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2024-10-31-accounts

PLAYING FOR CAKE

UNAUDITED TRUSTEES’ ANNUAL REPORT AND FINANCIAL STATEMENTS FOR THE YEAR ENDED 31 OCTOBER 2024

CONTENTS Page
SECTION A: REFERENCE AND ADMINISTRATION DETAILS 2
SECTION B: STRUCTURE, GOVERNANCE AND MANAGEMENT 3
SECTION C: OBJECT AND ACTIVITIES 4
SECTION D: MAIN ACHIEVEMENTS AND ACTIVITIES OF THE CHARITY 5
SECTION E: FUTURE PLANS 16
SECTION F: FINANCIAL REVIEW 17
• FINANCIAL RISK MANAGEMENT, OBJECTIVES AND POLICIES 17
• KEY FINANCIAL PERFORMANCE INDICATORS 18
SECTION G: DECLARATION 20
Independent Examiner’s Report on the Accounts 21
STATEMENT OF FINANCIAL ACTIVITIES FOR THE YEAR ENDED 31 OCTOBER 2024 22

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The trustees present their annual report together with the financial statements for the year 01/11/2023 to 31/10/2024.

SECTION A: REFERENCE AND ADMINISTRATION DETAILS

Charity name

Playing for Cake

Registered charity number

1205912

Charity’s principal address

37 Alexandra Road, Sheringham, Norfolk NR26 8HU

Names of the trustees who manage the charity

Dr Tina Blaber (Founder) Elizabeth Brown (deceased 24/04/2024) Jodie Claxton Terence Cooke Jamie Fisher Richard Grieve (appointed 01/10/2024)

Management committee members

The management committee was dissolved on 02/04/2024 by the trustees because two members became trustees and two members attend trustee meetings in an advisory capacity.

Bank

Lloyds Bank plc, PO Box 800, Tredegar Park, Newport, South Wales NP10 8SB

Independent examiner of the accounts

Jonathan Saunderson, Little Mount, Links Road, Mundesley, Norwich NR11 8AT

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SECTION B: STRUCTURE, GOVERNANCE AND MANAGEMENT

• GOVERNING DOCUMENT

Playing for Cake (PfC) adopted a Charity Commission Foundation Model Constitution for a Charitable Incorporated Organisation (CIO), whose only voting members are its trustees, on 3 October 2023. This came into effect at confirmation of PfC’s charity registration on 27/11/2023. There were no subsequent changes to the governing document.

• APPOINTMENT OF TRUSTEES

Apart from the first charity trustees, every trustee must be appointed for a minimum term of two years and must be elected under the terms of the constitution. In selecting individuals for appointment as trustees, the charity trustees must have regard to the skills, knowledge and experience needed for the effective administration and governance of PfC.

• ORGANISATIONAL STRUCTURE AND DECISION MAKING

The trustees meet quarterly. A register of interests is maintained, and “declarations of interest” is a standing agenda item at the beginning of trustee meetings.

The trustees exercised the option, under the terms of the constitution, not to appoint the officers of chair, secretary and treasurer. Trustees chair meetings in rotation. A treasurer is not needed at present because there is a Financial Administrator, who also takes minutes at trustee meetings, negating the need for a secretary.

PfC does not directly employ anyone but does engage individuals to provide professional services on a self-employed basis. These are:

The engagement of trustees (namely Tina Blaber) to provide professional services was considered appropriate under the terms of PfC’s Policy for the Control and Monitoring of Private Benefits which states:

The charity may engage the professional services of its trustees and connected persons provided:

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Where trustees or connected persons are engaged to provide goods or services, the charity will:

It was further agreed that Tina Blaber would be paid at the same rate as all other Singing for Health practitioners for the delivery of sessions and at the same rate as administrative professionals for development work.

There are currently 33 volunteers involved in both the development and delivery of our activities and the day-to-day running of PfC. This includes 5 trustees, 13 people who regularly help out at sessions, and 15 members of Sheringham Ukulele Band who deliver sessions in local care homes and other community settings, responding to requests that PfC does not have the capacity to meet.

SECTION C: OBJECT AND ACTIVITIES

• OBJECT

The charitable object of Playing for Cake is: for the public benefit to advance health and relieve sickness of people of all ages and abilities primarily in (but not limited to) North Norfolk by providing community singing, music-making and creative activities which promote proven mental, physical and social health and wellbeing benefits and, by extension, provide support for family, friends and carers, including through the provision of online resources.

• MAIN ACTIVITIES UNDERTAKEN FOR THE PUBLIC BENEFIT IN RELATION TO THIS OBJECT

In fulfilment of this purpose, PfC provides public benefit by:

  1. Promoting better health and wellbeing for people of all ages and abilities to assist in the healing of mind, body and spirit.

  2. Helping people with a range of physical, mental, emotional and social health conditions to alleviate symptoms and better manage a specific condition and/or general health and wellbeing.

  3. Assisting the recovery of people who are sick, convalescent, disabled or infirm and providing support and comfort to them and/or their carers.

  4. Facilitating social interaction and helping people to gain confidence, through improved peer-support networks, to participate more fully in society.

  5. Contributing to the vibrancy, sustainability and quality of life of our local communities through improved health and wellbeing and increased social and cultural opportunities.

  6. Advancing the collective knowledge and understanding of the benefits of participation in creative activities to health and wellbeing, specifically, but not exclusively, in the relief of those with Parkinson’s, Dementia, Alzheimer’s and lung disease.

PfC strives to achieve these benefits by:

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SECTION D: MAIN ACHIEVEMENTS AND ACTIVITIES OF THE CHARITY

One of the most significant achievements of 2023-24 was income generation. In addition to the steady stream of donations we collected from our participants and groups, which are invaluable to continuing our activities when grant-funding ends, we also successfully secured grants from a range of charitable trusts and local government. Perhaps the most impactful of these was five-year funding from the National Lottery Community Fund to “embed, build and sustain Singing for Health across the North Place (note¹) ”. This grant started in May 2024 and is very much in line with our key focus in 2023-24, which was organisational development to ensure a sustainable future for PfC by:

  1. Building organisational capacity.

  2. Improving governance.

  3. Strengthening financial resilience.

  4. Enhancing our profile and reputation.

  5. Facilitating the ongoing delivery of S4H services.

  6. Monitoring and evaluating our work.

  7. Encouraging younger people to get involved.

1. Building organisational capacity

Over the years, the demand for our services has been steadily increasing. With only one S4H practitioner trained across all strands of our work, Tina Blaber, and limited funds to pay the appropriate rate for her professional services, we were unable to respond to many requests and relied heavily on her, and other musicians’, willingness to deliver sessions in kind or well below the industry standard rate of pay. The administrative burden of managing, promoting and evaluating the organisation had also increased, and the volunteers who were doing this essential work were stretched to the limit. Starting in 2023, it became a priority to secure funding to:

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a) Engage appropriately qualified and experienced specialists

In July 2023, a grant from the Love Norfolk Fund (administered by Norfolk Community Foundation) enabled us to recruit an experienced Financial Administrator, Rosie Glasgow, for 6 hours per week for 46 weeks. She quickly started to alleviate much of the administrative, financial, fundraising and governance burden, giving PfC session leaders and volunteers more time for session planning (to ensure quality and diversity) and networking (to spread the word and develop new and existing partnerships). Her contract expired in May 2024 but retaining the post for five years for 8 hours per week was embedded into the National Lottery grant proposal. A new contract was agreed with Rosie in May 2024.

In May 2024, another grant from the Love Norfolk Fund enabled us to recruit a specialist Media and Comms Manager, Daniel Spencer, for 7 hours per week for 48 weeks from July 2024. Daniel has quickly become an integral member of the PfC management team, and his knowledge and expertise has proved to be invaluable in helping us maintain and build our reputation, develop our online profile, improve our press and media relations, recruit more volunteers and reach out to more participants. A priority for the trustees in 2024-25 will be securing funds to retain Daniel’s services when his contract expires.

The National Lottery grant enabled us to engage a S4H Development Officer for 1 year. Tina Blaber, as PfC’s Founder, our principal advocate over the years and the person most informed about, and experienced in, developing and delivering our S4H services, was the obvious choice for undertaking much of this work including:

More recently, to provide resilience by ensuring we do not become over-reliant on one individual, other new PfC session leaders (see 1.b) have started to represent PfC at various health, social care and community meetings, networking events, conferences and local community events.

The National Lottery grant has also enabled us to engage a Monitoring and Evaluation Consultant, Roberta Wood, who is assisting with the development of participant and volunteer feedback forms and other means of gathering evidence of the health and wellbeing benefits of our work.

b) Recruit, train, mentor and engage appropriate community musicians and choir leaders

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Early in the year, we started working with two potential new session leaders, Stuart Paterson (based in Norwich) and Nicky Childerhouse (based in South Norfolk). Both began shadowing Tina Blaber at Singing for Breathing (S4B) sessions and we supported Nicky to complete the Sing to Beat Parkinson’s training and Stuart the Voice Basics: Foundations for Singing for Well-Being training. Sadly for us, Stuart started a new job in January 2024 and so was unable to commit to any further work; but Nicky went on to become a key member of the PfC team.

Thanks to bursaries from Asthma + Lung UK (A+LUK), we supported Nicky, along with another very experienced community musician, Saffron Summerfield (based in North Norfolk), to complete The Musical Breath: Singing for Lung Health training in Spring 2024. Nicky now leads the North Walsham S4B group and, with funding from Awards for All, set up and piloted two new S4B groups in South Norfolk.

Since completing her training, Saffron began leading the Sheringham S4B group, has led and/or supported at Singing for Health, Wellbeing and Fun (SFHWF) at The Hub, a song-writing workshop for YESU family support centre and S4B sessions in Fakenham. She will be working in partnership with Tina Blaber to deliver a series of sessions for Stroke survivors, which have been commission by the Queen Elizabeth Hospital Stroke Unit in King’s Lynn. Saffron has also started to represent PfC at the regular Healthier Sheringham, Creative Sheringham and North Norfolk Community Hub meetings, and at several one-off networking/conference events: NNDC PositiviTea event at The Reef in Sheringham; a Cultural Diversity/Funding event facilitated by Essex Cultural Diversity Project for artists and organisers of arts/wellbeing events in Norfolk and Suffolk; and Power Up – Amplifying Creative Energy in the East organised by the Norfolk & Suffolk Culture Board at St George's Theatre in Great Yarmouth.

Jane Wells was instrumental in the early days of PfC when it was formed as a CIC. She stepped back for several years but, since October 2024, has been leading the second session of the month at the SFHWF group in North Walsham. Jane volunteers at the North Norfolk Stroke Support Group and we hope that links can be made here when capacity allows.

More recently, we have recruited several more session leaders/support musicians:

Thanks to the National Lottery funding and a bursary from A+LUK we are supporting Alisha, Emma, Linds and Sky to complete The Musical Breath: Singing for Lung Health 2024 autumn course; and there are several others who have expressed an interest in our work, with whom we continue to develop a relationship.

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Integral to capacity building has been our ability, since May and the start of the Lottery grant, to pay a small fee to musicians who support session leaders, principally (but not exclusively) Amanda Crofts. Feedback suggests that it is particularly beneficial to new session leaders to be supported by an experienced PfC person who knows the dynamics of the group and the appropriate S4H methods, which are very different to those of a sing-along. It is also crucial that we maintain support for and communication with session leaders, especially those who work a fair distance from our administrative base in Sheringham. Our regular participants have commented that they like to see a familiar face and that sessions can be more engaging when there are support musicians providing instrumental back-up. For PfC, it is invaluable to have someone, who knows our expectations, at sessions to feedback to the management team to ensure a consistent standard is maintained across all our services.

For all these reasons and more, Tina Blaber hosted a dynamic meeting in September 2024, which brought together all the afore-mentioned practitioners. Most were meeting for the first time, so this was invaluable in learning about all their different experiences and interests. The meeting also provided a platform for sharing ideas and practice and emphasising the importance of techniques to maximise the health and wellbeing benefits of singing. It was because of this gathering that several people offered to start attending meetings, and that Linds and Alisha confirmed their booking for The Musical Breath training. A follow-up meeting is planned for Spring 2025.

Consolidating our relationship with Sheringham Ukulele Band (SUBs) is another way in which PfC built organisational capacity. A SUBs representative is now invited to attend all trustee meetings, the group has a SUBs@playingforcake email address, and a pop-up banner bearing the logos of both groups and a dedicated page on the PfC website have been developed (demonstrating that SUBs is an integral part of PfC). SUBs doing Sing-along-a-SUBS gigs under the PfC banner in local care homes and at events like Sheringham Carnival alleviates pressure on our session leaders, thus allowing us to respond to more requests for our services. PfC providing governance for SUBs means that its members can concentrate on playing and performing, which in turn strengthens the group’s viability. At the PfC trustee meeting in October 2024, the SUBs representative stated that “the group has gone from strength-to-strength with six gigs booked before the end of 2024 and plans to start a Beginner’s Ukulele Group in the pipeline.”

Central to building organisational capacity was recognising the essential role that our many volunteers play in all aspects of the development and delivery of our activities. Whilst all these people contribute to the whole PfC team, they are scattered across the county and tend to be associated with one particular group. This has meant that many involved had never had the opportunity to meet; that is until the PfC Social! Some 30 people - trustees, session leaders, support musicians, volunteers, SUBs members and postholders - came together on 13 August 2024 in St Peter’s Hall in Sheringham for an evening centred on getting to know PfC and one another. All came armed with food and drink for a pot-luck table and PfC thanked all involved by providing a glass of prosecco on arrival. Short presentations were given my Daniel Spencer and Tina Blaber, and Roberta Wood talked about the importance of evaluation and tested out some ideas. The gathering concluded with a sing-along-a-SUBs session to consolidate this relationship. The evening was a great success on many levels and, in consequence, the PfC AGM in February 2025 will be an event along similar lines.

2. Improving governance

A systematic review of policies and work on an appropriate governing document (constitution) began in June 2023. This resulted in PfC having policies in place for: conflicts of interest and loyalty, the control and monitoring of private benefits, rates of pay for connected persons (i.e. trustees or people connected to them who are engaged to provide goods and/or services over and above that which should be reasonably expected of them) of data protection, equity, diversity and inclusion, internal

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financial controls, the allocation of reserve funds, safeguarding, and volunteering. We also demonstrated our commitment to minimising our carbon footprint by adopting an environmental sustainability policy in October 2023. There is a timetable in place to ensure that all these policies are reviewed on a rolling programme and at least annually. A health and safety policy is not required by law, however PfC is mindful of our duty of care and has procedures in place to minimise risk and ensure the health, safety and wellbeing of all involved in the delivery of our activities (trustees, volunteers, session leaders, support musicians and those engaged to provide professional services on a self-employed basis). Alongside this, PfC developed robust and appropriate financial management systems, controls and procedures. This work ensured we achieved charitable status as a CIO on 27/11/2023 and could register with HMRC for Gift Aid, which was confirmed on 06/03/2024.

3. Strengthening financial resilience

Improved governance and organisational capacity were instrumental in strengthening PfC’s financial resilience and sustainability.

In the first half of the year, when funding for the continuation of groups was running low, the Financial Administrator worked with the trustees to shape and submit a steady stream of grant applications. This resulted in £37,325 (excluding the National Lottery) in grant aid (a 53% increase on the total for the 2022-23 financial year of £17,365). This was despite the closure of several local government funding streams (e.g. the Active Norfolk Fit Together Fund and the North Norfolk District Council Arts and Culture Fund), but was aided greatly by achieving CIO status, which gave us access to those charitable trusts and foundations which will only consider applications from registered charities.

During this same period, countless hours were spent on shaping our National Lottery proposal. Our efforts were rewarded in April 2024, when we received an offer from the National Lottery Community Fund of £193,237 over 5 years from May 2024 to April 2029. The impact of this funding is enormous; but there are restrictions on how the grant may be spent and, to continue to receive payments, we must show that we have secured £77,380 in match funding (equating to £15,476 per year) over 5 years.

The funding is restricted for S4H practitioners, the Financial Administrator, a marketing strategy and website development, insurance and accountancy, 50% of travel/mileage expenses, monitoring and evaluation, publicity and training costs, and 40% of venue hire costs. It does not cover organisational costs/overheads (such as printing, postage, stationery, web hosting and domain fees, subscriptions), other session costs (refreshments, course materials (songsheets/props), the remaining 50% of travel/mileage, monitoring/evaluation, publicity and training costs or 60% of venue hire. This is where earned and unrestricted income from donations and commissioned services/sales play a crucial part.

As stated, this security of funding for 5 years has enabled us to engage professionals to provide organisational/management services and to recruit and train new S4H practitioners to deliver sessions. This in turn has allowed us to commit to the ongoing delivery of sessions for our core groups in North Norfolk. Consistent and high-quality delivery on an ongoing and regular basis has helped us to retain our regular participants and attract new beneficiaries, whose donations are critical to the sustainability of groups. Participant donations have, and will continue to, contribute greatly to the match-funding required for most grant applications and, as unrestricted income, will enable us to continue to operate when grant funding ends. Charity status has also enabled PfC to register with HMRC to claim 25% on all eligible donations, which is also unrestricted income.

We are particularly proud of the fact that no one is excluded from benefiting from our activities by continuing the practice, throughout the year, of delivering sessions on a “pay what you can afford”

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basis, with a suggested voluntary donation of £5. Participant donations account for 24% of our project delivery costs; so thank you to all who have consistently put coins into our coffers!

Participant donations are voluntary but, the better the experience, the more people are inclined to put money in the donation bucket and/or to bring their friends and family to sessions. The larger the group and the greater the quality of experience, the bigger the collection. The same applies to referrals and the direct commissioning of our services e.g. from the NHS and affiliates.

In short, participant donations (and Gift Aid on them), referrals and commissioned services/sales are the best way to secure a sustainable future for PfC. In 2023-24 we have been able to start to build up unrestricted funds, allocated to the continuation of specific groups/projects, to ensure their continuation in the longer term.

4. Enhancing our profile and reputation

Again, this has been facilitated by broadening our pool of session leaders (to make sure we are represented at key meetings and events) and by the appointment of Daniel Spencer as our Media and Comms Manager. Despite having only been in post since July 2024, Daniel has made huge strides into raising our profile by:

As stated above, and particularly in the latter 6 months of the year since the start of the National Lottery funding, we worked hard in 2023-24 to make sure we had a presence at a broad range of local and regional meetings and events, giving presentations to promote our work where appropriate. Since starting to record this activity in May 2024, we have attended/met with:

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This work is essential in:

As in previous years, we found that word of mouth and networking were our most effective marketing tools. In addition to the above work, the following methods were also used to promote PfC and its activities:

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A marketing strategy is under development to determine the most effective means of reaching our target markets with the most efficient use of resources. Rebranding PfC and a website overhaul are options under discussion.

5. Facilitating the ongoing delivery of S4H services

PfC delivered 151 sessions in 2023-24 (an 84% increase on the 82 sessions in 2022-23). Our S4H services fell into 5 main strands of work:

a) Singing for Breathing (S4B)

Our S4B sessions comprise songs tailored around breathing exercises using established A+LUK and The Musical Breathing techniques to help strengthen support muscles and better manage symptoms of diagnosed lung conditions such as COPD, asthma and long COVID. PfC promotes these sessions as “Singing for Breathing” to encourage inclusivity; stressing that participants do not need a referral or diagnosis to attend; and that the primary aims of the courses are to improve participants’ breathing habits, and their general health and wellbeing, by helping them to learn techniques to help manage breathlessness and adopt better breathing habits for everyday life.

Thanks to funding from the National Lottery (both the Community Fund and Awards for All), we were able to sustain and develop our existing S4B groups in Sheringham and North Walsham, pilot two new groups in South Norfolk (in Long Stratton and Attleborough), and start a new group (in response to demand from local Community Connectors and Fakenham Leisure Centre managed by Everyone Active and extending our partnership with them). We delivered 81 S4B sessions in total:

In response to low numbers at the South Norfolk groups, with the same participants fluctuating between the two groups, the trustees decided (at their meeting on 1 October 2024) to merge the groups, and thus extend the offering in one location (i.e. the funding for the three remaining scheduled Attleborough sessions was diverted to extend the Long Stratton programme by three weeks).

b) Singing for Health, Wellbeing & Fun! (SFHWF)

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Our SFHWF sessions are general, community sessions where everyone can come together to gain the broader set of physical, social, mental and emotional health benefits that singing and music-making with others can provide, including to:

48 SFHWF sessions in total were delivered in Sacred Hearts Hall in North Walsham and The Hub at Sheringham Little Theatre. These sessions are open to all ages and abilities, and we stress that people are welcome to attend simply because they enjoy music-making with others. This provides our groups with a broad mix of people, which in turn enriches the experience for all.

19 twice monthly sessions in North Walsham, ongoing throughout the year with a break in August, were regularly attended by an average of 15 participants. The first of the month were delivered by Tina Blaber; the third of the month by Jane Wells.

29 sessions at The Hub in Sheringham, attended on average by 21 participants were delivered weekly during term-time, after school to facilitate engagement with families, children and young people. A total of 18 sessions were delivered from Oct 2023-April 2024 and 7 from Sept-Oct 2024. In response to both participants and Sheringham Little Theatre, and as a new initiative to maintain momentum, we continued to provide 4 monthly sessions between May and Aug 2024. All these sessions took a different, café-style, drop-in approach. To facilitate diversity and provide a range of musical genres (with the intention of providing something for everyone), sessions were led by established PfC session leaders and support musicians, as well as a broad range of our new session leaders and other local community musicians and groups including:

c) Tailored Sessions for Health and Support Groups

In addition, PfC delivered 13 tailored sessions for 4 groups which provide support for people living with specific health conditions and their carers:

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d) Community Engagement

PfC and/or SUBs delivered 9 sing-along sessions for:

This is important work in reaching out to the wider public who may not be aware of our services or how they could improve their quality of life.

e) Online Resources

On our website we provide links to information about the benefits of singing for particular health conditions including research, literature, evidence of people’s own experiences and participant feedback from our own sessions. There are also links to health support groups, other local singing and musicmaking groups, and online videos so people can practice at home. This, and delivery of online sessions to people who are unable to attend our face-to-face sessions, is an area of work we hope to develop.

6. Monitoring and evaluating our work

We evaluated our spring 6-week S4B courses in Sheringham and North Walsham using our old format forms from 12 respondents who completed both the beginning and end of course forms. 33% of these respondents had a diagnosed lung condition and 10 of the 12 were new to S4B. It is worth noting that it can take time for the S4B techniques to make a difference. As with any exercises and techniques, the longer sustained, the more benefits become noticeable. Thus, the improvement of new participants is slower than those who have been before, and the longer the course, the greater the impact. Nonetheless the results were largely positive:

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Some of the comments were:

Friendly people and Nicky is brilliant! Helped at home to continue with the exercises. Helped with better breath control and have passed on some of the exercises…

I really look forward to this group. I don’t remember which day it is but when we have the drive coming here I remember. I have started making new friends who speak to me here and also when my carer takes me out and about in Sheringham. I feel more relaxed and more able to cope with my life after the session (a dementia sufferer).

I have noticed a big improvement in my breathing!

I was left with a cough after bronchitis years ago and it has helped a lot with that.

As stated, the National Lottery grant has enabled us to engage a Monitoring and Evaluation Consultant, Roberta Wood, who is assisting with the development of feedback forms and other means of gathering evidence of the benefits of our work. A specific feedback form for volunteers is under development. The new course trial forms, which use the recognised Warwick and Edinburgh scale to track wellbeing impacts, were given out to participants when sessions restarted in September 2024 after the summer break, and we will collate the data at the end of the term in December. For The Hub sessions, and oneoff activities, we have developed a simple postcard to obtain a snapshot of how people felt on arrival and at the end of the session, using this image:

7. Encouraging younger people to get involved

We are proud of the fact that two of our trustees are under 30 years and that 70% of the new session leaders recruited are of working age (30-55 years).

We have also started to build strong links with Sheringham Little Theatre, in particular with the Youth Choir. We have been working with the theatre to develop partnership grant applications with Norfolk Music Hub for the delivery of intergenerational community music initiatives in the town, some outreach in care homes and some based at the theatre.

We have recently recruited a member of the Youth Choir to attend all The Hub sessions to:

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This is a very new role and, if all goes well, there is the potential for taking on more responsibility such as collating the evaluation data and getting involved in the scheduling of sessions.

We have also engaged a music student from the Creative College in Norwich, with a background in business studies, to compile spreadsheets to record evaluation feedback. He and a couple more of the students have expressed an interest in getting more involved in our work.

Promising meetings and conversations have been had with two arms of Norfolk County Council (NCC) Children’s Services: the early help and family support team and the team that supports children in and/or leaving care.

Perhaps the most exciting news is that we have received a grant from the Sheila Ann Day Fund (administered by Norfolk Community Foundation) for Saffron Summerfield, who is accredited to deliver the Trinity College Bronze Arts Award, to work with a group of to 10 young people (aged 11-25 years) to:

Work has just begun on recruiting participants via local schools, music groups, YESU family support centre and contacts at NCC Children's Services, with a focus on those who are:

SECTION E: FUTURE PLANS

Our plans are centred on continuing, effectively and efficiently, to embed and build high quality, fit-forpurpose S4H services across Norfolk. By providing PfC with the capacity, resilience and resources (financial and human), we will ensure a sustainable future for PfC and become an exemplar of what can be achieved through community partnership for the benefit of residents' health and wellbeing.

Our priorities for the 2024-25 financial year will be to:

  1. Plan and deliver singing, music-making and other creative health and wellbeing sessions consistently in Sheringham, North Walsham and South Norfolk, as well as other locations in Norfolk where there is a need and/or demand.

  2. Secure funding to retain Daniel Spencer as our Media and Comms Manager.

  3. Ensure we retain the interest and commitment of all our session leaders by continuing to support, mentor and train them, and providing assurance that we can pay appropriately and sustainably for a sufficient period of time, including for representing PfC at meetings and events.

  4. Respond to demands for the development of new services from health/social care professionals (e.g. local Pulmonary Rehabilitation groups and the Stroke Unit at QEH in King’s Lynn) working towards a greater number of commissioned and privately funded sessions/services over time.

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  1. Meet the increasing demand for our services from care homes and other local health and carer support groups.

  2. Improve engagement with young people through links with Sheringham Little Theatre’s youth choir and drama groups, the Creative College, schools and youth groups, and by enabling emerging talent to lead songs and sessions in a safe and supported environment.

  3. Continue to work with SUBs by promoting their work, supporting their ambition to set up a beginner’s group and offering them sing-along sessions where appropriate.

  4. Capitalise on the opportunities to promote our work to the wider public by participating in the plethora of local carnivals, festivals and other community events.

  5. Improve the online resources we offer/signpost on our website, contributing to the growing body of evidence of proven health benefits and low-cost, quality interventions that can help reduce health and social care system pressures.

  6. Build on our relationship with Everyone Active to explore opportunities to embed S4B in their other North Norfolk sports facilities in Cromer and Stalham.

  7. Develop a marketing strategy to determine the most effective means of reaching our target markets and allocate sufficient resources to its delivery. Key elements will be a commitment to producing regular printed and/or electronic newsletters, improving our presence on social media, and commissioning high quality images/videos. Rebranding PfC and a website overhaul are options under discussion.

  8. Organise our online resources in a user-friendly and cohesive way. Building capacity for the delivery of online sessions for people who are unable to come to our groups is also important. We are also mindful of the possibility of a COVID (or similar) resurgence. Whilst we think another lockdown unlikely, widespread illness in the community would stop many of our participants attending in-person sessions.

  9. Maintain where possible “a pay what you can” principle with a suggested voluntary donation.

  10. Develop a welcome pack for volunteers and support new and existing volunteers to take greater ownership of their groups (to build their confidence and commitment and to help them participate more fully in society) by having more responsibility for some of the organisational duties.

  11. Raise awareness of PfC with local business, exploring the feasibility of offering corporate away day/team building type services.

SECTION F: FINANCIAL REVIEW

• FINANCIAL RISK MANAGEMENT, OBJECTIVES AND POLICIES

The existing policy for internal financial controls was reviewed in October 2024. This covers all aspects of how PfC handles its money and aims to help all the individuals involved to:

  1. Protect the charity’s assets, including its money, and maximise its resources.

  2. Make informed decisions about the charity’s financial position.

  3. Meet their legal duties, for example to manage the charity’s resources responsibly.

  4. Identify and manage risks with the charity’s finances and assets.

  5. Keep good quality accounting records.

  6. Prepare timely and relevant financial information.

  7. Make sure its financial reporting complies with the relevant legal requirements.

The purpose of the policy is to:

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  1. Facilitate good management of PfC’s finances to enable successful delivery of our charitable object.

  2. Protect both the charity and the individuals involved from any appearance of impropriety thereby securing its reputation and public confidence.

  3. Ensure PfC’s financial viability contributing to the morale and trust of the individuals involved.

Reserves Policy

The trustees are responsible for ensuring that Playing for Cake (PfC) is financially robust and has the financial resources needed to deliver its plans and meet its commitments. To secure financial resilience and a sustainable future for PfC, the trustees have identified the need to build up unrestricted funds to provide for both planned and unexpected expenditure and have implemented a Reserves Policy as follows:

Wherever possible, participant donations will be held as restricted funds to continue sessions/groups at which the donations were collected when grant-funding comes to an end and for as long as the donations allow, in fulfilment of PfC’s commitment to participants and session leaders. This equates to £2,381 at 2023-24 year-end.

In addition, Playing for Cake will endeavour to create a Project Fund to enable projects to continue when grant funding has ended. This equates to £1,650 at 2023-24 year-end.

Playing for Cake will hold a Reserve Fund equivalent to a minimum of 6 months (or 50%) of organisational and governance costs of the charity, excluding specific grant-funded projects. This equates to £896 at 2023-24 financial year-end. The reserves will be built up from unrestricted income.

Unrestricted funds held on 31 October 2024 are therefore:

Reserve funds 896.00
Project funds 1,650.00
General funds 1,798.80
Total 4,344.80

Responsibility for this policy and its implementation lies with the Financial Administrator and ultimately with the trustees. This policy will be reviewed regularly, at least every 6 months, and updated as required.

• KEY FINANCIAL PERFORMANCE INDICATORS

Restricted funds are those which may only be used for the specific purpose/project for which they were given. These are usually grants but also include the income and expenditure for SUBs and the remaining funds available to them and participant donations from sessions/groups at which donations were collected. Unrestricted funds are those which can be used for any purpose in furtherment of the charity’s object, namely earned income from sales and participant donations (where not received for a specific ongoing project).

Total income increased by 183% from £23,607 in 2022-23 to £66,791 in 2023-24.

Page 18

The allocations for unrestricted income were:

The allocations for restricted income were:

Combined restricted and unrestricted income allocations were:

This demonstrates:

  1. A greater level of success in securing grants for our activities which is positive; but conversely illustrates how dependent PfC was/is on external funding to deliver our core charitable activities. The trustees will be considering other options for income generation (such as direct commissioning) to reduce PfC’s reliance on grant aid to sustain its services on an ongoing and regular basis.

  2. A 71.4% increase in income from our charitable activities (which mainly comes from the “pay what you can afford” collections at our sessions) which is to be expected given the 84% increase (from 82 to 151 sessions) in service delivery.

  3. A 48% increase in income from sales compared to last financial year.

Total expenditure increased by 163% from £16,463 in 2022-23 to £43,259 in 2023-24.

The allocations for unrestricted expenditure were:

The allocations for restricted expenditure were:

Combined restricted and unrestricted income allocations were:

This demonstrates:

Page 19

  1. A significant increase in organisational costs. This is to be expected, however, given the creation of several new grant-funded posts to support the development and long-term sustainability of PfC and the additional administrative burden of accurate monitoring and evaluation for reporting to funders.

  2. A 52% increase in expenditure on service delivery for the public benefit. The per session delivery cost remained at £164.

  3. A significant decrease in cost of sales which is due to the fact that most delivery costs of sessions at Cameo Café, care homes and SWAN have been covered by grant income.

The overall position is that PfC made an operating surplus of £1,526 and carries forward £4,345 unrestricted funds for core costs and to allocate to projects when needed. Restricted funds held at year end are £29,557. The allocations for these restricted funds are shown in Note 9 of the financial statements.

• GOING CONCERN

After making appropriate enquiries, the trustees have a reasonable expectation that the charity has adequate resources to continue in operational existence for the foreseeable future. For this reason, they continue to adopt the going concern basis in preparing the financial statements.

SECTION G: DECLARATION

The trustees declare that they have approved the trustees’ report above.

Signed on behalf of the charity’s trustees by

Tina Blaber, Trustee & Founder 07 / 01 / 2025

Page 20

Independent Examiner’s Report on the Accounts

Report to the trustees/ members of: PLAYING FOR CAKE

Charity no: N/A

On accounts for the year ended: 31 October 2024

Set out on pages: 22 -28

Responsibilities and basis of report

I report to the trustees on my examination of the accounts of the above charity (“the Trust”) for the year ended 31/10/2024.

As the charity trustees, you are responsible for the preparation of the accounts in accordance with the Charities Act 2011 (“the Act”).

I report in respect of my examination of the Trust’s accounts carried out under section 145 of the 2011 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 material matters have come to my attention in connection with the examination which gives me cause to believe that in, any material respect:

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.

Signed:

Date: 08 / 12 / 2024

Name: Jonathan Saunderson

Address: Little Mount, Links Road, Mundesley, Norwich NR11 8AT

Page 21

STATEMENT OF FINANCIAL ACTIVITIES FOR THE YEAR ENDED 31 OCTOBER 2024

PROFIT AND LOSS ACCOUNT

Note
INCOME FROM:
Grants
1
Donations
2
Commissioned Services and Sales
3
Charitable Activities
4
TOTAL INCOME
EXPENDITURE ON:
Organisational Costs
5
Charitable Activities
6
Costs of Sales
7
Governance
8
TOTAL EXPENDITURE
NET PROFIT / LOSS
NET MOVEMENT IN FUNDS
RECONCILIATION OF FUNDS:
Total funds brought forward
TOTAL FUNDS CARRIED FORWARD		 Unrestricted
Funds
Restricted
Funds
Total Funds
Total
Funds
2023-24
2023-24
2023-24
2022-23
£
£
£
£
0
56,603
56,603
17,365
191
0
191
264
1,213
385
1,598
1,077
1,612
6,787
8,399
4,901
3,016
63,775
66,791
23,607
1,054
16,564
17,618
2,507
0
24,755
24,755
12,903
13
135
148
1,053
423
315
738
0
1,490
41,769
43,259
16,463
1,526
22,006
23,532
7,144
0
0
0
0
2,819
7,551
10,370
3,226
4,345
29,557
33,902
10,370

Page 22

STATEMENT OF ASSETS AND LIABILITIES

Note
CURRENT ASSETS
Cash in bank
Cash in hand
Debtors
Accounts Payable
NET ASSETS
CHARITY FUNDS
Restricted funds
9
Unrestricted funds
TOTAL FUNDS		 2023-24
£
33,902
0
0
0
33,902
29,557
4,345
33,902		 2022-23
£
10,370
10,370
7,551
2,819
10,370

The financial statements were approved by the trustees on 22 / 02 / 2025 and signed on their behalf by

Dr Tina Blaber

Page 23

Note
Grants
1
Asthma + Lung UK
Promotion of English Trust
North Walsham Community Shop
Poors & Ploughlet Charitable Trust
Awards for All
Geoffrey Watling Charity
Sheringham Town Council
National Lottery Community Fund
NCF Sheila Ann Day Fund
NCF Love Norfolk Fund
Tesco Stronger Starts
Norfolk County Council Arts Fund
NCF Community Hot-Spots Fund
Paul Bassham Charitable Trust
NNDC Arts & Culture Fund (CLOSED)
Active Norfolk Together Fund (CLOSED)
Total
Donations
2
John Lewis Partnership (Waitrose NW)
Individual Gift Aid Donations
Total
Commissioned Services and Sales
3
Sheringham Carnival
YESU Family Support Centre
Parkinson's UK NW Support Group
Southrepps Early Onset Dementia Group
Supporting Women & Activity Network (SWAN)
North Walsham Dementia Support Group (Cameo)
Age Concern Sheringham
Dorrington House Care Home Wells
St David's Nursing Home Sheringham (SUBs)
Consultancy and Talks
Care & Refresh Cafe, Sheringham Little Theatre
Creative Lives Consultancy
Mother's Union North Walsham
Sale of Goods/Instruments
Total		 Unrestricted
Funds
Restricted
Funds
Total Funds
Total
Funds
2023-24
2023-24
2023-24
2022-23
£
£
£
£
1,625
1,625
1,210
1,210
1,730
1,730
500
500
19,960
19,960
1,500
1,500
800
800
19,278
19,278
5,000
5,000
5,000
5,000
5,000
0
1,000
0
400
0
2,000
0
2,000
0
3,000
0
3,965
0
56,603
56,603
17,365
0
264
191
191
191
0
191
264
0
150
0
0
399
0
64
300
300
140
525
525
300
50
50
85
85
250
250
30
30
15
135
150
30
30
178
178
24
1,213
385
1,598
1,077

Page 24


Note
Income from Charitable Activities
4
SUBs
In Kind (Volunteer Time)
In Kind (Venue Hire)
Participant Donations
4.1
Gift Aid
Total
Participant Donations
4.1
Singing for Breathing Sheringham
Singing for Breathing North Walsham
Singing for Breathing Attleborough
Singing for Breathing Long Stratton
Singing for Breathing Fakenham
Singing for Health, Wellbeing & Fun NW
Singing for Health, Wellbeing & Fun SH
PayPal
Easyfundraising
Other Participant Donations
Total
Organisational Costs
5
Organisation
5.1
Staffing Costs
5.2
Marketing & Promotions
5.3
Subscriptions
5.4
Training
5.5
Total
Organisation
5.1
Office Supplies & Stationery
Insurance
Web Hosting & Domain
Total		 Unrestricted
Funds
Restricted
Funds
Total Funds
Total
Funds
2023-24
2023-24
2023-24
2022-23
£
£
£
£
200
206
406
285
675
1,260
1,935
600
20
20
300
717
5,320
6,038
3,716
0
0
1,612
6,787
8,399
4,901
106
951
1,057
1,114
144
1,294
1,438
280
6
51
57
76
183
259
14
1
15
102
1,187
1,289
1,397
136
1,653
1,790
323
35
35
52
89
89
19
10
10
531
717
5,320
6,038
3,716
652
511
1,164
316
127
12,566
12,694
1,884
100
397
497
140
174
174
92
0
3,089
3,089
75
1,054
16,564
17,618
2,507
423
421
844
106
171
91
262
140
58
0
58
71
652
511
1,164
316

Page 25

Note
Staffing Costs
5.2
Recruitment
Financial Administrator
Singing for Health Development Officer
Media & Comms Manager
Consultancy Fees
Total
Marketing
5.3
T-Shirts
Newsletters
Pull-Up Banners
Total
Subscriptions
5.4
Community Action Norfolk
Acapella App
Zoom
Total
Training
5.5
Voice Basics: Foundations for Singing for Well-Being
Sing to Beat Parkinson's
Singing for Health Network Webinar
The Musical Breath: Singing for Lung Health
Musical Ideas for Carers to Use with Older People
Mentoring New Practitioners
Natasha Hood Folk Songs Workshop
Total		 Unrestricted
Funds
Restricted
Funds
Total Funds
Total
Funds
2023-24
2023-24
2023-24
2022-23
£
£
£
£
127
630
757
3,791
3,791
1,884
4,355
4,355
1,890
1,890
1,900
1,900
127
12,566
12,694
1,884
32
143
175
140
68
68
254
254
100
397
497
140
0
50
42
42
42
132
132
174
0
174
92
35
35
87
87
27
27
2,450
2,450
40
40
450
450
75
0
3,089
3,089
75

Page 26

Note
Costs of Charitable Activities
6
Session Leader Fees
Support Musican Fees
Travel/Mileage Expenses
Volunteer Costs
Venue Hire
Publicity
Props & Session Materials
Refreshments
Monitoring & Evaluation
Project Administration
Total
Costs of Sales
7
Creative Lives Consultancy
Purchase/Repair of Goods
Sheringham Carnival
Parkinson's UK
Other
Total
Governance
8
Independent Examiner
Charity Commission and HMRC Registration
Preparation of Annual Report and EoY Accounts
Total		 Unrestricted
Funds
Restricted
Funds
Total Funds
Total
Funds
2023-24
2023-24
2023-24
2022-23
£
£
£
£
0
15,100
15,100
8,205
0
1,025
1,025
0
2,117
2,117
485
0
285
285
112
0
3,669
3,669
2,640
0
178
178
305
0
391
391
349
0
113
113
258
0
519
519
550
0
1,359
1,359
0
24,755
24,755
12,903
0
135
135
13
0
13
79
0
0
0
76
0
0
0
399
0
0
0
499
13
135
148
1,053
9
0
9
144
0
144
270
315
585
423
315
738
0

Page 27

Note
Restricted Funds Balances at YE
9
National Lottery Community Fund
National Lottery Awards for All
NCF Love Norfolk Fund
NCF Sheila Ann Day Fund
Geoffrey Watling Charity
Asthma + Lung UK
Sheringham Town Council
Singing for Breathing-North Norfolk
Singing for Breathing-South Norfolk
Singing for Breathing-New/Pilot Groups
Singing for Health-Sheringham
Singing for Health-North Walsham
SUBs
Total
Unrestricted Fund Balances at YE
10
Reserve funds
Project funds
General funds
Total		 £
3,938.22
10,543.78
4,118.00
5,000.00
1,500.00
625.00
800.00
745.18
234.40
0.80
484.32
915.98
651.42

29,557.09
896.00
1,650.00
1,798.80

4,344.80

Page 28