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2024-06-30-accounts

Annual Report of the Trustees of Chichester Area Talking News for the period from 1[st] July 2023 to 30[th] June 2024

Charity Name: Chichester Area Talking News (CIO)

Charity Address: Chichester Area Talking News, St Richard's Hospital, Chichester, West Sussex, PO19 6SE

Charity Number: 1184267

Purpose and overview of the Trustees’ Annual Report: The primary purpose of the Trustees’ Annual Report is to ensure that the charity is publicly accountable to its stakeholders for the stewardship and management of the funds it holds.

This report contains information about the:

Governing document: The charity’s governing document is its Constitution, dated 22 June 2019 and approved at the AGM held on 24[th] October 2019. The charity is a Charitable Incorporated Organisation (CIO).

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Objects: The Objects of the CIO, as set out in its Constitution, are to relieve visually impaired and other disabled persons by the provision of a recorded news and magazine service.

Organisation, structure, membership and operation of the service: CaTN is part of a nation-wide network known as the Talking News Federation (TNF). Whilst taking advice from the Federation, when necessary, CaTN operates as an independent organisation both managerially and financially. Our members comprise our listeners and volunteers, including trustees.

CaTN is led and managed by the Board of Trustees (the Committee) which meets four times a year. Our service is provided entirely by around 80 volunteers. We have no paid staff and our volunteers and trustees do not receive any remuneration. They do not normally claim travel expenses but are reimbursed if they are asked to represent the charity at the Talking News Federation Annual Conference; and for purchases of equipment etc. for the charity which are bought with the agreement of the Board of Trustees. The Board delegates the approval of payment for small value items to the Treasurer in combination with one of three Trustees registered at the charity’s bank – The Charities Aid Foundation Bank (CAF Bank).

There are no conflicts of interest and there is no relationship with any related parties. All policies required by the Charity Commission have been approved by the Trustees and can be found on the CaTN website. Trustees and volunteers who visit listeners in their homes are DBS checked. These checks are reviewed as prescribed by regulation. There have been no incidents of any kind during this period.

CaTN carries out an annual review and analysis of its work, including the assessment of risks to CaTN’s functioning. This assessment is reviewed by trustees at each of their meetings.

Early in 2024 the charity undertook a survey of over 10% of its listeners, randomly selected, to understand better the impact and value of our programmes to our core clients. This information was used to improve our programme offer.

Core Activities of the Charity

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‘Chichester Every fortnight, local news, taken mainly from the three editions of the Observer’ local newspaper, is recorded and sent out to our blind and visually impaired listeners on memory sticks. The programmes are also available to listeners, and others, online on our website; via Alexa; and on smartphones through the British Wireless for the Blind app. Listeners are also provided, at no charge, with memory stick playback devices suitable for use by severely visually impaired and blind people so that they can listen to programmes at their leisure. Area helpers, all DBS checked, are available to support listeners who may have operating or technical problems with their devices from time to time.

CaTN also broadcasts, and distributes, a quarterly audio magazine, ‘Insight’ , which features a wide variety of articles of interest to our listeners. In addition, we issue a ‘Team Talk’ Newsletter called to all volunteers three times during the year which contains important information about the charity, organisational developments, and includes features about the lives and work of our volunteers and listeners.

The news and magazine programmes always seek to include items which provide examples, and role models, of visually impaired, elderly, or disabled people who have undertaken activities which have greatly enriched their lives.

The charity also organizes a small number of social events during the year to help reduce the feelings of isolation that some listeners feel.

The Main Activities and Achievements of the Charity for 2023/2024:

The Annual General Meeting held on 26[th] October 2023 was attended by 67 people with apologies received from a further 24. At this meeting our current Treasurer, John Goodman, took over from Geoff Porter, who had served CaTN as Treasurer for over 6 years. CaTN always seeks to address succession planning for key posts such as this to avoid disruption in our service to listeners

The keynote speaker at the AGM was Tom McInulty who lost his sight suddenly on his thirtieth birthday. His contribution was inspiring and many attendees commented afterwards on how uplifting and encouraging it was. His story of rebuilding his life, including working as an area manager for a charity serving visually impaired people, provided a wonderful role model for our members.

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A light lunch was followed by musical entertainment provided by “Girls Vocal” who sang a range of traditional and popular songs and included the audience in a final singalong! It was a very enjoyable occasion and another good opportunity for our listeners to meet one another and our volunteers, to chat, and to reduce any feelings of social isolation they may experience.

On the 3[rd] September 2023 we held a Listeners’ Lunch in a local hotel which provided further opportunities for some 60 of our listeners and volunteers to meet. Volunteers provide transport to and from these events which some listeners might not otherwise be able to attend. Again, many listeners who attend the lunches comment on what enjoyable social occasions they are for them.

The Treasurer, John Goodman, supported by the Vice Chairman completed the process of transferring our bank accounts from Barclays to the Charities Aid Foundation (CAF) bank which provides a range of financial services more suited to small charities. We are extremely satisfied with the range of support they provide and the good quality of their customer care.

All policies have been kept under review and additions, for example on The Use of Social Media, have been included to ensure that the suite of policies is complete in accordance with advice from The Charity Commission, Talking News Federation, and government websites.

The Vice Chairman, Bob Money, who is the Trustee responsible for the website, publicity and links with the media, has developed our website further, updated our information leaflets, given talks to local organisations, and arranged “pop-up” stalls in local libraries and a community centre. These activities are vitally important for making CaTN better known in the communities it serves. This increased local awareness of CaTN’s contribution to its communities is evidenced in a number of ways, including featured articles in the local newspapers and local community magazines. These activities aid significantly the recruitment of new listeners and volunteers.

Listeners continue to tell us how much they value our service and how it helps them to feel part of their local community. We receive many cards and letters of

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thanks which are much appreciated and also serve to confirm that we are contributing to public benefit as a charity.

Building on our positive at ude to continuous improvement we have developed our service further in a number of ways. An analysis of the strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats enables Trustees to look ahead and plan to ensure that CaTN continues to flourish in the future. This process identified a number of desirable areas of development which have all been acted on. For example, we secured greater confidence in business continuity by improving succession planning. We have reviewed policies and administrative procedures to ensure compliance with all that charities are required to do.

We have involved four sixth formers from local schools in recording material for our programmes which gives them experience of volunteering in the charity sector and also the opportunity to develop a range of useful, employable skills for their futures.

Many listeners, and volunteers, have led inspiring lives and developed creative ways to manage the practical problems they face. Enabling them to have “air time” to relate their achievements in our news and magazine programmes gives enormous encouragement to other listeners to live life to the full. Consultation with listeners and volunteers through our broadcasts, Team Talk, our quarterly newsletter for volunteers, and the Listener Survey referred to earlier, led to greater inclusion of items suggested by them in our programmes. The Survey, in particular, revealed huge support for our programmes and encouraged even more frequent inclusion of news and magazine items that provide examples of elderly and disabled people undertaking enjoyable and challenging activities. These have included one of our volunteers describing how she became an audio-describer at the Chichester Festival Theatre, a visually impaired listener taking advantage of that service, and another visually impaired listener describing vividly a visit to the Holy Land.

Feedback tells us that the service continues to work well with volunteers and listeners enjoy contributing to that sense of doing important work. We currently have 310 members, including 70 volunteers in addition to the 13 trustees who are

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also volunteers, and 227 listeners who receive the news on memory sticks. This is slightly higher than last year and numbers listening online, from our website, Alexa, via the British Wireless for the Blind app and other electronic means continue to increase. We are consulting closely with the Talking News Federation (TNF) nationally to find a way of establishing precise numbers of online listeners so that we know the total size of our audience.

Late in 2023, CaTN was nominated for the Kings Award for Voluntary Service by a former Mayor of Chichester City. We had great support from trustees, volunteers and listeners as we completed the process and provided the necessary evidence required for the award, We have gone through the very thorough assessment process and the outcome should be announced on the King’s birthday on the 14[th ] November 2024.

We express our sincere thanks to everyone in CaTN - volunteers, listeners and friends - for all the help and support we receive throughout the year.

Public Benefit

CaTN’s entire operation has the sole purpose of benefiting blind, visually impaired and other disabled people and enabling them to lead safer, more independent and more enriched lives. The Trustees confirm that, when reviewing the charity’s activities and in devising future plans, they have had regard to the Charity Commission’s general guidance on public benefit and have complied with their duties under Section 17 of the Charities Act 2011.

Listeners continue to tell us how much they value our service and welcome the receipt of broadcasts to hear familiar voices delivering their local news: material they can discuss with relatives, friends and carers in the society around them, and which is not always available elsewhere. They say it helps to keep them in touch with local news and events, provides comfort and reassurance to them, reduces feelings of loneliness and isolation, and enables them to feel part of their local community. We regularly receive cards and letters of thanks from listeners and their families which are much appreciated and also serve to confirm that we are contributing to public benefit as a charity. These letters and cards sometimes

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include donations to the charity and every donation is acknowledged by a letter of thanks from the Chairman.

Broadcast information also includes how to access services from national and local organisations which could enrich listeners’ lives, for example, West Sussex County Council’s Rehabilitation Officers for the Visually Impaired (ROVIs), The Macular Society, RNIB, 4Sight, and free downloads of Talking Books .

Our programmes engender feelings of inclusiveness in those who, because of impaired sight, can become socially isolated. Listeners say how much they appreciate the social events specifically organised for them by volunteers such as the Listeners’ Lunch, and the lunch and entertainment following the Annual General Meetings. These opportunities to meet and mix with each other, and volunteers, during ‘days out’ help to dispel feelings of loneliness. Listeners who attend comment on the friendliness and support they encounter. Volunteers provide transport to these events for listeners where needed.

CaTN has also received a Community Award from Chichester City Council recognising the social benefit it provides locally.

Future plans for the charity are to continue to develop our service, raising its profile through enhanced publicity, our website, information leaflets, and ‘popup” stalls, and encouraging more disabled people to benefit from the free service our volunteers provide.

In addition, CaTN will be celebrating 50 years of providing our service to visually impaired listeners on Friday December 6[th] 2024. A programme of celebrations is being planned over the year from December 2024 and we hope that gaining the King’s Award for Voluntary Service will enhance the start of those celebrations.

June 2024 Review of the charity’s financial position at 30[th]

Full financial statements were provided to the Independent Examiner for the preparation of her report and are reported to the Trustees at each of their meetings. The Trustees have reviewed the financial position and consider it to be satisfactory. The reserves held are sufficient to manage any change in CaTN’s

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financial situation which might include very substantial expenditure on finding, funding, and equipping a new recording studio and office if there was a need to move from St Richard’s Hospital at some stage in the future. Trustees have not identified any significant risks facing the charity; and they consider there are no uncertainties about it continuing as a ‘going concern’.

Principal sources of funds

The charity is funded by legacies and donations from individual members, from grant-making trusts, and also from fund raising. These income sources vary in size from as much as £1,000 to as little as £5. All donations are acknowledged by a letter of thanks from the Chairman, pointing out how valuable they are in continuing to support our work.

Appointment of trustees and volunteers

Trustees, who form the Committee, are appointed by the Board of Trustees having regard to the range of skills and experience that will meet the needs of the charity, and the personal attributes of the individuals. The Board includes two visually impaired trustees and one carer of a visually impaired listener. Appropriate training and induction arrangements are in place and trustees and those volunteers who visit the homes of visually impaired listeners are subject to DBS checks.

At the AGM of October 2023, Ken Pritchard continued as Chairman of CaTN, Bob Money continued as Vice Chairman, and John Goodman was appointed as Treasurer. In accordance with the requirements of the Constitution, no trustees were eligible to retire by rotation.

Trust Details:

Principal Office:

Chichester Area Talking News, The Studio, St Richard’s Hospital, Chichester,

West Sussex PO19 6SE

Tel: 01243 775050 Email: studio@catn.org.uk Website: www.catn.org.uk

Registered Charity No. 1184267

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Trustees:

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13		 Trustee name Office (if any) Dates acted if not for whole year
Mr K J Pritchard Chairman
Mr R I Money Vice Chairman
Mr J V P Goodman Treasurer October 26th2023*
Mrs E Bush Secretary
Mrs H Pinn
Mrs A Brearley-Smith
Mr D Bathurst
Mr C Jenner
Mr M Bevis
Mr C Mustchin
Mrs C Mustchin
Mrs J Penn
Mr G Porter

(* All dates refer to the Annual General Meeting of that year.)

Bankers:

Charities Aid Foundation,

Registered office - 25 Kings Hill Avenue, Kings Hill, West Malling, Kent ME19 4JQ.

Independent Examiner of Accounts:

Evans Weir, The Victoria, 25 St Pancras, Chichester West Sussex PO19 7LT

The Trustees’ Report was approved by the Board of Trustees

Signed on behalf of the Trustees

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Ken Pritchard OBE (Chairman) Date……31[[st]] October 2024..……… Registered Office: The Studio, St Richard’s Hospital, Chichester PO19 6SE

Date……31[[st]] October 2024..………

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Independent examiner's report on the accounts

Section A Independent Examiner’s Report Report to the trustees/ Charity Name members of Chichester Area Talking News On accounts for the year Charity no 30th June 2024 ended (if any) 1184267 Set out on pages 1-2 (remember to include the page numbers of additional sheets) I report to the trustees on my examination of the accounts of the above charity (“the Trust”) for the year ended DD / MM / YYYY 30/06/2024 . Responsibilities and As the charity's trustees, you are responsible for the preparation of the basis of report accounts in accordance with the requirements of the Charities Act 2011 (“the Act”).

I report in respect of my examination of the Trust’s accounts carried out under section 145 of the 2011 Act and in carrying out my examination, I have followed all the applicable Directions given by the Charity Commission under section 145(5)(b) of the Act.

Independent ~~[The charity’s gross income exceeded £250,000 and I am qualified to~~ examiner's statement ~~undertake the examination by being a qualified member of [insert name of applicable listed body]].~~ ~~Delete [ ]~~ ~~if not applicable~~ .

I have completed my examination. I confirm that no material matters have come to my attention in connection with the examination ~~(other than that disclosed below *)~~ which gives me cause to believe that in, any material respect:

 the accounting records were not kept in accordance with section 130 of the Charities Act; or

 the accounts did not accord with the accounting records; or  the accounts did not comply with the applicable requirements concerning the form and content of accounts set out in the Charities (Accounts and Reports) Regulations 2008 other than any requirement that the accounts give a ‘true and fair’ view which is not a matter considered as part of an independent examination.

I have no concerns and have come across no other matters in connection with the examination to which attention should be drawn in this report in order to enable a proper understanding of the accounts to be reached.

Signed:
Name:
Relevant professional
qualification(s) or body		 22/07/2024
Jennifer Hoult
FMAAT

Oct 2018

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IER

(if any):

Address: Evans Weir, 25 St Pancras, The Victoria, Chichester, PO19 7LT

Section B Disclosure

Only complete if the examiner needs to highlight material matters of concern (see CC32, Independent examination of charity accounts: directions and guidance for examiners).

Give here brief details of any items that the examiner wishes to disclose .

Oct 2018

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IER