24

BCA

Richmond Parish Lands Charity

Acknowledgements Age Concern

Barnes Community Association

Barnes Workhouse Fund

London Borough of Richmond upon Thames / Grants Direct

Richmond Parish Lands Charity

Richmond Consortium

Richmond and Kingston Accessible Transport

Richmond Council for Voluntary Service

Helen Robinson for graphs

Leslie Spatt for Annual Report design

Ian Downing for website updates

Printed by aquatint bsc, Wimbledon, London SW19

FiSH Helpline: 020 8876 3414

FiSH Administration: 020 8876 3335

FiSH Busline: 020 8876 3765

Email: info@fishhelp.org.uk

Website: www.fishhelp.org.uk

RaKAT Ltd. Richmond and Kingston Accessible Transport

ANNUAL REPORT

2008 - 2009

Barnes Mortlake & East Sheen

Churches Fellowship of Service Barnes Green Centre

Church Road

London SW13 9HE

Charity no. 1083996

Vice-Presidents Jean Lewis

Veronica Schroter

Executive Committee Margaret Harrop Chair

Jon Blythe Hon. Treasurer

Margaret Saunders Hon. Secretary

Catherine Dewe-Mathews Rachida Ez-Zihi

Penny Kegerreis

Mel Le Vesconte

Revd. Graham Pulham CTiB Representative

John Wilson CTIMES Representative

Co-opted members:

Sue Boyd

Nigel Newby RaKAT

Kit Peck

FiSH Staff Jenny Hughes FiSH Director

Leslie Spatt Office Assistant

Phyllida Cornfield Transport Scheduler

Clive Wallis (to Feb 09) Bus Driver

David Leftwich/ Tim Waite

(from June 09) Bus Drivers

Helen Robinson FiSH Statistics

Auditor Brian Cripps

2

CONTENTS

Chair's Report 3

Director's Review 6

Transport Scheme 12

Tuesday Talks 14

PQASSO 15

FiSH 'n' Chats 16

Clive Wallis 18 - 19

Finance 20 Treasurer's Report 20

Statement of Financial Activity 21

Balance Sheet 22

23

Sheen Lane Centre, SW14

Wednesday & Thursday 10.15am – 12.30pm

Friday 10.15am - 12.30pm

but not the first Friday of the month

If you feel like a confidential chat with people who enjoy

listening, pop in and visit us

We also visit residential homes Walsingham Lodge

and Lady Elizabeth House once a month;

and St Michael's Barnes Community Centre

on the first Friday of each month.

FiSH 'n' Chats at Sheen Lane Centre

22

2009 2008

£ £ £ £

Current assets

Bank balances (restricted) 1,099 1,098

Bank balances

(unrestricted) 65,285 47,345

Debtors (petrol refunds) 1,520 1,520

67,904 49,963

Creditors

Grant received in advance 9,850 9,850

Accrual (petrol reclaims) 2,450 2,450

Accrual (salary) 1,500 1,500

Accrual (RaKAT bus

replacement)

Accrual (other)

5,536 5,517

21,865 21,846

Net Assets 46,039 28,117

Capital Account

Reserves brought forward 28,117 24,156

Surplus/Deficit for the year 17,922 3,961

Transfer to Bus Reserve (16,000) --

Free Reserves 30,039 28,117

Add Bus reserve 16,000 --

Reserves carried forward 46,039 28,117

FiSH – Chair's Report 2007/8

Chair’s report

Until now annual reports from FiSH have included a review by the Co-ordinator.

This year the review is by the Director – still Jenny Hughes, but with a new job title

to reflect the development of the charity and her changing responsibilities. When

she started she was the only employee and FiSH was basically a telephone service

arranging help from a team of volunteers. Now we provide a range of services.

We still depend crucially on our volunteers but there are many more of them -

over 250 – and we also need a team in the office to co-ordinate their work. As a

result Jenny‟s role as leader and manager has grown and the Trustees decided last

year that she should become Director. This was announced at the 2008 AGM.

The year 2008/09

My report last year stressed the partnership between FiSH and Age Concern and

reported that the Council would be going to tender for the services we together

provide at the Barnes Green Centre. This did indeed happen, and we all faced a

nerve-racking period, especially when we heard that four national organisations were

bidding for the contract. If Age Concern had lost, FiSH could have been seriously

affected, losing the core finance for our bus and possibly also our excellent offices in

the Centre. But I am delighted to report that Age Concern made a very good case,

which FiSH strongly supported, and were awarded the contract. This means we can

move forward with confidence, without the constant worry that we might have to go

back to square one and rethink all our activities. We are very grateful to Age

Concern, and particularly Allan Lockett, for the working partnership which we will

now continue to enjoy and develop.

We have had another successful year, with new clients, new volunteers and the

varied activities described in Jenny‟s report. I feel that particular successes this year

have been the befriending service, supporting frail people in their homes, and the

Tuesday talks, providing stimulus and company at the Barnes Green Centre and

attracting increasing numbers of people who are not regular FiSH clients. Our drop

-in service, FiSH ‟n‟ Chats, open three mornings a week at the Sheen Lane Centre,

has also been very popular.

Bus transport

Our accessible bus, Angel, has been busy taking clients to and from the Barnes Green

Centre and in between taking people on shopping trips, pub lunches or other outings.

Our full-time driver, Clive, had driven Angel from the start and was key in all this.

We were devastated when he died suddenly from cancer in February. He was much

loved and his well-attended funeral was very moving. His friends have planted a rose

in his memory at the Centre and the next FiSH bus will be named Clive.

3

Looking ahead

We often need extra accessible buses from our partner RaKAT, to cover the

demand for transport for activities arranged by FiSH or other local organisations.

We are, therefore, now looking at the options for developing this very successful

service. As a first step we are recruiting some extra help for Phyllida, who

organises all aspects of the service and has somehow managed to make things work

in spite of almost impossible demands. This is an example of the sort of problem

caused by the Council‟s lengthy tendering process; we could not have responsibly

recruited extra help while the future was so uncertain.

More generally, we are watching the moves to give people more choice in how they

get the support they need. This sounds admirable, but could all too easily lead to a

shift from the statutory sector to the voluntary sector, without a corresponding

increase in funding for groups like FiSH who might face increasing demands for help

which we cannot provide. We are in close touch with the other local voluntary

groups and with the Council.

Thank you

I am very grateful to the staff - Jenny, Phyllida, Leslie, Helen, David and Tim - and to

all the volunteers. Some do an immense amount of work for FiSH, others just a

little because of other commitments, but it all adds up to a series of services which

really help local people.

Thank you also to the trustees for all their support during the year. Trustees, who

are usually volunteers as well, generally serve for a maximum of 6 years, and we try

and have a mix of people from Barnes, Sheen and Mortlake. We are starting to plan

ahead, and if anyone might be interested in finding out more about becoming a

trustee please let me know.

There is a provision to allow trustees to serve for longer than six years in

exceptional circumstances and this has been used for our Treasurer, Jonathon

Blythe, who has served for about 10 years. He has not only done the accounts but

has set up the office systems and been on hand to advise when things go wrong. His

office has also handled the payroll which has been a great help. So particular thanks

to him for all his work for FiSH.

Margaret Harrop.

4

Barnes Mortlake and East Sheen FiSH

Statement of Financial Activity for the Year ended 31 August 2009

21

2009 2008

INCOMING RESOURCES £ £

Grants - restricted (see People Costs

below) 13.068 13,095

Grants - other 17,000 16,800

Donations & Legacies 26,825 10,513

FiSH bus income 13,036 13,651

Petrol refunds 3,614 4,759

Event income 3,865 3,581

Other Income (interest) 365 1,177

77,773 63,576

RESOURCES EXPENDED

People costs

Salaries - part financed by restricted

grant 28,308 26,384

Training 3,262 2,255

Premises costs

Utilities 1,241 500

Travel costs

FiSH bus running expenses 13,036 13,651

Petrol & taxis 803 939

General administrative costs

Telephone 2,044 2,325

Postage & stationery 1,745 1,780

Insurance 470 419

Subscriptions 25 --

Computer & equipment costs 1,032 2,478

Office costs 2,319 2,459

Marketing & promotion & events

Event expenses 3,976 3,918

Publicity 1,590 2,507

59,851 59,615

NET INCOMING RESOURCES 17,922 3,961

20

Treasurer's Report

As I say every year, if you want an indication of the Charity‟s growth and activity, you won‟t

find it in the financial statements! Our costs are incurred to facilitate the free giving of time

by many volunteers and, as always, the free giving of time has continued to increase.

This year, our „normal‟ income and costs were very similar to last year and were in line with

our forecasts. However our donations and, in particular, legacies were well above our

forecast. This not only enabled us to reach our target level of free Reserves, but also enabled

us to set up our Bus Reserve with a transfer of £16,000. Included in this figure is nearly

£2000 of donations in memory of our much loved Clive. This Reserve is specifically available

to develop and expand our bus service.

We have continued to benefit from our bus partnership with RaKAT. During the year we

have kept up our contribution to them to help fund a replacement bus. As well as running the

bus, they largely finance the salaries of our „Bus Department‟. They are an integral part of the

FiSH team. As always we are really grateful for the grants, donations and legacies. These are

the lifeblood of the charity ensuring that we can continue to offer our support to the

community, so many thanks to:

Richmond CVS, Barnes Workhouse, Richmond Parish Lands

Richmond Consortium

RaKAT and its funding partners

FiSH Friends, the local Churches

And all other FiSH donors (every donation counts!)

Thanks also to Jenny, Phyllida, Clive, Leslie and Helen for the professional support they give

to the financial activities and many thanks to Brian Cripps of Cripps Dransfield (020 8876

8070) for carrying out the Audit. Jon Blythe

Extract from Audit Report, Year ended 31 August 2009

Basis of opinion

We conducted our audit in accordance with the Charities Act. An audit includes

examination, on a test basis, of evidence relevant to the amounts and disclosure in the

financial statements. It also includes an assessment of the significant estimates and

judgements made by the Executive Committee in the preparation of the financial statements,

and of whether the accounting policies are appropriate to the Charity‟s circumstance,

consistently applied and adequately disclosed.

We planned and performed our audit so as to obtain all the information and explanations

which we considered necessary in order to provide us with sufficient evidence to give

reasonable assurance that the financial statements are free from material error. In forming

our opinion we also evaluated the overall adequacy of the presentation of information in the

financial statements.

Opinion

In our opinion the financial statements give a true and fair view of the state of the Charity‟s

affairs as at 31 August 2009 and of the incoming resources and application of resources of

the Charity for the year then ended and have been properly prepared in accordance with

applicable Accounting Standards and the Charities SORP 2005. Cripps Dransfield, Chartered Accountants and Registered Auditors

5

"First Friday" lunch

at St. Michael's, Barnes

Anthony Gardiner, "Herbs for the winter "

Tuesday Talk

Connaught Opera entertaining

guests at the "First Friday" lunch

May Bank Holiday concert at

St. Mary‟s Barnes

Sarah Warren, "History of Gold "

Tuesday Talk

6

Director's Review 2007-2008

FiSH can once again look back with pride at the end of this financial year, even

though the period has had some low points as well as high ones. The demand for

our services continues to develop and once again we can show some very positive

outcomes for our service users, our supporters and funders.

The FiSH Office

As the nerve centre of the organisation, the FiSH office continues to be an

extremely busy place on a daily basis. In order for FiSH to provide a smooth

running and a professional service it is essential that the staff and volunteers work

well together. I am enormously grateful to all the members of the staff team for

their dedication and support throughout the year.

My thanks also go to the FiSH executive committee for their continued direction on

strategic matters as well as giving extremely vital practical help when asked. In

particular I would like to thank our Chair Margaret Harrop and Treasurer Jon

Blythe for their personal support and wisdom over the year.

The administration team currently consists of:

FiSH Director - Jenny Hughes.

Transport Enterprise Scheme co-ordinator - Phyllida Cornfield;

handling the bus schedules, drivers and numerous other tasks.

Office Assistant - Leslie Spatt

Full time bus drivers (job share) - David Leftwich and Tim Waite; core duty

being the daily transportation of clients to and from the Barnes Green

Centre.

Statistics collator and general assistant - Helen Robinson who accounts

for all recorded FiSH work which is necessary for data monitoring and

evaluation.

Volunteer database officer - Caroline Edelin

Volunteer group transport assistant - Penny Cowell

Office admin volunteers - Rachida Ez Zihi and Pia Jenk

Office Helpline volunteers - Deirdre Aguma, Sue Boyd, Bruce Cryer,

Vicky Davey, Susie Lowish, Yvonne Reid and Richard Buttle.

The low point of the year came at the end of February with the sudden and

unexpected death of Clive Wallis our full time FiSH bus driver. Clive was a much

loved member of the team and we were all extremely shocked at the news. He is

greatly missed by everyone.

CLIVE WALLIS 1947-2009

Receiving the news of Clive‟s sudden and unexpected

death was an enormous shock for all of us who

worked with him at FiSH. He was an important

member of the FiSH team; a respected colleague and

much loved friend.

Clive served FiSH for exactly four years to the day.

Two weeks before he passed away, he reluctantly asked for time off to enable him to

undergo some investigations into his health. Despite his feeling very unwell he

nevertheless popped into the office during this „time off‟‟ just to make sure everything

was all right. This was typical of Clive, always putting other people first and not wanting

to let anyone down. I practically had to bully him to take his annual leave every year!

Back in 2005 when Clive joined FiSH as our first full time member of staff, he fitted into

the team from the word go, getting involved in many aspects of the work on top of the

daily driving. This was a new post and there was no template to follow. However Clive

eagerly threw himself into developing his role, so in the end it was much, much more

than just taking the bus out. He was always kind and helpful to all who boarded his bus

and seemed to be patience personified when faced with traffic jams, road works, and

road chaos of one sort or another.

These things never seemed to worry Clive unduly, despite the clock ticking away and

the need to get everyone home safely. There was always a friendly word for his

passengers to cheer them along the way. He loved making contact with people and

would chat to anyone and everyone arriving at the Barnes Green Centre and the FiSH

office. He would always find time to talk even when there wasn‟t any time.

Clive was never slow to offer wise advice and his many skills and often surprised us with

the extent of his numerous talents: - replacing bicycle chains, fixing cars, producing

spotty maps and the most detailed instructions, sorting out the boiler in the FiSH office,

managing the FiSH cash book and overseeing the office computer system - to name but

a few.

He was a familiar figure around the streets in his green and white FiSH bus, whether it

was fetching people to the Barnes Green centre; driving the children of the Barnes

Summer Play School or the members of the Active Retired Group, he always seemed to

have a positive effect wherever he went in the local community.

As you see, he was much more than a bus driver. He showed real concern for all of our

clients and often reported worries about individuals so that they could be followed up

by our volunteers. He went well beyond the main call of his duties.

We shall miss Clive dreadfully as a kind, selfless and great-hearted member of this

family. When the first FiSH bus was delivered we decided to name it „Angel‟. The next

time we have to name a bus it will certainly be called „Clive‟

Jenny Hughes

19

18

Clive was so kind and considerate in

every way - he couldn‟t have been

more so if he had been my own son.

FiSH helping to move client into sheltered

housing

Clive was an example to us all

Clive was a great friend

to everybody. He was

kind, helpful and

understanding. Very

much missed by all.

Clive's natural warmth and generosity of

spirit touched the hearts and minds of all

those he helped at FiSH and Age

Concern over the four years of his work

with us. We will always remember him.

Veronica Schroter, vice-president and

former Chair of FiSH

Thank you for our

driver Clive, a more

caring man would

be hard to find.

Clive "as normal" -

helping people

Clive was a very special person. I

worked with him for 3 years,

helping him put the world to rights

in the morning, and sharing his days

with him in the evening, after he had

taken members to their homes on

the FiSH Bus. Clive always went

that extra mile for people.

Allan Lockett,

Barnes Green Centre Manager

7

Following job adverts and interviews I am very happy to report the full time driver

post was filled by Tim Waite and David Leftwich on a job share basis at the end of

May. Both Tim and David are well settled into the staff team and are now a familiar

sight driving the FiSH bus around Barnes, Mortlake and East Sheen.

The Helpline

The Helpline deals with the daily requests for our help that come in from individual

service users. Our team of eighteen Helpline Volunteers have managed extremely well

all year to match FiSH volunteers willing to give their time with the clients who have

made requests. The team have successfully arranged 4007 helpline jobs this year; this

figure does also include some signposting and sorting out enquiries. It seems year on

year this vital FiSH brokerage role is made increasingly challenging by a number of

factors. For instance many new clients have higher expectations of the services FiSH

can provide; cutbacks in statutory services have caused increasing demand for the

voluntary services we offer; a diminishing number of volunteer car drivers makes

finding transport help particularly difficult; the increasing difficulty in parking legally in

local streets when collecting or dropping off clients has created added stress, and this

year the numerous road closures due to water and other road works have increased

the time needed to carry out transport tasks.

FiSH would particularly like to thank our regular volunteers below who staff the

helpline every weekday between 9.00a.m. –12.00 noon. As they are the first port of

call for sometimes anxious and distressed clients, their patience and understanding

in dealing effectively with enquiries are a vital part of the FiSH service.

FiSH Helpline staff:

Deirdre Aguma, Sue Boyd, Richard Buttle, Bruce Cryer, Vicky Davey,

Rachida Ez Zihi, Ann Fegelman, Dorothy Jones, Susie Lowish, Diana

Midmer, Gwen Peck, Davina Phillips, Iain Radford, Yvonne Reid, Beata

Reynolds, Claire Robin, Anna Sanders, Mo Saunders

Publicity

Leslie Spatt leads our effort to maintain the public profile of FiSH through local

magazines and networks. Our FiSH Newsletter, produced three times a year,

remains extremely popular and keeps both users of FiSH and our volunteers in

touch with what we are doing.

During the year a new FiSH leaflet was printed and distributed to key agencies. This

important update on the information available about FiSH was needed to advertise

the extent of the services we offer. We also included a statement setting out the

limits of what we can provide in order to clarify the boundaries of our remit.

8

In October 2009 we will target Mortlake, as the area of highest need in our locality,

and distribute the new FiSH leaflet door to door. Many thanks to Michael Hill and

the Richmond Consortium for their expertise and financial help with this project.

Volunteers

This year we have welcomed 41 new volunteers to our team which is a record (at

least since records began!) The total volunteer establishment is now just under 260.

The new volunteers have taken on a variety of roles depending on the time they can

offer and we are very grateful to them all for their energy and enthusiasm.

We continue to attract volunteers of all ages to join the team and are lucky to have

some younger volunteers befriending clients on a weekly basis. In addition to this we

have good relationships with St Paul‟s Boys and The Harrodian School. The boys

from the Christian Union at St Paul‟s frequently offer their gardening services to

those who need it and a group of Harrodian Students chose FiSH as a charity to

promote in their Young Philanthropic Society project. FiSH benefited by £383.61

from their fundraising efforts.

Training

In order to support our volunteers in their work we have offered opportunities for

training courses, work shadowing, mentoring and skill sharing. Feedback and good

communication are vital tools to give volunteers and staff reassurance to work with

the most vulnerable members of our society.

This year we provided a Moving and Handling course run by Integrated Neurological

Services; First Aid courses and Learning to Listen run by Kit Peck and Louise

Gordon Walker (six sessions). We also ran regular in-house courses for

befrienders, and supervision for FiSH ‟n‟ Chats volunteers.

FiSH Jobs

Throughout this year FiSH volunteers have responded 7938 times, providing help

for a wide variety of needs to members of our community.

Assuming that each task takes an average of approximately two hours, this

represents 15876 working hours. Translated into full time equivalents this

represents the annual work of 8.5 full time staff members.

We have welcomed 56 new clients during the year, bringing the total number of

registered clients to 736. Sadly, but inevitably, each year we lose a number of our

longer-standing clients, but despite this we manage to maintain an increase in

registered members of between 2% and 2.5% each year. This upward trend is an

indicator of both the growing reputation of FiSH services and the demographics of

an ageing population.

17

Pastor Keith Gaitskill, FiSH Sunday

2008 at the URC, Vernon Road

One of our community groups,

"Good Companions," using the bus

to help them walk the Thames Path.

FiSH one-to-one Befriending

Barnes Green under snow, February

16

FiSH 'n' Chats

The fact that we have a number of regular visitors indicates that the FiSH 'n' Chats

Coffee Corner has established itself as a well-known corner in the community. In

addition to the 'regulars', there are always some who are trying us out for the first

time – some just for a chat, which is very important to someone who lives alone

and might not talk to anyone else that day, and to others who are grateful to find a

dispassionate listener to whom they can offload their concerns.

We are in the Sheen Centre every Wednesday, Thursday and Friday morning,

except the first Friday in the month. In the past year we have received 1635 client

visits – 996 ladies and 639 men; accompanied by 75 children. There are currently

some 45 volunteers, three of whom have joined recently having completed the

Learning to Listen course. Two more are due to join the rota shortly. A team of

four volunteers is on duty at each session, one of whom is a leader, and most

volunteers do three duties in each two monthly rota which is ingeniously organised

by Bruce Cryer.

In addition two volunteers visit two residential homes once a month – Lady Elizabeth

House and Walsingham Lodge. The number of residents who attend is low but those

who do come appreciate our being there. At Walsingham Lodge the numbers are

increased by staff and residents from the adjacent Viera Gray nursing home. In recent

months two FiSH ‟n‟ Chats volunteers have been assisting at the monthly lunch

organised by FiSH volunteers at St Michael‟s Community Centre in Barnes.

The leaders keep in frequent contact with one another to ensure that there are

adequate supplies of coffee etc. and to sort out any problems. They have also met

several times during the year to discuss, principally, ways in which the service can

be improved.

Two training and support meetings were held during the year for all volunteers,

with the purpose of reinforcing our listening skills. At one of these last November

Katherine Phillips from the Barnes Bereavement Group spoke very interestingly

about the work of that group.

New volunteers are always welcome. Please contact Jenny Hughes (8876 3335) or

me (8878 6453) for more information.

Christine McGuinness

9

The registered client total does not include the many users of our FiSH „n‟ Chats sessions

as the service is confidential. In addition there are a number of other unregistered

individuals who attend our weekly talks and concert events throughout the year.

One–to-one Befriending

Our efforts to promote this service over the last eighteen months have led to more

volunteer befrienders coming forward and an increase in referrals. The social

benefit of the quality time spent with individuals is a reduction in isolation and raised

levels of confidence and self esteem. In addition, feedback from our befrienders has

enabled us, on several occasions, to monitor vulnerable people, and direct specialist

support to where it is needed.

We now have 48 volunteers working on this project matched with the same

number of users whom they visit on a regular basis. 1066 one to one visits have

been made throughout the year and 100 contacts have been made with people who

are befriended by phone.

To avoid these volunteers becoming isolated from the main team, we have had

some useful training and support sessions this year where they have been able to

come together to discuss common problems and situations. Thank you to Kathy

Willman who kindly hosted the last session in May.

Events

FiSH Sunday 2008

This year we held a FiSH Awareness church presentation on Sunday October 5th.

This was an opportunity to tell the wider church community about our work. At

each church in the area a FiSH volunteer was given time at the end of a nominated

service to talk to the congregation. This was a successful venture as it encouraged a

number of new volunteers to come forward to help us.

The annual FiSH Sunday service of thanksgiving was held at the United Reform

Church in Vernon Road East Sheen on Sunday 16th November. It was hosted by

Pastor Keith Gaitskill and The London Church International whose members

generously supplied a sumptuous tea. The theme was “FiSH International” and

featured many of our users and volunteers who make up such a diverse cultural mix

within our society.

New Year Concert

Sheen Lane Hall: Wednesday 28th January. This featured the vocal group „The Treble

Makers‟ and Marie Evans who brought the house down with her Joyce Grenfell

impersonation.

FiSH First Friday Event

This was a new initiative begun in March 2009. On the First Friday in the month

clients and volunteers can come together for a light lunch, a chat and to enjoy some

musical entertainment. The venue, St Michael‟s Community Centre, is perfect and

we have had a regular attendance of about 35 people each month. Volunteers from

FiSH ‟n‟ Chats are on hand to talk to people if needed and we have heard some

wonderful music provided by many talented local musicians.

Many thanks to Fr Paul Holland and St Michael‟s Church for generously offering the

space for FiSH to use on a monthly basis.

The Barnes Fair

Thankfully the rain managed to hold off until the closing minutes of this year‟s

Barnes Fair on July 11th. Thanks to a sunny day and despite being in the midst of a

recession the FiSH stall still managed to raise about £900. Once again an enormous

thank you goes to Mike Bayon and his assistant Joe who surrounded themselves

with plants that by the end of the day were pretty well all sold! Thanks also to

everyone, volunteers, friends and helpers who either donated items to sell or spent

time on the stall setting up sorting out or selling on the day.

The street procession which featured the FiSH bus driven by Adrian Roebuck with

passengers Dolly Oliver and Sadie Wootton dressed in beautifully decorated hats,

came to an abrupt end in Lonsdale Road when the leading shire horse decided it

had had enough! Luckily the horse soon recovered before a FiSH volunteer needed

to come to the rescue!

FiSH Bridge

The FiSH Bridge group has become so popular that it now meets at Barnes Green

Centre twice a month. Client players attended a total of 253 times. This is an

opportunity for FiSH volunteers and clients who are normally unable to play on a

regular basis to come together to play bridge and have tea. A very big thank you

goes to FiSH volunteers, Catherine Dewe Mathews, Jenny Giles, Margaret Harrop,

Diana Midmer and Sue Spence who organise each session on a rota basis and to

Ann Davies, Sue Carton, Sue Dodson, Anne Griffith, Jackie Herring, Jill

Hollingworth, Christine Nicholson, Carrie Ross who are invaluable helpers when

available.

Conclusion

As in previous years it is satisfying to see the key indicators for FiSH continuing to

show an upward trend: a growing number of registered users; an increase in

volunteers; a developing demand for our helpline services; a large number of bus

journeys and new social events for our clients.

10

The PQASSO Group

Since February 2007, when FiSH decided to replace Investors in People with

PQASSO (Practical Quality Assurance System for Small Organisations), the group

which represents the seven aspects of the FiSH organisation - Jenny Hughes and

Leslie Spatt (Administration/Management): Liz Dallas- Ross (Bus and General

Volunteers); Margaret Lee (FiSH ‟n‟ Chats); Dorothy Jones (Helpline); Steve Perry

(Users); Mel Le Vesconte (Trustees and Convenor); Kathy Willman (Befrienders) -

has continued to meet regularly to discuss feedback from both users and

volunteers. By discussion, and taking suggestions to the Executive Committee four

times a year, this group is a useful tool for monitoring standards of practice,

implementing change and improving service. FiSH is very grateful for the group‟s

valuable input which produces a comprehensive overview of all of FiSH‟s activities.

We continually monitor our status by self-assessment, which includes annual

completion of the PQASSO Workbook. This provides a useful guide to service

levels achieved and improved upon; and keeps a running list of targets. We not only

reassure funders that we have fulfilled their criteria but PQASSO also enables FiSH

to receive a continuous picture of its development and ensures that our mission

statement below is adhered to.

‘Providing assistance and support to relieve the needs, distress or

suffering of the inhabitants of Barnes, Mortlake and East Sheen and to

help them to maintain their independence’.

Self-assessment is an acceptable monitoring method, and outside assessment to

obtain the PQASSO kitemark is not a prerequisite to funding. We may, at a later

date, decide to be outside-assessed in order to obtain the kitemark but, for the time

being, we are happy to continue assessment on the current basis.

Mel Le Vesconte

15

Tuesday Talks

The year from September 2008 to August 2009 once again brought forth a varied

and interesting programme of Tuesday Talks. Topics covered travel to familiar

(Pompeii) and exotic (southern Chile) parts of the world, beekeeping, the organ

transplant service, gold thread embroidery and the Royal Ballet School at White

Lodge - and many other subjects providing visual, intellectual and thought-provoking

stimulation.

The talks are sometimes co-ordinated with FiSH outings, this is helpful in giving a

deeper understanding of the places clients will be visiting. One of the most

successful outings this year was to the magnificent Byzantium exhibition at The

Royal Academy preceded by a wide ranging and informative talk by Sue Boyd.

Our ongoing aim is to provide interesting subjects for our clients and other visitors:

keeping people informed about things which can help to improve the

quality of their lives

stimulating new interests

giving an introduction to less well-known people, places and topics

illustrating travel to often remote or unusual parts of the world

providing a "safe" space to hear and talk about difficult topics such as

funerals or degenerative disease

Many speakers give time for questions which often opens up a more general

discussion of what has just been presented.

Over the year there have been 44 talks with a total of 1896 people attending

(average attendance of 45). The talks are not restricted to FiSH or Barnes Green

clients - anyone can drop in without booking; and they are advertised at the Centre

and on our outside noticeboard.

We always welcome suggestions for future talks, and offers to do a talk; so if

anyone would like to approach us please don't be shy!

Leslie Spatt

14

On the other hand, closer analysis indicates that the growth is slightly less strong in

some areas than in previous years. We are planning to address this levelling out by

targeted publicity to reach more of our neighbours who could benefit from FiSH

services. The current trend, however, may be explained by an evolution in the types

of clients we are working with. Mortality and relocation has meant that this year we

have lost some of our clients who, historically, had high levels of dependency and

made fairly heavy use of FiSH services. These losses have been replaced by new

clients, some of whom are in a slightly younger age group and less in need of

individual help. However, they are enthusiastic users of our social and educational

events. Inevitably as these people age their demand for support services is likely to

increase and, of course, FiSH will still be on hand to offer the help we have provided

over the last 40 or more years.

Jenny Hughes Director of FiSH Neighbourhood Care Scheme

September 2009

11

Gro

up t

ransport

Help

line jobs

Activitie

s &

events

FiS

H'n

'chats

Befr

iendin

g

05-06

07-080

1000

2000

3000

4000

5000

6000

7000

8000

9000

Fish Activity 05 - 09

05-06

06-07

07-08

08-09

FiSH Activity 2005 - 2009

12

Barnes, Mortlake & East Sheen Enterprise Scheme

Coordinating transport for FiSH for over five years has taught me never to be

surprised at factors outside one‟s control which happen to influence its smooth

running. The endless closure of major routes due to road works this year has been

exasperating. However, this year threw a particularly unexpected and distressing

spanner at us – the shockingly sudden death of our much loved driver, Clive. We

always knew that Clive willingly did far more than his actual job called for but the

extent of this and the huge esteem in which he was held by so many people meant

that he left a very large gap.

However, we were fortunate that David Leftwich, a RaKAT volunteer driver

already driving for us regularly once a week, and Tim Waite, a FiSH volunteer

driver, were both available to share the job while things were sorted out. In June

these two were appointed on a full time, job share basis and we are grateful to

them for their efforts to fill the void left by Clive.

We are also grateful to RaKAT (Richmond and Kingston Accessible Transport) for

all their support during these difficult times and for being so patient when, once

again, „Angel‟ let us down. In fact, in view of all these mechanical problems, RaKAT

have decided to look for funding rather earlier than planned for a replacement bus,

to be called „Clive‟. The money that so many of you gave, and are still giving, for the

„Clive‟ fund will go towards that.

Demand for transport to the Barnes Green Centre has continued to increase and,

inevitably as people get older and become more frail, and perhaps need the taillift,

the time taken to collect them and deliver them home takes longer. The majority

are Barnes residents with a few regular ones from Sheen and Mortlake and we are

actively trying to expand the numbers in Mortlake.

FiSH has continued to organise its own varied programme of outings, nearly all of

which are oversubscribed and for some of which we now routinely operate a ballot.

These have included visits to the Royal Academy, British Museum, Chelsea Physic

Garden, and more local trips to Hampton Court Palace, Isabella Plantation, Musical

Museum and Poppy Factory. We have been to both Wimbledon and the Orange

Tree theatres, and have organised regular pub lunches. An addition to the

programme is the popular lunchtime concert at St. Michael‟s and All Angels, held on

the first Friday of each month.

The twice weekly shopping trips continue throughout the year, together with trips

to Marks & Spencer and to Kempton Market. We regularly organise transport for

outside groups and this year Age Concern in Barnes have had a much increased

programme of outings. For the fourth year running we provided transport in July

and August for a number of trips organised by Barnes Summer Playschool. We are

13

of course enormously appreciative of the time and support given by all our

volunteer drivers and, in particular, Adrian Roebuck, Diana Midmer, K Pengelley,

John Hockley, John Wilson, Martin Gee and Martin Stuart - and the many escorts

without whom none of this would be possible; also, a big thank you to Penny

Cowell for her sterling work in the office on Tuesdays.

Phyllida Cornfield

FiSH Bus Yearly Passenger Usage, 2008-2009

Tota

l

To f

rom

Centr

e

Shoppin

g t

rips

Outings

Oth

er

users

2005 - 2006

2007 - 20080

10002000300040005000600070008000

9000

Type of Journeys

Comparison of FiSH bus use

2005 - 2006

2006 - 2007

2007 - 2008

2008 - 2009

No of

Journeys

FiSH Bus Yearly Passenger Usage, 2008 - 2009

To from Centre,

3791

Shopping trips, 1162Outings, 994

Other non FiSH

users, 2675

Bespoke bus

transport for

Individuals, 207

To from Centre

Shopping trips

Outings

Other non FiSH users

Bespoke bus transport

for Individuals

Year Total

To from

Centre Shopping trips Outings

Other

users

2005 - 2006 7773 2777 1007 1397 2592

2006 - 2007 8131 3243 978 1103 2807

2007 - 2008 8842 3966 994 1110 2772

2008 - 2009 8829 3791 1162 994 2882