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2023-10-31-accounts

Annual Report 2022/2023

Basildon Pride CIO basildonpride.co.uk

Contents

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Introduction from the Chair of Trustees

Operating a charity run solely by volunteers is no mean feat. Every single one of our volunteers has a day job and yet they manage to come together in their personal free time to deliver the fantastic programme of work which you will see outlined in the rest of this Annual Report. Add into the mix the current cost of living crisis and the cost challenges that has brought with it, the Basildon Pride volunteers should receive high praise indeed for their achievements during this last year.

Once again, we set out to deliver Basildon Pride – The Festival, with our goal being to create an event bigger and better than before, as we do every year. We changed the structure of the Organising Committee to try and make the planning and preparation for an event of this size more productive and to balance out the workload. As per usual, the committee more than rose to the challenge.

A fantastic parade took place featuring all the usual glitz and glamour of previous years but also with some new elements. Our festival grew too with many new features such as our Chillout Zone delivered in collaboration with Motivated Minds, a Silent Disco, a Doggy Welfare area and more stalls in our Marketplace than ever before. The variety of acts also improved across all stages with some of the top UK Tribute acts, Drag Queens and Kelly Llorenna headlining the event.

Our free entry event attracted an increased number of festival goers from all ages and backgrounds. We certainly achieved our goal of creating a safe space where for one day of the year the entire community could come together, be themselves and celebrate diversity.

As amazing as it is to bring so many people together for our festival each year, it is equally as important to ensure that the LGBTQ+ community of Basildon Borough and the surrounding areas receive the support they need throughout the entire year. Our Basildon Pride Everyday team therefore has an equally important job to do as those who organise our Festival.

This year the Everyday Team have very much focused on building the groundwork to enable us to successfully launch our expanded programme of work as part of our Medium to Long Term Strategy during 2024. We increased our face-toface work further, bringing more opportunities for the community to come together including a Christmas Party, a Pride Month Party and a Bingo Night on top of our usual favourites.

Our online presence including recognition of key days in the diversity calendar also continued to

expand with a greater level of content delivered in a variety of different formats. We also increased our presence at a variety of events including attendance at The Basildon and Pitsea Carnival for the first time.

Our weekly Pride Matters Show continues to go from strength to strength with the number of listeners growing as well as the breadth of content. We have aligned certain shows with the pillars we will implement as part of our Medium to Long Term Strategy. Added into this we also delivered a series of ‘Magazine’ style shows featuring a variety of LGBTQ+ related topics, both serious and fun.

In the UK, there are still challenges faced by the LGBTQ+ community such as the lack of a ban of the horrendous act of Conversion Therapy and the battle for greater acceptance, rights and inclusion for the trans community and for these we will continue to fight. But at the same time, we recognise that there are other places in the world where the LGBTQ+ community are faced with much more hostile environments. In that light we decided to twin with a pride in such an area, enabling us to learn from each other and whilst showing support and solidarity where needed.

For us there was no better organisation to twin with than Kharkiv Pride in Ukraine. Not only are they in a position where they are fighting for equality for their community with rights someway behind those we experience here, but they are also subject to the horrendous war being inflicted on them by Putin and his Russian regime and continue to fight for their country’s freedom. We announced our partnership during the week of our shared Pride Festival’s in September, and we are looking forward to the positive outcomes we will create as we work together over the coming years. We are delighted to donate £500 to Kharkiv Pride for their project to create a permanent safe space for their community in the city.

Subject to the imminent confirmation of funding, the charity is now ready to launch its medium to long term strategy plans in full. On top of the work we already deliver, we will expand our Everyday work programme to focus specifically on 4 additional pillars, Networking, Hate Crime Awareness and Support, Trans, Non-Binary and Gender Diverse Awareness and Support and Mental Health Awareness and Support.

To deliver such a large programme of work we will need to expand our volunteer base and put in place for the first time some paid resource in the form of a part time administrator. We also plan to recognise key roles with a small allowance in recognition of

David Burton-Sampson Chair of Trustees

the time commitment required to be given from these individuals. During the next few months will be searching for the right individuals to fill these roles moving forwards.

I would like to sincerely thank the Basildon Pride volunteers for their work this year as without them this organisation would simply not function. Equally thank you to our wonderful sponsors and partners, many of whom have been supporting us from day one. Your contributions are deeply appreciated.

As our charity evolves and grows, it is important that we create a clear segregation between the Board of Trustees and those who operate the charity on a day-to-day basis. Due to my personal heavy operational involvement in our work, I will therefore be stepping down as a Trustee, as will my deputy Dave Bedson, allowing the board to give greater operational oversight. I look forward to continuing to work with the Trustees moving forward as together we grow this amazing charity. Thank you to everyone who has got us to where we are today.

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Our Organisational Purposes are:

To work with the LGBTQ+ community of The Basildon Borough and beyond and other interested stakeholders as well as statutory and community sector organisations to promote Basildon Pride as a lasting movement

To arrange, fundraise for and deliver an annual Basildon Pride Event

To fundraise for and deliver Basildon Pride Everyday which creates a programme of awareness and support events and activities for the LGBTQ+ community and its allies throughout the year

The Public Benefit we provide is

Our Charitable Purposes

The Objects of the charity are:

“To promote equality and diversity for the public benefit and in particular the elimination of discrimination on the grounds of sexual orientation or gender identity by delivering an annual Basildon Pride Event and deliver Basildon Pride Everyday which creates a programme of awareness and support events and activities for the LGBTQ+ community and its allies throughout the year in order to eliminate discrimination and advance education and awareness in equality and diversity.”

Advanced citizenship, cohesion and improved community relations in the Basildon Borough and beyond

Education about the Basildon Borough LGBTQ+ community and wider LGBTQ+ issues

Free Information, support, guidance, and a non-judgemental space for discussion & dialogue concerning LGBTQ+ health and well-being

The promotion of LGBTQ+ arts, culture, and heritage

Championing human rights, equality and diversity

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Our Organisational Structure

All positions across the charity are held on a voluntary basis.

Board of Trustees

There are currently 5 appointed Trustees in line with our constitution.

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David Burton-Sampson
Chair of the Trustees
David Bedson Jamie Whaley
Deputy Chair of the Trustees Treasurer to the Charity
Matthew Winslow Christina Caten
Secretary to the Charity Trustee without role
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In line with the constitutional arrangements 1 Trustee will retire at the Annual General Meeting in November 2023.

Basildon Pride Everyday Organising Committee

The Everyday Committee hold responsibility for coordinating and delivering our Basildon Pride Everyday programme throughout the year.

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David Burton-Sampson Claire Prosho
Chair Deputy Chair
Jamie Whaley Matthew Miller
Secretary
Marketing Officer
Karen Evans David Kirkman, Helen Taylor,
Fundraising Officer Ashe Thorpe, Jake Bedson Everyday Support Officers
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Basildon Pride Festival Organising Committee

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The Festival Organising Committee holds responsibility for
delivering the annual Basildon Pride Festival Event.
David Burton-Sampson Matthew Winslow
Project Director Event Director
Jake Bedson Matthew Whaley
Creative Director Secretary
Natalie Woodcock Mark Burton-Sampson
Entertainment Manager Community Engagement Officer
Daniel Bedson Matthew Miller
Technical Manager Marketing Manager
Karen Evans Tracy Freeman
Fundraising & Partnerships Manager Volunteers Manager
Ndunge Kivuitu David Kirkman
Parade Manager Health & Safety Manager
Leanda Cable
Logistics Manager
Christina Caten, Craig Freeman, Helen Taylor, Jamie Whaley
Festival Support Officers
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Basildon Pride Festival 2023 Review

The Basildon Pride Festival took place on Saturday 2nd September 2023 at Basildon Sporting Village.

The 4th annual Basildon Pride Festival took place on Saturday 2 September 2023 at Basildon Sporting Village.

4-inch heels look like child’s play!

This year, our opening ceremony took place at our Sponsors Gateway 97.8 open air stage, where representatives of many of our sponsors handed over the parade flags to our Event Team and in doing so proudly declared the Basildon Pride Festival 2023 open with a coloured smoke and confetti marking the start of the day’s entertainment.

The day got off to a spectacular and colourful start with the annual Parade, sponsored by Securitax setting off at 11am from outside the former Toys R Us/ Sports Direct building in Southernhay in Basildon Town Centre. What an atmosphere! It was a wonderful, united, noisy yet celebratory walking concert fronted by the Mayor and Deputy Mayor of Basildon, Army and RAF Cadets, our Sponsors, local businesses, volunteers, community groups, members of the LGBTQ+ community, and the general public. It was good to see more town centre businesses taking part in with decorations including our friends at the Eastgate Centre, The Craft Shed and Orleto Lounge.

All public events must continually change and adapt to meet expectations and our 2023 Festival was no exception. Our Main Stage sponsored by our Partners Fiserv & Eastgate Shopping Centre was hosted in a glorious rainbow striped Big Top that became a place for friends and families of all ages and abilities to sit, watch and dance to the busiest programme of artists we have ever had. People laughed at our Drag Queens, Drag Kings and Comedians. They were wowed by some of the best tribute acts from the legendary Dolly Parton, Robbie Williams and Becky Hill, and of course our Headline Act Kelly Llorenna formerly of N-Trance. Poignantly, live from Main Stage in mid-afternoon, we successfully live-linked to our new ‘twin Pride’ in Kharkiv, 1,700 miles away in Ukraine that also had its annual event on the same day but under very different and difficult circumstances.

An estimated 1,500 people took part in the 1.5-mile route through the Town Centre to our festival site in Gloucester Park. The parade boasted all the colours of the rainbow accompanied by sparkle, music, drums, flags, marching banners and whistles. Our unique river flag centrepiece made up of 66 diversity flags was proudly being escorted by 50 members of the public, alongside some rather mischievous Chinese lions, Jenson the Dinosaur and fabulous Drag Queens that made walking in

You do a fantastic event every year

Great event, well organised and friendly professional staff

Good variety of stalls and activities

Our Silent Disco, sponsored by Id-Verde proved popular with revellers of all ages who donned a headset and selected from three channels of cheesy music and bopping rhythms and threw shapes and danced whilst smiling and singing. The new Chill Out Zone, sponsored by Eastlight Community Homes and run by Motivated Minds offered a calmer escape from the hustle and excitement of the festival providing a place for people to relax, learn crafts, do yoga and tai chi.

Back by popular demand was our Discovery Hub, sponsored by Unite the Union which played host to a programme of six alternating informative talks from Essex Police about Hate Crime Awareness, Terrence Higgins Trust about Sexual Health, The Art of Drag to name a few. Stalls of the participating organisations were found close by so people could find out more information and seek support. Our Family Entertainment Zone, sponsored by SS&C kept the younger audiences entertained by Punch & Judy, Magic Shows and Circus Skills.

The Marketplace, sponsored by Palmers Solicitors was the biggest it has ever been with 100 stalls. This included community organisations such as Essex County Council, Basildon Council, Brentwood Borough Council, Essex Fire & Rescue who also based their operational fire engine with us, Essex Police and the NHS. We had more charities than ever and a wider variety of stalls selling sweets, tombola, pride merchandise, soaps, lingerie and crafts.

Our Gateway 97.8 Food Court did not only boast the open-air stage and picnic tables, but it also offered a great range of hot and cold food outlets including Caribbean, Greek, Jacket Potatoes, as well as

This is my 3rd year attending pride with my children and family and I love how you cater for everyone!

Amazing Event open to everyone. I hope it keeps growing

I thought there were lots of great acts

Burgers, Donuts and Ice Cream and a bigger and better licenced bar and a speciality gin bar with outdoor seating.

For those fancying swings and roundabouts, our fairground returned with new rides, trampolines and classics such as hook-a-dick and candyfloss. Most people walked to the site from the surrounding areas, but we did have over 350 people that arrived and left in style on our free Pride Shuttle Bus which ran for 8.5 hours by our supporter First Bus.

The Festival ran from 11am to 7:30pm and was attended by around 6,000 people over that time.

After the Festival, a five-hour Official After Party, hosted by The Loft in Basildon Town Centre continued the celebrations into the early hours.

From our feedback questionnaire, the Festival was rated 4.7/5 and the Parade 4.81/5. Of the 40 stallholders that responded to our post Festival survey, all were happy with their pitch and 39 would return giving the event 4.88/5. With this collective feedback, alongside that from sponsors, suppliers, our venues and also our hard working and dedicated Event Team of volunteers we promise to make 2024 bigger and better than ever!

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Basildon Pride Everyday Review

The activities delivered by Basildon Pride Everyday have continued to expand this year as we have focused on moving towards our medium to long term strategic plan. A significant amount of time has been spent preparing for the extensive expansion of the work of this area of the charity and starting to lay the foundations in readiness to make it happen.

Activities - Direct Delivery

LGBTQ+ community during this time

Lobbying Others concerning LGBTQ+ issues

  - Published a blog about Hate Crime against the Trans community.

Supporting Others through LGBT projects

Basildon Pride has provided focused support or delivery to third party initiatives in the Basildon Borough and beyond that included the LGBTQ+ community.

Funding

• Continued to be part of The Rainbow Lottery which works in a similar way in raising us funds from tickets bought on a weekly basis.

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Performance against Charitable Purposes Measures

Outlined below is the charities performance against the key measures identified at our inception. For the near future we will not be setting targets until we understand our current rolling annual position. However, the Board of Trustees will use this data to identify areas by which the charity needs to improve or focus its attention.

Total annual membership of CIO as recorded at each AGM. Membership at the point of going to press growing from 31 in 2022.

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members
40
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Total social media audience across Basildon Pride’s Facebook, Twitter and Instagram accounts.

6,089

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167
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Members of the Basildon Pride LGBTQ+ Facebook Support Group

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6,000
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546

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73

£500

Number of attendees at the Basildon Pride Festival 2023 estimated based on gate counts.

Total number of attendees at the Basildon Pride fundraising events throughout the year

Number of members assisting Basildon Pride events across the Basildon Pride Festival Organising Committee and Basildon Pride Everyday Committee

Number of volunteers assisting at the Basildon Pride Festival 2023 excluding the 19 volunteers from the Basildon Pride Festival Organising Committee.

Total value of donations and grants made by Basildon Pride to other causes or campaigns

Rolling programme of Basildon Pride events for fundraising, awareness, and support; See Basildon Pride Everyday Report.

10,385

Total unique visits to the website based on statistics from the new website’s launch in November 2022 to October 2023.

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Financial Statement 2023

Our total income for the year from 1st November 2022 to 31st October 2023 is £56,990.06. This consists of £19,674.35 raised from Fundraising activities, £29,500.00 from Sponsorship and £7815.71 from Stallholder Fees.

The total expenditure for the year was £55,927.82. This represents event Logistics and Technical costs, Performer and Security fees, Insurance, and other general operating costs. We have one Festival related invoice outstanding for the year.

Our Banking is held with Metro Bank and our balance as of 1st November 2022 was £5443.29. Considering the one outstanding invoice mentioned above, we will enter our next financial year in a strong position with over £6700.68 in our account.

In addition to our Bank Account we also have a PayPal Account and registered for the PayPal Giving Fund which has received £112.00 this financial year. We have also registered for Gift Aid with HMRC. This will allow us to receive future donations with Gift Aid via the PayPal platform.

To date the accounts are unaudited, however, an audit will be undertaken imminently.

Final Accounts submitted to The Charity Commission for year ending 31/10/2022

Income/Expenditure 31/10/2022
Total gross income £42,692
Total expenditure £43,565
Income from government contracts N/A
Income from government grants £8,490

Thank you to our sponsors and supporters

We would like to extend our thanks to our wonderful sponsors and supporters, without whom Basildon Pride CIO simply would not be able to deliver our activities. Every penny donated is sincerely appreciated.

Basildon Pride Official Partners

Our Sponsors

Our Supporters

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The focus for the coming year will be to:

Implement a full restructure of the charity in readiness for the implementation of our Medium to Long Term Strategy. This will also involve attracting new volunteers to the charity to support some of the new areas of focus.

Deliver Basildon Pride - The Festival 2024, learning from our 2023 event to once again make it bigger and better than before, whilst ensuring it remains a celebration of the LGBTQ+ Community.

Transform our Basildon Pride Everyday Programme in line with our new pillars: - Networking for Adults, Young People and Families of the LGBTQ+ Community, Hate Crime Awareness and Support, Trans, NonBinary and Gender Diverse Awareness and Support, Mental Health Awareness and Support and an extended Pride Matters Show.

Moving Forward Our Focus for 2023/24

The Board of Trustees are keen to see the progress made since 2018 develop further and for a sustainable future to be secured for Basildon Pride CIO in line with our charitable purposes.

Continue to work with and support partner organisations in our local community to further our work and further support for the LGBTQ+ community.

Subject to successfully securing The National Lottery Reaching Communities funding for the next 3 years, recruit a part time paid administrator to support our volunteers in the delivery of our programmes and provide the Charity Directors with a small allowance in recognition of the time commitment they provide.

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basildonpride.co.uk info@basildonpride.co.uk basildonpride @basildonpride @basildonpride

© Basildon Pride 2023 Registered Charity in England and Wales: 1193090

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ANGELA STANBROOK 139 School Avenue Basildon Essex SS15 6GH

To The Trustee’s of Basildon Pride Charity

Independent examiner’s report to the trustees of Basildon Pride

I report to the trustees on my examination of the accounts of the Basildon Pride (the Trust) for the year ended 31 October 2023.

Qualification as a non-professional examiner

I am suitably qualified to examine the accounts before me as my current role is CEO and Director of a Limited Company, a position I have held for 5 years (previously COO for 25 years with the same company). I am responsible for overseeing all financial activities of the company: setting budgets, tracking cash flow, financial planning and analysing the company's Accounts. The company’s CFO is a direct report to me.

Responsibilities and basis of report

As the charity trustees of the Trust you are responsible for the preparation of the accounts in accordance with the requirements of the Charities Act 2011 (‘the Act’).

I report in respect of my examination of the Trust’s accounts carried out under section 145 of the 2011 Act and in carrying out my examination I have followed all the applicable Directions given by the Charity Commission under section 145(5)(b) of the Act.

Independent examiner’s statement

I have completed my examination. I confirm that no material matters have come to my attention in connection with the examination giving me cause to believe that in any material respect:

  1. accounting records were not kept in respect of the Trust as required by section 130 of the Act; or

  2. the accounts do not accord with those records; or

  3. the accounts do not comply with the applicable requirements concerning the form and content of accounts set out in the Charities (Accounts and Reports) Regulations 2008 other than any requirement that the accounts give a ‘true and fair view which is not a matter considered as part of an independent examination.

I have no concerns and have come across no other matters in connection with the examination to which attention should be drawn in this report in order to enable a proper understanding of the accounts to be reached.

Angela Stanbrook