When the Numbers Don’t Add Up: Follow the Cash, Follow the Silence (An Update)

When the Numbers Don’t Add Up: Follow the Cash, Follow the Silence (An Update)

LET'S DANCE AGAIN 

Charity number: 1202816

21 January → now.
Since the last blog, silence has not clarified matters — it has amplified them.

In the days since publishing “When Silence Becomes the Answer”, a significant amount of new material, evidence, and public statements have landed. Some quietly. Some noisily. All of it points in the same direction:

👉 The figures now published bear no reasonable resemblance to the scale of activity being described, promoted, photographed, and witnessed.

This post brings everything together.

Not conjecture.
Not rumour.
Documented figures, published accounts, public statements, and unanswered questions.

The Published Figures (Now on the Charity Commission Record)

Let’s start with the numbers — because they are no longer missing.

Charity Commission financial returns show:

Financial year ending 31 March 2024

• Total gross income: £14,300
• Total expenditure: £11,710
• Income from government grants: £12,390

Financial year ending 31 March 2025

• Total gross income: £19,150
• Total expenditure: £17,520
• Income from government grants: £0 / N/A

So in plain English:

• Income rises by £4,850
• Expenditure rises by £5,810
• Government grant income disappears entirely
• Net surplus remains modest

On paper, it looks… tidy.

In reality?
It raises more questions than it answers.

The Activity vs Income Disconnect

Across the same period, the organisation publicly promotes and hosts:

• Weekly coffee mornings
• Monthly large-scale social events
• Ticketed shows and “spectaculars”
• Bingo sessions
• Raffles and prize draws
• Auctions
• Bric-a-brac and ad-hoc cash sales
• Bar sales
• Catering and food provision
• Regular cash collections at the door

This is not occasional activity.
This is continuous, cash-heavy operation.

Yet the entire organisation — all of that activity — allegedly turns over just £19,150 in a year.

That is:

• ~£368 per week
• before costs
• across multiple events, venues, and income streams

At this scale, one of two things must be true:

1. The organisation is operating at a level far smaller than publicly presented, or
2. Not all income is being captured, recorded, or reported

Those are not allegations.
They are logical possibilities created by the published figures themselves.

Bingo, Gambling, and Why This Matters

We have now received multiple consistent statements confirming that bingo sessions are run.

This matters because under the Gambling Act 2005, charity bingo is tightly regulated.

In short:

• Certain small-scale bingo can operate without a licence only if all proceeds (minus allowable expenses) are returned as prizes
• Fixed prize structures, retained surpluses, or pooled funds can trigger licensing and reporting requirements
• Cash handling must be transparent and auditable

Concerns raised include:

• Repeated identical prize amounts
• Monthly “bonus” payouts
• No evidence of licensing or exemption clarity
• No publicly available explanation of how bingo income and payouts are handled

The question is not “is this illegal?”

The question is: 👉 Where is the clarity, documentation, and transparency you would expect from a registered charity?

At present, there is none.

Cash Handling: The Black Hole Question

When an organisation relies so heavily on:

• Cash at the door
• Cash raffles
• Cash bingo
• Cash food and drink
• Cash auctions

…it must be able to show:

• Clear collection processes
• Separation of duties
• Reconciliation against event activity
• Transparent recording into accounts

Yet:

• No cash-handling policy has been published
• No internal controls have been evidenced
• No breakdown of income sources appears in the accounts
• No explanation has been offered despite repeated opportunities

The figures sit there, smiling politely, while the activity screams something else entirely.

Governance: Still Missing in Action

Despite claims of extensive policies, we have seen:

• No constitution
• No AGM records
• No minutes
• No membership decisions documented
• No appeals process evidenced
• No safeguarding decision records

This is not academic.

Recent mass exclusions, bans, and allegations were:

• Made without recorded meetings
• Made without minuted decisions
• Made without appeal mechanisms
• Made without transparency

Several witnesses state decisions were taken:

“By one or two individuals, without consultation, and based on hearsay.”

That is not governance.
That is risk.

Sponsorship, Relationships, and the USP Question

A further issue now documented concerns commercial sponsorship linked to a trustee’s family business (USP).

Again, no accusation is made — but:

• There is no recorded discussion
• No conflict-of-interest declaration published
• No minutes evidencing approval
• No explanation of value, benefit, or terms

In any properly governed charity, this would be:

• Declared
• Minuted
• Managed transparently

Here, it is simply… absent.

Patterns, Not Personalities

This matters enough to say clearly:

This is not about personalities.
This is about patterns.

Patterns of:

• Silence
• Control
• Missing records
• Financial figures that don’t align with observable activity
• Governance that exists only by assertion

When organisations are confident in their governance, they publish answers.

When they are not, they block, ban, and stay quiet.

The Question Remains

So we return to the simplest, fairest question of all:

👉 If everything is in order, where is the evidence?

Not reassurance.
Not Facebook posts.
Not “trust us”.

Evidence.

Until then, silence really does become the answer.

#CharityGovernance #FollowTheMoney #FinancialTransparency #CashHandling #BingoLaw #GamblingAct2005 #TrusteeDuties #Safeguarding #Accountability #SilenceIsAnAnswer #Sandwell