The statement below was presented at the Hearts & Souls AGM held on 1st October 2026
Chairman’s Report:
We started last year with a bare minimum to manage the charity but during the year welcomed both Lynn McMeekin and Lisa D’Uva as trustees on the executive committee giving us a more balanced workforce. Together with Kaitlyn Summerfield coming on board to help this has enabled us to increase our operation to include community events as we continue to try and improve awareness of the charity within the local community.
The ability to showcase ourselves at local events not just raises awareness but also provides another low income stream through donations; it has also allowed us to make new contacts and network with other local groups which again, help improve our profile within the community.
For these events we are working with a small dedicated team, help, even on a casual basis would always be welcomed and if you are willing to be added to a volunteer list please let me know.
As part of a relaunch of the charity, in the last year we redesigned our logo and branding as well as improving our social media presence and I would like to thank Kaitlyn for her help in this area.
Personally I don’t like to see donations given in good faith to support the rehab team spent on what I see as vanity projects. We required a gazebo for the outdoor events and this presented the opportunity to use our new branding to stand out. A grant from ‘Red Kite Community Housing‘ helped enable the purchase which now greatly enhances our presence at outdoor events, and I thank Red Kite for their kind support.
I now feel the charity has been rejuvenated at a time where we are seeing a more regular call on our funds from the Buckinghamshire Healthcare NHS Trust rehabilitation unit, including the purchase of equipment, funding towards staff training and also help with staff cover when needed to ensure the best possible service to recovering cardiac patients.
We are currently looking to develop our forward planning, forecasting the likely requests from the rehab team against how best to meet that expenditure through either donations, funding-raising or grants or a combination of these means.
Over the past year we have remained financially healthy mainly due to a maintaining good reserve through a steady income from donations, this has enabled us to progress a transitional year with some confidence. However, we also remain grateful to some substantial fund raising efforts on our behalf particularly from Gourmet Lodge, Penn Pond Waders, Caitlin Mayo and the Chiltern Ladies Afternoon Singers which has helped us to preserve a good bank balance.
As always, we also remain indebted to our many individual sponsors and regular donors for their generous contributions, without who over the last few years Hearts & Souls could not have continued to fund the cardiac rehabilitation in South Bucks as we have, and we thank you for your loyal support.
Peter Jemmett (Hearts & Souls Chair)
