## **Blue Spirit** ## **Charity registration number: 1201278** ## **Trustees’ Annual Report for the period** ## **09/12/2022 to 05/04/2024** ## **Legal Information** **Charity information:** 1201278 **Structure:** Registered Charity **Address:** 5 Dilston Avenue, Hexham, Northumberland, NE46 1JE ## **Trustees during reporting period:** Jennifer Lees (known as Solen) Chair of Trustees Nina Emett Leda Dadkhah Stuart Page Lily-Mae Kroese Jemma Willins Stephen Castle Until June 2023 Christina Hawkes-Blackburn 26 March 2024 onwards (known as Amber) ## **Objectives and Activities** ## **The objects of the CIO are:** To advance in life and relieve the needs of young people experiencing or at risk of experiencing poor mental health and/or from socially and economically disadvantaged backgrounds through: - (a) The provision of recreational and leisure time activities in subsidized sailing experiences provided in the interest of social welfare, designed to improve their conditions of life; - (b) Providing support and activities which develop their skills, capacities and capabilities to enable them to participate in society as mature and responsible individuals. ## **Main activities** Blue Spirit enabled sailing experiences for around 60 young people, mostly through community groups and voluntary organisations that work with young people in the North East of England. Between May and August 2023, Blue Spirit reached 46 young people through several activities, provided by three sail training organisations: - A weekend voyage with Ocean Youth Trust North (OYTN) on board James Cook - A five-day voyage with OYTN on board James Cook - An activity day with Derwent Reservoir Sailing Club (DRSC) where a group of 15 young people tried dinghy sailing and paddleboarding - A 5-day voyage for an individual bursary recipient on board the Cirdan Sailing Trust’s vessel Duet - A five-day voyage with the Cirdan Trust on board Faramir We ran a second activity day on 2nd April 2024 at DRSC for 14 young people. ## **Statement** The charity trustees have complied with the duty in section 4 of the 2006 Act to have due regard to guidance on public benefit published by the Commission. ## **Achievements and Performance** Research has shown that just being in blue spaces (like the sea) can have a positive effect on stress reduction and wellbeing and sailing itself also has multiple benefits, such as helping develop essential life skills and increasing self-confidence and resilience. Feedback given by young people after their experiences consistently shows that young people are getting a lot out of sailing: learning new things such as working in a team and preparing and eating food together, feeling more relaxed and less anxious, creating bonds and having fun. We gather feedback in different ways, most immediately by a post-sail questionnaire given to the young sailors. We also ask group leaders for their own assessment, and especially to tell us their observations of the young people during and after the experience. Some of our sail training partners also have their own feedback form for group leaders, which they share with us. Through maintaining relationships and continuing conversations with our partners, we know that a lasting impact has been felt by young sailors. They have found tools they need to progress and succeed, and make changes in their lives, through the time and space they have had to reflect, a new-found interest, or increased self-confidence. The following case study illustrates Blue Spirit’s impact: _15-year-old Danny has a condition known as ‘brittle bones’. He has also suffered from anxiety, depression, and a lack of self-esteem. He often used his wheelchair, relied on painkillers and self-harmed._ _Before his first sailing experience with Blue Spirit, he took part in activities with our partner Projects4Change, and began to take responsibility, help out, not use his wheelchair as much, and make new friends. He also developed a love of the outdoors. Although Projects4Change staff had observed these changes, they were still surprised when Danny jumped at the chance to go on a weekend residential voyage with Blue Spirit._ _During the trip he pushed himself, testing his capabilities and surprising himself and others with his positive attitude. Since then, he has been surer of his purpose in life. He is setting up a support group for boys to talk about their mental health and do outdoor pursuits, and expressed his ambition to be a youth worker. His progress would not have been so radical without the life-changing experience of sailing._ _The positive change in Danny is visible. He recovers from self-doubt more easily and now has forward momentum in his life now, an understanding of his challenges and new coping mechanisms._ ## **Additional information (optional)** ## **Achievements against objectives set** In 2023, we aimed to: - spread our reach, to form and strengthen partnerships and to allow as many young people meeting our bursary criteria as possible to go sailing. - raise enough funds to be able to operate during the current financial year - finalise and screen our film In his Slipstream and make it available online. We met our goals by: - organizing sailing voyages for community groups and voluntary organisations that work with young people – both existing partners and new contacts. We began working with 2 sail training organisations – Derwent Reservoir Sailing Club and The Cirdan Trust – and continued working with OYTN - submitting several funding applications, more than half of which were successful (although did not award the full amount requested) - organising three successful screenings of our film and photo essay in the UK and they are now available to view online. ## **Financial Review** Review of the charity’s financial position at the end of the period: £11,074 in account Statement explaining the policy for holding reserves stating why they are held: As a relatively young charity run by volunteers, we do not yet have a reserves policy but we only implement activities that we know we can afford and we have very few overheads. Amount of reserves held: £3,883 ## **Structure, Governance and Management** **Type of governing document:** Constitution **How is the charity constituted** ? CIO - charitable incorporated organisation ## **Trustee selection and constitutional provisions** Eligibility for trusteeship - (a) Every charity trustee must be a natural person. - (b) No individual may be appointed as a charity trustee of the CIO: - if he or she is under the age of 16 years; or - if he or she would automatically cease to hold office under the provisions of clause [12 (1) (e)]. - (c) No one is entitled to act as a charity trustee whether on appointment or on any re-appointment until he or she has expressly acknowledged, in whatever way the charity trustees decide, his or her acceptance of the office of charity trustee. - (d) At least one of the trustees of the CIO must be 18 years of age or over. If there is no trustee aged at least 18 years, the remaining trustees may only act to call a meeting of the charity trustees, or appoint a new charity trustee. ## **Number of charity trustees** - (e) There must be at least three charity trustees. If the number falls below this minimum, the remaining trustee or trustees may act only to call a meeting of the charity trustees, or appoint a new charity trustee. - (f) The maximum number of charity trustees is 12. The charity trustees may not appoint any charity trustee if as a result the number of charity trustees would exceed the maximum. ## **First charity trustees** The first charity trustees are as follows, and are appointed for the following terms – Jennifer Lees – for 4 years Nina Emett – for 3 years Leda Dadkhah – for 3 years Stuart Page – for 3 years Lily Kroese – for 2 years Stephen Castle – for 2 years Jemma Willins – for 2 years ## **Appointment of charity trustees** Option 1 - (2) Apart from the first charity trustees, every trustee must be appointed for a term of three years by a resolution passed at a properly convened meeting of the charity trustees. - (3) In selecting individuals for appointment as charity trustees, the charity trustees must have regard to the skills, knowledge and experience needed for the effective administration of the CIO. ## **Information for new charity trustees** The charity trustees will make available to each new charity trustee, on or before his or her first appointment: - (a) a copy of the current version of this constitution; and - (b) a copy of the CIO’s latest Trustees’ Annual Report and statement of accounts. ## **Retirement and removal of charity trustees** A charity trustee ceases to hold office if he or she: - (c) retires by notifying the CIO in writing (but only if enough charity trustees will remain in office when the notice of resignation takes effect to form a quorum for meetings); - (d) is absent without the permission of the charity trustees from all their meetings held within a period of six months and the trustees resolve that his or her office be vacated; - (e) dies; - (f) in the written opinion, given to the company, of a registered medical practitioner treating that person, has become physically or mentally incapable of acting as a director and may remain so for more than three months; - (g) is disqualified from acting as a charity trustee by virtue of sections 178-180 of the Charities Act 2011 (or any statutory re-enactment or modification of that provision). - (h) Any person retiring as a charity trustee is eligible for reappointment. A charity trustee who has served for three consecutive terms may not be reappointed for a fourth consecutive term but may be reappointed after an interval of at least one year ## **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)** Jennifer Anne Lees **Position (eg Secretary,** Chair of Trustees **Chair, etc)** Lily Mae Kroese Trustee **Date** 26-11-2024 |**BLUE SPIRIT**|||**1201278**|| |---|---|---|---|---| |**Receipts and payments accounts**||||**CC16a**| |**For the period**
**from**|06/04/2023|**To**|05/04/2024|| |**Section A Receipts and payments**|**Section A Receipts and payments**|**Section A Receipts and payments**|||||||| |---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---| |**A1 Receipts**|**Unrestricted**
**funds**
**to the nearest £**
**7,825.17**
**9,000.00**
**2,150.00**
**1,875.25**
**-**
**0.01**
**-**
**-**||**Restricted**
**funds**
**to the nearest £**
**6,137.00**
**12,554.00**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**||**Funds held**
**Externally**
**to the nearest £**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**8,743.95**
**-**
**-**
**-**||**Total funds**
**to the nearest £**
**13,962.17**
**21,554.00**
**2,150.00**
**1,875.25**
**8,743.95**
**0.01**
**-**
**-**||**Last year**
**to the nearest £**| |Individual donations|**7,825.17**||**6,137.00**||**-**||**13,962.17**||**-**| |Grants|**9,000.00**||**12,554.00**||**-**||**21,554.00**||**-**| |Participant contributions|**2,150.00**||**-**||**-**||**2,150.00**||**-**| |Fundraising/ awareness-raisingevents|**1,875.25**||**-**||**-**||**1,875.25**||**-**| |OYTN Budget|**-**||**-**||**8,743.95**||**8,743.95**||**-**| |Other|**0.01**||**-**||**-**||**0.01**||**-**| ||**-**||**-**||**-**||**-**||**-**| ||**-**||**-**||**-**||**-**||**-**| |**_Sub total_**_(Gross income for_
_AR)_|
**20,850.43**||**18,691.00**||**8,743.95**||**48,285.38**||**-**| ||**-**
**-**||**-**
**-**||**-**
**-**||**-**
**-**||| |**A2 Asset and investment sales,**
**(see table).**|||||||||| ||**-**||**-**||**-**||**-**||| ||**-**||**-**||**-**||**-**||**-**| |**_Sub total_**|**-**||**-**||**-**||**-**||**-**| |**_Total receipts_**
**A3 Payments**|||||||||| ||**20,850.43**||**18,691.00**||**8,743.95**||**48,285.38**||**-**| ||**14,108.05**
**845.89**
**63.75**
**856.12**
**1,008.00**
**85.00**
**-**
**-**
**-**||**4,536.95**
**6,136.95**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**330.24**
**496.05**
**-**||**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**8,743.95**
**-**||**18,645.00**
**6,982.84**
**63.75**
**856.12**
**1,008.00**
**85.00**
**330.24**
**9,240.00**
**-**||| |
Sailing provision foryoung people|**14,108.05**||**4,536.95**||**-**||**18,645.00**||**-**| |Creativeproject(film &photo essay)|**845.89**||**6,136.95**||**-**||**6,982.84**||**-**| |Printing (flyers &poster)|**63.75**||**-**||**-**||**63.75**||**-**| |Event costs:photoprinting|**856.12**||**-**||**-**||**856.12**||**-**| |Event costs: Venue hire|**1,008.00**||**-**||**-**||**1,008.00**||**-**| |VONNE membership|**85.00**||**-**||**-**||**85.00**||**-**| |Website hosting& domain|**-**||**330.24**||**-**||**330.24**||**-**| |OYTN Budget|**-**||**496.05**||**8,743.95**||**9,240.00**||**-**| ||**-**||**-**||**-**||**-**||**-**| |**_Sub total_ **|**16,966.81**||**11,500.19**||**8,743.95**||**37,210.95**||**-**| ||**-**
**-**||**-**
**-**||**-**
**-**||**-**
**-**||| |**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_**|||||||||| ||**16,966.81**||**11,500.19**||**8,743.95**||**37,210.95**||**-**| ||||||||||| ||**3,883.62**||**7,190.81**||**-**||**11,074.43**||**-**| ||**-**|
|**-**|
|**-**||**-**||**-**| ||**-**||**-**||**-**||**-**||**-**| ||**3,883.62**||**7,190.81**||**-**||**11,074.43**||**-**| CCXX R1 accounts (SS) 26/11/2024 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
**B1 Cash funds**
**B2 Other monetary assets**
**B4 Assets retained for the**
**charity’s own use**
**B5 Liabilities**
**B3 Investment assets**|Signature
Balance due for OYTN weekend voyage
May
Balance due for OYTN weekend voyage
June
**Details**
**Details**
**Details**
**Details**
**_Total cash funds_**
(agree balances with receipts and payments
account(s))
**Details**|**Unrestricted**
**funds**
**Restricted**
**funds**
**to nearest £**
**to nearest £**
**3,883.62**
**7,190.81**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**3,883.62**
**7,190.81**
OK
OK
**Unrestricted**
**funds**
**Restricted**
**funds**
**to nearest £**
**to nearest £**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**Fund to which**
**asset belongs**
**Cost (optional)**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**Fund to which**
**asset belongs**
**Cost (optional)**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**Fund to which**
**liability relates**
**Amount due**
**(optional)**
Restricted
**1,980.00**
Restricted
**1,980.00**
**-**
**-**
**-**
Print Name
Jennifer Lees(known as Solen)|**Endowment**
**funds**
**to nearest £**| |---|---|---|---| ||||**-**| ||||**-**| ||||**-**| ||||**-**| ||||OK| ||||**Endowment**
**funds**
**to nearest £**| ||||**-**| ||||**-**| ||||**-**| ||||**-**| ||||**-**| ||||**-**| ||||**Current value**
**(optional)**| ||||
**-**| ||||**-**| ||||**-**| ||||**-**| ||||**-**| ||||**Current value**
**(optional)**| ||||
**-**| ||||**-**| ||||**-**| ||||**-**| ||||**-**| ||||**-**| ||||**-**| ||||**-**| ||||**-**| ||||**When due**
**(optional)**| ||||| ||||| ||||| ||||| ||||| ||||| ||||Date of
approval| |||Jennifer Lees(known as Solen)|
08/04/2024| ||||| CCXX R2 accounts (SS) 26/11/2024 2 CHARITY COMMISSION FOR ENGLAND AND WALES Independent examinerfs report on the accounts Section A Independent Examiner's Report Report to the trusteosl membèrs of Blue Spirit On accounts for the year ended 0510412024 Charity no Irf any) 1201278 Set out on pages 1 arK12 I report to the trustees on my examination of the accounts of the above charity (Ihe Trust") for the year ended OW2024 Responsibiliti￿ and As ttr￿ charity trustees of Trust, you are responsible for the preparation basls of report of the accounts in acCOrdanr￿ with the reqU1￿MentS of the Charities Act 2011 (Ihe Acr). I rewt in resped of my examination of Trust's accounts carried out under section 145 of the 2011 Act and in carying out my examination, I have followed the ap5￿1cab1e Directions given by the Charty Commission under section 145(5){b) of the Act. I have com*ted my examination. I confim that no material matters have come to my attention (other than that disclosed b8low ") in connection with the examination which giv88 me cause to believe that in. any material respect.. accounting records were not kept in accordance with section 130 of the Act or the ac￿Unts do not accord with the accountirKJ records I have no concems and have come across no other matters in connection with the examination to which attention should be drawn in order to enable a proper understarKling of the accounts to be reached. ' Please delete the bwds in the brackets rfthey do not apply. Independent examlnerfs ststement Slgned: 2411112024 Name: MRS SARAH POPPLETON-HALLBERG Relevant professional qualification{s) or body (If any): NIA Address." THE OLD CHAPEL, LANEHEAD, TARSET HEXHAM, NORTHUMBERLAND NE48 1NT IER November 2024 Section B Disclosure Only C1)m￿te rf the examiner needs to highlight matters of concem (see CC32, Independent examination of ¢haiity accourts: directions and guidance for examiners). Glve here brief details of any items that the examiner wlshes to disclose. IER November 2024 CHARITY COMMISSION FOR ENGLAND AND WALES BLUE SPIR 1201278 Receipts and payments accounts CC16a Forth? pgriod To Section A Receipts and payments Unrestrlctsd R•strict lund8 Funds h•ld Externally Totsl funds Last yoar A1 R•c•l Indmdual ¢*J Gr8nts Partiupant corrtrib￿￿S 6,137.(WJ 12A54AI 9,OQO.IN) 1110.NJ 21.554.CK) 1150.fy) 1.875.25 oYtN BLKlget 11.Q1 Sub total(Gross incom8 for AR) A3 48,28S.3B A2 A￿•t and Invo¥knwrt ¥•lM. Is•e table). Sub fotal 20.850.43 18,$91.00 8,743.95 48.285.38 A3Pa Soilin9 W)WSh2n fo-y¢xJng pewe Crn8liv8 m8Cllffilm & pW•s8ayl Pnntsn91fi5*rs & postw) E¥enl costs rknlo pintir¥J Eve￿¢ ￿$l$. ven￿ VONNE M￿bernhiP Webwle hosb & (trfrg oYrN 8ud 14.108.06 4A38.9S fj.130.95 10,845.00 6,982.89 63.75 .12 63.7S 8S6.12 1.(￿1.00 os.tyj 339.24 9.240.(X) 474195 Sub total 14116&06 11Mk).19 47419S 37311.IWJ A4 A8S•t and Inv••tsMnt Urch￿￿. o tsbl• Sub total 16.966.86 11,500.19 8.743.95 37,211.00 Not of rncelpts/(payments) AS Transfers bthieen fund8 A6 Cash funds last yearend Cash funds this year gnd 3.883.57 7,1￿.81 11.074.38 3.883.57 7,190.81 11,074.38 CCXX R1 *¢ounls ISSI 2411112024 Section B Statement of assets and liabilities at the end of the period Unrestricted Restricted funds External fund n6ar8st£ Categorfe8 Detalls to nEare¥t£ B1 Cash funds 3,883.57 7.190.81 Total cash funds 3￿.$7 7.190.81 l(•} External funds to neam%t e fund$ tr* ntharn¥t£ Detsils Fu￿1 tOT*thkh curr•nt￿lUO Detsils FUNI IoT*l4ch C¥nwrtv•lpyJ Detalls B4 A8•0ts rotslnod for th• ¢harlty'• own u•• Fund tQfN*4ch Deta11s 85 Uablliti 1.gKtr.00 1.980.110 Ju SwJned ty tnJ%ts* on behaN (rf al tho trustè85 Pmt Name Date of (kr￿ 85 Soknl 08nJ412024 CCXX P2 aD)Junts ISS} F 21411112lk 2411112024