## **Trustees’ Annual Report for the period**
**From 01/04/2024 Period start date To 31/03/2025 Period end date**
## **Charity name: BSURF**
## **Charity registration number: 1165937**
## **Objectives and Activities**
**----- Start of picture text -----**
Summary of the purposes of The aim and purpose of BSURF is to provide
the charity as set out in its individuals who suffer from Drug and Alcohol /or any
governing document Substance Misuse, a safe and supportive
environment to enable their individual recovery,
maintenance and stability from substances, who also
reside within Bolton and its surrounding areas.
Summary of the main BSURF provides a positive social network for clients
**----- End of picture text -----**
|**Objectives and Activities**|**Objectives and Activities**|**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 who suffer from Drug and Alcohol /or any
Substance Misuse, a safe and supportive
environment to enable their individual recovery,
maintenance and stability from substances, who also
reside within Bolton and its surrounding areas.|||
|Summary of the main||BSURF provides a positive social network for clients|
|activities in relation to those
purposes for the public
benefit, in particular, the
activities, projects or
services identified in the
accounts.||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 not
only include ACT recovery but also SMART recovery
and the hope group as-well as our Friday ‘check-in’.
We have expanded our creative projects and have
engagement once again in day trips to support a
healthy lifestyle.
We have taken the opportunity to train some
volunteers, and this has resulted in them gaining
college qualifications and in particular food hygiene
certifications.
We have utilised funds to widen the scope of
awareness and have a weekly group in the Horwich
area now making connections to the wider
community through local churches offering our
members and local parishioners the experience of
witnessing real success stories in recovery.|
## **Achievements and Performance**
|**Achievements and Performance**|**Achievements and Performance**|**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.
Our current 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 continued increase 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 this year. One of
these is our breakfast club.
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 e.g.:
MHIST, Achieve|
We are constantly reviewing our offer 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’. **What has worked well** for us this year .What were the **challenges** . The weekly drop ins and the mutual aid groups including the Church activities work well. It’s always a challenge to make sure our clients are engaged with services if they are in early recovery, so we encourage that they have a worker in the drug and alcohol services at Achieve. We partnered with Hep C UK trust to bring awareness of this avoidable but deadly decease. We brought educational awareness to the fact that the decease although associated with intravenous drug users can be picked up by anyone, this helped break down the stigma attached. We offered people a free antibody test at our premises (they got a £5 voucher sponsored by the Hep C UK trust) This attracted a lot of people and 17 took the test and many more got educated. Several now are seeking help through Achieve and BSURF to get clean. The music group is always a great success to get people enjoying life again and our annual pool competitions brings joy to everyone who takes part. We have shown initiative to encourage members throughout the years to volunteer for BSURF and to see a ‘career recognition track’ in volunteering for BSURF. E.g.: A member who had taken up volunteering with BSURF went on to be a trained councillor, many more now work in services, we have a nurse who has returned to her job in the NHS and many more success stories. We have utilised the musical equipment to engage in supporting ‘next steps’ by performing at their events. We have put on fund raisers at Christmas to promote healthy living after addiction and help remove the stigma of addiction. We have reintroduced our successful Breakfast/brunch club that meets on a Monday morning for an all you can eat breakfast. Through this we will be able to provide a safe and relaxed environment and further breakdown stigma and barriers associated with addictions. We can engage members and encourage them to look at obtaining
the food hygiene qualification so they can help with the delivery of the breakfast to other members and to gain a qualification and skill they can use in later life. We have had several fund raisers throughout the year to raise funds and to bring much needed awareness.
## **Financial Review**
|Review of the charity’s
financial position at the end
of the period||BSURF continues to support its clients within the
grants we can obtain. We aim to secure funding
for essential running costs of BSURF this allows
us to concentrate our activities for the benefit of
our clients whilst preserving our presence in the
town centre.|
|---|---|---|
||||
|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 at least £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 Organization
(“the CIO”) is
BSURF|
|---|---|---|
|Type of governing document||Constitution|
|How is the charity
constituted?||Charitable Incorporated Organization|
|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. We currently have 3 trustees this is
sufficient for BSURF to function adequately. Other
roles may be allocated to the Committee members as
is deemed necessary for the efficient running of
BSURF|
## **Reference and Administrative details**
**----- Start of picture text -----**
Charity name BSURF
Other name the charity uses N/a
Registered charity number 1165937
Charity’s principal address 37 Knowsley Street
Bolton
BL1 2AS
**----- End of picture text -----**
**Names of the charity trustees who manage the charity**
**----- Start of picture text -----**
Dates acted if not for whole Name of person (or body) entitled
Trustee name Office (if any)
year to appoint trustee (if any)
1 Mark Yates n/a n/a n/a
2 Lesley Ann Love n/a n/a n/a
3 Michael Vickers n/a n/a n/a
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
17
18
19
20
**----- End of picture text -----**
## **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)** Mark Yates
**Position (eg Secretary,** Chair **Chair, etc) Date** 24/04/2025
## **BSURF (Bolton service Users recovery Forum)**
## **Statement of annual accounts for year ended 31[st] March 2025**
Total funds at start of the year ……………………. **6,510.50 INCOME** Grants …………………………………………………………..14,092.00 Donations & Money raised…………………………….1,997.61 **Total Income………………………………………………..16,089.61 EXPENDITURE** Building & parking rent…………………………………6,120.00 Energy, utilities, phone bills………………………….2,552.77 Refreshments and supplies……………………………212.55 Insurance ………………………………………………………825.81 Minibus expenses…………………….…………………..1,513.15 Entertainment &Trips……………………………………909.79 **Total expenditure……………………………………….12,134.07 Net income for the year……………………………3,955.54 Total funds at year end ……………………………10,466.04**
**Signed ……...** _Mark Yates_ _**(Chair)**_
_**28/07/2025**_