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REGISTERED CHARITY NUMBER: 1196372
FRUIT & NUT VILLAGE
Unaudited Annual Report and Financial Statements
Period Ended 30 September 2022
CONTENTS
| Page | |
|---|---|
| Reference and administrative information | 2 |
| Report of the Trustees | 3 to 7 |
| Independent Examiner's Report | 8 |
| Statement of Financial Activities | 9 |
| Balance Sheet | 10 |
| Notes to the Financial Statements | 11 to 14 |
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REFERENCE AND ADMINISTRATIVE DETAILS
Registered office
140 Pineapple Road Birmingham B30 2TX
Current Trustees
D Edmonds (Chair) H Tomkins Dr L A Sealey-Huggins Don F J Molina A Connock C Palgrave
Registered Charity number and Constitution
- The Charity has been constituted as a Charitable Interest Organisation.
Independent Examiner
P Bowater ACA BVSC Accountancy Services First Floor Livery Place 35 Livery Street Birmingham B3 2PB
Bankers
Unity Trust Bank PO Box 7193 Planetary Road Willenhall WV1 9DG
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TRUSTEES REPORT PERIOD ENDED 30 SEPTEMBER 2022
The trustees present their first report and unaudited financial statements of the charity for the period from 2 November 2021 (the date of registration) to 30 September 2022.
TRUSTEES
The trustees who were all appointed on 2 November 2021, and served during the period and up to the date of signature of the unaudited financial statements were:
D Edmonds (Chair) H Tomkins Dr L A Sealey-Huggins Don F J Molina A Connock C Palgrave
STRUCTURE, GOVERNANCE AND MANAGEMENT
Governing document
The Memorandum and Articles of Association govern the charity together with the policies made by the trustees.
The charity is constituted as a Charitable Interest Company limited by guarantee. The members of the company are the trustees. In the event of the charity being wound up, the liability in respect of the guarantee is limited to £1 per member of the charity.
We have a registered constitution which states that we are governed by a structure of volunteer trustees (also known as Board members) Board members are legally responsible for the charity and meet a minimum of 4 times a year (including committee meetings).
Methods of appointment or election of Trustees
Trustees can be appointed by the Board of Trustees, subject to confirmation at the next Annual General Meeting or nominated and elected at an Annual General Meeting.
Organisational structure and decision-making policies
The Board of Trustees meets a number of times throughout the year to oversee the charity’s strategy, finance and legal obligations.
The Executive Board meets more frequently and is responsible for the day-to-day running of the Charity including idea acquisition, projects, fundraising, website and social media, and networking and collaboration. The Executive Board reports to the Board of Trustees.
Risk management
A risk register has been established with regular reporting by the Executive Board to the Board of Trustees.
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TRUSTEES REPORT PERIOD ENDED 30 SEPTEMBER 2022
Objectives of the CIO
(i) To provide or assist in the provision of facilities in the interests of social welfare for recreation or other leisure time occupation of individuals who have need of such facilities by reason of their youth, age, infirmity or disability, financial hardship or social circumstances with the object of improving their conditions of life.
(ii) To advance education for the public benefit in particular by providing opportunities for learning about horticulture and perennial food growing.
Methods of engagement
As a CIO we have sought funding from a range of sources in order to deliver our objectives from a range of different directions. Some funders have simply paid for expensive materials or equipment whereas others have been sought and secured to cover the delivery costs of a project working out of a particular neighbourhood or delivering work to a particular cohort of individuals or on a specific site.
In example we were funded by Boost and Groundwork to run work sessions and community meals at “The People’s Plot”, Hall Green Neighbourhood Network Scheme has funded work across Balsall Heath with residents aged over 55 and The Cole Trust supported us in a purchase of tree cages.
We seek to include all-comers to our activities, therefore, even where targeted at certain sectors of the community we will ideally allow other individuals to take part in the work we carry out. Working across three different, non-contiguous, neighbourhoods of Birmingham we expect that our volunteers will involve themselves in their local neighbourhood. We do, however, have a certain level of “crosspollination”, whereby volunteers attend work session in neighbourhoods where they do not live or work. We even have people attending work sessions, community events and work days who are not from one of our focus neighbourhoods.
We reach out to people in many ways, including through conversations with passers-by on-site during work sessions, through door-knocking campaigns, through fliers and posters and through targeting people as potential volunteers when we meet them casually. Word-of-mouth is now playing a significant role for us in bringing new interest to the project.
We use three social media pages, What’s App groups centred on the separate neighbourhoods and a monthly Bulletin to keep people interested, engaged and informed. There is no expectation on a session attendee to carry out physical work. Attendees regularly choose to attend just to watch or to enjoy a hot drink and a biscuit with us.
Activities carried out
Our activities broadly fall into three categories: i) regular (often weekly) maintenance sessions ii) planting days iii) workshops and iv) community events.
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TRUSTEES REPORT PERIOD ENDED 30 SEPTEMBER 2022
Over the Year, up to the end of September 2022, we delivered the following sessions in the 11-month period:
Forest garden development sessions - 81 Orchard care sessions – 19 Tree and bush planting sessions – 13 Training and pruning workshops – 12 Grafting and propagation workshops – 6 Site preparation sessions – 5 Community bike rides and walks – 5 Wooden plant bed building sessions – 2 Watering session – 2 Story-telling events - 1 Site design session - 1 Wassail event – 1 Community litter pick – 1
We delivered a total of 149 community events and work sessions over the 11 months. This works out at an average of 3.1 sessions per week for the period.
Achievements
The historical bulk of our work has been carried out in Stirchley/Selly Park and we have now expanded our activities into two new neighbourhoods of Birmingham. Our activity in Druids Heath began in winter 21/22 and our Fruit & Nut Village Balsall Heath work commenced in summer 2022. Having been able to recruit new Area Managers to work in these new areas has been highly significant. At present the Area Managers are contracted in and working fewer hours than we aim to eventually offer.
We have worked with over 200 volunteers during the Year, with 139 volunteers having been registered at our most popular site, Pebble Mill Playing Fields Forest Garden. On our most busy weekend we had 54 people work with us at this site, as we worked on a piece of ground clearance to further develop the site.
Our volunteers range in age from the very youngest children, attending with parents and prodding areas of bare ground with trowels, up to people in their 80s.
Alongside our regular maintenance sessions and planting days we have delivered a diverse range of activities over the year. The community activities are often highly popular and we have to limit numbers of attendees at some of these. We ran a Wassail that attracted approximately 120 participants, a Summer Solstice story-telling event with 70 attendees and five community walks and rides. The walks and rides are particularly useful in bringing people to new areas to view the work that has already been carried out and to become inspired by what we are aiming to achieve.
We have become engaged in the redevelopment work taking place in Druids Heath and our proposals to deliver perennial food-growing space development here has been very well-received. Delivering over 3 sessions per week for this Year has been a significant achievement. Largely, this work has taken place in Stirchley, but the CIO is set to deliver increasing numbers of activities in the new neighbourhoods.
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TRUSTEES REPORT PERIOD ENDED 30 SEPTEMBER 2022
Summary
Significantly, we have expanded from working in one neighbourhood to three. We have continued to work at all the sites where we were currently active. We have planted new plants and expanded growing areas in almost all of our growing sites.
Volunteers are continually being recruited and we have much success at engaging with new people and recruiting them to take part in our activities.
We are increasingly well-known and seen in a positive light across our neighbourhoods.
Next Steps
Our sites in Stirchley are developing very well and, in particular, the larger forest garden sites have developed well and more rapidly than expected over the past 4-5 years. This work will be continued, with a particular emphasis on completing the layout of our larger forest gardens as soon as we can. Over the winter 22/23 we will continue to plant significant numbers of trees and bushes with the aim to show how a forest garden will look once completed. The sooner plants are in the ground the better able we are to show people what we are creating in the other Birmingham neighbourhoods.
We plan to rapidly expand the number of orchards, forest gardens and other sites that we are working upon in Balsall Heath. This work is planned for winter 22/23 onwards and is, at the time of writing, in an advanced stage of planning.
The work at Druids Heath is tough to deliver since the area is undergoing extensive redevelopment and many homes there will be demolished. We intend to develop our sites here in a solid, forwardthinking way, and to maintain our position as part of the process of neighbourhood development and remodelling.
We will continue to deliver large numbers of high quality, well-managed, engaging and welcoming work sessions and community events across our three neighbourhoods. We will continue to work at bringing more individuals to the work that we carry out and to our growing sites.
We aim to set up our interactive website in 2022, bringing the concept of our project to a wider audience
FINANCIAL REVIEW
Performance during the period
During the period the charity has sustained its income with grants and donations giving the charity an income of £35,966.
Expenditure has been spread over the charity’s direct spending on projects and support costs. All of these activities were accommodated within an expenditure of £10,566.
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TRUSTEES REPORT PERIOD ENDED 30 SEPTEMBER 2022
Reserves policy
The reserves policy of the charity is based on an understanding of income streams (including the risk profiles of these); projected activities and contractual commitments to expenditure; and the overall risk environment in which the charity operates. Any designations and/or re-designations of the charity’s reserves will be agreed by discussion and recorded in the minutes of meetings of the trustees and Annual General Meeting of the charity.
Currently the policy is to hold an amount equivalent to approximately six months expenditure (approximately £5,250. The free reserves at the period end were £25,430, representing approximately 36 months of normal levels of expenditure . The trustees will be reviewing the policy in the context of future plans to consider if this remains an appropriate policy.
STATEMENT OF TRUSTEES RESPONSIBILITIES
Law applicable to Charities in England and Wales requires the trustees to prepare financial statements for each financial year which give a true and fair view of the charity’s financial activities during the period and of its financial position at the end of the period. In preparing those financial statements, the trustees follow best practice and:
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select suitable accounting policies and then apply them consistently;
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observe the methods and principles in the Charity SORP;
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make judgements and estimates that are reasonable and prudent;
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state whether applicable UK Accounting Standards and statements of recommended practice have been followed, subject to any material departures disclosed and explained in the financial statements;
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prepare the financial statements on a going concern basis unless it is inappropriate to presume that the charity will continue in business.
The Trustees are responsible for keeping adequate accounting records that disclose with reasonable accuracy at any time the financial position of the charity and enable them to ensure that the financial statements comply with the Charities Act 2011. They are also responsible for safeguarding the assets of the charity and hence for taking reasonable steps for the prevention and detection of fraud and other irregularities.
The Trustees are responsible for the maintenance and integrity of the charity and financial information included on the charity’s website. Legislation in the United Kingdom governing the preparation and dissemination of financial statements may differ from legislation in other jurisdictions.
ON BEHALF OF THE BOARD :
D Edmonds (Chair)
2022
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INDEPENDENT EXAMINERS REPORT TO THE TRUSTEES OF FRUIT & NUT VILLAGE
I report to the trustees on my examination of the financial statements of Fruit & Nut Village for the period ending 30 September 2022, which are set out on pages 9 to 14.
This report is made solely to the Charity’s Trustees, as a body, in accordance with Section 145 of the Charities Act 2011. My independent examination work has been undertaken so that I might state to the Charity’s Trustees those matters I am required to state to them in an Independent Examiner’s Report and for no other purpose. To the fullest extent permitted by law, I do not accept or assume responsibility to anyone other than the Charity and the Charity’s Trustees as a body, for my independent examination work, for this report, or for the opinions I have formed.
Respective Responsibilities of the Trustees and Examiner
The Charity’s Trustees are responsible for the preparation of the accounts. The Charity’s Trustees consider that an audit is not required for this period under section 144(2) of the Charities Act 2011 (“the 2011 Act”) and that an independent examination is needed.
It is my responsibility to:
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examine the accounts under section 145 of the 2011 Act;
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follow the procedures laid down in the General Directions given by the Charity Commission under section
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145(5)(b) of the 2011 Act; and
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state whether particular matters have come to my attention.
Basis of Independent Examiner’s Report
My examination was carried out in accordance with the General Directions given by the Charity Commission. An examination includes a review of the accounting records kept by the Charity and a comparison of the accounts presented with those records. It also includes consideration of any unusual items or disclosures in the accounts, and the seeking of explanations from you as Trustees concerning any such matters. The procedures undertaken do not provide all the evidence that would be required in an audit, and consequently, no opinion is given as to whether the accounts present a ‘true and fair view’ and the report is limited to those matters set out in the statement below.
Independent Examiner’s Statement
In connection with my examination, no matter has come to my attention:
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(35) which gives me reasonable cause to believe that, in any material respect, the requirements:
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to keep accounting records in accordance with section 130 of the 2011 Act; and
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requirements of the 2011 Act; have not been met; or
(2) to which, in my opinion, attention should be drawn in order to enable a proper understanding of the accounts to be reached.
P Bowater ACA BVSC Accountancy Services First Floor Livery Place 35 Livery Street Birmingham B3 2PB
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STATEMENT OF FINANCIAL ACTIVITIES PERIOD ENDED 30 SEPTEMBER 2022
| Note Income from; Charitable activities Grants and Donations 3 Total income Expenditure on; Charitable activities Charitable expenditure 4 Total charitable expenditure Net income for the period/Net movement in funds Opening fund balance Closing fund balances |
Unrestricted funds 2022 £ 35,966 35,966 10,566 10,566 25,430 - 25,430 |
Restricted funds 2022 £ - - - - - - - |
Total 2022 £ 35,966 |
|---|---|---|---|
| 35,966 | |||
| 10,566 | |||
| 10,566 | |||
| 25,430 - |
|||
| 25,430 |
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BALANCE SHEET AS AT 30 SEPTEMBER 2022
| Notes CURRENT ASSETS Debtors 7 Cash at bank and in hand CREDITORS: AMOUNTS FALLING DUE WITHIN ONE YEAR 8 NET CURRENT ASSETS TOTAL ASSETS LESS CURRENT LIABILITIES FUNDS Unrestricted funds Restricted TOTAL FUNDS |
2022 £ 2,000 24,494 |
|---|---|
| 26,494 (1,064) |
|
| 25,430 | |
| 25,430 | |
| 25,430 - |
|
| 25,430 |
The financial statements were approved by the Board of Trustees on , and were signed on its behalf by:
D Edmonds (Chair)
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NOTES TO THE FINANCIAL STATEMENTS PERIOD ENDED 30 SEPTEMBER 2022
1. ACCOUNTING POLICIES
Accounting convention
The financial statements have been prepared under the historical cost convention and in accordance with the Charities Act 2011 and the requirements of the Statement of Recommended Practice, Accounting and Reporting by Charities.
Incoming resources
All incoming resources are included on the Statement of Financial Activities when the charity is legally entitled to the income and the amount can be quantified with reasonable accuracy. Goods donated are recognised when the sale of these items occurs.
Resources expended
Expenditure is accounted for on an accruals basis and has been classified under headings that aggregate all costs related to the category. Where costs cannot be directly attributed to particular headings they have been allocated to activities on a basis consistent with the use of resources.
Taxation
The charity is exempt from corporation tax on its charitable activities.
Fund accounting
Unrestricted funds can be used in accordance with the charitable objectives at the discretion of the trustees.
Restricted funds can only be used for particular restricted purposes within the objects of the charity. Restrictions arise when specified by the donor or when funds are raised for particular restricted purposes.
Further explanation of the nature and purpose of each fund is included in the notes to the financial statements.
2. CRITICAL ACCOUNTING ESTIMATES AND JUDGEMENTS
In the application of the charity’s accounting policies, the trustees are required to make judgements, estimates and assumptions about the carrying amount of assets and liabilities that are not readily apparent from other sources. The estimates and associated assumptions are based on historical experience and other factors that are considered to be relevant. Actual results may differ from these estimates. The estimates and underlying assumptions are reviewed on an ongoing basis. Revisions to accounting estimates are recognised in the period in which the estimate is revised where the revision affects only that period, or in the period of the revision and future periods where the revision affects both current and future periods.
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NOTES TO THE FINANCIAL STATEMENTS PERIOD ENDED 30 SEPTEMBER 2022
3. DONATIONS AND GRANTS
| Donations National Lottery Cole Charitable Trust Groundwork UK Greensquare Accord Conservation Education Severn Trent Water Analysis by fund Unrestricted Restricted |
Unrestricted Funds 2022 £ 1,436 10,000 1,300 2,000 6,000 2,000 10,000 33,996 |
Restricted Funds 2022 £ - - - - - - - - |
Total 2022 £ 2,696 10,000 1,300 2,000 6,000 2,000 10,000 |
|
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 33,996 | ||||
| 33,996 - |
||||
| 33,996 |
4. EXPENDITURE ON CHARITABLE ACTIVITIES
| Expenditure on charitable activities Support costs Wages and salaries (Note 5) General office Accounting and other professional fees Bank charges Insurance Governance costs Independent examination |
Direct costs £ 4,769 |
Support costs £ 5,077 4,036 344 46 54 597 5,077 - - |
Governance costs £ 720 - - - - - - 720 720 |
2022 Total £ 10,566 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 4,036 344 46 54 597 |
||||
| 5,077 | ||||
| 720 | ||||
| 720 |
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NOTES TO THE FINANCIAL STATEMENTS PERIOD ENDED 30 SEPTEMBER 2022
| Analysed by fund Unrestricted funds Restricted |
2022 £ 10,566 - |
|---|---|
| 10,566 |
5. TRUSTEES
Remuneration and benefits
None of the trustees (or any persons connected with them) received any remuneration or benefits from the charity during the period.
Expenses
The trustees (or any persons connected with them) received £ in expenses from the charity during the period. These relate principally to the reimbursement of costs for attendance at Board meetings.
6. EMPLOYEES
| Wages and salaries Social security costs |
2022 £ 4,000 36 |
|---|---|
| 4,036 |
The average number of employees during the period was 1. No employee received emoluments in excess of £60,000.
There is a volume of willing volunteers who help the charity in its activities. It Is not possible to estimate their total numbers.
7. DEBTORS
| Accrued income | 2022 £ 2,000 |
|---|---|
| 2,000 |
8. CREDITORS: AMOUNTS FALLING DUE WITHIN ONE YEAR
| Accruals | 2022 £ 1,064 |
|---|---|
| 1,064 |
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NOTES TO THE FINANCIAL STATEMENTS PERIOD ENDED 30 SEPTEMBER 2022
9. RELATED PARTY TRANSACTIONS
There were no related party transactions during the period.
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