2023-10-31-accounts - Vision Of Adventure

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VISION OF ADVENTURE CHARITY 1180451 ENABLING BLIND AND PARTIALLY SIGHTED ADULTS TO ENJOY THE OUTDOORS Annual Report and Accounts Year to 31st October 2023

	Trustees' Annual Report for the period	Trustees' Annual Report for the period	Trustees' Annual Report for the period	Trustees' Annual Report for the period	Trustees' Annual Report for the period	Trustees' Annual Report for the period	Trustees' Annual Report for the period	Trustees' Annual Report for the period
	From	Period start date			To	Period end date
		Day 1	Month 11	Year 2022		Day 31	Month 10	Year 2023

Section A Reference and administration details

Charity name[Vision of Adventure ]

Other names charity is known by[VoA ]

Registered charity number (if any) 1180451

Charity's principal address 16, Gowan Close, Staveley, Cumbria

Postcode LA8 9NW

Names of the charity trustees who manage the charity

Trustee name	Office (if any)	Dates acted if not for whole year
Mark Colman	Chair
David Corso	Treasurer
Stephen Bateman
Paul James
Francesca Higgins
Emily Banks
Nazia Aslam		09/03/2023 to 31/10/23

Name of chief executive or names of senior staff members (Optional information)

Operations Manager – Jill Corso Business Manager (from Jan 1[st] 2023) – Anthony Emmet

Section B Structure, governance and management

Description of the charity’s trusts

Constitution adopted 23/10/18 (amended 16/2/19) Type of governing document (eg. trust deed, constitution) Charitable Incorporated Organisation How the charity is constituted (eg. trust, association, company) Appointed by existing Trustees Trustee selection methods (eg. appointed by, elected by)

Additional governance issues (Optional information)

New trustees are expected to volunteer on some of the activities to ensure that You may choose to include they are fully conversant with the charities work, beneficiaries and outcomes. additional information, where relevant, about: • policies and procedures adopted Management and Trustees seek the views of both visually impaired and guide for the induction and training of participants in deciding the activities to be run and policies to be adopted. trustees; • the charity’s organisational structure and any wider network Courses we facilitate are fully risk assessed and are led by appropriately qualified with which the charity works; staff with many years of experience. On our catered courses kitchen leaders • relationship with any related must have food handling qualifications and we encourage our volunteers to also parties; gain certification. • trustees’ consideration of major risks and the system and procedures to manage them. All trustees give their time voluntarily and received no remuneration or other benefits.

Section C Objectives and activities

Summary of the objects of the charity set out in its governing document

THE RELIEF OF VISUALLY IMPAIRED ADULTS LIVING WITHIN THE UK BY PROVIDING AND FACILITATING RECREATIONAL AND SOCIAL ACTIVITIES, IN PARTICULAR THOSE CONNECTED TO ADVENTUROUS OUTDOOR ACTIVITIES, IN THE INTERESTS OF SOCIAL WELFARE SO THAT THEIR CONDITIONS OF LIFE SHALL BE IMPROVED.

The Trustees have taken care to ensure that all our activities comply with the Charity Commission’s guidance on public benefit.

Summary of the main activities undertaken for the public benefit in relation to these objects (include within this section the statutory declaration that trustees have had regard to the guidance issued by the Charity Commission on public benefit)

The courses, which are residential in nature and typically last a long weekend, allow participants to meet and socialise with like-minded others. Long term friendships develop among Visually impaired participants and also with the sighted guides. Isolation is reduced and mental and physical well-being are improved.

Participants on courses develop and increase their confidence by learning new or honing existing outdoor skills. The acquired skills may subsequently allow participants to join main-steam clubs and organisations to continue the activities. Skills gained and improvements to well being are transferred other areas of their lives.

We encourage participants and guides to organise their own outdoor activities and events. We do this by offering administration support, providing information and advice on trips and allowing equipment to be borrowed. It remains a priority for the future.

Additional details of objectives and activities (Optional information)

We are still very well supported by our volunteers. This year we have welcomed back many of our regulars. We have not actively advertised but have recruited some new guides by recommendation. We have a well-defined process for safe You may choose to include further recruitment. statements, where relevant, about:

policy on grant making;
policy programme related investment;
contribution made by volunteers.

Section D

Achievements and performance

Summary of the main achievements of the charity during the year		This was Vision of Adventure’s fifth year of activity. Courses and events This year we have welcomed back many of our regular participants and guides. We have been well supported by some regular funders as well as some who have not supported us before. In the Winter we ran Zoom Online fitness and exercise sessions which not only provided a way for people to keep fit but also a regular chance to meet online and socialise. We also ran a popular one to one mentoring scheme, where people could have fortnightly remote meetings with a coach who could help them plan their fitness and training activities. In early 2023 we ran a “Learn to Swim” course in response to requests from our participants. We also ran an early season fitness weekend which kick started people’s fitness coming out of the winter. These winter courses were very successful, and we hope to repeat them. In the Spring and Summer, we focussed on our core offering of residential weekends and ran a further 14 courses, providing around 100 places overall. We ran courses in triathlon, climbing, cycling, open water swimming, canoeing and multi activity and walking. Our climbing and cycling and open water courses continue to be well oversubscribed. Although most of our courses were fully booked, in practice most ran with spaces due to last minute cancellations. The main reason for this was the ongoing train strikes. We committed to refund course fees if a VI was unable to attend due to a train strike. This is a potential unwanted cost to the charity but without this commitment people were reluctant to book their course place for fear of losing their course fee as it is not possible to insure against train strikes. Some of our triathletes, cyclists and swimmers have competed in mainstream events this year and this is something we wish to promote especially by encouraging long term guide/ athlete partnerships where possible. Staffing The founders Dave and Jill Corso continue to be very active in the charity. Jill has continued as operations manager. Jill also continues in her voluntary capacity as fundraiser and has been successful in securing much needed funding from grant giving bodies and Trusts. Dave has continued in his role as Treasurer.

A major emphasis during this year has been work towards reducing the charity’s dependence on Jill and Dave for its day to day, hands on running.

Key to this has been the promotion of Anthony Emmet to the position of Business Manager. The admin team also lost Lisa Kenton and Rachel Duncan.

In October Pippa Archer joined us as Engagement Officer

With stability on the Admin side thoughts have turned to the replacement of Jill over the next few years and the process has begun of splitting her wide ranging job up to make replacement easier. The appointment of other staff (engagement officer and a proposed course host) to take on the parts of Jill’s job not directly involved with the delivery of the actual outdoor activities is a big step towards this.

We are, still, dependent on zero hours staff who work as needed on our courses. We have a stable team of 6 experienced and committed staff who work with us on an ad hoc basis.

Trustees

We continue to be well supported by our existing trustees. Mark Colman (Chair), Dave Corso (Treasurer), and Paul James (Safeguarding and Safety), Fran Higgins (HR). Steve Bateman and Emily Banks. In May we welcomed Nazia Aslam to the board.

Five of our seven trustees are visually impaired, and we can truly say that we are a user led organisation.

Volunteers

Equipment & facilities

Again, we have been grateful to a volunteer, who with the assistance of a local bike store has maintained the whole fleet of tandem bikes for no charge.

We have taken on a larger storage unit to enable us to store the tandems more conveniently and crucially to provide space for maintenance.

We continue to rent a small office in Stricklandgate House, Kendal. Stricklandgate House is itself a charity and provides low cost office space to other charities. We are very grateful for this facility.

We continue to use minibuses hired from Cumbria Community Transport, another charitable organisation without whom we could not operate.

Much of the transport of the equipment used on courses and all the towing of trailers is still undertaken using the staff and trustee’s own vehicles.

Fundraising

We continue to be very well supported in by many Trusts and Foundations and finish this year in an adequate financial position.

Notes on Restricted and Unrestricted funds

Cash at bank at 31[st] October 2023 was £14,086 in Restricted Funds which is very similar to the previous year.

Previously, we included our Contingency/Emergency reserve of £16,000 in the Restricted Funds.

This year after including this reserve in the unrestricted funds the Cash at bank at 31[st] October 2023 was 22,835 in Unrestricted Funds .

Funding levels in the Unrestricted Funds are not uniform throughout the year. They tend to be high at year end and low in late spring. This is explained by the fact that much of the Unrestricted Fund’s income (the transfers from the Restricted Fund) happens generally in late spring and summer. However, major outgoings (staffing costs and advance course charges) still occur throughout the autumn and winter (when there are few courses).

Section E Financial review

Brief statement of the charity’s policy on reserves

Our target policy is to maintain Contingency/Emergency Reserves of 4 months core costs (permanent staff costs and fixed overheads). This will ensure the charity can continue to run in the event that there is a shortfall in income or any unforeseen expenditure. We are aware that our increased outgoings (specifically the appointment of a business manager) may make it challenging to maintain our reserves at the desired level but feel that this expense is essential to the ongoing operation of the charity.

Details of any funds materially in deficit

Not Applicable

Further financial review details (Optional information)

You may choose to include additional information, where relevant about:

The charity continues to rely heavily on grants from charitable trusts.

We continue to be aware that we need to diversify and develop more
• the charity’s principal sources sustainable funding steams. We hope that appointment of our Engagement of funds (including any Officer will see us make progress in this area. fundraising);
how expenditure has supported the key objectives of the charity;

We are also grateful to a number of individuals who made substantial donations to us during this year.

investment policy and objectives including any ethical investment policy adopted.

Section F Other optional information

Future Plans

Our main aim for 2024 is to build more resilience into the charity for the future.

We are aware that the functioning of the charity is still very dependent on a very small number of people. This will need to be addressed in order to improve the charities sustainability.

Section G Declaration

The trustees declare that they have approved the trustees’ report above.

Signed on behalf of the charity’s trustees

Signatures
Names	Mark Colman	David Corso
Position	Chair	Treasurer
Date	02/08/24	02/08/24

Charity Name		No (if any)
			CC16a
Vision of Adventure		1180451
Receipts andpayments accounts
For the period from Period start date	To	Period end date
01/11/2022		31/10/2023

Section A Receipts and payments

	Unrestricted funds	Restricted funds	Endowment funds	Endowment funds	Total funds	Last year
	to the nearest £	to the nearest £	to the nearest	£	to the nearest £	to the nearest £
A1 Receipts
A1 Receipts
Direct Donations	10,260	-	-		10,260	3,643
GiftAid	-	-	-		-	176
Donations ,Fundraising via Charity Collection Agency	1,341	-	-		1,341	317
Grants	6,160	43,869	-		50,029	72,878
Course Participant Fees	-	32,361	-		32,361	22,420
Merchandise Sales	10	-			10	-
*Sub total*(Gross income for AR)	17,771	76,230		-	94,001	99,434

A2 Asset and investment sales,
(see table).

Section A Receipts and	payments
A1 Receipts A1 Receipts Direct Donations GiftAid Donations ,Fundraising via Charity Collection Agency Grants Course Participant Fees Merchandise Sales *Sub total*(Gross income for AR)	Unrestricted funds to the nearest £ 10,260 - 1,341 6,160 - 10 17,771	Restricted funds to the nearest £ - - - 43,869 32,361 - 76,230	Endowment funds to the nearest £ - - - - - -	Total funds to the nearest £ 10,260 - 1,341 50,029 32,361 10 94,001	Last year to the nearest £
					3,643
					176
					317
					72,878
					22,420
					-
					99,434

A2 Asset and investment sales, (see table).
	-	-	-	-	-
*Sub total*	-	-	-	-	-
**Total receipts **
					99,434

A3 Payments
Fixed and Admin Costs Admin Wages incl on costs Storage Costs Office Rent Insurance Software Training Miscellaneous(both Admin & Course) Course and Event costs Course Wages incl on costs Accommodation Transport Food Costs Bike Maintenance Additional Venue Hire External coaching costs **Sub total **
	41,969				40,508
	4,449				4,240
	1,445				-
	1,581				1,722
	334				163
	-				17
	441				902


	22,857				12,017
	13,023				12,410
	2,823				2,412
	4,664				3,543
	268				148
	814				1,545
	4,543				4,752


	99,210				84,379

Page10

A4 Asset and investment
purchases, (see table)
Asset Purchases:		-	-		-	-
Tandems	-	-	-		-	4,936
Course Equipment	1,035	-	-		1,035	2,180
Computer Equipment	-	-	-		-	852
**Sub total **	1,035	-		-	1,035	7,968

*Total payments*	100,245	-		-	100,245	92,347

*Net of receipts/(payments)*	- 82,474	76,230		-	- 6,244	7,087

A5 Transfers between funds
Course Participant Fees	31,576	- 31,576			-	-
Grants	44,499	- 44,499			-	-
Donations	1,000	- 1,000			-	-
A6 Cash funds last year end	28,234	14,931	-		43,165
*Cash funds this year end*	22,835	14,086		-	36,921

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

Details Cash at Bank (agree balances with receipts and payments account(s)) Details Details Details Caving gear Total cash funds Computers Box trailer Canoes and trailer Tandems Paddling gear Climbing gear Clothing Other outdoor equip	Unrestricted funds to nearest £ 22,835 - - 22,835 OK Unrestricted funds to nearest £ - - Fund to which asset belongs Fund to which asset belongs Accum. Funds Accum. Funds Accum. Funds Accum. Funds Accum. Funds Accum. Funds Accum. Funds Accum. Funds Accum. Funds	Endowme nt funds to nearest £
		-
		-
		-
		-
		OK
		Endowme nt funds to nearest £
		-

		-
		Current value (optional)
		-

		-
		Current value (optional)
Computers	Accum. Funds	-
Box trailer	Accum. Funds	-
Canoes and trailer	Accum. Funds	-
Tandems	Accum. Funds	-
Paddling gear	Accum. Funds	-
Climbing gear	Accum. Funds	-
Caving gear	Accum. Funds	-
Clothing	Accum. Funds	-
Other outdoor equip	Accum. Funds	-

Page11

	Domestic equip	Accum. Funds		-
		Fund to which	Amount due	When due
	Details	liability relates	(optional)	(optional)
B5 Liabilities	Credit Note	Accum. Funds		25
	Restricted Participant Course Fees	Accum. Funds		1,010
	Restricted Grants	Accum. Funds		13,001
	Accumulated Funds	Accum. Funds		-
Signed by one or two trustees on behalf of all the trustees	Signature	Print Name		Date of approval
		Mark Colman		02/08/2024
		David Corso		02/08/2024

Page12

Independent examiner's report on the accounts

Section A Independent Examiner’s Report

Report to the trustees Vision of Adventure (VoA) On accounts for the 31.10.23 Charity no 1180451 year ended (if any) Set out on pages 10-12 I report to the trustees on my examination of the accounts of the above charity (“the Trust”) for the year ended 31/10/23 Responsibilities and As the charity's trustees, you are responsible for the preparation of the basis of report accounts in accordance with the requirements of the Charities Act 2011 (“the Act”).

I report in respect of my examination of the Trust’s accounts carried out under section 145 of the 2011 Act and in carrying out my examination, I have followed all the applicable Directions given by the Charity Commission under section 145(5)(b) of the Act.

Independent I have completed my examination. I confirm that no material matters have examiner's statement come to my attention in connection with the examination (other than that disclosed below *) which gives me cause to believe that in, any material respect:

the accounting records were not kept in accordance with section 130 of the Charities Act; or
the accounts did not accord with the accounting records; or
• the accounts did not comply with the applicable requirements concerning the form and content of accounts set out in the Charities (Accounts and Reports) Regulations 2008 other than any requirement that the accounts give a ‘true and fair’ view which is not a matter considered as part of an independent examination.

I have no concerns and have come across no other matters in connection with the examination to which attention should be drawn in this report in order to enable a proper understanding of the accounts to be reached.

Please delete the words in the brackets if they do not apply.

Signed: Date: 12.08.24 Name: Mike Platten CPFA Relevant professional Member Chartered Institute of Public Finance and Accountancy (CIPFA) qualification(s) or body (if any):

Address: 6 Uplands Road, Farnham , Surrey, GU9 8BP

Oct 2018

IER

Section B Disclosure

Only complete if the examiner needs to highlight material matters of concern (see CC32, Independent examination of charity accounts: directions and guidance for examiners).

Give here brief details of any items that the examiner wishes to disclose .

Oct 2018

IER