## **Trustees’ Annual Report for the period** **From** 01/04/2024 **To** 31/03/2025 **Charity name:** West Dorset Wilding ## **Charity registration number:** 1196964 ## **Objectives and Activities** |**Objectives and Activities**||| |---|---|---| ||SORP
reference|| |Summary of the purposes of
the charity as set out in its
governing document|Para 1.17|The**objects**of the CIO are:
To promote for the benefit of the public the
conservation, protection and improvement
of the physical and natural environment by
promoting biological diversity and restoring
degraded ecological systems.
To advance the education of the public in
the conservation, protection and
improvement of the physical and natural
environment.| |Summary of the main
activities in relation to those
purposes for the public
benefit, in particular, the
activities, projects or services
identified in the accounts.|Para 1.17
and 1.19|**Activities**include:
To deliver environmental projects for the
benefit of the public;
To educate the general public, particularly
farmers and landowners, about the benefits
of natural process led ecosystem
restoration, though meetings, emails,
online or other activities;
To consult and discuss with the general
public about issues in nature conservation;
To undertake and disseminate research
into the nature of the Charity’s focus area;
To recruit members for the benefit of
education and fundraising;
To undertake fundraising for the delivery of
the above activities.| 1 Para 1.18 Statement confirming whether the trustees have had regard to the guidance issued by the Charity Commission on public benefit Trustees have had regard to the guidance issued by the Charity Commission on public benefit, and have a standing item at board meetings to remind them of their role and function. ## **Achievements and Performance** ||SORP reference|| |---|---|---| |Summary of the main
achievements of the
charity, identifying the
difference the charity’s
work has made to the
circumstances of its
beneficiaries and any
wider benefits to society
as a whole.|Para 1.20|**Introduction**
This has been a very significant year for
West Dorset Wilding, largely due to the
start of the Brit Valley Landscape Recovery
Project Development Phase. Within the
year we were also confirmed as a partner
in, and started to deliver against, a Dorset
National Landscapes Natural Flood
Management project funded by the
Environment Agency, and a SW farm
cluster research collaboration into large-
scale green finance, supported by Defra’s
Natural Environment Investment Readiness
Fund (NEIRF). In addition to this, our public
membership continued to grow steadily, we
introduced a corporate supporters scheme
with a promising start, started a quarterly
programme of high-quality newsletters for a
wide distribution, and launched a set of
well-attended member-only events.
**Brit Valley Project**
Following the news of our success in
Round 2 of Defra’s Environmental Land
Management (ELMs) Landscape Recovery
Programme in the last financial year, this
year saw the first of the project’s two-year
Project Development Phase (PDP), fully
funded by Defra. The aim of the PDP is to
prepare a set of six highly detailed reports
that set out how our farmers and
landowners intend to change their land
management practices over 20+ years to
allow nature recovery. The reports also
include details about how we will improve
public engagement with, and access to
nature and how we will secure private
funds to support the work in addition to
publicfunds.| 2 Because the charity had been low-cost and light touch before this year, the first job was to establish all the requirements for a fully equipped employing organisation, including staff recruitment and related factors such as HR support and payroll, an office, IT systems and equipment; in essence a start-up. The support for all of this came from the Defra grant and we had a fully functioning team up and running by the summer. Our thanks to Pineapple Business Park for ‘building an office’ for us, and making us so welcome. The project includes 57 farmers, landowners and foresters – we call them Project Partners – covering. 4,600+ hectares of land, and a significant part of the year involved developing the relationship with them, so as to understand what their existing business models are and their aspirations for the future. A Project Partner-led Steering Group was set up to oversee the project development, and met every other month. In addition to this we held quarterly ‘General Meetings’ at the Red Lion in Beaminster to which all of our Project Partners were invited, and many of whom have attended regularly. These larger group meetings were also matched by working groups for Woodlands and Finance, one-to-one visits to farms and landholdings to gain people’s first indications of what they would like to do on their land, and many meetings with other stakeholders in connection with public engagement with nature. Over the year, we have also involved a wide range of expert contractors, from undertaking surveying and research into Water Voles, Beavers and hydrology, to Project Partner consultations into governance. These contracts have helped provide the evidence base for our project decision-making and have together developed a vast body of knowledge about the catchment. One of these contracts also helped us to develop the Brit Valley Project branding and identity, something we hope our Partners and other stakeholders can build on over the 3 next 20+ years in terms of local identity, produce and tourism. Overall, it has been a very intense year, with a massive amount of work done on a very steep learning curve, including the establishment of a new body alongside getting to grips with a complex project. It has set us up for the next year to complete the development phase. Our thanks to all of our Project Partners for their engagement and commitment, and you can see more about the project at britvalley.org. **Natural Flood Management in the Brit Valley** During the year, the Dorset National Landscapes team was successful with a joint funding bid to the Environment Agency to undertake Natural Flood Management within the Brit Catchment – the same catchment area as the Brit Valley Project. Our roles were twofold. Firstly, to identify key locations and secure permissions for the land in which natural flood management interventions might be undertaken. Secondly to establish a system for volunteers to be involved, through citizen science techniques, and to set up the systems and processes to make that happen. We were lucky enough to have excellent specialists on contract to help with both areas of work, and our part of the project was completed within this report period, setting up the main work programme for the subsequent two years. You can see more here. **Natural Environment Investment Readiness Fund** West Dorset Wilding is one of eight farm clusters or other Landscape Recovery projects participating in a regional-scale research programme into green finance. The project is exploring whether there is potential for aggregation of ecosystem services over a multi-cluster area to meet the carbon credit or other needs of potential buyers. The project started in the year and whilst we are only one of eight partners and is mainly research based, it could provide valuable learning for the Brit Valley Project. 4 **Membership and events** We were pleased to grow the number of voting members to eight over the year with four of the Brit Valley Partners coming on board. The numbers of individual/family and smallholder members of West Dorset Wilding continue to grow steadily, and forms a small but important part of our income. Our offer to our members is mainly around four exclusive meet ups or events over the year, or early bird access to wider public events such as visiting speakers. Our well-received newsletters, such as you can see here, give more details about these events. During this report period we also launched a business membership scheme - details can be seen here - with some strong early interest from local companies. We are particularly grateful to RISE as our first business partner. **Impact on beneficiaries and wider society** The work this year has directly helped people in the area to understand more about nature and wildlife and in particular about the role of Land Managers. More than 400 people attended meetings, including at the Melplash Show, and many more will have seen information online. More significantly by doing the work to plan for 25 years of positive change in the area we are really looking a significant culture change, and aiming for thousands of people to be involved and get better access to nature in the coming years. We are also working closely with our farmer and landowner community, an important part of the wider society in this area, and the work we are doing is bringing them together to think about how they can help nature and people in the area. 5 ## **Financial Review** |**Financial Review**||| |---|---|---| |Review of the charity’s
financial position at the
end of the period|Para 1.21|Financially, we received a large grant for
the Landscape Recovery Project
Development Phase. But all of this - other
than a small overhead surplus - is
restricted funding, as are the NFM and
NEIRF projects. Whilst that has been
fantastic to bring about a WDW team and
profile, the longer-term implications are
unclear as this specific funding is for only 2
years. This will be addressed more in the
2025/26 financial year report.
In respect of the core funds, as last year,
the funding environment remains complex,
and securing core funding has been
challenging. While donors are often eager
to support projects, they are less inclined
to cover staffing and other core costs
required to bring these projects to fruition.
Our diversification in this area has been
focused on the business partnerships,
which made a slow but promising start.
The closing balance of**unrestricted**funds
at the end of the year was £12,152, which
is above the targeted reserves (see
below).| |Statement explaining the
policy for holding reserves
stating why they are held|Para 1.22|**From policy written and approved by**
**Trustees Oct 2025:**
**Rationale**
The trustees have reviewed their financial
obligations and have agreed to set aside a
sum to allow time for the CIO to seek
alternative funds if there is an unexpected
shortfall in income or wind up the CIO and
pay any contractual obligations in the event
of the Trustees agreeing that West Dorset
Wilding is no longer a going concern.
**Establishing the level of reserves**
In setting the level of reserves required for
this purpose the Trustees have reviewed
their contractual obligations such as staff
and other outgoings. This is more complex
than in 2024 as the organisation has a
major contract with Defra to deliver against
a Landscape Recovery project. This
covers the vast majority of the
organisational costs, with verylimited time| 6 |||given over to non-Landscape Recovery
work. However, the annual liability for
WDW core work under current contracts
are just under £8,000, which, if there were
problems with core costs, could be reduced
further through notice period. Should this
be the case, and no staff were employed
for WDW time, a minimum of £2,000pa
should be seen as sufficient to fulfil
statutory obligations through contracts.
Any change in the financial circumstances
for the Brit Valley Landscape Recovery
Project would be related to that grant so it
was not considered necessary to change
the reserves policy for this reason.
The Trustees therefore target an £8,000
reserve but acknowledge that £2,000 will
be sufficient to fulfil statutory obligations.| |---|---|---| |Amount of reserves held|Para 1.22|At the end of the financial year the surplus
was £30,911, of which £18,759 was
restricted. This left £12,152 as reserves,
which met the policy.| |Reasons for holding zero
reserves|Para 1.22|n/a| |Details of fund materially
in deficit|Para 1.24|n/a| |Explanation of any
uncertainties about the
charity continuing as a
going concern|Para 1.23|The Trustees agreed that the charity can
continue to operate as a going concern.| 7 ## **Structure, Governance and Management** |Description of charity’s
trusts:||| |---|---|---| |Type of governing
document
(trust deed, royal charter)|Para 1.25|Constitution| |How is the charity
constituted?
(e.g unincorporated
association, CIO)|Para 1.25|CIO by Association| |Trustee selection
methods including details
of any constitutional
provisions e.g. election to
post or name of any
person or body entitled to
appoint one or more
trustees|Para 1.25|Election at AGM or co-option, no
organisational appointments| ## **Reference and Administrative details** |Charity name|West Dorset Wilding| |---|---| |Other name the charity
uses|n/a| |Registered charity number|1196964| |Charity’s principal address|Unit 10A
Pineapple Business Park
Pineapple Lane
Salwayash
Dorset
DT6 5DB| ||| 8 ## **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)**| |---|---|---|---|---| ||Luke Montagu|Chair||| ||Arthur Crutchley|||| ||Philip Colfox|||| ||Tarsha Finney|||| ||Jonathan Measures||17/1/25 – 31/3/25|| |||||| |||||| |||||| |||||| |||||| |||||| |||||| |||||| |||||| |||||| |||||| |||||| |||||| |||||| |||||| ## – Corporate trustees names of the directors at the date the report was approved **Director name** n/a Name of trustees holding title to property belonging to the charity |**Trustee name**|**Dates acted if not for whole year**|| |---|---|---| |n/a||| |||| |||| 9 ## **Funds held as custodian trustees on behalf of others** Description of the assets n/a held in this capacity Name and objects of the n/a charity on whose behalf the assets are held and how this falls within the custodian charity’s objects Details of arrangements n/a for safe custody and segregation of such assets from the charity’s own assets ## **Additional information (optional)** ## **Names and addresses of advisers (Optional information)** |**Additional information (optional)**
**Names and addresses of advisers (Optional information)**|**Additional information (optional)**
**Names and addresses of advisers (Optional information)**|**Additional information (optional)**
**Names and addresses of advisers (Optional information)**| |---|---|---| |**Type of**
**adviser**
**Name**
**Address**||| |Accountant|Leigh Hansford|Coombe Hope Accountants| |||60 West Street| |||Bridport| |||Dorset| |||DT6 3QP| |||| |||| |||| |||| ## **Name of chief executive or names of senior staff members (Optional information)** Dr Samuel Rose – Executive Director ## **Exemptions from disclosure** Reason for non-disclosure of key personnel details n/a ## **Other optional information** n/a 10 ## **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)** Luke Montagu Philip Colfox **Position (eg Secretary,** Chair **Chair, etc) Date** 17/12/25 11 ||**West Dorset Wilding**
|**West Dorset Wilding**
|**West Dorset Wilding**
|**1196964**|**CC16a**| |---|---|---|---|---|---| ||**Receipts andpayments accounts**||||| ||**For the period**
**from**|01.04.2024|**To**|31.03.2025|| ||||||| |**Section A Receipts and payments**|||||| |**A1 Receipts**|**Unrestricted**
**funds**
**to the nearest £**|**Restricted**
**funds**
**to the nearest £**|**Endowment**
**funds**
**to the nearest £**|**Total funds**
**to the nearest £**|**Last year**
**to the nearest £**| |Subscriptions - Voting Membership|**6,750**|**-**|**-**|**6,750**|**8,250**| |Subscriptions - Non voting membership and
linked donations|
**1,983**|**-**|**-**|**1,983**|**2,013**| |Individual donations|**3,117**|**-**|**-**|**3,117**|**19,250**| |Corporate Grants|**1,604**|**-**|**-**|**1,604**|**-**| |Sundry income|**-**|**-**|**-**|**-**|**1,003**| |Gift aid|**5,557**|**-**||**5,557**|**-**| |Event income|**1,783**|**-**||**1,783**|**-**| ||||||| |Restricted project income|||||| |Landscape recovery|**-**|**253,270**||**253,270**|**-**| |NFM|**-**|**12,380**||**12,380**|**-**| |NEIRF|**-**|**800**||**800**|**-**| |Rewilding Britain|**-**|**-**|**-**|**-**|**-**| |Natural England|**-**|**-**|**-**|**-**|**-**| |**_Sub total_**_(Gross income for AR)_|
**20,794**|**266,450**|**-**|**287,243**|**30,516**| |**A2 Asset and investment sales,**
**(see table).**|||||| ||**-**|**-**|**-**|**-**|| ||**-**|**-**|**-**|**-**|**-**| |**_Sub total_**|**-**|**-**|**-**|**-**|**-**| |**_Total receipts_**
**A3 Payments**|||||| ||**20,794**|**266,450**|**-**|**287,243**|**30,516**| ||||||| |Executive Director|**2,297**|**-**|**-**|**2,297**|**13,150**| |Support work|**-**|**-**|**-**|**-**|**2,726**| |Administrator|**2,301**|**-**|**-**|**2,301**|**-**| |Marketing|**189**|**-**|**-**|**189**|**-**| |Reimbursed staff expenses|**411**|**-**|**-**|**411**|**426**| |Recruitment costs|**149**|**-**|**-**|**149**|**575**| |Postage & Stationery|**94**|**-**|**-**|**94**|**29**| |Phone & Internet|**-**|**-**|**-**|**-**|**216**| |PR/Design|**110**|**-**|**-**|**110**|**500**| |Print & Products|**-**|**-**|**-**|**-**|**79**| |Fundraising|**5,200**|**-**|**-**|**5,200**|**375**| |Consultancy|**7,615**|**-**|**-**|**7,615**|**-**| |Insurance|**-**|**-**|**-**|**-**|**96**| |Accountancy|**240**|**-**|**-**|**240**|**240**| |HR/Legal costs|**249**|**-**|**-**|**249**|**210**| |Donor box fees|**38**|**-**|**-**|**38**|**16**| |IT Costs|**315**|**-**|**-**|**315**|**97**| |Event costs|**-**|**-**|**-**|**-**|**23**| |Travel|**113**|**-**|**-**|**113**|**-**| |Sundry expenditure|**41**|**-**|**-**|**41**|**1,070**| |Project expenditure - Landscape recovery|**-**|**-**|**-**|**-**|**4,830**| |Project expenditure - Natural England|**-**|**-**|**-**|**-**|**358**| ||||||| |Restricted project expenditure|||||| |Landscape recovery|**-**|**231,581**|**-**|**231,581**|| |NFM|**-**|**12,380**|**-**|**12,380**|| |NEIRF|**-**|**800**|**-**|**800**|| |Rewilding Britain|**-**|**2,100**|**-**|**2,100**|**4,738**| |Natural England|**-**|**-**|**-**|**-**|**7,450**| |**_Sub total_ **|**19,359**|**246,861**|**-**|**266,221**|**37,203**| ||||||| |**A4 Asset and investment**
**purchases, (see table)**|||||| ||**-**|**-**|**-**|**-**|| ||**-**|**-**|**-**|**-**|| |**_Sub total_ **|**-**|**-**|**-**|**-**|**-**| |**_Total payments_**
**_Net of receipts/(payments)_**
**A5 Transfers between funds**
**A6 Cash funds last year end**
**_Cash funds this year end_**|||||| ||**19,359**|**246,861**|**-**|**266,221**|**37,203**| ||||||| ||**1,434**|**19,588**|**-**|**21,023**|**- 6,687**| ||**2,929**|**- 2,929**|**-**|**-**|**-**| ||**7,789**|**2,100**|**-**|**9,889**|**16,576**| ||**12,152**|**18,759**|**-**|**30,912**|**9,889**| ## **Section B Statement of assets and liabilities at the end of the period** |**Categories**
Signed by one or two trustees on
behalf of all the trustees
**B5 Liabilities**
**B4 Assets retained for the**
**charity’s own use**
**B3 Investment assets**
**B2 Other monetary assets**
**B1 Cash funds**|**Details**|**Unrestricted**
**funds**
**to nearest £**|**Restricted**
**funds**
**to nearest £**|**Endowment**
**funds**
**to nearest £**| |---|---|---|---|---| ||Co-op Bank Account|**12,152**|**18,759**|**-**| |||**-**|**-**|**-**| |||**-**|**-**|**-**| ||**Details**
**_Total cash funds_**
(agree balances with receipts and payments
account(s))|**12,152**|**18,759**|**-**| |||OK|OK|OK| |||**Unrestricted**
**funds**
**to nearest £**|**Restricted**
**funds**
**to nearest £**|**Endowment**
**funds**
**to nearest £**| |||**-**|**-**|**-**| |||**-**|**-**|**-**| |||**-**|**-**|**-**| |||**-**|**-**|**-**| |||**-**|**-**|**-**| |||**-**|**-**|**-**| ||**Details**|**Fund to which**
**asset belongs**|**Cost (optional)**|**Current value**
**(optional)**| ||||**-**|**-**| ||||**-**|**-**| ||||**-**|**-**| ||||**-**|**-**| ||||**-**|**-**| ||**Details**|**Fund to which**
**asset belongs**|**Cost (optional)**|**Current value**
**(optional)**| ||||**-**|**-**| ||||**-**|**-**| ||||**-**|**-**| ||||**-**|**-**| ||||**-**|**-**| ||**Details**|**Fund to which**
**liability relates**|**Amount due**
**(optional)**|**When due**
**(optional)**| ||||**-**|| ||||**-**|| ||||**-**|| ||Signature|Print|Name|| |||||Date of
approval| |||VISCOUNT LU|KE MONTAGU|18 NOV 2025| |||||| CHARITY COMMISSION FOR ENGLAND AND WALES Independent examiner's report on the accounts Section A Independent Examiner's Report Report to the trusteesl members of West Dorset Wilding On accounts for the year ended 31" March 2025 Charity no (if any) 1196964 Set out on pages I report lo the trustees on my examination of the accounts of the above harity ("the Trust.) for the year ended 3110312023. Responsibilities and As the charity trustees of the Trust, you are responsible for the preparation basis of report of the accounts in accordance with the requirements of the Charities Act 2011 1.the Act") I report in respect of my examination of the Trust's accounts carried out under section 145 of the 2011 Act and in carrying out my examination, I have followed the applicable Directions given by the Charity Commission under section 14515)(bl of the Act. I have completed my examination. I confimi that no material matters have come to my attention (other than that disclosed below "l in connection with the examination which gives me cause to believe that in, any malerial respect.. accounting records were not kept in accordance with section 130 of the Act or the accounts do nol accord with the accounting records Independent examiner's statement I have no concerns and have come across no other matters in connection with the examination to which attention should be drawn in order to enable proper understanding of the accounts lo be reached. Please delete the words in the brackets if they do not apply. Signed: Date: Name: LUCILL& WILLI AMS Relevant professional qualificationls) or body (if any): ftrCcA Address: LPtu CLQS IER October 2018 Section B Disclosure Only complete if the examiner needs to highlight matters of concern (see CC32, Independent examination of charity accounts.. directions and guidance for examiners). Give here brief detsils of any items that the examiner wishes to disclose. IER October 2018