Annual Report for 1 March 2024 to 28 February 2025
Introduction from Chris Jarrey, Chairman
Welcome to the Chairman’s report for the year 2024-2025, my third annual report as chair of the society; another year has gone by in the blink of an eye! Much has been achieved and much planned for the future, all in all yet another excellent year for the society and its members.
Our beautiful village continues to thrive thanks to the wonderful mixture of residential and business properties, all lending themselves to the special environment that is Oxton village and the unique vibe of the whole Oxton area.
Our core conservation work continues to deal with a plethora of interesting planning applications for building and tree work throughout the year for which our busy officers should be heartily thanked for the time and work they put in keeping on top of things.
Other positive results can be seen in the maintenance of our uniquely varied boundary walls and the work of the tree group, all of which goes towards retaining, nourishing and replenishing the feel of the village. It’s often the little nudges and willing knowledgeable advice which the society is able to gently give that can make a big difference in sustaining our village as a delightful place to live and work and thanks must go to all in the society whose expertise and devotion to the cause makes this happen.
Once more our main fundraising event of the year, the Oxton Secret Gardens, has flourished and advanced in its offering under the leadership of Kirsty Cotton and Lisa Stafford, along with the excellent stewardship of a small army of local volunteers, most of which who go mainly unheralded but to whom on behalf of the society and I hope the village in general I would like to express our sincere thanks and gratitude. Kirsty and Lisa, as event managers have continued to build and develop the success of the event and I hope they know they are especially appreciated by all members of the society.
I know that many of our members also work with or are members of the Callister Gardens Trust and The Friends Of The Arno, so it was great to act on our renewed constitution and be able to make a financial contribution to both these organisations to help them develop and improve on their own activities. The enhancement of the immediately adjacent areas of the Oxton Conservation area is important to us, and obviously we can ourselves, enjoy the gardens they manage and the services they provide. Details can be seen in the annual accounts statement in this report.
I would like to pay tribute to three retiring committee members. Firstly, George Harrison has been with us for many years and has been an active member of our tree planning group. His knowledge and calming advice over the years has been very important to the committee.
Two retiring executive officers from the committee and long-term stalwarts of the Oxton Society in Alan Chape and Jeff Willis, will also be retiring at this AGM. The time and effort they have put into every activity we partake within the Oxton Society over many years is impossible to quantify. Their dedication and unapparelled expertise will be greatly missed, so a huge thank you on behalf of everyone involved with the society both past and present is totally warranted. Alan and Jeff, the society would not be what it is today without your colossal efforts. Thank you
Coupled with the loss of committee members and a common theme in 2024-2025 is in the availability of volunteers to organize and help with running our projects and events, and I believe we are reaching a critical period of change. It is hoped that over the remaining months of 2025, moving into 2026 will see a new band of volunteers joining our ranks who can keep the vibrancy of our village alive. If you, or anyone you know of can help in this important task, please contact us.
Further below are some more detailed statements of our activities, and most importantly, our financial report. Thank you, as members, for your support to the society.
Chris Jarrey, Chair
Report of Partnership Officer: Alan Chape
This has been a year of developing an effective partnership with Conservation Areas Wirral (CAW) and this has focused on ensuring that Wirral Borough Council has an effective programme for protecting the region’s 26 Conservation Areas. Oxton CA is regarded as one of the most active areas and is in a position to provide assistance to other areas not as blessed. As such, I have tried to bring our approach to other CAs in my capacity as Chair of CAW. This is especially in relation to how you should relate to the Council’s conservation section and keep abreast of changing and new policy. An important element has been how the topic of climate change should be addressed especially in relation to solar panels and other aspects of climate change. In addition, climate change is starting to impact on Oxton’s treescape which leads to addressing the possible danger of very large trees which have outgrown their original setting. It is important that we share the expertise of the Oxton society committee with other conservation areas not as well represented as Oxton. Sharing our knowledge and practice will become even more important as the conservation and heritage agenda brings new challenges and new policy requirements.
Report on conservation, heritage and building and property planning regulations.
We have continued to liaise with and try to influence Wirral council where necessary in the protection of the conservation area’s building assets. For the official period of the report this involved mainly ensuring that the new Council Local Plan, for development over the next 25 years, was considerate to conservation areas. Fortunately, we believe the finally approved plan allows for no detriment to heritage and conservation assets in the whole Wirral area. As we move further into 2025, we are engaging with the council as part of their ‘Local Listing’ project and seeking enhanced protection status to worthy buildings.
Trees and treescape
Being an important asset to the conservation area, our treescape needs constant attention and management. Our concern in this regard is that many trees have become overgrown and are now quite old which can lead to the need for severe growth removal due to public safety concerns. We are, again keen that we encourage residents to manage their tree assets according to the council’s regulations and in this we have attended many properties during the year to offer our advice to the property owners, and formal recommendations back to the Council’s tree department for planning decisions to be made.
Report from the Membership Secretary, Hugh Owen
The Oxton Society is a membership organisation. Our members are the lifeblood of the Society and play a key role in terms of:
– running the Society on a day-to-day basis and organising all of our activities. We have no paid staff.
– providing the core funding for the Society through paying an annual subscription, and
– giving legitimacy to the Society as the main voice of conservation in Oxton.
We are extremely grateful to all members for your continuing support, and for the hard work of those who help run the Society – whether through delivering newsletters, researching our local history, reviewing planning issues or helping organise our events. In turn, we hope that we are accountable to you through our regular emails and newsletters, publishing this annual report and inviting you to open events such as the annual general meeting. We have also recently undertaken a membership survey to canvass your views on our priorities over the next few years, and we look forward to sharing the results.
At the end of our financial year (February 2025) we had 457 residential members, and over 60 community and business partners. Of those residential members 42 were life members – usually in recognition of their exceptional service to Oxton – and 415 paid by regular subscription. However subsequently we have reviewed our records, and around 50 memberships have lapsed as a result of non-payment of subscriptions, following reminders being sent to the individuals and households concerned. This gives a ‘true’ membership figure of around 410.
The primary payment method for subscriptions is now standing order, and this has simplified administration for both members and the Society, with annual membership renewal now automatic, unless the standing order is cancelled. At the end of the year, around 85% of members paid by standing order, and this continues to rise with the current proportion now over 90%. In addition, a similar proportion of members have opted to enable the society to claim ‘gift aid’ on their subscriptions, an important source of additional income. We are very grateful to those who have already made this choice, and for any member who is a taxpayer and has not, we would encourage you to do likewise as there is no additional cost to yourself. If you would like to ‘gift aid’ your subscription, or are not sure whether you have or not, please contact the Membership Secretary at membership@theoxtonsociety.co.uk.
We are delighted to continue to welcome new members at the rate of around two per month and will continue to encourage local residents to join the Society to support our important work and help make Oxton a better place to live. We’d appreciate any support you can give in promoting membership to your friends and neighbours. The more members we have, the bigger the voice! We also have a small number of members who live ‘out of the area’ – around 5% of our membership – normally former residents who like to use their membership to keep in touch with a place which clearly still matters to them. It is a testimony to the continued pulling power of Oxton.
Secret Gardens
The SG event continues to be the key method for ensuring the society can operate on a sound financial footing. It also means that the society has been able to continue to engage with and financially support local charities in the area who volunteer to help us run the event. This is such an important aspect to both the society committee and the SG organizing team which greatly helps the motivation required to manage a 5000 person invasion of the village! That the event continues to run efficiently and smoothly is a huge tribute to the leadership of Lisa Stafford and Kirsty Cotton.
Christmas Lights
The society made a significant financial investment in upgrading the lights and switches, which ensured we had a smoothly run operation and a great display of festive lights for the season. The event continues on and has proven an important diary date for many residents (and non-residents). Marie and Dave Pennington, again led the volunteer team which with some last-minute offers of help, effected a great Switch-On party. Some of that organizing team including their leader, Marie, have decided to hand over to a new team. A big thank you to Marie for her volunteering over the years.
Hanging Baskets
Amazingly, and thankfully, the ever-stalwart John Booth still took the lead role again and ensured a fabulous display of flowers was installed in the village. Finding a volunteer to take over this task has been seemingly impossible and with John not continuing beyond 2025’s baskets project, if no one is found to take on this lead role the whole project is in danger. The society continues to fund the entire cost of the hanging baskets project annually which runs to approximately £2500+.
Finance Report from the Treasurer, Griff Round.
2024/5 was a year where we made use of reserves in specific strategic ways. Money was provided to Callister Garden and Friends of the Arno, as sister organisations important to the Oxton community. Funds were also invested in the Christmas lights and the conservation of heritage lampposts within the village centre. At year end nearly £30,000 remained in reserves.
Although ticket sales for the Secret Gardens were down slightly, increases in other income and a reduction in expenses of the event reduced any impact on funds raised for charities and for the Oxton Society.
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Summary of the annual accounts for 2024-2025 |
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Year ended 29 Feb 2024 |
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Year ended 28 Feb 2025 |
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Income |
Expenditure |
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Income |
Expenditure |
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Administration |
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£4,024 |
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Memberships & donations |
£4,009 |
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£542 |
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Accountancy |
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£596 |
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£296 |
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AGM |
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£176 |
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£169 |
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Website/Software |
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£159 |
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£1,311 |
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Newsletters |
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£1,762 |
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£163 |
£1,178 |
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Other |
£197 |
£594 |
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£4,187 |
£3,495 |
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£4,206 |
£3,287 |
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Strategic aims |
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£12,063 |
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OxSoc Secret Gardens |
£11,172 |
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£0 |
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Blue plaque |
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£0 |
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£3,291 |
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Hanging baskets |
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£3,347 |
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£156 |
£1,219 |
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History group & periodical |
£127 |
£658 |
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£4,823 |
£6,605 |
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Xmas lights |
£5,524 |
£9,209 |
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Community |
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£8,350 |
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£304 |
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Conservation |
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£2,508 |
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£17,042 |
£11,418 |
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£16,823 |
£24,072 |
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£21,229 |
£14,913 |
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Totals for the year |
£21,029 |
£27,359 |
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£36,069 |
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Carried forward |
£29,739 |
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Secret Gardens |
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Secret Gardens 2024 |
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Secret Gardens 2025 |
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£22,480 |
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£8 Programmes (pre- sales) |
£21,596 |
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£12,687 |
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£10 Programmes (on the day) |
£10,275 |
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£9,298 |
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Other income |
£10,080 |
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£8,835 |
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Expenses |
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£8,451 |
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£24,941 |
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Payments to charities |
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£23,450 |
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£10,689 |
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Balance to Oxsoc |
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£10,050 |
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£44,465 |
£44,465 |
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£41,951 |
£41,951 |
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Programme numbers |
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2810 |
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£8 Programmes (pre- sales) |
2700 |
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1268 |
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£10 Programmes (on the day) |
1027 |
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4078 |
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Total programmes sold |
3727 |
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Ends