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2021-03-31-accounts

Living Well Bromley Annual Report 2020-2021

Giving Hope

Living Well Bromley Annual Report 2020-2021 www.livingwell.life

Registered Charity 1157385

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About Us

Living Well Bromley is a caring community that aims to be a place where people feel respected, valued, accepted and loved. Our objective is to provide a safe and welcoming environment for vulnerable men and women, working with partners to support people with different needs, including poverty, social isolation, homelessness and mental health issues including addictions.

Our services are free to use and include a foodbank, a clothes bank, a weekly community meal, a community café, a community choir, community garden, counselling and mental health support, help with addictions and providing advice and support with benefits and housing.

Living Well Bromley serves the entire community and works with a number of diverse partners to ensure we reach as many people in need as possible, with all aspects of their lives taken into account (physical, emotional and spiritual).

This approach to the whole person is at the heart of our vision and values.

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Contents

Contents
About Us .............................................................. 2
Contents .............................................................. 3
A message from the Chair .................................. 4
Legal and Administrative Information ................. 7
Community after Covid ....................................... 8
Our Activities and what they mean to our guests 11
Partners and Supporters ..................................... 13
Structure, Governance and Management .......... 15
Financial Review for 1stApril 2020 – 31stMarch 2021 16
How You Can Help ............................................. 17
Appendix 1 – Accounts for year ended 31 March 2021 19

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A message from the Chair

Nick Read

Giving Hope

“Living Well means so much to me. It’s a place of safety and hope”

This is a statement from one of our guests and a sentiment that is expressed by many members of the Living Well Community (LWC) whether guests, volunteers, or staff.

When you face the daily grind of deprivation, along with the effects of social isolation you can so easily lose hope and feel nothing but despair. You tend to see no way out and you slip into depression, withdrawal, and mental illness. For many people they reach the point when they felt they haven’t anything left and choose to end their lives.

“I wouldn’t have survived without Living Well”

When you are fully engaged with a community like LW and steering your way through all the challenges that running such a diverse community presents, it is easy to lose sight of its unique approach as well as appreciate the difference it is having in people’s lives. So, it was encouraging to be able to sit down with a group of guests and get their take on the LWC. That’s why we are including snippets from our guests and volunteers throughout the annual report this year.

“Unless you have dealt with the dehumanisation of dealing with other agencies you cannot fully appreciate the difference LW makes. At LW there are people who are prepared to treat you as a human being again. LW shines out in the darkness for people in my position. If it hadn’t been for the help from Robyn and Simon (Advocacy) and Shirley (Counselling) I wouldn’t be around.”

This statement says so much about our whole-person approach which has been developed over the years where all the needs (emotional, physical, and spiritual) of an individual can be met under one roof in an integrated way. The effectiveness of any whole-person approach depends on how good the communication is across the organisation. Over the past year the board of trustees has worked hard at developing the overall vision of LW and has recruited new members to fill gaps in its skills base and has also co-opted guests to provide their unique take on the LWC. Rebecca and Simon, our two managers

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have been doing a lot with the team leaders in ensuring the smooth running of the organisation. We have also set up the ABC group in which members of the Art Therapy, Blend Choir and Counselling teams share good practice and develop the therapeutic model.

As I look back over the past year, I am amazed by what has been achieved through all the hard work and commitment of the volunteers and staff. I know it hasn’t been easy and for some it has been at great personal cost to keep going in the face of covid and all the uncertainty around the pandemic.

The thing that has kept many of our guests going and prevented them from falling over the edge are the relationships they have developed in the LW community. Yes, all the different services have been important, but the greatest gift we have given our guests is just being there - the warm welcome - the smiling face - that moment when they have been listened to, really listened to - when we have cried and laughed with them - celebrated the break throughs or just stayed with them in the struggle.

And you know, it’s not all one way. We all learn a lot from one another. This is what one of the volunteers said:

“I enjoy the fact that Living Well provides a space for people to talk freely and equally so that we all gain in our ability to see through experiences and eventually develop the ability to see positives in the way our experiences have shaped our lives. The continuity of seeing people regularly enables a trust to build and the ‘wholeness’ of concerns/ideas/feelings can be expressed with confidence.”

What is very special about the Living Well Community is that there are times when an outsider would find it hard to distinguish between our guests and volunteers. In fact, many of our guests really want to give something back and soon get involved in a whole variety of ways.

“I have a future to look forward to now, and I am thinking about finding work. I would also like to come back and volunteer at Living Well.”

It is an enormous privilege to be part of such a dynamic and caring community and we all feel richer for being part of it. It’s a place where Hope is restored and enlarged.

I do want to take this opportunity to thank everyone who makes the Living Well Community the unique place it is.

-to the staff, volunteers and trustees who give so much of their time and expertise.

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If this is the first time you have read about the Living Well Community, I would like to invite you to become a Hope Giver. You can read more about this at the end of the report.

Finally, I want to thank our guests who teach us so much about what is really important in life and what it means to be fully human. So, I am going to finish where I began with a quote from one of our guests:

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Legal and Administrative Information

Trustees

Treasurer

Will Skinner

Registered Office

66 Lennard Road Penge London SE20 7LX

Registered Charity Number: 1157385

Independent Examiner Tony Catherall

Email: hello@livingwell.life

Telephone: 020 87787258

Website: www.livingwell.life

Twitter: @LWBromley

Instagram : Livingwellbromley

Facebook : Livingwellbromleyfoodbank

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Community after Covid

Like so many people we were delighted when social distancing measures were relaxed and we were able to open our community café, The Well, offering the opportunity for people to meet, have a hot drink, snack and socialise with others.

We started small with tables and chairs outside on fine days and then, with the support from a £2000 memorial donation and our crowdfunding campaign, we built and equipped our café servery in the hall of Holy Trinity Church. We can now be open in all weathers and are particularly popular on Saturday mornings when bacon and sausage sandwiches are on offer.

The Well gives us the chance to build and grow relationships, thereby identifying any further services that may be of benefit and helping to reduce the effects of social isolation.

We are very thankful to Innocent Smoothies Brand and Portfolio team for their pro bono support in designing our new logo for The Well Café and our display

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banner outside Holy Trinity. We are looking forward to working with them again as we review our branding for the whole organisation.

We also held our first Plant Sale in April which gave us the opportunity to introduce the Living Well and local communities to the Community Garden at Holy Trinity Church. This is a beautiful, calm and spiritual space for all to enjoy, and is lovingly maintained by a handful of volunteers. The Plant sale was a fantastic success as everyone welcomed the opportunity to mix safely outside, buy colourful and unusual plants as well as enjoy homemade cakes and a cup of tea to the sound of our Musical Director, Kerst playing the piano. It also raised an amazing £1,066 so thankyou to everyone who attended, donated plants, cakes and helped on the day. By popular demand, this is going to be an annual event!

During the past year we have continued to adapt our services to meet the changing demands of the covid pandemic. Despite these challenges the Living Well Community has continued to grow in number as well as in the services we provide.

Our community includes our staff, volunteers, guests, residents, businesses, and the church family of Holy Trinity with St John’s Penge. We also have a close working relationship with our local police, councilors and MP supporting the vulnerable in our community.

We have many past and present guests who are actively volunteering their time at Living Well, working in our food bank, community café and advocacy services. Their motivation for this is to ‘give back’ something for the support they have received and for the feeling of belonging. Following a recent feedback session with some guests we asked the question “Why do you come to Living Well?”

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“Community spirit. Not being isolated and knowing other people are going through the same thing.”

“Feeling of worth when you are here. Makes you think about what is going on. Opened my eyes to what is going on and who needs support. No one is moralised and everyone is accepted. Before I came to Living Well, I was sent all over the place but found help at LW all under one roof. Everyone is kind and genuine and that is very rare and lots of people lose trust. Relieve stress and pressure off your shoulders. Someone is with you.”

As we look to the future, we hope to continue to grow our community by expanding our café beyond food bank sessions for the benefit of local residents and users of the church facilities. We also hope to introduce art café sessions to showcase the benefits of art as a means of expression for those struggling with mental health difficulties or social isolation.

We are also proud that we have been able to move our take-away lunches to plastic free! Previously we were handing out over 100 plastic food boxes each week but now our food is served in biodegradable packaging and cutlery. We will continue to look at how we can improve our carbon footprint.

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Our Activities and what they mean to our guests

Advocacy – Our Advocacy services offer help and support with homelessness, housing, benefits and council tax disputes. Our advocacy service was accredited with the Advice Quality Standard in July 2020 at Advice Only level.

“ I just wanted to say thank you so much. The respect I have for you is paramount. You've shown me more compassion in a few days than people who knew me for years and I appreciate your heart. The fact that you don't even do this for money is even more amazing. You are a good person and a very educated, wise person. None of what you said to me was waffle. I took all the information and it helped ignite the flame in my soul. I remember you told me that you feel like I'm not doing anything because I feel someone is telling me not to. Well they did. Through their words and actions. I've been beaten down physically and mentally but that light in me still remained and I came to you. I know now it's for a reason and it's made me better and more in tune with myself.... You checked up on me when it was cold and even helped build that warm place. You're not even related to me and have done more than my own family ever did for me or friends.”

Art Therapy – Our art therapists provide Art therapy sessions and Art for Wellbeing (held in Crystal Palace Park) during term time. We are hoping to expand this service by introducing an art café to raise awareness and visibility of this support.

"I found over Lockdown the art therapy through zoom meetings were invaluable to me and my mental health. I can’t thank Sue and Fiona enough for this opportunity to engage with people and do my art as selfexpression. It is so important for your mental wellbeing.”

BLEND – Blend meet every Thursday evening to sing, listen to music, and talk while enjoying refreshments from The Well café. The choir also share their joy every Friday, singing during our foodbank session as guests enjoy their community lunch.

“Has been a life saver for many during covid times. It has brought normality to people who otherwise would be isolated and gives pleasure to those that sing because other places are closed. It also brings joy and normality to those who stay around and listen. We’ve had time to support and talk to one another and the music has been uplifting. Blend as a group have been honoured to have a good leader in Kerst and people who have supported us. Blend have also put on performances for others.”

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Community Garden – our garden is maintained by a few volunteers, providing a quiet, calm and spiritual place for all to use.

Community Lunch – we continue to provide a hot, takeaway meal every food bank. We serve up to 130 meals each week, offering a meat/fish and vegetarian option. Homemade cakes are donated by volunteers for pudding.

Foodbank - we have three food bank sessions each week: Tuesdays 3-4pm, Fridays 1-2.30pm and Saturdays 10.30am – 12pm. Our food bank sessions are supported by our food collection team who deliver surplus food from supermarkets, our donation sorting team and volunteers who keep the food bank stocked up during each session. We also provide home deliveries for those unable to get to Living Well

“My husband had cancer, I got a lot of support, especially when he died. Wouldn’t have survived without LW. I then was diagnosed with cancer and during my Chemo LW provided food with home deliveries and emotional support from Tamara with regular phone calls. I look forward to coming here regularly and seeing people. I don’t get out much and Living Well would be the only place to go and see people.”

Listening Well – our BCHP qualified counsellors offer face-to-face, online and telephone counselling support. Guests need to be referred by our approved partners or other Living Well services.

“The level of genuine concern for my wellbeing that I have experienced is a rare and precious thing. As a resource I cannot praise it too highly and on a personal level, I don’t think it an exaggeration to call Shirley’s intervention quite literally lifesaving, something for I (and, no doubt, my loved ones also) will be forever grateful.”

Words and Numbers – we help guests who struggle with numeracy, literacy or access to online application processes.

“The support has been very good. I feel confident about my times table. I look forward to studying decimals and fractions and then moving on to tackle percentages. it’s very quiet in the church and I find it quite easy to concentrate.”

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Partners and Supporters

Even through these exceedingly tough times, we have been overwhelmed by the support from our local community, whether by food, financial or personal time donated. Funds were provided by the following organisations:

We were extremely fortunate to be supported by Russell and Bromley again this year, featuring as one of their four chosen charities in their ‘Black Friday done differently’ campaign, raising a significant amount to support our food bank services.

Our crowdfunding campaign “Community after Covid” was a huge success seeing over £10,000 donated, which was matched by an individual donor, so we totalled over £22,000!

One local business, Penge General Store, who support us with food donations, also introduced a ‘round up’ campaign in the weeks leading up to Christmas so customers were given the option to round up their purchases to the nearest pound, donating the extra to Living Well. It is so exciting to see innovative ways being used to help raise money for Living Well. We also had carol singing and a Santa Dash add to the donations during the festive period.

Ellie Reeves, our local MP, has continued to support us professionally as well as dropping off weekly food donations collected from her neighbours.

We want to thank everyone for their support and the huge increase we have seen from individual donations made online via our website, local giving and through our crowdfunding.

Aldi Ladybirds Nursey Alexandra Infant School Langley Park Primary School Alexandra Junior School Langley Park School for Girls Always Be Comedy Liberata Anerley Methodist Church Lidl Avenue Baptist Church The National Lottery Beckenham Baptist Church Marks and Spencer Beckenham Market Mark Tittle Back Pain Clinic Beckenham Methodist Church Morgan Stanley Beckenham Rotary Club Nash College Beckenham United Reform Church Neighbourhood Church, Beckenham Breeze Beckenham

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Bromley Children Families Forum Bromley Rotary Club Cameo Event Hire Change, Grow, Live Christ Church Beckenham Churches Together in Hayes Churchfields School City Harvest Clare House School Crystal Palace Community Trust Croham Hurst Lodge Cutting Remarks Deep Water Baptist Church, Hayes Dulwich Village Infants School Eltham College Fareshare Fifth Scout Group Forgotten Feet podiatrists Good Food Stores Sydenham GoodGym Goldsmiths Arms Harris Academy for Girls Bromley Harris Academy Primary Beckenham Green Holy Trinity Playgroup Holy Trinity Beckenham Home Lettings Innocent Drinks Jones Bros Kent House Coffee and Flowers

Norbury Manor Business and Enterprise College Penge Congregational Church Pickhurst School Ralph Perrin Court Sainsburys Scotts Park Primary School Sponge Kitchen St Christopher’s The Hall School St Davids West Wickham St Edmunds, Beckenham St Georges Beckenham St Hugh’s Community Association St James Church St Johns Church Eden Park St Mary’s Catholic Primary School St Mary’s Shortlands St Mary’s, Hayes St Michael’s Catholic College St Pauls, Beckenham St. Bartholomews Primary School St. Paul's Church, Brackley Road The Bromley Night Shelter The Co-operative Group Three Hounds Brewery Waitrose Woodbastwick Road Ladies Coffee Worsley Bridge Primary School

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Structure, Governance and Management

Living Well began in 2011, in response to growing numbers of people calling at the vicarage of Holy Trinity Beckenham church in Penge asking for help. Since that time, thousands of people from across Bromley and South East London have taken part in Living Well. We became a registered charity in June 2014 and depend entirely on the work of volunteers and the generosity of our donors to keep going. We currently have 200 committed volunteers who keep Living Well Bromley running smoothly and safely. Each of our main areas of work is overseen by a team leader who is responsible for the activity and the volunteers who help out.

Our team leaders are:

Our Trustees are the people responsible under the governing document of Living Well Bromley for controlling management and administration. Trustees are appointed by the Board of Trustees in a process of open competition following public advertisement. The Trustees met seven times during the year.

Risk Management

Risks are identified and assessed and controls established throughout the year. The key controls used include:

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Financial Review for 1[st] April 2020 – 31[st] March 2021 See Appendix 1

Financial Update from 1[st] April 2021

LWB entered the current financial year in a strong position carrying forward balances of more than £200,000 but with significant known core costs and unknown consolidation costs. Work on the kitchens and Community Cafe had been held up by the pandemic and, in some areas of Holy Trinity Church, Living Well had expanded its operations into spaces which were not going to be available on a long-term basis. The only expected grant funding was £20,000 for Advocacy from the Trust for London and £24,814 from the Lottery to support Art Therapy.

The pandemic, in different guises, has continued throughout the period and as expected demand for our services has continued to grow. Work on both the kitchen and phase 1 of the Community Cafe have been completed except for some smaller self-contained improvements. However, we have been working with significant unknowns about our income and expenditure for the current financial year and also for our Business Plans beyond 1 April 2022.

Trustees have looked again at our dependence on grant funding and set a policy to move, as far as possible, towards becoming more financially self- dependent in the coming years. This is likely to affect both our income sources and actual expenditure in future years.

The generosity of donors is covered in more detail elsewhere in the Annual Report but a huge thank you to everybody who has donated since 1 April 2021. We did not receive the Christmas crowdfunding income until January 2022 so there is around £10,000 plus gift aid of more than £2,200 still to add to the following figures: Grants £47,300 Major donors £51,500 (This does include the matched funding for crowdfunding) Regular donors £19,040 Ad hoc donations £27,300 Gift Aid £14,360 - thanks to all those completing gift aid forms. We end the calendar year still in a pandemic but moving towards a new normal way of living our lives. We are also in a robust financial position and are now making plans for how best to meet our future financial needs.

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How You Can Help

Living Well Bromley relies on the ongoing support and involvement of lots of different people and the generosity of friends and supporters to keep going. It costs £2 per person to provide a hot lunch every Friday, while our foodbank gives out over 700 bags of food per month.

We welcome gifts of time, skills, food, clothes and money. Every gift helps us to build our community, providing care, comfort and support to those most in need. Here are some ways you can help:

Volunteer

Our volunteers provide regular help and support to keep Living Well Bromley running smoothly and safely, – and in return we offer training and support. There are plenty of opportunities to volunteer – from helping with our foodbank, to providing a listening ear, helping with fundraising and events or getting stuck in behind the scenes. We are always pleased to hear from people of all ages (over 18) and backgrounds who are interested in volunteering. Email us at hello@livingwell.life or call 020 87787258.

If you take the number of volunteer hours and calculate their monetary value based on the London Living Wage the volunteers alone contribute over £86,000 a year.

Donate

There are many different ways you can support Living Well Bromley – by donating money (either via monthly standing order or as a one-off donation), or by donating food for the foodbank, or clothes to the fortnightly clothes bank. Please remember to Gift Aid your donation if you are a UK tax payer. To donate please go to www.livingwell.life

Become an ambassador for Living Well

Tell people in your neighborhood, workplace, or school (secondary) about the great things Living Well does and encourage them to get involved. Contact the Living Well office if you would like to know about becoming an ambassador.

Become a champion for Living Well

We have been really encouraged by the support we receive from local primary schools. We are looking at ways of strengthening these links by encouraging

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children and their teachers to become Living Well Champions. If you would like to know more contact the Living Well office.

Keep in touch

Please go to our website or find us on Instagram, Facebook or Twitter at Living Well Bromley.

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Appendix 1 – Accounts for year ended 31 March 2021

Registered Charity 1157385

Living Well Bromley Annual Report 2020-2021 LMNG WELL BROMLEY Balane• Sheet as at 31 Mareh %121 188,222 14 13. A18S J117 106 a)lJ117 FVNO8 53,713 174,n5 3J12 5> 8.454 10,316 IOJ •)lJ17 APPROVED BY THE TRLisfEES ON........ Registered Charity 1157385

Living Well Bromley Annual Report 2020-2021 UVING WELL BROMLEY Statwn•nt of Flrbancial Acll¥ftl￿ lor year ended 31 March 21)21 31A)￿A 12943 1602 ￿.¢85 3.51x1 (Ill *id 14.cal n7 1W22 52,k%J $2.9&ry 22J70 22J70' 29.784 4242 Tlw 4n 74 1.823 10.38S 10 7A171 4,127 11MI 12 SAry1 13 870 2T.1SO MEf•KoME FOA ThE YEAR 137,71? 27W 201￿7 Registered Charity 1157385

Living Well Bromley Annual Report 2020-2021 NOTES TO THE STATEMENT OF FINANCIAL ACTMTIES 124. 454. 25.818 116.m. 11210 Ch*1ty ¢￿.18} 2.186 750 Registered Charity 1157385

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