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2023-03-31-accounts

The Seahorse Trust End of year report

TRUSTEES REPORT AND ACCOUNTS FOR THE YEAR TO 31[ST] MARCH 2023

WORKING IN PARTNERSHIP WITH NATURE

Registered charity no 1086027

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Annual report 2021/2022

The Seahorse Trust Year to 31[st] March 2023

INDEX

Index Page No.
Officers, advisers and details 3
Report of the Trustees 4-5
General and Financial Review 6-8
Facebook and Twitter 9
Fundraising 10
Adoption and membership scheme 10
Website 10/11
Patrons 11
Financial policy 12/13
Statement of financial activities 14
Notes to the accounts 15

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Officers, advisors and details during 2022/23

Trustees Tim Haywood (Chairman), Dr Barbara Gainswin
(Treasurer), Lydia Morrison, Beccy MacDonald-Lofts,
Harry Wright.
Director Neil Garrick-Maidment FBNA
Patrons Kate Humble Chris Packham
Kirsty Jones Mark Carwardine
Ellie Harrison Sir Hugo Swire MP
Registered Charity No 1086027
Registered Address 36 Greatwood Terrace
Topsham,
Devon EX3 0EB
Tel. no 01392 875930 07876513628
E-mail theseahorsetrust@gmail.org
Facebook https://www.facebook.com/groups/theseahorsetrust/
Twitter https://twitter.com/seahorsecharity/with_replies
Web sites www.theseahorsetrust.org
Independent examiner Anthony Roberts FTCA
7 Totnes Road
Paignton
Devon TQ4 5JX
Bankers Lloyds TSB
234 High Street
Exeter
Devon EX4 3NL

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REPORT OF THE TRUSTEES FOR 2022 -2023

The Director and Trustees have the pleasure in presenting their Report and Financial Statements for the year ended 31[st] March 2023, which have been prepared in accordance with the Charities Act and The Statement of Recommended Practice.

STATEMENT OF TRUSTEES RESPONSIBILITIES

Charity law requires the trustees to prepare financial statements for each financial year, which give a true and fair view of the state of affairs of the charity and of its financial activities for that year which properly presents the charity’s income and expenditure for the year together with its assets and liabilities at the end of the year and adequately distinguish any material special trust or other restricted fund of the charity. In preparing those financial statements the trustees are required to:

The trustees are responsible for keeping proper accounting records which disclose with reasonable accuracy at any time, the financial position of the charity, and enable them to ensure that the financial statements comply with applicable Accounting Standards and Statements of Recommended Practise and the regulations made under s44 of the Charities Act 1993. They are responsible for taking reasonable steps for the prevention and detection of fraud or other irregularities.

ADMINISTRATION

The Charitable Trust and its property shall be administered and managed by the Trustees under the name of THE SEAHORSE TRUST or by such other name as the Trustees from time to time decide with the approval of the Charity Commission for England and Wales.

There shall be at least two trustees and future trustees shall be appointed by a resolution of the trustees passed at a trustees meeting.

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Trustees who acted during the year were: Tim Haywood, Dr Barbara Gainswin, Lydia Morrison Beccy MacDonald-Lofts, Harry Wright

The Trust’s bankers are:

Lloyds TSB 234 High Street, Exeter. Devon EX4 3NL

The Independent examiner is :

Anthony Roberts FTCA. 7 Totnes Road, Paignton, Devon. TQ4 5JX

OBJECTS

The Trustees shall hold the trust fund and its income upon trust to apply them for the following objects (‘the objects’):

LEGAL STATUS

The charity is a registered charity No. 1086027 and governed by the Declaration of Trust dated 12[th] August 2000 as amended by a supplemental deed dated 27[th] January 2001.

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GENERAL AND FINANCIAL REVIEW 2022/2023

Below is a round-up of some of the news and occurrences during the 2022/32 year; there have been many more but there is just not enough space in this report to fit it all in. We would like to say a massive thank you to everyone involved who has made this happen.

Trust founder awarded the David Bellamy

Award for Conservation

Trust founder Neil was awarded the David Bellamy Award for distinction as a field naturalist by the British Naturalist Association. at an event at the Natural History Museum in London

The award was set up by the late David Bellamy and it was awarded to Neil for his work with seahorses for the last 48 years.

In accepting the award Neil thanked his wife Maxine for her incredible support and also the thousands of volunteers who have helped over the years with The Seahorse Trust and its survey work.

The British Naturalist Association is the longest-running association of its kind and is the National Body for Naturalists and has some amazing people in it such as Sir David Attenborough and Chris Packham. It was founded in 1905 with the sole aim of promoting the study of all branches of Natural History.

New adoption and membership

scheme online

When we set up our adoption and membership scheme several years ago it was of its day and quite modern. However, we have come to realise it is old-fashioned now and so we commissioned a software company to redesign it to be online and we have done away with the old-style paper forms. Click on the image to the left to have a look at the new format.

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Annual report 2021/2022

Studland Bay Marine Partnership and ecomoorings

It is amazing how much is going on, in and underwater at Studland Bay. These last 12 months have been a whirlwind of activity for everyone involved. To help bring all this together the Studland Bay Mariner Partnership was formed and it has so many organisations and individuals in it, that it would be impossible to name them all. However, the founder members were ourselves, Boatfolk, the National Trust, Southampton University, the RYA, Natural England and others. The SBMP is coordinated by Sara Parker from Dorset Coastal Forum.

A big event for us was an in-person meeting at Studland Village Hall and a large team from the Marine Management Organisation (MMO) attended (See picture). This was fantastic to see that MMO are now actively engaged in this project and they are looking to see how it works as a possible blueprint for future marine conservation projects.

Boatfolk, the National Trust, The Seahorse Trust and the SBMP have now been granted our licence from the MMO to bring the total number of ecomoorings into the bay up to 100.

We have installed 21 more ecomoorings into Studland Bay and we have more to put in later this year or early next. At the moment they are free to use, however, we are asking users to make a donation for their upkeep and for any future ones we are putting in.

I have to say a massive thank you to Skipper Ian from Skin Deep diving, and his amazing crew who worked so hard getting the ecomoorings in.

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During the installation of the ecomoorings The Seahorse Trust undertook seahorse surveys prior to installing each ecomooring which was a condition of our installation license from the Marine Management Organisation.

This was a wise precaution as it turned out because we found a large transient female Spiny Seahorse where we had intended to install an ecomooring. After finding her we moved on to the next spot and then came back the

next day and she had moved on by this point and so we could install the ecomooring.

The terms and conditions in all our licences have been designed by us, MMO and NE to ensure that seahorses are with us into the future.

Studland’s Ocean Meadows

STUDLANDS OCEAN MEADOWS is a film put together by Sue Western for the Planet Purbeck festival and is being used by the Studland Bay Marine Partnership to show the public how amazing and fragile Studland’s seagrass meadows are.

It explores the use of the bay by humans and how they interact with nature, especially seahorses and the seagrass meadow.

Southampton boat show

Boatfolk invited The Seahorse Trust to the International Boat Show at Southampton to do a talk on seahorses, ecomoorings and the Studland Bay Marine Partnership.

We so pleased to say that they received the show’s award for the being the most environmental in the show. Well done, Boatfolk and well deserved.

None of the ecomooring project would have been possible without Boatfolk marina and boating services. This amazing forward-thinking company and their incredible staff have made the installation of the Ecomoorings a reality. They believed in our project and backed us in every way, and we owe them a massive debt of gratitude for all their hard work.

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GoFundMe Appeal Ecomoorings

With our many partners in the project we hope to set up a not-for-profit company to oversee all the work with the Ecomoorings to increase the number and conserve this amazing bay for all. With this in mind we have set up a GoFundMe appeal to raise £100,000.

This will allow us to set up the not-for-profit company, employ staff to run it and crucially to buy and install more Ecomoorings.

The not-for-profit will be overseen by a board made up of interested parties and those with expertise to make this project happen.

Memorial Ecomoorings

If you or a loved one love the sea, seahorses and nature, what better way of being remembered than by having an Ecomooring installed in your memory? We have started to do this at Studland Bay. Why not join the growing number of Ecomoorings that make a difference and remember someone?

Please contact us on theseahorsetrust@gmail.com to find out more details.

Malta Research Project

The Malta Research Project is run by Kirsty-Jo Muddiman on behalf of The Seahorse Trust and at the beginning of May, Trust executive Director Neil went out to meet up with Kirsty-Jo and to have meetings with Vincent Attard from Malta Nature Trust about working together on the protection of seahorses and the marine environment in Malta. If you want to know more about our project please email Kirsty-Jo on

Picture copyright Adrian Tolliday maltaseahorseproject@gmail.com

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World Seahorse Database

The work in Malta is part of our overall World Seahorse Database which was kindly funded by Sealife Trust. We are looking to build the largest database of its kind in the world to understand more about how seahorses are distributed and behave around the world. The information is also used to conserve seahorses and their fragile habitat. At present we have data from approximately 50 countries and this is building everyday as word spreads about our work. If you find a seahorse or know of areas where seahorses are found, then please let us know, though our website or email worldseahorsesurvey@gmail.com

Seahorse Man

This autumn (2022) has seen the launch of SEAHORSE MAN on Netflix. This groundbreaking, award-winning documentary shows the behindthe-scenes investigations by marine biologist Kealan Doyle that he conducted into the illegal traditional medicine trade (TCM).

Originally aired in 2015 this documentary, narrated by the late John Hurt and Seahorse Trust founder Neil Garrick-Maidment, follows Kealan as he journeys around China, trying to understand more about this all-consuming trade.

Through his behind-the-scenes investigations, he soon realizes that it is considerably worse than the official figures show and there are in excess of 150 million seahorses fished for the medicine trade each year. However, that figure is dropping rapidly as more locations are completely depleted of seahorses; time is running out to save seahorses in the wild.

Here at the trust, we have investigated the curio and medicine trade for many years and we have two amazing volunteers, Teresa and Kim who, without their tireless work, we would never have made such progress. Between us and crucially you, we managed to get Amazon, Facebook, Twitter, and so many others to ban the sale of seahorses alive or dead through their sites.

Some occasionally get through, so if you see any seahorses for sale on any of the online platforms report them to us, and please also report them to the platforms themselves.

Time is running out for the seahorses in the wild and if you need more confirmation of this either look at SEAHORSE MAN on NETFLIX or have a look at our Stop the Curio campaign video on YouTube,

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Pig on the Beach

The Pig on the Beach Hotel at Studland Bay has kindly sponsored one of our ecomoorings (see ecomoorings below) and to help fund others and the work we are doing in Studland Bay they have also added a voluntary donation on their menu which will go towards the work we are all doing in Studland Bay. As part of our education programme, Sara from the Studland Bay Marine Partnership (which we are a Founder member of) and Neil from The Seahorse Trust spent the day running courses about the work in Studland and crucially about the Spiny Seahorses and other species that live there to The Pig’s staff. These training sessions are crucial to pass on the message to their guests about how important the bay is.

Springwatch

It was amazing to see Megan McCubbin from Springwatch showcase our ecomoorings. Megan did an amazing job in explaining how they work and why they are better than traditional swing moorings. Thanks, Megan, for your brilliant support and for doing such a great job.

Picture courtesy of Helping the Rhinos which Megan is a Patron of.

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Teeny Tiny Creatures

Chantelle from Teeny Tiny Creatures on Cbeebies filmed at Studland Bay during the year and with help from local Seahorse Trust volunteers, Gabriel and Joss revealed the seahorses of the bay and all the special creatures that live there.

This program then featured in Cbeebies proms whose theme this year was Ocean Adventure. Click on the image to go to Cbeebies proms.

Seahorse eco course

Have you ever wondered why a seahorse is like it is? What makes these ‘little horses of the sea’ so unique and so well adapted to their watery world?

Are they a fish, a monkey or a chameleon? seahorses show so many traits from so many different species, it is hard to decide exactly what they are; the Victorians thought they were insects. In this unique online course, you will find out the answers to these questions and many more. Our new online Seahorse Biology, Ecology and Conservation course allows you to learn about this enigmatic species at your own pace and includes 12 sessions on topics such as Taxonomy and Diversity, Camouflage and Colour Change, Migration, Human Impacts and Conservation Measures to name but a few, along with an online Learners Community.

The full online course costs just £65 – giving you unlimited access to 13 learning modules. The Introductory Session is free to access, so if you wish to learn more about the course and what we do at the Trust please click the image above and to get in touch with is please email Beccy seahorsesurveycourse@aol.co.uk

This course was kindly funded by Sea Changers ,

Seahorse Survey Course

Like the ecology course above we have designed an online course to teach about how to survey for seahorses and what to do and most importantly what NOT to do, when you find one in the sea. This vital course directly helps to conserve seahorses by stopping stress and disturbance to seahorses when divers do a survey for seahorses.

In the UK it is a legal requirement to have a license issued by the Marine Management Organisation to seek out seahorses in the wild.

This course is £65 but if you choose to do both courses together it is £120.

Thanks goes to the Postcode Local Trust who kindly funded the writing of this course.

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Mermaid Atlantic

Mermaids and seahorses, what a brilliant combination. The Mermaid Atlantic crew are going to row across the Atlantic in 2023 to raise awareness and money for three marine charities and we are lucky they have chosen us as one of them.

Three friends from the Isle of Wight, all alike in ambition, are undertaking the ultimate ocean encounter in 2023 to row across the Atlantic. Their mission is two-fold, firstly to communicate

the detrimental effect of waste items on the ocean, polluting the water, damaging ecosystems

and threatening marine life. The second is to raise awareness of the power of seagrass and the role it plays in combating the climate crisis as well as providing habitats to marine life. These three amazing people have kindly offered to support

The Seahorse Trust in their travels and you can help to support them by clicking on the picture to go to their GoFundMe page

https://mermaidatlantic.com/donate/

Seahorse Alliance

Only by working collectively together can we hope to make a difference and crucially understand the problems facing the natural world, especially seahorses.

The Seahorse Trust is part of the Seahorse Alliance which includes Save our Seahorses, Asociación Hippocampus, Ireland, the Balearic Islands amongst others including our Malta project,

It is a loose group of interested parties but already we are making a difference, collectively.

_______

Blue Reef Aquariums

The Newquay, Bristol, Hastings, Tynemouth and Portsmouth Blue Reef aquariums, kindly host our money spinners where visitors to the aquariums can support our work through donations. Over the year they have

raised over £1,000 towards the research and conservation projects that we undertake. A massive thank you to General Manager Steve and all the Managers and teams in each of the aquariums and especially their guests who kindly make donations. CICK ON THE LOGO TO GO

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In brief……………….

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were attended by well over 5 to 6 hundred people. Thanks, Sarah, for inviting us and setting this up.

Volunteers

The backbone of the charity are our volunteers, without them we could not exist or function. Five volunteers that need a special mention again this year are Kim McNeil and Teresa Sinclair who monitor and form our Illegal trade team, Beccy MacDonald-Lofts who runs most of our educational programmes (and is now one of our trustees) and oversees our social media platforms and Kim Maidment and Paul Lott who spend many hours underwater surveying for seahorses (Under licence from the MMO). All of them hold down full-time work as well as helping the trust but without them we could never achieve the things that we do.

Selsey Bill and Hounds Seahorse Survey Project

Trust volunteer Ali Mayor set up a seahorse survey project at Selsey Bill and Hounds in West Sussex. She has gathered a team of volunteers to help her and they come under The Seahorse Trust license to survey for seahorses here in the UK. Ali and some of the team, have been on our Seahorse Survey Course and they started work in spring 2021 and are now into their second year.

Selsey Bill and Hounds was chosen because they have had a number of seahorse sightings there in the past and Ali had kindly sent them into the trust to be added to the World Seahorse Database.

Devon Environment Foundation

Trust Director Neil now sits on the advisory panel of the Devon Environment Foundation. He was asked to sit on this panel to look into projects for conserving the coast, sea sand countryside of Devon. It is a great honour to sit on this team and it makes a major difference to his native Devon.

E-bay and the illegal trade

Our work with the illegal trade is ongoing and is an uphill battle but thanks mainly to volunteers Kim and Teresa, we are making a difference and have achieved the banning of the sales of seahorses on all of the major online platforms

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Wildwood Trust

Thank you so much to Wildwood Trust who kindly hosts our office free of charge at their centre near Ottery St Mary in Devon. Wildwood Escot has a number of native British and European species such as Wild Cat, Lynx, Red Squirrel, Boar, Fox, Beaver and now Wolves.

They are a progressive charity that supports Rewilding projects throughout the UK and are involved in bringing back former native species to our countryside, such as Red squirrel and Beavers and hopefully in the future Lynx.

Facebook

Spreading the word about Seahorses, the natural world and the work of the trust is very important and we have a website with a newsletter page and also a highly interactive Facebook page which now has over 5,400 members (4,900 last year), almost double again on the last year, which was double of the previous year and goes from strength to strength.

Thanks go to all who kindly administer this site for us as well as holding down full time very busy jobs.

Twitter

The Seahorse Trust is now into its fourth year of Twitter and already we have well over 1192 followers (up from 1154 last year) thanks to Beccy who kindly monitors the site. This is a relatively new technology for us and it will take some time to get used to it but like all new technologies it has its place and has proven to be a very useful form of communication already.

Fund raising

Following several years of low income and intense competition for the few grants available, like so many charities we took a completely different approach to fund raising in 2022/2023 and set up a SPONSORS SHOPS page on our website.

This page is comprised of commercial organisations that either donate a small percentage to our work from sales of their products or offer services free of charge for us and to date we have quite a number signed up, such as Beauty Kitchens, Wildflower Favours and Salcombe Brewery to mention just a few.

This combined with the Sea Changer grants has seen a more positive direction in the funds of the charity and we look forward to the future with more confidence than we have for many years.

General donations have been up again this year but only by a small amount considering all the problems with COVID and we managed to generate £56,846.41. We think this rise in our donations is directly in correlation with the extra publicity and improved website we now have and are receiving.

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Adoption and membership schemes (UK only)

Our adoption and membership scheme has increased considerably this year in numbers mainly because we are becoming internationally recognised now for our work with seahorses and because we have changed the format of how to adopt or become a member.

The figures for Adoption and Membership are encouraging, in 2021-2022 it was £6369.79 whereas in 2022-2023 it was up to £9,955.21 which is up by £3,585.42.

It averages at £829.60 per month and the average donation per month is £7.14 however the average number of adoptees and members has dopped per month to 116.

It shows that although the scheme has been and is successful in terms of funds, but we need to increase numbers of adoptions and memberships. more work needs to be done on this.

Website

We would like to say a special thank you to Gavin who often does work for us for free and without his input we would not have such a great website. Here at the Trust, we highly recommend him and he can be found on his website at http://www.gslsolutions.co.uk/

PATRONS

We are very lucky here at the trust in having the support of some well-known names as patrons and I would like to thank one and all for their superb help and support over the last twelve months.

Kate Humble http://www.katehumble.com Chris Packham http://www.chrispackham.co.uk Kirsty Jones http://www.kirstyjones.com Mark Carwardine http://www.markcarwardine.com Ellie Harrison http://www.ellie-harrison.com/ Monty Halls http://www.montyhalls.co.uk/ Sir Hugo Swire https://www.hugoswire.org.uk/

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FINANCIAL POICY

RESERVES POLICY

It is the intention of the Charity only to maintain reserves at the level required to fund its ongoing commitments.

RISKS ASSESSMENT

The Trustees have reviewed the major risks to which the Charity may be exposed and consider measures have been taken to mitigate such risks.

INDEPENDENT EXAMINERS REPORT TO THE TRUSTEES

I report on the accounts of the trust for the year ended 31[st] March 2023, which are set out on pages 14 to 15.

RESPECTIVE RESPONSIBILTIES OF TRUSTEES AND EXAMINER

As the charities trustees you are responsible for the preparation of the accounts; you consider that the audit requirement of s43(2) of the Charities Act 1993 (the Act) does not apply. It is my responsibility to state, on the basis of procedures specified in the General Directions given by the Charity Commissioners under s43(7) (b) of the Act, whether particular matters have come to my attention.

BASIS OF INDEPENDENT EXAMINER’S REPORT

My examination was carried out in accordance with the General Directions by the Charity Commissioners. 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 the seeking of explanations from you as trustees concerning any such matters. The procedures undertaken do not provide all the evidence that would be required in an audit and. Consequently, I do not express an audit opinion on the view given by the accounts.

INDEPENDENT EXAMINER’S STATEMENT

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

  1. That gives me reasonable cause to believe that, in any material respect, the requirements:

  2. To keep accounting records in accordance with s41 of the Act; and

  3. To prepare accounts which accord with the accounting records and to comply with the accounting requirements of the Act.

  4. Have not been met; or

  5. To which, in my opinion, attention should be drawn in order to enable proper understanding of the accounts to be reached.

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INCOME AND EXPENDITURE ACCOUNT FOR THE YEAR ENDED 31st MARCH 2023

INCOME 2023 2022
General funds Donations 56944.10 18976.00
Gift Aid-HMRC recovery
1813.64
 3760.00
Adoption/Membership
9857.52 9914.00
Ecology Course 705.00
 1015.00
Collections 2387.63 2634.00
Course/other income 1710.17
Restricted Specific funds-Moorings/Malta 23370.00
Expenses 3864.50 3750.00
_ 3864.50
______
 _
TOTAL INCOME £69553.56 £55919.00
Less : Expenses
Administrator fees 34549.30 29208.00
Equipment 272.64
Stationary and general Office
 343.71 667.00
Course admin costs 240.00
Accountancy costs 348.00 348.00
Website costs 2129.58 72.00
Telephone 484.88 379.00
Insurances 937.41 749.00
Sponsoring Gifts 380.00
Travel and accommodation 79.00
Computer and software costs 242.11 426.00
Repairs and renewals 117.00
Vehicle running costs 943.60 579.00
Fraud costs 1635.85 130.00
___ £41887.08
___ __
SURPLUS OF INCOME OVER EXPENDITURE
 £27666.48 £22245.00
Surplus brought forward £58967.52 £36722.00
___ __
SURPLUS CARRIED FORWARD £86634.00 £58967.00
Balance sheet as of 31st March 2023
Represented by –
Equipment £1015.33 £1015.33
Lloyds Current Account- General fund £59602.15 £58299.00
Malta Project £2363.76
Ecomoorings £24000.00
Cash in hand £0.76
Less:Creditors and accrued expenses £348.00 £348.00
_______
£86634.00 £58967.00

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The Balance Sheet below and annexed Income and Expenditure Account for the year have not been audited but are prepared from the records information and explanations supplied to us and are in accordance therewith

Anthony Roberts FCPA - Chartered Accountant for The Tax Shop Limited 7 Totnes Road PAIGNTON Devon 28[th] September 2023

NOTES TO THE ACCOUNTS FOR THE YEAR TO 31[ST] MARCH 2023

• ACCOUNTING BASIS

These accounts have been prepared under the Historical Cost Convention, applicable accounting standards and the Statement of Recommended Practise, accounting and reporting by charities.

• INCOMING RESOURCES

Income is credited in the period it is received.

• STAFF EMOLUMENTS

Total cost of administrator’s fees inclusive was £34,549.30 No employee received emoluments above £50,000

• INDEPENDENT EXAMINATION

Cost £348

• VOLUNTEERS

No value is placed on volunteer’s time.

• TRUSTEES

No trustee received any remuneration or reimbursement of expenses in the year.

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