This year marked the 39th anniversary of the UACS. However, it does not matter how long you have been around, conditions do not automatically get easier. This has been a very challenging year due to central and local government cutbacks.
As the organisation prepares to celebrate its 40th Anniversary in the coming year, it is likely to also experience one of its greatest financial setbacks; which unfortunately will result in the loss of some of our services.
The possible loss of services does not stop the continuous demand, currently experienced. This year as with previous years has been busy. We continue to maintain strong links in the community, working in partnership with several organisations, to improve the quality of the service we provide. I am again pleased to say that the financial resources received from our grant providers during the year were effectively employed, providing good value for money.
Theeconomical The economical downturn however has had some adverse effect on our financial position, as we continue to experience low return on investment and interest rates. We have also seen a high outwards cashflow which has adversely affected our free reserves. The free reserves at the end of the year were well below the amount stated in our reserve policy. Nevertheless, the organisation has been resilient over the last 39 years and is working towards increasing the level of free reserves, and I am confident that with the experience of the trustees we will take the right action to ensure that we get back up to the amount stated in our policy.
We are fully committed to providing services which influence policies that affect the lives of vulnerable users of our services.
Funding
During the year we received financial support from:
-
CityBridgeTrust
- LondonBoroughs Councils
- LondonBorough of Ealing (LBE).
- Generations Together
We are thankful to these funders for their support which enabled us to sustain our core services for another year; nevertheless, these are challenging times, creating an uncertainty for the long term.
Staffing
Despite of the shortage of staff due to financial restrain I am thankful to the existing staff for their commitment and facing up to the challenges in helping the organisation to achieve its goals.
Project Update
We currently operate the following projects.
- Older person’s Luncheon Club (LC) – Continues to experience higher level of activities during the year resulting from Acton Generations together funding.
- George Doyley HouseProject for 18-25 single homeless African/Caribbean (GDH) – Demands continue to remain high and represents good value for money.
- Housing Advice and Resettlement Scheme (HARS) – Continued high demand for the service – service will come to an end during the next financial year as a result of funding cuts.
- Older Person’s Outreach Project – This project is beginning to show real benefits to our older users.
- Older person’s Research Project – The project was concluded in October 2010 as stated in my report last year.
Membership
Our relationship withLondonTransportMuseumcontinues in the development of community projects and IT skills; along with otherLondonwide communities, and local groups. We continue to see growth in our membership as the organisation increases it social and cultural activities.
Thank you
Achieving our objectives was dependant as always on a number of people who remained focus on why the organisation exists. I would like to thank the Committee, staff, particularly Irma Charles for her adaptability, volunteers, our users and other stakeholders for their unwavering support in helping us to achieve our objectives. Again my sincere thanks go to Acton Community Forum for their support throughout the year, to Matt Freidson, the fundraiser for the BMER groups, for his help and advice during the year. His assistance continues to result in substantial benefits to the organisation.
Chairman Date: 12 August 2011
John Swan
