PHOENIX STROKE CLUB

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CHAIRMAN’S REPORT - JULY 2007

1. TRUSTEE

It is now nearly 2 years since I took over the role as Chairman of the Trustees and once again I can say how pleased I am that after all these years I have become rather more involved in the day to day activities of the Club and have had much more opportunities to meet with our volunteers and members. What a happy place the Phoenix Club continues to be!

At last year’s AGM we appointed Nigel Haverson and Jessie Davies as new Trustees of the Club. Nigel’s personal experience as a “younger stroke survivor” and his expertise as head of Public Health and Licensing at Horsham District Council has been invaluable to us. Jessie has “quietly” got on with maintaining the Club’s Books and Records and we owe her a big thank you for the work that she has done in making sure that our year-end accounts are available today for presentation to you. Celia Williams and Joan Mallard have given support with the Club’s finances, and of course Joan continues to produce, amongst other things, the excellent “Phoenix Flyer”.

I couldn’t possibly comment about the Club’s Trustees without also mentioning Dr. Richard Bailey and Lesley Niven. Richard continues to provide technical support and guidance to us as a result of his “day job” and of course his strong links with all of the “professionals” who are so vital to the Club and indeed, our members. Lesley, who now lives in Scotland and last year stepped down as Chairman of WSAD continues to play a very active role and flies down from Scotland to join us at our Trustees meetings.

Finally, on the subject of Trustees, Susan Collins, has now regretfully indicated that she must retire as a Trustee. Susan became a Trustee just under 10 years ago and had made an important contribution particularly with her expertise of occupational therapy. Susan has now moved away from the area to take up a new position in Essex. We send her our thanks and best wishes for the future.

2. CLUB MANAGER

Lucy Sheppard-Fidler became Manager of the Club in May 2006. During the year that Lucy held the position as Club Manager, the Club made huge progress in a number of different areas. The Club’s profile within the community has been raised considerably. Lucy was responsible for completing the feasibility study for commencing a Younger Stroke Survivors Club and getting that project “on the road”. She also managed to commence a “pilot scheme” for a Dysphasic Support Group, not to mention seeing the Club full on both Tuesdays and Wednesdays, with a waiting list. Sadly, after a year in the position, Lucy had to come to the conclusion that she could no longer combine the demands of The Phoenix Club with the demands of family life and in particular, bringing up her two small children. We owe a great debt of gratitude to Lucy for all that she achieved and do hope that she will keep in touch.

When Lucy left us, she worked very closely with the Trustees to ensure a smooth transition to the appointment of a new Manager. We were extremely lucky to be able to find, very quickly, Trish Marks who took over as Manager in April and has already made a significant impact.

3. ASSISTANT MANAGER

With plans for a Younger Stroke Survivors Club, an expanded Dysphasic Support Group and a waiting list for “normal” Club Membership, the Club’s Trustees plan to expand the operation of the Club beyond the current meetings on Tuesday and Wednesday. In order to help us manage these different projects, we have been fortunate enough to obtain additional funding from West Sussex County Council which has enabled us to appoint an Assistant Manager who will work with Trish, to ensure the smooth operation of our existing programme and our programme for expansion. Within the last three weeks we have appointed Judith Trigg to the new role of Assistant Manager, and Judith will start with us in August. Until now, Judith has been working as Assistant Manager with the Horsham Area Council for Voluntary Service (HACVS) and consequently has a great deal of experience, (and local knowledge) within the local voluntary sector, which I am sure will be extremely valuable and important to the Club.

4. WEST SUSSEX COUNTY COUNCIL

The Club’s ability to employ a Manager and an Assistant Manager of the quality of Lucy, Trish and now Judith, is only possible because of the grants that we have been able to secure and (so far) retain from West Sussex County Council. The Trustees are extremely grateful to WSCC for the very real and practical support that they have given to us.

I would like in particular, to mention the fantastic support that we have received from Rebecca Sissons during her time as “Voluntary Sector Liaison and Development Officer” for West Sussex County Council Adult Services. Throughout the time that Rebecca has held that role in Horsham, she has regularly attended our Trustees meetings and provided support for the different projects that we have undertaken. I am quite sure that, behind the scenes, she has been extremely influential in assisting with our applications for financial support. Rebecca has, within the last few days, stepped down from her position in Horsham, to take up a new role in the voluntary sector based in Dorking. We will very much miss Rebecca and wish her all the best for the future.

I should particularly mention that West Sussex County Council have provided us with financial support, not only for the employment of our Manager and Assistant, but also to enable us to undertake the preliminary work that was necessary for establishing a younger stroke club, as well as providing us with a contribution (£770) towards our “core running costs”.

5. VOLUNTEERS

As ever, the Club simply would not survive without the continued support and dedication of our volunteers. All of them have been a “tower of strength” in ensuring the Club remains such a happy place for its members. Our younger volunteers (and members) have also been influential in assisting Lucy and latterly Trish, with their work in establishing the Younger Stroke Club.

With our plans for expansion of the Club, our need for new volunteers is greater than ever and we are grateful to the Horsham Volunteer Bureau for the support which they continue to give to us.

6. DONATIONS & SUPPORT

During the year the Club has again benefited from donations and other financial support from a number of different sources, including the Innes Memorial Fund, Horsham Rotary Club and Horsham Companions Club, as well as donations from individuals. I would like to mention two in particular:

1. Dottie Commins. Many of you will know that Dottie was a member of the Club for many years and a great character who sadly died earlier this year. Her cakes, chutneys and jam will be sadly missed by all of us, (and me in particular). Her family very kindly nominated The Phoenix Club as one of the charities which would benefit from donations at the time of her funeral. Thank you.

2. We also received a significant financial contribution of over £2,200 from Rebecca Hobbs who nominated The Phoenix Club as her charity when undertaking a sponsored climb of Mount Kilimanjaro. What a fantastic achievement and thanks to Rebecca.

Quite apart from the financial support that we have received, we have also once again benefited from the very practical assistance of working parties provided by Rotary, Novartis and Heath Lambert who have helped maintain, repair and improve the fabric of the building and the surrounding area.

7. THE STROKE ASSOCIATION

In November of last year, The Stroke Association, for the first time, held a National Conference for Stroke Clubs. John McPherson and myself, attended the Conference in Northampton and were pleased to find that at last, The Stroke Association has recognized the importance of Stroke Clubs within its overall strategy for the provision of support and services for stroke survivors and for raising awareness of all of the issues surrounding strokes and coming to terms with the effects of strokes. Both John and I found it extremely valuable to meet a wide range of other people involved in organising Stroke Clubs and finding out ways in which we might be able to work closer with The Stroke Association in the future.

8. NEW PROJECTS

The Younger Stroke Club is now up and running. We are still very much in the early days of learning just what our members require from this type of Club and how we can best meet those requirements. I believe that Trish will have separately mentioned the way in which the Younger Stroke Club has already participated in the Expert Patient Plan and in particular, I would like to mention how one of our volunteers, Ron Shier (a younger stroke survivor himself) has played an invaluable role in getting the Younger Stroke Club off the ground. A lot more work is required, but having started, I am quite sure that Trish and Judith will help the Younger Stroke Club to develop over the coming year.

Our development of an independent Dysphasic Support Group in Horsham has not proved to be easy. During the year, we reached agreement with The Stroke Association to make a joint bid to the Gatwick Airport Community Trust for funding which would have enabled us to jointly employ the required expertise to establish a dedicated group at the Horsham club. Unfortunately that bid for financial support was not successful (this year) but now the Trustees are urgently seeking alternative ways of providing this facility within the Horsham club. One of our volunteers has been working closely with the Crawley Dysphasic Support Group and has now gained a considerable amount of experience, which I know will be invaluable to us in the year to come.

The employment of Judith has already enabled us to keep the Club open for a good part of the school holidays so that we will no longer have to close our doors as soon as the school term comes to an end. I certainly hope that if we can find sufficient volunteers, we will also be in a position to operate a Club facility for at least an extra half-day at some stage during the year to come.

9. FINANCES

You will of course, be separately receiving a copy of the Club’s accounts. They, I believe show a “healthy” financial position, but inevitably one which is heavily dependent upon the financial support that we receive, particularly from West Sussex County Council.

Because we cannot be sure that that level of financial support will continue, the Trustees are constantly looking for alternative sources of financial support and are endeavouring to maintain sufficient reserves to ensure that we can continue to provide the facilities that we do.

Can I, at this stage, record our thanks to the local accountancy firm of Spofforths who have finalised our accounts for us, put them in a format which fully complies with our obligations as a Charity and fulfill the role of “independent examiners”.

10. CONCLUSION

My thanks to all of my fellow Trustees, the volunteers and of course, all of our members for all that you do to make The Horsham Phoenix Stroke Club such a success. With the team that we now have, I very much look forward to a year when we are able to build on the very strong foundations that have already been created and will continue to provide care and support to those within our community who are having to cope with all of the difficulties that suffering a stroke, inevitably brings.

Don Burstow

Chairman of Trustees

11th July 2007