Social Impact Report 23/24
The Hideaway was established as a social enterprise for the benefit of our local community in 2018. Since then, it’s grown exponentially; impacting thousands of lives and in 2022 became a full blown charity in its own right. This report shares a snapshot of our story from the past year.
To produce the report, we’ve collated some of our data, statistics, accounts, stories, comments and the results
from a recent online survey conducted via social media to create a snapshot of the impact Hidden Treasure Trust has had over the past year.
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Our Mission
Our Mission: to bring life-transforming help, hope and joy to families and vulnerable people through Education, Relationships and Resources.
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By creating unique community hubs in areas of high deprivation, we bring together partners to create a thriving open-access, barrier and stigma-free community for learning, playing, building relationships and accessing all support needed in a central and welcoming ‘third space’.
Children & Youth
The Hideaway is our main ‘front door’ - a space for children to imagine, create, play, and learn in a unique educational environment. It’s believed to be the only Pay What You Can play centre in the UK, making it fully accessible to children from all backgrounds and financial situations. Every week, an overall theme and teaching point are reinforced using songs, stories, crafts, and messy play, which means there’s always something new.
89% of those surveyed said The Hideaway was their favourite or one of their favourite play centres
“We have found The Hideaway to be such a valued part of our family life. My husband enjoys having quality time with our son at Who Let The Dads Out, I know that I can have meaningful play with our son.” - Sophie
Over the last year, we saw over 42,000 children visit The Hideaway from around 13,000 different families.
We currently support 13 local young people who are school refusing or struggling to engage at their High School.
41% said The Hideaway helped their child socially or with confidence
A weekly SEND group – Our Club - is attended on average by 45 children each week with their carers. In 2023, we ran 59 sessions with a total attendance of 2655 across the year!
The Hideaway has helped thousands of children to develop physically and emotionally over the past year alone. 82% of parents said that our pricing policy made visiting The Hideaway affordable for them.
“It makes parenting less lonely.”
Parents & Carers
Courses and groups are all provided on an optional donation basis, giving parents quality time with their children, chance to meet others for peer support, and safe spaces to learn, share, be encouraged, and gain valuable knowledge and confidence in parenting.
“We feel so lucky to have such a fantastic centre so close to home!”
Carer support is also provided at weekly Our Club sessions, and we work alongside the monthly Chatty Café where carers can meet with professionals from across the borough for advice and support.
Last year, well over 1000 parents booked onto one of our groups or courses.
Over the past 12 months, our Family Worker has met over 50 different struggling parents 820 times for 1-1 sessions. This free intensive support has included writing numerous EHCP plans, sleep advice, behavioural support, mental health and wellbeing support, advocacy with school, referrals to specialist advisors, and so much more. For many, this has been a lifeline, while several have testified to this help literally saving their life.
During our recent survey we discovered that generally across all parents, over 1/3 stated that The Hideaway helps them to feel less isolated. Over 31,000 adults visit each year.
“This course really helped me gain my confidence and find new ways of navigating motherhood and sharing experiences with other mums who were also going through the same thing.”
- Charlotte
“You’re not judged or made to feel a certain way for needing/asking for the help”
Carer support is also provided at weekly Our Club sessions, and we work alongside the monthly Chatty Café where carers can meet with professionals from across the borough for advice and support.
Our Community
The Hope Centre launched at the start of the Covid-19 pandemic in March 2022 and has continued to provide practical support for the wider community ever since.
Over the last year, the Hope Centre has provided around £13,000 worth of practical help to people in need every single month!
The Hope Centre provided 4841 bags of shopping to households struggling against poverty over the last year.
​192 households accessed our emergency support fund, receiving immediate energy top ups or white goods.
On average, 96 people contact the Hope Centre each month for information, advice and help other than their regular food shop. That’s 1152 households annually and almost 3000 people supported indirectly!