Bridgend County Riding for the Disabled Group
Minutes of Annual General Meeting held on 11[th] May 2022
Present
Julie Humphry (JH) Carole Evans (CE) Linda Crowhurst (LC) Emma Thomas (ET) Joan Lean (JL) Jeff Evans (JE)
1.Welcome and apologies
JH opened the meeting and thanked everyone for attending and Emma and the committee of the Three Horseshoes Community Pub for allowing us to use their premises.
2. Previous minutes
The minutes of 18[th] May 2021 AGM were agreed as correct, proposed CE seconded JL
3. Matters arising (not otherwise on agenda)
No matters arising.
4. Chairman’s report
Following the Covid lockdowns we were delighted to be able to re-start our activities at Pencoed College and welcome our schools back on 5th November 2021. Although we were quite anxious about how all the new Covid protocols would work, in practice everything went well and it soon felt like we hadn’t been away. We were also pleased to be able to offer a session to one of the schools on our waiting list, so Tremains School, Brackla joined us in January this year which means we have 8 sessions during the week (4 Monday & 4 Friday) between 6 schools.
We were also happy to welcome to our team some new volunteers who are proving to be a great asset and are full of enthusiasm and ideas so the future is looking very positive, but having said that we are always on the lookout for new volunteers to join us.
Our Saturday independent riders started back on 4[th] December and it was wonderful to see old friends once again and amazing to see how much some of our young riders have grown and matured into young adults. We have also been joined by some new riders who have increased our number to 12 so we are currently running 3 sessions each Saturday. The college have very kindly offered to loan us 2 of their horses on Saturdays so we now have capacity for 15 riders each week which is fantastic news.
The container company Mobile Mini have given us fantastic support over the past 12 months by providing us with a storage container to store all our equipment and on 19th October we took delivery of our office/classroom unit which, following connection to the power supply, now allows us somewhere warm and comfortable to meet and have a coffee between lessons.
Our new website was launched in January, thanks to Jeff Evans for his diligence and hard work and ITCS for their expertise and continued support. We need to work on the content to make sure it’s current and have asked two of our volunteers Alan and Helen to act as media support and to liaise with Jeff on current activities so that he can upload them onto our website.
On 2[nd] May we hosted the Countryside Challenge and Led Dressage Qualifiers at Pencoed College. Thanks to Emma for organising the event and to our volunteers who did a sterling job. We were delighted with the results as two of our riders Max, who only joined us in January, and Peter qualified for Hartpury in the Countryside Challenge Led along with Rhian in the Independent Countryside Challenge. Another of our new riders Aurora also qualified for the National Championships in the Introduction to Dressage Walk/Trot Led. The Independent Dressage qualifiers will be held at Coleg Sir Gar on Wednesday 18[th] May where we have four riders competing so we’ll have everything crossed for another successful day for Bridgend County Group. The National Championships will be held at Hartpury College from 15[th] to 17[th] July and we wish all our riders every success in their respective classes.
During the lockdowns we were unable to hold any face to face fundraising events so our bank balance has been somewhat depleted. However, we have arranged a coffee and cake event on 13[th] August in the Brackla Community Centre and we are planning an evening function at some time in the autumn. The committee is keen to pursue any possible opportunities for fundraising so all ideas are welcome.
We were sorry to receive our Secretary Nia’s resignation last December due to work commitments but were pleased to appoint Jeff Evans to the role of Secretary and Trustee and welcome him to the team. We would like to thank Nia for her efforts and support in her role over the past 4 years.
5. Election of officers
The following officers were elected:
JH - Chairman (Proposed JL seconded LC) LC - Treasurer (Proposed CE seconded JL) JE - Secretary (Proposed JL seconded ET) ET & JH - DBS coordinators ET - Safeguarding CE - Fundraising Coordinator
JL agreed to continue as a trustee.
6. Accounts and financial report
LC presented the accounts for the 12 months from 1[st] September 2020 to 31[st] August 2021 which recorded a closing balance of £35,922. Riding lessons have not taken place at all during this financial year due to on-going issues with Covid-19. Fund raising was also halted which led to no monies going into our account other than donations. Due to this we have a large deficit this year. We are a fortunate group as we had a good bank balance due to having received a large donation from the Topsy Trust Fund a number of years ago. This has indeed kept us afloat. Our main spend this year has been to improve our working environment by removing our old sheds and caravan. We have had two new hard standings, along with a new storage container. Additional work being carried out at the college delayed the installation of our new office/classroom facility. The Trustees were happy to accept the accounts as a true record and thanked LC for her clear and concise reporting of the accounts. LC will now contact Richard
Breeze to audit the accounts before submitting them to the Charities Commission. Action: LC
7. Review of financial policy and procedure
LC confirmed that there were no amendments required.
8. Trustee Annual Checklist
JH went through the current document with the Trustees. The only unresolved area relates to the Groups Members and following some discussion the Trustees proposed that a member be elected from each section of the group ie Volunteers, Participants, Parents/Carers to meet this requirement. JH to draw up appropriate letter and nomination form for trustee consideration. Action: JH
9. Any other business
None
10. Date of next meeting
May, 2023
Signed: ________
Signed: ________
Date: ___ Date: ___
BALANCE SHEEr BRIDGEND COUNTY GROUP RIDING FOR THE DISABLED BALANCE SHEEf AS AT 31 AUGUST 21r21 CHARITY NO. 1181 DEfAILS 48814 Accumulated Fund as 49279 46814 49279 Deficit for 12 months to 31 August 2021 Accumulated Fund as e 31 August 2021 Petty Cash Surplus BIFwd 1 September 2020 13357 48015 95 73 279 Repr8sented by. Current Account at Nat West Bank 31 August 2021 73 Cash in Hand (surplus 2020) (surplus 2021) 75 49279 Our riding lessons havo not taken place at all during this Ilnanclal year due to on-going Issues with COVID-19. Fund Raising was also halted whlch led to no monies golng Into our account other than donatlong. Due to this we have a larg8 deficit thi6 year. We are a fortunate group. as we had a good bank balance due to having received a larye donatlon vla the Topsy Fund a number of years ago. This has indeed kept us afloaL Our maln spend this yaar has been to improve our worklng environment by removing our old shèds and classroom container. We have had a two new hard standings. along with a new container to be used for storage. Addilional wort belng carrled out by the College delayed the installation of our new classroom.