Cherry Lodge Cancer Care held its 2017 Annual General Meeting at the Cherry Lodge Centre, Howard House, Union Street, Barnet on Tuesday 16th May. The meeting was attended by approximately 50 people, including members, volunteers, staff, trustees and a patron, all with a shared interest in Cherry Lodge.
Dr Margaret Clark, chairman of the trustees, began by welcoming everyone. She also gave special mentions to Richard Weekes and David James, from Summer Soulstice, who gave last year’s annual talk, and to Isaac Oppong, from Tottenham Hotspur Foundation, for agreeing at short notice to give this year’s talk on the Move4You Cancer Physical Activity Programme.
The minutes of the 2016 AGM were taken as read. Margaret then presented the Annual Report for the year ended December 2016, having first told her audience that copies would be available after the talk – not straightaway, so that people would listen first! (To access the report online, either click here or go to the About Us page, where in the right hand column you can also find recent Newsletters and a Cherry Lodge leaflet).
Margaret introduced the Annual Report as essentially a Service Report on Cherry Lodge’s activities. The major refurbishment of Howard House, undertaken during CL’s 2016 financial year, was praised, especially the creation of the large meeting space where the AGM was taking place. Service statistics tend to be similar year on year, with 150 to 200 people (new and of long-standing) accessing the centre every week. Drop-ins attracted over 1,000 attendances over the year. ‘Roger’s Raffle’ on Tuesday mornings, named in memory of the member who started it and now run by Mark and Malcolm, is much enjoyed and raised over £2,000. New to CL in 2016 were a Bowen Technique therapist and an ‘inhouse’ art/craft group led by Loretta. Outreach nurse Kirsty, funded by Summer Soulstice, continues to provide services across the borough. As space at the centre is limited, future expansion of CL services will be via outreach.
Margaret then handed over to Cherry Lodge’s auditor, Andrew Geary, to talk people through the Abbreviated Accounts (Summary Statement of Financial Activities for the year ended 31 December 2016), copies of which had already been distributed. Key points included: the overall financial situation is very good, with a healthy cash balance of £1.2 million; although total incoming resources fell (£409,595 in 2016 compared to £680,316 in 2015), the 2016 figure is more typical as the 2015 figure was boosted by a large legacy; income from fundraising, led by Tina, was up, including money raised at CL events and money from third party events, notably another £40,000 from Summer Soulstice; shop income was down and is being closely monitored by the trustees; there was a small operating loss for the year, reflecting planned increased expenditure on service provision.
As in previous years, the AGM was followed by a talk, given this year by Isaac Oppong, on the Move4You Cancer Physical Activity Programme run by Tottenham Hotspur Foundation in conjunction with Macmillan Cancer Support and with funding from the National Lottery.
Click on the small images below to see larger, complete photographs.
