2023-10-31-accounts - Eden Westwood Community Project

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Eden Westwood Community Project A Registered Charity (No: 1149378)

ANNUAL REPORT 1 November 2022 — 31 October 2023

REPORT OF THE TRUSTEE BOARD

The Trustee Board presents its Annual Report and the audited financial statements for the year ended 31 October 2023. The financial statements comply with the current statutory requirements, and the Statement of Recommended Practice — accounting and reporting by charities.

LEGAL AND ADMINISTRATIVE DETAILS

Name: Eden Westwood Community Project Registered Charity No: 1149378 Operational Address: 300 Middleton Road, Westwood, Oldham OL9 6JL

BANKERS & AUDITORS

Bankers: Natwest, 354a Hollinwood Avenue, New Moston, Manchester, M40 0NW Auditor: John Spibey Associates Limited

BOARD OF TRUSTEES

Chair of Trustees S J Evans Trustees S Mayta Delgado C Milnes P Evans R C Mayta Delgado

TREASURER: C Evans

SOLICITORS: Rutters Solicitors, 2 Bimport, Shaftesbury, Dorset SP7 BAY

STRUCTURE GOVERNANCE AND MANAGEMENT

Governing Document: Declaration of Trust

Eden Westwood Community Project was registered as a charity on 18 October 2012.

RECRUITMENT AND APPOINTMENT OF TRUSTEES:

New trustees can be nominated by the Project Team leader or an existing member of Eden Westwood Community Project Board of Trustees. The Board of Trustees will then, at a board meeting, discuss the nomination and Nominees. The Nominee(s) will be elected to serve on the Board on the basis of a majority vote by the Board of Trustees.

In unique situations where the number of Trustees or the skills held by existing Trustees is deemed by the board to have fallen below what is required by the organisation, or where the Trustees deem that specific expertise is required, then external recruitment can be used. In this situation normal recruitment procedures within the organisation will be followed.

The maximum number of Trustees is seven. Trustees are elected to the Board of Trustees subject to agreed adherence to the doctrines set out in the Declaration of Trust. Future trustees elected to the Board of Trustees of Eden Westwood Community Project are appointed for terms of office of up to five years by resolution of the Trustees. They can be asked to extend their period of Trusteeship, should the Board of Trustees deem it helpful to the Trust.

Induction and Training of Trustees:

New Trustees will be selected on their ability to perform the role they are offered. New Trustees will be required to follow appropriate guidance and statutory obligations of the Role of a Trustee in line with the Charity Commission regulations, and legal responsibilities relating to trusteeship. New Trustees will be required to have read Eden Westwood Community Project core policies and procedures. New Trustees will be offered one-to-one support from a more experienced trustee should that be required.

RESPONSIBILITIES OF THE BOARD OF TRUSTEES

Company and Charity Law required the Board of Trustees to prepare financial statements giving a true and fair view of the charity's financial activities during the year and of its financial position at the end of the year. In preparing financial statements the Trustees have:

Selected suitable accounting policies and then applied them consistently;
Made judgements and estimates that are reasonable and prudent;
Followed applicable accounting standards without any material departures and prepared the financial statements on the going concern basis.

The Trustees are responsible for keeping accounting records which disclose, with reasonable accuracy, the financial position of the Trust. They are responsible for safeguarding the charity's assets and taking reasonable steps for the prevention and detection of fraud and other irregularities.

RESERVES POLICY

The Board of Trustees have adopted a reserves policy which they consider appropriate to enable the Trust to meet its developing commitments and obligations. The Trustees are satisfied that in view of the charity's areas of operation and its aims and desire to assist and work with the community, it is sufficient to hold a small reserve. To this end, and with due consideration, the Trustees have determined upon a reserves policy to retain funds equivalent to two month's staff and overhead costs.

ORGANISATIONAL STRUCTURE

Eden Westwood Community Project is led by the Project Leader supported by a Team of one assistant Project Leader and Volunteers. It has a Board of Trustees, consisting of five members. The Project Leader has oversight and responsibility for the overall running of the project. The Project Leader, assisted by the assistant project leader and volunteers, has overall responsibility for the education, training, and community activities run by the project.

RISK MANAGEMENT

At an organisational level, Eden Westwood Community Project manages any risk it might be exposed to through reviewing key performance and compliance data and information through team and Board of Trustees meetings. Key financial, operational and legal risks are identified and systems, for example, appropriate Policies (Recruitment, Safeguarding, Health & Safety, etc) are employed to mitigate these risks.

Eden Westwood Community Project is a member of the Churches' Child Protection Advisory Service (CCPAS/Thirty-One Eight). Eden Westwood Community Project follows all best practice and recommendations of the Churches' Child Protection Advisory Service and our working policies (Safeguarding, Recruitment, Health & Safety, Child Protection procedures etc.) follow their best practice models and policies. Our Safeguarding Policy and Recruitment Policy is logged with them and updated regularly in accordance with Churches' Child Protection Advisory Service notified revisions and recommendations. The Churches' Child Protection Advisory Service acts as our advisory body. Our DBS clearances are renewed on a rolling three-year programme.

The Board of Trustees continue to review and alleviate potential risks, in accordance with the guidance set out by the Charity Commission.

PUBLIC BENEFIT STATEMENT: OBJECTIVES AND ACTIVITIES FOR PUBLIC BENEFIT

The Trustees of Eden Westwood Community Project confirm that, when exercising their powers and duties, they have complied with the duty in Section 17 of the Charities Act 2011 to have due regard to Charity Commission's general guidance on public benefit.

The public benefits from the work Eden Westwood Community Project undertakes, and Eden Westwood Community Project meets its charitable objectives, by the assistance it gives to individuals, families, the local community, surrounding areas and society at large.

Eden Westwood Community Project Trustees are conscious that the charity's funds are to be used appropriately, prudently, lawfully and in accordance with the charity's purposes for the public benefit. The Trustees consider that whilst maintaining good governance, Eden Westwood Community Project will continue to provide — to the very best of its ability and resources — for those who are in need and for those in difficult situations, where with help, they could make positive and beneficial life changes, by

The promotion and protection of good health of children and their families, in particular but not exclusively, by the provision of services, support and advice
To advance the training of those granted refugee status and their dependants in need thereof, so as to advance them in life and assist them to adapt within a new community, particularly but nor exclusively, by the provision of English language classes and vocational skills training
The provision of facilities for recreation or other leisure time occupation with the object of improving the conditions of life of those persons who have need of such facilities by reason of their youth, age, infirmity or disablement, financial hardship or social and economic circumstances.
To advance in life and help young people by providing support and activities which develop their skills, capacities and capabilities to enable them to participate in society as mature and responsible individuals

OBJECTS OF THE CHARITY

Review of our achievements and performance:

During the last 12 months we have seen EWCP continuing to grow, as we have returned to normal operations post covid, providing youth work sessions, sports activities, and targeted interventions.

This has been made possible by an increase in the numbers of charities supporting our work, and also due to the tireless work of our growing team of volunteers. Their hard work and dedication to the young people of Oldham, Middleton, Rochdale, and Cheetham Hill has allowed us to expand our work.

The addition of the Soul Café and the Ladder to our projects has enabled us to engage with more young people and provide better levels of support – however has been costly, and we are currently consulting with relevant stakeholders in regards to the future of the Soul Cafe.

Through the work of Eden Westwood Community Project, we engage with over 200 people, from drop-in sessions to targeted interventions, we provide different levels of support for a diverse group of young people, which includes work clubs, craft sessions, sports teams, ESOL lessons, and support around asylum claims.

The Ladder & Soul Café

We previously acquired (lease) a building based on Yorkshire Street, in the centre of Oldham.

Being placed in the town centre, has been the focus point of a lot of our outreach activity and this has allowed us to revitalise activities and events we can run, and allow us to engage with more young people and vulnerable young adults.

This building is split into two areas, the ground floor “Soul Café” is our community café and drop in area. The upper two floors are the “Ladder” our youth zone with games area, music zone, class rooms, and meeting rooms.

From here we are able to run our targeted support, particularly focusing on the work we have been doing with unaccompanied asylum seekers, and young people at risk of being drawn into anti-social or criminal activity.

We have also worked with other charities extending the use of the building to wider groups (i.e., vulnerable women) with those charities running their activities from this building.

Sports Projects:

We have one Football team registered with Manchester FA playing in a Saturday morning league. Additionally, we run a weekly drop-in session that runs for two hours in Oldham. These sessions are less structured than the Saturday morning ones and are of mixed age and ability. These are frequently a first point of contact for many of the young people we work with. Through these sessions we have also seen a large increase in the numbers of asylum seekers and young people from migrant families. A number of these speak very little or no English. Some having only recently arrived in the UK. Through this work, spread across 3 sessions a week, 48 weeks of the year, we have engaged with approximately 100 different young people and young adults.

During this previous year we have added another team to our Basketball Club, being “Northern Blue Mambas”. What started as being primarily detached work has grown into training sessions run each Friday evening for young people, with two teams competing on Thursday evenings and Open access training being run on Fridays. This has been hugely popular and has run alongside the sessions run in the local park as part of detached work. This work has seen over a 80 different young people engaging in these sessions.

Detached sessions:

We have run 20 detached youthwork session in the Oldham and Middleton areas during the last 12 months. These have been specifically targeting areas known to have groups of young people engaging in criminal and anti-social behaviour. These sessions have been very successful in building relationships with marginalised young people, as well as giving us the opportunity to invite these young people to the different activities we are running. Many of these young people were unaware of the different projects we run.

Whilst running these detached sessions we were also able to speak to young people about knife crime and County lines.

We have also been able to offer assistance and advice to young people and offer practical support as and where needed. These sessions were run alongside the basketball project at local parks and proved to be hugely popular or in Oldham in proximity to our new centre.

Youth Club

The Youth Club runs for 48 weeks a year and is one of our most popular activities allowing young people from the local community a safe place to go each Tuesday evening. Allowing them the opportunity to engage in different activities during the course of the evening. Play station, board games, music taster sessions, table tennis, badminton, and various other activities. These evenings also allow us the opportunity to speak to the young people about issues that matter to them, gives the young people the space to be heard and to share about their concerns for the local community. These sessions have recently moved from our previous base at Firwood Church to our new premises in the centre of Oldham. We have seen large groups of young people attending these sessions and they have so far proved very popular.

Lads Group:

We run sessions throughout the year for lads aged 16-23., including activities for them to engage in, day trips and residentials. The most important aspect of the work is building positive relationships where we can chat with the lads about issues such as; Knife crime, County Lines, Hate crimes, Sexual Health, legal issues, mental health etc. It also enables us to identify lads who would benefit from the Mentoring project we run. Where support can be given around a range of issues like, revision techniques, Family support, Asylum process, finding work etc.

Residential and day trips.

During the last 12 months we have organised day trips hill walking with the young people and also organised group meals out, laser tag and bowling. We ran a weekend away in November which 62 young people attended. During this weekend we ran a variety of activities including hill walking, basketball tournament and football. None of the young people had previously attended a residential trip with us before. Included in the numbers who travelled were 6 asylum seekers who had been in the UK less than 12 months.

Mentoring sessions.

Mentoring sessions is at the very core of what we do, each of the activities and events we run are designed to filter young people into mentoring. This allows us to build relationships with young people from some of the hardest to reach backgrounds and offer them support as they navigate the challenges of adolescence and the transition into adulthood. We have offered support around life skills, budgeting, applying for driving licenses and passports, as well as navigating the criminal justice system or asylum system. We have offered support around family and relationship issues, and provided a safe space for young people to talk through the issues that worry them. The work includes focussed on positive step forward, such as supporting young people with applications too universities and job hunting – we have had several people secure posts as a result of this work.

With Thanks

All that we have achieved In the last 12 months has been down to the generosity and kindness of individuals and charities that have kindly supported the work we have been doing. This generosity has allowed us to run our activities free of charge for young people, ensuring that the most vulnerable and needy are able to enjoy and engage with the work of Eden Westwood Community Project. Our thanks to the following for their generous donations;

The Message Trust Firwood Church Rochdale Council Church Urban Fund Greater Manchester Police Woodward Charitable Trust Trusthouse

FUTURE DEVELOPMENTS

The aim for the next 12 months is to continue to build on the success of the Ladder and Soul Café, integrate this work into our other activities and review cost and future funding.

This Report was approved by the Board of Trustees on 19[th] July 2024 and is signed on behalf of the Board of Trustees of Eden Westwood Community Project by: S J Evans, Chair of Trustees.

S J Evans Chair of Trustees

Eden Westwood Community Project

Eden (Westwood) Community Project Registered with the Charity Commission Income and Expenditure Account and Balance Sheet For the Year Ended 31st October 2023

John Spibey Associates Ltd Certified Practising Accountants 245 Bury New Road Whitefield Manchester M45 8QP

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Eden (Westwood) Community Project

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Index
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Accountants Report 3
Income and Expenditure Account 4
Balance Sheet 5
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John Spibey Associates Ltd Certified Practising Accountants 245 Bury New Road Whitefield Manchester M45 8QP

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Eden (Westwood) Community Project

Accountants Report

In accordance with our engagement we have compiled the financial information of the above named client which comprises of an Income and Expenditure Account from the accounting records and information and explanations supplied to us.

The financial informaion has been compiled in accordance with your instructions. This financial information is not intended to achieve full compliance with the provisions of the UK Generally Accepted Accounting Principles.

Our work has been undertaken so that we might compile these accounts and report to you that we have done so. We do not accept or assume responsibility to anyone other than our client for this work, or for this report.

We have carried out this engagement in accordance with technical and ethical guidance issued by the Accountancy Governing Bodies in the UK.

You have approved this financial information for the year ended 31st October 2023, and have acknowledged your responsibility for it.

We have not verified the accuracy or completeness of the accounting records or information and explanations you have given to us, we therefore do not express any opinion on the financial information contained therein.

John Spibey Associates

Signed______

22nd August 2024

Date____

John Spibey Associates Ltd Certified Practising Accountants 245 Bury New Road Whitefield Manchester M45 8QP

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Eden (Westwood) Community Project

Income and Expenditure Account

for the Year ended 31st October 2023

2023		2022
£		£
1380.00 0.00 10347.62 13281.51 7742.89 18911.11	£ £	1540.00 330.25 14741.22 6000.00 6042.48 0.00
51663.13		28653.95
6190.00 9569.48 14863.60 4595.65 624.00 3080.30 4529.21		1300.00 2584.76 1593.84 0.00 654.00 0.00 2216.30
43452.24 6197.94 5894.67 3512.70		8348.90 3035.55 4790.00 0.00
15605.31 4728.97		7825.55 0.00
4728.97		0.00
63786.52		16174.45

-12123.39	£	12479.50

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Eden (Westwood) Community Project

Balance Sheet

as at 31st October 2023

2023		2022
£		£
5818.03 0.00		17941.42 0.00
5818.03		17941.42
531.00		531.00
531.00		531.00
5287.03		17410.42

5287.03	£	17410.42

17410.42 -12123.39		4930.92 12479.50

5287.03	£	17410.42

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