Trustees’ Annual Report for 1 January 2023 to 31 December 2023
General
We continued our partnership with BFER (The Brecks Fen Edge & Rivers Landscape Partnership Scheme) which is funded by the National Lottery Heritage Fund, who supported all our 2023 events. We have been able to purchase new equipment, and have plans for further purchases in 2024, both to maintain existing equipment and to provide new and/or better kit. For example, we were able to buy large yellow signs with black arrows that can be seen for some distances, and these were particularly useful for the longer distance events, e.g. marathon. We were also able to buy similar sized signage for our 2K/5K events.
BFER offered to pay for refreshments for the Thetford River Run, and Run Breckland offered free places to volunteers who had marshalled for Run Breckland and/or BFER.
Graham Wade was re-appointed at the 2023 AGM as a trustee for a further three year term, and to continue as chairman of the trust. Sue Colledge and Sharon Nash to remain as signatories to the trust’s bank account. It was agreed that the three trustee structure should remain the same, with Sharon Nash standing for re-appointment in 2024, and Sue Colledge in 2025.
We organised seven events in 2023:- the Thetford 5K Bunny Run; the Euston Estate Marathon/Half Marathon; the Mildenhall and Thetford 2K/5K River Runs; The Sapiston 5K/10K; the Breckland Forest 10K Run; and the Thetford 5K Santa Run. The Marathon/Half Marathon and the Sapiston Runs were new, and the Breckland Forest 10K Run returned after a three year gap. All of them sold well, and the majority sold out. We are building relationships through these new event, for example we have been invited to organise an event as part of Suffolk County Council’s Brecks Festival 2024.
We have started collecting used trainers to send on to JogOn, who repair and reuse, or recycle them which prevents them from going into landfill. This has been well received by our runners.
Income
Participant numbers increased in 2023, compared to the previous year, but we kept all the prices at the same level as previous years which meant that income had to be carefully monitored. With BFER’s support every event broke even, with a few bringing in a small profit which will be added to the equipment purchase pot. We have had fewer takers, however, for “virtual” runs.
Expenditure
Many costs have increased, including medals, so we cast our net wider to find suitable alternatives (e.g. acrylic medals for the 2K/5K events). The cost of chip timing soared, although the company that is working with us at present are doing their best to keep the price affordable for a small community organisation like Run Breckland.
The largest equipment expenditure in 2023 was the new signs, which also needed poles (two each, so that they couldn’t be spun round in the wind. We also purchased whistles for our marshals on the advice of the police. We have also hired a van for each event, as the amount of equipment we now have (including the generator purchased in 2022) is too much for volunteers to load into cars. Our local van hire company have agreed to a discounted price for the van hire. Forestry England have changed the way they charge for events. It now charges £95+VAT plus a percentage from each event’s gross income.
This Report was submitted to, and agreed at, the trust’s 2024 AGM.
Run Breckland, 1 Peter Drive, Thetford, IP24 2UG
| Events | General Office | TOTAL | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Balance carried over on 1/1/2022 | £2,614.06 | |||
| Income | ||||
| Sales/Entry Fees | £10,018.29 | £0.00 | £10,018.29 | |
| Bank Interest | £0.00 | £27.99 | £27.99 | |
| Fundraising/Grants | £1,028.19 | £0.00 | £1,028.19 | |
| Total Receipts per Department | £11,046.48 | **£27.99 ** | £11,074.47 | |
| Expenditure | ||||
| Medals and Running Numbers | £3,347.86 | £0.00 | £3,347.86 | |
| Direct Event Costs | £4,485.29 | £0.00 | £4,485.29 | |
| Equipment Purchase | £699.98 | £0.00 | £699.98 | |
| Insurance | £253.77 | £0.00 | £253.77 | |
| General Office Costs | £0.00 | £107.33 | £107.33 | |
| Total Payments per Department | £8,786.90 | £107.33 | £8,894.23 | |
| Total Profit/Loss | £2,180.24 | |||
| Closing Balance on 31/12/23 | £4,794.30 |