2022-03-31-accounts

The Recovery Tree

Charity Annual Report April 2021 to March 2022

We help people with a mental health condition to lead fulfilling and satisfying lives.

The Olive Tree Café offers people positive, work -related opportunities in a café open to the public in order to take them a step nearer the world of work. TWIGS is a community garden where people can regain confidence and self-esteem through learning new skills and participating in therapeutic activities. And the Pinecones Partnership offers a variety of inclusive activities related to cooking and crafts.

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Our Mission

We help people with a mental health condition to lead fulfilling and satisfying lives. We like to think that our presence, our pride in who we are, and what we do, will mean we are doing our part to reduce the stigma of mental illness.

We offer a mix of time-limited placements and longer term volunteering opportunities for people who have mental health support needs. At TWIGS people

can be referred (or self-refer) to us for a placement in therapeutic horticulture and related activities. Some also volunteer with us for longer periods. At the Olive Tree Café, we have a flexible range of volunteering opportunities and occasional part time employment. Younger people can undertake work experience (including on the Duke of Edinburgh Award scheme) as part of their personal development. We help both people who need shorter term support, and also those whose mental wellbeing requires support over a longer period.

Olive Tree Café

At the start of the financial year, government Covid rules were relaxed and we could start to re-open. We needed increased staffing levels, and re-designed some posts so that we could operate safely. This provided some training and development opportunities for some of our people. Our levels of business have gradually risen, though they reduced again around Christmas with the temporary re-imposition of

restrictions. Some of our volunteers have become very anxious and have felt unable to return following their experience during the pandemic. Despite this, we have welcomed many new people. We have made the decision to remain closed on Mondays and to use this time to run a rolling programme of baking

and cookery training sessions with a

defined structure so that attendees can ‘complete a circuit’. We have re-designed one of our kitchens and now up to 8 people a week benefit. Ipsum continued to use our Garden Room for their Monday craft workshops, which is a great use of the space to benefit people who need mental health support.

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Next to the café garden we also have a large area that we have been reclaiming into a kitchen garden . We have approx. 15 raised beds (and space for more), a polytunnel, a meadow area and a pond, plus some established fruit trees and small woodland space too. A team of volunteers have been growing this space for 6 years.

As we have come out of the pandemic, and identified the need for more volunteer opportunities, we now have a staff member working 6 hours a week to help develop and offer further sessions. There is also extra learning and support available if necessary for new volunteers.

We are almost a year in and we can see a beautiful kitchen garden. Our team in the café can pop out to harvest crops and herbs. We have been able to send vegetables up to our lunch club, and place produce on our beautifully hand-made display in the cafe.

The kitchen garden volunteers now have wider connections as they know the teams in the café, and of course our customers.

We would like to try some more shared learning/cooking/making. We have run some successful salad sessions, and can see the potential for more- from stir fries to beetroot cake. As the cafe is open 7 days a week there is potential to connect with other parts of the community and there is easy access to ’pop in and do a bit’. We will explore these flexible volunteering arrangements and try to develop the potential for more responsibility and further sessions.

4 people have moved on from TWIGS to join the team, and other volunteers have joined up along the way. We now have 12 volunteers regularly coming in.

During the year, we have supported 136 people with employment or volunteering at the Café. Of these, 22 have left us (excluding those unable to return post-covid). Figure 1 below summarises what they have gone on to do with their lives: 68% moved on to employment, education or further volunteering.

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Figure 1: Destinations of leavers from the Olive Tree Café, 2021-22

We continued to be active in the Pinecones Partnership at the Pinetrees Community Centre. Our craft sessions on Wednesdays have been well-attended and reduced social isolation for up to 25 people each week. Our bread making became established there with a group of 4 bakers and we offered a popular soup-and-a-roll deal on Wednesdays. We ran a Thursday lunch club, helping the social mixing of 20 – 30 local residents and providing therapeutic activity for 4 – 6 of our volunteers and staff. We are establishing a programme of community activities for a mobile pizza oven recently purchased by Central Swindon North Parish Council. This will both provide therapeutic activity for some of our people and also a good focus for community events in the neighbourhood.

TWIGS

Our gardening sessions were re-started after lockdown in March 2021, initially in half size groups with most people attending fortnightly with their placements extended to adjust for lost sessions. We tracked evolving national guidelines on Covid-19 safety, and by the end of the year sessions were back up to full size again. Referral rates are now higher than they were before the lockdowns started.

Two staff completed training on the Social Farms & Gardens ‘Gardeniser’ course. Our Essential Garden Skills course restarted in March with 9 people graduating. In November, we delivered it at Root & Branch, a horticultural therapy service in South Oxfordshire. The course is valued by the trainees: 'The course helped build my self-confidence returning to a classroom like environment. I enjoyed connecting with other people and the mix of practical and study time. It is an ideal stepping stone to learn further skills / courses.'

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'The course has opened my eyes to so much and has helped me to become a much better gardener'.

We re-opened the gardens to the public again in April and re-started our programme of open days in May. We held an Apple Day in October, a Wassail in January and a Snowdrop Day in February. Zurich organised a Twinkly Gardens event in December. These are good ways to reach new members of the public, to promote the benefits of good mental health and to help diversify our income.

We continued monthly visits to Marlborough House to help the OT team deliver gardening sessions. We continued giving talks to interested parties, including Haydon Wick Parish Council, the Royal Wootton Bassett Flower Club and the Old Town Belles Women’s Institute.

We have been running regular Art Therapy sessions , delivered by our assistant manager and open also to clients of Mind.

We have been developing our provision for

young people . We have delivered two days for the Youth Adventure Trust. In April, 10 young people made wooden herb planters and pizzas and soup: and in October, 11 young people enjoyed pumpkin carving , soup making , willow coppicing and wreath making, with a delicious pumpkin cake baked by the Olive Tree Café on our allotment site. The National Citizenship Scheme fielded a team of

19 young people who built a new wildlife pond on The Haven. We had a placement from Inner Flame for a week, and a young lad attending Friday mornings from Uplands School for temporary work experience.

Over the summer, 5 service users in the 16 – 24 age group on the autism spectrum formed a ‘Living with autism’ peer support group. After 4 meetings with staff support, they decided they would like to self-organise it. The group helps people to forge friendships, express their thoughts and feelings in a safe environment and aims to become a peer led group following on from TWIGS.

In November, we hosted garden tours for a group of special needs children from Churchward Garden School, and two groups of 30 from Moredon Primary School.

During the year, we have supported 105 people. Of these, 43 have left us. Figure 2 below summarises what they have gone on to do with their lives.

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Figure 2: Destinations of leavers from TWIGS, 2021-22

Numbers of independent volunteers remain high at 49. 15 are former service users, who help deliver the service. We encourage them to use their lived experience to support current service users. Two former service users act as “Twigs Ambassador”, helping promote the service to visitors.

Our Wild and Wonderful group (producing cut flowers largely on the allotment site) is organised by volunteers and also includes former service users. Our volunteers produced about 50 Christmas wreaths whose sale raised around £1,500.

97% of service users report receiving good or excellent service. 93% report that being at TWIGS has given them new knowledge or skills. 76% report being able to function more independently, with 68% saying they needed less help from the NHS. 65% of our leavers moved on to employment, education or further volunteering, or completed their recovery plan.

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Message from the Trustees

We are pleased to be able to get back to more normal service provision, although during the year we were affected by covid-related staffing shortages and restrictions on our operations. We conducted a governance review (supported by the Zurich Community Trust and Digi-board) and are developing a 3 year business plan which will include more robust people planning, more organised and diversified fundraising and improved communications with our stakeholders and the community. Across our projects, we estimate that volunteers have contributed over 18,000 hours during the year.

We would also like to thank our many generous funders who have provided grants to help us adapt and continue to support people’s mental health and wellbeing. We were delighted to receive an award from the National Lottery Community Fund for £88,000 for 3 years. Other funders include: the Julia and Hans Rausing Trust, the Zurich Community Trust, Friends of Twigs, Sarah Raven, the John Lewis Foundation, the Wiltshire Community Foundation and the Florence Cohen Charitabe Trust. A fuller list is provided in our accounts on page 12.

The year in numbers

Income £438,137 Expenditure £449,727 Total people helped: 241 Staff 2 full time 30 part time Volunteers: 123 Balance at year end £148,725 (was £160,315 at 31[st] March 2021)

Our Trustees

Dick Millard: Chair, Gillian Barber, Jo Ridley, Karen Hunt and Kenny Baxter.

The Recovery Tree Charity is

 a registered charity (1149848)

 a company limited by guarantee (08091204).

Manor Garden Centre, Cheney Manor Industrial Estate, Swindon, SN2 2QJ.

email: [e-mail] Web: www.therecoverytreecharity.org.uk/ Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100082394996111

Dick Millard Date: 2[nd] August 2022 Chair

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Report and Financial Statements

The Recovery Tree Charity

1[st] April 2021 to 31[st] March 2022

Administrative Information

The Recovery Tree Charity is responsible for both the Olive Tree Café and TWIGS. It is a registered charity (Charity Commission registration number: 1149848) and a company limited by guarantee (Companies house registration number: 08091204). Its principal office and its registered address is Manor Garden Centre, Cheney Manor Industrial Estate, Swindon, SN2 2QJ.

At the start of the year, there were four trustees and directors: Dick Millard (Chair), Gillian Barber (Secretary), Jo Ridley and Karen Hunt. During the year, we appointed Kenny Baxter as a trustee thus ending the year with five.

Governance and Management

Trustees meetings are currently held usually more frequently than once a month, at which decisions are taken and minuted. The trustees have delegated the day to day running of the Olive Tree Café to a manager, Phyllida Richards; and of the TWIGS service to a manager, Alan Holland. The managers provide monthly reports to the trustees to aid decision making and prioritisation.

The trustees have reviewed the guidance on public benefit published by the Charity Commission, and have taken due regard to it in exercising their powers and duties.

Review of financial results and future developments

Our service provision has continued to be greatly affected by the Covid-19 pandemic: many service users and volunteers were reluctant to come back to us after lockdowns ended. Numbers, and referral rates, have now increased again, representing considerable need in the community we serve.

Throughout the year we applied for publicly available government grants, and for charitable grants. Thanks to the generosity of our many funders, we have ended the year in a sound financial position, although with slightly reduced reserves compared with last year. Our major funders are listed in the notes to the accounts on page 12.

At TWIGS, we successfully bid for a re-award of our contract with Swindon Borough Council (SBC): this runs for three years from 1 July 2021 and is extendable to 5 years. We intend to continue to apply for grants to meet therapeutic costs at the Olive Tree Café and the additional capacity we provide at TWIGS over and above the Council contract.

Reserves policy and annual review statement

The Recovery Tree is a charitable organisation and as such depends on its income from varying sources. For the Olive Tree Café and Pinecones this is from the sales of food and drinks, supplemented by income it also receives from donations and grants, and miscellaneous fund raising. For Twigs we have a 3 year contract with SBC (extendable to 5 years), plus other grants and donations, supplemented by small amounts of income from plant sales and outreach work.

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The Cafés sales are variable, depending on the number of people purchasing food and drinks on any one day. The grants and donations are received on an ad hoc basis, although a degree of planning goes into grant applications.

It is therefore important that we have enough funds to keep running during lean times or when we are short of cash flow. A general reserve is required in order to continue providing the service, including paying staff wages and essential bills.

Our policy therefore is to keep, where possible, a minimum of 3 but not more than 6 months expenses as a general reserve.

It is our intention to build up the reserve from sales and fund-raising activities. We intend to review the Reserves Policy every year when completing current year’s budgets, to ensure that it remains relevant and financially correct.

Reserves Review July 2022

The unrestricted surplus at the end of March 2021 is £138,424. The expenses for the period April 2021 to March 2022 were £449,727. The unrestricted reserve provides us around 3.7 months running costs, which sits at the lower end of our policy of between 3 to 6 months running costs.

Our aim is to continue to maintain our Reserve position in line with our expenses to ensure a secure back up for any potential future problems, using income from sales and fund raising activities.

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Accounts for the period 1[st] April 2021 to 31[st] March 2022

THE RECOVERY TREE CHARITY Statement of Financial Activities for the year ended 31 March 2022

		Notes		Total thisyear		Previous Year
				£		£
Incoming resources
Grants and Donations		1		258603		382794
Fundraising activities				7116		9664
Sales-Income from activities in
furtherance of charitable objects				172418		32290
Total incoming resources				438137		424748
Resources expended
Materials				53690		14696
Salaries and staff costs		2,3		306798		270661
Direct Expenses		3		21893		16506
Overheads		3		65029		54830
Fundraising Costs				2317		1592
Total resources expended				449727		358285
Surplus/deficit				-11590		66463
Net movement in funds				-11590		66463
Fund balances brought forward				160315		93852
as at 1 April 2021
Fund balances carried forward
as at 31 March 2022				148725		160315

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		BALANCE SHEET AS AT 31/03/2022	BALANCE SHEET AS AT 31/03/2022	BALANCE SHEET AS AT 31/03/2022	BALANCE SHEET AS AT 31/03/2022	BALANCE SHEET AS AT 31/03/2022
			Notes		Total thisyear		Previous Year
					£		£
Fixed Assets					10301		8970
Tangible assets			6		10301		8970
Current Assets
Debtors and Prepayments			7		3581		2168
Stock					2474		1507
Cash at bank and in hand					227505		250002
					233560		253677
Short term creditors			8		95136		102332
Net current assets					138424		151345
Total assets less current liabilities					148725		160315
Net Assets					148725		160315
Capital and Reserves
Unrestricted Funds					148725		130315
Designated Funds					0		30000
Total Funds					148725		160315
 For theyear ending 31 March 2022the companywas entitled to exemption under section 477
	of the Companies Act 2006 relatingto small companies.
 The members have not required the companyto obtain an audit in accordance with
	section 476 of the Companies Act 2006
 The directors acknowledge their responsibilities for complyingwith the requirements of the Act
	with respect to accountingrecords and thepreparation of accounts.
 These accounts have beenprepared in accordance with theprovisions applicable to
	companies subject to the small companies regime.
Approved bythe board of Directors and signed on its behalf by
Dick Millard			Date: 2nd August 2022
Chairman

• The directors acknowledge their responsibilities for complying with the requirements of the Act with respect to accounting records and the preparation of accounts.

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		Notes to the accounts for theyear ended 31 March 2022	Notes to the accounts for theyear ended 31 March 2022	Notes to the accounts for theyear ended 31 March 2022	Notes to the accounts for theyear ended 31 March 2022	Notes to the accounts for theyear ended 31 March 2022
1		Grants and Donations Received
						The Olive Tree Café			Twigs		Total
							£		£		£
		Swindon Borough Council					8700		70000		78700
		Rausingtrust					19668		15000		34668
		Lottery grant					19842		2157		21999
		WCF support fund					20508				20508
		Zurich CommunityTrust					14497		1260		15757
		John lewis					4773		5385		10158
		Friends of Twigs					371		9476		9847
		Awards for all					9600				9600
		Job retention scheme					8342				8342
		Nationwide B S					6905				6905
		Sarah Raven							6000		6000
		Florence Cohen Charitabe Trust							4909		4909
		Omicron HospitalityGrant					2667				2667
		Sainsburys					2277				2277
		Co-op					2162				2162
		Cheshire CommintyFoundation					1153				1153
		Arnold Clark CommuntyFund					1000				1000
		Kickstartgrant					1000				1000
		Other					10538		9260		19798
							134003		123447		257450
2		Paid Employees
				The Olive Tree Café			Twigs		Total		Total
					thisyear		thisyear		thisyear		previous year
					£		£		£		£
		Gross wages and salaries			196553		79138		275691		247107
		Employer's N I costs			6633		4727		11360		9501
		Pension contributions			3540		2756		6296		5874
		Total staff costs			206726		86621		293347		262482
		Café	1 full time,26part time
		Twigs	1 full time,4part time
		There were no employees whose emoluments were over £50,000.
3		Analyses of resources expended
				The Olive Tree Café			Twigs		Total		Total
					thisyear		thisyear		thisyear		previous year
		Salaries and staff costs
					£		£		£		£
		Salaries			206726		86621		293347		262482
		Staff costs			3013		1432		4445		4864
		Contract staff			1311		7695		9006		3325
					211050		95748		306798		270671
		Direct Costs
					£		£		£		£
		Cleaning			8299		5571		13870		7750
		Equipment			1737		345		2082		6393
		Card Charges			1734		0		1734		1012
		Tableware/workwear			303		0		303		195
		Music Licence			151		0		151		531
		Volunteers training courses			2424		0		2424		0
		Volunteers Expenses			514		815		1329		625
					15162		6731		21893		16506
		Overheads
					£		£		£		£
		Rent			17560		0		17560		17561
		Gas			5293		0		5293		2062
		Electric			11948		4039		15987		6424
		Water			2564		1043		3607		2255
		Insurance			1580		862		2442		2209
		Telephone			1738		710		2448		1948
		Stationery			895		260		1155		428
		Repair/Maintenance			4879		2485		7364		14350
		Printing/Photocopy			666		379		1045		450
		Promotional			0		345		345		0
		Depreciation			2782		1174		3956		3033
		Auditors			156		157		313		323
		Vehicle costs			941		2164		3105		3383
		Misc			120		289		409		404
					51122		13907		65029		54830
4		Independent examiner's remuneration
		An accrual for £360 has been made for the costs of the Independent Examination

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		Notes to the accounts for theyear ended 31 March 2022	Notes to the accounts for theyear ended 31 March 2022	Notes to the accounts for theyear ended 31 March 2022	Notes to the accounts for theyear ended 31 March 2022	Notes to the accounts for theyear ended 31 March 2022
5		Trustees
		There has been no remuneration or other benefits paid to the charity's trustees or people connected with them.
		Number of trustees who werepaid expenses					0
		Total amountpaid					£0
6		Tangible Fixed Assets
		Fixed Assets are individual items costing over £200, and depreciated on a straight line basis over fouryears(25%per annum)
					thisyear		prevyr
					£		£
		Cost	B/fwd		68983		67904
			Additions		8366		1079
			Disposals		0		0
			C/fwd		77349		68983
		Depreciation	B/fwd		60013		53003
			C/fwd		67048		60013
		Net Book Value
			B/fwd		8970		14902
			C/fwd		10301		8970
7		Debtors due within oneyear
					thisyear		prevyr
					£		£
		Pre-payments			2223		2168
		Other Debtors			1358		0
					3581		2168
8		Creditors - falling due within oneyear
					thisyear		prevyr
					£		£
		Creditors			9911		3407
		Accruals			3360		850
		Deferred Income			81014		100920
		VAT			851		-2845
					95136		102332
9		Basis of accounting
		These accounts have beenprepare on the basis of historic cost in accordance with
		the Statement of Recommended Practice - Accountingand ReportingbyCharities and
		the Charities Act and
		the Companies Act 2006

		Notes to the accounts for theyear ended 31 March 2022	Notes to the accounts for theyear ended 31 March 2022	Notes to the accounts for theyear ended 31 March 2022	Notes to the accounts for theyear ended 31 March 2022	Notes to the accounts for theyear ended 31 March 2022
5		Trustees
		There has been no remuneration or other benefits paid to the charity's trustees or people connected with them.
		Number of trustees who werepaid expenses					0
		Total amountpaid					£0
6		Tangible Fixed Assets
		Fixed Assets are individual items costing over £200, and depreciated on a straight line basis over fouryears(25%per annum)
					thisyear		prevyr
					£		£
		Cost	B/fwd		68983		67904
			Additions		8366		1079
			Disposals		0		0
			C/fwd		77349		68983
		Depreciation	B/fwd		60013		53003
			C/fwd		67048		60013
		Net Book Value
			B/fwd		8970		14902
			C/fwd		10301		8970
7		Debtors due within oneyear
					thisyear		prevyr
					£		£
		Pre-payments			2223		2168
		Other Debtors			1358		0
					3581		2168
8		Creditors - falling due within oneyear
					thisyear		prevyr
					£		£
		Creditors			9911		3407
		Accruals			3360		850
		Deferred Income			81014		100920
		VAT			851		-2845
					95136		102332
9		Basis of accounting
		These accounts have beenprepare on the basis of historic cost in accordance with
		the Statement of Recommended Practice - Accountingand ReportingbyCharities and
		the Charities Act and
		the Companies Act 2006

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Report to the Trustees on the accounts for the financial year ending on 31 March 2022

Respective responsibilities of trustee and examiner

The Trustees responsibility for preparing the Trustees Annual Report and the financial Statements in accordance with applicable law and United Kingdom Accounting Standards (United Kingdom Generally Accepted Accounting Practice) are set out in the Statement of Trustees Responsibility in the body of the Trustees Report.

You consider that the audit requirement of Section 144 Charities Act 2011 does not apply.

It is my responsibility to state, on the basis of procedures specified in the General Directions given by the Charity Commissioners (under section 145 (5) (b) of the Act), whether particular matters have come to my attention

Basis of independent examiner’s statement

My examination was carried out in accordance with General Directions given by the Charity Commissioners. An examination includes the review of the accounting records kept by the charity and a comparison of the financial statements presented with these records. It also includes consideration of any unusual items or disclosures in the financial statements, and the seeking of explanations from you as trustees concerning any such matters. The procedures undertaken do not provide all the evidence that would be required in an audit, and consequently no opinion is given as to whether the financial statements present a true and fair view and the report is limited to those matters set out in the statement below.

Independent examiner’s statement

In connection with my examination, no matter has come to my attention

• 1) which gives me reasonable cause to believe that in any material respect the requirements

• to keep accounting records in accordance with section 130 of the Act And

• to prepare accounts which accord with the accounting records and comply with the accounting requirements of the Acts have not been met;

or

• 2) to which, in my opinion, attention should be drawn in order to enable a proper understanding of the financial statements to be reached.

C VAUGHAN

Chartered Accountant 195 Ermin Street Stratton St Margaret, Swindon SN3 4NA

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