**t** ## **Sustainable Duddon** ## **Annual Chair Report 01.01.25 - 31.12.25** ## **Annual report -Sustainable Duddon** ## **Trustees** Reg Charity No: 1208017 Adrianne Calsy Underwood Cottage Shelley Hackett (treasurer) Bank End Gillian Brown Broughton-in-Furness John Roger Sutton LA20 6DR Jacqueline Ann Lancaster (chair) ## **Structure & Governance** The charity is administered and managed in conformity with a scheme sealed by the Charity Commission on 26th April 2024. When a vacancy arises, for new trustees are discussed and if appropriate suggestions approached. to the charity is on an ad hoc basis, and experience is gained by Induction regular trustee and the supply of relevant charity commission attending meetings, publications. ## **Objectives** The advancement of environmental protection or improvement and to promote sustainable development for the benefit of the public by: (a) the preservation, conservation and protection of the environment and the prudent use of resources. (b) the of waste recycling, use of recycled products and the use of promotion reduction, surplus. (c) the promotion of sustainable means of achieving economic growth and regeneration. (d) To promote, for the benefit of the public, the conservation, protection and improvement of the physical and natural environment by biodiversity. The of promoting definition sustainable development is as follows: “Sustainable development means development which meets the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future to generations meet their own needs.” ## **Activity** 2025 has been a busy year for Sustainable Duddon in terms of projects, achievements and grant funding. As part of the Duddon Catchment Partnership, working with collaboratively SCRT, DRA, SLRSG, we have coordinated volunteers via various What App groups depending on their interest. We have been successful in funding bids from the following organisations: - W&F – King’s Coronation Community Orchard Fund - to extend our orchard - Eden Project – Big Lunch, for a thank you event for our Balsam Bashers - CGP Trust - for Balsam Bashing equipment & PPE - Copeland Community (CCF)- for website development and comms Foundation - strategy - Harvest Community Supper - for a sustainable food supper for all volunteers and local community Plus, support in kind from - Forth Engineering - to replace a lost water monitoring collar, 3D printed a replacement. - We Are Digital - for website development. The above funding has allowed us the to ‘get on’ with projects safely and flexibility professionally, whilst rewarding our 50+ volunteers for their hard work and dedication. Here are the various projects broken down into the activity ## **Community Orchard** - The orchard is located in a field next to Kepplewray Trust. Originally we had 12 x M25 apple trees, kindly funded by CGP Trust, plus 400 native edible hedging plants from the Woodland Trust. The first few harvest of apples were donated to Kepplewray for Broughton school dinners plus a few given away at Millom and Broughton Show to promote the orchard. - In 2025, we were successful in a bid for the W&F Kings Coronation Community Orchard Fund to purchase another 45 trees, tree stakes, tags, guards etc plus maintenance to the dry stone wall and wooden signage for the orchard. I am pleased to say all the work has been completed and we plan to have a Community Apple Day in Autumn 2026. ## **Community Garden** - The kitchen garden at Ulpha school is still being maintained but with the lack of regular volunteers, the beds are managed by individuals on a ‘crop share’ basis. - It has also been used as nursery for young trees before they are planted on our various local projects. ## **Litter picking** - There are regular litter picks in the following areas: - A595 from High Cross to Duddon Bridge - The Duddon Valley from Bank End to Ulpha - Ulpha to Seathwaite - A593 from Broughton to the Broughton Mills turning - Broadlands to The Green - The Green to The Hill - Plus, individuals have gone out independently. - The equipment from the LDNPA and Copeland has helped this activity to be performed in a safe manner. ## **Website** - One of the success stories for this year has been the website development, which enables us to showcase what we do and promote the Duddon area. This has been funded by CCF, as detailed above. - We Are Digital have built the site and provided training for SD to maintain its evolving content, add events and promote local businesses. They also contributed their time and expertise to the value of £1200 to help fund this project. - As part of this initiative, we have started a You Tube channel to air the footage obtained via our nature cameras. - The weather stations at Woodend and School Ellis have also been incorporated into the site, giving ‘live’ weather data. ## **Local Community Engagement** - We have attended the following shows to help promote awareness and encourage volunteers - Thwaites Gala in June and Millom and Broughton Show in August. - This is an opportunity to engage with potential new volunteers and let the community know what has been happening in the area. ## **Active Travel** - Adrianne has been busy with the active travel route from Barrow to the Esk, which has a new name - BEAT Route. There is a real appetite for collaboration from all stakeholders to promote a safe, accessible active travel route for walkers, cyclists and horse riders. ## **Duddon Catchment Partnership** - The partnership continues to thrive, this involves Sustainable Duddon, South Cumbria Rivers trust (SCRT), Duddon Rivers Association (DRA), South Lakes Red Squirrel Group (SLRSG). - This has definitely helped with some of the funding bids to help promote a safe working environment with the relevant equipment. - In 2025 we continued to: - Maintain 50 squirrel and mink traps to manage invasive species. - Carry out water monitoring each week, helping to build data on our local rivers. This is held in a publicly available database (Survey 123) - Continue to record fauna and flora via INaturalist, project Duddon Catchment Wildlife - Set up nature cameras in key areas and use the footage for our You Tube channel - Continue MoRPh surveys to map the condition of our local rivers. - Promote Balsam bashing from June to September to try to control this invasive species -nearly 250,000 plants pulled with 50 volunteers. - Continue to record data from our acoustic monitors for bats and natterjack toads - Engage with Mussel Tagging at the Freshwater Biological Facility, over 500 mussels tagged ready to go into the River Kent, Kendal - From the work above, we have confirmed sightings and footage of four different areas in the Duddon where red squirrels have been seen for the first time in over 10 years. ## **Thermal Imaging Camera** - The thermal imaging service is still available but has not been as popular as we first thought, approx. 10 homes have been surveyed. - The camera has been useful to help detect the presence of birds and mammals, especially during the breeding season. ## **Weather Stations** - The two weather stations are fully operational with the ability to see ‘live’ weather data on our website. ## **Social Media** - There are regular posts on social media for Sustainable Duddon and the Duddon Catchment Partnership showing events, activities and achievements plus lots of images. ## **Networking and Thank You Events** - With the help of the funding above we have been able to run two thank you events for all our volunteers with a Venison BBQ plus vegetarian option and a harvest supper, using some of the produce from our community garden and orchard. This was also promoted to the wider community to help secure more volunteers or locals who are just interested in what we are doing. ## **Geological Disposal Facility (GDF)** - We are no longer part of the GDF Community Panel, but we are involved with the NWS NGO Exchange Mechanism. One of our Trustees plays an active part in discussion providing an environmental and local community aspect. Therefore, I conclude that 2025 has been an eventful year with lots of activity and engagement which helps secure the future of Sustainable Duddon. I will be stepping down as Chair in 2026, although I will remain as a Trustee. Jackie Lancaster Sustainable Duddon - Chair ## **Sustainable Duddon Income & Expenditure account 01/01/25-31/12/25** ## **INCOME** **INCOME** Donations £ 447.76 Grants (see note 1) £ 11,154.75 **TOTAL INCOME** £ 11,602.51 **EXPENDITURE** Orchard Costs (see note 2) £ 2,683.43 Thank you gift £ 99.00 Agricultural Show costs £ 84.00 Apple Grafting course £ 86.70 Community lunch & Supper (see note 2) £ 303.41 **TOTAL EXPENDITURE** £ 3,256.54 Surplus Income over expenditure 2025 £ 8,345.97 Surplus income over expenditure brought forward £ 2,931.46 **TOTAL FUNDS @ 31/12/25** £ 11,277.43 **Shelley Hackett** ## Notes - 1 Futureproof Cumbria- Community lunch & supper £350 National Lottery Provision of equipment and PPE-£9800 CGP Ltd -to support Himalayan Balsam removal £1004.75 - 2 Orchard Costs funded from Coronation Community Orchard grant 2024 Community meals funded from Futureproof grants Treasurer