Feb’2026 Trustee Annual Report
Our Men’s Shed had been running for 4 years in February’2026 and this report is published along with our Accounts with the Charity Commission for the 15-months since the charity was registered as a Charitable Incorporated Organisation on 17-December 2024 (number 1211449).
The Dengie Men’s Shed (also known as Southminster Men’s Shed) exists to reduce social exclusion, mainly for older men, in the Dengie Hundred area (Southminster, Burnham-onCrouch, Althorne, Asheldham, Bradwell-on-Sea, Creeksea, Dengie, Latchingdon, St Lawrence, Mayland, Steeple). It helps people who might otherwise be socially excluded (for reasons such as unemployment, poverty, youth or old age, physical or mental ill health) by providing places and activities where we meet, learn, share skills, take part in creative or physical activities, and support each other. This purpose has not changed since our registration as a charity.
We opened a 4th session on Monday afternoons, to accommodate new members. It was quickly filled and we again have a waiting-list of future joiners.
We undertook commissions for projects such as: Train Planters for Wakes Colne Railway Station, signs for Dengie Animal Sanctuary, waggon wheels for The Three Horseshoes, goods for the Xmas Fayre, navigation lights for Cirdan Sailing Trust, a Dragonthemed planter for Bures Station, window boxes for the Three Horseshoes, storage racks for the Cirdan Sailing Trust and a Playground Boat for the Burnham Nursery School.
On the social front we’ve had meals at the Three Horseshoes, Wibblers brewery and Swallowtail restaurant, along with several quiz nights, allowing members to get together between sessions. Although the Quiz Nights at the Three Horseshoes have ended, we’re exploring possibilities with The Star in Burnham for the coming year.
We’ve purchased various new tools, built our own storage units and rebuilt a bench to provide more space underneath.
Having exhausted the available space in our current 2 rooms, all of us feel the frustration of the cramped workshop and machine room. Trustees explored several options to expand and overcame the prohibitive cost of renovations to the main Southminster Station House building by successfully applying for various grants. Having submitted hundreds of pages of plans, technical and safety information to Greater Anglia, we are close to gaining their technical approval, before getting to the detail of negotiating the lease itself.
The committee and trustees appreciate everyone who contributed to the stationhouse design decisions made at our ‘All-Shedder’ meeting in November at Wibblers brewery.
We’re equally grateful to those who completed the Shed Survey in Jan/Feb last year, that gave all members a say in our future direction of the charity. As a direct result, we have improved the coverage of training and as planned a year ago, we’ve now added 2 more committee members and shared their roles, bringing our compliment to a healthy total of 7.
Although we are still a few months away from starting the Station House project due to the slow uptake of Greater Anglia and we’ve said that we don’t want to take on major external projects.
We carry out our own scheduled maintenance of machines & tools. Any issues identified are dealt with straight away and leave us with a very safe environment in which to work. Cutter and blade sharpening are carried out regularly to always ensure safe and sensible use of machines.
We were more successful with our Christmas sales this year through local outlets at On the Latch and at the Limes, following the strategy we communicated a year ago to look for other options rather than have ‘all the eggs in one basket’. We were successful with sales at the recent Dengie 100 Ladies group and have a couple of opportunities for stalls at the Southminster Flower Show and Burnham School during the summer to fuel future growth of the shed.
Our financial year remains 1
March – 28 February. We operate our own bank account, and we are now ‘cashless’ thanks to almost every member paying subs by quarterly bank transfer, ideally by standing order.
We transferred-in £1,953 to the charity from previous years and over the past 14½ months have added £5,246 in restricted grants, and £4,041 in other unrestricted income (fees, donations, sales & commissions. Our expenditure has been £1,288 on Machines, tooling, materials and consumables, leaving a closing balance of £9,952 at the end of Feb’26.
Because our income is less than £25,000, we are not required to have an independent examination of accounts or audit
undertaken, nor has any been conducted. Two trustees have examined and verified the financial accounts.
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The charity trustees believe we are in a sound financial position with income exceeding our costs and our expected Station House project costs fully funded by promised future grants. While our future running costs will certainly increase significantly if and when we take on the Station house lease (particularly with insurance and utility costs) the charity trustees fully expect the shed to remain sustainable.
Each of the four named trustees remain in place, unaltered since charity registration. (Dennis Price, Glenn Phillips, Tony Coates & Gerald Robinson).
Lastly and despite the obvious space difficulties that we experience, we continue to operate safely and successfully - and most importantly, without accidents.
Trustees and Committee alike, all value every Shed member keeping to the Safety procedures and use of PPE that enables us all to continue enjoying the use of the Shed - and the health benefits we all take from it.
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Document History:
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Ver. Date Status / Action Taken By Whom
1.0 10/2/2026 Draft for discussion Dennis
1.1 12/3/2025 Minor wording changes, Pictures added Tony
Include Purposes, Charity details and top-level
1.2 18/03/2026 Tony
financial summary
1.3 25/03/2026 Wording refinements from Glenn Tony
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Charity Name No (if any)
Southminster Men’s Shed 1211449
Receipts and payments accounts CC16a
For the period Period start date Period end date
To
from 17 [th] Dec 2024 28 [th] Feb 2026
Section A Receipts and payments
Unrestricted Restricted Endowment
Total funds Last year
funds funds funds
to the nearest £ to the nearest £ to the nearest £ to the nearest £ to the nearest £
A1 Receipts
Ford UK Grant - 246 - 246 -
Essex & Suffolk Community Rail
- 5,000 - 5,000 -
Partnership
Transferred in Funds 1,953 - - 1,953 -
Membership & Subscription 1,568 - - 1,568 -
Donations 897 - - 897 -
Commissions 862 - - 862 -
Sales of Goods 715 - - 715 -
- - - - -
Sub total (Gross income for
5,994 5,246 - 11,240 -
AR)
A2 Asset and investment sales,
(see table).
- - - -
- - - - -
Sub total - - - - -
Total receipts 5,994 5,246 - 11,240 -
A3 Payments
Machines & Tooling 187 246 - 433 -
3 [rd] Party Membership Fees 48 - - 48 -
Materials & Consumables 808 - - 808 -
- - - - -
- - - - -
- - - - -
- - - - -
- - - - -
- - - - -
Sub total 1,043 246 - 1,289 -
A4 Asset and investment
purchases, (see table)
- - - -
- - - -
Sub total - - - - -
Total payments 1,043 246 - 1,289 -
Net of receipts/(payments) 4,951 5,000 - 9,951 -
A5 Transfers between funds - - - - -
A6 Cash funds last year end - - - - -
Cash funds this year end 4,951 5,000 - 9,951 -
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CCXX R1 accounts (SS)
26/03/26
1
Section B Statement of assets and liabilities at the end of the period Unre$tri¢t lunds to nearnsi£ Restricted funds to rare5tÉ Endowment funds to rarest£ B1 Cash funds C heJ in Bank 4951 Tolal cash funds {951 5,OlXI lunds to neiwestf funds to r1&$1 e funds to n•arest£ r*tail$ F¥nd ID whh Details Cost CuNent valu• ona B3 Inve8tment assets Fund to which Details Cost lopth)nal) Current valuo nal 84 Assets retained for the charlty's own use Amouthidue Detatrls When due 85 Uablllttes Sne by one or Iru5t•85 on behalf of all the trtee5 Dale of roval 30-Mar-2028 Signature Pn"nt Name Tony Coatès O•nnis Pri¢• 3tyMar-2026 CCXX RZ accounts ISSI 26103126