Friends of Amasango c/o
2 Dean Clarke House, 2 Southernhay East, Exeter Devon, EX11AP
U.K. Charity No. 1116268
Annual Report for the year 2023/24
1. Overview of the year
During the year the Friends of Amasango (the Charity) has engaged in fundraising for and the facilitation of volunteers to the Amasango Career School (ACS), Grahamstown, (Makhanda), South Africa to support in particular the following objectives --
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Food at Amasango
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Clothing at Amasango
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Honoraria to local volunteers
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Past Pupil Support for those at High School
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Overseas fund raising
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Accountancy support
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Capital expenditure on necessary equipment
A total of £49,570 (about ZAR 1,115,325 – at 22.5 ZAR to £) was sent to ACS during the year, meeting the objectives as agreed in the Budget. The Charity’s contributions to ACS have been affected by the difficult on-going, UK fund-raising climate resulting from, the hangover from the COVID pandemic, the UK economic climate and the election uncertainty.
In U.K. the Charity received a total of £41,017 during the year. Compared with 2022/3, individual donations were reduced by £7,942 but corporate donations were up by £1,891 and yet again there were no legacies. Gift Aid tax recovery has remained a major problem, but our Treasure has been working hard with the tax Authorities and hopes the be receiving several thousand pounds from them in the near future.
UK bank balances at the year-end were down to £69,711, and the Trustees decision is to run at a deficit again this year, to ensures we continue to support all the necessary activities at the school, this time with most of any deficit being funded by the Gift Aid reimbursements
All these plans are structured to ensure the charity continues to support the school, month to month, but has the cash flow resources to meet the needs of the school, which start immediately the New School is actually provided.
To maintain financial prudence but take note of increasing demands in the School a Budget has been agreed for the forthcoming year with revenue expenditure in 2023/4 totalling R 1,130.331.51 (about £ 50,236.96 at 22.5 R/£) has been agreed which the Trustees believe can be serviced. The budget shows a deficit on the year but the Trustees are happy this can be serviced by funds generated and available and may well be covered by the Gift Aid funds due from HMRC – as and when they are received!
This Budget and The Annual Financial Accounts, were approved by Members at the AGM held on Saturday 28[th] September 2024.
The AGM has been held as a Hybrid, both physically and on Zoom, and the Headmistress of the School has been able to visit the UK and attend the AGM, plus tour the UK on information and Fund raising activities, funded by the Charity.
I am pleased to report that we have been able to continue to support the AMASANGO School in Grahamstown (now officially renamed as Makhanda) in all the normal areas, whilst also seeing real progress on the New School.
None of this would have been possible without the considerable and highly valued support of the Members & Supporters, by the hard and dedicated work put in by the staff at the School and in particular by the Headmistress Girlie Shadaya and the marvellous team of Trustees that we have in the Charity - my considerable thanks to them for all their support and efforts.
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Mrs Shadaya’s 3rd year has not been easy. Unfortunately, the Covid period had badly affected the normality of children attending school and trying to get them back to regular attendance has been really difficult. In addition, the economic climate, election uncertainty and local disputes, has made life even more difficult in the townships from which the children come, resulting in more need for support in many areas.
The Local Education authority (LEA) continues to be less than supportive in some disruption of staff contracts, but eventually has approved the appointment of Mrs Shadaya’s deputy, who has started during the year and is proving an excellent addition to the school, whilst taking pressure off the headmistress
As the Friends of the school, we have continued to be able to fund the now normal, clothing, food parcels at weekends and holidays and food daily at the school, together with additional support for educational needs, books, computer facilities, etc.
The School’s membership drive and hard work by the Head and staff, has borne fruit in getting the school number back to approaching the pre Covid times, but more work needs to be done, particularly whilst the School remains in its awful temporary premises, which undoubtedly puts off some parents or guardians of potential learners and whilst recruitment issues remain with LEA interference.
Turning to the “New School” topic I have to report real problems. As I reported last year after 10 years of legal and direct pressure on the Local Education Authority (LEA) we finally won another series of court case, very ably handled for the School and us by the NGO (The Legal Resource Centre, who are acting at all times on a no fee basis) and a detailed timetable and project plan was agreed and backed by a Court Order for the School to move to a new agreed site, for both the School and the Playing/Soccer Field, near the Main Township in Makhanda. This would have meant the School would be in temporary, but new, premises on the New Site by October/November this year and the Soccer/Playing field would have been completed by the same time. Work started on site earlier in the year, on time, but then, very unfortunately the LEA appointed Contractor fell out with the LEA over preliminary payments, a major dispute evolved, resulting in the Contractor initially walking off site and eventually refusing to proceed with the contract. The Contactor had not even completed putting up the essential security fence around the new site (without which anything on site would be stripped and ruined very quickly) and therefore the school was not even able to proceed with completing the Soccer Playing field Contract. We are now in the situation of having to accept that the LEA has to go out to tender again and appoint a new Contractor, which is expected to take at least 6 months and thus the earliest time for the School to move into the New Temporary School buildings and be able to complete the Playing field Contract and use the new School will be at the earliest early to mid-next year (2025). The plan was then for the construction of the permanent school to follow with a completion some 18months later – this is still the case but now of course much further into the future. The NGO, on behalf of the School, and us, is actively ensuring that all this still happens on a new, court backed timetable, even involving the newly, post the recent election, Minister for Education, but we have to await the detailed results of this work – all very unfortunate to say the least.
All attempts at trying to organise fund raising events in this post Covid period have proved very difficult, as all Charities in the UK have found, and so the bulk of our fundraising to support the School has fallen on our marvellous regular donors, who so faithfully contribute by Standing Orders, regular Donations and Legacies. We can’t thank them all enough. Without them we would simply not be able to support the school and without our support the School would have to fall back on the funding available from the LEA, which would simply mean that it would become another of the majority of government run schools in South Africa that are understaffed, with relatively untrained and demotivated staff suffering from a lack of resources and adequate teachers numbers, giving no food, clothing or special skills training, no mentoring and none of the unique teaching that has been the hallmark of the AMASANGO School since it started and which we all know is such an essential resource that we must fight to maintain.
We have recently had to purchase a new (second hand) bus for the School as one of the buses that are run by the school to collect and deliver children from the township’s, suffered terminal failure. This purchase has depleted some of the funds we were saving for the News School.
To sustain this we will soon have to activate another funding increase drive, because, as soon as the School does move into its new premises it will be necessary to increase the provision of the services it provides as demand will increase for its excellent service and we need to fund the planned, essential, increase in vocational education for the local children with their very special extra needs bearing in mind the very difficult environment that they come from.
The reality is that it costs £36 per month to support a child at the school with school meals, food parcels, uniforms, etc. and we need more regular donors and legacies to support this, plus the need to build up funds for the New School Project; so fund raising remains the major challenge of our Charity.
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However, as you can see, the accounts and Budget show that we are keeping control of the situation whilst starting to build the necessary fund to support the needs of a properly equipping the New School. - . We plan, as we always have, once the new School plans are truly finalised to move into a real fund-raising campaign to raise the necessary monies to ensure the School, in its new Premises, is properly equipped with all the Vocational equipment and facilities that the School will need and which won’t be funded by the Local Authority.
On the Volunteering front we have now developed, finalised, and printed, with details on our Website, a full Volunteering package that we can use in talking to potential volunteer in gap year students, churches, and other voluntary organisations.
During the year, 3 overseas Volunteers helped at ACS.
We look forward to hopefully a really great year for the School in at least, eventually, new Temporary Premises.
2. Statutory information: The Charity is the largest single donor to ACS.
The Charity is regulated by its Constitution which was adopted in General Meeting on 15[th] October 2005.
The Charity’s Objects as stated therein are as a Christian organisation to advance the education of pupils in South Africa, who are disadvantaged by psycho-social barriers to learning (background, lack of parental support, or minor educational disability, mostly living in townships, or sometimes on the streets), and in particular those attached to the Amasango Career Schools in Eastern Cape Province, by financial support through bursaries or otherwise and through assisting in the provision of facilities not provided by the Provincial Government and by facilitating the availability to the Amasango Career Schools of volunteer teachers and assistants.
The nine Trustees of the Charity in 2022/3 were Ian Irvin (Chairman), Bob Hampton (Hon Treasurer), Martin Coombs (Hon Secretary), Alison Evans, Kate Mier, Mark Newton, Charl Oosthuizen, Rebecca Pennells and Brian Wakeham, none of whom holds any property on behalf of the Charity od receive any remuneration for their role. Eleven Trustees meetings were held during the year.
The Charity’s bankers are Santander Commercial Bank of Bridle Road, Merseyside, L30 4GB. The Charity’s Independent Examiner is Hannah Peters, The Close, School Lane, Alvechurch, B48 7SB, UK.
This Annual Report was approved by the Trustees at their first meeting after the AGM on 6[th] November 2024 and signed on its behalf by
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Ian Irvin, Chairman
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Friends of Amasango
Accounts for the Year Ended 30 June 2024
Friends of Amasango
Accounts for the Year Ended 30th June 2024
| Contents | |
|---|---|
| Page | |
| Receipts and Payments Account | 1 |
| Independent Examiner's Report | 2 |
Friends of Amasango
UK Charity No. 1116268 supporting the Amasango Career Schools (ACS) in South Africa
Receipts and Payments Account Account for the Year Ended 30th June 2024
| Receipts and Payments Receipts Individual Donations3 Legacies Corporate Donations Grants successfully applied for Gift Aid Tax recovered2 Bank Interest Payments Donations to ACS Costs incurred in UK for Head Teacher visit Bank Charges (Cost of transfers to school)) Administration1 Excess of Receipts over payments Balance brought forward Balance carried forward Represented by Bank balances on 30th June Cash in hand |
2024 £ 36,803 - 3,391 - - 823 49,570 1,308 100 820 |
£ 41,017 51,798 10,781 - 80,493 69,712 69,711 - 69,711 |
2023 £ 44,745 - 1,500 - - 260 49,322 1,326 - 841 |
£ 46,505 51,489 4,984 - 86,076 80,493 80,493 - 80,493 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
Note
This account has been prepared on a cash basis from the records of the Friends of Amasango
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"Administration" in the year includes JustGiving and SumUp administrative charges totalling £397 and insurance premium of £444.
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Gift Aid - it is expected that a gift aid claim will be completed in the next financial year which will provide additional income of several thousand pounds - covering the shortfall in income shown above
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Previously this line included donations from churches. These are now reported as Corporate donations
Approved by the Friends of Amasango in General Meeting on 28th September 2024 and signed on their behalf by:
Robert Hampton …... Hon Treasurer
Independent examiner's report to the trustees of 'Friends of Amasango' Trust
I report on the accounts of the Trust for the year ended 30 June 2024, which are set out on page 1.
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 of the Charities Act 2011 (the Charities Act) and that an independent examination is needed.
It is my responsibility to:
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examine the accounts under section 145 of the Charities Act.
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to follow the procedures laid down in the general Directions given by the commission under section 145(5)(b) of the Charities Act.
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to state whether particular matters have come to my attention.
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:
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(1) which gives me reasonable cause to believe that in any material respect the requirements:
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to keep accounting records in accordance with section 130 of the Charities Act and
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to prepare accounts which accord with the accounting records and comply with the accounting requirements of the Charities Act
have not been met or
(2) to which, in my opinion, attention should be drawn in order to enable a proper understanding of the accounts to be reached.
Name: Hannah Peters
Relevant professional body: CIMA Address: The Close, School Lane, Alvechurch, B48 7SB Date: 9th September 2024
Friends of Amasango
Accounts for the Year Ended 30 June 2024
Friends of Amasango
Accounts for the Year Ended 30th June 2024
| Contents | |
|---|---|
| Page | |
| Receipts and Payments Account | 1 |
| Independent Examiner's Report | 2 |
Friends of Amasango
UK Charity No. 1116268 supporting the Amasango Career Schools (ACS) in South Africa
Receipts and Payments Account Account for the Year Ended 30th June 2024
| Receipts and Payments Receipts Individual Donations3 Legacies Corporate Donations Grants successfully applied for Gift Aid Tax recovered2 Bank Interest Payments Donations to ACS Costs incurred in UK for Head Teacher visit Bank Charges (Cost of transfers to school)) Administration1 Excess of Receipts over payments Balance brought forward Balance carried forward Represented by Bank balances on 30th June Cash in hand |
2024 £ 36,803 - 3,391 - - 823 49,570 1,308 100 820 |
£ 41,017 51,798 10,781 - 80,493 69,712 69,711 - 69,711 |
2023 £ 44,745 - 1,500 - - 260 49,322 1,326 - 841 |
£ 46,505 51,489 4,984 - 86,076 80,493 80,493 - 80,493 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
Note
This account has been prepared on a cash basis from the records of the Friends of Amasango
-
"Administration" in the year includes JustGiving and SumUp administrative charges totalling £397 and insurance premium of £444.
-
Gift Aid - it is expected that a gift aid claim will be completed in the next financial year which will provide additional income of several thousand pounds - covering the shortfall in income shown above
-
Previously this line included donations from churches. These are now reported as Corporate donations
Approved by the Friends of Amasango in General Meeting on 28th September 2024 and signed on their behalf by:
Robert Hampton …... Hon Treasurer
Independent examiner's report to the trustees of 'Friends of Amasango' Trust
I report on the accounts of the Trust for the year ended 30 June 2024, which are set out on page 1.
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 of the Charities Act 2011 (the Charities Act) and that an independent examination is needed.
It is my responsibility to:
-
examine the accounts under section 145 of the Charities Act.
-
to follow the procedures laid down in the general Directions given by the commission under section 145(5)(b) of the Charities Act.
-
to state whether particular matters have come to my attention.
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:
-
to keep accounting records in accordance with section 130 of the Charities Act and
-
to prepare accounts which accord with the accounting records and comply with the accounting requirements of the Charities Act
have not been met or
(2) to which, in my opinion, attention should be drawn in order to enable a proper understanding of the accounts to be reached.
Name: Hannah Peters
Relevant professional body: CIMA Address: The Close, School Lane, Alvechurch, B48 7SB Date: 9th September 2024