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2025-03-31-accounts

Trustees’ Annual Report for the period

From 1[st] April 2024 to 31[st] March 2025

Charity name: Greater Manchester Eczema and Skin Support CIO

Charity registration number: 1189914

Objectives and Activities:

GMESS was set up as a charitable incorporated organisation (CIO) on 20[th] June 2020. GMESS aims to promote and protect the physical and mental health of sufferers of eczema and other inflammatory skin conditions in Greater Manchester through the provision of support, education and practical advice. The CIO also aims to advance the education of the general public in all areas relating to eczema and other inflammatory skin conditions.

Summary of the main activities in relation to those purposes for the public benefit, in particular, the activities, projects or services identified in the accounts.

Reference and Administrative details

Charity name Greater Manchester Eczema & Skin Support CIO
Other name the charity
uses		 GMESS
Registered charity
number		 1189914
Charity’s principal
address		 Zion Community Resource Centre
339 Stretford Road
Hulme
Manchester
M15 4ZY

Structure, Governance and Management

Type of governing
document:		 Constitution – Foundation
How is the charity
constituted?		 Charitable Incorporated Organisation (CIO)

Contribution made by Volunteers

Our volunteer Angela (name change), who is also a service user, took on a key role in the design and delivery of support group sessions. She worked with a number of service users to gather discussion topics that they wanted to discuss during support group meetings. This meant that the group conversations were tailored to the needs and interests of the group, making them more relatable. Angela also supported the delivery of a number of sessions which helped boost her confidence in public speaking and session management skills. Her willingness to share her lived

experience of having psoriasis helped to create a supportive environment where everyone felt comfortable sharing their thoughts during group meetings.

Achievements and Performance

Funding achieved during the period:

Participants Activity

Our main participant cohort reside in Manchester, but we continue to receive enquiries from people with skin conditions from other parts of the country including Preston, Rochdale, Stockport, and Blackburn.

During the period we have supported 101 service users via the following activities:

Marketing Plan & Promotion

To raise awareness about our areas of work we have continued to target community stakeholders including community groups and health professionals across Manchester. The main methods that have resulted in engagement have been through, word of mouth, local radio adverts, leafleting, WhatsApp messaging, Facebook and X (formerly known as Twitter) messaging. Our support group listing on the National Eczema Society website has contributed to service user engagement.

Outcomes and Impact

Seema (name change) Case study:

Why did you get in contact with GMESS to attend the Healthy Skin Healthy Me course?

I saw your flyer posted in a WhatsApp group. I was just stuck in a rut with using steroid creams, so the flyer really got my attention. My skin wasn't getting any better, it was getting worse with the steroid creams.

My GP also gave me oral steroids for a couple of weeks, it calmed things down, but then after I stopped the oral steroids, the state of my skin got worse again. So, I just wanted to try a different approach which wasn’t steroid cream and GP related to see if it would work to be honest. And like you said at the beginning of the course, it's not

just about the skin condition, it's about my emotions and mood as well, it impacts my skin.

My skin was uncomfortable, dry, cut, and not looking very nice and kept me up at night with scratching. This affected everything else that was going on in my life. I was just stuck in a rut with my skin and because of the stress I have going on, and I just didn't feel that my skin was important, so the state of my skin didn’t matter.

Since attending the course how have you benefited?

The course has given me a lot of insight about a couple of different aspects to managing my eczema, like mindset, using affirmations to help how I talk to myself, making lifestyle changes, having better habits, diet, and drinking water. It's made me think about all these things, and having a planned approach to it all. Other than just relying on the GP I wasn't doing anything else like drinking water and moisturising to help my skin improve before the course. After doing what I learnt on the course the difference in my skin is amazing. I think I just needed someone to motivate me and say that I need to put my skin first if I want it to improve my skin.

The course made me a lot more aware of how I need to take responsibility for my skin, and that if I don't look after myself then nobody else will. And if I put a bit of effort into looking after my skin, starting with changing my mindset, I would see a difference in my skin, and I definitely have. The itching and irritation have really calmed down and my skin looks and feels better. My mobility was affected because of the sores and cuts on my feet, but this is now much better.

Mindset is definitely a big part of all this. I believe more now that my skin can improve even more, and seeing my skin where it is now has lifted my mood. My attitude towards me taking care of myself and taking the time out to moisturise my skin has changed. I know it sounds dead simple, but when you're stuck in a rut and your mood is low, because of how things are, you can’t be bothered with anything to do with taking care of yourself. Seeing the change in my skin is a big thing for me to be honest with you.

What’s been the difference in terms of getting support from GMESS for your skin condition versus getting support from your GP?

It’s a big difference. The GPs, they just give you steroid creams. They don't look at improving the skin like your course does. It's looking at other things that help like your diet, your mindset, everything about your lifestyle, the whole picture really, and how to develop good habits that help the skin to heal. The course was an education about improving eczema and self-awareness. All these things that we discussed make a huge difference really. The GP, apart from just giving me steroid creams, didn't offer any emotional support or anything like that, to be able to talk about feelings on the course was a massive help.

It was good to do the course with people who were Black and Asian, we’re all similar really and we all got on really well, the support from everyone was amazing. Your knowledge about the things we discussed with your experience of having eczema made the course even better I think.

Service User Comments

The following comments demonstrate service user skin improvements and peer support in action (comments taken from our WhatsApp group):

Funding

GMESS secured funding from Culturally Appropriate Services Fund Phase 3 totalling £12,754.39

2024-25 Financial Accounts

This year GMESS secured £12,754.39 in funding from GMCVO. There was £17,771 carried forward from 2023-24, mainly due to the Lottery funding of that year not being spent as the service paused for 6 months due to personal issues and lottery agreeing to extend the deadline for that funding. At end of year, £17,018 will be carried forward to 2025-26, to service the lottery and GMCVO funding agreements. A new consultation agreement with Mr Mattis for £15,654 was agreed in September 2024, to service the funding agreements. It is the trustees priority to secure further funding for 2025-26

Gr•at•r M•noh•st•r Ecz•rn• and Skin support R•c•ipts and p•ym•nts •ooounts Apr-24 For th• To PA•r-25 17.754 •Z.75 lo￿0 AR) la.75• $¢•b •53 1?.7S4 2.7f4 •4 ?io i).SO• 17.TT? •7.TFZ Gharxy's own u•• B• L*blW••• D#1# of

Names of the charity trustees who manage the charity

Trustee name Office Dates acted if not
for whole year		 Name of person (or
body) entitled to
appoint trustee
Simon Paul
Kweeday		 Chair 04/06/2020 Other trustees vote
Marcella Angela
Turner		 28/08/2020 Other trustees vote
Muhammad
Aurangzeb
Shaikh		 04/06/2020 Other trustees vote

Corporate trustees – names of the directors at the date the report was approved

Name of trustees holding title to property belonging to the charity

Funds held as custodian trustees on behalf of others

Name of chief executive or names of senior staff members

Exemptions from disclosure

Declarations

The trustees declare that they have approved the trustees’ report above. Signed on behalf of the charity’s trustees

The trustees declare that they have approved the trustees’ report above.
Signed on behalf of the charity’s trustees		 The trustees declare that they have approved the trustees’ report above.
Signed on behalf of the charity’s trustees		 The trustees declare that they have approved the trustees’ report above.
Signed on behalf of the charity’s trustees		 The trustees declare that they have approved the trustees’ report above.
Signed on behalf of the charity’s trustees
Signature
Full name(s) Simon Kweeday Muhammed Shaikh Marcella Turner
Position Chair Trustee Trustee
Date 06/01/2025 07-01-25 06/01/2025