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Lunch Clubs Fund Annual Report 2007-08
This page contains information about the grants awarded to lunch clubs across the city from our Lunch Clubs Fund in 2007-08. Details of each lunch club are included in the downloadable Schedule of Lunch Clubs 2007-08 at the end of this page.
At a glance
- 97 lunch clubs were awarded grants
- Total membership at 31st March was 3,313
- 2,032 members were aged over 70 years
- 253 members were aged over 90 years
- 4,434 lunch club sessions were held during the year
- 103,075 hot meals were served during the year
- 790 volunteers contributed a total of 95,970 hours
- 79 lunch clubs carried out at least one additional regular activity
Introduction
The purpose of our Lunch Clubs Fund is to make available small grants to enable older people to establish and run lunch clubs within their localities. We have supported the development of lunch clubs for many years because these clubs help to reduce the social isolation that may accompany old age and frailty. The majority of the clubs are independent self-help groups run by older people for older people. They offer an opportunity for older people to meet together to share a meal and socialise. Many clubs run regular activities as well as providing a hot meal.
Organisational support, including training in matters of health and hygiene, is provided for lunch club organisers by Agewell and Lunch Clubs in Sheffield. We support this organisation through our Revenue Grants Fund. The Community Accountancy Service at Voluntary Action Sheffield (also supported by our Revenue Grant funding) offers help with bookkeeping and the production of annual accounts.
How the fund works
The Lunch Clubs Fund operates on an annual cycle from 1st April to 31st March. In January lunch clubs are sent an application form on which to make an application for the following year. Clubs apply to the Lunch Clubs Fund for a grant towards the cost of rent (up to a cap of £2,000 a year), transport costs for disabled members unable to use public transport and a sessional rate based on the size of membership. This latter amount in intended to cover the out of pocket expenses of the members running the club and sundries, such as serviettes, washing up liquid, etc.
The majority of the cost of the meal itself is met by the lunch club members through meal payments, subscriptions or other fundraising, such as raffles, bingo, etc. Lunch clubs are also able to apply to our Small Grants Fund for a contribution towards the costs of additional activities, such as speakers or tutor expenses, games or an annual outing. At quarterly intervals throughout the year lunch clubs that have received a grant from us are asked to fill in a short monitoring form to tell us about how their club operated during the previous three months. At the end of the financial year the clubs send in a financial statement or set of accounts showing how the grant was spent.
Comings and goings
Lunch clubs are predominantly small self-help groups dependent upon a steady supply of members and volunteers prepared and able to take on the organisation and administration. There is a turnover of clubs each year and the most common reasons for closure are dwindling numbers and a scarcity of volunteers.
Some of the lunch clubs funded in 2006-07 did not take up the offer of a grant in 2007-08. These were Dalton Court Lunch Club (Sharrow) and Orpen House Lunch Club (Gleadless Valley) which closed at the end of 2006-07. In total 97 lunch clubs accepted an award of a grant at the start of 2007-08. 6of these clubs ceased operating during the year. Abbeyfield Dorcas Lunch Cub and the Family Life Centre Soup Kitchen closed in June 2007 as a direct result of the Sheffield floods and have not reopened to date. The Dorcas Centre Lunch Club (Dore and Totley) also closed during June. Grimesthorpe Methodist, Robin Disabled and Ulley Road Lunch Clubs wound up at the end of September 2007.
During the year grants were awarded to some new clubs. Star Works Asian Men’s Lunch Club (Darnall) began receiving a grant in July and Lunch at Victoria (Manor) in August. Tinsley Asian Men’s Lunch Club began in October. In January 2008 Mencap and Gateway began providing a monthly club on Sundays for learning disabled people and their carers and Angel Lunch Club (Woodhouse) started up in a local pub.
As a result of the changes described about, 91 lunch clubs received a grant throughout the entire 2007-08 period. The Dorcas Centre, Grimesthorpe Methodist and Robin Disabled Lunch Clubs provided part-year monitoring information up to when their clubs closed. Markaz E-Tafreeh O’Behbood, Star Works, Tinsley Islamic Women’s and Udayan Lunch Clubs had not returned all their monitoring forms at the time this report was compiled in July 2008. Where relevant the total number of informants is indicated in the information reported below.
Number of lunch club sessions held in 2007-08
Based on the information provided by 94 lunch clubs, a total of 4,434 sessions were held during 2007-08. The majority of clubs met once a week but 11 met more frequently. 9 clubs held two sessions a week, Darnall Dementia Lunch Club met three times a week and the drop-in lunch club for homeless people and mental health service users run at St Wilfrid’s Church Centre opened 5 days a week.
Lunch clubs for Black and minority ethnic people
Among the 97 lunch clubs funded in 2007-08 were 13 Black and minority ethnic (BME) led clubs. These comprised:
- 1 Chinese led lunch clubs
- 1 Chilean led lunch club
- 1 Indian led lunch club
- 1 Bangladeshi led lunch club
- 3 African-Caribbean led lunch clubs
- 6 Pakistani led lunch clubs
84 lunch clubs provided information about the ethnicity profile of their members. Among the clubs that did not return ethnicity monitoring information were four BME led clubs: Markaz-E-Tafreeh O’Behood, Star Works Asian Men’s, Tinsley Islamic Women’s and the Udayan Centre Lunch Clubs. The information returned by the 84 lunch clubs showed that there was some overlap of membership between ethnic groups. 1 African-Caribbean led lunch club had some White British members. 18 non-BME led clubs reported some BME people among their membership:
- 10 clubs had members of Irish origin
- 8 clubs had members of African-Caribbean origin
- 4 clubs had members of ‘other’ African origin
- 4 clubs had non-British white members
- 3 clubs had members of dual or mixed heritage
- 2 clubs had members of Pakistani origin
- 1 clubs had members of ‘other’ Asian origin
- 1 club had a member of Chinese origin
Lunch club membership
Lunch clubs are not required to be formally constituted in order to claim a grant from us and the way in which they organise their activities varies between clubs. When we surveyed the clubs in 2005-06, 53 lunch clubs had a management committee. The others were less formally managed and usually depended on one or two key people to handle the organisation.
Lunch club membership is generally aimed at older people and in particular people aged over 60 years. However, for many years grants have also been awarded to 4 lunch clubs, which are not aimed specifically at this age group. North Sheffield Federation for Disabled Self-Help Groups Lunch Club caters for people with a physical disability and 6 of their 14 members were aged under 50 years old. Burngreave Monday Lunch Club caters for learning disabled people and 8 of their 21 members were under 50 years old. St Bartholomew’s Contact Group caters for mental health service users and 31 of their 44 members were under 50 years old. St Wilfred’s Day Care Centre on Queens Road ran a drop-in lunch club 5 days a week throughout the year with an average attendance of around 27 people at each session. This club is well used by homeless people and mental health service users.
Apart from these lunch clubs, 4 of the older people’s lunch clubs had a specialist focus. Age Concern ran 3 lunch clubs catering particularly for frail older people and Darnall Dementia Lunch Club ran 3 sessions a week for older people with dementia.
Clubs were asked to report their total membership at 31st March 2008. 85 clubs provided this information and reported a total of 3,313 members. As in 2005-06, average membership was 39, up 7 on the same figure for 2006-07, but membership numbers ranged widely across the clubs. 14 lunch clubs had 50 or more members. The largest clubs were The Limes Lunch Club at Beighton with 97 members and Evergreen Chinese Senior Citizens’ Lunch Club with 100 members. 13 clubs had 15 or fewer members. The smallest clubs were Tinsley Asian Men’s Lunch Club with 7 members and Gleadless Valley Luncheon Club and Paddock Hill Lunch Club (Gleadless) each of which had 10 members.
Membership during 2007-08 showed considerable turnover with 790 members joining a lunch club during the year and 506 leaving. The figures are fairly consistent with those for 2006-07. 17 lunch clubs lost more members than they gained over the year. 3 clubs ended the year with 6 fewer members. Losses at the other clubs were 5 or under. 60 lunch clubs ended the year with more members than when they began. Of these, 24 showed an increase of 5 or more members.
At 31st March 2007, 47 lunch clubs reported a total of 329 membership vacancies. Conversely, 23 lunch clubs had waiting lists. The total number of people waiting for a lunch club place was 131. The largest waiting lists were at St Mary’s Lunch Club Handsworth (23) and Dore Methodist (11).
How members joined lunch clubs
Lunch clubs were asked to indicate how members come to join their clubs.
- 76 lunch clubs had members that joined because of a friend
- 68 lunch clubs had members referred by a social worker
- 56 lunch clubs had members referred by Agewell & Lunch Clubs in Sheffield
- 34 lunch clubs had members referred by a doctor or hospital
- 31 lunch clubs recruited members by local advertising
- 7 lunch clubs had members that referred themselves
- 5 lunch clubs had members referred by relatives
- 5 lunch clubs had members referred by a local church
- 3 lunch clubs had members referred by Age Concern Community Link Workers
- 2 lunch clubs had members referred by another voluntary organisation
- 3 lunch clubs had members that joined on the recommendation of an existing member
- 3 lunch clubs had members referred by community nurses
- 1 lunch club had members referred by a local mosque
- 1 lunch club had members referred by a home care worker
This information shows that statutory agencies, particularly health workers and social workers, play a significant role in referring people to local lunch clubs. It also suggests that word of mouth, informal contact and personal recommendation are important ways in which people come to join lunch clubs. This can be positive because it is often easier to join a group if you already know someone else who is a member, but it can be a problem if it means that clubs are not seen as open to anyone who wants to join. It is important that clubs make sure that they welcome new members and are open to everyone who needs them.
Clubs were asked to report on vacancies and waiting list numbers at 31st March 2008. 55 lunch clubs reported that they had vacancies totalling 329 places while 25 lunch clubs had waiting lists totalling 131 places.
Lunch club membership by gender
Clubs were asked to indicate how many of their members were women and how many were men. 2 lunch clubs catered exclusively for Asian women and 2 for Asian men. 2 organisations ran clubs for both Asian men and Asian women that met on different days. The majority of lunch cubs were open to both men and women, although membership was dominated by women. At 31st March 2008, the ratio of women to men was approaching 3 to 1. This reflects the gender profile of older people in the city overall with 57.2% of people aged over 60 being women rising to 78% of people aged over 90 (Census 2001).
Age and disability profile of lunch club members
Clubs were asked to report the ages of their members at 31st March 2008 in terms of age bands. This information is reported in the table below and is taken from the returns of 83 lunch clubs profiling 2,793 members.
- 29 clubs reported 386 members aged 50 to 59 years
- 58 clubs reported 375 members aged 60 to 69 years
- 76 clubs reported 732 members aged 70 to 79 years
- 77 clubs reported 1,047 members aged 80 to 89 years
- 66 clubs reported 253 members aged 90 years plus
Clubs were asked to report how many of their members at 31st March 2008 had a disability or long term health problem. 1,414 disabled members were identified by 74 clubs. Only 10 clubs reported no disabled members.
Volunteers
With the exception of one or two large organisations that provide lunch alongside other services, lunch clubs are run entirely by volunteers. Volunteers are involved in a range of activities, from organising the club, providing the meals, arranging transport, managing finances, developing activities and in some cases helping with personal care. In 2007-08, 85 lunch clubs reported that volunteers helped with the following:
- 79 clubs had volunteers that helped with the provision of meals including planning meals, shopping, cooking, serving food, clearing and washing up
- 36 clubs had volunteers who helped with members’ personal care
- 70 clubs had volunteers who helped with organisation and finances
- 50 clubs had volunteers who helped with transport
Among other things the clubs identified that volunteers contributed were:
- setting up the room
- providing entertainment
- escorting members in transit
- selling bingo and raffle tickets
- fundraising at other events
- providing a listening ear
- contacting absent members
- visiting prospective members
- writing to members who were ill
At 31st March 2008, 86 lunch clubs reported a total of 790 volunteers of which 285 were also lunch club members. 6 clubs used volunteers provided through a scheme run by the Probation Service. The number of volunteers attending each lunch club session ranged between 1 at Mencap and Gateway Lunch Club to 12 at Arbourthorne and Banner Cross Lunch Clubs with an average of 5 volunteers per session across 86 clubs. On average each volunteer contributed 4 hours per lunch club session.
Activities
All the lunch clubs provided a hot meal. The overwhelming majority of clubs did their own catering with most preparing a meal at the premises where they met. Many lunch clubs also held other social activities, including raffles, bingo, entertainers, talks and exercise sessions. Birthdays and festivals were celebrated with parties and many clubs organised an annual trip. Some clubs have close links with a local Agewell group, established to promote activities aimed at keeping members healthy into old age. In 2007-08, only 13 clubs reported no activities in addition to the weekly meal. The range of activities undertaken is listed under the details of each lunch club in the downloadable Schedule at the bottom of this page.
Where the lunch clubs met
In the Annual Report 2005-06 we collated information about where lunch clubs meet and reported that just over half met in premises belonging to a church. 14 lunch clubs used a local community centre. 29 lunch clubs met in Council owned buildings and 7 in premises owned by a private landlord. Some clubs met in the communal rooms at sheltered housing schemes. The overwhelming majority of venues were accessible for wheelchair users. Information is provided in the downloadable Schedule at the bottom of the page about the venue of each lunch club funded in 2007-08.
Lunch clubs may claim a grant towards the cost of renting premises. 68 clubs claimed some form of rent payment with grants towards rent ranging from an annual amount of £48 (St Catherine’s Lunch Club, Netherthorpe) to £2,000 (Crosspool Lunch Club, Darnall Dementia Lunch Club, Foxhill Community Centre Lunch Club, St Mary’s Handsworth Lunch Club, St Oswald’s Lunch Club and Shiregreen URC Lunch Club).
How members travelled to the lunch clubs
Travelling to and from a lunch club can be problematic for people with mobility difficulties and so 69 lunch clubs made special transport arrangements for their members. Numbers of people transported to and from each session over the year ranged between lunch clubs from an average of 1 to 49 members.
Clubs were able to apply to the Lunch Clubs Fund for help towards these transport costs, which were calculated on the basis of actual spend minus £1 per member per return trip. Details of the grants awarded towards transport are included in the information for each lunch club in the Schedule below.
Lunch club income
Generally lunch clubs are small scale organisations that do not have large turnovers of funding. Clubs with an annual income or expenditure under £5,000 are asked to complete a statement of income and expenditure at the end of the financial year. Clubs with an annual income or expenditure over £5,000 are required to prepare and submit a statement of accounts that has been independently examined. For these clubs, the most recent set of accounts available, when compiling the information in the Schedule at the end of this page, was for the period 2006-07.
Apart from charges for membership, food, etc. many lunch clubs raise money from other sources. In 2007-08 this included income generated by clubs’ own fundraising activities, such as raffles, bingo sessions, tabletop sales, donations, etc. One or two of the larger clubs that run a lunch club alongside other services, such as day care, have major external funding from other bodies, such as the Health Service or council contracts. Information about the total income of each lunch club is reported in the Schedule below.
Schedule of Lunch Clubs Grants 2007-08
Open the downloadable document below to view details of the lunch clubs funded in 2007-08.
Downloads
An alphabetical list of the lunch clubs funded from the Council Lunch Clubs Fund in 2007-08 giving details of the clubs and the grants. (451 KB)
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