Daisy Chain Café Trustees Report for the period 16[th] December 2020 – 31[st] March 2022.
Charity Number 1192818
Background
Daisy Chain Café (Yateley) was established in 2017 to offer a weekly support group for local people with Dementia or Cognitive Impairment and their family and carers. We registered as a Charitable Incorporated Organisation in December 2020 with the intent of preserving and protecting good health among people with dementia or cognitive impairment, their families and carers. The café, which is free and run and managed by volunteers, gives them the opportunity to meet socially and interact through a range of activities. The charity also provides a wide range of literature and support to assist carers.
We receive feedback from those that use the service confirming that it provides some form of respite for the carers, a facility for accessing information about other support agencies that are available and the motivation to carry on in as normal a way as possible with their lives. We consider this to add to the public benefit, reducing the incidence of need for referral to health agencies and dependence on care agencies for a more prolonged period during the timeframe of their condition.
Organisational Structure
The management of the café is handled by the Steering group made up of 4 Trustees (previously 5) and 3 other members who represent the volunteers, a café session leader and a representative of the local town council. The four trustees are made up of a café session leader, café coordinator and two others who are from outside of the ongoing work of the café and bring with them experience of financial matters and other volunteering and social groups. Our trustees are self-nominated from members of the original Steering group and their nominations were supported by approval of the group members. We aim to have representation on our Steering group of those who have detailed knowledge of the ongoing work at the café, as well as members of our local community who have expertise in Management aspects of local groups. We are members of and are supported by a Hampshire wide network that provides templates of legal policies and procedures that we use for our own purposes. The Steering group review and approve these as necessary. This network group also provide insurance, DBS checks and up to date information to our charity.
The session leaders, (6 in total) manage the weekly café sessions, coordinating the volunteers on duty, seeing to the needs of those in attendance, registering new members and overseeing the Health and Safety aspects of the session.
The volunteers, (32 in total) are rotared to attend the sessions according to their individual availability and between the 10 or 11 on duty at each session are allocated refreshment duties and supporting activities and social interaction between themselves and a small group of members We have trained an extra 9 volunteers this year.
As well as the roles highlighted above all of our volunteering members undertake to organise/attend other events and activities that help to keep our existence known in the local community. They also attend extra social activities that we organise for our members. The contributions that are made by all of our volunteers cannot be overestimated and we are indebted to all for their devotion and commitment, fun and good sense. We regularly receive feedback from our members acknowledging the work that we do and the support that they benefit from.
Monies raised
We do not receive central funding or intend to carry out any notable fundraising activities ourselves. We applied for and received a one-off grant from the District Council in March 2021, which was spent later in the year on social activities to encourage café attendees to feel confident about meeting up with fellow members and volunteers following the Covid lockdowns.
Our major income comes from donations in memorial, local groups and organisations. We raise a small amount each week by running a raffle for members and collecting unsolicited donations from those attending the café.
Our expenditure mainly relates to the hire of the hall in which we meet, buying refreshments, raffle prizes and gifts, and funding activities and social events for our members. All of our staff are volunteers and no remunerations are paid. Receipted expenses are refunded to staff.
Review of activities
The beginning of this period brought with it the thoughts of many challenges ahead and the hopes of national plans that would, after a year of closure of the face-to-face meetings of the café, bring a lifting of many of the covid restrictions so that we could re-open.
We continued our steering group and session leaders’ meetings via Zoom or in outside venues so that we could plan how to remain in contact with both our volunteers and attendees. We delivered at Easter time small gifts and cards to our Attendees so that they would feel we were still in touch and supporting them. We used the Community Connections grant from Hart District Council to encourage our members to return as restrictions began to lift. We contacted attendees and volunteers regarding these
plans to understand any concerns that they may have and how they would respond to meeting up again. To our delight these plans were met with positive feedback by our contacts. Thus followed a hugely successful “Tea and Chat” session in June 2021 at Bistro19, followed by the start of weekly face to face sessions of the café and a re-launch party in August 2021. Our re-launch party was very popular with not only our attendees and volunteers but also with invited guests. The musical entertainment by the group that entertained us 3 years before at the café’s inauguration went down appreciatively.
At this time, we moved our venue from Yateley Village Hall to the Darby Green Centre where we remain to date. The new venue was met with agreement and pleasure from all concerned and Yateley Town Council, who own it, advised and supported us to make the facility as safe as possible in limiting the spread of Covid. We also worked hard to limit risk of covid spread whilst having direct contact so that our members would feel confident to continue attending. Attendance at the weekly sessions started slowly but as confidence built once again, numbers improved and been maintained with new members joining us at regular intervals. We have maintained our presence within the community through our Facebook page, mention on the websites of both the local GP surgery and Yateley Town Council and with contact with other local groups. Our extra entertainment features at several sessions a month have spanned a wide range of interests including diverse music acts, seated exercises, craft sessions and a dance display.
The Steering group and session leaders have been considering how funds could be used to further support the enjoyment of being together and the interactions between us all. For 2022 - 2023 plans have already supported a special Easter celebration session and are afoot to contribute to a volunteers’ social gathering, an event to celebrate the Queens Jubilee, a day trip to Milestones Museum of Living History and to meet up with a local care home for an afternoon tea.
We feel privileged to enjoy the contact of our attendees and to feel the pleasure they have in attending our facility. We currently support 30 family groups who have a member with dementia.
Names of our Trustees
Julia Wedlock – Chairperson
Lesley Batt – Treasurer
Vanessa Labrum – Session leader
Marion Jones – Representative of local group
Charity’s principal address
Yateley Town Council Offices. Reading Road, Yateley GU46 7RP
Declaration
The Trustees declare that they have approved the Trustees report above Julia Wedlock Café coordinator and Chairman June 2022.
Daisy Chain Café (Yateley) Charity Number - 1192818
Accounts for the period 16th December 2020 to 31st March 2022
| Receipts Café Takings Donations Hart Lottery In Memorium Grant Funding Total Receipts Payments Hall Hire & Storage Costs Premise Moving Costs Support Materials Travel Refreshments Sundries Total Payments Net Of Receipt/Payments for Current Year Cash Funds Last Year End Cash Funds This Year End Statement of Assets & Liabilities at Year End Cash at Bank Rafe Float Total |
Total For Period £1,051.36 £1,583.95 £646.50 £830.00 £1,225.00 £5,336.81 £865.65 £0.00 £207.85 £0.00 £953.73 £933.94 £2,961.17 £2,375.64 £9,079.69 £11,455.33 £11,442.83 £12.50 £11,455.33 |
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