Hope House Ireland
Charity Reference and Administrative Details
Year Ended 31 December 2023
Charity registration number
NIC100516
Trustees
Dawn Mcconnell
Roy Mcconnell
Jacqueline Mcconnell
Sam Mccullough
Joan Crothers
Principal address
Hope House
1 Browns Bay Drive
Islandmagee
Lame
Co. Antrim
BT40 3RU
Independent examiner
Guardian
Chartered Accountants
2 William Street
Newtownards
Co. Down
BT23 4AH
Bankers
Danske Bank
Donegall Square West
Belfast
BT16JS

Ho
e House
Nl Chari
Commission re
istration number NIC 100516
Trustees Re
ort for the
ear ended 31 December 2023
The trustees present their report for the above year.
Trustees
Trustees who served during the year were:
Dawn Mcconnell
Roy Mcconnell
Jacqueline Mccullough
Samuel Mccullough
Joan Crothers appointed 26 February 2024
Objectives
The objectives of Hope House are to provide rest, recuperation, and support to members of
the Northem Ireland public with a can￿r diagnosis and their families and carers.
We provide
• FREE Self-catering accommodation in two beachfront properties in Browns Bay. The
properties and their location enhan￿S physical and emotional wellbeing - reducing stress,
enabling our service users to feel supported, cared for, and valued at a very vulnerable time.
We bring HOPE!!
Respite for family and carers, knowing that their loved-one is in a safe, comfortable, and
relaxing location.
Hope House is by the sea - a place of sanctuary in the storm that living wtth a cancer
diagnosis can bring into the lives of families navigating a cancerjoumey.

Achievements and public benefit activities
During the year, the following were achieved
• One of the highlights of the year was our founder and Chair Mrs Dawn Mcconnell was
awarded the British Empire Medal (BEM) from His Majesty King Charles111. Dawn received
the Honour in recognrtion of the work she did in establishing Hope House and to bring the
charity to where it is today.
. The Charity was also honoured to re￿1ve another award - Dawn and founder member Mr
Roy Mcconnell were presented with the 'Points of Lights Award, by the fo￿er Prime
Minister Rishi Sunak. This award is given by the UK Prime Minister to recognise outstanding
individual volunteers - people who are making a real change in their communities.
We are very proud of all these achievements and building on the honour of Hope House
receiving our late Queens Award in 2022.
Hope House was delighted to be chosen by two organisations as their 'Charity of the Year,,
they were:
Lady Captains Charity for Lame Golf Club
President's Captains Charity for Caimdhu Golf Club
There was a significant increase in fvnds raised during the year due to Hope House being
supported by many of our local businesses, such as Spar, Tesco, Supervalu, Eurospar, and
also by local Schools & Sports Clubs. We applaud all our fundraisers, sponsors and
businesses, and because of these collective endeavours - such as cycle rides, mountain
climbs. marathons, swimathons and sponsored walks, this has helped to make this a very
successful year.
. One of the developments this year has been to eannark new space that will give us two
new purpose-built rooms. This will hopefully enable us to extend our ServI￿S greatly and
provide some much-needed Offi￿ space. After the year end, we were delighted to obtain
planning approval and hope to have this work completed by late 2024.
. The number of people accessing our service has grown significantly. We were able to
provide 342 guests with recuperation breaks due to the addition of the Alan Baillie Lodge
and the many contacts we have built with social workers, Can￿r Centres, specialist nurses
and Communty nurses, e.g. Marie Currie, Nl Hospice. and Macmillan. Because of the
improved facilities we now provide, we have been able to offer more recuperation breaks to
people who have re￿iVed a terminal diagnosis.
For the family, carers and friends of patients - Hope House offers respite and peace,
knowing that their loved-one is in a safe environment.
The facilities provide a comfortable and restful break in a beautiful setting, therefore creating
a sense of calmness, hope and wellbeing.
Hope House is managed by local volunteers. all of whom have been affected by cancer.
These volunteers offer their ServI￿S FREE - meeting and greeting, providing transport,
awareness raising, and fundraising etc.

Hope House helps very vulnerable individuals cope with their cancer joumey. The growing
demand for its ServI￿S demonstrates the value pla￿d on the services we provide. Hope
House has had a significant impact in improving the lives of adults affected by can￿r in
Northern Ireland.
We regularly re￿1ve lovely letters and cards from families thanking us for the use of the
Hope House facilities.
These notes from a very grateful service users really demonstrates all that we stand for and
strive to achieve at Hope House:_
From Jane
°Myself & my husband have just had the most amazing, relaxed & soulful time at this
outstanding house - HOPE is just what I needed following my diagnosis of breast cancer in
June - surgery followed with chemotherapy & Gurrently l am undergoing radiotherapy
t￿atfflent.
This home provides a secure loving environment to aid healing & give adults the exclusive
time they need at such a heartbreaknng time in their lrfe.
I cannot thank the team at Hope House enough for all they have done for me & my husband
providing a wam?, beautrful environment for us both to relax in & just take time to process all
we have gone through as a family- Dawn is an inspiration to anyone who is lucky enough to
meet her. Her passion & sheer determination to help others knows no bounds & during our
stay at this beautrful home we feft the love from it & I personally fett it was hugging me &
inspiring me on with positivty to enable me the strength to continue on my path.
A personal huge thank you to all who made this vision a realty & enabled us to avail of the
time as a couple. We have 5 children & to just be able to reflect on my diagnosis & path so
far togeth8rjust us away was the heart-wanning I needed to spur me on through my battle -
thank you all so much..
Jane x

From Karen
°Sadly, my beloved husband passed away this year after a long battle wrfh cancer.
We We￿ extremely blessed to have found Hope House.
This amazing resource helped Dessie and me Gope with the daily stnjggle and challenges
facing us on ourjoumey of managing our daily lrfe with a cancer diagnosis.
Hope house provided a sanctuary for us, we found peace and tranquillity in this very special
place in Browns bay.
From the minute we anived in Hope House until retuming home, lrfe was St￿SS free and
allowed us time together to make more very important memories.
We ￿.11 never be able to thank everyone enough at hope house forproviding this very unique
facility.
Everyone ￿.11 have a very individual story when they visit this special place, it was always
our sanctuary and gave us so much strength"
Thank you for the precious memories..
Karen
This year we said goodbye to two of our members, Trustee Mr Jonathan Ogilby and
Secretary Mrs Debbie Lennon who served the chartty so well over the last five years.
We are so grateful and thankful to them both and MIS Insuran￿ Group for their business
advice, guidance, and funding support that has helped us grow the charity.
We were delighted to welcome two new Trustees to our board, Mr Sam Mccullough and
Joan Crothers into the roles of Treasurer and Secretary respectively, as we seek to
implement the new strategies needed for the development and growth of Hope House.
Our heartfelt thanks to Mr Colin Stewart of Guardian Chartered Accountants and Registered
Auditors for their ongoing support during 2023.

Financial Review
In 2023 income was £104,715 (2022 £105,688>. Funds were raised through community
fundraising, events, and donations from groups and individuals. We are actively seeking
additional funding streams to maintain and build on the services we provide. At the year
end, the chanty had funds of £226.911 (2022 - £172,896) and no debt.
Dawn Mcconnell BEM
Founder Trustee- Hope House
I,-l
Registered Charity No 100516