## **Blaenllechau Youth Project** ## **Annual report** **2021** ## **Blaenllechau Youth Project** Blaenllechau Youth Project started from The Welfare Hall in 1993 by a group of parents. Then in later years was under the umbrella of Blaenllechau Community Regeneration (BCR) until May of 2009 when the organisation (BCR) ended along with all of its projects. A few dedicated local people and staff wished to ensure that Blaenllechau Youth Project remained in the village and sought to make this happen. A new group was formed, with a new Board of Directors. With the support of the funders at the time, this was made possible. The Welfare Hall (or the Mission as it is fondly known locally) was used for most of the youth projects activities up until this time and Blaenllechau Community Regeneration (BCR) were the owners, having taken over responsibility from The Coal Industry Social Welfare Organisation (CISWO) in 2002. It was a condition that if BCR ended within 80 years of this transfer then the building would have to revert back to community use, so it could not be sold along with The BELL Centre (the community centre that BCR operated from). Steps were taken to ensure that this was carried out and we had the full support of CISWO. We are now 9 years into a 25 year lease. Blaenllechau Youth Project is a charity in its own right and was registered 7[th] October 2010 with The Charity Commission. ## **Funding** We have been struggling to gain continuation funding and do not see this changing as we justify our existence in the current climate. We feel our service for the children and young people is most important. We have been the past year fortunate to have secured funding from Communities First Plus in the form of a Service Level Agreements (SLA) for youth sessions, although this was at a reduced level to previous years. Funding we have received this year: - RCTCBC Families First( holiday playschemes) - RCTCBC Legacy Fund (Youthwork) - RCTCBC resources grant - RCTCBC Childcare grant - RCTCBC garden project grant - RCTCBC Youth Engagement & participation Service (YEPS) 2 - RCTCBC Summer of Fun - RCTCBC Winter Of Wellbeing - The National Lottery Community Fund - Moondance Foundation - The Cooperative Community Fund - Comic Relief - Arnold Clarke - The Archbishop of Wales Fund for Children We also have received donations from: - Asda - Spar - Maerdy Charity shop - Rhondda Rotary Community Raffle - Morrisons - Lidl As is the nature of our charity, we will continue to actively seek funding for posts and the operating costs for The Mission over the coming weeks and months. As well as our normal operating we have had extra activities on offer through the Summer of Fun and these included: - Dance for 3 and 4 year olds - A family picnic in the park - Trip to Vertigo trampoline park with Young people - Messy play for our tiny tots baby group. - Trip to Aim Sports Academy for young people - A barbeque for young people 3 ## _**What’s next**_ As well as our normal table of activities, we have some exciting projects are coming up in the coming weeks and months. We regularly update our risk assessments to reflect the latest Government and Local Authority guidelines and we operate to the highest standards within these. We have had funding from RCT’s Youth Engagement Participation Service (YEPS) to work with the young people and have an exciting art project over 8 weeks starting January 2022. Young people will design and paint murals on the walls inside The Mission, with expert advice from a professional outside artist. The Winter Of Wellbeing grant, funded from RCTCBC through Welsh Government follows on from the Summer of Fun and is to assist children, young people and their families re-engage with their communities and have fun after the huge effects of Covid-19. We have already held Christmas parties for our baby group and family group and an arts & craft session through this funding. We will build on these up until March and offer more activities and projects, including: - Arts & Crafts workshops - Dance for 3 & 4 year olds ## **Building renovations** We have also been fortunate to have been successful through RCTCBC for their small capital grant scheme and through this the patio at the front of the building will be removed and replaced in the coming weeks. Another successful grant is from The Welsh Church Act Fund and this is to replace the back end of The Mission roof and also to replace all the lighting tubes in the Mission, making it a better environment and also more energy efficient. ## **Dance** Dance is a huge part of Blaenllechau Youth Project and has been very successful for many years. Dance is currently funded by The Archbishop of Wales Fund for Children and this will end July 2022. We operate these sessions with reduced number and the children and young people dance whilst socially distanced. We have held our shows as normal but these have been at The Mission and with no audience. 4 Sessions have proved very successful with parents and dancers alike and give the dancers the chance to socialise and take part in some exercise for their health and well-being. As part of Summer of Fun we piloted dance for 3 and 4 year olds for a few weeks and this was very successful so we are now just about to start 12 weeks of dance for this age group up until the end of March 2022 through the Winter Of Wellbeing funding. ## **Cooperative** We were fortunate enough to receive the cooperative community fund until October 2021 and have once again been chosen to be part of the scheme until October 2022. This funding will be used to directly benefit children and young people who attend our sessions and with who we engage. ## **Open access play** Our service has been a mix of online support and face to face sessions. We have been operating with reduced numbers and increasing sessions dependant on demand. We have also from September started another weekly open access play sessions and now operate two sessions per day in Blaenllechau instead of one, during school holiday playschemes. ## _**This is our address:**_ Blaenllechau Youth Project The Welfare Hall (The Mission) r/o 17-21 Long Row Blaenllechau, Ferndale RCT. CF434NP Tel: 01443 732715 5 ## _**Support& Partnership working**_ - Communities First/Communities for Work +/Legacy Fund - Blaenllechau Community Involvement Group - Interlink - The Fern Partnership - RCTCBC - The Cooperative - • Lidl All staff have undertaken training over the past year to enhance their professional development, courses have included: - Safeguarding Level 3 - Personal Care - First Aid - Lego Therapy - Risky play and loose parts - Additional learning needs - Opening your community centre - What is infant mental health? - Emotional coaching - Epilepsy awareness - CIW play provider event 6 Staff continue to develop and some training booked up until March 2022 includes: - Safeguarding - First Aid - Disclosure training - Food Hygiene - Firewarden training - Working with with parents/carers Blaenllechau Youth Project continues to be the only group registered with The Care Inspectorate for Wales (CIW) in the Upper Rhondda Fach. This ensures quality and good practice. Although we have had our challenges this year Blaenllechau Youth Project has exceeded all expectations. We have adapted our way of working depending on need of our service users and we will continue to do this over the coming months. ## _**Legacy Fund (formallyCommunities First) and the future**_ We were funded by this programme for a few years for our family session and youth sessions. Due to reshaping in the local authority from August 2021 the family element has not been available to us and this only now funds the youth sessions. We saw our family sessions as very important to us as a project, so we applied for further funding and was successful through the Moondance Foundation and The National Lottery Community Fund to continue with these valuable sessions. ## _**Regular weekly sessions**_ Regular sessions: - Monday-Tiny Tots 12.30pm-2.00pm - Mondays - Junior Drop-In 4pm-5.30pm - Mondays - Senior Drop-In sessions 6pm-8pm - Tuesdays- Dance sessions for 3-4 years, 5-9 years and 9 and over from 4pm-7pm - Wednesdays - Family fun session 4pm-5.30pm - Thursdays- Junior Drop-In 4pm-5.30pm 7 - Thursdays- Senior Drop-In sessions 6pm-8pm - Playscheme during every day (Monday - Friday) during school holidays in Blaenllechau (except Bank Holidays). ## _**Outside garden area**_ We were fortunate enough to have received a butterfly garden package from Keep Wales Tidy. This was in the form of tools, plants, planters and other equipment to create a butterfly garden. We have been tidying up our garden this year when weather has allowed and made good progress. We also have some funding from RCTCBC to make a garden a more inviting space and were able to purchase some sensory items and plants for us and the community to enjoy. We also purchased new wooden benches which are currently being decorated with wood burning and we are looking forward to February half term 2022 when we can place the new benches outside and complete more work in the garden. ## **Moving forward** Our main objectives and priorities for the next year: We are a very small voluntary organisation and our ongoing plan is to seek and gain funding for the continuation of Blaenllechau Youth Project and to enable us to achieve our full potential, we will continue to nurture and develop links with the community and local groups such as BCIG, local schools and likeminded organisations. We feel we have a valuable project within the community and that we have a positive influence in the lives of the children and young people and their families with whom we engage. Since we started. Blaenllechau Youth Project 28 years ago we have worked with thousands of children and young people and hope this can continue long into the future for their benefit, as well as offering some respite and support for families. We have 2 part time members of staff and 3 sessional workers who work within the project and facilitate sessions. We feel we have excellent outcomes with such a small project and hope funders will see this and feel able to support us. Children and young people ‘vote with their feet’ and return time and time again to the project and we use repeat users as a measure of our success. With the closures of the past few years in Blaenllechau and also the surrounding area we feel it is more important than ever to develop strong links with other community projects, this will help us reach our goals as set out in our constitution as well as people feel they are doing something positive within their community and feel good about it. 8 With the closure of schools and limited access to outdoors, children and young people have had an extremely challenging year themselves and we hope to ensure that we will be there for them as restrictions lift, providing good quality play and youth provision for them to engage. A space where they can meet their friends and make new friends in a safe space for them to explore and reflect on their own experiences. A huge thank you must be expressed to the dedicated staff and The Board of Directors for Blaenllechau Youth Project. Our numbers (although a very effective group) are quite low on our board of Directors, we plan to actively seek new members this coming year to assist us and help us achieve our aims and objectives and keep Blaenllechau Youth Project alive in our village for the benefit of residents of Blaenllechau and surrounding villages. If you are interested, or know anyone who may be, then please email us on bcryouth@hotmail.com. 9 ## Registered Charity Number 1138307 ## BLAENLLECHAU YOUTH PROJECT ## STATEMENT OF AFFAIRS For the period to 31[st] March 2021 10 ## BLAENLLECHAU YOUTH PROJECT Period to March 31[st] 2021 |Contents
Organisation Status
Balance Sheet
Receipts and payments
Company Representatives Signed Declaration|Page
3
4
5
6| |---|---| 11 REFERENCE AND ADMINISTRATIVE DETAILS Registered Charity Name: Blaenllechau Youth Project Registered Office: The Welfare Hall (The Mission) R/O 17-21 Long Row Blaenllechau Ferndale Rhondda Cynon Taff CF434NP Registered Charity Number: 1138307 12 The Directors: Directors during the period were:- Mr. Emrys England (Chair) Mrs. Kimberley Hutchison (secretary) Mr. David Hutchison Mrs. Kathryn Razey board member and CIW registered person Miss Michelle Hetherington (Treasurer) 13 ## **BYP Balance Sheet for Year Ending 31[st] March 2021** |||**Year Ending 31/03/2021**|**Year Ending 31/03/2021**|**Year Ending 31/03/2021**|

|**Year Ending 31/03/2020**|**Year Ending 31/03/2020**|**Year Ending 31/03/2020**| |---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---| |**Fixed Assets**
Fixtures and Fittings
Depreciation
**Current Assets**
Bank (Reserve)
Bank (Working Capital)
Cash
**Current Liabilities**
Creditors
Net Current Assets
**Total Current Assets**||||||||| ||||2,550||||2,600|| ||||(50)|2,500|||(50)|2,550| |||||||||| |||||||||| ||||2,000||||2,000|| |||||||||| |||58,580||||34,670||| |||274|58,854|||224|34,894|| |||||||||| |||||||||| |||||||||| |||||60,854||||36,894| |||||**63,354**||||**39,444**| 14 **----- Start of picture text -----**
Financed By:
Accumulated Fund B/Fwd 39,444 39,375
Fund Balance for 2021 23,910 69
Accumulated Fund Balance 63,354 39,444
**----- End of picture text -----**
15 ## **BLAENLLECHAU YOUTH PROJECT RECEIPTS AND PAYMENTS YEAR ENDING 31[st] MARCH 2021** |Income|Amount||Expenditure|Amount| |---|---|---|---|---| |Grants||||| |**BBC CIN**
**CO-OP**
**GROUNDWORK UK**
**LCF**
**RCT CBC**
VOLT ACT MERTHYR
COMM FUND WALES
**_Sub Total_**|**_10,500.00_**||**Salaries**
**PAYE**
**Salaries Costs**
**Pension Fund**
**Electric**
**Gas**
**Water**
**Telephone/Internet**
**Room Hire**
**Rent**
**Stationery**|**_31,284.47_**| ||**_282.17_**|||**_2,396.16_**| ||**_500.00_**|||**_708.00_**| ||**_1,117.63_**|||**_1,193.04_**| ||**_52,682.23_**|||**_252.86_**| ||**_250.00_**|||**_266.25_**| ||**_2,000.00_**|||**_387.02_**| |||||**_609.17_**| ||**_67,332.03_**|||**_121.60_**| |||||**_5.00_**| |||||**_41.19_**| |Generated Income|||**Insurance**|**_883.48_**| 16 |**Youth Income (Banked)**
**Youth Contributions (Cash**
**Purchases)**
**_Sub Total_**|**_1,053.75_**||**Resources**
**Fees**
**Dance Costs**
**Comm'ty Social Meeting**|**_5,694.09_**| |---|---|---|---|---| |||||**_40.39_**| |||||**_490.06_**| ||**_1053.75_**|||**_128.99_**| |Other|||**Accts Check Fee**|**_80.00_**| |**Rainbow Income**
**_Sub Total_**|**_106.00_**|||| |||||| ||**_106.00_**|||| |||||| ||||**_Credit Balance at 31st March 2021_**|**_23,910.01_**| |**_Total Income_**|**68491.78**|||**68491.78**| 17 ## _**BLAENLLECHAU YOUTH PROJECT**_ Period to March 31[st] 2021 Declaration To the best of my knowledge the information given in the Financial Statements is correct and shows the Company’s State of Affairs at the 31[st] March 2021. Name: Signature: Position in Company: Date: David Hutchison . .Chair since AGM Kimberley Hutchison Secretary Michelle Hetherington Treasurer 18 These accounts are an independent examination and were carried out by Mr Ivor Edwards -Finance Officer (retired) 336 Heol Pendyrus Penrhys Ferndale RCT CF433RG 19