2025-03-31-accounts

Trustees’ Annual Report for the period

From 01/04/2024 to 31/03/2025

Charity name: South London Christmas Dinner

Charity registration number: 1195322

Objectives and Activities

	SORP reference
Summary of the purposes of the charity as set out in its governing document	Para 1.17	The object of the CIO is: for the public benefit to promote social inclusion among young people aged between 18 and 25 who are socially excluded from society as a result of their status within or experience of the public care system in particular but not exclusively by the provision events, activities and experiences during the Christmas period. For the purposes of this clause ‘socially excluded’ means being excluded from society, or parts of society, as a result of an individual’s status within or experience of the public care system and the resulting factors: unemployment; financial hardship; youth, ill health (physical or mental); substance abuse or dependency including alcohol and drugs; discrimination on the grounds of sex, race, disability, ethnic origin, religion, belief, creed, sexual orientation or gender re-assignment; poor educational or skills attainment; relationship and family breakdown; poor housing (that is housing that does not meet basic habitable standards); crime (either as a victim of crime or as an offender rehabilitating into society).
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.	Para 1.17 and 1.19	South London Christmas Dinner is organised by a team of volunteers who work together to provide a special and fun- filled Christmas day, along with a most scrumptious dinner for young care leavers, aged between 18 and 25. As well as a Christmas dinner, guests are gifted presents and treats.
Statement confirming whether the trustees have had regard to the guidance issued by the Charity Commission on public benefit	Para 1.18	The trustees have paid due regard to the guidance issued by the Charity Commission on public benefit.

	Contribution made by volunteers	Para 1.38	South London Christmas Dinner is only possible due to the hard work and huge contribution of the volunteers who give their time to make each of our Christmas Dinners a success.

Achievements and Performance

	SORP reference
Summary of the main achievements of the charity, identifying the difference the charity’s work has made to the circumstances of its beneficiaries and any wider benefits to society as a whole.	Para 1.20	In 2024 SLXD again ran two dinners, one in South London and one in Ealing. Each Dinner ran with its own separate organising team and volunteers. We were able to provide 22 adults and 2 children with Christmas Dinners in South London and 16 adults and 4 children in Ealing. SLXD and Ealing also gifted presents, food hampers, handmade quilts, hand knitted items and gift vouchers to all our guests, and to a further 2 people who couldn’t attend the day (2 South London). South London Organising Team had 5 members. We were supported by 22 further volunteers on Christmas Eve and on our wrapping day. Our Christmas Day hosts numbered 14, 3 of whom were also on the Organising Team. Ealing Organising Team had 4 members, with a further 13 volunteers to support on Christmas Day, and around 50 volunteers helping with wrapping and setting the venue up. We had a lot of other volunteer support with fundraising, making Christmas decorations and decorating the venue. A special thanks to Greenwich 40thCub Scouts again who made delightful decorations to ensure we had a jolly space to enjoy on Christmas Day and to the crafters who stitched and filled the handmade Christmas stockings for each guest at our South London Dinner. We also extend our thanks to Q4CL for the beautiful handcrafted quilts gifted to our guests and to the lovely knitters of Leeds who knitted hats, scarves and gloves for our guests. Our guests enjoyed choosing from the lovely selections and were immensely touched by the hard work gone into handcrafting such lovely gifts for them to enjoy.

Financial Review

Financial Review
Review of the charity’s financial position at the end of the period	Para 1.21	During the year we raised an amazing £12,159 (2024: £14,742). SLXD raised £9,220 (2024: £11,843) as unrestricted income for our South London Dinner, including £3,500 from The London Mark Benevolent Fund. Ealing raised £2,939 (2024: £2,899) recorded as restricted income, as it was raised specifically for the Ealing Dinner, including a grant of £1,250 from Gold from the Stone Foundation. Across both dinners we spent in total £10,934 (2024: £16,021) on gifts, food hampers, Christmas dinner and minimal running costs. Of this total, unrestricted expenditure for South London was £8,000 (2024: £12,211) and for Ealing Dinner, recorded as restricted, the expenditure was £2,934 (2024: £3,810). South London previously paid a chef for the food and managing the kitchen & food preparation, this year we reduced expenditure significantly by bringing the food in-house and a team of amazing kitchen volunteers produced a delicious, well-crafted traditional Christmas Dinner. A lovely volunteer also made scrummy brownies for our pudding. Taxis are a large outlay for South London (£2,872) as we invite guests from the 7 Boroughs that make up our catchment, we are grateful to the London Mark Benevolent Fund for their grant that enables us to cover this cost. Our South London and Ealing venues are generously given to us for no cost, saving both dinners around £1,600 each. We are extremely grateful to Waitrose for their food hampers which are full of cupboard staples and treats for our guests to take home with them. Ealing dinner benefits from storage gifted worth £2,640 per year and this year was given flyers and design worth £500 and balloons saving them £50. We finished the year with a small surplus of £1,225 (2024: deficit £1,279) broken down as surplus of £1,220 (2024: deficit of £368) for unrestricted income funds and surplus of £5 (2024: deficit £911) for restricted income funds. This brings our total reserve to £8,435 (2024: £7,210) split between unrestricted income funds for South London of £5,159 (2024: £3,939) and Ealing as restricted income funds of £3,276 (2024: £3,271).
Statement explaining the policy for holding reserves stating why they are held	Para 1.22	SLXD holds reserves simply to ensure there are enough funds to host a Dinner in the following year. Donations tend to be received close to Christmas, so having reserves is necessary to cover the cost of running the Dinner ahead of receiving donations. There are no paid staff or ongoing lease commitments so there is no need to hold funds in reserve to cover these costs.
Amount of reserves held	Para 1.22	Unrestricted funds of £5,159 (2024: £3,939) Restricted funds of £3,276 (2024: £3,271)

Explanation of any uncertainties about the charity continuing as a going concern	Para 1.23	The Trustees are confident the CIO has enough funds to ensure continuity as a going concern.
The charity’s principal sources of funds (including any fundraising)	Para 1.47	Funds are raised from public donations and fundraising activities. We do seek grant funding where we can.

Structure, Governance and Management

Description of charity’s trusts:
Type of governing document (trust deed, royal charter)	Para 1.25	Constitution
How is the charity constituted? (e.g unincorporated association, CIO)	Para 1.25	CIO - FOUNDATION
Trustee selection methods including details of any constitutional provisions e.g. election to post or name of any person or body entitled to appoint one or more trustees	Para 1.25	A minimum of 3 Trustees are required by our constitution. Trustees are invited from existing volunteers who have completed the volunteer recruitment process and who have volunteered as part of the Organising Team for at least 1 dinner.

Reference and Administrative details

Charity name	South London Christmas Dinner
Other name the charity uses	SLXD
Registered charity number	1195322
Charity’s principal address	48 Lawn Terrace London SE3 9LP

Names of the charity trustees who manage the charity

1 2 3 4 5	Trustee name	Office (if any)	Dates acted if not for whole year	Name of person (or body) entitled to appoint trustee (ifany)
	Paminder Phull	Trustee	Appointed 13thSeptember 2021
	Kathleen Moss	Treasurer	Appointed 5thJuly2021
	June Diegan	Trustee	Appointed 26thOctober 2022
	Vibeke Fussing	Trustee	Appointed 26thOctober 2022
	Fiona Ross	Trustee	Appointed 14thOctober 2025

Declarations

The trustees declare that they have approved the trustees’ report above.

Signed on behalf of the charity’s trustees

Signed on behalf of the	charity’s trustees
Signature(s) Full name(s) Position (eg Secretary, Chair, etc) Date	KRMoss
	Kathleen Rachel Moss
	Treasurer
	14/10/2025

Charity Name No (if any) South London Christmas Dinner 1195322

Receipts and payments accounts For the period Period start date Period end date To from 01/04/2024 31/03/2025

CC16a

Section A Receipts and payments

		Unrestricted funds	Unrestricted funds		Restricted funds		Total funds			Last year
		to the nearest	£		to the nearest £		to the nearest £		to	the nearest £
A1 Receipts
Fundraisingevent			-		129		129
Donations			1,803		200		2,003			3,260
Online donations			2,470		1,340		3,810			2,454
Gift Aid			396				396			495
The London Mark Benevolent Fund			3,500		-		3,500			3,000
Colfe's School PAFA			-		-		-			1,185
St Benedict Ealing			-		-		-			300
EasyFundraising			44		-		44			-
Gold from the Stone			-		1,250		1,250			4,000
Holyspirit Church Clapham			987		-		987			-
Interest			20		20		40			48
							-			-
Sub total(Gross income for
	AR)		9,220		2,939		12,159			14,742
A2 Asset and investment sales,
(see table).
			-		-		-
			-		-		-			-
	Sub total		-		-		-			-
Total receipts			9,220		2,939		12,159			14,742
A3 Payments
Insurance			149		149		298			272
Phone			-		-		-			100
Zoom			156		-		156			144
Gifts			3,171		1,595		4,766			7,148
Food			813		536		1,349			3,708
Activities			176		42		218			117
Taxis			2,872		364		3,236			3,980
Venue hire - training			-		-		-			50
Volunteer expenses			125		-		125			67
DBS checks			400		-		400			300
Peoplesfundraisingfee			73		38		111			74
Fundraising					205		205			-
Facebook			-		-		-			50
Bank charges			5		5		10			11
Other			60		-		60			-
	Sub total		8,000		2,934		10,934			16,021
A4 Asset and investment purchases, (see table)
			-		-		-
			-		-		-
	Sub total		-		-		-			-
Total payments			8,000		2,934		10,934			16,021
Net of receipts/(payments)			1,220		5		1,225		-	1,279
A5 Transfers between funds							-			-
A6 Cash funds last year end			3,939		3,271		7,210			8,489
Cash funds this year end			5,159		3,276		8,435			7,210

Charity Name		No (if any)
South London Christmas Dinner		1195322
Receipts and payments accounts				CC16a
01/04/2024 Period start date For the period from	To	Period end date 31/03/2025

Section B Statement of assets and liabilities at the end of the	Section B Statement of assets and liabilities at the end of the	Section B Statement of assets and liabilities at the end of the	period
Categories Signed by one trustees on behalf of all the trustees B5 Liabilities B1 Cash funds	Triodos Details Total cash funds Signature Details (agree balances with receipts and payments account(s)) KRMoss	Unrestricted funds to nearest £ 5,159 - - 5,159 OK Fund to which liability relates		Total funds to nearest £
				8,435
				-
				-
				-
				-
				8,435
				-
				When due (optional)
	Signature	Print Name		Date of approval
	KRMoss	Kathleen Moss		14/10/2025