The Talk About Trust

Registered charity 1186202 · accounts filings on the Charity Commission register · also known as AET, THE ALCOHOL EDUCATION TRUST · also registered in Scotland as SC050360 (OSCR)

The Talk About Trust supports young people, parents, carers, teachers & youth professionals to ensure that young people of all abilities learn to stay safe around alcohol & other substances. Developing and delivering universal & targeted life skill and evidenced programmes that build knowledge & resilience & so improve life chances & reduce underage drinking, substance use & related harms.

Objects

The object of the CIO is to advance education for the benefit of the public concerning the issues of alcohol and substance use of young people (age 8 and upwards) in the UK and their safety around alcohol, nicotine and other substances, in such ways as the trustees decide, and including through the development and delivery of holistic, life skill and evidence-based approaches and diversionary resources and activities that build resilience, reduce underage drinking and substance use and alcohol and drug related harms amongst such young people (age 8 and upwards).

The charity’s charitable objects and area of benefit, quoted from its governing document as held on the Charity Commission register.

Causes: Education/training · The Advancement Of Health Or Saving Of Lives · website · Get email alerts

Registered contact address: Dorset, South West, England (from the postcode on the register)

Financial health, per its FY2025 accounts

The accounts state that total income for the year was £364,893 against expenditure of £314,882, resulting in a net movement in funds of £61,234. The charity holds free unrestricted reserves of £310,598, which the trustees confirm is in line with their policy of maintaining 14 months' cover for gross budgeted operating costs. The charity operates a trading subsidiary, Pavilion in the Park (PIPS) Ltd, which contributed significantly to the charity's income.

Automated summary of the FY2025 accounts; the evidenced findings below carry the verbatim passages.

What the accounts disclose

Accounts independently examined (not a full audit). Discloses 5 of 6 completeness components.

Policies the charity declares

In its annual return the charity told the Commission that it has the policies listed below. This is self-declared: it is not verified by the Commission or by this site, and it is not evidence of how a policy works in practice.

• Complaints handling
• Complaints policy and procedures
• Conflicting interests
• Financial reserves policy and procedures
• Internal charity financial controls policy and procedures
• Internal risk management policy and procedures
• Investing charity funds policy and procedures
• Paying staff
• Risk management
• Safeguarding policy and procedures
• Safeguarding vulnerable beneficiaries
• Serious incident reporting policy and procedures
• Social media policy and procedures
• Trustee conflicts of interest policy and procedures
• Trustee expenses policy and procedures
• Volunteer management

From the charity’s annual return (Part A, self-declared)

Answers and figures the charity gave in Part A of its annual return to the Charity Commission. They are self-declared: not verified by the Commission or by this site. Only positive answers and figures are listed; items not listed are simply not shown.

Source: this charity’s annual returns on the Charity Commission register.

In the news

Recent coverage mentioning this charity by name (automated match; headlines belong to their publishers).

• We need to talk about trust – and how to rebuild it civilserviceworld.com · 06/08/2026

Funders the charity credits

Named as funders/supporters on the charity’s own website (the charity’s claim, distinct from accounts-verified grants).

• The Office of the Dorset Police and Crime Commissioner — “Thanks to further funding from The Office of the Dorset Police and Crime Commissioner, following the successful roll out of our Drug, Alcoho…” (source page)

Public profiles (found on the charity’s own website): facebook

Register events

• Received assets from another charity (05/06/2020) — per the register’s event history; asset transfers typically record mergers or reorganisations.

Trustees · trustee networks

• VICTORIA MCDONAUGH MAHonsPGCEchair
• Alison Sarah Winsborough BMus PGCE
• Andrew Morse BSc Hons
• Dr Lara Jayne Wear MRCGP
• Jacqueline Mary Sonner BAHonsPGCE
• KEITH GRAEME NEWTON ACA · trustee of 1 other charity
• PETER DAVID GORDON COX
• Patrick Myers MSc MA BSc
• Richard Mangnall JP FCILA
• STEPHEN FOSTER
• Sophie Elizabeth Whitcombe PGCECANTAB

Trustee list from the Charity Commission register (current, not historical).

Operates in: Scotland · Throughout England And Wales

Income and spending

Common questions

Known funders

Grants to this charity found in funders’ own accounts filings.

Government & lottery funding

Grants to this charity published as open data by government and lottery funders (360Giving).

Funders of similar charities

Funders whose accounts show grants to charities similar to this one (and no recorded grant to this charity) — a starting list for fundraisers.

Charities like this

Semantically similar by activities and financial character, from our analysed corpus. Compare with Let's Talk Well.

• Let's Talk Well income £3.4m
• THE TALKING TABOOS FOUNDATION income £44k
• SPEAKERS TRUST LIMITED income £1.5m
• TALK ABOUT ART income £41k
• THE ADOLESCENT AND CHILDREN'S TRUST income £27.8m
• THE LICENSED TRADE CHARITY income £29.4m

Side by side with its peers

Each row is that charity’s latest analysed filing; every value is quote-backed on its own page.