Directors Annual Report – AGM – 24[th] June 2023
Firstly, I’d like to thank you all for the support you give to me as your Director. As I’ve gone into my second year, the commitment and passion you all show for Samaritans and our branch in particular is truly amazing and it’s a privilege to hold this role.
The updates I’ll share with you today will cover the period since our last AGM. Whilst you may have heard some of this information previously, it’s always good to pause and reflect on just how much we have achieved as a branch in the past 12 months.
At last year’s AGM, we were in the middle of our Branch Review and we were given a very positive report on our branch and our collective enthusiasm for Samaritans. We’d just moved into out new Op’s Rooms in Autumn Park and the increase in duty stations from 2 to 5 has been a big improvement in being able to accommodate more volunteers on shift. This in turn has increased our availability for our callers and our contribution to the service overall.
We have continued to grow in volunteer numbers. Maureen and the Recruitment & Selection teams have conducted three recruitment and selection sessions and 22 potential applicants have been successfully selected, of which 2 are support volunteers. The Branch Management Tool continues to assist us with the selection process, and this helps both the potential volunteers journey and the administration side of recruitment. Grateful thanks must go to the selection team who give their experience, expertise and non judgemental approach to all interviews. Without them, the selection process would not work as well and demonstrates to all potential volunteers the essential need to be non judgemental in our approach to others.
Maureen is now stepping down as our DD for Recruitment & Selection and I’m hugely grateful to Maureen for her time and hard work over the past 3 years. Also to Mandy as Maureen’s deputy. Jane4 is taking on this important role, ready for the next round of interviews which are scheduled at the end of September.
If you’d like to help with Selection, please get in touch with Jane. Selection days are also an opportunity for a social get together of fellow Sams and are always an enjoyable event.
Once Maureen and team have brought volunteers through the door, then it’s over to Jess as the DD for Training.
Since our last AGM there have been three more rounds of CORE training. As a result of that training, we have welcomed into the Branch the following listening volunteers; Jane 5, Matt, Nige, Alistair, Caz 2, Ian 5, Jo, Michael 3, Mick, Richard 6, Shanah, Si, Wattsy, Heidi 2, Marina, Michelle, Paul 2, and Ruth 4. These last five have very recently finished their training so will be with their mentors over the next couple of months.
Richard 5 has got another two groups through Embedding in that time, and huge thanks goes out to him and all the mentors for their hard work here.
Martyn launched our Ongoing mentoring programme last summer, and by the end of July we hope that everyone (that has been in the Branch for a certain length of time) will have experienced the benefits of a mentored shift. Thank you to Martyn for getting this key element of branch training up and running – we couldn’t have done it without him.
We’ve also run the first set of group training sessions for mandatory Continuous Development – Applying our Key Policies. It was great to get the whole branch talking about the nitty gritty of self-determination, safeguarding and confidentiality. Feedback from the Branch has been good and Jess & I would like to thank everyone for approaching it with such openness and positivity.
There were some more updates to Core training in January this year, especially regarding the new classification of our misuse of service calls.
It goes without saying that there are a team of people behind all these efforts and a huge thank you goes out to all the trainers, mentors and skills practice volunteers. The trainees are very fortunate to have such a committed and welcoming bunch to help them in this crucial part of their Samaritans journey.
Next round of Core development is scheduled for October this year. Anyone interested in helping with any elements of training should get in touch with Jess 1 –extra helpers are most welcome.
We continue to refresh the training library in the Branch. Thank you to Jess for the excellent selection of books and to everyone that showed their appreciation for the books.
Whilst we’re here to support our callers, we’re also here to support each other. Lynn1 took over the important role as DD for Volunteer Care at the start of the year. The team of Lynn, Mavis, Fran, Alan, Pauline and Ellyn are there to keep in touch and support all our volunteers. Several volunteers have had support after their operations, illnesses, family and personal matters. Thank you to everyone for putting your trust in the Volunteer Support Team.
As a branch, I know we can’t function and be there for our callers without the consistent support of all our volunteers. I mention this regularly, but it is really important that we understand when life gets in the way of your volunteering. Everyone has periods when other matters have to take priority. All I ask is that you talk to someone – either me or the Volunteer Support Team – so we understand what’s going on and can make whatever adjustments are needed.
The Equity, Diversity and Inclusion (EDI) Strategy has taken shape in the past year and we’ve been grateful to Tam1 as our EDI lead for bringing this to life in our branch. Samaritans have developed a two year foundation plan on EDI and Tam has done a great job in raising awareness in the Op’s Room and also arranging an event with a Trans lived experience speaker, Emily, who gave us incredible insight into some of the things she’s faced over time. Unfortunately, we’re losing Tam1, not from Samaritans but from our branch, as she’s being posted to High Wycombe, so we’ll be looking for someone to take over from Tam in the next few weeks.
Looking outside the branch now and our work with Prisons continues to be busy. We’re lucky to have such an experienced and enthusiastic Branch Prison Support Officer (BPSO) in Gordon1 and grateful thanks to Gordon for everything he and the team have
achieved this year. We now support two prisons – HMP Stocken and HMP Morton Hall. During the last year the prison team has been working hard to revitalise the Listener Scheme at HMP Stocken. We have trained new listeners and acquired some who have moved from other prisons with the result that we now have 16 Listeners which is something near the required number for a prison of 1,100 men. Alongside this we have worked to implement the HMPPS and Samaritan Postvention strategy for Stocken which was one of the significant tasks we had to accomplish by the beginning of the year. Sadly it had to be put into practice in March when one of the men too their own life. The processes we had planned and the training given to the Listeners worked well and both our team (Volunteers and Listeners) and the Safer Custody staff were complimented by the Group Safety Lead for Stocken for an impressive response.
At the same time as development at Stocken, a sub group of the team have been working to establish a Listener Scheme at HMP Morton Hall. Morton Hall presents a different range of difficulties including language barriers as the majority of the men are all foreign nationals. The scheme was to be set up with Grantham as the lead branch and Lincoln as supporting the scheme. So far, Lincoln branch have found it impossible to contribute as they have significant challenges with the scheme they are responsible for at Lincoln Prison. Despite this, we trained Listeners in the autumn but only 4 came through and then weren’t retained. We have since March, been reviving the scheme with a new group of men being trained. We now have 9 Listeners in total which is plenty for a prison of 380 men. The staff and Governor are very enthusiastic about the scheme and really want it to work well. Gordon1 was invited to make a presentation to the full staff meeting and felt there was very broad support from all sections of the staff. We have also completed the staff training for Postvention at that prison as well and once the Listeners go through that module of training, Morton Hall can be signed off by HMPPS and Samaritans.
Dealing with two prisons is at once “very invigorating and exhausting” (according to Gordon!). Communication is difficult and staff changes, which are frequent, do not make life easier. None of the things mentioned would be possible however without the constant and enthusiastic support of the Branch Team. So thanks to Carol16, Lynn1, Paula1, Steve3, Ken1 and also Alan2 who hopes to join in with the work at Morton Hall.
For the future, the word consolidation seems to describe our work for the coming year. Of course, there is always an invitation for other volunteers to join the team. The more the merrier. Whilst not for everyone, it is a very rewarding part of Samaritan outreach work.
Fundraising is a vital function for our branch and we’re extremely grateful to Andy4 and Joyce2 for their efforts and to everyone who contributes. We continue to be fortunate in having two large donors whose support make a huge difference to our finances. That aside, we have had fantastic volunteer support from members of the branch, in particular Fi1 with her singing group, and many others. We have successfully secured a LNER bid and whilst we must always be conscious that we rely on funding our branch ourselves, we remain in a healthy financial position, as detailed in Andy3’s report.
Outreach has progressed well since our last AGM with Nikki1 taking on the role as Deputy Director for Outreach at the start of the year. We’ve been to Newark Northgate and Grantham stations a couple of times, raising awareness with rail commuters. We participated in Payplan’s Wellbeing Day and Payplan continue to be an important
local partner for our branch. We had a presence at Caythorpe Gala last September and will be off to the Heckington Show at the end of July this year.
We’ve recently supported a school in Lincoln following the suicide of one of their students. This was under the Step by Step scheme run by Samaritans which offers emotional support to staff at schools affected by suicide. Again, the outreach team responded willingly and swiftly to the request and thanks to Annie18, Rae1, Carole4 and Mavis1 for their support.
The aim of outreach events is always to raise awareness of Samaritans and our local branch. We also use Twitter for publicity and whilst it’s not for everyone, it’s a great medium for getting out timely messages. My thanks to Joyce2 who is our official “tweeter” and she’s kindly provided me with a brief overview of Twitter to share with you today.
Our followers slowly continue to grow; we now have 351 followers, an increase of 64 from last year. If you aren’t following us you’ll find us at @GranthamSams. Reviewing our tweets in the last year, the highest numbers of impressions (number of people who have seen our tweet) are usually from our posts relating to visits to Grantham or Newark railway stations. This year was no exception with 1,312 impressions recorded from our visit to Grantham in July 2022 and 1,052 impressions from our visit to Newark in April 2023.
However, we did have two other popular tweets this year, the visit of Julie Bentley to the branch 1,158 impressions and 856 for the Coronation. I did report that Railway posts usually receive the highest number of impressions but this year we have our own huge success story! During Volunteers Week we profile the amazing service given to Samaritans by our volunteers, one of which was Mavis who has been a Samaritan for an incredible 44 years. (Longer than some Sam’s here today have been alive!). The tweet was picked up by the Grantham Journal which resulted in a lovely interview, and was sent to all branch members. Samaritans Central Office also ran the story which was published in the recent Samaritans newsletter. Many other organisations and individuals responded with an amazing 4,284 impressions. Congratulations Mavis.
Each impression gives us the opportunity to share the work of Samaritans. Locally we can share our involvement in the community with posts about Samarathon, Swimarathon and the Christmas tree event etc.
Finally, we would welcome any ideas for our Twitter account; all we need is a couple of sentences and a picture if possible (with permission from any people featured). We hope to continue to grow our followers and spread the word about the varied and valuable work of Grantham branch.
One of my priorities when I took over as Director was to see how we could increase our contribution to the Samaritans service. The move to the new Op’s Room was a big help. However, there’s still more we can do. Weekends in particular are really busy. I was on shift last Saturday and the queue rarely dropped below 50 callers. Rolf1, on his regular Sunday shifts, will tell you that it’s a similar picture then. But that doesn’t tell the full story. The queue only goes up to 50 plus any high risk phone numbers so there may well be more callers wanting to speak to someone but hearing the engaged tone. We’ve also got the overnight shifts that we have been filling but not consistently.
Looking ahead, we do need to find ways to support the peak demands of callers whilst also balancing the needs and availability of our volunteers. Carole4, in her role of Branch Capacity Improvement Officer, along with the Branch Leadership Team, will be considering different ways of achieving this and all ideas welcomed.
I’m proud of what we’ve achieved in the past 12 months. My aspirations to increase our capacity, refocus our efforts in Outreach and working with our community and, most importantly, ensuring our branch provides a positive and rewarding volunteering experience are unchanged.
Thank you for your support, willingness to get involved, enthusiasm and just your passion for being a Samaritan. Please know that I’m always here if there’s anything you want to suggest, comment on or raise a concern. We’ve plenty to look forward to in the next 12 months and I suspect my update at this time in 2024 will be just as full and busy with our achievements.
INDEPENOEKT EXAMINERS REPORTTOTrIE TRUSTEE5 OF TrIE SAMArrANS-GRANTHAM BPANCH l TepDrt on theaccountsof the Charityfor the year ended 31 Mar£h 2023 which are setwt on page 2. Respeaive responslbllltles of trtssteesartd Èxamln¢r Thechariws trustees are responslbk for the preparatKsn of the accounts. Thech3rity'5 trustee5 con5Klerthan an audlt15 not re4Ulfedlerth15year under section 144121 ofthe CharftlesAct 2011 (the 2011 Attl and that an independentex3mination is needed.. It15 my responsSbllityto'. Èxamine the accounts uThder section 145of the 2011 A¢- followthe procedures laid d¢>wn In the general Oirertions 8Nen bythe Char¢tyCommission under section 14515llbl of the 2011 ACL. and statewhether partlcu13r matters have come to my attefflion. Basis of independnt tx4mlner'¥ 51atement Myexaminabw waswied out in3c¢ord3nce wbth the8enwal OtrectK)nsOven the Chartycommissth. An exafflinabon included a ofthear(OUnt1n8 rec(d5eptbYthe charityanda comw¢50n ofthe accounts reSented1Ihth0Seretord$. intdeS conslderation of èny unustsal itemsordisdosures Inthe atcounts, and 5ethng explanationsfrorf4youastrustses concernian¥Sh matters.Tr prctedure5 undertakendo not prowldeall ewdencethatwould be re4ulred h an a1[tar1d (y)nsequentWno opinion is 8i¥en astov1hethertheUnts pre5enta"true andfalrwkw" èndthe rewrt ts limitedtottrM)sè mattÈrs setoJt in thestÈtÈmerrt bÈltrw. Ihd•pqnd¢rtexamlnssiotwnent In the course of myexamination. no matter hastometo myattentK)n'. 111 ¥thich 8l¥e5 me reasonablecausete bellevem ts) anymaterfal tespeci. thereqUirnents.'.to keep proper atcount5n8record5are kept in 4cc¢ydance th section 130ofthe 2011kt,' and -to prep•re accounts which accord wlth the 3ccountlft8 records at)d compty wr<h the accountlng requirements olthe 2011 Act ha% notbeen met. or 121 to which, In my opinlon, attentlon should be drawn In orderto enable a proper understandln8 of Ihe accounts to rea¢hed. QQJL PHEL RUDKIN FCCA Duncan &Toplis Llm Chartered Accountants 14 London Road 14ew)Tk Nottingliamshire NG24 ITW Dated.. 26thJune 2023 Page I
Grantham Samaritans IEA
| Income Donations, Covenants and Tax Recovery Sundries Efforts Grants Bank Interest Expenditure Office Equipment Telephone Volunteers' Expenses Training Expenses Advertising and Publicity Printing, Stationery and Postage Rent, Rates, Light & Heat Insurance HQ Levy Centre Sundry Independent examiners fees Sundries Net Income for the year Reconciliation of funds: Balance brought forward 1st April 2022 Transfer unrestricted funds Net Income for the year Balance carried forward 31st March 2023 Split of Funds: General Fund Restricted Fund Represented by: Lloyds TSB Bank : Samaritans of Grantham Lloyds TSB Bank : Grantham Samaritans Melton Mowbray Building Society Account |
£ £ £ Restricted Unrestricted 33,870.39 10,000.00 23,870.39 917.66 - 917.66 551.35 - 551.35 504.22 452.97 51.25 124.34 - 124.34 35,967.96 10,452.97 25,514.99 4,061.48 1,296.00 2,765.48 985.81 - 985.81 2,776.91 625.74 2,151.17 32.20 - 32.20 - - - 478.13 478.13 - 11,047.89 2,765.47 8,282.42 766.80 - 766.80 2,516.00 - 2,516.00 204.27 204.27 - 420.00 - 420.00 6,091.13 5,083.36 1,007.77 29,380.62 10,452.97 18,927.65 6,587.34 - 6,587.34 59,502.16 5,594.31 53,907.85 5,594.31 - 5,594.31 6,587.34 - 6,587.34 66,089.50 - 66,089.50 66,089.50 - 66,089.50 - - - 66,089.50 - 66,089.50 15,090.50 - 51,000.00 66,089.50 YEAR ENDED 2023 |
£ £ £ Restricted Unrestricted 16,088.35 - 16,088.35 189.38 - 189.38 13.00 - 13.00 5,641.47 5,600.56 40.91 - - - 21,932.20 5,600.56 16,331.64 6,959.85 6,028.30 931.55 1,949.28 - 1,949.28 1,169.49 698.49 471.00 109.41 - 109.41 70.00 - 70.00 595.75 - 595.75 6,450.00 - 6,450.00 561.61 - 561.61 - - - 378.12 - 378.12 600.00 - 600.00 663.34 - 663.34 19,506.85 6,726.79 12,780.06 2,425.35 1,126.23 - 3,551.58 57,076.81 6,720.54 50,356.27 2,425.35 1,126.23 - 3,551.58 59,502.16 5,594.31 53,907.85 53,907.85 - 53,907.85 5,594.31 5,594.31 - 59,502.16 5,594.31 53,907.85 19,103.76 - 40,398.40 59,502.16 YEAR ENDED 2022 |
|---|---|---|
The Trustees confirm, in accordance with the Charitable Incorporated Organisations (General) Regulations 2012, that at the year end the CIO did not have any outstanding guarantees to thirds parties nor any debts secured on assets of the CIO.
………………………………………………………..
Signed by: Dated: 26th June 2023
On behalf of Trustees
Page 2
INDEPENOEKT EXAMINERS REPORTTOTrIE TRUSTEE5 OF TrIE SAMArrANS-GRANTHAM BPANCH l TepDrt on theaccountsof the Charityfor the year ended 31 Mar£h 2023 which are setwt on page 2. Respeaive responslbllltles of trtssteesartd Èxamln¢r Thechariws trustees are responslbk for the preparatKsn of the accounts. Thech3rity'5 trustee5 con5Klerthan an audlt15 not re4Ulfedlerth15year under section 144121 ofthe CharftlesAct 2011 (the 2011 Attl and that an independentex3mination is needed.. It15 my responsSbllityto'. Èxamine the accounts uThder section 145of the 2011 A¢- followthe procedures laid d¢>wn In the general Oirertions 8Nen bythe Char¢tyCommission under section 14515llbl of the 2011 ACL. and statewhether partlcu13r matters have come to my attefflion. Basis of independnt tx4mlner'¥ 51atement Myexaminabw waswied out in3c¢ord3nce wbth the8enwal OtrectK)nsOven the Chartycommissth. An exafflinabon included a ofthear(OUnt1n8 rec(d5eptbYthe charityanda comw¢50n ofthe accounts reSented1Ihth0Seretord$. intdeS conslderation of èny unustsal itemsordisdosures Inthe atcounts, and 5ethng explanationsfrorf4youastrustses concernian¥Sh matters.Tr prctedure5 undertakendo not prowldeall ewdencethatwould be re4ulred h an a1[tar1d (y)nsequentWno opinion is 8i¥en astov1hethertheUnts pre5enta"true andfalrwkw" èndthe rewrt ts limitedtottrM)sè mattÈrs setoJt in thestÈtÈmerrt bÈltrw. Ihd•pqnd¢rtexamlnssiotwnent In the course of myexamination. no matter hastometo myattentK)n'. 111 ¥thich 8l¥e5 me reasonablecausete bellevem ts) anymaterfal tespeci. thereqUirnents.'.to keep proper atcount5n8record5are kept in 4cc¢ydance th section 130ofthe 2011kt,' and -to prep•re accounts which accord wlth the 3ccountlft8 records at)d compty wr<h the accountlng requirements olthe 2011 Act ha% notbeen met. or 121 to which, In my opinlon, attentlon should be drawn In orderto enable a proper understandln8 of Ihe accounts to rea¢hed. QQJL PHEL RUDKIN FCCA Duncan &Toplis Llm Chartered Accountants 14 London Road 14ew)Tk Nottingliamshire NG24 ITW Dated.. 26thJune 2023 Page I
Grantham Samaritans IEA
| Income Donations, Covenants and Tax Recovery Sundries Efforts Grants Bank Interest Expenditure Office Equipment Telephone Volunteers' Expenses Training Expenses Advertising and Publicity Printing, Stationery and Postage Rent, Rates, Light & Heat Insurance HQ Levy Centre Sundry Independent examiners fees Sundries Net Income for the year Reconciliation of funds: Balance brought forward 1st April 2022 Transfer unrestricted funds Net Income for the year Balance carried forward 31st March 2023 Split of Funds: General Fund Restricted Fund Represented by: Lloyds TSB Bank : Samaritans of Grantham Lloyds TSB Bank : Grantham Samaritans Melton Mowbray Building Society Account |
£ £ £ Restricted Unrestricted 33,870.39 10,000.00 23,870.39 917.66 - 917.66 551.35 - 551.35 504.22 452.97 51.25 124.34 - 124.34 35,967.96 10,452.97 25,514.99 4,061.48 1,296.00 2,765.48 985.81 - 985.81 2,776.91 625.74 2,151.17 32.20 - 32.20 - - - 478.13 478.13 - 11,047.89 2,765.47 8,282.42 766.80 - 766.80 2,516.00 - 2,516.00 204.27 204.27 - 420.00 - 420.00 6,091.13 5,083.36 1,007.77 29,380.62 10,452.97 18,927.65 6,587.34 - 6,587.34 59,502.16 5,594.31 53,907.85 5,594.31 - 5,594.31 6,587.34 - 6,587.34 66,089.50 - 66,089.50 66,089.50 - 66,089.50 - - - 66,089.50 - 66,089.50 15,090.50 - 51,000.00 66,089.50 YEAR ENDED 2023 |
£ £ £ Restricted Unrestricted 16,088.35 - 16,088.35 189.38 - 189.38 13.00 - 13.00 5,641.47 5,600.56 40.91 - - - 21,932.20 5,600.56 16,331.64 6,959.85 6,028.30 931.55 1,949.28 - 1,949.28 1,169.49 698.49 471.00 109.41 - 109.41 70.00 - 70.00 595.75 - 595.75 6,450.00 - 6,450.00 561.61 - 561.61 - - - 378.12 - 378.12 600.00 - 600.00 663.34 - 663.34 19,506.85 6,726.79 12,780.06 2,425.35 1,126.23 - 3,551.58 57,076.81 6,720.54 50,356.27 2,425.35 1,126.23 - 3,551.58 59,502.16 5,594.31 53,907.85 53,907.85 - 53,907.85 5,594.31 5,594.31 - 59,502.16 5,594.31 53,907.85 19,103.76 - 40,398.40 59,502.16 YEAR ENDED 2022 |
|---|---|---|
The Trustees confirm, in accordance with the Charitable Incorporated Organisations (General) Regulations 2012, that at the year end the CIO did not have any outstanding guarantees to thirds parties nor any debts secured on assets of the CIO.
………………………………………………………..
Signed by: Dated: 26th June 2023
On behalf of Trustees
Page 2