Volunteer Trustee of Cheltenham Almshouses and Aid

What will you be doing?

Cheltenham Almshouses and Aid owns and manages four sets of almshouses in Cheltenham, made up of a number of cottages dating back to 1914, flats (within a conservation area) and a converted large Edwardian house.  The charity aims to provide warm, safe, secure homes at an affordable cost for local people in housing need. Residents range in ages from 55 to 100 years. Cheltenham Almshouses and Aid is run by a board of voluntary trustees, and administered in accordance with schemes prepared by the Charity Commission. The day-to-day supervision is undertaken by the Clerk (20 hours per week) and the Administrator (5 hours per week)  The charity is not registered as social housing. We are looking for people to join our board of trustees to help take Cheltenham Almshouses and Aid forward.  We would particularly welcome those with experience of building maintenance and development of new properties, health and safety, finance and investment, risk control, social care and marketing. Many of the properties we own are of older stock and there is a constant challenge to keep the buildings well maintained and up to standard, in line with health and safety requirements whilst providing comfortable and affordable living.   We have recently built four new wonderful apartments within a conservation area and may possibly in the future look at extending our current stock of properties with more new builds. We have a healthy balance sheet and would look to new trustees to guide the charity with new investment opportunities. At present we have little presence on social media and would welcome a trustee on board who could help us in this field and ultimately give us the presence we so need.  By maintaining a wait list this reduces the risk of void apartments and subsequent decrease in income.   We provide housing to many people who are working but cannot afford the market rents, for those retired who want to live in well maintained, peaceful communities.  Some of our beneficiaries may need help with more personal matters such as benefit applications, liaising with social services, the clerk will deal with these aspects directly but additional knowledge of areas such as benefits and pensions would be immensely valuable to our beneficiaries, some of whom may not have any family members nearby to support them. Many thanks for your time reading this.

What are we looking for?

Communications and Marketing Building and conservation, property and maintenance Health and Safety within housing Finance  Leadership  Legal

What difference will you make?

This is an amazing opportunity to give a small amount of time, whilst knowing you are making a real difference to the lives of our residents.  With you on board as a trustee we can ensure that the Almhouses continue for many, many more years, helping those less fortunate by providing safe well maintained homes in wonderful communities, while ensuring the long term financial stability, governance of the charity and to help formulate the vision for the future.