**Somerset Levels and Moors Shed (SLaMS)** (A Charitable Incorporated Organisation)
## **Charity Number 1182815**
**Trustees’ Annual Report and Financial Statements for the Year Ended 31st December 2024**
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## **Somerset Levels and Moors Shed CIO**
## **Trustees’ Annual Report for the Year Ended 31st December 2024**
|**Contents**|**Page**|
|---|---|
|Legal and Administrative Information|3|
|Trustees’ Annual Report|4|
|Receipts and Payments Account|8|
|Statement of Assets and Liabilities|9|
|Independent Examiners Report of Accounts|10|
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## **Somerset Levels and Moors Shed CIO**
## **Trustees’ Annual Report for the Year Ended 31st December 2024**
## **Legal and Administrative Information**
## **Status**
The Somerset Levels and Moors Shed (SLaMS) is a Charitable Incorporated Organisation (CIO), registered on 5th April 2019.
## **Registered Number**
Registered charity number: 1182815
## **Principal Address**
Canal Workshop Canal View Old Taunton Road Bridgwater Somerset TA6 3NS
## **Trustees**
The trustees who served during the year were as follows
Colin D Gorton (Chair) (appointed 10th January 2019) Stuart H Jackson (Treasurer) (appointed 30th June 2020) Michael G Brown (appointed 30th June 2020) Gerald Swayne (Secretary) (appointed 10th August 2021) Gordon A Godfrey (appointed 17th May 2022) Peter J Smith (appointed 17th May 2022)
## **Trustees who resigned during the year**
Tom Hart (resigned 21st May 2024)
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## **Somerset Levels and Moors Shed**
## **Trustees’ Annual Report for the Year Ended 31st December 2024**
The trustees present their annual report and financial statements for the year ended 31st December 2024.
## **Structure, Governance and Management**
The Somerset Levels and Moors Shed (SLaMS) is a Charitable Incorporated Organisation (CIO). The CIO is governed by a constitution, with charity trustees to be elected by members at its Annual General Meeting. Any vacant seats may be filled by nomination, election and verification process held by the existing trustees during the year.
The charity trustees are responsible for the management and overall control of the CIO. All trustees are volunteers and undertake activities to further the objects of SLaMS as required, with no remuneration or financial benefit received for their time, which is given freely. No remuneration or benefits or expenses were paid to any connected persons during this period.
## **Objectives and Activities**
The objects of the charity are to promote for the public benefit of persons living in Bridgwater, its adjacent towns, villages and the isolated rural communities of the Somerset Levels and Moors, in particular but not exclusively older men, preventing them from becoming socially excluded, and assisting them to integrate into society through the provision of a venue (”Shed”) or venues (“Sheds”) in which they can meet and jointly or individually undertake and share creative, physical, social and recreational activities of their choice.
SLaMS offers a practical skills sharing environment, where all members contribute to the life of the Shed, working on their own projects, community-based projects or those commissioned by members of the public.
## **Achievements and Performance**
Our beneficiaries include men and women aged 18+, though our members are predominantly male retirees. Many are dealing with issues around physical or mental health, social isolation, ageing, unemployment and include carers seeking respite, exoffenders/probationers re-integrating back into society, and refugees/asylum seekers awaiting settlement in the UK.
Our members’ life experiences are quite diverse. This diversity is a strong feature of Shed life and contributes significantly to our aims of being welcoming and inclusive for all, irrespective of background, aptitude or ability. Our social space and practical workshop environment provide an opportunity for men, who may be struggling to cope with mental health and social isolation, to connect with other men through shared practical activity.
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## **Somerset Levels and Moors Shed**
## **Trustees’ Annual Report for the Year Ended 31st December 2024**
The resultant community is one of mutual support, good humour and a strong _esprit de corps,_ and greatly contributes to maintaining each individual’s sense of worth, acceptance and wellbeing.
As might be expected given the life circumstances of many of our service users, our membership numbers fluctuate, though we retain a core group of around 15 members, providing sufficient continuity for volunteer Trustees and Session Supervisors, and which also enables us to plan ahead in accepting community and other commissioned projects.
2024 has largely been a year when we further consolidated our recovery from the effects of Covid 19 lockdowns and reduced operations between 2020 and 2022. Given the natural churn in membership our numbers have largely stabilised such that at year end we had attracted 6 new members and retained a total membership of 29. On some days attendance at our twice weekly sessions exceeded practical limits. As a consequence from May 2024 we opened on a third day, with the intention that not only would members’ attendance be spread over the extra weekly session, but also by offering a third day, we hoped to attract further new members. In practice this was of limited success, with attendance on the third day remaining low and consistently attracting only a few of our very regular members. While overall attendance and participation is up on previous years, average attendance is down from 2023, predominantly due to low attendance on the new Wednesday session. The table below provides comparison with previous years.
||(SLaMS UA)
2020|(SLaMS UA &
CIO) 2021|(SLAMS CIO)
2022|(SLaMS CIO)
2023|(SLaMS CIO)
2024|
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
|Membership|11|19|25|32|29|
|Total Sessions|40|54|101|102|137|
|Total Attendees|266|330|811|1108|1164|
|Average
attendees/
session|6.6|6.1|8.0|10.9|8.5|
We have continued our contacts with signposting agencies and others, including _inter alia_ the Probation Service in both Bridgwater and Taunton, NHS Adult Community Mental Health Service, and Third Sector agencies working in the mental health space, and with refugees temporarily accommodated in hotels near M5 Junction 24, responding to individual needs as required.
From time to time we have hosted talks by NHS professionals on aspects of male health. This is often well received by our members, and in many cases has resulted in improved awareness and self care.
We have continued to operate a Hardship Fund to assist those in financial difficulty (as a result of the “Cost of Living Crisis”) to access and fully participate in Shed activities.
## **Trustees’ Annual Report for the Year Ended 31st December 2023**
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## **Somerset Levels and Moors Shed CIO**
Since October 2024, we have publicised and operated The Shed as a “Warm Space”. We received a modest grant as part of Somerset Community Foundation’s “Help through Winter” scheme which enabled us to keep the workshop heating on during the coldest months and provide a weekly hot bacon roll or similar “Man Food” from a visiting burger van on alternate Tuesdays and Thursdays. This proved to be very popular indeed, encouraging attendance on days when several members would normally stay at home.
In respect of community involvement our members have been busy constructing a number of commissioned items, amongst which are :
- For West Monkton School and Hamp Infants School - completion of projects started in 2023 - wellington boot storage units - for safer storage of outdoor footwear and to encourage children’s participation in outdoor curricular activities.
- For SHAL Housing Association - completion of a large project started in 2023 to produce recycling bin storage units - to encourage residents’ recycling behaviours, improve the external visual appearance of properties and to deliver an element of “social uplift” to the immediate neighbourhood.
- For Quantock National Park Service - completion of a number of bird boxes, some of which have been decorated by children from schools based in the Quantock Hills.
2024 concluded with no significant Health and Safety incidents or accidents. There was a small number of minor injuries requiring nothing more than a plaster. Trustees and members both recognise the achievement while readily acknowledging the need to guard against complacency. The frequency of incidents and minor first aid cases is recorded and discussed on a quarterly basis with any recommendations for further mitigation being agreed and implemented. The Shed continues to implement the management of risk to ALARP (As Low As Reasonably Practical) principles.
## **Reserves Policy**
Our aim is to retain a minimum 12 months of annual overhead costs in unrestricted reserves as a operational buffer in the event of funding sources substantially reducing or ceasing. This has been achieved.
## **Financial Review**
Income in 2024 amounted to £12,272 of which £4890 was as a result of members completing projects commissioned by individuals or community organisations.
Only one grant was received during the year - £1100 from The Somerset Community Foundation’s “Help through Winter“ initiative.
Operating payments were £16204, of which the single largest item (£6334) was rent for the workshop. Capital expenditure during the year of £1207 was incurred on a new bandsaw. The charity made a net loss of £5138 and at year end unrestricted cash funds of £16130 were available, with a further £3315 available in restricted funds.
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The accounts were reviewed and passed by an independent examiner on 25th April 2025 and found to be an accurate record of the Shed’s financial operations.
Approved by the Trustees on 25th April 2025 and signed on their behalf by:
C D Gorton Trustee (Chairman
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##
||||Unrestricted
funds|Restricted
funds|Endowment
funds|Totalfunds|Lastyear|Lastyear|
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
||||tothenearestt|to the nearest €|to the nearest €|to the nearestt|tothe nearestE||
|AiReceipts|||||||||
|Members Contributions|||5,419|||5,419||5,015|
|Earned lncome|||4,890|||4,890||2,978|
|Donations and Bequests|||781|||781||1,436|
|Grants||||1,100||1,100|18,699||
|Other lncome|||82|||82||30|
|||AR)|11 172|1,100||12,272|28,158||
|Total receipts||||,||12,272|||
|A3 P|||||||||
|Rent|||5,334|||6,334||5,651|
|lnsurances|||323|338||661||645|
|Utilities|||366|170||536||470|
|Professional and Legal Services|||73|||73||90|
|Comms and Marketing|||414|12||426||415|
|Traininq||||360||360||77|
|Tools, Equipments and infrastructure|||||||||
|Maintenance|||576|16't||738||898|
|Materials and Consumables|||1,842|771||2,614||2,127|
|PPE andFirstAid||||121||121||187|
|Travel & Subsistance|||279|156||434||199|
|Support to Shed membership||||806||806||'1,499|
|Support to Shed Proiects||||3,100||3,100||1,000|
||Sub|total|10,208|5,996||16,204|13,256||
||||||||tiliiies||
|A4Asset and investment|||||||||
|purchases,(seetable)|||||||||
|Capital Tools and Machinery|||185|1,422|||||
|Capital lnfrastruture Assets|||||||||
||Sub|total|185|1,422||'t,207||3,346|
|Total payments||||||17,410|||
|Netofreceipts/(payments)|||779|5,917||5,'t3U|1|1,555|
|A5Transfersbetweenfunds|||||||||
|A6 Cashfundslastyear end|||15,35',I|9,232||24,583|13,O24||
|Cashfundsthis|year|end|16,13(|3,315||19,445|24,583||
||||||||-||
##
|||||Unrestricted|Restricted|Endowment||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
|||||funds|funds|funds||
|||||tonearestf,|tonearestE|tonearest€||
|81Cashfunds|Coop Bank|||15,617|3,315|||
||Unbanked Cash|||513||||
|||Totalcashfunds||16,130|3,315|||
||(agree balances|withreceipts|and payments|||||
||||account(s))|OK|OK|OK||
|||||Unrestricted|Restricted|Endowment||
|||||funds|funds|funds||
||Details|||tonearest€|tonearest€|tonearest€||
|82Othermonetaryassets||||||||
|||||||L--.-l||
|||||||l'l||
|83Investmentassets|Details|||Fund towhich|Cost (optional)|Current value
(ootional)
r-r||
||Details|||Fund towhich
asset|Cost (optional)|Current value
(ootional)||
|84 Assetsretainedforthe
charity'sownuse|Machinery
Hand Power Tools|||Unrestricted
Unrestricted|||
*'l||
||Tools|||Unrestricted||I
szzl||
||Workshop Fixtures
Domestic/SafetyInf|rastructu re||Unrestricted
Unrestricted||I
uool
I
szal||
|||||Fund towhich|Amountdue|When due||
||Details||||(optional)|(oPtional)||
|85Liabilities||||||||
|Signedbyoneortwo trusteeson
behalf ofallthe trustees|Signature
I|||Stua(HJackson
Print Name||Dateof
I
approvalI
t.r"6l
tt
Dateof||
|||||||lnsoection|I
I|
|lndependent lnspection||/^e-||J Roche||Izl+rrl||
##
|On|accounts for theyearended|charityno(irany)IrIrIsIzIeIrIsI|
|---|---|---|
||Set outonpages|(rememberioinclude the page numbers of additional sheets)|
|Respective|responsibilitiesofhustees|Theeharity's trustees are responsible forthepreparationof the accounts. Thecharity's|
||andexaminer|trusteesconsiderthatanauditisnot requiredforthisyearunder section144ofthe|
|||Charities Act2011(the Charities Act) and that an independentexaminationisneeded.|
|||Itismyresponsibilityto;|
|||Itismyresponsibilityto;|
|---|---|---|
|||.examine theaccountsundersection145 of the Charities Act,|
|||.tofollow the procedureslaiddorirtnin thegeneral Directions givenby theCharity|
|||Commission(undersection1a5(5Xb)oftheCharitiesAct),and|
|||.to statewhether particular matters have come tomyattention.|
|Basisofindependent examiner's||My examination was carried outinaccordance with general Directions givenbythe|
||statement|Charity Commission. An examination includes a reviewof theaccounting records|
|||keptby thecharity andacomparisonofthe accounlspresentedwith those records.|
|||Italso includesconsiderationofany unusualitems or disclosuresinthe accounts, and|
|||seekingexplanations from thetrusteesconcerningany suchmafters.Theprocedures|
|||underlakendo not provide all the evidence thatwouldbe required in an audit, and|
|||consequentlynoopinionisgivenas towhethertheaccounts presentalrueandfai/|
|||viewandthereport is limited tothosematter$ set out in the statement below.|
|lndependent examiner'sstatement||ln connection withmyexamination, no matter has come tomyattenlion(otherthan|
|||thatdisclosedbelow*):|
|||(1)which givesmereasonable causeto believethatin,any material respect, the|
|||requirements:|
|||.to keepaccountingrecordsinaccordance with section130ofthe|
|||Charities Acl;|
|||.to prepare accounts which accord withtheaccounting records andcomply|
|||withtheaccounting requirementsof theCharities Act havenotbeen met;or|
|||(2)towhich,in myopinion, attention shouldbedrawninorder to enableaproper|
|||understandingoftheaccountstobe reached.|
|||*Plessedelete thewordsinthebrqcketsiftheydonotopply.|
||Signed|(bct-t.
tf(+Itot-|
||Name|JudithRoche|
|Relevant|professionalqualification(s)
or body(if any)|Nol.{€|
||Address|The Willows Woodhill|
|||Stoke St Gregory|
|||Taunton|
|||SomersetTA3 6EN|