SHOPMOBILITY, ST HELIER
Annual Report for 2008/9
Introduction
This is the fourth full year (fifth summer) of Shopmobility, St Helier. We have continued with our hiring of a number of items helpful to disabled people in addition to scooters and wheelchairs. We have not been able to help those who have wanted hoists or bedding but have recommended them to Guardian Medical and Technicare.
Although our main charity work is the hire of scooters and chairs some of the public seem to think that we sell and repair all sorts of items – we don’t and will not consider this in the future!
Last year I thanked TTS for providing us with an additional store for our ever growing number of scooters and chairs. It is almost full!! As we have no intention of buying any additional scooters for the foreseeable future this shouldn’t be a problem.
Charges
At the Annual General Meeting last year it was agreed to increase our charges with effect from 1st January, 2010. This will be the first increase since we opened and to have held charges for five years with inflation is satisfactory. We are only putting this into effect to ensure the continuance of the service. For every year we have shown a considerable loss on hire and it is only by fund raising and generous sponsors that keeps us afloat. If circumstances don’t change we hope not to increase charges for a further 5 years but that will depend on the financial situation and be decided at each AGM.
Outside events
This year we were only at the Battle of Flowers where we lent the organisers 6 scooters for ferrying disabled people to their seats from the two entrances and had 4 in the parade again decorated by Angela Trigg, this year as Harlequins. All a bit of fun but after a number of ideas what will Angela do for 2010?
With the change of venue for the Rosarians Show we were told that scooters were not needed at Samares Manor but had 3 people complain to us that we were not there. 2010 will be the West Show where we will take even more scooters than in 2008 as they proved extremely popular and as ever there will be no charge but a big bucket for donations, if wished!
We missed the Seaside Festival due to other commitments but in 2010 intend to be there and have a tombola on which there will be more information in a 2010 Newsletter.
Holidays for Heroes
I am pleased that in the past year we have been able to assist all those heroes who came over through the Holiday for Heroes, Jersey charity who needed assistance. We will continue with this again in 2010 and of course we don’t make any charge.
Finance
In spite of the downturn in hire and usage we only lost £6,000 and this was made up by fund raising. It is not possible to provide a service solely on the hire of a limited range of mobility equipment without sustaining a loss. We expect this and fund raise to cover the costs and make provision for replacement of equipment as it comes to the end of its useful life. We replace batteries in the scooters and power chairs at least once every 2 years at a cost of over £200 per vehicle. This forms much of the maintenance in the accounts. Many other repairs are carried out by Keith at no cost to the Charity. The sponsors are listed elsewhere on this website. Not all have contributed in the year under review but if they had not helped at some stage we would not exist. To have almost 5,000 days of hire, excluding Durrell, is unexpected in an Island with our population ad the number of tourists decreasing. To replace our entire range of equipment would cost at retail values in the region of £175,000 so it is essential that we continue to make provision for this and keep substantial reserves.
Raffle
The raffle drawn on 5th December, 2008 was very successful bringing in a total of £2,400 and donations amounted to over £1,500. We are grateful to all who contributed.
Equipment
During the year we bought 4 scooters and through donations we have increased our powered equipment from 67 to 85 and our manual chairs from 36 to 44. Our equipment includes a number of tri- and quad-walkers, baby buggies, crutches, Zimmer frames, toilet seats on adjustable legs and walking sticks.
Usage
The number of days use from Sand Street from 5,743 to 4,985 a decrease of about 13% which is not unexpected in view of the credit crunch. The last 3 months showed a small increase with July and September slightly up and August a little down. Perhaps this shows that the worst of the financial turmoil has mitigated. Only time will tell.
Shopmobility Awareness Days
In May there were the second Shopmobility Awareness Days which allowed us to show private users how to use and look after their scooters as well as being able to have street collections where we raised much needed money to help keep the Scheme going. This year Guardian Medical shared the shop with us and advertised their goods. Last year it was Technicare and if we can only have a small premises again in 2010 we will offer them the chance to show their goods.
Helpers
As in previous years we have relied on a number of volunteers whose help has proved invaluable. Our thanks go to Sue and Angela who have given a day a week at Sand Street and to Percy who came throughout the summer on Mondays but is now not fit enough. David Bull has continued to service the collection boxes to the East of the Island and Sue on the West. David and Paul Gardiner have helped with collection and delivery of scooters and chairs. Alan has spent many hours in the office sending out Health & Registrations forms, answering the phone and helping users. In the summer we had a person from Workwise who was extremely helpful and concientious. Unfortunately he suffered from epilepsy and although had not had an attack before coming to us for over 18 months did have one so we had to part company. A great pity but we had to look to both his and users safety.
General
There is still the problem with people confusing us with a commercial company which does not have the same standards as those which have to be adopted by users of the word “Shopmobility.” We advertise as the only charity in the Island specialising solely in the hire of mobility scooters and chairs but even so Islanders and Tourists confuse that company with us. It does us no good but there seems that at present there is little we can do.
Itex Walk
2 members took part in the Itex Around the Island Walk Lt Governor’s Challenge. This was the third stage from St Catherine’s to Haute Tombette. It was great fun and we all enjoyed it even more than the first stage as we started at 6 am and not 3 hours earlier. Next year we will start at Haute Tombette and be ¾ of the way round when we finish at Le Braye.
National Federation of Shopmobility UK
Shopmobility is a Registered Trade mark in the UK and each Scheme has an annual licence to use it. There are strict rules on showing new users and insurance cover. We have people come here from other Schemes many of whom are amazed at the amount of equipment we have for such a small island. The NFSUK has 3 conferences each year. We attended the AGM in Leeds and a meeting in Southampton where we gave a short talk on our first 4 years. The talk was brief as it amounted to “Communication and Service.”
Thanks to Transport and Technical Services
We are in the Sand Street car park due to the foresight of Senator Ozouf and Jackie Hilton when they the political heads of the old Public Services Department. With the change to Ministerial Government we have received the same help from the Minister and his staff for which we thank t ham all.
Books are a good fund raiser and we sell these at 50p each or more when the buyer feels generous!
Our postcards and Christmas Cards of paintings by a young Edward Blampied bring as steady income which is all profit as they were all donated. We have had the paintings put on mugs which are on sale at £8.00 each. We have only a limited number and hope to sell them to those who want something different.
Thanks
Keith, the manager, does stirling work and our grateful thanks to him for all he does to keep the Scheme working with the appearance of smoothness.
We have very good relations with both Technicare and Guardian Medical Services who provide equipment and advice to both us and the public.
Trustees
Kevin Keen is to give up as Treasurer due to pressure of work. We hope he will continue as a Trustee. We need a new Treasurer. This involves preparing the accounts at the end of each year and presenting them to our AGM.
The remaining Trustees are all prepared to stand for a further year and are:
Edward Trevor, Chairman, Jim Hopley, Vice Chairman, Angela Trigg, Secretary, Deputy Jackie Hilton, Kate Sallis, Pamela Trevor & Sue Monks. Nigel Blake represents the Parish of St Helier. Nominations are requested for the coming year. Only members with an M before their registered number may vote.