The Magdalen Environmental Trust GDAL ENT Annual Report and Accounts 2021 Chari Informatlon DIRECTORS I TRUSTEES Gill Spence Sarah Gleadell Caroline Walker William Davies Robert Shearer Martin Biss stephen Miller Hilary Habberfield Rupert Farthing Mark Ward Peter Darch Fran￿$ Stuart (appointed 29.09.21) (appointed 29.09.21) {appointed 29.09.21) (resigned 02.07.211 (resigned 07.07.211 (resigned 28.05.21 } COMPANY SECRETARY Gillian Rowe TREASURER William Davies EXECUTNE DIRECTOR (Non-Trustee) Giles Aspinall PRINCIPAL ADDRÉSS Th8 Magdalan Environmental Trust Magdalen Farm Winsham Somerset TA20 4PA Tel: 01460 30144 REGISTERED OFFICE The Magdalen Envlronmental Trust The Magdalen Project Magdalen Fami Winsham TA20 4PA REGISTERED CHARrrY NUMBER 1002373 REGISTERED COMPAMY NUMBER 2502427 BANKERS Triodos Bank NV Deanery Road Bristol BA15AS SoucrroRS McPhersons The Long Bam Winchester Road King's Sombome Hampshire. S020 6NZ The trustees are pleased to present their report together with the financial statements of the charity for the year ended 31 December 2021. structure Governance and Mana ement The Magdalen Environmentsl Trust is a company limited by guarantee governed by its Memorandum and Articles of Association dated 16 May 1990 and amended by special resolutions dated 12 June 1990, 22 June 1990 and 22 March 1991. as amended by certificate of incorporation on change of name dated 1910712011. It is a registered charity wilh the Charity Commission. The directors of the charitable company are its trustees for the purposes of charity law and throughout this report are collectively referred to as twstees. The trustees serving during the year and since the year end are set out on page 1. The liability of the members in the event of the charity b8ing wound up is limited to £1. The charity's overall strategic direction and policy decisions are detemiin8d by the board of trustees, who meet quarterly. The board delegates the translation of the strategic goals into the achievements of operational aims to the Chi8f Executive, Giles Aspinall, and staff team, who manage the charity's reSoUr￿S to achieve its goals most effectively. The Chief Executive reports directly to the board at their meetings. providing up to date reports for the trustees, scrutiny and query. Two sub committees, the Finance Advisory Group and the Fami & Land Advisory Group. each induding a mixture of twstees and staff, make recommendations and reporl directly to the board at their meetings. Le al com an structure: The Magdalen Environmental Trust is a registered charity and a company limited by guarantee. It is the so18 owner of two trading subsidiaries, Magdalen Fami Ltd and Magdalen Events Ltd. Governance: In 2021 we have: Continued to deliver the charity's aims and extended our offer to various groups Developed new approaches for managing the estate at Magdalen Farm. for the greater benefit of wildlife Set objectives for asset improvement on site Continued to operate our proven financial model and generated an end of year surplus to establish a cash reserve and invest in our facilities The retum to face to face meetings has also precipitated changes in membership of the Board. Frances Stuart, Mark Ward and Peter Darch stood down this year, and we are very gratefvl to them for their work and commitment to Magdalen. However, we are pleased to welcome new trustees in their stead.. Hilary Habberfield, Stephen Miller and Rupert Farthing. ointment of trustees induction and tralnln New trustees can put themselves forward for eleclion. or can be proposed by any member of the existing board or by the Chief Executive. If the board accepts the nomination, a pot8ntial trustee is invited to attend one of their quarterly meetings as a guest, prior lo accepting appointment to it. At the end of the meeting, rf the board and candidate are in agreement. the kX)tents'al candidate is formally appointed as a trustee. Trustees are chosen for their professional abilities and experience 2nd commitment to the Trust's aims. The Trusl's DEED provides for a minimum of three trustees, but there is no maximum. One third of the trustees shall retire by rotation annually at the annual general meeting. being ihose who have held office the longest since their last appointment or reappointment, but they can apply for re-e58Ction. The chairman is appointed by the board and s8rves for a period of one year. after which they may put themselves forward for re-election. The Chief Executive overs88S the management of the Trust, supported by th8 Senior Management Team. Ob'ectives and activities Aims Our visitors feel the connection between their wellbeing and nature We all consider and understsnd our environmental choices The recovery of wildlife Inclusion and inspiration for all Through our 132 acres of diverse habitsts, residential accommodation, Interpretation materials, workshops and courses, the foundation offers visitors the opportunity to develop an understanding of sustainability. their environment and a greater r6sponsibility towards it. The charity aims to make learning an adventure, through hands-on inspirational activities and imaginative teaching styles and resources. We take an holistic approach to our work, integrating ideas about education and sustainability and supporting best envlronmental practice at all times, In pursuance of ts Charitable objectives the charity provides a range of residential and on&day educational activities, courses and services aimed at school groups, other children and adults seeking environmental education, and people whose wellbeing can be improved by spending productive time in nature. The 132 acre fann with its diverse environment provides the setting for many of our activities and courses. These services can be grouped together as.. Environmentsl education for children and adults Care Farming - improved quality of life and personal development Rlsk Mana ement In line with our health and safety policy. risks stemming from project activities. management and facilities a￿ subjected to risk assessments, updated annually. This is overseen by our Health & Safety Officer (Centre Manager), with the support of the Chief Executive. Trained staff update the risk assessments relevant to their roles. All our activity risk assessments and health and safety procedures are documented and discussed at regular staff and trustees meetings. To manage financial risks. our Treasurer chairs the Finance Advisory Group, analysing dats which we have restructured for maximum transpa￿ncY. Financial risks beyond the immediate control of the charity are covered by Conlingent Liability Insurance policies. Volunteers The charity greatly benefits from the ongoing involvement and commitment by volunteers, whose contribution is hugely appreciated. We would like to thank Volunteers from the local community, who have tirelessly given their lime and effort for the improvement of the quality of seNice we provide. Volunteers from across the world who have stayed in our accommodation for weeks or months, contributing both skills and strong backs to work on slle Employee Volunteers from companies and govemment departments in the South West, who contribute enormous volumes of work condensed into single, very exciting days. Without all of these volunteers, Magdalen would not be so able to meet the needs of schools and communities, or support so many wild plants and animals. Public Benefit It can be se8n from our achievements detailed in this r8POrt that the charity has complied with section 17{5) of the 2011 Charities Act to have due regard to guidance published by the Charity Commission in respect of public benefit. As well as being a leading provider of environmental education. Magdalen is a prominent member of Social Famis and Gardens. and Is one of the foremost care famis in Britain. Environmental Education Outcomes 4.551 people engaged wlth Magdalen this year 2,627 of them came to us for environmental education. 66 schools worked with us this year These flgures are very much the same as In 12 months before the pandemlc.-. .despite all school trip$ being banned Uintll April, and overnlght stays being banned untll May Overni ht sta Magdalen's core offer, (its USP if you like), is overnight stays. Groups of children and adults stay in our facilities converted from old farm buildings in order to immerse thems8lv8s in environmental learning. This year, govemment coronavirus restrictions made this Servi￿ illegal until May, by which time it was too late to make arrangements for empty slots in the calendar during th8 rest of the summer temi. However, we were blown away by the commitment and enthusiasm of the schools who could still make it at short notice in the summer, and those who moved their bookings to the autumn. It has surely been our busiest autumn ever! 618 children benefitted from the 15 residential school trips at Magdalen this year. Da vlslts Day visits to Magdalen, (school trips taking place within usual school hours), have never been more popular. We are proud to have run 47 visits Sin￿ April. when they became legal once more, with 1,242 children benefitting. This is 500/0 more children than before the pandemic. Dawn to Dusk visits In response to coronavirus restrictions, and the ban on school overnight trips, we developed the Dawn to Dusk offer. The day starts with breakfast. and is then action packed right through to the evening campfire. Dawn to Dusk visits are an entirely new service developed this year. We had expected them to be popular solely while overnight trips were banned, but we were wrong. They have proved extremety popular all year as a half-way-house between a 'nonnal' school trip and an overnight stay. 589 children have benefitted from 20 Dawn to Dusk visits this year. Weekl education for outside the classroom ils who need to learn We are pleased to maintain our relalionship with Holyrood Academy, for whose students we provide weekly outdoor leaming. These are students who typically struggle in the traditional education setting, but whose learning we can enhance with practical skills, personal development and embedded key skills. We have also been proud to provide weekly education for other, younger chlldren attending other schools in the first half of the year, when lockdown anxiety added to the burdens of children who already had a great deal to cope wlth. Forest school transitions Forest School Transitions is an initiative which is unique to Magdalen. 11 helps vulnerable children to engage more successfully with their new school, despite psychological and emotional barriers which make the move up to secondary education all the more difficult. This year we have dèlivered the service to 6 schools. and 36 chlldren. We use Forest School techniques with small groups of children throughout a school term. The children are all in their transition year- thal is. their first year in secondary education - and have been identified as those who may need help settling into their new environment. There are many reasons why a child may need this help, but without it. these are the children most likely to become truant in later years, with poor attendance leading to poor attainment and reduced future prospects. Outdoor Weeks f Learnin We are very proud lo collaborate in the Emest Cook Trust's OWL programme (OWL stands for Outdoor Weeks of Leaming), which kicked off this autumn. OWL beneficiaries are children living in the most deprived communities, with the poorest access to nature. All the 90 chlldren who have taken part at Magdalen this year come from London, and they have been amazing. It is very exciting to use grant ￿ndIng to support work with schools. In the past. this funding has been very hard to come by, so we are parbcularly enjoying the opportunity lo do it now. The only people enjoying it more are the children. The OWL progrdmme will run for several years, and we, (ourselves and the other project partners), are keen to use this opportunity for some cutting-edge evaluation of what works best to change environmentsl behaviours. Care Farming Outcomes 589 people wlth dlsabilities or living in significant disadvantage came to Magdalen this year... despite pandemic restrictions reducing our servlces the firJl half of the year... and the increased risk for many of covid-19,- due to suppressed Immune systems and underlying health condilions. Children with disabilities and their families Once again. we have been very pleased to host children with disabilities visiting with their schools, and with their families. We have resumed ourfull &year programme of Sleepoverweekends and one-day Short Breaks, supported by the National Lottery Community Fund. The demand is such that places are booked within a couple of hours of them being published on the intemet. We also trlalled a new se￿ICe this summer, and it has been one of the highlights of the year. Growing Independence w.as a 3-day cours8 aiming to help young people with disabilities leam some of the skills they will ne8d to live independently. such as cooking vacuuming, cleaning their bathrooms etc. We did, of course, add a healthy dollop of Magdalen Farm activities into the mix. but the real triumph was the young people's eagemess to engage in some of lrfe's18ss glamourous pursuits. It's easier to leam this stuff from someone who's not your mum or dad. Trafficked children and unaccom anied refu ees Magdalen's role is as a provider of meaningful interventions through which children can express themselves, feel valued and useful, and can forge friendships and a peer- support ne￿ork. Unaccompanied trafficked children feel welcome here, and feel accepted. which can have a profound psychological value to them. Our Work has yielded some remarkable results. and some surprising. touching events which have helped the young people to work through emotional and psychological trauma associated with their desperate situations and the violen from which they have fled. We are very pleased to have resumed our programme of work with the British Refugee Council this aulumn. and we look forward to more partnership working next year. Adults recoverin from mental illness In September, we were deligmed to welcome members of the Mosalc Clubhouse to Magdalen once more. Clubhouse members join us for the best part of a week, bringing enthusiasm in bucketloads, eager to try new experiences and pushing themselves physically. This is remarkable as conditions such as anxiety and dinical depression can make farm4rfe very difficult. Surviving all the mud and chaos with OCD must be quite a challenge. People who knowingly choose to put themselves through that challenge deserve our greatest respect. 12 Families Ilvln In overt r on a low income W8 havè been very happy to be a part of Dorset's Holidays and Food programme this year. running activities and providing good square meals for referred families at Easter, Summer and in the Winter. In addition. we were pleased to offer follow-up days for the families taking part to enhance our service toward the end of the summer holidays. It has been good fun for everyone involved, and it is great to offer experiences which might otherwise not be available. We look forward to contributing again next year. We are pleased to still be supporting local food banks, supplying them with fresh and frozen fami produce in order to feed local households in the most acute need. In 2021 we donated 2.5 tonnes of produce. a similar figure to 2020, but in eady 2021, {during the third coronavirus Lockdown), we focused on pre-preparing meals for those who cannol cook for themselves. Since the pandemic began. we have donated over 5 tonnes of produce, including fresh fruit and vegetables, eggs, meat, preserves and prepared meals to food banks and community kitchens. By the end of March 2022, when our donations programme is due to come to an end. we expect to reach 5.5 tonnes in total. 13 Youn Carers Young carers are children with inappropriate caring responsibilities at home. In 2021 we have focused on young carers from Somerset, North Somerset and Wiltshire, providing them with opportunities for personal growth and respite from care. This year. of course, this respite has had an additional benefrt of being a break from the continual anxiety of caring for an unwell parent or sibling during a pandernic. Our thanks go to the various funders who have enabled this work. Young carers come to us to improve: Social skills and communication with others: Severely curtailed opportunities for play can stop young carers developing good interpersonal skills, particularly with their own age group. . Emotional resilience.. Spending time with other young carers, especially over periods of several days, will enable them to share their stories with each other, realise they are not alone in their experien￿$ and to develop a supporting camar8derie. Physical health: Magdalen actlvlties are typically outdoors and active, giving young people an excellenl introduction into a more healthy and active lifestyle. Il J r. Outcomes for Nature Down b the River The River Axe runs through Magdalen Farm. Despite a raft of official designations, it is in very poor condition, and has been described this year as the #1 priority river in the south west because despite it's woeful condition, it is still save-able. This year, we have worked with the Environment Agency and Cain Bioengineering to create a unique and fascinating piece of habitat creation on th8 River Axe. 350 metres of river have been filled with large woody debris. creating leaky dams to hold back the river in spate, accompanied by a rocky check-weir downstream. Th8 Outcomes we expect are: Reduced bank erosion.18ading to improved water quality Accr8tion of waterborne silt and gravels. gradually raising the riverbed, Increased inundation on our floodplain, leading to better connectivity befvieen the land and the water Better habitat for fish, with protection from predators and increased spawning grounds. It will be a few years before we can really gauge the success of this project, but it's exciting to speculate on what will happen. 15 Land mana ement for nature conservation Magdalen Farm is an oasis of unimproved neutral grassland (now one of England's rarest habitats), interspersed with a mosaic of woodland, wetland, hedgerows and scrub. This diversity makes it a fabulous resource for wildlife. Part of the site is designat8d as a Site of Nature Conservation Interest - the grasslands and scrub of slopes 1, 2 and 3 and Bennetts Hill. These are our traditional focus-areas. and continue to thrive under existing management regim8s. Maypole Close. the wildflower- rich meadow taken into cOnse￿ation management in 2016, continues to delight us with its increase in biodiversity. Sustainable ractices at Ma dalen Farm We continu8 to follow our established environmentally sustainable practices: Organic food production and the sourcing of food from our own farm. The use of technologies such as a biomass boiler and solar panels. The purchase of locally grown timber, The use of water from the spring onsite, The use of locally produced sawdust. (a waste product of commercial joinery) as animal bedding The use of a suite of environmentally friendly products and consumables. 16 Investment owers and oll Under the Memorandum and Articles of Association, the charity has the power to invest in any way consistent with the aims and objects of the charity. Trustees, res onsibilities The trustees (who are also directors of The Magdalen Environmental Trust for the purposes of company law) are responsible for preparing the trustees, report and the financial statements in accordance with applicable law and United Kingdom Accounting Standards (United Kingdom Generally Accepted Accounting Practice). Company Law requires the trustees to prepare financial stat8m8nls for each financial year which give a true and fair view of the state of affairs of the ¢haritsble company and Ihe group and of the incoming resources and application of resources. incjuding the income and expenditure, of the charitable company and group for that period. In preparing these financial statements the trustees are required to: select suitable accounting policies and then apply them consistently; observ8 th8 methods and principles in the Charities SORP; make judgements and estimates that are reasonable and prudent; state whether applicable UK AccL)unting Standards have been followed, subje to any material departures disclosed and explained in the financial stalements- prepare the financial statements on the 'going concem, basis unless it is inappropriate to presume that the charitable company wlll continue in operation. b) d) The trustees are responsible for keeping proper accounting records which disdose with reasonable accuracy at any time the financial position of the company and enable them to ensure the financial statements comply with the Companies Act 2006. They are also responsible for safeguarding the assets of the charitable company and hence for taking reasonable steps for the prevention and d8t8Ction of fraud and other irregularities. In so far as the trustees are aware: there is no relevant audit information of which the company's audltors are unaware; and th8 trust*s have tsken all the st8PS that we ought to hav8 taken in order to make ourselves aware of any relevant audit information and to establish that the charitys auditors are aware of that infomation. Approved by the board of trustees Signed.. 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