## PANTRY FOR BLACON CIO (Known as Blacon Beacon) 

## Annual Report for the year ending 31[st] December 2020. 

Pantry for Blacon is a Charitable Incorporated Organisation, registration number 1183763 

## Governance and management 

There were 4 trustees of the charity in 2020: 

- Rev Christina Upton (Chair) 

- Ms Sheila Little 

- Mr Edwin Green 

- Mrs Jenine de Leie 

Additionally, from 28[th] September 2020 we employed a part-time Manager, Ms Kerry Cook, who very ably oversaw the work of the charity, and supervised the volunteers. 

## Objectives 

The charity exists to relieve food poverty in Blacon, Chester, and also to promote health, through the provision of good quality food at an affordable price, and encouraging healthy diet through education on food preparation. 


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## Activities 

2020 was an unusual year due to Covid-19 lockdown which began in March.  That coincided with the beginning of our activities as a charity.  After making alterations to Holy Trinity Church Hall to accommodate a storage room for us, we were on the verge of launching properly, when Covid-19 lockdown happened.  This resulted in us collaborating with Holy Trinity Church and Blacon Community Store, among other organisations, forming Blacon Action Team (BAT).  Through BAT, food parcels and cooked meals were distributed to those in need in the community, for 24 weeks. 

The total number of people fed in those weeks (through food bags) of any age, was 10,832, of 3910 households altogether.  52% of those were households included children or teenagers.  27% were adults living alone, and 13% were homes where only elderly people lived.  Some of those households received food several times, so that represents altogether 453 different homes.  In addition, we also delivered 2,175 cooked meals through those months.  Producing this amount of food (we estimate that 7820 bags were packed) took a great deal of people-power – about 26 volunteers gave us 1882 hours across the weeks. 

This level of work was not sustainable long-term, so during September the food parcel service was handed entirely over from BAT to Blacon Beacon (as well as the Community Store continuing their service which had started before lockdown).  Anyone who is resident and going through a hard time financially is eligible to benefit from Blacon Beacon.  Those who sign up are asked to pay a weekly subscription, and each week to collect food bags (one bag of ambient food, and one of fruit and veg) at a designated time.   We also made further alterations within the church hall, to create a second room for Blacon Beacon to use for food storage. 


We also collaborated with Holy Trinity Church Blacon in providing meals and activities to dozens of families during the school holidays, at Easter, then from May half term through to 


the end of the summer holidays, and also the October half term.  These were delivered to their doors, as Covid restrictions prevented us being able to have them gathering at the hall and church.  This culminated in December, when we delivered Christmas dinners to 61 families (118 adults and 154 children) and also to 200 older Blacon residents.   This was all made possible by generous grants from Westminster Foundation, Chester Bluecoat Charity, and Avenue Service Surplus fund. Additionally, the families and members of Blacon Beacon were also given Christmas hampers (containing sweets, mince pies, pickle/jam, crackers, sausages and bacon to name a few); some of these items were kindly donated from our local Spar, Tesco and Morrisons. 

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## FINANCIAL REPORTS 

INCOME for the charity comes from generous donors, either by one-off gifts or by monthly standing orders.  Also, we receive monthly contributions from our beneficiaries.  The majority of our funding, however, comes in the form of grants.  See table below for a summary of grants received in 2020. 

## Grants received by Pantry for Blacon in 2020 

|**Date**<br>**received**|**Grant funder**|**Notes**|**Amount:**<br>**£**|**Amount at**<br>**31.12.20**|
|---|---|---|---|---|
||**_RESTRICTED FUNDS_**||||
|January<br>2020|Anne Duchess of<br>Westminster<br>Charity|Driver & van costs – use<br>delayed due to Covid-19; in<br>Nov 2020 agreed to change to<br>cost of Administrator|5,000.00|5,000.00|
|February<br>2020|Westminster<br>Foundation|Manager post plus cooking<br>sessions; not started until 28<br>Sept 2020 due to recruitment<br>issues and then Covid-19<br>(cooking classes not held due to<br>lockdown)|10,000.00|8078.83|
|February<br>2020|West Cheshire<br>Foodbank|Reimbursement decorating<br>costs|120.00|0|
|April 2020|Cheshire<br>Community<br>Foundation|Purchase specific items (start-<br>up costs)|1754.88|0|
|May 2020|TNL Covid Fund|Food & volunteers & premises<br>costs|10,000.00|0|
|May 2020|Tesco Bags for Life|(received from Groundworks)<br>food costs|500.00|0|
|September<br>2020|National Education<br>Union|Cost of school uniforms|250.00|250.00|
|October<br>2020|Transforming Lives<br>Together|Food costs|500.00|500.00|
|October<br>2020|DEFRA (via<br>Cheshire West<br>VoluntaryAction)|Food costs|5,000.00|2,663.66|
|November<br>2020|Avenue Services|Client support including IT|5,500.00|5,500.00|
|December<br>2020|Avenue Services|Christmas meals|1,500.00|0|
|December<br>2020|Cheshire<br>Community<br>Foundation|Food & other costs|5,000.00|5,000.00|
|December<br>2020|Chester Bluecoat<br>Charity|Cost meat with Christmas<br>treats|500.00|0|
|December<br>2020|Sport England (via<br>Sanctuary)|Client physical exercise|1,720.00|1,720.00|
|December<br>2020|Cheshire West and<br>Chester Council|Food costs|2,000.00|2,000.00|
|||**_UNRESTRICTED FUNDS_**|||



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|January<br>2020|Chester used<br>Furniture<br>Enterprise (via<br>CWVA)|From winding up of CUFE<br>charity|3,000.00||
|---|---|---|---|---|
|May 2020|Chester University<br>(Santander)||217.50||
|May &<br>November<br>2020|St Vincent de Paul<br>Charity||400.00||
|August<br>2020|Cheshire<br>Freemasons||950.00||



## SUMMARY OF ACCOUNTS TO 31[st] DECEMBER 2020 

|||**£**|
|---|---|---|
|**OPENING BALANCE**|**11,260.79**|**11,260.79**|
||||
|INCOME|||
|Donations|2,230.00||
|Grant income - restricted|49,224.88||
|Grant income - unrestricted|4,367.50||
|Reimbursement from HolyTrinityChurch|4,446.01||
|HMRC|367.50||
|Members’ contributions|2,432.00||
|Miscellaneous income|482.40||
|**Total income**||**63,550.29**|
||||
|EXPENDITURE|||
|**Worker costs**|||
|Employee: wages+pension+HMRC|1921.17||
|Volunteer costs|157.47||
||2078.64|**2078.64**|
|**Premises costs**|||
|Buildingcosts|**11,814.81**|**11,814.81**|
|**Supplies**|||
|Foodpurchases|9,095.68||
|Cooked meals|7,577.09||
|Non-foodpurchases|565.58||
||**17,238.35**|**17,238.35**|
|**Running costs**|||
|Equipmentpurchases|6,557.43||
|Insurance|229.60||
|Stationeryandprintingcosts|179.98||
|Miscellaneous expenses|134.50||
||**7,101.51**|**7,101.51**|
|**Total expenditure**||**38,233.31**|
||||
|**BALANCE AT 31st DECEMBER 2020**||**36,577.77**|



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