AGM November 15th 2025
Chairman’s Report:
Another eventful year has gone by at The Friends of AMASANGO and at the AMASNGO School, that we all support.
Unfortunately, during the year Grahamstown, or Makhanda as it now formally called, has been a troubled area, with effectively complete failure of the Local Authority, regular failure of the water supply, Electricity, Sewage, phone and transport systems. This has obviously made the job of running a school even more difficult and we must congratulate Girlie Shadaya on not only keep the school flourishing, but maintaining numbers and keeping the staff motivated. Girlie has had to replace a number of staff, but has been well supported by her new Deputy Head and whilst doing all this has managed to complete, and has been awarded, her degree on Leadership and Management, which we have funded to help her achieve even more in managing and leading the school, in the absence of any such support from the Local Education Authority (LEA)
It has meant that as the Friends we have had to do more to help in general areas, such as funding more water storage and facilitating better transport. Re the latter we have funded the purchase of a new Bus for the School (Pictures alongside)
During the year our excellent Board of Trustees: Martin Coombs (secretary), Alison Evans , Bob Hampton (Treasurer), Kate Meir , Mark Newton , Rebecca Pennells , Brian Wakeham , and now joined by Christina Thomas, have tirelessly attended monthly Trustee meetings, carried out ongoing fundraising activities, with several of them visiting the School and helping with classes and other tasks. I must however say that most of the Trustees have served for very many years, including myself , and it would be good if we could have a few volunteers from supporters to join the Trustee Board to take a bit of load off the existing Trustee – please do consider helping in this way and if you are interested, do let me know with a quick email & your phone number (address below) and I will get back to you for a chat.
The New School Saga has unfortunately continued and we are having to take further legal action against the LEA, as always very kindly provided free to the School/us by the local NGO. After much pressure the revised contract to build the new temporary school has finally gone out to tender, with tenders due back at the end of September this year and we are now pressing for actual start dates, probably later this or early next year, and hoping that we don’t get a repeat of the fiasco of the last contract start.
The good news about the new school is that the Dutch donors of funds to provide the Soccer/playing field for the School, (which would not be funded by the LEA) have understandably been getting increasingly impatient about the delays. They have indeed, for a while, been threatening to demand the return of the money they donated for this purpose and which has been kept in a secure Bank Account under their control. After much negotiating they have agreed to simply hand the monies over to the School to be used as and when it is necessary; so this funding is now fully secure.
As you will know from previous notifications, and our accounts, we have accumulated, over years, a fund to ensure that when the new school is built we can equip it with the necessary practical skills training tools, machinery and equipment that is needed to provide the breadth of vocational training that the children need and which the LEA cant/wont fund. Unfortunately, this fund has been depleted by the need to buy the school a new Bus, as their old one became uneconomic to repair, and thus we have a real need to raise further funds to fill that gap.
As I have said before, fund raising remains a real problem in these difficult times and we really do appreciate all those of you who donate on a regular basis, with monthly direct debits and standing orders. Obviously any donations are of real value and much appreciated, but regular donations make it much simpler to plan funding for the school, which clearly has to be provided on a regular basis to support the needs for uniforms, books, food during the week and at weekends and holidays, plus the necessary extra teachers that these special children, from very, very disadvantaged backgrounds, need - all of which is not provided by the LEA . So, if you are already donating regularly, if you could possibly find a way of increasing your donation slightly that would be marvellous and if you are not regularly donating, could I ask you to try and find a way to help us by this means.
As always we look forward to a year which might finally see the New School being built and to at last establishing the proper training facilities for these vey special children from very difficult backgrounds, to enable them to gain the real skills they need to make their way in an increasingly difficult society and economic environment.
Thank you again for your ongoing help and support.
Ian Irvin, Chairman (ianirvin@irvinhunt.co.uk)
Friends of Amasango
Accounts for the Year Ended 30th June 2025
Friends of Amasango
Accounts for the Year Ended 30th June 2025
Contents
| Page | |
|---|---|
| Receipts and Payments Account | 1 |
| Independent Examiner's Report | 2 |
Page 1
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 2025
| 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 |
2025 £ |
£ 53,356 55,193 1,837 - 69,711 67,874 67,874 - 67,874 |
2024 £ |
£ |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 38,218 1,181 13,382 575 53,264 996 100 833 |
36,804 - 3,391 - - 823 49,571 1,309 100 819 |
41,017 51,799 |
||
| 10,782 - 80,493 |
||||
| 69,711 | ||||
| 69,711 - |
||||
| 69,711 |
Note
This account has been prepared on a cash basis from the records of the Friends of Amasango All amounts shown are rounded to the nearest whole pound.
-
"Administration" in the year includes JustGiving and SumUp administrative charges totalling £324 and insurance premium of £508.56.
-
Gift Aid -Further retrospective gift aid claims 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 17th September 2025 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 2025, 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 have not been met, or;
-
to prepare accounts which accord with the accounting records and comply with the accounting requirements of the Charities Act
(2) to which, in my opinion, attention should be drawn in order to enable a proper understanding of
Name: Hannah Peters
Relevant professional body: CIMA
Address: The Close, School Lane, Alvechurch, B48 7SB Date: 23rd September 2025
Friends of Amasango
Accounts for the Year Ended 30th June 2025
Friends of Amasango
Accounts for the Year Ended 30th June 2025
Contents
| Page | |
|---|---|
| Receipts and Payments Account | 1 |
| Independent Examiner's Report | 2 |
Page 1
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 2025
| 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 |
2025 £ |
£ 53,356 55,193 1,837 - 69,711 67,874 67,874 - 67,874 |
2024 £ |
£ |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 38,218 1,181 13,382 575 53,264 996 100 833 |
36,804 - 3,391 - - 823 49,571 1,309 100 819 |
41,017 51,799 |
||
| 10,782 - 80,493 |
||||
| 69,711 | ||||
| 69,711 - |
||||
| 69,711 |
Note
This account has been prepared on a cash basis from the records of the Friends of Amasango All amounts shown are rounded to the nearest whole pound.
-
"Administration" in the year includes JustGiving and SumUp administrative charges totalling £324 and insurance premium of £508.56.
-
Gift Aid -Further retrospective gift aid claims 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 17th September 2025 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 2025, 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 have not been met, or;
-
to prepare accounts which accord with the accounting records and comply with the accounting requirements of the Charities Act
(2) to which, in my opinion, attention should be drawn in order to enable a proper understanding of
Name: Hannah Peters
Relevant professional body: CIMA
Address: The Close, School Lane, Alvechurch, B48 7SB Date: 23rd September 2025