After consultation and careful planning with our membership, it was decided that we would try a different activity for one of our locations. A few members went to visit the venue and it was decided to trial the activity for a few months as we felt this was suitable for our needs. Sadly this only lasted a few months due to change of owners and venue availability. We are considering trying again if a suitable venue can be found. Another location we sadly had to pause the quiz nights as there wasn't a suitable venue whenever members could make it. This reassumed in the January but had ended by the summer. Again we are on the lookout for another venue for our quiz nights as they becoming more popular again. We also welcomed another 10 members to our community which add to our diversity. One of our larger events included two concurrent activities, something that hadn't happened since lockdown. Unfortunately our director was incapacitated which resulted in pausing the in person groups and switching to an hourly checking in with a group of members once a week. This continued until our main facilitator could gradually return to work. We also took on an advisor to the group which further strengthened our work making our interactions with members more transparent. The majority of members who were with us when we had an unexpected two month break have remained, showing how much BANDs means to the membership. We have sadly had to adapt our guidance because of a few members of our community which have now been excluded. We try and be as inclusive as possible but there is a limit to what kind of behaviours we can tolerate from our membership. Our staff were given the counselling support they needed in order to manage what was a difficult situation for all involved. We are confident this will improve the safety and atmosphere for the whole group going forward and hope our former members find the support they need at more specialist services. We have the full support of our venues in determining whose allowed to attend our groups further adding to safety and security for all involved. More positively for this financial year, we have managed to access some training for our director and staff from organisations in Somerset and Bath. These will include improving on existing skills, networking with similar organisations and sharing resources. We took on volunteers this year as a result of these contacts which has greatly improved the lives for all our members. We now have staff with knowledge of psychology and also the school education system as a result of these contacts which will further add to our skillset.

Our members were asked if they wanted to play skittles at one of our monthly meetings. We had a focus group meeting in which the minimum requirements for the skittles group to function were discussed ie serves food, low prices, venue close to train and bus links, low background noise, good condition skittles alley, family friendly venue. We then visited the venue at the earliest convenience with the members making sure that the regular ones could also see the venue. We discovered that as an added extra football was on the tv and there was a pool table which was a bonus as these are interests for our members. Another venue was trialled for our quiz night. We had already been visiting a community focussed venue. The food, staff and atmosphere suited our needs very well especially as some of the staff have experience in supporting neurodivergent people within the community. Although the venue quiz ran on a Sunday, we decided to give it a go because there were enough people to make it worthwhile. Sadly this was only short lived as the venue kept changing when the quiz was on and had long breaks causing members confusion and distress. We are unsure how long we can continue to attend this venue with the current climate. We like the staff and the food but the quiz is very anxiety provoking as it is also very difficult to know when the quiz is on and our lead facilitator lives over 80 miles away.

After a serious safeguarding incident during the tax year, our Director needed counselling to help him recover. It was decided that he could borrow the sum total of £40 between October and December which was promptly repaid in full. There were no other transactions or arrangements in connection with the remuneration of directors, or compensation for director’s loss of office, which require to be disclosed.

No transfer of assets other than for full consideration