Sarah's Star Trustee's Report and Financial Statements For the period ended 31 January 2024 OFFICIAL
Foreword It is with immense pleasure. on behalf of the Trustees of Sarah's Star as Chair that I present the inaugural annual report of the Charity. A huge amount of time and commitment by some very special people have enabled us to get to this point. The Trustees are extremely grateful to each and every one of you. Sarah's Star provides a wide range of holistic therapies including meditation, massage, reiki, art. music and beauly therapy, counselling, and yoga. We also host death cafes and talks to normalise the conversation around palliative and end of life care. We work with local hospitals, schools, and universities to reframe these topics and try and alleviate some of the fear that can be associated when facing an incurable or palliative diagnosis. The reason we do this is because of the lived experience of one inspirational individual who I would like to share this foreword with. A message from Sarah Harrison, founder of Sarah's Star. "My Name Is Sarah Harrison,. l am hoping to make life a little easier for people who have been given a palliative diagnosis. I was initially diagnosed with Breast Cancer at the age of 35 in 2016. 1 went through 7 months of pretty gruelling treatment, and thankfully, I went into remission. This lasted until the beginning of 2019 when I found out that the cancer had returned, as secondary breast cancer which is in my bones and liver and this time it is incurable. Although this was a devastating blow, I tell myself that palliative doesn't always mean your life is immediately over. No two days are the same as on a good day, l am upbeat, I feel energised and full of hope for a life where I can make a difference. Sometimes I feel unstoppable with great passion for positivity. I feel so grateful for what I have in that moment, and l just want to help people like me to feel that they're not alone. At times I have feelings of uncertainty. Through talking to other people in similar situations I've learnt that we are all unique in dealing with our illnesses, there is no right or wrong way but having support and being able to support others can make it more manageable. Because of my own situation. I feel very passionale about helping other people which sparked the idea of developing a holistic seNice which has become Sarah's Star. Sarah's Star is a community for people who are living with or affected by incurable illnesses to have support and give support to each other. It could be anything from being somewhere you can drop in to escape everyday life, to lending support {no matter how small) to other people. If you would like to get involved in any way. get in touch to come for a cuppa, help us develop our ideas or make a donation. We offer services. such as.. nice and easy Pilates, meditationlmindfulness, Armchair warriors, facials, crafts, music floristry. journaling, and we host regular death cafes- this is a group where you can openly task about death and dying without judgement, you can talk about your hopes and fears with people who understand how it feels to be in your shoes. It is very overwhelming to feel completely useless, like you have nothing left to give to the world because you have been affected by illnesses, that's why I have sel up OFFICIAL
Sarah's Star, a place where you Can feel comfortable and accepted just the way you are. An illness or diagnosis can take so much away but at Sarah's Star I want everyone to feel they are of some use. There are days we may feel we have nothing to give but even sharing that detail with someone could help them to realise Ihal they are not alone in that thought and together we can keep shining through the dark times. We Vnt people to feel purposeful and not let their illness dictate their happiness. We would love to welcome you to our community space at the Linskill centre and really appreclate your supporL Liam Milligan Sarah Harrison Chair Founder OFFICIAL
Sarah's Star Reference and administrative information For the period ended 31 January 2024 Status Sarah's Star registered as a Charitable Incorporated Organisation (CIO) on 13th January 2023. Charity Number 1201570 Registered Office ROOM 11 The Lin5kill Centre Linskill Terrace North Shiels NE30 2AY Trustees Liam Milligan Sharon Turnbull Brian Morrison Joanne Dunn Sarah Trevena Chair (appointed 13th January 20231 Treasurer (appointed 1st September 2023) Trustee (appointed 13th January 2023) Secretary {appointed 131h January 2023) Trustee (appointed 131h January 20231 Founder Sarah Harrison Founder & CEO Bankers Natwest 250 Bishopsgate. London EC2M 4AA Independent Examiner Jason Mclntosh Chartered Accountant OFFICIAL
Sarah's Star CIO - FOUNDATION Registered 13 Jan 2023 Trustees Annual Report 2024 Year Ending 31st January 2024 Structure, governance and management. Sarah's Star was founded by Sarah Harrison, a beautiful mum of two gorgeous children who was diagnosed with incurable breast cancer in 2019. It was registered as a Charitable Incorporated Organisation ICIOI on the 13th January 2023. The charity has a Board of Trustees currently comprising five members with a range of skills including HR. Finance. ICT, Project & People Management and Charity Governance. The charity is governed by a Foundation Constitution. The Trustees Annual Report sets out the charities primary purpose, activity and financial position following its first year. The Trustees are satisfied that we have complied with our duty to have due regard to the commission's public benefit guidance when exercising any powers or duties to which the guidance is relevant. Primary purpose The relief of need of those with an incurable illness. palliative or terminal diagnosis through the delivery of holistic servIs, educational resources and support for people affected by such a diagnosis. Our Vision A place for everyone to express the emotions and eXperIenS that come with palliative and incurable illness diagnosis. Our Mission To create a community for people, their families and health professionals in palliative care and living with incurable illnesses, a safe space to voice and act upon the feelings experienced at such an uncertain time. OFFICIAL
Our Values Community: coming together through shared eXperIenS Positivity: recognising the joy in living no matter how long you have left Courage.. to express exactly how you are feeling Honesty.. not being afraid to ask for what you want We will provide specialist support, assistan, and information directly or indirectly to people affected by palliative or incurable illness diagnosis, to further and build awareness, education, and research about this type of diagnosis- to promote and influence effective care, involvement and support for people affected by such a diagnosis. This will be achieved by.. Providing support and services to individuals with a diagnosis such as altemative therapies e.g., yoga, art, meditation and mindfulness, death cafés. Providing a building andlor suitable SpaS. a collaborative hub within which to deliver the services and support. Providing advocacy, advice, information, and training. This would include to professionals, family members and the wider public on the lived experience of people wth a diagnosis to remove the stigmas and help normalise speaking about the subject and promote best practice. Provide support to individuals through a loan scheme for suitable equipment to enhance their quality of life e.g. VR headsels. Provide support to relevant organisation by providing equipment which would enhan the services andlor treatment of the client group. Sponsor or support research in this area. Employ approprtate human resourGes to support the purposes and objects of the Gharity. Key activities Secured the Charities registered office and community hub at.. ROOM 11 THE LINSKILL CENTRE LINSKILL TERRACE NORTH SHIELS NE30 2AY Refurbished and equipped the new hub to facilitate the delivery of altemative therapies and provide a safe and relaxed space to meet. Ran a successful social media campaign to fundraise and secure donations of equipment to achieve the above refurbishment. OFFICIAL
Delivered a programme of alternative therapies and activities in our new community hub and at locations across the community incluijing.. Armchair Warriors- seated low impact exercise class. Knit & Natter- offers well-being Spa and afternoon of knitting and of course nattering! Mindfulness Beginners Course-6 weeks, an introduction to Mindful living. Mindfulness Mastery Course- 6-week adventure and deep dive into advanced mindfulness. o Silk Painting Workshop-A casual group where you can relax and be creative. o Hula Hooping Classes- Encourage you to try on and off body hooping, and even if it goes wrong. you can just dance along to the music. Gentle Pilates- Steph, the tutor, believes that Pilates can benefit all, its just finding the best way to harness the benefits for your body and personal situation. Bereavement Café- provides a safe and welcoming space to talk freely or just listen to others who have experienced loss in their lives. Tabletop Gaming Club- offers a place to come and play a variety of board games. MusicAppreciation Drop-ln Group- This group is for people who appreciate music and want to come along and listen to or join in by singing or bring your own instrument. Creative Writing with Write on the Tyne-A casual group where you can relax and be creative. Death Café - A gathering to talk freely and explore feelings related to death and dying. Creative Writing with Write on the Tyne-A casual group where you can relax and be creative. Crafts- Candle Making, Card Making, Wory Monsters, Needle Felt Hearts, Mindful Advent Calendars, Fabric Flowers. Resin Pendant and Marbling workshop and Crafts for kids. Reiki, Reflexology. and relaxing Facials- relax, unwind, and pamper yourself with these lovely treatments. Journal making workshop - make your own gratrtude joumals and look for the glimmers at the end of each day, reminding you of all you have to be grateful for. o Floristry - Christmas Centre Pieces and Wreaths. Art therapy- Silk painting, Mandala Stone Art Hosted the Official launch of the charity and open day al our new hub on Saturday 9th September 2023. This was a fun filled day of activity with loads to do for everyone and a host of market stalls showing the talent and products of local entrepreneurs. We are grateful to everyone who came along to lebrate OFFICIAL
with us. We are especially grateful to all the stall holders for being there. Thanks also to the local business community for sponsoring prizes andlor donating towards the success of the day. Networking and collaboration Sarah's Star places immense value in neorkIng and collaborating with like- minded organisations, groups, and the corporate sector to build awareness about incurable illness, palliative or terminal diagnosis and create synergies that will benefit service users. Over the last year we collaborated with the following organisations.. Jane Dennison CEO from Dragonfly Trust and member of Tyneside Rotary Club invited Sarah and Chris to a charity ball where their neOrkIng and enabled them to make contact with North Tyneside Rotary club, who now raise money regularly for Sarah's Star. Maureen Elliott founder and CEO from live well with cancer. Sarah'5 Star meets with Maureen regularly and has discussed how they will work in collaboration with Maureen going forward on Drum Therapy and other initiatives. Maggie from Coping with canr and Wendy from Cancern hosted a training day and Sarah's Stsr was invited to hold a stall and it was a great way to showcase Sarah's Star and network. Dying Matters week - Sarah's Star hosted a Death café in St Cuthberts Chapel and Northumbria University. Sarah and Nicky from My Zen days collaborated and shared a podcast they did on Dying Matters Awareness week to help break the taboo of talking about death and open the conversation so people facing incurable illnesses and their families don't have to go through it alone. Shape your life group Strabane held a coffee morning and jumble sale with all proceeds going to Sarah's Star and it was covered by the local newspaper The Strabane Chronicle. Sarah has done an interview with Health UK radio show to discuss incurable illnesses and promote the Charity and the ServIS offered to help manage illness. Sarah has been interviewed by Newcastle Chronicle and told her story and promoted Sarah's Star. Sarah's old work colleagues from Siemens have fundraised the last two years by completing yearly 15-mile walks. Stephen Mason has completed the Great North Run 3 years in a row. Tracey Thompson completed the Great North Run, Liway Ritson completed the Brighton Marathon and Stu Trevena completed The OFFICIAL
Manchester Marathon. They all raise substantial amounts for Sarah's star. Dr Kathryn Mannix guest speaker at Sarah's Star Death Café, author of With the End in Mind and Listen. Dr Mannix has spent her whole career working alongside dying people and learning from them and wants to share her wisdom with the world. Living Meaningfully and Dying Joyfully guest speaker at the Death Cafe with Buddhist Monk Gen Kelsang Sherab from the Compassionate Centre Newcaslle. Sarah met with Pam Ransom Head of the Palliative Unit who is responsible for the nurses, Macmillan, Rapid Response. Pam has encouraged her nurses to attend Death cafes and use Sarah's Star services, NHS nurses took the opportunity to listen to 5-minute meditations that will change your life with Nicky from my Zen Days in collaboration with Sarah's Star. Sarah has shared experience to medical staff as a patient with lived experience and has spoken at Northumbria University to new nurses and talk to the trainee psychology department and share how she manages to live her life positively. Sarah was a guest speaker at an NHS North Tyneside Oncology away day where she shared her experience of receiving care from the unit and NHS staff. Sarah provided a perspective from lived experience with cancer. This was followed up with a death café for the attendees and reiVed fantastic feedback. Cllr Cath Davis nominated Sarah's Star and we achieved a Spirit of North Tyneside award from North Tyneside Council for supporting families in the community. This was presented by Dame Norma Redfearn Mayor of North Tyneside. Sarah is collaborating with Author from Write on the Tyne -Helen Atkinson and did a creative writing class for Sarah's Star. Volunteer Amy a qualified florist has dedicated lots of her time to running crafts and floristry workshops for Sarah's Stsr. Bonnie Lass Creation- Christmas Wreaths. Tesco's have provided flowers for the floristry sessions and the knit & natter group made a Christmas topper for the post box in Tesco's. The Co-op have provided refreshments for Sarah's Stsr and the bigger events and donated bereavement books for the library and a cheque for £500. Morrisons donated refreshments for the Sarah's Star launch day. Asda donated £400 to Sarah's Star to cover the cost of the Christmas Floristry Session. OFFICIAL
Benevity donated £1000 to Sarah's Stsr as part of their Advent Calendar of donations. Nestle have donated £1500. Triex - an award-winning infrastructure ¢ompany specialising in power. fibre and civil engineering projects have Sarah's Star as their Corporate Charity and have been busy fundraising for the charity by completing half marathons. Maggie from the craft room has run workshops on Resin pendant, Marbling workshop, silk painting for Sarah's Star. steph Shiling from Pause Pilates runs weekly Pilates for Sarah's Star. Emma Devereaux runs Armchair warriors weekly. Nicky Thackray from My Zen Days runs Mindfulness and Meditation courses for Sarah's Stsr. Tabletop Sale in Linskill hosted by Sarah's Star that raised money to keep courses and workshops running, local businesses and entrepreneur's used the opportunity to sell items on stalls on the day. Donated Tombola prizes was a huge Sucss. St Marys R.C North Shields Primary school and St Thomas More High school have done several bake sales and created cards for people in palliative care and in the oncology wards at Christmas and Easter to cheer them up. They took part in colouring in competitions and their artwork is proudly displayed In Sarah's Star premises. Both schools have raise money by doing bake sales and some sponsored activities. The Selkie Way- To learn how to move gracefully, breathe and use props undernater and have beautiful pictures taken undejwater as a keep's sake from the special day. Aesthetics by Jolene Clark- Facials and beauty treatments for Sarah's star, Sammy Anne's holistic therapy- Reflexology, massages and specialises in massages for people with Cancer, Sarah's Star has collaborated with Sammy Anne. Alison Scanlan has run Sound Baths for Sarah's Star,. this is a holistic healing therapy. OFFICIAL
Autism Matters Newcastle came to Sarah's Star do a craft session and festive arts. What People Say °My main takeaway fmm the session was Ihat palliative care and a temiinal illness is not synonymous with unhappiness and suffering,. as Sarah has shown, wellbeing is more than how healthy you aTr, it also consists of the person's perspective of Iheir illness, the support they have and how they approach life." Assistant Professor, Northumbria University. 'It was so emotive, I felt privileged lo listen to Sarah share her story with us. I krpow now that P211iative caTr doesn't necessarily mean that someone is going io die within a year or so. l also aliSe it's okay to make mistakes, perh8ps say the wrong thing at the wrong time, that's how we learn., Northumbria University Nurse. Death Café Having been a bit apprehensive about going to this before, l actually found it really uplifting, such a lovely supportive almosphere and great cakel Xx Catherine Clarke, setwi User Sarah's Star gives me somewhere to go where I feel safe and don't have to wory about "perfom7ing'; where everyone will understand (without any explanation being required) if i stop talking/ run out of energy/ need a rest. I don't feel so alone. I know l am part of a community of people who are making the most of the good moments/momings/days, appreciating and celebrating Ihem when they con7e and who understand the courage and challenge which that can need. People who find good things in amongst the scariness, pain and sadn8ss which Gan feel overwhelming at times. Your charity has helped me feel more connected to the world and gives me the chance to meet some ren7arkable people. l am so grateful Sarah, thank you. Lucy Schierig, Service User 10 OFFICIAL
Volunteers We are indebted to our volunteers without whose contribution we would not have been able to achieve what we have a¢¢omplished in our first year as a charity. Whether you have walked, ran, hiked, or swam to raise funds thank you from the bottom of our hearts. To those who have provided their time and expertise to deliver programmes in our hub we truly appreciate your commitment to Sarah's Star we can't thank you all enough. Financial Review The statement of Financial Activities for the period ending 31 sl January 2024 is set out on page 12 and 13 of the Independent Examiners report. The Income for the year was £49.989 with Expenditure for the year totalling £26.254 resulting in a net surplus of £23,735. The Trustees of the charity recognise the importance of developing reserves and a resetves policy. However, given the charity is in its infancy operating on solely voluntary donations the initial focus will be to maintain and sustain the community hub enabling it to deliver programmes supporting its primary purpose. Given time the Trustees aim to build reserves equivalent to 6 months running costs. The Trustees are encouraged by the current financial performance over the last year and have no concerns for the immediate future or viability of the charity as a going oncern. Declarations The trustees declare that they have approved the trustees, report above. Signed on behalf of the charity's trustees Signaturels) J t) LA/LA- Full name{s) Position (eg Secretary, Chair, et¢) Liam Milligan Chair Joanne Dunn Secrelary Date 22nd April 2024 OFFICIAL
Independent Examiners Report To the Trustees of Sarah's Star Report to the trustees on accounts for the pèriod ended 31st January 2024 I report to the trustees on my examination of the accounts of Sarah Star ("the Trust") for the period ended 31 January 2024. Responsibilities and basis of report 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 Direction5 given by the Charity Commission under section 145151{b) of the Act. Independent examiner's statement 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 accordan 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 olher matter5 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. Jason Mclntosh ACA Chartered Accountant 2 Stonewell Lane, L'Derry, BT47 6HU ZI APCO 2014 12 OFFICIAL
Sarah's Star Receipts and Payments For the period ended 31 January 2024 For the period ended 31 January 2024 Receipts Donations 49,989 Total Receipts 49,989 Payments Cost of fundraising Rent I hire Insurance Telephone & Internet Administrative expense Repairs. renovation and maintenance Purchase of low value assets 6,178 11,937 853 78 1,034 5,692 482 Total Payments 26.254 Net Receipts for the period 23,735 Bank and Cash balances at the start of the period Bank and Cash balances at the end of the period 23,735 All the charity's funds are unrestricted. Any donations received before the incorporation of the charity has been treated as a receipt on 13th January 2023. the date in which the charity was registered. 13 OFFICIAL
Sarah's Star Statement of Assets and Liabilities As at 31 January 2024 31 January 2024 Current Assets Bank and Cash Balances 23,735 Flxed Assets Fixtures, fittings & equipment 552 Approved by the trustees on 22nd April 2024 and signed on their behalf by.. Liam Milligan Chair 14 OFFICIAL