The trustees present their annual report and financial statements for the year ended 31 July 2023.
The financial statements have been prepared in accordance with the accounting policies set out in note 1 to the financial statements and comply with the charity's governing document, the Companies Act 2006 and "Accounting and Reporting by Charities: Statement of Recommended Practice applicable to charities preparing their accounts in accordance with the Financial Reporting Standard applicable in the UK and Republic of Ireland (FRS 102) (effective 1 January 2019)".
YESU was established under the memorandum and articles of association on 11 February 2002 and registered with the Charity Commission on 16 July 2002. The primary purposes of YESU are to relieve persons who are in conditions of need or hardship or who are aged or sick, and to relieve the distress caused thereby, and to advance the education of the public and offer advice on life issues.
The trustees have paid due regard to guidance issued by the Charity Commission in deciding what activities the charity should undertake.
YESU is a Christian based project based in Sheringham, Norfolk providing vital community-based services for all age groups with a special emphasis on young people, families, single parents, the unemployed and the elderly.
Established in 2002 YESU has built up a reputation over the years for being able to meet the needs of individuals isolated in a rural village and seaside location. YESU responds to a lack of activities for disadvantaged individuals by providing community-based facilities where anyone can come to access specialist advice and information on a range of issues.
YESU encourages community participation to look out for neighbours and support those in need.
Yesu is a Christian based project in Sheringham, Norfolk it’s a place where people find a welcoming smile, a listening ear and a shoulder to cry on.
It’s a great place to be, a place of change where people can come and know they are valued, a place of hope. Our purpose is to improve quality of life and instill a sense of self-worth while providing a reliable support system and welcoming environment. We strive to build strong community relationships, increase access to information and adult services and develop essential life and social skills. We actively engage with families, school pastoral workers, headteachers, as well as our own children’s and youth workers. Through these interactions we are able to gather valuable feedback on unmet needs within the community, allowing us to better understand and address the broader challenges that exist.
Established in 2002 Yesu has built up a reputation for being able to meet the needs of individuals who can often feel isolated by living in a rural village and seaside location.
Yesu encourages community participation to look out for neighbours and support those in need.
Connect Services (Formerly Befrienders)
We want to ensure that everyone is supported and listened to. We support many people with mental health issues during crisis, and help where we can so they can make small positive changes which will impact their future health and well-being.
Connect Group
Meeting weekly for hard-to-reach adults at risk of social isolation. It's a drop in facility where individuals can seek support and build friendships in a family environment over coffee and cake.
Connect Befriending
We have a committed team volunteers who come alongside individuals and provide support, which can be vary from helping shopping, being a listening ear, making phone calls and filling in forms.
Connect Creative Arts
This group fosters connection and community through creative activities eliminating social isolation and exclusion faced by those who experience severe mental health challenges and making space for emotions to be expressed safely.
Children & Youth
Our 8-11’s, Emerge, and Girls group continue to be great ways of connecting with children, youth and families and provide a great framework for all the work we are doing. We are also continuing to go into schools doing assemblies, running clubs.
Come to Play
Our Come to Play sessions are becoming increasingly popular.
With the addition of new soft play equipment these sessions are great times when parents/carers can come along with their children in a safe environment to chat, have a coffee, play and be supported. Many of those we have supported through Life Ed /8-11’s now come along and find these times valuable in building new friendships and support networks.
Life Education
Life Education is our after-school group where we come alongside children at risk from exclusion, supporting them and their families by spending time reading with the children, strengthening relationships, and giving them an outlet to express their fears and confusion.
Life Ed has now been running just over a year and we have supported 15 children during this time, all of whom have grown in confidence and advance d in their reading abilities.
Here is a brief report on Life Education from one of our volunteers
Our work through Life Education has proved to be most fruitful with both children and families benefiting from the work.
We have seen all the children who have attended grow in their reading abilities, and through that we have seen them grow in confidence. The school also reported a great growth in their confidence and the impact on their reading ages has been extraordinary to see.
Families/carers have appreciated the devoted attention their children have received and see the benefits from their child coming along both educationally and emotionally.
The comment has been made by several of parents/carers that “I have trouble getting …. to school except on Tuesday and Thursday when they have Life Ed”
Through Life Education we have also been able to provide additional assistance to the families and link them in with some of the other work we are involved in and provide much needed help and support.
The multigenerational nature of our volunteers means that the children are seeing a demonstration of family in action. The group has become a family, and they are surrounded by Auntie, Uncle and Grandparent figures all of whom genuinely care about how their day has been. Talking through their triumphs and challenges, empathising with them when their cat is poorly, listening about their concerns for the future, and this is before they even start their reading!
The children quickly seem to settle into the routine of the sessions and before you know it, they are wanting to serve one another and the team. They take it in turn to take the drinks and snacks orders, serving them to one another and collecting up the plates and cups once everyone has finished. We have to divvy up the tasks so all who want to serve can!
We even have a performance slot where we get shown their new dance moves or hear their
latest songs. Through all this we have seen big changes in the children’s personalities as they have opened up, initial wariness has been replaced with huge smiles and the quietest very quickly have found their voices!
During reading time each child reads the book that school have allocated them. The quiet buzz of voices then fills the hall. Some of the children have found this more challenging than others. Keyworkers have found different ways to encourage each child to read. Rapping, question and answer time, describing pictures, change of book, change of position, bookmarks, have all been tactics used to encourage reading and increase confidence and fluency. For the children who don’t want to read for so long we have played quiet games such as Uno, story cubes, snakes and ladders or they have gone and started their craft activity. All these activities build up literacy and oracy skills that the children don’t even realise are happening!
The school have said to us: “Life Education is having a massive impact on our young people; we can’t thank you enough”
At Yesu we come into contact with many people who face crisis and our purpose is to provide hope and support in situations that seem insurmountable for those involved.
We are continuing to keep ourselves open to fresh ideas / other ways to support people.
Recently we have set up:
Brunch and Lunch
Something else we have been trialling is providing simple free lunches after some of Come to Play / Connect sessions. These have proved popular with families and those who live alone, and it’s a great opportunity to bring all ages together – especially over food! In the summer we will be launching a weekly lunch or brunch for anyone to come along to and we will look to continue to do that during school holidays.
Cameo (Come and meet each other)
A monthly group for widows, isolated single women, and divorced ladies
The ethos of the group is to break down barriers that isolate the ladies who live alone and encourage them to support each other, building friendships that will continue outside the group.
During their time together they have a good healthy 2 course lunch (many of these women eat alone and sometimes don't bother). It’s an opportunity for them to support one another through their struggles, chat things through, laugh, cry and understand the loneliness that they feel through their losses.
Community Fridge
The Community Fridge is open to everyone and operates Tuesday to Friday. It is a space where residents and businesses can share surplus food that otherwise would be wasted. From contact at the Community Fridge, we have also supported families with the provision of £50 food vouchers giving extra tangible support to those facing food poverty, ensuring they have access to nourishing meals.
Building Work
At the end of August, we will be refurbishing our building (moving our work into other venues temporarily). In the Autumn we will re-open and we will be providing a lot more directed sessional work rather than just being a drop in facility. We will be offering workshops on parenting issues such as bedtime routines, behaviour, setting boundaries, literacy support.
Referrals will be received via agencies we are already working with, through social services, local GP, school pastoral teams, as well as our ongoing work with families that we already reaching. Sessions will be hosted by our Parent Support Worker who was a wealth of experience and for many years overseen the running of Norfolk ‘short stay schools’ which provided education for children have been permanently excluded from schools. Some workshops we provided directly by us as well as inviting other agencies into deliver using their expertise.
As you can see Yesu continues its on-going work within the community expressing to people that they are special, important and valued and we are so encouraged to see so many people of all ages grow, gain confidence, build friendships and learn new skills.
We believe we have a proven model that we are able to continue, improve and expand upon.
The Charity achieved a surplus this year of £16,267 (2022: surplus of £8,810) as detailed in the SOFA.
Funds carried forward at 31 July 2023 are £100,012 (2022: £83,745 ) of which £8,000 are restricted.
Reserves policy
The Trustees have had to again this year consider a difficult operational climate in which grant income is difficult to obtain. They have continued to be prudent in anticipating the reduction in funding and at the year-end have been able to retain more than three months of expenses in reserves. Whist the charity is dependent on regular funding, the Trustees maintain that a level of cash flow to meet two months' worth of expenditure needs to be kept in order to cover on-going costs. This has been achieved for the current year.
Principle funding source
The trust receives the majority of its income through various grants, some of which are provided for specific purposes. It also receives donations from Life Church Sheringham and other private donors.
The trustees have assessed the major risks to which the charity is exposed, and are satisfied that systems are in place to mitigate exposure to the major risks.
The charity constitutes a limited company, limited by guarantee, as defined by the Companies Act 1985 and is controlled by its governing document, the memorandum and articles of association.
The trustees, who are also the directors for the purpose of company law, and who served during the year and up to the date of signature of the financial statements were:
Recruitment and appointment of new trustees
The appointment of trustees is governed by the Articles of Association. Existing trustees are authorized to appoint new trustees to fill vacancies arising through resignation or death of one of their number.
Related parties
The Yesu project has occupied a community centre building owned by Life Church Sheringham (previously New Wine Church Trust) since July 2002. The building is let rent free to YESU, and provides a venue for our youth workers and community staff to work from. Life Church Sheringham also donated £24,329 of Money, Goods and Services during the year.
Richard Allen, a Trustee of Life Church Sheringham, was reimbursed for mileage travelled on behalf of Yesu during the year in his role as Project Manager.
The trustees' report was approved by the Board of Trustees.
I report to the trustees on my examination of the financial statements of Yesu (the charity) for the year ended 31 July 2023.
As the trustees of the charity (and also its directors for the purposes of company law) you are responsible for the preparation of the financial statements in accordance with the requirements of the Companies Act 2006 (the 2006 Act).
Having satisfied myself that the financial statements of the charity are not required to be audited under Part 16 of the 2006 Act and are eligible for independent examination, I report in respect of my examination of the charity’s financial statements carried out under section 145 of the Charities Act 2011 (the 2011 Act). In carrying out my examination I have followed all the applicable Directions given by the Charity Commission under section 145(5)(b) of the 2011 Act.
I have completed my examination. I confirm that no matters have come to my attention in connection with the examination giving me cause to believe that in any material respect:
accounting records were not kept in respect of the charity as required by section 386 of the 2006 Act; or
the financial statements do not accord with those records; or
the financial statements do not comply with the accounting requirements of section 396 of the 2006 Act other than any requirement that the accounts give a true and fair view which is not a matter considered as part of an independent examination; or
the financial statements have not been prepared in accordance with the methods and principles of the Statement of Recommended Practice for accounting and reporting by charities applicable to charities preparing their accounts in accordance with the Financial Reporting Standard applicable in the UK and Republic of Ireland (FRS 102).
I have no concerns and have come across no other matters in connection with the examination to which attention should be drawn in this report in order to enable a proper understanding of the financial statements to be reached.
Mark Johnstone FCA
The statement of financial activities includes all gains and losses recognised in the year.
All income and expenditure derive from continuing activities.
Yesu is a private company limited by guarantee incorporated in England and Wales. The registered office is 15 High Street, SHERINGHAM, Norfolk, NR26 8JP, United Kingdom.
Each member's shares is limited to £10.
The financial statements have been prepared in accordance with the charity's [governing document], the Companies Act 2006, FRS 102 “The Financial Reporting Standard applicable in the UK and Republic of Ireland” (“FRS 102”) and the Charities SORP "Accounting and Reporting by Charities: Statement of Recommended Practice applicable to charities preparing their accounts in accordance with the Financial Reporting Standard applicable in the UK and Republic of Ireland (FRS 102)" (effective 1 January 2019). The charity is a Public Benefit Entity as defined by FRS 102.
The charity has taken advantage of the provisions in the SORP for charities not to prepare a Statement of Cash Flows.
The financial statements are prepared in sterling, which is the functional currency of the charity. Monetary amounts in these financial statements are rounded to the nearest £.
The financial statements have been prepared under the historical cost convention, [modified to include the revaluation of freehold properties and to include investment properties and certain financial instruments at fair value]. The principal accounting policies adopted are set out below.
At the time of approving the financial statements, the trustees have a reasonable expectation that the charity has adequate resources to continue in operational existence for the foreseeable future. Thus the trustees continue to adopt the going concern basis of accounting in preparing the financial statements.
Unrestricted funds are available for use at the discretion of the trustees in furtherance of their charitable objectives.
Restricted funds are subject to specific conditions by donors as to how they may be used. The purposes and uses of the restricted funds are set out in the notes to the financial statements.
Cash donations are recognised on receipt. Other donations are recognised once the charity has been notified of the donation, unless performance conditions require deferral of the amount. Income tax recoverable in relation to donations received under Gift Aid or deeds of covenant is recognised at the time of the donation.
Liabilities are recognised as expenditure as soon as there is a legal or constructive obligation
committing the charity to that expenditure, it is probable that a transfer of economic benefits will
be required in settlement and the amount of the obligation can be measured reliably. Expenditure
is accounted for on an accruals basis and has been classified under headings that aggregate all
cost related to the category. Where costs cannot be directly attributed to particular headings they
have been allocated to activities on a basis consistent with the use of resources.
Tangible fixed assets are initially measured at cost and subsequently measured at cost or valuation, net of depreciation and any impairment losses.
Depreciation is recognised so as to write off the cost or valuation of assets less their residual values over their useful lives on the following bases:
The gain or loss arising on the disposal of an asset is determined as the difference between the sale proceeds and the carrying value of the asset, and is recognised in the statement of financial activities.
At each reporting end date, the charity reviews the carrying amounts of its tangible assets to determine whether there is any indication that those assets have suffered an impairment loss. If any such indication exists, the recoverable amount of the asset is estimated in order to determine the extent of the impairment loss (if any).
Cash and cash equivalents include cash in hand, deposits held at call with banks, other short-term liquid investments with original maturities of three months or less, and bank overdrafts. Bank overdrafts are shown within borrowings in current liabilities.
Basic financial assets, which include debtors and cash and bank balances, are initially measured at transaction price including transaction costs and are subsequently carried at amortised cost using the effective interest method unless the arrangement constitutes a financing transaction, where the transaction is measured at the present value of the future receipts discounted at a market rate of interest. Financial assets classified as receivable within one year are not amortised.
Basic financial liabilities, including creditors and bank loans are initially recognised at transaction price unless the arrangement constitutes a financing transaction, where the debt instrument is measured at the present value of the future payments discounted at a market rate of interest. Financial liabilities classified as payable within one year are not amortised.
Debt instruments are subsequently carried at amortised cost, using the effective interest rate method.
Trade creditors are obligations to pay for goods or services that have been acquired in the ordinary course of operations from suppliers. Amounts payable are classified as current liabilities if payment is due within one year or less. If not, they are presented as non-current liabilities. Trade creditors are recognised initially at transaction price and subsequently measured at amortised cost using the effective interest method.
Financial liabilities are derecognised when the charity’s contractual obligations expire or are discharged or cancelled.
The charity is exempt from corporation tax on its charitable activities.
The cost of any unused holiday entitlement is recognised in the period in which the employee’s services are received.
Termination benefits are recognised immediately as an expense when the charity is demonstrably committed to terminate the employment of an employee or to provide termination benefits.
In the application of the charity’s accounting policies, the trustees are required to make judgements, estimates and assumptions about the carrying amount of assets and liabilities that are not readily apparent from other sources. The estimates and associated assumptions are based on historical experience and other factors that are considered to be relevant. Actual results may differ from these estimates.
The estimates and underlying assumptions are reviewed on an ongoing basis. Revisions to accounting estimates are recognised in the period in which the estimate is revised where the revision affects only that period, or in the period of the revision and future periods where the revision affects both current and future periods.
Grant income
Bar takings (net of costs)
Caravan hire
Fund raising and publication costs
Core activities
Core activities
Youth activities
Social support activities
Sundries
Telephone
Rates and utilities
Repairs and maintenance
Insurances
Stationery and advertising
Training and subscriptions
The average monthly number of employees during the year was:
The charity is exempt from tax on income and gains falling within section 505 of the Taxes Act 1988 or section 252 of the Taxationof Chargeable Gains Act 1992 to the extent that these are applied to its charitable objects.
There were no disclosable related party transactions during the year (2022 - none).