Dewsbury Community Outreach Annual Report 2022‐2023
Registered Charity 1188158
Introduction
Dewsbury Community Outreach (DCO) operates out of 74 Daisy Hill, Dewsbury, West Yorkshire WF13 1LS. It was formally recognised as a Charitable Incorporated Organisation on 24 February 2020 and this report covers the third year of operation 2022‐2023. This is the first year that the charity has been able to operate without Covid19 restrictions in place and the activities described in this report are considered by the Trustees to reflect the way that the charity will operate for the foreseeable future within the constraints of the current volunteer team and premises.
Our aims are to create a community where everyone is welcome, valued as individuals, and supported with their needs. Where people can meet to share their skills or learn new ones, and where there’s always the chance to talk about the important things in life. The focus had been to give support for those who were experiencing loneliness by creating an organised meeting point and to provide assistance to those who were homeless or in need.
Assistance
Food Assistance . In association with Fare Share, DCO collected daily surplus food from two local Tesco stores then on Monday further collections were available from Aldi, Asda and the Tesco Extra at Batley. In addition DCO worked in partnership with Fusion Housing who passed on food surplus to their requirements and on occasions use some of the food collected by the DCO team. Some of this food is used to prepare the meals but much of it is placed on tables to be taken free of charge by those in need. At Christmas DCO was able to use this food to make up 50 food hampers that were given to beneficiaries or delivered to persons known to us who were housebound.
DCO has three freezers and two fridges which are used to store raw provisions and prepared meals. The prepared meals are available free to those in need to microwave at home on days when they are not able to receive a meal at our premises.
Meals Programme. Throughout the year cooked meals have been provided in 74 Daisy Hill on Monday, Tuesday and Thursday and then on Friday at the adjacent Elim Church. For the meal on Tuesdays the charity ‘Gift of Giving’ provided curries, which were well received. Most days between 30 and 50 meals were provided free of charge.
Clothing and Goods. DCO has received regular donations of second hand clothing, kitchen wear, furniture, bedding, towels, household items, children’s toys, books, bags and other items like PAT tested electrical goods, which have been given away free to those in need. Sometimes DCO receives items that are not of use to our beneficiaries and these are passed to other charity shops in the town. Textile items that are damaged are passed to Leeds City
Mission who sell them as rags. There is a utility room in 74 Daisy Hill which, in addition to freshening up donated goods, can provide a free clothes washing facility for those in need.
In addition to the free goods some of the grant money received has been earmarked to purchase new items especially to help people over the winter, this included heated throws, thermos flasks, gloves, blankets, other items of clothing (especially underwear) and health care products.
Heating Assistance . DCO has helped individuals with heating bills by making small gifts of up to £20 onto a utility account.
Writing and Acting Club. The writing club has been especially successful in assisting individuals suffering from issues of loneliness and low self‐esteem by giving them a forum to share ideas and experiences with others in the club. The support of Creative Scene for this work is acknowledged. The Acting Club provided Victorian characters for Heritage Open Day on Saturday 17 September 2022, assisting the town walking tours. They also dressed up in Victorian costume to work with Dewsbury Photographic Group for a photoshoot in the Town Hall. At Christmas the actors walked the streets in suitable festive costumes and provided Father Christmas and his helpers for the Christmas Lights switch on event on 5 December 2022. Our Christmas costumes and props were also used in Dewsbury Library in the run‐up to Christmas.
Personal Advice . DCO does not offer a full advice service but being on the front line with those in need has allowed some of the DCO team to gain experience in helping refer individuals to the correct agencies to solve their problems. DCO volunteers have also been able to help individuals to gain internet connections to access items like Universal Credit portfolios and to assist with tasks like obtaining a bus pass or obtaining Covid vaccinations.
It is inevitable that some of the beneficiaries have personal difficulties that lead to debt and crime. DCO volunteers have been able to assist with the interpretation of financial demand letters or court documents and have been able to provide a ‘Mackenzie Friend’ for court appearances.
DCO has developed working relationships with various external organisations to assist beneficiaries including the Kirklees Street Homeless Team, Chart and the Carpenters Arms in Loughborough. We also work with Churches Together to share information on activities and events and other support services offered in the town. Our working relationship with Sensory World has continued.
Bible Study . DCO is a Christian charity and a Bible Study group for those who chose to attend have been held as required.
Jubilee Party . Grants from Kirklees Council and the Asda Foundation allowed us to work in association with the adjacent Elim Church and Sensory World to provide a street party on
Saturday 5 June 2022 to celebrate the Queen's Jubilee. This was well attended by our normal beneficiaries and by other residents of Daisy Hill.
In October our efforts in preventing surplus food, clothing and other goods from going to landfill were recognised by the community when we were awarded ‘Runner Up’ in the Kirklees Council Recycling Hero Awards.
The volunteer team were acknowledged in August when Kirklees Third Sector Leaders awarded a grant for them to be taken on an evening canal boat trip provided by the Safe Anchor Trust.
74 Daisy Hill
In addition to the public rooms on the ground floor, 74 Daisy Hill currently has a single tenanted flat. The remainder of the building is used as storage space by DCO for things like furniture, acting costumes and consumable items. The upper floor is used by a local artist to store his canvasses and materials.
During the year further improvements were made to the building. A grant from the George Martin Trust assisted in the payments for a new shower room and toilet. Since its opening in the summer the shower has been used two or three times a week by people who are homeless or unable to have a hot shower in their place of residence.
An additional grant from the Yorkshire Building Society Charities Trust helped to finance the complete refurbishment of the kitchen. Since the kitchen has come into use it has been easier to prepare meals on site and the facility has been used to give basic cooking lessons to any who have asked for help.
The two refurbishment projects were carried out for DCO by Allen Property Services and the directors were moved by the DCO work and offered a subsidy on both projects which has helped to finance the work.
Publicity
The DCO web site, www.dewsburyco.org.uk, continues to be maintained and the charity also has a presence on Facebook as DewsburyCO. Special printed publicity was prepared for use at Easter and Christmas.
Finance
The third year has continued to be financially blessed and the trustees of DCO are grateful to the various organisations and individuals who have contributed financially, especially towards the programme to provide meals. In addition there have been enormous contributions of free food and second hand items. A major contributor has been Kirklees Council via One Communities and Kirklees Third Sector Leaders, the various grants awarded have covered every day running costs such as utility bills or volunteer expenses or have
been for specific purchases such as Heated Throws or additional non‐perishable foods that have been used to supplement the perishable food obtained free from the supermarkets.
The accounts are presented separate to this report but the financial summary for the third year of operation is: income £36,827.12; expenditure £29,107.21; surplus for the year £7719.91. The trustees propose to use much of the surplus for further improvements to 74 Daisy Hill.
Training
This year members of the DCO volunteer team have attended Food Hygiene level 3 and Prevent training courses.
Governance
During the year one of the Trustees moved out of the area and resigned his position, he was replaced by a new trustee so there continued to be five trustees. Day to day management of the charity is carried out by the Chair of the Trustees. Trustees seek advice and inform each other of any critical developments via e‐mail and telephone. The trustees have also met formally about once every two months to receive an update on activities and issues and to plan for the coming weeks.
| LastYear | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| £ | £ | £ | ||||
| OPENINGBALANCES | ||||||
| Lloyds Bank&Petty Cash | 17385.49 | 12159.77 | ||||
| RECEIPTS | ||||||
| GeneralIncome | ||||||
| Donations | 12823.22 | 10869.49 | ||||
| 74 Daisy Hill | ||||||
| Rent | 4450.00 | 3,054.00 | ||||
| Utilities | 860.00 | 664.00 | ||||
| TVLicence | 156.00 | 5466.00 | ||||
| Inland Revenue | 1157.22 | 1243.11 | ||||
| Funds paidoutas Financial Assistance | 820.00 | 2846.00 | 1 |
|||
| SaleofItems | 30.70 | 109.39 | 1 |
|||
| Bank Interest | 31.01 | |||||
| I nvoicedwork | 864.00 | |||||
| Refunds | 132.24 | |||||
| 20328.15 | 19782.23 | |||||
| Grants | ||||||
| OneCommunities(4grants) | 5500.00 | 5000.00 | ||||
| ThirdSectorLeaders (4 grants) | 4039.00 | 4000.00 | ||||
| SirGeorgeMartinTrust | 3000.00 | |||||
| CharitiesTrust(for kitchen) | 1809.97 | |||||
| Luke&MarkusTrust | 1000.00 | 150.00 | ||||
| KMDC(Jubilee Party) | 500.00 | |||||
| Asda Foundation Uubilee Party) | 500.00 | |||||
| ThirdSectorLeaders (Volunteer Support) | 100.00 | 90.00 | ||||
| HODS(for acting club) | 50.00 | |||||
| AHF Building Feasibility Study | 14850.00 | |||||
| CommunityChampions(Acting Club) | 400.00 | |||||
| Big SleepOut | 250.00 | |||||
| Tesco | 184.00 | |||||
| CreativeScene | 160.00 | |||||
| 16498.97 | 25084.00 | |||||
| TOTALRECEIPTS | 36,827.12 | 44866.23 | ||||
| PAYMENTS | ||||||
| 74 | Daisy Hill | |||||
| BuildingImprovementWork | 16547.00 | 8,044.38 | ||||
| Utilities | 1693.96 | 2,127.90 | ||||
| Repairs | 411.00 | 463.57 | ||||
| Gas&Fire system service | 366.00 | |||||
| TVLicence | 159.00 | |||||
| Consumables | 14.98 | 462.45 | ||||
| AHF Building Feasibility Study | 14,850.00 | |||||
| 19,191.94 | 25948.30 |
| Activities | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Jubilee Party | 760.44 | |||
| Volunteer Boat Trip | 100.00 | |||
| Writing&Drama Club | 1203 | 461.59 | ||
| Gardening Club | 1.50 | 1.50 | ||
| BacktoWork | 864.32 | |||
| On-line help | 800.85 | |||
| Vaccination Study | 25.00 | |||
| 873.97 | 2,153.26 | |||
| Assistance | ||||
| Heating | 2397.64 | 180.00 | ||
| Food distribution | 1288.57 | 3,883.48 | ||
| Clothing | 752.15 | 858 .78 | ||
| Health | 313.71 | 212.29 | ||
| Travel | 162.43 | 58.20 | ||
| Furniture&Goods | 152.86 | 60.94 | ||
| Phone | 103.10 | 50.97 | ||
| Laundry | 55.40 | 72.72 | ||
| Personal | 11.00 | 11.00 | ||
| 5,236.86 | 5,388.38 | |||
| Financial Assistance | ||||
| Rent | 800.00 | |||
| Rail Fine | 20.00 | |||
| PW Funeral Fund | 1500.00 | |||
| Locate Properties | 1346.00 | |||
| 820.00 | 2,846.00 | |||
| Administration | ||||
| Volunteer Expenses | 1515.43 | 1763.65 | ||
| Insurance | 1169 .91 | 1167.93 | ||
| Publicity | 88.71 | 97.92 | ||
| Phone | 84.32 | |||
| Administration | 2407 | 84.00 | ||
| RepaymenttoIR | 191.07 | |||
| 2,882.44 | 3,304.57 | |||
| Capital | ||||
| Safe | 52.00 | |||
| Carpet Cleaner | 50.00 | |||
| 102.00 | 0.00 | 1 |
||
| TOTAL PAYMENTS | 29,107.21 | 39,640.51 | ||
| NET SURPLUSIDEFICIT FOR THE YEAR | 7,719.91 | 5,225.72 | ||
| CLOSING BALANCES | ||||
| Lloyds Deposit Account | 23,53101 | |||
| Lloyds Current Account | 1294.40 | 1687633 | ||
| Petty cash | 27999 | 509.16 | ||
| 25105.40 | 17385.49 | |||
| Signedbytwo trusteesonbehalf of all the trustees | ||||
| Signature | Print Name | Date | ||
| ~~~ | (L~IgA(.£R | 'l~1~123 | ||
| cO~ | n.c~\.)\~'(La\< | L~\S\l.~ |
| FOR THE YEAR ENDING 28 | FEBRUARY 2023 | ||
|---|---|---|---|
| Last Year | |||
| £ | £ | £ | |
| Lloyds Deposit Account | 23,531.01 | ||
| Lloyds Current account | 129440 | 16876.33 | |
| Petty cash | 279.99 | 509.16 | |
| 2510540 | 17,38549 | ||
| OTHERASSETS | |||
| Safe | 52.00 | ||
| Carpet Cleaner | 50.00 | ||
| Hotpoint Freezer | 241.00 | 322.00 | |
| Hotpoint Freezer | 241.00 | 322.00 | |
| Washing Machine | 141.00 | 188.00 | |
| TumbleDryer | 85.00 | 113.00 | |
| Portable Strimmer | Nil | 21.00 | |
| RESTRICTEDFUNDS | |||
| One Communities Grant | 1548.13 | 31941 | |
| TSL Grant | 474.14 | 699.57 | |
| 202227 | 1018.98 | ||
| OTHER LIABILITIES | |||
| Nil | Nil |