Chairman’s Annual Report 2024
Our 2024 Annual General Meeting was held on 27th November at Wellington Methodist Church.
Chairpersons’ Dave Wright Annual Report for the 2024 AGM
It is both a pleasure and a privilege that I present this my annual report. I guess we all acknowledge that we live in times of change. It is the changes that Forum 50+ have seen over the last 3 years that I wish to report on.
August 2024 saw the end of our Lottery 3-year project. We have secured some further grants and hope to obtain more funding as we move into next year. My report covers the period of the 3 year project, which ran from September 2021 – August 2024.
So, what have we been up to?:
Support & Befriending: Remember we are a small charity with mainly volunteers and either one or two members of staff. During the 3 years we received 762 referrals which come from the medical practices, mental health services, MIND, Age UK, adult social services, housing trust and even the NHS. From the 762 not everybody accepts support, but we have supported 450 on a one to one basis. Our wonderful volunteers have supported around 43 of these clients with visits and 65 by telephone whilst the support workers we engage have looked after 213 people who have needed more care than our volunteers could offer. And at the end of September, we only had around 16 people waiting for support a volunteer or to have their details processed.
During the 3-year period we have had 65 volunteers helping us, with 6 signing up in September. All the Trustees and our staff can only thank those who do volunteer – they give their time, care and energy.
Social Groups: Over the 3 years we have had around 150 people attending our 8 regular social groups more than once. Many have made new friends and some meet up outside our groups. Without the social groups, members may not have ventured out of their home, so this is a success story in itself. We have recently launched a Creative Writing Group run by one of our members and our new social network 50+ Friends now has around 200 members and we have organised a range of activities and visits to places of interest like Shrewsbury Prison.
Computers: We support people in their homes with their computers, tablets and phones and also at our 2 drop in sessions. The support that our volunteers give is well received. Thank you to our digital volunteers.
Exercise Classes: Over 100 people have attended our exercise classes over the 3 years. Please visit our website for details of our yoga, men’s Yoga and seated exercise classes.
Forum Magazine: Most of you will know that we had to stop our Forum magazine due to the costs however Chris puts out an email newsletter monthly. We have also recently to posted a newssheet for those members without the internet. This is will be repeated in the spring if we have the resources to do so.
Membership: Around 290 people became members over the 3 years. It is interesting to see the split – 75% are ladies and 25% are men. The age split is also interesting: 50/65 = 35%, 66/80 = 43%, 80 over = 22%. Around 43% joined through our website.
Environment and Transport Action Group: The group is still going strong and taking up your complaints on transport and the environment with the bus and train companies, T & W Council and our two MPs. Again, a big thank you to those volunteers.
Involvement with borough wide initiatives: We are have been involved in:
The council’s Ageing Well Strategy Partnership Board
Digital Inclusion Project
The council’s project bid to support people with dementia into regular exercise.
Working with primary care mental health services to increase access to support for older people.
SAND’s (Safe Ageing No Discrimination) covenant pledging to be fully inclusive to members of the LGBT+ community.
Charity Skydive: In July, dementia support worker Hannah bravely skydived and raised around £1400 for our charity. So thank you to Hannah and everyone who made a donation.
Media: A BBC reporter attended one of our curing sessions to get comments about the Winter Fuel Allowance and these were featured on the BBC news website.
Finally: We are a small charity with a big heart run by volunteer Trustees and currently only one member of staff. On behalf of you our members I would like to thank our volunteers who give up their previous time to help the over 50s in our town and yourselves for being part of Forum 50+.
It would be wrong of me at this stage not to ask you to put your hand together for Chris, Forum 50+ coordinator who makes all the things I have presented today happen. Chris thank you.
Draft Minutes: AGM 18th September 2023
Wellington Methodist Church
1. Welcome:
Chairperson Dave Wright opened the meeting by welcoming members.
2. Minutes of the AGM, Monday 26th September 2022. Proposed for acceptance as a true record by Julie Francis, seconded by Ken Buttress and agreed unanimously by a show of hands.
3. Chairpersons Report, 2022/23:
Printed copies were circulated to members at the meeting. Questions raised regarding transport issues, including assisted transport, and the recent change in local services. Environment and Transport Action Group chairperson Ken Buttress will follow up on these issues. The Chairperson thanked the staff for their hard work and wished Wendy Mitchell well for her retirement.
4. Presentation of Accounts 2022/23:
The Treasurer presented the audited 2022/23 annual accounts, explaining that we have just entered the final year of our National Lottery project which runs from September to August and are seeking new funds. No questions raised. The Treasurer asked for the accounts to be accepted, this was seconded by Ken Buttress and members agreed unanimously.
5. Election of Trustees 2023/24
The constitution states that trustees hold office for three consecutive years and that at every AGM two trustees stand down. Julie Francis and Clive Godfrey will step down but wish to be considered for re-election. New members were elected to the board, Rosemary Simmons, Jim McGinn and Malcolm Seeby, proposed by Ken Buttress, seconded by Val Skelton, members agreed unanimously. One nomination for Chairperson, Dave Wright, proposed by Julie Francis, seconded by Brenda Yarnold, members agreed unanimously.
6. Date of next AGM: This will take place in September 2024.