2022-12-31-accounts - Slow The Flow

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Charity number 1191174

Annual Report and Financial Statements For the period 01/01/2022 to 31/12/2022

Slow The Flow

Annual Report and Financial Statements For the period 01/01/2022 to 31/12/2022

Contents	Page
Trustees’ Report	3
Receipts and payments account	10
Statement of assets and liabilities	11
Notes to the accounts	12
Independent Examiner’s Report	15

Slow The Flow

Trustees' report for the period 01/01/2022 to 31/12/2022

Reference and administrative details of the charity, its trustees and advisors

The trustees during the financial period and up to and including the date the report was approved were:

Name	Position	Dates
Bede Mullen	Chair
Adrian Horton		Resigned 30/08/2022
Stephen John Garrod	Treasurer
Stuart Bradshaw		Resigned 30/09/2022
Robin Gray
Katie Kimber
Marie Therese Degnan		Resigned 30/08/2022
Amanda McDermott
Roseanne Marie Sweeney		Resigned 06/02/2023
Paul Garry Williams
Andrew Colin Wright
Jacqueline Ann Lowe	Secretary	Appointed 31/05/2022
Andrew John Mackintosh		Appointed 11/01/2023
Adrian Horton		Appointed 13/09/2023

Charity Number

The charity was registered with the Charity Commission for England and Wales, number 1191174, on 07/09/2020.

Principal address

Hebden Lodge Lee Mill Road Hebden Bridge West Yorkshire HX7 7AE

Bankers

Reliance Bank Ltd Faith House 23-24 Lovat Street London EC3R 8EB

Slow The Flow

Trustees' report (continued) for the period 01/01/2022 to 31/12/2022

Structure, governance and management

The charity is governed by a constitution adopted Jan 2020.

Method of recruitment and appointment of trustees

The trustees of the charity are the founding trustees of the charity or are otherwise appointed by the trustees.

Objectives and activities

The charity's objects

Slow The Flow is a charity working to advance the education of the public in Natural Flood Management, Sustainable Drainage Systems and other renewable methods of managing the environment, including the exploration of alternative practices which safeguard the natural environment and its resources in a manner which best fits the specifics of a local geography.

The charity's main activities

The educational objective of the organisation is achieved by presenting information on the Slow The Flow website from a mixture of specialist technical professionals and NFM practitioners including: case studies carried out with volunteers; "how to" guides for implementation at their own properties or land or that provided by others; workshops, lectures and seminars from the technical professionals and those leading or being involved in volunteer projects; and the hands-on volunteer activities - giving members of the public the opportunity to try first hand a range of flood management techniques on land offered by consenting landowners before doing the same on their own property or by similarly seeking cooperation for projects on land owned by others.

Slow The Flow

Trustees' report (continued) for the period 01/01/2022 to 31/12/2022

The organisation implements pilot projects in so far as this is necessary in a science which is emerging and requires an evidence base to demonstrate its efficacy. Its main project to date is work carried out by volunteers on land owned by The National Trust who is not a beneficiary but a consenting and cooperative landowner whose motivation is to help the organisation educate communities about Natural Flood Management and do its bit on land over which it has control. This project sets out to provide proof of concept including the feasibility of volunteer-based actions to implement Natural Flood Management in a local scenario – notably to the benefit of the entire downstream community – while recognising that this implementation by itself is a small part of a wider solution only achievable by educating others in the mechanics and arguments for Natural Flood Management.

Other implementations entail projects based on a similar scalability model where the organisation produces results and promotes the learned physical and social science to encourage others to repeat and expand the work so that it is scaled up to a level that is of benefit to the extended community.

These projects include: identifying Natural Flood Management opportunities; suggesting designs for small-scale woodland and terrain interventions; communications that encourage involvement of volunteers and landowners; facilitating discussions between participating parties; and building understanding between community participants and local and national government agencies

Public benefit statement

In setting our objectives and planning our activities our Trustees have given serious consideration to the Charity Commission’s general guidance on public benefit and in particular in relation to advancing the education of the public in Natural Flood Management, Sustainable Drainage Systems and other renewable methods of managing the environment.

Slow The Flow

Trustees' report (continued) for the period 01/01/2022 to 31/12/2022

Achievements and performance

Slow The Flow started its work to build Natural Flood Management (NFM) and Sustainable Drainage Solutions (SuDS) into the Calder catchment in 2016; since then its volunteers, trustees and partners have worked tirelessly on the task with the aim of reducing flood risk to our communities.

We continue to develop new schemes, partnerships, ideas, projects, and initiatives to reduce flood risk here in the Calder Valley. Below you will find information about some of the activities we have been getting up to in 2022.

Our work inspires other communities and groups around the UK to use natural processes to combat their own flood risk. These relationships are vitally important because collectively they have all contribute to the policy shift to include NFM and SuDS in Flood Alleviation Schemes in our cities, towns, villages, and rural communities.

2022 has been a busy year for Slow The Flow trustees and volunteers. Following the relaxation of restrictions imposed during the Covid pandemic, we were able to return to our long-term project at the National Trust’s Hardcastle Crags estate in Hebden Bridge. We have worked in partnership with the National Trust for the past six years bringing hundreds of volunteers to fortnightly work sessions building leaky dams, attenuation ponds and placing logs along valley contours to interrupt the flow of water into rivers.

We expect to publish the results of research into the effectiveness of our NFM interventions during 2023. In 2021 we set up an annual bursary to support MA students researching natural flood management in partnership with the University of Leeds and Environment Agency. The bursary is named after Penny Eastwood, aka Dongria Kondh, our wonderful friend and founder of Treesponsibility who sadly passed away last the year. This was a fitting memorial to one of the most influential people we have known, and we are delighted to commit to supporting this bursary for the next few years.

During the year several topics were discussed and debated by Slow the Flow and the general public. The issue of planting trees to reduce flood risk being one of them. This resulted in an interesting blog post from one of our supporters that provided a nuanced answer to the question, Is tree planting good for biodiversity and does it help reduce the risk of flooding?

As part of our commitment to volunteer development we sent one of our long-term volunteers, Sam Townsend to represent Slow The Flow at Flood Expo 2022, the national flood prevention event held every year at the NEC Birmingham. You can read Sam’s account of the event Flood Expo 2022,

We have been working to promote the mass use of water buts on residential and commercial buildings to reduce flood risk. As yet we have been unsuccessful in securing funding to roll out a programme of water butt use across the catchment. However, we have been working with some smart people who have developed Smart Water butts

A lot of publicity and concern was raised during the year about river pollution and the contribution made by Combined Sewer Overflows (CSO). It is a cause we have been championing for a while now and in line with our education objectives have produced information about Combined Sewer Overflows (CSO) and Natural Flood Management (NFM). One of our volunteers provided an interesting European perspective on the subject, Combined Sewer Overflows: impacts, mitigation solutions and European perspective

Our biggest event of the year was undoubtably a Climate Action Roadshow. We ran a sixweek summer roadshow to promote natural flood management (NFM) and community-led climate action across Calderdale.

“The purpose of the roadshow is to highlight relatively simple things we can all do to reduce flood risk, whether building leaky dams and planting trees in upland areas or creating rain gardens or green roofs in our homes and businesses. “

“We want to get the word out that whilst climate change and more major flood events are inevitable, Together we can slow the flow”. Bede Mullen, Chair, Slow The Flow.

The CLIMATE ACTION ROADSHOW, from 7 July to 20 August, included an indoor and outdoor travelling exhibition, a giant interactive map of the River Calder and flood hot spots, schools climate change debate, flood walks, family activities and expert workshops on how to make the Calder Valley more flood resilient.

It began with the launch of an exhibition in the Central Library Halifax on Slow the Flow’s work which looked at our flagship project building leaky dams at National Trust site Hardcastle Crags, as well as showcasing lessons it is developing for schools on NFM as part of the national curriculum.

Events took place at the Piece Hall, Square Chapel, Shibden Park, Hardcastle Crags, Sowerby Bridge, Cromwell Bottom, Brighouse, Calder Homes Park, Hebden Bridge and Todmorden Community College and library. One of the most popular and well attended events was an evening seminar on Slowing The Flow in Towns

Working with the University of Huddersfield we launched a MRes fully funded studentship opportunity looking into the effect of natural flood management (NFM) structures on aquatic macroinvertebrates and terrestrial plant diversity. We look forward to publishing the results of the research in 2023.

With funding from the Community Foundation for Calderdale we have worked to develop resources for the teaching of Natural Flood Management at KS2 and KS3. These resources have been written and designed by our trustees and the packs of resources were launched at Halifax library in July and made available to primary and secondary schools in Calderdale. Much of this work will continue into 2023 including full day workshops lead by Slow The Flow trustees in Calderdale primary schools. .The Natural Flood Management curriculum resources are freely available from this link.

And finally, seeing volunteers develop is so important to the work of Slow The Flow – educating young people and encouraging their passion for the environment. This is an outstanding example of volunteer development

As trustees and volunteers, we look forward with passion to a further year of passing on the importance of natural flood management through education and direct action.

Slow The Flow

Trustees' report (continued) for the period 01/01/2022 to 31/12/2022

Financial review

The net receipts for the year were £28206 comprising £10556 net payments from unrestricted funds and £17650 net receipts in restricted funds.

Reserves policy

The charity's free cash reserves at the year end were £16,102

It is the charity’s policy to maintain a reserve to provide working capital in the region of £16,000 to fund its general activities in the year ahead comprising expenditure anticipated as follows:

Bank Charges	100
Fundraising costs	1000
General Publicity and Educational Media	3000
Governance Costs	300
Insurance	400
Equipment Renewal	500
Meeting Room Hire	500
Office and Admin Costs	1000
Working Capital on Projects (this item to grow to fund future staffing)	8500
Trustee Expenses	200
Website	500

Risk management

The Trustees have introduced a risk management process to assess business risks and are implementing systems to mitigate these risks. Internal risks are minimised by the implementation of procedures or authorisation of all transactions and projects and to ensure consistent quality of delivery for all operational aspects of the Charity. Procedures are in place to ensure compliance with health and safety of staff, volunteers, clients and visitors to relevant sites. These procedures are periodically reviewed to ensure that they still met the needs of the Charity.

Signed on behalf of the board of trustees:

Signed:

Date : 30/10/2023 Name: Stephen Garrod (Trustee)

Slow The Flow

Receipts and payments account

for the Financial Period 01/01/2022 to 31/12/2022

Receipts	Financial Period to 31/12/2022 Unrestricted Funds	Financial Period to 31/12/2022 Restricted Funds	Financial Period to 31/12/2022 Total Funds	Financial Period to 31/12/2021 Total Funds
Donations	5056	-	5056	6656
Grants	5500	17650	23150	16240
Total Receipts	10556	17650	28206	22896

Payments
Bank Charges	99		99	45
Bursaries	2000		2000	2000
Fundraisingcosts	96		96	96
General Publicity	350		350	398
Governance Costs	300		300	-
Insurance	397		397	365
Measuring Equipment	40		40	132
MeetingRoom Hire	315		315	430
Miscellaneous	50		50	82
Office and Admin Costs	889		889	-
Restricted Grant Funded Projects	348	21214	21563	-
Travel	140		140	140
Trustee Expenses	104		104	104
Website	491		491	491
Total Payments	5620	21214	26834	4259
Net (payments)/receipts	4936	(3564)	1373	18637
Fund Balances Brought Forward	11166	16240	27406	8769
Fund Balances Carried Forward	16102	12676	28778	27406

Slow The Flow

Statement of assets and liabilities

as at 31 December 2022

All cash funds were held at the charity’s bank.

Assets retained for the charity's own use

Smart Turners (2) Husqvarna 545 15" Chainsaw Log Carries (2) Husqvarna Chainsaw Box Peavy Cant Hooks 3.5 ft (2) Bolle Tracker Timber Tongs (4) Laptop for GDPR Lifting Hooks (4) NatureSpy Solar Camera Seagate BUP Slim 1 TB Red Boots (1 pair) Gloves (15 pairs) Drone Mavic Mini Fly More Combo Telescopic Staffs 5m, 5 Section (2) Memory Card for drone - 100Mb/sec 64Gb Branded Shirts (20) Brochure & Leaflet Holders (3xA4, 5xA5) Branded High Viz Vets (15) Table Top Easel & Board (2 items) Tsurugi 300mm Fine Tooth Saws (3) Portable Wooden Easel – 1.5m High (8 items) Sandvik Bow Saws 21" Type 51 (6) Gazebo Frame, Cover and SideWalls Time Lapse Cameras (8) 5 ft Folding Table and Cover Husqvarna Technical Forest Helmet Leg Weights 2 pairs Pavement Sign Storage Boxes (2) Stein Top Saw Multi Tool Together We Can STF Tee Shirts (40 items)

Liabilities There will the cost of an Independent Examination of these accounts amounting to £750.

Approval of the accounts

The financial statements were approved by the board of trustees on 08/10/2023.

Signed:

Name: Stephen Garrod (Trustee)

Slow The Flow

Notes to the accounts

for the period 01/01/2022 to 31/12/2022

1 Accounting policies

Basis of accounting

The trustees have taken advantage of section 133 of the Charities Act 2011 and have prepared the accounts on a receipts and payments basis.

There has been no change to the accounting policies since last year. No changes have been made to the accounts for previous years.

Taxation

As a registered charity the organisation benefits from rates relief and is generally exempt from income tax and capital gains tax but not from VAT. Irrecoverable VAT is included in the cost of those items to which it relates.

Fund accounting

Unrestricted funds are available for use at the discretion of the trustees in furtherance of the general objectives of the charity.

Further explanation of the nature and purpose of each fund is included in the notes to the accounts.

2 Trustee Expenses (excluding reimbursement for purchases made on behalf of the charity)

Expenses were paid to the following trustees to reimburse them for travel to the Queen’s Award:

Adrian Horton … £62.50 Amanda McDermott … £23.50

Expenses were paid to the following trustee to reimburse them for their DBS check:

Jackie Lowe … £18.00

3 Trustee remuneration and benefits

No trustee received any remuneration or benefit during this or the previous year.

Slow The Flow

Notes to the accounts for the period 01/01/2022 to 31/12/2022

4 Disclosures Relevant to The Charitable Incorporated Organisations (General) Regulations 2012

a) There were no guarantees given by Slow The Flow where any potential liability under the guarantee was outstanding at the date of the statement of assets and liabilities.
b) There was no debt outstanding at the date of the statement of assets and liabilities which was owed by the CIO and which was secured by an express charge on any of the assets of the CIO.

5 Grants and Donations

Source of Income	Financial Period Unrestricted Funds	Financial Period Restricted Funds	Financial Period Total Funds
Quakers Skipton Local Meeting	30	-	30
Heptonstall Parish Council	1000	-	1000
Calder High Students Cake Sale	71	-	71
Wadsworth W.I.	40	-	40
Norland W.I.	50	-	50
CommunityFoundation for Calderdale	634	-	634
Hebden Bridge Trades Club	1029	-	1029
HEBTROCO LTD	1000	-	1000
KIRKLEES COUNCIL	500	-	500
LOCALGIVING LTD	993	-	993
TNL communityFund -Together For Our Planet	-	8500	8500
NATIONAL TRUST	2000	-	2000
S Abbott	180	-	180
Roadshow Fundraising	29	-	29
West RidingMason Lodge	3000	-	3000
WEST YORKS F&R-FUND(West Yorkshire Prepared)	-	4150	4150
Yorkshire Water	-	5000	5000
Total:	10556	17650	28206

Slow The Flow

Notes to the accounts

for the period 01/01/2022 to 31/12/2022

6 Restricted Funds

6 Restricted Funds
	Balance b/f	Incoming	Outgoing	Balance c/f
CommunityFoundation For Calderdale	14740	-	7064	7676
The Marcus E Tillotson Charitable Trust	1500	-	1500	0
TNL communityFund -Together For Our Planet	n/a	8500	8500	0
YORKSHIRE WATER SE	n/a	5000	0	5000
WEST YORKSHIRE PREPARED	n/a	4150	4150	0
	16240	17650	21214	12676

Fund Name	Purpose of Restriction
Community Foundation For Calderdale	Education in Schools Project set up
The Marcus E Tillotson Charitable Trust	Tree Planting and Enclosure for public wood
TNL community Fund -Together For Our Planet	Roadshow Set Up
YORKSHIRE WATER SE	Education in Schools Project roll out
WEST YORKSHIRE PREPARED	Roadshow Launch and Roll Out

INDEPENDENT EXAMINER'S REPORT TO THE TRUSTEES OF

SLOW THE FLOW

I report to the charity trustees on my examination of the accounts of the charity for the year ended 31[st] December 2022.

Responsibilities and basis of report

As the charity's trustees you are responsible for the preparation of the accounts in accordance with the requirements of the Charities Act 2011 (‘the Act’).

I report in respect of my examination of the charity’s accounts carried out under section 145 of the 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 examiner's statement

I have completed my examination. I confirm that no matters have come to my attention in connection with the examination giving me cause to believe:

(1) accounting records were not kept in respect of the charity as required by Section 130 of the Act; or (2) the accounts do not accord with those records.

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.

M R Heaton FCCA FCIE DChA

1[st] Floor, Block C,

The Wharf

Burnley

Lancashire BB11 1JG

30 October 2023