## Chairperson’s Report 2020 **I would like to thank the trustees and volunteers of Friends of Riverside for their support and hard work during exceptionally difficult times. Thanks also to Mr. Ollie Phipps our Wiltshire Community Engagement Officer for his great input, Wiltshire Council and the residents of North Wiltshire for your fantastic and ongoing support. You have all gone above and beyond!** This last year has seen some exceptional circumstances resulting from the Covid pandemic which the world has had to face and also us, in our corner of the world at Riverside. The Coronavirus situation meant temporary closure of Riverside from March 2020 until September 2020 for ‘lockdown 1’. Then closing again with ‘lockdown 2’ in November and re-opening again at the beginning of December 2020. Due to Government restrictions, we have only been able to open in a very restricted way, basically just using the main hall, one toilet and with limited number of users. The trustees took the decision that when we re-opened in September, we would not charge hire fees to the few regular users who had managed to restart their sessions. By keeping in touch with our users, we learned of the financial burden that the lockdowns and restrictions had put on activity providers, some having to take on new jobs. We felt that in order to support community activity and connection to restart, that we would not charge any hire fees until such time as ‘normal usage’ restarted or we felt it could no longer be afforded. This has since been reviewed by us on a monthly basis. Groups which have been able to restart at Riverside for various activities, including a new dementia support group and mother and baby group, have all been very grateful for the use of the main hall free of charge. We have continued to maintain the building from our reserves and applied for grants for support. Due to our community involvement, we have representatives on various local groups and we have been able to maintain that contact throughout the pandemic through Zoom meetings. This especially applies to the local Malmesbury Health and Wellbeing Forum twice a year. We have also had a representative on the LYN (Wiltshire Council, Local Youth Network) and some trustees have in a personal capacity, helped to provide support to our community, through befriending phone calls especially for the elderly and vulnerable. Our continuing aim is to fulfil the objects of our charity, to promote community resilience, health and wellbeing, by providing affordable options for North Wiltshire residents to run or p **a** rticipate in community groups, and attend classes and **m** eetings, in an inspiring and easily accessible ve **n** ue. We can only hope that Govern **m** ent restrictions re Covid, will finally ease altogeth **e** r and we will be able to return to ‘normal service’ as soo **n** as possible. ## Kim Power **Mrs. Kim Power (Chair) 4th April 2021** **TRUSTEES’ REMUNERATION & BENEFITS** ## Trustee Remuneration There were no trustees' remuneration or other benefits for the period 1 January 2020 to 31 December 2020 Staff Costs: There were no staff costs paid for the period ended 31 December 2020. There were no trustees' expenses paid for the period ended 31 December 2020. ## **Receipts and Payment Account** |**Receipts and Payment Account**||| |---|---|---| ||£|£| |Hall and Room Hire|25,976.77|4,855.18| |Grants & Fundraising|2,962.71|31,783.00| |**_Total Receipts_**|28,939.48|36,638.18| |**_Payments_**||| |Insurance|635.22|701.77| |Light heat and water|5,818.58|3,347.73| |Compliance contract and servicing|5,419.77|3,266.06| |Maintenance|1,164.22|678.56| |Event Costs & Project Costs|1,427.18|110.00| |Setup costs… Garden, Laptop, Covid protection etc.|1,613.13|1,021.35| |Cleaning|9,839.41|5,143.91| |**_Total Payments_**|25,917.51|14,269.38| |**_Balance_**held at Lloyds Bank, Malmesbury @ 31/12/20|16,310.76|38,679.56| ## **Represented by:** |**Restricted Grant:**
**£587.65**|**£587.65**| |---|---| |**Unrestricted Funds: £38,091.91**|**Unrestricted Funds: £38,091.91**| ## **Hon Treasurer** _P J Gilchriest Date_ _4th April 2021_ ## **Independent examiner’s report to the trustees of Friends of Riverside Trust** I report to the trustees on my examination of the accounts of the Friends of Riverside Trust (the Trust) for the period 1[st] January 2019 to 31[st] December 2020. ## **Responsibilities and basis of report** As the charity trustees of the Trust you are responsible for the preparation of the accounts in accordance with the requirements of the Charities Act 2011 (‘the Act’). I report in respect of my examination of the Trust’s accounts carried out under section 145 of the 2011 Act and in carrying out my examination I have followed all the applicable Directions given by the Charity Commission under section 145(5)(b) of the Act. ## **Independent examiner’s statement** giving me cause to believe that in any material respect: 1. accounting records were not kept in respect of the Trust as required by section 130 of the Act; or 2. the accounts do not accord with those records. I have no concerns and have come across no other matters in connection with the examination to which attention should be drawn in this report in order to enable a proper understanding of the accounts to be reached. Signed: ## _**G.G.Noël, ACIB**_ 11, Shepherds Mead, Tetbury. GL88RB **17[th] June 2021** ## Se **c** retary’s Report 2020 Most of 2020 took place during th **e** Global Pandemic of Covid 19 and therefore Riv **e** rside Community Centre was closed for much of the year, **m** ore specifically for the following dates:- March 23[rd] – September 11[th] 2020 (172 days) 5[th] November – 2[nd] December (28 days) Riverside was partially open betw **e** en September and November and then Decemb **e** r, but was fully compliant with Government guidelines and t **h** erefore only open with limited capacity. Monthly meetings took place via Z **o** om and the preparation and circulation of agend **a** s and minutes still continued. As well as record keeping and sundry correspondence, please note the f **o** llowing: ## **Grants applied for and awarded:** Wiltshire Community Foundation **–** received the 2[nd] instalment of £1,990 which was awarded the previous year for the running of Saturday F **r** iends. Waitrose Charity Bin – awarded £ **3** 33. Wiltshire Area Board – awarded £ **5** 00 to purchase a laptop with the required softwa **r** e. Wiltshire Council – Local Restricti **o** ns Support Grant - £2,000} These were used to **c** over on-going bills Wiltshire Council - Covid 19 fundi **n** g - £25,000} while Riverside was **c** losed and to pay for cleaning products and PPE when we were fin **a** lly able to re-open. ## **Attendance representing Riverside at the following events:** Community Day at Malmesbury T **o** wn Hall – February 8[th] 2020 ## **Riverside were represented at the following events and participated in or attended the following meetings: -** Local Youth Network Wiltshire Council Area Board Malmesbury Area Health and Wellbeing Forum ## **Saturday Friends** Due to the Pandemic, Saturday Friends had to close in March. Although Riverside re-opened twice later in the year, Government guidelines restricted the use of Community Centres to anyone over 75 years of age so we have been unable to restart Saturday Friends. However, Wiltshire Community Foundation very kindly allowed us to use some of the grant for other projects involving our Saturday Friends participants and the local care homes:- At Xmas, we sent out Xmas cards and hampers to the care homes and to elderly and vulnerable individuals in Malmesbury and the surrounding villages. We also started a ‘befriending’ service by calling some of these people on a regular basis so that they did not feel so isolated. We have used part of the grant to start a ‘Get Connected’ project to link up the local care homes with a zoom-type facility so that we can run Saturday Friends remotely. This project is still on-going. ## Mary O’Brien ## **Mary O’Brien (Secretary) 4[th] April 2021** ## Health and Safety Report 2020 This report summarises the main health and safety issues for 2020/2021 and incorporates all aspects of Health and Safety for the Riverside Community Centre. The centre has been mostly closed due to the pandemic in 2020 with the exception of a few occasions when the government lifted the ban on community centres. The aim of the Trustees is to manage as safely and as effectively as possible at all times for our users, our volunteers and contractors in light of the covid 19 coronavirus constrictions. The centre complies at all times with PPE as per government regulations and guidelines, the main hall has also been sectioned off into 2 metre squares for safety purposes. A health and safety inspection is carried out weekly and the reports are kept in the Health and safety file in the office. During 2020 the inspections were carried out by Jonathan Power in my absence due to illness. All electrical equipment owned by Riverside Community Centre was PAT tested and the certificates are kept in the H&S folder in the Office and also on line. - Fire alarm were serviced - Fire Extinguishers and Fire blankets were serviced - First aid boxes are due to be replenished in 2023. - All emergency lighting tests and outcomes are recorded monthly; Registered Charity (CIO) Reg'd 1169149, All rights reserved. ## Health and Safety Report 2020 ## **Accident Book:** An HSE Accident Book is located in the foyer. Its purpose is to record minor incidents and accidents. This report summarises the maiUnder the Data Protectio **n** Act 2004 accident bookhealth and safety issue **s** for 2020 and incorporates all aspects of Health and Safety should not enable people to read personal for the Riverside Community Centre. information of others. To ensure that this does not occur individual records are removed and held separately in the health and Safety folder in the office. There were no recorded H&S accidents in 2020. ## The centre has been mostly closed due to the pandemic in 2020 with the exception of a few occasions when the **Training which is available as follows:** government lifted the ban on community centres. - Asbestos awareness - The aim of the Trustees is to manage as safely and as effectively as possible at all times for our users, our - Safe driver training - volunteers and contractors in light of the covid 19 coronavius constrictions. The centre complies at all times with PPE  First aid including training on the use of an Automated External Defibrillators - as per government regulations and guidelines, the main hall has also been sectioned off into 3 metre squares for  Chair evacuation. - safety purposes. - Food hygiene - A health and safety inspection is carried out weekly and the reports are kept in the Health and safety file in the office.  Bomb evacuation  - During 2020 the inspections were carried out by Jonathan Power in my absence due to illness. Fire safety All electrical equipment owned by Riverside Community Centre was PAT tested and the certificates are kept in the Due to the Covid 19 pandemic no training was carried out in 2020. H&S folder in the Office and also online.  **Data Protection:** Fire alarm were serviced Friends of Riverside have a Data Protection Policy, which is reviewed regularly or  when required. A Data ProtFire Extinguishers and Fir **e** ction Officer ha blankets were **s** been appointed and reports to Trustees at each Trustees erviced  Committee Meeting. First aid boxes are due to be replenished in 2023.  All emergency lighting tests and outcomes are recorded monthly; **Safeguarding:** Friends of Riverside have a Safeguarding Policy for children and vulnerable adults which is complied with and reviewed annually or when required. **Accident Book:** An HSE Accident Book is located in the foyer. Its purpose is to record minor incidents and accidents. Under the Data **Lone Working:** Friends of Riverside have a Lone Workers Policy, which is reviewed regularly or when Protection Act 2004 accident books should not enable people to read personal information of others. To ensure that required. There have been no reported incidents in respect of Lone Working during the past year. this does not occur individual records are removed and held separately in the health and Safety folder in the office. There were no recorded H&S accidents in 2020. **Exceptional Incidents:** There were two exceptional incidents during 2020. Firstly, minor incidents of vandalism occurred during the first months of 2020, which did not endanger the users or fabric of the **Training which is available as follows:** building. The second incident occurred during February 2020, when due to a storm a nearby tree fell  Asbestos awareness into the Riverside carpark onto a car which was damaged. No-one suffered any injury. The areas  Safe driver training involved are the responsibility of Wiltshire Council.  First aid including training on the use of an Automated External Defibrillators  Chair evacuation. **Coronavirus:** Riverside was closed on 18[th] March 2020 due to the Covid-19 pandemic and has re opened, closed and re-opened. Please note a full risk assessment has been carried out and safety Food hygiene  measures have been put in place as per Government Guidance. Bomb evacuation  Fire safety Margaret Perrin Due to the Covid 19 pandemic no training was carried out in 2020. **Mrs. Margaret Perrin (Trustee with Responsibility for Health and Safety) 4[th] April 2021**