OpenCharities

This text was generated using OCR and may contain errors. Check the original PDF to see the document submitted to the regulator.

2020-12-31-accounts

1[st] Helsby Scout Group

Trustees Annual Report

01 Jan 2020 to 31 Dec 2020

1 Reference and Administration Details

Charity Name: First Helsby Scout Group Charity Number: 1018532 Principal Address: Lower Robin Hood Lane, Helsby, Cheshire WA6 0BW

Trustees:

Anna Tiplady Chairperson (from 23/6/20) Lynn Humphrey Secretary Julie Cheesbrough Treasurer (until 31/05/2020) James Bainbridge Treasurer undergoing handover Judith Potts Group Scout Leader Diane Jones Assistant GSL Martin Horsley Cub Scout Leader Fiona Barry Scout Leader James Foreman IT Coordinator Brian Doran Building Manager, Ass’t Cub Leader Colin Ashcroft Beaver Leader Inclusivity & Membership David King Quartermaster, Ass’t Cub Leader Karen Thomas Deborah Marsden (23/6/2020) Robert Berrie (23/6/2020)

Ex-officio Member Ex-officio Member

Ex-officio Member Ex-officio Member

Ex-officio Member Ex-officio Member Ex-officio Member Ex-officio Member Elected Member Elected Member

Ex-officio Member Elected Member Elected Member Elected Member Co-opted Member

1[st] Helsby Scout Group

Trustees Annual Report for the Period 01-Jan-2020 to 31-Dec-2020

2 Structure, Governance and Management

Governing Document:

The Group's governing documents are those of The Scout Association. They consist of a Royal Charter, which in turn gives authority to the Bye Laws of the Association and the Policy, Organisation and Rules of the Scout Association.

Constitution:

The Group is a trust established under the Policy, Organisation and Rules of the Scout Association.

Trustee Selection:

The trustees are appointed in accordance with the Policy, Organisation and Rules of The Scout Association.

Group Executive Committee:

The Group is managed by the Group Executive Committee, the members of which are the 'Charity Trustees' of the Scout Group which is an educational charity. As charity trustees, they are responsible for complying with legislation applicable to charities. This includes the registration, keeping proper accounts and making returns to the Charity Commission as appropriate.

The committee consists of 3 independent representatives, Chair, Secretary and Treasurer together with the section leaders and parents' representatives.

The Executive Committee exists to support the Group Scout Leader in meeting the responsibilities of their appointment and is responsible for:

Page 2 of 12

1[st] Helsby Scout Group

Trustees Annual Report for the Period 01-Jan-2020 to 31-Dec-2020

Risk and Internal Control:

The Group Executive Committee has identified the major risks to which they believe the Group is exposed which are:

Page 3 of 12

1[st] Helsby Scout Group

Trustees Annual Report for the Period 01-Jan-2020 to 31-Dec-2020

3 Objectives and Activities

The Purpose of Scouting

Scouting exists to actively engage and support young people in their personal development, empowering them to make a positive contribution to society.

The Values of Scouting

As Scouts we are guided by these values

The Scout Method

Scouting takes place when young people, in partnership with adults, work together based on the values of Scouting and:

4 Achievements and Performance

2020 has been an extremely busy year for Leaders, Young People, Helpers and Executive Committee at 1[st] Helsby Scout Group. In March 2020 England entered into a National Lockdown in response to the Covid-19 pandemic. Face to face (F2F) Scouting had to cease, and the whole Group had to adapt their programmes to accommodate online programme and meeting delivery. The Executive Committee formed a Sub-Committee through the Summer months, whose remit was to ensure the enabling work to facilitate a return to F2F scouting was carried out in a timely fashion. The 2020 programme delivery details can be seen in the reports for our sections: Beavers, Cubs and Scouts.

Page 4 of 12

1[st] Helsby Scout Group

Trustees Annual Report for the Period 01-Jan-2020 to 31-Dec-2020

4.1 Group Scout Leader’s Report

2020 has certainly been a very different year for 1[st] Helsby but despite the many challenges brought about by Lockdowns and the cessation of face to face Scouting at various points throughout the year, we have found different ways to meet together and complete Scouting activities. Our leaders have found new ways to Scout and in turn have developed many new skills along the way – before 2020, “Zoom” had been an ice lolly from our childhoods, now it is the alternative Scout Hut!

Our young people have been magnificent in adapting and have undertaken lots of Home Scouting activities and, despite the difficulties that the year has posed, they earned 868 badges for their uniforms and lots more “fun” badges for camp blankets from a whole host of challenges such as our Group VE day and Earth day challenges, the Northumberland Camp At Home and a Hike To The Moon. They have camped in their homes and gardens, sent messages and cards to local care homes and perfected their cooking skills. When face to face Scouting sessions have been permitted, they have participated enthusiastically with orienteering, walks through Delamere and Helsby, rocket launching, firelighting, boules, den building and bug house making to name but a few. We have even still managed to “meet” with members of our wider community thanks to technology and have benefitted from online Science, fitness and musical activities. Even Santa was able to “zoom” into our Christmas Camp At Home!

It has not been an easy task to keep the Group running so successfully during this period but thanks to the support of a fantastic team, we have made it. I owe a huge vote of thanks to the volunteer leader and exec committee members who have helped with sorting finances, producing Risk Assessments, making our building secure and Covid safe, ordering resources and planning activities and also to 1[st] Helsby families for their continued support. Thanks also to the folks at District level who have always been there to answer questions and provide advice too.

1[st] Helsby is indeed a team to be proud of – from our youngest Beavers to our “more mature” adult volunteers – and we would love to welcome new members to the team. If you can spare some time to get involved in any way, please do let us know.

Now let’s see what adventures 2021 will bring us!

Judith Potts

GSL

4.2 Beavers Section Report

Introduction

Wow, that was the year that was !

Last year we noted the ‘strangeness’ of our report being in two parts with the ‘new’ team having taken over from Falcon and Robin. This year’s report is similarly ‘different’ given the impact of restrictions being placed on us. That said, we hope we have managed to adapt our programme and definitely had the opportunities to become ‘digital citizens’ (some of us being dragged screaming into the technological ‘world’!)

Page 5 of 12

1[st] Helsby Scout Group

Trustees Annual Report for the Period 01-Jan-2020 to 31-Dec-2020

Membership

Despite the restrictions on the ways in which could do things we have continued to say ‘farewell’ to our ‘older’ Beavers as they have moved on to cubs (thank you, Martin and your team for supporting their transition sessions and our swimming up ceremonies). We have also welcomed new Beavers throughout the year and we would like to say a special big ‘well done’ to you for being such enthusiastic Beavers. Our numbers have remained steady at 24 and we feel that this has been a good number to design both face to face and on line activities.

Leaders

This year Zip stepped back because of new work commitments but remains available as a support to all sections. We wish her well in her professional role. One of our Young Leaders, turned 18 and joined the team as a leader – a big welcome to Jenny Wren. During the year Keeo found it difficult to join us at face to face activities but proved to be a real ‘zoom ace’ and even received a ‘thank you’ from Bear himself for keeping those sessions going ! The Beaver Leader Team all deserve a special mention this year for keeping our activities going and thinking up different ways of doing things !

During the year we had a young school student on placement with us as part of their DofE but this was unfortunately curtailed because of the pandemic. One of our Young Leaders stepped down because of study commitments and we look forward to welcoming one of our scouts as a Young Leader in 2021.

Programme Highlights

We started the year having no idea that 2020 would turn out as it did but we had some definite stand out moments and also new ways of doing things that we should never forget.

We started the year taking the opportunity to meet our new PCSO and have kept our links with them throughout the year. We combined a talk about safety with our usual fire awareness and evacuation practice. We did activities to meet our international badge requirements and looked at food hygiene and health.

During our on line sessions we have used art based web sites, live demonstrations and had a number of invited guests, including a rather energetic evening of exercise (thank you, Mrs Rough !!).

We have enjoyed a number of national, County and District events as part of our programme. We are grateful to Judith (our GSL) for setting ‘holiday’ challenges which Beavers have participated in with great enthusiasm. We are also delighted to have participated in Group wide activities such as virtual camps and are really keen to keep doing shared activities. Beavers really look up to the cubs and scouts and we hope these provide opportunities for cubs and scouts to share their skills and knowledge with

Page 6 of 12

1[st] Helsby Scout Group

Trustees Annual Report for the Period 01-Jan-2020 to 31-Dec-2020

their younger friends ! The Christmas camp was especially enjoyable and the highlight for many was Santa on zoom !

During our curtailed face to face programme we have spent longer periods out of the building and we are determined for this to continue. We spent time on the park field doing sports and exercise and visiting the new home of ‘wild’ Beavers at Hatchmere.

During the year we have built new and lasting community relationships with our care homes, Cheshire Wildlife Trust, the community sports centre and the allotments association (they provided us with a brilliant alternative to our usual harvest ‘experience’). We also made bug houses and mini dens.

Our Beavers have continued to be so enthusiastic and our thanks must go to them and their families for supporting our ‘scouting at home’ efforts so positively. You really do make our volunteering so worthwhile !

Beavers continue to achieve a range of badges and we are especially pleased to see that most are continuing to achieve the Chief Scout’s bronze award.

It will be interesting to see what 2021’s report will look like !

We wish you all well.

Tic-Tac, Keeo, Sunshine, Rainbow, Jenny Wren and Hawkeye

4.3 Cubs Section Report

The Elephant in the Room!

We can’t help but acknowledge that 2020 was a strange year! Much of our normal activity was curtailed by lockdown which hit us all especially hard in the spring term when we would typically have spent our Pack nights outdoors. However, we’ve adapted well (I hope!) to the circumstances, tried some new things and learnt some new skills ourselves in the process. We have even some activities that seem easier on the zoom platform…

We appreciate that virtual meetings aren’t for everyone and we have missed the Cubs who haven’t joined us. Hopefully we will be in a position to see you soon.

Numbers

Cubs numbers been steady and high through the year. We are still running at maximum Pack size with our current headcount at 36 and we do have Cubs age children on the waiting list who we are unable to offer places to.

Page 7 of 12

1[st] Helsby Scout Group

Trustees Annual Report for the Period 01-Jan-2020 to 31-Dec-2020

Leaders

We have said goodbye to Hathi this year who had to leave us due to increased family and work commitments. Thanks for all the time you gave to Cubs Alison we will miss your calm and cheerful presence! Despite that we continue to have a fantastic team of leaders in the Cubs Section – thanks everyone for stepping up to all the challenges that 2020 presented!

Young Leaders

With all of our Young Leaders turning 18 this year we find ourselves at the end of the year in the odd position of not having any young leaders attached to our Pack. Hopefully we can rectify that in time for a return to face to face Scouting. Thanks Thomas, Alex and Kai for your contributions and good luck for your studies and the future.

Programme

We have had a few periods of face to face Scouting through the year when we have completed the Disability Awareness, Road Safety, Astronomer & Local Knowledge Activity Badges. We’ve then had to adapt to virtual meetings on the zoom platform where we have worked on Communicator, Global Issues and International badges among others. With Scouting at home being such a big part we awarded some badges we had never thought or been able to do as a Pack so well done to those Cubs who rose to the challenge to earn their Gardener badge. We also saw a lot of home activity towards Artist, Book Reader and Home Help badges. A massive well done to all the Cubs who have made such a massive contribution to the success of our virtual meetings.

Nights Away

We were able to squeeze one camp in before lockdown hit and had a fantastic time at the QCW Hideaway with our Harry Potter themed camp. Cubs learned how to “fly” a broomstick, brew potions, make their own wand, create keyrings in their house colours and more. A big shout out to Bagheera for the fantastic sorting hat she made for us! Many of our Cubs took advantage later in the year of the Great Indoors event and two further virtual camping weekends.

District Events

Obviously most of the usual District events have not taken place this year but we will take this opportunity to say a big thank you to the District team for all of the additional virtual events that they have provided or directed us to. This has really helped to flesh out the virtual programme.

Page 8 of 12

1[st] Helsby Scout Group

Trustees Annual Report for the Period 01-Jan-2020 to 31-Dec-2020

Silver Awards

Huge congratulations to the six Cubs who completed their Chief Scout’s Silver Award during 2020: Finley, Jess, Morgan, Charlie, Gemma & Charis.

Well done to all of you!

As ever we’d like to offer a big thank you to all the Cubs, every one of you makes our time as leaders hugely rewarding.

Akela, Bagheera, Baloo, Chil, Kaa & Raksha

4.4 Scouts Section Report

The Impact of Lockdown

In the past year, UK scouting has been mostly in red status meaning that the only way of delivering scouting has been online. At the end of the summer term, after a whole term of online meetings, we held a scavenger hunt where scouts and their families raced around their area looking for items and emailing photos as evidence, which was enjoyed by all.

In September 2020, we moved to amber status, permitting groups of up to 15 scouts to meet face to face with leaders. Meetings were held on a three week cycle: scouts enjoyed a face to face session one week, followed by an online activity the next week, and finally worked independently in the third week towards a badge. Before October half term, we ran the orienteering badge, with help from Edward Halliwell, and also tackled the Astronautics badge, something we had never done previously because of the amount of research needed.

With the return of Lockdown 2 after Autumn half term we reverted to virtual meetings, but that lifted in time for scouts to enjoy one face to face meeting lighting fires and eating marshmallows at Queen Charlotte’s Wood at our final meeting before Christmas. Section leader and section planning meetings have also been held on Zoom, meaning that our carbon footprint has been very light.

Sadly the planned European Jamboree to be held in Poland, postponed from July 2020 to August 2021 was finally cancelled before Christmas 2020, a disappointment for Thomas, one of our scouts who had a place, and for Fiona, who had a place as Cheshire IST.

Leaders

Fiona, Lucy and Karen have run the scout section this year, as John Kerr’s role as a key worker has made it difficult for him to attend meetings. Edward, Colin and Russell have helped occasionally, which was invaluable when we were trying to run parallel face to face an online sessions in the autumn. We urgently need to recruit new scout leaders.

Page 9 of 12

1[st] Helsby Scout Group

Trustees Annual Report for the Period 01-Jan-2020 to 31-Dec-2020

Numbers

Online scouting proved challenging for some of our members, and by December 2020 numbers had reduced to 24. However two new young people joined towards the end of the Autumn Term, and three Cubs will move up after Christmas.

Achievements – Gold Award

Congratulations to Ryan, Thomas and Jonathan, who achieved the top award in the scout section in a difficult year.

District

From October, the District started offering free online sessions to all sections including Youth Forum, percussion, RNLI, and an astronomy evening, which some of our scouts have attended.

Camps 2020

Northumberland’s camp

During April, we joined the Northumberland scouts in their #CampAtHome initiative, with 67 young people and 11 adults sleeping outside on Thursday 30 April as part of a successful Guinness world record attempt, with 94,000 people participating from all over the globe. A total of 27 scouts participated in this event. During April, scouts responded to a number of challenges set as part of the camp. Three scouts, Jonathan, Eve and Jack, all slept in a den or outside for the entire month, which was a real achievement. Summer camp

The Scout Association advertised a national camp at home, ‘The Great Indoors Weekender’, which we adapted into a 26 hour camp with leader led activities. It was a different experience for leaders, as we didn’t know in advance who would be at each session, scouts being able to choose which sessions they attended. We had some memorable challenges, with the toilet roll marble run, which was taken literally to new heights by the Jackson and Chalmers families. We asked scouts to take a photograph of a building in their village, and then they drew this as a gift for the care home residents, to help them feeling so isolated from family and friends. The stand out activity was ‘Guess Who’ where scouts and leaders were asked to attend wearing fancy dress and with disguised names, which was greatly enjoyed by all. It also introduced us to the eggy bread early morning cook-a-long, which was very well attended despite being held at 8am!

Christmas Virtual Group camp

At Christmas, we held our first ever virtual Group camp, the result of some considerable planning across all sections. The camp was opened on Saturday 12 December by our District Commissioner, Oliver Chambers, following which activities were held across all sections on Zoom. This had required careful timetabling to enable parents to manage juggling sessions on Zoom for their young people. 59 resource packs were given out to the participants, coordinated by Lucy Chapman Coward, and delivered by leaders in advance of the camp. Colin Ashcroft led a reflective session for Scouts’ own on Sunday morning for all sections, and the young people enjoyed crafts, pioneering challenges

Page 10 of 12

1[st] Helsby Scout Group

Trustees Annual Report for the Period 01-Jan-2020 to 31-Dec-2020

and of course baking, all with a Christmas theme. Attendance was very high in all sessions and we received many complements from parents, with their photos flooding in to ‘prove’ that their scouts had completed the activity. The memorable scout activity was mini pioneering, with three families competing to build the highest tower, with revised highest points!

Badges

Delivering scouting online has its challenges, and it has required leaders to think outside of the box. We thought we were being very inventive in the summer term of 2020, but it has become more difficult as time progresses to find things that sustain interest. Our online sessions in summer 2020 required a 5 minute exercise session online, and patrol leaders were challenged to create or build a flag that they could raise. It has enabled us to join in other sessions around the country, which we did for the Mechanics badge. All of our scouts have worked hard on the new ‘Badges at Home’ badge and many have achieved level one of this. Despite not being able to meet up, our scouts have achieved a significant number of badges in lockdown, thanks to their efforts and attendance. Special thanks must go to parents for their patient and encouraging support in supervising cooking activities, helping their scouts with crafts and challenges, scavenger hunting and allowing the linen cupboard to be raided in the interests of building a den – to name but a few!

A sincere thanks to all the leaders who give their time to offer this range of activities, in what been a challenging year juggling home schooling and working from home. We urgently need some new leaders so if this appeals to you, please come and talk to us.

Fiona, Karen, Lucy, and Colin.

5 Financial Review

Financial Report and Independent Examination

The financial report for 2020 has been subject to independent examination and has been found to be an accurate reflection of the Group’s financial position.

Note about the 2019 accounts:

The first phase - detailed checks of cash book transactions to bank statements, and a review of the income and expenditure - have been completed by the independent examiner, and she has signed off the accounts and issued a clean IE report.

The second phase - detailed checks on the paperwork to ensure all processes and POR have been complied with – will be completed once she is able to travel. In the past, the phase two work has resulted in no changes to the IE report.

Financial Status

During 2020 the group received a donation of £14,850 from MCBF for the purchase of camping and catering equipment. This has been ringfenced until the equipment is purchased once Covid restrictions are eased. In addition to this £12,368 grant money has been received from CWAC, this has helped support adaptations to the hut and the programme for Covid safe Scouting.

Page 11 of 12

1[st] Helsby Scout Group

Trustees Annual Report for the Period 01-Jan-2020 to 31-Dec-2020

GiftAid claims for the years 2017 and 2018 amounted to £4,692 and were received January 2020.

The Group's policy on reserves is to hold sufficient resources to continue the charitable activities of the Group should income and fundraising activities fall short. The appropriate level is judged to be circa £14k.

The Group ended 2020 with reserves of £24.8k.

Investment Policy:

The Group does not have sufficient funds to invest in longer term investments, such as stocks and shares. The Group has therefore adopted a low risk strategy and all funds are held in cash using only mainstream banks or building societies or The Scout Association's Short Term Investment Service.

6 Declaration

The trustees declare that they have approved the trustees report above.

Signed on behalf of the charity's trustees

Signature: Anna Tiplady
Name: Anna Tiplady
Position: Chair of Executive Committee
Date: 27/4/21

Page 12 of 12

1st Helsby Scout Group - Statement of Account

1st January 2018 to 31st December 2020

Receipts and Payments 2018
2019
2020		 2018
2019
2020		 2018
2019
2020
Receipts
Subscription Receipts 11,219
£		 12,250
£		 £12,230
Refunds 83
£
CampReceipts 4,236
£		 5,681
£		 £640
Donations 350
£		 1,057
£		 £15,250
Gift Aid Tax refund £4,692
Interest 27
£		 31
£		 £28
ScoutingActivities 236
£		 £300
Other £179
Grants £12,368
Total Receipts 16,150
£		 19,019
£		 £45,686
Payments
Membership £3,042 £3,645 £4,361
CampExpenses £3,777 £4,464 £1,432
Badges and Uniform £1,281 £1,573 £1,295
Donations £19 £19
Insurance £1,306 £1,293 £1,321
Utilities £1,970 £1,981 £1,763
Equipment £327
BuildingMaintenance/Lease £2,982 £4,653 £6,306
Other ScoutingActivities £3,992 £3,217 £1,850
Bank Charges £2 £2
Subscription Refunds
Total Payments £18,369 £21,155 £18,346
Surplus / Deficit
Opening Net Funds
Closing Net Funds
Assets and liabilities as at 31st December
-£2,219 -£2,137 £27,340
£16,713 £14,494 £12,357
£14,494 £12,357 £39,697
Cash Funds
Scout Association Short Term Investment Service £3,923 £3,948 £3,973
Barclays Premium Account £3,007 £3,013 £3,015
Barclays Current Account £7,565 £5,397 £32,709
Total Funds £14,494 £12,357 £39,697
James Bainbridge,Treasurer 19/04/2021
19/04/2021
Cath Mudford,Independent Examiner

INDEPENDENT EXAMINER’S REPORT ON THE ACCOUNTS

1. Accounting Period

st I report on the accounts of 1[st] Helsby Scout Group for the period 01 January – 31 December 2020.

Respective responsibilities of trustees and examiner

The charity’s trustees are responsible for the preparation of the accounts. The charity’s trustees consider that an audit is not required for this year under section 144 of the Charities Act 2011 (“the Charities Act”) and that an independent examination is needed.

It is my responsibility:

Basis of independent examiner’s report

My examination was carried out in accordance with general Directions given by the Charity Commission. An examination includes a review of the accounting records kept by the charity and a comparison of the accounts presented with those records. It also includes consideration of any unusual items or disclosures in the accounts, and seeking explanations from the trustees concerning any such matters. The procedures undertaken do not provide all the evidence that would be required in an audit, and consequently no opinion is given as to whether the accounts present a “true and fair” view and the report is limited to those matters set out in the statement below.

Independent Examiner’s Statement

In connection with my examination, no matter has come to my attention

Cath Mudford

19 April 2021

11 Romilly Avenue, Barry, South Glamorgan, CF62 6RB