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2025-08-31-accounts

Inverclyde Athletic Club (A Scottish Charitable Incorporated Organisation (SCIO) Scottish Charity No: SC047791

Annual Report and Financial Statements For the period 01 September 2024 – 31 August 2025

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Trustees Annual Report

For the period ended 31 August 2025

The Trustees have much pleasure in presenting their report together with the financial statements for the period 01 September 2024 to 31 August 2025

Reference and Administrative Information

Charity Name

Inverclyde Athletic Club

Charity No:

SC0447791

Address

197 Old Inverkip Road PA16 9EW

Current Trustees

Structure and Management

Constitution

Inverclyde Athletic Club (the Club) is a Scottish Charitable Incorporated Organisation (SCIO). It was registered in its current legal form on 3[rd] October 2017. It has a single tier structure and as such the Trustees are members of the Charity.

Appointment of Trustees

The Trustee Board are the Charity’s Trustees. Membership of the Trustee Board is open to all members of the Club provided they have had one full years Membership prior to nomination/election.

Trustees are elected at the Annual General Meeting which is held in September. There must be a minimum of five and a maximum of twelve Trustees.

During the year all IAC Trustees received the regular OSCR updates including being made aware of the changes to the Charities (Regulation and Administration) (Scotland) Act 2023 which required any Scottish charity completing a new online annual return created on or after 30 June 2025 to include charity Trustee information as part of the submission.

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Objectives and Activities

Charitable Purposes

To advance public participation in sport through the promotion and advancement of Athletics and in doing so provide recreational facilities, and to organise recreational activities, available to members of the public at large, with the object of improving the conditions of life off those in the community.

Activities

The club provides athletic coaching and competition to members of the community from age 8 upwards at various venues within Inverclyde including Ravenscraig Athletic Stadium, Inverclyde Academy, Battery Park and Darroch Park.

The club also provides athletic coaching to disabled athletes, with Inclusion sessions specifically tailored towards young disabled athletes being held weekly at Ravenscraig Stadium on Thursday evenings between 4 – 5 pm for a group of disabled youngsters, providing them with racing wheelchairs and frame runners, enabling them to have a much-needed stimulus and challenges which takes them beyond their comfort zone.

All the youngsters, usually about six of them, respond magnificently during these sessions much to the delight of their parents who continually advise that Thursday nights are the highlight of their youngsters’ week, with the club being awarded £500 from the ‘Tesco Stronger Starts Grants’ scheme towards holding these sessions.

The club also seeks to focus on their junior athletes' overall health and wellbeing by educating them that it’s not simply a case of how fast or far they can run, jump or throw, recovery from running can be just as important as the training session itself, with the body looking to restore homeostasis, fuel and fluid lost during exercise which must be replaced and damaged tissue which needs time to heal.

An integral aspect of their education is teaching them about hydration and replenishment postexercise, (training sessions), however it can be challenging to know if our junior athletes have the opportunity at home to implement their knowledge, therefore to ensure they have equal access to the correct nutritional food and drink after their training sessions, IAC presently provide foods such as yoghurts, oat, fruit bars, hot chocolate and oat milk after each training session for their junior athletes.

During the year, an average of 30 junior athletes attending three evening training sessions per week benefitted from this Hydration and Replenishment Initiative.

The club in partnership with Inverclyde Schools Athletics and accredited by Inverclyde Active Schools, provided a weekly after-school session for 5-8 year olds and during the holiday periods of Summer, October & Easter organised Athletics Camps for 5-11 year olds.

Two new Subgroups, Safeguarding and Welfare, were established during the year, with several club coaches and volunteers attending a Child Protection Officer and Child Protection Safeguarding Course during the year. :

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The clubs’ training sessions revolve around four nights a week and Saturday mornings at Ravenscraig Stadium, three nights at Inverclyde Academy, Thursday nights at the Battery Park and Saturday mornings at Darroch Park.

A key aspect of the clubs’ athletic coaching philosophy is enshrined within its Mission Statement which states:

A Young Athlete Development Plan which provides a pathway for all our young athletes to not only be the very best they can be as athletes but equally importantly prepare them to become the seniors of the club and adults of the future.

Membership

At the end of August 2025, membership totalled 195 comprising:

The clubs’ activities are only made possible by the tremendous commitment and enthusiasm of its coaches, members and volunteers who give up an enormous amount of their time week in week out to support the club. During the year, the club welcomed two new Coaching Assistants.

The club is proactive in promoting hosting athletic events and during the year hosted the Renfrewshire Road Race Championships.

The club had also taken part in the Scottish National Athletics League, (SNAL), the CSSAL, the YDL for U’13/15 as part of a combined team with Helensburgh AC & Clydesdale Harriers together with the West District Cross Country League.

Achievements & Performance

During the past year, Inverclyde Athletic Club (IAC) continue to be represented (and influential) at National Level on several Committees:

At a local level, IAC continues to be an integral and influential part of local athletics working closely with local groups such as:

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while also organising and hosting numerous athletic activities and events during the year, many of which involved the above groups working in Partnership with IAC.

As they have been doing for the past 24 years, IAC held their Youth Development Camps during the Easter and Summer holidays at Inverclyde Academy and Ravenscraig Stadium for all club and local youngsters involving Active Schools, SAMH, CLD Inverclyde and Inverclyde Communities Health & Wellbeing.

During 2025, our two new Initiatives introduced in 2022 still proved popular:

Both Initiatives proved to be very popular and will be repeated during 2026.

In partnership with Active Schools Active Schools Inverclyde, IAC, once again, organised and hosted the following events:

IAC are actively involved in Inverclyde Councils’ Active Inverclyde Strategy which seeks to provide a framework for community planning partners in Inverclyde to work together to increase participation in physical activity, including sport.

During 2024 IAC led the way for Scottish Athletic Clubs by signing up to a Sports Chaplaincy Charter, with the club welcoming Chris Barlas as its new Sports Chaplain. However, during 2025, Chris was ordained a Church of Scotland Minister and moved to the east coast to take up a new Parish.

IAC established a Womans’ Jogging Group which meets every Wednesday evening at Ravenscraig Stadium providing a ‘safe space’ for woman to exercise in line with Inverclyde Womens’ Safety Charter.

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Continuing with the Inverclyde Womens’ Safety Charter theme and as part of the Active Inverclyde Strategy Initiative and in conjunction with Branchton Community Centre, (BCC), (member of the Ravenscraig Community Sports Hub), IAC established up a BCC Womens’ Only jogging group who meet every Monday morning at Ravenscraig Stadium, together with a mixed group Fit2Run jogging group on Wednesday evenings, again at the Stadium.

IAC organise athletic events at Ravenscraig Stadium with other clubs, e.g., Giffnock North AAC & Kilbarchan AAC in line with scottish athletics ClubsWorkingTogether Initiative.

In February, IAC hosted another successful Renfrewshire Road Race Championships at the Battery Park attended by over 400 athletes ranging from u11 through to seniors, with IAC athletes, once again, winning individual titles across a wide range of age groups and being placed across all the age groups.

In June, the club held its second Loch Thom Trail Race during Athletics Trust Scotland Week, raising an impressive £1000 for Athletics Trust Scotland, the highest amount raised by any club during that week, followed by another very successful Scottish Athletics Pole Vault event at Ravenscraig Stadium, where many personal best heights were recorded by many of the young athletes who took part.

As part of Ravenscraig Community Sports Hub (HUB), IAC held a Family Sports Day Festival at Ravenscraig Stadium during August, which saw over 60 youngsters with their parents treated to a truly fun packed Festival of Sporting challenges and activities, which according to their feedback received on the day, was deemed an outstanding success!

The activities enjoyed by both the youngsters (and some parents) included standing long jump, and relay races, basketball challenges such as relay/dribbling through obstacles retrieving markers and bringing them safely home, a range of challenging football skills including beat the goalie basketball skills including shooting to the portable basketball hoop while hockey dribbling skills proved very challenging!

A very popular addition this year was a visit by KG Hawks with their Birds of Prey who brought along various birds of prey which the youngsters, (and not so young) were able to handle and learn all about them.

For the less energetic, face painting again proved very popular with many of the youngsters queuing up to have their faces painted in all sorts of guises.

All activities were enjoyed amid a lovely warm and sunny day ensuring healthy appetites all of which were satisfied with plenty of sandwiches, fruit, juice, chocolate bars and the all-important ice cream!

The club also held a successful Santa, Elves & Reindeer Dash during December and was delighted to, once again, support Branchton Community Centre with its Christmas Appeal and also Starter Packs Inverclyde.

IAC were fully prepared for the new changes to The Disclosure (Scotland) Act 2020 introduced on 1[st] April 2025.

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A very welcome return during the year was the clubs’ Annual Prizegiving, (the first since before COVID) which saw three (very successful) separate nights held at a local Bowling Club for the u11 & u13s, the u15, u17 and the u20 and seniors, with the intention of holding one Prizegiving night for all age groups the following year.

IAC Coaches continue to deliver their training sessions on a voluntary basis at:

In addition:

However, during the year it was becoming increasingly evident that allocating (our already busy) coaches to sustain the various main community projects the club has been delivering for several years was becoming more of a challenge. To ease this, the club agreed to have its own (paid) IAC Community Impact coach established via the Scottish Athletics Club Together (CT) scheme, with the costs shared between the club and the CT scheme.

In collaboration with Inverclyde Councils’ Youth Team, Community Learning and Development Team, the club established a Participative Democracy Certificate (PDC) Programme which linked into the clubs’ Young Persons Forum.

The PDC is a youth award that provides SCQF level accreditation to young people involved in group decision-making and gives participants the opportunity to acknowledge and develop their communication, decision-making and negotiation skills in the context of democratic engagement.

In the Inverclyde Sports Personality Awards 2024, four members of the club were nominated with with John Bell and Kyle Brotherton winning the Senior Sports and Disabled Sports Personality Awards respectively, with Hannah McGeehan, (Young Coach of the Year) and David Tamburini (Volunteer of the Year) making it through to the final nominations.

Previous Races/Events

From a club performance perspective during the past year, IAC athletes continued to compete (and made an impact) in numerous events across the county and beyond during the past year with some notable performances and achievements:

Scottish Athletics West District Cross Country Relay Championships, Kilmarnock

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Scottish Athletics Cross Country Relay Championships, Cumbernauld

Scottish Athletics Short Course (4k) Championships, Kirkcaldy

Ben Potrykus 1[st] Senior Men Senior Mens’ Team – 20[th] Millie McLelland Brooks – 1[st] u20 / 5[th] overall Senior Woman Nynke Mulholland – Strummer – 19[th] Grace Barry – 5[th] Young Females Olivia Law – 14[th] Young Females Team – 4[th]

Scottish Masters Cross Country Trial

Markl Doherty, Colin Doherty, Gregor Yates and Robert Paterson all selected to represent Scotland at the British & Irish Masters International in Belfast on 16[th] November.

Great Scottish Run Wheelchair 10k

Kyle Brotherton 2[nd]

Great Scottish Run Half Marathon

John Bell 6[th] male

Nynke Mullholland Stummer 2[nd] female

Jedburgh Wheelchair 10k

Kyle Brotherton 2[nd ]

IAC young athletes competed in the first Scottish Athletics Indoor League meeting in the Emirates Arena on Sunday 27[th] October

Ben Potrykus and Millie McLelland Brooks were selected to represent Scotland at the British Cross Challenge and Euro Cross Trials at Liverpool on Saturday 23[rd] November

Scottish Athletics West District Cross Country Championships, Erskine

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SAIL Match 2, Emirates Arena

Malaga Marathon

Scottish Cross Country Championships, Falkirk

Scottish Schools Cross Country Championships

Inter District Cross Country Championships, Alexandria Park, Glasgow

UK Intercounties Cross Country Championships, Nottingham

Grace Barry 33[rd] , first home for Scotland West who finished 8[th] Team Olivia Lyne 168[th]

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Scottish Students Indoor Athletic Championships, Emirates Arena

Renfrewshire Road Races, Battery Park, Greenock

Allan Scally Road Relays

Nigel Barge 10k Road Race

Scottish Cross Country Championships, Falkirk - U20 Women

British Masters Cross Country Championships, Tollcross

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Young Athletes Road Races, North Berwick

SIAB Schools' International Cross-Country Match, Falkirk – Grace Barry 23[rd] , Scotland Team 3[rd]

London Marathon - Jack Letson 2.29.53, (Scottish Marathon M40 Champion), Nicholas Gemmell 2.35.54, (Scottish Marathon M50 Champion), Andy Harkins 2.45.25, David Hendwerson 2.55.45, Alun Myers 2.57.50 & Nynke Mullholland – Stumer 3.00.48

Tom Scott Memorial 10m Road Race, Strathclyde Park – John Bell, 10[th] , Nynke Mullholland – Stummer 2[nd] , Meredith Reid 6[th]

DAA 10 Mile Road Race Championships – John Bell 1[st] , David Henderson 10[th] , Andrew Harkins 14[th ] , Martyn Campbell 39[th ]

GAA Miler Meet and Scottish 10,000m Championships, Crownpoint - Robert Paterson 1[st] O/55

Scottish National Schools Aquathon – Olivia & Charlie Lynne, Gold medals representing Clydeview Academy, with Charlie and Olivia also part of the Clydeview Academy team who took Gold in the mixed relay race.

Tristar Three Age Group Triathlon - Olivia & Charlie Lynne, 1[st] in their respective age group.

Financial Review

As a registered Charity (SCIO), IAC is very conscientious of the cost of participating and subsidises a number of events and travel costs for members, also working closely with Active Schools staff to identify Inclusion at both club sessions and holiday camps.

During 2024 IAC actively supported Christmas donations to local charities including local foodbanks, Branchton Community Centre and Starter Pack Inverclyde.

The Clubs’ main source of funding is annual membership fees, with the Club introducing a Standing Order Scheme to pay for annual membership fees several years ago, which is now proving popular among the members.

However, the club has also benefited from generous donations from several Club sponsors all of whom believe and fully support the clubs’ activities, which together with hosting the Renfrewshire Road Race Championships also brought in valuable income via catering at the event.

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The Club was also extremely fortunate to benefit (again) from Inverclyde Councils Community Grant Scheme (formally U19 Sports Waiver Scheme) and also its Warm Hand of Friendship and Windfarm Grants Schemes.

Management

The activities, strategic development and finances of the club are overseen by a Board of Trustees who meet periodically to consider the Club Development Plan, Financial Position and any material matters arising from the Management Committee.

A Management Committee meet monthly to consider the day to day activities of the Club including membership, capacity, competition, member welfare and general administration duties.

Reserves Policy

The Trustees’ policy is to retain at least 6 months’ worth of core running costs, e.g., facility lets, race entry fees and our Scottish Athletic Affiliation in order to meet commitments and to cover any unexpected expenditure. This expenditure stands at around £15,000.

Unrestricted reserves are in excess of this at £30,000 which the Trustees believe to be acceptable but will continue to monitor the position.

Plans for Future Period

The Trustees intend to continue to pursue the growth and development of the Club on a managed and controlled basis building on our recent success and will continue to work constructively with Scottish Athletics on developing the structure and governance of the Club.

The trustees declare that they have approved the trustees’ report above.

Signed on behalf of the charity’s trustees

Signature(s)
Full name(s)
Position (e.g.
Chair)
Gerard Majella Gaffney
Treasurer

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Date 21°, May 2026 13