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ANNUAL REPORT October 2025
Slaithwaite Community Association
Slaithwaite Community Centre Bankgate Slaithwaite Huddersfield HD7 5DL
Registered Charity No. 516991
www.slaithwaitecommunitycentre.org info@slaithwaitecommunitycentre.org bookings@slaithwaitecommunitycentre.org
Introduction
In 1983 the Church of England infants’ School in Slaithwaite closed and its pupils transferred to the Junior School at Two Gates. A number of local people expressed an interest in using the school building as a meeting place for local groups. A public meeting was held, which was very well- attended, and support was expressed for this idea. There was a strong feeling that a building that had served the village for over 100 years should not be lost. The owner of the building, Lord Dartmouth, agreed to lease the building for community purposes with the responsibility for its maintenance to be in the hands of an elected committee.
The Association is a registered charity and as well as its role as the Managing Committee for the Community Centre it has the aim of encouraging and promoting community life in Slaithwaite. It seeks to achieve this by providing facilities at a reasonable cost for the groups and organisations that meet at the Centre and also by helping to facilitate events that bring together the many interest groups in the village as well as people of all ages who do not belong to any organised group.
The association is run by a committee of volunteers elected at the Annual General meeting held in the autumn. Its meetings are open to anyone who wishes to attend.
Trustees and Committee
Mr Gordon Beever -Holding Trustee Mrs Susan Fell - Holding Trustee Mr John Scott - Holding Trustee Chairperson – Linda Hinchliffe (Trustee) Vice Chairperson –Angela Fischer (Trustee) Treasurer – Andrew Garsed (Trustee) Secretary – Julie Shaw (Trustee) Pam Wood (After School Club) Richard Izzard Kim Soothill (Meals on Wheels) Anna King Heather Copley Kathy Bugg Duncan Henderson A representative from Slubbing Billy’s
Slaithwaite Community Centre
The Community Centre continues to be busy and is home to a variety of community groups and organisations. A lot of goodwill keeps the Centre going and volunteers work very hard to make sure everything runs smoothly. The number of regular user groups has remained constant and we have no more availability on weekday evenings. We have a regular weekly booking on Saturday and have some monthly weekend bookings. There are many one-off events and the Centre remains a popular venue for children’s parties. Many thanks to Ange Fischer who has the unenviable task of keeping on top of all our bookings.
In July we hosted another textile exhibition at the Centre in conjunction with The Loft Space, as part of Woven in Kirklees. This was well attended again, and we hope this will become an annual event.
Groups Currently Involved in the Centre on a regular basis are:
Merrydale Private Day Nursery Slaithwaite After School and Holiday Club Slaithwaite Squirrels, Beavers, Cubs, Scouts, and Explorers Slaithwaite Rainbows, Brownies and Guides Slubbing Billy’s Pilates Classes Languages for Fun Meals on Wheels Soul Choir Bodyrockerz Community Baby and Toddlers Group (BaTs) Fierce Dance Mazazik Dance Coyne’s Kickboxing Tae Kwando
All groups are encouraged to nominate a representative to attend the monthly committee meetings. In this way we aim to ensure that decision making about the Centre rests with those who use it.
Centre Developments .
As in previous years, maintenance and refurbishment of the building have been our main focus. The flat roof at the centre has been causing problems for several years and this year we made the decision to go for a new roof. This was made possible thanks to grants from The Lottery Community Fund, Huddersfield Common Good Trust, and the Bernard Sunley Foundation. We are extremely grateful to these organisations for their financial support.
We managed to keep the centre open during the building works, everyone pulled together and put up with the temporary disruption. Our builders, D and D Roofing, went out of the way to help things run smoothly.
The re-roofing was a lot of hard work for committee members but has been worth it for the lovely new roof.
Our second major project this year was the raising money for a community defibrillator at the Centre which can be used 24/7 by anyone who needs it. Within days of launching the project, we had been pledged donations from our user groups to almost cover the cost. We would like to thank Merrydale Private Day Nursery, Meals on Wheels for their donations, BaTs for raising money with a coffee morning and Dan Price who runs Soul Choir for busking in the village to raise money. Individual Committee members also raised money. We would also like to thank Scott from Defibrillators Save Lives for all his help and Noel Ward from Owl Electrical for installing the electrical connection free of charge.
The defibrillator is now installed in the playground, is registered with the ambulance service and available for use. Richard Izzard has volunteered to be Guardian of the defibrillator and check it on a regular basis. Signage will be put up shortly, and a training session is to be held on how to use a defibrillator.
We still have a very small core group of volunteers who continue to work hard to maintain and develop the Community Centre. We have actively tried to recruit new people this year and have managed to increase our numbers by one. If the Centre is to continue in its present form, we need to recruit new members to the Committee to share the workload.
We are now fully staffed but Committee members are still regularly covering cleaning and caretaking during annual leave and sickness.
Slaithwaite Christmas Lights
Another successful switch on of the Christmas lights this year. Many thanks to Richard Izzard and his team for organising this and as always, many thanks to all the volunteers who helped with PAT testing and putting up and taking down the lights.
We are grateful to all the shops, organisations and traders who once again stepped up and sponsored the lights.
Centre Plans for 2025/2026
Our focus for the coming year must be to recruit more new volunteers for the Centre and to encourage our user groups to become more active in the running of the Centre by sending a representative to our monthly meetings. Meetings are the forum for discussing any issues and suggestions from user groups. A major focus is also the changes to our constitution and charity status which were put to one side this year to concentrate on the new roof.
Acknowledgements
Thank you to all the committee members and volunteers for the huge amount of time and effort that has been invested in running the Centre. Everyone has been very supportive and stepped in at difficult times. Thank you to Troels Peterson, our caretaker and to Gill Maginess and Paula Jones, our weekend staff, for continuing to keep the place running smoothly. We would also like to thank everyone who has given us advice and help with the running of the Centre.
Thanks also go to all the groups who continue to use and support the Centre.
We would like to pay tribute to Janet Jobber who passed away this year. Janet worked tirelessly to help set up the Community Centre in Slaithwaite and the success of the Centre today is a tribute to her efforts.
INCOME AND EXPENDITURE ACCOUNT FOR THE YEAR ENDED 31ST MAY 2025
| INCOME | 2025 | 2024 | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Trading Income | 41,370 | 36,241 | |
| Grants | 30,000 | 0 | |
| Donations | 1,360 | 302 | |
| Christmas Lights | 2,232 | 4,603 | |
| Arts Festival | 0 | 0 | |
| Fundraising | 0 | 0 | |
| Interest Received | _ 964 | 1,027 | |
| SES | wn t@,473_ |
||
| EXPENDITURE | |||
| Rates and Insurance | a275 | 2,533 | |
| Water | 1557 | .- | 1,282 |
| Lighting and Heating | 8,485 | 7,754 | |
| Provision for Bad Debts | 0 | 0 | |
| Christmas Lights | 3,438 | 2,928 | |
| Arts Festival | 24 | ||
| Wages | 9,799 | 10,078 | |
| Telephone and Broadband | 389 | 341 | |
| Fundraising Activities | 0 | 0 | |
| Repairs and Renewals | 7,611 | 8,030 | |
| Cleaning Materials | 867 | 1,158 | |
| Accountancy | 75 | 75 | |
| Wate Disposal | 2,235 | 1,604 | |
| Sundry Expenses | 1,807 | 1,132 | |
| Provision for Depreciation | 8,667 | 4,882 | |
| 48,230 | 42,196 |
Net Income
27,696
-23
BALANCE SHEET AS AT 31ST MAY 2025
2024
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||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
|FIXED|ASSETS|
|Structural|Improvements|to|Property|51,268|12,810|
|Fittings|&|Equipment|16,830|18,881|
|68,098|31,691|
|TOTAL|FIXED|ASSETS|
|CURRENT|ASSETS|
|Debtors|&|Prepaid|Expenses|6,941|6,437|
|Cash|at|Bank|52,008|62,168|
|58,949|68,605|
|CURRENT|LIABILITIES|
|Creditors|&|Accrued|expenses|1,909|2,853|
|NET ASSETS|125,139|97,443|
|FINANCED|BY|
|ACCUMULTATED|FUNDS|
|Balance|as|at|ist June|2024|97,443|97,467|
|Net|Income|for|the|year|27,696|-23|
|ACCUMULTATED|FUNDS|125,139|97,443|
|APPROVED|BY AND|SIGNED ON|BEHALF|OF|THE|TRUSTEES|
|AAA|Alen.ta gA e|CHAIRPERSON|
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SLAITHWAITE COMMUNITY ASSOCIATION
ACCOUNTS
YEAR ENDED 31ST MAY 2025
INDEX
1, INDEPENDENT EXAMINERS REPORT
2, INCOME AND EXPENDITURE ACCOUNT
3, BALANCE SHEET
INDEPENDENT EXAMINERS’REPORT TO THE TRUSTEES OF THE
SLAITHWAITE COMMUNITY ASSOCIATION
I report to the trustees on my examination of the accounts of Slaithwaite Community Association for the year ended 31[st] May 2025.
Responsibilities and basis of report
As the charity trustees of the Trust 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.
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 giving me cause to believe that in any material respect:
- accounting records were not kept in respect of the Trust as required by section 130 of the Act; or 2. the accounts do not accord with those records; or 3. the accounts do 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.
Signed:
Name:
Address:
Date: