2025-03-31-accounts

Trustees' Annual Report for the period

From 1 April 2024 To 31 March 2025

Reference and administration details

Charity name Corsham Link

Registered charity number (if any) 299183

Charity’s principal address

7 The Knowle

Corsham Wilts SN13 9NQ

Names of the charity Trustees

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9	Trustee name	Office (if any)	Dates acted if not for whole year	Name of person (or body) entitled to appoint trustee (if any)
	Robin Clapp	Chair		The members of Corsham Link at the Annual General Meeting
	John Burge	Treasurer
	Wendy Taylor	Secretary / Recruitment
	Mike Taylor	Vice Treasurer
	Susan Bament	Data Protection Officer
	Babs Light	Co-ordinators
	Michael Haswell	Parking/ DBS
	Bob Hitchin	Insurance
	John Stott	DrivePlus

Structure, governance and management

We are constituted as an unincorporated association. Our constitution was initially adopted on 9th December 1987 and amended on 18 February 2003 and 26 May 2022.

Trustees are appointed at the Annual General Meeting and serve for a period of three years. They may be nominated and elected for a further period if they wish. Trustees are recruited from existing volunteers or suitable local people.

The charity is managed by a Committee comprising the trustees. The Committee normally meets face-toface on at least four occasions but can meet virtually if required. Decisions are taken by majority vote. If an issue needs to be decided in between Committee Meetings the Chair will email the trustees to seek a majority view.

Trustee Elects are recruited from existing volunteers or suitable local people; they can attend the Committee Meetings but are not entitled to vote.

Each new volunteer is carefully assessed by the Chair and/or his nominated trustee. References are scrutinised and all new drivers undergo a Disclosure and Barring Services (DBS) check.

We regularly review our risk management policy in terms of operational and financial risks. We produce a specific Risk Management Advice for Volunteers document.

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We have a complaints procedure should a client have a problem and a grievance procedure for volunteers.

We have a data protection policy and procedures to ensure that we are compliant with the General Data Protection Regulations.

Corsham Link is one of over 40 ‘Links’ in Wiltshire. Community First, a charity supporting community development in Wiltshire, provides a co-ordinating role for the charities and organises a Link Chairpersons’ meeting three times a year.

Objectives and activities

To advance any charitable purposes for the benefit of the community of the parish of Corsham which includes the villages of Neston and Gastard. In particular to undertake voluntary work for the relief of the sick, elderly, disabled or other persons in need within the said area.

Our main activity is providing transport, by means of volunteers’ own cars, to the hospitals in Bath, Bristol, and Wiltshire. We provide our service where lack of public transport presents a problem or where a client struggles to make use of such transport. We also enable clients to visit local surgeries, dentists, opticians and pharmacies. Before the pandemic some of the transport requests had a strong social element such as taking people to day centres.

We make no fixed charge for our services but welcome donations from the people we help. This is done by means of a sealed envelope handed to the driver so only the client knows what they have donated. Volunteers give their time for free but do receive a mileage allowance of 45p per mile and out of pocket expenses.

When planning our activities for the year the trustees have reviewed the Charity Commission’s guidance on public benefit at their Committee meetings.

Achievements and performance

During the 12 months covered by this report we carried out 1538 tasks (broadly the same as the previous year) covering 37106 miles. In total the volunteer drivers gave 3251 hours of their time. We managed to meet the majority of requests for medical journeys, although this is becoming an increasing challenge as we are getting more requests at short notice and also for weekend and evening appointments.

As of March 2025 we had five co-ordinators who share the responsibility for answering the Link phone and matching drivers to jobs. Two of the most experienced co-ordinators provide the majority of weekday cover while the three new co-ordinators recruited over the last year (two of whom also drive) cover weekends.

We ended the year with 39 active drivers; 10 new drivers joining us during the 12 months. A number of the new drivers are younger and some are still working. This is a trend we hope continues, however the downside is that they are less likely to be available on weekdays. We need to constantly try to find new volunteers as older members retire.

In line with the conditions of a legacy, which stipulates that it should be used for the benefit of the people of Corsham, Neston and Gastard, we used some of its capital to support:

• Corsham Fitness & Friendship

• MND North Wiltshire

• Company for Christmas

• Corsham Community Club

• Bereavement Help Point Corsham

• Corsham Food Bank

• Corsham Youth Zone

• Rise Trust

• Souper Friday Café

• Stroke Association

• Alzheimer’s

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• Corsham School Appeal for School Enrichment

• Bath City Farm

Financial review

Our income comprises clients’ contributions, donations and interest from the investment of the legacy left to Corsham Link. All of our income is used to deliver the service or to make financial contributions to local good causes.

None of our funds are in deficit.

We do not have a designated reserve fund to cover future commitments, operational costs, etc. If there is a deficit this is covered by the legacy left to Corsham Link. If there is any surplus income at the end of the financial year it is carried forward for use in delivering the service in the next year.

Our policy is to invest the capital from the legacy in fixed term cash deposits, ensuring that any account is approved for registered charity purposes. The balance invested with any single institution is kept below the Financial Services Compensation Scheme limit for savers, currently £85,000.

Declaration

The trustees declare that they have approved the trustees’ report above.

Signed on behalf of the charity’s trustees

Signature(s) Full name(s) Position (eg Secretary, Chair, etc)

Date

3

Category	April	May	June	July	August	September	October	November	December	January	February	March	Total
Operating Expenditure	£	£	£	£	£	£	£	£	£	£	£	£	£
Mileage Payments	1,396.48	1,114.42	2,301.66	1,755.50	1,327.84	666.45	2,233.41	1,387.26	1,387.87	1,015.11	1,686.69	1,673.15	17,945.84
Driver Telephone											1.00	1.00	2.00
Central Telephone	27.63	8.63	8.63	8.63	8.63	12.55	12.00	12.00	12.00	12.00	12.00	12.00	146.70
Total Telephone	27.63	8.63	8.63	8.63	8.63	12.55	12.00	12.00	12.00	12.00	13.00	13.00	148.70
Bank Charges	10.96	12.40	16.59	12.37	15.07	11.09	13.51	12.12	12.59	12.10	14.17	14.04	157.01
Insurance	508.68												508.68
Postage													0.00
Printing and Stationary	54.48			72.33	5.00			163.20			34.01		329.02
Office Expenses	20.00		25.00	18.00		399.00	35.00	55.00		40.00		2.00	594.00
Food and Drinks		197.85	25.20	9.01	10.84	2.15	16.76	2.04	14.10	12.20	23.77	32.10	346.02
Car Parking + Car Expenses				8.90		1.20	8.60	1.00	1.00		1.50	8.00	30.20
Meeting Room Rental													0.00
Community First		40.00											40.00
Total Expenses	0.00	237.85	25.20	17.91	10.84	3.35	25.36	3.04	15.10	12.20	25.27	40.10	416.22
Minor Donations Out				200.00									200.00
Total Operating Expenditure	2,018.23	1,373.30	2,377.08	2,084.74	1,367.38	1,092.44	2,319.28	1,632.62	1,427.56	1,091.41	1,773.14	1,742.29	20,299.47
													0.00
Operating Income													0.00
Client Donations	1,748.95	1,429.50	2,836.65	2,258.55	1,421.65	734.40	2,556.00	1,613.20	1,579.17	955.50	2,201.30	1,988.05	21,322.92
Investment Interest					3,008.22				2,600.44				5,608.66
Other Minor Donations In			47.25					30.00	60.00	125.00	45.00	60.00	367.25
													0.00
Total Operating Income	1,748.95	1,429.50	2,883.90	2,258.55	4,429.87	734.40	2,556.00	1,643.20	4,239.61	1,080.50	2,246.30	2,048.05	27,298.83
Net Operational Expenditure	269.28	-56.20	-506.82	-173.81	-3,062.49	358.04	-236.72	-10.58	-2,812.05	10.91	-473.16	-305.76	-6,999.36
Additional Items
Major Donations Out								300.00			17,500.00	2,000.00	19,800.00
Major Donations In													0.00
Net Additional Expenditure	0.00	0.00	0.00	0.00	0.00	0.00	0.00	300.00	0.00	0.00	17,500.00	2,000.00	19,800.00
Total Net Expenditure	269.28	-56.20	-506.82	-173.81	-3,062.49	358.04	-236.72	289.42	-2,812.05	10.91	17,026.84	1,694.24	12,800.64

Corsham Link

Financial Statements For the year ending 31st March 2025

Note ` Unrestricted Funds: Deposit at United Trust Bank Deposit at Hampshire Trust Bank Cash at HSBC 1a,1b Cash at Lloyds Treasurers Account 1c, 1d Total Funds Note 1a Opening Balance Add Net Operational Income Less Interest From UTB Retained at Lloyds Less Interest From HTB Retained at HTB Less Liddell donations retained at Lloyds Cash at HSBC Note 1b Cash at HSBC Add unpaid bank charges Balance as per HSBC Bank Statement Note 1c Opening Balance Add Interest from UTB Less charitable donation Add Liddell donations Add Transfer from HTB Cash at Lloyds Note 1d Cash at Lloyds Add uncashed cheques (Lloyds 112 & 113) Balance as per Lloyds bank statement Graham Hogger Hon Auditor	2025 £ 60,000.00 45,090.44 5,125.09 6,716.63 116,932.16 4,054.39 £ 6,999.36 £ 3,008.22 £ 2,600.44 £ 320.00 £ 5,125.09 £ 5,125.09 £ 14.04 £ 5,139.13 £ 3,188.41 £ 3,008.22 £ 19,800.00 £ 320.00 £ 20,000.00 £ 6,716.63 £ 6,716.63 £ 1,500.00 £ 8,216.63 £	2024 £ 60,000.00 62,490.00 4,054.39 3,188.41
		129,732.80
	John Burge Hon Treasurer

Corsham Link

Financial Statements For the year ending 31st March 2025 Note Receipts and Payments Account Receipts: Clients Contributions Minor Donations In Interest on Investments Total Receipts Payments: Mileage Allowance Bank Charges Insurance Telephone Postage Printing and Stationery Room Rental Community First Miscellaneous (Food, Drinks, Parking etc) Office Expenses / Advertising Minor Donations Out 2a Total Payments Net Operational Income Additional Income (Donations In) Additional Expenditure (Donations Out) 2b Net Additional Ependiture Total Net Expenditure Unrestricted Funds at 1st April 2024 Add Total Net Expenditure Unrestricted Funds at 31 March 2025	2025 £ 21,322.92 367.25 5,608.66 27,298.83 17,945.84 157.01 508.68 148.70 0.00 329.02 0.00 40.00 376.22 594.00 200.00 20,299.47 6,999.36 19,800.00 19,800.00 12,800.64 129,732.80 12,800.64 116,932.16	2024 £ 20,330.17 3,470.24
		23,800.41
		17,338.86 162.16 417.66 717.87 16.32 388.66 150.00 40.00 889.29 388.48 865.40
		21,374.70
		2,425.71 33,000.00 33,000.00
		30,574.29

Graham Hogger Hon Auditor

John Burge Hon Treasurer

Note 2a Minor Charitable Donations Gladys Cazenave (Dental Repairs) Total Note 2b Major Charitable Donations Brunel Shed Corsham Churches Foodbank Alzheimers Support Dorothy House Souper Friday MND Association The Rise Trust Corsham Community Club Bath City Farm Company for Christmas Corsham Age UK Wilts (Fitness & Friendship) Corsham School Academy Dorothy House (Bereavement) Total	£ Lloyds Cheque HSBC Bank Payment 200.00 31/7/24 to Burge (Paid by Burge on personal debit Card) 200.00 £ Lloyds Cheque 300.00 104 4,000.00 105 1,000.00 106 5,000.00 107 1,000.00 108 2,000.00 109 2,000.00 110 500.00 111 1,000.00 112 500.00 113 500.00 114 1,000.00 115 1,000.00 116 19,800.00

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