l ittle acts of kindness Evelyn’s Gift |
Trustees’ Annual Report for the period
from 23[rd] October 2024 to 22[nd] October 2025
Charity name: Evelyn’s Gift CIO
Charity registration number: 1165015
Evelyn’s Gift was registered as a CIO in January 2016. Our work is in memory of 7-year-old Evelyn Mary Smith, who died suddenly and unexpectedly in 2013. We carry out a diverse range of projects and provide individual acts of kindness for people in need. We promote CPR life saving skills training in the community provided by Warwickshire Hearts.
Objectives and Activities
We have two objectives:
(1) To preserve and protect good health by the provision of emergency life support training through schools and councils in Warwickshire.
(2) Such charitable purposes for the public benefit as are exclusively charitable according to the laws of England and Wales as the trustees may from time to time determine. The public benefits from purpose (1) are evidenced by research from the Resuscitation Council that shows that training in the community improves survival rates from community cardiac arrests. Free training sessions for CPR/ AED have been delivered by the charity Warwickshire Hearts. There has been no cost to Evelyn’s Gift for the training, but we are told by their trustees that our connection encourages uptake, particulalry if their share our story. Since the project began, more than ten thousand people have been trained in South Warwickshire and we intend to continue this close relationship with warwickshire Hearts. The majority of our work during this period has been in the area of acts of kindness for people in need for a variety of reasons, including bereavement, serious health problems, poverty, addiction, abuse or homelessness This work applies to objective (2), and the majority of this work has been across Warwickshire, with a small number of cases in other counties in the Midlands of England. We have received requests for support from sources that include Warwickshire County Council Children’s Services and Care Leaver teams, charities supporting families with children with serious illness, community nursing teams, hospices, community centres and schools.
Annual return 2025
We fund a bereavement group for parents when their child has died, provided by Warwickshire Therapy, as a mutual support network. We provide bereavement support resource packs for families and schools, aimed at primary-aged children. These packs continue to be a significant part of our work.
For individuals we are providing a direct benefit through objective (2) by enhancing quality of life and physical and mental wellbeing. Many of the items we provide are essential for a reasonable standard of living. We receive regular feedback from health, social care and education professionals about the direct impact on children, young people and adults.
The Parents’ Bereavement Group and bereavement support packs have facilitated support for bereaved people and feedback from parents, schools and other organisations shows that these projects improving outcomes for bereaved people.
We have worked with WCC Children’s Services to support projects to improve long term prospects for children leaving care, siblings in different care setting from one another and children being moved around within care.
Objective (2) provides the public benefit of enhancing the community by facilitating community support for local people that are in crisis or vulnerable.
Decision Making Policy
Regular projects, such as bereavement support packs and toiletries for vulnerable people, do not require trustee approval. Projects using restricted funds are reported to the trustees to ensure that the fund is being used as intended.
New projects and requests for individual support over £100 are shared electronically with the trustees if they are considered to meet our objectives. The trustees also have access to the accounts and financial status. A minimum of three trustees, in addition to the proposer, are required before the request can be approved and actioned.
All decisions are made by the trustees with consideration of the public benefit and the charity’s objectives.
Structure, Governance and Management
Evelyn’s Gift is a Charitable Incorporated Organisation (CIO) governed by constitution. There are twelve trustees, which is the maximum number. Four of the trustees are related to one another because the charity is in memory of Evelyn Smith. The remaining trustees have a variety of skills in other areas and were all appointed by proposal and approval by existing trustees.
Annual return 2025
| Trustee Name | Office (if any) |
Additional information |
|---|---|---|
| Helen M C Smith | Chair | Also trustee of Lapworth Group Riding for the Disabled IncorporatingCarriage Driving (CIO) |
| Elizabeth N Jackson | Treasurer | Additional bank account holder |
| Edward Smith | Son of Chair | |
| Kate M Pelling | Sister of Chair | |
| GuyA P King | Secretary | |
| Jan Grewal | Also trustee of Barford St Peter’s School Trust | |
| TracyKewley | Additional bank account holder | |
| Donna Marie Arnold-Kelly | ||
| Trevor Smith | Husband of chair | |
| Alan Coope | ||
| Caroline J Beresford-Ruck | ||
| Kathryn Pepper |
Annual return 2025
l ittle acts of kindness Evelyn’s Gift |
AGM report 23 Oct 2024 – 22 Oct 2025
1 Introduction
Evelyn’s Gift commemorated 10 years since the charity was launched in 2015 in memory of Evelyn. This has been another successful year, providing kindness to those in need, whilst receiving support from our community, businesses and trusts, including Avon Timber Ltd. We continued with our work for bereaved people, bespoke acts of kindness for individuals, support for other charities and projects with Warwickshire County Council Children’s Services.
We increased our project work with Children’s Services, focusing on siblings that are in separate care settings from one another, and care experienced young people.
We thank the families of Hallie, Lee and Jessica for donations in memory of their children. It is a privilege for us to carry out acts of kindness as part of their legacies.
We are fortunate to have strong local support for Evelyn’s Gift, and we are grateful to all of the individuals, businesses and organisations that have helped us to build Evelyn’s legacy over the past decade.
2 Project Summary
The work of Evelyn’s Gift is hugely varied because we target areas of need where there is no other provision, or when an urgent response is needed.
2.1 Warwickshire Children’s Services
This year has seen an increase in project work with Warwickshire County Council Children’s Services. The Child Friendly Warwickshire Newsletter and their social media pages shared updates on our collaborative project work to support children in care and those leaving the care system, including:
- University starter packs : Equipping care leavers with essentials for university life, including coursework supplies, food hampers, and laptops.
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Backpacks for children entering care : In collaboration with local schools like Warwick Prep, these comforting packs include teddies, toiletries, clothing and much more.
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Day trips and residentials : Funding for enriching experiences such as Brothers and Sisters Day and sibling residentials.
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Christmas support : A vital contributor to Norma’s Hampers, helping to bring festive cheer to families in need.
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Bereavement packs : Thoughtfully assembled for children experiencing loss, distributed through social workers.
Evelyn’s Gift was successful in securing a Morrisons Foundation funding bid to stop the use of bin bags for children’s belongings when they are moved around in the care system. We now provide packs of large, fold out bags and luggage labels to improve this experience.
For young people setting up home after being in care, we provided boxes of kitchen items, bathroom items and cleaning products.
We supported Norma’s Hampers again for Christmas 2024. Norma voluntarily provides Christmas hampers for around two hundred care leavers in Warwickshire by collecting donations and fund raising. We contributed boxes of biscuits for every hamper and organised collections of food at other organisations, including a care home and a nursery. We are very grateful to Warwickshire Search and Rescue volunteers who collected these donations and the biscuits in their vehicles, and delivered everything to Norma. The hampers were then distributed by support workers to the young people and their children in time for Christmas.
We continue to develop projects by working closely with a trust that has provided funding and practical support over many years, to ensure that these projects are sustainable. Some of our projects have been carried on by Warwickshire County Council, and we continue to work together to identify ways in which we can improve the experience and outcomes for young people in care, or leaving care.
2.2 Acts of Kindness
There were thirty-two acts of kindness that were completed during the year. These came from hospices, health professionals, other charities, schools and social services. These are bespoke individual needs that make a big difference, including beds, clothing, shoes and food shopping vouchers for people in urgent need. Many of the needs are caused by bereavement, illness, abuse or change in circumstances because of caring for children with life limiting conditions. Each case is considered carefully by the trustees, usually within 24 hours.
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2.3 Bereavement
2.3.1 Parent’s bereavement group
We fund a fortnightly support group for parents and carers at a professional counselling service, Warwickshire Therapy, in Leamington Spa. We have worked closely with Warwickshire Therapy for several years and parents can attend for as long as they wish to. For recently bereaved parents, we fund vital 1-2-1 sessions at Warwickshire Therapy.
2.3.2 Bereavement Support Packs for children
We provide packs of information about specialist charities to help adults supporting children. They contain six books for children of preschool or primary school age. An estimated 140 packs were given to schools, social services, community centres and individuals. This is a significant increase on the number in the previous year, and partly due to greater awareness and the fact that there are now stocks of packs at various sites across Warwickshire to improve access for social workers and schools.
2.3.3 Memorial Jewellery
We purchased silver fingerprints or hand/footprints from Recollections jewellery for parents when their child has died. The majority of these requests came from Acorns Children’s Hospice, covering Warwickshire and neighbouring counties in the Midlands. Some requests also came from hospital chaplains and staff.
2.4 Other Charities
We donated underwear, socks and toiletries to Change Grow Live, Coventry (CGL). These items are needed for people with that the organisation supports because they have left prison, have addiction problems, mental health conditions and housing problems, including rough sleepers. These products make a difference to the way that people engage with CGL and provide dignity and compassion for those in need. Some of the products in these bundles came from In Kind Direct so they are donated products that help us to reduce costs. We visited CGL in Coventry to ensure that our gifts are reaching vulnerable people and see the vital work that they do for people in Coventry and Warwickshire.
For the second year running, we made school essentials sets for the Packmores Community Centre in Warwick for them to give to children accessing the free school uniform items. These sets contained pens, pencils, paper and other items, with the secondary school sets to include calculators and bags which were funded by the Rotary Club of Warwick.
Myton Hospices in both Warwick and Coventry requested travel sized toiletries for people that do not have their own. We have now arranged an ordering system so that wards can maintain stock levels before they run out.
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2.5 Be Happy Day 1[st] December
We remembered Evelyn on what would have been her 19[th] birthday, with a 19-mile walk organised by Alex, Community Champion at Morrisons. We were joined by the then Deputy Mayor of Warwick, Cllr. Jackie D’arcy, now Mayor of Warwick.
We held our annual candle ceremony in St Mary’s Church to remember children and young people that have died.
2.6 CPR/AED Training
This is one of our charity objectives and is delivered by our partner charity, Warwickshire Hearts. We were involved in establishing Warwickshire Hearts as a charity with Warwick District Community First Responders and Waterside Medical Centre, and we continue to work together on this shared objective. They provide free training in the community, and explain about why we promote the training in memory of Evelyn, where appropriate, to encourage uptake of the course. We have funded replacement defibrillator pads during this year for the vehicle that they use to respond to 999 calls. We share storage costs with them, but there has not been any training cost to Evelyn’s Gift this year.
3 Fundraising and support
A total of £24,747 was carried over from the previous year, of which £1,127 was restricted funding from Think Active for Children’s Services.
As we are a small charity without paid staff, we rely on the generosity of individuals and other organisations, or funding applications to other foundations.
We received a total income of £41,114 from a variety of sources.
3.1 Legacy donations
We received £720 from the family of Lee, ‘Beanie’, at Beanie’s Bash, an event that they have held in his memory in support of Evelyn’s Gift. We are very grateful to Lee’s parents for choosing Evelyn’s Gift to receive the proceeds again in this financial year.
We had the honour of receiving £5,000 from Rally for Hallie, a fund that is now in memory of a little girl called Hallie. This was not a restricted fund, but we have focused this on bereavement support, including silver fingerprint jewellery for grieving parents. We are
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grateful to Hallie’s family for the opportunity to give more acts of kindness as a legacy for Hallie.
Jessica’s Promise, a charity in memory of Jessica, donated £150 for an individual to continue with a sporting activity. Jessica loved sport, so her charity’s purpose is to enable children and young people to take part in sports for mental and physical wellbeing.
3.2 Support from Business
We had the privilege of receiving the proceeds from a golf event, organised by Avon Timber Ltd in Coventry. The company issued us with a £10,000 cheque in recognition of both their 10th year of the charity event, and our 10[th] anniversary since the launch of Evelyn’s Gift.
3.3 The Mayor of Warwick
Evelyn’s Gift was one of two charities that were chosen as the Mayor’s Charities by Cllr. Dave Skinner. Cllr Skinner raised funds at events throughout his term as Mayor, and Evelyn’s Gift received £3,000 at the Mayor Making ceremony in May 2025.
3.4 Charities, Trusts and Foundations
Evelyn’s Gift applied to the Morrisons Foundation, and we were given a restricted fund of £5,000. This fund has allowed us to eradicate the use of plastic bin bags for the belongings of children when they are moved within care in Warwickshire. This problem was identified across most of the UK by a BBC report, but has been solved for Warwickshire by the Morrisons Foundation Funding and out collaboration with WCC.
We work closely with a trust on projects with Children’s Services and we received £5,000 from them, with a commitment to provide further funding in the next financial year. This allows us to plan for more projects to help children and young people in Warwickshire.
We received a restricted fund £1000 from the Rotary Club of Warwick and the Rotary Regional Fund for bereavement resource packs. Evelyn’s Gift was chosen by Dick Dixon, as one of his charities for his year as president of the club. We received a further £1,500 from the President’s Fund.
The St James’s Place Charitable Foundation gave us a restricted fund of £2,500 for bereavement packs, and an additional unrestricted fund of £1,000 following our attendance at a conference at the NEC, Birmingham.
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Warwick Lions Club paid £500 for some of the tickets for a pantomime for siblings in care. Procure 4 Ltd raised funds for Children’s Services events.
We received a final payment of £375 from Tesco Groundworks from a restricted fund application from the previous financial year, which was for the Parent’s Bereavement Group.
3.5 Individuals and HMRC Gift Aid
Evelyn’s Gift receives regular, direct donations from individuals. Other donations were received from our wonderful.org page, which is free of charges to charities. Other income from individuals came from donations via Just Giving and Go Fund Me platforms.
Included in the individual donations were sponsors of a cycling event at 2[nd] Warwick Atlantic Cub Scouts.
Gift aid was claimed with donor permission where applicable, on Wonderful.org donations and direct individual donations.
3.6 Other Income
A workplace annual event at Warwick Record Office raised £494. We received £199 from the Charity Aid Foundation (CAF) from donations made through salary donation schemes.
3.7 Other forms of support
There were collections of items needed for Norma’s Hampers and for backpacks for children when they are taken into care. Food was collected from a nursey and a care home, and delivered on the same day to Norma.
Backpacks, toiletries, toys and stationery were collected at a campaign at Warwick Prep School. Contents were then added by Evelyn’s Gift, and forty packs for children being taken into care were put together at Children’s Services. Many have already been given to children in care, and the remaining stock is stored by social services.
Coten End Primary School collected more than 400 men’s toiletries that enabled us to help more people at Change Grow Live, Coventry.
Income sources are summarised in figure1.
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----- Start of picture text -----
Workplace, £494
HMRC GiftAid, £529
CAF, £199
Events, £720
Other, £62
Individuals, £1,700
Online, £1,964
Mayor of
Warwick,
£3,000
Business, £10,000
Charities and trusts,
£22,445
----- End of picture text -----
TOTAL INCOME £41,114
Figure 1 Income 2024 -2025
4 Expenditure
4.1 Restricted funds
Restricted funds of £1,127 were carried over from the year ending 22[nd] Oct 2024.
| Source | Amount | Project | Carried over |
|---|---|---|---|
| Think Active | £400 | Children’s Services | £0 |
| Think Active | £727 | Children’s Services | £0 |
Restricted funds received between 23/10/2024 and Oct 22/10/2025
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| Source | Amount | Remaining funds |
|---|---|---|
| Morrisons Foundation Bags Project for children in care | £5,000 | £4,467.04 |
| St James’s Place Charitable Foundation bereavement | £2,500 | £0 |
| RotaryClub of Warwick/Regional Bereavement Packs | £1,000 | £0 |
| AK Jessica's Promise | £150 | £150 |
| Restricted for Children’s Services | £920 | £0 |
| Tesco Groundworks Bereavement Group | 375 | £0 |
| Total of restricted funds received thisyear and carried over | £4,617.04 |
Restricted fund Expenditure
| Project | Expenditure |
|---|---|
| Tesco Groundworks bereavementgroup | £375 |
| Think Active for Children’s Services | £1,127 |
| St James’ Place Bereavement | £2500 |
| RotaryClub Bereavement Packs | £1,000 |
| Morrisons Foundation | £532.96 |
| Procure 4 and Lions for Children’s Services | £920 |
| Total | £6454.96 |
4.2 Unrestricted Expenditure
Running costs and other expenses include website hosting fees, insurance, storage unit, Zoom meetings and Amazon Prime membership.
Total expenditure for the year was £35,607 , shown in figure 2
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----- Start of picture text -----
Schools and
Other, £1,370
Charities, £1,735 community, £454
Acts of Kindness,
Bereavement Support, £9,699
£2,902
Parents' Bereavement
Group, £3,110
Bereavement Support
Packs, £7,771
Children's Services,
£8,565
----- End of picture text -----
TOTAL EXPENDITURE £35,607
Figure 2 Expenditure 2024-2025
5 Summary of activity 23/10/24– 22/10/25
| Carried over from 2024 |
Income | Expenditure | Carried over to 2025/26 |
|---|---|---|---|
| £24,747 | £41,114 | £35,607 | £30,254 |
Bank Accounts carried over
| Santander unrestricted | £25,636.57 |
|---|---|
| Santander restricted | £4,617.04 |
| Santander total | £30,253.61 |
| Total carried over | £30,253.61 |
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Charity Name No (if any) Evelyn's Gift 1165015 Receipts and payments accounts CC16a For the period Period start date Period end date To from 23/10/2024 22/10/2025
| Section A Receipts and payments | Section A Receipts and payments | Section A Receipts and payments | Section A Receipts and payments | Section A Receipts and payments | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| A1 Receipts | Unrestricted funds to the nearest £ |
Restricted funds to the nearest £ |
Endowment funds to the nearest £ |
Total funds to the nearest £ |
Last year to the nearest £ |
||||
| Charities and trusts | 12,500 | 9,945 | - | 22,445 | 16,627 | ||||
| Online | 1,964 | - | - | 1,964 | 5,308 | ||||
| Events | 720 | - | - | 720 | 2,892 | ||||
| Individuals | 1,700 | - | - | 1,700 | 1,730 | ||||
| Business | 10,000 | - | - | 10,000 | 3,150 | ||||
| HMRC GiftAid | 529 | - | - | 529 | 477 | ||||
| CAF | 199 | - | - | 199 | 182 | ||||
| workplace | 494 | - | - | 494 | 160 | ||||
| Mayor of Warwick Charities | 3,000 | - | - | 3,000 | |||||
| other | 62 | - | - | 62 | 351 | ||||
| - | - | - | - | ||||||
| Sub total(Gross income for AR) |
31,169 |
9,945 | - | 41,114 | 30,877 | ||||
- - |
- - |
- - |
- - |
||||||
| A2 Asset and investment sales, (see table). |
|||||||||
| - | - | - | - | ||||||
| - | - | - | - | - | |||||
| Sub total | - | - | - | - | - | ||||
| **Total receipts ** | |||||||||
| 31,169 | 9,945 | - | 41,114 | 30,877 |
| A3 Payments | |
|---|---|
| Acts of Kindness | 9,699 |
| Children's Services | 5,985 |
| Parents' Bereavement Group | 2,735 |
| Hospices | - |
| Charities | 1,735 |
| Bereavement Support | 2,902 |
| Bereavement Support Packs | 4,271 |
| Schools and community | 454 |
| Other | 1,370 |
| EW Trust | - |
| A3 Payments | |||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Acts of Kindness | 9,699 | - | - | 9,699 | 15,236 | ||||
| Children's Services | 5,985 | 2,580 | - | 8,565 | 4,483 | ||||
| Parents' Bereavement Group | 2,735 | 375 | - | 3,110 | 3,890 | ||||
| Hospices | - | - | - | - | 3,947 | ||||
| Charities | 1,735 | - | - | 1,735 | 3,690 | ||||
| Bereavement Support | 2,902 | - | - | 2,902 | 3,574 | ||||
| Bereavement Support Packs | 4,271 | 3,500 | - | 7,771 | 3,195 | ||||
| Schools and community | 454 | - | - | 454 | |||||
| Other | 1,370 | - | - | 1,370 | 1,232 | ||||
| EW Trust | - | - | - | - | 1,663 | ||||
| **Sub total ** | 29,152 | 6,455 | - | 35,607 | 40,910 | ||||
| - - |
- - |
- - |
- - |
||||||
| A4 Asset and investment purchases, (see table) |
|||||||||
| - | - | - | - | ||||||
| - | - | - | - | ||||||
| **Sub total ** | - | - | - | - | - | ||||
| Total payments Net of receipts/(payments) A5 Transfers between funds A6 Cash funds last year end Cash funds this year end |
|||||||||
| 29,152 | 6,455 | - | 35,607 | 40,910 | |||||
| 2,017 | 3,490 | - | 5,507 | ||||||
| 2,017 | 3,490 | - | 5,507 | - 10,033 | |||||
| - | - | - | - | - | |||||
| 23,620 | 1,127 | - | 24,747 | 34,780 | |||||
| 25,637 | 4,617 | - | 30,254 | 24,747 |
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Section B Statement of assets and liabilities at the end of the period
| Categories B5 Liabilities Signed by one or two trustees on behalf of all the trustees B3 Investment assets B2 Other monetary assets B4 Assets retained for the charity’s own use B1 Cash funds |
Details | Details | Unrestricted funds to nearest £ |
Unrestricted funds to nearest £ |
Restricted funds to nearest £ |
Restricted funds to nearest £ |
Endowment funds to nearest £ |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Bank | 25,637 | 4,617 | - | ||||
| Cash | - | - | |||||
| - | - | - | |||||
| Total cash funds (agree balances with receipts and payments account(s)) Details |
25,637 | 4,617 | - | ||||
| OK Unrestricted funds to nearest £ |
OK Restricted funds to nearest £ |
OK | |||||
| Endowment funds to nearest £ |
|||||||
| None | - | - | - | ||||
| - | - | - | |||||
| Details | Fund to which asset belongs |
Cost (optional) | Current value (optional) |
||||
| None | - - |
- | |||||
| - | |||||||
| Details | Fund to which asset belongs |
Cost (optional) | Current value (optional) |
||||
| None | - | - | |||||
| - | - | ||||||
| Details | Fund to which liability relates |
Amount due (optional) |
When due (optional) |
||||
| None | - | ||||||
| Signature | Print Name Helen Smith(Chair) Elizabeth Jackson (Treasurer) |
||||||
| Date of approval |
|||||||
| Helen Smith(Chair) | 11/11/2025 | ||||||
| Elizabeth Jackson (Treasurer) | 11/11/2025 |
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CHARITY COMMISSION FOR ENGLAND AND WALES Independent examln8rf8 report on the accounts Section A Independent Examiner's Report Rèport to the tru•tO•81 m•mborn 01 Evelyn's Gift On acGounts for th• y•ar ond 2211012025 Charlty no (If Any) 1165015 Sgt out on pagos I report to the tTUStee$ on my examination of the accounts of thè above harity {°the Trusfl for the year ended Rosponslbllltl•¥ and As the charity tru8tees of the Trust, you are responsible for the preparation ba•18 of report of the aecounts in accordance with the requirements of the Charities Ad 2011 fihe Acfl. I report in respect of my examination of the Tt'S acGounls ¢arn8d oirt under section 145 of the 2011 A¢1 and in carying out my examination, I have fpllowed the apiCable Directions given by tho Charity Commission undor Section 145{5}(bl of the Act. I have completed my examination. I confimi that no material matters have come to my attention in connedion with the examination which gives me cause to believe that in, any material re8Ct.. accounting r8cords wor• not kopl in accordance with section 130 of the Ad or the accounts do not a¢¢ord wTrth the accounting records Indendent examlnor's 8tatom•nt I have rto concems and have come across no other matters in Gonnection wtth the examination to whith attention should be drawn in order to enable a proFer understanding of the accounts lo be roa¢h8d. Slgnod: Dats: Nam•: Rolevant profosslonal quallflcatlonls} or body (If any): Addr9$5: 4*rf S CVYI rA IER OCtor 2018