## **THE ROSSWAY GROUP**
## **Riding for the Disabled Association Incorporating Carriage Driving**
**(** Registered under charity number 1188574 “the Group”)
## **Trustees’ Annual Report for the year ended 31 March 2025**
## **1. Administrative details**
The Trustees are pleased to present their annual report of Rossway Group Riding for the Disabled Association incorporating Carriage Driving (“Rossway RDA”, “the Group”), charity number 1188574 registered at Shardeloes Farm Equestrian Centre, Cherry Lane, Amersham, Bucks, HP7 0QF.
The Trustees who served throughout the year to 31 March 2025 were:
Irene Purse Vivienne Bryan Heather James Hazel Rymer Christopher Wilton Clare French (appointed December 2025) Richard Allison (until August 2024) Caren Graffham (December 2024 - February 2025) Pat Allison (appointed February 2025)
Richard Allison and Caren Graffham sadly passed away during the year. Heather James took on the role of Treasurer. Pat Allison was co-opted to Trustees and took on the role of Secretary.
One third of the Trustees are required to stand down at the Annual General Meeting (AGM). On 11 September 2025, Irene Purse and Chris Wilson will stand down by rotation and seek re-election. Pat Allison will stand down at the AGM and seek re-election. New trustees are recruited with consideration taken of any specialist skills they may bring to this important governance role. They are invited to stand as a Trustee, will have the role and responsibilities explained to them and will be nominated and seconded at the AGM. Luke Poore will seek election at the AGM to provide veterinary experience to the Trustees.
## 2. **Structure, governance and management**
Rossway RDA is a Charitable Incorporated Organisation incorporated under its Constitution dated 16 March 2020.
## **3. Objectives and activities**
Rossway RDA was incorporated to promote the objects of The Riding for The Disabled Association incorporating Carriage Driving, a national charity registered under charity number 244108, by providing disabled people with the opportunity to ride and or carriage drive to benefit their health and well-being in the vicinities of Buckinghamshire and Hertfordshire.
In accordance with the guidelines as per above, Rossway RDA’s aim is to give children and adults who have physical or cognitive difficulties the opportunity to learn to ride in a fun, safe and relaxed way. The Group upholds the strict guidelines as laid down in the Constitution and the Trustees are satisfied that the Group provides a useful public benefit and operates in accordance with the objectives.
## **4. Achievements and performance**
This year we have continued to run sessions on Thursday afternoons at Shardeloes Farm Equestrian Centre. We are grateful for the use of the indoor school facilities and hacking areas for our sessions. The staff look after our ponies brilliantly and pony welfare is always their first concern. We are also grateful to Wendover Park Equine who know all our ponies well and provide considerable amounts of advice and support.
In 5 separate lessons, we support approx. 12 children and 11 adults of mixed abilities. A special needs school attend regularly and teenage children ride for a term or half term each. This provides an opportunity for skills and confidence development and in some cases the children can attend for more than one term. For riding to be as accessible as possible, we keep our riding fees as low as possible.
Our other riders are mainly adults with a variety of needs. Each is assessed regularly, and an individual plan is made for progression and development. Classes have worked on dressage skills and independent riding. Some riders participated in the RDA Regionals at BCA this year with 2 of our ponies.
We currently have 5 of our own ponies and access to 4 others on a regular basis through the generosity of their owners who keep them at livery at Shardeloes. The age of some our ponies means that it’s increasingly likely that there will be periods of time when they are unable to work and we are developing a succession plan for the older ones.
The Trustees have agreed that we need to secure more horses to accommodate our larger riders. The aim is to do this through the purchase of a young horse and the loan of an older one. The purchase will be made possible through fundraising. We are extremely grateful for the ongoing efforts of the fundraising committee who have secured the funds for pony purchase and non-routine vet bills. We are also extremely grateful to recent donations through legacy planning.
Currently there are 6 qualified coaches, 3 coaches-in-training and approx. 15 volunteers who regularly attend. There is a steady number of active volunteers and while some can
help every week for many years, many are not able to make a long-term commitment. This means that we always have a need for new volunteers.
Rossway RDA is entirely dependent on volunteers and so special thanks go to everyone who helps in any way with the ponies or the riders or behind the scenes.
Our social media profile on our www.rosswayrda.org.uk website and Rossway RDA Group pages on Facebook bring in enquiries from potential riders and volunteers. New enquiries come through these channels and through word-of-mouth contacts. We have a waiting list of riders of all ages. We continue to have a challenge to match increasing numbers of rider applicants with suitable ponies and having enough volunteers in place to support them.
## **5. Financial review**
## **Current account balance at 31 March 2025: £20,278 (31 March 2024: £1,912 ) Savings account balance at 31 March 2025: £18,015 (31 March 2024: £16,103)**
The Trustees’ reserves policy is to retain sufficient funds to meet significant vet fees and to purchase new horses as the current ones are retired. To support this policy, the Fundraising Committee have an annual target of £6,000 and successfully raised funds to allow the Group to purchase another pony in the year ended 31 March 2025. This pony has been found to be unsuitable for livery at Shardeloes and so the Group is actively looking to find a new home for him. Along with the Fundraising Committee target, increased rider income will enable the Group to continue to meet its objectives, and the Group are actively looking for additional suitable horses through purchase and loan.
## **To be Signed on behalf of the Trustees:**
## **Hazel Rymer and Vivien Bryan**
**11[th] September 2025**
||**The Rossway Group Riding for the Disabled Association Inc**|**The Rossway Group Riding for the Disabled Association Inc**|**The Rossway Group Riding for the Disabled Association Inc**|**The Rossway Group Riding for the Disabled Association Inc**|**CC16a**|
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
||**For the period from**|01-Apr-24|**To**|||
|||||||
|**Section A Receipts and payments**||||||
|**to the nearest £**
**A1 Receipts**
Donations
**7,701**
Ride money
**7,868**
Bank interest
**797**
Sale of horse
**3,500**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**19,866**
**-**
**-**
**_Sub total_ -**
**_Total receipts_ 19,866**
**A3 Payments**
Hire of facilities
**5,665**
Tack
**355**
Vet fees
**6,068**
RDA insurance
**477**
Ponyinsurance
**1,543**
New horse/insurance claim
**2,885**
Website
**-**
Sundries
**610**
**-**
**_Sub total_ 17,603**
**-**
**-**
**_Sub total_ -**
**_Total payments_ 17,603**
**_Net of receipts/(payments)_ 2,263**
**A5 Transfers between funds**
**-**
**A6 Cash funds last year end**
**18,015**
**_Cash funds this year end_ 20,278**
**Unrestricted**
**funds**
**_Sub total_**_(Gross income for AR)_
**A2 Asset and investment sales,**
**(see table).**
**A4 Asset and investment**
**purchases, (see table)**||**to the nearest £**
**Restricted**
**funds**|**to the nearest £**
**Endowment**
**funds**|**Total funds**
**to the nearest £**|**Last year**
**to the nearest £**|
|||**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**|**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**|**7,701**
**7,868**
**797**
**3,500**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**19,866**|**4,072**|
||||||**9,541**|
||||||**857**|
||||||**-**|
||||||**-**|
||||||**-**|
||||||**-**|
||||||**-**|
||||||**14,470**|
|||||||
|||**-**
**-**
**-**|**-**
**-**
**-**|**-**
**-**
**-**||
||||||**-**|
||||||**-**|
|||||||
|||**-**|**-**|**19,866**|**14,470**|
|||||||
|||**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**|**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**|**5,665**
**355**
**6,068**
**477**
**1,543**
**2,885**
**-**
**610**
**-**
**17,603**|**5,159**|
||||||**2,254**|
||||||**3,135**|
||||||**460**|
||||||**1,666**|
||||||**7,500**|
||||||**2,730**|
||||||**528**|
||||||**-**|
||||||**23,432**|
|||||||
|||**-**
**-**
**-**|**-**
**-**
**-**|**-**
**-**
**-**||
|||||||
||||||**-**|
|||||||
|||**-**|**-**|**17,603**|**23,432**|
|||||||
|||**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**|**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**|**2,263**
**-**
**18,015**
**20,278**|**- 8,962**|
||||||**-**|
||||||**18,015**|
|||||||
## **Section B Statement of assets and liabilities at the end of the period**
|**Categories**
**B1 Cash funds**
**B2 Other monetary assets**
**B3 Investment assets**
**B5 Liabilities**
**B4 Assets retained for the**
**charity’s own use**
Signed by one or two trustees on
behalf of all the trustees|**Details**
Current account
Deposit account
**Details**
**Details**
**Details**
**Details**
Signature
Heather James
**_Total cash funds_**
(agree balances with receipts and payments
account(s))|**to nearest £**
**to nearest £**
**3,377**
**-**
**16,901**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**20,278**
**-**
OK
OK
**to nearest £**
**to nearest £**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**Cost (optional)**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**Cost (optional)**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**
Print Name
Heather James
**Unrestricted**
**funds**
**Restricted**
**funds**
**Unrestricted**
**funds**
**Restricted**
**funds**
**Fund to which**
**asset belongs**
**Fund to which**
**asset belongs**
**Fund to which**
**liability relates**
**Amount due**
**(optional)**|**to nearest £**
**Endowment**
**funds**|
|---|---|---|---|
||||**-**|
||||**-**|
||||**-**|
||||**-**|
||||OK|
||||**to nearest £**
**Endowment**
**funds**|
||||**-**|
||||**-**|
||||**-**|
||||**-**|
||||**-**|
||||**-**|
||||**Current value**
**(optional)**|
||||**-**|
||||**-**|
||||**-**|
||||**-**|
||||**-**|
||||**Current value**
**(optional)**|
||||**-**|
||||**-**|
||||**-**|
||||**-**|
||||**-**|
||||**-**|
||||**-**|
||||**-**|
||||**-**|
||||**When due**
**(optional)**|
|||||
|||||
|||||
|||||
|||||
|||||
||||Date of
approval|
||Heather James|Heather James|11/09/2025|
|||||