Trustees Annual Report Year Ending 30 Nov 2024
Our Aims
The two key aims are-
- 1 Monitoring the water quality in the Great Ouse through Bedfordshire.
2 Increasing awareness of the problems of pollution in the river through education in schools.
Our testing programme will complete 2 full years in early 2025 and we have developed enough data to convince Bedford Borough Council and the Environment Agency that our work is of a very high standard and fully accepted. This work will continue into 2025 with the added investment in procuring monitors (“sondes”) that will give us 24/7 data on pollution “hot spots”.
In November 2024, we presented to a group of 50 school heads and one of the most influential schools (as it has a significant number of river users) wants to work with us.
Funding
Our reputation has led to grants from local and rural funds plus significant grants from Garfield Weston, National Highways and a local brewer, The Wells family funds all our laboratory testing costs. We are financially viable.
Volunteers
Our “Citizen Scientists number around 30 and they all invariably turn out on testing mornings rain, hail or shine. We spit the teams into 4 groups over the (current) 12 sites thus enabling us to
Achievements
We have now acquired 3 sondes and two are semi permanently in place up and down stream from a hot spot. We intend to use the data that they produce to illuminate doubt and argument about the potential sources of pollution and allow us and the Environment Agency to focus on the polluter(s).
Alan D Horn BSc BA(Hons) MBA Chair
Charity 1198830
Accounts for Period 31[st] May 2023 to 30[th] November 2024
| INCOME | EXPENDITURE | ||
|---|---|---|---|
| Starting Bank Balance | £ 291 | In-Situ Europe Sonde | £ 9,898 |
| Start-Up Donations | £ 800 | RS Hydro Proteus Sondes | £20,000 |
| Bedford Borough Council | £11,302 | £38,807 | |
| **National Highways ** | £60,720 | Totalling = £67,082 | £ 8,275 |
| Garfeld Weston | £25,000 | Simplex Labs / Glenfeld Testing Labs | £ 4,800 |
| Charles Wells | £14,000 | £ 5,759 | |
| Bedford Rural Fund | £ 8,275 | Totalling = £10,719 | £ 160 |
| Robinson Charity | £ 1,000 | RS Hydro Installation costs | £ 2,133 |
| Bank Interest | £ 20 | Test Kits | £ 152 |
| Kayak | £ 549 | ||
| (current bank balance 30/11 | £28,004) | Kayak Trailer | £ 1,610 |
| Zurich Insurance | £ 314 | ||
| Sundry Expenses | £ 919 | ||
| Software Support | £ 28 | ||
| TOTAL INCOME = | £121,117 | TOTAL EXPENDITURE = | £ 93,404 |
Beginning Bank Balance £291 + Income £121,117 – Current Bank Balance £28,004 = Total expenditure over the year = £93,404
ASSETS Proteus Sondes = £67,082 In-Situ Sonde = £ 9,898 Kayak + Trailer = £ 2,159
Bedfordshire Great Ouse Valley Environmental Trust (“BedsGOVET”) Registered Charity No: 1198830 www.BedsGOVET.org
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