## **Dean Trail Volunteers 2024-25 Annual Report** **Charity Name:** Dean Trail Volunteers **Charity Number:** 1208988 **Principal Office:** Forest of Dean Cycle Centre, Cannop, Coleford, GL16 7EH ## Charitable Objectives & News - The advancement of the amateur sport of Mountain Biking in the Forest of Dean for the public benefit by the assistance in the provision of facilities for participation in the sport of Mountain Biking at the Forest of Dean Cycle Centre - To promote for the benefit of the public the conservation protection and improvement of the physical and natural environment within the Forest of Dean Cycle Centre - Registered as a charity 4[th] July 2024. - Won the KAVS in October 2024. **Charity Name:** Dean Trail Volunteers **Charity Number:** 1208988 **Principal Office:** Forest of Dean Cycle Centre, Cannop, Coleford, GL16 7EH ## Trustees for the period 2024-25 - Andrew Davies - Dig Coordinator (Chair) - Sara Packer - Secretary (and Deputy Chair) - Ben Herycz – Treasurer - Neil Wheeler - Health & Safety Officer - Ian Officer - Non-Executive Trustee - Alan Grist – Non-Executive Trustee - Rebecca Prayoga - Marketing Officer - Robert Yates - Fundraising Officer **Charity Name:** Dean Trail Volunteers **Charity Number:** 1208988 **Principal Office:** Forest of Dean Cycle Centre, Cannop, Coleford, GL16 7EH ## Volunteering - Total volunteer hours: 3,298 (78% increase from 1,853 hours in 2023) - 219 active volunteers with 32 contributing over 60% of the totals hours - Social events at BPW, Christmas Meal and various Social Rides - Benja wins volunteer award ## Trail Digging - Freeminers Focus - Red Skills Area Opened - Reworked Original Boneyard - Dizzy’s Down - New Start - Velo’s Machine Built Section - New top section - Adit TNT Revamped - Next Period get Freeminers open and look at revamping some DH tracks - FoD Night Riders collab. 281 hours of additional volunteering around Enduro Hill area - More First Aiders trained up and nothing to report for Health and Safety ## Forestry England - Opening of Old Bob a Green accessible trail is great news for the Cycle Centre - Collaboration on the 5 Year Master Plan for trails within the Cycle Centre - Cycle Centre Stats (FY25-26) - Car Parking 134k - Launchpad 107k - Blue Skills 215k - Verderers 73k - Colliers 115k - Old Bob 20k (Oct-Mar) ## Environment - Regular Litter Picks and DeadHedging (new technique for marking boundaries) account for 120h of volunteer time - This activity is highly suitable for corporate events especially when the organisation has environmental goals - Replanting around trails becomes standard practice - Rewilding funding secured from the Friends of the Cotswolds (£2,000) ## Partner Digs - 192 Corporate Social Responsibility hours, primarily with NVIDIA - Digs and generous member benefits from close partner PedalABikeAway • Further collaboration in 2025/26 and growing our CSR programme _“The trail network is the lifeblood of the cycle centre. It is the pull factor that brings people into ride the Forest of Dean. The work that Dean Trail Volunteers do is vital to creating a strong and vibrant riding community, which is why we try to support it through the member benefits and bringing our staff out on quarterly dig days!” Gareth Sheppard Jones (PedalABikeAway)_ ## Inclusive Activities - John Kyrle High School we spent 300h volunteering with kids and teachers. Helped otherwise excluded kids find purpose in a natural environment - Women’s digs continued. Aim to make more permanent feature in 2025/26 improve on 45 hours this year - Disabled bike access project supported by Barnwood Trust funding (£4,400) waiting to fund Adaptive Bike Project - Ongoing support of Duke of Edinburgh popular on Saturday digs ## Fund Raising - Approx. 300h of volunteering at Table Sale and fund-raising events - New larger container has transformed set-up time for monthly Table Sales - £12,293 raised in total, aim to hit £19k in 25/26 and £25k in 26/27 ## Marketing and Communications - Social Media - Followers: Facebook 2.7k, Instagram 4.2k - Email: 231 subscribers - Facebook Group: 81 - YouTube, TikTok, LinkedIn no presence - Objectives for next Financial Year: - Marketing Year Plan integrated comms across platforms and fund raising, supporting volunteer recruitment and volunteer retention - Adopt LinkedIn to target CSR Partners - Reinstate regular comms via Email Newsletters to all groups - New Integrate Website **Charity Name:** Dean Trail Volunteers **Charity Number:** 1208988 **Principal Office:** Forest of Dean Cycle Centre, Cannop, Coleford, GL16 7EH ## IT and Data Protection - Secured a substantial Non-Profit Grant from Microsoft for provision of the Teams platform. With 300 Business Basic licences to provide a secure replacement of the existing disparate systems. This will allow us to store the required membership data and attentional information required for reporting purposes in a fully compliant fashion. - Began a limited pilot project on rollout of Teams which will become focus of FY25-26 - Develop a system on SharePoint for storing and reporting on Volunteer Hours data. - While the current privacy policy was fit for purpose with the move to a membership charity this year this will need addressing in the next financial year period. **Charity Name:** Dean Trail Volunteers **Charity Number:** 1208988 **Principal Office:** Forest of Dean Cycle Centre, Cannop, Coleford, GL16 7EH ## Finance (see also Finances Report) - **Income for the Year:** £47,871 - **Restricted funds (** £21,400 **):** Which includes - £4,400 from Barnwood Trust for disabled bike projects - £2,000 from Friends of the Cotswolds for rewilding project - £15,000 from private donors for Boneyard - **Expenditure for the Year:** £19,409 **Charity Name:** Dean Trail Volunteers **Charity Number:** 1208988 **Principal Office:** Forest of Dean Cycle Centre, Cannop, Coleford, GL16 7EH ## Objectives for FY2025-26 - New Website, Mar/Comms Calendar and Regular Email Updates - Rollout Teams and GDPR Compliant Members Database - New DTV Tracker for capturing Volunteer Hours - Complete Freeminers Revamp - Move to update DH Tracks - Adoption of Enduro Hill trails - Increase Number of Regular Women’s Diggers and Dig Leads - Built the Blow’n’Mow team and launch ahead of Autumn - Recruit Membership Trustee, DPO Trustee and Secretary - Build Volunteering and Donation based Partnerships with CSR Companies - Produce a report on Paid Membership options for vote at 25/26 AGM - Become VAT registered **Charity Name:** Dean Trail Volunteers **Charity Number:** 1208988 **Principal Office:** Forest of Dean Cycle Centre, Cannop, Coleford, GL16 7EH Roceipts and ymonts accounts 31nlY2025 To CC16a Fgrthe ptrknd OIJD712024 Section A Receipts and payments Ilo4tfKl•d Endowm•nl fvnds fvnds L••iy•ar fvThds Al Reetl 272 25T 5•J iijjs lQ471 OJ 47J11 Is•• t*bl•. 26A?1 21.1 71 311 93 91 E￿rts 4$6 431 431 A4 Asset and itsY•slJMnl ur¢has¢s. s••t•b Sub tol•l Nel ofre¢wWfp*ymwtsJ AS Cish lunds ￿$*y*lt¢￿d Cash funds Ihlsyw•nd ££££ Scanned with Camscanner Section B Ststement of assets and liabilities at the end of the period ilnr¢slri¢ted Reslricted ds End•Y4ment fvnds aM51£ C4¢tgori*s D¢tsiL5 81 Cashlunds Yo￿¢1$h fimds lknrestrlol¢d Reslrl•t•d Efftdowmtnl fvr*d¥ fufftd5 fufid$ Ibn•at*#¢ Oelai Drtai15 Cwlopllw B3 Inv•stmint¥ss•ts D•tsds Delails B6 Uablltt1•5 Daltof 1410511 Scanned with Camscanner ## IE ## **Independent examiner's report on the accounts** **Section A Independent Examiner’s Report** |**Report to the trustees**
**On accounts for the**
**period**
**Set out on pages**|Dean Trail Volunteers|Dean Trail Volunteers|Dean Trail Volunteers| |---|---|---|---| ||||| ||4thJuly 2024 to 31stMarch 2025|**Charity no**
**(if any)**|1208988| ||||| ||(remember to include the page numbers of additional sheets)||| I report to the trustees on my examination of the accounts of the above charity (“the Trust”) for the period 4[th] July 2024 to 31 March 2025. **Responsibilities and** As the charity's trustees, you are responsible for the preparation of the **basis of report** accounts in accordance with the requirements of the Charities Act 2011 (“the Act”). I report in respect of my examination of the Trust’s accounts carried out under section 145 of the 2011 Act and in carrying out my examination, I have followed all the applicable Directions given by the Charity Commission under section 145(5)(b) of the Act. **Independent** I have completed my examination. I confirm that no material matters have **examiner's statement** come to my attention in connection with the examination which gives me cause to believe that in, any material respect: - the accounting records were not kept in accordance with section 130 of the Charities Act; or - the accounts did not accord with the accounting records; or - the accounts did not comply with the applicable requirements concerning the form and content of accounts set out in the Charities (Accounts and Reports) Regulations 2008 other than any requirement that the accounts give a ‘true and fair’ view which is not a matter considered as part of an independent examination. I have no concerns and have come across no other matters in connection with the examination to which attention should be drawn in this report in order to enable a proper understanding of the accounts to be reached. **Signed: Date:** 16/03/2026 **Name:** Felicity Sang **Relevant professional** FCA **qualification(s) or body (if any):** **Address:** Hazlewoods LLP, Staverton Court, Staverton, GL51 0UX **Oct 2018** 1 **IER** ## **Section B Disclosure** Only complete if the examiner needs to highlight material matters of concern (see CC32, Independent examination of charity accounts: directions and guidance for examiners). **Give here brief details of any items that the examiner wishes to disclose** . **Oct 2018** 2 **IER**