2024-12-31-accounts

Draft Report for Charity Commission:

Financial Year from 17th October 2023 to 31st December 2024

Aims and Purpose

The Friends of Evington is dedicated to:

• Promoting the conservation, protection and enhancement of our local physical and natural environment.

Promoting provision for facilities in the interest of social welfare.

Our commitment to these goals is evident through community news initiatives like Evington Echo, a magazine and website (www.evingtonecho.uk) that keeps residents informed about local events and activities. Evington in Bloom supports gardening groups that care for our shared environment.

This year we have extended our vision and strategies in the following ways:

1. Partnership with Best Community Charity

We have transitioned from an informal to a formal partnership with Best Community Charity to host an annual festival celebrating our diverse community with food and music. This collaboration also supports our joint Community Asset Transfer (CAT) bid to secure Evington Park House, deemed 'Surplus to requirements' by the Council. Our CAT proposal highlights a variety of community-focused activities and introduced a new team with expertise in building management and financial planning.

2. Collaboration with Decentered Media

We are developing a partnership with Decentered Media to diversify local media offerings, including the launch of a local radio station. This initiative might benefit from a base, ideally in Evington Park House, and securing funding to train more community reporters.

3. Membership in the Heritage Trust Network

By joining the Heritage Trust Network, we are gaining valuable advice and contacts for the management of heritage properties, a resource for our ongoing work with Evington Park House.

4. Collaboration with Local Groups

Through a framework from the Royal Horticultural Society and East Midlands in Bloom, we are networking with local groups to enhance our community's physical surroundings.

Our primary aim this year is to expand our community impact and secure Evington Park House as a central hub for our charitable activities, in partnership with Best Community Charity.

Our CAT application was submitted on 4th August 2023 but we still haven't heard from LCC about the outcome.

Without any response from Leicester City Council, our Trustees agreed that we take some of the planned activities to other venues in Evington.

Our activities aim to inform and empower as many local residents as possible, offering opportunities to engage in initiatives that enrich our community and provide meaningful leisure pursuits.

Central to our work is strong governance and a commitment to recruiting new trustees and volunteers who share our dedication to these goals.

This year, along with continuing our regular activities, we have focused on the following:

We have started new groups in other venues. A Christmas lunch (see EvingtonEcho.uk video). A weekly Lunch Club and a new Zumba/Bhangra exercise group.

and we continue with our regular activities:

(a) Community Magazine

A community magazine printed six times a year and distributed to 6,125 households, through volunteers, ensuring broad access to community news and events.

(b) Website (www.evingtonecho.uk)

Our Word press website shares local news, supports campaigns that align with our objects, celebrates local talent, lists non-profit group activities and amplifies community voices through letters and editorials.

(c) Gardening Competition (Evington in Bloom)

Organised by the Royal Horticultural Society, this competition promotes community spirit, environmental responsibility, and gardening excellence. Our entry this year, judged on 1st July 2024, earned a Silver Gilt Award from East Midlands in Bloom (affiliated to the Royal Horticultural Society) scoring 24/33 for community and environmental responsibility and 32/33 for gardening achievement.

Range of Services

Our environmental initiatives encourage affiliated groups to engage in gardening that enhances community spaces. This year, we awarded a £600 grant to Sedgebrook Open Space, an 'It's Your Neighbourhood' (IYN) group, which achieved an 'Outstanding' rating in the Royal Horticultural Society/East Midlands in Bloom evaluation.

Our Evington in Bloom group, centred in Evington Village, enhances the area with planters and pollinator-friendly gardens to support bees and other insects. This year we obtained sponsorship from Ginns and Gutteridge, Funeral Directors, offering meeting space and encouraging other local businesses to contribute practical support. In addition to Evington's IYN groups, dedicated volunteers maintain a medieval moated site owned by Heritage, England, requiring a specialised mowing approach to support biodiversity, preserve history, and foster community knowledge. We support local gardening groups with insurance and risk assessments, and a Leicester City Ward grant through Evington ward has allowed us to further develop IYN and Bloom groups working alongside us.

Evington thrives on a variety of non-profit and charitable organisations that gain exposure through our community magazine and website. In collaboration with our partner, Best Community Charity, we are preparing further activities to launch later in 2025.

• Football, Tennis and Cricket Academies

• Athletics Academies (ages 5-9, 10-17, 18-50 and 50+)

• Drama School (ages 18+)

• Music Academy and after-school programmes

• ESOL (English for Speakers of Other Languages) classes

• Cooking classes

• *Art and Craft activities

Promotion

To build our media presence, we aim to secure funding to train additional community reporters, strengthening our partnership with Decentered Media and the Documentary Media Centre, we envisage a shared media base that would support various media outlets, including a Community Radio station to amplify our community's voice.

About Friends of Evington

At present Friends of Evington has seven trustees and 24 voting members, including the trustees. Our affiliated groups encompass a wide range of community interests and activities, including:

• Friends of Downing rive

• Horston Hill Bee an Butterfly Bed

• Sedgebrook Open Space and Gardening Group

• Evington Village Hall ad Village Green

• The Garden of Prosperity

• Evington History and Heritage Group

• Evington Social Group

• Rummikub Club (Rummikub is a board game)

• Evington Scrabble Group

• Evington Bicycle Club (Inactive since the closure of Evington Park House)

• Evington House Yoga (Currently meeting at Mayflower Church Comunity rooms)

Friends of Evington transitioned to an incorporated, associate charity on 16th October 2023, from our previous status as an unincorporated, associative charity. The total finances from the unincorporated charity have been transferred to a new account, with an 18-month timeframe to complete this transfer We have changed our end of financial year with the Charity Commissions to 31st December, which means this year our report covers 14 months, but will be 12 months in future.

Through our governance and partnerships, Friends of Evington continues to grow as a hub of local engagement, offering a variety of services and activities that enrich our community.

Activities programme for 2024, excluding liaison meetings, of which there were many.

• 5th Feb Subgroup of FOE visit Evington Park House

• 10th Feb Heritage Fair in Leicester. Stand and publicity. A networking opportunity for Friends of Evington.

28th Feb AGM Seminar for East Midlands in Bloom

• 8th March Meeting to organise fitting a defibrillator for Evington Village

12th March Discussion meeting with LCC managers concerning our gardening activities in Evington Village

20th March Special meeting organised by FOE as a consultation meeting with the local community about the CAT process for Evington Park House

• 24th March Heritage Fair in Leicester

• 28th March Community Tree Planting with Sedgebrook Community Gardeners

• 20th April St. George's Day Festival in Leicester and an opportunity to do interviews and broadcasts with Soar Sound Radio

• 8th May Parallel Lives meeting and discussion

11th May Heritage Fair in Leicester where Friends of Evington with Decentered Media had a stand.

3rd June Bloom/IYN meeting at Ginns and Gutteridge to share ideas for our Bloom competition and working together

• 8th June Evington Village D Day celebrations

• 13th June Defibrillator put in place and added to the network 924/7 availability.)

• 28th June Meeting with support from Voluntary Action Leicester for our CAT bid for

• Evington Park House

1st July Judges Judith Warner and Liz Alun-Jones visit Evington for Evington in Bloom's evaluation

• 13th July Attendance at Independent Commission of Inquiry about the violence in Leicester in September 2023

• 12th Sept. Heritage Walk around Evington as part of Heritage Open Days

• 25th Sept. East Midlands in Bloom presentation in Melton Mowbray

29th Sept. Evington Mela organised by Best Community Charity in partnership with Friends of Evington. (The original date was 21st Sept. but torrential rain meant it was cancelled by us. Rearranging for the following week was a monumental task.)

• 1st Oct. Evington Community Meeting attended by many Friends of Evington volunteers.

• 19th Dec. Christmas Lunch with Best Community Charity

Ongoing:

2 monthly Trustees meetings

Regular supported groups meetings

2 monthly publication of Evington Echo. PDF of magazine on line at evingtonecho.uk

Preparing and submitting our Community Asset Transfer Bid for Evington Park House

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