Becoming a charity

One fundraising suggestion made at the AGM was to take advantage of Gift Aid, which would incease the value of donations by 20 percent. This tax break is only available to charities so Claire B (Treasurer) agreed to look into the matter to see whether it would be the right thing to do.

Claire reported back: "Having spoken to HMRC the early verbal indications are that our activities do fall within the charitable purposes qualifier, but they said the best way to confirm this was to apply."

"The main disadvantage is extra administrative work – Gift Aid donations have to be recorded in a particular way, and if not done correctly will not attract tax relief. This burden will fall largely on the Treasurer (hurrah)."

At a meeting this afternoon, it was unanimously agreed that Friends of Northleach Swimming Pool would register with HMRC for charity tax relief purposes. We also voted in a new constitution - one that will satisfy the requirements for small charities.

The constitution sets out the rules by which Friends of Northleach Swimming Pool will operate. Please take a look if you're interested.

Coming clean

After the pool emptying comes the cleaning... we have to clean the algae from the pool and pool cover. Thank you to Lucy and Giles, Claire B and others who gave up their time this weekend to help - sorry I don't have all the names. Photos by Nell Burditt (reception class).

Emptying the pool

Northleach Fire Service were on exercise at the swimming pool yesterday evening, where they pumped out all the water so that we can clean and paint the pool ready for the summer 2010 season. Claire provided cake, Fiona provided flasks of tea and coffee, Tim was in charge of keys and spent the evening doing odd jobs from weeding the pool surround to sweeping out the boiler room. Alex Barter (year 6) helped and took the photos. A huge thanks to all the firemen - who have saved us hours upon hours of bailing!

Letter to Parents 19/4/10

Dear Parents/Carers,

The summer term is rapidly approaching and it will soon be time for the swimming sessions for the children to start again - these take place regularly during the second half of term.

The children enjoy using the pool enormously; they get so much from it and we are incredibly lucky to have such a wonderful resource on our doorstep. However, as I'm sure you are aware, the pool is very expensive to maintain and can only remain open if the running costs are met. This year we have calculated that the sum needed will be approximately £3000. This means, inevitably, more fundraising!

We are planning to hold some events during the next few months which we hope will be fun for children and their families alike, but we are open to any ideas which you have (as well as offers of help!). If you are interested we would love to hear from you. We realise that people are busy and sometimes it seems that there are endless fundraising requests but the situation is somewhat desperate and we would be very grateful for your support.

In the meantime a container has been placeed in the entrance hall and we are hoping that you might put any spare coppers into it as you're passing. Any amount would be really appreciate as it will all make a difference and it would be fantastic to reach our target.

Thank you very much in anticipation of your support.

The Swimming Pool Fundraising Committee