2024-03-31-accounts

Trustees Annual Report

2023/2024

Charity Registration No: 1183203

Ready Steady Go

1.Objectives and Activities

1.1 The objectives of Ready Steady Go (RSG) are defined in the Constitution Document, namely: -

1. To relieve the needs of children with autism spectrum disorder and their families by providing support, education, practical advice, recreational and leisure time activities delivered in the interest of social welfare and, designed to improve their conditions of life and which develop their skills, capacities and capabilities.

2. To advance the education of the public in autistic spectrum conditions, in particular but not exclusively by the provision of: a) advice and support to families affected by autism spectrum disorder to eliminate the stigma associated with autism and the reducing barriers within society; and

b) raising public awareness of autism by sharing knowledge and working with the local community and local organisations such as schools etc to educate and encourage collaboration of social and recreational facilities and events involving the local community

• 1.2 In advancing these objectives and in other decision making, the

Trustees ensure cognisance of the Charity Commission’s guidance on public benefit.

2.Summary of Main Activities

• 2.1 In order to fulfil objective 1 (above) RSG has provided members with:

• •opportunities to meet and to engage in activity that will assist their development.

• •opportunities to integrate with local communities and assist in removing isolation. • opportunities to develop their skills to participate as independent members of society.

• •providing guidance, information and raising awareness to assist the public and those who care for children with Autism to deliver the best care possible.

• 2.2 In order to fulfil objective 2 (above) RSG has raised awareness of Autism by: - • drawing attention to the difficulty faced by children and their parents of children with

Autism and offering solution to emerging problems.

• •members visit local commercial organisations and other bodies that provides the opportunity to offer information about the difficulties encountered through Autism.

• •utilising ‘contact ’opportunities to educate the local community and advice regarding the practical effects of Autism.

• •providing opportunities to persons of all ages to ‘volunteer’ to take part in Club activity.

• 2.3 Please see Appendix ‘A’ for details of achievements and performance undertaken during

2023/2024.

3.Structure and Management of RSG

• 3.1 RSG is a Charitable Incorporated Organisation with voting members,

other than its charity Trustees.

• 3.2 The Structure and Management of RSG is based upon a Constitution ‘approved’ by the

Charity Commission (for registration purposes) which outlines the compliance criteria that

RSG needs to follow. (A copy of this document is available on request and is available

via the RSG ‘private’ Facebook page.)

3.3 In accordance with the Constitution, since its inception, RSG has been managed by a

small group of Trustees, assisted by the recently appointed Charity Manager & Accounts Assistant under the direction of the RSG Chairperson who works closely with the Charity Manager to address the day to day issues.

3.4 During the Financial Year 2023/2024 a total of 8 support workers have

contributed to the events organised by RSG with various numbers assisting at different events. In addition, several volunteers have also given their time to assist and support the RSG children and parents.

• 3.5 Currently the Charity has 4 appointed Trustees.

• 3.6 The Trustees also have the services of several senior professional

persons from local and national organisations who work in the area in

which RSG operates who are willing to provide advice and guidance,

when requested.

3.7 For full details of the Trustees and other administrative information please see Appendix

‘B’.

3.8 The appointment of current and future Trustees excludes any external

body appointing a person to serve on the Board of Trustees.

Appointments will be by member votes at the

AGM.

3.9 Provision is made for the existing Trustees to co-opt another person(s) onto the Board as a temporary Trustee, until such time as that person’s name may be submitted to the

AGM for ‘full’ appointment by the members. Any person appointed as a

temporary Trustee has the full voting responsibly like any other member of the Board and there are no special restrictions placed on any temporary Trustee.

3.10 A number of RSG families also have an association with other local charities, whilst RSG may hold joint events with other charities and support them in other non-financial ways, RSG is totally independent of any other charity (or group) and should any conflict arise, foremost will be the interests of RSG members and its wider local community.

4.Financial Aspects

4.1 RSG use the services of Santander UK Ltd for its banking services.

4.2 Attached at Appendix ‘C’ is a summary of the accounts of RSG for the financial Year 2023 to 2024.

4.3 At this time in the development of RSG no funds have been invested in any source.

4.4 Trustees do not receive any remuneration in respect of any responsibility/activity carried out on behalf of RSG.

4.5 It is the aim of the Trustees to secure enough funds at the end of one

financial year to meet our commitments during the next financial year, thus enabling planning and a structured approach, so essential for our members.

4.6 It is the decision of the Trustees that applications for Grants will only be made to those bone fide organisations and who publicly inform

interested parties of the availability of such grants. Such grants will only be used for the purpose for which they were intended (i.e. stated in the

grant application) unless agreement is reached with the authority

making the grant, for the purpose to be varied.

4.7 Donations will only be accepted from bone fide companies/individuals

and which are unencumbered (i.e. free from any condition, lien, or

security).

4.8 The Trustees do not plan to make investments on behalf of the

member and therefore will not ‘own’ property, other than the toys and

equipment needed to support the children in Club sessions.

4.9 RSG employs 11 staff.

4.10 In September 2022 Ready Steady Go were awarded a National Lottery Community Grant for £99.000.00 which secures 3 years worth of funding for the running costs involved with the running costs of activity club sessions. This was a massive boost for the charity and added financial security. During 2025 the charity will be sourcing another substantial grant to secure the future of Ready Steady Go. The grant included the opportunity to employ the Charity Manager for 11.5 paid hours per week. Tracy Rowland the charity founder accepted this part time paid position in April 2022, and continues to work for the charity, volunteering her time for a further 30 hours per week.

4.11 Please see the Summary of Accounts at Appendix ‘C’ for the Financial Year 2023/2024.

Adele Williams Trustee & Chairperson

Tracy Rowland Charity Manager

• Appendix A Annual Report 2023/2024

Achievements and Performance during 2023/2024

Ready Steady Go’s 4th year as a registered charity saw Ready Steady Go continue to expand offering a comprehensive and varied schedule of events for more children and their families. Ready Steady Go has provided weekly activity club sessions, supported community trips, specific exclusive external activity sessions and seasonal events and parties.

Ready Steady Go continued to update and refresh our South premises, Undy Church & Community Hall. With the support from volunteers from our local

community, the hall has been repainted with new curtains added and a comfortable and welcoming entrance area has been created. The Sensory room has been developed and is widely used by the children attending club sessions. The charity is fundraising to acquire a mobile sensory projector which will enhance the facilities in the sensory room, and allow it to be hired out to the local community.

The weekly Activity Club runs after school on a Wednesday & Thursday afternoon at Undy Church and Community Hall. In 2023, Ready Steady Go opened up a session in the North of Monmouthshire, enabling the charity so support families from further across Monmouthshire. These sessions are now regularly attended by our 38 member children and up to 20 siblings. Each session is supported by our support workers and volunteers, with sessions having weekly themes. Children have fun playing with the extensive range of toys available to them, with many favourites such as Thomas the Tank Engine, Brio, Lego and Duplo being enjoyed.

Our membership numbers have doubled over the period and are continuing to rise. In 2023, RSG opened the weekly Youth Club session, held on a Thursday at Undy Hall. This session now supports 15 young persons aged 12 – 19. When children outgrow the activity club they now can move onto the inclusive Youth Club and also we gained many new members who benefit from the sessions. Parents remain at all our sessions, and gain immensely from the peer support from meeting regularly with other carers.

Each Activity Club session has a different theme with the toys, sensory items and arts & crafts all themed such as the Artic Ocean, Farmyard and Dinosaurs. The children have great fun developing their imaginations through play in this supported and comfortable environment.

Youth Club sessions also have varied activities which over the past year have included theme restaurant nights at the hall, circus skills workshops, african drumming session, visits by local police to build relations between our young persons with the local officers.

As well as inhouse workshops we also invite external suppliers to our sessions and have enjoyed the following creative and sensory sessions throughout the year, with suppliers often being invited back for several sessions during the year:

Key Create – Sensory music, movement & dance

Sunshine Movement sensory music

Circus Skills

Ice Cream Sundae making

Pizza making

We celebrated each season with seasonal activities that included Easter Party, Halloween Pumpkin Carving, Halloween & Christmas Parties. All the children, siblings and parent carers have great fun at these events, and we have been joined by Sarah the face-painter, Tony the Balloonman and Crazy Al – our resident DJ. Lots of fun for all the family and all the children received seasonal goody bags and gifts.

RSG attends exclusive gymnastic sessions monthly at Wye Gymnastics where the children have amazing fun supported by the volunteers from Wye Gymnastics. These sessions are extremely popular with our families.

Members attend monthly exclusive small group horse riding sessions at Severnvale Riding Stables which is extremely popular with the families. Many of our children now attend further riding lessons at the centre as equine therapy works so well for them.

We held monthly exclusive family swimming sessions held at Caldicot Leisure Centre successful grant which helps to develop confidence for our children and allows the whole family to participate together.

We hold monthly exclusive sessions at Wellies working farm. The children are able to pet, feed and learn about all the individual animals in a very relaxed and informal environment.

School holidays can be particularly challenging for our families and we therefore have developed a well-supported and comprehensive school holiday schedule of events. We visited many places as a group and offered support to families where needed to enable them to go out. Some entry fees were subsidised through grants received.

We subsidised and supported fun and enjoyable trips to:

Perrygrove Railway

The Wild Place Bristol

Old Down Country Park

Private Double Decker Bus hire and McDonalds

In November 2023, RSG held our 4th Annual Christmas Fayre which was a festive and joyful event and well attended by the local community. The fayre and raffle ticket sales raised over £1800 for the charity.

For our 2023 Christmas treat RSG again enjoyed it when we hired 2 carriages on the Dean Forest Railway Santa Special Train. All our families attended the event and was very festive.

Ready Steady Go has always and continues to receive incredible support from the local community of Undy, Magor, Caldicot and Chepstow. Without the support of so many friends we would not be able to provide such important support and fun activities for our families.

Ready Steady Go continues to grow each year and is currently supporting 53 autistic children and their families totaling 213 people in total. The majority of families are based in South Monmonmouthshire, yet the North Monmouthshire section is expanding due to demand. The charity continues to receive no statutory funding and runs purely on successful grant applications, fundraising and donations.

To the many persons/organisations that made donations to enable RSG to provide the activities for are children and parent carers (too many to name individually) we say a huge “Thank you”.

Finally, a big “Thank You’ to all the RSG children and their parent carers (past and present) whose enthusiasm, smiles and laughter has made the Trustees work enjoyable and worthwhile.

Adele Williams Miss Tracy Rowland

Trustee and Chairperson Charity Manager

Appendix B - RSG Annual Report 2023 - 2024

Administrative information and details of Trustees

Reference and Administration Details

Name of Charity: Ready Steady

Go Other Names used: Ready Steady Go Activity Club, or

RSG Club

Charity Registration Number: 1183203 Registered/Principal Office: 19, Acacia Avenue Undy NP26 3NQ

Contact E-mail address: [e-mail]

Trustees – 01.04.23 to 31.03.24

Name Position Dates in Office E-mail address

Ms Adele Williams - [e-mail] - Full Year

Mrs Chrystal Durnford - [e-mail] - Full Year Mrs Melanie Stirling - [e-mail] – Full Year Mrs Louise Pitman – [e-mail] – From July 2023

Ready Steady Go Annual accounts 2023/ 2024

club fees donations grants fayre stalls raffle room hire activities contributions miscellaneous (i.e. Local giving) Misc. credit (unallocated)

Refunds

6,488.0 4 10,732. 50 60,713. 70 330.00 2,053.0 5 2,700.0 0 7,578.9 7 965.67 460.65 1,598.5 1

activities	16,777.33
seasonal events	3,208.56
toys / equipment	2,818.23
occasional / Christmas gifts	1,799.91
kitchen supplies	221.20
sessional supplies	4,664.56
stationary	776.86
hall rent	4,581.00
cleaning	984.14
hall equipment	1,208.76
utilities	4,566.59
maintenance	1,189.53
garden equipment	4,475.15

payroll 34,773.45 insurance 351.59 workwear 832.80 phone / telecoms 424.24 expenses / travel 961.23 staf equipment i.e. laptop 810.25 training 1,259.45 website 963.32 promo3onal 771.46 food 305.84 entertainment 209.05 miscellaneous 475.13 Unallocated 1,062.58 Costs associated with fundraising etc 390.21 (90,862.42) 93,621.09
Proft / Loss for Year		2,758.
Proft / Loss for Year		67
Bank Balance opening 7,132.08 Less expenses (90,862.42) Plus income 93,621.09 Closing Bank Balance 9,890.75

Signed: Posi,on:

Date:

Independent examiner's report on the accounts

Section A Independent Examiner’s Report

Charity Name Ready Steady Go

Report to the trustees Charity Name Ready Steady Go On accounts for the year 31 March 2024 Charity no 1183203 ended (if any) Set out on pages (remember to include the page numbers of additional sheets)

I report to the trustees on my examination of the accounts of the above charity (“the Trust”) for the year ended 31 March 2024.

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 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.

Date: 18/09/2024

Signed: Name: Nathan Pretty ACCA Relevant professional Association of Certified Chartered Accountants (ACCA) – Membership qualification(s) or body number 3213018 (if any): Address: 2 Pankhurst Drive, Undy, NP26 3FW

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 N/A any items that the examiner wishes to disclose .

Oct 2018

2

IER