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2023-12-31-accounts

Registered Charity No. 1196406

Year End Report

2023

Table of Contents

1 Introduction 2 Suicide data 3 Progress to date 4 2022 - 2023 objectives 5 Our strategy 6 Our values 7 Our goals 8 Impact of MHFA 9 Events information/breakdown 10 The team growth 11 Some testimonials 12 Other data on who we supported 13 The finances 14 The future 15 Thank you’s

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Our supporters

Introduction

By Founder and the Chairperson Paul Oxborough

The charity Mental Health Motorbike came out of a promise I made at the funeral of my friend Dale Caffrey. Dale ended his life by suicide in October 2019 and it sent a tsunami of grief through his community. It started with myself (one man and his dog in his garage) and Dale’s best friend Jay Lucas and after lots of soul searching we went out to meet the motorbike community to ask one question “Is there an appetite for the motorbike community to engage with a mental health support?” The overwhelming answer was yes, and as a result motorbikes have become the tool which has enabled us to reach that high risk category of men aged between 20-49. It then developed to be more inclusive and is now an open charity that welcomes every type of rider - not just men.

The charity was born on 1st March 2020 just as covid arrived. A few months previously I met Andy Elwood and he sponsored us to go through the Mental Health First Aid training and we knew at once this course would really help bikers.

During the Covid Pandemic we trained over 100 bikers and we started to see the different ways they were engaging with mental health support of their peers and family. We realised just how important this charity was going to become as more and more bikers were opening up to us and we needed to expand and evolve.

It has taken over three years to grow the structure for the charity and now we are much more focused on our strategy with a new board of trustees and an exciting vision.

There are so many people who have played a pivotal role both historically, getting the charity to where it is today and those many volunteers who are now helping by turning up to events and supporting our cause. For this we are eternally grateful because you are part of the life saving legacy the charity is creating.

As a charity, our ultimate goal goes back to the promise I made to Dale’s family, to try and prevent other families going through the pain and grief we all have due to suicide. This never goes away as a single suicide leaves so many unanswered questions: could I, should I, what if... and there will never be a resolution to these questions. So we must be there for people before they see suicide as the only and very final option.

This report will share some of our work, the impact, the challenges, the way we are making a difference and we will share our financial position in the hope you will then join us and get involved in supporting what is a trailblazing, original and life saving charity which we are proud to call Mental Health Motorbike.

We recruited the charity board of trustees and eventually become a registered charity in November 2021. But really from day one we have been playing catch up due to the demand and interest in our charity.

PAUL OXBOROUGH

FOUNDER & CHAIR OF THE BOARD OF TRUSTEES

This was a real struggle in the early days as it meant far too many long days, then evenings spent supporting people who were really struggling being off their bikes due to lockdown restrictions.

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Data Source: Samaritans 2022

Suicide Data - UK

Our Charity Objects

To preserve and protect good mental health for the benefit of the public in particular but not exclusively among members of the motorbike community by providing services and events which:

Relieve those suffering from poor mental health Reduce the risk of suicide Support and enhance good mental health

The ways we are making a difference?

5 Ways to Wellbeing

Our charity focusses on the 5 ways to wellbeing

Connect with others Be active as a volunteer Keep learning Give something back Take notice in the here & now

This plays a huge part in our communities long term management of their own positive mental health wellbeing

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Progress To Date

M A T U R I N G A S A C H A R I T Y

K E Y M I L E S T O N E S

We have achieved a great deal in the two years we have been a charity. We have been developing a constantly evolving support structure which is very much dependent on our network of 50+ dedicated volunteers. True growth comes by having a clear strategy and measurable plan of our objectives and we recognise this and embrace it.

At the start of 2023 we agreed 4 core objectives (highlighted on the next page) and took a decision to build on everything we had learned so far. This also meant sometimes saying no to new projects and exciting offers coming from external stakeholders. These are on hold and will be revisited in 2024 with greater capacity to engage with them properly.

Capacity to deliver activities that support a charity’s goals is always one of the greatest challenges for a new charity. From day one we knew mental health support services were stretched and what the pandemic told us was our support would always be in big demand. In simple terms we always knew we were going to be busy.

So in order to meet this demand 2023 became the year we created our first set of clear goals and a vision for the future. This didn’t mean stopping the exciting work we were currently doing but managing it more effectively.

There are so many things to think about as the charity grows, policies and procedures, risk registers, good governance, managing the safety of our vulnerable community etc. But by keeping our strategy front and centre in our minds, we have a team of exceptional volunteers who are not only doing this but are enabling the charity to be seen as innovative, creative and very relevant and appropriate. We will now use all of the knowledge to secure more funding and resources to grow so we can meaningfully support more of our incredible biking community as we move towards 2024.

"I probably wouldn’t be here without you, definitely the best thing I did joining this group"

Peer Support Group Member - Jan 2023

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Our 2023 Objectives

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MENTAL HEALTH FIRST AID TRAINING

EVENTS

In early 2023 we set ourselves a very ambitious target to train 1000 mental health first aiders by the end of 2024 at a subsidised rate. We are on track with over 441 people trained.

The feedback from participants has been stunning both in terms of the increased confidence to be able to talk, and offer support to people in crisis, but also in some of the incredible stories we have heard, that have literally been lifesaving at times.

It has increased our network of trained volunteers many of who now work with us at events, help moderate our online group and help support other trainees going through their training.

We always wanted the charity to be grassroots and accessible to the biker community so doing lots of events where we could meet bikers needing support has been very important from day one of the charity being established.

In 2023 we did 174 face to face events and presentations across the whole of the UK. This achieves many things from strengthening our brand through positive visibility and building local relationships with organisations, retailers, clubs and individuals. We’ve noticed that meeting people at events speeds up the process of them opening up sooner on the online peer support group.

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FINANCIAL SECURITY

BULDING THE TEAM

The biggest challenge for most new charities is financial security. So we have worked exceptionally hard to ensure this doesn’t become a threat to our charities stability. We have developed meaningful relationships with the motorbike industry and clubs who have offered financial or ‘in kind’ support to help us maintain a healthy bank balance. By offering quality support many bikers have recommended we become their clubs nominated charity. We also have a wide range of merchandise which has brought in regular funds for the charity as well as a monthly subscription scheme for individuals.

In 2023 we have developed a model for bringing on our first regional corodinators. These volunteers will take a county region and build their own team of area coordinators, developing localised activities. If the model is successful it will give us the capacity to effectively grow the charity.

We have also recruited more charity trustees so the board currently has 5 members of the board, we can review the impact of this team and grow further if needed.

The growth of the team has really helped achieve objectives 1-3 and gives up greater capacity to offer more support and activity across the UK.

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Our Strategy

"Our charity empowers individuals facing mental health challenges through the unique use of the motorbike and simple but effective support. Mental Health Motorbike is dedicated to promoting mental well-being, breaking stigmas, and building a supportive community for bikers one ride at a time."

The previous objectives have driven the strategy as we move forward. But how did we arrive at these objectives ands what difference will they make to our end users the motorbike community?

MENTAL HEALTH FIRST AID TRAINING

In many ways this is the backbone to the charity, by training people in this 15 hour course it creates an greater understanding of mental heath, a toolkit to support people and a look at how to look after yourself. It means our volunteers can use this knowledge to support others. So a decision was taken in March 2020 this course would be instrumental in helping this community.

EVENTS

Being visible at lots of events has created a much broader brand awareness and recognition of our work. We have noticed people open up a lot quicker on the online support group if they have met us at a face to face event. We set a target of 150 events and actually hit 174! This is something we a very proud of.

FINANCIAL SECURITY

The biggest risk to any small unfunded charity is not having the funds to operate, so as a charity we have worked exceptionally hard to sell merchandise (which also creates greater brand awareness). We have delivered a large amount of presentations to clubs, retailers and organisations which has led to fundraising events for us and this has help us get a healthy bank balance to not only survive but to subsidise the £320+ mental health training course to £50 for individual bikers.

GROWING THE TEAM

We recognise in order to deliver on a national level to scale of the operation needed to be much bigger so we introduced our Regional and Area coordinator network. We also invested time into growing the Board of Trustees and as we move forward with the strategy they will take on difference spheres of responsibility to enable the charity to grow.

Page 5

Our Values

1

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CONNECTION – ‘BIKES ARE THE GLUE THAT HOLD US ALL TOGETHER’ – POOR MENTAL HEALTH IS COMMON & YOU ARE NOT ALONE. WE ARE HERE TO LISTEN AND SUPPORT

TOGETHER WITH THIS COMMUNITY AND STRATEGIC RELATIONSHIPS WE WILL ACT WITH COMPASSION AND EMPATHY TO FIND WAYS THAT ENCOURAGE, EMPOWER AND INNOVATE

BEING HUMAN – ‘WE ARE ALL AS INDIVIDUAL AS THE BIKES WE RIDE’ – WE ALL HAVE MENTAL HEALTH AND WE RECOGNISE LIVED EXPERIENCE & THE ROLE THIS PLAYS IN SUPPORTING EACH OTHER

WORKING IN PARTNERSHIP WITH OUR VOLUNTEERS AND COMMUNITY WE WILL ACT WITH NON-JUDGEMENT AND INCLUSIVITY; SEEING THE INDIVIDUAL AND NOT THE DIAGNOSIS.

INTEGRITY – ‘DESIGNED BY BIKERS FOR BIKERS’ – FOR ALL BIKERS, PAST & PRESENT

ALL VOLUNTEERS OF MHMB WILL ACT WITH INTEGRITY AND BE SUPPORTED BY THE TRUSTEES & THE CURRENT POLICIES AND PROCEDURES, THEY WILL ACT WITH TRANSPARENCY AND INTEGRITY

HOPE – ‘WE LOOK FORWARD TO THE JOURNEY AND ROAD AHEAD’

THERE IS ALWAYS HOPE AND A NEW TOMORROW WITH OUR COMMUNITY SHARING EXPERIENCES THAT SUPPORT ADAPTATION TO FIND OTHER WAYS TO GET AROUND OBSTACLES

MAINTENANCE & RECOVERY – ‘LOOKING AFTER OUR BIKE & OURSELVES KEEPS US RUNNING WELL’

THROUGH THE SUPPPORT OF OUR COMMUNITY WE WILL SUPPORT THOSE WHO ARE STRUGGLING, RECOGNISING THAT WHEN THEY ARE READY, THEY TOO WILL SUPPORT OTHERS

Page 6

Our Goals 2023-24

G O A L 1

G O A L 2

G O A L 3

G O A L 4

G O A L 5

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Wider Impact MENTAL HEALTH FIRST AID

2023 MENTAL HEALTH FIRST AID - YEAR END REPORT

In the later part of 2023 we won a grant from the National Lottery Community Fund (Wales) which will enable us to create a dedicated mental health support service for bikers, by bikers in Wales. Replicating the successful model used in England, this grant will allow us to:

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Wider Impact EVENTS INFORMATION

2023 EVENTS YEAR END REPORT

Face to face events are very important for our profile and for our community to come and see us for support. 174 events has been possible due to the growth of the regional and area teams. This will grow even further in 2024.

Total number of events: 174

Breakdown of events:

Throughout the year we supported a wide range of strategic Road Safety Partnerships such as Project Edward, Shiny Side up and the National Young Riders Forum. As well as projects such as DocBike. Biker Down and Bikesafe. We have trained bikers from ROSPA and IAM Roadsmart (advanced driving organisations) in Mental Health First Aid as well as doing awareness presentations with their teams nationally.

We are well respected within these circles and have been featured in many National publications reaching the motorbike community.

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Wider Impact TEAM GROWTH

Core Team Growth:

This is a huge area of growth for the charity and having this team of volunteers has created a very exciting new dynamic which shows what is possible as we move forward.

Impact and Testimonials:

Over 200+ positive testimonials from members receiving support on the peer support group have been collected throughout the year. Reading the testimonials really highlights from users what the peer support and charity means to them. The charity as a whole should be very proud of what support has been given. Some of the shorter testimonials can be seen on the following page.

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Testimonials

"Our charity builds mental health support by using motorbikes as a tool for engagement and creating a network of trained mental health first aiders who work as volunteers with the charity. Mental Health Motorbike is creating a community where individuals feel heard, supported, and empowered, where we create a stigma-free space and one where our community can talk openly about mental health."

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Wider Impact

OTHER DATA ON WHO WE SUPPORTED

This data sample was taken in Oct 2023 from Facebook Analytics

Online Peer Support Group:

Predominant membership age groupings:

Usage in the last 60 days: 951 members posted asking for support,

Motorcycle Live Event (data from the 9 days the event ran):

This was our 3rd year at Motorcycle Live and it is clear have the industry, retailers and the biker community are engaging with the charity. Very big thanks to MCIA for making this possible.

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Finances

Income Summary

Expenditure Summary

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The Future

T H E F U T U R E

We hope from this end of year report that the reach and impact of our amazing charity is evident. From day one the intention has always to do right by our community and we are learning from them everyday.

Our future is set by the needs of our community, and ensuring we deliver a safe and effective service requires us to look back over the past 2 years to take into account the learning to go forward. With this intention, the Trustees have begun to set out the future direction in the form of a strategic plan, encompassing such aspects as:

Our future is bright and with steady flow of income, and a focus on what is right and important we will continue to successfully evolve to offer support to our growing community.

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Thank You’s

But most importantly thank you to our amazing community who have reached out for support to deal with adversity life has thrown at them. Reaching out and asking for help is the hardest and biggest step you have taken. Thank you for trusting us to give you that support

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Independent examiner's report on the accounts

Section A
Independent Examiner’s Report		 Section A
Independent Examiner’s Report
Report to the trustees/
members of
On accounts for the
period ended
Set out on pages
Responsibilities and
basis of report
Independent
examiner's statement		 Charity Name
Mental Health Motorbike
31 December 2023
Charity no
(if any)
1196406
1 to 5 (One to Five) including this report
I report to the trustees on my examination of the accounts of the above
charity (“the Trust”) for the period ended 31 December 2023.
As the charity's trustees, 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.
I have completed my examination. I confirm that no material matters have
come to my attention in connection with the examination which gives me
cause to believe that in, any material respect:
the accounting records were not kept in accordance with section 130
of the Charities Act; or
the accounts did not accord with the accounting records; or
the accounts did 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.

Signed:
Name:
Relevant professional
qualification(s) or body
(if any):
Address:		 Darren Warren
Date:		 17/09/2024
Darren Warren – Paxton Independent Examiners
FMAAT
61a High Street South
Rushden
Northants, NN10 ORA

Section B Disclosure

Only complete if the examiner needs to highlight material matters of concern (see CC32, Independent examination of charity accounts: directions and guidance for examiners).

Give here brief details of any items that the examiner wishes to disclose .

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
		 









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		 
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		 


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

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






		 













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





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