Registered Charity No. 292359 ## **TRUSTEES’ ANNUAL REPORT** ## **For the period from 1 JANUARY to 31 DECEMBER 2025** We are a registered charity and have been providing services and activities, for the community in Pulborough and the surrounding villages since 1966 ## **Chair: John Dixon 01798 872667** **Charity’s principal address:** Alderbury, Church Hill, Pulborough, RH20 1AB **www.pdcca.org.uk** Registered Charity No: 292359 ## **Chair’s Annual Report** This has been a remarkable year for the Association, due to a great deal of hard work and commitment from our Committee, our volunteers, and strong support from friends and funders. This has enabled us to increase the number of our local beneficiaries and also the range of our schemes in support. The details of our schemes and their performance are set out in the following pages, but in brief: We are delighted that our Befriending Scheme has been in existence for three years now, and its volunteers reached 75 people in need, many more than previously. We are proud that the nature of our scheme (visiting in person and an open ended commitment) means that we are seeing many who are housebound, and in some cases have been able to help people get out and be linked in to social groups. This scheme is led by Lynn Richards. Pulborough Community Transport is led by Christine Lindsay, who has developed it significantly over the years she has been running it. She has a team of 27 volunteer drivers who supported 167 different passengers in 2025, both by using their own cars and by driving our wheelchair assisted vehicle, the Blue Angel. This service is a lifeline for people in Pulborough, West Chiltington and neighbouring villages. The Pulborough Pop-In, led by Isla Moran, has now been running for two years and supports babies, toddlers and young mums in the village Library. Isla has now also been able to recruit volunteer helpers, and they have up to 11 young children there each week. There are lots of activities for the youngsters and a ready source of advice and support for their parents and carers. The Lunch Club has been running for over 50 years, and is a significant logistical exercise, with wonderful home cooked food by the volunteers. Typically about 25 to 30 people come each Wednesday, and there were even more for the famous Xmas lunch! This is now led by Pippa Reid, and strongly supported by Louise Kaiser when Pippa was unavoidably absent on a couple of occasions. We started a new scheme this year called Cooking with Confidence. It is aimed at pupil premium children in St. Mary’s Primary School, and has now run two courses to help them to learn to cook nutritious food on a budget. It is led by Karen Brooks of Tesco. We are grateful to St. Mary’s for supporting this scheme. In November this year we adopted a further already very successful scheme, the Pulborough Pantry, which had been started under the auspices of Pulborough Parish Council, but really needed now to be brought within a Charity. We were proud that we were chosen to bring the Pantry within our family of schemes, and can see how it fits so well with our other services to support our community. This scheme has 35 volunteers and is led by Maria Lee. All those leading schemes are on the Committee, along with our Treasurer, Roland Brook Hon Sec Louise Kaiser, and Trustees Karen Brooks, Edna Henly and Julia Read. I am grateful to them for their hard work behind the scenes. Registered Charity No: 292359 The Financial report from 2025 follows later, but I will just record here hearty thanks for all our funders, who supported the work we do more and more this year. Also particular thanks to Lynn Richards who put together many of the applications and kept funders informed of how we have been making good use of their grants. We are an integral part of the RH20 local community and so we are strongly networked into the many other organisations who support the community and especially people in need. We work closely with other charities, the local churches, and the local authorities and the NHS. We have also benefitted significantly from the support this year of Dr. Tim Fooks, who is the West Sussex High Sheriff, and arranged a reception and fundraising auction for us with the support of Mary Bowerman at Champs Hill in Coldwaltham. We have support and funding from Pulborough Parish Council, Horsham District Council West Sussex County Council, and the National Lottery Community Fund. Other significant grant receipts included The Ernest Kleinwort Charitable Trust and The Sussex Community Foundation. Local businesses are also extremely helpful in support in kind, including the supermarkets (Karen Brooks is the Community Champion for Tesco) and local businesses. We hope we are playing our part in making our community a better place for all our residents to live in. ## **John Dixon OBE Chair** 23 April, 2026 Registered Charity No: 292359 ## **Trustees’ Annual Report** ## **Trustees who served during the period** **----- Start of picture text -----**
Trustee name Office (if any) Period served as Trustee
John Dixon OBE Chair Whole year
Louise Kaiser Secretary Whole year
Roland Brook Treasurer Whole year
Karen Brooks Whole year
Edna Henly Whole year
Isla Moran Whole year
Julia Read Appointed 24 July 2025
**----- End of picture text -----**
## **Structure, governance and management** - **Type of governing document:** The Association is governed by its Constitution which was adopted on 22 July 1985 and amended on 7 October 1991, 31 March 2003, 13 March 2013, 23 March 2015 and latterly on 18 April 2024. The Association is unincorporated. - **Trustee selection methods:** Trustees are elected by the Committee. Trustees hold office for life or until discharged at their own request or by the Committee by resolution. ## **Objectives and activities** Our objects are: - a) To promote the benefit of the elderly inhabitants of the area of benefit in any manner which is now or hereafter may be deemed to be charitable in law, and - b) To relieve persons resident in the area of benefit who are in conditions of need, hardship or distress and to coordinate similar work undertaken in the said area by other voluntary organisations. In planning our activities for the year we have complied with the Charity Commission’s guidance on public benefit. Our principal activities in Pulborough and the surrounding villages comprised the provision of a befriending service, community transport, a lunch club, and a pop-in. On 25 November 2025 we took management responsibility for Pulborough Pantry. During the year we also provided Cooking with Confidence courses. Further information is provided below. More detailed information regarding our services is available on request. Registered Charity No: 292359 ## **Our achievements and performance** **Pulborough Befriends:** Having launched in November 2022, Pulborough Befriends has now completed its third year of operation. Pulborough Befriends matches Volunteer Friends with adults who live in the Pulborough area who are over 18 and are chronically lonely or socially isolated. We have a tremendous team of 25 Volunteer Friends, most of whom are visiting people in their own homes for 1 hour, weekly. We do not place any time limitations on the service we provide, and the relationship is encouraged to continue for as long as the person we visit, and their Volunteer Friend, wish it to. During 2025 we have seen an overwhelming increase in demand for our service. At times during the year we have closed the service to new referrals to enable us to manage the service effectively. We have visited 43 people and facilitated several Group Befriending activities. These, combined with our visiting service, have enabled us to support 75 people in our community who are chronically lonely or socially isolated. We are grateful to our financial supporters this year including Horsham District Council and some generous individual donors, and to the amazing team of Volunteer Friends who are generous with their time and make the operation of Pulborough Befriends possible. **Pulborough Community Transport (‘PCT’):** provides transport to any pre-booked medical appointment for members of the Pulborough community and the surrounding villages who have difficulty in accessing either public or private transport whether due to disability or age. Transport can be provided within an area as far west as Southampton, east to Brighton, north to Guildford and northeast to Redhill and East Grinstead. Our service is widely recognised as well organised, affordable and the drivers to be reliable, polite and efficient. Medical staff based at Pulborough Medical Group regularly refer patients to PCT confident that a request for transport a few days ahead of the actual appointment will usually be successful. During 2025: - 167 passengers used PCT and 718 passenger journeys were completed which we believe is our highest ever and which represents a 23% increase over the previous year. Currently, a total of 27 drivers volunteer to drive on behalf of PCT. - 31 passengers completed 67 passenger journeys in the Blue Angel which is a purpose designed wheelchair assisted vehicle. This is an increase of 34% from the previous year. Currently 5 drivers have been trained to competently drive the Blue Angel, and David Croxson handles all insurance, MOT and servicing of the vehicle. Sadly during the year Irene Wood, a driver, passed away and we would like to express our condolences and thanks to her family for Irene’s time and commitment. Registered Charity No: 292359 We are seeking additional drivers. Each of the existing drivers deserves a big thank you for the hours of driving which they have completed this year. We would particularly like to thank: - Paul and David Duffell for undertaking 198 passenger journeys and driving a total distance of 4,056 miles - Ian Perry for undertaking 107 passenger journeys to various hospital appointments and driving 4,612 miles - Pat Lawrence and Peter Fulton for undertaking 99 passenger journeys and driving 2,872 miles. We are also grateful to our financial supporters including West Sussex County Council Forum for Accessible Transport. **Cooking with Confidence:** We trialled an after-school cookery club focussed on pupil premium students at the local Primary School. The cookery club is designed to give pupils greater awareness about how to create nutritious food on a budget. The course has been run once with six pupils and with good feedback, and we are just starting with a second cohort. We thank Hall & Woodhouse for the initial financial support they provided regarding this initiative, as well as St. Mary’s PCC who are co-funding. **Lunch club:** this club has now been running for over 50 years and continues to provide weekly socials and lunch to older residents and operated throughout the year outside the holiday periods. Between 25 and 30 local residents typically attended each lunch, with the recently introduced monthly art table run as one of our Befriending initiatives being particularly popular. The year ended with the much enjoyed Christmas Lunch. Very many thanks to our financial supporters during the year including Horsham District Council, the Rotary, Pentalpha Lodge and Masonic Charitable Foundation, and a significant share of the profits from the annual Pulborough Pancake Day event. Tesco Pulborough kindly provide many of the lunch groceries and also provide volunteer assistance, We are also dependent on a number of other hugely valued volunteers who freely give their time to assist with the lunches, including Ann Kaiser who rallies the pudding makers. **Pulborough Pantry:** We were delighted that Pulborough Parish Council invited us to manage the Pulborough Pantry with effect from November 2025. We were also very pleased that this move was supported by the Pantry’s existing management team and their numerous volunteers. The Pantry had a very busy Christmas period, serving over 2 tonnes of food which would have gone in to landfill and gave out 30 food hampers with gift cards that helped families with the cost of living. We worked closely with local schools, nurseries and church to ensure that we reached the right families. Registered Charity No: 292359 Tesco Pulborough held their “Toy Appeal” donating all the toys to the Pulborough Pantry, and over 100 toys were collected. Sainsburys Pulborough donated enough tinned food, dried goods and wrapping paper for us to be able to fill 30 food parcels. The Rising Sun in Nutbourne held their yearly “Carol Concert” and the money raised was used to buy many of the gift cards. On 9 January 2026 we celebrated the Pulborough Pantry’s 2 year anniversary. Over the two years we have saved over 33 tonne of food waste and served over 8,500 people. We could not operate without our donors whether they are providing money, food or other items in kind, nor without our 35 volunteers who are so generous with their time. We particularly thank Pulborough Parish Council for trusting us to manage the Pulborough Pantry, for their assistance during the transition and their continuing support including the use of space at the Pulborough Sports and Social Club. **Pulborough Pop-in:** the Pulborough Pop-in was an initiative from our late President and Co-founder Jean Seagrim, and we are delighted that one of her children John Seagrim continues to cover the library room hire costs. On average for the past year between 6 and 10 families have visited us each week. We are sometimes visited by locals who don’t have children, but who enjoy the companionship of having people around to talk to and hopefully helps maintain their overall mental wellbeing. Everyone is made to feel welcome, no matter what their circumstances. We are particularly grateful to the new volunteers this year who have made a big difference to the operation of the group as a whole. They are very supportive and are a great help for the families. We are also appreciative of those mums who are able to donate regularly, and thank Tesco for donating biscuits, tea, coffee and other goodies on a regular basis. Local parents have previously expressed concern about the lack of safe space for children who wish to participate in Halloween activities. We therefore organised this year a Halloween Party at Pulborough Village Hall for local young children and their families to enjoy a couple of hours of fun in a safe environment. Over 50 children attended. ## **Financial Review** Our cash at the bank as at 31 December 2025 totalled £66,178 including the funds transferred on 25 November 2025 in respect of Pulborough Pantry totalling £9,211. Our restricted funds totalled £14,276 (including the Pantry funds). The main financial risk to the Charity is a reduction in future grants and donations. Registered Charity No: 292359 Funds are held to cover operational costs in the event of a loss of income and to meet any additional expenditure which may occur whether from current or planned expansion of services. The Charity reported a surplus of £19,413 during the year principally as a result of significant grants and donations received. It is not expected the same level of receipts will be achievable in 2026. No funds are in deficit on a cumulative basis. During the year Louise Kaiser, a Trustee, provided emergency cover for management of the Lunch Club over a number of weeks. The Committee considered these services to be additional to Louise’s normal services as Trustee, and a resolution was passed at the AGM enabling fees totalling £500 to be paid which was fully consistent with the normal rate for these services. The only other payments made to Trustees during the year comprised the reimbursement of expenses at cost. ## **Declaration** The Trustees declare that they have approved the Trustees’ Annual Report above. Signed on behalf of the Charity’s trustees on 23 April 2026 by: ## **John Dixon OBE Chair** ## **Louise Kaiser Secretary** Registered Charity No: 292359 PULBOROUGH ef DISTRICT COMMUNITY CARE ASSOCIATION CHARITY COMMISSION PULBOROUGH & DtSTRICT COMMUNITY CARE ASSOCIATION RECEIPTS AND PAYMENTS ACCOUNTS No 292359 FOR ENfjiAND AND WALES From To 31 DECEMBBI 2025 1 J•I4U 2025 Section A Receipts and payments luThds 2D25 A1 Recelpts arts The 15ham D C WestSu&5exCounty Ciw¢il F(￿lOrA5￿￿￿￿ Trwrt Puknrough P C WestChi￿￿￿P c The F¢u￿al¢ The ErnestKknThvth Charitybb Ttu* The D*rtd FLxrtai I￿ Wesknn F(xrtal 4.11 5.0 5,iirii 2,0¢ 1,0 fj,gN) 7.372 7,3n 5.orij 5.0 5.410 1,257 9.156 1.397 Faies sharn Loftry L￿￿h Cknb ei rec*rts In￿es1 SLtb lol•l 4988 | 4.711 516 380 37.620 A2 Asset and investfflentsales Total recelpts 37.610 A3 Ptym•nts Beli1￿￿J1 812 410 Cknb 11,xts I 375 Pantry Pwl Tr￿¥￿t (*nera Sub total 1.232 1,232 10,557 3,531 40,877 2,517 11,176 2,329 558 3.531 14393 A4 A*s•t and Inv*sthi*nt pllrtthas*s TOta1p•￿e￿I 14393 40.877 558 Nèt rÈcèlptgllpaymèntÈl A5 Transferol Pulborough Pantry funds" A6 Cash fuTrds last yearend Cash fund5 thi5 year end - Recejpi ofknk thJ¥JS loll(M'irylwsferofPVtsxWknrry Parish Co1￿1110 PDCCA on 25 NowJmlw2025 19,413 1,062 37,5$4 e6.178 36,492 37,554 51.9)2 14276 Section B Statement of assets and liabilities at the end of the period unreStr￿ted Jnds Total ds ds Bt Gush fu￿ts- 87nk 14270 178 B2 Cxher m)Trtthry assetj BJ ￿yest￿￿￿ a5s•ts B4 A￿ts retaknedftythethorws usè E6.178 JmuThts payab S*n•d foiand on behawpf Ihe 23 April 2021 Joth tix￿ CBE, Br￿￿, Re9lStered Chority No.. 292359 PULBOROUGH ef DISTRICT COMMUNITY CARE ASSOCIATION (l14R￿y{1mlm15S￿IN FOR￿lAND￿J￿0v1AIES Independent examiner's report on the accounts Report to Ihe Trustee5 of PULBOROUGH & DISTRICT COMMUNITY CARE ASSOCIAnON On aecounts for the year ended 31 DECEMBER 2025 Charity no. 292359 Set oul on page Attached I report lo the IN5tees on my examinatpon of the accounts of the above charty (￿he Trust") for year ended 31 tk(Ymber 2025. Responsibilib"es and As charity's trustees, YOU 8re responsible for the preparatKJn of accounts In basis of report accordance with the requirementsof the Charilres Act 2011 lllhe Acl'l. I report in respect of my exanynation of the Tru5t'5 acc4unts carried out under section 145 of the 2011 Act and in G4rrying out my examination, I have fDllowed all Ihe applicable Directions gven by th8 Chanty CommisS￿n under s8cUon 14515llbl of th8 Independent I have compkted my exafflinalion. I wnfirm Ihat no material matter5 have wme to my eXa￿l￿e￿5 Staternenl attention in wnnectioD wlh Ihe examinatK)n which gNes me cause to beI￿ve that in. any rnater￿1 respeGt the accourtiry rerAirds wefe not kept in accordance ￿th section 130 of the charit￿S Act", or the a¢¢ounts ditl not atxord with the ac¢ounbng re¢ord$', or the accoun15 did not cofflply wlh the applicab￿ requirements Gonceming th2 forrn and content of accounts set out In the Ch8ri11è$ IAccounts and Reports) RegulatK)ns 2008 other than any requirement that ts accounts give a 'lrue and fair. vY&w whlch Is not matter ts)n*dered as part ofan independentexamnation. I have no concem5 and have across no other matteT5 in wnnection wilh the examinat￿￿ to whirh attentson should be drawn in thi5 report in order lo enable a proper underfjtandirwJ of the aGwunts1g be reathed. Signed Peter Uoyd on 23 April. 2026 Address Hvjhfeld. 20 Fkglands Copse. Pulix)rowh. RH20 2QW. Re9lStered Chority No.. 292359