_```_ **Oxford Paddlers For Life Annual report and financial statements for the year ending 31 March 2022 Registered Charity no 1178628** ## **Contents** **----- Start of picture text -----**
Charity details, structure, 2
governance and management
Charity overview 3
Achievements and performance 3 - 4
Membership 6
Financial review 7 - 13
Thank you! 13
Looking ahead 14
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Oxford Paddlers for Life **Annual report and Financial Statements for the year ending 31 March 2022 Registered Charity no 1178628** 1 ## **Charity details for the year ended 31 March 2022** Charity Name: Oxford Paddlers For Life Charity registration number: 1178628 Company registration number: 1032145 Website: www.oxfordpf.org Registered Office: 56 Coniston Avenue, Headington, Oxford, OX3 0AW ## **Structure, governance and management** ## **Trustees:** Anne-Marie Haigh - Chair Lyndsey Miles - Treasurer Sonia Ambrose - Trustee Trustees are voted from within the club. The management structure comprises 3 trustees, with preferably at least 2 of whom should have had cancer. This is to perpetuate the ethos of meeting the needs of a club for those with a lived experience of cancer. As per the constitution and as recommended by the Charity Commission, at every AGM one trustee is elected or re-elected. Anne-Marie Haigh will stand for election for her final year as a Trustee. ## **Anne-Marie Haigh Trustee re-election statement (as per the constitution for every AGM) :** Since forming Oxford Paddlers for Life in June 2017 after an Odyssey course, I have thoroughly enjoyed contributing to the group alongside the many other members. Personally I have gained much support, friendship, increased my fitness and widened my horizons after cancer made my world feel very small. It has been a big privilege to be the group's first chair, and due to health problems I feel the next stage of being chair is to begin a well supported handover to another chair, so that I can stand down completely by the end of the summer, preferably before. I love being out on the water and will be carrying on paddling regularly, and am happy to contribute in other roles as needed. ## **As a club we need to have a recognised structure to enable us to apply for grants and for safeguarding reasons. We have formal roles for:** Head coach - Esmee Haigh Membership secretary - Sally Crowe Secretary – **Vacant** Safeguarding officer - **Vacant** Quartermaster - Simon Haigh Welfare officer – **Vacant** Social secretary - **Vacant** Social media - Sam Evans - we’d like more help with Facebook and Instagram IT/Web and general technology - Toby Shepheard with support Oxford Paddlers for Life **Annual report and Financial Statements for the year ending 31 March 2022 Registered Charity no 1178628** 2 from Sally Crowe on the website To share the workload within the club and enable the development of our skills personally and as a group we have separate informal committees/ groups which look at fundraising and other topics/issues depending on current needs. We hold committee meetings, in a combination of zoom and in person to enable inclusion, every few months which are minuted. These meetings are open to everyone within the club to create an environment where individuals feel they can contribute, the club benefits from everyone’s skills and experience. However, if needed, the ultimate decisions are made by the trustees. ## **Charity overview** Our aims and objectives have remained the same as last year. We are a dragon boat paddling team, set up to promote and support the good physical and mental health of people who have been affected by cancer, in particular but not exclusively breast cancer, and their friends and family by providing facilities and training in dragon boating in Oxfordshire. The aim is to keep things fun, full of camaraderie and mutual support. ## **Achievements of the club** - ●The happy delivery of Sashiko in November 2021 delivered by Dan Windsor with our gratitude and received from Pink Champagne as a gift. - ●Esmee Haigh has delivered further sessions of online Helm and Coach training programme to a club cohort on Thursday evenings from January 2021 to July 2021. She has been enabling us in our development of these skills and experience which has increased our confidence and knowledge. - ●Trainee helms and coaches undertook a training session at Caldecotte Lake, Milton Keynes, by special arrangement with the Secklow Hundred dragon boat team. This was part of the training programme being undertaken by 7 members. This will enable more fully trained and qualified helms and coaches to deliver sessions on a more regular basis rather than relying on the availability of one person, which had been our previous predicament. We are very grateful to all those who stepped out of their comfort zones to develop new skills for the good of the club. - ●Safe delivery of two O1s on 26th June 2021 named as Ebb and Flow. Paid for by the Sports England Back to Training Grant awarded to us through the efforts of Alison Muldal and Anne-Marie Haigh. Big thanks! - Given another year of Covid 19, the club has held paddling sessions when allowed within the regulations and guidelines and when numbers have been adequate. There have been times when the numbers have not been sufficient to run sessions. - ●Oxfordshire Community Foundation awarded us the Covid Loneliness and Isolation Grant in December 2021, to a value of £3539. This was achieved through the shared efforts of Anne-Marie Haigh and Alison Muldal with help from Joel Haigh. Research has found that cancer causes isolation and loneliness and this has been exacerbated by the pandemic. This grant is to Oxford Paddlers for Life **Annual report and Financial Statements for the year ending 31 March 2022 Registered Charity no 1178628** 3 enable the club’s continuity to be able to support when people feel ready to return to paddling. It can be used towards such costs as insurance, berthing fees, Dorchester Sailing Club lake fees, contributions to travel and fees for visiting helms. Following the Six Questions we asked club members last year, your feedback was essential to successfully complete the application for this grant. - 4 online yoga sessions delivered by Kate Binnie on Friday evenings resulting in four recordings which can be downloaded for future use. - ●Our current location continues to be Dorchester Sailing Club (DSC) since December 2020 who have been very kind and flexible in hosting and have offered help with identifying assistance to launch, paddle, recover and move the boat. We have had the pleasure of having several members of DSC join us for a paddle. We hope to welcome more to our sessions. - We had planned to paddle back up river to the Isis River Farmhouse in spring when the water levels were better, however have not been able to due to the pandemic affecting our paddling sessions. We are very grateful for DSC hospitality and flexibility in allowing us to stay. - irst aid training course completed in July 2021 by 7 volunteers. - ●In July and August 2021, 8 club members completed their Helming Certification Stage 1 for inland water delivered by Dan Windsor from Race the Dragon. - ●In 2021, we also enjoyed several sessions with visiting helms from other clubs. We extend our gratitude to Wendy Grose, John Galt, David Coldwell and Kim Tran - We have strengthened and made many new links with other local community organizations such as Maggie’s, Falcon Rowing and Canoeing Club (Oxford), Isis Farmhouse and Secklow. - ●During the year, there was limited opportunity to meet in person socially during various lockdowns and led to canceled sessions due to the Omicron variant of Covid 19. However we did manage to enjoy a riverside training session and picnic to learn about waterflow and finally came together for our Christmas lunch in late March.. - ●Some members have taken part in the DSC Working Party strengthening ties between both clubs and helping wildlife at the lake. - ●We continue to keep in touch with ad hoc messages on the WhatsApp group and email amongst ourselves, and via facebook and instagram with other relevant cancer support or fitness communities and dragon boat groups. If you wish to have access to the Whatsapp group please reach out to Sonia, Sally or Anne-Marie. Some find this an easy way to remain engaged and share support. ## **Funding** We are very grateful for all the monetary donations, time and items given to us. Particular fundraising has been from: - Sport England Return to Play grant received in March 2021 the majority of which has been spent in this current financial year. - Amazon and Ebay - from members’ items purchased and sold - Virgin Money Giving account now closed - ●Invest My Community account now open - ●Gift Aid from voluntary annually / monthly membership donations - ●Voluntary paddling fees per session of £3 per person Oxford Paddlers for Life **Annual report and Financial Statements for the year ending 31 March 2022** 4 **Registered Charity no 1178628** ## **Stepping Up and Contributing** Opportunities have been given to members to develop skills in addition to paddling to benefit the club and use those transferable skills elsewhere in life: including confidence building, teamwork and empowerment, for themselves: - Helming - Coaching - Fundraising - ●First Aid - Committee skills - Club development skills via Club Matters workshops and discussions - ●Weather monitoring - ●Meeting scheduling - ●Safeguarding We’re very grateful to all the club members who have stepped up to additional roles (helming, coaching, committee etc) within the club, a big thank you to everyone who has helped out; every contribution counts towards the teamwork. **Please step forward and let us know if you have time and skills from which the club could benefit especially at this significant time with two trustees stepping down..** ## **Social media** We have had an active and regular presence on social media platforms, including Facebook, twitter and Instagram. This also helped us in the successful application for the Oxfordshire Community Foundation Grant. Followers and interaction on all these platforms have increased leading to interest from potential new members. We have taken part in breast cancer month, mental health awareness week, International Women’s Day and other relevant campaigns to raise awareness of these issues. ## **Membership** The membership numbers are broken down into the following groups, the same as the last 2 years: **----- Start of picture text -----**
Category March 2021 2020 2019
2022
Oxford Paddlers 31 30 38 34
personally affected with
breast
cancer
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Oxford Paddlers for Life **Annual report and Financial Statements for the year ending 31 March 2022 Registered Charity no 1178628** 5 **----- Start of picture text -----**
Oxford Paddlers 4 4 30
personally affected by other
cancers
Friends and family 19 17 25 11
Members from other dragon boat 60 59 31 28
clubs, including other breast
cancer clubs
Other Supporters 5 5 20 10
Total 119 115 117 83
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Oxford Paddlers for Life **Annual report and Financial Statements for the year ending 31 March 2022 Registered Charity no 1178628** 6 Financial Report ## Executive summary Our starting balance for the period was £6,883.859. On the 31st of December 2021 we were awarded £3,539.00 following a successful grant application to Oxford Community Foundation. Our total income for the period was £1,670.27. Our internally generated income totalled £870.27. The remainder of this total was made up from private donations and a compensation payment from Barclays Bank following historical poor service. Our core operating costs for the reporting period were £1,208.00. Our closing balance summated £5,734.63. The Covid pandemic greatly impacted our ability to meet and as such we spent very little time on the water during the period reported. This is reflected in the reduced income from paddling subscriptions. We have maintained obligations to ensure that both public liability and asset insurance has been retained throughout along with berthing fees for Dorchester Sailing Club in preparation for resuming paddling activities in earnest. The current deficit between directly generated revenue and core operating costs remains negatively disproportionate, but once again the reporting period cannot be deemed fair nor representative of a typical OPFL paddling year and as such it is hoped that this ratio will reverse in the next reporting period. As a result of large individual donations, significant compensation from Barclays and the Oxford Communities Foundation grant, we find ourselves financially secure and in good shape to push forward into the next reporting period. However, there still remain a number of services / purchases to obligate the Sport England Grant in full. Introduction Barclays have now made available all historical financial information and as such the annual report for the reporting period August 1[st] , 2020, to 31[st] March 2021 has now been updated to reflect the true statement of account. Significant but unsuccessful efforts have been made by all the Trustees and Susan Renn to have more Barclays signatories; despite these efforts there remain only two (Anne-Marie Haigh and Susan Renn) and this needs to be increased to four. We have had a comparatively busy year with sixty transactions made during the cycle. Much time and endeavor has been applied in satisfying the criteria of the Sport England Grant received last year. In addition to the large ticket items such as the O1 boats and training, the procurement of the Sum-up card reader systems has vastly improved the efficiency and reliability of paddling fee collections. Virgin Money, our online membership and donations portal ceased trading in December 2021. Following a comprehensive selection process, we have signed up to InvestMyCommunity to ensure we have the means to continue with online membership collection and ad-hoc contributions. Statement of Account Reporting period 1[st] April 2020 to 31[st] March 2022 Starting Balance £6,883.85 Closing Balance £5,734.63 _Table 1 Statement of Account 01.04.20 - 31.03.21_ For the benefit of analyses, the following cost centres have been applied. **Revenue** Moneys earnt by OPFL through donations, membership, and paddling subscription fees @ £3 per person per paddle **Cost** Monies OPFL have had to spend to obligate requisite operating needs such as insurance and Environment Agency licenses **Grant In** Monies received from organisations such as the Lottery Council and Sports England following an application process **Grant Out** Monies spent in relation to the equipment and services listed within respective grant / funding applications. **Miscellaneous spend** group Monies spent on discretionary purchases to support the Total Transactions During the reporting period OPFL generated £1,670.27 in income via membership, paddling subscriptions, and donations from the Amazon Europe Smile function. Our total outgoing costs totalled £1,680.79.79. Insurance of our equipment in addition to public liability remains our biggest outbound expenditure. OPFL received £3,539.00 from the Oxfordshire Community Foundation on the 31[st ] December 2021. Grant monies received during the period totalled £3,539.00. Combined Grant spending for the period came in at £4,931.12. Miscellaneous spending totalled £0.00 _Figure 2 OPFL Total Transaction breakdown_ ## Revenue Our total income for the reporting period equated to £1,670.27. £800.00 of this is £500.00 in compensation from Barclays and a singular £300.00 donation. £268.33 was generated in paddling subscriptions. £36.49 in donations was received via our Amazon Smile donation page _Figure 3 Revenue Breakdown_ ## Operating Costs Our operating costs for the period totalled £1,680.79. Respective asset and PL insurances made up £801.50 of this value. A further combined £376.50 was paid to Dorchester Sailing Club for berthing and paddling fees. The remainder of significant cost incurred is attributed to procuring the delivery of an additional 10-man Dragon Boat which amounted to £361.80. _Figure 4 Operating Cost breakdown_ Grant Spend In addition to the Sport England Grant of £5,368.00 received in the last reporting period, a further grant of £3,539.00 was received from the Oxfordshire Community Foundation in December 2021. Of the original SE grant, £4,931.12 has been spent in accordance with the specified line items of the grant application. A further agreed cost £313.98 will not hit the account in this reporting period. This accounts for two-way radios, first aid hire venue and in part, sanitizing supplies. Commitments with regards to Risk assessments, Covid or otherwise, thermal blankets and additional sanitizing supplies / face masks still needs to be made to fulfill the Sport England Grant Grant Break t)own Grant In Grant cxrt Figure 5 Grant Expenditure break down Figure 6 below depicts the agreed schedule attributes and associated costs Sport England agreed to cover following OPFL’ successful grant application. _Figure 6 SE Grant Schedule_ £3,872.42 has been committed leaving a remainder of £1,495.58. Our total income for the period was £5,542.99. Our internally generated income totals £174.99. Our core operating costs for 2020 were £618.86. Our closing balance summated £6,919.35. Only one outgoing transaction of £10.00 to the environment agency was recorded. With regards to the Sport England Grant we must acknowledge that any deviation in committed spend when compared against specific costs within the Sport England grant schedule must be reconciled back to Sport England. At present his figure sits at £63.58 split across five-line items. Subject to final confirmed costs of a number grant specific line items, our projected forecast for the reporting period will see a positive balance of £906.23 post the release of monies for all ratified expenditure. However, it should be recognised that the unconfirmed costs, once qualified, will diminish this total. Whilst this figure looks healthy, we must remember that during the reporting period our core outgoings were £618.86, and our self-generated income was £174.99. **Generating sufficient income to cover core operating costs remains a significant concern as our membership revenue alone will not cover the statutory and legal requirements to keep the club sustainable in future years. Our plan is to encourage people to arrange their membership donation via monthly direct debit to enable easier financial planning for the club and to create an easy method of Gift Aid contributions for tax reclamation.** ## **Thank you to many people** These achievements could not have happened without the help of many people from our club, other clubs and local organisations. We can’t list everyone here, but you know who you are and we’re very grateful to you! In particular we need to thank: - **Esmee Haigh** , for dedication, commitment and contribution in the role of Club Secretary and more recently in the role of Trainer delivering an innovative and engaging Helms and Coaches Training Programme in enabling several club members to develop their helming confidence and capability; and for all the neverending ad hoc tasks to arrange and lead sessions. We also thank Esmee for getting us back to paddling in 2022. - **Dorchester Sailing Club** , for their warm welcome and unrelenting support to enable our paddling sessions. Special call out to **Rob Naisby,** their Harbourmaster, along with **Nicky MacDonald,** Commodore, **Barry Graham,** Training Officer, and **Lewis O’Donald** , Treasurer. - **Susan Renn** for her tireless efforts to resolve complications created by Barclays Bank, and for offering to set up gift aid. - **Alison Muldal and Anne-Marie Haigh** for masterminding the Sport England Return to Play grant and the Oxfordshire Community Foundation Grant resulting in significant funds. - **Noreen and Adrian, owners of the Isis Farmhouse** , for allowing us to store our kit in their shed on their premises and also ensuring that we know we can store the boat there in the future. - **Dan Windsor** - We are grateful for his safe delivery of Sashiko and providing a safe and enjoyable learning experience during the Helms training course in Summer 2021. - **Sport England** for the award of their Return to Play small grant which has enabled us to buy two 01s, helm and coaching training, first aid training, yoga classes and ad hoc materials such as disinfectant, card readers, walkie talkies, throw lines. - **Oxfordshire Community Foundation** for the award of the Isolation and Loneliness Grant, which will make it significantly easier for members to be a part of the group. - **Bob Johnston** , Councilor, for writing referral letter to the Oxfordshire Community Foundation - **Pink Champagne** for gifting us Sashiko, our 10-person boat. - ●We would like to thank all the **visiting helms** from whom we learned so much - John Galt, David Coldwell, Wendy Grose and Kim Tran. - **Secklow Hundred Dragon boat Club** for the loan of their dolly which turned out to be for much longer than planned. We also thank them for the training session enjoyed by our trainee helms. - **Wayne Jones** - we thank you for collecting the dolly and returning it to Secklow 100 and for all the preparation involved on your side to do this. ## **Looking ahead** We are looking forward to returning to regular paddling sessions from April 2nd. We have not forgotten about a formal launch and the dotting of the eyes of Kintsugi and Sashiko - this awakens the dragon by dotting the bulging eyes of the carved dragon head attached to the boat and we will utilize local media to help rebuild our membership numbers. We are also considering when might be a suitable occasion to have a flower ceremony which is a traditional time to remember those who are unwell with cancer and loved ones who have died. We will continue to engage with Maggie’s Centre, the Lymphoedema Service and other new networks with the help of the Falcon Club who are also developing their outreach. Do please pass on the word about us in your own personal networks. And lastly, again a very big thank you to everyone, we each contribute to making the club a supportive, friendly and fun community. Anne-Marie Haigh Anne-Marie Haigh Chair Lyndsey Miles Lyndsey Miles Treasurer Sonia Ambrose Sonia Ambrose Trustee