Charity No 1185399 ## – Friends of Ellington Park CIO 1185399 (Referred to variously as “the Charity”, “the Friends”, “FoEP” “CIO” hereafer) Report January – December 2023 Previous reports have advised that Ellington Park was undergoing major refurbishment and building works after being awarded a National Heritage Lottery Fund (NHLF), in partnership with our local Council (the landowners). This was due to be completed by December 2023 but a few parts are still in progress before the final sign off by the NHLF. At this point the contract with the Lottery-funded Activity Officer (A/O) will also end, although there are some funds remaining and she has advised that she is keen to continue working with the Friends on a voluntary basis. Part of the project was the building of a community café – the site of which the Charity leases from the Council - with toilet facilities and a new children’s play area. The café, which continues to be operated by the Friends of Ellington Park Café Ltd (a separate legal entity to the Charity),is run by paid managers and a group of reliable volunteers. It is open 6 days a week and offers a comfortable space with good value food and drink for the local community. In the summer holidays, working with a local school, it was able to provide vouchers for free packed lunches for less fortunate children and in the winter months it opens on a Monday (when it is usually closed), as a “Warm Space” to provide free hot drinks and toast. It has also introduced weekly Yoga sessions. In addition, in response to feedback from the Charity’s beneficiaries, the Council was able to install an all-inclusive swing seat in the children’s area making it more accessible to a wider range of children. In conjunction with FoEP and the A/O there are several groups of various backgrounds, ages and abilities that are using the café and park regularly and this has continued to build over the last year. The A/O has liaised with many specialists/creative artists/performers that have offered their services at reduced rates or even for free! These contacts continue to grow and we have enabled regular presentations such as local history talks, archeology, tree and nature walks, local author readings and book signings, painting and crafting sessions etc.to take place in the park. We are proud to announce that Ellington Park retained the prestigious Green Flag award and also Green Heritage Site accreditation for a second year – making it the only park in our district to have received these accolades. We are most grateful to all of our hardworking volunteers who help to maintain the park to keep it at its best. We were also nominated and selected as winners for Design Awards organised by a local civic and historical society. Please see details below. In 2023 we held the following events: Easter Fun Day; May Fayre - our largest fundraising and engagement event - with up to 8000 visitors during the day, with music on the bandstand, a funfair, over 100 stalls and food vendors; Family Picnic in the Park for families to come and enjoy the park and listen to the music on the bandstand; in September, as part of the annual English Heritage Open Days, we also celebrated the 130[th] anniversary of Ellington Park becoming a public park, where we presented the history of the park which goes back to 11[th] century and introduced our new Ellington Park Players who have devised a costumed walk including many characters that have been involved with the park throughout its history. These events, along with kind donations from park users, membership payments and the money made from our second-hand bookshop provides the income for the charity. The Charity’s free reserves at the end of the reporting period was £31,937. From this we need to ring fence a certain amount for necessary expenses including the annual contract for the defibrillator, website support, insurance and other professional fees along with the costs involved to support events and activities in the park such as portaloos, first aiders, the entertainment etc. which for this year were £13771. We also need to build the Charity’s resilience to enable it to further its objectives when the NHLF project is completed. We have helped enable an increased number of events, activities and entertainment, led by other charities and community organisations, to happen in the park including: mental health awareness days to encourage people to come and enjoy our beautiful park and to showcase the many organisations that can offer support and advice; the Power of Women Festival who held a family fun day for International Women’s Day and Festival of Sound who put on a family fun day and evening cabaret. Local schools regularly come for nature walks and some have also set up litter picking sessions. We have helped many young people achieve their Duke of Edinburgh awards through volunteering activities within the park. From April – October, weather permitting, we are able to open our second-hand book shop which is staffed by volunteers and has a vast selection of reference and fiction books for all ages. It is well supported and bringing in good revenue for the CIO, and importantly has become a community hub in itself (with 14 volunteers of all ages and backgrounds), promoting social inclusion and an increased sense of community ownership of the park. We hope in future to be able to adapt the space so that the volunteers do not have to carry the stock in and out each time and we would then be able to be open all year round. This year we welcomed a new trustee whose appointment has enabled the Charity to build its capacity by adopting a suite of new policies and procedures, with a focus, among other things, on the safeguarding of the Charity’s beneficiaries and volunteers. Sadly, we saw a trustee and long term volunteer step down and we are grateful to her for her hard work and commitment in helping with events and wider contribution within the park. We are in the process of recruiting further trustees who will add their skills to the effective functioning of the Charity. The NHLF project has certainly had a very positive impact on the park and its users and it is at once noticeable that there has been an increase in daily visitors to the park to enjoy nature, exercise, dog walk etc. but also now to use the café and the new children’s play area. The visitor data collection, which was done as part of the NHLF project, has shown year on year increases from prior to the project starting in 2019 to the end 2023 with overall increase to visitor numbers of close to 75%. This has given us a strong foundation to build from and we are now planning activities and projects for 2024 to continue the legacy. **Treasurer** **Friends of Ellington Park CIO** ## **Ramsgate Sociey Design Awards 2023** The Ramsgate Design Awards received 32 nominations in the various categories. All the nominated projects varied widely in their nature and character, so the independent judging panel, had their work cut out to pick the winners in each category. We are so proud that Ellington Park was selected as winner of 2 categories ## **PUBLIC REALM** WINNER ELLINGTON PARK Fabulous effort over a long period of time to bring the café, a restored bandstand and some well-designed landscaping to this much appreciated community park. ## **BUILDING OF THE YEAR** WINNER ELLINGTON PARK The community group established over ten years ago worked hard to get National Heritage Lottery funding to restore the Victorian features of the park, bring a new café, toilets, refurbished bandstand and play area to this community park which was under considerable threat. The judges were delighted to award this year’s top prize to this amazing achievement. Winner of the prestigious Building of the Year award went to the Friends of Ellington Park for their renovation of the popular park in the centre of Ramsgate. The landscaping, bandstand, and new café all combine to make this project an outstanding feat of community effort. Article from the Ramsgate Community Magazine July issue, which is distributed to all households in the town. CHARITY COMMISSION FOR ENGiAND AND WALES Receipts and payments accounts CC16a For the p•rlod 0110112023 To 3111212023 Section A Receipts and payments Unrestri¢t•d R•strl¢t•d funds fund• EndI￿rn•￿t fund• tothq rw••l f tt+th• nMrHt£ to tr• r*•r•tt£ knth• rw••t£ to th• Th￿r¥￿t£ Totsl fund8 Lxt y••r A1 Recel ts TDC Funding- forS818ry RTC Grani- for Potsnqth COL ookshop Sales P(Dfil from Café Loan rgpald ITOM C8fo Communi Fundrai* 17.700 17.700 8,850 2,626 7,426 5,717 11M83 11,501 Even15 6,602 Trne Sp￿•r￿$bIp- lorWlkllW• Svbs¢ripiior)$ & Dtsnauons Othèr Incoffle 1,78 1,563 170 Sub tot•l{Gross income ARJ 17,700 49,103 A2 A••gt Jnd ln￿$1m•nt ••l••, 1880 tablo). Sub totsi Total rnc•lpts 15,8 17.700 49.103 •nts SalaT lo Aclivrt Offlc•r Admin Costs AC¢Wnw￿Y Wlldllfa Gardèn Expens•5 Community Fu￿ra191n Exp•n8•8 Worksho Insurnr 0èllbril￿1OT Renlal Property Malnten8n¢o Expènses lor P•niatNL* ￿*1 P Tr•inin &¥pons 11542 12,$42 1,$2 8,550 1,067 1.629 1,093 0.720 7,804 500 1,337 1,394 1,394 1.547 1,547 4t0 13,771 410 ,313 Sub totsi 11542 27,178 A4 Asset and Inv•stm•nt Pu￿h88•s, 8•• tabl• Two Printers •bln•t for D•fibrlllator pr¢vtry￿nts 10 P*)tice Board 129 702 250 1131 Sub tot41 13,771 12.542 28,313 28.309 Net of receI￿￿(PaYMentsJ A5 Transfers betwegn fund8 A6 Cash fund8 last yéar •nd Cash funds thls ￿ar end 5.15 20,79 29.852 31,93 6,546 11,7 3fj.398 43,641 15,604 36,39 CCXX R1 accounts {ssi 23108r2024 Section B Statement of assets and liabilities at the end of the period Unrestr(cted funds to r*am$i£ Restrlcied fvnds Endowment funds to t*•roBt£ L8tegorie$ L)etails lo r*arost£ 81 Cash funds BAnk Balance 31.797 140 11.704 Cash Held Tt>tal cash funds 31,937 11,704 UnrMtrlct•d lunds R•4trictsd fvnd8 to I￿r•￿t Endowm•nt funds to £ Detalls F￿d to whlch Ml b•lo Co•t lop0￿1) Cuvr•nl valu• Detalls B3 InvMlm•nl a880ts FLmd w ¥thl¢h •M•t b Curr•t)t valu• onol Deta118 c£￿ loptbw•ll B4 A8S•t# r•taln•d for th• charltws own u8• F￿d towhlch r•l•t•i unr•8trlct•d *Thotsnt du• onal Wh•n du• Details Aeeountsn¢y F•• 85 Llabllltl•• Signed by one or trustees bèhalf of all Ihe trusie8S SwJnalure int Name Date of V81 Jo?k CCXX R2 aeJ))unts Issi 2310812024 Charity No 1185399 ## **Reserves policy for the Friends of Ellington Park 2023** The Charity’s free reserves at the end of the reporting period stood at £31,937. The Trustees consider the current level of reserves to be more than enough to cover the Charity’s expected expenditure for the year ahead were projected sources of income not to materialise. For this reporting period, the Friends have focused on managing the Heritage-funded regeneration project successfully through to its completion date, which was due to be December 2023 but some parts are still ongoing before the final sign off by the National Lottery. Once the regeneration project is completed, the Trustees plan to utilise a suitable proportion of the Charity’s reserves for other projects which further the Charity’s objects. In the meantime, the Trustees are taking the opportunity to build the Charity’s resilience and capacity, strengthening its reserves through fundraising activities such as the community bookshop, community cafe, and other events.