THE LAKE DISTRICT SEARCH AND MOUNTAIN RESCUE ASSOCIATION
ANNUAL REPORT 2023
PRESENTED AT THE ANNUAL GENERAL MEETING
20TH MARCH 2024
A CIO (CHARITABLE INCORPORATED ORGANISTION) NO. 1191015
Our Object
FOR THE PUBLIC BENEFIT TO RELIEVE SUFFERING AND DISTRESS AMONGST PERSONS ENDANGERED BY ACCIDENTS OR NATURAL HAZARDS AND TO PROVIDE ADEQUATE ARRANGEMENTS FOR THE SECURE AND EFFICIENT SEARCH AND RESCUE OF ANY PERSON OR PERSONS SO ENDANGERED PRIMARILY IN CUMBRIA AND THE SURROUNDING AREA, IN PARTICULAR BUT NOT EXCLUSIVELY BY: -
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714
INCIDENTS
IN 2023
610
INCIDENTS IN
2022
450
TEAM
MEMBERS
12
TEAMS
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PROMOTING, CO-ORDINATING AND SECURING ADEQUATE SEARCH AND RESCUE ARRANGEMENTS, AND ASSISTING ELSEWHERE IF CALLED UPON IN ANY SEARCH AND RESCUE OPERATION,PRIMARILY IN MOUNTAINOUS AREAS OF CUMBRIA; Our Team Values
UNDERTAKING PUBLICITY WHERE NECESSARY IN ORDER TO INFORM OR EDUCATE THE PUBLIC IN ALL ASPECTS OF MOUNTAIN SAFETY;
REPRESENTING AND SUPPORTING MEMBER RESCUE TEAMS BY SPEAKING COLLECTIVELY ON THEIR BEHALF, PROMOTING SOCIAL INTERCOURSE BETWEEN THEM, AND PROVIDING THEM WITH HELP, GUIDANCE, TRAINING, FUNDING, AND ADVICE, INCLUDING THE FACILITY TO RAISE FUNDS.
report from the chair
Introduction
Welcome to the 2024 LDSAMRA AGM reporting on the events of 2023 which has unfortunately been another record breaking year for callouts. It was also a very sad year where we lost Chris Lewis from Patterdale MRT whose life was brought to a tragic and untimely end as a result of his injuries. As we revisit and improve our safety management systems, Chris’s legacy will reinforce an even greater respect for our activities and the environment in which our team members operate.
The year in statistics
The schedule of incidents that I have maintained since 2016 is key for both our media reporting and keeping trustees up to date with what is happening across the patch. The total number of ‘999’ calls handled by the teams in 2023 was 714 which included nearly 200 (28%) that were lost or overdue. Support to Cumbria police on resilience events was significant in 2023, especially the snow major incident event 2 December 2023 which generated 66 separate incidents. Although the workload on many of our teams has increased significantly and therefore our concerns over sustainability, it is heartening to witness how well the LDSAMRA teams step up to the challenges. We work collaboratively with our external partners and internally providing mutual support to each other through our very robust LDSAMRA silver response arrangements. My thanks to our LDSAMRA Silvers.
AdventureSmart (ASUK)
As a region we continue to work at #BeAdventureSmart messaging so thanks to Nick Owen as our ASUK lead and our LDSAMRA teams’ ongoing support since our 2018 adoption in Cumbria. We now also have a strong presence at the LRF’s Strategic Visitor Management Group (LDNPA Chair / Cumberland Council Vice Chair) and Visitor Safety Group (LDNPA Cahir / LDSAMRA Vice Chair). These meetings, attended by senior representatives from all agencies and sectors are focussed on management of visitor issues including ASUK safety messaging - LDSAMRA received a £17,500 grant in early 2023 for ASUK messaging and we are submitting a further £11,000 grant application for the 2024 holiday season. In addition LDSAMRA now has a seat on the ASUK Strategic Board / Planning Group with around ten members meeting quarterly with strong outdoor UK wide representation.
report from the chaiR
Cumbria’s Supporters
The Wainwright Society chose LDSAMRA for its 2023 fundraising campaign raising £12,250. LDSAMRA also has relationships with Cumbrian Businesses, small and large who support LDSAMRA in various ways, many with Adventure Smart Safety messaging in addition to any financial support. A potential new partner for 2024 is The Lakes Distillery who are proposing significant support for Adventure Smart UK safety messaging.
Mountain Rescue Recognition
The schedule of incidents that I have maintained since 2016 is key for both our media reporting and keeping trustees up to date with what is happening across the patch. The total number of ‘999’ calls handled by the teams in 2023 was 714 which included nearly 200 (28%) that were lost or overdue. Support to Cumbria police on resilience events was significant in 2023, especially the snow major incident event 2 December 2023 which generated 66 separate incidents. Although the workload on many of our teams has increased significantly and therefore our concerns over sustainability, it is heartening to witness how well the LDSAMRA teams step up to the challenges. We work collaboratively with our external partners and internally provide mutual support to each other through our very robust LDSAMRA silver response arrangements. My thanks to our LDSAMRA silver members.
Thanks
As Chair of LDSAMRA I would like to express my personal thanks to our executive and all our officers and sub group members who have worked exceedingly hard throughout 2023, keeping our twelve member teams supported and represented. The support from family, friends and employers is essential in maintaining our capability to respond to the ever increasing numbers of callouts and special thanks goes to them. We thank the cooperation we receive from the various external bodies with whom we interface, especially the air assets that can make such a difference to the evacuation of our casualties to definitive care and indeed assist in the transport and evacuation of team members to and from the hill. Finally, this is my last report as a trustee of LDSAMRA as I step down as Chair. Having joined LDSAMRA as an Assistant Secretary in the mid 90s, followed by Secretary for five years then Chairman for the past 17 years I felt that it is timely to hand over the gavel to someone else to support and represent our twelve member teams. Being involved for the past 25 years has been an honour and privilege and I thank everyone for your patience when I struggled, your support when I needed it and your friendships.
Richard Warren Chair LDSAMRA
T H E L A K E D I S T R I C T S E A R C H A N D M O U N T A I N R E S C U E A S S O C I A T I O N W W W . L D S A M R A . O R G . U K • 2 0 2 3 A N N U A L R E P O R T
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LDSAMRA Accounts
12 Months to December 2023 12 Months to December 2022
Note £ £ £ £
Income
Donations 1 86,899.94 99,661.08
Legacies 2 205,150.75 75,087.81
Grants 3 - 45,000.00
Gift Aid 4 864.88 6,049.18
VAT Repayments 5 13,331.54 16,122.51
Sundry Income 906.13 95.98
307,153.24 242,016.56
Expenditure
Regular
Officers' Expenses 6 - 6,028.30 - 6,946.66
Computer and Website - 988.14 - 194.70
Training (Net) 7 - 12,160.02 - 12,450.51
Insurance (Net) 8 - 16,496.72 - 798.46
Fundraising Expenses - 906.00 - 331.20
Sundry Expenses - 1,289.20 - 460.60
- 37,868.38 - 21,182.13
Projects
UAS Equipment and Training (Net) 9 - 8,187.01 - 10,192.20
AdventureSmart (Net) 10 - 991.20 - 2,879.96
COVID-19/Other Medical Supplies 11 - 35,550.00 - 7,288.55
- 44,728.21 - 20,360.71
Net (Expenditure) / Income 224,556.65 200,473.72
Grants to Teams 12 - 154,000.00 - 289,240.00
Net (Expenditure) / Income After Grants 70,556.65 - 88,766.28
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| LDSAMRA Accounts | LDSAMRA Accounts | LDSAMRA Accounts | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 12 Months to December 2023 | 12 Months to December 2022 | ||||||
| Note | £ | £ | £ | £ | |||
| Bank Balances Brought Forward | 67,817.03 | 156,583.31 | |||||
| Bank Balances Carried Forward | 138,373.68 | 67,817.03 | |||||
| Virgin CharityDeposit Account | 81,000.00 | 81,000.00 | |||||
| Mansfield BuildingSociety | 81,000.00 | 81,000.00 | |||||
| Total Funds | 300,373.68 | 229,817.03 | |||||
| Represented by | |||||||
| Designated Funds | |||||||
| Rescue 2020 Fund | 162,000.00 | 162,000.00 | |||||
| AdventureSmart | 10 | - | - | ||||
| Drone Expenditure | 9 | 684.75 | 8,200.50 | ||||
| Potential Insurance Top-Up | 13 | 30,048.15 | 16,000.00 | ||||
| 192,732.90 | 186,200.50 | ||||||
| Unrestricted Funds | 107,640.78 | 43,616.53 | |||||
| 300,373.68 | 229,817.03 | ||||||
| General Reserve | 138,373.68 | 67,817.03 | |||||
| Rescue 2020 Fund | 162,000.00 | 162,000.00 | |||||
| Total Reserves | 300,373.68 | 229,817.03 |
Notes to the Accounts
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1) Donations for 2023 are on par with 2022 levels. Significant donations during the year are: -
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£1,000 from Red Bank Coffee
-
£4,250 from The Greenwood Christian Trust
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£1,000 from Mr GA Clarke
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£2,014 from Ourea Events
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£3,250 from The Wainwright Society
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£17,398 from various donors using JustGiving
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£1,920 from various donors using Charities Aid Foundation
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£1,000 from National Association of Police Officers
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£5,000 from Lakeland 100
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£1,000 from Mr Rowan Sharples
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£1,100 from The Keswick to Barrow walk
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2) Legacies for 2023 are well above 2022 levels. Significant legacies during the year are: -
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£1,000 from the late Peter George Lewis
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£2,000 from the late Frederick Henry Blundell
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£10,000 from the late Sara McKenzie
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£50,231 from the late Miriam Hanks
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£1,000 from the late Kenelm Donald Halliday
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£16,000 from the late Betty Hinchcliffe
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£1,956 from the late Frederick Jarman
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£47,964 from the late Sandra Selby
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£13,000 from the late Dr Donald Margerison
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£10,000 from the late Rob Bracewell
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£50,000 from the late Chris Lewis
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3) In 2023, no grants have been applied for or received. In 2022, £45,000 was the second grant instalment received from the Pappagallino Fund that is administered by Cumbria Community Foundation. It was used to fund bids submitted by teams in January 2021.
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4) The Gift Aid claim for 2022 of £865 was received in January. The Gift Aid claim for 2023 is being collated.
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5) The VAT claim for 2022 of £11,244 was received in January and the claim for the first half of 2023 of £2,088 was received in August. The VAT claim for the second half of 2023 is being collated.
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6) Officers’ expenses are on par with 2022 levels.
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7) Training costs shown here relate entirely to SRT, Winter training and Search Planning and Management courses. Some training costs have yet to be recovered from teams.
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8) £0.8k of insurance costs shown here relate to the charity’s own insurance. The personal accident insurance costs for all teams have been gratefully fully funded by Cumbria Police to 28 February 2023. MREW extended the Integro personal accident insurance policy to 30 June 2023 to align
with all other insurance policies and we paid the £5.1k premium for the extension. The £10.6k costs of the Gallagher personal accident insurance for the region for the year to 30 June 2024 has been paid and we await the grant to cover both premiums from Cumbria Police.
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9) There has been £8.2k of net expenditure in the year on UAS costs, leaving £0.7k of the donation from the Grand Lodge of Mark Master Masons remaining as designated funds.
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10) Last year there was £32.7k of expenditure on AdventureSmart, of which LDSAMRA funded £2.9k. We have received £17.5k as a grant towards this year’s campaign and spent all this plus we have contributed £1.0k from the region to the advertising campaign.
-
11) £7.3k was spent on resuscitation manikins for teams in 2022. As agreed at the last quarterly meeting, the region has purchased three Easy Pulse mCPR devices for the region’s teams at a cost of £35.6k. As the devices have only just been received, we have yet to recover the 50% contribution from the three teams.
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12) During the year, the region has distributed £154k to member teams from general funds, as normal distributions.
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13) There is still discussion on a top-up of the MREW personal accident insurance policy. £30.0k of the normal quarterly distributions not taken by certain teams plus amounts received from sales of merchandise by Coniston Corporate have been earmarked for this potential expenditure. If the funds gifted by teams are not required, they will be paid back to the respective teams.
Summary
As at the end of August, LDSAMRA held £80.8k of general funds, of which £0.7k is designated for UAS expenditure from the donation made by the Grand Lodge of Mark Master Masons and £30.0k is designated for potential insurance top-up costs, leaving £107.6k of unrestricted funds.
Additionally, as at the end of August the region held £162.0k of Rescue 2020 funds (after topping up to the agreed level), split equally between the Virgin Charity Deposit Account and the Mansfield Building Society.
As regards the future use of the Rescue 2020 fund, the region has agreed funding Penrith MRT/COMRU for up to £20,000 +VAT to fence the land recently acquired for a new build base.
Based on the above-mentioned unrestricted funds, together known future income and expenditure, a general distribution of £5,000 per team is recommended during January 2024.
John Bamforth BSc FCA MBA
LDSAMRA Treasurer
- 9 January 2024
Margaret Burns ACMA CGMA Independent Examiner
Independent examiner's report on the accounts
Section A Independent Examiner’s Report
Report to the trustees/ The Lake District Search And Mountain Rescue Association members of
| On accounts for the year ended Set out on pages |
31 December 2023 | Charity no (if any) |
1191015 |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1-4 |
I report to the trustees on my examination of the accounts of the above charity (“the Trust”) for the year ended 31/12/2023. 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 The charity’s gross income exceeded £250,000 and I am qualified to examiner's statement undertake the examination by being a qualified member of The Chartered Institute of Management Accountants.
I have completed my examination. I confirm that no material matters have 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
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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.
Signed:
Date: 17 February 2024
Name: M.E. Burns Relevant professional ACMA CGMA qualification(s) or body : Address: 2 High street
Oct 2018
1
IER
Bigrigg
Cumbria CA22 2TR
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 any items that the examiner wishes to disclose .
None
Oct 2018
2
IER