Annual General Meeting
Date:
Thursday, 18th February 2016
Venue:
Our Place Community Hub
Present:
Kelly Round
Debbie Clarke
Robert Green
Sue Ayers
Gary Underwood
Najm Clayton
Beth Thomas
Barry Connolly
Gemma Clayton
Bobbie Duggan
Roger Bunting
Fiona Hill
Sam Nicholson
Sandra Antly
Theresa Hyde
Sharon Coton
Agenda
Item
1.
Action
Welcome
Kelly Round (Director and Manager of the Hub) welcomed everyone to the 4th year
of Our Place Community Hub and advised that we would be reflecting on the
2014/15 financial year.
Kelly said a fantastic team of people were now at the Hub and it was great that any
challenges involving the hub could be dealt with efficiently and effectively. She also
presented the Our Place Business Plan and a copy of this is available upon request.
Kelly advised that the Plan is divided into two parts. The Hub Facility and the
Mentoring Scheme.
i.
The Hub Facility
The refurbishment of the Hub is well under way and decoration/painting will
continue. We now have a Lease with the Council in place. It was a long and drawn
out process with the outcome being we do now have to pay rent.
1
We are at breakeven point with the hire of our rooms, either by tenants or casual
rentals. Kelly pointed out that we have retained community focused services with
everyone fitting well into the Hub ethos.
ii.
Mentoring Scheme
Due to the stretch in our mentor resources we did not move into the Secondary
Schools with our mentoring scheme nor did we expand geographically. However,
we still hope to achieve this in the future. We have received paid work in Walsall as
a pilot scheme.
Adult mentoring is still going well and we are looking at child counselling (not
mentoring) in the future. We are also working towards E-Mentoring to use mainly
with older children.
2.
Chairman’s Report by Dennis Kennedy
Because Dennis Kennedy was unable to attend the meeting Kelly presented his
report. He advised how really pleased he was to be Chair and a part of Our Place.
He highlighted progress made in financial management and controls. For this, he
thanks Robert Green for all his help. He would also like to thank Simon Cleary for
his help and leading the progression of our 3-year action plan.
Dennis further commented that two new members had been welcomed to the
Operations Board – Steve Hale (Mere Green School) and Bobby Duggan (Carers
United). He also confirmed that Sue Ayers had been elected Chairman of the
Operations Board.
Dennis also commented that it had been a year since we achieved the Approved
Provider Standard for our Mentoring Scheme. We have recruited some excellent
mentors and we are now looking at an accreditation for our mentor training. Other
clients can now access our mentoring scheme on a paid basis and not only through
schools.
A full copy of Dennis’s report is available upon request.
3.
Financial Report by Robert Green
Robert Green introduced the Our Place Financial Report including results of 2015
income and expenditure/surplus. A copy of his report is available upon request. He
wished to thank Walter Hyde, who will be retiring in the summer, for all his
assistance and hard work with the accounts over the last few years.
There was a dip in building income due to the refurbishment of the Hub but we are
now on track for increased income in 2016.
School Income is significant for 2015 and 2016 will see the introduction of an
improved and fairer school subscription model.
Fundraising and other donations continued to be good and enabled us to build good
relationships with individuals and companies.
2
With regard to expenditure, Our Place exceeded this and created a small surplus.
On the whole, Robert reported that it was a pleasing result.
4.
Life at Our Place Community Hub by Bobby Duggan
Bobby confirmed that Carers UK (now known as Carers United) were the first
tenants to move into the Hub. She has been here for approximately 12 months after
taking over from Gill Doherty.
Bobby expressed that the Hub has a real community and homely feel to it. She has
found everyone so helpful. She felt it was important to be part of the community and
to work alongside like-minded people. She wished to thank Kelly Round and Sue
Ayers for all their help.
5.
Mentoring with Our Place by Debbie Clarke
Debbie Clarke introduced her report entitled “Helping people make positive
changes” which she explained was our ethos. A full copy of this report is available
upon request.
She advised that Sutton Coldfield College had asked 5 teams of students to record a
film describing what mentoring is. Their efforts were amazing but we could only pick
one winner. This brief film was shown to the meeting and we were able to point out
that the toys used in the film were used when mentoring the children.
Debbie shared some fantastic feedback given by children, parents and teachers in
regards to the mentoring scheme.
Debbie moved on to looking at data and thanked Roger Bunting for his help over the
last year by extracting information and giving comparative and useful data in a
spreadsheet. This data can be seen in the copy of the report.
Debbie identified that there has been a 2% increase in referrals overall compared to
last year. However, the number of parents/carers accessing support has risen by
68%.
Debbie pointed out that there had been a change in the risk level of referrals we are
now supporting through mentoring. In the year 2014/2015 the most referrals were
considered as low risk covering issues such as friendship, self-esteem and anger. In
the last 12 months 2/3 referrals received have been of medium or high risk, issues
which are current or sever such as domestic violence, abuse, self harm and anxiety
as some examples. This means that we are now spending longer supporting
mentess and this is one of the reasons we currently have a waiting list for support.
We have four supervisors who support the wellbeing of mentors and development of
their skills supporting their growth and learning. We now have 26 active trained
mentors. She thanked Beth Thomas and Gary Underwood who had given so much
help and consistency in their roles.
3
6.
A Schools Perspective of the Our Place Mentoring Scheme by Fiona Hill from
New Hall Primary School
Fiona advised that she is a Raising Achievement Assistant supporting children to be
the best they can be. New Hall Schools wants all of their children to achieve their
full potential.
She gave high praise to Our Place and its mentors for their professionalism and how
good they are with the children. Our Place has helped the children realise their
achievements and form positive friendships. All the Our Place activities are well
organised by mentors which range from exploding lemonade and sand piles in the
playground. She pointed out that New Hall School could not be happier with
everything that Our Place does and has achieved.
Kelly Round thanked her for this fantastic feedback and said that this is what we aim
to provide.
7.
Election
i.
Strategy Board
The following members were elected to the Board.
Dennis Kennedy (Chairman) (Seconded by Sue Ayers)
Kelly Round (Director, Manager and Founder) (Seconded by Barry Connolly)
Debbie Clarke (Director) (Seconded by Sue Ayers)
Sue Ayers (Director and Office Manager) (Seconded by Sam Nicholson)
Beth Thomas (Mentor Co-ordinator) (Seconded by Najm Clayton)
Robert Green (Financial Director) (Seconded by Barry Connolly)
Simon Cleary (Seconded by Najm Clayton)
The following members were nominated to remain on the Directors Board with two
new Directors elected
Kelly Round (Seconded by Robert Green)
Najm Clayton (Seconded by Sam Nicholson)
Debbie Clarke (Seconded by Beth Thomas)
Two new Directors:
Robert Green (Seconded by Najm Clayton)
4
Sue Ayers (Seconded by Beth Thomas)
Resignations were accepted from Walter Hyde (Director) and Charlotte Swash
(Strategic Board)
8.
Meeting Closure
Kelly Round closed the meeting by welcoming the new Board members and thanked
everyone for coming.
5