## **Brecon Volunteer Bureau Annual Report** 

**1[st] April 2023 - 31[st] March 2024** 

[Brecon Volunteer Bureau 

**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: : vbxbrecon@gmail.com** 

Trustees 

Mortan Keet (Chair) 

Cerian Martin (Treasurer) 

Hannah Poulsom (Secretary) 

Michaela Davies 

Andrew Oliver 

John Powell 

Michelle Talbot 

## **Staff** 

Marie Matthews (Manager) 

Dawne Shepherd (Informal Volunteering Officer) 



## **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** 

BVB has continued to create interest in our community.  We have run a several events and the kitchen, Men’s Shed and Repair Café are now well-established. Funding, as always, has proved to be an issue. The Trustees discussed a joint working approach with other charities and sharing funds, such as MIND or other local charities as a way of going forward to secure funding and maintain services. Core funding is hard to come by, but it is essential to support key staff such as the manager of BVB staff.  More secure funding could enable a full-time post and allow for expansion of services to support evening hire for groups and expand on hiring space to create an income to support continuation of key BVB services. We are currently completing research and data gathering on what the local community would like to see funded at BVB. Once this research is completed and a report compiled, this will go into a business plan to apply for long term core funding. 

We have installed new energy efficient heaters, with the assistance of grant funding, replacing the ancient storage heaters, and I am grateful for those who have helped to improve the appearance of the premises throughout this year. 

Special thanks to Marie for her excellent work throughout the year, we could not do without her local knowledge, people skills, enthusiasm and positive outlook, despite our shoestring budget. Dawne has been a welcome addition to our staff, and the Informal Volunteering project is well-underway. 

Congratulations to Cerian who was awarded Trustee of the Year by PAVO at their Powys Volunteer of the Year Awards in June. 

Thank you to the Trustees for their support and hard work this year. 

## **Manager’s Report** 

|**Monitoring Statistics: April 23-**<br>**March 24**||
|---|---|
|Numbers of volunteers placed (all<br>ages)|52|
|Numbers of young volunteers placed<br>(aged 14 - 25yrs.)|13|





|Number of new opportunities<br>created for 14 - 25-year-olds|28|
|---|---|
|Total number of new opportunities<br>created on the VolunteeringWebsite|20|
|Number of volunteers supported to<br>enter a volunteering opportunity (in<br>addition to thoseplaced)|45|



## **Manager’s Report April 2023 – March 24** 

**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. In addition, the BVB obtained a Sustainable Development Grant from the BBNPA to replace the heating - this was match funded from the National Lottery Awards For All fund. In October the BVB became part of the Co-op Community Scheme. PAVO are also supporting volunteering through a new pilot scheme Informal Volunteering. Other income is raised through fundraising events, hire of the Vaults and the Community Kitchen. 

## **Unsuccessful Bids:** Green Man 

**Information regarding the Informal Volunteering scheme:** This pilot is an opportunity for us to develop how we currently promote volunteering opportunities with the aim of growing and adapting to the current climate and being able to offer episodic, flexible, informal volunteering opportunities as opposed to the traditional, rigid, formal volunteering our organisations have been used to offering. Informal volunteering is defined as unpaid, volunteering not coordinated by an organisation or institution. 

The pilot project started in October 2023, despite delays with the recruitment process, another part time worker was appointed in February 2024. The project aims to recruit volunteers who are willing to give their time on an ad hoc basis, rather than have a regular volunteering commitment. We have a target to recruit 70 volunteers during the life of the project. At the end of March 2024, we had recruited 30 people. 



The volunteers have been involved in several community events/activities. This has included gardening projects, community litter picks and nature conservation work. A small group of volunteers have also been involved with helping individuals in the community. Requests for help from members of the community have included assistance with shopping, gardening and supporting people to attend appointments/activities. So far, our Informal Volunteers have given 303 hours of their time supporting local activities and individuals in the community. 

**Report:** This year has been about raising the volunteering profile with several information stands and awareness days to promote volunteering and engage with the community. The litter picks are always attended but more people enjoy it in the winter than the summer, they are a great way to meet new people and sign up volunteers for other things. We have 17 live opportunities, with 60 volunteers registered on the Database accumulating 142 hours of volunteering hours. 

The Chair has been a great support in writing funding bids and working on a business plan to help carry us forward and I am very grateful for this. Funding is getting harder to obtain and coming up with new projects is exhausting, core funding is almost non-existent - everyone seems to be doing the same thing now and no one seems to want to work together. 

Massive thanks to Michele for her support with the Crafting Group on Tuesday. 

The Dungeons and Dragons group has now been disbanded and the Friday lunch group has stopped at the moment, the Choir Cats use another venue and so we are down on income from groups. 

The Repair Cafe has moved from the first Saturday in the month and they have become part of Repair Cafe Wales. 

The Men’s Shed goes from strength to strength with many projects on the go and continues to be a massive support for the members and others. They are doing Sea Shanty singing at the moment. 

They are also making Twiddle Boards for people with dementia or brain injury - these have been requested by the PTHB and they have the chance for some funding to make these. They also made bird boxes and hedgehog boxes for the BBNPA and flatpack hedgehog boxes for Llangorse cubs. 



**Vaults:** Thanks to the work carried out by the previous chair Tom, the vaults are now more energy efficient with new LED lights and heating and we are hopefully getting new water heaters using the remaining money from the SDF fund. The electricity bills have been crippling this year and we can only hope that prices will come down soon. 

There is still a lot of work to do to get the Vaults really really nice, funding will help to update the premises. 



BRECON VOLUNTEER BUREAU
(CHARITY No 514686)
STATEMENT OF FINANCIAL ACTIVITIES
ST
FOR THE YEAR ENDED 31 MARCH 2024

Admlnistrative Information
Elected Trustees-.
Michaela Davie5, Andrew Oliver, John Powell, Mlchelle Talbot,
Christine Williams - resigned July 2023
Chair..
Vice-chair:
Treasurer..
Secretary..
Mortan Keet
leuan Williams, deceased March 2024
Cerian Martin
Hannah Poulsom
loan Manley was appointed Chair July 2023, resigned September 2023
Accounts Approved by Board on 27, June 2023
Flnanclal Accounts for the year 2023-2024- Brecon Volunteer Bureau
The statement of Financlal Activltles Is shown on the following pages for the year ended 31. March
2024. The over311 posltlon is a surplus of £6,213. The reportlng to the Board through the year has
been to monitor spend against grant fund5 and provide periodic reports to the funding bodies.
The Balance Sheet is a consolidated account.
Core Business
The Core 8uslness of Brecon Volunteer Bureau is the running of the office, which Includes rent and
associated office overheads, as well as costs for one office manager. Durin8 the year. fundlng was
received from the Social Value Development Fund as part of an Informal Volunteering initiative to
cover an addltlonal twenty hour5 per week of staff time. This commenced October 2023 and will run
for a perlod of eighteen months. During 2023124 8V8 also received funding from a number of other
sources Including PAVO, Powys County Council, Brecon Beacons National Park Authorlty, Natlonal
Lottery and Brecon Town Councll. Some of thi5 fundlng Is non-recurring and for specific purposes
ssociated with envlronmental improvements such as Improved heating and bullding Insulation.
Signed..
Date
Name
8ri Kerley

Independent Examinerfs Report on the Accounts for the Year Ended 31 March 2024
Report to the Trustees of Brecon Volunteer Bureau- Charity No 514686
Respe¢tlve
The charity's trustees are responsible for the preparation of the accounts.
Responsibllltles of
The charity's trustees consider that an audit is not required for this year
Trustees and Examiner under section 144 of the Charities Act 2011 {the Charities Act) and that an
independent examination is needed.
I have examined the accounts provided to me under section 145 of the
Charities Act, and followed the procedures laid down in the general
Directions given by the Charity Commission lunder section 14515llbl of the
Charities Act), and state whether particular matters have come to my
attention.
8asls of Independent My review was carrled out In accordance wlth general directions given by
Examlnerfs
the Charity Commlssion. An examlnation includes a review of the
Statement
accounting records kept by the charity and a comparison of the accounts
presented with those records. It also includes consideration of any unusual
items or disclosures in the account5. and seeking explanatlons from the
trustees concernin8 any such Matters. The procedures yndertaken do not
provlde all the evldence that would be required in an audit, and
consequently no oplnion is given as to whether the accounts present a 'true
and fairf view and the report is limited to those matters set out in the
statement below.
Independent
Examlnerfs
Statement
In connection with my examination, no matter has come to my attention
l. Which gives me reasonable cause to believe that, in any material respert,
the requirements..
To keep accounting records in accordance with sectSon 130 of the
Charities Act., and
To prepare accounts whlch accord with the accounting records and
comply with the accounting requirements of the Charities Act have
not been met- or
2. to whlch, In my opinlon, attentlon should be drawn in order to enable a
proper understanding of the accounts to be reached
Si8ned'.
Date
Name
Bri Kerley FCCA
Address
Sutherland Beck, Didcot, Oxon

BRECON VOLUNTEER BUREAU, INCLUDING COMMUNITY KITCHEN
INCOME AND EXPENDITURE STATEMENT FOR THE YEAR ENDED 31 MARCH 2024
2022-23
£ INCOME
Grants
8,420 Powys County Councll
O BBNP
7,983 Other via PAVO
O Lottery
Informal Volunteering
0 8recon Town Council for Comm. Kit
1.830 Accommodation Sharin81vault hire
18.233
2023-24
3.092
4.114
7.983
5,402
7,681
2,000
1,173
31,445
Other
304 Repair Café
6.670 Communlty Kitchen
52 Bank Interest
80 Petty Cash
Other - caterlng
296 Donatlons
7,403
25.635 TOTAL INCOME
194
6,289
138
160
250
2,257
9,288
40,733
EXPENDITURE
Sala
and Associated
15.623 Salarles
15,623
16,219
16,219
Runnin
Costs
2.308 Electricity, Heat & Light
3,238 Rent
398 Insurance
12 Photocopy & Stationery
466 Telephone
O Equipment & Software
187 Advertising & Promotion
388 Other
140 Training
O Professional Fees
562 Fixtures & Fittlngs
222 Repair cafe
1.663 Community Kitchen Food Purchases
O Refreshments
9.581
25,204 TOTAL EXPENDITURE
3,675
3,350
437
59
384
130
86
165
7,959
246
1,784
27
18,302
34,520
432 NEf SURPLUSI(DEFICITI
6,213

BRECON VOLUNTEER BUREAU, INCLUDING COMMUNITY KITCHEN
BALANCE SHEET AS AT 31 March 2024
2022-23
£ Current Assets
9,919 Lloyds Current Account
5,180 Investment- Monmouthshire
O Debtors
206 Repair Café Petty Cash
116 CORE Petty Cash
15,422
2023-24
15,990
5,318
154
172
21,635
Current Liabilities
O Accruals/Creditors
15,422 CURRENT ASSETS LESS CURRENT LIABILITIES
21,635
ital and Reserves
14,990 Balance brought forward
15,422
Net Surplus/lLoss) for the Year
432 Core Business
6,213
15,422 FUNDS CARRIED FORWARD
21,635