2025-03-31-accounts

HCCN Trustees’ Annual Report For the period April 2024 to March 2025

Aim and Purposes

Hunts Community Cancer Network (HCCN) comprises of the charity working alongside the Community Cancer Nursing team to provide community-based care for people across Huntingdonshire living with or recovering from cancer. Our purpose is to transform the quality of life of those living with a cancer diagnosis, in the Huntingdonshire area, by providing no cost, regular, evidence-based activities that promote healthy eating, physical exercise and mental well-being: a triad of highly recommended self-care strategies.

We do this by:

• Recruiting and developing the best team of caring, committed and skilled volunteers and contractors. Supporting them and providing them with the resources to do their best.

• Focusing on fundraising – building and maintaining relationships; producing compelling proposals; reporting on plans and progress.

• Collaborating with reputable partners for our mutual benefit and that of the people we support.

• Continuing to provide a caring, safe, supportive and respectful environment for the people we support whilst ensuring HCCN has secure tenure of premises from which to operate.

We also ensure the HCCN nursing service is well equipped to provide the best quality of care to people being supported in the community.

Achievements and Performance 2024/2025

Conferences

Our charitable objectives include advancing the education of the public in healthcare related to cancer by the provision of lectures, which we address through our conferences. Conference management is in the safe hands of Gill Monsell and we held two events during the period.

Our Autumn conference in November 2024 brought together attendees, speakers and supporters for a day full of expert guidance and heartfelt experiences. From CAR-T cell therapy and sarcoma support to aromatherapy and managing head and neck cancers, every session offered something meaningful. With a mix of personal stories, scientific insight and practical takeaways, it was a truly empowering day at Brampton Golf Club. 47 people attended across the day.

Our Spring 2025 Conference brought together HCCN supporters, volunteers, and attendees for a day of connection, learning and encouragement, again at Brampton Park Golf Club. With expert-led talks on fatigue, acupuncture, cancer imaging and more, the programme was filled with practical tools and heartfelt insights to support adults living with or beyond a cancer

Charity registration number 1163051

diagnosis in Huntingdonshire. The atmosphere in the room was one of warmth, curiosity, and compassion. 55 people attended across the day.

Full reports on both events are available via the HCCN website https://www.hccnthecharity.org/conferences/

Programmes and Activities

The charity funds and delivers a wide range of activities to help people as they seek to regain control of their lives and reduce the impact (physical and emotional) of their cancer. Everything we do is evidence-based with a desire to support people back to independence, whether recovering from or living with cancer.

Emotional wellbeing

We know that the emotional impact of cancer can be long lasting. Our regular drop-in groups provide the opportunity to share a safe place to talk and try new things.

Friday drop-in at Bradbury House - a full day of activities with the support of our team of volunteers. Yoga, Tai Chi, Pilates, and Balance & Strength classes all help the body to move, improving both wellbeing and fitness. Reflexology, Reiki, footcare, beauty and massage provide a range of complementary health benefits. Over the 2024-25 period, 2,633 people were recorded as having signed in at Bradbury House.

Women’s Cancer Group - incorporating the Hollywood or Bust breast cancer support group, inherited from the Woodlands, Hinchingbrooke Hospital, meets at Bradbury House every Wednesday evening. Over the 2024-25 period, 697 women were recorded as having signed in.

Men’s Group - Although everything offered by HCCN is available to anyone affected by cancer, most activities attract fewer men than women. The men’s support group was established in 2019 to provide men with a sociable place to connect with other men coping with cancer or supporting someone with cancer or bereaved through cancer. The men attending the Huntingdon Working Men’s Club on Wednesday mornings create an environment welcoming to all men. Over the 2024-25 period, 809 men were recorded as having signed in.

In addition, to provide more locally based community groups, we have launched drop-in morning sessions in St Ives and Sawtry, with the support of the Local Neighbourhood Teams. We plan to extend into St Neots and Ramsey, subject to receiving grant funding, in 2025/26.

Buddy scheme

In November 2023 we won the Health Inequalities Challenge prize of £20,000, ringfenced to develop and launch a Buddy Scheme as a core service, meeting an important personal support gap. We are now able to offer confidential, one-on-one support through weekly phone calls for anyone newly diagnosed, in treatment, or adjusting to life beyond cancer. Our telephone Buddies are volunteers from the HCCN community who understand the challenges

Charity registration number 1163051

of cancer, offering a listening ear, sharing experiences, and providing emotional support in complete confidence.

Counselling

Counselling remains one of our main and important areas of expenditure, for those requiring in-depth, one to one help and support. As a charity we are able to supply access to counselling very quickly, supporting individuals and their family members at the toughest of times. We continue to refer to a valued team of qualified counsellors for support to adults, couples and families. Over the 2024-25 period, 166 people who had requested counselling received this support free of charge through the charity.

Prehabilitation / Rehabilitation

The clinical evidence for being active before, during and after treatment is clear, compelling and well accepted, but is not implemented by the NHS as part of the care pathway or mandated by NICE. However, getting a person newly diagnosed with cancer, or who is in treatment and may be physically and emotionally at their lowest ebb, to re-engage in being active is a huge challenge.

Working with the team at One Leisure, Huntingdon, we offer exercise classes ( Circuits ) weekly on a Tuesday and Thursday to help prepare for treatment from diagnosis, and after treatment when it is as important to get fit, healthy and feel good in a very supportive atmosphere.

We also offer a range of regular Yoga classes across the region – seated, seated/standing and standing – via Zoom and in person. These classes can be used sequentially to rebuild strength or accessed according to capability.

Nutritional advice

Living Well with Cancer focuses on practical ways to rebalance the body for health. We share tried and tested approaches for a better relationship with food and eating, and how this can be supported by moving more and improving mood. By harmonising the way in which one eats, moves and maintains one’s mental health, the intention is that the body can achieve the best possible state for coping with cancer treatment and recovery.

Occasional programmes

Patient to Person improves mental health through healthy thinking strategies, aimed at people ready to move on from their cancer treatment but who find themselves emotionally stuck.

Acupuncture

The charity continues to support the HCCN nurses with training and supplies acupuncture needles to provide this valued service to their patients to help with movement and the side effects of cancer treatment.

Charity registration number 1163051

Financial Review

This year’s accounts (April 2024 – March 2025) are shown compared to the prior accounting year which was an 11-month period (May 2023 – March 2024). This is because in the prior year HCCN trustees elected to change the financial year of the charity to align with the fiscal tax year.

Please note it is not possible to make a direct comparison year on year due to the disparity in financial reporting periods. However, the key themes - that income rose significantly and that costs also rose but at a lesser rate - are still apparent. The table below shows this on an average monthly basis to aid comparison:

	Average Monthly Income	TOTAL	Average Monthly Expenditure	TOTAL
2024-25 (12 months)	£18,263	£219,156	£15,814	£189,772
2023-24 (11 months)	£9,672	£106,397	£11,745	£129,195

On an average monthly basis, Income rose by 89%. Donations and fundraising income factored considerably in this increase, reflecting the efforts of the new professional management team.

Further, the charity applied for and was successful in being awarded two substantial grants – a £20,000 Restricted Grant from the National Lottery to fund accommodation rental costs and a £25,000 Unrestricted Grant from the Postcodes Lottery which the charity will use to continue to fund its physical activity sessions.

The increase in expenditure was 35% on an average monthly basis. The higher costs largely reflect greater spend on professional input towards fundraising and operations management, which the trustees feel has been more than repaid by related income growth and the charity’s improved ability to expand services as we move into 2025-26.

During the period trustees have monitored the financial health of the charity on a monthly basis to ensure the level of service provided is sustainable. Reserve funds were maintained in line with the charity’s policy. The charity is reporting a net surplus of receipts over payments of £29,384 – this is largely attributable to the Grants totalling £45,000 from the Postcodes and National Lottery being received towards the end of the financial year with the intention for them to be primarily spent over the coming year 2025-26. Last year a loss of £22,798 was reported.

Fundraising

An important part of running the charity is going out into the community to talk about HCCN, focusing on raising our profile across the Hunts area, to make sure that everyone who could benefit from the charity and nursing team know we exist, and that we can encourage more people to support us financially.

Charity registration number 1163051

Our primary fundraising event of the year is the HCCN Charity Ball , held this period in September 2024. The evening is the result of everyone at HCCN who works so hard to organise the event over many months and the people joining in for the evening. Nurse Mel Scholes leads this effort, securing amazing support from the whole community, through company sponsorship of tables, casino tables at the event, an auction and raffle, and tickets sales to attend – raising £14,000

HCCN fundraising results 2024/25:

• Afternoon Tea Campaign – HCCN community hosting afternoon teas across Huntingdonshire raised £6,000

• Buckfest – a live music festival held every July in Buckden, St Neots continues to support HCCN as one of their permanent charity partners donated £3,000

• Westfest – a live music village festival held in Hail Weston in August is now an annual event supporting HCCN raising £3,00

• London Big Half Marathon - £2,200

• Delta Hotels Marriott partnership with HCCN Triathlon - £5,600

• Dance Mums Challenge - £2,500

• Cambridge Half Marathon - £12,058

Individual giving and sponsored activities ‘in aid of’ HCCN continue to be a very generous source of much needed funds. Sadly, funeral donations also make up a large percentage of our income.

Grants

A focus on grant applications resulted in receiving:

• Postcode Places Trust - £25k to enable participation in physical activity.

• The National Lottery Community Fund - £20k to fund one year’s rental of Bradbury House.

HCCN Small Grants

HCCN the charity makes one-off grants up to a maximum of £250 funding per quarter to individuals who can show that such a grant will make a significant difference to their lives. The purpose of the grant is to address a personal need that is generated by, or is as a direct consequence of, a cancer diagnosis. In this financial year we granted 4 small grants totalling £772.

Reserves Policy

During 2024-25 the trustees followed a reserves policy requiring that reserves are maintained at a level which ensures that a minimum of one calendar year of the charity’s core activities could continue during a period of unforeseen difficulty. This policy has recently been reviewed to capture in more detail the level and type of risks facing the charity – specifically income variability, unforeseen emergency, and cash flow management risk. Following this review, the charity currently seeks to ensure it has reserves within the range of £175k-£225k.

Charity registration number 1163051

The calculation of the required level of reserves is reviewed on an ongoing basis as an integral part of the organisation's planning, budget and forecast cycle.

The charity held no designated reserves during 2024-25 but may decide to do so in future to ensure that any excess funds above minimum reserves are spent on delivering strategic objectives in a sustainable manner. A proportion of reserves is maintained in a readily realisable form with the remainder in interest bearing accounts.

Volunteers

HCCN relies on its volunteers: their ‘gift of time’ makes a significant contribution to the impact that the charity achieves. We are gradually growing our team of regular volunteers and received support from new volunteers both to help us fundraise and to become part of the lead volunteer team. We said goodbye to some volunteers as their own plans changed, though we remain very grateful for their support. We ended the year with 50 active volunteers, excluding the trustees and nurses.

All trustees give their time freely: no remuneration or expenses were paid in the year in relation to their work as trustees. We have a good mix of skills. The trustees take seriously their commitment to our people and their care, and take responsibility for establishing and implementing procedures in this area.

To ensure all our trustees, volunteers and contractors know and understand their responsibilities, HCCN provided access to mandatory training in Safeguarding Adults and GDPR.

Running the charity

The day-to-day running of the charity is delegated to an Operations Team to focus professional effort on service delivery, fundraising and marketing, supported by an administration manager.

Structure, Governance and Management

HCCN the charity operates as a fully constituted membership charity, registered with the Charities Commission, number 1163051.

HCCN’s trustees are responsible for setting the strategy for achieving the objectives they have agreed. At trustee meetings the broad strategy and areas of activity for the charity are kept under review, including consideration of risk; policies, procedures and performance; safeguarding; training; diversity; financial decisions and reserves management.

The charity focuses effort on:

• Growing the support we offer to include 10% of the local residents diagnosed with cancer (620 of 10,000 as at end March 2025).

Charity registration number 1163051

• Reaching a broader audience by delivering weekly community support groups and Get Active classes within the market towns of Huntingdonshire: in St Ives and Sawtry, and extending into St Neots and Ramsey.

• Achieving a sustainable level of fundraising to support an annual turnover in the region of £300k.

• Growing our family of volunteers in activity leader, administration and fundraising roles to 90 (from 25 at 2020).

• Achieve the “Good to Go” Good Governance Mark from the Hunts Forum recognising the charity’s sound management procedures.

2025 marks the 10[th] anniversary of the founding of the charity. An Impact Report has been produced to capture the stories of how the charity has impacted the lives of so many people affected by cancer.

HCCN Nursing Team

The nursing team has remained stable, with a few administrative changes. Gini Melesi's (founding lead nurse) daughter worked with the team briefly and additionally we now have Gilly supporting Sally in the admin role.

As ever the team looks for ways to improve our service. Fiona and Mel are now acupuncturists, and all trained acupuncturists have had update training on electroacupuncture. Harriett has taken on the management of the clinics and is trialling a few new times and approaches to benefit the nurses and patient care.

At Buckfest we enjoyed a successful day promoting skin cancer prevention, attempting to raise awareness in young men, and are currently in training for a charity triathlon after the 80s ball.

We have spent our money wisely on nonprescribed therapies for patients, and shoe covers to allow us to follow NHS guidelines when visiting patients for clinical treatments, whilst protecting our patients' lovely cream carpets.

As ever we are grateful to be supported by the charity.

Charity administrative information

HCCN’s trustees are:

Jan Davis – re-appointed 4 October 2024 as per the Constitution Graham Heywood - appointed 14 April 2024 Angela Howells - appointed 13 May 2022 Gini Melesi – appointed 20 December 2024 Gill Monsell - appointed 17 May 2021 Diane Smith – appointed 14 March 2025 Dominic Weaver - appointed 4 October 2024 Sallie Crawley - appointed 31 October 2019; resigned 4 October 2024

Charity registration number 1163051

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

Signed on behalf of the charity’s trustees:

Jan Davis

Janet Audrey Davis Deputy Chair of Trustees August 2025

Charity registration number 1163051

CHARITY COMMISSION FOR ENGLAND A14D WALES Recei tsand ents accounts CC16a For wlod To OlrfJ4fJ024 3110312D25 Section A Receipts and payments Uniw4£t4d RastrKd Er¥4tR8nL nd• A1 Recel •nd L Fundrw Jl.172 12 12 18 &Z12 •T4 174 219,1 101.317 A2 Aaet and Irw•i¢m•nt •)kn8 3•311 19.110 817 10283 7,133 rydmm¢ Rantw R(xxn l* Nurn••. 4ndT 132 y• 1.757 712 &76T 712 5mii GiirA• Sub total 1X.I Sub totsl 177.962 189.TT2 129,195 N•t of r•c•WpayiJi•Rts) 22,7 A6 Cuh funds 10st yo•r •n Cash fvnds thls y••r •nd 17,4 W13

Section B Statement of assets and liabilities at the end of the period Del3I1s fvnd• fund¥ fundl 81 Cosh lund8 11)107 Totalcash fvnits 293.414 Unr•thct•d Endowmenl funds Fund tolh Detai15 83 In¥Htm•nt •u•ts De?Ailq 85 Uabblrtkn• az Note to AccouDt5 lfj the 2023.24 A￿￿ts ifLP fwur¢s ltsr row A6 Cajh funds J•st wefe rTr.IStakenly (XDittea sp)r￿F# D•t¢ of glz li [9 125 SNIT

Hunts Community Cancer Network

Independent Examiner's Report to the trustees of the Hunts Community Cancer Network

I report on the accounts of the charity for the period ended 31 March 2025 which are set out on pages 1 to 2.

Respective responsibilities of trustees and examiner

The trustees are responsible for the preparation of the accounts. The trustees consider that an audit is not required for this period under section 144(2) of the Charities Act 2011 (the 2011 Act) and that an independent examination is needed.

It is my responsibility to:

• examine the accounts under section 145 of the 2011 Act ;

• to follow the procedures laid down in the general Directions given by the Charity

• Commission under section 145(5)(b) of the 2011 Act ; and

• to state whether particular matters have come to my attention.

Basis of independent examiner's report

My examination was carried out in accordance with the general Directions given by the Charity Commission. 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 next statement.

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 the requirements:

• to keep accounting records in accordance with section 130 of the Charities Act 2011; 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.

15 Station Road

St Ives Cambs PE27 5BH

Date : 29 August 2025

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