2024-12-31-accounts - The Friends Of Platt Fields

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Trustees’ Annual Report for the period

From 1[st] January 2024 To 31[st] December 2024

Charity name: Friends of Platt Fields

Charity registration number: 1182191

Objectives and Activities

	SORP reference
Summary of the purposes of the charity as set out in its governing document	Para 1.17	To promote the preservation, restoration, maintenance, and improvement of Platt Fields Park, and to encourage both a greater use by the public of the facilities available and high standards in the provision of such facilities.
Summary of the main activities in relation to those purposes for the public benefit, in particular, the activities, projects or services identified in the accounts.	Para 1.17 and 1.19	Activities to further the objectives of the charity. This includes campaigning, fundraising, working with partners including the local authority, and spending on events, gardening, and encouraging volunteer activity.
Statement confirming whether the trustees have had regard to the guidance issued by the Charity Commission on public benefit	Para 1.18	The Trustees confirm that they have paid due regard to the guidance issued by the Charity Commission on public benefit in deciding what activities the charity should undertake.

Achievements and Performance

	SORP referenc e
Summary of the main achievements of the charity, identifying the difference the charity’s work has made to the circumstances of its beneficiaries and any wider benefits to society as a whole.	Para 1.20	The new CIO (1182191) elected 9 Trustees and by the time of this AGM will have met on 3 occasions. As per constitution 3 Trustees will stand down at this AGM and elections will be held. It is hoped to fill all 10 individual Trustee positions as well as 1 or 2 from affiliated organisations. Henceforth the Trustees will meet quarterly in addition to ‘drop-in’ informal meetings in between to part compensate for the function of the ‘old’ committee in maintaining a Friends ‘presence’ and social space. This year the Friends has been most active in: · Ongoing renovation and development of the Shakespearean Gardenunder the leadership of Kattie Kincaid. Winter and Summer Events are now an established part of the calendar (the latter has seen the Garden feature in the National Garden Scheme). The Garden received a Level 5 ‘Outstanding’ for the third year running from the North West in Bloom ‘It’s Your Neighbourhood’ run by the RHS. Two features added in the last 12 months has been the laying down to lawn of an old box hedged area and the establishment of a ‘woodland walk’. The herbaceous border is beginning to mature, and a new fernery corner has been started. The vegetable area has continued to develop despite being negatively impacted last year because of flooding and reduced warmth and sunlight. Produce continues to be donated to a ‘food table’ at a local community centre (The Place). Mention should also be made of the inspiration of local resident Nick Roberts, and the skill and passion of artist Ethan Lemon, in the completion of a Rosa Grindon mural on the gable end of Albion Road, right at the entrance to Platt Fields · Our Archivist Jean Griffin has embarked on the work of conserving and overseeing the transfer of the Friends'store of paper documents and

	photographs to Manchester Library where they
	will also be stored in a digital format. On
	completion the collection will be accepted and
	stored at the library. Members of the public will
	then be able to request to view any of the
	physical or digitised items. We are looking
	forward to uploading the digitised collection to
	our website in the future.
·	Talking of which, Rashid Mhar has led a
	collective effort to relaunch our website on
	friendsofplattfields.org.uk. Special mentions are
	due to Mary Collins for her photography, Vicky
	Duncalf for writing the home page, Dan
	Thomson for his many articles and Kattie
	Kincaid for her writing and photos about the
	Shakespearean Garden restoration.
·	Mary Collins has continued to do a fantastic job
	on social media: "Friends of Platt Fields” on
	both Facebook and Instagram. She maintains a
	valuable Friends online presence not the least
	in liaison with city council staff over such issues
	as the well being of wildlife in the park. She also
	has an important public presence, and her
	photography has been as notable as her sense
	of humour.
·	We have a newTreasurer– Stuart Turley - who
	has additionally taken the lead in developing
	some streamlined processes for communication
	and decision-making amongst the new trustees.
·	The establishment of a regularlitter-picking
	group.This has seen recruitment of ‘new’
	volunteers from the local community as well as
	students via the University of Manchester
	Volunteer Hub. Alongside our regular slots we
	took part in this year’s Great British Spring
	Clean.
We continue to call for better provision and services within
the park	at a local level and for the delivery of the long-
promised	Park Planby the City Council.

Partnership working

●	Planting and Planning for Biodiversity Enhancement
	and Nature Recovery

Since 2019 FoPF has been tree planting with Creative Rusholme and other organisations, one of which is Manchester Metropolitan University Business School which has had staff and students taking part in events in Platt Fields Park, working alongside the Friends and other

community organisations such as Manchester Urban Diggers. This is part of the 4,700 Tree Project , a major community project support tree planting in the Rusholme Constituency Ward of local MP Afzal Khan.

In November 2024, a new area of native woodland was planted between the west bridge and Hart Road entrance, comprising 450 saplings, a mix of Blackthorn, Crab apple, Guelder rose, Hawthorn, Field Maple, Spindle and Dog rose. Like the gradually expanding ‘Victor’s Forest’ it will include varied habitats. In March this year another event saw the infilling in Wangari Maathai Woodland and by Victor’s Forest in Platt Fields Park. Over 90 trees were planted. Notably a Friends supporter, Jamshaid Karim, engaged in sustained fundraising to support this work. Thanks to Jane L Morris, Biodiversity Champion, Dan Thomson and Dr Helena Kettleborough from MMU in preparing this item of the report. Together they have identified that a key need is the creation of skills around tree maintenance and nurturing and the creation of a volunteer pool to take care of the trees once planted. Developing an understanding of the importance of retaining existing mature trees for immediate carbon capture is also needed. It is hoped that a spring 2025 workshop on tree nurturing will start to address this issue.

● In partnership with staff and other volunteers at Platt Hall. The Friends have continued to contribute to the development of the rear garden and areas fronting Platt Hall through its agreement with Manchester City Council staff at the Hall.

Financial Review

Review of the charity’s financial position at the end of the period	Para 1.21	Funds available at year end - £12101
Statement explaining the policy for holding reserves stating why they are held	Para 1.22	At present, the charity has no policy on holding reserves.
Amount of reserves held	Para 1.22	N/A
Reasons for holding zero reserves	Para 1.22	The charity governing document does not require reserves to be held.
Details of fund materially in deficit	Para 1.24	N/A
Explanation of any uncertainties about the charity continuing as a going concern	Para 1.23	N/A. Previous concerns regarding transfer to CIO structure have now been rectified.

Structure, Governance and Management

Description of charity’s trusts:
Type of governing document (trust deed, royal charter)	Para 1.25	Constitution
How is the charity constituted? (e.g unincorporated association, CIO)	Para 1.25	Association Charitable Incorporated Organisation (CIO)
Trustee selection methods including details of any constitutional provisions e.g. election to post or name of any person or body entitled to appoint one or more trustees	Para 1.25	(a) At every annual general meeting of the members of FoPF, one- third of the charity trustees shall retire from office. If the number of charity trustees is not three or a multiple of three, then the number nearest to one-third shall retire from office, but if there is only one charity trustee, he or she shall retire. (b) The charity trustees to retire by rotation shall be those who have been longest in office since their last appointment or reappointment. If any trustees were last appointed or reappointed on the same day those to retire shall (unless they otherwise agree among themselves) be determined by lot. (c) The vacancies so arising may be filled by the decision of the members at the annual general meeting; any vacancies not filled at the annual general meeting may be filled as provided in sub-clause (e) of this clause. (d) The members or the charity trustees may at any time decide to appoint a new charity trustee, whether in place of a charity trustee who has retired or been removed in accordance with clause 15 (Retirement and Removal of Charity

Trustees), or as an additional charity trustee, provided that the limit specified in clause 12(3) on the number of charity trustees would not as a result be exceeded. (e) A person so appointed by the members of FoPF shall retire in accordance with the provisions of sub-clauses (b) and (c) of this clause. A person so appointed by the charity trustees shall retire at the conclusion of the next annual general meeting after the date of his or her appointment, and shall not be counted for the purpose of determining which of the charity trustees is to retire by rotation at that meeting.

Reference and Administrative details

Charity name	Friends of Platt Fields
Other name the charity uses
Registered charity number	1182191
Charity’s principal address	C/O The Lakeside Centre, Platt Fields Park Fallowfield Manchester M14 6LA

		Names of the charity trustees who manage the charity	Names of the charity trustees who manage the charity	Names of the charity trustees who manage the charity
	Trustee name	Office (if any)	Dates acted if not for whole year	Name of person (or body) entitled to appoint trustee (if any)
1	Allan Challenger	Chair Litter Picking Group coordinator
2	Dan Thomson	Secretary
3	Stuart Turley	Treasurer (to be reconfirmed at 2025 AGM)
4	Kattie Kincaid	SG Project Manager
5	David Neesham
6	Anne Tucker	President
7	Jean Griffin	Archivist
8	George Sanders
9	Rashid Mhar
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
17
18
19
20

– Corporate trustees names of the directors at the date the report was approved Director name

Name of trustees holding title to property belonging to the charity

Trustso n8me Dats8 actod for wholo year

Funds held as custodian trustees on behalf of others

Description of the assets held in this capacity

Name and objects of the charity on whose behalf the assets are held and how this falls within the custodian charity’s objects

Details of arrangements for safe custody and segregation of such assets from the charity’s own assets

Exemptions from disclosure

Reason for non-disclosure of key personnel details

n/a

Other optional information

Declarations

The trustees declare that they have approved the trustees’ report above.

Signed on behalf of the charity’s trustees

Signature(s) Full name(s) Allan Challenger Position (eg Chair Secretary, Chair, etc) Date

Friends of Platt Fields Park Financial Statements for the 12 months ending 31[st] December 2024

Receipts and Payments Account

Notes Receipts Membership subscriptons Grants and Donatons 1 Events and Fundraising 2 Interest *Total incoming resources* Payments Project plants and contractors Shakespearean garden Events Archive Insurance Annual Meetng catering Donatons Other *Total outgoing resources* *Net change in funds* Statement of Funds Opening funds Net change as above *Total Closing funds* Comprising Friends of Plat Fields General Fund Fund Designated for Archive Project Tree Plantng Fund Shakespearean Garden General Fund Shakespearean Garden Restricted Fund Total Funds Represented by Bank Current Accounts Bank Deposit Account Cash in hand *Total resources*		Total 2024 Total 2023 £ £ 167 145 4144 4017 4418 681 27	Total 2024 Total 2023 £ £ 167 145 4144 4017 4418 681 27
		8729	4870
		748 1798 1163 7900 394 10 196 182 360 160 24 433
		2895	10473

		£5834	£-5603
		2024 £ 2025 £ 6267 11870 5834 -5603
*al Closing funds*		£12101	6267
Comprising Friends of Plat Fields General Fund Fund Designated for Archive Project Tree Plantng Fund Shakespearean Garden General Fund Shakespearean Garden Restricted Fund Total Funds	4622 400 2484 2684 1911
	£12101
		4017 2175 8000 4042 84 50
		£12101	£6267

Notes:

Donations and grants were received for the following purposes:

Friends of Plat Fields General Fund Tree plantng Shakespearean Garden Total . Fundraising actvites comprised the following: Shakespearean Garden events Rare Trees for Plat Fields Crowdfunder appeal Filming Craf and book sales Total	£ 70 1000 3074
	£4114
	1950 2284 150 34
	£4418

Fundraising activities comprised the following:

Treasurers Report

The overall financial result for 2024 was an increase in resources of £5834, compared with a deficit of £5603 in 2023. At the end of the year, total funds amounted to £12,101, up from an equivalent of £6,267 at the end of the previous year. However, comparisons between years do not provide a consistent basis for reviewing progress, as the financial transactions in individual years fluctuate significantly due to, for example, the differences in timing on receipt and disbursement of grants and donations and one-off events or activities.
Within 2024, the two activities with the most significant impact on the Friends’ financial resources were tree planting and the work to enhance and maintain the Shakespearean Garden. These two activities generate the large majority of financial transactions and both have accumulated resources for work that will continue into 2025 and potentially beyond. Significant funds were received through grants from the National Garden Scheme and Old Moat Hub, work with Manchester Metropolitan University, specific donations from individuals and fundraising activities.
Members subscription were roughly consistent with recent years, at a total of £167 (2023 £145).
The total funds held by the Friends include significant amounts that are either designated for specific purposes or restricted for spending in line with grant awards. The remaining General Funds available to the Friends reduced by approximately £300 during 2024 and stood at £4622 at the end of the year. This suggests that the underlying position on the general business of the Friends is financially sustainable and is consistent with a policy of not seeking to build up large unspent reserves. However, continued year on year reduction in the General Fund does constrain the ability of the Trustees to consider new initiatives or trial activities without specific new funding and it may be appropriate to review this position in the medium term.

Stuart Turley 10[th] April 2025