## **ESSA** ## **Water Activities Centre** Central Lagoon, Meadgate Road, Nazeing, Essex, EN9 2PB. Registered Charity 1025713 www.essa.org.uk | info@essa.org.uk ## CHARITIES COMMISSION ANNUAL REPORT For the year ending 31 December 2022 ## 1 CHARITY OBJECTIVES To promote the development of young people in achieving their full potential physically, intellectually, and socially through the medium of sailing and other water-based activities. ## 2 METHODS FOR PURSUING OBJECTIVES To run training courses for all ages, for the development of skills and achievement of qualifications and awards of the relevant National Governing Bodies. ## 3 REGULATORY AUTHORITIES ESSA Water Activities Centre is regulated by 1. The Charities Commission for England and Wales 2. Royal Yachting Association (RYA) - a. License issued to 31 Mar 2023 3. Adventure Activities Licensing Authority (AALA) - a. Licence issued from 29.5.2021 to 29.5.2023. Licence Ref L44762 ## 4 PUBLIC BENEFIT When making decisions ESSA considers the ‘public benefit’. For example, when planning the activities programme for the forthcoming year and the associated charges for activities are affordable and accessible for young people. ESSA is open to the public. As part of the charity aims and objectives, the charity is not a ‘membership only club’. It is a training centre recognised by the Royal Yachting Association (RYA) and the Adventure Activities Licensing Authority (AALA). ESSA provides all the equipment required to enjoy water activities and undertake our training programmes. The ESSA catchment is mostly from Essex, Hertfordshire, London, and Cambridgeshire. Covid-19 changed the attendance pattern. During the restricted times ESSA was open most visitors arrived in small family groups or as individuals rather than as larger youth groups as these were not allowed to meet. Generally, activities are mainly pre-arranged sessions for Scout and Guide Page 1 of 16 18 October 2023 Registered Charity 1025713 **ESSA Water Activities Centre** – **Annual Return 2022** groups, schools, and individuals; they also include public open days and independent activities for other young people such as those completing their Duke of Edinburgh Award Schemes. ESSA is supported by young and adult Volunteer “Crew” who assist in the running of activities, under supervision of the qualified Instructors, Coaches & RYA Principal. Development of Crew with skills training and experience is another public benefit. ## 5 STRUCTURE AND MANAGEMENT ESSA Water Activities Centre, “ESSA” is an independent unincorporated not-for-profit association governed by a written constitution, revised 14 April 2013, 2 October 2016 and 7 October 2021. This states that the charity and its property shall be managed and administered by a committee of Charity Trustees comprising of Officers - Chair, Treasurer and Secretary - and other members elected in accordance with the Constitution, and together called ‘the Trustees’. There are no linked charities: ESSA Water Activities Centre is wholly independent. ## 5.1 CHARITY TRUSTEES The Charity Trustees are responsible for managing ESSA in line with the responsibilities set out by the Charities Commission. The Annual Report to the Charities Commission, this document, is publicly available online. The documents relating to the responsibilities of the Trustees, including the Constitution, the Operating Procedures, other Management documents and records of the Trustees Meetings are held in an online account available to Trustees. Election of Trustees takes place at the Annual General Meeting, “AGM”. The meeting is open to the public. Those volunteers who are registered as active ESSA Crew, and who are aged 18 years and over are entitled to vote. Trustees are recruited from the adult volunteer ESSA Crew, external advertisements at Volunteer Centres, websites, and volunteer recruitment days. ## 6 ESSA MANAGEMENT ## 6.1 CHARITABLE BUSINESS PLAN ESSA maintains a business plan to assist ongoing fulfilment of the Charity Objectives. ## 6.2 OBJECTIVES FOR 2023 1. Obtain assistance with remediating condition of Meadgate Road, poor access that has become an inhibitor to visitors, volunteers, and staff 2. Increase 10% the number and variety of users, respecting charitable aims, retaining particular emphasis on youth groups, and including others 3. Commence a programme of obtaining grants to update the equipment and facilities 4. Increase the number of Trustees and Volunteers with a view to improved operations and succession planning. Page 2 of 16 18 October 2023 Registered Charity 1025713 **ESSA Water Activities Centre** – **Annual Return 2022** ## 7 PEOPLE ## 7.1 TRUSTEES Post-holders during the year to 31 December 2022 |Role|Name|Date Started|Date Ended| |---|---|---|---| |Chair|Malcolm Fry|Co-opted as Trustee on 27 Feb 2016;
Co-opted as Chair on 29 July 2016|N/A| |Treasurer|Kevin Downton|Voted as Trustee at AGM 2 Oct 2016;
Appointed as Treasurer 2 Dec 2016.|N/A| |Secretary|John Simons|Co-opted as Trustee on 27 Feb 2016;
Voted as Trustee at AGM 2 Oct 2016|N/A| |Charity Trustee|Edmund Rogers|Voted as Trustee at AGM 8 Oct 2017|N/A| |Charity Trustee|Peter Sykes|Voted as Trustee at AGM 8 Oct 2020|N/A| |RYA Principal
Ex-Officio|Kevin Downton|On date of RYA inspection
20 September 2021|N/A| The Charity Trustees are not remunerated; they are eligible to receive expenses for attending meetings and for expenditures directly related to their role as trustees. There is a procedure for claiming expenses which requires authorisation by two persons including the Treasurer. The Trustees exercise responsibility for ESSA through delegating the following roles 1. RYA Principal 2. Policies and Procedures 3. Risk Assessments 4. Inspections 5. Safeguarding 6. Bookings Administration 7. Chief Instructors for Sailing, Powerboating and other Disciplines 8. Activities Instructors 9. Safety Boat Drivers 10. Volunteer Crew Coordinator 11. Receiving Visitors – meet and greet 12. Marketing 13. Landlord and Neighbourhood Liaison 14. Fundraising and Grant Applications 15. Site and Equipment maintenance Page 3 of 16 18 October 2023 Registered Charity 1025713 **ESSA Water Activities Centre** – **Annual Return 2022** ## 7.2 RYA PRINCIPAL The RYA Principal is permitted to attend Trustee meetings in ex-officio capacity and has responsibility for providing professional advice and an operational report covering activities, maintenance, health & safety issues, and other feedback. Presently Kevin Downton, ESSA Treasurer, holds this RYA Principal position and therefore routinely attends Trustee meetings. The RYA Principal has responsibility for meeting requirements of the RYA and AALA, as assessed by RYA and AALA Inspections. This is necessary to run activities and RYA Training. The RYA Principal is accountable for ensuring activities are well organised with sufficient qualified leaders, instructors, and crew. “Activity Leads” are responsible for delivery. The RYA Principal is accountable that the ESSA Crew is organised by the responsible Crew Lead(s) and Activity Lead(s). Many of the Crew are minors who give up spare time assisting ESSA during holiday, evening, and weekend periods. ## 7.3 EMPLOYEES ESSA does not have permanent employees. ESSA has contracted fixed-term employees. ## - 7.4 SELF EMPLOYED CONTRACTORS During 2022 ESSA engaged self-employed freelance staff and instructors as required. ## 7.5 CONTRACTED ROLES ESSA has for 2022 appointed Activity Managers responsible for planning and conducting activities, in conjunction with the Administrator and the Trustees. ## 7.6 VOLUNTEERS – ESSA CREW To deliver ESSA’s charitable aims, ESSA is “crewed” by volunteers who may cover various tasks, including administration, site maintenance, water safety cover and instruction. Volunteers are recruited through the Volunteer Agencies and from groups and from the public coming to ESSA for activities. There is no membership fee. Volunteers are entitled to claim reasonable travel expenses when performing duties for the Centre. There were 65 individual volunteers excluding Trustees at 31 Dec 2022, 29 were adults. ||Individuals|Individuals|||Visits|||Hours|| |---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---| ||Total
Crew|Youth
U18|Adults|Total
Crew|Youth
U18|Adults|Total
Crew|Youth
U18|Adults| |2022|51|8|44|853|53|800|6664|368|6296| |2021|70|36|34|767|283|484|5280|2116|3165| |2020|40|13|27|451|104|347|3033|811|2222| |2019|88|18|70|1136|190|946|6610|1256|5354| |2018|83|31|52|1146|237|909|7297|1502|5795| Page 4 of 16 18 October 2023 Registered Charity 1025713 **ESSA Water Activities Centre** – **Annual Return 2022** Note – 2020 and part of the 2021 opening was restricted due to Covid-19 lockdowns. ## 8 OPERATIONS, LAND AND BUILDINGS ESSA has been based at Central Lagoon, Meadgate Road, Nazeing for 25 years, since 1993. The water and land are leased up to 31 Jan 2040 from Lea Valley Regional Park Authority (LVRPA). ESSA owns and maintains buildings based at Central Lagoon. These serve variously as training rooms, office space, kitchen, toilets, changing rooms, showers, equipment stores and classrooms. The charity owns 8 storage containers for boats, kayaks, buoyancy aids, waterproof clothing, tools and other equipment for the maintenance and running of the centre. The land and buildings mentioned above are used for ESSA’s charitable purposes. ## 9 POLICIES & PROCEDURES In accordance with Charity Commission requirements, ESSA holds various policies including: 1. Risk Management 2. Finance - a. Investment - b. Paying staff - c. Fundraising 3. Human Resources - a. Safeguarding vulnerable people - b. Volunteer management - c. Conflicts of interest 4. Complaints-handling These policies are under ongoing review and maintenance ## 10 RISK MANAGEMENT ESSA prepares and applies Risk Assessments across many individual activities and tasks to ensure ESSA continues to operate safely. ## 10.1 MAJOR RISKS & MITIGATION 1. Following persistent effort and representation by ESSA at LVRPA meetings, LVRPA have recognised in a revised Draft Park Development Framework that relocating ESSA threatens the continuation of ESSA and that ESSA is well suited to Central Lagoon. 2. Sole road access by Meadgate Road. This Public Highway traverses land leased by Broxbourne Sailing Club, due to the road moving towards BSC when the weir was put in place. Essex Highways, the responsible Agency, have issues not only funding repairs, also establishing the legal position from which to do so. Page 5 of 16 18 October 2023 Registered Charity 1025713 **ESSA Water Activities Centre** – **Annual Return 2022** - a. Support from Lee Valley has been sought to no avail. - b. This is a material risk to repeat business with visitors citing that they would not come had they known the state of the road that is outside ESSA’s remit to maintain. - c. ESSA lacks, and seeks, the resource to campaign and to fundraise for improvement 3. Engagement and Retention of staff – Administrator and Activity Managers – essential for continuity and growth for ESSA. - a. Competition for costs – strain upon income resources for staff remuneration, for equipment and facilities reinvestment. - b. Transitory nature of staff requires regular recruitment and retraining 4. Revenue generation and retention due to the access limitations and constrained facilities 5. Utility Costs particularly electric 6. Facilities and Buildings Maintenance. Hygiene facilities require major replacement works, and the main training building is in a significant state of disrepair. ESSA Trustees have limited experience handling large facilities projects that require time and detailed planning and fundraising. ## 10.2 RESERVES To ensure ESSA can operate in the forthcoming season, April to September, ESSA Reserves Policy is that a minimum of 30k is retained to cover the fixed costs for a year. Cashflow is managed to have sufficient funds to operate until income in the following years is realised. ## 10.3 ACTIVITIES ESSA is inspected by the RYA and AALA and ensure all activities are compliant with scout, guide and school activity requirements and risk assessments. When an activity is to be undertaken outside of Central Lagoon, a specific risk assessment is completed. The RYA Principal and / or Chief Instructors regularly attend RYA and other governing body meetings to ensure our procedures are up to date. ## 10.4 FACILITIES & MAINTENANCE WORK Maintenance work is arranged when fewer activities are taking place. Risk Assessments are undertaken and actions followed-up. ## 10.5 SAFEGUARDING As the objective of the charity is to provide water activities for young people aged between 9 – 18 years, there is a child protection policy in place. Volunteers aged 16-18 are only required to hold an Enhanced DBS certificate if they hold National Governing Bodies (NGB) coaching awards. Checks are made to ensure that all instructors hold an Enhanced DBS Certificate. The Child Protection Policy is based on the RYA guidance and the RYA Principal and designate Safeguarding Officer administer the scheme. Page 6 of 16 18 October 2023 Registered Charity 1025713 **ESSA Water Activities Centre** – **Annual Return 2022** ## 10.6 PERSONNEL DEVELOPMENT AND TRAINING Those who provide water activity instruction and safety cover are qualified for that role and hold relevant certificates. ESSA has a training programme to improve skills of our volunteer crew. During winter, training and refresher days are organised to ensure skills and knowledge are updated. This includes a session on Safeguarding responsibilities and reporting procedures. First aid courses are arranged as required. There is a process of annual review of all volunteers. ## 11 FINANCIAL REPORT SUMMARY The financial procedures were reviewed in 2022. ## 11.1 ANNUAL ACCOUNTS Refer also to Accounts appended to this Report. The charity operated a receipts and payments account covering the financial period 1 January 2022 to 31 December 2022. It does not have any trading subsidiary. All the income is generated from members of the public / groups attending activities and training sessions, grants received, donations and sales of equipment that are surplus to operational needs. The accounts are submitted to an external independent examiner. They are prepared taking account of the Financial Reporting Standard for Smaller entities (FRSSE SORP). ## 11.2 STATEMENT OF FINANCIAL ACTIVITIES For more details refer to the Accounts, appended to this document. ## 11.3 INDEPENDENT EXAMINER The independent examiner of ESSA Accounts for 2022 is HW Associates Chartered Accountants. ## 11.4 BANK ACCOUNTS Operational account Barclays Bank Restricted Funds Co-op Bank As at 31 Dec 2022 the Charity held cash of £114,029 across both accounts. Within the Balance, the Charity has identified £30,000 to be held as an unrestricted reserve to meet unforeseen expenditure or loss of income for up to a 12-month period. ## 11.5 ASSETS As at 31 Dec 2022 the Charity held net assets of £132,261 ## 11.6 INCOME FOR THE PERIOD For Receipts and Payments accounts, for purposes of the Annual Return, the Charity Commission website defines “Income is the gross income which is simply the total receipts recorded in the Page 7 of 16 18 October 2023 Registered Charity 1025713 **ESSA Water Activities Centre** – **Annual Return 2022** statement of accounts from all sources, excluding the receipt of any endowment, loans and proceeds from the sale of investments or fixed assets”. Refer to Accounts for annual figures. ## 11.7 GRANT FUNDING All grant funding and donations are restricted funds for expenditure against specific grants. Refer to Accounts Note 3 for Grants related to 2022. ESSA does not hold contracts to deliver services from central or local government. Grant applications are reviewed by the Trustees. When applying for grants for training and activities, the Trustees and RYA Principal consider whether there will be sufficient instructors, volunteer crew, time, resources and full cost recovery for the proposed activity. In 2022 the Trustees reviewed the grant application policy and procedures. ## 11.8 EXPENDITURE FOR THE PERIOD For Receipts and Payments accounts, for purposes of the Annual Return, the Charity Commission website defines “this is the total expenditure which is simply the total payments recorded in the statement of accounts”. Total expenditure for the year £191,588 ESSA Water Activities Centre has other assets including boats and auxiliary equipment to the approximate value of £114,680 [unchanged from 2021] if sold. A full stock take was undertaken on 1 Feb 2023. ## 11.9 FINANCIAL LIABILITIES The land and water are leased from Lee Valley Regional Park Authority The value of services provided by volunteers is not incorporated into our financial statements. ## 11.10 FINANCIAL DECLARATIONS 1. In 2022 the charity did not receive contracts from central or local government 2. In 2022 the charity received grants from central and local government as in the accounts 3. The charity does raise funds from the public – accepting donations 4. ESSA is registered with HMRC for Gift Aid and has actively operated the Scheme in 2022 5. The Trustees confirm no funds are held on behalf of others 6. The charity does not have a trading subsidiary 7. The charity does not make grants to other charities or organisations 8. The charity does not pay Trustees 9. The overall position is that the Trustees consider ESSA to be a going concern. Page 8 of 16 18 October 2023 Registered Charity 1025713 **ESSA Water Activities Centre** – **Annual Return 2022** ## 12 ACTIVITIES AND PERFORMANCE In 2022, individuals under the age of 18 years accounted for 95% of the total sessions delivered and this is in line with ESSA’s charitable objectives. |ESSA|Individuals|Individuals
x Sessions|Individuals|Individuals
x Sessions| |---|---|---|---|---| |Activities|Adults|Adults|<18years|<18years| |2022|423|604|6428|9724| |2021|292|394|5973|9590| |2020 Covid-19|165|353|1060|1973| |2019|187|240|3965|5765| |2018|311|434|3611|5536| ## Calculation method. Many bookings contribute more than one session per individual. A session is considered to be either a morning, an afternoon, or an evening. For example, a 2-day sailing course for 10 youth contributes 10 in the “< 18” row for Individuals, and 2 (days) x 2 (sessions) x 10 in “Sessions x Individuals” [a morning and an afternoon session per day, as this falls in line with the general definition of other “sessions” Essa offers]. Sessions can be booked on our website www.essa.org.uk. The majority of the under 18’s come to ESSA not having sailed or taken part in water activities before, thereby fulfilling our charitable aim of providing affordable grassroots water activities to young persons and potentially giving them a lifelong interest in water sports. The young people and volunteer crew completed courses during 2022 including: 1. RYA Youth & Adult Sailing qualifications 2. RYA Powerboat and safety boat courses 3. RYA First Aid courses 4. BCU Awards 5. ESSA Traditional Rafting awards ## 13 MARKETING AND PUBLICITY During 2022 the charity had positive 1. Tweets, Instagram and Facebook posts 2. Mentions on scout and guide websites 3. Mentions on the RYA East Region website Page 9 of 16 18 October 2023 Registered Charity 1025713 **ESSA Water Activities Centre** – **Annual Return 2022** ## 14 DECLARATION The Trustees declare that they have approved the report above. The Trustees confirm that there are no serious incidents or other matters that should have been brought to the attention of the Charity Commission that have not already been reported. Signed on behalf of the charity trustees Chair Malcolm Fry Dated 18 October 2023 Page 10 of 16 18 October 2023 Registered Charity 1025713 ## **ESSA** ## **Water Activities Centre** Central Lagoon, Meadgate Road, Nazeing, Essex, EN9 2PB. Registered Charity 1025713 www.essa.org.uk | info@essa.org.uk ## ESSA Annual Accounts **For the Year Ending 31[st] December 2022** Contents 1. Receipts and Payments 2. Statement of Assets & Liabilities 3. Notes to the Accounts 4. Examiners Report Prepared by By Kevin Downton (Treasurer) ## Examined by HW Associates Limited (Independent Examiner) ## Chartered Accountants Registered Office: Portmill House, Portmill Lane, Hitchin, Herts, SG5 1DJ Registered in England & Wales: Company Registration No. 05006938 Page 11 of 16 18 October 2023 Registered Charity 1025713 **ESSA Water Activities Centre** – **Annual Return 2022** ## **Receipts and Payments - Year ended 31[st] December 2022** |
**Receipts**|**Notes**||**2022 (£):**||**2021 (£):**| |---|---|---|---|---|---| |Activities|||£210,281||£194,340| |Asset Sale|||£2,107||£76| |Bank Interest|||£46||£3| |Donation|||£38||£132| |Gift aid|||£0||£0| |Grant|3||£2,285||£28,536| |Publications – sales|||£0||£0| |Storage|||£488||£1,668| |Tuck Shop|||£4,350||£3,946| |Totals:|||£219,595||£228,701| |**Payments**|**Notes**|||**2022 (£):**|||**2021 (£):**| |---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---| ||||||||| |Apprenticeship||||£7,760|||£0| |Boat & Equipment Purchases|5|||£11,556|||£10,826| |Boat Maintenance||||£3,655|||£4,014| |Centre Manager Fees||||£0|||£30,402| |Cleaning||||£1,343|||£0| |Seasonal Instructor
Fees/Expenses||||£27,847|||£36,600| |Insurance||||£7,227|||£4,786| |Kitchen & Tuck Shop||||£3,381|||£2,476| |Licenses & Subscriptions||||£161|||£1,181| |Marketing||||£694|||£738| |Petrol||||£1,272|||£1,016| |Phone & Internet||||£654|||£559| |Rates||||£645|||£645| |Rent||||£6,874|||£6,874| |RYA publications, certs and BC
certs||||£2,947|||£4,011| |Site Maintenance||||£10,522|||£5,876| |Site equipmentpurchase||||£0|||£23,194| |Stripe & Barclaycard fees||||£1,350|||£1,665| |Sub-contract centre team costs||||£95,998|||£35,856| |Independent Examination &payroll||||£244|||£240| |Sundry||||£1,907|||£529| |Utilities||||£3,871|||£1,504| |Website||||£1,680|||£2,348| |Totals:||||£191,588|||£175,340| |**Surplus/(Deficit) for the period**|||2022 Total (£)|||2021 Total (£)|| ||||
**£28,007**||
|
**£53,361**|| Page 12 of 16 18 October 2023 Registered Charity 1025713 **ESSA Water Activities Centre** – **Annual Return 2022** ## **ESSA Water Activities Centre** ## **Statement of Assets & Liabilities** ||**Fixed Assets**||**Notes**||**2022**||**2021**| |---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---| ||Premises||1.1|£5,936||£5,936|| ||Equipment|||£12,296||£0|| ||Total|||£18,232||£5,936|| ||||||||| ||**Current Assets**||||||| ||Barclays|||£113,870||£113,097|| ||Co-op|||£159||£159|| ||Total|||£114,029||£113,256|| ||||||||| ||**Current Liabilities**||||||| ||Deferred income|||£0||£14,938|| ||||||||| ||**Working Capital**|||£132,261||£104,254|| ||||||||| ||**Net Assets**|||**£132,261**||**£104,254**|| ||||||||| ||**Represented By**||||||| ||
Retained Surplus|||£104,254||£50,893|| ||Surplus For The Year|||£28,007||£53,361|| ||||||||| ||**Total**|||**£132,261**||**£104,254**|| Page 13 of 16 18 October 2023 Registered Charity 1025713 **ESSA Water Activities Centre** – **Annual Return 2022** 1. Assets and equipment purchases: - 1.1. Storage Containers- £9,936 purchase price more than five years ago, not - depreciated from 2015. - 1.2. Premises: No value was put on these when donated, except for the purchased Storage Containers. - 1.3. During the year the following assets were capitalised under equipment:- Boat & Equipment Purchases Sit on top kayaks £2,320 Stand-up paddle boards SUPs £6,342 Refurbish dragon boat £2,310 Mega Sup £1,324 Total £12,296 2. Deferred income – represents bookings to be carried out in the subsequent year. 3. Grants – These are kept as ‘restricted funds’ until used. |Donor:|Amount
Received:|Description:|Amount Spent:| |---|---|---|---| |Co-operative|£2,285.48|Purchase sit-on top
kayaks|4 Kayaks
purchased| There are no grant funds remaining. 4. ESSA Water Activities Centre has other assets including boats and auxiliary equipment to the approximate value of £114,680 if sold. A full stock take was undertaken on 01/02/2023. 5. Major purchases made in 2022 Site equipment purchase VHF radios £1,728 Wet suits, BAs, helmets £3,410 Drying room £6,428 Page 14 of 16 18 October 2023 Registered Charity 1025713 **ESSA Water Activities Centre** – **Annual Return 2022** ## **Declarations** In accordance with the latest Charity Commission requirements, the Trustees confirm the following: 1. ESSA does not hold any contracts from central or local government to deliver services. 2. ESSA Trustees reviewed the charity’s financial controls during 2022. 3. ESSA Trustees reviewed the grant application policy and procedures. 4. The value of services provided by volunteers, are not incorporated into our financial statements. Signatures Dated 18 October 2023 Treasurer ………………………………………….. ………………………………………………. Kevin Downton 18 October 2023 Chair …………………………………………… ………………………………………………. Malcolm Fry Page 15 of 16 18 October 2023 Registered Charity 1025713 **ESSA Water Activities Centre** – **Annual Return 2022** Copy of Independent examiner’s report Page 16 of 16 18 October 2023 Registered Charity 1025713