Chairmans Report AGM 2026
Firstly thank you all for attending, it is a long time, since we last had all of the clubs present at a meeting. You will see we have three new faces from the clubs and it is good to see Andy, who has replaced Stephen Hill as chair of the Bowls Club, Nathan Stewart who represents the Football Club and has been the catalyst for the upgrades to the Clubhouse and the offering it has for supporters and Ben from the Cricket Club, who I think is an ambassador for them and plays in the first team.
Secondly you will see from the Agenda a couple of updates from the KPFA to, firstly after many years, in fact decades as a Trustee Jim has stepped back slightly and is now an Honorary Trustee, allowing us to still draw on his experience, but simplified the legal processes required to purchase the rented land last year. I am grateful for Jim agreeing to help us her.
Finally Sami has a asked to defer the decision to make her a trustee last year, this was her request and she remains a key part of the team, b ringing a different way of thinking and challenge to the Trustees as well as her ability to communicate with the village. We will discuss it later, but I would like to leave the invite to join the Trustees open.
Looking back at 2025, I think the highlight of the year was to *(finally) purchase the two parcels of land we rented from the family of the original land owner. This was a protracted process, but eventually we got it completed in December after agreeing not to use the land purchased only for recreational related purposes. And to do ur best to register the land with Fields in Trust. We thank the `towns and Estates Charity for funding the purchase of the land, though we paid the legal costs from the funds raised as owning the land means the new playground investment will benefit the village for a long time and not be at risk of the land being sold.
Sadly the lowlight of the year was the decision by the lottery not to fund the project, this was hugely disappointing as much for the time, 9 months it took to get to the decision and we had supplied all of the information requested and had raised nearly 50% of the project cost. Sadly due to the delay in purchasing the land, which was needed to give any funding security, the lotteries focus had moved more towards national projects that support deprived areas.
We are looking for other funding and of the roughly £96k we were short we have had a wonderful donation the with corporate charity matching and Gift Aid has filled nearly £23k of the gap and John “sniffer” Saynor has found over £16k in s106 (housing) funds allocated to a playground in Kislingbury and West Northants have indicated we can access that money and it is shown as a pledge. The good news is offset by an increase in the cost of the equipment, but it still means we have one third of the gap bridged.
We will apply to a smaller lottery fund for £20k in the next few weeks, that the other lottery fund advised us to approach and once we hear from them, we have a larger charity in mind to apply for the final balance, hopefully with an even better funding story.
I did mention Gift aid early and we can now claim this for qualifying donations from individuals, though anything over £30 needs a form completing. We can go back to 2023 and are approaching people. Thanks to Dave for setting this up and to John and Sami for
what they do too, in Sami’s case we raised over £10k in a month last year aheadsof the lottery bid.
I always like to remember that the Playing Fields were bought b y the people of Kislingbury in the 1960’s and it is great to see village events held here. With the third an nual food festival last year and evening event and the same again on 24th May this year.
Looking at other areas on 2025, we have made some progress on security, but I need to speed this up, we are working to put cameras on the football club, we have a better lock and I need to discuss later on the agenda. We are also looking to purchase a more secure barrier onto the football pitch. Thanks to the Parish Council whose grants fund this work.
The cameras may deter some of the drug issues that I hear about and sadly these made the press local last year. As a result I met with Jonathan, Janet and the Police to discuss this,
I need to remind us all about a couple of recurring topics, that is to ensure areas are kept clean and litter is picked u after matches / trains. The Playing Fields can look great, but litter spoils this.
I also need to remind people than we have a 10 mph speed limit on site, our roads are shared with pedestrians and the fences will not stop cars.
Rather than write a second report for the later General meeting and as a lot of the report would repeat the earlier report, I will mention the main event since the new year. This was the tree that came down on the entrance road earlier this month, this got cleared at our expense, just over £1k and we need to understand the risks with all the trees.
Kislingbury Playing Fields Association
- Income & Expenditure Account For the period from 1st January 2025 to 31st December 2025
| Income Donations Businesses Individuals Charities Total Donations Received Grants Kislingbury Parish Council Total Grants Received Rents Received Football Club Cricket Club Bowls Club Total Rents Received Wayleave Interest Received Total Income Expenditure Wave Utilities N Freer - Rent Insurance Play Area Annual Inspection Defibrillator Card Machine Fees Sellers Legal Fees Fields in Trust - Annual Subscription Land Purchase Legal Fees - Land Purchase Land Registry Fees Total Expenditure Surplus for the Year to date Balance Brought Forward Balance Carried Forward Represented by: Deposit Account Current Account Cash at Bank |
2025 2025 General Play Area Fund Fund £ £ 0.00 5,995.65 0.00 8,017.65 0.00 12,500.00 0.00 26,513.30 1,000.00 0.00 1,000.00 0.00 630.00 0.00 1,260.00 0.00 630.00 0.00 2,520.00 0.00 8.12 0.00 0.00 536.65 |
2025 2025 General Play Area Fund Fund £ £ 0.00 5,995.65 0.00 8,017.65 0.00 12,500.00 0.00 26,513.30 1,000.00 0.00 1,000.00 0.00 630.00 0.00 1,260.00 0.00 630.00 0.00 2,520.00 0.00 8.12 0.00 0.00 536.65 |
2025 Total £ 5,995.65 8,017.65 12,500.00 26,513.30 1,000.00 1,000.00 630.00 1,260.00 630.00 2,520.00 8.12 536.65 |
|---|---|---|---|
| £3,528.12 | £27,049.95 | £30,578.07 | |
| -271.58 0.00 50.00 0.00 1,306.63 0.00 225.60 0.00 174.00 0.00 21.29 0.00 0.00 4,900.00 50.00 0.00 0.00 10,000.00 0.00 5,031.80 0.00 1,406.40 |
-271.58 50.00 1,306.63 225.60 174.00 21.29 4,900.00 50.00 10,000.00 5,031.80 1,406.40 |
||
| £1,555.94 | £21,338.20 | £22,894.14 | |
| £1,972.18 | £5,711.75 | £7,683.93 | |
| £3,980.65 | £31,873.42 | £35,854.07 | |
| £5,952.83 | £37,585.17 | £43,538.00 | |
| 42,793.61 744.39 |
|||
| Cash at Bank | £43,538.00 |
CHARITY COMMISSION FOR ENGLAND ANO WALES Independent examiner's report on the accounts Section A Independent Examiner's Report Report to the trusteès Kislingbury Playing Fields On accounts for the year ended 3191 December 2025 Charity no lif anyl 270341 Set out on pages 1 of 1 I report to the trustees on my examination ofthe accounts of the above charity fthe Trust'l foi the year ended 3111212025. Responsibilities and basis of report As the charty's trustees, you are responsible for the preparation of the accounts in accordance with the requirements of the Charities Act 2011 nhe Act'l. I reptsrt in respect of rny examination of the Trusf s accounts carried out under section 145 of the 2011 Act and in tsrrying out my examination. I have followed all the applicable Directions given by the Charity Commission under section 145(5llbl of the Act. Independent examinerfs trhe charity's gross income exceeded £250.000 and l am qualified to undertake the statement examination by being a qualified member of linsert name of applicable listed bodyll. Delete I I if not applicable. I have completed rny exarninalion. l Confimi that no material matter5 have come to my attention in connection with the examination lolher Ihari that disclosed below'l which gives me cause io believe that in, any material respect.. the accounting records were not kept in accordance with section 130 of th8 Chartties Act., or the accounts did ntst accord with the accounting records,. or the accounts did not comply wth tho applitrAble requirèments ¢on¢eming the fom) and content of accounts set out in the Charities IAGcounls and Report51 Regulatitsns 2008 other than any requirerllent that the acGounls give a 'true and fairf view which is not 8 matter consider8d as part of 8n independent examination. I have no concems and h8ve come across no other matters in connection with the examination to which attention should be drawn in this report in order to ènable a propèr understanding of the accounts to be reached. ' Please delete the worfs in the brackets if they do not apply. Signed: Date: Name: iJL Relevant professional qualification{s} or body {if any): Address: ch Ji L4ep IER Oct 2018
Section B Disclosure Only complete If the examiner needs to highlight material matters of contsrn (see CC32, Independent examination of charity accounts= directions and guidance for examiners). Give here brief detsils ol any items that the examiner wishes to disclose. IER Oct 2018