
## **Trustees’ Annual Report for the period** 

## **From:    Period start date    01/04/23      To:    Period end date 31/3/24 Charity name:  Friends of Church Stretton Library** 

## **Charity registration number:  1182554** 

## **Objectives and Activities** 

||SORP reference||
|---|---|---|
|Summary of the purposes of<br>the charity as set out in its<br>governing document|Para 1.17|The purpose of the CIO is to promote the<br>advancement of education for the general<br>public in Church Stretton and surrounding<br>area, in particular but not exclusively, by<br>supporting the provision of a community<br>library and information centre.<br>To further or benefit the residents of Church<br>Stretton and surrounding area, without<br>distinction of sex, sexual orientation, race,<br>disability or of political, religious or other<br>opinions by associating together the said<br>residents and the local authorities,<br>voluntary and other organisation in a<br>common effort to advance education and<br>facilitate learning and to provide facilities in<br>the interests of social welfare for recreation,<br>leisure time and occupation with the<br>objective of improving the conditions of life<br>for the residents.<br>•<br>To support the provision of a<br>community library and information<br>centre in Church Stretton; to<br>promote education, cultural<br>activities and lifelong learning in<br>Church Stretton and the<br>surrounding area.<br>•<br>To organise events and activities<br>which support education, culture<br>and the health and wellbeing of<br>residents and visitors.<br>•<br>To encourage the involvement of<br>the local community in all we do<br>without distinction of gender, age,<br>sexual orientation, race, disability,<br>religion or political opinions.|





|Summary of the main<br>activities in relation to those<br>purposes for the public<br>benefit, in particular, the<br>activities, projects or<br>services identified in the<br>accounts|Para 1.17 and<br>1.19|Our activities in pursuit of these objects<br>include:<br>•<br>Proactively encouraging the local<br>community to make use of library<br>facilities.<br>•<br>Raising funds to support and<br>enhance the work of the library.<br>•<br>Running a programme of activities<br>supporting lifelong learning, culture<br>and promoting health and social<br>wellbeing.<br>•<br>Providing volunteers to support - but<br>not replace - library staff and<br>enhance the work of the library.<br>•<br>Acting as a link between the Church<br>Stretton Library Service and the<br>wider community.<br>•<br>Working in collaboration with other<br>local groups and organisations to<br>support a coordinated approach.<br>•<br>Encouraging the involvement of<br>local community in all we do,<br>without distinction of gender, sexual<br>orientation, race, disability, religion<br>or political opinions.|
|---|---|---|
|Statement confirming<br>whether the trustees have<br>had regard to the guidance<br>issued by the Charity<br>Commission on public<br>benefit|Para 1.18|In pursuing these activities, trustees have<br>followed the guidance issued by the Charity<br>Commission on public benefit.|



## **Additional information (optional)** 

You may choose to include further statements where relevant about: 

||SORP reference||
|---|---|---|
|Policy on grant making|Para 1.38|We make grants to the library to improve<br>and enhance its service**.**|
|Policy on social investment<br>including program related<br>investment|Para 1.38||
|Contribution made by<br>volunteers|Para 1.38|We have a large and active corps of<br>volunteers who support our work in several<br>ways:<br>•<br>Raising funds through table top sales,<br>stalls at charity fairs and other venues.<br>•<br>Advising visitors at the library’s Visitor<br>Information Centre when the library is<br>closed.<br>•<br>Organising our programme of<br>speakers.<br>•<br>Supporting events (selling tickets,<br>organising seating, serving<br>refreshments, etc).|





|||•<br>Putting up posters and distributing<br>other forms of publicity to advertise<br>such events.<br>•<br>Proofreading publicity materials and<br>articles.<br>•<br>Baking cakes and other goods to serve<br>at such events.<br>•<br>These different contributions are much<br>valued, and we hold occasional ‘thank<br>you’ events that bring volunteers<br>together and generate new links<br>between the library service, local stake<br>holders and the wider community.<br>These all demonstrate the value of<br>collaboration between a professionally run<br>library and an active Friends group.  They<br>also show ways in which local engagement<br>can help secure the future development of<br>the library service and foster new<br>generations of active users.|
|---|---|---|
|Other|||



## **Achievements and Performance** 

||SORP reference||
|---|---|---|
|Summary of the main<br>achievements of the charity,<br>identifying the difference the<br>charity’s work has made to<br>the circumstances of its<br>beneficiaries and any wider<br>benefits to society as a<br>whole|Para 1.20|We ran various events with educational<br>and cultural content (to cover a broad<br>range of interests.<br>We also helped fund children’s activities<br>run by the library staff in the library.<br>We raised funds for the library and helped<br>pay for new library shelving can be moved<br>to allow a more flexible use of space e.g.<br>for educational talks.<br>With the help of volunteers, we continued<br>to open the Visitor Information Centre two<br>days a week, when the library is normally<br>closed.|



## **Additional information (optional)** 

You may choose to include further statements where relevant about: 

|Achievements against<br>objectives set|Para 1.41|We successfully ran events covering a<br>broad range of interests and involving other<br>community organisations.  These included<br>a poetry workshop and readings for<br>National Poetry Day, a talk on the author C<br>S Lewis, a local nature conservation|
|---|---|---|





|||project, a community garden and Russian<br>literature.<br>We also paid for ‘Zoolab’ to visit the library<br>in the summer holidays and educate the<br>children about animals and the natural<br>world.<br>In doing so, we have helped promote<br>educational, cultural activities and lifelong<br>learning in Church Stretton and the<br>surrounding area.<br>We produced a calendar of local scenery,<br>with support from local photographers, to<br>help raise funds.  This was sold in shops in<br>Church Streton and the library.<br>We have continued to support the provision<br>of a Visitor Information Centre by recruiting<br>volunteers from within the community to<br>open it on the days the library is closed<br>(Mondays and Wednesdays).  Many of the<br>volunteers have commented on how much<br>they enjoy this role, because they meet<br>other local residents as well as provide<br>assistance to visitors.  This helped us meet<br>our objectiveto support and enhance the<br>work of the library.<br>We have continued to make an active<br>contribution to Shropshire Council Library<br>development initiatives that seek to<br>enhance the health, wellbeing and<br>involvement of local residents.  This<br>included supporting a local charity to set up<br>a Dementia Café, which takes place in the<br>library once a month.  These all<br>demonstrate the value of collaboration<br>between the community, a professionally<br>run library and an active Friends group.<br>They also show ways in which local<br>engagement can help secure the future<br>development of the library service and<br>foster new generations of active users.|
|---|---|---|
|Performance of fundraising<br>activities against objectives<br>set|Para 1.41|We were happy to have generated income<br>of_£_9,960.  included £4,376 from donations,<br>£4,432 from fundraising activities and we<br>claimed £935 Gift Aid on donations and<br>216.86 interest on the savings account.<br>Our administrative costs for the year were<br>£709, which includes the cost of insurance.|
|Investment performance<br>against objectives|Para 1.41|**N/A**|
|Other||**N/A**|





## **Financial Review** 

|Review of the charity’s<br>financial position at the end<br>of the period|Para 1.21|We spent £10,000 on new library shelving<br>and 517 for other things including<br>subsidised sessions in the library for local<br>primary school children.<br>This left us with a balance of £27,498.<br>in the bank at year end  of which<br>£17,216.86  is in a  high interest savings<br>account<br>We have put £7,000 in our reserves and we<br>are in discussion with the library about<br>future possible spends.  These include<br>purchasing additional cupboard storage<br>space to house a local history archive and<br>replacing some of the chairs with ones<br>more suitable for the elderly and less<br>mobile.|
|---|---|---|
|Statement explaining the<br>policy for holding reserves<br>stating why they are held|Para 1.22|We have put £7,000 in reserves as a safety<br>net for our operating costs which leaves<br>approximately £20,000 to spend either this<br>or next financial year.|
|Amount of reserves held|Para 1.22|£7,000|
|Reasons for holding zero<br>reserves|Para 1.22|N/A|
|Details of fund materially in<br>deficit|Para 1.24|N/A|
|Explanation of any<br>uncertainties about the<br>charity continuing as a going<br>concern|Para 1.23|Shropshire Council, which funds the library,<br>is having to make massive savings in its<br>budget.  They are seeking additional<br>funding from the Town Council to keep the<br>library open.  There is a risk the local<br>authority will declare a section 114 in the<br>next few months.  We are holding back on<br>making large purchases for the library until<br>there is more certainty about the future.|



## **Additional information (optional)** 

You may choose to include further statements where relevant about: 

|The charity’s principal<br>sources of funds (including<br>any fundraising)|Para 1.47|Donations from local residents, including<br>some donations by regular standing orders,<br>and profit made from running events.|
|---|---|---|
|Investment policy and<br>objectives including any<br>social investment policy<br>adopted|Para 1.46|**N/A**|
|A description of the principal<br>risks facing the charity|Para 1.46|External factors as Shropshire Council<br>plans cuts to funding libraries in 2024/25.|
|Other|||





## **Structure, Governance and Management** 

|Description of charity’s<br>trusts:||Friends of Church Stretton Library|
|---|---|---|
|Type of governing document|Para 1.25|Constitution|
|How is the charity<br>constituted?<br>(|Para 1.25|CIO|
|Trustee selection methods<br>including details of any<br>constitutional provisions e.g.<br>election to post or name of<br>any person or body entitled<br>to appoint one or more<br>trustees|Para 1.25|Elected by members at AGM or co-opted<br>by Committee.<br>People interested in becoming a trustee<br>are first invited to attend a few committee<br>meetings so that they better understand<br>the role.|



## **Additional information (optional)** 

You may choose to include further statements where relevant about: 

|Policies and procedures<br>adopted for the induction<br>and training of trustees|Para 1.51|Trustees are provided with the charity<br>commission document ‘Welcome – you’re a<br>charity trustee‘ andcopies of the policies<br>listed below which can be found on our<br>website:<br>•<br>Data Protection<br>•<br>Equality<br>•<br>Financial<br>•<br>Safeguarding<br>•<br>Terms of Reference<br>Our financial accounts and annual return<br>are independently checked by a local<br>accountant.<br>|
|---|---|---|
|The charity’s organisational<br>structure and any wider<br>network with which the<br>charity works|Para 1.51|Managed by committee of trustees who<br>meet once a month.|
|Relationship with any<br>related parties|Para 1.51|We regularly meet with Church Stretton<br>Library staff who advise us on how we can<br>support their work.|
|Other|||



## **Reference and Administrative Details** 

|Charity name|Friends of Church Stretton Library|
|---|---|
|Other name the charity uses||
|Registered charitynumber|1182554|





Charity’s principal address 

c/o Church Stretton LIbrary Church Street, Church Stretton, Shropshire SY6 6DQ 

## **Names of the charity trustees who manage the charity** 

|1<br>2<br>3<br>4<br>5<br>6|**Trustee name**|**Office (if any)**|**Dates acted if not for whole year**|**Name of person (or body) entitled**<br>**to appoint trustee (ifany)**|
|---|---|---|---|---|
||Sheila Davies|Chair|||
||Madeline Haigh|Secretary|||
||Margaret Quartly|Treasurer|||
||Ben Warren||||
||Beth Furlong||||
||Inese Neilson||||



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 

**Trustee name Dates acted if not for whole year** 

## **Funds held as custodian trustees on behalf of other** 

|Description of the assets<br>held in this capacity|N/A|
|---|---|
|Name and objects of the<br>charity on whose behalf the<br>assets are held and how this<br>falls within the custodian<br>charity’s objects|N/A|
|Details of arrangements for<br>safe custody and<br>segregation of such assets<br>from the charity’s own<br>assets|N/A|





**Additional information (optional) Names and addresses of advisers (optional information)** 

**Type of Name Address adviser** 

**Name of chief executive or names of senior staff members (optional information)** 

## **Exemptions from disclosure** 

Reason for non-disclosure of key personnel details 

## **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)**<br>**Full name(s)**<br> **Position**<br>(e.g. Secretary, Chair,<br>etc)<br>.<br>**Date**|||
|---|---|---|
||Sheila Davi|Madeline Haigh|
||<br>Chair||
||17/10/24<br>17/10/24||
||17/10/24||





|**Charity Name**|||**No (if any)**|||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
|**Friends of Church Stretton Library**||||||
|**Receipts andpayments accounts**|||||**CC16a**|
|**For the period**<br>**from**|01.04.23<br>Period start date|**To**|31.03.24<br>Period end date|||




**Section A Receipts and payments Unrestricted Restricted Endowment Total funds Last year funds funds funds to the nearest to the nearest £ to the nearest £ to the nearest £ to the nearest £ £ A1 Receipts** 

|Events|**4,432 **||**-**|||**-**|||**4,432 **||**5,115**|
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
|Donations|**4,376**||**-**|||**-**|||**4,376**||**4,365**|
|Gift Aid|**935**||**-**|||**-**|||**935**||**878**|
|Grant|**-**||**-**|||**-**|||**-**||**-**|
|Interest|**217**||**-**|||**-**|||**217**||**-**|
||**-**||**-**|||**-**|||**-**||**-**|
||**-**||**-**|||**-**|||**-**||**-**|
||**-**||**-**|||**-**|||**-**||**-**|
|**_Sub total_**_(Gross income for_<br>_AR)_|**9,960**||**-**|||**-**|||**9,960**||**10,358**|
|||||||||||||
|**A2 Asset and investment sales,**||||||||||||
|**(see table).**||||||||||||
|||||**-**|||**-**|||||
||**-**|||**-**|||**-**||**-**||**-**|
|**_Sub total_**|**-**|||**-**|||**-**||**-**||**-**|
|||||||||||||
|**_Total receipts_**|**9,960**|||**-**|||**-**||**9,960**||**10,358**|
|**A3 Payments**||||||||||||
|Cost of events|**1,140**||**-**|||**-**|||**1,140**||**1,865**|
|Postage & Stationery|**83**||**-**|||**-**|||**83**||**101**|
|Publicity|**131**||**-**|||**-**|||**131**|||
|Repairs & Renewals|**2**||**-**|||**-**|||**2**||**-**|
|Insurance|**372**||**-**|||**-**|||**372**||**372**|
|Miscellaneous|**121**||**-**|||**-**|||**121**||**144**|
|Grants to Library|**10,517**||**-**|||**-**|||**10,517**||**1,131**|
||**-**||**-**|||**-**|||**-**||**-**|
||**-**||**-**|||**-**|||**-**||**-**|
|**_Sub total_ **|**12,366**||**-**|||**-**|||**12,366**||**3,613**|



|**A4 Asset and investment**|||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
|**purchases, (see table)**|||||||||||
||**-**||**-**|||**-**||**-**||**-**|
||**-**||**-**|||**-**||**-**|||
|**_Sub total_ **|**-**||**-**|||**-**||**-**||**-**|
||||||||||||
|**_Total payments_**|**12,366**||**-**|||**-**||**12,366**||**3,613**|
|**_Net of receipts/(payments)_**|**-                 2,406**||**-**|||**-**||**-                 2,406**||**6,745**|
|**A5 Transfers between funds**|**-**||**-**||**-**|||**-**||**-**|
|**A6 Cash funds last year end**|**29,904**||**-**||**-**|||**29,904**||**23,159**|
|**_Cash funds this year end_**|**27,498**||**-**|||**-**||**27,498**||**29,904**|
||||||||||||



CCXX R1 accounts (SS) 

21/10/2024 

1 



## **Section B Statement of assets and liabilities at the end of the period** 

|**Categories**<br>Signed by one or two trustees on<br>behalf of all the trustees<br>**B1 Cash funds**<br>**B2 Other monetary assets**<br>**B5 Liabilities**<br>**B3 Investment assets**<br>**B4 Assets retained for the**<br>**charity’s own use**|**u**<br>Signature<br>VIC Book stands<br>**Details**<br>Donated projector<br>**Details**<br>**_Total cash funds_**<br>(agree balances with receipts and payments<br>account(s))<br>**Details**<br>Bank Account<br>Cash In Hand<br>**Details**<br>**Details**|**Unrestricted**<br>**funds**<br>**Restricted**<br>**funds**<br>**to nearest £**<br>**to nearest £**<br>**27,478**<br>**-**<br>**20**<br>**-**<br>**-**<br>**-**<br>**27,498**<br>**-**<br>OK<br>OK<br>**Unrestricted**<br>**funds**<br>**Restricted**<br>**funds**<br>**to nearest £**<br>**to nearest £**<br>**-**<br>**-**<br>**-**<br>**-**<br>**-**<br>**-**<br>**-**<br>**-**<br>**-**<br>**-**<br>**-**<br>**-**<br>**Fund to which**<br>**asset belongs**<br>**Cost (optional)**<br>**-**<br>**-**<br>**-**<br>**-**<br>**-**<br>**Fund to which**<br>**asset belongs**<br>**Cost (optional)**<br><br>unrestricted<br>**-**<br>unrestricted<br>**-**<br>**-**<br>**-**<br>**-**<br>**-**<br>**-**<br>**-**<br>**-**<br>**Fund to which**<br>**liability relates**<br>**Amount due**<br>**(optional)**<br>**-**<br>**-**<br>**-**<br>**-**<br>**-**<br>Print Name|**Endowment**<br>**funds**<br>**to nearest £**|
|---|---|---|---|
||||**-**|
||||**-**|
||||**-**|
||||**-**|
||||OK|
||||**Endowment**<br>**funds**<br>**to nearest £**|
||||**-**|
||||**-**|
||||**-**|
||||**-**|
||||**-**|
||||**-**|
||||**Current value**<br>**(optional)**|
||||**-**|
||||**-**|
||||**-**|
||||**-**|
||||**-**|
||||**Current value**<br>**(optional)**|
||||**-**|
||||**-**|
||||**-**|
||||**-**|
||||**-**|
||||**-**|
||||**-**|
||||**-**|
||||**-**|
||||**When due**<br>**(optional)**|
|||||
|||||
|||||
|||||
|||||
|||||
||||Date of<br>approval|
|||||
|||||



CCXX R2 accounts (SS) 

21/10/2024 

2 

