Annual Report 2023
This is my second Annual Report since the WFRA became a Charitable Incorporated Organisation (CIO) in March 2022; but this AGM marks the end of my 9[th] year as Chairman of the Association.
As I previously reported last year, 2022 was a momentous year for us, as we became a CIO, establishing ourselves as the leading fellrunning body in Wales, and the de facto National Governing Body.
We have a stable Board of Trustees, supported by an executive committee who work hard throughout the year to meet the objective of the Association, namely the ‘promotion of community participation in healthy recreation, in particular by the provision of facilities for participating in fell racing and running’ . I am satisfied we are meeting that objective.
Last year I set out an eighteen-month strategy for the immediate future of the WFRA, and I’m pleased to report that we have made significant progress as intended in all areas, and I shall touch upon them briefly here.
Juniors - It was reported that we were introducing a new Junior membership category for 2023, and this has shown to be a very successful enterprise, with an unbelievable 113 juniors joining us. This is testament to the highly successful Junior Championship series, which has grown in strength yet again.
This is supported by the long-standing Midweek Series which incorporates a Junior section and is super popular. Thanks to Coordinators Neal Hockley, Tom Meredith and Mike Blake for their respective contributions; not to mention the many other helpers to make these events possible, herding wild running children, keeping them safe and providing them with amazing experiences.
Our investment is paying off and we are building a strength of new fellrunners, some of whom will I’m certain become fellrunning adults in the future. Some are already demonstrating their prowess and showing many of the seniors a dirty pair of heels!
New juniors can join the same as adults at the reduced rate of £5; visit the Fabian4 website.
The Women in Fell Running Group continues to meet, chaired by our Race Calendar Secretary, Linda. This group has done some excellent work engaging with the membership and providing advice to Race Organisers (ROs). Doubtless it has contributed to the new female ROs we have, with more coming on-board for next year’s race calendar.
Chairman’s Annual Report
October 2023
WFRA
Environment
Last year I announced that we were creating an Environment Policy, and we did just that. Briony Latter was appointed our Environment Officer, and she has developed and published our policy, which is a live document available on our website acting as a resource for ROs and competitors. We welcome new additions and suggestions to that resource.
We will imminently be announcing an exciting new Environmental initiative. This is an award aimed at recognising and rewarding good practice by individual Race Organisers and Competitors alike that can be voted upon by all of our membership, and I’m pleased to personally promote and commend it to all.
Strategy for 2024/25
Having a Strategy helps us to form a plan for the future, and to set goals for what we aim to achieve. We may not always fully achieve all we want to do but having that plan at least gives us a road map to work to, with best endeavours as volunteers. To that end I will be looking to review our plan for the next two years and will work with the committee to help me form a new strategy going forward.
I’m sure that much of what we are already doing will feature again in the new strategy, but I would like to see additions added such as bilingual matters and further website/archive development.
I will be seeking to form a pool of volunteers willing to assist with English-Welsh translation in order to improve our use of Welsh language online.
The rich history of Welsh fell racing is important, and I believe it is the duty of the WFRA to be the guardian of the safe keeping of race results for the future, so we will be revamping the once loved online archive of results for all to see. Many of us still have old preelectronic typed and hand-written results from years gone by, and I’d like to them captured and stored in this repository.
Finally , I’m pleased to say that the Welsh Fell Runners Association has grown considerably in the last couple of years, with membership growing to well over 850, which is a double the number we had at the end of the pandemic. This of course has been bolstered by the many new Juniors members. I’m sure this trend will continue.
We continue to work closely our partners, and recently that relationship building has been extended to close liaison with the other three home nation fellrunning organisations on a matter of joint policy which has proved beneficial to all of us, and we plan to maintain those links going forward.
Craig Jones,
Chairman, Welsh Fell Runners Association.
Chairman’s Annual Report
October 2023
WFRA
| Welsh Fell Runners Association | 1198219 | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Receipts andpayments accounts | CC16a | |||
| 01-Oct-22 For the period from |
To | 30-Sep-23 |
| Section A Receipts and payments | Section A Receipts and payments | Section A Receipts and payments | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| A1 Receipts | Unrestricted funds to the nearest £ 7,595 180 73 259 - - - - 8,107 |
Restricted funds to the nearest £ - - - - - - - - - |
Endowment funds to the nearest £ - - - - - - - - - |
Total funds to the nearest £ 7,595 180 73 259 - - - - 8,107 |
Last year to the nearest £ |
||||
| MembershipSubs. | 7,595 | 5,942 | |||||||
| 1st aid course deposit | 180 | 900 | |||||||
| Merchandise | 73 | 17 | |||||||
| Donations | 259 | 163 | |||||||
| - | - | ||||||||
| - | - | ||||||||
| - | - | ||||||||
| - | - | ||||||||
| Sub total(Gross income for AR) |
8,107 |
7,021 | |||||||
| A2 Asset and investment sales, (see table). |
|||||||||
| - | - | - | - | ||||||
| - | - | - | - | - | |||||
| ~~Sub total~~ | - | - | - | - | - | ||||
| Total receipts A3 Payments Insurance Calendar costs Ordnance Survey map licence Subscriptions (IT related) Awards/ Prizes Merchandise Bank charges Training costs 1st aid related costs **Sub total ** |
|||||||||
| 7,021 | |||||||||
| 2,180 | - | - | 2,180 | 2,069 | |||||
| 1,724 | - | - | 1,724 | 1,945 | |||||
| 66 | - | - | 66 | ||||||
| 477 | - | - | 477 | 364 | |||||
| 820 | - | - | 820 | 640 | |||||
| 312 | - | - | 312 | 805 | |||||
| 61 | - | - | 61 | 49 | |||||
| 147 | - | - | 147 | 1,480 | |||||
| 1,735 | - | - | 735 | 151 | |||||
| 7,521 | - | - | 7,521 | 7,503 | |||||
| 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 |
7,521 586 - 18,010 18,596 |
- - - - - |
- - - - - |
7,521 586 - 18,010 18,596 |
|||||
| 7,503 | |||||||||
| 586 | - | - | 586 | - 481 | |||||
| - | - | - | - | - | |||||
| 18,010 | - | - | 18,010 | - | |||||
| 18,596 | - | - | 18,596 | - 481 |
CCXX R1 accounts (SS)
24/05/2024
1
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 B3 Investment assets B2 Other monetary assets B4 Assets retained for the charity’s own use B1 Cash funds |
Details Details Total cash funds (agree balances with receipts and payments account(s)) General Cash Fund Details Details Two way radios available for loan WFRA banner (x2) Start banner x2 Finish banner x2 12 Storm shelters WFRA Tear drop flags (x4) Details Signature A Blackmore |
Unrestricted funds to nearest £ |
Unrestricted funds to nearest £ |
Restricted funds to nearest £ |
Restricted funds to nearest £ |
Endowment funds to nearest £ |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 18,596 | - | |||||
| - | - | - | ||||
| - | - | - | ||||
| 18,596 | - | - | ||||
| OK | ||||||
| Endowment funds to nearest £ |
||||||
| - | ||||||
| - | ||||||
| - | ||||||
| - | ||||||
| - | ||||||
| - | ||||||
| Current value (optional) |
||||||
| - | ||||||
| - | ||||||
| - | ||||||
| - | ||||||
| - | ||||||
| Current value (optional) |
||||||
| 700 | ||||||
| - | ||||||
| - | ||||||
| - | ||||||
| 120 | ||||||
| 120 | ||||||
| - | ||||||
| - | ||||||
| When due (optional) |
||||||
| Date of approval |
||||||
| A Blackmore | Andrew Blackmore | 06/11/2023 | ||||
CCXX R2 accounts (SS)
24/05/2024
2