2024-04-05-accounts - Climate Action Hub Telford

This text was generated using OCR and may contain errors. Check the original PDF to see the document submitted to the regulator.

Annual Report for Climate Action Hub Telford for the period April 2023- April 2024

Climate Action Hub Telford

Registered Charity Number: 1197678 Address: 18 Little Meadow Close, Admaston, Telford Shropshire TF5 0DN

Charity Objectives

The object of the CIO is the advancement of environmental protection or improvement. Specifically:

For the benefit of the public in the Telford and Wrekin area the advancement of environmental protection, in particular, but not exclusively by the promotion of waste reduction, re-use, repair, recycling, use of recycled products and the use of surplus.
To advance the education of the public about sustainable waste management and reducing their consumption of waste by working with other groups to provide education, advice and support about climate and ecological issues .

Governance

The charity is a Charitable Incorporated Organisation (CIO) governed by a constitution based on the ‘Foundation’ model and dated 19th December 2022 .

Throughout the year April 2023-March 2024 the charity held online public meetings once a month which external supporters were welcome to attend where we discussed preparations for our events including those organised by other organisations, follow up from past events and any other business. The zoom link to the meeting was sent to everyone on our mailing list in our newsletter (approx 200 people). Minutes are taken of these meetings.

The charity holds a Trustee meeting once a month where the charity business is discussed including finances, recruitment of trustees and volunteers, comms and admin (including GDPR and IT issues), training and policy needs, services the Hub provides or intends to provide. Minutes are taken of these meetings.

Trustees

The charity’s constitution allows it to have at least three charity trustees. There is no maximum number of charity trustees that may be appointed to the CIO. However the Appointed Trustees named in the Constitution can appoint a further 3 nominated trustees. 3 of the original appointed Trustees could serve a 2 year term with one appointed trustee serving a 4 year term. Nominated Trustees serve two year terms. Any charity trustee who has served for two consecutive terms may not be reappointed for a third consecutive term but may be reappointed after an interval of at least one year.

Changes to the Charity’s Trustees during the period of this report

Attempts have been made to recruit more trustees during this period either by existing trustees approaching potential candidates already known to them and via an online advert placed via NCVO on Trustees Unlimited website in August- September 2023. This has not yet been successful.

Appointed Trustee Steve Smith agreed to stand down and not be reappointed on 8/1/24 after serving one 2 year term which had come to an end.

At the end of the reporting period the Trustees were as follows:

Appointed Trustees:

Juliet Soria (Chair) in 3rd year of 4 year term. First Term due to end after 4 years 3/12/25 Fiona Morgan (Secretary) Reappointed Trustee on 8/1/24 for another 2 year term Jane Bundy (Treasurer) Reappointed Trustee on 8/1/24 for another 2 year term

Nominated Trustees

Elizabeth Pinfield Wells (in 2nd year of 1st 2 year term). First term due to end after 2 years 20/12/24

Volunteers

Over time we have recruited volunteers to support us at our Sustainable Sunday events, most of them are known to the Trustees already or via known connections. By March 2024 we had 3 volunteers who had supported us at our events (doing washing up, assisting with serving, clearing dishes, holding a climate cafe). Volunteers complete a basic details form with emergency contact and are provided with emails about the events they are supporting at including risk assessment, timetable and activities being held.

Financial review

The Charity’s main income comes from:

donations from our own events (e.g. Sustainable Sundays);
donations from events we attend as stall holders organised by other organisations (e.g. Repair, Reuse, Recycle events held in partnership with Telford Repair Cafe)
one off donations from other organisations (e.g. Friends of Bowring Park) and from donations and fundraisers from other groups we have provided talks/activities to (e.g. Landau);
from the Telford and Wrekin Council Climate Change grant that was successfully applied for in December 2022 to be spent over 12 months for the purposes of setting up a physical hub. We experienced challenges during 2023 with trying to set up a physical hub in Wellington due to personnel capacity, locating suitable premises and costs associated with renting premises etc. It was agreed with Telford and Wrekin Council Sustainability Team (who manage the grant scheme) during autumn 2023 that we could amend the use of the grant from setting up a physical hub in Wellington to providing monthly Sustainable Sunday events in a community centre in Wellington for as long as the monies would last which would be beyond the original 12 months.
Payments are also received from items donated at our events which are subsequently sent off to Terracycle recycling, Recycling for Good Causes, Empties please, selling books, CDs and DVDs donated to us to Ziffit (the trading arm of World of Books a UK based B Corp company who reuse these items).

At the start of the year the bank balance was £11031.22

Total income during the year was £ £2109.97

Total expenditure for the year £3372.47

At the end of the year the Charity had a bank balance of £9189.90

Carried forward for projects ongoing £6568.05 remaining of the Telford and Wrekin Council grant.

Achievements

In 2023 CAHT continued to provide a minimum of one event a month to the residents of Telford and Wrekin which are consistent with our charitable objectives. At all our events we discuss the purpose of reusing things with the public to reduce carbon emissions, save waste from going to landfill/incineration and help us to share resources.

These events include our:

Swap and Giveaways which we do in conjunction with Telford Repair Cafe and Terracycle Telford at various community centres around the borough and also our own events including swap events at Wellington Market, at Enginuity part of Ironbridge Museums, at Wellington Summer Fayre, and Madeley Christmas Fayre. Some of our swaps focus on specific items (clothes, Christmas items), others are generic for any items, some are garden related scrap stores and tree seedling/plant giveaways in partnership with Transition Telford.
Talks to young people at Landau (educational provision in Wellington), and adults attending a community group in Ketley
Supported a gardening day initiative at a local PODS groups who support families with children with additional needs
Sponsored film showings at Wellington Orbit as part of COP28 (Dec 2023) and Wellington Green Festival (we organised Wellington’s First Green Festival in August 2023 which was sadly cancelled due to the weather but the film showing went ahead).

From January 2024 we also started an additional monthly Sustainable Sunday event held at Belmont Hall Community Centre in Wellington. We invited local groups to participate and provide activities/advice/information according to the events’ themes listed below. All events include a swap and giveaway, eco library (where people can borrow books on climate and environmental issues), plant based food and drink options (pay as you can), recycling facilities including Terracycle, Recycling for Good Causes who take stamps, jewellery, foreign currency etc, leaflets of local groups engaged in environmental /sustainability initiatives.

January: Get the year off to a green start (film showing and local groups covering all themes invited to have an information stand and recruit to their organisations) plus climate cafe
February: energy efficiency at home event
March: eco arts and craft activities for all ages

These event were held in one location: Belmont Hall which is central to Wellington, 5 minutes walk from the bus station and train station, next to a well used public car park with passing footfall heading to and from the town. This enabled us to attract new people to our events and break out beyond our regular attendees. At the events we tallied the weight of items donated, and counted the number of items taken to provide an indication of the amount of waste saved from

landfill/rehomed. The plant based refreshments including hot and cold lunch options encouraged people to attend and stay for longer, the cafe area became a place which facilitated social connections particularly for older people attending by themselves. It also provided a learning experience about plant based food and alternatives which some people had not tried before.

Details of all our activities are presented on our website under the events and gallery pages. https://climateactionhub.org.uk/

We send out a newsletter at least once a month to notify people about our events and other eco and climate related events and opportunities happening locally that the readership may be interested in. We also advertise our events and follow up to social media (Facebook/Instagram).

17th January 2025