23 January 2025 ## **2024 Annual Report** This report is for the second full year (2024) of the Sussex Ouse Restoration Trust (SORT) as a CIO and includes an operational plan for the next twelve months for members to consider and hopefully agree. ## **Administration Update** SORT continues to be a charitable incorporated organisation (CIO), adhering to the requirements imposed by the Charity Commission and remains in a very strong position financially with over £40,000 of cash assets, most of it invested, which brings in significant funds from the dividends paid. In view of the resolution which was passed at the last AGM to investigate the best way of closing down the charity, the Trustees have been conducting research and liaison on how to achieve a satisfactory and sensible end position. This includes keeping key information developed and held by SORT accessible to those who may have an interest. Consequently, we have been talking to the East Sussex Record Office (The Keep) about its hosting an archive of ‘our material’, which would be a mixture of paper and electronic records. A first tranche of material will have been sent to The Keep between the issue of this report and the AGM to be held on 20 February 2025 in order for The Keep and SORT to develop further the best format for the archive. At an appropriate point in the coming year, perhaps at AGM 2025 and when a firm closure date is more in mind, members will be asked to suggest and agree to where SORT’s assets should be donated. Recipients will have to be charities with similar charitable purposes to SORT, agreed by the Charity Commission and accept how SORT requires how any donated funds may be used. The Trustees have already noted the suggestion of two members. There is no compulsion for all of SORT’s assets go to a single charity. Other members may have recommendations for other organisations, which should be emailed to me at chair@sort.org.uk. The Trustees will consider all suggestions, make sure they have the potential to comply with the requirements of the Charity Commission and then put the resulting potential recipient charities to a members’ vote which would include the values of donations to be made. The Sussex Ouse Restoration Trust is a registered charity, N[o] 1198840. Page 1 of 4 ## **Work Activities** Over the last year our work at Isfield Lock has been much the same as the year before in that it has been restored as far as currently possible so our recent work there continues to be to keep the area looking as neat as possible by mowing, strimming, etc. We have also refurbished further the ‘bridge’ over the lock. And we have pulled as much Himalayan Balsam as possible to try to restrict the growth of this invasive plant. In June we hosted a corporate day out involving some local employees of Coca Cola. A group of them came along to spend the day with us at Isfield Lock on a team-building day to help a local charity. They learned about the navigation and the restoration of the lock and also tried throwing rescue ropes and life-rings into the lock’s cut. Much more difficult to throw than people think. They also mowed and strimmed for us, refreshed the paintwork on the ground paddle posts and scaffold bridge and pulled a lot of Himalayan Balsam. They all enjoyed themselves in the sunshine and did SORT a favour at the same time. In August we installed an interpretation board at Isfield Lock. We had spent a lot of time working out the best text and photos for the Interpretation Board to tell the story of the Sussex Ouse Navigation and restoration of Isfield Lock. There are also graphics showing the course of the navigation and how a lock works. Once the two sheets of graphics were received, we made a ‘monolith’ stand from sweet chestnut sleepers, which will silver nicely in due course, and fixed the sheets to the stand. The Sussex Ouse Restoration Trust is a registered charity, N[o] 1198840. Page 2 of 4 Later in August a splendid new oak gate replaced the existing dilapidated gate in the rustic fence at Isfield Lock. It was made by volunteers with a local charity called The Monday Group. They repair and build wooden stiles, gates, bridges, etc to help keep footpaths and bridleways open and usable. Some of The Monday Group volunteers are also members of SORT. The cost to SORT was for the green oak required for the gate and a small donation to the Monday Group’s general funds. The Sussex Ouse Restoration Trust is a registered charity, N[o] 1198840. Page 3 of 4 ## **Operational Plan for 2025** 1. To continue the administrative work to close down SORT as a charity. 2. To work with The Keep to build their hosting of SORT’s archive. 3. To dispose of SORT’s ancient set of hand tools and other miscellaneous items of equipment. 4. To cut up and scrap SORT’s badly rusting metal former sea-going container. The costs involved in conducting the above activities will be low and there should also be some income generated from sales of some tools and equipment and the scrap value of the container. The Trustees will consider if it is appropriate to donate some of these physical items to other charitable restoration trusts, as will be happening with cash assets. Late summer 2025 should see the end of SORT’s physical presence on the Sussex Ouse. After this, sadly, the grass and other vegetation in and around Isfield Lock could prosper! The original group of SORT volunteers back in the late 1990s decided to work for the benefit of the community and had lofty ambitions but, unfortunately, times, attitudes and the physical state of the Sussex Ouse Navigation have changed significantly over the last 25 or so years. David Evans Trustee and Chair The Sussex Ouse Restoration Trust is a registered charity, N[o] 1198840. Page 4 of 4 **Charity Name No (if any) Sussex Ouse Restoration Trust 1198840 Receipts and payments accounts CC16a For the period** Period start date Period end date **To from** 01/01/2024 31/12/2024 |**Section A Receipts and payments**|**Section A Receipts and payments**|**Section A Receipts and payments**|||||||| |---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---| |**A1 Receipts**|**Unrestricted**
**funds**
**to the nearest**
**£**
**34**
**-**
**-**
**28**
**136**
**632**
**-**
**-**
**830**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**830**
**2 503**
**278**
**237**
**73**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**3 091**||**Restricted**
**funds**
**to the nearest £**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**1 196**
**-**
**1 196**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**1 196**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**||**Endowment**
**funds**
**to the nearest £**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**||**Total funds**
**to the nearest £**
**34**
**-**
**-**
**28**
**136**
**1 828**
**-**
**-**
**2 026**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**2 026**
**2 503**
**278**
**237**
**73**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**3 091**||**Last year**
**to the nearest £**| |**Donations**|**34**||||||||**234**| |**Subscriptions Received**|**-**||||||||**425**| |**Gift Aid**|**-**||||||||**-**| |**Sundry income**|**28**||||||||**2 202**| |**Bank interest received**|**136**||||||||**98**| |**Dividends received**|**632**||||||||**1 737**| |**Profit/Loss on Investments**|**-**||||||||**-**| ||**-**||||||||**-**| |**_Sub total_**_(Gross income for_
_AR)_|**830**||||||||**4 696**| ||||||||||| |**A2 Asset and investment sales,**
**(see table).**|||||||||| ||**-**||||||||| ||**-**||||||||_-_| |**_Sub total_**|**-**||||||||_-_| |**_Total receipts_**
**A3 Payments**|||||||||| ||||||||||**4 696**| ||||||||||| |**Restoration expenses**|**2 503**||||||||**1 776**| |**Insurance**|**278**||||||||**630**| |**Computer running costs**|**237**||||||||**133**| |**Subscriptions**|**73**||||||||**69**| |**Accountancy**|||||||||| |**Postage and stationery**|**-**||||||||**-**| |**Printing**|**-**||||||||**-**| |**Event expenses**|||||||||| |**Sundry expenses**|**-**||||||||**-**| |**_Sub total_ **|**3 091**||||||||**2 608**| ||||||||||| |**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_**|||||||||| ||||||||||**2 608**| ||||||||||| ||||||||**- 1 065**||**2 088**| ||||||||**-**||_-_| ||||||||**14 099**||_-_| ||**13 034**||||||**13 034**||| CCXX R1 accounts (SS) 1 |**Section B Statement of assets and liabilities at**|**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**
**M&G Charifund**
**M&G Charifund**
**M&G Charifund**
**Details**
**_Total cash funds_**
(agree balances with receipts and payments
account(s))
**Cash at Bank**
**Details**
**M&G Charifund**
**Details**
**Details**
**_D R Beveridge_**
Signature
**_D A Evans_**|**Unrestricted**
**funds**
**Restricted**
**funds**
**to nearest £**
**to nearest £**
**13 034**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**13 034**
**-**
OK
OK
**Unrestricted**
**funds**
**Restricted**
**funds**
**to nearest £**
**to nearest £**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**Fund to which**
**asset belongs**
**Cost (optional)**
**Long Term Fund**
**10 021**
**Investment Fund**
**10 017**
**Life Members**
**3 200**
**Special Donations**
**7 395**
**-**
**Fund to which**
**asset belongs**
**Cost (optional)**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**Fund to which**
**liability relates**
**Amount due**
**(optional)**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**
Print Name
**David Evans**
**David Beveridge**|**Endowment**
**funds**
**to nearest £**| ||||**-**| ||||**-**| ||||**-**| ||||**-**| ||||OK| ||||**Endowment**
**funds**
**to nearest £**| ||||**-**| ||||**-**| ||||**-**| ||||**-**| ||||**-**| ||||**-**| ||||**Current value**
**(optional)**| ||||**9 785**| ||||**9 782**| ||||**3 125**| ||||**7 225**| ||||**-**| ||||**Current value**
**(optional)**| ||||**-**| ||||**-**| ||||**-**| ||||**-**| ||||**-**| ||||**-**| ||||**-**| ||||**-**| ||||**-**| ||||**When due**
**(optional)**| ||||| ||||| ||||| ||||| ||||| ||||| ||||Date of
approval| ||**_D A Evans_**|**David Evans**|**21/01/2025**| ||**_D R Beveridge_**|**David Beveridge**|**21/01/2025**| CCXX R2 accounts (SS) 2