Grow Together CIO
REPORT AND FINANCIAL STATEMENTS For the year ended 31 March 2025
Charity Number 1193728
| Page | Contents |
|---|---|
| 2 to 4 | Trustees’ annual report |
| 5 | Independent examiner’s report |
| 6 | Receipts & payments account |
| 7 | Statement of assets & liabilities |
| 8 | Notes to the accounts |
Grow Together CIO Trustees’ annual report for the year ended 31 March 2025
Full name Grow Together CIO
Organisation type Charitable incorporated organisation
Registered charity number 1193728
Principal address Wycliffe United Reformed Church, The Common, Evington, Leicester, LE5 6EA.
Trustees
Diane Bell Shantilal Chauhan Benjamin Brown
Independent examiner
Kanti Solanki
Governance and management
The organisation is a Charitable Incorporated Organisation, registered on the 8 March 2021. The charity was established under a Foundation Model Constitution which establishes the objectives and powers of the charitable incorporated organisation and is governed under its Constitution.
Trustees are appointed in line with the constitution. Appointments are for a term of three years by a resolution passed at a properly convened meeting of the charity trustees.
Objectives and activities
The objects of the charity are:
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To provide facilities for recreation or other leisure time occupation by providing growing areas and other activities for individuals in Leicester, Leicestershire and the surrounding area, who have need of such facilities by reason of their youth, age, infirmity or disablement, financial hardship or social and economic circumstances or for the public at large in the interests of social welfare and with the object of improving the condition of life of the said inhabitants.
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The relief of poverty or financial hardship by providing food grown in community growing spaces in Leicester and Leicestershire and given to those in need as serviced by food banks and charities concerned with the relief of poverty or financial hardship in Leicester and Leicestershire.
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To advance education for the public benefit in the subjects of horticulture, conservation of natural resources and improvement of the environment in particular by providing opportunities for learning in horticulture and environmental protection.
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To promote social inclusion for the public benefit by preventing people from becoming socially excluded, relieving the needs of those people who are socially excluded and assisting them to integrate into society.
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Grow Together CIO
Public benefit statement
The Trustees confirm that they have complied with the duty in section 4 of the Charities Act 2006 to have due regard to the Charity Commission's general guidance on public benefit, 'Charities and Public Benefit'.
Summary of the main activities undertaken for the public benefit
Grow Together runs two weekly food growing and gardening clubs for people in Leicester at GraceWorks Community Gardens. There is an active group of 20 to 30 people who engage with activities.
The clubs and workshops have been tailored to the range of needs and abilities within the community. The sessions have included advice and training on sustaining the soil, planting, growing, composting and preparing food.
Volunteers have developed a thriving community garden. They grow and nurture a wide range of fruit, vegetables and pollinating plants. The produce grown is used at the community garden and in the wider community.
Grow Together reaches out into the wider community and has developed and maintains growing spaces at Downing Drive, Evington Village Green, the Village Hall, Horston Hill, Spencefield Drive and the Graceworks Community Garden.. All these sites are part of the Royal Horticultural Society’s It’s Your Neighbourhood Scheme. The campaign encourages the community to come together and make their neighbourhood a cleaner and greener place to live.
Teams of volunteers plant up local beds, tubs and troughs with pollinators and floral displays. Alongside this the group carry out regular litter picks in the local area.
Grow Together has partnered with Community of Grace and the Evington Orchard Group to put on public events during the year. This has included plant sales and an apple pressing day. These activities bring the community together as well as generating income for the charity.
The polytunnel in the garden is used to sow, propagate and grow on plants which are used in the beds and tubs in the area. They are also grown for the plant sale in May which is a major fundraising event for the charity.
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Grow Together CIO
Summary of the main achievements during the period
Community Gardening
The main achievement of the Charity for the period 2024-2025 has been the delivery of regular workshops two days a week. These sessions are linked with a cafe opened as a place of welcome for those who wish to socialise as well as the gardening volunteers. The number of volunteers actively gardening has steadily increased over the previous 12 months.
The Leicestersire NHS Adult Mental Health team has supported 3 clients in sessions at the centre.
Community Beds and Planters in Evington
Grow Together has maintained and improved beds and planters across the Evington area of Leicester, helping to provide positive activity and improve the natural environment in our city. These areas are subject to Site Agreements with Leicester City Council each year where volunteers undertake to care for plants and maintain the bordering hedges and grass verges. They are continually developed with fresh planting of shrubs, bulbs and annuals each spring/summer and autumn. In June and July these gardening projects are subject to Assessment by RHS qualified judgesand were awarded certificates in recognition of the volunteers’ work at a City wide celebration for the IYN and Bloom group representatives in August 2024.
Food Provision for people who are isolated or vulnerable The charity has provided a wealth of fresh fruit and vegetables from the community garden that has been used to feed weekly drop in sessions as well as being distributed at the local food bank.
Community Events
A fund raising event was held in May. Stalls for local art and craft sales were rented out as well as sales of plants, second hand books and refreshments. Apple Day was held in October for members of the local community to prepare apple juice from their own garden harvest and from local community orchards.
The charity’s policy on reserves
The policy of the Trustees of the Charity is to retain monies in reserve for use in the event of emergencies. Out target for unrestricted reserves is £5000. As the Charity is small and has very limited reserves it is not yet in a position to designate funds beyond this amount, but in future years monies in excess of the reserve target will be designated for future projects or redistributed.
Signed on behalf of the charity’s trustees:
Signed
Date
Diane Bell, Trustee
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Independent examiner’s report to the trustees of Grow Together CIO for the year ended 31 March 2025
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Grow Together CIO Receipts & payments account for the year ended 31 March 2025
| Receipts Notes RHS Award Vouchers Plant Sales Donations Total Receipts Payments Website Subscription Gardening Resources and \Compost Membership Fees Insurance DBS registration Admin Total Expenditure Net receipts(payments) Cash funds at start of period Cash funds at end of this period Expenditure Balance |
2024 2025 £ £ 60.00 60.00 72.00 644.20 370.00 0 |
|---|---|
| 502.00 704.20 28.78 0 210.96 693.16 26.60 40.80 45.00 47.00 100.00 100.00 00.00 00.00 18.00 54.00 429.34 934.96 |
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| 502.00 704.20 420.36 493.02 922.36 1197.22 429.34 934.96 |
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| 493.02 262.26 |
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Grow Together CIO Statement of assets and liabilities at 31 March 2025
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Grow Together CIO Notes to the accounts for the year ended 31 March 2025
1. Receipts & payments accounts
Receipts and payments accounts contain a summary of money received and money spent during the period and a list of assets and liabilities at the end of the period. Usually, cash received and cash spent will include transactions through bank accounts and cash in hand.
2. Grants
No grants.
3. Trustees’ remuneration
Trustees received no expenses, remuneration or benefits in this period.
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