## **Ore Community Library Group** Registered Charity No 1188607 **Trustee Report and Financial Statements for the year ended 31 March 2025** ## Ore Community Library Group Trustee Annual Report for the year ending 31 March 2025 Full name: Ore Community Library Group Registered charity number: 1188607 Address: Ore Community Library 467 Old London Road Hastings TN35 5BP Telephone: 01424 612050 Email: orecommunitylibrarygroup@gmail.com Legal Status: Charitable Incorporated Organisation Trustees: Heather Alison Bishop – Chair James Robert Breeds – Secretary Andrew John Battley – Treasurer Elizabeth Janet Sargent – Volunteer Lead Bankers: Co-operative Bank ## **Governance and Management** The Charity is operated under the rules of its constitution and was registered by the Charity Commission on 18 March 2020. The Charity employs no staff on a paid basis and is run and managed by its trustees in the form of 'The Committee'. During the period from 1 April 2024 to 31 March 2025, 25 volunteers were active. The methods adopted for the recruitment of new trustees is laid down in the constitution. ## **Aims and Objectives** a) to advance the education of the general public in Ore and the surrounding area, in particular but not exclusively by the provision of a lending library. b) to further or benefit the residents of Ore and the surrounding area, without distinction of sex, sexual orientation, race or political, religious or other opinions by associating together the said residents and the local authorities, voluntary and other organisations in a common effort to advance education and provide facilities in the interests of social welfare for recreation and leisure time occupation with the objective of improving the conditions of life for the residents. ## **Background and summary of the general activities taken for the public benefit.** The Community Library was opened on 1 May 2021, and remains open on Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday from 10am until 4pm. In the 12 months covered by this report we have signed up 208 borrowers bringing the total since opening on 1 May 2021 to 1233. The ratio of Adults to Juniors is 53%:47%. There were visits to the library by 2096 Adult members and 1092 Junior members, making a total of 3188 visits to the Library. This is slightly down on last year so we have made a neighbourhood leaflet drop which we hope will promote us. There were 4262 books borrowed during the year, (2163 by Adult members and 2099 by Junior members). There are generally about 600 books in circulation out of a total of 5600. The Library is available for booking outside normal hours and several locally based organisations have taken advantage of this facility. We have a group of 5 of our volunteers who run weekly Storytime sessions for preschool children and with the support of NLT Hastings Hub ensure each child has a book as a present for their birthday. We also welcome regular Storytimes run by the Early Years Education Team from our local RSPCA Rehabilitation Centre at Mallydams Wood We received 200 books from the Hastings Hub of the National Literacy Trust in connection with World Book Day and were therefore able to give books to 2 local preschool nurseries, as well as a 'Special Storytime ' in the Library. We joined with East Sussex County Council for the Summer Reading Challenge encouraging reading among our junior members and giving out the stickers and Certificates. We work with local schools and were able to reach out to more children this year increasing our junior membership. We are part of the Support group for the The National Literacy Trust – Hastings Hub networking with several other local organisations. The Hub have provided book prizes for various competitions In conjunction with the NLT a local Primary School was invited to celebrate World Earth Day by describing what they could do to help the environment written on ‘leaves’ which were added to the tree in the Library. Each child had a book and took home a pot with seeds provided by Ore in Bloom Our book club continues to meet monthly, but is in need of new members. A group of Brownies visited to gain their Collectors Badge. We are working with the Hastings Literacy Festival to provide future events in the Library. We are gaining recognition from the local community – we offer a printing and copying facility for which there is a small charge. We are receiving more contacts from local organisations A local Community garden group gave a talk about Marianne North. A local not for profit group has made a real difference to our rear yard. We are now able to use the space and won a local award as a Community Garden. ## **Financial Review** ## **Receipts & payments account for the year ended 31[st] March 2025** Opening balance as at 1[st] April 2024 2,725.54 ## Breakdown… - Engage Main account: £930.72 - Engage Second account: £4.07 - Credit Union: £1,790.75 On 9 April 2025, we opened accounts with CoOp for more effective banking as Engage was no longer fit for purpose for our requirements. Funds were transferred from both Engage accounts into the main CoOp account in mid-April 2025. |**Receipts**(to 31stMarch 2025)
**Credit Union account**
**CoOp account (main)**
Transfers from Engage
Venue hire
Donations
Grants
Sales
**CoOp account (second)**
**Total Receipts**
**Payments**(to 31stMarch 2025)
**Credit Union account**
**CoOp account (main)**
Tax
Facilities
Utilities
Stationery and Refreshments
Books
Insurance
Expenses
Sundries
**CoOp account (second)**
**Total Payments**|**Funds £**
0.00
934.79
270.00
1,528.59
11,570.00
186.87
0.00
**14,490.25**
0.00
569.50
1,671.04
2,352.72
119.41
326.78
170.76
1,514.74
49.80
0.00
**6,774.75**| |---|---| ||| |**Finance held at end of 31st March 2025**|| |---|---| |Credit Union account|1,790.75*****| |CoOp account (main)|7,715.50| |CoOp account (other)|0.00| ||**9,506.25**| ***** During the financial year, Credit Union (Hastings & Rother branch) closed down and the £1,790.75 funds were passed on to the financial services compensation scheme (FSCS) for us to retrieve. These funds are with FSCS, so actual balance in our CoOp accounts at 31/3/25 was £7,715.50. **The charity’s policy on reserves** The charity has no specific policy on reserves.