2023-03-31-accounts - Lower Grange Community Association

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Trustees' Annual Report for the period

Period start date Period end date 01 04 2022 31 03 2023

From

Section A Reference and administration details

Charity name Lower Grange Community Association

Other names charity is known by LGCA

Registered charity number (if any) 1159081

Charity's principal address Lower Grange Youth & Community Centre

Chaffinch Road Bradford Postcode BD8 0RF

Names of the charity trustees who manage the charity

Trustee name	Office (if any)	Dates acted if not for whole year
G Ball	Chair
L Cunningham	Treasurer
F.E. Evans	Secretary
M Bull
C Woodley
Beverley Lister
M Duffy		01/04/2022 – 13/03/2023
B Rawlinson		28/01/2023 – 31/03/2023

Names of the trustees for the charity, if any, (for example, any custodian trustees)

Name Dates acted if not for whole year

Names and addresses of advisers (Optional information)

Type of adviser Name Address

Name of chief executive or names of senior staff members (Optional information)

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Alex Dilger

Section B Structure, governance and management

Description of the charity’s trusts

Type of governing document CIO - Association Registered 05 Nov 2014 (Constitution) (eg. trust deed, constitution)

How the charity is constituted

Charitable Incorporated Organisation
(eg. trust, association, company)

Trustee selection methods

Elected by membership at Annual General meetings.
(eg. appointed by, elected by)

Additional governance issues (Optional information)

You may choose to include additional information, where relevant, about:

policies and procedures adopted for the induction and training of trustees;
the charity’s organisational structure and any wider network with which the charity works;
relationship with any related parties;
trustees’ consideration of major risks and the system and procedures to manage them.

Section C Objectives and activities

Summary of the objects of the charity set out in its governing document

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To promote the benefit of the inhabitants of Lower Grange and the neighbourhood (hereinafter called "the area of benefit") without distinction of sex, sexual orientation, race or of political, religious or other opinions, by associating together the said inhabitants and the local authorities, voluntary and other organisations in a common effort to advance education and to provide facilities in the interests of social welfare for recreation and leisuretime occupation with the object of improving the conditions of life for the said inhabitants.

Establish, or secure the establishment of, a community centre (hereinafter called "the centre") and to maintain and manage the same (whether alone or in co-operation with any local authority or other person or body) in furtherance of these objects.

Summary of the main activities undertaken for the public benefit in relation to these objects (include within these objects. this section the statutory declaration that trustees have Classification had regard to the guidance What issued by the Charity • General charitable purposes Commission on public • Education / training benefit) • Recreation

Recreation

Who

Children / young people
Elderly / old people
People with disabilities

How

provides buildings / facilities / open space

Additional details of objectives and activities (Optional information)

You may choose to include further statements, where relevant, about:

policy on grantmaking;
policy programme related investment;
contribution made by volunteers.

Section D Achievements and performance

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Section D Achievements and erformance p

This year has been our most successful year to date, being the first full year Summary of the main after our Big Community Lottery Funding finished and also the end of our achievements of the charity JU:MP Connectors Allergrange Pioneering Commissioning. We were able to during the year build on the connections and learning from the previous 3 years of the Lower Grange Neighbourhood Action Project and the JU:MP project has left a legacy with the Connectors now focused on growing their Creative Flare Activities, and our Playgroup leader successfully gaining employment via the Bradford Community Play Partnership funding to deliver safe and creative play learning sessions. These are just 2 examples of the sustainable growth of our activities and team, with our main focus around physical and mental health and wellbeing paying dividends for the community and our staff/volunteer teams’ personal development (along with the growth of our sustainable income generation model of providing incubation space, equipment and support for groups to trial and embed new ideas that meet emerging community needs - these groups are proving yet again that they are the future of our work and are finding their own funding which also brings rental income to the centre). The expansion and variety of our activities has strengthened our position with partners as we are able to help them meet their own agenda’s whilst providing trusted access to the communities of interest that they also serve. This has led to continuation of our Holiday Activities with Food Programme (HAF) funding, and attracted a 3-year commitment and funding uplift from long term social housing partner, Places for People (who have also made further commitments to helping with the development of the building and facilities following a significant internal refurbishment in the 4[th] quarter of 2022/23). Our aim to identify vulnerable groups, including emerging non-English speaking communities new to the area, has seen multiple smaller funding agreements being achieved (for example with CAF, Charities Aid Foundation) to work with non-English speakers to co-design engagement activities that will attract their peers to take up activities at the centre and become another asset to our growing community base of volunteers and future Community Leaders. They, and some of our Board members and volunteers, have been exposed to and learnt user-centred Service Design tools such as Customer Journey Mapping, to help them understand the needs of those we serve and brings a fresh perspective to the design of our activities. We’ve moved beyond simple community consultation to actively involving and training community members in how to get the most from their time with us, and bring new people to the centres to experience and take advantage of the opportunities available to them. Members of last year’s Solution Focused coaching training cohort have gone on to secure employment is community development roles, or start their own initiatives - across our entire volunteer, staff, sessional leaders and Board team we are seeing significant personal growth in terms of confidence and inspiring others, this is somethings e will continue to invest in as we have the foundations in place to expand on this way of working which brings an energy, and investor commitments, into the area. In terms of core activities, Grub in the Hub (continuation of our Covid food bank which has evolved into a pay as you feel model, supported via the HSF Program (Household Support Fund) funding and the HAF project have been the most successful for engaging the community, acting as gateways for conversations

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Section D Achievements and erformance p

with people who haven’t accessed the centre previously. As our existing user base if so loyal, being grateful for the opportunities our work has opened up for them, many have either become formal volunteers or act informally as advocates of the centre - welcoming new visitors and advocating for them joining in and taking advantage of our activities, provisions, services and trips. Our weekday calendar has been 90% full capacity year-round, with a good mix of physical activities (keep fit, Zumba, pain relief exercise, football), arts and craft, ESOL (and now ESOL+ which extends learning English to include life skills for non-English speakers) and demographic specific interventions such as our long-standing partnership with Bradford Youth Service, Bradford Community Play Partnership and multiple partnership activities with local schools for young people. We are also including a food offer with the majority of our activities as we know people are struggling due to the Cost-of-Living crisis - this serves as both a hook for people to take part in activities and also ensures they stay healthy enough to take part. Seasonal events including community events and trips have again been popular and enable friendships to be created and blossom between people from different backgrounds who may not have otherwise spoken outside of the centre, or who attend different activities here. We’ve heard multiple accounts of people now stopping in the street to speak to familiar faces as a result of attending our events, and also know people are actively checking others are OK and signposting to us or relevant services when they are not.

We have again been recognised for our work, winning two awards: Honorary award for ‘outstanding and invaluable services provided to the community’ from Bradford Council, one for the Association: Legacy award for our Centre Manager. We continue to support external initiatives such as Charity Awards, events and football matches, exchanging benefits with partners so our community can access off-site activities and renewed joint initiatives and improved relationship with local organisations in the area (and surrounding areas). External partners have also enabled members of our community to take part in residential inclusion activities. We have continued our statutory partnerships with the Council hosting regular advice drop-ins and also acting as the Neighbourhood Policing Team Contact Point. These agencies value the trusted access we have built with our community and as a result, both they and those accessing the support are able to develop and sustain more constructive dialogue around the issues affecting them.

Our reserves and financial position are healthy and continue to allow us to explore more innovative funding streams which add value to our core offer, rather than needing to chase inappropriate funding or funding which ties us to external funder impact agendas (and experiencing ‘mission drift’ by taking on purely project-based work which doesn’t increase our unrestricted funding and ability to respond to community need from within).

We have submitted our Stage 2 Community Asset Transfer application which is now pending Stage 3 financial health checks, but expect this to progress in the coming months to allow us to gain exploring alternative finance options to expand the footprint of the building (which will allow us to generate more unrestricted income and secure our medium-term future over the next 5-10 years).

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Section D Achievements and erformance p Despite significant challenges for the CVS sector and local councils nationally, we are in the strongest position possible for a centre delivering work in a deprived area. Our capacity building work is starting to show our growth potential and we wish to thank everyone who has made 2022/23 such a success, for their time, effort, energy and commitment to ensuring our community is served and represented for years to come.

Section E Financial review

In accordance with guidance from the Charity Commission, Lower Grange Brief statement of the charity’s Community Association/Centre has a reserve policy. We aim to retain a reserve, policy on reserves held in cash, to provide for six months operating costs, together with a provision for winding up expenses and redundancy payments. Furthermore, it is our aim to maintain a balance within our current account roughly equivalent to six months operating costs. The amounts involved are kept under review each year. Details of any funds materially N/A in deficit

Further financial review details (Optional information)

You may choose to include additional information, where relevant about:

the charity’s principal sources of funds (including any fundraising);
how expenditure has supported the key objectives of the charity;
investment policy and objectives including any ethical investment policy adopted.

Section F Other optional information

Section G Declaration

The trustees declare that they have approved the trustees’ report above.

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Signed on behalf of the charity’s trustees

Signature(s) Full name(s) Position (eg Secretary, Chair, etc) Date
	Graham Ball	Lynne Cunningham
	Chair	Treasurer
	13/01/2024
	13/01/2024

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