The trustees present their annual report and financial statements for the year ended 31 October 2025.
The financial statements have been prepared in accordance with the accounting policies set out in note 1 to the financial statements and comply with the charity's governing document, the Companies Act 2006, FRS 102 "The Financial Reporting Standard applicable in the UK and Republic of Ireland" and the Charities SORP "Accounting and Reporting by Charities: Statement of Recommended Practice applicable to charities preparing their accounts in accordance with the Financial Reporting Standard applicable in the UK and Republic of Ireland (FRS 102)".
Our background
Active Hope is a small Christian charity, founded in April 2006, becoming a Company as stated above in 2011. We use outdoor and adventure activities as a tool for reaching and connecting with underserved, disadvantaged and/or disengaged young people in Warrington, Cheshire and surrounding areas (Wigan, Widnes, St Helen’s and Runcorn), particularly in those areas that are in the bottom 15% nationally for multiple signs of deprivation.
Our Director of Operations and founder, Dan Curtis, is a qualified teacher and trained outdoor instructor. He is accountable to our Board, which comprises of 8 Directors.
Our staff team working with Dan has 3 full time instructors who are qualified and training in a range of outdoor activities. We have a Part time Office Manager & part-time Business manager and are also supported by a large number of occasional volunteers.
The education and assistance of young people through their leisure time activity to develop their physical, mental and spiritual capacities to grow to full maturity as and members of society and to improve their conditions of life. To advance the Christian religion and Christian lifestyle through outdoor and adventurous activities. We are committed to:
- Giving children and young people from all circumstances and backgrounds, particularly those from difficult and deprived backgrounds, unique life changing experiences through outdoor activities, such as mountain biking, climbing, rope courses, archery, orienteering, raft building and kayaking.
- Removing barriers from taking part for those groups whose access is limited by circumstances, e.g. finance, transport and equipment.
- We aim to raise confidence and broaden horizons of young people to help them to improve their lives for the better.
Vision Statement
As a Christian Charity, we aim to provide quality outdoor education for children and young people from all circumstances and backgrounds.
The Trustees have paid due regard to guidance issued by the Charity Commission in deciding what activities the charity should undertake.
Achievements and performance.
Current Projects & the needs that each project aims to meet.
1- Adventure Academy Gives children aged 7-11 years three days of activities during the school holidays based locally and aims also to provide three days of residential holiday away from Warrington. The project is run in conjunction with 10 Primary schools. The children are referred by the Head Teachers based on their knowledge of the child's circumstances, such as neglectful homes, child carers, homes affected by drugs and alcohol, children in foster care, victims of abuse or those in need of a major life confidence boost. For some children this is the only holiday they will get in their childhood. This opportunity has an enormously positive impact on the children physically, emotionally, socially and spiritually. Adventure Academy is run at no cost to the children involved or their families. The children are picked up from their homes, provided with all the necessary food, specialist clothing and equipment needed for them to fully access their day. This project benefits around 50 children a year and is supported by around 20 of volunteers in addition to staff team.
2- Ongoing mentoring – Primary age (Oakwood Ave Designated Provision) We work regularly supporting pupils of a primary school age who are part of the specialist Unit for pupils with Special Educational Needs and Disabilities and Mental Health (SENDMH). Our work seeks to establish positive relationships and develop essential basic skills such as communication, teamwork, leadership, cooperation etc. Our work offers a major incentive to help their behaviour during the week and is a massive support to the school staff.
We also have started supporting another Primary School unit supporting children with autism. The blocks of work we provide give them with opportunities to broaden their experiences and enjoy the opportunity to work outside. It has proved to be an extremely valuable project with the positive impact being felt back into the families.
3- Small group mentoring (mainstream) – We work with 5 Primary schools providing small group mentoring opportunities. The groups are selected by the schools and targeted for a range of reasons. This could be a group who struggle to transition into the weekend from school, or who have low self-esteem or confidence, it could be a group who are struggling to integrate or struggling with friendships. They work with our team for 12 weeks using a range of activity and record their own progress in a handbook provided for self-reflection.
4- Urban Adventure Project This project supports schools from some of the area’s most difficult and deprived areas, providing residential experiences. The work engages the classes of children aged 7 - 11, with positive role models, working with the children before and after the residential, creating a process rather than an event. The class are identified by the Head Teachers. Our experience working in these areas has shown that these classes often have high levels of specific needs such as behavioural issues in school, difficulties at home, confidence and low self-esteem issues. The class are organised into small groups and each will work with an Active Hope instructor for 2 half day sessions, building up to a 3-day residential. The children will be led through carefully structured activities designed to develop positive self-image, make new friends, become more self-aware and return to school with a renewed determination to succeed and learn. In addition, at the heart of the residential experience Active Hope lead class assemblies, sharing God's love in a dynamic and relevant way. The outdoor activities that the children would take part in could include climbing, mountain biking, orienteering, archery, raft building and kayaking. In addition to these activities, all children will often have the opportunity to camp in tents. The programme for each group would be tailored to meet the specific needs of the children in that class. This project is supported by a team of catering volunteers who provide all the meals whilst on site.
We were delighted to have an extremely busy summer into Autumn 2025. The stability of the third year of the seasonal rental of the site we use for these residential experiences from May to September really helped our work to grow. This gave us the security to expand our offer supporting more children in this way. A possible stepping stone to a future where we have our own space to deliver these projects from. The assembly theme continues to be ‘I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me’ – setting the challenge of turning I cant’s into I can’s. Over 500 children benefitted from our Urban Adventure Project this year.
5- Winter Warmer – Provides schools with 2-day opportunity in the winter months when many groups normally wouldn’t be outside. Day 1 is based at our Urban Adventure Base in the SMILE centre, the children have breakfast then cook wild bread on a fire and complete team building activities. Day 2 is based in woodland building dens and playing games, the children enjoy a chippy lunch in the woods. We provide fleeces, waterproofs, hats, gloves, wellies and welly socks to ensure that the children can enjoy their day no matter what the weather. The project shares a class assembly based around the feeding of the 5,000 and how God can do incredible things when we give everything we have. This year over 400 children took part in out Winter Warmer Project.
6- Which Way Now Project – Works on school grounds over 4 half days. Each session works with a whole class to encourage teamwork, positive communication, leadership skills, cooperation and teamwork. It uses team building games and activities alongside orienteering and adventure lines. Each session has a class assembly delivered in an engaging and interactive way leaving the children with 4 simple truths- God made them – God knows them-God loves them – God wants us to follow him. Over 500 children have taken part in the Which Way Now Project this year.
Achievements over the year
We faced a huge challenge this year as a couple of our largest ever ongoing grants came to an end. This did unfortunately mean adjustments to our staff team. Despite this set back we have been able to maintain our work and the staff who have been training up over the last couple of years have been released into leading projects enabling the work to not just be sustained but to grow.
The recruitment of a more experienced instructor to support the junior staff has really helped to drive the work forward. Summer 2025 was one of our most successful ever residential seasons. The 3rd year of seasonal rental of the camping space was reaping rewards as staff were familiar with the space and the systems we had built into using there. Feedback from the children and school staff that we worked with was incredibly positive. We were delighted this year to expand our small group mentoring to a High School ASD (Autism) unit. The opportunity to develop working alongside the pupils was extremely valuable, great for both the pupils and our team.
Several grants allowed new equipment to bless our work. A fleet of stand-up Paddleboards being the really big win. Over the year around 1,600 children benefitted from our work. We have schools on a waiting list wanting to be part of our work.
We continued to see healthy income over the year with income of £249,927, this funding enables us to serve many children and make a real difference in their lives. The ending of our largest grant will require us to look at different sources of funding, we continue to trust God for our finances while working hard to find alternative funding to support the work of Active Hope. We aim to keep costs low for schools which is crucial at times of increasing costs. As a board we endeavor to ensure that we maintain sufficient reserves to cover 3 months outgoings. The board receives regular financial updates at each meeting. We continue to thank God for His provision and are keen to continue to trust Him for provision for Active Hope while being good stewards of the resources we have been blessed with.
Principal risks and uncertainties.
The Board recognizes the many varied risks and difficulties inherent when working with children and young people. We have in place our Safeguarding Policy which is reviewed annually. We also work closely with Activities Industry Mutual (AIM) which provides our public liability cover and assistance should the need arise in incident management through Pharos. Active Hope also holds an AALA licence which enables us to mountaineer and use large expanses of water for our water sports activities.
We have also agreed Covid protocols and best practices with our school connections and remain vigilant to keep them relevant and appropriate.
It is the policy of the charity that unrestricted funds which have not been designated for a specific use should be maintained at a level equivalent to between three and six month’s expenditure. The trustees consider that reserves at this level will ensure that, in the event of a significant drop in funding, they will be able to continue the charity’s current activities while consideration is given to ways in which additional funds may be raised. This level of reserves has been maintained throughout the year.
In 2026 Active Hope turns 20! What a wonderful achievement to celebrate. Despite the challenges to our staff team numbers we aspire to maintaining and growing our work in 2026.
We are looking to celebrate our 20th year with fundraising events and new opportunities in our work for schools. We continue to aim to develop our supporter base, volunteer food team numbers and supporter events.
Our long-term vision remains to own land for camping and a centre for our groups to stay in. This would give our work even greater security and benefit hundreds more children and young people.
Active Hope is a small Christian charity founded in April 2006. It was incorporated on 12 January 2011 and registered as a charity on 22 February 2011. The charity is a company limited by guarantee and has no share capital. It is governed by its Memorandum and Articles of Association.
The trustees, who are also the directors for the purpose of company law, and who served during the year and up to the date of signature of the financial statements were:
All the trustees give their time voluntarily and receive no benefits from the charity. Trustees are selected by the existing trustees.
Related-Party and Trustee Disclosures
None of the trustees has any beneficial interest in the company. All of the trustees are members of the company and guarantee to contribute £1 in the event of a winding up.
During the year, there was one related-party transaction between the trustees and the charity. No trustee or any person connected with them received any remuneration, benefits, or reimbursement of expenses from the charity.
The charity's Board of Trustees comprises 8 directors, who are listed above, and is supported by advisors as and when required. The Board is primarily responsible for the development and direction of the charity with day to day operations undertaken by the staff team led by the Director of Operations and founder, Dan Curtis. He is a qualified teacher and the charity’s senior instructor. The other instructors are all fully qualified in outdoor activities.
The trustees' report was approved by the Board of Trustees.
I report to the trustees on my examination of the financial statements of Active Hope Limited (the charity) for the year ended 31 October 2025.
Having satisfied myself that the financial statements of the charity are not required to be audited under Part 16 of the Companies Act 2006 and are eligible for independent examination, I report in respect of my examination of the charity’s financial statements carried out under section 145 of the Charities Act 2011. In carrying out my examination I have followed the Directions given by the Charity Commission under section 145(5)(b) of the Charities Act 2011.
I have completed my examination. I confirm that no matters have come to my attention in connection with the examination giving me cause to believe that in any material respect:
accounting records were not kept in respect of the charity as required by section 386 of the Companies Act 2006.
the financial statements do not accord with those records; or
the financial statements do not comply with the accounting requirements of section 396 of the Companies Act 2006 other than any requirement that the financial statements give a true and fair view, which is not a matter considered as part of an independent examination; or
the financial statements have not been prepared in accordance with the methods and principles of the Statement of Recommended Practice for accounting and reporting by charities applicable to charities preparing their financial statements in accordance with the Financial Reporting Standard applicable in the UK and Republic of Ireland (FRS 102).
I have no concerns and have come across no other matters in connection with the examination to which attention should be drawn in this report in order to enable a proper understanding of the financial statements to be reached.
The statement of financial activities includes all gains and losses recognised in the year. All income and expenditure derive from continuing activities.
The statement of financial activities also complies with the requirements for an income and expenditure account under the Companies Act 2006.
Active Hope Limited is a private company limited by guarantee incorporated in England and Wales. The registered office is 5 Pangbourne Close, Appleton, Warrington, Cheshire, WA4 5HJ.
The financial statements have been prepared in accordance with the charity's governing document, the Companies Act 2006, FRS 102 "The Financial Reporting Standard applicable in the UK and Republic of Ireland" and the Charities SORP "Accounting and Reporting by Charities: Statement of Recommended Practice applicable to charities preparing their accounts in accordance with the Financial Reporting Standard applicable in the UK and Republic of Ireland (FRS 102)". The charity is a Public Benefit Entity as defined by FRS 102.
The charity has taken advantage of the provisions in the SORP for charities not to prepare a statement of cash flows.
The financial statements are prepared in sterling, which is the functional currency of the charity. Monetary amounts in these financial statements are rounded to the nearest £.
The financial statements have been prepared under the historical cost convention. The principal accounting policies adopted are set out below.
At the time of approving the financial statements, the trustees have a reasonable expectation that the charity has adequate resources to continue in operational existence for the foreseeable future. Thus the trustees continue to adopt the going concern basis of accounting in preparing the financial statements.
Unrestricted funds are available for use at the discretion of the trustees in furtherance of their charitable objectives.
Restricted funds are subject to specific conditions by donors or grantors as to how they may be used. The purposes and uses of the restricted funds are set out in the notes to the financial statements.
Cash donations are recognised on receipt. Other donations are recognised once the charity has been notified of the donation, unless performance conditions require deferral of the amount. Income tax recoverable in relation to donations received under Gift Aid or deeds of covenant is recognised at the time of the donation.
Donated services and facilities are recognised as income when the charity has control over the item, any conditions associated with the donated item have been met, the receipt of economic benefit from the use by the charity of the item is probable and that economic benefit can be measured reliably On receipt, donated services and facilities are recognised on the basis of the value of the gift to the charity which is the amount the charity would have been willing to pay to obtain services or facilities of equivalent economic benefit on the open market; a corresponding amount is then recognised in expenditure in the period of receipt.
Expenditure is recognised once there is a legal or constructive obligation to transfer economic benefit to a third party, it is probable that a transfer of economic benefits will be required in settlement, and the amount of the obligation can be measured reliably.
Expenditure is classified by activity. The costs of each activity are made up of the total of direct costs and shared costs, including support costs involved in undertaking each activity. Direct costs attributable to a single activity are allocated directly to that activity. Shared costs which contribute to more than one activity and support costs which are not attributable to a single activity are apportioned between those activities on a basis consistent with the use of resources. Central staff costs are allocated on the basis of time spent, and depreciation charges are allocated on the portion of the asset’s use.
Tangible fixed assets are initially measured at cost and subsequently measured at cost or valuation, net of depreciation and any impairment losses.
Depreciation is recognised so as to write off the cost or valuation of assets less their residual values over their useful lives on the following bases:
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 recognised in the statement of financial activities.
At each reporting end date, the charity reviews the carrying amounts of its tangible assets to determine whether there is any indication that those assets have suffered an impairment loss. If any such indication exists, the recoverable amount of the asset is estimated in order to determine the extent of the impairment loss (if any).
Cash and cash equivalents include cash in hand, deposits held at call with banks, other short-term liquid investments with original maturities of three months or less, and bank overdrafts. Bank overdrafts are shown within borrowings in current liabilities.
The charity has elected to apply the provisions of Section 11 ‘Basic Financial Instruments’ and Section 12 ‘Other Financial Instruments Issues’ of FRS 102 to all of its financial instruments.
Financial instruments are recognised in the charity's balance sheet when the charity becomes party to the contractual provisions of the instrument.
Financial assets and liabilities are offset, with the net amounts presented in the financial statements, when there is a legally enforceable right to set off the recognised amounts and there is an intention to settle on a net basis or to realise the asset and settle the liability simultaneously.
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.
Basic financial liabilities, including creditors and bank loans 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 operations 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.
Financial liabilities are derecognised when the charity’s contractual obligations expire or are discharged or cancelled.
The cost of any unused holiday entitlement is recognised in the period in which the employee’s services are received.
Termination benefits are recognised immediately as an expense when the charity is demonstrably committed to terminate the employment of an employee or to provide termination benefits.
In the application of the charity’s accounting policies, the trustees 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.
Fixed assets are assessed for their useful economic lives and depreciation accordingly. Actual useful lives may vary.
The average monthly number of employees during the year was:
The key management personnel of the charity comprise the trustees, the head of operations and the project manger. The remuneration of key management personnel was as follows:
The charity is exempt from taxation on its activities because all its income is applied for charitable purposes.
The restricted funds of the charity comprise the unexpended balances of donations and grants held on trust subject to specific conditions by donors as to how they may be used.
Mountain Bike Fund - funds the purchase of mountain bikes for the charity. This fund is reduced annually by the deprecation charge of the mountain bikes.
Adventure Academy Fund - to support the running of the Adventure Academy, including campsite fees and staff costs.
Adventure Days Fund - to support the running of the Adventure Days project.
Urban Adventure Fund - to support the running of the Urban Adventure project, including campsite fees.
Mentoring Fund - funding towards monthly staff costs.
The Lauderdale Trust Fund - to enable the recruitment and development of three additional instructors to increase the number of classes and schools involved to explore the Christian Faith.
The Joseph Rank Fund - funding towards monthly staff costs.
The unrestricted funds of the charity comprise the unexpended balances of donations and grants which are not subject to specific conditions by donors and grantors as to how they may be used. These include designated funds which have been set aside out of unrestricted funds by the trustees for specific purposes.
During the year, the Charity employed a member of staff who is a relative of two trustees. This employment is conducted on normal commercial terms based on similar employees in their roles.
During the year, a trustee purchased a minibus from Active hope at market value for a total of £1,950.