Anagach Woods
Annual Report

 
REPORT FOR THE TRUSTEES AND UNAUDITED FINANCIAL STATEMENTS FOR THE YEAR ENDED
31st MARCH 2009 FOR ANAGACH WOODS TRUST
 

The trustees who are also directors of the charity for the purposes of the Companies Act 1985, present their report with the financial statements of the charity for the year ended 31 March 2009. The trustees have adopted the provisions of the Statement of Recommended Practice (SORP) 'Accounting and Reporting by Charities' issued in March 2005.

REFERENCE AND ADMINISTRATIVE DETAILS
 

Registered Company number

227929 (Scotland)

Registered Charity number

SC 032822

Registered office

The Townhouse

The Square

Grantown on Spey

Morayshire

PH26 3HF

Trustees

Company Secretary

Mr W Baird

Independent Examiner

Peter Munro & Company

15-17 High Street

Kingussie

Inverness-shire

PH21 IHS

Bankers

Bank of Scotland

1 The Square

Grantown on Spey

Morayshire

PH26 3HG

STRUCTURE, GOVERNANCE AND MANAGEMENT
 

Governing document

The charity is controlled by its governing document and constitutes a company limited by guarantee, as defined by the Companies Act 1985.

Recruitment and appointment of new trustees
 
 There has been an average of 9 trustees throughout the period. New appointments are usually at the annual general meeting, but the board can co-opt trustees during the year if required and they can stand election at the next AGM.

 

Related parties

The charity has a close relationship with Scottish National Heritage (SNH) and operates under a management agreement with them.

Risk management

The trustees have a duty to identify and review the risks to which the charity is exposed and to ensure appropriate controls are in place to provide reasonable assurance against fraud and error.

OBJECTIVES AND ACTIVITIES
 

Objectives and aims

The main objects of the charity are:

To promote the conservation, restoration and improvement, for the public benefit, of the native woodlands in the geographic area of Grantown-on-Spey, as an important part of Scotland's natural heritage.

To advance the education of the public generally, but particularly the education of young  people concerning local wildlife, conservation and the preservation of the natural and cultural heritage of the area.

To provide, in the interests of social welfare, facilities for recreation and other leisure time occupations available to the public at large with a view to improving their conditions of life.

To promote, establish and operate other schemes of a charitable nature for the benefit of the community of Grantown-on-Spey.

ACHIEVEMENT AND PERFORMANCE
 

Charitable activities

A key project through the year was to plan, raise funds for and build an all-ability path through Kylintra Meadow and Kylintra Wood, with associated environmental improvements and new interpretation panels.  This entailed working with a number of partners as Kylintra Meadow is not owned by the Trust, but by Strathspey Estates and managed by Highland Council.  By the end of the financial year plans were well ahead with constructions scheduled for completion in June 2009.  This project has been funded by Forestry Commission Scotland and the European Leader programme.

Another key project has been the development of plans to build a mountain bike skills area in Free Church Wood and fund-raising for this is on-going. After designing the facility and marking trees for felling, the project was given planning permission. A survey of squirrel dreys was then carried out as a condition of planning concent.  In the meantime the Trust supported Laggan Wolfpax, the junior mountain bike club for Badenoch and Strathspey, who delivered mountain bike training courses for local schools.  Laggan Wolfpax also organised a junior mountain bike race in Free Church Wood that may well become an annual event to raise funds for the skills area. Highland Council, Awards For All & Badenoch and Strathspey Area Sports Council have helped with the funding for this project so far.

Work has also been initiated to explore how the Anagach Woods Trust's charitable status and our experience in developing outdoor access can be used to develop outdoor access around Grantown.  This was triggered by an approach from Glen Beg Estate and the use of woodlands by cyclists, which is causing some conflict of use on the waymarked trails in Beachan Wood.

General woodland maintenance work included replacement and repair of pole barriers and placement of boulders to prevent vehicular access.  Some litter clearance and path repairs were also carried out by people undertaking Community Service.

Much of the above work and some associated woodland management and administrative support has been provided by Piers Voysey on a project by project contract basis.

Volunteer activity over the last year has involved Bill Cuthbert who monitors nest boxes and mink rafts.  Volunteers helped with the removal of snowberry and with path clearance after the winter's heavy fall of snow.

In addition to the above works, the Anagach Woods have also been used for delivering John Muir Awards to Grammar School students and Forest School classes for the primary school students. The latter were delivered by a charity called Wild Things and apart from some volunteer time has not involved AWT resources, although Jenny Martin of Wild Things gave a presentation at the AWT AGM. The woods were also used for health walks, sponsored walks, fun runs and orienteering events.

Investment performance

The trustees are currently satisfied with the investment policy of holding reserve funds in an annually renewed, investment account to gain an optimum rate of interest.  There are no plans to change this policy.

Internal and external factors

While it is quite a difficult time for securing funds for projects, the new Scotland Rural Development Programme should provide a reasonable level of core funding to assist with woodland management projects over the next few years. Projects are only undertaken once funding has been secured, so liabilities are minimal.  It is a lot harder to find funding for the administration of the woods, including the development of projects and the sourcing of funds.

FINANCIAL REVIEW
 

Reserves policy

It is Anagach Woods Trust's policy that unrestricted funds should be maintained to the equivalent of 6 months expenditure in order for the Trust to continue functioning in a period of reduced income and the trustees believe that they have established this level of reserve.

Deficit for the year

The deficit this year reflects the payment of grants in the previous financial year (Awards for All and Heritage Lottery Fund) with on-going works under these accounts being spread into this financial year.

Principal funding sources

Anagach Woods Trust is pleased and fortunate to receive funding from a number of organisations. During the year under review we received funding from:

Forestry Commission

BSSC

Highland Council Local Action Fund

ON BEHALF OF THE BOARD:

Mr B M S Dunlop - Trustee