Clyst Caring Friends

Tuesday 12th November 2024

Pinhoe Surgery

Annual General Meeting

7pm

 

Minutes

1)Those present

Trustees: Henry Gent, Sarah Gaisford, Robin Thwaytes, Henrietta Sansbury, Sally Hudson.

CCF Staff, Members, and Volunteers: Sam Peterson, Angela Alford-Rukundo, Kerry Jackson, Toni Coulson, Sandra Hodgson

 

Members and volunteers 13

 

2) Apologies for absence Mrs Bibbings, Mr and Mrs Cadbury, Bridget Drew, Jean Govier, Margaret Isaacs, Joan Martin, Mr and Mrs Pearce, Cecilia Perry, Barbara Sercombe, Angela and Ian Roberts, Sue Mallet, Danielle Hammond, Mary Moore, Sheena Dick, Daniel Lockyer, Katie Jones, Angie Hurren.

 

3) Welcoming remarks

 

4) The Minutes of 2023 AGM  were accepted as a true record. Proposer – Susan James. Seconded Roger Sercombe. All present in favour.

 

5) Election of trustees. 

 

Since the last AGM one of our trustees, Malcolm Hillyer, has sadly died. He is much missed.

 

The following trustees have been co-opted by the trustees since the last AGM and now stand for election by the members:

Sally Hudson

Katie Jones

 

The following trustees have retired and put themselves forward for re-election:

Jean Govier

Robin Thwaytes

Henri Sansbury

 

Proposer Henry Gent, all in favour.

 

No other nominations have been received.

 

6) Trustees’ Report and Annual Accounts.

 

Henry Gent reported an accounts loss of just under £5000 on trading, the investments went up in value by £1000 on a turnover of £160,000. This was an improvement on last year, but we plan to do better in future. Sam’s focus is improving income. DL is heading up a finance committee and the treasurer is producing monthly accounts. We are likely to have a small trading loss next year as well, so this is main focus going forward.

Questions from the floor:

• How much money do we spend on admin? What is the increase in admin costs compared to previous year and what are we expecting to happen in current year? The Treasurer and Office job are purely admin, both working part time hours, but also all members of staff do admin as part of their roles, so admin not separated out entirely. Costs have not increased compared to last year. Likely small trading loss overall. More accurate budgeting will help with predictions.

 

• A request was made that the charity puts its charity number on the newsletter.

 

• How concerned are you about the cash balance, and also are the reserves rather too high? Reserves are necessary to be resilient against unexpected shocks. The recent Budget with employers NI and minimum wages going up will be challenging.

 

• Can you outline how you are going to increase income for next year? In the next few years, we are aiming for stability after the fluctuating years of Covid. We are planning changes to address our trading loss. There has been no increase to the transport costs since 2019, so prices will be reviewed but we still want to keep this very affordable as a key part of our charity. We will consider the viability of the Day Centre opening for a fourth day, costs will have to be carefully considered, break even means 10-12 clients, the hurdles will be transport and staffing. A Home Enablement service has been considered, there is a large demand for this from clients not suitable for Day Care but it would probably have to run at a loss initially while numbers built up. Restarting the Bathing Service would mean moving into care regulated by the CQC so not likely to be feasible financially. The Shop Manager role will be advertised shortly, and we are in touch with local auctioneers to take suitable donations to auction. The Christmas Bazaar will be one of a regular programme of fundraising events. The Day Centre has increasing use in the evenings which is a new source of income.

 

7) Dates for the forthcoming year:

• Christmas Bazaar – Saturday 23rd November from 10am – 1pm at the Broadclyst Victory Hall.

• Pinhoe Coffee Mornings – every Monday at the URC in Pinhoe from 9.45 – 11.30. Also, on the second Saturday of the month at the same venue, with the exception in December when it will be held on Saturday 21st.

• Pinhoe Coffee Morning Christmas Draw will be held on Monday 16th December during the normal Coffee Morning at the URC in Pinhoe.

• Broadclyst Coffee Morning – the first Saturday in every month from 10am – 12 midday.

• Charity shop weekly stock sale – every Thursday at the Green Room, Victory Hall from 9am – 12 midday.

• AGM 2025 – Tuesday 11th November 2025, proposed venue at the Pinhoe Surgery

 

Henry Gent closed the meeting.