## **MEDIEVAL COMBAT SPORTS ASSOCIATION GREAT BRITAIN**
Charity number: 1194258
Trustees’ Report and Financial Statement
For year ending 5 April 2025
**Reference and Administrative details**
## **Charity name and number (CIO – Association)**
MEDIEVAL COMBAT SPORTS ASSOCIATION - GREAT BRITAIN (also known as MCSA-GB) Charity Number: 1194258
## **Principle address**
Unit 14, Hanson Close Industrial Estate, Hanson Close, Middleton, Manchester M24 2HD
email: info@mcsagb.co.uk
## **Objectives**
The advancement of the amateur sport of Medieval combat for the public benefit by the promotion and provision of facilities for public participation so as to improve the physical health of participants.
## **Summary of activities**
The aim of **Medieval Combat Sports Association – Great Britain** is to give every member the opportunity to train and participate at the highest level in a professional and positive environment and is committed to creating opportunities for our members to develop and participate in the sport, at all levels. To achieve this, we will identify new opportunities and ways to progress and improve current practices and procedures for the good of the sport and every member on a national and international level.
## **Our development plan aims to:**
- Ensure a duty of care to all members
- Ensure that all present and future members receive fair and equal treatment.
- Ensure the future success and sustainability of the sport
- Increase membership and participation
- Create sustainable opportunities for competition at appropriate levels
- Increase awareness of the sport’s development through acknowledgment of current
- initiatives and programmes from all sports partners in the UK
- Ensure that all members are aware of, understand, and work towards the aims and
- objectives of the sport.
- Ensure that the Trustees, General and Executive Councils work towards developing and
- moving the sport forward in all areas, and that these objectives and progress is reviewed annually.
## **Goals:**
- Promote and develop the practice of medieval combat in armour and soft kit, in all categories included in official buhurt events events.
- To create and maintain channels of communication amongst members, sporting associations and professional bodies, government, and the business community.
- To liaise with international bodies such as Buhurt Intnernational (referred to from here on as BI) and International Medieval Combat Federation (referred to from here on as IMCF)
- Organise medieval combat events according to the unified international rules of BI/IMCF
- • Prepare the UK team for the BI championships and prepare the England/Scotland and Welsh teams for the IMCF championships. Implement its participation in these championships following a fair selection process according to the relevant rules.
- Support clubs in participating or organising events and ranking system.
To endeavor to establish funding in support of the organisation to achieve its sporting objectives.
Trustees upon appointment are provide with the two Charity Commission documents in relation to its Guidance on public benefit and these documents are centrally stored within a trustee group.
Christoper Lamsdell resigned as a trustee and as the chair of trustees. Diana Passell was voted in as a trustee during the period. As per the constitution, the trustees held an online vote to appoint the new chair and Karen Cunningham was selected to act as Chair of Trustees.
Oliver Robers was appointed as the association Vice President at the AGM in January 2025 taking over the roles from Diana Passell who resigned and moved across into a trustee position.
A UK Buhurt league continued a new season in 2024, with some ongoing reviews, which created the additional Grass Roots league for newcomers to the sport to enable them to compete at an equal competitive level, in addition to a Premier league for the more experienced members.
The President and Vice President continued to work with the new organisers of the other sport international governing bodies.
The executive committee continued to work closely with Buhurt International and IMCF and selections were held to send a UK team to the BI World Championships in Viesgrad, Hungary. A contingent of 70 UK competitors (50 men and 20 women) were selected to form the team competing in all disciplines.
All posts with the association are undertaken by unpaid volunteers.
## **Achievements and Performance 2024/2025**
The associations national captains held several national training days during the year culminating in the selection of the UK national team. This team will head to the BI World Championships in Hungary in July 2025.
White Company received both Male and Female European conference championship medals for the 2024 season.
The number of trained and qualified marshals continued to grow in 2024, increasing further the number available to support UK based competitions. This growth now puts the UK as one of the leading countries in the world with qualified marshalling staff, many of whom travelled abroad to also support international events.
Several clubs held ‘new members’ taster events, engaged with outreach through in some area’s festivals or other non-sporting events to bring the sport to a wider audience base in an effort to make more people aware of the sport and potentially recruit new members.
**Financial Review**
The income for the year amounted to £7,243. During 2024/2025 financial period, the charity income exceeded the expenditure by £4,559 at the end of the financial year, with balance position of £7,493.
The association obtained appropriate events insurance on behalf of the members clubs that will cover them for any sport event competition they organise, in accordance with association policy requirements.
The association is reviewing banking facilities to ensure we are receiving the best service. A priority for gift aid on donations is under review to be applied for.
The association will continue looking for additional areas from which income can be generated in an effort to support current and future members.
The Treasurer and Trustees are aware that at this stage finances of the association are reliant on membership fees, but with the highest outgoing purely the insurance fees. The currently surplus can be used in future years to further promote the sport domestically and support the national team attending the Buhurt International World Championships to be held in Hungary in 2025 in line with the development aim of ensuring the future success and sustainability of the sport.
The charity has no current fixed assets or outstanding liabilities. The management team and trustees will continue to be vigilant with review of charity position and activities to ensure that the objective of aid with continued strong growth and support in the next financial year. There are no salaries drawn by any of the Committee members.
## **Trustees**
Karen Cunningham - Chair
Mary George
Lewis Thompson
Joanne Booth
Jasmine Ironbourne
Nanny Diana Passell
**Structure**
The charities’ structure is set out in its CIO Association constitution and within the association’s rules and can be obtained upon request though info@mcsagb.co.uk. The rules regarding the structure of the management committee and appointment of trustees are set out fully in these documents. But in summary the number of charity trustees and their appointment are as follows:
- (a) There must be at least three charity trustees. If the number falls below this minimum, the remaining trustee or trustees may act only to call a meeting of the charity trustees or appoint a new charity trustee;
- (b) The maximum number of charity trustees is six. The charity trustees may not appoint any charity trustee if as a result the number of charity trustees would exceed the maximum;
- (c) At every annual general meeting of the members of the CIO, one-third of the charity trustees shall retire from office. If the number of charity trustees is not three or a multiple of three, then the number nearest to one-third shall retire from office, but if there is only one charity trustee, he or she shall retire;
- (d) The charity trustees to retire by rotation shall be those who have been longest in office since their last appointment or reappointment. If any trustees were last appointed or reappointed on the same day those to retire shall (unless they otherwise agree among themselves) be determined by lot;
- (e) The vacancies so arising may be filled by the decision of the members at the annual general meeting; any vacancies not filled at the annual general meeting may be filled as stated in the below para;
- (f) The members or the charity trustees may at any time decide to appoint a new charity trustee, whether in place of a charity trustee who has retired or been removed in accordance with the rules (Retirement and removal of charity trustees), or as an additional charity trustee, provided that the limit specified does not exceed the number of permitted charity trustees;
- (g) A person so appointed by the members of the CIO shall retire in accordance with the above. A person so appointed by the charity trustees shall retire at the conclusion of the next annual general meeting after the date of his or her appointment and shall not be counted for the purpose of determining which of the charity trustees is to retire by rotation at that meeting.
## **Declarations**
The trustees declare that they have approved the trustees’ report above.
Signed on behalf of the charity’s trustees
**Signature(s) Full name(s)** Daniel George **Position (eg President,** President **Chair, etc) Date** 28/01/2026
|**Receipts**|||**Payments**|
|---|---|---|---|
|**Category**|**Total**||**Category**|
|Membership fees|£7,243||Equipment purchase/maintenance|
|Event income|Nil||Insurance|
|Donations|Nil||Travel & competition expenses|
|Grants|Nil||Other expenditure|
|Merchandise sales|Nil||**Total payments**|
|Other income|Nil|||
|**Total receipts**|£7,243|||
|**Receipts**|**Receipts**|**Receipts**|**Receipts**|**Receipts**|**Receipts**|||||**Payments**|**Payments**|**Payments**|**Payments**|**Payments**|**Payments**|**Payments**|**Payments**|**Payments**|**Payments**|
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
||**Category**|||||**Total**||||**Category**||||||**Total**||||
||Membership fees|||||£7,243||||Equipment purchase/maintenance||||||Nil||||
||Event income|||||Nil||||Insurance||||||£1,820||||
||Donations|||||Nil||||Travel & competition expenses||||||£406||||
||Grants|||||Nil||||Other expenditure||||||£458||||
||Merchandise sales|||||Nil||||**Total payments**||||||£2,684||||
||Other income|||||Nil||||||||||||||
||**Total receipts**|||||£7,243||||||||||||||
|||||||||||||||||||||
|||30/04/24|31/05/24|30/06/24|31/07/24||31/08/24||30/09/24||31/10/24|30/11/24|31/12/24|31/01/25|28/2/25||31/3/25|05/04/25|Total|
|||||||||||||||||||||
||Income|£164|£509|£2,301|£255||£234||£191||£96|£64|£382|£700|£1,523||£699|£126|£7,243|
|||||||||||||||||||||
|||||||||||||||||||||
||Competition
expenses|0|0|0|0||0||£406||0|0|0|0|0||0|0|£406|
||Insurance|0|0|0|0||0||0||0|0|0|0|0||£1,820|0|£1,820|
||Other
Expenses|0|0|0|£115||0||0||0|0|£70|£86|£187||0|0|£458|
||**Total**|**0**|**0**|**0**|**£115**||**0**||**£406**||**0**|**0**|**£70**|**£86**|**£187**||**£1,820**|**0**|**£2,684**|
|||||||||||||||||||||
|||||||||||||||||||||
||**Operating**
**Profit**|**£164**|**£509**|**£2,301**|**£140**||**£234**||**£-215**||**£96**|**£64**|**£313**|**£614**|**£1,336**||**£-1,121**|**£126**|**£4,559**|
## **Net Movement in Funds**
- Surplus / (deficit) for the year: £4,559
- Cash at start of year: £2,934
- Cash at end of year: £7493