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2023-03-31-accounts

HERMITAGE FIELD COMMUNITY MEADOW

3rd ANNUAL REPORT 2022-2023

CHARITY REGISTRATION NUMBER 1190864

Hermitage Field Community Meadow Annual Report 2022-23

INDEX

  1. Charitable Purpose & Main Activities

  2. Achievements & Performance

  3. Financial Review

  4. Structure, Governance & Management

  5. Reference and Administrative details

  6. Declarations

Hermitage Field Community Meadow Annual Report 2022-23

1. Charitable Purpose and Main Activities

The Hermitage Field Community Meadow Charitable Incorporated Organisation (CIO) was registered on 14[th] August 2020 with the objective of promoting for the benefit of the public the conservation, protection and improvement of the physical and natural environment by promoting biological diversity.

The Charity is now in it's third year and second meadow flowering season and feedback from expert advisers has confirmed that the transformation of the Hermitage Field, at this relatively early stage in the life of the project, has exceeded expectations.

2. Achievements & Performance

Community Engagement

It was the original intention by incorporating 'Community' into the name that the Charity would collaborate with many local partners to achieve it's objectives - that the Hermitage Field could be enjoyed by the local community and benefit the natural environment. In this regard the evidence suggests that in this reporting year, April 2022 to March 2023, progress has been hugely successful, not least due the indefatigable efforts of the Chair and Founding Trustee of the Charity, Erica Sarney supported by a strong team of hard working Trustees.

Agency partners

DEFRA (Department for Environment, Food & Rural Affairs) , who awarded the Charity a three year grant under their Countryside Stewardship Scheme to cover maintenance of the Hermitage Field perimeter fencing and a gate. Lancaster City Council , from whom the Hermitage Field is leased to the Charity, provided use of a poly tunnel and watering facilities at their White Lund Depot in Morecambe for the second successive year, enabling the economic propagation of plug plants needed to complement the seed sown directly onto the field. The Forest of Bowland AONB whose Bowland Haytime Project Officer Carol Edmondson has taken a great interest in the Charity's work and has given invaluable support to the development of the Hermitage Field including providing expert advice and access to funding via the Government's Green Recovery Challenge Fund.

and

Cumbria Wildlife Trust, who also provided expert advice and generously approved use of wild flower art work for the design of a publicity leaflet, interpretation boards and field gate signs.

Volunteers

A key collaboration in making a huge difference to the success of the transformation of the Hermitage Field has been the individual volunteers and the organised groups. This year over 600 hours of volunteer time has been logged by 50 volunteers, many having attended the weekly sessions held at the poly tunnel

Hermitage Field Community Meadow Annual Report 2022-23

throughout the winter and spring months as well as joining in the 16 outdoor plug planting sessions held in the Field during the Spring and Summer and also helping to control the numbers of weeds such as dock weed and creeping thistle which spread voraciously if not controlled.

Non-chemical weed control

The Trustees agreed a policy of not using any form of pesticide on the Hermitage Field due to the adverse impact it would have on the biodiversity that the Charity aims to encourage and protect, so the only option has been to physically dig out unwelcome and persistent weeds.

Supporting others

Overall 9,500 plug plants were grown from locally sourced wild flower seed and over half of these, plus another 500 donated from Bowland Haytime Project, were planted on the Hermitage Field. The remaining plug plants were donated to local meadow projects including Lancaster City Council Grassland project, Miss Whalley's Field, and Borwick village green.

Health and Well-being

Help with the plug planting was also provided by organised group sessions provided for the Bay Recovery Project - a well-being programme offering people around Morecambe Bay the opportunity to get outdoors and connect with nature.

An expected and intended outcome for all volunteers helping with the project has been the benefit of improved sense of well-being gained from the safe socialisation indoors and outdoors which was so welcome and necessary after the constraints of lockdowns and contact between people enforced by the pandemic.

Ultimately the general public, local residents and visitors to the area who use the Hermitage Field footpath on a daily basis throughout the year in the pursuit of exercise and leisure activities, are able to gain enjoyment from the enhanced landscape and connect with nature.

In the spring and summer months they can now also see first hand how pollinators, essential for agriculture and deemed under threat from extinction, insects and wildlife hitherto absent from the Hermitage Field in recent years, are returning in their numbers and variety of species to this newly created habitat.

Community Events

Bio Blitz

A Bio Blitz is planned for July 2023 and is to be conducted by Carol Edmondson, Forest of Bowland AONB. It will provide the first opportunity to record as many as possible of the wildlife species that can be found on the Hermitage Field at the height of the summer and it has the potential to become an annual event. A large number of volunteers of all ages will be required to help with the collection of specimens. Expert helpers will assist in identification and logging results.

Hermitage Field Community Meadow Annual Report 2022-23

Guided walks

Guided meadow walks are being planned to take place in the Summer when the Meadow is in flower and bat walks will be held at dusk in the Autumn.

These are exactly the type of activities that the Charity set out to become engaged in to encourage public participation and to promote interest in biodiversity and provide public benefit.

Field Management

The Charity has engaged with a number of local farmers and contractors who have provided paid for and volunteer help to manage the field site at key stages of the year.

In late winter months livestock grazing was followed by harrowing in preparation for seed sowing. In August, at the end of the growing season, the hay was cut and dried in situ to disperse seed, then removed.

The hay was taken for composting as it cannot be guaranteed to be free of contamination due to the level of use in the Field for exercising dogs.

Moles

The Trustees considered the issues of moles in the Hermitage Field. The use of traps would not be permitted due to public access but in any case would this method would not have been an option. A policy to treat moles as part of the natural biodiversity was favoured as moles are not considered to be disruptive and there are a number of benefits to existing in harmony with them. Moles are known to aerate the soil and control certain insects that can attack grasses and plants, by eating their larvae. Mole hill soil can provide mud for use by Thrushes, House martins and Blackbirds when nest building, they can also provide nest sites for solitary mining bees. Many of the mole hills in the Hermitage Field are flattened and the bare soil sown with seeds and plug plants.

Publicity

During the year Trustees have been working on three main publicity projects for which funding was in place.

Interpretation Boards & Field gate signs

Two large sturdy colourful interpretation boards explaining the meadow history and the meadow creation process were commissioned during the year. Colourful images of the species of meadow flowers and pollinators that the public could expect to see on their route through the Hermitage Field were used. They were located by each of the two entrance gates to the field and similarly styled welcome signs for each gate have also been commissioned.

All were funded by the Green Recovery Challenge, the board installation taking place in the Spring and the gate signs later in the season.

Thanks to Trustees Erica Sarney for managing this project with alacrity, Richard Evans for compiling and editing the text and Tim Sarney for carrying out the installations.

Hermitage Field Community Meadow Annual Report 2022-23

Leaflet

A leaflet to be launched in time for the second meadow flowering season of Spring/Summer 2023 took several months in planning the detailed content and illustrations to be used. Much consideration was given to the design of the layout and permission was sought where copyrights applied.

Trustees Judy Powell and Lois Browne are to thank for taking this on as their first project and creating a delightful and informative leaflet which was due to go to press as this financial year ended. It will be placed in locations throughout the surrounding area to inform and attract visitors to the Hermitage Field.

Website - www.hermitagefieldcommunitymeadow.com

The decision taken in the last financial year to move the Charity website to a new host provider has proved to be beneficial. Not least because of the improved design and appearance but also for the relative ease of use for updating the site with new material and information.

Trustee Richard Evans is to thank for diligently adding content to document activities throughout the year with accompanying photographic records and Erica Sarney for maintaining the Blog.

Richard has also created a comprehensive Sponsors and Supporters page which highlights the wide range of benefactors who have given to the Charity.

Planned activities are advertised including volunteer sessions and special events and contact and comments are invited from website users.

A future plan is to enable sightings of plants, insects and wildlife to be reported and recorded to help in compiling a data base of species.

A donation facility has yet to reap rewards but the Trustees are hopeful that this may happen over time.

The website visually demonstrates that the Charity is active and making progress in all the ways it purports to do.

3. Financial Review

Overview

Key requirements of funders are the extent to which the Charity engages with people from the local communities, encourages them to become involved and that there are benefits to be gained from this.

The restoration activities have been particularly successful in appealing to men,

Hermitage Field Community Meadow Annual Report 2022-23

women and children in a wide mix of age groups, volunteering opportunities and events have been enjoyable and educational.

Meadow making knowledge has been imparted, expertise shared and exchanged with the outcome that the conservation and restoration of the Hermitage Field and the profile of the Charity within the meadow making sector in general has been enhanced. In turn this has fostered goodwill which will remain a valuable resource for the future.

These areas of engagement have added considerable value ' in kind' to the grant funding and donations received during this financial year.

The general public using the Hermitage Field for leisure pursuits form a much wider demographic of which more detail may be captured in the future.

Funding

The Charity account balance at the start of the financial year was £2,231. These funds were carried over from the previous financial year. Consent was requested and provided by funders where applicable to carry forward and/or reallocate funds unspent in the previous financial year. The bulk of these carried over funds were from the Arete Foundation Grant.

In November 2022 the Halton Lune Trust awarded the Charity a new grant of £2,650 for field management costs in 2023.

The account balance at the end of the financial year was £4,327.

Reserve Policy

The Trustee Board has not considered it necessary to establish a reserve policy as yet. The recurring annual running costs of the Charity are low and closely controlled. The resource most depended upon to meet the Charity's objectives in these first years is 'hands on' volunteer help, which so far the Trustees have been able to attract and retain in sufficient numbers.

Acknowledgements

The Trustees formally acknowledge the generous continued financial support of:-

Our thanks are offered for the following donations

The Trustees would also like to thank Individual volunteers, too numerous to

name them all, but without whom we could not have made so much progress in

Hermitage Field Community Meadow Annual Report 2022-23

successfully transforming the Hermitage Field Community Meadow this year.

4. Structure, Governance & Management

Structure

The Hermitage Field Community Meadow (HFCM) is a Charitable Incorporated organisation (CIO). The current governing document is set out in the HFCM Constitution dated 10[th] July 2020.

Governance

The Constitution sets out the eligibility, appointment terms, and responsibilities of Trustees. In August 2020 the Charity was entered on the Register of Charities. There were five founding Trustees to serve as follows, Erica Sarney for a term of 4 years, all others for a term of 3 years.

A maximum of seven Trustees can be appointed.

In March 2022 it was unanimously agreed that the Charity would benefit by increasing the the Trustee appointments to the maximum of seven. Skills and experience that were deemed to be needed to develop the Charity were identified and the vacant positions were advertised widely across the local area. In September 2022 two new appointments were made.

Trustee Board members 2022/23

Mrs Erica Sarney BEM – Chairperson Mr Timothy Paul Sarney BSc Hons Mrs Pamela Margaret Woolgar Dr. Katharine Milnes Mr Richard Evans Judy Powell appointed September 2022 Lois Browne appointed September 2022

Management

The Trustees meetings continue to be held bi-monthly on the 2[nd] Monday of the month by video link. The Trustees find this method efficient and effective for planning, discussion of Charity business and decision making and also in terms of cost and time.

Occasionally informal meets take place on the Hermitage Field to observe and assess progress and consider field management requirements.

Erica Sarney has continued to manage the day to day work of the Charity and is the main point of contact for liaising with key partners, funders, contractors and other meadow makers. She has also managed the very successful volunteer sessions at the poly tunnel and plug planting sessions on the Hermitage Field.

5. Reference and Administrative details

Charity name:- Hermitage Field Community Meadow

Hermitage Field Community Meadow Annual Report 2022-23

Other name the Charity uses:- HFCMeadow

Registered Charity Number: - 1194864

Charity's principal Address:- Hermitage Lodge

Low Road Crook O'Lune Lancaster, LA2 9HU

6. Declarations

The Trustees declare that they have approved the Trustees report above.

Signed on behalf of the Hermitage Field Community Meadow Charity Trustees

Signatory1 Signatory2
Signatures E Sarney P Woolgar
Full Name(s) Erica Sarney Pamela Woolgar
Position Chair of Trustees Trustee

Date 11th August 2023

CHARITY COMMISSION FOR ENGiAND AND WALES HERMITAGE FELD commuN￿y MEADOW 1190864 Receipts and payments accounts CC16a Forthe period from IJ110412022 31JW12023 To Section A Receipts and payments Unrgstrict8d funds Restricted funds Endowment nds Total funds Last year totr £ knthEneaE51£ kth2 neirest £ toth• totho noreJt £ A1 Receipts O￿al￿)n H8110n Lune ￿￿[0 Grant OEFRA RPA Refund 10 10 2,650 284 1650 ta or AR) 10 1934 374 A2 Asset an l$ee table). In¥vstmnt sa A3P ments FIELD LICENCE PUBLIC LWBILITr INSURANCE FIELD PREPARATION I PAANAGEMENT TOOLS & EQUIPMENT SOF[ GOODS- SEEDS PLUG PLANTS PUBLICITY Iso 291 270 150 291 270 33 291 434 390 1,12D 75 75 Sub total B15 2.445 A4 Ass•t and investmerrt urchases so• table Sub total 33 815 2,445 Net of ￿CeiptsI(PaYments) A5 Transfer5 betrween funds A6 Cash funds last year end Cash thls year end 23 1119 2,096 2,071 1.101 3,226 4,328 2,231 CCXX R1 accounts ISSI 14108r2023

Section B Statement of assets and liabilities at the end of the period UnrestrictÈd funds Re$tri¢ted funds Endowment funds lo nearest£ awones Det3ils B1 Cash lunds COOP BANKAcccyJMr 1,101 4226 Total cash fun(ts 1,101 3,226 rAxxI(s11 Unr•$trict8d R88trict8d funds to noar•st£ Endowment funds ton•ar•st£ Details F￿d towhlch CwY¢nt V8lue ¢Jnal Details F￿dt0 whkh Curr•nt ¥altsè onal Details 84 Assets retained for the Chartty's own use FWHJ towhkh *rnowrtdue en dup D•tsl BS Llabllltles S￿ned by one or trustee5 beha￿of all Ihe trustee5 Date of roval &gnature Print Name l5 CCXX R2 af%txJnts ISSI 14108r2023