Adventure Oban Limited - Charities report

REGISTERED COMPANY NUMBER: SC685999 (Scotland)

REGISTERED CHARITY NUMBER: 050968

Report of the Trustees and

Financial Statements for the Year Ended 31 January 2026

for

Adventure Oban Limited

(A Company Limited by Guarantee)

Page

Report of the Trustees

1

to

7

Independent Examiner's Report

8

Statement of Financial Activities

9

Balance Sheet

10

to

11

Notes to the Financial Statements

12

to

16

The trustees who are also directors of the charity for the purposes of the Companies Act 2006, present their report with the financial statements of the charity for the year ended 31 January 2026. The trustees have adopted the provisions of 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) (effective 1 January 2019).

INTRODUCTION

Five years. Five! It still catches us by surprise every time we sit down to review each year, because it feels like just yesterday that Adventure Oban was a bunch of volunteers with a big idea and a very small block of toilets. Fast forward to now, that drive and possibility-led attitude remains unchanged. With it comes another year absolutely rammed with events, mud, mishaps, near-misses, big wins, and - as ever - an enormous amount of community energy. Clip in, here's the story of our year:

OBJECTIVES AND ACTIVITIES

Objectives and aims

The company has been formed to benefit principally the community of the town of Oban and the surrounding area with the following objects:

1. To provide and advance accessibility to our sea, coastal and natural assets around the town of Oban, organising recreational activities which will be available to members of our community and public at large with the object of improving conditions of life of the Community.

2. Advancement of public participation in sport or physical activities, specifically the provision of facilities, equipment and tuition in outdoor activities, to improve the physical and mental health of our community.

3. To promote collective responsibility and stewardship of our natural environment through education and awareness-raising activities, but only to the extent that the above purposes are consistent with furthering the achievement of sustainable development.

ACHIEVEMENTS AND PERFORMANCE

Charitable activities

Team

As our Community Development Worker Hannah Shaw moved to Laggan for new adventures early in the year, we were delighted to welcome Aidan Doherty into the role in the spring. Aidan ran Ardentinny Outdoor Education Centre for 20+ years and brought brilliant energy and a wealth of experience in the outdoor sector that has really helped us up our game.

A few other new, but familiar, faces officially joined the AO team this year:

In May we were delighted, and very fortunate, to welcome Emily Austin into full trusteeship after a year of watching, learning and quietly being brilliant in the background. Emily has stacks of experience working in finance and HR in the third and public sectors as well as being a keen sea kayaker and actively involved with parkrun and many other community initiatives. In August we also welcomed Natasha Robinson to the Active Travel team working closely with Phil de Iongh, our Active Travel Coordinator. Natasha has volunteered with Adventure Oban at the Big Bike Weekend since the first one on Kerrera and is a local primary school teacher. She now works with us one day a week on the Active Routes to Schools projects, more on that below!

Community Events and Engagement

The Big Bike Weekend rolled around on May bank holiday weekend and was an opportunity for some super partnership working with The Rockfield Centre as a co-branded Spring Festival weekend with activities aligned to maximise fun for all and minimise any competition for similar audiences! The weekend started off with our first ever pop-up Bike Park at Atlantis on the Friday, with Solas pizza providing the scran. This pop-up pump track, built by our fabulous volunteers (Sam and Christina Wood and Aidan Doherty) pulled in over 100 riders and families and paved the way for it to become one our most popular activities throughout the year. Our trusty Dr. Bike, Nick Charlton from the Rusty Cycle Shed, was there to sort bikes on the night so everyone could safely jump on. The Saturday saw smaller led rides out at the Ganavan trails in preparation for the Big Kids Bike Event on the Sunday. Back in town, we ran an afternoon of fun activities at Rockfield, with Skymonster bringing a wonderful variety of skateboards, longboards and solo wheels to try out, arts and crafts and the launch of an art exhibition celebrating skateboarding around the islands! The Sunday Kids Bike Event was another roaring success with the weather holding out until we had just tidied up. Over 50 kids got out riding the trails which are now really established, well-ridden and bedded in. We were hugely grateful for the raft of volunteer marshals that are integral to the success and safety on the day, including some timekeeping troopers from North Argyll Cycle Club, showing again the huge value of collaboration and partnership working. NACC also led some social rides and a women’s ride as part of the fringe events for the BBW.

The Bike Park returned in August at Atlantis, with over 100 young people taking part over 2 evenings. On the Thursday, we ran a smaller dedicated evening session in partnership with FAIR (Fairness Accessibility Inclusion Respect) for young people with additional support needs which was one of the loveliest things we ran all year.

On Friday, the Bike Park was absolutely chokka, with kids queuing for ages, having their slot and then jumping straight back to the end of the queue full of enthusiasm to do it all over again! We were flat out all night with every slot filled right to the end. That August event also gave us our toughest moment of the year: a young participant was injured in a fall at the Bike Park. We're hugely grateful for how understanding the family was throughout, and we reported everything properly to the relevant authorities with full cooperation between ourselves and Atlantis. It also provided an opportunity to review our safety, supervision and insurance policies, which we used to build an even more robust process for every event we run.

Back outside and our ReWild walks kept going, with a stunning outing to Appin’s Castle Stalker among the highlights. Some of the more far-flung walks are still a bit hit-and-miss on numbers - we think it's an access thing, and our new minibus permit from the Council should help.

Our wonderful Oban Wildlife Club ran all year with a fantastic programme of events that bring our young people right up close and personal with the nature and wildlife on our doorstep. The programme included seashore safaris, tweets and tails, bluebells, bogs and lichen rainforest adventures.

Once the colder months came around, it was time to get stuck back into another edition of Oban's Winter Festival with our massive Strip the Willow and Touch Pool events going down an absolute storm. This also gave us a little taste of celebrity status when one video clip racked up tens of thousands of views online! - who knew ceilidh dancing could go viral?!

Our volunteers also got stuck into marshalling and supporting the first ever International Winter Swimming Championships hosted in Oban, with competitors from all over the world braving the wild weather and doing laps of the town pontoons! A wonderful event for Oban with lots of joy, positivity and love for our local natural playground.

To finish off this financial year, we ran a hugely successful Winter Bike Fix event on a cold January weekend at Atlantis. This event included an opportunity to get your bike fixed by Dr Bike, a smoothie bike, a watt machine to test your pedal power and a series of fun bike games and activities in the warmth of the activity hall to get ready for the season ahead.

Active Travel

Our Active Travel project bounded from strength to strength this year. Phil & Natasha led our team through another year of primary school engagement and community development that puts the focus on how we walk, wheel and roll around the area more safely. We worked with pupils at Rockfield, Park and Taynuilt to design their own active travel maps with Rockfield’s heading out as leaflets and posters shortly before the end of this reporting period. Between Phil, Natasha, Aidan and Nick, we reckon close to 1,000 children have been engaged in active travel activity since August alone. That's not a typo: one thousand kids! Part of this work includes really fun new initiatives like Bikeability and walking buses: we established a regular Friday one out at Taynuilt during this year.

A real highlight of Active Travel this year were Nick's bike mechanic sessions at Oban High School. These were aimed at pupils who struggle to engage elsewhere in school life to learn new skills and refurbish bikes for our bike recycling project in partnership with Act. A win-win! The sessions have helped us continue to build our relationship both with the young people and the wider school community. As ever, we’re conscious of how to sustain our projects long-term. This year, Active Travel received a huge boost in the shape of HiTrans coming on board as a major new funder, with a new Service Level Agreement now in place.

NATA: Trails, Mud & Big Dreams

Our tamed trail association crew NATA (North Argyll Trail Association) kept up their muddy work this year with regular dig days (junior sessions included) as they continue to raise the bar on what ‘well-built trail’ actually means around here. A big part of the NATA story this year centred on Ariogan - a beautiful section of woodland just south of Oban where we’ve been exploring the possibility of community use with Forestry Land Scotland over the last few months. These conversations continue and while adoption of the space isn't entirely straightforward, we’re really excited to see what possibilities might be established. We're also grateful to all the advice, support and small pot of funding from Developing Mountain Biking in Scotland (DMBinS) for trail building tools this year.

The snorkel trail feasibility study out at Ganavan also came back with positive results - the south end of Ganavan is the preferred spot so we’re all set to push that forward over the next few months.

Governance

This year we started the process of registering Adventure Oban as an accredited body under the PVG Scheme, ensuring all our team (paid staff and volunteer trustees) are PVG’d with safeguarding policies drafted and signed off by the Board. We're also looking at the merits of securing our Adventure Activities Licensing Authority (AALA) accreditation, given how much our activity offer has grown.

As ever, partnership working remains at the very core of our DNA as an organisation. As such, our partnership with Atlantis Leisure continues to deepen through our shared Out & About project. More than that, Atlantis acts as a bit of an older sibling to us, supporting us in a bunch of unseen ways that make it that bit comfier to run things - a huge thank you to them.

Elsewhere, we kept working closely with NACC, LOHO, Re:Store, Oban Sailing Club, Oban Community Skatepark, the Rockfield Centre, the Connecting Communities Collective and loads more.

Looking Ahead

As the year rounds out into 2026, planning for next year's Big Bike Weekend is already well underway, with some cracking new ideas in the mix including a Friday night film event and dedicated skills coaching for older kids at the Sutherland’s Grove trails. Ariogan keeps moving forward towards what could be a genuinely game-changing site for mountain biking in this area, and we're keeping up momentum on the development of a permanent wheeled sports facility at Oban's proposed Community Sports Hub in Glencruitten.

Due to other commitments, Aidan Doherty had to step back from the role in early 2026, but will still be around to help with running the odd bike event, abseil or archery session! We welcomed Hannah Shaw back part time and have recruited Renuka Ramanujam as a job share on the CDW role. Neither are strangers at all to our work so combined with our hands on volunteer trustees, we go into the next twelve months in great shape.

Adventure Oban really would not be what it is today without the support of many people and organisations giving of their time, knowledge and enthusiasm. We are hugely grateful for the support and encouragement we have received during this year. We acknowledge with thanks our funders and regular givers. We are also grateful for the local community, clubs and organisations who have helped and engaged with us throughout the year. Finally, thank you to our volunteer Board, subgroup members and team of volunteers for their continued commitment and enthusiasm.

FINANCIAL REVIEW

Financial position

During the year under review, the charity made an overall surplus of £18,405 (2025 - £3,455) on its activities. There was a surplus on the general fund of £381 (2025- £1,289 prior to a transfer to the Active Travel project). At the end of the year, the charity had £3,021 (2025 - £3,206) in general funds and £23,560 (2025 - £4,970) in restricted funds. The detail of the restricted funds can be seen in the notes to the accounts.

Going concern

The charity continues to seek grant funding to cover projects. The charity carefully projects finances ahead to ensure there is enough funding to cover ongoing costs. There are currently no over issues regarding going concern.

STRUCTURE, GOVERNANCE AND MANAGEMENT

Governing document

The charity is controlled by its governing document, the Articles of Association, and constitutes a limited company, limited by guarantee, as defined by the Companies Act 2006.

Recruitment and appointment of new trustees

The Trustees are drawn from the local community and are identified by current Trustees where it is thought they might provide expertise or experience. Potential new trustees are nominated at board meetings and a vote taken as to whether they should be asked to join or not.

REFERENCE AND ADMINISTRATIVE DETAILS

Registered Company number

SC685999 (Scotland)

Registered Charity number

050968

Registered office

1 Dalriach Road

Oban

PA34 5JE

Trustees

D Bleazard

Ms J S Churchill

Ms L Corbe

N M Matheson

Ms I M Mcculloch

I R Roberts

B Sunderland

Ms E Austin (appointed 16.4.25)

Ms C Wood

Company Secretary

B Sunderland

Independent Examiner

Mackay & Co CA

120 George Street

Oban

Argyll

PA34 5NT

Approved by order of the board of trustees on 18 August 2026 and signed on its behalf by:

B Sunderland - Trustee

I report on the accounts for the year ended 31 January 2026 set out on pages nine to sixteen.

Respective responsibilities of trustees and examiner

The charity's trustees are responsible for the preparation of the accounts in accordance with the terms of the Charities and Trustee Investment (Scotland) Act 2005 and the Charities Accounts (Scotland) Regulations 2006 (as amended). The charity's trustees consider that the audit requirement of Regulation 10(1)(a) to (c) of the Accounts Regulations does not apply. It is my responsibility to examine the accounts as required under Section 44(1)(c) of the Act and to state whether particular matters have come to my attention.

Basis of the independent examiner's report

My examination was carried out in accordance with Regulation 11 of the Charities Accounts (Scotland) Regulations 2006. An examination includes a review of the accounting records kept by the charity and a comparison of the accounts presented with those records. It also includes consideration of any unusual items or disclosures in the accounts, and seeking explanations from you as trustees concerning any such matters. The procedures undertaken do not provide all the evidence that would be required in an audit, and consequently I do not express an audit opinion on the view given by the accounts.

Independent examiner's statement

In connection with my examination, no matter has come to my attention :

(1)	which gives me reasonable cause to believe that, in any material respect, the requirements

-	to keep accounting records in accordance with Section 44(1)(a) of the 2005 Act and Regulation 4 of the 2006 Accounts Regulations; and

-	to prepare accounts which accord with the accounting records and to comply with Regulation 8 of the 2006 Accounts Regulations

have not been met; or

(2)	to which, in my opinion, attention should be drawn in order to enable a proper understanding of the accounts to be reached.

David Ross

The Institute of Chartered Accountants of Scotland

Mackay & Co CA

120 George Street

Oban

Argyll

PA34 5NT

Date: .............................................

31.1.26

31.1.25

Unrestricted

Restricted

Total

funds

Notes

£

INCOME AND ENDOWMENTS FROM

Donations and legacies

1,030

-

1,030

1,559

Charitable activities

3

Outdoor recreation

-

49,667

15,413

Other trading activities

2

988

-

988

-

Total

2,018

49,667

51,685

16,972

EXPENDITURE ON

Charitable activities

Outdoor recreation

1,637

31,643

33,280

13,517

NET INCOME

381

18,024

18,405

3,455

Transfers between funds

6

(566

)

566

-

Net movement in funds

(185

)

18,590

18,405

3,455

RECONCILIATION OF FUNDS

Total funds brought forward

3,206

4,970

8,176

4,721

TOTAL FUNDS CARRIED FORWARD

3,021

23,560

26,581

8,176

31.1.26

31.1.25

Unrestricted

Restricted

Total

funds

Notes

£

CURRENT ASSETS

Cash at bank

3,021

23,560

26,581

8,176

NET CURRENT ASSETS

3,021

23,560

26,581

8,176

TOTAL ASSETS LESS CURRENT
LIABILITIES

3,021

23,560

26,581

8,176

NET ASSETS

3,021

23,560

26,581

8,176

FUNDS

6

Unrestricted funds

3,021

3,206

Restricted funds

23,560

4,970

TOTAL FUNDS

26,581

8,176

The charitable company is entitled to exemption from audit under Section 477 of the Companies Act 2006 for the year ended 31 January 2026.

The members have not required the company to obtain an audit of its financial statements for the year ended 31 January 2026 in accordance with Section 476 of the Companies Act 2006.

The trustees acknowledge their responsibilities for

(a)	ensuring that the charitable company keeps accounting records that comply with Sections 386 and 387 of the Companies Act 2006 and

(b)

preparing financial statements which give a true and fair view of the state of affairs of the charitable company as at the end of each financial year and of its surplus or deficit for each financial year in accordance with the requirements of Sections 394 and 395 and which otherwise comply with the requirements of the Companies Act 2006 relating to financial statements, so far as applicable to the charitable company.

These financial statements have been prepared in accordance with the provisions applicable to charitable companies subject to the small companies regime.

The financial statements were approved by the Board of Trustees and authorised for issue on 18 August 2026 and were signed on its behalf by:

B Sunderland - Trustee

1.	ACCOUNTING POLICIES

Basis of preparing the financial statements

The financial statements of the charitable company, which is a public benefit entity under FRS 102, have been prepared in accordance with the Charities SORP (FRS 102) '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) (effective 1 January 2019)', Financial Reporting Standard 102 'The Financial Reporting Standard applicable in the UK and Republic of Ireland' and the Companies Act 2006. The financial statements have been prepared under the historical cost convention.

Income

All income is recognised in the Statement of Financial Activities once the charity has entitlement to the funds, it is probable that the income will be received and the amount can be measured reliably.

Expenditure

Liabilities are recognised as expenditure as soon as there is a legal or constructive obligation committing the charity to that expenditure, 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 accounted for on an accruals basis and has been classified under headings that aggregate all cost related to the category. Where costs cannot be directly attributed to particular headings they have been allocated to activities on a basis consistent with the use of resources.

Taxation

The charity is exempt from corporation tax on its charitable activities.

Fund accounting

Unrestricted funds can be used in accordance with the charitable objectives at the discretion of the trustees.

Restricted funds can only be used for particular restricted purposes within the objects of the charity. Restrictions arise when specified by the donor or when funds are raised for particular restricted purposes.

Further explanation of the nature and purpose of each fund is included in the notes to the financial statements.

2.	OTHER TRADING ACTIVITIES

31.1.26

31.1.25

£

Fundraising events

988

-

3.	INCOME FROM CHARITABLE ACTIVITIES

31.1.26

31.1.25

Activity

£

Memberships

Outdoor recreation

-

30

Grants

Outdoor recreation

49,667

15,383

49,667

15,413

Grants received, included in the above, are as follows:

31.1.26

31.1.25

£

Argyll & Bute Council

-

2,995

Paths 4 All

3,167

6,333

ACHA

-

500

ABCAN

-

2,000

NATA

-

600

Oban Sportive

-

1,500

Oban Common Good Fund

-

755

North Argyll Cycle Club

-

700

Atlantis Leisure

500

-

Highland Council

46,000

-

49,667

15,383

4.	TRUSTEES' REMUNERATION AND BENEFITS

There were no trustees' remuneration or other benefits for the year ended 31 January 2026 nor for the year ended 31 January 2025.

Trustees' expenses

There were no trustees' expenses paid for the year ended 31 January 2026 nor for the year ended 31 January 2025.

5.	COMPARATIVES FOR THE STATEMENT OF FINANCIAL ACTIVITIES

Unrestricted

Restricted

Total

funds

£

INCOME AND ENDOWMENTS FROM

Donations and legacies

1,559

-

1,559

Charitable activities

Outdoor recreation

730

14,683

15,413

Total

2,289

14,683

16,972

EXPENDITURE ON

Charitable activities

Outdoor recreation

1,000

12,517

13,517

NET INCOME

1,289

2,166

3,455

Transfers between funds

(1,548

)

1,548

-

Net movement in funds

(259

)

3,714

3,455

RECONCILIATION OF FUNDS

Total funds brought forward

3,465

1,256

4,721

TOTAL FUNDS CARRIED FORWARD

3,206

4,970

8,176

6.	MOVEMENT IN FUNDS

Net

Transfers

movement

between

At

At 1.2.25

in funds

funds

31.1.26

£

Unrestricted funds

General fund

3,206

381

(566

)

3,021

Restricted funds

Cycling activities

589

(231

)

-

358

Active Travel

1,781

19,921

-

21,702

ABCAN - Snorkel Trail

500

(500

)

-

Scottish Trail Fund

600

(1,166

)

566

-

Defibrilator

1,500

-

1,500

4,970

18,024

566

23,560

TOTAL FUNDS

8,176

18,405

-

26,581

Net movement in funds, included in the above are as follows:

Incoming

Resources

Movement

resources

expended

in funds

£

Unrestricted funds

General fund

2,018

(1,637

)

381

Restricted funds

Cycling activities

-

(231

)

(231

)

Active Travel

49,667

(29,746

)

19,921

ABCAN - Snorkel Trail

-

(500

)

(500

)

Scottish Trail Fund

-

(1,166

)

(1,166

)

49,667

(31,643

)

18,024

TOTAL FUNDS

51,685

(33,280

)

18,405

Comparatives for movement in funds

Net

Transfers

movement

between

At

At 1.2.24

in funds

funds

31.1.25

£

Unrestricted funds

3,465

1,289

(1,548

)

3,206

Restricted funds

Cycling activities

1,256

(2,215

)

1,548

589

Active Travel

-

1,781

-

1,781

ABCAN - Snorkel Trail

-

500

-

500

Scottish Trail Fund

-

600

-

600

Defibrilator

-

1,500

-

1,500

1,256

2,166

1,548

4,970

TOTAL FUNDS

4,721

3,455

-

8,176

Comparative net movement in funds included in the above are as follows:

Incoming

Resources

Movement

resources

expended

in funds

£

Unrestricted funds

2,289

(1,000

)

1,289

Restricted funds

Cycling activities

-

(2,215

)

(2,215

)

Active Travel

9,828

(8,047

)

1,781

ABCAN - Snorkel Trail

500

-

500

Scottish Trail Fund

600

-

600

Rainforest Folk Film

1,500

(1,500

)

-

Defibrilator

1,500

-

1,500

OWL Club

755

(755

)

-

14,683

(12,517

)

2,166

TOTAL FUNDS

16,972

(13,517

)

3,455

7.	RELATED PARTY DISCLOSURES

There were no related party transactions for the year ended 31 January 2026.