2025-05-31-accounts - Manchester Street Poem

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MANCHESTER STREET POEM

Reference and administra8ve details For the year ended 31 May 2024

Principal office: Unit 4, Regent Trading Estate Oldfield Road Salford M5 4DE

Registered Charity Number (CIO): 1190139

Trustees, who are also directors under company law, who served during the year and up to the date of this report were as follows:

Jeremy Green John Organ Sarah Hiscock Victoria Miller

The CooperaTve Bank PO Box 250 Skelmersdale WN8 6WT

MANCHESTER STREET POEM

Report of the Trustees

For the year ended 31 May 2025

The trustees present their report and the financial statements of the charity for the year ended 31 May 2025.

Reference and administraTve informaTon set out on page 1 forms part of this report. The financial statements comply with current statutory requirements, the CIO’s consTtuTon and the requirements of the ChariTes Act 2011.

Objec&ves and ac&vi&es

The CIO’s objects are to promote social inclusion for the public benefit by prevenTng people from becoming socially excluded, relieving the needs of those people who are socially excluded and assisTng them primarily through arts-based acTviTes and raising public awareness of relevant issues.

In pracTce, we are an art collecTve that tells stories, parTcularly stories around homelessness and its associated issues. Our primary focus is our home territory of Greater Manchester, but we are always keen to share our learning and pracTce more widely.

Our work is about co-producing creaTve projects with parTcipants, fostering a genuine sense of ownership for everyone involved as we seek to communicate the issues, lived experiences and realiTes of their lives to a wider public. ParTcipants themselves are the arTsts, and we collaborate with other arTsts and arts organisaTons where this brings new skills, ideas and approaches to enrich our work and to reach wider audiences.

Through this acTvity we aim to:

catalyse personal growth and confidence, create opportuniTes for self-expression and make spaces to develop posiTve connecTons (parTcipants)
challenge percepTons around homelessness and its associated issues and, through our artworks, create powerful, transformaTve moments that shia public awareness and understanding (audiences)

The trustees have referred to the Charity Commission’s guidance on public benefit in reviewing the charity's aims and objecTves and in planning its future acTons.

Achievements and performance

This year our achievements and performance were profoundly influenced by the poor health of our project manager and driver of organisaTonal acTvity, Simon Leroux. Admieed to hospital following a heart aeack in early July 2024 he spent 6 weeks in hospital and underwent heart bypass surgery. Much of the following year saw Simon recovering slowly from said surgery. The board of trustees and Simon felt it best to take a step back from the relentless cycle of project delivery that had been a feature of previous years and concentrate principally on Simon’s recovery and on organisaTonal housekeeping.

The board supported Simon to undertake a very closely supported phased return to work from October, and, incredibly, we managed to host two days of workshops towards the end of November 24. The workshops helped inform us what the individuals and organisaTons we have partnered with feel MSP should focus on – and what we should not. We have a beeer view of the way ahead, and a plan for approaching it, beginning with the process of making and strengthening our relaTonships with partners across the homelessness sector in Greater Manchester. The summary of these workshops is as follows.

MSP - Future Workshops Summary

What we are…

We are an art collecTve that tells stories, parTcularly stories around homelessness and its associated issues.

Where we are…

We will concentrate our efforts in Greater Manchester, our home, but we will consider offers to work naTonally and/or internaTonally.

What we hope to achieve…

For our audiences we hope to challenge percepTons around homelessness and its associated issues and create powerful, transformaTve moments generated by our artworks.
For our parTcipants we hope to catalyse personal growth and confidence, to create opportuniTes for self-expression and to make spaces to develop posiTve connecTons.

How we work…

We co-produce our projects with our parTcipants in order to foster a genuine sense of ownership for everyone involved.
We collaborate with other arTsts where it will aid our development and with organisaTons that address homelessness and its associated issues.

Specific, short-term tasks…

Seeking a professional fundraiser with a track record of securing sizeable, mulT-year bids to help us with an applicaTon and increase our skills in this area.
IdenTfying organisaTons across Greater Manchester that are working in the field of homelessness and/or its associated issues with a view to collaboraTng on our next big storytelling project and connecTng us with appropriate cohorts of parTcipants.
IdenTfying other arTsts and/or art collecTves with a view to collaboraTng on future projects and/or enabling our arTsTc development.
IdenTfying themes for future work by revisiTng all our stories to date and highlighTng recurring issues that have been important to past parTcipants.
Researching and accessing training for staff, volunteers and trustees, parTcularly around safeguarding but also around the development of our board.
UpdaTng our policies.
Improving our reporTng procedures.

The second half of this reporTng year we have been making our way through the list of specific short-term tasks. We have been liaising with Anna Scrine, a fund-raising consultant who aeended our planning workshops and has giaed us five days of her Tme. She has been helping us to get MSP looking ready for another mulT year grant and supported us to prepare last years annual report for the Charity Commission leaving a legacy of learning, the result of which you are reading now. She will support us with an applicaTon to the NaTonal Loeery heritage fund with a further legacy of learning around fundraising.

We have formally disbanded what we called the core group (of parTcipants) having recognised that between projects it was creaTng a strain on the organisaTon to maintain weekly acTviTes. In its place we will form “working groups” on a project by project basis. This has opened space for the board - sTll including a relaTvely broad diversity of experiences - to be more acTvely involved in the acTviTes of MSP rather than just the admin / behind the scenes.

We have idenTfied some key recruitment prioriTes for the board, in parTcular a treasurer, and while we have been unable to fill this post as yet, an independent bookkeeper has volunteered to step into the gap on a temporary / ad hoc basis, and to report to trustee meeTngs as and when we call on him to do so. Previous trustee recruitment to fill some of these gaps has had disappoinTng results. Trustees with key skills and seemingly good track records have either not reliably shown up to meeTngs or have lea their role before delivering what we hoped they would. There is learning around recruitment here - the trustees who have been most reliable over Tme have had a personal / emoTonal investment in MSP through workshops and events. Finding people with the right mix of skills and passion / commitment is difficult, and takes a great deal of Tme & resources.

This whole process has been an excellent learning opportunity for the trustees. We were already aware of the risks of running an organisaTon resTng mainly on one person’s shoulders, and this last eleven months has strongly brought that point home. In Simon’s absence we used our Tme to review our prioriTes as an organisaTon; to understand our financial flow beeer and to forecast more ably; to idenTfy the strengths and development needs of both board and organisaTon; and to respond to these needs as led by our values and best pracTce.

Plans for future periods

We will conTnue to work through our list of specific short-term tasks which came from our future workshops. PrioriTes for our next reporTng period are as follows:

broadening our network of partner organisaTons across Greater Manchester (those working in the field of homelessness and/or associated issues) in order to bring wider perspecTves and experiences into our next big storytelling project
idenTfying new arTsts and/or art collecTves who can enrich our projects/arTsTc development
conTnuing to strengthen our organisaTon: policies and procedures, fundraising and evaluaTon/impact reporTng.
Researching and accessing training for staff, volunteers and trustees.

Financial review

The financial transacTons of the CIO are set out in the aeached accounts.

Income for the year ending 31[st] May 2025 was £28,200, compared to £12,723 in 2023/24. This reflects the receipt in July 2024 of a core grant from Paul Hamlyn FoundaTon of £28,000 towards 2024/25 acTvity.

Annual expenditure totalled £18,326, compared to £36,032 in 2023/24. Reduced costs related to reduced levels of acTvity, leading to reduced costs for project facilitaTon and management fees. These reducTons were due to Simon Leroux’s illness.

The trustees aim to hold reserves equivalent to 3 months basic running costs at the end of the year amounTng to around £4000. Due to reduced acTvity and spending we were able to more than double this amount with end of year reserves of £9874.

Structure, Governance and Management

Manchester Street Poem is a Charitable Incorporated OrganisaTon. The CIO’s consTtuTon sTpulates that there must be a minimum of 3 Trustees: there is no maximum number. Apart from the first/ founding Trustees, trustees are appointed for a term of three years by a resoluTon passed at a properly convened meeTng.

Trustees currently number four and bring lived experience of homelessness and its contribuTng factors, and skills/experience in the arts, community engagement and support service provision.

Trustees' responsibili8es statement

The trustees are responsible for preparing the Trustees’ Annual Report and the financial statements in accordance with applicable law and United Kingdom AccounTng Standards (United Kingdom Generally Accepted AccounTng PracTce).

The law applicable to chariTes in England & Wales requires the trustees to prepare financial statements for each financial year which give a true and fair view of the state of affairs of the charity and of the incoming resources and applicaTon of resources of the charity for that period.

In preparing these financial statements, the trustees are required to:

select suitable accounTng policies and then apply them consistently
observe the methods and principles in the ChariTes SORP 2019 (FRS 102)
make judgements and esTmates that are reasonable and prudent
prepare the financial statements on the going concern basis unless it is inappropriate to presume that the charity will conTnue in operaTon.

The trustees are responsible for keeping proper accounTng records that disclose with reasonable accuracy at any Tme the financial posiTon of the charity and enable them to ensure that the financial statements comply with the ChariTes Act 2011, the ChariTes (Accounts and Reports) RegulaTons 2008 and the provisions of the trust deed. They are also responsible for safeguarding the assets of the charity and hence for taking reasonable steps for the prevenTon and detecTon of

fraud and other irregulariTes.

The accounts are independently examined by Simon Makepeace, independent bookkeeper.

Signed on behalf of the trustees:

Name: John Organ (Chair of board)

Date: 31/03/26

Note from independent bookkeeper, Simon Makepeace -

I have completed my examinaTon. I confirm that I have no concerns and have come across no other maeers in connecTon with the examinaTon to which aeenTon should be drawn in this report to enable a proper understanding of the accounts to be reached.

Simon Makepeace (13/03/26)

Manchester Street Poem

	For the period from	01/06/2024	31/05/2025

Accounts
Receipts Donations and Grants Sub total Total receipts Payments Studio Rent Project Facilitator Fees General Fees - SL & SS Workshop and Project Art costs Travel and Subsistence costs Computer costs Public Liability Insurance Subscriptions Facilitator Wellbeing Sub total Total payments Net of receipts/(payments) Cash funds this year end	Unrestricted funds £	Restricted funds £	Total funds £
	28,200		28,200

	28,200		28,200
	28,200 1,223 - 15,475 29 243 189 69 198 900
			28,200

	1,223		1,223
	-		-
	15,475		15,475
	29		29
	243		243
	189		189
	69		69
	198		198
	900		900

	18,326	-	18,326
	18,326	-
			18,326

	9,874	-	9,874

	9,874	-	9,874

Statement of assets and liabilities at the end of the period

Funds B/fwd at 01/06/24 Restricted Funds released in year Cash funds Agrees to Bank Balance as at 31/05/2 Total Assets Signed by one or two trustees on behalf of all the trustees	5 Current Account Signature	Unrestricted funds £ £663 £0 £9,874 £10,537	Unrestricted funds £ £663 £0 £9,874 £10,537	Unrestricted funds £ £663 £0 £9,874 £10,537	Unrestricted funds £ £663 £0 £9,874 £10,537
		£10,537
		Jez Green			12/03/26
		John Organ			12/03/26

Manchester Street Poem

	For the period from	01/06/2024	To	31/05/2025

Receipts and payments accounts
Receipts 09/07/2024 Paul Hamlyn Foundation 27/08/2024 Grounmdswell Network Total receipts Payments 03/06/2024 Islington Mill 25/06/2024 Just Giving 25/07/2024 Just Giving 27/08/2024 Just Giving 29/08/2024 Simon Leroux 25/09/2024 Just Giving 25/10/2024 Just Giving 04/11/2024 Simon Leroux 04/11/2024 Somerset Smith 25/11/2024 Just Giving 29/11/2024 Simon Leroux 29/11/2024 Somerset Smith 27/12/2024 Just Giving 06/01/2025 Simon Leroux 14/01/2025 Islington Mill 27/01/2025 Just Giving 31/01/2025 Simon Leroux 06/02/2025 Islington Mill 10/02/2025 Somerset Smith 25/02/2025 Just Giving 27/02/2025 Simon Leroux 06/03/2025 Islington Mill 25/03/2025 Islington Mill 31/03/2025 Simon Leroux 01/04/2025 Islington Mill 25/04/2025 Just Giving 07/05/2025 Islington Mill 14/05/2025 Simon Leroux 27/05/2025 Just Giving Sub total Total payments Net of receipts/(payments)	Unrestricted funds £ 28,000.00 200	Restricted funds £		Total funds £
				28,000.00
				200.00

	28,200.00	0.00		28,200.00

	28,200.00	0.00		28,200.00
	100.00 18.00 18.00 18.00 4,293.72 18.00 18.00 1,856.46 300.00 18.00 1,906.90 375.00 18.00 1,652.18 700.00 18.00 1,669.13 100.00 300.00 18.00 1,517.18 100.00 18.00 1,517.18 102.50 18.00 102.50 1,517.18 18.00
				100.00
				18.00
				18.00
				18.00
				4,293.72
				18.00
				18.00
				1,856.46
				300.00
				18.00
				1,906.90
				375.00
				18.00
				1,652.18
				700.00
				18.00
				1,669.13
				100.00
				300.00
				18.00
				1,517.18
				100.00
				18.00
				1,517.18
				102.50
				18.00
				102.50
				1,517.18
				18.00

	18,325.93	0.00		18,325.93

	18,325.93	0.00		18,325.93

	9,874.07	0.00		9,874.07
	Signature Account Number 65984653 of the period		Unrestricted funds £ 663.16 9,874.07	Restricted funds £
Statement of assets and liabilities at the end
B/fwd at 01/06/24 Cash funds Net Funds In year Cash Funds at 31/05/25 Total cash funds as at 31/05/25 Agrees to Bank Balance as at 31/05/25 Signed by one or two trustees on behalf of all the trustees
				0.00
				0.00
			10,537.23	0.00

				10,537.23
			~~Jez Green~~ John Organ

MANCHESTER STREET POEM

Reference and administra8ve details For the year ended 31 May 2024

Principal office: Unit 4, Regent Trading Estate Oldfield Road Salford M5 4DE

Registered Charity Number (CIO): 1190139

Trustees, who are also directors under company law, who served during the year and up to the date of this report were as follows:

Jeremy Green John Organ Sarah Hiscock Victoria Miller

The CooperaTve Bank PO Box 250 Skelmersdale WN8 6WT

Note from independent bookkeeper, Simon Makepeace -

I have completed my examinaTon. I confirm that I have no concerns and have come across no other ma\ers in connecTon with the examinaTon to which a\enTon should be drawn in this report to enable a proper understanding of the accounts to be reached.

Simon Makepeace (13/03/26)