2021-01-31-accounts

SLOW Annual Report Feb 2020- Jan 2021 SLOW SuNiving the loss of your wortd

CHARITY GOVERNANCE

SLOW - Surviving the Loss of Your World

CHARITY REGISTRATION	Registered Charity Number 1161337
DETAILS	Registered April 2015
FOUNDED	September 2007
TRUSTEES
Chair of Trustees	Andrew Wright resigned June 2020
	Pippa Murray from June 2020
Treasurer	Kieran Hull
Secretary	Tim Whitworth
Trustee	Andrew Wright
Trustee	Finella Craig
Trustee	Pippa Murray
Trustee	Sara Portnoy
Trustee	Helen McDonough resigned June 2020
Trustee	Samara Stevens from Dec 2020
PATRONS	Jason Watkins and Clara Francis
CONTACT DETAILS
Member Correspondence:	SLOW, St George and All Saints Church,
	Crayford Road, London, N7 0ND
	[e-mail]
	Tel [phone]
Registered Address and all other	SLOW, 11 Donovan Avenue, London, N10 2JU
correspondence:
	[e-mail]
	Tel [phone]
	www.slowgroup.co.uk

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Annual Report 2020-2021

OBJECTIVES AND ETHOS

The objectives of the charity are to: -

• To promote and protect the good health of bereaved parents suffering as a result of the death of their child through the provision of self-help and mutual support

• The promotion of social inclusion by offering a sanctuary for bereaved parents to relieve the needs of those people and assist them to integrate back into society

At SLOW, we have evolved a unique and successful model of bereavement support that is a direct response to what bereaved parents and siblings have told us they need. Our ethos has grown from the roots of a community, facilitated and supported by bereaved families who have experienced first-hand the

devastating grief resulting from the death of a child or sibling. SLOW cultivates a stance of ‘coming alongside’ parents, going at their own pace, within a non-pathologising culture.

At SLOW we know that grief cannot be fixed, and do not strive to ‘make things

better’. Instead, we support and give space to bereaved families, so they may in time harness their own resources in slowly rebuilding their lives. In this way, we believe there is hope to be found in connecting with other bereaved families, relief in sharing the pain of grief, and company in bearing the unbearable, alongside others who are living with the death of their child and sibling.

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Annual Report 2020-2021

WHY SLOW’S WORK MATTERS ee

The death of a child is an incredibly traumatic event leaving parents with overwhelming emotional needs. The grief of bereaved siblings is also devastating, yet this is one of the most neglected types of grief.

Our members face the challenge of living in a radically altered world in which close family ties, routines and friendships are impacted and many of SLOW’s members initially report that they feel very socially isolated.

SLOW support groups make a positive intervention by:

• Connecting, sharing, validating and normalising grief.

• Finding new ways to manage grief.

• Encouraging members to find ways in which to connect with their child or sibling.

• Offering hope for the future and building confidence at a time when life can feel hopeless.

• Providing a safe space for peer support and reducing isolation.

• Creating a transforming community connected through their loss.

• Encouraging bereaved families to regain their sense of wellbeing so that they find purpose in life again.

“My husband and I started going to SLOW meeting shortly after the funeral of our son, in 2019. It's a warm and understanding place for us to share our love and memories of our son. A place where our everyday stresses and loss are shared with the only people that can possibly understand. I have continued to use the support over COVID via Zoom. It's been invaluable, I cannot imagine how I would have coped with stress, loss, anxiety and the pressure of trying to support his siblings through their own loss and anxieties, without SLOW. Many thanks to the whole team.”

“I haven't been able to get to the group because of my mobility, it's brilliant to be able to join via zoom now and speak about my daughter. again. I hope it continues after lockdown is eased"

“I really don’t know what I would do without the SLOW support meetings”

“You have provided some light and comfort through the overwhelming sadness”

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Annual Report 2020-2021

ACTIVITIES AND ACHIEVEMENTS

With the global COVID-19 pandemic, 2020 was a challenging year for SLOW and its members. Nevertheless, the pandemic also provided the charity with opportunities that were explored during the year and will inform our future service delivery in 2021.

Support for Bereaved Parents

The heart of SLOW lies in the culture and the community of its support groups for bereaved parents. It is here that parents come to find connection, company, comfort and hope after the death of their child.

Healing for bereaved parents can begin as they share their grief with others who validate their experience. They discover they are not alone, and gradually learn ways of managing their grief and coping with their loss. At SLOW, parents come to understand that healing means remembering, not forgetting their child and we encourage them to be compassionate, gentle and patient with themselves. In this way bereaved parents are building themselves a safety net that will resource them long after they cease to attend the group.

By making room for the experience of grief, parents often say that they leave ‘feeling lighter’. By listening and sharing experiences of coping with life whilst managing grief, parents are often slowly able to make small but significant steps towards rebuilding their lives.

The support groups continued to offer a simple structure that allows safety through containment and continuity. An introductory round gives each parent space to reflect and identify areas that they’d like support with and these form the basis of the discussion.

In 2020-21 SLOW ran 120 support groups across London , each lasting one and a half hours, supporting over 70 bereaved parent members. By January 2021 the SLOW

membership base was over 470 , which grows as new people contact us.

Attendance at our groups is flexible with regular core members attending each week / month while others choose to attend less frequently as and when they need support. We welcome all bereaved parents irrespective of whether their child was an adult or a baby or the varying circumstances in which they died. Our parents are a mix of very recently to more long-term bereaved and members can join at any point regardless of how long ago their child died. The death of a child cuts across all communities and a diverse range of families. Our support groups welcome bereaved mothers and fathers, of differing cultures and faiths. Longer term members that no longer require regular support at the meetings often come to our social events or take on active volunteering roles.

When the UK entered lock down in March 2020, we quickly transferred all our support groups to virtual groups run via Zoom video conferencing. Despite the limitations of Zoom to provide a full group experience ‘in the room’, the members gave extremely positive feedback.

While the access to meetings via Zoom has provided much needed support during this time, there have been many challenges including technical issues, a variety of devices used which increase sound disturbances, and lack of privacy. Overall, however the groups have been very successful, and there are mixed views about returning to face-to-face groups in 2021.

Some members have expressed a wish to connect with other parents via face-to-face groups, while others have appreciate being able to attend via Zoom especially those with mobility problems or very young children. SLOW has responded with a decision to provide both virtual and face-to-face groups moving forwards.

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Annual Report 2020-2021

ACTIVITIES AND ACHIEVEMENTS

The Pandemic’s Impact on Grief The support groups flourished with rich discussion about the impact of the lockdown, enforced isolation and uncertainty. How the virus has impacted grief has been explored in a number of ways:

• that global grief of the pandemic had eclipsed some parents’ grief;

• that the isolation provided a welcome withdrawal from the pressure of social interactions;

• how their children would have managed, especially those with long term health conditions requiring regular admissions into hospital;

• and a sense of congruence - that global isolation and uncertainty reflected the grief experienced by bereaved parents.

The Islington Support Groups

We ran 66 weekly daytime groups and 17 monthly evening groups across the year in Islington / via Zoom.

Our Wednesday weekly daytime group continued to flourish and strengthen in numbers with a core group attending regularly. Susie Hanson and Clara Francis co-facilitated this group throughout the year with strong support from volunteers Maria Wojszwillo and Liz Cancea. Attendees ranged between 6 and 14 including facilitators. This group, like our other groups, was held virtually after lockdown was implemented in March 2020.

In February our new Monday weekly daytime group was launched so that pressure could be reduced on the Wednesday weekly group.

Susie Hanson and Erica Stewart co-facilitated the Monday weekly daytime group from February 2020 until a decision was made to ‘pause’ this group in mid November 2020 due to low numbers as the COVID pandemic affected the number of new referrals. This group has been relaunched in 2021 as a virtual weekly meeting held via Zoom as our other groups slowly return to in person meetings.

Lively discussions characterised the groups across the year with a strong emphasis on developing strategies for coping, taking care of ourselves and meeting the demands of surviving children, family members and relationships with friends and work colleagues. As new parents arrived at the groups, those who had been attending for longer maintained the core values and culture of the group, fostering an atmosphere of welcome, warmth and inclusion.

This year our Monthly evening group has been regularly attended with numbers ranging between 6 and 16 over the year including facilitators. There is a good balance of couples and individuals attending. Many parents have found the Zoom groups to be a welcome support during COVID, and in response to demand, the frequency of the groups was increased to fortnightly for the first six months of the pandemic to add an increased layer of support for isolated bereaved parents.

There is an extremely supportive atmosphere despite the wide range of circumstances in which parents have lost their children. There are now several parents attending who have lost children during COVID and the restrictions have impacted their grief in a multitude of ways. Some parents have found the restrictions have given them a chance to grieve privately without the pressure of the social expectations of the outside world, and other have desperately missed the physical comfort and contact of others with whom to share their grief.

The group enables parents who are working or have other commitments to attend a regular support group and build new relationships with those who understand grief. All members, including those who attend as a couple, are encouraged to speak about their individual experience of grief and their bond with their child.

Seventeen groups ran in 2020-21 in Islington / via Zoom, facilitated by Nicola Whitworth and Tim Whitworth.

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Annual Report 2020-2021

ACTIVITIES AND ACHIEVEMENTS

The Streatham Support Groups

We ran 37 weekly daytime groups across the year in Streatham / via Zoom. Hattie Deards and Erica Stewart co-facilitated this group with attendees ranging between 3 and 12 including facilitators.

Across the year there has been a steady flow of new referrals for this group. The meetings are consistently well attended, underpinned by a core of long-term members who attend regularly, while other members attend more sporadically. This doesn’t seem to affect the atmosphere of great cohesion; the members know each other well and are at ease with each other, even if they do not attend regularly. Within the group, the facilitators are able to see the powerful sense of understanding between members.

Discussions revolve around how bereaved parents navigate their place in the world and society, and family relations and friendships and how to sustain them.

Email and Telephone Contact

SLOW recognises that the first steps in reaching out for support are difficult to take for many bereaved parents. We offer a prompt telephone response to any enquiry about SLOW, and take care to talk with parents about what has happened and how they would like to be supported. Parents’ enquiries are then followed up by email or text after their first visit to the group.

At times, parents may be unable to attend the group for a period of time due to work or family commitments. In these situations, the feedback that we have received is that parents value maintaining contact via email or via the website blog where they may read articles and news about SLOW.

SLOW may not meet the needs of every bereaved parent and we will endeavour to signpost them on to other organisations that may provide specific support.

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Annual Report 2020-2021

ACTIVITIES AND ACHIEVEMENTS

SLOWsibs

The ‘SLOWsibs’ workshops provide a safe place for bereaved siblings to meet each other and develop their creative skills, with the aim of reducing isolation, building confidence through making new friends and exploring feelings. Our creative activities are designed to: -

• support each child living with their grief while building a hopeful future;

• commemorate their sibling who died and

• to express their own unique place in their altered family.

SLOWsib members are at different places in their development and understanding of death and therefore their expression of grief. Activities are chosen to reflect this variety of experience and allow each child to express themselves at different levels of interpretation and engagement.

We held three workshops over the year, each session held via Zoom. Unfortunately, our March 21[st] in person workshop was cancelled at short notice as the UK entered the first COVID lockdown.

Running the workshops virtually required careful planning and risk assessments including Zoom safety. Materials and guidance for Zoom was sent prior to each workshop and parents confirmed by email that they would be present in the home during the session. Parents were encouraged to give their children space and privacy in the workshops, though some parents helped out or maintained a background presence. There has been lots of positive feedback from parents who really appreciated SLOW maintaining SLOWsibs through the pandemic.

This year the workshops included 5 to 7 siblings (and their parents) and were run by Nic Whitworth with the assistance of Laura Anderson and Lisa Barnett.

Baking it Better with Focaccia Art June 2020

Parcels of materials were posted to SLOWsibs’ homes ahead of the workshop. Focaccia bread was made from scratch and decorated with siblings’ names, etc using vegetables provided by families.

Treasure Memory Boxes October 2020

Children were sent boxes of craft materials for the workshop in advance. It was a great success and a highly interactive session, with every child producing a personalised memory box.

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Annual Report 2020-2021

ACTIVITIES AND ACHIEVEMENTS

Magical Winter Village December 2020

The SLOWsibs’ children and families enthusiastically created wonderful work in our festive workshop exploring the themes of Christmas, family, and winter imagery using paper cuts to create an atmospheric village luminary. Special messages were written to siblings and placed inside decorations. The children were willing to share these with others in the closing circle, demonstrating the safety and trust that has grown between the members in the group.

“Schoolmates don’t get it, but I can talk to us in here”

Bereaved sibling quote

“I like sibs because you do fun thing and I make new friends with people I’ve never met before who have also lost siblings”

Bereaved sibling quote

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Annual Report 2020-2021

CHARITY DEVELOPMENT & GROWTH

Marketing and Professional Outreach

SLOW promotes access to the groups through local NHS paediatric teams, palliative care teams, hospitals, specialist service providers, health visitors, local charities, as well as via the SLOW website, the media and word of mouth.

Throughout the year we marketed the SLOW service extensively with bereavement charities and organisations, initially in South London and then also in North London. Taking advantage of virtual team meetings, we presented to Ruils and Improving Health (both social prescribing organisations in South London) as well as the South London CRUSE team and Noah’s Ark Children’s Hospice North London. We researched the organisations contracted with social prescribing in boroughs across London and made contact with many adjacent to our current group settings. We also extensively marketed GP surgeries and Medical Practices across London, mailshotting over 450 practices.

In 2020-21 we continued to build close working relationships with referral agencies and professionals that share and complement our work including the Life Force team (Palliative Care Team in North London),

End of Life Services GOSH, UCH, The Compassionate Friends, Grief Encounter, CARIS, Islington Bereavement Service, the Child Death Helpline and Haven House.

The SLOW website continues to be an important resource and referral channel for new members and we continued to develop our website with additional webpages, resources and content.

IT and Operations

Substantial progress was made with the business operations of the charity and we registered for a number of non-profit, discounted or free versions of software. The charity has moved to Cloud based storage so that our growing team can share and save files securely.

Evaluating the SLOW Service

2020 was a year for planning SLOW’s Evaluation and we connected with the University of Hertfordshire, scoping research with two Trainee Clinical Psychologists. The data collection for this research will take place in the Spring of 2021. We hope that this exercise will help us understand how our support services impact our members’ health and wellbeing and further develop and adapt our existing services as well as exploring and assessing the introduction of new services.

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Annual Report 2020-2021

OUR IMPACT: A MEMBER’S EXPERIENCE

We were approached in April 2019 by a bereaved mother who had tragically lost her child unexpectedly to SIDS. She has been attending our support groups, sometimes with her partner, since May 2019. She also comes to our SLOW lunches and now volunteers at our SLOWsibs workshops. Here she recalls her experience of losing her son and what SLOW means to her:

away unexpectantly from SIDs. This has been an absolutely devastating and traumatic thing to happen to myself, my husband and our families and the effect it has had on our lives has at times felt completely overwhelming.

I can say with 100% belief that without the support of SLOW that I would not be here today.

“I am a bereaved parent. I became a mum for the first time when my beautiful son Evan was born on the 17th of February, 2019.

Evan

Laura and Evan

Evan was absolutely perfect, and healthy but tragically at the age of 6 weeks old Evan passed

After I lost Evan, I had days I couldn't even get out of bed or feed myself and I was completely isolated. SLOW gave me somewhere to go, to get up and dressed for, and gave me the support I needed to slowly start to rebuild my life.

SLOW is a charity that means so much to me.”

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Annual Report 2020-2021

PLANS FOR 2021-22

SLOW ran two strategy meetings with Trustees and senior managers to assess charity risks and prioritise plans for SLOW's future.

Our key areas of focus for 2021-22 will be to:

To provide high quality bereavement support, reaching more bereaved families

• Continue to provide high-quality support for our new and existing bereaved community and run over 150 support events across London.

• Return our virtual Islington and Streatham groups to in person meetings when the lockdown restrictions have ended and it is safe to do so.

• Launch two new virtual groups – a weekly daytime and a monthly evening bereaved parent support run via Zoom.

• Plan for the expansion of face-to-face bereaved parent support groups across London in 2022.

• Expand SLOWsibs offering the service to more bereaved siblings 6-15 years.

• Launch and run an Adult Sibling Support group .

• Develop a newsletter for more structured engagement with our members.

• Continue to build collaborative partnerships with referral agencies and professionals in the field of bereavement.

To develop the charity’s infrastructure to support this growth of services

• Continue to expand our fundraising sources , growing income and inspiring our community to fundraise for SLOW.

• Recruit a new Bereavement Support Services Manager .

• Develop an appraisal system and to support our volunteers .

• Collaborate with the University of Hertfordshire, running three focus groups in the Spring of 2021 and planning a three-year evaluation project .

• Recruit a number of new Trustees after conducting a skills / capacity audit.

• Employ sessional workers at senior management level.

• Research and plan for the implementation of new financial software and a CRM system.

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Annual Report 2020-2021

FINANCIAL REVIEW

Overview

The charity’s income in 2020-21, £80,410, increased by approximately £30,800 from the previous year. This increase was primarily from grant funding secured during the year. Expenditure was marginally down from £53,649 to £53,221.

We start the new financial year 2021-22 with £56,560. This includes carried forward restricted funds of £8,541, committed to specific activity, as well as nearly £48,019 of unrestricted funds, of which £18,500 are ringfenced for reserves.

Again, this year, as per advice from the Charity Commission, we have excluded in kind income / expenses for supervision provided by volunteers and free premise hire for the monthly evening group at the Peabody Community Rooms. The accounts therefore do not reflect the considerable contribution of our many volunteers as well as the generosity of the Peabody Estate.

The Impact of the Pandemic on Finances

At the beginning of lockdown in March 2020, cash flow and revenue projections were remodelled. We forecast lower projected income than previously budgeted due to loss of potential revenue from supporter fundraising events such as the Royal Parks Half Marathon and in group donations. Projected lines of expenditure such as premise hire, creche and refreshments etc were reduced as support group meetings could no longer take place face to face. A number of COVID crisis grants were applied for, with great success and both new and existing funders were flexible and generous.

Income

SLOW’s funding in 2020-21 came from a variety of income streams however the proportion of grant income rose substantially as a result of the challenges of supporter and community fundraising during the pandemic. Unrestricted income accounted for 41% of our revenue, and 59% was restricted, reflecting the increase in revenue from grants.

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Annual Report 2020-2021

FINANCIAL REVIEW

Grants - SLOW received continued support from Islington Council’s Local Initiatives Fund, as well as multiyear funding from Islington Council’s Community Chest (two-year funding) , the Lotteries Reaching Communities (three-year funding) and the John Armitage Trust (three-year funding). New funding was received from a number of COVID Crisis Funds including the London Community Response Fund , Coronavirus CAF Fund and the HMRC COVID Response .

Donations - A special mention should be made to The ICCM for their generous donation received via Islington Crematorium and also to Waitrose Community Matters , the Chapel of Life , Central Tickets , and St James Place .

We would like to also thank the following supporters for their very generous donations which have enabled the charity to carry out its essential work supporting bereaved families: Louise and Richard Taylor, Rebecca Lenkiewicz, Roger and Gordana Fox and Andrew Wright .

Supporter Fundraising – With the lockdown and the cancellation and postponement of fundraising events, supporter fundraising was challenging. Our Royal Parks Half Marathon team started fundraising, raising over £500, only for the event to postponed not once but twice! A number of supporter fundraisers took part in the 2.6 Challenge – a virtual fundraising challenge taking place in lockdown. Tom and Carla ran their socks off and Laura flipped 26 pancakes live on Instagram, together raising over £800.

Expenditure

Expenditure decreased marginally by £428 year on year. Our expenditure on sessional workers and their supervision increased as we recruited additional facilitators and expanded our groups. The majority of these additional costs were offset by the reduced expenditure on premise hire, refreshment and creche costs as our groups were held virtually from March 2020.

Reserves Policy

The Trustees’ policy is to follow recommended practice and maintain unrestricted reserves to cover at least three months’ operational expenditure. In 2021-22 SLOW will be dependent on approximately £74,000 of income per year to sustain its activities therefore the reserves figure equates to £18,500. At this level the Trustees believe that they would be able to continue the current activities of the charity in the event of a significant drop in funding while seeking to replace the funding or alternatively wind the charity down. The main concerns of the board are to ensure that the team can continue working to either secure new funding or close the charity, and to support members to move onto other services. The SLOW Trustees review this policy annually.

Annual Report 2020-2021 Page 14 of 19 `

THE SLOW 2020-21 TEAM

Our support services in 2020-21 were delivered by five part time sessional workers and an army of volunteers. At the start of 2020 three new bereaved parent facilitators were recruited – Hattie Deards, Erica Stewart and Clara Francis.

Training and Support

Across the year we further developed our own in-house facilitation and trustee induction training. The team also attended external training courses provided from a variety of organisations including The Compassionate Friends, Slaughter and May, and the Institute for Voluntary Action.

Fifteen Reflective Practice Groups , facilitated by the Bereavement Support Services Manager, ran throughout the year, attended by the growing team of support group facilitators. Meetings are structured to facilitate reflective feedback on group working, co-facilitation and peer support, sharing of ideas, presentation of material and updating training. These sessions are held in addition to facilitators’ clinical supervision.

Our Volunteers

Over 20 committed volunteers agreed to help SLOW’s work by offering their time and skills in 202021. Special mentions should be given to the following volunteers who have dedicated their time to SLOW this year: -

• Susie Hanson , SLOW’s Co-founder, returned to facilitate the weekly Wednesday group.

• Tim Whitworth volunteered as a facilitator at the monthly support groups.

• Liz Cancea and Maria Wojszwillo assisted the facilitators at the North London weekly group.

• Lisa Barnett , Shushma Jain, and Fatima Fofanah have all assisted at the sibling workshops.

• Ben Wright offered his services as an independent examiner of the SLOW accounts.

• Sara Portnoy and Steve Dilworth provided clinical supervision for the facilitators.

• And finally, our Trustees who continued to donate their time voluntarily to sustain SLOW at a governance level with passion and commitment for the work we do.

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Annual Report 2020-2021

THE SLOW 2020-21 TEAM

Nicola Whitworth

Founder and Bereavement Support Services Manager North London Monthly Evening Group and SLOWsibs

Susie Hanson Founder and Support Group Facilitator North London Monday / North London Wednesday Groups

Tim Whitworth Trustee and Support Group Facilitator North London Monthly Evening Group

Kelly Carter Business and Development Manager

Erica Stewart Support Group Facilitator North London Monday / South London Tuesday Groups

Hattie Deards

Support Group Facilitator South London Tuesday Group

Clara Francis

Support Group Facilitator North London Wednesday

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Annual Report 2020-2021

GOVERNANCE

Organisational Structure

The trustee board meets at least four times per year to agree the strategy and activities of the charity and to review the finances, fundraising and risks. All Trustees give their time voluntarily and no trustee remuneration was paid in the year. Day-to-day operations and management are delegated to the Business and Development Manager and the Bereavement Support Services Manager who both regularly report to Chair of Trustees on performance and operations.

Recruitment and appointment of Trustees

The objective is to have a range of Trustees with skillsets relevant to the activities of the charity. The skills of the existing Trustees are taken into consideration when recruiting new Trustees and skills / diversity gaps identified. SLOW recruits Trustees through a variety of means, either they are approached personally, the positions are advertised, or they are recruited via the Big Alliance.

New applicants are interviewed by existing Trustees and appointed at one of the trustee board meetings throughout the year. All new Trustees are given induction training and are DBS checked.

Risk Management

Trustees agreed to adopt a risk appraisal and mitigation approach as part of future development, and a Strategy subgroup was established in March 2020 to, among other things, work with the Business and Development Manager in producing a comprehensive risk register. This culminated in a series of Strategy Away Days in December 2020/January 2021 taking into account the new uncertainties and opportunities presented by the Covid pandemic. The major risks for the charity and mitigating actions include:

Strategic Direction

A number of options for expansion are being explored and are currently being prioritised by the Strategic subgroup with some options already taken forward.

A review of the overarching statement of purpose (vision, mission etc) will be formulated and agreed.

Personnel

Actions were agreed including appraisals and reviews of scope of roles and terms and conditions for those working for the charity, and increased involvement of volunteers and sessional workers in trustee meetings and one-off events.

Finance and Fundraising

In order to ensure that there is back up for the Business and Development Manager in terms of finance and fundraising responsibilities, actions were agreed including: reviews of Finance Policy and procedures, the acquisition of accounting software, developing a customer relationship strategy and securing assistance with finance and book-keeping duties

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Annual Report 2020-2021

THANK YOU TO OUR SUPPORTERS

SLOW would like to thank its sessional workers, volunteers, Trustees and our Patrons for their hard work and dedication. None of our work would be possible without the support of our new and continuing funders listed below.

We are especially proud of the fundraising events organised by our members and are extremely grateful for donations from our members, their friends and families. Thank you.

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Annual Report 2020-2021

GET IN TOUCH ee

Bereaved Parents and Siblings

Anyone who is a bereaved parent, bereaved adult sibling (18+) or young bereaved sibling (6-15 years) can attend our support groups and workshops. Referrals can be made directly or we can be contacted by a family member or health professional. A facilitator will contact the bereaved parent / sibling within a few days to arrange a convenient time to phone and discuss whether the SLOW groups will be able to help.

Get in touch

Bereaved Parents and Young Siblings

07532 423 674

eS [e-mail] ~~———~~

Bereaved Adult Siblings

07506 272 309

[e-mail]

slowgroup.co.uk

@slowsupport

Qo https://www.facebook.com/slowsupport ~~—————~~ https://www.facebook.com/groups/slowgroup/ @slowgroup ~~>~~

Any other enquiries including fundraising and donations

) 07734 577407 © [e-mail] ~~G _—SS———~~ https://www.justgiving.com/slowgroup ~~—~~ ~~_~~

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Annual Report 2020-2021

SLOW - Surviving the Loss of Your World 1161337 Receipts and payments accounts CC16a 01/02/2020 31/01/2021 For the period from To ~~ee~~

Section A Receipts and payments	Section A Receipts and payments	Section A Receipts and payments
		Unrestricted funds		Restricted funds			Endowment funds		Total funds		Last year
		to the nearest £		to the nearest £			to the nearest £		to the nearest £		to the nearest £
A1 Receipts
Grants		12,500		46,929			-		59,429		19,250
Charitable Retail Schemes		1,506		-			-		1,506		2,580
Member fundraising events		4,432		500			-		4,932		15,262
SLOW fundraising events		-		-			-		-		1,413
Individual Donations		4,463		-			-		4,463		1,884
Donations from Charities / Organisations		10,005		-			-		10,005		8,225
Charitable Services				-			-		-
Group voluntary donations		74		-			-		74		912
Sub total(Gross income for AR)	Sub total(Gross income for AR)	32,981		47,429			-		80,410		49,526
A2 Asset and investment sales, (see table). - - - - - - - - - - Sub total - - - - - Total receipts 32,981 47,429 - 80,410 49,526 ~~— SSSSE~~
A3 Payments		Unrestricted funds		Restricted funds			Endowment funds		Total funds		Last year
Support group / workshop sessional workers costs		-		25,563			-		25,563		20,391
Support group workshop refreshments		10		50			-		60		491
Creche costs		26		-			-		26		554
Sibs workshop materials and refreshments		1		662			-		663		769
Supervision		-		1,115					1,115		-
Premises rental		-		570			-		570		2,840
Business development and administration		12,116		4,500			-		16,616		18,525
Professional outreach		98		186			-		284		289
Professional development, events and training		-		804			-		804		981
Home phone, broadband, and mobile		-		1,170			-		1,170		689
IT expenses		-		741					741		-
Marketing - website and publicity		-		2,158			-		2,158		2,383
Volunteer Expenses		67		600			-		667		1,077
Fundraising Expenses		376		-			-		376		2,498
Travel		-		76			-		76		473
Stationery, books, postage and equipment		78		719			-		797		566
Insurance and compliance		73		417			-		490		289
Trustee board development and expenses		16		500			-		516		242
Meeting expenses		53		-			-		53		186
Recruitment		40		190			-		230		405
Evaluation and Focus Groups		-		246			-		246		-
**Sub total **		12,954		40,267					53,221		53,649
A4 Asset and investment purchases, (see table) - - - - Sub total - - Total payments 12,954 40,267 ~~SS ~~							- - - - - - - - 53,221 53,649 ~~525~~
Net of receipts/(payments) A5 Transfers between funds A6 Cash funds last year end Cash funds this year end	20,027 7,162 27,992 1,378 48,019 8,541 ~~SS~~					- - ~~SS~~			27,190 - 29,370 56,560 ~~SS~~		29,370

29,370

Section B Statement of assets and liabilities at the end of the period Categories Unrestricted funds to nearest £ 47,932 87 - 48,019 Total cash funds Details B1 Cash funds Balance at bank Petty Cash ~~SSS~~	Section B Statement of assets and liabilities at the end of the period Categories Unrestricted funds to nearest £ 47,932 87 - 48,019 Total cash funds Details B1 Cash funds Balance at bank Petty Cash ~~SSS~~	Section B Statement of assets and liabilities at the end of the period Categories Unrestricted funds to nearest £ 47,932 87 - 48,019 Total cash funds Details B1 Cash funds Balance at bank Petty Cash ~~SSS~~	Section B Statement of assets and liabilities at the end of the period Categories Unrestricted funds to nearest £ 47,932 87 - 48,019 Total cash funds Details B1 Cash funds Balance at bank Petty Cash ~~SSS~~	Section B Statement of assets and liabilities at the end of the period Categories Unrestricted funds to nearest £ 47,932 87 - 48,019 Total cash funds Details B1 Cash funds Balance at bank Petty Cash ~~SSS~~		Restricted funds to nearest £ 8,541 - 8,541		Endowment funds to nearest £ - - - - ~~=~~
				OK		OK		OK
				Unrestricted		Restricted		Endowment
				funds		funds		funds
		Details		to nearest £		to nearest £		to nearest £
B2 Other monetary assets				-		-		-
				-		-		-
				-		-		-
				-		-		-
				-		-		-
B3 Investment assets	Details ~~== ~~			- - - Fund to which asset belongs Cost (optional) Current value (optional) - - - - - - - - - - ~~===~~
		Details		Fund to which asset belongs		Cost (optional)		Current value (optional)
B4 Assets retained for the charity’s own	B4 Assets retained for the charity’s own	Dell Inspiron 15 3000 Laptop	Dell Inspiron 15 3000 Laptop	Restricted		429		-
use						-		-
						-		-
						-		-
						-		-
						-		-
						-		-
						-		-
						-		-
				Fund to which		Amount due		When due
Signed by one or two trustees on behalf of all the trustees B5 Liabilities	Signature Details ~~==~~			liability relates (optional) (optional) - - - - - Date of approval Print Name Kieran Hull 30/9/2021 ~~SSS~~

Independent examiner’s report to the trustees of SLOW - SUPPORTING BEREAVED PARENTS AND SIBLINGS

I report to the trustees on my examination of the accounts of the SLOW - SUPPORTING BEREAVED PARENTS AND SIBLINGS ( SLOW ) for the year ended 31 January 2021.The accounts have been prepared on a receipts and payments basis and are set out in the standard Charity Commission format.

Responsibilities and basis of report

As the charity trustees of SLOW you are responsible for the preparation of the accounts in accordance with the requirements of the Charities Act 2011 (‘the Act’).

I report in respect of my examination of SLOW’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.

Basis of independent examiner's report

An examination includes a review of the accounting records kept by the charity and a comparison of the accounts presented with those records. It also includes consideration of any unusual items or disclosures in the accounts, and seeking 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 accounts 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:

• accounting records were not kept in respect of SLOW as required by section 130 of the Act; or

• the accounts do not accord with those records; or

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

Signed:

Name: Yiran Guo

Relevant professional qualification: Chartered Accountant of Australia and New Zealand

Address: Ropemaker Place, 25 Ropemaker Street, London EC2Y 9AN, United Kingdom

Date: 30 September 2021