Th• Bruc• Trust
R•th of th• Tru•t•
Y••r Endod
31 October 2023

The Bruce Trust
Roport ol tho Trn8teo#
for the year ondod 31 October 2023
The Trustees of the Bry￿e Trust present theiT rerK)rt for year eThYed 31 October 2023.
The Tfustees throughout pencrtj V•*re'.
MrADMBruc
MrsLABru
MrTNL
Mr P Haydn Jones
Addl1￿)nal or repl&￿ent Tnjslees can only be appointed jointly by the Settlers ol Ihe trust.
Independ•nt Examln•r
Davtd Carter
8ank•r•
CAF Bank Limited. Kings Hill, West Malling, Kent, ME19 4JQ
Slatu•
The ¢hanty was constrtuted by ￿aY of a charitable trust deed dated 20 October 1988. Registered wrth the Charrty
Commis￿OnerS on 20 October 1988, ils registration number 1$ 800402.
The registered address of the tharity is as follows'.-
POBox21
Hungerford
Berkshire
RG179YY
The Trustees. wwers of investrnenl a￿ limited by the provisv)ns oflhe Trustees Act 2000, in rfesFect ofltte wmanent
endowment funds.
ObJo¢Ovo•
The object of the Trust ￿,￿he prow5￿n in the Interest of social weKare of ￿reation facilib'es for persons are S￿k,
convalescent, dtsabled. hand￿Pped, and infirm or In need offinancial assistance an¢Yor lor the benefit or furtherance
of other charitable purwses..
Publlc b•nofi1
The Trusl*s have pxgid due cons￿er*i0n to the guidance issued on public benefit by the Charity commis￿on and
believe that the Trust meets the requirements.
Rev1￿ of actfviti08 and achl•vomonts
The Bruce Trust wa5 created by Louise and David following the sale in 1988 of BrucE's Blewery and rts chain
of Firkin put6.
considerab￿ lime was spent by Trustees in researching the existing lacililies available for d￿ab￿d,
disa(fvantaged cf ekleily people lo enjoy holidays cruisirvJ on Britain's inknd vrdletways.
It was derided lo design and buikl a wide-beam canal tr￿at, the Retecca, which woukl provide the uttimate flexibility
in accommodating up lo people, eight of whom could be Oisabled. Measuring 61, x 10,6., her special f￿111￿eS
include a hydraul￿ lrft., bmde access ramps, Icfvv level bunks. SI￿1ng sun roof, central healing and tsvo S￿iallY frtted
Wc's washirffJ areas.

11 was ￿eed that the BnKe Trust woukl provpJe holidays vthich would be sell-sleer and self-catering However. rts
t¥)&s ￿e (ty avaiktAe lo grcw ￿le￿ vhm) ￿ prove ethef considwalje exFwience of h￿d11r￿ trf)ats on inland
waterways or who have $l￿sSfUllY completed one of the Trust's residential weekend tralning course¥.
Such was the success of the Reter￿'S first seasons during wh￿h 514 people ag&J be￿n fvdo and ninety one
each enjoyed a one week holiday. that an appeal lo lund another toal was launched in January 1991. Over 500
indiwdual donations of be￿n £2 and £10.000 were r￿e1ved. enabling a second tx)al, the Hannah. lo be bvill. The
Hannah, wrth the same facilil*s as the Reb￿. was completed just in time for the 1992 season. As a resutt of the
Trust being leatur&Y on BBC TVS Songs of Praise in September 1993. we had the opportunrty lo purchase an exisb.ng
six tr*rth trat, purpostrbuil for disabled people. Thi5 Ihird boat, the Rachel, was available, after ccfnpleting a few
modrficalions, in time lor the 1994 season.
In JanLWy 1997, due lo continuing extw)rdinary market demand for our special tscilrties. ulliq￿ on the Kennet
& Avon Canal. an apFtal f(y a fourth toat was launched. Over £100,OC(J of cash or go)ds in kind lhes raised in time
for a ten bejth boat. the D￿na, lo te built and join the fleet by the beginning of the 2tW Season.
At the end of the 2CI)7 season. the Trust realised il needed lo replace the Rachel, as she had rexhed the end of her
SerV￿atrIe lrfe The fvnd-raising appeal commenced in January 2￿8 and follcwing the r￿elp1 of 184 thnalions
ranging frc*n £5 to £I0,CUJ she was repl￿ in Awust 2010 by a new, purpose-buitt six terth LKiat, also called the
Rachel.
In JanLWy 2013, 25 years after the Creation of the Tr￿51. the Siw Anniversary Appeal was launched lo fund the
cc#nplete refvrbishn*nl of our firsl ￿at, the Rebe￿a. The eapilal cost was £120,000 in order lo sthp the trKJal back
to her bare steel shell and install a new engine, gearbox, tsvo theethair hoists, a hospital bed and an enlarged
fored￿ lo ￿COMMc#y3te up lo 5 whedchairs, The Appeal successfully raised the £120.(KK) by March 2014 from
240 donors. The n&￿y-refurb1Shed ReL*tta was retumed to the water in earfy May 2013 ￿fore the start ol her 25
2014 was a parts.￿larty sperial season as it was the 2P season since The Ret￿a was launched and the Trust is
proLhJ to have been offeriThJ holhlays fr)r over a quarter of a century. Some of our volunteers are still wth us. as
are many of the hwets.
Wrth sucression planning in mind, al the stsrt of 2016 we fonned a strategic alliance the Kennel and Avon Canal
Trust They agreed lo c￿ate the BnKe Branch within their organisalion wth a team of our volunteers and lake over
the running of the on a ￿¥0 year Inal basis that, if SU￿$$fUl, ￿Uld ena￿e them to lake over fully in the ￿ture.
trweby ￿k￿ng the Bruce Trust lo cc¥)linue purely as a grant-giving charty. This Initiative worted well and in
NoV￿ter 2018 the B¥￿e Tnjst grfi&J rts four t*￿tS to the Kennel & Avon Canal Trust IWVM kalrusl or
uKlbruce-
branch
+tr) to opv*e them via the 8nJ￿ Branch al Great Bthryn ￿arf. The Brw Trust will rw)w use
its resources to make grants rr)l onty lo the Kennet & Avon Canal Trust bul also to enable Feople wrth S￿la1 needs
lo enjoy every aS￿￿t of the Kennet & AV¢￿ Canal.
Since 1990, vknen theTrust first b￿ne OFerati)nal, over 25,000 peoplewrth special needs and their families. friends
and carers have eryoyed holidays on the Trust's very S￿la1 tx)ats.
The 2019 season was the first one in Yth￿h the Kennel & Avon Canal Trust had full ownership and responsibility
for the boats. They rewrted a good season wlh most ol the weekly holiday availability being taken up and a vast
number ol day trips going out. They have needed minimal guidance on the running of rt all and requested only the
agreed firsancial support.
Donations continue during this financial year lo Come in to the Bruce Trust from regular and new supporters. These
are being put lovrards the agreed financial help for the boats at the time of the handover and a number of grants
for people wlh special needs. InclLKling support for anottw disability boating organisation, The Wheelyb)al Trust,
and an array of MO￿lty equipment for disabled people.

R•vlew of fln•ncl*l tran••cOon•
The wtsnts, together V•ilh the expL4n8tw ￿te8, 8ummarl8e Itr￿ transxtions of Ihe trust during the ye¥ end&J 31
October 2023.
Rl•k rnvl•w
The Truslees are aww8 ol Ihelr re8ponslbilAleg 10 088688 Mrrfl monag• brrth external ano intemal risks to the Trust
and annually re￿eW th8 rlsks and ￿se89 Iheir relev8nce lo the current and fLrture pefloys Any Ti8ks kJenIrf￿ are
con51dwed regularly by Ihe Truslee8 and approyiate actions taken lo redLKe or eradute these Cor￿M8.
The Trustees ws
ot4ect
to thank everyone ass￿lated wllh the trust lor all Ih*r lime aThJ enthusiasm in 8LlPPYting our
ruce
l Tru8tees
LAB
Dale..
II'AYJ
A¢%+.

THE BRUCE TRUST
Accounts for the year ended 31 October 2023

en¢
x*mlner's re
rt on the *CrO￿￿¢S
I re￿rt io the tThsiees on my examination of th¢ accounts of the Bruce T￿$1 for th¢ year ended J I
Ociober 2023.
As th¢ truslees of the Charity, you are responsible for the preparntion of the accounts in #¢cordance
with the requiremcnts of the Chorities Act 2011 ('Ihe Act")-
I repon in respect of my examination of the Trust's aceoun(5 carried out under s¢¢tion 145 of the 2011
Act and carrying out my cxamination, I have followed the applicable Direciions given by lh¢
Charity Commission under section 1451SMb) of ihe ACL
I have completed my examination. I can confiTm thal no matters have come to my attention which
give me cause to believe in arty material respect that..
accounting re¢ord5 were not kept in accordancc with section 130 of the Act OT
the a￿OUnts do not aceord with the ac¢ow]ting records
I have no concerns and have come across no other matters in connection wilh ihe examination io
which attention should b¢ drawn in order to enable a proper understanding ofthe accounts to be
reached.
David Carter
1910812024

Th• BnK• Tnnl
IA Ph*ft¢*l A¢trM*• for th• y••r •nd•d JI 0•tol￿ 2023
2023
2072
lTh¢omlng P4••oyrn••
Ftsnd Ralllng
Inv•strn•nl Incom•
Tot•1 Incomlng Rwou￿••
Less co81 ol g8n•r#hng fvnd•
Fundral•lng and publicity
N•t In¢omlng rn•our¢•• •v•lhbl•
for eh•rtl•bl• •ppllc•llon
132
870442
362
362
R•8ourcM Exp•nd•d - Cb•Tlt•bl• •Jtp•ndltur•
Cosi ol acbvitses in futhoranco of the chantse8 obje¢tlv88
Managin9 arKI •dmlni8lering th• chartty
Tot*1 R••ourc•• Exp•nd•d
3.654
5189
10.232
8.533
21.8S7
50,129
110.412}
eo.y1
Balances brought forward at 1 November 2022
B•lanc•• urrl•d I0￿•r￿ at 31 Octob•r 2023
71.988
50.129

•knne• Sh••t•• It Ji 04*bw ￿1)
1022
71,980
JO,129
?29
71.986
SO,129
Tho fln￿￿￿o11t•tW￿n18 •r• •pwo¥•d by lh• TNBtwi and
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