Our charity's 26^th Annual General Meeting took place via Zoom on Wednesday 29^th September.

The AGM, which is open to everyone, is an opportunity to hear about our charity’s work over the past 12 months and plans for the future. It is also a time for Members of Guild Care to review the Annual Report & Accounts and vote on a range of matters.

A full recording of the event, including timings, can be found at the bottom of this page.

This year’s AGM featured views and reports from:

• Antonia Hopkins, Chair of Trustees
• Alex Brooks-Johnson, CEO
• Warren Fabes, CFO
• Amanda Tucker, Director of Fundraising, Engagement and Marketing
• Susie, a member of our Fitzalan Howard Centre, who talked about what the service means to her and what she wants to do in the future

Guild Care's services this year

Although there were many successes to celebrate, Antonia noted in her introduction, “The last year has been one of the most challenging and difficult in Guild Care’s history. We sadly lost residents to coronavirus and the impact of the pandemic has been significant on everyone: residents, service users, carers, friends and family, and our staff. Our thoughts are with the families and friends of everyone who passed away this year.”

However, she added, “We are very proud of the fact that we continued to provide support to all of our service users throughout lockdown, adapting and flexing our operation, using technology and thinking creatively about how to stay in touch with people. Many charities were forced to close their services, but we didn’t.”

Service highlights from the 2020/21 year include:

• The launch of a new service called Creating Connections, which includes a variety of social activities at the Bradbury Wellbeing Centre, Methold House, and in the community, which are delivered through a network of community partners. The service also includes befriending and is designed primarily to reduce social isolation in older people. We won a five-year contract to support the funding of this from WSCC.
• Our Bradbury Wellbeing Centre became the first dementia day service to receive accreditation from Meaningful Care Matters as an example of providing person-centred care using the Butterfly approach.
• Our Fitzalan Howard Centre and Birkdale Centre worked with adults of varying levels of need by providing 305 sessions of supported activities and care.
• In partnership with Age UK West Sussex Brighton and Hove, we were successful in retendering for our outreach services, which include a volunteer led ‘Support at Home after Hospital Service’ and a complementary Take Home and Settle Service which was designed to help older people to transition back home from hospital settings.
• Our Linfield House care home received a ‘Good’ rating from CQC.
• Our Home Care Service provided on average 952 hours of personal care and domestic support to both state and privately funded customers in their own homes each week.

Presentation of the Annual Accounts

Warren Fabes, Guild Care’s Chief Financial Officer, presented our Annual Accounts.

In summary, it was a challenging financial performance for the year ended 31^st March 2021 due to Covid-19:

• The net income deficit was £1.1 million
• Guild Care received £1.5 million in government support for Covid-19 through the Job Retention Scheme and Infection Control and Testing Funding
• The net cash inflow, which benefited from a £1 million Covid loan (CBIL) was £0.6 million
• The reserves policy surplus was £1.2 million
• Guild Care finished the year with £8.3 million in funds

A full explanation can be found from Warren in the recording of the AGM below (00:17:45).

The future of Guild Care

Regarding the future, Guild Care CEO Alex Brooks-Johnson said in his address: “I can’t reveal the detail of the strategy today as it isn’t complete, but I can tell you that our intention is to create a charity more focused on social impact – specifically in the areas of reducing social isolation and reducing stigma. We’ll do this by joining up our broad range of services from the perspective of those that need them, increasing our reach, being more accessible to those who can’t afford it and finding our voice. We will be inviting members to comment on our new strategy ahead of a public launch in March next year.

“We need to think carefully, but with ambition, about how our services are funded. Our care homes offer quality in both the setting and in the care people receive, and there’s no doubt that they will continue to be a significant source of funding, but we need to diversify. Our retail and fundraising functions have improved under new leadership and our expectations are that, as we find clarity in our vision and mission as a charity, they will lead us forward in building more relationships and support from our community and wider.”

Alex finished by recognising the incredible efforts everyone has made this year and thanked the staff and volunteers at Guild Care for their continued hard work and dedication throughout the most challenging period in recent times.

Fundraising & Susie

Amanda Tucker, Guild Care’s Director of Fundraising, Marketing and Engagement, presented on the future of our charity’s fundraising endeavours. Specifically, with a new team in place, Guild Care will be diversifying fundraising activities with a focus on building long term partnerships with the community, local businesses, and individuals who are passionate about helping us deliver our ambitious plans to support older people, people living with dementia, and children and adults with learning disabilities.

Following Amanda's presentation, Susie, a member of our Fitzalan Centre, received applause (a rare occurrence on Zoom) for a speech regarding how Guild Care has helped her and her ambitions for the future, which are to control her life and be out in the community working or volunteering.

Recording of Guild Care’s 26^th AGM

Timings

• Introduction – 00:00:00
• Apologies – 00:01:27
• Minutes of the 25^th AGM – 00:01:40
• Chairman's Address – 00:03:00
• Presentation of the Annual Accounts – 00:17:45
• Voting – 00:41:00
• Chief Executive’s Address – 00:46:00
• Fundraising and the Future – 00:59:20
• Susie from the Fitzalan Howard Centre – 01:22:20
• Close of meeting – 01:26:40