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← The Douglas Park Project

2025-10-31-accounts

The Douglas Park Project (Charity No. SC050523)

Trustees’ Annual Report and Accounts for the Year to 31° October 2025

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The Douglas Park Project (Charity No. SC050523)

Trustees’ Annual Report for the Year to 31" October 2025

Reference and Administration Details

Charity Name: The Douglas Park Project

Charity Registration Number: $C050523 Contact Address: 14 Kilburn Water, Largs, KA30 8ST

Names of the charity trustees on date of approval of Trustees’ Annual Report: -

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"| TrusteeName S| Office (ifany) |-‘Datesactedifnotforwhole=
23 | Chairperson
| i | Treasurer Appointed 12" November 2025
3. Secretary Appointed 28" April 2025
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Names of all other charity trustees during the year, if any:-

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Trustee Name Dates acted if not for whole year |
1° November 2024 —4"" February 2025
1° November 2024-6" October 2025 |
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Structure, Governance and Management

The Douglas Park Project is a properly constituted SCIO (Scottish Charitable incorporated Organisation).

Its structure consists of:-

| | e the Project Board, who hold regular meetings and generally control the activities of the | organisation, including the monitoring and controlling of the financial position of the | organisation. e the Members, who have the right to attend members' meetings (including the annual general | meeting) and have important powers under the constitution. The members appoint people to | serve on the board and take decisions on changes to the Constitution itself. | Membership is open to any individual aged 16 or over who lives in or has a connection with Largs. | Any person who wishes to become a member must sign a written application for membership and the application will then be considered by the board at its next board meeting. The members appoint individuals to serve on the board and take decisions on changes to the Constitution. The people serving on the Board are referred to in the Constitution as the Charity Trustees.

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Objectives and Activities

The organisation’s purposes are 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.

This is achieved by renovating and maintaining Douglas Park and holding events within the park to bring the following to the community of Largs:

Achievements and Performance

High-Level Activity Summary

2025 started with a bang as we experienced one of the worst storms we have known in our 5 years as a project, with winds bringing down several of the mature trees in the Burns Garden.

We launched the weekly Meetup for Volunteer Gardeners offering an opportunity to garden together, learn from each other and join for hot drinks and refreshments facilitated by CM.

Two Public Meetings were held with additional leaflet and online surveys distributed in order to collect and collate information for Community Enterprise to assist us in providing the necessary information required by The Ayrshire Community Trust (TACT) in our application and Business Plan for the Asset Transfer of the old carriage House .

We continued our collaboration with the Douglas Park Nursery as we carried out seed and vegetable planting with them in the polytunnel and Children‘s Garden boxes .

The Menshed continued (and continues) to make items for the park including pitched roofs for the Bug Hotels and adding their Logo to the large items they have built in the park.

The area at the pedestrian entrance to the park saw a reimagining and is now a beautiful heather bed and garden with small wood chipped pathways creating a very attractive welcome to the park.

We carried out our first guided Walk and Talk for the Scottish Wildlife Trust which was a huge success and enjoyed by all.

The local school sent a group of willing pupils to carry out some work for us as part of their community “payback” .They sanded and painted approximately 20 planter boxes and planted them with summer annuals dotted by the Rowan Tree & Haylie Stores.

We were privileged to receive a beautiful Gingko Tree from the family of local renowned author Andrew O’Hagan which was planted by his brother and nephew (with help from DPP volunteers) and an unveiling of the plaque designed by his sister in law took place in the summer.

We were delighted to facilitate the winning of the Junior Gardeners Cup from Cardwell Garden Centre through the collaboration of our Monday Meetup Volunteers and the Nursery School. And to

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add to this excitement we recently received Level 5 Outstanding Award from Keep Scotland Beautiful for continuing to promote and enact our philosophy of sustainable and environmentally friendly gardening methods in the park.

Our two fundraisers - September Serenade and the calendar sales - were both extremely successful and generated a combined sum of £3639.70 (before costs of £659 to the printers).

Key Challenges & Solutions

The storm damage was unexpected and although it left a huge gap in the woodland area we are overcoming this through new tree planting and potential addition of a small bridge over the burn .

The unexpected resignation of both Secretary and Treasurer in 2025 were resolved by the offer of our current secretary made at the AGM and a response to a public advertisement on Social Media by our new Treasurer .

| Recruiting new volunteers is always a challenge so we are looking at creative ways to go about this. One solution has been the Weed N Feed Meetup, but we are open to ideas .

Retaining Bed Adopters / Bed Adopters maintaining their beds has been a challenge this year and again we are open to suggestions and will be inviting members to share their thoughts at the AGM.

Strategic Outlook

Our major goal in 2026 is to complete the application for the community asset transfer of the Carriage House. Alongside this we hope to increase our volunteer numbers , engage even more with the community by offering more volunteer opportunities at the park and fulfil the suggested goals (where possible ) by the RHS as part of our engagement with Keep Scotland Beautiful :-

“ Laok into getting a green fiag from Keep Scotiand Beautiful as recognition for the garden and volunteers who have done so much.

Continue on with sustainable practices in the garden and inform others of the benefits. Look for opportunities for the Scouts and other groups to help out with any suitable tasks.

See if more plants can be grown from seeds collected in the garden and consider donating seeds to the seedbank. “

Our heartfelt thanks go out to all the individuals , families, groups and local businesses who have supported us not just through monetary or material donations but through their time, ideas / suggestions and hard work, in particular the Bed Adopters and General Volunteers .

Special thanks go to the Rowan Tree Nursery and Haylie Stores for their enduring commitment to the project and generous donations of plants, compost and Bed Adoption . We are also grateful to The Scottish Wildlife Trust for their engagement with us this year in both suggesting we offer a Guided Walk and Talk for their Thursday Club members and in reciprocation they carry out some heavy work on the old heather bed behind the pavilion.

The project is not possible without the help of the community and visitors to the park.

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Governance & Changes

Our long serving secretary / fundraiser Angela O Keefe handed in her note of resignation on February 4th and anew secretary Richard Woodford was appointed to take over in April. On October 6th the Treasurer Laura Clark handed in her notice and the position was taken up in November by Tony Rowley with the official handover of the account taking place in mid January.

We have accepted the very kind offer of help with the business plan and created a new volunteer position - Carriage House Consultant . This is not an additional trustee position so no change has been made to the SCIO.

Financial Review

In the year to 31° October 2025 the Project generated total income of £7,831 (2024 £10,427) and incurred total expenditure of £7,623 (2024 £15,364), resulting in a small surplus for the year of £208 (2024 deficit £4,937).

The Project was successful in securing grant funding of £2,000 from the Mushroom Trust towards the provision of picnic benches and railings. The volunteers’ fundraising activities within the local community generated a further £2,974 after costs, while the community’s continuing support of the volunteers’ efforts also resulted in an encouraging £2,065 in financial donations. This is in addition to the wider community continuing to give their time and effort in maintaining the park and its adopted flower beds.

The most significant area of expenditure during the year was again park furniture (£4,753), most of which was funded by grants — last year’s balance from the People’s Postcode Lottery and this year from the Mushroom Trust. Expenditure on maintaining the park (£799) was lower than last year (£1,622) as there was higher expenditure on tools and equipment last year. The greater part of other expenditure was incurred on publicity and advertising.

At 31* October 2025 the Project had funds totalling £5,619, all of which are unrestricted.

Reserves Policy

The Project’s reserves are all treated as unrestricted and available for general use. Ifa particular project is identified by the Trustees reserves will be built up until sufficient funds are available.

Unforeseen or unexpected work is mainly carried out by volunteers and if this is not possible the work will only be carried out when sufficient funds are available. The Trustees therefore do not consider it necessary to hold a minimum level of reserves and expenditure will only be incurred if there are sufficient funds available.

The Treasurer reports monthly to the Trustees on the amount of funds available to ensure there is sufficient funds to pay necessary expenditure expected.

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Declaration

The trustees declare that they have approved the trustees’ report as set out in pages 1— 4 above.

Signed on behalf of the charity’s trustees:-

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Signature: |
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Name: |
Position: Secretary | Treasurer
Date: | a 1a6 S/z[rw |
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Independent Examiner's Report to the Trustees of Douglas Park Project on the Accounts of the Charity for the Year Ended 31* October 2025

| report on the accounts of the charity for the year ended 31* October 2025 which are set out on pages 7 to 10.

Respective Responsibilities of the 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) 2005 Act and the Charities Accounts (Scotland) Regulations 2006 (as amended). The charity trustees consider that the audit requirement of Regulation 10(1) (d) of the 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 Statement

In the course of my examination, no matter has come to my attention

  1. which gives me reasonable cause to believe that in any material respect the requirements: e to keep accounting records in accordance with section 44(1) (a) of the 2005 Act and Regulation 4 of the 2006 Accounts Regulations, and

e to prepare accounts which accord with the accounting records and comply with Regulation 9 of the 2006 Accounts Regulations have not been met,

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  1. to which, in my opinion, attention should be drawn in order to enable a proper understanding of the accounts to be reached.

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Signed:
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Name:

Professional Qualification /

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Date: aS Lh Ehren 2926
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The Douglas Park Project

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Year to 31st October 2025

Receipts and Payments Account

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|||||||| |---|---|---|---|---|---|---| |Unrestricted|Restricted|Endowment|Total|Total| |—_|Funds|Funds|Funds|Funds|Funds| |2025|2025|2025|2025|2024| |£|£|£|£|£| |Receipts| |Income from:| |Donations|2,064.65|-|-|2,064.65|810| |Fundraising Activities|1|3,766.26|-|-|3,766.26|3,317| |Grants|2,000.00|-|-|2,000.00|6,300| |Total|Receipts|7,830.91|-|~|7,830.91|10,427| |Payments|2| |Raising Funds|801.19|-|.|801.19|1,020| |Charitable|activities|6,821.96|~|-|6,821.96|14,344| |Total Payments|7,623.15|-|-|7,623.15|15,364| |Surplus/(Deficit)|for Year|207.76|-|-|207.76|(4,937)|

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The Douglas Park Project Year to 31st October 2025

Statement of Balances at 31st October 2025

Unrestricted Restricted Endowment Total Total
Funds Funds Funds Funds Funds
2025 2025 2025 2025 2024
£ £ £ £ £
Cash and Bank Balances at start
of period 5,410.89 - - 5,410.89 10,348
Surplus/(Deficit) forYear as
shownon Receipts & Payments
Account 207.76 - - 207.76 (4,937)
Cash and Bank Balances at
31stOctober2025 5,618.65 - - 5,618.65 5,411
Total Funds at 31stOctober
2025 5,618.65 - - 5,410.89 5,411

Approved by two trustees on behalf of all the trustees:-

Signature Print Name

Date of Approval

The Douglas Park Project

Notes forming part of the financial statements for the year ended 31st October 2025

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|||||||| |---|---|---|---|---|---|---| |1|Income from|Fundraising|Activities| |Unrestricted|Restricted|Endowment|Total|Total| |Funds|Funds|Funds|Funds|Funds| |2025|2025|2025|2025|2024| |£|£|£|£|£| |Calendar|1,240.00|.|-|1,240.00|1,219| |Music|Night|2,469.70|-|-|2,469.70|-| |Plant|Sale|56.56|-|-|56.56|-| |Race|Night|-|-|-|-|525| |Fencebay|Night|-|-|-|=|1,573| |3766.26|-|-|3766.26|3,317| |2|Analysis|of Payments| |Unrestricted|Restricted|Endowment|Total|Total| |Funds|Funds|Funds|Funds|Funds| |2025|2025|2025|2025|2024| |£|£|£|£|£| |Costs|of Generating| |Funds| |Go Fund Me Charges|8.89|-|-|8.89|9| |Fundraising Costs|792.30|-|-|792.30|1,011| |801.19|-|-|801.19|1,020| |Charitable Activities| |Park Maintenance|450.30|-|-|450.30|163| |Park|Furniture|4,753.05|-|-|4,753.05|12,414| |Plants & Bedding|267.39|-|-|267.39|532| |Insurance|123.48|-|-|123.48|106| |Tools & Equipment|81.73|-|-|81.73|927| |Publicity & Advertising|822.28|-|-|822.28|117| |Miscellaneous|323.73|-|-|323.73|85| |6,821.96|-|-|6,821.96|14,344| |Total Expenditure|7,623.15|-|-|7,623.15|15,364|

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The Douglas Park Project

Notes forming part of the financial statements for the year ended 31st October 2025 (cont'd)

3 Payments to Trustees

No remuneration was paid to any trustee during the period of the accounts.

Four trustees received reimbursements totalling £684.32 in respect of expenditure which they had paid for on behalf of the Douglas Park Project.

4 Purpose of Funds

Unrestricted funds are held for the renovation and maintenance of Douglas Park in accordance with the Project's objectives.

No other type of fund is currently held.

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