**All Saints Community Centre Chair’s Annual Report** The centre has very difficult year as the remaining Trustees strived to keep the ‘show on the road’ with ever decreasing income and volunteer help. We think we have now turned a corner and held an Open Morning in August to promote our activities and services more widely as a hub for regular and one-off groups, serving the vulnerable and disadvantaged in our local area. ## Review of 2024 ## Staff Our Operations Co-ordinator, Mej-brit brought a lot of order to the running of the office and was a good addition to the team. However, she also brought to light inefficiencies and poor record keeping which we are resolving. Unfortunately, due to personal circumstances, Mej-brit resigned in April 2024. The following few months the office had limited opening hours as the Trustees tried to find a way forward that would be financially sustainable and affordable. It was decided in October that we were in a position to employ a part-time Administrator. Pam McCarthy was recruited and started at the Centre in November and has fitted in very well. She has grasped the job with both hands and order is being restored! The Centre continued to employs a cleaner (Caroline) and she agreed to open and close the Centre each day as the caretaker (Alan) resigned his duties in October 2024. Dr Mary Curtiss was briefly added to the payroll, to run a Breather’s Group, funded by NHS grant funding. Her time and funding has since come to an end. ## Trustees We have found it very difficult running the Charity with low Trustee numbers. Dave sadly continues to suffer ill health and James Price resigned in October 2024.However, Tracy has worked hard to recruit new trustees from the community and we are hopefully that there will be three new trustees joining us in the coming year. By the end of 2024 we were left with Tracy Bevill (Community), Becky Lines (Church), Rory Clare (Church), Bernard Rowe (Church), and Dave Orchard (Community). Thanks go to everyone for all the effort they have put in, especially Tracy who is often on the front line and Becky as Secretary. We are grateful for tracy’s Business Plan which has helped focus on the charity’s aims and objectives. I will be resigning as Chair at the upcoming AGM but as the parish priest will remain an exofficio trustee lending support as and when necessary. ## Finances This year the Trustees continued to cut costs and relied heavily on NHS Community Hub grant funding from Volunteer Cornwall. In the Spring their grant was delayed and we thought we might have to shut our doors but with the help of Josh from Volunteer Cornwall we managed to resolve the problem. One area was to cancel Peninsula HR services but we had to pay £2,508 to get out of a 5 year contract set up by the previous Chair. We also ended our contracts with SW Hygiene and one of our internet providers. In addition the loan to the Diocese of Truro which had helped us out previously was paid off. Unfortunately we remained desperately in need of a Treasurer or book-keeper. Despite everyone’s best efforts no one could be found in time for the 2023 accounts to be submitted to the Charity Commission on time. This is not an ideal situation and so I brought it to the attention of the Churchwardens, asking for their support. We are immensely grateful for Andy Neil stepping in to help us by producing much needed accounts. These should enable us to now go forward with new grant applications. The Church Administrator has also helped us by doing payroll Our income has dropped during 2024 as we were unable to apply for any significant grants. We relied on grants amounting to £18,000 from the NHS via Volunteer Cornwall, to be a Community Hub which has been a life-line. Some groups who were previously funded by grants now pay for hall hire to keep us solvent. Pam uses HallMaster software to streamline our rentals and income which has been very useful. ## Building Project The second phase of the building project, the alteration and refurb of the community centre has not got underway, which is frustrating. Nanette Newton-Hinge continues to offer her time to assist us with this, negotiating with and chasing the architect, and liaising with the S106 department at the Council. The Trustees decided to scrap the first floor extension and concentrate on the refurbishment plus making the building more environmentally sustainable. Factors beyond our control have slowed this project down, including a change in staff at the council. At the very end of the year we decided to get a quote from a different architect to get this project delivered on budget and as soon as possible. We look forward to this work being completed. ## Community Centre-Church relations The church and church groups continue to use the centre facilities. The Chair, Churchwardens, trustees and new administrator strive for clear communication and mutual understanding. The trustees would like to see the church used more often for groups. The Church toddler group, All Sorts@All Saints, run by Becky Lines continues to thrive and benefits from the warmth and storage of the Community Centre. We host their Christmas Carol singing event. We supported the Church Christmas Fair with a few stalls from different groups, which was a success once their remembered we were supposed to be there! The Centre attracted different people to the church and we raised some funds. ## Summary The charity is still vulnerable financially. The current trustees have done an incredible job keeping the charity afloat. Volunteer numbers are low but steady and income from hall hire is slowly increasing as the Centre gets used more for parties etc. We aim to recruit new trustees and volunteers, with specialist skills, for 2025. These are still challenging times for charities and the Trustees would benefit from a Treasurer and some fresh energy. _Rev’d Rosheen Browning, Chair_ ## **All Saints Church Community Centre** ## **2024** |**INCOME**||**BANK RECONCILIATION**|| |---|---|---|---| |Rent|£12,427.64|Open Balance|£22,159.67| |Donations|£92.23|Close Balance|£4,303.59| |Grant funding|£9,000.00||| |Interest|£268.18||| |**TOTAL**|**£21,788.05**||| |**EXPENDITURE**|||| |S106 expenses*|£4,002.52||| |Wages/HMRC|£16,818.06||| |Loan repayments|£1,000.00||| |Utilities|£8,684.14||| |Stationary|£162.75||| |Maintenance|£738.46||| |Insurance|£1,069.97||| |Volunteers' expenses|£95.00||| |Professional services|£7,073.23||| |**TOTAL**|**£39,644.13**||| |SURPLUS|**-£17,856.08**||**-£17,856.08**| _*payments made for specific externally funded projects, to be reclaimed_