Report of the Trustees – year ending 31st March 2024
Charity details
Name Leander (Kingston) Sea Scout Group Website htps://www.leanderseascouts.co.uk/ Reg. charity number 290029 Scout Association no. 5969 Address 92 Lower Ham Road, Kingston upon Thames, KT2 5BB Trustees (10) Robin Burr, Jo Connolly, Russell Constable, Penny D’Souza (Secretary), Andrew Jackson (Chair of Trustee Board), Cathy Johnson, Simon Leo, Paul Lomas-Clarke (Treasurer), Tim Pullen, Samantha Sing
Structure, governance and management
The Group is governed and regulated by the current Policy, Organisation and Rules of the Scouts (National body) association). Trustees are elected to the Trustee Board at the Annual General Meeting of the Group Scout Council, according to Scout Association procedures. A new Constitution consistent with the national body Scout Association guidance was formally adopted.
Objectives and activities
Leander offers fun and challenging activities for about a hundred boys and girls from the age of six. Young people in Scouting get to try new activities, learn team building and leadership skills and discover their potential. Leander (Kingston) has a riverside headquarters with a large fleet of canoes, kayaks, dinghies and rowing ‘gigs’, allowing a full range of boating activities for children from all backgrounds.
Status summary
The Group continues to be in demand and is at or near its capacity, given the facilities, equipment and staffing. The Group continues to offer exciting opportunities for young people and is on a sound financial footing. Recruitment of new parents to be leaders and volunteers continues to be a challenge.
Achievements and performance
The Group continued to operate at a small financial surplus (income £46k, expenditure £40k) with the additional income from hirers and fundraising (approx. £14k) continuing to play an important part. Additional fundraising activities in the year included support to Kingston’s annual dragon boat event.
The Trustee Board was able to approve and commission several improvements to the building and facilities. These included:
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repairs to the Home Counties gig rowing boats
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the purchase of two new kayaks
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the training of staff and young leaders
The annual Great River Race saw two of the Leander crews achieve ‘best in class’ results.
Governance
We successfully welcomed and enrolled two new parents as Trustees, both of whom are playing an active role in the Trustee Board meetings and the running of the Group.
The Group made a number of changes to the Governance processes, adopting a new Constitution in line with new Scouts guidance as well as starting the implementation of a new teams organisation.
An updated Group Risk Register was created, and the Trustees adopted and implemented new rules around meeting quorums.
The Trustees provided support to a revised Admissions process which is now in operation. The goals of this process are to simplify the administration and to encourage a broader, more diverse membership in keeping with the local community it serves.
Financial and fundraising
One of the parent Trustees organised marshalling and set up activities for the annual Kingston Dragon Boat event; this raised significant funds for the Group and engaged several parents in supporting this important local community activity. Another of the Trustees raised money in the ‘Movember’ campaign, kindly donating the proceeds to the Group.
The Treasurer carried out market research and moved some of the reserve funds to new saving accounts, thereby earning interest of £1.5k.
The regular hiring out of the premises continued. Most of the hirers are regular users of the building, and the Group plays an important role in supporting these local community and youth activities.
Headquarters building and equipment maintenance
We completed the painting of both stairwells and for the first time included high-visibility paint on the nosings, which was one of the items for completion on our Safety Audit.
The Board approved the funding of emergency roof repairs when one of the roof lights started to leak.
The water heater in the disabled toilets was replaced as the old unit was faulty.
One of the Trustees organised a parent ‘deep cleaning’ weekend at HQ, when the kitchen (galley) was given a thorough cleaning and tidying.
The regular (2 per month) safety visual ‘walk around’ inspections continued.
The licensing of craft and certification of the powered safety boats was completed with the Environment Agency.
Risks and looking ahead
The Trustees will continue to perform their oversight role and support the important activities of succession planning and increasing parent involvement.
One of the significant and longer-term risks to Leander’s activities is the deterioration in the water quality of the River Thames. Leander’s involvement in a local Council initiative “The Voice of the River” will continue.
Andrew Jackson (Chair of Trustees)
| lncome andExpenditureAccou | nt forthe | Year Ended31Mar | Year Ended31Mar | Year Ended31Mar | ch | 2024 | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| lncome Subs Giftaid Donations andGrants UseofHQ Useofboats Fund raising Camp GreatRiverRace Uniform sales lnterestreceived Total lncome |
3',1.3.24 ff |
31.3.24 18,528.76 1,900.68 3,563.17 13,052.29 489.84 1,029.17 3,870.00 0.00 1,655.32 1,518.40-. 3',,.3.24 g 45,607.63 |
3',t.3.2331.3.23 fEE 17,320.63 2,529.54 1,342.50 13,748.87 695.27 143.68 4,970.00 0.00 502.67 118.22 |
31.3.23 41,371.38 |
||||
| Expenditure Capitation |
4,592.00 | 4,274.50 | ||||||
| HQ Maintenance lnsurance |
7,673.74 2,830.88'v |
6,262.39 2,541.06 |
||||||
| Services | 1,531.77 | 2,018.60 | ||||||
| Counciltax/EnvironmentAgencY | 1,120.82 | 1,637.83 | ||||||
| 13,157.21 | 12,459.88 | |||||||
| Boats | ||||||||
| Purchase/sale | 300.00 | 1,768.63 | ||||||
| Maintenance | 5,562.86 | 1,779.59 | ||||||
| lnsurance | 3,093.78 | 2,666.71 | ||||||
| 8,956.64 | 6,214.93 | |||||||
| Camp GRR |
2,473.83 '1,589.76 |
3,178.80 0.00 |
||||||
| ining Activities/meetings Uniform |
2,088.00 3,765.82 2,325.91 |
725.00 1,948.75 1,617 .54 |
||||||
| Equlpment Administration& Misc |
71.17 707.00 |
1,922.13 917.59 |
||||||
| 13,021.49 | 10,309.81 | |||||||
| TotalExPenditure | 39,727.34 | 33,259.12 | ||||||
| Surplus(deficit)for theYear | 5,880.29 | Ir | 8,112.26 | |||||
| Bank Accounts: | ||||||||
| Community Account-DebitCard Current Account Deposit Accounts |
,/ 56,135.'44 |
5,720.92 | 438.53. 4,220.34../ 61,856.36J |
697.76 *rz,szg.to 57,409.08 |
||||
| U&U | Barclays | |||||||
| TotalatBank | 96,9E4! | Jio,es+.g+ | ||||||
| 4- | ||||||||
| v |