As a result of the ongoing restrictions within the hospital due to the Covid Pandemic, and the requirement to keep safe, it was not possible to plan a face-to-face meeting for this year’s AGM. Although this meant we were not able to extend an invite to our members this year, we are pleased to be able to communicate our annual reports from myself as Chairman and our Treasurer’s report via this newsletter and the Charity’s website. We will look forward to reverting back to our normal AGM in person for Trustees and Members next year with guest speakers planned.

Although the World Health Organisation (WHO) declared an end to the Covid Pandemic on 5th May 2023, the last year has still been another challenging one for the Charity given the ongoing restrictions put in place by the government and the hospital. It is disappointing that we have not been able to re-open our stall in Jubilee Wing or hold our Afternoon Teas, but we have managed to distribute newsletters to our members. Thanks to Trevor and Pauline Thompson for their help putting address labels on over 3,000 envelopes per quarter and the Trustees for packing the newsletters. Although we have reduced the frequency of our newsletters by one per year, you will still receive these four times per year and we have improved the content. We did, however, manage to hold our Annual Quiz, thanks to Paul Kaufman and the Annual Day Trip, thanks to Edith McLean.

We are pleased that Maureen Crosthwaite has restarted the refreshments for patients and relatives attending the Cardiac Outpatients Department on Wednesdays in Jubilee Wing. We will also be able to hold our Sponsored Walk on 10th September in Roundhay Park.

I would like to thank all our Trustees for their support over the last year and it was good to see us still working well together and being able to support requests to benefit patients and staff. I hope that you have enjoyed our newsletters, which we have extended to include details of schemes we have supported and the benefits to patients and staff. We have also included information about our Trustees and also staff you may meet when you visit the hospital. Thanks to Trevor Thompson for his sterling work with the newsletters.

I would like to take this opportunity to say welcome our new website / IT manager, James McGawley. James is a volunteer who has taken over from Bill Stevenson and this has been invaluable in being able to continue to communicate with our members. All our Trustee and volunteer roles are unpaid so that we can ensure we use our charitable funds to benefit patients and staff as much as possible.

Trevor Thompson has done an amazing job managing the Take Heart office, sometimes remotely, and undertaking the administration tasks together with our Treasurer, Alec McLean who also works tirelessly for the Charity and meticulously managing the books. Thanks also to Lisamarie Sunley and Natalie Corr for collecting post from the hospital wards and Edith McLean for monitoring the answerphone; their admin support has been invaluable.

Trustees Re-election

All Trustees were re-elected for a 2-year period 2021-2023 so apart from Edith McLean who joined last year, all Trustees were due for re-election this year:

• Trevor Thompson
• Maureen Crosthwaite
• Steph Kaufman
• Paul Kaufman
• Alec McLean
• Kaz Orchard
• Matthew Wood
• Andrew Fitzpatrick
• Jeff Wildridge
• Gina McGawley

I am pleased to report that all Trustees were re-elected for a 2 year period.

Over the year, the patients and staff at the Yorkshire Heart Centre have continued to benefit from the good work provided by the Charity. We have supported many requests for patient information (booklets and online apps), relatives rooms upgrades, heart monitors, ECG machines, patient chairs and staff room refurbishments to name but a few. The Take Heart Suite goes from strength to strength and means we are able to continue to deliver high quality care to patients.

Our scheme to refurbish the roof garden is restarting as we understand how valuable this area is for patients, visitors and staff alike.

Finally, I would like to say a big thank you to all our members and supporters of Take Heart, without whom the Charity would not be able to carry out its work.

Gina McGawley
Chairman

Good evening Ladies and Gentlemen – I would like to advise you on the Charity’s accounts for the period 1st February 2022 to 31st January 2023.

Firstly, dealing with income, for the year, 2021 to 2022 we received £372611 in donations and £28567 from “In memory of”. For the year 2022 to 2023 those figures were £326285 and £224713 respectively.

New Memberships were down by a third i.e., new members were 20 as opposed to 30 in the previous financial year.

Sales were also down but that’s not unexpected when we haven`t had a Friday stall or Afternoon Teas during the Covid pandemic; however things are now looking up especially in respect of the resumption of the Afternoon Teas and hopefully the stall in the Jubilee Wing. Our collection boxes did well but small collection boxes not so good (down by a half). In the financial year 2021 – 2022, we were unable to hold a quiz, trip, Christmas draw or sponsored walk.

In May 2022 the Annual Quiz raised £1153 before expenses. In June 2022 we had a trip to Llandudno which raised £1089 (it rained for most of the time we were there).
The Christmas Draw raised £7246.

There were no sponsored walk, or stalls. I forgot to mention that the previous year we did have some people who raised £863 in lieu of the walk.

To conclude the income there were no miscellaneous items.

Postage costs were up by £10,267 because we had changed our postage system a couple of years ago, but we didn`t receive an invoice for the previous years until this period. We now use the Hospital mailing system, which has reduced overall costs.

I am pleased to report that all Trustees were re-elected for a 2 year period.

The expenses for the Christmas draw amounted to £2352 which was mainly the cost of printing the tickets and a few extra prizes. We spent £101 on goods which was for Christmas wrapping paper packs to sell. We didn`t buy any Christmas cards in this period as we wanted to reduce existing stock.

The cost of the newsletter was down by £2781 but this can be because of additional pages in the magazine or we sometimes receive an invoice for the end of the year post out late so that it is included in the following year.

Equipment for LGI was down by £16,606 (from £233442 to £216835). Equipment for Take heart was up slightly by £330 (£1394 to £1725). Stationery costs for Take Heart increased by £280 (£1144 to £1425), mainly due to the increased cost of envelopes required to post out Newsletters. Expenses increased by £450 from £442 to £893. The Charity’s Insurance increased by £23 and Hire was up by £2768. The need to transfer cash to pay out numerous cheques went down to £3917 and unfortunately our banking also went down by £41,288 yet we still banked £363,163.
The Miscellaneous column went up by £547 to £2586. The reason for this includes bank charges despite the fact that the bank had apologised previously, Just Giving charges, Auditors fees, Christmas raffle costs and Fund Raising Regulator fees.

I would now like to extend my thanks to all who have assisted me in my work over the past year, and all the people who have so generously donated to the Charity.

Finally, on a personal note I would like to thank my wife Edith for all she does for the Charity. She keeps me going and makes life easier whenever I work at home, ensuring I have refreshments.

Alec McLean
Treasurer