## **Glen Area Parent & Toddler Group** ## **Annual Report April 2022 to March 2023** Glenview Community Centre Cedar Street Derry BT48 0EG Tel: 02871268748 Charity No: NIC103305 ## **Introduction:** The Glen Area Parent & Toddler Group was established in 1997. Glen Area Parent and Toddler Group provide a trice weekly drop in service in Glenview Community Centre for babies and toddlers accompanied by parents, grandparents, carers and childminders. The group promotes and encourages adults and children to learn and play together in a safe and secure environment. The group actively encourage involvement of the local community and the inclusion of single parents, mainly on low income and promotes good relations between members of the same family and other families in the local area, clearly meeting a need in the local community. The Glen Area Parent & Toddler Group is run on a voluntary basis by the members of the group and each person using the service is asked to participate fully in all aspects of the programme e.g. setting up of equipment, cleaning of equipment, storage of equipment, kitchen duties and any other necessary duty that will ensure the safe and efficient running of the service. ## **Officer Board:** Chairperson – Sinead McGlinchey Treasurer – Ciara O’Neill Secretary – Aisling Simpson ## **Chairperson’s Report** I would like to welcome everyone to the Annual General Meeting of the Glen Area Parent & Toddlers Group. A community group is a familiar thread used to bring people together to advocate and support each other in the fight to overcome those threats. As human beings, we need a sense of belonging, and that sense of belonging is what connects us to the many relationships we develop. Inclusion in the social life of society is community’s foundation because community saves us from the isolation and alienation we fear. Because community is about finding each other and a place we can call home. We would like to thank Big Lottery Awards for All programme who funded our programmes from November 2021 that allowed us to run a number of programmes through the 2022-2023 Glenview Community Centre Cedar Street Derry BT48 0EG Tel: 02871268748 Charity No: NIC103305 year. Without this funding we would have found it difficult to keep programmes running so that our children have a wide range of fun and educational experiences. We would also like to thank the staff of Glen Development Initiative for all the support they give our all members of our group. Your contributions are well noted and invaluable to our service. ## **Treasurer’s Report** I would like to thank all the members of Glen Area Parent & Toddlers Group for their continued support throughout the financial year. I would also like to thank the staff of Glen Development Initiative for their continued support and assistance in the sustainability of our financial procedures. |**INCOME**|| |---|---| |DCSDC|£1500.00| |Unrestricted|£680.00| ||| |**Total**|**£2180.00**| ||| |**EXPENDITURE**|| |Awards for All|£9163.43| |Unrestricted|£70.39| |**Total**|**£9233.82**| ||| |Surplus/deficit|-£7053.82| |Opening Bank|£8205.82| |**Closing Bank**|**£1152.00**| ## **Glen Area Parent & Toddlers Group Debtors and Creditors Report** **Debtors** None **Creditors** None ## **Funding** Glenview Community Centre Cedar Street Derry BT48 0EG Tel: 02871268748 Charity No: NIC103305 ## **Awards for All: £10,000.00 (Awarded November 2021)** This funding had been received in November 2021. This funding has provided and will go towards: events such as Christmas, Halloween and Easter where we will provide activities for the children to enjoy. It also means that we are able to continue the Jo Jingles programme that is vital for learning and education of our young people. We ran a number of messy play events and each week a different theme was used to educate the children. We had a very successful day out at Belfast Zoo as well as visits to the local playcentre. Through this funding we have been able to enhance our range of equipment for the enjoyment of the children by providing chalkboards and crazy mirrors. ## **Additional Activities:** Glen Development Initiative Our members are involved in other activities outside of our group and this includes having 3 representatives on the board of directors of Glen Development Initiative, the umbrella community group in Glenview Community Centre. GDI were successful in receiving a Big Lottery Grant that allows us to continue our programmes. ## **Challenges for the year ahead:** - What can we do – as our group has grown and become so diverse, we should look at alternative programmes to run that are both fun and educational for both the children and adults that attend the group. For this to be successful we need to identify funding sources. - How can we participate in wider community events? Although we are already heavily involved in wider community events and programmes, can we expand the work that we are doing and/or contribute more to the local community. - How do we sustain the funding for future programmes? We have already run a number of successful fundraising events. Should we look at having a programme of these events for the year? Glenview Community Centre Cedar Street Derry BT48 0EG Tel: 02871268748 Charity No: NIC103305