As Chair of our foodbank charity it falls to me to present our Trustees Annual Report. As many of you will already know it has been my privilege to be Chair of Trustees since 2018 & a Trustee of foodbank since its inception in 2012. As explained at last years AGM this has been my final year as Chair although with the boards agreement I hope continue as a Trustee. Every time I have spoken about foodbank in meetings or presentations, I have always said my hope was to close because we were no longer needed. Sadly, this still isn’t the position we find ourselves in. But I am pleased to be able to report for the 2[nd] year in succession, a fall in the number of emergency food parcels distributed locally by our foodbank. We fulfilled 1,198 referrals for emergency food – a 3.5% reduction on the previous year These referrals provided emergency food to 2,357 local people an 8% reduction on the previous year. It is always difficult to report how many children were included in these numbers. I regret to say almost 31% of those we supported were under 17 – some 725 children. However, this shocking number is a fall on the previous year, when the number was 855. Sometimes numbers seem just statistics, which of course they are, but the reality behind these figures mean our food parcels provided more than 21K meals to local people who sought help to put food on their table. Whilst I am pleased to report these reducing figures it remains a sad reflection of the times we live in that anyone has to rely on an emergency food parcel. Most foodbanks, & we are no exception, rely on the generosity of donors to operate. Neighbours helping neighbours – strangers helping strangers. No one putting a tin or packet into a supermarket collection basket knows where their donation will go. No one making a meal from food in their parcel knows who was kind enough to help them. It’s a beautiful example of community in action – the kindness of strangers. Something positive to remember in times where this concept can seem lost in our society. During the year we collected over 18 metric tonnes of food and associated items – and used financial donations to purchase a further 4.6 metric tonnes. We distributed almost 24 metric tonnes. In common with foodbanks across the country our food spend has increased from 16% of stock in the 2024-2025 year to 25% over this last year. In fact, we spent over 34% of our unrestricted income on buying food. On a very positive note our board of trustees regularly review our income and food spend, and have no concerns about our financial capacity to continue to meet current levels of need for emergency food support. This is due in no small part to the fact our foodbank in run entirely by volunteers so we do not have salary costs to factor into our operational budget. We have never actively fundraised to keep our foodbank core operation open, and we remain very grateful for all the un-solicited financial support we continue to receive. Please refer to Receipts & Payments Accounts for the year ending 31/01/2026 for our detailed financial report. In overview, at the close of the foodbanks financial year our total cash funds totalled £56,040. Over the year we have received referrals for foodbank support from some 69 primarily local agencies. These include Churches, Schools, Doctors, Health Visitors, Citizens Advice, Village Agents, the local housing authority, rehabilitation and mental health workers and many others. We have recently set up a referral facility for the well-respected local counselling charity, I C M which we hope will widen our foodbanks reach in the local community. Our foodbank users in Burnham also have access to services provided through the on-site Waffle Hub, key amongst those is access to the Village Agent Team. The Waffle Hub have now become a foodbank referral agency which provides a further access point for foodbank support. Next month we come to the end of Trussells grant funding for our Financial Inclusion Project. This project, staffed by a Citizens Advice worker working alongside our front of house volunteers, allows us to offer one to one advice & support to foodbank users around income, outgoings, debt and other matters associated with financial wellbeing, to remove or reduce the need for emergency food support. The Board remains very grateful to the Trustee team who have taken the lead on the project since its start in 2023, & who have continued to liaise with Citizens Advice & Trussell over the projects final year. Last year our Board gave that team their agreement to investigate alternative sources of funding to ensure we would be in a position to continue the project in some form after the end of Trussells funding. I am delighted, that thanks to the teams work in both seeking project grant funding, negotiating and drawing up a new agreement with Citizens Advice, we are in a position to continue this project for a further three-year term. Grant funding has been secured from Hinkley Point, Comic Relief and the Somerset Community Foundation. The Financial inclusion project has become a very beneficial part of the service we offer foodbank users. In securing this funding we have ensured this valuable resource is able to continue. Our school liaison volunteer continues to forge excellent relationships with the schools in our area through his school assembly work directly with children and young people and attendance at regular breakfast meetings at King Alfreds Priory Learning Trust. Our Schools now have a better understanding of the foodbank support we can offer and have individual access to our referral system. As you may know from the very start of our foodbank in 2012, we have been based here at the Methodist Church and at Hope Baptist in Highbridge. We are very grateful to both Churches for the excellent support they continue to offer. The trustee board regularly consider this generous arrangement and maintain a reserve of funds to ensure alternative premises can be funded should the need arise. As always, together with the availability of food, the most important part of our foodbank is its volunteers. I’d like to recognise each of our wonderful volunteers – those that collect the food, sort it, store it, pack it, distribute it, staff front of house, take responsibility for all the administrative and compliance required to run a foodbank, look after the money or play their part in the charitable running of the foodbank as a member of the Board of Trustees. If that sounds like a lot – it is - & we are very fortunate to benefit from our volunteers wide range of lived and professional experience. We have now worked for a number of years with volunteers from SW House in Burnham. We welcome this partnership and have been blessed to meet and work with many of their clients over the years. We consider this to be a very important part of our work within the community. We are able to offer volunteering positions, which are valuable to the SW House clients working through their rehabilitation programme, but probably much more importantly we benefit from their experience and outlook. It is a measure of how positive this relationship is that a number of people who came to foodbank volunteering through this route have stayed with us long after their SW House time had finished. I look forward to this connections ongoing success. In closing I would like to thank each person in our foodbank family. Thank you all for the part you play – you make a difference and you have helped make my time as Chair of this wonderful charity a real blessing and a privilege. CHARITY COMMISSION FOR ENGLAND AND WALES Independent examiner's report on the accounts Section A Independent Examiner's Report Report to the trusteesl members of hbcco e Ace frL)£ell foob BJnlc (H,,3 J FoOrmK) JinuJf 2026 On accounts for the year ended Charity no (if any) 11+707 Set out on pages I report to the trustees on my examination of the accounts of the above charity ("the Trust") for the year ended 31 0 1 7026 Responsibilities and As the charity trustees of the Trust, you are responsible for the preparation basis of report of the accounts in accordance with the requirements of the Charities Act 2011 ("the Act"). I report in respect of my examination of the Trust's accounts carried out under section 145 of the 2011 Act and in carrying out my examination, I have followed the applicable Directions given by the Charity Commission under section 145(5)(b) of the Act. I have completed my examination. I confirm that no material matters have come to my attention (other than that disclosed below ') in connection with the examination which gives me cause to believe that in, any material respect: accounting records were not kept in accordance with section 130 of the Act or the accounts do not accord with the accounting records Independent examiner's statement I have no concerns and have come across no other matters in connection with the examination to which attention should be drawn in order to enable a proper understanding of the accounts to be reached. Please delete the words in the brackets if they do not apply. Signed: Date: 18 /03/￿2 Name: ÉmYTrD SkY)fe AT (AssoccoEon OF CiCC(x)nÈi l eve l + &( plofY)C4 L47 p ¢oFesscon Relevant professional qualif ication(s) or body (if any): bechnccccns) QCCOLJ¢iL< Address: Popknm cla.SL'. Éasb Bcenk. H, -*omecy- [ f Ag &RY nbri IER October 2018 Section B Disclosure Only complete if the examiner needs to highlight matters of concern (see CC32, Independent examination of charity accounts: directions and guidance for examiners). Give here brief details of any items that the examiner wishes to disclose. IER October 2018 CHARITY COMMISSION FOR ENGLAND AND WALES Recei ts and ments accounts CC16a For the period from To 0110212025 3110112026 Section A Receipts and payments Unrestricted funds Restricted funds Endowment funds Total funds Last year to the nearest to the nearest £ to the nearest £ to the nearest £ to the nearest£ A1 Recel ts Donations from Individuals Donations from organisations Tru55ell Trust Financial Inclusion Grant Somerset CF HMRC Gift Relief Bank Interest 5,223 10,367 6,760 5,223 10,367 51,750 5,000 1,855 1,063 6,036 9,435 51.750 45,000 5,000 1.855 1,063 787 tota ross Income or 25,258 so,000 75,258 68,008 sset an see table Investment sa es, tota Total receipts 25.258 50,000 75,258 68,008 A3Pa ments Insurance Management IICOIMiscellaneous Equipmenu Mobile FoodlBags/ Vouchers Volunteer Expenses CAB Financial Inclusion Donaiion to Churches Marketingipnnting Volunteer Clothing 1,117 329 484 9,143 223 1,117 329 1,117 77 158 5,792 212 56,346 9,000 155 1,814 74,671 9,143 223 47,539 10,000 47,539 10,000 Sub total 21,296 47,539 68,835 A4 Asset and investment Sub total Total payments 21,296 47,539 68,836 74,671 Net of receipts/(payments) A5 Transfers between funds A6 Cash funds last year end Cash funds this year end 3,962 2,461 6.423 6,663 49.620 53,582 49,620 56,043 2,461 6,663 CCXX R1 accounts (ss) 0610812026 Section B Statement of assets and liabilities at the end of the period Unrestricted funds to nearest £ Restrlcted funds to nearest £ Endowment funds to nearèst £ Categories Details B1 Cash funds Charrty Account 14,989 32 Day Notice 41,051 Total cash funds $6.040 (agree balances with receipis and payments accounlls)) Auree171ent Efror Unrestrlcted funds to nearest £ Agreèmeiit ETror Restricted funds to nearest £ OK Endowment funds to nearest £ B2 Other monetary assets Fund to whlch ass•t belon Current value tional Dc-t¢lil£ Cost (optional) Fund to which asset belon Current value tlonal D<>tJjls Cost (optlonal) B4 Assets retained for the charity's own use Fund to which DeLdils Amount due When due B5 Llabilities Signed by one or two trustees on behalf of all the trustees ture Print Name Date of roval C, ,K4 CThC CCXX R2 accounts (ss) 0610812026