Trustees Report May 2025.
First of all, I would like to thank everyone who has given their time and talents over the past year and especially I would like to thank Chris W who has opened and locked our premises over the past year when we decided to update our security and lock the main metal gates together with George and myself.
Our major item we undertook over the year was to renovate the large hall toilets and we were very lucky to receive grants of £51,000 towards the cost (£19,000 in our current financial year.
The cost to complete the large hall toilet renovations cost £50,603 which meant that I had to use money from our General Account and Fund Raising to enable us to complete the renovations, but I am sure you will all see that this renovation has been a great success.
One major item which is a worry is during the winter months our gas and electric bills are over £9,262, together with Water, Insurance and PPR, cleaning and general sundries we spent £13,000, (-£22,388 in total). Income throughout the year from our hirers we received over £20,000 in income, which should be much more for 2025/2026 as I will not have to divert money into Improvements and as a committee we have not identified at the present time any major improvement works for 2025.
We have over the past year in our fundraising activities raised £4,400 with the Over 60’s Christmas Parcels costing £2,700. A very big thank you goes to Laverick Hall Farm who donated over £1,100 and also the Christmas Fayre raised £755, leaving us £4,400 for this year, however, we still need to raise more funds both for the improvements and fund raising in case of any unexpected expenses which might rise. Due to our economic situation, we can expect the Over 80’s Christmas Parcels will cost around £3,000, so we cannot lay back and say we have enough money in the pot, so we must endeavour over the rest of this year raise as much as we can to keep the fundraising pot sufficient for future years.
We start the 25/26 accounts with £6,855 in the bank, however we do expect over the year to receive roughly £2/3,000 a month in income, but as mentioned, we have a number of statutory items which have to be paid and I thoroughly expect the insurance will increase and of course the gas and electricity.
Trustee Report for Charity Commission May 25 pg. 1
On a possible good note, we are looking at solar panels through Community Action Northumberland, who are undertaking a feasibility study and if successful we will be able to have a number of solar panels and hopefully eliminating the electricity part of our energy expenses. To put everyone’s mind at rest, this activity will not cost the centre anything as this will be undertaken via a grant.
On the secretarial side of my brief, we have improved our hiring of the centre with Rainbow Trust (Dementia Care), using our building twice a week for the care of people and carers. We also have brought in Chair Yoga for us who are not fit enough to under Yoga which is on a Friday. I would highly recommend this activity. We also have a number of one offs hiring the centre for parties and other activities and believe this is because our prices are very reasonable. However, we might need to in the near future make a more detailed account of our outgoings and income to determine if we are making a small profit to allow us to keep the building viable.
We have as mentioned above in making our premises secure, commenced locking the main metal gates to stop any unsavoury activities in the foyer and again thanks to Chris W and George for undertaking opening and closing the metal gates. I have also had to send to our hirers a change in the code for the main entrance, as it was noted on the CCTV that persons who should not have the code opening up and accessing the building. We have also noted a number of times that the security door has been left open when leaving the premises and I have mentioned this to the people involved. Another concern has been the door kept open and especially when young children are in with their instructor and I have informed all our users to close the security door to ensure the safety. There are a number of exits in case of emergency in the building.
We have over the past year raised much needed funds towards our fundraising activities and wish to thank, Chris, Glynis and Christine H in organising our fortnightly coffee mornings which raised much needed funds. We are finding that more and more people are now attending which we are very grateful. However, saying that we would love to have more people helping and perhaps opening and closing up and hosting the event as most of us are not get any younger and we are having more health problems. Please speak to me if you are willing to undertake this activity or perhaps go on a rota.
Our main fund raising of course was the Christmas Fayre which last year was a joint affair with the Gala Team which as mentioned above raised £755, but we
Trustee Report for Charity Commission May 25 pg. 2
need to do more and perhaps organise more events to raise funds, I will leave that for you to think about and come up with ideas.
Thank you for everyone who has helped over the past year and look forward to working with everyone again during 25/26 to enable us to keep this building as an asset for Seghill Community.
Heather Johnson
Trustee & Secretary
May 2025
Trustee Report for Charity Commission May 25 pg. 3
April 1st 2024
| April 1st 2024 | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Write of | Tute | Improvements | Fundraising | Balance | ||
| Carried Forward | -£89.77 | £7,481.86 | £24,779.04 | £2,575.54 | £34,746.67 | |
| Income | £20,024.40 | £27,988.04 | £4,593.51 | £52,605.95 | ||
| Total of income | £27,506.26 | £52,767.08 | £7,169.05 | £87,442.39 | ||
| Expenditure | -£22,388.81 | -£55,369.81 | -£2,738.80 | -£80,497.42 | ||
| Balance | -£89.77 | £5,117.45 | -£2,602.73 | £4,430.25 | £6,855.20 | |
| £153.00 Cash in hand |
Independent examiner's report to the Trustees of Seghill Colliery Insttute
I report to the trustees on my examination of the accounts of Seghill Colliery Institute for the year ended 31st March 2025.
Responsibilites 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 and 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:
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Accounting records were not kept in respect of the Trust as required by Section 130 of the Act, or
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The accounts do not accord with those records.
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:
Relevant professional qualification or membership of professional bodies (if any)
Date: