# **Report of the trustees of Wainsgate Chapel CIO for the year ended 31 May 2025** ## **Charity information** ## **Registered number** 1198994 ## **Registered address** Wainsgate Chapel Wainsgate Lane Hebden Bridge HX7 8SU ## **Trustees** Jo Cubbon (Chair) Dave Nelson (Vice Chair) Andrea Holmes (Treasurer) Jane Morris Amanda Dalton Amanda Allan Chris Anderson Carol Hayward ## **Independent Examiner** M R Heaton FCCA FCIE DChA KM Chartered Accountants 1[st] Floor, Block C The Wharf Manchester Road Burnley BB11 1JG 1 ## **Report of the trustees** The trustees present their report and accounts for the period ended 31 May 2025. ## **Constitution** Wainsgate Chapel CIO (the “Charity”) was registered as a charity on 18 May 2022 with charity number 1198994. ## **Our charitable object and the public benefit** The charitable object of the Charity is: _“To advance the education of the public in the historical and cultural significance of Wainsgate Chapel by the provision of:_ _(a) a range of heritage, musical and artistic events highlighting the heritage and cultural significance of Wainsgate Chapel;_ _(b) the day-to-day-running and maintenance of the Grade II listed Wainsgate Chapel.”_ The trustees have regard to the Charity Commission’s guidance as to public benefit when conducting the business of the Charity. The trustees ensure that the charitable object of the Charity is achieved through its activities for the public benefit. ## **Structure, governance and management** The Charity’s governing document is a model constitution for a CIO with a voting membership (in addition to the charity trustees). The constitution requires a minimum of three trustees. There are currently eight trustees, identified above. The trustees meet on a regular basis to review financial performance and make decisions in relation to current and future activity. A number of volunteers assist the trustees in performing the day-to-day activities of the Charity. 2 ## **Achievements and performance** ## **Buildings** During 2025, Wainsgate has been through a significant period of building repairs, improvements and refurbishment. This has largely been funded through the Cultural Assets Fund (“CAF”) monies allocated to Wainsgate by the Historic Chapels Trust (“HCT”) to progress their handover of the building to us. HCT appointed conservation architect Peter Rogan to undertake a full survey of the building to recommend urgent and necessary repairs and improvements. The work was then tendered and Pinnacle Conservation Ltd were appointed to undertake the work. The building was handed over to Pinnacle in late December 2024 and the Charity paused operations. It was handed back fully to the Charity towards the end of April 2025. Works have included the following (this list is not exhaustive): • Repair to the chimney stack on the end gable wall. • Removal and reinstatement of damaged ceiling to first floor road side studio in the Sunday School Room (“SSR”) using plasterboard and gypsum plaster. • Removal and reinstatement of damaged ceiling to the storage room to the right of the stage in the SSR using lath and lime plaster. • Repair to walls and ceiling cracks in the corners of the SSR. • Repairs to the rotten timbers on the back stairs. • Repairs to the rotten timbers in the roof void above the SSR. • Reinforcement of structural timbers (accessed from beneath) supporting the SSR floor using steel plates. • Removal of existing rotten floor in the Assembly Room and full replacement including improving and modernising the structure underneath. • Removal of structural timbers affected by dry rot in the chapel. These were replaced and the ceiling repaired with lath and lime plaster. • Improvements to the drainage at the back of the chapel. - Installation of ventilation tiles to the roof void above both sides of the chapel. - The making safe of the roof and walls for the derelict outside toilets. Other improvements which have been overseen by the Charity have included the refurbishment of the Assembly Room and removal of the fireplace in the Assembly Room. 3 ## **Graveyard** A strange year, with the chapel closed and out of bounds (including toilets and tea making facilities!) for so many months. But we could access our tools in the hearse house, so the general maintenance of the grounds carried on. The nursery garden at the back of the chapel however, and the watering of our transplanted advent Christmas tree, was neglected due to inaccessibility caused by the builders’ scaffolding. About six core volunteers have met weekly, on Wednesday mornings, with another six coming occasionally or when especially called on. We have kept the graveyard and the bottom meadow in a good, managed re-wilded state, with access paths mowed regularly in spring and summer. And the winter jobs carried on e.g. de-brambling, cutting back rogue rhododendrons, pulling out any Himalayan balsam from around the water courses and making dead hedges up against the eastern boundary wall. Late summer 2024 we employed Michael Midgely and team to do a major strimming of the whole graveyard (barring the oldest part of the graveyard behind the chapel) at a cost of over £600. We made a commitment to draw the gardening group together and do it ourselves in 2025. HCT is being thorough in assessing what more major maintenance is needed before they transfer ownership, and have planned to fell two sycamore trees by the south boundary wall, which will be cut up for graveyard seating and otherwise chipped. The significant work of saying goodbye to loved ones has continued, despite the chapel closure, with a burial in July and January, ashes scattered in February and the memorial and ashes interment of one of our trustees and founder members, Julie Cockburn, in May.We sold three interment plots this year, and our last full burial plot in July 2024. The board continues to assess whether we will make more plots available in our popular but increasingly limited graveyard space. The newer graves are visited frequently and the graveyard, meadow and picnic benches near the chapel are enjoyed daily by many people. We continue to collaborate with our local partners, lending tools to the community centre gardeners, giving some of our plentiful supply of organic compost to the centre allotment and several big bags of cut grass towards the making of raised beds on the slopes of the area of local land which is being worked into a community vegetable, fruit and nut orchard. We also gratefully coppiced willow from a local friend’s land to make advent wreaths at our very successful event in December. 4 ## **Heritage** This year has been about articulating and deepening our approach to heritage at Wainsgate. We see heritage not as something fixed in the past, but as a living and ongoing process that shapes everything we do. The life and activity we bring into the building is itself a strategy for sustainability — keeping the chapel cared for, loved, and used by people of all ages. Our Heritage Open Day included workshops, slideshows, and soundscapes exploring how we might engage people with the heritage of Wainsgate and the local area. These experiments are helping us find creative ways to share stories of the building, the land, and the communities connected to them, and to explore the radical, nonconformist traditions that are part of Wainsgate’s identity. Chris Barnett’s _Wainsgate Graveyard Project_ is a living, ever-evolving archive—an invaluable resource that continually expands through his meticulous research, connecting Wainsgate’s history with personal and public memory, and anchoring much of our current work. Together, these efforts reflect our belief that heritage at Wainsgate is not separate from the present-day life of the building—it’s embedded in everything we do, forming the ground from which new ideas, encounters, and creative practices grow. ## **Studios** As mentioned in the "Buildings" report above, this year we restored the Assembly Room, which had previously been used as studio space, to create an accessible, multi-purpose space on the ground floor. The board envisages this space being used for a variety of purposes, including as an exhibition space, which will enhance the reputation of the chapel as a place where visual art is created and exhibited. 5 ## **Music** There were 11 music events in the second half of 2024 - then none at all in the first half of 2025 due to ongoing building work at the Chapel. As usual we covered pretty much all musical styles! There was world-jazz from the Philip Clouts Quartet (25/10) and a more intimate variety from pianist Paul Edis with Vasilis Xenopoulos (29/6), on saxophone. Acoustic music came from the Hebden Bridge-based 5-piece Agents of Karma (14/9) and from the violin and cello of Eastern Europe-inspired Fran and Flora (20/7). Choral music was represented by the highly political Commoners Choir (13/7) and the 60-strong Barbershop ensemble Cottontown Chorus. The funky swamp-rock of the Nightcreatures (22/6) was a complete delight as was Darius Battiwalla’s virtuosity on piano and organ for a wonderful silent movies night (27/10). We had classical music featuring plenty of Latin American compositions from the York Guitar Quartet ((8/6) and a whole weekend (27-29/9) of piano music with the likes of Charles Owen, Zoe Rahman and Noriko Ogawa performing to packed houses. The year finished with the annual Christmas Singalong (21/12) featuring Dave Nelson at the piano along with the 16-strong Wainsgate Waits singers and teenage folk band Jiggerie Folkerie. Due to the commencement of building work at the Chapel, this event took place at Wadsworth Community Centre. The total footfall for this year’s concerts was around 1600. ## **Word** During the period of this report we piloted, over the summer months, a new strand of creative writing-related programming at Wainsgate: WORD, taking place in the chapel. This strand has continued to successfully develop from June 2025 onwards. ## **9 June 2024** Imtiaz Dharker and Amanda Dalton – joint book launches for their new collections from Bloodaxe Books. An afternoon event with tea and cake served and a book signing with books provided and stall staffed by Hebden Bridge Independent bookshop, _The Book Case._ 110+ audience members. ## **21 July 2024** Seni Seneviratne “The Unknown Soldier” . In partnership with producers ‘Renaissance One’, an evening event: one-woman performance with video and soundscape, bringing to life a book length poetry text, presented by the writer: 35+ audience plus bar and book signing with books provided and stall staffed by Hebden Bridge Independent bookshop, _The Book Case._ ## **15 July 2024** Drop in creative writing activities at Heritage Open Day, based on the theme of ‘Mapping Wainsgate’. Presented in the Chapel alongside visual art activities. This activity engaged with children through map-making and with adults through a series of writing prompts. Around 40+ individuals taking part over the day. 6 ## **Dance** This was a year of development and consolidation for Wainsgate Dances, focused on building a more sustainable, collaborative model for the future. We expanded the core team to include Lucy Suggate, Charlie Ford, Katye Coe, and Caroline Scott, and began developing partnerships with organisations including Yorkshire Dance, Transform Festival, Factory International, Fabric, Sadler’s Wells, The Place, MAYK, Curious, and Joint Adventures. Residencies supported artists whose work has since toured nationally and internationally, with previews shared with local audiences. Daily Open Practice continued, temporarily relocating to Wadsworth Community Centre during building works, and workshops were delivered with Old Town Primary School in partnership with Northern Rascals. The programme featured performances by artists including Meg Stuart, Tim Etchells, Seke Chimutengwende, Kirstie Simson, and Roadhouse, attracting new and younger audiences and strengthening Wainsgate’s reputation as a unique rural hub for dance. 7 ## **Wainsgate Chapel CIO** ## **Receipts and Payments Account For the year ended 31st May 2024** |**Receipts and Payments Account**
**For the year ended 31st May 2024**||| |---|---|---| ||**2025**|**2024**| |**Receipts**|**£**|**£**| |Studio Rental|4,035|6,360| |Bonds|18|0| |Dance|2,485|8,690| |Other Room Hire|667|2,164| |Concerts|17,369|10,053| |Advent|5,259|3,343| |Walking Market & Heritage Open Day|1,344|0| |Donations/Guide Books|5,226|859| |Weddings|1,000|0| |Burial Plot/Funerals|4,190|5,235| |Bar Takings|8,999|6,146| |HCT|10,306|0| |Other|0|1,647| |Interest|607|573| ||**61,505**|**45,070**| |**Payments**||| |Alcohol Stock Costs/TEN|3,032|2,941| |Concert Costs|12,312|7,066| |Toilet Hire|192|419| |Graveyard Costs|1,082|529| |Repairs and Maintenance|8,940|2,951| |Professional fees|27,532|2,635| |Independent examination||720| |Insurance|269|269| |Advent|1,572|1,185| |Walking Market|453|0| |Equipment Hire|428|0| |Purchases of Equipment|2,253|2,276| |Toilet improvements|0|50| |Misc|745|1,101| |Training Costs|75|0| |Newsletters/Printing|1,181|1,478| |Web Site|151|989| |Fire Improvements|0|348| |Cleaning|1,015|993| ||**61,232**|**25,980**| |Net receipts less payments|273|19,090| |Balances brought forward|60,309|41,219| |Balances carried forward|60,582|60,309| 8 ## **Wainsgate Chapel CIO** ## **Statement of assets and liabilities** ||**31.5.25**|**31.5.24**| |---|---|---| |**Assets**||| |Bank balances|**£**60,582|£60,309| |**Liabilities**||| |Independent examination|£750|£720| ## **Risk management** The Trustees have introduced a risk management process to assess business risks and are implementing systems to mitigate these risks. Internal risks are minimised by the implementation of procedures or authorisation of all transactions and projects and to ensure consistent quality of delivery for all operational aspects of the Charity. Procedures are in place to ensure compliance with health and safety of staff, volunteers, clients and visitors to the premises. These procedures are periodically reviewed to ensure that they still meet the needs of the Charity. 9 ## **Report of the independent examiner** I report to the charity trustees on my examination of the accounts of the charity for the period ended 31 May 2025. ## **Responsibilities and basis of report** As the charity’s trustees you are responsible for the preparation of the accounts in accordance with the requirements of the Charities Act 2011 (‘the Act’). I report in respect of my examination of the charity’s accounts carried out under section 145 of the Act and in carrying out my examination I have followed all the applicable Directions given by the Charity Commission under section 145(5)(b) of the Act. ## **Independent examiner’s statement** I have completed my examination. I confirm that no matters have come to my attention in connection with the examination giving me cause to believe: (1) accounting records were not kept in respect of the charity as required by Section 130 of the Act; or (2) the accounts do not accord with those records. I have no concerns and have come across no other matters in connection with the examination to which attention should be drawn in this report in order to enable a proper understanding of the accounts to be reached. M R Heaton FCCA FCIE DChA KM 1st Floor, Block C, The Wharf Burnley Lancashire BB11 1JG 18th November 2025 10 ## **Approval of the trustees** This report was approved by the trustees on 5 November 2025 and signed on their behalf by: **Jo Cubbon Chair** 11