OpenCharities

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

2021-03-31-accounts

Charlton Toy Library

AGM report

1[st] April 2020 to 31[st] March 2021

Registered Charity Number: 285099 Charlton House, Horn Fair Road, Charlton SE7 8RE Telephone: 020 8319 0055 • Website: www.charltontoylibrary.co.uk Email: info@charltontoylibrary.org.uk

WHO WE ARE

Charlton Toy Library is a registered charity offering an inter-linked support service for the under-fives community in the Royal Borough of Greenwich. We operate a toy, book and safety equipment loan scheme and a stay and play service in our main base along with a much-needed outreach service to support disadvantaged families and children in desperate need.

Charlton Toy Library is a registered charity, governed by a constitution adopted 10th February 1982. It is run by members of a voluntary Management Committee (who are also the charity trustees), staff (a Toy Library Co-ordinator and an Outreach Worker) and volunteers, all helping to run play & borrowing sessions and giving help, support and advice to families.

All the money received from membership, loan fees and fundraising events is spent on toys and Toy Library running costs. We have an Equal Opportunities policy and aim to provide a good selection of multi-cultural and non-sexist toys and books along with impartial advice and support.

“Your are doing an amazing job for kids' present AND future lives, mums and families and the environment! Keep up the amazing work.”

“The Christmas treasure hunt was such a lovely event. My daughter really enjoyed it! Thank you again for organising!!”

“We love the safe haven and all the support from everyone here”.

“The music session was so wonderful – thank you so much, and especially to Susan. She is just the best! ”

CHARLTON TOY LIBRARY AGM report 2020-2021

2

AIMS AND OBJECTIVES

AIMS:

To promote the principle that play does matter for the developing child.

OBJECTIVES:

We aim to improve the current quality of life and future life chances of local children by providing a much-needed childcentred support service to families in our main premises at Charlton House and through our outreach service HomeStart and other child-centred groups as well as other hard-to-reach families referred by Health Visitors and other health professionals. We also offer a low-cost toy/book/games and child safety equipment loan scheme.

Many of the children we support through our Outreach Service live in families experiencing poverty and disadvantage, some have suffered domestic violence and many feel isolated. This has a huge negative impact on the children's well-being and development. Our intervention at an early formative stage in their development aims to break the cycle of deprivation by improving their literacy, numeracy, creative & social skills, thus improving their school careers and their future life chances and contributing to stronger, more cohesive communities.

CHARLTON TOY LIBRARY AGM report 2020-2021

3

CHAIR’S REPORT BY JO CURTIS

It has been a difficult year, with much uncertainty, not least for the families we support through our work.

Throughout this time, I have been humbled by the incredible community spirit and support shown to us. From making donations, to giving Christmas gifts and donating clothing and equipment, you have been amazing.

We started the year feeling concerned for our future. With a large proportion of our operating costs covered by our member fees and borrowing costs, the need to close put extreme pressure on our finances. Thanks to funding received from Greenwich Charitable Trust and the wider community, we have been able make it through the difficult times and provide additional support to households under pressure.

Unfortunately, Covid restriction have meant we have not been able to run our regular stay and play sessions, although we have been able to offer borrowing services periodically, as well as outdoor events and online singing sessions

Whilst our stay and play services have been closed I’m proud to say our outreach support has continued. During all three lockdowns our outreach worker, Sharon provided phone support and continued to deliver essential equipment, toys and vouchers for food. Our coordinator, Vicky, provided additional support to our outreach service to help with the increased demand.

A big thank you to both Sharon and Vicky who’s dedication and resilience in this difficult year has made the world of difference.

Unfortunately, some of our volunteers have not been needed this year due to our sessions being closed and others have been unable to help due to shielding. A big thank you Ann for your craft videos, Sharon for your support wrapping gifts and with our borrowing service, as well as Susan for your wonderful online singing sessions.

CHARLTON TOY LIBRARY AGM report 2020-2021

4

CHAIR’S REPORT BY JO CURTIS

Charlton Toy Library does not receive any public funding and relies on our membership and loan charges, as well as the fundraising endeavours of a small team of volunteers. We are always looking for additional help to raise funds and support our work. If you would like to get involved, please do get in touch.

As we look ahead, we our 40th birthday is approaching. We hope to be able to celebrate this milestone with our members and supporters. It is too soon to say when we will be able to reopen fully and establish our stay and play sessions. Rest assured we will be back fully as soon as we are able.

This is my last year as Chair of the Toy Library and I would like to end by thanking my fellow committee members Janine, Patricia and Dani and Daniela for all their support. It’s been a pleasure to work alongside you all, particularly in this difficult year.

Membership Statistics 1[st] April 2020 - 31[st] March 2021

Families using our main services & outreach service combined: 160 families Total number of children helped: 260 children and 174 adults

Outreach families supported (free of charge): 81 families Outreach children helped: 151 children

Families supported free of charge: 81 families (51%) Families paying concessionary rate: 7 families

Families from BAME backgrounds: 61 families (38%) New families: 62 families (39%) Lone parents families: 36 families Grandparent members: 11 Childminders: 6

Families in the SE7 area: 48 families Families in the SE18 area: 50 families

CHARLTON TOY LIBRARY AGM report 2020-2021

5

OUTREACH PROJECT REPORT written by Trustees

We are proud to report that at no point during the Covid-19 pandemic was our Outreach project interrupted. It continued regardless. Our Outreach Worker, Sharon, simply altered the way she worked to keep herself and the families safe. Most of the interaction with families switched to over the phone. Sharon assessed what they needed and then delivered, at a safe distance, the toys, books, games and clothing and prams, and also educational materials for children not able to attend school. One family were made homeless and when re-housed, had no fridge, washing machine or cooker. We reached out to our local community who responded with a brand new cooker and a washing machine. We are immensely grateful and proud of the community that we live in as they always provide what these desperate families need.

Many families had no access to internet connections for their children to access sessions provided by schools online. Fortunately, we were nominated by BBC Children in Need to distribute free tablets from The Good Things Foundation. We organised for ten children were given free tablet devices, with 6 months free unlimited internet access via Vodaphone.

Sharon continued to work alongside the many organisations that she regularly works with such as HomeStart, Family Engagement Support Workers from Children’s Centres, Health Visitors, Social Workers, the Pre-birth Assessment Team, the Best Beginnings Midwife Team and MammaKind, to name a few. Together we were better placed to help out families that were struggling before the pandemic began. The pandemic made their lives even more difficult. When Sharon heard of one mother who was begging for tins of spaghetti to be able to feed her daughter the trustees sprang into action. They opened a campaign to raise funds from the general public and made applications for grants. In all last year, we were able to supply over £8,000 of food vouchers to families who could not afford to buy sufficient food.

A few stats: During the year Sharon supplied 38 children with 76 bags of clothing. She delivered cots, beds, prams, pushchairs, high chairs, baby equipment and much more. Sharon made over 205 phone calls and carried out 102 Covid-safe 10-minute doorstep visits to deliver 726 items of play equipment and 223 items of child safety equipment. The toy library sourced, and Sharon delivered, Christmas presents to 55 children and a £50 Christmas food voucher to 40 families, reaching 81 children.

All in all, the toy library Management Committee are extremely proud of everything that Sharon and the Outreach Service has achieved in such a tough year for all concerned.

CHARLTON TOY LIBRARY AGM report 2020-2021

6

TOY LIBRARY CO-ORDINATOR’S REPORT BY VICKY THOMAS

2020-2021 has been a rather strange and difficult year for everyone. In March 2020 the whole country went into the first lockdown due to the Covid19 pandemic and we had to close our doors. In July we were allowed to open again, but we could not offer our very popular stay-and-play sessions due to social distancing restrictions. After a thorough Risk Assessment we opened for a ‘Click and Collect’ toy borrowing service. We created an online catalogue with our most popular toys, and our members could reserve them by email and collect them on an agreed date. We also extended all memberships for the amount of time we were closed due to lockdown. We remained open throughout the summer school holidays, enabling our members to borrow toys and books. At the end of October the country went into the second lockdown and we were forced to close again until early December when we opened for toy borrowing again until Christmas. After the Christmas holidays the country went into another lockdown until April 2021.

During the time we were open we organised two very successful treasure hunts in Charlton park, ensuring social distancing and people staying in their family bubble. We had a Halloween pumpkin hunt on 31[st] October and a Christmas treasure hunt on 12[th] December with Father Christmas giving out presents to the children. Over 100 children attended each event and it really brought the community together during difficult times. In January 2021 we started offering our popular singing session with Susan on zoom every Friday morning. Throughout the pandemic, we posted arts & crafts ideas on our Facebook page for families to try at home.

During the times we were closed, I supported our Outreach worker Sharon by procuring toys, clothes and safety equipment for our vulnerable families via advertising in local groups and I am truly humbled by the generosity of our community. I helped to find and apply for funding, which enabled us to get through the period we did not have any other means of income coming in. I have also attended a lot of online training, which will be very useful for my work at the Toy Library in the coming years.

I would like to say a massive thank you to our wonderful volunteers Sharon, Susan, Vanessa and Ann, as well as our Trustees who stayed with us throughout the pandemic and offered their free time.

I have really missed seeing our families and hope we can open our stay-andplay sessions again soon.

Thank you, Vicky

CHARLTON TOY LIBRARY AGM report 2020-2021

7

TREASURER’S REPORT BY JANINE KHOSHNEVISAN

At the start of the year the Trustees were looking at a very stark situation. The Covid-19 pandemic meant that we had had to close the services at our main base and could not run our usual fundraising events. We had no income potential and yet the need for our normal and our outreach services increased vastly. BBC Children in Need continued to fund our outreach services and in June we were fortunately able to apply for emergency funding to cover core running costs and food vouchers for struggling families. We are incredibly grateful to the City Bridge Trust and to the Greenwich Charitable Trust for their support for our work across the borough. We were also eligible to apply for the Government’s Coronavirus Business Grants and had funding from the Masonic Charitable Trust, Lloyds Bank Foundation and the Emmanuel Church. Combined together, this funding meant that we did not have to close and we were able to continue supporting local families in need.

We finished the year with a profit of £24,007. This means that we can go into the financial year 2021-2022 with confidence in covering our running costs should there be further restrictions that limit our ability to raise funds. Just over £2,480 of this profit was restricted funding from BBC Children in Need and the Masonic Trust, to be spent in the next following financial year.

Income: Over and above the grants mentioned above, our selfgenerated unrestricted funds this year totalled an all-time low of £676. This was due to the lockdown closures and to our decision to offer our click-and-collect toy borrowing services free of charge to help out all struggling families at this difficult time, not just those on the outreach service for whom it is always free of charge. We also received an amazing £8,123 in donations. Thank you everybody.

Expenditure: The major part of CTL expenditure was, as always, spent on our two part-time employees, our greatest asset. BBC Children in Need funded the Outreach Worker post for the eighth year running and our Toy Library Co-ordinator was funded the City Bridge Trust, the Greenwich Charitable Trust and the Masonic Charitable Trust.

CHARLTON TOY LIBRARY AGM report 2020-2021

8

TREASURER’S REPORT BY JANINE KHOSHNEVISAN

Our thanks go to Royal Greenwich Heritage Trust for their continued help-in-kind through the peppercorn rent of our premises and to the Atlas Business Group who continue to provide our internet services for free, as do Fire Action Ltd.

A huge thank you also goes to the local community and organisations for their donations of books and play equipment, without which we would struggle to keep up our stocks. Another huge ‘thank you’ goes to ALL our helpers and volunteers whose contributions have helped to improve the lives of so many children and their families across the borough. CTL would not be able to achieve as much as it does without them!

These accounts have been successfully examined and accepted by our Independent Examiner, Caroline Sharp (ACA, DChA) Janine

CHARLTON TOY LIBRARY INCOME RESERVES POLICY

Unrestricted funds are needed:

1) to provide funds which can be designated to specific projects to enable these projects to be undertaken at short notice and

The trustees consider it prudent that unrestricted reserves should be sufficient:

a) to avoid the necessity of releasing fixed assets held for the charity’s use;

b) to cover 6 month’s administration, fund-raising and support costs (currently approximately £13,000)

c) to provide a pool equal to 10% of the average charitable expenditure over the preceding 2 years from which funds can be designated to specific projects (currently approximately £2,700).

CHARLTON TOY LIBRARY AGM report 2020-2021

9

INCOME-EXPENDITURE ACCOUNT 2020-2021

CHARLTON TOY LIBRARY AGM report 2020-2021

10

ACHIEVEMENTS 2020-2021

We have:

CHARLTON TOY LIBRARY AGM report 2020-2021

11

ACHIEVEMENTS (continued) 2020-2021

CHARLTON TOY LIBRARY AGM report 2020-2021

12

PLANS 2021 - 2022

Our plans for 2021-2022 are subject to change due to the pandemic restrictions, but we still aim to:

CHARLTON TOY LIBRARY AGM report 2020-2021

13

COMMITTEE MEMBERS, STAFF & VOLUNTEERS as at 31[st] March 2021

The Management Committee

Jo Curtis, Chair Janine Khoshnevisan, Treasurer Patricia Santome, Committee Member Daniela Kaltenbach, Committee Member Daniela De Nicolo, Committee Member (29[th] Sept 2020)

Trustees and Officers are elected and appointed at the AGM by nomination method, or co-opted by the Management Committee at a monthly meeting.

Staff

Sharon Jay, Outreach Worker Vicky Thomas, Toy Library Co-ordinator

Volunteers & Fundraisers

Sharon Mason, Susan Wainwright, Ann Frances Barlow, Vanessa Browne, Janine Khoshnevisan, Jo Curtis, Patricia Santome-Courtney, Daniela Kaltenbach, Daniela De Nicolo, Ben Khoshnevisan, David Hall, Ben Jay

And to everyone else who has helped on a more informal basis... thank you!

CHARLTON TOY LIBRARY AGM report 2020-2021

14

FUNDRAISERS & SUPPORTERS 2020-2021

As always there are a huge number of people and organisations to thank for their support.

Thank you to all our funders and supporters:

BBC Children in Need The Masonic Charitable Trust City Bridge Trust Greenwich Charitable Trust Lloyds Bank Foundation The Royal Borough of Greenwich Home-Start Greenwich Royal Greenwich Heritage Trust Charlton House Fire Action Ltd Headstart IT Councillor Gary Parker Atlas Business Group Councillor Gary Dillon Councillor Linda Perks Greenwich Midwifery Team Greenwich Social Workers St Luke’s and St Thomas’ Emmanuel Church Mammakind The Good Things Foundation

Thanks also to our Independent Examiner, Ms Caroline Sharp (FCA, DChA)

Finally, our thanks (and apologies!) to anyone else who has helped us this year and who we may have momentarily forgotten to mention!

CHARLTON TOY LIBRARY AGM report 2020-2021

15

Signature

I declare, in my capacity as Chair of the Management Committee, that:

• the Management Committee has approved the report above; and

• have authorised me to sign it on their behalf.

----- Start of picture text -----
Signature
Full name
Position
Position
Date
Position
----- End of picture text -----

CHARLTON TOY LIBRARY AGM report 2020-2021

16

Charlton Toy Library

Receipts and payments

For the year ended 31 March 2021

Receipts
Donations
Gift Aid
Fundraising
Special events/parties
Bank interest
BBC Children in Need
Masonic Charitable Trust
City Bridge Trust
Greenwich Charitable Trust
Membership fees
Toy Loan Fees
Safety Equipment Loans
Session sales
Total receipts
Payments
Advertising/promotional
Child safety equipment
Equipment
Fundraising costs
General running costs
Insurance
Management costs
Staffing costs
Outreach welfare
Training
Volunteer expenses
Toys, books, videos etc
Travel
Workshops and crafts
Total expenditure
Transfer between funds
Reconciliation of funds
Cash funds brought forward
Cash funds carried forward
Net receipts for the year
From charitable activities
From donations
Government Covid Support
grants		 £
19,431
8,123
1,468
338
-
8
-
-
-
-
158
52
5
115
29,698
3
-
-
-
1,458
-
70
2,218
3,180
-
33
-
-
11
6,973
22,725
-
15,699
38,424
Unrestricted		 Restricted
£
-
-
-
-
-
-
15,464
2,200
7,392
7,952
-
-
-
-
33,008
170
241
814
-
1,631
1,214
-
21,340
5,804
-
-
-
352
160
31,726
1,282
-
1,012
2,294		 2021
Total
Unrestricted
£
£
19,431
-
8,123
5,361
1,468
935
338
2,635
-
206
8
14
15,464
-
2,200
7,392
-
7,952
-
158
1,738
52
1,026
5
116
115
821
62,706
12,852
173
220
241
-
814
19
-
208
3,089
3,651
1,214
1,206
70
70
23,558
5,883
8,984
730
-
120
33
-
-
322
352
22
171
14
38,699
12,465
24,007
387
-
366
16,711
14,946
40,718
15,699		 Restricted
£
-
-
-
-
-
-
14,289
2,200
-
-
-
-
-
-
16,489
-
903
-
-
162
-
-
14,103
-
293
16
15,477
1,012
(366)
366
1,012		 2020
Total
£
-
5,361
935
2,635
206
14
14,289
2,200
-
-
1,738
1,026
116
821
29,341
220
903
19
208
3,813
1,206
70
19,986
730
120
-
322
315
30
27,942
1,399
-
15,312
16,711

1

Charlton Toy Library

Statement of assets and liabilities

As at 31 March 2021

Cash funds
Current account
Business reserve
Cash in hand
Total cash funds		 2021
Unrestricted
£
18,649
19,675
100
38,424		 2021
Restricted
£
2,294
-
-
2,294		 2020
Total
£
20,943
19,675
100
40,718		 2020
Unrestricted
£
5,932
9,667
100
15,699		 2020
Restricted
£
1,012
-
-
1,012		 2019
Total
£
6,944
9,667
100
16,711
Funds
Restricted funds
BBC Children in Need
Masonic Charitable Trust
Unrestricted funds
General funds
Total charity funds		 712
1,582
38,424
40,718		 1,012
-
15,699
16,711

Approved by the trustees and signed on XX December 2021 on their behalf by

Mrs Janine Khoshnevisan

(Treasurer)

2

Charlton Toy Library

Receipts and payments

For the year ended 31 March 2021

Receipts
Donations
Gift Aid
Fundraising
Special events/parties
Bank interest
BBC Children in Need
Masonic Charitable Trust
City Bridge Trust
Greenwich Charitable Trust
Membership fees
Toy Loan Fees
Safety Equipment Loans
Session sales
Total receipts
Payments
Advertising/promotional
Child safety equipment
Equipment
Fundraising costs
General running costs
Insurance
Management costs
Staffing costs
Outreach welfare
Training
Volunteer expenses
Toys, books, videos etc
Travel
Workshops and crafts
Total expenditure
Transfer between funds
Reconciliation of funds
Cash funds brought forward
Cash funds carried forward
Net receipts for the year
From charitable activities
From donations
Government Covid
Support grants		 £
19,431
8,123
1,468
338
-
8
-
-
-
-
158
52
5
115
29,698
3
-
-
-
1,458
-
70
2,218
3,180
-
33
-
-
11
6,973
22,725
-
15,699
38,424
Unrestricted		 Restricted
£
-
-
-
-
-
-
15,464
2,200
7,392
7,952
-
-
-
-
33,008
170
241
814
-
1,631
1,214
-
21,340
5,804
-
-
-
352
160
31,726
1,282
-
1,012
2,294		 2021
Total
Unrestricted
£
£
19,431
-
8,123
5,361
1,468
935
338
2,635
-
206
8
14
15,464
-
2,200
7,392
-
7,952
-
158
1,738
52
1,026
5
116
115
821
62,706
12,852
173
220
241
-
814
19
-
208
3,089
3,651
1,214
1,206
70
70
23,558
5,883
8,984
730
-
120
33
-
-
322
352
22
171
14
38,699
12,465
24,007
387
-
366
16,711
14,946
40,718
15,699		 Restricted
£
-
-
-
-
-
-
14,289
2,200
-
-
-
-
-
-
16,489
-
903
-
-
162
-
-
14,103
-
293
16
15,477
1,012
(366)
366
1,012		 2020
Total
£
-
5,361
935
2,635
206
14
14,289
2,200
-
-
1,738
1,026
116
821
29,341
220
903
19
208
3,813
1,206
70
19,986
730
120
-
322
315
30
27,942
1,399
-
15,312
16,711

1

Charlton Toy Library

Statement of assets and liabilities

As at 31 March 2021

Cash funds
Current account
Business reserve
Cash in hand
Total cash funds
Funds
Restricted funds
BBC Children in Need
Masonic Charitable Trust
Unrestricted funds
General funds
Total charity funds		 2021
Unrestricted
£
18,649
19,675
100
38,424		 2021
Restricted
£
2,294
-
-
2,294		 2021
Total
£
20,943
19,675
100
40,718
712
1,582
38,424
40,718		 2020
Unrestricted
£
5,932
9,667
100
15,699		 2020
Restricted
£
1,012
-
-
1,012		 2020
Total
£
6,944
9,667
100
16,711
1,012
-
15,699
16,711

Approved by the trustees and signed on 13 January 2022 on their behalf by

Mrs Janine Khoshnevisan (Treasurer)

2

Independent examiner's report

To the trustees of

Charlton Toy Library

Charity number: 285099

I report to the trustees on my examination of the accounts of Charlton Toy Library (the charity) for the year ended 31 March 2021 as set out on pages 1 and 2 .

Responsibilities and basis of the report

As the charity trustees of Charlton Toy Library 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 charity's accounts carried out under section 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 145(5)(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 that give me cause to believe that in any material respect:

I have no concerns and have come across no other matters 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.

Caroline Sharp FCA, DChA

Date: 13 January 2022

LONDON SE7 8PF