2025-03-31-accounts

MINUTES OF AGM & COMMITTEE MEETING Thursday 15th May 2025 - 7pm Online - Zoom

Present:

Claire Shelley (CS)– Chair –Trustee Barbara Messenger (BM) Caroline Migo(CM) – Deputy Chair – Trustee Roz Balthazor (RB) Martine Mills (MM)- Trustee Vicki Blamey (VB) Annette Strudwick (AS) – Trustee Gaynor Baugh (GB) Vicky Brandle (VB) –Trustee Rosalind Whiteman (RW) Tracy Twinn (TT) – Trustee Caroline Barker (CB) Louise Keyzer (LK) Angela Slater-Jones (ASJ) Jane Webster (JW) Karen Eke (KE) Tanya Hutson (TH) Julie Dixon (JD) Dee Flower (DF)

Apologies:

Pam Golton – Treasurer, Trustee & Breast Theresa Ferguson (TF) Reconstruction CNS Tracey Watson Rebecca Spencer – Secretary, Trustee & Breast Sue Bennett Reconstruction CNS Lin Luxford Margo Taskiran Karen Goldstone Debbie Pile Donna Prescott (DP) Liz Stockton Sharon Tutt Jackie McDermott (JM) – Breast Cancer CNS, Vicky Charles (VC) DVH Sue Rowe Jacky Shaxted Suzanne Alexander

ITEM	ACTIONED BY:
1. WELCOME & APOLOGIES CS welcomed everyone to the meeting and asked that all group leads emailed apologies to CM for the minutes.	GROUP LEADS
2. MINUTES OF LAST MEETING Minutes of last meeting were approved.
3. CHAIR’S ANNUAL REPORT CS stated that it had been a really busy and successful year for the charity. CS went on to remind everyone about the decision last year to spend some time on consolidation and to concentrate our efforts on existing group Show & Tell events. However, due to the tremendous success of our events the word has spread and 2 new projects ‘have just happened’,theywill be startinglater in theyear. It was agreed that this was the best

way for Restore to grow. It gives our volunteers who have been with us a long time and have been committed and loyal the opportunity to become more involved with the charity’s Development Plan.

CS & CM expressed their pride and sincere thanks to all the Group Leads for taking on the responsibilities of running the individual groups and to all the dedicated volunteers who regularly give their time and energy at the Show & Tell events.

4. TREASURERS REPORT

In the absence of PG & RB CS stated that the charity has had an extremely positive year in terms of fundraising with donations coming in from several sources. This has allowed us to purchase the items we have for the hospitals during the year, it also allows us to continue to supply our much-appreciated comfort pack to patients going through breast cancer reconstruction along with our Show & Tell events.

Income & Expenditure 1 April 2024 – 31[st] March 2025

	Income	Expenditure	Balance
Balance at start of theyear			£7,684.06
Comfort bagsupplies		£3667.46
Bras and supportgarments
Merchandise		£562.52
Website		£11.99
Admin/Zoom monthlyfees/domain fee		£968.90
Newgroupset upcosts
Surgical equipment/hospital donations		£6,973.69
Misc		£1,030.17
Donations from S&T events/Amazon Smile/Penny Pots/Merchandise & Refreshments	£21,875.58
TOTAL	£21,875.58	£13,214.73
Bank Balance on 31/03/2025			£16,344.91

5. MATTERS ARISING

• Kings X charity - Future Dreams: TH explained that she volunteers for Future Dreams a couple of times a week. Set up by a mother and her daughter going through breast cancer the charity provides support in the form of holistic therapies, counselling, support groups, tutorials, cooking etc all in a high end, welcoming, safe space environment in a building in Kings Cross London. She is very excited about being able to bring two very similar charities together. Similar in ethos and the way both feel about women going through breast cancer.

TH reported that she has been contacted by one model from Guildford who wants to join her but she needs support from other groups to find more models for the planned Future Dreams events. CS stated that VB has kindly offered to support TH to find models for the events. CM stated it would be good to have a variety of

reconstruction options to show - delayed, immediate and preventative/different age groups etc for the event planned later in the year. KE, who demonstrates a TUG, said she would be happy to model and another lady she knows from Restore also volunteers and wants to help out.

• Bexhill – Sara Lee Trust: - DF reported on a chance meeting she had with the CEO of the Sara Lee Trust, a local charity that offers complimentary therapies to people suffering from cancer and other limiting illnesses. She explained that the Sara Lee Trust project was a partnership very similar to the Future Dreams one. Initially events will be run twice a year, the first one being held on the 30[th] October, another one in April of next year. DF & BM will be working together on this project. ASJ has offered to model. PG & RS have offered to find other models and RS has also offered to deal with all the bookings.

Initially there will be a cap of 20 people attending due to the venue and size of the room. DF also wanted to stress the importance of getting a variety of reconstructions options to show at these events. PG will be at the first event but after that the video produced by PG and RS will be used which is very informative and covers all the areas they cover in their normal introduction talk.

TH/VB

DF/BM/ ASJ PG/RS

PG

CS thanked DF on behalf of Restore for all the hard work and sheer determination she has shown in getting this project up and running, congratulations was expressed by everyone.

BM expressed concerns about addressing medical questions asked by patients at events where PG & RS were not present. It was agreed that questions should be directed back to their own breast care nurse as we are not medically qualified to answer them.

Any marketing requirements DF should contact CM who will produce artwork for posters/flyers etc.

AS stated that during her visits to Maidstone hospital a couple of doctors she had been talking to had expressed interest in Restore and the support it provided. CS suggested and AS agreed to get a contact name so we could send some of our leaflets for them to give out to patients there.

DF/CM

AS

6. FUNDRAISING

• Curry Quiz Night in February:

MM reported that the event was very successful raising £1,980

• Steve Peppers quiz’s

Steve continues to do regular quiz’s for us, which MM, VB, DP, DB and TF and VC go along, so a big thank you to them all for supporting us regularly at these events. Since June 2023 he has raised an amazing £9,970. Everyone expressed their gratitude for all of the time and effort he puts into running these events.

• Emily Beswick – Virtual London Marathon

Emily ran on behalf of her sister who came along to one of our Show & Tell events which she found very helpful and supportive during her treatment. CS stated that the final total had not been calculated yet as donations were still coming in but that PG/RS it could be as much as £4,000.

• Amelia – Brighton Marathon

RB reported that she thought the end total raised by Amelia would also be around the £4,000 mark. Her daughter had applied to her company for help with fundraising and she was waiting for them to come back to her at the end of May PG/RS with the amount they would be donating, but she thought it would be around £1,000.

CM & CS suggested that because of the amazing size of these donations we come up with something special for these specific amounts, that will show in a visible/tangible way what the money has been spent on - we will be talking to the hospitals to ask for ideas. We would also like Emily and Amelia to be involved in some way with the formal presentations of donations. RB suggested going to the bank and getting the cheque in large format for the photos.

CS/CM RB

CS expressed sincere thanks and congratulations to both Emily and Amelia on behalf of Restore for the amazing achievement of completing the respective Marathons as well as the incredible amounts raised .

• London City Walk

MM reported that last Saturday she and a party of St Thomas’ volunteers had taken part in a London City Walk arranged by Clwyd Roberts, husband of one of our Volunteers Jackie, which raised £170.

Forthcoming fundraising events:

• Dog walk – 22[nd] June at Trosley Country Park, Gravesend. MM reported that one of our new volunteers, Vicky Charles, has applied to the company she works for, British Gas, to ask them for help with the fundraiser and they have confirmed they will match what we raise.

MM also wanted to remind everyone about the ‘Easy Fundraising’ scheme as an easy way to raise money whilst doing your everyday shopping/booking holidays etc online. To create an account (if anyone doesn’t have one) the link is:

MM

ALL

www.easyfundraising.org.uk and can also be easily accessed on Restore’s website.

7. GROUP UPDATE:

• GUILDFORD – JW reported that they had used the video produced by PG & RS for the first time at the last meeting, which had worked very well. She felt that in future it might be a good idea to warn ladies about the graphic content contained in the video before its shown. DF stated that it was good to know as she would be JW/DF using the video. However, CS stated that she had attended the last Guildford S&T and none of the ladies present seemed to be phased by it.

JW went on to say the group was running well, she has a couple of new models. CS reported that she has asked PG & RS to look out for a ‘Delayed DIEP’ to model as this was the one option missing from the group. JW also said that she really needs more implants as that is what they do at Guildford.

PG/RS

Unfortunately, due to the size of the room JW had to bump some ladies onto the next event in July as the last event was fully booked.

• ST THOMAS – VB reported that the group was running very smoothly and she couldn’t ask for a better group of girls. They always let her know if they can model or not. She has volunteers who make the cushions for the comfort packs.

VB stated that normally the volunteers arrange to go out for lunch afterwards which makes a really nice day with them all.

• DARENT VALLEY – MM reported that she was very happy with the way her team continued to work well together particularly in their recently allocated new roles.

The new feedback forms are handed out as ladies arrive which seems to work very well and MM suggested that this personal touch might work at other groups too. MM said St Thomas’ had already adopted this procedure and it has received a good response so far.

MM went on to say that due to the NHS staffing situation at DVH, DVH will only be able to hold 4 events a year which is a shame but that she was working around it. Also that the events would now be held on a Wednesday instead of a Monday from September in order to accommodate staffing rota’s. MM wanted to thank JM, for all the hard work and dedication she has shown on behalf of Restore to ensure the continuation of the Show & Tell events at DVH. CS stated that we would also be looking into how we can run our events there using the video if staffing becomes an issue in the future. MM to progress and report back.

ALL

MM

• QVH – Annettee reported that Show & Tell events were now more or less running themselves with PG/RS doing all the booking in and the newly organised team with their respective roles working very well. She went on to say that she felt fully confident in the team she had put together to cover her absence during her chemo treatment.

• GROUP DEVELOPMENT – CS reminded everyone of the decision to put in place a group development plan for the Charity. She expressed the Trustees sincere thanks everyone for stepping up and volunteering to take on more responsibility for running the Show & Tells events. The group teams were working extremely well and this would ensure the continued survival and strategic growth of Restore. CS made the point that going forward this will be all our legacy.

CS ask CM to send out Restore’s newly designed Organisation Chart with the minutes. CM is also currently putting together a Group Contact list (internal use only) and asked that instead of using personal email addresses everyone set up their own Restore gmail account (example to use [e-mail] ) and send

her the details so she can include them on the contact sheet. AS & JW already have MM/VB a gmail account so no need to send to CM. DF/TH

8. MARKETING MATERIALS & MERCHANDISE

• Marketing Materials - CM thought that it was about time to update our pull up banners as we will need two new ones for the new groups and had sufficient funds to do so. She thought it would be nice to have versions for each group with a photo of the volunteers who model for that particular group. However, we will need photos that can be reproduced to a better quality than those taken by mobile phones. She asked that the group leads arranged to have group photos taken using a camera which can then be sent to her to use when putting the artwork together. JW & JW stated that she had a camera and could get to most of the groups to take photos. GROUP Group Leads to organise with JW. LEADS

• Merchandise – MM said she has a minimum order level of 10 to ensure the best price but it tends to be volunteers who order them mostly. CS suggested that the group leads mention that MM is looking to put in another order if anyone wants a T- Shirt to let her know. MM was asked to give the groups leads a rough idea of cost. CS suggested and it was agreed that Restore would pay the postage on volunteer’s orders.

9. ANY OTHER BUSINESS

• Zoom – In her absence RS had asked CM to raise the issue of switching from using Zoom for our meetings to MS Teams.. The monthly cost has increased to £30.83 (from £26.89) and as we only use it twice a year now for committee/AGM it seems like an unnecessary cost. If we move to MS Teams its free. It was agreed that RS should go ahead and switch to MS Teams and cancel the Zoom subscription.

• • Online booking facility CM reported that RS was also still looking into a facility for online bookings for each of the ‘show and tell’ sessions – especially as we are expanding. She is investigating setting something up on Event Brite or similar, so patients can book online then someone from each of the groups can log in to pull off an attendance list. She is hoping this facility is free, but if it costs something like £20-30 per month; is this something Restore would be prepared to do? It would take away some of the admin for the NHS staff at QVH/STH/DVH and RSCH in particular. Future Dreams already have their own booking facility. It was agreed that going forward this was well worth investing in and agreed that RS should go ahead and set up the facility.

RS

RS

• Refresher for models – DF raised the idea of refresher sessions for volunteer models. She suggested that it might be beneficial for models to sit in on a whole Show & Tell presentation every once in a while, to remind them about what they should cover during the ‘show’ part of the session. It was agreed that this would be a very good way for models to be able to fine tune their own story. CM suggested

that the Group Leads pick this up with their Model Co-ordinators so they can mention it to their models and facilitate it. • Frequency of Events– VB raised the subject of event dates and the fact that on some months there were no scheduled events planned. This meant that some patients may not be able to get to an event before their procedure was planned, especially if it was at short notice. CS stated that we are aware of this but had been led by the new groups availability this year. Next year we intend to make sure that we have at least one event happening somewhere every month (with the exception of Dec/Christmas and Aug/summer hols), so the earlier we can get dates from the hospitals the easier it will make planning our schedule for 2026. Group Leads were encouraged to start asking for dates so the information can be shared amongst the groups.

GROUP LEADS GROUP LEADS

10. NEXT MEETING Date of next meeting to be announced once the Trustees have had a chance to discuss availability with PG & RS.

CS/CM