ANNUAL REPORT AND STATEMENT OF ACCOUNTS
KEYNSHAM AND SALTFORD DEMENTIA ACTION ALLIANCE FOR THE YEAR ENDING DECEMBER 31[ST] 2021
Registered Charity Number 1181589
KEYNSHAM & SALTFORD DEMENTIA ACTION ALLIANCE
Annual Trustee’s Report for 2021
The Keynsham & Saltford Dementia Action Alliance (K&SDAA) was established in December 2016 with a view to making Keynsham and Saltford more dementia friendly. The term “dementia” describes a set of symptoms that may include memory loss and difficulties with thinking, problem solving or language. The DAA:
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covers and serves the needs of those living with dementia predominantly living in Keynsham and Saltford and surrounding area.
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In January 2019 we became a Charitable Incorporated Organisation.
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The Keynsham & Saltford DAA does not employ any paid staff. All those involved are volunteers. However, it does engage a paid professional to facilitate our ‘Music for the Mind’ sessions. We also use Keynsham Dial-aRide to bring dementia residents from local care homes to our sessions
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Music for the Mind sessions are held twice monthly on the second and fourth Thursday mornings of the month. The format is a social conversational half an hour over tea and coffee, cakes and biscuits and then an hour of singing, including light seated exercises. Attendance is free and each person living with dementia has to be accompanied by a carer. For these events we accept people from further afield should they wish to attend. Before the first Covid lockdown in March 2020 we were probably averaging about 15 people living with dementia at each session plus their carers and our volunteers. There is always a wonderful happy and relaxing atmosphere in the hall that is enjoyed by everyone.
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Due to the effects of Covid 19, we had to stop our Music for the Mind session in March 2020. There were no more Music for the Mind sessions during 2020 but we did keep in touch with our members where we could. The local care homes who send residents to our music sessions were very badly hit by the pandemic. There were times during 2021 when we thought we might be able to start up again but we didn’t feel able to restart until the care homes were out of lockdown and happy for their residents to mix. Consequently it was Thursday 12[th] October 2021 before we started up again. In the end we managed 5 sessions before the end of the year including a Christmas meeting on Thursday 9[th] December. Around that time there were concerns about an increasing level of Covid cases so we cancelled the second session in December and the two sessions in January 2022. We finally started up again in February 2022.
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The Covid 19 pandemic has been difficult for all our clients and particularly those in the various care homes that have been supporting our Music for the Mind sessions over the last 3-4 years. We have lost a number of our friends during this period and the care homes have had major problems with staff and residents contracting Covid. Those in the care homes have not been able to see their friends and relatives for many months. We have kept in touch with the care homes in particular and have provided them with funds so that they could buy specific items to help all those living with dementia. This has been a great help to them and provided some joy and happiness during this difficult time.
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At the end of 2020 the group had 5 trustees, Alan Hale was Chair, plus Judith Lynn, Sue Stevens, Liz Edwards and Mike Knight. During 2021 Alan Hale advised that he wished to stand down from further involvement with the group and was replaced by Mike Knight as a temporary Chair. Sue Stevens retired and was replaced by Tim Blowers. There were no trustee’s meetings during 2021 due to Covid restrictions. However, there was e-mail correspondence to discuss any relevant matters of interest. This included approving donations to 4 of care homes in our area that look after dementia patients to help them to get through this difficult time. The funding was agreed unanimously by the trustees.
• Financial Situation
The DAA is financially stable despite our balance in the bank falling during the 2021 from £15,525.73 to £13,248.10. Our income virtually dried up during 2021 with only 4 individual donations totalling £276. Expenditure also fell significantly from £5,315.73 in 2020 to £2,553.63 in 2021. Most of that was due to donations to our local care homes to provide activities for our local dementia residents as we couldn’t provide any music sessions. These donations were agreed by the management team.
A full summary of our accounts is shown on the attached balance sheet. They have been circulated to the trustees for inspection and comments were added to the minutes of the meeting.
• Volunteers
The whole operation is staffed entirely by volunteers and there are about 20 altogether.
The ability to become a volunteer or a client is inclusive of any gender, orientation, race or religion.
• Going Forward
All our activities have been curtailed during 2021 due to Covid. We felt unable to restart our Music for the Mind sessions until the care homes were
happy to participate. We managed 4 sessions from October but then stopped again over the Christmas period. We were surprised at the number of people that attended these sessions as we had lost several of our regulars to Covid.
We haven’t been able to do any dementia talks during 2021 and neither have we done any building inspections to encourage local businesses and organisations to become more dementia friendly. We look forward to starting this work up again during 2022.
Mike Knight
Treasurer and Trustee Keynsham and Saltford DAA
September 2022.
KEYNSHAM & SALTFORD DEMENTIA ACTION ALLIANCE
Balance Sheet for period 1[st] January 2021 to 31[st] December 2021
| Balance in bank on 1/1/2021 Income Donations from individuals (4) |
£15525.73 Expenditure £276.00 Music for the Mind £200.00 Public liability insurance £187.25 St John’s Christmas festival £25.00 Microphone & domain reg £65.99 Donations to care homes (5) £2000.00 Easter plants for clients £59.90 Phone for DAA use £15.49 |
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TOTAL INCOME £276.00 TOTAL EXPENDITURE £2553.63
INCOME MINUS EXPENDITURE - £2277.63 Plus the balance on 31/12/2020 £15525.73 Balance in bank on 31/12/2021 £13248.10