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← Devizes Canoe Club

2025-03-31-accounts

TRUSTEES REPORT 2024-25

Formal Report to the Charities Commission

Welcome to the tenth Trustees’ report under our constitution as a Charitable Incorporated Organisation. This report to the Charities Commission was prepared by Mark Bouch, as Chair, on behalf of the Club’s Trustees for the period 1[st] April 2024 to 31[st] March 2025.

This report will be circulated to members with 2024/25 accounts for approval at the Club’s AGM in November 2025.

CIO Trustee Committee

Devizes Canoe Club is a “Charitable Incorporated Organisation”. Our Charity number is 1156402. We were registered with the Charities Commission on 27th March 2014. Legal decisions are taken by the CIO trustees, who in 2024/25 were Mark Bouch, Sue Colby, Lindyanne Ehrnrooth, Chris Jones, Nick Prichard, Hannah Snowsill, Andrew Park, Dan Colby, Hannah Snowsill, Trevor Hunter and Simon Darling.

The CIO Trustees have a legal responsibility to the Charities Commission for effective governance and management of the CIO’s assets in line with our CIO constitution and Charity Commission guidelines. CIO Trustees have six legal responsibilities, including delivering purpose, managing conflicts of interest, reporting information, safeguarding people, making decisions, managing finances and overseeing club policy. Club property, including the club’s estate, is held by the CIO on behalf of the Club itself and not by any individual. Trustees meet annually and as required.

A decision of members at the Club AGM appoints trustees. At the November 2024 AGM, eleven Trustees were appointed/reappointed. No additional members stood for election as Trustees. At the forthcoming one-third of the Trustees must retire (three to four people). We have an opportunity to appoint up to twelve trustees in total, and any club member is welcome to nominate themselves, at least fourteen days before the AGM, as a CIO Trustee.

At this AGM, Trevor Hunter, Andrew Park and Nick Prichard will retire. Andrew Park and Nick Prichard intend to stand for re-election. Trevor Hunter has decided not to stand again. The Trustees and Club Members would like to thank Trevor Hunter for his guidance and support as a highly experienced Trustee over the last two years and warmly support his wish to focus on coaching. No nominations have yet been received for first-time election as Trustees.

Club Management Committee

The CIO Trustees delegate power to a management committee which meets monthly, to coordinate the operational management of the Club. The Management Committee are responsible for ensuring club operations comply with policy and best practice.

The CIO Trustees appoint the key management committee roles: Club Chair, Deputy Chair, Treasurer and Secretary and invite the management committee to fill other key roles necessary for effective management.

The Chair and Deputy Chair divide their roles with Chair’s focus being club strategy, development and governance and the Deputy Chair’s focus being club operations.

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The committee has invited other members to fill important volunteer roles, including leading paddling groups, managing boat storage, delivering the coaching programme, and providing bankside support during organised sessions. These appointments do not need to attend committee meetings, but are welcome to do so.

All key volunteer appointments are recorded in the members’ section on our website.

Our AGM provides the formal opportunity to approve management committee members for 2026/27. Committee membership is open to all Club members, though we will only appoint committee members to fill specific roles required to ensure the efficient management of club business.

Members wishing to stand for election to the management committee or challenge the nominations proposed should submit their names in writing to the Club Secretary at least one week before the AGM.

The Club management committee intends to meet monthly, except in August. Meetings take place face-to-face and virtually. Minutes are taken and are published on the club website. Copies of minutes are available on request to any club member without website access.

The proposed 2026/27 management committee are Sue Colby (Chair and Volunteer Coordinator), Simon Darling (Treasurer), Lindyanne Ehrnrooth (Secretary), Jenny Jones (Welfare and Safeguarding Officer), James Papworth-Smith (H&S), Stuart Colby (Facilities), James Mahoney (Coaching Group Lead), Nigel Chivers (Senior Programme Coordinator and Captain of Boats), and Charlie Mayo (Club Public Relations and Press Officer). We have vacancies for a Junior Programme Coordinator, which could be filled a parent representative from either the racing or adventure group, and for an Events & Entertainments member.

Club Purpose

The Club’s purpose is “The promotion of community participation in healthy recreation in particular by the provision of facilities for the sport of canoeing and kayaking”. We have regard to the Charity Commission's guidance on public benefit. We provide identifiable benefits in advancing health and sport to the public. Our membership criteria and what we offer are inclusive and open to all members of the public without restriction. We make it clear that if anyone finds it difficult to pay our membership and coaching fees we can help, and we regularly do.

Our priorities for the current three-year period were established in the 2024 to 2027 strategy document. This consisted of an intent:

To become one of the top 10 clubs nationally judged on growing participation, competitive excellence and a varied development and activity programme that includes all age groups

Our strategy comprises seven pillars that establish high-level priorities for the club. Four priorities focus on the club’s kayaking and canoeing disciplines:

  1. Developing a Passion for Paddlesport – introducing young people and adults to paddlesport, using this as an opportunity to attract members and generate income.

  2. Junior Talent Development – Offering junior paddlers the opportunity to progress to performance racing through a structured, coached performance programme to maximise their potential in marathon and sprint racing.

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  1. Competitive Marathon Racing – Offering all paddlers the opportunity to compete in flatwater racing across all marathon formats.

  2. Recreational and Touring – Increasing opportunities for young people and adults to enjoy non-competitive recreational, social and adventure activities.

Three additional priorities focus on the key enablers that support all club activity:

  1. Developing Paddle Skills – Delivering the coaching and leadership capability to support the club’s current and future needs.

  2. Developing Paddle Fitness – Introducing members to core conditioning to support all members and all disciplines to develop paddle fitness.

  3. Quality Club of Choice – Providing facilities and programme to meet or exceed Quality Club standards and maintain a supportive and cohesive club environment.

From this strategic framework, our objectives and annual development plans provide a framework for the management team to implement the strategy.

Club Accreditation

In the period covered by the last report, the Club achieved accreditation under Paddle UK’s Quality Club programme, demonstrating that we met the highest possible standards of governance and safeguarding.

Activity Report

This report summarises our activities and achievements in 2024-25 in pursuit of our paddlesport objectives. By publishing this report on the Charity Commission website, we display the benefit to club members and society.

Sprint Regattas

In 2024/25 the club sent teams to:

British Sprint National Regatta - April

The sprint season started really well for DCC at the April regatta, with two of our juniors, Mollie Ball and Philippe Ehrnrooth, selected to be on the GB Canoe Sprint Junior European Championships Team. Highlights of the British National Sprint Regatta included:

The Ghent Regatta - May

A small team of DCC juniors, joined by paddlers from Worcester CC, attended and raced against paddlers from Belgium, France and Germany. As a team, we won a handful of medals

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and made a number of finals. It was a great experience practising a racing routine in an international environment with warm-ups and eating plans.

National Sprint Racing Championships - June

DCC continued to perform really well at the June event. Philippe Ehrnrooth was selected to be

on the Great Britain Canoe Sprint Junior World Championships Team. Highlights included:

Open & British National Paracanoe, Senior and Junior Sprint Championships - July

The National Championships were a huge success for DCC sprinters, who won two trophies and lots of medals. Highlights included:

National Inter-Club Regatta - September

Highlights from the inter-club regatta included first places for Philippe Ehrnrooth in Boys A K1 1000m, Boys A K1 500m and with Arthur Hunter-Hopkins a win in Boys A K2 500m. Other club members competing included Regan Toop, Max Poole, Fred Johnson, Jared Kelly, Cameron O'Hare, Luke Mason, Simeon Kendall, Mary Johnson, Connie O'Hare, Charlie Mayo (senior masters) and Alex Sheppy (senior). Everyone did multiple events and placed well in their finals.

The 2024 Olympic Hopes Regatta in Szeged, Hungary.

Philippe Ehrnrooth represented the club and GB, and won the silver medal in the Under 17 boys K1 500m – GB's first medal at this event in 6 years. He also placed 6th in the K2 1000m A final, with a paddler from Richmond Canoe Club.

Marathon Racing

DCC Hasler Race - May

In May 2024, DCC hosted our round of the SW Hasler Series at Saltford due to issues with the venue at Chippenham. We were 3rd overall with 2 wins and 5 podium places.

SW Region Hasler Series

In 2024/25, we did not set a target for the Hasler Series qualification. Trustees do not believe it is realistic to expect paddlers to travel the length and breadth of the SW Region Hasler to collect Hasler Series points. At the end of the season DCC was placed 7th in the SW region with 73 races compared to the SW Region winners, Bradford on Avon CC, who completed 237 races.

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The SW Region poses difficulties for Devizes CC as we are located at the far eastern extreme of the largest Paddle UK region in the UK. The SW Region clubs that qualify for the National Hasler Regatta tend to compete at every event. DCC tends to compete in the five nearest events in the region. There are about ten events in the calendar, fourteen active clubs, and 70% of the inregion races require four or more hours of travelling time, with the associated financial burden on paddlers and parents. DCC continues to lobby MRC for changes in the regional scoring system which in the SW now requires only the best n races to count from the series. This number will vary depending on the number of active clubs and races scheduled.

National Marathon Championships

Eight DCC paddlers went to the National Marathon Championship at Reading. Nick Poole & Pete Jones won the SC2 class.

Waterside Series 2025

The Waterside Series, run by Newbury CC in early 2024, is recognised as the classic build-up to the Devizes to Westminster Race. However, the Waterside Series presents its own challenge, and completing it, which spans around 80 miles across four races, is an achievement. Eighteen DCC paddlers competed in at least one of the four races of the series.

We had enough open canoe paddlers to enter a C1 team for the first time. Two DCC crews completed the whole series.

Devizes to Westminster Race 2025

Six crews competed in the Devizes to Westminster Senior Doubles straight through race and three crews in the Stages race. A headwind throughout the race made for challenging paddling conditions. A summary of results confirms that DCC are amongst the most active DW clubs in the UK:

Senior Doubles

Stages

Overall, our results have been excellent. They demonstrate the hard work and commitment of our paddlers, coaching team, parents and supporters throughout the year.

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Membership

Our membership number at year end in March 2025 was 146, down from 158 the previous year. We experienced a lower-than-normal non-renewal rate of 7.6% overall, which was all senior non-renewals (down to 107 from 123 (-13%), whilst junior numbers increased from 35 to 39 (+11.4%). This is the second year we have not seen net growth in membership numbers.

Non-renewals were a mix of DW paddlers who intended to join for only a single year, nonpaddling parents who were previously paddlers or joined to support their junior, and a few longterm members who moved from the area. A few seniors reported that work commitments prevented them from rejoining, although no one leaving the club reported that their nonrenewal resulted from dissatisfaction with the club.

Our next member survey will be conducted in early 2026 and will inform the annual development plan.

Development

We changed the way we introduced juniors in 2024 by having ad hoc sessions, which allowed parents to pay a reduced annual membership fee and then pay per session. This allowed more juniors to be members, even if they only paddled through the summer months. We ran a taster day in March 2024, and Pay-per-Play sessions were held during half-term. These events cleared our junior waiting list, allowing 18 juniors to join our expanded adventure group.

Sustainability

Sustainability is a topic of broad interest to many people in the paddling community who prefer to paddle in clean water and care about our environment. In the 2024 Quality Club review, we committed to conducting a sustainability review in 2025. Terms of Reference were agreed upon, and two volunteers were identified to lead the review and determine its scope. We intend that this review framework will be an ongoing activity, not a one-off study.

Support to external organisations

In 2023/24 our support to external organisations included:

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These commitments are only possible with the enthusiastic support of our coaching team. In 2023/24 they have, once again, risen to the challenge and delivered high-quality experiences to external organisations.

Although supporting external programmes places considerable demand on our coaching team, they provide a vital income stream for the club. Our new charging structure has been in place for a year and was well-received by all educational establishments we partner with as a more straightforward basis for budgeting. We reviewed our payments to volunteers policy in 2023 and now have a predictable surplus from our external activities. Coaching capacity to deliver mid-week, daytime sessions continue challenging and stretching the team. This remains the single most limiting factor for future support to external programmes.

All support to external organisations is charged unless approved explicitly as a ‘charitable purpose’ to ensure we meet our costs and make a reasonable surplus for the club. This helps to keep membership fee increases to a minimum. Our Trustees are mindful that loss of income from these programmes would have significant budgetary consequences for other discretionary activities, including investment in coach development, investment in equipment replacement and support for participation in competitive events.

Financials (all figures subject to confirmation in final accounts)

Our financial accounting period runs from 1st April to 31st March 2025, so the accounts presented at this AGM relate to a period ending eight months ago. This report will provide a narrative to support the club’s financial statement and a forward-looking view of the club’s financial health. An informal update covering the more recent period will be reported at the AGM. At the end of the last accounting period:

  1. The club held an operating surplus of £37,534, of which £27,645 are unrestricted reserves. This represents an increase of £5,932 on 2023/24. While our expenditure has remained stable in 2024/25, this masks an expected trend of rising insurance costs (to include an enlarged boat fleet) offset by reductions in maintenance costs. The main driver of the surplus is the increase in Grants, Donations and equipment sales.

  2. The Club was awarded a £1000 grant from Asda for Gym equipment and £2500 was raised towards a new competition K2 for the junior team (Donations £1282, Boat sale £1600). The new boat was purchased in the current Financial Year.

  3. Membership income and the related boat storage income were at the same level as last year.

  4. Expenditure has increased in several areas with significant increases above 2023/24 on: 12. Insurance increase driven by insuring the club boat fleet.

  5. Equipment purchases £2000 more than last year (£1000 being expenditure linked to the grant from Asda mentioned above).

  6. Despite the increases mentioned above, total expenditure for the year was very similar to the previous year because of reduced spending on premises and merchandise.

The club maintains around one year’s operating costs in a general reserve. Our restricted reserves included, at the end of the 2024/25 year, a £889 junior fund for the exclusive use of junior projects and bursaries and a facilities (property) reserve of £9,000. The club’s trustees plan to review the club’s reserve policies to assess whether the current property reserve is adequate or needs to be further built up over time.

Our expenses in 2024/25, as last year, include the payment of entry fees for all crew boat entries to incentivise crew boat entries in competitions. Although this policy is expensive and

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accounts for some of our excess expenditure over income, it reduces the cost of competition and eases the burden on families of participation in regional and national events. This is changing in 25/26 for Sprint Regattas as the fee structure for these events has been changed with a one-off fee per competitor per regatta covering all boat entries.

The club received grant funding totalling £2000 in 2024/25. In addition to these successful applications, the Club was also successful in obtaining a £5000 grant from the Landfill Communities Fund representing 50% of the total cost of renovating the Gable end of the club house and the canal steps. This work was completed in September 2025.

Club trustees approved several projects to improve club facilities, including security upgrades. All these projects were delivered on time and below the approved budget. We put on hold plans to re-render the building pending development decisions.

A summary of financial recommendations for AGM 2025

  1. We will continue tightening control of event budgets to ensure they deliver an overall surplus, so the overall programme is self-funding.

  2. All purchases of competition equipment must be based on matched funding from grant or fundraising activities.

  3. The club will continue to maximise income streams from external programmes.

We are pleased to report that the club is in robust financial shape at the end of this year.

A summary of the accounts is sent to the Members with this report before the AGM. Full accounts are submitted to the Charity Commission and are available for public scrutiny.

Post Financial Year-End Events

A summary of the accounts is sent with this report to the Members before the AGM and full accounts are submitted to the Charity Commission and are available for public scrutiny.

Strategic Development

At our last AGM we updated members about plans to develop Wadworth & Co’s brewery site adjacent to the Club. In 2024/2025 we actively engaged with elected councillors to represent the club’s interests in the planning process.

The planning process concluded in July 2025 when the proposed development was approved at a full planning meeting. Since then, several reserved matters have been approved, including the demolition method statement and phasing plan. We have also engaged with the development proposal for the listed part of the Wadworth & Co brewery estate, although this development has little/no impact on the club.

Demolition is now underway adjacent to the club. We have registered a dispute over party wall matters and appointed an independent Party Wall Surveyor to represent the club. The

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developer will bear the cost of this. A Party Wall Award will be agreed in due course and govern the conduct of works within three meters of our boundary.

Our engagement strategy is to have conversations with critical stakeholders who are directly involved and privy to confidential information about adjacent developments. These include Wiltshire Council, and the consultants appointed to represent it, Devizes Town Council, the planning department, Wiltshire Historic Buildings Trust, and the Devizes Assize Court Trust (DACT). It remains vital to build the club’s public profile over the next few years to give key stakeholders a much better understanding of our priorities and development needs.

The Club Trustees’ position remains that we have no concerns about the club's long-term viability or the site we occupy. Two feasible options remain for future club development and growth:

At Lower Wharf we have a 125-year lease and 25-year leases on the section of Lower Wharf roadway within club boundaries and the launch area. With a legally sound right of access over the Lower Wharf roadway, this gives us a strong hand in any negotiations and unfettered ability to ensure that local development, whilst inconvenient, does not restrict club activity.

Mark Bouch Chair, on behalf of the Trustees

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Independent examiner's report on the accounts Section A Independent Examinerfs Report Report to the trusteesl members of Devizes Canoe Club On accounts for the year ended 3110312025 Charity no (if any) 1156402 Set out on pages (remem￿r to iiiclude the pag¢& numbe.rs of a¢dilioiial sherl i I Respective The charity's trustees are responsible for the preparation of the accounts. responsibilities of The charity's trustees consider thal an audit is not required for this year trustees and examiner under section 144 of the Charities Act 2011 (the Charities Act) and that an independent examination is needed. It is my responsibility to: examine the accounts under section 145 of the Charities Act, to follow the procedures laid down in the general Directions given by the Charity Commission (under section 145(5)(b) of the Charities Act, and to state whether particular matters have come to my attention. Basis of independent My examination was carried out in accordance with general Directions given examiner's statement by the Charity Commission. 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 the trustees conceming any such matters. The procedures undertaken do not provide all the evidence that would be required in an audit, and consequently no opinion is given as to whether the accounts present a 'true and fair, view and the report is limited to those matters set out in the statement below. Independent In connection with my examination, no matter has come to my attention examiner's statement 1. which gives me reasonable cause to believe that in. any material respect, the requirements". to keep accounting records in accordance with section 130 of the Charities Act,. and to prepare accounts which accord with the accounting records and comply with the accounting requirements of the Charities Act have not been met. or 2. to which. in my opinion. attention should be drawn in order to enable a proper understanding of the accounts to be reached. Signed: Date: 2710112026 Name: I Willoughby Relevant professional qualification{s) or body F.C.A. Address: 29 Devizes Road Swindon SN14BG