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← Chessington Scout Group

2025-03-31-accounts

Chessington Scout Group, Annual General Meeting 29th June 2025

Chessington Scout Group Annual Report 2024/2025

http://www.chessingtonscouts.org.uk/

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Chessington Scout Group, Annual General Meeting 29th June 2025

Contents

  1. Agenda

  2. Apologies for absence

  3. Minutes from last year’s AGM

  4. Chairperson’s report

  5. Group Lead Volunteer’s report

  6. Beaver Section report

  7. Cub Section report

  8. Scout Section report

  9. Explorer Unit report

  10. Quartermaster’s report

  11. Treasurer’s report

  12. Lettings report

  13. Maintenance report

  14. Chessington Methodist Church update

  15. Appendix A - Financial Report

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Chessington Scout Group, Annual General Meeting 29th June 2025

CHESSINGTON SCOUT GROUP EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE ANNUAL GENERAL MEETING SUNDAY 29TH JUNE 2025

at The North Star pub

1. Agenda

1. Introduction and welcome

2. Apologies for absence

3. Governance topics

4. Review of the previous year

5. Making appointments

6. Group topics

7. Closing remarks

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Chessington Scout Group, Annual General Meeting 29th June 2025

2. Apologies for absence

3a. Minutes from last year’s AGM (2023/24)

Minutes of the Annual General meeting held Sunday 30th June 2024 at 12.00

1. Present

Stewart Nash - District Commissioner Joy Jenkins - Treasurer Bryn Regan - Chair Emma Gregory - Group Lead Volunteer John Harvey - Cub Section Volunteer Marie Butcher - Beaver Section Lead Volunteer Mark Howe - Maintenance Officer Duncan Lloyd - Scout Section Lead Volunteer Parents/carers and their families: Bob Whitehead & Katie Lucas Howe Sarah & Sam Walsh with Olive and Winnie Vereena & Darren Skilton with Frank & Michael Liam Finan with Henry Asen Dzhermanski with Daniel Irina Taneva Gemma & Graham Murray with William

2. Apologies for Absence

Bryn confirmed who was unable to join us.

We’ve received apologies from 7 persons for their absence today, and their names will be included in the minutes of this meeting.

Liz Lafferty - Group Secretary

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Chessington Scout Group, Annual General Meeting 29th June 2025

Neil Findlay - District Chair Sam Vieitez - Parent

Adam Banks - Parent Ellie Morris - Parent Nick Christie - Parent Sarah Noble - Parent Mark Rice - Parent

3. Governance Topics

Bryn explained the governance topics that we needed to go through.

We'll use this part of the meeting to make sure the charity's foundations are in good order

3a. Approve the minutes of the Annual General Meeting held on 28th May 2023.

Bryn confirmed that the Group Trustee Board have reviewed the minutes of the previous AGM at their meeting held on 28th May 2023. He put forward that the minutes are taken as read and asked the Group Scout Council to agree they’re a true record of that meeting.

John Harvey seconded with all present showing hands to approve .

3b. Adopt the model constitution from Policy, Organisation and Rules (POR)

Bryn confirmed that in line with the recommendation from Scout Headquarters, the Group Trustee Board proposes we adopt the model constitution from Chapter 5 of Policy, Organisation and Rules.

Duncan Lloyd seconded with all present showing hands to approve .

3c. Note the Group’s fnancial year

Bryn asked the Group Scout Council members to note our charity’s financial year is 1 April to 31 March and that the AGM needs to take place within 6 months of the end of the financial year..

3d. Approve appointed and community members of the Group Scout Council

Bryn noted that the Group Scout Council can admit other people to membership.

These are to be admitted as members of the Group Scout Council as well as the ex officio list in POR Rule 5.4.4

a) The ex officio members of the Group Scout Council are members by virtue of their role in The Scouts:

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Chessington Scout Group, Annual General Meeting 29th June 2025

c) The community members of the Group Scout Council are representatives of the local community appointed because of their role rather than by their name. For example local headteachers, or Parish Council members. They are appointed by the Group Scout Council on the recommendation of the Group Scout Leader and the Group Trustee Board. The number of community members must not exceed the number of ex officio Group Scout Council members (see also (f) below).

Bryn recommended we appoint John Harvey as our church representative and asked for a show of hands to approve. Bryn also recommended we appoint Mark Howe as our Maintenance Officer.

Please note: These nominations are to the Group Scout Council (the people attending this AGM). They aren’t members of the Group Trustee Board. Please also note, these nominations can be by name or role.

3e. Agree the number of members that may be appointed to the Trustee Board

Bryn went through the following;

Following good practice recommendations from the Charity Governance Code, POR states Trustee Boards should have a minimum of 5, and no more than 12, Trustees in total. This includes ex officio and co-opted Trustees.

The Group Scout Council must agree on the number of people to be appointed to the Trustee Board. The outgoing Trustee Board recommends that 5 people are appointed. Bryn proposed the Group Scout Council approves that recommendation.

Bryn - Chair ? Secretary Joy - Treasurer Emma - Group Lead Volunteer Dom - Lettings

Bryn confirmed that Liz Lafferty is stepping down as secretary. Bryn thanked Liz for her service to the group over the last several years.

Liam Finan seconded with all present showing hands to approve .

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Chessington Scout Group, Annual General Meeting 29th June 2025

3f. Agree the quorum for future meetings of the Group Scout Council (excluding this AGM)

Bryn went through the following;

The Group Scout Council must agree to its quorum – the minimum number of Group Scout Council members that must be present at Group Scout Council meetings. The outgoing Trustee Board recommends the Charity Commission’s recommendation that the quorum should be set at one third of trustees plus one person. Does the Group Scout Council approve that recommendation?

Bob Whitehead seconded with all present showing hands to approve .

4. Review of the previous year

4a. The Group Lead Volunteer’s review of Scouts in the Chessington Scout Group

Bryn asked Emma, the Group Lead Volunteer, to present their Annual Review.

Emma gave an overview of the past year with the resilience of the group given the issues with the hall. Emma thanked all the volunteers for their help in keeping the group running and in particular John Harvey who is stepping down from Cubs. John started volunteering with the group in April 1988 and has 36 years of continuous service! John will remain involved in the group as the church representative on the Trustee Board.

Bryn thanked Emma for the review.

4b. Receive and consider the Annual Report of the Group Trustee Board including the annual Statement of Accounts

Bryn noted the Group Trustee Board has approved the Annual Report and Statement of Accounts, but has not yet received the report on the accounts from the Scrutineer.

Bryn asked the Group Treasurer Joy to give their explanation of the Statement of Accounts.

Joy explained the Statement of Accounts including the £13k loss over the past year due to the cost of refurbishments, some of which will be recouped from the insurance company. Joy also mentioned we have made good progress with HMRC and the Charity Commission with respect to claiming gift aid and when we have the new details from CAF we’ll be able to begin receiving that money.

Bryn invited questions from the floor regarding the Trustee Annual Report, and the Annual Accounts. No questions raised.

Bryn thanked the Treasurer Joy Jenkins

Please note: No vote is required, the Group Scout Council only ‘receives and considers’ the report.

5. Making appointments

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Chessington Scout Group, Annual General Meeting 29th June 2025

Bryn explained the following;

We’ll use this part of the meeting to organise the set up of the charity until the next AGM. We'll appoint a Trustee Board to oversee good governance for the charity over the next year.

5a. Appoint the Group Chair, following recommendations from the open selection process initiated by the Group Trustee Board

Bryn handed the chairmanship of the meeting over to Emma whilst also mentioning that we often don’t get people coming forward for open roles.

Emma explained the open selection process agreed by the Trustee Board. The recommendation to the Group Scout Council is that Bryn Regan should be appointed as Group Chair. Those present showed hands to approve.

Emma handed the chairmanship of the meeting back to Bryn.

Please note: If appointing a new Chair, you should agree prior to the AGM whether the outgoing Chair will continue to lead this meeting, or whether the new Chair should take over immediately during the meeting. It’s strongly encouraged the new Group Chair takes over after the AGM’s finished – perhaps from midnight following the AGM.

5b. Appoint the Group Treasurer, following recommendations from the open selection process initiated by the Group Trustee Board

Bryn explained the open selection process agreed by the Trustee Board. The recommendation to the Group Scout Council is that Joy Jenkins should be appointed as Group Treasurer. Those present showed hands to approve.

5c. [If required] Appoint members of the Group Trustee Board, following recommendations from the open selection process initiated by the Group Trustee Board

Bryn explained the open selection process agreed by the Trustee Board. The recommendation to the Group Scout Council is that John Harvey and Dom Morten should be appointed as members of the Group Trustee Board.

Those present showed hands to approve.

Post meeting note: Following the conclusion of the AGM, Sarah Walsh came forward to volunteer in the Secretary role.

Please note:

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Chessington Scout Group, Annual General Meeting 29th June 2025

Bryn thanked the Trustees for their work during the year and, in particular, those members who are standing down – Liz Lafferty.

Please note: Co-opted members (if any) of the Group Trustee Board are appointed by the Group Trustee Board themselves at one of their meetings, and not at the AGM.

- 5d. [If required] (Re )appoint Group President and/or Vice Presidents

Bryn noted that we don’t currently have these roles.

5e. Appoint the Scrutineer

Joy proposed Mrs Holgate.

Bryn confirmed that Mrs Holgate has been proposed, seconded and is qualified for the role, and asked for a show of hands to approve Mrs Holgate nomination.

Please note:

6. Group Topics

6a. Stewart Nash - District Commissioner

Stewart came forward and provided his support for the group and requested a round of applause for the volunteers involved having worked through the challenges of the past year.

Stewart had a number of awards to give to people that have been involved in the group.

Marie Butcher received the Chief Scout’s Commendation for Good Service award.

John Harvey received the Award for Merit.

Emma Gregory received the Award for Merit.

6b. Group presentations

Bryn mentioned that as a group we have our own awards to present. Those awards are;

The Peter Dreghorn Community Award for volunteer contributions to the group.

The Frank Seaton Award for the most improved / best Scouting Member

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Chessington Scout Group, Annual General Meeting 29th June 2025

7. Closing remarks

Bryn closed the AGM, thanking everyone for attending and outlined any arrangements for the rest of the event.

Meeting closed at 12.45pm.

-------- End of minutes from last year’s AGM (2023/24) --------

4. Chairperson’s report

It has been a year of recovery for Chessington with the ongoing subsidence investigation which has delayed the kitchen renovations and the issues with the dangerous tree at least now has been removed, it feels like we’re making progress for the group, albeit slowly.

However, the volunteer team has worked incredibly hard to make improvements to the building and grounds whilst keeping Scouting going for our young people. We still have great plans for the Scout Hut and hopefully over this coming year we’ll be able to make progress towards the goals of renovating the kitchen and toilets.

For the last few years we’ve required volunteering from all parents or carers that join the group. This first year has had a number of people willing to help, however there’s still a dependency on core volunteers to some extent. A focus for this year is to ensure the new volunteers are empowered to make progress with less support.

As a reminder, the roles we’ve defined are the following:

1. Fundraising team member

2. Parent/carer representative on the exec committee

3. Parent/carer helper

4. Maintenance team member

Anyone interested in getting involved in the above areas, or any other areas you feel you can contribute, please contact me.

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Chessington Scout Group, Annual General Meeting 29th June 2025

With respect to our group sections we remain in a relatively healthy position with the following numbers, however we still rely on a small core of key volunteers that run the sections. Whilst our numbers were high during the census for membership, they have dropped now compared to where we were at when we had our AGM last June.

1) 20 (+3) Beavers 2) 14 (-11) Cubs 3) 14 (-2) Scouts 4) 9 (-2) SkyCube Explorers

Our team of volunteers under Emma’s leadership has been relatively stable over the last year and really do work well together.

As ever, I’d like to thank the volunteers in the group, and particularly all the volunteers that run our meetings for all the time & energy they’ve given the group this year. I’d also like to thank Sarah Walsh for her support as Secretary over the last year.

Bryn Regan Chair, Chessington Scout Group

4. Group Lead Volunteer’s report

I would like to start by saying a huge thank you to everyone who helps out behind the scenes to keep the sections and building working. We have faced many challenges over the last few years but we the leadership and trustee team work together to keep the children the centre of our focus.

As always we are still looking for help across all sections, fundraising committee members, maintenance teams and any occasional helpers that fancy being part of our team.

In a couple of weeks we are off to our group camp where we have invited parents to help and are giving the children the opportunity to participate in a wide range of new and exciting activities.

Sections have been busy this past year taking part in many different activities such as escape rooms pioneering, shooting and trips out.

We look forward to what the next year has in store for us.

Emma Gregory Group Lead Volunteer

6. Beaver Section report

We have again had many Beavers joining us this year after others moved on to Cubs. Currently we have 20 members in our Beaver pack.

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Chessington Scout Group, Annual General Meeting 29th June 2025

We had a busy Autumn term with fun activities to cover badges such as Safety, Problem solving, cooking and many more. We went on Nature Walks, made sausage rolls, built machines from junk materials and had a trip to Polyapes to try out caving on the cave bus.

Throughout the Spring term we made puppets and the children put on their own puppet shows, we looked at emergency aid, went on a night hike and did some science experiments. We also started a new mini enterprise venture as part of our care in the community badge. The children are delivering community magazines in return for a small fee and they can decide on what to spend that on for a reward.

We are now half way through the summer term, we spent the last couple of weeks building rafts and then took them to the stepping stones to see how well they floated. We will next be covering off Stage 1 of the Air activities badge and hope to get out and about this term making the most of the nicer weather!

We will finish off the term at the start of the summer holidays with group camp, which this year will be at Bentley Copse activity centre.

Marie Butcher Beaver Section Team Leader

7. Cub Section report

With help from our volunteer team we have been able to offer a range of different experiences to our Cubs this year. We have completed Teamwork challenges, cooking, caving and much more. The Cubs will be taking part in the group camp experiencing some things for the first time: sleeping in traditional canvas tents, archery, Gladiator walls and a hike in the surrey hills. Finishing the evening with a group Campfire singing a range of silly songs.

We hope to be able to bring a lot more adventure and experiences to our young people over the next year.

Emma Gregory

Acting Cub Section Team Leader

8. Scout Section report

The Scout section has 14 Scouts registered, with between 7-12 scouts regularly attending, The section work well together enjoying multiple activities each evening including Pioneering skills, fire lighting using a ferro rod (flint and steel), DaVinci Bridge along with hikes, gardening and Shooting.

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Chessington Scout Group, Annual General Meeting 29th June 2025

A number of scouts took part in the St Georges Day Parade at Chessington Methodist where they supported younger sections in the building of a mini DaVinci Bridge as well as interacting with questions that were being asked during the service.

The Scouts have increased their knowledge of Map and compass reading as well as how to take a baring to find orienteering posts around Horton. The Scouts have taken part in various group games that make use of their knot tying skills and well and other skills learnt over the last year.

The Scouts encourage and support each other during difficult challenges and are looking forward to many more exciting activities in the future.

Duncan Lloyd

Scout Section Team Leader

9. Explorer Unit report

Skycube report

We have lost a few members this year due to exams and age.

They have taken on the challenge to build a soap box go kart with the help and skills of some of our Volunteers to teach them.

They have completed lots of fun activities from cooking, escape rooms, paintballing, hikes and so much more.

The Explorers will be joining the group camp taking part in a range of new activities such as pistol shooting following a go at trying crossbow shooting earlier this year.

We have also had several members awarded Jack Petchey awards for outstanding contributions. These have been for overcoming personal difficulties and helping the younger members and generally being a credit to the group.

Emma Gregory

Explorer Unit Team Leader

10. Quartermaster’s report

Mark has had ill health this year and has stepped away from group duties. Thank you for your contributions over the last few years Mark.

Mark Stanford

Quartermaster

11. Treasurer’s report

Chessington Scout Group Treasurer’s Report for the year ending 31 March 2025

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Chessington Scout Group, Annual General Meeting 29th June 2025

The accounts for the year are attached in the AGM report.

The group Profit & Loss account shows a surplus of income over expenditure for the year of £6,014.96. The Balance Sheet shows a healthy bank balance at 31st March 2025 of £20,320.74 (from end of year bank statement).

We continued with cost cutting measures and closely monitored the subscriptions through Gocardless.

Our costs this year were higher than last year as the cost-of-living crisis affects every transaction. Our largest costs this year were due to replacement flooring in the entrance and classroom and repairs in the main hall.

We are still waiting for the subsidence repairs to be carried out. The problem tree has now been removed, and a replacement has been planted.

Our hall hire income has increased this year due to new lettings for a private tutor company and more recently a dance company. The dance company have confirmed they would like to carry on after September.

Our closing position gives us a very comfortable cushion with which to start the new Scouting year.

Joy Jenkins Group Treasurer

12. Lettings Report

Due to the ongoing issues with the hall and subsequent insurance claims, we have not advertised the venue for hire last financial year.

We have accepted a couple of long term day hires with certain restrictions in place and a lower hire charge.

Hopefully soon we can fully open the hall Lettings and advertise more widely.

Dominic Morton Volunteer Hall hire team

13. Maintenance report

In the last 12 months as a group we have achieved so much on site.

New floors in the entrance hall and classroom. New exterior doors to provide better security and energy efficiency.

The Explorers room is now fully refurbished following the tree damage to the room. We’re still pending work to the driveway and drainage system, that is all in hand with the insurance company.

The subsidence investigation has been completed and found to be present, and is in hand with the insurance company.

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Chessington Scout Group, Annual General Meeting 29th June 2025

Plans to refurbish the kitchen, toilet facilities, and look to get a shower room, so we can have sleepovers and share the facilities more easily with visiting scout groups, can’t go ahead until insurance work has been carried out.

Mark Howe Maintenance Volunteer Lead

14. Chessington Methodist Church update

Last July we bade a sad farewell to our minister Mark Wakelin and his wife Judith, as Mark took a well-earned retirement after more than forty years in the Methodist ministry, the last four having been spent with us in Chessington.

In September we welcomed Rev Vindra Maraj-Ogden as our new minister. Vindra was already known to us as our Circuit Superintendent, but she has now taken Chessington under her wing in addition to Surbiton Hill Methodist Church. It is quite usual in Methodism for multiple churches to share one minister. Methodist Churches in Britain are grouped into ‘Circuits’. The Kingston Methodist Circuit is smaller than average with just four churches, in Kingston, Surbiton, New Malden and Chessington. We are learning to share the church’s ministry with Vindra in new ways.

Attendance at Parade services has been variable, but a definite highlight was the St George’s Day service on 27th April. This was led by Duncan Lloyd, combining his roles as Scout leader and Local Preacher in the Methodist Church, with active participation by the young people. Unfortunately I was away that week and couldn’t attend, but I have heard glowing reports from both Scout Group and Church.

The people at Chessington Methodist value our relationship with the Scout Group, and look forward to continuing to work together for the benefit of the young people of Chessington.

John Harvey

Church representative to the Group Scout Council

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Chessington Scout Group, Annual General Meeting 29th June 2025

15. Appendix A - Financial Report

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Chessington Scout Group, Annual General Meeting 29th June 2025

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Chessington Scout Group, Annual General Meeting 29th June 2025

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