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2025-03-31-accounts

Ridgelinee L) Trust — East Reading6 Horticultural® Therapy and Community-e Based Traininge @ Ltd

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Foreword

Ridgeline’s horticultural therapy sessions directly improve the health, wellbeing, and confidence of participants, many of whom are living with long-term conditions, learning disabilities, or mental health challenges. Through structured gardening activities, they gain skills, independence, and social connections, reducing isolation. School partnerships and community events extend these benefits to young people and the wider Reading community, ensuring our charitable purposes are delivered in a tangible and measurable way.

In the year ending 31-March-2025, we grew our services by adding additional school sessions and a new session for adults on Monday mornings. We helped approximately 100 people benefit from horticultural therapy, an increase of 25 on the previous year.

We are grateful to local charities for supporting our social prescribing sessions, as well as to other sources of funding which have helped with garden developments benefiting our client gardeners. Our now established fundraisers — Daffodil Day, the Spring Plant Sale and Autumn Harvest Féte, each raised record amounts to be reinvested into delivering our objectives. We are, as always, grateful for the enthusiasm and time generously given by staff, volunteers, and supporters that make these events successful.

Due to the success of our fundraising activities, the addition of new sessions, award of grants and prudent management of expenditure, we finished the year with a surplus of £10,581. Unrestricted reserve funds at the end ofMarch 2025 were just under £45,998. This level exceeds the minimum level the Trustees determined to be appropriate and provides resilience against fluctuations in grant funding and enables planned investments in the garden and development of our services. .

The Trustees consider the charity to be a going concern, based on current funding commitments, healthy free reserves, prudent financial planning and compliance with all required regulations.

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Overview

What we do

Ridgeline Trust offers social and therapeutic horticulture to people with mental or physical disabilities and other special needs. Our professionally trained horticultural therapists offer safe gardening activities all year round in our beautiful garden near Reading town centre. With our support, beneficiaries recover and develop their skills, confidence, and self-esteem and enjoy the opportunities provided for social communication in a calm, restorative environment.

We foster evidence-led approaches in the provision of social and therapeutic horticulture, delivered with a firm commitment to collaboration, inclusion and professional practice. All our activities are undertaken to further our charitable purposes for the public benefit.

Main activities during the year 1 April 2024 to 31 March 2025

In August 2024, the Trustees completed a review of Ridgeline’s strategy by assessing internal and external challenges. This was captured in a new 2024-2027 strategy document, which was finalized in August 2024 and is published on the charity’s website egy). The strategy comprises three strategic objectives each with an action plan, and progress during the year against these is described below. These objectives guide our activities and focus during the current financial year.

Strategic Objective 1: Enhance financial sustainability while retaining the focus on client gardeners who will benefit from professionally led horticultural therapy

Action plan I: To keep ourfinancial position under review, optimise expenditure and increase opportunities for income

Action Plan 2: To obtain funds from grants and other activities

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Action Plan 3: To gain new client gardeners through active engagement with local providers and the regional networkfor social care.

Strategic Objective 2: Maintain and develop the garden to support the mission and any diversification and expansion

Action Plan 1: To maintain the garden, pavilion, and all equipment

Action Plan 2: To implement projects that enhance the safety, attractiveness, and utility ofthe garden

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Strategic Objective 3: Commit to sound professional practice and good governance

Action Plan 1: To ensure that lean, robust policies and procedures are in place to ensure statutory compliance and efficiency ofoperations

Action Plan 2: To regularly review risks to ensure Ridgeline can continue to deliver its mission and is prepared to manage any extenuating circumstances.

Action Plan 3: To provide leadership and guidance to staff, to regularly review and monitor their engagement and performance, to acknowledge good performance, to assess development needs, and to provide support and training. To solicit their feedback to develop their roles and the management ofour operations.

Action Plan 4: To provide support and guidance to volunteers and provide them with necessary induction and training in the implementation ofnew policies and procedures. To show our appreciation for their commitment and efforts and to solicit their feedback to develop their roles and the charity.

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Action Plan 5: To build and maintain sufficient capability and capacity within the group of Trustees and Staff,

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Finance

Accounts for 2024-2025

The accounts have been circulated before the AGM. All figures are subject to independent certification. Last year’s figures are shown in brackets for comparison.

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© Income was £64,383 (£54,773).

© £7,590 (£8,942) came from project grants, £15,362 (£13,224) from fundraising activities and donations and £41,430 (£32,609) from charges for our services. 6

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¢ Expenditure was £53,801 (£46,987)

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Grants from organizations during the financial year 2024-25

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|||||||||| |---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---| |Reading|Dispensary|Trust|For|Social|Prescribing|client|gardeners|£510| |Berkshire Nurses|Relief Fund|||For|Social Prescribing|client|gardeners|£2150| |Ln:|Special|Circumstances Fund|for beneficiaries| |with mental health needs|£4931|

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Friends of Ridgeline Scheme

This encourages regular donations, providing a degree of reliability in our income. £2,084 (£2,434 in 23/24) was contributed bya total of 18 Ridgeline Friends. We continue in our efforts to encourage more of our supporters to join this scheme.

A further £3753 (£3,271 in 23/24) was raised in one-off donations from generous supporters of Ridgeline Trust and through Gift Aid.

Reserves Policy

Our aim, in which we have succeeded in the year under report, is always to maintain a balance of sufficient funds in the bank to enable us to continue to meet our ongoing obligations and to operate for at least three months (and preferably six months) in the event of unforeseen contingencies or failure to attract sufficient income or grant funding for providing our core Horticultural Therapy services. These reserves are regarded by the Trustees as virtually “ring-fenced” in the charity’s management accounts. Three months’ funding at current levels is approximately £13,000.

Governance and Organization

Governing Document

The organization is a charitable company limited by guarantee, incorporated on 12 May 2003 and registered as a charity on 15 September 2003. The company was established under a Memorandum of Association which established the objects and powers of the charitable company and is governed under its Articles of Association. In the event of the company being wound up, members are required to contribute an amount not exceeding £10.

The directors of the company are also charity trustees for the purposes of charity law, and under the company’s Articles are known as Trustees. Under the requirements of the Memorandum and Articles of Association, one third of the Trustees are required to retire each year by rotation in the order of the time since their appointment. Retiring Trustees may be re-elected at the Annual General Meeting.

Organization

The charity is managed through the efforts of an enthusiastic number of regular volunteers from the local community. A brief overview of the governance arrangements is as follows:

e Trustees (currently six), appointed by the Members, The Trustees are grateful to our accountant Peter Tilbury for his assistance in certifying our accounts, providing payroll services and hosting our Registered Office.

List of Trustees of the Charity

All Trustees have been appointed at a General Meeting under the Articles of Association, originally adopted on 10 May 2003, and were Directors of the Company during the period:

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Companies Act requirements

For the period 1 April 2024 to 31 March 2025 the Company was entitled to exemption from audit under section 477 of the Companies Act 2006 relating to small companies.

Directors’ responsibilities:

The accounts have been prepared in accordance with the provisions applicable to companies subject to the small companies’ regime.

Public Benefit Statement: The Trustees have complied with their duty to have regard to the guidance on public benefit published by the Charity Commission in exercising their powers and duties.

The above Directors’ Report is to be presented at the Annual General Meeting of the Charity on 13 November 2025

Board of Directors/Trustees

East Reading Horticultural Therapy and Community-Based Training Ltd (The Charity known as Ridgeline Trust) Company limited by guarantee — Company no. 4760734 — Registered Charity no. 1099441 Registered Office: 6 Windsor Square, Silver Street, Reading RGI 2TH ¢ @ridgelinetru w.ridgelinetrt j

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SRT EONS
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« Independent examiner's report on the accounts

. Section A Independent Examiner’s Report

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Report to the will . . .
trustees/directors/ | East Reading Horticultural Therapy and Community Based Training Limited
members of | (Known as Ridgeline Trust)
On accounts for the year | 31° March 2025
ended
Charity no.: 1099441 04760734
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| report to the charity trustees on my examination of the accounts of the Company for the year ended 31 / 03 / 2025.

Responsibilities and As the charity's trustees of the Company (who are also the directors of the basis of report company for the purposes of company law), you are responsible for the preparation of the accounts in accordance with the requirements of the Companies Act 2006 (“the 2006 Act”).

IER

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October 2018

| have no concerns 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.

Signed:

Date: | 15" December 2025

Name: | Peter N Tilbury

Relevant professional | Fellow of the Association of International Accountants (FAIA) qualification(s) or body | (Membership Number 142181) (if any):

,

Address: | 6 Windsor Square, Silver Street,

Reading, Berkshire, RG1 2TH

Section B Disclosure

Only complete if the examiner needs to highlight material matters of concern (see CC32, Independent examination of charity accounts: directions and guidance for examiners).

Give here brief details of any items that the examiner wishes to disclose. ;

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NONE
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IER

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October 2018