2025-10-31-accounts - Cornwall Search Dogs

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Cornwall Search Dogs

Trustee’s Annual Report

For the period 1st November 2024 to 31 st October 2025

Chair’s Report

Looking back on our fifth 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 50 missing dogs in Cornwall.

This has been made possible by the Trustees who have volunteered their time generously, our volunteer 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 is my second report as chairman, part way through a 3Y-term appointment, I look forward to my final year of leading the Board of Trustees and continuing to grow the charity. I am personally very grateful for the tremendous support we receive from our volunteers, the public, community funds, local organisations and national businesses.

This year has not been without it’s challenges, we were sad to see two Trustees stand down as well as the retirement of one of our search dogs. We have had a particularly difficult year in terms of sickness and health as well as personal issues for many team members, juggling family challenges and bereavements. As a team though we have supported each other and grown stronger through these challenges. Being a volunteer for Cornwall Search Dogs has become an important part of life for many of our team of volunteers. We have welcomed 6 new team members who are working towards or achieved being qualified dog handlers. We welcomed a new Treasurer.

In terms of meeting our Charitable objectives we have more than exceeded our second charitable objective attending a large number of call outs for missing dogs. We continue to liaise with other organisations within the region with regards to assisting them with missing persons cases and have been approached by a number of organisations to assist them.

Jenny Pickles

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 3 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.

Each Trustee of CSD also has specific oversight of areas of the Charity and its work.

We moved away from the model of having an ‘Operations Team’ of some trustees to instead holding quarterly full team meetings, where all team members were invited to attend and the operational and PR aspects of the charity were openly discussed.

We currently have 7 dog teams qualified to search for missing pets and a further 5 dog teams in training.

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 6 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 one 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.

Our Treasurer has produced the charity income, expenditure and balance sheet which is set out later in the report. Thanks to all our supporters we can report the charity has met its funding objectives for 2024/2025 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. 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. This year we were able to buy new outdoor jackets for all team members. We are able to reimburse our volunteers with their mileage for call-outs and training.

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.

Vicki achieved Level 1 as presented by our sponsor Yora.

Lorna achieved Level 1 as presented by trainer Annie.

Karen achieved Level 1 as presented by trainer Tracy achieved Level 3 as presented by trainer Annie. Annie.

Community

CSD is an entirely volunteer led charity. It has no renumerated staff. This year our volunteers have contributed approximately 5,000 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, 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 and BBC spotlight southwest.

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 visited schools and community events to deliver presentations and carry out demonstrations. 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.

Louise making friends at the Blue Light Day.

Jenny and Search Dog Indy with a volunteer “Misper”.

Annie and Search Dog Lyla being interviewed by BBC Spotlight.

Tracy and Vicki go back to school with Search Dog Freda.

Following our TV appearance on BBC spotlight we were overwhelmed with offers to help “misper” for our search dogs. We are now joined each week by 5 additional volunteers who come to training purely to act as a missing person for our training and continued professional development. We are very grateful to those individuals and are enjoying meeting new people each week from across all walks of life in Cornwall.

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isa and Ali attending local fundraising events with Search Dog Cooper.

Social Media

We are delighted to have a new lead for our social media and that continues to be an important part of our communications and information sharing strategy. We enjoy good engagement and public support through these platforms.

Team members and volunteer “Mispers” out training.

Success looks like this!

Supporters and Sponsors

We gratefully acknowledge the following for their support of Cornwall Search Dogs:

Grippy Leads Yora Dog Food

Fur and Fables Dicky Bags

Coptrz

Rhodda’s

Cornwall Council Charity Fund

Cornwall Community Fund

Ride out for Del.

The Royal Cornwall Show

All our wonderful individual supporters!!

Team member Dani and Trainee Search Dog Mojo meeting a supporter.

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.

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.
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 50 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 49 occasions, advice being provided where we did not attend. 25 dogs were recovered following action by CSD.

50 requests this year is a slight increase from 48 last year. The Trustees anticipate that demand for services to search for missing dogs will continue in a similar range for 2025/26.

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 to ensure our service under 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.

National Networks

We are delighted that after a few years in development a national register of qualified Lost Dog searchers has launched. We have been involved with this project since its inception and are delighted that it has now been launched by North K9.

Additionally we are delighted to see more national groups linking up and we have joined them on social media networks wherever possible, such as the Lost Dog Trapping Team – UK Search & Rescue Network.

We remain in good contact with Dog Lost Cornwall whom we liaise with for all call-outs.

We were also delighted to be added to the UK-SAR register.

New Website

This year we updated our old website to launch a new look website. With thanks to our volunteer IT support team. We have included an introduction to our new trainees.

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 4 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.

Loss of social media accounts, ability to communicate CSD’s actvites and associated fund raising opportunites.

Mitigation: We will establish a GDPR compliant freestanding data record to enable direct contact with followers and supporters.

Team members Calvin and Annie with Search Dogs Stark and Lyla.

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 program.

In order to seek excellence and in order to continue our professional development and credibility, the Board has considered sending dog teams to train to the trailing Standard offered by The National Association of Specialist Dog Handlers (NASDU). NASDU is an approved center with HABC (who are regulated by OFQUAL and SQA) for the delivery of accredited training program. The board has additionally trained teams through the Skills for Justice training route. However, without an operational need for these qualifications the board has at this time agreed no further large financial spends on these qualifications until such time as deemed necessary.

Our Strategic Plan for the next reporting year to October 2026 includes further expanding our search dogs team for missing dog searches. Continued engagement with statutory authorities will be carried out as appropriate.

In the next year the Trustees intend to continue plans to form a volunteer fundraising committee, which will help drive funding for the charity in what the Trustees already anticipate will remain a challenging financial period for the charity sector.

With regards to our technical search capabilities, there is now a new organisation operating drones in Cornwall, the board of Trustees will review the ongoing justification for expenditure in this area.

We look forward to closer working links with other Lost Dog technical search and rescue personnel.

Team members Vicki and Tracy demonstrate our search and first aid skills with Search Dog Lochy.

CORNWALL SEARCH DOGS Receipts and Payments Account Year start date Year end date For the year from 1-Nov-2024 To 31-Oct- 2025 Receipts and Payments 2024/25 2024/25 2024/25 Last Year Unrestricted Funds Restricted Funds Total Funds Total Funds £ £ £ £ Receipts 1st Nov 24 - 31 Oct 25 1st Nov 24 - 31 Oct 25 1st Nov 24 - 31 Oct 25 Donations, Legacies and Similar Income Just Giving 1,567.88 1,567.88 3,849.42 Public Donations 1,300.00 1,300.00 1,311.65 Amazon Smile - Paypal 80.46 80.46 501.02 - Sub Total 2,948.34 - 2,948.34 5,662.09 Grants - - Cornwall Council Charity Fund 1,300.00 1,300.00 997.90 Cornish Language Grant - 250.00 Sub Total - 1,300.00 1,300.00 1,247.90 Fundraising (gross) Tins 215.61 215.61 222.41 Online Auction - Other Fundraising Activities (inc Quiz) see naration below 4,313.14 4,313.14 2,305.37 Sale of Merchadise 250.00 250.00 -	CORNWALL SEARCH DOGS Receipts and Payments Account Year start date Year end date For the year from 1-Nov-2024 To 31-Oct- 2025 Receipts and Payments 2024/25 2024/25 2024/25 Last Year Unrestricted Funds Restricted Funds Total Funds Total Funds £ £ £ £ Receipts 1st Nov 24 - 31 Oct 25 1st Nov 24 - 31 Oct 25 1st Nov 24 - 31 Oct 25 Donations, Legacies and Similar Income Just Giving 1,567.88 1,567.88 3,849.42 Public Donations 1,300.00 1,300.00 1,311.65 Amazon Smile - Paypal 80.46 80.46 501.02 - Sub Total 2,948.34 - 2,948.34 5,662.09 Grants - - Cornwall Council Charity Fund 1,300.00 1,300.00 997.90 Cornish Language Grant - 250.00 Sub Total - 1,300.00 1,300.00 1,247.90 Fundraising (gross) Tins 215.61 215.61 222.41 Online Auction - Other Fundraising Activities (inc Quiz) see naration below 4,313.14 4,313.14 2,305.37 Sale of Merchadise 250.00 250.00 -	CORNWALL SEARCH DOGS Receipts and Payments Account Year start date Year end date For the year from 1-Nov-2024 To 31-Oct- 2025 Receipts and Payments 2024/25 2024/25 2024/25 Last Year Unrestricted Funds Restricted Funds Total Funds Total Funds £ £ £ £ Receipts 1st Nov 24 - 31 Oct 25 1st Nov 24 - 31 Oct 25 1st Nov 24 - 31 Oct 25 Donations, Legacies and Similar Income Just Giving 1,567.88 1,567.88 3,849.42 Public Donations 1,300.00 1,300.00 1,311.65 Amazon Smile - Paypal 80.46 80.46 501.02 - Sub Total 2,948.34 - 2,948.34 5,662.09 Grants - - Cornwall Council Charity Fund 1,300.00 1,300.00 997.90 Cornish Language Grant - 250.00 Sub Total - 1,300.00 1,300.00 1,247.90 Fundraising (gross) Tins 215.61 215.61 222.41 Online Auction - Other Fundraising Activities (inc Quiz) see naration below 4,313.14 4,313.14 2,305.37 Sale of Merchadise 250.00 250.00 -	CORNWALL SEARCH DOGS Receipts and Payments Account Year start date Year end date For the year from 1-Nov-2024 To 31-Oct- 2025 Receipts and Payments 2024/25 2024/25 2024/25 Last Year Unrestricted Funds Restricted Funds Total Funds Total Funds £ £ £ £ Receipts 1st Nov 24 - 31 Oct 25 1st Nov 24 - 31 Oct 25 1st Nov 24 - 31 Oct 25 Donations, Legacies and Similar Income Just Giving 1,567.88 1,567.88 3,849.42 Public Donations 1,300.00 1,300.00 1,311.65 Amazon Smile - Paypal 80.46 80.46 501.02 - Sub Total 2,948.34 - 2,948.34 5,662.09 Grants - - Cornwall Council Charity Fund 1,300.00 1,300.00 997.90 Cornish Language Grant - 250.00 Sub Total - 1,300.00 1,300.00 1,247.90 Fundraising (gross) Tins 215.61 215.61 222.41 Online Auction - Other Fundraising Activities (inc Quiz) see naration below 4,313.14 4,313.14 2,305.37 Sale of Merchadise 250.00 250.00 -	CORNWALL SEARCH DOGS Receipts and Payments Account Year start date Year end date For the year from 1-Nov-2024 To 31-Oct- 2025 Receipts and Payments 2024/25 2024/25 2024/25 Last Year Unrestricted Funds Restricted Funds Total Funds Total Funds £ £ £ £ Receipts 1st Nov 24 - 31 Oct 25 1st Nov 24 - 31 Oct 25 1st Nov 24 - 31 Oct 25 Donations, Legacies and Similar Income Just Giving 1,567.88 1,567.88 3,849.42 Public Donations 1,300.00 1,300.00 1,311.65 Amazon Smile - Paypal 80.46 80.46 501.02 - Sub Total 2,948.34 - 2,948.34 5,662.09 Grants - - Cornwall Council Charity Fund 1,300.00 1,300.00 997.90 Cornish Language Grant - 250.00 Sub Total - 1,300.00 1,300.00 1,247.90 Fundraising (gross) Tins 215.61 215.61 222.41 Online Auction - Other Fundraising Activities (inc Quiz) see naration below 4,313.14 4,313.14 2,305.37 Sale of Merchadise 250.00 250.00 -	CORNWALL SEARCH DOGS Receipts and Payments Account Year start date Year end date For the year from 1-Nov-2024 To 31-Oct- 2025 Receipts and Payments 2024/25 2024/25 2024/25 Last Year Unrestricted Funds Restricted Funds Total Funds Total Funds £ £ £ £ Receipts 1st Nov 24 - 31 Oct 25 1st Nov 24 - 31 Oct 25 1st Nov 24 - 31 Oct 25 Donations, Legacies and Similar Income Just Giving 1,567.88 1,567.88 3,849.42 Public Donations 1,300.00 1,300.00 1,311.65 Amazon Smile - Paypal 80.46 80.46 501.02 - Sub Total 2,948.34 - 2,948.34 5,662.09 Grants - - Cornwall Council Charity Fund 1,300.00 1,300.00 997.90 Cornish Language Grant - 250.00 Sub Total - 1,300.00 1,300.00 1,247.90 Fundraising (gross) Tins 215.61 215.61 222.41 Online Auction - Other Fundraising Activities (inc Quiz) see naration below 4,313.14 4,313.14 2,305.37 Sale of Merchadise 250.00 250.00 -
CORNWALL SEARCH DOGS
Receipts and Payments Account
		Year start date		Year end date
	For the year from	1-Nov-2024	To	31-Oct- 2025

Receipts and Payments
		2024/25	2024/25	2024/25	Last Year
		Unrestricted Funds	Restricted Funds	Total Funds	Total Funds
		£	£	£	£
Receipts		1st Nov 24 - 31 Oct 25	1st Nov 24 - 31 Oct 25	1st Nov 24 - 31 Oct 25
Donations, Legacies and Similar Income
Just Giving		1,567.88		1,567.88	3,849.42
Public Donations		1,300.00		1,300.00	1,311.65
Amazon Smile				-
Paypal		80.46		80.46	501.02
				-
Sub Total		2,948.34	-	2,948.34	5,662.09
Grants
			-	-
Cornwall Council Charity Fund			1,300.00	1,300.00	997.90
Cornish Language Grant				-	250.00
Sub Total		-	1,300.00	1,300.00	1,247.90
Fundraising (gross)
Tins		215.61		215.61	222.41
Online Auction				-
Other Fundraising Activities (inc Quiz) see naration below		4,313.14		4,313.14	2,305.37
Sale of Merchadise		250.00		250.00	-
Sub Total		4,778.75	-	4,778.75	2,527.78
Investment income
Bank Interest		162.95		162.95	36.42
Bank carried over				-	-

Gift Aid	176.15		176.15	679.32
	-	-	-	-
Sub Total	339.10	-	339.10	715.74

Total Gross Income	8,066.19	1,300.00	9,366.19	10,153.51

Asset and Investment Sales, etc.	-	-	-	-

Total Receipts	8,066.19	1,300.00	9,366.19	10,153.51

	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	01.11.2024	01.11.2024	01.11.2024	To	31.10.2025

Receipts and Payments
		2024/25	2024/25	2024/25		Last Year
		Unrestricted Funds	Restricted Funds	Total Funds		Total Funds
		£	£	£		£
Payments		1st Nov 24 - 31 Oct 25	1st Nov 24 - 31 Oct 25	1st Nov 24 - 31 Oct 25
Charitable Payments
Insurance		1,143.19		1,143.19		809.60
Materials and Equipment		3,289.85	1,085.00	4,374.85		644.95
Printing and Photocopying		25.00		25.00		7.00
AGM and Trustee Expenses		23.75		23.75		860.00
Internal Training Costs		85.46		85.46
External Training Costs		1,150.00		1,150.00		2,135.13
Travel Expenses		1,713.57		1,713.57		1,323.45
Admin Fees		-		-		600.00
Sub Total		7,430.82	1,085.00	8,515.82		6,380.13
Fundraising Expenses
Event Entry Fee		20.00		20.00		126.40
Marketing and Merchandise Branding and Wreaths		1,009.80		1,009.80		1,195.24

Just Giving Fees and eBay	216.00		216.00	216.00
Sub Total	1,245.80	-	1,245.80	1,537.64

Total Gross Expenditure	8,676.62	1,085.00	9,761.62	7,917.77

Asset and investment purchases, etc.	-	-	-

Total Payments	8,676.62	1,085.00	9,761.62	7,917.77

Net of Receipts/(Payments)	- 610.43	215.00	- 395.43	2,235.74
Cash Funds Last Year End			10,561.53	8,325.79
Cash Funds This Year End	- 610.43	215.00	10,166.10	10,561.53


Statement of Assets and Liabilities at the End of the Year
	01.11.2025	01.11.2025	01.11.2025	Last Year
	Unrestricted Funds	Restricted Funds	Total Funds	Total Funds
	£	£	£	£
Cash Funds
Bank Current Account	2,538.88	-	2,538.88	5,525.11
Bank Deposit Account	7,199.37	-	7,199.37	5,036.42
Cash/Floats	50.00	-	50.00	50.00
	-	-	-	-
	-	-	-	-
Total Cash Funds(Agree balances with receipts and payments account(s))	9,788.25	-	9,788.25	10,611.5 3
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	-	-	-	-

Declarations

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:

Jenny Pickles Chair of Trustees

Tracy Simpson Secretary

Date 1st December 2025.