Annual
Report
2011/12
Each day of our lives
we make deposits in
the memory banks of
our children
Charles R. Swindoll
Chairs Report
Bulwell Community Toy Library was established some 34 years ago. At the outset it was run by volunteers.
Now it employs a team of workers many of whom live in Bulwell. So do many of its current volunteers,
committee members and Trustees. Over the last 3 decades the Toy Library has become an essential
and trusted part of the community of Bulwell not only to its families but to its statutory agencies too.
The Toy Library’s aim has always been to support Bulwell children and their families in what are frequently
difficult and disadvantaged circumstances. This aim will not change. So it may seem odd that the
Toy Library is now working outside Bulwell offering mobile crèches and children’s parties and, in the
next year, wedding crèches too. There is a simple reason for this. If the Toy Library is to continue to run
a variety of activities for its Bulwell families and develop them in the future, it needs to make money.
Up until a few years ago the Toy Library was able to undertake all its activities using the grants it was
given. But the down turn in the economy has meant that grants can be harder and harder to come by
and we cannot rely on them alone anymore. So offering mobile crèches, children’s parties and wedding
crèches in other more affluent parts of Nottingham and beyond, is enabling the Toy Library to make
the money it needs. Along with the grants we do receive, the additional money helps towards the cost
of running the Toy Library ensuring that it continues to support children and their families within the
Bulwell community.
I would like to take this opportunity to thank all those who do currently give us grants; the Tudor Trust,
the Esmee Fairbairn Foundation, the Big Lottery and Nottingham City Council and thank you also to
Community Builders for their continuing support. And a very big thank you goes to everyone who
works at the Toy Library whether on a paid, voluntary or training basis. Their dedication, hard work,
commitment and goodwill have given Bulwell Community Toy Library its deserved reputation. Above all
a special thank you must go to everyone who has chosen to attend the huge range of groups provided
by the Toy Library.
Thank you
Judy Berry - Chair
Working for and with
the Community
Whilst we often refer to ourselves as
“the Toy Library” our full name is
Bulwell Community Toy Library.
A group of people in Bulwell came together in 1978 and decided to set our project up to help families
who were bringing up children in difficult circumstances. It wasn’t an idea from government or the
City Council, it was from local people who saw that it was needed and set about running it as unpaid
volunteers. It was more than five years before they raised money to pay a coordinator.
It wasn’t just about toys either, even though they were relatively much more expensive for families on
low income then than now, it was about bringing families together so that they could meet and support
each other.
In the 34 years since then we have changed and grown a great deal. We now employ a team of workers
and run a wide range of projects for children aged 0-13. We also run some commercial services that
we charge for to raise money for our charitable work. But even now we are still managed and run
by local people who give up their time to serve as Trustees and help us by working as volunteers
on our projects.
Our Trustees meet regularly to manage and oversee our work, they make sure we never forget that
we are part of the Bulwell Community and are here to support local families. It is the fact that we have
a relationship and history here that means we are trusted and respected.
The City Council reviewed our work last year and talked to many of our users and members. They noted
that many of the parents who bring their children to our sessions came to them when they themselves
were children. We had an independent Evaluator look very closely at our Language Through Toys and
Play project and talk to many of our partners and users. The report recognised that: “BCTL is part of
the fabric of the community, it has longevity and is known to have the wellbeing of the community as its
core. This opens doors and creates trust, allowing the project to engage families who are traditionally
considered to be ‘hard to reach’.”
Photo courtesy of - Jo Wheeler
Children in Bulwell still need as much help as ever, statistics show that many continue to struggle to
take full advantage of the education system. This is for lots of reasons and it will take all of us to make
a difference to this. When we try to help we always remember that the child is part of the family and the
family is part of the community.
This year we are starting a new project called Bulwell Connects. We will be trying to strengthen the
community of families with young children in Bulwell and strengthen our relationships with the community,
particularly those who don’t come to our sessions already. We will be taking a variety of activities
for young children to public places such as parks and Bulwell Market and inviting families to join in.
They could be arts and craft activities, story telling, games…all sorts. We hope to involve parents and
to attract them again and again. During term time these sessions will be on Saturdays, this way we hope
to attract more fathers and working parents as well.
All of the sessions will be outdoors, not only because we believe that being outdoors is healthy and fun,
but also because outside is community space, shared and open to all. You don’t have to pluck up the
courage to walk into a room full of people you don’t yet know. We know that this is hard for some people
and stops them from taking part in activities.
Language Through Toys and Play
Our long established home visiting/school readiness project continues to help families with young
children who benefit from help with their speech and language development. In February we had the
report from an external evaluation that we commissioned so that we could get an independent and
unbiased view about it. The evaluator spent a long time with us as well as with our partners and families
that use the service. The final report was over 60 pages long and extremely useful. It has helped
us to improve and will also support applications for funding in the future. If you would like a copy let
us know.
This is a key quote from the report:
“It was evident that this approach created the space for professional advice and guidance to be
offered and heard, rather than feared. This investment of genuine personal support and totally
non-judgemental positive regarding and affection, resulted in more empowered, confident
and independent parents who were comfortable to be challenged and held to account by the
LTTP worker. The evaluator considers this to be an example of very best practise in working with
vulnerable families.”
Family Play and Lend Sessions
The heart of the toy library for 34 years, our weekly play sessions for families with young children where
they can borrow toys as well as meet and play together. This year we began to run some of the sessions
in the brand new Riverside Joint Service Centre in Bulwell. The purpose built playroom has proved a
great space to use and attracts more families than ever. Our Baby Play takes place here as well as our
after school and holiday sessions for 5-13 year olds. Not only does this mean that we are working with
children from 0-13 year in the same building, we can also make links with the library, health centre and
youth service who we are working alongside in the building.
Photo courtesy of - Jo Wheeler
Over Fives Projects
This summer we were running five different projects in the area! That came to 8 x 4 hour sessions and
1 x 3 hour session each week for at least 4 weeks, 35 hours of playwork at 2 indoor and 3 outdoor
venues. The enormous reduction in services in the City Council has meant that we are the main provider
of neighbourhood based after school and holiday play services for children aged 5-13 in the area.
We believe passionately that providing all children with play opportunities is extremely important.
Not only is play a key to child’s learning and development, it is also a vital interface between a young
child and its parents and later between children and their community.
How many?
We know that it is extremely important to be able to measure how well we are doing, both to show
funders that we are making a difference with their money and to make sure that we know how well
we are doing. That is why we invested in a new database system that we feed all of our session monitoring
into. This went into operation in January and is extremely useful.
So now we can tell you with the flick of a switch (well almost) that in our under fives work we supported
333 adults who attended 2170 times and 511 children who attended sessions 2926 times this year.
At our over fives we worked with 412 children across all of our projects and services and between them
they attended 8029 times.
That’s not enough though… just turning up at our sessions does show that families and children value
them and want to be there, but we need to show that we make a difference in people’s lives as well.
Or in the current jargon we need to evaluate our impact. This is why we had the evaluation of our
LTTP project done this year and why we are developing new ways to find out how well our services
work, such as questionnaires and case studies. One of the ways in which we hope to make a difference
is in strengthening the community in Bulwell. This is a tricky one to measure and one that we are seeking
advice about. Richard Sennett, Professor of Sociology at the London School of Economics and at New
York University has shown an interest in our work and we are hoping to meet him to ask his advice.
Training
A new development this year, we were commissioned by the Early Years Unit in the City Council to put
on a series of training events for Childminders and Childcare Practitioners. We ran 8 Saturday sessions
covering inclusion, diversity, play ideas and outdoor play. In fact 4 of the sessions were held outdoors
and were fantastic fun as well as being very well received and informative.
Employing Local People
In 2012 we began to run commercial services, such as our Mobile Creche, so that we can generate an
income to support our charitable work. To support this we have employed a total of 25 local people as
paid sessional play and childcare workers. Most of these have been users or volunteers with us in the
past and many gained their qualifications with our support. They were all getting at least 12 hours work
a week each with us during the term times this year.
The Team
Directors (Trustees)
Judith Berry - Chairperson
Loretta Brown - Vice Chairperson
Diana Hutton
Claire Leeming - Treasurer
Emma Buckland
Leanne Edmiston
Anna Milburn - Secretary
Coralie Sunderland
Mia Hollingworth
Rhian Sidsaff
Caroline Blackham
Hemendra Singh
Ruth Parsons
Gemma Brookes
Claire Truswell
Committee Member
Stephanie Quinn
Volunteers
Sarah Martins
Sallyann Lock
Tracylee Rowe
Staff
Steve Parkinson - Project Manager
Jenny Forde - Finance and Resources
Sue Brentnall - Play Coordinator
Lorraine Stevenson - Language Through Toys and Play
Jane Byrne - Neighbourhood Playworker
Sara Taylor - Mobile Creche Organiser
Helen Robertson - Inclusion Playworker
Sessional Playworkers
Sardia Skelton
Mark Adams
Pauline Johnson
Cyril Dunham
Vince Summerly
Sharon Adams
Ruth Parsons
Alison Carpenter
Sam Keeton
Tracylee Rowe
Geraldine Bardill
Kylie Coulling
Carla Chilvers
Lyndsey Timson
Angela Woolley
Natalie Merrills
Craig Woodward
Bernadette McPhilbin
Mikaela Astle
Emma Jacklin
Joanne Cox
Tracy Tomlinson
Creche Workers
Luan Vickers
Amanda Wilson
Amrita Shabharwal
Skeena Bashir
Asifa Akhtar
Natalie Oldroyd
Gemma Miles
Partners
It’s because we trust and work closely with the other organisations and individuals working in
Bulwell that we can make a difference. Thanks to all of our partners for their support, help, cooperation
and humour.
These include the Managers and staff of Bulwell and Bulwell Forest Family Community Teams;
Neighbourhood Development Officers; Bulwell EAZ; One Vision; the local schools; Health Visitors;
Parks Development Officer; Riverside Centre staff team.
Funders
Thanks once again to the organisations and Trusts whose belief in our work has enabled us to
keep going:
Nottingham City Council
The Tudor Trust
The Esmee Fairbairn Foundation
Big Lottery
Photo courtesy of - Wendysoo-Mawston
Bulwell Community Toy Library Limited
Statement of financial activities
(incorporating the income and expenditure account)
for the year ended 31 March 2012
2011
2012
£
238463
37176
22
275661
193623
207
863
4541
1431
303
5999
1133
8876
1328
2632
3151
1252
358
4167
1594
380
1676
60
1872
17355
38
4863
1019
258721
16940
90090
107030
Unrestricted
Funds
Note
£
Incoming resources
Grants & donations
Sales & fees
Bank interest Total incoming resources
Resources Expended
Wages, NI & pension
Payroll service
Staff expenses
Staff training
Consultancy costs
Recruitment
Volunteer expenses
Rent & services
Session costs
Premises maintenance & utilities
Cleaning
Insurance
Telephone, postage & stationery
Printing, publicity & promotions
Stationery and office costs
Publications, subscriptions & affiliations
Equipment, repairs & renewals
Events & activities
Toys and toy maintenance
Van costs
Overhead recharges
Hospitality & refreshments
AGM & trustees expenses
Legal & professional
Sundry exenditure
Materials
Depreciation
Total resources expended
Net income/(expenditure)
Total funds brought forward
transfers between funds
Total funds carried forward
Restricted
Funds
£
Total
Funds
£
2
10644
82022
22
92688
166256
166256
176900
82022
22
258944
98413
175
2984
752
7128
54
454
4699
334
2385
1230
2090
2196
76
1225
1650
146
(54577)
238
1447
12
234
1019
74328
108495
35
946
1008
245
4100
557
165
387
1445
306
1805
7498
1492
1677
54577
583
226
3477
250
189274
206908
210
3894
1760
7128
299
4554
4699
334
2942
1395
2477
3641
382
3030
9148
1492
1823
821
1673
12
3711
1269
263602
18360
81194
1000
100554
(23018)
25836
(1000)
1818
(4658)
107030
102372
I love my children
beyond all reason.
They’re my joy,
even when they’re wild
with kid energy!
Christopher Meloni
Telephone - 0115 975 3898
Email - [email protected]
Visit - www.toy-library.co.uk
Bulwell Community Toy Library
Chris Firth Cottages, Norwich Gardens
Bulwell, Nottingham, NG6 8GG.
Registered charity No.1117739 / Company No. 5687000