COMPANY REGISTRATION NUMBER: 08441190
CHARITY REGISTRATION NUMBER: 1181812
The Lymm Sanctuary Hub Limited Company Limited by Guarantee Unaudited Financial Statements
31 December 2024
| Page | |
|---|---|
| Trustees’ Annual Report | 2 |
| Statement of financial activities (including income and | |
| expenditure account) | 9 |
| Statement of financial position | 10 |
| Notes to the financial statements | 11 |
Trustees’ Annual Report
Year Ending 31 December 2024
1. Objectives and Activities
Lymm Sanctuary Hub (LSH), based in the Lymm Library Annexe, provides a range of community services to local people, including those with special needs, the young, elderly and vulnerable. Our charitable objects are to promote any charitable purpose for the benefit of the community as the trustees see fit in particular but not exclusively by the following means:
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To provide information and advice to people in need, especially the elderly, through a drop-in centre and workshops, designed to cover all areas of need that they may face.
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To provide an affordable counselling service for those with mental health and relational issues and support to those with dementia.
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To provide a mentoring and tuition service for young people and adults.
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To provide a support network and services for young families, particularly those new to the village and those without local family support, and to those who find themselves isolated after breakdown in family relationships.
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To provide financial counselling and advice services to those struggling with their finances and those in debt.
LSH has two operating subsidiaries:
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Lymm Business Centre Ltd (Reg. No. 11480852) provides affordable office space and hot-desking, event/meeting room space and business support services from its base on first floor of the Lymm Library Annexe.
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Sanctuary Café Lymm CIC (Reg. No. 11861482) is an ecumenical, community-based initiative, supported by the churches in the Lymm area, which provides high quality food, drinks and cakes at reasonable prices and also selling books, cards and gifts. It is based in the Lymm United Reformed Church Hall adjacent to the Lymm Library.
This Report & Accounts does not include the accounts for the above subsidiaries which are prepared separately.
2. Achievements and Performance in 2024
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Increased participation in most of our core projects. The number of local residents, who are actively engaged with us, has risen five-fold since we started our Reaching Communities Project in 2023;
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Strengthened our volunteer base. We now have 45 volunteers who contributed an impressive 3,320 hours to Lymm Sanctuary Hub in 2024;
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Developed a Volunteer Recruitment Strategy;
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Reviewed our TLC project, with a view to expanding it in 2025;
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Ran successful community engagement sessions and responding to issues raised by local residents;
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Prepared to launch two new projects in 2025:
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Vantry, to reduce food waste and help with the cost of living;
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Talking Point, to offer free advice on a range of issues including transport, carer support, help with accessing benefits, and accessing community activities;
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Set-up a network of local groups that offer support within our community, and working with them to produce a comprehensive guide to weekly social activities available within the area, helping to reduce social isolation for adults.
Our projects, which have been running for a few years, continue to go well:
Memory Café provides support for those living with dementia, including their families and carers. Its main objectives are to provide a stimulating and enjoyable afternoon for those living with dementia in a safe, welcoming and familiar setting, and to support those caring for loved ones living with dementia. The Café also offers regular advice sessions for carers, and the opportunity to spend time with others who understand the challenges they face. It celebrated its 5[th] birthday in 2024. The number of core participants remains consistent, with several new members joining us over the year. Sadly, in 2024/25 we lost several long-standing members of the group, and at least one Memory Café volunteer chose to attend every funeral. One of the families decided to raise funds for local groups that had supported their loved one and they very kindly donated £200 to Memory Café in his memory.
Singing for the Brain is an hour of singing and fun for people living with or affected by dementia or other forms of memory loss. Families and carers are also welcome. The group meets twice a month during term time in the Sanctuary Café for singing, friendship and refreshments. The group leader
is a local singer and musician who has trained with the Alzheimer’s Society. Holding the sessions in the Sanctuary Cafe has proved to be very successful and we often find that local residents visiting the cafe join in with the fun.
Digital Café offers free weekly drop-in sessions and monthly tutorials, aimed at tackling digital isolation, primarily targeted at the over-55s. Regular feedback from people attending Digital Café sessions mentions how friendly and welcoming the volunteers are, and how the project has really had a positive impact on attendees. The monthly tutorials are also extremely popular. These are open to anyone in our community wanting to explore a particular issue in more depth and are run by the Digital Café volunteers. Topics covered this year have included safe use of the internet, using Microsoft Office, linking devices, using internet banking safely and playing Bridge online.
The Sanctuary Counselling Service has grown significantly over the year. The number of clients and counselling sessions have more than doubled compared with last year, thanks to the great work of the Project Lead and its volunteer counsellors. We now have 11 active counsellors and the waiting list have been halved. Our Project Lead has continued to improve and document our administrative and functional processes, making them more robust and fit for purpose.
Lymm Parents & Carers (LymmPac ) was established in March 2023 to offer a safe, friendly space for parents and carers of children and young people on the Special Educational Needs (SEN) pathway to meet and offer peer support. It is led by a volunteer who has lived experience of the challenges that many such parents face, including loneliness, isolation and frustration with education and medical systems. It consists of a small core group of parents whose children attend schools in Lymm and Thelwall. During sessions they discuss current issues and challenges, share information and advice and just offer support in a completely non-judgmental atmosphere.
The Lymm Companions (TLC) aims to reduce social isolation and loneliness in our community. The project links members of the community with a local TLC volunteer. The volunteers meet up with their partners once a week on average and either sit at home with them having a chat, playing games and reminiscing, or they go out with them to various activities. Currently, there are 5 active partnership which are going well but we don’t have a project leader at present so this role is being fulfilled by our Community Projects Manager. We have carried out a review of the project and decided to put it on hold until we can recruit a project leader. The existing partnerships will continue to run in the meantime.
Lymm Environmental Action Forum (LEAF) provides information and support on environmental issues and organises events and activities in the Lymm and local area. It is not a core Hub project but is supported by the Hub with administration, finance and marketing services. LEAF ran a number of highly successful events over the past year, including stalls during Lymm Festival focusing on the reduction of food waste and an energy advice event in the Village Hall offering advice and information about reducing energy use and costs. LEAF has purchased a second, more powerful thermal camera which is available on loan to local residents to identify internal and external heat loss areas in their homes. The group has donated books about the environment to Lymm Library and has undertaken a survey, completed by 66 residents, to assess awareness of LEAF and topics for future focus.
Towards the end of the year, we worked on plans for two new projects which were due to be launched early in 2025:
Talking Point: a free weekly service in our community where residents can access help and advice about a range of issues including housing, carer support, travel and transport, cost of living support and access to community services.
Vantry: a collaboration between the Lymm Sanctuary Hub, Warrington Foodbank and Warrington Voluntary Action (WVA). Its main aims are to reduce food waste and provide access to staple foodstuffs at an affordable level. It is being set up in response to a growing number of referrals to the Foodbank from Lymm and the surrounding area.
We also worked on plans to set up an informal network of local community organisations to raise awareness of social events which people can attend each week for a warm welcome, a friendly chat and refreshments.
Other activities are described under the following headings:
Volunteers: Over the year, we recruited 11 new volunteers resulting in a total of 45 volunteers, alongside our 3 part-time members of staff. Our volunteers play an essential role in delivering Lymm Sanctuary Hub’s various projects.
Following the introduction of a new induction procedure, volunteer role descriptions for each project and a Volunteer Handbook, new joiners now follow a set procedure, including informal introductory meetings, an induction checklist, completion of an information form and volunteer agreement confirming they understand the importance of maintaining the confidentiality of our clients. We have a safer recruitment policy which includes collecting references for new applicants, and we also complete DBS checks for certain projects.
Other volunteer activities included:
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Setting- up a WhatsApp Community to manage communication with our volunteers, and to help with data protection of their private numbers.
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Producing a volunteer newsletter (The Hub Post) every few months, to update volunteers on our existing projects and new projects and we also highlight other local projects which offer volunteering opportunities.
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Training to our volunteers internally on topics such as safeguarding and organising a Dementia Awareness workshop which was delivered by The Alzheimer’ Society.
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Organising a Christmas social event which enables our volunteers to meet people from other projects.
Community Engagement: Community engagement is essential to the work that we do. We engaged with our community in several different ways:
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meeting members of our community at all of our projects and in the building where the Hub is centred, which we share with the Library. We receive a lot of positive verbal and written feedback from our projects throughout the year.
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holding a Community Engagement event as part of the National Lottery Open Week in March 2024, and inviting local residents to offer ideas for new projects to support our community. t.
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running a gift campaign for local residents who are likely to be on their own or caring for a loved one over Christmas;
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developing and implementing a marketing campaign to raise awareness of the Hub and our projects. This included work on our website, press releases and adverts in Lymm Life, posters for local noticeboards, distribution of flyers and social media posts.
External Stakeholders: We continue to build strong relationships with external stakeholders and the number of agencies with which we have good relationships is growing. We work closely with Warrington Voluntary Action (WVA) in several key areas and other stakeholders include:
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Our Social Prescriber
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The South Warrington Primary Care Network (NHS)
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Warrington Foodbank
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Churches Together Lymm & District
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Oughtrington Community Centre
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Lymm Youth & Community Centre (LYCA)
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Lymm Repair Café.
Community Projects Team: The Community Projects Team consists of Joyce Murdoch (Projects Manager), Ceri Chamberlain (Volunteer Coordinator) and Sally Mbousia (Administrator). The Trustees would like to thank the Team for all their hard work and dedication over the year and for delivering such as strong performance. This has included having to step-in to lead some of our projects on top of their normal workload.
The Trustees are kept informed of progress through a comprehensive quarterly report, prepared by the Projects Manager, which forms the basis for this report.
3. Financial Review
The total income for the year was £119,101 which was comprised of £52,796 in grants (mainly from Reaching Communities), £57,624 in donated time by volunteers and providers of professional services, £6,001 in donations and grants & donations and £2,680 from the counselling service and sundry income.
Total expenditure was £130,197 which comprised £45,928 in salaries, £50,782 in direct projects costs, £15,000 in governance costs and £18,487 in office overheads and marketing.
The overall loss for the year was £11,096. This loss includes an accrual of £10,683 for rent and service charge which is currently under discussion with the building owner, Warrington Borough Council.
Total charity funds stood at £22,379 at the year end.
4. Activities to-date in 2025
We produced our second annual report on the Reaching Communities project early in April and discussed it at a meeting with our National Lottery Projects Officer early in June. She was very pleased with the progress made and we agreed the budget for this year which is similar to the original total annual budget but with some changes to the amounts allocated to the various funding categories. Our current 3-year project funding finishes at the end of February 2026 so we also discussed the submission of a new
application to Reaching Communities for continuation of the community programme. Our Projects officer encouraged us to submit a Stage 1 application as soon as possible due to the large number of applications Reaching Communities has received for its new programme. As a result, we submitted our Stage 1 application, which is for 5 years’ funding, in the middle of July and are still waiting for a response. If successful, we will be asked to develop and submit a much more detailed Stage 2 application as soon as possible to allow time for evaluation and a decision early in the New Year.
Our two new projects were launched earlier this year:
Vantry opened as a ‘pop-up’ shop on Monday afternoons in the Hub’s community room. The layout is specifically made to look like a farm shop to encourage residents to want to visit. Each week a range of staple foods, such as cereals, rice, pasta, bread and tinned goods, as well as fresh fruit and vegetables are available for anyone in the community to buy at low cost. We also provide free hot drinks and cakes or biscuits and a place to sit, to encourage people to sit and chat. Since the start, it has proved to be very popular and we now have 206 households registered with the project, supporting around 550 people. One of the really positive things about the project is the number of people who are staying for refreshments after their shopping is done. We are engaging with residents that we have never met before, chatting with them and getting to know them in a relaxed atmosphere.
Talking Point was launched at the end of March and takes place weekly in the Lymm Youth & Community Association (LYCA) building, running alongside their Thursday morning Market Breakfast Club. The service is volunteer led and advisors have been trained by WVA and by LSH so that they can deliver the project knowledgeably and confidently. Talking Point client numbers are small growing slowly, in line with all of the other sites across the town. All three of our current volunteers have proved to be excellent in their customer care roles, and the clients have been very positive about the support they have been shown. We have recruited three more volunteers to work on the project, and they will start the training and shadowing process as soon as possible.
We also launched the Social Network by publishing a calendar showing free and lowcost opportunities for adults where they can go for refreshments and an opportunity to socialise. We have included groups that offer casual opportunities to meet other people each week, rather than groups which are based on a particular theme. Partners in this project include Lymm Youth and Community Association, Oughtrington Community Centre and the local churches. It has been published in Lymm Life and we also post the information on village noticeboards, in GP surgeries, in local churches and online via Facebook and local websites.
Key developments in our core projects have been as follows:
Memory Café is going well but is now without a leader again. None of the current team is willing to take on the role, so we are looking for a new volunteer to join us as Project Lead. Until that happens Joyce and Ceri are managing the project. We have bought new dementia friendly jigsaws and replaced some of the old board games that we use in our termly social sessions. These purchases were made using the donation received from the family of one of our participants who died earlier this year. There has been a big re-organisation of resources and the installation of a storage unit at the back of the church. We are planning to run a bereavement workshop with the Counselling Service this Autumn. We have lost so many of our Memory Café guests this year, and it is deeply upsetting for the volunteers, some of whom have known them since the project began.
Singing for the Brain continues to be a brilliant project, run with great energy and enthusiasm by Helen Elliott. The feedback that we receive is universally positive. Responses from members of the community are also great, other café customers who are visiting for lunch often comment how lovely it is to see and hear so many people not only singing along but laughing, chatting, reminiscing and enjoying themselves.
Counselling : The Counselling team continues to receive very positive feedback from clients. The refurbishment of the Church Vestry to provide a warm, comfortable space is in progress. We received a donation of £400 from the Soroptomists towards the cost of the refurbishment, for which we are very grateful.
Digital Café: Our volunteer numbers have reduced as work and personal commitments have affected some peoples’ ability to support the project. Currently we have only 5 active volunteers, although a new recruit has joined us in September and a further 2 people have shown interest in joining the team. The project leader had to step back from the project earlier this year due to family reasons but is now making a gradual return to his role.
LymmPaC (Lymm Parents and Carers) regularly receive unsolicited testimonials from members telling us how much they value the support and advice that they receive. We are reviewing how to increase awareness of the group within the community to increase the number of participants. This will focus on working with local referral services, making the Facebook group an open one that anyone can join and linking with Warrington Voluntary Action.
The Lymm Companions (TLC) is still on hold as we try to seek funding for the Project Lead role. Three of our participants have been with us since the project started and its effect on their wellbeing continues to be very positive. Sadly, one of our participants, who had just turned 100 years old, died in early August. His death raised a concern in terms of our duty of care to our volunteers and we are considering offering them support in future from our Counselling team if needed.
Lymm Environmental Action Forum (LEAF) volunteers ran a stall with the Hub Projects team during the Lymm Food Festival in June. The theme was reducing food waste, and we engaged with lots of people via a quiz, recipe ideas using foodstuffs that are usually thrown away and promoting the Vantry project. LEAF volunteers also supported the Liveable Lymm stall at the May Queen in July. The thermal camera proved very successful at helping residents to identify heat losses from their homes last winter and will be available again for hire in the Autumn. The group is now employing a specialist to help with marketing and social media as well as continuing to get help from the community projects team in this area.
Other activities have been as follows:
Volunteers: Our Volunteer Coordinator is busy recruiting and inducting several new volunteers, most of whom have come to us via our Hub Roadshow in June (see below). The priority is for more volunteers for Digital Café and Talking Point.
Community Engagement: We ran our first Hub Community Engagement Roadshow during National Small Charities week in June which was a great success. We set up at High Legh Garden Centre, at the Cross in Lymm and by the canal during a Talking Point session and engaged with 110 members of our community over the course of three days. We intend to continue this model throughout the year, holding more outdoor popup events as and when the weather allows as well as visiting local groups and organisations.
Projects Team: The biggest challenge facing us at the moment is that the Team is actively managing 5 out of the 8 Hub projects, which is taking a lot of their work hours and is not sustainable in the long term. We are seeking a new Memory Café Project Lead and we are still looking for funding for the TLC Project Lead role. We hope to be able to handover both of the newer projects, in which we are delivery partners (Vantry and Talking Point), to volunteers and partner organisations soon.
The Lymm Sanctuary Hub Limited
Company Limited by Guarantee
Statement of Financial Activities (including income and expenditure account)
Year ended 31 December 2024
| Unrestricted | Restricted | 2024 Total | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| funds | funds | funds |
2023 | |||
| Note | £ | £ | £ | £ | ||
| Income and endowments | ||||||
| Donations and grants | ||||||
| 5 | 85,538 | 30,883 | 116,421 | 101,754 | ||
| Charitable activities | 6 | 2,600 | 2,600 | 15,075 | ||
| Other trading activities | 7 | 80 | - | 80 | 632 | |
| ---------------------------- | ---------------------------- | ---------------------------- | ---------------------------- | |||
| Total income | 88,218 | 30,883 | 119,101 | 117,461 | ||
| ============================ | ============================ | ============================ | ============================ | |||
| Expenditure | ||||||
| Expenditure on charitable activities | 8,9 | (36.368) | (29,414) | (65,782) | (67,115) | |
| Other expenditure | 10 | (64,415) | (64,415) | (48,758) | ||
| ---------------------------- | ---------------------------- | ---------------------------- | ---------------------------- | |||
| Total expenditure | (100,783) | (29,414) | (130,197) | (115,873) | ||
| ============================ | ============================ | ============================ | ============================ | |||
| ---------------------------- | ---------------------------- | ---------------------------- | ---------------------------- | |||
| Net income | (12,565) | 1,469 | (11,096) | 1,588 | ||
| ============================ | ============================ | ============================ | ============================ | |||
| Transfer | ||||||
| ---------------------------- | - | -------------------------- | ---------------------------- | ---------------------------- | ||
| Net movement in funds | (12,565) | 1,469 | (11,096) | 1,588 | ||
| Reconciliation of funds | ||||||
| Transfers between funds | (134) | 134 | ||||
| Total funds b/forward | ||||||
| 15,807 | 17,668 | 33,475 | 31,887 | |||
| ---------------------------- | ---------------------------- | ---------------------------- | ---------------------------- | |||
| Total funds carried forward | 3,108 | 19,271 | 22,379 | 33,475 | ||
| ============================ | ============================ | ============================ | ============================ |
The statement of financial activities includes all gains and losses recognised in the year. All income and expenditure derive from continuing activities.
The notes on pages 11 to 19 form part of these financial statements.
9
The Lymm Sanctuary Hub Limited
Company Limited by Guarantee
Statement of Financial Position
31 December 2024
| 2024 | 2023 | ||
|---|---|---|---|
| Note | £ | £ | |
| Fixed assets | |||
| Tangible fixed assets | 13 | 12,311 | 8,960 |
| Investments | |||
| ---------------------------- | ---------------------------- | ||
| 12,311 | 8,960 | ||
| Current assets | |||
| Cash at bank and in hand | 15,685 | 19,171 | |
| Debtors | |||
| Amounts owed by group companies | 44,631 | 44,630 | |
| Other Debtors | 500 | 500 | |
| Creditors: amounts falling due within one year | |||
| Amounts owed to group companies | |||
| Accruals | 48,934 | 38,251 | |
| PAYE & Wages | 1,814 | 1,535 | |
| ---------------------------- | ----------------------- | ||
| Net current asset | 10,068 | 24,515 | |
| ---------------------------- | ---------------------------- | ||
| Total assets less current liabilities | 22,379 | 33,475 | |
| ============================ | ============================ | ||
| Funds of the charity | |||
| Restricted funds | 19,271 | 15,807 | |
| Unrestricted funds | 3,108 | ,17,668 | |
| ---------------------------- | ---------------------------- | ||
| Total charity funds | 14 | 22,379 ============================ |
33,475 ============================ |
For the year ending 31 December 2024 the charity was entitled to exemption from audit under section 477 of the Companies Act 2006 relating to small companies.
Directors' responsibilities:
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The members have not required the company to obtain an audit of its financial statements for the year in question in accordance with section 476;
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The directors acknowledge their responsibilities for complying with the requirements of the Act with respect to accounting records and the preparation of financial statements.
These financial statements have been prepared in accordance with the provisions applicable to companies subject to the small companies' regime.
These financial statements were approved by the board of trustees and authorised for issue on 18[th] September 2024, and are signed on behalf of the board by:
Mr R C Pearce, Trustee
The notes on pages 11 to 19 form part of these financial statements.
10
The Lymm Sanctuary Hub Limited
Company Limited by Guarantee
Notes to the Financial Statements
Year ended 31 December 2024
1. General information
The charity is a public benefit entity and a private company limited by guarantee, registered in England and Wales and a registered charity in England and Wales. The address of the registered office is: Office 16, Hamilton Davies House,117 Liverpool Road, M44 5BG.
2. Statement of compliance
These financial statements have been prepared in compliance with FRS 102, 'The Financial Reporting Standard applicable in the UK and the Republic of Ireland', the Statement of Recommended Practice applicable to charities preparing their accounts in accordance with the Financial Reporting Standard applicable in the UK and Republic of Ireland (FRS 102) (Charities SORP (FRS 102)) and the Companies Act 2006.
3. Accounting policies
Basis of preparation
The financial statements have been prepared on the historical cost basis, as modified by the revaluation of certain financial assets and liabilities and investment properties measured at fair value through income or expenditure.
The financial statements are prepared in sterling, which is the functional currency of the entity.
Going concern
There are no material uncertainties about the charity's ability to continue.
Fund accounting
Unrestricted funds are available for use at the discretion of the trustees to further any of the charity's purposes.
Designated funds are unrestricted funds earmarked by the trustees for particular future project or commitment.
Restricted funds are subjected to restrictions on their expenditure declared by the donor or through the terms of an appeal, and fall into one of two sub-classes: restricted income funds or endowment funds.
10
The Lymm Sanctuary Hub Limited
Company Limited by Guarantee
Notes to the Financial Statements (continued)
Year ended 31 December 2024
3. Accounting policies (continued)
Incoming resources
All incoming resources are included in the statement of financial activities when entitlement has passed to the charity; it is probable that the economic benefits associated with the transaction will flow to the charity and the amount can be reliably measured. The following specific policies are applied to particular categories of income:
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income from donations or grants is recognised when there is evidence of entitlement to the gift, receipt is probable and its amount can be measured reliably.
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legacy income is recognised when receipt is probable and entitlement is established.
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income from donated goods is measured at the fair value of the goods unless this is impractical to measure reliably, in which case the value is derived from the cost to the donor or the estimated resale value. Donated facilities and services are recognised in the accounts when received if the value can be reliably measured. No amounts are included for the contribution of general volunteers.
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income from contracts for the supply of services is recognised with the delivery of the contracted service. This is classified as unrestricted funds unless there is a contractual requirement for it to be spent on a particular purpose and returned if unspent, in which case it may be regarded as restricted.
Resources expended
Expenditure is recognised on an accruals basis as a liability is incurred. Expenditure includes any VAT which cannot be fully recovered, and is classified under headings of the statement of financial activities to which it relates:
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expenditure on raising funds includes the costs of all fundraising activities, events, noncharitable trading activities, and the sale of donated goods.
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expenditure on charitable activities includes all costs incurred by a charity in undertaking activities that further its charitable aims for the benefit of its beneficiaries, including those support costs and costs relating to the governance of the charity apportioned to charitable activities.
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other expenditure includes all expenditure that is neither related to raising funds for the charity nor part of its expenditure on charitable activities.
All costs are allocated to expenditure categories reflecting the use of the resource. Direct costs attributable to a single activity are allocated directly to that activity. Shared costs are apportioned between the activities they contribute to on a reasonable, justifiable and consistent basis.
Tangible assets
Tangible assets are initially recorded at cost, and subsequently stated at cost less any accumulated depreciation and impairment losses. Any tangible assets carried at revalued amounts are recorded at the fair value at the date of revaluation less any subsequent accumulated depreciation and subsequent accumulated impairment losses.
11
The Lymm Sanctuary Hub Limited
Company Limited by Guarantee
Notes to the Financial Statements (continued)
Year ended 31 December 2024
3. Accounting policies (continued)
Tangible assets (continued)
An increase in the carrying amount of an asset as a result of a revaluation, is recognised in other recognised gains and losses, unless it reverses a charge for impairment that has previously been recognised as expenditure within the statement of financial activities. A decrease in the carrying amount of an asset as a result of revaluation, is recognised in other recognised gains and losses, except to which it offsets any previous revaluation gain, in which case the loss is shown within other recognised gains and losses on the statement of financial activities.
Investments
Unlisted equity investments are initially recorded at cost, and subsequently measured at fair value. If fair value cannot be reliably measured, assets are measured at cost less impairment.
Listed investments are measured at fair value with changes in fair value being recognised in income or expenditure.
Impairment of fixed assets
A review for indicators of impairment is carried out at each reporting date, with the recoverable amount being estimated where such indicators exist. Where the carrying value exceeds the recoverable amount, the asset is impaired accordingly. Prior impairments are also reviewed for possible reversal at each reporting date.
For the purposes of impairment testing, when it is not possible to estimate the recoverable amount of an individual asset, an estimate is made of the recoverable amount of the cash-generating unit to which the asset belongs. The cash-generating unit is the smallest identifiable group of assets that includes the asset and generates cash inflows that largely independent of the cash inflows from other assets or groups of assets.
For impairment testing of goodwill, the goodwill acquired in a business combination is, from the acquisition date, allocated to each of the cash-generating units that are expected to benefit from the synergies of the combination, irrespective of whether other assets or liabilities of the charity are assigned to those units.
4. Limited by guarantee
The company is limited by guarantee. Each member is liable to make a contribution of £10 in the event of the company being wound up.
5. Donations and Grants
| Unrestricted | Restricted | Total Funds | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Funds | Funds | 2024 | |
| £ | £ | £ | |
| Donation | |||
| Donations | 90 | 5,911 | 6,001 |
| Grants | |||
| Grants receivable (Reaching Communities, | 52,046 | 750 | 52,796 |
| Warrington Voluntary Action) |
12
The Lymm Sanctuary Hub Limited
Company Limited by Guarantee
Notes to the Financial Statements (continued)
Year ended 31 December 2024
5. Donations and legacies (continued)
| Unrestricted | Restricted | Total Funds | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Funds | Funds | 2024 | |||
| £ | £ | £ | |||
| Other donations and legacies | 33,402 | 24,222 | 57,624 | ||
| Exceptional income from donated time | |||||
| ---------------------------- | ---------------------------- | ---------------------------- | |||
| 85,538 | 30,883 | 116,421 | |||
| ============================ | ============================ | ============================ | |||
| Unrestricted | Restricted | Total Funds | |||
| Funds | Funds | 2023 | |||
| £ | £ | £ | |||
| Donations | |||||
| Donations | 1,061 |
4,486 | 5,547 | ||
| Grants | |||||
| Grants receivable | 53,578 | 1,784 | 55,362 | ||
| Other donations and legacies | |||||
| Exceptional income from donations | 29,221 | 11,624 | 40,845 | ||
| ---------------------------- | -------------- | ---------------------------- | |||
| 83,860 | 17,894 | 101,754 | |||
| ============================ | ============== | ============================ | |||
| 6. | Charitable activities | ||||
| Unrestricted | Total Funds | Unrestricted | Total Funds | ||
| Funds | 2024 | Funds | 2023 | ||
| £ | £ | £ | £ | ||
| Counselling services | 2,600 | 2,600 | 2,600 | 1,070 | |
| Profit from subsidiary and charges to | |||||
| subsidiaries | 14,005 | ||||
| ======================= | ======================= | ======================= | ======================= | ||
| 7. | Other trading activities | ||||
| Unrestricted | Total Funds | Unrestricted | Total Funds | ||
| Funds | 2024 | Funds | 2023 | ||
| £ | £ | £ | £ | ||
| Other sundry income | 80 | 80 | 80 | 632 | |
| ============== | ============== | ======================= | ======================= |
13
The Lymm Sanctuary Hub Limited
Company Limited by Guarantee
Notes to the Financial Statements (continued)
Year ended 31 December 2024
8. Expenditure on charitable activities by fund type
| Unrestricted | Restricted | Total Funds | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Funds | Funds | 2024 | |
| £ | £ | £ | |
| Memory Cafe | 12,586 | 12,586 | |
| Leave No One Behind | 134 | 134 | |
| Digital Cafe | 8,601 | 8,601 | |
| LEAF | 6,496 | 6,496 | |
| Garden project | 1,597 | 1,597 | |
| ----------------------- | ---------------------------- | ---------------------------- | |
| 29,414 | 29,414 | ||
| ======================= | ============================ | ============================ |
9 Expenditure on charitable activities by activity type
| Activities | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| undertaken | Grant funding |
Governance | Total funds | Total fund | |
| directly | of activities |
costs | 2024 | 2023 | |
| £ | £ | £ | £ | £ | |
| ---------------------------- | -------------- | ||||
| Counselling and Lymm | |||||
| PAC and TLC | 21,368 | 15,000 | 36,368 | 22,822 | |
| ============================ | ======================= | ============================ | ============================ | ============== |
10. Other expenditure
| Unrestricted | Restricted | |
|---|---|---|
| Funds | Funds | |
| £ | £ | |
| Rent and Service Charges | 10,683 | |
| Insurance | 533 | |
| Office expenses | 608 | |
| Repairs | 618 | |
| Marketing | 1,293 | |
| Just giving | 180 |
|
| Misc Service costs | 246 | |
| Pension | 231 | |
| Meals and entertainment | 295 | |
| Preparation of rooms | 2,511 | |
| Sundries | 1,289 | |
| Salaries | 45,928. |
|
| ----------------------- | ----------------------- | |
| 64,415 | ||
| ======================= | ======================= |
14
The Lymm Sanctuary Hub Limited
Company Limited by Guarantee
Notes to the Financial Statements (continued)
Year ended 31 December 2024
11. Staff costs
The total staff costs and employee benefits for the reporting period are analysed as follows:
2024 2023 £ £ The average head count of employees during the year was 3 3
No employee received employee benefits of more than £60,000 during the year (2023: Nil).
12 Trustee remuneration and expenses
No remuneration was paid to any trustee in the year.
No expenses were paid to any trustee in the year.
15
The Lymm Sanctuary Hub Limited
Company Limited by Guarantee
Notes to the Financial Statements (continued)
Year ended 31 December 2024
13. Tangible fixed assets
Cost At 1 January 2024 Additions At 31 December 2024 Depreciation At 1 January 2024 and 31 December 2024 Carrying amount At 31 December 2024 At 31 December 2023 |
Plant Tenant’s Additions £ 8,960 3,351 ----------------------- 3,351 8,960 ======================= – ======================= 3,351 8,960 ======================= 8,960 ======================= |
|---|---|
14. Analysis of charitable funds
Unrestricted funds
| Unrestricted funds | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| At | At | |||||
| 1 | January 20 24 £ |
Income £ |
Expenditure £ |
Transfers £ |
31December 2024 £ |
|
| General funds | 15,807 | 88,258 | (100,691) | (134) | 3,240 |
|
| – | ||||||
| ---------------------------- | ---------------------------- | ----------------------- | -------------- | ---------------------------- | ||
| 15,807 | 88,258 | (100,691) | (134) | 3,240 | ||
| ============================ | ============================ | ======================= | ============== | ============================ | ||
| At | At | |||||
| 1 | January 20 | 31 December | ||||
| 23 | Income | Expenditure | Transfers | 2023 | ||
| £ | £ | £ | £ | £ | ||
| General funds | ||||||
| 17,514 | 99,567 | (92,977) | (8277) | 15,807 |
||
| -------------- | ---------------------------- | ---------------------------- | -------------- | ---------------------------- | ||
| 17,514 | 99.567 | (92,977) | (8277) | 15,807 |
||
| ============== | ============================ | ============================ | ============== | ============================ |
16
The Lymm Sanctuary Hub Limited
Company Limited by Guarantee
Notes to the Financial Statements (continued)
Year ended 31 December 2024
14. Analysis of charitable funds (continued)
Restricted funds
| Leave No One behind Covid Grant Memory Cafe Digital Cafe LEAF Co-Ordinator Costs Ukraine Garden Project Leave No One behind Covid Grant Memory Cafe Digital Cafe Ukraine LEAF Kick Start Garden Project Co-Ordinator Costs |
At 1 January 2024 Income Expenditure Transfers At 31 December 2024 £ £ £ £ £ 134 134 1,355 (134) 1,221 12,586 12,586 7,198 9,006 8601 7,603 5,783 6,945 6,496 6,232 1,894 1,894 1,438 2,346 1,597 2,187 ---------------------------- ---------------------------- ---------------------------- -------------- ----------------------- 17,668 30,883 29,280 19,271 ============== ============================ ============================ ============== ======================= At 1 January 2023 Income Expenditure Transfers At 31 Dec 2023 £ £ £ £ £ 200 396 196 1,551 (196) 1,355 4,155 2,610 6,765 8,010 7,763 8,575 7,198 1,894 1,894 4,189 5,747 4,153 5,783 1,813 1,574 1,949 1,438 2,290 2,290 ---------------------------- ---------------------------- -------------- ----------------------- 23,902 17,894 24,128 17,668 = ============================ ============================ ============== ======================= |
|---|---|
17
The Lymm Sanctuary Hub Limited
Company Limited by Guarantee
Notes to the Financial Statements (continued)
Year ended 31 December 2024
15. Analysis of net assets between funds
| Unrestricted | Restricted | Restricted | Total Funds | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Funds | Funds | 2024 | ||
| £ | £ | £ | ||
| Tangible fixed assets | 8,960 | 3,351 | 12,311 | |
| Current assets | 40,899 | 19,917 | 60,816 | |
| Creditors less than 1 year | 50,748 | 50,748 | ||
| ---------------------------- | ----------------------- | ---------------------------- | ||
| Net assets | (889) | 23,268 | 22,379 | |
| ============================ | ======================= | ============================ | ||
| Unrestricted | Restricted | Total Funds | ||
| Funds | Funds | 2023 | ||
| £, | £ | £ | ||
| Tangible fixed assets | 8,960 | 8,960 | ||
| Current assets | 46,633 | 17,688 | 64,301 | |
| Creditors less than 1 year | 39,786 | 39,786 | ||
| ---------------------------- | - | ------------ | ---------------------------- | |
| Net assets | 15,807 | 17,688 | 33,475 | |
| ============================ | ============== | ============================ |
18
COMPANY REGISTRATION NUMBER: 08441190
CHARITY REGISTRATION NUMBER: 1181812
The Lymm Sanctuary Hub Limited Company Limited by Guarantee Unaudited Financial Statements
31 December 2024
| Page | |
|---|---|
| Trustees’ Annual Report | 2 |
| Statement of financial activities (including income and | |
| expenditure account) | 9 |
| Statement of financial position | 10 |
| Notes to the financial statements | 11 |
Trustees’ Annual Report
Year Ending 31 December 2024
1. Objectives and Activities
Lymm Sanctuary Hub (LSH), based in the Lymm Library Annexe, provides a range of community services to local people, including those with special needs, the young, elderly and vulnerable. Our charitable objects are to promote any charitable purpose for the benefit of the community as the trustees see fit in particular but not exclusively by the following means:
-
To provide information and advice to people in need, especially the elderly, through a drop-in centre and workshops, designed to cover all areas of need that they may face.
-
To provide an affordable counselling service for those with mental health and relational issues and support to those with dementia.
-
To provide a mentoring and tuition service for young people and adults.
-
To provide a support network and services for young families, particularly those new to the village and those without local family support, and to those who find themselves isolated after breakdown in family relationships.
-
To provide financial counselling and advice services to those struggling with their finances and those in debt.
LSH has two operating subsidiaries:
-
Lymm Business Centre Ltd (Reg. No. 11480852) provides affordable office space and hot-desking, event/meeting room space and business support services from its base on first floor of the Lymm Library Annexe.
-
Sanctuary Café Lymm CIC (Reg. No. 11861482) is an ecumenical, community-based initiative, supported by the churches in the Lymm area, which provides high quality food, drinks and cakes at reasonable prices and also selling books, cards and gifts. It is based in the Lymm United Reformed Church Hall adjacent to the Lymm Library.
This Report & Accounts does not include the accounts for the above subsidiaries which are prepared separately.
2. Achievements and Performance in 2024
-
Increased participation in most of our core projects. The number of local residents, who are actively engaged with us, has risen five-fold since we started our Reaching Communities Project in 2023;
-
Strengthened our volunteer base. We now have 45 volunteers who contributed an impressive 3,320 hours to Lymm Sanctuary Hub in 2024;
-
Developed a Volunteer Recruitment Strategy;
-
Reviewed our TLC project, with a view to expanding it in 2025;
-
Ran successful community engagement sessions and responding to issues raised by local residents;
-
Prepared to launch two new projects in 2025:
-
Vantry, to reduce food waste and help with the cost of living;
-
Talking Point, to offer free advice on a range of issues including transport, carer support, help with accessing benefits, and accessing community activities;
-
Set-up a network of local groups that offer support within our community, and working with them to produce a comprehensive guide to weekly social activities available within the area, helping to reduce social isolation for adults.
Our projects, which have been running for a few years, continue to go well:
Memory Café provides support for those living with dementia, including their families and carers. Its main objectives are to provide a stimulating and enjoyable afternoon for those living with dementia in a safe, welcoming and familiar setting, and to support those caring for loved ones living with dementia. The Café also offers regular advice sessions for carers, and the opportunity to spend time with others who understand the challenges they face. It celebrated its 5[th] birthday in 2024. The number of core participants remains consistent, with several new members joining us over the year. Sadly, in 2024/25 we lost several long-standing members of the group, and at least one Memory Café volunteer chose to attend every funeral. One of the families decided to raise funds for local groups that had supported their loved one and they very kindly donated £200 to Memory Café in his memory.
Singing for the Brain is an hour of singing and fun for people living with or affected by dementia or other forms of memory loss. Families and carers are also welcome. The group meets twice a month during term time in the Sanctuary Café for singing, friendship and refreshments. The group leader
is a local singer and musician who has trained with the Alzheimer’s Society. Holding the sessions in the Sanctuary Cafe has proved to be very successful and we often find that local residents visiting the cafe join in with the fun.
Digital Café offers free weekly drop-in sessions and monthly tutorials, aimed at tackling digital isolation, primarily targeted at the over-55s. Regular feedback from people attending Digital Café sessions mentions how friendly and welcoming the volunteers are, and how the project has really had a positive impact on attendees. The monthly tutorials are also extremely popular. These are open to anyone in our community wanting to explore a particular issue in more depth and are run by the Digital Café volunteers. Topics covered this year have included safe use of the internet, using Microsoft Office, linking devices, using internet banking safely and playing Bridge online.
The Sanctuary Counselling Service has grown significantly over the year. The number of clients and counselling sessions have more than doubled compared with last year, thanks to the great work of the Project Lead and its volunteer counsellors. We now have 11 active counsellors and the waiting list have been halved. Our Project Lead has continued to improve and document our administrative and functional processes, making them more robust and fit for purpose.
Lymm Parents & Carers (LymmPac ) was established in March 2023 to offer a safe, friendly space for parents and carers of children and young people on the Special Educational Needs (SEN) pathway to meet and offer peer support. It is led by a volunteer who has lived experience of the challenges that many such parents face, including loneliness, isolation and frustration with education and medical systems. It consists of a small core group of parents whose children attend schools in Lymm and Thelwall. During sessions they discuss current issues and challenges, share information and advice and just offer support in a completely non-judgmental atmosphere.
The Lymm Companions (TLC) aims to reduce social isolation and loneliness in our community. The project links members of the community with a local TLC volunteer. The volunteers meet up with their partners once a week on average and either sit at home with them having a chat, playing games and reminiscing, or they go out with them to various activities. Currently, there are 5 active partnership which are going well but we don’t have a project leader at present so this role is being fulfilled by our Community Projects Manager. We have carried out a review of the project and decided to put it on hold until we can recruit a project leader. The existing partnerships will continue to run in the meantime.
Lymm Environmental Action Forum (LEAF) provides information and support on environmental issues and organises events and activities in the Lymm and local area. It is not a core Hub project but is supported by the Hub with administration, finance and marketing services. LEAF ran a number of highly successful events over the past year, including stalls during Lymm Festival focusing on the reduction of food waste and an energy advice event in the Village Hall offering advice and information about reducing energy use and costs. LEAF has purchased a second, more powerful thermal camera which is available on loan to local residents to identify internal and external heat loss areas in their homes. The group has donated books about the environment to Lymm Library and has undertaken a survey, completed by 66 residents, to assess awareness of LEAF and topics for future focus.
Towards the end of the year, we worked on plans for two new projects which were due to be launched early in 2025:
Talking Point: a free weekly service in our community where residents can access help and advice about a range of issues including housing, carer support, travel and transport, cost of living support and access to community services.
Vantry: a collaboration between the Lymm Sanctuary Hub, Warrington Foodbank and Warrington Voluntary Action (WVA). Its main aims are to reduce food waste and provide access to staple foodstuffs at an affordable level. It is being set up in response to a growing number of referrals to the Foodbank from Lymm and the surrounding area.
We also worked on plans to set up an informal network of local community organisations to raise awareness of social events which people can attend each week for a warm welcome, a friendly chat and refreshments.
Other activities are described under the following headings:
Volunteers: Over the year, we recruited 11 new volunteers resulting in a total of 45 volunteers, alongside our 3 part-time members of staff. Our volunteers play an essential role in delivering Lymm Sanctuary Hub’s various projects.
Following the introduction of a new induction procedure, volunteer role descriptions for each project and a Volunteer Handbook, new joiners now follow a set procedure, including informal introductory meetings, an induction checklist, completion of an information form and volunteer agreement confirming they understand the importance of maintaining the confidentiality of our clients. We have a safer recruitment policy which includes collecting references for new applicants, and we also complete DBS checks for certain projects.
Other volunteer activities included:
-
Setting- up a WhatsApp Community to manage communication with our volunteers, and to help with data protection of their private numbers.
-
Producing a volunteer newsletter (The Hub Post) every few months, to update volunteers on our existing projects and new projects and we also highlight other local projects which offer volunteering opportunities.
-
Training to our volunteers internally on topics such as safeguarding and organising a Dementia Awareness workshop which was delivered by The Alzheimer’ Society.
-
Organising a Christmas social event which enables our volunteers to meet people from other projects.
Community Engagement: Community engagement is essential to the work that we do. We engaged with our community in several different ways:
-
meeting members of our community at all of our projects and in the building where the Hub is centred, which we share with the Library. We receive a lot of positive verbal and written feedback from our projects throughout the year.
-
holding a Community Engagement event as part of the National Lottery Open Week in March 2024, and inviting local residents to offer ideas for new projects to support our community. t.
-
running a gift campaign for local residents who are likely to be on their own or caring for a loved one over Christmas;
-
developing and implementing a marketing campaign to raise awareness of the Hub and our projects. This included work on our website, press releases and adverts in Lymm Life, posters for local noticeboards, distribution of flyers and social media posts.
External Stakeholders: We continue to build strong relationships with external stakeholders and the number of agencies with which we have good relationships is growing. We work closely with Warrington Voluntary Action (WVA) in several key areas and other stakeholders include:
-
Our Social Prescriber
-
The South Warrington Primary Care Network (NHS)
-
Warrington Foodbank
-
Churches Together Lymm & District
-
Oughtrington Community Centre
-
Lymm Youth & Community Centre (LYCA)
-
Lymm Repair Café.
Community Projects Team: The Community Projects Team consists of Joyce Murdoch (Projects Manager), Ceri Chamberlain (Volunteer Coordinator) and Sally Mbousia (Administrator). The Trustees would like to thank the Team for all their hard work and dedication over the year and for delivering such as strong performance. This has included having to step-in to lead some of our projects on top of their normal workload.
The Trustees are kept informed of progress through a comprehensive quarterly report, prepared by the Projects Manager, which forms the basis for this report.
3. Financial Review
The total income for the year was £119,101 which was comprised of £52,796 in grants (mainly from Reaching Communities), £57,624 in donated time by volunteers and providers of professional services, £6,001 in donations and grants & donations and £2,680 from the counselling service and sundry income.
Total expenditure was £130,197 which comprised £45,928 in salaries, £50,782 in direct projects costs, £15,000 in governance costs and £18,487 in office overheads and marketing.
The overall loss for the year was £11,096. This loss includes an accrual of £10,683 for rent and service charge which is currently under discussion with the building owner, Warrington Borough Council.
Total charity funds stood at £22,379 at the year end.
4. Activities to-date in 2025
We produced our second annual report on the Reaching Communities project early in April and discussed it at a meeting with our National Lottery Projects Officer early in June. She was very pleased with the progress made and we agreed the budget for this year which is similar to the original total annual budget but with some changes to the amounts allocated to the various funding categories. Our current 3-year project funding finishes at the end of February 2026 so we also discussed the submission of a new
application to Reaching Communities for continuation of the community programme. Our Projects officer encouraged us to submit a Stage 1 application as soon as possible due to the large number of applications Reaching Communities has received for its new programme. As a result, we submitted our Stage 1 application, which is for 5 years’ funding, in the middle of July and are still waiting for a response. If successful, we will be asked to develop and submit a much more detailed Stage 2 application as soon as possible to allow time for evaluation and a decision early in the New Year.
Our two new projects were launched earlier this year:
Vantry opened as a ‘pop-up’ shop on Monday afternoons in the Hub’s community room. The layout is specifically made to look like a farm shop to encourage residents to want to visit. Each week a range of staple foods, such as cereals, rice, pasta, bread and tinned goods, as well as fresh fruit and vegetables are available for anyone in the community to buy at low cost. We also provide free hot drinks and cakes or biscuits and a place to sit, to encourage people to sit and chat. Since the start, it has proved to be very popular and we now have 206 households registered with the project, supporting around 550 people. One of the really positive things about the project is the number of people who are staying for refreshments after their shopping is done. We are engaging with residents that we have never met before, chatting with them and getting to know them in a relaxed atmosphere.
Talking Point was launched at the end of March and takes place weekly in the Lymm Youth & Community Association (LYCA) building, running alongside their Thursday morning Market Breakfast Club. The service is volunteer led and advisors have been trained by WVA and by LSH so that they can deliver the project knowledgeably and confidently. Talking Point client numbers are small growing slowly, in line with all of the other sites across the town. All three of our current volunteers have proved to be excellent in their customer care roles, and the clients have been very positive about the support they have been shown. We have recruited three more volunteers to work on the project, and they will start the training and shadowing process as soon as possible.
We also launched the Social Network by publishing a calendar showing free and lowcost opportunities for adults where they can go for refreshments and an opportunity to socialise. We have included groups that offer casual opportunities to meet other people each week, rather than groups which are based on a particular theme. Partners in this project include Lymm Youth and Community Association, Oughtrington Community Centre and the local churches. It has been published in Lymm Life and we also post the information on village noticeboards, in GP surgeries, in local churches and online via Facebook and local websites.
Key developments in our core projects have been as follows:
Memory Café is going well but is now without a leader again. None of the current team is willing to take on the role, so we are looking for a new volunteer to join us as Project Lead. Until that happens Joyce and Ceri are managing the project. We have bought new dementia friendly jigsaws and replaced some of the old board games that we use in our termly social sessions. These purchases were made using the donation received from the family of one of our participants who died earlier this year. There has been a big re-organisation of resources and the installation of a storage unit at the back of the church. We are planning to run a bereavement workshop with the Counselling Service this Autumn. We have lost so many of our Memory Café guests this year, and it is deeply upsetting for the volunteers, some of whom have known them since the project began.
Singing for the Brain continues to be a brilliant project, run with great energy and enthusiasm by Helen Elliott. The feedback that we receive is universally positive. Responses from members of the community are also great, other café customers who are visiting for lunch often comment how lovely it is to see and hear so many people not only singing along but laughing, chatting, reminiscing and enjoying themselves.
Counselling : The Counselling team continues to receive very positive feedback from clients. The refurbishment of the Church Vestry to provide a warm, comfortable space is in progress. We received a donation of £400 from the Soroptomists towards the cost of the refurbishment, for which we are very grateful.
Digital Café: Our volunteer numbers have reduced as work and personal commitments have affected some peoples’ ability to support the project. Currently we have only 5 active volunteers, although a new recruit has joined us in September and a further 2 people have shown interest in joining the team. The project leader had to step back from the project earlier this year due to family reasons but is now making a gradual return to his role.
LymmPaC (Lymm Parents and Carers) regularly receive unsolicited testimonials from members telling us how much they value the support and advice that they receive. We are reviewing how to increase awareness of the group within the community to increase the number of participants. This will focus on working with local referral services, making the Facebook group an open one that anyone can join and linking with Warrington Voluntary Action.
The Lymm Companions (TLC) is still on hold as we try to seek funding for the Project Lead role. Three of our participants have been with us since the project started and its effect on their wellbeing continues to be very positive. Sadly, one of our participants, who had just turned 100 years old, died in early August. His death raised a concern in terms of our duty of care to our volunteers and we are considering offering them support in future from our Counselling team if needed.
Lymm Environmental Action Forum (LEAF) volunteers ran a stall with the Hub Projects team during the Lymm Food Festival in June. The theme was reducing food waste, and we engaged with lots of people via a quiz, recipe ideas using foodstuffs that are usually thrown away and promoting the Vantry project. LEAF volunteers also supported the Liveable Lymm stall at the May Queen in July. The thermal camera proved very successful at helping residents to identify heat losses from their homes last winter and will be available again for hire in the Autumn. The group is now employing a specialist to help with marketing and social media as well as continuing to get help from the community projects team in this area.
Other activities have been as follows:
Volunteers: Our Volunteer Coordinator is busy recruiting and inducting several new volunteers, most of whom have come to us via our Hub Roadshow in June (see below). The priority is for more volunteers for Digital Café and Talking Point.
Community Engagement: We ran our first Hub Community Engagement Roadshow during National Small Charities week in June which was a great success. We set up at High Legh Garden Centre, at the Cross in Lymm and by the canal during a Talking Point session and engaged with 110 members of our community over the course of three days. We intend to continue this model throughout the year, holding more outdoor popup events as and when the weather allows as well as visiting local groups and organisations.
Projects Team: The biggest challenge facing us at the moment is that the Team is actively managing 5 out of the 8 Hub projects, which is taking a lot of their work hours and is not sustainable in the long term. We are seeking a new Memory Café Project Lead and we are still looking for funding for the TLC Project Lead role. We hope to be able to handover both of the newer projects, in which we are delivery partners (Vantry and Talking Point), to volunteers and partner organisations soon.
The Lymm Sanctuary Hub Limited
Company Limited by Guarantee
Statement of Financial Activities (including income and expenditure account)
Year ended 31 December 2024
| Unrestricted | Restricted | 2024 Total | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| funds | funds | funds |
2023 | |||
| Note | £ | £ | £ | £ | ||
| Income and endowments | ||||||
| Donations and grants | ||||||
| 5 | 85,538 | 30,883 | 116,421 | 101,754 | ||
| Charitable activities | 6 | 2,600 | 2,600 | 15,075 | ||
| Other trading activities | 7 | 80 | - | 80 | 632 | |
| ---------------------------- | ---------------------------- | ---------------------------- | ---------------------------- | |||
| Total income | 88,218 | 30,883 | 119,101 | 117,461 | ||
| ============================ | ============================ | ============================ | ============================ | |||
| Expenditure | ||||||
| Expenditure on charitable activities | 8,9 | (36.368) | (29,414) | (65,782) | (67,115) | |
| Other expenditure | 10 | (64,415) | (64,415) | (48,758) | ||
| ---------------------------- | ---------------------------- | ---------------------------- | ---------------------------- | |||
| Total expenditure | (100,783) | (29,414) | (130,197) | (115,873) | ||
| ============================ | ============================ | ============================ | ============================ | |||
| ---------------------------- | ---------------------------- | ---------------------------- | ---------------------------- | |||
| Net income | (12,565) | 1,469 | (11,096) | 1,588 | ||
| ============================ | ============================ | ============================ | ============================ | |||
| Transfer | ||||||
| ---------------------------- | - | -------------------------- | ---------------------------- | ---------------------------- | ||
| Net movement in funds | (12,565) | 1,469 | (11,096) | 1,588 | ||
| Reconciliation of funds | ||||||
| Transfers between funds | (134) | 134 | ||||
| Total funds b/forward | ||||||
| 15,807 | 17,668 | 33,475 | 31,887 | |||
| ---------------------------- | ---------------------------- | ---------------------------- | ---------------------------- | |||
| Total funds carried forward | 3,108 | 19,271 | 22,379 | 33,475 | ||
| ============================ | ============================ | ============================ | ============================ |
The statement of financial activities includes all gains and losses recognised in the year. All income and expenditure derive from continuing activities.
The notes on pages 11 to 19 form part of these financial statements.
9
The Lymm Sanctuary Hub Limited
Company Limited by Guarantee
Statement of Financial Position
31 December 2024
| 2024 | 2023 | ||
|---|---|---|---|
| Note | £ | £ | |
| Fixed assets | |||
| Tangible fixed assets | 13 | 12,311 | 8,960 |
| Investments | |||
| ---------------------------- | ---------------------------- | ||
| 12,311 | 8,960 | ||
| Current assets | |||
| Cash at bank and in hand | 15,685 | 19,171 | |
| Debtors | |||
| Amounts owed by group companies | 44,631 | 44,630 | |
| Other Debtors | 500 | 500 | |
| Creditors: amounts falling due within one year | |||
| Amounts owed to group companies | |||
| Accruals | 48,934 | 38,251 | |
| PAYE & Wages | 1,814 | 1,535 | |
| ---------------------------- | ----------------------- | ||
| Net current asset | 10,068 | 24,515 | |
| ---------------------------- | ---------------------------- | ||
| Total assets less current liabilities | 22,379 | 33,475 | |
| ============================ | ============================ | ||
| Funds of the charity | |||
| Restricted funds | 19,271 | 15,807 | |
| Unrestricted funds | 3,108 | ,17,668 | |
| ---------------------------- | ---------------------------- | ||
| Total charity funds | 14 | 22,379 ============================ |
33,475 ============================ |
For the year ending 31 December 2024 the charity was entitled to exemption from audit under section 477 of the Companies Act 2006 relating to small companies.
Directors' responsibilities:
-
The members have not required the company to obtain an audit of its financial statements for the year in question in accordance with section 476;
-
The directors acknowledge their responsibilities for complying with the requirements of the Act with respect to accounting records and the preparation of financial statements.
These financial statements have been prepared in accordance with the provisions applicable to companies subject to the small companies' regime.
These financial statements were approved by the board of trustees and authorised for issue on 18[th] September 2024, and are signed on behalf of the board by:
Mr R C Pearce, Trustee
The notes on pages 11 to 19 form part of these financial statements.
10
The Lymm Sanctuary Hub Limited
Company Limited by Guarantee
Notes to the Financial Statements
Year ended 31 December 2024
1. General information
The charity is a public benefit entity and a private company limited by guarantee, registered in England and Wales and a registered charity in England and Wales. The address of the registered office is: Office 16, Hamilton Davies House,117 Liverpool Road, M44 5BG.
2. Statement of compliance
These financial statements have been prepared in compliance with FRS 102, 'The Financial Reporting Standard applicable in the UK and the Republic of Ireland', the Statement of Recommended Practice applicable to charities preparing their accounts in accordance with the Financial Reporting Standard applicable in the UK and Republic of Ireland (FRS 102) (Charities SORP (FRS 102)) and the Companies Act 2006.
3. Accounting policies
Basis of preparation
The financial statements have been prepared on the historical cost basis, as modified by the revaluation of certain financial assets and liabilities and investment properties measured at fair value through income or expenditure.
The financial statements are prepared in sterling, which is the functional currency of the entity.
Going concern
There are no material uncertainties about the charity's ability to continue.
Fund accounting
Unrestricted funds are available for use at the discretion of the trustees to further any of the charity's purposes.
Designated funds are unrestricted funds earmarked by the trustees for particular future project or commitment.
Restricted funds are subjected to restrictions on their expenditure declared by the donor or through the terms of an appeal, and fall into one of two sub-classes: restricted income funds or endowment funds.
10
The Lymm Sanctuary Hub Limited
Company Limited by Guarantee
Notes to the Financial Statements (continued)
Year ended 31 December 2024
3. Accounting policies (continued)
Incoming resources
All incoming resources are included in the statement of financial activities when entitlement has passed to the charity; it is probable that the economic benefits associated with the transaction will flow to the charity and the amount can be reliably measured. The following specific policies are applied to particular categories of income:
-
income from donations or grants is recognised when there is evidence of entitlement to the gift, receipt is probable and its amount can be measured reliably.
-
legacy income is recognised when receipt is probable and entitlement is established.
-
income from donated goods is measured at the fair value of the goods unless this is impractical to measure reliably, in which case the value is derived from the cost to the donor or the estimated resale value. Donated facilities and services are recognised in the accounts when received if the value can be reliably measured. No amounts are included for the contribution of general volunteers.
-
income from contracts for the supply of services is recognised with the delivery of the contracted service. This is classified as unrestricted funds unless there is a contractual requirement for it to be spent on a particular purpose and returned if unspent, in which case it may be regarded as restricted.
Resources expended
Expenditure is recognised on an accruals basis as a liability is incurred. Expenditure includes any VAT which cannot be fully recovered, and is classified under headings of the statement of financial activities to which it relates:
-
expenditure on raising funds includes the costs of all fundraising activities, events, noncharitable trading activities, and the sale of donated goods.
-
expenditure on charitable activities includes all costs incurred by a charity in undertaking activities that further its charitable aims for the benefit of its beneficiaries, including those support costs and costs relating to the governance of the charity apportioned to charitable activities.
-
other expenditure includes all expenditure that is neither related to raising funds for the charity nor part of its expenditure on charitable activities.
All costs are allocated to expenditure categories reflecting the use of the resource. Direct costs attributable to a single activity are allocated directly to that activity. Shared costs are apportioned between the activities they contribute to on a reasonable, justifiable and consistent basis.
Tangible assets
Tangible assets are initially recorded at cost, and subsequently stated at cost less any accumulated depreciation and impairment losses. Any tangible assets carried at revalued amounts are recorded at the fair value at the date of revaluation less any subsequent accumulated depreciation and subsequent accumulated impairment losses.
11
The Lymm Sanctuary Hub Limited
Company Limited by Guarantee
Notes to the Financial Statements (continued)
Year ended 31 December 2024
3. Accounting policies (continued)
Tangible assets (continued)
An increase in the carrying amount of an asset as a result of a revaluation, is recognised in other recognised gains and losses, unless it reverses a charge for impairment that has previously been recognised as expenditure within the statement of financial activities. A decrease in the carrying amount of an asset as a result of revaluation, is recognised in other recognised gains and losses, except to which it offsets any previous revaluation gain, in which case the loss is shown within other recognised gains and losses on the statement of financial activities.
Investments
Unlisted equity investments are initially recorded at cost, and subsequently measured at fair value. If fair value cannot be reliably measured, assets are measured at cost less impairment.
Listed investments are measured at fair value with changes in fair value being recognised in income or expenditure.
Impairment of fixed assets
A review for indicators of impairment is carried out at each reporting date, with the recoverable amount being estimated where such indicators exist. Where the carrying value exceeds the recoverable amount, the asset is impaired accordingly. Prior impairments are also reviewed for possible reversal at each reporting date.
For the purposes of impairment testing, when it is not possible to estimate the recoverable amount of an individual asset, an estimate is made of the recoverable amount of the cash-generating unit to which the asset belongs. The cash-generating unit is the smallest identifiable group of assets that includes the asset and generates cash inflows that largely independent of the cash inflows from other assets or groups of assets.
For impairment testing of goodwill, the goodwill acquired in a business combination is, from the acquisition date, allocated to each of the cash-generating units that are expected to benefit from the synergies of the combination, irrespective of whether other assets or liabilities of the charity are assigned to those units.
4. Limited by guarantee
The company is limited by guarantee. Each member is liable to make a contribution of £10 in the event of the company being wound up.
5. Donations and Grants
| Unrestricted | Restricted | Total Funds | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Funds | Funds | 2024 | |
| £ | £ | £ | |
| Donation | |||
| Donations | 90 | 5,911 | 6,001 |
| Grants | |||
| Grants receivable (Reaching Communities, | 52,046 | 750 | 52,796 |
| Warrington Voluntary Action) |
12
The Lymm Sanctuary Hub Limited
Company Limited by Guarantee
Notes to the Financial Statements (continued)
Year ended 31 December 2024
5. Donations and legacies (continued)
| Unrestricted | Restricted | Total Funds | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Funds | Funds | 2024 | |||
| £ | £ | £ | |||
| Other donations and legacies | 33,402 | 24,222 | 57,624 | ||
| Exceptional income from donated time | |||||
| ---------------------------- | ---------------------------- | ---------------------------- | |||
| 85,538 | 30,883 | 116,421 | |||
| ============================ | ============================ | ============================ | |||
| Unrestricted | Restricted | Total Funds | |||
| Funds | Funds | 2023 | |||
| £ | £ | £ | |||
| Donations | |||||
| Donations | 1,061 |
4,486 | 5,547 | ||
| Grants | |||||
| Grants receivable | 53,578 | 1,784 | 55,362 | ||
| Other donations and legacies | |||||
| Exceptional income from donations | 29,221 | 11,624 | 40,845 | ||
| ---------------------------- | -------------- | ---------------------------- | |||
| 83,860 | 17,894 | 101,754 | |||
| ============================ | ============== | ============================ | |||
| 6. | Charitable activities | ||||
| Unrestricted | Total Funds | Unrestricted | Total Funds | ||
| Funds | 2024 | Funds | 2023 | ||
| £ | £ | £ | £ | ||
| Counselling services | 2,600 | 2,600 | 2,600 | 1,070 | |
| Profit from subsidiary and charges to | |||||
| subsidiaries | 14,005 | ||||
| ======================= | ======================= | ======================= | ======================= | ||
| 7. | Other trading activities | ||||
| Unrestricted | Total Funds | Unrestricted | Total Funds | ||
| Funds | 2024 | Funds | 2023 | ||
| £ | £ | £ | £ | ||
| Other sundry income | 80 | 80 | 80 | 632 | |
| ============== | ============== | ======================= | ======================= |
13
The Lymm Sanctuary Hub Limited
Company Limited by Guarantee
Notes to the Financial Statements (continued)
Year ended 31 December 2024
8. Expenditure on charitable activities by fund type
| Unrestricted | Restricted | Total Funds | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Funds | Funds | 2024 | |
| £ | £ | £ | |
| Memory Cafe | 12,586 | 12,586 | |
| Leave No One Behind | 134 | 134 | |
| Digital Cafe | 8,601 | 8,601 | |
| LEAF | 6,496 | 6,496 | |
| Garden project | 1,597 | 1,597 | |
| ----------------------- | ---------------------------- | ---------------------------- | |
| 29,414 | 29,414 | ||
| ======================= | ============================ | ============================ |
9 Expenditure on charitable activities by activity type
| Activities | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| undertaken | Grant funding |
Governance | Total funds | Total fund | |
| directly | of activities |
costs | 2024 | 2023 | |
| £ | £ | £ | £ | £ | |
| ---------------------------- | -------------- | ||||
| Counselling and Lymm | |||||
| PAC and TLC | 21,368 | 15,000 | 36,368 | 22,822 | |
| ============================ | ======================= | ============================ | ============================ | ============== |
10. Other expenditure
| Unrestricted | Restricted | |
|---|---|---|
| Funds | Funds | |
| £ | £ | |
| Rent and Service Charges | 10,683 | |
| Insurance | 533 | |
| Office expenses | 608 | |
| Repairs | 618 | |
| Marketing | 1,293 | |
| Just giving | 180 |
|
| Misc Service costs | 246 | |
| Pension | 231 | |
| Meals and entertainment | 295 | |
| Preparation of rooms | 2,511 | |
| Sundries | 1,289 | |
| Salaries | 45,928. |
|
| ----------------------- | ----------------------- | |
| 64,415 | ||
| ======================= | ======================= |
14
The Lymm Sanctuary Hub Limited
Company Limited by Guarantee
Notes to the Financial Statements (continued)
Year ended 31 December 2024
11. Staff costs
The total staff costs and employee benefits for the reporting period are analysed as follows:
2024 2023 £ £ The average head count of employees during the year was 3 3
No employee received employee benefits of more than £60,000 during the year (2023: Nil).
12 Trustee remuneration and expenses
No remuneration was paid to any trustee in the year.
No expenses were paid to any trustee in the year.
15
The Lymm Sanctuary Hub Limited
Company Limited by Guarantee
Notes to the Financial Statements (continued)
Year ended 31 December 2024
13. Tangible fixed assets
Cost At 1 January 2024 Additions At 31 December 2024 Depreciation At 1 January 2024 and 31 December 2024 Carrying amount At 31 December 2024 At 31 December 2023 |
Plant Tenant’s Additions £ 8,960 3,351 ----------------------- 3,351 8,960 ======================= – ======================= 3,351 8,960 ======================= 8,960 ======================= |
|---|---|
14. Analysis of charitable funds
Unrestricted funds
| Unrestricted funds | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| At | At | |||||
| 1 | January 20 24 £ |
Income £ |
Expenditure £ |
Transfers £ |
31December 2024 £ |
|
| General funds | 15,807 | 88,258 | (100,691) | (134) | 3,240 |
|
| – | ||||||
| ---------------------------- | ---------------------------- | ----------------------- | -------------- | ---------------------------- | ||
| 15,807 | 88,258 | (100,691) | (134) | 3,240 | ||
| ============================ | ============================ | ======================= | ============== | ============================ | ||
| At | At | |||||
| 1 | January 20 | 31 December | ||||
| 23 | Income | Expenditure | Transfers | 2023 | ||
| £ | £ | £ | £ | £ | ||
| General funds | ||||||
| 17,514 | 99,567 | (92,977) | (8277) | 15,807 |
||
| -------------- | ---------------------------- | ---------------------------- | -------------- | ---------------------------- | ||
| 17,514 | 99.567 | (92,977) | (8277) | 15,807 |
||
| ============== | ============================ | ============================ | ============== | ============================ |
16
The Lymm Sanctuary Hub Limited
Company Limited by Guarantee
Notes to the Financial Statements (continued)
Year ended 31 December 2024
14. Analysis of charitable funds (continued)
Restricted funds
| Leave No One behind Covid Grant Memory Cafe Digital Cafe LEAF Co-Ordinator Costs Ukraine Garden Project Leave No One behind Covid Grant Memory Cafe Digital Cafe Ukraine LEAF Kick Start Garden Project Co-Ordinator Costs |
At 1 January 2024 Income Expenditure Transfers At 31 December 2024 £ £ £ £ £ 134 134 1,355 (134) 1,221 12,586 12,586 7,198 9,006 8601 7,603 5,783 6,945 6,496 6,232 1,894 1,894 1,438 2,346 1,597 2,187 ---------------------------- ---------------------------- ---------------------------- -------------- ----------------------- 17,668 30,883 29,280 19,271 ============== ============================ ============================ ============== ======================= At 1 January 2023 Income Expenditure Transfers At 31 Dec 2023 £ £ £ £ £ 200 396 196 1,551 (196) 1,355 4,155 2,610 6,765 8,010 7,763 8,575 7,198 1,894 1,894 4,189 5,747 4,153 5,783 1,813 1,574 1,949 1,438 2,290 2,290 ---------------------------- ---------------------------- -------------- ----------------------- 23,902 17,894 24,128 17,668 = ============================ ============================ ============== ======================= |
|---|---|
17
The Lymm Sanctuary Hub Limited
Company Limited by Guarantee
Notes to the Financial Statements (continued)
Year ended 31 December 2024
15. Analysis of net assets between funds
| Unrestricted | Restricted | Restricted | Total Funds | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Funds | Funds | 2024 | ||
| £ | £ | £ | ||
| Tangible fixed assets | 8,960 | 3,351 | 12,311 | |
| Current assets | 40,899 | 19,917 | 60,816 | |
| Creditors less than 1 year | 50,748 | 50,748 | ||
| ---------------------------- | ----------------------- | ---------------------------- | ||
| Net assets | (889) | 23,268 | 22,379 | |
| ============================ | ======================= | ============================ | ||
| Unrestricted | Restricted | Total Funds | ||
| Funds | Funds | 2023 | ||
| £, | £ | £ | ||
| Tangible fixed assets | 8,960 | 8,960 | ||
| Current assets | 46,633 | 17,688 | 64,301 | |
| Creditors less than 1 year | 39,786 | 39,786 | ||
| ---------------------------- | - | ------------ | ---------------------------- | |
| Net assets | 15,807 | 17,688 | 33,475 | |
| ============================ | ============== | ============================ |
18
Independent Examiner's Report to the Trustees of the Lyrnm Sanctuary Hub Llmlted I report to the charity tnjstees on my examinalion of the accounts of the tharity for the year ended 3111212024 which are set out on page$ 9 to 18. Responsibllhles and basis of the report As Ihe charity trustees. you are responsible for the preparation of the accounts in accordance with the requir8m8nts of the Charities Act 2011 ('the Act.). I report in respect of my examination of the thaTity's accounts Carried t)ut under section 145 of the Act and in carrying out my examinalion I have followed all the applicab Directions given by the Charity Commission under section 145{5)(b) of the ACL Indopend•nt oxaminer's statement I have completed my examination. l ¢onfimi that no material mattern have come to my attention in ¢onnecllon vith the examinati¢)n gNing me cause to beleve thal in any material respe. 1. accounting record5 were nol kept in iesr*¢t of the charity as required by section 130 of the Act: or 2. the accounts do not accord with those records; or 3. the a¢counts do not compty wilh the applicable requirements conceming the fomi and content of accounts Set oul in the Charities (Accounts and Reports) Regulations 2008 other than any reqU1ment that the accounts give a 'true and fair view. which is not a matter considered as part of an Independent examination. I have no concern5 and have come across no other matters In ¢onneclion with the examinalion to which attenlion should be drawn in this report in order to enable a proper understanding of the accounts to be reached. Swned.. Name.. Iff rF4 LefvJ¢ Relevant professlonal qualificatlon orboty.. M 411 F Address." cYCrt41J Date." r4 1 Ltr