## Girlguiding Epsom division Annual Report 2023 

This report provides an update on the activities and governance of Girlguiding Epsom division during 2023. 

> Girlguiding’s Mission Statement: Whoever they are, wherever they're from, girls can do anything. Through fun, friendship, challenge and adventure we empower girls to find their voice, inspiring them to discover the best in themselves and to make a positive difference in their community. 

> Girlguiding’s Values: Our values are our shared commitment to be caring, challenging, empowering, fun, inclusive and inspiring. 

## The Division Team 

Division Commissioner Assistant Division Commissioner Division Treasurer Division Secretary Rainbow Section Adviser Brownie Section Adviser Guide Section Adviser Rangers/Young Leaders/DofE Adviser Outdoor Activities Adviser Courses Administrator GO Administrator/Awards Coordinator Trefoil Representative 

Mary Zoeller (Trustee) Tracey Pettit Jackie Huitson (Trustee) Nova Macdonald Andrea Vaughan (Trustee) Elaine Briggs (Trustee) Rachel King (Trustee) Alex Lorenz (Trustee) Michelle Hall (Trustee) Clare Lywood Claire Orpin Jenie Dore 



## Division Commissioner’s Report 

2023 was another very successful year for Girlguiding in Epsom thanks to the dedication and hard work of the Division team, leaders and volunteers. The Division team held four meetings in January, March, June and November 2023. 

We started the year by helping Epsom Rotary run a party for local Ukrainian families. Leaders and 2nd Stoneleigh Guides ran children’s activities including glitter tattoos, enamelling necklaces, scratch art and henna decorations which were all very popular. 

We marked World Thinking Day with a sleepover for all sections at Epsom Racecourse. Nearly 300 Rainbows, Brownies, Guides and Rangers enjoyed the event which included a disco, yoga sessions, an early start to see the sun rise over Epsom Downs and remaking our Guiding promise. 

In March a group of leaders took part in Monopoly Run Live, a Monopoly themed event for Scouting and Girlguiding using the real streets of London as the game board. The main aim of the day was to visit as many properties as possible with extra challenges along the day to earn extra “money”. 8,000 participants competed and had a brilliant day. 

In June Epsom division leaders were invited to a drinks reception on the terrace of the House of Commons. This event was organised by The Rt Hon Chris Grayling MP to thank volunteers in his constituency. 

For the King’s Coronation in May units celebrated with lots of parties and activities. Some leaders took part in “The Big Help Out” during the Coronation weekend to encourage more volunteers, including a popular recruitment and fundraising stall at the Ewell Court Summer Party. 

As part of Girlguiding’s ongoing partnership with Odeon Cinemas, many units attended exclusive mass-screening events across the UK including ones at Epsom Odeon of The Little Mermaid in June and Wish in December. 

Summer Fun at the Campsite was very well attended and many units went to the County Activity Days held at Faurefold, Surrey East county’s holiday house and campsite. Leaders also attended Surrey East county day in October at Faurefold, an opportunity for everyone across the county to share good practise and shape the future of local Guiding together. 



Rainbow highlights were the annual Rainbow Funday held in June with a ladybird theme, Rainbows from several units achieving their Gold awards, joint Rainbow and Brownies meetings including Halloween, a Funday at Little Acres and a sleepover. 

Brownie highlights were pack holidays to Blackland Farm and Faurefold and sleepovers took place at the newly opened Little Acres Lodge and Legoland. 2,700 Cubs, Brownies and their leaders came to Hook Road Arena in June for Surrey Scram organised by Surrey Scouts. This year’s triennial event was the first time that Brownies had been invited to join in. The Cubs and Brownies had an incredible range of activities to try including a cave bus, metal detecting, pancake making as well as a high ropes course and many, many more. Some activities were just for fun and other were a real challenge, all supporting the fact that Girlguiding and Scouting helps young people develop skills for life and know they can do anything. 

4[th] Stoneleigh Brownies celebrated their 75[th] anniversary with a party at Little Acres campsite and across all units many Brownie Gold awards were achieved. 

Guides highlights were performing in the Rotary Showcase on stage at the Epsom Playhouse, residentials at Walton Firs, Heyswood and The Old Pheasantry and attending Wellies and Wristbands at Foxlease. Again Gold awards were completed by Guides. 

Rangers highlights in 2023 were kayaking at Blackland Farm as part of a team building day, campfire with the Trefoil Guild, peer education sessions on mental health, climbing at White Spider and a sleepover at Little Acres, but by far the most spectacular event of 2023 was their trip to Iceland. In July 10 Rangers and five leaders embarked on an exciting trip to the land of breathtaking landscapes and geological wonders. They stayed for five nights at Scout Center and two nights at a hostel in Reykjavik. They kayaked across an enormous lake, did the Golden Circle tour which took them to some of Iceland's most iconic natural wonders including the Secret Lagoon, Gulfoss waterfall, the geothermal are of Geysir and Thingvellir National Park and enjoyed spending time at the campsite meeting Scouts and Guides from Norway, Mexico, Denmark, Iceland and Sweden. They also went glacier hiking, whale watching and on their way back to the airport were lucky enough to catch a glimpse of an erupting volcano.  This trip fostered a spirit of adventure and lifelong friendships were made. Many units enjoyed earning their Iceland Challenge badge which the Rangers had created to fundraise for the trip. 

We are very grateful for the continued support and encouragement given to us by our Trefoil members at many events this year. 



Our Campsite Little Acres has its own committee and a separate annual report has been produced to summarise the activities that took place in 2023. Well done and thank you to the Campsite Committee for another successful year in which the Lodge was officially opened. Many units have already enjoyed events and sleepovers in it! 

A bench was donated to Little Acres in memory of Elizabeth Garrett, a leader and treasurer at Epsom Methodist Church for many years who died in 2021. She was involved in Guiding in Epsom for over 50 years and units from EMC unveiled the bench in her memory in 2023. 

Volunteers supported the Epsom Fireworks display by running a stall selling glow toys and raised money for the campsite. Leaders also braved the weather in December to join Ewell Rotary fundraising for local charities (including us) and Ewell Village leaders ran a stall at the annual Ewell Yule event. Units also held fundraising events for Tadworth Court Children’s Trust, Epsom and Ewell Foodbank and Cancer Research UK. 

The number of girls registered in Epsom division remained the same in 2023 as it was in 2022 and at the end of the year there were 535 girls registered (108 Rainbows, 232 Brownies, 174 Guides and 21 Rangers) enrolled in our 28 units. 

At the end of 2023 there were 152 members and recognised volunteers comprising 52 leaders, 84 volunteers and 16 young leaders, an increase from 137 in 2022. This was mainly due to an increase in young external volunteers doing their Duke of Edinburgh awards. 

In 2023 many well deserved awards were presented and congratulations go to: Sue Sparrow, Clare Hodgson, Elaine Edwards and Tracey Pettit who received County Good Service Awards. 

I received a Coronation Champion award from National Voluntary Service. 

Long Service Awards were given to: Ronnie Stalley for 40 years service. Jill Popham and Ali Thoburn for 30 years service each. Rachel King for 20 years service. 

Caroline Judd and Margaret Seppings for 5 years service each. 

Laura Gudge, Caroline Judd and Amber Brooks completed their leadership qualifications in 2023 and Amber was the first in Epsom to do this via the new Leadership Development Programme which replaced the ALQ. 



Alex Lorenz attended Girlguiding Celebrates at the Odeon Lux in Leicester Square to recognise the hard work of girlguiding members. Alex was nominated to attend this prestigious event by her Girlguiding colleagues who commented on her inspiring leadership, positivity and being a great role model. 

Rachel King is now standing down as Guide Section Adviser and I would like to thank her very much for her hard work and commitment to this role.  County Commissioner Beverly Heywood- Jones presented Rachel with a County Good Service award. 

Thank you very much to Michelle Hall who has agreed to take over as the new Guide Section Adviser. 

Our Treasurer Jackie Huitson has once again devoted a huge amount of time and energy on the Division accounts but also ensuring all the unit accounts have been completed and audited correctly.  She has also managed a huge number of payments for lots of events each year and offered advice and support to many of us. County Commissioner Beverly Heywood- Jones presented Jackie with a County Good Service award. 

Tracey Pettit is standing down as Assistant Division Commissioner and I would like to thank her for her huge support to me during the last seven years when she and I have been Division and Assistant Division Commissioners. 

Our Division Secretary Nova Macdonald has arranged tonight’s AGM and celebration and I’d like to thank her very much for this and her support and hard work throughout the year. 

I am indebted to the incredible division team who have helped shape the Division with enthusiasm and good humour! Thank you to all of you, it’s been a pleasure working with you. 

I have had the pleasure of being Division Commissioner since 2017 and it is now time for me to stand down. It has been a privilege leading you for the past seven years and I am so grateful to all the leaders and volunteers who continue to inspire the girls in your units. You give up a huge amount of time to ensure they receive an incredible Girlguiding experience and I’d like to thank you all for your hard work, enthusiasm and commitment. 

Mary Zoeller Epsom Division Commissioner March 2024 



||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
||**Balance Sheet 2023**||||||
||||||||
||||Amount||||
||Credits||£53,202.01||||
||Debits||£46,677.44||||
||Balance of C/A||£6,524.57||||
||Deposit Account Balance||£36,260.37||||
||Unpresented Cheques||£0.00||||
||Total||**£42,784.94**||||
||||||||
||**Credits**||||||
||B/F Current Account|£17,020.00|||||
||B/f Deposit Account|£43,731.00|||||
||Census (subscriptions)|**£1,816.00**|||||
||Interest|**£417.60**|||||
||Campsite Donations/Justgiving|**£14,463.45**|||||
||Donations to Div|**£95.86**|||||
||Bookings|**£3,485.60**|||||
||Camps/Events|**£1,463.68**|||||
||Units closures|**£603.04**|||||
||Grants|**£0.00**|||||
||Division Events Campsite|**£2,170.00**|||||
||Badges / Souvenirs|**£447.00**|||||
||Misc|**£50.00**|||||
||||£85,763.23|**_25,012.23_**|Income||
||**Debits**||||||
||Campsite monies from Census||||||
||Census (subscriptions)|£83.00|||||
||Division Expenses|£218.49|||||
||Intl Grants|£900.00|||||
||Equipment / Stationery|£298.96|||||
||Camps/Events|£7,729.93|||||
||Long Service|£15.00|||||
||misc|£1,293.73|||||
||Rent/Rates|£2,240.80|||||
||Utilites|£4,238.83|||||
||Insurance|£1,345.93|||||
||Building Work/Maintenance|£23,525.74|||||
||Badges / Souvenirs|£1087.88|||||
||||**_-£42,978.29_**||Expenditure||
||||||||
||Bank Statements Total||**£42,784.94**||||
||||||||
||Prepared by: Jackie Huitson||Approved by:|Mary Zoeller|||
||||||||
||||||||





CHARITY COMMISSION
FOR ENGLAND AND WALES
Independent examinerfs report
on the accounts
Section A
Independent Enminer's Report
Report to the trusteesl Guide Association - Epsom Division
On accounts for the year 31 December 2023
Charity no 1051185
(rf any)
Set out on pages .
I report to the trustees on my examination of the accounts of the above
charity {Yhe Trusf) for the year ended
Responsibilities and As the charity trustees, you are responsible for the p￿paratIOn of the
basis of report accounts in accordan￿ with the Charities Act 2011 (Ihe Act.).
I report in respect of my examination of the Trusys accounts carried out
under section 145 of the 2011 Act and in carrying out my examination, I have
followed all the applicable Directions given by the Charity Commission
under section 145(5)(b) of the ACL
Independent trhe charity's gross income exceeded £250.000 and l am qualified to
examinerfs ststement undertake the examination by t￿ng a qualffied member of [insert name of
applicable listed Ixxtyll. lknts [ ] rfnot ap[￿Lable.
I have completed my examination. I confinn that no material matters have
come to my attention (Ott￿ than that disdosed below ") in connection with
the examination which gives me cause to believe that in, any material
respec(:
the accounling records were not kept in accordance with section 130
of theAct" or
the accounts did not a￿rd with the amnting records: or
the accounts dKI not comply with Ihe appli(3ble requirements
conceming the form and content of accounts set out in the Charities
(Accounts and Reports) Regulations 2008 other than any requirement
that the accounts give a Irue and fair, view vthich is not a matter
considered as part of an independent examination.
I have no cOn￿mS and have come across no other matters in connection
with the examination to which attention should be drawn in this report in
order to enable a proper understanding of the accounts to be reached.
. Please delete the wonls in the brackets rf they do not 8ppty.
Signed:
1010¥/14_]
IER
October 2018

Name: Vicky Jones
Relevant professional NIA
qualification(s) or l>ody
(if any):
Address: Folty House, 87 LorKlon Road
Ewell, Epsom
Surrey, Iff17 2BL
Section B
Disclosure
Only complete if the examiner needs to highlight matters of concem (see
CC32, IndeperKlent examinatson of charity accounts: directions and guidan
for examiners).

Give here details of any
items that the examiner
wishes to disclose.
IER
October 2018