## **Fifth Beckenham South Scout Group** ## Charity Number 1011301 **Annual Report** April 2023 – March 2024 ## **Group Scout Leader** A successful year of Scouting for the whole group, very much overshadowed by the passing of our Group Quartermaster and beloved Scout Leader John Blair Potter. John gave 55 years of selfless service to Scouting and The Fifth Beckenham South. In 2007 John received The Mayor of Bromley Award for Outstanding Voluntary Service and he will be deeply missed by all who knew him. A true gentleman, role model, mentor and friend. All sections have surpassed the Scout Association minimum policy of operating standards despite relentless changes to Policy Organisation Rules and extra additions to risk assessment requirements and adventurous activity permits. All sections have continued to function and thrive in the adversity of a post pandemic society, where youngsters have distinctly lost out on years of personal social development and continue to pose new challenges to leadership teams. **John Blair Potter 1936 – 2024 Gone Home** A new hierarchy structure looms within Scouting, changing traditional role titles across the Group and bringing training and volunteer recruitment and retention kicking and screaming into the 21[st] century. Beavers continue to flourish with numbers and adventures, joining in with Bromley District events such as Easter Egg hunt and running their own successful winter and summer sleepovers and Cubs too continue to grow their leadership team and adventures with a sleepover on HMS Cavalier and a fullscale Whitsun (Group) camp joined by Beavers for the day and a small contingency of Lightning Scouts as new Scout Leaders cut their teeth under canvas. - 1/6 - **Fifth Beckenham South Scout Group - Annual Report 2023-24** Scouts enjoyed a successful year and their summer camp in Dorset saw several Scouts gain their RYA sailing qualifications amongst other adventures. Our partnered Explorer Unit summer camped in South Wales and whilst the weather was characteristically wet, it did not dampen the adventure. Our Explorer Leaders also took on the Yorkshire Three Peaks challenge to raise money towards their next international trip planned for 2024. In the summer and autumn of 2023, John Potter, knowing that his days of service were numbered, spent many hours with myself the Group Scout Leader, clearing our Scout Hut and sharing his in-depth knowledge of the inner workings, structure and facilities. Detailed explanations and diagrams of the plumbing, electricity and drainage were shared as well as the vast array of master keys and spare keys available. John also oversaw the start of a Group premises project to inspect and modernise our hut electrics and capacity as the group continues to expand its ambitions for our premises. _Adam Young_ ## **Beaver Scouts** (6-8yrs) _Pippin Colony_ was once again led by Dave Barber, Spencer Coward and Paul Blewer, ably assisted by our Young Leaders Henry, Josh, Amelia and Scarlett. _Merry Colony_ was led by Helen Langston and Lee Anderson, with John Noakes joining our ranks in September. Our numbers were close to capacity throughout the year. We provided a healthy and varied programme: Summer term 2023: - District run St George’s Day event at Frylands Wood Scout Centre with 30 Beavers from both colonies attending - A day visit to our Cubs’ camp at Cudham Shaws in May - Activity Evening run by Frylands Wood with the Beavers taking part in climbing, archery, go karts, assault course and many other adventurous activities - Summer camp, also at Frylands Wood Scout Centre, in July. Activities included a blindfold trail, pond dipping, making and lighting a fire and cooking on it, learning how to put up tents and songs around the campfire. This was a joint camp with 25 attending - An evening trip to Frylands to create bug hotels and learned how to use natural materials - As well as plenty of games, the Beavers worked towards Outdoor Challenge Badge - 2/6 - **Fifth Beckenham South Scout Group - Annual Report 2023-24** A busy and enjoyable year that saw 14 Beavers achieve their Chief Scout Bronze Award. Our thanks, as always, go to our parents who have supported us throughout. _Dave Barber & Helen Langston_ ## Autumn term 2023: - Badge work this term included the Skills Challenge award and Safety badge. - The Beavers enjoyed Halloween activities at the hut, and many took part in clearing the park on Sunday morning after our annual fireworks display - Remembrance Day parade saw 17 Beavers take part in the parade through Beckenham - Winter camp was also held at Frylands Wood with 26 Beavers and 4 Young Leaders attending overnight. Activities included Tunnels, Orienteering, a nature walk, the campfire and Xmas crafts. ## Spring term 2024 - Chinese New Year was celebrated, and the Beavers learned about the Year of the Dragon - 37 signed up to take part In the District Easter Egg Hunt, but sadly this was called off on the day due to very poor weather conditions - Pancakes were enjoyed at the start of Lent with a variety of fillings - We concentrated on the Global Issues and Disability Awareness badges - 3/6 - **Fifth Beckenham South Scout Group - Annual Report 2023-24** ## **Cubs** (8-10½ yrs) The year for cubs has been a busy one and we have continued to meet weekly and work on badges and have had our camps and sleepovers, Cudham Shaws for the May bank holiday weekend; a sleepover on the Lord Armory in October and a winter camp in January 2024 at Fryland. Numbers have remained steady with 24 cubs in each pack and leaders Ray, Sinead, Anna, Matthew and Liz. In June the sixers were lucky enough to attend the Colonels review representing Bromley District with other groups – we were close to St James’ Park so that we could see the parade of the Royal House Artillery, the massed Bands of the Foot Guards and Prince William, on a very hot Saturday. We started the term in April with a bears bridge building mission – great fun designing a bridge. We attended a very wet St George’ s day in April but a great day out where the cubs were able to try out lots of different activities. We made pizza during the term and completed our science badge over 3 weeks as well as our traditional end of term water evening The highlight of the year, as always is our Whitsun camp and in May we did a joint camp with scouts on the other side of the field and beavers joining us for the day. It was a great weekend full of activities including backwoods cooking, camp fires, archery, air rifle shooting and bouncy castles. Our weekly meetings have seen a variety of activities, including science evening, shelter building, wormery making, fires, and the end of summer term our water slide evening. We had a great day out at the docklands scout project in July trying out dinghy sailing, rowing, canoeing and some of the cubs went on the yacht in the amazing setting of Canary Wharf. In October we had a sleepover on HMS Cavalier the last operational second world war destroyer. The cubs slept in real bunks and we had a great evening of activities learning about the ship and it’s history. The following morning, we had time to visit the submarine, HMS Ocelot; HMS Gannet a sloop of the Victorian Royal Navy, and we visited the ropery and made our own rope! A great weekend. We also went bowling in October as a group and went to see Matilda in December at Filmbox at Langley Park school. Other activities over the year have included making Airfix models of a spitfire or jaguar and painting it. St John Ambulance team gave us a fantastic evening on first aid and trained us on the Resus Annie on resuscitation. We - 4/6 - **Fifth Beckenham South Scout Group - Annual Report 2023-24** also did more traditional scouting activities including knots and pioneering together with the regular annual meetings of Halloween, Chinese New Year and pancakes for Shrove Tuesday. We joined the group Remembrance Day parade. Our winter camp at Frylands in January was a great weekend and as well as the traditional activities, of assault courses, hikes, knots etc we had a mad scientist visit. Thank you to all our leaders and parent helpers for all the support throughout the year and we look forward to another year of scouting. **Scouts** (10½ - 14yrs) Both troops continue to thrive, Thunder, on Thursday led by Tim Younge and Lightening on Friday, led by Andy Dawes, supported by a team of scout leaders which includes Spencer, Alistair, Andrew S, Ray, Dickie, CJ, Matthew and Joan and others on an ad hoc basis. It is great to see our troop nights having attendance back to pre-Covid numbers with a combined troop night attendance of around 45 Scouts per week. Scouts are overcoming their reluctance to attend overnight stays; this is something Andy and Tim continue to work on by arranging short nights away to build up their confidence. _Liz Martin & Anna Clough_ We had our regular Group Whitsun weekend camp at Cudham Shaws Activity Centre which was attended by over 20 scout activities included air rifles, archery, grass sledging, and tomahawk throwing. There was a group BBQ and a large campfire. There have been many trips and camps this year with trips to HMS Cavalier to spend the night on a WW2 ship, a weekend on the _Roseanne_ canal boat for the Patrol & Assistant Leaders, a further day out cycling with Penge Cycle Club and the yearly Monopoly run managed by CJ. The minibus is well used for day trips, including to water sports days and Frylands to make use of their facilities and campfire area. The Troops also enjoyed night Badge work, water night, fire lighting, pancake & Chinese cooking, circus skills, Quasar and a host of other activities. - 5/6 - **Fifth Beckenham South Scout Group - Annual Report 2023-24** ## **Fireworks & Easter Egg Hunt** We had our summer camp at Budden’s Activity Centre in Dorset, the weather was not kind to us but in true Scout Fashion we made the most of it and had a great time All the Scouts over the week undertook their RYA training in some challenging weather conditions and all passed there RYA Stage 2 sailing certificate. We continued our organisation of the Beckenham Fireworks display and the Easter Egg Hunt in Croydon Road Recreation Ground and were very pleased to raise a record amount for local charities – over £50,000. This would not be possible without a huge commitment from the group and our many volunteers, and the continued support of the local community, to whom we offer our grateful thanks. ## _www.beckenhamfireworks.com_ We did many activities on site including raft building, climbing, archery, axe throwing, zipwires, high wires Jacob’s ladder, rafting volleyball. Day trips off-site included the Tank Museum and Monkey World. Our end of year Christmas night was held at Bromley Bowling where we put on festive jumpers played a few games and had Pizza. Our Late Xmas winter camp was at Runways Indoor near Aldershot which 35 scouts and 10 leaders attended. There was frost on the ground outside, but that didn’t deter us from activities such as high ropes, indoor circus skills, team building, a campfire with quiz and film in the evening. We would like to thank all the leaders and occasional helpers who have helped throughout the year to achieve all of this. Looking forward to 2024 _Tim Younge_ - 6/6 - RE¢￿TERED CHARITY NuraBE￿ 1011301 oth Beekenham South 8GOUtGroup Report of th• TnNt••s and Unaudltsd Flnanclal PJtat•Thnt8 fortho Y••r Endod 31 March 21)24 5th B•¢k•nham South Scout Group Cont•nt• rftha Flnanclol Slatamnts fortho Yw Ended 31 March 21Y24 Page Report ofthe TrustM8 Ind•p8ndent Examlnerfs Report 8￿t￿lent of FlnanGlal AGtfvltle• Balance Sheet Note8 to the Flnandal Stat•m•nts Sto7 D￿aHed Slatement of Flnanclal Activltle8 8t09 R•port of th• Tru8te08 for th• Ywdr Endod 31 Paarch 2024 The trust*8 pr880nt Ihelr report wlth the financlal statements of the charity for th8 year endad 31 March 2024. Tr IN8tees have adapted the provisions af the Statsment of Recommondad PraGtlce (SORP) 'Accounllng and Rwrtlng by Charltle8' i88ued In March 2005. REFERENCE AND ADMINKSTRATIVE DETAILS R•gl•tsr•d Charfty numb•r 1011301 Prfnclpal addr• The Scout Hut Blshop ChaU¢M?r School 228 Bromley Road Bromloy BR2 OBS Trusts•8 O Cclvllle- Chalr T Younge N Chrumka A Stroud D Barber K Godart.Smlth A Young EJ Jor C Jone8 C Martln E Martln Pco D Mulh Ind•pond•nt oxamln?r Hugh Watchom 8TRUCTURE. GOVERNANCE AND MANAGEMENT Gov•rnlng document The chartty 18 controlled by ft6 govemlng document, a deed of tru8t, and con8tltutes an unincorporated charfty. Rhk manag•m•nt The trustees have a duty to identlfy and revlaw the ri8k8 to *tdch tho tharlty 16 8XP088d and to ensure approprlate control8 are in place to provlde r6asonabl8 assurance agaln8t fraud and error. 2 De¢ 2024 Approved by order ofthe board oftru8toe8 on ............................................. and Slgned on tt8 hhaff C Martin 5th Bockonham south 8cout Group Exafflnaf R to the Tru nh I raport on the acrnunts for the year ended 31 March 20U let out ¢)n page8 three to 80ven. The charlty's trustees are respansible for tho prepardtion o1th8 accounts. The tharty* tru8tees ¢onsldor that an audlt ts not requlred for th18 y￿r under Sedon 144(2) 01 th? Charllles Act 2011 (the 2011 Act) and that an Independent examlrHllon ts rnqulred. It18 my r88poMlblllty to: exarnln6 the accounts urKler Sectlon 145 of th• 2011 Act to fouw th• prooadur8B lald down In th• Gongral Dlrecdon• gfv8n by th• Chartty comm￿￿ (und•r Sedon 146(5)(b) of the 2011 Act); and to 6tate vhwther parkular matters com• lo my att•ntl¢)n. Ba6kn rf th• Ind•pnd•nt •xamln•V• rnport My examlnatlon wa8 cavrlad out In aewd￿ wlth tho G•nernl Dlr#tsn• glv•n by th• Charfty Cormilulon. An 8xarnlnat1￿ InGludM a raviow of the a(yx)unttng recordj kept by the dwlty and a cornparknn of tho aK¢Junts presented wlth th08e r￿x)rdS. It al80 knclude8 ryjnslderatlon of any unusual Itemj or dl8dosum In th8 ac¢ounts, and 8è&klng &xplanakn$ from you as trustee8 ¢oncomlng any su(* matter& The procedures undertaken do not provkle all the evldenc• that would be requlred In an audl and Cowuwttly no oplnlon glven as to whethor tho acL*unts pre88nt a 'tru• and falr vlw ' arml the rewt kn Ilmlted to thom mattern 8•t out In the 8t•tom8nts belaw. In connocllon wlth my •xamknatlon, no rnattw ha8 comè to my Attentlon: {1> whlch glvu m• rnasonablo to bolleve tha( In any rrniwlal r•8rt tho requlromen to keep accounllng records In xordance wlth SKtlon 130 of the 2011 Ac¢ wd to prepare accounts whlch a¢¢ord wlth the 8ccountlng records and to comply wllh th• occ(xmiift9 regulr•ffont8 of the 2011 fvzt have not l)88n nwt; or (2) to whlth, In my oplnlon, attenkn Should b• drawn In ord•r to anable a wop•r und8r8tsndlng the accounts to ￿ r02ched. Hugh Watchorn 5th BKknnham South 8¢out Group Statemont rf Flnanclal Actlvl•• for tho Yoar Ended 3q IAaroh 2024 31.3.24 31.323 INCOMING REPAXIRCES Voluntary Income vlth* for generallng funds 79,121 118,630 3,198 121,494 Total hKomlng R••ouK•• 176,551 RESOURCES EXPENDED Ch*rltabl• A¢tlvllles Scouts Cubs 32,813 18.405 8.118 1,977 7,708 47,209 1,880 3,054 35,127 Explorers DonaUon8 Gov•rnanco ¢o•l• Fund Ralslng Co8t8 7,398 39,733 37,889 31,101 Total Ro•ourc•• Éxp•nd•d 00 15 NET INCOAIINGI(OUTaOING) RE80URCE8 RECONCILIATION OF FUND8 Tot•1 Fund• Brought FoThvanl 318.283 TOTAL FUND8 CARRIED FORWARD Balan￿ Shoot at 31 March 2024 31.3.24 31.3.23 FIXED A8Sm Tanglble A88et8 49 17,528 208,155 21 Ca8h at bank and in hand 162,738 225 730 CReDITOR8 Amounts falllng due wlihln on• year 19.088 NET CURRENT A88Ef8 149 737 TOTAL AS8Ef8 LE88 CURREpif LIABILmE8 377,933 343,085 377 933 FUND8 Unrostrlrted Funds 377,933 343,086 TOTAL FUNDS 377 933 The finandal tlatements were approvad by the 8oard of Tfu8teei on ... IvJn8d on thelr behalf ty. C Martin 2024 and worn Trustee 5Th Beckenham South Scot Group Note• to th• Flnan¢lal Slatfflnthts for th•Y•ar End￿ 31 March 2024 ACCOUNTING P¢)UCR8 The Ilnanclal statements have l)een Fyewed under the hlstorlcal Gost conventlon. and In accordance wlth the Fln8nclal Reportlng standa￿ for Smdler Enlittes (effeckn Aprll 2008), the Charltles Act 2011 and the requlrnments ofthg statern￿ of Re¢ommend8d Practsce, knuniing and Reportlng by Charit*. Golng Con￿rn The ITustee8 have con81dered whether tho charlty remalns a golng concern. At th8 balance sheot d8te th• charlty held cash at the bank of £180,890, ¥)is Is slgnlftGanty In exc8ss of all runnlng costs. The tru8tee8 are c4)nfftlent that they able to meet all Ilab11ts8 85 th8y f811 duo and have sufllclent re8eTves to manage rfsk. Incomlng ￿￿UlGa6 All Incoming resource8 are Included on the Statement of FlnanGlal Activitte8 when the Gharty IB legalty entiw to th• Incom• WKI th• amount be quantlfied wtth reawiabl• accuracy. Ro8ouTco• •xpend•d Expendlture 1$ accounted for on an accruals basls and has been clas8lfied under headlngs that aggrngale all cost related to th• category. Vther• ￿lts ￿nn0t b• dtrecty attrthiod to partlcul headlng• they have been allocatsd to actlvftles ¢)n a ba318 con818tent wlth th8 use of re8ource8. Tanglbl• flx•d a•••t8 DepreclalSon18 provlded at the followlng annual ratos In order to wrlta off èach assat ovw It3 88tlm&tsd U80ful Ilfe: Equlpment 20% Motor Vehlcles 20%, Bulldlngs arn not depreclated. Stock• Stocks ara valued at the Ic¢w8r of c08t and nat rnft118abla value, after makhig due allo￿nc• for obvdete and slow-movlng Items. Taxallon The tharfty Is •xempt from tox on Its ¢harttabla acOvlll•& Fund aCcoun￿n9 Unre8trlcted fund8 can be Lmed In accordance wlth th• th8rltabl8 objecttves at thè dl8¢retknn of tho tru6t•88. Restrictsd funds can only be ueed for pardcular rastrictsd PU￿0408 wlthln the objecls ol the Re8trtctSon8 atse when speclfied by tho donor or when lund8 or• ralsod for pathutar re&lrIc￿ purpo88& Tho Trust888 con8lder that no funds are r86trthd. ACTMTIE8 FOR GENERATING FUNDS 31.3.24 31.3.23 BaCk￿harn Firnwork Dlsplay 108.755 118,075 Other Fundraisfng events 9,876 3.419 118.630 121.494 TRUSTEW RE&IU14ERATION AND BENEFITS There were tn￿tee5, remunoratlon nor other ben&ffts for the year ended 31 MarGh 2￿24 nor for th8 y*r ended 31 March 2023. The group rent storage 8p￿@ from a fomw tfU8te& for £1.500 pa, thls ts at les8 than market rate. 6th B•¢kenham South 4 TANGIBLE FIXED A33ETS Group Scouting Marine Bulldlngs Equlpment Equipment At 1 Aprll 2023 Addl At 31 March 2024 149,673 58,189 8,893 1.050 149,673 D•pr•clallon At 1 Aprl 2023 Charge for y At 31 Mar¢h 2024 48,227 3,771 24 t Book Valu• At 31 March 2024 149,873 16,084 At 31 Marth 2023 149,673 9,962 118 Comput•r EqU￿rnon1 Mlnlbus Tola At 1 Aorll 2023 018posal Addilton8 At 31 March 2024 41,994 8.809 259.616 0•P￿￿oI1•n At 1 Aprll 2023 Dl8posal Charge for ￿8T At 31 March 2024 8,809 88,187 Ngt Book Valu• At 31 Marth 2024 26,198 190.047 At 31 Morch 2023 33,595 193,348 5 STOCKS 31,3.24 31.3.23 Tuck Shq) St¢¢k Notes to th? FlnanGlal 81thn￿ . eontlnu•d forth• Yw End•d 31 Alar¢h 2024 6 DEBTORS: AMouKfs FALLING DUEWIThING ONE YEAR 31.3.24 31.3.23 0th8r amounts due 17.528 7 CREDifoR*. AMOUNT5 FALLING DUE wmiN ONE YEPJI 31.3.24 31.3.23 Other Credltors Accruab 26,294 15,000 8 MOVEMENf IN FUNDS Net Movement in lunds UnraJtrl¢t•d fundi At 1.4.23 At 31.3.24 Gèneral Fund TOTAL FUNDS 933 Not movthnont In funds, Includad In above are a8 follows: Inwnlng Reaouree8 Movemgnt R68OU￿•S expended In fund• UnTejtrfrt￿ fvndj General funds TOTAL FUNDS 200 948 188 100