**Down’s Syndrome North East Review of the year 2024-2025** **Message from the Chair, Susan Belton** I accepted my nomination as Chair of Down’s Syndrome North East for a 10th term, taking the charity into its 22nd year of independence supporting adults, children and families in the North East, a year continuing to deliver activities to all ages, supporting families old and new. ## **Demographic information of Age and Location of Members:** Our events reached families, children and adults who have Down’s syndrome of all ages across the region. From April 2024 - March 2025 our volunteers organised and ran the following for our members- - 49 events which preschool children and babies attended; - 47 events which primary school aged children attended; - 30 events which teenagers attended; - 58 events which adults attended. An amazing year of activities and events for all ages here are some very happy members enjoying them. CHILDRENS Owl Tree Ca£e Woodland Play Patch Three 21 , *r starz Dance and Drama Senses Wellbelng Centre Pendragon Ralnbows Sensory Space ADULTS Marty's Party Marty Llve ,*! Stockton Bowllng All Ages Hall Hlll Farm Snow Tublng . Forest School Three 21, our monthly meet up for younger children and their families, continued to run each month at Winlaton Community Centre, welcoming new parents, practising Makaton signing and exploring messy play. Every year, another highlight is attending the Christmas pantomime at the Customs House in South Shields. This year’s was Mother Goose and as always, we had a fantastic time enjoying the buffet and meeting the cast afterwards. Singing Hands performed for us in Sunderland in September 2024, bringing nursery rhymes for the children and pop songs for the teenagers. This was once again sold out and a great opportunity for families to meet and catch up. A big thank you to Marty for continuing the very popular parties which are thoroughly enjoyed by a group of our adult members for both online and live parties. They had fun dressing up, dancing and singing along. To favourite songs. For many party regulars, the live party we all enjoyed in Lanchester was a real highlight of the year. Pilates Plus has continued via Zoom on Wednesdays and Saturdays throughout the year, all free of charge for attendees. We have a good stretch and keep fit together with Marie from ZenergiZe. The adult members continue to enjoy the parties organised by Julie and Sue H, with a disco and a buffet, which is a great opportunity to catch up with friends for both the adults and their families. North of the Tyne discos, taking place in Newcastle, have also been enjoyed by our adult members who love to be up on the dance floor. Blast, an art and dance weekend workshop, is our annual event organised by Melanie, Gill and team of volunteers. It was held in June 2024 and was attended by adults. They produced amazing art work and a wonderful dance which was performed at Durham Gala Theatre in the Best Foot Forward event. Our Christmas parties at the Marriott hotel, Metro Centre, are always a big success. In 2024, our junior party was attended by 42 families who enjoyed Nicky Noo Noo’s games and disco, had fun with soft play and all received Christmas presents. Our teens also enjoyed Christmas celebrations at their party with 22 families coming along. Every year we welcome new families to DSNE, many of whom have had a baby recently and 2024-2025 was no different. Our new baby gift boxes continue to be delivered to hospitals across the region with families coming along to talk to maternity staff about why the boxes are so beneficial. Between April 2024 and March 2025, 38 boxes were delivered to hospitals and 4 boxes were sent out directly to families. ## **World Down’s Syndrome Day** To celebrate World Down’s Syndrome Day in 2025, we held a fabulous Gala Ball and Family Celebration Day on 22nd and 23rd March. It was a fun packed weekend for all ages with 165 attending the ball. The Saturday evening gave the adults a chance to dress in ball gowns and suits and enjoy live music from The Baldy Holly Band, a three-course dinner. We raised funds with a raffle, tombola and bottle stall- an opportunity to win a bottle from water to whisky! On Sunday 23rd March, we welcomed over 160 attendees (47 families) to the Family Celebration Day; children, parents and grandparents all came along to have fun. Everyone was greeted by characters from Disney and children’s TV favourites, thanks to Make it Magical Entertainment. Infusion North East gave us a fun disco and party games. We were delighted and entertained by Martin, the magician, Mrs Merlin who provided balloon modelling, and face painting from 5 Star Face Painting. Lots of fun was had in the soft play area and all of the children had a great time creating their own pizzas, helped by Lynsey Dixon, who works at the Marriott Hotel. ## Current Committee |Current Committee||| |---|---|---| |Chairperson|Susan Belton|Trustee| |Vice Chair/ social media and events organiser|Caroline Turner|Trustee| |Treasurer|Michelle Varty|Trustee| |Minutes Secretary/Ball Coordinator|Linda Dixon|Trustee| |What’s On Where and Diary Editor|Lesley Bond|Trustee| |Newsletter Editor/ GDPR Officer|Alex Marshall|Trustee| |Membership
Secretary/
Safeguarding
Officer/Adult Events|Nicky Ramsay|Trustee| |DBS Coordinator/virtual events coordinator|Melanie Atkinson|Trustee| |Adult Party and afternoon teas|Julie Carson|Trustee| |Events Organiser for Adults|Sue Hodgson|Trustee| |Three 21 Organiser/IT /website|Eleanor Baggaley|Trustee| All our committee members organise events throughout the year-thank you for your continued hard work. We continue to keep trustees and volunteers updated with mandatory training. A lot can be done virtually at times that suits, although first aid is face to face. We hold a committee meeting every month which continues to be a combination of online and face to face; members are welcome to attend. We also hold development days for the committee and volunteer days to ensure we are continually moving the charity forward. ## **Fundraising and Donations** Balls The Gala and Sunderland Marco Haynes’ grandad, Derek Haynes Swimathon Freemasons/Rotary Newcastle United porters Thank you to everyone who participated in the Great North Run in September 2024 for us. We very much appreciate all those runners who continue to support us with their sponsorship which goes a long way to enable the charity to grow. I would like to thank you for the continued support and fundraising you all do throughout the year which is so important to the continued running of the Charity. On 16[th] November 2024 8 DSNE teams of swimmers took part in Rotary Club of Durham’s Annual Charity Swimathon. Our teams raised an amazing amount well done to everyone. We continue to appreciate the donations from families who have sadly lost family and friends. If you would like a dedication and a photo about their life we would love to share it in the newsletter. ## **Publicity** The charity is being supported by Asda and Morrisons who have not only donated money and baby box items, but offered us an opportunity to promote the charity with display tables in stores in Thornaby, Hartlepool and Darlington, both raising money and raising awareness. Our website continues to be updated and developed, now including information about our baby gift boxes and our events, online copies of ‘Grapevine’ and access to membership. We continue to develop our social media to promote and advertise the charity. Facebook remains most popular with our community; you can follow us on Instagram @downs_syndrome_north_east, where we are regularly gaining followers. If you enjoy social networking, then ‘like’ and share our pages to help raise our profile! ## **Forthcoming Events** All event details can be found in the Grapevine, our quarterly newsletter, as well as our monthly ‘What’s on Where’ (WOW), which is sent out via email and on social media. Remember to look at Facebook and Instagram, share your photos, especially if you have been to an event, and let us know what you are up to. We are always open to ideas for events and are looking for volunteers to help with current and future activities, Thank you, Susan Belton 2025 Down's Syndrome North East Accounts 31 March 2025 ## Down's Syndrome North East ## Contents ||Page| |---|---| |Accountants' report|1| |Profit and loss account|2| |Balance sheet|3| |Scheduleoffixedassets|4| Down's Syndrome North East ## Accountants’ report to the members of Down's Syndrome North East A full audit has been carried out and all income and expenditure was supported either by receipts or corresponding entries in the bank statements. We have prepared a Profit & Loss Account and Balance Sheet and we have identified any restricted funds where applicable. In our view the records have been well maintained and provide a sound basis for these financial statements. ## Crockwell & Co Accountants 91-93 Fowler Street South Shields Tyne and Wear NE33 1NU ## 20 October 2025 1 ## DOWN'S SYNDROME NORTH EAST LIMITED PROFIT & LOSS ACCOUNT FOR THE YEAR ENDED 31 MARCH 2025 **----- Start of picture text -----**
31/03/25 31/03/24
Income
Donations 39715 37598
Fund raising 21124 19157
Bank interest 806 710
From events 28199 14463
Gift Aid 1448 752
Grants received 0 14580
91292 87260
. Costs of generating funds
Just Giving 216 216
Other fundraising 0 0
216 216
Charitable expenditure
Accountancy fees 360 360
Bank charges 72 91
Depreciation 342 430
Insurance 673 512
Data protection fee 232 35
Christmas & theatre 8460 10208
Activity breaks 15587 8534
Other events 39687 24460
Running costs 12319 11539
77732 56169
Net incoming/(outgoing) resources 13344 30875
**----- End of picture text -----**
2 ## DOWN'S SYNDROME NORTH EAST BALANCE SHEET AS AT 31 MARCH 2025 —- , ||31/03/25|31/03/24| |---|---|---| |FIXEDASSETS||| |Equipment||| |Cost|6595|5907| |Additions|0|688| |Disposals|0|0| ||6595|6595| |Less
: Accumulated Depreciation|5220|4878| ||1375|1717| |Cash at Bank||| |Treasurer's account|59174|53770| |HICA|49278|41009| ||108452|94779| |Less:||| |Current Liabilities||| |Accruals and deferred income|360|373| ||109467|96123| |Capital & Reserves||| |Balance b/fwd|96123|65248| |Profit/(Deficit) foryear|13344|30875| ||109467|96123| 3 DOWN'S SYNDROME NORTH EAST SCHEDULE OF FIXED ASSETS AS AT 31 MARCH 2024 |Projector
Parachute
Hard drive|獅
Year
Purchased
2006
2007
2014|…
Cost
bifwd
1014
60
100|Additions|Disposals|笠
Cost
clfwd
1014
60
100|1
Depeciation
bitwd
1013,
59
99|Depreciation
Disposals|Depreciation
foryear
0
0
0|Depreciation
CHwd
1013
59
99|蓋
NBV
31/03/25
1
1
1|豊
NBV
31/03/24
1
1
1|豊
NBV
31/03/24
1
1
1| |---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---| |Hard drive|2016|79|||79|78||0|78|1||1| |Gazebo|2016|112|||112|141||o|111|1||1| |Disc reader/writer|2016|25|||25|24||0|24|1||1| |Printer
Printer
Printer
Flask|2016
2017
2017
2017|59
1740
40
25|||59
1740
40
25|58
1563
36
22||0
35
1
1|58
1598
37
23|1
142
3
2||1
177
4
3| |Extemal hard drive|2018|118|||118|82||7|89|29||36| |Secure storage boxes|2018|67|||67|47||4|51|16||20| |Banner
Filing cabinet
DellComputer
Dell Laptop
HP PavilionLaptop
HP Envy6020e Printer
CircuitMachine
HeatPress|2018
2018
2020
2021
2021
2024
2024
2024|86
48
731
979
624
68
468
162
6595|)|()|86
48
734
979
624
68
468
152
6595|60
34
507
578
369
14
94
30
4878|1)|5
3
45
80
51
11
75
24
342|65
37
552
658
420
25
169
54
5220|21
11
179
321
204
43
299
98
1375|26
14
224
401
255
54
374
122
1717|| 4 ## Crockwell & CoB Accountants Downs Syndrome North East 10 Lulsgate Sunderland SR3 3JY - _ Date: 20 October 2025 ## Our Ref: VC/CR ## Dear Kevin, I attach the Audited accounts of the charity for the year ended 31 March 2025. Once again the books have been well maintained and few problems were encountered during the audit. If you have any queries please contact me at the office and in the meantime I enclose a note of my charges for your kind attention. ## Yours sincerely ## Vin Crockwell Tyne91-93 Fowlerand Wear Street,NF22 1NISouth Shields E mail : vincentcrockwell@outlook.comTel - {I01\ ASA 2707 8 ga