What a Wonderful World Trust
Trustees Report 2024-2025 Final
November 2025
An overview of the charity's work over the last year, successes, challenges and risks, and future plans.
Background
From our modest start in October 2021 when we held our first event, a Climate Action Day in the Northumberland Hall, Alnwick, What a Wonderful World has made huge strides. Our aims have not changed:
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To celebrate and increase awareness of the beauty and wonder of the planet and the threat to all its inhabitants
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To engage people of all ages in arts, science and nature-related activities which will help us understand our predicament and take action that will prevent further damage and disasters
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To work with like-minded organisations to grow our understanding and raise our voices to support each other and build hope for the future across our communities.
In 2025 we added a new aim:
- To increase our involvement with community groups and widen our outreach.
We also reaffirmed our values:
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1.‘Togetherness and inspiration give hope and motivation to keep on acting’. The community within the group is powerful.
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Creativity: using creative channels to drive change; people sharing an emotional response to beauty.
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Valuing our existing audience: recognizing the importance of re-inforcing and reinvigorating them alongside our quest to broaden our audience base
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Commitment to positive action: restoring hope through celebration of inspiring things that are being done now and which seem possible to our audiences
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5.Valuing young people: facilitating and guiding them, respecting their ability to think for themselves and their contributions
We agreed that whatever shape future festivals may take, these values must remain at the core of the Festival
2025 Festival
Our fourth weekend festival built on the success of the previous ones, and involved new partners and venues. Highlights included:
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We held a sold-out event at our sister Festival in Alnwick, Storyfest. Local author and illustrator Anna Chapman Parker talked about how observing and drawing weeds in her local area during Covid supported her mental health and led to her beautiful book Understorey .
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Local people celebrated trees in paint, textiles, poetry, stories and more. Nine groups and some individuals worked with artist, Anna Corbett, to produce some fascinating multi-media work in Alnwick Playhouse.In collaboration with local press we ran a campaign ‘Your favourite tree’ in which local writers, artists and the public photographed and described their favourite trees and why they valued them
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To kick off the Festival Rothbury Poetry, Writing and Music Group hosted a summer evening of nature poets in Rothbury Golf Club.
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Northumbrian woodworker Geoff Jackson gave a sold-out talk on Working Wood , showing how different species are used to create everything from a front door to a delicate cabinet or a cathedral roof.
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At Alnwick Playhouse young people from four different local primary schools joined with Alnwick Duchess High School to perform a specially written piece, Earth Summit , which put over a very strong message about the threats to the planet to a capacity audiences of families and friends.
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Our keynote speaker, Professor Alastair Driver, Senior Advisor Global Rewilding Alliance, attracted an audience of over 160 people to Earth Matters , a lively debate on rewilding and the future of the Rothbury Estates.
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Maddy Prior headlined our Saturday concert with a special set of songs which highlighted her longheld commitment to the natural world and humanity’s place in it. Kate Fox, poet and humorist performed extracts from her book ‘On Sycamore Gap’ and ‘The Soil Speaks’, a new poem inspired by regenerative practices at West Wharmley Farm near Hexham.
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The film Heart of Oak attracted a sell-out audience.
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On Sunday over 40 people participated in our Sing for the Planet workshop, and then performed in a final concert with local choirs Werca’s Folk and VoiceMale.
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For the first time we held an event at Hepple Wilds, a local estate in the process of being rewilded, at which participants walked the estate with artist Rose Ferraby and the Hepple ecologist and guide Richard Thompson and then created their own art works reflecting their experience.
Photographs, press coverage and videos of the Day and the Festival can be viewed on the Festival website https://whataww.org/festival-2025-1
What difference did we make?
Over 1000 people either attended a Festival event or visited the exhibition. We achieved approximately 30% feedback, which demonstrated that our events encouraged people to think more about climate and nature, to make personal changes and to lobby for change. They were also strongly reassured to find that other people cared, which has major mental health benefits. Results for our two largest events are shown below:
‘I liked his [the speaker’s] passion and vision and urgency – gives me hope’ (Audience member Earth Matters)
Challenges and risks, and vision for the future.
The 2026 Festival will be held on June 25-28 and planning is already well underway. During the year we achieved our aim of achieving funding for a part-time coordinator role. We now have an individual in this role, which we hope will reduce our dependency on a small number of key volunteers, and will give us more scope to follow up our beneficiaries after the Festival and reinforce the messages for change. In this way we hope to build a more sustainable Festival, which can develop and extend its reach over the years to come. We are very keen to extend our partnerships and geographical reach, empowering other organisations to deliver events under the What a Wonderful World banner.
However there is still so much to do, and the geo-political climate is increasingly challenging. We recognise that we will have to rethink the role of the Festival and our capacity to deliver it each year.
Thanks
Huge thanks are due to the performers, writers and speakers and many others who have donated their time and talents to deliver the Festival:
FESTIVAL PARTNERS Alnwick Playhouse, Friends of the Earth Alnwick, staff and students of the Duchess’s Community High School and local primary schools, Northumberland Wildlife Trust, the Hepple Estate and Rothbury Climate and Nature.
FUNDERS in cash and in kind: Alnwick Town Council, Barbour Foundation, Barter Books, Bill Grisdale Design, Catherine Cookson CT, CBS for print services, The Percy Family Trust at the Community Foundation, Hadrian Trust, Hepple Estate, Sir James Knott Trust, Joicey Trust, private donors and the William Leech Charity.
Our 2025 ORGANISING TEAM: Chris Algar, Alistair and Liz Anderson, Lisa Bellamy, Cllr. Rosie Bush, Anne Lowrie, Sue Patience, Eve Reverchon, Gina Prince, Carol Whinnom and Neil Woodcock. Jane Coltman for photography and social media. Anna Corbett for all her work on the Celebrating Trees Exhibition and interviewing Anna Chapman Parker.
What a Wonderful World Board of Trustees November 2025
| Charity Name | Charity Name | Charity Name | Charity Name | Charity Name | No(if any) | No(if any) | CC16a | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| What a Wonderful World Trust | 1195577 | ||||||||
| Receipts andpayments accounts | |||||||||
| For the period from |
Period start date | To | Period end date | ||||||
| 2024 11 01 | 2025 10 31 | ||||||||
| Section A Receipts and payments | |||||||||
| Unrestricted funds |
Restricted funds |
Endowment funds |
Total funds | Last year | |||||
| to the nearest £ | to the nearest £ | to the nearest £ | to the nearest £ | to the nearest £ | |||||
| A1 Receipts | |||||||||
| Alnwick Town Council | 1,000 | 1,000 | 1,000 | ||||||
| Northumberland County Council | - 0 | - | 5,000 | ||||||
| Joicey Trust | 1,500 | 1,500 | - | ||||||
| Sir James Knott Trust | 5,000 | 5,000 | - | ||||||
| Robinson family Trust | - 0 | - | - | ||||||
| Northumberland Estates | - 0 | - | 3,000 | ||||||
| Community Foundation - Percy family trust | 1,500 | 1,500 | - | ||||||
| Catherine Cookson trust | 500 | 500 | - | ||||||
| Hadrian Trust | 500 | 500 | - | ||||||
| William leech Trust | 2,000 | 2,000 | - | ||||||
| Barbour Foundation | 2,000 | 2,000 | |||||||
| W A Handley Trust | 500 | 500 | |||||||
| Barter Books | 100 | 100 | 300 | ||||||
| Private Donations inc Gift Aid | 2,500 | 2,500 | 110 | ||||||
| Schools Contributions | - 0 | - | 600 | ||||||
| Alnwick Playhouse Box Office | 5,612 | 5,612 | 5,682 | ||||||
| Story Fest Box Office | 250 | 250 | 43 | ||||||
| Calendar Sales | - | 410 | |||||||
| Bank Interest | 30 | 30 | 25 | ||||||
| - | |||||||||
| Sub total_(Gross income for AR) _ | 15,492 |
7,500 | - | 22,992 | 16,170 | ||||
| A2 Asset and investment sales, (see table). |
|||||||||
| - 0 | - 0 | - 0 | - | ||||||
| Sub total | - 0 |
- 0 | - 0 | - | - 0 | ||||
| **Total receipts ** | 15,492 |
7,500 | - 0 | 22,992 | 16,170 | ||||
| A3 Payments | |||||||||
| Strategy Day costs | - | - | - | 152 | |||||
| Story Festival Costs | 250 | - | - | 250 | 345 | ||||
| Schools projects | 3,642 | - | - | 3,642 | 4,063 | ||||
| Performers | 2,100 | - | - | 2,100 | 4,418 | ||||
| Craft Workshops | 0 | - | - | - | 455 | ||||
| Speaker Expenses | - 0 | - | - | - | |||||
| Hire of Films | - 0 | - | - | - | 129 | ||||
| Marketing | 2,098 | - | - | 2,098 | 2,270 | ||||
| Photographic/video | 1,000 | 1,000 | 800 | ||||||
| Exhibition Costs | 1,867 | 1,867 | 561 | ||||||
| Room Hire | 95 | 95 | 50 | ||||||
| Launch event | - 0 | - | 69 | ||||||
| Printing calendar | - 0 | - | 773 | ||||||
| Fees - Co-ordinator | 944 | 944 | - 0 | ||||||
| Fees - Fundraising | 2,006 | 2,006 | - 0 | ||||||
| Website support | 315 | 315 | - 0 | ||||||
| Insurance | 233 | 233 | - 0 | ||||||
| Bank Costs | 60 | 60 | 60 | ||||||
| - | |||||||||
| **Sub total ** | 14,610 |
- | - | 14,610 | 14,145 | ||||
| A4 Asset and investment purchases,(see table) |
|||||||||
| - 0 | - 0 | - 0 | - | ||||||
| - 0 | - 0 | - 0 | - |
CCXX R1 accounts (SS)
02/12/2024
1
| **Sub total ** | - 0 |
- 0 | - 0 | - | - 0 | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| **Totalpayments ** | 14,610 |
- 0 | - 0 | 14,610 | 14,145 | ||||
| **Net of receipts/(payments) ** | 882 |
7,500 | - | 8,382 | 2,025 | ||||
| A5 Transfers between funds | - 0 | - | - | - | - | ||||
| A6 Cash funds lastyear end | 11,553 | - | - | 11,553 | 9,528 | ||||
| **Cash funds thisyear end ** | 12,435 |
7,500 | - | 19,935 | 11,553 | ||||
| Section B Statement of assets and liabilities at | the end of | the period | |||||||
| Categories | Details | Unrestricted funds |
Restricted funds |
Endowment funds |
|||||
| to nearest £ | to nearest £ | to nearest £ | |||||||
| B1 Cash funds | - | ||||||||
| - | - | ||||||||
| - | - | - | |||||||
| Total cash funds | 11,553 | - | |||||||
| (agree balances with receipts and payments account(s)) |
Agreement Error |
OK | |||||||
| Unrestricted funds |
Restricted funds |
Endowment funds |
|||||||
| Details | to nearest £ | to nearest £ | to nearest £ | ||||||
| B2 Other monetary assets | - | - | - | ||||||
| - | - | - | |||||||
| Details | Fund to which asset belongs |
Cost (optional) | Current value (optional) |
||||||
| B3 Investment assets | - | - | |||||||
| - | - | ||||||||
| Details | Fund to which asset belongs |
Cost (optional) | Current value (optional) |
||||||
| B4 Assets retained for the charity’s own use |
- | - | |||||||
| - | - | ||||||||
| - | - | ||||||||
| Details | Fund to which liability relates |
Amount due (optional) |
When due (optional) |
||||||
| B5 Liabilities | - | ||||||||
| - | |||||||||
| - | |||||||||
| Signed by one or two trustees on behalf of all the trustees |
Signature | Print Name | Date of approval |
||||||
| ALISTAIR M ANDERSON | 2026 05 20 | ||||||||
CCXX R2 accounts (SS)
02/12/2024
2