2020 ANNUAL REPORT

What a year it’s been!!

The Community Resource Centre.We started the year in good spirits and with a thriving community hub for it all to be taken away from the 22nd March 2020 with that dreaded announcement “STAY AT HOME” “WORK FROM HOME” and that is very much how we have proceeded for the rest of the year. The only permanent staff now based in the Centre are the Community nursing, Health Visiting and podiatry teams. Everyone else is a work from home and if they wish to come in then they have to get prior authorisation from the team leaders and book themselves in. The Centre is now a locked down facility the clinics that are running (podiatry, GP surgery, health visitors and midwives) are all appointment only and people are collected from their cars. Although we have been able to get some clinics up and running, because of current Covi-19 restrictions the staff will not be returning to the building until at least the New Year.

Conversation Café – The Centre has been at the forefront of the Conversation Café network in the past and obviously these cafes have now had to stop, however with the changing way of doing things they have successfully migrated to online. Anyone wishing to access the online Conversation Café should in the first instance contact the Centre 01771613962 and someone will get back to them on what they have to do and when.

The gym – Obviously the gym was hit immediately with the lock down and it was 5 months in before we were able to re-open this has obviously been a blow to both the gym finances and also to the many people who relied on it to keep them fit and healthy in mind body and spirit. We are now back operating in a more restrictive manner – only 3 people are allowed into the gym at any time for an hour (bookable slots), there is a 15-minute break between gym slots and the windows in the gym must be left open at all times. Social distancing, hand sanitising and a one-way system are now the norm in the gym as well as the rest of the building. Classes have also started back up but again with restrictions as we only now have space inside for 4 people per class which is why we have been running some outdoor classes as we are able to have more people in these sessions. It has been great to see everyone coming back to the gym and their support means a lot, we were especially pleased to see the steady return of our Health Referral clients who have certainly missed this service.

The Community Service Centre

Café – At the end of last year we bid a sad farewell to Margaret as she headed off on her retirement, and a big welcome back to Annette who we were pleased agreed to return to the helm of the Café. We felt it was important to have someone running the Café who knew it, to maintain continuity and someone who could hit the ground running! (so, to speak) Annette was doing a great job at the start of the year sales were up and costs managed efficiently however once again the Covid hand touched our business and necessitated its closure. All staff were furloughed and the café remained closed for just over 4 months.

We re-opened on the 5th August with guidelines: one-way system, masks to be worn until seated, hand sanitiser, less tables as social distancing requires. The Government’s Eat out to help Out scheme was a blessing made for us as it tied into our re-opening and also encouraged people to come back out to eat, we had some great weeks. Since the scheme closed, we have seen a slight drop in sales but not catastrophically, we feel the drop could also be down to a change in the weather, shorter opening hours then before and the re-introduction of tighter guidelines again from the Government on meeting people.

The Café team have been doing a great job at supporting all the guidelines and working flexibly not only to keep the money up but also supporting its long-term future.

Service Centre - At the beginning of the year we were given notice by Davidson & Robertson of their intention to vacate their unit as part of their companies streamlining processes. The unit wasn’t even vacant when we were approached by Allathan Associates to take up the unit from April – Great News! Until once again Covid -19 meant that they were unable to take up this unit until August. However, they are now all settled in and we look forward to having a working relationship with them for many years to come.

Our other unit users have had to adapt their working patterns to be Covid compliant and the good news is that they are all back to work in some way – the new normal!

This Year particularly the Directors and Management would like to thank staff, customers, users and general supporters of the Trust services for their support. It has been a difficult year for all of us and will continue to be so until a vaccination can be developed or until we can fully understand this virus.

Working together as a community is something we can be proud of doing in Maud not just in a pandemic but always and if we continue in this vein then together we will weather this storm and come out the other end .If our services to our community need to change and develop because of this pandemic we will do it to make sure we are always serving the people of Maud and its community.

Thank you for your support

Thank you.

Report prepared by V. Brown – General Manager.