Dewsbury Community Outreach Annual Report 2023‐2024 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 fourth year of operation 2023‐2024. Our aims are to create a community where everyone is welcomed, 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. 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. 

## **Assistance** 

_Food Assistance_ . In association with Fare Share and Neighbourly, DCO collected daily surplus food from two local Tesco stores then once a week further collections were available from Aldi, Asda and the Tesco Extra at Batley. During the year additional collections were added to the programme from Sainsburys and KFC. In addition DCO worked in partnership with Fusion Housing who passed on food surplus to their requirements and on occasions used some of the food collected by the DCO team. Some of this food was used to prepare the meals but much of it was 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 70 food hampers that were given to beneficiaries or delivered to persons known to us who were housebound. 

DCO has two freezers and three fridges which are used to store donated food 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. 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 utensils, crockery, 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. The Kirklees Council Housing Solutions Team regularly referred people to us who were being rehoused and had no goods to enable them to live in their new home. Sometimes DCO received items that were not of use to our beneficiaries and these were 



passed to other charity shops in the town. Textile items that were damaged were passed to Leeds City Mission who sold 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. 

_Shower_ . Our shower was used about three times a week by people who were homeless or who could not afford to provide heat and hot water in their accommodation. 

_Acting Club._ The Acting Club provided Victorian characters for Heritage Open Day on Saturday 16 September 2023, assisting the town walking tours. 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 2 December 2023. On 23 November 2023 we provided characters and props to give a historic input to the Festival of Conversations event organised as part of the Woven project. 

_Healthy Eating_ . Sponsored by a grant from Kirklees Third Sector Leaders we teamed up with The Artist Attic at 44 Daisy Hill Dewsbury to promote healthy eating through art. Various posters were produced and displayed on the walls of our drop in room. 

_Health Care_ . A number of grants were received this year to improve health awareness including diabetes, cancer and health eating. DCO has produced a series of advisory leaflets on these and other topics which can be picked up at the drop in centre or downloaded from our web site. Further grants have allowed us to pay for emergency dental treatment for beneficiaries who are not registered with an NHS dentist. We have also received a grant to carry out Hepatitis C testing and to monitor blood sugar levels on persons who may have diabetes. 

DCO volunteers have regularly supported beneficiaries with hospital appointments by providing lifts in their cars and on a couple of occasions have had to administer first aid and then take people to A&E. 

_Money Advice_ . During the year we teamed up twice with Fusion Housing to provide courses to help people with money management and our volunteers regularly give advice to volunteers to try to assist them to spread their money more wisely over a payment period. 

_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 bank account. 

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. 

DCO has developed working relationships with various external organisations to assist beneficiaries including the Kirklees Street Homeless Team, and Change Grow Live (CGL). Cardwell Angels provide grants to people living in Dewsbury for various large purchase items including white goods and furniture, with our referral they have supported many of our beneficiaries in times of more expensive need. 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 has been held as required. 

_Coronation Party_ . A grant from Kirklees Council allowed us to work in association with the adjacent Elim Church to provide a party on 6 May 2023 to celebrate the coronation of King Charles III. This was well attended by our normal beneficiaries and by other residents of Daisy Hill. 

_External recognition of the work._ The success of our drop‐in centre as a place that is welcoming to all regardless of race, sexual orientation, age or religious background was recognised in July when Kirklees Third Sector Leaders awarded us an ‘Open to All’ certificate. 

The volunteer team were acknowledged in July 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. 

Representatives from the Centre for Social Justice visited us from London to see some of the issues of poverty and inequality that exist in Dewsbury. One of our beneficiaries was used as a case study in their report ‘Criminal exploitation: Modern slavery by another name’ (p22). 

## **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. 

During the year further improvements were made to the building, some of these were ongoing at the year end. These were substantially funded by grants from the Neighbourly 



B&Q Foundation and The Community Organisations Cost of Living Big Hug Grant. The main work carried out this year was in further improvements to the ground floor drop‐in room with a new entrance front replacing the existing one which had been damaged by vandalism and new radiators on the heating system. Ongoing work includes a new floor covering in the drop in room and electrical work on the upper floors which will allow them to be used for activities other than storage. 

In the spring of 2023 one of the timber beams supporting the utility room above the back cellar failed placing the rooms out of use on safety grounds. The failed beam was replaced for us free of charge by Willmott Dixon Construction with the new steel beam provided free by Tomrods. The Trustees are grateful for their support for the work. 

A grant has been obtained to allow our beneficiaries to gain building skills by creating a play area in the yard of the Elim Church adjacent to our property. This work was ongoing when it had to be curtailed due to winter weather; it is expected to be completed in Spring 2024. 

## **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. A monthly news sheet continues to be sent to our supporters. 

## **Finance** 

The fourth 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 food obtained free from the supermarkets. 

The trustees also wish to acknowledge significant grants from Share Gift, the Neighbourly B&Q Foundation and the Community Organisations Cost of Living Big Hug Grant. 

The accounts are presented separate to this report but the financial summary for the fourth year of operation is: income £69,982.64; expenditure £31,412.52; surplus for the year £38,570.12, of this £20,309.09 is in reserved funds generated by ongoing grants. The trustees propose to use much of the surplus for further improvements to 74 Daisy Hill. Applications for significant grants in 2024‐25 are expected to finance energy efficiency improvements to the building and to purchase it from the current owners. These grants will need an element of match funding. 



## **Training** 

This year members of the DCO volunteer team have attended Community Champions Training to assist them to give advice for the health initiatives. Other volunteers have attended Adult Safeguarding training. 

During the year DCO has welcomed students on work experience placement from Heckmondwike Grammar School and Park Lane College, Leeds. Two gap year volunteers, based at Morley Community Church, also assist the DCO team on one day each week. 

## **Governance** 

The charity is overseen by 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 three months to receive an update on activities and issues and to plan for the coming weeks. 



|||||Last Year||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
|||£|£|£||
|OPENING BALANCES||||||
||Lloyds Bank & Petty Cash||25105.40|17385.49||
|RECEIPTS||||||
|General Income||||||
||Donations|6851.58||12823.22||
||74 Daisy Hill Rent|4430.00||4450.00||
||74 Daisy Hill Utilities|840.00||860.00||
||74 Daisy HillTVLicence|156.00||156.00||
||Inland Revenue|386.75||1157.22||
||Bank Interest|376.78||31.01||
||SaleofItems|196.53||30.70||
||Funds paid out as Financial Assistance|128.00||820.00||
||Refunds|12.00||||
||||13377.64|**20328.15**||
|Operational Grants||||||
||BigHug Grant|9420.00||||
||TSL Community Plus|8910.00||||
||One Community Household Support<br>Sharegift|6080.00<br>5000.00|||I|
||TSL Healthcare (4 Grants)|4000.00||||
||TSL Garden Project|1800.00||||
||West Yorkshire Hardship Project|1200.00||||
||Kirklees MDC (Coronation Party)|450.00|||;|
||TSL Winter Support(2grants)<br>TSL Volunteer Support|745.00<br>100.00|||I|
||One Communities (4 grants)|||5500.00||
||Third Sector Leaders (4 grants)|||4039.00||
||Luke & Markus Trust|||1000.00||
||KMDC (Jubilee Party)|||500.00|1|
||Asda Foundation (jubilee Party)|||500.00||
||Third Sector Leaders (Volunteer Support)|||100.001||
||HODS (for acting club)|||50.00||
||||37705.00|**11689.00**||
|Building Improvement Grants||||||
||B&Q Neighbourly|10000.00||||
||BigHug Grant|8400.00||||
||Local GivingLtd|500.00||||
||Sir George Martin Trust|||3000.00|1|
||Charities Trust (for kitchen)|||1809.971||
||||18900.00|**4809.97**|**1**|
||**TOTAL RECEIPTS**||**69,982.64**|**36827.12**||
|PAYMENTS||||||
|74|Daisy Hill|||||
||Building Improvement Work|7860.00||16547.00||
||Utilities|4224.60||1693.96||
||Repairs|173.14||411.00||
||Gas & Fire system service|261.00||366.00||
||TVLicence|159.00||159.00||
||Consumables|47.71||14.98|1|
||||12,725.45|**19191.94**||



## 



|Activities||||
|---|---|---|---|
|Coronation Party|456.20|||
|Gardening Club|329.92||1.50|
|Volunteer Boat Trip|100.00||100.00|
|Writing & Drama Club|3.14||12.03|
|Jubilee Party|||760.44|
|||889.26|873.97|
|Assistance||||
|Cleaning&Gardening|4170.49|||
|Health|2149.16||313.71|
|Food distribution|1678.53||1288.57|
|Utilities|1599.69||2397.64|
|Furniture &Goods|885.75||152.86|
|Clothing|264.44||752.15|
|Phone|174.00||103.10|
|Personal|18.99||11.00|
|Travel|13.50||162.43|
|Laundry|||55.40|
|||10,954.55|5,236.86|
|Financial Assistance||||
|Rent|||800.00|
|Rail Fine|||20.00|
|||0.00|820.00|
|Administration||||
|Volunteer Expenses|3519.79||1515.431|
|Insurance|1347.80||1169.91|
|Publicity|291.58||88.71|
|Phone|99.18||84.32|
|Administration|10.00||24.07|
|||5,268.35|2,882.44|
|Capital||||
|Garden Play Equipment|684.99|||
|Washing Machine|458.00|||
|Candy Oven for flat|219.00|||
|Steel Catering Table|149.95|||
|Printer|62.97|||
|Safe|||52.00|
|Carpet Cleaner|||50.00|
|||1,574.91|102.00|
|TOTALPAYMENTS||31,412.52|29,107.21|
|NETSURPLUSIDEFICITFORTHEYEAR||38,570.12|7,719.91|
|CLOSINGBALANCES||||
|Uoyds Deposit Account|62307.79||23,531.01|
|Uoyds Current Account|1187.36||1294.40|
|Petty cash|180.37||279.99|
|||63675.52|25105.40|
|Signed by two trustees on behalfofall the trustees||||
|s·..||Date||
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## 

|**FOR THE YEAR ENDING29**|**FEBRUARY 2024**|||
|---|---|---|---|
||||Last Year|
||£|£|£|
|Lloyds Deposit Account|62307.79||23,531.01|
|Lloyds Current account|1187.36||1294.40|
|Petty cash|180.37||279.99|
|||63675.52|25,105.40|
|TS||||
|Garden Play Equipment||684.99||
|Washing Machine||458.00||
|Candy Oven for flat||219.00||
|Steel Catering Table||149.95||
|Printer||62.97||
|Safe||39.00|52.00|
|Carpet Cleaner||38.00|50.00|
|Hotpoint Freezer||180.00|241.00|
|Hotpoint Freezer||180.00|241.00|
|Washing Machine||Nil|141.00|
|Tumble Dryer||64.00|85.00|
|FUNDS||||
|B&Q Neighbourly|8994.00|||
|Big Hug Grant|7598.81|||
|TSL Household Support|2246.20|||
|TSL Garden Project|1470.08|||
|One Communities Grant|||1548.13|
|TSL Grant|||474.14|
|||20309.09|2022.27|
|ITIES||||
|||Nil|Nil|



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