Trustee’s Annual Report and Financial Statements 1 July 2022 – 30 June 2023
Charity No: NI 102087
Park Lodge PTA is a charity registered with the Charity Commission for Northern Ireland, CCNI. The organisation is governed by constitution and produces annual Receipts and Payments accounts. The Trustees, for the year 1 July 2022 to 30 June 2023 those Trustees were:
Vicki Guiney, Chairperson Bronagh Weiniger, Treasurer Bridie Murphy, Secretary Christine McAllister, Committee Member Louise O’Kane, Committee Member
Park Lodge PTA aims to advance the education of the pupils in the school in particular by developing effective relationships between the staff, parents and others associated with the school community. We seek to engage in activities or providing facilities or equipment which the support the school and advance the education of the pupils.
CHAIRPERSON’S STATEMENT
The fundraising for the year 2022/2023 was the first year post-pandemic that we were able to have any impactful fundraising involving face to face contact, however we were mindful of not placing pressure on families and carers due to the cost-ofliving crisis hence the decision to not run the Christmas card activity this year. We were delighted to host to community events again, such as a Halloween film night for which we heavily subsidised the cost of the tickets, and of the course the return of our much loved Sausage Sizzle.
We were very lucky to get a beautiful evening for the Sausage Sizzle in June and everywhere we looked there were families sitting on blankets, enjoying the sun, having ice-cream and a hot dog and enjoying the night.
We also had additional funding from the Christmas and Easter ballots. We are always blown away by the generosity of local business & community in the prizes they donate and the support of our families participating in these ballots. Sadly Amazon Smile ceased operations. We were very grateful to all those who nominated the school as their chosen charity.
We said very sad goodbyes to one of our long term PTA members Louise who has been involved for three children’s worth of years! We thank Louise for all that she has done for the school.
Finally the 200 club pool was brought to a close last year. We thank everyone that was involved and their generosity to the school over the years.
Vicki Guiney
ACHIEVEMENTS AND PERFORMANCE
We returned to school free from covid restrictions but in the midst of a cost-of-living crisis.
We were mindful of the need to fundraise for school funds, but needing to be aware of not putting additional pressure on families.
Our first activity of the year was hosting 2 film nights which ran prior to the Halloween break. It was a great success and was a sellout. By making the treat bags up we were able to heavily subsidise the ticket cost but due to the strong support from our community we still made a profit.
Due to the cost-of-living crisis and not wanting to place undue pressure on families we decided to forgo our Christmas card activity and ran a ballot instead. It placed less pressure on families and still raised a fantastic £892.
We ran an easter Ballot with similar success raising £611
We were delighted to have the return of our much loved Sausage Sizzle, which enables us to welcome families into the school. We had local companies supplying bouncy castles and other activities, food from local suppliers and the day was a great success. Kids were smiling, the sun was shining and the hot dogs were delicious!
At the end of the year PTA volunteers were also able to provide a coffee stand at Sports Day.
The PTA also subsided the buses for the pantomime trips for p4-p7 and provided the selection boxes for the Santa visit for the p1-p2 classes
Thank you to pupils, staff and families who supported the PTA throughout the year, in participating in Sponsored Events, supporting ballots, gifting prizes and giving up valuable hours to supervise, sell and plan – without you none of these activities would be possible.
FINANCIAL REVIEW
The Trustees of Park Lodge PTA are pleased to report that at the Year End 30 June 2023 the organisation is in a robust financial position. The organisation is carrying forward a slightly higher level of reserves than in recent times, partly due to the success of the Sausage Sizzle at the end of the year. We look forward to putting these funds to productive use for the benefit of the pupils Our Lady of Lourdes PS.