**Wild about our Woods CIO Charity Number 1173958**
**Report of the trustees for the year ending 31 October 2024**
We have been set up as a Charity Incorporated Organisation sine 2017
## **OUR AIMS**
To create more social opportunities for people to engage with, enjoy and enhance our local woods for mutual wellbeing.
## **OUR OBJECTIVES**
(a) to promote for the benefit of the inhabitants of the London Boroughs of Barnet and Haringey and the surrounding area the provision of facilities for recreation or other leisure time occupation of individuals who have need of such facilities by reason of their youth, age, infirmity or disablement, financial hardship or social and economic circumstances, or for the public at large, in the interests of social welfare and with the object of improving the condition of life of the said inhabitants;
(b) to advance the education of the public in the use and conservation of natural resources, and in the role of woodlands in promoting emotional, social and physical wellbeing and cognitive development;
(c) to promote for the benefit of the public the conservation, protection and improvement of the physical and natural environment; in particular by encouraging and facilitating access to woodlands and by organising recreational, educational, therapeutic and social activities within woodlands.
## **REVIEW OF ACTIVITIES AND ACHIEVEMENTS**
## **Introduction**
During the past year, our organisation directly supported the well-being of approximately 461 individuals across the London boroughs of Barnet and Haringey through nature-based activities. This represents a slight increase from the previous year, with 60 of the participants being adults. We are pleased to report that our reach has expanded into new geographical areas, including East Haringey (Tottenham) and High Barnet, through programmes developed as part of the Green Wellbeing Hub. We also delivered a number of smaller, more focused therapeutic sessions, enabling us to provide targeted support to those who may not otherwise have access to natural environments. Additionally, a dedicated community event for Ukrainian residents in Barnet received a high level of participation.
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## **Key Programmes and Activities**
## **Woodland Wellbeing Project at Northside Primary School**
This two-term programme, running from June 2023 to February 2024, was developed to address a lack of access to green spaces for pupils at Northside Primary School in North Finchley. Over 40 sessions, we created outdoor learning opportunities in a local park, using trees and natural features to support children’s physical health and mental wellbeing. In total, 90 children participated in these sessions. The project also included three outdoor learning sessions for whole classes and culminated in the training of a staff member to become a qualified Forest School Leader, ensuring the sustainability of the work.
The project had a total value of £5,502, with £4,952 being received and allocated to our accounts this year.
## **Forest School Training**
Demand for our Forest School training remained high throughout the year. We delivered three new courses and continued a fourth that began in October 2023. In total, 30 adults were trained, primarily to Level 3, which resulted in a higher income from this activity. The training generated a total income of £22,542. To promote accessibility and support the growth of the sector, two places were heavily subsidised for individuals who would not otherwise have been able to afford the training.
## **Forest Fridays at Somerford Adventure Playground**
Funded by a Haringey Adventure Play grant, this ongoing programme provides engaging, practical sessions designed to help young people connect with nature, themselves, and each other. The sessions take place in the adventure playground's wooded area and feature a range of activities that promote free play and choice, aligning with the playground's ethos. The total number of unique participants was 135, with weekly attendance ranging from 34 to 65 children aged 5 to 15. In addition to the structured Forest School activities, many more children engaged in campfire cooking and eating.
A selection of activities included fire lighting, outdoor cooking, wood chopping, whittling, crafting with natural materials, and using tools such as saws and knives in a safe, supervised environment. We also organised two off-site trips, including a visit to a nature reserve in Cheshunt and a rifle shooting day, which were enjoyed by 36 participants in total.
## **Free-to-Access Workshops**
Our organisation delivered workshops to 30 people through partnerships with Jackson’s Lane and at an Eco Fair held in Pond Square, N6. The autumnal wreathmaking workshop was a new offering that was particularly well-received.
## **New Programmes and Partnerships**
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## **UK Youth – Adventures Away**
This government-funded programme allowed us to deliver six sessions to 75 students at secondary schools in March 2024. The programme, which had a value of £4,255, enabled us to establish a new partnership with a secondary school specialising in Social, Emotional, and Mental Health (SEMH) needs. We anticipate this will lead to future collaborative work.
## **Ukrainian Constitution Day**
This event aimed to host a vibrant community event celebrating Ukrainian Constitution Day in Friary Park, fostering cultural exchange and local unity. The event was held on Saturday June 29th, coinciding with the national holiday the day before, and will feature a range of activities suitable for all ages.
## **Impact:**
This event will:
- Celebrate Ukrainian culture and heritage within the local community.
- Provide a platform for cultural exchange and foster understanding between Ukrainians and residents of North Finchley.
- Promote a sense of community spirit and togetherness.
- Offer a family-friendly day out filled with fun and educational activities.
It also gave us a chance to work closely with two other local organisations; Friends of Friary Park and Bread and Butter. 60 people signed up to the event.
## **The Green Wellbeing Hub**
This initiative involves a collaboration with Strength and Learning Through Horses, an equine therapy charity in High Barnet. They have provided us with five acres of land for our programmes free of charge in exchange for our land management support. Our successful pilot programme on this land, funded by the Space to Grow 23 fund (£3,890), began in September and included a 10-week programme with The Orange Tree School and a 6-week programme with QE Girls. Additionally, we secured £2,000 from the Barnet Community Innovation Fund to purchase a composting toilet, a wooden shelter, and a tarp.
## **Haringey Learning Partnership**
This marks our third consecutive year of delivering a 6-week course for young people who have been excluded from mainstream schooling. The programme continues to successfully engage this challenging group and support their skill development.
## **Financial Summary**
We successfully secured a total of £45,352 in funding, which represents over £20,000 more than last year year. Of this amount, £22,542 was generated through our Forest School training programmes. A total of £31,137 was spent on the delivery
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of our programmes and on the general running of the charity. This figure includes expenditures from funds and programmes that began in the previous financial year. We also received two unrestricted donations of £5,000 each, which have been allocated to unfunded work.
At the end of the financial year on 31st October 2024, our account balance stood at £92,220. These funds have been pre-allocated to cover the costs of programmes scheduled to run after this date. A full copy of the end-of-year accounts is available upon request.
## **Funding obtained**
|from who|month|amount|for what?|completed
or to be
completed|
|---|---|---|---|---|
||||||
|HARINGEY
PLAY
ASSOCIATION|
July|£840.00|Forest Fridays|ongoing|
|YOUNG
BARNET FDN|June|£1,758.00|Ukrainian fund|completed|
|FROM
HARINGEY
PLAY
ASSOCIATION|
June|£780.00|forest Fridays|ongoing|
|YOUNG
BARNET FDN|June|£3,366.00|Nature Nurturing Young People in
Barnet|completed|
|UK YOUTH|May|£1,495.00|outdoor learning|completed|
|JACKSONS
LANE|February|£240.00|wreath making|completed|
|HARINGEY
PLAY
ASSOCIATION|
February|£840.00|forest Fridays|ongoing|
|UK YOUTH|January|£2,760.00|outdoor learning|completed|
|YOUNG
BARNET
FOUNDATION|November|£250.00|CPD|completed|
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|HARINGEY
PLAY
ASSOCIATION|
November|£480.00|forest Fridays|ongoing|
|---|---|---|---|---|
|||£12,809.00|||
## **Future Plans**
Our future plans include a focus on diversifying our funding streams beyond oneyear grants. We are also keen to develop new collaborative partnerships that we have established in both Barnet and Haringey.
A key area of development is our work at the Green Wellbeing Hub. The site's enclosed nature and extensive potential offers us the opportunity to run a wide array of new programmes. We are actively seeking funding for initiatives including:
- Small therapeutic groups
- One-to-one support sessions
- Woodlands for wellbeing with adults
- A "Grow Health Together!" community herb garden
- Conservation work with volunteers and young offenders
- Programmes for young people with medical needs on our land
## **CHARITY TRUSTEES**
Simon Davis (Chair)
Alison Stafford (Treasurer),
Chetna Patel (Safeguarding Lead)
## **CONTACT DETAILS**
Charity: Wild about our woods CIO. Email; waowcio@yahoo.com Bank: Santander account: Wild about our woods CIO Insurance: Axa Policy SALSALIA/J178979/0332/20
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Wild about our woods CIO ## 1173958
||Receipts andpayments accounts|Receipts andpayments accounts|Receipts andpayments accounts|Receipts andpayments accounts|Receipts andpayments accounts|Receipts andpayments accounts|Receipts andpayments accounts||CC16a|
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
||For the period
from
~~ee ~~||01.11.2023
~~ee ~~||To
~~ee~~||31.10.2024
~~ee~~|||
|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||||||||||
|Forest School Training|22,543||-||-||22,543||13,300|
|vaiousgrants|-||12,809||-||12,809||13,017|
|donation|10,000||-||-||10,000|||
||-||-||-||-||-|
||-||-||-||-||-|
||-||-||-||-||-|
||-||-||-||-||-|
||-||-||-||-||-|
|Sub total(Gross income for AR)|32,543
(Gross income for AR)||12,809||-||45,352||26,317|
|-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
Sub total-
-
-
-
-
Total receipts 32,543
12,809
-
45,352
26,317
A2 Asset and investment sales,
(see table).
~~——————~~||||||||||
|A3 Payments||||||||||
|forest school trainingassociates|||19,765||-||19,765||15,471|
|grant associate expenses|-||5,482||-||5,482||7,070|
|grant runningexpenses|-||2,782||-||2,782||558|
|forest school trainingrunningcosts|4,170||-||-||4,170||411|
|charity running costs not associated to||||||||||
|grants|840||-||-||840||840|
|refunds|100||-||-||100|||
||-||-||-||-||-|
||-||-||-||-||-|
||-||-||-||-||-|
|Sub total 5,110|||28,029||-||33,139||42,783|
|-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
Sub total -
-
-
-
-
Total payments 5,110
28,029
-
42,783
A4 Asset and investment
purchases, (see table)
~~—————~~||||||||||
|Net of receipts/(payments) 27,433
- 15,220
-
16,466
A5 Transfers between funds
-
-
-
-
-
A6 Cash funds last year end
-
-
-
-
-
Cash funds this year end 27,433
- 15,220
-
16,466
~~===>>~~||||||||||
Section B Statement of assets and liabilities at the end of the period
|||||Restricted funds
Unrestricted||Endowment|
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
|Categories||Details||funds||funds|
|||||to nearest £
to nearest £||to nearest £|
|B1 Cash funds|-
-
-
-
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-
-
-
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-
-
Total cash funds
~~<==~~||||||
|||(agree balances with receipts and payments
account(s))|(agree balances with receipts and payments|Agreement Error
Agreement Error||OK|
|||||Restricted funds
Unrestricted||Endowment|
|||||funds||funds|
|||Details||to nearest £
to nearest £||to nearest £|
|B2 Other monetary assets|-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
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~~ee~~||||||
|||Details||Cost (optional)
Fund to which asset
belongs||Current value
(optional)|
|B3 Investment assets|-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
~~===~~||||||
|||Details||Cost (optional)
Fund to which asset
belongs||Current value
(optional)|
|B4 Assets retained for the
charity’s own use|-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
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~~oe~~||||||
|||||Fund to which
Amount due||When due|
|||Details||liability relates
(optional)||(optional)|
|B5 Liabilities
Signed by one or two trustees on
behalf of all the trustees|-
-
-
-
-
Signature
Print Name
Chetna Patel
25.8.25
Date of
approval
~~oe~~||||||
Alison GaNin
25.8.25
CHARITY COMMISSION
FOR ENGLAND AND WALES
Independent examinerfs
report on the accounts
Section A
Indcpcndent Examinor's Report
Report to the trustee81
members of
Wld aExyA our w(K¥ts CIO
On accounts for the year
ended
Oclobw 2024
Charty no
(If any)
1173958
ddi
I rep to ts tr on my examinatm of tre Xjnts (rf ts atAwe clwity {
Trusf) f(K th8 year 3111012024.
Responslbllfties and
a¢cCMdan with the raJuirements of the Charth& Act 2011 {Il* Acr).
I rep)rt In res1 of my eXaMirth of the Twrfs accounts wied out
145 of 2011 Act In carrying (xrt my examin1K. I have foICw al
ap8b DireGtknts given by ts Charity Ccxnmi5sTh 1495)(b)
Indepondont
examlnoV5 Statoment I have comrWJ rny examlrot. I that Tr) material mattws have ccrfne to my
attention irt COtiC wilh exaMinalw gives me cause ts 11¥0 that in.
mater7 resFe
examinatKm to wtruch attetK thld be drawn in this ret*Jl in lo enatle a
Slgned:
io1rfA MooKcKoFT
quallficatk*n(s) or body
(If any):
L6MDoY+f J Elo
Sectioii B
Disclosure
Only eCete rf ts examiner needs to hbJhlyJhl malpAI matters of cceM (see CC32.
Oet 2018
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