2021-03-31-accounts - Croydon Refugee Day Centre

This text was generated using OCR and may contain errors. Check the original PDF to see the document submitted to the regulator.

ANNUAL REPORT FOR THE PERIOD ENDING 31[ST] MARCH 2021

The Trustees at the start of the year were Rory MacLeod (chair), Paul James (treasurer) and Bridgette Nettleford. In November 2020, Sandra Ramsbotham was appointed as a trustee and treasurer with Paul James continuing as a trustee.

Peter Hall (co-ordinator) and Rosanna Edser (Family Education Project) were the only two employees, both on part-time contracts. Peter Hall retired at the end of May 2020 but continued in a voluntary capacity to help as he was able to do so.

At the outset, I wish to place on record the thanks of all the Trustees to the many volunteers who have given of their time so selflessly to meet the needs of the asylum seekers and refugees that have been helped by the Croydon Refugee Day Centre (CRDC).

The year April 2020 to March 2021 has been like no other year for the organisation. The Coronavirus pandemic that started early in 2020 resulted in the first national lockdown in March 2020. Hitherto, the CRDC had provided a safe place within a large church hall where those seeking asylum or granted refugee status could meet, chat and relax on Tuesday mornings with a supervised place for young children to play and a help desk for adults to be signposted to other services. A key element had always been provision of a free hot meal, usually for over 100 persons, from food donated to us or bought for this purpose.

All this had to stop with the lockdown. We could not operate from a crowded indoor environment and had to adapt our services. West Croydon Baptist Church where we are based were not currently using the hall for other purposes, so we were able to create an enlarged clothes store. As lockdown measures eased in the early summer we were able to provide clothing and food to asylum seekers and refugees outside the hall and then via a one-way system inside the hall, with appropriate covid-19 precautions, for a limited number of people at a time.

Over the summer of 2020 many migrants crossed the English Channel and several local hotels were used to provide temporary accommodation in addition to those regularly used for asylum seekers. Most had just the clothing in which they had arrived. It was still warm, but the winter months were coming. Suddenly we had long queues outside the hall, mainly of single men, needing clothing. We quickly ran out of stock for the most popular sizes and resorted to buying clothes, new underwear and footwear as we were able to. Then at short notice many single men were moved to the vacant Napier Army Barracks near to Folkestone. As we had the mobile phone numbers of some relocated, we were made aware of clothing needs not yet met and arranged for a full car load of clothing, much for named individuals, to be driven to Folkestone. The operation was then repeated.

We continued to serve locally based asylum seekers and refugees at the church hall during the autumn with clothing, toiletries and food products for those self-catering. However, over the winter months, during the second national lockdown, activity at the church hall had to be curtailed once again. We adapted our services to the distribution of food products and clothing to those known to be in need from the communities we served.

During these months we partnered with the Jesuit Refugee Service (JRS) based in East London as many of their clients were based in the Croydon area and it was easier for us to distribute food to them. As lockdown restrictions eased we were able to resume serving people outside the church hall.

Over the year 2020-2021 we have served people from over 30 countries. The largest numbers have come from Albania, Iraq, Kuwait, Sudan, Eritrea, Nigeria and Syria. In the period from September to October 2020 we responded to the needs of over 200 people. The largest cohort was single people, predominantly men, but we also served couples and many families with one or more children.

In January 2021, Peter Hall, our recently retired Co-ordinator and longterm stalwart of the CRDC sadly died from coronavirus. He is greatly missed but the work of the CRDC continued led by trustees and a loyal body of volunteers.

I wish to acknowledge with thanks the roles played by the many individuals, organisations, and companies whose support has been instrumental in the continued success of CRDC over the past 12 months:

Coughlan’s the Bakers who have supplied us with bread and cakes for many years.
The Queen’s Mothers Clothing Guild for their generous donation of new adult and baby clothes.
London Churches Refugee Fund for the generous donation of a grant.
Kevin McKenna from Croydon Council for advice and practical assistance with pursuing means of funding.
Refugees at Home who host refugees in our borough
The staff at Migrant Help for their ongoing support, and for accompanying clients to the centre.
The owners of Hayesthorpe Hotel who together with their staff have facilitated our Family Education Project.
LUSH in Croydon for donations of wonderful toiletries.
The Mayor of Croydon, Councillor Humayun Kabir, for adopting us as one of his Charities of the year, and for fundraising for us.
Croydon Reach for their positive attitude to helping our homeless clients.
Bishop Jonathan for his outspoken support for all refugees.
David Sayers for collecting excess clothing and taking it to Ukraine and other Eastern European countries.
The Body Shop for kindly providing various toiletries .
Calvin Productions Ltd., for new clothing bought for filming but never worn.
Local schools and churches in the borough for taking an interest in our work and donating their Harvest Festival goods and other gifts in kind to us.
Refugee Action and Migrant Help for providing free of charge literature we have used to promote CRDC.
Joanna Doherty from the Happy Baby Community.
South West London Law Centre for accepting referrals from us for clients in need of qualified advice.
The British Red Cross for their continuous support.
Purley Food Hub, the Vine Foodbank and West Norwood Foodbank for kindly accepting referrals from us.
Croydon Voluntary Action for their ongoing help, support, and advice.
Rev Linda Fox and Cynthia Smith for running ESOL and computer lessons at St Augustine’s Church.
And with apologies to those supporters whose names have been omitted – not because we do not value them – on the contrary, their roles cannot be overstated. And there are so many whose input has been integral to our success in providing high quality services to our many visitors over the past year.

The Family Education Project (FEP) (Rosanna Edser)

Prior to the pandemic, the FEP ran weekly on Wednesday mornings in Hayesthorpe Initial Accommodation Hotel with a small team of volunteers providing educational and play activities for the children of destitute asylum-seeking families and support for their parents. In the afternoons I provided individual support, help with form-filling and phone calls, integration, oyster cards and Tesco vouchers for food where needed for health reasons.

In March 2020, at the hotel mangers’ request and to protect our volunteers, we stopped running our usual weekly sessions as lockdown began and I distributed our stock of toys, games and educational resources to our client families who were isolated in their rooms. Thereafter, I continued visiting these families (taking due Covid-19 precautions), helping them connect to available online/phone support, such as the Happy Baby Community.

Because formal schooling had all moved online and couldn’t be accessed by children without electronic devices I continued to support some recently dispersed families who were particularly vulnerable by appealing for used I-pads, tablets and lap tops. These were factory-reset and posted to them and some given to our Hayesthorpe current clients, some at the expense of Geoff Dumbreck, vicar of St Augustine’s. Some of our families

were moved out into self-catering accommodation in Croydon High Street, Tulsi apart-hotel, from where I continued to support a family with acute health needs.

We started games for children in a park close to the hotel on Wednesday afternoons which was popular for those children unable to gain access to local schools, and also provided an opportunity and safe place for adults to meet outside the hotel. We promoted the Tuesday Drop-Ins and the local English Classes. A volunteer would regularly lead a group from the hotel by bus to the CRDC base at West Croydon Baptist Church for clothing needs to be met. Crèche and laptop access were provided by St Augustine’s Church and Simon French on Thursday afternoons. To families we knew well I gave my work phone number and have continued to provide them with support remotely for educational matters, such as new school applications and access to local council services.

The numbers of children, teenagers and adults helped at the Hayesthorpe Hotel varied considerably with the fluctuation of the hotel’s occupancy as some families were relocated and new asylum seekers took their places.

Other Activities

The Croydon Refugee Day Centre has been represented at various venues. Both Rosie and Peter have had a number of speaking engagements at several schools, churches and other venues highlighting the work of the organisation.

Rory MacLeod Chair of Trustees

CHARITY COMM15510N FOR ENGLAND AND WALES r.ruyiloii F£efiiuéL, Ceiitre 106d485 Receipts and payments accounts CC16a For the period from 3110312020 0110412020 3110312020 Section A Receipts and payments Unrestrl¢ted funds Restricted funds Endowment funds Total funds Last year tothe nearè8t to the rto&ro$t£ to the thèare$¢£ to th8 noarost £ to th¢ n•are5t £ A1 Rècelpts GraTrl$ Rag5 Colle¢iion donations 30 546 £27.826.44 6$0 1,150 434 26.575 S46 27,B26 tota ross Income or AR) 28,402 B50 29.2S2 28,159 Assèt at) (see tsblel. nve8tm8nt sa es, rotal receipts 29.252 A3Pa ments Adminislr3lor Salaries £6,756.55 £336.02 £7,540.39 6,757 336 7.540 850 5,717 21,194 358 4,797 1,839 Food 8nd sUries Relugee Travel Cos15 Sundry expèndilure BSO 5,717 Sub total 20.350 8YO 21,200 28,188 A4 Asset and Investment urchases see table Cash In Bank Sub total Total payments 20,350 850 21.200 Net of receipts/(payments) A5 Transfers between funds A6 Cash funds last year en Cash funds this year end 8,062 8,052 18,127 8,052 18,127 26,179 18,127 CCXX R1 a¢¢ounts ISSI 02109r2022

Section B Statement of assets and liabilities at the end of the period Unrestrlcted funds to noarèst£ Restrlcted funds lo n¢8r8st£ Endowment funds to n¢8rést£ Catègorles DetaS1s B1 Cash funds 26,179 Tot81 cash funds 26,179 bA1aw8swith rewpts and paymenls actouniisll Unr8Stricted fund5 to nearest£ Restricted f4Jnds to nearest E Endowment funds to nearost £ Detalls B2 Other monetsry assets Fund whleh a55et belon Details Cost loptlonall Curwntvalue Fund to whlch a55et belon Curront value Details Cost lopllonall B4 Assets retalnèd for the charlty's own use Fund to which ro18te5 Amount due When duè Details BS Llabilitles Slgned by one orlwo trustees on behabf of all the trustees Date of roval Signature Print Natne Sandra Ramsbotham Roderick MacLeod 2.9.22 2.9..22 CCXX R2 accouTFl$ ISSI 0210912022

CHARITY COMMISSION FOPK ENGLAND AND WALES Independent examinerfs report on the accounts ••+ Section A Independent Examiner's Report Report to the trusteesl members of Croydon Refugee Day Centre On accounts for the year ènded 31GI March 2021 Charity no (If any) 1064465 Set out on pages Two Pages I r6POrt to the trustees on my examination of Ihe accounts of the above charity (Yhe Trusl,) for the year ended 311-312021 Responslbilities and As the charity trustees of Ihe Trust, you ar6 responsible for the preparation basis of report of the accounts in accordance with the requirements of the Charities Act 2011 ('the Act.). I report in respect of my examination of the Trust's accounts carried out under section 145 of the 2011 Act and in carrying out my examination, I have followed the applicable Directions given by the Charity Commission under section 145(5){b> of the Act. I have completed my examination. I confimi that no material matters have come to my attention (other than that disclosed below .} in connection with the examination which gives me cause to believe that in, any material respect: accounting records were not kept in accordancè with section 130 of the Act or the accounts do not accord with the accounting records Independent examiner's statement I have with th proper Plea COnrS and have come across no other rnatters in connection xamination to which attention should be drawn in order to enable derstanding of the accounts to be reached. elete Ihe words in the brackets rf they do not apply. Slgned: Date: Name: Robert Maybin Relevant professional qualification(s) or body (if any): Retired Chartered Accountant Address: 26A Morland Avenue Croydon CRO 6EA IER Octob@r 2018