## Loose Ends Newbury Annual Report 2021 - 2022 AGM 2nd November 2022 ## **HEADLINES** - After the end of the Covid pandemic we were able to open our doors and return to our normal service providing hot meals, food parcels, toiletries and clothes to those in need. The number of clients fluctuated after the pandemic and especially after our move but are now increasing again. - Over the year we provided on average 100 – 120 meals per week and served around 170 people. These numbers are now on the rise. - At the end of April 2022 we moved to a new home at Newbury Cricket Club and we must thank Newbury Cricket Club for their considerable support and for sharing their newly rebuilt club house with us. - We thank all the organisations, companies and individuals who donated so generously to our moving expenses and to our ongoing operating costs and also thank the Greenham Common Trust for their support. - Thanks also to Newbury Self Store for storing our new equipment before our move; to the Community Furniture Project for moving our equipment and to Apple Print for creating our signage. - Throughout the past year we have received regular donations of food from the Food Bank, SOFEA, Sewa Day and Nandos and we are very grateful for this support. - In the near future we plan to increase our operating hours during the week to give more help to our clients and we are also looking into other activities to improve their lives. - We couldn't operate without our volunteers and supervisors so thank you to everyone who works so hard both on sessions and behind the scenes. We have lost a few volunteers over the year but are happy to welcome several new ones. To maintain and increase our services we are looking to attract new volunteers in the coming year. ## **CHAIR'S REPORT** After 32 years at Morton Hall, Newbury Baptist Church, Loose Ends Newbury was at last able to move to Newbury Cricket Club in April 2022. We had hoped to move in 2021 but the Covid pandemic held things up along with delays caused by the redevelopment of the site. We must thank Newbury Baptist Church for allowing us to stay at Morton Hall until the end of April 2022. Newbury Cricket Club have shown us enormous support and we are very grateful for all their hard work redeveloping the Club House and including the extended kitchen and the new storeroom and office for Loose Ends in their plans. Thanks to all our friends and to all the groups and organisations who donated money during the year. We also received several generous contributions from grant giving bodies via The Good Exchange platform (detailed in Appendix 3 of the Finance report) and an amazing grant of £10.000 from the National Lottery Community Fund. With all the help we received we were able to pay our contribution to Newbury Cricket Club for the work on our kitchen extension and other facilities and be able to buy the new equipment we needed to complete the move. Caroline Billington was a fantastic Project Manager during the development of the new premises, so many thanks to her, and to Kate Sheather for her work in the development of the kitchen and storeroom. Benchmarx did a great job designing and constructing the kitchen. Our next plan is to furnish our office. We are very grateful to Newbury Self Store for storing our new equipment before our move and the Community Furniture Project for moving equipment from Morton Hall to the Cricket Club. We must also thank Apple Print for creating our signage as well as various posters and leaflets. In the week before we moved, and the days after, our volunteers worked very hard to move all our equipment, food, clothes, tents and many other possessions to our new home. Our arrival in April was also the beginning of the cricket season. Working with the cricket club we were able to operate as normal during the week and on a Sunday we changed the time of our session to 4.00pm to fit in with cricket club use. We only had one session when the club house was not available but thanks to a joint venture with Newbury Soup Kitchen we were able to provide food from their van at The Wharf so we are very thankful to them for their help and co-operation. Sunday sessions returned to 2pm on 2nd October after the end of the cricket season. Our move has been a great success with clients enjoying coming to our new home. Client numbers fluctuated through the COVID pandemic and have continued to do so since the move but numbers are definitely increasing now. In some cases from people who have become homeless, some who have lost their jobs and others who have little money and are short of food. _Linda Fergusson signing the agreement with John O'Sullivan from Newbury Cricket Club_ We have received generous donations of food throughout the year from the Food Bank, SOFEA, Sewa Day, and Nandos . As the cost of living increases many more families are using the Food Bank. It has therefore been agreed that the Food Bank will reduce the amount of food they will provide to us and we will in future refer clients to the Food Bank rather than receive donations from them. Since we moved we have been very happy to welcome the Befrienders from West Berks Homeless, the Outreach Officers from West Berks Council, and PCSOs who have been visiting our sessions on a regular basis to meet with our clients. We are planning to open our sessions for longer so that clients can have more help and we are also looking into other activities to improve their skills. We are aware that some clients who are lonely will be glad to come and also during the winter people can come to keep warm. We must again thank our Supplies and Catering Group for their hard work. Kate Sheather left earlier in the year and we continue to miss her. Pat Burke continues as the manager and Noni Knight has taken over Kate’s role. We must also thank the volunteers who act as our chefs, those who collect food from different organisations and those who stock the food that is delivered. Finally, during the COVID pandemic, and subsequently, our number of volunteers has reduced. We are now looking to increase our number of volunteers so that we can open for longer. We must thank all our volunteers for their support and their hard work and especially the supervisors for everything they do. Linda Fergusson (Chair) ## **SUPPLIES AND CATERING** We were all happy to be back in the Morton Hall as soon as it was safe to do so after the pandemic. We were even happier when we moved to our new premises in May 2022 and everyone on session loves working in the clean, fresh modern kitchen and enjoys the spacious storage now available. During the year we opened for five sessions per week and served 4611 hot and nutritious meals and distributed 2929 ambient food and toiletries parcels for clients to take away. Our meals are as appetising and nutritious as we can make them; our talented cooks prepare and serve a cooked lunch on Sunday, Monday and Tuesday and a ‘full English’ breakfast on Wednesday and Friday and are adept at coping with fluctuating numbers of clients. Juice, tea, coffee and bowls of fresh fruit are always offered. We are grateful to Nandos for their regular and generous donations of frozen chicken; to West Berkshire Food Bank for weekly deliveries of staples and tinned foods; for our subscription to the South Oxfordshire Food and Education Alliance for fresh, chilled and frozen foods delivered weekly; to Sewa Day for weekly deliveries of supermarket ambient foods. And to local people who drop in regularly with donations of essential items. Basic clothing, shoes and bedding are always available for those clients who request them. We are also generously supported with Harvest Festival and Christmas gifts from local churches, schools, businesses, local people and anonymous donors via our Amazon wish list. Our clients also appreciate the Community Furniture Project Christmas gift voucher scheme. The members of Loose Ends Newbury – cooks, supervisors, session volunteers and collectors are committed, hard- working and efficient and are a pleasure to work with. Thank you all. Pat Burke ## **RECRUITMENT** Loose Ends Newbury continues to be run entirely by a workforce of volunteers organised through the monthly rota by Noni Knight. Currently we require 21 volunteer slots filled each week plus off-site cooks and people to help with food supplies and collections. It is to the credit of all our volunteers, and a consequence of Noni’s hard work, that we have not had to cancel any planned sessions throughout the year even with the problems Covid still presents us with. We have lost a few volunteers over the year but have also recruited several new people who have joined the rota. Looking ahead to the next twelve months, if we are to extend our service we will need to recruit more volunteers. In particular we are in need of people who are willing and able to step up as supervisors and to help more widely in the running of Loose Ends. Volunteers have been recruited via enquiries from our website, through the Volunteer Centre advertising as well as word of mouth. The Penny Post recently published an article advertising for volunteers and we are pleased that the West Berkshire Volunteer Centre will be holding an in person Recruitment Fair early in 2023 where we hope to find more people to join us. ## ## **TRAINING** The past year again saw the focus on getting all volunteers to complete their Level 2 Food Hygiene training online to ensure we continue to maintain the highest food safety and hygiene standards. In February 2022 we were able to return to face-to-face training with a very interesting and informative session on behaviour management. All volunteers have been encouraged to download the British Red Cross first aid app to their phones. Paul Spour and Cathy Jenkins took over the organisation of training in August and as well as continuing to make sure that all volunteers have current hygiene certificates they are now looking at providing training courses covering conflict resolution and drug and drink awareness. ## **REPORT ON ACCOUNTS FOR FINANCIAL YEAR 2021/2022** The Financial Year for Loose Ends Newbury (LEN) runs from the 1st of June to the 31st of May each year. A Statement of Accounts for this period is attached as Appendix 1 to this report a re-statement in the format required for submission to the Charity Commission is attached as Appendix 2. Although we are not required by the Charity Commission to have our accounts reviewed, we have done so as it is good practice. I would like to thank Steven Vardy for doing this for us. His report is contained in Appendix 4. The Accounts show that LEN had income of £69,372.62 and expenditure of £83,722.09 in the year. There was therefore an in-year operating deficit of £14,349.47. This was funded by our cash reserves which started the year at £63,272.49 but were thus reduced at the end of the year to £48,923.02. The operating deficit was the result of the planned expenditure on the project to relocate the operations of the charity from Morton Hall to the refurbished club house at Newbury Cricket Club, which we now share with the cricket club under a 10-year licence for occupation. LEN’s cash is held in an interest-earning account at the Newbury Building Society and in an account at the Metro Bank. There are no restricted funds held by LEN. ## **Commentary** The 2021/2022 financial year was a challenging year for LEN as we had to embark on a very largescale fund-raising effort to meet the costs of the relocation project. A sum of £66,009.12, as shown in the Statement of Accounts, was payable in FY 2021/22. A further and final payment for the costs of the refurbishment works of £4542.60 to Newbury Cricket Club is due in FY 2022/23 taking the final cost of the project to £70,551.72. Throughout 2021/22 LEN carried out a vigorous funding raising campaign generating moneys from grant giving bodies and generous donations from individuals and organisations. In particularly, we used the Good Exchange platform which enabled us to access match funding from the funders shown in Appendix 3. It should also be noted that the income shown as coming from Local Giving represents income from individuals who chose to give us money through that platform. ## **Recommendation** Members are asked to note the Annual Report and approve the submission of the accounts to the Charity Commission. Ian Nichol (Treasurer) ## **Appendix One** ## **Loose Ends Newbury Statement of Accounts for period 01/06/2021 to 31/05/2022** **Opening Balance** 01/06/2021 Newbury Building Society £31,842.14 Metro Bank £31,430.35 _______________ **Total Opening Balance £63,272.49** Income Bank Interest £80.31 Gift Aid £375.00 Fundraising £1,151.00 Good Exchange £38,424.21 Churches £476.55 Business £4,407.44 Local Giving £9,480.22 Groups and Organisations £10,553.00 West Berks Lottery £1,217.00 Individuals £3,133.89 Crowdfunder £74.00 T **otal Income** £69,372.62 **Deduct Expenditure on:** Shopping and General Expenses £3,555.53 IT and Admin Expenses £832.42 Hall Hire £2,580.00 Insurance £1,897.57 Cleaning & Hygiene £5,230.51 Medical £0.00 Training £195.00 DBS checks £20.00 Maintenance £56.49 Furniture, Fittings and new equipment £0.00 Cost of Fund Raising £1,974.40 Other Operating costs £1,371.05 Extraordinary Expenditure - New Premises £66,009.12 **Total Expenditure** £83,722.09 _____________ **Closing Balance** 31/05/2022 **£48,923.02 ===========** Represented by: Newbury Building Society 7 Day notice a/c £21,922.45 Metro Bank Current Account £27,000.57 ## **Appendix 2** ## **Charity Commission Accounts** Receipts and payments accounts for the period 01/06/2021 to 31/05/2022 ## **Appendix 3** _Grants received through the Good Exchange Platform in addition to individual donations._ **Funder Grant Amount** The Miss Lawrence Trust £2,000.00 Greenham Trust Ltd £1,690.00 Newbury Town Council £1,690.00 Englefield Charitable Trust £3,000.00 Peter Baker Foundation £6,000.00 Greenham Trust Ltd £7,145.00 The Greenham Trust also granted £4841.29 funding to match individual donations in 2021 Appendix 4 Independent Examiner's Report CHARrtY COMMISSION FOR ETr￿lA￿ AND w￿Es Independent examlnerfs rnport on the accounts Sociioii A 31" M•rf 2022 Chrfty no 11&)58 T(U￿ lorthfr y•w b••l• olv•port uryjor 145 cl 2011 Ad cffjiNJ rny •xknn•tw)n. 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M&4CP 319 Ro•J RG20 IXN ## Loose Ends Mangement October 2022 ## _**Trustees**_ Linda Fergusson – Chair Ian Nichol – Treasurer Charlotte Knight - Secretary Pat Burke – Supplies and Catering Gill Downs – Client Services, Health & Safety, Signposting Alison Martin - Communications Mark Prudden ## **Operations Committee** Linda Fergusson - Chair Charlotte Knight - Secretary Pat Burke – Supplies and Catering Gill Downs – Health & Safety and Compliance Alison Martin - Recruitment Noni Knight - Rota & Food Committee Emma Aird - Donations Kirsty Conington - Clients Paul Spour - Training Cathy Jenkins – Admin & Training Linda Jay – Food Committee Sue Burbridge **–** Food Committee ## _**Supervisors**_ Linda Fergusson, Emma Aird, Kristy Conington, Charlotte Knight, Paul Spour, Helen Webb, Samantha Mullender, Gill Downs, Alison Martin Newbury Cricket Club, Northcroft Lane, Newbury, RG14 1 RS United Kingdom Registered Charity no. 1189240 Phone +44(0)7444 324686 Email:admin@looseendsnewbury.org Website: www.looseendsnewbury.org _Loose Ends Newbury thank the National Lottery Community fund for their support_ _Our grateful thanks to Apple Print & Creative for printing this report and for their ongoing support._