CHAIR’S REPORT 2023
Welcome to the 2023 AGM. To say this year wasn’t been quite what we expected is a bit of an understatement. We expected to celebrate owning the fields, which we did. We didn’t expect to be doing it in the teeth of a downpour, a drenched festival site and a car park where the public had largely to be removed by hand. However, it’s to our lasting credit that it was handled effectively and with humour, albeit gallows humour. We made a promise to the public about the car park “if you go in we’ll get you out”. It was essential we were believed, we’d have had to close if the public blocked the roads. We were believed. They trusted us. We kept our promise – even though volunteers were going down randomly with a vomiting bug. I think that public trust is down to the reputation the event’s got for its unique feel and its welcoming inclusive atmosphere. That’s worth a great deal. and a result of the ethos we’ve built up with our volunteers over the years. It’s now part of our DNA.
So, if you leave out the wretched weather, the mud and the vomiting virus, we had a pretty good festival and an appropriate celebration.
Of course, all this took its toll on our finances and they don’t look very pretty this year. We’ll have to look at this hard and I think its true to say we need better financial analysis and information, for trustees to be able to make informed decisions. Now that we’re working with Excel via free charity copies of Microsoft 365, we should be able to prepare regular assessments from the bookkeeping that Tim currently maintains. I think we can find suitable additional volunteers to do that, relieve the workload and improve trustee’s real-time information.
On top of this we’ll need to future proof our IT. We’re running a website based on legacy software devised by Ben and only properly understood by Ben. We sell 97% of our tickets through the website via its PayPal link. Our only source of knowledgeable help for this is via one of the surviving members of Loscoe State Opera, who acknowledges not understanding all the finer details of Ben’s coding. That is a major risk that we really must address.
Now, don’t get me wrong. This is not a doom-laden warning. We survived the Covid pandemic. We’ve completed a campaign to buy the fields and the funding to do it, winning the Queen’s Award in the process. That’s no mean feat for an entirely volunteer organisation and shows the collective strength we’ve got.
Right, looking to the future what do I see as our immediate priorities.
First more income, we’re not breaking even currently. Given inflation the way it is, the continuing cost of living crisis and climate uncertainty, we need to be more robust. There’s limited room to reduce our costs, although we should do the finetooth comb thing, which is where better analysis comes in.
Essentially though the answer is pretty simple: we need to sell more tickets Another 50 to 100 tickets would be perfect. Funds to put away in good years, funds to draw on in ones like this just gone. How do we do that? We need to strengthen our marketing to our target audience, to define them more effectively. Who are they? How do we reach them? Why should they come? Our regular publicity works to our
existing audience but it has to spread to reach audiences we don’t have. Probably through social media. We have offers of expertise for this.
Second priority is to overhaul our IT website, email, the whole nine yards. There is grant funding around for charities to do this “digitalisation” malarkey, but before applying for the money we’d do well to define what we want it to do. Again, there could be funding for this. An effective brief is the first step to getting something that’s simple to use, robust and better than what we’ve got There’s any number of botched IT installations. Most of us will have our own favourite examples of WTF frustration with frankly crap examples. And that’s before we get to the astonishingly fraudulent example of the Post Office. And Fujitsu.
Finally, I said last year that “None of us go on forever and renewal should be at the heart of all we do. Speaking personally, I’ve been chair now for over thirty years and it’s been quite a ride: Foot & Mouth, Dot’s loss and Paddy’s purchase, the 2008 crisis, the mud year, funding Covid closures, the Queens Award, the 8-year slog to raise the funds and negotiate the sale of the fields with Paddy. All of this has taken time and energy to do properly and do well. Following recent developments at Liverpool FC, where Jurgen Klopp said he wanted to go by the end of the season because he no longer had the necessary energy, I too would like to step down at the end of the season, in five months’ time, at this year’s festival– assuming of course that you’d be prepared to approve that in the upcoming votes.
Lastly, I want to thank you all for your unstinting support and confidence in me over the last 32 years. You have built a much loved and, in my view, unique event cherished by thousands. No mean feat for an entirely volunteer organisation. In the words of Philip Larkin “may it always be here”
T ONY TRAFFORD
FEBRUARY 2024
Stainsby Folk Group Statement of Financial Activities
For the Year Ended 31st December 2023
Stainsby Folk Group Balance Sheet As at 31st December 2023
| Restricted Restricted Unrestricted 2023 2022 Field Site £ £ £ £ A1 - Receipts B1 - Cash Funds Grants Cash at bank and in hand Ault Hucknall Parish Council 0 2000 0 2000 4000 Derbyshire Community Fund 0 0 0 0 2000 Total Assets Bolsover District - Covid Recovery Grant 0 0 0 0 0 Bassetlaw Community & Voluntary Service 0 0 0 0 0 Restricted funds 1 Total Grants 0 2000 0 2000 6000 Annual fund 2 Other Receipts Net Assets Concert Receipts 0 0 13654 13654 14798 Bar Receipts 0 0 13527 13527 11289 Site Receipts 0 0 20481 20481 22198 Note 1 - Restricted Funds Crafts 0 0 625 625 780 Concessions 0 0 3824 3824 1100 Field HMRC Gift Aid 0 0 0 0 863 Funds raised specifcally for the purpose of purchasing the feld Miscellaneous 0 0 0 0 0 on which the annual Stainsby Music Festival is currently held. Total Other Receipts 0 0 52111 52111 51028 This is to safeguard the event for future generations. The Fields were actually purchased in December 2022 for £81,658 Funds Raised for Purchase of Field 4341 0 0 4341 50134 Additional donations continue to be made to this fund and will be used for future capital improvements on the site. Total Receipts 4341 2000 52111 58452 107162 Note 2 - Annual Fund A3 - Payments The Annual Fund is the cash fow needed for the ensuing year's event before any income is generated. Administration 0 0 2459 2459 960 Bar Payments 0 0 6257 6257 6894 Artists 0 0 26849 26849 20323 B4 - Assets retained for the charity's own use Publicity 0 0 522 522 -435 Festival felds - Restricted Funds - Reported at cost Site 0 2000 23650 25650 32963 The felds are now held as an asset of the charity by four holding trustees: Leader Funding Exp - 80% Grant Funded 0 0 0 0 0 Richard Renshaw, Roger Warren, Zara Gillibrand and Tony Traford Committee Expenses 0 0 724 724 208 Total Payments (Excluding Asset Purchased) 0 2000 60461 62461 60913 Net Income 4341 0 -8350 -4009 46249 A4 - Purchase of Fields (See B4) 0 0 0 0 -81658 A6 - Cash Funds Last Year End 2405 0 19639 22044 57453 Cash Funds This Year End 6746 0 11289 18035 22044 |
2023 £ 18035 18035 6746 11289 18035 81658 |
2022 £ 22044 |
|---|---|---|
| 22044 | ||
| 2405 19639 |
||
| 22044 | ||
| 81658 | ||
CHARITY COMMISSION FOR ENGLAND AND WALES Independent examiner's report on the accounts Section A Independent Examiner's Report Report to the trustees SThiNS(gY FoLk CLU(4 On accounts for the year ended 31 . béctM£d 2013 Charity no (if any) Set out on pages SÉg AfZ(ACfrlEf) t-i(x I report to the trustees on my examination of the accounts of the above charity ("the Trust.) for the year ended 3 ( 112 120 13 As the charity's trustees, you are responsible for the preparation 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 all the applicable Directions given by the Charity Commission under section 145(5)(b) of the Act. (i) Responsibilities and basis of report IndeDendent examiner's statement I have completed my examination. I confirm that no material matters have come to my attention in connection with the examination dtsdQ) which gives me cause to believe that in, any material respect: the accounting records were not kept in accordance with section 130 of the Charities Act. or the accounts did not accord with the accounting records; or the accounts did not comply with the applicable requirements concerning the form and content of accounts set out in the Charities (Accounts and Reports) Regulations 2008 other than any requirement that the accounts give a 'true and fair, view which is not a matter considered as part of an independent examination. I have no concerns and have come across no other matters in connection with the examination to which attention should be drawn in this report in order to enable a proper understanding of the accounts to be reached. Please delete the words in the brackets if they do not apply. KJ.J Date: 041"31LoI S ALAJ D*d( D50 Signed: Name: Relevant professional qualification(s) or body IER Oct 2018
(if any): 1 S loke h6gai Sk1 2Q Only complete if the examiner needs to highlight material matters of conrn (see CC32, Independent examination of charity accounts: directions and Uiual li•f IOI rxai I"iii Iri i). Give here brief details of any items that the examiner wishes to disclose. IER Oct 2018