Drigg & Carleton Community Fund Annual Report for 2024/2025 Drigg & Carleton Community July 2025 Pagelof7 Drigg & Carleton Community Fund Annual Report for 2024/25 Section index Page l. Project Funding 2. Changes to Management Processes 3. Publicity 4. Good News Stories and Case Studies 5. Future Plans for the Fund 6. Financial Statements 7. Audit Certificate Page2of7 l. Project Funding The DCCF is managed by the trustees of the registered Drigg Charity with £53,045 annual funding provided by the NDA via the Copeland Community Fund. A DCCF Projects Sub-committee is charged with reviewing project applications and presenting those projects which are considered to meet the acceptance criteria to the main Charity Committee; this comprises eight trustees (who are members of the Parish Council) and up to three independent trustees. During the Financial Year 202412025 the following projects- annually repeatin& ongoing or new- were considered and potentially required expenditure of funds (see Table l). Table I Administration of the Fund Community Events Village Maintenance Specific individual project applications (as detailed} Administration of the Charit A total of £3,186.31 was spent on administration and publicising the fund. This included expenditure of £191.00 for insurance for liabilities and audit fees. This also included £400 for the community website which is used in communicating the work of the fund to the community, as well as software costs such as Anti-virus software and the hire of the domain name. A further £825 was spent on publicising the ChariWs work to those who do not have access to the internet via a printed Newsletter. Drigg & Carleton PARISH COUNCIL General Information - Drigg Charity Thè Drigg Chariry Jtsary Fundi Itiso [ryi5tetEdtharty￿dith￿5 Iltr￿￿. 4 str￿￿￿￿61*{*r1¢knP￿￿cOU￿1kn￿￿JiIe+s1I￿tsW￿E￿￿r￿rtperS(W￿frUrn tFecummw*ty. Page3of7 Communit Events Of the normally expected Community Events or activities. three took place and were supported by the Fund with a total expenditure of £2,225.49. Two examples are: a contribution of towards a Bonfire Night event of £5CKJ. a contribution to the annual Drigg & Carleton Gala of £1.250. The Drigg & Carleton marquee (donated to the community by Nuclear Waste Services) was loaned for a Rotating Wheels event in July 2024 organised by the Rotary Club of West Lakeland. The event, held on the old Gosforth Show field, was open to the public. The erection costs of the marquee were paid for by NWS. with no cost to DCCF. THIS EVEp47 ISSUPPORYED Tf* TriE IxiiG¢4 • CAIILEYO COPAWIVFiltY SUND The marquee was also Used at Gosforth Show (see photo on the left- Local History Tent), and Eskdale Show {see photo right- Herdwick Sheep Breeders Association display) in 2024. riiJiJ & C.arltlw C'(ITIIMbThil% . I,Jii It was also used for Drigg Gala Page4of7 Villa e Maintenance A total of £1,050.21 was spent on planting of tubs and baskets and maintenance of these through the year, along with bulb and wildflower seed planting. An amount of £4,530 was Spent on grass cutting of communal parish verges. banks and 5elerted hedges through the 2024125 growing season. This compared to the original budget of £6,000 and included extra, approved work maintaining bench areas. ecific Individual Communit Awards and Pro ects Several new applications for funding from the DCCF were brought forward and considered by the trustees. As in the previous year, each new application was assessed by the DCCF Projects Sub-committee against pre-determined criteria. This assessment includes checking compliance with the NDA socio-economic vision/policy. A check is also applied to establish whether alternative or additional funding routes have or could be sought. P4uclear De¢onYnissthin9 Aylho¥ily The applicants are then informed of the Committee's decision in writing and they are requested to sign to accept any conditions attached to an award before any funding is released. Applicants may be asked to supply documents- such as copies of their AGM minutes, annual accounts, Risk Assessments etc- and accept our usual terms & conditions. Once a project is approved and progressing, the Drigg Charity trustees continue to oversee progress and financial spend on a regular basis. A list of the approved projects, with a total award payment of £18.621 is given below, with a more detailed description of the purpose and benefits achieved. i) Contribution to the Drigg & Carleton Community Bursary Fund: a contribution of £5,000 was made to the Bursary Fund to underpin the continued availability of the bursary scheme. The pledge and ring fence of funds was in addition to a £3,750 contribution from Nuclear Waste Services who have supported the scheme since its inception. The fund is used to improve access to education or vocational and skills training for members of the local community. ii) Drigg Village Hall: an award of £1,560 was made to install a modern shutter system to protect the main hall electronic screen iii) Drigg church yard grass cutting: trustees agreed an award of £720. iv) Drigg Village Hall: there was an award of £2,061 to give a subsidy to hall users from the Parish v)Drigg Village Hall: the trustees agreed to make an award of £9,280 towards the supply and installation of energy efficiency modifications to reduce hall running costs and use less energy. (See photo right). Page5of7 2. Changes to Management Processes There have been no significant changes to the management processes during the year, although the processes are £ontinually under review. 3. Publicity The arrangements for publicising and acknowledging the source of funding from Copeland Community Fund have continued as described in previous reports, though with the addition of more explicit conditions for acknowledgement of the sponsorship at events or on publicity material. Additional signs and banners for use at events are also made available to event organisers. COPELAND COMMUNITY FUND 4. Good News Stories and Case Studies Benefit to members of the comrnuni The Community Events organised for the Bonfire and the Gala have all contributed to the benefit of the wider community as opportunities for all age5 across the community to come together. Benefits to local amenities Improved appearance of the Parish: routine cutting of communal grass verges; the provision of floral tubs and baskets. The Planting for Pollinators scheme run by Cumberland Council will also be supplemented by a DCCF project to plant wildflowers in the village verges. The cost of the village hall to hirers from the Parish has been subsidised. The village hall has become more energy efficient, reducing usage costs for the future In summary, this year we have spent £29,613 from the DCCF. 5. Future plans for the fund i) Community Led Plan The Community Led Plan launched in 2016. is regularly reviewed and maintained as a 'live' document and is used to guide the future work planned and undertaken by the Parish Council and its partners. The Plan was reviewed at a publicised event in May 2023, open to members of the public, and has been revised with the comments received. ii) Website The community website is used to enhance awareness and improve communication for the community; further improvements to improve transparency, publicity and feedback are regularly reviewed. Page6of7 iii) Newsletter With the demise of the local Tethera (3 parish) newsletter, Drigg & Carleton have produced their own Newsletter which has been well received. We plan to have these communications more often and with more pages, to help communicate with members of the community who do not have access to the internet. This has been delivered free to all of the community. iv) Drigg Village Hall Further repair and improvements are planned to the Village Hall. a prime asset in the Parish, to include new storage facilities and access to a currently unused attic space; an internal staircase stair is being considered. v) There are plans for a built-in cinema system to support the current popular pop-up cinema nights which uses borrowed equipment that takes a couple of hours to set up each time. vil The possible inclusion of electric vehicle charge facilities. as well as pathway links to neighbouring parishes, additional potential uses for land such as a games and play area, picnic areas and environmental improvements such a further plantin& along with 're-wildinl schemes. vii) We plan to support Drigg & Carleton PC with their Licence to Grow project. This scheme uses currently unused land for vegetable and plant cultivation in a project open to all which will offer access to all. Parts of the above are currently speculative plans, which will require more detailed planning and consideration, whilst some are being firmed up for possible execution in 2025-2026. 6. Financial Statements An annual statement of accounts is routinely prepared and available. 7. Audit Certificate A letter from our accountant will confirm that a satisfactory audit of the annual accounts of the Drigg Community Fund has taken place and this will be made available. Name Role Signature Author Chris Gigg Chair Él Approver John Jennings Vice-chair JULY 202S Page7of7 888Q 888-888 ggg t ¢4lbl 88888 - ￿ ¢br w W %2E£> Liu uuz 888% r*l 8882 ggg J o) t W ¢ Illl I li, 11111 3 1, u u vj Fiona Roberts {AAT) Cross House Fam), Statitin Road. Dri8& Holrnrook. Cumbria, CA19 IXQ T.- 019467 24179 M: 07759 850 110 E: f￿naIlOn@ao1.tOM 8th June 2025 The Treasurer Drigg & Carleton Charity 4 Walkmill Gardens Gosforth Cumbria CA20 IEF To Mrs Karen Warnioth I have reviewed the Financial Statement of the Drigg & Carleton Charity for the year ending 31st March 2025. The bookkeeping records have been well maintained and both timely and properly recorded to produce the Financial Statement. The records for the accounting transactions reconcile with the bank statements and the payments have been substantiated with appropriated vouchers or invoices and recorded in the minutes of the charity. Kind regards, Fiona Roberts (AAT) Pagelofl