2025-03-31-accounts

Bristol (Adventure) Unit of the Sea Cadet Corps

TRUSTEES’ ANNUAL REPORT

AND FINANCIAL STATEMENTS

YEAR ENDED 31[st] MARCH 2025

CHARITABLE INCORPORATED ORGANISATION NUMBER: 1203491

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Table of Contents

1	Introduction ................................................................................................................. 3
	1.1 Aim of the Sea Cadet Corps ............................................................................................. 3
	1.2 Charitable Purpose ......................................................................................................... 3
	1.3 Public Benefit .................................................................................................................. 3
2	Chairperson’s Report ................................................................................................... 5
	2.1 Unit President ................................................................................................................. 5
	2.2 Annual Review ................................................................................................................. 5
	2.3 Operational key achievements ........................................................................................ 6
	2.4 Trustees’ key achievements ............................................................................................ 8
	2.5 Challenges ...................................................................................................................... 8
	2.6 Recruitment ................................................................................................................... 10
	2.7 Thank you to our Volunteers! .......................................................................................... 10
3	Commanding Officer’s Report .................................................................................... 11
	3.1 Headlines ....................................................................................................................... 11
	3.2 Cadet numbers .............................................................................................................. 11
	3.3 Cadet Achievement in Numbers ..................................................................................... 11
	3.4 Other Cadet experiences ................................................................................................ 11
	3.5 Cadet Competitions ....................................................................................................... 12
	3.6 Cadet Force Adult Volunteer (CFAVs) .............................................................................. 12
	3.7 Plans already in place for next year ................................................................................. 12
4	Legal and Administrative Information ......................................................................... 13
	4.1 Charity Details ............................................................................................................... 13
	4.2 Trustees ......................................................................................................................... 13
5	Financial Statements ................................................................................................. 14
	5.1 Receipts and payments for the year to 31st March 2025 .................................................... 14
	5.2 Statement of Assets and Liabilities ................................................................................. 15
	5.3 Restricted Funds ............................................................................................................ 15
	5.4 Minibus .......................................................................................................................... 15
	5.5 Reserves Policy .............................................................................................................. 16
	5.6 Acknowledgements ........................................................................................................ 17
	5.7 Approval......................................................................................................................... 17

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1 Introduction

The Charity Trustees hereby present their report together with the financial statements of the charity for the year ended 31[st] March 2025. The financial statements comply with both the Charity’s Constitution and the Charities Act 2022.

The Charity is governed by “The Sea Cadet Standard Constitution as a Charitable Incorporated Organisation (CIO)” dated May 2020 and was registered as a CIO on the 9[th] June 2023. Day to day operations transferred from the unincorporated charity to the CIO on 1[st] October 2023. The assets from the previous Charity, Number 301663, were transferred to the CIO during the final calendar quarter of 2023. However, a small income stream continued to flow into the old charities account which was transferred in year. The unincorporated Charity will be wound down in due course once we have received final Gift Aid payments from HMRC.

1.1 Aim of the Sea Cadet Corps

The aim of the Sea Cadets Corps is to give young people the best possible head start in life, through nautical adventure and fun.

1.2 Charitable Purpose

The charitable purpose of the Unit is to promote the development of young people in achieving their physical, intellectual and social potential as individuals and as responsible citizens. This is achieved by the provision of education and leisure time activities using a nautical theme, based on the traditions of the Royal Navy and in accordance with the principles, ethos and practices of the Marine Society & Sea Cadets (MSSC).

In furtherance of the Purpose, the Unit offers young people a structured environment in which to develop; provides access to education and training including sailing, rowing, windsurfing, paddle sports, power boating, seamanship, navigation, marine engineering, cooking, music, first aid, drill, piping, and public services; it provides opportunities for young people to obtain a range of qualifications and a wide range of opportunities for community involvement.

1.3 Public Benefit

The trustees adhere to the Charity Commission’s guidance on public benefit, as it relates to the Sea Cadets movement's charitable purpose, as outlined in this report.

TS Adventure aims to recruit young people from all backgrounds and abilities, including individuals with disabilities, within Health and Safety guidelines. The Unit promotes the development of young people in achieving their physical, intellectual and social potential as individuals and responsible citizens in a safe environment. To achieve this the Unit takes young people from all backgrounds, including where possible those with disabilities and develops their skills and abilities by:

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• Regular and structured activities with a nautical theme.

• Allowing young people to take part in activities connected with the wider Sea Cadet movement such as waterborne activities, events and competitions at district, area and national levels.

• Availability of formal educational achievements whilst taking courses to earn badges and promotions.

• Attainment of industry-recognised qualifications and skills.

Sea Cadet Contributions are kept to a minimum to ensure all those who wish to take part in the activities of the Unit may do so.

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2 Chairperson’s Report

This is the second report I make following the change in status from unincorporated charity to Charitable Incorporated Organisation (CIO). It is worth recapping the reasons for the change:

• (1) To enable our lease to be associated with a legal entity and mitigate substantial costs associated with changes in signatories due to the natural turnover of Trustees within the Unit. Bristol City Council charged us £1,000 for the most recent assignment.

• (2) The Trustees plan to undertake significant improvements to our current premises. Since the relocation to Avon Quay in 1965, there has been minimal investment in these facilities. To raise substantial funds, it should be expected that any significant grants and donations will only be made to organisations registered as incorporated legal entities into which investments can be deposited and managed well. Transitioning to a CIO meets these requirements.

2.1 Unit President

I reported last year that our previous President of the unit, Brigadier Tom Lang, who supported the unit over many years passed away in August 2024.

Despite approaching a number of influential people within our catchment area of Bristol, we haven’t yet found anyone who can appropriately take the reins. Our search continues.

2.2 Annual Review

The Strategic Defence Review sets out the UK’s Defence Strategy over the forthcoming 10 to 15 years in terms of Policies, Priorities and Capabilities.

In recent years there have been significant cutbacks in funding towards the Sea Cadets from the Ministry of Defence. However, because of this recent Strategic Defence Review there are indications that those cutbacks may well be reversed.

For the first time, the Cadet Forces have been featured specifically in the review. This is likely owing to a significant and continued reduction over the past 20 to 30 years in Youth Organization involvement in Cadet Forces.

There is compelling evidence which demonstrates the benefit to children and young people through involvement and membership of Cadet Forces.

Additionally, as the worldwide political landscape becomes more volatile, with more conflicts and threat to peace, the need for greater military resilience has been recognized by the government.

It makes sense, therefore, to support Cadet Forces in order to promote interest in children and young people with regards to potential future careers within the armed forces.

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Accordingly, the government has set a target to increase Cadet force numbers by 30% over the next couple of years, which represents an increase from 14,000 to 21,000 nationally.

Here at TS Adventure, we embrace this new focus and looking forward to doing our part in meeting the challenge.

Through the work of the past few years, the Unit has finds itself back in a stable financial position and as such the Trustees have been able to increase the cash set aside in our unrestricted reserves.

2.3 Operational key achievements

TS Adventure had a successful year with notable achievements from all quarters:

• Unit Achievements and Challenges : The Trustees were successful in raising additional funding towards providing for a replacement Minibus. Market conditions are such that over the time taken to raise the funds, the second-hand market for minibuses has become more of a buyers market. So much so that as we close out the year (with a fund of £33,000) we now think we can replace our single non-CAZ compliant minibus with two replacement minibuses. One that all Instructors can drive and another larger minibus also capable of towing.

• Area and District Performance : TS Adventure is recognized as one of the topperforming units in the South West Area, with strong community engagement and a highly effective command structure. The unit's location on the water, central to the South West Area, provides a convenient and high profile venue for both District and Area events.

• Endorsements and Recommendations : Both the Area Officer and Captain endorsed TS Adventure's performance, acknowledging the unit's ability to operate well despite challenges. The unit was awarded a BURGEE reflecting its strong performance and ambitious future plans.

• Bristol (Knowle) Sea Cadets: It has been agreed that Bristol (Knowle) Sea Cadets will close within the first half of next fiscal year. TS Adventure have been asked to spin up a satellite site close to Knowle. This will require quite a lot of effort from the UMT but also adds to the case for a second minibus. (see above)

• Unit Management Assurance (UMA): The Unit performed well during our annual audit. There is still room for improvement, but since COVID a lot has been achieved by both Trustees and Instructors to return the Unit back to the exacting governance standards required both by the Sea Cadets and by the Charity Commission.

Recruitment of Volunteer Trustees (along with Instructors and Unit Assistants) remains a challenging task. Word of mouth and working personal contacts seems to be the main route to finding new volunteers. Public advertising outside of the Sea Cadet environment generally fails.

Following the departure last year of both Treasurer and our Premises Trustee, we have been seeking replacements. The appointment of a first new Treasurer proved unsuccessful.

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However, with appropriate dispensations from the Area office Elizabeth Millsted (a parent of a current senior cadet) agreed to take on the role and was formally adopted as a Trustee in January. Whilst not formally trained as an accountant, Elizabeth has had to run the books for her own business over the years and as such is very familiar with the necessary bookkeeping requirements.

After 18 years volunteering for the Sea Cadets we are sad to report that our long-term Secretary Sarah Hacker has decided to step down and as the year end approached, formally resigned in March. The UMT thanks Sarah for her many years of service and support to the Sea Cadets.

I’m pleased to report that Sarah has subsequently been replaced by Caroline Bullen who was formally adopted as a new Trustee and Secretary shortly after the year ended in July 2025. Caroline recently retired as an Inspector with Avon and Somerset Police. She also comes with previous experience as a reservist in the Queen Alesandra’s Royal Naval Nursing Service.

A further individual has shown a willingness to take on the Premises role. I hope to report his adoption to the UMT next year.

Now that we appear to have filled and identified personnel for the key Trustee roles at TS Adventure, we plan to focus on recruiting for two further appointments.

• A Trustee who can focus on Fundraising

• A Trustee with an HR/Recruitment background

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2.4 Trustees’ key achievements

• Finally received acknowledgement from the Land Registry that the transfer of the lease to the CIO had been completed.

• Recruited new Treasurer and Secretary

• Recruited a Premises Manager

• Six additional parents volunteered and were successfully onboarded as Unit Assistants

• • Created a pipeline of new instructors for FY25-26

• • Close to the appointment of a Trustee to oversee our Premises

• • These New Financial Platforms have transformed the Sea Cadet experience for parents and Trusteees alike.

• GoCardless Direct Debit subscriptions

• o Sumup Card payments o On-line Shop/Store

• The QuickBooks Accounting package was deemed to cumbersome for our needs and we reverted to the Sea Cadets Accounting package

• • Negotiated our way out of a very expensive 3 year energy contract saving at least £8,000 per annum.

• • A second and third Smart Meter were installed. Finally have on-line readings!

• • Installed a very cost-effective energy monitoring system that reports our energy use in real time producing historical data for review. (Energy continues to be our biggest outgoing.)

• Significant progress almost doubling the funding raised for a replacement Minibus (due to the Clean Air Zone)

• £5,000 from Nisbet’s Family Trust

• £16,000 from Bristol City Council (as part of the CAZ programme)

2.5 Challenges

Boat operating costs

Bristol Harbour Authority have been going through their own re-organisation this past year. So much so that the overtones they previously made to unilaterally withdraw from our existing longstanding arrangement on boat licences have not re-emerged this past year. Therefore, TS Adventure continue to maintain our own pontoons in return for concessions on licences. This saves us circa £5,500 per annum in boat licences.

Harbour Development proposals

Following further consultation, the following plans were adopted in full by Bristol City Council.

• Bristol Harbour Place Shaping Strategy

• The Western Harbour Development

• The Local Plan

In the medium to long term they may significantly impact the Sea Cadets operations on Avonquay.

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The good news is that TS Adventure has a further 11 years to run on our lease. However, our home on Avon Quay lies inside all three of these plans.

We’ve continued discussions with our neighbours and other youth organisations who use the Harbour and are making progress in finding opportunities to share our premises with other community organisations. This is a key requirement of our Community Asset Transfer lease and associated Service Agreement.

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2.6 Recruitment

Everyone associated with TS Adventure has a skill that can be put to good use. More than at any time before, we are going to require the goodwill of many to help us through our many challenges.

This year saw more significant parental and adult engagement than in previous recent years. This is really good new. We plan to continue to drive for new Cadet Force Adult Volunteers (CFAVs) over the coming years to allow us to grow the unit to provide our services to more future Cadets. Our expansion to replace the closing of Knowle is obviously key to its success. As ever, more Volunteers equals more capacity to train even more Cadets!

2.7 Thank you to our Volunteers!

No Annual Report would be complete without acknowledging the efforts and dedicated service of the adult volunteers who make the unit a success. For any Sea Cadet Unit to succeed it is fully reliant on its teams to work together.

In this modern age, time is a precious commodity and as with all teaching and training environments there is much that goes on behind the scenes, outside of parade times and over weekends that is not observed but makes the difference.

This year has been a further year of regeneration, change and renewed growth in all areas, but particularly pleasing in the start of some great parental engagement and the recruitment of some new Trustees with fresh ideas.

However, at the core of delivering the Cadet Experience are both the uniformed and nonuniformed civilian instructors and a few key unit assistants. Without these individuals, nothing would operate as smoothly as it does. They know who they are and my grateful thanks and that of the whole UMT goes out to them.

All still have one common aim. That of delivering the best experience for our young people.

Finally, a very big “Thank You” goes out to ALL volunteers for your commitment and continued support as we look forward to another successful year here at TS Adventure.

Mr Tim Moran, Chair of Trustees

Signature: …………...……...………… Date…………………………….

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3 Commanding Officer’s Report

3.1 Headlines

• Overall, another busy but successful year

• A lot for everyone at the unit to be proud of

• A fantastic Summer Camp

• Instructor availability remains a major challenge

• Behind the scenes work preparing to launch TS Endeavour (Knowle replacement)

• Successful drive to get parents registered and using the portal and other new systems

3.2 Cadet numbers

	Seniors	RMC	Juniors	Total
Numbers	40	4	13	57

Numbers remain lower than nominal unit capacity. However, the number of instructors remains the limiting factor on growth, but there appears to be some light at the end of the tunnel.

Retention remains very strong (160% of the national average) other than in the RM section. Otherwise a good indicator of success. The Blues grew from 47 to 53 over the year. But sadly this was offset by the reduction in RM cadets.

3.3 Cadet Achievement in Numbers

• Cadet Advancements (promotions)

• 50 promotions (to Cdt 1[st] Class or higher)

• o Up 15 from last year

• Qualifications

o 238 qualifications gained by cadets

• Up 5 from last year

• Boating hours

• Average of 38 hours per cadet

• o Up by a massive 17 hours from last year

3.4 Other Cadet experiences

• Remembrance Parade Sunday

• Unit Christmas Carol and Presentation Evening

• Cadets Mess Dinner

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3.5 Cadet Competitions

• District drill competition

• District swimming competition

• District Regatta

• National Regatta

• South West Area Regatta

3.6 Cadet Force Adult Volunteer (CFAVs)

	InstructionalStaff	InstructionalStaff	InstructionalStaff	Tl	Other	MT
	Seniors	RMC	Juniors	ota	(UA etc)	U
Total	10	5	2	17	10	6

These numbers need to be caveated slightly, as we have a large number of instructors who attend on an irregular basis, which means these numbers don’t reflect reality on a “normal” unit night. However, I am a firm advocate of flexible volunteering and it should be recognised that whilst this is essential to supporting volunteers for all walks of life to contribute, it does also mean that total volunteer numbers don’t reflect our actual instructional capacity.

Working out a rough “Full Time Equivalent” figure (which for us is based on two nights every week), this means in practice we have around 12 instructors across all sections of the unit on a weekly basis – not 22 – noting this also doesn’t account for those with additional responsibilities on top of instructing cadets (e.g. CO, UTO, etc).

This just highlights the importance of finding more volunteers, if we intend to continue to grow cadet numbers and maintain the high standards that we aim to deliver for cadet training.

3.7 Plans already in place for next year

• Unit Sponsored Rowathon, 15[th] June

• Area Regatta, 6[th] July

• Bristol Harbour Festival, 20[th] – 21[st] July

• Unit Camp: Penzance, Cornwall, 18[th] -23[rd] August

• Unit Junior Weekend, 7[th] to 8[th] September

• Plus more competitions!

S/Lt (SCC) James Painton RNR, Commanding Officer

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4 Legal and Administrative Information

President: Vacant

Parent & Supporters Gavin Purchase Association Chairperson: Holding (Custodian) The Marine Society & Sea Cadets (MSSC) Trustees: Bank: Lloyds Bank plc (Treasurer’s Account) Independent Examiner: Ms Jill Sandford

4.1 Charity Details

Charity Name: Bristol (Adventure) Unit of the Sea Cadets Corps Charity Status: Charitable Incorporated Organisation Registered Charity No: 1203491 Registered Office and TS Adventure Sea Cadets Operational Address: Deal Cottage Avon Quay Cumberland Basin Bristol BS1 6XL Telephone Number: 0117 929 0356 Email: [e-mail] Website: www.sea-cadets.org/bristoladventure

4.2 Trustees

Chair: Mr Tim Moran Vice-Chair: Mr Steve Hornsby Treasurer: Mrs Elizabeth Millsted (elected 13[th] January 2025) Secretary: Ms Sarah Hacker (resigned 24[th] March 2025) Commanding Officer: S/Lt (SCC) James Painton RNR Chaplain: Chaplain (SCC) Roy Lane RNR

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5 Financial Statements

The financial statements have been prepared on a Cash Accounting basis.

5.1 Receipts and payments for the year to 31[st] March 2025

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5.2 Statement of Assets and Liabilities

5.3 Restricted Funds

Within the year, the unit received two further restricted grants towards a replacement minibus from Bristol City Council of £16,000 and The Nisbet Trust of £5,000. Overall restricted funds now total £33,000 and have been donated/gifted as follows:

• Bristol City Council £16,000 - The Nisbet Trust £5,000 - The Gosling Foundation £5,000 - The Merchant Venturers £5,000 - The Port of Bristol £1,000 - 29th May 1961 Trust £1,000

Total Restricted Funds £33,000

Unrestricted / Restricted Funds £23,442.28 £33,000.00

5.4 Minibus

The Unit owns a minibus with a current sale value of £8,000 as of 31[st] March 2025. We intend to part exchange this vehicle when acquiring a new minibus in the coming year.

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5.5 Reserves Policy

The trustees continue to review the charity’s requirements for reserves, the main risk to the organisation being a shock reduction of income from a pandemic as was the case with COVID-19.

The Trustees determined that unrestricted Cash Reserves should be maintained at no less than £12,500 in FY23/24 and have increased this to £15,000 for this year.

After inflation, this is roughly equivalent to six months expenditure based on our current run rate.

Throughout this year (and as last year) our finances have continued to improve, and this target is now comfortabley been exceeded as at 31[st] March 2025.

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5.6 Acknowledgements

Bristol (Adventure) Unit of the Sea Cadets Corps would like to publicly acknowledge and thank the following organisations and donors for their financial support during 2023/2024.

List of benefactors:

• The Nisbet Trust

• The Gosling Foundation

• The Merchant Venturers

• [th] May 1961 Trust

• The Port of Bristol

• The Pride of Bristol Trust

Thank you all for your commitment and continued support.

5.7 Approval

The financial statements were approved by the Board of Trustees at their meeting on 15th September 2025 and were signed on their behalf by:

Mr Tim Moran, Chair of Trustees and Elizabeth Millstes, Treasurer

Signatures: …………...……...…………

Date 23[rd] September 2025

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