Info for annual report to Charity Commission A ril 2021 p
Background
St Helen’s Street Pastors were registered with the Charity Commission on July 2016 and began patrolling in December 2016. It is constituted as a Charitable Incorporated Organisation (CIO) and has a board of trustees drawn from various churches in and around St Helens and appointed by existing trustees. It is a licensed local branch of the Street Pastors movement, which is an initiative of Ascension Trust. The trustees aim to keep at least three months operating costs in reserve at all times.
Level of Activity
The Street Pastors teams offer a peaceful and compassionate presence, friendly conversation, and practical care to vulnerable people in the night-time economy. During the past 12 months, we have been unable to go out on patrol, due to the risks that the Covid pandemic poses. A number of the volunteers are either in the vulnerable category themselves, or have a family member in it. Our coordinator has been holding regular team zoom times in order to try and keep the morale of the team up and still feel connected to one another.
Volunteers
Over the pandemic, four volunteers have stepped down for various reasons, but we have managed to recruit 2 new volunteers who are just starting their training modules. We currently have 8 volunteer Street Pastors (trained and commissioned), and two trainees.
The volunteers are drawn from local churches, including Anglican, Catholic, Methodist, Salvation Army, and independent evangelical churches.
Achievements
Throughout this time, our coordinator has worked on organising training for our new trainees, and some refresher training for our other volunteers in order to use this time to strengthen the team. The board of trustees have also worked through all the governance documents and updated each one.
Summary of achievements for this period:
The coordinator worked on holding the team together in a difficult period, offering times to meet together online, and checking in on them with a phone call sometimes. She also worked on building a more consistent social media presence in a bid to raise awareness of St Helens Street Pastors.
The board of trustees and coordinator, worked together to keep the charity’s work going and worked through all governance documents to bring them up to date. We also welcomed a new Chair of Trustees in December 2020.
Thanks to our previous Chair of Trustees, we have started 2021 in a strong financial position, which has been a huge help in facing the issues that the pandemic has brought financially.
Future plans
Aims for April 2021-22:
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Team - to have the teams back out on patrol, both safely and effectively.
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Team - to hold team together through lockdown and to recruit and train more volunteers, so that we can gradually increase to three patrols by end 2022, as well as being present at relevant special events in St Helens.
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Partnership - to continue working in partnership with St Helen’s council and Merseyside Police in St Helens, and to further establish a sustainable base of financial support from local churches, individuals, businesses, and grant-making organisations.
St Helens Street Pastors contact details:
Email: sainthelens@streetpastors.org
Website: http://streetpastors.org/locations/sthelens
Facebook page: http://facebook.com/sthelensstreetpastors Online Giving: http://my.give.net/sthelensstreetpastors
St Helens Street Pastors Financial Accounts
6th April 2020 to 5th April 2021
| Opening bank balance b/f INCOME Standing orders from individuals One off donations Donations from trusts, corporations and groups One off corporates Tax reclaims Sundry Other income EXPENDITURE Licence fees Insurance Rent No 2 account transfer Training courses run by Ascension Trust Coordinators salary Refreshments Office supplies/printing Purchase of Uniforms Other costs Equipment Travel expenses Closing Bank balance |
6th April 2019 to 5th April 2020 13,651.02 1,072.00 1,155.00 2,095.68 13,965.55 222.88 15.79 18,526.90 847.46 195.00 1,250.00 610.00 5,712.00 25.58 468.09 137.40 213.00 1,472.99 102.42 11,033.94 21,143.98 |
6th April 2020 to 5th April 2021 21,143.98 300.00 630.00 5,801.24 - 18.95 - |
|---|---|---|
| 6,750.19 | ||
| 2,537.01 73.81 - 500.00 95.00 7,521.20 - - - 139.45 - - - |
||
| 10,866.47 | ||
| 17,027.70 |