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← Midshires Search & Rescue Organisation

2024-09-30-accounts

Trustees' Annual Report for the period

Period start date Period end date Day Month Year Day Month Year From 1st October 2023 To 30th September 2024

Section A Reference and administration details

Charity name MIDSHIRES SEARCH & RESCUE ORGANISATION

Other names charity is known by MSAR Registered charity number (if any) 1110825 Charity's principal address The Old Squash Court Hunts Lane Felmersham Bedford MK43 7JQ ~~—~~

Trustee name Office (if any) Dates acted if not for whole
**year **		 Name of person (or body) entitled
to appoint trustee (ifany)
1 Dan Rose Chairman
2 Jane Carwithen Secretary
3 Andrew Savage Treasurer
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
17
18
19
20
~~Oe~~		 ~~Oe~~ ~~Oe~~ ~~Oe~~

17 18 19 20 ~~Oe~~ Names of the trustees for the charity, if any, (for example, any custodian trustees) Name Dates acted if not for whole year

March 2012

TAR

1

Names and addresses of advisers (Optional information)
Type of adviser
Name
Address		 Names and addresses of advisers (Optional information)
Type of adviser
Name
Address		 Names and addresses of advisers (Optional information)
Type of adviser
Name
Address
Name of chief executive or names of senior staff members (Optional information)

Section B Structure, governance and management

Description of the charity’s trusts

Type of governing document Constitution How the charity is constituted Association Trustee selection methods Elected by Members at Annual General Meeting

Additional governance issues (Optional information)

You may choose to include additional information, where relevant, about:

The charity is a member of the Association of Lowland Search & Rescue (ALSAR), charity no: 1150317. Management of the charity is carried out by an Executive Committee comprising the Trustees and other members who lead on Logistics, Training, Membership, Safeguarding, PR & Social Media and other portfolios as required. The Committee holds regular monthly meetings and minutes are published to the wider membership.

The charity has service agreements in place with Bedfordshire and Hertfordshire police forces.

The Trustees periodically consider the major risks which the charity faces and confirm that procedures have been established to enable regular reports to be produced so that the necessary steps can be taken to manage these risks.

Section C Objectives and activities

Summary of the objects of the charity set out in its governing document

To assist in the saving of life and relief of distress by the provision of efficient, trained resources (wherever possible conforming to established best practice) to the Police, other Statutory Authorities and other Search & Rescue Organisations, for the search and rescue of high risk, vulnerable missing people.

March 2012

TAR

2

Midshires Search & Rescue (MSAR) were called out to 75 incidents during the 12 months to 30[th] September 2024.

Typically these incidents involved searches and local resilience activity carried out over a duration of up to 12 hours although some were conducted over a number of days. Search outcomes inevitably varied but many reported missing people were found and lives were undoubtedly saved and changed as a result.

Summary of the main activities undertaken for the public benefit in relation to these objects (include within this section the statutory declaration that trustees have had regard to the guidance issued by the Charity Commission on public benefit)

The Trustees are aware of the guidance issued by the Charity Commission on public benefit and are satisfied that the provision of volunteer search and rescue services to Bedfordshire and Hertfordshire Constabulary in the search of vulnerable missing people constitutes a public benefit.

Additional details of objectives and activities (Optional information)

MSAR relies on its team of members who are all volunteers. None of them are paid for their time, fuel or expenses. MSAR receives no funding from government or the emergency services and is wholly reliant on donations, fundraising and grants.

You may choose to include further statements, where relevant, about:

Volunteers contribute significant amounts of time to training and operational response. They make no financial contribution to the charity. MSAR’s search and rescue service is provided free of charge to the police and public.

The charity maintains usual commercial banking arrangements with a high street bank. Cash reserves are held in a deposit account with a blue chip City of London investment company, which specialise in the charity and non-profit sector. Funds are held on a “call” basis and can be returned to the charity on the same day as requested.

March 2012

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3

Section D Achievements and performance

Summary of the main achievements of the charity during the period

MSAR through its trained volunteers continued to be available 24 hours a day across the entire period, to assist the Police in searching for high risk, vulnerable missing people across Bedfordshire and Hertfordshire.

Members were also called out through mutual aid arrangements to assist other Lowland Rescue search teams in neighbouring areas (eg Essex, Bucks, Northants & London). They remained available to take part in major incidents managed on a national scale by Lowland Rescue. Members also assisted in civil emergency situations as part of local resilience operations organised by bodies such as Bedfordshire Local Emergency Volunteers Executive Committee (BLEVEC). Such assistance over recent years has involved flood response, residential evacuations due to emergency situations and various Covid-19 related activities.

Team capability throughout the year continued to be able to deploy at short notice to search for high risk, vulnerable missing people in woodland, quarries, watercourses, nature reserves, farmland, towns and villages. Operating in all weathers, MSAR were able to save lives and make a significant contribution to society across Bedfordshire and Hertfordshire. Searches were often carried out in harsh environments, each being planned and executed using intelligence and tried and tested search techniques. The families and friends of missing people appreciated that a group of specialist volunteers were ready and able to give their time to search for their loved one.

A summary of all activities across the 12 month period to 30[th] September 2024 was as follows:-

Incidents
Exercises
Events
Total Activities
Avg. Active Members		 75
48
116
239
57

Incidents reflected callouts where members deployed on search or resilience activity at the request of the police and public authorities. Exercises provided vital operational training, either through regular monthly mock searches, training provided by third parties who shared their expertise and also from time to time joint exercises with the Police and Fire Service. Events included fundraising activities, talks to various interested parties eg. Rotary, WI, U3A, as well as regular meetings for all members.

Regular classroom style training was delivered to operational members in the form of indoor/outdoor sessions as well as mock searches carried out in appropriate terrain. Such training covered search techniques, communication, first aid and navigation. New members underwent initial internal training from experienced members, and then through a period of more advanced training to qualify as fully operational Search Technicians. More experienced members trained and progressed to Team Leaders, Search Planners or Search Managers through training to national standards by Lowland Rescue.

March 2012

TAR

4

Section E Financial review

Brief statement of the

charity’s policy on reserves

MSAR maintains a cash reserve of 60% of annual expenditure (excluding one-off projects) averaged over the previous three years.

Details of any funds materially in deficit

None

Further financial review details (Optional information)

You may choose to include additional information, where relevant about:

MSAR’s main source of funds continued to be general donations from the public, fundraising activities and awards from grant making bodies for specific projects when required.

Section F Other optional information

Whilst MSAR is not registered for VAT, as a qualifying Search & Rescue charity, it is able to claim a refund of VAT incurred on the purchase of goods and services for its non-business activities. (VAT Notice 1001 sec. 1.2 of the VAT Act 1994 sec. 33c and 33d.)

Section G Declaration

The trustees declare that they have approved the trustees’ report above.

Signed on behalf of the charity’s trustees

Signature Full name Position (eg Secretary, Chair, etc) Date

March 2012

TAR

5

MIDSHIRES SEARCH & RESCUE ORGANISATION RECEIPTS & PAYMENTS

YEAR TO SEPTEMBER 2024 12 months
to Sep-24
YTD
TOTAL
200.00
408.75
3,380.41
0.00
6,820.00
0.00
13,301.70
100.00
1,744.60
1,347.15
1,680.99
28,983.60
16,320.42
1,071.47
4,743.45
1,907.24
1,170.77
1,686.22
0.00
26,899.57
2,084.03		 12 months
to Sep-24
YTD
TOTAL
200.00
408.75
3,380.41
0.00
6,820.00
0.00
13,301.70
100.00
1,744.60
1,347.15
1,680.99
28,983.60
16,320.42
1,071.47
4,743.45
1,907.24
1,170.77
1,686.22
0.00
26,899.57
2,084.03		 Year to
Sep-23
YTD
TOTAL
0.00
3,531.25
1,095.67
0.00
4,510.00
0.00
5,259.31
0.00
1,254.00
1,700.26
810.58
18,161.07
3,352.65
2,873.13
3,801.67
4,911.18
1,011.58
157.86
0.00
16,108.07
2,053.00		 Year to
Sep-23
YTD
TOTAL
0.00
3,531.25
1,095.67
0.00
4,510.00
0.00
5,259.31
0.00
1,254.00
1,700.26
810.58
18,161.07
3,352.65
2,873.13
3,801.67
4,911.18
1,011.58
157.86
0.00
16,108.07
2,053.00		 Year to
Sep-22
£
TOTAL
0.00
11,352.50
1,266.77
700.00
1,999.36
166.55
5,554.01
0.00
0.00
517.53
2.68
21,559.40
6,646.48
2,278.00
3,538.32
2,372.42
718.27
246.22
0.00
15,799.71
5,759.69		 Year to
Sep-22
£
TOTAL
0.00
11,352.50
1,266.77
700.00
1,999.36
166.55
5,554.01
0.00
0.00
517.53
2.68
21,559.40
6,646.48
2,278.00
3,538.32
2,372.42
718.27
246.22
0.00
15,799.71
5,759.69		 Year to
Sep-21
£
TOTAL
0.00
7,792.50
150.00
0.00
270.00
0.00
455.86
0.00
0.00
877.98
15.82
9,562.16
1,195.19
434.00
2,739.66
2,234.07
1,004.81
253.72
0.00
7,861.45
1,700.71		 Year to
Sep-21
£
TOTAL
0.00
7,792.50
150.00
0.00
270.00
0.00
455.86
0.00
0.00
877.98
15.82
9,562.16
1,195.19
434.00
2,739.66
2,234.07
1,004.81
253.72
0.00
7,861.45
1,700.71		 Year to
Sep-20
Grants
Clothing Recycling
Talks (WI's etc)
Bike Events
Other Events
In Memorium
General Donations
Training
Uniforms (Personal)
VAT Recovery
Bank Interest		 Actual Actual Actual Actual Actual Actual Actual Actual Actual Actual Actual Actual YTD £
Oct-23
0.00
408.75
236.52
0.00
800.00
0.00
78.90
100.00
0.00
0.00
129.28		 Nov-23
0.00
0.00
597.00
0.00
0.00
0.00
163.04
0.00
0.00
0.00
0.00		 Dec-23
0.00
0.00
0.00
0.00
2,800.00
0.00
76.77
0.00
0.00
0.00
23.97		 Jan-24
0.00
0.00
0.00
0.00
0.00
0.00
669.67
0.00
0.00
0.00
267.14		 Feb-24
0.00
0.00
0.00
0.00
750.00
0.00
217.22
0.00
0.00
1,347.15
0.00		 Mar-24
0.00
0.00
256.15
0.00
0.00
0.00
25.44
0.00
0.00
0.00
25.84		 Apr-24
0.00
0.00
418.00
0.00
0.00
0.00
1,934.59
0.00
0.00
0.00
400.46		 May-24
0.00
0.00
0.00
0.00
0.00
0.00
1,100.49
0.00
0.00
0.00
0.00		 Jun-24
0.00
0.00
0.00
0.00
1,570.00
0.00
4,639.66
0.00
0.00
0.00
24.80		 Jul-24
0.00
0.00
697.34
0.00
0.00
0.00
1,743.67
0.00
1,353.40
0.00
405.80		 Aug-24
0.00
0.00
243.44
0.00
0.00
0.00
2,085.28
0.00
391.20
0.00
0.00		 Sep-24
200.00
0.00
931.96
0.00
900.00
0.00
566.97
0.00
0.00
0.00
403.70		 TOTAL
200.00
408.75
3,380.41
0.00
6,820.00
0.00
13,301.70
100.00
1,744.60
1,347.15
1,680.99		 TOTAL
3,371.27
4,307.70
529.24
3,100.00
1,000.00
642.54
1,231.63
0.00
0.00
5,088.35
33.54
TOTAL RECEIPTS 1,753.45 760.04 2,900.74 936.81 2,314.37 307.43 2,753.05 1,100.49 6,234.46 4,200.21 2,719.92 3,002.63 28,983.60 19,304.27
Equipment
Training
Insurance
Motor Expenses
Communication
Subscriptions
Fundraising		 410.40
157.25
0.00
149.90
50.65
0.00
0.00		 0.00
342.25
0.00
30.17
15.10
0.00
0.00		 0.00
55.00
0.00
190.18
156.86
0.00
0.00		 573.60
52.00
0.00
261.24
47.88
1,480.00
0.00		 2,103.83
52.00
0.00
30.17
49.00
0.00
0.00		 0.00
67.85
1,077.45
135.07
15.10
0.00
0.00		 55.99
52.00
3,041.59
268.51
50.51
0.00
0.00		 10,000.00
52.00
0.00
103.32
470.93
0.00
0.00		 1,766.60
68.00
624.41
197.80
16.28
96.22
0.00		 0.00
52.00
0.00
124.19
49.51
110.00
0.00		 0.00
52.00
0.00
114.44
166.98
0.00
0.00		 1,410.00
69.12
0.00
302.25
81.97
0.00
0.00		 16,320.42
1,071.47
4,743.45
1,907.24
1,170.77
1,686.22
0.00		 7,158.27
649.20
2,284.72
1,420.22
1,386.88
150.00
492.00
TOTAL PAYMENTS 768.20 387.52 402.04 2,414.72 2,235.00 1,295.47 3,468.60 10,626.25 2,769.31 335.70 333.42 1,863.34 26,899.57 13,541.29
CASH SURPLUS/(DEFICIT) 985.25 372.52 2,498.70 -1,477.91 79.37 -988.04 -715.55 -9,525.76 3,465.15 3,864.51 2,386.50 1,139.29 2,084.03 5,762.98
OVERALL SUMMARY
BANK B/F
CASH SURPLUS/(DEFICIT)
BANK C/F		 42,165.44
985.25		 43,150.69
372.52		 43,523.21
2,498.70		 46,021.91
-1,477.91		 44,544.00
79.37		 44,623.37
-988.04		 43,635.33
-715.55		 42,919.78
-9,525.76		 33,394.02
3,465.15		 36,859.17
3,864.51		 40,723.68
2,386.50		 43,110.18
1,139.29		 42,165.44
2,084.03		 40,112.44
2,053.00		 34,352.75
5,759.69		 32,652.04
1,700.71		 26,889.06
5,762.98
43,150.69 43,523.21 46,021.91 44,544.00 44,623.37 43,635.33 42,919.78 33,394.02 36,859.17 40,723.68 43,110.18 44,249.47 44,249.47 42,165.44 40,112.44 34,352.75 32,652.04

https://d.docs.live.net/410798433a25bdec/Electronic Filing/MSAR/MSAR Finance/2023-2024/Year End 2023-2024 (AS)/MSAR Receipts ^0 Payments to Sep 2024.xlsx

05/06/2025-09:21

CHARITY COMMISSION FOR ENGLAND AND WALES Independent examiner's report on the accounts Section A Independent Examiner's Report Report to the trustee81 members of Midshires Search & Rescue Organisation On accounts for the year •ndod 30° September 2024 Charlty no (If any) 1110825 Set out on pages 1and2 I report to the trustees on my examination of the accounts of the above charity (Ihe Association") for the year ended 30th September 2024. Responsibllttles and AS the charity trustees of the Association, you are ￿sponSible for the basls of report preparation of the accounts in accordance with the requirements of the Charities Act 2011 {Ihe Act.). I report in respect of my examination of the Association's accounts carried out under section 145 of the 2011 Act and in carying out my examination, I have followed the applicable Directions given by the Charity Commission under section 145(5)(b) of the Act. I have completed my examination. I confirm that no material matters have come to my attention in connection with the 8xamination which gives me cau8e to believe that in, any material respect: accounting records were not kept in accordance with Section 130 of the Act or the account8 do not accord with the accounting records Independont oxaminorfs 8tstoment I have no concems and have come across no other matters in connection with the examination to which attention should be drawn in order to enable a proper understanding of the accounts to be reached. Slgnod: F.f, Date: 11/65 Nam•: Relevant professlonal quallflcation(8) or body Ilf anyl: cz olfP Address: LJD5 4TrF IER October 2018

Section B Disclosure Only complete rf the examiner needs to highlight matters of concem (see CC32, Independent examination of chaiity accounts: d1￿ctionS and guidance for examiners). Give here brief detsils of any items that the examiner wl8hes to disclose. IER October 2018