2025-03-31-accounts

Scottish Charity Number: SC046110 Report ofthe Commlttee and Unaudlted Flnanclal Statements for the Year Ended 31 March 2025 for GARIOCH COMMUNITY KITCHEN Infinity Advisors Limited Va Infinity Partnership 5 Carden Place Aberdeen ABIO IUT

GARIOCH COMMUNITY KITCHEN Contents of the Financial Statements for the Period Ended 31 March 2025 Page Report of the Committee Independent Examinerfs Report statement of Financial Activities Balance Sheet Notes to the Flnancial Statements 5t07 Detailed Statement of Financial Activities

Report of the Committee forthe Period Ended 31 March 2025 The committee present their ￿pOrt with the financial statements of the voluntary organisation for the period ended 31 March 2025. The committee have adopted the Pfovisions of the Statement of Recommended Practice (SORP) 'Accounting and Reporting by Charities, issued in March 2005. REFERENCE AND ADMINISTRATIVE DETAIL5 STRUCTURE, GOVERNANCE AND MANAGEMENT Governin8 docum•nt The voluntary organlsation is controlled by its governin8 document, a deed of trust, and constitutes as a SCIO. Risk Management The committee have a duty to identify and revbew the risks to which the voluntary organisation is exposed and to ensure appropriate controls are in place to provlde reasonable assurance against fraud and error. ON BEHALF OF THE COMMIThEE: Date

Independent Examinees Report to the Committee of Garloch Cornmunity Kitchen I report on the accounts for the period ended 31 March 2025 Set out on page5 three to seven. Respertive responsibillties of commtttee and examiner The charity'strustees are responsible for the preparation of the accounts in accordance with the terms of the Charities and Trustee Investment {Scotland) Act 2005 ("the 2005 ACVI and the Charilies Accounts (Scotlandl Regulations 2006 (as amended) {"the 20{￿ Regulations"). The charity's trustees consider that the audit requirement of the Regulation 10(11{dl of the 2(X)6 Regulations does not apply. It is My responsibility to examine the accounts as required under section {44}(l)Ic} of the 2iJ)5 Art and to state whether particular matters have come to my attentlon. Basls of the Independent examinerfs report Our examination is carried out in accordance with Re8ul3tions 11 of the 2006 Regulations. An examination includes a review of the accounting records kept by the charity and a cornparlson of the accounts presented with those records. It also Includes consideration of any unusual items or disclosures in Ihe account5 and seeks explanations from the trustees concerning such matters. The procedures undertaken do not provide 311 the evidence that would be required in an audit and, consequently. I do not express an audit opinion on the view given by the accounts. Independent exarninerfs statement In connection with our examination, no matter has come to our attention: (11 Whlch glven us reasonable cause to believe that. in any material respect, the requirernents To keep accountin8 records in accordance with section 44(11(al of the 2005 Act and Regulation 4 of the 2006 Regulations, and To prepare accounls which accord with the accounting records and to comply with Re8ulation 8 of the 2006 Regulations have not been met, or 12) To which, in our opinion, attention should be drawn in order to enable a proper understanding of the accounts to be reached. Date

Statement of Financial Activities For the Period Ended 31 March 2025 Year Ended 31103125 Year ended 31103124 Totsl Funds Total Funds Notes INCOMING RESOURCES Incomlng resources from generated funds Voluntary income 71,755 78,923 RESOURCES EXPANDED Costs of generatlng funds Costs of generating voluntary income 67,649 55,258 Fundraisin8 tradin8: Cost of goods sold and other costs Governance costs Other Incomlng resources Total resources expended 67,649 55,258 NET INCOMING RESOURCES 4,107 23,666 Total funds brought forward 45,001 21,336 TOTAL FUNDS CARRIED FORWARD £ 49,108 £ 45,001

Balance Sheet At 31 March 2025 Year Ended 31103125 Year ended 31103124 Notes Total Funds Total Funds CURRENT ASSErs Debtors Cash at bank 5,588 49,086 2,775 47,475 54,674 50,250 CREDITORS Amounts falling due within one year 15,566) 15,249) NET CURRENT ASSErs 49,108 45,001 TOTAL ASSETS LESS CURRENT LIABILITIES 49,108 45,001 NET ASSETS 49,108 45,001 Funds Restricted Funds Unrestricted Funds 49,108 45.001 TOTAL FUNDS £49,108 £45,001 The financial statements We￿ approved by the Comrnittee on ............-..... on ils behalf by: . and were signed

Notes to the Financial Statements For the Period Ended 31 March 2025 I. ACCOUNTING POLICIES Accounting Convention These accounts have been prepared on the accruals basis in accordance with the Charities & Trustee Investment (Scotlandl Act 2005 and the Charities Accounts {Scotland) Regulations 2006 {as amended). Incoming Resources All incoming resources are included on the Statement of Financial Activities when the voluntary organisation is legally entitled to the income and the amount can be quantified with reasonable accuracy Resources expended Expenditure is accrued for on an accruals basis and has been classified under headings that aggregate all costs related to the category. Where costs cannot be directly attributed to particular headings they have been allocated to activities on a basis consistent with the use of resource. Taxatlon The voluntary organisation is exempt from tax on its voluntary or8anisation activities. Fund accountlng Unrestricted funds can be used in accordance with the voluntary organisations objectives at the discretion of the trustees. Restricted funds can only be used for particular restricted purposes within the objects of the voluntary organisation. Restrictions arise when specified by the donor or when funds are raised for particular restricted purposes. Further explanation of the nature and purpose of each fund is included in the note5 to the financial statements. 2. COSTS OF GENERATING VOLUNTARY INCOME Food and Resources Staff costs Support costs 13,784 53,865 £ 67,649 3. TRUSTEE'S REMUNERATION AND BENEFITS There were no committees, remuneration or other benefits for the period ended 31 March 2025.

Note to the Financial Statements For the Period Ended 31 March 2025 4. STAFF COSTS Wages and Salaries Kitchen Co-ordinator 67,649 5. DEBTORS: AMOUNTS FALLING DUE WITHIN ONE YEAR 2025 2024 Debtors 5,588 2,775 6. CREDITORS: AMOUNTS FALLING DUE WITHIN ONE YEAR 2025 2024 Other creditors 5,566 5,249 7. MOVEMENT IN FUNDS At 31 March 2024 Net Movement In Funds At 31 March 2025 Unrestrlcted funds General Fund NHS Grampian 37,651 7,350 6,140 12,0331 43,791 5,317 45,001 4,107 49,108 Net movement In funds, In the above are as follows: Incoming Resources Resources Expended Movement In funds Unrestricted Funds General Fund NHS Grampian 68,603 3,153 {62,463) {5,186) 6,140 12,0331 TOTAL FUNDS 71,755 (67,6491 4,107

Detailed Ststement of Financial Activities For the Period Ended 31 March 2025 INCOMING RESOURCES Year Ended 31103125 Year Ended 31103124 Voluntary Income Income 71,755 78,923 71,755 78,923 Total incoming resources 71,755 78,923 Resources Expended Costs of generating voluntary income Kitchen co-ordinator Course Fees Fundralslng tradin8: Cost of goods sold and other costs Food and resources 13,784 8,776 Governance costs Accountancy Ivoluntaryl Other Incoming resources Ba nk interest received Support costs Other Staff ing costs 53,864 46,482 Total resources expended 67,649 55,258 Net Income 4,107 23,666

ANNUAL REPORT 112024/2025 GARIOCH COMMUNITY I<ITCHEN

11 Volunteering with Garioch Community Kitchen Patricia's Story In 20171 first visited the Garioch Community Kitchen with some of my Syrian lady friends where we learned about each other's food and cooking. In 2018, my son attended a cooking course to help him be more confident in cooking and eating healthier meals. He still uses these recipes today without even having to look at them. The tutor and volunteer were both very encouraging. After that I started to volunteer myself whenever I could. I love helping at the monthly Friday Brunch and Blether sessions where people come along to eat Brunch together and have a chat. I try to persuade my Syrian friends to come to help their English and integrate New Scots with old ones, like me! They appreciate the opportunity to add to their kitchen equipment and crockery to feed the 5,000! as they always have a houseful and plenty of delicious food. My frien ves coming along and helping with vegetable chopping and dishwashing. Her confidence In chatting in English has significantly improved over these years. I still love to help when I can, though 3-hour stints can be too long s understanding of people's personal situations and is happy to have people help however little I IIIULh they can. This makes volunteering there a pleasure. Now, l even have my husband coming to cooking lessons and collecting meal kit to cook together with my son meaning less cooking for mel Over the years I have made some very good friends through the Garioch Community Kitchen!

11 Contents Administrative details Overview Mission & Aims Governance Service Delivery Funding Projects and Activities Financial Status Conclusion

1. Administrative Details Charity Name Garioch Community Kitchen Charity Number SC046110 Trustees Observers Principal address Independent examiner Infinity Partnership Limited 5 Carden Place Aberdeen AB10 1UT

Pl 2. Overview Following on from previous years, April 2024 to March 2025 proved to be a busy, productive and rewarding year for Garioch Community Kitchen (GCK). We embarked on the first year of our two-year strategic Action Plan with our priorities threading through all our projects, classes and sessions. This working document assists us to focus on our aims and objectives, constantly trying to meet the outcomes we try to achieve. During the period 2118 people took part in one of our sessions, with over 5248 meals served and 938 volunteer hours donated. There were 1123 children, and 995 adults took part in our classes and a great variety of classes for the community to choose from including after school cooking classes to men's cooking classes. The grip of cost of living has been the hardest to date, not only impacting the very people we support but also having a negative effect on GCK. We have had to evolve, improvise and try new ways to deliver our quality services within tightening funding budgets and financial constraints. This meant our Family Holiday Sessions held during the school holidays in Easter, Summer and Autumn were critical again to ensure families who receive assistance during term time had GCK to help. During the period there continued to be demand for our Children's Cooking classes. We provided blocks of classes and one-off sessions for ages 5 through to 14 with content being tailored to the different age groups and had 534 children attend these classes. Our food skills tutors undertook additional support needs training for us to pilot classes purely aimed at children with ASN. We also piloted sessions for children that were being homeschooled. We held Adult Cooking Sessions including More Taste less Waste, Men's Cooking classes and a new initiative for over 55s. Recipe Bags, Meals for the Menopause, Teen REHIS course for age 14+ Delivered NHS Confidence to Cook Training, this included our tutor travelling and delivering in Orkney, funded by Orkney Council and Voluntary Action Orkney. One to one sessions were undertaken with a pupil from Inverurie Academy, and we also delivered cooking with local primary schools. It was decided to raise awareness and embark on trying to secure corporate funding this year which we had not tried before. We approached and attempted to engage with some local businesses to secure corporate support, which resulted in Intervention Rentals of Westhill generously donating £1200, Inverurie Panto donab.ng £1200 from record donations received. St Mary's Church Inverurie donating £2000 from the congregation. We have been fortunate to receive support on an ongoing basis during the year from the following local businesses- JG Ross, Hamlyn's of Scotland, Mackies Ice Cream, Tesco & Morrisons. GCK would like to take this opportunity to thank them again for this.

GCK held its first Open Day event in May 2024. with one aimed at corporate. funders stakeholders. whereas the other aimed at the community. This was a great opportunity to raise our profile and awareness to the local community. Once again, we contributed to the Aberdeenshire Wellbeing Festival, this time our involvement was planned in partnership wrth Inverurie Library. We offered an interactive demo of two recipes, ate together. and attendees found out more about healthy eating and GCK aims. GCK hosted a Food Provision Event in early 2025 in the Wyness Hall organised by Public Health. The purpose of this event was to focus on bringing all the food providers in the area together. GCK attended the first Taste of Garioch event in September 2024 which was held on the main street, we handed out cookies as tasters to attract people to our stand and offered information on the classes we provide as well as telling people about volunteering opportunities. This was a great success as we recruited new volunteers through this event. We were honoured to be invited to attend the Royal Garden Party at Holyrood in the Summer of 2024. which ￿0 of our food skills tutors went on our behalf. Our Equipment Larder was ongoing and ever popular with donations and demand. This initiative was held in conjunction with the Soup and Social event on a quarterly basis however due to its popularity we increased it to the first Friday every second month. There was an Equipment Larder held for Students who may need items when setting up home for University or College and we also donated a large amount to local charitj'es who benefited from some of the items to enhance the kitchen equipment that they already have. and to allow them to offer cooking sessions to their client group. We held our annual volunteer thank you lunch in March 2025 in the Garioch Heritage Cent￿. This gives us the opportunity to bring all our volunteers together, enjoy a bite to eat and to thank them for the time they give to Garioch Community Kitchen. We are so very grateful for our volunteers as we would not be able to roll out our work without them, Ihey are critical to our serrfice delivery. During the year we held our first volunteer training sessions which was well received and an opportunity for all volunteers to come together at one time, get to know each other better and exchange inforrnation and ideas. These training sessions are planned going forward to be held on a quarterly basis. GCK were delighted to work with Grampian Opportunities, Skene School. Uryside School, Inverurie Academy, Inverurie Library. Aberdeen Science Centre, Childsmile, Aberdeenshire Waste, Live Life Aberdeenshire Active Schools & Inverurie Brownies to deliver bespoke cooking sessions tailored to their aims and needs. One of our food skills tutors attended a wellbeing event held by Technip at their premises in Westhill for their employees. A heartfelt thank you goes out to the GCK family who helped to make all this possible. Our volunteers including the Committee. contractors. our ne￿Ork of donors. partners and stakeholders play an integral part ensuring Garioch Community Kitchen keeps moving forward.

1. Mission &Aims GCK feels it is important that as an organisation we are aligned with the priorities that have been identified at both a national and local level to ensure that our work ties in with the Health Improvement Priorities set out in the Aberdeenshire Health Improvement Priorities Delivery Plan. GCK went into the second year of a 2-year action plan, our priorities continued to be: Provldlng support to reduce the effects of Food PovertylFood Insecurlty Soclal Isolatlon to Improve Mental Wellbelng Empowerlng healthy eatlng cholces. Our mission statement continued to be front and centre of everything we do - 'Garloch Communlty Kltchen exlsts to enhance the health and well-belng of all sectors of the communlty In Central Aberdeenshlre. We alm to provlde a range of servlces Includlng Informatlve food workshops In a safe and supported envlronment, dellverlng practlcal and nutrltlonal Informatlon and teachlng transferable food skllls. To work In partnershlp wlth other agencles and groups to promote healthy cooklng and eatlng cholces., sin￿ the beginning in 2012 GCK continue to aim to: Build on the positive relationships we have developed with all stakeholders, with the potential to influence and improve the health and wellbeing of the Garioch & Formartine Community lrnprove the health and wellbeing of communities by practical experience in food handling and preparation and promote the long-te￿n benefits of a healthy balanced diet Provide opportunities for individuals to develop transferable workplace skills and access accredited training Review the outcomes of our work to ensure the long-term sustainability of projects

2. Governance GCK Committee are the Trustees and are responsible for the governance of the Charity. Our Committee is made up of individuals who work on a voluntary basis, and it is important to once again extend sincere thanks to them for their contribution. The current Chairperson and Treasurer continued in the same roles during the 12 months with all other Trustees being re-elected at the AGM. There were no changes during the year regarding the appointment of Trustees, and we are confident with the experience and continuity of governance in place. During this year we collectively completed a Skills Matrix. This was to ensure that the Committee has the required knowledge and expertise, and that we have the correct skills set in place. Recruiting new Committee members continues to be challenging. GCK continues to work closely with the Public Health Co-ordinators for Garioch & Formartine who are invited to attend Committee meetings as advisors.

3. Service Delivery GCK does not employ staff and has a team of self*mployed contractors who deliver services on behalf of the Charity.

4. Funding Fundraising during the period consisted of a quiz night in Edwards which raised £372, and a joint event with Inverurie Community Partnership in November 2024 which raised £1100 and the proceeds being split equally. We also received a generous donation from Inverurie Panto of £1200 and benefited from some community fundraising by the Smiddy Bar in Daviot who held a quiz night with the proceeds of £477 kindly donated to GCK. We are now seeing donations come in more regularly from those who have attended a class, this is due to us asking them following a class if they would wish to donate and providing bank details. We saw £758 come in as a result. GCK trust fund applications were satisfactory for our needs during the financial year. These can be time consuming, completing applications and paperwork specific to the requirements of each funder and then meeting the reporting requirements. With a small team this can prove to be challenging and sometimes decisions can take some time before the monies are awarded. GCK does not 'chase the money, we are proud that we only apply for funding once a project has been identified and carefully costed and planned and we have the time and resources to deliver our quality service. GCK extends a big thank you to all the businesses, organisations and individuals supported us financially throughout the year. These vitsl funds also allow us to reinvest in ourselves in order for our quality work to continue.

Pl Funding received throughout the year 202412025 Amount Purpose Received By £11,395 Income generated to cover costs and re-invest in projects GCK £2,685 Booking Fees to help with admin costs for booking courses To re~invest in projects and help with running costs Installation of additional station and kitchen cabinets GCK £10,758 Donatlons £2,800 Corra Foundatlon £12,537 For delivery of various courses aimed at reducing poverty Falrer Aberdeenshlre Fundlng £375 Delivering Courses to Primary School Children Tesco Groundworks £1,282 To deliver various courses to adults including recipe bag collections NHS Endowment Fundlng To deliver various courses to adults £9,910 AVA Mental Health & Wellbeing Fund £709 To replace kitchen equipment Garloch Charlty Shop £6,950 Various cookery programs aimed at adults and children LAG Aberdeenshire Council £7,970 To deliver Family & children's sessions aimed at reducing poverty Local Voices £69,371 Total

1. Projects and Activities Our projects and activities are carefully designed to equip attendees with the skills, confidence, and ability to cook for themselves by providing both hands on practical experience as well as theory in a supportive environment. We cover meal planning and how this helps to budget as well as focusing on what can be done to prevent accumulating food waste and how leftovers can be used. We provide participants with the knowledge very organically throughout our courses of why a healthy balanced diet is important and demonstrate ways they can improve their diet. Kitchen hygiene is a very important part of all our courses and is constantly reenforced to ensure attendees understand the key messages. By holding courses over several weeks, this provides ample practical experience and covers the various cooking and preparation techniques required in most dishes. We find this helps to build attendees confidence and increase their skills. By teaching these vital life skills we are providing the attendees with the opportunity to lead a healthier lifestyle and be able to better manage their food budget which will help reduce the chances of them living in povety. The various categories of classes we deliver as well as the number of people who attended can be viewed on the table. This past year has seen an overall increase in numbers attending cooking classes by 23%. It is worth noting that we have had a 35% increase in the sessions we are delivering in the kitchen on the previous year. We have seen a large drop in organisations hiring the kitchen to facilitate their own classes.

Category of those attending GCK Totalpeople supported by GCK to 31/3/25 Totolpeople supported by GCK to 31/3/24 225 166- REHIS Course 36- First Aid Course 23 - Online REHIS Course 282 87- Let's do Lunch & equipment larder 32 - Over 55.5 Cooking 79-More Taste Less Waste Course5 17- Mea15 for Menopause 49- Equipment Larder and Coffee 18- Soup & Social and Equipment Lorder Totol people supported by GCK to 31/3/23 125 98-REHIS Course 27- online course Tralnlng 131 90- REHIS Course 12- First AITd Course 29- Online REHIS Course 427 48- Over 55,5 Cooking 61- More Taste Le55 Waste Courses 29- Mea15 for Menopause 25- Equipment Larder and Coffee 72 - Soup & Social and Equipment Larder 85 - Parent & Carers Course 6 - Session with Inverurie Library 101- Recipe Bag Collection & Equipment Larder 688 519- Afterschool closses 127- Teens Closses 22- Birthday Partie5 20- Children ASN Cla55es Adults und Olderpeople 259 113-Let's do lunch 83-More Taste Less Waste 63 -Elementary Cooking Skills Young People 444 328- Afterschool closses 98 - Teens Accredited Classes 18- Birthday Parties 401 365-After School Cooking 36- Teen Closses Famllles- Chlldren wlth porents/carers 417 60- Family Kitchen 4 week5 349- Family Kitchen Holiday sessions 8- Children & Carer5 421 205- Family Kitchen 4 weeks 184 - Family Kitchen Holiday sessions 32 - Family Sessionsfor A5N's 539 160 -Family Kitchen 349 -Food Parcels 30-Homestart

Communlty Groups 396 60- Wellbelng Festlvo 16- Inverurle Brownles 48 - Gramplan Opportunltles 25- GCK Open Days 100- Taste of Garloch 20- Technlp Wellblng Event 60- Uryside School 30- Skene School 30- Strathburn School 7- Inverurie Academy 146 16- Over 55's Network 40- Wellbelng Festlval 50- Royal Vlslt 12- Methllck Rangers 8- Charlles House 22- Corporate Cooklng Class 52 10 -Chorlles House 42 -Gromplon Opps Community Groups self focilitoting 59 29 - Kinship Group 30- Young Farmers 199 15- SWI Gorioch Girls 32 - Foyer 112 - Midmill School 30 - Young Farmers 10- Methlick Scouts 342 164-DAYS 100-Sunflower day 4-Aberdeen Foyer 12-Scouts 4-Quorriers 41-ADP 20-Young Farmers

Famil Kitchen Holida Pro ram We have been providing our Family Kitchen holiday program for the last 8 years; this program has now become a firm favourite within the local area. Families come along and prepare, cook and eat a meal together as well as getting involved with other activities such as fun physical activity provided by Active schools. We work with a number of different organisations including Childsmile, Aberdeenshire Waste, Scottish Book Trust and Inverurie Library in order to provide as much information to families as possible, this also means that families get to go home with more than they expect such as books and dental equipment, including toothbrushing timers which the children love! During the year we delivered 18 sessions throughout the school holidays and had 349 people take part. Some of the feedback from the sessions includes the following: "I can't fault 8 thing. Our instructor was amazing and knowledgeable. Verypatient with the children. Thankyou so much." "Our session was excellent from start to finis id 8 greatjob of explaining everything and m8king us feel welcome. The recipe was perfect for all ages. I was very impressed with the whole experiei?ce, it was a bonus that we finished up in good time. The meal we cooked was delicious. and my daughter was so pleased with herself. Of all the things that we have done together in the holidays, this was one of the best. We will definitelybe back and will be spreading the word"

Reci eBa Collection The idea behind this project is to offer a collection of a Recipe Bag which includes everY(hing required to make a healthy family meal and is aimed primarily at those who are unable to attend a course at the kitchen due to physical and mental health, caring and childcare responsibilities, those who lack the confidence in groups as well as those who work and do not have the required time available to come to a course but still looking to improve their cooking skills. All are offered the opportunity to speak with the tutor to talk through the recipe, pick up any kitchen equipment from the larder, and find out more about the kitchen - this is a great opportunity to encourage people to come along to our facility for a course in the future. We ask all participants send in a picture of the cooked dish as well as feedback. Some of the feedback we have shared with you to provide an idea of why people collect the Recipe Bag: "Due to low income it was lovely to hove a home cooked meol which we oll enjoyed. Right now we are living offfoodbanks with tinned goods etc - which we ore gratefulfor but it was so nice to Cook somethingfresh." "l am always lookingfor activitiesfor my son to help promote his independence skills. The recipe bag helped him to cook o meolfor hisfamily that he was able to prepare himself and learn while doing so.- "It gave us 2 extra meals when we were struggling to get to the end of the month. It also allowed us all to try something new - GKK stuff seems to be the only way I can get my 'selective' eoter of o child to enjoy new meals by getting him involved in the cooking."

Adult Cookln Classes We delivered a variety of adult based 4-week cookery classes and courses during the year, including More Taste Less Waste, Cooking for over 50's as well as Men's Cookery course. These classes are long established and form part of our core sessions, the courses change depending on the time of year for example in winter we offer slow cooker classes and summer focus on lighter meals. The focus however always remains on low-cost meals with people taking a meal home to feed a family. The classes were very well attended with an average of eight participants per class. Our classes offer many different things to different people, and we would like to share what one participant said about how attending a cookery course has benefited them. An elderly gentleman contacted us in 2024 when he attended our first Men's Cooking Class. He had been recently widowed and was having to cook for himself, something he'd never done before. As we got to know him, we realised that he was also enjoying the social contact he got from attending the class, and this was becoming as important to him as the cooking. Once the course finished, we shared details with him of our monthly Soup & Social session. Despite having to drive over 30 miles, he attended the very next month and shared with us that he found this quite difficult as he is a shy person. One of our volunteers welcomed him warmly and sat with him through the whole session. He has been a regular ever since and has developed friendships from this that carry on outside of the Kitchen. As well as benefiting from the social contact at the Soup & Social, he uses the sessions to chat to the tutors and volunteers about his cooking and to look for help and advice. He is even trying foods that he's never tried before! Since the first course, he has gone on to attend further Men's Sessions and even attended one of our fundraising afternoon teas where he ended up helping with the dishes in the kitchen!

Meals for the Meno ause The aim of offering Meals for the Menopause was to offer a practical cooking session to those in the Peri or full Menopause and to equip those attending with ideas for a healthier diet while experiencing the menopause, and healthy easy swaps from their current diet. We offered printed menopause specific materials, recipes, and also links to internet sites which may be of benefit for further information. Our focus is on food, diet and exercise, but group members are encouraged to discuss their own menopause journey, which everyone is very keen to do. We encourage everyone to seek medical advice. We delivered the course as a mix of one-off classes as well as 2-week courses and this worked well, for the majority of participants this was their first visit to the kitchen. We received excellent feedback from those who attended and have noted some below: "Being amongst other ladies experiencing similar issues and of course cooking with fresh produce and getting ideas for meals at home was super." "The information booklet is fab, really useful. My GP just told me to Google hints and tips, so the class was great, meeting others experiencing similar issues and having a laugh about itl ° "Meeting others that have the same symptoms as myself. And knowing how to deal with them. I think the list of plant-based proteins was excellent, as a vegetarian I have been struggling to keep protein levels up so found that really helpful. Also, a couple of recipes that were in the handout (including the one that we cooked in class were excellent, really tasty."

Teen Cookin Classes We are delighted to be able to continue this popular 4-week accredited cookery course for teenagers. With the aim being to support teenagers to achieve the REHIS Elementary Cooking Skills Course. Providing an opportunity for Teens to expand their cooking skills, budgeting, food knowledge, group work skills, build confidence and promote mental wellbeing through a sense of achievement. We delivered three 4-week blocks of classes and had 21 teenagers attend. It is very important to make everyone feel comfortable right from the start and therefore we begin with a run through of the recipe and the main techniques and a chance to chat and each participant to answer a question to ensure that everyone felt included and had their opportunity to speak within the group. For some this was a new situation to learn and mingle with others their age. We noticed that friendships within the groups were formed quickly which was great to see. Parentslguardians provided feedback on pick up most weeks and found they were impressed with the results, and how much their child was enjoying the course. We asked participants what they thought they had gained from attending the course and here are the responses: "Confidence in following a recipe, knife skills, meeting new people, time management. l am less scared of meeting new people than i thought, It was really relaxed which was great." "I found the information on kitchen hygiene really useful and also being able to plan a meal and follow a recipe.

Kitchen E ui ment Larder incor oratin Sou & Social The Kitchen Equipment Larder is designed as a way to reuse perfectly good items of kitchen equipment that people no longer require, this saves items going to landfill by recycling as well as saving money from people having to buy new. Over the year we had 100 people collect items from the equipment larder and saw more than 80 people make donations. Thanks go to our volunteers who clean and sort the equipment for distribution on a monthly basis. We decided that due to the popularity of the Soup & Social that GCK should offer this session on a bimonthly basis rather than quarterly. This began in September 2024 and has worked very well seeing on average 14 people attending. Confldence to Cook & Food H lene Tralnln Over the past year we have continued to offer training on behalf of the NHS Public Health Team to people who are looking to provide food skills sessions within the community, the training is in the form of REHIS Accredited Elementary Food Hygiene Training, REHIS Accredited Food & Health Training as well as Confidence to Cook Training for Trainers Course. The training has been provided both in house as well as online and a mix of online and face to face. Thanks to our REHIS Trainer for continuing this, ent as far as Orkney early 2024 to provide the training to a fantastic group there. delivered 13 courses throughout the year.

1. Financial Status A copy of our Unaudited Financial Statements for the year ended 31 St March 2025 has been prepared by Infinity Partnership Ltd which can be viewed upon request. We would like to express our ongoing thanks to Infinity who undertake this for Garioch Community Kitchen on a voluntary basis. Here is a short extract of some of the relevant figures: 2025 2024 Voluntary Income 71,755 78,923 Expenditure 67,649 55,258 Funds Carried Forward 49,108 45,001 The voluntary income received in the period was comparable with the previous year. The expenditure was higher which was due to increased costs that we could not pass onto to our service users and operating with five food skills tutors.

2. Conclusion Garioch Community Kitchen is proud of the overall performan￿ of this year and recognises there is always much more to be dor£. To build on our current success and despite financial challenges work to ensure we achieve our aims, objective and outcomes. In order to remain current and meet the needs of the community we recognise that we need to constantly review and where necessary change our outputs with what works for us and for you. We are absolutely ok with trying and piloting new initiatives and do not expect each one to work first time but to learn and evolve. Looking ahead we will continue with our commitment to our mission and with a strong team and a clear vision we are confidentwe can continue to support our community. 5248 Meals Provided 1123 Children & Young People Supported 938 Volunteer Hours Given GARIOCH GOMMUhllT KITCHEN ¥4¥ 263 People Accessed Accredited 207 Cooking Sessions Delivered