Shelford and Stapleford Youth Initiative
Annual Report of the Management Committee for the year ended 31[st] March 2023
Tuesday 23[rd] January 2024
Welcome to our SSYI AGM. We have much to thank God for, not least that SSYI has now been able to serve the young people of our Villages for over 27 years. That is a remarkable achievement and SSYI has done much good in that time, we pray that it should continue for many years to come, as the need is ever present and growing as the villages become more suburban in character and the population of young and old alike grows. The impact of Covid on our Young People has been high and has added to the work of SSYI as Young People adjust to a post-covid world.
To start my report this evening I wanted to remind us of the original objectives of the Youth Initiative, articulated when we were founded 27 years ago. This is set out in our original mission statement (now updated in our new CIO constitution but with the same mission):
“To bring together Christians and those sympathetic to Christian thinking to work as a team to plan and provide a meeting place in the area for the teenagers and young people aged 13-18. To express Christ’s love for each individual in practical ways, to teenagers and to the community as a whole. To provide a safe place for the social contact between young people and to help them to discover positive channels for their energy, creativity and frustrations with the world. To offer an alternative to discourage drug and alcohol abuse and anti-social behaviour, encouraging personal development, physically, spiritually, and in use of talents and gifts, especially in service to others. The facilities should be open to all, and provided for the community regardless of race, religious belief, gender and ability”.
I am pleased to say that during the last financial year, and with God’s help, we have been able to continue this work in the Villages as we have emerged from the Covid impact. We have continued to operate the Friday night clubs in Great Shelford and now offer other sessions and events almost daily in our fantastic Youth Centre. This is our prime service to the Villages. We have run other events during the year for the Young People, such as residential trips, other one day trips and Zac covered these in his Youth Worker report. We continue to use social media and the telephone to keep in touch with the young people as this is a primary means of information sharing for our Young People. The Social Media engagement includes regular videos posted on our Facebook and Web pages to encourage and motivate the young people in our villages. In addition, outdoor events are held both in Great Shelford and Stapleford and Sawston and now in Duxford as well as one-to-one support sessions being provided, including at Sawston Village College.
Zac is our Youth Worker leader and has worked hard and successfully during the year. He has continued to work with and coach the Youth Worker team and has helped to develop new strategies for engagement with the Young people of the Villages. Jon Sanders from Romsey Mill has continued to support Zac, the Youth Worker team and the Trustees as Youth Work manager. I want to thank Zac and all the Youth Work staff and Volunteers for taking the work of SSYI forward successfully for another year and for their continued passion, enthusiasm and innovation for our work which has meant SSYI continues to touch the lives of more and more young people across our villages as is self-evident in Zac’s report.
The collaboration between Romsey Mill and SSYI continues to be important to SSYI and has worked very well again this year. Under Zac’s leadership we have continued to have residential events for SSYI during the financial year, which have been a great innovation with a dramatic impact on the Young People who attend, and we have also developed new opportunities and more outreach work outside the Club itself.
We have also continued to involve young people in as many community events as possible, including fund-raising events such as the Christmas Tree lights switch on and the Rugby Club bonfire night and the three Village Feasts. We plan to grow this community involvement over the coming years as it enables us to meet more young people, parents and other adult residents of the villages and raises our profile. We firmly believe that involving young people in the community is key to a community’s future. Hence our continued enthusiastic support for the Copse Project and Playscape in Great Shelford. Let Zac and the team know when there are Community events, fund raisers or projects and we will endeavour to bring young people to help with the event.
The events we hold during the week in the Youth Centre, including Friday night youth clubs, continued to offer a safe alternative to any risk-taking activities which young people who gather on the Great and Little Shelford, Stapleford and Sawston recreation grounds may be involved in. We have had many new young people join this year and many young people move on to the next stage in their lives; this means that we are reaching over 150 young people in a typical week. When we are appropriately staffed our Youth Workers and Volunteers will also engage to do more outreach work with the Young people who gather on the recreation ground but who do not come into the club.
We remain particularly grateful to Great Shelford Parish Council for funding and facilitating the refurbishment of the Youth Centre over the last two years and creating a permanent home for SSYI and providing additional funds to help with the outreach work. SSYI having a permanent home has helped to transform our work and we know that the Young People really appreciate the provision of such a fantastic facility which is used almost every day of the week.
We have worked very successfully for another year with our strategic partners at Romsey Mill, a Cambridge City and South Cambridgeshire based Christian Charity with a similar mission as SSYI’s. We are grateful to Neil Perry, the Romsey Mill CEO, for helping us create this Partnership so quickly nearly 10 years ago and to its continuing success and also Jon Sanders who has acted as Zac’s “line manager” at Romsey Mill. We see great advantage from the Romsey Mill relationship both in terms of more efficient use of our funds for staffing, leveraging each other’s resources and experience and in making sure SSYI is fully compliant with all appropriate regulations when working with young people. Do have a look at the Romsey Mill web site to see their activities and why they are such a good strategic Partner for SSYI (http://www.romseymill.org/).
We expect the relationship with Romsey Mill to continue to flourish in 2023-2024 and to lead to new initiatives in working with the Young People across the Villages. Particularly as we work to create a bridge between our open Friday Youth Club and the Youth work being performed in our local churches. Zac mentions, in his report, for example, the “Deeper Residential” initiative. We hope more SSYI Young People will want to join this kind of event during the coming year, which gives them a chance to explore Christianity in more depth.
Many thanks to our volunteer youth workers
The Volunteers who support our activities on Friday and at other events make a huge impact and we are very grateful for their continuing support. The effort they put in keeps our core activities running and enables our professional youth workers to achieve much more, we thank them enormously. Most of our volunteers are members of our local Churches, they have a key role in ensuring the Churches are up to date with SSYI developments but, when possible, have conversations with the Young People about our Christian mission. This happens surprisingly often and we pray is also sowing seeds that at some point in the Young People’s lives, whether now or in their adult life, which will lead to a rich harvest for Christ.
Local Parish and District Council Support
SSYI is also well known with our Village Parish Councillors and District Councillors. Many of them have visited the Friday club to meet the Young People and also to meet the Youth Workers and volunteers to see how a committed and united group, driven by Christian witness, can come together to deliver youth work successfully even in times of stringent austerity in council funding and more recently the challenge of Covid-19. The collaboration of Great Shelford Parish Council over the last 12 months has been particularly appreciated.
We have done all our work since our founding to glorify God’s name and hope that our work will encourage Churches around Cambridgeshire to go forward in faith and organise similar Youth Focused groups where none currently exist.
Thanks for ongoing Support from our Village Churches and our Individual Supporters
All of our work would not be possible without the interest and backing of the local community. We would like to thank all those in the Villages who have individually supported us and for the significant contributions from Great Shelford, Little Shelford and Stapleford Parish Council and the local Churches. The continued strong financial support from the Churches, Councils and private individuals is a great encouragement to us and has meant we have not been significantly impacted by cuts in County or Government funding over the last few years. John, our Treasurer, mentions in his financial report other gifts and grants we have received, and we offer our grateful thanks for them. We are also aware that much prayer is offered for the work we do by our local Churches we are thankful to God for his care and protection in it.
The Committee
Our Committee has met six times since the last AGM and I am most grateful for their hard work throughout the year. In particular, Polly, our secretary and Joan our Vice Chair, who has now retired, who continued to serve us excellently through the year and Chris Cooper deserves a special mention also, a committee member and stalwart of our Friday night volunteers, running the food and drink provision with great efficiency and providing handyman capability to the club premises. While John our Treasurer, has also made a fantastic contribution and has worked extremely hard to keep our financial records straight and to support the whole team in fund raising activities and grant funding applications and the relationship with the Great Shelford and other local Parish Councils. John’s work in fund raising and helping to expand our work has been particularly important to the steps taken to successfully set up and refurbish the Youth Centre.
As John’s report indicates there have been issues with funding our work but he is cautiously optimistic about future funding despite the many challenges we face but, we go forward in faith, trusting that the funds will become available to enable SSYI to continue and expand further.
Our committee represents all the Churches in our Villages as well as Romsey Mill however, as we continue to expand our work, other new members are also welcome!
Finally, I would call out the work of Polly as Secretary and John as Treasurer in successfully completing our transition to a Charity with Charitable Incorporated Organisation. Given our growth and the provision of the Youth Centre under our management it was essential that we made this transition. It has taken time and an immense amlout of additional work. But, it is now done and we can look forward to building our work under this new structure. Thanks also to all the new Trustees who joined us in the CIO and your continued support.
Our plans for 2023-2024
Our focus for this coming year will be to develop our services to the Young People of the three villages and build our strategic relationship with Romsey Mill, the Churches and Sawston Village College where many of our teenagers attend school. We will also seek to work with other Villages in close proximity where there is a need and where the Parish Councils are willing to fund our work.
We would also like to see more cross engagement with the Churches in the Villages and over time, some joint activities. To this end we will also be appealing to the Churches again to offer up more volunteers to either sit as Trustees or to help as volunteers. The more volunteers we have the easier it is for Zac to make sure we are properly staffed at the club, a key feature of health and safety and the more Christian volunteers we have the better placed we are to have conversations with young people about our faith when the time is right. We will also restore an annual service of thanksgiving for SSYI.
These short and longer terms initiatives will be significant steps, but we think this is worthwhile and will enable us to take forward our mission and will help us to meet our objectives. With God’s help, we are sure the Villages will support us in these initiatives and help us raise the required funds to continue to fulfil our mission for the coming years. There is no doubt the need is as great as ever and growing, particularly with the impact of Covid. We give thanks to God for those who had the vision to start the SSYI, the impact it has had on hundreds of Young People’s lives in our Villages over those years and the enduring support of all of the Churches and Parish Councils in the three Villages. Pray that God blesses our work for 2023-24 and beyond and give great thanks that he enables us to achieve so much to the glory of his name.
David JH Jones Chairman, SSYI, 23rd January 2024
SHELFORD AND STAPLEFORD YOUTH INITIATIVE NO 1073490
ANNUAL REPORT of the HON. TREASURER 2022 - 2023
STATEMENT OF ACCOUNTS
The summary accounts for the Shelford and Stapleford Youth Initiative for the year from 1[st] April 2022 to 31[st] March 2023 have been approved by independent reviewer Alistair Cooper, and are provided in the attachment to this report. In overview:
Accumulated Fund at Start of Year £78,853 Total Income £89,210 Total Expenditure (£87,297) Net Surplus/(Deficit) for Year £1,913 Accumulated Fund at year end £79,992
At the end of the year SSYI has sufficient funds for ongoing work, with 8 mths of total free reserves including £73,831 of cash at the Bank.
SUMMARY
Income remained steady vs the previous year; costs increased due to the increase in staff numbers, related travel, and running costs resulting from increased level of activities. Overall this resulted in a Net Surplus of £1,913 (vs £13,754 in 2021-22). This was close to that anticipated, as income and costs were both. £10k below budget. We are most grateful for financial support from village parish councils, local churches & groups, and individuals
INCOME
Compared to the previous year, a higher level of grant income was secured (39% to total), and contributions from local parish councils remained steady (24%). Direct payments to us for referred 1:1 work grew significantly (11%). Although regular individual donations continued at similar amounts to recent years with 22 regular donors, there were fewer large “one-off” gifts, reducing private donations overall (11%). Event income was sharply down as there were no SSYI fundraising events, and few village events adopting SSYI as a beneficiary. Various local groups did give to SSYI for which we are grateful. We are particularly thankful to Great Shelford Parish Council for their generosity (£17,500 provided), enabling us to make good use of the Youth Centre during the week for an expanded range of groups and projects.
We received grants from Garfield Weston (£15,000), High Sherrif’s Fund (£9,390), John Huntingdon Charity (£4,500), GS Village News (£2,000), CoOp local scheme (£1,995), Sawston Fund Run (£500). HMRC gift aid tax refunds provided £3,099.
EXPENDITURE
Staff costs made up 66% of the total. In the year these were Zac Britton, Tilly Akoto, Tina Woodstock, Charlie Trueblood (left Dec 2022), Sophie Hurst (left April 2023) as youth workers. Kevin Chapman, a stalwart volunteer, took on the paid role of youth centre cleaner in Oct 2022. Youth Worker Kay Salter (May 2023) and Admin Officer Kirsty Townsend (July 2023) have subsequently joined the team. The other significant cost items were Travel & Expenses (9%), the quarterly payment to Romsey Mill for management support (8%) Youth Centre running costs (7%).
A breakdown of the income and expenditure is shown in the graphics overleaf.
NEXT YEAR 2023 – 2024
SSYI’s financial position has enabled us to plan a number of new activities and resources in addition to core sessions and groups. This includes purchasing a “football cage” and trailer, a second-hand minibus, and considering additional staff resources. At the time of writing we have received grants from Cambs CC (£7,500), the CoOp local scheme (£1,315). Second-year instalments of grants from Cambs CC (£7,500), and John Huntingdon Charity (£4,500) are anticipated, and further grants are being applied for. The parish councils continue to support us, once again led by Gt Shelford PC (£19,400), who are most supportive in helping us seek increased contributions from others where SSYI participants are resident. Our prudent approach means that growth via specific projects is “self-funded” e.g Duxford, and we receive payment for services specifically requested e.g referred 1:1 work for Sawston VC.
Following the establishment of the new SSYI CIO we have acquired an on-line accounts package (XERO) appropriate for the increased scale and complexity of our operations. The accounts for the CIO and “old” SSYI are kept separate, although reported together when needed, and will require separate formal examinations at year-end.
Sustaining the current level of activities will require additional income on all fronts (individual supporters, grants, events and fundraising), ideally multi-year commitments, and further growth must be self-financing. Our increased profile and capabilities mean that the opportunities to serve more of the young people in the area are great.
The 2023–2024 budget anticipates Income of £104,500 and Expenditure of £109,898 (excluding capital purchases).
| SSYI Income and Expenditure 2022 2023 | ||||||||
| Date: | June 19th 2023 | |||||||
| 2022 2023 ACTUAL 2021-2022 actual |
2022 2023 ACTUAL 2021-2022 actual |
|||||||
| Income | Expenditure | |||||||
| Trips £917 £3,921 Residential £3,322 Churches £6,314 £5,791 Private donations £8,813 £12,048 Appeals/collection tins £25 £0 SSYI Events £0 £1,271 |
Salary (Zac,Tilly /Charlie,Sophie,Tina,+1) £57,725 £40,752 Tax and National Insurance Pension contribution RomseyMill training& mgmt £7,244 £6,748 RomseyMill Groupsupport £0 £0 |
|||||||
| Gifts | Staff | |||||||
| Village Events e.gFeasts £352 £234 |
Total £64,969 £47,500 |
|||||||
| Total £19,742 £23,265 |
(Trips)Events,Parties £3,358 £3,512 Games and IT Equipment £1,431 £1,231 Minibus(share costs ?) Insurance £1,196 £1,339 Subscriptions £220 £216 Audit Honorarium £200 £200 Projects(Copse 3,Project X,Sports) £579 £2,571 Residential £2,554 £1,710 Travel and other expenses £8,077 £4,415 Training £28 |
|||||||
| Parish Councils £21,220 £22,690 Others(LSEnts,Coffee mornings,SSG..) £870 £0 Furlough scheme £0 £1,908 Projects(Copse 3;Project X;Sports) £0 £0 COVID Grants £0 £4,000 Competitive Grants (GW 15k, CCF 9.4k, CoOp 1k,GSVN 2k,JHC 4.5k....) £33,385 £30,914 |
Other | |||||||
| Grants | ||||||||
| Total £55,474 £59,512 |
||||||||
| Gift Aid refunds £3,099 £1,960 Income for services: SVC,Ostler,CRC £9,980 £630 |
||||||||
| Other | ||||||||
| Givingscheme bonuses £19 £232 |
Total £17,643 £15,194 |
|||||||
| Total £13,098 £2,821 |
Facilities | Youth Centre Refurb £0 £10,682 YC Runnngcosts £4,685 £1,437 |
||||||
| YC Refurbishment £0 £2,799 |
||||||||
| Facilities | ||||||||
| YC Runningcosts £775 |
Total £4,685 £12,119 |
|||||||
| TOTAL INCOME £89,090 £88,397 |
||||||||
| Bank interest £120 |
TOTAL EXPENDITURE £87,297 £74,813 |
|||||||
| Excess of Income over expenditure inyear 2022 to 2023 £1,793 £13,584 |
| Balance Sheet as at 31st March 2023 | Balance Sheet as at 31st March 2023 | Balance Sheet as at 31st March 2023 | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2022 - 2023 **2021 - 2022 ** |
2020 - 2021 | 2019 -2020 | 2018 - 2019 | |||||
| FixedAssets | 0 0 |
0 | 0 | 0 | ||||
| Prepayments | 0 0 |
0 | 0 | 0 | ||||
| Debtors (recoverableTax) | 1,627.63 2,487.25 |
1,959.65 | 2,817.33 | 2249.7 | SeeNote1below | |||
| Debtors | 5,912.50 1,325.80 |
1930.00 | 2,378.69 | SeeNote2below | ||||
| Bank | CurrentAccount 16,398.68 69,213.90 |
54647.83 | 21265.26 | 11,151.02 | ||||
| SavingsAccount 57,432.37 7,312.72 |
7312.00 | 7308.67 | 7295.19 | |||||
| Petty Cash | 0 0 |
0.00 | 0 | 0 | ||||
| Creditors | -1,444.81 -1,281.36 |
-580.26 | -1,399.76 | -3,430.41 | SeeNote 3 below | |||
| Deferredincome | 0 0 |
0 | 0 | £0.00 | ||||
| NetAssets | 79,926.37 | 79,058.31 | 65,269.22 | 32,370.19 | 17,265.50 | |||
| CORRECTED AccumulatedFundBroughtForward 79,058.31 |
65,269.22 | 32,370.19 | 17265.5 | 14693.71 | SeeNote4below | |||
| Excess of Income over Expenditure 933.34 |
13,583.77 | 33,192.62 | 15037.69 | 2405.85 | ||||
| AccumulatedFund carriedforward 79,991.65 |
78,852.99 | 65,562.81 | 32,303.19 | 17,099.56 | ||||
| Correction amount 65.28 |
-205.32 293.59 -67.00 -165.94 |
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| Notes to 2022 - 2023 Accounts | ||||||||
| 1 | This covers giftAidreclaim forthe year, arrivinginSSYIaccountinthefollowing year | |||||||
| 2 | From 2019-20 this coversknown Debtors (incomeforthe year)not yetvisibleinbankaccounts at yearend | |||||||
| 3 | Creditors (additionalexpenditure)inthe year NOTyetvisibleinbankaccounts at yearend | |||||||
| 4 | CorrectedAccumulatedFund broughtforward adjustsfor non-materialdiscrepancies built upinprioryears |
Alistair Cooper FCA
1 Marconi Way St Albans AL4 0JG
alistair.j.cooper@gmail.com
11[th] September 2023
Examination of SSYI accounts for the year ended 31[st] March 2023
Dear John
I have examined the Shelford & Stapleford Youth Initiative (SSYI) income and expenditure account, balance sheet and movements in reserves for the year ended 31[st] March 2023, which are the responsibility of the Treasurer and Committee members.
I confirm that they are in accordance with the books and records of the Shelford & Stapleford Youth Initiative.
Yours Sincerely
Alistair Cooper Chartered Accountant Honorary Accounts Reviewer