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2024-02-25-accounts

L"DUK LYME DISEASE UK 2023 - 2024 LDUK Trustee * Annual Report 55

2023 - 2024 LDUK Trustee Annual Report

Charity registration number: 1182212

Charity addresses for this financial year: Old charity address: Lyme Disease UK, PO Box 9705, Broadstone, BH11 0HZ Charity address from October 2023:

Lyme Disease UK, Lytchett House, 13 Freeland Park, Wareham Road, Poole, Dorset, BH16 6FA Trustees during this financial year:

Natasha Metcalf (Chair), Julia Knight, Sarah Herbert, James Herbert.

2023 - 2024 LDUK Trustee Annual Report

Financial Year 5: 26th February 2023 - 25th February 2024

Structure, Governance and Management

Lyme Disease UK is a Charitable Incorporated Organisation governed by a Constitution.

Trustee decisions, including new trustee appointments, are only made following a meeting or electronic correspondence containing a quorum and only if a majority vote is achieved. Along with trustees, Lyme Disease UK’s daily running is operated by a core team of freelancers and volunteers.

Objectives and Activities

The purpose of the charity is, for the public benefit, to prevent Lyme disease and support those living with the disease by:

Public Benefit Statement

The trustees continue to have regard for the guidance issued by the Charity Commission on public benefit. We review our charity’s aims, objectives, and activities regularly and we feel our activities to date demonstrate public benefit as we strive to prevent Lyme disease and provide support for those living with the condition.

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2023 - 2024 LDUK Trustee Annual Report

Main Activities and Achievements

Online Support

Our Online Community of over 14,000 people continued to receive support on Facebook and we answered over 500 email tickets from people looking for information on tick bites and Lyme disease.

Lyme Disease UK’s 10th Birthday

It was very satisfying to celebrate LDUK’s 10th birthday since the support group was first founded in 2013 by patients Louise Dean and current Chair, Natasha Metcalf.

We looked back at some of our highlights over the decade including our first patient story video , which was viewed over 2,600 times and our Scottish Parliamentary event in 2017. We are proud to have been stakeholders in the 2018 NICE Lyme disease guideline writing process and that some of our criticisms of the draft guideline were taken into consideration. Launching our first ever ‘Wake up to Lyme’ campaign in 2018 was such a milestone and it has been so gratifying to see how much the campaign has grown over the years. Achieving charity status in 2019 was such a milestone moment in LDUK’s history and we are extremely grateful to have stayed afloat during the Covid-19 pandemic.

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2023 - 2024 LDUK Trustee Annual Report

Successful ‘Wake Up to Lyme’ Campaign 2023

LDUK’s ‘ Wake Up to Lyme ’ campaign returned for another year and the campaign has continued to grow year on year.

Awareness Packs

We dispatched 250 awareness packs during the campaign containing 20 leaflets, 20 tick cards, and 5 posters. So by our calculations, that’s 5,000 leaflets, 5,000 tick cards and 1,250 posters that were dispersed in local communities around the UK. We also welcomed orders from organisations for larger quantities of materials, sending out an extra 3,000 leaflets and 3,000 tick cards.

GP Surgeries, Pharmacies and Healthcare Professionals

We were delighted to display our awareness animation on 650 pharmacy screens across the UK for the second year running. Thanks to incredible donations, we were also able to pay to display our awareness posters in 3,000 GP surgeries across the UK.

Generating awareness amongst healthcare professionals is of the utmost importance to ensure that Lyme disease is diagnosed promptly and treated correctly. It’s crucial that all clinicians know the symptoms of Lyme disease to look out for and how to treat the infection as per the NICE Lyme disease guideline.

We were excited to display the adjacent advert at the Primary Care & Public Health Conference at the NEC in Birmingham. This is the UK’s leading event for GPs and trainee GPs, physiotherapists, nurses, dietitians, and other clinicians working in primary and community care, with up to 6,000 healthcare professionals in attendance.

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2023 - 2024 LDUK Trustee Annual Report

Media Coverage

Our campaign press release was picked up by 35 newspapers which was a record for us and some of the coverage can be found below:

‘ ’ The Mirror: Stay safe warning about rare disease on the rise in the UK, experts say.

Daily Mail: England’s Lyme Disease Hotspots Revealed.

We were honoured to be invited to write special features for a number of publications including the Royal Forestry Society magazine, Pharmacy In Focus magazine, the Lakeland Walker magazine, and the Professional Mountaineer magazine.

The charity helped to arrange various case studies featuring our Online Community members and we are so grateful to all the patients and loved ones who bravely shared their stories in order to raise awareness. Some of the features can be found below:

The Mirror: ‘Woman left with slurred speech and forced to quit job after being bitten by tick’

Glasgow Times: ‘Clydebank mum waited 30 years for Lyme disease diagnosis’ BBC: ‘The lives ruined from the bite of a tick’

Herts Live: ‘Abbots Langley man left bedridden for over a year due to unnoticed tick bites’

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2023 - 2024 LDUK Trustee Annual Report

‘Wear Lime for Lyme’ Day

It was wonderful to see so many people getting involved in the annual ‘Wear Lime for Lyme’ day during awareness month. A big shout out to staff at CMS Group who donned their lime green apparel and to everyone who took part in our Pet Photography Competition and a shout out to our winner, Billy!

Campaign Video

We relaunched our ‘Wake up to Lyme’ campaign video from 2018, which has received an incredible 50,000 views on social media! Thank you so much to all of the patients who featured in the video and everyone who gave it a like and share this time around!

‘Light Up for Lyme’

Our ‘Light Up for Lyme’ component of our campaign returned for another year and it was amazing to see a total of 20 grand venues illuminated in green in support of Lyme disease sufferers, which is a charity record! Thank you so much to all of the landmarks and organisers who took part.

----- Start of picture text -----
Waddesdon Manor
----- End of picture text -----

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2023 - 2024 LDUK Trustee Annual Report

Schools

We built a new schools campaign page on our website and invited 20,000 school leaders to take part in our awareness campaign via the Association of School and College Leaders newsletter. Schools were invited to enter our poster design competition for kids, and revel in the free online resources we offer for schools including an outdoor excursion checklist and ideas for lesson plans.

Support from Politicians

Lyme disease patients urgently need the support of MPs and MSPs; both to promote tick awareness amongst their constituents, and also to bring forward discussion in Parliament around the need for advancements in the study and treatment of Lyme disease. Some key examples of support from politicians this month include:

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2023 - 2024 LDUK Trustee Annual Report

Collaborating with other UK Organisations

We were thrilled to build new relationships with fellow charities this year who are keen to support our important message! Key collaborations included a multi-platform campaign with Mountain Rescue England and Wales, and inclusion in the quarterly newsletter sent out by The School and Public Health Nurses Association (SAPHNA).

We were also included in the Mountain Bothies Association newsletter, and Trail Running Association newsletter. Many other charities gave us shout-outs on social media, including Ramblers Scotland and Facial Palsy UK. The charities, New Arc Wildlife Rescue Centre, and Surrey Care Trust, also requested our leaflets to hand out to their volunteers and visitors to keep them safe from ticks.

We were grateful to receive ongoing support from various moorlands groups across the UK, sending out over 600 kids’ activities packs for the Estates That Educate education programme.

The Bushcraft Show

We returned to The Bushcraft Show this year with LDUK’s Press and Community Outreach Manager, Julia Knight, and her husband John representing LDUK! They were also joined by LDUK member, Julie-Ann Gylaitis who also did a sterling job of raising awareness alongside Julia.

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2023 - 2024 LDUK Trustee Annual Report

Awareness Talks and Other Events

Some of our awareness talks this year included an in-person talk by Julia Knight to the Fleet U3A Health and Wellbeing Group and another one of our volunteers, Morven-May MacCallum hosting a charity stand at numerous events in Scotland. These included the Belladrum Tartan Heart Festival, the Moy Country Fair and the Nairn Highland Games. Morven-May spoke to thousands of visitors to her stand and educated passers-by on tick bites, prevention tips and the dangers of Lyme disease.

MP Engagement

LDUK Online Community member Chloe Daly, and her mother Helen, met with their local MP, Peter Gibson, to discuss Choe’s battle with Lyme disease and the difficulties she faced with diagnosis and treatment. Peter Gibson MP raised Chloe’s case in the House of Commons. This was the first time Lyme disease had been mentioned in Parliament since March 2019. Peter Gibson MP then invited Lyme Disease UK to join him for a Zoom meeting to discuss how the charity can help to push for change in the way Lyme disease is diagnosed and treated in this country. Peter gave us an excellent insight into how to amplify our message and continue to raise awareness of Lyme disease. As a result, we created a website post detailing how people could request a meeting with their MP at one of their surgeries. We helped to prepare a briefing document and slideshow for Community members to take to their MPs.

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2023 - 2024 LDUK Trustee Annual Report

Coronation Street

We were so grateful that the Coronation Street script writers reached out to Lyme Disease UK to discuss a storyline for a child suffering from Lyme disease. We were grateful they wanted to portray a complex case so as not to portray the illness as hard to catch and easy to cure. Trustee Julia Knight is an ex-paediatric nurse and so she was the perfect person to assist the production team with the storyline.

The charity saw a huge spike in website traffic as the story aired and we saw an uptick in people emailing our email support helpline.

Charity Shop Launch

Following lots of requests for charity merchandise, we launched a print on demand shop on the platform, Teemill. The site provides a great customer experience, it is easy to add designs and it enables a high level of customisation. The shop has served us well with co-branded merchandise for Team Seasoar’s challenge when they row the Atlantic as part of the World’s Toughest Row.

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2023 - 2024 LDUK Trustee Annual Report

Team Seasoar

Lyme Disease UK thoroughly enjoyed being a part of Team Seasoar’s campaign this year as John Watling, Niall Brannigan, Sam Weber and Jason Wilder continued their gruelling training for the World’s Toughest Row and avid fundraising for the charity. Lyme Disease UK’s Co-Founder and Chair, Natasha Metcalf, joined the team in Weymouth with her parents to see their boat, Oardrey, for the first time.

LDUK and Team Seasoar reunited in Wiltshire so that John Watling and his wife Azar could introduce Natasha to some members of the community in Lacock who were helping with local fundraising. It was also a great opportunity to learn more about the challenges Team Seasoar will face as they row 2 hours on, 2 hours off 24/7 for 6 weeks during the crossing from La Gomera to Antigua, during which they will battle 20 foot waves. Natasha was even shown the packets of dehydrated food the team will need to exist on during their 3,000 mile voyage. John shared more about the dangers of Giant Marlin strikes and the effect the trip can have on the rowers mentally and physically, as they prepare to lose 12kg in body weight and burn 5,000 calories per day.

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2023 - 2024 LDUK Trustee Annual Report

The next day, Natasha and John travelled to St Mary’s School, Calne, who are one of Team Seasoar’s sponsors. The school also selected LDUK as their Charity of the Year. Natasha Metcalf gave a talk in chapel during the school’s Charity Week on Lyme disease, her personal story and the work of the charity. She felt so welcomed and embraced by the school and the Lacock community. Thank you to Team Seasoar and the St Mary’s staff, students and parents for all the impressive fundraising. In 2024, St Mary’s School, Calne raised over £8,500 for LDUK!

Other Fundraising

Scottish Woodlands raised an incredible £4,000 with activities including their annual dinner dance, their Run Forester, Run challenge and pole climb at the Royal Highland Show. A huge thank you to all the staff at Scottish Woodlands for this stellar effort.

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2023 - 2024 LDUK Trustee Annual Report

The charity’s 2023 Great North Run team raised an impressive £3,901 upon completing the race! A huge thank you to this year’s runners for taking on the challenge and raising so much!

The Pendle Young Farmers’ Club hosted their annual Speed Sheep Shear challenge and raised £12,743 for the Club’s chosen charities – Lyme Disease UK, Sepsis Trust, and Field Nurse.Thank you to Online Community member Dan Duerden for nominating our charity once again and to the Pendle community for embracing us for another year running!

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A Look Ahead to 2024-2025

2024 sees the charity’s biggest ever ‘Wake Up to Lyme’ campaign backed by headline sponsor Team Seasoar and tick removal tool company, Tick Twister[®] . Our representatives attend awareness events in Scotland and Lacock and Natasha returns to St Mary’s, Calne as a guest speaker with John Watling from Team Seasoar at the school’s Founder’s Day. LDUK partners with national charity, Kitsquad, to ensure tick removal tools are included in their packs and that tick bite prevention tips are distributed. We welcome a host of new fundraisers and Natasha Metcalf and Joanne Lee from the charity team head to La Gomera in December 2024 to wave off Team Seasoar as they push off the dock and row across the Atlantic as part of the charity’s biggest ever fundraiser.

Financial Review

Lyme Disease UK’s total income during the financial year, as reported in our statement of financial activities, was £43,608 in unrestricted funds. Our total expenditure, including charitable activities and governance was £37,442 . The year ended with £32,758 in total funds. An independent examination of charity accounts was carried out and the report is to besubmitted with the annual return and trustee report. Our current reserves policy is to keep 20% of unrestricted total funds in reserve to cover the charity’s IT, software, and website expenditure as well as professional and legal and insurance expenditure. The current reserves held amount to £6,557 .

Declarations

The trustees declare that they have approved the trustees’ report above. Signed on behalf of the charity’s trustees

Natasha Metcalf Chair Lyme Disease UK 23rd November 2024

LYME DISEASE UK

FINANCIAL STATEMENTS

FOR

THE YEAR ENDED 25 FEBRUARY 2024

Charity Registration Number 1182212

Lyme Disease UK For the Year Ended 25 February 2024

Administrative Details

LDUK (working name)

Trustees

The following served as trustees of the charity during the year:

Natasha Metcalf (chair) Sarah Herbert James Herbert Julia Knight

Charity Number
Address
Banker
Structure		 1182212
Old address to Septermber 2023
PO Box 9705
Broadstone
BH11 0HZ
New address from October 2023
Lytchett House
13 Freeland Park
Wareham Road
Poole
Dorset
BH16 6FA
The Co-Operative Bank
Business Banking
PO Box 250
Delf House
Skelmersdale
WN8 6WT
Charitable Incorporated Organisation
Registrated on 26 February 2019

Page 1

Independent Examiner’s Report

Report to the trustees/ members of Charity Name Lyme Disease UK

On accounts for the year ended 25-Feb-24 Charity number 1182212 Set out on pages 1 to 7

Respective responsibilities of trustees and examiner

The charity’s trustees are responsible for the preparation of the accounts. The charity’s trustees consider that an audit is not required for this year under section 144(2) pf the Charities Act 2011 (the 2011 Act) and that an independent examination is needed.

It is my responsibility to:

· examine the accounts under section 145 of the 2011 Act,

· to follow the procedure laid down in the general Directions given by the Charity Commission under section 145(5)(b) of the 2011 Act, and,

Basis of independent examiner’s report

My examination was carried out in accordance with the general Directions given by the Charity Commission. An examination includes a review of the accounting records kept by the charity and a comparison of the accounts presented with those records. It also includes consideration of any unusual items or disclosures in the accounts, and seeking explanations from you as trustees concerning any such matters. The procedures undertaken do not provide all the evidence that would be required in an audit and consequently no opinion is given as to whether the accounts present a `true and fair view’ and the report is limited to those matters set out in the statement below.

Independent examiner’s statement

In connection with my examination, no matter has come to my attention:

  1. which gives me reasonable cause to believe that in any material respect the requirements:

· to keep accounting records in accordance with section 130 of the 2011 Act, and,

· to prepare accounts which accord with the accounting records and comply with the accounting requirements of the Charities Act

have not been met; or

  1. to which, in my opinion, attention should be drawn in order to enable a proper understanding of the accounts to be reached.

Wendy Cheung FCCA, MBA, BSc(Hon) Date: 26th November 2024

Page 2

Lyme Disease UK For the Year Ended 25 February 2024 Statement of Financial Activities

Categories by activity
Notes
Incoming resources
Income:
Donations
3
Charitable activities
Sponsorship
Gift Aid
Resources expended
Expenditure on:
Charitable activities
4
Goverance
5
Net gains/(losses) on
investments
Other gains/(losses)
Fund Balances
Fund Brought forward
Fund Balance at
25.02.2024
Gains and losses on revaluation of fixed
assets for the charity’s own use
Net movement in funds
Total
Total
Net income/(expenditure) before
investment gains/(losses)
Net income/(expenditure)
Transfers between funds
Other recognised gains/(losses):		 Unrestricted
funds
Restricted
income
funds
£
£
40,355
631
-
-
-
2,622
43,608
-
36,992
-
450
-
-
-
37,442
-
-
-
-
-
6,166
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
6,166
-
25,692
-
31,858
-		 Total funds
Prior year
funds
£
£
40,355
32,603
631
852
-
-
2,622
1,371
43,608
34,826
36,992
44,684
450
450
-
-
37,442
45,134
-
10,308
-
-
-
6,166
10,308
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
6,166
10,308
-
25,692
36,000
31,858
25,692

Page 3

Lyme Disease UK For the Year Ended 25 February 2024 Balance Sheet

Notes
Unrestricted
funds
Restricted
income
funds
£
£
Fixed assets
Tangible assets
-
-
Total fixed assets
-
Current assets
Debtors
9
8,055 -
Cash at bank and in hand
11
24,703 -
Total current assets
32,758
Creditors: amounts falling due
within one year
10
450
Net current assets/(liabilities)
32,308-
Total assets less current
liabilities
32,308-
Funds of the Charity
Fund Balances at brought
forward
25,692
Restricted income funds
-
Unrestricted funds
6,616
Total funds
32,308-		 Total this
year
Total last year
£
£
-
-
-
-
8,055
-
24,703
26,142
32,758
26,142
450
450
32,308
25,692
32,308
25,692
25,692
36,000
-
-
6,616
10,308
-
32,308
25,692

The charitable company is entitled to exemption from audit under Section 477 of the Companies Act 2006 for the year ended 25 February 2023. No member of the company has deposited a notice requiring an audit of these accounts.

This report was approved by the board of Trustees on :

Signed by :

Name: Natasha Metcalf

Position: Co-Founder/Chair

Date: 29th November 2024

Page 4

1 Basis of preparation

1.1 Basis of accounting

These accounts have been prepared under the historical cost convention with items recognised at cost or transaction value unless otherwise stated in the relevant note(s) to these accounts.

The accounts have been prepared in accordance with:

the Statement of Recommended Practice: Accounting and Reporting by Charities preparing their accounts in accordance with the Financial Reporting Standard applicable in the UK and Republic of Ireland (FRS 102), and with the Charities Act 2011.

The charity constitutes a public benefit entity as defined by FRS 102.

1.2 Going concern

The Trustees consider that there are no material uncertainties about the charity's ability to continue as a going concern. There are no key judgements that the charity has made which have a significant effect on the accounts. The Trustees do not consider that there are any sources of estimation uncertainty at the reporting date that have a signicant risk of causing a material adjustment to the carrying amounts of assets and liabilities within the next reporting period.

1.3 Accounting policies

Income is recognised when the charity has entitlement to the funds, any performance conditions attached to the income have been met. It is probable that the income will be received and that the amount can be measured reliably.

Expenditure is accounted for on an accruals basis and has been classified under headings that aggregate all cost related to the category. Where costs cannot be directly attributed to specific headings, they have been allocated to activities on a basis consistent with the use of resources.

Unrestricted funds can be used in accordance with the charitable objectives at the discretion of the t t Restricted funds can only be used for restricted purposes within the objects of the charity. Restrictions arise when specified by the donor or when funds are raised for particular purposes.

The charity is exempt from corporation tax on its charitable activities.

1.4 Critical accounting estimates and judgements

In the application of the charity's accounting policies, the Trustees are required to make judgements, estimates and assumptions about the carrying amounts of assets and liabilities that are not readily apparent from other sources. The estimates and associated assumptions are based on historical experience and other factors that are considered to be relevant. Actual results may differ from these The estimated and underlying assumptions are reviewed on an ongoing basis. Revisions to accounting estimates are recognised in the period in which the estimate is revised where the revision affects only that period, or in the period of the revision and future periods where the revision affects both current and future

1.5 Material prior year errors

No material prior year errors have been identified in the reporting period (3.47 FRS 102 SORP).

Page 5

Lyme Disease UK

For the Year Ended 25 February 2024

3 Analysis of income

Unrestricted
funds
Restricted
income
funds
Donations and gifts
40,355
-
Gift Aid
2,622
-
Legacies
- -
General grants provided by government/other
charities
-
Sponsorships
- -
Donated goods, facilities and services
-
Total 42,977
Charitable
activities:
631
Total 631
-
43,608
-
Analysis
Donations
and legacies:
Total Income		 Total funds
Prior year
£
£
40,355 32,603
2,622 1,371
- -
- -
- -
- -
42,97733,974
631 852
631 852
43,608 34,826

4 Analysis of expenditure

Conference and Events
Professional and Consultancy
Insurance
IT , software and website
Legal Expenses
Subscriptions
Telephone & Internet
Analysis
Expenditure on raising funds:
Accommodation
Advertising, marketing, direct mail and publicity
General expenses
Bank charges and transaction fees
Postage and courier
Printing and stationery
Travel
Total expenditure		 Unrestricted
funds
Restricted
income
funds
Total funds
Unrestricted
funds
Restricted
income
funds
Total
funds
£
£
- - - 275 - 275
7,825
- 7,825 11,122 - 11,122
- - - 1,928 - 1,928
22,522
- 22,522 19,915 - 19,915
457
- 457 255 - 255
179
- 179 179 - 179
890
- 890 668 - 668
750
- 750
- - -
672
- 672 64 - 64
797
- 797 1,178 - 1,178
2,529
- 2,529 8,882 - 8,882
339
- 339 668 - 668
20
- 20
- - -
12
- 12
- - -
- - - - - -
This year
Last year
36,992
-36,992 45,134 - 45,134

5. Governance cost

Total governance cost
Independent examiner’s fees		 This year Last year
£
£
450 450
450 450

Page 6

Lyme Disease UK For the Year Ended 25 February 2024

6. Staff Costs

There were no employees during the year or in the prior year.

7. Trustee

There were no trustees' remuneration or other benefits during the year or in the prior year.

8. Tangible fixed assets

There were no fixed assets during the year or in the prior year.

9 Debtors and prepayments

Analysis of debtors
Debtors
Prepayments and accrued income
Total
Analysis of creditors
Accruals
Trade creditors
Accruals and deferred income
Other creditors
Total
10 Creditors and accruals		 This year
Last year
£
£
- -
8,055 -
- -
8,055 -
This year
Last year
£
£
450 450
-
- -
- -
Amounts falling due after
450 450

11 Cash at bank and in hand

Other
Cash at bank and on hand
Total
Short term cash investments (less than 3 months maturity date)
Short term deposits		 This year
Last year
£
£
- -
- -
24,703 26,143
- -
24,703 26,143

Page 7