Lincolnshire Cares
1186816
Annual Accounts & Trustee Report
Trustees Annual Report
SUMMARY
It has been a frustrating year with our face to face befriending and all social activities on hold due to the pandemic. That said, we should be proud that we are befriending by telephone far more members than we were previously supporting, and our membership has continued to grow. The telephone befriending has been much appreciated by those members that have requested it through what have been some very quiet and isolating times.
In addition, in place of the social events, our volunteers did a great job of organising three surprise gifts for our full membership, namely an afternoon tea in June, a home-baked hamper at Christmas and then Easter Eggs and daffodils at Easter, all of which were very well received by our members.
This has been a tough year for everyone. We would like to send our best wishes to all volunteers who have been poorly this year, including Angela C, Andy D, Mike T, Tilly C, and Jacqui H. We send you our best wishes for the best treatment and strong recoveries.
We would also like to pay our sincere condolences to Bob Oxley and his family on the very sad passing of Linda, a lovely and respected lady and a very kind volunteer, who befriended one of our founder members with great kindness for a number of years.
We also pay our respects to our members who have passed away this year, sadly this includes seven members that we used to befriend, may their souls rest in peace.
THANKS
Firstly, on behalf of our Committee and Trustees may we express our thanks -
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To all our volunteers, thank you for all your help in getting us to the point where we are helping so many people in our community as an independent charity.
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Particular thanks to those volunteers who are befriending our members by telephone, and making a massive difference to their lives, on a weekly basis.
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Sincere thanks to all volunteers who were involved with the preparation, packing and delivery of the Summer afternoon teas, the Christmas hampers and also the Easter gifts.
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Secondly, on behalf of all our members and volunteers, may I thank our committee and Trustees, for their dedicated work in particular,
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To Julia and Jill for coordinating all the telephone befriending and to Julia for standing in as Chair on numerous occasions this year
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To Emma for her excellent work on fundraising, with successful applications to Lincs Coop, Amazon Smile and WLDC Lottery.
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To Tilly, for her detailed work on membership and DBS checks
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To Ann, for sending out birthday cards
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To Andy, for his copywriting
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To Derek, for his detailed work as secretary
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To Jack, for representing the views of our members with such enthusiasm
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To Jo for her work on our finances
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To Richard for agreeing to become our Treasurer
And finally, to all our volunteers who help in so many different ways, helping promote and supporting all the above activities, leading to the very positive feedback that we get from all the senior citizens and their families.
Chris also thanked
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The other volunteer groups in Caistor and Kelsey who operated very effectively to support the elderly and isolated during the pandemic and lockdowns;
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Friendship at Home for their continued guidance and support and
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All the donors listed in the Treasurer’s Report for their kind donations.
MEMBERSHIP
2017 – 12 2018 – 17 2019 – 21 2020 – 84 (27) 2021 – 147 (24)
When we became Lincolnshire Cares, we took the decision to ask everyone who attends our social events to become a member, hence the increase in membership over the last two years.
Of the members, 23 were befriended in Caistor and 1 in Kelsey. We have now switched to telephone befriending and are calling 55 people in Caistor and approximately 10 in Kelsey.
We also pay our respects to our members who have passed away this year, sadly this includes seven members that we used to befriend, may their souls rest in peace. They are Philip Creasey, Bill Gibbs, Vivien Peel, Barbara Thieme, Pat Tointon, Terry Vann and Stan Walker.
VOLUNTEERS
2017 – 30 2018 – 33 2019 – 47 2020 – 43 2021 - 40
SOCIAL EVENTS
Sadly due to the Covid pandemic, we have not been able to hold any social events in the last year, including the coffee mornings in both Caistor and Kelsey, the Wednesday Socials, the afternoon teas, and Christmas and Summer parties.
We are in regular dialogue with other local charities, and hoping to restart face to face befriending and social events, starting with the coffee mornings, as soon as it is considered safe to do so.
CHARITY STATUS
Our Charity Objectives remain the same, namely;
To promote social inclusion for the public benefit in particular but not exclusively by the provision of an intergenerational befriending service to address loneliness and social isolation among older people living in the county of Lincolnshire arising as a result of their age, infirmity, ill-health, disability or social circumstance.
For the purpose of this clause ‘socially excluded’ means being excluded from society, or parts of society, as a result of one or more of the following factors: unemployment, financial hardship, youth or old age; and ill health (physical or mental).
TRUSTEES
There has been no change in our Board of Trustees. Their term of office and area of responsibility are listed below.
| Chris Robey – Chair, policies and procedures, new groups, coordinators | 4 years 09/12/2023 |
|---|---|
| Julia Whittaker – Vice-Chair, volunteers and membership, new groups | 3 years 09/12/2022 |
| Andy Dukes – Marketing and publicity | 2 years 09/12/2021 |
| Derek Commander – Secretary, correspondence, insurance | 3 years 06/01/2023 |
| Angela Clark – Health and safety, safeguarding | 3 years 06/01/2023 |
| Emma Dix – Fundraising and grants | 3 years 06/01/2023 |
| Jack Lyon – Membership representative | 3 years 06/01/2023 |
| Angela Lawrence – Intergenerational connections | 3 years 26/01/2023 |
| Richard Hallsworth – Treasurer, bank, governance | 3 years 26/10/2023 |
The trustees have made the following arrangements:
Comprehensive insurance for our activities with Hiscox.
Our application to set up a bank account with HSBC was not progressed by HSBC, due to the pandemic, and we are now preparing to apply for an account with the Reliance Bank (linked to the Salvation Army). We are currently still using our HSBC account through Friendship at Home.
DBS checks are now being done online.
Policies, procedures and handbooks have been refreshed and are available for new and existing volunteers on request to the Secretary.
FUTURE PLANS
The Trustees have identified the following strategies for the year 2021/22
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When considered safe and prudent to do so, to restart face to face befriending, with individual risk assessments refreshed
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When safe and prudent, restart our social events, starting with the coffee mornings, taking all necessary safety precautions to reassure our members
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Where members are unable or unwilling to attend our social events, to continue the option of telephone befriending as an alternative new service
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Continue to market our services in Caistor, North and South Kelsey and the surrounding villages, especially at this time where isolation and anxiety may well be heightened and our services more needed than in the past. This also includes seeking new volunteers.
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Explore opportunities to extend our services to new areas, with our next area having been identified as Keelby, assessing whether this is practical in the current circumstances.
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Renew DBS checks for all volunteers in the name of Lincolnshire Cares.
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Continue to ensure that our Governance, policies and procedures are in line with the rigorous requirements of the Charity Commission.
…………………………………………
Chris Robey (Chair)
24 May 2021
Financial Statements
The trustees are pleased to present the accounts and financial report for the year ended 31 March 2021.
Receipts and Payments account
The financial statements are prepared on a receipts and payments basis.
| £ | ||
|---|---|---|
| Receipts1 | 3,563 | |
| Payments | ||
| Administrative costs | £396 | |
| Charitable activities | £1,625 | (2,021) |
| _ | ||
| Surplus | 1,542 |
1 Income received was mainly in the form of donations from local organisations.
| Statement of assets | |
|---|---|
| £ | |
| Cash at bank and in hand 1.4.2020 | 1,044 |
| Surplus | 1,542 |
| Cash at bank and in hand 31.3 2021 | 2,586 |
………………………………………… Chris Robey (Chair) 24 May 2021