Trustee Annual Report for the period 01/01/22 to 05/04/23
Reference and administration details
Charity Name - Chapter15 Registered Charity number - 1188310 Charity’s principal address - 15 Fairfields, Thetford, Norfolk IP24 1JL
Name of Trustees who manage the charity
Nadine Forde, Andrew Forde, John Jones, Lel Mfazwe
Number of active volunteers
17 (Four of which are the Trustees named above, one is currently inactive due to work – commitments) Many of our volunteers have commitments which lowers their availability
Structure, governance, and management
Description of the charity’s trusts – Type of governing document Constitution adopted March 2020 – How the charity is constituted CIO Charitable incorporated organisation. Trustee selection method – Trustees are selected or reselected in a trustee member, in the period prior to the end of term.
Additional governance issues
Volunteer Membership of the charity is given to people from the public. The trustees appoint when it is agreed they are suitable candidates for the role(s). Appropriate checks are made such as CRB and referral and recommendations.
The charity supports anyone within the local area who is on an extremely low income. The trustees oversee the day to day running of the charity and the work carried out by its volunteers to ensure it is in accordance with t he charity’s governing document aims and objectives.
The trustees seek the views of those we are supporting and have an established a working relationship with existing services in the town to help with deciding the activities and pathways to be run. All trustees give their time voluntarily and receive no remuneration or other benefits.
Trustee Annual Report for the period 01/01/22 to 05/04/23
Objectives and activities
1. The prevention or relief of poverty for the public benefit in Thetford and the surrounding area, in particular but not exclusively by:
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a. providing homeless people, those at risk of homelessness, and those living in poverty with essentials such as food, hygiene items, clothing, furniture, sleeping equipment, haircuts and any other essential items they may need;
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b. providing support, advice and information to the homeless, those at risk of homelessness and those living in poverty;
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c. establishing effective working relationships with other charities and voluntary and statutory organisations established to help people who are homeless, vulnerably housed and living in poverty to better meet their needs and improve their conditions.
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d. promoting awareness of homelessness and poverty in Thetford and the surrounding area.
2. To promote social inclusion for the public benefit by preventing people from becoming socially excluded, relieving the needs of those people who are socially excluded and assisting them to integrate into society.
For the purpose of this clause ‘socially excluded’ means being excluded from society, or part of society, as a result of one of more of the following factors: unemployment; financial hardship; youth or old age; ill health (physical or mental); substance abuse or dependency including alcohol and drugs; discrimination on the grounds of sex, race, disability, ethnic origin, religion, belief, creed, sexual orientation or gender reassignment; poor educational or skills attainment; relationship and family breakdown; poor housing (that is housing that does not meet basic habitable standards; crime (either as a victim of crime or as an offender rehabilitating into society).
Summary
In planning our activities for the year ahead, we kept in mind the Charity Commission’s guidance on public benefit at our trustee meetings.
The main activities are as follows:
- Working to support other charities, services, and community groups. Throughout the pandemic such as referrals, fulfilling clothes request supplying stock such as sleeping bags.
Trustee Annual Report for the period 01/01/22 to 05/04/23
- Continuing to work with authorities to establish a relationship to strengthen support. Working with innovation ideas to build strategic plans for the future of the town.
Additional details of contributions
We are grateful for the many hours that our volunteers have spent working on behalf of the charity. Without this valuable contribution of time, energy and expertise we would not have been able to achieve so much.
Achievements and performances
Spring 22
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Our focus was to get the charity up and running again following the Covid-19 pandemic safely, following all government guidelines.
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Availability of volunteers was slowing due to health and outside commitments.
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Three of our guests returned home to Poland, 1 other guest received a prison sentence and 2 sadly passed away. Morale of the team members and guests attending was low, their deaths really impacted the Charity.
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We spoke directly to the guys and discuss what we were feeling, they wanted to put a memorial garden in to have a dedicated space to remember the guys who had passed.
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In February, Volunteers also helped with the Ukraine donations packing with Chris Riches Transport. A Thetford community appeal.
Summer 22
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After volunteering in the morning sessions, we started meeting as a small group for coffee in the town to build relationship/team build and also create a space to debrief in this restoring season.
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Three volunteer members went on their Naloxone training for drug first aid, should any incidents occur.
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We began work on the Memorial Garden, designing, discussing and planning.
Autumn 22
- We celebrated our 1[st] Birthday as a charity, where we thanked the volunteers, gave everyone updates and also said a sad goodbye to Nigel and Glenda ( from Hope Church) which sadly also ended the partnership with that local church.
Winter 22
- We created a partnership with Salvation Army, Access and Keystone Development Trust and set up a temporary Winter soup kitchen every Friday night over the cold weather period that started early November and ran to late February. The weather seemed much colder much earlier so clothing demand increased and many sleeping bags were sourced to meet the needs.
Trustee Annual Report for the period 01/01/22 to 05/04/23
- Sadly in early December 2022, Riversdale centre shut with little to no notice, we had to quickly adapt the service and relocate to the Salvation Army building. They were very gracious with us as the intended 3 week stay turned into 3 months.
Impact of change
This change of location saw our numbers come to an all-time low, reduced sessions we would open and at time we would receive virtually no attendees session by session. On occasions people would pop in but not staying. We tried to spread the word and communicate the change of venue but it did not show any impact.
- Due to the weather being so cold and wet Breckland activated SWEP much earlier and for longer. This impacted the need for people to access our service, which was a reassuring factor in the terrible weather conditions.
Extended Trustee Report to align us to work in an April-to-April year pattern.
Spring 23
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Very low attending numbers through the first three months of 2023, weather continued to be cold and SWEP was still activated.
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Praise report: 5 people were housed locally within the town through help from Breckland, they still attended for coffee but there was no need for the use of the shower.
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Praise report: a young woman who lived in a van with two dogs was able to find a job as a live-in carer and take the two dogs. This was after many months of living in an old, broken, inappropriate van.
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Praise report: we were able to return to the Riversdale annex 1[st] April 2023, this was a tremendous relief, and we were all very grateful to be back.
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We gathered in the early part of the year to have a Trustee meeting to talk through vision/direction. This was really helpful to share my heart and recommit to the aim and vision we wanted to go in.
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Nadine was able to attend a Homelessness law webinar training course which was extremely interesting and gave insight into guidance.
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The mental strength of some of the guys who have been without accommodation for many years has been challenging to support in this first half of the season. Some have been referred onto other services and churches in the town.
Trustee Annual Report for the period 01/01/22 to 05/04/23
Our work continues to grow and network with existing local services which is crucial to the work we do. We are stronger together.
| CharityMatrix | ||
|---|---|---|
| 01/08/21–31/12/21 Initial Period |
01/01/22 to 05/04/23 Adjusted Period |
|
| People served food | 302 | 681 |
| People served drinks | 431 | 1132 |
| LaundryCycles | 132 | 267 |
| Items of clothingsupplied | 107 | 328 |
| Number of showers | 187 | 414 |
| Total number of times people have accessed the Charity |
501 | 1193 |
| Total Number ofpeople who have accessed the charity since the opening of the showers : 73 |
Attendance by session:
----- Start of picture text -----
Attendence numbers
18
16
14
12
10
8
6
4
2
0
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Trustee Annual Report for the period 01/01/22 to 05/04/23
The impact of changing venues without Shower and Laundry facilities can be seen very clearly in the above graph. Attendance numbers dropped to about a 3[rd] and some guests we lost total contact with.
Financial Review
Brief statement on the charity’s policy of reserves
Cash in account at 05/04/23 was £1,281.93 in unrestricted funds.
Further financial review details
The account funds the expenses of provision to support those in need alongside donations from the general public. This is reported and documented via the annual account spreadsheet.
Our main source of funds this year has been donations from a local business in Thetford. Our costs have been greater since the winter when we started visiting the camp.
Balance of Account on 01/01/22: £7,646.83 Balance of Account on 05/04/23: £1,281.93
Total amount of Income via donations to the end of the financial period: £349.29 Total amount of Income via grants to the end of the financial period: £2,787.00
Category expenditure to the end of the financial period: £10,051.43
Trustee Annual Report for the period 01/01/22 to 05/04/23
Expenditure by value and percentage:
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£500.00, 5% £50.04, 0%
£837.19, 8%
£1,438.30, 14%
£5,285.88, 53%
£80.85, 1%
£179.67, 2%
£437.02, 4%
£196.47, 2%
£558.89, 6%
£487.12, 5%
Annex-Hire Annex-Food Annex-Provisions
Annex-Small Equip Purchases Annex-Clothes Camp-Provisions
Camp-Gas Charity Overheads Direct Support Gifts
Charity Donation Gift Account Correction
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March 2023
Grant Application to The National Lottery rewards4all. The status of this application for £9500 is still in progress and under review (12-week time frame / submitted 01/06/23). This is mainly due to delays and amendments needed to the application.
Other operational information
We continue to work closely with the Keystone Trust to run the shower and laundry provision for those without permanent accommodation and other initiatives within the town centre.
Our Actions this year include to:
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Set up a website.
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To ensure the procedure of DBS checks is set up.
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To explore training opportunity for our volunteers and met compliance requirements.
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To look at the idea of online register/rota database
July 2023 financial account is sitting at £4,718.54
Trustee Annual Report for the period 01/01/22 to 05/04/23
Declaration
The trustees declare that they have approved the trustees’ report above. Signed on behalf of the charity’s trustees .
| Signature | Name | Nadine Forde | Date | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Signature | Audrifs | Name | Andrew Forde | Date |
| Signature | Name | John Jones | Date | |
| Signature | Name | Lel Mfazwe |
Date |