Charity Number 1174586
Wessex Waterways Restoration Trust
Trustees’ Report and Accounts
Year ended 31 March 2021
**Wessex Waterways Restoration Trust Charity number: 1174586 Trustees’ Report**
The Trustees present their report and accounts for the year ended 31 March 2021
## **Principal Activities**
The charity’s principal activities during the year continued to be, working with volunteers, to further necessary maintenance work and to advance construction and restoration for a navigable waterway between the Kennet and Avon Canal and the River Thames and the Cotswold Canals.
## **Trustees**
The following persons served as trustees during the year:
Rachael Banyard Matthew Carpenter (appointed October 2020) Janet Flanagan (resigned October 2020) Michael Handford (co-opted October 2020) John Minns (resigned October 2020) Douglas Small (resigned October 2020) Keith Vaughan Welch (resigned October 2020)
## **Chairman’s Narrative**
The charity was formed in 2017 to increase voluntary involvement in the construction, restoration and maintenance of a navigable waterway linking the Kennet and Avon Canal near Melksham with the Thames and Severn at or near Cricklade and the River Thames at or near Abingdon, and to improve the waterway for the use and benefit of the public, and not by way of limitation, that waterway shall include part of the original Wilts & Berks and North Wilts Canals and their branches which form part of the navigable links.
The primary aim is to complement the work of the Wilts & Berks Canal Trust whose activities focus on other sections of the waterways.
The year has been dominated by Covid, with England going into lockdown on 20 March 2020. All restoration and maintenance activities ceased, although after a few weeks it was deemed by the Inland Waterways Association that essential maintenance work should be carried out to maintain safety of sites. The then Chair directed that a method statement and risk assessment should be prepared, which was carried out by an experienced volunteer. However, the results were not accepted by the Chair and activities remained on hold.
The trustees at that time failed to effectively communicate to the membership, and to the work party members in particular, a plan of action. As a result, a sufficient number of members requested an emergency members’ meeting to discuss the situation – to be held via suitable electronic means, and all in accordance with the Constitution. The Trustees failed to organise such a meeting, and as a result those members themselves requested the necessary information to contact the membership to arrange the meeting.
Before the meeting could be held, four of the then Trustees resigned.
Under the Constitution, the minimum number of Trustees to be able to make operational decisions is three. A senior officer of the Charity Commission was very prompt to contact the remaining Trustee by telephone and asked if two more people were available to be appointed. Two suitable and willing people agreed to serve as Trustees, enabling the Trust to function. The incoming Trustees were able to use Zoom to enable frequent on-line management meetings.
Using the guidance from the Inland Waterways Association regarding risk assessments and mitigations in relation to Covid, work parties resumed on a weekly basis. A new work party leader was appointed. A programme of works was started to catch up on the backlog of maintenance, and to start to plan future restoration work on structures.
The Trust was not able to attend any public events as virtually all were cancelled to limit the risk of spreading Covid 19. The trust was able to arrange for the box trailer to be sign-written, thus making the brand more visible in the locality.
This report was approved by the trustees on 4 February 2022 and signed on their behalf.
R Banyard Trustee
Wessex Waterways Restoration Trust Profit and Loss account for the year ended 31 March 2021
## Current Financial Year
|Current Financial Year|||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
|Income from charitable activities
Expenditure on charitable activities
Net income (expenditure) for the year
Prior Financial Year
Income from charitable activities
Expenditure on charitable activities
Net income (expenditure) for the year|Unrestricted
Funds
2021
£
1183
(1003)
180
Unrestricted
Funds
2020
£
490
(255)
235|Restricted
Funds
2021
£
-
(1835)
(1835)
Restricted
Funds
2020
£
2887
(3455)
(568||Total
2021
£
1183
(2838)|
|||||(1655)|
|||||
Total
2020
£
3377
(3710)|
|||||(333)|
## **Wessex Waterways Restoration Trust Balance Sheet as at 31 March 2021**
|**Notes**
**Fixed assets**
Tangible assets
3
**Current assets**
Debtors
4
Cash at bank and in hand
Creditors: amounts falling due
Within one year
5
Net current assets
Net assets
Capital and reserves
Restricted Funds
6
Unrestricted Funds
Income funds||377
7927|**2021**
**£**
4712
6352
11064
8552
2512
11064|**2020**
**£**
4968
374
7377
7751
-
7751
12719
10387
2332
12719|**2020**
**£**
4968
374
7377
7751
-
7751
12719
10387
2332
12719|
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
|||8304
(1952)||||
|||||||
||||||12719|
||||||10387
2332|
||||||12719|
R Banyard Trustee Approved by the trustees on 4 February 2022
Wessex Waterways Restoration Trust Notes to the accounts for the year ended 31 March 2021
## 1 Accounting policies
## Tangible fixed assets
Tangible fixed assets are measured at cost less accumulative depreciation and any
accumulative impairment losses. Depreciation is provided on all tangible fixed assets, other than freehold land, at rates calculated to write off the cost, less estimated residual value, of each asset evenly over its expected useful life as follows:
|Plant and machinery
over 5 years
Fixtures, fittings, tools and equipment
over 4 years
2
Employees
Average number of persons employed by the company
3
Tangible fixed assets
Cost
At 31stMarch 2020
Additions
At 31stMarch 2021
Depreciation
At 31stMarch 2020
Charge for the year
At 31stMarch 2021
4
Debtors
Other debtors
5
Creditors: amounts falling due within one year
Other creditors|2021
2020
Number
Number
0
0
Plant and
Machinery
Etc
£
5742
1038
6780
774
1294
2068
2021
2020
£
£
377
374
2021
2020
£
£
1952
-|2020
Number
0|2020
Number
0|2020
Number
0|
|---|---|---|---|---|
||||||
|||||6780|
|||||774
1294|
|||||2068|
|||||2020
£
374|
|||||2020
£
-|
## Wessex Waterways Restoration Trust
## Notes to the accounts
for the year ended 31 March 2021
|6|Restricted Funds|Balance 1 April|Resources|Balance 31|
|---|---|---|---|---|
|||2020|Expended|March 2021|
||Awards for all|9000|1294|7706|
||Other restricted funds|1387|541|846|
|||10387|1835|8552|
|Wessex Waterways Restoration Trust
Detailed profit and loss account
for the year ended 31 March 2021
Income
Charitable income
Foxham Bridge
Other direct costs
Administrative expenses
Motor expenses
Premises costs:
Rent
General administrative expenses
Marketing
Staff training and welfare
Membership expenses
Insurance
Equipment expensed
Software
Depreciation
Repairs and renewals
Sundry expenses
|2021
£
1182
205
25
25
-
-
156
104
54
499
336
57
1294
67
40
2607
2632|2020
£
3377
2334
66
66
31
31
-
-
54
125
297
29
774
-
-
1279
1376|
|---|---|---|