The directors present their annual report and financial statements for the year ended 31 March 2023.
The principal activity of the company is to advance, for the public benefit of education and training, primarily in Wales, the skills required for leading and instructing safe hill, mountain, moorland and countryside walking and indoor climbing, rock climbing, and other associated activities practised in cliff and mountain environments, and to offer advice on matters of training and safety.
Directors
The directors who served for the year ended 31 March 2023 were:
Andy Newton Chair
Allan Gibbs Director
Andy Bevan Director
Bryn Williams Director
E S H Scott and R Jones were appointed as directors on 7 June 2023.
Secretary and Executive Officer
Simon Patton
A management Board of members, drawn from a wide range of interested organisation advises the Directors on all aspects of the Company’s activities. The Directors and the Management Council have met regularly during the year. The Management Council was constituted as follows:
Members
Association of Heads of Outdoor Education Centres Andy Meek
Association of Mountaineering Instructors Andy Newton
British Associations of International Mountain Leaders Ross Worthington
British Mountaineering Council Cymru Matt Woodfield
British Association of Mountain Guides Phill George
Duke of Edinburgh’s Award Cymru Steph Price
Girlguiding Cymru Gill Beazley
North Wales Mountain Rescue Association Tim Radford
Plas y Brenin Helen Barnard
Outdoor Education Advisors Panel Mike Rosser
Ramblers Cymru Angela Charlton
Scouts Cymru Wyn Owen
Advisors/observers
Association of British Climbing Walls Training Trust vacant
British Mountaineering Council vacant
Independent advisor Will Kilner
Institute for Outdoor Learning vacant
Joint Services Mountain Training Centre Chris Forrest
Mountain Training UK and Ireland John Cousins
Natural Resources Wales Joe Roberts
Y Partneraith Awyr Agored/ Outdoor Partnership Simon Jones
Wales Activity Tourism Organisation Paul Donovan
Review of Progress and Achievements
The year has been a busy one for Mountain Training Cymru and has seen a steady return to more normal ways of operating and an increased level of course activity as the Covid restrictions have eased. Scheme registrations and course attendance figures are now broadly in line with pre-covid levels.
The Board have held four meeting this year and three Members Council meetings. The nature of our meetings has now settled into a hybrid format with members attending either in person or online.
Sadly, our Treasurer passed away in June. We are recruiting again to find a replacement as soon as possible. At the AGM, the Council members agreed that the company’s finances should be managed temporarily by Mountain Training’s Finance team, and MTC’s secretary.
Mountain Training Cymru is proud of a number of achievements and collaborations during the year. These include the implementation of a safeguarding policy, our work alongside the other Boards to launch the revised walking schemes, a new scheme called Camping Leader, and sharing, with Mountain Training England, a well-attended and well-received provider conference.
Post covid financial stability has created an opportunity to relaunch our bursary scheme. This was created to support candidates whose personal financial situation may be a barrier to taking part, and whose participation in a leadership qualification training or assessment may promote MTC’s commitment to equity, diversity, and inclusion. The bursary is available to all MTC Council member organisations.
As with many of the member organisations, in the coming year Mountain Training Cymru aims to prioritise strategies for improving diversity and inclusion within its work. There is some evidence that people from a more diverse range of backgrounds are participating in walking and climbing activities, but at the moment this isn’t so much the case with course members, award holders, providers or indeed the Board’s own directors. Mountain Training Cymru will be keen to work with the member organisations to share ideas and success stories, in the hope that we can help each other to increase participation from underrepresented groups.
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Mountain Training Cymru Board Limited is a private company limited by guarantee incorporated in England and Wales. The registered office is Siabod Cottage, Capel Curig, Betws Y Coed, Conwy, United Kingdom, LL24 0ES.
The financial statements are prepared in sterling, which is the functional currency of the company. Monetary amounts in these financial statements are rounded to the nearest £.
Income and expenses are included in the financial statements as they become receivable or due.
Expenses include VAT where applicable as the company cannot reclaim it.
The gain or loss arising on the disposal of an asset is determined as the difference between the sale proceeds and the carrying value of the asset, and is credited or charged to surplus or deficit.
Basic financial assets, which include debtors and cash and bank balances, are initially measured at transaction price including transaction costs and are subsequently carried at amortised cost using the effective interest method unless the arrangement constitutes a financing transaction, where the transaction is measured at the present value of the future receipts discounted at a market rate of interest. Financial assets classified as receivable within one year are not amortised.
Financial liabilities and equity instruments are classified according to the substance of the contractual arrangements entered into. An equity instrument is any contract that evidences a residual interest in the assets of the company after deducting all of its liabilities.
Basic financial liabilities, including creditors, bank loans, loans from fellow group companies and preference shares that are classified as debt, are initially recognised at transaction price unless the arrangement constitutes a financing transaction, where the debt instrument is measured at the present value of the future payments discounted at a market rate of interest. Financial liabilities classified as payable within one year are not amortised.
Debt instruments are subsequently carried at amortised cost, using the effective interest rate method.
Trade creditors are obligations to pay for goods or services that have been acquired in the ordinary course of business from suppliers. Amounts payable are classified as current liabilities if payment is due within one year or less. If not, they are presented as non-current liabilities. Trade creditors are recognised initially at transaction price and subsequently measured at amortised cost using the effective interest method.
In the application of the company’s accounting policies, the directors are required to make judgements, estimates and assumptions about the carrying amount of assets and liabilities that are not readily apparent from other sources. The estimates and associated assumptions are based on historical experience and other factors that are considered to be relevant. Actual results may differ from these estimates.
The estimates and underlying assumptions are reviewed on an ongoing basis. Revisions to accounting estimates are recognised in the period in which the estimate is revised where the revision affects only that period, or in the period of the revision and future periods where the revision affects both current and future periods.
The average monthly number of persons (including directors) employed by the company during the year was :
The company is limited by guarantee, not having a share capital and consequently the liability of members is limited, subject to an undertaking by each member to contribute to the net assets or liabilities of the company on winding up such amounts as may be required not exceeding £1.