**Arch-Way Project Management Report 21-22**
The past year has been a great success for us at the Arch-Way Project, although quite challenging at times. Reopening in April 2021 after a tough year of the national lockdown, we saw an influx of service-users, old and new, which we had made plans and prepared for by employing new staff members to help manage and support the people who would need it most after the pandemic; and moving forward to achieve our goals.
We had spent months before reopening getting COVID ready; ensuring our space was safe and all our staff, volunteers and service-users would be safe from harm.
In August 2021, we interviewed and shortlisted 5 applicants after advertising the post of ‘Project Worker’ to help us better deal with the number of guests we were expecting to return and join us as new referrals. We made the decision to employ three great members of staff who have become very valuable to our team and have allowed us the time and space to grow the Arch-Way Project’s presence further with people in the community and other organisations. We have opened and connected with the likes of Unmasked Mental Health,
the local RSPCA, Westgate Arcade, and Healthy Minds (who we have done a lot of work with over the past few years) and local businesses to support what we do.
The past year was challenging in many different respects; the uncertainty of how many service-users we would see come back to us and access our interventions, and how many new service-users we would receive and whether we could manage it.
We were quiet at first, introducing a 15-person capacity to help reduce the risk of spreading the coronavirus and keep our guests safe. We lifted this capacity as the weather began to brighten up and more people began being referred to us. We wanted and still want as many people to benefit from our interventions as possible, especially after such a tough year.
**Back to Being Me**
All the projects under ‘Back to Being Me’ have continued to be very popular amongst our service-users. There has been an introduction of two new interventions, a Singing/Songwriting group, and Tai Chi class. Both interventions have had a great and positive impact on our service-users and attracted more people to our projects.
**Creative Writing group** is going very strong. When we reopened, of course, the numbers were low. But it didn’t take much time for the numbers to grow and for people to really benefit and engage with the group, building their confidence and self-esteem due to reading out their pieces of work and being encouraged by the group which has had a huge benefit and changes the dynamic on how they access the group. Newcomers who tend to be quite shy are reading aloud their work and gaining applause, which is amazing for their confidence and self-esteem.
**Yoga/Pilates** is also still going very strong and is very valuable and useful to our serviceusers as part of a healthy routine, and very mindful and relaxing. Yoga/Pilates relieves stress and tension, which a lot of people struggle with, and the those who access the group always leave with a smile on their face and looking a lot brighter.
**Tai Chi** has become a valuable part of what we do, and we see on average 12 of our service-users benefitting from it per week. The introduction of another physical wellbeing intervention has extended the reach of what we do to further people in the community.
**The Singing/Songwriting group** has extended the musical aspect of what we do at ArchWay Project and introduced new volunteers, creating more volunteering opportunities here which is great for growth in confidence in those volunteering with us. All the service-users have been writing a song with the staff about the Arch-Way Project which we are going to record and get the service-users involved in the process to expand their creativity and interest in music and songwriting processes which has a fantastic positive impact on one’s mental wellbeing.
**The art group (Express Yourself)** is still one of our most popular projects, and we have been doing more workshops to expand the interest and try draw more attention to it and broaden our service-users’ artistic interests. Some of our service-users who previously didn’t take part in the group are now engaging and becoming more interested in the group and creating pieces of art which they wouldn’t particularly have an interest in doing before joining us.
**Home cooked meals** is a very important part of what we do at Arch-Way Project. A lot of those living with mental health problems tend to have easier and cheaper meals that don’t have much nutrition, and so we like to combat that by giving our service-users a fresh, home cooked style meal that is full of nutrition for only £2.50. We have on average around 20 diners per day which is a testament to the popularity of the meals we serve here. There’s also the aspect of the kitchen in which we like to invite volunteers to take part in, one instance has led to paid work at a popular restaurant in the area, through volunteering with us.
**Guided meditation** is very popular amongst our guests, and we have now got a volunteer delivering the session which is much more beneficial than they way we delivered it before.
**All Together Now (film club)** has reduced in numbers but is still very popular amongst some of our elderly guests. We’re aware that the group has diminished due to the pandemic and with most of the previous attendees being elderly, some have passed away or had to move into residential care. We are thinking of ways to invite more people to the film group; by creating a very classic cinema and providing popcorn, refreshments and ice-cream in the interval which is how a lot of cinemas used to operate and we think this will breathe some new life into the group and spark the interest of more people with it being a little more special.
**Guitar lessons** are going very well, our resident guitar tutor has 8 students per week and they’re benefitting from them greatly. Their confidence has grown, and a couple of the students have even performed at our ‘Open Minds Night’ event! Which is a huge step for them personally.
## **Past Times**
We reopened Past Times in July 2021, and although numbers were quite few, we have reached up to 60 attendees per week and we hope to reach at least 80 attendees by the end of summer. We have seen so many new faces which is fantastic because it shows that our reach is extending, and more people are finding out about what we do. This is due to our online presence and keeping in touch with other local organisations and residential homes in the area, we want as many people in the area to benefit as possible. Before the pandemic, we were in touch with Huddersfield University and began making plans to develop an ‘ArchWay Project model’ which would allow other organisations to emulate ‘Past Times’ in their vicinity. This would be great for all communities around the country and would help ArchWay Project become a nationally recognised organisation. These plans fell through because of the pandemic but we are now in the process of finding a PhD student to carry out the research needed to develop this model and we are hoping for the research to start in September 2022. By this time, we will hopefully have 80 attendees per week and gather as much research on Past Times as possible and the many benefits it has to those who attend.
## **The Hub**
The Hub is a huge part of what we do at Arch-Way Project, and the impact it has on our guests is outstanding. The guests go into The Hub in low spirits and come out beaming, feeling more confident and surer of themselves. When you’re so used to spending time alone, when the therapist is spending time and ‘pampering’ you, it’s going to feel special. Our guests open up a lot more and get things off of their chest, which can feel very heavy, so they leave The Hub with a huge smile on their face and feeling much more relaxed and at ease. We have included nail treatments and hand massage as part of it, acquiring training for one of our newer members of staff to implement. We also had The Hub extended to facilitate Indian back and head massages, done professionally by the therapist. We have been able to increase volunteering opportunities due to the extension of The Hub and it has gained a lot of interest, helping local beauty therapists and masseuses to gain more experience to help them in their search for paid work elsewhere.
**Music Events (Music for Minds)**
We introduced more music events to fundraise for general running costs at Arch-Way Project, which has drawn more attention to what we do due to the online presence we’ve attained. More people in the community are supporting what we do online, we have over 1000 likes on Facebook which helps us with certain funders and fundraising purposes.
We saw the return of Arch-Fest with the theme SKA, which was very well attended and helped us to reach further afield by introducing more people to what we do in the community.
These events are designed to not only fundraise but mainly allow our service-users to access music events in a familiar place that they feel comfortable in which is very important and enables our service-users to attend events and build their confidence whilst doing so. We have established ‘Music for Minds’ which is the enabling of our service-users and other people living with mental health problems to access live music events to better their mental health. Music has a great and positive impact on people living with mental health problems and a lot of people who live with mental health problems tend to miss out on live music events due to lack of confidence and social anxiety.
## **Open Minds Night**
We have thought up a way to allow our guests to showcase their creative writing, music, and artwork, on stage in front of their friends and family. This event is very popular and allows our guests the chance to get out on an evening which helps them to gain more independence and confidence. We do these events every 6-8 weeks which allows our guests to gather the materials for night and it’s a favourite amongst our service-users and they plan and look forward to each one.
## **Trips**
Our new members of staff organised a day trip out to Whitby which was enjoyed by all! 28 of our guests went on the trip and went and did separate activities in different groups, with members of our staff and volunteer team with them. For weeks afterwards all who went spoke about it, took inspiration from it as themes for the writing and art group. It was a great success and a lot of fun!
## **Dedication**
The end of the year saw the loss of a dear friend and long-time member of staff, Sheila Coll. This had a very detrimental impact to what we do at Arch-Way Project, we were very quiet for a few weeks due to people having to manage the loss in their own time and space, but we kept our doors open just in case those people needed our support and space to grieve the loss. We thought up ways to make our environment even less stressful so that people felt comfortable upon their return. We soon got back to some kind of normality, although our team will never be the same due to this loss. Sheila’s work and impact on our guests, staff and volunteers will be carried with us for years to come. We will never forget her work and her dedication to our ethos and what we do and hope to do in the future at Arch-Way Project.
## **Arch-Way Project**
## **Income and Expenditure Account 31st March 2022**
|**Income**
Venue Hire
**Grants**
Calderdale MBC
Main Grants
Lush Retail
Sir George
Calderdale College
SW Yorks Ship
Charles Hayward Foundation
Rates Grant
Community Foundation
Bulldog TST
Neighbourly
Edward Gostlin
**Other Funding**
Donations
Cash Donations
Bank Interest
**Represented by:**
Balance forward 1/4/2021
Surplus/-deficit for the period|**31st March 2022**
1075
6247
179177
1812
1000
2000
3325
4000
4908
203,544
0
203,544
203,544
57,946
57,946
51,515
109,460|**31st March 2021**
650
81824
10000
810
4190
2500
5000
2204
48
107,225
107,225
107,225
65,757
65,757
-7,812
57,946|**Expenditure**
Stock
Food Costs
Wages
Other Labour
Casual Wages
Staff Pension Cost
Staff Expenses
Staff Training
Rent
Light & Heat
Agm, Christmas Party & inductions
Cleaning
Travel
Telephone
Maintenance/Repairs
Insurance
Professional Fees
Uniform
Stationery & Postage
Computer Expenses
Advertising
Equipment Hire
Sundry
Tablet distribution
Staff subs to repay
Overpaid wages to repay
Surplus/Deficit for the period
Balance at bank 31/03/2022 (Current)|**31st March 2022**
2,128
4,688
81,994
1,904
25,498
1,011
4,511
8,000
3,790
814
1,855
475
882
1,593
1,644
1,885
674
1,190
1,537
844
2,030
202
2150
730
152,029
51,515
203,544
109,460
109,460
109,460|**31st March 2021**
1,389
318
57,465
1,440
20,350
838
40
1,056
7,000
2,507
511
131
2,850
3,500
2,334
3,541
2,386
1,038
75
6,266
115,037
-7,812
107,225
57,946
57,946
57,946|**31st March 2021**
1,389
318
57,465
1,440
20,350
838
40
1,056
7,000
2,507
511
131
2,850
3,500
2,334
3,541
2,386
1,038
75
6,266
115,037
-7,812
107,225
57,946
57,946
57,946|
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
||||||||
|||||||57,946|
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 2011 Act; and to prepare accounts which accord with the accounting records and comply with the accounting requirements of the 2011 Act have not been met; or
(2) to which, in my opinion, attention should be drawn in order to enable a proper understanding of the accounts to be reached.
13th Sept 2022 Chris Grant & Co Ltd. Chartered Management Accountants 87 Huddersfield Road Mirfield West Yorkshire WF14 8AT
```
Signatures' technical details
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## **`Signatures`**
```
garyflowitt@yahoo.co.uk
```
```
13/09/2022, 16:22:29 BST
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```
Fingerprint
00b083670524fd6a65342b64f96d2c4e1ff89fde
Signature
Gary Flowitt
```
## **`Event log`**
```
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Notification sent to garyflowitt@yahoo.co.uk.
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Signing page opened by signee garyflowitt@yahoo.co.uk.
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Signee garyflowitt@yahoo.co.uk signed document.
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Signing process completed.
```
## **`Summary`**
```
Envelope's ID:blc7c1p7
Document's hash:28a721490ae57157b447c3ea340d6994d17127bd96cec1f1bdd6aa5fa38e40fa
Final stamp:13/09/2022, 16:22:31 BST
```
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## **Auditors report 21-22**
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 2011 Act; and to prepare accounts which accord with the accounting records and comply with the accounting requirements of the 2011 Act have not been met; or
- (2) to which, in my opinion, attention should be drawn in order to enable a proper understanding of the accounts to be reached.
13th Sept 2022
Chris Grant & Co Ltd. Chartered Management Accountants 87 Huddersfield Road Mirfield West Yorkshire