, has involved people between the ages of l and 70 years of different genders. Our volunteers are also ethnically diverse. As such, our project supports local community cohesion by bringing people together for a common goal. Poverty and welfare our activity assists local poverty and welfare by empowering local people to cultivate their own food. All organic fruit and vegetable crops are shared with volunteers on a regular basis. Eating and tasting is also undertaken. Environment - the activity demonstrates excellent horticultural practice, introducing the principles of organic food cultivation and also recycles all of its green waste in order to produce compost and leaf mould.
rinsley Community Allotment Trustees ' annual report- continued Forthe year ended 31 December 2024 Achievements and performance Numbers: We have had 383 different visitors this year, 171 of these being adults and 212 children. This is a 33% increase on last year's figures. This year we have continued to bring in a large number of volunteers and visitors to the allotment on the two days that we are open in the week. We attribute this in a large part to having continued to develop the relationships and collaborations that we have built with local people and other organisations in the area over recent years. After Easter we re-opened our toddler sessions in conjunction with Manor and Castle Development Trust. These sessions continued to be popular with families from the local area. We had a new core group of families who attended regularly. Overall, the number of toddlers was slightly decreased this year due to new funding for younger children's nursery places. The sessions for pupils from Tinsley Meadows Primary were taken up in the early part of the year by a class of 9 children with special educational needs that attended last year. In the autumn term a new group of 10 Year 4 children attended. We also hosted two half day sessions for the whole of F52 as we have done in previous years, bringing 59 children and 24 adults to the site. This year we worked with 3 children who needed some time out of the classroom environment with one to one support. They each attended by themselves with a Teaching Assistant and a friend of their choice. This year we held five holiday family events and achieved record numbers. The Easter open day saw 31 visitors, the autumn Apple Day had 40 and the 3 summer days saw a combined total of 212 attendeesl In total, there were an impressive 173 who had never been to the allotment before. We attribute this success partly to the school agreeing to include our events in an email sent out to all parents. We are also grateful to the staff at Tinsley Forum who displayed leaflets and spread the word. Our 2 long term committed volunteers, who have been involved with the allotment for many years, continued to come throughout the year to water and tend plants when no one else was on site. Their help was invaluable in the summer months. Our other regular volunteers include a local family who attend most weeks to water their planters and bring friends to tour the allotment and collect harvests. They have also joined in with our holiday sessions and the carers, group that we run, brinEing friends and neighbours with them. We have had other regular volunteers who, as well as wanting to develop their horticultural skills, attend for a variety of reasons, including practicinE English, getting out of the house to meet people and finding volunteering opportunities as a new resident in the area. As well as our regular volunteers we have had many occasional or one-off visitors looking for social contact or to join in with our open sessions. We held our trustee AGM meeting on site in july, allowing our trustees to see what we had been working on during the year.
rinsley Community Allotment Trustees ' annual report- continued Forthe year ended 31 December 2024 es Gender Ethnlclt All details are approximate as we do not formally record this information. Under 11 206 54% 11-18 1% 19-50 129 34% Over 50s 42 11% Total 383 Gender Overall, the gender of visitors has been 56% female and 44% male. Ethnici The local population is made up of roughly 40¥0 from Pakistan, 40% from Slovakia and 20% White British. 96% of school children in Tinsley are from BME groups. Our regular volunteers are White British and Asian. Summa of ethnicit White.. 21% AsianlAsian British: 63Yo Roma/Slovakian'. 8% Black/African/Caribbean/Black British= 32Yo
rinsley Community Allotment Trustees ' annual report- continued Forthe year ended 31 December 2024 Actlvltles: Online resence This year we continued to update our social media followers with regular posts on Twitter/X and Facebook, but at the end of the year we decided to leave X as we have less engagement with visitors on this platform. We continued to use 'Messenger' and 'WhatsApp' to keep in touch with some of our regular visitors. Construction & maintenance We carried out various winter pruning, tidying and preparing jobs before the spring season began. We took down the willow reading den which had started to lean at an alarming angle and rebuilt it with the help of Meadowhall volunteers. We moved another planter near the entrance for growing strawberries which was decorated by Meadowhall volunteers. We cleared an area and constructed a new raised bed for raspberries in the orchard. We rehung some more donated bird boxes. Pruning of fruit trees and bushes. Cleaning out the water butts. Growin Thi5 year we grew a variety of vegetables, herbs, fruit and flowers.. Squashes- courgettes and pumpkin Legumes- Climbing French beans, borlotti beans, broad beans, mange tout Onions and Roots- Onions. spring onions, garlic, leeks, beetroot, carrots Salad crops- tomatoes, chillies, cucumbers, lettuces, rocket, melon, cress, spinach, chard Brassicas-Kale, broccoli Herbs thyme, rosemary, parsley, basil, coriander, lemon balm, mint, lavender, fennel, sage, cress, tarragon, feverfew Other vegetables- Sweetcorn, potatoes, Flowers- sunflowers, primroses, poached egg plant, nasturtiums, daffodils, cornflowers, ajuga, calendula, marigolds, salvia, nigella, sedum The fruit growing in the orchard area includes apples, pears and plums. In the main allotment we have blueberries, lingonberries, jostaberries, cranberries, Ereengages, rhubarb, raspberries, plums, redcurrants, blackcurrants, gooseberries and cherries. All harvested produce was given to volunteers and visitors.
rinsley Community Allotment Trustees ' annual report- continued Forthe year ended 31 December 2024 School activities The sessions up until the summer this year were taken up by the same class of children with special educational needs and disabilities that attended last year and who benefitted from attending weekly with a high adult to child ratio. In the autumn term a new group of Year 4 children attended the sessions and we look forward to welcoming them back in the spring. Activities with the children this year included: sowing and planting, weeding, watering, harvesting, and woodchipping paths. They also played allotment-themed games, did seed saving, weighed vegetables and took harvests back to school. We produced an allotment diary with drawings and photographs that the children had taken. They enjoyed revisiting this on a regular basis and discussing some of the activities that they ahd previously done. This book was given to school near the end of the year. At the end of term, we held an awards ceremony to celebrate each pupil's involvement on the allotment, with medals for best bug hunter, best digger, best sunflower grower etc. In addition to the regular sessions with school, we also hosted two sessions for the whole of FS2 as we have done in previous years. They visited with staff and parentlcarer volunteers and carried out bug hunts and photo trails. Toddler activities In conjunction with Manor and Castle Development trust, we ran weekly sessions in term time offered to families of pre-school children in the local area. Sessions included outdoor activities aimed at toddlers such as a digging pit, music wall, art/craft activities, story time in our refurbished reading den, fine and gross motor skill development, age specific gardening activities and social opportunities for both toddlers and their carers. Each week they Bathered at the end for a snack. This project enabled us to continue to develop our relationships with parents and carers as well as strengthening the connections already made with another community initiative. As our previous children started at school, we had a mostly new core group of families who attended regularly. The carers enhoyed a chance to meet with other adults and the toddlers benefitted from opportunities for social interaction. This year our toddler group had a high number of children with neurodiversity, and they enjoyed the freedom of playing in our toddler-friendly outdoor environment. Parents and carers were regularly offered seasonal harvested produce to take home.
rinsley Community Allotment Trustees ' annual report- continued Forthe year ended 31 December 2024 rinsle Carin Hands and Heart Once again, we ran four weekly sessions for this local carers, group. We had new members attending and the sessions were successful. The women took part in craft activities such as painting stones and making cards from pressed flowers. We were encouraged to see their confidence in their own creativity growing weekly. They enjoyed helping us prepare and juice apples using the apple press. They also carried out gardening activities including seed saving, sowing pea shoots to take home, and planting bulbs in pots they had decorated. Each week the women harvested crops to take home. The social interaction was particularly important for this group as their caring roles can lead to social isolation. They had a chance to share some of their worries and concerns in a safe and supportive environment as well as enjoying a relaxed time to chat and laugh together. rin and summer famil events In the Easter holidays we had an open day with activities such as den building, making tissue paper flowers and sowing sunflower seeds to take home. We ran three themed events for families in the summer holidays. All three days were very well attended and enjoyed by all. On the busiest day we had over a hundred people in the allotmentl There were different treasure hunts and trails, home-made refreshments of cakes and soup and opportunities to sow seeds and take part in craft activities. Each week people could take home any harvested produce available. Autumn and Winter sessions The last of our Autumn Winter sessions that began in 2023 took place in February this year. It fell during half term so we were delighted to also welcome some new children to the allotment who had great fun playing in the digging pit and exploring the site. In October half term we ran an Apple day. Our visitors enjoyed preparing and pressinE apples to make juice shared by all. They also did craft activities and played games. Nature Hub Activities This year we have benefited from a grant from The Nature Hub fund. As well as funding our Summer open days, we received a grant to improve the orchard. We have begun clearing overgrown areas and space where green waste has been piled up. We have already created a new raised bed and planted it with autumn fruiting raspberries. We have also planted hundreds of daffodil and crocus bulbs and bought a mulberry bush and fig tree. A sign welcoming people to the orchard will be installed early next year.
rinsley Community Allotment Trustees ' annual report- continued Forthe year ended 31 December 2024 Links with the communi As part of the delivery of our activities, we aimed to make connections with local community initiatives and groups in order to develop opportunities for partnership working and to further promote our activities. Our staff and a trustee attended the construction pase of the new art piece 'The Looping Boat, designed by Alex Chinneck. This year we again offered sessions to finsley Caring Hands and Heart- a local group of carers. They attended the allotment for a series of gardening and artlcraft sessions provided to give the carers respite from their roles. We have been back in touch with Abundance Sheffield, although we didn't need to request any apples for our apple day, as the orchard provided plenty of apples to harvest this year. We also had visits from two Council workers, the Sheffield Enablement Team, a visitor interested in a junior gardeners, group, Sarah from 'Healthwatch', two Sustainable Communities Officers, the Community Police Officer, Rachael from the Sheffield Food Partnership and Lucie Ward from Darnall Well Being. We have continued to collaborate with Manor and Castle Development Trust in the running of our toddler group. All toddlers were accompanied by parents or carers which enabled us to develop relationships with the adults. Publicising our summer family days within toddler group meant that some of the parents came along with their toddlers and brought older siblings too. We have continued to build on our relationship with Tinsley Library, attending some of their events to raise our profile in the local area and advertise our events. This has brought new families to the allotment. We continued to develop our collaboration with our funders from British Land. In March and June we held team building days for members of staff from Meadowhall. The teams carried out site maintenance and DIY activities as well as decorating another planter. They returned in October to plant bulbs and construct a new raspberry bed in the orchard. Offering the full year activities to FS2 brouEht many parents and carers to the allotment as volunteers. They had a chance to join in activities Wlth their children and also to visit the site and see what we do. Our Summer Family Days were specifically aimed at bringing families to the allotment. These well attended events allowed us to develop our relationships with children, parents and carers from the local area.
rinsley Community Allotment Trustees ' annual report- continued Forthe year ended 31 December 2024 Evaluation We have continued to offer locally produced crops to all visitors, build on our collaborations with other organisations and improve the allotment for everyone who visits. We once again welcomed children from Tinsley Meadows Primary Academy to the site, offering the pupils with special educational needs a regular term time visit to learn about horticulture, take harvests back to school and take part in fun and engagin8 activities. The Friday afternoon public sessions have continued to bring in new volunteers, as well as our regulars. Our regular volunteers have benefitted from gaining new skills, and having opportunities to tialISe. We held five successful open day events in the school holidays, bringing many new families to the site. We hope that they will continue to visit when we run more sessions next year. We have built on the collaborations we have with other local organisations. For the fourth year running we worked with Tinsley Caring Hands and Heart offering gardening and art and crafts. The women that attended these sessions benefitted from social interaction and improving their confidence through trying new activities. We have continued to develop our relationship with Manor and Castle Development Trust, working together on the toddler group. This has brought more new families to the site. We aim to offer a friendly and welcoming environment for all to relax, learn new skills and build confidence and we believe Tinsley Community Allotment has had another successful year. io
rinsley Community Allotment Trustees ' annual report- continued Forthe year ended 31 December 2024 Plans for the future We plan to continue running school and open sessions from March to October and toddler sessions from after Easter until the summer, in 2025. The plan is also to continue to develop our collaborations Wlth other community groups and organisations in the area. We will continue to offer holiday sessions, with themed days in the summer, Easter and October school holidays. Financially we will continue to pay our staff for two days a week from the start of March until early Ortober lincluding paying for half a day admin time, weekly) and then pay them for one day a week until the end of 2025. In 2025 we propose to employ the staff for 20 weeks at one day a week and 30 weeks at two days a week. We will review the pay rate at our next AGM. British Land will continue to provide the funding for school sessions and toddler sessions for one year. As part of this agreement, we will continue to work with staff from Meadowhall, by offering volunteer work days to them. We are currently waiting to hear if we will be given the Eon Community Fund grant for 2025 to pay for our open sessions. We have been successful in receiving a further grant from Hubbub Nature Funds to pay for three open days in the summer and for maintenance of the orchard area. Eon have provided a grant to pay for an Easter Holiday event which brought in 60 visitors. We hope to work again with Tinsley Caring Hands and Heart (depending on funding) to run more sessions for carers. We will also continue to investigate any other funding streams that are relevant to the project. The plan is to continue with our online presence with regular social media posts. Reserves policy We have reviewed our Reserves Policy and, after assessing the risk profile of our income streams and fixed and variable costs, have introduced a new reserves policy target at a range between £3,512 and £5,712 a year, if all funding streams are successful for 2025. This will enable the allotment to continue with current grant levels for approximately a range of between 3.7 and 5.9 years working on the current reserves in the bank. At the end of the accounting year, we still had £1,277 restricted fund to spend from the Hubbub Nature Hubs funding, this project was completed in March 2025. There was also £9 remaininE on other restricted fund balances. The free reserves at 31 Oecember 2024 were £21,025. Based on the current forecast for the number of days employed into 2025 and income levels remaining the same, our spend of £5,312 will use the reserves within 3.9 years. Approved by the trustees on 25 June 2025 and signed on their behalf by.. T_ s&AI.. T Shortland Trustee li
Accountant's report to the Trustees of Tinsley Community Allotment on the Preparation of the Unaudited Financial Statements for the year ended 31 December 2024 In order to assist you to fulfil your duties under the Charities Act 2011, we have prepared for your approval the accounts of the Tinsley Community Allotment for the year ended 31 December 2024 from the charity's accounting records and from information and explanations you have given us. As a practising member firm of the Institute of Chartered Accountants in England and Wales IICAEWI, we are subject to its ethical and other professional requirements which are detailed at http=//www.icaew.com/en/membership/regulations-standards-and-guidance. This report is made solely to the Board of Trustees of the Tinsley Community Allotment, as a body, in accordance with the terms of our engagement letter dated 02102/2023. Our work has been undertaken solely to prepare for your approval the accounts of the Tinsley Community Allotment and state those matters that we have agreed to state to the Board of Trustees of the Tinsley Community Allotment, as a body. To the fullest extent permitted by law, we do not accept or assume responsibility to anyone other than the finsley Community Allotment and its Board of Trustees as a body for our work or for this report. It is your duty to ensure that the Tinsley Community Allotment has kept adequate accounting records and to prepare statutory accounts that give a true and fair view of the assets, liabilities, financial position and surplus of the Tinsley Community Allotment. You consider that the Tinsley Community Allotment is exempt from the statutory audit requirement for the year. We have not been instrurted to carry out an audit or a review of the accounts of the Tinsley Community Allotment. For this reason, we have not verified the accuracy or completeness of the accounting records or information and explanations you have given to us and we do not, therefore, express any opinion on the statutory accounts. Signed.. Seven Hills Accountants Limited 57 Burton Street Sheffield S6 2HH 27 Jun 2025 Date= 12
Tlnsley Communlty Allotment Receipts & payments account For the period ended 31 December 2024 Unrestricted Restricted fund fund Totsl 2024 Totsl 2023 Notes Receipts Grants & donations Charitable activities 137 690 11,641 11,778 690 9,590 690 Total receipts 827 11,641 12,468 10,280 Payments Equipment Resources Seeds & plants Insurance Accountancy Sessional Support wages Admin Other Publicity 227 328 236 227 430 255 176 390 11,070 3,330 214 52 775 534 79 166 360 9,880 3,940 80 25 102 19 176 390 1,500 3,330 9,570 214 52 Total payments 5.517 10.627 16.144 15.839 Net receiptsl {paymentsl for the year 14,6901 1,014 {3,6761 (5,559) Transfers between funds Net movement in funds after transfers 14,6901 1,014 {3,6761 (5,559) Total funds brought forward 25,715 272 25,987 31,546 Total funds carried forward 21,025 1,286 22,311 25,987 13
Tlnsley Communlty Allotment Statement of assets and liabillties As at 31 December 2024 2024 2023 Cash assets Balances at bank- Current account 22,311 25,987 Total 22.311 25,987 2024 2023 Debtors Other debtor5 2024 2023 Liabilities Creditors Accountancy 14 495 360 509 360 These Financial Statements are accepted by the trustees on 25 June 2025 Signed on behalf of the Board of Trustees by.. T_ s¥AI_ T Shortland Trustee 14
rinsley Comrnunty Allotment Notes to the accounts Forthe perfod ended 31 December 2024 l Recelpts & payments account Receipts and payments accounts are staremenrs that summ3rise the movement of cash into and out of the organisation during the financial year. In this context 'cash includes cash equivalent5, for ex3mple, b3nk accounts where cash can be readily withdr3Wn to pay for debts a5 they become due. Unrestricted funds comprlse of general funds and deslgnated funds. General funds are empendable at the discretlon of the trustees in the furtherance of the objectives of ihe charitv. Restricted funds are subject to specific conditions by donors 3S to how they may be used. The purpose5 and u5e5 of the restricted funds are set out in the note5 tothe accounts 2 Grants & donatlons Unrestrirted Restricted funds fund5 2024 Total 2023 Total Donations sheffield City Council Ward Pot South Yorkshire Comrnunity Fund British Land Grant Eon Community Fund Hubbub Foundation Tin51ey Forum Under 5's 37 37 121 719 973 3,653 3.0 loo 3,821 3.OLKI 4,0(I) 820 3,921 3.000 4,000 820 1.124 137 11.641 11,778 9,590 3 Income from Charitableactivitie5 Unrestrfcted funds Restrlrted funds 2024 Total 2023 Total Contract5 and projects Attivity session income 690 690 690 690 690 690 4 Restricted funds Opening balante l-Jan-24 Closlng balance 31-Dec-24 Receipts Payments Transfers Hubbub Foundaiion South Yorkshire Community Fund Eon Community Fund Grant British Land Grant Tinsley Forum Under 5's 4,CQO 1.277 272 3,(QD 3,821 820 13,0001 13,8141 272 11.641 110,6271 1.286 Hubbub Foundation A Nature Hubs project with themes of Increasing acce55 2nd bringing people together. Funding io run three summer family open days and to improve the orch3rd by planting new fruits in the orchard, add signage and carry out tidyin8 and m31lltenance on the site. Also fundingfor training for the two 5e5sional 5UPPOrt workers. South Yorkshire Community Fund Fvndingto run sessions over autumn and winter In order to provide continviry for regular visitors. Eon Communlty Fund Grant Fundin8for a programme of organic fruit and ve8et3ble CU1vation sessions for the benefit of the local community. ritlsh Land Grant Fundingfortwo projects. The first project is running a programme of organic fruit and vegetable cultivation sessions for local school children. The second is runningweekty sessions in term time offered to families of toddler5 in the local 3rea. Tin51ey Forurn Under 5.5 Fundin8to run three surnmer holiday'Fafflily Days. 15
rinsley Comrnunty Allotment Notes to the accounts Forthe perfod ended 31 December 2024 4 Restrlded fijnds luntlnuedl Prior yeor pening bolonce l-Jun-23 Closing bolonce 31-Dec-23 Receipts Payment5 Tran5[er5 Sheffieldcity Council Wurfl Pot south Yorkshire CommunytyFund EDll Community Fund Grant 8ritysh Lond Sront Tin51ey Forum ijnder 5 5 719 973 17191 f7011 13.0001 13,6531 11,1241 272 3,653 1,124 9,469 9,197 272 S Trustee5' remuneration Trustees received no empenses. remuDeratioD or benefits in thls perlod. 6 Transattions yth related parties No other transactions have taken place with related parties duringthe ye3r, otherthan those included ill note S. 16