2024-12-31-accounts - The Peterborough Soup Kitchen

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Minutes of AGM Monday 18[th] November 2024

AGENDA ITEM 1 Welcome: The Chair welcomed everybody, and everyone introduced themselves. Attendees: Maxine Drake (MD), Beccy Tyler (BT), Ricky Barsby (RB1), Fiona Winchester (FW), Dave Ribakovs (DR), Sharron Eddings (SE), Gordon Tyler (GT), Sean Jones (SJ), Michelle Collins (MC), Teresa Capone (TC), Lewis Tasker (LT), Sean Brooker (SB), Kye Ellis (KE), Richard Burgess (RB2), Maryana Stevens (MS) and Odette Gould (OG). Apologies from Kevin Browne (KB), John Dolan (JD), John Freeman (JF) and Leanne Dales (LD). Meeting commenced at 19:01. 2 Review of Previous Minutes from AGM November 2023: Everyone agreed with the previous minutes and no corrections needed to be made. Approved Poll 100%. 3 Chair’s Report by Maxine Drake: Overview The objectives of Peterborough Soup Kitchen are to support people who are homeless or disadvantaged in Peterborough, which is achieved via the daily service at Acland Street/Brewery Tap car park. This year we have seen an increase in the number of clients using the service as well as sadly, the number of families with children. This year we anticipate the volume of clients to exceed 22,000. 2022 Figures Jan Feb Mar Apr May Jun Jul Aug Sep Oct Nov Dec Total ~~po~~ 2022 - Clients 1,025 822 962 1,017 1,133 1,183 1,058 1,230 1,393 1,270 1,089 1,008 13,190 ~~Ge~~ 2023 - Clients 1,251 1,342 ~~Ge~~ 1,522 1,513 ~~GG~~ 1,453 1,549 1,796 1,903 ~~GO~~ 1,738 1,538 1,230 1,304 18,139 ~~Po~~ 2024 - Clients 1,619 1,369 1,851 1,870 1,973 1,783 2,014 2,013 1,937 1,895 18,324 As well as the daily service we have continued to support two local primary schools with breakfast club but may discontinue that in 2025 as our donations have been on a downward trend this year. Our monthly outgoings are now exceeding our monthly income, so we are slowly eating away at our bank balance. We continue to support other charitable causes where we can with any excess stocks we have or are unable to use, Outside links, Salvation Army, and the Light Project, building strong relationships with other organisations with similar goals as our own. As we continue to support other charitable organisations, we in turn continued to be grateful of the | or ~~ee~~ ganisations that continue to su ss pport us, allowing us to serve hot food seven da eees ys a week. The local

food bank has again been very supportive this year with donations of soft drinks and chocolate which is extremely popular with our clients, Bakkavor who are still very generous with the soup and pasta sauces, Pukka Pies whose pies are much loved by the clients, especially on a cold winter’s day. Plants of Bainton continue to support us supplying farm fresh eggs weekly, allowing us to make fresh daily sandwich fillings.

This year Grasmere Farms started donating and on a weekly basis send sausage rolls, ham, bacon, and sausages which are well received by our clients. British Sugar have also started to donate sugar. We are very thankful to the local companies that support us as we would not be able to offer the variety of good food if it weren’t for their support, and to our logistics team, who do a fantastic job making sure everything runs smoothly week after week for the teams out on service.

With the kindness of GP Print we were able to celebrate Volunteers week in June with a small token of our appreciation for our volunteers, to whom none of this would be possible, The Trustees would like to say thank you, as the time you dedicate to ensuring our clients are well fed day after day regardless of the weather, is amazing.

There were no questions.

Poll accepting report 100%.

4 Treasurer’s Report by Odette Gould:

Donations from individuals are down this year at 66% of the average for the last 6 years. The spike in February includes £17,850 from a lottery grant. This brings us to 35% above the average. The grant was used to purchase soup kitchen equipment, sleeping bags as well as 9 months of rent. Expenditure for the YTD is £50.4k, with 74% of expenses being spent on food, kitchen equipment, rent and premises. As the lottery grant had to be spent by the end of the 23/24 tax year, the actual spending from donations was £18k. For comparison, 2023 expenditure was £40.5k up to October. There are no large purchases expected for the rest of the year.

Cash at Hand as of October 2024

Metro Saver Account £32,576.21 Current Account £32,302.05 Virgin Money £18,331.79 Total £83,210.05

a. Appointment of Auditors

We would like to thank Trevor French of Joynson’s Accountants for again certifying our accounts free of charge.

I propose that Trevor French be re-appointed to certify the accounts next year.

There were no questions.

Poll accepting report 100%.

5 Company Secretary’s Report by Beccy Tyler:

As Company Secretary I have ensured all the admin has been kept up to date. I complete all our monthly meeting minutes within 24 hours of the meeting, and these are filed and placed on the shelf for all our volunteers to read. Every month I go through the daily logbooks and compile a monthly summary which is reviewed and signed off, and any actions needed are implemented. I now solely manage the mobile phone for the kitchen, dealing with enquiries and delegating them where needed, and help deal with the several emails we receive on a weekly basis.

In May, we turned the smallest store room into an office which has been a great asset to the premises. I have also enjoyed being the decoration queen for the past year, and hope everyone has enjoyed the decorations too.

There were no questions.

Approved Poll 100%.

6 Membership Report November 2023 – October 2024 by Ricky Barsby:

We now have one hundred and sixty-five members, which is a decrease of five versus last year. Of these:

One hundred and thirty-four are allocated across our twenty-seven teams. NB. One of our twenty-eight teams is now a ‘Trustee team’ reserved for organisations to volunteer ad-hoc, so has no permanent volunteers allocated.

Thirty are on the ‘Permanent Reserve’ list.

One is on the ‘Waiting’ list.

We had twenty-six people enquire (Expressions of Interest) to become volunteers with us. Of these, fourteen applied and became (Converted) volunteers. This equates to a conversion rate of 54%.

During the period November 2023 to October 2024 inclusive thirty-three volunteers left the soup kitchen, which is one more than the thirty-two reported at last year’s AGM for the period September 2022 to October 2023 inclusive.

Each month, volunteer non availability is recorded. The numbers below are a combination of team vacancies and volunteers who cannot make their allocated team shift due to various absence reasons. For this reporting period, there were two hundred and twenty-seven instances of these which required covering.

Membership Stats

Of the current 165 members…

58 are male and 107 are female this equates to Males 35% and Females 65%. Average male age is 47, average female age is 48. Of those that provided their date of birth, our oldest member is 73 (male) with the youngest being 18 (male).

There were no questions.

Poll accepting report 100%.

7 Fundraising and Grants Report by Maxine Drake:

We have been fortunate that we have been in a position in the past to not need to generate funds from fundraising, but one of our volunteers did apply for a grant from the National Lottery Cost of Living Fund, of which we were awarded £18,000. This allowed us to purchase kitchen equipment, racking and increase the provision of items to our Clients, as well as pay for the rent. We also purchased tents and sleeping bags for Clients on the streets.

Without this grant our income would have been around £21,000 for the year, which is half of what we normally receive.

We are now in position where we are spending more each month that we have as income and will need to review our 2025 plans carefully to see if there are grants that we can apply for.

There were no questions.

Poll accepting report 100%.

8 Logistics Report by Dave Ribakovs:

I want to take this opportunity to thank our logistic support team who have been brilliant to ensure shelves are filled, fridge stocked, and sandwich fillers freshly prepared for every shift throughout the week.

Also want to thank every one of our volunteers for the work you do in supporting this by following the daily labelled items to use for your shift.

We continue to cater for 70 each evening service, which with the time restraints in preparation is really our maximum number we can cater for, but we will continue to have the emergency crate available for any extra numbers on any given evening with pot noodles, cup-a-soup, sweet treats and crisps available.

We’ve received many positive comments regarding the regular pasta night, which we intend to continue and is of no added cost to us at this time.

During the course of the past year, we have formed a trustee team (22) and carry out a regular evening shift and use this to invite 3 or 4 keen individuals from companies, clubs and other charities to see and experience what we do and why we do it.

Without exception, everyone who has come through the door has been in awe of our dedication and commitment.

Bidford Foods
NHS
Deeping Tennis Club
Tesco’s
Food Bank
Hegarty Solicitors

With incoming funds on the decline, we felt a need to put together a list of products and the annual

cost against these to send out on a regular basis through our contacts, newsletters and social media in the hope of gaining sponsorship to further reduce our expenditure.

There were no questions.

Poll accepting report 100%.

Partnerships Report by Dave Ribakovs:

We continue to work closely with other charities and organisations listed below to develop closer relationships. Supporting one another with food donations, toiletries, hats, gloves, and scarves where certain items can be best utilised.

Peterborough Food Bank
Outside Links
Light Project
Salvation Army – Trussel Trust
Helping Our Ukraine Friends

There were no questions.

Poll accepting report 100%.

9 Supplies Report by Kevin Browne (Read by Dave Ribakovs):

Bakkavor are still experiencing issues due to industrial action. They are endeavouring to fulfil our volume request. However, the flavours and mix might be different.

Nathan has taken over the ordering of supplies.

This year we lost Master Roast and gained Grasmere Farms and British Sugar.

There were no questions.

Poll accepting report 100%.

10 Vehicles Report by Paul Berry (Read by Maxine Drake):

Both Vehicles are being washed once a month, usually at the beginning. Service van replenished and maintenance checked weekly. Both vans refuelled as required. Both due servicing and MOT in January. Tax on Service Van due 1st February 2025 and tax on Chiller Van due 1st August 2025.

Both vehicles have good tyres and overall, in a reasonable state.

Measures have been taken in the last 12 months to reduce accidents. Following the failure of several reversing sensors on the service van, the system has been replaced with a reversing camera and both vehicles have been fitted with dash cams. We now carry out more intense driver training, the gate posts have been painted florescent yellow and the wall at the kitchen reversing area painted with florescent paint.

There were no questions.

Poll accepting report 100%.

11 Election of Officers:

Sadly, we are saying goodbye to two of our Trustees. Both Odette Gould (Treasurer) and Kevin Browne (Head of Supplies) are stepping down after years of hard work and dedication, and we thank them for everything they have done to support the Soup Kitchen.

With your support we would like to nominate a new Trustee to the position of Treasurer.

Positon	Name	Voted
Treasurer	Maryana Stevens	100%

On behalf of the Trustees (new and old) and I am sure our Clients, we would like to say once again a huge thank you to everyone for making the Soup Kitchen a fabulous place.

Q&A’s:

LT asked what happened in May with regards to the leavers. RB1 advised he went through the permanent reserves list and any volunteers who had not volunteered for several months were contacted and if no response were removed from the list.
TC stated the cleanliness of the premises is getting worse and worse. TC appreciates it is hard for the volunteers to keep the place clean but there is no consistency and suggested we should set up a deep cleaning team. MD advised the kitchen does have a deep clean once a year, and the ovens are cleaned every six months, which can be looked into to increase to every 3 months, but we have to be conscious of costs. We have advertised a few times for volunteers to help with the cleaning, with no success. The Tuesday Logistics Team do cleaning every week, which includes cleaning the floors. It was agreed for this to be on the agenda for the next Trustee meeting to be discussed further, looking into the proposed suggestions of cleaning training packs, spot checks and the Team Leader responsibilities/meetings. The feedback from the meeting will be available in the minutes from the meeting, which can be found in the minutes folder at the end of the shelf in the back room.
SB asked is there a set place to park the van for service in the car park. DR advised the Peterborough City Council (PCC) have said they will mark out a space for us, but we are still waiting for this to happen. On discussion, it was made clear that it was confusing about where the set space is so we will get clarification from the PCC and communicate this out in the future.
TC stated she has volunteered for the kitchen for 10 years and does not feel as appreciated as she used too, for example a coffee maker being placed in the kitchen which may only be used by certain people. MD stated this for everyone’s use, sadly we are unable to provide the coffee pods for everyone due to costs, but we are happy for volunteers to bring in their own pods to use it, and instructions will be placed nearby. MD stated the kitchen never used to celebrate Volunteer’s Week, but we have done now for the past 2 years. TC stated there is a lack of communication and the Trustees need to show more trust. MD advised we have tried several times to hold Team Leader Meetings to help with the communication, but sadly out of 28 Teams only a handful turn up. BT advised the Trustee Meeting minutes are in the back room for all to have a read, plus there is a suggestion box which this year has only had a couple of suggestions in. RB also stated we also send a monthly newsletter. It was agreed moving forward for the monthly Trustee Meeting minutes to be sent out to all by email, as well as being filed in the back room. MD finally stated that we feel we have tried with regards to making all the volunteers feel appreciated, and we have worked on our communication, but it is extremely hard when we receive a lack of engagement back. For example, we have

165 volunteers and only 16 have made it to this AGM. MC did thank the Trustees for all their positive hard work, appreciating we are all volunteers too. It was finally agreed for all this feedback to be discussed in depth at our next Trustees meeting in December. Meeting closed at 19:49 Minuted by Beccy Tyler

Joynson & Co. 89a High Street Market Deeping Peterborough PE6 8ED Tel. 01778 346706 Accountants T. J. French 21 April 2025 Client's Reference TJFI S0053 Maryana Stevens 35 Lancaster way Yaxley Peterborough PE7 3EP Dear Maryana Peterborough Soup Kitchen Please find three signed copies of the accounts for the above for the year ended 31 December 2024. Yours sincerely Joynson & Co P.S. Please arrange to have your books collected from my office at your convenienc8.

PETERBOROUGH SOUP KITCHEN RECEIPTS AND PAYMENTS ACCOUNT YEAR ENDED 31 DECEMBER 2024 Balances as at 1 January 2024 Bank current account Bank deposit account Virgin Money 46261.24 32264.60 18331.79 Receipts 96857.63 Donations Gift Aid National Lottery grant Bank interest 29957.63 17850.00 563.48 48371.11 145228.74 Less Payments Rent and rates Fund raising Food and disposable crockery etc. Postage, stationery and telephone Repairs and renewals Travelling expenses and vehicle costs Premises costs Training Miscellaneous and website Insurance 1737.12 26535.31 2193.50 10097.73 5509.23 6119.40 150.50 488.10 584.23 53415.12 Closing balances as at 31 December 2024 91813.62 Represented by.. Bank current account (Metro alc) Bank deposit account(Metro alc) Virgin Money 40653.24 32625.54 18534.84 91813.62 We have examined the books, vouches and other information supplied by the Peterborough Soup Kitchen for the year ended 31 December 2024 and certify that the above Receipts and Payments account is a true and correct summary of their activities 21 April 2024 JOYNSON & Co 89a High Street Market Deeping Peterborough PE6 8ED