2021-05-31-accounts

LOOSE ENDS NEWBURY

ANNUAL REPORT

2020-21

Morton Hall, Cheap Street, Newbury, RG14 7DD United Kingdom

Charity No. 1189240 Phone [phone] Email [e-mail] Web site www.looseendsnewbury.org

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HEADLINES

• Loose Ends became Loose Ends Newbury (CIO) in December 2020.

• Thank you to all Volunteers and Friends who have supported Loose Ends Newbury during the Covid pandemic.

• Thank you for all the donations of food, toiletries, & money that we have received over the year.

• We must thank West Berkshire Food Bank, SOFEA and especially Sewa Day Newbury for their donations of food. We must also thank all the other organisations, supermarkets, restaurants, cafes, and friends who donated during Covid. Once shops and restaurants were able to reopen, we were able to receive donations again from Nandos and Pret.

• Thank you to everyone who has donated to our Amazon Wishlist, to everyone who has donated to our Good Exchange projects and to Irwin Mitchell for their donations.

• Over the year, we have provided takeaway meals to hotels housing the homeless and to clients who have come to the door. Until people started to be housed, we were providing 70 takeaway meals a session. We must thank Two Saints’ outreach workers for collecting and delivering our takeaway meals during the week and to our volunteers who delivered takeaway meals on a Sunday.

• As people were housed and some of the hotel accommodation closed, we had an increase in people coming to Morton Hall for takeaway meals. We continued to provide food to people living at the Flexi Hotel until June this year.

• We have also started providing welcome packs to those who are being rehoused. The packs include food, toiletries, and other useful items.

• For most of Covid we only had 3 volunteers on session keeping socially distanced and providing takeaway meals for the hotels and people who came to the hall. We must thank all our volunteers for their hard work and thank those who were not able to come to the hall during Covid, for their support. We must also thank all our cooks who prepared most of the meals that were provided. The number of volunteers reduced to about 50 but we now have new volunteers joining.

• We must especially thank our supervisors for their support and for all their hard work managing sessions during the pandemic.

• This year we have only closed on Christmas Day – which was planned.

• Newbury Baptist Church has been planning the redevelopment of the site. Our Lease at Morton Hall will now end on 31 Dec 2021. Loose Ends has been in discussion with Newbury Cricket Club who have raised money to pay for the redevelopment of their building. We are now able to let everyone know that we plan to move to the NCC Pavilion at Northcroft Park at the end of the year. We must thank Newbury Cricket Club for all support.

• We must thank all the outreach workers from Two Saints and West Berkshire Council for their support over the last year.

• Finally, we must thank the Loose Ends Covid Food and Supplies Group– Pat Burke, Kate Sheather and Patricia Arnold for all their hard work during the Covid pandemic. Because of all their hard work they were awarded the Community Group of the Year Award 2020.

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CHAIR’S REPORT

I am pleased to announce that following approval by the Charities Commission, we closed our previous charity Loose Ends and became fully operational as our CIO Charity Loose Ends Newbury in December 2020.

This year has been dominated by the Covid pandemic. Over the last year, Loose Ends Newbury has provided takeaway meals, as requested by West Berkshire Council, to all the homeless housed in hotels and to clients who came to the door of Morton Hall. For part of the year, we were providing over 70 meals a session. At the beginning of the pandemic, a supervisor and 2 volunteers, who were able to stay socially distanced, prepared the takeaway meals for the hotels and the clients at the door. We must thank all our members who were able to volunteer during Covid and all our cooks who prepared most of our meals. We must also thank the outreach workers who delivered food to the hotels during the week and to the volunteers who delivered food on a Sunday.

As hotels started to close, more clients started coming to our door for takeaway food and food parcels. When lockdown was eased last summer, we were able to allow clients to walk through the hall visiting 3 stations – one providing takeaway food, one providing food parcels and one providing drink - but this ended again when lockdown resumed. We again provided takeaway meals from one door and food parcels from another. When lockdown eased again in April 2021, we were able to open our doors for clients to walk through again, and when restaurants were able to serve meals outside, we put tables and chairs outside for clients to use. On 19[th] July 2021 we reopened with clients allowed to come inside, but volunteers still wearing masks.

Our volunteer numbers reduced to about 50 over the pandemic, but we are now recruiting new volunteers. A few of our supervisors have also had to step down and we must thank the new supervisors who have stepped up.

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We must thank West Berkshire Food Bank, SOFEA, the Furniture Project, local supermarkets, restaurants and cafes, Fishers of Newbury and all the friends of Loose Ends for their generous donations of food, fruit, and toiletries during the Covid crisis. Since restaurants re-opened, we must thank Pret and Nandos for their continuing donations. We must also thank the Furniture Project for again including us in their Children’s Christmas gift voucher scheme.

We must thank all our friends and different organisations who have donated food and money to us during Covid. We are very grateful for all the support we have received. Above all we must thank Sewa Day Newbury for the weekly donations of fruit that they have bought and food that they have collected from local supermarkets.

Above all, we must thank our Food Group - Pat Burke, Kate Sheather and Pat Arnold - for all their hard work in planning the menus, working with different organisations to supply food, and working together and with volunteers to shop, cook and prepare meals. Because of all their hard work they were awarded the Covid Response Community Group of the Year Award 2020.

Pat Arnold moved away from Newbury earlier in the year and she stepped down as a supervisor and trustee. We must thank her for all her support of Loose Ends. George McDevitt also stepped down as our treasurer and trustee. We must thank him for all his support over the last few years.

Finally, Newbury Baptist Church has been planning to redevelop their site to provide a Community Centre. In 2020, NBC gave notice of termination of our lease, but this was extended during Covid. It was suggested that we contact Newbury Cricket Club as they were planning to redevelop their pavilion. They were very pleased for us to join with them, and we were working towards the move. Unfortunately, Covid delayed our move. NBC has now extended the termination of our lease to 31[st] Dec 2021. Newbury Cricket Club has successfully raised money to pay for the redevelopment of their pavilion and building has started. We are hoping to be able to move by the end of the year. We must thank Newbury Cricket Club for all their hard work and support. We are now raising money through the Good Exchange to pay for our kitchen and storeroom at the pavilion and to pay for our ongoing costs.

Linda Fergusson

Chair

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SUPPLIES AND CATERING

Loose Ends responded rapidly to the Covid challenge of March 2020 by setting up a hub in Morton Hall for the preparation, packaging, and delivery of food to the homeless rehoused in hotels and to clients at our door. Everyone at Loose Ends, supervisors, volunteers, and clients, quickly adjusted to the ‘new normal’. From June 2020 to May 2021, we never missed a shift as we continued to serve freshly prepared and nutritious food; every client in a hotel or at the door received a takeaway meal five times a week and a food parcel four times a week.

Menus were adjusted as our supply chains changed – our SOFEA subscription was invaluable in menu planning and meal preparation and West Berks Food Bank provided generous support with ambient food. Covid grants from Greenham Trust Ltd and Tesco, allowed us to supply quality fruit with every hotel meal and to serve every meal in hygienic takeaway containers.

Our ethos has always been to provide the best quality food with the best quality ingredients we can source, to give to clients whose choices of food are so often limited in variety and nutrition.

The change to a takeaway/delivery service did not affect the food that we served. Cooks became even more inventive to provide the best meal that we could despite all the issues that we faced and it being served in a takeaway container.

As government guidelines on Covid restrictions were adjusted through the year, we were able to reintroduce donated Pret sandwiches and Nandos chicken into the menus. Great quantities of hand sanitiser, surface sanitiser and face masks were used, and we look forward to not having to use insulated takeaway containers, sandwich wedges, soup and coffee cups and disposable cutlery, now it has become safe to return to sit down meals in Morton Hall.

Loose Ends liaised with West Berkshire Council throughout the year in keeping track of clients housed in hotels and ensuring that special needs were met. We were pleased to be able to help clients moving from hotels into their own accommodation by supplying a total of 26 welcome packs, during the year.

Our Loose Ends cooks and volunteers are committed, hardworking and efficient and are a pleasure to work with. Thank you all.

Pat Burke & Kate Sheather

Food and Supplies Group

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RECRUITMENT

Loose Ends Newbury continues to be run entirely by a workforce of volunteers, organised through the monthly rota by Noni Knight. Since returning to a sit-in service, we now require 24 volunteer slots filled each week, plus off-site cooks and help with supplies and collections.

After putting inductions for new recruits on hold during Covid, we started them up again in April 2021, and since then five new volunteers have joined the rota. Another three people are looking to do their first inductions in September/October (after summer holidays) having completed applications and supplied two personal references each. However, as we have lost some volunteers, we need to actively continue to recruit to cover all sessions. We are also looking for voluntary help to provide administrative support to the Trustees.

Volunteers have been recruited via enquiries from our website, through the Volunteer Centre West Berkshire advertising and Recruitment Fair, as well as word of mouth.

Alison Martin

Recruitment Officer

TRAINING

With recruitment suspended over the past year, the focus has been on getting everyone to do their Level 2 Food Hygiene training, which continues to be online, and unaffected by Covid restrictions.

As all other training is face-to-face, unfortunately it had to be suspended for a while. However, it is planned to restart some of the other training sessions for limited numbers this autumn, commencing with Behaviour Management in November and Drug Awareness later in the year or early in 2022.

Earlier in the year, all session volunteers were asked to download the British Red Cross First Aid app to their phones, and it is planned to reintroduce face-to-face CPR training again when possible.

Gill Downs

Training Officer

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REPORT ON ACCOUNTS FOR FINANCIAL YEAR 2020/2021

Loose Ends Newbury’s Financial Year runs from the 1[st] June to the 31[st] May each year. However, Loose Ends Newbury (LEN), a Charitable Incorporated Organisation, began operation on the 1[st] December 2020. Consequently, this report covers the six-month period from that date until the 31[st] May 2021.

The accounts for this period are attached as an Appendix to this report and are in the format required for submission to the Charity Commission. Although we are not required by the Charity Commission to have our accounts reviewed, we have done so as it is good practice, and the reviewer’s report is also appended. I would like to thank Steven Vardy for doing this for us.

The Accounts show that LEN had income of £14,037 and expenditure of £8360 in the accounting period. So, the outturn at year end was a positive balance of £5677. However, it should be noted that if the LEN income and expenditure in 2020/21 was to be consolidated with that of Loose Ends, the previous charity, for the first part of the year, an operating loss of £5581 would have been recorded.

The cash balances of Loose Ends, the previous (now closed) charity, were transferred to LEN on the 1[st] December 2020. The opening balance at that date was £57,596. The closing balance as of the 31[st] May 2021 was £63,272.

LEN’s cash is held in an interest-earning account at the Newbury Building Society and in an account at the Metro Bank.

There were no restricted funds held by LEN, but the Trustees have earmarked a considerable sum to the cost of relocating from its current home at Morton Hall (where its lease will terminate on the 31[st] December 2021), to the Newbury Cricket Club refurbished pavilion.

Summary

The 2020/2021 financial year was a challenging and untypical year for LEN and its predecessor charity, due to the Covid pandemic and the restrictions that were imposed. However, the charities successfully adapted and delivered meals and other support to meet the needs of their service users. Whilst some grants were received to cover the additional costs of the pandemic, perhaps as a result of all that was going on, overall income was significantly down on what was needed to break even. This year, to meet the challenge of the costs of the relocation and its ongoing running costs the Trustees are putting considerable effort into fund raising and have already had significant successes.

We are extremely grateful for the generosity of the individuals and organisations who did support us in 2020/21 and are continuing to do so this year.

We would also like to express our thanks to George McDevitt, who was the Treasurer of Loose Ends for a number of years, for his hard work and dedication to the charity. He stood down as Treasurer and Trustee at the end of May this year.

Recommendation

Members are asked to note the Annual Report and approve the submission of the accounts to the Charity Commission.

Ian Nichol

Treasurer

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Appendix

Loose Ends Newbury Receipts and payments accounts for the period 01/12/2020 to 31/05/2021

Section A Receipts and payments
A1 Receipts Grants and Donations Fundraising Interest Sub total A2 Asset and investments sales etc. Total receipts A3 Payments Operating costs Repairs and Maintenance Equipment Rent Medical and Hygiene costs Training costs Insurance Sub total A4 Asset and investment purchases Total payments Net of receipts/(payments) A5 Transfers between funds Cash Funds this year end	Unrestricted funds to the nearest £	Restricted funds to the nearest £	Endowment funds to the nearest £	Total funds to the nearest £
	£14,037			£14,037
	£0			£0
	£0			£0
	£14,037	£0	£0	£14,037
	£14,037	£0	£0	£14,037
	£3,678			£3,678
	£0			£0
	£300			£300
	£1,575			£1,575
	£2,162			£2,162
	£130			£130
	£515			£515
	£8,360	£0	£0	£8,360
	£0	£0	£0	£0
	£8,360	£0	£0	£8,360
	£5,677	£0	£0	£5,677
			£0	£0
			£0	£0
	£5,677	£0	£0	£5,677

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Appendix (cont)

Section B Statement of assets and liabilities at the end of the period

----- Start of picture text -----
Unrestricted Restricted
funds to funds to
Categories Details nearest £ nearest £
B1 Cash Funds £63,272
B2 Other Monetary Assets £0 £0
B3 Investment Assets £0 £0
Fund to which
asset belongs Cost
B4 Assets retained for the
charity's own use 0 £0 £0
Fund to which
liability relates
B5 Liabilities 0 £0 £0
----- End of picture text -----*

*Note:

All equipment purchases were less than £5,000 each, therefore, not capitalised and not classed as assets

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CHARITY COMMISSION FOR ENGLANO AND WALES Independent examiners report on the accounts Section A Independenl Examiner's Report R•portto th• tru8t••81 On account• lor thfr year 31 May 2021 Charlty no {If any) 1189240 Sot out on pag 3&4 arty llhe TnJ8t"I for the year ￿ded 3110W1 RMpon•lbllFtl•• and As the chaiity truste8s of thè Tru8t. you are re8F¥)n8ible for th8 p￿Pa￿tr.0n ba•1• of r•port of the acwjnts in acCOrts￿ th• rnquiremgnts ofthe Ch¥ritie8 A¢1 2011 nhe ￿}. I report in resped of my èxamination of the Trust's accounts carried out uThJer sedic￿ 145 ofth& 2011 Ad in ¢•tyr4 out my ox•mination, I have lolltrw•d Ihe Dir•¢tim 9Nen by the Charty C￿nmI&S1on under sectKJn 145(5Mbl ofth8 Act. Ind•pnd•nt I havt eomwèd my •xaminat. l (yyffinn Ih•t no matsri•l m•tter8 havo oxamlnorf• t•t•m•nt come to my attent)n Icther than that disdo8ad b•low'l in ¢onn8ctlon wAth the exwnination whicth gN88 mo to that in. any m8tw"•l tho Ad or I ha￿ M eoncerrfd hav• comè acr￿1 no othor m•tt•rs in ¢onno¢ti wilh the examination to attontion t• df8wm in ord8r to •natrA• ¥ PTOFer understaThJiThJ ofth8 accc¥Jrrts to t• t•achet1. ' FYe8se delele the the brackets rfthey &) not apply. Slgn•d: D•t•: 7£sZ StO￿n Var R•l•v•nt profu•lon•l qualIfi￿￿o￿rf¥I or ljody Ilf any): C Erwj, MIET, m￿¢p Addff•s•." 319 AJKlover Rowj RG20 OLN IER October 2018 101 Page

LOOSE ENDS NEWBURY – ROLES AND RESPONSIBILITIES

As at September 2021

----- Start of picture text -----
Name Trustee Operations
Linda Fergusson Chair Chair
Vacancy Secretary
Ian Nichol Treasurer
Helen Dixon Minutes Secretary Minutes Secretary
Pat Burke Supplies & Catering Supplies & Catering
Karen Swaffield Signposting
Alison Martin PR & Marketing Recruitment
Gill Downs Signposting Training
Health & Safety
Kate Sheather Chair of Supervisors Meeting
Vice Chair Operations Meeting
Supplies & Catering, Compliance
Noni Knight Rota Manager
Emma Aird Donations
Vacancy Administration Assistant
Kirsty Conington Clients
Amy Zydzienowski Website / Facebook
----- End of picture text -----

Supervisors: Linda Fergusson, Kate Sheather, Emma Aird, Kirsty Conington, Charlotte Knight, Paul Spour, Helen Webb, Samantha Mullender, Gill Downs (in training)

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Our grateful thanks go to Apple Print & Creative for their ongoing support of Loose Ends Newbury, as well as the printing of this report.

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