Killinchy Activity Group Charity Registration Number :--NIC 101086 Address :-C/O 91 Ballydorn Road Killinchy Newtownards BT23 6QB The registered trustees for the year 2022 / 2023. Miss Emma Heaney Mr Gareth Brown Mr Brian Drydale Annual Report 1[st] May 2022 to 30[th] April 2023. The year covered in our report has proved to be beneficial and productive to all our members. Overall membership numbers for the year have increased by 44%. This is a split 60:40 female to male which is a trend we have started to observe. The annual recruitment numbers has grown considerably due to our increased activities following the dormant period following our shut down as a result of COVID-19. In our DofE awards programme our young people who complete their various awards, can choose to move to the next level or at completion of their Gold award they can go no further and have fully completed their objectives. The numbers involved in our associated clubs has increased our overall membership by 90 during this period, which we believe is a result of the aftermath of being dormant for 2 season following COVID-19. For the year 2022 / 2023 all young people who applied to our DofE programme were afforded the opportunity to take part. A number of young people have transferred in from other units to undertake their awards at all levels. Our youth club section saw an average attendance of 28 each week. The compliment of volunteer leaders has increased with several young people joining as junior leaders to improve their own skills and bring back their experience to the benefit of the generation that follows them. This method of recruiting leaders has continued to provide the organisation with a dedicated reserve of personnel to draw on to lead our various activities. The senior leaders continue to improve their own skills through maintaining their qualifications and taking opportunities to better their own levels of education. Success in the operation of the organisation is gauged on the number of awards that the young people complete and the number of young people that we involve. This quantitative measurement is in real terms good. The total number of awards completed in the year being evaluated was 61 an increase of 5 on the previous year. However this is a very short term measurement as many of our young people take more than 12 months to complete any of the 3 levels of award. A more meaningful measurement of success is to look at the numbers of our young people who complete each level of the DofE Award and our unit has one of the highest if not the highest completion rates in Northern Ireland. The qualitative measurement of our operation is the experiences of our young, and what we might consider to be more valuable, is their life skills and experiences that they acquire from interacting with other young people from their peer groups. The good and not so good experiences from their expeditions through the good weather and the extremes that come when the weather is not so favourable. The current training environment has again stood the organisation in good stead with all those starting an expedition also having completed them. The associated operations with the younger age groups continues to reap benefits with the regular interaction with them on a weekly basis leading to long term value in the experiences of this diverse group of young people. Our additional activities for this group continue to be well attended and they continue to remain popular. ## Financial Review:-- Turnover is similar to 2021 / 2022 a reflection on a smaller number of young people taking part in expeditions and an increase in attendance on our winter programme which has generated c£2000.00 in additional revenue. However there is also a sum of c£4500.00 in fees already paid that will not be used until the expedition season of 2023. The main operational costs still lie in the organisations involvement in the preparation and completion of expedition work during the summer months from June to October. The nature of the operation is still very much income meets expenditure and the objective is still to deliver a cost affordable programme of activities. The organisations reliance on unpaid volunteer leaders is a resource that would add a lot of expense if the economic value of the experience and qualifications were taken into consideration. The equipment that the organisation uses to operate is still very serviceable but thought needs to be given to replacing some of the items such as tents and rucksack that see constant use over the expedition season. A programme of renewal is currently under consideration and should result in the sale of used equipment and replacement with new. It would be considered feasible to maintain membership fees at similar levels unless there is an unforeseen change in circumstances such as increasing fuel costs.