Extracts from the ADMINISTRATOR’S REPORT  – April 2025

The Charity was registered in 1983, so this is its 42^nd year.

Therapy

First, as is usual and most important, on behalf of the Trustees, thank you Counsellors once again for your continued sacrifice of your time, your expertise and for little in the way of thanks.  So, a very big ‘Thank you’ now.

Once again, I also say a thank you to Ben, our Supervisor, who, although he receives an honorarium, it nowhere covers his actual time and experience.  It must be noted that his contribution goes beyond the call of duty so ‘Thanks’ Ben.

It has been said that we need new blood and that our Counsellors are all old or disabled in some way.  However, if we have someone volunteering to counsel then I had better not be the one who interview them.  I have frightened off the last three possible counsellors, two during this past year.  Perhaps I have too high a standard but when you are dealing with vulnerable people’s lives then I would expect high standards, or at least a person who is willing to learn and improve their counselling skills.  Just because they have got a piece of paper saying they can be let loose upon the unsuspecting public doesn’t make it right for them to do so – at least not in my book. Or is the ‘pass’ mark for such a piece of paper too low and there ought to be a probationary period of high supervision before they practice?  I do wonder what kind of reputation we temporarily got when one of the placement volunteers was with us a while back.  He got through clients like greased lightening, which was sufficient a red flag, but I think that was because they just had had enough talk and not enough help.  We must have got through that period of bad reviews for the enquiries for help keep coming in.

Noteworthy events, but not in any chronological order

The Waterwheel is a dominant feature of the Mill.  It has changed again and again over the years, growing larger, changing rotation, differing bucket construction, and using fibreglass to seal the back, and that does not include the normal maintenance work.  It has evolved.  So, at long last the maintenance is becoming less and less, and more routine in nature.  We had one major work of installing a flywheel on the gearbox, and I hope to change the front axle in a couple of months, but we have almost got it sussed.  What would life be like without the wheel to tinker with.

Last year finished with the saga of the disposal of the old battery bank, but it wasn’t until this last financial year that the bill was eventually paid.  I was dreading finding a load of hidden costs adding to the overall account, so it was with a heartfelt prayer of thanksgiving that it was presented as per their quote and paid straight away.  No more impossible to dispose of batteries from now on!

Ash Die Back has been mystifying.  Some of the trees that were diseased we felled, but we ran out of time with the hiring of the cherry picker, so we expected to continue the job this last autumn. The mystery is that most of the trees that were left have survived.  It looks as if some are even recovering. Nature is wonderful, but we will have to keep a wary eye on things.  I hope we can leave them be.

The Knot Ok corral collapsed last autumn.  Considering it had been constructed several years ago with pine logs we felled and from Sellotape, it didn’t owe us anything.  That had to be replaced, so the coffers were opened and some decent timber bought.  The new corral is fine, with plenty of storage space at present.  Although where there is space there will inevitably be bits and pieces to fill it.  That’s human nature for you.

We eventually finished concreting the track from the drive to the Knot Ok.  It has been a labour of love, but it means that we now have decent traction from the wood store to the roadway – at long, long last.  It has only taken about 30 years to build.

Finance

This year we have not had the income from donations for wood at Maker Camp.  I was concerned around the middle of the year as the balance looked to be going down without that income stream, but with an unexpected large donation and a healthy subsidy from the hydro system, the loss was made good. 

The main income has continued to be the from Covenants, and we have finished the year  very slightly up from last year.

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