## BRAINTREE & BOCKING RECREATION GROUNDS
## TRUSTEES’ REPORT
## FOR THE YEAR ENDED 5 APRIL 2023
## **Registered Charity No: 301262**
## **Principal Address**
Braintree & Bocking Recreation Grounds John
Ray Street Braintree Essex CM7 9DZ
## **Names of Trustees and Committee**
Mr S Dedman – Trustee (Chair) Mr
S R Thompson – Trustee
Mr A Simpson - Trustee (Resigned 25 April 2022) Mrs
D Farquhar – Trustee (Appointed 25 April 2022)
## **Professional Advisors Legal**
## **Advisors:**
Holmes & Hills Solicitors – Dale Chambers, Bocking End, Braintree, CM7 6AJ
## **Bankers:**
Barclays Bank PLC, Bank Street, Braintree, Essex CM7 1UG
## **Independent Examiner:**
Lisa Greenwood FCCA, Lambert Chapman LLP, Chartered Accountants & Registered Auditors, 3 Warners Mill, Silks way, Braintree, Essex CM7 3GB
## **Letting agents:**
Joscelyne Chase, 18-20 Bank Street Braintree Essex
## **Governing Document**
The charity is governed by conveyances dated 05 November 1936, 19 December 1921 and a declaration of trust dated 17 December 1937.
## **Management and governance arrangements**
For good governance and accountability, a minimum of three trustees are required. Where there is a requirement for new trustees, these would be identified and appointed by resolution at a meeting of trustees at which there is a majority of the trustees present. The trustees annually review the risks that the charity faces. These remain mainly related to budgetary management and facility maintenance. The main sources of income are rental of houses owned by the trust and fees paid by the public and sports clubs for the use of the various sports pitches and facilities. Budgets are monitored and revised to stay within the available income of the trust and restoration and maintenance prioritised within those constraints.
## **Aims and Purposes**
The aim of the Charity is “to provide public recreation opportunity for the resort and recreation of adults, children and youths through the provision of buildings, facilities and open space”. The trustees of Braintree & Bocking Recreation Grounds seek to follow the Commission’s guidance on public benefit and work with all Local organisations and groups who wish to make use of the facilities. The trustees strive to ensure maximum availability of the facilities and grounds to the widest possible section of general public in the Braintree area. In our activities we aim to promote the advancement of amateur sport and that of community and general health through the provision of recreational space and facilities. The trustees confirm that they have complied with the requirements of section 17 of the Charities Act 2011 to have due regard to the public benefit guidance published by the Charity Commission for England and Wales.
## **Summary of the main activities during the year General recreation ground access**
The Grounds remain open to the public all year round (365 days) for general recreational use, and are regularly used for casual sports, jogging, walking, etc. Though many things have returned to “normal” post the COVID lock downs, the casual use of the grounds has remained at a high level, as people continue to seek open external places for leisure and recreation.
## **Sports**
The Braintree Boxing Club, Braintree Martial Arts Center (Aikido & Karate), and Braintree Youth Football, all based in the ground’s facilities, have continued and all remain resilient and well supported.
The trust has secured funding from the football foundation to improve the grass pitches, this funding will run for 5 years and will make a considerable difference to the quality of the playing areas that we provide.
## **Allotments**
All allotments remain fully occupied and in good use. It has been good to see an area that was in need of restoration become a productive and attractive part of the recreation site. It is proving to be a great outdoor communal space, with a growing waiting list for available allotments.
## **Braintree Town Fountain**
Restoration of the Fountain remains on hold, however it remains a popular area for people to sit and relax. We have changed the formal planted flower beds to wild flower zones which appear to work well.
## **Financial Review**
The total funds of the Charity at the year end is £68,289. There are no restricted or designated funds and therefore the available reserves of the Charity is £68,289.
## **Statement on the Charity's policy on reserves**
The Trustees’ reviewed the policy on reserves and, in the current financial year, the aim is to maintain a balance of unrestricted funds of no less than 2 months gross payments. Based on 2021-22 payments the minimum reserve for 2022-23 has been set at £13,317. We believe that this will ensure adequate provision for unforeseen circumstances. To date the Charity’s reserves have remained well in excess of the desired level of funds but this will always remain under continued scrutiny.
The annual report was approved by the trustees of the Charity on 05Feb 2024 and signed on its behalf by:
Mr Robert Thompson – Trustee
||**Charity Name**
**Braintree & Bocking Recreation Grounds**
**3**|**Charity Name**
**Braintree & Bocking Recreation Grounds**
**3**|**Charity Name**
**Braintree & Bocking Recreation Grounds**
**3**|**No (if any)**
**01262**|**CC16a**|
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
||**Receipts andpayments accounts**|||||
||**For the period**
**from**|Period start date
06th April 2022|**To**|Period end date
05th April 2023||
|||||||
|**Section A Receipts and payments**||||||
|**to the nearest £**
**A1 Receipts**
**Unrestricted**
**funds**||**Restricted funds**
**to the nearest £**|**to the nearest £**
**Endowment**
**funds**|**Total funds**
**to the nearest £**|**Last year**
**to the nearest £**|
|Rents|**67,340**
**15,500**
**480**
**150**
**78**|**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**|**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**|**67,340**
**15,500**
**480**
**150**
**78**|**58,285**
**31,000**
**170**
**150**
**5**|
|Rental Income from Braintree District Council||||||
|Annual Allotment Fee||||||
|Wayleaves||||||
|Interest Income||||||
|**_Sub total_**_(Gross income for AR)_|**83,548**|**-**|**-**|**83,548**|**89,610**|
||**-**|**-**||||
|**A2 Asset and investment sales, (see**
**table).**||||||
|N/A|||**-**|**-**||
|**_Sub total_**
**-**
**_Total receipts_**
**83,548**
**A3 Payments**|**-**|**-**|**-**|**-**|**-**|
|||||||
||**83,548**|**-**|**-**|**83,548**|**89,610**|
|||||||
|AccountancyFees|**1,110**
**111**
**2,325**
**3,268**
**6,645**
**516**
**2,809**
**7,300**
**2,346**
**44,538**
**2,059**|**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**|**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**|**1,110**
**111**
**2,325**
**3,268**
**6,645**
**516**
**2,809**
**7,300**
**2,346**
**44,538**
**2,059**|**1,050**
**106**
**3,571**
**1,479**
**7,092**
**475**
**3,332**
**5,584**
**1,564**
**52,787**
**2,861**|
|Bank Fees||||||
|Equipment Maintenance||||||
|General Expenses||||||
|Insurance||||||
|IT Software and Consumables||||||
|Legal and Professional Fees||||||
|LettingFees||||||
|Electricityand Gas||||||
|PropertyRepairs & Maintenance||||||
|Rates||||||
|**_Sub total_**|**73,027**|**-**|**-**|**73,027**|**79,901**|
|||||||
|**A4 Asset and investment purchases,**
**(see table)**|**550**|||||
|Plant and Machinery||**-**|**-**|**550**|**-**|
|**_Sub total_**|**550**|**-**|**-**|**550**|**-**|
|**_Total payments_**
**73,577**
**_Net of receipts/(payments)_**
**9,971**
**A5 Transfers between funds**
**-**
**A6 Cash funds last year end**
**58,318**
**_Cash funds this year end_**
**68,289**||||||
||**73,577**|**-**|**-**|**73,577**|**79,901**|
|||||||
||**9,971**|**-**|**-**|**9,971**|**9,709**|
||**-**
**58,318**|**-**
**-**|**-**
**-**|**-**
**58,318**|**-**
**48,609**|
||**68,289**|**-**|**-**|**68,289**|**58,318**|
CCXX R1 accounts (SS)
05/02/2024
1
## **Section B Statement of assets and liabilities at the end of the period**
|**Categories**
**B1 Cash funds**
**B2 Other monetary assets**
**B3 Investment assets**
**B4 Assets retained for the charity’s**
**own use**|**Details**
Current Account
Base Rate Tracker
Petty Cash
**Details**
N/A
**Details**
Recreation Grounds & Squash Courts
Braintree Fountain (St Michaels Road)
The Lodge John Ray Street
1 & 2 Fountain Cottages, St Michaels Road
Leahurst, St Michaels Road
2 John Ray Street
8 John Ray Street
93 Coggeshall Road
99 Coggeshall Road
**Details**
Tractor - John Deere
Trimax Mower
Pitch roller
SISIS Tractor Mounted Mega Slit
Brushcutter
Ride On Mower
Laptop
Supaturf Line Marking Machine
SISIS Sweeper
2500 Litre Water Tank
JFC Fuel Storage Tank
Mower - P Tuckwell
Brushcutter - P Tuckwell
Hedgetrimmer - P Tuckwell
Kombi Head
Blower Attachment
Pressure Washer
Walk Behind Mower - P Tuckwell
Fleming TR4 Tipping Trailor
MT-01 Tractor Loaded
Rotavator & Stone Burier
Line Markers
John Deere Garden Trailer
**_Total cash funds_**
(agree balances with receipts and payments
account(s))|**to nearest £**
**Unrestricted**
**funds**|**to nearest £**
**Restricted**
**funds**|**to nearest £**
**Endowment**
**funds**|
|---|---|---|---|---|
|||**32,824**
**35,353**
**112**|**-**
**-**
**-**|**-**
**-**
**-**|
|||**68,289**|**-**|**-**|
|||OK
**to nearest £**
**-**
**Unrestricted**
**funds**
**Fund to which**
**asset belongs**
**Fund to which**
**asset belongs**|OK
**to nearest £**
**Restricted**
**funds**|OK
**to nearest £**
**Endowment**
**funds**|
||||**-**|**-**|
||||**Cost (optional)**|**Current value**
**(optional)**|
||||**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**|**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**|
||||**Cost (optional)**|**Current value**
**(optional)**|
||Tractor - John Deere||**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**|**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**|
||Trimax Mower||||
||Pitch roller||||
||SISIS Tractor Mounted Mega Slit||||
||Brushcutter||||
||Ride On Mower||||
||Laptop||||
||Supaturf Line Marking Machine||||
||SISIS Sweeper||||
||2500 Litre Water Tank||||
||JFC Fuel Storage Tank||||
||Mower - P Tuckwell||||
||Brushcutter - P Tuckwell||||
||Hedgetrimmer - P Tuckwell||||
||Kombi Head||||
||Blower Attachment||||
||Pressure Washer||||
||Walk Behind Mower - P Tuckwell||||
||Fleming TR4 Tipping Trailor||||
||MT-01 Tractor Loaded||||
||Rotavator & Stone Burier||||
||Line Markers||||
||John Deere Garden Trailer||||
|**Details**
N/A|**Fund to which**
**liability relates**|**Amount due**
**(optional)**|**When due**
**(optional)**|
|---|---|---|---|
|N/A||**-**||
**B5 Liabilities**
CCXX R2 accounts (SS)
05/02/2024
2
Signed by one or two trustees on behalf of all the trustees
|Signature|Print Name
S R Thompson|Date of
approval|
|---|---|---|
|||05 Feb 24|
||||
||||
CCXX R3 accounts (SS)
05/02/2024
3
## **Independent examiner's report on the accounts**
**Section A Independent Examiner’s Report**
|**Report to the trustees/**
**members of**
**On accounts for the year**
**ended**
**Set out on pages**|Braintree & Bocking Recreation Grounds|Braintree & Bocking Recreation Grounds|Braintree & Bocking Recreation Grounds|
|---|---|---|---|
|||||
||5thApril 2023|**Charity no**
**(if any)**|301262|
|||||
||1-3|||
I report to the trustees on my examination of the accounts of the above charity (“the Trust”) for the year ended **05/04/2023** .
- **Responsibilities and** As the charity trustees of the Trust, you are responsible for the preparation **basis of report** of the accounts in accordance with the requirements of 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 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:
- accounting records were not kept in accordance with section 130 of the Act or
- the accounts do not accord with the accounting records
I have no concerns and have come across no other matters in connection with the examination to which attention should be drawn in order to enable a proper understanding of the accounts to be reached.
**Signed: Date:** 05-Feb-24 **Name:** Lisa Greenwood **Relevant professional** FCCA **qualification(s) or body (if any): Address:** Lambert Chapman LLP 3 Warners Mill, Silks Way Braintree, Essex, CM7 3GB
**October 2018**
1
**IER**