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HEARTSTART COWAL
Trustees Annual Report
Registered Charity number: SC053277
The Trustees present their report and accounts for the first period ended 31 March 2026
The address of the principal office of the charity
Charity’s principal address : Riviera, Shore Road, Strone, Dunoon PA23 8TB
Names of the charity trustees on date of approval of Trustee’ Annual Report
Stephen Raymond Abbott
Rebecca Jane Abbott
Tracey Jayne Whitfield
Lindsay Thomson
Names of all other charity trustees
All as above. No other Trustees served during the financial period covered by the accounts the annual report forms part of.
Type of governing document
The charity was formed under a Constitution adopted on 15 April 2024.
Trustee recruitment and appointment
New Trustees are appointed at the discretion of existing Trustees. During the year a new Trustee was appointed, being Lindsay Thomson.
Charitable purposes
The organisation’s purposes are:
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a) To contribute to a reduction in sudden death events resulting from out of hospital cardiac arrests and other life-threatening situations b) To undertake or promote any Charitable work approved by the Board and in particular:(1) To provide free of charge Emergency Basic Life Support Training to all members of Cowal based communities from children to adults.
(2) To purchase defibrillators and other associated medical equipment, as may be determined from time to time by the Board, for the use in emergency medical treatment in the locality of Cowal, Argyll
c)To the advancement of health
Summary of the main activities and achievements of the charity
The first period of the charity was 15 April 2024 to 31 March 2025. This has been the second year to 31 March 2026.
Heartstart Cowal was setup to essentially re-start The Heartstart/Save A Life for Scotland Program post Covid. Like many groups Covid essentially ceased its operations completely.
The primary objective of Heartstart/Save A Life for Scotland is to help reduce the current death rates of out of hospital cardiac arrests by running emergency basic life support training sessions to all members of society from children through to mature adults. All training sessions are offered free. We do attempt to secure some grant funding where able and of course we also rely heavily on donations.
Upon re-start we became a small group of circa 5 volunteer personnel but have managed to increase that now to circa 12 volunteer instructors and assistants with 5 coordinators based throughout The Cowal peninsula. To alleviate long distance travel, we now have three groups within one, the original group based in Dunoon with two satellite groups based in Strachur and Tighnabruaich.
We were very fortunate to inherit a small amount of training equipment but through grants and donations we have been able to acquire more modern kit including, trainer defibrillators, mannikins, choke-vests, projectors, printers etc as well as being able to purchase ancillary items such as kit cleaning and hygiene products. We now also have an IT infrastructure which allows us to function anywhere in Cowal.
A lot of time has been invested by several mombers in ostablishing/creating networks with local community Broups/councils (Dunoon Rotary, Inner Wheel, Community Shed, A & B GIVE » ARC, PSYV - to name a few), emergency services, schools etc to ensure they are aware of what we offer and deliver, and that we are prepared to support them whenever possible. Since April 2025 to end March 2026 Heartstart Cowal has successfully delivered training to almost 500 children and adults. We know our training has influenced several medical incidents, but due to data protection laws we are unable to quantify the exact effect overall. Over time we hope that the OHCA (out of hospital cardiac arrest) rates drop in Cowal but we will never be ina position to directly connect our work with that outcome. The current trend in Scotland is now a 10% survival rate as opposed to 8% previously. One of the main successes in 2024-2025 has been the creation of The Heartstart Buddy Program at Dunoon Grammar School and we are proud to continue that programme into 2026. 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 trained S6 ones to help us at primary schools nearby. For them this vital work gains credits for their Saltire program also.
Nearly all the local schools partake in Health Week which normally runs during May and Heartstart forms an important part of that syllabus.
As a secondary function Heartstart Cowal instructors are often asked about defibrillatorsmainly since we normally ask our course attendees if they know where their nearest defibrillators are and if they do not, we show them The Defibfinder website which displays the nearest units to their locations and whether they are operational of not. Within Cowal area this has flagged that many units which were originally generously donated by individuals have been or are sitting in a defibrillator cabinet totally unmaintained and not listed on The Circuit. This therefore means that the emergency services are entirely unaware of its existence and therefore The Scottish Ambulance Service cannot direct emergency personnel and or members of the public to this invaluable resource.
This year (thanks to a valuable donation by Dunoon Rotary Club) several Public Access Defibrillator (PAD) units have been restored to full active status. With the need to get a defibrillator on a cardiac arrest patient within 10 minutes maximum (preferably 5 or less) this has also shown some communities are woefully lacking in this resource.
Equally important though is the amazing communities within Cowal who have looked at their immediate situations and taken it upon themselves to put units in place.
The Charity received total donations of £4,456 during this year.
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here was one donation received in the year for Restricted purposes totalling £2,300.
Our vision for 2026-2027
me past 12 months or so has very much been about consolidating the group infrastructure in ee of modern equipment, contacts, personnel etc. The coordinators are looking to further em ed Heartstart within all the communities of Cowal and continually underpin/re-enforce the education/training already delivered.
We currently ah a modest social media presence, we have started to develop a web page to make the training resources readily available to all. This should be live very shortly.
Like any good organisation the group is only as good as the people within it, and we are blessed with several invested and dedicated volunteers who drive Heartstart forward. We have people from all walks of life from doctors, nurses and paramedics to members of the community who have trained under the Heartstart program.
However, every one of us has commitments and full lives —-we urgently need more people to help us deliver this work and spread the workload that we currently have. We will always welcome new volunteer members and there will need to be an ongoing recruitment drive.
Policy on reserves
At 31 March 2026 the unrestricted general reserves stood at £8,333. The Trustees are very pleased with the success of grant application and donations from organisations and the members of the public in the period. The reserves will be used to start paying volunteers for travel expenses, cost of uniform and the primary aim is to renew the equipment.
The Charity benefitted from the volunteers who have given of their own free time to provide the training courses to the public.
Financial Review
A surplus of £1,119 arose during the year on normal activities.
Signed on behalf of the Trustees
RJ Abbott (Treasurer)
Heartstart Cowal
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Statement of Assets and Liabilities
At 31 March 2026
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|||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
|2026|2025|
|Fixed|Assets|
|Equipment|2,092|1,368|
|Current|Assets|
|HSBC account|10,935|10,540|
|Net Funds|£13,027|£11,908|
|Represented|By:|
|Accumulated|Funds|
|General|Fund|Unrestricted|8,333|5,867|
|Restricted|-|Highgate|Hall|2,712|4,106|
|Restricted|- Argyll and|Bute|Council|0|1,935|
|Restricted|—- Dunoon|Rotary|1,982|0|
|£13,027|£11,908|
|These accounts were approved by the Trustees on accounts were approved by the Trustees on were approved by the Trustees on approved by the Trustees on by the Trustees on the Trustees on Trustees on on|ry|26|and signed on their behalt|
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These accounts were approved by the Trustees on accounts were approved by the Trustees on were approved by the Trustees on approved by the Trustees on by the Trustees on the Trustees on Trustees on on ry 26 by:
RJ Abbott - Treasurer
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Heartstart Cowal
Receipts and Payment account for the year ended 31 March 2026
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|---|---|---|---|---|---|
|2026|p/e|31|March|2025|
|Receipts|
|Donations|4,456|16,986|
|Payments|
|Donations|given|back to|community|1,090|4,410|
|3,366|12,576|
|Expenses|
|Trainers|t|shirts|396|87|
|Trainer|mileage|expenses|377|29|
|Equipment|accessories|738|149|
|Stationery|200|3|
|Bank charges|20|30|
|Promotional and|fundraising|costs|516|200|
|Room|hire|0|30|
|Software|subscriptions|0|140|
|2,247|668|
|Net receipts|for the year/period|£1,119|£11,908|
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