AGM minutes

AGM Minutes - 6th June 2024

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Welcome and Apologies for absence

Hilary Daffern chaired the meeting and welcomed everyone attending. Thank you to Sue Richards and Chris Waite for refreshments.

 

Apologies from Layla Moran, Laura Richards, C Wilmshurst, David Crutchley, Georgina Hicks, Ruth Hawkins, Sally Reynolds, Roland Knight, Tricia Cook, Sabine Schwaebisch, Trudy Varcianna, Adam Macrae.

 

Minutes of the AGM June 16th 2023

Minutes had previously been approved by trustees and are available for all to read on the TAB website. Chair signed and dated these minutes.

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Matters arising

No matters raised.

 

Trustees Annual Report

Welcome to this our 31st AGM.

2023/24 has been one of the most successful years for TAB. We have secured £750k to fund us over the next 3 to 5 years. We have engaged with numerous other charities and agencies to ensure the YP we work with get the best possible support.

This time last year we set our sights on raising £30K to celebrate our 30th Anniversary, this plan has been well received by many local supporters and businesses, I would like to thank all those who have contributed.
 

• The sale of Chris Bryan’s book, (the history of TAB) set us on our way at last year’s AGM, over £1000 raised.

• Sue Robbins, cycling around Wales, approaching £2000.

• Tyler Hodges, Spartan race, £465

• The McRae Family, running the London Landmarks half Marathon, over £1000.

• Loose Cannon Brewery Charity Night £2000

• SOPHOS £1000

Just to mention a few of our amazing supporters. A huge thank you to them all. Total currently stands at £23,612.

I would like to thank my fellow Trustees for all their hard work and dedication to TAB. We have a fabulous team of people who all bring a wealth of knowledge to the board of Trustees.

Much of the success of this amazing year is down to Gary Hibbins our CEO. Gary is the backbone of TAB and has been instrumental in securing all the funding we have received.

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Over the last 8 years Gary has grown this charity to make it what it is today, one of the most respected charities in Oxfordshire.
Thank you, Gary.

My thanks also go to all our staff and volunteers, who all work tirelessly for the best possible outcomes for the local young people we engage with. Special thanks must go to Howard Spencer, who analyses all our data and Sam Cobley our website manager.

Two years ago, we set ourselves a goal, “seek to sustain”. Despite there being huge demands for our service within our catchment area and beyond, we realised we needed to focus our time, funds and staff on our core work and decided not to expand.
I believe this plan has worked and we have been able to meet the needs of our local community.

In order to do this, we set ourselves Key Performance indicators (KPI’s) these measure our progress and keep us focused on our goals. Quarterly we measure client feedback, financial controls, risk management, occupancy rates.
I am proud to say, we have secured our funds for the next 2 years.

I would like to thank the outstanding team we have at TAB.
Our next challenge will be finding available space to see the number of referrals we are receiving. Thanks to Christ Hospital we have been able to refurbish the Old Police Station premise and can now use this space daily.

It’s not only the sheer numbers but the increasing complexity of issues that young people are presenting with that is our concern. With this in mind, we are looking to do more preventative work to include 11year olds and to this end we will be passing a resolution at this AGM to change our constitution to allow us to work with 11-year-olds. Currently we start at 13.

 

Impact report, current issues and future priorities

Gary started by thanking Hilary for her hard work and commitment to TAB and quote “we are in a room full of legends!”

He thanked the Staff, Volunteers, Trustees, Youth Ambassadors and the Community for their continued dedication and support.

He then introduced Gemma Jaurigue, Head of Counselling. Gemma has re-joined TAB after a period at Riverside counselling. Gemma said how much she is enjoying working with all the staff and volunteers. She is working closely with Holly. They meet weekly and allocate clients to counsellors and have introduced an individual waiting list system for each counsellor. They are working towards a “single stream service” and she thanked Howard Spencer for all his help with updating the Views database. She also said that a staff well-being day was being organised for the summer as the mental wellbeing of staff is paramount.

 

Gary then introduced Elaine Wade, who was elected to the board of Trustees. Elaine is a qualified social worker and was the head of MASH (Multi Agency Safeguarding Hub)/Child Protection Team. Elaine said that we need to recognise what issues young people are bringing with them. A safeguarding review is held monthly with Gary, Holly and Gemma. Here they discuss “concerning clients”. Seventeen clients have been reviewed to date. The team ensure actions are in place and continue to review monthly until they agree resolution is in place. Elaine said we need to be in a position to be able to “defend TAB’s work” should we ever be questioned.

Gary continued. Over the past year, the counselling team have supported 343 young people with 2534 sessions delivered. There is an average 10 week waiting time for sessions to start. 78 young people currently waiting support.

The well-being team have supported 248 young people. 71 young people supported through psychoeducational group work. 60 young people supported through Gym projects; 2231 sessions delivered. 400 healthy meals provided.

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• Outcome 1 - 78% of young people showed increased resilience.

• Outcome 2 – 75% of young people have improved aspirations.

• Outcome 3 – 88% of young people have a greater sense of their emotional well-being.

Outreach initiatives – engaged with 234 different young people. 868 young people supported through our educational workshops.

2024 – 2025

• We want to develop our ABC (Act, Belong, Commit) community model

• Create more focus groups and collaborative opportunities with the Town Council

• Train and develop a further 8 Youth Ambassadors

• Help lead and design a new Abingdon Town Youth Strategy – this will be dependent on finding the funding to create new job post (sent to Town Council reps)

• Continue the tried and tested interventions that we know make a difference

• We currently need to raise a further £30,000 to fund a Town Youth Lead - with your support this can be achieved.

Gary will also be working with Laura Richards from Gigaclear to run a “transition to workspace” workshop.

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Client’s perspective
Holly, Head of Wellbeing, introduced herself. She told the group about the four drop-in sessions TAB run each week. One on a Tuesday where young people choose what to cook that night (this can be the only hot meal they have). 600 meals have been prepared to date. Her team regularly do street work and go into secondary schools. She introduced Jonny Lloyd, trainee counsellor who is “a massive asset to the team”. Jonny said how much he enjoys working with the TAB team and his work with the young people means a lot to him. Holly then thanked Portia Allen, pastoral support at Fitzharries school for her support in setting up the first drop-in session. Holly also thanked Charlie Birks from Christ’s Hospital and the Town Council for their continued support.

Holly then introduced some of the “new” Youth Ambassadors. She asked them why they wanted to be involved;

 

“I wouldn’t be here if I hadn’t had the support of TAB. I want to give back to others”

“I want to be someone’s friend, if they’re struggling and don’t have anyone to turn to”

“I’ve been through a lot in my life. I know I wouldn’t still be here if I hadn’t come to TAB. I’m so grateful for the friends I have made”

 

Holly thanked them for being brave to speak to the group. She went on to thank Francesca one of the counsellors who had set up the weekly Art Group, to which a few of the Youth Ambassadors attend. They had a very enjoyable trip into Oxford last week, visiting art exhibitions. This had been possible due to a donation from a local Abingdon Art Group.