HEA_RI&TART COWAL
Trustees Annual Report
Registered Charity number. SC053277
TheTrustees present their report and 8ccountsfor the flrst period ended 31 March 2025
The addrnm ofthe principal offl¢• ol tho charity
Charity's princip818ddress: Riviera, Shore Road, Strone, Dunoon PA23 8TB
Names of tho charltytrusteos on dato of appro￿( of Trust••'Annual Report
Name¥ of au other ¢hartytru8tees
All as above. No other Trustees served during the financial period covered by the accounts the
annual report forms part of.
Type of gowrnlng document
Th8 charitywas formed undera Constitution adopied on 15April 2024.
Trustee recruitment and appointment
New Trustees are appointed at the discretion of existingTrustees.
Charitsble purpoM8
The organisation's purposes are".
a)To contribute to a reduction in the likelihood of premature and unnecessary sudden death
resulting from heart attack and other life-threatening situations

bl To undertake or promote 8ny charitable work 8pproved bythe 808rd 8nd In p8rticul8r:_
{11 To provide free of charge Emergency Basic Life SupportTrAining to 011 memberg of Cow81
based communities from children to adult m6mbers of the publi¢.
12) To purchase defibrillators and other associated medlcal equlpment, 89 may be determined
from time to time bythe 808rd, forthe use in emergency medical treetment in the Ioc81ity of
Cowal, Argyll
CITO the 8dvancement of health
Summary of the maln actlvltles and achlevements of the charity
This h8s been the first period ofthe charity from 15April 2024to 31 March 2025
Heartst8rt Cow81 was setup to essentially re-start The Heartstartlsave A Life for Scot18nd
Program post Covid. Like many groups Covid essentially ceased its operations completely.
The primary objective of HeartStert￿aVeA Life forScotl8nd is to help reduce the current death
rates of out of hospital cardiac arrests by running emergency basic lrfe support training sessions
to all members of societyfrom children through to mature 8dults. Alltraining sessions are
offered free. We do attempt to secure some grant funding where able and of course we 8150 rely
heavily on donations.
Upon re-start we became a sm811 group of circa 5volunteer personnel but have managed to
increase that nowto circ8 12 volunteer instructors and assistantswith 5 coordinators based
throughout The Cowal peninsula. To alleviate long distance travel, we now have three groups
within one, the main group based in Dunoon with two satellrte groups b8sed in Strachur and
Tighnabruaich.
We were veryfortunate to inherit a small amount oftr8ining equipment but through grants and
donations we have been ableto acqulre more modern kit including, tralner detibri118tors.
mannikins, choke-vests. projector8, prlnter8 etc 88 well as being able to purchase anci118ry
items such as kit cleaning and hygiene products. We now 8180 have an IT infr8Stiucture which
allows us to function anywhere in Cowel.
A lot oftime h88 been invested by sever81 members in est8blishlnWcre8ting networks with local
communitygroupslcouncils { Dunoon Rot8ry, Innerwheel, Communityshed, A & B GIVE, ARC,
PSYV- to name 8 few), emergency seniice8, school8 etc to ensure they are aware ofvthat we
offer and deliver, and th8twe are prep8red to SUPPOrt them whenever possible.

Since April 2024 to end March 2025 Heartstart Cow81 hB8 8ucces8fully delivered tralning to
glmost 190 prim8ry and secondary 8ged children & 210 8dults. We know our training h8$
influenced at least two serious medic81 Incident8 {those 8ttendee8 chose to advise us) but due
to data protection18ws we are un8bletO qU8ntity the ex8Ct effect over811. Over time we hope
that the OHCA lout of hospital c8rdiac arrest) rates drop in Cowal but we will nevor be in a
position to directly connect ourwork with th8t outcome.
One ofthe m8in successes in 2024-2025 h88 been the cre8tlon of The Hgart8t8rt Buddy
Program at Dunoon Grammarschool. There are now three teachers there who are volunteer
Heartstart Instructors along with several S6 students. This allows the school to essentially self-
teach their students and allows the tr8ined S6 ones to help us 8t primary schools nearby. For
them this vital work gains credits for their Saltire program 81s0.
Ne8rly all the Ioc81 schools partake in He81th Weekwhich normally runs during Mayand
Heartstart forms 8n import8nt part of that syllabus.
AS 8 secondaryfunction Heartstart Cowal instructors are often asked about defibrillators-
mainly since we normally esk our course attendees ilthey knowwhere their nearest
defibrillators are and if they do not. we showthem The Defibfinderwebsite which displays the
nearest units to their locations and whether they are operational of not. Within Cow81 area this
has flagged that many units which were originallygenerously donated by individuals have been
or are sitting in a defibrillator cabinet totally unmaintained and not listed on The Circuit. This
therefore means thatthe emergency services ere entirely un8W8re of its existence and therefore
The Scottish Ambulance Service cannot direct emergency personnel and or members of the
public to this invaluable resource.
With the need to get a defibrillator on 8 cardiac arrest patlent within 10 minutes maximum
(preferably 5 or less) this has also shown some communities are woefully lacking in this
resource. In The case of Kilmun Communitycouncil area, one defibrillator had been sitting in
cabinetfor over 5 years unmaintained and unregistered. Another had been left in a greenhouse.
Both these units are nowfuuy operation81 and registered. In addltlon, a unique opportunity
presented itselfwhereby Heartstart Cow81 was able to 8ecur8funding of £5,500 from The
Highgate Hall Trust for 3 additlonal deflbrillators specifically for Kilmun CC, two of which are
already in situ and handed over to Kilmun CC wlth the third 8walting Inst8118tion.
Furthermore, at a recent meeting we spoke The Dunoon Rotary Club about these Issues. As a
result of their amazing work. they have afforded u8 80me £2,300 to brlng existing dofibrillators
within Dunoon and Cowal back to life. Thefirst of which has been the unit at Dunoon Police
Stationl

Equally Important though is the amazing communitlos within Cowalwho h8ve looked at thelr
immediate situations 8nd taken r( upon themselves to put units in p.ace.
The Charity received total donations of £16.986 durlng thls first poriod.
There were 3 donations received in tot81 tor Restricted purposes totlllling £11,643.
Our vision for 202&2026
The past 12-18 months or so has very much been about establishingthe group infr8Structure in
terms of modern equipment, contacts, personnel etc. The coordinBtors are lookingto further
embed He8rtst8rt within 8llthe communities of Cow818nd continuelly underpinlre.enforce the
educationltr8ining 8lre8dy delivere(l.
We currently have a sm811 soci81 medi8 p￿sence, but vle also need to develop a web page to
m8ke the training resources readily 8vai18ble to all.
Like anygood o￿an1$Stion the group is only8sgood as the peoplewithin it, and vrfe are blessed
with several invested end dedicated volunteers who drive He8rtstartforward. We have people
from 811walks of lifefrom doctors, nurses and paramedics to members ofthe communitywho
have trained under the He8rtst8rt program.
However. every one of us has commitments 8nd full lives- we urgently need more people to
help us deliver this work and spread the VffjTklo8d thatv￿ currently have. We will always
welcome newvolunteer members and therewill need to be an ongoing recrurtment drive.
Policy on reserves
At 31 March 2025 the unrestricted general reserves stood at £5867. The Trustees are very
pleased with the success of grant application and donations from org8nisations and the
members ofthe public in the period. The reseNeswiU be used to stsrt payingvolunteer5for
travel expenses, costof uniform and the primaryaim is to renewthe 8quipment.
The Charity benefitted from the volunteers vtho havE given of their ovin free time to provide the
training courses to the public.
Financial Review
A surplus 01 £11,908 arose during the period on normal activitie8.
Signed on beh81f of the TrustÈe8

Iloattstart Cowal
Statoment of Assets and Llabllltles
Atii fdarch 2025
2025
Eixod Assets
Equipment
1.368
HSBC account
10,540
Net Funds
£11.908
General Fund Unrestricted
5.867
Restricted - Highg8te Hall
4.106
Restricted - ArgO1 and Bute Councll
1,935
£11.908
These accounts were approved by the Truslees on
i a2J- and slgned on their behalf

HeArt&tsrt Cowal
RftoaJpLsand Payment ac¢ount
EoLth. eJeriod ended 31 March 2025
2025
Rooftlpis
Donations
16,986
Donetions given b8ckto community
4,410
12,576
Expftnsoa
Tr8iners t shirts
87
Tr8iner mileege expenses
29
Equipment accessories
149
Stationery
Bank charges
Promotionaland fundraising costs
200
Room hire
30
Software subscriptions
140
668
É11.908

Heartstart Cowal
Not03 to th• accounts at 31 March 2025
Ac¢ountlngpollcl•8
Aooountlrq basls
The Cherities Accounts IScotl8nd) regulations 2008 set out the requirements forthe TAR for
charities preparing receipts and payments 8ccounts. These accounts can be prep8red by au
non-company charities whose gross annual Income18 le88 than £25,000 and where there is no
requirement within the charity'8 governingdocument or byfunders to prepare accrue(J
8ccounts.
No depreci8tlon has bO8n provlded in th18 flr8t perfod of the charity