## **Trustees’ annual report for the period,**
**From: 17[th] November 2021, period start date, to: 31[st] January 2023, period end date.**
**Charity name: Oldway Gardens Group**
**Charity registration number: 1196635**
**Charities registered address: 18 Cecil Avenue, Preston, Paignton, TQ3 1LW**
**Charities activities address: Oldway Gardens, Oldway Road, Paignton, Devon**
**Names of charity trustees who manage the charity:**
**Tim Eley, Chairperson Peter Welsby, Vice chair Susan Saunders, Treasurer Joanne Jones, Secretary**
## **Summary of purposes**
The conservation and preservation of the flora and fauna and natural environment of Oldway Mansion Gardens for the benefit of the public including the advancement of education of the public to celebrate the history and traditions of the gardens to connect the community to its heritage and to develop interest and skills in proficient gardening and estate management.
## **Summary of main activities in relation to above**
## **Education/training/arts/culture/heritage/science/environment/ conservation/heritage/recreation**
The Oldway Gardens Volunteer Group took over and has looked after the maintenance of Oldway Mansion Gardens, since September 2019, after the council which owns the site, ran out of money. The site consists of 17 acres of grade 2 listed gardens and is a public park, completely open to the general public 365 days of the year, there are no gates. The main garden design was by Achille Duchene, completed in 1902, and consists of grassed parkland, two distinctive parterres, herbaceous borders, terraces, flower beds, sub tropical areas, a pond and stream, water plants and wooded areas. There are many birds, small animals, insects and amphibious creatures that inhabit the gardens. We have a programme of sustainability for the future, whilst preserving the past.
We have kept in mind the guidance from the charity commission to ensure that we are entirely independent of the local council, are free to make our own decisions on administration, finances and legal matters, we have our own management plan and policies. Our own committee which meets regularly and we meet with council officials to advise them on what we are doing and wish to do in the future.
We are completely inclusive with sixty active volunteers of all ages and backgrounds, we do not discriminate. We have volunteers with physical disabilities, with mental health disabilities, with learning difficulties who come with carers. We have groups of community payback persons with their supervisors, young American missionaries from The Church of latter day saints, and we have groups of children from the local primary school with their class teachers and helpers, and also young persons doing their Duke of Edinburgh awards. All are welcome.
We actively encourage all our volunteers to share with others the skills that they have, whilst developing skills in those who wish to learn, in their knowledge of plants and wildlife and their gardening skills. Others, who prefer to use their hospitality skills, look after our plant stall, providing a selection of plants donated or grown by ourselves, or look after our small tea hut, providing refreshments to all the visitors to the gardens. Other volunteers with skills in building and maintenance mend gardening equipment, build benches, make planters, bird boxes and related wooden items for the gardens and sale to visitors, from our gardeners’ yard and its related buildings. We grow our own plants mainly from cuttings and believe in sustainability. We provide tours of the gardens to any visitors that want them. We have developed popular family garden trails to encourage visitors, and do our own administration.
We keep a register and between 17[th] November 2021 when we became a charity and 31[st] January 2023, our volunteers logged up more than 10,000 hours of recorded voluntary work. Unrecorded work goes on behind the scenes continually as well.
The groups trustees look after the day to day running of the group, overall gardening management, supervision, administration, accounts, running the web site, social media and marketing, we also have a full committee of 12, whose personnel are delegated to look after the newer volunteers, to understand their previous gardening skills, training needs, plus projects and areas that they might prefer to work on, and also to design and run a rota system for the plant stall and tea hut. The trustees disseminate information to the committee at regular meetings where everyone’s advice, thoughts and idea are welcomed, minutes are published and talked through with all volunteers.
The group has a management system in place, which includes full risk assessments, health and safety, training procedures and policies.
The group has a good relationship with Torbay Council who owns the Oldway Estate and their company SWISCo now collect our garden waste that we were disposing of ourselves and they also mow the two large fields on the estate with large tractor mowers, which we were mowing with small hand petrol mowers, at no charge to the group.
The Group has developed a really good relationship with the local ministry of justice department, who provide us with teams of Community Payback personnel, and supervisors, every week, who work on projects that we set them, overseen by our Vice Chair. Also with Church of latter day saints, who send us two of their visiting young person missionaries from USA to work as volunteer gardeners for several months each year.
The group has established a good relationship with The Oldway primary school that has it’s back gate opening to the gardens. The school children use the gardens for nature studies and we have involved them in a pollinating project, giving and opening a bed for them to sow wild seeds into and tend them.
The group’s chairman is involved with the Royal Horticultural Society and locally with South West in Bloom, part of Britain in Bloom, as a judge. The Oldway Gardens Group is actively encouraged to participate in the yearly competition for the, “In your neighbourhood award”.
The group’s treasurer is a qualified tour guide and provides guided tours of the gardens including the history of the Singer family who established the estate.
The group’s secretary, as well as administration, looks after our social media content. We have a web site, www.oldwaygardens.co.uk, which links to everything.
The group has a good relationship with the Paignton and Preston Community Partnership, the main Torbay Community Partnership cover the insurance for all volunteer groups in Torbay.
All trustees give their time voluntarily and receive no remuneration or other benefits, only legitimate expenses.
In planning our activities for the year we kept in mind the Charity Commissions guidance on public benefit at our trustee meetings, where everything is minuted.
Our pond has been drained, cleared, repaired, refilled and new islands created to encourage more wildlife. The overgrown rockery has been cleared of overgrown shrubs and replanted with hundreds of sustainable plants. The flower beds on the main driveway have been reopened and once the planting is established will provide a splendid welcome to visitors. Our plant stall is currently open 5 days a week, again manned by volunteers, providing an income to enable the group to purchase equipment and plants. As well as growing them, for the gardens. Heritage and Garden Tours take place and provide a wealth of information about the history of the Singer Family. We have a dog photographer and Dog training sessions. In summer last year in conjunction with Devon Rocks and Stones, over 8000 painted stones decorated the gardens.
November – 4000 bulbs planted, leaf clearing, work on the water levels in pond and grotto pool, social BBQ, bench cleaning, maintenance ready for winter.
December 21 – Christmas get together in yard. New propagation area and poly tunnel developed in yard. Planting of 1270 Polyanthus and primroses in parterres ready for the spring. Tool cleaning, mending and restoring of donated tools and lawn mowers. Clearing of fallen tree branches.
January 22– Making Bird Boxes
February 22 - Clearing of area around the yard and entrance into Oldway Road, and planting up. Spring flowers start to make an appearance.
March 22 - A guided tour of gardens given to other Blue Badge Tour guides. Bird boxes and planters being made for sale.
April 22 - Our AGM. Visit and participation by Devon and Cornwall Police Commissioner, to see the work that community payback persons help us with. Propagating and potting course held in gardener’s yard.
May 22 - Tea hut opened for the season, donations received of truggs and trolley by local company
June 22 - SWISCo agree to mow our two large fields. Wooden Owls made by Community Payback team and put up around the gardens for our first family trail. Seven display boards about the history of Oldway created and set up around the tea hut for public viewing. Carnivorous plants brought in by a supporter to be sold for our benefit. Box hedging carefully cut with hand shears. Ducks return to re-established pond. Planting up for the jubilee celebrations in correct colours takes place.
July 22 - Owl trail launch from Tea Hut, garden tours take place, sustainable planting continues, Oldway project director appointed with lottery heritage funding, by Torbay Council, to work with our group and The Oldway Trust regarding the mansion building. Launch of an Oldway diary to show off our achievements.
Aug 22 - Entomology student from Plymouth University uses our pond and it’s attraction to the Common Darker dragon fly for his dissertation. BBC spotlight interview us for broadcast. Visit by South West in Bloom judges. Visit by 9 magistrates to see the worth of payback working with us. Our Social media Face book page has 1800 members.
Sept 22 - Chairman, Tim Eley, gives presentation to Ageing Well group. Devon rocks and stones do a dinosaur stone trail on the terrace walls.
Oct 22 - Benches continue to be made and repaired with requests for memorial plaques on the same building momentum. Wooden Ghosts to replace owls, made for family trail for Halloween school half term, almost 1500 children and their family members took part. The Oldway Gardens Group is awarded a level 5 category “In your neighbourhood award”, by South West in Bloom.
Nov 22 – Oldway Gardens were proud to be elected to have one of The Queen's Green Canopy (QGC) trees. This was a unique nationwide tree planting initiative created to mark her late Majesty Queen Elizabeth II's Platinum Jubilee in 2022. The tree which is a silver birch was planted with great ceremony in the lower garden. Dumpy bags of Topsoil arrive to boost the parterres. We make a start to coppice overgrown trees and bushes in a restoring original view project.
Dec 22 - Two USA missionary ladies from Church of latter day students volunteer with the group
Jan 23 - Olive tree donated and planted for holocaust day by lady whose family all died in concentration camps, between 1940 and 1944. Refurbishment of neglected gardener’s yard commenced with rewiring of electrics and fittings, all to comply with health and safety regulations.
## **Financial Review**
**Bank:** business account with National Westminster, Bristol City Centre, branch, with cash in bank at 31[st] January 2023 of £23, 693, unrestricted funds.
Our main source of income has been from plant sales, tea hut sales, donations and income from tours and our new family trails.
## **Future plans**
To continue to build on what we have achieved.
## **Declarations**
## **The trustees declare that they have approved the trustees’ report above.**
## **Signed on behalf of the charity’s trustees**
## **Mrs Susan Elizabeth Saunders**
## **Trustee, treasurer**
## **4[th] November 2023**
||**OLDWAY GARDENS GROUP**
|**OLDWAY GARDENS GROUP**
|**OLDWAY GARDENS GROUP**
|**1196635**|**CC16a**|
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
||**For the period**
**from**|Period start date
11/17/2021|**To**|Period end date
1/31/2023||
|||||||
|**Section A Receipts and payments**||||||
|**A1 Receipts**
**-**
Plant stall income
**8,701**
Tea hut income
**4,072**
Other income
**1,364**
Donations
**4,652**
Interest
**32**
**-**
**-**
**18,821**
**-**
**-**
**_Sub total_ -**
**_Total receipts_ 18,821**
**A3 Payments**
**-**
Plant stall expenses
**1,859**
Tea hut expenses
**949**
Garden expenses
**4,619**
Administrative expenses
**959**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**_Sub total_ 8,386**
**-**
Garden equipment
**316**
**_Sub total_ 316**
**_Total payments_ 8,702**
**_Net of receipts/(payments)_ 10,119**
**A5 Transfers between funds**
**-**
**A6 Cash funds last year end**
**13,574**
**_Cash funds this year end_ 23,693**
**Unrestricted**
**funds**
**to the nearest £**
**_Sub total_**_(Gross income for AR)_
**A2 Asset and investment sales,**
**(see table).**
**A4 Asset and investment**
**purchases, (see table)**||**to the nearest £**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**Restricted**
**funds**|**to the nearest £**
**Endowment**
**funds**|**Total funds**
**to the nearest £**
**-**
**8,701**
**4,072**
**1,364**
**4,652**
**32**
**-**
**-**
**18,821**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**18,821**
**-**
**1,859**
**949**
**4,619**
**959**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**8,386**
**-**
**316**
**316**
**8,702**
**10,119**
**-**
**13,574**
**23,693**|**Last year**
**to the nearest £**|
||||**-**|**-**|**-**|
||||**-**|**8,701**|**-**|
||||**-**|**4,072**|**-**|
||||**-**|**1,364**|**-**|
||||**-**|**4,652**|**-**|
||||**-**|**32**|**-**|
||||**-**|**-**|**-**|
||||**-**|**-**|**-**|
||||**-**|**18,821**|**-**|
|||||||
||||**-**|**-**||
||||**-**|**-**|**-**|
||||**-**|**-**|**-**|
|||||||
||||**-**|**18,821**|**-**|
|||||||
||||**-**|**-**|**-**|
||||**-**|**1,859**|**-**|
||||**-**|**949**|**-**|
||||**-**|**4,619**|**-**|
||||**-**|**959**|**-**|
||||**-**|**-**|**-**|
||||**-**|**-**|**-**|
||||**-**|**-**|**-**|
||||**-**|**-**|**-**|
||||**-**|**8,386**|**-**|
|||||||
||||**-**|**-**||
||||**-**|**316**||
||||**-**|**316**|**-**|
|||||||
||||**-**|**8,702**|**-**|
|||||||
|||**-**|**-**|**10,119**|**-**|
|||**-**|**-**|**-**|**-**|
|||**-**|**-**|**13,574**|**-**|
|||**-**|**-**|**23,693**|**-**|
|**Section B Statement of assets and liabilities at the end of the period**|**Section B Statement of assets and liabilities at the end of the period**|**Section B Statement of assets and liabilities at the end of the period**|**Section B Statement of assets and liabilities at the end of the period**||
|---|---|---|---|---|
|**Categories**
**B1 Cash funds**
**B2 Other monetary assets**
**B3 Investment assets**
**B5 Liabilities**
**B4 Assets retained for the**
**charity’s own use**|**Details**
Cash in bank
Cash in hand
**Details**
**Details**
**Details**
**Details**
**_Total cash funds_**
(agree balances with receipts and payments
account(s))|**to nearest £**
**23,655**
**38**
**-**
**23,693**
OK
**to nearest £**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**Unrestricted**
**funds**
**Unrestricted**
**funds**
**Fund to which**
**asset belongs**
**Fund to which**
**asset belongs**
**Fund to which**
**liability relates**|**to nearest £**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**
OK
**to nearest £**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**Cost (optional)**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**Cost (optional)**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**Restricted**
**funds**
**Restricted**
**funds**
**Amount due**
**(optional)**|**to nearest £**
**Endowment**
**funds**|
|||||**-**|
|||||**-**|
|||||**-**|
|||||**-**|
|||||OK|
|||||**to nearest £**
**Endowment**
**funds**|
|||||**-**|
|||||**-**|
|||||**-**|
|||||**-**|
|||||**-**|
|||||**-**|
|||||**Current value**
**(optional)**|
|||||**-**|
|||||**-**|
|||||**-**|
|||||**-**|
|||||**-**|
|||||**Current value**
**(optional)**|
|||||**-**|
|||||**-**|
|||||**-**|
|||||**-**|
|||||**-**|
|||||**-**|
|||||**-**|
|||||**-**|
|||||**-**|
|||||**When due**
**(optional)**|
||||**-**||
||||**-**||
||||**-**||
||||**-**||
||||**-**||
Signed by one or two trustees on behalf of all the trustees
Signature
Print Name
Date of approval