## Valley Rangers Youth Football Club Charity No: 107551 Trustee Report 2023-24 

Address: 46 Balinran Road, Kilkeel, Co. Down, BT34 4JA 

Trustees: Neil Ardis (Chairperson), Chris McAuley, Mervin Teggarty, Thomas Haugh and Deborah Annett 

The purpose of the charity is to promote the sport and to provide opportunities for young persons aged under eighteen years to gain training in the skills of Association Football, to arrange competitive games for all teams playing under its name, to encourage young people to participate in competitive team sport and to promote for the benefit of the inhabitants aged under eighteen years of the Ballinran area. 

The main beneficiaries of this purpose are the people living in the Kilkeel area although the work of the Youth impacts throughout the wider Down area. 

During 2023-24 the Youth continued with its focus on strengthening and ensuring our governance structure continues to be fit for purpose. The Youths financial situation continued to be managed in a positive position during uncertain and challenging times through the continued support from our members and further successful applications to several small grants. 

During 2023-24 the Youth has maintained and enhanced its Structure by increasing the number of volunteers to support all age group coaches from age U6 to U14’s. During 2023-24 many of our coaches gained IFA coaching Awards, and we plan to continue to apply for grants to do these during 2023-24. All new volunteers have undergone an AccessNI Check in association with IFA. Safeguarding Children and First Aid in sport have been facilitated by the Youth and made available to Volunteers to attend. 

Our youth teams are involved and compete across different NI Football Leagues. We have several youth teams within our youth setup playing in the Mid Ulster Youth League and Carnbane (GDC) Youth League in Newry. Our youth teams range from under 6s mini soccer up to under 14s. Teams train twice a week with qualified coaches and play matches on Saturdays and occasionally mid-week games in spring and summer. We have a girl’s football academy which has approx. 90 girls who train regularly. We encourage kids with disability and Autism to come along to training when they can as we are an all-inclusive club. We also encourage cross community networking and participation. 

The Youth was able to support the provision of further equipment, training, insurance, and venue hire through the successful application of grant funding. 

During the past year, the Trustees consider that we have fulfilled our purpose by way of promoting the sport and to provide opportunities for young persons aged under eighteen years to gain training in the skills of Association Football in Kilkeel, County Down and have ensured a safe environment for members to participate. 

The trustees are content that the finances of the Youth are maintained and reported in a satisfactory manner. There are regular updates at the committee meetings which were manged through zoom or in the Committee Room. Minutes of these meetings are recorded 



and duly signed by the Chairperson. The Annual General Meeting for 2023/24 was held at the time as agreed by the Youth Committee. 

In setting our objectives and planning our activities for the year the Trustees have given careful consideration to the Charity Commission for Northern Ireland’s guidance on public benefit to ensure that the activities have helped to achieve the charity’s purposes and provide a benefit to the beneficiaries. 

_Neil Ardis_ 

Neil Ardis Chairperson