1[st] Houghton
Annual Report and Accounts 2021 – 2022
The Group
1[st] Houghton (St Michael’s) Scouts are one of the oldest Scout Groups in the Houghton District being active for over 100 years. We are proud to be part of our local community and try to support it wherever possible.
We are also proud to provide the young people of Houghton le Spring with a safe, welcoming and rewarding environment where they can learn skills for life enabling them to fulfil their potential within the community.
We cater for young people from the ages of six to eighteen and operate a Beaver colony, a Cub pack, a Scout troop and Explorers.
The group is led by an Executive committee and we have many adult volunteers who help to run the weekly activities. The number of adult volunteers and young leaders has steadily increased over the year which has brought new ideas and has had a positive impact on what we do.
All of our adult volunteers are fully DBS checked and are all appropriately trained to work with young people. Some lead in several sections. Many of our volunteers have gained recognition for completing their formal training.
The commitment and dedication of our leadership team is nothing short of amazing.
The activities we offer vary greatly depending on the ages of the participants but these can include things like arts and crafts and cookery for Beavers to online safety, outdoor survival skills and Duke of Edinburgh Awards for the Explorers and many things in between.
The Charity
Funding
1[st] Houghton Scouts are funded by monthly subscriptions of £15 per month per young person. We are also funded in part by grants that we apply for from local and national funds. Expense Our main expenses are fixed costs of our HQ, such as energy bills, business rates and Membership Fees, a compulsory insurance fee per young person paid annually.
We also spend money on activities for the young people. This is agreed by the leaders on an ad-hoc basis and is signed off by the Treasurer or Group Scout Leader. This method of spending has worked well in the past and allowed us to keep control of our finances.
Reserves
1st Houghton has always tried to be responsible with our finances and usually keep a reserve of around £10,000. This has reduced this year though due to the decision we took to reduce subscriptions to £1 per month during the 2020 and 2021 while we were not able to offer full Scouting activities during the Covid pandemic.
HQ Improvements
We have also contributed some of our reserves to the many improvements we have made to our HQ over the past two years. Rather than one off costs though, we look at these expenses as long term investments in both the group and the young people of Houghton le Spring. The improvements we have made (and will continue to make) to our HQ will still benefit the group decades into the future.
Grant Applications
Over the year, we have been successful in applying for funding from various sources including Sunderland City Council and, more recently, the Youth Investment Fund.Our total grants for 2021-2022 is £58,957 - a much larger number than usual.
The bulk of the grant money was £51,000 from the Youth Investment Fund which we used to completely refurbish our dilapidated toilet facilities in the HQ. This has given us fully accessible toilets as well as a shower and baby changing facilities. This has allowed us to offer our Scouting experience to people of all abilities and genders and we can now offer our HQ out to other community groups.
Our Registered Charity Number is: 512697
Risk Management
1st Houghton does not have any investments and our funds are held in a UK High Street bank. Only the Group Scout Leader and the Treasurer have access to the account and we require two signatories for any payments made.
The Trustees
| Role | Name |
|---|---|
| Group Scout Leader | Steven Gibson |
| Chairman | Paul Marriner |
| Treasurer | David Haugh |
| Secretary | Helen Brown |
| Assistant Group Scout Leader & Cub Leader |
Sandra Ranson |
| Beaver Leader | Gail Grey |
| Scout Leader | Andrew Brown |
| Explorers Leader & Young Person | Daniel Longhorn |
The Chairman, Secretary and Treasurer are elected on three year terms. The current terms run until 2025.
Receipts
| Income Type | Amound (£) |
|---|---|
| Subscriptions | 2959.19 |
| Fund Raising | 92.01 |
| Energy Refund | 946.75 |
| Camp Fees | 175.00 |
| Grants | 58,957.00 |
| Total | 63,129.95 |
Payments
| Payment Type | Amount (£) |
|---|---|
| Badges | 415.20 |
| Water | 146.00 |
| Electric | 333.62 |
| Gas | 789.00 |
| Business Rates | 86.00 |
| Capitation/Membership Fees | 1880.00 |
| Leader Training Courses | 315.00 |
| Insurance | 1454.21 |
| Food, Drink & Activities | 1109.23 |
| Maintenance | 52.31 |
| HQ Refurbishments | 64,720.49 |
| Other | 747.47 |
| Total | 72,048.78 |
Balance Sheet
1st Houghton Scout Group Charity Number: 512697 Statement of Accounts 2021/2022 Funds as at 6 April 2021 £13,426.61 Excess Income over Expenditure £-8918.83 Funds as at 31 March 2022 £4,507.78 Compromising Current Account £4,069.62 Cash on Hand £438.16 Total £4,507.78 The above accounts were approved by the trustees on 28[th] October 2022 and independently ~~checked by Carl Hickman.~~