AGMs
THIS PAGE IS BEING UPDATED - July 2025
Woodford Green Amenity Group Trustee Report for the year ended 30 April 2024.
Legal and Administrative Information
Woodford Green Amenity Group is registered with the Charity Commission with the reference no 273343. Its official address is c/o 13 Kings Avenue, Woodford Green, Essex, IG8 0JD. The Group’s website address is www.woodfordgreenamenitygroup.org
The trustees of the charity during the year ended 30 April 2024 were
Michael Brook – Vice Chairman, Sue Brown, and Jean Wyber – Treasurer.
The trustees are assisted by an Executive Committee –
June Brook, Joan Brown, George Buchanan, Ian Haines, Joel Herga, Linda Huggett, Noreen Madison, Neal Manners, Matthew Parker, Alice Pastides and David Smith.
Structure, Governance and Management
The Group’s constitution was agreed in 1974 and registered with the Charity Commission in 1978. Officers and other members of the Executive Committee are elected annually at the Annual General Meeting.
When new Trustees are appointed, they are required to read the Charity Commission guidance on the responsibilities of their role.
Decisions are made at Committee meetings but if it is necessary to make a decision between scheduled meetings, the Officers will consult by email and the decision will be recorded in the next committee minutes. Committee meetings are usually held every two months.
Members of the Executive Committee are also members of other committees concerned with local amenities and report on matters of mutual interest.
Objectives and Activities
The Group’s original constitution is available on the website but in recent years we have concentrated on improving the amenity of the local area (providing hanging baskets and seasonal lighting, maintaining certain open areas and litter picking) and advocacy.
Achievements and Performance
During the year ended 30 April 2024 the Celebration Tree was well used. It was lit for all the major religious festivals and it, plus the surrounding fencing, was decorated for Remembrance Day and Christmas Day
The lawn around the Celebration Tree is solely maintained by WGAG.
A very successful Quiz Evening was held in October 2024
Financial Review
The Group does not have a Reserves Policy. It has no ongoing commitments and has provided amenities when it had the funds available. These have been depleted by deficits which reached a level where we were unable to order hanging baskets for the summer of 2023.
The subscription income dropped again this year. We received more from households (£5) but four fewer from businesses (£25). Due to Gift Aided donations from individuals, we were able to make a bigger claim than last year.
We were very grateful to the members and friends who supported the Quiz Night which raised nearly £1,400. The balance of fund raising income came from sales of cards and tea towels etc.
Early in 2023 LB Redbridge (LBR) paid over a small Community Infrastructure Levy (CIL) grant which we requested for the cost of watering the Celebration Tree. We are told that the cost of including this in LBR’s watering schedule will cost £121.50 so the unapplied part of the grant will need to be carried over or repaid at the end of the season.
Because the gross income of the charity is less than £25,000 an independent examination of the accounts is not required under the provisions of the Charities Act 2011. The financial statements have been prepared in accordance with the Charities Act 2011 Section 133, using the Receipts and Payments basis available to small charities.
Future Plans
Members of the Committee are preparing an application for a larger CIL grant to enable us to re-instate the Hanging Baskets (and add some railing trough baskets) in the Broadway in the summer of 2024. This will require crowd funding from the Group and its supporters to match funding from LBR.
We have set up a sub committee to review the Group’s constitution.
We are continuing to organise Litter Picks and bulb planting to continue the enhancement of our locality. We comment on planning development proposals where appropriate.