2025-03-31-accounts - Shirley Neighbourhood Care

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

SHIRLEY NEIGHBOURHOOD CARE

TRUSTEES’ ANNUAL REPORT FOR THE YEAR ENDED 31 MARCH 2025

Charity Registration number: 1203179

Address: St George’s Church Hall Elstan Way Croydon CR0 7PR Trustees Barbara Donegan Michael Plymsol David Phillips Alison Hunt

Shirley Neighbourhood Care Scheme (the forerunner of the current charity) was formed by a local group of churches in the 1970’s and registered with the Charities Commission in 2010. In 2023 it was decided by the trustees that the charity should change its legal structure to that of a charitable incorporated organisation, to be called Shirley Neighbourhood Care, and this change was approved by the Charity Commission on 22 May 2023. Transfer of assets was also approved and this process was completed by 31 January 2024.

Trustees are elected or re-elected annually by members of the charity at the Annual General Meeting. The trustees are assisted in decision making by an advisory board drawn from the local community and affiliated churches. Jonathan Baxter was chair of trustees until October 2024 and Barbara Donegan has been chair for the remainder of the period covered by this report. The office during this time was located at St George’s Church Hall, Shirley, Croydon.

Summary of Activities

The trustees aim to ensure that activities undertaken during the year are consistent with the stated objectives of relieving the charitable needs of the elderly and/or sick residents of Shirley, Croydon, and the local neighbourhood. These activities included:

Transport to and from doctor, clinic, dental, optician and hospital appointments
A regular shopping bus including assistance with shopping bags and/or shopping deliveries to clients
Lunch clubs providing a hot meal and the opportunity for socialisation with clients and volunteer helpers.
Outings to places of interest and local garden centres
A film club providing an enjoyable social activity for the benefit of our clients who are often unable to access recently released films

The trustees confirm that they have kept in mind the Charity Commission’s guidance on public benefit when planning the charity’s activities.

Summary of Achievements

Lunchclubs for up to 24 clients are held twice each week on a Monday and a Thursday.
Our regular shopping minibus runs fortnightly with a visit to a local supermarket in the morning and a different supermarket in the afternoon.
Our volunteer drivers drove a total of 961 miles in taking clients to 121 medical appointments.
A further 64 miles were driven by volunteers in taking clients to our lunchclub or on outings.
The film club continued to be a popular event with our clients and supporters.
Over 200 Christmas gift bags distributed to the elderly of Shirley and surrounding neighbourhood.

Funding

Income for the year was £46,478 and expenditure was £56,035. Although our income this year shows an increase since the previous year this was largely due to a significant bequest in favour of the charity. Overall the financial position of SNC continues to be seriously impacted by the decision of Croydon Council in 2023 to end the provision of grant funding to the majority of the voluntary sector within the borough. Efforts to find alternative sources of funding have continued this year together with measures to reduce outgoings including the redundancy of one member of staff. The deficit reported this year was met from reserves. Total net assets at the year end were £95,871 a reduction of £10,000 since the previous year.

For the period in question income derived from the following sources:

Donations - from the local community and supporters, including significant sums from Shirley Methodist Church, Spring Park Wine Circle, the Co-op, Croydon Masonic Lodge, Addiscombe & Shirley Rotary, The Charities Trust and Croydon Community Lottery.
Events - including £1540 raised at our May Fair and £1310 on our quiz night.
Gift Aid - whilst some sources of income remain ineligible for gift aid recovery, the charity continues to benefit from the Gift Aid Small Donations Scheme.
Charges - a charge to cover external costs or voluntary donation is requested for many of the services offered by the charity
The cost of the Christmas gift bag project was fully covered by generous sponsors.
Donations from clients, volunteers and members of the public

The largest areas of expenditure are staff salaries, catering costs and transportation.

The trustees are grateful for the generosity of those providing funds. Also greatly appreciated is the time given by many volunteers to ensure that activities continue and expenditure is contained.

			REGISTEREDCHARITYNO:	REGISTEREDCHARITYNO:	1203179
Rentdon-dt1onfromWWSBC undraising andevents ransport	L19,71 t7,303 L3,027 Ll5.374	t1,005 t19,063 t1,667 t3,987 t14,611 f1,076	Office rents Office salaries&overheadsetc# undraising andeventcosts	t4,800 L21,241 14,322 L22,101 81,064 t160	t4,605 826,124 t624 t2,555 t17,618 t1 ,076 t1,758
			# Lunch club coordlnatorsalary (& redundancy	pay) has been includedunder lunch
	L6,672.76	t3,518.03	clubsfromlAprtl2024.Previouslyitwasincludedunderofficesalaries.
plus funds credited toaccount after3'1March CAFGoldAccount	L293.77 t39,806.92	t1,014.03 881,466.68	$Generalincomeincludesawindfallexecutordonationoffl0'000
		8100.00
Bank12monthaccounts	f50,961.35	t20,000.00
lto25101t25,1OtO7t25 and2Ol01l26i	-t1,876.24 f0.00	819.00 -:-.!2,044.73	Reconciliation [!lt3iry-arch2024- lessexcessofexpenditureoverincome		etos,+za-et
			qsat:tMarch2025	f95,871.03

			REGISTEREDCHARITYNO:	REGISTEREDCHARITYNO:	1203179
Rentdon-dt1onfromWWSBC undraising andevents ransport	L19,71 t7,303 L3,027 Ll5.374	t1,005 t19,063 t1,667 t3,987 t14,611 f1,076	Office rents Office salaries&overheadsetc# undraising andeventcosts	t4,800 L21,241 14,322 L22,101 81,064 t160	t4,605 826,124 t624 t2,555 t17,618 t1 ,076 t1,758
			# Lunch club coordlnatorsalary (& redundancy	pay) has been includedunder lunch
	L6,672.76	t3,518.03	clubsfromlAprtl2024.Previouslyitwasincludedunderofficesalaries.
plus funds credited toaccount after3'1March CAFGoldAccount	L293.77 t39,806.92	t1,014.03 881,466.68	$Generalincomeincludesawindfallexecutordonationoffl0'000
		8100.00
Bank12monthaccounts	f50,961.35	t20,000.00
lto25101t25,1OtO7t25 and2Ol01l26i	-t1,876.24 f0.00	819.00 -:-.!2,044.73	Reconciliation [!lt3iry-arch2024- lessexcessofexpenditureoverincome		etos,+za-et
			qsat:tMarch2025	f95,871.03