## **Dyfed Permaculture Farm Trustees Report** |**Trustees**|**Principal Office**| |---|---| |Sue Laverack|Dyfed Permaculture Farm| |Olwyn Pritchard|Penboyr| |Allison Addison|Drefach Felindre| ||Llandysul| |**Charity Number**– 1200046|Carmarthenshire| ||SA44 5HG| ## **Report for the year ending 31/12/2024** This has been an important and interesting year. Having formed the new Dyfed Permaculture farm CIO the assets of the old Dyfed Permaculture Farm Trust were transferred to the new body and the old legal entity ceased to exist. Many thanks are due to Olwyn for steering this to completion. The personnel have remained the same but the process has sharpened our focus on our educational work as well as the conservation which has always been so important to us. We have also recognised that we need to continue to have clear structures and policies as well as goals and ambitions. To this end we now need to clarify membership issues, especially how new people can become members and, in particular, gain voting rights. We have also decided that to be able to offer more educational opportunities to the public we need a better website; one which can host fact sheets and educational content, including short videos to show how tasks are done and which can make paying for courses a simple process. To progress with that we are looking for grant funding. Allison, our treasurer and one of our trustees is moving back to England with her family but will continue in both roles for which we are extremely grateful. The roundhouse is now a warm, cosy space much appreciated by our visitors and volunteers. No doubt we will go on tweaking and improving it for ever! The barn kitchen is likewise a comfortable place to meet, for resident volunteers to cook, and for us to cater for events. In May, Richard Sylvan, who taught us how to build the Roundhouse, ran a practical course teaching the construction of 2 composting toilets side by side. As we welcome more visitors our facilities were not enough to meet need. We now have 2 toilets with step access and 1 accessible one with space for wheelchair access and, if we need to provide it, adult changing space. The older cubicles have been moved nearer to the caravans where resident volunteers stay and are now primarily for their use whereas the new ones are for visitors. Participant fees did not entirely cover the cost of Richard’s time and the small amount of materials we could not provide from on site, but did make the new facilities affordable. This way of improving our infrastructure seems to work well for us and feedback from the students suggest that the learning of woodworking skills, design of structures etc. was valuable, and that the course was enjoyable. Other courses held at the farm included Scything and Scythe Peening which are run by Phil and Michelle as Scythe Cymru, renting the DPF space. There was also a Hay Rake making course run by Danny and Helene Hodgson who will be moving nearer in the next few weeks and hope to run more courses with us in future. As usual we held the Moth camp in June. Thanks to a small grant (from the WWF Cymru Community Grants 2024) we now own our own Moth trap and a trail camera to add to the fun. It was fully booked and enjoyed by all, with a near record number of moth species caught overnight. This is a testament to the success of permaculture meadow and hedgerow management. We also hosted an Open Meadows Day, for members of the public, with tours of the meadows and explanations about management for increasing biodiversity by Phil and Michelle. Again a very popular event which we now have a clear system for running. The Quakers had their annual camp in August. They pay their fees to camp with exclusive use of the site and organise themselves. Two new events were a visit from some of the staff at CAT and a Permablitz from the SW Carmarthenshire Permaculture group. Feedback on both indicated that participants found their visits educational and of mutual benefit. Flo joined us from May to September as a seasonal volunteer working 2 days a week on the farm, learning about permaculture. She has moved to another permaculture holding not too far away and continues to join us for some of our workdays. 7 other volunteers came and stayed for periods ranging from a few days to a month. Their youthful energy and enthusiasm is very valuable to get tasks done and they learn new skills as well as experiencing the realities of a lifestyle many of them are considering. Feedback is universally positive. We have a long list of things we could do in our educational role but the Trustees and Management Committee are aware that we have limited resources of time, energy and money at our disposal and that much of that is required to maintain and improve the site and our admin structures at the moment so we must follow the Permaculture Principle of ‘Slow and Steady’. Our grateful thanks go to Phil and Michelle for all their hard work and expertise. They do far more than we should expect of them. To Jono for his research into funding and general help and to Lindy for her efforts on the maintenance of the buildings and support to Phil with 2 person jobs. Finally I must record that after 25 years of seeing if they could live together Phil and Michelle finally married at Hallowe’en. Although the festivities took place off site we were all privileged to be involved. We wish them many years of Happy Marriage and sincerely hope they spend them on this site. CHARITY COMM15510N FOR ENGIAND ANO WALES Dyfod Perma¢ulturg Fann Receipts and payments accounts CC16a For the period from 161 January 2024 31th Oec 2024 To Section A Receipts and payments Unrestricted fund$ ta the ne8ro#t Restricted funds Endowment funds Total funds Last year to the noaMt£ to the nè8Y88t £ to tho n￿retst£ to thè nèarèst£ A1 Recelpts Camping Income Rental Income Even15 and Courses Grants 749 2,722 706 794 10 80 749 2.722 706 794 Donat￿n8 Intepst 10 80 Sub total(Gross income forARJ 3,061 5,061 Total rgcoipts 8,061 5,061 A3Pa ments Msterials and maint8nance Moth camp Field rent Treewo Professional servi￿$ Miscellaneous expenses 2,108 698 10 805 1.372 75 1108 698 10 805 1.372 75 Sub total S,068 5,068 5,068 Net of recelpts/{paymonts) A5 Transfers between funds A6 Cash funds last year ènd Cash funds this year en Section B Statement of assets and liabilities at the end of the period Unrestricted funds to ntrarè&t£ Restrlcted funds to near9$t £ Endowmènt funds to ￿arest É Cateyories Details 81 Cash funds Bank Aceount 791 S8vings Pety Cash 8,024 130 Total cash fvnds 8,945 la9￿ trAI¥KM yfflth r8(*w$ and payme￿$ ac¢wnii811 Fund to whlch a669t b•longs ¢¢yJl loptSonall Currentvgluo Details B4 Assets retained ft>r thè oharlty's own use Land and buildings 200,000 Fund to *thlch liability relates Amount duo lopb"onal} Whon duo l0ptionall Deiails None BS Llabllltles SignpA1 by one or trustees on trEhaff of 811 the triist8es SvJnalure Print Name Date of approval iLisorJ AD>i£od