Annual Report for 2024
22[nd] Oxford Sea Scout Group Annual Report
List of Trustees
| List of Trustees | |
|---|---|
| Group Chair | Phil Doubtfire |
| GroupTreasurer | Kate Stilborn |
| GroupLeadVolunteer | Lorraine Crowther |
| Appointed Trustees | Paul Crowther |
| Viju Jayadevan | |
| Stephen Harness | |
| Andy Mainprize | |
| Simon Parfitt |
Objectives
The charitable objective of the 22[nd] Oxford Sea Scout Group is to promote the development of Young People in achieving their full physical, intellectual, social and spiritual potentials, as individuals as responsible citizens and as members of their local, national and international communities.
Membership
Our membership numbers have continued to decline since 2020. This is primarily as a result of our chronic shortage of leaders meaning we cannot sustain larger sections (36 adult volunteers in 2020 compared to 20 in Jan 2025). Numbers of Young People across our sections, as taken in our annual census (date 31[st] January each year) are shown in the table below. There are currently 145 Young People aged 6–14 on the group waiting list, and an additional 23 who are not yet 6. Pleasingly, we are now in the situation where almost all Beaver-aged children on the waiting list are offered a space in one of our Colonies, but opportunities in older sections are few and far between, relying on exisitng members dropping out.
We have continued to struggle with a lack of adult volunteers. However, we now have a healthy number of volunteers at Thursday Scouts, and plan to expand the size of this section accordingly. This includes two students from Oxford University who both volunteer ‘at home’ outside university term time. The recent introduction of the new national membership system has enabled us to advertise volunteering vacancies easily, and this has resulted in the recruitment of two new volunteers at Tuesday Scouts and two at Tuesday Beavers. We are thrilled that this has been successful and are already seeing the huge postive impact this is having on these sections. The presence of new volunteers across a number of sections is hoped to reduce
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22[nd] Oxford Sea Scout Group is registered as a charity (304437) with the Charity Commission for England and Wales
Annual Report for 2024
the demand on the Group Leadership Team’s weekly presence at most section meetings. However, we are still in need of new volunteers at Thursday Beavers and Wednesday Cubs.
We continue to maintain good relationships with Wanderers ESSU, our partnership Explorer Unit. The group benefits from this relationship with a supply of Young Leaders, and having an Explorer Unit linked to the 22[nd] Oxford ensures continuity of experience for our leaving Scouts.
The Trustees plan to work on engaging with the Group’s parent/guardian body more effectively in the coming year, particularly with ad hoc help with premises maintenance etc.
| 2020 | 2021 | 2022 | 2023 | 2024 | 2025 | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Nemo (Tuesday) Beaver Colony | 14 | 13 | 18 | 19 | 13 | 14 |
| Neptune (Thursday) Beaver Colony | 18 | 19 | 11 | 12 | 10 | 13 |
| Kotick (Monday) Cub Pack | 21 | 19 | 14 | 17 | 19 | 12 |
| Keego (Wednesday) Cub Pack | 32 | 23 | 23 | 22 | 16 | 17 |
| Mercury(Tuesday) Scout Troop | 24 | 19 | 21 | 20 | 17 | 16 |
| Goliath (Thursday) Scout Troop | 28 | 31 | 29 | 19 | 19 | 20 |
| TOTALS | 137 | 124 | 116 | 109 | 94 | 92 |
Activities
All sections were busy with exciting programmes throughout 2024, although a few sessions early in the year had to be cancelled due to flooding of the Thames at the HQ. Notwithstanding that, sections have done activities and covered badges including baking, air activities, science, nautical skills, international night, photography, fire safety, disability awareness, archery, gardening, knots, fencing, climbing, navigation, debating, night hikes, water safety, and of course plenty of water activities. Whilst the Group is well-equipped for water activities, we continue to struggle with a shortage of permit holders, meaning a small team of instructors are working hard to cover as many sections as possible. We are grateful to Anthony Morris (District Lead Volunteer) and Ian Shortman (GLV at 1[st] Clifton Hampden and Burcot) for their support. We have recently recovered our second gig hull from storage, and hope to get this back on the water in the future too.
We had a number of camps and sleepovers, including a weekend Spring Camp for Tuesday Scouts, a summer camp at the HQ for Thursday Scouts including a trip to Youlbury, and an ocean-themed sleepover for Beavers! All sections (and Wanderers ESU) also joined the District Camp in Youlbury – a fantastic weekend and the first opportunity in many years for the whole group to be on camp together. A particular highlight was seeing members of the group from 6 to 70 years old eating together in the mess tent.
A number of our Young People achieved their Chief Scout’s Awards and were invited to the County Awards Ceremony to share in a wonderful day of celebration and activities with their families. We were also very proud to support an Explorer from Wanderers achieve their King’s Scout Award.
We thank all leaders for organising and delivering these activities, as well as parents who support sections with their time.
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22[nd] Oxford Sea Scout Group is registered as a charity (304437) with the Charity Commission for England and Wales
Annual Report for 2024
Other Group Updates
We ran our annual Fireworks event in November. It was wonderful to see so many local people in attendance to support the group. We also provided camping, parking and food for rowers, umpires and other visitors for the Oxford City Royal Rowing Regatta, strengthening our links with our riverbank neighbours the City of Oxford Rowing Club. This is a vital fundraising event for the group, and we have many regular campers who have been coming for a number of years. Thanks to Paul and Lorraine Crowther for being the driving force behind both these events, and to all those members of the group who helped. The Trustees are embarking on a programme of building works and maintenance around the premises. We hope to have new garage doors installed very shortly, as well as a much-needed replacement of the boatshed rolling shutter. Our fiveyearly fixed electrical testing has recently been completed and we intend to upgrade our fire alarm system in the coming year as well. These works should ensure we continue to run a safe premises for Scouting activities. Thanks to Paul Crowther and Andy Mainprize for their continued hard work in keeping our premises running.
Andrew T. Frawley Cubs Team Leader On behalf of the Trustee Board of the 22[nd] Oxford Sea Scout Group
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22[nd] Oxford Sea Scout Group is registered as a charity (304437) with the Charity Commission for England and Wales
Annual Report for 2024
22[nd] Oxford Sea Scouts Financial Statements and Treasurer’s Report for Financial Year January to December 2024
This report summarises the accounts produced for the Financial Year Jan - Dec 2024 and should be read alongside the accounts summary below.
Total income from subscriptions, payments for activities and trips, hires, donations and fundraising was £29,852 compared to £28,461 in 2023. Total expenditure in 2024 was £26,323 compared to £26,660 in 2023. Net income was £3,528 compared to £1,800 in the prior year.
| 2024 | 2023 | |
|---|---|---|
| Income | ||
| ActivityEquipment | 30.00 | 95.00 |
| Bank Interest | 76.53 | 47.96 |
| Donation | 3,397.35 | 690.00 |
| Events | 4,142.50 | 6,881.61 |
| Events - Cubs | 630.00 | 1,399.00 |
| Fundraising | 1,973.26 | 2,318.02 |
| Hires | 5,379.00 | 3,844.00 |
| MembershipFees | 14,078.74 | 12,939.81 |
| Sundry | 102.75 | 245.55 |
| Venue Maintenance | 42.00 | 0.00 |
| Expense | ||
| ActivityEquipment | 3,439.69 | 5,017.08 |
| Admin | 831.67 | 611.29 |
| Badges | 725.92 | 1,034.36 |
| Bank Fees | 0.00 | 61.74 |
| CampingEquipment | 0.00 | 56.88 |
| Events | 5,566.88 | 2,573.90 |
| Events - Cubs | 322.38 | 2,320.93 |
| Insurance | 3,448.05 | 3,249.13 |
| Licences | 585.50 | 574.29 |
| Meetings | 17.65 | 360.71 |
| MembershipCosts | 6,461.24 | 6,653.56 |
| Rates | 181.05 | 182.18 |
| Rent | 478.20 | 478.20 |
| Sundry | 101.94 | 281.85 |
| Training | 0.00 | 325.00 |
| Utilities | 2,783.18 | 50.75 |
| Venue Maintenance | 1,380.16 | 2,828.99 |
| Summary | ||
| Total income | 29,852.13 | 28,460.95 |
| Total expenditure | 26,323.51 | 26,660.84 |
| Net income | 3,528.62 | 1,800.11 |
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22[nd] Oxford Sea Scout Group is registered as a charity (304437) with the Charity Commission for England and Wales
Annual Report for 2024
Cash Held at Year End
The audited accounts are a roll-up of eight bank accounts: Group Current, Group Saver, Group Camp, Beavers, two Cubs accounts (Keego and Kotick) and two Scouts accounts (Goliath and Mercury). At year end the accounts held £3,529 more cash than the previous year.
| 2024 | 2023 | |
|---|---|---|
| Account balances | ||
| 22nd Oxford Sea Scouts | 59,030.30 | 54,760.59 |
| 22nd Oxford Beaver Scouts | 1,746.14 | 2,389.69 |
| GroupSaver | 5,163.01 | 5,086.48 |
| Goliath | 2,263.10 | 1,883.04 |
| Camp | 743.84 | 743.84 |
| Kotick | 5,019.28 | 5,465.84 |
| Mercury | 2,341.28 | 2,316.16 |
| Keego | 5,402.35 | 5,535.04 |
| Summary | ||
| Account balance brought forward | 78,180.68 | 76,380.57 |
| Total income | 29,852.13 | 28,460.95 |
| Total expenditure | 26,323.51 | 26,660.84 |
| Net income | 3,528.62 | 1,800.11 |
| Account balance carried forward | 81,709.30 | 78,180.68 |
Thanks
Thank you to all the section leaders for collating all the financial data, scanning receipts, shopping prudently and keeping accurate records.
Thanks also to Dave Northover for his support and time as our external auditor.
Kate Stilborn
Treasurer, 22[nd] Oxford Sea Scout Group
Annual Report, Financial Statements and Accounts approved at the Annual General Meeting of the Group Scout Council, 20[th] September 2025
Signed: Lorraine Crowther, Group Lead Volunteer & Trustee
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22[nd] Oxford Sea Scout Group is registered as a charity (304437) with the Charity Commission for England and Wales
Annual Report for 2024
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22[nd] Oxford Sea Scout Group is registered as a charity (304437) with the Charity Commission for England and Wales