## Marvels and Meltdowns Chairpersons report ## By ## Shandrika Day AGM 1[st] May 2024 – 30[th] April 2025 Here we are another year on, 10 years on from where it all began in a small room within another organisations building. They say time flies when your having fun, well 10 years has certainly flown by. Myself and the team have met some amazing people along the way and this continues to grow week on week. Over the last year we have seen more and more people walk through the door and become regular faces, more families are being referred to us from their Health visitor, GP, Children’s services and nursery settings as well as schools and CAMHS. A lot of the support we give to families now is daily rather than weekly with parents/carers feeling safe to come and use our centre with their children from the offset of their journey, meaning that we are able to capture and build rapport with them in a more relaxed environment that a formal support group meeting. Early in the year we started off with forming links with the Hampshire Portage Team who have since May 2024 been using our centre as a base to meet with families on their waiting list. Portage are still currently using the centre currently and are in discussions about keeping the service going from here to stay in the community. Our Kitchen saw a new member of staff come on board initially for maternity cover but is now our full time member of staff, we feel that Kelly goes above and beyond to keep high standards within the kitchen and is a great asset to the charity. Our school holiday SEN sessions were kept more low key over the last year as we were not successful with any funding to be able to offer anything too extravagant, However Nikki and the team were able to offer activities once a week in the holidays from the centre which were well attended and enjoyed by all. Moving forward with the next year we have some new and exciting offerings for the families over the holidays due to new pots of funding and links created with other local organisations. ## **Fundraising** May kicked off our first fundraising stall of the season this year which was the Gosport Marine Festival an interesting event that we look forward to attending on an annual basis, this was successfully followed by a long line fundraising events throughout the season. The next event that we attended which needs a mention is the Anchored in Gosport Youth Market – this needed more than just Marvels turning up to raise awareness and fundraise, given the nature of the market the only way to do this was to offer our young service users the opportunity to come and 1 volunteer on the stall with us, so that’s exactly what we did. Each young person came and worked an hour on the stall helping to run the teddy tombola and the pocket money stall, several of them didn’t want to leave when their hour had finished as they enjoyed it so much. We will endeavour to get them on board with helping out again in the future too as it is such a valuable experience for them with many life skills incorporated in too. Other truly great events were HMS Collingwood Open Day and The Sunset Festival for reaching our highest fundraising amounts made to date on those two events. St Vincent college Summerfest was a lovely event where we were their chosen charity, so not only were we able to fundraise and raise awareness through our own stall at the event we were recognised by the college throughout the day and they very generously raised funds for us too. Wickham Festival sees us extending our awareness reach far beyond Hampshire and networking with other organisations as well as fundraising. We have repeat customers come back year after year to support us, but to also thank us for support that we have given to family members that are local to us and access our services. Although we attend so many events in the community in Gosport and many local families know who we are and where to find us, it still amazes me how many don’t know about us, so these events are absolutely vital for us to attend to keep growing and extending the reach, to keep evolving as to what is needed for the community and for the charity. We aim to increase the number of events we are at over the next coming year with a focus on fundraising for a new van, but this heavily relies on having a strong and big enough volunteer team as the events are very physically demanding. ## **Summer 2024** This summer saw Marvels and Meltdowns Family Centre open the doors for the first time throughout the school summer holidays for a trial to see just how successful it would be. The feedback from the families that used the centre spoke volumes :-It was a lifeline and we’re so grateful that you have opened, It was a safe space to be able to take the children, somewhere affordable we could come for the day. Although the summer openings ran financially at a deficit in 2024 we are confident that the positives far outweigh that deficit and that moving forward into the next year we can turn this around. Holiday openings need to gain momentum like anything does and the team have been advertising that we will be open all year round since the beginning of 2025. July was also a very important month for us because this is when we partnered with Level Up Gosport as one of their work experience providers. Since signing up to this initiative with them we have had two of their members come and carry out work experience with us, one is currently still with us, with her placement coming to an end in July and the other who was our very first WEXI programme member has since completed the programme with us and has come on board as one of our very own volunteers and has really come into her own since doing so. ## **Autumn** 2 Moving forward towards Autumn and I had a phone call from Kirstie the Manager at Hays Travel Gosport, they were looking for a charity to support for their big fundraiser for 2024. I explained about what we do and all about Santas grotto. Fast forward to October after being chosen as their charity Hays Travel hosted a Rock n Roll bingo night, they raised a whopping £1055 for our Santas Grotto, Which was later match funded by the Hays Travel Board so was doubled. Absolutely fantastic efforts from the amazing team of travel agents at the Gosport branch. October also saw the start of working in partnership with our local Asda community champions again, We are really pleased to have Rachel and Heidi, community champions from Asda back coming through the doors putting on activities, donating raffle prizes and being present in our Marvels community. Our SEN Halloween event was a sell out, with Asda Donating some of the pumpkins needed towards the session. Thank you Asda for your continued support. In November I was very privileged along with Nikki to be invited to the Houses of Parliament by our local MP in recognition of what fantastic work we do within the community, this is representative of the effort that the whole team at Marvels puts in and the difference that each volunteer and staff member make every day. This years children’s birthday party was organised slightly differently this time round, still same fantastic party just done twice in one day. This year we trialed two sessions to provide the families with a calmer experience, but still just as fabulous. We will aim to continue this set up moving forward to be able to suit the needs of the children more so. A huge thank you again goes out to the Eight Foundation who fund this party for us every year. Without their continued support there is no way that we could give the children a birthday party to attend each year in the style that we do. ## **Winter** Christmas seems to come around so fast once we hit October and before we know it is Santas grotto in full swing, This year we decided to add in a breakfast with Santa session for the general public, It was an absolute sell out for the two sittings with many of our SEN families booking on, it was ultimate chaos and there was lots of things to take away from the sessions to be able to make them more efficient and flow better next year. Then the week later we went straight into our Autism friendly Santas grotto sessions, this works like a well oiled machine now with the great team of volunteers behind the scenes for all the preparation and those that transform into elves for the day, this was a sell out this year with us juggling to squeeze a couple of extra children in. Again a huge thank you to Hays Travel for making it possible for us to continue making a difference. Marvels and Meltdowns have been part of the governments initiative as a Warm welcome space over the last 2 years, where we are proud to be a welcoming community space that is free to enter, you can 3 share a cuppa, connect with others and make new friends. we have given a total of 812 free hot drinks out over the cold winter months. It has been a very busy year for Marvels and Meltdowns with some new firsts for us so now its time to look ahead to the next year for the charity and continue to grow it in the directions needed. We have an amazing team of volunteers and employees that make a huge difference everyday in the community and the charity would be lost without them. We aim to grow this team over the next year to get bigger and stronger to be able to provide more to local families And grow the community that we serve. We have seen our reach on social media grow over the last year, we have Jade working on that mostly and seems to know what she is doing significantly more than I do, working continually to raise our online profile to maximise the reach within the community. We have been blessed with meeting some very wonderful and kind individuals over this last year, Betty and Pete to name a couple who have generously given pockets of money to the charity towards make n take and more recently towards the “Vantastic get us back on the road” Van fund. Without these wonderful people and many others in our lives we wouldn’t be able to keep going as we do. The generosity of the community is just invaluable. Thank you from me personally to everyone that makes a difference here at Marvels, from the person that hands me a coffee first thing in the morning because they know I will need it, to the families coming through the door, the likes and shares on social media, the organisations that offer us fantastic opportunities of working with them to make a difference, to the amazing people I have the pleasure and absolute honour of working with day in day out and to those we are yet to meet but it will be a privilege when we do cross paths. Until next year. 4 **Marvels and Meltdown Autism and ADHD Family Support 1164529 Receipts and payments accounts CC16a For the period** Period start date Period end date **To from** 01-May-24 30-Apr-25 |**Section A Receipts and payments**|**Section A Receipts and payments**||||| |---|---|---|---|---|---| |**A1 Receipts**|**Unrestricted**
**funds**
**to the nearest**
**£**
**421**
**-**
**7,534**
**233**
**565**
**19,512**
**13,846**
**371**
**1,014**
**325**
**453**
**293**
**-**|**Restricted**
**funds**
**to the nearest £**|**Endowment**
**funds**
**to the nearest £**|**Total funds**
**to the nearest £**|**Last year**
**to the nearest £**| |Room Hire|||**-**|**421**|**533**| |Grants||**26,518**|**-**|**26,518**|**17,778**| |Donations|||**-**|**7,534**|**11,544**| |Other Income|||**-**|**233**|**247**| |Support Group|||**-**|**565**|**56**| |Kitchen Takings|||**-**|**19,512**|**9,561**| |Events|||**-**|**13,846**|**9,210**| |CommunityLottery|||**-**|**371**|**428**| |Fundraising|||**-**|**1,014**|**996**| |Interest|||**-**|**325**|**89**| |Make and Take|||**-**|**453**|| |SensoryRoom|||**-**|**293**|| |HMRC maternity payin advance||**6,767**|**-**|**6,767**|| ||||||| |||**-**|**-**||| |**_Sub total_**_(Gross income for_
_AR)_|

**44,567**|**33,285**|**-**|**77,852**|**50,442**| |**_Total receipts_**
**A3 Payments**|||||| ||**44,567**|**33,285**|**-**|**77,852**|**50,442**| ||**3,625**
**2,342**
**-**
**-**
**4,500**
**8,721**
**428**
**1,191**
**1,878**
**1,091**
**-**
**-**
**869**
**2,103**
**531**
**839**||||| |Rent|||**-**|**3,625**|**3,118**| |Untilites|||**-**|**2,342**|**1,456**| |BuildingWork|||**-**|**-**|**9,424**| |Equipment and Resources|||**-**|**-**|**4,436**| |Kitchen consumables|||**-**|**4,500**|**4,579**| |Events & Excursions||**191**|**-**|**8,911**|**10,094**| |Website,Phone & Internet|||**-**|**428**|**1,180**| |Volunteer Expenses||**121**|**-**|**1,312**|**1,601**| |Services|||**-**|**1,878**|**510**| |Insurance|||**-**|**1,091**|**695**| |Motor Expenses|||**-**|**-**|**1,252**| |Sundries|||**-**|**-**|**445**| |Wages||**27,938**|**-**|**28,807**|**15,114**| |Centre Items|||**-**|**2,103**|| |Cleaning|||**-**|**531**|| |Research Project|||**-**|**839**|| ||||||| |**_Sub total_ **|**28,117**|**28,249**|**-**|**56,366**|**53,904**| |**_Total payments_**
**_Net of receipts/(payments)_**
**A5 Transfers between funds**
**Opening balance adjustments**
**A6 Cash funds last year end**
**_Cash funds this year end_**|||||| ||||||| ||**28,117**|**28,249**|**-**|**56,366**|**53,904**| ||||||| ||**16,450**|**5,036**|**-**|
**21,486**|**- 3,462**| ||**- 132 **
**4,340**|**-**|**-**|**-**|**-**
**- 132 **| |||||**- 132**|| |||**22,383**|**200**|**26,923**|**30,385**| ||**20,658**|**27,419**|**200**|**48,277**|**26,791**| ## **Section B Statement of assets and liabilities at the end of the period** **----- Start of picture text -----**
Unrestricted Restricted Endowment
Categories Details funds funds funds
to nearest £ to nearest £ to nearest £
B1 Cash funds Community Account 30 Apr 2025 19,475 - -
Restricted Account 30 Apr 2025 973 27,419 200
Cash Float 210
- -
Total cash funds 20,658 27,419 200
(agree balances with receipts and payments
account(s)) ok ok ok
Unrestricted Restricted Endowment
funds funds funds
Details to nearest £ to nearest £ to nearest £
Signed by one or two trustees on Date of
behalf of all the trustees Signature Print Name approval
Nicola Martin 25/2/26
1 25/02/2026
**----- End of picture text -----**
CCXX R1 accounts (SS) CHARITY COMMISSION FOR ENGLAND AND WALES Independent examiner's report on the accounts Section A Independent Examiner's Report Report to the trustees Marvels and Me￿dOwnS On accounts for the year ended 301b April 2025 Charity no (rf any) 1164529 Set out on pages I report to the trustees on my examination of the accounts of the abov& charity ("the Trusfj for the year ended 3010412025. Responsibilities and basis of report As the charty's trustees. you are responsible for the preparation of the accounts in accordance wilh 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 carying out my examination, I have followed all Ihe applicable Directions given by the Charity Commission under section 145(5){b) of the Act. Independent ￿he charity's gross income exceeded £250,OC(i and l am qualified to examinerfs statement undertake th8 examination by being a qualified m9mL￿r of [insert name of applicable lisled bodyll- Delete I l if not applicabl8. I have completed My examination. I confirrn that no mat8rial matters have come to my attention in conneGtion wilh the examinaticx) (other than that disclosed below ') which gives me cause to believe that in, any material respect.. Ihe accounting records were not kept in accordance with section 130 of the Charities Act. or the accounts did not accord with the accounting records.. or the accounts did not comply wf(h the applicable requirements ¢oncèrning the form and content of accounts set out in the Charities (Accounts and Reports) Regulations 2008 other than any requirement that the accounts gNe a true and fair, view which is not a matter considered as part of an independent examination. I have no concerns and have come across no olher matters in connection with the examination to which attention should be drawn in this report in order to enable a proper understanding of the accounts lo be reached. Please delete the words in the brackets rfthey do not apply Signed., Date: 26.02.2026 Name: Octavia Huppler Relevant professional qualification(s} or body MAAT (if anyl: Address: 259 Copnor Road, Portsmouth, P03 SEE Section B Disclosure Only complete if the examiner needs lo highlight materTal matters of concern (see CC32, Independent examination of charity accounts: directions and guidance for examiners). Give here brief details of any Items that Ihe examiner wishes to disclose. During the course of Ihe independent examination, ti was noted that the charity's cash records and petty cash documentation could be strengthened. It is recommended that the organisation maintains a detailed pety cash log recording all income received in cash, including the amount, the source. the reason for receipt, and the date received. Where applicable, cash counting sheets should be completed and retained to evidence the amounts counted and to support reconciliation to the petty cash log. In addition, the cash log should clearly record cash deposits made into the bank. including the dale and amount deposited, to ensure a complete audit trail. Implementing these controls will improve the accuracy of cash accounting and enhance the transparency and reliability of financial records. Reserves policy is not detailed in the Trustees Annual report however the charity hold a reserves policy document which details a 1 k reserve. Have advised Trustees to include this in the report for future years.