IPSWICH DEMENTIA ACTION ALLIANCE
Trustee Annual Report for Charity Commission - April 2024 to March 2025
4[th] August 2025
Ipswich Dementia Action Alliance is a Charitable Incorporated Organisation – first registered with the charities commission in February 2020.
Registration No. 1187944
Registered Address: 26 Maude Street, Ipswich, Suffolk IP3 0AU
Trustees
Nicola Bradford – Chair
Sue Burman – Treasurer
Jill Barton – Vice Chair
Timothy Lockington
Colin Kriederwolf
Joanne Reeder
Elizabeth Edwards
There have been no trustee resignations during this reporting period, nor any trustee recruitment. All trustees confirm they are in agreement to continue for the coming year.
The governing document of Ipswich Dementia Action Alliance lays out our objectives, to relieve the needs of people with dementia and their carers in Ipswich and the surrounding area for the public benefit by;
The provision of social activities to meet their needs and relieve isolation and loneliness
Raising awareness and understanding of dementia by the provision of literature, sessions and workshops
Weekly Memory Cafes delivered;
Unity Memory Café, held on Mondays at the Unity Centre within Whitton Clinic in the northwest of Ipswich runs from 9.30am to 1pm for those living with dementia and their family carers or friends and includes a hot lunch. This group continues to grow steadily as new families find us, whilst carers who’s loved ones now reside in a residential care setting and those who are sadly bereaved continue to attend. We are grateful to the local NHS ICB for the ongoing gift of the use of the hall for this Memory Café.
Rushmere Memory Café, held on Thursday mornings at the Rushmere Village Hall on the eastern outskirts of Ipswich is the second Café established by Ipswich DAA. This enables us to reach a wider audience across the town and brings in people who live in villages on the eastern side of town. Additionally, people travel to this Café if a Thursday is more suited to their weekly schedule, and we do have some beneficiaries who attend on both Mondays and Thursdays.
Every Café is supported by our sub-contracted staff member, a trained dementia practitioner from our partnership with another local charity Communities Together East Anglia. This ensures continuity for our beneficiaries and a support structure for our volunteers, and we are grateful to CTEA for this arrangement which minimises our costs and administrative requirements, whilst providing effective safeguarding and data protection.
We are proud of the therapy-based activities we offer such as themed and ability appropriate colouring, puzzles and games, chair based exercise such as OTAGO, Clock Cricket, Seated Dance and Boccia, Singing for the Brain sessions with an external pianist, in addition to reminiscence activities, wellbeing activities and national, local, cultural and historical dates of importance celebrations. For our carers we offer separate sessions focussed on understanding dementia, positive communication, minimising unwanted behaviours, accessing benefits, maintaining their own wellbeing, future planning, finding care, moving people safely, and try to accommodate any topics requested. Our cafes are supported by attendance from the Suffolk Dementia Service, the local PCSO, representatives from Suffolk Family Carers and local Councillors.
For those living with dementia in residential care settings the charity extends its Singing for the Brain session offer to care organisations in recognition of the power of music to reach those living with advanced stages of dementia. The provision utilises the members of a local community choir, Notoriety Choir, and we are very grateful for the time these individuals give.
The success of our regular Café activities led to a request from the NHS Connect Team for Felixstowe to request the trial of a provision in the seaside town to the east of
Ipswich. Following Board approval, a plan for this new service has been implemented and we are very grateful to the Rotary Club of Felixstowe for their donation of £2000, and the Suffolk Community Foundation for awarding £1600 from the Port of Felixstowe Fund to support this new Felixstowe Dementia Café. Numbers of attendees to date are low but we are working hard at getting word out locally through partners, literature and social media.
Raising awareness and understanding of dementia.
April 2024 saw the Suffolk Dementia Strategy published by Suffolk County Council and Ipswich DAA was proud to be part of the consultation process that co-produced the Strategy. Going forward an Action Plan will be written and through our membership of the Suffolk Dementia Forum we will continue to be involved and consult with our beneficiaries to ensure their voices are represented.
During May’s, Dementia Action Week we were pleased that our Unity Memory Café was visited by BBC Radio Suffolk and a live broadcast was made featuring our activities and also two carer beneficiaries gave moving personal story interviews for broadcast throughout the week. Information was also shared through a full-page article in the East Anglian Daily Times written by one of our trustees. As May has two Bank Holiday Mondays when our venue was closed, the Unity Café visited two Ipswich community tourist spots and engaged with these tourist businesses, both demonstrating to them and the public that life with dementia is to be lived well and not hidden away.
In June the charity once again played a major role in the planning and delivery of the Suffolk Dementia Marketplace, an event which brings together all local offers for dementia support to showcase to the public and professionals. Our staff and volunteers hosted a Dementia Café on site throughout the day, and our chair of trustees delivered a variety of different bite sized workshops.
The months before Christmas gave cause for us to contact over 100 local businesses to share key messages about dementia and offer further information and awareness sessions to their staff or customers. We were also pleased that several responded positively to our ask for a donation towards our Grand Christmas Raffle.
And finally, March 2025 saw the BBC promote its own Dementia Awareness Week in line with its soap opera Eastenders storyline, showing one of its characters sharing their diagnosis of dementia. We were grateful to our local BBC Radio Suffolk once again contacting us to broadcast local experiences and promote our support services.
Donors
We are very grateful for donations received during this period from;
Elite Universal Ltd, a Felixstowe based Freight Forwarding company donating the proceeds of their Charity Golf Day
East of England Co-Op – Funeral Services, for community donations from three of their branches
Maritime Cargo Processing (MCP plc)
In Memory of loved ones
Beneficiaries attending Memory Café’s who wish to donate, and all individual gifts.
Grants
Suffolk Community Foundation – Port of Felixstowe,
North West Ipswich Big Local Trust
Fundraising
This Christmas saw our first Grand Christmas Raffle under lottery licence from Ipswich Borough Council. We are grateful to the various local businesses who donated prizes and were acknowledged on the printed tickets. We were pleased to raise over £800 and will repeat this fundraising next year with a longer pre-Christmas selling period.
Ipswich Dementia Action Alliance ACCOUNTS April 2024 - March 2025
Charity Reg 1187944
INCOME
| INCOME | ||
|---|---|---|
| Donations - Individuals | £ | 1,729 |
| Donations - Community orgs | £ | 294 |
| Donations - Business sector | £ | 8,660 |
| Donations - Café participants | £ | 3,044 |
| Café fundraisers | £839 | |
| Donations - Grants* | £ | 2,100 |
| TOTAL | £ | 16,666 |
| Restricted Funds | ||
| Singing for the Brain | £ | 908 |
| Felixstowe Café* | £1,600 | |
| Unity Café* | £ | 500 |
| Reserve from previous year | £ | 1,705 |
EXPENDITURE
| EXPENDITURE | ||
|---|---|---|
| Admin/Marketing | £ | 226 |
| Group trips | £ | - |
| Grant made to ActivLives | £ | - |
| Memory Cafes | ||
| Staff/Mileage/Consumables | £ | 9,385 |
| Venue Hire | £ | 1,908 |
| Pianist | £ | 630 |
| Clock Cricket | £ | 420 |
| TOTAL | £ | 12,569 |
| Restricted Funds available | ||
| Singing for the Brain | £ | 203 |
| Total reserves available | £ | 6,710 |