Dunkeld and Birnam First Responders (SC052654)
Treasurers Report 2024 – 2025
The trust has continued to benefit from grant awards carried forward from the successful first year of fundraising, ending the year with a healthy balance of almost £33,000. This will provide resources to continue to finance the training of volunteers, maintain and increase the equipment, kit bags and uniforms for new and existing volunteers.
During the year, we received the final instalment of the generous grant from the Cooperative of over £950, bringing the total from the source to almost £1,600. We thank the local store and its customers for their fantastic support. The balance of income came from small donations and bank interest.
We spent just over £660 on smaller items of equipment and £120 on uniforms and £2,400 on promotional items for supporting attendance at events. The remaining balance of expenditure was on computer equipment and administrative expenses.
Total income was just over £1,345 with total expenditure almost £4238, leaving a net expenditure over income of £2,892. This has reduced our balance carried forward to £32,924.
This is represented by a balance of around £498 in our current account and £32,426 in our investment account at the end of the financial year.
Dunkeld and Birnam First Responders (SC052654) Accounts for the period 1st April 2024 to 31st March 2025 Income Restricted Grants Sinclair Trust PKC Community Fund SSE Griff in Unrestricted Basil Death Co-op 951.66 Other 30.98 Interest 362.83 Total Income 1.345.47 Expenditure Equipment Training Kit Uniform Training Promotion General 663.79 121.32 150.00 2,404.95 897.87 Totsl Expenditure 4.237.93 Net Expenditure 2.892.46 Balance broughtforward 35.816.57 32,924.11 Represented by Treasurers Account BB Inst Online 497.72 32,426.39 32.924.11 Treasurer (sl Inspected by
Dunkeld and Birnam First Responders
Scottish Registered Charity (SC052654) Annual Report 2024/2025
The Dunkeld and Birnam First Responders (DABFR) was established as part of a national network of Community First Responders (CFRs) across Scotland during 2023. These developments are established as volunteers who are generally trained, supported and deployed through the Scottish Ambulance Service (SAS) to provide an additional volunteer resource to enhance and complement the existing emergency response. When available CFRs may be dispatched by a SAS Control Centre as a first response to appropriate incidents within their area of operation and are trained and equipped to provide a vital and potentially life-saving support ahead of the ambulance service.
It was agreed to establish the Dunkeld and Birnam First Responders as a Scottish Registered Charitable Trust (SCN No. SC052654) and a group of trustees and office bearers were appointed to lead the trust. The overall aim of the trust is to oversee and support the recruitment and retention of CFRs, to fundraise to provide the resources for volunteer training and equipment, to the decision making and to raise awareness.
The Trust successfully applied for and were awarded grants from several charitable funding bodies including, the Griffin and Calliachar Community (Wind Farm) Fund, the Sinclair Family Trust, the PKC Community Investment Fund and the Basil Death Trust. We were also successful in being selected as a charity supported by the Co-op Membership & Local Community Fund. This enabled DABFR to have sufficient resources to fund the essential kit bags, equipment uniforms and other items that a successful CFR team would require to commence operation.
responders who are led by our Coordinator who in turn liaises with the Scottish Ambulance Service. By spring 2024, we had five fully trained volunteers ready to be deployed across an agreed geographical area covering Dunkeld and Birnam and beyond. We launched in mid-March 2024 with the five CFRs who each “sign on” when they are available across the week. Despite some changes to personnel, we have maintained this deployment through our first year of operation and hope to add to our volunteer numbers going forwards.
The Co-Ordinator provides the link between the team and the trustees and continues to provide briefings and updates to the regular trustee executive meetings.
The team are clocking up a high number of available hours although there have been few callouts so far.
provide funding for the regular training sessions, replacement of uniforms and equipment and new requirements.
We have attended several community events and will continue to seek wider opportunities for community engagement to raise awareness of the work of the scheme, and particularly the work of the CFR volunteers. We have engaged with Scottish Ambulance Service to try to improve the call-out rates for the volunteers, particularly to maintain confidence, commitment and practice. We would prefer to see a system of dual dispatch of available CFRs together with ambulance / paramedic crews to enhance this approach.
Some of our committed volunteers are now volunteering with other networks such as defibrillator volunteer schemes. The trustees will support this through additional defibrillator kit so that they can respond, even when not on duty as a CFR.
and to consider the best arrangements for deployment to best meet the needs and demands of the occurrence of incidents within our community. This will be based on a better understanding of the profile of need at different times of the day, week and year, particularly in view of the seasonal activity in such a popular area for visitors. We will also consider how we can create greater awareness and confidence in our community around the community defibrillation units located locally so that this valuable resource can also better enhance community resilience.
We would also wish to recruit more trustees to our group and would welcome anyone who wishes to join us in our quest,
Finally, we would wish to thank all those who have supported us, funders, volunteers, members, supporters and all in the community who have expressed a strong sense of goodwill in our endeavors.
Chairman & Treasurer
11 June 2024
Independent Examiners Report to Dunkeld and Birnam First Responders (SC052654) Trustees
I report on the accounts of the charity for the year ended 31 March 2025 as set out in the Income and Expenditure Accounts and Treasurers Report
Respective responsibilities of the Trustees and Examiner
The charity 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) Act 2006. The charity Trustees consider that the audit requirement of the Regulation of 10 (1) (d) of the Accounts regulations does not apply. It is my responsibility to examine the accounts as required under Section 44 (1) 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 Charities Accounts (Scotland) Regulations 2006. An examination includes the accounting records kept by the charity and the comparison of the accounts presented with these records. It also includes consideration of any unusual items or disclosures in the accounts and seeks explanations from the Trustee office bearers concerning 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 Examiners Statement
In the course of my examination np matter has come to my attention 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 and to prepare accounts which accord with accounting records and comply with the Regulation 9 0f the 2006 Accounts Regulation have not been met, nor to which, in my opinion, attention should be drawn to enable a proper understanding of the accounts to be reached.
Independent Examiner