Lench's Trust - Impact Report 2019

IMPACT REPORT 2019

“Lench’s Trust - a charity helping older people in need to live meaningful lives in vibrant, caring and safe communities.”

STATISTICS STAFF ETHNIC DIVERSITY

Mixed Black or Black British

3

12

183

10

43

41

9%

schemes

15%

61% White

15%

MEALS FROM CATERING SERVICES

RAISED BY RESIDENTS FOR CHARITY

28

Per day

840

Per month

10,080

£

£

£

1,740.50

1,754.20 Lench’s Close

Tanner’s Close

£

£

£

43,208

419,586

32,749

William Lench Court

Lench’s Close

Tanner’s Close

£

£

£

38,270

11,845

14,930

William Lench Court

Lench’s Close

Tanner’s Close

William Lench Court

CAPITAL REFURBISHMENTS 2019

REPAIRS TO FLATS

Fall of residents during 2019 investigated by staff.

Members of staff

Complaints received during the year and satisfactorily resolved.

Asian or Asian British

Apartments

Trustees

Per year

550

Impact report 2019

Lench’s Trust Chairman’s Report

It has been an honour to serve Lench’s Trust as your Chairman for the past year, having succeeded Tom Storrow in the spring of 2018. Tom was an excellent Chair and a hard act for me to follow. I am most grateful to Tom, and to Sarah Davis who has ably undertaken the role of Deputy Chair for the last year. I would like to thank all my fellow Trustees and the Lench’s leadership team headed by Jean-Luc Priez.

So, I look back at 2019 with a genuine sense of pride in the commitment and contribution of our staff and residents to the sense of community and quality of accommodation in all our schemes. As I write this report, however, I am conscious that we are living through a global pandemic on a scale that most of us will never have experienced before. The effects have been far reaching causing challenges and changes to the daily lives of residents and staff. It will also bring about changes and slow some of our projects in ways that could not have been envisaged even a few months ago.

Finance Report 2019

The operational surplus from lettings reduced to £415,909 from £615,455 due to increased costs, primarily the removal of asbestos from the grounds at William Lench Court.

Losses on care services were broadly similar to last year and losses in the catering services narrowed sharply. The performance of these services are reviewed regularly by the trustees.

Net rental income from investment properties rose from £99,245 in 2018 to £192,271. This was as a result of a one-off premium received on the variation of the lease of Lancaster Gate.

The total operating surplus was £108,742 compared to a surplus of £165,112 in 2018.

There was a gain in the fair value of investments of £442,101 compared to a fall last year of £238,175 but without the exceptional gain in 2018 of £7.6m on the sale of Lancaster Gate, total comprehensive income fell from £7.4m to £0.5m in 2019.

Total reserves increased from £15.7m to £27.4m. Mainly due to the fact we have revalued our investment properties as at 31st December 2019, this has meant the fair value gain on investments is now in the accounts at £11.5m, with an increase on investment properties being £11.2m.

Investment properties

Whilst work on the development of first phase of the Lancaster Gate property continued during the year, we have been discussing the proposals for phase two with a developer and are anticipating agreeing a long lease with them once planning conditions have been finalised.

We have continued our partnership with the St Basil’s charity and hope that we will soon be agreeing a new lease for one of our almshouses which they occupy, Conybere Gardens, so that they can continue to provide facilities for young homeless people in that part of the city.

These transactions, together with the earlier lease premium on Lancaster Gate phase one, have given us the prospect of a very healthy bank balance and so we are beginning to progress options for further investment in a new scheme or schemes to extend the provision of our facilities and services.

www.lenchs-trust.co.uk

Impact report 2019

Wellbeing of the Residents

For personal reasons Christine Dingley left her role as Registered Manager of the care team and was succeeded by Georgia Preston to provide leadership of the Lench’s Trust Personal Care Service. Mark James has continued to give the manager support as Care team leader. We instigated our first Residents’ surgery when people living at William Lench Court were able to meet representatives of the Trustees and raise any matters of concern, this was in addition to the Residents’ conference to which all our residents were invited.

We are most grateful to Aston Villa Football Club as they continued their visits to all three schemes throughout the year as part of their community engagement and their regular sessions are very well attended.

There continues to be a wide range of activities across all three schemes with the gym at William Lench Court proving very popular under the supervision of our new gym instructor, Bobby Singh, appointed during the year.

We are always looking to develop the facilities at our schemes and amongst other projects, the long awaited improvements to the car parking facilities at Lench’s Close was started and is expected to be completed shortly.

Staff and volunteers

During 2019, we said goodbye to Daniel Lindley, from the head office team and welcomed Dawn Manning in to post as our HR Administrator.

There have also been changes to our Board, as we welcomed new Trustee Abdul Malik. Tim Sewell having served for some years on the Wellbeing Committee resigned as a Trustee in November.

Our Heritage

With the 500th anniversary (in 2025) of our founding fast approaching more work has been done on the photographic project with residents across our three schemes. As was mentioned in last year’s report this is part of our celebration of this massive Anniversary, and we expect it to be published in the current year.

We are also working with the Library of Birmingham and Professor Nicholas Crowson from the University of Birmingham towards a major exhibition to commemorate Lench’s Trust in 2025.

Our annual Founder’s Day Tea Party (11th March when William Lench signed his deed of trust) has become one of the highlights of the residents’ social calendar, with residents, staff, trustees & ex-trustees, guests and the Lord Mayor in attendance.

Thank you

Finally, a very big “thank you” to all at Lench’s Trust; your support and energies particularly during these difficult times keep the Trust responding to the needs of many over-55s in Birmingham. Without your efforts, people who make their homes with Lench’s would continue to experience hardship and isolation. Together, we can and will continue to make a massive difference.

Richard Sarjeant Chairman

Impact report 2019

Words from the Chief Executive

As the Impact Report is always a celebration of the achievements over the previous year it is worth looking at it in the perspective of the coronavirus pandemic alluded to

by Richard Sarjeant, our Chairman of the Board of Trustees.

Prior to the lockdown which will disrupt all our lives we held our traditional Founder’s Day at William Lench Court, honouring William Lench’s legacy which lives well into the 21st century and which remains as relevant now as in the last 494 years!

The main purpose of Lench’s Trust is to help older people in need to live meaningful lives in vibrant, caring & safe communities. Here we give a voice to the many meaningful lives we support through our work, thanks to the dedication and commitment of the staff – as amply demonstrated throughout the lockdown and beyond since Founder’s Day. One of the main projects which took place during 2019 has been the Photographic Project, led by Nicola Shipley and Stephen Burke, which aims at documenting the lives of residents through portraits taken by a renowned photographer and the residents’ own photographic memories. Whilst we are waiting to receive the final publication, you can see below a montage of some of the portraits taken by Kate Peters.

Founder’s Day at William Lench Court

With the support of its Trustees, staff & volunteers, friends & partners in the community, the residents and their families, we are fortunate to be in a strong position to continue addressing the many challenges ahead with the same pioneering spirit as our founder, William Lench.

Sutton Magaret Witty

Quinton Olive Hall

Moseley Mohammed Saleem

I trust that you will find the 2019 Impact Report both informative and entertaining, a nostalgic view to life pre-coronavirus and a foreview to better days ahead.

Images from the Photographic Project led by Nicola Shiopley and Stephen Burke

www.lenchs-trust.co.uk

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Impact report 2019

William Lench Court

The weekly exercise classes provided by Aston Villa went from strength to strength with increasing numbers of residents and the local community joining the weekly sessions. Once again, we enjoyed visits from Four Dwellings School and the Faith & St Laurence Scout group and held our now annual Pig Roast.

Residents and their families raised large sums of money for DeafBlind UK and Macmillan with a variety of events taking place including a trash & treasure, as we all know everyone loves a bargain!

We connected with a local singing group, ELMS, which provide group sessions for people living with Dementia. The two visits proved to be very popular with residents and staff who were eager to join in and not be too embarrassed about doing the actions along with the group.

This is definitely something we intend to carry on with, as the pleasure it brought to those who attended was evident from the beaming faces.

Jayne McGettrick Scheme Manager

Tanner’s Close

Marion O’Mara Scheme Manager

6

www.lenchs-trust.co.uk

As 2019 drew to a close William Lench Court saw two residents receive telegrams from Her Majesty the Queen when they reached the grand age of 100 years old, Hilda Staten and Henry Knight who celebrated with family and friends. Hilda and Henry received gifts and cards from the Trust along with numerous gifts and cards from their fellow residents. A buffet lunch was served to celebrate this wonderful achievement.

During 2019 we had many events of which we are sorely missing in 2020. In March we had a wonderful coffee morning for the John Taylor Hospice complete with a sale that included homemade cakes, hampers and even various bric-a-brac to sell on. I wanted a reason for more people to get together and make new friends so every 2 weeks on a Thursday I cooked hearty meals in hopes the residents would come down and enjoy each other’s company – it went down a treat. In addition, we had our regular AVFC exercise classes every other Thursday and this class is extremely popular with the residents. During Christmas time AVFC visited with a lovely buffet lunch; there was not much exercising that day as everyone was too busy enjoying the food!

On 16th October we had an amazing Macmillan Coffee Morning complete with cakes and raffles and raised a total of £151. Following this success, at the end of October we held a coffee morning for the Heart Foundation, and thanks once again to the very generous residents, we has raised £100. Celebrations were in order for Dorothy Pitts 95th birthday where she enjoyed the day with family, residents and friends then on the 16th November myself and Rita made a stunning buffet which all enjoyed!

December was jam packed for the residents, starting with a visit to Bishop Walsh School on the 5th where we enjoyed a nice afternoon tea and was waited on by the students. Moving onto 20th December, we had an outstanding Christmas Lunch at Moor Hall. Later on they had another Christmas Lunch (lucky them!) cooked be Rita and I. 2019 had been a wonderful year, we hope that once the pandemic has passed we can continue with these much loved events.

Impact report 2019

Lench’s Close

We entered 2019 with our usual optimism and enthusiasm at Lench’s Close, looking forward to what the year had in store for us. The Trust’s plans kicked into action and work commenced on our new resident car park in the garden spinney area, as voted and supported by the residents. Parking had been an issue beforehand due to limited space. However now designated resident parking has been given to scheme car owners and the old car park has now become visitor parking.

Our laundry facilities underwent a makeover, with new flooring being laid and another washer/ dryer installed, increasing scheme capacity. New entrance doors were fitted to the Amenities Block building, as well as new intercom systems fitted to all first floor flats. We also saw the 3rd (and final) phase completion of the new fitted kitchens. Earlier in the year, we had Severn Trent Water carry out a water efficiency audit followed with the installation of new water metres to all flats with emergency water stop valves. Information sessions was also provided for the residents.

Maria Bell Scheme Manager

A new defibrillator, a valuable piece of life saving equipment, was purchased for our scheme – located in the common room reception area. There was training available for both residents and staff. It was a pleasure to see such a huge turnout for people taking this offer.

We had a busy calendar of events throughout 2019 starting with our weekly activities such as Lunch Club, Craft Class, Bingo, Fish & Chips, our monthly visits with pre-school children of George Perkins Nursery and Friday’s coffee/activity mornings to give the chance for residents to catch up with each other. Our weekly exercise class in conjunction with Aston Villa football club has become a firm favourite with residents and attendees from the wider community. We also held a host of events and had out very first Pork & Cider festival down in the Spinney, with live entertainment – watch out Glastonbury! Let’s not forget our lovely garden fete with cream teas on the lawn.

New resident Miss Turley set up a history group with one of the first speakers being our very own Chief Executive with an informative talk on the Trust’s history. There was also guest speakers with talks on Laurel & Hardy and the Old Sorrento Maternity Hospital with former nursing staff sharing their fond memories of working there.

As ever, fundraising was on the agenda and our ever-inventive residents came up with novel ideas; we held a charity auction that went down a storm, raising £400 for the residents’ own funds, also the recycling of old clothes which raised another £41.10. This year marked a very special birthday for resident Florence (Maud) Ward who reached the milestone age of 100 years young! We had the privilege of joining Maud and her family in celebrating this momentous occasion, Maud is an inspiration to us all and continues to live independently here at Lench’s Close. All in all, 2019 has proved to be another eventful and productive year.

Catering Team

The restaurant during 2019 was very busy; and we catered for many buffets and parties, alongside our daily lunches. We always look forward to and enjoy catering for the Founder’s Day event. It takes a lot of hard work to make the amount of food we do for Founder’s Day, but it is always worth it to see the clean plates/trays and smiling faces – as it means we did a good job!

The restaurant is seeing more residents and public stop by for some lunch and/or a cup of tea and cake since we revamped the menu. We provide a mixture of English classics as well as some delicious international food and also lovely cakes (you should try Lee’s lemon cake!) during Afternoon Tea. We are looking forward to getting the restaurant decorated (we have already picked out some beautiful wallpaper) and bringing a fresh look to the restaurant moving into 2020. I am looking forward to 2020 and spending another great year working with my team.

Rajdeep Tiwana Catering Manager

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Impact report 2019

Mark Boden

Mark Boden Maintenance Manager

This year has been busy for us in the maintenance team; throughout 2019 all three schemes saw some improvements. Starting at Tanner’s Close, the beginning of the year saw the scheme getting a new communal tank. In addition to this, brand new dynamic carbon monoxide detectors were installed; this was an important job to get done to protect our residents against the dangers of carbon monoxide, which are very serious. Other than general maintenance at this scheme, we also fitted some new automatic community doors (which required assistance from both Raffi and Karl as the doors are very heavy!).

At Lench’s Close new automatic community doors have been installed which means the residents do not have to worry about pulling any doors open to get into the communal areas.

During 2019 Lench’s Close also saw a revamp of the car park; which has been extended to allow for designated spaces for residents only, with the previous car park at the front now being used for visitors’ use. This had been much-anticipated as it means less congestion for Lench’s Close residents’ vehicles and more space for both visitors and residents. We have also been carrying out the new phase of kitchen installations at and have managed to get 15 of them completed and the residents are thrilled with their new kitchens.

At William Lench Close we prioritised repairing the retaining wall by the side road at William Lench Court as it collapsed, which meant that other projects had to go on hold temporarily. It was a difficult job, but now the wall is looking better than ever.

In summary, 2019 has been an extremely busy year and it has been a pleasure to see projects we have been planning and budgeting for come to fruition

Annemarie Walker

On the housing side, there have been a total of 17 lettings over the three schemes during 2019, with an average letting time of 10.6 working days. As always, there has been a steady influx of applications landing on my desk, which I endeavour to deal with as quickly as possible so that once properties becomes available I am able to help those most in need on the waiting lists. I am always excited to offer a viewing of a property to a potential resident; and never tire of how impressed they are at the high standard of accommodation which the Trust’s offers. It is no wonder then that there has been an average of between 3045 applicants on each scheme’s waiting list throughout the year.

In Head Office we have welcomed a new member of staff, Dawn Manning, who has joined us as a Human Resources Administrator. Since Dawn joined our team there have been a LOT of treats appearing in the office, and this endeared her to us very quickly….although our expanding waistlines are a slight worry!

Annemarie Walker Housing Adviser

6 10

www.lenchs-trust.co.uk

So without further ado here are a few words from Dawn, “Hello everyone, as mentioned I am the new HR Administrator for Lench’s Trust. I was drawn to Lench’s Trust because of my volunteer work with a care home, I saw the wonderful work that they did and decided this was the type of environment I wanted to be in. I am looking forward to spending many years with Lench’s Trust and look forward to what the future holds.”

Impact report 2019

Mark James

The start of 2019 seems a lifetime ago but what an exciting time it has been for the Care team.

We were inspected by CQC in February and achieved an overall rating of Good which is a great achievement for everyone involved and shows that we are moving in the right direction for the Outstanding status which we are aiming to achieve in the future.

Our new paperless system, Access Care Planning, has improved the way we approach our person centred care and given us a more effective way of delivering specific tasks for each resident that uses the service.

We are in the early stages of running a paperless eMar system next to Access Care Planning to improve on our ever growing medication support, which will hopefully be implemented in early 2020.

Mark James Care & Wellbeing Manager

Due to the increasing packages in care we have introduced some additional Bank and contracted staff who have settled in very well and have developed a great team bond, and have brought a fresh dynamic to our fantastic Care Team.

2020 can only bring greater success to the care services.

Carrie-Anne Bilings Carrie-Anne Bilings, Daily Living Assistant, with the tablet procured to the carers and which holds the Trust’s Access care & eMAR system.

The Care Quality Commission regularly checks the quality of our service at William Lench Court, this is our latest assessment

Carrie-Anne Bilings Daily Living Assistant

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Impact report 2019

Financial Summary

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www.lenchs-trust.co.uk

Impact report 2019

Financial Analysis Per Scheme

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Lench’s Trust Head Office William Lench Court | 80 Ridgacre Road | Quinton | Birmingham | B32 2AQ Tel: 0121 426 0455 | Fax: 0121 426 3481 | info@lenchs-trust.co.uk | www.lenchs-trust.co.uk Lench’s Trust is an almshouse charity providing care with housing for older people in Birmingham Registered Charity Reference Number: 1145847 Company Number: 07860164