## **The Annual Report** ## **for** **7[th] Inverness (Aird) Scout Group** **for the year 2025/2026** Charity registered in Scotland No. SC035324 **2025/2026** **7th Inverness (Aird) Scout Group** **The Annual Report** ## **7[th] Inverness (Aird) Scout Group** The last twelve months have been another successful year for the Scout Group, with the Annual Scout Census at the end of January showing the Scout Group to be the biggest group in Highlands & Islands Region for a fourth year. This is a tribute to the work of those involved in delivering Scouting across the sections and something of which we should all be rightly proud. The highlight of the year was the introduction of the new section for 4–6-year-olds, Squirrels. While not being without challenges, the Squirrels are now a major part of the Scout Group and hopefully will be for years to come. A warm welcome to the adults who have joined us since the last AGM. In the section Leadership Teams, Lily Webb has moved up from the Explorers and joined the Kirkhill Squirrel and Beaver Teams, Craig Finlayson and Emma Pagdin have joined the Kiltarlity Cub Team and Julie Greenhorn has joined the Kirkhill Cub Team. The new Squirrel Team now has Natalie Southern, Natasha Mackay and Sarah Conroy. However, we are looking for more adults to help us to deliver great activities to the young people. The new legislation regarding child protection means that anyone who is on a parent rota requires to have obtained a PVG from Disclosure Scotland. This has restricted the number of adults who can help with the young people, so whether as a uniformed Leader, a Trustee, or as a parent helper, if you would like to join our team, please get in touch. No experience is necessary and training is provided. We are still proceeding with the plans to develop better storage and activity spaces at Kirkhill Community Centre. We are submitting out plans to the Highland Council for planning consent and, once this has been obtained, we should be ready to get things started. Thank you to all the adult volunteers and Young Leaders across all the sections and the Trustee Board. It is your hard work and dedication that lets our young people have fun while developing skills for life. David Knox Group Lead Volunteer 7[th] Inverness (Aird) Scout Group 2 **2025/2026** **7th Inverness (Aird) Scout Group** **The Annual Report** ## **Section Reports** ## Kirkhill Squirrels The Kirkhill Squirrels have had a fantastic first year! There are 13 Squirrels, three adult Leaders, supported by two Young Leaders and the Kirkhill Beaver Leader, Mairi MacDonald. Currently, there are 17 more young people on the waiting list. Four of the new Squirrels have already moved up to the Kirkhill Beavers, with more due to move at the end of this term. Squirrels started the year with the All About Me Award and Get Creative Activity Badge. They made craft campfires and found out all about the natural world. For Remembrance Day, they made poppy pin badges and attended the service at Kirkhill Church with the rest of the Scout Group. It was lovely to see everyone looking so smart in their red Squirrel uniforms. The Squirrels made Christmas crafts and enjoyed a Christmas party at the Kirkhill Community Centre and everyone got a sweet treat to take home. The main theme of the term was space as the Squirrels achieved their Space Explorer Activity Badge. In January, the Squirrels painted shields and made helmets in preparation for our Up Helly Aa event. The rest of the term, the Squirrels were working towards the Super Chef Activity Badge and they made pancakes on stoves and chocolate bananas on an open fire. One Squirrel attended the Founder’s Day service at Kirkhill Church, and hopefully there will be more there next year. They celebrated the Chinese New Year and had a very enjoyable night at Hollywood Bowl, taking part in Jambowlree. This term, the Squirrels have been working towards the All About Adventure Award and the Go Wild Activity Badge. They put up a tent and made s’mores on an open fire; they scoured the area doing a nature scavenger hunt; they enjoyed a visit from the Great Glen Ferret Association and did some wild animal craft. Finally there was a visit from Nicole from Perk Donuts, who very kindly brought along some donuts for the Squirrels to decorate (and eat afterwards!). Natalie Southern Squirrel Scout Leader Kirkhill Squirrel Drey 3 **2025/2026** **7th Inverness (Aird) Scout Group** **The Annual Report** ## Kirkhill Beavers The Kirkhill Beaver Colony currently has 23 Beavers , four adult leaders and one Young Leader who is about to turn 18 and hoping to stay on as a leader. In addition there are three young people on the waiting list. It has been a fun filled year! One of the Young Leaders suggested and planned a firelighting night which saw the Beavers using matches, lighters and flint & steel and ended with s’mores, as all firelighting nights should! The Beavers made poppy pin badges and took part in the Remembrance Sunday Service at Kirkhill Church, Once again, there was a great turnout from the Beaver section. Badges covered this year included the Faith and the Space Activity Badges. Jimmy Slaughter, one of the Aird Explorer Leaders visited and spoke about space missions and space travel. It definitely got the Beavers thinking and there might be some future astronauts among them! The Kirkhill Beavers enjoyed getting together with their Kiltarlity counterparts, as well as the Kirkhill and Kiltarlity Cubs for the Christmas party. January is all about the Viking festival of Up Helly Aa. The Beavers made shields, helmets and axe’s and they helped to paint the sail for the longship. At the end of the month, they roared their way through the village behind the longship and had burgers and toasted marshmallows at the Kirkhill Community Centre. For Pancake Day this year, the Beavers made their pancake batter and cooked it over stoves in the hall. Beavers enjoyed taking part in Jambowlree with the Kiltarlity Beavers, which was a very lively evening! This term sees the Beavers working towards the My World Challenge Award and the Global Issues Activity Badge. The Beavers made endangered animal masks, learned how to reduce energy use in the home and found out all about recycling. Next term, the Beavers are all looking forward to camping with the whole Scout Group Mairi MacDonald Beaver Scout Leader Kirkhill Beaver Colony 4 **2025/2026** **7th Inverness (Aird) Scout Group** **The Annual Report** ## Kiltarlity Beavers The Beaver Colony in Kiltarlity currently has 13 Beavers and two adult leaders, with five young people on the waiting list. The Beavers have been busy this term! They started with the Teamwork Challenge Award and Experiment Activity Badge, which saw Beaver trying out all sorts of experiments, the refraction and making hot air balloons fly being particular favourites. For the Remembrance Day Service at the Kiltarlity War Memorial, The Beavers made poppy pin badges. This term, they learned about Fair Trade and designed a poster which was displayed at Inverness Town House for their Fair Trade event. The Beavers enjoyed the annual Christmas party at Kirkhill with all the Beavers and Cubs in the Scout Group. As with other sections, January is all about Up Helly Aa and the Beavers designed and painted their own shields, made Viking helmets and axes and were in fine voice at the Up Helly Aa event in Kirkhill. The Beavers heartily enjoyed making and decorating pancakes for Pancake Day, they cooked them (with a little adult supervision) on the cooker in the hall in Kiltarlity. The badges the Beavers were working on this term were the Animal Care and the Cook Activity Badges and Beavers enjoyed a visit from Sheila’s dogs and guinea pigs. The Beavers care for many different animals at home and all earned their Animal Care Activity Badge. The end of term was a lovely evening spent taking part in Jambowlree with Kirkhill Beavers. This term, the Beavers have been working towards their Personal Challenge Award, Money Skills and Collector Activity Badges. Sheila Moir Beaver Scout Leader Kiltarlity Beaver Colony 5 **2025/2026** **7th Inverness (Aird) Scout Group** **The Annual Report** ## Kirkhill Cubs A packed programme for the Cubs over the past year! The programme as always has been focussed on working towards the Chief Scout Silver Award – the highest award a Cub Scout can achieve. Where possible, we have continued to try and make the most of the weather and be outside when we can. We’ve had Shelter Building and wide games in Reelig, Hikes at Belladrum, pioneering and backwoods cooking to name a few. The year started off with our Group camp at Badaguish – with Beavers, Cubs and Scouts from across the Scout Group coming together. Along with PGL, the Badaguish camp is always a highlight for the Cubs (and leaders), where everyone is really pushed outside their comfort zone, whether that is just a night under canvas away from home or taking part in some of the activities. The Cubs showed great spirit, teamwork and leadership, all of which helps work towards their Chief Scout Silver Award. We visited the lifeboat station at North Kessock, where the Cubs learned all about the RNLI and the equipment they use to save lives at sea. In the Autumn term we were lucky enough to be hosted by Erik Lundberg for a visit to the Wardlaw Mausoleum where everyone really enjoyed learning about the local history and tying that back to things they have seen on TV or film (or the leaders did anyway!). First Aid and Personal Safety were the other themes of the term. Winter term saw us observing Remembrance Day as we do annually, as well as the Cubs working on their Challenge Badges. This term also saw a visit to Inverness Fire Station where the Cubs learned all about the fire service, the equipment used. They had the opportunity to use the hose and explore inside a fire unit. As always, we finished with our annual Christmas Party, which is becoming a raucous affair with all the Cubs and Beavers from Kirkhill and Kiltarlity coming together. The annual combined Group Up Helly Aa evening was another great success and has very much turned into a village wide event, with the benefit of raising funds for the troop. The Spring term also included the bowling competition for Scouts “Jambowlree” – hopefully we have another worldwide top 10 finish this year! Over the year the Cubs have earned over 203 badges(!), including three Chief Scout Silver Awards – the culmination of the Cub journey. 6 **2025/2026** **7th Inverness (Aird) Scout Group** **The Annual Report** There are currently 26 Cubs and no waiting list. However, the reality is unless there are some leaving, any spaces are filled by the Beavers, with the bottleneck being how many Cubs can move up to Scouts. Moving forward we will continue to focus pack meetings on what is harder to achieve outside of Cubs and things that the Cubs are really engaged with – practical activities and outside as much as possible. This will mean we will be asking that some of the more ‘admin’ type activities are carried out through ‘Badges at Home’. We believe this will give Cubs the most value out of a Tuesday night. The parent rota has worked well, so thank you to everyone who has supported this. The new legislation regarding the disclosure of adults has prevented us running a parent rota in the Summer term but we will continue this as we move into the Autumn – we require parents support in this. We are currently at three adult Leaders, which means we are at risk of cancelling meetings in the event of any Leaders being absent. Without a parents' rota, we are limited in what we can deliver by way of a programme. We would always welcome new adults to help in whatever capacity they can. The more adult Leaders we have, the less onerous the commitment is. With fewer volunteers it reduces the opportunities for our young people to make the most of their experience in the Cubs. Thanks to all the Leaders for giving up their time and for their help and support this year - Julie Greenhorn and Craig Williamson – as well as support from other sections. Also, thanks to our Young Leaders Ellie and Cameron who have been a great help and have been very reliable despite small things like exams being a competing pressure! Stephen Offord Cub Scout Leader Kirkhill Cub Pack 7 **2025/2026** **7th Inverness (Aird) Scout Group** **The Annual Report** ## Kiltarlity Cubs We have had a great and busy year at Cubs. There are currently 14 Cubs and four adult Leaders. Two Cubs moved up to Aird Scouts in August, followed by another two in January. We also have had four Beavers joining us recently. We were delighted that Emma and Craig joined us as leaders during the year. Our three Sixers will be receiving the Chief Scout’s Silver award at the end of term which is a first for our relatively young Cub Pack. The older Cubs are working well towards achieving their Challenge Awards and all our Cubs have recently gained the Personal Challenge Award. Our highlights this year include: - The fantastic group camp at Badaguish in May last year where all of our Cubs took part! - The Howling at Fordell Firs in September - A visit to a Care home before Christmas to hand out decorations made at Cubs and to sing carols with the residents. - Night time challenge at Abriachan - A visit to the RNLI lifeboat station in North Kessock - Woodland talk and games at Relaig - The Christmas party and Up Helly Aa at Kirkhill - A visit to the Inverness fire station We have also worked on respectful behaviour at Cubs. During one memorable session the Sixes took turns to lead the activity/game they chose completely by themselves, while the leaders only observed. The results were complete chaos but when the Cubs were given the opportunity to reflect on how it went, they all shared why it didn’t work and what’s needed for a successful running of a session. It was brilliant as all the learning was Cub-lead! We also went to PGL but you’ll need to read all about it in next year’s report. Basia Wright Cub Scout Leader Kiltarlity Cub Pack 8 **2025/2026** **7th Inverness (Aird) Scout Group** **The Annual Report** ## Aird Scouts The previous year has seen the Scouts out and about across Scotland and even across the Irish Sea! In May, along with the Beavers and the Cubs, the Scouts attended a Group Camp at Badaguish where they climbed a mountain, built rafts and had a lot of fun. Also in May, some of the Scouts took part in the first Inverness Monopoly Run. This involved them going about Inverness, and taking photographs of themselves in various locations around the city. It was a lot of fun and they all had a great time. The start of the Summer Holidays saw the Scouts and Explorers travelling on a bus to catch the ferry to Belfast and a week-long camp at the Crawfordsburn Scout Centre, near Bangor. They took part in a number of activities there as well as a visit to HMS Caroline and the Titanic exhibition. They had a great time there, meeting Scouts from various parts of the Irish Republic. In January, Up Helly Aa was a great success again, bringing Beavers, Cubs, Scouts and Explorers together with the whole community. There were three Scouts who were presented with the Chief Scout’s Gold Award this year. This is the highest award a Scout can achieve and a credit to the hard work that they put in while with the Scout Troop. The Scouts continued to support local events, with them helping the Inverness Half Marathon, the Etape Loch Ness and the Loch Ness Marathon this year. Not only does this raise the profile of Scouting, it is a useful way to fundraise as well. The future return trip to Kandersteg in 2027 is coming closer and we are all looking forward to that. David Knox Scout Leader Aird Scout Troop 9 **2025/2026** **7th Inverness (Aird) Scout Group** **The Annual Report** ## **Treasurer's Report: Financial Year 2025 - 2026** I am pleased to present the Treasurer's Report for 7th Inverness (Aird) Scout Group for the most recent financial year, covering the period from 1st April 2025 to 31st March 2026. During the 2025 - 2026 financial year, the 7th Inverness (Aird) Scout Group continued to deliver a full and varied programme of activities across all sections, supported by strong participation from young people, volunteers, and the wider community. Despite a year of organisational change, including the adoption of a new accounting system, the Group remained financially stable and well-governed. This transition was carefully managed, with comparative figures from the previous three years retained to ensure transparency and continuity in reporting. Total income for the year amounted to £36,900.55, reflecting a healthy mix of membership subscriptions, section activities, fundraising, donations, and bank interest, with a particularly notable contribution from Gift Aid recoveries totalling £6,616.97. These Gift Aid receipts represent the successful recovery of claims relating to the previous four financial years, which crystallised during 2025–26 and significantly strengthened the Group’s overall financial position. While this makes the year appear unusually strong, it is important to note that this income is non‑recurring and should be viewed in that context. Expenditure for the year totalled £30,765.52 and was primarily associated with delivering programme activities, camps and outings, badges and uniforms, membership and census fees, hall rental, and insurance. These costs directly supported the Group’s core purpose of ‑ providing safe, engaging, and high quality Scouting experiences. After expenditure, the Group recorded a net surplus of £6,135.03 for the year. It should be noted that this surplus arose largely as a result of the receipt of backdated Gift Aid income relating to previous financial years and is therefore not indicative of underlying annual operating performance. Total funds increased from £10,162.23 at the start of the year to £16,297.26 at 31 March ‑ 2026, held across the Co operative Bank current and savings accounts. In planning for 2026– 27, the Trustees will continue to review income sources and fundraising assumptions in light of current economic conditions and the need to sustainably finance the Group’s ongoing and planned activities. In addition, the Group is exploring the development of a new outdoor activity area, which is expected to require both capital funding for construction and provision for ongoing maintenance; while grant funding will be pursued where available, a proportion of the Group’s reserves has been earmarked to support this project. The Trustees consider the Group’s financial position at year end to be robust and appropriate for the scale of its activities. Reserves are held to ensure continuity of provision, manage cash flow across the year, and support future investment in equipment, training, and programme development. The Treasurer wishes to record thanks to those involved in independently reviewing the accounts and supporting sound financial governance, as well as to all volunteers and parents and carers whose efforts underpin the Group’s ongoing success. The 10 **2025/2026** **7th Inverness (Aird) Scout Group** **The Annual Report** accounts were prepared in advance of the forthcoming AGM and are presented for approval by the membership. Malcolm Campbell Treasurer, 7th Inverness (Aird) Scouts 11 **2025/2026** **7th Inverness (Aird) Scout Group** **The Annual Report** ## Profit and Loss ## 7[th] Inverness (Aird) Scout Group ## For the year ended 31 March 2025 ## Balance Sheet ## 7[th] Inverness (Aird) Scout Group As at 31 March 2025 12 **2025/2026** **7th Inverness (Aird) Scout Group** **The Annual Report** ## Independent Examiner's Report ## to the Trustees Of 7th Inverness (Aird) Scout Group I report on the accounts of the charity for the year ended 31st March 2026 which are set out on page 12. ## Respective responsibilities of trustees and examiner The charity’s trustees are responsible for the preparation of the accounts in accordance with the terms of the Charities and Trustee Investment (Scotland) Act 2005 and the Charities Accounts (Scotland) Regulations 2006. The charity trustees consider that the audit requirement of Regulation 10(1) (d) of the 2006 Accounts Regulations does not apply. It is my responsibility to examine the accounts as required under section 44(1) (c) of the Act and to state whether particular matters have come to my attention. ## Basis of independent examiner's statement My examination is carried out in accordance with Regulation 11 of the 2006 Accounts Regulations. An examination includes a review of the accounting records kept by the charity and a comparison of the accounts presented with those records. It also includes consideration of any unusual items or disclosures in the accounts, and seeks explanations from the trustees concerning any such matters. The procedures undertaken do not provide all the evidence that would be required in an audit, and consequently do not express an audit opinion on the view given by the accounts. ## Independent examiner's qualified statement In the course of my examination, no matter has come to my attention other than that disclosed below. 1. which gives me reasonable cause to believe that in any material respect the requirements: - to keep accounting records in accordance with Section 44(1) (a) of the 2005 Act and Regulation 4 Of the 2006 Accounts Regulations - to prepare accounts which accord with the accounting records and comply with Regulation 9 of the 2006 Accounts Regulations have not been met, or 2. to which, in my opinion, attention should be drawn in order to enable a proper understanding of the accounts to be reached. Brenda Dunthorne Date 13