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2025-08-31-accounts

TRUSTEES’ REPORT AND FINANCIAL STATEMENTS

for the period ending 31st August 2025

REGISTERED CHARITY NUMBER: 1190929

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Open Trail Report and Financial Statement for the period ending 30[st] August 2025 Registered Charity Number 1190929

CONTENTS

Page
Trustees’ annual report 3-7
Independent Examiner’s report 8
Statement of financial activities 9
Balance sheet 10
Notes to the accounts 11-23

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Trustees’ Report for the year end 31[st] August 2025

The Trustees present their report with the financial statements of the charity for the year ended 31[st] August 2025.

The accounts have been prepared in accordance with the accounting policies set out in note 1 to the accounts and comply with the charity’s Trust Deed and the Charities Act 2011.

Charity Objectives

  1. To advance health for the public benefit by educating the public about the health benefits of cycling, Forest School, getting outside, and an active lifestyle.

  2. To help young people, especially but not exclusively through leisure time activities, to develop their capabilities that they may grow to full maturity as individuals and members of society.

  3. To develop the capacity and skills of the members of the socially economically disadvantaged people, through cycling and forest school, in such a way that they are better able to identify, and help meet, their needs and to participate more fully in society.

  4. The promotion of community participation in healthy recreation in particular by the provision of facilities for cycling and Forest School.

Open Trail (www.opentrail.co.uk); a registered charity (1190929) established to encourage children and young people, of Worcestershire and the West Midlands, to strive for more than they think possible, despite their own personal circumstances. We use cycle coaching and forest school to provide personal development opportunities for disadvantaged children and young people to develop their self-confidence, work ethic, emotional resilience and team working through the completion of small, achievable tasks. We enable them to achieve new things and find out what they are really capable of. We encourage them to apply these skills in other scenarios e.g. home, their community and school, to empower them to build a better future for themselves and raise their aspirations.

Our aims are to enable children and young people to develop:

Our services

Our mission is to raise the aspirations of young people through motivation, enjoyment, stimulating their curiosity and engaging their bodies in active pursuits.

Public Benefit

Open Trail’s activities meet the public benefit by providing children and young people and the wider community with a range of services that they may otherwise not be able to access.

Through engagement with its services children and young people grow in confidence, resilience and build their aspirations. This puts them in a stronger position to face challenges in their lives, make the most of positive opportunities, and resist negative influences. This enables them to

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Trustees’ Report for the year end 31[st] August 2025

make a positive contribution to their community, develop essential life skills and grow into adulthood comfortably.

The services Open Trail offers to its community are wide ranging and adaptable to meet the needs of the client group and the ever-changing world we live in. Open Trail regularly takes on feedback from its community and adapts to the needs of the people and environment in which it serves.

Achievements and Performance

September 2024-August 2025 - has been another strong year of development and growth for Open Trail. We have seen increased reach in our coaching activities in schools and at our own facilities. After a few years of large growth and development, focus was put on the background workings of the charity to ensure all policies, procedures and processes are efficient and effective in our expanded operations. We invested in external expertise where needed such as in safeguarding and health and safety operations.

September-December 2024 - The autumn school term saw bookings for learn to ride, cycling progression courses, balanceability, Dr Bike, forest school and school holiday engagement activities such as mountain bike coaching and 1:1 learn to ride lessons We had 9 coaches deliver across 16 schools and 1 community group during this period. Burlish Bike Park was open every weekend with good numbers and feedback, trail repairs followed a busy summer holiday and 2 members of staff received community awards from the High Sheriff. The Cubhouse Forest School site reached it’s first birthday and expanded to 2 mornings a week. Both facilities had numerous successful Christmas events and a busy Christmas holiday period. Nature Babies social prescribing group also provided sessions once a week and continue to expand their reach with our support. Staff training event took place at the start of the year with further training provided in Bikeability and First Aid. Open Trail (Hannah Escott) was invited by one of our original funders, UNLTD, to present at a social enterprise meeting in Birmingham; an honour that reflects the high regard in which they hold our work.

January- April 2025- The spring school term saw bookings for learn to ride, cycling progression courses, balanceability, Dr Bike, forest school and school holiday engagement activities such as mountain bike coaching, athlete assembly and bike maintenance courses and 1:1 learn to ride lessons. We had 11 coaches deliver across 12 schools and 2 community groups.

Burlish Bike Park got busier in the winter; its mud free trails, hot food and warm Clubhouse (with support from Welcome-Warm Space funding) helped get more people outside in the winter and create a community atmosphere in the bleakest time of the year. Investment was made in 10 premium dirt jump bikes to enhance our mountain bike coaching offering to schools/community groups to provide better learning opportunities for disaffected young people. The WW2 history board was also installed to complete our planning permission conditions for Burlish Bike Park.

The Cubhouse had a site rest period in January. The Cubhouse added a session on Friday mornings, and on Tuesday afternoons thus doubling their previous number of session; sessions were at 80% capacity on average across all the sessions

May-August 2025 - The summer school term saw bookings for learn to ride, cycling progression courses, balanceability, Dr Bike, cycle celebration days, forest school, mountain bike coaching at Burlish and school holiday engagement activities. We had 11 coaches deliver across 16 schools and 3 community groups during this period. Our annual interschool cycling event which included over 12 schools. Two new coaches joined our team in delivering balanceabilty and learn to ride lessons.

At Burlish two new social prescribing groups started delivering regular sessions at the bike park.

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Trustees’ Report for the year end 31[st] August 2025

One is Men United; delivering activities specifically for men. The other is Start Blossoming who deliver activities specifically for women. Changes to our main jump line area and dual slalom track were successful. We developed our first Young Leaders Program which involved training a group of 8 teenagers in first aid, trail maintenance and woodland management to encourage greater ownership and responsibility for the site. Other successful summer projects include our Men’s mental wellbeing evenings involving mountain bike coaching, food and general social activities alongside support from Men United and our 8-week courses in mountain bike leadership and first aid for local disaffected youth. Alongside a Hope Academy day we had our happy and successful second birthday party to thank our staff, volunteers and sponsors.

In terms of individual children worked with in our activities, totals were:

----- Start of picture text -----
2021/2022 2022/2023 2023/2024 2024/2025
Number of children who learned to ride 1135 1122 1171 1506
for the first time
Number of bikes repaired for free 451 110 112 164
Number of children worked with in 2497 1169 979 630
other programs
Number of children engaged in forest 352 780 515 210
school activities in schools
Number of children in forest school n/a n/a 610 unique, 737 unique,
activities at The Cubhouse 1100 with 1900 with
repeats repeats
Number of people ridden Burlish Bike n/a 1535 5027 4817
Park
Number of people in social prescribing n/a n/a n/a 78
programs at Burlish Bike Park
Total unique beneficiaries 4435 4716 7505 8064
----- End of picture text -----

Support by grant funding

Support by grant funding
YEAR Income generated from own
activities		 Grant/donations income
2022/2023 32% 68%
2023/2024 20% 80%
2024/2025 96% 4%

Since 2020 we have aimed to decrease our reliance on grants and become more reliant on revenue generating activity every year. It has been a long ambition to get to where we are today, it comes with much support from grant funders and donors to make us financially sustainable through the build of Burlish Bike Park. Projections forecast we can make this sustainable, we will continue to work hard to ensure we are financially independent whilst still delivering activity to children and young people that need us most.

We would like to give thanks to all our grant funders this year.

Ant and Gwen Trust- mountain bike sessions for men with mental health challenges in a supportive environment.

British Cycling- thank you for your support in helping us become more environmentally sustainable.

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Trustees’ Report for the year end 31[st] August 2025

Monday Night Group- we give thanks for your continued support with maintaining youth activities at Burlish Bike Park

Roger and Douglas Turner Trust- thank you for enabling us to deliver our personal development programs for disaffected young people at Burlish Bike Park.

Welcome-Warm Spaces: we give thanks for your assistance with heating costs at our community centre space at Burlish Bike Park

West Mercia Polce- thank you for your support engaging disaffected youth at Burlish Bike Park

Our community- huge thank you to everyone who has pulled together to make Burlish Bike Park and Open Trail a success this year. Thank you to our trustees, our kind donors, our volunteers, our volunteer tradespersons for their work and their knowledge. It has been a huge community effort, and we could not have done it without you.

Forest school

Our forest school provision has reduced in schools, we only provided forest school in one school during this period, we would like to grow this between 2026 and 2028 to three schools. We did, however, develop our very own community forest school site at Burlish Bike Park which is proving hugely popular in the community.

National Awards 2024/2025

Open Trail wins Best Youth Cycling & Forest School Charity 2025 in the Midlands Enterprise awards.

Financial Review

The charity aims to maintain sufficient funds so that its charitable activities can continue to be provided without disruption. During the period, the charity received income of £213,231 (2024: £253,689) and incurred expenditure of £212,863 (2024: £201,192) generating a surplus of £369 (2024: surplus £52,497). The surplus comprises of £45,366 (after transfers between funds of £22,867) in relation to unrestricted funds and deficit of £44,997 in relation to restricted funds leaving £409,831 and £5,802 unrestricted and restricted funds respectively at the end of the period.

Reserves Policy

Open Trail will keep sufficient reserves so that it can honour its commitments to its funders and to ensure its beneficiaries’ welfare. To achieve this Open Trail aims to keep 6 months of running costs as general “free” funds along with a further £30,000 in relation to contingency expenditure for Burlish Bike Park which is therefore in the region of £120,000.

At the end of the financial period free reserves (unrestricted funds less tangible fixed assets and any designated funds) were £160,657 (2024: £106,660). Those leading the charity continue to actively monitor its levels of free reserves to consider optimization for public benefit.

Principle Funding Sources

Funding currently comes from a range of funders (as listed above), alongside private trading with schools, private trading through Burlish Bike Park, donations and contributions from the pubic and private companies. The vast majority of funding is designated to specific project work and is restricted to this purpose.

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Trustees’ Report for the year end 31[st] August 2025

Plans for the Future

Burlish Bike Park is now well cemented in the community with good local awareness, local, regional and national reach. It has put Open Trail at the forefront of the local community enabling us to widen our work with other groups and expand into adult provision. For 2025/2026 we aim to attract more young people and families who do not have access to bikes to the site. We want to provide equipment, more coaching, more opportunities for young people who could greatly benefit from our vibrant, positive, supportive community site and the wider mountain bike community.

Our work with schools has grown again this year, following growth in previous years. We hope to continue this trend via doing more learn to ride lessons with older children across our region. This delivery had decreased recently whilst we developed the bike park, the background processes/procedures and sustainability of our work.

Structure, Governance and Management

Governing Document

The charity is controlled by its governing document, a Trust Deed, and is registered with the Charity Commission. The trustees who served during the year were:

Charity’s principal address

The charity’s principal address is 54 Holmcroft Road, Kidderminster, DY10 3AG.

Recruitment and appointment of new trustees

Potential trustees can apply for the position and by interviewed by the Board of Trustees. New trustees receive training which covers their obligations as trustees, the main documents which set out the operational framework for the charity and the current financial position.

Administration of the charity

The Board of Trustees delegate day-to-day responsibilities to the charity’s Founder and CEO, Hannah Escott who manages a team of mainly freelance staff and some volunteers to deliver the charity’s objectives.

The trustee’s report was approved by the Board of Trustees.

Tamazin Randle Trustee, Chair DATE: 18 / 06 / 2026

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Independent examlfierfs rep(rttothe trustees ￿oPen Trall I report to the tntstees on my examlnatknn of the accounts of Open Trnll forthe yearended 31" Au8u5t 2025. ReSPty￿1b1Itles and bosts of report As the charity trustees of the Chartty. you are responsible forthe preparation of the accounts In accordance with the requlrements of the Charities 20111.the Arfl. I report in respett of my examination of the tharitleg attounts carried out under section 145 of the 2011 Act and In canylng Out my examlnatlon I have followed al the applicable Dlrecttons glven by the Charlty Commlssbon under sertlon 1451511bl of ihe Art. Independent •Mmln•rfi stst•m•nt I have completed my exarnlnatlon. I confimi that no materlal Matters have come to my attentlon In connectlon wlth the exomln8tlon 8lvln8 me cause to belleve that In any malertal respert: l. a¢countln8 records were not kept In Tespe(t of the C￿rIty as requlred ty sectlon 130 of ihe Act: or 2. the accounts do not accord wlth those record5. I have no concerns and halt corne acro55 no other matters In connectlon wlth the examlnath)n to whlch attentlon should be drawn In rhls report In order to enable a proper understandln8 of the accounts to be reathed. Carrle Loulse Stokes FCA Spotll8ht Accounlln8 Umlted Market Chambers. 2b Mafket Plxe, Shlfnil, Shropshtre. TFII 9AZ Date 23" 202g '

Statement of financial activities (incorporating income and expenditure account) for the year ended 31[st] August 2025

All of the above results are derived from continuing activities.

There were no other recognised gains or losses other than those stated above. The attached notes form part of these financial statements.

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Balance sheet

As at 31[st] August 2025

The financial statements were approved and authorised for issue by the Trustees and signed on their behalf by:

Tamazin Randle Diane Escott Trustee, Chair Trustee DATE: 18 / 06 / 2026 DATE: 19 / 06 / 2026

The attached notes form part of these financial statements.

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Notes to the financial statements

for the period ended 31[st] August 2025

1. Accounting policies

a. Basis of preparation

The financial statements of the CIO have been prepared in accordance with Accounting and Reporting by Charities: Statement of Recommended Practice appliable to charities preparing their accounts in accordance with the Financial Reporting Standard applicable in the UK and Republic of Ireland (FRS 102 – effective 1 January 2019) – (Charities SORP FRS 102).

The financial statements have been prepared to give a “true and fair” view and have departed from the Charities (Accounts and Reports) Regulations 2008 only to the extent required to provide a “true and fair view”. This departure has involved following Charities SORP FRS 102 rather than the Accounting and Reporting by Charities: Statement of Recommended Practice effective from 1 April 2005 (SORP 2005) which has since been withdrawn.

The charity meets the definition of a public benefit entity under FRS 102. Assets and liabilities are initially recognised at historical cost or transaction value unless otherwise stated in the relevant accounting policy or note.

b. Going concern

The trustees consider there are no material uncertainties about the charity’s ability to continue as a going concern. The trustees do not consider that there are any sources of estimation uncertainty at the reporting date that have a significant risk of causing a material adjustment to the carrying amounts of assets and liabilities within the next reporting period.

c. Income

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.

Income from government and other grants, whether “capital” grants or “revenue” grants, is recognised when the charity has entitlement to the funds, any performance conditions attached to the grants have been met, it is probable that the income will be received and the amount can be measured reliably and is not deferred. Income received in advance for the provision of specified service is deferred until the criteria for income recognition are met.

d. Donations of gifts, service and facilities

Donated professional services and donate facilities are recognised as income when the charity has control over the item or received the service, any conditions associated with the donation have been met, the receipt of economic benefit from the use by the charity of the item is probable and that economic benefit can be measured reliably. In accordance with the Charities SORP (FRS 102), volunteer time is not recognised.

On receipt, donated gifts, professional services and donated facilities are recognised on the basis of the value of the gift to the charity which is the amount the charity would have been willing to pay to obtain services or facilities of equivalent economic benefit on the open market; a corresponding amount is then recognised in expenditure in the period of receipt.

e. Interest receivable

Interest on funds held on deposit is included when receivable and the amount can be measured reliably by the charity; this is normally upon notification of the interest paid or payable by the bank.

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Notes to the financial statements

for the period ended 31[st] August 2025

f. Expenditure and irrecoverable VAT

Expenditure is recognised once there is a legal or constructive obligation to make a payment to a third party. It is probable that settlement will be required and the amount of the obligation can be measured reliably. Expenditure is classified under the following activity headings:

Irrecoverable VAT is charged as a cost against the activity for which the expenditure was incurred.

g. Allocation of support costs

Support costs are those functions that assist the work of the charity but do not directly undertake charitable activities and include back-office costs and governance costs which support the charitable programmes and activities. These costs have been allocated between relevant activities. The bases on which support costs have been allocated are set out in the expenditure note.

h. Tangible fixed assets

Tangible fixed assets are stated at cost (or deemed cost) or valuation less accumulated depreciation and accumulated impairment losses. Cost includes costs directly attributable to making the asset capable of operating as intended.

Depreciation is provided on all tangible fixed assets, at rates calculated to write off the cost, less estimated residual value, of each asset on a systematic basis over its expected useful life as follows:

i. Stock and work in progress

Stock is valued at the lower of cost and net realisable value.

j. Debtors

Trade and other debtors are recognised at the settlement amount due after any trade discount offered.

k. Cash at bank and in hand receivable/payable within one year

Cash at bank and cash in hand includes cash and short term highly liquid investments with a short maturity of three months or less from the date of acquisition or opening of the deposit or similar account.

l. Creditors and provisions

Creditors and provisions are recognised where the charity has a present obligation resulting from a past event that will probably result in the transfer of funds to a third party and the amount due to settle the obligation can be measured or estimated reliably. Creditors and provisions are normally recognised at their settlement amount after allowing for any trade discounts due.

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Notes to the financial statements

for the period ended 31[st] August 2025

m. Financial instruments

The charity only has financial assets and financial liabilities of a kind that qualify as basic financial instruments. Basic financial instruments are initially recognised at transaction value and subsequently measured at their settlement value.

n. Employee benefits

Any employees are classed as temporary workers. When employees have rendered service to the charity, short-term employee benefits to which the employees are entitled are recognised at the undiscounted amount expected to be paid in exchange for that service.

The charity operates a defined contribution plan for the benefit of its employees. Contribution are expensed as they become payable where employees do not opt out.

o. Judgements and key sources of estimation uncertainty

No judgements have been made in the process of applying the above accounting policies and there are no key sources of estimation uncertainty.

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Notes to the financial statements

for the period ended 31[st] August 2025

2. Income from donations and legacies

Donations of £6,074 in 2024 were made up of £2,568 unrestricted and £3,506 restricted funds.

3. Income from charitable activities

In 2024, all charitable activities were unrestricted.

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Notes to the financial statements

for the period ended 31[st] August 2025

4. Analysis of expenditure

Of the total expenditure, £184,082 (2024: £117,482) was unrestricted and £28,780 (2024: £83,810) was restricted.

5. Net income/(expenditure) for the year

This is stated after charging / (crediting):

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Notes to the financial statements

for the period ended 31[st] August 2025

6. Analysis of staff costs, trustee remuneration and expenses and the cost of key management personnel

Staff costs were as follows:

No employee earned £60,000 or more (2024: £nil).

The key management personnel of the charity is considered to be the charity’s Founder and CEO, who is the daughter of the two of the Trustees. The service is outsourced and amounted to £34,968 (2024: £42,090) during the period. The CEO made available to the charity £nil (2024: £300) in order to support cashflow in relation to the Burlish Bike Park development during the period. At the period end, £nil (2024: £nil) was outstanding. No interest was payable on this loan.

The charity trustees were not paid and did not receive any other benefits from employment with the charity in the period (2024: £nil). No trustees were reimbursed expenses during the period (2024: £nil). No charity trustee received payment for professional or other services supplied to the charity (2024: £nil).

The average headcount of staff employed during the year was 6 (2024: 3).

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Notes to the financial statements

for the period ended 31[st] August 2025

7. Taxation

The charity is exempt from corporation tax as all its income is charitable and is applied for charitable purposes.

8. Tangible fixed assets

All of the above assets are used for charitable purposes.

No land has been valued in respect of Burlish Bike Park or included in the cost reported above. This land has been donated to the charity but title has not yet been legally transferred.

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Notes to the financial statements for the period ended 31[st] August 2025

9. Stock

10. Debtors

11. Creditors

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Notes to the financial statements

for the period ended 31[st] August 2025

12. Movement in funds

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Notes to the financial statements

for the period ended 31[st] August 2025

Purposes of restricted funds

Each of the restricted funders is described in more detail below. Where expenditure was more than income transfers have been made from general funds. The transfer in relation to Burlish Bike Park funds represents the depreciation charge in line with its estimated useful economic life.

Sport England: capital build costs of Burlish Bike Park

Hobson Trust: capital build costs of Burlish Bike Park

SJP Foundation: purchase 10 bikes and accessories for SEND children

core costs support to support expansion of activities and bike park

Public Health England: to improve community access

Public Health England – Schools program: personal development programs for disa�ected young people at Burlish Bike Park

Worcestershire Community Foundation: disa�ected youth support at Burlish Bike Park

Roger & Douglas Turner: personal development programs for disa�ected young people at Burlish Bike Park

West Mercia Police: support engaging disa�ected youth at Burlish Bike Park

Ant & Gwen Trust: mountain bike sessions for men with mental health challenges in a supportive environment.

Warm spaces grant: heating costs for community centre at Burlish Bike Park

Monday Night Group: support with maintaining youth activities at Burlish Bike Park

British Cycling: support to become more environmentally sustainable. The transfer represents capital expenditure which satisfied the restriction.

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Notes to the financial statements for the period ended 31[st] August 2025

13. Analysis of net assets between funds

Analysis of net assets between funds (prior year)

14. Related party transactions

There are no other related party transactions that have occurred during the period, other than those already referenced in note 6.

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Notes to the financial statements for the period ended 31[st] August 2025

15. Statement of financial activities (prior year)

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Notes to the financial statements for the period ended 31[st] August 2025

16. Movement in funds (prior year)

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