2025-03-31-accounts

The Meeting Place (Dunoon) SCIO Scottish Charity No. SC049769 Annual Report and Financial Statements for the year ended 31[st] March, 2025

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Trustees Annual Report

For the year ended 31[st] March 2025

The Trustees have pleasure in presenting their report together with the financial statements for the year ended 31[st] March, 2025.

Reference and Administrative Information

Charity Name

The Meeting Place (Dunoon)

Charity No. SC049769

Address

53 Hillfoot Street

Dunoon,

Argyll,

PA23 7DR

Trustees 2024-2025

Very sadly, since the end of the financial year, died after a short illness on 8.4.25.

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Structure, Governance and Management

Constitution

The Charity is a Scottish Charitable Incorporated Organisation (SCIO). It was registered in its current legal form on 22[nd] November, 2019. It has a single tier structure and as such the Trustees are the members of the charity.

Appointment of Trustees

The Board (which normally meets every six weeks), are the charity’s Trustees. Members of the Board are appointed by the trustees and are interested parties mostly with lived experience of mental health problems either as a service user or carer, or with relevant professional expertise.

Objectives and Activities Charitable Purposes

To improve the mental wellbeing of people in Cowal and the surrounding areas.

Activities and Performance

Since its inception in 2019 The Meeting Place has focussed on creating a safe and supportive environment for people who identify as having mental wellbeing issues, whether having a formally diagnosed condition, or not. Sessions are Tuesdays and Thursdays from 11-3pm and all are on a dropin basis with no GP referral required.

Average attendance continues to be around 12-15 per session with several more coming to the weekly Singing for Fun group on Tuesday

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mornings, and others on an occasional basis. Apart from inhouse sessions, the Meeting Place also funds weekly trips to the local cinema matinees and swimming pool which are much appreciated.

The food share arrangement with the local Co-op for the past couple of years ended because volunteers who collected the surplus foodstuffs moved away from the area. We would like to officially thank both the Coop and the volunteers for their support during this time. However, food continues to be an important part of the shared experience of participants. We are able to provide tea/coffee and a light lunch at the moment.

Early last year we enjoyed some stained glass and other craft workshops provided by the North Ayrshire Recovery College, based on the CHIME recovery model – Connections, Hope, Identity, Meaning, Empowerment. The college also made a video around their sessions with us which we were able to upload on to our website.

Other activities during the year included two workshops on Reconciliation, particularly around families and neighbours, a clay modelling workshop, a visit to a local farm to feed the lambs in the Spring, an outing to the bowling alley at Braehead before Christmas and a trip to the Sea Life centre at Lomond Shores, all which were very much enjoyed.

In June we had our very successful book launch of the ‘Love at the Meeting Place’ which contained participants highlighting the positive traits in each other which were very well received by participants themselves but also those who attended and who thought it a very imaginative and encouraging initiative.

Participants and non-participants have continued to benefit from the free counselling offered by the Meeting Place. Anecdotal evidence and counsellor records show that this is having a positive impact on the mental health of clients and their extended families and friends. Poor mental

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health is rarely a solo experience. A suicide awareness session was well attended and extremely useful.

FINANCIAL REVIEW

The Meeting Place depends primarily on grants and donations to fund its activities. Key to our operations is the provision of a safe, warm place where people can meet, chat, eat together and engage in various other activities. The annual cost of renting 53 Hillhead St, together with utilities costs and maintaining a phone line and Broadband, come to rather more than £10,000. In addition, there are other essential outgoings such as premises maintenance and refurbishment (£3,000 this year), TV and music licences, and insurance.

This financial year we were very fortunate in receiving several grants: a repeat grant of £10,571from the Bank of Scotland Foundation, to be spent on counselling provision and general purposes; a grant from the Robertson Trust of £2,500 for core costs; a 2-year grant of nearly £20,000 from the Community Lottery for rent and utilities; and a grant of £8,000 from the Morrisons Foundation toward improving our space, which we decided to spend on a major kitchen refurbishment.

We also received donations, both small and substantial, to a total of over £3,500, for which we are very grateful.

Although we have been busy spending this income on maintaining welcoming and useful premises, on activities of all sorts, and on offering counselling free to the client, we are over £12,500 in surplus for 2024-25. This doesn’t mean we are rich! (some of this is committed to be spent over

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the next financial year) – but we in a stable financial position for the time being.

Grant-giving bodies are currently thinking hard about the need for financial stability, especially for small charities which do not have large reserves, and are increasingly offering grants over more than one year, which is farsighted and very welcome. We will continue to identify such funding opportunities and make applications appropriately.

This year the Treasurer has been extremely ably assisted by an Assistant Treasurer, for which she is very grateful!

We remain optimistic (but never complacent) about our financial position.

FUTURE PLANS

The extremely generous funding from Morrisons to improve community spaces means we are in the process of getting plans to extend our kitchen facilities and is an exciting opportunity to really develop our activities and advertise our facilities as well as hopefully attracting new volunteers.

We are in the process of setting up a website with the aim of making it the default “go-to” place for participants and members of the public to keep informed about day-to-day activities and changes.

Plans are being put in place to develop a Mental Health resource library and some supported reading sessions, led by one of our counsellors. This has been made possible by fundraising and a donation external to the Meeting Place for which we are very grateful.

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Suicide Awareness continues to be a very important issue and we aim to explore possible links with a suicide and wellbeing charity in Inverclyde.

We continue to encourage and support each other to attend other community projects, local charities and events.

Willing volunteers and peer support continues to provide a much needed, much appreciated and often underestimated or reported community resource. One participant overheard describing the main activity area as “the living room” is a testament to the success we are having in creating a safe, caring space for participants – a home from home.

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Statement of Receipts and Payments 1st April 2024-31st March 2025

Note 1

		Unrestricted	Restricted
	Note	Funds	Funds	Total
Receipts
Donations	2	3,563		3,563
Grants	3	2,500	38,371	40,871
Receipts from other charitable activities	4	188	192	380
Total Receipts		6,251	38,563	44,814
Payments
Cost of charitable activities	5	5,673	26,524	32,197
Total Payments		5,673	26,524	32,197
Surplus/ (deficit) for current period		578	12,039	12,617

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Notes to the accounts 1st April 2024-31st March 2025

1. Basis of accounting

These accounts have been prepared on the Receipts and Payments basis in accordance with the Charities & Trustee Investment (Scotland) Act 2005 and the Charities Accounts (Scotland) Regulations 2006 (as amended)

2. Donations received

2. Donations received
Miss A Andrews Small donations (at meetings etc.) Other Total 3. Grants received Bank of Scotland Foundation Robertson Trust Morrisons Foundation Community Lottery Total	Unrestricted Funds Restricted Funds Total 800 800 753 753 2,010 2,010
	3,563 3,563
	Unrestricted Funds Restricted Funds Total 10,571 10,571 2,500 2,500 8,000 8,000 19,800 19,800
	2,500 38,371 40,871

4. Receipts from other charitable activities Fund raising Participant payments towards activities (ret to CMHWB restricted fund) Total 5. Cost of charitable activities Premises rent and utilities Premises maintenance etc Phone, Broadband Publicity TV and music licences Insurance Counselling Grants from discretionary fund Refreshments Activities Governance costs Trustee payments Fundraising Kitchen refurbishment Other

Unrestricted Funds Restricted Funds Total 188 188 192 192 188 192 380 Unrestricted Funds Restricted Funds Total 9,559 9,559 1,994 1,086 3,080 737 737 88 88 zs 818 818 683 683 7,120 7,120 120 120 472 472 3,252 3,252 130 130 70 168 238 44 44 5,097 5,097 517 242 759 5,673 26,524 32,197

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Analysis of restricted funds 1st April 2024-31st March 2025 Fund Use Balance 31st March 2024 Receipts Grants Payments rent utilities counselling fees refurbishment of counselling room and contribution to decoration main room Activities Bereavment/suicide training session Support of bereaved participant Kitchen refurbishment Balance 31st March 2025	Community Lottery Fund Bank of Scotland Foundation Bank of Scotland Foundation repeat grant Communities Mental Health and Wellbeing Fund - Suicide/ bereavement Morrisons Foundation (enhancing community spaces) Total 2 yrs rent and utilities Counselling - remainder of grant repurposed for general purposes Counselling and general purposes Activities Kitchen refurbishment 4,652 4,971 665 10,288 19,800 10,571 8,000 38,371
	19,800 4,652 10,571 4,971 665 8,000 48,659
	7,500 7,500 2,059 2,059 3,324 3,796 7,120 1,328 1,328 3,060 3,060 117 117 51 51 5,097 5,097
	9,559 4,652 3,796 3,060 168 5,097 26,332
	10,241 0 6,775 1,911 497 2,903 22,327

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