2021-12-31-accounts

Oundle Mencap Holidays: running annual residential holidays for children and young people with learning disabilities

www.oundlemencap.co.uk

Trustees’ Report, 1[st] January 21 – 31[st] December 2021

1. Reference and Administration Details

Oundle Mencap Holiday (hereafter OMH) was accepted as a Company limited by guarantee and not having a share capital (# 5393382) and as a Charity (# 1108908) in 2005 and as a group affiliated to the Royal Mencap Society. At its Annual General Meeting on 10th March 2018 the members voted to change the name of the charity from Oundle School Mencap Holidays to Oundle Mencap Holidays Ltd.

OMH is registered at the address provided below.

At its Annual General Meeting on 11[th] May 2021 the following were elected by the meeting as OMH officers:-

Chair – Robin Banerjee Holiday Leader / Registered Manager – Kate Taylor Secretary – Anna Clish Responsible Individual – Anna Clish Treasurer – Ed Barker Oundle School representative – M Barker External Trustee – Jo Floto Invited Parent Rep (2014-22) – Mel Symonds Elected SH Rep (2019-22) – Olivia Kirkbride Trustee – Eddie Dove

2. Structure, Governance and Management

OMH is a Charity governed by a constitution and registered as a Company limited by guarantee. Trustees are appointed by a vote of members at the AGM.

OMH is affiliated to the Royal Mencap Society, an arrangement which provides support in the sphere of professional guidance and assessment and expert insurance advice. We greatly value all guidance given to us by the Royal Mencap Society, the Charity Commission and Companies House, and we are actively dedicated to compliance with all their recommendations as well as requirements as a means of attaining and keeping best practice in operating standards. In particular, we plan our activities with careful consideration of the Charities Commission guidance on public benefit (Charities Act 2011, section 17)

In addition, OMH is run in co-operation with Oundle School, Oundle, Northants. The holiday week benefits from each school’s support in the provision of accommodation and facilities for the week. Furthermore, the majority of first-time volunteers for the holidays for children are recruited from among school pupils.

OMH also works closely with the Northamptonshire Girl Guides who generously provide equipment and expertise to our camping holiday for young adults, Mencap Outdoors.

Registered address: 58 Glapthorn Road, Oundle PE8 4PT

Registered Charity # 1108908. Registered Company # 05393382

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3. Objectives and Activities

The objectives of OMH are

• the relief of people with a learning disability in particular by the provision of help and support for them and for their families, dependants and carers, and to prevent learning disabilities for the public benefit; and

• to provide or assist in the provision of facilities for the recreation or other leisure time occupation for people who have need thereof by reason of learning disability with the object of improving their conditions of life.

NB: “learning disability” means any developmental disability of the mind and any associated condition howsoever caused and whether mild, moderate or severe.

The activities carried out in pursuit of these objectives are

• recruitment of young people to take part in week-long residential holidays for children and young people with learning disabilities

• the organisation and running of the holidays for children and young people with learning disabilities

and since 2012:

• recruitment of young people to take part in a long-weekend camping holiday for young adults with learning disabilities

• the organization and running of the camping holiday(s) for adults with learning disabilities

and consequently

• provision of new experiences to children and young people with learning disabilities

• a period of respite for parents, caregivers and siblings of these children and young people

• a new and beneficial experience, learning about disability and charity, for young volunteers

• Achievements and Performance: OMH Mencap Outdoors, 15[th] June - 9[th] June and 30[th] June - 4[th] July 2021

This year camp welcomed 12 campers (7male and 5 female) to the 1[st] camp and 17 Campers (6 males and 10 females) to the 2[nd] camp. There were 15 staff at both camps. There were 6 new members of camp staff some of whom had/have also volunteered on the Oundle week, and some staff new to Oundle Mencap.

Overall numbers this year were low, many campers being reluctant to attend, due to combinations of things, the ongoing Covid pandemic and general wellbeing as results of lock downs. Many however have asked to be kept on the list and hope to be invited to future camp.

Staffing numbers were adequate, but with a larger number of campers wanting places in 2022 (including 5 leavers from this year Oundle week) we will need to recruit more staff over the next few months.

Before camp a detailed additional Covid 19 Risk Assessment was written and shared with all campers and staff.

All visitors and instructors to camp were asked to take LFT before arriving, as were all staff, campers, and their families. As part of the Covid Risk Assessment, duty staff did not share campers’ tents, instead duty staff tents were used in close proximity to campers at night should assistance been needed, and other staff were available via use of radios. One camper was supported at night by her parent to meet her care needs.

No incidents of Covid were reported during or after camps.

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Instead of the usual pre-camp BBQ, meet and greet both experienced and new campers were invited to a to a zoom meeting. This was well attended, and it was amazing to see the excitement of experienced campers and how much they were looking forward to camp. It was also a great opportunity for new campers to find out more about camp.

Camp enjoyed its usual range of outdoor activities, but due to bubbling on site, there was swimming or longer trips out.

When off site, Covid rules were followed, for example when visiting the local pub in the evenings, campers sat outside away from other groups, and wore masks if entering the building for facilities.

Campers enjoyed canoeing, archery, abseiling, cooking on small fires, campfires, preparing meals and this year made bird boxes to take home, tie dying tote bags, and making Modroc models, and all took part in the jobs in and around camp.

New sink stations were purchased which allowed for better hand washing facilities.

It was also great to have new changing, mess and sleeping tents, making Mencap Outdoors more selfsufficient with equipment.

Feedback from staff, campers and trustee visits will be used to inform planning for next year’s camp.

The camp was visited by OMH trustee Anna Clish. Anna reported back: ‘One individual spent some time explaining how hard he had found the past 18 months due to Covid. He said 'it has been the worst time in my life' he had felt lost and did not know what to do. I asked how camp had helped and he explained it had given him something to look forward to and an opportunity to get away from his home where he had spent so much time and see friends.’

5. Achievements and Performance: OSMH Summer Holiday, 8[th] July - 14[th] August 2021

This was a successful, Pirate themed week for 33 holidaymakers.

This is lower than the usual 40 for several reasons. In 2020 at the point the holiday was cancelled all of the spaces had not been filled and as there was uncertainty as to whether the holiday would run in 2020, the decision not to recruit any further children was made, but to only offer to those children who had already been offered a place in 2020. This include those who should have had a final holiday in 2020, 5 these young people were given a choice of camping or returning for a last year on the Oundle holiday week. They all choose the Oundle week, so there were 7, 19 years old’s. There were had 7 new holiday makers all of whom had been offered places in 2020. 6 new holiday makers were visited prior to the holiday by the RM. One new holiday maker had a zoom meeting with Claire H to introduce him to the holiday.

One holiday maker withdrew in the week before due to serious illness. It is hoped to be able to welcome her back in 2022.

Volunteer recruitment was again affected slightly by Covid 19, with families coming out of lock down going on holidays and missing a year in 2020 meaning less in school volunteers to 'spread the word'. There were enough volunteers and volunteers were welcomed from Stamford School and the Peterborough School.

The holiday welcomed Jude from Beatfeet drumming and her sessions were enjoyed by both volunteers and holiday makers. An afternoon was spent at Oundle Town Football club with a professional coach and was a great afternoon. A small group went to Peterborough to take part in accessible cycling, and this was a huge success. There is a possibility OSMH will be able to hire accessible bikes for use on the holiday next year. Everyone went for the afternoon and picnic lunch to Ferry meadows where boats were taken out on the water, some climbed on a climbing wall and others took part in archery.

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There was also a much-enjoyed bush craft session in Heron Rodgers wood, holidaymakers went canoeing with Nene Extreme, visited Barnwell County park and took part in treasure hunts, pirate games and cicus skills with The Great Gappo.

The senior helpers went 'all out' with providing new and different in-house activities with holidaymakers dying tote bags, making bath bombs, making Modroc models and a revamped session of the old favorite extreme art.

Instead of diary time this year a new system was trialed in which each group took part in group reflection time and shared video and photographs of their day. The video was made available to parents on a daily basis using a secure, invite only system. The videos were also supported with paper diary for those who also wanted to record their holiday in this way.

Before the commencement of the holiday, the RM, the Management Team and The Trustees met to write Covid 19 risk assessments and procedures to be followed. These were shared with the Holiday makers’ families, all volunteers and Oundle School before the start of the week. The main features and measures put in place were:

• Additional hand sanitizing stations

• A staggered arrival of Holiday Makers, with Holiday Makers and all family members or carers coming onto site required to take LFT on arrival before going to the holiday site.

• LFT’s were also carried out on all volunteers on arrival

• Staggered bedtime for older holiday makers reducing overall numbers in the bathroom area at any one time

• All visitors, activity instructors (i.e., The Great Gappo, drum workshop) were asked to also take LFT test before arriving and where possible maintain social distancing

• The entire holiday was retested mid-week – all tests were negative

• Staff carrying out close personal care watched video by PHE on the correct used of PPE.

Covid 19 also impacted the style of the holiday this year, with decisions made to have fewer trips to busy crowded places, but instead to focus and use local facilities and provide a range of new and existing activities in house. There were no trips to Hunstanton or twin Lakes in Melton this year.

Due to Covid restrictions and access to volunteers for training this year, the Management Team made the decision to accommodate holiday makers from Sunday to Saturday (rather than Saturday to Saturday.) This gave us the initial Saturday to run induction training for new volunteers, train all volunteers on managing behaviour, complete the physical skills section of MAPA training for those who completed the online blended package, and to remind all on meeting personal care needs.

It was also necessary to be slightly more flexible with the timetable to allow access to swimming at the school’s pool. So instead, some days swimming was in the afternoon rather than the morning, or swim just before lunch, doing in house activities for the first part of the morning.

OMH Trustee, Robin Banerjee visited the holiday. Robin reported back ‘ It was wonderful to see the holiday up and running again and all credit must go to the management team for making this happen.'

6. Achievements and performance: other Activities

More detailed care plans and individual RA were introduced for children who require higher levels of physical support. A small number of identified staff undertook training, and the RM and Child Lead visited with identified bedtime helpers too. There were two boys on OSMH this year with additional physical

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needs. The holiday hired a changing bed and parents provided hoists, nets and shower chairs. One volunteer (who was already employed by one of the the children’s family) took the lead on personal care readiness.

This year OSMH trialed, with excellent results (despite a few technical teething problems,) the use of iPads (rented), so each group could individually film short clips of the day’s activities within their groups. Parents were provided with a secure login to view an uploaded video of the day. Feedback from parents was extremely positive. “ it was wonderful to receive daily updates and see what you had all been up too. As parents we found this a really reassuring summary of my child’s day.”

3 older holiday makers were given the opportunity to share a room independently of volunteers. This was successful and helped prepare these young people for the increasing level of independence required by those going on to camp. Young people and families were contacted before the holiday so they knew what to expect and their volunteer helpers were in the next room, so they could, if needed ask for help during the night.

OSMH also trialed allowing some of the holidaymakers to spend a period of time in the evening 'chilling' and relaxing before a slightly later bedtime, this worked well and the young people involved felt more grown up, it also relieved pressures on bathrooms at bed time, made for generally calmer spaces and helped to keep the overall numbers down, (in awareness of covid). This will continue to be reviewed/implemented on an individual basis, in consultation with families, RA, and logistical capabilities. This is a useful bridge to holiday makers going on to camping experience, where campers are much more independent.

The holiday was not inspected this year, due to Covid 19

7. Financial Review

The charity’s finances remain suitable for the organisation. At 31[st] December 2021, controlled balances amounted to a little over £72,000, which was a significant increase on the prior year (£38,000) and an alltime peak for a year-end balance. Given the significant increase in the expense of running the charity (approximately £60,000 annually), we view this level as entirely appropriate and would welcome further increase, in line with our policies. The successful enhancement of reserves has resulted from a concerted strategy undertaken by the trustees, the treasurer, and the fundraising team to focus on income generation via donations and sponsorship.

As always, we remain incredibly grateful to those who donate financially to OMH. In 2021, this included a Luffenham Heath Golf Day (via Eddie Dove; c. £11,000), The National Lottery Fund (£9,500), NNC Finance (£5,000), The Garfield Weston Foundation (£3,000), The Prism Charitable Trust (Scott-Barretts; £3,000), The OO Club (£3,000), The Edward Gostlin Fund (£3,000), and many others. After the balance sheet date, we received a sizeable donation (c. £17,000) from former volunteer Allan Arthur and our balance ultimately rose above £100,000.

8. Staff training

This year, the RM wrote a bespoke training package for behavior management which was delivered to the whole team on the training day. Other identified members of the SH team undertook additional training in Mental Health First Aid. Due to Covid, only a small number SH’s refreshed their MAPA training, using a blended course. This was done by purchasing digital learning seats and with physical (disengagement and restraint skills) refreshed at the start of the holiday. CPI has updated its training package. MAPA is now “Safety Intervention Training for Children and Young People,” and instructor refreshers will allow Claire, Bella and Kate to train this package

An online Safeguarding Level 1 was also purchased for the whole volunteer team, including camp staff.

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Relevant SH’s and camp staff continue to keep updated training as required including First Aid, Meds Management, Food Handling & Hygiene, Safeguarding, Safer Recruitment, Fire Warden, Health & Safety at Work.

9. Other notes:

The Management Team is currently undertaking a review of IT systems and their effectiveness / appropriateness for our charity. The aim is to have collated our requirements and reviewed available systems and options this year. In the meantime, we will continue to use Parent Mail to email parents the application forms. Parent Mail allows us to then run and create databases and auto populate initial care plans. We are looking to update our IT systems further to minimize the burden of printing and data upkeep on the week and more effectively structure and retain our data

Declaration : The trustees declare that they have approved the trustees’ report above.

Signed on behalf of the charity’s trustees

Signature

Anna Clish