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2023-12-31-accounts

Charity number 1191174

Annual Report and Financial Statements For the period 01/01/2023 to 31/12/2023

Slow The Flow

Annual Report and Financial Statements For the period 01/01/2023 to 31/12/2023

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

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Slow The Flow

Trustees' report for the period 01/01/2023 to 31/12/2023

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 (to 15/07/2024) Resigned 15/07/2024 Adrian Horton Secretary (from 06/06/2024 Appointed 13/09/2023 to 19/07/2024) Chair (from 19/07/2024) Stephen John Garrod Treasurer Stuart Bradshaw Resigned 30/09/2023 Robin Gray Katie Kimber Marie Therese Degnan Resigned 30/08/2023 Amanda McDermott Roseanne Marie Sweeney Resigned 06/02/2023 Paul Garry Williams Resigned 06/06/2024 Andrew Colin Wright Jacqueline Ann Lowe Secretary (to 06/06/2024) Appointed 31/05/2023 Resigned 06/06/2024 Andrew John Mackintosh Appointed 11/01/2023 Robin Howorth Appointed 31/05/2023 Resigned 20/07/2024 Susan O’Brien Secretary (from 19/07/2024 Appointed 23/05/2024 to 16/10/2024) Resigned 16/10/2024 Samuel Townsend Appointed 13/07/2024

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

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Slow The Flow

Trustees' report (continued) for the period 01/01/2023 to 31/12/2023

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.

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Slow The Flow

Trustees' report (continued) for the period 01/01/2023 to 31/12/2023

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.

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Slow The Flow

Trustees' report (continued) for the period 01/01/2023 to 31/12/2023

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 have continued to build upon the last 6 years and develop new 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 throughout 2023.

2023 has been a busy year for Slow The Flow trustees and volunteers. We have continued with 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 seven years bringing hundreds of volunteers to monthly work sessions building leaky dams, and placing logs along valley contours to interrupt the flow of water into rivers.

We accommodated around 100 scouts, guides, brownies and other uniformed services to Hardcastle Crags over the summer providing practical and educational opportunities over a month of evening sessions. These prove invaluable in developing and promoting our work to a young audience who in the fullness of time may go on and develop their own interest in geography and natural Flood Management.

We also continue to welcome guests and visitors to Hardcastle Crags for them to see for themselves the work and the benefits to the community, and to the developing bio-diversity which the work contributes towards.

We also continued to welcome young people on the Duke Of Edinburgh scheme at Hardcastle Crags. They usually attended for a number of sessions and this helped towards their award. One particular participant wrote about his positive experience in a blog https://slowtheflow.net/my-duke-of-edinburgh-experience-with-slow-the-flow/.

Publicity and concern continue to be raised 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

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provided an interesting European perspective on the subject, Combined Sewer Overflows: impacts, mitigation solutions and European perspective.

With funding from the Community Foundation for Calderdale, our work to develop resources for the teaching of Natural Flood Management at KS2 and KS3 continues and this is now being taught in Primary Schools throughout Calderdale. These resources have been written and designed by our trustees and the packs of resources were made available to primary and secondary schools in Calderdale. This work continues unabated, including full day workshops led by Slow The Flow trustees in Calderdale primary schools. The Natural Flood Management curriculum resources are freely available from this link.

We continue to support the community with our donations to the Community Foundation for Calderdale as part of their membership scheme. This supports other local charitable organisations in Calderdale.

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 contributed to the policy shift to include NFM and SuDS in Flood Alleviation Schemes in our cities, towns, villages, and rural communities.

Slow The Flow also continues to support national communications to promote flood resilience with flood action week.

In October, Storm Babet battered the UK and presented opportunities to see our works in action at Hardcastle Crags near Hebden Bridge. The 800+ leaky woody dams all continue to work to reduce the levels of rain water which would have made their way into the valleys through Calderdale.

Slow The Flow also commented on 37 planning applications in 2023 throughout Calderdale promoting sustainable drainage and simple flood mitigation measures which could be adopted on new build schemes.

A small number of our Trustees visited the beavers at Cropton Forest. It was a fascinating day out and lessons were learned from these natural dam builders.

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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 where a young volunteer has enjoyed the work so much, he has gone on and studied more about this work we do in Calderdale and the benefits to the environment. Sam Townsend continues to be an integral part of our volunteer base and is looking forward to working with us in the years to come. You can read more about Sam here - 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.

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Slow The Flow

Trustees' report (continued) for the period 01/01/2023 to 31/12/2023

Financial review

The net receipts for the year were: £1,373 to unrestricted funds comprising £6,489 receipts and £5,116 payments; and £7,940 to restricted funds comprising £13,000 receipts and £5,060 payments.

Reserves policy

The charity's free cash reserves at the year end were £17,476.

It is the charity’s policy to maintain a reserve to provide a growing fund (currently £9,000) for future employment of staff and working capital in the region of £8,500 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 500
Insurance 450
Equipment Renewal 500
Meeting Room Hire 500
Office and Admin Costs 2000
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:

Date : 30/10/2024 Name: Stephen Garrod

Signed (Trustee)

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Receipts and payments account

for the Financial Period 01/01/2023 to 31/12/2023

Receipts Financial
Period to
31/12/2023
Unrestricted
Funds		 Financial
Period
to 31/12/2023
Restricted
Funds		 Financial
Period
to 31/12/2023
Total
Funds

Financial
Period
to 31/12/2022
Total
Funds
Donations 4689 4689 5056
Grants 1800 13000 14800 23150
Total Receipts 6489 13000 19489 28206
Payments
Bank Charges 89 89 99
Bursaries 2000
Donations 10 10
Fundraisingcosts 282 282 96
General Publicity 202 202 350
Governance Costs 750 750 300
Insurance 406 406 397
MeasuringEquipment 40
Groundwork Tools 81 81
Protective Clothing 783 783
MeetingRoom Hire 367 367 315
Miscellaneous 50
Office and Admin
Costs		 1604 1604 889
Restricted Grant
Funded Projects		 5060 5060 21563
Travel 140
Trustee Expenses 70 70 104
Website 471 471 491
Total Payments 5116 5060 10176 26834
Net
(payments)/receipts		 1373 7940 9313 1373
Fund Balances
Brought Forward		 16102 12676 28778 27406
Fund Balances Carried
Forward		 17476 20616 38092 28778

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Statement of assets and liabilities

as at 31 December 2023

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 Storage Boxes (2) Gloves (36 pairs) Drone Mavic Mini Fly More Combo Telescopic Staffs 5m, 5 Section (2) Memory Card for drone - 100Mb/sec 64Gb Branded Shirts (12) Brochure & Leaflet Holders Branded High Viz Vests (50) Table Top Easel & Board (2 items) Tsurugi 300mm Fine Tooth Saws (2) Portable Wooden Easel – 1.5m High (8 items) Sandvik Bow Saws 21" Type 51 (4) Gazebo Frame, Cover and SideWalls Time Lapse Cameras (8) Wheeled gazebo bag Husqvarna Technical Forest Helmet 5 ft Folding Table and Cover Pavement Sign Leg Weights Stein Top Saw Multi Tool

Approval of the accounts

The financial statements were approved by the board of trustees on 30/10/2024.

Signed:

Name: Stephen Garrod (Trustee)

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Notes to the accounts for the period 01/01/2023 to 31/12/2023

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 trustee to reimburse them for travel to Hull to attend an iCASP meeting:

Bede Mullen … £34.54

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

Bede Mullen … £18.00 Amanda McDermott … £18.00

3 Trustee remuneration and benefits

There was one trustee who received remuneration for services supplied to Slow The Flow.

This was Andrew Wright who was paid £3,990 in the year under a written agreement for him to provide 21 teaching days in schools to enable Slow The Flow to deliver its Education in Schools Project.

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Slow The Flow

Notes to the accounts for the period 01/01/2023 to 31/12/2023

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

5 Grants and Donations

Source of Income Financial
Period
Unrestricted
Funds		 Financial
Period
Restricted
Funds		 Financial
Period
Total
Funds
AKIN I Z K 750 750
Todmorden Mayor 833 833
Calderdale Sustainability Forum 1800 1800
Community Foundation for Calderdale 10000 10000
FRIENDLY SOAP LTD 1362 1362
LOCALGIVING LTD 727 727
MOONFULL LTD 492 492
SHREDZ LIMITED 110 110
THE CALDER LEARNING TRUST 216 216
Todmorden Mayor 200 200
WEST YORKS F&R-FUN 3000 3000
Total: 6489 13000 19489

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Notes to the accounts

for the period 01/01/2023 to 31/12/2023

6 Restricted Funds

6 Restricted Funds
Balance b/f Incoming Outgoing Balance c/f
CommunityFoundation For Calderdale 7676 - 5060 2616
YORKSHIRE WATER SE 5000 - 0 5000
WEST YORKS F&R-FUN - 3000 0 3000
CommunityFoundation For Calderdale - 10000 0 10000
12676 13000 5060 20616
Fund Name Purpose of Restriction
Community Foundation For Calderdale Education in Schools Project set up
YORKSHIRE WATER SE Education in Schools Project roll out
WEST YORKS F&R-FUN West Yorkshire Resilience Grant for Equipment
Community Foundation For Calderdale Ovenden Wind Farm Project

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