## **Cutthorpe Village Charity Registration Number 1183341** ## **Trustees Report for AGM 2022** ## **Introduction from the Chair** Welcome to our 3rd annual general meeting. Things are now coming towards a new type of normal for most people. When we embarked on setting up the Charity four years ago, noone would have predicted the stresses and changes we would all undergo in such a short time. I continue to be amazed with how much the village charity and all of its members and leaders have achieved throughout the last three years. I think the resilience of our community remains impressive and hope that after reading the reports from each area of activity, you will agree. We held our first two AGMs by zoom and will be gathering together in the village hall for this next meeting, a wonderful opportunity to meet up! We will be hosting a consultation meeting for anyone in the village to attend after the AGM, complete with cake. I do hope you are able to come along and stay for this. The creativity and (fun packed) hard work that has gone on over the past year is truly impressive. It has brought a number of the ideas from villagers into reality. Our membership continues to grow and we will always make room and welcome new members. The more people who become members, the more voices are heard, the greater our ability to make Cutthorpe into a stronger community. I will finish with a heartfelt thanks to our younger villagers who put on not one but two spontaneous cake sales for the playground appeal. I will make sure I am around to enjoy the next batch! I look forward to another year of success as we come together to think about what we would like to see happen in our lovely community over the coming year. _Arlene Honeyman_ ## **Children’s Activities** Over the past year, the focus has been on supporting the fundraising efforts for a new village playground. The Easter party was well attended and while the kids enjoyed being entertained, we managed to raise money with some Easter themed competitions. In summer we hoped to host a family fun day, but despite our best efforts, there weren’t enough volunteers to allow the planned event to go ahead. In an effort to still provide the opportunity for residents to get together, a smaller event went ahead, with teas, coffees and cakes served in The Institute, a raffle and tombola and entertainment provided by the village band. A highlight of the year was the Jubilee Party. Although the rain meant the whole country had to make hasty amendments to community events, the villagers made the most of the day by gathering in The Institute, sharing picnics and cakes, and raising a surprising amount! John Robinson made a touching speech and it was a thoroughly splendid afternoon… made more significant by the subsequent passing of Queen Elizabeth. The mother and baby group continues to be popular and is now held at The Institute to allow toddlers to attend too. The Father Christmas tractor ride through the village proved very popular once again and discussions are underway to see if there is enough support to make this happen again this year. As we look to next year, we are actively seeking volunteers to support with children’s events – if you are able to offer your time in the planning and running of events, we would love to hear from you. _Natalie Burkinshaw_ ## **Choir Report** Since Covid we have only started meeting from September 2022. We have a small number, post covid, between 10 and 15 usually. I am pleased that we seem not to have lost the ability to sing and are now working on carols for Christmas and some are hoping to have an open evening of a few games and carols with a Beetle drive to which all are welcome on 9th December from 7.00pm. We did do an open air carol sing last Christmas which went quite well. We are also hoping have a pianist, that is still in progress at the time of writing. _John Thurstan_ ## **Membership secretary report** The Membership has been gradually growing in the last year; we now have 75 members, of which 14 are associate members. This now is becoming representative of our village population, and is underlining local support for the charity and its aims. _John Thurstan_ ## **Village play park** A small sub group of the charity has worked throughout the year to support the Parish Council in designing and obtaining funds to install a new play park on the recreation ground. The work of the group has been to work with local children in respect of the equipment they would like on a new park, lead on the grant application on behalf of the Parish Council, and liaise with contractors in obtaining quotations and to liaise with the cricket club who are very supportive of this initiative. In addition, the local community have been required to obtain around 10% of the overall funding and Cutthorpe Matters have led on this. It has been great to see so many initiatives throughout the year towards funding the park, and together with local donations and funding via the just giving page, it is great to be able to confirm that the Parish Council have now submitted the grant application incorporating our local contribution. It is hoped that a decision will be known by the end of the year, although if this is not successful, Cutthorpe Matters will retain the funding raised locally to support development of the current park. _Ken Lawrie_ ## **Men’s Shed** The Men’s Shed has continued to meet currently at the 3 Merry Lads on a monthly basis this allows us to socialise and discuss any upcoming projects. John Thurstan has made and installed a commemorative plaque at the recently planted Jubilee tree. A total of 8 Bird boxes have been made to order for local people in return for a donation to the Men’s Shed, boosting the bank balance, many thanks to Mike Robotham. Natalie Burkinshaw has asked the Men’s Shed if they would assist local children to make Hedgehog houses, several members have said they would be happy to assist, any funds raised will be donated to the Hedgehog Rescue, who are currently saving for a new housing unit. At the request of the village charity, an inventory of the contents of the storage container which stores the marquee and equipment associated with the village festival has been provided, along with a proposal to provide a solution to the poor condition of the container roof, including repairing the roof leaks. _Graham Harrison_ ## **Cutthorpe Calendar** The Cutthorpe Calendar was produced again this year and continues to contribute to the general fund (around £300). As stated in previous reports buying a calendar should really be treated as a donation to the charity with a free calendar thrown in and at only £6 continues to be unbelievably good value. We had another good crop of pictures submitted by local residents which made the job of the expert selection panel easy and difficult as there was plenty of choice but also the challenge of what not to include. If you submitted a picture and it wasn’t included please continue to submit as we do try and share it around as much as possible. Bribery to get your picture in is still an option (with the benefit going to the charity) if you want to increase your chances. Because of the continued uncertainty around lockdowns etc we took the decision to ask for pre-orders. This worked well in that whilst selling fewer calendars we didn’t end up with any unsold which in the past has been an issue and ate into the surplus. The selection has been made for this year and the next year’s calendar is now with the printer and will be available in November. Please continue to submit your entries for future years. Ideally they should be landscape and should be sent to calendarcutthorpe@hotmail.com _Tom Johnstone_ ## **Environment** The wildflower patch on the strip of land near the telephone box in the centre of the village was reseeded again during the year resulting in a lovely colour of flowers over the early summer. The wildflowers have also provided an increase in activity of bees and insects and improved the look of the area due to regular maintenance by various volunteers. It is hoped the wildflowers with extra seed scattered each year will continue to provide colour and pleasure. The two village planters also bring some welcome colour to the village with them being planted twice a year by charity volunteers. ## _Wendy Lawrie_ ## **Treasurer’s report** Cutthorpe Matters Financial Report This year has been another relatively quiet year primarily as a result of the continued COVID restrictions. We have continued to fund the newsletter, seeds for wildflowers and insurance for the charity. We also had a get together on the recreation ground in August 2021 where the band played a few songs and were accompanied by their guitar teacher who, along with his singing partner, also played a few songs for which we covered his costs. We continue to be a member of the Men’s Shed Association so paid the subscription for that and collected some subs of the members to fund it. There has been a lot of activity for the kids group primarily looking to raise enough funds towards a new play park. At the end of the period more than £500 had already been raised, despite attempts by the weather to undermine the Halloween event. A lot more activity has taken place since and at the time of writing the target of more than £4,000 has now been reached. The calendar was produced and sold and generated a tidy profit of c£300 towards the general funds. We also had £160 donation from the auction of various items in the 3ML. The other major excitement for the year was having to change bank accounts. HSBC very kindly, after making us jump through hoops c18 months ago to get the account set up, decided to start charging us for use of the account. Whilst not big charges, in the context of the size of the charity, enough to make it worthwhile changing. We have now moved our account to the CoOp, who continue to offer free banking to charities, but as a number of other charities were doing the same thing it took some time to go through so we ended up paying some charges across to HSBC. ## _Tom Johnstone_ |Cutthorpe Village Charity
2021/22 Activity summary
**Opening Balance - April 2021**
Insurance
News Letter
Web site
Wildflowers etc
Misc Donations
Bank charges
**Calendar**
Sales
Printing
**Festival**
Summer Picnic
**Kids Entertainment**
Fund raising
**Mens Shed**
Mens shed association
**Closing Balance - March 2021**|General
Calendar
Burns/Xm
as Party
Festival
Kids Party
Choir
Craft club
Mens
Shed
**-£12.12 £2,350.50 £1,791.12 £1,514.04**
**£205.32**
**£614.94**
**£550.00**
**£56.00**
-£188.25
-£76.15
-£7.48
-£32.99
£160.50
-£12.10
£805.00
-£411.60
-£50.00
£328.24
-£24.00
**-£168.59 £2,743.90 £1,791.12 £1,464.04**
**£533.56**
**£614.94**
**£550.00**
**£32.00**
General Funds
Ring Fenced|Total
**£7,069.80**
-£188.25
-£76.15
-£7.48
-£32.99
£160.50
-£12.10
£805.00
-£411.60
-£50.00
£328.24
-£24.00
**£7,560.97**| |---|---|---|