## **Trustees’ Annual Report for the period**
## **From 1[ st ] April 2024 To 31[ st ] March 2025**
## **Charity name: Ravenstonedale Community and Heritage Centre**
## **Charity registration number: 1199656**
## **Objectives and Activities**
The charity’s mission is to preserve and maintain a community centre for the benefits of the inhabitants of the civil parish of Ravenstonedale and the surrounding area, without distinction of political, religious or other opinions.
Ravenstonedale Parish, at 25-30 square miles, fewer than 500 electors in the parish, and circa 125 residences in the actual village, is extremely rural and one of the most sparsely populated parishes in England. The Centre is therefore a critical facility within our community. The importance of our Centre is emphasised when understanding that it is the parishioners who are maintaining and managing our 1735 Grade II listed building for the benefit of our friends, family and community.
The Centre is a place for meetings, lectures and classes, and other forms of recreation and leisure time occupation, with the object of improving the conditions of life for the residents and visitors to Ravenstonedale and providing a vibrant hub for local activities. The Trustees’ focus is on ensuring that the public are the beneficiaries of the Centre by ensuring that activities are designed for and promoted to the local community.
Our Charity is constituted as a CIO and managed through a group of Trustees, the majority of which sit on our Management Committee. Trustee names and details are provided on the Charity Commission website .
During this period, there has been a change to the membership of the Management Committee and additional Trustees added. Our long-standing Trustee and Treasurer, Chris Elphick stood down as an active member of the Committee and as Treasurer. Chris has been a major supporter of the RCHC. As clerk to our Parish Council, he drove the purchase of the RCHC and saved the historic building. Further, over the years he has successfully pursued funding for an an extension and new kitchen; established our Charity and set up the Management Committee. The RCHC would not be able to provide the services to the Ravenstonedale community without Chris. Therefore, as part of this report, the Management Committee would like to recognise his services to RCHC and the community and thank Chris for all that he has done. Chris remains a Trustee and honorary member of our Management Committee, and he continues to provide advice and guidance as required.
Two new Trustees were appointed and agreed official roles as Vice Chair and Treasurer. Details are provided further in this report.
They have been selected based on their care and concern for the community and the centre, knowledge of the local community and their knowledge, skills and experience, as well as contribution to events and activities in the Centre.
A focus of the Chairty’s activities in the latter part of the year has been the required repairs to the roof, outer and interior walls of the building. The building is owned by the Parish Council which is leading on securing the required funds for the works. However, the Management Committee have been focused on how it can contribute a small proportion of the match funding required, working in partnership with the Parish Council. Some of the events listed below have generated some of these funds and the Management Committee already have plans for further fund-raising events during the 2025/26 financial year. The Management Committee is fully committed to supporting the raising of these funds. The RCHC is a key part of our community and community activities. Completion of the repairs over the next few years will provide an improved environment for all our current activities and attract greater us of our facilities.
## **Achievements and Performance**
The Centre has been used during this past year to host both regular and ad-hoc activities such as:
● Weekly circuits, Pilates and yoga classes
- Sound baths
- The History Group weekly meetings and regular events/talks
- Annual Craft Fair
- Monthly sewing group
- Monthly coffee mornings
- Annual Howgill 10K run
- Discos
- Poetry and music evenings
- Talks and lectures
- Parish Council meetings
- Other ad-hoc hire occasions – Mountain Rescue meetings; Yorkshire Dales National Park meetings.
A local venue for such activities is a key benefit in our rural community, particularly to our elderly residents.
## **Financial Review**
A summary of the charity’s accounts for 2024/25 have been submitted along with this report. The Charity does not hold reserves as such but does aim to generate surplus that can be used for general maintenance and will contribute some of the match funding for the necessary repair works referred to above.
The Centre at times is fortunate to receive donations from members of the public and other groups. Most significantly we received again this year, a generous donation from the Howgill Harriers. In addition some smaller donations generated through RCHC hosted events, have been received specifically as a contribution to the roof and wall repairs.
## **Reference and Administrative details**
|Charity name|Ravenstonedale Community and Heritage Centre|
|---|---|
|Registered charity number|1199656|
|Charity’s principal address|Ravenstonedale C&HC
Ravenstonedale
Kirkby Stephen
Cumbria
CA17 4NG|
|---|---|
## **Names of the charity trustees who manage the charity**
|1
2
2
3
4
5
6|**Trustee name**|**Office (if any)**|**Dates acted if not for**
**whole year**
**Name of person (or**
**body) entitled to**
**appoint trustee (if any)**|
|---|---|---|---|
||Helen Shields|Chair||
||Emma Lewis|Vice Chair|October 2024|
||Clara Allinson|Secretary||
||HilaryLaw|||
||Jan Hardcastle|||
||Anne Wappett|||
||Emma Rose|Treasurer|October 2024
Management Committee|
## **The trustees declare that they have approved the trustees’ report above.**
## **Signed on behalf of the charity’s trustees**
## **Signature(s)**
**Full name(s)** Emma Rose **Position (eg Secretary,** Treasurer **Chair, etc) Date** 1 June 25
## **2024/25 Account Summary**
||||||**Expenditure**|**Expenditure**||**Income**|||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
|**Opening balance**||**£**|**15,512.87**||||||||
|||2023/24||cleaning 2324|£|45.79|||||
|||||hall hire 2324|||£|245.00|||
|||||History Group - owed payments|||£|375.00|||
|||||utilities 2324|£|1,040.79|||||
||||||£|1,086.58|£|620.00|-£|466.58|
|||2024/25||bank charges|£|70.37|||||
|||||circuits|||£|380.00|||
|||||cleaning|£|980.28|||||
|||||compliance|£|268.63|||||
|||||donation|||£|1,994.86|||
|||||donation (renovations)|||£|2,010.00|||
|||||hall hire|||£|3,295.00|||
|||||History Group 2425|||£|300.00|||
|||||pilates|£|2,531.00|£|3,137.00|||
|||||sewing|||£|80.00|||
|||||supplies and maintenance|£|1,052.65|||||
|||||utilities|£|3,527.76|||||
|||||website|£|120.00|||||
||||||£|8,550.69|£|11,196.86|£2,646.17||
|||||**_Totals_**|**_£ _**|**_9,637.27_**|**_£_**|**_11,816.86_**|||
|**Closing balance**||£|17,370.46||||||||
|**Held in cash**|||||||£|82.74|||
|**Balance carried forward **||**£**|**17,412.39**||||||||
**Treasurer's Report:** Account summary 1st April 2024 to 31 March 2025
The summary records the finances for the activities of the RCHC during this period. Adjustments are shown in the summary report for costs incurred in 2324 which were not accrued in the previous set of accounts. This has been reported to provide a clear report of income and operating costs incurred during the reporting period 2024/25.
-Reimbursement of license fee from the History Group from the Parish Council (£300 for 24/25 and £375 for previous years). This had previously been paid to the Parish Council and a reimbursement payment was made by them.
-Reimbursement from RCHC to the Parish Council of costs for oil and electricity incurrec by RCHC, was made during 2024/25. £1452 of payments some of which was incurred in the previous financial year (23/24 - £1041).
Utility payments are now made directly from RCHC to suppliers rather than via the Parish Council. A new agreement between the History Group and RCHC will be in place for 25/26 rather than between the History Group and the Parish Council, thus addressing the complexities above. The actual 2024/25 operating costs have been covered with a surplus of £2646.
Donations have been received through discos, the Christmas Fair, Lectures, and local supporters and from the Howgill Harriers. These would normally cover the RCHC's operating costs. However, during this year some donations have been made specifically for the charity's contribution to the cost of renovations required to the building. The Management Committee also agreed that some of the regular donations would also be used for this purpose as the charity had sufficient funds to operate as well as commit these donations to the building renovation funds. The distinction is recorded separately in the summary accounts.