## **Bolton Neuro Voices Annual Report for 2024 / 25** This is the fifteenth Annual Report of Bolton Neuro Voices for the period April 2024 to March 2025. It has been a year of significant transition as Mrs Marie Oxtoby retired from this charity that she founded in 2013 and throughout that time. she was both Chair and co-ordinator. The AGM was held on 22nd May 2024 and there was an unusually large attendance of about 75 people in recognition of Marie Oxtoby’s retirement where she had been the mainstay of BNV over so many years and those who have benefitted from the work of the charity are indebted to her for all her hard work. In recognition of her contribution Marie was awarded an honorary Doctor of Letters from the University of Bolton in June 2024. Four trustees resigned and four replacements were appointed with effect from April 2024. It has been a period of considerable learning for the new chair and deputy chair in order to understand and correctly administer the charity. ## **Membership** Our membership comprises five local neurological support groups Bolton West Stroke Support Group, Bolton / Bury ME / CFS Support Group, Manchester and District MND Association, Bolton and District MS Society and Parkinson’s UK Bolton alongside 37 individual members. There is also a small Facebook Group that is run and supported by the members. ## **Aims and Objectives** Bolton Neuro Voices was set up to improve the quality of neurological health and care services in Bolton, to create a forum in which local groups could work together and to extend membership to individuals and carers who have no local support group. In particular we wanted to facilitate improvements in the quality of life, ensure access to information, and provide continued monitoring of local services. Our services are open to everyone with a neurological condition who can benefit safely. It is not a requirement that our members live within Bolton MBC. ## **Exercise Activities in 2024/25** Our main regular activities are Wednesday hydrotherapy sessions at the Sir Jason Kenny Leisure Centre and Monday dry exercise sessions at the Bolton Arena Leisure Centre. These take place over three 11 week terms. The members contribute £35 each per term and this is subsidised by the charity through the generous support of our donors. Our hydrotherapy continuation programmes ran for a total of 30 weeks with 2 classes and a regular attendance of between 16 and 25 per week. This year in total we have had 600 members attending. A successful new partnership with the University of Greater Manchester has been in place since September 2024 to provide specialist physiotherapy support under the supervision of Anna Zeimer (Senior Lecturer) and supported by two dry side volunteers and a lifeguard from the Sir Jason Kenny Centre. In there has been for a short period of time the opportunity for 5 university students from the physiotherapy team to take up valuable and unique training opportunity. We were also pleased that after a gap of 2 years we were able to run another 5 week assessment course for new users in March 2025. Our Arena Exercise Programme ran for a total of 33 weeks over three terms with an average attendance between 5 and10. A total of 223 members attended this year. This programme offers competitive wheelchair-based exercises and can cope with a wider range of disabilities than the hydrotherapy programme. The sessions are support by two qualified staff members from Bolton Arena. ## **Volunteers** We are particularly grateful to our pool dry side volunteers for their faithful service and without whom our activities at the pool would be impossible. - Thaira, Qureshi (BNV Chair). - Christine Lee - Denise Shakespeare - Marie Parkinson We acknowledge that the limited availability of volunteers represents the most significant risk to the sustainability of our charity, surpassing even financial challenges, however the team of dedicated volunteers have maintained an organised and effective rota to help support time and yet ensure there is ample support. ## **Social Activities** Supportive social contacts are a popular aspect of our charity’s activities. We held a summer lunch attended by 31 people and a Christmas lunch attended by 61 people. At Bolton Golf Club. These events also allow us to invite our donors and volunteers as guests and so show our sincere appreciation of their support for Bolton Neuro Voices. ## **Policies** The following policies were under review in March 2025 for expected approval by the trustees in April 2025 - Safeguarding - Volunteers - Equal Opportunity - Data Protection The Bolton Neuro Voices Constitution has also been signed by the current trustees. ## **Trustees** There have been significant changes to the composition of our trustees We have a new Chair of trustees and a new Deputy Chair. We have by necessity been operating in a less centralised way and inevitably there has been a considerable amount of learning for our new trustees. We are nevertheless satisfied that the transition from the longestablished leadership of the charity under Dr Marie Oxtoby had been quite smooth. The trustees met formally in April, September and January and there were numerous informal contacts via face-to-face meetings, email, WhatsApp messages and telephone as necessary throughout the year. The trustees of Bolton Neuro Voices are as follows: - Thaira Rasheed Qureshi (Chair) - John Gyves (Deputy) – new appointment - Neil Germaine (Treasurer) - Chas Andrews, - Marie Boardman - Kathleen Delaney - Alan Lyons. - Dave Sandham – new appointment - Shelley Radcliffe – new appointment ## **Finance** We are most grateful for the assiduous work of our treasurer Neil Germaine who continues to manage the many and frequently irregular transactions that are necessary for our charity to operate in a sound and publicly accountable manner. The attached Finance Report shows an annual income of **£5767** of which **£1874** came from donations while the remainder is made up of user contributions and payments for social events. The trustees raised the member contributions in September 2024 from £30 to £35 to ensure that we could safely meet all ongoing costs and keep an adequate reserve if the cost of any Hydrotherapy 5-week Course was met, as it often has been, by outside funding. We are actively seeking new funding for the coming year as we have noted a steady erosion of our financial position over several years. ## **Conclusion** As Chair, I would like to thank most sincerely all our members and their carers, our volunteers, our donors, our physiotherapist Anna Ziemer and her students and our trustees for their continued and much valued support for Bolton Neuro Voices over this last year. Thaira Qureshi Rasheed Chair 28"July 2025 |**Code**
ICD
ISUB
IHD
IUSER
IUSERN
IAREND
ICOND
IARENU
IOTH
CEADMIN
CEINS
CEMEET
CEMISC
HEPHYEX
HEPHYEXN
HEPHYS
HEPHYSN
HEPOOL
HEPOOLN
HEMISC
HEVOL
HEVOLN
EARENA
EARENAM|**BNV FINANCIAL SUMMARY FROM 1/04/2**
**Income**
Core Donations
Membership Subscriptions
Hydrotherapy Grants/Donations
User Contributions (Continuation)
User Contributions (New Course)
Arena Grants/Donations
Continuation Donations
Arena User Contributions
Other
**Total Income**
**Expenditure**
**_BNV Core Funds_**
Stationery/Printing/Postage
Insurance
Meeting expenses
Miscellaneous
**_Sub-Total - Core Funds_**
**_BNV Hydrotherapy_**
Physiotherapist Expenses Continuation
Physiotherapist Expenses New Course
Physiotherapy Services (Continuation)
Physiotherapy Services (New Course)
Pool Hire (Continuation)
Pool Hire (New Course)
Miscellaneous
Volunteer Expenses (Continuation)
Volunteer Expenses (New Course)
**_Sub-Total - Hydrotherapy_**
**_Arena_**
Arena Costs
Arena Miscellaneous
**_Sub-Total - Awards for All_**
**Total Expenditure**
**Surplus / Defici**
Balance Brought forward
Balance Carried forward|**4 to 31/03/25**
Apr-24
May-24
Jun-24
Jul-24
Aug-24
Sep-24
Oct-24
Nov-24
Dec-24
Jan-25
Feb-25
Mar-25
**2024/4**
**2024/5**
**2024/6**
**2024/7**
**2024/8**
**2024/9**
**2024/10**
**2024/11**
**2024/12**
**2025/1**
**2025/2**
**2025/3**
**Total**
0.00
0.00
9.00
0.00
0.00
0.00
0.00
0.00
0.00
100.00
0.00
0.00
109.00
0.00
10.00
0.00
0.00
0.00
0.00
0.00
-1.00
0.00
0.00
0.00
0.00
9.00
250.00
0.00
0.00
0.00
0.00
0.00
0.00
174.60
0.00
105.00
0.00
0.00
529.60
330.00
300.00
0.00
0.00
0.00
390.00
315.00
0.00
0.00
503.85
85.00
280.00
2,203.85
0.00
0.00
0.00
0.00
0.00
0.00
0.00
0.00
0.00
0.00
0.00
0.00
0.00
255.00
105.00
105.00
105.00
196.39
105.00
105.00
105.00
-311.00
0.00
105.00
105.00
980.39
250.00
5.00
0.00
0.00
0.00
0.00
0.00
0.00
0.00
0.00
0.00
0.00
255.00
210.00
30.00
0.00
0.00
0.00
240.00
30.00
0.00
0.00
210.00
0.00
0.00
720.00
0.00
0.00
0.00
0.00
0.00
0.00
540.00
390.00
30.00
0.00
0.00
0.00
960.00| |---|---|---| |||
**1,295.00**
**450.00**
**114.00**
**105.00**
**196.39**
**735.00**
**990.00**
**668.60**
**-281.00**
**918.85**
**190.00**
**385.00**
**5,766.84**| |||.
0.00
0.00
-50.62
0.00
0.00
0.00
0.00
0.00
0.00
0.00
0.00
0.00
-50.62
0.00
0.00
0.00
0.00
0.00
0.00
-276.38
0.00
-24.02
0.00
0.00
0.00
-300.40
0.00
-94.00
0.00
0.00
0.00
0.00
0.00
0.00
-1,102.00
0.00
0.00
0.00
-1,196.00
0.00
0.00
-100.00
0.00
0.00
0.00
0.00
0.00
0.00
-114.35
0.00
0.00
-214.35| |||**0.00**
**-94.00**
**-150.62**
**0.00**
**0.00**
**0.00**
**-276.38**
**0.00**
**-1,126.02**
**-114.35**
**0.00**
**0.00**
**-1,761.37**| |||0.00
0.00
0.00
0.00
0.00
0.00
0.00
0.00
0.00
0.00
0.00
0.00
0.00
0.00
0.00
0.00
0.00
0.00
0.00
0.00
0.00
0.00
0.00
0.00
0.00
0.00
0.00
0.00
0.00
0.00
0.00
0.00
0.00
0.00
0.00
0.00
0.00
0.00
0.00
0.00
0.00
0.00
0.00
0.00
0.00
0.00
0.00
0.00
0.00
0.00
0.00
0.00
-266.02
0.00
0.00
0.00
-566.00
0.00
-208.00
-252.00
0.00
-252.00
-296.50
0.00
-1,840.52
0.00
0.00
0.00
0.00
0.00
0.00
0.00
0.00
0.00
0.00
0.00
0.00
0.00
0.00
0.00
0.00
0.00
0.00
0.00
0.00
0.00
0.00
0.00
0.00
0.00
0.00
-252.85
0.00
0.00
0.00
-132.80
0.00
0.00
0.00
0.00
-345.28
0.00
0.00
-730.93
0.00
0.00
0.00
0.00
0.00
0.00
0.00
0.00
0.00
0.00
0.00
0.00
0.00| |||**-518.87**
**0.00**
**0.00**
**0.00**
**-698.80**
**0.00**
**-208.00**
**-252.00**
**0.00**
**-597.28**
**-296.50**
**0.00**
**-2,571.45**| |||-200.00
0.00
0.00
-104.00
-156.00
-208.00
0.00
-156.00
0.00
0.00
0.00
-312.00
-1,136.00
0.00
0.00
0.00
0.00
0.00
0.00
0.00
0.00
0.00
0.00
0.00
0.00
0.00| |||
**-200.00**
**0.00**
**0.00**
**-104.00**
**-156.00**
**-208.00**
**0.00**
**-156.00**
**0.00**
**0.00**
**0.00**
**-312.00**
**-1,136.00**| |||| |||
**-718.87**
**-94.00**
**-150.62**
**-104.00**
**-854.80**
**-208.00**
**-484.38**
**-408.00**
**-1,126.02**
**-711.63**
**-296.50**
**-312.00**
**-5,468.82**| |||| |||**t**
**576.13**
**356.00**
**-36.62**
**1.00**
**-658.41**
**527.00**
**505.62**
**260.60**
**-1,407.02**
**207.22**
**-106.50**
**73.00**
298.02| |||932.13
895.51
896.51
238.10
765.10
1,270.72
1,531.32
124.30
331.52
225.02
298.02
73.00
0.00
0.00
0.00
0.00
0.00
0.00
0.00
0.00
0.00
0.00
0.00
73.00
649.13
356.00
-36.62
1.00
-658.41
527.00
505.62
260.60
-1,407.02
207.22
-106.50
73.00
371.02|