This year’s AGM for the Destitution Project held in the Wesley Suite of Victoria Hall on Monday 23rd May 2022 was a bit different than normal. After a year of closures and restrictions due to the Covid Pandemic it was great to meet in a more relaxed atmosphere.
Prior to the more formal AGM, we had an Open House which simulated what we normally offer on a Wednesday Drop- in with music playing and the Team Leaders at their work stations showing our guests how we operate normally. There were loads of food donated by team members from sausage rolls to a wide range of cakes backed up by our “Beverage Queen” Irina.
The meeting itself was chaired by Paul Martin, DP Chair of Trustees, in his usual relaxed and friendly manner. He welcomed the 55 people present including two Cross and Passion Sisters whose late Sister Barbara had had such an input in the setting up of DP eight years ago and he thanked everyone for their efforts to keep DP functioning during a difficult year.
Various speakers followed, starting with the DP Caseworker, who reported on the number of service users, 1098 from 29 different countries attending the Drop-in since the reopening in August 2021. She explained what a difficult year it had been with many suffering from mental stress. Teh DP Caseworker thanked their line manager for her support and the casework team for helping her during the year.
Next was Paul Barnes, Drop-in Coordinator, who gave some insight into how the Drop-in had operated given the several restrictions brought about via Covid. The numbers of service users attending had fluctuated over the 28 sessions with a peak of 58 in March. Nevertheless, the number of volunteers during this period increased totalling 479 individual attendances averaging 17 per session. Paul thanked the volunteers and in particular Ian Trotman who had been appointed Lead Hall volunteer during the year. He also asked the Trustees, much to their embarrassment, to stand up and they were given a round of applause for their voluntary contributions. Paul gave a special thanks to Margaret Simpson, his line manager.
Michael Isherwood DP’s new Finance Officer following the legal changeover, gave an overview of DP’s finances for the year and similarly, Vicky Hutchinson of Moffats Chartered Accountants presented the accounts for 2021 -2022.
Instead of a guest speaker as in previous years, there then followed a short video involving six service users who answered questions about their experience at DP, we were treated to a fascinating video featuring six of our service users being asked various key questions about their experiences. One emphasised quite poignantly that his family were elsewhere but he now has a new family. The video was produced by Odyssey 9 Academy, a new media company introduced to DP by Bolton CVS. One person, our erstwhile named “Beverage Queen, featured so many times in the video that she was renamed “Photo Queen”!
At this point Paul Martin had to leave to perform other duties. David Tomlinson, Vice Chair took over. It was confirmed that all existing Trustees were now starting the second year of a three-year appointment, hence no need for re-election with the exception of Ruth Whitworth who, sadly for DP, was resigning. Ruth was heartily thanked for her services.
There were no questions from the floor and no other business. And in the absence of the Chair, a date was not fixed for next year’s AGM.
The very special style gathering closed at 15.00 with David thanking all for their attendance.
By: Paul Barnes, Drop in Coordinator
