## **Cholsey Volunteers Trust** **Registered Charity No. 1197845** **Trustees’ Annual Report 2022 Chair** : Mr Darren Evans The Cottage 10, Amwell Place Cholsey Wallingford Oxfordshire , OX10 9NZ **Names of Trustees** Mr. Darren Evans **Chair** Mr. John Wheeler **Treasurer** Mrs Minaz Beddall **Secretary** Mrs Eve Evans Mrs Vicky Beardall-Richards Mr Christopher Fry Mrs. Helen Powis **Bank** Lloyds Bank Newmarket Branch 48 High St, Newmarket CB8 8LF **Cholsey Volunteers Trust Annual Report 2022** **Page 1** ## **Governance** Cholsey Volunteers Trust was established as a Charitable Incorporated Organisation on 8 February 2022 and registered as charity no 1197845. This is our first Annual Report. The Trust was formed using the Foundation Model structure provided by the Charity Commission, and the seven founding trustees remained in post throughout the duration of the first year of operation. ## **Appointment of Trustees** The founding trustees were allocated fixed terms of office: two for one year, three for two years and two for three years. The first two, John Wheeler and Eve Evans, are due to stand down at the annual general meeting in May 2023, and may offer themselves for re-selection. ## **Policies and Procedures** To guide the Trustees in exercising its duty of care, the following policy statements have been adopted: - Safeguarding Policy - Data Protection Policy - Environmental Policy - Equal Opportunities Policy - Reserves Policy - Health and Safety Policy - Volunteer Drivers Policy - Volunteers Policy as well as a thorough range of employment policies Copies of these policies are available to Trustees and other interested parties. ## **Risk Management** The Trustees recognise that they are under a legal obligation to protect service users and employees through adequate and appropriate insurance, and suitable cover has been arranged by Macbeth Chartered Insurance Brokers of Theale in respect of public liability, employers’ liability, business interruption and legal assistance. The Trust also owns a vehicle which is covered by a different broker, Wrightsure of Fareham. ## **Objectives of the Charity** The objects clause in the constitution states that the charity has been set up for the public benefit, the relief of individuals in need, by reason of youth, age, ill-health, disability, **Cholsey Volunteers Trust Annual Report 2022** **Page 2** financial hardship or other disadvantage in Cholsey and the surrounding area through the provision of free and subsidised food and volunteer support services, including but not limited to, transport to appointments, assistance with collection of shopping and medication, befriending and advocacy ## **Principal Activities in Pursuit of Objectives** CVT has maintained the services which were outlined in the initial application, namely local transport, prescription deliveries, the delivery of meals on foot in association with the Day Centre. the running of the Food Bank, the development of the Community Larder in association with SOFEA, the development of an Advocacy and Support Hub with clearly defined terms of reference, and working with COPA, the Cholsey Befriending Group, to ensure that it continues to provide a welcome outlet for people who enjoy intermittent events like community meals, the Sunday afternoon teas and 'music and memory' days which are 'special events' within the current elderly persons provision. ## **Funding Strategy** It is the strategy of the Trustees to manage the revenue budget on a self-financing basis. This has been achieved In 2022 by donations from the public, fundraising events and in particular the efforts of John Hall, the local postman, who alone raised nearly £3500 by undertaking all manner of tasks and challenges. There were also several grants obtained for specific items such as the CVT vehicle from Great Western Railways, and grants from and through Oxfordshire Community Foundation. The Trustees are aware that the relatively healthy financial position has arisen through the generous grants freely available through the various lockdowns, and will now seek to expand the funding base by approaching local businesses and seeking wider community support through regular donations. The CVT ## **Volunteers’ Effort** The CVT Development Officer, the sole paid employee, has done a tremendous job maintaining the volunteer database over the first year of operation, and has been able to match the aspirations of volunteers with the opportunities available. This has led to the creation of a set of dedicated teams for the Community Larder and Food Bank which operate as almost autonomous units with little need for supervision. As a part of the longer term strategy, particularly for the Advocacy and Support Hub, we **Cholsey Volunteers Trust Annual Report 2022** **Page 3** shall be seeking to build up a database of pledged skills where people can offer expertise which may be called infrequently but prove invaluable. A key aspect of the volunteer effort, however, has been to ensure that volunteers are not taking on tasks which properly belong to statutory authorities or which lie outside the limits of competence. The Trustees are particularly aware of the risks of over-reaching and substitution. ## **Reserves Policy** The charity was fortunate insofar as another village charity, Cholsey Relief In Need was winding up its affairs at the time when the application for charitable status was being prepared, and the transfer of CRIN’s reserve of almost £21,000 enabled the Trust to set aside £20,000 as an agreed reserve for the long term. The aim is to maintain this, with provision for inflation, over the next five years while the Trust fully establishes itself. ## **Future Plans** A great deal of energy and time has gone, in the last four months, into the creation of Cholsey Warm Space. This is an initiative to ensure that the Pavilion attracts people to attend and make use of the fact that the building is maintained at 21 degrees throughout the winter. The programme has two days of Warm Space events, the Knit and Natter group on Fridays, and the Puzzles/Game Groups on Tuesday, but as we have found our feet we have started to offer all sorts of one-off events to attract people in, the most eagerly awaited of which is a presentation by the local Amwell Springs Brewery. Cholsey Pavilion is developing from a self-funding hire venue into a properly organised community hall in which CVT plays a central role in organisation. It has been able to employ someone to run the Warm Space whose role will transform over the next few months into something akin to an information Office for the village running the Cholsey InfoHub. There has always been a great deal happening in Cholsey, but a surprising lack of awareness of what provision already exists. The advantage of a centralised information point is that it can direct people to existing activities of which they were unaware, with the crucial advantage that most of these groups have their own networks and transport, thus addressing what will be a perennial problem in villages with a spread out population. The next project unfolding, with the help of funding from South Oxfordshire Housing **Cholsey Volunteers Trust Annual Report 2022** **Page 4** Association (SOHA) is the Slow Cooker Project which will distribute slow cookers on loan to families with limited means, and add these to a growing number of converts to slow cooking to ensure that people eat good hot food without too much cost.. We also provide food at the Community Larder using the vegetables and groceries on offer to help people broaden their cuisine. These are the current ‘known’ areas of expansion. CVT has shown itself extremely capable of identifying new opportunities as they present, and getting straight on the case with the guidance of the Development Officer and a pool of interested volunteers. We are sure that there are likely to be new ideas which come from left field and to which we shall respond as quickly as we have done to date. The trustees declare that they have approved the trustees’ report above. Signed on behalf of the charity’s trustees Darren Evans Full name Mr Darren Evans Position Chair Date 22nd May 2023 **Cholsey Volunteers Trust Annual Report 2022** **Page 5** ## **Independent Examiner’s Report** ## **to the Trustees and members of Cholsey Volunteers Trust** ## **for the year ended 31st December 2022** The charity’s trustees consider that the audit is not required for this year (under section 43(2) of the Charities Act 1993 (the Act)) and that an independent examination is needed. An examination includes a review of the accounting records kept by the charity and a comparison of the accounts presented with those records. It also includes consideration of any unusual items or disclosures in the accounts, and seeking explanations from the trustees concerning any such matters. The procedures undertaken do not provide all the evidence that would be required in an audit, and consequently I do not express an audit opinion on the accounts. In the course of my examination, no matter has come to my attention 1. which gives me reasonable cause to believe that in, any material respect, the trustees have not met the requirements to ensure that: - Proper accounting records are kept; and - Accounts are prepared which agree with the accounting records; or 2. to which, in my opinion, attention should be drawn in order to enable a proper understanding of the accounts to be reached. Date: 7[th] March 2023 **Cholsey Volunteers Trust Annual Report 2022** **Page 6** ## **Cholsey Volunteers Trust Registered Charity No. 1197845** ## **Receipts and Payments Account 9 Nov 2021 - 31 Dec 2022** ## **INCOME** ## **EXPENDITURE** |**Grants**|**45406.00**|| |---|---|---| |**Fundraising**|**6037.40**|| |**Donations**|**5769.99**|| |**Food Bank**|**2885.00**|| |**Sales**|**577.20**|| |**Other**|**2592.87**|| |**Warm Hub**|**8523.00**|| |||**71791.46**| |**Staff**|**16539.12**|| |**Pensions**|**1121.03**|| |**Vehicle**|**1332.93**|| |**Web Hosting**|**201.60**|| |**Telephone**|**80.55**|| |**Supplies**|**1906.41**|| |**Insurance**|**382.28**|| |**Premises**|**0.00**|| |**Food Bank**|**976.65**|| |**Other**|**1596.89**|| |**Community Larder**|**208.76**|| |**Warm Space**|**2057.02**|| |||**26403.24**| |**BALANCE**||**45388.22**| |**Represented by**||| |**Reserve C/D**||**20000.00**| |**Warm Hub C/D**||**6465.98**| |**Food bank C/D**||**2898.35**| |**Vehicle grant C/D**||**667.07**| |**Cash C/D to 2023**||**15356.82**| ||**Total**|**45388.22**| **Cholsey Volunteers Trust Annual Report 2019-2020 Page 7**