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← Monty's Community Hub

2024-12-31-accounts

MONTY’S COMMUNITY HUB 59 Montague Avenue, Southampton, SO19 0QB // www.montys.org.uk — Registered Charity No. 1155649 — oe ANNUAL REPORT — 2024 —

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MONTY’S // WHO WE ARE

Monty’s Community Hub is a grassroots ‘community development’ charity, based at the heart of

our neighbourhood on the edge of Southampton. Our vision is to enable the personal, social and spiritual growth of local residents; in partnership with the local community; so we can all enjoy abundant life within a flourishing neighbourhood. With the support of our wonderful trustees and staff, our volunteers organise numerous groups and activities that are developed in response to needs and opportunities in our local community.

Based in a shop unit within a parade at the heart of our estate, Monty’s started life when statutory funding for the local youth centre was withdrawn in 2013. This loss hit particularly hard locally, as our neighbourhood is an area of significant deprivation; according to the Office for National Statistics we are within the 15% most deprived areas in the UK (including an area in the lowest 7% for health and employment, the lowest 3% for education and income, and the lowest 1% for crime). Located on the edge of the city, our neighbourhood is isolated from adjoining areas, yet has little community provision of its own; there are few play facilities or community spaces, the local church closed down at the turn of the century, and in 2013 our youth centre faced imminent closure following cuts to statutory services. In response to this closure, a group of volunteers from the local church and community felt so strongly about this loss that—with the support of local churches, schools and the city council—they took on responsibility for the centre. We reimagined the old Montague Avenue youth centre as a ‘community hub’ open to people of all ages, and registered as a Charitable Incorporated Organisation in 2014 under the name ‘Monty’s Community Hub’.

These days Monty’s is a thriving hub at the heart of our community – drawing together people of all different social, religious and ethnic backgrounds, and many with complex social and additional educational needs, to seek transformation in our community. Supported by our committed trustees, the day-to-day running of Monty’s is overseen by our small team of staff and our growing team of volunteers from the local community. Monty’s is an inclusive hub open to the whole community; regularly welcoming hundreds of different people into our groups, activities and events. Through it all, we aim to help local residents come together to recognise and respond to their own needs and aspirations, and to take positive action to bring about transformation in our community.

Our Board of Trustees are committed to the effective management of the charity, including the ongoing maintenance and implementation of Safeguarding, Equality, Health & Safety, Financial and other appropriate policies. Meeting at least quarterly, our board of trustees includes:

Our values are an expression of what we believe, and underpin everything we do. Inspired by Jesus, we are committed to being: COMMUNITY-ROOTED (based in our community, encouraging positive involvement within the community, and contributing to good relationships in all we do); OPEN & INCLUSIVE (actively promoting equality of opportunity, challenging discrimination, and

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celebrating diversity); COMPASSIONATE & OPEN TO GOD (being open and honest in all our relationships, caring and loving as Jesus did and still does today); GENEROUS & LIFE-AFFIRMING (equipping and enabling people to live fulfilling lives, recognising and developing their own potential).

MONTY’S COMMUNITY HUB // WHAT WE DID IN 2024

We’re pleased to report that over the past year - a year characterised nationally by the political change, international unrest, and race riots, Monty’s has continued to grow, adapt to our evolving social context, and remain bold, creative and curious in our approach to bringing flourishing to our neighbourhood. For Monty’s, 2024 was also a year of experimenting with new opportunities and projects, increased capacity to resource Adult sessions, and welcoming many new participants, service users and volunteers to our Monty’s family.

One of our focuses across 2024 has been Adult Wellbeing. We recognise that at Monty’s we are not mental health specialists - but one of our real strengths lies in our ability to offer very holistic and tailored support to individuals. Our weekly ‘Pantry Drop In’ session has become a really important session for meeting new people, people making their first ask for help, and for us to listen and understand what challenges people are facing locally, and what ideas they have for addressing these challenges. During this session, people can access free food (would-be waste food collected from local shops) and receive help and support across a myriad of ‘life admin’ tasks,

including applying for benefits, opening bank accounts, managing finances and more. Our newly appointed Adults and Community Coordinator has done a brilliant job of building up a committed, skilled and knowledgeable volunteer team, who are able to give personalised and 1:1 support to people, or signpost them to more specialist organisations. We are often able to offer support which people are unable to get elsewhere, and have built strong

working relationships with our local councillors, other local charities and specialist services, enhancing the support we are able to offer. One participant said “I can’t believe how much Monty’s has helped me. My son has been caring for me for 5 years and applying for caring allowance has always been far too overwhelming. Because of the help Monty’s gave, and because they were so kind and non-judgemental, we’ve got our benefits sorted and it’s made a huge difference to our family.”

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Through conversations with local people - often during our Pantry Drop In Session and Community lunch, we also identified interest locally in more social spaces for adults. Thus, our Adult Craft session was born - a volunteer / participant led group where adults bring a creative project to do in company with others. This has become a beautifully multi-generational space, (often with an age range of 24 - 82!) and of course the crafting is only part of it - the real magic is happening as people get to know each other, build friendships, and begin to mutually support one another. We have also continued with hosting a range of ‘Friday NIght Socials’, including bingo, Quiz Nights, Games evenings and more. These provide local adults with very affordable evenings out - a much needed Oasis for many who can be extremely isolated. One of our volunteers also offered her expertise to run a Eco-Cleaning Workshop - a brilliant evening of making eco-friendly cleaning products. It was great to open up conversations around the environmental impact of some products, and be able to provide people with and affordable, effective and much greener alternative - and there’s an appetite for more similar sessions in 2025. This increase in Adult sessions, and our ability to try out and experiment with new sessions and workshops is largely made possible by adding a new role to our staff team: Adults and Communities Coordinator, and investing in this role has ensured we are building relationships and engaging with some of the most complex and at risk adults locally. In 2024 we also joined the Safe Space Initiative and joined the Breastfeeding Friendly Network.

We were very excited in early 2024 to be granted permission from the local council to take over a small patch of grass just outside Monty’s, to turn into a Community garden. After an amazing community effort to build and fill the raised bed, we’ve been able to involve local adults, young people and families in planting, growing and harvesting food, which can then be used in our weekly community lunches, which feed

around 45 people every week, or shared out among the community. Our first harvest was modest, but people have caught the vision, and we’re excited for more Community Garden Social work days, family plant outs and growing more nutritious food in 2025.

Monty’s has always had a passion for ‘Out of Comfort Zone Experiences’ - recognising the value of the new, and slightly beyond our comfort in building resilience, growing confidence and self esteem. Over the years, our ‘Out of Comfort ZOne’ activities have mainly been for young people - but 2024 saw our first Adult Out of Comfort Zone Experience, a Summer Solstice Kayak trip, followed by some Solstice themed reflections, nature art and a picnic brunch. Several adults kayaked for the first time in their lives, and it was amazing to see people

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trying, persevering, succeeding, and most of all enjoying a physical activity, enjoying being in nature.

Our children and youth groups have continued to develop, grow and provide vital support to local children, young people and parents. Our numbers across all four weekly open access groups are now back to their pre-Covid levels, and over 2024 we have had a particular focus on upskilling our volunteers, building the team and scrutinising and improving our youth work practice in order to ensure our youth groups are open and inclusive to all young people, particularly those with additional needs and disabilities. One of our local contacts gifted us a free SEND consultation, form which we were able to identify and improve several areas in order to increase our inclusivity. We have provided Behaviour Management and SEND training sessions for staff and volunteers, and held informal and formal consultations with young people and parents to continue improving our ’ practice. One of our volunteers gifted her skills and experience to create a Monty s Social Story, now available on our website.

During the summer of 2024, we experimented with taking our Kids’ groups outside, meeting weekly on our local rec, for sports, frisbee, group games, card games and the much favoured stomp rocket! Moving the group outside for the summer term had several important benefits: many of our children with additional needs found the open space a such easier environment, kids played more active games and moved more, and we were able to meet with local families and children who hadn’t previously come to Monty’s. These rec based sessions also

complemented a piece of co-design research we were involved with around Girls’ use of park spaces, what barriers they face to using parks and what they would like to see in the park. We are continuing this research into 2025 and planning to involve some of the older girls’ in writing funding bis to resource the change they want to see.

Some other highlights of our kids and youth work in 2024 included numerous outdoor adventures, go-karting, archery, trips to local nature spots, beach BBQs, fire pit evenings, and of course, our annual camping trip - 2024 saw our highest ever number of young people attending, and as in previous years, for many it was their first experience of camping.

2024 also saw the launch of our partnership with the Duke of Edinburgh scheme, and our first cohort

of young people embarking on their Bronze Awards. DofE aligns very well with our values and compliments our other youth provision, and young leader volunteering opportunities. However,

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one challenge we have found is that the young people we work with - many of whom have SEND, face multiple disadvantages and have significant gaps in their life skills learning - need significant scaffolding in order to meet the DofE requirements, which in turn takes a large amount of staff time. We are really keen to continue running DofE and hoping to use funding to support our Children and Youth Coordinator to ensure DofE is accessible to those most vulnerable young people.

2024 also saw a 4 week Young Adult’s money programme. This proved popular, with around 15 young people accessing some or all of the sessions, learning different aspects of money management, financial literacy, and budgeting skills.

We have also developed two new faith-based sessions across 2024: Going Deeper, a fortnightly bible study group for adults, and Midday prayers, a weekly space for quiet prayer, liturgy and reflection. Both of these sessions are volunteer-led and have grown out of local people identifying a need or opportunity, and MOnty’s then supporting these ideas to turn into reality. These new sessions complement our other faith based sessions: Sunday Lunch Church, Wonder & Wander, Monday Night Youth and Seasonal Reflections.

Our staff team continues to grow, and in 2024 we have had two main focuses for our staff: continuing to support, train, manage and upskill our ever growing team of volunteers, who now number over 60 and volunteers in a huge variety of roles; developing and growing in our inclusivity towards people with SEND and the hardest to reach people, ensuing we are engaging with everyone in our community and in particular people with complex and multiple disadvantages.

We have also created a short video to give you another window into our work - do take a look by clicking on the link!

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MONTY’S BIKE HUB // WHAT WE DID IN 2024

At the Bike Hub we also continue to engage well with adults in the community, and use bikes and cycling to support local people in making friendships and connections. Many of our adults cross over from community hub activities as well. Our Adult Social rides continue even throughout the winter with around 20 regular participants and our adult bike workshop also

continues to be busy. Many participants begin to consider getting more involved and continue their journey with us to becoming volunteers which is always exciting. We also have supported older adults through our ‘Cycling without Age’ project. This volunteer led project involves volunteer ‘pilots’ taking our older people in our specially designed Trishaw. Many participants have loved experiencing the ‘wind in their hair’ once again which has supported their mental health.

We continue to engage with some of the most challenging young people in the city through our Alternative Provision sessions. Whilst this provides a regular income from schools it also enables us to help young people fulfil their potential in bike mechanic skills. We have worked with 5 secondary schools (including a pupil referral unit) and 3 primary schools this year which includes a new SEND primary school. At the

primary schools we have combined our cycle skills training alongside mechanics to engage young people in more broader ways and give them further physical skills enabling many to learn to ride for the first time. In addition to the schools we have continued regularly working with the Youth Justice Service based in the Council. We run weekly sessions with these young people and have seen really good engagement and skills learned. The partnership with the Youth Justice Service has also led to a joint bid to the National Lottery to deepen our partnership and continue to support our organisations. This has been particularly useful as we are regularly working with young people in our community who are involved in the criminal justice service.

Our drop in ‘youth bikes’ also continues to be well attended with 20 or so local young people popping in each Thursday to work on bikes with us.. We have a cohort of older young people / young adults / Some NEETS who volunteer and support the young children work on their bikes and engage well with customers buying bikes and bringing in bikes for repair. These young people have also started supporting our food pantry as well by doing regular food collections via cargo bike. This is a fantastic mutual opportunity for them to utulise their riding skills whilst providing a much needed service to the community. We also continued our after school Pump

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Track sessions enabling local young people to use our high end BMX bikes and get informal coaching from our team.

2024 saw our first Women’s Pump Track Session. Our Pump Track is an amazing local resource and is used heavily by children, young people and often Dads - but rarely Mums and women! By creating a Women’s only session, many women had their first try on their pump track, received expert tuition and again, were able to try a new form of physical activity. We’re hoping to be able to run more Women’s Only Pump Track

sessions in 2025, alongside our weekly Women’s Bike Ride, which continues to grow in numbers and the riders continue to grow in fitness and confidence.

We continue to keep busy during the school holidays and engage young people who often do not have many opportunities to do activities during this period. We have run multiple

successful Ditch the Stabilisers course, utilising a local leisure centre for some good indoor space. We also continue to run various led rides for different ages groups / abilities including family rides

to local country parks and longer adventure rides to places further afield. Our Pump Track sessions also continue and are very popular in the school holidays. We also deliver cycle skills sessions for Southampton City Councils Holidays & Food Program, these are free sessions for families on free school meals and we deliver these across the city getting loads of kids cycling for the first time and many more gaining confidence cycling as well.

As a social enterprise arm of the charity we continue to generate income through Bike Sales and repairs as well as contracts delivering Mobile BIke Dr Sessions and Bikeability cycle training sessions. All these activities have a social impact whilst also generating income. In 2024 we opened out new ‘show room’ to enable us to ‘show off’ our refurbished bikes for sale. Our Bikeability Cycle Training work continued with new instructors being trained from our volunteer community. It has been fantastic to see some of our volunteers journeys from barely being able to ride a bike to then becoming professional cycle instructors and gaining employment through this work. Around half our trade income comes from Alternative Provision, then another quarter from bike sales /

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workshop repairs and a quarter from Cycle Training and Bike Dr Contracts.

Our staffing has grown due to the growth of our income generating activities such as Bikeability and ALternative provision. In 2024 our Bike Hub Founder / Manager took a sabbatical for 3 months across the summer, this enable the team to step into more leadership roles and also give the organisation a chance to understand the impact of a founder moving on, this is something that we see as very important for the organisation to be sustainable in the long term. The team did a fantastic job at delivering a full summer schedule of activities.

MONTY’S // LOOKING AHEAD

As we look ahead to the coming year, we’re confident it will include all sorts of exciting opportunities, along with a variety of unexpected challenges. Year on year we are both connecting with more people in our local area, and also connecting in a deeper way with those who are part of our community, and we’re excited about what next year will bring. We continue to be committed to authentic, impactful and grassroots co-design and community development, and we look forward to gathering people together to design and deliver

new groups and sessions, sustain and develop existing groups and discover new ways of meaningfully involving everyone in our local community.

We hope the coming year will enable us to develop creative community responses to issues around financial resilience, NEET young people, physical health, and mental wellbeing, as well as providing more multi-generational and whole family spaces. Family physical activity sessions, more detached work and increased presence in our local recreation ground all feel like exciting possibilities in our community. In addition, we will carry out a range of workshops, consultation events and

community engagement in order to inform the writing of our new 5 year strategy, which will help set our priorities and focus for the next chapter.

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One of Monty’s greatest strengths remains our ability to respond to future challenges flexibly and collaboratively. Whatever the next year brings, we are well placed - as a locally-rooted community development charity, to work alongside local neighbours to identify local needs and opportunities, and work towards flourishing in our local community.

This report dated: 29th Aug 2025

Anna Jacklin

co-CEO and Community Hub Manager

Josh Allen

co-CEO and Bike Hub Manager

on behalf of the Trustees

William Kennedy Chair of Trustees, Monty’s Community Hub

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Monty's Community Hub

Balance Sheet detailed

As at
31/12/2024
As at
31/12/2023
Fixed assets
FA05: Vehicles
Current assets
CAFCURRENT: Cash at Bank
CAFDEPOSIT: Deposit account
Z05: Accounts Receivable
Liabilities
Z04: Accounts Payable
Z15: Payroll Creditors - HMRC
Z16: Payroll Creditors - Pension
Reserves
Excess/(deficit) to date
Starting balance		 Total Fixed assets
Total Current assets
Total Liabilities
Net Asset surplus (deficit)
Total Reserves		 2,435
3,099
2,435
3,099
27,357
26,695
91,212
113,770
2,752
4,473
121,321
144,938
856
476
2,162
1,653
848
660
3,866
2,790
119,890
145,247
(25,358)
9,696
145,247
135,551
119,890
145,247
Represented by Funds
General (Unrestricted)
38,435
37,184
Designated
23,955
63,064
Restricted
57,500
45,000
Total
119,890
145,247

(1 September 2025 6:03 pm) Page 1 of 1

Monty's Community Hub

Analysis of income and expenditure Selected period: 01 January 2024 to 31 December 2024

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Total
General Designated Restricted This year Last year
Incoming resources
Incoming resources from generated funds
INTEREST - Bank Interest 2,500 - - 2,500 2,244
CHURCH - Church 5,000 - - 5,000 -
GRANTS - Grants 37,705 30,000 2,500 70,205 120,944
NSDONATION - Non Specific donations & collections 5,117 - - 5,117 5,057
Grant Funded Cycling Activities - 20,821 - 20,821 44,719
Incoming resources from generated funds Totals 50,322 50,821 2,500 103,643 172,964
Incoming resources from charitable activities
Bike Sales - Bike Retail Sales - 16,714 - 16,714 17,131
Bike hub contracts - 41,450 - 41,450 32,907
CLUBS - Clubs & Events 175 - - 175 68
VENUE - Venue Hire 384 - - 384 44
OI - Other Income 116 - - 116 40
Incoming resources from charitable activities Totals 675 58,164 - 58,839 50,190
Incoming resources Grand totals 50,997 108,985 2,500 162,482 223,154
Resources used
Charitable activities
0101 - Project & Programmes 5,874 55 - 5,929 9,924
0111 - Staff & Volunteers - 64,427 - 64,427 42,267
0120 - Building & Facilities 12,508 9,671 - 22,179 21,756
0125 - Office Costs 2,764 386 - 3,150 2,515
Bike Sales - 21,961 - 21,961 30,295
Grant Funded Cycling Activities - 18,959 - 18,959 23,641
Bike Contracts - 49,840 - 49,840 81,733
Charitable activities Totals 21,146 165,299 - 186,445 212,131
Governance costs
0110 - TRG and Governance - - - - 324
Governance costs Totals - - - - 324
Other resources used
0140 - Church 1,397 1,397 1,003
Other resources used Totals 1,397 - - 1,397 1,003
Resources used Grand totals 22,543 165,299 - 187,842 213,458
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Monty's Community Hub Sofa Separate Designated

For the period from 01 January 2024 to 31 December 2024

Unrestricted Designated Restricted Total Prior year
funds funds funds funds total funds
Total income 36,022 123,961 2,500 162,482 223,153
Total expenditure 22,785 165,055 - 187,840 213,457
Net income / (expenditure) resources before transfer 13,237 (41,095) 2,500 (25,358) 9,696
Transfers:
Gross transfers between funds - in 5,458 90,064 10,000 105,522 68,218
Gross transfers between funds - out (17,443) (88,078) - (105,522) (68,218)
Other recognised gains / losses
Gains/losses on investment assets - - - - -
Gains on revaluation,fixed assets,charity's own use - - - - -
Net movement in funds 1,252 (39,109) 12,500 (25,358) 9,696
Reconciliation of funds
Total funds brought forward 37,184 63,064 45,000 145,247 135,551
Total funds carried forward 38,435 23,955 57,500 119,890 145,247
Represented by
Unrestricted
General fund 38,435 - - 38,435 37,184
Designated
Church - 6,477 - 6,477 4,032
General Fund - Bike Hub - 3,534 - 3,534 26,956
HIWCF Including Communities (youth) - 9,976 - 9,976 -
Seedbed - 1,436 - 1,436 1,436
Staff Fund, Cummunity Hub - 2,531 - 2,531 25,181
Youth Development lottery - - - - 5,458
Restricted
Hubbub - - 2,500 2,500 -
Reserves - - 55,000 55,000 45,000

(1 September 2025 6:00 pm) Page 1 of 2

There may be minor discrepancies in the totals if the pence are not being shown

(1 September 2025 6:00 pm) Page 2 of 2

Monty’s Community Hub

Treasurer’s report as at 31[st] December 2024.

It’s disappointing to report a deficit of £25k for the year. Although costs showed only a modest increase of only £4k (after adjusting for the exceptional final payment £30k of the pump track in 2023) the difference arises from reduced income affecting both our grant funded activities and the bike hub’s commercial income, particularly, retail sales. Robust measures are in place to ensure costs are covered by income in the future and are showing an improvement in subsequent periods.

In line with increasing on-going costs the trustees reviewed and increased reserves which now stand at £55k out of total funds of a satisfactory £120k.

Accounting policies:

The charity moved to the accruals method of accounting in 2022 so these accounts continue to be drawn up on that basis.

Individual Policies:

Land and buildings – not depreciated.

Other furniture and equipment – 5 years

Conclusion:

It is the opinion of the Treasurer that the financial position of the charity will support its current activities.

Report dated:

Mark Allen

Treasurer

CHARITY COMMISSION FOR ENGLAND AND WALES Independent examinerfs report on the accounts Section A Independent Examiner's Report Report to the trustees Monty's Community Hub On accounts for the year ended 3151 De￿mber 2024 Charity no (rf any) 1155649 Set out on pages This Page & Page 2 -0 .,r.￿lUde the p8ge ii umbers of atsditional sh*ls,' I report to the trustees on my examination of the accounts of the above charity ('the Trusf) for the year ended 3111212024. Responsibilities and basis of report As the charity's trustees, you are responsible for the preparation of the accounts in accordance with the requirements of the Charities Act 2011 (￿he Acf). 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 all the applicable Directions given by the Charity Commission under section 145(5)(b) of the Act. Independent I have completed my examination. I confinn that no material matters have examiner's statement come to my attention in connection wÈth the examination which gives me cause to believe that in, any material respect.. the accounting records were not kept in accordan￿ wrth section 130 of the Chartties Act; or the accounts did not accord with the accounting records,. or the accounts did not comply with the applicable requirements con￿MIng the fomi and content of accounts set out in the Charities (Accounts and Reports) Regulations 2008 other than any requirement that the accounts give a 'true and fairf view which is not a matter considered as part of an independent examination. I have no cOn￿mS and have come across no other matters in connection with the examination to which attention should be drawn in this report in order to enable a proper understanding of the accounts to be reached. Signed: Date: 0611012025 Name: Andrew Black Relevant professional qualification(s) or body (il any): Chartered Accountant (ICAS Member 14601) Address: Glen Eyre Brickyard Road IER Oct 2018

Swanmore S032 2PJ Section B Disclosure Only complete rf the examiner needs to highlight material matters of con￿rn (see CC32, Independent examination of charty accounts.. directions and guidance for examiners). Give here brief details of any items that the examiner wishes to disclose. IER Oct 2018