Killinchy Activity Group
Charity Registration Number :--NIC 101086
Address :-C/O 91 Ballydorn Road Killinchy Newtownards BT23 6QB
The registered trustees for the year 2023 / 2024.
Miss Emma Heaney Mr Gareth Brown Mr Brian Drysdale
Annual Report 1[st] May 2023 to 30[th] April 2024.
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 again. This is a split 69%, 31% female to male. The growing number of females is a trend we have started to observe. The annual recruitment numbers has grown due to our increased activities following the dormant period following our shut down as a result of COVID19. 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 seasons following COVID-19.
For the year 2023 / 2024 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 29 each week.
The compliment of volunteer leaders has remained at a similar level to that of the previous year.
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 76 an increase of 15 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. Our summer season of 2023 was the busiest that we have experienced since we started in 1991 a reflection of our success since the COVID close down.
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. The growing numbers in these other groups is being looked at and it may be time to look at our structures again for the following season and move our youth club operation our of Killinchy Activity Group.
Financial Review:--
Turnover for 2023 / 2024 is up by £7500.00 on the previous financial year and is a reflection of the numbers of young people involved in our summer season.
We have been fortunate enough to secure several financial grants in this financial period. Alpkit Foundation £795.00 which was invested in Leader Training for First Aid and Outdoor Qualifications. Micro Community Grant £1800.00 which was used to support two wellbeing programmes for our young people to benefit from outdoor activities aimed at helping with their mental wellbeing over a 9 month period. Community Foundation £1460.00 aimed at a leadership programme. Our annual Education Authority financial support of £2683.00 to support our yearly youth programme.
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 being implemented 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.
Using our current financial model we would not foresee a problem in funding our programme operation over the coming 12 months.