2025-02-28-accounts - The Oxton Society

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The Oxton Society

21[st] October 2025

Dear Oxton Society Member

Notification of Society Annual General Meeting 2025

The Oxton Society’s AGM will be held at the St Saviour’s Parish Centre starting at 7.00pm on Wednesday 12th November 2025.

A copy of the Annual Report for 2024-2025 is included with your newsletter pack and is also on our web site. The agenda for the AGM is overleaf. Any other supporting documents are also on the society’s website. https://theoxtonsociety.co.uk/

Our actual meeting will start at 7pm, but a welcome drink will be available from 6.30pm and the society’s committee members will be in attendance should you wish to meet them.

We currently have vacancies for new members of our Committee. Please contact myself should you be interested in being nominated to join the committee. Our email address is info@theoxtonsociety.co.uk

Hope to see you at the AGM.

With best wishes,

John Heathman

(Secretary, The Oxton Society)

Agenda for Oxton Society Annual General Meeting

St. Saviour’s Parish Centre, 30 Bidston Road CH43 2JZ

Wednesday 12[th] November 2025 starting at 7pm

Chair’s Welcome
Approval of minutes of last AGM held November 7[th] 2024
Matters arising
Guest presentation from Wirral Borough Council Planning Team
“Heritage and Conservation now and the future”
Presentation and Approval of Chair’s Annual Report
Discussion on Society future strategy and projects
Accounts and Approval of Treasurer’s Report
Nomination and election of Officers and Executive Committee Members
Presentation of Design Awards
Presentation of Community awards
Questions from the floor

Close

The Oxton Society Annual Report for year 1[st] March 2024 to 28[th] February 2025

Introduction from Chris Jarrey, Chairman

Welcome to the Chairman’s report for the year 2024-2025, my third annual report as chair of the society; another year has gone by in the blink of an eye! Much has been achieved and much planned for the future, all in all yet another excellent year for the society and its members.

Our beautiful village continues to thrive thanks to the wonderful mixture of residential and business properties, all lending themselves to the special environment that is Oxton village and the unique vibe of the whole Oxton area.

Our core conservation work continues to deal with a plethora of interesting planning applications for building and tree work throughout the year for which our busy officers should be heartily thanked for the time and work they put in keeping on top of things.

Other positive results can be seen in the maintenance of our uniquely varied boundary walls and the work of the tree group, all of which goes towards retaining, nourishing and replenishing the feel of the village. It’s often the little nudges and willing knowledgeable advice which the society is able to gently give that can make a big difference in sustaining our village as a delightful place to live and work and thanks must go to all in the society whose expertise and devotion to the cause makes this happen.

Once more our main fundraising event of the year, the Oxton Secret Gardens, has flourished and advanced in its offering under the leadership of Kirsty Cotton and Lisa Stafford, along with the excellent stewardship of a small army of local volunteers, most of which who go mainly unheralded but to whom on behalf of the society and I hope the village in general I would like to express our sincere thanks and gratitude. Kirsty and Lisa, as event managers have continued to build and develop the success of the event and I hope they know they are especially appreciated by all members of the society.

I know that many of our members also work with or are members of the Callister Gardens Trust and The Friends Of The Arno, so it was great to act on our renewed constitution and be able to make a financial contribution to both these organisations to help them develop and improve on their own activities. The enhancement of the immediately adjacent areas of the Oxton Conservation area is important to us, and obviously we can ourselves, enjoy the gardens they manage and the services they provide. Details can be seen in the annual accounts statement in this report.

I would like to pay tribute to three retiring committee members. Firstly, George Harrison has been with us for many years and has been an active member of our tree planning group. His knowledge and calming advice over the years has been very important to the committee.

Two retiring executive officers from the committee and long-term stalwarts of the Oxton Society in Alan Chape and Jeff Willis, will also be retiring at this AGM. The time and effort they have put into every activity we partake within

the Oxton Society over many years is impossible to quantify. Their dedication and unapparelled expertise will be greatly missed, so a huge thank you on behalf of everyone involved with the society both past and present is totally warranted. Alan and Jeff, the society would not be what it is today without your colossal efforts. Thank you Coupled with the loss of committee members and a common theme in 20242025 is in the availability of volunteers to organize and help with running our projects and events, and I believe we are reaching a critical period of change. It is hoped that over the remaining months of 2025, moving into 2026 will see a new band of volunteers joining our ranks who can keep the vibrancy of our village alive. If you, or anyone you know of can help in this important task, please contact us.

Further below are some more detailed statements of our activities, and most importantly, our financial report. Thank you, as members, for your support to the society. Chris Jarrey Chair

Report of Partnership Officer: Alan Chape

This has been a year of developing an effective partnership with Conservation Areas Wirral (CAW) and this has focused on ensuring that Wirral Borough Council has an effective programme for protecting the region’s 26 Conservation Areas. Oxton CA is regarded as one of the most active areas and is in a position to provide assistance to other areas not as blessed. As such, I have tried to bring our approach to other CAs in my capacity as Chair of CAW. This is especially in relation to how you should relate to the Council’s conservation section and keep abreast of changing and new policy. An important element has been how the topic of climate change should be addressed especially in relation to solar panels and other aspects of climate change. In addition, climate change is starting to impact on Oxton’s treescape which leads to addressing the possible danger of very large trees which have outgrown their original setting. It is important that we share the expertise of the Oxton society committee with other conservation areas not as well represented as Oxton. Sharing our knowledge and practice will become even more important as the conservation and heritage agenda brings new challenges and new policy requirements.

Report on conservation, heritage and building and property planning regulations.

We have continued to liaise with and try to influence Wirral council where necessary in the protection of the conservation area’s building assets. For the official period of the report this involved mainly ensuring that the new Council Local Plan, for development over the next 25 years, was considerate to conservation areas. Fortunately, we believe the finally approved plan allows for no detriment to heritage and conservation assets in the whole Wirral area. As we move further into 2025, we are engaging with the council as part of their ‘Local Listing’ project and seeking enhanced protection status to worthy buildings.

Trees and treescape

Being an important asset to the conservation area, our treescape needs constant attention and management. Our concern in this regard is that many trees have become overgrown and are now quite old which can lead to the need for severe growth removal due to public safety concerns. We are, again keen that we encourage residents to manage their tree assets according to the council’s regulations and in this we have attended many properties during the year to offer our advice to the property owners, and formal recommendations back to the Council’s tree department for planning decisions to be made.

Report from the Membership Secretary, Hugh Owen

The Oxton Society is a membership organisation. Our members are the lifeblood of the Society and play a key role in terms of:

running the Society on a day-to-day basis and organising all of our activities. We have no paid staff.
providing the core funding for the Society through paying an annual subscription, and
giving legitimacy to the Society as the main voice of conservation in Oxton. We are extremely grateful to all members for your continuing support, and for the hard work of those who help run the Society – whether through delivering newsletters, researching our local history, reviewing planning issues or helping organise our events. In turn, we hope that we are accountable to you through our regular emails and newsletters, publishing this annual report and inviting you to open events such as the annual general meeting. We have also recently undertaken a membership survey to canvass your views on our priorities over the next few years, and we look forward to sharing the results. At the end of our financial year (February 2025) we had 457 residential members, and over 60 community and business partners. Of those residential members 42 were life members – usually in recognition of their exceptional service to Oxton – and 415 paid by regular subscription. However subsequently we have reviewed our records, and around 50 memberships have lapsed as a result of non-payment of subscriptions, following reminders being sent to the individuals and households concerned. This gives a ‘true’ membership figure of around 410.

The primary payment method for subscriptions is now standing order, and this has simplified administration for both members and the Society, with annual membership renewal now automatic, unless the standing order is cancelled. At the end of the year, around 85% of members paid by standing order, and this continues to rise with the current proportion now over 90%. In addition, a similar proportion of members have opted to enable the society to claim ‘gift aid’ on their subscriptions, an important source of additional income. We are very grateful to those who have already made this choice, and for any member who is a taxpayer and has not, we would encourage you to do likewise as there is no additional cost to yourself. If you would like to ‘gift aid’ your subscription, or are not sure whether you have or not, please contact the Membership Secretary at membership@theoxtonsociety.co.uk.

We are delighted to continue to welcome new members at the rate of around two per month and will continue to encourage local residents to join the Society to support our important work and help make Oxton a better place to live. We’d appreciate any support you can give in promoting membership to your friends and neighbours. The more members we have, the bigger the voice! We also have a small number of members who live ‘out of the area’ – around 5% of our membership – normally former residents who like to use their membership to keep in touch with a place which clearly still matters to them. It is a testimony to the continued pulling power of Oxton.

Secret Gardens

The SG event continues to be the key method for ensuring the society can operate on a sound financial footing. It also means that the society has been able to continue to engage with and financially support local charities in the area who volunteer to help us run the event. This is such an important aspect to both the society committee and the SG organizing team which greatly helps the motivation required to manage a 5000 person invasion of the village! That the event continues to run efficiently and smoothly is a huge tribute to the leadership of Lisa Stafford and Kirsty Cotton.

Christmas Lights

The society made a significant financial investment in upgrading the lights and switches, which ensured we had a smoothly run operation and a great display of festive lights for the season. The event continues on and has proven an important diary date for many residents (and non-residents). Marie and Dave Pennington, again led the volunteer team which with some last-minute offers of help, effected a great Switch-On party. Some of that organizing team including their leader, Marie, have decided to hand over to a new team. A big thank you to Marie for her volunteering over the years.

Hanging Baskets

Amazingly, and thankfully, the ever-stalwart John Booth still took the lead role again and ensured a fabulous display of flowers was installed in the village. Finding a volunteer to take over this task has been seemingly impossible and with John not continuing beyond 2025’s baskets project, if no one is found to take on this lead role the whole project is in danger. The society continues to fund the entire cost of the hanging baskets project annually which runs to approximately £2500+.

Finance Report from the Treasurer, Griff Round.

2024/5 was a year where we made use of reserves in specific strategic ways. Money was provided to Callister Garden and Friends of the Arno, as sister organisations important to the Oxton community. Funds were also invested in the Christmas lights and the conservation of heritage lampposts within the village centre. At year end nearly £30,000 remained in reserves.

Although ticket sales for the Secret Gardens were down slightly, increases in other income and a reduction in expenses of the event reduced any impact on funds raised for charities and for the Oxton Society. A summary of our published accounts is overleaf.


/ / Summary of the annual accounts for 2024-2025

Year ended 29 Feb 2024				Year ended 28 Feb 2025
Income	Expenditure			Income	Expenditure
		Administration
£4,024			Memberships & donations	£4,009
	£542		Accountancy		£596
	£296		AGM		£176
	£169		Website/Software		£159
	£1,311		Newsletters		£1,762
£163	£1,178		Other	£197	£594
£4,187	£3,495			£4,206	£3,287
		Strategic aims
£12,063			OxSoc Secret Gardens	£11,172
	£0		Blueplaque		£0
	£3,291		Hangingbaskets		£3,347
£156	£1,219		History group&periodical	£127	£658
£4,823	£6,605		Xmas lights	£5,524	£9,209
			Community		£8,350
	£304		Conservation		£2,508
£17,042	£11,418			£16,823	£24,072

£21,229	£14,913		Totals for theyear	£21,029	£27,359
£36,069			Carried forward	£29,739


			Secret Gardens
Secret Gardens 2024				Secret Gardens 2025

£22,480			£8 Programmes(pre- sales)	£21,596
£12,687			£10 Programmes(on the day)	£10,275
£9,298			Other income	£10,080
	£8,835		Expenses		£8,451
	£24,941		Payments to charities		£23,450
	£10,689		Balance to Oxsoc		£10,050
£44,465	£44,465			£41,951	£41,951

		Programme numbers
2810			£8 Programmes(pre- sales)	2700
1268			£10 Programmes(on the day)	1027
4078			Totalprogrammes sold	3727

Ends

The Oxton Society Financial Statements for the year ended 28 February 2025

The Oxton Society Financial Statements for the year ended 28 February 2025 Honorary Secretary Mr John Heathman Treasurer Mr Griff Round Address 142 Grosvenor Road Prenton Wirral CH43 IUD Independent Examiner Horner Downey & Co Ltd Chartered Accountants 10 Stadium Court, Stadium Road Bromborough Wirral CH62 3RP

Independent Examiner's Report on the Accounts Report to the Members of The Oxton Society We report to the Members of The Oxton Society on accounts for the year ended 28 February 2025 set out on pages 3 to 4. The charity's members are responsible for the preparation of the accounts. The charity's members consider that an audit is not required for this year under section 14412) of the Charities Act 2011 (the 2011 Act) and that an independent examination is needed. It is our responsibilty to: examine the accounts unders section 145 of the 2011 Act,. to follow the procedures laid down in the 8eneral Directions given by the Charlty Commisslon under section 14515llbl of the 2011 Act; and to state whether particular matters have come to our attention. Our examlnatlon was carried out in accordance with general directions given by the Charity Commission. An examination includes a review of the accounting records kept by the charity and a comparison of the accounts presented with those records. It also includes consideration of any unusual items or disclosures in the accounts, and seeking explanations from the members concerning any such matters. The procedures undertaken do not provlde all the evidence that would be required in an audit, and consequently no opinion is 8iven as to whether the accounts present a 'true and fair view, and the report is limited to those matters set out in the statement below. In connection with our Èxaminatlon, no matter has come to our attention.. 111 which gives us reasonable cause to believe that in, any material respect, the requirements.. to keep accounting records in accordance with section 130 of the 2011 Act, and to prepare accounts which accord with the accounting records and comply with the accounting requirements of the 2011 Act have not been met,. or 121 to which, in our opinion, attention should be drawn in order to enable a proper nderst3ndin8 0 thea 41 LJ counts to be reached. Horner Downey Ltd Chartered Accou ts 10 Sta ourt. Stadium Road Bromborough Wirral CH62 3RP Dated ium

The Oxton Society Balance Sheet As At 28th February 2025 Year ended 28 February 2025 Year ended 29 February 2024 Tan8ible Assets Freehold land Equipment 762 1,015 Comwter S(hftware As per last account Less: Provision for Depreciation Total Flxed Assets 763 Current Assets Stock Cash at Bank- General Account Savings Account- Hampshi Trust Bank Petty Cash 1.016 14,995 16,459 1,803 11,104 26,262 1,548 33,257 34,020 38,914 39,930 Creditors Accruals Unearned Income 550 3,731 2,861 Total Assets Less Current Uabllltles 29,739 36,069 Reserves Unrestrlcted Surplus for the year Reserve Brought Forward 6,330 36,069 6,316 29,753 29,739 Re$trl¢¢ed Net Surplus for the year Reserve Brou8ht Forward 36,069 29,739 36.069 Approved by the Committee Sl8ned on behalf of the committee Mrjohn Heathman Date MrGrlff Round Date 5>/J-/2 r

The Oxton Society Detailed Income and Expenditure Account For the Year Ended 28th February 2025 Year ended 28 February 2025 Year ended 29 February 2024 Secret Garden Secret Garden Other Total Other Total Income Secret Gardens Member5hip5 Xmas Lights Donations Periodicals 44.465 44,465 3,676 5.524 333 127 54,125 49,370 49,370 3,778 4,823 246 156 58,373 3,676 5,524 333 127 9,660 3,778 4,823 246 156 9,003 44,465 49,370 Expenses Secret Garden Exp Secret Garden Exp Secret Garden Charities 18,3521 124.9411 133.2931 18,3521 124,9411 133.2931 111.6591 125,6481 137.3071 111,6591 125,6481 137.3071 Administration Administration Expenses Accountancy AGM Website/Software Newsletter5 Room rental Bank charges 1604 15421 12961 11691 11,3111 16041 15421 12961 11691 11,3111 15961 11761 11591 11,7621 11801 1571 12.9301 15961 11761 11591 11,7621 11801 1571 12.9301 1661 12,9881 1661 12.9881 Strategic Aims Hanging Baskets History Group Xmas Lights Conservation Community 13,3471 16581 19,2091 12,5081 18,3501 124,0721 13,3471 16581 19,2091 12,5081 18,3501 124,0721 13,2911 11,2191 16,6041 13041 13,2911 11,2191 16,6041 13041 111,4181 111,4181 Depreciation Depreciation 13571 13571 13571 13571 15071 15071 15071 15071 Total Expenses Operating Surplus/lDeficitl 133,2931 11,172 127,3591 117.6991 160,6521 16.5271 137,3071 12.063 114,9131 15,9101 152,2201 6,153 Other Income Interest received 197 197 197 197 163 163 163 163 SurplusllDeficitl for the year Surplus to General Reserves Surplus Brought Forward Surplus carried Fonvard 11,172 117,5021 16,3301 12,063 15,7471 6,316 70,932 82,104 134,8631 152.3651 36,069 29.739 58,869 70.932 129,1161 134,8631 29,753 36,069

The Oxton Society Financial Statements for the year ended 28 February 2025