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← Aaina Women's Group

2025-03-31-accounts

AAINA WOMEN’S GROUP

Annual Report & Accounts 2024-2025

Registered Charity No. 1081537 http//aainawomen.wordpress.com https://www.instagram.com/aainawomensgroup.peckham1/#

Chair Report

It is with great pride and joy that we present the Annual Report for this year. The past year has been a remarkable journey filled with in milestones, accomplishments, and impactful initiatives.

Supporting and promoting Women's Health and Wellness has always been a core value of our organization. Throughout the year, we organized workshops around healthy eating and mental health awareness, among others, to address the unique challenges women face. Additionally, we provided Chit Chat & Chai sessions. By doing so, we have played a significant role in enhancing the overall well-being of countless women in our community especially the ones who find themselves isolated.

I would like to say a massive thanks to Southwark Council as our main core funder, as well as the National Lottery who fund the mental health sessions.

As we look back on the last year, we are filled with immense gratitude for the collective efforts that have made it so successful. Together, we have made a lasting impact on the lives of countless women, empowering them to reach their full potential and embrace their true worth. We remain committed to our mission and look forward to an even more impactful year ahead. Our heartfelt appreciation goes out to all our management committee members, supporters, volunteers, and staff who have made this journey possible. With your continued support, we are confident that we can bring about lasting change and create a brighter, more equitable future for women everywhere.

This year marks yet another important milestone for Aaina. As we know that voluntary organisations and indeed women's organisations nationally are being forced to close down due to a lack of funding. I am proud that we are still standing and contributing to the greater good of our community.

We have also been very fortunate for having dedicated and competent staff such as Samina Akhtar who has kept us afloat with her funding expertise and Sundus Saqi who has co-ordinated the overall activities and kept them going.

Thank you all for being part of Aaina and making it such a positive and inspirational place to attend.

Nadia Saleemi Chairperson

Vise Chair Report

It is with immense pleasure and a deep sense of fulfilment that I present this report as the Vice Chair of Aaina Women’s Group for the year 2024–2025. This year has been a remarkable journey of progress, em» powerment, and impact — a testament to our shared commitment to the women in our community.

Promoting Health and Wellbeing

We understand that a woman’s wellbeing is the foundation of her confidence, strength, and ability to thrive. With this in mind, we delivered a wide range of health and wellness initiatives designed to support both physical and mental health. These included:

Skin and beauty care workshops that promoted self-care and confidence

These events offered not just knowledge, but tools for women to make informed, empowered choices about their health.

Fostering Social Connection and Inclusion

We also recognise the importance of belonging, friendship, and shared experiences. Our social activities created safe, welcoming environments where women could connect, relax, and enjoy each other’s company.

Some highlights included:

Educational and Cultural Exploration

Throughout the year, we organised enriching outings that combined culture, learning, and fun. These experiences broadened horizons, sparked curiosity, and created cherished memories. Our destinations included:

These outings offered many women their first experience visiting cultural landmarks across London, helping to reduce social isolation while fostering new friendships.

Supporting Women Through Challenges

Aaina Women’s Group remained a vital source of support for women facing personal, financial, or emotional difficulties. Our team responded with compassion and practical help, ensuring no woman felt alone in her struggles. The real impact of our work is reflected in the powerful stories of transformation: women who once felt voiceless and isolated are now standing tall with renewed confidence and purpose.

Our Impact and Gratitude

The success of our work would not be possible without our dedicated volunteers, supporters, and partners. Your belief in our mission has made all the difference. I extend my heartfelt thanks to everyone who contributed time, energy, resources, and encouragement throughout the year. We are especially grateful for the funding received:

These funds enabled us to scale our outreach and deliver high-quality programmes that meet real community needs.

Looking Ahead

As we reflect on the successes of this year, we also look forward with optimism and purpose. Our commitment to empowering women — especially the next generation of young leaders — remains stronger than ever. In 2025–2026, we aim to:

Together, we will continue striving for a more equitable, supportive, and empowered society for women from all walks of life.

On behalf of the Aaina Women’s Group, thank you for being an essential part of this journey. Let us continue this work with passion, purpose, and unity.

Warm regards,

Khosi Manaka

Vice Chair, Aaina Women’s Group

Our Project

Aaina Women’s Group provides regular support and information surgeries, offering practical help and ongoing assistance to all clients. We offer a free drop-in service and free internet access three days a week for women from BME (Black and Minority Ethnic) communities. Information is provided on a range of issues including welfare benefits, education, childcare, health, immigration, and details about other community and council projects.

In addition to our information service, the drop-in sessions offer a confidential, non-judgmental support service for women. Aaina provides support regardless of background, religion, or culture, ensuring a safe space for all.

Our approach promotes cultural interchange, fostering mutual understanding and respect across different cultures, ethnic groups, and faiths.

We currently work with communities including Arabic-speaking, Turkish, Bengali, Pakistani, Indian, Somali, Iranian, Nigerian, and others. The majority of our clients face social exclusion due to language barriers, which are often compounded by lack of childcare, unemployment, poverty, and economic disadvantage. Many of our clients are refugees and asylum seekers.

Services

At Aaina we offer the following services:-

Sewing Club

Our club caters to people of all ages and backgrounds. Our experienced tutors specialise in freehand cutting, a technique that is particularly beneficial for African and South Asian women, for whom it is ideal for creating traditional attire.

Members have full access to domestic machines, as well as all necessary equipment. Women join the club not only to learn or refine their sewing skills but also to exchange ideas on the latest designs, explore various cultural concepts, and share styles and ideas for soft furnishings. The club offers lessons in knitting and crochet, covering techniques such as crochet stitches, working in rounds and rows, shaping, and following charts or instructions.

For many women, the sewing club has been a successful way to make new friends and socialise in a supportive environment. It provides a valuable opportunity to meet women from different religious and ethnic backgrounds and learn about each other’s cultures, fostering cultural diversity.

The club operates whenever funding is available.

Health Workshops

Our Health Awareness workshops covered a wide range of topics in a relaxed and comfortable setting, making it easy for participants to engage and make new friends. We were fortunate to receive fund from the National Lottery to run our "Active 50 project" .

Additionally, we partnered with Holly Health and Age UK Lewisham & Southwark to conduct a research study that offered free support for adopting healthy habits.

The guest speakers at these workshops were all specialists in their fields from well-recognised organisations. We extend our thanks to Gilli Moorhawk for their informative sessions.

The feedback from women who participated in the mental health and well-being workshops has been very positive. The encouraging responses we have received have motivated us to plan for future funding applications to continue offering health information services. These workshops were conducted via Zoom.

Social Activities and Events

Aaina is dedicated to community development, social justice, and empowerment, with a primary focus on identifying and addressing barriers to cultural inclusion and enhancing social and economic participation for our members. We celebrate cultural diversity and actively engage our members and the wider community in sharing and exchanging cultural experiences.

We organise a range of free social activities and events for our members, including celebrations for Eid, Black History Month, International Women's Day, and pampering sessions.

Our members have thoroughly enjoyed the outings arranged by Aaina, which include visits to parks, restaurants, and picnics whenever the weather allows.

Fitness Classes

The Yoga and aerobics classes will be held as long as funding permits.

These classes are highly popular because they offer a culturally sensitive environment for women who, due to religious or cultural reasons, may not be able to access mainstream activities. The classes cater to all ages and fitness levels, promoting well-being and healthy living while encouraging physical activity. Additionally, we organise a weekly walk day to help our members maintain good health.

A huge thank you to the ladies who participated and kept us motivated!

Chai and Chat

To keep our members connected during the challenging period of lockdown and the pandemic, we organised Chai and Chat workshops. These workshops proved to be very successful, and we received positive feedback from members who requested that we continue them. Consequently, Aaina is now organising more workshops, sometimes

on Zoom and at other times in person.

A big thank you to all the ladies who participated!

ESOL CLASSES

The project consists of an ESOL class for newly arrived women who have limited writing or speaking skills for various reasons. The tutor's feedback was very positive, noting that 95% of the women made significant progress, including speaking in longer sentences. The women were enthusiastic about learning, and the sessions were well-attended and highly valued by our members. The classes also fostered interaction among women from different cultural backgrounds, revealing that many had not previously engaged in education. Each woman received a personalised lesson plan to address her specific needs.

Alongside the lessons, members were given information and encouragement to participate in other activities, leading to their involvement in future projects. Many women are now seeking part-time or volunteer opportunities.

This activity will continue as long as funding permits .

MANAGEMENT COMMITTEE

CHAIR Nadia Salimi

VISE CHAIR Khosi Manaka

SECRETARY Sajida Habib TREASURER Patricia Beckford

EXECUTIVE MEMBERS

Nusrat Raja Mariam Mohamed Naseema Syed

Ruksana Khan Sham Raja Sofia Sheakh Aliya Sheikh

Who’s Who

Our Funders & Partners

We would like to thank our partners for their support. a

London Councils Community Grant. The Peckham settlement Award for us Big Lottery. Southwark Community Refugee Forum. Volunteer Centre Southwark. British Red Cross. NHS Southwark. Community Southwark. LAP. STAG. Solace Women’s Aid. FSI. Cycle Confident. LOVO. Feminist Library. Kew Gardens.

On behalf of the Management Committee, staff and members we would like to thank our funders: Southwark Council. National Lottry

Statement Of Financial Activities For The Year Ended 31st March

AAINA WOMENS GROUP

FINANCIAL STATEMENTS

FOR THE YEAR ENDED 31ST MARCH 2025

CHARITY NUMBER 1081537

LONDON ACCOUNTANCY PRACTICE SOJOURNER TRUTH CENTRE 161 SUMNER ROAD LONDON SE15 6JL

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AAINA WOMEN’S GROUP FINANCIAL STATEMENTS YEAR ENDED 31[ST] MARCH 2025

PAGES
Contents 2
Administrative Information 3
Management Committee Report 4
Independent Examiner’s Report 5
Statement of Financial Activities (SOFA) 6
Balance Sheet 7
Notes to the Financial Statements 8-9
Detailed Income and Expenditure 10

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AAINA WOMEN’S GROUP

ADMINISTRATIVE INFORMATION YEAR ENDED 31[ST] MARCH 2025

COMMITTEE MEMBERSNadia Salimi …………………….............Chair COMMITTEE MEMBERSNadia Salimi …………………….............Chair
Khosi Manaka ……………………….…..Vice Chair
Patricia Beckford……………………......Treasurer
Sajida Habib………………………..........Secretary
Nusrat Raja…………………………........Member
Sham Raja….......................................Member
Naseema Syed………………………......Member
Sofia Sheakh……………………………..Member
Aliya Sheikh………………………………Member
CHARITY NUMBER1081537
REGISTERED OFFICESojourner Truth Centre
161 Sumner Road
London
SE15 6JL
BANKERS Barclays Bank Plc
Dulwich Group
Dulwich
London
INDEPENDENT EXAMINER London Accountancy Practice
Sojourner Truth Centre
161 Sumner Road
London
SE15 6JL

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AAINA WOMEN’S GROUP MANAGEMENT COMMITTEE REPORT YEAR ENDED 31ST MARCH 2025

The Management Committee present their annual report and the financial statements for the year ended 31st March 2025.

PRINCIPAL ACTIVITIES

The principal activities of the organisation are to promote any charitable purpose for the benefit of South Asian, Muslim and Refugee women and children, including the relief of poverty, sickness and distress, the advancement of education and the provision of facilities for recreation and other leisure activities in the interest of social welfare and in order to improve the quality of life of the said beneficiaries.

STATEMENT OF MANAGEMENT COMMITTEE RESPONSIBILITIES

The Management Committee is required to prepare financial statements which give a true and fair view of the state of affairs of the project and of the income and expenditure of the project for that period. In preparing those statements the Management Committee are required to:

The Management Committee are responsible for keeping proper records which disclose with reasonable accuracy at any time the financial position of the project. They are also responsible for safeguarding the assets of the project and hence for taking reasonable steps to prevent and detect fraud and other irregularities.

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AAINA WOMEN’S GROUP INDEPENDENT EXAMINER’S REPORT TO THE MANAGEMENT COMMITTEE YEAR ENDED 31ST MARCH 2025

I report on the accounts of the Charity for the year ended 31[st] March 2025, which are set out on pages 5 to 9.

Respective responsibilities of trustees and examiner

The charity's trustees are responsible for the preparation of the accounts. The charity's trustees consider that an audit is not required for this year under section 144(2) of the Charities Act 2011 (the 2011 Act) and that an independent examination is needed.

It is my responsibility to:

Basis of independent examiner's report

My examination was carried out in accordance with the general Directions given by the Charity Commission. An examination includes a review of the accounting records kept by the charity and a comparison of the accounts presented with those records. It also includes consideration of any unusual items or disclosures in the accounts, and seeking explanations from you as trustees concerning any such matters. The procedures undertaken do not provide all the evidence that would be required in an audit and consequently no opinion is given as to whether the accounts present a 'true and fair view' and the report is limited to those matters set out in the statement below.

Independent examiner's statement

In connection with my examination, no matter has come to my attention:

(1) which gives me reasonable cause to believe that in any material respect the requirements:

(2) to which, in my opinion, attention should be drawn in order to enable a proper understanding of the accounts to be reached.

Signed……………………………………………… Date …………………

A. Adebambo MBA, ACIS, ACMA, London Accountancy Practice 161 Sumner Road, London SE15 6JL.

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AAINA WOMEN'S GROUP STATEMENTOF FINANCIAL ACTIVITIES FOR THE YEAR ENDED 31ST MARCH 2025 INCOMING RESOURCES Incoming Resources From Generated Funds: Voluntary Income Total Incoming Resources RESOURCES EXPENDED Charitable Activities Total Resources Expended Net Incoming Resources Prior year adjustment Fund Balance Brought Forward Fund Balance Carried Forward Unrestricted Restricted Fund Fund € € 35,323 0 35,323 2025 Total € 35,323 35,323 35,067 35,067 256 625 3,257 4,138 0 0 6,921 6,921 35,067 35,067 256 625 10,178 11,059 2024 Total 44,047 44,047 35,790 35,790 8,257 0 1,921 10,178

AAINA WOMEN'S GROUP BALANCE SHEET AS AT 31 MARCH 2025 CURRENT ASSETS Cash at Bank Cash in Hand 2025 11,707 127 11,834 CURRENT LIABILITIES CREDITORS: Accruals NET ASSETS 775 11,069 FINANCED BY: Restricted Funds Unrestricted Funds 6,921 4,138 11,059 Approved by the Management Committee and signed on its behalf by ....Chairperson .......Treasurer ON.............. 2025 7 2024 10,900 103 11,003 825 10,178 6,921 3,257 10,178

AAINA WOMEN’S GROUP NOTES TO THE ACCOUNTS YEAR ENDED 31ST MARCH 2025

1. ACCOUNTING POLICIES

1.1 Basis of preparation of Financial Statements

The financial statements are prepared under the historic cost convention and include the results of the charity’s operations which are described in the Management Committees Report and all of which are continuing.

The accounts have been prepared in accordance with the Statements of Recommended Practice for charity accounts.

The charity has taken advantage of the exemption of Financial Reporting Standard No1from the requirements to produce a cash flow statement on the grounds that it qualifies as a small charity

1.2 Incoming Resources

Please note that restricted income were carried forward from the previous year to cover the activities carried out in the current year.

1.4 Unrestricted Funds

AAINA WOMEN’S GROUP

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NOTES TO THE ACCOUNTS YEAR ENDED 31ST MARCH 2025

1.6 Resources Expended

All expenditure is accounted for gross and when incurred. Direct charitable expenditure includes the direct costs of the activities and depreciation on related assets. Management and administration comprise those costs relating to the Charity’s central management and administration as opposed to its charitable activities.

1.7 Capital Equipment -Depreciation

2. FIXED ASSETS

A register of equipment/furniture is kept by the organisation.

3. CREDITORS 2025 2024
£
 £
Accountancy Fees
 550 550
Bookkeeping 225 225
Bookkeeping underpayment 0 50
775 825

  1. We understand the organisation owes some money on rent to the council. The amount has not been confirmed.

  2. Prior year adjustment: Cheque number 300942 issued last year that was never presented and has now been written back into the accounts.

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AAINA WOMENS GROUP DETAILED INCOME AND EXPENDITURE FOR THE YEAR ENDED 31ST MARCH 2025 INCOMING RESOURCES London Borough of Southwark - Revenue Grant The National Lottery Total Incoming Resources Unrestricted Restricted Fund Fund 35,323 35,323 0 0 OUTGOING RESOURCES Charitable Activities Salaries HMRC Pensions Room Hire Coordinator Rent and Service charge Workshop/Training Admin Expenses Software Telephone & Internet Payroll Services Book-keeping Accountancy Fees Refreshment Travel Zoom Subcription Social Media Insurance Parking Garden Event/ Catering Hall Hire Office Sundry Expenses Total Resources Expended Unrestricted Restricted Fund Fund 24,415 893 0 1,500 3,474 800 177 152 700 340 225 550 52 0 156 610 462 42 72 380 69 0 35,067 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 10 2025 Total 35,323 35,323 2025 24,415 893 0 1,500 3,474 800 177 152 700 340 225 550 52 0 156 610 462 42 72 380 69 35,067 2024 Total 34,047 10,000 44,047 2024 Total 24,415 110 1,136 1,249 1,900 1,893 700 0 80 742 345 225 550 362 465 156 850 442 153 0 0 0 17 35,790

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AAINA WOMENS GROUP DETAILED INCOME AND EXPENDITURE FOR THE YEAR ENDED 31ST MARCH 2025 INCOMING RESOURCES London Borough of Southwark - Revenue Grant The National Lottery Total Incoming Resources OUTGOING RESOURCES Charitable Activities Salaries HMRC Pensions Room Hire Coordinator Rent and Service charge Workshop/Training Admin Expenses Software Telephone & Internet Payroll Services Book-keeping Accountancy Fees Refreshment Travel Zoom Subcription Social Media Insurance Parking Garden Event/ Catering Hall Hire Office Sundry Expenses Total Resources Expended Unrestricted Restricted Fund Fund € 35,323 35,323 0 Unrestricted Restricted Fund Fund 24,15 € 72 69 35,067 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 • 0 0 2025 Total € 35,323 35,323 2025 Total 0 69 35,067 2024 Total € 34,047 10,000 44,047 2024 Total 24,415 110 1,136 1,249 1,900 1,893 700 80 742 345 225 550 362 465 156 850 442 153 No0o 35,790