Veterans Central West Raynham SHQ End of Year Summary 2025 ## **VETERANS CENTRAL WEST RAYNHAM SHQ** ## **END OF YEAR SUMMARY 2025** _**Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year to you all**_ Veterans Central End of Year Summary 2025 Veterans Central West Raynham SHQ End of Year Summary 2025 ## **SUMMARY** The Trustees would like to thank all of those who have enabled Veterans Central West Raynham SHQ to have a very successful 2025 – volunteers, donors, supporters, veterans, and visitors. It has been an amazing year for Veterans Central in almost every area of our activity. This short overview highlights some of the progress and activities for the year. The best way to stay ‘up to speed’ is to follow the Facebook page and to read the newsletters. Remember, **Veterans Central is 100% volunteer led and executed** ; there are no paid staff, and we plan to keep it that way. Up to now our operating costs have been low and we have been able to attract material donations and support, such as breakfast sponsors. We do not charge veterans for breakfasts or for drop-in cake and coffee, and we plan to keep it that way. We very much operate on donations, financial and material. However, from January 2026 our **core operating costs increase** significantly as we start paying rent in addition to service charge, insurance, utilities, business rates, and VAT on it all. We can cover a large % of such costs if we attract more support for our 100 Club and Room Sponsor schemes, so if you are able to help with either of those, please let us know. ## **Key milestones 2025:** - Veterans Central now engages with over 900 veterans (from drop-in for coffee, breakfast attendees, project team members, and supporters). These are primarily Norfolk, but also surrounding counties and tourists (veterans) - Over 36,000 hours of volunteer work on SHQ and our events; volunteer numbers have increased steadily throughout the year - Our newsletter now goes to over 1,000 people. - Wood burner in Events Room, stairlift from ground floor, new roof over East wing, and more. - Outreach programme as part of Veterans Voice - Increased liaison with military and other charities, which helps us with signposting. 4 military charities using SHQ (2 heritage and 2 veterans support) - Increased local and regional media coverage, 2,300 followers on our Facebook page (doubled in the last year) - Solar power installation (summer 2024) has been very effective (when the sun shines) - Acquisition of a Hunter aircraft for veteran engagement ## **A reminder of where we started!** Veterans Central End of Year Summary 2025 Veterans Central West Raynham SHQ End of Year Summary 2025 ## **And Why** Restore and repurpose the historic SHQ building (Grade II) at RAF West Raynham to support military and emergency services veterans and the larger community in wellbeing, socialization and community activities. Many aspects of the facility support wellbeing through engagement and participation, including participation in the project, by providing a quiet and supportive environment, addressing issues of isolation and loneliness. ## **Project Work** - **Volunteers:** By end December 2025 approx. **36,000 volunteer hours** completed. We started with 4 volunteers in early 2023 and now have over 140 on our volunteer register, of whom 50-60 make regular appearance; the ‘core’ of those who appear most weeks is around 40. Wednesday is the busiest day with 20-30 volunteers, whilst Thursday and Saturday we usually have 10-12 on site. We have also had several **Company volunteer teams** , such as the ones from Aviva and Germains Seed Technology. - **Rooms:** All of the ground floor is in use and 70% of the First Floor is in use. Work has also started on Second Floor and Ops Block. We are 9 months (at least) ahead of the original work plan. Key improvement areas include: - Light and power on parts of First Floor, courtesy of Gasway/Signix - Wood Burner in Events Room, courtesy of the Firing Squad - Stairlift Ground Floor to First Floor, courtesy of a grant from Veterans Foundation - Upstairs toilet functional, courtesy of N Beck Plumbing - East Wing roof surface replacement, courtesy of Peterborough College team - **Military Research Library** already has over 4,500 books and donations appear most weeks. - **Gardens:** 5 of the 6 gardens are in place (Wild Garden, Memorial Garden, Herb Garden, Therapy Garden). The Sensory Garden was a major addition in 2025. ## **Public and Veterans Events** - A very successful year for **Public Events** from Easter to Christmas. Events raise awareness for Veterans Central, enable us to meet and engage more veterans, raise funds, and ‘acquire’ new volunteers. We ran almost 100 events (on-site and off-site) this year! The main events in 2025 were: - 20 April: Easter Fun Day - 3-4 May: Aero and Militaria Fair - 21-22 June: Aviation and Military Art Show - 28-29 June: Wargaming event - 20 July: Annual Open Day - 17 August: 80[th] Anniversary End of World War Two commemoration - 25 October: Ghostly Airfields and Superstitions Evening - 9 November: Memorial Ceremony - 6 December: Christmas Fair (and Tree Festival 29 Nov-7 Dec) - **Veterans Events** : - 11 monthly breakfasts and a Christmas Lunch, as well as a number of lunches in the first half of the year, and we have now served a total of over 1,300 ‘hot meals’ since we started. There is no charge for those attending, and we have been able to find sponsors for these key meal events. - 20 March: Veterans Help Awareness Day - 27 September: RAF West Raynham Memorial Association event - 7 December: Walking Home for Christmas (fundraiser for Walking with the Wounded) - Several Veterans Group visits Veterans Central End of Year Summary 2025 Veterans Central West Raynham SHQ End of Year Summary 2025 - Monthly Drop-in centres in Swaffham; these will continue in 2026 on 4[th] Tuesday of the month - **Veterans Voice:** Our part in this project covers Norfolk and Cambs for drop-in centres and awareness sessions. Overall, it has been a success in 2025, and we have run several events and engaged with numerous veterans we may not otherwise have found. We also providing support with our Veterans Information Book and leaflets, including through GP surgeries and other outlets. - In addition, we had: - Several group visits and other events. If you are part of a group, encourage them to visit! - Outreach events as part of Veterans Voice, including speaking engagements; if you are in a group that has visiting speakers – tell the organization that we can provide a speaker. - **2026 Events** : Planning is underway for our 2026 Public Events; the provisional list is: - March 26: Veterans Help Awareness Day - April 17: East Fun Day - May 2/3: Wargames Weekend - May 24: Cold War History Day and Canberra Reunion - June 20/21: The Allies at War 1939-194 - July 19: Annual Open Day - October 24: Ghostly Airfields and Superstitions - November 8: Memorial Wall Ceremony - December 5: Christmas Fair ## **Finance** - Our ability to acquire grants remains limited, although we had a grant of £7,000 for the stairlift; so we very much rely on a wider spread of ‘small’ income streams. - **Financial donations and Fundraising** (individual and corporate): 2025 saw several organisations/groups arrange fundraising activities with Veterans Central as the beneficiary. This included the Norfolk Military Vehicle Group, North Elmham Young Farmers, Saham Toney team with the Veterans Disco, and others. - **Book Sales:** Our ‘book sales’ continue to grow, mainly though the ongoing generous donations of new books from 66 Books (our Landlord). We make 2 or 3 visits a year to our landlord’s warehouse and bring back 1,500 or so books each time! - **Sponsored windows** : 98 now sponsored, although we are behind in installing as we have had issues with graphic design. - **Memorial plaques** : 30+ now sponsored and in place on the Memorial Wall. Plenty of space for more if you are interested. - **100 Club.** A key part of our sustainable funding and we have doubled participants this year, with 50 a month – but still only 50% of what we would like to see. This is a great way to provide regular support to Veterans Central. - **Room Sponsors:** Still only 6 (of our 50) rooms are sponsored, so this is an area in which we need to drive more support. - **Meal Sponsors:** All our breakfast and lunch activities in 2025 have been sponsored by individuals or companies and we very much value (and need) such support. - **Donations in kind:** Every £ of material free or at low cost reduces pressure on the budget. This year Veterans Central has ‘acquired’ many items, including: - Tools and decorating materials (paint and more paint) from a variety of sources - Gravel and other garden materials, especially for the Sensory Garden - Work effort donations: Veterans Central End of Year Summary 2025 Veterans Central West Raynham SHQ End of Year Summary 2025 - The work by Gasway and Signix has been critical for our electrics on Ground and First Floors and we look forward to their continued support in 2026 - The Hunter aircraft was only viable for us courtesy of Jack Richards and Son moving the jet from Norwich to West Raynham - The Events Room is now a ‘warm haven’ rather than a ‘cold sink’ thanks to the Firing Squad sourcing and installing the Log Burner ## **Charity Engagement** An increasing number of military charities have engaged with Veterans Central in 2025; two military charities now use space at SHQ (Walking with the Wounded and RBL Fakenham) and two other charities (Canberra Heritage Trust and RAF Heraldry Trust) also have displays and space in SHQ. Our Veterans Help Awareness Day in March was a great success and over 20 charities participated, networking with each other in the morning and chatting with veterans in the afternoon. We will run this again in 2026. ## **2026** Progress since March 2023 has been truly amazing – all thanks to the work of our veterans and supporters. There is still plenty for us to do and so growing and continued support is the key! So 2026: 1. **CORE aim** : Extend access to Veterans Central for even more veterans. This will involve continued work on SHQ but also extending our ‘services’ and how veterans can access Veterans Central. 2. **Continue to grow our veterans’** support by reaching more veterans and seeing how we can provide increasing levels of information and support: - a. Open an extra day a week. We would like to add Monday to our standard days for drop-in socialization (and not work), but that is only possible if we have the volunteers. - b. Extend outreach through participating in more events, running more drop-in centres, giving more talks. 3. **Expand fundraising efforts** across all areas of potential funding, as we have increased costs plus a number of new areas that require more funding. - a. Grants: help is needed researching grants and submitting bids - b. Corporate Financial Donations: direct or via room sponsorship - c. Events revenue - d. Individual donations 4. Improve and increase our **social media presence** . Create Website. 5. **SHQ:** The detailed work plan will be discussed in January but will include: - a. **Roofing:** Significant issues with leaks remain, especially the main roof. We continue to look at options for this, both interim for this winter and mid-term (10–15-year fix). - b. **First Floor** work to bring remaining rooms into use - c. **Second Floor** work with aim to bring them all into use by Q3 2026 - d. **Ops Block** work to bring some rooms into use; some as storage, project rooms, and others for public access - e. **Solar Expansion:** We have been gifted solar panels and are looking to apply for permission to place on the main roof by Q2 2026. - f. **Gardens:** Maintain and improve existing gardens and develop the remaining areas. Extend the width of paths to improve mobility access and add a mobility ramp to the West Door (by staircase). - g. **Bloodhound missile** : It now looks as if we will acquire the missile and launcher. This will depend on being able to fund the move and have a team to work on restoration. The Bloodhound would go on the existing mounting point on the front grass. Veterans Central End of Year Summary 2025 Veterans Central West Raynham SHQ End of Year Summary 2025 ## **In Memoriam** Sadly, we have lost a number of friends this year who have moved on to Blue Skies above but who will not be forgotten. All will be remembered on the SHQ Memorial Wall: - Roger Eves - Don Brookman - Loraine Brown ## **Your Input Matters!** All of volunteers and supporters have an important part to play in all aspects of the project and the delivery of support to our veteran and local community users. Comments on any of this summary are welcome, as are ideas for areas we need to look at. Think about events that we should run. Think about how to engage with and support our veteran community and the local community. In the meantime, thank you once again for the fantastic support in 2025; have a great Christmas and New Year and we look forward to an even better 2026. ## _Ken Delve_ ## _On behalf of the Trustees, Veterans Central_ ## Contact us: info@veteranscentral.co.uk Veterans Central End of Year Summary 2025 Veterans Central Income and Expenditure Account 31-Dec 31-Dec 2024 2025 Donations Grant Bridge for Heroes (Veterans Voicel Grant for stairlift 43052.73 53416.37 16950.(XI 6916.IXI 77282.37 43052.73 Expenses Food Materlals Equipment Garden Insurance &SeNices Travel Donation Electricity Water 3735.44 7774.28 3604.85 507.95 263.20 3726.90 5054.48 8,252.80 2463.26 5317.79 567.96 915.00 150.00 822.69 183.11 613.35 593.62 Solar Panels Internet & Phones Rates 151XIO.00 523.54 374.85 20.00 1534.18 291.16 20.00 714.00 931.26 2250.00 6880.00 9276.65 159. Lottery License Slgnage Printlng Hunter tran5POrt Stairlift Veterans Voice 100 Club prizes WBC Chrlstmas Cards 750.00 33874.91 49396.41 Excess of In¢ome over Expenditure 9177.82 27885.96 Balance Sheet Cash in hand Bank Balance Assets 245.46 21338.35 21583.81 113.43 49356.34 49469.77 Surplus carried forward 21583.81 49469.77 Independent examinerfs report to the trustees of Veterans Central. Charity No. 1208763 I report to the trustees on my examination of the accounts of the Veterans Central for the year ended 31 December 2025. Responsibllities and basis of report-. As the charlty trustees of the Trust you are responsible for the preparation of the accounts in accordan￿ with the requirements of the Charities Act 20111'the ACVI. I report in respect of my examination of the Tnjst's accounts carried out under settion 145 of the 2011 Act and in carrying out my examination I have followed all the applicable Directions given by the Charity Commission under section 1451Sllbl of the Att. Independent eyaminerfs statement. I have completed my examination. I confirm that no material m3tter5 have come to my attention in connectton with the examination giving me cause to believe that in any materlal respect: accounting records were not kept in respect of the Trust as required by settion 130 of the Act,. or 2. the accounts do not accord with those records. I have no concern5 and have come across no other matters in connection with the examination to whid) attention should be drawn in this report in order to enable a proper understanding of the accounts to be reached. Signed.. Name.. V£w) t)F Douglas Berwick Relevant professional qualification.. FCA CK;. Addres5- 47 Archdale Close, West Winth, PE33 OLD Date= 14th February 2026 ?L26 Annual Accounts 2024 Independent examinerfs report to the trustees of Veterans Central. Charity #1208763 I report to the trustees on my examination of the accounts of the Veterans Central for the year ended 31 December 2024. Responsibilitie5 and basis of report: As the charity tTilStees of the Trust you are responsible for the preparation of the accounts in accordance with the requirement5 of the Charities Act 20111'the Act'l. I report In respect of my examination of the Trust's accounts carrled out under section 145 of the 2011 Act and In carrylng out my examination I have followed all the appllcable Dlrections given by the Charrty Commlsslon under sertion 1451511bl of the Act. Independent examinerfs statement. I have completed my examination. I confirm that no material matters have come to my attention in connettion with the examlnatlon glvlng me cause to believe that in any material respect.. atcounting record5 were not kept in respect of the Trust as requlred by sectlon 130 of the Art,. or 2. the accounts do not accord with those records. 2. 1 have no concerns and have come across no other matters in connectlon wlth the examlnatlon to whith attention should be drawn in this report in order to enable a proper unilerstandlng of the accounts to be reached. Signed: Name: Douglas Berwlck Relevant professlonal quallflcatlon.. FCA Address- Date.. 47 Archdale Close, West Winch, PE33 OLD nd 2 February 2025 Veterans Central Income and Expenditure Account perlod to 31 Dec .perlod to 31 Dec 2023 2024 Donatlons 24701.53 43052.73 Expenses Food Materials Equipment Garden Insurance Travel Donation Electricrty Water Solar Panels Internet Utilitles Lottery License 1187.47 7152.72 2613.99 975.66 263.2 102.5 3735.44 7774.28 3604.85 507.95 263.2 915 150 822.69 183.11 151XIO 523.54 374.85 20 12295.54 33874.91 Excess of Income over Expendlture 12405.99 9177.82 Balance Sheet Cash Sn hand Bank Balance 84.35 245.46 21338.35 12321.64 A55ets 12405.99 21583.81 Surplus carrled lorward 12405.99 21583.81