Day service
During 2023 we provided in excess of 6150 day service places, an increase of around 8% on last year.

We now have over sixty adults with learning disabilities, from Southampton and Hampshire, using our day service every week.

The range of activities undertaken by our day service users includes gardening, upcycling, woodwork, archery, gym, walking, painting, bushcraft, baling, maintenance, cleaning, ukulele, motorboat, shopping, firemaking, birdwatching, sensory room, litterpicking, travel training, football, fruit picking, cooking, baking, jam making, window cleaning, camera club and zipwire.

Activities
During 2023 we provided over 2,000 activity sessions to children and adults
with additional needs.

From an almost empty diary in 2020 we have clawed our way back and now have more activity bookings than ever. The groups are smaller it is true, but each week we have in the region of 50 separate activity bookings. This year we have seen an increase in school groups, including the SEN provision from a local mainstream primary school, and in bookings from old people’s homes.

There were two new features bookending the year – at the start of 2023 we installed an Entre Prise climbing wall, which has proved very popular, and at the end we unveiled our new ropes course. We have had a lot of help in the construction from volunteers including from HSBC and Aviva.

Developments
At the beginning of 2023 we looked at our day service facilities. After a couple of years of uncertainty – the dreaded Covid years – we needed to take stock. We looked at Gold Day Service and they were quite settled in their new building. There was no need for major changes. During the summer volunteers from Aviva painted the outside of the building and
we did some small scale tweaking inside.


Then we looked at the GreenHouse. The building is 10 years old and in good condition but we thought it needed a spruce up inside and out. Volunteers from Aviva painted the outside of the GreenHouse building too, and our service users painted the inside. We acquired new furniture and for a finishing touch had a great mural painted by 2 Sisters.


Before 2020 our day service consisted of the GreenHouse and the new Gold Day Service building. When we returned from lockdown we used the cabins as a useful overflow, so we could safely accommodate all of the people who wanted to use our day services. We thought that when the fuss was over we would go back to GreenHouse and Gold, but in the interim Blue Bubble established itself as a third arm of our day service provision. So, we decided to keep it.


Blue Bubble was able to set up in the A frame cabins because we weren’t offering residential accommodation during 2020 or 2021. As such, the cabins were set up for small group holidays, not for day service use. We have been adapting the cabins for a little while, taking out dividing walls and some old bathrooms and kitchens, converting one cabin to a workshop and another to a group work space. This year we have started adapting another cabin for use as a training flat, fitting a kitchen and changing the layout. This will be used to promote independent living skills. Another cabin has been given over to use as a craft workshop. The fifth cabin has been adapted, ready for its new use as an IT suite.

We have also replaced the verandas on all the cabins and replaced the roofs on two. Plans are in hand to complete the reroofing next year.

Community
In addition to providing a day service for up to 32 people and up to a dozen activity sessions a day QE2 Activity Centre get up to other stuff

There was Bigfoot II, when over a hundred motorbikes descended on QE2, there was a Sponsored Walk around the country park, where our day service members, and their friends and families, supported the Centre.

Volunteers from Zurich Insurance, HSBC and Aviva all came in and worked on the site, painting and helping with the Ropes Course. The Co-op adopted us as one of their charities for the year.

The Friends of QE2 have organised Easter, Halloween and Christmas parties. The Blue Apple drama group put on their first performance in May, which was very well received, paving the way for the second performance – A Christmas Carol.

QE2 Activity Centre arranged three holidays for our service users this year, the Jolie Brise, Sandy Balls and Center Parcs.

Day expeditions have included open air theatre, and Portsmouth Naval Dockyard. We arranged a series of Seals and Sunsets boat trips for families at Chichester Harbour.

We held a MacMillan coffee morning and took part in Paralympics PB at Winchester. We have started a craft group on Saturday afternoons.

Finance
Full details are provided in our Report & Financial Statement for the year ending 31st March 2023
          
Income                                                                      £
 
Incoming resources                          528,571      
Grants & donations                           13,929
Investment income                               2,606         
TOTAL                                                  545,106     
 
Expenditure                                                             £
 
Staffing costs                                                338,628  
Cost of providing charitable activities    160,555  
Governance costs                                           2,445       
TOTAL                                                        501,628
 
Surplus of income over expenditure          43,478
         

Acknowledgements
Thanks as ever to
– all the staff who work so hard to make every day special
– all the volunteers and committee members who give their time, effort and energy
– all the local companies who have made donations or given their time to support QE2 Activity Centre
– Hampshire County Council, Southampton City Council and Eastleigh Borough Council for their continued help and support
– the parents, carers and care workers who support our visitors
– most of all, thanks to everyone who has visited QE2 Activity Centre this year to take part

QE2 Activity Centre
River Hamble Country Park
Pylands Lane
Hedge End
SO31 1BH
Registered charity no 1165893

Email [email protected]

Telephone 023 8040 4844

Website www.qe2activitycentre.co.uk