Durham Palestine Educational Trust Reg. Charity No. 1085097
Annual Report 2021-22
Trustees (All Trustees act in an honorary capacity)
Kamal Badreshany ( Assistant Secretary ), Fadia Faqir, Nathan Griffin, Neil Griffin, Dave Harrop, Elaine Malcolm, Vin McIntyre, Roger Reeve, Valentina Tumolo, Bill Williamson ( Student Welfare Officer ), Diane Williamson ( Student Welfare Officer ), Eileen Williamson ( Treasurer), Justin Willis ( Chair), Penny Wilson (Secretary) , Martin Wood
Aims of the Trust
The Durham Palestine Educational Trust aims to:
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Contribute to the social, economic and political development of Palestine through scholarships for Palestinians to study in the UK at Durham University
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Increase awareness in Durham of events in Palestine, especially as they affect education
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Help students of Durham University to study at Palestinian universities
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Promote academic developments in the West Bank and Gaza Strip and to promote links with, and academic exchanges between, them and Durham University
This report gives details of the activities undertaken by the Trust in pursuit of these aims. The Trust takes all appropriate measures to assess, mitigate and manage the risks associated with its activities.
Introduction
The pandemic continued to affect DPET’s work for a part of the year, though happily it was possible to resume some activities and – most importantly – two students from Palestine were able to come to Durham to study on tuition fee-free studentships provided by the university. Arwa Alzraiy completed an MA in Education, and Wafaa Alijla completed an MSc in Civil Engineering.
The year also saw the establishment of the Pauline Bequest, created through the generosity of the late Paul Fortescue, which has allowed DPET to offer additional studentships – more details below.
DPET supporters and trustees continue to provide pastoral support to the students as well as managing the affairs of the charity. Diane and Bill Williamson continue to play a central role in this, and Diane also bears much of the (considerable) burden of the selection process and handles the arrangements for the students’ travel. As Treasurer, Eileen Williamson has managed the new challenges that have come with the generous recent bequests to DPET. Kamal Badreshany continues to maintain the DPET website; and Penny Wilson handles multiple governance tasks as well as much of the communication with the university. I would like to express my thanks to all of them – and to the many other supporters, too numerous to mention individually, who help look after the students and keep DPET running.
I am delighted to report that Professor Karen O’Brien, who took up the post of Vice-Chancellor of Durham University in 2021, has agreed to become a patron of DPET.
Public benefit
We have referred to the commission’s general guidance on public benefit when reviewing our aims and objectives and in planning future activities. The trustees consider that the charity’s activities reflect our aims and objectives, and that they are designed to provide accessible
services and activities that benefit the appropriate sector of the public in accordance with our charitable activities.
Achievements and performance
DPET has, over the last two decades, brought nearly fifty students to Durham. Many have returned to Palestine, but a number have gone on to further study, in Durham and elsewhere: there are now three former DPET students engaged in doctoral study at Durham – Anas Almassri, Arwa Alzraiy and Tamara Barakat, who has just submitted her thesis. Eman Alasah is in the second year of a PhD at Northumbria, Sara Ali is in her third year at Cambridge, Bahaa Attalah has just submitted his thesis in Oxford and Nawras Ateeq has started her PhD in Southampton.
Wafaa Alijla, one of last year’s students is now working as a civil engineer with an engineering consultancy company in Newcastle; Tarneem Hammad who went back to Gaza in March has just landed a job there as Communications Officer at Medical Aid for Palestine where her manager is Mahmoud Shalabi (DPET student 2014/15).
Students have not had the opportunity during these Covid years to give talks in schools and universities as they have in the past; however, Arwa and Wafaa spoke to the Quaker group in Darlington in March. Arwa acted as a translator/facilitator for the Syrian novelist Khaled Khalife at St Aidan’s College when he talked about his book ‘Death is Hard Work’ and held writing workshops.
Scholarship Competition 2022-23 and IELTS
The funds in the Pauline Bequest are held in perpetuity. The income from the Bequest is to be used to support Palestinian students to study for masters degrees at Durham, at the discretion of the Pauline Bequest Committee. Following the decision of that Committee, and in line with the additional gift agreement mentioned in last year’s report, DPET has been able to use the income from the Pauline Bequest together with funds from other donations and book sales to offer four studentships for 2022-23 . This is very welcome, since DPET continues to receive many strong applications from Palestinians hoping to study at Durham. This year we received 24 applications that met the criteria for entry: 5 from men and 19 from women. 12 applicants were from Gaza and 12 from the West Bank.
The students – all of whom have now arrived in Durham – demonstrate the diversity as well as the strength of the cohort of applicants. Abrar Eqilan is studying for the MSc Conflict Prevention and Peace Building; Miral Maqlouf for the MSc Management and International Business; Mohamed Salha for the MSc Scientific Computing and Data Analysis (Astrophysics) and Hassan Awashra for the MSc Plant Biotechnology.
As in previous years, DPET has also supported students in Palestine who are preparing for the IELTS examination that is a requirement for study in the UK; this year, 6 benefited from this support.
Fundraising Activities
After a number of very successful years, DPET has now wound down its involvement in selling second-hand books. This activity, which has combined on-line marketing and physical sales on Palace Green, has been enormously successful in raising funds and in maintaining DPET’s profile in the university and the city more widely. After a suspension due to the pandemic, two last physical book sales were held in August and October of 2022. Having become something of an institution, the book sales will be missed by very many.
The success of the book-selling has been entirely due to the energy and commitment of Vin McIntyre. Vin has devoted much of his own time to this and has also managed and inspired a
team of volunteers – collecting, sorting, selling and dispatching. Vin’s contribution to DPET has been outstanding in many ways – the book-selling was but one aspect of his work, but it was in itself a remarkable achievement. I have no doubt that all involved with DPET will echo me in thanking Vin for this.
DPET organized a walk this year for the first time since 2019 – not to raise funds, but as a social event: thanks to all who were involved in organizing this.
Gifts and donations
DPET continues to benefit from regular generous donations from a range of supporters. In the course of the year, the charity also received a generous gift from Zaid Kurdi, a nephew of Michael Kurdi. Michael was a trustee of DPET for some time; a stalwart supporter and reliable presence, he was one of the group who helped maintain the charity in its early years. Zaid’s gift, made in memory of Michael, helped to ensure that DPET was able to offer four studentships this year.
Agreements with Durham University
DPET has continued to benefit from a close and supportive relationship with Durham University, and I would like to express our particular appreciation to Andy Harston and Anna Abbot in the Durham Alumni Relations Office and to Margret Bidnell-Rowe in the Academic Office.
Justin Willis, Chair, Durham Palestine Education Trust, October 2022
Durham Palestine Education Trust
registered charity no. 1085097
Receipts and Payments Account for the year ended 30th September 2022
| Receipts | Receipts | 2021-2022 | 2020-2021 | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Donations: | ||||||
| From individuals: | ||||||
| Standingorders | 13,372.00 £ |
13,739.00 £ |
||||
| Other donations | 3,590.00 £ |
2,381.50 £ |
||||
| Abbot Bequest | 50,080.00 £ |
|||||
| Rhodes Donation | 11,332.92 £ |
|||||
| Zaid Kurdi Donation | 14,990.00 £ |
|||||
| Transferred from Pauline Bequest Permanent Endowment |
53,044.95 £ |
|||||
| From organisations: | ||||||
| Forte Securities | 3,250.00 £ |
3,000.00 £ |
||||
| CTT CharityPayments(E Click) | 310.60 £ |
|||||
| CAF | 350.00 £ |
310.00 £ |
||||
| CharityTrust | 325.00 £ |
|||||
| Amazon Associate fees | 41.96 £ |
5.00 £ |
||||
| Give asyou live/Paypal | 73.25 £ |
58.56 £ |
||||
| Fundraising activities: | ||||||
| Book sales | 10,700.45 £ |
11,273.42 £ |
||||
| Other income: | ||||||
| Tax recovered through Gift Aid | 4,613.77 £ |
4,608.66 £ |
||||
| Bank interest | 1,419.54 £ |
213.42 £ |
||||
| 484.61 £ |
||||||
| TOTAL RECEIPTS | 166,858.84 £ |
36,709.77 £ |
||||
| Payments | ||||||
| Scholarships | ||||||
| Maintenance Grants | 28,854.68 £ |
25,966.00 £ |
||||
| Travel,visa, police registration etc | 12,254.47 £ |
2,658.42 £ |
||||
| British Council IELTS Scholarships | 780.00 £ |
1,889.83 £ |
||||
| TOTAL SCHOLARSHIP COSTS | 41,889.15 £ |
30,514.25 £ |
||||
| TOTAL ADMINISTRATIVE EXPENSES | ||||||
| Administrative expenses: | ||||||
| Public Liabilityinsurance etc | 262.08 £ |
145.60 £ |
||||
| Admin(Bank Charges) | 555.12 £ |
|||||
| TOTAL PAYMENTS | 42,706.35 £ |
30,659.85 £ |
||||
| Surplus/deficite of receipts overpayments | 124152.49 | 6,049.92 £ |
Statement of Assets and Liabilities as at 30th September 2022
| 2021-2022 | 2020-2021 | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Accumulated fund brought forward 1st October 2021 | 169944.73 | 163,894.81 £ |
||
| Surplus/Deficite 2021-2022 | 124152.49 | 6,049.92 £ |
||
| Accumulated fund carried forward 30 Sept 2022 | 294097.22 | 169,944.73 £ |
||
| represented by | ||||
| HSBC Current Account | 396.45 | 802.51 £ |
||
| CAF Cash Account | 1170.27 | 8,955.78 £ |
||
| CAF Gold Account | 89088.17 | 39,000.96 £ |
||
| CAF - Pauline Bequest Gold A/c | 1001.75 | 1,000.03 £ |
||
| Paypal | 1339.07 | |||
| Flagstone Account | 467.36 | 120,185.45 £ |
||
| Flagstone Platform | Shawbrook Bank | 44272.13 | ||
| Monmouthshire BS | 75696.14 | |||
| Cambridge & CountyBank 1/30% | 35310.39 | |||
| Cambridge & CountyBank 2/25% | 45355.49 | |||
| TOTAL ASSETS | 294097.22 | 169,944.73 £ |
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| Designated Funds | ||||
| Four scholarships 2022-23 | 88000.00 | 28,000.00 £ |
||
| Travel & visa etc costs for 2022-23 | 10000.00 | 6,000.00 £ |
||
| Contingencyfund | 5000.00 | 5,000.00 £ |
||
| Total | 103000.00 | 39,000.00 £ |
||
Statement approved by the Trustees on
and by the Trust's AGM on and signed on its behalf by:
Eileen Williamson
Treasurer Date:
Penny Wilson Secretary Date:
This report has been independently examined by David Atkinson
Signature
Date
Pauline Trust -Permanent Endowment Durham Palestine Education Trust
registered charity no. 1085097
Receipts and Payments Account for the year ended 30th September 2022
| Receipts | Receipts | Receipts | Receipts | 2021-2022 | 2021-2022 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| From | |||||
| Interest received from Evelyns | 39.84 | ||||
| Dividends | 64031.00 | ||||
| Bank Interest | 0.09 | ||||
| Adjustment | 0.43 | ||||
| TOTAL RECEIPTS | 64071.36 | ||||
| Payments | |||||
| Administrative expenses: | |||||
| Bank charges etc | 90.00 | ||||
| Withdrawals Evelyns | 53044.95 | ||||
| Investment charges | 14081.69 | ||||
| 67216.64 | |||||
| Surplus/deficit of receipts overpayments | -3145.28 | ||||
| Statement of Assets and Liabilities as at 30th September | 2022 | ||||
| 2021-2022 | |||||
| Assets | |||||
| Accumulated fund brought forward 1st October 2021 | 1859870.14 | ||||
| Surplus/Deficit 2021-2022 | -3145.28 | ||||
| Change in market value of investments | -293085.66 | ||||
| Initial Investment | |||||
| Accumulated fund carried forward 30 Sept 2021 | 1563639.20 | ||||
| represented by | |||||
| CAF - Pauline Bequest Cash A/c | 218.49 | ||||
| TilneyInvetment | 1563420.71 | ||||
| TOTAL ASSETS | 1563639.20 | ||||
Statement approved by the Trustees on and by the Trust's AGM on and signed on its behalf by:
Eileen Williamson Treasurer Date: Penny Wilson Secretary Date:
This report has been independently examined by David Atkinson Signature Date
2020-2021 0.00 112.00 1084.20 1196.02
-1196.02 1000.00 -1196.02 66.16 1860000.00 1859870.14
CHARITY COMMISSION FOR ENGLAND AND WALES Independent examinerfs report on the accounts Section A Independent Exaimirier s Report Rewt to the truste1 memb•rn of The Durham Palestine Educational Trust On accounts for tho year ended 30 September 2022 Charity no {rf any 1085097 Set out on pages I report to the tntstees on my examinalion of the accounts of the above charity (Ihe Tfusf) for the year er¥Jed Responsibllities and As the charity trustees of the Trust, you are reswnsible for the preparation basis of report of the accounts in accordan Imth the requirements of the Charities Act 2011 {Ihe Acr). I report in respect of my examinati of Trust's accouts carried out under section 145 of the 2011 Act and in carying oui my examination, I have followed the aPICable Diredions given by the Chanty Commission under section 14515)(b) of the Ad. I have completed my examinatwi. I confirm that no material matters have ome to my attention in conneth'on ryth the examination which gives me cause to believe Ihat in. any material respect: accounting records were not kept in accordan wilh Sedion 130 of the Act the accounts do not aCC(d with the accounting records Ind•pend•nt examlnèrfs statement I have no concerns arKI have come across no other matters in connection with the examination to which attention shouhl te drawn in order to enable a proper understarKling of the accounts to be reached Slgned: 11-5-20 Name: David Atkn'nson Relevant profosslonal qualificatlon(s) or body (If any): Felk)w of Chartered Instrtute of Management Accountants Address." 3 Sturton GrarMJe Mill, Wart(M)rth. Northumb8rland NE65 OEZ Section B Disclosure Only Gomplete rf the examiner needs to hhlIght matters of concem (see CC32. Independent examinatn of ¢1ty accounts: directions and guidan for examiners). IER October 2018