2025-10-31-accounts - Prodigal Bikes

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Trustees Report for Prodigal Bikes - 1[st ] November 2024 to 31[st ] October 2025

Legal Status:

Prodigal Bikes is a Charitable Incorporated Organisation (CIO), registered on 20[th ] December 2016, registration number 1170845. It was recognised by HM Revenue and Customs as a charity for tax purposes on 23[rd ] October 2017, effective from 21[st ] December 2016. Prodigal Bikes is registered for VAT, effective from 1[st ] February 2020.

Board of Trustees (at 31st October 2025):

Tim Neville (Chairman) Stephen Crane Calum McFarlane Roger Allen

Charitable Objectives:

Our Charitable Objectives were widened last year. Updating this with the Charity Commission is ongoing. This is to also cover our work providing bikes in the UK and the work we do with disengaged people who do not have a background in offending. They are now:

1) Improving the employability and wellbeing of disengaged people in the Somerset, Devon and Dorset area.

2) The relief of poverty by supplying bikes, spares and tools, enhancing people's lives through the provision of transportation.

Review of Activities and Achievements for 1[st ] November 2024 to 31[st ] October 2025:

1. Income and Expenditure overview.

Our income was £59709, which is a 42% increase on the previous 12 months. Our turnover, together with our charitable output, has been growing steadily since we started out in 2016. On funding the UK side, we found funding UK teaching work through grants was becoming very difficult, with a low success rate for grant applications. Sourcing funding this way was becoming too labour intensive to be worthwhile. Hence we have shifted to only working with groups that could also provide funding. This “buy in” means they are more focussed on participating with us, too. This has proved to be viable, with four groups running each week, and given us a steady, predictable income that now covers most of our UK costs - our rent, our Operations Manager’s salary and our insurance. Having a predictable income means we can now have a meaningful cashflow prediction for our day to day activities, which is vital for making informed financial decisions.

We continue to have a strong core of regular donors, and also continue to be supported by the Marsh Charitable Trust, for our core funding, all for which we are very grateful. In August 2025 we were delighted to receive an unexpected £5,000 grant from the League of Friends of Crewkerne Hospital. The staff and trustees of Prodigal Bikes all agreed this grant should form the basis of a Reserve fund to give us extra financial security, which we continue to maintain.

Whilst the Africa shipping side of our work has continued to be relatively easy to fund compared to our UK work, we encountered larger than expected import taxes when importing the container into Tanzania in November 2024, which impacted the charity financially. The details are in the Tanzania section of this report. Generous donations from

two of our supporters and a grant from the Souter Charitable Trust enabled us to pay the t taxes and import the container. Thankfully a highly successful program is now in place. Through 2025 we have been working towards another large shipment, this time to our projects in Kitui County and the city of Eldoret, Kenya. We received initial funding from the Oliver Morland Trust, and have since received more from other trust funds after this reporting period, which have allowed us to purchase all the solid tyres needed for most of the bikes we are sending to Kenya in 2026, plus buy a large amount of spares to send. Applications to further grant funds are expected to give us enough funding to cover the cost of the shipment and the import costs before we agree to dispatch the container.

We now align the proceeds of our bike sales and repairs here in the UK with the money we send to Africa to pay our mechanics and buy spares in-country to support previously delivered bikes. It isn’t quite covering the costs but is getting there.

We supplied a further 100 bikes and cycling accessories to young adults leaving the Leaving Care Service in Somerset. The accessories were funded directly by the care leavers from their Leaving Care budget, and grant from Somerset Community Foundation, covering our costs.

In addition to this income outlined above, we received numerous public donations, and reclaimed VAT and Gift Aid.

We are very grateful to all the above organisations, and to the general public for their kind donations and support, and of course bikes, helping us achieve so much over this last year.

2. Supply of bikes to Africa, and ongoing support of delivered bikes.

Gai, Kitui County, North East Kenya

The team in Gai have continued to work well, faithfully maintaining the bikes we supplied in 2022 and the two previous shipments. We estimate around 100 bikes are still running. We have struggled to be able to supply enough spares with the Tanzanian project taking a lot of our available resources. We were able to supply one load of spares from our supplier in Nairobi, and some carried out from the UK by our partner charity the Akamba Aid Fund. Whilst we are confident that many children are still benefiting from having bikes, we also need better feedback from the schools as to exactly how the bikes are helping their students.

Throughout 2025, we have been working on a shipment of bikes for this project and the one in Eldoret. We are hoping to dispatch this in 2026. This will rejuvenate this project with around 300 better suited bikes and a very large quantity of spares. We will implement a more robust monitoring system when the bikes are delivered.

Above; Mbiti, Joshua and Elijah working on bikes at our Gai workshop.

Chitheche / Bandawe, Malawi

In February 2025, the shipment of 58 bikes plus spares we dispatched from Leeds in October 2024 with the Zikomo trust arrived in Lilongwe, Malawi. Hiring a truck, our Malawi team was able to get the bikes transferred up to Bandawe, then distribute the bikes to the teachers who needed bikes.

The project continues to produce great results. The teachers really value and look after the bikes, and the spares supplied have reinvigorated the project. Nearly all the 188 bikes supplied are still running. The mobilized teachers are so much more empowered to teach, which in turn means thousands of children receiving a better education.

The bikes are maintained by mechanic Christopher, and Simon and Louis, two deaf graduates of the deaf school who were trained as bike mechanics whilst at this school. They were supplied with bikes in this latest shipment, equipped with bike tools in the panniers. They now provide a mobile bike mechanic service which has substantially increased the number of bikes running.

A team from Hooke Court in Malawi our partner charity, and a volunteer bike mechanic from Prodigal Bikes, Peter Bradish Ellames, traveled out to the Bandawe / Chintheche area of Malawi again in July 2025 to monitor the project, take out spares and tools, and assist with the bike maintenance. They found the project to be running well with all bikes accounted for. Whilst there, the area head of education visited, and thanked Prodigal Bikes for supplying the bikes.

Above, our hired truck full of bikes and spares heading for Bandawe, and teachers with new bikes. February 2025.

Above, Mobile mechanic Simon with his bike equipped with tools, and the area head of education at the opening of a new classroom thanking Prodigal Bikes for our work around Banadawe and Chintheche. July 2025.

Eldoret, western Kenya

The Langas Gorofani Luo (LGL) group has continued to give us some great feedback and detailed reports with a number of touching testimonies from the 30 children who received bikes in 2023. The focus has also been in training some of the children from the Langas slum as bike mechanics. They tell us 35 have been trained so far. The 25 bikes they received have continued to help people with access to education and employment.

The sewing machines we sent in the same container have really boosted the LGL tailoring school in the slums of Eldoret, with the throughput of trainees increasing from 25 to 35 in total this year.

The construction, carpentry and automotive tools, along with the computers we sent have helped LGL train 45 people from the slums in these trades and progress into employment in the area’s rapidly growing construction industry.

Due to the real evidence of helping significant numbers of people in and around Eldoret, we will be sending further tools and bikes to them in our next shipment.

Above, LGL’s carpentry school, the trainee tailors at LGL’s tailoring school, and and Eldoret student riding home.

Boko Mnemela, Kibaha, coastal Tanzania

The container we sent to Tanzania arrived in October 2024, whereupon we were charged £8k worth of import duties, despite having applied to the Tanzanian Revenue Authority (TRA) for exemption. At the time PB did not have the funds to pay this in full and our Operations Manager Anthony Raybould and volunteer Jamie Bachelor went out to Tanzania to see if the situation could be salvaged. After two weeks of meetings in Dar es Salaam, the import duty exemption application was still unsuccessful, but the money for the import duty was donated to PB, so the duties were paid and the container was cleared and delivered. In the following five days in December 2024, 275 of the bikes were given to students and residents around the village of Boko Mnemela in coastal Tanzania. Our Operations Manager returned home just before Christmas.

The partner charity, the Community Support Mission (CSM) then stole about 40 of the remaining bikes and the tools supplied by Tool Aid Ringwood. They were requested by PB to explain the disappearance, but failed, so CSM’s involvement with the program was immediately terminated.

Fortunately, Anthony had recruited a number of additional volunteers to give the bikes out, and they have been subsequently employed as bike mechanics. Since then we have engaged a reliable local organisation called the Community Life Empowerment Foundation (Coliefo), headed by Robert Kamigwe, and we now have a Support Contract in place with them, defining our expectations for supporting the bikes. We pay them monthly.

Ongoing monitoring shows most of the bikes still running and Coliefo has been very good at ensuring bikes remain with the children who need them rather than filtering into the wider community. We have once again had some heartwarming stories from children whose lives have been given new hope by having bikes to get them to school, spurring them on to achieve more at school. The schools report improvements in grades, too. Coliefo has been able to source spare bike parts in Dar es Salaam paid for by PB, to help keep the bikes running.

Coliefo has also started a local football team, named the Jamie Prodigal Boko Mnemela Sports Club, for the children of Boko Mnemela. They have been supplied further vocational tools

by Tools With a Mission, and are soon opening a vocational training centre similar to the ones in Eldoret.

We are very happy with this project and plan to supply more bikes in a container to Tanzania in 2028. Robert has had some success with the local government towards getting import duty exemption on this container, and will soon be applying to the TRA headquarters in Dodoma. Having demonstrated our project, we have more credibility with the TRA so are hopeful of success and a much cheaper shipment next time.

Above; Getting the container released from customs in Dar, then delivered to Boko Mnemela

Above and below; teaching the school kids how to use the bikes, and some of the children with their new bikes.

3. Work with disengaged local people in Somerset.

Through this reporting period, we ran groups as follows, working with 40 people;

On Tuesday mornings, Special Needs groups from Yeovil College.

On Tuesday afternoons, disengaged teenagers from the Horizons (Somerset kids in Care) On Wednesday mornings, Special Needs groups from the Hub, a day care centre in Yeovil On Thursdays, a group of experienced bike mechanics work on the bikes independently. On Friday mornings with disengaged children from a local secondary school.

With the Special Needs students, once again we have seen significant improvements in their wellbeing and self confidence, as well as their communication, coordination and technical skills. They have all really enjoyed it. We were able to pass a lot of pictures back to them of the bikes they had worked on which are now in Tanzania and Malawi. This was a real boost for them. With the disengaged school children, again they really enjoyed their time with us, and we definitely “sowed some seeds” in their minds about working with their hands after leaving school.

Throughout all this time, the Operations Manager has been assisted by volunteers Steve Carden, David Hopkins, Ben Ellis, Gavin Davey, Pete Cooper and Tim Osborne, who have provided much support, collecting bikes, helping fundraise and assisting in the workshop. We are very grateful for their assistance. They have also taken on the roles of Teaching Assistants, which means we can offer close to One to One support in our teaching sessions. This has made the sessions run much more smoothly.

We were donated a 40ft shipping container in September 2025 by Titan Containers, to whom we are very grateful. This is now installed in the yard where Prodigal Bikes has its workshop. The completed Africa bikes are stored there, which has freed up the teaching area, making a much clearer teaching area. The workshop now also has Infra Red heaters meaning the workshop is at an acceptable temperature all year round.

Above: People from our various groups working on bikes for our next Kenyan shipment.

4. Refugees and Asylum Seekers

Through this reporting period we have supplied a further 80 bikes to refugees and asylum seekers around the Taunton, Bridgwater and Yeovil areas. The recipients are coming from the Middle East, mostly Afghanistan, Iraq and Iran, and Sudan. The bikes we supply are donated freely to Prodigal Bikes, but are not suitable for Africa, being too complex and expensive to be maintained there by basic maintenance techniques. So we donate them free of charge to the beneficiaries in Somerset, where better maintenance support is available. We also supply accessories alongside the bikes; helmets, mudguards, locks, lights, cycle path maps, chain oil, basic tools, to enable the riders to be able to ride safely and maintain their bikes themselves. We charge a price just above trade prices for the accessories. We continue to receive requests for the bikes through the Somerset Leaving Care services and Resettlement services. We have been able to fund this work fully through grants or by invoicing the local government departments requesting the bikes.

We have seen the recipients get a number of benefits from their bikes. As well as being able to reach school, shops, appointments, friends etc, we have come to realise how important cycling is to their wellbeing, especially in helping them recover from the trauma of escaping from their country of origin.

Our message about always locking the bikes seems to be listened to more by the recipients, and the theft of the bikes due to being left unlocked is decreasing as a result.

One of our beneficiaries around Somerset with his new bike from us this year.

5. Future plans

Africa:

Our priority is resupplying the two bikes projects in Gai and Eldoret, Kenya. At the time of writing (Spring 2026), we have about 300 bikes ready to go, along with a large quantity of bike spares and tools, and a number of other items like vocational tools for Eldoret’s training centres. We are just finishing the last few bikes and are applying for the remaining grants and we are hopeful of dispatching this container later in 2026.

Once the Kenya container is dispatched, we plan to ship a large container of 360 bikes to the Malawian project in 2027. This project has been hugely successful, and we are keen to replenish and expand it. We will identify the locations for the bikes to go to in due course

In 2028 we plan to deliver again to Tanzania, which we hope will be much cheaper with the import duty exemption in place. We may then possibly ship bikes to Eldoret and a smaller project in Homa Bay on the shores of Lake Victoria in 2029, depending on how we fare with Kenyan customs this time.

Currently these four programmes are enough for Prodigal Bikes to support at its present capacity and bike production levels. Each project requires £2k to £3k in spares and salaries for mechanics, which is as much as we can afford. Resupplying every four years or so works well, too.

Training work in the UK:

We have recently received a grant from the National Lottery for this work, so we are looking to work with people from the local area who are not in Education, Employment or Training (NEET). We also plan to continue working with our four existing groups.

The Thursday group will continue. It is working well, giving a massive boost to our production rate.

Refugees:

We expect the influx of refugees,and hence the demand for bikes around Somerset to continue. We aim to continue to supply bikes to individuals who need free-of-charge transportation. However, the demand does seem less as we go through 2026.

We have found a problem with the bikes we supply not being repaired once they become significantly damaged. This seems to be down to lack of money that the recipients have, to take the bikes to bike shops for repair. We are proposing to provide “Service Vouchers” alongside the accessory kits, such that one major repair is pre-paid, and Prodigal Bikes will collect, repair and return bikes, giving them a longer useful lifespan.

Fundraising:

Once Kenya is funded, we should be all set with grants for another 12 months or so for our Africa shipping, UK teaching and refugee work. We will need to fundraise for the next Malawi shipment in 2027. We still would like to recruit a fundraiser to further offload our Operations Manager.

Workshop:

The workshop itself is basically as we need it now. We just need a few tools and minor repairs and it will be perfect for our needs.

Charity Accounts.

The charity’s accounts attached to this report have been prepared in line with current statutory requirements.

On behalf of the trustees

9 July 2026

Tim Neville – Chair of Trustees, Prodigal Bikes.

	Prodigal Bikes	Prodigal Bikes	Prodigal Bikes	1170845
	For the period from	1/11/2024	To	31/10/2025

Section A Receipts and payments
Unrestricted funds A1 Receipts to the nearest £		Restricted funds to the nearest £	Endowment funds to the nearest £	Total funds to the nearest £	Last year to the nearest £
	- - -	- - -	- - -	- - -	- - -
Public Donations	11,857 - -	- - -	- - -	11,857 - -	8,993 - -
Grant from Souter Charitable Trust		5,000 - -	- - -	5,000 - -	5,000 - -
Grant from Coles Medlock Foundation		3,000 - -	- - -	3,000 - -
Grant from Yeovil Christian Sprt Trust		3,400 - -	- - -	3,400 - -	3,750 - -
Grant from Somerset Community Fdn		3,000 - -	- - -	3,000 - -	4,000 - -
Grant from Marsh Charitable Trust	800 - -	- - -	- - -	800 - -	700 - -
Grant from Oliver Morland Trust		2,000 - -	- - -	2,000 - -	2,000 - -
Grant from League of Frds of Crewk Hos	5,000 - - p	- - -	- - -	5,000 - -
Bank of Canada Donation	450 - -	- - -	- - -	450 - -
Grants from Generations Trust	- - -	- - -	- - -	- - -	7,000 - -
Grant from Woodward Charitable Trust		- - -	- - -	- - -	1,250 - -
Donation from Yeovil Inner Wheel	- - -	- - -	- - -	- - -	440 - -
Grant from Edgar Lawley Foundation			- - -	- - -	2,000 - -
Bike / parts sales and repairs	9,690 - -		- - -	9,690 - -	3520
Bike Repair Teaching work	9,970 - -		- - -	9,970 - -	1,485 - -
Gift Aid Reclaim	4,943 - -		- - -	4,943 - -	836 - -
VAT Reclaim	599 - -	- - -	- - -	599 - -	1,108 - -
		- - -	- - -	- - -
*Sub total* (Gross income for PB)	43,309 - -	16,400 - -	- - -	59,709 - -	42,082 - -

A2 A d i
sset an nvestment sales, (see table).
	- - -	- - -	- - -	- - -	- - -
A3 Payments *Sub total* *Total receipts*	- - -	- - -	- - -	- - -	- - -

	43,309 - -	16,400 - -	- - -	59,709 - -	42,082 - -

Bike parts & tools - UK sourced	4,542 - -	4,500 - -	- - -	9,042 - -	8,880 - -
Africa Support and Spares	7,178 - -		- - -	7,178 - -	2,606 - -
Container Purchase & Shipping	5,782 - -	14,000 - -	- - -	19,782 - -
Payments to Operations Manager	11,437 - -	3,900 - -	- - -	15,337 - -	12,598 - -
IT - PCs, Printing	626 - -	- - -		626 - -	517 - -
Rent / Upgrades of workshop	4,949 - -		- - -	4,949 - -	3,773 - -
Public Liability Insurance	181 - -	- - -	- - -	181 - -	181 - -
VAT Payment	298 - -	- - -	- - -	298 - -
Workshop consumables	162 - -	- - -	- - -	162 - -	- - -
Travel expenses	3,050 - -			3,050 - -	6,645 - -
Training	265 - -	- - -	- - -	265 - -
Misc	206 - -	- - -		206 - -	720 - -
	- - -	- - -	- - -	- - -
*Sub total*	38,676 - -	22,400 - -	- - -	61,076 - -	35,920 - -

CCXX R1 accounts (SS)

03/07/2026


A4 Asset and investment
purchases, (see table)
	-	- -		-	- -		-	- -			-	- -
*Sub total*	-	- -		-	- -		-	-		-	-	-		-

*Total payments*	-	38,676	-	-	22,400	-	-	-	-		-	61,076		-		-	35,920	-

*Net of receipts/(payments)*	-	4,633	-	-	6,000	-	-	-	-		-	1,367	-			-	6,162	-
A5 Transfers between funds	-	- -		-	- -		-	- -			-	- -				-	-		-
A6 Cash funds last year end	-	- 221		-	- 6,000		-	- -			-	6,221			-	-	59		-
*Cash funds this year end*	-	4,854	-	-	-	-	-	-	-		-	4,854	-			-	6,221	-

Section B Statement of assets and liabilities at the end of the period

A4 Asset and investment purchases, (see table)	A4 Asset and investment purchases, (see table)
A4 Asset and investment purchases, (see table)
	- - -	- - -	- - -	- - -
A5 Transfers between funds A6 Cash funds last year end - - - *Sub total* *Total payments* *Net of receipts/(payments)* *Cash funds this year end* - - - - - - - - - - 38,676 4,633 - 221 4,854	- - -	- - -	- - -	- - -


	- - 38,676	- - 22,400	- - -	- - 61,076	- - 35,920

	- - 4,633	- - 6,000	- - -	- - 1,367	- - 6,162
	- - -	- - -	- - - - - - - - -	- - -	- - -
	- - 221	- - 6,000		- - 6,221	- - 59
	- - 4,854	- - -		- - 4,854	- - 6,221

Section B Statement of assets and liabilities at the end of the period
Categories B1 Cash funds	Details Lloyds Bank		Unrestricted funds - - - - - - to nearest £ 4,854 - -	Restricted funds - - - - - - to nearest £ - - -	Endowment funds to nearest £
	Lloyds Bank			- - -	- - -
				- - -	- - -
				- - -	- - -
B2 Other monetary assets B3 Investment assets B4 Assets retained for the charity’s own use	*Total cash funds* (agree balances with receipts and payments account(s)) Details		- - 4,854 OK	- - -	- - -
					OK
			Unrestricted funds - - - - - - - - - - - - to nearest £ - - - - - - Fund to which	Restricted funds - - - - - - - - - - - - to nearest £ - - - - - - Cost (optional)	Endowment funds to nearest £
					- - -
					- - -
					- - -
					- - -
					- - -
					- - -
					Current value
	Details Details		asset belongs Fund to which asset belongs	- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - Cost (optional)	(optional)
					- - -
					- - -
					- - -
					- - -
					- - -
					Current value (optional)
			UNRESTRICTED UNRESTRICTED	- - -	- - -
	STOCK OF DONATED BICYCLES			- - -	- - -
	WORKSHOP TOOLS & SPARES			- - -	- - -

CCXX R2 accounts (SS)

03/07/2026

B5 Liabilities

Signed by one or two trustees on behalf of all the trustees

LAPTOP & PC	UNRESTRICTED		-	- -	-	500	-
SHIPPING CONTAINER AT UK BASE	UNRESTRICTED		-	- -	-	2,000	-
			-	- -	-	-	-
			-	- -	-	-	-
			-	- -	-	-	-
			-	- -	-	-	-
	Fund to which			Amount due		When due
Details	liability relates			(optional)		(optional)
			-	- -
			-	- -
			-	- -
			-	- -
			-	- -
Signature	Print	Name				Date of approval
	CALUM MCFARLANE					09/07/2026
	TIMOTHY NEVILLE				10/07/2026

CCXX R3 accounts (SS)

03/07/2026

Independent examiner's report on the accounts

Section A Independent Examiner’s Report

PRODIGAL BIKES	PRODIGAL BIKES	PRODIGAL BIKES

31STOctober 2025	Charity no (if any)	1170845


I report to the trustees on my examination of the accounts of the above charity (“the Trust”) for the year ended 31stOctober 2024. As the charity's trustees, you are responsible for the preparation of the accounts in accordance with the requirements of the Charities Act 2011 (“the Act”). I report in respect of my examination of the Trust’s accounts carried out under section 145 of the 2011 Act and in carrying out my examination, I have followed all the applicable Directions given by the Charity Commission under section 145(5)(b) of the Act.

Independent examiner's statement I have completed my examination. I confirm that no material matters have come to my attention in connection with the examination which gives me cause to believe that in, any material respect:

the accounting records were not kept in accordance with section 130 of the Charities Act; or
the accounts did not accord with the accounting records; or
the accounts did not comply with the applicable requirements concerning the form and content of accounts set out in the Charities (Accounts and Reports) Regulations 2008 other than any requirement that the accounts give a ‘true and fair’ view which is not a matter considered as part of an independent examination.

I have no concerns and have come across no other matters in connection with the examination to which attention should be drawn in this report in order to enable a proper understanding of the accounts to be reached.

Please delete the words in the brackets if they do not apply.

Signed: Name: Neil Lukins Relevant professional FCCA qualification(s) or body (if any):

Date: 10.7.2026

IER

Address: 27 GREEN STREET

SOMERSET

HINTON ST GEORGE

Section B Disclosure

Only complete if the examiner needs to highlight material matters of concern (see CC32, Independent examination of charity accounts: directions and guidance for examiners).

Give here brief details of any items that the examiner wishes to disclose .

IER