2023-12-31-accounts

Crusader Community Boating

www.crusadercommunityboating.org.uk

Bringing the peace and tranquility of Northamptonshire’s waterways to the disabled, disadvantaged and elderly through free group trips on our specially equipped wide beam boat. Funded by voluntary donations.

Registered Charity No 1163121 Patron: David Laing

Trustees Annual Report: 1st January to 31st December 2023

Correspondence Address: 79 Tanfield Lane Northampton NN1 5RN

Trustees

Peter Corns (Chairman), Stephen Boyce (Vice Chair), Geoff Fellows (Treasurer), Frances Prater (Secretary), John Collier, Gary Coles (Health & Safety), Julie Colman (Training), Jill Baker (Customer Services), Paul Hickerson (Maintenance).

Governance

The charity is registered with the Charity Commission as a ‘Charitable Incorporated Organisation - Association Model’ governed by its board of trustees. Day-to-day operations are managed by the Officers on behalf of the Trustees. All Trustees, Officers and Crew act on a voluntary basis.

Meetings

Trustees normally hold face-to-face meeting 2 to 3 times a year with other business handled via email or telephone.

Charity Assets

The principle assets of the charity are two passenger trip boats ‘ Mountbatten Crusader ’ and ‘ Community Spirit ’ plus their associated equipment used in connection with their operation.

Charitable Activities & Objectives

This year, we were able to open our trip season in April and run through to late October which had been the norm prior to the pandemic.

During the year we did 83 trips, 31 on Mountbatten, 52 on Community Spirit and carried some 1605passengers. It also worth noting that we had several new charities take advantage of our services.

The number of trips is significantly down on previous years due to the lack of qualified Boatmasters, cancellations due to strong stream restrictions and lock / gate repairs on the river nene.

Operations

At the start of the year a management team was established to facilitate smoother running of the charity’s operations and spreading the workload. The online booking system continues to be improved, making a much enhanced user experience .

During the year, we have experienced a number of technical issues with Community Spirit and Mountbatten and are indebted to the ongoing support of GJBC, the hard work put in by our retired Maintenance Manager, 9Michael Lindsay) as well as the patience and understanding by our service users and crew volunteers. We believe most of these issues are now resolved and look forward to better times ahead.

Each season we loose some volunteers and gain new ones and are particularly grateful to those who have taken on additional responsibilities as Trustees or Officers of the charity, working above and beyond for the benefit of Crusader Community Boating. That being said we are actively looking to recruit new volunteers plus train new steerers and boatmasters.

Financial Overview

We started the year with an opening bank balance of £48,740.55. During the year we have had unexpected expenditure of £6,229 due to the technical issues with Community Spirit, and unexpected repairs to Mountbatten, nevertheless we will close the year having made an operating loss of £10,163.84 and with a closing bank balance of £38,576.71

The charity has no debts and further information is available in the year end accounts.

Peter Corns Chair of the Trustees Crusader Community Boating 31st December 2023

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CRUSADER COMMUNITY BOATING Charity 1163121

Accounts for the year 2023 – Treasurer’s Remarks

• 1) The Accounts at the end of the year show a credit balance of £38,576.71.

• 2) 2023 has been a helpful year in terms of clarification of income versus expenditure because there have been no Patron’s Donations or Grants received. Therefore what the accounts show is a fairly realistic picture of profit and loss for the period.

• 3) We have spent just over £10,000 more than we received, although there have been some unusual items of expenditure in particular which will be detailed by the Chairman and which with any luck are unlikely to recur.

• 4) At the end of 2024 we would probably have a credit balance of around £25,000 if we were to continue with the current pricing and administration regime, and assuming no major unforeseen events occur to upset the balance.

• 5) This estimate takes into consideration the current climate of inflation and price instability, the latter especially in the area of fuel and energy costs.

It also takes into account the somewhat unpredictable nature of illness levels in the population, and especially in the more vulnerable portion of the population since this group forms a large part of our clientele.

Geoff Fellows Treasurer – Crusader Community Boating.

2023-12-31.