Annual Report September 2024 to September 2025
Reference and Administration Details
Charity Name: Ash Rescue Centre
Registered Charity Number: 1153339
Principal Address: Ash Rescue Centre, Ash Tree Farm, Dartmouth, TQ6 0LR
Charity Trustees who manage the charity:
Julie Tomkinson - Chair
Jenny Rogers - Treasurer
David Wilding Craig Irons
Structure, Governance and Management
Type of Governing Document: Trust Deed adopted 6th August 2013 How the Charity is Constituted: Charitable Trust
Trustee selection method: Trustees are appointed or reappointed every three years by a resolution of the Trustees passed at a special meeting.
Objectives and Activities
Summery of objects of the Charity set out in the Governing Document: To relieve the suffering of elderly equines and other
animals by providing care, rehabilitation and a permanent sanctuary facility.
To provide people with learning opportunities in animal care and welfare matters through information sharing, volunteering and courses.
Summary of the main activities undertaken for the public benefit in relation to these objects:
In planning our activities for the year we kept in mind the Charity Commission’s guidance on public benefit at our trustee meetings. Our main activities are as follow
Maintaining health and providing habitat enrichment for the animals in our care
Inducting and retaining new volunteer team members including a regular group via the local Social Prescribing network
Managing financial stability and continuing to improve working and financial practices
These activities benefit not only the animals in our care but the families, organisations and individuals that approach us for help. Horses come into our care from many different backgrounds: abandonment, homelessness due to owner’s death, rescues from cruelty/neglect cases.
We have seen an increase in need for wildlife rescue and rehabilitation from the local and wider community which has expanded our workload and experience over the past 12 months. Our volunteering opportunities provide people with a variety of ways to get involved and help, boosting self-esteem, combatting
isolation, and encouraging social interaction while learning new skills and becoming part of a team.
We are extremely grateful to our volunteers and supporters; their help, support, donations and encouragement are the lifeblood of the charity.
ACTIVITIES AND PERFORMANCE
Summary of the main Achievements of the charity during the October – December 2024 year:
October started off with a funded (South Hams District Council Community Fund) event where we built bug towers around the farm, the day was fully booked and was a great success.
We also gave a talk to a local WI group about all our work and future plans.
We we lucky to have twelve sponsors for our Calendars again so this means all sales go to the Charity. The calendars bring in a good amount of funding for us every year. We are always grateful for the sponsors, photographers and buyers.
In November we joined up with the team from Babcocks International who created our sponsorship package for us. We headed to London where they had been put forward for an award. They won gold which was well deserved and a great advertisment for us.
December saw another busy weekend wreath making course, as well as plenty of wreaths made to sell in our Charity shop.
In December we had ten days of fundraising with The Big Give where we managed to raise £5000 towards our borehole instalation.
Our theme for the Stokefleming Christmas Tree festival was “An English Orchard” with over 100 handmade and donated apple and pear ornaments.
We had plenty of grass and hay ready for winter and the horses were all doing very well.
We had a number of Swans, Seabirds (inc Guillemots, and Cormorants), Tawny Owls, Sparrow Hawks and Buzzards in this Autumn. All were successfully rehabbed and released.
January – March 2025
January saw the arrival of Danny, a little old pony whos owner had become to poorly to look after him and Breeze, who came to us as a neglect case through the RSPCA.
January saw us replace a lot of fencing around the yard which was in bad state of repair. Tucker fencing did a good job as always.
In February we received visit and a cheque from Tescos Kingsbridge for £100 for a book sale they had held. They regulary donate apples for the horses too.
In March our Solar Panels were installed, thank you to Bloom renewables and to South Hams District Council for their sustainabilty fund.
It was another long wet winter but thankfully with our mega crop of homegrown hay supplies, large dry field shelters and great volunteer teams all the horses came though it fit and well.
April – June 2025
In April Ian held a ‘Barefoot’ course here for the Horseloggers group, it was fully booked and all the funds went to Ash.
In April we had the Equine dentists here getting all the horses teeth done, it was a busy few days but thankfully no issues and Keith very kindly kept the Charity discount for us again this year.
In May we re-covered all of our polytunnels with the help of the Fridays volunteers teams. We now have usable inside spaces again for talks and courses.
We had our Drum Devon ‘Drumming with ponies’ workshop in May which was a great success and was fully booked.
We had a number of wildlife rescues in Spring including Magpies, Buzzards and Swans.
July – September 2025
In July we started building our Birds of Prey aviaries which we kindly got funding for. These will be a great help with the rehabbing of any rescues that come in.
We had a huge crop of hay cut and baled off our fields (83 round bales) which is brilliant and will last us for the next year and give us some to sell.
We had our second very successful fundraising Fashion show, where we sold donated clothes, had a huge raffle from donated items and had a bar, we made a fantastic £3500.
The Gull chicks were filling the pens in July with over 400 on site at one point. We are lucky to have funding towards their food costs each year and a brilliant team of volunteers who transport, feed and clean them.
In August we were invited to the Donkey Santuary for a Donkey assisted activities day which was put on for free to help local Equine Charities. We took a small team with us and really enjoyed the day. It was great to share ideas and see their facilities.
Our Borehole finally went in in August, this will make a huge difference to the Charity, cutting down bills and making sure we dont get stuck without water in the future.
In September we seeded our new meadow (5 acres) with a wildflower mix from Emorsgate. This was funded by The Animal Welfare Foundation and a private donor. This meadow will give us winter grazing for the horses and be an essential habitat for wildlife.
We had two new horses come in through The Mare and Foal Santuary (Malibu and Bailey) both needed extra feeding and tlc. They settled in really well.
In Summary
We have had a great year of support, whether in the Charity shop with donations, volunteers and buyers, at our Charity home with the horses, wildlife, conservation work or admin, and from grant givers who have enabled us to purchase essential items such as our Borehole, Solar Panels and wildflower seed.
We’ve held some great events which we hope to do more regularly and have many fantastic plans for next year.
We have teams of volunteers join us three days a week now to tackle the larger jobs and to help keep on top of the daily jobs such as mucking out, watering and fencing.
Our focus for the next year will be on reducing bills and making the Charity more environmentally and financially sustainable.
Julie Tomkinson – Chair 30[th ] September 2025
ASH RESCUE CENTRE- DARTMOUTH TREASURER'S ANNUAL REPORT- 2025 DANK BALANCE As ?1301Q912024 QIIIO/Z024 TO 3010912025 OVIOI2024TO 3010912025 A5 al 3010912025 7.674.36 93 020.43 PA¥MEf4TS ANK lANcE 987.fjz 9,707.17 RECEIPTS 1015 PAYMÉNTS 1)25 DONATION5 FUNO BAISING EVEN HMRC GIFT Alg CHAAITYSHOP INCOME GHAN 40,152.93 9.616.27 8.179.82 15,047.07 10,024.34 ANIMAL WELFARÉ 3,630 94 613.82 2W46.5 ,860.50 19.936.84 Z IYO.51 7,354.41 5.319 43 2,248.66 760.88 IDZ.20 1722.43 CAPITALASSET ADDITION5 CTrIAAITYSHOP C05T5 FEEDI MAyLE FUNDRAISING COSTS FIELDI FARM NDe05T$ SEÈDS INSURANCE MEDIAAPJD INYERNET COST5 PAYROLL CONTROLACCOUNT PLANT &VfHICLES PVNNING COST51REPAIRS MAINVENANCE ANP EQiJIPMENTREPLAC£MENTS SALARIES SUBSCRIPTIONS MISCELLANFOUS 982.61 11.32Z.46 747.29 2.108.23 93.OZO.43 90987.62 PREPAIÉD 8Y IPRINTNAME DA FISH8UR14 51GP4 IDATEI.. 15106126 CHECXEa BY IPfl1NT NAME) GRWEBB SIGN TEI.. 2?107126
CHARITY COMMISSION FOR ENGLAND AND WALES Independent examiner's report on the accounts Section A Independent Examiner's Report Report to the trusteesl members of On accounts forthe >ear ended Charfty no Ilf any) //{ $33 ? Sgt out on pages I report lo the trustees on my examination of the accounts of the above chlrity {Yhe Tfustl for the year ended Responsiblllties and As the ¢harity trustees, you are responsible for the preparation of the basls of report accounts in accordance with the ChaTTtres Acl 2011 I'lhe Acil. I report in respect of my examination of the Trust's accounts carrièd out under section 145 of the 2011 Act and in carrying out my examination, I have foll¢ywed all the applicable Directions given by the Charity Commisston under seclion 14515llb} of the Act. Independent he charrty's gross inwne exceeded £250,000 and l am qUal4&d to examinerfs staternent undertake the examination by being a qualified member of linsert name of applicable listed bodyll. Delete I l if not applicable. I have completed my examination. I confimi that no material matters have come to my attention (other than that disclosed below.) in connection with the examination which gNes me c8use to belleve that in, any terial respect,: the accounting records were not kept in accordancè with section 130 ofthe Ad,. or the accounts dld ncrt accord with the accounting records,. or the ac¢tsunls did not Comp wrth the applicable requiiements conceming the fomi and content of accounts set out in the Charrties (Accounts and Reports) Regulations 2008 other than any requirement that the accounts give a Irue and fair. view which 1$ not a matter Considered as part of an independent examination. I have no concems and have come across other matters in nneCtIOn with the gxaminaiion lo which attention should be drn in this report in order lo enable a proper understanding ofthe accounts to be reached. . Please delete t rfthey CA) not apply. Slgned: Relevant pr¢fesslonal qualificationlsl or body Irfan". Fcepr IER October 2018
Address." l.A.W Accoullt2nci" Sern'ices i Hi'de Ruad. I,, Section B Disclosure Onty complete ifthe examiner needs to highlight matters of concern Isee CC32, Indepèndent examinallon of chafity accounts.. directlons and guidance for èxaminersl. Give here details of any items that the examlner wlshes to dlsclose. IER Octobgr 2018