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2025-10-31-accounts

Wild about our Woods CIO Charity Number 1173958

Report of the trustees for the year ending 31 October 2025

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

Over the past year, our organization expanded its targeted nature-connection provision across the London Boroughs of Barnet and Haringey, delivering 109 nature connection sessions that directly supported the health and wellbeing of approximately 479 participants (including 73 adults ).

Strategic Growth & Reach

1

Targeted Interventions & Specialist Provision

Through these initiatives, we continue to reduce barriers to green spaces for urban communities, delivering sustained wellbeing outcomes for those with limited access to natural environments.

Strategic Achievements & Operational Development

During the reporting period, our organization made significant progress toward longterm financial resilience, strategic partnership development, and the expansion of our targeted nature-based provision.

Financial Sustainability & Commissioned Delivery

Strategic Cross-Sector Partnerships To deepen our community impact across Barnet and Haringey, we established key collaborative delivery partnerships:

2

Green Wellbeing Hub Expansion

The continued development of our secure, private Green Wellbeing Hub has significantly increased our capacity for specialised, high-impact programming. The site's enclosed layout and natural features enabled the launch and delivery of a broad range of interventions:

Key Programmes and Activities

Earned Income via Commissioned Alternative Education Services

A key activity during the reporting period was the strategic expansion of our fee-forservice model through commissioned contracts with alternative education providers across North London. We successfully delivered 44 targeted outdoor learning and support sessions tailored for vulnerable young people outside mainstream secondary education settings. This included 20 sessions commissioned by Barnet Alternative Provision, the Orange Tree School, alongside 24 sessions for Haringey Alternative Provision in Bounds Green, with Haringey Learning Partnership. Crucially, the Haringey contract represented a repeat commissioning from a returning partners—demonstrating strong sector trust, high satisfaction with our specialised delivery, and the proven therapeutic value of our nature-based interventions for high-need learners

Forest School Training & Professional Development

Demand for our accredited Forest School training remained strong throughout the year, generating essential earned income while expanding regional capacity for outdoor education.

Key Delivery & Reach

3

Financial & Social Impact

By upskilling educators and community leaders, this initiative strengthens local sector capacity and ensures more children gain safe, high-quality access to naturebased learning.

Forest Fridays at Somerford Adventure Playground

Funded by the Haringey Adventure Play grant, the Forest Fridays initiative offered a dynamic, practical outdoor programme enabling young people to connect with nature, build self-confidence, and foster peer relationships. Delivered in the wooded area of Somerford Adventure Playground, the project remained rooted in our core ethos of child-led free play and personal choice.

Core Activities & Outcomes Under safe, expert supervision, participants acquired practical skills through hands-on activities, including:

Forest Fridays successfully provided a safe, empowering environment where young people developed risk-management skills, practical expertise, and a deeper appreciation for the natural environment.

We are in the process of working with 4 other local groups to put forward a bid to the community fund to secure three years funding for the work

UK Youth – Adventures Away

4

Funded through the UK Youth government scheme, this initiative again enabled us to expand our outreach to secondary education settings, delivering targeted outdoor learning and engagement sessions.

Delivery & Engagement

Strategic Impact & Partnership

New Programme and Partnerships

Space to Grow 38: The 'Welcome Wilderness' Project

Supported by the Space to Grow 38 grant, the 'Welcome Wilderness' initiative established 6 x monthly walking and outdoor learning group specifically tailored for young refugees and asylum seekers aged 12 to 19, fostering community, well-being, and local integration across the borough. We were awarded £2,970 for this programme.

Co-designed with the New Citizens Gateway, around the interests and requests of the young people, the project provided a safe, nurturing space where participants connected with nature, acquired practical skills, and built supportive peer relationships.

Key Delivery Highlights & Activities

5

Outcomes & Social Impact By exploring the natural environment together, participants developed enhanced physical and emotional well-being, self-confidence, and a stronger sense of belonging. 'Welcome Wilderness' served as a crucial stepping stone toward broader community integration, empowering these young individuals to build resilience and thrive within their new local surroundings.

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.

Commencement of 2-Year Eco-Therapy & Woodland Initiative at ‘the Hub’

During the reporting period, we officially launched a major two-year project funded to transform a 5-acre emerging woodland into a dedicated haven for local young people and families. This peaceful site is now actively utilized to deliver targeted natureconnection activities, campfire cooking, and structured therapeutic interventions designed to address growing mental health challenges across our community. This is to the value of £18,876.

Core Delivery Streams & Beneficiaries

Outreach, Monitoring & Continuous Improvement To ensure maximum engagement and continuous delivery refinement:

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Financial Summary

We successfully secured a total of £45,346.50 for programme funding and £19,275 in training. This is a total of £64,621.50, which represents an increase of 45.45% from the previous year.. This is mainly due to a grant for a two-year funded programme. Of this amount, £19,275 was generated through our Forest School training programmes which was a decrease from the previous year. A total of £56,962 was spent on the delivery 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.

At the end of the financial year on 31st October 2025, our account balance stood at £33,205. 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

Funding obtained
from who amount for what? completed
or to be
completed
HARINGEY PLAY
ASSOCIATION		 £3,510 Forest Fridays ongoing
BARNET COUNCIL
COMMUNITY FUND		 £7,500 Shelter build
The Orchard Project		 Ongoing
YOUNG BARNET FDN £3,492 Wild Walks
End of year monitoring payment x 2
CPD		 completed
UK YOUTH £2,784 outdoor learning programme completed
JACKSONS LANE £120 wreath making completed
HARINGEY LEARNING
PARTNERSHIP		 £4989.50 Alternativeprovision support ongoing
ORANGE TREE
SCHOOL FROM ELLERN
MEDE SCHOOL		 £3,900 Alternativeprovision support Ongoing

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TLCF MAIN GRANTS 18,876 2 year programme for alternative
education and familysessions		 ongoing
£45,346.50

Future Plans

The next stage of our land management will start in November and is set out below

Future Funding & Project Outlook: Barnet Community Orchard

We are pleased to report that we have successfully secured funding for an exciting new community food-growing initiative, set to launch in November 2025 and run through 2026 (with ongoing aftercare into 2027). Delivered in partnership with The Orchard Project , this project will transform local green space into a thriving community orchard and food-growing hub, aligning directly with our green space management plan and Barnet’s Parks and Open Spaces Strategy.

Key Scope & Project Highlights

This initiative provides a clear bridge into our next reporting year, reinforcing our commitment to building a greener, healthier, and more connected Barnet.

Our future plans is to continue to diversify our funding streams beyond one-year grants and to develop new collaborative partnerships that we have established in both Barnet and Haringey

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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:

CHARITY TRUSTEES

Chetna Patel (Chair)

Alison Stafford (Treasurer),

Simon Davis (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 CC16a
01.11.2024
For the period
from		 To 31.10.2025
Section A Receipts and payments Section A Receipts and payments
A1 Receipts Unrestricted
funds
to the nearest
£
19,275
-
-
-
-
-
-
19,275
-
-
-
19,275
13,273
-
-
4,245
4,430
41
-
-
-
21,989
-
-
-
21,989
- 2,714
-
-
- 2,714		 Restricted
funds
to the nearest £
-
45,347
-
-
-
-
-
-
45,347
-
-
-
45,347
21,485
2,373
-
-
-
-
-
-
23,858
-
-
-
23,858
21,489
-
-
21,489		 Endowment
funds
to the nearest £
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-		 Total funds
to the nearest £
19,275
46,688
-
-
-
-
-
65,963
-
-
-
Cross Add Error
13,273
21,485
2,373
4,245
4,430
41
-
-
-
45,847
-
-
-
 Last year
to the nearest £
Forest School Training 19,275 22,543
vaiousgrants - 12,809
donation 10,000
- -
- -
- -
- -
- -
Sub total(Gross income for
AR)		 19,275 45,352
A2 Asset and investment sales,
(see table).
-
- -
Sub total - -
Total receipts
A3 Payments
45,352
forest school trainingassociates 13,273 19,765
grant associate expenses - 5,482
grant runningexpenses - 2,782
forest school trainingrunningcosts 4,245 4,170
charity running costs not associated to
grants		 4,430 4,430
refunds 41 100
- -
- -
- -
**Sub total ** 21,989 42,783
A4 Asset and investment
purchases, (see table)
-
-
**Sub total ** - -
Total payments
Net of receipts/(payments)
A5 Transfers between funds
A6 Cash funds last year end
Cash funds this year end
42,783
- 2,714 21,489 - 16,466
- - - - -
- - - - -
- 2,714 21,489 - 16,466

CCXX R1 accounts (SS)

1

Section B Statement of assets and liabilities at the end of the period Section B Statement of assets and liabilities at the end of the period Section B Statement of assets and liabilities at the end of the period
Categories
Signed by one or two trustees on
behalf of all the trustees
B5 Liabilities
B3 Investment assets
B4 Assets retained for the
charity’s own use
B1 Cash funds
B2 Other monetary assets
 Details
Details
Details
Details
Details
Total cash funds
(agree balances with receipts and payments
account(s))
Signature
 Unrestricted
funds
Restricted
funds
to nearest £
to nearest £
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-
-
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Agreement Error
Agreement Error
Unrestricted
funds
Restricted
funds
to nearest £
to nearest £
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-
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-
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-
Fund to which
asset belongs
Cost (optional)
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Fund to which
asset belongs
Cost (optional)
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Fund to which
liability relates
Amount due
(optional)
-
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-
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-
Print Name
Chetna Patel
Alison Garvin		 Endowment
funds
to nearest £
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OK
Endowment
funds
to nearest £
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Current value
(optional)
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Current value
(optional)
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When due
(optional)
Date of
approval
Chetna Patel 20.8.28
Alison Garvin 20.8.26

CCXX R2 accounts (SS)

2

CHARITY (OMMISSION FOR ENGIANDAND WALES Independent examinerfs report on the accounts Sectlon A Indepen(tent Examiner's Report Roportto the trustee$l members of Wihj aboutguf woods CIO On accounts iortho y•8r ended OLtober2025 Chavlty no 16f anyl 1173958 Setout on paoes I report lo thè knjsw on rny examinatK)n ofthe accyJunls ofthe abo¥e charty fthe Trusn foTthe yeAr ended 31 110 12025. Re8ponslbllltlo9 and basls of report As the charit¢s ttustees. yL￿ are responsSble for the preparation of Ihe accounts In accordanix %Wlh th8 requlrements oflhe Charfes Act 2011 fthe Acri I report in respecof my examinaoon ol Ihe Twyt's accounts carriett out under 5ecor¢ 14S of the 2011 Act and in carrylng out my trxamination. I ha¥e follo￿Ed all the applicab￿ Directions gnien byth? Charity COMM￿ssiOn un(Jer section 14515llbl of Ih Independent •xamin8fs statement I have COTnpleted my examination. l ¢onfirni that no material matters have cometo my attenlKJn in connection with the examinabon g￿e$ cause to belw Ihat tn. any material respeGt' I have no Goncerns and have come a(Yoss no othar rnatters In connection wth the examination to which attention should be drawn in Ihts rapryrt in ordèr to enable a propw ￿derStandIng ofthe 8CCOLtnts to b8 reathed. Slgned-. Dal•: 2026 Name: Relevant professloTr81 quaiificatlonlsl or body (If anyl.. Addrw¥: (JE Sottion 8 Disclosurè Only complete Il the examine( neo<58 to highlight material matters ol concern (see fC32, Indèpendent examinab'on of ch8rty aciy)unts.. directions an¢1 guidan* loi exarr4iri¥ibl. IER O¢t 2018