2024-03-31-annual-report

Destined

Annual General Meeting

December 2024

Destined Annual General Meeting

You are cordially invited to the Destined AGM

that will take place in the

North West Learning Disability Centre

at

11.00am Thursday

19[th] December 2024

(There will be a zoom system in place for anyone who wishes to avail of it.)

Can you confirm if you will be attending and that you are happy to serve on Board for the next year.

Please contact Adele/Charlene on: 02871 277502

Destined Annual General Meeting

Thursday 19[th] December 2024 @ 11.00am

North West Learning Disability Centre

AGENDA

1. Welcome & Introductions

Chair, Adele Darby

1. Last AGM Minutes

Secretary, Caolan Friel

1. Finance Report

McGroarty & McCafferty

1. Treasurers Report

Mark Baldrick, Treasurer

1. Chairpersons Report

Adele Darby

1. Manager’s Report

Charlene Keenan

1. Election of Directors

McGroarty & McCafferty

Directors due for re-election

• Tommy McGlinchey

• Deirdre McGuinness

• Kevin Burke

• Appointment of Auditors

• Appointment of Solicitors

Adele Darby Adele Darby

1. Presentations

Member of the Year, Derry

Volunteer of the Year, Derry Member of the Year, Feeny

11. AOB

1. Welcome: Adele welcomed everyone to the meeting.

Attendance: Adele Darby, Mark Baldrick, Caolan Friel, Kevin Burke and Tommy McGlinchey.

Harry McCourt, Charlene Keenan and Dermot O’Hara were in attendance.

Apologies: Maeve McLaughlin, Tony McGuiness and Deirdre McGuinness,

2. Minutes from previous AGM

Destined Annual General Meeting

Tuesday 12[th] December 2023 @ 6.00pm

North West Learning Disability Centre

• Present – Adele Darby, Caolan Friel, Mark Baldrick, Michael Cole, Fiona Byrne, Kevin Burke, Robbie Hazlett, Tommy McGlinchey, Harry McCourt and Dermot O’Hara.

• Apologies – Tony McGuinness, Deirdre McGuinness, Maeve McLaughlin and Charlene Keenan.

• Welcome & Introductions - Adele Darby, Chairperson, welcomed everyone to the meeting

• The minutes of the last AGM were read by the Secretary, Caolan Friel. They were proposed as accurate by Adele Darby and seconded by Mark Baldrick.

• The annual accounts were presented in the finance report by Harry McCourt, McGroarty & McCafferty. They were proposed by Mark Baldrick, Treasurer and seconded by Tommy McGlinchey.

• Adele Darby read the Chairpersons Report.

• The Manager’s Report was read by Dermot O’Hara as Charlene Keenan was unable to be present.

• The re-election of Directors was overseen by Harry McCourt, McGroarty & McCafferty.

Directors due for re-election

They were proposed by Adele Darby and seconded by Caolan Friel.

• Appointment of Auditors - McGroarty, McCafferty proposed by Mark Baldrick and seconded by Tommy McGlinchey.

• Appointment of Solicitors – Mark Reid Solicitors, proposed by Adele Darby and seconded by Caolan Friel.

• Presentations

  • Member of the Year, Derry - Joe McDowell

  • Volunteer of the Year, Derry – Catherine Fisher

  • Member of the Year, Feeny - TBC

3. Finance Report: Harry McCourt, McGroarty McCafferty Auditors presented the annual accounts and said that they showed some growth in the surplus this year and that was a positive trend.

1. Treasurers Report: Mark Baldrick, Treasurer stated that he would like to thank Harry McCourt for presenting the accounts on behalf of McGroarty McCafferty. He also thanked him and all his staff for their support throughout the year. Once again, the accounts have

shown that Destined is in a healthy financial state. Mark proposed that the Board adopts the accounts as presented. This was seconded by Tommy McGlinchey, Assistant Treasurer.

5. Adele Darby: Chairpersons AGM Report - 2024

• This has been another busy year for Destined and I am honoured to be the Chairperson at this time.

• As you know we suffered an arson attack on the new centre and we are glad to report that the centre is fully operational. Offing Café have now taken over the café on a lease basis and it appears to be very successful.

• The additional work at the Foyle Valley Railway Museum that includes replacing the shutters and roof repairs has also been fully completed and the museum hosted a number of open days last year with schools in the area.

• All our programmes are up and running again in both Derry and Feeny. Although our waiting list for new membership is getting longer and a number of meetings have been set up with the Trust to address the need for increased funding.

• Our web site is currently under construction with support from our corporate sponsor Firmus.

• I would like to thank all our Board members, staff and volunteers for their great work and help over the past year and look forward to working with them next year. Although it has been a very hard year but we look forward to next year with confidence.

6. Charlene Keenan: Managers AGM Report – 2024

1. Firstly, I wish to thank our staff team, board of directors, volunteers, members, facilitators and all our friends for your support this year to date. I am delighted to see both our children and adult programmes in full swing again this year.

2. In a new development this past year has seen a lot of discussion and planning with the CYPS to deliver more services with an

emphasis on children and autism. These plans should come together in the coming year.

1. We have recently completed a strategic planning residential with almost 40 people. The strategic planning report produced as a result plays an important part in determining our services moving forward, ensuring that we deliver services that reflect what people with learning disabilities need. A key element that is highlighted consistently is the need for housing and independent living and last year saw the appointment of a housing officer within the organisation to address those needs.

2. Brexit has affected the sector negatively and has been particularly challenging for organisations that have to compete with each other for funding. In this respect Destined took a management decision to diversify the fundraiser efforts with a focus placed on developing social enterprises. This year we have revamped the car wash, set plans to develop the railway and museum, upgrade venue hire and conferencing facilities, took over Framed to Perfection as a going concern and in the Spring we will launch our Social Farm project.

3. We have recently completed more improvement works around the site, mainly in the carpark with the installation of new lighting.

4. We have welcomed a number of new members to Destined this year and will continue to see more people join thew organisation the coming months. It is great to see more people benefit from the fantastic resources we have available on site.

5. Last year our Feeny centre was fully refurbished to allow us better conditions to continue service delivery in the area. I would like to thank everyone involved. Work continues with plans to develop a purpose-built learning disability centre in the rural area.

6. I would like share our appreciation of the board of directors for your valuable input and guidance to date.

7. Election of Directors : Harry McCourt, McGroarty McCafferty oversaw the election process for membership of the Board.

Directors due for re-election

• Tommy McGlinchey

• Deirdre McGuinness

• Kevin Burke

Mark Baldrick proposed the re-election of all three Directors and this was seconded by Caolan Friel.

8. Appointment of Auditors : Adele Darby proposed to retain

McGroarty McCafferty, Mark Baldrick seconded.

1. Appointment of Solicitors : Adele Darby proposed to retain Mark Reid Solicitors, Caolan Friel seconded.

10. Presentations: Adele Darby made a number of presentations under the following categories.

Member of the Year, Derry Volunteer of the Year, Derry Member of the Year, Feeny

11. A.O.B. As there was no further business the meeting closed.