2018 -19
ANNUAL
REPORT
The Furzedown Project
Working with Older People
2
THE FURZEDOWN PROJECT
91/93 Moyser Road, SW16 6SJ
Tel: 0208 677 4283
www.furzedownproject.org
charity number 1076087
3
CHAIR’S REPORT
Each and every one of our members will know and appreciate the Project for your own particular
reasons. Perhaps you come to an exercise class, or play scrabble, bingo or bridge. Perhaps it’s
your creative side that’s touched at the art group or new poetry session, singing group, or the
Indian classical music session. I’m also struck at how often, and quite rightly, food features, at
the Garden, Christmas Eid and Diwali Parties, after the Annual General Meeting, or just dipping
into the biscuit jar in reception (maybe that’s just me?).
These regular activities are the core of our work but there are also the special one off events.
A striking example was our showing the ‘Journeys’ documentary featuring the migration stories
of Project members, made by year 6 children from Furzedown Primary School, a truly
intergenerational initiative. It was moving to hear the poems the children had written inspired by
the stories and their shock at hearing about the racism our members faced when first coming to
the UK.
The Project is important not just to us members, we are very much part of the Furzedown
community with our vibrant stall at the Big Day Out, and the many local people we attract to our
fundraising Xmas and Spring Fairs, or the use our rooms for the evening and weekend classes.
We also have a special place in the borough. At every a meeting about older people the Project
is admired as a beacon of good practice. This was recognised when one of our members,
Vito Ward, won an outstanding Volunteer award from the Open Doors charity, partly in
recognition of her key role in setting up the Project’s weekly LGBTQ coffee morning.
I haven’t space to name all those who make the Project so effective, you who help run the
activities, greet people at reception, maintain the website, man the minibus, do home visiting,
support me as fellow Trustees. But central to all this is the staff, Clive, Pauline, Jackie, our new
worker Suzanne and of course, Mick. He is indefatigable in his efforts to keep the good ship
afloat.
This next year will be an exciting one. We’re busy negotiating with the council to buy our lease
which if successful will give us a new lease of life (excuse the pun). There are also plans to
make the Project a much more ’green’ space by reducing our carbon footprint and generating
less plastic waste. We can’t make the outside world any easier what with Brexit uncertainties or
talk of the social care crisis but we sure do the best we can.
Jeremy Weinstein
4
MANAGERS REPORT
Over the past year one of the major initiatives I have been working on with the Board of Trustees
has been a negotiation with Wandsworth Council to purchase an extended lease (25 years) on
the premises that is our home at 91-93 Moyser Road. The Furzedown Project has been on this
site since the late 1970’s. Our occupation remains secure, but throughout that period we have
been required to pay an annual rent (currently £10,000 a year) for the use of the building. Just
now we are in the fortunate position of having a grant from the Battersea Power Station
Foundation with permission to use this to purchase a longer lease. Whilst the negotiation is not
quite done, I am confident that an agreement on the terms and price will be made very soon.
The benefit of this will be to reduce our fixed overheads year on year making the Project more
resistant to fluctuations in income and to further cement our place as a key service and venue in
the local community.
To make our case with the Council I have looked back at how the Furzedown Project first secured
the premises here at Moyser Rd, how previous Boards of Trustees have developed the building
and the facilities and thought more about its importance as a community resource. What I have
appreciated more fully from my research is the scale of the achievement of the trustees, staff and
members over the last 40 odd years. The first lease taken on by the Project was for the small
rundown shop, with a list of building defects as long as my arm, at 93 Moyser Rd. Once in
occupation the members quickly set about making the shop suitable for offering services to local
older people, providing a place to meet, to socialise and to combat the harmful effects of social
isolation and loneliness. By the mid 1980’s the Project had outgrown number 93 and persuaded
the Council to acquire the corner shop – number 91 Moyser Rd. So, in 1988-89 the Project
combined the two shops to create more space to offer an expanded range of services. In the
Annual Report of that year the Chair of Trustees, Ruth Dixon set out a challenge to Project
members, she wrote,
!"
As ever the Project’s Members responded and came forward with the ideas, skills, money, and
commitment to inhabit and make use of the extra space they had created. In fact, they were so
successful that by the turn of the century the Projects membership, it’s activities and the services
provided had again outgrown the building. And so, in 2004-5 another major improvement to the
building was undertaken. Using over £130,000 raised by members and grants from a range of
Charitable Trusts the old back yard of the two shops were enclosed creating a further 90 square
metres and creating the rear activity room that accommodates our extensive exercise programme,
the singing group and the Co-op Shop. Now in 2019 Furzedown Project offers 26 activity sessions
each week, attracting typical weekly attendances of 230 +, and provides services to a member-
ship that totals 420. Whilst the premises have been developed primarily for the benefit of our
own members, we also make them available to a range of other community groups in the
5
evenings and at the weekend. Currently the “out of hours” use includes regular adult and chil-
dren’s Art Classes, Pilates, Zumba, Tai Chi, The Great Gustos Choir, Lotte Berk Dance, and Bul-
garian Country Dancing. In addition, we host the Furzedown Ward Councillor’s Advice Surgeries,
the Furzedown Community Network meetings and events, the Police Safer Neighbourhood Team
Meetings, and various one-off public consultations. In many ways our building is a key focal point
and resource and it is just one example of the contribution that older people make to communities
and society in which we all live. Testament to this can be seen in the comments made by those
who make use of the Project’s facilities below:
#$%&'(
).
Councillor Graham Loveland
*$%)+
,
$%
*!!
&'*$%
#*
-$%$%,.&
!*
$%"
Lucinda Denning (Art teacher)
/#&'$%!!!
!!+++
#&'0(!
*
1/
Caroline Holden
2&'$%!&'
34&35&3$%/
,!&3
$%/-!!
,.-
!678
-2
Peter Ramell
#..9+!
&'!
!#
%(!
)!
#%!
Denise Broad
OUR HOME IN MOYSER ROAD
6
Mick Morrell
HOME VISITING SCHEME & SUPPORTED TRANSPORT
So far, the bulk of my report has focused on the premises where we host the activity sessions that
are the bedrock of our work. However, equally important to our mission of preventing and over-
coming social isolation are our Outreach Services; that is, the Supported Transport, and Home
Visiting Scheme. The importance of these is that they provide a lifeline to the people within our
community who find it challenging to get out and therefore are most at risk of experiencing the
acute suffering that loneliness can cause.
Our minibus sets off every day of the week, in all seasons, and all weather to collect those
members who would otherwise find it impossible to travel to the Project. It brings them in to the
warm and welcoming embrace of other people who share their enjoyment of their chosen activity.
Be it, Bingo, Singing, Craft, Bridge, Scrabble, Exercise, or the Get Together our Supported Trans-
port provides the route to a place where they enjoy good company, fellowship, conversation and
peer support. In addition to the weekly programme the minibus is used for summer day trips, for
our major seasonal events providing opportunities to visit old haunts (Battersea Park/Fulham Pal-
ace etc) and favourite seaside resorts (Eastbourne/Brighton). The bus is kept running by a dedi-
cated team of drivers and escorts, their contribution to our work is invaluable and the impact that
it has on the quality of life for their passengers is immense.
The Home Visiting Scheme offers friendship and support well beyond the walls of the Project for
those who are most at risk. The service is managed by Clive Brown who co-ordinates a team of
befrienders. Clive matches his clients with a volunteer and stands ready to step in whenever there
is a need for additional information, referrals, signposting, or advice on personal care services
and benefits. It is remarkable how consistently Clive’s match-making works and how many of the
friendships that are formed benefit both parties and are truly reciprocal.
Clive’s work takes him out and about in the local area, visiting people in their homes, it also brings
him into contact with family members and professional carers. He liaises closely with other local
groups and faith communities, spreading the word about the Project’s work, and receiving
referrals for new clients. He recruits his team of volunteer befrienders from amongst own mem-
bers, as well as from younger people of working age who live locally. Clive is well networked and
a well-known face in the neighbourhood, the quality of his work adds yet another strand by which
the Project is integrated in our local community. He remains truly thankful for all that his
Home Visitors do and would like to pass on the following message directly to them:
“
*
"
Finally, on my own behalf I too would like to thank our whole staff team: Clive, Pauline, Jackie,
Suzanne, Peter and Sandra for their hard work and support and also, Jeremy Weinstein and the
Board of Trustees for their consistent and positive encouragement throughout the year.
7
RECEPTION
Ann Ziegler, Barbara Bunby, Colette Murnaghan, Joyce Moses, Liz Sines, Louise LeSage, Mi-
chelle Bennett, Pam Carpenter, Tony Buffery.
CO-OP SHOP
Ann Harris, Diane Norman, Gwen Race, Helen Bernhardt, Therese Nolan.
TRANSPORT
Alan Stanley, Angela Bradley, Bruce Bebington, Deborah Danso, Eustace Yhap,
Graham Loveland, Jackie Dixon, John Farebrother, Liz Richards, Lottie Cornelius,
Martin Beaver, Martin Ure, Michelle Bennett, Mike Richards, Moira Harbord, Patricia Orlando,
Peter Clarke, Robert Broad, Roger Tucker, Terry Sines, Tony Palmieri.
PROJECT & EVENTS CATERING
Christal Geater, Jacqueline Anderson, Kanta Vadukal, Liz Sines, Maureen Sandhu,
Olive Savage, Tara Lehmann.
FUNDRAISING
Barbara Bunby, Christal Geater, Diane Norman, George Bryson, Gillian Mires, Gwen Race,
Jaqueline Anderson, Kamla Cotter
,
Liz Sines, Maureen Sandhu, Tara Lehmann,
Therese Nolan, Vito Ward.
WEB DESIGN & DISPLAYS
Chris Durne, Liz Sines, Peter Clarke, Sue Pearson.
ACTIVITY SUPPORT
Anita Quinn, Ann Harris, Barnaby Fitzpatrick, Bruce Bebington, Claire Clay, David Robson,
Diane Norman, Gwen Race, Hannah Svensson, Hilary Anderson, Jeremy Weinstein,
John Valentine, Joan Poole, Julia Philpott, Julie Mangroo, Kanta Vadukal, Linda Cairns,
Liz Richards, Lucinda Denning, Lynlea Ward, Mike Richards, Moira Habord, Neelam Chandra,
Padmakar Mishra, Pam Carpenter, Patricia Orlando, Rama Patel, Suzanne Ellis.
HOME VISITING
Ann Heywood, Barri Ellis-Daley, Benedicta Tabirade, Beverley Martin, Christa-Maria Farouk,
Colette Murnaghan, Dave Harbord, Diane Norman, Emma Baxter, Guy Gozmao,
Indumati Patel, Jacqueline Anderson, Jane Heath, Jenefer Spells, Jenny Weinstein, Jeremy
Weinstein, Joyce Moses, Joycelyn Charles, Judith Hare, Katie Ricketts, Liz Sines, Lola Phipps,
Maia Forde, Martin Beaver, Mary Heraty, Maxine Rhodes, Moira Harbord, Natalia Balthazar,
Olive Savage, Rachel Husband, Sisko Brand, Sumita Sandhir, Teresa Howells, Terry Sines,
Therese Nolan.
BOARD of TRUSTEES
Jeremy Weinstein - Chair Diane Norman - Vice Chair Mike Richards - Treasurer
Gillian Mires, Gwen Race, Ilaben Patel, John Farebrother, Ann Harris, Jane Fisher,
Elvette Bryan, Rosemary Scott.
Co-opted - Robyn Lynch, Varada Rajan.
VOLUNTEERS AT THE PROJECT
8
Project Manager
Mick Morrell
Home Visiting Coordinator
Clive Brown
Project Coordinator
(
3 days p/w
)
Pauline Copas
Facilities & Activities Support Worker
(
3 days p/w
)
Suzanne Richeux
Finance Worker
(
1 day p/w)
Pius Gnanapragasam
Mini-bus Driver
(1 day p/w)
Jackie Dixon
Mini-bus Driver
(
½
day p/w)
Peter Clarke
Freelance Exercise Specialist
Sandra Shaw
STAFF TEAM
9
Our Purposes and Activities
“The Furzedown Project operates for the benefit of the public the relief of the elderly (being
persons who are principally sixty years of age or over), the housebound and the disabled and
their carers in the London Borough of Wandsworth.”
The main focus of our work is to prevent and overcome the health, and psychological difficulties
that arise from the social isolation and experienced by too many older people. To do this we
provide an activities centre that open from 9.00am to 5.00pm five days a week. We also run a
home visiting and befriending service for those who find it very difficult to leave their home. Our
method of working involves maximising the participation by our members and volunteers in the
design and delivery of the services we offer. In the financial year 2018-19 we have remained
focused on achieving these aims and utilised our staff, volunteer and financial resources to this
end.
Throughout the period 1
st
April 2018 to 31
st
March 2019 we have consistently offered between
23 and 26 activity sessions each week. We have monitored our service on a quarterly basis and
this has shown that our activities have attracted an average of 226 attendances each week; an
average of 259 individuals have received our services in each quarter; between 65 and 70
people have utilised our Supported Transport Service to take part in our activities each week,
and 62 individuals have benefited from our Home Visiting Service over the course of the year.
Reserves Policy
The Board of Trustees believes it is prudent for free reserves in the region of six months running
costs to be held. As of the 31
st
March 2019 our Unrestricted Reserves were significantly in
excess of this as a result of: (i) an unexpected legacy of £50,000 donated from the estate of the
late Ethel Summers, a client of the Home Visiting Scheme in 2017/18; and (ii) the phasing of
payments from the grant award made by the Battersea Power Station Foundation. The BPSF
paid over £150,000 (in 2017-18) of which £50,000 was Restricted Income for the purpose of
funding the continued operation of our Outreach Services (HVS & Supported Transport). The
remaining £100,000 was designated as Unrestricted to allow the Furzedown Project to negotiate
with Wandsworth Council for the purchase of a long lease on the premises we occupy. We are
now nearing the completion of this negotiation and are confident that there will be successful
outcome. This would have a long term benefit to the Project’s financial stability as it would
remove the fixed cost of the annual rent paid under our current occupancy agreement.
STATEMENT OF PUBLIC BENEFIT
10
FINANCIAL ACCOUNT
FOR 12 MONTHS TO 31 MARCH 2019
Unrestricted Restricted Total
Income £ £ £
Grants and Contracts
107,617 107,617
Activities 14,689 5,232 19,921
Transport
3,175 3,175
Membership 6,433
6,433
Donations including Gift Aid 6,842
6,842
Room Hire 7,820
7,820
Fund Raising including Raffles 3,892
3,892
Miscellaneous 834
834
Bank Interest 276
276
Total Income 40,786 116,024 156,810
Expenses
Salaries, NI and Pensions 3,209 99,358 102,567
Travel 107 110 217
Activities 4,607 18,093 22,700
Transport
3,622 3,622
Rent & Rates
12,905 12,905
Premises Costs
4,677 4,677
Office Costs 8,781
8,781
Insurance 1,369 2,206 3,575
Audit & Accountancy 6,960
6,960
Bank Charges 88
88
Volunteer Costs 653 119 772
Total Expenses
25,774
141,090
166,864
Management & Organisational Charge 7,901 (7,901)
Net Cash Surplus/(Deficit)
7,111
(17,165)
(10,054)
Depreciation (Non-Cash) 3,955 6,655 10,610
Net Surplus/(Deficit)
3,156
(23,820)
(20,664)
11
Our thanks go to the
following
organisations
for their financial support in the year:
Wandsworth Borough Council: Adult Social Services
The Battersea Power Station Foundation
The Big Lottery Reaching Communities Fund
BALANCE SHEET
AT 31 MARCH 2019
31/03/2019 31/03/2018
£ £ £ £
Fixed Assets
19,706 27,557
Current Assets
Debtors and Prepayments 4,767 4,677
Cash at Bank and in hand 256,224 317,632
260,991 322,309
Less Current Liabilities
Deferred Income 8,333 57,750
Creditors and Accruals 4,874 3,962
13,207 61,712
Net Current Assets
247,784 260,597
_______ _______
Net Assets
267,490
288,154
Represented by:
Unrestricted Funds 218,742 228,445
Designated Funds 13,734 13,734
Restricted Funds 35,014 45,975
267,490
288,154
12
MONDAY at the Project
Day Trips Outings July—September
* Swim Club
9.45 -12.00pm
Fit & Fitter ( 2 Classes of 45 mins) 9.30 -11.00am
Exercise Therapy Class 11.00 –11.45am
50+ Restart British/Bangladeshi Group 1.00 - 4.00pm
* Monday Get-together 2.00 -4.00pm
TUESDAY at the Project
Yoga 9.30 -10.30
&
11– 12
pm
Computer Support 10 – 11am
Reading & Discussion Groups 10-12am
* Bingo 2.00 -4.00pm
WEDNESDAY at the Project
* Co-op Shop & Coffee Morning 9.30 -11.15 am
* Craft Class 2.00-4.00 pm
* Singing Class (20th Century Songbook) 2.00 - 4.00pm
THURSDAY at the Project
Exercise Therapy 9.30 -10.15am
* Exercise Therapy 10.15 –11.00am
LGBT 50+ Coffee Morning 10.00 -12.00pm
* Chair Based Exercises 11.00 -11.45am
* Bridge & Scrabble Club 2.00 -4.00 pm
* Furzedown Fusion Exercise 2.15 - 3.15pm
FRIDAY at the Project
Art Group 10.00 -12.00pm
Fitness & Fun 11.00 -12.00pm
Classical Indian Singing 12.00 -2.00pm
International Friendship Group 2.00 -4.00pm
* Bingo 2.00 –4.00 pm
INFORMATION
* Transport is available if needed
Library Service available Monday-Friday 9.30-4.00pm
Councillors Surgeries 1
st
Saturday of every month 11.30-12.30pm
