1st Kingston Hill Scout Group
Registration Number: 303755 293 Park Road Kingston upon Thames KT2 5LY
Trustees Chair: Andrew Meek Treasurer: Nathan Friel Trustee: Stewart Nash
Trustees’ Report 2024
This report covers the period 01/04/2023 to 31/03/2024.
Structure
1st Kingston Hill Scout Group operates primarily as a centre for Scouting activities for young people.
There are three Sections, Beavers (age 6-8), Cubs (age 8-10.5) and Scouts (age 10.5-14). Scouting is inclusive, all children are welcome to join regardless of gender, religion or ethnicity.
1st Kingston Hill Scout Group operates a waiting-list policy for all Sections. The Beaver group in particular is over subscribed. In order to manage the Beaver waiting list, children must be a minimum of 5 years old to apply.
Once a child leaves Scouts at 14 years of age they can join an Explorer Group (age 14-18) within the district. They can then volunteer through a Young Leader Scheme, in which they will continue their journey through Scouting by assisting the younger age Sections. It is hoped that they can start to share the knowledge and skills gained and take on small responsibilities to help the Leaders.
Each Section has a qualified Adult Leader, registered with Scouting UK. They are assisted by another registered adult and often by Young Leaders as well. We also encourage parent helpers to attend our meetings. All assistance and involvement is provided on a voluntary basis.
1st Kingston Hill Scout Group operates a Board of Trustees (BoT). This comprises elected members, Chair, Treasurer and usually one other Trustee. At meetings, these members invite along Section Leaders (and any assistants), a Secretary and Parental Representatives are also encouraged to attend. Meetings are formally recorded and minuted to provide a report for any actions necessary.
The Hall at 293 Park Road is used for Scout meetings and activities and the field behind is used for outdoor activities and camps. When the Hall is not being used for Scouting activities at weekends and evenings, it is available for the public to hire as a venue. The bookings are administered by a parent volunteer.
During School term-time the Hummingbirds Montessori Nursery hires the Hall and field during the day for their own use. They offer day care for children between the ages of 2.5-5 years of age.
Activities
1st Kingston Hill Scout Group operates during School term-time. Each Section meets once a week to develop new skills. Each child is encouraged to develop as an individual and as part of a group. Each weekly meeting will feature a ceremony, some learning and a physical activity. Progress can allow the child to receive a badge as a mark of their achievement.
Other activities throughout the year include overnight camps, which are conducted either at 1st Kingston Hill or at other campsites. The aim is to have several camps each year, May Camp, Summer Camp, Winter Camp, Survival Camp and a Young Leaders’ Camp. When camps are conducted at our premises we can use the large field and offer the shelter of the Hall to younger members if the weather is poor.
Each year, 1st Kingston Hill Scout Group celebrates Guy Fawkes’ Night with a fireworks display. Tickets are made available to those who have children in attendance at the group. Tickets are priced affordably, as the event is not intended to make a surplus. There is a firework display, barbecue and bar.
Several times a year we invite parents to come and assist in maintenance of the Hall and field. This usually happens over the course of a weekend, which allows people to volunteer for a few hours at a time of their choosing. The work usually involves redecorating, minor repairs, hedge trimming etc. The parental involvement helps reduce our maintenance bills and allows parents to meet the Leaders informally and for the parents to meet each other. It makes a huge difference to the enjoyment of our facilities.
Recently, a fund-raising group has formed, to help generate income. This has been led by a small number of highly motivated parents who want to volunteer. They have been willing to contribute their time and expertise to organise our first fundraising evening called Quingo (mixture of Quiz and Bingo). This was a brilliant success and raised £570.00. They have also organised our first Summer Fair which was also terrific, but falls outside of this accounting period. Thanks must go to Peter Grinsell, Emma Crowe, David Jones, Paula Louzeiro, David Daporta Mendez and Andrew Meek for giving up their time and energy. Thanks also to The Park Brewery for donating cask ale for the event.
Objectives
1st Kingston Hill Scout Group engages and supports young people in their personal development, empowering them to make a positive contribution to society.
Financial Review
1st Kingston Hill Scout Group operates with two bank accounts. The first (the Community Account) is used for day to day spending, while the second (Business Premium Account) is a savings account (which also holds deposit funds from hirers). The control mechanism for accessing both accounts is a complex mandate and it requires two signatories to release funds. Currently the signatories are the Chair, a Cub Leader and the Treasurer. The bank accounts are monitored through internet banking.
Balance of Community Account at year end was £27,311.03 Balance of Business Premium Account at year end was £52,522.29
Income
Over the last year our overall income has increased on the previous year from £58,073.44 to £86,449.04. This years figures include a development loan of £25,000.00. Without the loan our income would be £61,449.04, a small increase on last year.
Hall hire has remained popular with people choosing our Hall as a weekend venue to celebrate childrens parties and other events. Our parent volunteer Rebecca Parsons has done a great job managing the bookings. This involves communicating with hirers, taking deposits and managing the handover of keys. We are extremely grateful for her continued efforts, as it’s a role that deals directly with the public and is certainly not always an easy task.
Hummingbirds Montessori Nursery continues to operate from and hire our premises, they are now in their third academic year. They open weekdays during term-time and have also started to offer extra provision during the holidays. Some minor changes have occurred to facilitate the nursery, allocating them storage space for equipment and an office from which to base their business administration. They operate on a ‘pack away’ basis which helps to reduce the visual impact and retain the character of the Hall for the Scouts and other users. Our Savings Account holds deposit money (£1,400) from this enterprise.
Our usual termly subscriptions are still £42.50 per child. We offer reduced rates for families unable to meet this cost, at our discretion on an individual basis. Our rates have remained at this price point for 5 years. Our camps have been continuing and are well attended. They are priced affordably to encourage good attendance and to make them attainable to most children. Revenue from Hall hire still contributes to make up the shortfall in funds for camps.
During the year we received a donation of £2100.00 from The Jack Petchey Foundation, this award celebrates acheivements by young people, so well done all those involved.
Expenditure
Over the last year our expenditure has increased from £49,294.76 to £51,509.25.
Improvements to our outdoor buildings has been critical to conducting Scouting in a safe environment. We have taken the decision to replace The Store. It had deteriorated to the point of becoming unsafe and was leaking. This building has been replaced with help from Royal Kingston District Scouts, who have made available an interest free loan of £25,000.00. This loan affects this year’s accounts and many of the costs associated with this project will be shown in the next accounting period. The loan terms of repayment are £250.00 per month but we expect to make additional payments whenever funds are available.
Utilities and Insurance have continued to increase, this year’s figures include internet-connection, a mobile phone and cleaning charges.
While spending on Scouting activities has again been considerable, mainly on camps and other evening activies, it has been great to see so much going on. We also spent money on Guy Fawkes’ Night celebrations and a visit to Hampton Court Ice Rink for ice skating.
Future Plans
Our Scout Group has maintained excellent numbers and offer Scouting to 73 children through Beavers, Cubs and Scouts. We also have 5 Young Leaders (age 14-18) and 9 Adult Leaders and 12 members of the BoT.
It’s been great to have the equipment and facilities to allow regular camps to take place. Some of these have been in conjunction with Bournemouth 21st Scout Group and some of the children have become regular friends.
Areas for future improvement work are the toilets and the showers. We also hope to develop an area for a bouldering wall and provide a safe structure for the Beavers to ‘camp out’ in the field.
We will continue to re-invest our rental income to support Scouting activities and to maintain and improve the 1[st] Kingston Hill facilities. We operate a prudent
reserves policy designed to ensure we can meet 12 months of essential expenditure. From time to time our cash balance may exceed the reserve requirement as we build towards a significant premises improvement project.
Recognition and Gratitude
As Trustees, we are really pleased to have overseen the return to ‘in person Scouting’ and also the various improvements and initiatives being taken at 1st Kingston Hill Scout Group to continue to develop, challenge and support those young people in our Beavers, Cubs and Scouts communities. The investment and future plans noted above, will allow the Section Leaders and other volunteers to continue to provide varied and engaging activities in the future and to develop the 1[st] Kingston Hill site to ensure similar opportunities continue to be available for generations to come.
None of this would be possible without the tireless dedication and commitment of the Section Leaders and the myriad of volunteers that offer their time and experience to enhance the success of the Group. We would like to thank each and every individual that has given up their time to support 1[st] Kingston Hill Scout Group in 2023 and 2024 and express our sincere gratitude for your ongoing service and support.
Nathan Friel, Treasurer Andrew Meek, Chair
Table 1
| 1st Kingston Hill Scouts 2023-24 | April | May | June | July | August | September | October | November | December | January | February | March | Totals | 2022-23 | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Income | ||||||||||||||||
| Donations/Refunds | £924.80 | £924.80 | £12.73 | |||||||||||||
| Membership subscriptions | £192.71 | £2327.56 | £230.43 | £37.33 | £165.33 | £2638.64 | £91.40 | £40.51 | £42.50 | £2701.06 | £435.81 | £8903.28 | £9266.10 | |||
| Gift Aid | £0.00 | £0.00 | ||||||||||||||
| Fund Raising | £1618.22 | £600.00 | £1200.00 | £197.90 | £915.05 | £1604.51 | £838.93 | £1190.24 | £250.00 | £75.00 | £357.60 | £25731.22 | £34578.67 | £2737.89 | ||
| Camps and Activities | £2649.97 | £2681.23 | £6055.42 | £1963.14 | £1695.00 | £218.91 | £433.86 | £1312.29 | £17009.82 | £16656.68 | ||||||
| Hall Hire | £868.00 | £350.00 | £5510.00 | £400.00 | £400.00 | £6580.00 | £606.00 | £650.00 | £300.00 | £6210.00 | £1986.00 | £600.00 | £24460.00 | £29325.00 | ||
| Bank Interest | £81.35 | £118.78 | £171.15 | £201.19 | £572.47 | £75.04 | ||||||||||
| Total Income | £5328.90 | £5958.79 | £14002.00 | £2561.04 | £1352.38 | £10163.62 | £4083.57 | £2150.55 | £1195.52 | £7639.79 | £5044.66 | £26968.22 | £86449.04 | £58073.44 | ||
| Expenditure | ||||||||||||||||
| Camps and Activities | £700.00 | £10892.32 | £236.25 | £2746.25 | £742.75 | £108.72 | £2062.09 | £834.00 | £617.87 | £18940.25 | £20103.90 | |||||
| Expenses | £388.39 | £925.09 | £1427.57 | £18.00 | £350.83 | £18.00 | £624.48 | £1973.04 | £18.00 | £18.00 | £18.00 | £5779.40 | £7095.80 | |||
| Badges, Uniforms and Leader Training | £125.84 | £60.00 | £111.00 | £250.00 | £546.84 | £2049.37 | ||||||||||
| Van | £1500.00 | £1500.00 | £0.00 | |||||||||||||
| Property Maintenance | £48.00 | £96.00 | £192.00 | £144.00 | £96.00 | £210.00 | £360.00 | £415.00 | £160.00 | £6500.96 | £8221.96 | £7056.56 | ||||
| Utilities | £654.71 | £655.75 | £908.52 | £779.19 | £1146.94 | £774.39 | £794.55 | £799.39 | £799.39 | £594.39 | £600.98 | £796.47 | £9304.67 | £5886.27 | ||
| Refund | £50.00 | £93.00 | £143.00 | £605.00 | ||||||||||||
| Insurance | £2985.16 | £2985.16 | £2634.50 | |||||||||||||
| Capitation | £4088.00 | £4088.00 | £3862.50 | |||||||||||||
| Bank Charges | £0.00 | £0.00 | ||||||||||||||
| Total Expenditure | £1216.94 | £3786.91 | £2785.61 | £14836.08 | £1497.19 | £3871.47 | £1765.30 | £1532.59 | £5305.52 | £1027.39 | £5700.98 | £8183.30 | £51509.28 | £49293.90 | ||
| Balance | £34939.76 | £8779.28 | ||||||||||||||
| Total Funds | £79833.32 | £44893.56 |
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