HOME-STARTHEREFORDSHIRE

Registered Charity No 1113432 • Company No 5659978

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strongest that I had everfelt due to lots of support,I decided that I too wantedto be a Home-Startvolunteer and givesomething back to thewonderful charity that hadhelped me so much.

Life is very different forme now! I now also have alittle boy who keeps meon my toes and I am alsodoing it alone. This haspresented its ownchallenges but thanks toall of the help I havereceived I’m managingreally well. Also, I feel thatthe experiences I havebeen through have helpedme to become the personthat I am today.

A friend of mine was starting the preparation courseand I asked if I could join too. The 10 week course wasamazing and I loved it. Don’t get me wrong some of thesubjects were hard to deal with but so worth doing. Ireally learnt so much about not only the families I wouldbe working with but also about myself. The mostimportant lesson of course; being that we are all human.

Since then I have worked with two lovely families and Ihave found it to be so rewarding. I am so glad that sucha wonderful charity exists.

A Home-Start FullCircleCindy Ojwang

Hi my name is Cindy and I am a volunteer for Home-StartHerefordshire. I have been with the team for around 2years now and I am really enjoying the experience.

Believe it or not I actually used to be a Home-Start user!Way back 11 years ago when my girls were babies, Iwas finding life really hard. I was 22 years old with 2small babies, the eldest of which was severely disabled.I didn’t drive, I had very little family support and I didn’tknow anyone else with a special needs child. I felt aloneand lost. Most days I didn’t even leave the house as itwas such hard work trying to get 2 babies fed, dressed,in the double buggy and get anywhere on time! Addedto that; was the fact that my eldest was super clingyand wouldn’t go to anyone but me and her dad andwould scream anytime I left the room.

My Home-Start volunteer was a wonderful woman calledNerys. I must admit, when she first arrived I felt likesomeone had been sent to watch me or judge me. Aftera week or two I realised that she really was there tohelp. To be that extra pair of hands that I needed or justto be the friendly ear to listen to me when I was feelinglow. She helped me so much during the time that shewas with me and I appreciated it so much that yearslater when I was back on my feet and feeling the

An all roundvolunteerGail Ford

After a chat with Alison, I felt that I had no option but totrain as a Home-Start volunteer in 2011. The trainingwas beyond expectation in so many ways; meetinglovely people; making friends and of course, beingthoroughly prepared for the time to be spent with ourfamilies. The care, compassion, expertise and dare I say,common sense, remain available at all times, often witha laugh for good measure.

I have gained so much from my time spent with thefamilies I’ve been matched with (3 to date), and it feelslike a “cwtch” to see the positive effects that our visitscan make to a family. The families I have supportedhave had a variety of concerns to deal with, so there isnever a chance of becoming bored or complacent withthe care and help that I give.

I’m not sure that I appreciate Alison calling me a “craftylady” but I do enjoy making things that can be sold toraise funds and, more importantly, awareness of Home-Start Herefordshire. Sometimes this has been in lovelysurroundings: Teri’s garden, the cathedral, BroadfieldCourt and often in pouring rain or even a thunderstormat Witney. Still, we had a laugh.

My calendar is also marked for Thursday morningswhen I help out at Ross Toy Library, acarer/baby/toddler group expertly run by Kay Gray

Group Coordinator along with Sue Jackson who isanother volunteer helper “musketeer” and is also a“crafty lady”. We are sometimes joined by Social workerstudents who attend to gain experience.

There is a great buzz at the group with lots ofactivities: craft, painting, sand, toys and also time forcarers to chat about life in general or, maybe, concerns,which can often be dispelled before they become aproblem.

Teamwork and Support explains how Home-StartHerefordshire work and I am grateful to have beenincluded in this supportive teamwork when workingwith: my families, the office, the Toy Library andfundraising.

There is always the support of a team available.

Caroline Watson and Gail Ford at Broadfield Christmas Fair

Cindy Ojwang with Ebony,Jamari and Imani

2

Chair’s AnnualReportVicki Murray Chair of Trustees

It is a real pleasure to be able to report yet again on asuccessful year for Home-Start Herefordshire. We havebeen able to continue our essential work with over 200families so far this year. They have been befriended bydedicated home visiting volunteers and supported in agreat number of ways to address the problems that theyare facing at this time in their lives. Helping the parentshelps the children and equally helping the childrenhelps the parents.

Children of all ages have been supported both in theirearly years and in primary and secondary schools.Home-Start’s core work has traditionally been withchildren under 5 and we try to maintain a balancebetween our work with the very young and that witholder children. Our scheme manager Mandie’s reportgives examples of the positive feedback we get fromfamilies on a regular basis. These responses give usreassurance that HSH is able to make a difference andsometimes prevent real tragedy. It certainly justifies thehard work and often difficult challenges that theorganisation faces.

We could not of course do any of this work without thegenerosity of our funders. At present we receive helpfrom a number of different sources: The Eveson Trustgave us much needed core funding, often extremelydifficult to access, and we currently get funding forspecific projects from Children in Need, the SouthallFund, Kington Church, the Army Central Fund, theCadbury Trust, the Community Foundation, Bulmer’scharitable trusts, New Grove Trust, West Mercia Policeand others. Small grants are also made to individualfamilies to help them with specific difficulties such asneeding some item of furniture or needing help withtravel. We cannot express our gratitude enough to themall. There is a tremendous well of charitable giving inthis county and across the country which is too often

unrecorded butinvaluable.

HerefordshireCouncil Children’sServices havecontinued tocommission us todeliver abefriendingservice forfamilies. They arereferred to us forthe uniquesupport that wecan offer. Wework closely withthe Council andother partnersacross the county,including schools,police and healthservices in avariety of formal and informal networks. The morepartners and services work together the better andmore coordinated the help for our families can be.

I would personally like to thank my fellow trustees whogive so much of their time and the benefit of their manyskills including safeguarding, health and safety, financialand legal probity, human resources and experiencedleadership and planning. They are a reassuring supportto me. Our excellent staff members are a delight towork with and make our governance role a pleasure. InMay 2016 my husband and I had a great day out inSnowdonia, North Wales along with some of our intrepidstaff and their partners, riding the triple zip wire downthe mountain. We were generously sponsored by friendsand families and raised over £1000 so it was aprofitable and exciting change for me from my usualrather more staid responsibilities and a good start toour 2016–17 fundraising income.

We have too many volunteers, friends and supporters tomention them all individually by name but their effortsin family support, fundraising and other areas do not gounnoticed and we thank them all.

Vicki and Paul Murray at Zip World North Wales

Toy LibraryKay Gray Group Coordinator/Admin

The Toy Library runs on Thursday mornings (term-time)at the Children’s Centre in Ross-on-Wye. We are gratefulfor the continued support from The New Grove Trustand from all of the staff and the resources that areavailable to us.

Since October 2015 we have been visited by 122families, with not just mums, but dads, grandparents,foster carers and childminders. A wide diversity ofnationalities have also been welcomed at the group.Many lasting friendships have been built betweenchildren and adults.

In a safe and secure environment we offer support,friendship, fun and activities. Each week we have atheme which incorporates craft and play activities. Manyof which are very messy with paint, glue, play dough,‘gloop’, painting and water play on offer. A healthy snackis also included in the planning with creations such as

‘Humpty Dumpty’ cheese scones and ‘ladybird’ crackersand always a variety of fruit. This has become a big partof our morning with lovely comments from parents andcarers and even requests for our recipes. We do stillenjoy a party though with the occasional treat!

During our sessions we always have a quiet area wherecarers can share experiences and babies can exploresafely.

Our morning always ends with a popular singingsession with‘sleeping bunnies’being a firmfavourite with ourchildren.

This busy morningis all made possiblewith the kind helpand support of Gailand Su, our lovelyHome-Startvolunteers. Thankyou very much!!Kay Gray and Ruby Creed

3

Wish you were here!

Hereford Festival of Sport 2015saw a team from HSH raise £2,520.22

AGM 2015

Christmas Craft Fair at Broadfield Court

2015/16 has beenyet again a greatyear of differentfundraising ideas

and events.

A big thank you to all who took part and to everyonethat sponsored us in our efforts. In total our fundraising events

raised £4,762

4

Manager’s ReportMandie Preece Scheme Manager

What an incredibly busy year it’s been here at Home-Start with us achieving and celebrating many greatthings in terms of our service delivery. We havecontinued to provide effective and often life changingsupport for some of the most vulnerable families livingin the county of Herefordshire. During the year we havesupported 208 families including 389 children(203 aged 0–5yrs and 186 aged 6–18yrs).

Through the delivery of our contract, commissioned bythe local authority we have provided Targeted VolunteerSupport for Vulnerable Families with children aged 0-19years. 105 families, were referred for support, includingparents and children struggling with; physical andmental health, financial problems, housing issues,substance misuse and living with the impact ofdomestic abuse were a few of the challenges that ourbefriending volunteers have helped families overcome.

These positive outcomes were evidenced throughfeedback from parents themselves.

“I valued all the help and support the volunteer offered,spending time with us helping with strategies to usewith difficult behaviour. She made our outlook a lotbrighter and helped reduce conflict in the home” (mumstruggling with child’s challenging behaviour)

“HS support has made a noticeable positive impact. C1attendance has improved, she is accessing moreactivities and mum says she feels more confident, shefeels listened to and valued which has improved her selfesteem” (referrer/ primary school)

Improving the lives of children and young people is apriority of the organisation and much of this has beenpossible thanks to BBC Children In Need who havefunded our direct work with children 5–14yrs over thepast 3 years. We have seen so many successes throughour direct/mentoring support. Volunteers have helpedto rebuild fragile parent/child relationships, improvechildren’s attainment and attendance at school, helpreduce the incidence of self harming, reduce isolation,address the impact of domestic abuse and improve selfesteem and self worth. We felt it extremely importantthat this service continue, so we were delighted when inthe autumn this year we secured repeat funding fromBBC Children In Need to fund the continuation of thisvaluable work.

“Before the volunteer came I felt ...

“I couldn’t tell anyone how I felt, she has made meunderstand how to express my feelings in the right wayand I now feel much happier” (child 14yrs)

“I felt alone, depressed and had enough, now I feel thereis hope and room for improvement. I was at rockbottom and it felt helpless, now I feel confident thingswill and have been changing for the better.” (Child 13yrsstruggling with mental health)

Over the past 2 years we have received an increasingnumber of referrals for families who have been victimsof domestic abuse. These families are greatlydisadvantaged as they have often fled abusiverelationships leaving both parents and childrentraumatised by past experiences, they often have veryfew belongings and live with the uncertainty of not

knowing where or how they aregoing to live or manage. Seeinga great need for additionalresources in this area weapplied to West Mercia Policeand Crime Commission for agrant to fund this work. Wewere delighted when in May2015 we were successful in ourapplication securing a grant of£18,988 to launch our “NewBeginnings Service”, helpingvictims of Domestic Abuse(men, women and children).This new service has been aresounding success with over 50 families helped andreceiving intensive befriending volunteer support.

(Dad) “Our volunteer has helped us rebuild our lives andto live as a family and work better as a family, she’shelped to smooth things out. Being able for us all toshare our thoughts and feelings has made a hugedifference to our lives.” (Mum) “Our volunteer has greatempathy and encourages me to have confidence in myideas and suggests other. She has greatly improved ourfeelings of taking decisions and not beingoverwhelmed.”

Over the years we have found our service to take on amore preventative role, increasingly providing help forfamilies with more complex needs and although we areextremely successful in supporting families to achievepositive outcomes we as an organisation felt itimportant to continue to provide Early Interventionsupport for our younger families, helping in the earlyyears to avoid an escalation of need. Supporting thiswork, in January this year we launched our “Big Hopes,Big Future” service (BHBF), which supports and helpsparents of young children to be Nursery and Schoolready. 15 volunteers have undertaken specialist BHBFtraining to deliver this new service in the family’s ownhome and we are starting to see the first few familiesreferred for this service.

We pride ourselves in providing our volunteer team witha high quality comprehensive training programmewhich meets their own personal developmentrequirements as well as ensuring it reflects the needs ofthe families we support. This year we have deliveredvarious training sessions including new opportunitieslike BHBF. In addition to this 10 volunteers have takenpart in our new Money for Life training which hasprovided them with vital tools needed to help familieswho are struggling with money management and debtrelated issues. We have also received excellent sessionsfrom external trainers including St Michaels Hospice(supporting families with life limiting conditions), MINDand CLD (helping adults and children with mental healthproblems), specialist Health Visitor (understandingInfant Mental Health) and Women’s Aid (supportingfamilies struggling with issues around domestic abuse).We are extremely grateful to Herefordshire CommunityFoundation for providing funding to enable us to runthe training.

“Very useful information and training which has helpedme have a greater understanding of what my family isexperiencing” (volunteer)

Finally I would like to pass on my sincere and gratefulthanks to our incredible staff and volunteer team for alltheir hard work and dedication to the organisation. It isa great honour to work with such a fabulous Team, asnone of this would be possible without them.

Mandie Preece

5

Celebrating 10 yearsSally Jones Organiser / Administrator

I am celebrating 10 years being at Home-Start this year.The time has flown and not one minute has beenboring. There have been difficult times, but the teamhere are so special, we look after each other. They alsoencourage you to strive for the things that you want toachieve. They have helped me grow as a person andgiven me the confidence to become a Home-StartOrganiser and I would like to thank them for theirsupport.

I started as an admin assistant and after getting to knowthe charity and the special work that it does, I wanted tobecome a volunteer and help families. I completed thepreparation course and volunteered for a couple ofyears which was amazingly rewarding.

The next stage was to help the organisers withdelivering the preparation course. So I completed thePreparing To Teach in the Life Long Learning Sectortraining and before long and with encouragement fromthe organisers, I was delivering a few parts of the newvolunteer training course. With further support fromstaff, and the residential Induction course, I am nowable to do organiser work: visiting, matching andsupporting families and their volunteers.

What interested me most about working as an organiserwas the chance to help support families coping withdomestic abuse situations. I had recently done a 3 daycourse on this subject delivered by Women’s Aid, as wellas other training over the years on the subject

At the same time, Home-Start Herefordshire was given agrant from the police enabling us to work with abusedfamilies. Mandie then gave me the chance to getinvolved. Having experienced domestic abuse myself Iwas ready for the challenge.

These families can be affected by so many issues –emotional, self esteem, housing and debt issues. Thechildren can be severely affected – we see it coming outin the form of challenging behaviour and not being ableto deal with their emotions. Children can end up withsevere mental health issues and attachment disorders. I

have found this project to be veryrewarding, seeing Mums improvein confidence and beingempowered to deal with issues.

Through our Monitoring andEvaluation process, it has beenrecognised that three quarters ofour referrals are, or have been inthe past, affected by domesticabuse.

We are also now supporting malevictims of domestic abuse. I startedworking with a couple of familiesand have since built up to givingsupport and guidance to 8 familiesat one time. I continue to maintainthe administration role on a sharedbasis with colleague Kay Gray.

I would like to thank some charities that have helpedthese families this year:-

The Community Foundation and Bulmers who havesupported families with fuel funding.

The Family Holiday Association paid for two of myfamilies to go on holiday. For one family they got to seethe sea for the first time. This family also went to thecircus for the first time and said it was ‘amazing’.

The Rathbone Charity has funded many different thingsto support the young people in these families – horse-riding, gym membership, dog training sessions, fundingfor children to attend school clubs or activities andfunding for transport to take a family on holiday.

The Hereford Lions also supported with transport for afamily to go on holiday.

The Hereford Food Bank for providing food parcels forfamilies in an emergency.

It has been amazing to be able to provide these familieswith experiences that they otherwise would not have.

Kington FamilyGroupTam Thomas Family Group Coordinator

Goodness me, again I am wondering where has the last12 months have gone as I do my report for our Kingtonfamily group. Once again some of our children will bemoving on to school and it seems they have grown upwith us, but what fun we have had along the way. Lotsof crafts, loads of messy play (thank you Kim), singing,dancing – I go to sleep some nights with Hop LittleBunny going round and round in my head having heardit at least 10 times at group that morning – stories,cooking, flower arranging etc, etc. My volunteersAmber, Caroline and Mel make the group so welcomingfor all the families it is always a comfortable place to be.Mums can chat about anxieties and successes in alovely relaxed atmosphere.

We are thriving and wehave a lot of support fromvarious groups within thelocal community, includingKington United Charitieswhose funding and helpenables us to continue. Wehad a fun night at the localBingo where all proceedswere donated to thegroup. We also have greatsupport from the HealthVisiting Team who willdrop in for coffee and achat to support ourfamilies.

We ended this term with atrip to the local fruit farm

where we picked cherries and strawberries, met thefarm animals and enjoyed a lovely picnic withstrawberries and ice cream to finish our day. Lovelymemories!!

Coffee morning in Kington

Sally Jones

This year we have supported 389 children in families, including 203 under 5ʼs

6

A Big Welcome toour New Volunteers

Student PlacementsAndy Portman, Student

My placement with Home-Start Herefordshire has beenan invaluable learning curve for me as a social workstudent. Due to continued austerity measuresimplemented by the government the local authoritiesare forced with making difficult decisions regardingwhich services they will keep and which will be lost.I have witnessed the impact of these decisions as thethresholds for social care involvement are now muchhigher and as a result the council and other agencieslook to Home-Start Herefordshire to take on more cases.

The team are an inspiration and they work tirelessly toprovide support to families in need across the wholecounty. The support offered is first class and that’sthanks to the excellent leadership, supervision andtraining that are provided by the scheme manager, andthe organisers, who ensure the continued professionaldevelopment of all staff and volunteers. Most of thedirect work with families is undertaken by a team ofdedicated volunteers who give2-3 hours a week of their timefor FREE to help those most inneed in their communities. Thevolunteers all share a commongoal of wanting to help people.

I would like to take thisopportunity to give heartfeltthanks to all the team at Home-Start Hereford for making myplacement such an enlighteningand enjoyable experience.

Diane Gibson Organiser

• Home-Start Herefordshire is a recognised FirstPlacement of 70 days for students on either Bacheloror Masters Degrees in Social Work at Worcester andGloucester universities. This means that there is astudent social worker on placement throughout theyear.

• Diane is the Workplace Supervisor and works in closeco-operation with LindseyMcArthur Practice Educatorto ensure the studentshave as wide an experienceas possible which benefitsboth them and the serviceHome-Start Herefordshireprovides to families.

• The students benefit fromboth informal and formalsupervision from Diane anda huge amount of supportfrom the rest of the team.

“I cannot talk highly enough of myprofessional and personal admiration for you all at the office and will take a lot of

experience and happy memories away with me.I hope to be able to give something back to theorganisation in the future as the hope andlight it brings to families you touch is

priceless.” Andy Portman

Andy Portman withfriend Mike on the mic

We have had another very busy year of volunteerrecruitment and we are delighted that we have

managed to recruit and train 29 new home-visitingvolunteers who are now ready to support families

all over the county.

WWee hhooppee yyoouu ffiinndd yyoouurr jjoouurrnneeyy wwiitthh uuss aass rreewwaarrddiinngg aass wwee ddoo,,

Thank You to those volunteers who have left us, wehave really valued your contribution and are trulygrateful for the difference you have made to the

lives of the families you have supported.

7

Treasurer's ReportRob Ellam, Treasurer

Income increased by 16% during the year mainly fromthe new Domestic Abuse contract. Expenditure alsoincreased, by 10% again reflecting higher staff costsresulting from the Domestic Abuse contract.

The net result is a surplus of £4,443 on unrestrictedactivities which is slightly lower than the surplus of£7,969 for the previous year. The unrestricted surplusfor the year has been added to reserves to leave totalreserves at 31 March 2016 of £50,596.

Our current unrestricted reserves only provide minimumcover for emergencies such as shortfalls in funding orunexpected expenditure. The Trustees continue tobelieve that reserves equivalent to 6 monthsexpenditure, i.e. in excess of £80,000, are the optimumrequired to ensure continuity of operations and willcontinue to work towards this goal. However, althoughthe current reserves only provide for 4 months ofexpenditure cover, the Trustees believe this is sufficientto meet the minimum required to continue operations.

Amounts were received from Eveson Charitable Trust,Herefordshire Council, BBC Children in Need, New GroveTrust, Cadbury, The Army Fund, EF Bulmer BenevolentFund, Southall Trust, West Mercia Police and CrimeCommissioner, Pontrilas Development, Kington UnitedCharity and HFT Forklifts. We are grateful for theirsupport.

In addition money was received in the form ofdonations from individuals and the proceeds from fundraising events. We are grateful to the donors for theirgenerosity and to all those involved in fund raisingevents for their hard work and commitment.

Financial SummaryYear ending Year ending

31 March 2016 31 March 2015

Incoming resourcesDonations 4,032 6,488Fund raising income 4,762 4,041Grants 164,828 139,600Other income 2,478 1,187

176,100 151,316

Resources expendedStaff and volunteer costs 141,741 128,985Fund raising costs 176 31Office costs 14,477 12,171Scheme expenses 4,521 5,914Governance costs 1,716 1,215Other costs 255

162,886 148,316

Net movement in fundsUnrestricted funds 4,443 7,969Restricted funds 8,771 (4,969)

Funds at 31 MarchUnrestricted 50,596 46,153Restricted 10,970 2,199

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HerefordshireCouncil

Home-Start Herefordshire, Suite 1 Lakeside Offices, Unit 1A Thorn Business Park, Rotherwas, Hereford HR2 6JT

Tel: 01432 371212 Email: homestart.hereford@virgin.netWeb: www.home-startherefordshire.co.uk

E F Bulmer Benevolent Fund

During 2015/16 we have supported 208 families including 43 lone parents

We have raised £4762 withour fundraising eventsduring the last 12 months

The Eveson Charitable Trust

S. R. & P. H. SouthallCharitable Trust

Rathbourne Moral Aid Charity

Home-Start Hereford'sboard of trustees

Peter Watts, Julian Mawdesley Vice Chair, Christine Wright, Rob Ellam Treasurer, Teri Turner

front row Vicki Murray Chair, Judy Hooley Volunteer Rep, Helen Tank