Marvels and Meltdowns
Chairs Report 2023-2024
Welcome to the 2023-2024 annual report.
Another successful year of growth for Marvels and Meltdowns, starting the year off with being able to employ our very first members of staff here within the family centre with thanks to The National Lottery Community fund.
We have employed a Cook to take full ownership of the kitchen and a front of house Activities Co-ordinator, both have proved invaluable to the organisation since their start.
May half term had a successful private hire Monkey bizness session that was a sell out, this session was funded and we continue to try to source funding to be able to offer more of these sessions in the future.
Our half term activity was led by the Amazing Rock Steady team who came and carried out a music session with the children offering them the opportunity to play the drums, guitar, keyboard or sing. Lots of musical noise which I am sure the neighbours loved as much as their parents that would have been on site with their children at the time. This session was very kindly delivered free of charge by the organisation.
We entered July with work experience students attending Marvels and Meltdowns to experience the working world. The students carried out all jobs that the volunteers do subject to their ages giving them a well rounded view of what we all do on a daily basis within Marvels and Meltdowns. The feedback from students and the education settings has all been positive and we will continue to engage and reach out to other local senior schools, colleges and SEN settings to ensure we can offer these opportunities for all to access.
This summer kicked off with some fabulous family inclusive activities that included a gardening session, Lego stay n play, our ever popular marvels tradition of Pizza making session and our favourite Princess the unicorn and friends came for a double session to ensure everyone could join this session as it has always been a sell out.
Whilst some of the team are working hard at the centre to offer these activities others are out and about in the community setting up the charity fundraising and
awareness stall in the wider community, here’s where you may have spotted us over the last year:-
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St Vincent College Summerfest
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HMS Collingwood open day
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Elson Infant School Summer Fair
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Party in the Park
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Wickham Festival
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Fortonfest
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Sunset Festival
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Parkfest
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Lee Victory festival
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Fair at the Fort
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Party for Rowner
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Party for Seafield.
As the summer holidays draw to a close we started to prepare for Fair at the Fort, Marvels Birthday Party, Our Adult Birthday Bash and of course Santas grottos.
This year at fair at the fort we suggested that we bring Santa in his grotto, seeing as the previous year there was no Santa there, (Maximise awareness for the charity & raise a little bit of money at the same time) with all the best laid plans there was no preparing for the shocking weather that we endured on the first day. So quick thinking, sheer determination and some amazing team work from everyone we took Santa’s grotto back to Marvels family centre and on Sunday spent the day warm and dry welcoming families in to the centre to meet Santa.
This picture is a prime example of why we do what we do.
Marvels 8[th] Birthday Party followed this event and it was a wonderful day as always, Huge thanks goes to the Eight Foundation who fund this event entirely every year for us to be able to make it happen as well as the team from Level Up that come along and support at the event. The children and young people that attend are invited to Marvels birthday party and we sure know how to party, this year we increased the numbers to 80 to enable us to offer the opportunity for more children to attend and be part of our Big party. Moving forward we have now made the decision to split the party in to two sessions to allow a more relaxed experience and we can keep numbers lower but still increase the amount of children in total. So we shall see how that works out next year.
Then the week later came the adults only birthday bash, this came with a new venue and new DJ, it felt like the most relaxed adult event we have ever had, needless to say that we have already booked the venue and DJ for next year. Save the date Saturday 30[th] November 2024. This event is always one that we want to just bring people together and celebrate us as an organisation, as volunteers, as a team, as individuals, as people and not just parents within a SEN community and to Raise awareness to the wider community. This is a ticketed event to be able to recoup the costs involved
with a fundraising raffle on the night. It’s a night of fun and laughter.
Our Autism friendly Santas grotto was this year supported by Zurich who purchased £500 worth of gift items towards what we needed, this year was again carried out on a Saturday to maximise the amount of children and families that could have the experience with Santa in our safe environment. We will again continue this event annually due to such a demand.
After a well earned break over the christmas period we hit the ground running again and come february half term we hosted 60 children and their parents/carers at Ninja warrior UK in southampton, the feedback from this was again fantastic, they even got headbands and socks as well as food and drinks for after their 60 minutes trying to beat the wall. This is a very expensive event that we can only offer if it is funded or heavily subsidised and as with the Monkey Bizness we will continue to explore funding avenues.
We were fortunate to have been chosen by local orgnisation EATON who are an intelligent power management company as their charity of the year who supported us with donations of teddies, craft items, as well as offering their staff and services to give the inside of our building a paint over the summer. Due to having a vast array of expertise and contacts not only did they support us with some funding to be able to purchase a new tall fridge but they also very kindly offered to replace the fencing at the back of our
building for cost of materials, a significantly lower figure than we had been quoted and they evengave us another £880 to put towards the costs too. We have now moved into our next financial year with a fence that is safe and will last a long time. Thank you Eaton.
Over this last year we have met even more new faces through the doors of the centre, out and about at events, through networking events, in schools at coffee mornings.
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We have met more new families of children with Autism and/or ADHD by coming trhough the doors when the centre is open to the public, families have felt more at ease coming in to the centre in a less formal and more relaxed atmosphere.
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We have seen young people coming in for Make n take sessions that have been home schooled and watched them transition back into education settings,
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We have increased our reach back into schools for coffee mornings, which we will continue to grow over the next year.
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We have increased the amount of fundraising and awareness events we attended last year and aim to continue to grow this further
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We have taken on board the feedback from the families over the last year that they want the centre open more in the school holidays.
This next year we will aim to :-
- Continue to extend our reach offering Marvels and Meltdowns advocates attendance to coffee
mornings to more education settings, to include primary, secondary, SEN settings, Nursery and Preschool and local colleges.
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We will aim to increase the amount of community events we will be in attandance at over the next event season to continue to widen our reach and engage with other organisations to broaden our partnership working.We have alresady started this by being invited to attend Anchored in Gosport Markets with our stall and are hoping to secure a pitch with Santas grotto for Christmas light switch on.
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From the feedback we have received we have made the decision and are trialing opening during the summer for longer opening hours for our Marvels exclusive sessions as well as opening throughout the week for all to enjoy as they do now. We have employed someone for the summer season as a trial and if it is a success we will look at keeping the centre open all year round. This does have to however be financially viable for us to do this.
Overall we have had a very exciting and busy year so I would like to extend my sincere thanks to all that have supported us, whether that be a like and share on social media, raisding money for Marvels and Meltdowns, bringing us hoards of teddys when we feel like we are fit to burst but know we will run out again in
a week, or most importantly walking through the door of the centre either for a cuppa, or with you children or for support.all of the above makes a difference and raises more awareness of Marvels and Meltdowns.
Thank you to each and every supporter.
The charity started because of my son, but it exists today because there is a need for it to be here. Every member of the team, past, present and future plays a part in what makes this charity great. Without a whole team the charity could not exist. The charity is not just one person, nor is it two, or even three but a whole community of people with a passion for what we do. Thank you to everyone for being as amazing as you are and always know you make a difference.
| Marvels and Meltdowns Charity Name |
1164529 No (if any) |
|---|---|
| Receipts and payments accounts |
Period start date Period end date For the period from 01-May-23 To 30-Apr-24 CC16a
Section A Receipts and payments
| A1 Receipts | funds £ 533 - 11,544 247 56 9,561 9,210 428 996 89 32,664 |
funds £ - 17,778 - - - - - - - - - 17,778 |
funds £ - - - - - - - - - - - |
Total funds £ 533 17,778 11,544 247 56 9,561 9,210 428 996 89 - 50,442 |
Last year £ |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Room hire | 533 | - | - | 533 | 1,039 |
| Grants | - | 17,778 | 17,778 | 10,468 | |
| Donations | 11,544 | - | - | 11,544 | 11,837 |
| Other income | 247 | - | - | 247 | 141 |
| Supportgroup | 56 | - | - | 56 | 167 |
| Kitchen takings | 9,561 | - | - | 9,561 | 4,302 |
| Event | 9,210 | - | - | 9,210 | 12,667 |
| CommunityLotteries | 428 | - | - | 428 | 479 |
| Fundraising | 996 | - | - | 996 | 1,652 |
| Interest | 89 | - | - | 89 | 25 |
| - | - | - | |||
| AR) | 32,664 | 17,778 | - | 50,442 | 42,777 |
| (see table). | |||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| - | - | - | - | ||||||||||
| - | - | - | - | - | |||||||||
| Sub total | - | - | - | - | - | ||||||||
| Total receipts | 32,664 | 17,778 | - | 50,442 | 42,777 |
A3 Payments
| Rent | 2,493 | 0 | 625 | 3,118 | 1,938 | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Utilities | (1,330) | 0 | 2,786 | 1,456 | 1,111 | ||||
| Building work | 9,424 | 0 | 0 | 9,424 | 400 | ||||
| Fund raising / hospitality | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 300 | ||||
| Equipment and resources | 3,572 | 300 | 564 | 4,436 | 4,572 | ||||
| Kitchen consumables | 2,735 | 846 | 998 | 4,579 | 4,393 | ||||
| Events & excursions | 8,818 | 0 | 1,276 | 10,094 | 5,143 | ||||
| Zoom sessions | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 29 | ||||
| Website, phone and internet | 336 | 0 | 844 | 1,180 | 919 | ||||
| Volunteer expenses | 1,601 | 0 | 0 | 1,601 | 1,503 | ||||
| Services | 510 | 0 | 0 | 510 | 282 | ||||
| Insurance | 195 | 0 | 500 | 695 | 634 | ||||
| Motor expenses | 752 | 0 | 500 | 1,252 | 942 | ||||
| Sundries | 445 | 0 | 0 | 445 | 72 | ||||
| Wages | 15,114 | 0 | 0 | 15,114 | 0 | ||||
| Sub total | 44,665 | 1,146 | 8,093 | 53,904 | 22,238 |
| A4 Asset and investment | - - - |
- - - |
- - - |
|||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| - | - | - | - | |||
| - | - | - | - | |||
| Sub total | - | - | - | - | - |
| Total payments | 44,665 | 1,146 | 8,093 | 53,904 | 22,238 | ||||||
| Net of receipts/(payments) | (12,001) | 16,632 | (8,093) | (3,462) | 20,539 | ||||||
| A5 | Transfers between funds | (3,000) | 3,000 | - | - | - | |||||
| A6 | Cash funds last year end | 19,341 | 2,751 | 8,293 | 30,385 | 9,846 | |||||
| Cash funds this year end | 4,340 | 22,383 | 200 | 26,923 | 30,385 |
Section B Statement of assets and liabilities at the end of the period
Categories Details
Unrestricted Restricted Designated
| B2 Other monetary assets B1 Cash funds |
Cash float Receivables Current account Details Cash Total cash funds (agree balances with receipts and payments account(s)) Savings account |
to nearest £ 4,768 (638) 210 4,340 OK Unrestricted to nearest £ 210 - - - - - |
to nearest £ - 22,383 - 22,383 OK Restricted to nearest £ - - - - - - |
to nearest £ |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| - | ||||
| 200 | ||||
| - | ||||
| 200 | ||||
| OK | ||||
| Endowment to nearest £ |
||||
| Cash float | 210 | - | - | |
| Receivables | - | - | - | |
| - | - | - | ||
| - | - | - | ||
| - | - | - | ||
| - | - | - |
B3 Investment assets
B4 Assets retained for the charity’s own use
Details
| Renault Master van Details Details |
asset belongs asset belongs Unrestricted |
Cost (optional) - - - - - Cost (optional) - - - - - - - - - |
(optional) |
| - | |||
| - | |||
| - | |||
| - | |||
| - | |||
| (optional) | |||
| Renault Master van | Unrestricted | - | - |
| - | - | ||
| - | - | ||
| - | - | ||
| - | - | ||
| - | - | ||
| - | - | ||
| - | - | ||
| - | - |
B5 Liabilities
Signed by one or two trustees on b h lf f ll h
----- Start of picture text -----
Details Fund to which Amount due When due
Future lease obligations Unrestricted li bilit l t - ( ti l) ( ti l)
-
-
-
-
Signature Print Name approval
Nicola Leigh Martin 26/03/25
Shandrika Day 26/03/25
----- End of picture text -----
Independent examiner's report on the accounts
Section A Independent Examiner’s Report
Report to the trustees/ Charity Name Marvels and Meltdowns members of On accounts for the year 30 April 2024 Charity no 1164529 ended (if any) Set out on pages One and two (remember to include the page numbers of additional sheets)
I report to the trustees on my examination of the accounts of the above charity (“the Trust”) for the year ended 30 / 04 / 2024 .
- Responsibilities and As the charity trustees of the Trust, you are responsible for the preparation basis of report of the accounts in accordance with the requirements of the Charities Act 2011 (“the Act”).
I report in respect of my examination of the Trust’s accounts carried out under section 145 of the 2011 Act and in carrying out my examination, I have followed the applicable Directions given by the Charity Commission under section 145(5)(b) of the Act.
Independent examiner's statement
I have completed my examination. I confirm that no material matters have come to my attention other than that disclosed below in connection with the examination which gives me cause to believe that in, any material respect:
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accounting records were not kept in accordance with section 130 of the Act or
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the accounts do not accord with the accounting records
I have no concerns and have come across no other matters in connection with the examination to which attention should be drawn in order to enable a proper understanding of the accounts to be reached.
Signed: Date: 25 March 2025 Name: Gillian Lodge Relevant professional FCCA qualification(s) or body (if any): Address: University of Portsmouth Richmond Building Portland Street Portsmouth PO1 3DE
October 2018
1
IER
Section B Disclosure
Only complete if the examiner needs to highlight matters of concern (see CC32, Independent examination of charity accounts: directions and guidance for examiners).
Give here brief details of any items that the examiner wishes to disclose .
The current bookkeeping systems could benefit from some improvements to streamline the examination process and ensure timely filing. During my review, I encountered some records that were unclear, which made it more challenging to verify certain transactions. While I have worked with the information available, this did contribute to delays in finalising my report.
To help avoid similar issues in the future, I would recommend reviewing and refining the bookkeeping processes to ensure records are consistently clear, complete, and well-organised throughout the year.
October 2018
2
IER