60 Park Lane, Shiremoor Newcastle upon Tyne NE27 0TL Telephone 0191 Charity No. 1165819 ## **Shiremoor Health Advice Resource Project** **ANNUAL REPORT 1[st] October 2021 To 30[th] September 2022** ## **Shiremoor Health Advice Resource Project** - SHARP ## **Annual Report to Committee and Members 17[th] May 2023** This has been a very difficult time for many residents as a result of covid and lockdown. We saw an increase in requests from many residents who were suffering from loneliness, isolation, and depression. Shiremoor community is made up through a mixture of tenure, with family homes, single persons’ homes and one of the highest number of properties in the borough for older people living independently. Transport is of importance for all services, shops, Council Customer Services are some miles away in North Shields or Whitley Bay. SHARP charity is based in the Park Lane area of the Valley Ward of North Tyneside Local Authority. The school system in place is the three tier system i.e., Primary, Middle and High schools whereas the majority of North Tyneside operates the two-tier system. T More recently the cost-of-living crisis and in particular the rise in fuel costst caused much distress for people. Their contact with us is often out of hours evening and weekend when the statutory agencies are not available. A gentleman in his mid-80’s lives alone in a family house. He had not been seen for a few days so on the Saturday tea time we decided to call and check that he was OK, When we arrived at his home the curtains were drawn, lights on and music. playing. There was no sign of Mr D. We contacted his neighbour and as _she held his key she was able to enter his home. We found Mr D on the Kitchen_ floor where we believed him to have been since the previous evening. An ambulance was called and we made him comfortable, He was barely alive. He had been ironing his clothes for his weekly visit to the local club when he tripped and had lain for 24hrs. The ambulance took four hours to reach him. We stayed with him and kept him safe. He recovered enough to be sent home a few weeks later. ## **Volunteers provide** ; - A telephone service every morning. - Help with hospital appointments when no transport is available. - Lifts for hairdressing and doctor appointments. - Fish and chips to 36 residents and keep them in touch with the outside world. . - A delivery food in hampers to 20 local residents every Thursday. - Use of a phone, internet, computer and Drop-in. , When lockdown was lifted, we continued providing social events, meals, activities and drop – in every morning. The demand for our Advice service every Monday morning increased but, during the lockdown we lost our advice worker John Wood. John was a local man with CAB training. He was well known and respected by everyone. During his time with SHARP he assisted claimants in recovering over £2 million in unclaimed benefits. His sudden, untimely death left a huge void in the delivery of the vital Advice Service in particular the free Appeals service. John will be deeply missed by his daughter and all of his family and friends. Roy, our9 0 year old friend who sat at the bus stop to wave to who ever appeared, sadly he died during the lockdown. We will miss him and his jokes that he shared with us every day. We have continued with our established work through our Store ‘n’ go project, drop-in sessions, health self -help groups and Parents Actively Planning group. We are supporting the new work with our craft group and the proposed mind group. On the last Thursday of each month, we host a meal and entertainment. Those who regularly attend include a lady who is registered blind. Claire W one of our younger volunteers, collects her from an adjacent bungalow and looks after her needs e.g., enlarging a bingo card so that she can participate. ## **Drop -in** A daily drop-in is hosted Monday to Saturday . Many local residents and some not so local call in for a free cuppa and a chat with friends in a warm friendly environment We make available a daily newspaper, board games. Indoor bowls and much more. We have Riley, who is a carer for his housebound wife. Riley moved here from Yorkshire when he retired. He calls in most days for a cuppa and a chat. Pat in her wheelchair, opens up most mornings, maintains the register of attendees and bakes cakes. Susan assists Pat with the housekeeping. Both Susan and Pat live in the adjacent bungalows and are key holders. Thursday the regular team of Ann H, Olwyn, Claire D, Afshan and Maureen B keep the craft group, going and Margaret R supports the volunteers with admin and financial managemen. We welcomed Marilyn as a new volunteer. Marilyn recently moved into the new houses directly opposite SHARP. She has offered to deal with SHARP membership. ## **Parents Actively Planning group** Parents and grandparents meet every Friday to organise events for their children during the school holidays. This year they organised trips to local places where entry was free Amongst the places, they visited were Saltwell Park, South Shields Park and Beach, Whitley Bay and Northumberland Park. They raised funding for the Metro fares and provided a packed lunch. They raised enough funds to send eight families for a short break Sandy Bay to caravan Park. The group was instrumental in organising a joint Family Christmas Party with Shiremoor Adventure Playground. This was attended by over 250 family members on the coldest day of the year. Volunteer. Ainsley took the part of Santa and RchardYoung looked after the bonfire while Jane his wife sorted the Carols. It was held at the Adventure Playground. Keeks, the manager and volunteers from the Adventure Playground worked hard at welcoming the crowd and feeding them all. A good day was had by all. ## **A.A.** A.A. meet every Tuesday evening in a warm environment. They come in through the back entrance. Help themselves to refreshments, hold their meeting and then leave. Even during the Christmas holiday, they attend their meetings. ## **Craft Group** Claire Docherty, Afshan Ulla, Maureen Black and others amaze us with their skills, creative crafts. They have shown us how to make porgy mats Christmas decorations place mats with photos on, ceramics, knitting, dressmaking and and have drawn plans for the garden, ## **Store’n’go project** We provide furniture and household goods for people who are in need. During the year we have helped 6 homeless people settle into homes. We raise a small income from this project. We help those who are in dire straits so sometimes they can’t afford anything and other times they repay us by volunteering. We help manage income and expenditure of a few people who can’t manage their finances mainly because they do not get sufficient income to pay for all of their essentials that they need. We pay their rent. Council Tax, TV license, Utilities and they get the remainder to manage the other bills. This has been operating for eight years and those who we help still have a Home. without our help they would most certainly be homeless. We work with North Tyneside Homes and homeless section. Adult Social Care Team have been very helpful. ## **Volunteers** We have 26 volunteers who provide support each day. They range in age gender, experience and backgrounds. We make available training and involve them in the running of SHARP. This year we have concentrated on the Confidentiality, Complaints and Compliance policies which have been up dated and agreed. Every Tuesday Alan collects un sold food from Greggs and the next day we hold a coffee morning when we distribute food parcels to those in need. With a Garden Party on our back green. ## **Future Plans** Apart from R W Mann Trust we have received no external income during these challenging times we have provided all our services free because of the uptake we are left with little time to fundraise. We have lost a number of good friends. Neighbours and family members during the lockdown and we are proposing to remember them through our garden Project. The demand for the social events has led us to limit the number of those who we can admit. We have asked TECAZ to give us a quote to upgrade our existing Kitchen. We have applied to Awards for A l for a grant to carry out this work. In July 2022 we received the sad news of the death of Claire Docherty who was an inspiration to us all. Claire had been ill for some time but worked for us until just before she died. Claire was a former teacher until she made a career change to accountancy. Her creative skills and teaching background was an ideal combination to work closely with our local artist in working with children and parents. Claire was instrumental in securing the container for our ‘Store ‘n’ Go ‘project. Our new kitchen will be named after Claire. The former kitchen we propose to turn into a Wellbeing room. We will transform the garden into an area for residents to enjoy with a sitting area, a garden with vegetables and salads growing and a corner for quiet moments. If we are approved a grant from Awards for All to provide the kitchen and café area. RW Mann have provided the new cooker the Units were from TECAZ, a local business. During the year tAinsley Rea, the Chair of the charity and John Hodgson, The Treasurer have been unable to carry out their duties .they did not reply to mail from the Charity Commission so this caused the lateness of our report. WE look forward to a year of growth by providing an extended service to the community. Thank you to everyone who helped in any way dring the year. Margaret Reynolds 17[th] May 2023 ## **Shiremoor Health Advice Resource Project Financial Report – Page 1 From 1[st] October2021 to 30[th] September 2022** |**Income**

**Fundraising**
Events
Donations
Store’n’go
Hire of rooms


**Total**

**Expenditure**
Rent
Utilities

Repairs
Insurance
Drop in
Admin
Training
**Total**|**£**
642
600
4200
320
200
**5962**
600
2200
600
740
1010
720
420
**6290**| |---|---| |**Shiremoor Health Advice Resource Project**|**Shiremoor Health Advice Resource Project**| |---|---| |**Financial Report - Page 2**|| |**2021 / 2022 year**|| ||**£**| |**B/F 1st October 2021**|**3012**
| |**2021/2022 Income**|**5962**| |**Sub Total**|**8974**| |**2021//2022 Expenditure**|**6290**| |**C/F 30th September 2022**|2684| |**Assets at 30th September 2022**|| |**Co-op Bank**|2684
| |Container. Furniture|3270| |IT Equipment|2300| |Stationery|685| |Fixture and fittings|2160| |**Total**|**11099 **| |**Liabilities**
|**£**| |**Utilities**|**210**| |**Printing**|**162**| |**Total**|**372**| **These accounts have been prepared by Margaret Reynolds Treasurer Checked by Olwyn Hawksford Assistant Treasurer Internal Audit carried out on 2 May 2023 by Annette Wind Charity No 1165819**