The trustees of Fleet Pond Society consider that an Independent Examination of its accounts is good practice, although this is not required by the Charities Commission because of the level of our activities. Our Annual Report and Accounts are always independently examined.
For details of the main achievements in previous years and/or copies of our annual reports and accounts, please contact our secretary on secretary@fleetpond.org.uk.
Our annual accounts for 2024/2025 have been formally examined and signed off by the Executive Committee. You can download them here, annual report and accounts 24-25.
The Society has continued the voluntary management activity at Fleet Pond, including habitat management and repair and upgrade of paths and protective fencing. The Island Management team also continued to tackle the scrub growth on the new islands that were created by the dredging a few years back. Care has been taken that maintenance of islands, reedbeds, marshland and heathland does not impede access or obstruct visitors’ views. In fact the work has continued to open up new vistas across the open areas to the Pond, attracting positive responses from the public. We did a massive amount of work to remove many 1000s saplings and trees from several of our reedbeds. Our study of the moth populations on the reserve has been completed.
We spent a significant amount of funds on purchasing materials as well as new types of tools and replacements to allow us to be more efficient in our conservation work. We paid for four of our volunteers to have formal training on equipment we use to treat cut saplings with herbicide in our conservation work. We spent a significant sum on the publishing and distribution of our quarterly newsletter.
The number of volunteers who help at our Friday morning conservation sessions has continued to increase significantly and they have delivered an increase in hours worked by 25% in each of the last three years. We estimate the hours they now contribute are valued at over £50,000 per annum.
The Society has carried out numerous outreach activities and continued to encourage public awareness by various articles in the local press and on social media and has gained a significant number of new members.
We received a good number of donations this year from our public supporters as well as Nisa’s “Making a Difference Locally” fund from which we received nearly £1800. The amount of these donations we received totalled roughly £2500.