2021-12-31-accounts

The Mountain Way

(A Charitable Incorporated Organisation)

Report and Financial Statements

For the period Jan 1[st] 2021 – Dec 31[st] 2021

Charity Number 1171751

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Contents	Page
Legal and Administrative Information	3
Report from the Trustees	4
Statement of Financial Activities	6
Accounts	8

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Oct 2022

Legal and Administrative Information

The Trustees of The Mountain Way present its directors report and financial statements for the year ended 31 December 2021. This report covers the Charity’s second reporting period and details activity from 1[st] January – 31[st] December 2021

Reference and Administrative Information

Charity Name: The Mountain Way Charity Registration Number: 1171751 Registered Address: The Mountain Way (1171751) 1 Lime View Victoria Park Newbury RG14 1EL

Board of Trustees

Mr Jonathan Bailey Chair Mr Simon Miller Treasurer Dr Pat Gwyer Head of Clinical Governance

Executive Team

Mr Andrew Shaw Chief Mentor Mr Dominic Moorhouse Fund Raising Director Mr John Lloyd Accountant

Bankers

The Cooperative Bank The Royal Bank of Scotland Drummond House No 1 Redheughs Edinburgh EH12 9JN

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Oct 2022

Trustees’ Report

Our Aims and Objectives.

The Mountain Way’s aim is to assist UK military veterans suffering from Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD). The UK’s ex-military community suffers from a significant proportion of its members enduring PTSD primarily as a result of participation in the military campaigns of the last 17 years but also exhibiting causes extending back to the Falklands Conflict in 1982.

The effects of this widespread mental health issue are many but include personal isolation, loss of self-esteem, destruction of relationships, inability to find and keep work and in general terms, an inability to conduct what the majority would see as a ‘normal’ life and enjoy sustained relationships. In many cases suicidal contemplations are realised and there is a growing quantity of evidence to suggest that the choice of suicide among military veterans is increasing.

How our Activities deliver Public Benefit

We assist former military PTSD sufferers directly via the efforts of the charity’s founder, Andy Shaw, and our psychologist, Dr Pat Gwyer. The charity can be introduced to sufferers through a variety of channels and after confirmation that they have had a formal PTSD diagnosis, our programme commences with Andy Shaw as mentor.

A preparatory phase, designed to gather information and assess suitability for one of our programmes, ensures that the individual is ready to confront their problems in surroundings that enable progress and development. A three-week programme conducted outside of the UK is designed on a one-to-one basis so that the concept of veteran peer-to-peer support can begin. Throughout this programme, techniques including mindfulness, guided reflection, meditative techniques and lay-counselling are used to enable the victim to begin identifying changes required in his or her life. On completion of this programme, a life-plan is designed, and a further period of six months of mentoring is characterised by frequent communication and routine evaluation and monitoring.

The programme offers the opportunity for sufferers to come to terms with what caused their condition, relegate PTSD to merely a component of their lives (rather than it being the sole driver) and enable them to begin re-establishing a more normal, balanced and positive place in society.

Responsibilities of the Trustees

The key responsibilities of the Board are governance and decision-making. Collectively, the role of governance spans the following areas:

• Financial : accounting, financial planning, budget preparation, donor due diligence and financial control measure design.

• Risk Management : delivery of programmes to sufferers, financial risk minimization, clinical risk mitigation and reputational risk management.

• Clinical : ensuring that our programmes conform to accepted psychological practices, clinical evaluations of cases, assistance in the design and improvement of our programmes.

Decision making is conducted routinely via quarterly board meetings in addition to extraordinary meetings as required. Decisions required of the Board include:

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• Financial : constraints on delivery of programmes, spending above certain thresholds, control measures and budget reviews, financial planning and target setting and monitoring of costs.

• Case Selection : collective decisions on suitability, readiness and programming in the delivery calendar.

• Delivery : Approval of modifications and improvements to our programmes and processes.

• Clinical : monitoring of internal processes, incorporation of new clinical methods and cyclical feedback mechanisms to ensure delivery is optimised.

Responsibilities of the Executive Team

The small Executive Team often works with other volunteers on a project-based approach to:

• Design fund-raising plans, campaigns and events.

• Conduct the actual delivery of the three phases of our programme.

• Maintain day to day accounts and provide information to the Treasurer.

• Provide assistance to the Treasurer and Chair in the preparation of reports.

• Participate in the promotion of the Charity and increase the general awareness of the wider societal problem.

• Manage relationships with donors.

• Manage applications to funds and grant-giving bodies.

Key Activities in this Reporting Period

Key activity during the period January 2021 – December 2021 includes:

Assistance to PTSD sufferers

The continuation of Covid-19 restrictions into 2021 had a significant impact upon our operations throughout the year. In a frustrating reminder of the prior year, many fund-raising events had to be postponed and travel challenges impacted our ability to schedule programmes. Most importantly, the impact upon veteran mental health in the UK continued to suffer due to continued conditions of social distancing.

The Charity’s ability to help others was hampered due to its Chief Mentor becoming seriously ill for a period of four months and requiring lengthy rehabilitation afterwards. A very challenging year resulted in no full programmes being delivered and this was due to the factors described above, but also the fragile mindset of some of the veteran sufferers that were scheduled to attend programmes. Two veterans, at the point of travelling to attend their programmes, declined the offers of help and withdrew at the last minute.

This type of behaviour is not uncommon with PTSD sufferers, and it requires a complex blend of empathy, trust and the building of relationships before a serious PTSD sufferer feels confident enough to commit to attending one of our programmes, or in many cases, ask for any type of help whatsoever.

There were successes in conducting our ‘Open Door’ programmes where contact with military veterans suffering from severe PTSD are first made. These programmes are essential preparatory phases where much of the initial understanding of the veteran’s problem is completed and the critical relationship between mentor and veteran starts to develop. Eight such veterans in need received these programmes of visits, discussions and initial mentorship and currently we have a ‘waiting list’ of pre-identified cases of varying levels of severity, totaling nearly 50 UK military veterans. Our Chief Mentor conducted a three-month road trip around the UK covering some 3500 miles visiting these veterans and much of the work completed was activity that had been postponed from 2020.

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Our new UK-based support team was effectively utilised throughout the year and helped to meet the challenge of worsening mental health issues due to imposed social isolation in many areas. The team is comprised of volunteers including one military veteran and has quickly become an essential part of the Charity, being able to provide significant assistance outside of our formal mentoring programmes. This small team was enlarged by the addition of a qualified music therapist and this line of activity shows much promise as an additional dimension to the work of the Chief Mentor.

External Activity

Our new Communications Manager proved highly effective at fulfilling our second mandate – the promotion and awareness raising of the veteran mental health problem in the UK. Our social media presence grew significantly and resulted not only in wider public education, but easier methods for PTSD sufferers to get in touch with us and ask for help.

Internal Activity

Advantage was taken of an offer from a UK military veteran to use part of his residential property and surrounding areas to plan ideas for conducting a full UK-based programme based in the Scottish Borders. This would be supplementary to our programmes based in France and Spain and should be able to be leveraged when the Charity begins to develop additional mentors to work individually with veterans.

The six-monthly and annual reviews of key policies and internal operating procedures were conducted as usual and amended where appropriate to reflect experience gained from the Charity’s operation over the previous year.

Statement of Financial Activities

Financial Review

This period saw total donations from all sources amounting to £16,030 and total spend by the charity totaling £15,998 with cash funds at the year-end for this period totaling £9,233.

Principal Funding Sources

Once again, two of our principal funding events - the Bath Half Marathon and the Bath Dragon Boat race – were cancelled and postponed once more resulting in a serious deficit in our funding for 2021. We had also hoped to conduct a new in-house fund-raising event, but this also proved impossible to execute. The Charity was extremely fortunate to receive significant donations from personal sources and it appears that the mental health plight of our veterans continues to be a story that resonates with the UK public.

Fund Raising Categories

Successful fund raising for this period fell into the following categories:

• Online crowd funding – GoFundMe and JustGiving.

• Third-party fund raisers – individuals/groups organizing events on our behalf.

• Recurring donations from supporters.

• Individual donations.

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Plans for Future Periods

During the next reporting period (2022), we very much hope that all Covid restrictions will be lifted, and that the Charity can assume a more normal operating posture. The last two years have been difficult for us internally, but this is secondary to the increased stresses it has placed upon veterans, already in declining mental health. Not only do we have a backlog of cases that need our attention but there is significant ground to be made up in terms of our fundraising activities.

Existing fund-raising events must be brought back on stream and new ones developed but there is a critical need for larger, recurring funding if we are to achieve our growth plans. These growth plans in time, will include additional mentors, coordination staff and fund-raising personnel within our team.

We had hoped to hire a part-time fund raiser this year, but our financial situation precluded any additional recruitment. We still see this role as essential (and growing to a full-time position) and it will be pursued in 2022, finances permitting.

2022 should see plans made to enlarge delivery capacity and the start of the search for additional mentors. It is anticipated that these new mentors will undergo an apprenticeship under our Chief Mentor before eventually being capable of delivering programmes on their own. It is clear to us that the condition of the UK veteran community’s mental health quality continues to worsen.

In summary, 2021, along with the prior year, was extremely difficult. Nevertheless, our doors remained open to veterans in need, despite significant challenges surrounding the continued Covid restrictions and serious health issues of our Chief Mentor (now in remission).

Accounts

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Section A Receipts and payments

	Unrestricted funds		Restricted funds		Endowment funds		Total funds		Last year
	to the nearest £		to the nearest £		to the nearest £		to the nearest £		to the nearest £
A1 Receipts
	16,030		-		-		16,030		16,264
	-		-		-		-		-
	-		-		-		-		-
	-		-		-		-		-
	-		-		-		-		-
	-		-		-		-		-
	-		-		-		-		-
	-		-		-		-		-
Sub total(Gross income for AR)	16,030		-		-		16,030		16,264
A2 Asset and investment sales, (see table).
	-		-		-		-
	-		-		-		-		-
Sub total	-		-		-		-		-
Total receipts	16,030		-		-		16,030		16,264
A3 Payments
	15,988		-		-		15,988		12,895
	-		-		-		-		-
	-		-		-		-		-
	-		-		-		-		-
	-		-		-		-		-
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	-		-		-		-		-
	-		-		-		-		-
	-		-		-		-		-
**Sub total **	15,988		-		-		15,988		12,895
A4 Asset and investment purchases, (see table)
	-		-		-		-
	-		-		-		-
**Sub total **	-		-		-		-		-
Totalpayments	15,988		-		-		15,988		12,895
Net of receipts/(payments)	42		-		-		42		3,369
A5 Transfers between funds	-		-		-		-		-
A6 Cash funds lastyear end	9,191		-		-		9,191		5,822
Cash funds thisyear end	9,233		-		-		9,233		9,191

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Oct 2022

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

Categories	Details	Details	Details	Unrestricted funds		Restricted funds	Endowment funds
				to nearest £		to nearest £	to nearest £
B1 Cash funds	RBS			9,233		-	-
				-		-	-
				-		-	-
	Total cash funds			9,233		-	-
	(agree balances w ith receipts and payments account(s))			OK		OK	OK
				Unrestricted funds		Restricted funds	Endowment funds
	Details			to nearest £		to nearest £	to nearest £
B2 Other monetary assets				-		-	-
				-		-	-
				-		-	-
				-		-	-
				-		-	-
				-		-	-
	Details			Fund to which asset belongs		Cost (optional)	Current value (optional)
B3 Investment assets						-	-
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	Details			Fund to which asset belongs		Cost (optional)	Current value (optional)
B4 Assets retained for the charity’s own use						-	-
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	Details			Fund to which liability relates		Amount due (optional)	When due (optional)
B5 Liabilities						-
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						-
						-
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Signed by one or two trustees on behalf of all the trustees	Signature			Print Name			Date of approval
				JONATHAN BAILEY			20thOct2022

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Oct 2022

Jon Bailey Chairman On behalf of the Trustees of The Mountain Way

October 2022

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Oct 2022

CHARITY COMMISSION FOR ENGIAND w￿E5 Independent examiner's report on the accounts Section A Independent Examiner's Report Report to the trusteesl m¢mbers of Charity Name The Mountain Way On accounts for the year ondad 3141 December 2021 Charity no (if any) 1171751 Set out on pages 1-10 Irernember to iT￿￿E Ihe p￿0 numbws of athrfional 6heelsl I report to the trustees on my examination of the accounts ofthe above cha￿ty Ilhe Tru8t°) for the year ended ' Respon•lbllltie8 and basls of report As the charws trustees, you are responsible for the preparation of the accounts in accordance with the requirements of the Charities Act 2011 {tthe Acf). I report in respect of my examinatlon of Ihe Trust's accounts Carried out under section 145 of the 2011 Act and in ¢arylng out my examination, I have followed all the applicable Directlons given by the Charity Commission under section 145(5)Ib> of the Act. Independent tThe charity's gr088 income exceeded £250,000 and l am quallfied to •xaminefs statsment undertake the examination by being a qualified member of linsert name of applicable listed body]J. Del&t& I l rfnot applKable. I have completsd my examination. I confirm that no materlal matters have come to my attention in wnnection wrth the examination {other than that disdosed teb)w ') which gives me cause lo believe that in, any material respect. the accounting records were not kept in ￿￿rdance with 8￿tion 130 of the Charibes Act" or the accounts did not accord wlth the accounting record8. or the accounts dld not comply wilh the appllcable requirements concerning the fonn and content of accounts set out in tho Charities (Accounts and Reports) Regulations 2008 other than any requirement that the accounts give a 'true and fairf view wh￿h is not a rnatter consKJered as part of an independent examination. I hove no co￿emS and have come across no other matters In connecti with the examinaiion lo which attention should be drawn in this report in order to enable a proper understanding of the accnunts lo be reathed. . Please delete Ihe words in the brackets if they do not apply. Slgned: 25 Ortober 2022 Namo: Samuel Spurway Relwant profos8lonal qualificatlon{81 or body Ilf any): ACG4-2142095 IER Oct 2022

Addres8: 15 New Road Ilminster Somerset TA19 9AF Section B Disclosure Onty complele rf the exarniner needs to h￿hlIght mat8rial matters of conc8rn (see CC32, Independent exarn1nati￿ of Charty accounts: dIrect￿n$ and guidance for examiners). Glve here brief detail$ of any items that the examlner wlshes to dl8close. IER Oct 2022