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2024-03-31-accounts

Trustees Annual Report for the Alzheimer’s Café UK CIO 1165335

for the duration of 1 April, 2023 - Mar 31, 2024

[Abbreviations: AC = Alzheimer Café; ACUK = Alzheimer Café charity CIO]

Reference and administrative details

Answerphone: 07938 175002 Email: alzheimercafe@hotmail.co.uk Website: www.alzheimercafe.co.uk Principal office: 60 Church Ave., Farnborough, Hampshire, UK, GU14 7AP

Trustees who served during this reporting period are: Hilary Dyce; Olive Fairbairn; Gemma Jones; Josh Cudworth,

What is an Alzheimer Café? Definition and purpose

An AC is a monthly, post-diagnostic, education and support intervention for people with dementia, their family and friends. They, and anyone else interested in dementia, can attend, free of charge, without prior registration. The AC is planned and hosted by trustees, a steering committee, dementia-related professionals, and volunteers.

An AC provides dementia-related education, support, information, and opportunities to socialize -for people with dementia, their family carers, and anyone else interested in dementia. AC gatherings are held in a safe, café-like setting and atmosphere.

The aims of the AC aims are to:

. help prevent social isolation of people with dementia and their family/ friend carers

. make dementia ‘openly discussable’, through education and by including and acknowledging people with dementia

. reduce stigma about dementia by making it easier to talk about dementia – about having it, and being a carer

The AC is an economical ‘education and support intervention’. The venue, refreshments, education, insurance, and equipment require financing. The trustees, advisors, steering committee, and volunteers are not paid.

Structure, governance, and management

The charity’s governing document is its Constitution. The ACUK converted to a Charitable Incorporated Organisation (CIO) in 2016 and requires a minimum of three trustees.

Recruitment and appointment of new trustees is through resolution passed at the trustees’ AGM meeting. Trustees have regard for matching the candidates’ skills, knowledge, and experience to the current ACUK needs.

The trustees established a ‘Steering Committee’ (SC) comprising of trustees and volunteers. The SC is responsible to the trustees for helping to host the monthly AC sessions, and for making recommendations for longer-term AC-related planning.

Objectives of the ACUK Constitution

The objectives of the Alzheimer Café UK CIO are twofold:

∙ To relieve the needs and to promote the good health of people living with dementia, their families and carers in the three counties of Hampshire, Surrey and Berkshire and such other parts of the United Kingdom and the world through the provision of support groups and other activities, services, advice and information as the trustees may from time-to-time think fit;

∙ To advance the education of the public about dementia and about care and support for people living with dementia, their families and carers.

Trustees manage the Farnborough AC, and the extended remit of the AC UK, by:

. planning the annual programme of the Farnborough AC, and promoting it locally

. maintaining and updating the AC UK website on behalf of all cafes following the ‘AC model’ in the UK

. helping new ACs to start; visiting and giving talks for existing ACs

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Education includes:

. speaking about dementia to the press, radio, TV, and to schools, and organizations and charities

. visiting and giving talks about ACs

. writing about ACs for publicity, conference presentations, journal articles, and translations of articles

. maintaining contacts with (the AC founder), Dr. Bère Miesen, and other ACs nationally and internationally

Education for volunteers at the Farnborough AC

Volunteers are given the Volunteers Booklet; they attend courses when there are sufficient people to offer them. These include: . Adult protection (safeguarding)

. Risk assessment at Alzheimer Cafés

. Food and Hygiene

The Farnborough AC - Activities and achievements this past year

The AC Farnborough hosts monthly gatherings for people with dementia, their families and carers, volunteers, professionals, and other persons with an interest. The Dementia-related talks and presentations are provided in a safe environment, with opportunities for guests/attendees to socialize, make contacts, learn, and ask questions of trustees and attending professionals. The presentations follow a set of themes, which broadly follow the dementia process. (Details provided in the Book, The Alzheimer Café; why it works, by GMM Jones, 2010).

The AC is popular with its attendees and guests, typically hosting between seventy to eighty people each month. (This autumn we offered free transport to AC guests, by renting a van with a volunteer driver from the borough.) Sign-posting to the AC is by local GPs, dementia services, and AC guests; others have started attending after finding information on the ACUK website.

Volunteer numbers remain stable at between 15 – 20 - many coming through the local ‘Voluntary Action’ recruitment services. Dementia courses held for volunteers this past year, were about the AC, adult protection, first aid, and food and hygiene.

The ACUK trustees hold an annual ‘ACUK Networking Day’ to support other ACs and evaluate the ACs according to the standard quality control criteria. This year’s meeting in October 2023, was held in Fleet; AC leaders from the Isle of Wight attended remotely. (This was successful, and we will try it again in future to maximize participation for those living furthest away.)

Trustees attended the20th anniversary of the Nailsworth AC, in April 2023.

Trustees have helped the Camberley AC, the Newport AC, and the New AC at Parklands on the Isle of Wight.

Trustees remain in contact with AC leaders in Canada, the Netherlands; they are also in contact with leaders of the AC’s in the USA, and the Dementia Cafes in Ireland.

Trustees have given advice to people wanting to start ACs in Surrey and Hampshire.

Financial review

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Cash reserves are held for expenditures related to meeting the ACUK objectives. At the end of the relevant accounting period (for this fiscal year 1 April. 2023, to 31 March 2024) the charity held £ 41,779.43 in cash reserves. All funds received in this reporting interval were in the form of donations.

ACUK financial summary COVID
01apr2020 -
31mar2021		 COVID
01apr21 -
31mar22		 past year
01apr22 -
31mar 23		 Current Year
01apr23 -
31mar24
Assets starting year 42,712.30 50,005.30 50,340.43 47,908.25
Income 10,924.20 2, 539.12 2,757.52 3,030.09
Total Expenditure 3,631.35 1,904.37 3,443.08 6,536.60
Bank and cash
balance at year end		 50,005.30 50,340.43 47,908.25 41,779.43

Post-Covid Expenditure has returned to normal since AC activities resumed, and attendance at the Farnborough Café has increased beyond pre-Covid numbers again.

Activities relating to supporting other ACs , and providing dementia-related courses for family carers, professional caregivers, and AC volunteers are also being resumed. As seen above, from the current funds held, the ACUK is in a good financial position to continue all aspects of its functioning for several years.

Trustees’ plans for the near to medium future

Plans include maintaining the items described above and:

. To continue publicizing the AC locally, to support other ACs, and to promote dementia education – especially for family carers

. To ensure continuity of help – by having sufficient trustees, steering committee members, and volunteers

. To evaluate and update ACUK practice regarding any new Charity Guidelines

Ongoing evaluation is part of the ACUK’s accountability; evaluations are used to maintain the quality of the café gatherings, and for planning and teaching purposes.

The AC is evaluated in several ways, by:

. direct verbal and non-verbal feedback to organisers, volunteers, and from guests attending an AC

. written responses in the ‘ AC Comments Book’

. a monthly ‘ AC Summary Evaluation Form’ recorded by AC organisers. This includes records of attendance, topics, speakers, equipment glitches, and surprises. [Summary notes help complete the Quality Control Criteria form.]

. word-of-mouth accounts in the media , i.e. AC guests expressing themselves in articles, verbal

interviews for the radio, TV, and at talks and public events

. the annual self-evaluation using the prescribed European AC Quality Control Criteria (33 items, published on the ACUK website), completed by the trustees.

Statement on public benefit

The trustees have had due regard for the Charity Commission’s public benefit guidance and have taken it into account regarding any decisions for which it has relevance.

Acknowledgements

The trustees would like to thank the Steering Committee members and volunteers for their contribution to the continuing success of the Alzheimer Café. We also wish to express our appreciation to our donors.

On behalf of the ACUK Trustees, Dr Gemma MM Jones (Chair)

16 Aug., 2024

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