2021-03-31-accounts - Bsurf

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Trustees’ Annual Report for the period

From 01/04/2020 Period start date To 31/03/2021 Period end date

Charity name: BSURF

Charity registration number: 1165937

Objectives and Activities


Summary of the purposes of the charity as set out in its governing document		The aim and purpose of BSURF is to provide individuals within the Drug and/or Substance Misuse lifestyle, a safe and supportive service to enable their individual recovery, maintenance and stability from substances, who reside within Bolton and its surrounding areas.
Summary of the main activities in relation to those purposes for the public benefit, in particular, the activities, projects or services identified in the accounts.		BSURF provides a positive social network for clients working to achieve recovery and also people working to sustain their recovery from addictive substances. BSURF offers a large range of methods to connect and then purposefully engage with people in recovery. In addition to this our offer is not fixed. We provide activities that are responsive to the needs and ambitions of our service users. BSURF has drop ins for our clients to engage in social skills through recreational activities eg: pool and darts. WE provide a safe therapeutic environment to engage with fellow recovering addicts, they can enjoy a hot drink and it allows them to have a central meeting point. We have expanded our mutual aid proposition to include ACT recovery and the hope group as-well as our Friday ‘check-in’. We have expanded our creative projects with music lessons being planned and more health and well-being activities to include football and boxing. Our brunch club has been suspended due to the restrictions. We have taken the opportunity to train some volunteers and this has resulted in them gaining food hygiene certifications. We have utilised funds for a health and well-being through events including football and competitive fun and games. Recognition for all who had taken part has been acknowledged.

Achievements and Performance


	Summary of the main achievements of the charity, identifying the difference the charity’s work has made to the circumstances of its beneficiaries and any wider benefits to society as a whole.		BSURF is a Mutual Aid organisation based in Bolton. It is run by and for clients and former clients of the Drug and Alcohol Services. It is a responsive organisation whose modus operandi is to respond to and meet the needs of those suffering and recovering from addiction. BSURF has begun to establish itself in a new location in the centre of Bolton. Having successfully moved in last year we now have a shop front giving more exposure and visibility to the people of Bolton. This location has been slowly developed with a corporate branding of signage, marketing material and even our minibus being decorated in the corporate colours. We have seen a greater number of new clients engaging with BSURF in all activities and mutual aid work. This has resulted in an increase in new volunteers within BSURF. WE have continued to build on our successes and introduced new activities during the We have seen growth in our proposition and an increase in numbers engaging in extensive range of activities, opportunities for ‘self-development’ and most importantly the chance to become part of a positive social network of people who are striving towards similar goals – to maintain and achieve abstinence from drugs and alcohol. The service is accessible for clients with addiction problems, also accepting those with concurrent psychiatric problems. We are keen to work in partnership and signpost our clients to statutory services to ensure they get the help and support they require. BSURF has become an intrinsic part of the Drug and Alcohol offer in Bolton. BSURF’s Modus Operandi is to recognise that although formal services provide a vital support to formal drug and alcohol services. We recognise that as good as formal services are in Bolton their contact with clients can only ever be relatively fleeting. Recovery is 24 hours a day 365 days a year. BSURF is a crucial support network to be there when clients require emotional support, words of encouragement or a reminder of how far they have come. Many of our clients have engaged in college courses, gained qualifications through BSURF as well as volunteering for BSURF and strategic partners eg: MHIST, Achieve

We are constantly reviewing our offer in order to ensure that it meets the needs of our client base. Specifically, our aim is to ensure that BSURF gives our clients a sense of fun. We understand that addiction is often the result of trauma and unfortunately some of our clients have experienced multiple traumatic events and life experiences that have directly led to them in effect ‘self-medicating’.

Financial Review

Review of the charity’s financial position at the end of the period		We have been restricted with grant opportunities and fund raising in this year. Obvious activities for our clients due to the covid restrictions have been effected. BSURF short report on coping with the effects of the pandemic. At outset we quickly identified we needed to maintain some level of operations even in complete lockdown, so in the first instance we continued with a couple of mutual aid groups via zoom and advertised these via social media to our clients. BSURF works with the highly vulnerable so we immediately put together a Covid safeguarding policy aligned to the government guidelines for this type of operation. We identified that we could safely operate controlled mutual aid groups within the guidelines set by the government making sure first of all staff and volunteers were trained on our safeguarding policy. We displayed the appropriate signage, hand sanitiser and face mask rulings and reviewed whenever tiers or changes occurred. We have seen a greater number of new clients engaging with BSURF during these times as addiction and mental health spiralled. We re-opened after initial lockdown and the training firstly of volunteers just on a Friday at first then eventually expanding this to most week day morning for a limited time of 2 hours. The serviceremained openaftertheinitial

		lockdown only with the occasional disruption when volunteers had come into contact with someone with covid and had to take a test or isolate, making sure we had 2 volunteers available at all times. Our offering has been much restricted but we have maintained a high street presence and been a life saver for our clients. We are keen to work in partnership and signpost our clients to statutory services to ensure they get the help and support they require but this has been a problem with so many services closed or restricted so the mutual aid meeting we provided were so valuable to our clients. We have secured funding for the next 2 years so our income will be increased for the next 2 years and activities will have the financial funding when restrictions ease.

Statement explaining the policy for holding reserves stating why they are held		We hold funds in reserve for specific projects but will aim to have a reserve of £1,000 for unexpected emergencies. These are usually generated by donations or fund raising events.This figure isn’t set in stone but it is used as a guideline based on our experiences.

Structure, Governance and Management

Description of charity’s trusts:		The name of the Charitable Incorporated Organisation (“the CIO”) is BSURF
Type of governing document		Constitution
How is the charity constituted?		Charitable Incorporated Organisation
Trustee selection methods including details of any constitutional provisions e.g. election to post or name of any person or body entitled to appoint one or more trustees		BSURF shall be managed by a Board of Trustees who also serve as The Charity Committee. The Committee shall comprise of no more than 6 members of BSURF. Within the 6 there must be an elected CHAIRPERSON , SECRETARY and TREASURER. Other roles may be allocated to the Committee members as is deemed necessaryforthe efficientrunning of BSURF

Reference and Administrative details

Charityname	BSURF
Other name the charity uses	N/a
Registered charity number	1165937

Charity’s principal address 37 Knowsley Street Bolton BL1 2AS

Names of the charity trustees who manage the charity

Trustee name	Office (if any)	Dates acted if not for whole year	Name of person (or body) entitled to appoint trustee(if any)
Mark Yates	n/a	n/a	n/a
LesleyAnn Love	n/a	n/a	n/a
Michael Vickers	n/a	n/a	n/a

Declarations

The trustees declare that they have approved the trustees’ report above.

Signed on behalf of the charity’s trustees

Signature(s Full name(s Position (eg Secretary, Chair, etc) Date	) )Mark Yates Chair 09/12/21

BSURF (Bolton service Users recovery Forum)

Statement of annual accounts for year ended 31[st] March 2021

Total funds at start of the year ……………………. 10830.18 INCOME Grants …………………………………………………………..2700.00 Donations………………………………………………………901.69 Money raised………………………………………………..584.60 Total Income………………………………………………..4186.29 EXPENDITURE Building rent………………………………………………..3,000.00 Building and improvement…………………………….234.84 Energy, utilities, phone bills………………………..1,704.88 Refreshments and supplies……………………………416.26 Insurance ………………………………………………………705.69 Minibus expenses…………………….…………………..1,479.69 Entertainment &Trips………………………………….1,033.78 Bank charges………………………………………………….12.00 Certificates……………………………………………………..81.00 Total expenditure……………………………………….8,668.14 Net income for the year……………………………-4,481.85 Total funds at year end ……………………………6,348.53

Signed …….. Mick Vickers (Treasurer)

14/12/2021