2024-02-28-accounts - Buittle Quest

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Buittle Quest Trustees’ Annual Report 1 March 2023 to 29 February 2024

Charity contact information

Your charity’s name: Buittle Quest

Scottish Charity Number: SC049978 Address: Postcode

Charity Trustees

Objectives and activities

The following extract is from our Buittle Quest Constitution vsn 3, Section 4:

The charity’s purposes are to benefit principally the community of Buittle Parish which comprises the area administered by Buittle Parish Community Council (“the Community”) and those members of the public, groups and organisations visiting Buittle Parish and make use of one or more benefits with the following objects:

The advancement of citizenship and community development by the ongoing development of community plans, delivering the programmes identified through those plans and building partnerships between community groups to enhance decision making and engagement.
The advancement of community heritage by means of o restoring and preserving historic buildings, monuments and sites of architectural importance
collecting, cataloguing and displaying artefacts and records in museums and archives The provision of recreational facilities, or the organisation of recreational activities with the object of improving the conditions of life for the persons for whom the facilities or activities are primarily intended by the good stewardship of said facilities and activities.
The advancement of environmental protection or improvement by o the protection or conservation of land and water, including areas of natural beauty and scientific interest and
the promotion of energy saving measures and the use of renewable energy.
The relief of those in need by reason of age, ill-health, disability, financial hardship or other disadvantage by the provision of drop-in centres and similar support services including the provision, improvement and maintenance of public amenities

But only to the extent that the above purposes are consistent with furthering the achievement of sustainable development.

Structure, governance and management

Type of governing document

Buittle Quest is a Scottish Charitable Incorporated Organisation (SCIO) governed by its constitution and reporting into the Office of the Scottish Charity Regulator (OSCR).

Trustee recruitment and appointment

Our founding trustees were drawn from Buittle Parish Community Council after they commissioned Finding New Ways for Palnackie. Our initial commitments were to serve for at least 2 years, establish Buittle Quest as a viable charity and ensure it was linked to the activities and needs of Buittle Parish Community Council and wider community.

Unfortunately, a matter of days after Buittle Quest was officially registered, COVID-19 hit society at large and we all had to endure the associated lockdowns. This totally usurped our original priorities and growth plans. Our revised plans enabled us to provide immediate and much needed support to individuals and families within our parish during the pandemic. Because of the impact of COVID-19 and the lockdowns, our founding trustees further committed to serve at least 5 years in order to establish our charity.

Our trustees were shocked when our fellow trustee and treasurer, unexpectedly died in November 2023. We all felt the acute loss of friendship, skills, expertise, attention to detail and wit. She will be missed by us all.

We were pleased to recruit as a trustee in December 2023. is a longstanding resident of Palnackie and has lots of experience including having previously served on Buittle Parish Community Council between 2009-11.

Achievements and performance

Whilst most of our energies have again been taken up with our two long-term projects:

Owning, improving and maintaining Palnackie Village Hall and
Owning, improving and sustaining the north side of Palnackie Basin (harbour)

we have also provided a host of activities for the residents of, and visitors to, Palnackie and wider Buittle Parish.

Highlights of these activities include:

Securing funding from the Co-op to purchase garden furniture for the rear garden of our village hall (March 2023)
Pilot delivery of Games Nights in our village hall for residents’ families (March 2023)
Table replenishment and sale of the old tables used for village hall events (June 2023)
Alternate monthly coffee mornings and afternoon teas in the village hall (throughout 2023-24)
Sponsoring and delivery of our first annual Family Summer BBQ in our village hall (August 2023)
Successfully securing funding from Third Sector Dumfries & Galloway (TSDG) to start the first phase of our Local Place Plan project (September 2023)
Engaged the two consultants, who had previously undertaken extensive community consultation and produced Finding New Ways for Palnackie, to undertake our Local Place Plan project on behalf of our trustees (November 2023)
Sponsoring and delivery of our Palnackie Traditional Christmas Fair (November 2023)
Sponsoring and delivery of the Pensioners Christmas Meal (December 2023)
Securing funding for, and delivery of, the year-long pilot of monthly Music & Memories sessions (January and February 2024 and carries on to the end of 2024) and no less important…
Collected sufficient mugs for use in our village hall events!

A distributed hub of 6 resources within Palnackie were identified in Finding New Ways for Palnackie (2018). These were:

The Glenisle Inn, our Village Shop, Flounders Café, our Village Hall and garden, Palnackie Primary School and Palnackie Basin (harbour)

We identified that if any of these entities were to close then all the others would be at greater risk of closure as well.

Finding New Ways for Palnackie also identified the need for a separate charitable entity to own and manage Palnackie Village Hall, the north side of the Palnackie Basin (harbour), and to raise funds for and deliver major improvement projects within Buittle Parish. This ultimately resulted in the formation of Buittle Quest in February 2020.

Our trustees decided during 2023 that the time was right to build on the findings of Finding New Ways for Palnackie. It was therefore agreed to undertake a Local Place Plan (and associated Action Plan) project. One project deliverable envisaged was the collective engagement with our changed demographic/resident profile.

We will also use our Local Place Plan project as a vehicle to reinvigorate our community spirit following on from the setbacks resulting from the COVID-19 pandemic. We started the consultation in November 2023 with an expected publication date for the completed Local Place Plan (and associated Action Plan) of early 2025.

Our beneficiaries and trustees appreciated another year where Buittle Quest members, residents of Buittle Parish and others have volunteered to either help arrange, organise, produce things, and/or deliver our fundraising and general amenity events.

Membership of Buittle Quest has increased slightly during this accounting period. We are always open to new members joining our charity and regularly promote membership at all appropriate events. Trustees agreed to maintain free membership during this accounting period.

We continue to work closely and collaboratively with Palnackie Village Shop Limited, and the other community enterprises in Palnackie. We also maintain close links to all the other community bodies, businesses within Buittle Parish, surrounding communities/parishes, and Third Sector Dumfries & Galloway.

Financial review

Statement of the charity’s policy on reserves

Overall, we have had another successful year.

Our gross income was £27,876 and our gross expenditure was £25,705. The difference between income and expenditure was £2,171 from which we will consider £1000 being earmarked for our reserves. A total of £15,529 was carried over to our next accounting period.

As can be seen, our initial target of increasing our reserves at a rate of £1000 a year has been more than met this year.

Two items in our accounts worthy of explanation are the £16,033 shown both as Income and Expenditure. We had to run two separate bank accounts from our inception due to banking restrictions in force during the COVID-19 pandemic, lockdowns, and for a long time afterwards. The £16,033 entry in two places reflects the transfer between our two previous bank accounts.

The £16,033 expenditure shown is the balance transfer out from our original Buittle Quest account to the Palnackie Village Hall Committee (PVHC) account. The £16,033 income shown is the receipt of the transfer into the PVHC account. Once all Buittle Quest monies were finally in a single bank account (PVHC) we were able to close our original Buittle Quest bank account and rename the PVHC account to become our sole consolidated Buittle Quest bank account (with internet banking facilities).

Details of any deficit

Our approach is to never run with a deficit, and we continued to achieve that throughout this accounting period.

Donated facilities and services

We currently do not have any donated facilities and/or services.

Future plans

Our hope is that the challenges relating to our ownership of the north side of Palnackie Basin (harbour) will be swiftly resolved such that we can start to make the improvements that our residents and visitors alike seek.

For example, during the year, an extension for the previously granted planning permission for a public pontoon was applied for, the result of which is still to be confirmed. If renewed, this would become a major project for 2025 onwards since the pontoon would allow many water sports to take place from the Palnackie Basin (harbour).

Our village hall continues to be a latent and underutilised resource. We will therefore be carrying out a review of this valuable resource within the consultation required to complete our Local Place Plan by early 2025.

We aim to learn from the series of Music and Memories sessions and apply that learning as we deliver the remaining sessions in the next accounting period. If the sessions are seen to be meeting the needs we identified then we will seek to apply for more funding to continue the sessions from January 2025.

Declaration Signed on behalf of the charty trustees: Print name Designation ftIRH Date 28 11 10

BUITTLE QUEST ACCOUNTS: 1** MARCH 2023 To 29% FEBRUARY 2024.

BALANCE CARRIED FORWARD: PALNACKIE VILLAGE HALL £1 ,302.97 BUITTLE QUEST £12,055.02 =£1 3,357.99

INCOME: EXPENDITURE: Bank Interest 135.98 Utilities 2,166.00 Donations 788.64 Cleaner 1,360.17 Coffee morning 250.05 Caretaker 227.50 Afternoon Tea 40.00 Plumber 377.60 BBQ 72.56 Lotus Elect. 71.17 Hall Hire 229.00 Clook 50.36 Dog Training 1,860.00 insurance 768.14 SP. Fit 1,639.43 PPLS 139.20 Games Night 132.00 Games 90.24 Rebate 407.61 Raffle Prizes 16.00 Sale of Tables 105.00 Findlay Design 45.36 Grant TSDG 6,000.00 Consultancy 3,000.00 Bank Transfer 16,033 .25 Bank Transfer 16,033.25 Xmas Fair 182.50 Christmas Meals 600.00 Plants 54.88 Provisions 51.40 Music/Memories 320.00 De Fib Pads 65.99 Minute Secretary 50.00 Dalbeattie Fire 218.10 Balance 27,876.02 25,705.36

Balance 27,876.02 25,705.36 2,170.66 +13,357.99 = 15 528.65 .C /F ~~a~~ JON 2L iff a4