## ANNUAL REPORT 2020/21 Recycling furniture, electrical & household goods for re-use in the community Helping to meet the needs of low income families in Shropshire since 1994 Reducing the amount that ends up in landfill every year. Warehouse: Unit 9b Hartley Business Centre, Monkmoor Road, Shrewsbury, SY2 5ST - Reg Charity No: 1179323 - Tel: 01743 246668 Shop: 27/28 Castle Street, Shrewsbury, SY1 2BQ - Tel: 01743 236382 ## OVERVIEW The Shrewsbury Furniture Scheme is a registered charity which began in 1994. Our aim was to provide affordable, - second hand furniture to low income families in the Shrewsbury area. Since our inception, we have come a long way. We have now grown to cover a larger portion of the Shropshire area, We now supply furniture and white goods through the local council as well as through our warehouse and shop. We employ several volunteers who generously give up their time to support us in our objectives. A number of them have gone on to get jobs within the wider community and have gained confidence and skills to take with them. We are proud to have been a part of their journey. ## THE CHARITY'S OBJECTIVES ## **To relieve poverty and to protect and preserve the environment, by:** **a)** Providing relief for the needy or distressed persons resident in Shrewsbury and surrounding area, by the provision to them of essential furniture, electrical and other household items. **b)** Collecting donated items for checking, repairing, refurbishing, storage and subsequent supply. **c)** Recycling, re-using and repairing furniture, household and electrical goods which would otherwise be disposed of in landfill. **d)** Empowering the unemployed and others with additional needs, providing them with opportunities to acquire and practice skills, both to gain confidence and contribute to the community by establishing volunteer training schemes to undertake repair and refurbishment for recycling, thus providing essential training to facilitate re-entry to the workplace. **e)** Educating and informing the public about sustainable lifestyles and the benefits to the community of recycling, re-use and environmentally friendly waste management. ## BOARD OF TRUSTEES A board of trustees, elected annually at the AGM, oversees the running of the charity, which employs three full time & four part time staff. **Mike Hall (Chair), Melanie Pilliner (Vice Chair), John Gorman (Secretary), Neil Bryant (Treasurer), Willie Strachan, Jane Jones, Graham Baker, Les Jones & Margaret Roberts.** ## CHAIRMAN'S REPORT 2020/21 will always be remembered as the year of the Covid 19 pandemic with our warehouse & shop shutdown for much of the year due to Government restrictions. However with amazing support from the Government through their Job Retention Scheme & a whole range of support grants our charity managed to weather the storm & has come out the other side in a much stronger financial position than when the pandemic began. Despite our sales receipts being reduced by some 50% during the financial year to the 31/3/21 we were able to secure Government (£78,286) & CAF (£7,500) grants, which turned a potentially disastrous trading year into one where we made a surplus of £54,332.29. This surplus has increased our cash funds to some £107k &, as such, has substantially improved our financial position whilst providing us with the resources to meet the undoubted challenges ahead. As our accounts, as detailed elsewhere in this Annual Report, are prepared on a Receipts & Payments basis it is not possible to include provisions for Reserves in such a format. However the Trustees have agreed to set aside the following reserves as at 31/3/21:- General Reserve:- £25,000 (approximately equivalent to 2 months expenditure) Contingency Reserve:- £10,000 (to cover unforeseen maintenance & utility costs). After taking the above Reserves into account our charity’s unfettered cash resources at 31/3/21 are reduced from £107,735.40 to £72,735.40. Despite lockdown for much of 2020/21 we still managed to help some 162 disadvantaged families/individuals in & around the Shrewsbury area through the provision of essential household items & in so doing saved some 29 tonnes from landfill. That is an amazing achievement by the only truly independent charity operating a “Furniture Scheme” in Shropshire, &, I believe, continues to provide a very clear endorsement that our simple philosophy of providing direct assistance to households in need within our local community, through the supply of good quality household items at very affordable prices, is wholeheartedly supported by our generous donors from within that same local community. So once again a very big thank you to our incredible band of volunteers both at the warehouse & the shop, who contributed some 3,260 hours of their time, the residents of Shrewsbury, who donated over 32 tonnes of household goods, and our employees together with our Trustees, who all help to ensure that the Scheme continues to provide essential support to those less fortunate within our community. I would like to take this opportunity to say a big thank you to John Gorman, who decided to stand down as a Trustee & Secretary at the end of February 2021, for his solid support as both a Trustee & volunteer over the past years. After 13 years as Chairman I have decided to stand down & I would like to take this opportunity to personally thank all those involved with our charity for their support & hard work over those years. I will be remaining as a Trustee &,with the approval of the AGM, our Vice Chair, Mel Pilliner, will take over as Chair with Willie Strachan stepping up to Vice Chair. I'm very confident that Mel & Willie will provide excellent leadership for our charity over the coming years. Mike Hall ## MANAGER'S REPORT As we are all aware 2020 was an unmitigated disaster as far as trading was concerned. The only bright spot was the long lay off which many of us benefitted from. As a charity , with dedicated volunteers, we were able to work throughout most of the pandemic to supply goods to those in need. There were sad times for most of us as everyone was affected by Covid 19. Rather than looking back it was also a time to reflect on our objectives and a chance to look at how we could improve our services by improving our efficiency both in house and out on the road. Considerable hours were spent on finding the best solutions. As a consequence it was decided that the old database systems were now outdated along with the booking in and out for deliveries and collections. Research pushed us down the line of the modern approach to data collection in the form of an Epos (electronic point of sale) system. This would allow us to integrate all of our current , somewhat laborious, tasks into one function, accessible remotely and without having to worry about access, storage and reproduction of data for reporting. During the pandemic our Shop worked tirelessly by using the social media tools in order to keep sales motivated and our brand awareness to the forefront. They should be congratulated on this. Our volunteers ably assisted with deliveries keeping strictly to the guidelines as laid out by the government. Looking forward there are going to be quite a few changes of which we will be prepared for and look forward to getting back to some semblance of normality. Peter Clarke Scheme Manager. ## VOLUNTEERS **Peter Edwards Helen Page Claire Challenor Dave Parsons Shaun Haynes Kiel Davies Margaret Blakeley Harry Bates Barrie Love John Pritchard Chris Goodman Caroline Turner Angela Baines** **Richard Lawley Dave Fudge Les Jones Lisbeth Jones Rosi Pearson Kerry Childs** STATISTICS SFS 45.8% **----- Start of picture text -----**
Ditherington
Minsterley/Pont 3.3%
9.4%
Monkmoor
34.4%
Harlescott
17.2%
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Sundorne
17.2%
Castlefields
18.5%
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## DEMOGRAPHICS Our customers come from all over the Shropshire area. This year we have seen an increase in the South Shropshire area, As always our Monkmoor customer base is strong and we hope to build awareness across all wards of Shropshire in the coming year. ## REFERRALS BY AGENCY This year we've seen an increase in agency referrals coming through from the LSPF, which means that our message is clear and we are reaching more families and individuals. Our intentions are to increase the number of smaller organisations, next year and forge connections with local charities. ***G&L = Gorsuch & Langley, H.V = Health Visitor.** **----- Start of picture text -----**
G&L H V
2.4%1.8%
Online
14.3%
LSPF
35.7%
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This year we have accepted **615** Donations, comprising of 1131 items which have been collected. We have carried out **571** Deliveries and sold 1352 items direct from our warehouse. Shrewslwry Furnlture Scheme- Home Essentials Year ended 31 March 2021 IndepeTthnt wminerfs repprt to the tnthe5 of Shrewsbury Furntture S¢heme- Home Essentlals I report on the attached accounts of the charity for the year ended 31 March 2021. Respertlve responslbllltles of trust•o$ and examlner The tharitvs trustees are responsible for the preparation of the accounts. The charltvs trustees consider thai an audltls not ￿QuIred for this year under settion 144121 of the Charities Act 2011 (the 2011 Act) and that an independent examlnatton is needed. It Is my responslbllity to: examine the accounts under sertlon 145 of the 2011 Act to follow the Procedures laid down In the general Dirertbns gfven by the commi551on under section 14515llbl of the 2011 Act to state whether particular matters have come to my attentlon Bas1$ ol Independent examlnerf5 report My examlnation was carrled out In accordance wlth the general Dlrections 8lven by the Charlty Comm1s5ion. An examinatlon Includes a revlew of the accountin8 records kept by the charlty and comparison of the accounts presented w6th those records. It a150 Includes conslderation of any unusual Items or disc105ures In the accounts, and seekinB explanatlons from you a5 trustees con¢ernln8 any s(rch matters. The procedures undertaken do not provlde all the eVIden￿ that would be ￿qUIred In an audlt and consequently no opinion is 8iven as to whether the accounts present a 'true and fair vle%¢ and the report15 Ilmlted to those matter5 set out in the next statement. Independent •xamln•rfs statement In connectlon wlth my examlnatlon. no matter has come to my attentlorr. 111 which gives me reasonable cause to believe that in any materlal respect the requ1￿mentS.. to keep accoijntlng records In accordance with section 130 of the 2011 Act and to prepare accounts which accord with the accountlng ￿CordS and comply wlth the accountln8 requlrements of the 2011 Att have not been met or 121 to which, in my opinion. attentlon should be drawn in orderto enablè • proper under5tandln8 of theaccounts to be reached W- D C Blofield Bsc FCA Independent examiner Emstrey House Shrew5bury Business Park Shrewsbury Shropshlre 5Y2 6LG Date IS Ji+rt IOLI SHREWSBURV FURNITVPESCHEME Home Essenty•ls RECEIPTS AND PAYMWS ACCOUNfKIR THE YÈAAÉNOED31 MARCII 1021 SHOP >LOJ21 Ir4COME 5•le$ Bank Interest DoTh3tlohs Van Hlre Corona lob Retontlon Stheme DelSwerych8r8es Other Grant$ 5odal Fund 24.$46.0S 24.562.Z9 49.408.34 268.sz 268.5Z 360. 10t,8￿.10 28S.87 1.398.00 2.Y4.82 360.(K) 1S.224.Dg 7,732.80 22,956.89 1,664.41 1,654.41 46.643.00 39.143.OP 8S.786,00 14,999.49 14,999.49 7.19 9,014.00 Totsi R•¢*¢l 103,64S.S6 71,798.09 175,443.65 115.139.98 PENDilliAE Purth•sesfor Res•lw Rent S¢rvl¢• thir81 Ele¢.G85 & w•t•r TelephcTre Prfmlses Malnt St•ff Wale5 Travel and Lunch E¥pen5es Vill expense InsuAnc• Workshop Stètlonery Postai•. pdntln84nd $tatlon?ry M15C Prolesslon81 Fees Prprnotl0nlAd￿rt Cl*anln8 nvcard Ch•r8e$ 5,318.92 5.318.92 15,999.97 18,B34.95 34,B34.92 125.IX) 125.Q) 50.38 2,080.76 2,lJl.Id 708.09 607.50 1,315.59 535.C 230.54 765.54 47,615.70 19,336.11 66,951.91 2,261.Tr) 37.370.00 2AII.68 I,IB8.81 920.93 71,729.23 599.80 S,3BI.84 1,217.S3 222.97 179,72 4,272.68 1,036.51 48.16 4,272.68 244.ts) 1,280,51 48.16 102.24 7C6.15 1,368. 145.54 247.78 7Cfj.94 1.413,09 I,J68. I,CpJ7.59 838.00 271A4 314.31 271.44 702.20 591.C6 I.1C￿.87 387￿5 VATdue PB4.431 TOtsI P•wNnt¥ 78.149.69 42,897.19 121.111.36 126,580.60 54,332.19 111,440.621 Totsl funds atOI.04.20 53,403.11 64.843.73 CKhfvnds* JiA3.11 107,735.40 53 403.11 SHREWSBURY FURNfwRE SCHÉME STATEk•EiifoFA55Ef5AND LIABJimfsAT31 l*lARCH 2021 CASH FUNDS sh * Bank 107,522.71 Petty C•sh 212.69 107,735.40 Assm AETAINEDFOft THECHARITY'SOWM USE Curr•nt Vilul V•n$ £qulpm•nt Aacklng Shop fittln6S 43,724.68 35.773.21 4,752.40 3,270.59 15,755. 437. 87.520.88 17,057.00 Shop Opening Times Monday - Closed Tuesday - 9:30am - 4:30pm Wednesday - 9:30am - 4:30pm Thursday - 9:30am - 4:30pm Friday - 9:30am - 4:30pm Saturday - 9:30am - 4:30pm 01743 236382