| Trustees' Annual Report | Trustees' Annual Report | Trustees' Annual Report | Trustees' Annual Report | Trustees' Annual Report | Trustees' Annual Report | for theperiod | for theperiod | for theperiod | for theperiod | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| From | Period start date | T o |
Period end date | ||||||||
| 01 | 12 | 2023 | 02 | 12 | 2024 | ||||||
| Section A | Reference and administration details | ||||||||||
| Charity name | FATHOMS FREE | ||||||||||
| Other names charity is known by | N/A | ||||||||||
| Registered charitynumber(if any) | 1196183 | ||||||||||
| Charity's principal address | 16 LOWER CLICKER ROAD, | ||||||||||
| MENHENIOT | |||||||||||
| LISKEARD | |||||||||||
| Postcode | PL14 3PJ | ||||||||||
Names of the charity trustees who manage the charity
| 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 |
Trustee name | Office (if any) | Dates acted if not for whole year |
Name of person (or body) entitled to appoint trustee (if any) |
|
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| John Kent | Chair of Trustees | ||||
| Julian Collison | Treasurer | ||||
| Luke Bullus | DivingOfficer | ||||
| Eleanor Speirs | Secretary | ||||
| Names of the trustees for the charity, if any, (for example, any custodian trustees) | |||||
| Name | Dates acted if not for whole year | ||||
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Names and addresses of advisers (Optional information)
| Type of adviser | Name Address |
Name Address |
|---|---|---|
| Name of chief executive or names of senior staff members (Optional information) | ||
Section B Structure, governance and management
Description of the charity’s trusts
Constitution Type of governing document (eg. trust deed, constitution) CIO How the charity is constituted (eg. trust, association, company) Appointed on initial creation of charity - any changes by election Trustee selection methods (eg. appointed by, elected by)
Additional governance issues (Optional information)
Written Risk assessments in place for diving activities and boat usage You may choose to include with site and conditions specific risk assessments completed at each additional information, where event. relevant, about: All personnel suitably trained and qualified for the activities they are engaged in. ● policies and procedures adopted for the induction and training of trustees;
● the charity’s organisational structure and any wider network with which the charity works;
-
relationship with any related
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parties;
● trustees’ consideration of major risks and the system and procedures to manage them.
Section C Objectives and activities
To preserve and improve the marine environment around the coast of the Summary of the objects of the United Kingdom & to to conserve, relieve the suffering of and promote the charity set out in its governing bio-diversity of marine wildlife with the use of volunteer divers and surface document supporters by, but not limited to: 1. Locating, documenting, retrieving and responsibly disposing of Abandoned, Discarded and Lost Fishing Gear (also known as Ghost Gear), releasing and where possible returning entrapped marine wildlife to its natural habitat.
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Locating, documenting, retrieving and responsibly disposing of underwater, floating and coastal marine litter, focussing on but not limited to Marine Plastics
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Supporting the local resident population, the significant coastal tourism industry and the resident fishing communities by minimising the litter and ghost gear hazards to make the beaches and coastal seas a safer place to enjoy and minimising unnecessary damage to local fish stocks killed by ghost gear. 4. Collecting and distributing data on the distribution, nature and quantity of marine litter and ghost fishing gear and its environmental impacts 5. Spreading awareness of the presence of underwater marine litter and ghost fishing gear along with the environmental threats it poses 6. Educating water users and the public so as to reduce the input of debris to the sea
Our activities for the reporting period can be summarised into three categories. 1. Retrieval - Retrieving matter from the sea which shouldn’t be there, this is our raison d’etre. This was most often done by diving but there was one recovery from a beach. 2. Awareness - We took multiple opportunities to inform the public of the very serious matter of ghost nets and marine litter. This was done by talks, meeting the public at awareness events, social media and mainstream media eg. TV news. If we can educate people to prevent Summary of the main activities marine pollution then it makes our retrieval job less arduous. undertaken for the public benefit in relation to these objects (include within this section the 3. Maintenance, training and fund raising - These activities are the statutory declaration that enabler for the 2 above. The divers become maintenance personnel or trustees have had regard to the teachers/students for these activities. The maintenance work covered guidance issued by the Charity activities on; restoring our ‘new’ rhib (a mammoth task) and rebuilding two Commission on public benefit) boat trailers. For us, fund-raising is dependent upon our exposure in various media forms, without funds no recoveries would take place. We have a website and an integral shop. Many of the goods in the shop are made by our volunteers from recovered ghost nets and ropes. We were fortunate to have a successful crowdfunder to pay for a new rhib, we are grateful to Cornwall Council for their match funding in this project.
Additional details of objectives and activities (Optional information)
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All persons engaged with Fathoms Free are volunteers ,including the trustees. The charity has no paid staff.
You may choose to include further statements, where relevant, about: ● policy on grantmaking; ● policy programme related investment; ● contribution made by volunteers.
Section D Achievements and performance
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Summary of the main achievements of the charity during the year
Last year the Fathoms Free team recovered 1830 kg of marine debris from the seas around Devon and Cornwall. This activity took 1100 man hours, in direct effort. This recovery was accomplished during 10 dives and 1 beach recovery.
Multiple awareness events were participated in during the year. These include a presentation to the Cornwall Wildlife Trusts “Your Shore Conference” and regularly updating the Lostwithiel Environmental Action Forum, to highlight how abandoned fishing gear and other debris becomes a marine issue locally and hence the need for our work. In particular we took action on the issue of street litter, it makes up 75% of marine debris, via drains and rivers.
Our funding has been secured for the forthcoming year by donations from both personal and corporate donors and the sale of goods in our online shop.
We made a conscious decision to expand because we know that we are performing a vital function. One of the limiting factors to our activities has always been the weather; it is not safe to dive when the wind exceeds 16 knots. Therefore to take advantage of every available opportunity we decided to try to acquire another boat. This will enable multiple teams to work when conditions permit.. A suitable boat was located in West Cornwall named Stingray, a 6.4metre Tornado Viking 640 with 200HP Mercury Outboard and trailer. Although not used for a number of years, incomplete and in poor state cosmetically, key parts like a sound hull and recently replaced tubes meant it was a potential cost effective way of sourcing a boat. A deal was made with the previous owner to purchase for £1000 in sold as seen condition but we knew it would take many thousands to fully restore, estimating a total investment circa £10000
We did not have these extra funds available as well as funding our ongoing operations so we launched a crowdfunder appeal (Stingray Revival) and have applied to Cornwall Council Grown Nature fund for match funding which looks to be forthcoming. Since purchase work has been ongoing as weather permitted by one of our trustees and so far we have a new electrical system fitted and the engine running. We are looking forward to securing the funds to finish the project and have two operational boats for the 2025 season.
Section E Financial review
5 6th September 2024
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T he charity does not currently have a policy on reserves since it was Brief statement of the charity’s created from very humble beginnings. The trustees realise that the policy on reserves charity is growing and whilst at the moment it is in a comfortable financial position, the trustees will during the next financial year develop a reserves policy in order to prepare for unexpected and schedules repairs or replacement to key assets, namely the boats (Casper & Shadow) and pickup truck Details of any funds materially in There are no funds in deficit deficit Further financial review details (Optional information)
The charity, in common with others operating in the same conservation You may choose to include arena, does not receive any government funding and relies on the additional information, where generous donation of members of the public and corporate donors. In the relevant about: tighter financial climate there has been a noticeable drop in ad-hoc ● the charity’s principal personal donations although we have been lucky enough to secure more grant funding than previously sources of funds (including any fundraising); The charity does not currently have an investment policy - monies raised ● how expenditure has are used to fund ghost gear recoveries, fuel and maintenance of charity assets and maintaining a balance available for repairs as and when supported the key objectives of necessary. the charity; ● investment policy and The funds of the charity are fairly modest, having raised £8689 in the last financial year (2nd December 2023 to 1st December 2024). This is a objectives including any ethical significant reduction from the £16717 raised in the previous financial year investment policy adopted. and very reflective of the cost of living crisis being faced by the country. Of these £3964 were raised by personal donations, £50 by corporate donation, £3500 from grant funding (including match funding) and £1175 from gift aid
Expenditure for the year was £17082 with the largest expense being £9214 on boat, trailer and truck maintenance, followed by £2032 on Insurances and vehicle tax. Clearly this is a less than desirable financial situation for the year and not sustainable, however we had raised a healthy sum in the previous year which allowed us to absorb these losses. All expenditure has been directly connected to the ongoing objects of the charity, particularly the ghost gear recovery.
Section F Other optional information
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Section G Declaration
The trustees declare that they have approved the trustees’ report above.
Signed on behalf of the charity’s trustees
----- Start of picture text -----
Signature(s)
Julian Collison
Full name(s) John Kent
Position (eg Secretary, Chair, etc) Chair Treasurer
Date
10/08//25
----- End of picture text -----
7 6th September 2024
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Charity Name No (if any) Fathoms Free 1192613 Receieceiipts andndd mentsentsntsts accountsntsts CC16a
Receieceiipts andndd paymentsentsntsts accountsntsts
For the period Period start date Period end date To from 02/12/2023 01/12/2024
Section A Receipts and payments
Unrestricted Restricted Endowment Total funds Last year funds funds funds to the nearest £ to the nearest £ to the nearest £ to the nearest £ to the nearest £
| to the nearest £ | to the nearest £ | to the nearest £ | to the nearest £ | to the nearest £ | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| A1 Receipts | 3964 50 - 1,175 3,500 - - - 8,689 - - - 8,689 1,560 - 2,032 9,214 1,233 240 2,194 |
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - |
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - |
3,964 50 - 1,175 3,500 - - - 8,689 - - - 8,689 1,560 - 2,032 9,214 1,233 240 2,194 |
|
| Personal Donations | 3964 | 7662 | |||
| Company ./ Sponsor Donations | 50 | 822 | |||
| Sales of items in web shop | - | 33 | |||
| HMRC Gift Aid Payments | 1,175 | 1,510 | |||
| Grantpayments | 3,500 | 6,690 | |||
| - | - | ||||
| - | - | ||||
| - | - | ||||
| Sub total(Gross income for AR) |
8,689 | 16,717 | |||
| A2 Asset and investment sales, (see table). |
|||||
| NONE | - | ||||
| - | - | ||||
| Sub total | - | - | |||
| Total receipts A3 Payments |
|||||
| 16,717 | |||||
Boat, Truck & Trailer Storage |
1,560 | - | - | 1,560 | 1,560 |
| Hardboat charter | - | - | - | - | 660 |
| Insurance & Vehicle Tax | 2,032 | - | - | 2,032 | 1,866 |
| Truck & Boat repair & upgrades | 9,214 | - | - | 9,214 | 5,042 |
| Fuel | 1,233 | - | - | 1,233 | 1,513 |
| Gear recovery equipment | 240 | - | - | 240 | 2,936 |
| Gas system | 2,194 | - | - | 2,194 | 3,901 |
CCXX R1 accounts (SS)
19/08/2025
1
| Training | 219 | - | - | 219 | 1,389 | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Charity admin(website etc) | 390 | - | - | 390 | 605 | ||||
| **Sub total ** | 17,082 | - | - | 17,082 | 19,472 |
| Charity admin(website etc) **Sub total ** |
390 17,082 |
- - |
- - |
390 17,082 |
605 19,472 |
|||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| A4 Asset and investment | ||||||||||
| purchases, (see table) | ||||||||||
| NONE | - | - | - | - | ||||||
| - | - | - | - | |||||||
| **Sub total ** | - | - | - | - | - | |||||
| Total payments | 17,082 | - | - | 17,082 | 19,472 | |||||
| Net of receipts/(payments) | - 8,393 | - | - | - 8,393 | - 2,755 | |||||
| A5 Transfers between funds | - | - | - | - | - | |||||
| A6 Cash funds last year end | 17,177 | - | - | 17,177 | 19,932 | |||||
| Cash funds this year end | 8,784 | - | - | 8,784 | 17,177 |
Section B Statement of assets and liabilities at the end of the period
| Categories monetary assets unds |
NONE NatWest Bank Account Details Details PayPal Account Total cash funds (agree balances with receipts and payments account(s)) Soldo prepaid debit card balance |
Unrestricted funds to nearest £ 8,784 - - 8,784 OK Unrestricted funds to nearest £ - - - |
Restricted funds to nearest £ - - - - OK Restricted funds to nearest £ - - - |
Endowment funds to nearest £ |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| - | ||||
| - | ||||
| - | ||||
| - | ||||
| OK | ||||
| Endowment funds to nearest £ |
||||
| NONE | - | - | - | |
| - | - | - | ||
| - | - | - |
B1 Cash funds
B2 Other monetary assets
CCXX R2 accounts (SS)
19/08/2025
2
| - | - | - | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| - | - | - | ||
| - | - | - |
B3 Investment assets
B4 Assets retained for the charity’s own use
B5 Liabilities
| NONE Details |
Fund to which asset belongs |
Cost (optional) - - - - - |
Current value (optional) |
|---|---|---|---|
| NONE | - | - | |
| - | - | ||
| - | - | ||
| - | - | ||
| - | - |
| 6.5m Humber RHIB with engine,trailer & electronics Mitsubishi L200 Pickup Truck Twin axle van trailer Gazebo & display equipment Details Ghost gear recovery equipment Compressor and gas filling panel |
Fund to which asset belongs Unrestricted Unrestricted Unrestricted Unrestricted Unrestricted Unrestricted |
Cost (optional) - - - - - - - - - |
Current value (optional) |
|---|---|---|---|
| 6.5m Humber RHIB with engine,trailer & electronics |
Unrestricted | - | 14,000 |
| Mitsubishi L200 Pickup Truck | Unrestricted | - | 7,000 |
| Twin axle van trailer | Unrestricted | - | 1,000 |
| Gazebo & display equipment | Unrestricted | - | 2,500 |
| Ghost gear recovery equipment | Unrestricted | - | 6,000 |
| Compressor and gas filling panel | Unrestricted | - | 4,500 |
| - | - | ||
| - | - | ||
| - | - |
| Details None |
Fund to which liability relates |
Amount due (optional) - - - - |
When due (optional) |
|---|---|---|---|
| None | - | ||
| - | |||
| - | |||
| - |
CCXX R3 accounts (SS)
19/08/2025
3
Signed by one or two trustees on behalf of all the trustees
| - | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Signature | Print Name | Date of approval |
||||
| Julian Collison (Treasurer) | 21/01/2025 | |||||
| John Kent (Chair) | 21/01/2025 |
CCXX R4 accounts (SS)
19/08/2025
4