Discovery Sailing Project
(Registered Charity No. 267884)
Report and Accounts
For the Year Ending 31[st] October 2022
Issued 7[th] January 2023
Discovery Sailing Project
President
Michael Nadin MBE
Trustees, Nominated and confirmed
Chair Charlotte Waterhouse Treasurer Nicholas Nell Trustees, Elected: Victoria Biggs Amelia Halford Michael Hudson John Penfold
Trustees, Ex-Officio & Appointed
Richard Hart - District Commissioner Benjamin Pearcy - ADC Offshore Clive Fisher – Sea Staff Support Robert Read – boat maintenance Kester Riley –Sea Staff support Emily Ruffle – Training and Minutes Secretary David Wallder - Instructor Anahita Laverack – Youth representative & Explorer Leader Project Organiser Elisabeth Gray Bankers: Barclays Bank plc PO Box 71 RG21 7LY Hants. CAF Bank 25 Kings Hill Avenue, West Malling, ME19 4JQ Other Advisers Chief Instructor – Mark Fowler RYA Training Centre Principal – Andrew Broadbent Registered Charity No. 267884 Contact Name and Address: Elisabeth Gray, Project Organiser Discovery Sailing Project Hangar 2 E, Universal Marina, Sarisbury Green SO31 7ZN Office@dsp.uk.com
Structure
The Discovery Sailing Project (DSP) is a member of the Scout Association. It forms part of the Dockland Scout Project District, which is part of the Scout County of Greater London North. DSP is the Offshore Sailing Section of the Dockland Scout Project.
DSP is a charitable non-profit making organisation. It is an active member of the Association of Sail Training Organisations (ASTO), participating in events and conferences organised by ASTO and it also participates in events organised by Sail Training International (STI).
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Trustees run the Discovery Sailing Project in accordance with policy, Organisation and rules of the Scout Association. The Discovery Sailing Project is an RYA recognised training centre for our own members
Purpose
To offer everybody, regardless of ability, background or status, the experience, challenge and adventure that Sail Training provides.
Aims
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To promote the development of young people and to enable them to achieve their full potential in line with the aims of the scout Association.
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To provide the opportunity for young people to experience Sail Training and adventure at sea, under the leadership of qualified adults.
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To Encourage individuals or groups of young people who might not otherwise have the opportunity to experience Sail Training through the awarding of bursaries.
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To participate in national and international intercultural friendship and understanding between young people.
The aims of the Discovery Sailing Project are achieved through delivering Sail Training voyages on board our yachts, Thermopylae Clipper (60 ft long, 15 berths) and discovery DSP (43 ft long, 12 berths). We also operate a third yacht, Alexander Fairey (34 ft long, 6-8 berths) on behalf of the Alexander Fairey Memorial Trust. This vessel is used as a training yacht for our members and members of other ASTO organisations. All yachts are maintained to the MCA’s Code of Practice for Small Commercial Vessels.
Fundraising
The Discovery Sailing Project does not raise funds directly from the public and we do not use professional fundraisers. Our income is comprised of crew fees received from participants together with funds raised from commercial sponsors, ASTO grants from the Hammond Innes Fund, grant making charities and government schemes such as the Sports Lottery and Gift Aid.
We are grateful to the following donors who have provided valuable support this year:
Alexander Fairey Memorial Fund Alice Ellen fund ASTO Hammond Innes Bursary Estate of Peter Kennedy Hobson Charity International Paints – provision of free yacht coatings Postcode lottery Shipwrights Company Charity St Christophers Inns
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We are also grateful for the tireless work of our members in supporting the activities of the charity and it is only through these efforts that we can afford to provide the sail training facilities that we do at prices which are a fraction of commercial rates.
We are also grateful to Premier Marinas Ltd who are the new owners of our base at Universal Marina and who have kindly extended the charitable discount on our moorings previously provided by the former owner Avia Willment.
Risk Management
The Discovery Sailing Project maintains a risk register which is regularly reviewed by the Trustees. Our sailing and maintenance activities are carried out in accordance with the safety management processes of the Scout Association. All our sea staff are volunteers, and all hold the relevant and current RYA qualifications appropriate to their roles. Our boats are maintained to the standards set out in the Maritime and Coastguard Agency (MCA) code for the safety of small commercial vessels and our manning levels are consistently in excess of the requirements of the code. Our Sea Staff also hold certificates from the Scout Association appropriate to their roles including safeguarding.
Report for the year
Five voyages were cancelled or operated with fewer berths due to the continuing impact of the Covid-19 pandemic. We provided berths for 500 young people. We decided not to operate outside of the UK due to Covid and Brexit restrictions. We were able to visit the West Country and the Channel Islands and all three of our vessels took part in the ASTO Small Ships race in the Solent in October.
The Boats
Winter refit have continued at pace in both of the last two years despite Covid. Total equipment and repair costs increased from £33k in 2021 to £36k in 2022. Last winter Discovery gained a new chart plotter and radar costing £5k and new sails costing £7k. Thermopylae has had much internal work and a renewed engine exhaust system and a new dinghy. On Alexander Fairey we replaced the anchor windlass, hatches and bearings for the propeller shaft. We bought two new outboard motors for the big boats.
Personnel
Ben Pearcy has served as our Assistant District Commissioner and has worked tirelessly through a difficult time.
Our Bosun, Peter Wells left during the year and we are grateful to him for the very professional work he carried out while he was working with us. We are very fortunate that Andrew Broadbent has taken on a number of the duties of Bosun on a voluntary basis including managing the winter refit programme.
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Sea Staf
We are very grateful for the work done by all our volunteer sea staff. We have managed to increase the numbers of sea staff after the impact of covid on recruitment. We ran another very successful Watch Leader training programme at the end of the season and are delighted to welcome new volunteer Watch Leaders to the team. We also had one introductory weekend for new adult recruits and our Organiser, Lis Gray has been successful in bring in more qualified volunteer sea staff.
Financial Results
Our sailing programme delivered Activities income of £74,823 up from £36,986 in the previous year. Donations and grants as described above, generated £ 42,245 (2021 £41,482) with total income for the year increasing to £117,091 (2021 £78,473).
We increased the winter refit work in anticipation of getting back to full operation with equipment and repair costs of £36,320 (2021 £33,133). This combination of improved, but still restricted activity income, valuable assistance from our donors and cost control has enabled us to finish the year with a net deficit of £723 (2021 deficit of £10,020) and this is after charging £7,500 in historic Organiser fees.
Cash levels decreased in the year from £75,115 at the start of the year to £71,398 at the end, reflecting deficit funding and a repayment of some customer voyage deposits on cancelled voyages. We consider that we need a minimum cash level of £50,000 to protect the operation from unexpected events.
Financial future
We are hoping for a full sailing programme in the 2023 season, but with our area of operation largely restricted to England South Coast and the Channel Islands. We are experiencing inflationary pressure on food, fuel, electricity and repair costs and our customers are facing competing demands on their funds for sail training.
Nicholas Nell Trustee 7[th] January 2023
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DISCOVERY SAILING PROJECT
Statement of Financial Activities summary for the year ended 31[st] October 2022
| Note s TOTAL INCOMING RESOURCES Page 7 TOTAL RESOURCES EXPENDED Page 7 NET INCOMING (OUTGOING) RESOURCES FUND BALANCES BROUGHT FORWARD FUND BALANCES CARRIED FORWARD |
Year Ended 31.10. 22 Gener al Fund 117,09 1 117,81 4 (723) 304,83 9 304,11 6 |
Year ended 31.10. 21 Gener al Fund 78,473 88,49 3 |
|---|---|---|
| (10,020 ) 314,85 9 |
||
| 304,83 9 |
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DISCOVERY SAILING PROJECT
Statement of Financial Activities for the year ended 31[st] October 2022
| Notes INCOMING RESOURCES ACTIVTIES INCOME Sail training voyages, charters and courses DONATIONS AND GRANTS Donations and Bursaries Membership donations Gift aid Total Donations and Grants Interest received Total Incoming Resources RESOURCES EXPENEDED Activities Expense Admin and fees Prior year admin fees Equipment purchases Insurance Mooring and shed fees Repairs and renewals Total Expenditure Net Incoming (Outgoing resources) |
This Year Last Year £ £ 74,823 36,986 34,030 34,487 6,844 5,455 1,371 1,540 |
|---|---|
| 42,245 41,482 23 5 |
|
| 117,091 78,473 20,365 8,642 29,8 64 27,058 7,500 20,100 - 9,669 5,259 5,468 18,506 14,192 16,220 23,464 |
|
| 117,814 88,493 |
|
| (723) (10,020) |
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DISCOVERY SAILING PROJECT
BALANCE SHEET AS AT 31[ST] OCTOBER 2022
| Notes Fixed Assets Tangible assets 2 Investments CURRENT ASSETS Debtors and prepayments 3 Cash at bank and in hand 4 Less: CURRENT LIABILITIES 5 Creditors Customer voyage deposits NET CURRENT ASSETS NET ASSETS Represented by: Department of Education Funding 6 GENERAL FUND TOTAL CHARITY FUNDS Nicholas Nell Trustee |
This Year £ 234,2 00 - 8,272 71,39 8 79,67 0 2,952 6,802 9,754 69,91 6 304,1 16 13,21 5 290,9 01 304,1 16 |
Last Year £ 234,200 - |
|---|---|---|
| 4,178 75,115 |
||
| 79,293 | ||
| 5,476 3,178 |
||
| 8,654 | ||
| 70,639 | ||
| 304,839 | ||
| 13,215 291,624 |
||
| 304,839 | ||
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DISCOVERY SAILING PROJECT
Notes to the accounts for the year ended 31[st] October 2022
1. Accounting Policies a) Basis of accounting
These accounts are prepared under the historical cost convention (modified to include the revaluation of investments) in accordance with the Financial Reporting Standard for Charities 102 issued in 2019.
- b) In accordance with the established policy, the yachts are professionally valued every five years and depreciated accordingly. The last revaluation was in 2018.
2. Tangible Assets
| Yacht | Yacht | Launch | Total | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Thermopyl | Discove | es | ||
| ae | ry | |||
| Brought forward | 100,000 | 125,00 | 9,200 | 234,2 |
| 01.11.20 | 0 | 00 | ||
| Carried forward | 100,000 | 125,00 | 9,200 | 234,2 |
| 31.10.21 | 0 | 00 | ||
| 3. Debtors | ||||
| This | Last | |||
| Year | Year | |||
| Other debtors and prepayments | 7,889 | 3,680 | ||
| VAT | 383 | 498 | ||
| Total | 8,272 | 4,178 | ||
| 4. Cash at Bank and in Hand | ||||
| Bank current accounts | 20,882 | 24,977 | ||
| Bank deposit accounts | 50,515 | 50,138 | ||
| Total | 71,397 | 75,115 | ||
| 5. Liabilities – amounts falling due within | one year | |||
| Creditors – Accounts payable and accruals | 2,952 | 5,476 | ||
| Customer voyage deposits | 6,802 | 3,178 | ||
| Total | 9,754 | 8,654 |
6. Funding
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Funding provided in 1986 by the Department of Education of £13,215 to fund the purchase of a new sail training vessel. There is no requirement for repayment of this funding during the lifetime of the Discovery Sailing Project.
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Independent Examiner’s Report to the Trustees of the
DISCOVERY SAILING PROJECT
I report on the accounts of the Project for the year ended 31[st] October 2022 which are set out on pages 6 to 9.
Respective responsibilities of the trustees and examiner
The charity's trustees are responsible for the preparation of the accounts. The charity’s trustees consider that an audit is not required for this period under section 144(2) of the Charities Act 2011 (the 2011 Act) and that an independent examination is needed.
It is my responsibility to:
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examine the accounts under section 145 of the 2011 Act,
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to follow the procedures laid down in the general Directions given by the Charity Commission (under section 145(5)(b) of the 2011 Act, and
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to state whether particular matters have come to my attention.
Basis of independent examiner’s report
My examination was carried out in accordance with general Directions given by the Charity Commission. An examination includes a review of the accounting records kept by the charity and a comparison of the accounts presented with those records. It also includes consideration of any unusual items or disclosures in the accounts and seeking explanations from the trustees concerning any such matters. The procedures undertaken do not provide all the evidence that would be required in an audit, and consequently no opinion is given as to whether the accounts present a ‘true and fair’ view and the report is limited to those matters set out in the statement below
Independent Examiner’s statement
In connection with my examination, no matter has come to my attention
which gives me reasonable cause to believe that in, any material respect, the requirements:
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to keep accounting records in accordance with section 130 of the 2011 Act and
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to prepare accounts which accord with the accounting records and comply with the accounting requirements of the 2011 Act
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have not been met ; or to which, in my opinion, attention should be drawn in order to enable a proper understanding of the accounts to be reached
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Richard J Shirley (Retired Chartered Accountant)
14 Woodside Close, Knaphill, Woking GU21 2DD
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