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**
|1
2
3
4
5
6
7|**Trustee name**|**Office (if any)**|**Dates acted if not for whole year**|**Name of person (or body)**
**entitled to appoint trustee**
**(if any)**|
|---|---|---|---|---|
||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
1
**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.
2
## **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.
3
## **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**
4
|**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.|
|---|---|---|
5
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**
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 recruitment.
## **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.
6
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.
7
## **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.
8
## **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**|
9
|**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**|**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**
|**Categories**
**B1 Cash funds**
**B2 Other monetary assets**
**B3 Investment assets**
**B4 Assets retained for the**
**charity’s own use**|**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|**Restricted**
**funds**
**to nearest £**
**14,086**
**-**
**-**
**14,086**
OK
**Restricted**
**funds**
**to nearest £**
**-**
**-**
**Cost (optional)**
**-**
**-**
**Cost (optional)**|**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**
1
**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**
2
**IER**