ANNUAL REPORT2013
This report consists of:
Section AChairperson’s Report
Section BTreasurer’s Report
Section CProject Co-ordinator’s Report
Section D Development Co-ordinator’s Report
Section ECommittee Members from 11th June 2013
Section FMinutes of AGM / Public Meeting 11th June 2013
Section A
Chairperson’s Annual Report.
Year Ending 31st March 2013.
Good afternoon everybody and welcome to this the 12th Annual General and Public Meeting of the Monifieth Befriending Scheme.
Ladies and Gentlemen, there is much to report this year, as per the last two years, financing our scheme has been a matter of concern but more of that later.
The Monifieth befriending Scheme is about people and we have always been most fortunate in having dedicated volunteers without whom there would be no scheme.
The role of coordinator is crucial in the operation and last year we had Lindsey and Chris ensuring that all was well and not only ensuring that the core activities were being carried out but also organized parties and they played a major part in securing future funding.
During the year we lost the services of Chris Taylor as she and her husband Richard moved house to Cumnock in Ayrshire. Chris’s contribution to the scheme cannot be overstated. She was recruited to set up our, what was then a new service, of befriending the recently bereaved and she immediately took the ethos of The Monifieth Befriending Scheme to heart. Chris was with us for six years and during that time our scheme developed in a most satisfactory way, providing befrienders for those struggling with bereavement whilst still maintaining and enhancing our band of volunteers who befriend the elderly and lonely in the community.
The teamwork of Lindsey and Chris led to this outcome which fulfilled the objectives of our constitution.
At this point, I wish to pay tribute to Lindsey who has been a pillar of strength and support to the management committee during this last year. When Chris resigned Lindsey immediately took on the coordination of Chris’s Volunteers and Clients. This was done with the addition of a few hours to Lindsey’s hours. This in turn saved the scheme saved the scheme on overall salary costs at a time when funding was a major concern. It did however put a strain on the amount of time Lindsey and we are most grateful that at no time did the core activities suffer in any way. Thank you Lindsey.
It so happened that at about this time we were awarded money as part of The Change Fund and this allowed the scheme to recruit another coordinator bringing the number of part time employees back to two. The Change Fund receives its monies from The Scottish N.H.S. and Social Services and is funding for change and we in The Monifieth Befriending Scheme already play a part by enhancing care in the community. Our befrienders have a proven track record of improving life for our clients and volunteers and probably enable them to stay in their own homes longer.
Whilst The Change Fund in no way interferes with the objectives or the running of our scheme the Trustees are of the opinion we that we should strive even harder to reach those in our community who would benefit from our particular type of befriending.
The Change Fund has led to closer liaison with Monifieth Health Centre and we are grateful to their Practice Manager Eric Blythe for that. This in turn has confirmed that there are many more people in the Monifieth area who would benefit from befriending. Thus confirming the information on which the Monifieth Befriending Scheme was formed.
Our new coordinator was therefore recruited with the initial specific terms of developing further Monifieth Befriending Scheme; to ensure we are known throughout the area: To recruit volunteers and generally develop the befriending service.
In January we recruited Jane McArtney as our Development Coordinator. Jane was already well acquainted with the Monifieth Befriending Scheme and settled in very quickly and, as you will hear from her report has tackled her job with great enthusiasm and already had success in recruiting. Jane has also given the management committee some new food for thought in developing the scheme.
The management committee also has benefited from some new personnel during the year Norma Holmes, Dave Swankie, Maggie Currie, and Pauline Cameron who came on as a volunteer member. All have made significant contributions and it is good to know that the scheme continues to attract competent, talented people to carry on its work. Thanks to all.
Thanks also to those members of the committee who have served the scheme for years. Bill Rackham, John and Margaret McKee, and Emma Whitton have not enjoyed good health during this last year but have still given support when able.
As I said earlier, the scheme is about people and none are more important than our volunteers without whom there would be no scheme. All are important and we are indebted to them but I hope you will forgive me if I , this year, give special mention to Nan Shepherd and Glenn Hopkins who have decided to retire after giving eight years continuous service. This was mentioned at our awards evening last week but I take this opportunity of recording our thanks to them here in our annual report.
The content of Chairperson’s report in recent years has had a fair share of financial news; there will be some detail of that in the Treasurer’s report but I would like on behalf of the Trustees to thank Lloyd’s TSB Foundation, The Robertson Trust, The Gannochy Trust, The Souter Trust, The NHS Change Fund and all those who donated and gave the scheme financial support during the last year.
In closing, this past year has been a year in which there has been a fair bit of change, in personnel: Coordinators: Management Committee: Volunteers and inevitably clients.
Change also in Funding as I have just mentioned.
And in our outlook of working with the NHS Change Fund and I ask all our members to give Jane support as she works to heighten the awareness and benefits of our scheme from both a Client and Volunteer point of view.
If you like what we do tell as many people as you can.
If you see something we do that you don’t like or you think we could do better, then tell us.
But it is in our core activity of befriending the elderly, lonely and those struggling with bereavement that the value of our scheme lies will continue to be.
Thank you all.
Section B
Treasurer’s Report
Good afternoon.
Well we have managed to get through another year, pay our way and still have some money in the bank.
A few comments on the Financial Information made available to you today.
1)On the Receipts and Payments Account you will see that our excess of receipts over payments has gone from a surplus of £10375 in 2012 to a deficit of £5989 in 2013, an overall difference of minus £16364. This is not as alarming as it seems. The reason being that grants from Lloyd’s TSB,Robertson Trust and GannochyTrust and Souter Trust totalling £16500 had been received prior to 31st March 2012 but was budgeted to apply in year ending 31st March 2013.
2) What, from the treasurer’s point of view is significant is that we start the new year with £3158 less held in cash with another £2831 cheques still to be presented. We do have however funding applications in place and have just recently been advised that our application to The Robertson Trust has been successful. So I believe we are secure for another year.
3) A look at the Balance Sheet shows that half of our cash assets at the end of March were considered “restricted” that is we have to account to the donor (in this case NHS Change Fund) for its use. I am happy to report that we had a meeting with them last month and left with the feeling that they were happy with the outcomes we had achieved so far and also our future planning. They also advised us to apply soon for funding beyond October this year.
4) So much for the figures (and I will be happy to take questions on the hand outs in a minute). The overall view is that whilst we can see our way ahead for another year, we are very dependent on Change Fund money which we cannot rely on forever. We therefore must continue to seek funding from other sources.
5) Thanks must be recorded to Lloyd’s TSB Foundation; Souter Trust Foundation; Robertson Trust; Gannochy Trust and The NHS Change Fund all of whom donated generously to fund the work of The Monifieth Befrienders. Thanks also to the pupils of MonifiethHigh School and The Yorkshire Building Society both of whom give annually. It is gratifying to receive local support from the community we serve. Thanks to many of the volunteers who donate their out of pocket expenses via Gift Aid.
6) We must also record our thanks to our Independent Examiner, Mr. John Barton, for his thorough examination of our annual accounts.
I would like to close this report by emphasising how much our immediate financial future is dependent on NHS Change Fund money and the way to secure a share of this is to continue and develop our befriending service. So thanks to those who already do this so very ably and I repeat my previous request to support Jane as she works to develop further the work of The Monifieth Befrienders.
Section C
PROJECT CO-ORDINATOR’S REPORT
It has been another fulfilling year for Monifieth Befriending Scheme. During the year, we have befriended a total of 36 clients and currently have 29 clients matched with 26 volunteers. There is a growing need for our service and we have 8 people waiting for a befriender. We continue to offer our service to matched clients who have moved into care homes within Monifieth and we now offer our befriending service to people already in Care Homes within Monifieth. We feel it is important that we keep regular contact with both our volunteers and clients and I do this by telephone, e-mail and visiting.
As you already know I have had a change of colleague; in September Chris moved to Ayrshire and therefore reluctantly resigned from her post as Project Co-ordinator for bereaved people. We had a good working relationship and I missed her when she left. We still keep in touch; she has settled in well and is enjoying life in Ayrshire but Monifieth Befriending Scheme remains close to her heart and she always asks for everyone. With the permission of the Management Committee I increased my hours from 20 to 26 hours per week to allow me to support Chris’ clients and volunteers. Life in the office was quiet after Chris left until Jane arrived in January and although she has only been with us a few months she has settled in well, brought lots of new welcome ideas to the scheme and her enthusiasm is a breath of fresh air!
Sadly, since our last AGM/Public Meeting, 4 of our clients have passed away: Mrs Nina Georgopollous, Mr Gordon Lawson, Mrs Margaret Pearson and Mrs Maud Carr. Mrs Georgopollous and Mrs Carr had been clients for many years and it was sad to see their health deteriorate over these years. Their befrienders; Fiona Chambers, Nan Shepherd and Glen Hopkins should be commended as they remained committed to visiting although I know at times it wasn’t easy. Fiona continues befriending another client but as Derick has saidNan and Glen have resigned after 8 years service. They were popular befrienders with great characters and always brightened up our volunteer meetings with their funny stories! I would like to thank them on behalf of everyone at Monifieth Befriending Scheme. We are extremely grateful to them and they will be missed. Mrs Pearson had been client for about a year; she really appreciated the weekly visits and the support her befriender Margo Geddes offered. Mr Lawson had only been a client for a few weeks but his family were so grateful to his befriender George Gammack. Gordon was a bit of a loner and found it difficult to form relationships with people, but they said he really took to George in the short time they spent together and it made such a difference to his life. They also appreciated that George visited him in hospital.
We are very grateful to all our volunteers for their commitment over the past year, not only for visiting their clients but also helping out at parties, fundraising etc. We value their support. They provide much needed company and friendship to their clients and usually visit them for up to 2 hours each week. Some volunteers visit their client at home whilst others accompany their clients on outings for a coffee, to the cinema, for a walk, etc. and although it’s not expected, we appreciate that many of our volunteers will visit their client if they are in hospital. Three of our volunteers befriend more than one client and we have one supply befriender who will cover volunteer absence if required. We have trained 8 new volunteers over the last year and 6 are now successfully matched with clients. The other two have just completed induction training and will be matched with a client when we receive all their necessary documentation. We have a wide variety of volunteers who each have one thing in common - a wonderful gift of bringing something special to their client’s lives. They are male and female, young and not so young. In fact our oldest volunteer will be 90 years young next month! I will not mention her name although she knows who she is. She doesn’t like a fuss and will probably tell me off but we couldn’t let such a milestone pass without wishing her a very Happy Birthday and to say how marvellous we think she is.
Our volunteers and clients seem to really enjoy our summer and Christmas social events and these events have become an important part of Monifieth Befriending Scheme. We had a party with a ‘Queen’s Diamond Jubilee theme’ in July in the Crown Inn and a 2-course lunch in Monifieth Golf Club in December. As everyone enjoyed it so much, we have booked Monifieth Golf Club again for our party in July and Monifieth and District Rotary Club have kindly agreed to transport our less able clients to the party if required. This year we are proposing to have an extra social event in September - a short bus trip and refreshments. A risk assessment has been carried out and as our volunteers know their clients better, we have asked them to complete a short questionnaire. Some of our volunteers have already said they would take their less able clients in their cars so they don’t miss out. The Management Committee has agreed that the people on our waiting list should also be invited to these events to include them in the scheme while they are waiting for a befriender.
We are delighted that more of our volunteers attend our volunteer meetings each month. They can pop into the Portacabin for a coffee and a chat and we sometimes include additional training. During the past year we have had talks from a physiotherapist from Arbroath Infirmary, Deaflinks and Angus Independent Advocacy. At our annual evening volunteer meeting we undertook CPR training from Heartstart.
Last week we were very excited to hold Monifieth Befriending Scheme’s first Volunteer Award Ceremony. It was a great success and lovely that so many of our volunteers came along and enjoyed the informal social evening. Freda Stewart, Health Improvement Partnership Manager with NHS gave an enlightening talk on the value of volunteering before Derick presented each volunteer with a certificate in recognition for their years of service: 3 volunteers with11 years service received a gold certificate, 7 volunteers received a silver certificate for 5-9 years service, 6 volunteers received a bronze certificate for 3-5 years service and 19 volunteers received certificates for up to 3 years service – totallinga magnificent 135 years of befriending! We now plan to hold an award ceremony each year.
As part of our on-going fundraising efforts, we have on sale today our recipe books priced £3.99 each, some greeting cards priced £1 each and our now famous quiz sheet priced £1 with a £20 prize for the winner. They are on the table over there and we would appreciate your support.
In the coming year, we will continue to seek new referrals and volunteers and offer support to our existing matches.
Thank you to our clients and their families, our volunteers, referrers and the local community for the support they have shown to Monifieth Befriending Scheme over the last year. Many thanks to the Management CommitteeandJane who always offer me great support and help to make my job so enjoyable.