Executives function

  • Maintenance of Groups property and its insurance.
  • Raising funds and the administration of all finances.
  • Supporting Group public occasions.
  • Assisting with recruitment of leaders and other adult support.
  • As a registered charity we are the Trustees and are responsible for complying with all legislation applicable to charities.

Brief summary of what the Executive have been doing over the past year.

  • Maintain the Scout grounds, and building maintenance at a cost of £6,367 – This is an increase on last year, primarily for the £2,500 invested in professionally sanding / treating the wooden floor, which requires completing every 4-5 years
  • Insurance reviewed to ensure both building and content are adequately insured.
  • Funded both Hall and Camping equipment to £5,616
  • The Group was successful in gaining an income of £1,710 from rental of the Hall for small functions and use by external groups. This is broadly in line with 2015, the group has previously experienced issues with certain user paying on time, they are now no longer using our facilities. We now focus only on Scouting and Guiding maximising the availability of the Scout Hall for our own use.
  • Replacement and renewal of Camping equipment for the use of the Group Sections which was an outlay of £5,044. This is a 43% increase on last year as the Executive consciously strive to ensure the sections have available all the kit required to complete Scouting activities.
  • Contracts for regular grounds maintenance
  • Contract for internal cleaning of the Hall, which the Exec have maintained at twice a week to reflect the increased usage our overall expenditure on cleaning was maintained  at£1,650 reflecting the focus we put on keeping the hall clean and useable for all.
  • Fully maintain the Minibus and any monies required are paid (£3,741) to keep the minibus useable by the sections when needed. This is an increase in costs of £2,162 over previous year, as the running costs have increased and the return has decreased. This is being reviewed by the Executive to agree the future funding of the minibus for the use by the sections

Financial

Fund raising Events

£1,721            Hall Hire, Equipment Hire

Financial successes

£3,921            Tax Rebate on tax years 2017-2018

100%  rebate maintained for Council Tax

Status of the Group

Financial                        Very Good

Property                         Very Good

Equipment                     Very Good

Management of Group    “We are considered to be a business” re insurance, banking, rates and energy provider.

OSCR

Our submissions for year 2017-2018 were accepted by OSCR on first application.

Without retaining charitable status we cannot have a Gift Aid Scheme.

Can only obtain rates relief and bin collection if we maintain this status.

Gift Aid

Obtained £3,921  tax rebates for year 2017-2018. Currently 90% members out of 114 in scheme authorise the group to claim gift aid. This will give us an income of approx £3,500 – £4,000 in future years, the group have actively requested parents to join the scheme as this is the single biggest income for the group.  All money raised via tax rebate will be used for the maintenance of the property. It should be noted that the Gift Aid percentage rebate is being reduced in forthcoming years. To compensate we are allowed to claim rebates for ‘bucket collections’

Membership

Membership of the Group has increased by 20% with approx 141 members on census at Jan 18. We have very strongly supported sections and 20 registered leaders.

The Executive do monitor on a monthly basis to verify subscriptions owed to the group are being paid, anyone falling into arrears are contacted, to remedy the shortfall. With the ultimate sanction removal from the group if we are unable to secure payment

Public occasions

  • Provided support to Community events Relay for Life.
  • Donated the use of the Hall and Minibus to Chernobyl Children Lifeline Charity in the summer. We feel this is a very deserving charity and waive charges for the use of our hall or Minibus. This is again planned for the Summer of 2018.

Hall also being used by other Groups, Woodlands Trust, Brownies, District Scouting events,  plus some small functions primarily by users linked to the group.

Jeremy Lancaster

Group Chairman

48th Fife (Dalgety Bay) Scout Group

Chairman’s Report for 2018 AGM