ANNEX 3
## Trustees Report October 2023
This is the second AGM of Wing Group RDA since we attained Charitable Incorporated Organisation (CIO) status on 20th September 2021.
It has been another busy year for the group, with new children benefiting from the weekly riding sessions, as well as a number who have been able to continue for a little longer. There have continued to be some weeks where one of the two schools were unable to attend because of illness or other staffing issues, which has meant everyone needing to be flexible with last minute adjustments. We have tried to use such additional time for training sessions with volunteers to develop knowledge of leading ponies, positioning of leaders and side-helpers, and how to work with the needs of the children. Volunteers say they have found these training sessions very useful. We plan to continue with these on an ad-hoc basis with different themes. Thank you to Jenny Bonham for leading these sessions.
Unfortunately, Chestnuts School had to stop coming after half-term in the Summer because the Teaching Assistant who organised and brought the children had resigned and, unfortunately, the school resources prevented them being able to assign a new staff member to the bring the children. Thankfully, Walnuts School were able to bring additional children and come a little earlier, so we were able to continue to run two smaller sessions in the second half of the Summer Term, which enabled our independent child to continue with lessons as well.
Over the year we have seen children become more confident and relaxed on their ponies and seen them get a great deal of enjoyment and satisfaction from their individual achievements. As in previous years, the children have enjoyed collecting coloured hoops, shapes and other items to improve mobility and balance, and have improved their ability to steer their ponies through cones off the lead rein. Some of the children have also enjoyed having a short trot – which usually brings a big smile to their faces (and everyone elses!) and helps develop strength, coordination and balance. A few even achieved some steps of rising trot.
We are pleased that Furzedown School in Winslow have been able to join Wing RDA from the third week of the Autumn Term. They are bringing 4 children to ride each week, and we had a successful first ride with 3 out of 4 children getting mounted. By the end of the session, the fourth child clearly wanted to join in and said he will sit on the pony next time! The teacher is quietly confident that he will.
We are especially pleased to welcome our new volunteers who have made significant contributions to the running of sessions each Wednesday. They have all completed their initial training, and have proven to be enthusiastic and committed to supporting the instructor and riders each week, either as a pony leader or as a side helper. Some were initially happy to be side-helpers and are now eager to lead ponies as well. We are planning to include training on this during the Autumn Term 2023.
Twelve volunteers, trustees and instructors completed the Medi-K First Aid Training session held in March at the Mursley Sports Pavilion. This took place over a full day, so was a big commitment from our volunteers, but everyone agreed it was a good
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investment of time and energy. It was definitely a worthwhile activity as well as a requirement. It means that we have a good number of trained first-aiders present each week.
The Buckinghamshire County Chair, Julia Hayes, stepped down and we have since had two visits from our new County Chair, Irene Purse. Irene commented how impressed she was with the volunteers’ enthusiasm and seems keen to support us. Irene organised a course on Autism for Buckinghamshire RDA Groups in early October 2023. Eight of our volunteers, trustees and instructors participated and all agreed it was helpful in further developing our knowledge on Autism both at a practical level and theoretical perspectives. We were reassured that activities in our weekly sessions are fully in line with current professional views.
Following on from this comment, we continue to benefit from the experience, enthusiasm and knowledge of our Instructor, Jenny Bonham. She has provided suitable and sensible ponies for the rides, coached the children with enthusiasm, and has given them encouragement to try their best. This fits in with the RDA philosophy of “its what you can do that counts”. This approach is continued by our second RDA Coach, Sarah Bradbury. Sarah has built a great rapport with the children through her coaching and encourages them to enjoy riding and have fun while learning to ride.
Jenny also organised an excellent Handy Pony competition which raised substantial funds for Wing RDA. The children who participated had to gain sponsorship to enter the competition, which they seemed to enjoy doing as well as having good fun on the day! Our other major fundraiser has once again been the Winslow Show. Our volunteers produced large quantities of homemade cakes, savouries and produce that sold very well, as did the raffle tickets for two hampers and bottles of wine. Thankfully, the weather was very kind to us, and a large number of volunteers (together with the support of a few husbands!) manned the stall for the day. A big thank you to all for the hard work and coordination that went into making these a success.
On a social note, Jenny invited us all into her home for a super Christmas Lunch that she had prepared, together with drinks, mince pies and satsumas provided by the Trustees. It was a very sociable gathering and we were all extremely pleased to meet in the warm having had to hold the previous years celebration in the barn under Covid restrictions.
While it is interesting to reflect on the past year as a whole, it also leads us to focus on the year come and what we might achieve by October 2024.
Anne Hampton, Chair, Wing Group RDA
4th October 2023
## **RIDING FOR THE DISABLED ASSOCIATION, WING GROUP - CHARITY NO. 1195 REPORT & ACCOUNTS FOR YEAR ENDING 31 MARCH 2023**
|||Start of||End of|
|---|---|---|---|---|
|**Cash Summary**||Financial
Year|4/1/2022|Financial
Year|
|**Income Business Account**|||Note||
|Donatons|£ 482.00||1||
|Winslow Show|£ 574.00||2||
|Events|£ -||||
|Gif Aid|£ -||||
|**Total**|**£ 1,056.00**||||
|**Income Deposit Account**|||||
|Interest|£ 161.73||3||
|**Total**|£ 1,217.73||||
|**Expenditure**|||||
|Pony Hire|£ 1,680.00||||
|Certs Badges and Rosetes|£ 30.38||||
|Insurance|£ 230.00||||
|Printng Postage & Statonary|£ 18.71||||
|Training|£ 696.40||4||
|Sundries|£ 470.23||5||
|Equipment|£ -||||
|**Total**|**£ 3,125.72**||||
|Excess expenditure over income|£ (1,907.99)||||
**5853**
Balance Balance Deposit 3/31/2023 £ 202.11 £27,734.52 Business Account Account
## **RIDING FOR THE DISABLED ASSOCIATION, WING GROUP - CHARITY NO. 11958 REPORT & ACCOUNTS FOR YEAR ENDING 31 MARCH 2023**
Start of End of Financial Financial **Balance Sheet** 4/1/2022 Year Year
|**Business Account**|£ 202.11|
|---|---|
|Business Account Closing Statement|£ 202.11|
|Balance||
|Diference|£ -|
|**Deposit account**|£ 27,734.52|
|Deposit Account Closing Statement|£ 27,734.52|
|Balance||
|Diference|£ -|
|Total Current Assets|£ 27,936.63|
|Net Assets|£ 27,936.63|
|**Reperesented by**||
|Accumulated fund as of 1/4/22|£ 29,844.62|
|Excess of expenditure in the year||
|ending 31/3/23|£ (1,907.99)|
|Total|£ 27,936.63|
153
313112023
## **RIDING FOR THE DISABLED ASSOCIATION, WING GROUP - CHARITY NO. 119585 REPORT & ACCOUNTS FOR YEAR ENDING 31 MARCH 2023**
## **NOTES ON ACCOUNTS FOR THE YEAR ENDING 31 MARCH 2023**
|**Note**|**1**|**Donatons Received**||
|---|---|---|---|
|||R J Pownell|£ 75.00|
|||K Blunt|£ 20.00|
|||Chalton Village Assoc.|£ 187.00|
|||Winslow Show Assoc|£ 200.00|
|||**TOTAL**|£ 482.00|
|**Note**|**2**|**Winslow Show Aug 22**|£|
|||Cake & Rafe Sales|£ 574.00|
|||**TOTAL**|£ 574.00|
|**Note**|**3**|**Bank Interest Received**||
|||TSB Deposit (Gross)|£ 161.73|
|||**TOTAL**|£ 161.73|
||||£ 1,217.73|
**RIDING FOR THE DISABLED ASSOCIATION, WING GROUP - CHARITY NO. 119585 REPORT & ACCOUNTS FOR YEAR ENDING 31 MARCH 2023**
## **NOTES ON ACCOUNTS FOR THE YEAR ENDING 31 MARCH 2023**
|**Note**|**4**|**Training**||
|---|---|---|---|
|||First Aid|£ 626.40|
|||Mursley Hall Hire|£ 70.00|
|||**TOTAL**|£ 696.40|
|**Note**|**5**|**Sundry Expenses**||
|---|---|---|---|
|||DBS checks|£ 75.00|
|||Winslow Show 22 Stall Fee|£ 30.00|
|||RDA Membership|£ 230.00|
|||Xmas - Gifs & Refreshment Supplies|£ 43.35|
|||Session Refreshments|£ 45.68|
|||Refreshments AGM|£ 26.20|
|||Mursley Hall Hire (AGM)|£ 20.00|
|||**TOTAL**|£ 470.23|