4m AGM of The Porch Project, Hadleigh

MINUTES OF Annual General Meeting 3 Thursday 30th July 2015, 7pm. St Mary's Church

Agenda Item

1 Welcome The Chair welcomed everyone to the 4th AGM of The Porch Project. Apologies were accepted from Barbara Boyd and Lizzie Beckett. The Chair led the meeting in a one-minute silence to remember our Trustee, Her Honour Judge Caroline Ludlow: known to us as Caroline Everitt. She is very much missed.

2 Approval of the Minutes of the 3rd AGM in 2014 The Minutes were approved and signed by the Chair of Trustees as a correct record of that meeting.

3 Report from The Chair of Trustees The Chairman reported that the huge rebranding exercise has been completed including our website and social media. Grateful thanks were offered to Cyndy & Tony Hilton for letting us use Priory Hall for our Tea and Cakes Thank You to our volunteers. He also thanked all our supporters - both those who help financially and those who give of their time and expertise to assist: both are valued equally. The Chairman reiterated what a huge asset the Porch Project is to Hadleigh and how its profile is being consistently raised further afield. It is a continuing aim of the Trustees to see the Project rolled out across the comity. We are in a position to gift across our expertise, information & experience and such time consuming elements as Procedures & Policies.

4 Report from The Treasurer & Adoption of the Annual Report & Financial Statement for 2014/2015 John Goulbourn gave the Report. He had very kindly taken up his previous role following the departure of Jason Welsh until we found a new Treasurer. This we have now done and Judith Hermite has taken up the role. John ran through the Accounts for the Financial Year ending 31 December 2014, noting the year ended with a deficit of £6,241. The Chair recommended the adoption of the Annual Report & Accounts . The full report was tabled at the meeting and will be filed with these Minutes.

Sue Angland, the previous Mayor of Hadleigh, had nominated the Porch Project as one of her two charities for her term of office and donated her cheque to us in the sum of £1,500. This was accepted with grateful thanks and the young people were asked to join her for a photograph.

Election of Trustees & Officers for 2015/2016 Trustees/Members:

Officer/Member: Officers: (non members)

James Buckle John Hall Lesley Turner Barbara Boyd John Devaux Sheena Lawrence Liz Reid Martin Thrower Craig Hutton Jess Janas Judith Hermite

Chairman Deputy Chairman Church Warden

Youthworker Secretary/ Administrator Treasurer

Outgoing Trustee: John Everitt Dan Liggett is our current Year Out Student and this role is kindly sponsored by The Aldham Common Charity, for which we are most grateful. Review of Achievements to Date & Plans for the Future Craig Hutton reported on achievements to date. He opened by thanking the Trustees and Management Committee for their guidance and support; the fund raising team, the church wardens and the volunteers. He also thanked Free Rein, the Co-Op and the Hadleigh Thrift Shop for their invaluable sponsorship throughout the year. He noted that since the departure of Matt Paisley, the Porch Project's relationship with the police has deteriorated to quite an alarming degree.

Summer consists of street outreach work for the Project which is even more important considering our relationship with the police. There are still some very challenging issues being addressed which include drugs, self-harm, suicidal thoughts, violence, alcohol, abusive home environments, court appearances and poor role models. The Project is offering ongoing assistance and support at all levels. But it is not all bad and there are a lot of positive things happening within the Project: partnerships with parents, schools and the Leisure Centre are good and growing. Girls Tower is a successful and committed group of young girls and our Music Development group has been particularly successful. Mentoring is proving invaluable and runs alongside pastoral care and support. We enjoy key relationships with, inter alia, MyGo, Suffolk County Council, Hadleigh Town Council, South Suffolk Leisure, Free Rein and Wayne Kerridge. Martin Thrower then outlined our future plans. We are hugely keen to gift our knowledge and expertise to other areas of Suffolk but cannot just drop into another community. We need to be very targeted and assist them to run their own Project in a way that is right for their community. They can take and adapt best practice and we can offer a massive time and labour saving gift in the form of our Policies & Procedures and how to secure funding etc. We are in advanced discussions with Great Cornard and hope to be able to open "Porch Project Cornard" in the Autumn. This will be our first satellite. Two other locations are in discussions with us and thanks to assistance from, among others, our Police & Crime Commissioner, we are now in a position to employ a second youth worker which is vital to our development. We are continuing to develop relationships with our schools and cookery is still a major part of the Porch Project and we hope to offer lessons from the Autumn, thus building life skills with the young people. Due to the trust built up between our young people and our Youthwork team, we have more safeguarding issues emerging than any other youth initiative. Our policies and procedures are working well and Craig is training to become a safeguarding trainer which will add another string to our bow for developing further into the county. Two Short Porch Project Films The first film, "Labelled was a short look beyond the hoodies where our young people, knowing how they are perceived by a cynical public, explain how they really are and feel. Quite an eye opener. The second, and hugely moving, film was a short autobiographical look at an exceptionally brave and honest young man, explaining how his previously damaging and unacceptable lifestyle has been completely turned around with the help of The Porch Project. Ryan Guest was at the meeting in person and received a massive and

heartfelt round of applause for his magnificent achievements. Music Development Group This has been an exceptionally popular course and was attended by Alice Noble, Louie Shiress, Adam Steer and Chloe Sheehan. The meeting was able to hear Alice & Chloe sing, play guitar and keyboards and although the sound system was sadly lacking, everyone very much enjoyed their work. The Chair of Trustees presented certificates to all the young people who successfully completed the course.

Close and Questions The Chair of Trustees closed the meeting by stating that even if there was only one young person whom the Porch Project had helped, then we have been successful. We have done a lot more than that but we must never forget that we still have a lot more to do. Most of us have never had to face any of the massive challenges that face a lot of today's young people. Each person's story is an eye opener and proof that what we do is the right thing to do and that we will continue this for as long as we possibly can, wherever we can.

There being no further business, the meeting closed at 7.32pm. Everyone was invited to enjoy refreshments, kindly sponsored by Aspalls

with the Trustees and Management Committee.

Date of the Next AGM will be advised, but is likely to be the last Thursday in July 2016

where the Minutes & Annual Accounts will be available for all attendees.

Immediate Distribution: Trustees & Officers, Management Committee, St Mary's Church Office