ALL SAINTS
CENTRE NORWICH
ANNUAL REPORT 2008
PATRON
The
Lord Bishop of Norwich
The
Right Rev’d Graham James
TRUSTEES
Chairman Mr Peter Threadkell
Vice
Chairman Mrs Angela Quinn
Secretary
& Treasurer Mrs Sue Olver
Chaplain The Rev’d Barry Furness
Mrs Katherine Gray, Mrs Diane Harber [from
April 2008],
Mr
Michael Hope, Mrs Elizabeth
Kilshaw [until Nov. 2008],
Mrs
Sue Rolfe, Mr David Waskett [from Sept. 2008].
FROM THE CHAIRMAN
Last year was a mixed one for the Centre.
We lost through retirement our long serving Manager Lilias Standage who in the many years she had been at the Centre had seen thousands of people come through the doors in search of refreshment and help. Fortunately the Trustees were able to appoint Karen Maidstone as her successor and towards the end of the year Alison Woodrow as the assistant manager. They have both settled in and work together well as an effective team.
You will see from the accounts that once again we made a loss on the year despite the level of activity in the Centre; this is a matter of concern to the Trustees. For our capital projects such as our new heating system we have relied on donations and grants from other charitable trusts, but they like us are “feeling the pinch” in the current economic climate so their help is harder to obtain despite the best efforts of the Trustees and staff. Currently, as this report is being written, we are discussing with our Landlords our revised rent which is likely to increase thus putting even more strain on our finances.
On a more positive note, All Saints Centre will be 30 years old in 2009 and we are in discussion with Bishop Graham and his staff about holding an event with other locally based charities and church organisations to mark this significant anniversary.
Finally I would like to thank the Trustees, staff and volunteers for all they contribute to making the Centre such a special place.
Peter
Threadkell
Chairman of the Trustees
____________________________________________________________________________
FINANCIAL REPORT
The year started well with a healthy surplus of £6,000. In January we received grants totalling £13,000 which paid for the new heating system. The budget for the year was approved though at that time we were not aware of the downturn in the economy and how we might be affected.
By the time we finished the year income was under budget in almost all categories. Applications for further grants were unsuccessful, and donations from corporate bodies were down. We were disappointed that the income from food and drink did not match that of 2007 especially as we now are able to offer a substantially larger menu.
The increase in salaries has been due to changes in personnel, and the addition of a paid cook as a staff member. Other increases in expenditure include food and drink, insurance, and heating as well as paying for advertisements for a new Centre manager.
We reached the end of the year with a deficit of just over £5,000. We look to 2009 to endeavour to redress this through extra fund raising.
On a more cheerful note we now have a new Treasurer, David Waskett, who took over in October from Sue Olver, who had been acting Treasurer for several years.
Thanks go to Trevor Scott, our administrator who has again managed the day to day running of the accounts in a most professional manner. This ensures that Trustees know on a daily basis exactly the position of the finances.
Sue
Olver
Secretary & Acting Treasurer
Sue
Olver
Trevor Scott
___________________________________________________________________________
THE MANAGER’S REPORT
In
this past year we have seen a steady volume of customers coming into the Centre
and making use of all its facilities. Many are are regulars, but some have
visited us for the first time even though they live in Norwich, and others have
come in from further afield, often here on coach trips.
The amount of cooked food we produce has
increased and we have now added a traditional breakfast to our menu, which has
been very sucessful. However we do desparately need more volunteers to help in
the coffee bar, even if they can only spare a few hours each month on a rota.
2008 was also the year of Lil’s
retirement, and on 29th August a party to mark this was held at the
Centre for staff, volunteers and friends. Also in September a Surprise Party
for Lil was held at The Castlegates,
when Graham Patching, the owner, kindly closed to the public so that we could
have dinner, music, a raffle and an auction, which raised £1,400 for the
Centre. This will be partly spent on further much-needed catering equipment.
In August Donna Bindley joined us on a regular basis as our part-time cook, and in November Alison Woodrow was appointed as Assistant Manager. We are also very grateful to Terry Turrell for the many hours of his time he has voluntarily given us working in the Centre’s kitchen.
Karen Maidstone Centre
Manager
_________________________________________________________________________________________
FROM THE FUND RAISERS
The
accounts reflect a much better picture of major grants received than we
actually achieved in 2008. This is because both the generous grants of £10,000
from the Geoffrey Watling Charity and £3,000 from the Paul Bassham Trust at the
end of 2007 actually appear in this years Accounts. Although a number of
applications were made during the year we were not successful in attracting
grant finance during 2008. Partly this was due to not having any major project
ongoing, such as the new kitchen project or heating system replacement that we
raised significant funding for in 2006 and 2007. It is now much harder to raise
funds in the current climate but also much more difficult to do so for normal
on going costs such as salaries or current trading account problems. We will
need to redouble our efforts in 2009.
There were a number of fund raising
events during the year, starting with the usual Market Stall in the Haymarket.
An Open Day at the home of Sue and John Olver was a great success, both
socially and financially. In
December a Christmas Market Stall was held in the Centre together with a repeat
of the Christmas Prize Draw which had proved so successful in the previous
year. Over £1,500 was raised from the combined events - a remarkable total
achieved through the remarkable efforts of so many people.
We are very grateful to everyone who has
helped with the fund raising during the year - those who have manned stalls,
cooked, fetched and carried, given draw prizes, plants . . . the list is long
and our thanks is heartfelt. One final thank you to Susan Wallace, who set an "All Saints Quiz" which
caused brows to furrow and minds to concentrate! We sold many copies, and a
good number were returned.
We have a number of activities planned
for the coming year and we hope to see you at these, and that you will be able
to help us as so many have helped during the past year. Thank you.
Sue
Rolfe
Michael Hope