Annual Report 2016/2017 Home-Start Spelthorne The Essence of Home-Start Core belief Home-Start believes that children need a happy and secure childhood and that parents play the key role in giving their children a good start in life and helping them achieve their full potential. Our mission Home-Start offers support, friendship and practical help to parents with young children, in local communities. Home-Start offers a unique service. We recruit and train volunteers who are usually parents themselves to visit families at home who have at least one child under 5 and to offer them informal friendly and confidential support. To help give children the best possible start in life, Home-Start supports parents as they grow in confidence, strengthen their relationships with their children and widen their links with the local community. The Home-Start approach To Home-Start every family is special and we respond to each family’s needs through a combination of home-visiting support and social events. Home-Start schemes are rooted in the communities they serve. They are managed locally but supported by the national organisation. This offers direction, training, information and guidance to schemes and ensures consistent and quality support for parents and children wherever they are. Our vision Home-Start wants to see a society in which every parent has the support they need to give their children the best possible start in life. Our Management Committee Home-Start Spelthorne is an independent charity with Trustees being responsible for directing the management and administration of the charity. Trustees have a wide range of roles but are primarily responsible for making the charity effective, providing overall direction and maintaining sound management of funds. Chairperson - Beth Scott Vice Chairperson - Jenny Sice Treasurer - Anne Damerell Trustees - Carol Folly Vivian Williams Joan Ponton Pat Dowthwaite Sue Price Kevin Bulfin Health Visitor Representative - Gemma Jackson Social Care - Emma Derham, Senior Family Support worker North East Surrey Intervention Team Volunteer Representatives - Wendy Webb & Geraldine Guite Family Representative - Gemma Morgan Our Staff Mandy Groves Amanda Salmon Nicky Webster Hazel Want Scheme Manager Senior Co-ordinator Family Support Co-ordinator Administrator Our Volunteers Linda D Tracy Janet Di Geraldine Liz Barbara O Hayley Wendy Denise Margaret Jane Christine F Jackie Sasha Linda M Lisa T Lysa Sue L Azah Sam Christine K Fiona Barbara G Christina Eloho Sally J Sue F Barbara G Emelia Nicky Nike Vicky Alex Carmel Caroline Gillian Maria Pearl Ros Vilma Rebecca Jayne Geeta Nikki Isobel Di S Janet S Lin Lisa L Min Sam E Sue L Trina Total of 54 Home-visiting Volunteers We wish to express our warmest thanks and appreciation for everything our volunteers have done to support families in Spelthorne during this year. Welcome and Goodbye Welcome Jayne Geeta Nikki Rebecca Vilma Ros Trina Sam Sue Lisa Janet Lin Min, Di & Isobel (not in photo) Goodbye & Thank you Nicky Christine Azah Lysa Emelia Christina Jane Sally Sue Sasha Chairperson’s report It was a shock when Mandy announced that she and husband Dave were moving to Devon. Mandy represents all that is best in Home Start Spelthorne: caring, calm, kind, well organized, approachable, loving, wise. So, we were delighted she accepted trustee Kevin’s suggestion that she should become our Strategic and Development Manager, working from Devon, two days a week. Amanda has kindly agreed to become our Family Support Manager and will be responsible for the smooth daily running of the scheme in Spelthorne. We are now seeking a new Family Support Co-ordinator to work along side Nicky. Hazel continues as administrator, always ready to answer the phone, sort out statistics. The new regime started in June 2017. So, to pastures new. Let us hope we can expand the much needed work of Home Start. Trustee Sue and husband Mick provided a new idea for fund raising. They held a very successful barbeque at their home despite the rain! Are there any other new ideas out there? Our local profile continues to rise. Grateful thanks to Cllr Alfred Friday and his wife Kay for choosing us as one of the Mayor’s charities. Thanks to Cllr Vivienne Leighton, our current mayor, for inviting us on the Gloriana on Spelthorne River Day. Beth Scott Scheme Manager’s report “Volunteers are ordinary people with extraordinary hearts” 2016-2017 saw Home-Start Spelthorne complete its 20th year supporting families in our community. We started the year with a celebration of the work we have done over 20 years and with the fantastic news that the Mayor Cllr. Alfred Friday and the Mayoress Mrs Kaye Friday had chosen Home-Start Spelthorne as one of their charities they would be supporting throughout their mayoral year. During the year we have supported 191 children and their families. Each year we continue to demonstrate the vital role we play in our community and the remarkable impact our support has on children and their families. You can see this from the positive feedback we receive (at the back of this report) how highly valued Home-Start is. All this would not have been possible without our wonderful team of Volunteers, staff and trustees, who I would like to thank for their continuing energies and support. They are after all our blood line and without them the work we do simply would not happen. Our Volunteers are ordinary people with extraordinary hearts. Something we hold very close is quality and this year we received our Quality Assurance review from Home-Start UK, the scheme was delighted to obtain 97% at its initial review and with a couple of small amendments 100% at the final review. Every year we make new friends, this year is no exception. Katie Sumner and her friends have been amazing, donating Christmas presents and Easter eggs for all our families, they have brightened up a lot of lives and made stressful times much easier for a lot families. This year also saw with sadness the closure of our Toy Library and the retirement of Isobel Parr our Toy Library Manager. On behalf of Home-Start and members of the Toy Library I would like to thank Isobel. Anthea, Sue and Danni for all their support, care and friendliness to families in Spelthorne especially in Stanwell. I know it/they will be missed. Early Help is everyone’s responsibility, it requires everyone to work together to improve outcomes for children, strengthening the family. We cannot always build the future for our children, but we can build our children for the future, by giving them the possible start in life. This is what Home- Start strives to do. Mandy Groves Treasurer’s report It is my pleasure as ever to record our thanks to a long list of organisations and people who have enabled Home-Start Spelthorne to go on supporting children and families in Spelthorne. Our principal funders are Surrey Children’s Service, Spelthorne Borough Council, and North West Surrey Clinical Commissioning Group, and it is gratifying to feel that we are recognised by all three local powers, county, borough, and health. Last year we had only begun to spend our grant from Children in Need, so £7K of it remained at year- end. Expenditure is now in line with the expected amounts, as you can see in the first column. The Community Foundation for Surrey gave us £5K in February 17 from their Parkes Fund, and the second column shows that one month’s instalment was spent in 16-17. We are very grateful for donations from Shepperton Parish Charity, Bretts Ltd, Resolution (the Surrey association of matrimonial lawyers), Southern Co-op, Shepperton Rotary Aurora, St Mary Magdalene Church, Sunbury Village WI, and from many individuals including our trustees Kevin Bulfin and Jenny Sice, and former trustee Neal Adolphus – see the complete list on the inside back cover. We also benefited from a marvellous offer made by the Four Acres Trust to high-performing Home- Start schemes (that’s us!) to double all qualifying donations received from October 16 to January 17. In addition our friends at Sunbury & Shepperton Rotary Club funded a party for children and families, and they and Staines Rotary Club both allowed us slots in their Christmas collecting. On behalf of all the Home-Start staff, volunteers and families I would like to thank all our donors, and our active fundraising committee who organise such a variety of events, and all those who have held events, sold items, walked, helped at the summer fairs, filled loose change boxes, made cakes and given their time in so many ways. Expenditure on salaries has risen, of course, with our new BBC CiN funded co-ordinator, but other costs have been well contained, and the generosity of donors and the energy of fundraisers have made up the shortfall despite the reduction in income from SCC. Financial and other risks are reviewed regularly, and procedures agreed to manage them. We have complied with our reserves policy, which states that at least three months costs will be held in reserve for unpredicted expenses or opportunities, or in the worst case to fund closure. The charity has no debts secured by charges on its assets, and has given no guarantees leading to potential liabilities. The SCC contract with Home-Start in Surrey is now confirmed until April 19, though Spelthorne’s share of it may vary. We began 17-18 with an amazing donation of over £6K from the Mayor’s Fund, including £1K match funding from Barclays. This will appear in the 17-18 accounts. Home-Start Spelthorne has an excellent team of dedicated staff and volunteers, backed by a strong management committee.