Colchester North Men's Shed Report and balance sheets for year 2022 

During 2022 The Shed enjoyed a full year of activities without any closures for Covid and has continued to build as a community support organisation and to move forward on a very sound basis. We have also widened our support for the community by admitting a couple of members with greater life challenges, one wheelchair user and one with special needs.  The membership has reached 54 with up to 18 regular attendees for each session on Tuesdays and Thursdays.  Saturday opening was tried but did not prove viable and has been discontinued.  These numbers are thought to be as much as we can cope with given our current resources and further membership is being curtailed for the time being due to this limitation. 

Notable milestones during the year have been the achievement of charitable status.  This means we now operate under the rules of the Charities Act and report to the Charities Commission. This has meant we are now independent of Essex Sheds and amongst other things have had to arrange and pay for our own insurance.  Essex Sheds remain available, however,  to assist with advice and some co-ordination with other Sheds.  During the year we also took over responsibility for the payment of our electricity usage.  This was previously paid by Jonathan Minter, the owner of the building, to support us during the initial phase of our development and this generosity helped us enormously. Since taking over, the price of electricity has increased considerably although it remains within our income levels and in the short term we are eligible for the government energy relief scheme between 1st October 2022 and 31st March 2023. 

During the year The Shed has received support in the form of grants from Colchester Borough Council of £800 and £400, Colchester Community Bursary £1000 and Colchester Masons £1000. We also benefitted from a fantastic support scheme run by Greater Anglia Railways who funded and carried out a big-build style project.  This was arranged by one of our members and consisted of constructing a large inner room, which can be used for social activities, meetings and refreshment breaks and can be heated when necessary much more economically than the large open barn.  The team of volunteers also refurbished the kitchen, extended the workshop electrical system, bricked up the windows on the north side of the barn for security and fire separation purposes and levelled the main workshop floor by filling in the extensive drainage channels, left from the barn's previous use as a milking parlour.  This has improved The Sheds facilities and made it a much more usable space for our operation. 

Other points of interest are the donation of some useful equipment including the acquisition of a metal lathe, the purchase of a further scroll saw, a pillar drill, 3 rechargeable hand drills, and two further vacuum cleaners for dust extraction purposes.  One member attended a PAT testing course and the necessary equipment to carry out this task was purchased, making us independent for this legally required service.  A new water boiler was purchased to replace the old one which leaked. Shed members continued to repair and make all sorts of items for their own use, ranging from bird boxes to a beach hut.  A further 100 swift boxes were made for Suffolk Coast and Heaths Unit, a telephone box was converted for a local District Council to house a defibrillator and a project to make 360 metres of fencing to protect nesting birds, also for Suffolk Coastal is underway.  This latest project is involving several members and providing them with activity over a considerable period of time.  It is also recycling a large amount of timber from pallets thereby helping with environmental issues in two ways. 

Financial governance continues to be a team effort involving several committee members as well as the Treasurer; these include the Chairman and Shed Safety Supervisor who attend the majority of sessions.  Members pay their own session fees, deposit the money in a container on a desk by the entrance and record their attendance on a sheet.   The Treasurer removes the money weekly and leaves only a small float.   In the absence of the Treasurer small purchases are reimbursed by appointed committee members and the receipts left in the container.  Larger purchases are paid 



directly by the Treasurer when he attends or reimbursement is made to the purchaser by using bank transfers.  In the Treasurer's absence from The Shed, this can also be done by e-mail application. Large items of expenditure are discussed informally before purchase.  This way of working is applied without undue interference and has worked reasonably well to-date without any real problems. This is largely due to everyone's honesty and goodwill. 

A balance sheet for 2022 is attached appendix 1. 

Grant money from some of the sources mentioned above, some of which was given for specific purposes, including grant money obtained towards the end of 2021, has been used to cover the insurance, electricity bills and purchase of the more expensive items of equipment obtained during the year. 

Full details can be found in appendix 2. 

Barry Unger Trustee and Hon. Treasurer. 25/01/2023 



|Appendix 1||||
|---|---|---|---|
|North Colchester Men's Shed||||
|Financial Summary  31st December 2022||||
|Income||Expenditure||
|Subscriptions|870.00|Tools, equipment and spares|1908.24|
|session Fees|2,244.00|Timber|741.6|
|Donations|343.96|Fittings and fixings|254.48|
|Sales|310.00|Domestic|626.75|
|Projects  (Swift boxes, Phone box)|4,390.00|Paint, glue and filler|203.22|
|**Total**|**8,157.96**|Insurance|250.2|
|||Electricity|760.92|
|Income over expenditure|**3412.55**|**Total**|**4745.41**|
|**Funds held**||||
|Income B fwd from 2021|3430.79|With grants  1,2,3         5368.92||
|Net income 2022|3412.55|||
|Grant left (suicide prevention)|638.13|||
|Grant Colchester Masons 2021|1000.00|||
|Grant Colchester Borough|300.00|||
|Grant Community bursary|1000.00|||
|Grant Colchester Borough|800.00|||
|Grant Colchester Borough|400.00|||
|Grants Colchester Masons 2022|1000.00|Increase in funds from all||
|**Total**|**11981.47**|sources for 2022          6612.55||
|Location||||
|Cash at bank|11977.94|||
|Petty cash at The Shed|3.53|||
|**Total**|**11981.47**|||



Funds held and tranferred to 2023 accounts after re-allocation of expenditure to grants shown in appendix 2 

|General funds|9581.47|
|---|---|
|Grant Community bursary|1000.00|
|Grant Colchester Borough|400.00|
|Grants Colchester Masons 22|1000.00|
|**Total**|**11981.47**|



|Appendix 2||||
|---|---|---|---|
|Expenditure from grants, summary 2022||||
|Income||Expenditure||
|Suicide Prevention grant||||
|Grant Remaining from 2020/21|638.13|Pillar drill|380.39|
|Non-specific grant used for major||Battery powered hand drills|279.98|
|equipment items||Total|660.37|
|Grant disbursed||paid from  general fund|22.24|
|Colchester Masons Grant 21|1000|Electricity|760.92|





|Non-specific grant used for||Insurance|250.2|
|---|---|---|---|
|vital services support||Total|1,011.12|
|Grant disbursed||paid from  general fund|11.12|
|Colchester Borough Council|300|||
|Granted for P.P.E||Dust extraction vacuums|79.89|
|Used for health and safety||Porta loos (Health & Safety for B|240|
|equipment and facilities||Total|319.89|
|Grant disbursed||paid from general funds|19.89|
|Colchester Borough Council|800|Pat tester|531|
|Granted for PAT testing||Pat testing labels|8.04|
|Surplus used for important tools||Scroll Saw (bench mounted)|106.98|
|and equipment||Nail Gun|48.57|
|||Long wood clamps|106.97|
|||Total|801.56|
|Grant disbursed||paid from general fund|1.56|