## Friends of Pontardawe Arts Centre  Trustees Report 2021 

## **Governance** 

The Friends are a registered Charity - Reg No 1181401. 

1/3 trustees are to be [re]elected at AGM. If required Trustees can be co-opted during the year. 

## **Purpose** 

To advance education of the public in the arts in all its forms by providing and assisting in the provision of facilities at  Pontardawe Arts Centre as a cultural, educational, and recreational Centre through the activities of the Friends, in particular but not exclusively by the provision of volunteering opportunities, practical and financial support. The activities referred to have been undertaken with the public benefit of the local and wider community in mind. 

## **Summary Report** 

This report finds the Arts Centre and ourselves in an important period of “transition” . In and out of Covid19 and managing around the various important controls resulted in it being quite a disruptive period.  We continue to meet and work with the Art Centre Team to help advise them and think about how best to support the Arts Centre and its “new” team led by Merion Gittins. 

Hopefully you’ll have read the article Martin Davies wrote from the Friends in the local community magazine.  This was to help with publicity and introduce the new team just when the centre was reopening. 

We have also met with the Chief Executive of Neath Port Talbot County Council and her senior team.  We gained assurances about the new Cinema investment and ancillary works.  We’re a little frustrated at the lack of progress but understanding of the pressures.  We had been holding back a major part of our savings to help make a contribution to this.  In discussion it is clear our money may be better used in other ways – directly supporting users (old and new) versus infrastructure.  The exception is we are in discussion with the Art Centre about the possibility of contributing towards a “work of art” which is needed to gain the Art Council’s investment in the new Cinema. More to come on this! 

We generated various ideas to support groups to come back to the Art Centre and “disadvantaged” users.  Specifically, we subsidised some classes to help them get started.  Other ideas we had – such as subsidising tickets for disadvantaged people to help them attend shows – the Art Centre were able to build on and access Neath Port Talbot funds.  Team work in action! 

Taking this all into account, our funds ended the year approximately the same as the previous year with a closing balance of just over £30,000.  You’ll see the major items on the Treasurer’s Report.  One item (Food Pantry donation) is a transaction carried forward from Xmas 2019.  We still benefit from great support from AWEL wind Farm Co-operative who “allocated” us £20000 in shares: we can’t sell these so that’s why 



you see a nominal value of £1 on the accounts.  What we do get, and are very grateful for, is an annual payment of “interest” on these shares of £1000.  This comes in “tranches” which might not reflect our financial reporting year; hence it looks lower than the previous year’s income.  Overall, the story is a healthy financial base: the task is to agree how to use it to best effect. Your views matter. 

Our “formal” membership  is relatively stable – we’ve gone down ten members to 89 over the period.  We’ve kept members updated (with more to do of course) over the year with news items. 

I mentioned change. Thanks to David Davies who is not seeking re-election as a Trustee.  David is a founding member of the Friends and we’ll miss him.  One of your committee members is sadly leaving us, emigrating to another part of Wales – thanks Ian for your work. 

One third of Trustees stand down at every AGM and can seek re-election. So, this year you will have the opportunity to decide on two Trustees who are seeking reelection – Grant Duncan and Martin Davies. 

We also welcome more people getting involved in doing things on the Committee, turning ideas into action.  If interested, just drop us a line on pacfriends1@fopac.org 



## **Friends of Pontardawe Art centre Statement of Financial Activity January 1st 2021 — December 31st 2021** 

|**01/01/2021**|||**BANK OPENING BALANCE**|
|---|---|---|---|
|**30,170.12**||||
|**INCOME**||||
|**Membership Fees**||Income ongoing throughout the year<br>(membership 89)||
|882.01||||
|**AWEL Wind Turbine Co-operative**||||
|**18/06/2021**|Interest from shares held||166.67|
|**Fundraising**||||
|000.00||||
|**01/03/2021**|Deposit of funds held for||retirement collection|
|345.00||||
||||**INCOME**|
|**1393.68**||||
||||**TOTAL INCOME**|
|**31563.80**||||
|**EXPENDITURE**||||
|**06/09/2021**|Donation Pantry Food bank|||
|100.00||||
|**13/10/2021**|Support for groups using||the art centre|
||(Groups unable to cover costs due to reduced number rules)|||
||Age|Disability Group: £300||
||Solar Dance Group:£408||708.00|
|**13/10/2021**|Payment of retirement collection|||
|345.00||||
||||**TOTAL EXPENDITURE**|
|**1153.00**||||
|**ASSETS**||||
|**31/12/2021**|||**BANK CLOSING BALANCE**|
|**30,410.80**||||





**OTHER ASSETS** Shares in AWEL wind Farm Co-Operative 1.00 

(Nominal Value as shares cannot be sold) 

## **TOTAL OF ASSETS** 

## **30,411.80** 

**I verify that to the best of my knowledge these are an accurate set of accounts for year ending 31st December 2021.     Kathleen Davies, Treasurer Friends of Pontardawe Arts Centre.** 

**Date:…………………………………….** 

**Signed:** 

**……………………………………………..**