## LIGHTHOUSE CRESSEX 2023 ANNUAL REPORT By David Lidiard, Oct 2023 Lighthouse Cressex delivers a fun week-long summer holiday programme for children of primary school age run by local churches working together with our local community. Although we don’t have a specific catchment area, we expect to draw children from our local areas of Booker and Cressex. We have been running annually since 2010 and use Cressex Community School as our base. In 2023 we welcomed around 190 children on average aged between 5 and 10+ supported by approximately 160 volunteers of whom around half were teenagers. We also held Little Lighthouse for children under 5 and their carers attracting over 120 visits. Included in the 190 children were 9 children with special needs most of whom were able to be fully engaged with their age groups with some additional considerations and assistance ably provided by our volunteers. Although our numbers were down a little from pre-Covid years (around 220 children) this was in line with all of the other Lighthouses being run and children’s activities in general, so we were very pleased to get the level of child attendance and helpers that we saw and was an increase from last year of 160. We are very grateful to Cressex School for allowing us to use their fantastic facilities for Lighthouse and being able to work with the excellent staff. This year we continued with the special event for our young ‘red shirts’, aka teenagers, on 2 evenings of the Lighthouse week at the local church across the road (CSK). Here the young people were able to relax from their day time responsibilities of caring for the younger children and have fun games, a café followed by an opportunity to discuss some of the deeper questions and challenges that life throws at us. Last year we started very small but this year we saw a significant increase in the number of teenagers attending, up by a factor of 4 and showed there was a real need in the community for events for teenagers. This is a great opportunity for our red shirts to get to know one another, have a fun time and make that transition from child into adulthood. Lighthouse provides a great training ground for our teenagers to take on responsibility and start to develop those all-important adult skills. This year our theme was illustrated by life in a funfair and was a continuation from our circus theme last year. The atrium and main stage were decked out with funfair memorabilia by our talented props team. We had a roller coaster in the form of a trolley on a large trampoline frame and a hall of mirrors using reflective boards mounted in frames. On Wednesday we had funfair stalls for the children to try their hands at and earn sweets as prizes, strictly to be consumed at home! As always, our mainstage, where everyone is gathered together, is a lively time full of singing, dancing, games, teaching and drama. After, the children separate into their groups for sessions of sports, drama, craft and learning together. The older children (9-11) will have specialized workshops to suit their age group. The trustees are very grateful to our sponsors. Lighthouse is run on a voluntary basis and no charge is made for the week despite the number of drinks, biscuits and cakes consumed! Lighthouse mainly relies on contributions from a small number of key donors including a grant from Buckinghamshire Council and from a number of the local churches and individuals. Lighthouse Cressex formally acknowledges the Buckinghamshire Council grant of £1,500 awarded by High Wycombe Town Committee to support this Summer Holiday Programme. Most of all we are indebted to our volunteers who provide time, expertise and energy to make Lighthouse Cressex happen often taking holiday or unpaid leave to volunteer during the week. Despite being exhausted at the end of the Lighthouse week it gives the trustees and volunteers great pleasure to receive thanks from the children and parents who in themselves struggle to find activities for their children during the summer school holidays. ## TRUSTEES Jacqui Griggs Sharon Windsor Clare Lamb Catri Plummer Edward Chidgey David Lidiard ## Named Trustee Posts: Treasurer – Jacqui Griggs Secretary – Catri Plummer Chair – David Lidiard ## – Finance Report presented by Treasurer For year ended 30th September 2023 ## Summary This year’s Lighthouse accounts report a deficit of £916. This shortfall is due to increased costs rather than a decrease in income. Increased costs are across the board. ## Income - £9,517 Church donatons –We received continued support from CSK Church, Kings Church, The Avenue Methodist, New Life Christian Fellowship, and a new contributor St Mary and St George who are giving a regular monthly donation. Total received from churches £3,325. Grant Funding – We were awarded £1,500 community funding from Buckinghamshire Council for 2023. Individual supporter donatons – again we have been so blessed by individuals who have supported us (and continue to support us) so generously with a total of £1,566 ## Donatons through the week (including online) Donations through the week were a combination of cash/cheque (£232); card (through a card machine kindly lent to us by CSK church) (£435); bank transfer (£250); and online (now Invest My Community) (£1228). In all totalling £2146. (A significant increase on 2022 income) ## Gif Aid £442 the majority of which related to our 2021/22 claim. A further £272 came in at the beginning of October from Online income - this will appear in next year’s accounts. Plus there is another £425 to be claimed from other gift aid donations. ## Shop The shop ran again this year, albeit with a smaller range of goods, with income of £536(£244 through the card machine) and after deducting costs made a surplus of £100 ## Expenditure - £10,433 ## Site Costs (£2,816) Staging and AV Equipment costs of £2,193. This was £575 more than the previous year – we had a different arrangement this year and used a different supplier for part of the equipment. Main stage/other site costs £623 ## School Hire (£1,750) School hire costs of £1,750 (increase of £100 over previous year). We have been informed these costs are likely be increased further for 2024. ## First Aid (£565) A £15 increase on last year. ## Insurance (£361) Again an increase on last year, partly due to the higher value of the equipment hired in that has to be covered on the policy. ## Admin Costs (£1718) These costs include the admin fee charged by LHCentral of £3.50 per head for each child and volunteer (355 @ £3.50 = £1,242) plus DBS costs £5/head (31 @ £5.00 = £155.00) Volunteers 162/ children 193 (2022 figures - Volunteers enrolled 149/children enrolled 166) Also paid a new subscription fee to LHCentral of £300 Stationery costs of £2 ## Bank Charges (£75) HSBC continue to charge £5 fee per month for managing the account plus activity charges of 40p per cheque/40p per £100 cash. ## Actvites (£897) Include costs for the funfair activity of £180. Craft £607. Age groups £108. ## Shop costs (£435) ## T shirts/badges (£587) Almost double the cost of 2022 but last year we were able to use stock left over from previous years. Cost of the uniform has increased from £4.26 to £4.91 per adult t-shirt. (15% increase). ## Refreshments (£632) Covers the BBQ and refreshments during the week. Again we were only charged a very minimal amount for the BBQ. The increase in cost of refreshments reflects the general increase in food prices. ## Charitable Donatons Trustees agreed last year to make a donation of £500 to WYFC. We did advise that this figure would appear in this year’s accounts. ## Misc (£98) We organized safeguarding training for our volunteers with Urban Saints Training ## Reserves - £7,825 Our reserves have reduced by £916 from 2022. A CSK Church donation was received after the end of our financial year so will be included in next year’s accounts. This will increase our reserves to £9,825. We consider these to be adequate as we look ahead to Lighthouse 2024 and will be sufficient to cover any costs that are incurred before next year’s LH week. ## End. ## **LIGHTHOUSE CRESSEX** ## **CIO NUMBER 1183476** ## **RECEIPTS AND PAYMENTS ACCOUNTS FOR THE FINANCIAL YEAR 1ST OCTOBER 2022-30TH SEPTEMBER 2023** |**RECEIPTS**
Donations (Churches, Grants, Supporters)
Donations (during the week)
Donations (online)
Gift aid tax refund
Sales
**Total**
**PAYMENTS**
Site Set Up/Stage/AV
Hire of premises
First Aid
Insurance
Admin
Bank charges
Activities
Shop
Helpers Uniform
Refreshments
Charitable donation
Misc
**Total**
**Income less expenditure for current year**
**Balance bought forward from previous year**
**Balance carried forward to following year**|6392
918
1229
442
536
**£9,517**
2815
1750
565
361
1718
75
897
435
587
632
500
98
**£10,433**|6392
918
1229
442
536
**£9,517**
2815
1750
565
361
1718
75
897
435
587
632
500
98
**£10,433**|6392
918
1229
442
536
**£9,517**| |---|---|---|---| |||**£916**
**£8,741**
**£7,825**|| ## **BALANCE SHEET AS AT 30TH SEPTEMBER 2023** **Current Assets:** Cash in hand at bank **£7,825**