## **Cornwall Search Dogs** ## **Trustee’s Annual Report** **For the period 1st November 2022 to 31 st October 2023** ## Chair’s Report Looking back on our third year of operations I can report that we’ve maintained our systems and governance, conducted searches and forged links with other organisations. This year we have aided the owners of 48 missing pet and working dogs in Cornwall. In last year’s report I said, “We confidently expect to grow further in year three” and this annual report will show that we have indeed met and exceeded that expectation this year. This growth has been made possible by the Trustees who have volunteered their time generously, our teams of search dogs and handlers and our dedicated volunteer supporters, who have attended public events to build our profile in the community and raise essential funding for us. On behalf of the trustees, I would like to reiterate the Board’s gratitude to the property owners who kindly give CSD permission to carry out essential regular training on their land. The opportunity to train across a variety of landscapes, especially in areas unfrequented by the wider public enables us to hone our dog’s skills quickly and effectively. This will be my final annual report as chairman, as I am stepping down as Chair because it is the end of my three-year term. I am delighted that in those three years CSD has grown into a strong, resourceful, confident, and successful organisation with such well qualified and dedicated volunteers and many generous supporters. I am personally very grateful for the tremendous support we receive from the public, community funds, local organisations and national businesses. I am delighted to be handing over to Jenny Pickles, who was a fellow founding trustee of CSD who brings a wealth of operational and organisational experience to the Chair. I wish her and CSD the very best fortune in the next year. I am honored to have been asked by the Board to continue my support for CSD in the role of Patron. 1 Andrew Whiddett Chair, Cornwall Search Dogs ## Structure Cornwall Search Dogs (CSD) is a Charitable Incorporated Organization with a Foundation Model Constitution. The Charity was founded in 2020 by a small group of individuals, each with expert knowledge of emergency search and rescue. Their joint desire was to use skilled trailing dogs to locate missing persons and dogs in Cornwall. CSD currently has a board of 6 trustees. The Board focuses on its collective responsibility for ensuring the overall direction, effectiveness, supervision and accountability of the Charity. The Trustees have met quarterly to provide strategy and governance and conduct regular overviews of the charity’s activities providing leadership and guidance as required. We once again held our AGM and a Trustees’ ‘away day’ in October 2023. The Chair of CSD is a member of the Association of Chairs and the Trustees have attended a Governance Workshop. Each Trustee of CSD also has specific oversight of areas of the Charity and its work. Operational and Training subgroups meet monthly and report to the Trustee’s meetings. Operational deployments are overseen by an ‘Ops Team’ of 3 trustees who deploy our 5 qualified missing person search dog teams or our 7 dog teams qualified to search for missing pets. Training and recruitment of search dog teams is led by a designated subgroup of 2 Trustees using a development and training record for existing and new recruits to CSD. During the year, the Charity recruited a further 4 trainee dogs and their handlers. Unfortunately, not all dogs and their handlers are successful in our training programme, but we gratefully acknowledge the commitment of all our trainee dogs and handlers. Fundraising is led by two Trustees supported by several volunteers. In the past year this team has benefitted from public donations, online auctions, societies, councillor’s events and grant funding, as well as being a nominated charity at sponsored events and donations from organisations and companies. This year we recruited a new Trustee with relevant skills and experience to be our Treasurer. Our Treasurer has produced the charity income, expenditure and balance sheet which is set out on pages 8-10. Thanks to all our supporters we can report the charity has met its funding objectives for 2022/2023 and is in good financial health. Funds raised to date have been spent on specialist equipment and clothing for our ‘call out’ teams as well as team training. In the past year we were able to fund a further 3 handler teams to attain a ‘Skills for Justice’ qualification in trailing which is recognised by Police in the UK as evidence of competence to assist the police to search for missing people. The charity has also expended funds on materials for marketing and promoting the aims of CSD. Our Leaflets on what to do if your dog goes missing has been distributed to numerous locations including holiday rentals. Aside from training and equipment costs, fuel costs are a significant cost for the charity. Although the price of fuel has dropped slightly 3 since last year it remains an added cost to all our volunteers who can have long return trips to call outs. The Board maintains the following policies for Cornwall Search Dogs which are reviewed annually. Health and Safety, Lone Working, Data Protection, Reserves, Safeguarding and Whistleblowing. The Board will continue to develop further policies as required to support the future development of CSD. ## Community CSD is an entirely volunteer charity. It has no renumerated staff. This year our volunteers have contributed approximately 4,200 hours to the functions of CSD, through search related activities, attending fund raising events and other support or administrative functions. CSD has attended numerous public events including the Royal Cornwall Show, Stithians Show, Cornwall emergency service ‘Blue Light’ exhibition and local events across Cornwall to further awareness of the charity, as well as seeking new members and donations to support our work. CSD has also featured in several broadcast media shows such as BBC Radio Cornwall, Pirate Radio, Radio Chaos, Radio Rewind, PBS International TV, BBC Cbeebies’ ‘Fred and Pate’s Treasure Tales’ and we also featured in episodes of Channel 5 ‘Lost Dogs’ programme which had an audience of 1 million viewers per episode. Aside from our prime objective of searching for missing persons and canines we have also engaged in other ways with the community here in Cornwall. We have hosted a Duke of Edinburgh Award Scheme participant for several months and also provided a three-day bespoke community attachment for a trainee constable from Devon and Cornwall Police. We were delighted to be able to share our activity and knowledge with them and they told us how much they appreciated our hospitality. We also had very positive interactions with charities supporting neurodiverse individuals in the Southwest at the ‘Blue Light’ event in Wadebridge. We recognise the importance of the Cornish language for our community and a team member has been attending schools and other events to encourage the everyday use of Cornish by all. Going forward we intend to incorporate Cornish in our literature and branding. Our social media presence exceeds 4,000 followers on Facebook and our posts are reaching up to 371,000 people. We have followers in numerous countries outside the UK. 4 .ALAWVLAr4eE+ ¢*iDA15 Cornwall Search Dogs 4KllkE544KfolDw￿5 L*ed Q S￿rth AbO￿t FAeThtlo ## A new resource This past year has seen CSD gain an invaluable additional resource in the shape of three drones. These drones have been purchased for us by generous donors and in recognition of their generosity we have named the Drones after them so we have ‘Freddie Patrol’, ‘Yora the Explorer’ and ‘Coptrz Kernow’. With three drones we have been able to place them across Cornwall so that they are readily accessible to our searchers when required. The ability to have a view from overhead gives us an extra dimension and the thermal imaging equipment carried allows us to see into areas we cannot enter with our dogs due to operational and or safety concerns. They have also proved valuable in training by giving us a fresh perspective on how our dogs work. Yora the Explorer Freddie Patrol Coptrz Kernow Without our volunteer dogs, handlers and drone pilots our work would not be possible. Success looks like this! 6 _October 2023 Perranporth: a successful trail for Search Dog Aika. who located lost dog Pebbles who had been missing for 18 hours overnight, and who is seen reunited with his owner_ ## Supporters and Sponsors We gratefully acknowledge the following for their support of Cornwall Search Dogs: Cornwall Council Charity Fund Cornwall Community Fund Coptrz Dicky Bags Fur and Fables Grippy Leads Rhodda’s Ride out for Del. The Royal Cornwall Show Yora Dog Food 7 ## Objectives and Activities CSD is a volunteer service to the community in Cornwall. Our Charitable purposes are described in our Governing Document and are reproduced below. _1. The preservation and protection of health and the saving of lives by providing a dedicated and trained emergency search service consisting of appropriately trained dogs and volunteer handlers to assist and support the emergency services and voluntary rescue services in the search and rescue of missing persons in Cornwall._ _2. For the benefit of the public, to relieve the unnecessary suffering of animals by the search for lost dogs._ This year CSD has again been concentrating on delivering purpose 2, although we have proven the operational credibility of our dogs and their ability to trail human scent for purpose 1. This past year Cornwall Search Dogs received 48 requests for assistance from Dog Lost Cornwall on behalf of members of the public in Cornwall. As a result of those requests and following assessment of the circumstances of the reported loss, our search dogs attended on 35 occasions, advice being provided where we did not attend. 26 dogs were recovered following action by CSD. **----- Start of picture text -----**
CSD Call Out Response 2022/2023
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Requests for Help Attended Advice only Dog Recovered
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48 requests this year is a slight decrease from 53 last year. However, the Trustees anticipate that demand for services to search for missing dogs will continue in a similar range for 2023/24. In addition to deploying expert teams of search dogs and handlers, CSD also provides advice and links to mine shaft rescue, local dog trapping and our own drone resources to further assist in the recovery of a stray pet. The charity has established important collaborative relationships, working as a team primarily with Dog Lost Cornwall and other dog welfare groups to ensure our service under 8 purpose 2 is delivered in a timely and appropriate way. We also have relationships with the blue light services in Cornwall including HM Coastguard and the RNLI. ## Risk Register Trustees update the Charity risk register every 6 months or sooner if new risk emerges. The Board considers mitigation and risk management and is satisfied that it has addressed these primary risks. The Trustees consider the following to be its most serious risks. ## **Unable to recruit, train or retain enough dog teams to match demand for our services.** Mitigations: Maintaining core of 5 fully trained teams. In 23/24 we attained an operational strength of 5 missing person and 7 missing canine teams. There is a recruitment and training cycle for new recruits every 6 months. ## **Loss of key personnel** Mitigations: Nominated ‘understudy’ for each Board role and maintain a shared list of critical logins and other access methods. (also 2 additional Trustees to be recruited in 2023/24). ## **Loss of social media accounts, ability to communicate CSD’s activities and associated fund raising opportunities.** Mitigation: We will establish a GDPR compliant freestanding data record to enable direct contact with followers and supporters. ## Future CSD canine search dogs are trained and assessed to criteria provided by Mantrailing Scent Dogs who are accredited by UK Rural Skills. Our qualified missing person search dog teams are additionally accredited by Skills for Justice, through The British Mantrailing Academy. As a result our trailing dogs are nationwide leaders, setting a high standard due to this external training and accreditation programme. Seeking excellence and in order to continue our professional development and credibility, the Board are considering sending 2 dog teams to train to the trailing standard offered by The National Association of Specialist Dog Handlers (NASDU). NASDU is an approved centre with HABC (who are regulated by OFQUAL and SQA) for the delivery of accredited training programme. Our Strategic Plan for the next reporting year to October 2024 includes further direct engagement with Devon and Cornwall Police so that we can offer this skill and accredited resource in partnership with police and HM Coastguard to the people of Cornwall as soon as practicable. In the next year the Trustees intend to revitalise plans to form a fundraising committee, which will help funding for the charity in what the Trustees already anticipate will remain a challenging financial period for the charity sector. 9 CORNWALL SEARCH DOGS Receipts and Payments Account Forthe year 11m112022 To 3111012023 Receipts and payments 2022123 2022123 2022123 Last Year Unrestricted fvnd¥ R•strlctsd funds Totsi fut)ds Toial funds Receipts Dohations. legac￿$ and ￿mIlar Sncome IBtWo¥22_Jl Ort2Jk3 1Ètkn22_J1(*t￿j3 1gtMtbY 22_J1th12323 JustÉMng 1225 764 2.3D2 3,320 5,924.00 A￿￿￿s￿lIe 100 1fB) 47.00 1,541.00 Sub total Grants 1,000.00 170.00 CDrnwallCommunAyfund 3,000.00 Sub toial FUndra￿Ing IgroMI $29 32È.00 OnlineAuLthon OthèiTuThdialslno attNuesiin¢ouiz) See aiabon below 2,933 4,924.00 10 15D.00 Sub total InvÈstinÈnt Int4Jrna Bankcamodmr &703 5,703 4262.00 Gffllid Sub total TotaiGross ltr)¢omè Amet invethent ¥ale5. etc. Totalrecelpts io ||**CORNWALL SEARCH DOGS**|**CORNWALL SEARCH DOGS**|**CORNWALL SEARCH DOGS**|**CORNWALL SEARCH DOGS**|**CORNWALL SEARCH DOGS**|| |---|---|---|---|---|---|---| ||**Receipts and Payments Account**|||||| |||Year start date|Year start date|Year start date||Year end date| ||**For the year**
**from**|**01.11.2022**|**01.11.2022**|**01.11.2022**|**T**
**o**|**31.10.2023**| |||||||| |**Receipts and payments**||||||| |||**2022/23**|**2022/23**|**2022/23**||**Last Year**| |||**Unrestricted**
**funds**|**Restricted funds**|**Total funds**||**Total funds**| |||**£**|**£**|**£**||**£**| |**Payments**||**1st Nov 22 - 31 Oct 23 23**|**1st Nov 22 - 31 Oct 23 23**|**1st Nov 22 - 31 Oct 23 23**||| |**Charitable Payments**||||||| |Insurance||**263**|**-**|**263**||**224.00**| |Materials and equipment||**417**||**417**||**5,369.00**| |Printing and photocopying||**-**|**-**|**-**||**-**| |AGM and trustee expenses||**163**|**-**|**163**||**55.00**| |External Training costs||**1,258**||**1,258**||**7,020.00**| |Accommodation and travel expenses||**4,137**|**-**|**4,137**||**2,025.00**| ||||**-**|**-**||**-**| |**Sub total**||**6,237**|**-**|**6,237**||**14,693.00**| |**Fundraising expenses**||||||| |Event entry fee||**113**|**-**|**113**||**109.00**| |Marketing and merchadise branding and
wreaths||**325**|**-**|**325**||**1,186.00**| |Just giving fees and ebay||**216**|**-**|**216**||**218.00**| |**Sub total**||**654**|**-**|**654**||**1,513.00**| |||||||| |**_Total Gross Expenditure_**||**6,891**|**-**|**6,890.85**||**16,206.00**| |||||||| |**Asset and investment purchases,**
**etc.**||**-**|**2,244**|**2,244**||**-**| |||||||| |**_Totalpayments_**||**6,891**|**2,244**|**9,135**||**16,206.00**| |||||||| |**_Net of receipts/(payments)_**||**8,326**|**-**|**8,326**||**5,703.00**| |**Cash funds last year end**|||**-**|**-**||**-**| |**_Cash funds this year end_**||**8,326**|**-**|**8,326**||**5,703.00**| |||||||| 11 |**Statement of assets and liabilities at the end of the year**|**Statement of assets and liabilities at the end of the year**|**Statement of assets and liabilities at the end of the year**|**Statement of assets and liabilities at the end of the year**|**Statement of assets and liabilities at the end of the year**|**Statement of assets and liabilities at the end of the year**|| |---|---|---|---|---|---|---| |||**01.11.22**|**01.11.22**|**01.11.22**||**Last Year**| |||**Unrestricted**
**funds**|**Restricted funds**|**Total funds**||**Total funds**| |||**£**|**£**|**£**||**£**| |**Cash funds**||||||| |Bank current account||**8,326**|**-**|**8,326**||**5,703.00**| |Bank deposit account||**-**|**-**|**-**||**-**| |Cash/Floats||**50**|**-**|**50**||**-**| |||**-**|**-**|**-**||**-**| |||**-**|**-**|**-**||**-**| |**Total cash funds (Agree balances with**
**receipts and payments account(s))**||**8,376**|**-**|**8,376**||**5,703.00**| |**Other monetary assets**||||||| |Tax claim||**-**|**-**|**-**||**-**| |||**-**|**-**|**-**||**-**| |||**-**|**-**|**-**||**-**| |**Sub total**||**-**|**-**|**-**||**-**| |**Non monetary assets for charity's**
**own use**||||||| |Stock||**-**|**-**|**-**||**-**| |Other||**-**|**-**|**-**||**-**| |||**-**|**-**|**-**||**-**| |||**-**|**-**|**-**||**-**| |||**-**|**-**|**-**||**-**| |**Sub total**||**-**|**-**|**-**||**-**| |**Liabilities**||||||| |Accounts not yet paid||**-**|**-**|**-**||**-**| |Expenses incurred but not invoiced||**-**|**-**|**-**||**-**| |Subscriptions not yet paid||**-**|**-**|**-**||**-**| |Other liabilities||**-**|**-**|**-**||**-**| |**Sub total**||**-**|**-**|**-**||**-**| |||||||| |**Contingent liabilities and future obligations**||||||| |||||||| |**Accounts signed by two trustees on behalf of all the trustees**|**Accounts signed by two trustees on behalf of all the trustees**|**Accounts signed by two trustees on behalf of all the trustees**|**Accounts signed by two trustees on behalf of all the trustees**|| |---|---|---|---|---| |Signature||Print Name||Date of
approva
l| |||Andrew Whiddett - Chair||11.12.20
23| |||Cheryl Whitford - Treasurer||11.12.20
23| |||||| 12 ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- ## Declaration The Trustees confirm that they have complied with the requirements of the Charities Act 2011 to have due regard for the to the public benefit guidance published by the Charity Commission for England and Wales The Trustees declare that they have approved the Trustees’ report above. Signed on behalf of the Charity’s Trustees: Andrew Whiddett Chair of Trustees Tracy Simpson Secretary Date 11th December 2023. 13