GREAT WITCHINGHAM FUEL ALLOTMENT CHARITY Registered Charity No.: 210554 A/1 ## **Trustees’ Annual Report March 2022** ## **Charity Report** The Charity was formed in 1811 by the provision of land under the Act of Enclosure and has provided residents of Great Witchingham, who are in need, hardship or distress, with charitable benefit in one form or another. Since that time, benefit has taken the form of a winter fuel payment in money or kind and applications for benefit are sought from September onwards. Charitable benefit is not limited to this period as need, hardship and distress has no such calendar boundaries. The Trustees will consider any written request for relief at any time. Income is derived from the Charity’s land, which is vested in The Charity Commission and governed by the Trustees. Contrary to popular belief, the land is private. Access to Charity land is, and has always been, by permission of the Trustees. Presently and for the foreseeable future, granting of that permission, by way of an annual permit, is delegated by a Management Agreement issued to the Fishery Manager. Once the core aim of the Charity has been satisfied, The Charity Commission permits the Trustees to grant aid to groups or individuals in the Great Witchingham Parish to satisfy a particular need, which may exist in the Parish. The Charity is not permitted to relieve rates, taxes, or any other public funds but may supplement relief provided by public funds. The Charity is also not permitted to commit to repeating or renewing benefit granted on any occasion. The Trustees will consider all individual applications upon their merit. 2021, like 2020, also proved to be a challenging year. Fortunately, our fishery was able to remain open for much of the time with named storms proving more of a problem than Covid 19. The pandemic has clearly changed peoples habits and their importance toward leisure activities. As a result, our income was little affected and continued to provide income for our charitable purpose. Our ability to support the people in greatest need within Great Witchingham remained unaffected. The Trustees were pleased to make beneficial payments to 43 eligible applicants, the local playgroup and the new village playground, totalling just over £21500. This financial year gave rise to a net income from the sale of fishing permits of £27425, from which a 20% share is paid to Great Witchingham Church Lands Charity. The Charity also holds a permanent endowment in the form of COIF shares, which provides an income of approximately £1,900 p.a. It was again necessary to carry out some unplanned emergency tree works due to storm damage. Such damage continues to be an annual event as the climate changes and we are working towards pre-empting the problem with pro-active maintenance. The Trustees are considering the viability of improving on-site facilities for the benefit of members which will allow our fishery to compete favourably with other high quality venues in the county. The Charity continues to maintain contingency funds to withstand a prolonged loss of income without detriment to the benefit to those people and organisations we serve. The work of our Fishery Manager and his team of volunteer Bailiffs continues to be invaluable to the Trustees, managing both the land and the fishery in accordance with the Trustees rules and wishes and in a wholly professional manner. The Trustees are exceedingly grateful to our team of bailiffs who have worked so hard in providing members with a Covid safe environment to enjoy under the most difficult of circumstances. Despite a another year of financial turmoil which at the time of writing sees no prospect of stability, the value of our COIF investment shares increased over the last twelve months and dividend yield remains very much at a premium compared to ordinary investments. Trustees: Susie Thomson (Chair), Peter Dilloway, Bridget Wright, Mark Pead, Freda Bunton, Rev Helen Rengert, Sally Acloque. The Trustees would like to thank all the people who give their time freely, particularly those who act as volunteer Bailiffs, without whose contributions the benefits that our charity is able to offer would be greatly reduced. We look forward to being able to enjoy a normal year, which we very much hope will allow us to continue and indeed improve upon our good work in the Parish. Our thanks to Clare Morton, Chair of Weston Longville Parish Council, for kindly carrying out the annual audit of our accounts. A copy of the Charity’s audited accounts is appended. ## **Fishery Report** The fishery at Great Witchingham provides the Charity’s main source of income for the distribution of benefit. 2021-22 has again so far been a good year for the fishery allowed to operate normally with sensible precautions around ongoing Covid concerns. Members have yet again enjoyed some superb fishing and have been using the opportunity to spend as much time on the bank as possible and enjoy the surroundings. Our fishery remains arguably one of the best mixed-specimen syndicate fisheries of its type in this region and especially for big carp. We continue to see year on year gains in our big carp with many fish over thirty pounds and several now very close to forty pounds including our established forty-pound fish now around 45lbs and 41lbs respectively. Investment has ensured that stocking the fishery with high quality pedigree fish, has provided our members with the fishing they look for when choosing the waters, they want to join season after season. The fishery is managed as a traditional mixed species fishery, and on any day, members can not only catch large carp, but large Bream, huge Tench into double figures, or large catches of smaller fish. The fishery has something for everyone, and an enjoyable day’s fishing can always be had. We endeavour to continue with our aim to grow the fishery in stature and prominence as a superb place to fish. The fishery will continue to be developed on an environmentally sustainable basis, to provide an excellent outdoor experience and most importantly, meet the aims and needs of the Charity in supporting the community and many local families who benefit from the charitable donations, which the fishery income provides. This will ensure that the Charity will have a long future in its core provision of local welfare and allow the opportunity to expand further to assist the wider community. We hope our patrons will continue to support us in this goal. Susie Thomson Chair of Trustees Trustees: Susie Thomson (Chair), Peter Dilloway, Bridget Wright, Mark Pead, Freda Bunton, Rev Helen Rengert, Sally Acloque. Gt. Witchingham Fuel Allotment Charity - Statement of Accounts - I st January2021 to 31 st December 2021 INCOME EXPENDITURE OPENING BAIANCES CASH ACCOUNT CURRENT ACCOUNT COIF Accouwr £592.95 £1.11728 £46.679.55 / £6,287.50 DIS]IUBufJoN £21.519(M) £337.00 £675. BP ACCOUNT £180.(K) CHURCHLANDS PAYT £3.175.59 £770.00 £617.¢X) £2.176.54 £1.785.62 £10.315.33 £3.528.34 £423.08 £54,677.28 FISHtNG 2021 INCOME FISHING 2021 KEYS & [￿Ks ]NJENANCE £48.232. INTEREST BANK ￿fEREST COIF DIVIDEND COIF tNTEREST MANAtikNIEKtFEES £1.57 £1.895.71 VATON(I(X)DS AND SERV]CES £1.9)3.94 £45.502.50 CLOSING BALANCES CASH ACCOUNT CURRENT AccouKr COtF ACCOUNT BP ACCOUNT £72 95 £1.262 49 / £50.686.21 £7.289.07 / £59.310.72 INVESTMENTS HELD.. SHARE OFFICIAL INVESTMENT FUND 2889.84 £20.78B1 = £60074.82 695.10 £2Q.7e81 x £14449.81 Vah* as at?111 1 £74524.63 IN CHARITIES COME UNITS) £10{813.22 £104J13.22 Signod.... surer b_/.2Z I FIAVE EKAMINED THE eooKS AND BANK STATEMENTS AND CERMFY THAT THE ABOVE STATEMENT REFLECT ATRUE RECORD OF THE CHARrrrs ACCOUNTS. Daled..l..5.....1...2L Signed.... .Auditor Clare Morton 2 The Cottages Breck Rd Weston Green Weston Longville Nornyich NR9 5LQ 11 March 2022 Dear Peter Please find below, the methodology for the audit of the Great Wrtchingham Fuel Allotrnent Charity accounts for the year 2021 I have looked at each finanaal transaction and have cross checked each wrth . a. Supporting invoices or receipts b. Cheque book stubs and bank statement entries. The record of said transaction within the Trustee minutes where applicable. d. Eligibility of reapients I have noted the basis for budgeting for the Chanty to fulfil its requirement to distribute funds to the intended recipients and checked that the subsequent pay-cxrts were valKI. In all, I have found no evidence that the Charity's financial control is not beiTrJ adequately managed. I have therefore signed the audit return arKI suth summary doajments as yixj have produced. Yours sin￿relY Clare Morton. Mr Peter Dilloway Woodstock Bungalow Elling Green Dereham NR20 3EY