East London District
Scout Council
Annual Report and Accounts For the year ended 31[st] December 2021
East London District Scout Council Incorporating the London Boroughs of Hackney and Tower Hamlets
Vice President: Mr P Final Vice President: Mr A Hands Trustees: Ex-Officio – District Scout Officers : District Chairman Mr A Hands District Commissioner Mr J Ellison District Treasurer Mr K Yousaf District Secretary Ms V Constans District Youth Commissioner District Explorer Scout Commissioner Mr K Bridge District Network Commissioner Mr B Gray Trustees: Nominated: Mrs J Sacarello Trustees: Elected : Mr G Davis Miss C Carpenter Mrs J Bridge Trustees: Co-opted: Mr B Bench Mr C Greenslade Ms K Leggett
Bankers: Unity Trust Bank Plc, Nine Brindley Place, Birmingham, B1 2HB
Custodian Trustees: The Scout Association
Charity Registration Number : 1114589
Organisation
The Scout District is led by a District Commissioner and managed by a District Executive Committee. The District Executive Committee exists to support the District Commissioner in meeting the responsibilities of their appointment and is accountable to the East London District Scout Council for the satisfactory running of the District.
The East London District Scout Council is an unincorporated charitable association under the umbrella of the Scout Association. It operates within the guidelines laid down in Policy, Organisation and Rules by the Scout Association.
The District Executive meets formally five times a year and is responsible for:
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Promoting the development of Scouting in the District
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Acting with the District Commissioner and District Team in all matters relating to finance and property
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Presenting an Annual Report and annual statement of accounts to the General Meeting of the Scout Council.
Our Mission
Scouting actively engages and supports young people in their personal development, empowering them to make a positive contribution to society.
District Commissioner
This year saw East London start to come out of hibernation. After lockdowns in the first quarter of the year, our members came back from meeting on Zoom, and phased their way through meeting outside to meeting indoors again (with occasional outbreaks becoming part of everyone’s planning.)
Adults made good use of a shift towards online training for their wood badges, and Explorer Scout Young Leaders completing their modules - and special thanks go to Branca and her team for delivering that.
We saw imaginative use of local parks, and other outdoor spaces when meeting indoors wasn’t allowed or practical given restrictions. A special mention should go to the 5th Tower Hamlets who met outdoors, come rain / shine, for the entirety of 2021 (partly due to factors beyond their control) including their Squirrels who met on Saturday mornings.
We saw green shoots from Early Years Pilots, as one of the pilot districts for the UK, before they launched nationally as Squirrels in September. September also saw the opening of Scouts at the 3rd Bethnal Green, which had opened shortly before Covid as a new Cub pack, and then the November half term saw the re-opening of the 4th Poplar at All Saints Church, and taster sessions for the new Beavers and Cubs of the 6th Hackney meeting at the North London Muslim Community Centre.
This was the first time we had opened a brand new group in Hackney in a generation, and won’t be our last. My sincere thanks go to Rujie, Zakkariah, and everyone who’s worked very hard on this project - as it had been planned to happen after Ramadan in 2020 (before circumstances took hold.)
We end the year by reaching one of our development goals for 2023 - for the first time ever, we have over 1000 members (and that’s before adding Squirrels!) Our annual census included 753 youth members, and 288 registered adult volunteers. These don’t even include one of our Squirrel Dreys that’s still part of a national pilot and adults on “parent rotas” helping out less than once a month.
To realise what these numbers mean, if we combined the census for Hackney & Tower Hamlets 20 years earlier there were 578 members. We have almost doubled our size, and can say that 0.1% of people in the two boroughs are members of The Scouts. We’ve got more to do, but there’s one reason our movement continues to grow: what the young people get out of it. The skills for life, friendships and opportunities they get come from all the hard work that our amazing volunteers put in.
Despite set-backs and difficulties we saw groups return to camping, and those who managed to get away in the Summer or Winter reaped dividends in having the strongest bounce back from 2020. We even saw our strongest cohort of Duke of Edinburgh’s Award expeditions amongst the Explorers with Bronze expeditions from across the District heading off in the Autumn.
I am immensely proud of our District and everyone making it happen.
Keep up the good work,
Jon
Jon Ellison
District Commissioner
District Chair
2021 continued to be a difficult year for our youth members and their families due to the impact of the global Covid19 pandemic. We were able to fund high quality engaging face to face activities including a Giant sleep-over at a trampoline park and a variety of expeditions taking into account national and local Covid-19 related restrictions.
Covid restrictions were hard on our members:
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Isolation: missing their friendship group, relationships and support from trusted adults and peers
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Increased emotional wellbeing and mental health challenges
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Pressure on family relationships; coping with stress, lack of respite, financial stability and education
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Digital access became a basic need in lockdown
East London Scouting was needed more in 2021 than at any time in our history. Our volunteers quickly adapted their activities / weekly programme to engage our youth members and a record number of badges were achieved.
We are fortunate to have so many volunteers who give up their time to engage and support young people in their personal development, whilst empowering them to think of others in need across Hackney and Tower Hamlets. Our leaders have been outstanding providing support for our local communities throughout the pandemic. Their resilience through these tough times has been incredible and I have so much respect for each and every one of them for what they achieved with our youth members during another tough year.
In addition to all those working directly with young people on programme delivery we had a variety of teams helping to ensure our governance, safeguarding, safety, risk assessments, support, tools, finances and facilities are outstanding. A big thank you to our District Badge Secretary, and our volunteers looking after our premises ‘Charles Watts Memorial Hall’ in Bouverie Road, and our volunteers looking after our Fairmead Scout camp site. You are all making a huge difference making improvements to our facilities and usage of the sites has increased substantially over the year.
We are very thankful to generous financial supporters of East London Scouting. Their funding has made it possible to provide activity badges at 50% of cost, provide free District/ County badges, subsidise the cost of membership for our youth members, run free adult training events, provide funding for a programme of activities building skills for life. Their funding has helped us roar back into action with record membership numbers each week.
Thank you to:
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The Jack Petchey Foundation: 14 sets of £250 donations direct to our Scout Groups and a donation for a leadership award
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Government Covid-19 Leisure, Hospitality Grants: £44,860
We are continuing to reach out to potential funders to enable us to expand further and provide better Scouting for more young people. If you are able to introduce us to a potential funder please let us know .
2021 was the year we bounced back quickly and ramped up our support for young people across Hackney and Tower Hamlets. Let’s all look forward to making a big impact in the year ahead. Thank you for your service and dedication.
Alan
Alan Hands
District Chair
Annual census of membership at 31[st] January 2022
| Group / Unit | Number Young People |
Number of Adults |
Total |
|---|---|---|---|
| East London Scout District– officers, active support unit, Explorer leaders |
34 | 34 | |
| East London Explorer Scouts | 60 | 60 | |
| 2nd East London | 124 | 39 | 163 |
| 3rd Bethnal Green | 28 | 7 | 35 |
| 4th Poplar | 9 | 3 | 12 |
| 4th Stoke Newington | 41 | 8 | 49 |
| 5th Tower Hamlets | 87 | 23 | 110 |
| 6th Hackney | 50 | 16 | 56 |
| 7th Stoke Newington | 41 | 13 | 54 |
| 8th East London | 56 | 26 | 82 |
| 9th Stepney | 17 | 10 | 27 |
| 10th Stepney | 55 | 15 | 70 |
| 14th Hackney | 51 | 10 | 61 |
| 16th East London | 50 | 32 | 82 |
| 23rd Poplar | 44 | 21 | 65 |
| 29th Hackney | |||
| 63rd Hackney | 40 | 7 | 47 |
| 65th Hackney | 4 | 4 | |
| Total | 753 | 268 | 1021 |
DRAFT EAST LONDON DISTRICT SCOUT COUNCIL INCOME AND EXPENDITURE ACCOUNT FOR THE YEAR ENDED 31[st] DECEMBER 2020
| Income Programme - Activities Programme – Badges Campsite fees and electricity charge Hall hire – Bouverie Road Donations and grants Membership subscriptions Miscellaneous income Bank and building society interest Total Income Expenditure Programme: Activities Programme: Badges Administration costs Campsite: Maintenance/improvements Bouverie Rd: Maintenance/improvements Bank charges Training materials Membership fees Equipment depreciation Sundry payments Promotion assets Total Expenditure Net Income/(Expenditure) for the Year |
Notes 2 3 Notes |
2021 £ 1,288 1,599 11,661 15,097 46,615 7,740 250 1 84,251 2021 £ 6,462 2,932 43 11,814 11,433 72 - 21,990 1,337 746 733 - 57,562 26,689 |
2020 255 1,435 3,205 10,937 71,348 22,050 290 4 109,524 |
2020 255 1,435 3,205 10,937 71,348 22,050 290 4 109,524 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
2020 £ 3,158 3,139 60 14,728 7,539 72 - 25,557 1,337 1,501 - - 57,091 |
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52,433 |
The above accounts and accompanying balance sheet were approved by the Trustees at their meeting on the 28[th] September 2022 and were signed on their behalf by:
Alan Hands
District Chair
East London District Scout Council. Registered Charity Number 1114589
DRAFT EAST LONDON DISTRICT SCOUT COUNCIL BALANCE SHEET AS AT 31ST DECEMBER 2021
| FIXED ASSETS Buildings at cost or valuation Bouverie Road Scout Hall Fairmead Campsite EQUIPMENT Bouverie Road Fairmead Campsite Other CURRENT ASSETS Badge Stock Debtors and prepayments Bank Accounts Cash TOTAL ASSETS LESS CURRENT LIABILITIES Creditors and Accruals Assets at 1stJanuary 2020 Net Income/(Expenditure) |
Notes 7 6 5 4 |
2021 £ 403,001 414,105 817,106 3,368 - - 820,474 1,623 - 150,445 - 152,068 972,542 - 972,542 949,962 26,689 972,542 |
2020 £ 403,001 414,105 817,106 4,614 - 1 821,721 1,253 3,385 123,753 - 128,391 950,112 150 949.962 |
|
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 898,900 51,062 949,962 |
East London District Scout Council. Registered Charity Number 1114589
DRAFT EAST LONDON DISTRICT SCOUT COUNCIL NOTES TO THE ACCOUNTS FOR THE YEAR ENDED 31 DECEMBER 2021
1. ACCOUNTS
The accounts incorporate the funds administered by the District Scout Council and do not include any of the funds administered by the individual groups within the East London District.
| 2. DONATIONS AND GRANTS Bloomberg UKHQ Scouts Start up grants Miss E A Pemberton-Barnes Will Trust Covid-19 Grants – Retail Leisure & Hospitality Amazon Jack Petchey Foundation 3. MISCELLANEOUS AND NON-RECURRING INCOME Jamboree refund payment Bouverie Road – EON refund Bouverie Road – TSB compensation Bouverie Road - Sale of surplus CO2 Alarm 4. DEBTORS AND PREPAYMENTS Subscriptions Prepayments 5EQUIPMENT - BOUVERIE Value 1 January Additions in the year Depreciation Written down value 31 December 6 FAIRMEAD CAMPSITE Balance 1 January and 31 December 7 BOUVERIE ROAD SCOUT HALL Balance 1 January and 31 December |
2021 £ - - - 44,860 5 750 46,615 250 - - - 250 - - - 4,614 - 4,614 1,246 3,368 414,105 403,001 |
2020 £ 3,892 5,000 27,456 35,000 - 71,348 - 222 50 18 290 1,785 1,600 3,385 5,860 - 5,860 1,246 4,614 414,105 |
2020 | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
403,001 |
East London District Scout Council. Registered Charity Number 1114589
INDEPENDENT EXAMINER'S REPORT
TO THE TRUSTEES OF THE EAST LONDON DISTRICT SCOUT COUNCIL
I report on the accounts for the year ended 31st December 2021 which are set out on pages 6 to 8.
Respective responsibilities of Trustees and Examiner
As the charity's trustees you are responsible for the preparation of the accounts; you consider that the audit requirement of Section 43(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 Section 43(7) (b) of the Act, whether particular matters have come to my attention.
Basis of examiner's report
My examination was carried out in accordance with the General Directions given 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 seeking 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:
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which gives me reasonable cause to believe that i n any material respect the requirements
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to keep accounting records in accordance with Section 41 of the Act and
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to prepare accounts which accord with the accounting records and
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to comply with the accounting requirements of the Act have not been met, or
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to which, in my opinion , attention should be drawn in order to enable a proper understanding of the accounts to be reached, or
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which gives me reasonable cause to believe that in any material respect the accounting rules of the District's constitution have not been met.
_______ Signature
Name: Mr Wakeel Abiodun Noibi Qualification: FCCA Address: 1 Blomville Road, Dagenham RM8 3DH Date:
East London District Scout Council. Registered Charity Number 1114589