**Trustees' Annual Report for the period** Period start date Period end date 1[st] April 2024 31[st] March 2025 **To** **From** Section A Reference and administration details > **Charity name** 84TH READING SCOUT GROUP > **Other names charity is known by** 84th Reading (1st Earley St Peter’s) Scout Group **Registered charity number (if any) 268450** **Charity's principal address** 7A Finch Road Earley Reading **Postcode** RG6 7JX **Names of the charity trustees who manage the charity** **----- Start of picture text -----**
Dates acted if not Name of person (or body) entitled to
Trustee name Office (if any)
for whole year appoint trustee (if any)
Akshay Sekhri Group Chair 21/03/2025 - District Scout Leader
1
Present
2 Jason Sutton Group Treasurer 84th Reading Scout Group Council
3 Tiffany Forshaw Group Secretary 84th Reading Scout Group Council
4 Richard Taylor Scout Leader Group Scout Leader
5 Vicki Randall Membership Secretary 84th Reading Scout Group Council
6 Malcolm Paine 84th Reading Scout Group Council
7 Ian Abbott 84th Reading Scout Group Council
8 Kevin Deadman 84th Reading Scout Group Council
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**----- End of picture text -----**
**Names of the trustees for the charity, if any, (for example, any custodian trustees)** **Name Dates acted if not for whole year** ## **Names and addresses of advisers (Optional information)** **Type of adviser Name Address** **Name of chief executive or names of senior staff members (Optional information)** 1 ## **Section B Structure, governance and management** ## **Description of the charity’s trusts** Type of governing document ROYAL CHARTER 4TH JANUARY 1912 (eg. trust deed, constitution) How the charity is constituted Scout Group - (eg. trust, association, company) Trustee selection methods Some appointed, some elected. (eg. appointed by, elected by) ## **Additional governance issues (Optional information)** You **may choose** to include additional information, where relevant, about: - policies and procedures adopted for the induction and training of trustees; The Scout Group is a member of The Scout Association and is supported by Loddon Scout District and Berkshire Scout County. The Policies and procedures are those of The Scout Association (charity no. 306101). - the charity’s organisational structure and any wider network with which the charity works; - relationship with any related parties; - trustees’ consideration of major risks and the system and procedures to manage them. 2 ## **Section C Objectives and activities** |**Summary of the objects of the**
**charity set out in its**
**governing document**
**Summary of the main**
**activities undertaken for the**
**public benefit in relation to**
**these objects (include within**
**this section the statutory**
**declaration that trustees have**
**had regard to the guidance**
**issued by the Charity**
**Commission on public**
**benefit)**|The purpose of Scouting is to contribute to the development of young
people in achieving their full physical, intellectual, social and spiritual
potential; as individuals, as responsible citizens and as members of their
local, national and international communities.| |---|---| ||We deliver inspiring activities and programmes for young people
consistent with our vision of Scouting being shaped by young people in
partnership with adults. We deliver the nationally directed programme of
development for Beaver Scouts, Cub Scouts and Scouts, including Skills
for Life.
The Group’s Trustees have a duty to report on the Group’s public benefit
in the Annual Report. We have assessed our aims, objectives and
activities and believe we have met the Charity Commission's public
benefit criteria for both the advancement of education and the
advancement of citizenship or community development.| ## **Additional details of objectives and activities (Optional information)** |You**may choose**to include
further statements, where
relevant, about:
policy on grantmaking;
policy programme related
investment;
contribution made by
volunteers.||Activities are run by volunteer Leaders and helpers.
Our Group is currently without a Group Volunteer Leader (GVL) at
present and therefore the Board of Trustees has provided the following
Review of Scouting in the Group.
**Volunteers**
**Leaders**
We would like to thank our leader team:
**Beaver team**leaders and members Alison Swaddle (Warthog), Martin
Stanfield (Dragon) and Ella Cockburn (Frog);
**Cub** **team**leaders and members Lisa Methven (Akela), Mark Fielding
(Rocky) and Ronan McDonnell (Baloo);
**Scouts team**leaders and members Richard Taylor, Oscar Manning, Dan
Radford and Natasha Ormerod;
**Sea Scouts**team leaders and members Alvin Blackmore, Laura
Humphreys, Dan Radford, James Blay and Nathaniel Paine.| |---|---|---| 3 The hours they volunteer to give the children brilliant experiences and life-long lessons which enrich their lives is unbelievable and we are truly grateful to them. We would also like to thank our young helpers with Adrian in Beavers; Elliot, Akilesh and Charlie in Cubs; and Alec in Sea Scouts. As well as thanking our young volunteers Milo, Ben, Mannat and Chloe in completing their Duke of Edinburgh Award placements with Beavers. ## **The Group** Our Group comprises 97 boys and girls (24 Beavers, 33 Cubs, 18 Sea Scouts and 22 Scouts). Their skills, guidance, commitment and passion translate to enrich the lives of our young people, resulting in lifelong memories, experiences and achievements. ## **The Board of Trustees** We would lastly like to let you know about some of the vital work carried out behind the scenes by the Board of Trustees in the running of the Group: **Chairman** Akshay Sekhri. He is a Beaver parent. **Treasurer** _Jason Sutton,_ ensures our accounts are in order, manages our budget and deals with payments and funds received. He is a Sea Scout parent. **Secretary** _Tiffany Forshaw,_ arranges our Trustee meetings and takes the Minutes. She is a Beaver parent. **IT specialist** _Kevin Deadman,_ runs our website, emails and creates our Newsletters along with his wife Sara. They are Beaver parents. **Scout Leader** _Richard Taylor,_ who is also **Leader Representative** . Richard communicates on behalf of all the other Leaders at the Board of Trustee meetings. He is the **Quartermaster** and looked after our minibus and he also ran the Christmas Tree fundraiser this year. **Parent Volunteer** _Malcolm Paine,_ organises our annual Regatta fundraiser event which includes the catering and stake boats over two weekends. He is a Sea Scout parent. **Property Co-ordinator** _Ian Abbott_ , takes care of our property as they require maintenance. He is a Scout parent. **Membership Co-ordinator** _Vicki Randall._ Organises the waiting lists and linking as the children move through the Sections. She is also our DBS check coordinator and manages the annual census. 4 ## Section D Achievements and performance ## **Summary of the main achievements of the charity during the year** Our Group is currently without a Group Volunteer Leader (GVL) at present and therefore the Board of Trustees has provided the following Review of Scouting in the Group. ## **Badges** We see all the badges sewn onto the children’s tops which look fantastic representing all their achievements throughout their time with us and thank you to parents for all the sewing unless your child sews on their own badges! ## **Section Activities** The Beavers, Cubs, Scouts and Sea Scouts have undertaken a vast range of activities this last year including just some of the following: ## **Beavers** The Friday night Beaver Scouts had a fantastic year filled with fun, adventure and friendship. Our thriving colony has embraced every opportunity to develop skills for life. Most Beavers swim up to Cubs following their 8th birthday and those who complete all six Challenge badges, earn at least four Activity badges, and experience at least one night away with Beavers are awarded the Chief Scout Bronze Award. This year, we proudly presented this award to 6 Beavers. ## Highlights include: - Many outdoor pursuits with footgolf, paddling on the Thames in katakanoes, exploring Harris Gardens and Redhatch Copse, and hiking through High Wood and South Lake. - Visiting Paddicks Patch pitching tents and toasting marshmallows and took part in a litter pick with EASI volunteers Les and Brenda (former Group Treasurer). - Sleepover at the Caversham Scout Centre and joining the Cubs and Scouts Camp at Youlbury enjoying climbing, fencing, campfire songs and games. - Remembrance Service at Earley St. Peter’s and presented a wreath made by all the Beavers. - earning about Emergency Aid, welcomed a local dentist to learn about dental care and practised the NATO phonetic alphabet. We earned our Digital Citizen Activity badge and conducted science experiments as well as making delicious pizzas. - Exploring Fair Trade, recycling and water filtration for the Global Issues badge. We welcomed a parent who is a pilot for the Air Activities badge. We designed book covers and bookmarks and read six books to earn the Book reader badge. - A visit from the Reptile Man and played our favourite games like parachute games, elephant football, elephant charge and had games in the dark. - District Christmas party and celebrated Chinese New Year. ## **Cubs** The Monday night Cub Scouts had another action-packed year, taking part in a range of activities including: - Orienteering around Ashenbury Park. - Testing their pioneering skills to make trebuchets and backwoods cooking at Paddick’s patch. 5 Section D Achievements and performance Indoor highlights included: - Recording stop-start animation with clay models - Visit from the Bat Conservation Trust. - Christmas musical performance to parents. The cubs had an opportunity to attend two camps this year: - November trip to Bentley Copse - Inter-sectional summer Camp at Youlbury. At the end of the summer term, a fantastic five Cubs were awarded the Silver Scout badge. ## **Scouts** The Monday night Scouts continue to partake in challenge and adventure, building on skills ready for a great future ahead. Activities have included a wide mix of different themes including: - back to basics Scouting skills such as fire safety & lighting techniques, shelter building, knife, axe & saw work, backwoods cooking, pioneering and first aid. - Expedition skills such as correct bag packing, Trangia cooking, map & navigation skills, night hikes, radio communication and GPS/Geocaching work. - Teamwork skills being improved through problem-solving evenings, wide games, cooking nights, team-building challenges and patrol competitions. - External activities including paddle-boarding, bowling, swimming nights, assault courses, high ropes, archery and much more. The Scouts’ skills have then been put to the test in several camps, providing further opportunities to grow as an individual and enjoy nights away from home. For some of the older Scouts all this hard work has paid off by achieving their highest award possible, the Chief Scout Gold awarded to 2 Scouts. ## **Sea Scouts** The Friday night Sea Scouts enjoyed some good sailing at Dinton Pastures this summer. Although they can’t obtain RYA certificates with the current setup at Dinton, they are having lots of experience on the water and practice lots of capsizing! Dan Radford one of our new Sea Scout team leaders and Lisa from Cubs took a number of Sea Scouts on their Expedition Challenge this summer, which they thoroughly enjoyed despite the very wet weather! A number of our young people are working towards their Gold Scout Award which the expedition helped with. ## **Remembrance Day and New Rev’d at St Peters Church** The Group was proud to have the Beavers, Cubs, Scouts and Sea Scouts representing the Group at this special Remembrance Day Service as they do each year at St. Peters Church. ## **Fundraising** We raised over £7000 in 24/25, with most coming from our two main events –  Christmas 2024 Fund raiser at Squires Centre in Hare Hatch (previously Wyevale Garden Center) where Scouts and older 6 ## Section D Achievements and performance cubs carry Christmas trees to customers cars, Guess the Weight of the Christmas Cake, and Guess the quantity of Jellybeans in a jar competitions; in total £3310 was raised and we hope to increase this with GiftAid. - Stake Boats and the provision of catering on two consecutive weekends at the 2024 Reading Rowing Regatta; in total £3782 was raised and we hope to increase this with GiftAid. Thank you, as always, to everyone who contributed towards making these events so successful which helps to bring in funds for the benefit of our young people. The more people who help, the less each person has to do. It is also a good way to meet other parents in the group and members of the executive committee and to understand how things work. There are no restricted funds set aside within the group accounts. ## **All Section Camp 2025** The camp at Youlbury was a great success as well - we enjoyed the variety of activities offered and spending time with the rest of the Cubs, Beavers and Scouts. ## **Equipment/ Minibus** At the beginning of the year the group took the decision to sell the minibus, and this has had a positive impact on the finances of the group due to the reduction in Insurance and Maintenance costs (£2500 in 23/24). The reserve held in previous years for replacement of the minibus was reallocated in the previous year to other reserve funds including the Property Development Fund which was greatly depleted due to significant maintenance activity on the Finch Road Site. The group also made the decision to dispose of its Sea Scout boat assets at the Island Sailing Club, this resulted in a disposal cost of £500, however this is offset against annual savings of membership and storage which would have been £678 in the year 24/25. ## **Section E Financial review** 7 **Brief statement of the charity’s policy on reserves** We aim to have a quarter of a year’s outgoings held in reserve. In addition, we make specific reserves for larger items, e.g. 5-yearly international WINGS camp, property repairs and equipment. **Details of any funds materially in deficit** None ## **Further financial review details (Optional information)** You **may choose** to include additional information, where relevant about: - the charity’s principal sources of funds (including any fundraising); - how expenditure has supported the key objectives of the charity; - investment policy and objectives including any ethical investment policy adopted. We levy a membership subscription for each child member of the Group, and we charge for adventurous activities such as camps. The Scout Group aims to run two fundraising activities during the year, during the year 24/25 the group was successful running it’s Christmas Tree fund raising event giving section members the opportunity to raise funds for the group, and its Reading Regatta events in which the Scouts perform start line stake boat activity and Parents run the food catering. Gift Aid was reclaimed during the year on Subscriptions paid by the membership. Our expenditure is on maintaining the assets of the charity (buildings, minibus, and camping equipment); our fees due to the Scout Association, Berkshire Scout County and Loddon Scout District; and on activities and hall hire. 8 ## **Section F Other optional information** None 9 ## **Section G Declaration** **The trustees declare that they have approved the trustees’ report above.** |**Section G Declaration**
**The trustees declare that they have approved the trustees’ report**|**Section G Declaration**
**The trustees declare that they have approved the trustees’ report**|**above.**|| |---|---|---|---| |**Signed** **on behalf of the charity’s trustees**|||| |**Signature(s)**|||| |**Full name(s)**|Jason Sutton|Akshay Sekhri|| |**Position (eg Secretary, Chair,**
**etc)**|
Group Treasurer|Group Chair|| ||||| |**Date**|10/03/2026||| 10 84th Reading (1st Earley St Peter's) Scout Group INCOME AND EXPEND￿uRE ACCOUNT FOR THE YEAR ENDED 3tst Marth Z025 Incom• 21AI OkL É42&17 CA £491434 O&L 7Q3A9 £ILM￿l D&L 902AIO Bea¥vsEyppnse5 Cub5 Hall Hire Cubs Cub5 Subs Othef £1,61tl. £2.402.28 Scouts oth subs Othèi E8B2.48 Seaknuts £14&52 CA £1502.30 15.28 £$￿&40 £&c¥) £0.00 HQSubs(riw¥ *tyTrainln8 WINGS GIftAid 8ank Inter￿t 1S21 O&L min¢NpErae5f*Jthnthry, etcl a*￿￿¢&￿rd1e$s Ch¥#5 £71.C UnrestilctedGrants e5tr1Ltrd G￿￿ts CtyherFund Rais*n8 55W O&L EQI)J CA GrantFundin8 £4557.24 Group E￿nts Family Camp Z023 Family Carnp 2024 fjrwp Famity[*￿ 2023 £L51155 Hall Gargse Rontsi Éthtyl OTA É69S.96 E917 £¥03& Total Income £37￿3.99 £82,377.07 5urpluslDelklt Inrorne¥5 ew(lliure £5A26S2 ANce gIEET AT 31141ARCH Ztsz5 Group Capitsl ataistM3rth 2024 PluslMlnugNet In¢¢me .16L46 C*lkLountmadEL*PQP. ffin1btysrckn￿tatclUalfUTho op¥ty ¢ep•tSre5e￿ WtyIGS12016+1 atuual fund £49￿515& £0 £3.Y50.CI) £34LW. El4(W. £0. lestrKtedfvnd5lfjr4ntJ TOW ￿lOCated Fund5 Vnallocated Cyeratir4 £48.750.IWJ Pewts £36MD Tor thait.._ WE confirmthètfrtsm thelnf0rmad￿￿￿ledty ￿5th&¢1heseK￿¥Jntsth0￿ atrueaidf4rbkn(*IJ*fw￿7a1 Pu￿On ofthe fyw. ||comply with the accounting requirements ofthe
have not been met; or|Charities Act| |---|---|---| ||2. to which, in my opinion, attention should be drawn in|order to enable a| ||proper understanding of the accounts to be reached.|| ||* Please delete the words in the brackets if they do not|apply.| |Signed:|Date:|24/10/2025| |Name:|MICHAEL WALLACE|| |Relevant professional|BOOKKEEPER|| |qualification(s) or body||| |(ifany):||| ##