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2024-12-31-accounts

Chichester Youth Adventure Trust

Annual Report and Accounts For the year ended 31[st] December 2024

The Trust owns and manages the Tyle Morgrug Cottage and Bunkhouse, Halt Road, Rhigos, Aberdare, South Wales www.cyat.org Registered Charity No. 288717

Chichester Youth Adventure Trust

Annual Report and Accounts For the year ended 31[st] December 2024

Table of Contents

Public Benefit Declaration 2
Report of the Trustees:
Chair’s report 2
Honorary Treasurer’s report 3
Building Maintenance, fabric, furnishing and fittings 5
Outdoor maintenance 5
Bookings 2024 6
All Things IT 8
List of contributors 10
Trustee Declaration 11
Receipts and Payments account for the year ended 31stDecember 2024 12
Statement of assets and liabilities at 31stDecember 2024 13
Notes to the Accounts for the year ended 31stDecember 2024 14
Trust Information 15
Independent Examiner’s Report to the Trustees of Chichester Youth 16
Adventure Trust

Chichester Youth Adventure Trust Annual Report 2024

Public Benefit Declaration

The Trustees have paid due regard to the Charity Commission’s guidance on public benefit.

Our Charity’s aim is to help and educate young people through their leisure time or educational activities.

Continued work has been undertaken at the bunkhouse to improve the accommodation and to ensure the Health and Safety requirements are met.

The young people not only experience and develop skills in the outdoors, but also develop their independence and their social skills whilst away from home and living with others. The Trustees will continue to monitor the usage to ensure young people benefit from using and staying at the bunkhouse.

There are also a number of adult groups who use the bunkhouse when it is available, and their revenue assists with the day-to-day expenses of running the place, enabling the young people to stay at the centre at a reduced price.

The following reports incorporate how the Charity continues to meet its aim.

Report of the Trustees

Chair’s Report

I gave notice of my wish to resign as chair at the trustees meeting, which I was unable to attend, on 8 March and was subsequently persuaded to remain in post for a further 2 years in order that succession planning could take place. This has taken place; discussions have been held and a document written, further planning will be done in 2025. I have been in post for 15 years and feel that then will be the right time to appoint a new chair and for me to relinquish some of the additional responsibilities that I have held.

2024 was another good year for bookings, so consequently hire fees were also good. Not so good were the ongoing problems concerning the purity of our spring water. The problem of an excess of copper was solved by replacing most of our copper pipes, but there were still bacterial issues which were finally found to be due to a fault in the UV filter which has now been changed. There is also the need to clear and improve the well head area to prevent surface water pollution. Some of this work has been done and the rest will be done early in Jan 2025. A big thank you to all trustees involved, particularly Richard Dickson, Nigel and Kate Colenutt. Many thanks also to the trustees and volunteers who contribute so much to the organisation and running of the bunkhouse, thereby saving us thousands of pounds a year on salaries, building and grounds maintenance and running costs.

Andrew Jones, our caretaker, has given in his notice as from 31 Jan 2025. His fulltime job has just made fulfilling the role untenable for him and us. He will be replaced by Elfed Bowen-Davies. In fact, it`s a job swap as Elfed was the stand in for Andrew and Andrew will now be the stand in for Elfed. We will be reviewing the pay, hours and responsibilities attached to this post in light of the increase in the national minimum wage from £11.44 at present rising to £12.21 from April 1st 2025.

A 5-year maintenance schedule has been drawn up and a time scale established for the completion of work and this, together with our Maintenance / Check List Log, will ensure that all work is carried out in a timely fashion. Generally speaking, the place is in reasonable condition, but due to heavy wear does need a bit of love and care. This will be addressed in 2025.

John Robbins Chair

Honorary Treasurer’s Report

The annual return was filed with the Charity Commission with trustee details updated and the new on-line account set up.

Forms were completed to keep us as an approved centre on West Sussex County Council’s list.

Further improvements to the water supply were made totalling over £5,136 as well as replacement of the UV filter and other minor works included in repairs and maintenance.

As regards the accounts, income from groups staying at the centre on a cash received basis was down from £30,038 to £27,556 The amount received in advance of bookings for 2025 and 2026 is £4,150, £138 higher than in the year ended 31 December 2023 in advance.

We have again received support via the local authority in the way of a reduction of business rates making the charge for the year ending 31 March 2025 only £24.

A donation of £500 was received from the employer of one of the trustees.

To help us comply with the Welsh Government’s new rules on recycling, rather than rely on groups taking all recycling away with them, recycling bins have been and are to be introduced for most recyclables to be collected by the local authority apart from glass which will have to be taken to glass banks. General waste is now only collected once every three weeks but with no reduction in charges; recyclables every week.

Calor gas costs per litre have remained the same as 2023 when our contract was renewed at 59p + VAT per litre. Regarding electricity, we received a one-off £500 reduction in our costs for the current year from our supplier’s business support fund as our current fixed contract was entered into when prices were rising rapidly.

The Energy Performance Certificate (EPC) was renewed.

We ended with a smaller surplus of £1,714 on unrestricted funds (2023 £7,133) for the year and accumulated unrestricted funds increased to £54,810 (2023 £53,096)

The balance on deposit remained at £47,000 with United Trust Bank with £1,863 interest received (2023 £891).

The status of the bank current account was finally resolved with no changes to it and no bank charges.

It is not clear whether we will meet the Welsh Government’s new tests to pass as a business which would appear to require a significant increase in the nights, rather than days, that the centre is in use for the year ending 31 March 2025, but there is little more that we can do about increasing this if they apply it to bunkhouses.

The proposal from the Welsh Government to levy a tourist tax for people staying overnight is likely to be introduced in 2027 with a proposed rate of £1.25 per person per night which will have to be passed on to hirers. If we count as a hostel, it will be 75p per night. It is up to the local authority to decide whether to levy it.

Michael Merritt

Honorary Treasurer

Building Maintenance, fabric, furnishing and fittings

There is always something to be done and the following has been accomplished during 2024:

Works under way, to be completed and possible upgrades in 2025.

Richard Dickson

Trustee

Outdoor Maintenance

The significant action this year has been to clear the wellhead enclosure of all growth. This will make it a lot easier to keep the area clear and monitor the wellhead. The enclosure will soon be refenced and re-ditched. All these measures will help improve the biosecurity of our water supply and mean there is far less chance of contamination at source.

A culvert runs under the track, just before the car park is reached and it was noticed that the edge of this was starting to collapse. It has been significantly shored up and the repair will be monitored. At some point it may be necessary to put a new pipe under the track and reinforce both the entry and exit points. A single storm can do a lot of damage if all the rain comes quickly.

There are a number of ash trees in the area and these are affected by ash dieback disease. They are not a direct threat to the building but at some point will either come down naturally or have to be cut down. The one positive from this is that our supply of logs is guaranteed well into the future.

Our hedge and tree planting has been very successful with most plants taking and some showing good growth. Where plants did not survive, they have been replaced, mainly with homegrown oak, holly or hawthorn removed from my lawn or veg patch where squirrels or jays had deposited seeds.

Nigel Colenutt Trustee

Bookings 2024

The headline figure is that numbers are down. The total number of bed nights in 2023 was 2259 compared to 1951 in 2024. This represents a fall of 14%. 2024 income was almost the same as 2023 income in spite of the falling numbers due to increased overnight fees. Occupancy, which is the number of days that the building was occupied, was slightly down at 54% from 57%. In 2024 the building was slept in for 159 nights, ignoring working parties. This is a different measure from occupancy. In 2024 the building was occupied by 54 groups in total which is the same as in 2023.

The decrease in bed nights can be explained by group sizes becoming smaller. We have had some large groups attend but also more small groups. Some of our regular returners have typically brought 12-15 persons in previous years but are now bringing 8-10 persons.

As of 4/1/25 we already have 37 bookings for 2025 which is fractionally up on this time last year but down a bit on 2 years ago. There will always be small variations for many reasons but

very broadly speaking bookings remain steady. A few persons have tried to book for 2025 but have found their preferred dates already booked. We are already taking bookings for 2026 so book early to avoid disappointment.

The table below gives a breakdown of occupancy and bed nights per month over the last 2 years.

2023 2023 2024 2024
Month % Occupancy Bed nights % Occupancy Bed nights
Jan 32 138 45 145
Feb 46 126 45 104
Mar 83 284 58 177
Apr 93 257 67 226
May 35 76 55 126
Jun 47 86 40 94
Jul 77 328 74 200
Aug 87 468 100 375
Sep 62 212 23 52
Oct 39 107 45 141
Nov 39 96 43 101
Dec 26 82 52 154
2259 1951

Easter and the summer holidays are particularly busy periods for us and back-to-back bookings do present a challenge for our caretaker in turning the building around within a very short time frame.

The table below gives a breakdown of where our bookings came from. Figures for 2021-2023 are % and figures for 2024 are % and raw numbers

2021 2022 2023 2024 2024
% % % % No of groups
W Sussex Youth inc Chichester
(Chi) & Rhondda Cynon Taff (RCT)		 8 22 28 26 14
Chi & RCT 2 3 15 20 11
Other Youth 18 48 22 15 8
Youth overall 26 70 50 41 22
Adult overall 74 30 50 59 32

It can be seen that the type of group attending varies considerably from year to year. Although our main target is youth organisations we do rely considerably on the financial contribution from adult groups. It is worth noting that we are now getting more visits from Scouts and Guides in the RCT area as word spreads of our existence.

Nigel Colenutt Trustee

All Things IT

During 2024 we have not undertaken any major IT changes. We have continued to maintain our website to ensure it is up to date and contains the relevant information for our visitor’s needs. We’ve continued to use the charitable Google suite to help support trustees’ administration including such features as Google Meet to allow remote trustees to participate in our trustees’ meetings.

Website performance

Traffic overview

2024 saw a slight downturn year on year in visits, however considering the growth of 25% or more in previous years following the pandemic this is not a complete surprise. Figure 1: Jan 01 2024 – Dec 31 2024

Figure 2: Jan 01 2023 – Dec 31 2023

What next?

In 2024, we’ll continue to keep the site up to date as well as consulting with our Board of Trustees to identify new opportunities and actions that are needed.

If you’ve not seen the site yet, do look at www.cyat.org. We hope you enjoy using the site. If you have any suggestions, just let us know by emailing feedback.cyat@gmail.com

List of Contributors

The following individuals and organisations, amongst others, have contributed towards Cynon Valley Cottage and Bunkhouse in cash, kind or time in 2024.

They are listed in alphabetical order.

Andrew Jones
Barry Pullen
Cathy Childs
David Goode
David Hatton
Elfed Bowen-Davies
Graham Almrott
Greenwood plants
John Robbins
Kate Colenutt
Legal and General
Malcolm Challis		 Martin Tomlinson
Michael Merritt
Muriel Burrows
Nigel Colenutt
Peter Cox
Peter Harvey
Richard Knight
Ray Creasey
Richard Dickson
Sandra Hopkins
Tom Jones

The Trust is indebted to all the volunteers who make a real contribution to its working parties by keeping maintenance costs much lower than otherwise.

Some of the tree planting done in the grounds through the year

Trustee Declaration

Approved by the trustees on 8 March 2025 and signed on their behalf by John Robbins, chair

Chichester Youth Adventure Trust

Receipts and Payments account for the year ended 31 December 2024

Notes
Income
Letting Fees
Grants and Donations
2
Gift aid
Bank Interest
Damage and cleaning recharged etc
Direct Charitable Expenditure
Provision of Cottage & Bunkhouse
Caretaker and cleaner
Business rates
Insurance
Electricity
Calor Gas
Water supply -testing
Safety certificates and inspections
Waste collection
General Repairs & Maintenance
Working Parties' Travel and subsistence
Cleaning materials
Furniture and Equipment purchases
Special Works -
Tree felling, landscaping and planting
Adapting the pigpen as a long term log store
Improving water supply system
Stone Wall rebuilt and improved
Publicity & Advertising
Broadband
Miscellaneous
Other Expenditure
Governance Costs
3
Total Expenditure
Net Surplus/(Deficit)for the year
Cash and bank balances brought forward
Cash and bank balances carried forward		 Unrestricted
Restricted
Total
Total
Funds
Funds
Funds
2023
£
£
£
£
27,556
27,556
30,038
600
600
434
25
25
25
1,863
1,863
891
50
50
171
30,094
-
30,094
31,559
3,219
3,219
3,039
24
24
-
274
274
2,126
1,712
1,712
2,225
2,650
2,650
2,776
535
535
-
1,260
1,260
1,083
990
990
891
4,642
4,642
3,307
947
947
645
170
170
345
237
237
2,005
359
66
425
-
-
-
1,469
5,136
5,136
3,592
5,041
5,041
-
20
20
40
597
597
499
293
293
-
28,106
66
28,172
24,042
274
274
318
28,380
66
28,446
24,360
1,714
(66)
1,648
7,199
53,096
66
53,162
45,963
54,810
-
54,810
53,162

Chichester Youth Adventure Trust

Statement of assets and liabilities at 31 December 2024

Notes
Bank balances
Barclays Community a/c
United Trust Bank
Represented by Funds
6
Other assets and liabilities
Fixed Assets
Cottage & Bunkhouse
Declared value
Equipment
Declared value
Current Assets
Gas stock
Debtors - hire fees due
Interest accrued
Other payments paid in advance
Current Liabilities
Creditors and accruals
Deposits in Advance		 £
Unrestricted
7,810
47,000
54,810		 £
Unrestricted
7,810
47,000
54,810		 £
Restricted
-
-
2024		 £
Total
7,810
47,000
54,810
54,810
860
1,444
320
518
3,142
863
4,150
5,013		 2023
£
Total
6,162
47,000
53,162
54,810 - 53,162
604,333
42,072
860
1,444
320
518
3,142
863
4,150
5,013		 585,027
42,072
1,600
888
290
1,696
4,474
1,292
4,012
5,304

Michael Merritt Honorary Treasurer and Trustee Date 8 March 2025

John Robbins Chair of the Trustees Date 8 March 2025

Notes to the Accounts for the year ended 31 December 2024

1 Accounting policies

These accounts have been prepared on a receipts and payments basis.

2 Grants and Donations
Donations/grants - restricted - tree felling,
landscaping works and tree planting
Donations - unrestricted
3 Governance Costs
Post, Printing, Stationery and Phones
Independent Examination Fee
Website maintenance		 2024
2023
-
66
600
368
600
434
2024
2023
14
56
88
83
172
179
274
318

4 Trustees' Remuneration, Expenses and Benefits

No trustee or person connected to them received any remuneration or benefits during the year (2023: nil) A total of £519 (2023 £738) was reimbursed to seven (2023: six) of the Trustees in the year. This was reimbursement for actual costs incurred in travel to and from the Cottage & Bunkhouse for work party weekends, postage, telephone and some subsistence and accommodation costs.

5 Risk Management

The Trustees have carried out a Risk Assessment audit of all the major risks relating to its operational base i.e. the Cottage & Bunkhouse. They actively review this on a regular basis, and are satisfied that systems are in place to mitigate their exposure to major risks.

6 Reserves Policy

Unrestricted Income funds are funds arising from past operations.

The trustees aim to keep sufficient reserves to maintain services to hirers, to meet any unforeseen maintenance expense and to keep the property well maintained. The aim is to keep at least one year's running costs in reserves Restricted Income Funds of £nil (2023 £66) are amounts received by way of grants and donations for specific schemes

Trust Information

Founder

Anne Scicluna

Trustees

John Robbins (Chair) Michael Merritt (Honorary Treasurer) Martin Tomlinson Peter Harvey Richard Dickson (appointed 1 May 2024)

Cathy Childs David Hatton (Honorary Secretary) Ray Creasey Peter Cox (resigned 8 March 2024) Nigel Colenutt

Trustees are recruited from persons who are familiar with the aims and policies of the charity and have appropriate skills, knowledge and experience to undertake specific roles.

Correspondence address held by Charity Commission

Treasurer: Michael Merritt, 87 Worcester Road, Chichester, West Sussex PO19 5EB

Bankers:

Barclays Bank plc, East Street, Chichester United Trust Bank

Independent Examiner: Trevor James FCA, DChA

Constitution:

Trust Deed dated February 1, 1984 as amended by deed of variation dated 13 February 1998, 1 January 2001 and 9 December 2004

Charity Registration Number:

288717

Web site:

www.cyat.org

Independent Examiner's Report to the Trustees of Chichester Youth Adventure Trust

I report to the trustees on my examination of the accounts of Chichester Youth Adventure Trust (the Trust) for the year ended 31 December 2024

Responsibilities and basis of report

As the charity trustees of the Trust you are responsible for the preparation of the 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 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 examiner's Report

I have completed my examination. I confirm that no material matters have come to my attention in connection with the examination giving me cause to believe that in any material respect:

  1. accounting records were not kept in respect of the Trust as required by section 130 of the Act; or

  2. the accounts do not accord with those records.

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:

T E James

Name

Relevant professional qualification or body Address

Date:

23/04/2025

Trevor James FCA DChA Dormer Cottage West Broyle Chichester West Sussex PO19 3PR