2025-03-31-accounts

JIGSAW Annual Report Monday 1[st] September 2025

Introduction

A warm welcome to all our members, volunteers, and guests. For those of you who are new to our meetings, Jigsaw was established in 1996 and became a charity in 2017. We are a peer led group of volunteers who offer easy access to mental health support and information to relatives and carers who support a family member with a mental illness in the county of Worcestershire. When a family member is newly diagnosed with a mental illness it can be devastating. It can be truly frightening and very hard to understand. Our group of experienced volunteers enables carers to come together, let off steam, share their anxieties, and say how they truly feel without being judged.

National Lottery Awards for All

Last August we secured a two-year grant for £15,426.00 from the NLAfA. The grant was awarded for core operational costs and development of the group.

We are holding our AGM three months later than usual.

In March this year our website manager, Darius Baria, (son of Cyrus Baria, founding member of Jigsaw) passed away unexpectedly. Our members were all deeply shocked and time was needed to support Cyrus and his family as they coped with the aftermath of losing such a beloved son at such a young age. Many of us took comfort in attending the celebration of life ceremony held in April in his honour.

Darius was a highly valued member of the JIGSAW team who developed and maintained our website over many years. He carried out such an important role, sending news of our meetings and answering emails from new carers needing to know more about JIGSAW. His skills in IT, communication and marketing were outstanding. Darius worked on many projects for us turning our ideas into reality using his remarkable presentation and communication skills. He will be very sadly missed.

Achievements

Initially we were unsure how to pick up the pieces and carry on. For the past four months we have focused on regaining access to our website together with the Jigsaw domain name. Our thanks go to the support team at the WIX website platform who assisted the secretary with the process of becoming the new administrator. A huge thank you goes to Roy Milner, longstanding member of JIGSAW and former trustee of Positive Thoughts. In June this year Roy came to the rescue and got the website up and running again. It is with great relief Roy has taken on the role of website host and now works closely with secretary Sue Nichols to send out newsletters informing carers of our forthcoming meetings and events. We now have a new email address [e-mail].

The secretary has access to the Jigsaw Facebook page and can advertise our forthcoming meetings for our followers. We hope to regain access to the X social media platform (formerly known as Twitter) in the near future.

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New Reflective Group

Included in our bid to the National Lottery Awards for All we requested money to pilot a new closed group to further empower some of our longstanding carers. The funds enabled us to run six bimonthly support sessions facilitated by a qualified psychologist. Meetings commenced in July 2024 and took place at the Beacon Clinic in Great Malvern. These sessions provided dedicated time and space for carers to reflect on the impact of their caring role and explore strategies to achieve a healthy balance between their own self care and supporting their loved one. The pilot proved to be very successful with regular attendance and a request for the group to continue for another year.

Jigsaw Christmas Tree

In December last year we proudly took part in the Christmas Tree Festival at the Worcester Cathedral. Our thanks go to Angel Davison and her husband for all their hard work in designing, building and installing the tree. The tree was decked out with colourful jigsaw pieces, and along with our newly designed leaflet, it boosted awareness and promoted Jigsaw to many visitors during Christmas.

Financial Matters

The National Lottery Awards for All grant is a restricted fund and it covers the following Jigsaw activities:

• Administration

• Annual Subscriptions

• Connecting with Carers: Social media marketing

• Increasing awareness: publicity and PR

• Online virtual meetings: Zoom and meeting support

• Website: regular updates, improvements

• Newsletters for members: + carers news digest

• Fortnightly planning, monitoring and update meetings

• Pilot of bi monthly Reflective Sessions for one year

• Contingency planning: IT service and repairs

At the end of March 2025 Jigsaw had approximately £3,000 unrestricted funds. There remains a contingency fund of £2,500 kindly donated in 2023 by Andrew Manning-Cox, the High Sheriff for Worcestershire.

I would like to thank our treasurer Polly Clare for managing the JIGSAW bank account and keeping track of our income and expenditure. Once again thanks go to Gordon Whittaker our independent accountant for checking and verifying our accounts (see attached income and expenditure account for the year ended March 2025) For the not so financially minded members I have prepared a spreadsheet explaining the details of our income and expenditure from the Jigsaw Community bank account. (see attached)

We do most of our banking online with Barclays and there are three trustees who are able to initiate and authorise any payments made.

We plan to hold a trustee meeting in the near future to monitor and approve the spending of the remaining NLAfA grant.

Donations

I would like to thank the following people and organisations who have made donations to JIGSAW in the financial year ending March 2025:

• Sharon Stimpson from the IASME Consortium (£100)

• Gordon Archer – sponsored walks (£175)

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• Jennie Collins – covering the cost of our fundraising stall at Clarence Park (£5)

• University of Worcester student fundraising event (£7.50)

We have held a number of car boot sales and tabletop sales throughout the year, and we have raised an amazing £484.10 including the tea and coffee money collections. My thanks go to all our members who have donated items for sale and helped to man the stalls.

Attendances April 2024 to March 2025

There was a total of 239 attendances including 24 new attendees

Throughout the year we held a total of 23 meetings:

• 13 Face to face meetings at MHSP (including Zoom)

• 1 Zoom meeting in December

• 9 Coffee mornings

We vary the venues and dates for the coffee mornings each month. They take place during weekdays either at the Café Bistro in the Malvern Winter Gardens or the café and Community Room at the London Road Waitrose store nearer to Worcester. The purpose of the coffee mornings is to give new carers the chance to connect with existing Jigsaw carers in a relaxed and informal setting for some supportive conversation.

Previously we emailed anonymous feedback forms after every meeting for attendees to provide comments which help us to improve our meetings. We are keen to send them out again now that the website is back up and running.

Monthly meetings

Our programme of regular monthly meetings from April 2024 to July 2025 has been varied and informative:

2024

April – The Prepared Carers Checklist – Karen Bent , Community Engagement Officer (Social Inclusion & Participation) – Herefordshire Locality

May – Early Intervention Service and Psychosis – Benita Jones, Occupational Therapist

June – Open Meeting

July – Annual General Meeting

August – The Malvern Neighbourhood Mental Health Team – Stuart Searle Jones, Clinical Lead

September - Psychiatric Medication Q&A session – Andy Down, Chief Mental Health Pharmacist

October – Risk Assessment and Community Mental Health Services – Justine Hill, Deputy Associate Director-Primary Care and Community Mental Health and Stuart Searle Jones, Clinical Lead for the Malvern NMH Team

November – Personal Independence Payments – Tony Goodman, Social Worker with the Home Treatment Team

December – Open Meeting

2025

January – Open Meeting

February – Neighbourhood Mental Health Services Update - Diane Topham, Interim Deputy Associate Director

March – Worcestershire Association of Carers – Jane Taylor, Carer Wellbeing Lead

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April – Legal Issues - Chris Milne, Director (Solicitor) and Head of Market Drayton Trusts & Estates

May – Self Care - everyday tips and activities to support good mental health – Charlotte Neville, Being Well and Community Signposting Coordinator June – Laughter Yoga Session – Sue Maclusky, Sootheoutstress.co.uk July – Open Meeting August – Summer Break

Committee meetings were held on: 21[st] October 2024, 17[th] March and 18[th] August 2025

We are extremely fortunate to have such a committed and enthusiastic group of volunteers on our committee and I value all their ideas and contributions.

Networking

We’ve kept in touch with organisations across Worcestershire, though we have attended fewer meetings than usual. Our focus has been on running Jigsaw and keeping in touch with our members while rescuing the website.

Training and workshops

The secretary attended an online course in February run by the NCVO (National Council for Voluntary Organisations) Safeguarding Essentials in Charities.

WhatsApp Group

I’d like to thank Sarah one of our committee members who has set up the JIGSAW WhatsApp group for our regular members. This has proved really helpful for the little details and keeping us in touch in a friendly and informal way.

Longstanding volunteers

I would also like to extend my heartfelt thanks to our longstanding trustees, Polly, Cyrus, Hazel, Angela, and committee members, Sarah, Carolina, Aileen and Jennie for supporting me in running JIGSAW.

Future Plans

Some of our plans for 2025 needed to be put on hold when Darius passed away in March. As we move forward during the remainder of 2025 we need to re visit and revise some of those plans.

We have money in our unrestricted funds and plan to have our newly designed poster and leaflets printed in the near future. There is some outstanding work to be completed on the trifold leaflet and Jigsaw business card.

Since March our outgoings have decreased as we no longer pay Darius for his work managing the website, sending out newsletters, coordinating Zoom meetings and all-round support with our activities. As a result, there is going to be an underspend in the NLAfA grant for the remaining year.

Darius had planned to re design the website in keeping with our new publicity posters and leaflets. There is a website designer who may be able to work with us on this project. An initial meeting is planned and costs need to be discussed with the Trustees and approved by the National Lottery administrators.

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The Pilot Reflective Group proved very successful. It was well attended and of great benefit to the carers involved. A request has been made to extend the group for another year. This will also need to be discussed with the Trustees and approved by the NLAfA administrators.

Future meetings:

Saturday 20[th] September – Coffee Morning

Monday 6[th] October – Psychiatric Medication Q&A session

Conclusion

JIGSAW will continue to reach out to carers who are feeling isolated and struggling to cope, offering friendship and a lifeline that enables them to continue with their vital role and improve their own mental wellbeing.

Darius will be sadly missed by everyone who knew and worked with him but we will endeavour to carry on with his legacy and future proof the JIGSAW group.

Sue Nichols JIGSAW Secretary

September 2025

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JIGSAW - WORCESTERSHIRE MENTAL HEALTH RELATIVE & CARER'S SUPPORT GROUP

INCOME AND EXPENDITURE ACCOUNT FOR THE YEAR ENDED 31 MARCH 2025

INCOMING RESOURCES Donations and Legacies National Lottery Community Fund Funds Raised TOTAL INCOMING RESOURCES RESOURCES EXPENDED Room Hire Secretarial Services Speaker/Training Telephone Insurance Stationery Web Site Management/Marketing and Publicity Computer Costs Sundry Expenses NET INCOMING/(OUTGOING) RESOURCES TOTAL FUNDS BROUGHT FORWARD TOTAL FUNDS CARRIED FORWARD TOTAL CASH FUNDS	Unrestricted Funds £ 0 15,426 761 16,187 30 180 1,065 112 133 70 5,654 155 179 7,578 8,609 5,763 14,372 14,372	Restricted Funds £ 0 0 0 0 0 0	Total Funds 2025 £ 0 15,426 761 16,187 30 180 1,065 112 133 70 5,654 155 179 7,578 8,609 5,763 14,372 14,372	Total Funds 2024 £ 4,052 0 655 4,707 0 300 200 87 96 45 4850 244 108 5,930 -1,223 6,986 5,763 5763

The Statement of Financial Activities were approved by the Board of Trustees and signed on their behalf by:

Trustee

Date