SWAG

SWAG

SWAY WELFARE AID GROUP

Annual Report and Accounts
For the Year Ending
30th September 2015

Registered Charity Number 261220

SWAY WELFARE AID GROUP

Reference and Administrative Details

Name of Charity: Sway Welfare Aid Group

Alternative Name: SWAG

Charity Registration Number: 261220

Contact Address: Mr J R Stevens
Driftway
Mead End Road
Sway
Lymington
Hampshire
SO41 6EH

Trustees: David Golby (Organiser)
Jonathan Hartley (Chairman)
Jeremy Stevens (Treasurer)
Margaret Whitney

Bankers: CAF Bank Ltd
Independent Examiner: 25 Kings Hill Avenue
Kings Hill
West Malling
Kent
ME19 4JQ

Stuart Moody
Heatherside
St. James Road
Sway
Lymington
Hampshire
SO41 6AN

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SWAY WELFARE AID GROUP

Structure, Governance and Management

The Sway Welfare Aid Group was established by constitution dated 28th October 1970, to serve the
needs of the civil parish of Sway and its immediate neighbourhood.

The trustees manage the charity on behalf of all the residents of Sway to whom they report annually at a
general meeting in October. Other public meetings are held to review progress during the year.

Trustees, and other officers, are appointed by election at the annual general meeting and serve for one
year, renewable annually. All new trustees are made aware of their responsibilities under the Charities
Act.

During the year the trustees take all executive decisions. At any of the public meetings during the year
residents of Sway are entitled to propose possible areas of benefit for the trustees to consider.

The trustees serving during the year under review were David Golby (Organiser), Jonathan Hartley
(Chairman), Jeremy Stevens (Treasurer), Dick Bugg (Transport Organiser) and Margaret Whitney. Dick
Bugg resigned as a trustee in November 2014. Jonathan Hartley was elected a trustee on 27th April 2015.

Sway Welfare Aid Group is affiliated to the Good Neighbours Support Service (GNSS) operated by
Hampshire County Council and local clinical commissioning groups. SWAG benefits from central public
and employer’s liability and personal accident insurance policies taken out by GNSS on behalf of all
affiliated groups.

Objectives and Activities

The objectives of the Sway Welfare Aid Group (SWAG) are the relief of the sick, needy, disabled or aged
within Sway and its immediate neighbourhood. The charity makes grants to both individuals and local
organisations within these constraints. In this connection SWAG works closely with many local
organisations to ensure that it reaches out to as many people as possible in meeting its objectives.

The charity also organises a free transport service, manned by volunteer drivers, to take sick, elderly or
infirm people to attend hospital and other medical appointments where they cannot provide or are not
capable of using their own transport. Expenses of the drivers are met by the charity.

In addition, the charity runs a twice-monthly lunch club service for the elderly living alone. Volunteers
cook the meal and the participants pay only for the food, all other expenses are met by the charity.

The trustees have paid due regard to the Charity Commission’s guidance on public benefit and consider
that the activities of the Sway Welfare Aid Group during the year are fully in accord with the objectives
of the charity and are to the public benefit.

SWAG runs an annual Christmas appeal within the village of Sway to raise funds for its activities and
also benefits from the proceeds of an annual village Boule competition.

SWAG is grateful to its volunteer officers who organise much of the charity’s work.

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SWAY WELFARE AID GROUP

Achievements and Performance

It is again a privilege as the organiser of Sway Welfare Aid Group to write this review for our annual
report. In many ways this has been a very successful year for SWAG. Due to the generosity of the people
of Sway we received a record level of donations enabling us to help twenty-four individuals or families
financially. We also served 556 meals at our Lunch Club and our volunteer drivers drove 3,960 miles
taking clients to their medical appointments. We continued to develop our marketing awareness
programme with the launch of our new website together with participation at both the Boule event and
Sway Carnival.

Fund Raising

We were saddened by the death of Judith Anne Knight but extremely grateful for a legacy of £10,000
from her estate. This has been invested in our expendable endowment fund. We remain indebted to a
local charitable trust that has again sponsored our heating grants for a second year. This has enabled us to
maintain the significant increase in this important grant that we announced last year. Dr. Stephen Tarling
not only generously donated a week’s stay at his 5 star holiday cottage but also auctioned this on our
behalf raising £513, including gift aid. It was also humbling that his letting agency waived their fees in
view of our charitable status. A big thank you to all involved.

The village response to our Christmas appeal this year was outstanding, surpassing all previous records.
In total it raised a staggering £6,015 including gift aid and GASD. This was a 19% increase over the
previous year and exceeded £6,000 for the first time in our history. We would also like to thank the many
village shops and retailers who took our collection boxes.

We have continued to invest our endowment funds to maximise income whilst protecting the capital
investment. Despite a very volatile market over the last 12 months we gained income from these
investments of £7,245, a 3% increase over last year.

Charitable Activities

As previously noted we were able to help twenty-four individuals or families with heating grants or other
forms of financial support this year. This is a reduction on previous years for reasons I will discuss later
in this report. It should however be noted that there are one or two potential grants still awaiting, after
many months, decisions and information from the NHS to enable us to quantify and fund much needed
medical equipment for individuals. We hope to be able to fund these requirements as soon as the
information becomes available.

Our medical transport service continues to provide an invaluable service to people who need help in
getting to their hospital and doctors appointments. Over the last 12 months we have undertaken 243
individual drives covering over 3,960 miles. This is only achievable due to the dedication and
commitment from our volunteer drivers to whom we are indebted. We also owe a big thank you to our
driving co-ordinator, Dick Bugg, who is now embarking on his eleventh year in this role. Understandably,
after this length of dedicated service, Dick would like to reduce his workload over time and share this role
with other volunteers. We will therefore be looking to recruit part time or occasional call handlers over
the next few months. To facilitate this “job-sharing” role we have been investigating and will shortly
implement a “virtual” call routing system. This will enable us whilst retaining our much loved help-line
number, to electronically and automatically redirect calls and voice-mail messages to the appropriate “on
duty” volunteer without having to manually switch our existing land-line phone. It will also give us for
the first time a tailored greeting message on our help-line. A real move into the 21st century! It is also

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SWAY WELFARE AID GROUP

worthy of note to confirm that Hampshire’s Good Neighbourhood Support Service [GNSS] have
incorporated SWAG’s Older Driver Policy into their new guidelines as an example of “best practice”.
This is a real accolade for us.

Our twice-monthly lunch club goes from strength to strength. Over the last 12 months we have served
556 meals to an average of 25 clients per session. In total we have 31 active members of lunch club with
room for a few more. This is only achievable by the hard work and dedication of our lunch club team of
volunteer cooks, helpers and greeters so admirably lead by Deborah Walker and Jane Pitts. Several of our
clients provide help with transport to get their less able friends to these lunches. In addition we have a
small team of volunteer drivers who work so hard providing much needed door to door transport for a
number of less mobile clients. You only need, as I have, to pop into lunch club occasionally to feel
humbled by the sheer enjoyment and much needed companionship that these get-togethers provide to the
more elderly members of our community.

Communications

We have continued to invest wisely in increasing the awareness of the services we offer to the residents of
Sway. In addition to our information leaflets available in most outlets within the village and delivered to
all households together with our Christmas appeal last year, we have completely re-branded and launched
our new website. In many ways this was a “marmite” moment with a brand new logo. Is it a bird, washing
line or fly-away tee shirt? Thankfully the majority of residents and clients both understood and supported
the new logo with a “helping hand” above the word SWAG. Hopefully we can convert the doubters over
the next 12 months! This new site provides a step change in both technology and design enabling all users
to view the product irrespective of using a regular computer, laptop, tablet or smart phone. I am indebted
to my fellow trustee, Jeremy Stevens, who drove this project from the start to a very successful
conclusion.

The 41st Boule event was again sponsored and supported by SWAG. Whilst a great day was enjoyed by
all, both entrants and attendance were again down on previous years. This year, for the first time, we had
to use money raised in our Grand Draw to subsidise the shortfall in the cost of staging the event against
entrant’s fees. This said, with help from Sway Scouts, we managed to increase draw ticket sales by 12%
over the previous year to £883. This resulted in a profit of £645 for SWAG’s charitable activities.
Particular thanks should go to Jon Hartley, our newest trustee, who did an outstanding job extracting draw
prizes from virtually all of the shops and retail outlets in the village. Thank you to all who helped and
participated in this event.

Future Outlook

It has become increasingly apparent, over the last 18 months that the demographics of Sway have
significantly changed. Several of our older residents have either moved into care or sadly died. In many
of these cases their homes in the village have been redeveloped into much larger dwellings now occupied
by more affluent families. Additionally a number of needy young families have been forced to move
away from Sway to find more affordable houses. The impact of these changes is seen in the reduction of
heating grant requests we now receive and lower levels of emergency financial assistance grants that we
are making. This is not to say that there are not significant remaining pockets of poverty in our village but
the dynamics may have permanently changed. Therefore to ensure that Sway Welfare Aid Group remains
relevant to all residents of Sway your trustees have embarked on a number of initiatives over the last few
months under the umbrella of “well being”. Clearly we need to remain loyal to our charter and charity
registration but are looking at ways of both expanding the services that we offer and working more
closely with other charities and agencies to deliver a “well being” service to the parish of Sway.

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SWAY WELFARE AID GROUP

One of these programmes, albeit at an early stage of development, is to forge a closer relationship with
several other groups including Dementia Sway, New Forest Disability Information Service, Sway Relief
in Sickness Fund and the Pastoral Care Team from St. Luke’s church in a “Coordinating Sway Action
Group”. Our joint aim is to better coordinate our activities across the village to ensure that no one needing
help is ignored. I hope to be able to report more fully on this initiative at our next public meeting in
January.

I will now be focusing all of my time and energy on ensuring that SWAG remains at the forefront of
helping individuals & families in Sway who are in need. Jon Hartley has kindly agreed to take over my
other role of Chair of Trustees and will now handle the very necessary administration and “back office”
aspects of the charity to free up my time to concentrate fully on this essential task.

After two years of exceptional service, Margaret Whitney has decided not to stand for re-election this
year. Margaret brought a lot of northern common sense to our discussions and her health care background
has been invaluable. She will be sorely missed by her colleagues. She will however remain a committed
supporter of SWAG. In view of this we will shortly be commencing a recruitment process to add two
additional Trustees to the group with appropriate skill sets to both broaden and strengthen the team.

Finally, a truly deserved thank you to our volunteer drivers and cooks, our many supporters and donors
without whose help our services would not exist.

David Golby
Organiser

Financial Review

Funds
SWAG has three funds, an Unrestricted Fund that provides for all the charity’s activities, an expendable
Endowment Fund that is invested to provide interest and dividend income for the unrestricted fund and a
restricted Lunch Club Fund, the income for which comes from the subscriptions paid by lunch club
members for their meals. Although the lunch club has been running for many years autonomously its fund
has been brought into the SWAG main accounting system for the first time this year.

Donations and Fundraising

We were fortunate this year to receive a legacy from the estate of the late Mrs Judith Knight of £10,000.
The trustees felt it appropriate to add this to the endowment in order that it should provide an on-going
income for SWAG.

The Christmas appeal raised an all time high amount of £6015 once Gift Aid was added. This was an
increase on last year of 19.3%. Donations from clients of our transport service also showed a 32.8%
increase on last year, mainly due to additional journeys. We thank the residents of Sway for their
generosity. Other principal donations received during the year were £661 from our drivers, several of
whom donated their mileage payments, £613 from Open House Coffee Mornings, £410 from the Little
Cottage auction and £200 from the Over Sixties Club.

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SWAY WELFARE AID GROUP

Charitable Activities

Due to the continuing support of our heating grant sponsor we were able to maintain our heating grants at
£450 per person. We are grateful to the local charitable trust that provides this sponsorship. The demand
for our help by individuals facing hardship problems surprisingly dropped this year by 63.9%.
The mileage payments to our drivers increased this year by 39% due to additional journeys undertaken.
Owing to a re-organisation of the top-up insurance for our drivers that provided for loss of no-claims
bonus and excess in the event of an accident on charity business, the premium demanded was
substantially increased and the trustees took the decision to self insure this risk in future.
Full lunch club accounting has been brought into the accounts for the first time this year. The charity
continues to meet the room hire and other support costs from general funds and a transfer of £703 from
general funds to the lunch club fund has been made for this. The costs of the food and running expenses
are met by the members’ subscriptions.
The cost of development of the new website was £786 and this cost together with £54 for printing of
additional marketing leaflets has been allocated to the activities in proportion to the share of total
charitable costs made by each. This resulted in an allocation of £606 to grant making, £126 to transport
and £108 to lunch club.

Investments
Investment growth this year was -0.7% and income rose by 3%. The fall in the value of the investments
was due to unfortunate timing of the SWAG end of year, occurring as it did at a point when worries about
the setback in China and possible rises in the US interest rate had depressed the market. The overall yield
was 3.6%, down from 3.9% last year, although this figure is somewhat distorted by the investment of the
legacy occurring late in the year. During the year the trustees took the decision to transfer £5000 from the
deposit account to the fixed interest fund to obtain a better interest rate. This change and the investment
of the legacy took place in August.

Overall Position
The overall position at the end of the year shows a 9.2% increase in our funds at £204,854. Income
exceeded expenditure resulting in a surplus of £8434. At the end of the year the total reserves in the
Unrestricted Fund were £18,337 after accrued liabilities. The trustees are confident that this is sufficient
to meet the needs of the coming year.

Approval

This report and the associated accounts were approved by the trustees on 2nd November 2015 and signed
on their behalf.

(signed) (signed)

Jonathan Hartley Jeremy Stevens
Chairman Treasurer

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SWAY WELFARE AID GROUP

Independent Examiners Report

I report on the accounts of the Sway Welfare Aid Group for the year ended 30th September 2015, which
are set out on pages 9 to 12.

Respective responsibilities of trustees and examiner

The charity’s trustees are responsible for the preparation of the accounts. The charity’s trustees consider
that an audit is not required for this year under section 144 of the Charities Act 2011 (the Charities Act)
and that although an independent examination is not formally needed one should be carried out.
It is my responsibility to:

• examine the accounts under section 145 of the Charities Act;
• follow the procedures laid down in the general directions given by the Charity Commission (under

section 145(5)(b) of the Charities Act); and
• state whether particular matters have come to my attention.

Basis of independent examiner’s statement

My examination was carried out in accordance with the General Directions given by the Charity
Commission. An examination includes a review of the accounting records kept by the Charity and a
comparison of the accounts presented with those records. It also includes consideration of any unusual
items or disclosures in the accounts, and seeking explanations from the trustees concerning any such
matters. The procedures undertaken do not provide all the evidence that would be required in an audit,
and consequently no opinion is given as to whether the accounts present a “true and fair” view and the
report is limited to those matters set out in the statement below.

Independent examiner’s statement

In connection with my examination, no matter has come to my attention:
(1) which gives me reasonable cause to believe that in any material respect the requirements:
• to keep accounting records in accordance with section 130 of the Charities Act; and
• to prepare accounts which accord with the accounting records and comply with the accounting
requirements of the Charities Act have not been met; or
(2) to which, in my opinion, attention should be drawn in order to enable a proper understanding of
the accounts to be reached.

(signed) Date: 21st October 2015

Stuart Moody
Independent Examiner

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SWAY WELFARE AID GROUP

Statement of Financial Activities for the year ended 30th September 2015

2015 2014

Notes
Unrestricted
Fund
Restricted
Lunch Club
Fund
Endowment
Fund
Total Funds
Total Funds
Last Year

£££ £ £

Income and Endowments from: 2 16,541 30 10,000 26,571 12,760
Donations and legacies
Charitable activities - Subscriptions 1,676 1,676 7,035
Investments 1,362
Fund raising activities 7,245 7,245
21,157
Total 1,326 1,326

 
Expenditure on: 25,111 1,706 10,000 36,817

Raising funds 3 760 760 947
Charitable activities 4 15,208 2,257 17,466 21,634
Other 5 60
60 51
Total

  16,028 2,257 0 18,286 22,631
Net income/(expenditure)
Transfers between funds 9,082 (551) 10,000 18,531 (1,474)

Other recognised gains/(losses): (703) 703 0
Gains/(losses) on investment assets
54 (1,364) (1,310) 5,548
Net movement in funds 8,434
151 8,636 17,221 4,074
Reconciliation of funds: 9,903
Total funds brought forward 18,337
 
 
 

Total funds carried forward 230 177,500 187,633 183,599

381 186,136 204,854 187,673

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SWAY WELFARE AID GROUP

Balance Sheet at 30th September 2015

2015 2014
£ £

Note 177,500
6,195
Fixed assets: 6 186,136
Investments - Endowment 7 11,249
Investments - Unrestricted funds
8 1,056 612
Current assets:
Debtors 6,028 4,224
Deposit account
Cash at bank and in hand 755 454

Liabilities: 9 (371) (1,583)
Creditors: Amounts falling due within one year
204,854 187,403
Net assets or liabilities
186,136 177,500

  18,337 9,903
T
  he funds of the charity:
381 187,403
Endowment fund
Unrestricted fund 204,854

  Lunch Club fund

 

Total charity funds

 

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SWAY WELFARE AID GROUP

Notes to the Financial Statements for the year ended 30th September 2015

1. Accounting policies:
 
 
a) The financial statements have been prepared
  in accorda
  nce with
S   ORP201
5  , the
 
 
 

 
 
Financial Reporting Standards for Smaller Entities (FRSSE) and the Charities Act 2006.
 
 

 
b) Donations are credited to income when received.
 
c) Income from investments is credited to income when re
  ceived.
 
 
 
  2014

d) Investments are stated at their market value at the balance sheet date.
 
 
  £

 
  10,975

2
  . Donations:
 
 
 
 
  2015
  0
0
Appeal Transport Lunch Heating Other Total 200
Club 1,271
314
£ £££££

Donations received 4,892 2,583 30 3,000 3,067 13,573

In memoriam 800 800

Legacy 10,000 10,000

NFDC Medical Transport grant 0

Gift Aid tax recovery 1,065 312 573 1,949

GASD recovery 58 189 2 249

6,015 3,083 30 3,000 14,442 26,571 12,760

3
  . Costs of fundraising:
 
 
 
 

 
 
 
 
  2015
 
  2014
Appeal

 Boule and Draw
  ££

 Sway Scouts for help with Boule event
 

 
 
 
 
  80 80

 
 
 
 
  476 371

 
 
 
 
  204 495
4
  . Charitable activities:
 

 
 
  760 947


 
 
 

 
 
 
  2015
 
  2014

Direct Support Total

£££ £

Hardship grants to individuals 2,780 606 3,386 7,909
Heating grants to individuals
Grants made to organisations
 
  8,100 8,100 9,675
Transport service
 
Lunch Club
 
  1,110 1,110 1,110

 
Total costs of charitable activities
 
  2,191 421 2,612 2,324


 
  2,124 134 2,257 615


  16,305 1,161 17,466 21,634


 

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SWAY WELFARE AID GROUP 2015 2014
£ £
Notes to the Financial Statements (continued) 60 51

5. Other costs: 60 51
Room hire for public meetings

6. Investments - Endowment: 2015 2014
£ £
Carrying value at start of period
Additions at cost 177,500 171,981
Unrealised gain/(loss) on investments 10,000
Carrying value at end of period (1,364) 5,519
177,500
186,136

7. Investments - General Funds: 2015 2014
£ £
Carrying value at start of period
Additions at cost 6,195 6,166
Unrealised gain/(loss) on investments 5,000
Carrying value at end of period 29
54 6,195

11,249

8. Debtors: 2015 2014
£ £
Gift Aid/GASD refund due
 
Un-credited cheques
  579 330
Pre-payments:
  242 47

 
Room hire for Lunch Club 135 135
Room hire for Over Sixties Club
  80 80
Room hire for AGM 20 20
1,056 612

9. Creditors: 2015 2014
£ £
Accrued mileage costs
Un-presented cheques 361 291
Reserve for grant not yet paid 10 0

371 1,291

1,583

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