SOUNDCAFE LEICESTER ANNUAL REPORT 2024- 2025 FINAL Reglslerad Chority No. 1162987 November 2025 oundcafe Lrl¢4Ster Soundcufr Leicesteris o unique and dlversefomily, built on trust, support, cure & compassion for one onother. l. Introduclion Chair of Trvsteos R•port The report lasl yeor identif led several Importont matters on which ihis report wlll proyide an updote. The f Inancial environment contlnues lo be dlf f Icult but, In these clrcumstonces, the flnonclal pertormance was reasonabl• th15 year. We w•re Yery sod io hear of the death of Dovld Peakei he had be•n suf ferlng f rom 111 h•olth for som• tim• d•5pli• which he gave our dlr•ctor Ra¢h•l Grif f Iths excellent svpport In relatlon to th• slgnif icant work Involv•d In bld f undlng. Both Rochel and ovr tr•o$ur•r (Llso Parkesl are to be thanked f or all th• •xc•ll•nt work th•y hava done In thls area. Chang•s wer• made th1$ year In the way we dellver our s•rvlc•s. As th• numbers altendlng football have signlf Icontly dlmlnlsh•d, we stopp•d w•ekly football wlth thè focvs belng on fun ploy ses51ons and onè-off events Ilke the Football Fesilval h•ld In May Ihls y•a r. We 0190 chunged when we hold th• caf é and ¢holr sesslons $0 that thes• are now both h•ld al Si Mory de Caitro on o Monday In term tlme. Thls change hu¥ b••n v•ry successful wlih enthusia51ic suppori from both *he guesls and th• volunte•rs. The cholr hud v•ry succ•ssf ul perf ormonc•s In March Itogeth•r wlih Sem per Slngers), ut the Ing•vs of f Ic•s Sn July ond Decemb•r, as part of th• l O-y•or calebrotlon In October, and for th• Chrlstmas eelebratlon In D•c•mber. W• ar• Yery grot•ful to Emma Trounson for her out$tandlng l•ad•rshlp of the cholr ond to Andrew Green f or bèing her o¢¢ompanlsl. Sofeguardlng and o Rlsk Register continue lo be regulor Items on Trust•• Board ag•ndos. As In pr¢vious yeors, vurlous dlff Icult Issues hoye b•en well handled by our team wlih the assislgn¢• of the saf eguurdlng $pecioligt$ •mploy•d by th• Lelcester dlocèse. We were d•li9hted thai Tony Leighion agreed to become our Chgir of Trvstees. whlch allows Alon Fletcher to take up the rol• of Secrelarlol Truslee. It wa$ 0150 exc•ll•nl th¢1 Iwo of our ¥olunl•er5 became trustees und w• welcomed Andr•w Scotl and Martln Furnlss on the trvstee board. In th• report last yeor, It wos noled ihol 'we were very pleosed to be nominated by J onaihan Kerry {CEO of Leicester Diocese) f Qr u Kings Aword f or Voluntary S•rvice. www.soundcafe.org.uk The nomlnotlon Involved a rlgor¢vs asses5monl proce55 Wlth our Dire¢tor and Trustee Tregsurer led by two of thè deputy lieutenants (Dlana Brook5 and John Aldrldgel. In order for the Ileulenoncy to recommend Sovndcafé f or thls award to ih• National A$sessment Commltl••, it was necesso ry for Diana and John to be $atisf led ihol oll aspects of the chorily's governance were of o hlgh standard. As part of ihls process, we were delighied to welcome both Dlana ond John to o SoundCof• session io meet wlth our yolunieers ond gvest5. They were extremely Impr•ss•d wilh all thai Is done In relotlon lo governan¢• and, when they altended a Soundcafé s•sslon, they com• oway with o very clea r undersiondlng of what Soundcof é m•ans to our guests. As a result of ihis, the Il•utenancy enthusiostlcol ly recommendèd Soundcafé for o Klngs Award f or Voluntory Servic•. We were obsolutely dellghted to b• Informed in Novembor that we had received Ihls exlr•m•ly pr•stigi¢us oword. Looking aheod, we hope lo expund our reach by •nsurlng those who can benefli from our s•rYlcés ore oble to occess U5 by knowlng who and wh•r• we are. li Is vltal ihal we occess secvre fundlng for our core costs $0 ihot we can have a hlgher degree of cerialnty to be abl• lo dell¥er our servlces. We ar• commltled to worklng wlth both •xlstlng partners ond deyeloplng new ones In order to embrace Ideos and explor• opportvnliles. Such p¢rln•r5hip5 are po rticularly posslble wlth organlsailons who ore u port of the Lelcester Homelessness Charler network. We wll I contlnue lo support our guests to 'f Ind thelr voice, through slnglng und cr•atlve arls and writing. The SoundC¢fé Choir leonslstlng of our guests and volunteersl Is ovr blggesl '$hop wlndow. and we wlll contlnue to organise our own conc•rls and olso perform lolntly wlih other local community choirs. We ore awore thot there arè u number of peopl• who hove b••n Volunteers wlth u5 In the post and together wlth ou r current Yolunte•r5 we alm to encou rage a network of Ilf elong advocates f or the servicès thut SCL proyldes f or those who ar• vvlnera bly hovsed ond socially Isolated. Alon Fletcher, Choir of Trustees (Morch - Dec 20241 Rev'd Tony Lei9hton Chair of Trustees (Jon 25 onwurdsl www.soundcafe.org.uk 2. Execulive Overvi•w 2024/25 marked some key mllestone5 for SoundCof• ISCLI, the first being September 2024 with the Introdvttlon of a new servlce model of d•liveryi followed by ihe celebrolion of ten yeurs as a charlty In Octob•r 2024. Tf4 211E: di SCL would not be able to conllnv• wlthovt the wpport of Its Trustees, Volunteers, Patrons, gront & foundatl¢Jn organliatlons, Lelcester Dloce5e, frlend5 and donork Th• ) oih anniversary provlded the opportunlty to reflKt on th• lourney ihat SCL has been on. Partnerthlpi has always been ot the v•ry haari of whai Sovndcafe dellYer5 and we have be•n fortunalo with our purtnership worklng with: Lelcesler Samarilans 11 Ingeus Leice5terthSr¢ Cares. Whi15t we looked back on the last ten years and reflecled on what has been achleved, w• also now look forward to whai Ihe fulvre moy hold and ensuring w• are her¢ for the next ten years. Fundlng remains our biggesi thulienga, like $0 mony oth•r charities ond we have hod to make some difficult deeisi¢)ns on ihe woy to ensure thot wè ore still here todoy. www.soundcafe.org.uk Cr￿lIve café and Cholr are now combined onto one oftemoon delivered ot St. Mary de Caslro Church, Loicester and os o chorily we ore privileged to call St Mary de Costro ovr home ond have all been welcomed by the cornmvnlty there. Soundcafe is bulli on o family ethos r•cognising that for many guests SCL is their only fomily. In lost yeur's report l shured th• importance of volunteerlng and il playing such a vital role in supporling charltle5 like Soundcafe. 14 biDwAI'pnlX ¥dl 11. W• were d•lighted thot thls was recognised wlth Sovndcafe belng oward•d the K5ngs Aword for Volunteerlng In th• Klng's birthdoy honovrs Ilst In November 2024. Thls Is the hlghest award o local volvntary group can rèceive In the UK and Is eqviwulent lo an M8E. '11 is a gregl prtvile9e to be oble lo eontribule, in o smoll WOy* to engblrng Guesls to express their creutivi ly. I feel passionalely Ihol the Arts (ond Faoibull) should be for everyone, not just f or an elile fe w. Everyone should hove o chonce, if Ihey wish, IG wrile, drrjw, muk¢ thtngs, sing ond experience the enjoymenl of expression ond creotion. Volvnleer SCL www.soundcafe.org.uk Chrisimus 2024 wg5 kindly supported by Leicestershire cares with thelr Wlnter wurm bag5 and donation5 fr¢)m ￿h&r svpporter5. We also welcomed bock Drum54Fun at th• end of Morch 2025 for u wond•rful upllfting afiern¢)on of drummlng enloy•d equally by guests and volvnteers ollke. Rochel Griffiths, Director. www.soundcofe.org.vk 3. Slrategic & Operutionul Highlights 3.1. Foolball Fpt In May 2024 SCL hosted onother successful footbull toumam•nt with 8 teams ocr0$5 Ihe county coming together In pursuit of the FalTplay Cup. Th• flrst homeless ond wellbelng football lourngment was hosled by SCL In July 2022 ai St Morgaret's Pa51ur?s Sports Centre. Thls hos now been e5tobllsh•d os an annuol evonl, brlnglng log•thor homeless charltle5 In Lelcesler and other comm(￿ltY and buslness teoms from across tha Easi Mldlgnds. FOXIS hil In September 2024 SCL moved from w•ekly sesslons lo monthly Fun Frlendly Footboll. N￿berS cc*mmltt•d io a w•ekly sesslon had be￿ In declin• over th• procedlng months and It was no longer Ylable to conilnv• wlth thls modol. LeS¢ester Clty In the C¢)mmunlty contlnvéd wlth weekly St￿10n5 In the clty whlch The inlroduttion of the fun play sessions gove guests of SCL and neighbourlng communlty-based leom$ the chance lo come together ond play friendly motche5 and socioli5e over lunch, whlch was provided for both ieams. Mario 0'8rten, Servi¢e Co-ordinotor WWW.sovndcofe.org.uk 3.2. Choir It's been o portl¢ularly busy ond excltlng year for the Soundcafe Cholrl The Summer term had an 'Arovnd the World In Sth)g' theme and saw the choir singlng ot Ingev$ and at ovr $wnmer concert ot St Mary de Coslro. We performed In three ond four part horm¢)ny wlth all the dlfferent contlnents represented In 50ng. We performed some Soundcafe choir favovriles al the I Iyh Anniversary celebrailon5 In Ociober. For th• Chrlsknos concert, W• 50ng a mlx of cholr only pl?¢•$ gnd Chrlslmas caro15 and songs for the ovdlence 1¢ loln In wlth. We al￿ performed uguln ut Ingeui for thelr Chrlslmos Purty. In th• Sprlng Term. w• prepored songs along the iherne of 'Together' whlch we performed In o Joint Concert at 51 Mary d• Castro with Semp•r Slng¢rs. Th• ¢hoir $ang songs on thelr own and f¢)vr lolnt Ilems with both cholrs comblned. Th• massed choir went down especially well with the audi•n¢e who Couldn't belleve we'd got the two ¢hoir5 singing logether so harmonlov51y Sn svch a 5horl space of lime. They ore laoklng forward to thelr Summer Term pro5ect singing Joseph and the Amaz5ng Technlcolor Dr8amcoat. The Sovndcafe cholr hove once ogaln grown In (￿)fIdence ond ability - the gutrsts focus and work hard, supported by ¢)ur volunteers. I'd like to thank Andrew Green, our uc¢¢mp¢nlst, for glvlng vp hls time lo practlce olongslde hls commitment lo rehearsals and performonces, he Is really such an osset to the Soundcufe cholr. Also, lo the peTCU55ion section who enhance our sovnd and help us keep In tlme. I om $0 proud of oll the progress every*3ne has ochleved over the course of the year ond especlolly of all the wonderfvl performances we have glven. l om gratef ul lor all the sUPPOrt of the S¢JundCafe staff, trUst￿S and volunteers who enoble the smooth running of the thoir. Emma Trounson, Soundcofe Chorr Leod www.soundcafe.org.uk 4. Keeping Everyone safe- SoFeguarding & Pa$loral Car• Sofegvordlng is the Tesponslbllily of everyone Involv•d in the charily to prolect the health and wellbeing of our guest5 who are r•cognised as vulneroble advSts. Safeguarding Is especlolly important due to the increosed vvlneroblllty of the guests we support, many of wh¢Jm foc• a number of risk5 Includlng obvs•, exploitation, n•gl•ct, menlol heolth challenge5, ond substance mlsus•. Key Prln¢ipl•i PMv•nti•ni Crealing a sale envlronment where Indlvlduals are respected and protacled. Prot•¢ll•n: Identlfying ihose ot rlsk and taklng approprlote action lo prolecl them. empow6rm•nt: &Jpporting individuals lo make th•lr own infomied chokes. Proportlonollly: Respondlng to safèguurdlng concérns In o tlmelyi approprlot•, and s•rtsltlve mann•r. Portn•rship.. Working wlth other agencle5, to ensur• approprlote support and prolectlon. A¢¢•untqbllliy: Ensvrlng staff and volunteer5 vnderglqnd ih•lr r•sponslbilities and have undertaken the relovant tralnlng. Whal Th1$ M•oTrs In Pracli¢• All stoff and volunieers musl undergo safeguardlng tralnlng. Concerns about obu5e, neglecl, or •xploilatlon musi be reported Immedlately to the de51gnatèd Truslee $ofegvordlng lead or sesslon lead. Cl•ar pollcles ortd procedures mvst bo followed to onsure the safety of our gu•sls as Yvlneroble adults. o¢kground DBS checks or• requlred for all sloff and volvnte•r5. A culfvre of respect, dlgnliy* ond confidentlollty must be molntained ot oll tim•s. Over the Igst year we have contlnved to work wlih the Leicester bosed Somarilans lo off•r direct Samoritan support ot sassions. Sondie Sobierajl Mortin Furniss Soundcofe Trustee Safe9uarding Leads www.soundcafe.org.uk 10 5. Finannul risks,. ond ensurlng rlsk Is approprlat•ly assessed und mltlgot•d wher• appropriate. Chalr Trustee meetlng5 50 thai the 8oard funrtlon5 eff•ellv•ly ond ¢urrl•s out Its dud•s; ond the flnonces of SCL ur• syslernotically accounted for, oudlt•d, Ind•pendenily exgmln•d and publldy avollabl•, Altsn Fletcher Appolnted March 2021 Resignod tss Chuir Dec 2024 Rev'd Tony Lelghton AppolThled Jonuary 2025 Trus1•• S•