# ~O a YU scouts Longford GROUP REPORT FOR 2024/2025 1st Stretford (Longford) Scout Group Registered Charity 521676 ## GROUP LEAD VOLUNTEER’S REPORT - NICK ANDERSON This year has been one of real growth and development for Longford Scouts. From new sections to major progress at the Ranche, our journey continues to be driven by the commitment of our amazing volunteers. Every hour given makes a difference, and we are hugely grateful to all who contribute. As of January 2025, our numbers have risen again to over 260 young people across all sections. Following the successful launch of our Saturday Scout Troop, we’ve continued to expand opportunities for families. At Easter 2024 we opened a new Tuesday Squirrels Drey, and from April 2025 we will pilot a second, giving even more 4–6 year olds the chance to join the adventure. Our Explorer Young Leaders continue to be a real highlight — supporting younger sections with energy, ideas, and enthusiasm. Many then choose to stay on as adult volunteers, helping secure the future strength of the group. ## **HQ and the Ranche** A huge milestone this year was the major building project on the Ranche stores and shippon. We reroofed, insulated, and re-electrified the area, transforming it into safe, usable storage and activity rooms. This has finally allowed us to move all equipment and rooms into one consolidated space. The veranda and external works completed last year continue to provide a brilliant flexible outdoor area. There is still much to do. In April 2025 we began work on ripping out and refurbishing the kitchen — the next big stage in creating facilities that match the needs of our growing group. ## **Fundraising and Support** This year saw a huge effort with our **Cheshire Ring fundraiser** , where members of the group walked 100 miles in just over 24 hours. The event raised significant funds to support the ongoing HQ works and showed the incredible determination of our volunteers and supporters. We’ve also held several successful DIY days, but with over 450 parents in the group, more hands would make a huge difference. A couple of hours from everyone would transform what we can achieve. Every bit of help keeps our HQ improving and supports the best possible programme for our young people. ## **Governance and Thanks** Our Exec has now formally become a Trustee Board in line with Charity Commission requirements. We extend our thanks to **Darren Hughes** as Chair and Rob Partridge as Treasurer. This year also marks the retirement of **Sandie Pitt** as Group Secretary. Sandie has been an incredible support for so many years, and we thank her sincerely for her dedication and service. ## **Summary** Looking back, the progress we’ve made with new sections, fundraising, and HQ development is remarkable. Looking forward, our priorities remain clear: completing Ranche refurbishments, delivering the new kitchen, growing opportunities for young people, and ensuring our volunteer base is strong enough to deliver. This is your Scout Group. Whether through helping at a meeting, lending DIY skills, fundraising, or driving the minibus, your support really does shape the future. Together, we can keep Longford Scouts thriving for the next generation. ## CHAIR’S REPORT - DARREN HUGHES The Group is a registered charity and was required by the Scout Association at the 2024 AGM to establish a Trustee Board. The Trustees of the Scout Group are responsible for ensuring that the Group meets requirements of the Charities Commission and the Scout Associations’ policy, organisation and rules. Thanks to both Mary Lomax and Nick Anderson for their support which ensured a smooth transition from the Executive Committee and to the former Executive Committee members for their time and commitment to the Group. In total are 9 members of the Trustee Board, which includes the Group Lead Volunteer and Treasurer. Since the inception of the Trustee Board the Trustees have focused on the areas of fundraising, stakeholder engagement and redevelopment of the Group Headquarters. Significant progress has been made in connection with the Ranche stores and shippon, providing great facilities for our ever expanding membership. Discussions are ongoing with Trafford Borough Council to secure a long term commitment to further space adjacent to the Shippon building. In addition, with Trustee support, the Group is seeking to take advantage of grant funding for the installation of solar panels to assist in providing future energy security for the Group. Successful fundraising activities such as the Cheshire Ring, plant sales and Bonfire night fireworks fund both the activities our members undertake but also the improvements of the Group’s facilities. I would like to thank all our parents and carers who have contributed during the course of the year. These activities are crucial to the continuing success of the Group and I would invite all parents and carers to explore how they can help the Group. The creation of the Squirrels, the first in Stretford District, is another great example of how our Group continues to expand offering Scouting to all. I am also pleased to see the development of our Saturday group. None of this would be possible without the fantastic support of our Leaders and Volunteers. On behalf of the Trustees I would like to thank the team led by Nick Anderson for their time and commitment to the Group. My final thanks go to our Group Secretary, Sandie Pitt, for her support and commitment to the Group over the many years of her service, which has been greatly appreciated by all involved. TREASURER’S REPORT - ROB PARTRIDGE ## **Fundraising and Donations** - An incredible £14,800 was raised from Cheshire Ring challenge– a fantastic event and fundraising achievement - Another successful Bonfire night raised a record-breaking £3127 - 960 residual funds raised from the end of the last financial year by the plus 430 from a December fundraiser - The annual Bedding Plant sales raised £2400 - The Group also received some charitable donations, including:- - £35K Gosling Foundation - £10000 donation from BERNARD SUNLEY FOUNDATION - £2600 Skelton Bounty - £1000 Forever Manchester - £800 Benevity - £730 Minibus donations - £250 The window people - £200 Matched fundraising A huge thank you to the organisers of all the fundraising events and to all those who supported the events with attendance, purchases and donations. ## **Ranche Renovations** There was an outlay £105,000 to our main contractor for replacing much of the roofing, and renovating the store rooms and bouldering rooms £17,000 was spent on related work including electricals, new doors and windows and heating This expense was paid for through fundraising and use of excess reserves from previous years. AS the reserves are now depleted to just cover emergency reserve costs all new future renovation work will need to be costed and fund-raised in advance, an approach which working already with further development work in the 25/2 year Although a large expense the renovations of 24/25 have taken the group large leaps forward by making the whole building watertight with new roofing and completing the core renovation work for most of the rooms off the courtyard. ## **Membership and subs** - There was another gradual increase in members throughout the year - from circa 260 to circa 290. This was matched with a gradual increase in subs paid throughout the year. - Gift Aid paid back increased again this year (£12000) as a reflection of the increase in members and subs the previous year, plus Gift Aid claimed from donations. Gift Aid from subs should continue to increase as members increase. - Capitation – the amount we give to the Scout Association per group member – increased for the fifth year running. A consequence of this and other increases in base costs another review of subs is being conducted. - We are grateful for the regular subs payments from parents/carers that allow us to cover ‘base’ running costs and group programme costs – allowing fundraising and grants to be channelled into major projects such as the Ranche renovation. ## **Equipment and Training** - There was some paring back of training and scouting equipment this year (<£900 combined) to ensure sufficient funds could be made available for the main renovation work ## **End of Year Balances** - There was a drop in the group accounts from £67,000 to £35,000. This was a planned and managed reduction in the reserves to help fund the renovation work but still kept the Group within the required emergency reserves. - Note: the End Of Year accounts are still to be finalised and subjected to an external audit prior to submission to the Charities Commission ## FINANCIAL SUMMARY |FINANCIAL SUMMARY||| |---|---|---| ||2024-2025|2023-2024| |**Income**||| |Admin|2,996.41|940.00| |Donation|53,055.92|16,087.50| |Events|14,335.27|14,716.46| |Events - Beavers|4,153.65|4,020.93| |Events - Beavers (Saturday)|703.00|4.75| |Events - Cubs|3,086.34|2,720.12| |Events - Cubs (Saturday)|883.44|8,756.62| |Events - Explorers|4,813.86|1,724.34| |Events - Scouts|8,260.00|18,479.43| |Events - Scouts (Saturday)|773.00|793.38| |Events - Squirrels|55.00|0.00| |Fundraising|23,566.19|12,475.27| |Gift Aid|12,208.73|7,847.04| |Meetings|0.00|56.70| |Membership Fees|50,506.24|41,619.46| |**Expense**||| |Activity Equipment|3,072.25|1,386.00| |Admin|4,482.71|1,775.07| |Badges|2,157.77|0.00| |Events|13,891.49|12,000.00| |Events - Beavers|4,153.65|4,020.93| |Events - Beavers (Saturday)|582.76|4.75| |Events - Cubs|3,474.94|2,381.66| |Events - Cubs (Saturday)|863.76|8,756.62| |Events - Explorers|4,969.49|1,326.81| |Events - Scouts|8,355.16|21,195.89| |Events - Scouts (Saturday)|711.49|793.38| |Events - Squirrels|55.00|0.00| |Fundraising|3,992.53|5,052.26| |HQ Run Costs|1,313.69|2,247.42| |---|---|---| |Insurance|1,503.40|1,469.35| |Leader Uniform/Clothing|486.57|715.62| |Meetings|456.04|2,769.08| |Meetings - Beavers|140.73|615.30| |Meetings - Beavers (Saturday)|6.77|379.98| |Meetings - Cubs|100.44|1,229.91| |Meetings - Cubs (Saturday)|229.06|-2,047.86| |Meetings - Explorers|160.57|2,216.74| |Meetings - Scouts|108.17|881.04| |Meetings - Scouts (Saturday)|253.75|2,022.62| |Meetings - Squirrels|48.27|0.00| |Membership Costs|15,697.20|16,069.00| |Minibus - Maintain & Insure|3,407.95|2,802.83| |Neckers|483.10|0.00| |Rent|1.00|225.00| |Training|204.69|2,254.04| |Training (Advanced)|312.55|0.00| |Training (Young Leaders)|350.00|0.00| |Utilities|5,505.66|2,512.49| |Venue Maintenance|809.84|1,408.75| |Venue Ranche Renovation|125,721.49|31,478.41| |**Account balances**||| |Intermediary - PayPal|75.00|257.72| |Expense Account|1,815.51|0.00| |Sections - Co-op Bank Account|3,007.53|3,238.78| |Sections - Cash|95.20|351.22| |Group - Lloyds Account|32,571.91|65,307.25| |Group - Cash|2,428.74|2,502.22| |Group - Natwest|361.39|361.39| |Sections - Co-op Bank SAVINGS|2,996.41|0.00| |**Summary**||| |Account balance brought forward|72,018.58|69,719.67| |Total income|179,397.05|130,242.00| |Total expenditure|208,063.94|127,943.09| |Net income|-28,666.89|2,298.91| |Account balance carried forward|43,351.69|72,018.58| **----- Start of picture text -----**
||||||| |---|---|---|---|---|---| |Charity Name|521676| |1st Stretford Longford Scounts|521676| |Receipts and payments accounts|CC16a| |For the period|4/1/2023|3/31/2024| |To| |from| |Section A Receipts and payments| |Unrestricted|Restricted|Endowment| |Total funds|Last year| |funds|funds|funds| |to the nearest £|to the nearest £|to the nearest £|to the nearest £|to the nearest £| |A1 Receipts| |Accounting|0.00|-|-|-|940.00| |Donation|53,055.92|-|-|53,056|16,087.50| |Events|14,335.27|-|-|14,335|14,716.46| |Events - Beavers|4,153.65|-|-|4,154|4,020.93| |Events - Beavers (Saturday)|703.00|703|4.75| |Events - Cubs|3,086.34|3,086|2,720.12| |Events - Cubs (Saturday)|883.44|-|-|883|8,756.62| |Events - Explorers|4,813.86|-|-|4,814|1,724.34| |Events - Scouts|8,260.00|-|-|8,260|18,479.43| |Events - Scouts (Saturday)|773.00|-|-|773|793.38| |Events - Squirrels|55.00|-|-|55|0.00| |Fundraising|23,566.19|-|-|23,566|12,475.27| |Gift Aid|12,208.73|-|-|12,209|7,847.04| |Meetings|0.00|-|-|-|56.70| |Membership Fees|50,506.24|50,506|41,619.46| |176,401|-|-|176,401|130,242| **----- End of picture text -----**
## _**Sub total** (Gross income for AR)_ **----- Start of picture text -----**
|||||||| |---|---|---|---|---|---|---| |`| |A2 Asset and investment sales,|-|-|-|-| |(see table).| |-|-|-|-|-| |-|-|-|-|-| |Sub total| |Co) Ce)|176,401|-|Cd LS|-|176,401|130,242| **----- End of picture text -----**
## _**Total receipts**_ |**_Total receipts_**||||||||||| |---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---| |**A3 Payments**|**-**||**-**||**-**||**-**||**-**|| |Accounting|0.00||**-**||**-**||**-**||940.00|| |Activity Equipment|3,072.25||**-**||**-**||**3,072**||1,386.00|| |Admin|1,486.30||**-**||**-**||**1,486**||835.07|| |Badges|2,157.77||**-**||**-**||**2,158**||0.00|| |Events|13,891.49||||||**13,891**||12,000.00|| |Events - Beavers|4,153.65||||||**4,154**||4,020.93|| |Events - Beavers (Saturday)|582.76||**-**||**-**||**583**||4.75|| |Events - Cubs|3,474.94||**-**||**-**||**3,475**||2,381.66|| |Events - Cubs (Saturday)|901.96||**-**||**-**||**902**||8,756.62|| |Events - Explorers|4,969.49||**-**||**-**||**4,969**||1,326.81|| |Events - Scouts|8,355.16||**-**||**-**||**8,355**||18,479.43|| |Events - Scouts (Saturday)|673.29||**-**||**-**||**673**||793.38|| |Events - Squirrels|55.00||**-**||**-**||**55**||0.00|| |Fundraising|3,992.53||**-**||**-**||**3,993**||5,052.26|| |HQ Run Costs|1,427.69||||||**1,428**||2,247.42|| |Insurance|1,503.40||**-**||**-**||**1,503**||1,469.35|| |Leader Uniform/Clothing|486.57||**-**||**-**||**487**||715.62|| |Meetings|456.04||**-**||**-**||**456**||2,769.08|| |Meetings - Beavers|140.73||**-**||**-**||**141**||615.30|| |Meetings - Beavers (Saturday)|6.77||**-**||**-**||**7**||379.98|| |Meetings - Cubs|100.44||**-**||**-**||**100**||1,229.91|| |Meetings - Cubs (Saturday)|229.06||**-**||**-**||**229**||-2,047.86|| |Meetings - Explorers|25.45||||||**25**||2,216.74|| |Meetings - Scouts|108.17||**-**||**-**||**108**||3,597.50|| |Meetings - Scouts (Saturday)|253.75||**-**||**-**||**254**||2,022.62|| |Meetings - Squirrels|48.27||**-**||**-**||**48**||0.00|| |Membership Costs|15,697.20||**-**||**-**||**15,697**||16,069.00|| |Minibus - Maintain & Insure|3,407.95||**-**||**-**||**3,408**||2,802.83|| |Neckers|483.10||**-**||**-**||**483**||0.00|| |Rent|1.00||||||**1**||225.00|| |Training|204.69||||||**205**||2,254.04|| |Training (Advanced)|312.55||||||**313**||0.00|| |Training (Young Leaders)|350.00||||||**350**||0.00|| |Utilities|5,505.66||||||**5,506**||2,512.49|| |Venue Maintenance|809.84||||||**810**||1,408.75|| |Venue Ranche Renovation|125,607.49||||||**125,607**||31,478.41|| ||**204,932**||**-**||**-**||**204,932**||**127,943**|| ## _**Sub total**_ |**A4 Asset and investment**|||||||||||| |---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---| |**purchases,(see table)**||**-**||**-**||**-**||**-**|||| |||**-**||**-**||**-**||**-**|||| |||**-**||**-**||**-**||**-**||**-**|| |**_Sub total_**|||||||||||| |**_Total payments_ **||**204,932**||**-**||**-**||**204,932**||**127,943**|| ||||||||||||| |**_Net of receipts/(payments)_ **||**- 28,532**||**-**||**-**||**- 28,532**||**2,299**|| |**A5 Transfers between funds**||**-**||**-**||**-**||**-**||**-**|| |**A6 Cash funds last year end**||69719.66||**-**||**-**||**69,720**||**-**|| |**_Cash funds this year end_ **||**41,188**||**-**||**-**||**41,188**||**2,299**|| |**Section B Statement of Details**
**Categories**
Intermediary- PayPInIntermediary- PayP
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Group- Co-opBanGGroup- Co-opBank
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75.00
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32,571.91
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2,996.41
**43,487**
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Print Name
Robert Partridge
**Unrestricted**
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**asset belongs**
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**funds**| |---|---|---| |**Categories**
**B1 Cash funds**
**B2 Other monetary assets**
**B3 Investment assets**
**B5 Liabilities**
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**charity’s own use**
Signed by one or two trustees on
behalf of all the trustees||| |||**-**| |||**-**| |||| |||| |||| |||| |||| |||| |||**-**| |||OK| |||**to nearest £**
**Endowment**
**funds**| |||**-**| |||**-**| |||**-**| |||**-**| |||**-**| |||**-**| |||**Current value**
**(optional)**| |||**-**| |||**-**| |||**-**| |||**-**| |||**-**| |||**Current value**
**(optional)**| |||**-**| |||**-**| |||**-**| |||**-**| |||**-**| |||**-**| |||**When due**
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approval| ||Robert Partridge|1/25/2026| nc ances 20242025 2023-2024 Incomt Accounting Donation Evcnts Ev¢nts- Beavers Ev¢nts- BeaveTS (Saturday) Events- Cllbs Events- Cubs (Satyrday) Events- ExploT¢rs Ev¢nts- Scouls Ev¢nts- Seouls (Saturday) Events- Squirrels Ft￿draISjn8 Gift Aid Meetin8S Membersbip Fees 940.00 16,087.iO 14,716.46 4,020.93 4.75 2,720.12 8,756.62 .724.34 18,479.43 793.38 53,055.92 14.335.27 4.153.65 703.00 3,086.34 883.44 4,813.86 8260. 773. 55.00 23.566.19 11208.73 11475.27 7,847.04 56.70 41,619.46 50,506.24 ExpeDse Accouuting Activity Equipment A(Imin Badges Evcnts Events- Beavers Events - Beavers (Satllrday) EveTLts- Cubs Ev¥Thls- Cubs (S&turday) Events- Explorers Events- Scouts Events - Scouts (Saturday) Events- Squirrels Fundraising HQ Run Costs 940. 1,386. 835.07 3.072.25 1.486.30 2,157.77 13,891.49 4,153.65 582.76 3.474.94 J1.96 4,969.49 8J55.16 673.29 55.00 3.992.i3 ,427.69 1,503.40 486.57 456.04 140.73 6.77 IIK).44 229.06 25.45 108.17 253.75 48.27 15.697.20 3,407.95 3.10 12,000.00 4,020.93 4.75 2.381.66 8,756.62 1.326.81 18,479.43 793.38 5.052.26 1247.42 1,469.35 715.62 1769.08 615.30 379.98 1,229.91 -2.047.86 2216.74 3,597.50 2,022.62 Insurance Lea