2024-10-31-accounts - Rbkares

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RBKARES (Charitable lncorporated Organisation)

LEGAL AND ADMINISTRATIVE INFORMATION

CHARITY NUMBER 1197621 DATE OF REGISTRATION 21st January 2022 START OF FINANCIAL PERIOD 1[st] November 2023 END OF FINANCIAL PERIOD 31st October 2024 TRUSTEES Pippa Coe Miranda Gibson (appointed 17[th] June 2024) Tess Green Beatrix Kenyon (chair) Samantha Lord (resigned 13[th] February 2024) Jane Watson (treasurer) (appointed 2nd August 2022) LEGAL STATUS CIO - Foundation Registered 21st January 2O22 GOVERNING INSTRUMENT Charitable lncorporated Organisation CORRESPONDENCE ADDRESS 46 Norbiton Avenue, Kingston upon Thames, KT1 3QR PRIMARY BANKERS NatWest, 73 High Street, Walton-on-Thames, KT12 1DW INDEPENDENT EXAMINER Michelle Roberts, 10 Courtlands Rd, Surbiton, KT5 8PL

Annual Report Oct 2023 – Oct 2024

The board of trustees has pleasure in presenting RBKares trustees’ report and financial statement for the year ended 31 October 2024. RBKares remains a fully volunteer-run charity that creates social change, tackles inequality and makes the community a kinder, better place to live. We were delighted to continue to support the Kingston community by building stronger relationships with local services to support more residents as we identify their needs to make a difference to their lives.

Summary of Purpose

RBKares connects kindness and generosity in the Kingston community with vulnerable people and key-workers. We focus on providing support to NHS staff, care homes as well as vulnerable groups such as those on low income, refugees and rough sleepers. We use the community's sewing and crafting skills to make items to support people in our community, run sewing workshops and we run monthly wellbeing days empowering people to help themselves. Our mission is to address local need in the Royal Borough of Kingston-upon-Thames and make a lasting impact in our community by bringing Kingston residents and services together to support community members in need. We want to make a difference on a personal level, by plugging support gaps or by complementing local services to support community members.

Summary of the Main Activities

Wellbeing Days:

The RBKares Wellbeing days continue to be popular monthly events supporting the guests of the Cambridge Road Estate foodbank, low income families, asylum seekers, refugees, substance users and rough sleepers, by bringing over 15 local services to support their mental, physical, financial and digital health. By having all these services in one place, where people are gathered for food, attendees can readily access the help they really need. These include Dentaid Dental charity bus, Mind in Kingston, the Samaritans, Royal borough of Kingston (RBK) Benefits support, RBK skills and employment/We Are Digital, RBK Get Active, RBK Adult Education, Superhighways, Foot care, NHS roving vaccination team, Health checks, Kick-it smoking cessation service, Kingston Churches Action on Homelessness (KCAH), SPEAR, Dr Bike from Kingston Cycling Campaign and Full Cycle Community Bike Project. We continued to distribute household goods and toiletries plus preloved clothes, as well as free access to different types of reusable and disposable period products through our partnership with Hey Girls.

In June 2024 we teamed up with the St Georges Hepatitis fibroscan team who check for blood bourne viruses and do liver scans. In September 2024 we teamed up with the Oral Health Promoter team from King’s College Hospital who regularly attend to give oral health advice. Prior to the election, we helped make residents attending the Wellbeing day aware of the paperwork they would need in order to vote.

The Wellbeing days had a very smooth move to Kingston Churches Action on Homelessness following a fire at Queen Mary Hall. This strengthened our partnerships and introduced some new local residents to the event. Through partnering with Surbiton High School, we were able to distribute 150 toy filled shoeboxes to those in need over Christmas.

With grants from the The Brothers Trust, the NHS, the Cambridge Road Estates Community Chest, The Co-op Branch Managers and Kingston Voluntary Action, we continue to be able to offer dentistry, bikes, a good range of toiletries and underwear while increasing the range of people who are eligible for our energy vouchers. RBKares teamed up with Kingston Charitable Foundation to produce a ‘Hot lunch leaflet’ which lets residents know where they can get food, a hot meal or hot drink, on every day of the week. This is updated every 3 to 4 months.

Over 29 months, we've gained the trust of attendees and created an atmosphere where they feel comfortable asking for help. These collaborations have become a real asset to our community and they continue to develop. The services and charities that attend Wellbeing days find them a good way to engage with people who are normally hard to reach.

Refugee sewing workshop / Sue Sewell Sewing workshop:

RBKares continues to run weekly sewing workshops with asylum seekers and refugees from many different countries at the Refugee Action Kingston community hub at St. John’s Church each Wednesday. Over 32 months RBKares volunteers have created a friendly, collaborative group where language is not such a barrier – these workshops have been transformational in terms of camaraderie, confidence, skills and integration into the community. A team of volunteers sets up 10-12 sewing machines, overlockers, donated fabric and notions and support those attending to make clothing, do alterations, sew decorative items, make thermal cooking bags and build strong friendships. With a high number of volunteers, a lot of fun is had while the refugees get creative. With a grant from the Kingston Charitable Foundation, each refugee was given a Fabricland voucher so that they could choose their own fabrics. These were given out during a Mayoral visit. We also team up with the Ahmadiyya Muslim Community who cook Biryani for our end of term sessions and for celebrations.

The death of one our volunteers and key teacher in December 2023, was a shock to all the team and refugees. Each refugee now has a full sewing kit in her memory to enable them to sew at home. The workshop is named after her.

We continue to support refugees in the borough and those in temporary accommodation with advice and emergency support and household items to make them more comfortable. With a kind donation from the John Lewis Community Fund we were able to lay on a great Christmas party with a visiting Santa for asylum seekers in a hotel in Kingston. The trust we have developed means that many refugees and asylum seekers are now volunteering with us.

Supporting Kingston Hospital:

RBKares continues to support staff at Kingston Hospital with a variety of projects to boost morale or provide staff with items to help them support their patients.

During this year we continued delivering baked goods from the community to the hospital every week, boosting this at times of increased strain. The volunteers added 120 worry pockets to gowns on small teddies to give children, encourage them to talk about their worries. They also made small ‘bravery’ bags to give to children having invasive procedures. We delivered Christmas presents for patients who were in hospital over Christmas. The volunteers continue to sew and embroider bespoke scrubs for the chaplaincy. We make and fill bags with treats for ‘Cancer Nurse Day’. We made cushions for the chemotherapy rooms as well as syringe driver bags to make it easier for patients to move around during treatment. RBKares volunteers knitted hundreds of chicks and rabbits to put on Easter eggs which the play-therapists distributed through the hospital. Our volunteers continue to make items for the neonatal unit e.g. bonding squares, hats and blankets. A team of 27 RBKares volunteers raised £4,507 on the Kingston Hospital Night to Remember walk in September, raising much needed funds for their bereavement services. We made scrunchies, lavender bags and worry worms to be given out to in-patients at Tolworth Hospital. We also made bags which were filled with stationary, crafts items and worry worms for Child and Adolescent Mental Health Services unit at Tolworth Hospital. Our volunteers made bags that we filled with various fidgets, sweets, colouring books and items to distract and help ground children attending A&E who are suffering from anxiety and poor mental health who are being supported by the Child and Adolescent Mental Health Service Services staff at Kingston Hospital.

Warmer in Winter project:

We repeated the success of last year’s winter’s Warmer in Winter project which helped lowincome residents keep warm. Our incredible volunteers knitted or crocheted hundreds of blankets, scarves and hats, and we bought thermal socks and gloves, hot water bottles, thermal travel mugs, torches, cuppa soup, drinks sachets, gifts and collected information leaflets and cards from school children. The bags were packed by volunteers at the Kingston Liberal Synagogue as part of their Mitzvah day. 280 of these bags were distributed to vulnerable or elderly Kingston residents through local services and charities we work with including SPEAR, Voices of Hope, Foodbanks, Refugee Action Kingston, Alfriston Outreach, local Churches, schools and Kingston Young Carers Project.

Care Homes:

Our fourth Christmas care home project proved extremely popular with Kingston residents. Care home staff and key workers let us know the hobbies or likes of their residents who have no family to buy gifts for them, and through posting on social media, community members are matched to care home residents. These are collated in a central point and sorted into specific care homes and distributed by volunteers, alongside thousands of cards from local schools.

Refuge:

We have developed a partnership with the domestic violence charity, Refuge and been delivering furniture to those moving into their accommodation. We are discussing regular donations of ‘starter sets’ for those arriving at the houses.

Fidget mat group:

This group of quite astonishing ladies continues to meet on alternate weeks. They are the main source of knitted, crocheted and sewn items for all the RBKares projects and are a force to be reckoned with. They are very creative and produce an incredible amount of handcrafted goods. They sewed cushions with large emotion wheels on them for the counselling rooms at the Child and Adolescent Mental Health Service at Tolworth. Together with the wider community and the New Malden Methodist wives’ group, they knitted around 400 hats for a Christmas tree of hats for All Saints Church Festival of trees and a second tree where those in need could take a hat for themselves. Many beautiful hand-made items were crafted for our first Dragon boat stall where we raised over £1,000. They crocheted 120 ‘möbius/infinity’ loops for a school supporting autistic children and 100s of fidget squares and mazes for children with special educational needs. The ladies also knitted traditional figures for the clients supported by Alfriston Outreach. The age range runs from around 38-94, though most are above 70 and between them, they spend an extraordinary 15,000 hours knitting and sewing for us each year. Many enjoyed the thank you party we held at Alfriston, celebrating our second year of becoming a registered charity.

The trustees would like to express their utmost thanks to the wonderful contribution made by all the volunteers over the year. They have given their time and skills, from sewing, knitting, and crocheting to designing and teaching, sourcing and transporting, and to supporting the vulnerable people in our community through various events. Without this fabulous contribution of time, energy and expertise, we would not have been able to achieve what we have; they have helped create social change, tackled inequality and made our community a kinder, better place to live.

The success of our Wellbeing days earnt us a Frances Moseley Award for commitment to communities. RBKares was a finalist in the Best Charity at the Kingston Business Borough Awards and won a Partnership award with Refugee Action Kingston in the Kingston Council Celebrating Communities award. We ran a successful Jumblebee Auction raising nearly £2,300. The Sewing Angels chose RBKares as one of the recipients of funds raised by their sales. RBKares is looking forward to collaborating with more services and charity partners in future to support Kingston residents in need.

Objectives for the year ahead:

Our main objectives for the year ahead include:

Making our services accessible to more people, especially those considered “hard to reach” and ensuring that the environment at our Wellbeing days is always welcoming to all.
Developing partnerships with more organisations to make our Wellbeing days deliver still stronger impact.
Explore running Wellbeing days on a different day.
Recruiting more volunteers, particularly for the Wellbeing days and to assist with central admin functions.
Set up new hosting for website and emails.
Developing a 1-, 3- and 5-year business plan to enable us to demonstrate our sustainability to funding bodies.
Developing a succession plan.

I would like to thank all the charities, companies and groups that have made all these projects possible with the help of our trustees and volunteers.

Beatrix Kate Kenyon Chair

2 July 2025

Receipts and Payments Account

Income Donations - restricted - Care Homes Donations - restricted - coffee machine Donations - restricted - Fidget mats Donations - restricted - Hospital fleeces Donations - restricted - Kindness kits Donations - restricted - Refugee Sewing Donations - restricted - scrubs Donations - restricted - wellbeing Donations - restricted - Winter Warmer Donations - unrestricted TOTAL DONATIONS Interest income TOTAL RECEIPTS Expenditure Expenses - restricted - Care Homes Expenses - restricted - coffee machines Expenses - restricted - Fidget mats Expenses - restricted - Hospital fleeces Expenses - restricted - Kindness kits Expenses - restricted - Refugee Sewing Expenses - restricted - scrubs Expenses - restricted - wellbeing Expenses - restricted - Winter Warmer Expenses - unrestricted TOTAL CHARITABLE EXPENSES Admin costs TOTAL PAYMENTS Surplus for the accounting period	12 months ended 31 Oct 2024 284 - - - 1,000 2,859 - 15,743 3,896 10,595 34,378 - 34,378 - - 153 - 1,120 3,142 5 23,370 6,341 2,516 36,648 - 36,648 2,270 -	12 months ended 31 Oct 2023 583 100 - - - 3,000 - 9,000 9,924 10,186
		32,792 0
		32,793
		186 151 61 - 921 2,337 260 8,531 5,520 -
		17,968 1,059
		19,027

		13,766

Statement of Assets and Liabilities

Statement of Assets and Liabilities
Current assets Debtors Cash Current liabilities Creditors NET ASSETS Reserves Restricted Unrestricted TOTAL RESERVES	31 Oct 2024 20 23,078 0 23,099 1,512 21,586 23,099	31 Oct 2023 22 25,349 2
		25,369
		11,862 13,507
		25,369

These accounts were approved by the Trustees on 2 July 202 5 .

Independent examiner's report on the accounts

Section A Independent Examiner’s Report

Report to the trustees/ Charity Name RBKares members of On accounts for the 1 November 2023 – 31 October 2024 Charity no 1197621 accounting period (if any) Set out on pages 6-7

I report to the trustees on my examination of the accounts of the above charity (“the Trust”) for the year ended 31/10/2023.

Responsibilities and As the charity trustees of the Trust, you are responsible for the preparation basis of report 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 the applicable Directions given by the Charity Commission under section 145(5)(b) of the Act.

Independent I have completed my examination. I confirm that no material matters have examiner's statement come to my attention in connection with the examination which gives me cause to believe that in, any material respect:

accounting records were not kept in accordance with section 130 of the Act or
the accounts do not accord with the accounting records

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

Signed: Name: Relevant professional qualification(s) or body (if any): Address:		3 July 2025

	Michelle Roberts

	Institute of Chartered Accountants of England and Wales Member 1589891

	10 Courtlands Road
	Surbiton
	KT5 8PL

October 2018

IER