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Brecon Volunteer Bureau Annual Report

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

Brecon Volunteer Bureau /Swyddfa Gwirfoddoli Aberhonddu

(Charity No./Rhif elusen 514686)

Queenshead (Market) Vaults/ Fowtiau Queenshead (Y Farchnad),

Market St/ Stryd y Farchnad, Brecon /Aberhonddu. LD3 9AH

Tel/ Ffon: 01874 623136

Email/ e-bost: : en vbxbrecon@gmail.com -

Trustees

Cllr Ann Mathias (Chair)

Cllr Ieuan Williams (Vice Chair)

Cerian Martin (Treasurer)

Maria Whittaker

Richard Wootten

Christine Williams

Jane Eason

The position of Secretary is currently vacant

Staf

Francesca Bell (Job-share Manager until December 2020)

Marie Matthews (Manager)

Board of Trustees

The Trustees manage as a whole or divide into sub-committees as required. New Trustees can be co-opted by the Board until their official appointment at the next AGM. Trustees are appointed at the AGM by the members to serve until the conclusion of the AGM next after their appointment.

The members may appoint from within the Board the Chairperson, the Treasurer and the Secretary and any additional officers the members deem necessary to carry out any required activity. All officers of the charity shall retire annually and be eligible to stand for re-election so long as he/she has not served for longer than 5 years continuously. Any vacancy amongst the Officers may be filled by another Trustee and that person may hold office until the conclusion of the next AGM and shall be eligible for election.

Funding

Brecon Volunteer Bureau is supported by annual funding from: Powys Association of Voluntary Organisations (PAVO), Powys County Council, Powys Local Teaching Health Board and Brecon Town Council.

Statement of Public Benefit

The Trustees confirm that they have complied with the duty in section 17 of the Charites Act 2011 to have due regard to public benefit guidance published by the Charity Commission in determining the activities undertaken by the charity. The Mission Statement below sets out the activities undertaken by the charity.

Brecon Volunteer Bureau’s Mission Statement

●Recruiting, training, placing, and supporting volunteers and increasing the awareness of volunteering and its benefits in the communities of Powys
●Promoting and supporting the development of local sector initiatives and services to respond to local needs
●Providing an information service to local communities about community activities, opportunities, and services
●The network aims to operate within the framework of good practice provided by the Wales Council for Voluntary Action (WCVA) providing flexible yet consistent reliable services

Chair’s Report

I would like to take this opportunity to thank my fellow Trustees for their time, continued commitment and support to Brecon Volunteer Bureau throughout this difficult year. We have met every two months either via zoom or socially distanced following government guidelines.

Following last year’s AGM our priority was to review and update our policies, to ensure that they were fit for purpose. Cllr Ieuan Williams took on the role of Health and Safety Officer, Richard Wootten as Safeguarding Officer and Christine Williams as Supervision Officer. Cerian Martin became Treasurer and has done a sterling job. The role of Secretary remained vacant, and the Office Managers agreed to take the minutes of our meetings. I am grateful to Francesca Bell and Marie Matthews for doing so over and above their normal duties.

In December 2020 I reluctantly accepted the resignation of Francesca Bell as Office Manager. Fran has served BVB for several years in the roles of Trustee and Office Manager. She very kindly agreed to stay on until the end of January to help Marie Matthews settle into the role as Office Manager. I am grateful to Fran for all her hard work and dedication to BVB and her support and advice to me as the new Chair.

Since Fran’s departure, Marie has settled into her role as Office Manager and is continually looking to develop the role of BVB. The Friday morning tea and chat session is well attended, and it became clear that the demand was sufficient for another session to be introduced for Tuesday mornings.

I regularly attend these sessions as a volunteer and have undertaken a Food Hygiene Level 2 Certificate to help Marie.

The Friday tea and chat session has developed into a tea and chat with lunch included as participants were eager to develop their cooking skills under Marie’s supervision.

Marie has an excellent rapport with our regulars at these sessions. They thrive in the safe and friendly environment with plenty of laughs. We have received comments such as: “This is the highlight of my week, it’s so nice to meet up with my friends and make new ones,” “We are always having fun and I love the bingo sessions” and “It’s helped my confidence and I want to learn how to cook better.”

Marie has continued to fill the role of Secretary at our Trustee meetings by taking the minutes and I thank her for doing so.

I am proud of the work undertaken by BVB during this pandemic. The Repair Café is back in action. A new addition is the setting up of the Men’s Shed led by Francesca and Marie. The Chair is Cllr John Powell, who is presently Mayor of Brecon. We are grateful to him for naming BVB as one of his four Mayoral Charities during his year in office.

Congratulations to Clare and David Whittle on receiving the Volunteer of the Year Award at the inaugural Best of Brecon Awards. Both are very loyal members of our tea and chat sessions, and they dedicate to a lot of their time to help others to improve our town.

Due to personal reasons, I am standing down as the Chair and member of the Board of Trustees at this AGM. I do however want to continue to support BVB and will carry on a volunteer.

Diolch i bawb am bob cefnogaeth i Swyddfa Gwirfoddoli Aberhonddu a phob dymuniad da ar gyfer y dyfodol.

Cynghorydd/Councillor Ann Mathias

Manager’s report

----- Start of picture text -----
Monitoring Statistics: April
20-March 21
Numbers of volunteers placed 50
(all ages)
Numbers of young volunteers 12
placed (aged 14 - 25 yrs)
Number of new opportunities 53
created for 14 - 25 year olds
Total number of new 53
opportunities created on the
Volunteering Website
Number of volunteers 35
supported to enter into a
volunteering opportunity (in
addition to those placed)
----- End of picture text -----

April 2020 – March 2021 proved to be a busy year with more than the usual changes, positives, and challenges…

Much of the allocated work time, 2.5 days split between Marie Matthews (3 mornings a week Wed-Fri) and Francesca Bell (Tuesdays) was spent on the day-to-day administration. This included volunteer recruitment and placement, receipt and promotion of volunteer opportunities (both also achieved through the Volunteering Wales website), managing our volunteers, dealing with individual requests for help, and community information enquiries amongst other requests.

It also included general office administration, social media, regular publicity e.g. posters and articles plus minutes of the Trustee meetings in the absence of a secretary and regular funders applications and information, especially the quarterly returns required by PAVO (Powys Association of Voluntary Organisations). Reviews and improvements to the internal procedures and systems has been ongoing but there is still a

long way to go. With the Coronavirus pandemic and lockdown at the end of March, it was a very busy time setting everything up for remote working and liaising with volunteers, organisations and individuals-nationally, within Powys through PAVO and the Community Connectors, and the local responsewhat is now One Brecon, set up by Brecon’s Powys councillors, Accessibility Powys and the Oti Kalo restaurant. In this we played an integral part. Volunteers from our database were placed with local organisations including Age Cymru and Home Start. We were involved in placing volunteers for the mass vaccination programme.

Training and networking: This period was mostly spent working remotely from home, which has necessitated a shift in working practices and a greater reliance on online computer systems and communications. There was a big increase in the number of volunteers due to a tremendous response to the Covid crisis from the local community and a desire to help where possible. The volunteers were referred to PAVO’s COVID opportunities or to One Brecon. Requests for help went to One Brecon. Community information was regularly posted on our Facebook pages and via our regular BVB flyers. Lots of research, networking, funding searches and applications have been undertaken by the managers to achieve this. It will take time but with everyone’s help and support there is great potential.

Premises: Due to lockdown all plans for improvements were put on hold, although quotes were obtained for draught proofing and insulation measures, Gareth Ellis of the Green Valleys completed an energy efficient audit and made some useful recommendations. The BBNPA planners were consulted, and the Conservation Officer visited and gave her opinion on which changes would and would not need listed building consent and some helpful suggestions. A Powys Environmental Health officer also came and has drawn up a list of improvements needed to the kitchen area to comply with hygiene regulations of a community café.

During July 2020, preparations were made for making the Vaults as safe as possible against Covid infection and putting

risk assessments, Government guidelines and social distancing measures into place. The Vaults opened again when community centres were allowed to open in July. The Market Hall complex has been sold and we await the new owner’s plans and hope that he will help with essential repairs.

Fundraising from events : minimal due to the pandemic so we could not hold our regular events such as the monthly quiz.

Additional Funding: An additional £20,344 was obtained in about a month through the following funding applications - a much needed financial boost. A successful application was made to the Lottery ‘Awards for All’ Fund which has enabled BVB to double staff time to 1 one full time equivalent post until December to support the COVID response through recruiting volunteers. It also provided funding to open the Vaults more often as a venue for organisations to use for socially distanced face to face meetings and activities. Thanks are due to Clare Parsons for her help in securing this funding.

Another successful application was made to the Coronavirus Resilience Fund which enabled us to fund 10 people to gain Food Hygiene Level 2 certificates which will hopefully help them to obtain employment or volunteer in catering to gain skills. It also provided funds for PPE, an extra office laptop and another laptop for volunteers to use.

BVB was also successful in obtaining a grant from Powys to help charities which lost income during lockdown as fundraising was not possible.

Events/Activities. Volunteers’ week in June was online and we posted videos of volunteers’ stories on Facebook. Thanks to Ieuan Whittaker for making a professional Volunteers’ week video and to Jackie Thomas for taking part.

The Friday Tea Club restarted and up to six people each week have benefitted from tea and a socially distanced chat. We also started a Tuesday coffee morning as well as there appeared to be a need and other organisations had not yet started up similar events. As we no longer run a monthly market café, we have plans to make a Vaults community café a reality with hopefully, associated training opportunities.

In between lockdowns, there has been interest in using the Vaults and so far, we have had meetings with Brecon MIND to discuss BVB starting a Men’s Shed, Rhiannon Davies from Social Prescribing, One Brecon concerning a food distribution centre and are due to meet with Pobl/Gwalia housing support also. We were able to start the Repair Café again on 25th September 2020 and hold a second one in November 2020 before the next lockdown came into force in December.

A huge thank you to everyone who has volunteered and given their time, expertise, support, and money over the last 12 months and helped Brecon Volunteer Bureau go from strength to strength.

BRECON VOLUNTEER BUREAU (CHARITY No 514686) STATEMENT OF FINANCIAL ACTIVITIES FOR THE YEAR ENDED 31ST MARCH 2021

Independent Examlnerfs Report on the Accounts for the Year Ended 31 March 2021 Report to the Tru5tee5 Qf 8reton Volunteer Bureau- Charity No 514686 Respertive The charivs trustees are responsible for the preparation of the accounts. Responsibilities ol The charitys trustees consider that an aud6t Is not required for this year Trustees and Examlner under sectlon 144 of the Charrtie5 Art 2011 (the Charities Artl and that an independent examination Is needed. I have examined the accounts provided to me under sectlon 145 of the Charities Act. and followed the procedures lald down in the general Directlons liven by the Chartty Commlsslon (under sectlon 14515llbl of the Charities Act). and state whether rtular matters have come to my attention. B•si5 of Independent My wew was carrled out in accordance with general direttions gl¥en by Examlnerfs the Charity Commisslon. An examinatron includes a review of the Statement accounting records kept by the charity and a comparison ofthe accounts presented with those records. tt atso Includes Consideration of any unusual Items or di5¢1osures in the accounts. and seeklng explanatlons from the trustees ¢oncernin8 any such matters. The procedures undertaken do not provide all the evldence th•t would be required in an audit. and consequenttry no apinion is given as to whether the accounts present a 'true and falrf view and the report 15 limited to those Matte set Lmjt In the Statement below. Ind•pendent Examinerfs Statement In Connectlon wfth my examination. no matter has come to my attentlon l. Whith gives me reasonable cause to belleye that. in •ny materlal respeci the requlfement5: To keep a¢countln8 records in accordonce with sectbon 130 of the Chafitles Act. and To prepare attounts Tfflthich ac¢ord with the ac¢ountin8 records and comply with the accounting requirements of the Charities Act have not been met: or 2. to which. in my oplnlon. attenllon should be drawn in order to enable a proper uftderstandin8 of the accounts to be reached Slgned: Date Name Brf Kerley FCCA Address

Administrative Information Eletted Trustees: Jane Eason, Maria Whittaker. Christine Williams. Richard Wootten Chalr. Vlce2021- 8re¢on Voluntser Bureau The slatement of Flnanclal Actlvities is shown on the ft>llowlng pages for the year ended 31 March 2021. The overall position Is a surplus of É8.011. The reporting to the Board through the year has been to rnonltor spend against grnnt funds and provide perlodlc reports to the fundlng bgdles. The Balance Sheet Is a cor)IkI3ted accounL Core 8uslne55 The Core Business of Brecon Volunteer Bureau is the runnin8 of the offlce, whlch Includes rent and associated offlce overheads as well as one offke manager. It is mainly funded by PAVO. Po4vys County Council. and Brecon Town Coundl. In 2020 addltlonal fundlnq was recelved from the National Lottery. The offlce was dosed for much of last year due to the pandemlc and the only fvndralslng events have been TealLunch dubs when they were able to be run between lockdowns. Signed: Date Name Bri Kerlev

BRECON vowpifEER BUREAU INCOME AND EXPENDITURE sfATEMENf FOR THE YEAR ENDED 31 MARCH 2021 2019-20 £ INCOME Grants 2,720 Powis County Council 1,334 Powys Local Health Board O National Lottery O Community Fund Wales O Monmouth BS 7.257 other via PAVO I.2 Brecon Town Councll 12,511 20221 13,720 277 7.657 33,498 Other 90 Accommodation Sharlr 1,811 Fundraising 140 Repair Café 163 Cafeteria 33 B4nk Interest 75 Donatlons 2,222 14,733 TOTAL INCOME 142 23 140 304 33,802 EXPENDMJRE Sala and Associated 12,555 Salaries 12,555 17,62S 17,625 Runni Costs 523 Heat and Light 154 Water 2.901 Rent 420 Insurance 105 Photocopy & Statlonery 18 Postsge 325 Telephone 153 Equipment & Software 123 Depreciation 13 Subscriptions 446 Advertis1r & Promotion 90 Other 58 Training 367 Professional Fees O Fixtures & Fith O Office Equipment O Translation Costs O Cleaning Materials 21 Refreshments 5.717 894 317 49 405 181 118 177 1,104 50 81 8,167

18,272 TUtAL EXPENDtTURE 25.792 13.539) NEf SURPLUS/IDEFian 8XIII

BRECON VOLUNTEER BUREAU Ban Sheet as at 31 Marth 2021 201>ZO £ Current Assets 2,042 Lloyds Current Account 5,082 Inve5tment- Monmouthshlre 1,814 Debtors 12 CORE Petty Cash 8,950 20221 11,644 5.105 74 16.823 Current Llabllitles -138 Accruals/Creditors -138 8,812 CURRENT ASSETS LESS CURRENT LIABILMES 16.823 Ca ltsl and Reser$ 12.351 Balance brought forward 8,812 Net SUrplu(LOs5) for the Year -3.539 Core 8usine55 8.011 8,812 FUNDS CARRIED FORWARD 16A23