Costs & demandWindmill Hill City Farm
Windmill Hill City Farm is a charity with a Bedminster address on the charity register. Its 2024 AGM minutes, published in October 2025, give a paper loss of £220,000 on turnover of £2.3m for 2023/24, reserves of £580,000 against a desired £600,000, Living Wage pay rises of 10%, rising utility bills, and a nursery below full occupancy because of recruitment difficulty. The Charity Commission’s record shows income of £2.68m and spending of £2.76m for the year to 31 March 2025.
How do rising wages and energy bills and an under-filled nursery combine to produce a loss? Practise this in AO2 Application.
Interpreting accountsTobacco Factory Arts Trust
Charity Commission records give income and spending for the Tobacco Factory Arts Trust, which runs Tobacco Factory Theatres in Southville, for each year to 31 March: £1.75m and £1.90m in 2020, £1.07m and £812k in 2021, £1.53m and £986k in 2022, £1.25m and £1.36m in 2023, and £1.44m and £1.49m in 2024. For 2024 the register shows income of £1,436,000 and spending of £1,491,000, a deficit of £55,000 by our arithmetic, with £93,000 from four government grants. The yearly figures are rounded.
What happened to income and spending in 2021, and how do grants change the picture? Step by step in AO3 Analysis.
Strategy & stakeholdersBedminster Business Improvement District
Bristol24/7 reported on 17 September 2023 that traders on North Street, West Street and East Street voted against renewing the Bedminster Business Improvement District by a narrow margin. The district, founded in 2013 and funded by a small levy on about 350 businesses, had paid for street cleaning, Christmas lights and events, and its ring-fenced money was due to continue until the term ended on 31 October 2023. Asda had withdrawn support in 2018, and East Street traders had criticised it over road closures and building work. We couldn’t confirm the vote count, turnout or levy rate.
Should businesses pay a compulsory levy for shared services, and was this district worth renewing? A real judgement for AO4 Evaluation.
Bedminster’s economy in the classroom
Wikipedia, citing the 2021 census, gives the Bedminster ward 12,916 residents and the Southville ward 12,882, and a census site gives 12,917 for Bedminster, so we say about 12,900. A city farm, a theatre trust and a business improvement district give students real contexts for costs, accounts and stakeholders. We tie these themes to topics on the specification.
Sources: Wikipedia, List of electoral wards in Bristol (citing ONS); censusdata.uk; Windmill Hill City Farm 2024 AGM minutes; Charity Commission, Windmill Hill City Farm and Tobacco Factory Arts Trust; Bristol24/7, 17 September 2023; Ashton Sixth course pages. The £55,000 deficit is our arithmetic, the register figures are rounded, and the BID vote result is not quantified.
