East Lancashire Down’s syndrome Support Group - Charity Number 1149790
Trustees Report 2023, Year Ended 31[st] December 2023
2023 was our 12[th] year as a charity
In 2023, we ran a full programme of family meetings at Whitewell Bottom Community Centre and various places, each month. All the meetings continue to be themed, and we’ve tried a few new ones this year and are always keen to hear new ideas. Over the years the average attendance of the family meetings has kept increasing from 48 in 2018 to 79 in 2023 and we have 95 active members of the group overall, which access our services in diTerent ways.
The themes of the meetings in 2023 included:
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Valentine crafts
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Introduction to Martial Arts
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Mobile Farm visit
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Coronation Day street party
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Family walk
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Sports day
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Circus skills and show
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Meet the dinosaurs
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Annual Pie, Peas and Fireworks
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And the Christmas party, again with help from our lovely friends at Skipton Building Society, who helped set up and fundraised to buy everyone Christmas presents. Special thanks also to our chief elf and helper Lisa and Caroline for their eTorts sorting and wrapping all the presents and of course to Santa Phil for fitting us in on his busy rounds.
The biggest event of last year had to be our much-delayed 10[th] Anniversary ball (because of Covid, actually for our 12[th] year!) on March 18[th] . We had 300 people attend, with a fantastic MD, band, food and amazing raTle/auction prizes, and a lot of hard work, raising over £9k after costs. Everyone had a great time and asked when the next one was, but the trustees asked for a bit of time oT before planning again!! A huge thank you to all the trustees for your hard work and support to make this a great success.
The Haven family weekend in May was another big success with 29 caravans booked and over 120 people from East Lancs taking part. We had a fun-filled picnic on the Saturday afternoon where we were joined by some people from other DS and pandisability support groups from around the country and of course our annual trip to Blackpool Zoo where we love to see all our members sporting their T-shirts across the park.
The other big success throughout the year has been the teen plus social events for our young people. The meeting are every month at a very supportive venue, The Millhouse in Clayton le Moors, and membership has grown from 5 at the first meeting to a regular pool of 20. The young people love the freedom of choosing what they do, as well as making new friends, and we are indebted to our social support team of Hannah, Jarrod, Rob, Ellie, Saul, Chloe, Emily and Sophie to enable this to happen, and to give our parents and carers well deserved time oT next door in the bar!
We have also started to provide school holiday sessions, initially in partnership with Jess and the Secret Garden Hoyle’s Park, and expanding in 2024 to cover a range of events suitable for diTerent age groups. They have been well attended and we will continue to look for funding to do more of this in future.
We also were able to oTer another small winter grant to some of our members to help with the cost of living and fuel challenges.
For anyone who’s new we are basically self-funded with most of our income coming from fantastic member fundraising. It’s all important however small and this year has been no exception with an amazing £20,000 raised from fundraising events with a further £13,000 from donations from various sources, which Phil will go into more in a moment.
We have had great success fundraising via Facebook, PayPal giving and JustGiving for events such as marathons and birthdays and we appreciate every single individual who supports us in many ways. One example is donations from John and Pauline Horne’s Diamond Wedding Anniversary, which was much appreciated.
Of events we do have detail on, Gingerbread socks were once again a fundraising success for us raising £1.4k around World Down’s Syndrome Day, thank you to everyone who got involved.
It was also brilliant once again to have one of the famous “Thompson” Quiz and Curry nights in November raising £1529, thanks Helen and Paul!
A staT member at the Skipton Building Society chose us as his charity for winning an award at work and we received £5k!, thanks to the connection with Rebecca Bolton and little Maggie.
Lynne Berbatiotis ran the Rossendale way for us in august and raised £940, amazing! Craig McNulty’s Grandma Mary Peart asked for donations to be given in her memory which raised £674, such a lovely thing to do.
Dan Simpson’s friend gave half of his Bare Knuckle Fight winnings of £1500, amazing!
The Thompsons had 2 friends fundraising for us, one was Dan’s PT Jake who raised £1315 on a skydive and Hak and Chris raised £315 doing many challenges, which I think went on into 2024 so there may be more to come.
Friend of the Cannons, Shawcroft FC Under 9s did a Lads v Dads fundraiser and raised £365
We were pleased to be the nominated charity again for the Helmshore Scarecrow trail in October. Thanks to Steph, Pam, Lisa and especially Freddie for manning the map stall and selling raTle tickets, raising £2388 in total!
Continued thanks to Pam Parkinson and Caz Moreton also had fundraising success with their football cards, bonus balls and hair bows.
Our annual family walk is always fun, around Calf Hey Reservoir, bringing plenty of colour with a Disney theme and some great outfits, and we managed to raise another £2000 from that event too.
We’ve always tried to do everything for free or very heavily subsidised so fundraising is very important. One of our big focuses in 2024 is getting grant funding so if anyone has good contacts let us know!
As you can see, we had a great year for fundraising and donations, in fact our best ever, but we need to keep the momentum up if we are to be able to continue to provide the services for which we have had great feedback 95% rated 4 or 5 out of 5 – 83% 5/5 on value to them.
One of our important projects run in 2022 but unfortunately on pause in 2023 owing to our Education specialist’s illness was our DS Education Inclusion services - but we’re delighted her fantastic work is now being continued in 2024. A big thank you to Faith for her work with our children and schools and a big welcome to Hannah who is now working for our charity as a Specialist Advisory teacher. She is running a number of classes for all children up to the age of 8 and is available to support all ages of children in their school settings.
We have also been in liaison with the head of Education for Lancashire, Jacqui Old, and are soon to present to all head teachers across the county about supporting children with DS in their schools, and follow up with training as appropriate.
Other plans include working more closely with LCC in terms of their break time provision and commissioning services and looking at joint events with other local groups such as the Autism and ADHD services.
We have also been working with other groups, in Cheshire and North Lancashire, and the National Down’s Syndrome Policy Group, to run an IChoose Board for Lancashire, and make sure the voices of local people with Down’s Syndrome are heard, especially regarding the implementation of the Down’s Syndrome Act. The next meeting is next weekend.
As ever we have a year full of events still to come in 2024 and we look forward to seeing you there.
Thank you so much for all your support. A big thanks is also due to Phil, our manager, without whom most of the things we do with the group wouldn’t happen. An unpaid and unsung hero!
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Rachel ShatliT Chair ELDSSG 28/4/2024
| East Lancashire Down's Syndrome Support Group | East Lancashire Down's Syndrome Support Group | East Lancashire Down's Syndrome Support Group | East Lancashire Down's Syndrome Support Group | East Lancashire Down's Syndrome Support Group | 1149790 | 1149790 | 1149790 | CC16a | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| For the period from |
01/01/2023 | To | 31/12/2023 | ||||||
| Section A Receipts and payments | |||||||||
| A1 Receipts | Unrestricted funds to the nearest £ |
Restricted funds to the nearest £ |
Endowment funds to the nearest £ |
Total funds to the nearest £ |
Last year to the nearest £ |
||||
| Facebook giving | 309 | - | - | 309 | 741 | ||||
| Amazon Smile | 0 | - | - | - | 87 | ||||
| PaypalGiving.Com | 0 | - | - | - | 610 | ||||
| WDSD Fundraising | 1,428 | - | - | 1,428 | 2,467 | ||||
| Justgiving | 7,929 | - | - | 7,929 | 5,275 | ||||
| Other Fundraising | 2,205 | - | - | 2,205 | 945 | ||||
| Donations | 1,560 | - | - | 1,560 | 410 | ||||
| Quiz and Curry | 1,624 | - | - | 1,624 | 2,018 | ||||
| Skipton BS | 5,605 | - | - | 5,605 | 437 | ||||
| Rossendale Council Teen Group | 0 | - | - | - | 220 | ||||
| Monthly Giving | 684 | - | - | 684 | 680 | ||||
| Bequests | 1,151 | - | - | 1,151 | 5,339 | ||||
| Burnley and Nelson URC | 0 | - | - | - | 5,000 | ||||
| Pendle Motor Club | 0 | - | - | - | 2,000 | ||||
| Trust Donation | 0 | - | - | - | 2,500 | ||||
| Member Payments - SLT | 0 | - | - | - | 1,610 | ||||
| Member Payments - Haven | 0 | - | - | - | 2,872 | ||||
| Anniversary Ball Tickets and Sponsorship | 9,057 | - | - | 9,057 | 2,908 | ||||
| HSBC | 500 | - | - | 500 | 500 | ||||
| Tesco | 0 | - | - | - | 0 | ||||
| Interest | 660 | - | - | 660 | 20 | ||||
| Helmshore Screcrow Trail | 2,389 | 2,389 | |||||||
| - | - | - | - | ||||||
| - | - | - | - | - | |||||
| Sub total(Gross income for AR) | 35,101 | - | - | 35,101 | 36,638 | ||||
| A2 Asset and investment sales, (see table). |
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| - | |||||||||
| - | - | ||||||||
| Sub total | - | - | |||||||
| Total receipts A3 Payments |
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| 36,638 | |||||||||
| Family Support Meetings | 7,201 | - | - | 7,201 | 5,996 | ||||
| Haven | 7,463 | - | - | 7,463 | 7,553 | ||||
| Training | - | - | - | 1,825 | |||||
| SLT Sessions | 336 | - | - | 336 | 6,559 | ||||
| Fundraising Costs | 204 | - | - | 204 | 732 | ||||
| Ukraine DS Donation | - | - | - | 1,000 | |||||
| ELDSSG Grants | 300 | - | - | 300 | 250 | ||||
| Teen Group Costs | 6,620 | - | - | 6,620 | 350 | ||||
| Ball Costs | - | - | - | 350 | |||||
| Other | 1,764 | - | - | 1,764 | 27 | ||||
| Office, Admin & IT | 6,647 | - | - | 6,647 | 2,456 | ||||
| School Holiday Club | 200 | 200 | |||||||
| Bank Charges | 80 | 80 | |||||||
| **Sub total ** | 30,813 | - | - | 30,813 | 27,098 | ||||
| A4 Asset and investment purchases, (see table) |
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| - | |||||||||
| - |
| **Sub total ** | - | - | - | - | - | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Total payments | 30,813 | - | - | 30,813 | 27,098 | ||||||
| Net of receipts/(payments) | 4,287 | - | - | 4,287 | 9,540 | ||||||
| A5 | Transfers between funds | - | - | - | - | - | |||||
| A6 | Cash funds last year end | 43,536 | - | - | 43,536 | 33,996 | |||||
| Cash funds this year end | 47,823 | - | - | 47,823 | 43,536 |
Section B Statement of assets and liabilities at the end of the period
| Categories B1 Cash funds B2 Other monetary assets B3 Investment assets B4 Assets retained for the charity’s own use B5 Liabilities |
Details HSBC Charity Account Paypal Total cash funds (agree balances with receipts and payments account(s)) Details Details Details Details |
Unrestricted f to nearest £ 46,769 1,055 - 47,823 OK Unrestricted f to nearest £ - - - - - - Fund to which asset belongs Fund to which asset belongs Fund to which liability relates |
Restricted funds to nearest £ - - - - OK Restricted funds to nearest £ - - - - - - Cost (optional) - - - - - Cost (optional) - - - - - - - ~~-~~ - Amount due (optional) - - - - - |
Endowment f to nearest £ |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| - | ||||
| - | ||||
| - | ||||
| - | ||||
| OK | ||||
| Endowment f to nearest £ |
||||
| - | ||||
| - | ||||
| - | ||||
| - | ||||
| - | ||||
| - | ||||
| Current value (optional) |
||||
| - | ||||
| - | ||||
| - | ||||
| - | ||||
| - | ||||
| Current value (optional) |
||||
| - | ||||
| - | ||||
| - | ||||
| - | ||||
| - | ||||
| - | ||||
| - | ||||
| ~~-~~ | ||||
| - | ||||
| When due (optional) |
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Signed by one or two trustees on behalf of all the trustees
| Signature | Print Name Rachel Shatliff |
Date of approval |
| 28th April 2024 | ||
CHARITY COMMISSION FOR ENGLAND AND WALES Independent examiner's report on the accounts Section A Independent Èxaminer's Iteport Report to the trusteesl members of East Lancashire D('S Syndrome Support Group On accounts for the year ended 31112123 Charlty no (Jf any) 11497gJ S•t out on pagos I F)rt to tnè trLlStees on my examindtion of the acG)iiriL? ¥Jf abov# charity ("thca Trust") for the year ended 3111212023. Rèsponslbilities and As the ¢hanty' trustees of ihe Trus( you are rpsFonsible 'lor &r.'e #réparw>rypl basls of report of tr.e accounts in accordance with the reqU1MenL¢ of tfr•e Ctria.: 2011 (°trie Act"). I repor.1 in respect of my examination of the Trusys acrJ)LJnts carried out under section 145 of the 2011 Act and in carying out my examination, I have followed the applicable Directions given by the Charity Commission under seclion 145(5}(b) of the Act. I have completed my examination. l ¢onfimi that no material matters have come to my attention (other than that disdosed below ') in connection with the examination which gives me cause to believe that in. any material Independent examinerfs statemènt accounting records were not kept in accordance with section 130 of the Act or Ihe accounts do not accord with the ac£ounting records I have no ncernS arKI have come acmss no other matters in connection th the examination to which attention should be drawn in order to anable a proper understsnding of the accounts to be reached. se rds in the brackets rf they do not apply. Slgned.. •P Name: Relevant professlonal qualificatlon{s) or body (rfany}: Address: I IH(Nl 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 .
2
October 2018
IER