Bedfordshire Down's Syndrome Support Group 2024 AGM Chairman's report The last year has been a challenge for the committee, as our total funds have reduced, due to a growing membership and increased costs. We have been very fortunate for many years to have had enough funds to provide services for 2 years in advance, however, this year, that timeline ha5 reduced to approximately 18 months and so we had to make the difficult decision to increase charges to our families. Thankfully this has enabled us to continue to provide all our educational services and social activities as usual this year. We have been delighted to welcome some new members to our Early Development Group this year, which has allowed us to continue to provide this vital service that aids the development of our youngest members, as well as providing a fantastic social opportunitv for families of small children to get together. The EDG has now been going for many years, and in that time, we have seen that this crucial service is often a springboard for young families to access other services and activities within the Support Group and also develop long lasting friendships for the children and also the parents. Special thanks to Helen and Sue who have provided this service from the very beglnning and do such an excellent jobl We were very fortunate at the end of last year to have Beth Davies take over as our speech & language therapist so we could continue to provide this vital service. We have had 15 children benefit from the excellent sessions this year. Speech & language is so vital to communication in all aspects of life and yet is often a challenge for our children for various reasons. So, we would like to say a huge thank you to Beth, Sue and Pui for providing such wonderful support to our children and their families and enabling them to achieve their true potentlal. We would also like to say a special thank you to Emma, who retired as a trustee this year. Emma organised the admin, liaised with the speech therapy team and our families, accessing the speech sessions, for many years, a role which often had surprising and unseen challenges. We greatly appreciate all her hard work, time and effort in this role. Social activities have become an increasingly important aspect of the Support Group over the years, and we are very proud to now have 4 age specific social groups, as well as all our family activities throughout the year. The Under 5s group is an essential way for families to be introduced to the Support Group, meet other families with young children with Down's syndrome and make friends. Outings this year have included, a steam train trip, a visit to Bekonscot model village and also Mead Open Farm. Unfortunately, as families, schedules become increasingly busy, it has
sometimes been difficult to arrange dates that everyone can attend, but we hope we can return to monthly meet ups in 2025, as this is such a wonderful way for new families to become part of our community, to feel welcome and prevent isolation as they start their journey with their young children. We have very recently set up our 4th social group which is for 5- 12-year-olds. This is an age group we have wanted to provide specifically for, for several years, but have not had anyone to organise activities for us. Therefore, we would like to say special thanks to Aimee for organisingthis new group and also for all her work organisingthe Under 5s. Our Teen club for 12- 17-year-olds has been going for many years and continues to provide a great youth club for our teenagers. Activities have included swirnming, pirate golf, bowling, and cycling at Marston Moretaine as well as fun evenings at the Flitwick Methodist Church Hall. We would like to say a huge thank you to Lynn for continuing to lead this group, and who has been with us from the beginning, special thanks also to Jayne Styne who has helped so much over the years but is now moving away from the area. We also say huge thanks to our volunteers Dan & Evie, and new volunteers Poppy and Amelie, without whose help we could not provlde these important social sessions for our teenagers. As our children get older, so our Adult Soclal Group continues to grow, with 20 regular attendees now. Activities this year have included a visit to top jump, pirate golf, inclusive fitness gym, yoga, bowling, golf football, as well as a quiz and games night. We would like to say thank you to Leanne for continuing to run this group so well for us and special thanks to Helen fortaking over whilst Leanne was on her maternity leave. Thanks too to all our volunteers, Paul, Jane Reddy, Will, Rhiannon & Rose. This group represents all that the Support Group is about, providing opportunities for our youngsters to have fun and make friends, develop confidence and social skills. Thanks too to Karen who continues to organise the admin and oversees the groups. Our Dance Class continues to be well attended, with the youngsters really enjoying the sessions which help them keep fit, learn new routines and most importantly, have fun I Many thanks to Jade from Spectrum Arts for her endless energy and enthusiasm for these sessions. Our Multisports group provides a great opportunity for 5- 12-year-olds to keep fit, learn new skills and have fun. We have recently changed the time of the session to Sunday mornings, and we hope this will lead to a greater attendance, so that we can continue to provide this great activity for our younger families. Thanks to Jack from Elite Skills & Fitness for running the sessions for us. The Support Group also provides many social opportunities for the whole famSly throughout the year. Our trips to the theatre are always popular and this year our annual trip to the Panto in January was no exception, with 43 families attending.
We also had an extra treat of going to see Disney's Aladdin in April. 37 families joined us to see this magical production ! We had a lovely visit to Herrings Green Farm in May, with 15 families enjoying the opportunity to hold some owls and get close to snakes, ferrets and skunks as well a5 seeing the wonderful bird of prey display. A great family day outl And we had another wonderful PGL activity weekend this year with 21 families joining us. Everyone enjoying canoeing, archery, zip wire, climbin& aeroball and fencing. This really is a fantastic weekend with such a strong sense of community. Thank you to Helen for continuing to run this trip so well for us. We had our Get Together in March, at Kids in Action, to celebrate DS Awareness week with 20 families attending. This is a great event to allow our families to come together, have a chat and get to know each other better. Thank you to Kelly, Traceyi & Jenny for organising. We had our usual Summer Outings with trips to Southend on Sea, Wicksteed Park, Mead Open Farm, Hertfordshire Zoo, bowling & horse riding. These were all well attended and gave vital social opportunities for our youngsters in the long summer holidays. Thank you to Karen, Carrie, Kelly, Helen (and me) for organising these great family summer fun days. In October we had a trip to the Circus with Circus Starr. 48 people taking up the offer of free tickets for a lovely show. Thank you to Tracey, Carrie and Helen for organising. And we have just had our last event of the year with a great Chrlstmas party yesterday. 28 families booked in for an afternoon of great fun, dancing, & food. We also raised £585 with the rafflel Thank you to Karen, Tracey, Leanne & Paul and all those that helped make this a wonderful Christmassy afternoon for all our families. It costs £20,000 a year to provide all these services and activites. This all comes from fundraising• donations and a few grants. Our fundraising committee have done a great job, as always, this year, making yet another vital contribution to our income. The Quiz in October provided a fun evening for all the family and raised £1,025 and the recent Christmas Fayre raised £1,950, our highest amount in recent years. It was a lovely festive event, and it was great to have so many of our familie5 come along to support us and help make the event a great successl There is a huge amount of work that goes into organizing these events, applying for grants and encouraging people to fundraise and donate, so I would like to thank the fundraising committee of Tracey (our very own raffle queen), Karen, Kelly, Carol, Kathy, & Jenny, and special thanks to Jenna, Mel, Aimee & Leanne for volunteering to join in helping the team this year
Special thanks also to Emma, who has stepped down from the team this year, for all her hard work and time devoted to fundraising over many years. We would also like to thank every single person who has fundraised for us, who has bought raffle ticket, who has attended the Fayre or the Quiz, who has gone to their company to get funds for us, who fundraised in Awareness Week or throughout the year, or who has donated - be it £1, £100 or more. Without your efforts and help, we could not provide our services and activities. We sincerely appreciate every single contribution. I would also like to thank the maln committee for their tireless hard work and dedication. The committee members all give their time voluntarily, they are not paid. Time given to the Support Group is time away from their families and social lives and yet they still give selflessly to irnprove the opportunities for our youngsters and their families. So I thank Kelly, Karen, Tracey, Linda, Helen and Derek. And thanks to Heather, Emma and Jenny, who have all stood down from the committee this year after many years of helping. Wlthout all of their hard work and commitment, the Support Group would not exist. We would also like to say special thanks to Derek for all his hard work, time and effort over the last 7 years in his role as treasurer. The work of the treasurer has increased immensely over the years as the group has grown in membership and the services and activities we provide has increased. It is a role of huge responsibility which Derek has undertaken with meticulous thoroughness. Derek has now decided to step down from this role and so we are extremely grateful to Catherine Blanco for taking over the role of treasurer and we would like to warmly welcome her to the committee. We also say a special thank you to Diane Herbert who has recently stepped down as our independent examiner of the accounts. Di has done thi5 job for us for over 20 years, a vital role that is necessary for our annual submissions to the Charitie5 Commission. And finally, I would like to thank all our families for continuing to attend events, fundraising and donating and making the Support Group the successful and wonderful community it is today. The committee and I would like to wish all our families a very Merry Christmas and we look forward to you sharing our next chapter in 2025, which will be our 25th year. We hope you will join us, in continuing to celebrate each and every one of our fabulous children, and all that they teach and inspire us every single day. Teresa Hurley Chairman
THE TRUSTEES DECLARE THATTHEY HAVEAPPROVEDTHE TRUSTEES REPORT ABOVE AS FORMING PARTOFTHEAPPROVED MINUTES FOR THEAGM HELD ON 9 DECEMBER 2024 SIGNATURE FULL NAME DEQEL USZUO POSITION DATE
BEDFORDSHIRE DOWN'S SYNDROME SUPPORT GROUP Reglstered Charity number 1102599 Receipts and Paym8nts Account for the year ended 31 March 2024 Unrestrl¢ted Restricted Total Unrestrlcted Restrlcted 23-24 22-23 Total 23-24 23-24 22-23 22-23 Income Donations and gifts Fundraising and raffles Outingslsocialslevents Speech Therapy Education courses 4.080 10,779 4.080 10.779 14.324 2.760 590 3,810 8,163 3,810 8,163 12,970 2,870 1,015 14.324 2,760 590 12,970 2,870 1,015 Dance Events 135 135 U5streenlAdult Groups 1,422 J,411 1,230 1,230 14,859 19,231 90 18,085 30,058 Expendlture Oulingslsocialslevents Fundraising costs Speech Therapy Education courses 3.350 1.753 7.260 3,271 654 14,324 17.674 1.753 10.020 3.861 654 12,iao 306 12,970 25,108 306 2,760 590 5,355 2,660 1,225 788 2,870 1,015 8,225 3.675 1,225 788 GenerallPostagelstationery Dance Events 1,136 2,282 135 1.271 3.704 U5stfeenlAdult Groups 1.422 2,005 1,230 3,235 19,706 19,231 38,937 24,477 18,085 42,562 Surplusl(Deficit for the year) 4,847 4,84 12,504 12,504 Approved on behalf of the Trustees:_ Name: Derek Hrydziuszko Signature.. Position- Treasurer Date.. Iiliil£* Name: Teresa Hurley Position.. Chairperson Signature: Date.. Page I
BEDFORDSHIRE DOVVN'S SYNDROME SUPPORT GROUP Registered Charity number 1102599 Stalement of Assets and Liabilities as at 31 March 2024 Unrestricted Restricted Total Unrestricted Restricted Total 2024 2024 2024 2023 2023 Total Cash at bank and in hand 29.554 29.554 34.401 34.401 Net A88ets 29,554 29,554 34,401 34,401 Represented by: Brought foThvard at 1 April Surplusl(deficill for the yeai Balance at 31 March 34,401 4.847 29,554 34.401 4,847 29,554 46.755 12,354 34,401 150 46.905 12.504 34,401 150 Cash at bank and In hand Santsnder Cash Total Opening bank belance Receipts Payments Closing balance 34,401 34,090 38.937 29,554 34,401 34,090 38,937 29,554 Approved on behalf of the Trustees:_ Name: Der8k Hrydziu52 Signature: Position.. Treasurer Date: (Il Ilf Name: Teresa Hurley Signature: Position- Chairperson Date.. Uv+/ Page 2
BEDFORDSHIRE DOWN'S SYNDROME SUPPORTGROUP Reolstered Charlty numbor 1102599 In¢orno and Expendlture forth¢ r?ded 31 M•r¢h 2024 NC Oonallon8, Mtmber8hlp and Gffts Donations aThd Gift8 4.071 Member8hlp and Mi$fllanec4 Fundral•lng a¢tMtI?• and Onts GoTheral fundrgislno aclivftiesleven18 10,n9 Out5ng8 partl••. *oelal •v•nt6 •tc. PGL Weekend Deposlts ConldbuUon8 to other ou11. parfkn8. wdal 8V8n18 81 7.276 7.048 educo¢lon •vonl• Edu¢alion Tralnlng Pacxaoe Attend•ne• Eady Dev81opment Group Pla8 R•oulai Ev•nt• Speach Therapy Subs Teon Group Sub$ Adult Gthjp Stsbi D8nc8 Evenl8 Subs U5$ Sub• 370 1.052 135 Total Ineom• OutSng•, p•rtlg•, wcl•l •v•nts •tc, Thoalfe Trips PGL Weekend Paymerth and Rofw Other Sodgl E¥ent8, XmaB pa1 Swnmw Outln 6.472 7.936 G•neral Fundr41$lno ¢o$l$ Ganeral c051slPostag01Stath)n•ryIW 1,753 654 2,407 FdueAtlon •vents Fducation Tralning P•ek Earfy Devglopment Group R¢gular Events Sp8e¢h Therapy Tsjen Gmup Adul( Gmup Dance evenls Under 5$ Group 10.0 1.271 14.996 Totol expendltur• lercs6 Surplu8llDeficllforthe yearl 4,847 JEWLD2jrnc 2L( IL
Independent examiner's report to the trustees of Bedfordshire Down's Syndrome Support Group Charity Number 1102599 I report to the trustees on my examination of the accounts of the Bedfordshire Down's Syndrome Support Group ('the Charity,) for the year ended 31 March 2024 which are set out on pages I to 3. Responsibilities and basis of report As the trustees of the charity you are responsible for the preparation of the accounts in accordance with the requirements of the Charities Act 2011 ('the Act,). I report in respect of my examination of the charity's accounts carried out under section 145 of the 201 l Act and in carrying out my examination I have followed all the applicable Directions given by the Charity Commission under section 145(5)(b) of the Act. Independent examiner's statement I have completed my examination. I confinn that no material matters have come to my attention in connection with the examination giving me cause to believe that in any material respect: accounting records were not kept in respect of the Charity as required by section 130 of the Act; or the accounts do not accord with those records. I have no concerns and have come across no other matters in connection with the examination to which attention should be drawn in this report in order to enable a proper understanding of the accounts to be reached. Name: Diane Herbert Relevant professional qualification or body: FCA, DhCA Date: 22 November 2024 Page 4