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 2025 This report covers the period 01/04/2024 to 31/03/2025. ## 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 Section Leaders. Each Section has a qualified adult Section Team Leader, registered with Scouting UK. They are assisted by another registered adult Section Team Member 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 the Group Leader, Section Team Leaders (and any relevant Members), 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, Octofest 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 - with the objective of having fun and bringing together the 1KH community rather than making 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 a Quingo evening and our first Summer Fair which raised £2,500.00and matched funding increased that further. During the summer of 2025 they have gone on to produce our second Summer Fair. 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 David Parsons for donating the massive and ever popular bouncy castle. The objective of the fund raising is to invest in enhancements to 1KH for the benefit of its members. Examples include the climbing wall, an archery area, the Bunk House development and going forward the toilet block referbishment. ## 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 £5,017.47 Balance of Business Premium Account at year end was £19,134.20 ## Income Over the last year our overall income has decreased on the previous year from £86,449.04 to 70,758.89. Last years figures included a development loan of £25,000.00. Without the loan’s distorting influence, our income has increased over the last year by £9,309.85. 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. We have carried out our second rent review with their agreement. This was conducted primarily to cover the increase in energy costs and inflation. Our usual termly subscriptions have increased from £42.50 per child to £47.50. We offer reduced rates for families unable to meet this cost, at our discretion on an individual basis. Our rates had remained unchanged for 5 years in order to make Scouting affordable to all. After conducting a review of subscription rates from other local groups, we realised that ours were significantly out of date. Subs were also found to be falling short of funding the Scouting meetings, Hall Hire was supplementing the shortfall. Subs also carry a Membership Fee that funds not only Royal Kingston District but also the larger Scouting movement. 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. This year the venue was Great Tower campsite in the Lake District. This was a good oppourtunity for the children to experience activities such as ghyll scrambling, canoeing, rock climbing, pot-holing and other traditional camp activities. Given it’s location, we organised coach transfer for the group. It was a great success. During the year we received a donation of £919.20 from The Jack Petchey Foundation, this award celebrates acheivements by young people, so well done all those involved. This year we have had an enormous £600.00 donation from one of our parents, Luci Shippin. This generousity was in thanks for the influence the Group has had on her children. We really appreciate this donation, thank you Luci! We were also the recipient of a £2,000.00 donation from the Charities Aid Foundation. ## Expenditure Over the last year our expenditure has increased from £51,509.25 to £126,440.54. We have taken the decision to replace The Store, which held all our camp and outdoor equipment. It had deteriorated to the point of becoming unsafe and was leaking. Improvements to our outdoor buildings has been critical to conducting Scouting in a safe environment. The rebuild cost was £57,680.00. The old buiding was demolished to slab level and disposed of. Our contractor built a new timber frame structure upon low masonry walls. No planning permission was needed because it was of the equivalent size. A linking roof canopy was built across to the MAC and the ground between the buildings was prepared with free draining gravel. In this area we have fitted a climbing traverse wall, it is low-level and only requires foam ground mats to safeguard any users. The MAC’s roof covering was also replaced. We purchased two steel flat-pack containers to store the camp equipment during the build. These will be useful in the future for additional storage in the grounds. Our Group Scout Leader supplied his electrical experience to the project. He also donated cable and electrical accessories to the project, so we have new power supplies to the Store, the MAC and another cable feed for potential external small power to the Field. This building has been replaced with help from Royal Kingston District Scouts, who have made an interest free loan of £25,000.00 available. This loan was delivered and included in last years accounts. Nearly all of the expenditure from this project are within this years accounts. The terms of repayment of this loan are £150.00 per month, during the year we have repayed £1,800.00. We expect to make additional payments whenever funds are available. Utilities have continued to increase, unfortunately the meter readings on our gas supply had not been updated for a long time. This led to a large sum being owed on this utility. We have been able to repay this amount and rebalance this account. Our insurance has been reappraised and this led to a small reduction in our premium. This year’s figures also include internet-connection, a mobile phone and cleaning charges. While spending on Scouting activities has again been considerable, mainly on camps and other evening activities. Previous investment in new camp equipment over the last few years has led us to be a very well equiped Group, this has made it easier and cheaper year on year to operate camps. 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 72 children through Beavers, Cubs and Scouts. We also have 6 Young Leaders (age 14-18) and 15 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 provide a safe structure for the Beavers to ‘camp out’ in the field. Currently they have to sleep inside the Hall during overnight events. One of our members has donated a double garage structure that could be converted into a camp bunkhouse for them to use. 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 various improvements and initiatives being taken at 1st Kingston Hill Scout Group. We look forward 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 2024 and 2025 and express our sincere gratitude for your ongoing service and support. Nathan Friel, Treasurer Andrew Meek, Chair Stewart Nash, Trustee |**1st Kingston Hill Scouts 2024-25**||**April**|**May**|**June**|**July**|**August**|**September**|**October **|**November**|**December**|**January**|**February**|**March**||**Totals**|**2022-24**| |---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---| |||||||||||||||||| |**Income**||||||||||||||||| |**Refunds**||£420.88|||||||||||||£420.88|£924.80| |**Membership subscriptions**||£134.42|£824.00|£2341.03|£85.42||£131.93|£1699.43|£1682.58|£91.92|£42.50|£841.68|£1408.17||£9283.08|£8903.28| |**Gift Aid**|||||||||||||||£0.00|£0.00| |**Fund Raising**||£50.00|£111.05|£3234.18|£60.00|£350.00|£767.35|£1150.70|£1476.10|£50.00|£50.00||£2100.00||£9399.38|£34578.67| |**Camps and Activities**||£3879.07|£2686.37|£3967.22|£7102.43|£30.91|£2210.04|£815.08|£253.67|£917.60|£522.99|£309.40|£1809.91||£24504.69|£17009.82| |**Hall Hire**||£1125.00|£5787.07|£150.00|£601.49|£550.00|£8155.00|£600.00|£300.00|£1477.00|£750.00|£850.00|£6378.00||£26723.56|£24460.00| |**Bank Interest**||||£169.10||£110.56||||£82.18|||£65.46||£427.30|£572.47| |||||||||||||||||| |**Total Income**||£5609.37|£9408.49|£9861.53|£7849.34|£1041.47|£11264.32|£4265.21|£3712.35|£2618.70|£1365.49|£2001.08|£11761.54||£70758.89|£86449.04| |||||||||||||||||| |**Expenditure**||||||||||||||||| |**Camps and Activities**||£552.00||£671.10|£748.80|£5672.20|||£1467.00||||£30.00||£9141.10|£18940.25| |**Expenses**||£18.00|£1949.37|£2444.33|£18.00|£4405.64|£1198.45|£530.72|£2991.40|£429.75|£411.80|£18.00|£18.00||£14433.46|£5779.40| |**Badges, Uniforms and Leader**
**Training**|||£354.61||||||||||£345.40||£700.01|£546.84| |**Van**||||£800.00|£3552.00|£4200.00|||||||||£8552.00|£1500.00| |**Property Maintenance**||£22725.00|£24310.00|£7700.00|£2205.50|£160.00|£1919.50||£160.00|£240.00|||||£59420.00|£8221.96| |**Utilities**||£602.56|£578.90|£1007.20|£583.45|£2732.12|£2732.12|£2732.11|£2738.19|£2860.58|£2806.44|£2809.92|£1507.22||£23690.81|£9304.67| |**Refund**|||||||||£100.00||||£150.00||£250.00|£143.00| |**Insurance**||£2885.16|||||||||||||£2885.16|£2985.16| |**Capitation**||||||||||||£5568.00|||£5568.00|£4088.00| |**Loan Repayment**|||||£150.00|£600.00|£150.00|£150.00|£150.00|£150.00|£150.00|£150.00|£150.00||£1800.00|£0.00| |||||||||||||||||| |**Total Expenditure**||£26782.72|£27192.88|£12622.63|£7257.75|£17769.96|£6000.07|£3412.83|£7606.59|£3680.33|£3368.24|£8545.92|£2200.62||£126440.54|£51509.28| |||||||||||||||||| |**Balance**|||||||||||||||-£55681.65|£34939.76| |||||||||||||||||| |**Total Funds**|||||||||||||||£24151.67|£79833.32| 1 CHARITY COMMISSION FOR ENGLAND AND WALE5 Indep•nd•nt •xaminorfs report on th• accounts 1£+ kiM4grni AILL SLOLfi Gt2ouP Charlty no On accounts for th• y•ar •nded 2025 (Ilany) 333 75 5 Set out on pAg•s I rep)rt to the trustees on my examination ofthe a￿ount8 ofthe above Tnjsf) ￿ the year ended 31 1 I go the charitls trustees. you are responsible for the rKeparation of the caiunts in accAYdanc* V*ith the requirements ofthe Chathies Act 011 llhe Acf). R•sponslbilili•s arKI basls f r•port I report in re8pec* of my exaMinatiC￿ ofthe Trusrs acc)unts carried under secaion 145 of the 2011 Act and in carrying out my amination. I have follthved all the awicable Directi¢Jns given by the Charity C(xnmi88ion whler section 14515)Ibl of the Ind•p•nd•nt •xamin•rfs stat•m•rrt ame olapplicabla li I have cyJmpleted my exanination. l LX)nfimi that no material matters have come to my attention in (x)nnec*ion the examination (other an that disdosed below J wthich gives me (xuso to Wieve that in, ny material respec v thg aLry)unting r8cy)rds vftrp not kept in aCt0rda￿ *ryth $8clion 130 01 the Charities ￿ or • the a(xounts did not a¢)))rd wilh the acwunting re(xKds; or • the aojjunts did not cx)mply wtlh the app[Icab￿ requirements (x)n￿ming the fO￿n and o)ntent of aco)unts set out in Charibas lknurrts and Report81 Regumions 2CQ8 other than any requirement that the actounts give a Irue and fair, view ich is Mt a matter COn￿dered as part of ￿ independent examination. I have no cOn￿m$ and have come across matters in connedion wlth the examination to vthich attention should be drawn in this report in order to enable a Fwper understandirw ofthe al?￿nts to be reaL*ed. ' Please ddets Ihe in brad(ets rfthgy do not appfy. 81gn•d: Nam•: R•l•vant pr*)l•sslonal quallfioatlon(s) or body (If any): Addr•ss: 71*6a http•=IlJsset5.publlshlng.servlce.gov.uklmedlal6407178Se..e SORP FRS 102