Rimrose Valley Friend5 Charity No. 1171536 Trustees. Report and Unaudited Accounts 31 MaKh 2024 Rimrose Valley Friends Contents Pages 2to3 Trustees, Annual Report Independent Examiner's Report Receipts and Payments Accounts Statement of Assets and Liabilities Notes to the Accounts Page I Trustees, Annual Report April 2023 to arc 2024 Reference and Administration Details Chaiity Name= Rimrose Valley Friends Registered Charity number. 1171536 Registered addresses: 32 Henley Ave Litherland LIVERPOOL L212PU The Charitys current Trustees are: Simon Albert Tra￿Y Boileau Sarah Edey Linda Gaskell Gary Young Structure. Governance and Management 1. The Charty is govemed by a written cortstitubon 2. During this period, each of the charivs previous 4 trustees above retired and were reappointed at the last AGM. in line with the d)aritr/s constitution. 3. RVF member. Simon Albert, put hirnselfforward as a trustee at the AGM in thts period, which was confirmed by those present 4. The Charity has a paid membership scheme. with all members having Voting rights at the AGM and other general meetings. 5. The last AGM was held on Wednesday, 26th April 2023. with the next to tske pla within the 1&month period pemiitted by the constitution. This Annual Report covers the period from April 2023 to March 2024 in line with the Charity's accounts covering the same period. Objectives and Activities Objectives: 1. Rimrose Valley Friends sets out to promote, protect and improve the community resource that is Rimrose Valley County Park. 2. Rimrose Valley Friends aims to benefit the local communty surrounding Rimrose Valley, promoting it through events and activities. engaging with other community groups and liaising with the police to cut down on anti-social behaviour. 3. Rimrose Valley Friends, work covers the area of Rimrose Valley County Park, bordering the Leeds-Liverpool canal and the adjoining communities of Seaforth. Lithertand, Waterloo, Crosby, Thomton and Netherton. Actlvities: The Charity's twstees have had regard to the guidance issued by the Charity Commission on public benefft and have undertaken the following activities within the boundaries of that guidance. During this period. the Charity has aimed to further the core activities of Rimrose Valley Friends and simultsneously run a successful campaign against a road proposal which threatens the park's future, which is known as Save Rimrose Valley. As these have different objectives, the activities for each are summarised separately below. Rimrose Valley Friends The Charitys core actsvities include: 1. Raising awareness and promoting the Charity's work online via the following: Wrtting articles, blogs and content added lo dedicated website www.rimrosevalleiifriends.ora Administering the campaign's Facebook group "Rimrose Valley Friends. Maintaining the campaign's Twitter account @Rimrosevalley 2. Raising awareness and promoting the Charitys work In the communlty via the following: Organising activit]es and events on Rimrose Valley Engaging with loc31 schools, communty groups and other charities with shared objectives Attending and supporting local c%)mmunity events 3. Engaging with relevant stakeholders induding: Local Councillors Green Sefton Sefton CVS Local MPS Specific activities in this period The following is a summary OT the key activities in this period- 1. Facebook The chartty's community group has remained an active and positive forum to thousands of members predorninantly frorn the surrounding communities. At the time of preparing this report, membership of the group stands at around 8.800. The group is used for people to share relevant news stories, photographs and information and is administered by volunteers. 2. Website The mailing list has continued to grow. Members of the public can subscrrbe to this list and re￿1ve email notifications of news and events added to the website. The charity has plans to develop a brand-new membership programme to replace the existrng Webcollecv platform, specific to RVF. whith will be housed on the website. See membership update below. 3. Twitterlx This has proven to be a great way of connecting with similar local communty groups and supporting each otherfs work. Again, the account is administered by volunteers. At the time of preparing this report the charity has 1.764 followers. We are less actÉve on this plattom as we have found that majority of our supporters use Fa￿book to engage on Rimrose Valley matters 4. Eventbrite After securing fvnding to deliver more events and actwities in this period, the charity increased its use of the Eventbrite platform to administer these. This helps track bookings and communicate wtth participants more effectively than social media alone. At the time of preparing this report, the charity has 159 followers on this platfo￿n, from just over 30 in the previous period. 5. Paid role This period proved to be one of the busiest in the charity's short history with funding secured to deliver events and actsvities (see below). As a result, the charity took the decision to fund a part-time role to apply for funding and deliver these events. This was a huge success with 4 out of 5 fvnding applications being successful and a constant flow of activities and events for the public to engage in. At the tirne of preparing this reporL the role has ceased temporarity, and the charity is considering how to make this self-sustaining. 6. Gulded Walks We arranged 4 guided walks during thls period. a foraging walk in May. a nature walk led by Green Sefton in June- a bird-spotting walk led by our local RSPB officer, also In June. We worked with Green Sefton to arrange another bat walk in September. These walks are incredibly popular, and all were free to take part in. 7. Living Well Sefton - Relax on Rimrose During this period we secured funding from Living Well Sefton to deliver a series of free events promoting physical and mentsl health on Rimrose Valley itse￿. The project was named °Relax on Rimrose" and events included the following- i. Yoga (adult and child sessions) ii. Tai Chi iii. Guided Foraging Walks iv. Art & Relaxation dasses v. Forest Sthool (adult sessions) These actvitses were incredibty well received and ran throughout the calendar year. RVF were rep￿sented at each session and captured the ne￿Sary feedback for the funder. As is cornmon wth many other local groups offering free events, we noticed a number of 'no shows.. We fed back to our supporters that because an actsvity is free doesn't mean there is no cost to providing it. We will conttnue to communicate this for future events 8. Mind - Time to Talk Day During this period we secured funding from mental health charity, Mind, to deliver a day of free activities on the specific date of 1st February 2024. Activities were organised by RVF volunteers, based at a local church, and included the following A mindfulness walk on Rimrose Valley ii. Group cooking sessions iii. Rock painting iv. A cooking demonstration v. Health checks. including weight, BMI and blood pressure vi. Mindfvlness talks and poetry Refreshments were provided, travel expenses were covered and each participant had a choice of book to take home, on either mindfvlness techniques or simple, healthy cooking on a budget 9. Breathe Better Air Fund - Let's put the Brakes on Pollution During this period we secured funding from Communty Foundation for Merseyside's Breathe Better Air Fund. The purpose of this fund is to raise awareness of air pollution and encourage individuals to tske steps to improve it. As this was predominantly a publicity campaign, many of the activities took a signfficant amount of planning and were delivered in the 202&25 and will therefore appear in the next annual report. The following activities took place in this period: i. Funding provided for 2 x Dr Bike sessions on Rimrose valley in January and February. Members of the public could tum up and have their bike. repaired or maintsined. Merseyside police also attended and.c8rried out security marking. These events were both extremely popular with 100+ bikes worked on across the events 11. Flyers and posters were shared with schools in the vicinty, encouraglng behavioural change in travel to and from school 10. Tes¢0 Stronger Starts - Explore & Learn on Rimroso Valley Towards the end of this period we secured funding from Tesco's Stronger Stsrts programme, which focusses on delivering activities based on leaming in the community. Delivery of these activities will Commen￿ in 2024-25 and will therefore appear in the next annual report. 11. Wildflower meadow Once again, the Charity sold seeds harvested from the previous yearfs meadow to raise the funds for subsequent sowing and to generate income for the Charity. In springlsumrner 2023, neither meadow required the intep4ention of herbicide. However. upon notifying the public of upcoming works in March 2024. concems were again expressed around the hert)icide, glyphosate, to prepare the ground. As a result. trustees arranged a meeting with Richard Scott from Scouse FloWer1￿USe. He advised that he has studied the research around glyphosate and is comfortable Trmth its use, which is necessary to give 'annual' varieties of wildflowér the best chance of success. A decision vlas taken to transition away from annuals to perennials, which do not require the annual interrfention of herbicide. This is in line with the charity's objectives of championing the environment and the health and wellbeing of the Su￿ound1ng communities. This meant that 2024 will be the final year the RVF meadow at the centre of Chaffers wnning track will be sprayed. 12. Rimrose Valley Calendar The Charity again invited people to subrnit photographs for the 2024 calendar. The Charity reverted to ordering 500 copies to avoid the excess stock from the previous year. This meant a healthy profft from the sales, Leftover copies were given to local individuals, communty groups and businesses..who support the Charity's work. 13. Marsh Lane Harriers & Chaffers Running Track MLH'S plans to construct a dub house next to Chaffers, running track was approved by Sefton Council's planning deparbnent during this period. At the time of preparing this report, this work has yet to comrnence. In April 2023, MLH approached RVF asking IT the charity would consider relocating the wildfiower meadow to a smaller site near to the track, as they wished to develop the field into a sporting facility - including football pttches and an athletics field. MLH hold the lease for this18nd. and it sits within a recreational zone of the park, according to Sefton Council's management plan. In theory, this means they can do this, subject to approval Trom Sefton Council and Green Sefton. The trustees met to consider this requesL Although we support all the work MLH has done in reinststing the track and promoting health and wellbeing, given that the project was funded by both members of the public and environmental grants. which included leaving a legacy of a habitat, and has been maintsined at a cost for 4+ years, itwas fe]t that the meadow should remain in its current location. It also créates a unique setting for runners to exercise. We fed this back and recommended that, rf MLH wanted to revisit the idea in the future, any plans should go out to the lo(xl.community for consideration and feedback. MLH accepted this decision. However, we expectthis topic to come up again in the future, based on the on90ing sUc￿S of their running dub and popularity of the track. 14. Fornier trustee, Hazel Davies. The charity funded an oak bench in memory of Hazel, which was installed on the park in the summer of 2023. Save Rimrose Valley The Charity continues to oppose National Highways. plans to build a dual carrtageway through Rimrose Valley County Park, known as The A5036 Port of Liverpool Access Scheme. The Chaiity set up a Road Action Group in September 2017. The group comprises the four trustees and additional volunteers from the community, with approximately 20 active members. The campaign's work is coordinated by Stuart Bennett on a paid contractor basis. The role is paid for via a combination of fvnding from grants and general Charity fundraising. During this period, the trustees decided they wished this to become a paid role (PAYE) to offer greater job security and a pension. At the time of writing this report, the trustees are working with Sefton CVS to get this in place for the following period 2024-25. Guidance and support are re￿iVed from relevant environrnental groups and NGOS including Transport Action Network, Friends of the Earth, CPRE and Lancashire Wildlife Trust. This guidance infomis the campaign's strategy which has two key objertives". 1. To Change minds of decision-makers at Westminster 2. To engage the communty in the fight to save the park The campaign's VK)rk should therefore fulfil either of the two objectives, with the Road Action Group supporting the delivery of this work. The campaign's core activities indude: 1. Raising awareness and promoting the campaign's work online via the following: Writing artides, blogs and content added to dedicated vRbsite www.saverimrosevalle' .ora Writing and distributing press releases to local, regional and national media outlets Maintaining the campaign's Facebook page @saverimrosevalley Maintaining the campaign's Twitter account @saverimrose Maintaining the campaign's Instsgram account @saverimrose Producing a podcast series We Said No" covering many of the issues around the campaign Creating videos to convey key messages 2. Raising awareness and promoting the campaign's work in the community via the following: Organising demonstrations Leafleting Using signs, posters and banners in prominent locations Engaging Wtth local schools Promoting the Gampaign at 'in store, events such as LUSH and local supermarkets Engaging with other environmental groups and (xmpaigns from across the Liverpool City Region Attending and supporting local community events 3. Engaging wrth key stskeholders in the road proposal induding: National Highways Peel Ports Department for Transport Transport for the North Local MPS, Councillors. the Metro Mayor & Liverpool Cty Reglon Combined Authority 4. Documenting key arguments against the road proposal 5. Exploring and prornoting viable afternatives the road proposal Specific activities in this period 1. Social media The campaign continued to grow its following across all platfonns during this period and it continues to be a vttal and dynamic way of communicating key issues. At the time of preparing this report, the campaign has >4200 followers of the Facebook (an increase of 700 since last year) page. 2,236 on Twittertx (an inGrease of 36 since last year). The campaign previously had >1,000 followers on Instagram but the account was hacked. It was subsequently retrieved and, at the time of wrtting. is back up towards 592 followers (an increase of 192 Sin￿ last year). 2-factor authentication was then added to all social rnedia accounts. AnatytiGS show that many tweets and posts have been viewed thousands of times. 2. Website The campaign-speclfic website was updated consistenty throughout this period with press coverage secured, blogs and kinger articles covering the more detailed topics linked to the campaign. Website visits continue to be encouraging. As with social media, website analytrcs show that many artides have been viewed thousands of times. 3. National Highways The project was fom)ally moved to RIS3 last year, which picks up again in 2025. The last fornial update posted to its project page was in July 2022 and its last formal newsletter in October 2019. No consultations or public infomiation events have taken place in this period. At the time of writing this report, we are attempting to have sight of the latest traffic flow analysis whid) we know was completed by NH'S contractor in autumn of last year. 4. Alternative Solutions The campaign continued to chase Sefton Council and the Liverpool City Region on follow up work to 2020's ARUP report and for greater darification around the role of PASG (Port Access Steering Group) where such topics are discussed and progressed. We continued to push for cross