Sail HYSTS Annual Report 2025 Registered Charity No. 1211605 www.hysts.co.uk
ANNUAL REPORT 2025
Objectives and Achievements
" Children are the world's most valuable resource and its best hope for the future." - John F. Kennedy
During 2024 the trustees of The Havant Youth Sail Training Scheme a UK charity registered under number 278412 decided to convert the charity from unincorporated status to a Charitable Incorporated Organisation (CIO). The Charity Commission (CC) approved the scheme’s application and a new charity in the form of a CIO with charity number 1211605 and official title of Havant Youth sail Training Scheme - Sail HYSTS was formed on the 8th January 2025 and operates under the working name of Sail HYSTS. The CC then gave permission for the transfer of assets and liabilities; the Scheme then transferred all operations to Sail HYSTS on the 5[th] of September 2025. The transfer of assets and responsibiliRes to Sail HYSTS is noted in the CC Register of Mergers, and the former charity (278412) was dissolved on the merger date. The CIO structure provides modern governance and gives the trustees similar responsibiliRes and protecRon as the directors of a limited company. As far as our volunteers, instructors and young sailors are concerned, there is liWle noRceable change. This report covers the joint acRviRes of charity numbers 278412 and 1211605 throughout 2025.
The objectives of Sail HYSTS are aligned with those of the charity it replaced which are primarily to help young people from the age of 8 years old to achieve their potential through the provision of sailing opportunities and qualifications as a challenging activity. Our mission is to give young people, aged 8 to 18 from all backgrounds and abilities, the chance to enjoy dinghy sailing in a safe, fun, and structured environment without having to hire or buy equipment.
Not only can young people learn to sail, but they will also grasp the essentials of water safety. They will be part of a team, honing leadership and social skills, and experiencing personal growth—all while having fun on the water.
It is probably accurate to compare the year of genesis of the Havant Youth Sailing Training Scheme with this, our 51[st] year. Both years heralded innovative ideas and the extensive and necessary actions required to achieve a successful outcome. This year a new Constitution was written along with extensive amendment of existing documentation and the generation of new documents covering a wide range of subjects necessary to govern and manage a sailing charity in the modern age. A new bank account was required but trying to open a new account with our existing banker proved extremely problematic and we therefore choose another.
Running in parallel with all these changes and challenges, negotiations were proceeding with Hampshire County Council to purchase the actual sailing base and arrange a 10-year lease on the boat compound. Much of the success of this, our year of change, can be attributed to three people Bill, our Principal, Nigel our Bosun and Ken our Treasurer, who all worked hard, diligently and with great patience to achieve the various stages of transformation that were required.
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Sail HYSTS Annual Report 2025 Registered Charity No. 1211605 www.hysts.co.uk
In September we were delighted and pleased to welcome the then Master of The Worshipful Company of Fuellers, Elena Oderstone to Sail HYSTS. Elena spent a whole sunny day with us attending the kitting out of the young people and then going afloat in one of the safety boats. On completion she observed the debriefing and then presented Tom, the young man’s first day, with an RYA Taster Certificate. Elena took the opportunity to video her visit, with the highly professional result available to watch on our website; the video closes, appropriately, with a still frame of Elena presenting Tom with his taster certificate. Tom‘s dad said: “Just wanted to drop a quick message to thank you and the team for today. Thomas loved it and can’t wait for the next one!” This is typical example of the feedback we receive.
Sail HYSTS took the opportunity to display a static dinghy this year during the riotous and highly entertaining annual Ship Inn charity raft race at Langstone, with two of our trustees, working the crowd giving out advertising leaflets and talking with prospect students and their parents/guardians. If we are invited to take part next year, we will sail a dinghy up and down just off the harbour wall immediately prior to the raft race itself.
Fund raising is an important element in any charitable organisation, ours is no different with funds going to pay our core costs that includes boat maintenance. This year we have been supported by generous grants from the Sir Peter Blake Trust, Worshipful Company of Fuellers and The Trinity House Maritime Charity. Additionally, we were fortunate to receive donations from kind individuals coupled with our involvement in the Havant Borough Council’s online Community Lottery which helps to raise funds for local charities.
“Volunteering is at the very core of being a human. No one has made it through life without someone else’s help.” - Heather French Henry
Most of us can probably relate to that quotation. Like many charities, our charity is and has always been fortunate to have willing volunteers prepared to devote their time and enthusiasm, and this year was no exception. We have keen RYA Senior Instructors and this year we have also been wholeheartedly supported by experienced young people from a local sailing club who have stepped in as Assistant Instructors (AI) to enable us to take complete novices out in a sailboat for their first time afloat and experience the thrill of sailing. Encouragingly, Harry who started his sailing career with us, was certified as an AI earlier this year and continues to broaden his experience afloat and has expressed an interest in the maritime industry as a possible career choice.
We have planned around twenty sailing sessions in 2026 and although each year brings its challenges and disappointments there is always positive achievement. With the generosity of our funders, the support of our volunteers and the enthusiasm shown by our young sailors together with the help of mother nature providing gentle winds, we are sure this, our 52[nd] year will be successful.
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Sail HYSTS Annual Report 2025 Registered Charity No. 1211605 www.hysts.co.uk
Achievements and Performance
The feedback from our participants demonstrates the value we provide to the local community as noted in our achievements section above. We operate in an area where access to sailing is generally expensive, requiring club memberships and equipment hire or ownership. We are proud to offer sailing on an ‘access to all’ basis with little or no costs involved providing young people from all backgrounds the ability to experience the thrill of sailing and gain recognised qualifications. In this era of screen-based activities we provide easy access to a physically and mentally demanding sport that not only provides our members with respite from their screens, but the enjoyment of working in a team, honing leadership and social skills, and experiencing personal growth.
Wind is an essential ingredient to a successful sailing experience, but again unseasonably high winds adversely affected us this year resulting in several disappointing cancellations. Nevertheless, when we did sail, all young people who attended were able to enjoy themselves and advance their sailing skills achieving RYA certification where appropriate. Additionally, we have recently introduced shore based, winter season sailing background lessons for our young sailors. The three that took part in the first session had fun and interacted with their peers learning new skills and were able to complete parts of their RYA Syllabus and more are scheduled for 2026.
During 2025 we planned for 13 sailing sessions but due to unfavourable weather on some weekends, and a lack of participants in some mid-summer sessions, we were only able to sail on 8 occasions as shown below.
Sailing Report
The 2025 sailing season ran from 12th April to 19th October 2025.
----- Start of picture text -----
Scheduled Sessions 13
Sessions Run 8
Cancelled – weather and other factors 3
Cancelled - Insufficient bookings 2
Average Session Attendance
10
5
0
2019 2020 2021 2022 2023 2024 2025
----- End of picture text -----
We had 17 individual young sailors participating in 2025 with an age range of 8 to 16, of which 7 were girls and 10 were boys.
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Sail HYSTS Annual Report 2025 Registered Charity No. 1211605 www.hysts.co.uk
----- Start of picture text -----
RYA Youth Sailing Certificate
Achievements
3
2
1
0
Stage 1 Stage 2 Stage 3 Stage 4
Started Completed
----- End of picture text -----
We also ran a shore-based skills session in November 2025 with 3 participants in attendance.
Financial Review
Sail HYSTS operates as a going concern and, due to the generosity of our benefactors, the trustees foresee no reason why Sail HYSTS would be unable to operate as a going concern throughout 2026.
Sail HYSTS aims to hold reserves to cover 3 months of operational costs during the sailing season. As a small charity we operate on a receipts and expenses basis and our cash at bank constitutes our reserves. It must be noted that certain significant costs arise in the first 3 months of any fiscal year as we prepare to prepare to go sailing, generally from early April. The two most significant costs being public liability and other insurances and the maintenance of our safety boat engines. Due to this, our end of year cash balance may appear inflated beyond our reserves policy. For 2025 we also have an amount in escrow in our solicitor’s client account that will be used towards the purchase of our shore base from Hampshire County Council early in 2026. This purchase has been fraught with difficulties and the historic amount held on account has only recently been confirmed.
Due to our conversion from an unincorporated charity to a CIO during 2025 we have included our financial statement attached at Schedule 1 showing income and expenditure from our incorporation date on 8[th] January 2025 until 31[st] December 2025 but also, and for completeness as supporting information, the income and expenditure of the merged charity (278412) from 1[st] January 2025 until the merger date of 5[th] September 2025 at Schedule 2.
Plans for Future Periods
Our current planning for 2026 is to hold up to 20 sailing sessions, weather permitting.
The students from the School of Personalised Learning at St Vincent Sixth Form College, Gosport are developing a new tri-fold leaflet and poster that will be used for marketing our events alongside our website.
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Sail HYSTS Annual Report 2025 Registered Charity No. 1211605 www.hysts.co.uk
Whilst our current sailboats are more than adequate to deliver to our objectives, we are exploring possibilities for the refresh of our RS Feva sailing fleet with more modern and easier to sail training dinghies, such as the RS Zest. Our ability to deliver this project will be dependent on our securing grant funding. We will continue to pursue options for refresh during 2026.
Structure, Governance and Management
Sail HYSTS is a Charitable Incorporated Organisation and operates under a Constitution of a CIO whose only voting members are its charity trustees. Our constitution is based on the Charity Commission standard template for a foundation model constitution. Our constitution was last amended on 14[th] October 2024. The Charity Commission website notes that the last update was 13 June 2025, but this was simply to correct a typographical error in the charity name displayed.
The trustees of Sail HYSTS are appointed based on skills, knowledge and experience to deliver certain defined roles for the scheme. New trustees are appointed for an initial term of 3 years and appointments are made only through a properly convened meeting of the board of trustees. To ensure the refresh of skills and experience, trustees may only serve for 3 consecutive 3-year terms but, after this period, may be appointed as an honorary life vice president to attend meetings and acting as a non-voting advisor to the Management Committee.
The trustees manage Sail HYSTS through a “Management Committee” which consists of the charity trustees assisted by non-voting advisors. The Management Committee meets at least 4 times per year.
Reference and Administrative Details
Official Charity Name: Havant Youth Sail Training Scheme – Sail HYSTS Other Operating Names: Sail HYSTS Charity Number: 1211605
Registered Office: Bedhampton Community Centre, 21 Bedhampton Road, Bedhampton, PO9 3ES.
The trustees in office during the period of this Annual Report were:
Catherine Burton Owen Davies Nigel Fryatt Geoffrey Lynch Mary Milton Sophie Gray
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Sail HYSTS Annual Report 2025 Registered Charity No. 1211605 www.hysts.co.uk
William Walworth Hazel Matthews Kenneth Mathews
The trustees of Sail HYSTS confirm that they have had due regard to the guidance on public benefit issued by the Charity Commission in accordance with section 4 of the Charities Act 2006 (now section 17 of the Charities Act 2011) when reviewing the charity’s aims and objectives and in planning future activities.
This Annual Report for 2025 was approved by the trustees at the Annual General Meeting for Sail HYSTS held on 24[th] March 2026.
For and on behalf of Sail HYSTS
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Sail HYSTS Annual Report 2025 Registered Charity No. 1211605 www.hysts.co.uk
Schedule 1 – Sail HYSTS Financial Report 2025
Financial year commences on 1[st] January 2025 OPENING BALANCE AS OF 8th JANUARY 2025 - £0
| EXPENDITURE | |
|---|---|
| CORE AND OPERATIONAL | |
| Base Maintenance and Equipment | 200.00 |
| SafetyBoat Fuel | 15.24 |
| SailingInstructor/Authorised Helm Fees | 100.00 |
| Bedhampton CommunityCentre Room Hire | 38.00 |
| Bank Account MonthlyFee | 20.00 |
| UTILITIES | |
| Water | 64.28 |
| Electricity | 340.37 |
| TOTAL EXPENDITURE | 777.89 |
| INCOME | |
| Transferred In from HYSTS(278412) | 1,961.32 |
| Donations | 550.00 |
| Grants | 4,000.00 |
| Havant CommunityLottery | 86.00 |
| SailingFees/Logbooks | 200.00 |
| Bank Account Interest | 0.72 |
| TOTAL INCOME | 6,798.04 |
| BANK ACCOUNT BALANCE (at 31st December 2025) SOLICITOR ESCROW ACCOUNT |
|
| 6,020.15 | |
| 1,457.55 |
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Sail HYSTS Annual Report 2025 Registered Charity No. 1211605 www.hysts.co.uk
Schedule 2 – HYSTS (278412) Closing Financial Report
HYSTS FINAL ACCOUNTS AS of 4[th] SEPTEMBER 2025 Financial year commenced on 1[st] January 2025 BROUGHT FORWARD FROM 2024 £8448.55
EXPENDITURE
| EXPENDITURE | |
|---|---|
| CORE AND OPERATIONAL | |
| Base Maintenance And Equipment | 839.03 |
| SafetyBoat Maintenance And Equipment | 402.74 |
| DinghyMaintenance And Equipment | 901.68 |
| SafetyBoat Fuel | 39.07 |
| Clothing | 53.97 |
| SailingInstructor/Authorised Helm Fees | 350.00 |
| RYA Certificates/Logbooks/Handbooks | 104.13 |
| PublicityPrinting | 53.00 |
| Staff Expenses | 128.75 |
| Bedhampton CommunityCentre Room Hire | 171.00 |
| Bank Account Administration Charges | 48.00 |
| Insurance | 4,122.17 |
| FEES AND AFFILIATIONS | |
| Harbour Dues | 75.60 |
| Harbour Federation MembershipSubscription | 40.00 |
| RYA Recognition Fee | 393.60 |
| CommunityFirst MembershipSubscription | 10.00 |
| Havant Borough Sports Association Affiliation Fee | 20.00 |
| UTILITIES | |
| Water | 203.86 |
| Electricity | 652.08 |
| Business Rates | 187.13 |
| TOTAL EXPENDITURE | 8,795.81 |
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Sail HYSTS Annual Report 2025 Registered Charity No. 1211605 www.hysts.co.uk
| INCOME | |
|---|---|
| Donations | 430.00 |
| Grants | 800.00 |
| Gift Aid | 326.25 |
| Havant CommunityLottery | 200.33 |
| SailingFees/Logbooks | 425.00 |
| Sale Of Redundant Assets | 87.00 |
| Loan Of Equipment to Other Organisations | 40.00 |
| TOTAL INCOME | 2,308.58 |
| TOTAL EXPENDITURE BANK ACCOUNT BALANCE SOLICITOR ESCROW ACCOUNT |
8,795.81 |
| 1,961.32 | |
| 1,457.55 |
All remaining account Balances transferred to Sail HYSTS (1211605) as of 5[th] September 2025
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