act￿4. aird community trust Aird Community Trust (ACT) Report of the Trustees and the Accounts for the year ended 31 August 2025 Registered Address: clo Secretary Lean-Na-CreiBe Lentran Inverness IV3 8RL Re8i5tered Charlty number: SC012797 Page 2 of 14 Trustees. Report and Accounts for year ended to 31 August 2025 We, the Trustees, have pleasure in presenting our report together with the financial statements and the Independent Examiner's report forthe year from I September 2024 to 31 August 2025. Trustees are either elected at an annual general meeting of the members or co-opted by the Board 5ub5equently. During the period being reported on the Charity Trustees were.. Name: Rachel Cam Sarah Conro Tania Dascho Mark Drain Anita Du Geor eHo Erik Lundber Suzi Macdonald Mike Miller Jim Murra Charlotte Offord Alice Scriven Donald Shiach Chaf lotte Steel Karen Williamson Elerted 31 25 219124 25 io 21 2513124 119/20 20 2713123 25 io 21 113121- 28n125 2713/23 22 24 119120- 3113125 20 2718125 2713123 Office held: bell-Hardiman Treasurer Chair Treasurer Secreta Governing Documert- Charity SC012797 We are a Scottish Charitable Incorporated Organisation, and our purposes and administration 15 arrangements are set out in our Jco 5kLtion. As a charity we are regulated bythe s￿0￿ harit R LÉ￿LOr I"OSCR"I. Charitable Purposes Our purposes, as set out in our constitution, are to improve the condition5 of life of the residents of Kirkhill and Bunchrew Community Council area, Cabrich and Clunes by providing for.. The prevention or relief of poverty. The advancement of education. The advancement of health. The advancement of citizenship or community development. The advancement of the arts. heritage. culture. or science. The advancement of public participation in sport. The provision of recreational frdcilities. or the organisation of recreational attivfcies. • The advancement of enwronmental protertion or improvement. The relief of those in need. Aird ConyNtnty Tw SCIO reglstratson nunknr SCO12797 Page 3 of 14 Activities and Achievements We are marFaged by a Board who provide governance, manage the finan￿5 of the organisation and oversee, facilitate and support groups who deliver the services of the charity in pursuit of the above purposes. This creates a dynamic and flexible strurture able to respond quickly to need and opportunity. The Board meets regularly to undertake its funrtions, and individual trustees maintain links to the groups ensuring good communication and integratiors despite our devolved strutture. General We are a voluntary organisation and do not employ any staff direttly. Almost all of what we do is delivered by volunteers. This provides a relatively low incomelexpenditure model which is SUStainable and resilient. It is however dependent on our generous volunteers, and their support is much appreciated. Our money is raised from within the communrty, from our services and/or grant aid. We have a good track record of securing funding, where we apply ft)r it. and delivering projerts to a high standard. We are particularly indebted this year to Highland Council's Ward Discretionary Fund and the Highland & Island's Climate Fund for their support. The year ha5 again been about maintaining our core services. meeting an increased demand and adding to the range of things we do. As we are increasingly active within the community our membership continues to grow. This increased, over the course of the year, by around a third to over 2CM). We estimate our volunteers, acr055 the range of our artivities, commf( almost S.000 volunteer hours per year. What we achieve with this is outlined below. We are careful to ensure we provide opportunities for volunteers of all abilities, skills. experien￿, and availability. We take what opportunities we can to recognise and appreciate our volunteers and their endeavours. We will always look to increase our numbers so we can do more and better. We organised a Community Day in May 2025 as an opportunity to get the various Groups of the Trust, the local Scout Group and others to get together to appreciate, promote and share information on their attivitie5. This was great success. We are a rural community but located close to the city of Invefness and between it and the village of Beauly. Residents are dispersed throughout our area wtth the main settlement being the village of Kirkhill. Communication within the community is a key issue for us. We will continue to work on this. Our main vehicle for this is our recently reintroduced quarterly community new51etter, Crannog. Our website is hosted on server space provided and supported, free of charge, by local company Teclan Ltd. We also have free accessto Google Workspace and Canva. This support is rnuch appreciated and invaluable to us. Work of ourGroups: Active Travel Group We continue to lobby forthe development of an artive travel route. on minor roads and new paths, between Beauly and Inverne55. This 15 a long-term strategic 8oal. In addition, we have continued to raise our safety concerns around the way in which the new stretch of path from Dunballoch to the Kiltarlrty road junction emerges onto the busy A862. A solution to this has been found and we hope to see it implemented by Highland Council soon. Aiid Coftwnunrty Trusl SCIO re9stral￿n nurter SC012797 Re￿$leTel1 ad(tress. Lea￿N&c(ePje. Lentran. Inveff*ss N3 8RL Page 4 of 14 More locally we continue to champion active travel in its various form5. As part of this we again supported a visit by pupils of Kirkhill Primary School to the Upper Reelig Community Wood by bike and organised an Adaptive Cycling Event. Crannog New51etter Group We continue to produce a free quarterly community newsletter. This is primarily distributed digitally, and we have over 300 subscriptions and rising. We also do a small print run which is distributed to local public places and over 30 indtviduals unable to aC￿sS the digital version. A Gala Week special edition was also produced in recognition of the importance of that week to the community. The print run was originally funded from grants but is now covered by advert15ing income. Crannog has now featured and promoted over 60 local voluntary groups, clubs, societies and events as well as other institutions such as the Highlife Highland ￿"brary Service. Thi5 has led to an increase in engagement with those promoted. We also supply several NHS group5 and community health workers to benefit their patients and clients. Ifirkhill Community Café Group We ran a weekly café in the Communty Centre for most of the year and on Gala Day- 41 openings in all. The cafe is a much-valued social asset for the community. We served some 1,325 customers utilising 1,110 volunteer hours and produon8 1,5C(151ices of cakel We are always looking ft)r more volunteers. and particularly to help with busy cafés on Kirkhill Market and Gala Days. The café is a great opportunity to socialise for both volunteers and customers. Kirkhill Grittin8 Group We have a team of around 9 volunteers who grit pavements within Kirkhill during icy or snowy weather. This is because of the withdrawal of Highland Council's own gritting services from pavement5 Wtthin small communities. Unfortunately we would need a much biggerteam to cover m05t of Kirkhill's pavements. We will continue to recrurt further volunteers as opportunity presents. Aird Heritsge Group Much of the year was spent navigating the complex legal process of transferring ownership of Wardlaw Mausoleum from Lovat Estates to us. This was successfully completed shortly after the end of the year. The Heritage Group will perform a key role on our behalf for the maintenance. management and promotion of this important historic buildir)g- the final resting place for several generations of Lovat Frasers. The building has strong links to the 18th century Jacobrce cause and the events before and after Culloden. Our aim is to enhance the visitor experience, boost income to cover running costs. and raise awareness of this iconic anaent building. We are indebted to the enthusiasm of local volunteers and 5UPPOrt from Lovat Estate5. The group 15 already exploring options to renovate a second historic building in Kirkhill. We have an enthusiastic core membef5hip who meet monthly to explore all aspects of local heritage, update and correct official records. attend field trips, establish an on-line local archive, and welcome visiting Specialists to give presentations. A good collaborative relationship has been established this year with a similar group in the neighbourin8 parish of Beauly. ftl C¢mYwJnty Trust SCIO ￿gIS1ra￿On number SCO12797 Rwslered atthss" Lea￿N>cre19e. Lentran. Invemess Thr3 8RL Page 5 of 14 Irkhill Community Centre Group We continue to own and manage the Kirkhill Community Centre l-KCC-l as our most significant community asset. A big group of volunteers look after rt and run some of the major attivities in it. The effort required to operate the KCC efficiently and ensure Ft is available as an attractive venue should not be underestimated. Again, this year we maintained the KCC and carried out improvements. We provided new Black stage curtains, opened up doors between the main hall and the Williamson Room Ito improve flexible use of the space), r￿ed cladding to the walls of the main hall, upgraded the sound equipment, and planted out 100 additional trees within the grounds. Our effort5 saw an increase in both the numbers of users and income generated. This is essential given the ongoing increase in runnin8 costs if raising user price5 15 to be kept to a minirnum. We saw the return of football to the village consolidated with Kirkhill Fc's use of our frdcilities. We reached a new agreement with the * Inverness (Airdl Scout Group which will see their continued presence in the village. We also set up an NHS Near Me facility which will allow loca15 to attend some hospital appointments remotely. We have also agreed how a new ACT Community Food Growing Group can be established within the grounds of KCC. We also organised an Adaptive Cycling event in the KCC grounds. In addition to maintainingthe KCC and expanding tts use we ran several important community events. This included the annual Gala Week. A week of daily activities leading up to Gala Dav itself, which saw a record attendance of over 8(M)l The week is both a great social event for the community and important fundraiser for KCC and the many local organisations who participate. We also ran a very successful monthly market- promoting local food production and another opportunity for locals to get together. At Christmas time we again organised a very popular Christmas Fayre and Senior Citizens, Christmas Party. Going forward key challenges will include completing the current improvement works. negotiating a new elertricity contract so we can optimise use of our solar panels and battery system, recruiting new volunteers for Gala Week and keeping on top of maintenance of an attrartive building and grounds for our users. Klrkhill Toddlers Group We continue to run a weeklyToddlers session. Attendance numbers fluttuate but have generally been increasing. Parentslcarers run a rota to manage the session. Facebook continues to be used for organising sessions and general communication. The annual gala disco is good fun, and a key fundraising opportunity for the Group. Funds raised provide for additional artivities such as messy play events and gift for children attending their Christmas Party. In addition, much of our play equipment is getting aged so it's intended to have a 8ood clean out and replace much of this. Toddler5 15 important socially for both the children attending and their carersl Light Up Kirkhill Group We once again provided Christmas Lights for Kirkhill and a Christmas Tree. In 2024 this was once again kindly donated by the Wotherspoons family. The tree wa5 decorated by P7,5 from Kirkhill Primary School and enjoyed along with hot chocolate and cookiesl The switching on of the lights itself continues to be a very popular mid-winter community event with increasing numbers attending and enjoying the start of the festive season. Aird Corrrnnty TnJst SCIO registrabon nurTthr SCO12797 Re9518￿d arhjress". Lea￿￿Cre19e, Lentran, Invemess BRL Page 6 of 14 We currently have 19 light5 up in the village. Once we have settled outstanding invoices for maintenance we plan to invest in additional lights to make next year's display even more spectacular! Paths and Access Group We have continued our work to keep key local paths clear of vegetation. clear of litter - and useable. The attive travel path from Dunballoch to the Kiltarlity road is two years old and inevitably require5 more attention, but this has not detratted from our other work on the wider network of local paths. We are hopeful that the link from the Kiltarlity road to the Cabrich will be complete soon, and that will give us another short stretch to maintain. Our work is all carried out by volunteers, With approximately 120 hours of strimming, edging, leaf-blowing and litter-picking in the past year. We were delighted to welcome new volunteers, but mole are always needed. It's always nice to get a thumbs up or a cheery greetingfrom passing motorists, but the best way to thank us is boots on the ground! Wearing our hi-vis ACT jackets is a good way of highlighting the work of the Trust and raising its profile. We also maintained dialogue with Highlènd Council's Access Officer over local access issues as and when these are raised by members of the community- Thanks are due to Highland Council's roads team for dealing so quickly and efficiently with trees and branches which briefly blocked the active travel paths following Storms this year. Woodland Group 2025 marked the 25th anniversary of our artivttiesto manage and promote this popular area of amenity woodland. A new Ilkyear management plan has been finalised with Forestry & Land Scotland along with a management agreement. These two documents provide a framework for the effettive maintenance of the footpath network, forestry operations and the promotion of biodiversity. All this is carried out by volunteers who meet fortnightly from Autumn through to Spring. We also work closely with the local primary school, scout groups and others to promote recreational and outdoor learning opportunities. Controlled felling of timber coupled with the clearing of windblow generates an income stream for ACT through the sale of firewood. Sales for 2025 were comparable with previous years. Health and safety is a high prior ity. with all attivities and the operation of equipment risk assessed to an industry level standard. Additionally, around a dozen regular volunteers are certificated first aiders. A recruitment drive to attract younger volunteers needs to be prioritised. as most of our members are above lor approaching) retirement age. Future work Going forward we will continue to deliver our estsblished work across the range of our Groups Ino mean ftatll and look to.. Work with the Community Council to investigate the possibility of a Shopl community hub in Kirkhill. Get the Community Food Growing Group up and running. Investigate the opportunrties for preserving the Cruck/Groam cottage. Consolidate our management of the Wardlaw Mausoleum. Aird Cormwnrty Tnjst SCIO re￿$tra￿On number SC012797 R•gstered aiths5". Le8￿N*Cre19e, Lentran. In¥eme53 f+43 8RL Page 7 of 14 Flnanclal r￿leW Total receipts for the year were £47,450 12024: £90.0761. The income includes KCC hire totalling £13,445, Gala income of £8.654 Cafe income of £5.485. Grant incorne of £5,550 FIT payments for ex¢e55 electricity generated by our PV panels of E2,952 and firewood sales of £975. Fundraising events and other in¢orne generated £15,464 with expenses of £3.581. The prirnary sources of fundraising came from the Gala Day £8.654 Market receipts £1,170, Reverse raffle and Bingo 1,174 and £1,329 raised for the Christmas Light fvnd along with £802 raised from the Craft Fayre. Total operating costs, including cleaning, repairs/maintenance and professional fees, and upgrades for the year were £32,63712024= f96.1081. The main difference between years came from upgrades in 2024 of £64.806 compared to £2,667 in 2025 (see note 111- Trustee Remuneratlon and expen5e5 The Trustees did not receive any remunerdtion or expenses during the year. Reser¥e5 Policy The Trustees of Aird Community Trust have identified the need for the tollowing reserves. The policy is reviewed annually at the end of the financial year. The Trustees believe that around six months of annual expenditure. including routine maintenance and replacement of equipment, is an appropriate level of reserves tt) cover timing differences between receipts and payments and to allow tor any unexpected items of expenditure or reduction of income. This reserve is held at £6.1￿1. Re airs and maintenance reserve Trustees have agreed that no separate reserve Is currently required as all items of repair and maintenance of the buildin& car park and MUGA are being fully address on an ongoing basis. There are no proposals being considered of a capital nature. Approved by the Trustees and signed on their behalf by.. Chairperson Date- li thrfy z& Air(1 Corr￿Inty Trnst SCIO registraknon number SC012797 Re￿SIere(l address.. Lean-N&Crei9e, Lentran, In¥effe￿ rv3 8RL Page 8 of 14 Independent Examlners Report to the Tfustees of Alrd Communlty Trnst I report on the financial statements of the charity for the year ended 31 August 2025 which are set out on page$ 9-14. Respectlve responslbllllles of Trustees and Examlner The charity's trustees are responsible for the preparation of the accounts in accordance with the Charities and Trustee Investment Iscotlandl Act 2CQ5 and the Charities Accounts Iscotlandl Regulations 2OJ6. The charity trustees Consider that the audit reqUI￿rnent of Regulation 10111 Idl does not apply. It is my responsibility to examine the accounts as required under section 4411) Icl of the Act and to state whether particular matters have come to My attention. Basls of Independent Examlner's Statement My examination is carried out in accordance with the Regulation 11 of the Charities Accounts Iscotlandl Regulations 2006. An examination ir¢cludes a review of the accounting recortls kept by the Group and a comparison of the accounts p￿Sented wrth those records. It also Includes consideration of any unusual items or disclosures in the accounts and seeks explanations from the trustee5 concerning any such matters. The procedures undertaken do not provide all the evidence that would be required in an audit, and consequently I do not express an audit opinion on the view given by the accounts. Independent Examlner's Statement In connection with my exarnination, no Matter ha5 come to my attention: which gives me reasonable cause to believe that in any material respect the requirements: to keep accounting ￿COrdS in a¢cor